31 2012 #0 17 APRIL
BIA AND A R A E C N RE INE – LAW M O T K C BA
D A RECOR E K A M E VOLUM
HING – TIMING IS EVERYT Y N PA M CO CE N A N TONO AND THE FI
NICE TO SEE YA, WOULDN’T WANT TO BE YA – REMEMBERING DYLAN TAITE
Hugh’s was a Browns Bay-bought Slippery When Wet LP he picked up in 1986; mine was a seven-inch copy of Madonna’s ‘Into the Groove’ purchased from the EMI Shop in downtown Auckland in ’85. Truth be told, I’d like to say the first record I bought was Split Enz’s Waiata, the one piece of vinyl in my parents’ collection I claimed as my own – but I didn’t put down pocket money for that one, so Ms Ciccone it’s going to have to be. WHETHER IT WAS a slab of shellac, an eight-track cartridge, a CD, or that first Napster download, debut music purchases mark moments in time. I can reassemble details in my mind based on music acquisitions alone – where I was, what I was digging for, what I chanced upon. And that thrill of the dig – in dusty record bins or digitally – ain’t going anywhere. That’s why, in celebration of Record Store Day this Saturday and Barkers’ 40 th birthday, VOLUME releases its very own piece of vinyl this week, pressed up at Los Angeles’ Rainbo Records, with two brand new songs from our cover star, Lawrence Arabia. Read on to find out how to get your hands on a very limited edition copy of these seven-inch beauties. Because your turntable’s not dead.
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EDITOR: Sam Wicks sam.wicks@volumemagazine.co.nz WEB EDITOR: Hugh Sundae hugh.sundae@nzherald.co.nz DEPARTMENT OF VOLUME SALES: Brad Morgan brad.morgan@apn.co.nz DESIGN: Xanthe Williams WRITERS: Marty Duda, Duncan Greive, Jessica Hansell, Terence Hogan, Peter McLennan, Joe Nunweek, Slug, Hugh Sundae, Anthonie Tonnon, Dan Trevarthen, Aaron Yap ILLUSTRATION: Lopeti Tu’itahi PHOTOGRAPHERS: Ted Baghurst, Dallas Pickering, Milana Radojcic, Jenna Todd, Simon Wilson AN APN PUBLICATION
THE DHDFD’s’ SCOTT BROWN Your debut album French Fries was engineered and mixed by Kody Nielson. How does it feel to work with a musician whose music you grew up on? I’ve just started to grow up – and listening to Coast FM 99.6 per cent of my time has something to do with this. I started watching Mint Chicks in 2005 or 2006, and watching them had some part in me wanting to be in a band… punk’s not dead. French Fries clocks in at just over 30 minutes. Why the breakneck pace? I’d get bored if I was listening to an album longer than 30 minutes. James King can only shred so much before his guitar melts, so that was also a major factor. VOLUME’s seen some wild DHDFD’s shows. What’s been the wildest? The wildest was when I played a 40-gallon oil drum with my face. I think that show made all the people think I was crazy and weird. I’m not crazy, just weird – chur. You’ve got the name of your hometown Pt Chevalier tattooed on your lip. Give us your top five things to do in Pt Chev… 1: Visit our two-star beach; 2: Sushi in the arcade; 3: Get your windscreen washed at the main intersection from Connor and his missus; 4: Drive from Pt Chev to Manukau and get “Pt Chev” tattooed on your lip; 5: Put on a backpack and walk around Unitec during study hours; 6: Come to my house and buy a DHDFD’s record. That’s six – I only work in sixes. It took the band seven years to unleash French Fries. Will we get the second album sooner? We released French Fries on Good Friday – if I don’t release a new album by Xmas I’ll turn vegetarian. We’ve already got seven or so new songs, so we only need a few more. If this plan fails, I’ll just remaster and reissue French Fries every year… if the world doesn’t end in 2012. The DHDFD’s debut album French Fries is out now on Hell Is Now Love.
In celebration of Record Store Day and Barkers’ 40th birthday, Barkers and VOLUME have teamed to release a very limited number of seven-inch records from Lawrence Arabia. For details on how to get your hands on a copy, check out the Lawrence Arabia cover story in this week’s issue. We’ve also got a Barkers prize pack which includes a Lawrence Arabia seven-inch, a pair of Barkers 40 th Anniversary beers (brewed by Epic), a copy of 1972 magazine, plus some classic Barkers tracksuit pants. For a chance to win, answer this question: How many changing rooms did Barkers’ flagship 200 Queen St store have when it opened in the late ’70s? Answers to loot@volumemagazine.co.nz.
LOPETI TU’ITAHI – HOOK UPS ILLUSTRATOR I came up on anime – the first one was Dragon Ball Z, and once I starting watching that I wanted to learn how to draw in that style. Before that I was big on Western-style Marvel comics, but Dragon Ball Z changed everything, and I started studying all these anime comics and DVDs that my cousin had. Everything I do is selftaught, so I just felt it out. And I think that was an advantage ’cause you don’t get that “whether you’re right or wrong” thing – you’re just doing what you think is best. Coco Solid is my brother’s girlfriend’s sister – I heard about Hook Ups and emailed her some work. Coco gave me some of Kowhai and Monty’s background and then I came up with my own version of them. Each week she emails me a script and some guidelines – just her ideas of what the pictures should look like and the framing. It’s been really cool coming up with my own interpretation of their characters but keeping their story there.
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Minneapolis, Minnesota hip hop outfit Atmosphere play San Francisco Bath House in Wellington on Wednesday 2 May, and The Studio in Auckland on Thursday 3 May.
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The noise was the first thing that got you. Then the chemical smell. It was like going to a party full of actors. I’d expected Rainbo Records – the LA pressing plant where this Lawrence Arabia seveninch was made – to be much smaller. A “backyard boffin in a garage” scenario. If you watch the video Sam and I shot there (and you should) you’ll see how wrong I was. It definitely didn’t seem like vinyl is dying in that factory.
be surprised if it actually had featured on one of those education children’s shows. How nostalgic. It’s hard to come over all nostalgic when I think about vinyl. I still remember the Saturday morning in 1986 when I caught the 839 (45c) to Browns Bay to buy my first ever record. I’ve forgotten the name of the shop (I even asked on Facebook) but not the name of the album.
ACTUALLY IT DOESN’T really seem like vinyl is dying anywhere. Despite this there always seems to be a story on the news every couple of years about how vinyl is making some sort of comeback. Comeback from what? Our host – the wonderfully named Rick Lepore – was generous with his time and had a voice so soothing I could have listened to it for at least 18 minutes. It was a voice that could put babies to sleep. Like a stoned Marty Duda with undertones of Morgan Freeman. It was the antithesis of the pressing plant on the other side of about five doors where industrial pressing machines fought to be heard over all the others. It was still like
being at a party full of actors. Actually, the more I think about it, Rick Lepore narrating the history of Rainbo Records may have made a great seven-inch for us to give away too. Not to take anything away from Lawrence. His new album (a song from which represents three-and-a-half of those seven inches) is completely fucking awesome. I’ve heard it, don’t you know. Touring the factory felt like watching one of those videos you’d see as a kid about how things get made – was it The Electric Company? Or Sesame Street? Lots of close-up shots of robotic arms and presses. Given how long Rainbo Records has been around and that it is in LA I wouldn’t
“There always seems to be a story on the news every couple of years about how vinyl is making some sort of comeback. Comeback from what?”
It was Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet. Two sides of dripping rock music that sat nicely on the fence between going too far and not far enough. I wish I still had that piece of vinyl. I would have taken it to my Richie Sambora interview last year to get signed, but based on his reaction to me even telling him it was the first album I ever bought, I’d probably have come away disappointed. Still though, at least I have this Lawrence Arabia seven-inch to have and hold. If only I had a record player.
presents
CAMERON BENNETT
The late, great New Zealand music journalist Dylan Taite put his body on the line to get a scoop, going above and beyond to secure classic interviews with the likes of Bob Marley, Lou Reed and the Sex Pistols. Ahead of the 2012 Taite Music Prize which will be awarded in Auckland on Friday, Taite’s son John Taite and long-time friend and colleague Cameron Bennett talked about the man’s enduring legacy and the lengths he’d go to get the story. Photography Ted Baghurst JOHN TAITE: What’s really nice about [the Taite Music Prize] is people are starting to talk about it as if it’s, ‘I wonder what’s going to happen with the Taite Music Prize this year?’ CAMERON BENNETT: And it’s great that Dylan’s name is attached to this, for the legacy lives on. When [Independent Music New Zealand] first approached [the Taite family] and said they said they had this idea for something like the Mercury Prize in London that was going to be about artistic merit rather than sales and they wanted to use Dad’s name for it, I was thought, ‘What a brilliant thing – I wish I came up with it myself’. I was just musing on a couple of things before coming here – one of the things that really interests me about Dylan and contemporary music was he was always big on the idea that pop music should be disposable music; it’s three minutes and it’s there and then it’s gone. And you have your moment. And that’s enough for it. And he was very much like that. That was because in many ways that was what it was like for him – he was very passionate about what he loved at that particular moment, be it The White Stripes or Darcy Clay or you name it. He loved it, he wanted to consume it
all, he wanted to know everything about it, and then there’d be something else new right around the corner. And I always used to say, ‘What are your favourite albums?’ and he would struggle with it. He liked particular things and particular phases, but I think music was really a moment in time for him. Yeah, and he wouldn’t commit to genres, would he? No, he would hardly commit to anything. It was frustrating for me when I was growing up with him in many ways because I would be passionate – probably not very hip at the time for him. You know, The Smiths or The Cure – I used to have this huge phase of The Cure – and he’s already moved on from that. He was always, ‘Yeah, but have you heard this thing that’s coming out
“He would say, ‘Hey, I’ve got to get an interview with Jack White’, and Jack would be, ‘Hey Dylan, yeah, great to see you – come on in’.” – JOHN TAITE next week? I’ve got a pre-release and it’s going to be fantastic’. That high excitement, that energy for the new, wasn’t it? Exactly. He had this amazing thing – when he was doing the celebrity interviews, and he would always get them first. Do you remember? Yeah. His method was, he said, ‘I get to the airport early’. So the flights would all
presents
JOHN TAITE
– it was ridiculous, pompous. Anyway, arrive in at 5am and he’d be there – no she completely ignored a question – off one else was. she went. And Dylan said, ‘Hey, you He’d do that airport run and then know, we should go talk to that kid who’s he’d try and get something cut for six o’clock, and then he’d do a longer piece sitting there who obviously wants an autograph’. And that’s what she wanted for Nightline when he was at TV3 or – an autograph on her guitar from Alanis the late news on TV1, and then he’d be right up the next day again – he had this Morissette. We turned this into a story where we finally had an interview with energy. For him, the thrill of the chase Alanis and I asked her about this kid – of getting that interview or beating the ‘Well, how come you ignored… this was a Holmes programme – he used to love nothing more than beating Paul Holmes, fan, she’d hitchhiked up from Nelson and you completely blanked her – why?’ This ’cause Paul Holmes apparently had an exclusive, but nobody was willing to get snowballed a bit and became a bit of a stunt on bringing the fan to meet Alanis – up that early and he was and he’d go the fan turned out to be Anika Moa. It’s an out and he’d do it. interesting story. He would – he’d get out there and he’d Yeah, but that I think is… ask the question, and often it was the only sound-grab of the tour with whoever it was. Very Dylan. I think the other thing that he was – and Yeah, very Dylan. this goes back into the whole “being ahead of the bounce and thinking about what’s around the corner” – is he would get to people first before they were big and he’d make that relationship connection. You know, he used to see The White Stripes when they were playing a small place like The Dogs Bollix, and Dad legacy uring the made that connection and Prize hono riday at the c si u M e it F he knew those guys, and then The 2012 Ta will be awarded on s are ite s nominee forever more he would say, of Dylan Ta Auckland. This year’ astwars’ e B , e id iv in c Tales D ‘Hey, I’ve got to get an interview ti rc Q Theatre ’s So A e r h S fo eoghan ose Tint, with Jack White’, and Jack would be, Andrew K llas’ The R sters, a n o D M d vi e a th D , All n ‘Hey Dylan, yeah, great to see you – Beastwars Bats’ Free d Unknow ircles, The For Sea an t n a e come on in’. Every single artist – you . M Rad’s In C ra re st Some We rtal Orche can go to Darcy Clay when he was a Tiny Ruins’ stra’s Unknown Mo e h rc O panelbeater or Hayley Westenra when Mortal she was busking in malls or on Queen St. To listen to the full audio of He was just interested in all of it. That Cameron Bennett and John Tait airport thing – I remember one time him e in conversation, head to nzheral and I were doing this story for 60 Minutes d.co.nz/ volume – live from 2pm Tuesda and it was on Alanis Morissette, and y. we went to the airport at 5am and we were the only crew there, and Beck’s has worked with local there’s one other supporter – a artists and up-and-coming designers to create special labe kid off to the side with her guitar. ls inspired by musicians, and the limited edition bottles So we approached Alanis, she’s available in bars and specially marked packs are the surrounded by bodyguards going result of this project. through an empty Auckland Airport
The cover of Tono and the Finance Company’s debut full-length has Anthonie Tonnon in the window seat of a plane, face obscured as he gazes, perhaps worryingly, outside. The cover is particularly fitting for the album inside – Up Here for Dancing is an album particularly focused on Auckland, but written by a relative newcomer to the isthmus. Text Dan Trevarthen Photography Milana Radojcic FIRST COMING TO prominence as a Dunedin band, Tono and the Finance Company caught your ear by writing witty local narratives with an eye for detail. But those details seemed set either in the provinces or the South Island. All along, songwriter Tonnon says he kept “falling in love with girls from other places”. Realising it was part of a wider problem, he headed for Auckland early in 2010. “I booked a flight for 1 January, which just happened to be really cheap, because no one wants to take the hungover New Year’s Day flight. I went and saw my girlfriend who dumped me as soon as I got to Auckland, then I stayed with a friend while looking for a flat. Everything in Auckland was really hitting the ground running up until just after Camp A Low Hum, which is when I got the letter about the flat. And that’s when I first experienced what I’m starting to experience now – my first Auckland autumn.” Auckland as the gloss comes off – that’s a good place to start this chapter. Getting kicked out of his Grey Lynn flat was a catalyst for writing ‘Marion Bates Realty’, a scathing, scarcely disguised and familiar tale of getting kicked out of your flat. It’s probably the catchiest thing the band’s ever done. “Marion, it must be great to be a real estate agent/ You decide who’s good enough for the street/ And that’s not me,” he croons before the wordless hook and rolling bass line send you flying forward again. At one point he’s extolling the virtues of his house to prospective renters: “It’s a pretty nice house/ It’s really close to the Foodtown”, but he puts the song to bed sarcastically wishing Bates a nice sleep. Its content is indicative of a wider lyrical trend on Up Here for Dancing. It’s Auckland seen from that gray area occupied by musicians, somewhere between middle class and stone-cold broke. Tonnon succinctly calls it “moonlighting with the middle class”.
The album talks about living in a Grey Lynn flat, going to gallery openings, being a socially aware young man, getting too drunk to care about eating ethically and other such perils of being age 23. One poignant moment appears in ‘Eating Biscuits’ where Tonnon imagines a brighter future with some level of financial comfort. The catch is, he’s looking back and rueing the abandonment of artistic pursuits. Today though, he’s feeling pretty good about Auckland and the future. “There’s just enough hot air in Auckland to make things exciting. In Dunedin there is none. You’re making records and you know that you want to be a musician fulltime eventually and you know that you’ll want to
“what is ‘up here for dancing’? How do you do that? Being in a plane is kinda like that – you can’t really dance on a plane.” – ANTHONIE TONNON
tour overseas and stuff, but nothing happens. You make your record, maybe you send it out to get it reviewed and stuff and then you’ll go back to whatever you’re doing in Dunedin and nothing will change. Things are straight up and realistic down there,” he says. “It’s a lot different to up here, where a few of the people I play in bands with have toured overseas. There’s a wonderful sense of possibility in Auckland – even though in reality it might be just as hard to do things, because you see other people doing them it looks a lot more possible.” And some of those possibilities are coming to fruition. A set opening for US indie stars Beruit shone more light on a band that’s quietly hitting its straps. The record itself was cut in 11
days of crisp Dunedin winter with Tex Houston (The 3D’s, The Clean). It was something of merging of Tonnon’s two worlds, bringing Aucklanders Jonathan Pearce and Stuart Harwood together with Dunedin collaborators Chris Miller, Logan Valentine, Rainy McMaster and Paul Cathro. The songs had been fine-tuned over countless Whammy and Wine Cellar sets, during which Tonnon developed into a dedicated vocalist after beginnings on guitar/vocals. Admitting that the songs didn’t come across so well as a threepiece, it’s been a welcome change, one that’s allowed him to concentrate purely on singing and getting across those delightfully specific lyrics. “The way I watch a three-piece band is I’m listening for cool guitar sounds and a great vocal melody. I’m not listening for lyrics at all because I’m not expecting any. But when you take the guitar away from the frontman, you subconsciously start listening to the lyrics. As a frontman you’ve got to learn how to inhabit those characters, but now you’ve got your whole body to do that. It took me a long time to learn how to do it, but I think it’s really made a difference. “And there are little things that help – you can get a really long lead and stand on the other side of Whammy Bar and actually hear what you sound like.” And what does Up Here for Dancing sound like? “The record’s not an easy record to dance to – what I write doesn’t tend to lend itself to that. But, y’know, what is ‘up here for dancing’? How do you do that? Being in a plane is kinda like that – you can’t really dance on a plane.” Tono and The Finance Company might not be dance music, but they’re guaranteed to coax a few synapses into shaking a leg. Tono and the Finance Company’s Up Here for Dancing is out now on Bones and Wood.
Each week Duncan Greive performs some low grade analysis on the week’s New Zealand Singles Chart and reviews a few new release pop singles. To submit or suggest a track for review tweet @duncangreive or email sam.wicks@volumemagazine.co.nz.
Isaac Hindin-Miller
KEEP ON CALLING
The chart has a very settled air at the moment, with the top six only swapping places among themselves, while the top spot is still held by the aroused exhortations of ‘Call Me Maybe’, which so enraptured fashion bloggers Isaac Hindin-Miller and Katherine Lowe that they’ve made a tribute video to the Bieber/Gomez/Tisdale unofficial clip, featuring a sea of local models. It’s pretty cute, and testament to how a serious pop song can just grab the world by its throat in a way that Guetta and Flo Rida just aren’t going to do. The bloggers’ clip has had 4000 views in just a few days, and while there has been typical Twitter snark, that’s a number which beats out most NZ On Air-funded clips, and suggests that the majority find the song and the weird obsession it’s generating pretty great. Anyway – it’s an otherwise very quiet week, just a shitty new B.o.B. song to avoid. Do that and you’ll be fine – the music is on the up right now.
RIANZ TOP 10 NEW ZEALAND SINGLES CHART 1 Carly Rae Jepsen – ‘Call Me Maybe’ 2 Nicki Minaj – ‘Starships’
3 Fun. ft. Janelle Monae – ‘We Are Young’ 4 Chris Rene – ‘Young Homie’
5 Havana Brown – ‘We Run the Night’ 6 Justin Bieber – ‘Boyfriend’ 7 Taylor Swift – ‘Eyes Open’
8 Cher Lloyd – ‘Want U Back’ 9 Katy Perry – ‘Part of Me’
10 Rihanna – ‘Where Have You Been?’
SINGLE OF THE WEEK THE GOSSIP – ‘Perfect World’ From unlikely beginnings, as a scrappy Arkansas punk-soul band on labels like K Records and Kill Rock Stars, The Gossip have swollen in their sound and vision over the past decade to become the rarest of beasts: a legit band played on commercial radio with no hint of compromise in their sound. I’ve always felt like Beth Ditto is the best singer in the world when she wants to be, reaching down into a pit of anger and lust, and her band have kept rolling to the point where musically, this is basically tough disco. ‘Perfect World’ is an anthem like ‘Heavy Cross’, but if anything larger and more gripping – intense, emotionally taut, pounding pop music. Perfect.
OPOSSUM – ‘Blue Meanies’ It’s a little worrying to think that Opossum might get subsumed to the interests of Unknown Mortal Orchestra, in the light of Kody Nielson’s drumming for his brother Ruban’s band. The post-Mint Chicks projects of each are both fantastic, but UMO are clearly further down the conveyer belt, particularly in the US. Opossum’s debut Electric Hawaii has been pushed out, and it’d be easy for them to become perceived as a side-project, a curiosity. That would be entirely unfair to Opossum’s music though, which is comfortably the equal of UMO’s, and ‘Blue Meanies’ might be the best song out of either side to date – a swooning psych-pop nugget, but one which manages to bring that chemically-altered serenity to a very modern sound, courtesy of a beat and bassline which flows mercilessly throughout. LENO LOVECRAFT FT. GREATEST HITS – ‘Scandalous’ A throwback gem, part of that ’80s revival set which won’t truck any attempt to modernise the sound. Which means this is painfully thin, but the solos and fidgety beat elevate it to the most lovable kind of pastiche. Simon Ward’s video is outstanding, too, imagining a Holograms-esque Asian girlband powering this out, which feels exactly right. NICKI MINAJ FT. 2 CHAINZ – ‘Beez in the Trap’ Nicki Minaj is operating at a very high level right now, not so much over album length, where it starts to feel a little wearying. But on a single the elasticity of her voice and the sheer joy in the sound of her words is beyond infectious – she’s maybe the best in the game at the short form. ‘Beez in the Trap’ is on a popping, druggy beat, the early highlight of her bananas new LP Roman’s Revenge. Minaj takes it gully and street level here, and destroys 2 Chainz, who sounds like he’s under the misapprehension that this is a candy floss r’n’b tune. But against Minaj, no one really stands a chance right now. DRAKE FT. RIHANNA – ‘Take Care’ If you don’t have Drake’s Take Care, the album, sort it out – it’s the best, most ambitious hip hop album of the last year or so. And the title track is utterly perfect – hushed, romantic r’n’b with none of the overt sexuality which has been a big part of recent Rihanna. That stuff ’s great too, of course, but it’s nice to hear her back in this kind of territory too, as this is basically a Rihanna song with Drake cameo-ing. The production, a barely touched adaptation of a Jamie XX and Gil Scott-Heron song, is the true star – soft, supple, emotionally resonant piano. It will play forever.
TONO’S TOP FIVE BUDGET-FRIENDLY AUCKLAND LUNCH SPOTS
Up Here for Dancing (Bones and Wood) WHILE HIS FIRST two EPs were alternately about love and economics and the fragile New Zealand male, Tono’s latest can easily be summed up as his Auckland record, and its contents should be immediately recognisible as such. He’s kicked out of a Grey Lynn flat in the barnstorming ‘Marion Bates Realty’, drinks at gallery openings and has a crush on the same K Rd bartender that we all do. It rings true, and it knows it, especially when ‘Skinny Jeans’ starts off stating, “If there was a movie/ About the 2000s/ This would be a scene/ You’re staring in my eyes/ And trying to pull off my skinny jeans/ But they’re too skinny”. His sound has been developing along the way, occasionally showing the jagged edge of The Pixies or the discordant clumsiness of Pavement, and here it’s become heavier and more adept. But it’s the lyrical details which are its greatest CAVEMAN Coco Beware (Magic Man) The Strokes’ layabout alleles eventually split down the middle and made two sorts of offspring – one set of louchely aggressive, lizard-like garage-rockers (see: Howler) and one set of floral shirt-clad reverbed beach bums (see: Beach Fossils, these guys). I find the thicker, hi-fi sound here pretty refreshing. The rimshots of ‘A Country’s King of Dreams’ click like some Caribbean version of The Walkmen; ‘My Time’ recasts ‘Hard to Explain’ as a compact haiku. LUCERO Women & Work (ATO) Women? Work? Both these things are sooo stressful! Thanks Lucero, I hoped someone would have the temerity to address each of these on-thebutton 2K12 concerns with an old-timey honkytonk piece of Rolling Stones mimicry and now they have. SHOOTER JENNINGS Family Man (Black Country Rock) Shooter Jennings doesn’t really resemble father Waylon in terms of a particularly extraordinary or grave croon, but he does in terms of the shitkicking outlaw country attitude (ie: these tracks won’t get orthodox
strength and flaw. Choruses sum things up beautifully, but there’s a lot to be said for a dumb chorus amongst eloquent verse. Whether that would still sound like Tono and the Finance Company, who knows, but the combined narrative, and stupid wordless hook of ‘Marion Bates’ is the most winning moment here. In a loose sense, Up Here for Dancing is a record by and about someone poor enough to skimp on groceries, always with just enough to drink, smart enough to write an intelligent record like this, dumb enough to dare hope to earn a crust from it. And if that rings a bell, you ought to listen to it. Review Dan Trevarthen
Nashville radio play). Splits its difference between stately trad country (‘The Deed and the Dollar’) and stuff that, fascinatingly, is both more progressive and profane (‘The Long Road Ahead’). CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS Leaving Eden (Nonesuch) African-American three-piece make fiddle and banjo music that could easily be a creepy earnest timepiece of “simpler times” (ie: if you liked The Help, you’ll love this!) but is rescued by a fine female vocalist (Rhiannon Gidden) and moments where it ventures off the beaten track (the beatboxed percussion on ‘Ruby Are You Mad At Your Man’, the hip hop infusion to Gidden’s delivery on ‘Country Girl’). SINEAD O’CONNOR How About I Be Me (And You Be You)? (One Little Indian) An extraordinary return to focus and form from O’Connor – paradoxically, it comes on the back of the first prurient interest in her as a celebrity in a decade. Ignored and ostensibly happy, she dabbled in reggae cover albums – beleaguered by middle-age, tabloid bylines and a disintegrating marriage, she comes out swinging. The cathartic fury of ‘Take Off Your Shoes’ is the highlight here, but the rest is remarkably consistent.
1: Arch Hill Espresso, Great North Road – Kathryn could teach songwriters a lot with her sense of balance and invention. She uses just the right balance of juicy vegetables so she never has to overdo the sauces (the most common flaw with bakehouses). Look out for her chutneys, they are the business. 2: Busy Oven Bakery, Richmond Road – Best value in Auckland – we’re talking $2.90 for a real deal Vogel’s sandwich packed with veges and protein. Their main customers are me and the kids from St Pauls – all the adults are next door paying $12 for a handful of salad. Roast beef sandwich with brie and sweet relish for $3.50 is Ponsonby enough for me. 3: Bread Winner Bakery, Dominion Road – The amazing pies and pastries here are the fuel of Finance Company band practices. These easily rival your $8 pies from Kingsland, but at a price that lets you get a Nippy’s iced coffee as well. 4: The Mill Bakehouse, Titirangi – If you’re on your way to Piha, don’t let yourself get caught in the ranges without something from here. Get a chicken or vegetarian ciabatta with cream cheese and asparagus. There’s nothing like it for $5 anywhere. 5: Silverlake, Sandringham Road: If you’re like my Grandma and prefer the main course at lunch, this is where you’re going. These guys do all your classic fried rice, steamed rice and chow mein meals, but packed with real veges and mostly sub-$7.
THE BOMBAY ROYALE You Me Bullets Love (Hope Street Recordings) Melbournites produce Bollywood kitsch surf music, and it’s arguably more interesting for the way it conjures up the late ’90s than the late ’60s that its wah-wahed guitar and faux-crackle try to emulate. The sense of naïve, free-for-all play with cultural signifiers sort of recalls the myriad strange things that the Beastie Boys used to sign to Crown Royal, so I dig it. EVERY TIME I DIE Ex Lives (Epitaph) US metalcore stalwarts have a knack for more cryptic and interesting imagery than the rest of their ilk, all of whom’s lyrics can be distilled to “Blood in your honour loyalty/ Why-did-you-start-todrrriiinnnnnkYEAAAAGH!” Some of this is pretty dire monotonous stuff, but the frenetic highlights (‘Typical Miracle’, ‘Drag King’) are cool. THE BLACK SEEDS Dust and Dirt (The Black Seeds) Well, they’re changing things up – my previous encounters with The Black Seeds were all jaunty Wellington frat-dub. This is a bit slower and moodier and the title track makes me nostalgic for awkward sixth-form interactions with
girls where I would pretend to be into their Zero 7 CDs. Otherwise you know the drill. If you list “Live Music” in your interests on Facebook you have already bought this. THE CIVIL WARS Barton Hollow (Columbia) American folk duo is getting the re-release treatment in the wake of their breakthrough year that ended with a Taylor Swift collab for The Hunger Games soundtrack. It would be awesome to be mean about music like this but it’s calculated to be as inoffensive as possible, to the point that it doesn’t actually put a foot wrong. Jeer at ‘Poison and Wine’ as much as you like, but could you tailor anything as blatantly on-themoney for a teen-drama season finale? Didn’t think so. LOST IN THE TREES A Church That Fits Our Needs (Anti-) North Carolina “folk orchestra” are pretty serious and elaborate, and there has already been a narcoleptic glut of serious and elaborate music with folky origins in the past five years. Leaving that aside and trying to take this out of context, it’s a decent piece of work – the beatific stop-start of ‘Red’ gets that a little rhythm can really anchor this sort of stuff and take it out of the ordinary – try out ‘Tall Ceilings’ too. Reviews Joe Nunweek
VOLUME and Barkers are celebrating Record Store Day and Barkers’ 40 th birthday by releasing a free Lawrence Arabia single on the most vibrant and living format there is – seven-inch vinyl. And it’s a format that is dear to James Milne’s heart. Text Anthonie Tonnon Photography Simon Wilson Suit by Barkers WHEN I BOUGHT Lawrence Arabia’s first album in 2006, I picked it up at Real Groovy Dunedin, then one of four Real Groovy shops around the country. I grew up calling such places “CD stores”, and I truly believed vinyl was a dead relic of another time. Now VOLUME is making sure the kids know better these days. “This seven-inch we’re releasing is about having the same conversation you used to have at the record store counter but you can have on the internet now,” says James Milne. The water feature that is Auckland is in full force today and inside a Kingsland café I’m slowly drying and talking with Milne about music in Auckland before the internet had changed things as much as it would come to. You might think that having watched three Real Groovy branches disappear in the time it took to make as many albums would affect the way Milne thinks about his career. But, as he explains, his expectations were lean to begin with. “When I started making my own music, I think I already didn’t see myself as someone who would sign a record deal and have all of the advantages of record company money. I think I’d always seen some kind of selfdriven model as my thing anyway, and that has become more the norm than the exception.” There may have been more record stores, but Milne moved here from Christchurch in a stark time for guitar pop fans. In 2002, “chill out” music ruled the cafes and going out dancing meant going to a club. Until The Datsuns went to London and that Strokes album started getting listened to, guitar music could only be heard in the margins. “There was good music in that rock’n’roll scene, like The Datsuns and The D4, and more fringe-y bands
like The Brunettes, but they all had this thing like, ‘We’re retrogressive freaks in a futuristic society’. Of course it didn’t take long for that to totally change.” The society Milne is preparing his third album for is one where Bon Iver has replaced St Germain in cafes, and music for retrogressive freaks can slot comfortably into corporate culture. “There are so many acts now like the Tokey Tones – that sort of music, strong glockenspiel pervaded stuff, is the stuff that’s on bank ads now.” While first wave Lil’ Chief pop albums paid homage to the ‘60s in sound, they also pioneered the new processes of home computer recording. On his forthcoming album, Milne has looked to the lessons of the pre-digital era for the way he records. Exhausted by the infinite options of self-recording on Pro Tools, he chose to record the bones of the album live with friends Connan Hosford and Elroy Finn, leaving in the imperfections of live performance.
“This seven-inch we’re releasing is about having the same conversation you used to have at the record store counter.” – JAMES MILNE
“It’s not a romantic avowal of the past; I just decided to set myself up some restrictions in the way I produced it. There are so many records that I love the feel of, like [Neil Young’s] On the Beach – they’re with great players and they’re imperfect, but they’re a moment.” The first sessions were recorded in Surrey in the UK at the end of a long stint of touring in the US and Europe in 2010. Since late 2010 Milne has been based back in Auckland, recording overdubs for the record and getting into a rhythm of creative life which allows him the luxury of “distractions”. In just year and a half those have included acting and composing for the pilot of Uncle Bertie’s Botanarium, composing soundtracks for TV and film, and releasing the Fabulous/ Arabia album Unlimited Buffet with Mike Fabulous. “In a big city, it’s less likely you’re going to have time to form a side project or be in three or four bands at the same time, because if one of
your bands does well, then you’re just touring six months of the year. When I’ve been overseas, it’s just Lawrence Arabia – and I get sick of thinking about myself.” Despite this, Milne is looking forward to going on another extended overseas jaunt overseas later this year, and seems comfortable that his career may always work in periods of advance and retreat – neither living in New Zealand fulltime nor moving to the markets he tours in. “I’ll always understand New Zealand far better than anywhere else and I do think you should reply deeply to your own culture. I think if you [permanently move overseas] you can almost become odious to your own people. And I want to be a patriot.” The album was written on tour in a process Milne says was more methodical than his early output, partly because of the constraints of touring and partly due to the tougher inner critic that develops with age. Touring and ageing form the themes for side A of the seven-inch, ‘Lick Your Wounds’. It’s a song that Milne says could be about someone else, or himself imagined somewhere he doesn’t want to be in 10 years. I had imagined Lawrence Arabia as a mask that allowed Milne to speak in characters – whether the drunk teenager in ‘Look Like a Fool’ or the competitive men in ‘Fine Old Friends’. But Milne says while he is not a confessional writer, his stories are usually rooted in personal truths. “Both of those songs are actually quite truthful in a way. I feel more awkward about writing character songs because it feels disingenuous. But I mean I did (as he sings in ‘Look Like a Fool’) sleep by a fountain covered in my sick. That’s Christchurch – glory days.” For a chance to win a copy of Lawrence Arabia’s ‘Lick Your Wounds’/ ‘Perfect Specimens’ seven-inch celebrating Record Store Day and Barkers’ 40th birthday, make a purchase at any New Zealand record store this Saturday, mail your receipt to VOLUME PO Box 32 Auckland, and one of these very limited edition seven-inches could be yours. Viva la vinyl!
TAKES
BATTLESHIP Director Peter Berg
The Nectar Bar in Kingsland is hosting Takes: Short Films from Around the Globe, a short film series, every third Wednesday of the month. The next screening is Wednesday night from 7.30pm. For more info check out facebook.com/ TakesShortFilmFestival.
Starring Taylor Kitsch, Liam Neeson, Brooklyn Decker THE SIGNS WERE all there: it’s a bloody Hasbro board game, it looks exactly like Michael Bay’s shithouse Transformers movies, and it’s directed by actor-turned-hack Peter Berg (Hancock). Hell, even James Cameron said the very idea “degrades cinema”. Yet I foolishly held out hope for something decent, passable. Boy, lesson learnt. Battleship is as eye-gougingly awful and moronic as I initially suspected, an exquisite example of how to spend an obscene amount of money to produce... pure garbage. Had the film done something a little original with its alien invasion scenario, I’d be more forgiving, but as thought up by Berg and writers Erich and Jon Hoeber (Red), Battleship is like watching a collection of the worst moments from Battle: Los Angeles, Skyline, and the Transformers trilogy in one endurancetesting sitting. The plot has zip to
do with the game – okay, there are battleships, and there is some strategic combat involved – but it’s ultimately another deafening, exhausting excuse to show whirring extra-terrestrial machinery destroying things while gung-ho naval officers go “yee-har-let’skill-some-fucking-aliens” to AC/DC’s ‘Thunderstruck’. Dull stock characters abound: John Carter’s Taylor Kitsch is the screw-up who winds up in the captain’s chair and gets to prove himself; Liam Neeson is the gruff admiral whose sexy daughter (Brooklyn Decker) Kitsch is banging; Rhianna, in her feature acting debut, does the tough military chick thing usually reserved for Michelle Rodriguez. The occasional setpiece is inane enough to warrant a few laughs, but who am I kidding? This is a movie where super-advanced beings from outer space can’t even afford bulletproof glass on their ship. Review Aaron Yap
How’s this for a tantalising mystery: for over 25 years, someone’s been placing tiles on the streets of the US with the cryptic, seemingly nonsensical message “Toynbee Idea/In Kubrick’s 2001/ Resurrect Dead/On Planet Jupiter”. It’s captured the imagination of Philadelphia artist Justin Duerr, whose journey to unravel this Banksy-esque phenomenon is the subject of Jon Foy’s suitably obsessive doco Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles (Entertainment One). It’s an intriguing
trip, somehow stitching together a British historian, a David Mamet play and shortwave radio transmissions into a mind-expanding, oddly empathic piece of detective work.
SHORT REEL
Dieter Laser, star of The Human Centipede, is being sued by director Tom Six after refusing to reprise his role in the upcoming sequel. Roland Emmerich (Independence Day) is set to do bad stuff to the White House again with his next film, a thriller called White House Down. The script by James Vanderbilt was sold to Sony for US$3 mill and has been compared to a mix of Die Hard and Air Force One. News of The Hunger Games director Gary Ross exiting the director’s chair for the sequel Catching Fire may have been a little premature. There are rumours of salary squabbles but nothing has been confirmed yet as of writing.
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Terence Hogan recalls his memories of seeing Toy Love play live, smashed watermelon, broken glass, blood, sweat and all. Pics courtesy of Murray Cammick SOMETIME IN 1979, on the evening of the day that Toy Love recorded the single ‘Rebel/Squeeze’, the band played a student union dance on the North Shore. ‘Squeeze’ was still a fairly new song and they hadn’t played it often on stage, but they’d run through it a few times in the studio during the day. That night, in front of a handful of lethargic students whose ennui seemed to drain the room of all its energy,
the song sprung right up out of the band with an extraordinary elastic force that I remember vividly. It was as if, released from the constraints of the studio, they’d got a proper grip on the song for the first time and gleefully ridden it into the night. For me, ‘Squeeze’ would seldom sound this exciting again, but there were so many great songs and they would all have their moments, and many times over. Toy Love’s music always seemed to be in a constant state of being formed and reformed, songs would warp and twist with every playing. So, for all its undeniable power, it could seem unstable, almost fragile, threatening to burst out of its own skin, shards and globs all over the place – every gig was like another attempt to make
this strange creature hold together and live. At times it would only take off at a few unpredictable points, at others it would lift off immediately and roar through the air – an astonishingly compelling, unlikely flying thing full of dark folds and flashes of light. The best stuff was transcendent, and the near failures were so often funny or had the buzzy pathos of a crash site, you couldn’t look away. Those early performances at Auckland venues like Zwines, XS and especially the Windsor Castle sealed Toy Love’s reputation and set a benchmark that would challenge the band throughout its brief lifetime. They were still new, like a baby, but raw as a wound, bursting with invention and exuding a singularity
“Every gig was like another attempt to make this strange creature hold together and live.” – TERENCE HOGAN that stood them apart from even the best bands around them. I don’t remember ever wondering what they might be doing in five years time… where do they go from here? Anything beyond what they were, and which might also be good, would be a surprising bonus. In retrospect those instincts were right.
Toy Love became (sort of) more consistent over time, without ever becoming set as if in a mould – they were too restless and honest for that – and they played terrific gigs right to the end. But I recall most fondly when they were that flawed and beautiful thing of those first few months. In among the smashed watermelon and broken glass, drenched in sweat and flecked with blood, the laughs, confusion, exhilaration, there was a complexity in the experience that’s all about the priceless, messy human-ness that drives great rock’n’roll. There was a long moment when to see Toy Love in full flight was to get one of the best bands in the world, right at their peak, right where I lived.
This Saturday Real Groovy is releasing 400 copies of a double album capturing the legendary Toy Love performing one of their last live shows on Friday 12 September 1980 at The Gluepot in Ponsonby. Toy Love Live at The Gluepot is limited to one per customer, available from Real Groovy, 438 Queen St Auckland or online at realgroovy.co.nz.
SHED 10, AUCKLAND TUESDAY 10 APRIL Review Peter McLennan Photography Dallas Pickering I HAD MISGIVINGS about seeing The Specials in a tin shed on the waterfront, but with a sizeable crowd in there to soak up the sound it worked surprisingly well (not unlike the dance parties in the sheds next to the old Auckland railway station back in the 1990s – Massive Attack, anyone?) It
was gloomy, dark and dusty – even Terry Hall pointed out how dusty it was, glancing up at the rafters – but it suited the music. Six of the original seven members of The Specials reunited in 2009 and set off on a 30th anniversary tour that bought them here for the first time (minus founder and main songwriter Jerry Dammers). That sold-out show was at the truly awful Logan Campbell Centre (aka the Logan Concrete Centre) and somehow they managed to
overcome the notoriously bad acoustics of that rustic barn. The opening act this time was local ‘80s ska outfit The Newmatics, who have done the occasional reunion show in recent years. This one, unlike their previous reunions, lacked a number of original members and also reconfigured the original lineup, adding a keyboard player and a full horn section. The Newmatics without powerhouse drummer Benny Staples? Ahem. Their brief set took in spirited
versions of classics like ‘Doobie Do Boy’, ‘Judas’ and ‘Riot Squad’, and they acquitted themselves well enough. Queuing for half an hour for a beer didn’t sound like much fun, and then I hear the beer ran out before The Specials even hit the stage. That’s some poor planning. How could you fail to predict that a crowd of former mods and punks would be VERY THIRSTY? Finally, the horrible fluorescent house lights go out, the drums start pounding, and then The Specials bound onstage, ripping into ‘Do the Dog’. It’s glorious. What follows is every song off their first album: throw in ‘Gangsters’ and ‘A Message to You, Rudy’, and you have yourself a serious dance party. The band look very dapper, dressed in black for the last show on this tour, after five gigs in Australia. There’s the front line of vocalists Lynval Golding, Neville Staples and Terry Hall, super cool guitarist Roddy Radiation, and the killer rhythm section of Horace Panter and John Bradbury, with Nik Torp in for Dammers on keys. Lynval dedicates their song ‘Poor Little Rich Girl’ to Amy Winehouse, a song she covered. Lynval tells the crowd Winehouse passed away on his birthday last year. Their horn section and percussionist join the band onstage for ‘Stupid Marriage’, with Hall dropping in the lyric “Like a virgin”, which was vaguely postmodern and a little unsettling. Terry Hall as Madonna? After the song finishes he tells crowd, “I will probably slip into some Leo Sayer a bit later on this evening...” We get ‘Concrete Jungle’, and ‘Friday Night, Saturday Morning’, and then the droll Mr Hall introduces ‘International Jet Set’: “This is from our difficult 2nd album – it was so fuckin’ difficult that we didn’t talk to each other for 25 years!” It’s a groovy rendition, but once it’s done, Lynval confesses, “We wrote that 30 years ago and it’s a nice tune, but I just can’t dance to it.” They wrap up their set with ‘Too Much Too Young’ and ‘Enjoy Yourself ’, before exiting the stage. This crowd ain’t going nowhere though, and start cheering for more. The band return for an encore and Lynval apologises to us: “This is only our second time in New Zealand, and I’m sorry it took us 30 years to get down here – we should have come ages ago”. We get ‘Little Bitch’, then ‘You’re Wondering Now’. The song finishes with the band stopping the music and leading the crowd in a singalong. Terry says, “Bye, thanks, lots of love” and they’re off. The glaring omission was ‘Ghost
“Then The Specials bound onstage, ripping into ‘Do the Dog’. It’s glorious.”
Town’. Why? The rumour was noise complaints from nearby apartment dwellers on Quay St, and the band had to cut the encore short by one song. At 10.30pm. It doesn’t bode well for the upcoming KRS-One show next door in
The Cloud, essentially a tent with zero soundproofing. However, the promoter said noise wasn’t an issue. The venue had a 10.30pm curfew and song choice was the band’s decision. Go figure. The Specials served up note-perfect renditions of their classics, and they had a lot of fun doing it – it was infectious. Thirty years on, those songs still come across as joyful, clever, danceable, and as much fun as they ever did. Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think!
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NORTHLAND FRIDAY 20
The Exponents – Ballroom Billiards, Whangarei, 7:30pm, $42-$45 The Hewson Project – 35 Degrees South Aquarium Restaurant and Bar, Paihia, 6pm, Free
SATURDAY 21
PDigsss & Peacekeeper – Ballroom Billiards, Whangarei, 9pm, $10-$15 Ben Lummis & DJ Reminise – Mangawhai Tavern, Mangawhai, 9pm, $10 Fat 32 – TMO Sports Bar, Paihia, 8:30pm, $5
AUCKLAND TUESDAY 17
Ak Jazz & Blues Club presents Tony Theil w/ Libby Johns – Pt Chevalier RSA, Pt Chevalier, 7:30pm, $5 Ben Fernandez – Spencer on Byron Hotel, Takapuna, 6:30pm, Free Led Zeppelin & Space Park – Double Feature – Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, Royal Oak, 8pm, $35
WEDNESDAY 18
Tom Lark, Katie Scott & The Miss T’s – Kings Arms, Newton, 8pm, $10-$15 Mike Jones Acoustic Sessions – My Bar, Auckland CBD, 7:30pm, Free Wednesdays at Flight lounge – Flight Lounge, Auckland CBD, 10pm, Free Chicane Duo – Sugar Bar, Newmarket, 7pm, Free Eli Moore – Spencer on Byron Hotel, Takapuna, 6:30pm, Free Live Latin and Brazilian Music – The Mexican Cafe, Auckland CBD, 8:30pm, Free The Sonics – Kings Arms, Newton, 7pm
THURSDAY 19
Thursday Night Live – Glass Owls & Pikachunes – 1885 Britomart, Auckland CBD, 9pm, Free Lisa Crawley & Band, Tom Lark, Katie Scott & The Miss T’s – Kings Arms, Newton, 8pm, $10-$15 The Exponents – Sale St, Freemans Bay, 7:30pm, $42-$45 Gerry Rooderkerk Alive & Acoustic – The Fiddler Irish Bar, Auckland CBD, 10pm, Free Pseudo City Strips w/ Guests Thnk Lyke & DJ Chris Reed – Las Vegas Club, Auckland CBD, 8pm, $5 2 Wheel Drive – Pt Chevalier RSA, Pt Chevalier, 5:30pm, Free Danny Duchamp – Florrie McGreals Irish Pub, Takapuna, 9pm, Free Back to Class – The Pony Club, Auckland CBD, 10pm, Free Live Piano and Double-bass Duo – Sugar Bar, Newmarket, 7pm, Free Sandy Lynch – Spencer on Byron Hotel, Takapuna, 6:30pm, Free Acoustic Covers Competition – Shadows Bar, Auckland CBD, 7pm, Free Petra Rijnbeek & Paul Voight – The Lumsden, Newmarket, 6:30pm, Free Mindriot, Feral Breed & Dreams of the Dead – The Thirsty Dog, Newton, 9pm
Red Sky Blues – Whammy Bar, Newton, 9pm, $5
FRIDAY 20
Goodshirt w/ Sherpa – Kings Arms, Newton, 8pm, $20 Mulholland, Bond St Bridge, Coach, Nikita the Spooky Release – Whammy Bar, Newton, 8:30pm The All Seeing Hand New Zealand Tour 2012 – Bar Tabac, Auckland CBD, 9pm Annah Mac – Academy Cinemas, Auckland CBD, 7:30pm, $26-$30 Pat for President – The Fiddler Irish Bar, Auckland CBD, 11pm, Free Peter Hook & the Light Play Closer – Studio, Newton, 7:30pm, $69.50 Dairy Flat Live Blues Club Presents Black Dog – Dairy Flat Community Hall, Dairy Flat, 8pm, $10-$12 Tom Rodwell & Storehouse – Trident Tavern, Onehunga, 7pm, Free Krafty Kuts (UK) – Be Club, Auckland CBD, 10pm, $29-$35 Anthony Stretch – Glen Eden RSA, Glen Eden, 8pm, Free Bad Penny – Tuakau Hotel, Tuakau, 8:30pm, Free David Shanhun – De Post, Mt Eden, 8:30pm, Free Franko & James – The Merchant Bar & Kitchen, Albany, 9pm, Free Lee Gray Duo – The Merchant Bar & Kitchen, Albany, 9pm, Free Riqi Harawera – Moretons Bar and Restaurant, St Heliers, 8pm, Free Kiwi Express – Silverdale RSA, Whangaparaoa Peninsula, 7pm, Free Urban Country – Warkworth RSA, Warkworth, 6:30pm, Free The Hipstamatics – Rakinos, Auckland CBD, 9pm Everything is Kosher Ft Tom Scotch and Luis Silk (Homebrew) – Khuja Lounge, Auckland CBD, 10pm, $10 Fridays at Trench Bar – Trench Bar, Auckland CBD, 10pm, Free Ink Bar Classic – InkCoherent, Newton, 10pm, $10 Denise Gunson – Spencer on Byron Hotel, Takapuna, 6:30pm, Free Chico con Tumbao – Besos Latinos Restaurant, Auckland CBD, 7:30pm, Free Contagious – Cock & Bull, Ellerslie, 9pm, Free Lisa Crawley & Band, Tom Lark, Katie Scott & The Miss T’s – Sawmill Cafe, Leigh, 8pm, $10-$15 Live Bands are Back – Slipp Inn Pub, Birkenhead, 9pm, Free SugarBang Band – The Flying Moa, Mt Wellington, 8:30pm, Free Charlie Brown’s Bond Street Boys – East Coast Bays RSA, Browns Bay, 7:30pm, Free The Alibis – Grey Lynn Returned Services Club, Grey Lynn, 8pm, Free
SATURDAY 21
Real Groovy Record Store Day – Real Groovy, Auckland CBD, 9am, Free Party with The Mermaids Dance Band – Hopetoun Alpha, Auckland CBD, 7:30pm, $90 NRG Rising / Foundation / Tribal Connexionz / Tasty Brown – Woody’s Bar, Manurewa, 9pm, $20
The Bads / Lindon Puffin & The Transgressions – Paddington Live, Parnell, 8pm, $15 The Exponents – The Brownzy Tavern, Browns Bay, 7:30pm, $42-$45 Chuck Norris Trio, Altered States, Crimson Vendetta & Asinin – Masonic Tavern, Devonport, 8:30pm, $5 Faults (Arch Hill Records) w/ Rackets & Thieves – The Lucha Lounge, Newmarket, 8:30pm Mojo – The Fiddler Irish Bar, Auckland CBD, 11pm, Free Sick Disco presents Ben UFO (Hessle Audio/UK) – Cassette Number Nine, Auckland CBD, 10pm, $12.50-$15 Justin Townes Earle – Kings Arms, Newton, 8pm, $42.50 David Shanhun – Blacksalt Bar & Eatery, New Lynn, 8pm, Free Dean Te Paa – Rickshaw Eddy’s, Mission Bay, 9pm, Free Francis Jakeman – De Post, Mt Eden, 8:30pm, Free Andrew White & Gillian Boucher – The Llama Lounge, 7:30pm Shamanarama – Artworks Community Theatre, Waiheke Island, 7:30pm, $15-$20 KRS-One – The Cloud, Auckland CBD, 6:30pm, $69 Moving House – Trench Bar, Auckland CBD, 10pm, Free Andrea Lisa Band and DJ Brent Alley – Sunderland Lounge, Hobsonville, 7pm, $25 Neville Chamberlain – Spencer on Byron Hotel, Takapuna, 6:30pm, Free Latin Aotearoa w/ support from Manuel Bundy – Ponsonby Social Club, Ponsonby, 9pm, Free Mark Armstrong Acoustic – De Fontein, Mission Bay, 8:30pm, Free French Resonance – Auckland Fish Market, Auckland CBD, 5pm, Free Live at The Masonic: The Altered States and Friends – Masonic Tavern, Devonport, 8pm, $5 Mother Motor, Invasion of Piracy, Filth Dog & Halo of Ashes – The Thirsty Dog, Newton, 8:30pm, $5 Singles Live Music & Entertainers – Pt Chevalier RSA, Pt Chevalier, 7:30pm, Free The Kavalliers – A Rocking Great Band – East Coast Bays RSA, Browns Bay, 7pm, Free The Rock ‘n’ Roll Allstars – Manurewa Cosmopolitan Club, Manurewa, 7:30pm, Free
SUNDAY 22
Shae Snell – The Fiddler Irish Bar, Auckland CBD, 6pm, Free Blues in The Boat House – Blues Showcase – The Riverhead, Riverhead, 2pm, Free Justin Townes Earle – Sawmill Cafe, Leigh, 8pm, $42.50 Stingray – Huapai Tavern, Huapai, 2pm, Free Francis Jakeman – Goode Brothers, Botany Downs, 3pm, Free Franko & James – The Merchant Bar & Kitchen, Albany, 3pm, Free JamesRAy’s Acoustic Country Sunday – Bar Africa, North Harbour, 12pm, Free JamesRAy’s Encore Acoustic Country Sunday – Bar Africa, Highland Park, 5:30pm, Free
Sandpaper Tango – Corelli’s Cafe, Devonport, 6pm, Free Chicane Duo – Bill Fish Cafe, St Marys Bay, 2pm Unplugged Underground – Brooklyn Bar, Auckland CBD, 4pm, Free Sunday Sessions – Slipp Inn Pub, Birkenhead, 3:30pm, Free Sunday Jazz, Rock, Reggae Session – Shooters Saloon, Kingsland, 2pm, Free
MONDAY 23
KA Music Quiz – Kings Arms, Newton, 7pm, Free Kristina Olsen – The Bunker, Devonport, 8pm, $15 Traditional Irish Music Session – The Clare Inn, Mt Eden, 7pm, Free Ben Fernandez – Spencer on Byron Hotel, Takapuna, 6:30pm, Free Viva Jazz Quartet – The Windsor Castle, Parnell, 6pm, Free
HAWKE’S BAY / GISBORNE THURSDAY 19
The Kimchords ft. Kim Willoughby – The Station Bar and Bistro, Napier, 7pm, Free
FRIDAY 20
Get Hamma’d – The Cabana, Napier, 8pm
SATURDAY 21
Payday Acoustic Duo – The Station Bar and Bistro, Napier, 9pm, Free
WAIKATO
THURSDAY 19
The All Seeing Hand New Zealand Tour 2012 – Static Bar, Hamilton, 9pm
FRIDAY 20
NZ Blues Brothers Tribute Show – Raglan Club, Raglan, 7:30pm, Free
SATURDAY 21
Beastwars and Illicit Wah Wahz – YOT Club, Raglan, 9pm
BAY OF PLENTY SATURDAY 21
Stevie Ray Vaughan 22nd Tribute – Tony Painting & the Power – The Belgian Bar, Rotorua, 8pm, $12
TARANAKI FRIDAY 20
West Coast School of Rock – Rock n Roll Circus Gig – West Coast School of Rock, New Plymouth, 6:30pm, Free
MANAWATU / WHANGANUI FRIDAY 20
Tono and the Finance Company Album Release – Space Monster, Whanganui, 8:30pm
SATURDAY 21
Henpicked – The Bent Horseshoe Cafe, Tokomaru, 8pm The Electric Trip – 90s Themed Dance Party – Mr Cue, Palmerston North, 10pm, Free Midnight Switch – The Royal, Palmerston North, 9pm, $5
WELLINGTON REGION TUESDAY 17
Henpicked at Mainly Acoustic – Mayfair Cafe, Upper Hutt, 7:30pm, $10 Live Music – The Library, 5pm, Free
WEDNESDAY 18
The All Seeing Hand New Zealand Tour 2012 – San Francisco Bath House, 9pm Unknown Pleasures & Closer – A Joy Division Celebration – Bodega, 7:30pm, $69.50
THURSDAY 19
Unknown Pleasures & Closer – A Joy Division Celebration – Bodega, 7:30pm, $69.50 Wayne Mason and the Fallen Angels – Hotel Bristol, 8:30pm, Free Gazebo Girls – Meow, 8pm Volcana und Von Thundersvolt – Mighty Mighty, 9pm, $4-$5
FRIDAY 20
Dictaphone Blues – Beneath The Crystal Palace Album Tour – Mighty Mighty, 8pm Shocking & Stunning, Big Flip the Massive & Süm Tram Tigers – Bar Medusa, 9pm, $5 Chris Bryant – The Occidental, 6pm, Free Uncle Monkey – Dockside Restaurant & Bar, 8pm, Free Justin Townes Earle – Bodega, 8pm, $42.50 Deeper Than That 2 – Fast Eddie’s, 10pm, $5 Gazebo Girls – Wellington Bluegrass Society, Lower Hutt, 8pm KRS-One – Wellington Town Hall, 6:30pm, $69 Salsadrome, Zoukarama and Tango Milonga Dance Event – Whitireia Performance Centre, 7:30pm Mtown – Monteiths Brewery Bar, Paraparaumu, 9:00pm, Free Twisted? 11th Birthday – Sandwiches, 11pm, $20-$30
SATURDAY 21
Fraser Ross & the Felt Tips E.P. Release + Special Guests – Newtown Cultural Community Centre, 7pm, $10 Tono and the Finance Company Album Release – Bodega, 8:30pm, $8-$10 Dictaphone Blues – Beneath The Crystal Palace Album Tour – St Peters Hall, Paekakariki, 8pm Krafty Kuts (UK) – Sandwiches, 11pm, $30 The Arvo Show ft. The Bradford Shelves – The Southern Cross Bar and Restaurant, 4pm, Free Astro Empire – The Southern Cross Bar and Restaurant, 10pm, Free Kasium, Cephalopod & THC – Rimutaka Tavern, Upper Hutt, 8:30pm, $5 The X-Ray Catz – The Lido Cafe, 8:30pm, Free
SUNDAY 22
The Boptet – The Lido Cafe, 7pm, Free The Sunday Jazz Club – Public Bar & Eatery, 7:30pm, Free St George’s Day Celebration – Cathedral of St Paul, 4pm
REAL GROOVY RECORDS PRESENTS
NELSON / TASMAN TUESDAY 17
BT Groove – The Vic Mac’s BrewBar, Nelson, 7:30pm, Free
THURSDAY 19
Honest Jazz – The Honest Lawyer, Nelson, 7pm
FRIDAY 20
Jo Little – Till the Blue Skies Come Tour w/ Jared Smith – Tap Ale House & Restaurant, Waimea, 8pm, Free Nice Verdes – The Boathouse, Nelson, 8pm, $10
SATURDAY 21
Upper Hutt Posse – Declaration Of Resistance Album Tour 2012 – Mussel Inn, Golden Bay, 9pm, $10 The Saints – Party Like You’re Irish Party – Liquid NZ Bar, Nelson, 9pm, Free
SUNDAY 22
Jo Little – Till the Blue Skies Come Tour w/ Jared Smith – Sprig And Fern, Nelson, 7:30pm, Free
WEST COAST THURSDAY 19
Jo Little – Till the Blue Skies Come Tour w/ Jared Smith – Star Tavern, Westport, 8pm, Free
CANTERBURY THURSDAY 19
Justin Townes Earle – Dux Live, 8pm, $42.50 Salsa On Thursdays – Salsa Latina Dance Studio, 8:45pm, Free
FRIDAY 20
Upper Hutt Posse – Declaration Of Resistance Album Tour 2012 – Dux Live, 9pm, $10 D’sendantz – Becks Southern Alehouse, 9pm, Free
SATURDAY 21
dDub Send it on Back Tour – Dux de Lux, 9pm, $20 Stomping Nick & His Blues Grenade – The Brewery, 11pm, Free
OTAGO
THURSDAY 19
Big Daddy Wilson Acoustic Duo w/ Delgirl – St Martins Hall, Dunedin, 8pm, $20
SATURDAY 21
Big Daddy Wilson Acoustic Duo w/ Delgirl – Dux de Lux, Queenstown, 9pm, $15 Optimus Gryme & Organikismness – 12 Below – XIIB, Dunedin, 9pm, $10-$30
SUNDAY 22
Big Daddy Wilson Acoustic Duo w/ Delgirl – New Orleans Hotel, Arrowtown, 4:30pm, $20
SOUTHLAND FRIDAY 20
Big Daddy Wilson Acoustic Duo w/ Delgirl – Players Entertainment Centre, Invercargill, 8pm, $20 has teamed with Eventfinder for gig listings. To get your gig considered, go to eventfinder.co.nz and submit your show for publication. Due to space constraints, we can’t guarantee that every show will be listed. 8670818AA
MARK LANEGAN BAND Wednesday 18 April – The Powerstation, Auckland
THE SONICS Wednesday 18 April – Kings Arms, Auckland
JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE Thursday 19 April – Dux Live, Christchurch Friday 20 April – Bar Bodega, Wellington Saturday 21 April – Kings Arms, Auckland Sunday 22 April – Sawmill Café, Leigh
CITY AND COLOUR Sunday 29 April – Town Hall, Auckland
ATMOSPHERE Wednesday 2 May – San Francisco Bath House, Wellington Thursday 3 May – The Studio, Auckland
WAVVES
Thursday 3 May – Kings Arms, Auckland
TONO AND THE FINANCE COMPANY TOMMY ILL NEW HAT
Friday 20 April – Town Hall, Wellington Saturday 21 April – The Cloud, Auckland
BECK’S MUSIC SHOUT LIVE Tuesday 24 April w/ Parallel Dance Ensemble, Knock-Knock, Nat Walker, B-Lo – San Francisco Bath House, Wellington Thursday 26 April w/ Ghostwave, Cut Off Your Hands, DJ Hudge, DJ Andrew Tidball – Tyler Street Garage, Auckland
DIMMER – THE FAREWELL SHOWS Thursday 24 May w/ Beastwars – Kings Arms, Auckland Saturday 26 May w/ Beastwars – Bodega, Wellington
Thursday 7/Friday 8/Sunday 10 June – Vector Arena, Auckland
Friday 20 April – Mighty Mighty, Wellington Saturday 21 April w/ The Family Cactus – St Peter’s Hall, Paekakariki Friday 27 April w/ The Good Fun – Static, Hamilton
KRS-ONE
Friday 11 May – Allphones Arena, Sydney Monday 14 May – Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Friday 18 May – Entertainment Centre, Brisbane
LADY GAGA
DICTAPHONE BLUES
Friday 20 April w/ Pikachunes and the Blue Onesies – Space Monster, Whanganui Saturday 21 April w/ Pikachunes, Terror of the Deep and Lontalius – Bodega, Wellington Saturday 28 April w/ Dictaphone Blues, Pikachunes and Watercolours – Kings Arms, Auckland Friday 4 May w/ T54, Miniatures and Brown – Christchurch venue TBC Saturday 5 May w/ T54, Brown and Baby Brother – Dunedin venue TBC
PRINCE
AND A HAIRCUT ALBUM RELEASE PARTIES Saturday 5 May w/ Bang Bang Eche, Golden Axe and DJ Marek – Bodega, Wellington Friday 11 May w/ Bang Bang Eche and Spring Break – Dux Live, Christchurch Saturday 12 May w/ Bang Bang Eche, Spring Break, Wilberforces and DJ Andrew Tidball – Kings Arms, Auckland
URBANTRAMPER INTERNET FREEDOM IS LOVE ALBUM RELEASE TOUR
Thursday 10 May – DuxLive, Christchurch Friday 11 May – The National, Dunedin Saturday 12 May – Dux de Lux, Queenstown Friday 18 May – Sawmill Café, Leigh Saturday 19 May w/ Glass Owls – Tabac, Auckland Friday 25 May – Space Monster, Whanganui Saturday 26 May – Garret St, Wellington
KAISER CHIEFS Thursday 10 May – The Powerstation, Auckland
FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS Wednesday 13 June – Hawke’s Bay Opera House, Hastings Thursday 14 June – Founders Theatre, Hamilton Saturday 16 June – Town Hall, Auckland Sunday 17 June – TSB Showplace, New Plymouth Tuesday 19/Wednesday 20 June – Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington Saturday 23 June – Regent Theatre, Dunedin Sunday 24 June – Events Centre, Queenstown Tuesday 26 June – CBS Canterbury Arena, Christchurch Wednesday 27 June – Trafalgar Centre, Nelson Friday 29 June/Sunday 1 July – Vector Arena, Auckland
LAWRENCE ARABIA PRESENTS: THE SPARROW Friday 13 July – St Michaels and All Angels, Christchurch Saturday 14 July – Sammy’s, Dunedin Friday 20 July – Town Hall, Auckland Saturday 21 July – The Opera House, Wellington
LADYHAWKE Friday 13 July – San Francisco Bath House, Wellington Saturday 14 July – The Studio, Auckland
WHANGATEAU HALL, RODNEY Text Anthonie Tonnon Photography Jenna Todd IT HAD JUST begun to rain as we saw the silhouette of Whangateau Hall, parked opposite and looked out in the dim light at what must be a contender for the most beautiful rugby pitch in the country. Halfway between Matakana and Leigh, the austere old church and the lonely field that ends at the Whangateau harbour is one of those sites that makes it seem preposterous that 21st century Auckland City could be just an hour behind you. All of which was poor preparation for what waited inside. On the small stage a flood of lighting and a tropical backdrop of ocean, sand and wild palm trees. In front a tightly packed display of instruments around an upright piano and one seemingly out-of-place candelabra. Everywhere else an overgrown forest of tripods, cameras, mic stands and dollies, all connected by dark wires, possessing the room like supplejack. A film set. While at the back of the room and under a tarpaulin outside, true to
the spirit of the hall, the arriving guests were eating the communal potluck. After some director’s instructions from Hugh Sundae, it was left to the Lawrence Arabia band, horn section and string quartet to make the audience of friends forget the film set. They achieved this in between songs with honest
“At the back of the room and under a tarpaulin outside, true to the spirit of the hall, the arriving guests were eating the communal potluck.” humour and acknowledgement of their curious surroundings, and during songs with an intense delivery of music almost everyone was hearing for the first time. Because this was Lawrence Arabia delivering his third album, The Sparrow, in order, as close as possible in
instrumentation to the recorded product. As James Milne and his 10-piece did, so the personality of the backdrop started to grow. In one way, this sounded like a familiar Lawrence Arabia album – the ’60s pop bass and drum textures, the vintage guitar flourishes, the brilliantly arranged vocal harmonies, now equalled and responded to by string and horn arrangements. But after the journey-pop opener ‘Travelling Shoes’, those familiar textures lured us down an unfamiliar path. The darkness that has always lurked behind the humour and pathos in Milne’s writing has a wrapped a firmer hold around some of these songs, and there is a dark determined drive that possesses them, alongside with an experimental bent – from the more elaborate pop structure of ‘Legends’ to the stunning atonal instrumental ‘Decile Rag’, co-written with Toby Laing. By the beating middle of the album when, in ‘Early Kneecappings’, Milne sings of learning to swim and taking out his competitors, the solemn light of the candelabra and the bright but lonely beach scene behind it had come to make sense together in some way.
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Barkers turns 40 years old this April - to celebrate we took a break from making clothes to brew a beer and press a record. See inside this issue for the story behind the project, and for your chance to grab a copy of the superb new Lawrence Arabia single.