Blank Gold Coast Edition #62 - November 2018-

Let’s Celebrate

Showroom

Arts Theatre

SHARKS

HUB S IS THE K R A H S T HE GOLD SOUTHPOR SIC ON T U M E V I L FREE,

OF COAST.

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FRI JOSH

FRI THE

MASON

southportsharks.com.au

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BAND

BOYD

FRI THE

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FERAMONES

Corner Olsen & Musgrave Aves, Southport QLD | 5532 1155

FRI HAYLEY

GRACE

&

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BAY

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FRI

COLLECTIVE

PARIS

HERE

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FRIDAY

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TASTE

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SATURDAY

5.00pm

Paris Lane

OUR

LIVE

NIGHTS

THIS

SAT 17

ACOUSTIC 8.30pm

The Mason Rack Band BLUES ROCK

SAT 3 FRI 9

ACTS

LANE

ON

MONTH!

5.00pm

Madonna featuring Cyndi Lauper TRIBUTE

FRI 23

8.30pm

5.00pm

Josh Boyd ACOUSTIC

Rush Hour COVERS

8.30pm

5.00pm

TOP 40 PARTY COVERS

Alter Egos

Nyssa Ray ACOUSTIC 8.30pm

Hayley Grace & The Bay Collective

FUNK, R&B, REGGAE, HIP HOP, SOUL

SAT 10

8.30pm

Krush

ROCK, 80S, POP, DANCE

FRI 16

5.00pm

Rick Barron ACOUSTIC 8.30pm

FRI NYSSA

*Entertainment subject to change at any time.

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RAY

Legends of Rock TRIBUTE

SAT 24

8.30pm

Aussie Pride AUSSIE ROCK TRIBUTE

FRI 30

5.00pm

Ruby Montey

ACOUSTIC 8.30pm

The Feramones ROCK

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Pete Murray bound for Nightquarter One of Australia’s most loved musicians Pete Murray has today announced a sun-soaked coastal holiday tour, PM3 Summer Sessions, which will be an intimate affair, with the critically acclaimed artist accompanied by just two other musicians. He’s at Nightquarter on Saturday 5 January. Tickets at petemurray.com.

Vinnie’s hosts underground noise show

Editor in Chief: Samantha Morris Cultural Editor: Natalie O'Driscoll Creative Director: Chloe Popa Partnerships Manager: Amanda Gorman Partnerships: Simone Gorman-Clark Contributors (print and online): Marj Osborne, Erin Bourne, Nae Kurth, Nicole Browne, Natalie O’Driscoll, Anthony Gebhardt, Samantha Morris Editorial: news@blankgc.com.au Advertising: advertising@blankgc.com.au Gigs: gigs@blankgc.com.au Acknowledgement of Country We genuinely respect and acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which we work and play. We honour their elders past, present and emerging as well as the rich contribution that continues to be made to society through art, story and music.

About us: Blank GC is independently owned and published by Samantha Morris and Chloe Popa. Founded in 2013 we are the Gold Coast’s independent cultural voice and we rely on advertising as well as our generous contributors to keep us in the fray. Opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the editor, publishers or the writing team.

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Holy Holy bring San Mei on tour Tim and Oscar have created a little earworm with their new release ‘Faces’. Lyrically, the new track catches your attention with its direct approach to discussing humanity and how we engage and care for each other, whether online or in refugee camps. Oscar’s guitars, with which Holy Holy fans will be familiar, seem to take a back seat, as the production experiments with new sounds and styles, while maintaining those infectious melodies. Holy Holy will bring ‘Faces’ on tour this November and you’ll get to see their handiwork live. Supported by Clews as well as Gold Coast’s San Mei, it’s bound to be a corker. San Mei played to solid reviews at BIGSOUND this year and locals who haven’t heard the sultry electro-pop-rock melodies on offer need to do themselves a favour for this triple-header lineup at Miami Marketta on Friday 23 November.

Sydney Lock Out the focus of Australian Music Week’s opening film Following last month’s announcement of 12 films from around the world set to screen on 10 – 11 November at Australian Music Week Film Festival, the event is excited to announce a 13th and final film which will screen for the official opening of the 2018 festival. With a focus on the impact of Sydney Lock Out Laws, Turn It Up! Finding Sydney's Sound will screen alongside a welcome from local Mayor Cr Carmelo Pesce and a keynote address from WA Senator Glenn Sterle who will speak to the current state of the Australian music industry and culture. Heart + Harp – a film about Gold Coast harpist Elska is also in the AMW Film Festival program. The screening of ‘Turn It Up! Finding Sydney’s Sound’ takes place at 3.00pm on Wednesday 7 November to open Australian Music Week. Tickets on sale now. More at australianmusicweek.com. Guests will enjoy a special screening as part of Australian Music Week’s opening festivities on Wednesday, November 7th at 3pm at GU Film House in Cronulla.

November 11 sees Gold Coast’s newest music venue hosting a bunch of epic underground noise bands. Organiser Greg Charles is hoping to draw a bunch of Brisbane punters as well as Gold Coast gig goers for the lineup which features four bands – from both Brisbane and GC. Kitchens Floor, Girlsuck, Ex Catholics and Mutanteer Premium make up the bill for the Sunday show which runs 4.00 – 8.00pm with a measly ten buck entry. If you’re into noisy rock with an element of punk, experimental, garage type sounds, then this is the gig for you. Get all the details at bit.ly/GCnoise.

Gold Coast acts up for National Live Music Award

Band of Frequencies bring new single to Marketta Australia’s premier ‘jam band’ Band of Frequencies are hitting the Gold Coast on Friday 9 November as part of a national tour.

Their new track ‘Sunray’ draws on 1970s influences such as New Orleans funk legends The Metres and soul lord Stevie Wonder. Listen to ‘Sunray’ now on Soundcloud, or experience it live when they hit Marketta this month.

Ten nominees have been revealed for two people’s choice categories of the National Live Music Awards. Gold Coast funk ensemble Electrik Lemonade are amongst those nominated for Best Live Act – alongside Rackett, Ball Park Music and thando, and Amy Shark is nominated for Best Live Voice alongside WAAX, Stella Donelly, Mojo Juju and Sampa The Great. Voting for the award closes Wednesday 14 November and winners will be announced at the gala event which this year takes place in Brisbane on Thursday 6 December. To vote, visit nlmas.com.au.

Issi Dye hits new heights With more than 50 years performing, Issi Dye is one of the country’s original and enduring cabaret stars. He’s literally performed thousands of concerts across Australia and shared stages with Aussie legends including John Farnham and Molly Meldrum. He’s bringing his show to SkyPoint Observation Deck on Friday 2 November from 5.00 – 8.00pm. It’s a stunning twilight session, towering above the city’s skyline and the glittering Pacific Ocean and the performance is included in SkyPoint Observation Deck entry – with prices starting at $25. Get more at skypoint.com.au/whats-on.

British India farewell Nic Wison with tour Guitarist and founding member of British Indi Nic Wilson has announced his retirement from music and so the band is celebrating the best way they can, by hitting the road for the ‘Nic The Poet’ farewell tour. 24 dates will see the band tour between Albury, Bunbury, Port Cairns, Macquarie and all the capital cities in between. Gold Coast gets a look-in on 19 January when they hit town for Under The Southern Stars at Broadwater Parklands. You can sort your tickets now via Ticketmaster.

They Might Be Giants return to Australia One of our Editor’s all-time favourite bands is returning to Australia in 2019. They Might Be Giants bring their freewheeling, spontaneous and absolutely unique rock to a new show that features two big sets covering two decades of their career. Each city on the tour features different decades, and with a new album ‘I Like Fun’ out now, the shows are expected to be highly memorable. They hit The Triffid on 22 February and tickets are on sale now via Oztix.

Queensland Music Awards now open for nominations Songwriters have until 12 November to enter their songs in the 2019 Queensland Music Awards which will take place 19 March at the Brisbane Showgrounds. The 2019 Billy Thorpe Scholarship – now in its 11th year, is also now open. Applications for both awards close 12 November and all the details are at queenslandmusicawards.com.au.

Leopold’s Treat share tea over sunset Gold Coast’s experimental folk band Leopold’s Treat have been hosting their own gigs lately, in the form of secret soirees. Last month, the band took over Springbrook Community Hall where they performed new songs as well as crowd favourites and celebrated community, creativity and connection. Their next event ‘Leopold’s Great Big Sunset Picnic' takes place 1 December at Providence Farm Hall at Beechmont. Local duo Black Kite and Art Vision Istanbul will join the fray. The band will also celebrate their new single ‘Gracie’, which is out real soon. For more information and tickets, pop on over to leopoldstreat.com.

Tim Minchin returns to the Gold Coast

Venice on Fire bring explosive rock to Currumbin

Under Southern Stars adds Sheppard to lineup

Musician, comedian, actor, writer, composer…

Tim Minchin does it all and with aplomb.

He’s just announced the final two dates of his Australian tour will be at The Star Gold Coast on Friday 3 and Saturday 4 May 2019. If you’re still reeling from his flawless and irreverent performance at the opening of HOTA’s new outdoor stage this March, then you will want to snap up a ticket fast – he’s got a very long history of sold-out tours (his four recently announced Brisbane shows sold out every ticket within an hour) and at the time of writing there were very limited tickets available. Hop onto the Ticketek website to sort it now.

Best Night Ever adds DZ Deathrays + WAAX to lineup Returning after a sold-out debut event in 2017, Gold Coast's Best Night Ever is back with their all-ages mini-fest. And this month they announced additions to their lineup in the form of DZ Deathrays, WAAX and RAAVE TAPES. They’ll join headliners and fellow Brisbane powerhouse Dune Rats alongside The Gooch Palms, Totty and Crum for an evening rager at NightQuarter on Saturday 29 December. Perfect pre-NYE warmup, yes? Tickets via Oztix.

Maroochy on the move Well, not the town itself obviously, but the festival. Maroochy Music & Visual Arts Festival has taken leave of its home as a result of the new CBD development, the three year old festival has picked up sticks and moved over to Mooloolabah Beach. While organisers search for a new ‘forever home’ they’ve unleashed a killer lineup for the 15 December event. We’re talking The Jungle Giants, Confidence Man, Bullhorn, Alice Ivy and a bunch of others. It’s an intimate single-stage setting, so pull up a chaise lounge, soak up some sun and dip your toes into some Sunshine Coast madness for Beach Club.

Details at bit.ly/beachclubfest.

With a classic three-piece rock format, Venice On Fire have spent the past four years honing their craft, just up the road in Toowoomba.

They’ve got a new single ‘My Friend Mal’ that’s an absolute belter complete with pounding guitars, powerful drum work, a killer hook and scream-along chorus. They’re hitting the road to launch the new track and will stop in at Currumbin Pub on Friday 2 November with our faves Atticus Chimps, Hot Reno and The Goldblooms. Event details: bit.ly/VeniceGC.

Under the Southern Stars organisers have announced Brisbane’s very own Sheppard to the line-up for both Queensland shows – one of the biggest names in Australian music. Sheppard join Australia’s legendary ARIA Hall Of Fame inductees Hoodoo Gurus along with rock royalty You Am I for the 19 January event. The lineup is massive. Check it out and sort your tickets at underthesouthernstars.com.au.

Dust Temple hosts jazz in new collab

No surprises there. When HOTA announced it had nabbed a berth on Nick Cave’s tour of intimate venues for a speaking tour, tickets sold out lickety-split. Look, we can’t help but notice there are two nights between his Sydney and Gold Coast gigs and we’re hoping that a miracle will occur and there’ll be a second show, but if there’s not, you just need to remember this for next time he passes through town and sort your tickets early. Nick Cave will appear at HOTA – Home Of The Arts, Gold Coast on Friday 11 January 2019.

Artemus Events and Dust Temple are joining forces for a series of jazz concerts featuring regional, national and international artists.

As well as live performances, organisers are planning workshops and masterclasses from visiting artists. Steve Russell (quartet) will perform 22 November and Sean Foran and Kristin Berardi will perform 24 January. More at artemus.com.au.

Nick Cave sells out super fast

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NIGHTCLUB NOSTALGIA AS MINISTRY HITS HOTA LET THERE BE ROCK CELEBRATES GOLD COAST’S BIG THREE DECADES OF MUSIC For three decades from the 1970s to 1999, the Gold Coast was a hot-spot on the bucket-list of Australia’s live music touring circuit. With iconic venues like The Playroom, Bombay Rock, The Patch, Jet Club and Fisherman’s Wharf, the Coast played host to some of the hottest and most notorious international and Australian music acts; as well as some of our best local talent. From The Ramones and Cold Chisel at The Playroom, to INXS and The Go-Betweens at Bombay Rock; and Nirvana and The Violent Femmes at Fisho’s; it’s time to turn back the clock and celebrate our city’s musical heyday.

If you’ve been anywhere near a nightclub in the last three decades, then you’ve heard a Ministry of Sound track. The UK-based club, label and all-round industry juggernaut has proven to be one of the world’s most successful independent musical heavyweights, producing hundreds of chart-topping dance music singles and forming the soundtrack of the clubbing years for millions. Under the ownership of Sony since 2016, the group has continued to collaborate with the world’s hottest superstars, and is now bringing a re-imagined live show to the Gold Coast for one night only.

With a focus on popular, catchy samples and world-class vocals, this seemingly inexhaustible brand has brought the world hits such as ‘Children’ by Robert Miles, ‘Sandstorm’

by Darude, Faithless’ ‘Insomnia’ and ‘Stranger Things’ by Kygo feat. OneRepublic. And you can hear your fave tracks performed live when the Ministry of Sound: Orchestrated ‘Strings of Life’ tour turns HOTA into one huge outdoor club on 7 December, re-arranging the hits with a live orchestral backing and featuring popular singers and DJs from the nineties and noughties.

Sam Sparro, best remembered for his unique vocal stylings and smash hit ‘Black and Gold’, is one of three guest vocalists who will be performing as part of the ‘Strings of Life’ tour.

Sparro formed part of the brief ‘wonky pop’ era in the late 2000s, a loose grouping of musical acts that played what the BBC called "quirky, catchy and credible pop", rooted in the eccentric side of 1980s pop music and including artists such as Mika, Florence and the Machine and The Ting Tings. He will joined by Alison Limerick, known for her incredible 1992 ‘And Still I Rise’ album, and Crystal Waters, of ‘Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless)’ and ‘100% Pure Love’ fame.

Superstar conductor Guy Noble is lined up to lead the live orchestra.

In a career coup, Brisbane DJ Harry K has been announced as the warm up DJ for the Gold Coast stop of the tour.

Harry K has been at the forefront of Brisbane’s club scene for over two decades promoting and performing at some of Brisbane’s biggest nightclubs, including the city’s first super club Family. Throughout his DJ career he has supported a stellar cast of names including Armin Van Buuren, Carl Cox, Cosmic Gate, Ferry Corsten and Lisa Lashes.

“Being part of Ministry of Sound: Orchestrated is like a dream come true,” Harry K tells us.

“I've grown up with these anthems and the whole dance music movement that Ministry of Sound championed. I'm excited to play a small part in paying homage to the music from that era.”

Whether Moby and Fatboy Slim were your jam, or you’re more of Calvin Harris and Deadmau5 fan, The Ministry of Sound: Orchestrated ‘Strings of Life’ tour will see you be a part of the biggest outdoor summer nightclub on the Gold Coast. Grab your mates (and your platform sneakers, if you still have them) and head out under the stars for an unforgettable night of dancefloor nostalgia.

Natalie O’Driscoll

HOTA – Home of the Arts is rolling out a unique exhibition, opening 8 December, called ‘Let There Be Rock’. This exhibition celebrates the heyday of hard-core rock and entertainment through stories, memorabilia, photos and footage, some of which was contributed from local musiclovers just like you. Alongside the physical exhibition is a program of music, movies and conversation celebrating rock – past, present and future.

Opening night (8 Dec) will feature live music and a popup beergarden, there’ll be a show starring Nick Barker (5 Jan) exploring the story of Bon Scott, a special Pub Choir (10 Jan) where strangers learn to sing a song in three-part harmony in just 90 minutes, a screening of ‘Her Sound, Her Story’ (15 Feb), a performance and intimate conversation with Nick Cave (which sold out in an hour) and a series of three evenings of conversations in a Gallery Up Late program, facilitated by Leanne de Souza (14 Dec, 18 Jan, 15 Feb). The kids are catered for as well. Regurgitator dish up a g-rated performance for kids and their grown-ups (12 Jan) as they prepare for the release of their album written especially for kids, plus there’s an air guitar spectacle (9 – 11 Jan) and workshops for making holy shirts (8 Dec) and rock wigs (12 Dec).

Needless to say, we’re pretty pumped for this one, fam.

Samantha Morris

Don't miss Ministry of Sound Orchestrated - December 7 at HOTA. Book now at hota.com.au.

Let There Be Rock opens 8 December and runs until 17 February. Get all the details at hota.com.au.

Image above: Rennie Ellis at The Playroom 1983, State Library of Victoria collection

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SING WITH ELECTRIK LEMONADE Electrik Lemonade are a brass and funk-fuelled ensemble with a difference. Most Gold Coast music-lovers will have witnessed their live show in person. Between being regulars at a bunch of local; community outdoor events, performing instore at beatniks, opening a Brisbane Broncos home game, hitting the main stage for both the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games and the Gold Coast Music Awards, touring to north Queensland and Western Australia and then showcasing at BIGSOUND, they’ve built an enormous following and worked hard to hone their craft.

Their music is a cacophony of exotic and addictive beats.

Catchy lyrics and sing-along choruses are met head-on with horns and an electric stage presence that draws thousands of people in. It’s highly unlikely you’ll leave an Electrik Lemonade gig without at the bare minimum swaying your hips, but truth be told, you’ll more than likely be jumping up and down like a maniac, alongside hundreds of new friends.

You can imagine our delight, then, when we heard Electrik Lemonade’s new track ‘Sing With Me’. We all know how hard it can be to capture the energy of a live performance and wrap it up in a 4-minute studio production. But that’s exactly what Electrik Lemonade have done, with the help of Rocking Horse Recording Studio and Brad Hosking (trumpet) behind the steering wheel as producer.

Perhaps Biggie Morton (drums) sums it up best when he says, “we take our live performance experience into the studio and bring the best ears in the business to curate and guide our creative whim."

But the proof is in the pudding right? And when you listen to ‘Sing With Me’ you’ll hear exactly why Electrik Lemonade is fast making a name for itself as one of Australia’s best live bands. The track begins with a rhythm that could be straight out of 1970s disco, but when you throw in some funk and hiphop as well as synth and guitar solos plus anthemic vocals in the chorus, you’re left with an intoxicating but cleverly layered piece of aural joy.

"We've had three sessions in total at Rocking Horse Studios and about four days each time,” said Jakey D (lead guitar) about their recording process.

“That place is world class! Not only do you get this five-star, six-bedroom home that sleeps us all comfortably and a massive kitchen for epic feasts but the amazing studio is only a matter of steps away from the house.”

“When you sit in that room for six to ten hours straight and time slips away as you track songs we really start to solidify parts and that's when the magic happens,” said Jakey.

He said capturing that live sound is tricky and something they’ve struggled to do – until now.

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“We gave it everything we had in the short 20-minute set and we made some rather important networks and met some big music heads in the business.” Said Jakey. “It’s an overwhelming compliment and privilege to be asked to perform at such an event. Nerves and spirits were high on stage as we realised the gravity of the opportunity.”

“People always say we sound better live than our CDs,” he said, “which is a compliment in itself.”

“Apparently Dave Grohl's mum was at the Gold Coast Showcase performances which is pretty cool! Hopefully she goes home and tells Dave about Electrik Lemonade because we all know everyone listens to their mum."

“If we could somehow capture our dance moves in audio form we'd be laughing.”

Barney agrees.

“So we decided to spend a bucket load on a top notch studio, spread out and recording all together to capture that vibe, spending hours deconstructing each and every segment of every track on the record and really solidifying parts on the fly.

We really managed to get ‘that sound’ we have been chasing throughout our journey as a band,” Jakey said.

“Plus lots of beer and plenty of dancing while workshopping and recording the tunes… nothing that you wouldn’t see on stage at any of our gigs,” added Biggie Norton.

Barney Trub (vox) says the song pretty much covers every lifeaffirming cliché that anyone ever applied to music.

“Positivity, spreading the love, living life with no regrets, it all fits the vibe,” he said. “Where it separates itself from the rest all lies in the hit of that play button. As soon as that bass line hits you, there's an uncontrollable and undeniable need to dance.”

And if you’ve been to one of Electrik Lemonade’s live gigs, you’ll be familiar with the song, which is unequivocally a crowd favourite. And getting the crowd up on their feet is something that genuinely drives the band.

“Sing with me is a life affirming party anthem that harkens to the bygone era of permed hair and platform shoes with a fresh injection of modern attitude,” said Sammy P (bass).

"Making a connection with the crowd is why we do what we do,” Funky G (keys) added. “Watching the music you have created cause people to dance and sing along is the ultimate feeling."

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There’ve been many highlights for Electik Lemonade over the past year, but they say that performing at BIGSOUND was a surreal experience.

"We've had the luxury of calling the Gold Coast home since the band started and as the years go by we've made so many amazing fans and friends,” he said.

“To have the scene that we love and call home ask us to represent them at an amazing festival like BIGSOUND was really special.”

While the band has set their sights on breaking the international touring scene, they’re also realistic about what that means. “By saying that, I mean New Zealand or Bali... somewhere definitely with cheap Jetstar flights because there's eight of us and just getting to Perth is super exy,” said Jakey.

They’ll also release an album early in 2019, head out on another national tour and hit up some big festivals. But while you wait for that, they’ve got some local shows on the horizon, including Jungle Love, Byron Beach Hotel, Airlie Festival of Music and some Gold Coast gigs. There’s no question they love their local fans. And the feeling is mutual.

"We meet amazing people with amazing stories at every show but our local gigs are the most inspirational because the Gold Coast is a host to such vibrant culture,” said Biggie Morton. “It’s really gratifying when The Electrik People come to dance and get down with us which in turn, motivates us to give everything we’ve got on stage. It’s a privilege to be able to connect to so many of our fans through the music and learn through their experiences and stories. Nothing is more rewarding than seeing a familiar face pop up in the crowd at a show."

Funky G also laid down the gratitude for Gold Coast fans of their music.

SECRET SOUNDS PRESENTS

"The beautiful home team crowd,” he said. “These are the people that we couldn't have done any of this without... from our friends and family to our Electrik People they are all incredibly important.”

“The family-friendly gigs on the Gold Coast are especially excellent because we get to see all walks of life getting down to the funky sound. Thanks to the crowds of kids I have learned how to floss too, hahaha,” he said.

Samantha Morris

Electrik Lemomade’s new track ‘Sing with Me’, premiered by Blank Gold Coast is out now. You can catch them live: 8 – 11 November, Airlie Beach Music Festival 18 November, Hoey Moey, Coffs Harbor 24 November, Great Keppel Island 30 November, Jungle Love Festival 7 December, Byron Bay Beach Hotel 9 December, Palmy Sunday Sesh 18 January, NightQuarter, Helensvale

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TAYLOR

Breathly Bewonderment For those with a penchant for heartfelt, folk inflected pop-rock with a darkly theatrical bent in turns intricate, sweepingly moody and drivingly rousing, then beguiling Gold Coast five piece Taylor may be just the act for you.

The band’s creative force, singer songwriter David Taylor, delivers his musical vision, honed from his varied life experiences and immersive overseas travels, with passion and panache, augmented by long time musical cohorts and good pals Nick Stewart (previously of ARIA award winning band George), Michael McCartney, Crick Boue and multi instrumental wonder Scott French.

Since 2010 the band have delivered two highly impressive, stylistically contrasting full length albums, steadily going about building up a loyal following for their swooning oeuvre. And this year has seen them deliver two standout singles in the form of the gorgeously moving ‘Little Tornado’ and the moody, driving ‘Crush Me’.

These tracks serve as a precursor to (and will be contained on), the bands outstanding new EP, ‘One Long Breath’, which was recorded in the classic ‘reel to reel’ live to tape format of yore at The Aviary studio in Melbourne, with on-therise producer and muso George Carpenter at the helm.

Taylor are currently gearing up for the EP’s imminent release on 16 November. Having recently toured with Boy And Bear and The Whitlams, the band will celebrate its unfurling by shortly performing a highly anticipated South East QLD headlining show at the Currumbin Soundlounge on the day of the EP's release.

In the lead up, Anthony Gebhardt had an enlightening chat with David Taylor himself..

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Stylistically, where does the new EP, 'One Long Breath', sit in relation to your previous body of work?

my inspiration in literature. My favourite authors are Haruki Murakami and Tim Winton.

In the past our records have pointed to a particular time. This collection of songs represent the band at its best. There’s the intricate parts woven over our signature storytelling as you’d expect, but we managed to capture a little of the humour of our live shows as well. But don’t get me wrong, it’s still deliciously dark.

Have you been able to keep a relatively stable line up of Taylor, the band? And how important are your musical cohorts in relation to achieving your song writing vision and aspirations?

What was it like working with George Carpenter in the studio?

George felt like the sixth member of the band. His production and engineering talent is immense, but his ability to hold the space required to create something special absolutely blew me away.

Can you describe the process of recording the EP 'live to tape' in the classic reel-to-reel format?

It’s always been a dream of mine to record live to tape and I finally had the right songs and musicians and the right engineer and studio to do it in the way I wanted. It’s all about preproduction and rehearsing so you can walk in, plug in and lay it down. Having said that, you have to be careful not to over rehearse and be stale. It’s a tightrope and you need your best pants on when it matters.

Can you enlighten us on a few of your primary musical influences?

One of the lines from our song ‘Cut and Run’ is ‘sad songs make me happy and I’ll sing them to my grave’. I believe I saw something similar to that on a t-shirt once and it resonated with me. I’ve always loved Dave Matthews but I find a lot of

It’s been about ten years now and we’re still all playing together. Not only that, we actually like each other! My band are my best friends and when we’re not playing music together we’re still hanging out. Geez that sounds soppy!

How do you go about finding a balance between your creative self and the responsibilities of everyday life?

That’s simple, you just sacrifice everything in your life in the name of creativity and your art.

Looking ahead, how is 2019 shaping up so far for Taylor, musically speaking?

Well we’re super excited about getting this sexy vinyl EP out.

From there it’s onwards and upwards..there’s talk of a show on the moon. Come to the Soundlounge first though.

Anthony Gebhardt

Taylor launch ‘One Long Breath’ at Soundlounge, 16 November with Karl S Williams in support.

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IVEY

Gorgeous on the Gold Coast

Gold Coast five-piece IVEY are back with a new song and a long list of achievements. A naming on triple J Unearthed’s Distinguished Achiever’s List for 2015, support slots for Confidence Man and Ocean Alley, a showcase at ARIA Week events, and a lucrative spot as a ‘Discover Artist’ on Channel V have seen the band flourish as a live unit and evolve into a much-loved touring entity.

Their sophomore EP ‘Gorgeous’ bristles with melody and shows the band have developed a refined knack for writing pop songs. Nicole Browne spoke with IVEY frontwoman Millie Perks about the new EP and what inspired it.

Congratulations on your EP. How does it feel to have it out there?

Thank you. We are really excited about getting it out there and sharing it with everyone. There has been some really great feedback so far.

You’ve said this EP is your most collaborative work to date.

Can you tell us a little about the creative process?

We have been playing around with different sounds, writing styles and production techniques for this EP, and we have all been heavily involved in both the music and writing which has been really great. Usually one person will come up with a beat, a tune or a lyric and we all sit down and listen to it.

It then elaborates with the guys coming up with a full tune, while myself or Locke will bring in a lyric. We may sit on it for a while, or we will record it as is. In the studio we will play around more and add some harmonies.

How is it performing out of town shows versus home shows?

Performing out of town is fun. You meet fans and different artists that you wouldn't usually meet. Last time we played in Melbourne the show was packed. That felt awesome.

Performing at home, it's always different. This is where we started. There is so much support here for local acts, I think because it is still quite a small community. Recently we did a home show and it sold out. We were expecting it to be full of our friends, but we hardly knew anybody!

Can you talk about the new video for ‘Won’t Be’ and how it relates?

Locke (McGuffie) directed it. He wanted to show how the more technology based and social media driven we grow as a society, the more alone people are feeling. It's funny how these days you can grow apart from relationships and feel lost if you aren't on social media.

What inspired the EP? How do you think your listeners will relate?

Just for fun, share with us 5 quirks about yourselves that your fans may be surprised to know?

A lot of the songs on the EP are about relationships and being young. The struggle of falling in love for the first time, wanting it to last forever, but the fear and the knowing that it won't, because we don't know what's going to happen, we are young. I have been in this band since I was 12, which is now 6 years. We have grown up and been through a lot of changes and some heartbreaks together. That has a big influence on the music in 'Gorgeous'. I think a lot of our listeners will relate to it.

1.

Each time we are about to go on stage we do a group huddle and talk rubbish just to hype each other up

2.

Three of the guys have known each other since birth

3.

We once wrote a song about a lizard....not a pet lizard, just a lizard

4.

Locke and I are into Die Antwoord this rapper guy.

Locke likes to give rapping a good go, he wanted to rap in a show once, but we had say no! (Laughing)

5.

Matt our drummer loves cucumber and eats 2-3 cucumbers at a time

You finish your tour on the GC in December. What can your fans expect from this tour?

Each year we like to put on an end of year show in our hometown. Ending our tour here will really bring it all home. When we look at how far we have come, and how much attention we are getting, we are so excited for this tour and what it will bring. We always like to put on an energetic live show and throw a cover in there for people who don't know our music – although this EP will get everyone dancing. Our priority is to give our fans a great time. Also, we love hanging out after the show.

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Nicole Browne

IVEY wraps up their tour, 22 December at the Shark Bar Miami. Tickets via Oztix.

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A snapshot of the Gold Coast’s very best new music, curated by Samantha Morris Th’Fika makes Peachy Rosie return

Heaven for San Mei San Mei has well and truly shaken off the bedroom producer moniker with her new single - the title track off forthcoming EP ‘Heaven’. The song was produced, mixed and mastered by Oscar Dawson, with the support of a City of Gold Coast RADF grant. The song sees San Mei stay true to the gritty, guitar-driven groundwork laid on her previous single ‘Wonder’ which was championed by triple j before being added to rotation. This move landed San Mei as the 6th most-played unsigned artist on triple j in the weeks after its release. This is a solid slice of dream pop, but what sets San Mei apart from other artists of the same genre is her passion for wailing guitars, which are delivered in ‘Heaven’ alongside her lush vocals. The EP is set for release on 2 November and she hits Miami Marketta supporting Holy Holy on 23 November, but in the meantime you can get a little dose of heaven via spotify.

Yorke emerges, with First Light

Chavez Cartel unleash Bipolar Express

Previously known as Grace Hughes, 20 year old Byron via Gold Coast artist Yorke has released her debut single ‘First Light’. It’s a bright and airy offering with Grace’s flawless vocals taking centre-stage alongside sparse electro-beats, keys and punchy percussion.

Having written music for more than a decade (and having local producers like Scotty French sing her praises years ago), Grace AKA Yorke has been leaving her mark, honing her live performance and song writing skills but this track shows a new level of maturity, what some might describe as a brooding aesthetic. But there’s still plenty of pop hooks and catchy melodies in ‘First Light’, which you can listen to via Spotify.

It’s the debut song from a brand new outfit and it’s full of fat guitars and poignant lyrics related to mental health. Lyrics aside, I knew this song was a winner from its very first chords. Switching between verses which focus on Ben Simpson’s deep voice and moments where it’s nothing but guitars, ‘Bipolar Express’ was produced by ARIA Award winning producer Govinda Doyle. Chavez Cartel is Jack Kelly (lead guitar) Ben Simpson (vocals), Benjamin James Bentley (rhythm guitar), and Tom Isaacs (drums). You can listen to their first musical offering via Soundcloud or triple j Unearthed while you await the arrival of their EP in early 2019.

Stoned Little Georgia Little Georgia have released the second single off their debut studio album due for release 2 November. ‘Stoned’ sees Justin Carter and Ashleigh Mannix deliver impeccable harmonies and classic Americana vibes in this track (it was written on a mandolin).

They’ve literally spent the past three years touring the world and they’re about to embark on a massive Australian tour for local fans – which sees them take in both Australian Music Week as well as the Gold Coast’s Mo’s Desert Clubhouse on 16 November. While you await the new album, you can take a listen to ‘Stoned’ on Spotify.

Into Tomorrow for Dan Carroll Dan Carroll has had an interesting musical journey. He’s played in bands since the age of sixteen, experienced the heyday of Gold Coast’s music scene with his indie outfit Fluid and has written hundreds of songs – recording more than 60 of them. His latest track ‘Into Tomorrow’ sees Dan step away from his role as frontman of City Over Sand to deliver emotional lyrics, baring heart and soul, armed just with a guitar. Production is kept to a minimum here and there’s more than a touch of country, with the song showing a great deal of vulnerability as well as Dan’s exceptional talent for songwriting.

You can listen now on Soundcloud.

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Hollow release for Hannah Rosa Gold Coast singer-songwriter Hannah Rosa has returned after a four-year hiatus with a haunting new track in the form of ‘Hollow’.

Hannah’s vocals shine bright in this song, and while there’s flawless production, gentle guitar and ambient electronic flourishes, it really is Hannah’s voice and songwriting ability that take centre stage. ‘Hollow’ is a stunning re-entry to music-making for Hannah. You can listen on Spotify.

Girl can sing. Honestly. If you’ve never seen Lily Budiasa live, you need to seek her out. And that sheer vocal talent is perfectly embodied in new track ‘Peachy Rosie’ which sees Lily reunited with her Th’Fika bandmates. It’s been a little while between drinks for the Gold Coast act, who managed to sell out their elsewhere single launch way back in 2016 and this new offering is a bloody stunning effort. With wailing guitars, on-point production and cinematic vocals, ‘Peachy Rosie’ is one part melodrama, one part rollicking sing-along fit for the masses.

It’s so nice to have these guys back. You can listen to ‘Peachy Rosie’ via all the usual places.

New Age Notion Wipeout With a track name like ‘Wipeout’, I’m expecting surf guitars to open this new track from New Age Notion but it’s more electronic than rock in its opening notes.

That changes quickly, with McErlean’s balladeer-style vocals kicking in alongside an undeniable element of pop-punk. There’s shiny guitars and the perfect sing-along chorus, but you can also clearly hear a greater exploration on production from the threepiece who flit between Brisbane and the Gold Coast as their base. You can listen to ‘Wipeout’ on Soundcloud.

Ella Fence is not your Call Girl She’s back. With the help of a council RADF grant, Ella Fence has been extremely busy writing and recording new music and her new track ‘Call Girl’ produced collaboratively with Vinnie LaDuce shows just how much her sound has evolved. This track is a far cry from the songs on her debut EP ‘Wanderlust’, which isn’t to downplay how awesome those songs are. It’s just that ‘Call Girl’ and some of the recent tracks which have preceded it are full of dramatic beats, bold synths and Ella’s increasingly powerful vocals.

The track comes on the back of her Kate Miller-Heidke and Regurgitator support slot and playing to thousands at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, but her digital performance just reinforces her live success – collectively, Ella’s work has had 1.25 million Spotify streams. You can listen to ‘Call Girl’ on Spotify or catch her live at Australian Music Week where she’ll showcase to an international audience. There’s an album due in the new year, so stay tuned for those details too.

Gorgeous release for IVEY Local five-piece IVEY have dropped a brand new EP and it totally lives up to its name.

‘Gorgeous’ is a short and sharp release with just five tracks, which collectively show a sound that is maturing in terms of production and dynamic depth, while staying true to the indie pop roots where they found their feet. Where IVEY really excel though is in the live arena and with a national tour now unfolding around the new EP, we’re expecting to hear all kinds of awesome things from other cities. They’re taking ‘Gorgeous’ on the road, taking in Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Wollongong before returning to the Gold Coast for a triumphant end of year party at Miami Shark Bar, 22 December. You can listen to ‘Gorgeous’ now via Spotify.

Athena Joy celebrates the Weekend

Saint Barae unleashes Nightcrawler

Local starlet Athena Joy has again delivered a perfect slice of dreamy electro pop in her new song ‘Weekend’, which is out 2 November. She says “it’s kind of about working too hard and burning out at your day jobs and constantly dreaming life will get better - something I feel a lot of artists can relate to.” With angelic vocals and slick production, there’s emotion aplenty in this new track, which you can listen to via all the usual outlets from 2 November.

Saint Barae is a Gold Coast synthwave 80s pop singer and producer. And to mark Halloween, he’s released what he calls a ‘spooky’ rendition of Home’s track ‘Head First’. Called ‘Nightcrawler’, the song is a driving synthwave number and you can hear elements of ghosts and ghouls ready to hit the dancefloor. You’ll want to do that too. He’s got new tracks coming in 2019, so keep your ears peeled. You can listen to ‘Nightcrawler’ on Soundcloud.

Tiarne drops Lights

Jackie and Eliza and the Delusionals It’s always left gobsmacked that someone that can wield a guitar with so much force yet also provide sugary sweet and lilting vocals over the top, but that’s exactly what Eliza Klatt does with her music. New track ‘Jackie’, which is more stripped back than recent numbers (it’s an emotive tribute to the frontwoman’s beloved pet), is unmistakably Eliza and the Delusionals. It’s the video, though, that takes the cake for cuteness overload. Directed by Warwick Hughes, the clip sees the band team up with the RSPCA for all kinds of doggo bliss. Check the clip on YouTube.

Brisbane artist Tiarne has released a new coming-of-age gem in the form of ‘Lights’, an up-tempo electro-pop number which showcases industrial guitar licks and solid instrumentation. Produced by Gold Coast’s Dylan Lindquist (Clawmachine), the new track layers Tiarne’s airy vocals over some interesting production elements while telling the tale of moving away from family and friends to the big lights of another city.

"Lights reflects that moment when I finally felt like 'Yes! This is home now and I love it,” said Tiarne, who previously called the Gold Coast home. You can listen to the new track, which is out now, on Spotify.

Heavily influenced by punk, grunge and funk from the nineties and noughties, Gold Coast three-piece Atticus Chimps deliver everything from melodic love songs to fast-paced heavy rock anthems. A softer offering than previous single ‘Lead, Pretend’, Atticus Chimp’s new track ‘New Illusion’ is a dynamic and rounded number with a touch of melancholy and heavy chorus, which shows depth in the band’s repertoire. Check out the track on Spotify

Hot Wax say Quit Your Job

Taylor’s One Long Breath Described by Anthony Gebhardt as “heartfelt, folk inflected pop-rock with a darkly theatrical bent in turns intricate, sweepingly moody and drivingly rousing, then beguiling” Gold Coast five-piece Taylor have returned with a new EP ‘One Long Breath’. Since 2010 the band have delivered two highly impressive, stylistically contrasting full length albums, steadily going about building up a loyal following for their swooning oeuvre. And this year has seen them deliver two standout singles in the form of the gorgeously moving ‘Little Tornado’ and the moody, driving ‘Crush Me’.

These tracks serve as a precursor to (and will be contained on), the band’s outstanding new EP, ‘One Long Breath’, which was recorded in the classic ‘reel to reel’ live to tape format of yore at The Aviary studio in Melbourne, with on-the-rise producer and muso George Carpenter at the helm. It’s out on 16 November, which happens to coincide with their live show (supported by Karl S Williams) at the Soundlounge.

New Illusion for Atticus Chimps

CRUM and their TV Housemates

Two tracks for Two Birds One Two Birds One, AKA Michael Cameron and Shoota Tanahashi have kicked around in a bunch of Gold Coat bands – Aquila Young and TH’FIKA amongst them. Shoota’s just returned from a ten-month sabbatical in Japan, and hence Two Birds One is reborn, with quite aptly, two new songs (and a live set to be debuted in 2019). ‘Wasted Wednesday’s’ has an underlying theme of discordant synth, ably fitting the theme of the track, wobbly synth notes underpin a lazy yet hypnotic beat. ‘Best Intentions’ opens with ambient production and laid-back instrumentation before the vocals kick in, oozing emotion.

Both songs fuse unique beats, synthesiser and a bitingly atmospheric sound. Listen via Soundcloud and keep your ears peeled for news of a live show early next year.

The third single off Crum’s debut EP ‘Waster’ (due any day now) is an unapologetic and grungy indie rock piece with a melodic chorus and a tonne of wailing guitars. In their short life span they’ve already nabbed supports for bands like British India and Waax and given they’re on the lineup for Best Night Ever alongside Dune Rats, DZ Deathrays and The Gooch Palms and they haven’t even released their first EP yet, we’re excited about the feral yet good things to come. ‘TV Housemate’s is on Spotify.

And it’s a no holds barred affair. Which is exactly what you’d expect from a bunch of southern Gold Coast punks like Hot Wax. They started the year pretty strong with their music reaching triple j, MTV and Rage and this new song, produced by Nick Didia, sees the four-piece continue on that skate-punk journey. ‘Quit Your Job’, as the title suggests, is a track for misfits with its feet firmly planted in anti-establishmentarianism.

While it’s a sound all their own, there’s also no mistaking its 90s punk roots. There’s an EP on the horizon plus a showcase set at Australian Music Week, so we’re frothing to hear the new songs. You can listen to ‘Quit Your Job’ now via Spotify.

Need more banging Gold Coast tunes? Pop on over to bit.ly/ GCplaylist on spotify and you’ll have nearly ten hours of awesome GC music to get you through the best of days and the worst of days.

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NOVEMBER THURSDAY 1 NOVEMBER Tom Lee-Richards + Sarah Marine | Treehouse On Belongil, Byron Bay Kyle Lionhart + Charles Worth | Mo’s Desert Clubhouse (Ticketed) Free the Genie | Cambus Wallace Zookeepers (Covers) | Southport Sharks The Dirty Channel | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay Mescalito Blues | The Rails, Byron Bay

FRIDAY 2 NOVEMBER The Angels | RSL Club Southport (Ticketed) Mojo Juju + Nasty Mars + NightQuarter Spectacular + Magnetic Force + Liv Heyer | NightQuarter Summertime Sessions: Tonesandi + Harry J Hart | Mudgeeraba Village Venice On Fire + Hot Reno + Atticus Chimps + The Goldblooms | Currumbin Pub (Ticketed) Tom Lee-Richards + Sarah Marine | Nimbin Hotel The Polar Bears | BBQ Bazaar Hollow World + Ame Noire + Red Bee + From Crisis To Collapse + Level H | Mo’s Desert Clubhouse (Ticketed) Felicity Lawless Band | Kingscliff Beach Hotel Paris Lane (5.00pm) | Cabana Bar The Mason Rack Bank | Southport Sharks La bOum + Tuffy (5.oopm) | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay The Rubens | Hotel Brunswick, Brunswick Heads

Gavin Doniger (2.oopm) + Nicole Brophy | Sheoak Shack Dan Hannaford (1.00pm) | Rowan Robinson Park, Kingscliff Rush Hour (Covers) | Southport Sharks DJ Longtime | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay Broadfoot | Hotel Brunswick, Brunswick Heads Little Billie | The Rails, Byron Bay

Sally Sa | The Scottish Prince Alex Fietz (3pm) + Voice And Congas | Southport Sharks DJ Longtime + Madison Kat | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay Chris Aronsten | The Rails, Byron Bay Sassified (Covers) (3.oopm) | RSL Club Southport

Long Gone Daddy’s (Covers) | RSL Club Southport

WEDNESDAY 7 NOVEMBER

SUNDAY 4 NOVEMBER

The Yams | The Scottish Prince

Live at Bond: Vaudeville Smash + The Steele Syndicate (3.oopm) | ADCO Amphitheatre, Bond University

James Street Preachers | Cambus Wallace Jason Delphin | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay Gritty Blues Machine | The Rails, Byron Bay

Hobo Magic + Zong + Lens + Fox Company + Ultra Violet Fuzz (3.oopm) | Mo’s Desert Clubhouse (Ticketed)

THURSDAY 8 NOVEMBER

Kitchens Floor + Girlsuck + Ex Catholics + Mutanteer Premium (4.oopm) | Vinnies Divebar (Ticketed)

James Street Preachers | The Scottish Prince

Felicity Lawless | Palm Beach Surf Club Ben Camden | Cambus Wallace Benny Whisky | The Scottish Prince Paul Hatwell | Aviary Rooftop Bar James D’Khan (3.oopm) | Cafe Catalina DJ Longtime + Late For Woodstock (4.30pm) | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay Silk and Oak | Hotel Brunswick, Brunswick Heads The Regime | The Rails, Byron Bay

Free The Genie | Cambus Wallace

Betoota Advocate + The Fergies + Magnetic Force + Liv Heyer + | NightQuarter (Ticketed) Felicity Lawless | San Sebastian, Palm Beach

SATURDAY 3 NOVEMBER

Joe Man Murphy | The Rails, Byron Bay

Mescalito Blues | Cambus Wallace

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Skyeater (2.oopm) + Fingal & The Curiosities Of Essex | Sheoak Shack Angus Oastler (1.oopm) | Get Hooked, Tweed Heads Bohemian Cowboys | The Rails, Byron Bay Dave Dobbyn And Band + Devils Kiosk (Covers) | RSL Club Southport

SUNDAY 11 NOVEMBER

Marco (Covers) | Southport Sharks

Mo Groove | BBQ Bazaar

Follow The Fox | BBQ Bazaar

The Andrews Sisters Tribute Dinner and Show | Southport Yacht Club (Ticketed)

Issi Dye (5.00pm) Skypoint Observation Deck

TUESDAY 6 NOVEMBER

David Aurora + Casey Duque + Dan Bush + The Kobra Fuzz + Lorcan Waugh | Currumbin Pub (Ticketed)

FRIDAY 9 NOVEMBER

Zookeepers (Covers) | Southport Sharks

Pink Zinc + Du East (5.oopm) |Beach Hotel, Byron Bay

Benny D Williams | Hidden, Tugun

Mane + NightQuarter Spectacular + Three Piece Feed | NightQuarter

Airlie Beach Music Festival: Electrik Lemonade + Diana Anaid + Mason Rack Band + Ash Grunwald + The Church + King Social + The Wayward Suns + Killing Heidi + Smashmouth + more | Airlie Beach (Ticketed)

MONDAY 5 NOVEMBER

Tommy Memphis (Covers) (11. ooam) | RSL Club Southport

Pink Zinc | Hotel Brunswick, Brunswick Heads

9-11 NOVEMBER

Goran Sedlar (Covers) | RSL Club Southport

Island Night Talent Quest + Trombone Kellie + Elska | NightQuarter

Rhythm & Cutloose + DJ Longtime (5.oopm) | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay

Stunned Mullets | The Rails, Byron Bay

Rockks (Covers) (1.oopm) | RSL Club Southport

4’20 Sound Reggae Night | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay

Krush (Covers) | Southport Sharks

Southwall | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay

Hayley Grace & The Bay Collective (Covers) | Southport Sharks

EPIC | The Rails, Byron Bay

SATURDAY 10 NOVEMBER

Nyssa Ray (5.oopm) | Cabana Bar

Dan Hannaford Duo | Hotel Brunswick, Brunswick Heads Goodrich | The Rails, Byron Bay

Dale Waker | Cambus Wallace Miranda Ward | Aviary Rooftop Bar Phil & Tilley (3.oopm) | Cafe Catalina My Happy Place + EPIC (4.30pm) | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay Round Mountain Girls | Hotel Brunswick, Brunswick Heads

Elska | Cambus Wallace Voice And Congas | Southport Sharks Andy Janns Brown | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay Matty Armitage | The Rails, Byron Bay

WEDNESDAY 14 NOVEMBER James Street Preachers | Cambus Wallace The Yams | The Scottish Prince Akova | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay Manoa + Hayley Grace And The Bay | The Rails, Byron Bay

THURSDAY 15 NOVEMBER Free The Genie | Cambus Wallace James Street Preachers | The Scottish Prince Zookeepers (Covers) | Southport Sharks James Dkhan | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay Collective | The Rails, Byron Bay

15 – 18 NOVEMBER Mullum Music Festival: Bombino + Mad Professor + JAH9 + Gordi + Ben Otewell + Osaka Monaurail + SO, SO MUCH MORE | Mullumbimby (Ticketed)

FRIDAY 16 NOVEMBER Amistat + NightQuarter Spectacular + Matty Rogers + Emily Brieger | NightQuarter

Mercy Mercy | The Rails, Byron Bay

Cactus + Kurilpa Reach + Die For Mushies + EchoWave | Currumbin Pub (Ticketed)

Matrix Duo (Covers) (1.oopm) | RSL Club Southport

Devils Kiosk | BBQ Bazaar

Smashmouth | Twin Towns (Ticketed)

MONDAY 12 NOVEMBER

Summertime Sessions: Ginger & The Ghost + Loose Leaf | Mudgeeraba Village

Lloyd Saniel (Covers) | Southport Sharks

Diamond Country Blues (Covers) | RSL Club Southport

TUESDAY 13 NOVEMBER

4’20 Sound Reggae Night | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay Simon Meola | The Rails, Byron Bay Micheal Whitmore (Covers) (11.00am) | RSL Club Southport

Little Georgia + Handful Of Helmet + Jackson James Smith | Mo’s Desert Clubhouse (Ticketed) Legends Of Rock Tribute | Southport Sharks Rick Barron (5.oopm) | Cabana Bar King Social + Leigh James (5.oopm) | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay Harts | Hotel Brunswick, Brunswick Heads

Marshall | The Rails, Byron Bay Taylor + Karl S. Williams | Soundlounge The Animals | Twin Towns (Ticketed)

DJ Dave Dog + Lisa Hunt (4.30pm) | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay Phil Jamieson (4.oopm) | Hotel Brunswick, Brunswick Heads The Devils Kiosk | The Rails, Byron Bay

Summertime Sessions: Matie Inae + Ben Goldstein | Mudgeeraba Village

Street Cafe (Covers) (1.oopm) | RSL Club Southport

Wally & The Gators (Covers) | RSL Club Southport

MONDAY 19 NOVEMBER

Glitoris | Vinnies Dive Bar

SATURDAY 17 NOVEMBER Maribelle + NightQuarter Spectacular + Lock N Load + Elska | NightQuarter Off The Grid | BBQ Bazaar Ben Jansz (2.oopm) + Felicity Lawless | Sheoak Shack Round Mountain Girls (1.oopm) | Rowan Robinson Park, Kingscliff Peach Fur + Port Royal + Cactus + Honeygum | Miami Shark Bar (Ticketed) Madonna featuring Cyndi Lauper Tribute | Southport Sharks DJ Fonzaius + DJ Longtime (5.oopm) | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay Amistat | Hotel Brunswick, Brunswick Heads

Lloyd Saniel (Covers) | Southport Sharks 4’20 Sound Reggae Night | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay Tahlia Matheson | The Rails, Byron Bay Rhydian Lewis (Covers) (11.00am) | RSL Club Southport

TUESDAY 20 NOVEMBER Carl The Bartender & Alison Forbes | Cambus Wallace Voice And Congas | Southport Sharks

WEDNESDAY 21 NOVEMBER

The Smokin Crawdads (Covers) | RSL Club Southport

The Yams | The Scottish Prince

SUNDAY 18 NOVEMBER

Ben Walsh | The Rails, Byron Bay

Imogen Clarke | Cambus Wallace Chris Hutchison | Aviary Rooftop Bar Drunk Mums + Dirty Fences + Gee Tee + Stone Witches + Daisy Brains | Miami Shark Bar (Ticketed)

Mercury Sun + Dogtags + Burger Joint + Dreams Of Indigo | Currumbin Pub (Ticketed)

Mark Thompson | Aviary Rooftop Bar

Millenium | BBQ Bazaar Papa Pilko + The Bin Rats + Transvaal Diamond Syndicate | Mo’s Desert Clubhouse (Ticketed) Alter Egos (Covers) | Southport Sharks Josh Boyd (5.oopm) | Cabana Bar Kim Churchill & Guests + Ben Walsh (5.oopm) | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay Ben Janz | Hotel Brunswick, Brunswick Heads Silk And Oak | The Rails, Byron Bay Summertime Sessions: Micka Scene + Jade Soul | Mudgeeraba Village

Holy Holy | Miami Marketta

James Street Preachers | Cambus Wallace

Felicity Lawless | Artisan Fayre, Mt Tamborine

Matthew Armitage | Cambus Wallace

Stephen Lovelight | The Rails, Byron Bay

Charmaine Wilson | RSL Club Southport

Droplegs (4.oopm) | Mo’s Desert Clubhouse (Ticketed)

Kallidad + NightQuarter Spectacular + Rick Barron | NightQuarter

Scott Day | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay

Kayso Grande | The Rails, Byron Bay

Sunday Session: King Social + Osaka Punch | BBQ Bazaar (Ticketed)

SUNDAY 25 NOVEMBER

Shotgun Duo (Covers) | RSL Club Southport

David Byrne | Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre (Ticketed)

Lisa Hunt | Seagulls

FRIDAY 23 NOVEMBER

Sarah Grant | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay

THURSDAY 22 NOVEMBER Steve Russell Quartet | Dust Temple Free The Genie | Cambus Wallace James Street Preachers | The Scottish Prince Zookeepers (Covers) | Southport Sharks Nick Cunningham | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay Sarah Grant Trio | The Rails, Byron Bay

SATURDAY 24 NOVEMBER Never Ending 80’s + Rustbucket + Elska | NightQuarter (Ticketed) Shakafest: Bliss n Esso + Last Dinosaurs + Frenzal Rhomb + Alex The Astronaught + Clowns + Carmouflage Rose + The Chats + Bec Sandridge and many more | Broadwater Parklands (Ticketed) The Runes | BBQ Bazaar

Elska | The Scottish Prince

Animal House + Dan Clarke Duo (4.3opm) | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay

Jay Hoad | The Rails, Byron Bay

Kallidad (4.oopm) | Hotel Brunswick, Brunswick Heads Swamp Cats | The Rails, Byron Bay Community Christmas Carols (4.oopm) | Firth Park, Mudgeeraba Greg Bankx (Covers) (1.oopm) | RSL Club Southport

MONDAY 26 NOVEMBER Lloyd Saniel (Covers) | Southport Sharks Teddy Cream | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay Dean Haitani | The Rails, Byron Bay Doubleshot (Covers) (11.ooam) | RSL Club Southport

TUESDAY 27 NOVEMBER Voice And Congas | Southport Sharks Will Sparks vs Joel Fletcher | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay Leigh James | The Rails, Byron Bay

WEDNESDAY 28 NOVEMBER

Paces & Guests + DJ Longtime (5.oopm) | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay

James Street Preachers | Cambus Wallace

South Wall | Hotel Brunswick, Brunswick Heads

The Yams | The Scottish Prince

Pink Zinc | The Rails, Byron Bay

Brynny | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay

Blues Brothers Rebooted (Covers) + Crossfire Duo (Covers) | RSL Club Southport

James Street Preachers | The Scottish Prince Zookeepers (Covers) | Southport Sharks

Aussie Pride (Covers) | Southport Sharks

Felicity Lawless | Dust Temple

Free The Genie | Cambus Wallace

Phil & Tilley (3.00pm) | Cafe Catalina

Festival of Small Halls: Old Man Luedecke + Lucy Wise + Kate Leopold | Mt Nimmel Hall, Austinville (Ticketed)

Jeremiah Johnson (2.00pm) + Zale Seck | Sheoak Shack

THURSDAY 29 NOVEMBER

Will Sparks | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay

29 NOVEMBER – 1 DECEMBER Jungle Love Festival : Electrik Lemonade + Thando + Demon Days + Church + Kenta Hayashi + Opiuo + more | Sunshine Coast (Ticketed)

FRIDAY 30 NOVEMBER NightQuarter Third Birthday Celebrations + Livin in the 70’s + NightQuarter Spectacular + Matty Rogers + Elska | NightQuarter Cosmic Dad + The Aunties + Love Banana + Mitchell Watterson | Currumbin Pub (Ticketed) Cadence | BBQ Bazaar DJ Damo Cox | Aviary Rooftop Bar Felicity Lawless Band | Miami Marketta The Feramones (Covers) | Southport Sharks Ruby Montey (5.oopm) | Cabana Bar Feenixpawl | Beach Hotel, Byron Bay Balter’s ‘Welcome To Summer’ (5.oopm) | Hotel Brunswick, Brunswick Heads Fergo And The Burden | The Rails, Byron Bay Summertime Sessions: Luke Pauley + Pheobe Jacobs | Mudgeeraba Village Stoneage Romeo’s (Covers) | RSL Club Southport

Chris And Jamie | The Rails, Byron Bay

James D’Khan (3.oopm) | Cafe Catalina www.blankgc.com.au

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IT’S NEARING MEERA TIME

Meera - surely one of the Gold Coast’s most anticipated productions - has almost arrived, with the ambitious offering set to wow audiences at HOTA, Home of the Arts on 4 November.

The premier piece from Wild Dreamer Productions has a truly astonishing scope. Boasting a 300-strong cast and crew, the production aims to create a platform where different artists have a unique opportunity to share their talent with the world.

With local amateurs ranging from the Gold Coast to Northern Brisbane, Meera has connected local artists in the community and provided an opportunity for them to share their talent, and collaborate with people all over the world from different disciplines.

The story of Meera is set in 16th century Northern India where a royal Princess believes in her love for Krishna (a Hindu God) to such a degree that she is willing to go against the norms of society for her love. It is an age-old story of love, passion, betrayal and human experience.

Many years in making, Meera is the creative interpretation of Aarti Bajaj, principal performer and creative director, who promises “the biggest and most colourful extravaganza of art and creativity that the Gold Coast has ever seen!” Meera is an interlude between a theatrical and musical, linked with narration, opera singing and story-telling.

Meera will be a treat for the senses, combining melodious original music composed by renowned maestros from India and many European countries with lavish costumes that befit Indian-royalty, and of course the backdrop of the story. Ballet, Indian contemporary, African contemporary, tap, aerial, pole and classical dancing will all make an appearance.

Bold, beautiful, mesmerising, inspirational and certainly unique, Meera is sure to create a vivid impression.

Natalie O’Driscoll

Meera will showcase its first ever performance on 4 November at HOTA Gold Coast. Tickets vis hota.com.au.

NIGHTQUARTER FROM COAST TO UNVEILS ‘MAGGIE’ COUNTRY Gold Coast cultural icon NightQuarter has unveiled an exciting collaboration with local artist Tracie Eaton.

Painted mannequin Magdalene - nicknamed Maggie' - has taken residence at the popular Helensvale entertainment precinct and will be a permanent fixture within the creative grounds.

Maggie was painted by a local Gold Coast artist Tracie Eaton, and is designed to portray a woman, then and now.

She is named for Mary Magdalene, who famously resisted the traditional roles of women in society, and is the purveyor of the sense of cultural pride that NightQuarter embodies.

Tracie Eaton has a long history of exploring what it means to be a woman, and of embracing female power.

In her previous project ‘Emergence’, she created her artworks using human bodies as the canvasses.

“I anticipate people will feel passion, intrigue, empowerment, feel the beauty and power of femininity,” she told Blank GC before the exhibition.

www.blankgc.com.au

In light of the current crisis being faced by Queensland farmers, GCWA have found a way to simultaneously express their art and extend their compassion, with their current project ‘Coast to Country’.

For this exhibition, the GCWA has joined with the women of the Queensland Country Women’s Association (QCWA) to raise funds for struggling Queensland farmers.

Between 24 November and 2 December the public can view the Art Exhibition by these award-winning Gold Coast artists.

“I also anticipate that some will feel somewhat challenged, perhaps a little out of their comfort zone.”

Entry is free, and tickets are available to win original artworks from the best our city has to offer. Artists such as Christine Aiken, Marilyn Bennett, Regina Bruns, Marjorie Fisher, Barbara Graham, Lucinda Leveille, Moonie Patel, Linley Redden and Catherine Wallace all have artworks up for grabs.

Maggie follows on artistically from this work, with the mannequin forming the canvas for Tracie’s vision, and happily calls The Paddock at NightQuarter home.

Raffle proceeds and 30% of all sales will go to the QCWA Public Rural Crisis Fund where every dollar goes directly to those in need.

Michelle Christoe, Director of NightQuarter is proud to work with the local artist to bring Maggie to life.

‘Coast to Country’ provides visitors with an opportunity to help our farmers and come out with something to show for it; a something that every time you look at it will remind you that you took the time and gave what you could to make a difference.

"As a personification of the changing public face of society through the ages, Maggie dispels the cultural or societal limitations imposed on women and celebrates the intrinsic freedom of expression we all now share," she says Ms Christoe adds, "Here's the thing... we live in a different society now and we can now unashamedly express who we are creatively and spiritually without judgement and here at NightQuarter, we proudly support all shapes, sizes and kinds of local talent."

Maggie debuted in her purposed built 'residence' within The Paddock at NightQuarter in late September, and will be a permanent part of the fabric of NightQuarter.

Natalie O’Driscoll

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Gold Coast Women Artists (GCWA) are a group of women from diverse backgrounds, stories and interests who come together to share their love of art and paint. They inspire and motivate each other and soon after creating the association, began exhibiting their work, winning awards, gaining commissions and selling their paintings.

Natalie O’Driscoll

‘Coast to Country’ runs from 10.00am to 4.00pm at The Old Schoolhouse Gallery, 173 Ashmore Road, Benowa from 24 November, with opening night on 23 November featuring Mr Entertainment Australia, Matt Ross. Visit fb/ gcwomenartists, or email gcwomenartists@gmail.com for any enquiries.

HOME IS WHERE THE ART IS If a city’s character can be defined by the art it produces, then the Gold Coast is an exciting and eclectic place indeed.

But separate to the galleries and festivals is a different kind of message; one you might see painted over a business, a brick fence, a tram line. Street art is an increasingly valid and desired form of artistic expression, and in Southport alone there are now several completed pieces by elusive Gold Coast artist John Kaye, which beautifully capture the vibe of the urban space he called home. John agreed to chat with us about how they came about.

“These paintings around Southport were all done over the space of a year,” he explains.

“The first was in collaboration with 4040creative and G-Link to activate some wall space along the tram line with artwork.

The intention was to encourage more tourists to visit the northern end of the Gold Coast… As more and more people started to notice the positive change in the area, the other paintings gradually came about.”

John spent some of the most influential years in childhood skateboarding around the streets of Southport with his friends, which is where he discovered street art and graffiti, he tells us.

“I was already drawing cartoons and scribbling on all my books at school from a young age, I just never had any real understanding about art until I came across graffiti.

“It was rare to see anything substantial back then [but] I was fascinated with it and from that point I started to notice more and go out of my way to learn as much as I could until eventually I began studying art history and painting every day.”

John is hopeful that his work may have the chance to influence others in the same way.

“It's a great feeling for me to be able to come back and add parts of myself to the city as it is rapidly growing and hopefully I can have a positive impact on a few people, especially the younger ones on the streets that might not be subjected to art anywhere else.”

Natalie O’Driscoll

For the full gallery, visit blankgc.com.au. John’s other work can be viewed at johnkayeart.com.

Street art images by Marj Osborne. www.blankgc.com.au

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LUXURY IN THE TWEED VALLEY

STONE & WOOD CELEBRATES TEN YEARS OF BEERS Kinda hard to believe, but it’s been 10 years since the first kegs rolled out of Stone & Wood’s brewery in Byron Bay, back in 2008.

For the Northern Rivers independent brewery, they feel that this milestone is a drop in the ocean.

“Compared to breweries in other parts of the world that have been around for hundreds of years, we’re 10 years young!” said co-owner Brad Rogers.

The brewery has taken an active part in Northern Rivers and Gold Coast life since opening its doors, raising money for Big Scrub Landcare, partnering in beach cleanup days, supporting local talent with epic festivals and just generally being all-round good peeps who like giving back to the community.

The beer’s not bad, either. Dark beer lovers will be particularly stoked to hear that in order to commemorate their ten year anniversary, the crew have come up with a special brew: SWX, a decadent, dark imperial stout which was aged in fortified wine barrels for 10 months.

And that’s not all. November marks the start of some exciting projects for the Stone & Wood team, the first one being cans, says head brewer, Caolan Vaughan.

“From when we first released the original Pacific Ale, our customers and our drinkers have begged us to put it in a can. Up until now, our focus has been on making enough of the stuff, so we’re pumped to be able to release a commemorative ‘10 years of Summer’ Pacific Ale can now!”

The limited release can will disappear before most people can get their hands around it (keep an eye on their social media to have a chance at finding it) but they plan on releasing it permanently in the New Year.

The cans will also be available at the Backyard Invitational Festival that’s being held at the location for their Brisbane brewery (scheduled to open mid next year), on 24 November, and event that will be all about good beer, food and raising cash for their inGrained Foundation.

With new Byron digs on the horizon before the year is out, 2018 is shaping to be one helluva fitting end to an exciting decade for these local brewers.

Natalie O’Driscoll

Nab tickets to the Backyard Invitational Festival at Eventbrite.

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www.blankgc.com.au

If it’s been a while since you’ve visited Murwillumbah, you’ll need to be reminded of the vast expanses of canefields, the Condong Sugar Mill, the meandering Tweed River, and the town itself, full of century-old retro and art deco buildings.

We often associate this Tweed region with barefoot adventures. The hippy trail, if you will. And while the district certainly still delivers on that concept of grassroots adventure for Brisbane and Gold Coast day-trippers as well as low-budget DIY tourists, it also continues to evolve. Its luxury tourism offerings, art and food experiences are on the up.

Enter Mistere Spa and Retreat. Part of the Regal Retreats Group, Mistere properties allow you to be fully immersed in the landscape while enjoying complete privacy and all the trimmings of luxury travel.

After an abundant grazing platter at Keith’s in Murwillumbah, it’s dark when I arrive at my accommodation, one of only three villas onsite. It’s the Waterfall Villa and it’s aptly named with a cascading waterfall just metres away.

When morning comes, I begin to understand the depth of my surroundings. This villa is a bird-watchers wet dream resembling a bird hide from outside. And while I’m no birder, I see tonnes of avian friends flitting amongst the trees, making me wish I’d brought binoculars and an ID book.

The surrounding bush is lush and thick and the indoor trimmings are the same. A well-stocked breakfast basket featuring a heap of local produce takes pride of place in the kitchen, there’s a gas fireplace which is controlled with a remote, DVDs and wifi, a well-equipped kitchen, outdoor BBQ and grill, plush dressing gowns and a seriously comfy bed. The bathroom, though, with its floor-to-ceiling glass windows is where I end up spending most of my time. With an enormous spa – big enough for two people – looking out to massive trees and ferns, I’m surprised I didn’t evolve into some kind of aquatic creature.

You’d be forgiven for never leaving Mistere (particularly given its massage offerings, which are cheap and top quality), but being located at the very heart of the Tweed Valley means there is more than enough to keep active people busy. And if you really want to get to the heart of the Tweed Valley, there’s no better host than Mount Warning Tours, who acted as my host for a full day both on and off the Tweed River.

Tweed Regional Gallery and Margaret Olley Art Centre (open Weds – Sun, 10 – 5) is the jewel in the region’s cultural crown, but there’s plenty more for art-lovers. If you time your stay, you might catch the annual Murwillumbah Art Trail or the monthly Makers and Finders market. Even the pubs are in on the act. Upstairs at the Court House Hotel, you can visit Caldera Wildscapes Art Gallery & Studio (open Weds – Sun 10 – 4) to see art by Andy Reimanis and the 20 metre long panoramic painting of the Wollumbin Mt Warning Summit – the piece was a year in the making.

Aside from the art, there’s also a bunch of boutique stores selling old wares, collectables and antiques – with two of my favourite new discoveries located less than 20 minutes away in Burringar: Heath’s Old Wares, and the recently opened Burringbar Roadhouse Gallery are like something you’d see in a movie.

But enough about the art and culture. There’s a stellar offering of food and drink throughout Tweed Valley. At Burringbar, Fallen Leaf is a new tea and espresso house that serves its own delicious teas made from local ingredients, Tweed Valley Whey had opened just days before I visited, making cheese from milk produced in their own dairy, that’s been in the family for like four generations (try the chili feta, it’s the bomb) and Husk Distillers has laid down roots at Tumbulgum – the only paddock to palate distillers I know of – creating stunning rums and a new ink gin. Being surrounded by all that red dirt means the region is just bursting with farms and cafes of all sizes and styles.

After a weekend of sampling local fare and making the most of Tweed Valley hospitality, my favourite café is the House of Gabriel, located right on the Tweed River and located in a restored 120 year old house. As well as a gift shop and peaceful gardens (not to mention bloody excellent coffee), there’s a menu bursting with seasonal flavours as well as wood-fired pizzas on Fridays (5 – 8pm) and a high tea on offer too.

Samantha Morris Disclosure: Samantha Morris was the guest of Mistere Spa and Retreat for three glorious, rainy, child-free nights where the temperature fell to 12 degrees and both spa and fireplace were made very good use of.

GOLD COAST FILM FESTIVAL SUBMISSIONS OPEN

NEW YEARS EVE

Lakeview

Submissions are now open for the 2019 Gold Coast Film Festival and SIPFest with $20,000 in cash and prizes up for grabs.

Have you put blood, sweat, tears and money into a feature film, short or web series? The ever-growing Gold Coast Film Festival (GCFF) and Shorts in Paradise Festival (SIPFest) 2019 are looking to showcase some of the best Australian film talent on offer. As the flagship film events of the year, the GCFF and SIPFest have attracted entries from all over and in some cases offered its entrants significant industry recognition and epic career-boosting opportunities.

The GCFF is an AACTA-Award qualifying film festival one of seven in Australia - bringing diverse Australian and International films, filmmakers and film events to the Gold Coast.

Australian indie filmmakers are in for a chance to win the Blackmagic Design Best Australian Indie Film Award, with $10,000 in Blackmagic Design equipment, and the PKF Best Australian Indie Film Peer Award judged by GCFF alumni and awarded $1,000 cash thanks to PKF Accountants and Business Advisors plus a Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve software package.

SIPFest is the annual short film festival with $8,000 in cash prizes and an unbeatable beach cinema location! SIPFest transforms Surfers Paradise beach into a vibrant and unique cinema, delivering a unique outdoor film experience like no other in Australia. With sand below and stars above, the crowd enjoys 14 finalist short films up to 15 minutes.

This year, organisers have opened up entries to include Wed Series for the very first time! Web Series with a minimum of two completed episodes can submit for their chance to be crowned the Best Australian Web Series with a $500 cash prize. They'll also announce the 'Best Comedy' and 'Best International Web Series'.

Submissions close 28 January, 2019. Head to Film Freeway for more information and to enter.

SUPPORTED BY JET CLUB EFFECT FREE ENTRY 5587 9000 WWW.SEAGULLSCLUB.COM.AU

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Southport Yacht Club hosts free sailing day at new Oxenford venue

THE ART ROOM Gallery Opening The expanding local arts scene on the Gold Coast has inspired another artist-run space, with THE ART ROOM gallery about to throw open its Miami doors.

Visitors can view or purchase original artwork and prints, handmade pottery, and handmade lampshades by local artists and artisans Susy Boyer, Leoni Kent and Cathy Harwood. All are invited to opening night on Friday 23 November from 4.00pm – 8.00pm.

Studio 6, Miami Business Centre, 8 Kedron Avenue Miami (cnr Gold Coast Highway).

Southport Yacht Club has launched the Club’s fourth facility, situated within Damian Leeding Memorial Park, Oxenford. The facility is designed to introduce both kids and adults to sailing, stand up paddle boarding and all things watersports. Following the official launch, Southport Yacht Club have scheduled a free discover sailing day on Sunday 4 November. From 10am, Club Members along with member of the greater community are invited to come down to the venue and learn to sail, for FREE. For further information please contact Southport Yacht Club Marketing Manager, Bronwen Hemmings via Marketing.Manager@ southportyachtclub.com.au or 07 5591 3500.

Get ready to sing along at the 2018 Mayor’s Christmas Carols presented by Mercedes-Benz Gold Coast Get into the Christmas spirit with friends and family at the free seventh annual Mayor’s Christmas Carols on 1 December at Broadwater Parklands, presented by Mercedes-Benz Gold Coast and supported by 102.9 Hot Tomato and Nine News Gold Coast. Hosted by Shelley Craft and featuring Kate Ceberano and Anthony Callea, The Mayor’s Christmas Carols will boast a bunch of delicious food vendors as well as interactive kids’ fun commencing at 2.00pm, with the main event kicking off at 5.00pm. The spectacular fireworks finale will be the icing on the Christmas pudding. Visit cityofgoldcoast.com.au/mayorscarols for more.

Tamara Dean Wins JUWSPA Tamara Dean has been announced as the 2018 winner of the prestigious Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award, hosted at HOTA, Home of the Arts. The coveted contemporary photography award offers a generous cash prize of $25,000 with the winner’s work acquired as part of the Gallery at HOTA’s impressive collection of contemporary Australian photography. With over 200 outstanding entries and 45 finalists from a diverse range of photographers this year, Tamara Dean captured the win for her work titled, 'Sacred Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) in Autumn' from the series 'In our Nature 2017' – an inkjet print, courtesy of the artist and Martin Browne Contemporary.

2019 National Poetry Prize now open The Somerset National Poetry Prize encourages young writers in their literary endeavours and is open to all Australian high school students. It is a wonderful opportunity for serious student writers, encouraging them in their literary growth. Competition entries close on 8 December 2018 and must comprise of a poem of no more than 50 lines. The prize is $300 plus flights to the Gold Coast to attend Storyfest. For more information, visit somerset.qld.edu.au/storyfest.

ABC broadcasting veteran Kerry O’Brien to launch memoir in Byron Bay Friend of Byron Writers Festival and prominent Australian multi-Walkley Award winning journalist, Kerry O'Brien will launch Kerry O’Brien: A Memoir on Sunday 11 November, 6.30pm at the Byron Theatre.

The ticketed event will include a candid conversation with Mick O’Regan and the option to purchase a signed copy of the book. Tickets start at $20 and are available via byronwritersfestival.com or by calling 02 6685 5115.

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Life Apparel Co celebrates Indigenous artists with new range Life Apparel Co has released their most anticipated new series of summer collections yet, in collaboration with some of Australia’s finest Indigenous artists. Lifewear commissions artists to create artworks which tells a personal story. Working closely alongside the artists, Lifewear then creates collections using the paintings or drawings as a print across various clothing and apparel products. After several years working successfully with artists from urban areas to remote towns, Lifewear was recently approved by the Indigenous Art Code - the first apparel brand in Australia to be recognised under their constitution, designed to preserve and promote ethical trading in Indigenous art. Though based in Currumbin, Life Apparel is purely an e-commerce business - selling all garments online. The new range can be shopped at: lifeapparel.co.

- BAR OPEN 3PM CRAFT BEER & C O C K TA I L S

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All Welcome

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SIX EASY WAYS TO BETTER SLEEP Have you ever been kept awake at night by stressing about the fact you were still awake? Ridiculous isn’t it? You’re definitely not alone though, with one in three Australians regularly struggling with their sleep.

Here’s how to help yourself get to sleep, and stay asleep for long enough that your body repairs.

1. Remove Stress 4. Get Your Kit Off I’m not talking about life stress, although that will help, I’m talking about stress around sleep. Some sleep experts suggest that rather than aiming for eight uninterrupted hours of sleep per night, we aim for 35 sleep cycles per week. A cycle is around 90 minutes and involves going from awake, to light sleep, to deep sleep (repairing), and then REM sleep (dreaming). If the eight hours can’t or didn’t happen one night, don’t stress just catch up with a nap or a big sleep in on the weekend.

2. Kill The Lights Most of us have many bright lights and various screens on in the house up until we go to bed. When we are overloaded with light the body doesn’t produce the hormone Melatonin which signals the body to sleep. In fact, one hour of iPad reading before bed will delay Melatonin release by 3 hours, less is released overall and REM sleep is decreased. Turn the screens off at least an hour before sleep time, and even dim the lights in the house. Since we no longer sleep when the sun goes down, turn off as many lights as you can to start signalling the body it’s wind down time.

3. Keep It Cool Our bodies and brains actually need the temperature to drop a little in order to sleep well. Set the temperature on your heater or air conditioning to drop in the middle of the night and slowly rise again towards waking time. Or don’t use them at all and let the natural temperature changes do their work.

Many of us swear by this and now the science backs it up; you will sleep better at least seminaked. The body is better able to regulate temperature, and you’re not getting tangled in fabric. Just have a bathrobe handy if you need to get up and out during the night.

5. Create a Ritual Having both a regular bed time and a routine or ritual around bed time not only signals to the body and brain that it’s sleep time, it can also ease stress. Secure the house, have a hot bath, dim the lights or whatever will work for you, just be consistent.

6. Eat and Drink Being too full decreases the quality of sleep because the body is digesting instead of restoring. If we go to bed hungry though, the body stays in a stress state and we don’t get the restorative benefits of sleep. While sleep does dehydrate us, ideally we don’t want to get up for the bathroom through the night so ease up on the water an hour before bed.

Ease up on the alcohol at the same time. We may feel like alcohol puts us to sleep but it’s actually sedating us, (not the same thing) and it causes us to miss out on REM sleep.

This may seem like a lot but it really is just a few little tweaks to your evening, and the payoff is huge. Good sleep repairs and restores the body, improves mood and brain function, enhances athletic performance and even skill acquisition. To me that is well worth the effort.

Erin Bourne

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SOUTHPORT YACHT CLUB BACKS TRASH-CAT We all understand the scourge that is plastic in our waterways. No-one more so than Garth Wilson. Garth runs a small beach hire business at Paradise Point on the weekends and every day he’s there, he’s confronted with the sheer volume of plastic waste floating by.

He realised that must be just the tip of the iceberg.

He thought “how bad it must be in the waterways if we see this much in a small beach area.”

So, he thought with his spare time during the week, he’d buy a little boat and chug around picking up floating plastic debris.

“I searched for a small stable work type boat that was relatively cheap to run. Ironically it is a plastic (polyethlene) catamaran, built in NZ,” Garth said.

And so, the Trash-Cat was born. But with a large vision, comes large bills: fuels, insurance, servicing and rego to name a few. And that’s where Southport Yacht Club comes in.

“We heard Queensland was about to start the Cash for Containers scheme and thought it might be a great way to raise a little extra money,” Garth said. “With that in mind I approached quite a few business hoping they might allow us to supply wheelie bins free of charge, collect containers and we will service the bins for free so long as we can keep the containers.”

“Thankfully the Southport Yacht Club saw that what we offered went hand in hand with the cause we were raising funds for and a mutual desire to helping the environment and the marine life.”

“The money raised should be on going but well worth the effort to keep Trash-Cat out on the water more often,” Garth said.

And that’s just one of the ways the Yacht Club is putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to sustainability. In 2014

the Club’s Marina was awarded with a fish friendly certificate and clean marina and more recently the kitchen has focused on a food recycling centre. The bar also removed easy access to straws with the intention to completely remove soon.

As well as designing the Trash-Cat, Garth is also its operator and chief picker upperer.

He also supplies, exchanges and empties the recycling bins used at Southport Yacht Club and other venues that have come on board to help with fundraising. Garth’s partner helps behind the scenes.

Their method is simple and straight-forward.

The operator (Garth) plods around our beautiful waterways, rivers and marinas picking up floating plastic debris with a hand-held net. It’s amazing what they find: thongs, clothing, lures and fishing gear amongst them – but there’s no doubt plastic is a major polluter.

“The most common items are plastic bags, polystyrene foam of all sorts, cans, plastic drink bottles, straws, chip bags,” Garth said.

But Garth still needs help. While he’s stoked with the support Southport Yacht Club and other partners have offered, he’s hoping other local taverns, bowls clubs and waterside outlets will also jump on board.

As well as reducing or removing the cost of crushing glass if used, Garth says businesses see other benefits as well.

“They help reduce the demand on landfills,” he said. “We offer a completely free service and by helping us they gain the kudos of helping a great cause.”

Samantha Morris

If you’ve got a venue that can help Garth keep our waterways clean, please contact him at cleanwaterways@hotmail.com.

WHY WAIT TO MAKE GREAT? CHOOSE JOB-FOCUSED TRAINING IN

CERTIFICATES, DIPLOMAS

MEET ME AT THE INTERSECTION

AND BACHELOR DEGREES Beauty, Building, Business,

EDITED BY REBECCA LIM AND AMBELIN KWAYMULLINA

Early Childhood Education,

‘Meet Me at the Intersection’ is my new favourite thing.

Q. What are you on about?

A. A bright, honest—sometimes devastating—book of short stories, poetry, and memoirs about our marginalised (First Nations, people of colour, LGBT+, and/or disabled) young people, written by marginalised Australian authors. Yeah, it’s aimed for young adult readers, but these stories should be read by everyone.

Here’s my second tip: the book is a delight to read.

‘Night Feet’ by queer Aboriginal writer Ellen Van Neerven, who comes from the Yugambeh people, hooks you straight up with a perky story about a smart and talented young soccer player, Bella, solving problems and thinking fast on her feet (in more ways than one).

Engineering, Creative Industries, Health, Hospitality, Interior Design, IT, Leadership, Music, Nursing, Project Management, Tourism & Events and more

Olivia Muscat, who developed total blindness at age thirteen, gives us ‘Harry Potter and the Disappearing Pages’ a memoir which, unlike the pages in her title, is utterly revealing.

‘Dear Mate’ was my personal favourite, by Wongi writer Kyle Lynch: honest, earnest, and chockful of love. When I got to the line ‘feeling special’ I was a puddle of warm, disintegrated jelly left out in the sun. I would have read on for days, but the story was over too soon.

Jessica Walton, a bisexual/queer disabled writer from Melbourne, penned the sweetest, most innocent meetcute you always wanted to read: between young amputee, Maisie, and non-binary teen, Ollie, at a Stars In Our Eyes convention. Their parents’ (probably platonic) meet-cute also felt like winning.

At its very heart: these are the lesser-known, untold stories we need. Many of the tales plonk us into ‘a day in the life’, whether fictional or real. The authors ask us to stop at their intersections, stay for a while, so we can listen and learn. I think it’s time we all did.

Nae Kurth

LEARN MORE

1300 308 233 tafeqld.edu.au TAFE Queensland RTO NO. 0275 | CRICOS NO. 03020E | TEQSA PRV13003

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L IV E NATI ON P R ES ENTS

TIM MINCHIN

FRI 3 & SAT 4 MAY

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OLD SONGS, NEW SONGS, YOU SONGS F

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FIVE REASONS TO TAKE A FOOD TOUR WHEN TRAVELLING You've arrived in a new country for a week's holiday. 3. Get off the beaten track and behind the scenes Where do you start?

For us, an award-winning Devour Barcelona tour provides the perfect way to orientate ourselves, to discover the hidden gems of a country, its history and local secrets. Nothing brings people together like sharing a meal, drinks and some fun! We soon discover why it's a great idea to include a food tour early in your next itinerary:

When in Barcelona, many tourists stay around La Rambla to grab a meal, paying premium prices. Instead, our food tour starts at the oldest of the city's 42 markets, Santa Catelina, built over the top of Roman ruins in 1848. We walk through El Born and finish in Barceloneta, the old seaside area of town, chatting as we go. It's a far more authentic experience than our visit to the overcrowded La Boqueria Market that is geared for tourists. We also feel that we are supporting local family businesses.

1. You can immerse yourself in the culture

Language can provide a food barrier in some countries, making food less accessible. Not so with an experienced bilingual guide. It's also rare when travelling solo to go behind kitchen doors, but you will on a great food tour. We talk to some of the chefs on our tour and even learn a few tips about how they make their dishes. (They know we'll be back!)

With the help of our long term local guide, the authentic food experience of a small group tour gives us loads of insight into how locals live, eat, work and play. We learn through food about the place food plays in their lives, and build understanding of their culture through food experiences. Learning how Spanish meal patterns differ to Australian meals helps us adapt our eating during our stay.

Through stories, we get a different perspective on the history and lives of a nation. We learn that jamon (Spanish ham) is always offered to guests who visit, a practice that dates back to the purging of Jews from the city.

2. You’ll discover and try local specialties It's a given that you're going to eat on a food tour, but with eight or more stops and thirteen tastes or mini-meals, we experience a wide variety of regional specialties as well as matched drinks; an abundance of food. It's a great chance for us to try local food we might not want to buy as an entire dish and to do side-by-side tastings of products, such as jamon iberico and jamon serrano while learning about ham varieties and grading.

It's a great idea to eat local food in its place of origin to put it into context. We don't understand tapas until we've eaten them in Spain, understanding their function between a main meal lunch and light late dinner. We're also better equipped at picking out the 'real thing' over impostors, such as why we should choose a browner paella rather than one yellow in colour. Our new hero dishes include tomato bread, bomba, a good gazpacho and crème catalan.

Cava (Spanish sparkling wine), and the revered red vermouth on the rocks (the drink of the moment), garnished with a spiked olive or a twist of orange, accompanied by mussels become new loves.

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4. Make the most of your time on holidays We explore the city with an expert guide, Cat, who introduces us to the best artisan producers and gives us tips on where to eat or where to go back to on the rest of our stay.

At the end of our Barcelona food tour, Devour Food Tours hands out a recommended list of restaurants and specialty stores. There's a host of new restaurants to explore during the rest of our trip.

Some of the places we visit are iconic, some recognised for their contribution to the city for over a century by a plaque at their front door. Hofmann Pastisseria’s restaurant Hofmann holds a Michelin star, and is a newer superstar.

Mascarpone croissant? Yes, we'll return for those!

5. Make new friends People who love travel and food are open to experiences, so there's a high chance you'll meet someone with similar interests while you're having fun. Others on the tour share the discoveries they made during their trip and we also learn places to avoid. So, bite off some of your travel goals while you have the urge. Go off and taste the world. There are lots of flavours to explore.

Devour Food Tours run a number of tours in Barcelona as well as in other Spanish cities. Find them on: https:// devourbarcelonafoodtours.com/ or email info@devourtours.com Marj Osborne Read more of Marj’s reviews on foodgoldcoast.com.au

GG’S EATERY & BAR 1/1 Sunshine Blvd., Broadbeach

With some restaurateurs, it seems that everything they touch turns to gold. Their restaurants and cafés run like clockwork, assured of success. Menus display team colours, service is as tautly trimmed as a yacht under sail, and there’s an assuring feeling of ‘wealth’, be it of experience or bonhomie. We as customers know we matter, that nothing is too much trouble, and that meeting our needs is of the utmost importance to the establishment.

That’s the feeling we get from GG’s.

Patrik Gennari (Glass, Koi, Loose Moose and Roosevelt Lounge) as mentor to Maria Tsirling, Christelle Langlet and Roslind Williams, the co-owners, with the help of Space Cubed Design Studio, have transformed the former Grocer and Grind in a mere two weeks. With the name and menu casting little more than a passing nod to the former health eatery, a sophisticated Parisienne café has emerged.

Reflecting the European origins of all the owners, reproduction oak bookcases, vintage wallpaper, lamplight lighting and arched windows reference the ‘café culture’ of the 1920s when it was fashionable to take a short espresso with friends overlooking the street.

“We are all made of stories,” says the illuminated wall sign, a reflection of Patrik’s own philosophy that all food carries the story of its origins, heritage and makers. And there are many stories to be told about GG’s.

For centuries, cafés have been the centre of culture in Paris, the gathering place for intellectuals to meet and debate philosophical issues, for lone book readers to bask in story alongside artists exchanging ideas and displaying their works, and writers and activists to meet and talk, drink and smoke.

In some cafés such as Les Deux Magots in Paris, there are name plates on the chairs of famous cultural figures who have sat there, such as Hemingway, Sartre and Picasso.

Cafés evolved to become a haven of those who liked to ‘see and be seen’, for romantic couples or, as they are today, a place to dine or catch up with friends, family and business associates over a snack, meal and drinks; no special occasion necessary!

GG’s references these past cafes but, unlike Parisienne cafés, it offers extensive menus that break the mould rather than following tradition.

From a Chia bowl with CoYo, fresh berries and house-made granola, Sweet potato toast with bacon, eggs and red pepper strawberry

coulis to Pumpkin salted caramel waffle with maple syrup complete with a pumpkin pie protein ball, the breakfast menu is both eclectic in its range and on point with trending Gold Coast brekkies – beautifully plated, world-inspired healthy, low GI and dietary-aware dishes using ingredients of the moment yet providing indulgence for those who want it.

Smartly, several dishes, including a choice of four ‘Nourish bowls’ ($19 each), continue into lunch fare, boosted by several burgers, with Fish of the day, Arancini, Risotto and Zucchetti bridging lunch and dinner, supplemented by woodfired pizzas.

“We wanted to create a venue with rustic food that people could come to any night of the week,” Patrik tells us.

That’s exactly what we find; a well-priced, down-to-earth, modern European-inspired venue.

Our meals from Ben Armstrong, who’s now Executive Chef of Patrik’s restaurants, revel in the bold earth-driven flavours of fresh herbs and spices: Hervey Bay scallops in their shells with chilli, garlic and herb crumbs, South Aussie mussels and Cloudy Bay clam hotpot in saffron tomato broth with fresh thyme and bay leaves, and Pappardelle worked through with a rich bologna veal ragu; timeless Mediterranean comfort food prepared with care.

Cocktails and a well-priced short wine list complement the menu perfectly.

With cosmopolitan wait staff who carry sophistication rather than a ‘too cool for school’ attitude, dining is a pleasure greeted with a smile.

“I’ll never forget where I come from,” Patrik tells us and, in this not-so-simple café he takes us on a journey beyond our shores, away to ‘free thinker zones’ broader than our own parochial inspiration.

Perhaps in time, like Les Deux Magots, GG’s chairs will boast the name plates of famous patrons who have transformed the Gold Coast with revolutionary ideas and inspiring stories.

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

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JUNKYARD

DOUG DE JONG

THE AINTS

JUNKYARD

POST TRAUMATIC EXPRESS (THE FIVE STAGE OF GRIEF)

THE CHURCH OF SIMULTANEOUS EXISTENCE

Doug De Jong lists his vocations as guitarist, producer and ‘dream chaser on the loose’, and while his name may not be instantly familiar to most, his pedigree is certainly of the eye catching variety.

One of the most important and influential bands to come out of Brisbane, The Saints, and in particular their first three albums, are rightly viewed as high watermarks in the realms of horn driven garage punk. Since such heady days, original guitarist and prolific Brisbane music institution Ed Kuepper has sporadically unleashed his cleverly referenced side project, The Aints. After recent live activity following an extended hiatus, the long-mooted excavation and reinterpretation of a bunch of embryonic Saints tracks from the bands golden years, from 1974 to 1978, has come to fruition under The Aints banner. Aint that grand!

Those with their fingers on the pulse of cutting edge local underground sounds over the past few years may be familiar with the name White Lodge and their distinctive brand of reverb-drenched, fuzzed-out psychgarage mayhem.

Following on from an extended period of radio silence, elements of the band, including vocalist and rhythm guitarist Hudson Tesoriero, have pleasingly resurfaced under a new moniker, Junkyard, which is (perhaps) a knowing nod to seminal Aussie art-punks The Birthday Party and their identically named wrecking ball of a second record. And to borrow a song title from said record, this first-up, 4 track demo by Junkyard delivers a Big-Jesus-Trash-Can of a glorious racket.

And just like The Birthday Party, who morphed from the ashes of The Boys Next Door into something more terrifyingly visceral, the local lads of Junkyard have upped the intense-o-meter from their White Lodge days of yore (who themselves were no shrinking violets), to smash out a quick fire, 1-2-3-4 flurry of furious, in-the-red, heavily reverbed sound and voice. Smeared vocals strain and bark, tracks bleed into each other and the whole thrilling shebang is over in less than eight minutes flat.

This is the sound of frantic, bug eyed punkgarage (as opposed to garage-punk) from the wrong side of the tracks, done right. One can almost sense it from the song titles alone – ‘Melting Maze’, ‘Chrome Alone’, ‘Burning Trash’, ‘The Door’, which read like something excavated from the deranged outtakes of mid 70’s cult cyber-punk weirdos, Chrome, with whom they share a similar, singular mindset as opposed to sound-set.

The band also touch upon even heavier elements, particularly evidenced on the track ‘Burning Trash’, which commences with an angry swarm of guitars that march and build, before melting into smeared, searing hard-core punk convulsing under 20 odd foot of reverb.

A bug eyed thrill ride through the musical metamorphosis of the band formerly known as White Lodge, you can find these tracks on Junkyard’s Bandcamp page, with a 7 inch vinyl single mooted to follow soon.

Anthony Gebhardt

Originally from Brisbane, De Jong has spent plenty of time in the US pursuing his muse and racking up an impressive list of credits, sharing stages with the likes of legendary guitar shredders such as Steve Vai, Nuno Bettencourt, Tommy Emmanuel and Eric Johnson. The story goes that when playing in Steve Vai’s band in California, De Jong caught the eye of Vai’s producer, Greg Wurth, who was impressed enough to master Doug’s debut record, ‘Post Traumatic Express (The Five Stage of Grief)’ With this release, De Jong has bravely created an instrumental, thematic record, which plays as a concept album of sorts in honour of his sadly departed sister. It unfurls and it charms in the form of a sonic story, musically transposing De Jong’s process of dealing with the five stages of grief. A musical therapy of sorts for the artist, no doubt, but importantly also a memorable musical experience in its own right, the record riding tall off the back of De Jong’s exemplary six string skills.

The opening number, ‘Never Ever Wanna Know’ (Denial), lays down De Jong’s sonic blueprint, that of masterfully played, instrumental guitar rock, in turns fluid, floating and flat out rocking.

It commences as a wistful, moody, introspective number, Do Jong’s clean, blues inflected guitar lines bathing the listener in a warm sound-cocoon, before morphing into the first of two riff heavy, guitar shredding interludes.

Track two is a mid-paced, heavier rocker with progressive rock undertones, that showcases De Jong’s exemplary axe shredding skills, which majestically convey its explored emotional theme, ‘F12 Resonant (Anger)’.

Next up we hit the emotional depths of the grief cycle, in the form of ‘De Press / On Off (Depression)’, De Jong delivering a darkly rousing, heavy riffing soundscape. While penultimate number ‘Love And Fear (Bargaining)’, lets in the light in the form of a smooth rock intro with funky, moody undertones.

The album’s departing statement, ‘Axe Sept Stance (Acceptance)’ concludes proceedings in a bright and breezy manner, a gorgeously flowing number that brings to mind serene road trips and gently swaying palm trees.

With this record, Doug De Jong has created a moving, world-class, instrumental sonic suite of light and shade that succeeds in keeping the listener riveted throughout. Fans of the aforementioned guitar demi-gods, and of quality instrumental music in general, would do well to investigate its charms.

Anthony Gebhardt

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‘The Church Of Simultaneous Existence’ swaggers out of the blocks with the brass inflected belter ‘Red Aces’, which was originally mooted to followon from a track cut from a similar cloth, the 1977 Saints classic ‘Know Your Product’.

The album’s title track sways and swells, fueled by the pulsing bass work of Peter Oxley, an Aints moonlighter when he’s not treading the boards as a founding member of the Sunnyboys.

Nods to Kuepper’s highly regarded solo work and the mutant art-jazz of his exemplary Laughing Clowns project also sporadically make their presence felt, in particular on numbers such as ‘You’ll Always Walk Alone’ and the stately ‘Country Song in G’.

Meanwhile the seven plus minutes of early days Kuepper that constitutes ‘Goodnight Ladies (I Hear A Sound Without)’ is an insistently dark pummel of guitar-melting, gargantuan proportions, the germination of which can be traced all the way back to its protagonists’ teenage years in 1969.

While back in seminal Saints central, ‘S-O-S ‘75’, marries a driving guitar refrain with vaguely mariachi fueled horns to devastating effect. The slowly creeping ‘Demo Girl Part 2’, plays as a sonic counterpoint to (I’m) Stranded era belter ‘Demolition Girl’. And the jaunty ‘Winters Way’ bounces along off the back of a tambourine and piano accompaniment married to the album’s more typical guitar and brass led flourishes.

Far from being a hodge-podge of pale outtakes, ‘The Church Of Simultaneous Existence’ stands defiantly on its own merits, offering both Saints tragics and newcomers alike a spine tingling insight into just why they were so highly regarded and cherished. Praise be The Aints for bringing these seminal artefacts to the light of day.

Anthony Gebhardt

NETWORKING + WEBINAR SERIES COMES TO GC The team behind Music Industry Inside Out is bringing its Circulate sessions to the Gold Coast. Circulate is a monthly Brisbane-based seminar and networking event run by MIIO Director Martine Cotton that sees artists and industry professionals mingle and share skills and knowledge.

The Satellite series, aptly called Circulate Satellite will see three webinars delivered to people in person and online in regional cities and towns. Satellite will be a series of webinar master classes and networking events, delivered with the support of local promoters Promoters in Townsville, Byron Bay and the Gold Coast (amongst others) will be organising networking events where the webinars will be streamed live. Each webinar is designed to equip attendees with knowledge and industry know-how for challenges specific to the regional music industry.

The webinars provide artists, managers, promoters, and other aspiring industry workers with the opportunity to gain valuable industry tips, connect with their local community, and be exposed to the many other courses available online through MIIO. The Live Arena webinar will touch on booking gigs, touring nationally and internationally, producing and promoting events and applying for festivals. Panelists include Katie Rynne of Select Music and Dom Miller of New World Artists.

The Music Marketing webinar will feature Stephen Green of SGC media and Linda Gordon of Queensland Music Festival. The webinar will cover publicity, press kits, brand and image, and all things marketing.

Creative Development & Songwriting features Francesca de Valence of I Heart Songwriting along with Australian singersongwriters Mama Kin, Tommy Spender and Sam Buckingham.

Circulate Satellites for the Gold Coast are being hosted at Expressive Ground on the following dates: 7 November - Musicianship and Songwriting 28 November - Music Marketing 5 December - The Live Arena Get tickets at bit.ly/CirculateGC.

SEEING WHAT BANGS: LADYSLUG TO HIT MULLUM MUSIC FESTIVAL Ladyslug began as Kodi, Ben, Luke and Lachlan, four uber-talented virtuosos who met while doing a music degree in Lismore. Fast forward two years, some collaboration and lineup changes later, and these unique nu-jazz ninjas have scored slots on some of the country’s most sought-after stages. For the second year running, Ladyslug will be setting the stages of Mullum Music Festival on fire with their explosive contemporary sounds. Natalie O'Driscoll caught up with frontwoman Kodi Twiner ahead of the performance.

From the outside looking in, it feels like Ladyslug kind of burst on the scene, making a name for yourselves quite quickly. Does it feel like that for you as well?

There was definitely huge energy over the last two years, we built a repertoire and sound really quickly. It was quite intense, but it's hard to know how far that extends into the outer world, the music industry is a mind warp. It's slowed down over the last 6 months, everyone’s side projects became real projects. So it was time to take stock and assess what can actually work.

You've played a few festivals already. How do you feel about playing festivals vs regular, more intimate gigs?

Festivals are an injection. It's suited the band so far because I've been back and forth between Australia and abroad, so festivals provide this window. Our repertoire is also kinda... loud. Maybe too loud. I want to write some chill groove tunes so that intimate gigs are on the cards. But sometimes the song wants to go somewhere big. Maybe next year will be the intimate year.

There's a lot of talk these days about male-dominated festival (and gig) lineups and we understand this is a subject you are passionate about. What's the solution? Is it as simple as every single promoter instituting a 50/50 lineup parity, and exposing all the awesome chicks out there to an audience who wouldn't otherwise get to hear them?

What is your personal definition of 'nu-jazz'?

Ooooh, this question. It's all very contemporary, isn't it?

For me I'd define something as nu-jazz, if I listen to it and can feel or hear that it's informed by jazz, but doesn't totally conform to 'jazz'. It's a blend. I've spent three years trying to think of a 'genre' that Ladyslug fits, but for now, nu-jazz is where it's at.

What are you looking forward to most about playing Mullum Music Fest, and do you have any memorable stories from the last time you played there?

Playing new repertoire! Taking risks onstage, seeing what bangs... and what might fizz. The lineup's different, the vibe is fresh, the tunes have changed. Mullum Fest crowds have always been kind to Ladyslug, so many good memories!

Some are late night memories that can't quite go to print.

But they exist like a gingernut cookie in the sunset, out front of the RSL. Looking forward to seeing the incredible talent on show at Mullum, what a splendid time it will be!

Natalie O’Driscoll

Mullum Music Festival takes place from 15-18 November 2019. Tickets at mullummusicfestival.com.

I'm on a Women in Music panel at the festival this year, where this is gonna be a hot topic! In my opinion, bookers and promoters are in positions of power and influence.

They lend a space to amplify certain voices, stories and narratives. This in turn effects the audience, and our culture.

What culture do we want to be part of, what culture do we want to create? For me, booking women and gender diverse people into amplified spaces is a crucial step in encouraging a culture that embraces diversity, that values the wide, wide range of demographics that make up our community. How can we create a more just and caring society, if we have only amplified the narrative of one demographic? I want to see events that give a shit about our culture, that care about the influence they hold, that book line-ups representative of the dynamic, wonderful, diverse, colourful community we have in Australia, which like it or not, includes women and folks of all colours, abilities, shapes and expressions. www.blankgc.com.au

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KING SOCIAL LAND AT BBQ BAZAAR BBQ Bazaar is a permanent night market located at Burleigh. Opened every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with indoor and outdoor seating, the smoky market, famous for its BBQ flavours (obviously) is also building a name for itself as a hub for live music.

Townsville hip-hop artists King Social will help BBQ Bazaar consolidate that name when they hit town this month for a ticketed Sunday gig. Like a Piña Colada served in a flatbrim with a side of steak and chips, King Social are at once refreshing and satisfying. They’re an eclectic Aussie fivepiece fusing hip-hop and soul with a sun-drenched party for your ears. King Social’s stop at BBQ Bazaar is part of a national tour and comes on the back of their 2017 debut EP ‘In Colour’ which charted strongly and scored acclaim from radio presenters and street press (not to mention claiming the title of Australia’s highest ever crowd-funded debut).

King Social kick off an epic couple of months of music.

Five weekends starting from 9 February 2019 Run by a qualified counsellor with 17 years experience and international training.

Early Bird prices available.

seahorseoracle.com

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Devils Kiosk, Cadence, Benny D Williams, The Polar Beers and Follow the Fox all have weekend gigs over coming weeks. Our mates Hussy Hicks return from Europe for the festive season with a show on 15 December and Felicity Lawless is at BBQ Bazaar on 22 December. A ticketed NYE show features Rackett, Polar Bears and Cadence and the January long weekend sees The Delta Riggs hit the stage.

If you need to have your arm twisted more, then pop on over to bbqbazaar.com.au to check out the mouth-watering cocktail menu and drool-worthy pics capturing some of the tasty treats on offer.

Samantha Morris BBQ Bazaar is at 18 Junction Road, Burleigh and is open on Friday from 5.00 – 10.00pm. Saturday from 4.00pm – 10.00pm and on Sundays for select sessions. Check FB for latest event details.

ELSKAHeart and Harp Fresh Gold Coast talent ELSKA is bringing an enchanting angle to a non-traditional instrument in the realm of pop music; the harp.

Augmenting her approach to the instrument by playing it through a loop effects pedal, ELSKA has hit upon her own, unique musical formula. And far from being an exercise in quirky gimmickry, her strong, sassy song writing and passionate approach to performance ensures that her sweet and breezy songs resonate and stand tall all on their own.

For ELSKA, music has been ingrained into her psyche from a very young age.

Her warm and inspiring ten minute documentary, ‘Heart and Harp’, which has been nominated as part of the official selection for the 2018 Australian Music Week Film Festival, provides an enlightening insight into her early musical development. It traces her journey back to her formative years on the Gold Coast, from the unconditional support she received from her parents to pursue her creative vision, through to her early days of performing locally as a harpist and her subsequent journey to rediscovering music and performance in later life, jumping in at the deep end to reconnect with her beloved instrument and reigniting her musical dream after many years navigating the preoccupations of responsible adulthood.

as the harp,” ELSKA told Blank Gold Coast.

“I rarely write songs on the harp to start with. They always begin on the guitar or piano and then I flesh them out further on the harp with the loop pedal. But it is my dream one day to have all my instruments on stage and be able to perform with all of them in my show. Tash Sultana has about 15 instruments surround her on stage, so I'm chasing her tail!”

This culminated in a UK recording session in 2017, from which she forged her debut EP at the Brighton Electric Studios with renowned international producer Dan Swift (who’s also worked with Passenger, Snow Patrol and our own Ella Fence).

Says ELSKA of how the session unfolded; “Along with the harp, the studio record also features live drums, percussion, programmed drums, funky bass lines, clavichords, synths - there are definite nods to 70’s pop on the EP as I absolutely love that era of music! The EP will be packaged a little differently to the norm, as I will also be releasing a stripped back ‘B-side’ to the EP. This little bonus addition features all four tracks recorded live and acoustically, just me, the harp and my loop pedal - just like you would hear the songs live if you came to my show!”

It was at this time that she also broadened her creative boundaries by incorporating the loop pedal into her repertoire, allowing her to become somewhat of a one woman band.

Which is where she now stands today, having recently released her debut single, ‘Boy’, a spritely pop number which showcases both her virtuoso playing and finely honed ear for a memorable melody.

It serves as a lead-in to the official release of the EP, which is due out early in the New Year.

“I also play the guitar and piano and love playing each of these instruments as much

With her star clearly in the ascendancy, ELSKA was also recently announced as a

showcasing artist at the 2018 Australian Music Week in Sydney in November. This comes off the back of recent performances at this year’s Bleach Festival and the Caloundra Music Festival.

And in a Blank GC exclusive, ELSKA has some exciting news to share as to how her 2019 plans are already shaping up.

“I will be heading off on tour in early 2019, taking my 'Heart + Harp Tour' to the 2019 Adelaide Fringe Festival in February! I will be performing a number of ticketed shows during Fringe Fest, where I will also screen my documentary. The interstate tour will also touchdown for performances in Sydney and Melbourne. Beyond that, I am waiting to hear about some international showcase opportunities which will hopefully take me back to the UK and Europe, to tour and continue recording with Dan Swift in the UK.” Anthony Gebhardt

To discover more about ELSKA and her amazing musical journey (and check out her inspiring documentary), pop over to blankgc.com.au or catch her live at The Cambus Wallace, Tuesday 13 November and at The Scottish Prince, Sunday 25 November.

WED 21 NOV GOLD COAST CONVENTION CENTRE SPECIAL GUEST KIMBRA • TICKETS ON SALE NOW FRONTIERTOURING.COM

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raba Present

Combined Churhes of Mudgee

Firth Park Nov ember Sunday 25th 0pm 3 : 4 m o Fr

Free Family Event

NOVEMBER 11

NOVEMBER 28

REMEMBRANCE DAY SERVICE, ELSIE LAVER PARK, MUDGEERABA 11.00am

FESTIVAL OF SMALL HALLS MT NIMMELL HALL, AUSTINVILLE 4.00pm – 7.30pm

NOV 2: Tonesandi + Harry J Hart NOV 9: Ginger & The Ghost + Loose Leaf NOV 16: Matie Inae + Ben Goldstein NOV 23: Micka Scene + Jade Soul NOV 30: Luke Pauley + Phoebe Jacobs

NOVEMBER 7 – 10 PAN PACIFIC MASTERS GAMES RUGBY LEAGUE, FIRTH PARK MUDGEERABA mastersgames.com.au/ppmg/ sports/rugby-league

NOVEMBER 24 MOVIES UNDER THE STARS NOVEMBER 3 MUDGEERABA STATE BUSH WALK PURLINGBROOK SCHOOL, OLD COACH ROAD, FALLS TO APPLE TREE PARK MUDGEERABA 6.00am – 1.00pm 7.00pm 14 kn walk for Adults with a JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE good level of fitness. FREE JUNGLE. Free family event event from Naturally GC with kids activities, food and beverage available for purchase facebook.com/ ClubKokodaGoldCoast cityofgoldcoast.com.au/ moviesunderthestars NOVEMBER 3 YOWIE MARKET, NOVEMBER 25 ADVANCTOWN HOTEL COMMUNITY CHRISTMAS 9.00am – 3.00pm CAROLS - FIRTH PARK, SOMERSET DRIVE, Fresh local produce; art and MUDGEERABA handicrafts; quality collectibles 4.00pm – 7.30pm + vintage; health + wellbeing; pets. Free family fun, with facebook.com/glennonthegc entertainment. Seeking stallholders. facebook.com/advancetownhotel

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Old Man Luedecke + Lucy Wise festivalofsmallhalls.com to purchase tickets FREE INTERACTIVE KIDS ACTIVIT IES FROM 4.30PM

DECEMBER 14 FESTIVAL OF SMALL HALLS SPRINGBROOK COMMUNITY HALL, SPRINGBROOK 4.00pm – 7.30pm

FOOD AND BEVERAGE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE

Old Man Luedecke + Lucy Wise Mudgeeraba

festivalofsmallhalls.com to purchase tickets

32– 48 Old Coa

Saturday 24 If weather is

uncertain, phon

e 07 5581 7016

cityofgoldco

State School

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or visit faceb

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EVERY SATURDAY MUDGEERABA PARKRUN D’ARCY DOYLE PARK, SOMERSET DRIVE, MUDGEERABA 7.00am

er

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– Glenn Tozer

for Mudgeerab

FREE EVENT

FREE 5km timed run PARKRUN.COM.AU/ MUDGEERABA/

in the village CUDDIHY PARK SWAN LANE Mu dge era ba 5:30 - 7:30 PM #SSitV

+ emily wurramara FRI 26 OCT sophia koop& i + harry j hart tones nov FRI 2 ghost + loose leaf the & er nov ging FRI 9 Maitê Inaê + ben goldstein FRI 16 nov e + jade SOUL scen a mick FRI 23 nov luke pauley + phoebe jacobs FRI 30 nov + sametime hope i tiarn dec FRI 7 lucy wise festival of dec old man luedecke + small halls FRI 14 s music art event

a and Hinterland

7PM

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Councillor Glen n Toz

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NOVEMBER SUMMERTIME SESSIONS IN THE VILLAGE CUDDIHY PARK, SWAN LANE, MUDGEERABA

S orche s tr a , l oc a l school / / f ood trucks s r e c n a d choirs & ol s r a c / g n i t a e picnic s

FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS TO THE WORLD STAGE World Teacher’s Day is celebrated in over 100 countries in October each year. It’s a day to celebrate teachers who help students develop understanding and new skills in a whole range of subjects… music included.

Ben Crawford is one of those teachers. He’s been educating some of Australia’s up and coming music industry professionals at TAFE for the past 13 years. He himself has a foundation in both popular music and international business marketing and management and he’s now teaching students across TAFE Queensland’s Bachelor of Contemporary Music Practice as well as the Diploma and Certificate III in music and sound production.

Alongside that role, he’s also an active industry professional: a performer, producer, session musician and musical director for a variety of creative acts. He’s performed with Anthony Callea, Mahalia Barnes and Tim Campbell, has worked as Musical and Technical director for Casey Barnes and is a bass player in his own touring and corporate acts. As a result of those roles, he’s travelled Australia performing at festivals such as CMC Rocks, Gympie Muster and our own Groundwater Country Music Festival as well as California festival Country Summer.

Ben says during his time at TAFE he’s seen the music programs come along way.

“Aside from the facilities we have an amazing teaching team in the Music department who are all out there doing it professionally when not teaching, and bringing this current knowledge back to the classroom,” he said.

“I work with students from a Certificate III school program level all the way to Bachelor students, and it’s great to see the pathways that are available to students to continue to improve their standard of training and education and do it all in the one place with facilities and a teaching team they’ve come to know and build relationships with.”

“It’s a great feeling to see student’s progress from the classroom into industry and work in some of the largest venues and festivals in the country and even overseas,” he said TAFE Queensland Gold Coast General Manager Karen Dickinson sung Ben’s praises.

SUMMER SOUNDS CONCERT SERIES AT NIGHTQUARTER

SUMMERTIME SESSIONS LAUNCHES #FIRST15

Food trucks, sunset tipples and live tunes in a purpose-built venue… this is the stuff summer dreams are made of.

Summertime Sessions in the Village organisers have launched a new program giving young Gold Coast artists an opportunity to perform in front of the city’s music fans.

NightQuarter has announced a series of Friday night concerts that will help you make sweet summer memories. The twelveweek series showcases music from the best local and visiting acts as well as speciality performers and a summer cocktail menu.

‘First 15’ allows an up-and-coming youth performer to strut their stuff for 15 minutes before the two more experienced artists at the weekly Mudgeeraba event.

Things kick off on 2 November with Mojo Juju, Nasty Mars and a fire show. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Mojo Juju is a killer vocalist, songwriter and musician with a uniqu blend of soul, RnB, blues and hip hop which has garnered her three ARIA award nominations this year for Breakthrough Artist, Best Urban Album and Best Video.

Jacob Biermann kicked things off for the summer series in October. Jacob, currently studying at Kings Christian College hopes one day to pursue music professionally. He’s placed first, second and third consistently at the Gold Coast Eisteddfod and has performed at both the Mudgeeraba and Gold Coast Shows and with Youth Music Venture. Jacob opened for Sophia Koop and ARIA-Award nominee Emily Wurramara.

The following Friday, 9 November, sees The Fergies – and their high energy, toe-tapping folk, rock and blues take to the stage.

He’ll be followed on Fridasy 2 Novemer by LaShae Stockman, an 11yo uke player from Mudgeeraba Creek State School who’ll share the lineup with Tonesandi and Harry J Hart.

16 November is Amistat, 23 November are those bad-ass Mexican mariachi dudes with their Spanish guitars and box drum. Yes, I’m talking about Kallidad. Don’t let their lean set-up fool you, these guys know how to rock a big crowd.

30 November is the Livin’ in the 70s show with a disco fire performance.

And 12 year old Charlie Mitchell will appear on Friday 16 November ahead of performances by Maite Inae and Ben Goldstein. Charlie is only 12 years old and already has achieved so much. He’s only just started playing guitar to accompany his singing and is keen on a career in the music industry. He’s participated in the Youth Music Venture, performed at the Gold Coast Show and has busked at local markets and placed first at the Gold Coast Eisteddfod. You can chec out his music on YouTube and Facebook under ‘Charlie Mitchell Music.’

December sees Mouldy Lovers, Flaskas, Kayso Grande and Sametime come to NightQuarter and January sees Hot Potato Band, The Wayward Suns and then Electrik Lemonade set the stage on fire. Talk bout party bands.

Samantha Morris

Get more gigs at blankgc.com.au/goldcoastgigguide.

Samantha Morris

Summertime Sessions in the Village takes place every Friday night until Friday 7 December from 5.30 – 7.30pm at Cuddihy Park, Mudgeeraba. Check out the Gold Coast gig guide for the full lineup.

“Ben is one of our exceptionally committed teachers who provides the students with the practical hands-on skills needed to be job ready so they can enter the competitive music industry confidently,” she said.

Samantha Morris www.blankgc.com.au

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GLITORIS: TRUMP IT UP!

METALFIELDS 3: IN MEMORY OF

In turns righteous and riotous, the femmetastic four piece buzz and howl with pent up indignation against social injustice, corruption, gender inequality, downtrodden minorities and the rise of the fascist right.

Tracks of furious and funny indignation, such as ‘Trump Card’, ‘Spit Hood’ ‘The Policy’ and ‘Disgrace’ raise a giant middle finger to the persecutors of equality. While the subject matter is serious, it’s delivered in a theatrical, humorous context, which makes for an all-inclusive and highly memorable live experience.

“Kris was our number one supporter and was always at our shows, not only supporting us but every other band on the stage,” said Azreal’s Jimmy Glinster. “We loved seeing him and always took time to hang out and have a chat and a drink or ten. The little guy could drink most of us under the table!”

Boundary pushing Canberra four-piece Glitoris have been described as not just a band, but a phenomena.

Importantly, they have the musical chutzpa to back it up, delivering an intoxicating mixture of shouty punk anthems, intermixed with riff-heavy, fist-raising orchestral rock, with the odd, soaring four part harmony to boot. They’ll hit you in the guts as well as mess with your mind.

In fitting with their modus operandi, each of the band members have adopted an ironic, politically inspired onstage pseudonym, for the main part referencing a bunch of recent Australian politicians of the bloodletting variety (Kevin 007, Tony, Malcolm and Andrew).

And in the lead up to their upcoming Gold Coast show at Vinnies Dive Bar on Friday 16 November, I asked Alice Cottee, aka Kevin 007, who performs guitar and vocal duties in the band, what type of spectacle that newcomers to the Glitoris live experience can expect.

“It’s political, it’s absurd, it’s funny, it’s loud.

We love playing heavy music but we also like to insert pockets of four part harmonies in there sometimes. And we like to put on a show. It’s quite theatrical, we’re always in our cat suits, or something like that, parading around and being idiots on stage, lol! So certainly, getting down the front is advised,” Alice said.

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The band are renowned for attracting a rabid, hard core fan base to their shows, who have been affectionately dubbed ‘The Gliterati’. Said Alice of the type of uberfan that typically constitutes a member of The Gliterati, “it’s quite often people from minority groups. We stand for any marginalised community, really, we’re totally into equality. We often get people coming up after the shows and saying how life changing the show was, and how we’ve helped them.

But we get everyone from every walk of life really.”

With the imminent release of their debut album, ‘The Policy’, Alice shed light on the recording sessions, which took place earlier this year with Frenzal Rhomb’s Jay Whalley at the production helm.

“We love Jay,” she said, “he’s so lovely to work with.”

“We had about three weeks in his studio (The Pet Food Factory in Sydney). It was quite cozy and really chilled out, he let us do our thing and he also had some great input, in a production sense. We’re a bit of a songwriting machine, so we’ve got a massive back-log of songs - since 2014 we’ve been banging them out. We recorded 21 songs with Jay, so we’ve got the album, and an EP, ready to go. We’re pretty proud of it – it’s a beast!”

Spunky, punky, ferocious and funny, the Glitoris phenomena is a live experience you really don’t want to miss.

Anthony Gebhardt

As well as the Gold Coast show at Vinnies Dive Bar on 16 November, the fearless foursome will also tear things up at The Bearded Lady in Brisbane on 18 November.

Metalfields is an annual celebration of metal, remembering the life of local music fan Kris Field.

A passionate supporter of live music, Kris lived with a condition knows as Morquio syndrome. And despite feeling unwell one night in 2015 he

“When Kris passed we were asked if our music could be played at his funeral and of course we agreed. Little did we know that the last track on our ‘Premonition’ album, a heavy ballad aptly titled ‘Ghosts’, would be played as the final song for the ceremony.

When the song played it broke my heart and when the first note of my solo hit, it was too much and I had to leave the building to pull myself together.”

“Never would I have though that a piece of music that I was part of creating would reach such a personal and emotional level for me and little did I know how much our music had actually reached Kris to the point where his family and friends insisted that it be a part of our final goodbyes to him. Telling this story stills brings a tear to my eye,” Jimmy said.

Shortly after his death, Kris’ mates rallied to bring the local metal community together in his honour. Three in particular. Legendary sound engineer, Chippy (John Chipchase) and Azreal band members Chris Dennis and Jimmy Glinster curated a memorial show full of the things that Kris loved.

Three years on and that concept is still kicking goals. And the 2018 lineup is one that would have left Kris Fields frothing.

Azreal, Decryptus,. Massic, Cakes, From Crisis to Collapse, Snake Mountain (being Dan Maynard’s last gig with the band for a while), Nowhere Else, Kaosphere, Elephant, Monster Fodder and Sarah Joh will lay down the heavy vibes for punters when Metalfields takes over the Cooly Hotel this December.

And here’s a hot tip.Azreal have never performed ‘Ghosts’ live, despite it being one of their most-streamed songs, but Jimmy Glinsters tells us, Metalfields will see it have its stage debut.

“That’s if we can all keep our shit together,” he said.

Samantha Morris

Metalfields 3, presented by The Dirty Peso + Young Henrys and takes place at Cooly Hotel on Saturday 8 December. Tickets $20 on the door, or cheaper via pre-sale on Oztix.

DON’T CALL THIS GIRL TAMUM SHUD Our favourite power-femme electro pop artist Ella Fence has released a new single. ‘Call Girl’ is an anthem for anyone who ever felt like their time is undervalued, she tells us, and it all came about because an ex texted her late one weekend night.

“The trigger to write this track started with that scenario, but it really got me thinking about how, with social media and the perceived urgency of the world around us, there is an expectation that people are accessible 24/7,” she explains.

“It felt really powerful diving into those themes and it's my way of rejecting that societal norm.”

When someone has as much going on as Ella does, you can understand why she needs to give herself some space. Just this year, she performed at Festival 2018 supporting Kate Miller-Heike and Regurgitator. She’s also done support slots for Jack River, Montaigne, Stonefield, Boo Seeka, Phil Jamieson, The Peep Tempel and Ken Stringfellow, as a well as string of her own live shows.

And as if that’s not enough, she’s also started work on her first full length album, something we’re pretty darn excited about.

“My plan for the album is to explore a lot of different musical styles and work with a range of people on the songwriting, production and studio performances,” says Ella. “[I’m] using it as an opportunity to professionally develop my craft.”

Partly made possible by the “ridiculously generous” Activate Music Grant through RADF, Ella’s album will be out in 2019, and will be a long-awaited follow up to 2015’s EP ‘Wanderlust’. I’m wondering if ‘Call Girl’ - the first single released from the album - represents any kind of evolution in her work.

“Absolutely,” Ella declares.

“And as an artist I'm constantly curious and searching for new ways to evolve and grow. I would say all those factors have evolved in some way, including my outlook on the world and standpoint as an individual.”

Natalie O’Driscoll

Ella is heading to Sydney to showcase at Australian Music Week over 9 and 10 November, as a duo with multiinstrumentalist James Gatling, and you can check out ‘Call Girl’ now at ellafencemusic.com.

Tamam Shud was one of the first Australian bands to embrace acid culture. Closely linked to the coastal surfing scene, which was based around freedom, expanded consciousness and getting back to nature, they contributed a great deal to the development of Australian music in the progressive era. IAN McFARLANE tells their story …

Tamam Shud were one of the first Australian bands to embrace acid culture. Linked closely to the coastal surf scene 85 – with its roots around freedom, expanded consciousness and connection to nature, the band contributed a great deal to the development of Australian music in the progressive era.

Finding their feet in the Australian music scene at a time when LSD was yet to be made illegal and you could get pulled over by police just for having long hair (true story, it happened to these guys), their music, Tamam Shud never really hit the big time, yet shared stages with some of the biggest names imagineable through the 50s and 60s: The Easybeats, Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, The Kinks, The Bee Gees… and in the mid 1960s they even had a six-month residency right here on the Gold Coast – at a club in Surfers Paradise by the name of Digby’s.

“We were playing six nights a week, and it made us incredibly tight,” said Lindsay Bjerre.

That was a time when artists like Jimi Hendrix and Jefferson Airplane were having a big impact on the scene, as well as emerging artists the world over. Soon after they provided timeless tracks for Australian surf classics ‘Hot Generation, Evolution’ and ‘Morning of the Earth’ Fast-forward 50 years and you can imagine how much has happened in the life of a band like Tamam Shud: epic lineup changes, plenty of singles, albums and live appearances and the ups and downs of life have had an impact on the band’s members and their music. Yet they’re still here AND they’re still recording.

They’ve just wrapped up recording a new LP, not surprisingly, full of that surf sound but with an element of punk thrown in.

“It’s all about guitars, bass and drums,” said band member Tim Gaze, who was recruited as a 16 year old way back in 1970.

And songwriter Lindsay Bjerre chips in too. “I haven’t changed – there’s still some pretty weird shit going on the songs I’m writing now,” he said.

Time has looked after this band and they’re excited to deliver some of their new music as well as timeless surf classics when they hit Kingscliff ’s Beach Hotel on Sunday 9 December.

Samantha Morris

Catch Tamum Shud at the Kingscliffe Beach Hotel on Sunday 9 December from 4.00pm.

TWIN TOWNS PLAYS HOST TO GLOBAL STARS Chart-toppers Smash Mouth and The Animals both make appearances at Twin Towns this November.

The Animals are bringing founding member and drummer John Steel and original keyboardist Mick Gallagher to the country, alongside Danny Handley on guitar and vocals and Roberto Ruis on bass and vocals. They’ll perform all the class Animals hits including ‘We Gotta Get Out of This Place’, ‘Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood’, and ‘The House Of The Rising Sun’.

“The band has changed, but the songs remain eternal,” said The Independent in a recent review.

And that’s not the only blast from the past coming to town.

Californian rockers Smash Mouth are also making the trek to Australia, playing a run of shows along the east coast.

Smash Mouth were regular chart toppers and rode the wave of the 90s ‘alternative’ music scene, selling in excess of ten million albums worldwide. They are no strangers to local audiences with songs like ‘All Star’, ‘Can’t Get Enough of You Baby’, ‘Walkin’ On The Sun’ and celebrated Monkees classic ‘I’m A Believer’, all of which have become radio staples and included on party playlists everywhere!

Smash Mouth are at Twin Towns on Friday 9 November and The Animals lob into the venue on Friday 16 November. Get details at twintowns.com.au.

www.blankgc.com.au

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So many catchy hits ALL STAR | I’M A BELIEVER | WALKIN’ ON THE SUN

SMASH MOUTH 9 Nov $69

the animals 16 Nov $55

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Ph: 1800 014 014

www.twintowns.com.au