#003 ER 2011
MB 20 SEPTE
MAKE MY MOVIE
WITH $100,000? WOULD YOU TRUST THESE GUYS
NEIL AND SHARON FINN TALK PAJAMA CLUB
“SHE MOVES HER BODY BETTER THAN I DO”
MAGNETIC MAN’S BASS CULTURE WOT U CALL IT?
KISS DESTROY WESTERN SPRINGS 1980
Last Tuesday night a motley crew of media that included writers from The Corner, members of Panther and the Zoo, and VOLUME contributors settled into the cheap seats upstairs at the Auckland Town Hall to take in the APRA Silver Scroll Awards, eyeballing the table arrangements downstairs like they offered an insight into music industry hierarchies. It’s not like we expected to be seated at those tables, feasting on garlic and thyme free range roasted chicken breast and spinach, ricotta and parmesan crepes. Beer flowed from an upstairs bar to keep us watered, and there was plenty of time for a kebab across the road before the music began. While Hugh Sundae busied himself behind a phalanx of gear, delivering a live stream of the night’s proceedings, smartphones were readied as each blogger, journalist and muso prepared to give a play-for-play of the night. If the tweets that were fired off across the hall were your only insight into what went down, you’d be left a little confused about the tone of the Scrolls. Was there really a rumour doing the rounds that “John Rowles thought The Vietnam War were unprofessional and doesn’t want them paid”? Was the Hall of Fame acceptance speech from the Braz pickled genius or something altogether more confusing? And is Av-City’s ‘Love, Love, Love’ a thing of pop perfection or Jason Mraz-light? Twitter chatter aside, the consensus was that the Drab Doo-Riffs’ Karl Steven knocked it out of the park for the second year running as musical curator – can we clear a space on the New Zealand Order of Merit roll for this man and make the Scrolls a permanent gig?
EDITOR Sam Wicks sam.wicks@volumemagazine.co.nz WEB EDITOR Hugh Sundae hugh.sundae@nzherald.co.nz DEPARTMENT OF VOLUME SALES John Baker john.baker@volumemagazine.co.nz DESIGN Xanthe Williams WRITERS David Carroll, Marty Duda, Duncan Greive, Jessica Hansell, Steve Newall, Joe Nunweek, Hugh Sundae, Dan Trevarthen, Kit Walker, Aaron Yap PHOTOGRAPHERS Ted Baghurst, Amos Chapple, Shaun Jones, Nick Kingstone, Milana Radojcic AN APN PUBLICATION
STILL UNDER THE INFLUENCE
HOW DOES IT FEEEEEL? MARTIN PHILLIPS (NOT THE CHILLS ONE) How does it feel to be celebrating the 20 th anniversary of Nevermind? It feels like getting old. What do you put the enduring legacy of Kurt and co down to? A good publicist and tons of money. But hopefully also the fact that Nirvana was a band that gave a shit, a band of normal people who didn’t forget where they came from. What song are you covering and will it be a faithful rendition? We’re going to do a fairly faithful version of ‘Negative Creep’ and an incredibly messy rendition of ‘Radio Friendly Unit Shifter’. What’s the best cover tune Nirvana ever did? My favourite is ‘D-7’ because it got me into the Wipers, and the Wipers rule. Who’s a bigger fan of the band – you or Muzai Records’ Benjii Jackson? I’m going to concede that one to Benjii – I think he has just about every bootleg ever made. god bows to math plays 95bFM’s Nirvana tribute show Where Are You Sleeping Tonight? at Auckland’s Kings Arms on Friday 23 September.
The glorious institution that is Flying Nun is getting older, and it’s using the occasion of its 30th birthday for a month of knees-ups in November. The Clean, The Bats, HDU and Ghostclub will all be touring the country, there’ll be showcases in Auckland and Wellington presenting new Nun faces Grayson Gilmour, Popstrangers, T54 and Surf Friends, plus full spectrum Nun re-releases and new singles from the Nun newbs. VOLUME’s already lining up some killer birthday content for the month of Nun – anything could happen…
LANEWAY DOES WYNARD Oh snap – St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival 2012 is going down on Monday 30 January in Auckland’s Silo Park, part of the good lookin’ Wynyard Quarter development on the waterfront. The line-up for next year’s festival will be released to the Laneway mailing list on Monday 10 October – to get the first look, sign up at lanewayfestival.com.au.
ROWAN ‘DIGGA’ JOHNSON – GUITAR TECH I’ve been guitar teching since 2005 when I did my first tour with Steriogram – right now I’m the guitar tech for Neil and Sharon Finn, and I set up all the gear for Pajama Club. I’ll plug in the amp for Neil, make sure the amp tone sounds right ’cause it might have changed in its case, and make sure all the pedals are working how they should. Throughout the show I’ll tune guitars for particular songs – I’ll take my cues from the set list. At the moment Pajama Club are playing a song where the A string goes up to B – it’s a bit of a dicky guitar, so you have to tune it right up the neck. Quite often people will change their mind during the set if they like a particular guitar – Neil threw in a few wildcards at the World Cup opening with the Finn Brothers, and I just ran with it.
SEND ME A POSTCARD Dave Holmes, guitarist with instrumental three-piece Keretta, is currently in the UK. Keretta’s new album Saansilo is out Monday 26 September on Midium.
Pencil-moustachioed filmmaker, writer, raconteur and all-round oddball John Waters is bringing his one-man show ‘This Filthy World’ to The Opera House in Wellington on Monday 31 October and The Civic in Auckland on Wednesday 2 November – and it’s his first trip to New Zealand. We’ve got a double pass to each show to give away – for a chance to win, email loot@volumemagazine. co.nz and let us know who you’d like to see Waters in conversation with for Talking Heads when he’s in town – and we’ll do our darndest to make it happen.
MEANWHILE, ON THE WIRELESS... I wish I’d been able to make the Going Global Music Summit last week to experience three of my favourite things all at once. New Auckland venues, listening to people much smarter than myself, and 6 Music.
Seth Haapu at Auckland’s Going Global Music Summit
IT QUICKLY BECAME clear after arriving in London in 2006 that BBC 6 Music was the station for like-minded folks. It really was like the best bits of the bNet, Radio New Zealand National and being at a gig rolled into one. Like anything, it had its frustrations: while I was there the mid-morning host was replaced with someone not in keeping with the off-centre skew – think Brooke Howard-Smith taking over from Charlotte Ryan on bFM’s Morning Glory. Generally though, this was the station where real music hosts went to live out their broadcasting days. A non(-ish) commercial environment without the worry of growing too old for student radio. I would have loved to have heard BBC 6 Music Programmer Jen Long’s insights into the station, littered with names like Lauren Laverne and Steve Lamacq. So it was wonderful, as well as internet-ish and awesome, to listen to 6 Music online last week during their live coverage of the Mercury Music Prize – the merit-based British album award on which our Taite Music Prize is modeled. Lamacq interviewed fellow host (and Elbow lead singer) Guy Garvey, who lost out to PJ Harvey for the
prize in 2001 (Harvey’s Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea), and who went on to lose out again to PJ Harvey, this time for her album Let England Shake. I was hoping for Harvey or Anna Calvi.
“THINK BROOKE HOWARDSMITH TAKING OVER FROM CHARLOTTE RYAN ON BFM’S MORNING GLORY.”
I felt like I was there. I wasn’t invited, expected, or in the same country, but I felt more a part of the Mercury Prize than some events back here I’ve actually been to. Radio rules. It’s that kind of experience we want to give you in the pages of VOLUME and over at nzherald.co.nz/ volume, whether it’s live streaming the Silver Scrolls, uploading videos from the Big Day Out, or tweeting stupid photos of food from the Tui’s finalist announcement. Fill yer plate.
MORE GRAVY
Thanks to those who tuned in for the APRA Silver Scroll live stream. It was seat-of-the-pants stuff for a while, with a few sound issues bringing out the audio engineer in everyone. Thanks to the team at Satellite Media for letting us use their pictures. The lack of any true rock’n’roll debauchery by the winner was made up for in spades by Hello Sailor, whose post-ceremony interview was a great advertisement for doing everything live. There are times when you just can’t see a good ‘out’ during interviews (or conversation in general, I guess), so it was actually quite good someone literally pulled the plug on our live stream. I’d still be in the Town Hall circle waiting for the end of Graham Brazier’s poem. There SHOULD be videos of the performances up around now if they’re not there already. It’s been a big week, forgive me. Keep an eye out this week for the first videos from the recent Sundae Session. With the Make My Movie launch out of the way (check out this week’s cover story) I’m going to go and bask in HD editing heaven. But who to start with? Beastwars or Cairo Knife Fight? Answers on the back of a postcard addressed to VOLUME, PO Box 32 Auckland.
NEIL FINN & It began as a late-night husband-wife jam session following a couple of reds, and became a dedicated group, complete with Sean Donnelly on keys and ex-Grates Alana Skyring on drum duties. Neil and Sharon Finn talk about the evolution of Pajama Club. Photography Ted Baghurst NEIL FINN: How different was it for you being onstage as opposed to… ’cause you’ve done touring before, but just travelling and hanging out with us – how different was it being onstage? SHARON FINN: Well, it’s a completely different thing when you’re not in the public eye, isn’t it? You know, you’re totally exposed up there – behind the lighting desk or sitting on the side is… How would the fear present itself? How did the fear present… you’re asking me questions – are you interviewing me?!
“SHARON’S GOT BETTER NATURAL RHYTHM THAN ME ANYWAY – SHE MOVES HER BODY BETTER THAN I DO.” – NEIL FINN No, we’re supposed to be in conversation – I’m not sure how we manufacture a conversation. Being onstage is sort of intense anyway but I am having to put myself in Sharon’s headspace for doing it for the first time, you know, which is quite remarkable – the fact that Sharon manages to look relaxed and poised, while inside it’s kind of churning… Yeah!
SHARON FINN … it’s kind of amazing too ’cause I’m relatively relaxed about being onstage, but I don’t look all that serene and, you know, I kind of look a bit awkward and clumsy, and you can tell when you look at video or photos that I’m contorting. Mind you, I’m contorting because I’m screaming high notes and stuff like that, but… and slightly awkward body language – Sharon’s just kind of grooving. Yeah.
That’s an issue that we have discussed a little bit. Yeah. Well, it’s just a different thing, isn’t it? It’s not Neil Finn solo, it’s not Crowded House, it’s not Split Enz – it’s a new band, it’s different people, it’s different music, it’s a different way of writing. It’s just a different thing, so I want it to have its own hat.
Sharon’s got better natural rhythm than me anyway – she moves her body better than I do. I’ve had a lot of time looking at Neil onstage and thinking, ‘I would never do that’, so you know… (laughs).
To listen to the full audio of Neil and Sharon Finn in conversation, head to nzherald.co.nz/volume – live from 2pm Tuesday.
‘Well, remind me not to look like that!’ I’m concentrating, aren’t I? This is like a therapy session, isn’t it? ‘I’d like you, Neil, now to tell Sharon how it makes you feel to have you onstage.’ We realise that we’re playing with some alchemy – there are forces beyond our control – but, on the other hand, we’re kind of wanting to stop short of… well, it’s hard to navigate the thing of how much to push it because of the history of what I’ve done, as opposed to this being something brand new, we want it to essentially feel like it’s brand new, but we also realise, if that was the case, we’d be playing at people’s parties and supporting people at the Whammy Bar for the next year-and-ahalf in reality; so we are taking a few little shortcuts, but that’s acceptable, isn’t it? Sure – I’m not going to slog it in a splitter van across America – I’m too old for that! But you would rather have it be treated separate though. Oh yeah.
Pajama Club’s debut album is out now.
Team McMillan BMW Team McMillan BMW
You’re there at the birth of a brand new strain of sound. A number of your subsequent tunes are now considered classics of the genre. So can you really blame Magnetic Man for wanting to get paid? Text David Carroll MAGNETIC MAN IS the Cream of the post-dubstep generation. The supergroup, made up of three British producers – Adegbenga ‘Benga’ Adejumo, Oliver ‘Skream’ Jones and Arthur ‘Artwork’ Smith – released their self-titled debut album late last year on Sony’s Columbia Records to a rapturous response. Prior to the release of the album Magnetic Man was well established as a fiercely exciting live act, pulling everincreasing numbers of punters to their sub-bass-and-lights onslaughts. The album, though, was a game-changer. Thanks to the Top 10 single ‘I Need Air’ (featuring dubstep’s pin-up girl Katy B), Magnetic Man were catapulted into the ears of plenty of people who’d never heard dubstep before.
“IS DUBSTEP JUST THIS MUSIC FROM THIS CLUB AT THIS TIME? DOES IT HAVE TO STAY THIS WAY FOREVER?” The problem was: the fans who’d been there from the start; the fans who went to the early club nights, who bought and continued buying the records and supporting those producers and DJs who were laying the groundwork for what would become dubstep. Not only do a large number of these fans not like what Magnetic Man are doing, there’s conjecture as to whether it should even be called ‘dubstep’. Artwork reads those forums and he’s got an opinion, alright: “Is dubstep just this music from this club at this time? Does it have to stay this way
forever? Benga, Skream and me have been friends for 10 years and working together for five or six, and now we want to push it on to the next level.” Before we talk next level, though, let’s rewind to the foundations. Back in Croydon in the late ’90s, Benga and Skream began hanging out at Big Apple Records, a shop which was deeply in tune with the emerging garage and 2-step scene. Above the shop was a recording studio owned and operated by Artwork. “These kids were 14, 15 years old,” recalls Artwork, “and they were making beats on PlayStation PS1s, and I was like, ‘How did they do that?’ ’cause it was mad, right?” Recognising their raw talent, Artwork took Benga and Skream under his wing and into his studio. In 2001 the club night Forward launched in London, giving this new music another vital platform. As Artwork remembers it: “Coki, Horsepower, Benny Hill, N Type, Loefah were there at the start, but it was really Hatcha. He wanted to play darker tracks with less beats. It was initially his attempt at 2-step but with dub, so Hatcha called it dubstep, and it grew from there.” So far, so good. Artwork, Benga and Skream signed to Big Apple Records, recorded the label’s first three singles and broke boundaries as soon as they were established. There were successful albums and the big singles got bigger and bigger – Benga and Coki’s ‘Night’, Skream’s ‘Midnight Request Line’, and then the worldwide crossover hit remix of La Roux’s ‘In For The Kill’. “Things had been going well for us, and we wanted to keep going,” says Artwork. “Anyone can make beats, but we’ve always loved songs – the emotion,
the lyrics, the melody, giving a great performance – and, with Magnetic Man, we wanted to experiment with that. It did feel like going out on a limb, but we said ‘What do we want to do? What would we want to listen to?’ Sure, we want as many people as possible to hear it, but that’s because this is the music we love.” They’re not alone. From those early anonymous shows in front of 50 punters to performing for 15,000 people at outdoor festivals like Roskilde, Magnetic Man have become the definition of dubstep for many. Perhaps that’s what irks those early adopters? “If you think we’re only about ‘I Need Air’, then listen to our album: there’s proper nasty dubstep and orchestral stuff. At our shows we play our new stuff, and that connects anywhere in the world. We’ve got plenty of bangers, and we play some real dark stuff too, from Benga’s old stuff, Skream’s old stuff. This is dubstep, man, but it’s really just good music – there’s no agenda.” Artwork pauses, then adds: “And if you don’t like it, then fuck off.”
We’ve got a double pass to see Magnetic Man perform live as part of the Rhythm & Vines Soundcheck line-up at Auckland’s Vector Arena on Thursday 29 September. Email loot@volumemagazine.co.nz for your chance to win.
A column in which Duncan Greive scours the world’s charts in the hope of finding, if not the perfect beat, then something worth whistling at least. THE WORLD
After pop nerds lusting after something beyond Eurovision had run through Japan’s J-Pop sound, the next stop was South Korea, a Leessang country whose sound was imaginatively dubbed ‘K-Pop’. In some ways it’s an easier entry point for Western ears; having splintered away more recently (early-’90s vs ’60s) it has more in common with the sound and style of our contemporary pop. Or maybe its recent past – the era it most recalls is the late-’90s – production is huge and squeaky clean. ‘Don’t Say Goodbye’ has a weight and bombast which recalls R. Kelly’s ‘I Believe I Can Fly’, while rap group Leessang’s ‘I Turned Off the TV’ has all the grit and swagger we associated with early St Lunatics. Sistar are a girl group in the cartoonish Spice Girls vein (though the sound is more a slightly souped up Real McCoy), while G.NA’s ‘Top Girl’ is my personal favourite off this chart – pure Max Martin-era Britney. Further down the recently dominant 2NE1 have a cool fake guitar anthem, while Super Junior’s ‘Mr. Simple’ is just bizarre. Strongly recommend a YouTube through these songs – they’re unequivocally more fun than the English-as-a-first-language charts right now.
THE LOCALS
This is what our commercial radio stations are playing right now – and the difference between that and what our consumers are buying is somewhat interesting. The number one single in the country is Gotye and Kimbra, but there’s no place for it in our airplay top 10. Outside the 50% of songs which cross over both airplay and sales are some monster hits that won’t die at radio (Adele, Katy Perry), but also that disastrous new RHCP single. Consumers have so little affection for that song that it’s about to drop clean out of the charts after just four weeks (versus the epic runs of ‘Scar Tissue’ et al), but radio programmers have it locked into the highest rotation possible. Bad call on an awful song, guys.
THE ’NET
Lil Wayne teams up with the reigning worst new artist on ‘Mirror’, from the deluxe edition of Tha Carter IV. Mars can’t ruin it though – aptly, he could be any sensitive man on the hook, with a ghostly beat from newcomer Reo, the true star. Further down Kreayshawn’s ‘Gucci Gucci’ is the most interesting song here – she’s a Russian-American rapper with a talent for controversy – but the song is great fun; a woozy, crawling beat with nonsensical chatter over the top and a colourful, worldunto-itself clip. What’s not to love?
KOREA K-POP TOP 10 1 Davichi – ‘Don’t Say Goodbye’ 2 Leesang ft. T & Kwon Jung Lul of 10cm – ‘I Turned Off the TV’ 3 Sistar – ‘So Cool’ 4 G.NA – ‘Top Girl’ 5 Leesang ft. T & Kwon Jung Lul of 10cm – ‘The Answer To Me Is You’ 6 Leesang ft. Baek Ji Young – ‘Reminiscence’ 7 December ft. Yoonmi & Irene – ‘Cry Out With My Heart’ 8 Verbal Jint ft. Black Skirt – ‘You Look Happy’ 9 2NE1 – ‘Ugly’ 10 Super Junior – ‘Mr. Simple’
RIANZ TOP 10 RADIO AIRPLAY CHART 1 Maroon 5 ft. Christina Aguilera – ‘Moves Like Jagger’ 2 Six60 – ‘Don’t Forget Your Roots’ 3 Rihanna – ‘Cheers (Drink To That)’ 4 Lady Gaga – ‘You And I’ 5 Adele – ‘Set Fire To The Rain’ 6 Nicki Minaj – ‘Super Bass’ 7 Gavin DeGraw – ‘Not Over You’ 8 Adele – ‘Someone Like You’ 9 Red Hot Chili Peppers – ‘The Adventures Of Rain Dance Maggie’ 10 Katy Perry – ‘Last Friday Night (TGIF)’
YOUTUBE TOP 10 1 Lil Wayne ft. Bruno Mars – ‘Mirror’ 2 Nicki Minaj – ‘Super Bass’ 3 Lil Wayne – ‘How To Love’ 4 Adele – ‘Someone Like You’ 5 Rihanna – ‘Cheers (Drink To That)’ 6 LMFAO ft. Lauren Bennett & GoonRock – ‘Party Rock Anthem’ 7 Katy Perry – ‘Last Friday Night (TGIF)’ 8 Don Omar & Lucenzo – ‘Danza Kudura’ 9 Kreayshawn – ‘Gucci Gucci’ 10 Pitbull ft. Marc Anthony – ‘Rain Over Me’
TOP FIVES SAMUEL FLYNN SCOTT’S TOP FIVE ‘PERMANENTLY BORROWED’ ALBUMS FROM HIS DAD’S RECORD COLLECTION
The Rip Tide (Pompeii Records) Onto his third (spoiler alert) critically acclaimed record by his mid-20s, Beirut wunderkind Zach Condon doesn’t need to mess with the formula at this stage. The Rip Tide perhaps won’t grab your attention more than anything else he’s done, but it’s a subtle, impeccably arranged and timed collection. While Condon’s been a maximalist in the past, instrumentation here is relatively stripped back, letting his affected croon mean more. The winsome vocal performance of the restrained ‘Goshen’ is delicately balanced by snare rolls and spare piano. Later, when the title track shows up, a simple trumpet melody is supremely melancholic and cinematic, gliding over that same piano. Though folk instruments still take point, small synthetic elements are MALE BONDING Endless Now (Sub Pop) London trio offer a slight variation of what came last year on Nothing Hurts – speedy and tasty indie that splits the difference between Nirvana circa-Incesticide (more punk, less shiny Butch Vig grunge) and the dream-drive of The Primitives. No complaints here. Best track: ‘Seems To Notice Now’. JACUZZI BOYS Glazin’ (Hardly Art) Miami band play the same sort of power-pop that became a sort of memorial totem genre in the small-town US after the Exploding Hearts’ sudden, untimely death. It’s an amenableenough 30-minute racket, though perhaps Gabriel Alcala’s schoolboy-ish vocals, and most of the songs themselves, lack distinction. Highlights to be found where they’re most bubblegum, especially on ‘Crush’. THE NUDGE Big Nudge Pie (Keen) Wellington blues group play a long, loping set, marshalling repetitive figures into shaggy monoliths.
1: Sly & the Family Stone – There’s a Riot Goin’ On
2: Lightnin’ Hopkins – Live At The Bird Lounge
3: Van Morrison – Astral Weeks
creeping in, a nice touch. The title track uses a digital click synched with the drums, and ‘Santa Fe’ has Farfisa organ lending a bouncy lo-fi element to the beat. Best thing is it sounds less like a dude trying on a foreign aesthetic and more like a genuinely split love for indie rock and world music spheres. Tell you the truth, wish he’d go further down that path, but as he wraps it up succinctly by track nine with a non-cheesy ukulele and cascading brass arrangement, it’s too late; The Rip Tide has completely drawn me in. Review Dan Trevarthen
Progressive in approach but without too much of the wankery associated with that, they’re a good insight into what a band prepared to be a bit more risky than The Checks can do with the genre. This is far too long at an hour, though. DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS Ugly Buildings, Whores, and Politicians: Greatest Hits 1998-2009 (New West) That they bagged Rolling Stone’s David Fricke to write the liner notes is a testament to the Drive-By Truckers’ magnificence, not their commercial success. This is a useful entry point into a catalogue now running some eight albums deep, showcasing the band’s various songwriters, their stormy and refreshingly unfashionable Southern rock, and some of the most astute pictures of the American white working poor this side of Flannery O’Connor. TOM MORELLO (THE NIGHTWATCHMAN) Worldwide Rebel Songs (New West) It’s hard to dislike Tom Morello’s folk-rock project – dialing down the agitprop of Rage Against The Machine and capable sometimes
4: Nina Simone – Theatre Royal Drury Lane 1977 5: Bob Dylan – Bringing It All Back Home JASON ROCKPIG’S TOP FIVE TRUCKIN’ SONGS 1: Dave Dudley – ‘Six Days on the Road’ 2: Kiss – ‘Dirty Livin’’
3: The Black Crowes – ‘Gone’ 4: Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – ‘Fix It’
5: You Am I – ‘Rambling Rose’
of a really wry turn of phrase (see “The borders are closing/ No one goes in or out/ The assets all frozen/ In 16 Swiss bank accounts” on standout ‘The Whirlwind’). Very meat-and-potato but very competent, with a heart firmly in the right place. HOWLING BELLS The Loudest Engine (Cooking Vinyl) Howling Bells seemed like moody and tokenistic PJ Harvey/Nick Cave fetishists when we heard them five years ago – they’ve lost some of the churn, and now split rather evenly between sleekly re-arranged blues rock (ie the quite good ‘Secrets’) and drab mid-tempo doldrums (‘The Faith’). THE SUBWAYS Money And Celebrity (Warner) Okay, what the fuck. The Subways are still around? Their music felt like a shoddy approximation of post-grunge to Franz Ferdinand in 2007 or so (think: The Tutts but with screaming ‘we’re the real rock’n’roll deal’ attitude). Nothing has changed, nothing’s evolved. It’s probably not ethical to continue to give these guys any more advances, let alone press.
FRENZAL RHOMB Smoko At The Pet Food Factory (Epitaph/Shock) We’ve still got a soft spot for Frenzal Rhomb – possibly the only band to ape US pop-punk, ever, while electing to keep their own accents when they sing. Produced by Bill Stevenson of Descendents fame, Smoko doesn’t approach the heights of that band, but would please any long-time fan. MARIACHI EL BRONX Mariachi El Bronx (II) (ATO) The second mariachi lark in a row from NYC hardcore band The Bronx (this marks about three years since the band’s last effort in their more conventional punk style). To their credit, they’re creating originals in the style now, and they sound crisp – but outside of a Mexican-themed backyard punk party (frequent though they are), who’s coming along for this ride? JOHN BUTLER TRIO Live At Red Rocks (Jarrah) “Roots”. “Eclectic”. “Jam band”. 2 x CD + DVD. Fear. Emptiness. Horror. Didgeridoo. Zzz. Reviews Joe Nunweek
Like all the best-laid movie plans, the Make My Movie project revolves around a briefcase full of money – a hundred thousand bucks of it. We tracked down the shadowy figures behind all this cash and found filmhead Ant Timpson and Herald Online Entertainment Editor Hugh Sundae only too happy to give it all away. Text Steve Newall Photography Milana Radojcic
“IT’S CALLED MAKE My Movie,” explains Ant Timpson. “The premise is a hundred thousand dollar cash grant that’s open to anyone to apply for it. The whole idea is they’re going to make a feature film with that money, and the public at large is going to have a say in the feature film idea that gets chosen.” Timpson and fellow film buff Hugh Sundae are hoping everyone from kids to industry pros will enter Make My Movie, and with the process starting with folks submitting just a title, synopsis and poster for the film they’d like to make, the first step is pretty damn easy. A dozen film ideas will end up being finalists, and the public will
be able to vote on the one they’d like to see. Along the way Sundae will be documenting proceedings online in warts and all fashion for nzherald. co.nz. “We want to start immediately going out to teams who look interesting,” he says, “meeting them and finding out what their idea is. When it whittles down to the dozen finalists, we want to get as much online around those teams as possible so that it becomes more than just the poster and synopsis – we’ll be filming the dramas or disasters that happen along the way.” As Sundae jokingly puts it, he’s spent 15 years loathing reality TV and
now he’s going to make it. That will include going inside meetings between the aspiring filmmakers, the New Zealand Film Commission and NZ On Air, key organisations involved with Make My Movie. “They don’t want to be inaccessible to people,” says Timpson, “and this is the start of new lines of communication between Joe Shmoe and these bodies that control a lot of the money in New Zealand film.” Money – that brings us back to that briefcase full of cash. No, the winner won’t be handed a hundred grand so they can take off to South America and blow it in an Escobarian frenzy. Initially it’s there as a temptation to solicit ideas out into
the open, and that’s what Timpson’s hoping to see. “I think it’s great to have the ability to put your shit out in front of everyone and get feedback on ideas.
“MONEY – THAT BRINGS US BACK TO THAT BRIEFCASE FULL OF CASH.” People may hoard ideas and be scared of letting it out in public because everyone will steal your great idea, but that’s kind of a myth – the reality is that the idea you’re coming up with
for a hundred thousand dollar film is probably not going to be stolen by a studio. A great idea with a twist is not really something you want to give away in a synopsis but you have to try and hint at it so you want to see how it plays out.” How it all plays out with Make My Movie is a mystery even for these two guys. Not knowing exactly what to expect from the ideas or the people entering, they’re keeping their plans loose so they can respond to whatever they have to deal with. As Sundae puts it: “All sorts of companies in advertising, marketing, broadcasting and media have attempted to recreate something that’s been a shambles.
So we just have to accept this is a shambles to a certain extent and just go with it or else we won’t create something as magical as it can be.” Then there’s the more poetic Timpson take: “We are going to be flexible through the whole thing, but people do like structure and they do like the credibility of major companies being involved. Images & Sound and Panasonic are on board to provide support for the eventual winners so I think there’s enough confidence that it’s not just Ant and Hugh jerking off.” It’ll be the whole country jerking off then? “Hopefully. A mass circle jerk.” Only by marrying or blackmailing a Hollywood executive has it ever been easier to turn your crazy idea into a motion picture. All that needs to happen for starters is for your film’s title, synopsis, and poster to be submitted to makemymovie.co.nz. Entries open Thursday 29 September with the website up now so you can check out all of the competition details ahead of time. As submissions come in they will be displayed online as poster images that the public can click on for more information. Along with the online video coverage on nzherald.co.nz, this will inform the voting process that commences once the multitude of entries has been condensed down to 12 finalists. Eventually one of these ideas will end up becoming a feature film, so the winning team will require an outline and script at some point. At the start it’s all about the idea and having fun though, but – let’s face it – there’s never going to be a better motivation to complete a script than a one-in-12 chance it’ll end up on the big screen. As Ant Timpson puts it, “the reality is we’re backing the idea to be made, not ‘here’s some bucks to have a go’.” Submissions for Make My Movie open Thursday 29 September Presented by the New Zealand Film Commission, NZ On Air and nzherald.co.nz Partners: Panasonic, Images & Sound and Flicks.co.nz Makemymovie.co.nz
FREIGHT
Starring Billy Murray, Craig Fairbrass, Laura Aikman (Indy UK Films Limited)
BLITZ
Jason Statham, Aidan Gillen (Lions Gate Entertainment) THIS WEEK, TV3 runs the final episode of Underbelly NZ: Land Of The Long Green Cloud. The following day, the six-part series will be released on DVD. Set in the 1970s, Underbelly NZ follows the real life exploits of Marty ‘Party’ Johnstone, otherwise known as Mr Asia and a leading figure in New Zealand’s first international drug cartel. The initial DVD release will feature the episodes as they were broadcast, while a Blu-ray edition with bonus features should be available near the end of the year. Meanwhile Freight bills itself as “an explosive action thriller set in Britain’s criminal underbelly”
and stars Billy Murray (no, not Bill Murray) as a Leeds businessman who finds himself battling a gang of Russian mobsters when his daughter is kidnapped. The Eastern European syndicate is involved in human trafficking, prostitution and illegal cage fighting. With its brutal cage fighting sequences it comes off as a cross between Fight Club and The Sopranos – but not nearly as good as either. The action is gritty and realistic but the plot is full of holes. And this is a film with a political agenda, warning viewers about the dangers of cheap foreign workers and political corruption. Several times during the film, the action comes to a
grinding halt while some half-baked moralising spews from one of the characters. Better is Blitz, another British thriller. This one stars the always watchable Jason Statham as a rulebusting detective sergeant on the trail of a cop-killer. Aidan Gillen plays the deranged bad guy who taunts the police while showing off his strangely unsettling bare chest. Review Marty Duda
FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS
Director Will Gluck Starring Justin Timberlake, Mila Kunis, Woody Harrelson, Patricia Clarkson (Castle Rock Entertainment)
FOR A MOMENT there it seemed like Friends with Benefits would improve on No Strings Attached, the utterly weak Ashton Kutcher/Natalie Portman pairing from earlier this year that explored a similar relationship minefield where best buddies become fuck buddies. In fact, the opening scenes contain more bounce than the entirety of No Strings, setting up the collision of our protagonists, LA art director Dylan (Justin Timberlake) and New York corporate head-hunter Jamie (Mila
Kunis), with a speedy, screwball rush that shares the rapid-fire, ridiculously articulate dialogue of director Will Gluck’s previous film Easy A (truth be told, the lack of a breather can be exhausting but nonetheless it’s infectious). Timberlake and Kunis are likeable enough together, the cheeky, sexually frank chemistry of their newfound dynamic will have you grinning, if not chuckling consistently. But that’s where the film’s charm ends. The script’s surfeit of pop culture knowing is distracting: the nearly-obsessive array of ’90s one-hit-wonder references (Kris Kross, Semisonic) aren’t sustainable substitutes for clever writing, simply nostalgic riffing that begin as mildly amusing but tanks as it’s repeated throughout. More disappointing is the film’s initial appearance of subverting the romcom status quo, digging into the likes of Katherine Heigl and Nora Ephron, yet ultimately succumbing to the generic, Death Cab-scored weepiness of the genre. The embarrassingly one-note supporting cast include Woody Harrelson hamming it up as a flamboyantly gay sports editor and Patricia Clarkson being ‘quirky’ as Kunis’ overly boho mother. Review Aaron Yap
SHORT REEL Shame, the new sex-addict drama by Hunger director Steve McQueen, is generating much buzz on the festival circuit. Michael Fassbender won Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival, while the film caused at least one fainting at a Toronto screening. The Adam Sandler-produced comedy Bucky Larson: Born To Be a Star is shaping up to be one of the biggest duds of 2011, earning a rare 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and earning a piss-poor $1.5 million from 1,500 US theatres in its opening weekend. Tickets for the Vendetta Films 24 Hour Movie Marathon are on sale now and beanbag seats have already sold out! Visit: incrediblystrange.co.nz/ marathon.
HISTORY MADE...
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Left to right: Gene Simmons, Eric Carr, Paul Stanley and Ace Frehley (Auckland would be Ace’s last Kiss show until 1996).
Jules Barnett aged 10 in Kiss make up.
Kiss arri ve into Auckland ‘unm asked’.
A 10-year-old Jules Barnett witnessed Kiss play Western Springs in Auckland on 3 December 1980. I WAS REALLY into Kiss ’cause there was nothing like them on TV at that point – this was when they were in their Love Gun era with the smoke and the drum risers, flames and fire, and all that sort of shit. When I heard Kiss were coming to New Zealand, I didn’t believe it – there was rumour going around Cook Street Market that they were coming. When I found out I was going, I was pretty damn excited. My parents talked the people who were taking me into buying me a ticket – they were $12, which is insane.
I actually took the day off school on the day of the concert so I could get hyped up. My mum’s boyfriend did my makeup to look like Paul Stanley, and he was an artist so he did a really good job.
“SMOKE AND THE DRUM RISERS, FLAMES AND FIRE, AND ALL THAT SORT OF SHIT.” Me and my mates got to Western Springs around 4.30pm – the gates weren’t open and they were soundchecking drums, and then once we got in it was all a bit of a mad rush. I remember them taking the
black drape down to reveal the stage, and realising, ‘Oh my God – it’s the stage from the ‘I Was Made for Lovin’ You’ video’. Suddenly all this smoke engulfed the stage, and the band opened with ‘Detroit Rock City’. When Kiss finished their set they said, ‘Goodnight Auckland’, and I took off. I was at the back gate, and they kicked into ‘Shout It Out Loud’, and it was like, ‘what’s going on? Oh, it’s an encore’. So all the way back to my auntie’s place in Grey Lynn I could hear all the encores. Just as I was getting there, I could hear ‘Black Diamond’ with Paul Stanley singing it – walking through Grey Lynn with the stars out in the sky, and you hear ‘out in the street for a living’, it was pretty cool.
...AND IN THE MAKING
APRA SILVER SCROLL AWARDS 2011 TOWN HALL, AUCKLAND TUESDAY 13 SEPTEMBER
Review Joe Nunweek Photography Milana Radojcic
THIS IS ONLY my second Silver Scrolls, but you’re starting to see the trends: the tawdry versus the special, the lame and predictable versus the daring and subversive. MPs mingling with record industry execs mingling with several generations of musos. An occasional sense of forward momentum, tempered by cloying nostalgia. So, not to repeat myself/ everyone but: bloody hell, hasn’t Karl Steven been a good curator for this? The real sell of the Silver Scrolls is the radical interpretations of the nominee songs, often by unlikely artists. This time around, all five
“THIS TIME AROUND, ALL FIVE OF THE MAIN NOMINEES ARE ACTUALLY IMPROVED.” of the main nominees are actually improved (the SOUNZ Contemporary and Maioha award winners also receive fitting, remarkable tribute). To wit, there’s a phenomenal steamroller adaptation of The Adults’ ‘Nothing To Lose’ (Scratch 22), a reupholstering of Bachelorette’s yawn-some blanket to a fractured electroacoustic racket by Orchestra of Spheres, a zippier version of Delaney Davidson’s ‘Little Heart’ that hits right when things are lagging care of Cut Off Your Hands, a stellar*
The Vietnam War
Tom Scott & Scratch 22
(*not the band) take on Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s ‘FFunny FFriends’ from Home Brew, who effectively outdo the best nominee, and Avalanche City’s ‘Love Love Love’ recast as a sweaty, gregarious Balkan wedding (or funeral) song, care of the Benka Boradovsky Bordello Band. And then it wins, for God’s sake. Great cover, but the award concerns the original product – and what a
Amber Claire & Eric Scholes
tame, anesthetised thing it is. ‘Young Blood’ isn’t my favourite song ever, but you can appreciate its exuberance, the ferocious boldness with which it goes for ‘youth anthem stakes’. It has obvious strengths. ‘Love Love Love’ has precious few, apart from its bland safeness in uncertain, precarious times. If you consider that a strength.
Home Brew’s Tom Scott John Rowles
Graham
Brazier
The Benka Boradovsky Bordello Band
John Rowles Cut Off Your Hands’ Nick Johnston
It’s the crowning glory of a ceremony that plays it too safe when it’s not playing it strange, that tips the balance from reverent (the tearjerking elegiac performance from Lyttelton’s The Harbour Union that observes the devastation wrought to that beautiful town, the recognition of Hello Sailor’s legend status), to unpleasantly cosy. We see Don McGlashan talk with a straight face about how we have laws that protect copyright and artists (what, the
Three Strikes law?) to rapturous applause. We see the night end not by celebrating our young and creative future, but by corralling half of it to line up behind the silver fox that is John Rowles, vacant, obedient and strumming. Fun times, but we have a relatively brief musical past and a precipitous musical future. Shouldn’t we be shoring up our glorious, daring, and fleeting Steve Abel & Gin Wigmore present?
AUCKLAND WEDNESDAY 21
Teenage Kicks – Cassette Number Nine, Auckland CBD, 9pm, Free Be Free Wednesdays – Be Club, Auckland CBD, 10pm, Free Hipstamatics – Grand Central, Ponsonby, 9pm, Free Jason Eli – Sale St, Freemans Bay, 7:30pm, Free Rewind – The Ginger Minx, Mt Eden, 7pm, Free Chicane – Sugar Bar, Newmarket, 7pm, Free Creative Jazz Club – Phil Broadhurst Album Launch – 1885 Britomart, Auckland CBD, 8pm, $5–$10 Tyra Hammond & The Circling Sun Band – Ponsonby Social Club, Ponsonby, 9pm, Free Live Latin and Brazilian Music – The Mexican Cafe, Auckland CBD, 8:30pm, Free Salsa Night – The Kingslander, Kingsland, 8pm, Free Ringworm (USA) with guests The Burial and Oilbarrons – Kings Arms, Newton, 8pm, $20 Four Year Strong (USA) + The Word Alive (USA) – Studio, Newton, 6pm
THURSDAY 22
Alice Cooper – The Trusts Stadium Arena, Henderson, 7pm, $99–$145 Jess Chambers – Desire Album Release Tour – Wine Cellar, Newton, 8pm, $20 Cassette Allstars ft. Aza Pony, Dirty Uncool, MTron & More – Cassette Number Nine, Auckland CBD, 10pm, Free Mason Clinic, Black Science, Mad Crept & 4 Strings of Chaos – Tabac, Auckland CBD, 8pm, $10 The New Telepathics with F In Math & Nameless Sons + guests – Kings Arms, Newton, 8pm Agent 99 – The Kentish Hotel, Waiuku, 8pm, Free Intrusion – Dubstep Night – The Carpark Bar, Auckland CBD, 10pm, Free Hipstamatics – The Kingslander, Kingsland, 8pm, Free Hitch w/ DJ09 – Hitch, Auckland CBD, 8pm, Free Caitlin Smith Trio – Cock & Bull, Newmarket, 8pm, Free
Vankan Bros – The Crib, Ponsonby, 10pm, Free Sons of Africa: Performance Night – Khuja Lounge, Auckland CBD, 10:30pm, $5 World Cup Dancehall Bash – Rising Sun, Auckland CBD, 8pm
FRIDAY 23
Where Are You Sleeping Tonight? – A Nirvana Tribute Show – Kings Arms, Newton, 7pm, $9.50 Back to School Party feat DJ Sirvere & Tania M – Stampede Bar & Grill, Papakura, 10pm, $10–$15 Be Free Fridays – Be Club, Auckland CBD, 10pm, Free Beatstreet – InkCoherent, Newton, 10pm, $10 The Hush Mix – September Edition – Hush Lounge Bar, Rosedale, 9pm, Free DJ King Salsa – The Mexican Cafe, Auckland CBD, 11pm, Free Friday Night Salsa – Latin Dance Studios Ltd (Latinissimo), Glenfield, 8:30pm, $5–$10 Latin Live Music – Besos Latinos Restaurant, Auckland CBD, 7:30pm, Free Annie Crummer – The Kentish Hotel, Waiuku, 7pm, $30 Split Second – The Crib, Ponsonby, 10:30pm, Free The Roots Festival Warmup Series – Rising Sun, Auckland CBD, 9pm, $10 Snowblind, Jackal and Blackleaf Gardens – Masonic Tavern, Devonport, 8pm, $5 The Alibis – Grey Lynn RSA, Grey Lynn, 8pm, Free
SATURDAY 24
Be Saturdays – Be Club, Auckland CBD, 10pm, $5 Pure Trench Bar – Trench Bar, Auckland CBD, 9pm, Free The Mafia – The Crib, Ponsonby, 10:30pm, Free Dick Dynamite & The Doppelgangers – The Lucha Lounge, Newmarket, 9pm, $5
SUNDAY 25
Southern Fried Sunday – Kings Arms, Newton, 5pm, $5
The Fallout – The Crib, Ponsonby, 10:30pm, Free Sunday Sessions hosted by Club Groove – Flo Bar & Cafe, Newmarket, 4pm, Free
MONDAY 26
Alan Young – The Bunker, Devonport, 8pm, $15
WAIKATO FRIDAY 23
Zionhill – Get Toasted – Diggers Bar, Hamilton, 8pm, $15–$20 Ardijah “Le Voyage” – Tokoroa Cosmopolitan Club, Tokoroa, 9pm, $40
SATURDAY 24
Ardijah “Le Voyage” – Huntly RSA, Huntly, 9pm, $40
BAY OF PLENTY WEDNESDAY 21
Swamp Thing Ft Michael Barker & Grant Haua – The Pheasant Plucker, Rotorua, 8:30pm, Free
THURSDAY 22
Bay Salsa – Buddha Lounge, Tauranga, 8pm, $2 LSG Group – The Pheasant Plucker, Rotorua, 9pm, Free
MANAWATU / WHANGANUI WEDNESDAY 21
SwampFest 2011 – Structure:Carpark – Plaza Carpark, Palmerston North, 7:30pm, Free
FRIDAY 23
SwampFest 2011 – Stomach Shows 1–4 – The Stomach, Palmerston North, 7:30pm, $10 Bella Kalolo and The Soul Symphony – Globe Theatre, Palmerston North, 8:30pm, $15
SATURDAY 24
SwampFest 2011 – Stomach Shows 1–4 – The Stomach, Palmerston North, 7:30pm, $10
SUNDAY 25
Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra – Te Manawa Museum of Art, Science and History, Palmerston North, 4pm, Free
powered by eventfinder.co.nz MONDAY 26
SwampFest 2011 – Autonomous – JB Hi Fi, Palmerston North, 4pm, Free
WELLINGTON WEDNESDAY 21
The Harbour Union, The Eastern and Barry Saunders – Mighty Mighty, 9:30pm, $15
THURSDAY 22
Chris Bryant – El Horno, 9:30pm, Free Delete Delete Delete, The Dickens and DJ Terry Styles – Mighty Mighty, 9:30pm, $5 In Like Flynn – Molly Malones, 9pm Goldie & MC LowQui (Metalheadz, UK) – Sandwiches, 10:30pm, $15–$25
FRIDAY 23
Little Bushman and Electric Wire Hustle – San Francisco Bath House, 8:30pm, $30–$35 Mr Mime, D:UNK & Friends – The Paramount Theatre, 10pm, $10 The Dunstan Rangers – St James Theatre, 7pm, Free In Like Flynn with Ainslie Allen – D4 on Featherston, 7pm, Free Tom Teasley – World Percussion – Meow, 8pm, Free Salsadrome & Tango Milonga – Fortnightly Tango & Salsa Dance – Whitireia Performance Centre, 7:30pm, $10 Drab Doo Riffs – A Fist Full Of Doo Riffs EP Launch – Mighty Mighty, 9:30pm, $10 Newtown Rocksteady & Fraser Ross & The Felt Tips – The Garden Club, 8pm, $10
SATURDAY 24
Little Bushman and Electric Wire Hustle – San Francisco Bath House, 8:30pm, $30–$35 Reggae by TKO – The Front Room, 7pm, $30–$65 Chow Down – Chow Tory, 10pm MarineVille / The Flying Sorcerers / Intergalactic Zoo – Mighty Mighty, 9:30pm, $5 Jane Keller – St James Theatre, 6:30pm, Free The Neil Billington Blues Band – The Lido Cafe, 8:30pm, Free Kapabal’s Album Release Party – No Rest – 7 Bar, Upper Hutt, 10:30pm, Free Zombie Ball – Rimutaka Tavern, Upper Hutt, 8pm, $5
SUNDAY 25
Jess Chambers – Desire Album Release Tour – San Francisco Bath House, 8pm, $20 Ma Shot Pa – D4 on Featherston, 8pm, Free Paddy Burgin & The Wooden
Box Band – St James Theatre, 3:00pm, Free
NELSON / TASMAN WEDNESDAY 21
Alizarin Lizard – Mad As a March Hare Tour – Tap Ale House & Restaurant, Waimea, 9pm, Free
THURSDAY 22
Alizarin Lizard – Mad As a March Hare Tour – Baby G’s Lounge, Nelson, 9pm, $10
FRIDAY 23
The Lizard Kings – Tribute to The Doors – Nelson School of Music, Nelson, 8pm, $25 An Evening with Don McGlashan – Theatre Royal, Nelson, 7pm, $49.50–$55
SATURDAY 24
The Lizard Kings – Tribute to The Doors – Nelson School of Music, Nelson, 9pm, $25 Amiria Grenell – Three Feathers Album Release Tour – The Playhouse, Waimea, 8pm, $10
MARLBOROUGH FRIDAY 23
Alizarin Lizard – Mad As a March Hare Tour – Dolce Bar & Restaurant, Blenheim, 9pm, $10
WEST COAST THURSDAY 22
Beyondsemble – Reefton Area School, Reefton, 7:30pm, $5–$20
FRIDAY 23
Beyondsemble – Donovan’s Store, Franz Josef, 7:30pm
SUNDAY 25
Beyondsemble – NBS Theatre, Westport, 2:30pm, $15–$20
CANTERBURY TUESDAY 20
Beyondsemble – Geraldine Cinema, Geraldine, 7:30pm, $0–$20
WEDNESDAY 21
Arts on Tour presents Beyondsemble – Ashburton Art Gallery, Ashburton, 7pm, $18–$20
THURSDAY 22
Simon Comber – The Right to Talk to Strangers EP Release – The Brewery, 8pm, Free
Alastair Galbraith, Bruce Russell and A Handful of Dust – North Hagley Park Events Village, 7:30pm, $10 Black Velvet Band – Becks Southern Alehouse, 8pm, Free
FRIDAY 23
Christchurch Arts Festival – Fathers and Sons – North Hagley Park Events Village, 6:30pm, $20
SATURDAY 24
The Elegant Skull – Warehouse 206, 8pm, $7 Mel Parsons & the Rhythm Kings – Red Grey Blue Tour – Mt Olympus Ski Area, Hororata, 12pm, Free Christchurch Arts Festival – Fathers and Sons – North Hagley Park Events Village, 10:00pm, $20 Alizarin Lizard – Mad As a March Hare Tour – The Strawberry Tree, Kaikoura, 9pm, $10
SUNDAY 25
Mel Parsons & the Rhythm Kings – Red Grey Blue Tour – The Blue Pub, Methven, 8pm, $30 Christchurch Arts Festival – Mike Nock Trio – North Hagley Park Events Village, 11am, $10
SATURDAY 24
Mountaineater & Left Or Right – Frozon & Freezor NZ Tour – ReFuel Bar, Dunedin, 9pm, $12–$15
SUNDAY 25
Lucy Wise and the B’Gollies – The Church, Dunedin, 7:30pm, $15–$20 Simon Comber – The Right to Talk to Strangers EP Release – Taste Merchants, Dunedin, 4pm, $5
SOUTHLAND THURSDAY 22
The Kposs Krackdown Hip Hop Night – Saints and Sinners, Invercargill, 10pm, Free
FRIDAY 23
Live and Loud Heartland Tour – Traffers, Gore, 8pm, Free
SATURDAY 24
Live and Loud Heartland Tour – South Sea Hotel, Stewart Island, 8pm, Free Southland Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame – Invercargill Workingmen’s Club, Invercargill, 7pm, $35
OTAGO WEDNESDAY 21
Goldie & MC LowQui – Revolver Bar, Queenstown, 9pm, $30
THURSDAY 22
Live and Loud Heartland Tour – Chicks Hotel, Dunedin, 8pm, Free The Word Alive (USA) with Alison Lake and This Seasons End – Revolver Bar, Queenstown, 9:30pm
FRIDAY 23
Agent Alvin – Eavesdrop & Grubby – Revolver Bar, Queenstown, 9:30pm, $5–$10 Friday Jazz Club – Les Alpes Restaurant, Queenstown, 7pm, Free Haunted Love – Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, 7:30pm, $5
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Rackets’ Six Sick Singles episodes will be up fortnightly from 26 September – check ’em out at rackets. co.nz – expect a cameo from David Farrier… Poor You Poor Me’s packed show at Lucha Lounge was off the hook! They’re recording next weekend with Bob Frisbee – Mean Girls channelled GG Allin and No Means No and High Society finished off the night at Lucha with their early-’80s post-punk groove… Graham Brazier interviewed by Hugh Sundae
This Friday and Saturday nights, Electric Wire Hustle and Little Bushman hold a two-night residency at San Francisco Bath House… On Sunday 30 October, Wellington Kapa Haka star and acclaimed soul singer Ria Hall celebrates the release of her self-titled EP with a performance at the Bath House – if you’re not familiar with the name, she was the woman who sang the national anthem at the RWC opening ceremony… Wellington one-man synth funk band D:UNK has just released his debut self-titled EP… The local burlesque dancing craze continues with ‘Flagrante’, running till this Saturday at the St James Theatre… Wellington favourite DJ Marek is now hosting ‘CHOW DWN’, a weekly Saturday club night at Chow Tory on Tory Street… If you haven’t popped past Little Beer Quarter in Edward Street or Tap Haus on Victoria Street yet, do yourself a favour and drop by – serious boutique beer enthusiasts have never had it
The Transistors wowed ’em at Going Global in Auckland and finished the night making a very drunken video in a shower with a member of Street Chant back at their hotel room… T54 have signed to Flying Nun as announced by Roger Shepherd at the 30 th anniversary announcement last week… A charity show this Friday at the Brewery features the Transistors, Doctors, Magic Eye and more… The UCSA’s Battle of the Bands features Lupus Luna, the Shayna King Band, Ponzi, Jimmy Leigh, Hellhound and more… Harbour Union are up Wellington way this week… Unfaithful Ways’ debut is out soon, and they played a sold-out show at the Arts Centre recently.
Poor You Poor Me post-Silver Scrolls was priceless – watch it online… Doug Jerebine is making noises with his new World Band with no songs under 20 minutes – expect his unreleased 1969 album out on Drag City later in the year… Research for the Skeptics doco is in full swing with video, film and audio clips being located in all types of nooks and crannies… PineappleHead (ex Brainslaves) are doing stuff in Sydney… Decortica have made the official video for the Weta Workshop horror The Devil’s Rock… New Checks album out November with dates nationwide soon to be announced… Trash Can Duo (half of the Cavemen) ripped it up at the Black Heart on K Road in the weekend while crazed Irish rugby fans followed the fan trail to Eden Park… Murray Cammick has reported back on Sarge’s Pies in Britomart – they have a fancy caravan but are only selling an above average factory pie for $5 – but he says their pies are bigger than the competition at Party Central on Queens Wharf that also sell for $5… Stuntman/musician/ inventor Chris Stapp has made it to 40 and has an exhibition coming up on Friday 7 October at a pop-up gallery on 153 Newton Road – happy birthday Chris!
The Unfaithful Ways’ Marlon Williams a TK Hustle’s Mar Electric Wire
so good in the capital… On Saturday 24 September, Southern Cross Bar hosts its monthly Vinyl Club record fair. Kicking off at lunchtime, the fair boasts over 10 traders and thousands of records of all genres… October 5–8 sees this year’s edition of the Frederick Street Sound and Light Exploration Society’s annual Fredstock, their festival of colourful music. Over 22 acts will perform during the festival… Local soul diva Bella Kalolo has just released her debut album Without The Paper… Beastwars sold out of the vinyl versions of their album and are considering a second pressing.
Hunting Bears shooting debut video this weekend… Honeybone in the studio, but will the album be finished?... Mountaineater’s Invercargill show attracted a strong faithful crowd of 100+… Monkey Killer Records’ (Dunedin’s vinylonly record label) third birthday matinee show is coming up with Mountaineater, Operation Rolling Thunder, Idiot Prayer and Conray… Anti-RWC gig at ReFuel on Friday 23 September with Simon McLaren’s Psychic Maps, Doyleys, Gold Medal Famous and Chris Matthews’ Death By Silo… Opposite Sex mixing nearly done and video in the pipeline.
RED HOT CHILLI PIPERS Friday 30 September – Vector
Arena, Auckland Saturday 1 October – Town Hall, Dunedin Sunday 2 October – Revolver Bar, Queenstown Tuesday 4 October – The VenueMusicbar, Christchurch
FLYING NUN CELEBRATES 30 YEARS
PORTISHEAD Thursday 10 November – Vector Arena, Auckland
Flying Nun announced Nunvember (that’s the unofficial name for it) at Auckland’s Golden Dawn last Thursday (check out the photos in this week’s issue) with shows all over the place from new and old Nunsters alike – go to flyingnun.co.nz for all the details and watch out for a VOLUME Flying Nun special issue.
MONO
Saturday 1 October – Kings Arms, Auckland
MULATU ASTATKE & THE BLACK JESUS EXPERIENCE Friday 25 November – The Powerstation
EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY Thursday 15 December – San
JOHN WATERS
Holy dog shit! We’re excited about the King of Trash coming to these shores for two spoken word shows which include a Q&A from the floor – see this week’s Stuff and Nonsense for a chance to win a double pass to John Waters’ Auckland Wellington shows. His interview with Kim Hill defining a ‘brojob’ was priceless, not to mention having Hill talking about shoplifting – go to radionz.co.nz/ saturday for the full audio… and if you haven’t seen it in a while, rent out Hairspray!
Francisco Bath House, Wellington Friday 16 December – Kings Arms, Auckland
DEAN WAREHAM PLAYS GALAXIE 500
Friday 14 October – Bodega, Wellington Thursday 20 October – Kings Arms, Auckland
FRENZAL RHOMB
Friday 28 October – Bodega, Wellington Saturday 29 October – Kings Arms, Auckland
FLEET FOXES Friday 13 January – Hunter Lounge, Wellington Saturday 14 January – Town Hall, Auckland
RUMOURS
Looking good for December, Mr Kurt Vile – and the return of Deerhoof around New Year’s.
FLYING NUN 30TH ANNIVERSARY LAUNCH W/ F IN MATH & POPSTRANGERS
GOLDEN DAWN, AUCKLAND THURSDAY 15 SEPTEMBER Photography Amos Chapple
F In Math’s Michael Logie
Roger Shephe rd
Popstrangers
SUPER VILLAINS THE KINGSLANDER, AUCKLAND THURSDAY 15 SEPTEMBER Review Kit Walker Photography Nick Kingstone
ARE SUPER VILLAINS New Zealand’s first masked hip hop group? Masked rock’n’rollers are right up there with midget rockers, Black punks and one-man bands. From Kiss to The Mummies, Blowfly to DOOM, there’s something about a masked musician. Arriving just as they were starting, I peered through the smoke and dim lights to see Piata Turei (AKA Sweaty Tooth MadMan), issuing rallying calls from stage right in some indecipherable tongue. Joining him were four other chaps resplendent in masks swiped from the set of Zorro. There was something rather appealing about the guys on stage coming across like the Howard Morrison Quartet
“... COMING ACROSS LIKE THE HOWARD MORRISON QUARTET ON SPEED.” on speed. Mid-way through the set members of the crowd were even given their own masks so they could partake in the SV malarkey. Musically it was a welcome throwback to the mid-’90s boom bap of Das EFX and Gravediggaz. I found myself nodding along to these modern day Beagle Boys as they whipped the
Super Villain
crowd into shape – but, after trying different parts of the room, I realised I couldn’t make out a word all night (neither could the soundman). First time at The Kingslander downstairs and, aside from the RWC paraphernalia, it felt like the right destination for a show like this. All hail the masked crusaders.
THE BUSINESS STREET POSTER 2COL NUCHCH_THE BUSINESS STREET POSTER 2COL NUCHCH 30/08/2011 09:24 Page 1
NEW ZEALAND TOUR
NOVEMBER 2011 PLUS GUESTS
UNEDIN D B U L C S N A E MUSICI USIC BAR CHCH H T V O N WED 02 NOV THE VENUE M NGTON THURS 03 NOV BODEGA WELLI UCKLAND FRI 04 THE KINGS ARMS AL GROOVY RECORDS(W(AKELL)L), ORDS Z, REA V SAT 05 NO TICKETS FROM UNDERCTH4ERCOAFFDAEER.C(COH.NCH),ANSDLOCOWSMBOICATCORRECNER (DUNEDIN)
GOING GLOBAL AUCKLAND
W/ COLLAPSING CITIES, THE SAMI SISTERS, ZOWIE, THE VIETNAM WAR, GHOST WAVE, BANG BANG ECHE!, THE STEREO BUS, SETH HAAPU, THE TRANSISTORS & COMPUTERS WANT ME DEAD SHED 10, QUEENS WHARF, AUCKLAND MONDAY 12 SEPTEMBER Photography Nick Kingstone
The Transistors
The Stereo Bus
Zowie
The Vietnam War
Seth Haapu
GOING GLOBAL WELLINGTON W/ BEASTWARS, CAIRO KNIFE FIGHT, GLASS VAULTS, IVA LANKUM, THE EVERSONS & FAMILY CACTUS WHAREWAKA, WELLINGTON WATERFRONT WEDNESDAY 14 SEPTEMBER Photography Shaun Jones
nku Iva La
Cairo Knife Fight
Family Cactus
m Beastwars