Blank Gold Coast issue #28 – December 15

free Dec ‘15

ARCHIE ROACH CELEBRATES 25 YEARS issue #028

MUSIC

LIFESTYLE

CULTURE

FOOD

MUSIC

NightQuarter Palmy Sunday Fun Day Festival Small Halls BPM showcase Woodford Folk Festival

Plastic bikinis Stashed / stolen Harvest tradition Climate rallies Clothesline app

2016 Season Wild Wogs Orly’s landscapes Devils in art Go Suga

REaD Cafe Social Brew Coffee Social Jacob King Gelato Messina

Azreal Nyssa Berger Klubknight Skyhooks Little Pink

The Gold Coast’s new creative playground Live Music Food Vendors Night Markets emerging Fashion Micro-Restaurants

4PM-10PM | FRIDAY & SATURDAY nightquarter.com.au

1800 264 448

1 town centre drive, helensvale

#028 DEC 2015 Editor: Samantha Morris Culture + Lifestyle Editor: Natalie O’Driscoll Editorial Intern: Doris Prodanovic Guest Designer: Kylie Cobb, Kitty Kitty Bang Bang Advertising: Amanda Gorman Money Coordinator: Phillippa Wright Photographer: Leisen Standen, Lamp Photography Sub-editor: Cody McConnell Front cover: Proud by Jandamarra Cadd (Archibald Finalist 2014) Contributors: Marj Osborne, Pip Andreas, Doris Prodanovic, Jesse Kenny, Nev Pearce, Camilla Jones, Carmel E Lewis, Yanina Benavidez, Eden Tokatly, Tiffany Mitchell, Kylie Cobb, Ruth Goodwin, Nathan James, Lizzy Keen, Samantha Morris, Ashleigh Wadman, Natalie O’Driscoll, Anna Itkonen, Catherine Coburn Acknowledgement of Country We show our respect and sincerely acknowledge the Traditional Owners of this land and their elders past, present and emerging.

Inspired by the Ocean’s movie trilogy, channel your inner Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon or Andy Garcia this New Year’s Eve. Dress to impress. Slick, sophisticated and sassy. Join the Vegas high rollers in the Bazaar Marketplace, then immerse yourself in all that is Vegas at Stingray Lounge.

Editorial: news@blankgc.com.au Advertising: advertising@blankgc.com.au Gigs: gigs@blankgc.com.au About us: Blank GC is independently owned and published by Samantha Morris and Chloe Popa. Most of our writers contribute their time pro-bono to boost the cultural scene on the Gold Coast. Founded in 2013 we are the Gold Coast’s independent cultural voice, relying on advertising to keep us in the fray. Opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the editor, publishers or the writing team.

Thursday 31 December from 6pm til late $149pp includes the marketplace dinner with a 2 hr beverage package PLUS access to Stingray’s Ocean’s 15 NYE Party.* ($110pp without beverage package)

Thursday 31 December from 8pm ’til late $99pp includes substantial canapés and a two hour beverage package of beer, wine and bubbles. Book at goldcoasttickets.com.au

To book call 07 5584 1238 or email Ashleigh_hobson@qthotels.com.au

7 Staghorn Ave, Surfers Paradise QLD 4217

qtgoldcoast.com.au

*Guests dining in Bazaar receive complimentary access to Stingray Lounge, however it does not include the Stingray 2 hr beverage package from 8-10pm

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King Parrot’s biggest year yet 2016 has been a big year for King Parrot.

They released album Dead Set to worldwide critical praise with the record debuting at #21 on the ARIA chart. They toured the US, Europe and Australia multiple times, they were guest programmers on RAGE and were nominated for an ARIA Award for Best Hard Rock / Heavy Metal Album. And to top it all off, they’ve now been nominated in the 11th Australian Music Prize – which rewards and promotes Australian music of excellence.

This is no popularity contest, rather a mark of outstanding creativity – with a focus on albums rather than songs. While we rarely suggest you leave the comfort of awesome GC venues for a show – we do believe King Parrot’s little hoedown at The Crowbar on New Year’s Eve may be worthy of a trip up the highway. More at facebook.com/ kingparrotband.

Jungle Lovin’ near Imbil The guys from Brisbane's Psych Night and Concrete Jungle festivals have been working tirelessly all year on their big baby, Jungle Love. The inaugural event last year was a massive hit and this year it is expanding from one stage to four with over 60 acts including The Belligerents (pictured), Resin Dogs, The Cairos, Moses Gun Collective and some of the best underground bands around.

It brings together lovers of music, art and nature in the beautiful lush Sunshine Coast hinterland near Imbil. Environmentally conscious, it adopts a leave no trace ethic, where camping is included, and it's BYO (no glass). It's sure to be a jungle love-in, running 27 – 28 November, but with camping and entertainment available from the 26th.

Tickets via Ticketbooth.

Queensland Music Awards: entries close 6 December Songwriters from across Queensland are encouraged to enter their songs in the 2016 Queensland Music Awards. Each year QMusic hosts this opportunity for our State’s most gifted emerging and established songwriters to gain the recognition they so richly deserve. The 2015 Queensland Music Awards saw artists like The Grates, Airling and Violent Soho recognised for their musical output, alongside BOQ People’s Choice Award winners Sahara Beck, The Amity Affliction and Bobby Alu. The 2016 QMAs span 24 categories, including 4

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genre (Pop, Rock, Blues/Roots, Country, Urban, Folk/Singer Songwriter, World, Jazz, Electronic/Dance, Heavy), Regional, Video and School (Grade 6-12) – this latter category once won by international sensation Emma Louise back in 2007. Published and unpublished original songwriters from across Queensland can submit entries midnight 6 December. Over 50 music industry professionals from around Australia get on board to help judge the 1000+ song entries.

These include media, managers, A&R representatives, label directors and publishers so it’s a great chance to be heard no matter where you are in your career. The 2016 Awards ceremony will take place at Brisbane Powerhouse on Monday 21 March.

Nineteen Orchid Avenue: step back in time Step back in time to when elegance and decorum were the norm; to an establishment instituted for those interested in refinement, history and culture. With speakeasy style, top shelf liquor and live musical entertainment, Nineteen Orchid Avenue Bespoke Tailor brings innovation and class to the heart of Surfers Paradise nightlife. It’s Jazz, blues and booze, disguised behind a 1920's tailor shopfront façade: you have arrived at Nineteen Orchid Avenue Bespoke Tailor. Put your glad rags on; after all, one man's tailor is another man's bar-keep.

Azreal inks international deal Gold Coast thrash-groove-metal masters Azreal are poised to take on the world – and not just because they have the talent to dominate global stages, but because they’ve formalised an international management deal with Music Gallery International and Shawn Barusch. "I'm very excited to be working with this crazy bunch of Aussies called Azreal," said Shawn Barusch. "Their unique style of metal is very engaging. One listen and you are a fan. They have the talent, drive and ambition to dominate the global stages. Definitely put them on your radar."

Read our feature story in this edition for all the details.

Blues on Broadbeach to host Eric Burdon Eric Burdon has been announced to headline the 15th annual Blues on Broadbeach Music Festival which will run 19 – 22 May, 2016.

He’ll close out the iconic, free and familyfocussed event with his band Eric Burdon and the Animals. Blues on Broadbeach has also announced a new naming rights sponsor, frizelles.com.au.

not one but two all-ages shows at Riverstage Brisbane this month (though the first has already sold out). Tickets are still available through Ticketmaster for the 20 December gig, but be quick.

Do yourself a favour and grab Molly’s life in music At a time with Australia was finding its voice, Ian “Molly” Meldrum helped us find the music. And that music is now on one classic album – the soundtrack to the mini-series Molly. With three CDs and 60 tracks, the songs included in the first two CDs feature in the mini-series with the songs on the third CD including some of Molly’s favourite pop songs. The two-part mini-series is coming soon to television and chronicles the rise of Molly: the celebrities, the parties, the international trips, behind-the-scenes politics and, of course, the unforgettable music. And the CD set (of course) is available just in time for Christmas.

Southport Sharks continues its diverse musical offerings Aussie rock tribute bands, pianists and local indie artists are all on the menu at Southport Sharks over coming weeks. Tributes to The Angels and Hood Gurus take place 11 December, Alex Fietz – who’s been working hard on the Gold Coast for more than 20 years, takes to his piano on 23, 30 December and 6 January (with a special Australia Day set on 26 January) and Damo Innes brings his humorous stage presence to Cabana Bar and Lounge on 27 December from 1.00pm. And if you’re looking for an 80s revival, New Year’s Eve at the Sharks may be your thing. There’ll be a free Madonna tribute on the main stage from 8.30pm with prizes for best dressed. Get all the details at southportsharks.com.au.

Amity Affliction They toured Australia for what seemed like a decade before they gained any traction, but now with fourth album Let The Ocean Take Me making waves, The Amity Affliction have never sounded more vital. "Then with each of our records our following seemed to double,” said vocalist Joel Birch. “That’s really humbling, because we never set out to be ‘successful’ in this way, and our fans are really important to us, and we’re just going to keep writing the best songs we can.” And if you are one of those fans that Amity Affliction hold so dear, you’re in for a treat. They’ve got

Next Stage offers chance to sing, play, launch The Next Stage program, offered by The Arts Centre Gold Coast allows local artists to be considered for financially-supported access to The Basement to produce their own performance. Next Stage recipients receive a support package valued at $1200 including venue access plus professional technical, front-of-house and ticketing support. The Arts Centre Gold Coast will fund and manage access to the venue, set ticket pricing and ticket sales management, technical and front-of-house labour, lighting and audio equipment as well as advertising in enews and website. Plus once any expenses are settled, artists receive 70% of box office takings. Next Stage recipients will be emerging or established artists with the ability to deliver a polished performance and actively drive their own sales. To be considered email Vicki Buenen on buenen@ theartscentregc.com.au and send a biography with links to online footage, a 250 word performance pitch and preferred dates.

Sye at Sheoak Shack Vagabond of heart and music, Sye McRitchie fuses folk, punk, pop, opera and more with compositions that are transfixing and theatre that embodies goodwill. An ex pro-surfer, he’s known heartbreak and distress and brings raw emotion, passion and sadness to his songs. He’s been dubbed the very definition of an ‘artist’ and has hit stages at events such as Shambala in the UK, the Warp Tour in the USA and Peats Ridge here in Australia. But you can catch him a little closer to home this month when he drops in to Sheoak Shack on Saturday 5 December from 2.00pm.

Sultry Visions of Love Local outfit Donny Love have released their debut EP. Entitled Sultry Visions, the release is available free of charge (out of love, they say). Self-described as sleazy, catchy, charming and hypnotic, Donny Love have crafted “jangly, reverby tunes reeking of masseur-sandals and pouch-tobacco.” To get your hands on some of that love head to donnylove.bandcamp.com or join fellow lovers at elsewhere when Donny Love launch their EP in person, 18 December 2015 from 9.00pm. Tickets $10.

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Josh Pyke hits Marketta One of Australia’s favourite storytellers, Josh Pyke has announced a national tour for January and February next year in support of his fifth studio album, But For All These Shrinking Hearts. Kicking off with the incredible Twilight At Taronga in January, the tour then sees Pyke hit stages in Canberra, Brisbane, Byron Bay, Melbourne, Geelong and Adelaide before finishing in Perth. And we’re thrilled to let you know that the Gold Coast gets a look-in as well. Pyke will bring his shrinking heart to Miami Marketta’s Studio 56 on Thursday 4 February and tickets are on sale now.

Seaforth: from Sydney to LA to Arundel Hugely talented Sydney duo Seaforth will headline Arundel Carols in the Park on Sunday 13 December. The pair, Mitch Thompson and Tom Jordan, have just been signed to Island Records Australia who are attached to Universal Music on a worldwide record deal – the signing has seen them in LA twice this year working with songwriters and producers in the lead-up to a 2016 release. They’ve been on tour with Reece Maston and Thompson has had TV appearances on both The Voice and X Factor before forming the band.

Follow their journey at facebook.com/ weareseaforth or check them out in person when they hit Arundel this month.

Don’t stray too far from the Cooly Dubbed one of the most interesting and curious harcore bands around, Stray From The Path are known for politically-charged lyrics and their uncompromising view of the world.

And with their latest full-length release Subliminal Criminals offering a piercing examination of the strained relationship between civilians and law enforcement in America, the Long Island natives continue to build global momentum. They’re no strangers to Australian Shores, first touring here 6

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in 2013 and then visiting again as part of The Amity Affliction’s Let The Ocean Take Me tour. And now they’re back again and bringing Hellions, Antagonist A.D. and Void of Vision along for the ride for one hell of a show at The Cooly Hotel on 8 January.

Tickets are on sale now.

The Cairos launch new single + bound for Helensvale Last year, Brisbane trio The Cairos launched their debut album Dream of Reason to much acclaim. This year they’re parting from their label, wrenching back creative control and releasing new single Love Don’t Feel Right. To celebrate its launch they’re hitting the road on a tour presented by none other than Rolling Stone. They packed out a show at CMJ in New York and sold out shows with Mute Math, so the single is much anticipated. They say that now they have 100% creative control, it’s the work they’ve been wanting to produce. They’ll hit the Gold Coast’s newest music venue – The Paddock – at the NightQuarter in Helensvale on Friday 29 January. Entry is free.

PLTS go on and on at elsewhere Hailing from Byron Bay, PLTS (Pilots) have only been around since 2012 but have honed their sound and their live performance during that time. Two years ago they worked with renowned producer Nick Didia (Studio 301), who is known for his work with Powderfinger and Pearl Jam to record their debut EP, which they released independently before they toured, securing support slots for the likes of Harts, Hockey Dad and Kingswood.

And now they’ve released new single On & On, described as a huge rock anthem destined for airwaves. We know the team at elsewhere are always one step ahead of the game. So when you combine all of that information, along with the news that PLTS has a show this week, you probably want to make a diary note. And when you hear that Jesse Pumphrey’s band Edward Thatch & The Savage and local outfit Ivey are in support, you definitely have one live show you do not want to

miss. All this musical awesome sauce goes down this Friday 27 November at elsewhere.

Institution Ale House and Dining rolls out local lineup It’s already home to the Gold Coast’s largest selection of international and local craft ales and now Institution Ale House and Dining, in the Hilton complex in Surfers Paradise is fast becoming a live music destination as well. “The Institution is extremely proud to support local beer makers and has the coast’s best selection of Australian craft beers on tap,” co-owner Adam Keane said. “Complementing our local ales are emerging bands and artists who perform at The Institution twice a week.” Some of the acts confirmed for December, January and February include the James Street Preachers, Benny D Williams, Free the Genie, Darren Sommerville, Gabrielle Lambe, A Tribe Called Frank, Soul Stripes, Danyak, Tom Sun and Little Red Robin Horse. The Institution is open from midday and is opposite the light rail station. Beer, music, tram.

Cannot lose.

Moonzoo’s local talent bonanza Moonzoo Entertainment has been running monthly local music extravaganzas at Southport Sharks for a few months now and the lineup is always diverse and on point. Take for example this month’s offerings. Tesla Coils will headline the venue on Friday 27 November from 8.30pm with Peach Fur, Sean Fitzgerald and Sarah Frank making up the bill. Those four acts are some of the best emerging talent on the Gold Coast right now, with Sean Fitzgerald impressing judges at the recent Battle of the Buskers and Sarah Frank releasing new material this year.

Peach Fur and Tesla Coils have been making waves at local venues as well.

So if you consider yourself a supporter of local, original music you could absolutely tick a few “new bands” off your list in one fell swoop.

Poetry and music with Dinkum Bohos An evening of poetry and music live at Studio 188 is a new release by Dinkum Bohos - the result of an intimate concert showcasing excellence in song craft, improvisation and spoken word where fearless content is artistically delivered with humour, heart and honesty. No surprises then, that Dinkum Bohos will be the feature artist at Dust Temple for their Alternator Poetry Jam on Thursday 26 November.

The duo - Vasudha Harte and Jem Edwards - have been developing their unique combination of sounds and styles over the last eight years.

With a reputation for genre hopping, they’ll play a heap of shows through December around northern NSW so keep your eyes and ears peeled for their evenings of poetry and music.

BUSKERS BY THE CREEK NAMED BEST NEW EVENT IN QUEENSLAND There’s no question the Gold Coast knows how to host events. So when Buskers by the Creek launched last year, filling the southern bank of Currumbin Creek with 10,000, no-one was really surprised. 2015 has been equally big.

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n July, they won a Gold Coast Music Award for Live Event of the Year. In October they hosted their second event – with an estimated 20,000 people in attendance and then just last week they were named Queensland’s Best New Event at the Australian Event Awards.

Event director Cindy Jensen, who set out initially just to provide a colourful community event for her local area, said she was overwhelmed with how well received and respected the event already was.

"To now be named as Queensland's Best New Event at the Australian Event Awards for the festival's first year, proves that the concept and creation has been embraced to great success," said Cindy.

“My vision from the onset was to re-introduce the oldfashioned art of busking and to showcase undiscovered talent, so it’s very exciting and humbling to be recognised so highly already.

“I’m thrilled our artists will receive more exposure from this nomination and that we can further highlight the cultural depth of our beautiful city.”

BUSKERS BY THE CREEK WILL TAKE PLACE NEXT YEAR, 15 – 16 OCTOBER 2016. MORE AT BUSKERSBYTHECREEK.COM.AU. Samantha Morris

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NIGHTQUARTER: THE GOLD COAST’S NEWEST CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT PRECINCT OPENS ITS (CONTAINER) DOORS T

he NightQuarter will bring something pretty unique to the Gold Coast when it opens on Saturday 28 November.

It’s being pegged as the City’s new culture and entertainment precinct, located smackbang in the middle of Helensvale adding a much-needed burst of colour and sound in an empty block adjacent to the Railway Station.

More than a hundred vendors will ply their wares, which will include food, art, craft and fashion concepts, offering a mix-and-match eating adventure and all going down in a purpose-built space, created from shipping containers.

“146 shipping containers,” Managing Director Ian van der Woude said. “With 120 vendors. We’ve got builders finishing off and vendors starting their fit-outs this week.”

He said those vendors had to submit plans for approval for their containers and they’re now busy doing up their interiors, installing signage and bringing in stock.

“There’s a lot of activity on site at the moment,” Ian said. “You get the normal issues with any large project, but we’re on time and things have gone fairly smoothly.”

Confirmed market stalls include Gypsy and the Officer, Zyloe Design, Ellee-Jay Floristry, Frankly All By Hand and even Luigi & Sons Barbers. There was stiff competition to secure sites in the market many months before its scheduled opening date. And Ian said they were literally swamped with applications from food vendors.

“We have over 300 foodies on the waiting list,” he said. “Even though we’ve advertised that it’s been filled, we still get calls and emails from people wanting to come in.”

Food is the biggest area of the market and there are distinct precincts within the space

Pic: The Hanlon Brothers by LAMP Photography 8

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for carnival food, street food and Australia’s first micro-restaurant precinct.

Confirmed food vendors include Longboards Burgers, Earth & Steam Coffee and Cronuts, Polly Pretzel, Brooklyn Meatball Bar, Kemuri Japanese plus gnocchi, funnel cakes, tapas and more. It’s enough to make your mouth water before you’ve even set foot inside the place. And Australian chef and TV star Ben O’Donoghue has also joined the team as an ambassador for NightQuarter’s food offerings.

“He’s just launched a new TV Show on Channel 7,” Ian said, “called Aussie BBQ Heroes. He’ll be onsite at the VIP launch next Friday and the public launch next Saturday.”

Ian said the idea for NightQuarter came about when he and partner Michelle Christoe – a well known identity in the Australian food industry and Executive Director of the Australian Horticulture Exporters’ Association – were travelling two and a half years ago.

“We were sitting in a piazza while a festival was occurring. And as we thought about it we combined some of our ideas over recent years – mine coming from hospitality and hers from a food marketing background.”

And so Michelle and Ian crafted the different precincts you will soon find at Nightquarter. Hawker Street full of street food and a Malaysian hawker market vibe. Tapas Street transporting you to the side streets of Spain and Italy with small restaurants and small menus.

“And then The Backyard,” Ian said. “The feel of an outback pub where you can cook your own BBQ on Australian sustainable natural hardwoods.”

Ian explained that each night will see a different hardwood fed into each of the two “massive”, custom built fire grills,

FREE music in the park

each bringing their own unique wood-fired flavour.

“We’re bringing the Aussie bush taste into the suburbs,” Ian said. “It’s the old way – that full flavour of BBQing over wood.”

Food aside, the NightQuarter is also set to become a new hub for the Gold Coast’s burgeoning music scene. A dedicated live music and performance space called The Paddock takes centre stage and will become a platform for emerging Gold Coast artists.

With capacity for 2000 there’s no doubt it fills a massive gap in the City’s current live music offerings.

“Bands will perform on a large stage with good production and we’ve got a 10m x 6m festival stage that’s in place permanently,” he continued.

The lineup in the first few months and into the new year focuses on Gold Coast music, with some of the city’s best talent securing slots. Hanlon Brothers, CC The Cat and Felicity Lawless will help the venue come out of the blocks firing on opening night (28 November). Hussy Hicks, Alone Alaska, Jake Whittaker, Ella Fence, Aquila Young and Black Rabbit George all have confirmed dates and a bunch of touring acts are starting to creep onto the lineup as well with Nattali Rize, and The Cairos already confirmed.

Alice Conway is the Marketing and Entertainment Manager for NightQuarter and it’s her job to book bands. She’s working with Polly Snowden (Gold Coast Music Awards Music Champion of the Year) as well as other artists and managers to source quality talent.

“Our initial focus is Gold Coast artists – we think there’s such great talent on the Gold Coast. We really want to give a platform to all those artists who’ve been playing around the city – to show we’re there for up and coming artists,” she said.

“Then we’re also looking to book from around southeast Queensland to support local talent and then we’re looking to move into attracting touring artists in the New Year,” Alice said.

She’s excited about opening night and rightly so. With Hanlon Brothers, CC The Cat and Felicity Lawless all confirmed they’re expecting bumper crowds. “And then we’ve got the Hussy Hicks playing the week after that,” she said.

“The community response has been great and we’re hoping it’ll be a great night to showcase NightQuarter,” Alice said.

NIGHTQUARTER LAUNCHES ON SATURDAY 28 NOVEMBER FROM 4.00PM AND WILL THEN BE OPEN EVERY FRIDAY AND SATURDAY 4.00 – 10.00PM. GET MORE AT NIGHTQUARTER.COM.AU. Artists confirmed

Samantha Morris

Cheap Fakes • Jake Whittaker • Hanlon Brothers • CC the Cat • Hussy Hicks • Katie Who • Josh Lovegrove • Taylor • C90 Superchrome • Dubmarine • Fox and Fiasco • Ginger and the Ghost • Leopold’s Treat • Felicity Lawless • Black Rabbit George • Avaberee • Matty Rogers • Benny D Williams • Alone Alaska • Seeka • The Lyrical • Nattali Rize • Hot Potato • Nicky Convine • The Twine • Gabriel and Cecilia • City Over Sand • Hemingway • Aquila Young • Matiu Te huki, OKA • Neighbour, The Cairos • Francis Wolves • Wandering Eyes • Yes Sir Noceur • Big Strong Brute • Good Oak • Chocolate Strings • The Unusual Suspects • Ella Fence • Banff

Nov 29 Dec 6 Dec 13 Dec 20 Jan 10 Jan 17 Jan 24 Feb 7

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Jimmy Saint and the Sinners + Bobby Alu Josh Lovegrove + Jake Whittaker Karl S Williams + Ginger and the Ghost Aquila young + SwitchKraft Felicity Lawless + Hussy Hicks Hailey Calvert + marshall o’kell the lyrical + CC and the Rolling Waves Ella Fence + The Hanlon Brothers

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EVERY SUNDAY 54-6:30PM BRING A RUG & JOIN US FOR FREE LIVE MUSIC | foodstalls | free FACE pAINTING

PALM BEACH PARKLANDS {THE PIRATE PARK} 945 GOLD COAST HIGHWAY, PALM BEACH

Proudly brought to you by

Daphne McDonald, Division 13 Gold Coast

music art event s

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phoebe sinclair | ambient | electronic An individual sound. Emotional, instinctive and honest; that is Phoebe Sinclair.

Originally hailing from the shores of northern England, the now Brisbane based singer is making her mark on the ambient/electronic music scene. Many artists have influenced her hypnotic tunes. From the artistically exuberant Sia, to the fanatically melodious Ellie Goulding, to the delicately hypnotic Thelma Plum, all of which come together in one harmonious bundle, delighting the senses. Heavily reliant on her soulful vocals and the ardent lyrical content, Phoebe Sinclair’s music has a habit of lulling her listeners into a peaceful serenity before breaking all the rules. Her compelling performances transcend her listeners, leaving hearts in throats and melodies in mind.

Currently working on her upcoming EP Phoebe Sinclair is bringing whole new levels of incandescence to her already glowing music.

static | pop If Max Martin and Ryan Tedder joined forces to create a super songwriting duo to save pop music, who you gonna call? Static! Static consists of Jake Barker and Lara Frew. Barker and Frew befriended one another while studying music at Griffith University’s Queensland Conservatorium. They discovered that they both have a passion for songwriting and producing a range of pop music. With Barker’s ear for catchy melodies and pop production and Frew’s sincerity with lyrics, Static has the perfect combination. After writing and producing countless songs Barker and Frew came to the realisation that on certain tracks, collaborating with multiple vocalists was necessary to do their music justice. By having these guest vocalists feature on some of their songs, Jake and Lara are able to achieve their vision.

PHOEBE STATIC

Listen at soundcloud.com/ phoebemusicofficial

sunday | pop | singer songwriter Sunday may not be a household name, but this soulful poet is about to make waves with her genredefying sound and mind consuming lyrics. Originally from Cairo, Egypt, this singer songwriter relocated to Brisbane, Australia at nine years of age only to begin songwriting a year later. Through absorbing sounds from the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Ed Sheeran and many more, Sunday has rightfully grown into her own unique artist, and a brilliant one at that. Sunday manages to light up entire venues and amaze audiences at every show with not only her onstage presence, but her selftailored onstage look, allowing her to shine in her own image even more. soundcloud.com/ sundayofficialmusic

S U N D A Y

Listen at soundcloud.com/ staticmusicofficial

BPM

SEED

GRADS

2015

fox and fiasco | alternative pop | folk Gold Coast indie band Fox and Fiasco burst onto the music scene last year, releasing three singles, a killer EP and playing a rack of shows, tour dates and festival slots. Emerging from humble beginnings as an acoustic brother-sister duo, Fox and Fiasco have since recruited a talented bunch of motley musical friends to create the tight five-piece sound with vocalist Brendan Huxley on guitar and mandolin and his singing sister Jess Huxley, joined by bassist Tim Newans, drummer Ban Radnidge and pianist Matt Liao. In the past year the band has graced local festivals, parties and travelled the east coast on an eight-date Secret Garden Tour, before knuckling down in the studio in early 2015 to pump out their debut EP Once Implored with five tracks of catchy indie-pop tunes that have listeners hooked. Their latest single Love Changes Everything, which features Canadian band Tasman Jude, was piped as the Easterfest 2015 theme song with punters packing out the band’s every set at the Toowoomba festival.

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Listen at soundcloud.com/issysimagination

aquila young | alternative | indie rock |dreamscape In a hidden pocket of smokescreen and haze lies Aquila Young. Cast in deep shadows with an alluring presence, the artist echoes the past in a nostalgic escape. Small and fragile with instinctive electric flair, she merges an array of sounds to form the motions between soul and song. Her Latin name translates to 'the eagle', a notion of fierce character through a truly vulnerable nature. It is her love for the eternal winter that serves as a musing where the soundscape takes the form of the seasoned elements. During the cooler months an invigoration transpires evoking a core of passionate expanse. The songs are swept up in rolling drums; lush, swelling guitars and deeply resonant vocals with sounds that emanate a brooding core of surreal and dreamlike capacity. It translates into a dynamic explosion of songs collectively travelling deep into the unknown. Aquila Young recently released her debut EP Distance Echoes.

FOX & AQUILA FIASCO YOUNG

Listen at soundcloud.com/foxandfiasco

I S O B E L

isobel wood | folk | singer songwriter Isabel Wood is a solo acoustic artist living on the Gold Coast who blends the musical styles of folk, indie and pop to create a captivating and unique sound. Isabel started playing guitar when she was fourteen and soon after discovered the beauty that was the mixture of poetry, vocals and acoustic guitar. After a year of classical vocal training she then began competing and placing in Sunshine Coast eisteddfods.

She explains that “participating in these types of activities brought me closer to other musicians and also helped me to gain confidence on stage and as an artist. The main thing I have realised during the years of my musical journey is my new found love and passion for music and therefore life in general.”

Listen at soundcloud.com/AquilaYoung

SOWING THE SEEDS OF A MUSICAL FUTURE: GRADUATE SHOWCASE

BANG ON! Deliver killer. Every time.

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was recently at an Evol Walks gig when I was reminded of a fundamental characteristic of successful musicians the world over - be there 2, 20 or 200,000 people in the audience, creating a mind-blowing experience is critical to raising your profile and building your music business.

The Bachelor of Popular Music graduate showcase has been a tradition almost since the first students graduated in 2001.

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ince then, it has grown from an informal chance for "one last jam" to the polished presentation you’ll see on Thursday 26 November at The Arts Centre Gold Coast.

That’s when Queensland Conservatorium's Popular Music program will showcase intimate performances by some of the most impressive emerging artists in SEQ. Aquila Young, Phoebe Sinclair, Cadence, Sunday, Isabel Wood and Sophie Canning, Mikayla J, Jake Fox, Georgia Bell, Miranda Ward and Lachlan Bambach are all on the bill.

While the graduate showcase represents the culmination of three years of full time study for those involved, those students performing are already well embarked on their musical careers, many having released EPs and toured.

Dr Donna Weston who is the Program Director for the Bachelor of Popular Music said that individual artists and groups from the BMP have already received worldwide acclaim and recording contracts.

“This year's graduating cohort is pretty much the same as every year - a bunch of super talented students representing a wide range of music styles as well as allied music industry skills from audio engineering and production to music business,” she said.

All graduates have played extensively in live contexts, and have written an impressive folio of original songs.

“When we first introduced this event many years ago, it was originally intended as a sendoff kind of event - a chance for students to play together one more time. But we have realised that the talent on show is too impressive to keep to ourselves and have been working toward making this a professional showcase to the public and to the industry,” Donna said, adding that this year they’ve well and truly reached that goal.

Donna said the live performance will include a wide range of original music from a group of exceptionally talented musicians, “the likes of which you would expect from any professionally staged event. “

WITH KYLIE COBB

“While it might be called a student showcase, the quality of the music is equivalent to what you would hear on the radio,” she said.

“Four of the students performing have recently returned from a university funded trip to Nashville,” Donna added. “They wrote, performed and recorded with some of Nashville's finest producers and session musicians, resulting not only in some amazing tracks, but also in several offers which will no doubt launch musical careers.”

With prestigious alumni including Kite String Tangle, Wolfmother and Bobby Alu, the Queensland Conservatorium’s Popular Music program has a reputation for producing music professionals of the highest calibre. This year’s graduating class is no exception and you can see eleven of those graduates perform live at the Graduate Showcase, Thursday 26 November at The Arts Centre Gold Coast.

Bachelor Popular Music – Graduate Showcase, Thursday 26 November from 7.30pm, The Arts Centre Gold Coast Basement.

On 15 October, at Brisbane's New Globe Theatre, Evol Walks did just that. Merely weeks before, these emerging Aussie rockers played to 200,000 people at Poland's Woodstock Festival! Can you imagine the buzz? Fast forward to the New Globe, there were 50 punters, at the most.

That, as you can imagine, is quite a different vibe to perform in and presents one of the biggest challenges facing emerging artists day in, day out - how do you deliver a killer performance despite the energy (or lack thereof) in the room?

What made this clear to me, was a direct comparison to another band I saw the previous night. Now I won't name this band, as I'm not about bagging people. But there is a point to me made. A lesson learned, if you will. I was very excited to see this band for the first time. I had heard great things and they've played a few high profile shows this year.

While I enjoyed the tunes, the performance was lacklustre.

Of course, there could be many reasons for this - illness, fatigue etc. But the important thing is how it made me feel.

As a potential fan, a music lover, I felt disconnected. Like I wasn't worth the band's effort to give what I imagined would be an in-your-face, energetic show if the room had been packed with people.

So I sat back and wondered if perhaps I was expecting too much.

S

Then Evol Walks happened.

T

U MME R I M E IN THE VILLA GE

They took the New Globe stage and... BLEW. MY. MIND. In the interest of full disclosure, Evol Walks is a client of mine. And I couldn't be prouder. This isn't me opportunely promoting them. However, because of their absolutely full throttle, standout performance, they've created this opportunity for themselves.

It was a tough room. Fifty people, likely less. They'd just come from playing to some quarter of a million people for chrissakes! As a member of the audience that night, I wouldn't have known the difference. They were confident, committed and connected. They brought the energy to the room, as opposed to looking to the room for energy to bounce off.

Now not only am I their publicist, I am a HUGE FAN and will do whatever I can to see a show of theirs, anywhere, anytime 'cos I want me some more of that rock 'n' roll.

And that, is what delivering killer is all about. Every time.

Gold Coast

IT’S FREE!!!

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music art event s

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ARCHIE ROACH CELEBRATES 25 YEARS WITH REMASTERED CHARCOAL LANE AS WELL AS NEW RECORDINGS Archie Roach is a man of few words. At least when he’s talking to journalists. But I don’t mind.

I’ve listened to his music for more than twenty years, completely captivated, saddened, buoyed and inspired by the words of his songs.

H

e’s in Melbourne when he speaks to me – at his manager’s place - and we talk about the 25 year anniversary of his seminal album Charcoal Lane. He says it doesn’t seem like 25 years. I ask him how his world has changed.

“My world? I don’t know,” he says, before pausing. “I think you’ve grown over 25 years since I wrote Charcoal Lane, you’ve grown spiritually and mentally. And life, I think, is a lot better.”

He said the last thing you do, when recording your first album is think about where you’ll be in 25 years time.

“You don’t, you don’t think of that.”

“I thought wow, this is probably the best thing I’ve ever done in my life. Doing a record of your own songs and an album – but you know, you don’t have any idea of where your music is going to go – or where it’s going to take you.”

“It’s just been amazing and humbling too – in a way because I’ve listened to music that’s helped me and influenced me through the years and had an impact on my life. I don’t know why, I should feel the same about my own music. But you don’t – you don’t think of your music of doing that. You just want to write a good song and hopefully somebody likes it.”

To mark the occasion of the 25th anniversary of such an important album in Australia’s music history, Archie worked with Festival Records and Warner Music Australia to produce a new edition of the album (originally released on Aurora / Mushroom Records). It’s a double CD – one album of covers and acoustic tracks and the other a remastered version of the original songs.

The new record is like a who’s who of Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists.

Dewayne Everettsmith, Briggs, Gurrumul, Emma Donovan, Paul Kelly, Courtney Barnett, Dan Sultan, Leah Flanagan, Marlon Williams, Radical Son, Urthboy all feature.

Pic: Daniel Boud

“My manager sort of sat down and talked and said ‘well who do you think would be good on this song.’ So we thought about it and came up with a shortlist of people we thought would do these songs some justice and hopefully put their own twist on it,” Archie said.

I asked Archie if he had any favourites on the album. He said they’re all great songs before talking about a few.

“Radical Son and Urth Boy with No No No is so different to what I’ve done. It’s really good – they didn’t copy how it was on the original. I think that’s really good –so creative,” he said.

“But you know, there’s other songs like Marlon Williams and Leah Flanagan, what an amazing singer that man is. Beautiful.

Nancy (Bates) and (Ellie) Lovegrove doing Beautiful Child – I think it’s amazing to listen to the songs – it’s like wow – like listening to them for the first time – because you’re hearing it sung by different people and their interpretation is just magic.”

If you’ve followed the career paths of Indigenous artists recently, you’d know that many look up to Archie as a mentor.

Something he says you just “do” as an elder person.

“To make a place for young fellas – up and comers – and walk with them, give them a platform, maybe get up and support you at one of your shows or singing with them on stage and ah, it’s ummm something that, that we just do, you know.”

himself got a foot in the door of the music industry when he was emerging as an artist - thanks to Paul Kelly.

“Even though we’re the same age, what he’s done musically – he’s older than me in that respect. And he gave me a stage, made a place for me so I could step up. So yes, it’s the same thing,” Archie said before going on to talk about their friendship.

“I don’t see him as often as I’d like to, but that doesn’t affect the quality of friendship that you have,” he said.

“I love the man dearly and we can sit down anytime – doesn’t matter how long we haven’t seen eachother. It’s just a comfort to sit down and talk not just about music but life,” he said. “It’s good.”

I asked Archie about the portrait of him which was a finalist for the

Archibald Prize last year (and which graces our cover thanks to the artist). Painted by Jandamarra Cadd and titled Proud it’s a fine example of contemporary Indigenous art and it’s an incredibly striking image.

“He had an exhibition a couple of hours out of Melbourne – up in the country a bit,” Archie said. “And I came and did a concert at this gallery. So me and Jandamarra sat down and we had a talk about things. He has this beautiful spirit and amazing skill at what he does. It was good to meet him.”

“You look at it first and then you realise that they’re dots,” Archie said. “And you think, wow, you’ve got that skill and the patience required to do things like that – bring it to life – it’s so life-like. He really captures the spirit of people.”

Archie has had an incredible music career and made impacts here and abroad. He won his first ARIA Award in 1991 for Best Indigenous Release and Best New Talent and since then has a list of accolades too long to mention. And though he does mention that first ARIA, it’s a very different award that he holds dearest.

“I think that one of my proudest achievements was when I got the Human Rights Award for Took the Children Away,” he said.

“It was the first time there’s been an award for a songwriter. For me, that was a big thing.”

“That’s a pretty big thing for an Indigenous musician, right,” he asks.

Oh Archie. If there was an award for understatement of the year, you’d win that too.

The 25th anniversary edition of Charcoal Lane is out now. Do your heart a favour.

If you haven’t heard this album, now is the time. If you’re an old-time fan, you’ll be seeking out this anniversary edition for your Archie Roach collection.

Samantha Morris

It’s an interesting reflection, because Archie has just described how he

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13

PALMY’S FUN SUNDAYS P

alm Beach's free event will include live music, food stalls and face painting for the family to enjoy and it’s all thanks to Division 13 Councillor, Daphne McDonald and events curator, Polly Snowden.

Cr McDonald has been part of a number of community events including Music in the Park, taking inspiration from them to continue the support for local musicians around the Gold Coast.

“I’d been speaking to [Division 9 Councillor] Glenn Tozer and they started the Summertime Sessions at Mudgeeraba and so I arranged a meeting with Polly and that’s how we came about Sunday Fun Day,” said Cr McDonald.

“I’ve been very fortunate because I’ve just handed it all to Polly.”

“I supplied the funding and I’ve handed it to her so she’s doing all the work. She’s one fantastic lady.”

If you’re looking for a way to spend Sundays over the summer, Palmy Sunday Fun Day is the answer.

“The quality of music that we have, it’s just really A-1,” she said.

“It’s just getting that exposure for some of these groups and I’d like to have that included in these Sunday Fun Days, so that some of the musicians get the public exposure that they might not normally have.”

With the summer school holidays only weeks away, there’s no doubting the popularity Palm Beach Parklands is about to have.

Samantha Morris

Palmy Sunday Fun Day runs 29 November to 6 February 2016, every Sunday from 4.006.30pm

The praise is mutual, as Snowden commends the ongoing support Cr McDonald has given throughout the community.

“She loves music and she’s been really supportive of all the music programs in her district for many years now and so she rang me and was very excited about it, it’s been awesome,” Snowden said.

“I’m an old hand at it now, so I’m really passionate about community events and décor and music, I just like creating spaces.”

And what a space she is creating – the Palm Beach Parklands will be recreated to fit an array of food stalls as two acts perform for crowds of up to thousands each Sunday through to the start of February.

With the success of Summertime Sessions in the Village and Buskers in the Creek, the rise of community events across the city has had an overwhelming response from the public, and Palmy Sunday Fun Day is expected to be no different.

“Anything that’s free in the area, free for families and is family orientated, always gets a really good turn out,” Snowden explained.

“My daughter is 15 months old, so she’s grown up going to all these community events and playing with other kids, getting to know other kids and meeting other families and it’s been great.”

As families set up their picnic blankets for the first Fun Day, local band Jimmy the Saint and the Sinners (pictured) will be kicking off the event with their signature voodoo blues sound.

One of the Sinners, George Carpenter, believes concerts like this are a vital part of the city’s music culture.

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“Families and younger kids who wouldn't usually go to a licensed venue being exposed to some great local artists is a good thing for everyone,” he said.

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“It will be our last gig on the Gold Coast for the year too, so we thought, what better way to go out than a great free show that all our friends and family can come and enjoy.”

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Carpenter believes their set will be especially fitting to the pirate playground because, “a lot of Jim's lyrics are about boats and sea voyages and things like that.”

A variety of musicians from all genres will perform across the series, but Cr McDonald is hoping to include even more local talent to the lineup after being a judge at the recent Battle of the Bands.

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15

WOODFORD FOLK FESTIVAL’S 30 YEAR MILESTONE: BILL HAURITZ

Bill Hauritz is best known as the founder and Fesival Director of Woodford Folk Festival, formerly the Maleny Folk Festival. Bill tells Samantha Morris he was working as a performing musician when he took on the role of Inaugural President of the Queensland Folk Federation in 1985 and in that thirty years, grew the folk festival from a 900-person event in the Maleny Showgrounds to one which attracts more than 100,000 people in a purpose-made site.

B

ill has won a Queensland Smithsonian Fellowship as well as being appointed a member of the Order of Australia.

He’s received a Myer Award for his contribution to performing arts, has been appointed an Honorary Senior Fellow at Sunshine Coast University and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Queensland Music Industry.

None of that should come as a surprise when you consider the impact he’s had on Woodford Folk Festival, the Queensland Folk Federation and the Australian music industry.

Woodford Folk Festival is now a $10 million dollar business and is developing the 500 acre permanent site called Woodfordia, but Bill is both humble and proud. I asked him what he would have said if someone had told him 30 years ago he’d be the figurehead for a $10 million event.

“Well, I was and other people were very ambitious about what the festival could be,” he said. “I remember writing that we should establish a plan that would take us through generations and I talked about a folk centre – that was long before the festival.”

“We always imagined that we would be large and successful and I don’t think we’ve by any means reached our peak.”

“We tried to build from the beginning an empowering organisation so that everyone had a job to do. And then we could build ownership of people who feel that it’s their festival because essentially it was and is,” Bill said.

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The Folk Federation was on a mission way back in the 80s to give the words folk and folklore more depth and Bill says folk wasn’t really considered to be important in any way. So what’s changed over the decades?

“I think people respect it more now,” he said. “They realise there’s a lot more depth to it than the simple hippie image. That image was always flawed.”

But he’s quick to point out that when he talks about folk he’s not necessarily talking about a music genre.

“Rather we build a folk movement,” he clarified. “Which is people that have common values underpinning their views of cultural expression.”

Bill says while the festival has changed due to its growth the values that underpin it and the objectives themselves haven’t changed.

“But we’re always looking for new ways for cultural expression to emerge,” he said. “For the last few years we’ve got a lot of visual artists involved – and really reworked the décor of the festival.”

He gives examples of bamboo installations and sculptures as well as some of the visual aspects of the festival over recent years and he says technology has an impact too.

“The quality of sound nowadays is much better than it was in the early years. I’ve just come out of a meeting right now about the intro of more LED lighting technology – that’s a very exciting and dramatic step in technology because of its low power useage,” he said.

Bill is quick to credit his large team for the festival’s growth – both paid and unpaid staff. “It’s a very large voluntary organisation. We have 25 core full-time staff all year ‘round but then we cut up the tasks at the festival into 140 different departments, each with an officer in charge and most of them with a deputy and most of those positions are largely unpaid,” he said.

Woodford Folk Festival has a daily population larger than Nambour which means logistics include things like electricity, plumbing, water, parking, safety and sewage. Bill said the logistics are “massive.”

Add to that 420 acts with some 2,600 individual artists performing a total of 1,400 shows over the six-day event.

“The logistical exercise of putting it all together takes all year and there’s myriad tasks that literally have to be performed to get it right.”

“I think the key to a good festival is one million little decisions by volunteers rather than one big decision by a festival director or coordinator,” Bill said.

I’ve been to half a dozen Woodford Folk Festivals including one at the earlier Maleny Showgrounds site and I actually wasn’t aware of the tradition for three minutes silence at 11.30pm on new year’s eve.

Bill tells me how it began.

“It was on 31 December in 1999,” he explained. “There was a lot of paranoia about going into the Mellenium, the Y2K Bug and at least four major end-of-theworld conspiracies. We decided to call for

three minutes of silence at 11.30pm across the whole festival and ask people to light a candle.”

“The idea was that we could give people three minutes of no music, no sound, no movement. Give them three minutes to mark the occasion for themselves. None of us thought it would work but that it was worth a go.”

“The uptake was 100%. It was an incredibly beautiful moment and for me a special time that sticks out.”

“And we still do that.”

Like most festival directors, Bill prefers not to recommend one act over another, but he does admit his soft spot for traditional Celtic music when I ask. The East Pointers from Canada in particular.

“But look, there’s no one act. I always say to people – I dare you to walk into any tent at any time and find something that’s not outstanding.”

“It’s always delightful to walk around and see acts you haven’t seen before and be surprised,” he said.

You won’t be pressed for quality at Woodford Folk Festival 2015-16 with Michael Franti, San Cisco, The Paper Kites, Kim Churchill, The East Pointers, Courtney Barnett, Josh Pyke, Katie Noonan, Dubmarine, Starboard Cannons, Hanlon Brothers and Doch and hundreds of others on the bill.

Woodford Folk Festival runs 27 December – 1 January. Get more at woodfordfolkfestival.com.

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17

AZREAL TALKS METALFIELDS AND SIGNING WITH U.S. MANAGEMENT Gold Coast’s heavy music scene is set to generate an ear-ringing to last through to the fireworks of New Years Day as 12 December sees eleven of Australia’s finest heavy music acts perform on the same bill under the flag of Metalfields II.

T

he festival – only in its second iteration – has already come to symbolise the strong metal connection from Brisbane right through to the northern rivers of New South Wales. Co-organised for the most part by John “Chippy” Chipchase and Azreal’s Chris Dennis, Metalfields is a full day barrage of head-banging, with the memory of the festival’s namesake, the late Kris Field, kept close in mind. A host of heavy genres will be on display for the metal faithful with sets from recent US campaigner’s In Death…, Northern Rivers’ rockers Hammers, the ever-intriguing Snake Mountain and newcomers Massic and Wurmzer to name a few.

Blank GC caught up with Luke Hosking of headlining groove-metal titans Azreal, for an update on the band’s recent movements and what to expect at The Coolangatta Hotel.

This is the second year of Metalfields, but already, in my mind, it’s set to become a staple heavy metal festival for the Gold Coast. What does a regular metal festival mean for the coast?

Well yeah, Wallapalooza is obviously a massive festival for the Gold Coast already, but it’s not strictly metal. Brisbane has Metalheart, Ye Gods of Metal, Dead of Winter, Metal United. But on the Gold Coast there’s only a few mini festivals that happen not so regularly. Metalfields is only in its second year, but it is shaping up to be a constant yearly event of metal for the Gold Coast. There’s a lot of good bands on the Coast, Brisbane and Northern New South Wales and a lot of us have enjoyed touring together interstate, but building a festival for the Gold Coast like this is super important because people want to be able to get that at

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Gold Coast shows. Its important for punters to know that there is a metal scene here that they can go out and support and interstate bands to know this is a festival they want to play.

The idea behind Metalfields is known to some. We celebrate the life of a massive supporter of the heavy music scene and the namesake of the concert Kris Field. What got this festival off the ground in general?

Well its something that didn’t happen on purpose or from a contrived place. It happened on accident and out of really shitty, tragic circumstances. Kris was just this legend of a dude, that always came out to shows, always wearing local bands shirts, always keen to hang out, despite his disability or whatever he was just crankin’ all the time, huge personality. When he died all of a sudden it was just a massive shockwave through heaps of us because we were just so stoked to have him here in the first place. He was bringing other people in to the scene, because having a disability, he also associated with people who had disabilities, but were keen like him to get out there. I’d imagine for someone in that position, it might not be that easy to get out there and just meet all these people in black tee shirts and beards and tattoos getting rowdy. And Kris was just no fear, he pulled this crew with him and it didn’t matter where you come from or anything like that, it was just about having a good time and hanging out with each other.

He made a huge impact on us when he was alive, so when he died it just shattered so many of us. You don’t realise how much you appreciate the people you get to hang out with until something real bad happens.

Really the first Metalfields was just a tip of the hat to him because he would have liked

that and now it’s in the spirit of him because of the person that he was. He stands for something now, and its accepting everyone and having a good time, being yourself.

That’s what metal is really meant to be about.

That’s why it’s worthy of having a festival in his name, for as long as we can fuckin’ do it.

Who are you keen to see at the show?

Personally one of my favourite bands on the bill is In Death… They are just that super heavy, brutal, consistent death metal band, they never fail. You can rely on them to be in your face, tight brutal and… well, just brutal [laughs]. I really like what Snake Mountain are doing. They’re a super crushing band as well but they’ve got this on-stage persona, they wear masks, they’re real characters. The guys themselves don’t take themselves too seriously; Metalfields is on their world tour and they are releasing a greatest hits and they’ve been around for about a year. I like humour. Wurmzer is another for me, they’re in the early days of being a band but they stand out with just being a riff driven, sludge ridden, abrasive, nasty, fuzzy, stoner-sludge band. And well, that floats my boat.

Lets talk about Azreal. You have had some great news come through recently regarding a management deal. Tell us about that?

We’ve signed with MGI International, which is a management and publicity company based in America, but they are a global company. They’ll be looking towards getting our music to America with news, reviews and basically shopping our latest record Premonition to labels to get things rolling before we eventually head to the States. It was always the plan to get there, we’d thought about doing it this year but we wanted to get around Australia a bit more.

This is the first full year of touring your latest album Premonition, what have been some of the highlights on this Australian touring cycle?

We’ve had a lot of great trips to Sydney. It’s easy to get there, people are into similar kinds of music and you’re well-received. It doesn’t feel really far from home. In saying that everywhere we’ve been has been really welcoming. We opened up Brewtality in Melbourne and that was a good crowd with a good response. Darwin was a highlight, they had a big stage set up outside and it’s not often you play under the stars, that was a real touristy time for us being up there. We’ve done plenty of North Queensland touring which has been a blast with Terrorfest and then shows with Bent Metal Media in Gladstone. All of it’s fun whether it’s getting on a plane or in a car.

Have you noticed particular songs from Premonition that are becoming favourites or resonating for punters?

I think as far as response goes, the heavy, the thrashy ones, you get a good response as far as people moshing, dancin’ around and they move to it but as far as people remembering songs; I’ve found it’s the simpler things, the more reduced it is the more people are attracted to it. A song like Kill Your Fears, repeats its own title and people can dig into that immediately. As far as album response goes, Ghosts has been overwhelmingly our audience’s favourite track. It’s drawn out and with a little more depth vocally, I think people relate with it. It’s more chipping into yourself and it comes more from an inner place.

Now having spawned two albums, and reflecting, is there a sense of what the Azreal sound is? Are there any tracks from either album for example that you’d say the band gravitates towards?

From the band’s point of view of course there are songs that the band thinks are better than others. People mention to us the songs they like and you keep that all in the back of your mind and it’s kind of an affirmation. Even if somebody says they really like a song or particular vocal lines or riffs, you might have been thinking you didn’t like the song because you’ve heard it a million times. That kind of comment or affirmation might make you go back and listen to it from their perspective or point of view, and how would this sound to someone who isn’t me?

Jesse Kenny

Azreal headlines Metalfields2 with In Death…, Hammers, Siv, Last 9 Days, Snake Mountain, Deraign, Dead End Kings, Massic, Killer’s Creed and Wurmzer. Doors open at the Cooly Hotel midday on 12 December. Tickets through Oztix or any of the bands.

IVORI ON SONG WITH AIRLIE FESTIVAL WIN Each year the Airlie Beach Festival of Music holds regional Passport to Airlie band competitions to find the best bands around Queensland.

“We didn’t even know we were in a battle up there,” Reg said.

“It was a popular vote thing with a few judges. It was great.”

espite being up against incredible local talent such as Julie Hayes, Crown The Humble and Luke Houselander, Gold Coast’s psychedelic-soul outfit Ivori won the local round held at Miami Shark Bar.

“They want us for New Years,” Reg said. “They were frothing over us.”

Samantha Morris

D

The win means Ivori will play on the main stage next year.

And as a result of their Magnum’s performances, they were also invited to return before the next festival.

The win gave Ivori four sets at Magnums to strut their stuff and make an impression on the judges and festival goers.

And make an impression they did. They’ve recently returned to the GC knowing they’ll have the hotspot next year – main stage 2016.

We caught up with bass player Reg briefly on their return to ask how it all went down. “It was hot,” he said. “but it was a really great vibe.”

“Good, appreciative, awesome crowd. They’re there for the music,” he said. “We had excellent feedback on our music.”

Ivori’s new album available real soon!

Pic: LAMP Photography

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Hollywood Heartache hit The Lab in Brisbane on Saturday 12 December.

HANGIN’ 5 WITH HOLLYWOOD HEARTACHE

NYSSA BERGER’S BUSKING BATTLES PROVE FRUITFUL

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You just won a place in the Battle of the Buskers. Tell us a little bit about your connection to the Gold Coast?

I moved to the Gold Coast in 2004 straight after high school and studied music at Griffith University and began performing solo and in bands in between studying or maybe even instead of studying. I’ve been performing both covers and original shows on the Gold Coast ever since and loving every minute of it.

old Coast 4-piece Hollywood Heartache - AJ Hawkins, Kevin Kojima, Will Parsons and Josh Entwistle - have 42,000 followers on their Twitter account and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon.

Tell me about creating Eager Hearts EP? We put aside about a month to knuckle down and write and record it. We decided that it was most suitable as our first release to record it at our home studio because it was a relaxing, stress-free environment and as much time as needed. We spent many sleepless nights eating Maccas, writing and working on ideas/demos. Then we picked what we thought should be the top 5 and those became our EP! What’s the response been?

So far it’s been absolutely incredible! Being our first release, we weren’t really sure what to expect and if people would like it. By the end of the writing process we had heard the songs so many times ourselves that we didn’t know what was good or not anymore and we hated everything we had written (jks, jks).

What are you most excited about for your upcoming tour?

It’s going to be so awesome just to get back on the road again. There were so many funny and memorable moments on our last tour and it also helps us to bond with each other more as a band on those long rides. We haven’t really played any shows in a few months so we’re so excited to get back on stage!

What is a typical ‘day in the life’ for Hollywood Heartache?

Usually on our days off we love to go hang out at the beach with friends, play some soccer and eat heaps of junk food.

We work hard so deserve a day off.

What is the next big milestone you hope to reach as a band?

Next year it would be super cool to start getting some larger support slots for bigger bands.

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Doris Prodanovic

You were one of only two women in the Battle of the Buskers – what’s the busking scene like for women?

Yeah, I was certainly in the minority the night of the Battle and increased the heart rate just that little bit more. I don’t think it’s fair to speak on behalf of all woman buskers but for me busking is where my vulnerability is at its peak. I wasn’t invited to sing at the location, I’m not being paid to sing for the audience and I’m literary asking people to validate my musical worthiness through their spare change. I’m sure both men and woman feel this to some degree though.

Having said that it’s a lot of fun too!

What does winning a place in the Battle of the Buskers mean for you?

I was completely surprised and honored to win a place in the Battle Of The Buskers because of the amazing talent on show. It felt as though the time and the work that’s gone into writing good songs, honing stage presence and connecting with audiences no matter who they are got recognised the night of Battle Of the Buskers.

You’ve got a gig coming up at Southport Sharks – tell us about that?

It’s always a pleasure doing a show at the Sharks because of their continued support of live music. The laid back atmosphere in the Cabana Bar makes for a perfect Sunday session filled with songs you know and love. I’ll also throw in some originals too.

Samantha Morris Read our full interview with Nyssa Berger at blankgc. com.au and catch her in person at Southrport Sharks Cabana Bar + Lounge on Sunday 29 November 1.00pm.

GDFRNDS MAKE BLACKBOARD Pic: LAMP Photography

Chris Lamaro and Brett Sellwood are Klubknight, a Gold Coast electronic duo with roots that run deep through the local music scene.

We’re catching up at Little Beans in Nobby’s because they’ve just released their second EP, Blackboard, but within moments of sitting down they’re raving about a different project.

“We’ve started our own PR agency and record label,” they tell me, excitedly. “It’s a collaboration with (Blank writer) Jake Wilton called GDFRNDS.” Lamaro said they’ll provide radio and media servicing, bios and press kits and they’re not too particular about the genres they’ll work with.

O

nly a couple of weeks after the first official line up for Soundwave 2016, organisers have announced that Killswitch Engage (pictured), Ill Nino and Terror Universal have been added to the bill. Not only that, but Killswitch Engage will play their highly acclaimed album Alive Or Just Breathing in full and Ill Nino will play their debut album Revolution Revolucion from start to finish as well.

Killswitch Engage, Ill Niño And Terror Universal join Disturbed, Bring Me The Horizon, The Prodigy, Deftones, Nofx, Bullet For My Valentine, Public Enemy, Refused, Metal Allegiance, Hatebreed, Soulfly, Northlane, Dead Letter Circus, L7, Frnkiero and the Cellabration, Nothing But Thieves, Frenzal Rhomb, Failure, Lordi, Devil You Know and Moose Blood.

The Festival will hit Brisbane on Saturday 23 January, Early Bird tickets are now available, soundwavefestival. com.

“We’ve always wanted to start one,” Brett said, referring to the label. “So we thought it was perfect timing to do it all together.”

Their record Blackboard then is being released by GDFRNDS. “It’s always been what we wanted to do and we found that since we started the Klubknight thing, that we just find it easier to do these things ourselves,” Lamaro said.

“And I guess, instead of having to explain to people what our sound is we can just release whatever we want.”

The new EP Blackboard follows on from Whiteboard released mid 2015. Brett said it’s darker than the first.

“It’s really experimental,” said Lamaro.

“There’s no two tracks that sound the same – they’re all quite diverse.”

The men say the response to Whiteboard was mixed. “We had a few comments asking which direction we were going with it,” Brett explained.

While they’re planning a string of shows to launch the EP, they haven’t got anything firmed up yet but did let slip about a potential new year’s option.

“People were coming from that perception that we were going to be a four to the floor, making dance records, but that’s not what we wanted to do,” Lamaro said.

And while they’re not recording, performing or managing PR for other bands, what are these two listening to when it comes to local music?

“We wanted to be a bit more weird, we didn’t really want to be put in one genre,” Brett said.

They rattle off a long list.

Which is also the angle they’re taking with their label, GDFRNDS. “We’re looking for people that have that same mindset of staying genre-less and keeping it experimental and fun and cool,” Lamaro said.

Raw Deep, Aralunar Beagle, Wax Witches (Alex from Bleeding Knees Club), WAAX, Baltimore Gun Club, Yes Sir Noceur, Jimmy the Saint and the Sinners, Fun Boys and Lyndon Kidd all get a mention.

Blackboard is available now on iTunes and Spotify.

Samantha Morris

By Nev Pearce After slaying audiences at their opening support slot for Hellyeah, the Gold Coast’s very own groove metallers The Black Swamp have scored the support for Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society in Brisbane. Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society are touring in support of Catacombs Of The Black Vatican, which was released last year and this is the first headline tour Down Under for the band since 2006 so it is pretty much guaranteed to sell out!

Catch Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society and The black Swamp in Brisbane on Sunday 29 November.

Dutch symphonic-metal band Epica will return to our shores in 2016 in support of their latest album The Quantum Enigma.

Joining the band for the run of shows are Perth prog metal favourites Voyager who released their masterpiece V last year.

Both bands will hit Max Watts in Brisbane 18 March and tickets are on sale through soundworkstouring.com.

Italian tech-death masters Fleshgod Apocalypse have released the artwork for their highly anticipated fourth album King.

The record is set to be unleashed in early 2016 and is said to be a concept album but the band are keeping tight-lipped about what it is. Fingers crossed we will also see the mighty Fleshgod Apocalypse on tour here again in the near future as their last run of shows here with Septicflesh included one of the best gigs I have ever been to!

Got some metal news we should know about? Email rabidnoiseradio@hotmail. com. And get the latest metal tracks and interviews with Rabid Noise every Wednesday night from 9.00 pm live on rabbitradio.com.au.

www.blankgc.com.au

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LOCAL ACTS SCORE FESTIVAL OF SMALL HALLS SUPPORT SLOTS Felicity Lawless, Maryen Cairns and Micky McIllwain all scored support slots for the Festival of Small Halls when it rolls through in December.

F

estival of Small Halls is a series of tours that takes two artists on the Woodford lineup to some of the smallest, quirkiest and most welcoming community spaces around the country.

This year, the tour takes Irish Mythen and Starboard Cannons on the roadtrip to end all roadtrips. They’ll visit places like Goomeri and Mt Nebo, Texas and Felton as well as Nymboida in northern NSW – 14 towns in total.

And included in those towns is Springbrook and Mudgeeraba. Cr Glenn Tozer, whose division takes in those locations is just a little bit excited about playing host to such high quality artists as well as activating those community halls.

“We’re so excited about our partnership for Springbrook’s first ever Festival of Small Halls event. The Springbrook community love to get together for a good shindig and that

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we’re able to host talented artists like Irish and the Starboard Cannons is a real coup,” he said.

Maryen Cairns who both live in the hinterland will open at Springbrook and Felicity Lawless will open at Mudgeeraba.

“It’s also wonderful to have the support of ABC Gold Coast on the day, who are hosting the artists for an on-air outside broadcast. It’ll be quite the spectacle for our little village,” Cr Tozer said.

Felicity loves that music is becoming such a prominent part of Gold Coast culture.

The Festival of Small Halls finale will be held in Mudgeeraba.

And again, Glenn is excited.

“Mudgeeraba’s second ever Festival of Small Halls event is shaping up to be quite an affair,” he said. “It’ll be the culmination of three months of Summertime Sessions in the Village music events held on every Friday night and we’ll have a bit of a Christmas theme for the finale of the tour on 20 December.”

Glenn said he was pleased that Festival of Small Halls was open to using local support acts. Micky McIllwain and

“It is so important for the overall well-being of a community to be connected with music, art and beauty,” she said. “And there are so many great things happening at the moment.”

Festival of Small Halls Friday 4 December | Irish Mythen + Starboard Cannons + Maryen Cairns + Micky McIllwain @ Springbrook Community Hall Sunday 20 December | Irish Mythen + Starboard Cannons + Felicity Lawless @ Mudgeeraba Memorial Hall

FOUR DECADES AND THE HITS 'N' RIFFS KEEP ON COMING FOR AUSSIE ICONS SKYHOOKS There are a spate of fortieth celebrations happening around the country this year in relation to our music industry. Triple J, 4ZZZ plus TV’s weekly addictive dose of Countdown. And it’s also been four decades since the iconic Skyhooks launched themselves into the airwaves, hearts and musical history. Blank’s Carmel E Lewis spoke to the band’s legendary guitarist Bongo ahead of the release of a three-disk deluxe CD box-set that’s been master-minded and remastered by Warner Music.

I

'm honoured and a tad nervous to be chatting via phone to the one and only Bob 'Bongo' Starkie, legendary guitarist with the mighty 'Hooks. I needn't have felt the latter as he is very affable and easygoing, and, as I discover, quite the storyteller I discover.

I start by stupidly blurting, "How did you come by the name Bongo?" As I'm saying it and he starts explaining it, I realise I already know the answer. I've known it forever.

"It came from how Richard Starkie became Ringo. I'm Robert or Bob Starkie so became Bongo.” Doh. Bongo Starkie is pretty chuffed with what Warner have produced, though he hasn't actually got his hands on a physical CD set yet. It had just been released on the day we speak and it's expected that stores will be rushed by die-hard fans for the limited edition release.

Fellow 'Hook, bass guitarist Greg Macainish, oversaw the whole production.

As well as umpteen well-known recorded tracks, there is a disc of live recordings from places such as Festival Hall in Melbourne and Reefer Cabaret at Ormond Hall. Her Majesty's Theatre in Adelaide and the Sydney Opera House and State Theatre.

There are also live demo recordings that never made the light of day… or night. 44 tracks all up.

Bob says he is pretty curious to revisit these tunes from so long ago. The tracks are taken from the 'Hooks' early body of work from '74 -'75, which saw them at their most prolific and popular. First album Living in the 70s became the highest selling album by an Australian act at the time. Ego is not a Dirty Word was their second album.

All the songs are so familiar they are etched into my brain and psyche. As soon as you hear the titles you instantly remember the words and automatically start singing along.

The ‘Hooks were uniquely Australian in a whole new way. In the pubs it was pretty much blues and boogie and on the air waves was innocuous pop. They were "glam", art-house and flamboyant in a sea of dirty denim and froth. Their outrageous costumes and make-up were as much a part of their performances as the music.

The 'Hooks sang about Australian places that weren't out whoop-whoop, but right here in the suburbs, particularly around Melbourne. They sang about issues relevant at the time especially to teenagers and young adults. These young guys were facing

conscription for Vietnam and the real and horrifying possibility of warfare. It was a generation that was politically and socially aware and active..

Horror Movie typifies this, the hideous Vietnam war and other atrocities seen on screens every night during the "6.30 news". But their songs reflected all aspects of society and adolescence.

Bob recalls playing up here on the Gold Coast in the 70's, at the Jet Club and the Playroom, and being kicked out of their hotel in Brisbane. Joh was kicking everybody out of everywhere, I tell him.

I was just a kid growing up in Bendigo a couple of hours north of Melbourne, but we often went to the 'big smoke', so I knew all those places and suburbs in Melbourne the ‘Hooks sang about. Not long later I was living down there and doing most of those things. Well not the Toorak thing.

I recount to Bob how a group of us Bendigo kids gathered around the stereo on the 1979/80 New Years Eve and blasted the hell out of Living in The 70's over and over.

I then ask another probably obvious and stupid question which has most likely been asked to death. Is there any chance of a Skyhooks reunion? Once again I reckon I know the answer before Bob can reply with a sigh.

"No one could match Shirl's vocal range, not even John Farnham. Plus his stage presence and personality and larrikin cheekiness could never be duplicated,” he said.

Sadly, Australia lost one of its most talented and underrated performers, Graham 'Shirley' Strachan to a helicopter crash in 2001.

I'd put some feelers out to Facebook friends about what questions/topics I should mention to Bongo. One response was to ask him about the time he carved the word c**t into Frank Stivala's desk with an axe while chasing money.

I approach the subject apprehensively. "If you don't want it mentioned that's okay.

I can keep it off the record," I say tentatively.

"No, say what you like", says Bob. He has me in hysterics as he recounts this tale and the phone line is crackly so I miss some bits.

I'm not sure why (Frank) a Victorian politician was involved in a Skyhook's gig, but he also shared an office in the same building as Michael Gudinski and Mushroom Records .

So Skyhooks are booked to play this gig in Doncaster. All the band and crew show up and wait. Bongo keeps phoning Frank to confirm.

Frank says, "Yes, yes. No worries Bob.” They wait, and wait. Finally they are told it was never confirmed. There is no gig. Not only did they not get paid, it had cost them to be there.

"So of course I ended up with egg on my face,” Bob said. “I had to take it, I took the heat. You know if you play in a band, any way they can stick it to you they will. But I was getting more pissed off. So I thought, right, I'm gonna go get my dad's axe and chop up his fucking desk.”

“I went round to my dad's and got the chainsaw out of the shed. I go down to the Mushroom building and I'm sitting in the car park trying to get this chainsaw working. Dad's hopeless at maintaining his tools and the bloody thing just would not start. So I'm in a lather.”

“So I go back down Chapel Street to the hardware store and buy an axe".

"An axe?" I exclaim. "Like a tomahawk thing?”

"No, it's a full size axe,” Bob continued.

“Anyway I get back down there and the bloody thing's not sharp. It's fucking blunt.

So I go back to the hardware store and buy a sharpening thing. You know those sharpening stones? So I'm back in the car park sharpening this axe.”

Then I go up the back stairs, down the corridor and turn left. I pass Gudinski's office. He's not in there but Gary Astley, a manager is sitting behind his desk on the phone, looking blankly into the distance.”

“I see Frank in his office down the corridor on his phone. I walk down past all these offices and walk in. I jump up on his desk and start chopping, you know, the word for female anatomy into it. You can chop the letters into like squares. Frank's still on the phone and I'm swearing, effin this and effn that. So I chop the phone lines.”

“Then I jump down off the desk, swing the axe over my shoulder, and walk back down the corridor. Gudinski and Stivala's offices are in a direct line of vision. Gary is still sitting there, gaping and looking blank. No one said a thing.”

"So the next day I'm driving down the street and you know how they have those big newspaper headlines out the front of shops?

Well there it is, this massive headline…

“SKYHOOK GOES BERSERK WITH AXE!!!"

Bongo says the desk was replaced within minutes. I ponder what became of it. It should be in a Skyhook's museum or the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

There's another story about Rio de Janeiro Bob moved there for a couple of years to get a break from drinking and things.

I'm joking when I say, "So you did a Ronald Biggs?"

"Yeah, I met Ronnie. We used to go up to his house in Rio's foothills and play pool. It was the Aussies versus the Pomms. I could never play pool to save my life but I thrashed Biggsy.”

Then he shares a tale about sailing down to some islands south of Rio, seeing this house for sale right on the beach in this beautiful little fishing village.

Bob says to Ronnie, "Do you want to go halves?” And they did.

Don't you believe what you've seen or you've heard. I believe everything I hear from Bob “Bongo” Starkie. And I sure as hell would like to have seen it. What a legend, what a story-teller, what a troubadour.

What a legacy Bob and Skyhooks have left for Australia, its people and its rock and roll history.

Do yourselves a favour, as Molly always told us. Have a listen to these precious, musical gems.

Carmel E Lewis

www.blankgc.com.au

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TWO DECADES OF ABSOLUTE BELTERS

Can you believe it's been twenty ear-splitting years since seminal post-rock, five piece Mogwai burst onto the Glaswegian music scene? Have their titanic chord sequences and evocative sweeping soundscapes really been bringing the house down at festivals for so long?! Camilla Jones momentarily pauses from grappling with the passage of time and her own mortality, to natter with Mogwai's Barry Burns.

STARBOARD CANNONS AHOY FOR SMALL HALL SHOWS Starboard Cannons are changing the way we think about folk music. Bringing a contemporary feel to the Australiana genre, the trio consists of Ashley Bell, Matt Bone and Jan Van Dijk, who are able to cross their sound spectrum from melancholy to energising.

As Starboard Cannons keep to their soothing combination of guitar, bass, banjo and fiddle, Ash believes it’s all about the themes and imagery in the lyrics when it comes to Australiana music.

B

elters is an apt inclusion in the title of this 20 year anniversary, 3CD and 6LP boxed set of rarities and highlights from Scottish rock legends Mogwai. It's a fittingly winding monument to their inspirational career, as opposed to a 'practical, ticks-all-the-boxes, retrospective'.

Yes, diehard devotees will likely bemoan the omission of the obscurest of obscurities, while those new to the band will receive a weighty, handpicked, 34 track gallimaufry of an introduction to their back catalogue.

20 years is an impressive chunk of time in any career. What do you think has enabled you all to stay together as a band this long?

Personally, I've enjoyed the company of the rest the band from the start. It's been so hilarious tons of times in the studio, the bus or even when out in bars or whatever when we're not actually working. Very good fun.

In reality, it's the unexpectedness of the band's selection that makes this release so interesting. Plenty of wellknown tracks don't make the cut, so the chance for a quick Q&A with the band's guitar, piano, synthesiser and vocal impresario, Barry Burns, delivered a fascinating insight into how the fivesome went about self-curating something more intimate than your standard 'best of ' box set.

As you look back over the last 20 years, what's one highlight that epitomises what it’s been like to be one fifth of Mogwai?

We had a show on a TV station in Canada and they asked us if we would like a background projection while playing and what exactly would we like to project. I said, for a laugh, "cats and explosions". We sent them that and when we got to the TV station, there it was, nuclear explosions and a cat on a treadmill.

The idea of selecting tracks for a 20 year retrospective, might have been a little overwhelming. What was the process?

It feels like so long ago that I can barely remember the process (been a busy year I suppose). I think we had some sort list that we voted on - regarding what songs would be best for a sort of overview of our work to date.

Have the dynamics of being in the band changed over time?

It's been a bit different since I moved to Berlin 6 years ago and there's definitely a desire to work outside of the band for quite a few of us. That's helped me discover different ways of working and hopefully that will be reflected in the new album, whenever that is.

Central Belters refers to the Central Belt of Scotland – how does the title have significance for this release?

It does refer to the area from where we were all born, but it's also (hopefully) a humorous reference to the quality of the songs - a 'belter' being a good song. Given that we have zero actual hits, we thought it was amusing.

You said in an interview with Time Out in 2014, that it gets harder and harder to remain original as time goes on.

What are some rituals or habits you have – or any processes you do to try and keep things fresh?

I did and I still think that, obviously. But as long as you sort of change the way you go about composing songs, be it with different instruments or just a different computer application from the last time, you seem to be able to come out with stuff that's unlike previous music.

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Are there plans for elaborate vinyl box set reissues of all studio albums? (The Young team and Cody reissues were both amazing.)

There's a good chance as people are still after vinyl copies of our stuff.

Finally, at a time of nostalgic looking forwards and back, what do you hope Mogwai will be remembered for in another 20 years time?

I just thought about this for a good three or four minutes. I don't think I really care, I'm just happy to have been part of something that I enjoy.

Central Belters is out now via the band's own label Rock Action, as a 3CD or 6LP set.

“I suppose that in the way that Americana is used to describe a certain genre, Australiana probably refers more to the concepts and the lyricism than to the actual music,” said Ash. “Where the Americans derive their classic sound from is based in country and blues music, we tend to lean more towards our Celtic and British heritage.”

Before the trio enters a busy 2016 of writing, jamming and recording, Starboard Cannons will be part of the Festival of Small Halls tour, travelling from town to town across the country.

When asked what we could expect to see from their shows, Ash first described the important bond between a crowd and the musician when it comes to performing.

“We play music because we love it. We love seeing people enjoy themselves and we love being a part of an atmosphere that is created by the relationship between performer and audience,” said Ash. “I get as much of a thrill watching Jan tear up the fiddle and Matty rock the doghouse as anyone in the crowd.”

“Every song I write is very personal to me, and inviting a hall full of strangers to hear my quite intimate thoughts is very special. I don’t feel like we leave each other as strangers.”

As part of a growing music scene, it seems the way in which Australian folk music has been received in the past decade is not just a fad. Ash thinks it’s because people are no longer limited to commercial radio and television that they are discovering different kinds of music.

“There’s certainly been a massive resurgence of folk music in popular and mainstream culture in the last decade. The lines between rock music, folk music and pop became so blurred that now it’s hard to tell what’s what. And it’s great!”

“Turns out people love Aussie folk music, they just didn’t know about it.”

If you’re missing your fix of Australiana folk, see Starboard Cannons at Festival of Small Halls tour at Springbrook Community Hall on Friday 4 December and Mudgeeraba Memorial Hall on Sunday 20 December, before they set their sights for Woodford Folk Festival.

Doris Prodanovic

TIGERLILY: HALF-DJ, HALF-MERMAID

The Australian electronic music scene has fallen in love with electrically bluehaird Tigerlily, not only for her music but also for being a role-model for younger women. Eden Tokatly spoke to her ahead of her upcoming Sterosonic show.

LITTLE PINK’S BIG DREAMS

27 year old George Carpenter is a Gold Coaster through and through. A graduate of All Saints – a very musical school, and then on to the Bachelor of Popular Music at Griffith, he’s best known for being one fifth of Jimmy The Saint and The Sinners. But what you may not realise is that he also runs a popular recording studio, Little Pink. With roots that run deep in the local music scene, some of Blank’s writing team caught up with George in his basement studio.

G

eorge Carpenter has been involved with music for most of his young life playing in bands such as cult leaders Mourning Tide, The Delta Riggs, voodoo rockers Jimmy the Saint and the Sinners, alongside artist of the year Karl S Williams as well as touring with the legendary Ash Grumwald. But beyond his experience on stage he says his passion lies in perfecting sound recordings and production as well as contributing to the local music scene.

“That’s the thing that gets you repeat business as well. It’s all about communication – getting people comfortable so they can perform really great for you.”

His humble studio has become a second home to some of the finest, most renowned artists coming out of the Gold Coast.

“Mark Duckworth is a real big influence on me – he has that whole thing with the communication and he just brings the best out of everybody. When you’re with him you just want to play your best – you don’t want to leave,” Carpenter said, noting that Mark is in the process of packing up his studio.

“It was the middle 2012 and I was like I’ve got to do it. I’m going to build a studio,” George said.

“And with a bit of help from mum and dad, I pieced together the core systems. Zac from the Sinners helped me build all this stuff in here,” he said, sweeping his hand around the compact but well fitted out space in the basement of his parents’ home.

“I split my time now between Melbourne and here and freelance in a couple of studios down there. I’m basically doing this and doing the Sinners.”

While Carpenter plays the Hammond organ in the Sinners, it’s the drums that he’s always played and he’s helped produce albums for a long list of emerging and established acts. The Delicates, The Babe Rainbow, Salvadarlings, Oceanics, GOVS, Karl S Williams and his sideproject Tsun as well as, of course Jimmy The Saint and The Sinners – they’ve all had Little Pinks’ treatment.

Carpenter says since opening the studio in 2013 he’s learned a lot.

“It’s like every single project, you are completely shattering knowledge. Every record you learn so much. You learn a lot of technical stuff at uni,” he said, “but those first few years out of uni just freelancing and working with other engineers, it’s more the dealing with people thing you get better at as the years go on.”

“I grew up always looking at the back of record covers. You know who’s king? The producer.”

Carpenter talks about some of the local music stalwarts and fellow producers who are making waves.

He mentions Matt Bartlem (Loose Stones Studios) at Burleigh who worked on the new Dead Letter Circus album, Paul Blakey a mastering engineer. He talks about Brad Hosking who runs Blind Boy Studios, Guy Cooper at Serotonin and Scotty French at Love Street Studios.

But he says when it comes to the local music scene, venues are most important.

“Recording studios and mastering, we all work on that second tier, in parallel,” Carpenter said. “But the live music thing is super-big and without live venues, we’ve got nothing.”

When we move on to talking about local artists the list is long and diverse. Karl S Williams, Donny Love, Jarrod James, Ella Fence, Aquila Young, Creature Kind all get a mention. Red Spencer and Head Clouds – both ex-GC bands – are also on Carpenter’s radar.

Carpenter’s face and name should be on your radar for the near future. While Jimmy The Saint and The Sinners take a few months off, you can be sure George Carpenter will be busy making magic of a different kind in his Little Pink studio.

Samantha Morris + Yanina Benavidez

You have recently released Paradise.

What was the recording process like?

Oh my goodness, it was a very hectic day. It was a full day of filming, but it was really rewarding. We worked closely with the directors and photographers and the creative team. I feel like the video really embodied me as a person and an artist and a musician. It was all about being reborn through nature and exploring nature. I think it related well to the track, the concept of “paradise” and also had the vibe that I like.

It seems that for many female DJs they are seen as just that, a female first, and a DJ second. What is it like to be in such a male-dominated industry?

It’s definitely difficult and it’s definitely been a work in progress. It’s a constant process and I think it’s just a matter of for me, what I try and focus on is just being organic and pushing out the message that I feel that is most real and natural. I think where people get caught up is, especially the girls, pushing out messages that aren’t true. I’m really hands on and I think, I like to hope, that people can see that.

Hopefully I can continue to develop that so people follow me for my music and all the positive stuff that I am trying to do and not just necessarily because I’m a female DJ.

It’s a little bit more difficult at festivals because you only have an hour, where as at a concert you have one and a half to two hours. You really need to construct it carefully and think about what people want.

What piece of advice would you give aspiring female DJs? This is a tricky one because I could talk for hours about it. I think you should follow your gut instincts, follow the course you wanted and push yourself to things that you might find scary or nerve-racking. It is a difficult industry to work in and I think it is a bit of a boy’s club. It can be quite intimidating, especially for young women in the industry. My advice would be to follow your passions, follow your dream. If you’re passionate about something and you love what you do that’s going to shine through. There isn’t enough of that true, heartfelt love in this industry. If you are in love with what you do and you put your heart and soul in to it.

Spot a rare glimpse of this mermaid in her natural habitat at Stereosonic, Sunday 6 December.

Tell me about studying at university whilst touring and writing music?

I studied a Bachelor of Media & Communications at Sydney Uni, with majors in marketing and sociology, it was great but really difficult.

I studied full time, it was challenging at times, not so much mentally, but both physically and emotionally.

I remember one week I had three shows in Melbourne one week and on the same day I had 9.00am tutorials. So I was catching 6.00am flights to go to class and then down again at about 3.00pm for the next show and I did that three days consecutively. I’m also really happy that it’s out of the way now and I can make music my focus.

What can the crowd expect from you at Stereosonic?

I’m very excited for Stereosonic. We have a couple of special things up our sleeve which will be very very cool.

I’ll be playing some unreleased music and testing it out, so that’s for sure.

Pic: Daniel Boud www.blankgc.com.au

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NOVEMBER

GOLD COAST GIG GUIDE

MAR HAZE (Syd) + The Ruiins + Crown The Humble + Lucy and the Wayward Suns | Currumbin Creek Tavern

WEDNESDAY 2 DECEMBER

Tyrone Noonan | Atrium Bar, Jupiters Hotel & Casino

The James Street Preachers | The Cambus Wallace

Mitchells Fold + Vanessa Elisha + Daneel + Will R Price | The Loft Chevron Island

THURSDAY 3 DECEMBER

Lagwagon | The Northern Hotel, Byron Bay

Kiara Jack and the Jills | Palm Beach Currumbin Markets, 7am

Zookeepers | Southport Sharks

Open Mic Jam | Town & Country, Nerang

The Flumes (7.00pm) + Phil Brommers (2.00pm) | Sheoak Shack

THURSDAY 26 NOVEMBER BPM GRADUATE SHOWCASE: featuring Isobel + Aquila Young + Fox and Fiasco + Static + Phoebe Sinclair + Sunday | The Arts Centre Gold Coast Basement

Zookeepers | Southport Sharks Dinkum Bohos (at Alternator Poetry Jam) | Dust Temple The Goldhearts + Ivey + New Age Notion | Studio 56 (Miami Marketta) Frazer Goodman Trio | Spaghetti & Jazz, Robina Who’s line up is it anyway? Local Muso Jam & Variety Night | The Loft Chevron Island

FRIDAY 27 NOVEMBER Summertime Sessions in the Village: Tsun + Frankie & the Moon, Cuddihy Park, Mudgeeraba (5.30pm) Benny D Williams | Cooly Hotel (downstairs) In Essence | Burleigh Brewing Co. The Cactus Channel | Miami Marketta Platform (originals night) | Southport Sharks Sex Pistols and Ramones Tribute show | Parkwood Tavern Scartlet Kill + The Second Alternation (Perth) + Lure + Pinion + Just Monday | Currumbin Creek Tavern

Casette | elsewhere Jax Haze | Chevron Renaissance Akova | Mandala Organic Arts Cafe, Mermaid Beach

SUNDAY 29 NOVEMBER Palmy Sunday Fun Day: Jimmy the Saint and the Sinners + Bobby Alu | Palm Beach Parklands pirate park (4.00 – 6.30pm) Josh Smith | The Cambus Wallace Kora + P.Digsss | Studio 56, Miami Marketta Open mic | Scuttlebutt Cafe, Springbrook Road, Springbrook Six60 | Cooly Hotel Nyssa Berger | Southport Sharks Cabana Bar (1pm) Benny D Williams | Bonita Bonita Danyak | Institution Ale House, Surfers Paradise JJ Harris (1.00pm) | Robina Town Tavern

MONDAY 30 NOVEMBER

Akova | Haven Bar, Murwillumbah

Lloyd Saniel | Southport Sharks

Leigh James | Chevron Renaissance

DECEMBER

Dinkum Bohos | Pizza Paradiso, Suffolk Park

SATURDAY 28 NOVEMBER NIGHTQUARTER OPENING: Hanlon Brothers + Felicity Lawless + CC The Cat + Taylor + Katia Demeesta | NightQuarter, Helensvale

www.blankgc.com.au

Blue Poppy (covers) | Southport Sharks

PLTS + Pro Vita + Ivey | elsewhere

Julie Hayes + Peter Sivright + Jemma Lee | The Loft Chevron Island

26

Kellie Knight and The Daze | Miami Marketta

TUESDAY 1 DECEMBER Game Over Schoolies: Toren Foot + Hey Sam + Boot Action | elsewhere Voice & Congas | Southport Sharks Sixties Sarah (DJ) | The Cambus Wallace Gabrielle Lambe | Institution Ale House, Surfers Paradise

Open Mic Night | The Loft Chevron Island

Six60 | Cooly Hotel Matthew Armitage | The Cambus Wallace Baskervillian + Malo Zima + Aquila Young | Studio 56

FRIDAY 4 DECEMBER DEJA VUDU EP Launch + Lotus Ship + Stone Witches + Columbia Calling | Currumbin Creek Tavern Summertime Sessions in the Village: Little Georgia + Blues Stomp Holding Co. + The Adventures of Herbert and Valerie, Cuddihy Park, Mudgeeraba (5.30pm) Hussy Nicks + Benny Nelson + Ladi Abundance | NightQuarter, Helensvale Brewhouse Bash: Taylor | Burleigh Brewery (5.30pm) Festival of Small Halls: Irish Mythen + Starboard Cannons + Maryen Cairns + Micky McIllwain | Springbrook Community Hall

Dezzie D and the Stingrayz | Miami Marketta Dinkum Bohos | Phoenix Rising Cafe, Nimbin (1.00pm)

SUNDAY 6 DECEMBER Palmy Sunday Fun Day: Josh Lovegrove + Jake Whittaker | Palm Beach Parklands pirate park (4.00 – 6.30pm) Royale Sundays: Jimmy D (Byron Bay) + Jayboy + Stretch | elsewhere Hayley Grace | Southport Sharks Cabana Bar & Lounge (1.00pm) Dean Ray | Surfers Paradise Beergarden James Street Preachers | Institution Ale House, Surfers Paradise Alysia Rose Gypsy Jazz | The Cambus Wallace Nicole Brophy | Sunhouse Coolangatta, 4.00pm Dinkum Bohos | Writers at The Rails, Byron Bay, 2.00pm

MONDAY 7 DECEMBER Marco | Southport Sharks

TUESDAY 8 DECEMBER A Tribe Called Frank | Institution Ale House, Surfers Paradise Voice & Congas | Southport Sharks

Unwritten Law + The Grenadiers | Cooly Hotel

WEDNESDAY 9 DECEMBER

Friend Within (UK) + Lockhart + Lachlan Keenen + Audun | elsewhere

Outlawz (Tupac Shakur) 20 year anniversary Australia tour | Surfers Paradise Beergarden

Petar Zabic + Livvia + Frank Swaby + Stevi-Jade Richardson | Loft Chevron Island

Open Mic Night | The Loft Chevron Island

Nicole Brophy | The Farm Byron Bay (2.00pm) Bullhorn | Miami Marketta

SATURDAY 5 DECEMBER Kiara Jack and the Jills | Helensvale Markets, 8am Dubmarine + c90 Superchrome + Herbert and Valeria + Little Georgia + Loa | NightQuarter, Helensvale

The James Street Preachers | The Cambus Wallace

THURSDAY 10 DECEMBER Zookeepers | Southport Sharks Black Rabbit George + Special Guests | Studio 56

FRIDAY 11 DECEMBER

Dance On | Southport Sharks

Summertime Sessions in the Village: Aquila Young + Karl S Williams, Cuddihy Park, Mudgeeraba (5.30pm)

Elbury Music (7.00pm) + Sye McRitchie (2.00pm) | Sheoak Shack

CC The Cat | Burleigh Brewery (5.30pm)

Alexander William + The Kobra Fuzz + Eleea Navarro + Taso | Loft Chevron Island

An elsewhere xmas with elsewhere DJs + The Arno Band | elsewhere Ginger and the Ghost + Fox and Fiasco + Josh Lovegrove | NightQuarter, Helensvale

TAYLOR + Dirty Frank + Salt & Steel + Accidentally Perfect | Currumbin Creek Tavern Julia Rose Band | Miami Marketta OZ-ROXX presents The Angels and Hoodoo Guru Tribute Show | Southport Sharks James D’Khan + Dan Irwin + Nina Ward + Dion Cerreto | Loft Chevron Island Nicole Brophy | The Haven, Murwillumbah (6.00pm)

SATURDAY 12 DECEMBER Bree De Rome + Leopold’s Treat + Felicity Lawless | NightQuarter, Helensvale Metalfields Festival: Azreal + In Death + Hammers + SIV + 9 Days + Snake Mountain + Deraign + Dead End Kings + Massic + Killers Creed + Wurmzer | Cooly Hotel Felicity Lawless | NightQuarter, Helensvale

TUESDAY 29 DECEMBER

The James Street Preachers | The Cambus Wallace

The Amity Affliction + A Day To Remember + A ghost Inside + Motionless in White | Brisbane Riverstage

Open Mic Night | The Loft Chevron Island

Alysia Rose Gypsy Jazz | The Cambus Wallace

Voice & Congas | Southport Sharks

THURSDAY 17 DECEMBER

Dinkum Bohos | Doma Cafe, Federal (12 noon)

WEDNESDAY 30 DECEMBER

The Moonlight Society + Crown the Humble | Studio 56

Nautic Giants (2nd birthday) featuring Doorly (UK) + Super Flu (Germany) + live bands | Fishermans Wharf

Open Mic Night | Loft Chevron Island

FRIDAY 18 DECEMBER

Soul Stripes | Institution Ale House, Surfers Paradise

WEDNESDAY 16 DECEMBER

Zookeepers | Southport Sharks

In Essence | Burleigh Brewery (5.30pm) Donny Love Sultry Visions EP launch + special guests | elsewhere Platform: originals night | Southport Sharks Hayey Calvert + Jeremy Newell + Black Rabbit George + Avaberee | NightQuarter, Helensvale Nicole Brophy | Beaches on Kirra

Dinkum Bohos | Kulcha Jam Byron Bay (with special guests)

Haba Dudes + Astrid + Hope Scott | Loft Chevron Island

Lisa Crawley “EP Launch” + Annie & Bern (Melb) + SS.Sebastian | Loft Chevron Island

Felicity Lawless | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay

Bill Jacobi (7.00pm) + Bec Laughton (2.00pm) | Sheoak Shack The Twine | Miami Marketta The Hodads | Southport Sharks

SUNDAY 13 DECEMBER Palmy Sunday Fun Day: The Lyrical + Ginger and The Ghost | Palm Beach Parklands pirate park (4.00 – 6.30pm) Electrik Lemonade | Miami Tavern Shark Bar

MONDAY 21 DECEMBER Lloyd Saniel | Southport Sharks

WEDNESAY 23 DECEMBER

Nattali Rize + Seeka + The Lyrical | NightQuarter, Helensvale

Alex Fietz | Southport Sharks The James Street Preachers | The Cambus Wallace

THURSDAY 24 DECEMBER

The Models | Cooly Hotel

Zookeepers | Southport Sharks

Funk n Wagnells | Southport Sharks

FRIDAY 25 DECEMBER

Open Mic Night | Loft Chevron Island

Mitch King (7.00pm) + Charlie Keller (2.00pm) | Sheoak Shack

James Reyne + Moving Pictures | Jupiters

Gavin Doniger and his Mescalito Blues | Sunhouse Coolangatta

Velvet Martini | Miami Marketta

Marshall Okell | The Rails, Byron Bay

Halestrom | The Tivoli, Brisbane Sixties Sarah (DJ) | The Cambus Wallace Little Red Robin Horse | Institution Ale House, Surfers Paradise

Garrett Kato | Cabana Bar & Lounge, Southport Sharks (1.00pm) Festival of Small Halls: Irish Mythen + Starboard Cannons + Felicity Lawless | Mudgeeraba Memorial Hall

TUESDAY 5 JANUARY

WEDNESDAY 6 JANUARY

Matty Rogers + Benny De Williams + Alone Alaska + Jake Whittaker | NightQuarter, Helensvale Blackcats Re-Loaded | Southport Sharks

State Champs + Neck Deep (all ages) | The Triffid

FRIDAY 8 JANUARY Stray from the Path + Void of Vision + Hellions + Antagonist A.D. | Cooly Hotel State Champs + Neck Deep (18+) | The Triffid

Akova | Miami Marketta

SATURDAY 9 JANUARY

SUNDAY 27 DECEMBER

The Oh Sees | Miami Tavern Shark Bar

Damon Innes | Cabana Bar & Lounge (1.00pm)

Nicole Brophy | Sheoak Shack

Danyak | Institution Ale House, Surfers Paradise

SUNDAY 10 JANUARY

MONDAY 28 DECEMBER Lloyd Saniel | Southport Sharks

Two questions: Who’s playing?

What’s pouring?

Free The Genie | Institution Ale House, Surfers Paradise

Saturday Night: Six Shooter + Latour + Nadeem + Giv | elsewhere

Free The Genie | Institution Ale House, Surfers Paradise

Voice & Congas | Southport Sharks

SUNDAY 3 JANUARY

SATURDAY 26 DECEMBER

Peter Korzuch + Rachel Clark + Brooke Lambert | Loft Chevron Island

TUESDAY 15 DECEMBER

Mapstone Music (7.00pm) + Irish Mythen (2.00pm) | Sheoak Shack

A Tribe Called Frank | Institution Ale House, Surfers Paradise

Simon Meola | Cabana Bar & Lounge, Southport Sharks (1.00pm)

Lloyd Saniel | Southport Sharks

SATURDAY 2 JANUARY

electronic boogie show | elsewhere

Josh Smith | The Cambus Wallace

Palmy Sunday Fun Day: Aquila Young + Switchkraft | Palm Beach Parklands pirate park (4.00 – 6.30pm)

80s Revival ft. Madonna Tribute | Southport Sharks

FRIDAY 1 JANUARY

SATURDAY 19 DECEMBER

SUNDAY 20 DECEMBER

Dubarray | Sheoak Shack

Darren Sommerville | Institution Ale House, Surfers Paradise

Dinkum Bohos | Lulu’s Cafe, Mullumbimby (11.00am)

MONDAY 14 DECEMBER

THURSDAY 31 DECEMBER

JANUARY

Open Mic Night | Loft Chevron Island

The Amity Affliction + A Day To Remember + A ghost Inside + Motionless in White | Brisbane Riverstage (SOLD OUT)

Alex Fietz | Southport Sharks

TUESDAY 22 DECEMBER

Ziggy Alberts | Miami Marketta

Nicole Brophy | NightQuarter, Helensvale (4.00pm)

Lotus Ship | Institution Ale House, Surfers Paradise

Palmy Sunday Fun Day: Felicity Lawless + Hussy Hicks | Palm Beach Parklands pirate park (4.00 – 6.30pm) James Street Preachers | Institution Ale House, Surfers Paradise www.blankgc.com.au

27

album reviews

HUSSY HICKS | THAT OLD HEARTACHE (Single) Heartstrings have already been pulled from the opening notes of Hussy Hicks’ new single That Old Heartache.

With solemn slide guitar chords mixed with a light-hearted melodic mandolin, you can foresee this is going to be a blissful track.

And when Leesa Gentz’ Debra Conwayesque vocals belt out the chorus, “It’s that old heartache/every time, you let me down,” it quickly reminds us of her incredible voice.

Their compositions can be embedded with a slide guitar and ‘shazam!’ you are transported to a Texan Americana bar, or played acoustically they’re at home in a Gold Coast beachside scene. These last few weeks have taken the Hussies to the beautiful exteriors of the State Library Queensland to the Australian Music Week festival in Sydney. Next stop the Kultur cafés of Germany.

Depending on their musical habitat the duo use their instrumental resources to transport their followers to different genres.

That Old Heartache provides four minutes and 16 seconds of alt country sounds – a moody slide guitar, galloping bass and sweet subtle harmonies.

The lyrics are minimal and the chorus is frequent yet catchy, but what it has doses of is a relaxed rolling melody and a plucky mandolin played by Phil Proctor coaxing the song musically along.

Hussy Hicks’s new single was released 26 October and can be downloaded from their website hussyhicks.bandcamp.com.

Tiffany Mitchell

KLUBKNIGHT | WHITELINES

VIOLENT SOHO | LIKE SODA

(EP)

(single)

They describe their sound as late night bass and experimental synthesis, but Blackboard, the latest release from Gold Coast electro duo Klubknight, adds a more mature, sexy and accessible sound to their catalogue, packed to the brim with remix-ready tracks for DJs looking to fill dance floors.

The six track EP slithers to an open with Dark Rooms, featuring the sample of a news anchor mentioning tension between Ukraine and Russia. Building to the band's signature dark and thumping techno, heavy metal influences can be heard on the aptly titled track, over chaotic synth squeals.

With the relentless driving beats we've come to expect from Klubknight, Dark Rooms proves just how far the band has come since their first EP, From The Whiteboard, last year.

Blackboard's first single, White Lines, is another standout – and according to the boys, one of the most popular tracks so far as voted by feet on dance floors around the state. It comes complete with a great new video in keeping with the track's throwback to 90's techno, which you can check out on YouTube.

My favourite track – on repeat since my prerelease sneak peek – is Ephadream. Fuelled by the grimy, illicit side of late night culture, it features a reinterpretation of Frank Sinatra's My Way, reverberating menacingly over addictive synth hooks and hypnotic bass. With a climatic resolution that could easily be a big EDM festival set closer, Ephadream is reminiscent (IMHO) of epic 90s electronica dance greats like Faithless.

Knowing the boys socially has revealed Ephadream is a musical middle finger to the feedback following From The Whiteboard, “Too much of this, too little of that,” says Chris Lamaro. As a result, Ephadream is a new revelatory encapsulation of the essence of Klubknight, “We do exactly what we want to do, how we want to do it,” says Chris.

And they're not going to do lines on the blackboard in apology any time soon. Not if their synths have anything to say about it.

Camilla Jones

A little while ago I said, that in my opinion, Violent Soho and BAD//DREEMS were two of the best rock bands in the country right now. Getting to see them both on the same bill awhile back at The Soundlounge in Currumbin was a double treat. The usually polite crowd went completely ape-shit.

(album)

The first time I saw Vi-So (I don't know if that will catch on) live was at Valley Fiesta in Brisbane three years ago. I'd never heard their music or heard of them, but as soon as they belted out Neighbour Neighbour I knew there was something special about these guys. Something… but I didn't know what exactly.

The opening lines to the title track of Melbourne folk artist Leah Senior’s debut album is a fragile yet ambidextrous concoction of seasonal ambiguity and echoing transformations.

They've just got "it". That magic formula of grabbing you by the throat, slapping you in the face and kicking you in the arse. Kapow.

And you're begging for more.

Their new single Like Soda maintains the rage. Maybe a bit less ballsy, though I've heard that live this song packs a wallop.

Luke's distinctive growly voice sucks you in with catchy choruses you can't help but sing along to: "I don't mind, I don't care / I'll just say whatever / We don't mind, we don't care / We'll be here forever".

Hardly deep and meaningful or worthy of a Miles Franklin Award, but who gives a damn?

The video clip begins with flames engulfing the screen and slowly diminishing as the song progresses. Nearing the end you see it's a cassette player on fire. When the flames peter out you see a cassette tape inside with 'Violent Soho' written on it. The song ends, the flames have disappeared and a hand opens the deck-door and removes the tape.

I can't help but notice that the frequency the radio dial is set on the player is Brisbane's 4ZZZ 102.1 FM. Probably the first station to play these local Bris-boys music. Nice touch.

Simple and clever.

Like Soda might lack the punch of favourite VS song, Covered in Chrome, but that's going to be a hard one to top, “hell fuck yeah.” It still has that quintessential Soho power, energy and raw charm, though. No frills, in-your-face, Aussie rock. Get it in ya.

Like soda, with a kick-arse whiskey chaser.

Carmel E Lewis

28

www.blankgc.com.au

LEAH SENIOR | SUMMER'S ON THE GROUND

Like an Autumn leaf / The slightest breeze brings me down

Growing up with her mother championing country music, Leah, instead, blasted rock ‘n’ roll from her bedroom. Summer’s on the Ground, then, finds a steady middle ground of these inspirational infusions into a dimly lit salon wallpapered by the technicolour obtuse patterns of the ‘70s with a wellfringed 20-something year old lass with a slightly out of tune parlour guitar. Here is where we find Leah Senior.

It’s entirely clear where Leah Senior’s musical love stands. Whether it be the vocal imperfections (or perfections) of Joni Mitchell or the emotionally crushing harmonics of Nick Drake, these artists have expanded Leah’s palette, driven by her fascination to both emote and capitalise folk music, and ultimately giving Summer’s on the Ground legs to stand on its own.

Leah closes the gap between the folk she's idolised and the folk she is capable of.

The hauntingly draft and raw tracks and their arrangements are where Leah shows her majesty and discipline as a folk artist.

Previous single, The City is a Stream, reflects both as a satirical comment on city living, but also as a tragic reminder of distance from one another. The tracks on Leah’s debut don’t necessarily gravitate away from the simplistic – see Autumn Evening – one guitar track backed with her airy prowess of a voice. Although this plays right into Leah’s hand with her raw charm a stronghold for each and every dire moment on this record.

Leah Senior is the new zeitgeist for emotionally wrought folk music.

Jake Wilton

Lifestyle

GOLD COAST'S HARVESTING TRADITION

From the sweeping lines of Michael Peterson, to the neatly arched turns of Wayne Lynch, it’s easy to lose yourself in the nostalgia of 1970s surfboards. For Aaron Knight, co-founder of Harvest Surfboards in Burleigh, creating them is another feeling all together.

“W

hen you make a beautifullooking board that also rides well, it’s a buzz,” Aaron says.

“When you’ve made that board for someone else, and they love it, it’s mind-blowing.”

The Gold Coast surfer and son of acclaimed local shaper Jack Knight says the artistic aspect of traditional surfboards, such as channel bottom single fins, is what drew him to the resin and paint.

“When I was around 17 I started getting in the [shaping] bay and observing the artistic side of surfboards. I was into painting at the time and started treating surfboards as a sort of canvas.”

Three years ago when local shapers were struggling the most, they pointed to the high Australian dollar, increasing production costs and lower consumer spending to explain the success of Chinesemade boards.

At the time, many storeowners importing foreign boards were met with opposition from local shapers and retailers. Despite this, Aaron says foreign competition was inevitable.

“We live in a fast-paced world where, unfortunately, people look at price first. But this is the case for many industries that are impacted by globalisation,” he says.

Harvest Surfboards, an offshoot of Jack Knight Surfboards (JK), specialises in custom boards inspired by the ‘old school’ curves and contours. Meanwhile in the same factory, JK focuses on high performance shortboards.

According to the Australian Surf Craft Industry Association president Michelle Blauw, who operates D’Arcy Surfboards with esteemed shaper Stuart D’Arcy in Currumbin, the foreign board fiasco peaked and receded in 2012.

The hypnotic swirls, abstract mushroom gardens and unusual vintage fabrics on Harvest surfboards are traces of Aaron’s journey through surfboard art, while the retrospective shapes and dimensions echo an era that has since made way for the shorter, faster, lighter.

Blauw, who held a forum at the 2012 Bleach* Festival on this subject, explains that cheap imported surfboards have found a sort of place in the beginners market, and that most discerning surfers have returned to the traditional shapers.

Aaron, who manages both brands’ artwork and glassing, says the 1971 surf film Morning of the Earth is what nudged him towards the industry.

“Initially we lost a huge slice of the market.

But when people started realising that their cheap boards were quite inferior, they came flooding back,” she says. “Thankfully, the layers of our industry are settling again.”

“I was fascinated by the shapes and smoother style of surfing. It’s graceful, romantic; so different to the surfing I watched growing up on the ASP thing.” He admits he doesn’t follow the current circuit.

Despite this, imported boards left major changes to the surf industry in their tracks.

Many well-known shapers were forced to close their factories, while others moved production overseas.

Harvest and JK make about six boards per week. Jack, who once shaped for esteemed surfer and shaper Glen Winton, still uses scuffed plywood templates, which hang from a nail in the shaping bay, fragments of his history.

Due to their low prices, imported boards have virtually eradicated the second-hand board market. The trade system, whereby people return their current board to the shaper to be resold and in return receive a discount on the next board, has also diminished.

Nowadays, like most products born of the manufacturing megalodon, surfboards made in China can now be sold for much less than Australian boards. On the Gold Coast for instance, you can pick up a Chinese-made board for about $250, roughly a third of regular price tags.

The benefits for buying Chinese-made boards lie in the savings. Consider a father who wants to give his three kids new boards for Christmas – three boards for $800 or $600 per stick?

Then there’s the environmental factor.

“Good quality second-hand boards were bought three or four times before going to landfill. Cheap boards are thrown out much sooner and more frequently,” Michelle says.

The need for Michelle’s ideas on how to protect the Australian surf industry – including a landfill tax and country-oforigin labelling (COoL) – has died down in recent years. But she thinks COoL is still relevant.

“COoL is a law that applies to all products entering the country, so it frustrates us that imported boards get in without anything,” she says.

“The law is blatantly being broken. Customs personnel should be running them through the labelling system, but they’re not. Right now, buyers are responsible for ensuring the origin of the board.”

The global surfing industry does, however, have some perks for local shapers. While D’Arcy Surfboards is currently receiving orders from all over the world, Harvest is expanding into the Japanese market.

The proud distinction for the father-son duo is the experience and wisdom layered in the glass of every hand-shaped board. Modest yet renowned for his work, Jack helped Glen Winton develop the quad fin in the 1980s.

“Like the older shapers, Dad’s refined his skill with his hands over 40 years.” Affirmed by the factory’s aged ply panel walls, vintage Persian rugs and whiskers of polystyrene foam blowing underfoot, “Dad is real old school. He’s about people, not image.”

Luckily, old school is in. The world’s best riders are returning to alternative shapes and relaxed styling; single fins are crucial to any serious quiver; hell –the sun-streaked bowl cut is back.

“Our generation is bringing ideas that we love in old school surfing into the present and tweaking them with modern performance elements; blending the old and new for pure fun,” Aaron says.

Resisting the thrust of technology and increasing globalisation, the soul behind a handmade surfboard pulls us back to the wave itself – free of margins and markets – where we can taste nostalgia once more.

Now that is truly mind-blowing.

Lizzy Keen Disclosure: Lizzy Keen has a personal connection to Aaron Knight, co-founder of Harvest Surfboards.

www.blankgc.com.au

29

Lifestyle

FISH OUT OF WATER

"I will slice myself open, and bleed purple-black like the Sierra Nevada night sky." Not the sort of line you would expect to find in the prologue of a sports memoir. Liesel Jones was 26 years old staying in the spectacular mountain range in Spain for altitude training with her squad, and sobbing uncontrollably on the bathroom floor of her hotel room. She was planning her suicide.

THE SEARCH FOR COFFEE AND INSPIRATION

A well-crafted piece of writing is like a delicious cup of coffee. It takes you on a journey of discovery. The first taste never disappoints. Subtle flavours emerge as you sip away, hints of chocolate, delicate nutty tones woven through the blend. You reach the end ready to take on the day, a few minutes older, with fresh insights and perhaps the desire to do something new. Craving just one more taste.

B

ut the best thing about coffee I have discovered is its ability to enhance creativity. As a fledgling writer, my mission to conquer the world one word at a time has been accompanied by another pursuit in recent months: Finding the perfect Gold Coast café with fabulous coffee and a dash of inspiration where I can hone my skills.

T

he brutal honesty at the beginning of Liesel Jones' book Body Lengths is reflective of Jones' frank, open and unapologetic way of communicating .

Jones was on the Gold Coast last month to promote her ghost-written autobiography at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre. Her friendly, chatty, down to earth demeanor was so welcoming it is almost impossible to imagine that this person was the same hyper-focussed, competitive athlete known as 'Lethal Liesel' who competed with singleminded determination in four Olympic Games, winning silver at the age of 15 at the Sydney Olympics and then Athens, and gold in Beijing and several Commonwealth Games.

"I am a fish out of water. Even in the pool" writes Jones, one of the best breaststrokers ever.

Liesel Jones recounted to Nicole Dyer at the Aquatic Centre how, at the age of fourteen, she had become the main breadwinner supporting her mother and herself after her father had walked out on them when she was 12 years old leaving them bankrupt.

"I was fighting to put food on the table and make mortgage repayments. To be called a spoilt brat is so far from the truth." Jones is referring to Dawn Fraser's blistering comments about her disappointment at winning silver at the Athens Olympics in 2004, losing to Brooke Hanson by one-hundredth of a second. Fraser never apologised. This is when Jones' depression reared its head.

Sports psychologists were discouraged by coaches as being for the "weak." Yet it was a sports psychologist that helped Jones get through her darkest times. She told Jones "Swimming is what you do, it's not

who you are." So what stopped her from committing suicide in Sierra Nevada that day? "I honestly believe that someone sent (her coach) Rowan that day to knock on my door." She was sent home to Australia without the press ever finding out about what happened in that hotel room. Jones then commenced the long slow road to recovery.

The tough, unsupportive, dysfunctional environment in Australian swim squads and teams may have contributed to Jones' resolve to win, but has also had insidiously damaging effects. During the London Olympics, Jones was crucified by the press about her weight. For years, the Australian swim team had no nutritionist and all that mattered to coaches were the swimmers' constant weigh ins and skin fold tests. If they were overweight, the coaches called them fat and very questionable dietary advice was given to lose weight. Jones was always convinced she was fat, always on a diet and always hungry. All the while training as an elite level athlete.

According to Jones, the London Olympics also produced the most toxic Australian swim team ever with no sense of support or friendship. "Our Australian swim team could use a colonic," Jones writes in her book, and she singles out several bullies on the team.

Body Lengths is an emotionally raw, barebones account of a flawed champion, inspiring in her honesty and her triumphs against all odds.

Liesel Jones will be part of the Somerset Celebration of Literature in 2016. More at somerset.qld.gov.au/celebration-ofliterature.

Pip Andreas

IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW NEEDS HELP, CALL LIFELINE ON 131114 OR THE SUICIDE CALL BACK SERVICE ON 1300 659 467 30

www.blankgc.com.au

First up was Bumbles, nestled on the banks of the Nerang River at Budds Beach. A few gear changes along the Gold Coast Highway transported me to the land of quaint décor, with several sumptuous cakes on offer to accompany my latte. I visited this lovely café several times but felt a little out of place alone aspiring to become the next Laura Hillenbrand. Wading back to my car during a ferocious Queensland tropical downpour after my last visit, I concluded that while my creative literary progress had been limited, Bumbles remains a great choice for group hangouts.

Next stop - Blackboard at Varsity Lakes.

This entrepreneurial venture arguably helped propel the Gold Coast café culture into contention with the other cities in our nation. It offers flavourful fresh food (cronouts anyone?!) and house-roasted coffee beans. Blackboard would have served up all the ingredients of my writing and caffeine-delivery venue of choice, if not for my inability to keep my elbows in line during moments of inspired furious typing.

The slightly snug indoor table options often led to the imminent danger of wearing my lunch and therefore my search didn’t end at Blackboard. With so much going for it, Blackboard is recommended for compact iPad warriors over other space-loving MacBook Pro perfectionists.

Onwards to Elk, discovered moments from the ocean on Chelsea Avenue, Broadbeach.

Elk brings a heavenly combination of incredible food and friendly wait staff providing top-notch service within its peaceful atmosphere. Every menu choice

is a taste bud stimulating winner. Their peanut butter chocolate thick shakes are delicious and worth every kilometre I have to run to counteract their clothesshrinking effects after indulging. In all of its perfection Elk doesn’t try too hard.

Perching on your industrial metal chair your eyes are drawn to the peeling paint of the feature wall, greens and neutral creams haphazardly blended together with an elk mural casually stuck on top. It works so well I want to commission their interior designer instantly. Along with many other loyal patrons, my favourite Sunday brunch destination is a three-letter word and an elusive North American animal. Elk. But it wasn’t my writing ‘promised land’, the place where words effortlessly flow onto the page, seamlessly bypassing brain-hand communication.

My search ground to a halt. Weeks later I visited a new establishment in Surfers Paradise without even a thought that it could be my writing mecca. Maybe we stumble on things when we have let go of an idea. I had found it. Paradox.

High warehouse ceilings, geometrical colourful shapes, retro vibes and sunshine streaming in through floor to ceiling glass welcomed me. Paradox offers the choice of a spacious outdoor deck table or the orange padded seats of an indoor booth.

A British inspired menu is accompanied by enthusiastic baristas who keep me well fed while I blend unobtrusively into the background typing away. My eardrums are serenaded by a jazz and blues soundtrack that can be effortlessly tuned into or let fade out of consciousness. Paradox. An inspiring place to write, while munching on a gourmet sanga and maybe even a hazelnut cookie. Positioned amongst a collection of shops and restaurants in the newly renovated ticket hall of the Transit Centre, ‘The 4217’ complex, my search had ended where countless journeys had begun.

Ruth Goodwin

Lifestyle

BIKINIS THAT MAKE YOU THINK. LOVE. LIVE. STASHED AND STOLEN

If you surf, you’ve done it – stashed a cheeky key somewhere on your car before jumping out and getting your gills wet. But I’m here to warn you: BEWARE!

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ilthy rotten thieves are getting more and more brazen these days, barely batting an eyelid while stealing your pride and joy. And I’m not even talking about car thieves. I’m talking about insurance companies…

With over a decade of loyalty to “Australia’s largest club”, I thought full comprehensive car insurance, along with expensive monthly premiums, was all I needed to drive, park and surf safely with peace of mind, knowing I’d be completely covered in all circumstances. But little did I know about that sneaky clause on page 42 of a 70 page rip-everybody-off insurance policy!

Now I’m not crying over a spilt puddle of sour milk, or blowing snot bubbles like a flailing two year old, I’m simply warning everybody who stashes a key that it really isn’t worth the risk.

Unless you drive an old rust-bucket and the groundswell’s ripping 4ft drainers, there’s no profit in having your “insured” car stolen, unless of course you’re the one doing the insuring.

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ip Andreas makes bikinis. But before she made bikinis she ran a counseling and physcology practice here on the Gold Coast. It’s a strange leap of careers in my mind, but not in Pip’s.

“It’s really not that big a jump,” she explained. “And it’s not just moving into fashion, it’s eco-fashion.

“This is about caring for the environment whereas counseling is about awareness and caring for other people.”

Fashion isn’t completely foreign to Pip, having worked in fashion and film in Perth and she says she just wanted to get back into something creative “but not in the way that traditional fashion businesses are run.”

“Most fashion is fast fashion with high turnover and large volumes of landfill,” Pip said. “I wanted to do it in a conscious way.”

So she brought the consciousness that her counseling practice focused on to her fashion business. She researched fabrics and found one made from recycled plastics.

“I started researching and realised I could manufacture my own garments from that fabric,” Pip said. “I love living by the beach and the more I’m becoming aware of plastic pollution in our oceans I have a bit of despair about it and a lot of people feel a bit hopeless.”

“This is a way for me doing something about it,” she said.

“It’s not that I’m having an enormous impact, but at least I’m doing something.”

The pieces Pip has created are not high fashion. They’re simple, bold colours with practical uses. She said the most popular piece is a simple surf top.

“You can wear it under a wetsuit. It holds you in, you don’t have to worry about a wardrobe malfunction when you get up on your board,” Pip said.

“And the other reason it’s popular with girls who surf is that they’re out on the ocean everyday and they’re generally environmentally aware.”

Pip adds to the brand’s environmental position by creating pieces in popular, but plain colours rather than prints so that people can wear them season after season.

And she’s looking at adding yoga wear to her range before the end of the year.

“The fabric for the yoga wear is Tencel – one of the most ecofriendly fabrics in the world,” she said. “Unlike rayon the chemicals are all 99.9% recycled.”

While they’re being manufactured overseas – something Pip is changing soon – they’ll be screenprinted here on the Gold Coast.

“I’m looking around for local manufacturers. When you manufacture overseas you have to order minimum quantities. You get cheaper prices, but small companies don’t sell that much. A lot ends up in landfill. So I’m doing small batch orders but it’s better to manufacture in Australia.”

While Pip is busy attending markets and managing her online store she’s also hoping to start wholesaling the bikinis and yogawear.

“At the moment only selling online and at events and markets but I’m looking at selling at local shops who have a similar philosophy to mine and then expanding throughout Australia and overseas.”

You can catch Pip and her Think. Love. Live.

Bikinis at Vintage Eat Boutique Markets across the road from Currumbin RSL on Saturday 19 December as well as markets in Byron, Lennox and Kingscliff, plus you can order online at thinklovelive.com.

Samantha Morris Pip Andreas is a lifestyle writer for Blank.

After a lengthy battle I eventually came away with a win, thank God! But heed my warning - If you stash your key and your car gets stolen, you aren’t technically covered.

Go check your policy with a fine-tooth wax-comb and discover how uninsured you really are.

According to my provider, you’re much better off dangling one of those key-safes like a rusty scrotum beneath your tow balls than getting caught with wet boardies wrapped around your ankles.

Oh, and my car never turned up either…

Gooooone!

Nathan James

Pics: LAMP Photography www.blankgc.com.au

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Lifestyle

GOLD COAST TREASURES LAUNCH FASHION APP Caitlin and Rachel Treasure are two Gold Coast ladies with their hearts set on using technology to shake up the fashion world.

By Samantha Morris

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GOLD COAST COUPLE PAIRING UP FOR A WINNING RECIPE

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Pic: LAMP Photography

he sisters – both past students of All Saints here on the Gold Coast, along with their app makers, have launched a product that helps connect people selling and buying clothes.

“Probably all the girls in my grade were trials when we had our first version. Yeah, it’s been really, really busy,” she said.

“And at times you feel like you’ve got so much going on but it’s great to be busy and have something to work on.”

“At the moment, we’re just a startup,” Caitlin told Blank GC, sitting at a Nobby’s café. She seems so calm, which is a surprise given she’s in her last days of year 12 while running two businesses.

Caitlin tells me she and her sister are already working on another concept as well. Called Dress Next Door it’s an online portal for people wishing to rent or hire formal wear and designer clothes.

The entrepreneurial spirit, she says, is something that’s always been a family affair.

“That’s kind of where we saw it (Clotheseline) originally – formal wear – but our app makers are so busy at the moment,” she said. “So we’ve created a website called Dress Next Door. We’ve been able to set it up quickly and it’s really to see what the market’s like for the area.”

“As a family we’ve always been coming up with business ideas,’ she said. “Everytime we go on holidays we find something cool – whether a shop or online thing or a company. We always think of random things we could do.”

“This one – we just thought it was something that could work. We love clothes, we have clothes. And when you’re actually involved in the industry it’s easier to set up a company,” Caitlin said.

The app, called Clothesline is an idea the women started cultivating early in the year then launched in July.

“We’re really happy with how it’s going so far,” Caitlin said.

And rightly so. With nearly 5000 users spanning the entire country, Clothesline is off to a solid start. Although Caitlin admits their challenge now is to get more sales going.

“We don’t have a lot of funds, so we’ve produced the most simple version possible and we’re just trying to build on that.

We have lots of users going but need to fuel the sales,” she said.

But as with all good entrepreneurs, Caitlin and Rachel have a heap of ideas around how to make the app more engaging for people to buy and sell. And again, as with most entrepreneurs the challenges lie in funding.

“Until we can get more funding or more people involved, it’s a slow process,” said Caitlin, who has only just turned 18, while studying year 12.

Only live for a week, the site already has 15 dresses listed.

Caitlin said the end goal is to connect people by location so that users can share through community collaboration.

“I guess it’s got some sense of sustainability as well,” she said. “Not wasting your clothes but renting or buying from someone else.”

I’m curious as to how two 18 and 21 year olds end up running a fashion business with its roots in IT. Caitlin says her sister is moving from her law degree to IT next year and she herself will be doing the course too.

“Then we can start getting involved in the actual making of it,” she said. Caitlin also studied a diploma of business through school and did basic business and accounting studies in year 10.

And working with her sister?

“I love it,” she says, without skipping a beat. “She’s the only person I can fight with without it being an issue. We can argue about things or we can have completely opposite ideas but at the end of the day it won’t matter between us – she’s the perfect business partner for me.”

Download the app at clothesline.io or check Dress Next Door at dress-next-door.sharetribe.com.

or many people, pairing food and wine is a scary concept. Picture a special dinner or a romantic liaison when you want to choose just the right wine to accompany a special dish. Perhaps it’s a case of a little information breaking open the dam wall of self-doubt, or the fear they will be judged by others as uncultured or lacking the prerequisite social manners for the occasion. Whatever!

A simple mention of one word, ‘Pairing’, is enough to bring a big kahuna conqueror to his knees or an accomplished home cook to tears.

A Gold Coast couple, sommelier/agricultural scientist David Stevens-Castro and his photographer/graphic designer wife Fran Flynn have taken up the challenge to provide the guide, Paired, to pairing champagne and sparkling wines with food in the first of a proposed series of books, which will result in a comprehensive guide for matching commonly available wine with great recipe suggestions.

The presentation of the book itself is absolutely delicious!

In hardcover coffee table format, it’s printed on high gloss paper with stunning photographs of delectable achievable dishes. The design is highly accomplished, providing visual variety and interest, clear chapter divisions and helpful tables. The text is informative and witty, highly accessible with lots of information snippets and asides.

Divided into eight chapters, the introductory chapter is a guide to help you understand food and wine matching, wine terminology and labelling. The remainder of the chapters are divided according to the type of sparkling wine (Champagne, Cava, Proseco, New World Sparkling, Sparkling Rosé, Moscato and Sparkling Reds), each chapter beginning with an overview of the type of wine, followed by a cheese match, three recipes and an information snippet or wine buying tip.

It’s not only the extensive experience and cultural heritage that Fran and David bring to this book which make it so special, but also their personal touch. It’s as though we’re joining the pair in a personal conversation about food and wine. The intimacy of voice adds depth of story to the narration, making it both fascinating and absorbing.

There are only two experiences which could top reading this book: preparing a selection of the dishes myself and enjoying them ‘paired’ with special guests, and attending a meal presented by Fran and David where dishes were paired with wines.

Paired would make a fabulous Christmas gift and, given to the right person, who knows how many meals you could enjoy together. While this delightful book may rest on coffee tables around Australia, no doubt it will also make many trips to the kitchen! Paired is available through leading bookstores and from Paired Media as both a book ($38) and ebook ($22).

Marj Osborne

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www.blankgc.com.au

READ: A WIN FOR GOLD COAST AUTHORS

Although she’s never worked in hospitality or the literary scene, Vicki Kersey’s vision combines both. In December she’ll open the doors to REaD Café on Paradise Island, Surfers Paradise and she can barely contain her joy.

“Beyond excited,” she said, sitting with me in someone else’s café at Nobby’s.

CICCHETTERIA AT CICCHETTI

“Just watching it every day, going in, seeing what the renovators are doing and seeing what’s in my head come to life, it’s indescribable.”

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“As I did research into what’s already around, there’s nothing for authors. My focus is on local –food is local, beer and wine is local and the bookshelves will be filled with local authors.”

Shop 2G01 Capri on Via Roma, 15 Via Roma, Isle of Capri Ph: 07 5526 8868 icchetti’s opening was one of the most anticipated restaurant events of the year, not so much for the event itself as for the excellence it would inject into the dining scene. Marco De Vincentiis, Luca Giacomin and Enrico Semenzato bring to their new venture years of restaurant ownership and management (including the multi-awarded Cicchetti Byron Bay), impeccable service and Michelin star earning culinary prowess.

The venue, which formerly housed Ollie & Luca, has been completely redesigned to achieve an elegant masculine space. Beautiful by day and sparkling by night, for the first time on the coast, there’s another dining option: cicchetteria.

The space she’s turning into a community-focussed, familyfriendly licensed café and bookshop is 300 square metres.

Huge!

“The concept is something I’ve always wanted to do. I love coffee, I love books, I love wine,” Vicki said.

Vicki says she doesn’t have strong connections to the local literary scene, but she’s building them quickly.

Her best friend, Monica Zwolsman is an author with an autobiography already out and her brother-in-law Benjamin Allmon has a memoir on its way.

As well as stocking local books she’s hoping to host book launches and she’s been in touch with more than 30 local authors about stocking their books. Writers like M J Stevens, Alana Fitzgerald and Diane Demetre are on that list.

“Plus I want to have local musicians,” she said. “I’d love to have some of the young, local ones who need a place to showcase their talent.”

Vicki showed me her instagram account (readcafegc) and it’s filled with stunning images of the space as well as the riverside views.

“I was blown away by this venue,” she said, explaining that it’s actually located in a resort. “It’s got a bar as well as a kitchen. It’s on the river with a beautiful outdoor deck.”

She’s hoping people will spend time there. Hang out. “Most coffee shops are small – you get in, you have your coffee and you’re out. This place is quite large, so you don’t need to do that. It’s a place to come and sit and chat with your friends.”

The food will be simple – gourmet pies, salads and choose your own pizza toppings with cake and coffee as well.

There’ll be a children’s corner for reading and colouring in and as well as book launches Vicki is thinking about events like poetry slams and trivia nights. Her son will work behind the bar and exhibit his Stryker Night photography on the walls.

While the opening date has been held up a little, it’s definitely a goer for December.

“We’ll have a soft opening but we may have to wait until January to do the big launch,” she said Finally bring this dream…. ‘beyond excited. Just watching it every day, going in, seeing what the renovators are doing and seeing what’s in my head come to life, it’s indescribable. It’s 300m2. It’s huge.

Samantha Morris

‘Cicchetteria’, or Venetian tapas, is a popular tradition with Venetians on Saturday mornings. At Cicchetti, these appetisers are served from 3.30pm – 5.30pm from Friday to Sunday afternoons.

The cicchetteria menu ($5.50 - $20 per dish) includes Oysters, Marinated olives, Focaccia, Prosciutto di parma, as well as a Salami and cheese board. With a Spritz in hand (Aperol with Prosecco and a dash of soda), we enjoy a couple of dishes: Porchetta (Byron Bay pork shoulder roast) traditionally prepared, served thinly sliced with ginger and capsicum jam and home-made grissini and the most amazing Bresaola – a juniper berry cured beef loin handcrafted in the hills of Byron, served with truffled parmigiana and rocket. Together with the Baccala, it’s my dish of the day. Two or three dishes would be enough to share as a light meal for two, but the inclination’s to stay, enjoy a few drinks such as Negronis or Americanos… or choose from the award worthy wine list.

We could easily envisage catching up over drinks on the way home from work, or making use of that ‘lost’ time on a Sunday afternoon when the chilly shadows of the working week are about to descend. Cicchetti is a perfect space for a relaxed intimate time with your partner in sophisticated dining comfort, or a casual alfresco catch up drink with friends.

Marj Osborne Read more of Marj’s reviews on goodfoodgoldcoast.com.au

Pic: LAMP Photography www.blankgc.com.au

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Food & Drink

As Catherine Coburn walks into Caffeine Kings for the Gold Coast Speciality Coffee Social, there is a buzz of excitement rippling through the impressive crowd of caffeine addicts. The intoxicating scent of coffee permeates the air. As she is handed a complimentary beer, she knows she's in for a great afternoon.

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he event is the brain child of Sinisa Misic, aka Skinny from Caffeine Kings, and Timothy Sweet from Base Espresso who were jamming one night and came up with the idea over a couple of beers.

“The Gold Coast scene has come so far, we really want to share what we are all so passionate about.” Tim informs me in an animated conversation about all things coffee.

Skinny loves discussing specialty coffee or the 3rd wave of coffee culture, which he informs me is all about caring and understanding all facets of the coffee journey from the seed, the soil, the altitude where it’s grown, the picking, processing, transporting, grading and roasting of the beans before it is given over lovingly to an able barista to produce an outstanding cup of coffee.

Mark Leo from Uncle Joe’s Coffee, who recently won the Compak Golden Bean Roasters Competition for the second year in a row, is helming the coffee cupping, the first event of the afternoon. Discussing the different processes involved in taking the beans from the farm to the cup, touching on roasting techniques and washes, Mark informs the eager crowd what they should be looking for. Those new to the practice eagerly follow the connoisseurs by deeply

inhaling the beans, both in ground form and brewed, and then slurping the brewed coffee off a spoon enabling it to hit the back of the tongue and reveal all its secrets.

Amongst the cacophony of slurping noises, many conversations are struck up between strangers and friends about the different aromas, tastes and characters of each of the unknown coffees.

Out the back of the café there are tables set up to cater for the crowd and for those indulging in a snack from the Cosmos Burger truck. I decide upon the “Home away from home” burger with some crispy “Saturn rings”. Made from 100% beef patty, cheese, bacon, lettuce, sautéed mushrooms, caramelised onions and homemade truffled mayo this is hugely delicious feed that I partake in while I observe the live painting being performed by artist Gillian HewittStubbs who is using coffee as the medium whilst her adorable dog Bella looks on. The picture is not only beautiful, but smells delicious! Gillian kindly donated a few of her works for the charity auction benefitting Childs Vision that occurs later in the evening to much success.

Displaying and demonstrating some alternative brewing methods available Skinny and Tim discuss the differences between siphon brewing, V60 pour over and conventional machine made coffee whilst offering up samples to the happy punters.

KING JACOB I

At 15 years of age Jacob King has achieved more in his life than any of us other mortals could even dream of. Quickly on his way towards becoming one of the best baristas in Australia, he has also started his own boutique coffee roastery and is selling his own blend of coffee beans to the public.

Every great story must have a beginning, so rewind a few years and a younger Jacob was looking for a part-time job. Luckily his sister was working at Zarraffas at the time and hooked him up with the glamourous job of washing dishes and clearing tables. After six months he then started his barista training, and picked it up quickly, realising that he had a talent for it. After starting a Cert III in Hospitality his trainer decided to enter him in a young barista competition where he came third. At the age of thirteen. Seriously.

Not long after that he was introduced www.blankgc.com.au

As the evening draws to a close it’s clear that the best baristas of the GC are out for the event, showing off their skills in the frenetic latte art smackdown emceed by Jacob King of Raw Espresso.

Sure I didn’t get much sleep that night due to all the caffeine, but it was definitely worth it! Here’s hoping for more coffee socials in the future.

Catherine Coburn meets Jacob, the future King of the Gold Coast Coffee Scene.

don't know about you, but when I was 15 I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. I was too busy worrying about whether my Leonardo Di Caprio poster was hanging just right on my wall. Fast forward a few years and not much has changed for me - or seemingly for Leo, who still hasn't won an Oscar.

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Tim also offers around a special cold drip coffee, the result of a project he started eight years ago using beans grown on Tamborine Mountain to showcase that good coffee could be grown at low altitude.

to Timothy Sweet of Base Espresso and Richard Silipo of Silipo Coffee Roasters who started mentoring him and encouraging his interest in the industry. Entering his first latte art smackdown in Brisbane, he made it through to the quarter finals before being knocked out by industry legend Barry Newell. “After that I decided that this was the industry I wanted to work in”, he said, and he hasn’t looked back.

After he started hosting on Instagram for Zarraffas and entered more smackdowns, he built a reputation for himself and a social media fan base that has led to people in the industry noticing him such as Mark Fannin from Raw Espresso, who gave him a job at Raw Espresso, and Sinisa Misic, aka Skinny from Caffeine Kings, who is now training him to be the youngest competitor at the Australian Barista Titles.

At the age of 15, with the support of his mother Sharon, Jacob decided he was going to leave school and pursue a career in the coffee industry. With a lot of help from Richard Silipo, Jacob created Warehouse Coffee Co., a boutique coffee roastery on the Gold Coast that he hopes to expand upon, ultimately opening his own warehouse

style coffee shop. At the moment Jacob sells his Warehouse blend online through his website, reporting that months of cupping and testing roasting profiles went into it before its release. “I want to help people understand the roasting profile more and understand the farm and where the coffee has come from.”

Jacob offers me his Warehouse Blend, a combination of beans from Columbia, Rwanda and Tanzania, in a cold drip that he proudly presents with some maple syrup and milk as sides. With a delicately sweet aroma, as enticing as a box of chocolates, its flavour is beautifully floral and berried with a caramel marshmallow explosion. I’m hooked!

With Jacob predicting that in the next five years the Gold Coast could take over Melbourne as the coffee capital of Australia, Warehouse Coffee Co. will surely be at the forefront of that revolution.

Jacob’s Warehouse Blend can be purchased online at warehousecoffeeco. com.au with free shipping Australia wide.

GELATO MESSINA Shop 33 The Strand, 72 – 80 Marine Parade, Coolangatta Ph: 07 5536 5488 Gelato.

I’m sitting looking into the tubs.

This is one of those foods, I’m thinking, where the visual representation has very little to do with the taste. In front of me is an ordinary looking mass of light brown gelato; a bit non-descript, really. Unenticing.

Except that I’ve just tasted it.

Which changes everything.

SOCIAL BREW

Gelato Messina’s Hazelnut.

Could this possibly be the best gelato in the world?

Burleigh Arcade, James Street, Burleigh Heads Ph: 0487 981 781 “Everything the Richards family touches works really well,” a friend once confided.

From what we’ve seen it’s certainly true.

We’ve followed the Richards family (a family team of parents and three adult children) in awe as they opened and operated a string of successful ventures: a deli café at The Pines, Lola’s, Plantation House, Department of Coffee and now Social Brew in Burleigh.

It came as no surprise that whenever we spoke to one of the team they were really clear about the essential elements needed for a café to succeed. Amanda, one of the Richards girls, had shed light on their ‘management of the home bases’ theory when we visited Department of Coffee a couple of years ago: “Dad has a concept that there are three things which are important: price, service and quality. If all three are covered; if the coffee, front of house and kitchen are right, if each dish is top quality, and if we price our dishes cheaper than competitors, then we’ll succeed.”

But does that formula keep on working as trends and tastes change, or do other factors come into play? We talked to Nathan Richards about Social Brew, and its place in the Richards’ understanding of changing Gold Coast café culture.

"Social Brew is really an amalgamation of all the ideas we’ve had about restaurants. It’s as though we’ve worked out what worked best in all the other places and put them all together here.

"Plantation House was smaller than here.

We concentrated on the food, really successfully I think. Department of Coffee, on the other hand, was basically a takeaway.

We honed our coffee skills there, but it was far too small for us to do what we wanted.

So we kept looking…

The café takes up one corner and side of what was a pretty ordinary T-shaped arcade. Now occupied by this smart café, a long stone-fronted counter and wood-clad seating booths in a jungle of hanging baskets and planter boxes, it’s a transformational makeover. Beautiful!

"We’ve learned a lot as we’ve gone along that we could put into practice in Social Brew, tweaking ideas and adding little touches such as packaging and branding. Dishes are named after each dish’s health benefits to gain attention (such as Immune Plus for an immunity booster, or Wind Man – for bowel health).

"We’ve made judgements about what’s important to keep our price point as keen as possible, including the removal of full table service. [Diners come to the counter to order and meals are delivered to the table.] But we’re quick with the coffee.

Sometimes, we deliver the coffee before the person gets back to their seat! We’re also offering three types of self-serve free water (room temperature, cold and sparkling), all filtered. It’s a point of difference and really appreciated in this climate.

Originally opened in Sydney by Nick Palumbo in 2002 (now co-owned with Donato Toce, Declan Lee and Danny Palumbo), Gelato Messina was named after the Palumbo brothers’ place of heritage - Messina, Italy. Returning to Italy in his youth, Palumbo learned to make gelato, intrigued most of all by the science behind the process, particularly how you can take such pure ingredients and transform them into a completely different taste experience.

While Gelato Messina may have had rocky beginnings, suffice to say that in the past few years it has developed cult status for the purity of its flavours and the craziness of its cakes.

We’re in their first Queensland store, located on Marine Parade opposite Coolangatta Beach. To teach us a little about the familyowned business that has taken Australia by storm, one of Messina’s four partners, Executive Chef Donato Toce, fills us in on the details.

What started as a single store in Darlinghurst is now a family business of ten stores, Donato tells us. Yet, nothing is left

to chance. About seven tonnes of product is shipped out from a central distribution point in Sydney each day in a liquid form to be finished in each store. This maintains consistency of product. As he talks, we taste flavours – small cupfuls of some of the brand’s most popular gelato.

We’re won over, first of all, by the purity of the flavours we taste. Taste is in fact the key to this iconic brand whose silky artisan gelato has taken Sydney and Melbourne by storm. With around forty signature flavours and 4,500 specials that rotate through the stores, five a week. Flavours include salted caramel and white chocolate, milk chocolate with choc peanut fudge, tiramisu, and pistachio, as well as a ‘specials board’ that includes six new flavours every week, each one handmade from sought out raw ingredients to its own unique recipe.

Then there’s the care and attention to detail – the fine-tuning. From the meticulous roasting and endless grind of DOP certified hand-picked pistachios from Piedmont in the foothills of Mt Etna, to the baking of their own apple pies for the apple pie gelato, or to the sweet smell of stewed spiced rhubarb, absolutely everything is made inhouse. Most of the fruit is Australian grown; mangoes from the Northern Territory, and blood oranges from Griffith. By using real ingredients, there’s a full-bodied texture and flavour in the gelato. The dairy flavours have low fat content and the sorbets are completely fat-free, dairy-free and full of fruit.

Marj Osborne Read the full feature by Marj Osborne from Good Food Gold Coast at blankgc.com.au

"We’ve thought about design elements carefully to make them flexible, photogenic and with identifiable features. Seating is flexible to cater for groups of 2, 4, 6 or small functions. Our chosen accents, such as the hexagonal tiles on tabletops and handmade plates from Tasmania, get maximum customer-generated Instagram coverage – they ‘pop’ on photos, driving traffic and interest in the café."

Marj Osborne Read the full feature by Marj Osborne from Good Food Gold Coast at blankgc.com.au

"In Social Brew it has all come together. We took a long time finding the location for this café. It’s the largest of all our venues and gives us the space to run the sort of café we want." www.blankgc.com.au

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Food & Drink

LITTLE BITES CLUB BURLEIGH PREPARES TO BUST THE MYTH THAT CLUBS ARE WHERE FOODIES GO TO DIE

Arts & Culture ORLY MERGING WITH THE EARTH: ART AND COUNTRY COLLIDE

Artist Orly Faya is collaborating with Indigenous groups around Australia to connect people to country through art. In the most literal sense.

She paints the person into the landscape, then takes a photo. The results are incredible.

The bright and modern Club Burleigh opened at the bottom of the Swell Resort, right on the Gold Coast Highway last week. With premium local beers on tap thanks to Burleigh Brewing Co and Stone & Wood as well as a contemporary menu, diners will be offered a veritable feast of local food – with options like scorched cajun cuttlefish, or panko-crumbed calamari fingers or seafood pie packed with scallops and mussels, or a pulled pork Asian salad. Kids don’t miss out either – with char-grilled rump and gnocchi with chicken and bacon some of the options for the grommets. The establishment sources quality produce from local suppliers such as Coastal Fresh for fruit and vegetables, Pacific Seafood and Top Cut Foods for meat.

JUPITERS CELEBRATES THE BEAUTY OF THE GOLD COAST WITH NEW OUTDOOR RESTAURANT Following the success of its highly popular dining experiences, Cucina Vivo and Kiyomi, Jupiters Gold Coast has announced it will unveil Garden Kitchen & Bar, its third new restaurant in less than 12 months. Set to open in late December, the new venue will form part of Jupiters’ $345 million transformation and blur the lines between indoors and out, inviting guests to experience an eclectic mix of contemporary furnishings, cascading greenery and a generous dining area bathed in natural light. When complete, the redevelopment – which includes award-winning restaurants Kiyomi and Cucina Vivo, a fresh exterior look, and a new poolside experience – will see the refurbishment of the property’s almost 600 hotel rooms, a new six-star luxury hotel suite tower and an array of contemporary restaurants and bars.

BONDI’S BEACH BURRITO BRINGS FIESTA TO THE STRAND Much-loved Mexican restaurant, Beach Burrito, has arrived in Cooly, opening their 13th restaurant and third Queensland outlet at the newly redeveloped The Strand at Coolangatta.

Originating from Bondi in Sydney, Beach Burrito delivers fresh, exciting Californianstyle Mexican with an emphasis on sustainable produce, fun times, and engaging events.

Customised to the local environment, the new store at Coolangatta will embrace the coastal culture, bringing a clean, sensible design aesthetic and creative sophistication to the oceanfront dining hub. Beach Burrito at The Strand is located on the Ground Level with frontage to Marine Parade.

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“The project is about how all humans are able to connect to our inherent origins on earth through our Indigenous first people,” Orly said adding that she’s in the process of creating an invitation pack to find people to be her subjects.

Through each piece created, Orly and the subject will be raising funds for a community initiative nominated by the person being painted. “So it’s a collaboration between us and the production team,” she said. “And with the community initiative being funded, ripples are going to be able to expand through Indigenous initiatives.”

One of the projects Orly’s art will support is Madhima Gulgan – a Northern Rivers employment initiative for Aboriginal people and their families living around Mullumbimby. The Association has a bush regeneration team providing commercial environmental services.

“Gavin Ivey is a Koori fella connected to Madhima Gulgan,” Orly explained. “He is being painted in early December, into Mt Wollumbin.”

Ory said Gavin is a news presenter on Koori radio as well as a dancer and activist. He’s also the Indigenous liaison and cultural advisor for her whole project.

I asked Orly how she chooses the landscapes to focus her work on and she said she largely left it up to seeing who and what came forth, though she aspires painting

people into well-known environmental wonders.

“Including Uluru and the Kimberley,” she said. “ I want to represent the whole land mass as much as possible: rainforest, desert… 12 pieces to represent people of the land all over this country.”

Each of Orly’s creation will also be documented in a short film of three minutes, presenting the process of painting to completion of the final product, whilst the person painted tells the story of their community and the background of the initiative they’ve chosen to be funded.

“The concept is to do 30-day fundraisers,” Orley said. “Having the money means forward planning which is really important for a project like this.”

Merging with the Earth, Australia will take place over the next twelve months and local organisation planetfunder.org is helping with the fundraising process.

The first piece The Yaru Merge @ Mount Warning will take place in early December from The Pinnacle lookout. 20% of the $5000 which will hopefully be raised, will be directed to Madhima Gulgan’s bush regeneration and Indigenous employment work.

Samantha Morris Contribute at planetfunder.org/projects/ OrlyFaya.

Environment

SIERRA DEL DIVISOR Kelvin Davies worked in rainforest conservation for more than two decades before he was inspired to go on a search for the one organisation making the biggest impact.

And that’s how he discovered The Rainforest Trust.

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hat one organisation has saved more than 11 million acres of rainforest around the world and can also lay claim for the groundwork which last month led to one of the largest contiguous blocks of protected land in the Amazon being declared – the Sierra del Divisor National Park.

Sierra del Divisor National park is ten times the size of the Gold Coast – a whopping 3.3 million acres.

outcome of protecting 3.3 million acres of rainforest in Peru through the new national park.

“The outcomes are bigger than just protecting a massive area of rainforest forever,” Kelvin explained. “There is a large amount of carbon captured in this forest that will now not released into atmosphere.”

“As well, some of the Indigenous people who live in that forest have chosen to have zero contact with the outside world. They are living traditionally, as we humans did in the past.”

“This area being declared National Park has also stopped a road that had been built from Brasil which was intended to cross the Andes. That road won’t be built now,” Kelvin said, adding that it would have otherwise gone straight through the national park, opening it up for further development.

“In 1990 I began campaigning to end the importation of rainforest timbers into Australia and that’s how I got involved in the rainforest conservation movement,” Kelvin said from his home in Mullumbimby.

And Peru is just one of the countries that Rainforest Trust is working in. Kelvin reels off a long list of others: Indonesia, Cambodia, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Ecuador, Democratic Republic of Congo, Brasil, Colombia, the list is huge.

Fast forward 20 years and Kelvin is now a director of Rainforest Trust Australia – which is the Australian branch of the organisation and his focus is on rainforest conservation projects throughout the Asia Pacific region.

“To buy a block in the Daintree would cost $100,000,” Kelvin said. “But in other countries we can buy a thousand hectares at that price.”

“My job is to connect people within Australia so they can support these great projects,” he said.

Kelvin said local fundraising efforts contributed to a global pool of nearly $3 million USD which enabled the incredible

Kelvin said that by working in developing countries Rainforest Trust can make sure the dollars go a long way, complementing rainforest conservation work in Australia and the developed world.

Kelvin explained that the Peruvian Government had reached an agreement to declare a new national park, however the Park required infrastructure as well as agreements with Indigenous people living there.

“So we needed a process,” he said. “The money was used to pay for infrastructure, but also to create jobs for Indigenous communities and to ensure they had full agreement and commitment to the new Park and protection of the forests.”

The organisation now has its sights set on a large parcel of land in Sumatra.

“We’re working to protect 200,000 acres of Sumatran rainforest,” Kelvin said. “We’ll do this through purchasing the forestry lease. The Indonesian Government are agreeable to leasing this forest for conservation purposes rather than for palm oil plantations. It’s habitat for tigers, orangutans and elephants. It’s a practical way of saving 200,000 acres.”

“So far we’ve raised $1,055,534,” Kelvin said. “But we need another $300,000 to take out three forestry leases and engage local people in employment to protect the forest for decades to come.”

The Sierra del Divisor is a massive conservation win and you can help make sure Sumatra has a similar feather in its cap. Donate or get more details at rainforesttrust.org or find out how to get involved through kelvin@rainforesttrust.org.

Disclaimer: Blank GC’s editor, Samantha Morris consults to conservation groups with Kelvin Davies.

EARTH TO PARIS: CLIMATE TALKS BEGIN Just a few days after this edition of Blank goes to print, world leaders will meet at the UN Climate Summit in Paris. While that takes place, hundreds of thousands of people around the world will show their support for action on climate change by taking to the streets.

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nd just as well, too. Marches originally planned to take place in the city of Paris have been banned after the city was put under a State of Emergency.

At the Paris talks leaders of all nations will gather to set targets for countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions so that we and future generations have a chance to live in a habitable world.

While Paris seems like a long way away, action is happening a lot closer to home.

The Peoples’ Climate March will be one of the biggest mobilisations of people around the world with events taking place in Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

Those marches, which will take place all around Australia will demand Australia does its fair share by starting the transition from a fossil fuel economy to one based on renewable energy.

The Brisbane march takes place on Saturday 28 November with the GC contingent meeting at Varsity Lakes Railway Station at 7.40am. There’ll be singing, bands, banner drops, dancing, artists, marionettes, celebrtities and marchers young and old.

The Gold Coast march takes place from 10.00am on Sunday 29 November at Justin Park next to Burleigh Heads SLSC with 12 year old Holley Somerville-Knott leading the march.

Holley is an entrepreneur, singer and humanitarian who cares deeply about the environment.

Samantha Morris Peoples’ Climate March | Saturday 28 November | Brisbane | 9.30am at Queens Park, Cnr Elizabeth + George Streets | peoplesclimate.org.au/brisbane Peoples’ Climate March | Sunday 29 November | Gold Coast, 10.00am at Justin Park, Burleigh Heads SLSC | facebook.com/goldcoastclimatemarch www.blankgc.com.au

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Arts & Culture

FINALISTS ANNOUNCED: GOLD COAST ART PRIZE

47 Australian artists have been selected as finalists in the 2015 Gold Coast Art Prize and will have their work exhibited at Gold Coast City Gallery from 5 December 2015.

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he selected works represent many of the key trends in contemporary art such as urban life, landscape and environment, digital technologies and globalism.

Close to 400 entries were received for this year’s award with entrants competing for a total prize pool of $30,000 in acquisitions. An overall winner will be announced at the exhibition opening event on 5 December by Guest Judge Nick Mitzevich, Director of the Art Gallery of South Australia.

The Gold Coast Art Prize is now in its 47th year and is open to all Australian artists working in any media except photography. Gallery Manager John Walsh said he was

pleased to see such a wide selection of artists represented with such high quality work overall.

As in previous years the finalists come from an incredibly diverse field, with known and unfamiliar, established and emerging, traditional and experimental artists represented.

“This year we will see established artists Tony Albert, Alan Jones, Wendy Sharpe and Susan Archer exhibiting alongside local artists Abbey McCulloch and Seabastian Toast” says Mr Walsh.

There are a number of acclaimed Indigenous artists represented also, including Michael NelsonJagamara, Brownwyn Bancroft and Emily Ngarnal-Evans to name but a few.

Pic: Up The Hill Backwards, by Didi J Valenzuela

‘This diversity is sure to make for a fantastic exhibition and I look forward to seeing the works come together at the Gallery’ said Mr Walsh.

The Gold Coast Art Prize was established in 1968, making it one of the longest running acquisitive art prizes in Australia.

Known previously as the Conrad Jupiter’s Gold Coast Art Prize and the Stan and Maureen Duke Gold Coast Art Prize, over the past 47 years around 350 works have been acquired through the Prize, making it a significant source that strengthens the Gold Coast City Gallery Collection.

Gold Coast Art Prize 2015 is on display in Gallery 1 and Foyer Gallery from 5 December to 31 January.

COMEDY in thE basEMEnt

The Coast’s best comedy venue brings you a raucous evening of local, national and international performers, with regular appearances from popular TV and radio personalities.

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WILD WOGS INVADE GOLD COAST Jupiters Hotel & Casino brings the outrageously funny Wild Wogs cultural comedy that’s guaranteed to leave the audience in stitches.

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tarring the undeniably hilarious Gabriel Rossi, Acropolis Now’s George Kapiniaris, Logie nominated comedian Tahir, Fat Pizza’s Rob Shehadie, the show will offer hilarious insight into the daily antics of an Aussie Wog.

Greek golden boy George Kapiniaris has appeared in just about all of your favourite Australian television shows. From the popular Underbelly series to Kick, Joker Poker and the show that launched his comedic television career, Acropolis Now, George has been making Australian Wogs and Aussies laugh ever since his debut. We had a quick chat with George prior to his Gold Coast return.

Hey there, Malaka! We've missed you here on the sunny Gold Coast. Give us an account of your recent mischief...

I took my 7 year old son to the chemist shop the other day... I need to buy Fungal Cream...He called out at the top of his voice... Hey look dad Fungoolo Cream!

You've been cracking us up for the last thirty-odd years with your brand of cultural comedy, so you're in a good position to answer this one: What are the differences between the wogs of our generation and the new millennial wogs?

Actually its 31 years now.... Wogs don't drive cabs or own fruit shops and hairdressing salons anymore... Wogs now have moved up the social ladder and are working as Lawyers , Politicians and Property developers while sipping wine and raising money for the local soccer club. PS. Now we all vote Liberal!

Coming to the Gold Coast on Friday March 11 Have you tweaked the show at all to play to your Queensland audience?

We're a bit more laid back up here you know... expect to see some sweet dress thongs in the crowd Looking forward to checking out as many thongs as possible while I'm there! The show doesn't need too much tweaking cause even though it's woggy it's also very Aussie and extremely funny!

Give us a sneaky peak at a joke from the show... go on, you know you want to!

This one might offend a few demographics, but it was told to me by an Aussie woman from 'Cabooltcha' and we decided to put it in our shows. Why weren't Adam and Eve an Asian couple? Cause they would've eaten the snake.

How many hecklers have yelled "Shush, Kebab" at you over the years? Have you ever considered having a big squeezy bottle of tzatziki on stage to squirt at them?

I don't like hecklers but I would never do that to them, it's not nice... I just get the bouncers to ask them to leave politely... I'm Greek, but I'm not that Greek Out of Gabriel, Tahir, Rob and yourself who's the biggest wog in Wild Wogs and why?

We all have our woggy traits but the three of us are also very Aussie in many ways too!

I think Dom our Promoter is the woggiest even though he's the youngest. Plus his Mum and Dad do a mean Capocollo!

Natalie O'Driscoll Wild Wogs takes over the Jupiters Casino on 11 March but we recommend booking tickets now | ticketek.com.au.

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ART, PHILANTHROPY AND THE DEVIL The country’s Tasmanian devil population has been severely impacted by the Devil Facial Tumour Disease, which continues to spread through wild populations. But the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program is working hard to help animals recover in the wild.

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nd now Gold Coasters have the opportunity to help save this fierce little character from the scourge of facial tumour disease, and at the same time acquire a very special piece of art.

Our current age is often called the Anthropocene, usually referring to the negative impacts of humanity on the earth’s ecosystems, but human ingenuity can also intervene in a positive way to solve problems thrown up by nature – the plight of the endearingly unsociable Tasmanian Devil being a case in point.

In recent years most Australians have become aware of the disastrous impact of facial tumour disease on these unique native animals. The Save the Tasmanian Devil Program was established to support a two-pronged campaign against this terrible disease; firstly by establishing a disease-free insurance population of Devils and secondly through research to create a vaccine that will give a degree of immunity to the wild Devil population.

Like most good works however, saving the Tasmanian Devil requires serious funding. The Save the Tasmanian Devil Appeal was established to allow concerned members of the community, both individual and corporate, to play a philanthropic role in the efforts to ensure a future for this very special creature.

Coast artist, Otto Schmidinger, and Hillier Skuse Gallery are supporting the Save the Tasmanian Devil Appeal through a very special piece of artwork. Otto is an award winning artist and designer with a keen interest in Tasmanian wildlife. He has granted the Appeal rights to use his image for promotional and fundraising purposes. The Fund will be using an image of the art work for their end of year thank you / seasonal card that will go out to contributors and supporters and in the quarterly newsletter.

Hillier Skuse Gallery has also pledged a substantial portion of the sale price of the painting towards the Appeal. “Its price tag is just over $8000 and what we will be doing is donating the Gallery’s commission from that sale,” Susan Skuse told Blank GC. Appeal Manager Rebecca Cuthill said just like the Tassie Devil, Otto’s artwork The Devil’s Playground is unique and special.

Find out more at

jupitersgoldcoast.com.au Jupiters Hotel & Casino practises the responsible service of alcohol.

“The generous support from Otto and Hillier Skuse Gallery will make a tangible contribution to our key vision, to keep Tasmanian Devils alive where they belong, in the wild,” Rebecca said.

The painting is typical of Otto Schmidinger's meticulous painting and design, with a quirky twist. It is currently on show at Hillier Skuse Gallery, Bundall, as part of Otto's solo exhibition, Designed by Nature, which runs until 30 December.

More information on The Devils Playground is available from Hillier and Skuse Gallery via contact@hillierskusegallery. com.

And more information about the work being done to ensure the future of Tasmanian Devils, including how to make a donation is at tassiedevil.com.au. www.blankgc.com.au

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ARTS CENTRE 2016 SEASON EMERGES Loyal Arts Centre members packed the Paradise Room last month for mid-week drinks and a preview of the 2016 theatre season.

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he 2016 theme 'Emerge' represents not only the growing variety and amount of cultural offerings placing the Gold Coast on the artistic map, but also the commencement of construction for the new cultural precinct. In the words of Performing Arts Manager Brad Rush, "In 2016 we want you to be awakened, uplifted and challenged; we want you to emerge from the theatre with new views, new tastes and new perspectives."

The diversity and quality of the 2016 programme ensures the Arts Centre remains relevant to all Gold Coasters as well as contributing artistically to a city that is rapidly growing up. On offer are a range of dance, theatre, opera, symphony, cabaret and comedy performances.

The Arts Centre will also be producing its own musical production of Mary Poppins in June following the success of its productions Miss Saigon (2015), and Jesus Christ Superstar (2014). Brad Rush has promised "The Arts Centre will continue to produce highly professional, well-produced and large scale musicals." Most productions will, however, come from Brisbane, interstate or overseas.

For the uninitiated, the Arts Centre has two live theatrical performance venues: the Arts Theatre or Mainstage, and the smaller, more intimate The Space. The size is no reflection of the quality of productions. There are too many excellent productions to mention here, so I have chosen to mention a few of my top picks: Samuel Becket's Waiting for Godot will be performed by Gold Coast based Mercury's Wings Theatre Company in The Space in July, and a fascinating new work by Gold Coast based Shock Therapy Productions, Viral, will be performed in The Space in September. Viral explores the role of social media in how we view discrimination and abuse, and has been developed with community consultation.

Il Ritorno (Arts Theatre, August 2016) is the brilliant circus theatre created by Brisbane based company Circa.

Based on the story of Ulysses returning home to his wife Penelope after 20 years, Il Ritorno is a fusion of circus and Montiverdi's baroque opera.

Bell Shakespeare Theatre Company, last here for Comedy of Errors (2013) will return in October 2016 to perform Othello. "Don't be afraid of your childhood experiences of Shakespeare" says Brad Rush. "This is a new production and it will shed new light on this astonishing, epic tale."

Rossini's 200 year old opera The Barber of Seville performed

by Opera Queensland (Arts Theatre, July 2016) is bound to be popular, but my musical appetite is more likely to be whetted by Black Arm Band's Dirtsong (Arts Theatre, September 2016). This is storytelling through music about indigenous people, language and land. According to Brad Rush "this is a stunning fusion of traditional and jazz styles."

Queensland Symphony Orchestra is a staple at the Arts Centre. Next year they play Stravinsky's The Firebird, as well as orchestral pieces from Haydn and Prokofiev (Arts Theatre, October 2016).

There will be two main dance performances on offer on 2016; the Sydney Dance Company's Countermove, and Asanti Dance Theatre's Sankofa. It's impossible to chose a favourite between the two. Sankofa is an energetic celebration of African culture & is a collaboration between the Australian dance company and it's sister company in Ghana. Countermove features the brilliantly funny parody of modern art Cacti, and the darker piece Lux Tenebris.

Some of the theatre performances will also be available during the day. My pick for a cheaper daytime ticket would be Always......Patsy Cline (Arts Theatre, July 2016). This is the story of Patsy Cline's friendship with a fan from 1961 to

1962, and includes 27 of her famous hits, including Crazy and Walking After Midnight, all sung by Australian country music singer, Courtney Conway.

The Family and Children's series won't disappoint either, with The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show (Arts Theatre, May 2016), and May Gibb's Snugglepot and Cuddlepie (Arts Theatre, July 2016) appealing to young audiences. My pick for older kids is The Peasant Prince (Arts Theatre, July 2016) based on Li Cunxin's book Mao's Last Dancer. The autobiography was, in fact, first published as a children's picture book.

Finally, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow will be back in May 2016 (Arts Theatre). This will be the best comedy to catch on the Gold Coast all year.

Pip Andreas To purchase a season package visit theartscentregc. com.au. Single tickets are on sale from 4 January.

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Arts & Culture

BURNT (2015)

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really wanted to be able to taste Burnt, the latest offering from John Wells (August: Osage County, The Company Men), but ultimately its plot was too watered-down.

Adam Jones is a two-Michelin-starred chef who destroyed his career with drugs and diva behavior. He cleans up and returns to London, determined to redeem himself by spearheading a top restaurant that can gain three Michelin stars.

Unwillingly assisted by the talented yet thus far under-rated Helene (a likeable Miller), and potentially the last restaurant head likely to give him a chance (Daniel Bruhl in spectacular form as Tony), Jones' redemption story is peppered with dramatic cliches such as a long-lost arch enemy Chef Reece (Matthew Rhys), an exotic dark-haired beauty of an ex-lover and menacing drug money thugs in leather jackets and a black jeep.

The authentic kitchen atmosphere and excellent cast can't save the movie from drowning in its own predictability, and whilst Bradley Cooper applies his best acting chops, as

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always, to the character of Adam Jones, there is ultimately too little meat on the bone to provide the audience with any substance. To say that Cooper is incapable of making a character likeable should give you a fairly clear idea of the quality of the writing.

The food shots are stunning but far too brief and lacking in explanation – pretty on the surface but with nothing to induce a genuine craving, which was a real missed opportunity. While Burnt will do for a moderately entertaining Sunday afternoon flick fest, don't allow the quality cast and beautiful visuals to trick you into thinking it is a more credible effort than it actually is. Strictly snack sized.

Natalie O'Driscoll

BRING IT ON - THE MUSICAL LEAPS FROM BROADWAY TO GOLD COAST Bring It On comes to the Gold Coast direct from its Australian Premiere in Sydney in July 2015 playing for a strictly limited two week season from 8 to 17 January 2016 in The Arts Theatre, The Arts Centre.

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his high-energy stage musical is brought to life by a talented cast of 27 who perform explosive dance and aerial stunts, elaborate tumbling and flipping routines that all culminate in heart-stopping towering formations of human pyramids.

Bring It On – The Musical tells the story of cheer-royalty Campbell (Alex Lewtas), captain of the Truman High School cheer squad, who is suddenly forced to spend her final year of high school at the neighbouring, 'hard knock' Jackson High School. Despite having the deck stacked against her, Campbell befriends the dance crew girls and with their headstrong leader Danielle (Kat Hoyos), manages to form a powerhouse squad for the ultimate competition - the National Championships.

Natalie O'Driscoll spoke with Alex Lewtas about how she scored the lead role of Campbell and just how hard those crazy cheerleading stunts really are.

For the unitiated, can you tell us a bit about your character in BRING IT ON – THE MUSICAL? I play the role of Campbell, a senior at Truman High School, who is made captain of the Cheerleading Squad. Campbell is optimistic, passionate, determined and ambitious, She strives for perfection in all she does. No matter what challenges she is faced with throughout the show, she constantly tries to find a positive outlook and chooses not to be defeated. I love her determination; she constantly is ready to fight to work towards her goal – doing whatever it takes!

Tell us a bit about the audition process to get the part. What was involved and how long did it take? What was your reaction when you found out you'd scored the role?

Our initial audition process began in February, there was such a positive and exciting vibe surrounding the auditions, which was quite fitting considering the amount of ‘Cheer Spirit’ required for the show. We were thrown straight into the world of cheerleading at our first dance audition, quickly learning a few stunts and lifts– we immediately were introduced to what would be required of the cast to perform: strong energetic dance and clean, sharp strength in the cheer sections. After we danced, we were then required to sing. Callbacks were just as fun, I was originally called back to sing/read for the role of ‘Bridget’, However when I had finished my audition for the quirky character, the creative team asked if I could return an hour later and perform ‘Campbell’s solo ballad. So I grabbed the sheet music and my iPod and worked on the song in the car park outside until it was my turn to go back and audition again, this time for the lead role. I was SO excited to be cast as Campbell, I was quite surprised too – as I had been considered for another role, but I could not be happier to be leading this incredible cast!

Can you talk to us about any of your favourite scenes / characters or songs from the play?

My favourite character would have to be La Cienega – a sassy Transgender Teen from Jackson High School played by the wonderful Timothy Langan. I admire her confidence

and strength in herself more than anything, and her heart is possibly one of the biggest of all in the show. She also always has the audience laughing with her smart comedy, and loud fashion – La Cienega radiates confidence and self-love, which I think is an important part of the show.

My favourite song to perform in the show is probably ‘Bring It On’ – the moment where my character, Campbell, makes the decision to assemble a competing squad at Jackson High School to get revenge on her rival, Eva at Nationals. The song is fuelled by her outrage of the challenges that have been thrown her way and her dreams being crushed by Eva, it is also one of the more challenging pieces in the show to perform, with quite a number of big stunts and tricks, and heavy dance combinations, all whilst singing such a powerful song!

Do you have to do crazy cheerleading stunts in the musical?

What kind of preparation is required for those?

There are PLENTY of crazy stunts, lifts, flips and tumbling throughout the show – It wouldn’t be a true performance of Bring It On without it! We have spent many weeks in the lead up to the show training at Cheerforce Studios progressing from beginner to elite level cheerleaders. The show is very physically and vocally demanding – so our rehearsals have combined fitness and endurance training, as well as learning the choreography and music material.

Putting all the elements together has been challenging, as show requires a lot of strength and fitness levels – but it could not be more exciting at the same time!

Natalie O'Driscoll Bring it on – the musical runs from 8 – 17 January in The Arts Theatre. More at theartscentregc.com.au.

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Arts & Culture

GOLD COAST HAPPY DAYS: FIRST PUBLIC ART INSTALLED AT THE GOLD COAST CULTURAL PRECINCT

REVIEW: ESPIAL AT THE GOLD COAST ARTS CENTRE 7 November – 29 November

E The saying “you can never have too much of a good thing” is certainly true when it comes to culture on the Gold Coast. So it’s exciting times currently as the first building works for Stage 1 for the Gold Coast Cultural Precinct are on the horizon.

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ut a cultural precinct without art is not much of a cultural precinct at all and that is why, with great excitement, the first piece of acquired public art for the Cultural Precinct has been announced.

influence over the beaches, the city, nature and the environment from the surf to the hinterland. And then there is sun. A lot of sun. The quintessential driving force of the city.

emotions, aesthetics, symbolism and personal preferences. Painting is very much a spontaneous, free-flowing process for Suga. Or it was until he entered this competition.

Gold Coast Mayor, Tom Tate, and The Arts Centre Gold Coast General Manager, Destry Puia, revealed the image that will turn the construction fence at Evansdale Park into a public art installation.

Go Suga was born in Hiroshima and moved to the Gold Coast almost 30 years ago. Over his three decades here, he has come to love and embrace the outdoor lifestyle, laidback attitude and joie-de-vivre that is Gold Coast. In Gold Coast Happy Days he has depicted exactly that; the essence of the city and elements of its lifestyle, the magnificent natural beauty of the area and his own journey into calling this place home.

“It was a little bit different to have a pre-set concept to work with,” Suga said.

His winning image has the new cultural precinct at its heart with the artist’s favourite part of the cultural precinct design, The Tower, in the middle of the composition.

Go Suga is a visual storyteller whose paintings blend cultures, play with the sense of mystique and reflect his own perspective on love, life and art. He started years ago with a much more simplified colour palette of just black and white and while searching for his own individual style and visual language, he started to experiment with colour and fell in love.

But for now you will have to visit the Mermaid Beach gallery 19Karen to view some of Go Suga’s other pieces. It is happy days indeed for the Gold Coast and for its Cultural Precinct.

The Tower has a beacon-like quality to it and it seems to spread its light and

His paintings start as outlines that get ‘coloured in’ with colours that express

The winning piece is Gold Coast Happy Days by local artist Go Suga.

The competition, coordinated by The Arts Centre Gold Coast, attracted strong interest from Gold Coast artists, with an independent panel choosing three pieces for a public vote. Suga's colourful entry was the public's clear favourite, attracting almost half of the 776 public votes.

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“The design concept matched my style of painting and in the end, the process brought out the best in me.”

Eventually Gold Coast Happy Days will be printed as a 5 meter-long, repeated image on hundreds of meters of fence and displayed there for 18 months.

And for Go Suga it is just one more colourful story, on a fence this time.

Anna Itkonen

spial showcases the work of Studio Art Major and Honours graduates from the Bachelor of Digital Media at the Gold Coast Queensland College of Art under the tutorship of Dr Laini Burton. The artworks exhibited are the culmination of the student artists’ studies and are intelligent and observant inquiries into the quandaries of modern life.

Espial is a raw and inhibited exploration of the possibilities of an artistic practice.

Through a variety of media, sophisticated techniques and technologies the exhibition encompasses issues such as the legitimisation of ‘illegal’ art, identity politics hinged on religious, personal, social and technological connectedness, and the challenges being brought forth in this age of the Anthropocene. What is revealed serves as a poignant reminder of the potential for art to draw innovative conclusions while inviting open dialogue.

The intimate number of artists makes for a particularly friendly and small-scale exhibition. Placed at well-spaced intervals, the artworks are provided with room to assert themselves while still corresponding with each other.

Overall, Espial is a pleasure of an exhibition to experience. This meritorious group of artists offers not only the opportunity to discover a new generation of artist practitioners, but exemplifies the innovative talent that the Gold Coast arts scene has on show.

Ashleigh Wadman

A TOUCH OF CELTIC MAGIC: CECILIA AHERN The central relationship in The Marble Collector is a father/ daughter one. Do you deliberately try to explore a range of different relationships in your books, or is it more left up to whatever happens to inspire you at the time?

I suppose I don’t want to tell the same story twice, but I don’t realise I’m actively doing this. I come up with the premise first and then try to figure out the characters next. This idea began as a short story called The Woman Who Lost her Marbles which was a quirky story about a woman who actually lost her marbles and actually had to go on a journey to find them, through finding them she would discover herself. However the marble world was so fascinating and inspiring I realised it had to be a world I set my new novel in.

Marble playing is more for an older generation, in Ireland, and so immediately I knew it would be her father’s childhood marbles that she was looking for. The story grew from there.

Quite organic really, instead of sitting down and trying to figure out what story I haven’t told.

In 2002 at the tender age of 21, Irish writer Cecelia Ahern published her debut novel, P.S I Love You. After the worldwide success of that book, its film, and her subsequent yearly offerings, she has now sold over 15 million books worldwide and has been published in more than 50 countries. Her unique voice inspires readers through her stories of characters facing challenges in their lives, sometimes helped (or hindered) with just a touch of magic.

I understand that you set quite a regimented writing schedule for yourself. How do you deal with the pressure of having to come up with new book ideas on a yearly basis?

I begin a novel every January, it’s due in June. I edit during the summer and it’s published in Autumn.

This year and last year I broke the mould by writing two novels per year. Last year I had a moment of crazy inspiration where I came up with an idea for a YA [young adults] novel. I had to write it immediately and then this year I followed it up with a sequel. They are called Flawed and Perfect. Flawed will be published in March.

I find writing one novel a year intense, but I think quickly and write quickly. As soon as I begin writing it is like a race to finish, just as I feel when reading a book. However, writing two novels a year is an entirely different ball game, I don’t recommend it to any authors, but I just couldn’t help it!

Natalie O'Driscoll

C

ecilia's twelfth novel, The Marble Collector, tells the story of a young woman named Sabrina who happens upon a collection of marbles in her father's possessions. The collection has been carefully catalogued and she discovers that two of the most expensive collections are missing. What begins as a mission to find the missing marbles becomes something greater. Sabrina discovers that her father is not who she thinks he is; that she grew up with a man who had many secrets and through shining a light on him, she begins to understand the mysteries of herself.

We asked the inimitable 34 year old author about what inspires her, and to what she attributes her phenomenal success.

The fabulous Irish sense of humour so ingrained in the dialogue of your books. What do you think it is about that particular aspect that millions of people around the world find so incredibly appealing?

I think we’re very self-deprecating. We don’t have any airs or graces and we are usually the butt of our own jokes. Irish tend to be awkward about being serious and so we make inappropriate comments at tense times just to break the atmosphere. Though we’re deep and often intense but we’re very informal and perhaps this is refreshing to people. I think that’s why I like to mix humour and sadness in my books. I like to balance the light and dark, it’s not just how I am as a storyteller but how I cope with things in my life.

Your career has gone from strength to strength following the success of P.S. I Love You. Having achieved such a meteoric rise at the tender age of 21, how have you managed to keep your feet on the ground?

I’ve taken all the positive things that have happened as encouragement. The success helped me grow in confidence and inspired new stories and ideas. PS I Love You gave me the opportunity to do what I love to do as a career and so I’ve just embraced that, put my head down and kept on working.

I didn’t start this journey for any other reason than to write and tell stories, so that’s what I’m going to keep on doing. www.blankgc.com.au

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2016 Arts Centre season set to uplift, awaken and inspire The Arts Centre Gold Coast this month unveiled its 2016 Season with a mix of Australia’s finest finest musicians, dancers, actors, singers and acrobats set to grace the stage in 2016. The Gold Coast is emerging as a significant player on the national cultural map and there’s no doubt The Arts Centre is playing a role. The works announced for 2016 promise to take audiences on journeys across new worlds, emerging from the theatre with new views and new perspectives. Season Package holders can save money by purchasing tickets to five or more shows and single tickets are available from 4 January at 9.00am. Centre stage is the in-house production of Mary Poppins which will run 17 – 25 June but music, opera, circus and dance also feature, including the Queensland Theatre Company’s Quartet, Asanti Dance Theatre’s Sankofa and Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s

Roadshow. Sydney Dance Company will bring CounterMove to town and so too Opera Queensland and The Barber of Seville. Yaron Lifschitz and Circa – recently announced as the Creative Lead for the 2018 Commonwealth Games have created a ground-breaking new work fusing Circa’s world-renowned acrobatics with baroque opera in Il Ritorno. Children and their grown-ups will also be excited about the program which includes The Very Hungry Catterpillar Show, The Peasant Prince and Snugglepot & Cuddlepie. In short (if that’s possible), 2016 will be The Art Centre Gold Coast’s biggest year yet. Get dates, tickets and more information at theartscentregc.com.au.

How to farm, through dance Join the Gold Coast’s first professional dance company in a two day workshop in how to be a farmer. No, we’re not talking about working a plow. We’re talking dance - Farm style.

The Farm have a national and international reputation for making some of Australia’s most exciting dance and physical theatre and in January will host GreenHouse: A Youth Workshop to encourage and inspires students to be themselves and to find their own artistic voice. Running 6 – 7 January at The Arts Centre, the workshop costs $150 for two days and is targeted at 15 – 22 year olds.

More at theartscentregc.com.au.

Weekly comedy at the Cecil Hotel Tuesday night comedy at The Cecil Hotel is always a hilarious night to look forward to

at the start of the week, it features some of the best emerging acts in Australian comedy plus some of the best professional MC and headline acts. This month sees Jenny Wynter on 1 December, Geoffrey Windle on 8 December and Paul McMahon on 15 December. Jenny is an Australian comedian who spent two years honing her craft in North America; she is a master of musical, character and improv comedy and a truly international act. Seems like Tuesday nights in Southport are a serious option all of a sudden. Entry is free and the show kicks off 7.30pm.

Byron Spirit Festival returns to Mullum in 2016 A new time, but familiar face for the fourth Byron Spirit Festival in April 2016. Now the local gathering of the healthy, exploratory tribes returns with first-time and former world class yogis, philosophers, healers, leaders, musicians, dancers, artists, and

gourmands, keen to share their knowledge and inspire all comers to their greatest potential and momentum is flowing since achieving a new sister event in Hamptons Yogafest held in Long Island, New York. Super early bird tickets and more information is available at spiritfestival.com.au. $330k artistic commission up for grabs City of Gold Coast is commissioning an artist, or an artist led team, to design and deliver a major public artwork – an Urban Oasis in the heart of the Gold Coast’s bustling tourist precinct. A design competition to choose the successful artist or artist led team is open now to local and international artists. The winning design will receive a $330,000 commission.

Located at one of the Gold Coast’s busiest junctions - where the city’s expanding light rail network crosses a key east-west pedestrian corridor, Urban Oasis will signify the pivot point between Surfers Paradise and the cultural precinct in Evandale. Entries close 11.00am, 16 December 2015. More at moregoldcoast.com.au/urban-oasis-artproject/ Spiritual connections on show at One Arts Community Arts ONE Arts Community Arts hub and gallery this month is holding an exhibition titled Spiritual Connections Series 1. Artists involved in the exhibition come from a group run by Sabine Mollone who is the founder of Art Whispers. Sabine runs therapeutic workshops that deal with sufferers of

2016 SEASON

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anxiety, stress, disability, trauma, grief and loss .Through the years Sabine has met many amazing people with stories that are compelling and inspiring and art has had a strong influence on their journey to healing.

With a strong advocacy background in Disability and Child Safety services Sabine also has a strong sense of spirituality which continues to be a subject of interest amongst the people she works with. Upcoming artists in series 1 include Steven Taylor, Jeremy, Cathy, Jaylena Walker and other spiritual artists. Spiritual Connections series has been created based on nature, creativity, reality, dreams, serenity and universal themes. The exhibition opens 6 December from 1.00pm with displays, entertainment and food alongside the art.

Bigger Broadwater Parklands: 3.5ha extension A 3.5 hectare extension at its northern end means that Southport’s Broadwater Parklands will soon offer even more space for play and community gatherings.

The $10.5 million expansion includes new recreational space and additional community including two new community buildings and a four-lane boat ramp and 172 new car and trailer parking spaces. The community buildings will house shared community meeting and events spaces, and provide an environmental educational shelter for local schools, community groups and visitors. The expansion is one of the Commonwealth Games legacy projects. More at cityofgoldcoast/gc2018.

Paul McMahon brings belly laughs to Pacific Pines With Blank funnyhairyman Iain Wright as MC and a heap of hilarious supports, Paul McMahon will headline a night of comedy at Pacific Pines Tavern, Saturday 28 November.

In fact, funny stuff is something you can catch every last Saturday of the month at Pac Pines. McMahon’s laidback style of comedy lends perfectly to his cunning observations and clever lines – which sit in stark contrast to MC Iain Wright who’s definitely not PC but manages to tickle funny bones nonetheless. Show kicks off at 8.00pm and entry is free.

Rolling Thunder Vietnam back in 2016 Tickets are already on sale for an absolutely rocking piece of theatre that will come to the Gold Coast in August 2016 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan. Rolling Thunder Vietnam – Songs that Defined a Generation toured nationally in 50

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production, concerns arising from the level of salinity in Australia and related environmental impacts. On Sunday 10 January 2016 from 10.30am – 12 noon and again at 1.00pm - 2.30pm, children and families are invited to join tutor Carleen Joy for free creative sessions, and model their own 'supper' out of homemade salt dough.

2014 winning plaudits from audiences and critics alike. It showcases an outstanding cast including Kimberley Hodgson, Tom Oliver, Will Ewing and Matt Pearce as well as Packed to the Rafters star Ben Mingay. Catch the production on 5 – 6 August 2016 at Jupiters.

Concert of Christmas classics Three of Queensland’s powerhouse tenors – David Kidd, Craig Atkinson and Andrew Pryor are back at The Arts Centre Gold Coast – performing as Tenori. They’ll bring Christmas spirit with roof-lifting renditions of much-loved carols as well as talent from the Queensland Conservatorium and Ikin Dance Australia. It’s all part of A Morning With… Tinsel and Turkeys which takes place Tuesday 8 December from 11.00am. Tickets are $19 and include morning tea. More at theartscentregc.com.au.

Summer artist announced at dbar gallery Andrew Lansley will be filling the dbar gallery with the art of fish over the festive season. You’ll discover a room of underwater sea life using varied medium showcasing repetition, colour, movement and life. It’s on show from 4 December until 26 January and open for morning coffee until 8.30pm every day.

Legends set to rock Jupiters Hotel & Casino The Gold Coast will receive an early Christmas present this year with Jupiters Hotel & Casino bringing the hugely popular Legends Live back to Jupiters Theatre on Saturday December 12. Jon English, Doug Parkinson, Frankie J Holden and Wilbur Wilde will bring classics a-plenty to the stage and tickets are available via jupitersgoldcoast. com.au.

Frank Woodley brings solo show to Currumbin RSL After 20 years in the much loved, Perrier Award-winning duo Lano and Woodley, Frank said goodbye to being one half of a double act in 2006 with a national tour that took in 34 markets and sold more than 125,000 tickets Since hanging up his hat, Frank has been busier than a bee (bees are allegedly flat out). His smash hit solo show Possessed played across Australia and the Edinburgh Festival with packed houses and rave reviews. In addition, his animated short, Chicken of God, received an AFI nomination and he won the coveted Herald Angel Award at the Edinburgh Fringe for his role of Candide in the Malthouse Theatre production of Optimism. The master of slapstick, audiences will be surprised by Woodley’s ease as a stand up. Hysterical, off the wall and hard hitting comedy that will have you rolling in the aisles. He’s a master of slapstick but you’ll love his stand-up, especially with Paul McMahon as support and Fiona McGary as MC. Tickets are $49 and available at currumbinrsl.com.au for the 12 December show.

Paddock to plate the focus of Tweed Foodie Fest Three of the Tweed’s top chefs will be cooking up a storm at the Murwillumbah Farmers’ Markets on 2 December to launch the 2015 Tweed Foodie Fest. Thomas Pirker from Mavis’ Kitchen, Aaron Wilkinson from The Balcony Restaurant and Jean Martinez from Artisan Wholefoods will showcase the paddock to plate theme of this year’s festival by preparing a uniquely Tweed three-course menu using ingredients sourced from local growers. Running from Wednesday 2 2 to Sunday 6 December, the festival calendar offers a smorgasbord of food-focussed events – from tasting tours and garden visits through to cooking classes and dining experiences. More at tweedfoodiefest.com.au.

Katie Noonan leads Mayor’s Christmas Carols The date has been set and a great line-up of artists will be on offer, including awardwinning, Australian singer-songwriter, Katie Noonan for this year’s Mayor’s Christmas Carols. Taking place Saturday 5 December from 5.00 – 9.00pm there’ll be song and fireworks and all things festive and you’ll probably want to get the light rail as it takes place at Broadwater Parklands and thousands are expected.

The Last Supper in salt to amaze Gallery visitors A stunning installation sure to amaze audiences will be on display at Tweed Regional Gallery until 10 January 2016. The Last Supper is a new sculptural installation

by Ken + Julia Yonetani, commissioned

by Hazelhurst Regional Gallery & Arts Centre and developed during a four-month residency at Hazelhurst from January 2014.

The Last Supper addresses themes of food

Father / son duo collaborate at Dust Temple Award winning Artist Raymond Cheney and Digital Artist/Designer/Filmmaker Julian Cheney present their latest work in a collaborative exhibition at The Dust Temple’s Hinge Gallery. The exhibition In This Moment maps their distinct yet inevitably entwined journeys with art, juxtaposing traditional oil paintings with new media digital artworks. Raymond and Julian explore mindfulness, and specifically the state of 'flow' in this extraordinary joint exhibition.

In This Moment opens 27 November at Hinge Gallery, Dust Temple on Currumbin Creek Road.

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free Issue #28 DECEMBER 2015

s y a d y p p a h with a g u S o G

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