December ‘14
free
Karl S Williams TRIUMPHANT HOMECOMINGS
TRIUMPHANT HOMECOMINGS issue #016
MUSIC
Peter Noble Kristy Lee Mark of Cain The Basics The Waifs
FOOD
Idospice Max Brenner Espresso Moto Nerang’s cakes My Coffee Café
FILM
Interstellar Our Man in Tehran Talking Back at Thunder
LIFESTYLE
Ayurveda Throw a lifeline Conscious eating
ENVIRO
Grand Theft Wavebreak Traditional Owners’ Reef Partnership Byron first on Green List
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#016 DECEMBER 2014 Editor: Samantha Morris Design: Chloe Popa, Blunt Pencil Studio Advertising: Amanda Gorman Music Coordinator: Mella Bunker Money Coordinator: Phillippa Wright Environment Editor: Mic Smith Cover image: Andrew Gough Cover story: Anthony Gebhardt Contributors: Mic Smith, Catherine Coburn, Andrew Scott, Jessie Ryan-Allen, Nathan James, Marj Osborne, Natalie O’Driscoll, Kyle Butcher, Jake Wilton, Chrstie Ots, Pip Andreas, Nev Pearce, Sixties Sarah, Emma Ballard, Liz Ansley, Anthony Gebhardt, Samantha Morris, David Simmons, Amy Mitchell-Whittington, Sly Steve, Tiffany Mitchell, Emily Russell, Jodie Bellchambers. BLANK LIFE Cover design: Odette Bettany - www.behance.net/ pookiebunny Cover image: Luke Sorensen - Locky Garland, South Sradbroke Island tube ride, August 2014 Feature story: Samantha Morris Acknowledgement of Country We show our respect and sincerely acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of this Land and their Elders past and present. Commitment to Climate Reality Climate change puts the wellbeing of people of all nations at risk. We acknowledge that humans are having a significant impact on our climate and we are committed to reducing our own impact as well as educating other people about theirs. The time for climate action is now. Editorial: news@blankgc.com.au Advertising: advertising@blankgc.com.au Blank GC is an independently owned and published magazine, with all of our writers contributing their time pro-bono to boosting the cultural scene on the Gold Coast. Founded in 2013 with the goal of busting those boring stereotypes which have surrounded the Gold Coast for decades, we rely on advertising to keep us in the fray. Opinions expressed herein, are not necessarily those of the Editor, Publishers or of the writing team. www.blankgc.com.au
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point blank Is Community Arts Dead? Join some of Australia’s most celebrated artists who’ll form a panel to discuss whether community arts is dead. In conversation with Robyn Artcher AO, artists, creative producers, community and health workers, educators and others interested in how arts intersects community and cultural development are likely to attend. On the panel are Lenine Bourke, Lindy Allen, Libby Haward from Creative Inclusive and others. The event takes place on Saturday 29 November from 6.00pm at Helensvale Library and you can RSVP at cultural@ goldcoast.qld.gov.au. Violent Femmes
Woodford’s bigger than ever Well, I don’t actually know whether it is physically bigger or not – but how’s this for a fantastic mix: Violent Femmes, Archie Roach, Sticky Fingers, Jeff Lang, Del Barber, We Two Thieves and Darren Middleton? That’s just the music. Then there’s Bob Hawke, Richard Fidler, Professor Ian Lowe and Simon Sheikh involved as speakers. If you haven’t been to Woodford before, you’re in for a treat. This amazing event is a Blank favourite and absolutely entertains from dusk to dawn. With activities, learning experiences, community spirit and music for all ages thrown into the mix, you will come away grinning from ear to ear. Woodford Folk Festival runs 27 December through 1 January. More at woodfordfolkfestival.com. An exhibition of last resort Walls Gallery at Miami brings together a team of artists for their November-December exhibition Last Resort. Curated by Rebecca Ross, artists include Alrey Batol, Domenico De Clario, Abbey McCulloch and Athena Thebus. The exhibition runs until 13 December and the gallery is located in Mountain View Avenue, Miami. More at thewalls.com.au. Holly Gallery sells out first exhibition When Holly Gallery opened, featuring the work of its co-founder James Holly, the entire exhibition sold out. Woah. The exhibition titled Instincts is still available for viewing until 3 December, after which the new exhi-
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bition is launched. That exhibition, featuring the work of Danish artist Jens Brochmann and titled Antiquus runs 5 December – 14 January. You can view the sold out exhibition online and get details for upcoming events at www.hollygallery.co. This new addition to Gold Coast’s art community is located at 16B Brakes Crescent, Miami. Burleigh scores Triple Gold at World Beer Championships Burleigh Brewing’s stellar offerings have scooped the pool at the World Beer Championships in Chicago with not one, not two, but three gold medals. FIGJAM IPA, Hassle Hop (2015 release) and Duke Premium Lager all took out gold with Duke Helles taking out silver. The latest round of Medals have capped off an incredible year for Burleigh Brewing at the World Beer Championships with 28 Pale Ale and My Wife’s Bitter recently picking up Gold Medals and Dream Date collecting a Silver Medal in September. Graduating music students’ Infinity showcase Students graduating from TAFE Gold Coast’s music program are hosting a music showcase and concert titled Infinity. It’s a variety concert showing ehe diverse musical styles of students graduating from the Diploma in Music and will feature soul, jazz, rock, pop and heavy metal with students playing covers and originals. The concert is supported by sound production students and is open to the public. It takes place Thursday 27 November at Coomera Campus and doors open 6.30pm. Graphic Design graduate showcase TAFE Queensland GC’s graphic design graduating class are presenting some of their work in a showcase event taking place Thursday 4 December. The function, which commences at 6.00pm will include a special guest speaker – Claire Hamilton from Filter Studios. Claire has been recognised for her promise as a Glenn Shorrock
future leader in the print and communications sector. Venue is Black Box Theatre, Coomera TAFE Campus. RSVP by 27 November to ian. thompson@tafe.qld.gov.au. Glenn Shorrock does Carols on Tedder AUSSIE music icon Glenn Shorrock will bring a little ray of sunshine as the headline artist at this year’s Christmas on Tedder at Main Beach on Sunday 7 December. There’ll be a family-friendly carols concert and then Shorrock and band will play the songs he made famous, taking you on a musical journey from the beginning of his fifty year career. Local artists Jacob Lee and Candice Skjonnemand will also be featured in the carols event and Santa and elves make an appearance too. Things kick off at 6.00pm with a street party from 8.00pm.
Eilish Ellen has near 1000 hours of live experience to draw on. And that’s obvious when you listen to her music. She says her new album Shadows is an eclectic mix of styles, rhythms and sounds and we had some of the album’s tracks cranked in the office as we put this edition of Blank together. Written over a two year period, the album will be launched at Mandala Organic Arts Café at Mermaid Beach on Friday 5 December from 7.00pm.
J Mascis
J Mascis returns If you like guitars and the people who play them with skill, mark this one in your diary. J Mascis, frontman of Dinosaur Jr and inspiration to many a grunge-star wannabe, will be back in Australia in 2015 and he’s making a pit stop at The Soundlounge. Last here for Falls Festival in 2012 and with multiple sold-out Sydney Festival performances to his name, the guitar guru is touring new album Tied To A Star – his second solo album. Rolling Stone said of his new album in August 2014 that “Mascis is now as skilled at quiet as he is with loud.” Phew – hopefully we can leave the earplugs at home. Mascis is joined by former Magic Dirt front woman Adalita and they both hit the Soundlounge on 21 February 2015. Eilish Ellen
Eilish Ellen casts Shadows Performing acoustic covers around the Gold Coast for close on four years, 17 year old
Pop-up art show seeks artists A pop-up art show, hosted by ONE Arts Gold Coast will take place on Saturday 6 December on Isle of Capri. The event is about artists, musicians and performers being able to showcase their art and interface with new audiences at a low cost. Visitors will see amazing art, available for sale. The event takes place under beautiful trees opposite Capri on Via Roma. More information from cjcollins10@bigpond. Jackson James Smith scores support slot Blank favourite Jackson James Smith has just announced a support slot with The Trouble With Templeton at Brisbane’s brand new music venue The Triffid. The venue, opened earlier in November by Powderfinger’s John Collings is an 800 capacity venue aimed at supporting the local music scene as well as hosting major international and national acts. It’s a fantastic support slot for this Gold Coast lad and he’ll tread the boards ahead of Trouble with Templeton and Fox 7 Fowl on Saturday 29 November. Tickets are only $15 on the door. The Coathangers visit Australia for the first time Infectious and cathartic are two words oft-used to describe punk group The Coathangers, who are bringing their raucous
brand of unaffected and sloppy Thepunk Coathangers rock to
Australia for the first time. They’ve headlined tours across North America and Europe and have supported acts such as The Thermals, The Black Lips and Trail of Dead. We are big fans. You’ll see us on the dance-floor, front and cenre at The Great Northern on Friday 23 January and at Trainspotters in Brisbane on Saturday 24 January. They also hit The Spotted Cow in Toowoomba on Sunday 25 January. Joan Armatrading
Joan Armatrading’s last major tour “With my final major tour I want to capture a unique memory for both myself and the audience.” So goes the press release about this prolific singer songwriter’s last major world tour. No surprises, she’s been touring for 42 years and many of the shows on the tour have already sold out. Joan hits Twin Towns Tweed Heads with The Acfields in support on Saturday 13 December. She heads to Brisbane’s QPAC the next night. Plum’s Monsters come to Soundlounge Still in her teens, Thelma Plum is a seasoned live performer, recently selling out shows in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Now she’s mid-way through a full national tour, bringing new EP Monsters to a swag of regional towns and metro centres. She hits The Soundloune Currumbin this Friday 28 November. Live music makes a return to Hard Rock Yet another Sunday session is set to make an appearance here on the Gold Coast with Hardrock Café announcing a return to live music. Sunday 14 December sees Josh Shelton take to the stage for the first of the summer Sunday sessions. Josh has been in
the Australian blues and roots scene for more than ten years and has explored traditional genres such as blues, alt-country, outlaw country, bluegrass and rock ‘n’ roll. It’s free entry and all ages. Get details at facebook. com/hardrockcafesurfersparadise International headliners for Blues on Broadbeach Andrew Strong and The Commitments Tour, James Morrison plays the blues, The Black Sorrows and Charlie Parr have been announced as headliners for the 2015 Blues on Broadbeach Festival. Also added to the bill are Jeff Lang, Tijuana Cartel, The Backsliders and US favourites Old Gray Mule. The free, family friendly event has gone from strength to strength in recent years and 2015 is shaping up to be no different. The event runs 21 – 24 May 2015 through Broadbeach streets and venues. Full lineup expected before Christmas. Get more at bluesonbroadbeach.com. Queensland Music Awards – entries open A state-wide search for the best and most innovative homegrown songwriters and musicians has begun. The 2015 Queensland Music Awards is open for submissions now and provides an opportunity for musicians across the state to have their music heard by key music industry players and a national audience. Organisers accept submissions from published and unpublished original songwriters across all genres and categories include pop, rock, blues / roots, country, urban, folk / singer songwriters, world, jazz, electronic / dance, heavy, schools, children’s music and music video. Past award winners include DZ Deathrays, The Amity Affliction, Ball Park Music, Thelma Plum, Kate MillerHeidke, Emma Louise and MKO. Entries close 5 December and the award ceremony will be held at The Triffid in March. Get more details at qmusic.com.au. Kim Churchill
Churchill headlines at Beach Hotel Born in Canberra and growing up in the tiny New South Wales coastal town of Merimbula, Kim Churchill is a nomadic multiinstrumentalist who has become renowned for his deft guitar work. He spends most of
his time on the road intertwining memorable performances with his love of travel and surfing and fascinates audiences by juggling guitar, bass drum, harmonica, tambourine and percussion while delivering an extensive and remarkable vocal range. He’s got a national headlining tour this summer, so you can see for yourself how this remarkable 24 year old who’s opened for Billy Bragg and Michael Franti woos the crowds. Kim Churchill hits The Beach Hotel Byron on Thursday 29 January and The Zoo in Brisbane on Friday 30 January. A New Home for Artists at The Hub The Arts Centre Gold Coast launched The Hub in November – a new artist hub that supports innovative art making on the Gold Coast. It contains five hot desks and a hightech meeting room, providing a centre for contemporary practice. Each element can be hired separately by individual artists or together for larger operations. The first tenant is the Gold Coast Film Festival. The Hub can be hired through The Arts Centre’s website. Leigh Kelly
SMALL HALLS CELEBRATED AT MUDGEERABA We’ve been talking up the Festival of Small Halls in recent editions of Blank GC, but the next instalment coming to the Gold Coast promises to be something special. 18 December sees the Mudgeeraba Memorial Hall come to life with the ukulele wielding magic of the Mae Trio as well as the incredibly talented Del Barber, all the way from Canada. There’s a vast difference between the prairies of Manitoba, Canada and Mudgeeraba, Gold Coast and the highly regarded young folk-Americana, alt-country singer-songwriter is keenly anticipating his visit. “Australia really does seem like a world away from mine. It has always been mythical and other to me; a place I have been dreaming of seeing with my own eyes”, Del said.
Time Well Spent Time Well Spent is a photographic collection from Gold Coaster Leigh Kelly. Leigh’s work/ life/ travel balance has seen him do more laps of the East Coast of Australia than most. His creative eye reflects a vintage feel with a fresh spectrum. From short film cinematography to fast paced festival production work, Leigh has lived a lifetime of good stories. His exhibition takes place at Rattle Snake Motel,Coolangatta on 19 December. OzFest goes large for 2015 Our friends at Miami Tavern are backing up, after a killer lineup of Australian talent at last year’s Ozfest. The 2015 event, which celebrates Australia Day will see Illy, The Preatures, Allday, Kingswood and The Creases take to the stage while you party with your toes in the sand. (Seriously, they ship a tonne of sand in especially for the event). The dresscode is strictly boardies and thongs. It happens on Saturday 24 January and tickets are available right now.
“It is after all a vast country not unlike Canada. What I truly cherish about home exists far from the skyscrapers and traffic of the cities, where I find peace is in small communities, usually around farmers and ranchers. I can’t wait for an Australian taste of that more than anything else.” Del’s likely to feel somewhat at home at Mudgeeraba with the Wallaby Hotel originally built in 1884 and many crediting the opening of this watering hole, both for horses and passengers, for the impetus around which the village was built. Modelled on a traditional Australian hall experience, the Festival of Small Halls visits towns where communities are strong, but may not have access to high quality musical acts due to their location or lack of suitable venue. Artists are chosen not only for the high calibre of their music, but for their enthusiasm and willingness to become part of the community for the brief time that they pass through. The Festival of Small Halls Summer Tour is bookended by Mullum Music Festival, where Del Barber performed last weekend, and Woodford Folk Festival which rounds out the tour on 27 December. Samantha Morris Festival of Small Halls Thursday 18 December, Mudgeeraba Memorial Hall. www.festivalofsmallhalls.com
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KARL S WILLIAMS…TRIUMPHANT HOMECOMINGS
Image courtesy of Dean Hammer
To say that 2014 has been a watershed year in the evolution of local musical shaman Karl S Williams would be somewhat of an understatement. When not pushing the boundaries of organic-psychedelic deliverance as part of the band Tsun, this year Karl’s own increasingly more recognised musical forays (both solo and with band) have seen him traverse musical terrains both here and abroad, as well as deliver a re-imagined version of debut record Heartwood.
“On the day we wandered into the conference part of the festival, I didn’t have any instruments on me but my manager asked if I could do an accapella song, so I jumped up…the room had a view out onto the Manhattan skyline, it was an amazing backdrop, and I got to sing for all those people.”
Chatting with Karl in the homely confines of the Rabbit and Cocoon café, I ask him about his recent trip to the USA, where he performed as part of the epic CMJ Music Marathon line-up (similar in concept and scope to the famed South By South-West expose). Whilst the official industry proceedings saw him schmoozing with record company types and showcasing his wares across dingy New York venues to a random assortment of college radio taste makers, it was the impromptu gig moments that resonated most with the man…
“Yeah definitely, It was one of those events where everyone was swapping cards…although I don’t have a card, I just received quite a few,” he chuckles wryly. ”CMJ is so centred around the college radio world, there were people there that specialise in running campaigns to get music onto college radio, and we definitely had some really strong interest and spoke with a few such people about engaging with them in that capacity. That was really exciting, because the eventual plan is to go back and do CMJ again, so if you’re charting in the college radio world, you’ve really got a good chance of being on their radar.”
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I asked Karl if he managed to drum up any interest whilst there.
Karl also managed to squeeze in an informal show on the West Coast at a vibey little venue called The Hotel Café, just off Sunset Strip in Hollywood on the way back to Australia, which brought about a different kind of audience engagement. ”That show was really rewarding for me, because I was playing to locals, it feels a bit more familiar, there’s a different energy to such shows as opposed to showcase gigs…and people tend to get a bit more excited!” This year also saw the re-release of Karl’s debut record Heartwood on the Footstomp Music label that he signed with earlier in the year. The Timebomb single and two other songs were added to the record, which replaced a few of the other songs from the original release. I questioned Karl about the process involved in delivering a finished recording. “It’s about creating something that has a bit of unity about it. With Heartwood I had about 30 songs, and myself and the Engineer looked at them to work out what group of 10 or 11
songs has a common thread or sound, while still maintaining diversity.” And there is talk of new material on the horizon, building upon the vibe created by Heartwood and taking it to the next level. Writing and recording time is on the cards for the early part of 2015, although Karl is in no hurry to deliver an end result simply for the sake of getting it out there. “Nobody is putting any kind of deadline on it. Everybody that I’m working with is very much supportive of the creative process, allowing me the time and flexibility to try and make a really great album. I feel sometimes that I could go crazy and just spend way too long on it, but at the same time I don’t really enjoy being in the studio that much. It’s the sort of thing that, I don’t want to be one of those artists that spends months and months in the studio. There’s less spontaneity and it becomes more about ‘let’s get this right for all eternity’ and while it’s important to think about that, I don’t like to obsess over it.” I also question Karl on the potential dilemma of having to tailor or alter songs for the hope of future radio play. And as is befitting of a true artist, meddling with the creative process too much is a definite no-no. ”I don’t think about that when I’m writing songs,” he told me. “But when it comes time to start talking with the producer and the record label and showing them the songs that I have, then it may become a factor.”
“Fortunately so far I’ve never had anyone say ‘oh you need a catchy chorus, or an up section here’, I feel that might be a little false. I can live with perhaps shortening some instrumental sections or intros to songs to try and get it into that magic radio length… but not for all songs. I’m conscious of not being too self-indulgent, but at the same time I feel I want to do justice to the original vision of the songs.” Another interesting musical detour Karl undertook just this month was to perform the seminal Leonard Cohen opus Songs of Love and Hate in its entirety. Despite the shadow of the G20 Summit and it’s associated civilian impacts, and a tight timeframe to put it all together with the band treatment following the New York Trip, the end result was an unmitigated triumph. “It was well attended on the night, at least 200 people, and it was a fun show to play, we even had the three piece female vocal section. It was a real privilege, I’m such a huge fan of Leonard Cohen, and to do the songs in our own way… I deliberately avoided changing the key of the songs, I’m a bit of a purist in that way, so it was a big challenge for me to sing in a lower register for some songs.” To wrap up 2014, the dazzling year that was in the world of Karl S Williams, the man is bringing it back full circle and making one final sojourn on the tour trail, before hunkering down to commence the writing and recording process, which we will hopefully be privy to in 2015.
”This tour we’re doing now, which is a national headlining tour for the Heartwood album, ends back here in Queensland, at home,” he said. “They’ll be the last three shows of the tour, and the year.” “It ‘s been such a big year, and I feel that it’s nice to end it back here where we started. And especially with the writing period that’s going to come after, it could be pretty slim on shows for awhile!” So be sure to celebrate with Karl (and band) as they bring down the curtain on a momentous 2014, which might just be your last chance to catch him in the live setting for a bit. The shows may also feature a special onstage addition to Karl’s musical palette. As for what that may be…well you’ll just have to get along to one of the following shows to find out! Anthony Gebhardt
7 December: Miami Marketta (solo), supporting The Waifs 17 December: Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane 18 December, Sol Bar, Maroochydore 19 December, The Soundlounge, Currumbin
Ocean Art Photography
21 James Street Burleigh Heads 07 56591212 www.seanscottphotography.com.au seanscottphotography
Sean Scott travels the world capturing stunning landscapes in his own unique style. Follow his journey on instagram or visit his Burleigh Heads gallery to view his works.
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HEAVENLY LOVE CHILD Described as ‘the impossible love child of Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison and Townes Van Zandt’ Marlon Williams is a suspenders-clad, rosy cheeked 20 something singer-songwriter, with the voice of an angel. “They are my favourite artists, so that description is of the highest accolade” enthusiastically proclaims the man himself, a self-professed ‘gangly Kiwi country singer.’ I first heard Marlon at the Mullum Music festival last year. It was a stinking hot summer’s afternoon, but when Marlon stepped out from behind the red velvet curtain and starting singing, life cooled and soothed. He took me to the cottonpickin’ fields of mid-America, swinging in the cool breeze on a wooden patio. I asked Marlon about his musical influences growing up. “My father was in a pub band and is into the post-punk era, it skips a generation, it’s what your grandparents loved that you will too, it’s a well known formula.” So his grandparents introduced him to Roy Orbison and the rest is history. In 2013, Marlon moved ‘across the ditch’ to Australia and settled in Melbourne. He has since done 65 gigs and actually lives above one of his favourite musical haunts. “It saves on cab fares!” jokes Marlon. His collaborations to date have featured artists of the calibre of Skyscraper Stan (described by Marlon as “another gangly Kiwi country singer”), his partner Aldous Harding, US artists Robert Ellis, Pieta Brown and Cory Chisel, Mojo Juju, Delaney Davidson (with whom he has written three albums) and Jordie Lane, to name just a few. Says Williams of his frequent collaborative forays; “I love the connection a duet brings”. I ask Marlon, who he would choose to duet with if it could be anyone?
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“It’s obvious I know, but it would have to be Elvis wouldn’t it?! I’d want to sing Crying in the Chapel, it is one of his most tender vocal performances.” He doesn’t think he could quite pull off Elvis’s famous moves mind you. I have to disagree, if you’re the love child of Elvis Presley, those hips would click in surely?! That song choice is certainly fitting, as Marlon started out as a choir boy, singing in the cathedral in his home town of Christchurch. By eleven years of age he was winning singing competitions and touring Europe with the Vienna Boys Choir. Then he picked up a guitar and had to make a choice - the disciplined life of a technically trained choral-opera singer or the heathen life of a country singer-songwriter. Thankfully for us, he chose the latter. Be sure to check out Marlon’s performance with Jordie Lane (singing Roy Orbison’s Love Hurts at the Town of the Toffs) and with Pieta Brown (singing John Prines’ The Speed of the Sound of Loneliness for TV show Rockwiz), which deliver tear –jerkingly beautiful harmonies that he assures me would have had his Opera teacher ‘kicking me in the ass for.’ To conclude, I asked Marlon whether he felt he was born at the wrong time? “Not at all, I’m happy to be here now singing older music, it still has currency”. My theory is that he is a time traveller! Marlon Williams has a new single, Dark Child, out MidDecember, swiftly followed by a new album early next year. I can’t help but agree with Rhythms Magazine, Marlon Williams is most definitely an act to watch out for. Form a heavenly queue record labels, this angel will be signed in a god-darn cotton-pickin’ minute! Sixties Sarah
Dirt Road Soul is the name that Kristy has given to her personal genre, and it immediately fits so well I want to know how she came up with it. “My first shows were in the middle of the wood, on a freakin’ dirt road, next to a bonfire on a tailgate. That’s how I got to test my own songs out and share them with people. I felt all this pressure early on in life like am I supposed to be in a genre, am I supposed to be in a category? I don’t think I necessarily fit, and I don’t think I necessarily want to fit, you know? But I think you take some of that dirt road that I came from, and you mix it with other pieces of the world... I just write however I feel at the moment I don’t really care if it sounds too rock or too rootsy. It’s just me.”
to that happening. When it comes to her ability to write songs, however, it all seems to come back to her dad. “The main thing is my dad writes poetry. So my whole life if we’re ever going through something major in our life, he writes us something. He’s never bought any of us a card, he’d never go to a store and buy a card and sign it, you know, he’s going to write it. That was definitely the most influential part in terms of me learning, this is how I write songs. I don’t think I wouldn’t have figured it out without that.” Kristy Lee plays a special show with her mates the Hussy Hicks on Friday 5 December at Miami Marketta.
Lyrically driven album Raise The Dead explores the personal struggles and intimate fears that most people experience at some point in their lives. Featuring vocals and instrumentals from Julz Parker and Leesa Gentz of local roots band Hussy Hicks, the album seemed to come along just at the right time in Kristy’s life.
KRISTY LEE: DIRT ROAD SOUL Genuine, laid-back and warm as an Alabama summer, Kristy Lee is as engaging in real life as she is on stage. Natalie O’Driscoll caught up with the soulful Southern songstress to talk about lyrics and Love during her first Australian tour. The tiny town of Bay Minette, Alabama, population 8044, is where a four-year-old Kristy Lee used to sing into tapes and dream of being a rock star when she grew up. When she was given her first guitar at 12, that dream was one step closer to reality. Kristy credits the abundance of music in her home state with the development of her distinctive style. “Where we live, you’ve got Bay Minette and Mobil. Some of my band members come from north Alabama where you’ve got the woodsy / rootsy soulful stuff. Almost 65% at least of the good soul hits you’ve ever learned in your life came from Muscle Shoals, so we’ve got that centre of soul nearby. And New Orleans is really close as well. So I’ve found it’s a mixture of sound that’s around us.”
“I was going through a weird spiritual kind of time in my life where I felt musically flat and just didn’t know what my next direction would be. I knew it was time to make another record but I just didn’t have everything together, and I had some other things going on… I just wasn’t ready yet. So I was driving down the street one day, and wondering what the title of my next record would be and it came: Raise The Dead. Well, I thought, we’ll see if the song comes or not, and probably about two or three weeks later, the whole song came at once. That song is about waking up your soul, waking up your spirit. When I say raise the dead, I’m talking about yourself. I felt dead at that moment, so it was kinda like a song that made me feel some freedom back again.” Unrecorded track Hold Onto Hope appears as a YouTube link on her website. The searing lyrics and heartfelt delivery feel so personal that I asked her if the message within was for anyone in particular. “I’m gonna tell you the truth. That was the second song, as far as that whole spiritual moment, as far as feeling a little flat spiritually. I was about to leave out on a tour and I had just got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. It was my birthday and we were leaving to go tour Europe with the girls [Hussy Hicks], it was our first overseas tour with them. It’s never easy finding out that you’re not invincible. I think that time the song came to me because I needed it. I’ve never recorded that song, but I also feel that everyone needs to hear those words – hold onto hope – because at some point everyone feels like giving up on something.” Kristy’s raw, personal performance style is one of her trademarks, and in person she is no less honest, if too self-effacing. She is prepared to give everyone credit for her success it seems, except for herself. Long-term partner and representative Missy takes on “the load of a freaking army”, while she credits her time spent with Michael Franti and Zac Brown Band as giving her more of a sense of fun with her music. G. Love [and Special Sauce], with who she has been touring for the large part of this year and claims is one of the most generous musicians she has ever met, apparently supported her in many ways including “providing me with fans”, as though her own significant talents were not related
COMING SOON DEC
FAIRCHILD FAREWELL SHOW / EP LAUNCH
FRI.05
MILLIONS
COSMIC DOLPHIN PARTY
FRI.12
ELSEWHERE XMAS
ELSEWHERE DEEJAYS YO ARNO BAND
FRI.19
WORDLIFE [LIVE]
SAT.27
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Recommends THEY CALL IT MAGIC There are some artists that will outrun and outsmart every music genre you throw at them, and with that thought I think it’s best if I introduce Young Magic. Their music is halfway between an existential soundtrack and a self-guided meditation, so if you’re looking for a three minute pop song they definitely gave away those magic beans to Taylor Swift.
ELECTRIC ZEBRA
From across the world I spoke to Melati about their second album, Breathing Statues. Created and recorded in the harsh winter of New York, the duo’s second album is a natural progression from their first album, Melt.
Last year, four young men graduated from Merrimac State High. They’d been playing music together since grade 10. When they met, one of them was playing flute, one the trumpet, another the saxophone.
Their new offering deals with personal emotions while dressed in a backdrop of lush timeless rhythms and melodies. Melati describes the album as sounding “more focused and clean” comparing it to the clarity white snow gave their surroundings in New York while making the record. They find the inspiration for their music in travelling the world and the chaos of nature, sharing this with their fans through the band’s cinematic video clips. Breathing Statues is an exploration which finds Young Magic presenting the next chapter of their musical journey to us “standing of the edge of the world, naked and vulnerable”.
Now they’re Electric Zebra. Transitioning from school to uni and work. Kind of. I sat down with Keelan Sanders (vocals guitar) and Adam Sharman (guitar / keys) for a five minute chat right after an interview on Rabbit Radio.
I posed some quickfire questions to Melati. What’s the most magical thing about music to you? The ability for music to transcend the body and move beyond space and time. What’s the last album you bought? I am the centre: private issue new age music in America 1950-1990, a compilation album. What are you most looking forward to when coming back to Australia? I’m excited to dance, swim in the ocean and share our new live projections. Jessie Ryan-Allen Young Magic play Elsewhere, 27 November. Get more at youngmagicsounds.com 10
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They laughed about that transition from school to the ‘real world’. “We haven’t been able to get together that often since school finished because we all have different jobs, different unis” Keelan said. I’m curious about the university thing. What are they all studying? LOL. Funny question it seems. Keelan tells me he’s currently deferred but is quitting. “Adam’s not at uni. Daniel is at uni. Richard has deferred,” they tell me. “I have a job at a discount store in Nerang. Apart from that, I don’t do a lot,” said Adam. Then Keelan says he’s just started working at Dick Smith.
ple of months,” he adds, telling me their social media following has doubled since the release of the EP, which Keelan both paid for and engineered. “Because he studied audio engineering, he could basically record, mix master for free for us.” “I save up for a quarter of a year,” Keelan said. “Working 40 hours a week at IGA for three months.” The band have also amassed some 150,000 youtube views on their video channel. Quite a feat for up and comers. Our conversation moves on to the Gold Coast music scene. “We didn’t really follow the music scene here until we became a band ourselves,” Adam said. And when I press them about the scene generally the word abysmal slips from their lips before they change their tune ever so slightly. “It’s nice because we feel like we have a good shot at becoming fairly large on the Gold Coast because there’s not that much competition.”
If there’s one thing this conversation makes quite clear, it’s that the four guys who make up Electric Zebra are just four guys, trying to find their way on the path to music careers.
“But any venues, like the Shark Bar, demand that you have a big following,” Adam said. “Things like Otherside … publications like Blank GC and radio stations like Rabbit Radio are holding things together for bands like us.”
And they’re certainly taking the first steps. Having just released their four-track EP Modern Living, they’re excited, but realistic about what’s in store for them.
So, next year, what does it have in store? Working, writing, rehearsing,” Keelan tells me. “And we hope to release something else next year.”
“Releasing the EP has made us feel more like a band,” Adam said. “We released two tracks last year and that feeling kind of died away until we released this.”
In the meantime, get your ears around the EP Modern Living or follow the lads on Facebook for gig updates.
“We’ve seen our outreach grow significantly in the last cou-
Samantha Morris
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BLUESFEST: A NOBLE PURSUIT You can imagine the stories someone like Peter Noble could tell you about festivals. The highs. The lows. And all the in-betweens. He’s a passionate man – passionate about Bluesfest, but also about the people behind the event and the incredible musicians who’ve performed over the years. When Samantha Morris spoke to the Bluefest Festival Director, he was putting the finishing touches on one of the dozens of tours that take place to make the event possible. “There were 39 tours for the last Bluesfest,” Peter tells me. “We’re only 26 or 27 tours into this one, but that’s hundreds and hundreds of shows just so Bluesfest can happen.” I have to admit it’s an element to the festival I hadn’t really considered before, but of course it makes sense. I mean, you have all of these internationally renowned artists flying to Australia for a festival, of course they want a tour developed around their visit. “We plan (the festival) every single day of our lives,” Peter said. “It’s a never-ending process. Of course the public doesn’t understand the process and nor should they be expected to.” Noble has been involved in the festival since 1993 but he supplied acts as a tour promoter before then. He’s reflective about his time in the hot-seat. “Everything grows, nothing stays the same,” he said before going on to tell me about the very first Bluesfest he worked at. “The very first festival I ever worked on was ‘94 at Belongil Fields, which was later the site used by splendour,” he said. “And it was raining, like it felt like we had 30 days of rain going into the event.” “I remember all the artists arriving and we’d take them out to the fields and they’d look like – is this festival going to be on? I remember calling my good mate Bill Hauritz saying we’ve got a real quagmire here what should I do and he said “duckboards! We’ve got a whole pile here, and straw in circus tents. It won’t be pretty but you’ll get through.” “We got them on a truck while my new partners were in bunker mentality – locked in the office – and I went around to all the tents and found people to drive up (to Woodford).” We gave away free tickets, spread out walk boards and put them out the night before the festival. And that’s how we ended up with the festival occurring, it didn’t rain for the whole festival but there was so much mud it didn’t matter anyway,” Peter said. “That’s where we got the reputation that it always rains at
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bluesfest,” he laughed. “The next year it pelted down the whole festival.” He tells me that he’s gone from pretty much being what you’d call a site manager and preparing all contingencies to 20-odd years later sitting in an office with 11 staff – the minimum at this time of year. “We blow up to an amazing amount of people once bluesfest rolls around,” Peter said as he gives me a roll-call of some of the positions. 1000 paid staff with more than 300 of those in the bar. 600 volunteers. There’s drivers and recycling workers and people who look after those arriving in wheelchairs. “ I think it’s fair to say that we’re the largest employer in Byron Shire. We provide something like 320 full time equivalent jobs in Byron. And Splendour wouldn’t be that far behind us.” It makes sense in a regional community like Byron to share resources and that’s exactly what Splendour and Bluesfest do. There are 30 or 40 people trained up in parking management and both festivals share those folk. “There’s not much argument that Byron is the festival capital of Australia,” Noble said. “And certainly the regional arts capital – and in that a lot of people get trained up in many job parts – my site managers work on numerous festivals.” “They do Garma in Arnhem Land, Day on the Green, Island Vibe – and these are people who just started building fences on my site. Yes our job requires travel and it’s not always fulltime work, but it is well paid work when you’re working and that’s one of the great assets in Byron Shire.” Right there Noble reels off one of the best cultural events I’ve ever been to – Garma – and I ask him about what other festivals he’s been to that he could boast about. I’m surprised at the response – short and sweet. “I never go to festivals, I don’t like crowds.” I laugh but am even more curious about how he finds new talent. Again, short and to the point; “I have spies.” So, how is the 2015 event shaping up? Oh man, ask Peter Noble a question like this and be prepared for a long list of
artists, much excitement in his voice, and pure stoke at a job it’s very clear he loves. A lot. “So far, we’ve captured the imagination of everybody under 40 – and our feedback is that this is magic festival – it’s compelling. Show me a better bill,” he said. “It’s as good as it gets. And we’re not finished.” Lucky, because Noble says that some of his older fans are saying they haven’t heard of many of the artists included in the lineup. “I’ve hit the nail on the head with getting one of our audiences excited – the slightly younger one, but people expect us to bring the Paul Simons and Robert Plants and Santanas of this world to the Festival. I need to do a bit of that and it’ll be the best festival we’ve ever done.” One of the things that strikes me as unique about Bluesfest is the sheer volume of on-stage collaborations that happen – both spontaneous and planned. Noble sums this up nicely. “Musicians love playing with musicians – if you get a musician’s festival, then they’re all sitting in.” “Mavis Staples turned 75 in July and I guarantee there’ll be a line of musicians lining up to play with her,” Noble said. “As creative festival director, I’m willing to say we hold up highly the artists who have reached those milestones of being 75 years old and still being compelling, still being great. You actually get better at it, to some degree, before things fail you – before your physical energy isn’t up to it. There are plenty of people playing into their 80s who I book.”
“Here’s a person whose career began in the 50s. She was actually a freedom rider – those buses going into Mississippi in the 60s where people were murdered and had dogs set on them – she was on those buses.” “Then she had those classic songs like I’ll Take You There and Respect Yourself and then she goes solo only 14 years ago. She wins her first ever Grammy just ten years ago and this year she was THE artist that Newport Folk Festival dedicated the festival to her. She just headlined Chicago Blues Festival and she said Bluefest is her favourite festival in the world.” “We’re not an old farts event,” Peter says of Bluesfest. “Although there are plenty old farts like me. Lots of young people, lots of families. You don’t see that at a lot of festivals. You can bring your babies and you can bring your grandparents.” “Paolo Natini, Ben Howard and David Gray and Ben Harper? I don’t think we have much to worry about this year,” Noble says, going back to the lineup. “Paolo could be, the chances are, when he’s older, he’ll be like Rod Stewart. He’s got that level of talent and it’s just – to see these people when they’re in their 20s – I think he’s 27 – it’s just brilliant.” “To go back to your question – I do get out there, go to music business showcases. I’ll be in Melbourne for Melbourne Music Week – I love hearing young talent and getting a feel for it and being part of introducing young talent. You don’t get that from going to other people’s festivals – that’s where you find them. Or up there at Bigsound.” Noble wraps things up by reminding me that this festival will be the biggest Bluesfest yet. It just keeps growing. “Like my belly,” he said. “From sitting behind the desk for 20 years.” Get the full lineup, buy tickets and sort your logistics by visiting bluesfest.com.au. BLANKGC_Uber.pdf
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WELCOME TO THE WAIFS Christie Ots sat down with Vikki Thorn from The Waifs to discuss music, friends and what she thought the first time she saw Missy Higgins. For the second time this year The Waifs are travelling the country showcasing their special blend of folksy melody and honest song lyrics to rousing crowds. Back by popular demand from fans that have, as Thorn put it, loved the band for fifteen years and never seen them. For the first time since 2011 the full band is back together on tour, with Vikki Thorn, her sister Donna Simpson and Josh Cunningham joined by Ben Franz and Dave MacDonald; a recipe for success. The band is just about to head south for a song writing retreat. Vikki says they’ve never done this before – all gone and written in one place together. “We usually write separately, but I’m excited to go and write some Waifs songs and see if you can hear the collaboration,” she said. With life pulling band in different directions - Thorn herself lives in Utah in America - a lot of things have changed over the years since the band first formed in 1992.
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“I used to think that music had to be written in a dark corner by yourself,” Thorn says as she laughs, “But I’ve been playing with friends and the music that comes out of that collaborative atmosphere is so different, so it will be interesting to see what comes of this.” One thing we might not be hearing is more travel songs, such as How Many Miles, Highway One and the still in demand London Still. “I might just put a ban on any songs about being on the road or travelling,” Thorn laughs, “I feel like maybe we’ve written about that a lot! Who knows though, we’ll see where it leads.” The band is touring more regional locations this time around, like Alice Springs, Thirroul and of course Miami Marketta on the Gold Coast come 7 December, something that has been inspired by the overwhelming amount of social media the
band received pleading with them to tour again. “We are so grateful for our fans’ support, they are the reason we are still able to do what we love,” says Thorn, “Our passion for music has only gotten stronger over the years and our fans are always so raucous and fun to play to.” As for touring itself, she says it has gotten a lot healthier over the years, “It has become something that we want to do, instead of something you had to do.” In the 22 years since the band has formed they have played with, and toured with some amazing artists. In 2002 and 2003 the band was lucky enough to tour with Bob Dylan, first around Australia and then throughout the USA and Europe. “It was surreal,” Thorn says, “He is one of those artists you grow up thinking the world of, and to open for him, it was like a dream.” The Waifs’ career has been full of those sort of pinnacle moments. Speaking of when she first heard Missy Higgins Thorn says, “She opened for us in a little place in Melbourne when she was 16. I looked out and I saw this one girl and her piano and I thought she was going to get eaten alive! We have pretty energetic fans, but I looked out two songs in and you genuinely could have heard a pin drop. She had captivated the entire audience. That was the beginning of the phenomenon that is Missy Higgins.” Having never played at any of the upcoming venues previously the band is excited to see new places and faces along the way. If you haven’t seen The Waifs before find a venue near you and hit the road! “We’ve had feedback that we’re much better live,” Thorn laughs. The Waifs hit Miami Marketta Sunday 7 December and second release tickets are now available.
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album reviews
THE DAWN CHORUS
PINK FLOYD
HUSKY
The Dawn Chorus, a rock/roots band hailing from the Sunshine Coast, have had a busy year. They’ve spent it recording their second album (to be released in early 2015) Into The Dark, a collection of “personal yet somewhat universal tales” with the aim of making its listeners get a bit footloose – and as if this wasn’t enough, the guys have recently played shows supporting Brisbane surf-pop six-piece The John Steel Singers, and Melbourne indie legends BONJAH.
There are going to be two distinct camps on either side of The Endless River. One side is going to see this album as a lazy collection of snippets which weren’t good enough to make it onto an album the first time around, but are now worth paying money for in the vacuum created by time and a lack of any new material. On the other side are those fans like me who will see it as a rather fitting (likely) end to an incredible legacy of work.
Following from the debut album Forever So, Melbourne band Husky recently released Ruckers Hill; and this sophomore album doesn’t disappoint.
Plain Song
New single Plain Song sees the band plumbing the musical depths of the 50s, 60s and 70s to create a kind of jazz-fusion reggae-inspired sound. Davis’ vocals swagger and croon, supported by rambling guitar and plenty of funk. There’s a certain blue-eyed soul sensibility about this track that’s so self-assured, it’s almost reminiscent of a Young Americans-era David Bowie. Plain Song is definitely a throwback, brimming with sprightly keyboard organ chords and saxophone that is equal parts mellow and brash. The sudden breaks, brought on by Davis’ commands of “Stop!”, are so typical and playful that they feel almost tongue-in-cheek. Everything melts together to create a wonderful build up to the song’s climax, a cacophony of near-dissonant sounds that could have been messy, but is instead a triumph of groovy audio bliss. When paired with the psychedelic visuals of the accompanying video clip, Plain Song is nothing short of straight-up good vibes. True to its name, Plain Song is deceptively simple until suddenly it isn’t. This is the kind of track you want to hear when you’re having a few beers with your mates on a Sunday afternoon, trying desperately to forget that tomorrow it’s back to the grind. Plain Song will let you do just that, if only for the duration of its three minutes and forty seconds. The Dawn Chorus are going places - jump on this train as fast as you can. Elizabeth Ansley
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EMMA DONOVAN & THE PUTBACKS
Ruckers Hill
The Endless River
There are no suprises on The Endless River. I can’t imagine anyone who isn’t already a fan buying it, and I definitely can’t imagine anyone who isn’t already a Floyd fan enjoying it. Geeks will thrill over nods to old albums such as the Stephen Hawkings voiceover on the prosaically titled Talkin’ Hawkin’, the throwback to Atom Heart Mother via Autumn 68 and the intro of Sum bringing Time clearly to mind. I thought I was listening to an extended instrumental into Shine On You Crazy Diamond on the second track It’s What We Do, a highlight for me, along with the tense synth backing of Unsung. The band’s waves of psychedelic sound and Nick Mason’s melodic, echoing percussion become hypnotic when unbroken with lead vocals. Final track (and only song to feature lead singing) Louder Than Words was, for me, an uneccessary addition. Gilmour’s wailing, string bending guitar throughout feels like going home – or perhaps more accurately, feels like going to Mark Hobart’s basement at age 16, skinning up and listening to Floyd at full volume to cover the crunching of endless packets of Doritos (suuuure his parents didn’t know what we were up to). As with all later Pink Floyd albums, The Endless River is lacking in the edge and substance that Roger Waters’ angsty lyricism brought to the table. However it is a well-produced and atmospheric nostalgia trip that allows the group to fade away in classic prog rock style, rather than burn out. And that’s not a bad thing. Natalie O’Driscoll
The title track to the album is the first song that serenades me through my speakers. The stunning chorus of voices continues a steady build throughout this song, before breaking into a fast paced celebration of sound. Continuing to warm you from the inside out, until your skin feels sun kissed, I’m Not Coming Back is the perfect example of how the lyrics and the melody of a song can say two different things. With lyrics that speak of longing and loss, the fast paced finger picking paired with a strong rhythm section leads the song on a dancing journey of defiance. The track could very well have become another victim to the heavily automated pop genre had it been performed by other artists, yet Husky manage to keep their indie folk flag flying strong throughout. Drunk is a song for reminiscing on misspent youth and looking ahead to the stories you have yet to create. This album is so well composed, with a fantastic ebb and flow throughout, that it is difficult to believe that this is only their second album. It was definitely worth the wait though, and coming into summer I know Ruckers Hill will be on steady rotation in my music collection. This album feels like home – warm, comforting and blissful, with a slight edge of wonder. Christie Ots
Dawn
Let’s get this set from the beginning; this is not a straight up and down soul album. To start there’s no horn section, instead there’s lead guitar. Also the tracks average around the five minute mark, unlike the usual three minute standard. These things in mind though, Dawn has to be one of the best soul albums of the year and we’re not just talking Australian releases either. The fact it comes from the inner streets of Melbourne though should not be surprising given the wellspring of soulful talent streaming out of the city’s laneways this year; see Saskwatch, The Harpoons et al. Emma Donovan should be no stranger to those abreast of the broader Australian music scene but more familiar to those in the country-rock realm with her solo work and also in groups such as Black Arm Band. Touring with this group led her to meeting Mick Meagher, bass player for Melbourne funksters The Putbacks and it was not long until each of them knew they had found a song writing soul-mate. Dawn opens with the incinerating strokes of Tom Martin’s guitar, more reminiscent of Jefferson Airplane than Aretha Franklin, which sets the tone nicely for a record which disregards the ‘soul-revivalist’ tag by bringing its own swagger. This task comes down to The Putbacks who lay down a foundation which incorporates a groove heavy palette for Donovan’s honest and open lyrics to take a hold. Followed by My Goodness and title track, Dawn which fit back to a more traditional soul tempo. Side A finishes with the slow burner Mother which then flips to the lead single Daddy, a nice play on words which ties in the family themes throughout the record. Daddy was the first taste of this new collaboration unleashed on the public which opens the conga rhythms and creeping keys feeling like the opener to an Australian version of Shaft. Daddy oozes with cool and announces a true soul force which can’t be ignored. Things take a more laid back route from here touching on themes from Donovan’s musical and personal journey in tracks such as Come Back to Me. Over Under Away brings proceedings to a close with Donovan laying down her story with emotional honesty, which when it boils down to it, is the source of truly great soul. Sly Steve
BLACK CAB
AMELA
SINCERELY, GRIZZLY
FOO FIGHTERS
It is clear that Black Cab are keen admirers of aesthetics. The album cover is derived from the Bauhaus style of the Montreal Olympic Games, held in 1976. An apt visual counterpart to their very late 70s, early 80s rumbling electro-pop. Black Cab have excelled with their debut album, producing a record that is sonically refined.
Brisbane based songstress Amela sites bands like Fiest, Devendra Banhart and Jose Gonzales as her inspiration and her EP Not Enough Honey clearly reflects this.
Much like their contemporaries Cloud Nothings and the Smith Street Band, Sincerely, Grizzly are alt-punk craftsmen whose hearts beat and bleed on every second of this debut effort. Unlike the patterned kaleidoscopic environs of the front cover, there proves to be very little mimickery. A confliction of hook-filled songs of angst and harrowing and powerful singalongs litter the Adelaidean’s debut record. It’s somewhat gratifying getting to know a band who are still getting know their sound.
The Foos are back, and of course we expect nothing but pure musical brilliance on their eighth record. Especially after 2011’s Wasting Light and global tours featuring arenas packed with rock fans of all ages.
Games Of the XXI Olympiad
In a world where electronic music is plagued by tracks that just build toward a huge drop, Black Cab depart from the norm, favouring heavy four minute progressive songs. It is easy to draw comparisons to Joy Division, experts of this somewhat melancholic sound and structure. Coincidentally, Joy Division formed in 1976, the same year as the Montreal Games… But to compare the sounds of Black Cab to the distinct sounds of Joy Division is almost a cop out. Games Of the XXI Olympiad is an absolute feast of nostalgia as they grab samples of audio from the Montreal Games, and seamlessly create a narrative as exciting as an actual Olympic Games. The band take us from the ‘Opening Ceremony’ right through to the ‘Closing Ceremony’, exploring along the way different tempos, moods, and sounds. The second track, Supermädchen, is a real deep, bassheavy dance song, bringing to mind the feverish excitement of a 100m sprint final. Victorious incorporates an Australian sound, with guitars and synth melding into a beat reminiscent of Yothu Yindi. Go Slow, the second single from the album, harkens back to the perfectly styled long form electro made famous by New Order. It is this hypnotic and incredibly addictive bass/hi-hat combination that makes Go Slow the best song on the record. Near the end, the German influence on Black Cab returns with Sexy Polizei. This is the closest Black Cab get to a top 40 song structure, but once again they completely shun the expected by adding an incredible amount of distortion to the vocal tracks, and sending the guitar into a heavenly wail complete with intense reverb. By the time Closing Ceremony comes along Black Cab have really displayed their musical ability. Although at times it does seem as if they are jumping on the success of Jagwar Ma, a band with undeniably similar musical influences, they have indeed created their own sound. David Simmons
Not Enough Honey
Calling Me is one of those songs that stuns with its simplicity. The repetition of the line ‘I feel it’s calling me, calling me’ is laid over electric guitar riffs that reverberate. Reminiscent of Bon Iver in the way the track wraps itself around you until all you can do is lay prostrate and be captivated, this was my favourite song on the EP. Thanks to the opening tambourine Until We Try has a gypsy rhythmic mood that makes you want to shake your hips. Again you see the range in Amela’s voice as she manages to sweep hauntingly high vocals over the track, lending it a trance-like quality. Not Enough Honey, the title tack to the EP is a bittersweet folksy song, where the power in Amela’s voice blooms with an edge of melancholy that mixes well with the steady drum beat. One of the most energetic tracks from the EP, this is the song that showcases most Amela’s mastery of her sound. Listening to this EP reminded me of stumbling across Laura Marling years ago and, like Marling, great things lie in store for this talented singer/ songwriter! Christie Ots
HALVES
Literature spans the 10-song LP Halves as Joshua Calligeros’ timeless delivery flows in pure synchronisation with the cold, crunchy guitars. It’s funny to mention literature as, not only do the band associate themselves with this genuinely procreated subgenre, – but actually apply it. Kafkaesque – is a bamboozling nine minute brothel of power, rawness and charm (and is a few octaves higher than that of Deafheaven’s Sunbather). The music, over countless listens, gradually speaks louder and buries deeper. The term Kafkaesque entered the English language to describe surreal situations like those in German novelist Franz Kafka’s writings. Kafkaesque, then, lives up to its targeted ramblings with references to alienation, “Since she, a loquacious one, stitched up the mouth that I once kissed / When my sacrifices turned meagre and were ultimately missed,” and mystical transformations, “I, unbeknownst to my eye / Spent the last six years of my life metamorphosing into a fly.”
Sonic Highways
There’s a bigger concept behind this new Foo Fighter’s release. Sonic Highways is not just a record, it’s also a documentary presented by HBO about the roots of rock in the United States. It was recorded in eight different studios in eight different cities to draw on the influence each of the places has had on the evolution of rock ‘n’ roll. And it features a couple of legendary names contributing to some of the songs. However – if you just listen to the record (as I did) you don’t really notice. What you do notice is the good ol’ Foo Fighters with their massive sound, combining arena rock anthems heavy with guitar riffs, quieter breathers and pop melodies with a very lyrical touch. I’m not going to go into detail. Sonic Highways is an awesome album and the Foo Fighters simply deliver. That’s what we expect from them. No, they don’t experiment, they don’t innovate. Instead they tune everything to perfection. Their music is indeed 100% genre perfection. Six strings to rule them all! Jan Hranička
Sincerely, Grizzly’s musicianship amplifies with each song that whirs by, but the catharsis to Halves is the one-two-punch of Catholic Guilt and Two-Face. Following the ebbing cohesion and the building torrential draining of the former, comes an indie-rock infused track that satisfyingly blends a sharper tone in Calligeros’ guitar work. A debut album stimulated by the insatiable urge to better their live show, Sincerely, Grizzly’s debut boasts both sensory deprivation and austere lyricism. Halves could be fuelling your afternoon runs or it could amp up your party soundtrack. Though, what Sincerely, Grizzly have actually achieved is a pure resource of self-righteous energy that powers the listener to do what they please. Jake Wilton www.blankgc.com.au
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DUB AT EARTH FREQUENCY Dub FX is a street performer with a penchant for creative live music full of incredible loops and effects, combined of course with his voice and drum and bass rhythms. Benny D Williams hung five with him ahead of his appearance at Earth Frequency Festival which runs 13 – 16 February. When I first discovered you I was inspired by the hugeness of your sound, revolutionary approach to looping and knowledge of composition and dynamics. Did you study or just pick stuff up along the way? I never studied beyond high school… I was lucky and clever enough to surround myself with excellent musicians. I was in a heavy metal band for six years, we spent hours jamming. I also jammed with jazz musicians all around Melbourne where it was completely improvised, so having those very two different experiences was crucial for understanding the balance in writing and jamming on music. I started MCing in clubs, so that was great for learning how to command a crowd where people want to dance… as well as all of this I used to do acoustic sets with a guitar in bars and restaurants… so I really immersed myself in different styles and environments which gave me the building blocks to go out in the street and fuse it all together with the loop station.
Before I was Dub FX I never needed or even knew what a loop station was, but I did however use effects processors in all those other bands… it gave me a strong knowledge of how to use compression, EQ, reverb, delays, over my voice in a live environment. When I started playing on the street with the loop station I already had heaps of cool sounds which sounded great on live PAs. I used the street as a place to workshop material or jam on new ideas so when I played in clubs and festivals I had a polished show… with each live show I would tweak the sounds until I ended up with an arsenal of phat sounds which sounded good on any system… and the best bit is I don’t need a sound man, I literally give the sound man a stereo output, he just needs to turn it up and go have a beer!
How did you handle the transition from street performance to large venues?
Is there still a fair amount of improvisation in your live show? If I’m on a stage I like to give people a polished show with minimal improvisation because I have so many tricks I can pull out of my hat. If I play in the street it’s almost 100% improvised. BUT if I smoke a lil’ bit of weed before I go
In sad news, Wayne Static from industrial metal legends Static-X passed away earlier this month at the age of 48. Static-X rose to fame with their debut album Wisconsin Death Trip in 1999 and disbanded in 2010 before a brief reunion in 2012 to 2013. It has been a tough year with the deaths of other musical heroes such as Dave Brockie from Gwar, and Jason McCash from The Gates of Slumber. RIP Wayne.
Everybody’s favourite industrial metal madman Al Jourgensen has announced the touring line up for Ministry. The new line up consists of Prong guitarist Monte Pittman, Tony Campos from Static-X on bass, Sin Quirin on guitars, Aaron Rossi on drums and John Bechdel on keys. The band will make their first trip to Australia in well over a decade as part of the Soundwave Festival in 2015 and the latest Ministry album From Beer To Eternity is out now.
After crushing the HiFi opening for Sepultura last month, Brisbane’s In Death have hit the studio to record a new single to be released early in 2015. Front man Krug said about the song, ‘’Godzilla is an untamed beast roaming the wild plains of the soundscapes. He will make love to your ears rather violently, and eat your children, but you will come away feeling rather satisfied’’. Sounds like it is going to be epic!
Gold Coast’s hardest working metal band Azreal are set to release a video for their song Surveying The Fearful. The track comes off the band’s sophomore album Premonition which was released to critical acclaim earlier this year. Keep an eye on the band’s social media pages for more information on their upcoming gigs and video release date.
UK metalcore band Architects are heading back down under for a headline tour in 2015. The band were recently seen here on tour with The Amity Affliction to glowing reviews. Catch them at The HiFi in Brisbane on 18 April.
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American progressive metal heroes (I refuse to use the term djent) Periphery will release their new double album Juggernaut: Alpha & Juggernaut: Omega on 23 January through Roadrunner Records. The band was here at the start of 2014 for a tour with Animals As Leaders so hopefully we will see them on our shores again soon in support of the new release.
onstage then anything can happen. Where is your own music taste and sonic pleasure residing these days? I love all music so long as its soulful… believe it or not but heavy music can also be soulful! You’re dropping in for the Earth Frequency Festival in mid Feb. Is there anyone else you’re looking forward to seeing? I haven’t had a chance to check out the line up but I will totally come and hang out and have a dance with everyone there! Earth Frequency Festival 13 – 16 February, Ivory’s Rock earthfrequency.com.au
Wayne Static In surprising news, former Nevermore shredder Jeff Loomis has joined Arch Enemy in time for their upcoming European tour. Loomis left Nevermore in 2011 citing personal and musical differences and released his second solo album Plains of Oblivion in 2012. Arch Enemy’s amazing latest album War Eternal is out now through Century Media. Got some metal news we should know about? Email rabidnoiseradio@hotmail.com. And get the latest metal tracks and interviews with Rabid Noise every Wednesday night from 9.00 pm live on rabbitradio.com.au.
renowned drummer John Stanier (formerly with Helmet and now of Battles and Tomahawk fame) filling the seat as official sticksman since 1998. When it comes to playing live though it’s been a different story recently, with John Stanier’s obligations with his other high profile musical projects necessitating a job-share type scenario, with young gun Adelaide local Eli Green filling in on the touring front for the past few years. “The challenge we have is that John (Scott) and I in the past have had full time jobs that have kept us extremely busy, and then there’s John Stanier, who lives part of the time in the US and part of the time in Berlin,” Kim said. “His main earnings come from his other bands, he essentially does what he does with us because he loves playing our music and hanging out with us. But his other musical projects take priority and it’s a long way for him to get down here to do shows with us.” “So for this run of shows we’re taking Eli out again. He did such a good job filling in last time and he’s such an incredible drummer....we thought about waiting until Stanier was available again (after the recording of the upcoming Battles record) but that might not have been until March next year or later...we will look to play live again with Stanier in the future, but for now we’d like to do some live shows right now with Eli.”
THE BONDS OF BROTHERLY RESILIENCE 2014 marks the 30 year anniversary of the genesis of one of this country’s most uncompromising and heavy hitting bands, Adelaide’s The Mark of Cain. From their ‘Joy Division on steroids’ formative musical explorations through to their muscular riffing heyday and beyond, the band have consistently played the game strictly on their own terms, gathering a dedicated fanbase and high profile admirers such as Henry Rollins along the way. About to embark on a national run of shows which will be taking in the Gold Coast and Brisbane, bass player Kim Scott takes time out from home kitchen duties to chat with Anthony Gebhardt. Thirty years unbroken is an impressive feat when it comes to any ongoing endeavour, not least of which when it comes to the often fickle and fractious nature of bands and musicians. When it comes to the Mark of Cain though, they may have a bit of an advantage by birthright, as Kim Scott reflects wryly. “It was 1984 that John (guitarist, singer and brother John Scott) co-opted me into playing bass all that time ago, his concept was that bands with siblings last longer than just individuals and egos...well with us it’s proven to be true so far!” “We often used to say, a hot summer in a tin shed rehearsing is a sure fire way to break a regular band up, with the
inevitable arguments that occur. Whereas we survived because John and I are brothers and are close, being the only two siblings in the family. Even though we used to get argumentative about stuff, at the end of the day we’re still brothers and are somewhat immune to the types of bust ups that might break other types of relationships.”
This run of shows sees them detonating their sound arsenal on some long unvisited musical outposts, as Kim embellishes; “This time around we picked a few places we hadn’t been to for awhile, Hobart we haven’t been to for 25 years, so we’ve decided to finally get back there again!” “And we haven’t played Newcastle since 2002, we missed them last time (their last run of national shows 18 months ago) so we’ll be heading back there again for these shows. Most of the upcoming tour dates fall across weekends, as we tend to have to work around our day jobs. Friday and Saturday nights are great for people to get out anyway, as our regular crowd have often also got day jobs they’ve got to get to.” Although when it comes to a Mark of Cain live audience in 2014, Kim is hopeful for a cross section of both seasoned fans mixed with a new generation of younger appreciators hungry for a more left field dose of heaviness. He said it’d be interesting to see if younger people come out to these shows. “I think we have a uniqueness, in that not many bands here in Australia sound similar to us. And certainly what we hear from people when we talk to them, is that there’s been a dearth of heavier bands outside of the traditional metal genres, there’s not many bands around these days that do what we do,” he said. So for those young and not so young who like their music dense, muscular and sweaty, be sure to get along and catch The Mark of Cain when they obliterate The Zoo on Friday 28 November, and the Coolangatta Hotel on Saturday 29 November.
With the Scott brothers as the constants, the Mark of Cain has witnessed a revolving cast of drummers across their existence - as many as 15 according to their Wikipedia page! Things has been somewhat more settled over the latter part of the band’s existence though, with internationally
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friends of the band, and they don’t understand the stargeties involved, and that’s where the industy falls down a bit. It’s very management heavy, the site. I’ve asked heaps of the best managers that I know to ask and talk and share their information because that’s the area that needs the most development.
NEW RESOURCE A ONE STOP SHOP FOR MUSIC INDUSTRY Music Industry Inside Out is a members-based digital resource providing bite-sized video interviews with acclaimed artists and members of the music industry, as well as professional course content on everything from finding a manager to gig etiquette, and a fantastic mentoring program for people looking to break into the Australian music scene. Launched on Tuesday 7th October, the site combines a huge amount of free and members-only information such as how to book gigs, self-management techniques, tips on technology and preparing for national and international tours. The site is the brainchild of long-time music industry professional Martine Cotton, who has, over the last 25 years, worked as a booker at one of the country’s most iconic venues, a program manager for a key industry body, managed bands, music events, national tours, promoted international touring bands and run her own booking agency and music business services. Natalie O’Driscoll spoke with Martine about this exciting new initiative. The website has a huge amount of content. How long did it take you to develop from conception to reality? Conception was January of this year, so basically ten months. However I only started working on it properly in April after I went on a NEIS business course. I did that in March / April and so basically from the end of that course, it’s been absolutely maximum overtime working on the site. Ten months from idea to reality is incredible. How did you manage to pull together such a diverse bunch of mentors? They are pretty much all friends, or friends of friends. I think the music industry is just so giving. Everyone has asked questions on their way up and have always been rewarded with very generous support from their peers or mentors. There’s a lovely culture of sharing information, and it’s getting stronger. They are just so passionate about getting information out that they won’t invoice me. It’s a fantastic community. 18
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Do you find that it’s best to match locals with locals, when it comes to information sharing? Sure, well the circles that you move in are the ones that you are most passionate about. As people’s sphere of work expands to other cities, the. localised support turns into national support. I’m determined to have people from every state. I still haven’t got anyone from South Australia or Western Australia, but I’m working it. So watch this space. Were your travelling business workshops helpful when it came to developing the content for the website? Definitely. The questions that people were asking me helped to develop the content. I also remember the questions that I used to ask when I was coming through the industry, the things that bamboozled me. I’m aware of the weak spots in the industry. Right now I think band management is the weakest spot in Australia. There are a lot of band managers out there that have no business acumen or savvy at all, they’re just
The Savvy Seven Questions are fantastic, so helpful. Who came up with them? I have a team of interns, very passionate, dedicated volunteers who I couldn’t have done this without. The idea for Savvy Seven was actually developed by Hannah Morrison, (who performs under Hanna Rosa), and she was getting heaps of these little interview questionnaires about silly things and she had to do them herself as part of her act promotion. We were talking about how artists get sent a lot of these questionnaires that don’t mean anything, it’s just entertainment, and we talked about how it would be if they had to answer serious things, that actually mean something and help people. It was a real ‘oh my god’ moment! We could ask them about all this practical stuff, and get the local word on what the best venues are as well as other information, and the response from artists has just been phenomenal. How do you go about working out a price for a resource like this, and how does membership work? I want it to be self sustaining eventually. For access to the premium content it’s just $25 for a month, for individuals. Then we’ve got organisational prices. So the more memberships you buy, be it a music school, department, uni library, the cheaper the membership gets. The idea is that money goes back into the business in order for us to develop more content. I’m trying to make sure all the mentors get paid, plus cover the cost of the website. Eventually I would plan to take this on tour, taking mentor workshops across the country. Obviously it won’t make enough to cover that so we’ll have to source more money from somewhere. Many volunteers contribute. The site is very community minded. It’s really exciting to see this movement [of music magazines, websites, help resources] happening, in places like the Gold Coast, Nambour, Gympie, Maroochydore, great little pockets of people who are seizing the day! Is there a highlight in your career you would like to share with Blank readers? Probably my proudest moment was while booking The Zoo a long time ago, and Jimmy Little the beautiful indigenous singer, legend, did an album of covers of great Australian classic songs featuring people like the Go-Betweens. He did them with his country croons, lovely songs. He was coming to The Zoo and I thought and wouldn’t it be cool if we could get Ed Kuepper and Grant McLennan from the Go-Betweens to come and perform on their songs on the show with him. I asked Jimmy’s people, they said yes and I asked Ed and Grant and they said “hell yeah”, so we got these incredible legends of Australian music up to perform with Jimmy Little. I have this incredible polaroid from backstage, of three of the most beautiful, finest gentlemen of Australian music. It’s even more poignant for me now because two of them have passed away. There are a variety of membership options, starting from $25 for individual monthly memberships (or $250 per year), as well as a variety of tiers for small music communities (5-9 members) up to major organisations and universities (70-plus members). To sign up for a membership or for more information, please visit www.musicindustryinsideout.com.au
DIY TO DYR
BACK TO THE BASICS
PEPA KNIGHT ON SOLO SAFARI
They’re brash, young and gentlemanly; ladies and germs it’s time for you to meet The Trotskies. The Melbourne locals, who came across Black GC’s radar on their previous tour, which had a stop off at The Loft, are roaring back and they come hailing a brooding and black new track DYR. Jake Wilton got on the phone with bassist Alexander McKenzie for an update.
After a three year hiatus, Melbourne-based trio The Basics are back with their fifth EP, soonto-be-released eighth studio album, and an Aussie tour kicking off in December. Recently returned from world travels, The Basics – sick of watching the soap opera of mediocrity that has become Australian public life – have decided to do something about it, beginning with the release of The Lucky Country, a rock’n’roll rant against the age of entitlement and the leadership gulf in the Abbott-ShortenPalmer-Milne circus. Natalie O’Driscoll caught up with frontman Kris Schroeder to discuss music, politics and phoenetics.
Ultimate chill guy Pepa Knight has been crafting kaleidoscopic, world-music infused sounds as the co-frontman of Jinja Safari since 2010, but this year has seen him venture out on his own. His work, such as singles Rahh!, Clams, and Coyote Choir, all from debut record Hypnotized Vol. I, have received critical acclaim from global sources that include Rolling Stone India and Neon Gold (USA). In anticipation of his upcoming tour, Pepa talked to Liz Ansley about his journey, his passion for design, and his endeavours in instrument invention.
It’s both refreshing and exhilarating to find a young band beating their own path. An insatiable blend of overwrought and dramatic dream pop and post-punk is what stamped the Trotskies and their debut EP as a blogger’s delight. With a healthy diet of killer support slots and working out kinks in the studio, the 5-piece birthed something truly spectacular in the form of DYR. If you’re a fan of the following: crushing walls of sound, dense, layered guitars and enough pop whirled into the mix then The Trotskies should be the most played band in your iTunes by now. The gloomy sensibilities established in the first half of DYR tend to merge further into a pop aesthetic the more the song progresses. The euphoric climax signals a breath of fresh air, as the drenching tones of paranoid noise guitars become lighter and instead allow the drums to build the needed tension. Bouncing off the momentum gained from their first release, Alex says those songs found on the self-titled affair were handled in a more loose interpretation to how the band operate in the studio now. Although, even the songs that were intended to fit on a new EP release – accompanied by DYR – were still written in rehearsal spaces and jam sessions. “DYR is a little more layered and digital sounding [compared to our first EP]. I like the idea of a band taking the role of a producer – the song takes on another feel,” said Alex. Read more online - blankgc.com.au
Can you explain to me the origin of the band’s name? It was probably the best of a bad bunch, even to this day we’re not really sure how it came about. When we started it was just Wally [De Backer] and I. I was on guitar and he was on a stripped back drum kit, so it really was just the basics. It was a very un-creative name really. That’s why as we’ve grown we’ve kept the spelling but changed the pronouciation of our name to The BAZZ-itch ((/bæzIt∫/)) The actual phoenetics are on our wikipedia page. I can’t read those phoenetic things! No one can! That’s why it’s funny. Just a kind of an esoteric joke. I can’t define your sound without using about seven hyphens. Have you guys ever managed to nail down a description for your music? No we don’t know what it is either. We write a song, and then the song defines what the sound is. One thing could sound more 80s, another more 60s, another one more now. I think genres are just bullsh*t anyway, created by an industry that needs to efficiently produce results.
You worked solo before co-fronting Jinja Safari, and are now venturing out by yourself again. What’s this process has been like for you? When I first started off doing a solo project, it was so many years ago, it was more like a test… I wasn’t super stoked with it. I did one show, I never really gave it a good shot. And then I met up with Marcus from Jinja Safari, and we wrote some songs - and the process now has been completely different. We had three managers in Jinja Safari, and a big group of people that had been helping push it, with the record label, a booking agent and everything. Jinja took off a lot faster than what we’d expected. So it’s been interesting to come back this year and start this project, managing myself, doing it all DIY. It’s a bit of a learning curve, it’s something new and it’s been really fun. There’s a lot more that I’ve had to invest in this project, but at the same time, I’ve got a lot more out of it. Read more online - blankgc.com.au
Read more online - blankgc.com.au
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Creating a unique style of his own, Sean Scott continues to lead the way in coastal landscape and surf art photography. Pictured: local musician Fiona Franklin.
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Mudgeeraba Community Christmas Carols, 3.00pm Dallas Frasca + CC The Cat | Hotel Brunswick Sarah Frank | The Bluff Cafe, Burleigh Amanda King (covers) | One50 Public House, 1.00pm
DECEMBER TUESDAY 2 DECEMBER One Summer Festival with MK + Area10 + Defected + Hot Creations + more | Byron Bay Brewery
GIG GUIDE
NOVEMBER
WEDNESDAY 26 NOVEMBER Katia + Anika Mantell | Bambu BarMusicFood, Palm Beach James Street Preachers (covers) | Cambus Wallace Open mic night | Byron Bay Brewery Open mic night | The Loft Chevron Island Infinity Showcase (Tafe graduating students showcase) | Coomera TAFE Campus
FRIDAY 28 NOVEMBER Ashleigh Mannix | Miami Marketta Thelma Plum | Soundlounge Currumbin Smoking Martha + Black Diamond + Boned | Dolphins Hotel, Tweed Heads Resonance | Burleigh Brewery Mark of Cain + King Of The North + Turnpike | The Zoo Johan Coppers | Bambu BarMusicFood, Palm Beach Benny D Williams + Casey Duque + Dale Carmody | The Loft Chevron Island NEEM | Byron Bay Brewery Young Magic + The Delicates + Silversix + Audun | Elsewhere Surfers Paradise Lani and Lecia + TrueTheory + We Become Ghosts + Felicity Burdett + Something Really Beautiful | Currumbin Creek Tavern SATURDAY 29 NOVEMBER Hat Fitz & Cara | The Basement, Arts Centre Gold Coast Mark of Cain + King of the North | Cooly Hotel Dizzy Dee and The Stingray | Miami Marketta Cheynne Murphy | Sheoak Shack Fingal Bangalow Home Grown Festival: Bourbon Street + Goodrich + It’s all a Beautiful Noise + The Pilots + Waxhead + Camel Tones + Parkside Orchestra + Double O’s + more | Bangalow Bowlo Angela Fabian Band | Burleigh Underground Drummers Signature Duo (covers) | One50 Public House The Sun Record All-Stars, The Birth of Rock ‘n Roll in the 1950s | Twin Towns Yes Sir Noceur + Mar Haze + Lit Lightning + Jesse Pumphrey | Currumbin Creek Tavern Broadfoot | Byron Bay Brewery Reichelt (acoustic) + The Band from Oddworld + Kokeshi Heart | The Loft Chevron Island Mar Haze + Yes Sir Noceur + Kit Lightning + Jesse Pumphrey | Currumbin Creek Tavern The Trouble with Templeton + Jackson James Smith | The Triffid Brisbane SUNDAY 30 NOVEMBER
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WEDNESDAY 3 DECEMBER James Street Preachers (covers) | Cambus Wallace Nobby Beach Open mic night | Byron Bay Brewery Open mic night | The Loft Chevron Island THURSDAY 4 DECEMBER Nick Cave, Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre Monster Guitars | Rails Hotel Byron Bay Sarah Frank | Brooklyn Standard Brisbane The Elliotts (acoustic) + Sorry, Not Sorry + STAV | The Loft Chevron Island FRIDAY 5 DECEMBER Josh Lee Hamilton Band | Burleigh Brewery CC The Cat | Eltham Hotel, 5.00pm Kristy Lee (USA) + Hussy Hicks | Miami Marketta The Elliotts + Ivori + Paging Jimi + Julie Hayes | Currumbin Creek Tavern Monster Guitars | Nimbin Hotel 4’ 20’ Dub | Byron Bay Brewery Sarah Frank | Mandala Organic Arts Cafe Fairchild EP Launch and farewell show + Tangerine + Pirates of the Tempest | Elsewhere, Surfers Paradise Outside the Academy + Jack Paterson + Amera Tabet + Paige Spiers | The Loft Chevron Island SATURDAY 6 DECEMBER Joe Tee and Aphrodisa | Miami Marketta Walrus and the Carpenter | Sheoak Shack Fingal Andrew Baxter + special guests (to be announced) | Burleigh Underground Drummers The Waifs + Liz Stringer | A&I Hall, Bangalow Mescalito Blues | Cabarita Beach Sports Club Dugald Allen (covers) | Mumbo’s @ Niecon Plaza, 5.00pm DJ 1 Eye Samurai | Byron Bay Brewery Mescalito Blues | Cabarita Sports Club MISTRAM + Nicole Brophy + Jadey Peterson | The Loft Chevron Island SUNDAY 7 DECEMBER Dinkum Bohos | Byron Bay Markets The Waifs + Liz Stringer | Miami Marketta Benny D Williams | Bambu Palm Beach Monster Guitars | Bramble Bay Bowls Club Hiatus Kaiyote + REMI + Kirkis + Silentjay + Jace XL | Byron Bay Brewery Sarah Frank | Miami Tavern Shark Bar Carols on Tedder, featuring Glenn Shorrock | Tedder Ave, Main Beach WEDNESDAY 10 DECEMBER James Street Preachers (covers) | Cambus Wallace Nobby Beach
FRIDAY 12 DECEMBER Tea Society | Miami Marketta Street 66 | Burleigh Brewery Cosmic Dolphin Party featuring Millions | Elsewhere Surfers Paradise SATURDAY 13 DECEMBER Joan Armatrading | Twin Towns Fish Out Of Water (USA) | Miami Marketta Akova | Sheoak Shack Fingal Blues Corp | Burleigh Underground Drummers Metalfields: Azreal + Headless + Sending Artax + Eternal Torment + Pseudonaja + Rogyapas + The Black Swamp + Evil Eye + Hamers + Dirty Brew | Coolangatta Hotel Benny D Williams | Cooly Hotel (downstairs) SUNDAY 14 DECEMBER Dinkum Bohos | Genki Cafe Palm Beach Monster Guitars |Bearded Dragon Tamborine Mescalito Blues | Sunhouse Coolangatta Nautic Giants first birthday with Bag Raiders + live bands | Elsewhere Surfers Paradise Josh Shelton | Hardrock Cafe Surfers Paradise WEDNESDAY 17 DECEMBER James Street Preachers (covers) | Cambus Wallace Nobby Beach THURSDAY 18 DECEMBER Festival of Small Halls: Del Barber + The Mae Trio, Mudgeeraba Memorial Hall FRIDAY 19 DECEMBER An Elsewhere Xmas (annual Christmas event) | Elsewhere Surfers Paradise Gavin Doniger (solo) | Bambu Bar, Palm Beach Karl S Williams | Soundlounge Currumbin Deadmans Creek | Burleigh Brewery Sean Kirk + Benny D Williams | Currumbin Creek Tavern Sarah Frank | Jimez Cafe Shaun Kirk Two Hands On the Wheel Tour + Benny D Williams + Luke Houselander SATURDAY 20 DECEMBER Ty Segall + The Babe Rainbow + Dead Beat Band | The Northern Byron Bay
The Hi Boys | Miami Marketta Kiara Jack and the Jills | Jupiters Casino Quid Bar Method | Sheoak Shack Fingal Mescalito Blues | Bangalow Hotel Frazer Goodman + special guests (to be announced) | Burleigh Underground Drummers SUNDAY 21 DECEMBER
Gavin Doniger + Dale Walker | North Kirra SLSC WEDNESDAY 24 DECEMBER Kiara Jack & The Jill | YHA Yamba James Street Preachers (covers) | Cambus Wallace Nobby Beach FRIDAY 26 DECEMBER Sarah Frank | Bambu Palm Beach SATURDAY 27 The Hi Boys | Tuppeny Opera
DECEMBER Miami Marketta |Send Sheoak Fingal yourShack gigs to news@blankgc.com.au
Food & Drink
WHAT’S ON THE BEST SOCIAL
LET THEM EAT CAKE!
NIGHT IN TOWN
“Qu’ils mangent de la brioche!”
8.30PM - LATE
You have to say this with a stuffy French-accented plum in your mouth, your nose firmly implanted in the clouds and a dismissive wave of your hand to get the right effect. Of course you’re impersonating Marie Antoinette, hinted at by Rousseau in his Confessions. ‘The peasants have no bread, so [flick of the hand] why not give them brioche,’ but there’s no record that poor Marie ever uttered those belittling words. It’s true that some areas of the Gold Coast are more generously endowed with restaurants than others. It’s easy to head to the Nobby Beach restaurant strip for a night out, but Nerang? It’s hardly the dining mecca of the coast. Do we ever hear, ‘Let’s meet at Nerang for a meal’? But you can’t write off a suburb with the sweep of a hand. Hidden away in its backstreets are some undiscovered gems, especially in the cake department; more cake shops than at Nobbys! Let’s take a look at four of them:
SAAMARIAS CONTINENTAL BAKERY 2/16 Hilldon Crt., Nerang Sammy, Maria, Antonia and Tony (hence SaaMarias) have been operating their shop on the Gold Coast for over 14 years, matriarch Maria Georgii tells me. It’s an Italian deli, bakery, cake and smallgoods shop which provides both wholesale and retail service to the Gold Coast. The fridges and freezers are stacked with homemade sauces and pastas (which you can also buy made to order to eat in or take away), cheeses, meats and specialty goods such as baccala. In the bakery visible through a doorway Italian bread and pizza is baked daily, and the shelves are packed with too many grocery items to name. Look at the cakes and biscuits: Crostili, Cannoli, Pasti di Mandoria, Biscotti Almond bread, Rum Baba and Tiramisu...some of the great delights of an Italian bakery plus other specialties such as Almond Crescents and Viennese biscuits! Antonia tells me I must have a Cannoli with my coffee, so I have to oblige. I’ve only had one other as good, made by a cane farmer’s wife in Cairns! I leave with a large Puttanesca to go, a Ciabatta tucked under my arm, as well as a couple of cakes for dessert. Dinner sorted! SaaMarias really is an Italian food lover’s paradise!
FOODS OF THE WORLD 1/16 Hilldon Court, Nerang Just in front of SaaMarias is Norm Hagan’s bakery, Foods of the World. Norm is best known for his preservative-free
and gluten free baked goods (biscuits, bread and cakes). It’s all scratch baking (everything made by hand, no premix), and there’s also a range of dips available. Mainly wholesale at present, Norm has plans to expand the retail facility of his shop. Catch him at the shop if you’re on the way past, or you’ll see his stall at the weekend markets (Marina Mirage, Palm Beach Currumbin, and Bundall Racecourse Farmers Markets).
LA PETITE FÊTE 6 Lavelle St., Nerang New kids on the block, partners Michelle, Michael and Steve are Chinese and Japanese chefs who have just moved to the Gold Coast. Leaving aside the delicious Asian soup (made on a 12 hour stock) we tried here, and the hamburgers on homemade brioche, there’s a limited range of cakes which are exquisite. The shop provides a place of experimentation for Michael, and a place for Michelle, a Cordon Bleu chef who works at a major hotel on the coast, to show off their considerable patisserie skills. “We wanted to bring fine dining quality food to the coast at a takeaway price,” Michael tells me. “Most cakes are bought in from factories elsewhere, but we make our own on site. It’s very time consuming work, but at the first bite you can tell the difference!” With desserts selling for $4.50, these works of art are a steal!
MONTMARTRE FRENCH PATISSERIE 2/52 Spencer Rd., Nerang I’d made the mistake of judging Montmartre by its goods on display at our local farmers’ market, but a trip to the shop showed me so much more! Situated within viewing distance of the highway, it’s a little taste of France in the industrial side of Nerang. Owned by Christine and Olivier Labeyrie, Montmartre is a Gold Coast institution. Everything is freshly made, the vibrant colours of the cake display showing off glazed fruit toppings and rich chocolate delights: Paris Brest, Trianon, Opéra, Truffle Cake, Bavaroise... “Everything in moderation,” Giselle tells me, but where to start? Making a choice is so difficult with this fabulous display! This is the place to buy your birthday or wedding Croquemboche made to order! Eat a real French sandwich: a pâté and cornichon filling on a house made baguette, or choose French goodies from the shelves to take away. Marj Osborne Read more of Marj’s reviews at foodgoldcoast.com.au
BURGERS | 5.308.30 PMPM -
| LIVE BANDS | FREEENTRY
LIVE LAUGHS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE SIT DOWN COMEDY CLUB
ENTRY
8PM TIL LATE
TRIVIA NIGHT ......................
FROM 8PM
......................
Free entry, great prizes!
EVERY FRIDAY
COME & TRY
‘THE DESSURGER’ FOR ONLY $8.50
FREE LIVE MUSIC FROM THE HOTTEST
BANDS IN TOWN
9PM TIL LATE Must be over 18 years old to attend Tuesday Social, Live Laughs, Trivia Night and Live Music.Subject to availability, change or cancellation. Offers not available in conjunction with any other offer or discount. Jupiters Hotel & Casino practises the responsible service of alcohol.
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Food & Drink MY COFFEE CAFÉ & SOUTH AFRICAN BISTRO Crestwood Shopping Plaza, 458 Olsen Avenue, Parkwood Bunny Chow was the winning dish at the Noosa Food and Wine Festival last year. A decrusted loaf of white bread filled with a mild aromatic curry, the loaf container soaking up the juices, it’s a South African dish. Natasha Naidoo from IdoSpices at Carrara Markets had provided a brief introduction to Bunny Chow and a few other dishes from her homeland, so we were excited to learn that at her new restaurant at Parkwood, My Coffee Café & South African Bistro, there’d be an extended menu of South African dishes. Considering the number of South African residents on the Gold Coast, we know little about the diversity of their culture and food, let alone its global heritage: Indian, Indonesian, Portuguese, Afrikaans, Dutch and English, to name a few! My South African friend, Susan, agrees to join me on an expedition to My Coffee Café to help fill in my yawning knowledge gap. Besides the baked goods in cabinet displays (sausage rolls and cakes – the legacy of the previous bakery tenant – as well as salad rolls), Susan tells me that the menu is mostly Cape cuisine. Of Indian and Malay influence, it’s the type of food you’d find in South African homes, cafés and restaurants, particularly around the Durban and Cape areas.
community have made it their own. It’s one of many dishes linked to specific occasions, biryani eaten at weddings. The dish is very complicated to make: eighteen spices are added to the rice, which is cooked then baked. To my taste, it’s a drier, more aromatic and less spicy version of Indian biryani, with sauces on the side to complement the dish. Natasha serves her biryani with Mango Pickle and Carrot Salad, her family’s secret recipe dating back generations, the carrot marinated in vinegar with chilli and fresh garlic – really fresh and tangy! Susan orders Vetkoek, one of her favourite dishes. It looks really unfamiliar to me: savoury mince in a fried bread cover. It’s of Indian origin, as are the Samoosas. I notice Babotie on the menu, a dish I’ve eaten before. It’s a little like meatloaf with onion, sultanas, almonds, bay leaves and spices, topped with an egg custard. Then it’s time for dessert. We share the Afrikaans Koeksisters, a sweet syrupy doughnut dusted in coconut, a delicious Malva Pudding, of English and Cape descent, (a little similar to Golden Syrup Pudding) and Melk Tart, all of which Susan pronounces ‘excellent’! “Natasha is a very good cook by South African standards,” Susan tells me. “While some of these dishes would be made in home kitchens, many, such as the Malva Pudding, are restaurant quality. They’re well chosen dishes to appeal to a wide range of people.” Susan and I talk further about the influences of English, Indian, French and German cultures on South African cuisine. Susan urges me to try Boerewors (on Natasha’s menu, but also available from Springbok Foods). Marj Osborne Read more of Marj’s reviews at foodgoldcoast.com.au
I choose a Lamb Biryani as my main. Originally a Tamil Indian dish eaten by cane field workers, the Cape Malay
My Coffee Café & South African Bistro @ Parkwood 24
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Max Brenner @ Coolangatta
MAX BRENNER The Strand, Coolangatta Residents and visitors to Coolangatta are well aware of the ongoing refurbishment to The Strand shopping mall. The exciting news… it’s almost finished. The cherry on top… the biggest Max Brenner store in the universe (speculation, not fact). I was privileged to take a friend for her birthday celebrations to this establishment on opening day. I tried explaining during the ride there that you can get a cup of melted chocolate to drink. A range of thickness to choose from. Watching someone try and contemplate this and concentrate on driving down the highway at the same time is quite a treat. We are guided by the super friendly staff to a beach-front balcony table. I’ve never been so disinterested in an ocean view at dusk as I bury my head in the menu. My friend ums and ahs where I have chosen immediately. I shall be dunking my personal favourite (cheesecake) into a tub of melted chocolate. The menu insists that strawberries be included. Whatever. I ate some fruit last week. As my friend guiltily browses the menu I sit back and soak in the enormity of this establishment. It really is massive. I imagine the place heaving of a busy weekend lunch over the summer holidays. Wow… so many people and so much chocolate. What happens when the kids find out this place exists? I remember being quite the pest when it came to being rewarded with summer timetreats. I wonder how many tantrums this place shall trigger. I’ve almost forgotten that it’s my friend is with me. I have definitely forgotten it’s her birthday. Is it because I’m rude? No. It’s because chocolate… that’s why. Thankyou Max Brenner you lovely bald man. I will be back. Andrew Scott
ESPRESSO MOTO CAFÉ AND BIKEWORKS Shop 2, 110 Mountain View Ave, Palm Beach Palmy natives keep your eyes open. There’s a new kid that has motored onto your block and is providing some great coffee-related times with a difference. Opening just a week ago, Espresso Moto is already attracting a lot of attention. Boasting an open, fresh and bright interior the café aims for transparency from the La Marzocco coffee machine up front to the open area kitchen finishing with the Suzuki motorbike sitting as live art behind glass down the back. Espresso Moto is helmed by Shannon, Jordan, Nikki and Bubbles, couples and friends from Cairns who love the GC coffee scene and decided to have a crack at combining their two loves: coffee and motorbikes. Looking to do something different, Espresso Moto is starting out with the café, and expanding in the future to house a one-mechanic, boutique bikeworks where you can come and bring your bike or work whist having a coffee and enjoying some Americana farmstyle food from their rustic menu. Allpress Coffee provides Espresso Moto with their Supremo house blend, which was sampled in espresso and piccolo form. The espresso is earthy and sweet, with a punchy wood smoke element that adds depth and intrigues the taste buds. The milk in the piccolo brings out more of a cocoa flavour, with an initial tang that mellows out into a consistent plateau tinged with marshmallow. The single origin on offer changes regularly and is sourced from many different coffee companies to provide the coffee lover with a unique and personal experience. The single origin on offer during my visit was the Allpress Guatemalan La Vega Estate, an espresso of which boasted a complex aroma of citrus and chocolate, a big bold hit of green apple acidity and flavour, with a clean and satisfying finish. The piccolo offered a distinct wave of flavour with notes of green apple underlying a more cocoa taste. A speciality of Espresso Moto is the Sidecar where you are able to have your regular milk coffee with an espresso on the side to taste and compare the flavours. Even if you are not an espresso lover, do yourself a favour and give the sidecar a go as it is guaranteed to broaden your coffee experience. Espresso Moto is open from 6.00am with the kitchen open from 7.00am to 3.00pm. Be sure to motor on in and give this new kid a try, you won’t regret it. Catherine Coburn
Independent food reviews of the Gold Coast Bringing you news and behind the scenes information about Gold Coast restaurants and providores
Espresso Moto Cafe @ Miami
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Lifestyle & Culture AYURVEDA: FORGET RAW, START COOKING
CONSCIOUS EATING: COMMENT
What do raw, paleo, low GI, high protein, juice fast, 500 calories 2 days a week, green smoothies, HCG, and other health fad have in common? They are all about the diet not the person consuming the food.
Eating organic, being vegan or eating paleo are all conscious choices but are they ethical choices and what exactly are we buying into when we delve deeper?
For over 5000 years there’s been a health program that is about the individual not the program. Ayurveda is the Sanskrit word for the ancient Indian medical system that literally translates as “ the science of life”. Food is an integral part because the philosophy revolves around improving digestion and metabolism and ridding the body of toxins that are the result of poorly digested food.
It’s what goes on behind closed-doors that’s under scrutiny, as the conscious eater continues asking questions. Knowing the truth might be confronting but it sure helps us make more informed decisions. Being ignorant or turning a blind eye only impedes our progress in taking more responsibility for the world we live in.
Depending on the individual’s mindbody type, or ‘Dosha’, the types of food a person should eat varies. There are three doshas - Vata, Pitta and Kapha, but most people have a constitution that is a combination. To find out more Pip Andreas caught up with Nadia and Kester Marshall from the Mudita Clinic and Institute in Mullumbimby. Nadia, you have a background in communications and Kester was a naturopath. Why were you both attracted to Ayurveda? Because we both have quite intense, enquiring minds and Ayurveda offered us answers. We both found other approaches to health somewhat lacking – like putting together a puzzle without the picture on the lid. Coming across Ayurveda was like seeing the whole picture for the first time. How is Digestive Fire, or Agni, so central to Ayurvedic healing and way of life? Ayurveda teaches that an inability to digest our food properly is the root cause of ALL disease at the physical level. Digestion is viewed as a cooking fire known as ‘Agni’ in Sanskrit. This cooking fire can become imbalanced in three ways. It can get too SHARP and overcook our food, resulting in things like an insatiable appetite, heartburn, reflux, gut inflammation, ulcers or loose stools. It can get too DULL and undercook our food, resulting in symptoms like low appetite, heaviness and lethargy after eating, weight-gain and sticky constipation. Or, it can become VARIABLE like a fire blowing in the wind resulting in variable appetite and things like gas, bloating or pain after eating and dry constipation. When food is undercooked or overcooked, it creates undigested food waste known as ‘Ama’. This heavy, sticky, toxic waste accumulates in the digestive tract and eventually overflows into the channels and tissues, hampering cellular nutrition and waste disposal. It is here that it contributes to the manifestation of disease.
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Aside from the nutritional value of foods, conscious eaters may consider human rights, animal rights and the environment empowering them to make more ethical choices.
Some truths are tough and awareness is fast becoming widespread as people step out of their comfort zones to talk about the taboo. It might get a few backs up and those who advocate might lose a few Facebook friends (no love lost there) as sensitive issues are tackled but it’s all about being conscious right? And this includes taking the blinkers off and risking an emotional response to the truth we see.
All we seem to hear about in health blogs is raw foods, raw foods,and more raw foods. Ayurveda advises the opposite. Ayurveda teaches that we should eat predominantly cooked food that is warm, light and slightly oily because food of this quality helps to maintain a balanced digestive fire. A little raw food is fine, particularly in the middle of the day when the sun is high in the sky and Agni is strongest or in the warm summer months when we’re craving cooling foods. But eating predominantly raw food year-round isn’t advised for anyone. Raw foods are cold, dry and light in quality which means if eaten in excess they will increase Vata or the Air/Ether elements in the body/mind. If someone follows a raw food diet over a long period of time, particularly if they have any Vata in their constitution, they will eventually become very imbalanced, very depleted and probably fatigued. We see a lot of post-rawfood clients in our clinic needing to recover. Another fad is cooking with coconut oil, yet Ayurvedic cooking uses mostly ghee (clarified butter). Can you use coconut oil and still follow Ayurvedic recipes? Yes, absolutely you can. Coconut oil is a lovely oil and is used a lot in Ayurveda, particularly in the south of India. Both oils are predominantly sweet and cooling so have a similar effect on the body but ghee is favoured for cooking because it is so stable with a very high smoke point. It is favoured as a carrier of medicines because it is very, very subtle and able to penetrate the deepest tissues, carrying medicines deep into the body. From a western perspective this makes sense because it is predominant in short chain fatty acids (butyric acid) which are very easily digested, can travel throughout the body and communicate directly with immune cells to reduce inflammation. Coconut oil is predominant in medium-chain fatty acids so is slightly more difficult to digest. Read more online - blankgc.com.au
As many of us know, buying local organic produce is not only better for our health but the environment too, so why aren’t we all doing it if we can afford to? Are we suffering self-love issues, being miserly or is it really just that we are stuck in habits we find hard to shake? When we find out something is bad for us like pesticides or unethical, such as the incineration of male chicks on egg farms, or has a negative impact on the environment like the meat and dairy industry, then it’s up to up to us to change our eating habits or not. For those of us who are serious about reducing our carbon footprint being vegan is the way to go. The UN has been urging a global movement towards a meat and dairy free diet since 2010. According to UN reports a global shift towards a vegan diet is vital to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the worst impacts of climate change. As well as saving the planet and not buying onto the unethical treatment of animals there is an added bonus;- several studies show a plant-based diet might extend your life by up to ten years! How awesome is that for those of us seeking longevity? Despite what we eat, most of us care and want a sustainable future. Putting our money where our mouth is (so to speak) may be better for our health, animals and the planet combined. One thing’s for sure though, ignorance is not bliss and won’t change our world. It’s not about preaching, it’s not about judging it’s about simply opening our eyes and making choices in line with our own set of values and that can be very liberating. Emma Ballard
A MOSQUE MENTALITY Whilst retrieving mail from the letterbox out front of my apartment.. a glossy flyer in the garden catches my eye. It’s black and red and mean looking. The text reads STOP! THE MOSQUE. Further details of a community gathering to oppose the building of a mosque in Currumbin are included. My journalistic senses tingle. My initial thought “I wonder what kind of characters show up to a town meeting to oppose the building of a mosque”. I call my Blank editor immediately and ask if she has any suggestions. Am I likely to come face to face with bucket loads of hate-speak? Yes. Am I likely to get lynched for being calm and open-minded? No. Are there likely to be scary looking dudes with southern-cross tattoos in the crowd? Most likely. But there are also likely to be people who look plain and normal too. Sunday rolls around and I feel my heart racing as I enter. WTF am I doing? I am extremely uncomfortable around aggressive and angry mobs. Especially sober mobs. Drunken mobs are rarely organised or cohesive in their collective hate. As I breathe I remind myself that there is most likely just going to be a collection of concerned friendly citizens who wish to be informed of the potential future of their community. I stride forward confidently with a coffee and immediately I see the shaven head of a 50-something male with a southern cross tattoo etched into his cranium. Fark…… The chief speaker for the day informs the swollen crowd of the latest Mosque proposal updates. He insists the nature of this project is insidious. That the traffic generated by attendees at the mosque will be chaotic and the parking catastrophic. That the local businesses will suffer due to these nuisance crowds. All potentially legit… But then he declares “a mosque offers nothing positive for the community”. I stifle a LOL and check nobody has noticed. “Offers nothing?” I’m not an expert and know little of the social sciences which measure the success of a community but am certain I am now listening to bullshit being preached. Time to leave.
To round off this article with some basic objectivity I contact Hussin Goss. He’s the acting president for the Islamic Society on the Gold Coast. A very warm and well spoken character. We chat for half hour. Practically besties by the end of the chat. The question I’m dying to ask: Could you please describe in brief how a mosque contributes to all residents of a community and not just the Muslim population. In brief (this will be hard)… One example that springs to mind is the flood relief service in 2008. 150 volunteers were summoned to help pack and transport 30 tonnes of food hampers right here in Arundel. There is also our ongoing services such as a constant steam of clothing donations toward the Salvos. Myth f*cking busted! Hussin informs me that his family has been here for 100 years. His grandparents and then later his parents emigrating from Pakistan. Part of his role as president includes overseeing the services for births, marriages and deaths in the local community. So I guess aside from all of this, a mosque provides nothin(insert sarcastic sigh). If our Blank audience would like to become better informed of Islam on the Gold Coast where can they start? Go to the website goldcoastislam.com.au. We welcome all visitors here to the mosque at Arundel. You can also follow me on Facebook (Hussin Goss). Pro mosque for Currumbin or not. All members of the community are entitled to an opinion and I felt privileged to participate with those who are clear on their stance. I do worry that such matters are often decided upon by individuals digesting second-hand misinformation and irrational learned prejudice rather than anything resembling fact. May this encourage you to seek for yourselves the answer to the question of a Mosque in the Currumbin district. Andrew Scott
THROW THE ENVIRONMENT A LIFELINE: BUY YOUR CLOTHES SECOND HAND Four years ago, Queensland Conservation Council undertook an assessment of the resources everyday Queenslanders consumed indirectly. At the time, Ryan Dillon, a Director of the organisation estimated that the water used in producing new clothes for the average Queenslander was approximately 39,000 litres a year. 39,000 litres of water consumed just through clothes purchases. The mind boggles! “If every Queenslander bought 10% of their clothing secondhand, we would save the equivalent of 9000 Olympic-sized swimming pools of water every year,” Ryan said. Enter Lifeline. You already know that donations to Lifeline contribute directly to saving lives. But have you thought about how shopping at Lifeline and other second-hand charity stores contributes directly to reducing waste, redirecting items from landfill and recycling goods that still have plenty of life left? Who’da thunk shopping could make you feel so good!
We have even better news for Blank’s fashion tragics too. Come the weekend of 6 – 7 December, Lifeline is hosting one mammoth clothing sale. With everything just $2.00. “We know many of our loyal customers come from all parts of the state and interstate, even a few local Tweed residents and we’d like to see more of our regional neighbours this year,” said Jim Dale, Lifeline’s Business Manager, about the clothing sale. There’s an estimated ten tonnes of clothing up for grabs and organisers assure us that stocks will be replenished during both days of the sale. And with the sale so close to Christmas, strong sales are expected. “We’ve had to move the dates to December this year and hopefully people still have time to plan their trips to come support this amazing event that raises essential funds for Lifeline in Queensland,” Jim said. “It’s fast becoming an institution on the coast and it’s so nice to see that the community is eagerly awaiting this event.”
The success of the Lifeline Clothing Sale on the Gold Coast in previous years has helped raise much needed funds for Lifeline and UnitingCare Community to help support the counselling services they provide to the community. Proceeds help fund the Lifeline 24-Hour 13 11 14 Crisis Support Line, Lifeline Community Recovery program and UnitingCare Community services for people with a disability, children and families. Samantha Morris Lifeline’s $2 Clothing Sale Saturday 6 + Sunday 7 December Gold Coast Convention + Exhibition Centre www.blankgc.com.au
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Lifestyle & Culture GRIFFITH ST LARDER OPENING FOR HEARTFELT HOMES Shop 9, The Strand, Griffith Street, Coolangatta, Queensland Art and cafe openings are usually the realm of the young and the gorgeous. Slim and blonde, if you smile discreetly, a camera will seek you out and magically channel you into the social pages. Ditto for the rich and powerful! For the rest of us, we know that ‘love was meant for beauty queens’; and so were openings.
in 2013. Unable to work and support his family, Andrew was hospitalised for weeks at a time, undergoing surgery, radiation and oncology in Brisbane. Caroline travelled daily three hours each way from their home in Northern NSW to support Andrew, juggling the care and needs of their two young children. Because she was not technically Andrew’s carer, Caroline was not eligible for government support.
“Oh! What is this place again? Why are we here?”
Caroline realised that her family was experiencing what many regional families experience when affected by a medical emergency. Without the means to earn an income, medical care may mean family separation, causing extra stress and trauma.
Too often the purpose of an opening is slightly blurry by the end of the night! But if you keep an eye on the constant refilling of your champagne, attend to the free finger food etiquette, discreetly weave your way out of the centre of the crowd avoiding the little cliques of lovelies who know each other, you can meet some truly amazing people, mostly on the edges! ‘Same same but different!’ That’s how I’d describe the opening of the Griffith Street Larder, the latest venture by Nick Pearce and Marc Kinvig of Blackboard, on the Griffith Street end of The Strand in Coolangatta. Lots of local Stone & Wood beer on tap, exciting contemporary food from the Larder chefs, and everyone mixing in a funky new open air eatery which we’ve all sworn to revisit! (Yes, they do have Caramel syringe cronuts on the menu, as well as Crumbed zucchini sliders and Cornmeal-crusted crab!) But from the beginning we know that the night has a dual purpose as both an eatery opening and a fundraiser for a new charity, Heartfelt Homes. I use the opportunity to ask Founding Director Caroline Meehan about the organisation and how it began. Her story is all too familiar:
Thinking outside her situation, Caroline decided to start a charity which could provide short term accommodation for families to stay at a motel close to the hospital. Now a recognised charity, Heartfelt Homes has been able to help regional families referred by hospitals, including our own Gold Coast University Hospital. Some family members had even been living in their car or sleeping on the concrete in the hospital carpark. With the help of donors, those families have now been able to make their hospitalised family member their priority, with safe accommodation paid for. With the help of all involved, the proceeds of Griffith Street Larder’s opening were donated to Heartfelt Homes. Good karma is so much more beautiful than social pics! Let’s hope this is the start of a new trend for openings! “In helping others, we shall help ourselves, for whatever good we give out completes the circle and comes back to us.” – Flora Edwards, American author Marj Osborne
Caroline’s husband Andrew was diagnosed with thyroid cancer
HEARTFELT HOMES EASING THE BURDEN November 11, 2014. It was the phone call that no parent ever wants to receive: “Is that Dale James? I’m sorry, but your son has been badly injured in an accident. He has been admitted to the Gold Coast University Hospital.” Dale’s son Daniel had been the victim of a hit and run while visiting friends on the coast. It wasn’t the first bad news that Dale had received. On a disability pension because of a genetic bone condition, he considered himself fortunate to belong to a loving family. His children were his pride and joy. Like most other parents, Dale put family first. Fearing the worst, he left their home in Newcastle, his only thought being to comfort and support his son. When that first day of bedside vigil ended, Dale was asked to leave the hospital, informed that visiting hours would resume at 10.00am the next day. Consumed with worry about his son, Dale had given little thought to plans or money. In an unknown place, Dale quickly realised that he had nowhere to spend the night. He made the decision to sleep on the concrete in the car park at the hospital, a safer option, he felt, than roaming the streets. 28
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Learning of Dale’s situation the next day, a hospital social worker contacted Heartfelt Homes and Dale was soon housed in a safe, comfortable motel close to the tram line which runs past the hospital. Daniel had received serious injuries to his whole body and especially his head. His treatment is ongoing and he may lose his left eye, but with one less worry, Dale is now better able to support his son. “It is so hard to process news like this when you’re on your own,” Dale commented, finding the separation from his wife and family a huge hardship during such a difficult time. “Everyone at home is desperate to see Daniel, and I need some support dealing with this. I just feel so far away and on my own. “I would like to thank Heartfelt Homes from the bottom of my heart for caring for me and providing a room for me to rest. People don’t realise how hard it is for families of patients travelling from miles away. Until it happens to you, you don’t realise how much it means to have a safe comfortable place to sleep at night. It’s just one less worry to take on when your whole world is upside down.” “I would encourage everyone to support Heartfelt Homes in whatever way you can. They are amazing and you never know
when you might need their services. I really don’t know how I would have got through this time without them. I would certainly have had more nights on the concrete in the car park.” It is hoped that Daniel will soon be transferred to the John Hunter Hospital closer to home to enjoy extended family support. Marj Osborne
BLANK SCREEN
TALKING BACK AT THUNDER
OUR MAN IN TEHRAN INTERSTELLAR Starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine Bravo Christopher Nolan. Bravo! Not since I was a 9-year-old boy watching Jurassic Park have I been so engrossed in a cinematic experience. Masterfully woven like a pair of new socks, Nolan has written this story with so much layered emotion and human depth, it’s impossible not to walk out of the theatre with a swollen heart and shorter fingernails. Yes this is science fiction, but if you’re expecting lasers, warp speed, and far-fetched action scenes, you’re going to be disappointed. What makes Interstellar really work is the realism of space exploration, and our relationship to the dangers that accompany it. Humanity is less than a century away from extinction. Not from a rogue, raging asteroid, or nuclear holocaust, but from Earth’s own fickle environment. Due to drastic climate change, food has grown scarce, and oxygen levels low. It appears man must leave the planet on a desperate search for a new home… Enter Matthew McConaughey, playing ex-NASA test pilot Cooper, who leads a four-man crew to the far reaches of our solar system where a wormhole has been discovered to contain planets most likely to sustain human life. While this story sounds like it’s been told many times before, trust me, we’re talking about Christopher Nolan here. He hasn’t let us down yet. Not with a plethora of greats like Inception, The Prestige, Memento, and The Dark Knight series to launch off, this film triumphantly reinvigorates science fiction back to realistic plausibility, without relying solely on CGI gimmickry. Truly a masterpiece of cinematography, the imagery inspires heavier breathing than a plumber in a pie shop, whilst accompanied by a gargantuan music score that would blow the fluff off a cappuccino! If you miss Interstellar at the cinema, count this year wasted. Otherwise, you’ll just have to close the curtains, crank the woofer, and strap in for almost three hours of story telling wizardry on Blu-ray. Again I say, ‘Bravo.’
Nathan James
On the recent 35th anniversary of the Iran Hostage crisis the CIA took to twitter to break down what was “real” v “reel” in the movie Argo. This month I attended the special Arts Centre Gold Coast screening of Our Man in Tehran a documentary which outlines the real life story of the events which unfolded in Tehran in 1979. At the screening, Richard Featherstone, President of the Gold Coast Film Festival welcomed Patricia Taylor and her husband Ken, the former Canadian Ambassador to Tehran who answered questions from the audience. In October 1979, the pair famously, and without hesitation hid two of six US Diplomats in their home (not all six as portrayed in Argo). This is one of the many “real” facts presented in this 85 minute documentary. The filmmakers keep things fairly traditional in the story telling with straightforward interviews, incredible archival footage of Tehran depicting the Shah’s dramatic departure and the Ayatollah’s much celebrated arrival. The footage of political discussions of both the Canadian and US Presidents and their parliamentary posse is real and fascinating (yes it really is interesting) and the thankful omission of cheesy re-enactments all make you feel like you are gathered around the dinner table for story time. The documentary starts with the history of Iran and the leadup to the exile of the Shah after fleeing the revolution. It then moves to a retelling of what happened when students seized the US embassy holding 52 US citizens hostage for over fourteen months. As you may know if you have seen the movie Argo, six escaped and fled to the residences of John and Zena Sheardown and of Ken and Patricia Taylor. The story then reveals their involvement as de-facto spies for the CIA, watching movements of the feared guards at the embassy and the airport and planning escape routes for Operation Eagle Claw the unfortunate failed first attempt to rescue the 52 hostages. The film also introduces William Dougherty a CIA agent at the US embassy; he opens up about how he survived being tortured after the rebels pieced together shredded documents revealing his true occupation. We also meet the “real” Tony Mendez the character played by Ben Affleck in the movie that came up with the idea of creating a fake movie cover to rescue the six hostages.
From the creative minds of Brisbane and Gold Coast filmmakers comes the raw thriller drama Talking Back At Thunder. The story is set on the coastline of Central and Northern Queensland and follows the journey of Jacob, living with an anxiety and trauma he has kept hidden from his friends and family all his life. Jessie Ryan-Allen had the opportunity to get the scoop on Talking Back At Thunder when talking to actor/writer/co-director, Aaron Davison. What was your motivation to make this film? One of my best mates and myself were discussing the amount of young blokes from Queensland provincial towns that we knew of who had committed suicide. Like everyone else, we wondered why. Tell us a bit about the cast and the auditioning process. We were fortunate enough to have access to some great actors via my agent. I knew them all, and their work, so the audition component was very brief, if at all. Most of the cast are drama school graduates from NIDA, QUT, and USQ, so the calibre is very high. What was the biggest challenge in making this film? There are always challenges with anything worthwhile, as you know. They were minor, though, and eclipsed by our amazing crew. I cannot compliment my co-director Este Heyns and the crew enough. Incredibly diligent people who are not only a pleasure to work with, but very fun to be around. Their level of professionalism is truly admirable. After watching the film what do you hope the audience will take away from it? I’m pretty sure there are no definitive answers. Maybe an answer’s not necessary, either. I’m fairly certain that people will be more attuned to the plight of others, though. The possible inner demons one is facing alone. That’s never a bad thing. To watch the trailer and buy tickets to a screening on 10 December visit talkingbackatthunder.com.
As Ken Taylor indicated in Q+A after the screening the rescue idea was an elaborate ruse and the movie itself was entertainment at its best but they both worked – that’s Hollywood. In truth this documentary is far more fascinating while Argo makes your heart race with anticipation Our Man In Tehran gets the brain ticking. The real characters are far more interesting and very witty; you could spend hours over a Vodka Martini listening to their stories. Jodie Bellchambers www.blankgc.com.au
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BLANK PAGE
DRESS MEMORY
THE CASUAL VACANCY
THE FEEL-GOOD HIT OF THE YEAR
Lorelei Vashti
JK Rowling
Liam Pieper
Lorelei Vashti has lived a life as colourful and eclectic as her vintage dress collection. What began as a blog has now turned into a book. Dress Memory: A memoir of my life in my twenties, shines a spotlight deep into the wardrobe of Vashti’s life. Each chapter is a short story with a fantastic and bold dress sparking each memory. Starting at age 20 as a university student and ending at 30, Vashti strips herself bare for her readers as she struggles to answer the question we all want answered in our twenties: who am I? Humourous and heartbreaking, Vashti’s life is an adventure. She begins the book in Brisbane, squashed in a cosy sharehouse, studying creative writing at uni. Her family home is in Buderim, where vintage dresses are passed from mother to daughter. She spends a year, lonely as a student on exchange in Turkey, where the locals covet luxurious and expensive clothes, fortifying Vashti’s love for fashion. She moves to Melbourne, New York, and India, making friends and falling in and out of love. Dress Memory reinforces the notion that being young is about experimenting. Like a child playing dress ups, Lorelei tries on jobs and different life paths. She’s a poet, a waitress, a student, or a writer, always fashionably dressed. She plays bass in a girl band in a sassy red cape. Later she works hard as an editorial assistant in a green wool dress. She’s experimental in love too. She writes about her first love, “crazy, dippy, mad about each other as only you can be at 21.” She also writes about heartbreak, after an affair left her torn apart and on anti depressants. Vashti joins the ranks of other young memoir writers like Girls star, creator, and writer, Lena Dunham. Dunham’s much anticipated book Not that Kind of Girl is a candid retelling of her life story even though she is only 28. Memoirs are no longer for older generations, writing about their life at the end of their life. Young people are moving in on this turf, writing about their experiences with love, sex, university, work, family, and growing up. The difference is that these memories are vivid, having been written so close to the time that they happened. They are relevant to young twenty and thirty something readers, navigating through a turbulent time of choosing what to study, choosing what to be, choosing the right lover, and of course choosing the right dress to wear. Emily Russell
Sun shining? Birds singing? Feeling just too darn cheerful? The Casual Vacancy will fix that right up.
“It’s hard to get your kid to eat their veggies when you’ve fallen behind on your drug debt to them.”
This behemoth of a novel begins with the death of Barry Fairbrother, arguably the nicest and most-well-intentioned character of the book, and goes downhill from there in a swirling maelstrom of small town politics, old school British snobbery, drug addiction, self-harm, domestic violence and poverty. In a poorly disguised class war, the residents of small British town Pagford do battle with one another in an attempt to cut ties with a nearby council estate and drug rehabilitation centre. The resulting fallout affects the personal lives of all of Pagford’s main inhabitants, with Rowling’s behind-closed-doors writing style giving the reader plenty of - sometimes too much – information about the mental processes of some of its less than savoury characters.
Published in May 2014, Liam Pieper’s memoir, The FeelGood Hit of the Year, chronicles his life as the child of hippy, weed-loving parents, growing up in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s in Melbourne.
Bleak, introspective and piercingly clever, JK Rowling’s first foray in the world of adult literature seems to be assuring us with every page turn that she has definitely left the world of children’s books behind. Of course the later Harry Potter novels had some pretty dark content, but whereas in that series there was a definite line between good and evil, in The Casual Vacancy it seems that most of the eight trillion characters house their own internal and constantly warring legions of light and dark. Some are definitely worse than others. The vile antagonist Howard Mollison, whose prodigious bulk and booming voice dominate each scene in which he appears, continues to haunt my nightmares in lurid detail, along with depictions of the rigid and controlling Simon Price and school bully Fats Waller. The depth with which JK Rowling exposes her characters’ grim and self-serving internal justifications makes for uncomfortable reading. Overly long, insufficiently edited and essentially lacking in plot until the middle of the book, The Casual Vacancy manages to simultaneously feel compelling and also like hard work. Once you have sorted out in your mind which character is who, and what storyline they belong to (something that took a few seconds for me to figure out, the entire way through), the characters’ own personal arcs drive the story more than the rather feeble council election process which arguably forms the plot of the novel. With a devastating and unexpected climax, the feelings stirred up by The Casual Vacancy will take a while to shake off. Although an effective piece of art with a satisfying emotional pay-off, I couldn’t sit through it a second time. Natalie O’Driscoll
With such a bohemian family, Pieper was never going to have a conventional life. He was born in 1984 in the family home, a rundown old house called Labassa, inhabited by a mix of artists, beatniks, and drug addicts. A few years later, the family moved out to the suburbs, but this didn’t curtail their love of drugs and the frequency of weed in the house meant that Pieper first smoked pot at 12. By the time he was in his early years of high school he was a successful drug dealer, his parents some of his best customers. “It made negotiating pocket money awkward. I thought I should get more as I was dealing to them at cost price, but they didn’t see it that way.” Pieper could have easily been cocky and boastful when narrating the risky days of dealing drugs. As a kid he felt he had to learn martial arts, carry weapons, and adopt what he thought was a threatening swagger, in order to conduct his business. “I came to convince myself I was a gangster,” he writes. Pieper has gained maturity due to a healthy distance from his old lifestyle and can now write with humour about what he was and how he thinks he was perceived. “...people must have been confused at the chubby, ponytailed androgyne twitching down the street like a traumatised chimp who’d escaped from a Krispy Kreme research facility.” Pieper’s witty sparks are original, frequent, and inspire some truly laugh out loud moments. They also show that despite the lows Pieper sank to through a life of addiction and crime, he owns a sense of humility and the ability to laugh at himself. The Feel-Good Hit of the Year is born at a time when many in Australia are only focussed on the illegalities of drug taking. Instead Pieper keeps it simple when talking about the reasons why he would use, “If I was responsible, I would say that addiction made me keep doing drugs long after they were fun, but of course that’s bullshit. They’re always fun. That’s the point.” He chronicles the pain of losing loved ones to drugs, whether by overdose or simply by driving people away as a consequence of his own choices. There is a vividness to Pieper’s grief which he describes as “a long, dark night in a wet sleeping bag at a shitty music festival.” For readers who are far removed from a life of addiction and getting high there is much in this memoir to devour: the witty humour and original writing, the familial relationships, the spotlight on suburban Aussie hedonistic lifestyles, love, and a young man’s life journey in which he gets to know himself as a sober person, all serve to build a powerful story. Emily Russell
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Subject to availability, change and cancellation. All guests under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult or guardian at all times. www.blankgc.com.au
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Lifestyle & Culture ARTS CENTRE LAUNCHES EPIC 2015 SEASON I heard an interesting thing at the launch of the Arts Centre Gold Coast 2015 Season. Apparently, the Gold Coast has more amateur / community theatre groups than Brisbane. I admit it’s something that slipped under my radar. Theatre, you say? Lots of it, happening right here on the Gold Coast? How cool is that. It’s no surprise, then that the Arts Centre Gold Coast’s 2015 season offerings, launched last week have a healthy smattering of theatre included. Given that so many people are passionate about stage and theatre here, I understand why such big productions call into the Gold Coast as they’re winging their way around the country. The season kicks off with Boston Marriage – a quick-fire comedy featuring the wicked wit of Pulitzer Prize winning writer David Mamet and starring Amanda Muggleton. It runs for just two nights in February. Then there’s Kelly – which explains the man wandering around the launch event with a slitty helmet on his head. This new Australian play, which had a successful Brisbane season, weaves together fact, theory and myth exploring masculinity, brotherhood and the dangerous dynamic of mateship. But that only gets us to March. Ernie Dingo stars in The New Black, hailed as the next Bran Nue Dae by The Age.
There’s The One Day of The Year by Alan Seymour which looks at the meaning of Anzac Day through the eyes of generation, class and character. And Miss Saigon, which has played in 300 cities and 15 languages has a run of eight shows through June. And that’s just the theatre. Included in the program for 2015 are also carnival performances for children and families, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow, string ensembles and tenors, productions by the Bangarra Dance Company and my personal highlight, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra playing Bolero. There are 26 shows in the Season, including Main Stage, Independent Season, Family Series and A Morning With…. and the Centre is offering Season Packages which drastically reduce ticket prices for those who love the theatre. If it sounds like I’m gushing, I am. And that’s coming from someone that you would not call a theatre buff. If you think you are one, you probably want to get your hands on tickets for some of these performances immediately. They’re all on sale now. Visit theartscentregc.com.au to buy tickets and sort out your schedule of theatre-going action. Samantha Morris
BUT DON’T WAIT FOR 2015 While we froth at the lineup of events at the Arts Centre next year, there’s no excuse for sitting on your butt for the rest of 2014. There are some awesome options between now and the end of the year. Amy Michaels and The Good Time Girls | Saturday 6 December Jazz hosted by Mal Wood brings us a cabaret show full of witty tunes and tongue-in-cheek burlesque. With powerhouse voice, quirky lyrics, Rosie Peaches doing burlesque and a big brass 6-piece brand, this show will be a corker. Crazy Christmas Cabaret | Monday 8 December The Greenroom Project Crazy Christmas Cabaret, hosted by Matt Ward and Martini Ice with Brad Rush on piano will certainly get you in the mood for the festive season. There will be performances by a bunch of special guests including Jesus Christ Superstar Stevie Mac and Lizzie Moore, Big Brother’s Charne Louise, Australian Idol’s Josh Daveta and more. Could make an interesting staff Christmas party … or just the beginning of a Monday night on the loose. 32
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Mistletoe Magic | Monday 1 December While on the topic of Christmas, this variety show also does its part to get you in a tinselly mood. Hosted by Amy McDonald (91.7 ABC Gold Coast), you’ll spend the morning with Lachlan Baker who performed at the opening of the Australian Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo along with opera singer Liza Beamish, the Blenders who have been Australian National Chorus Champions eight consecutive times and Australia’s newest and largest female chorus Coastal Charisma. You’ll also have your funny bone tickled by Lindsay Webb and The Con Collective and National Academy of Performing Arts students will perform high energy dance and acrobatics. It kicks off at 11.00am and tickets are just $19.00. Comedy in the Basement – Dave Callan + Lindsay Webb | Friday 12 December Dave Callan and Lindsay Webb hit the Paradise Showroom for improvisation and crowd interaction – a truly one-off experience. You can also book a Christmas Comedy package that includes a main meal, comedy show and four-hour beverage package for just $79.00.
Get all the details for these, and the scores – and we mean scores – of other events on at Arts Centre Gold Coast between now and the end of the year at theartscentregc.com.au.
BRAZOUKA BRINGS BRAZILIAN BEATS I’ve never been to Brazil. I got close. Where the borders of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina meet there’s a monstrous river and waterfall called Iguazu. I spent a week there trying to get a visa which never materialised.
story” featuring the illustrious martial arts dance – Capoeira - as well as freestyle Lambada and Lambazouk. And samba. Don’t forget the samba.
From the viewing points of the falls I could see Brazil. Ha. As if. Brazil is one of those places you need to visit to experience: the colour, the sounds, the people. It’s a long way between Gold Coast and Rio.
The show has limited runs throughout Australia, and thankfully, the Gold Coast has been included. Brazouka plays at Jupiters from 4 December to 18 January and dinner and show packages are available. Get more at jupitersgoldcoast.com.au
So maybe Brazouka is a good starting point for those not inclined to fly to the other side of the planet. Narrated by comedian, turned Brazilian dance lover, Billy Connolly, Brazouka is performed by Brazil’s most thrilling new dance troupe and is an “inspirational
Samantha Morris
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Environment
IMF SAYS IGNORING CLIMATE CHANGE WILL IMPACT GROWTH Her message to the G20 was loud and clear; negative environmental impacts and health crises like Ebola are directly affecting the economy, whether anyone likes to admit it or not. Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund was addressing micro critical issues after G20 talks wrapped up last Sunday. “Look at climate change, look at Ebola, they all have economic impacts, negatively or positively, on growth,” Ms Lagarde said. From the IMF’s point of view, resource and energy industries need to start addressing environmental degradation in terms of economic costs. Lagarde cited this as being macro-critical; important in order to achieve goals set out in national terms, such as rate of growth. “When we look at the right price of energy by including the external factors, such as those that cause damage to the environment, it is macro critical,” Ms Lagarde said. G20 leaders who indirectly backed Ms Lagarde’s views included President Obama who pledged $3b; the UK PM who said on Sunday he had already put money aside to pledge to Green Climate Fund; and Ban Ki-Moon who called on G20 leaders to pledge to the Green Climate Fund. Amy Mitchell-Whittington
TRADITIONAL OWNERS AND WWF JOIN REEF PARTNERSHIP Marine species protection along the Queensland coastline looks set to improve after a partnership between WWF and Traditional Owners was signed last week. Leaders from the Girringun Aboriginal Corporation and the Gudjuda Aboriginal Reference Group represented 14 traditional owner groups set to work with World Wide Fund for Nature and James Cook University researchers to improve research and protection on threatened marine species. Under the partnership, funding, training and services will be provided to Indigenous ranger groups, equipping them to research and stop illegal poaching of dugongs and protect the threatened turtles and inshore dolphins in the Great Barrier Reef area. Girringun Aboriginal Corporation Executive Officer Phil Rist says this is the second partnership with WWF signifying the support WWF has for Aboriginal conservation issues in Queensland. “They have been long term supporters of Aboriginal issues within Queensland and this makes a statement loud and clear that they are supportive of what we are doing,” Mr Rist said.
Traditional Owners in this area, or saltwater peoples, are connected to Great Barrier Reef through the traditions and cultures of their ancestors, highlighting how important the protection of the reef is for them. “We not only have a connection to the reef but to the animals in there; the dugongs, the sharks the whales and all other creatures,” Mr Rist said. This connection and knowledge of the reef is what WWF hopes to use in order to better the conservation and protection of marine species. “Traditional peoples have accumulated vast amounts of ecological knowledge in their long history of managing the environment,” WWF’s O’Gorman said. “This knowledge can be hugely beneficial for nature conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources worldwide, including in the Great Barrier Reef.”
The interests shared relate to the conservation and welfare of dugongs, dolphins and turtles in the area who are under threat due to the accumulated impacts of illegal poaching , increased shipping, poor water quality and by-catch issues.
“It is important that governments and NGOs fully respect Indigenous and traditional peoples’ human and development rights, and recognise the importance of the conservation of their cultures.”
“We are attempting at the moment to bring together the Indigenous voices because it is the one voice that is missing at the moment,” Mr Rist said.
Gudjuda Chairperson Eddie Smallwood says this collaboration will work to generate greater awareness in the younger generation of these traditional tribes.
“I think bringing the saltwater peoples together would really capitalise on the good work that is already being done at a regional level and a localised level.”
“There is a great need to generate awareness in our communities about the protection and conservation of threatened marine species like turtles, dugongs and inshore dolphins,” Mr Smallwood said.
“Traditional Owners have done an excellent job tackling issues www.blankgc.com.au
“To properly solve this problem we need a coordinated network of Indigenous rangers that stretches across the length of the Great Barrier Reef.”
“I think we share some common interests there with WWF and this is an attempt to unite.”
WWF CEO Dermot O’Gorman says the agreement will strengthen the great work already being done by Traditional Owners along the Queensland coastline.
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such as illegal poaching in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park,” said O’Gorman.
“This will complement existing programs such as the turtle tagging work our rangers already do across Gudjuda sea country.” Amy Mitchell-Whittington
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Environment
BYRON FIRST ON INTERNATIONAL LIST FOR ENVIRO MANAGEMENT The world’s first ever Green List presentations was like the Oscars. As part of the IUCN World Parks Congress in Sydney, the new initiative to recognise excellence in managing protected areas was welcomed with enthusiasm and earnestness from 3600 congress attendees. The hosts presented the winners in alphabetical order so out of 23 winners around the globe the Aussie NSW entrant Arakwal National Park and Cape Byron State Conservation Area won the honour of being first on the new list. Recipients of the award, Area Manager of NSW National Parks and Wildlife Services Cape Byron Marine Park, Sue Walker, and the Arakwal Corporation’s Yvonne Stewart worked together to meet the Greenlist’s global standards for protected areas. Blank couldn’t get hold of either women but Lawrence Orel from NSW Parks and Wildlife said both women were “tremendously proud, honoured and touched particularly because of the international context.” “It reflects the success of the joint management model.” Greenlist Coordinator James Hardcastles said after the International Union of Conservation and Nature (IUCN) developed the concept of the Green List New South Wales was one of the earliest volunteers to join, along with Columbia and Queensland but Queensland later dropped out. He said it was a leap of faith for NSW. IUCN then set up an independent expert group who worked with NSW Parks to put out the word to National Parks in the state who wanted to have a go. Only two put up their hands - The Byron outfit and Montague Island in the south. Hardcastle said both areas presented a good joint management model with great outcomes. “[At Arakwal National Park] 65 percent of the staff are Byron Bay Arakwal people. They are involved in all aspects of the management.” 36
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“It’s a much better place, it’s been restored, it’s values are better since that happened.” On the lighthouse side of the protection area, he said there are 60 volunteers from the community committed to shared values. Accommodation, fees and the parking pay for the management of the site plus it also recognises Aboriginal rights. He said paying parking at Tallows Beach might seem impersonal but it has good outcomes because the governance is equitable. “The whole point of the Greenlist is that the park and the protected area management say, ‘I want to hold up the mirror, I want to have a look and see how we do against the global standards of a good park,’” Hardcastle said. “We want to see that commitment: We want to improve, we want to test ourselves, we want to keep performing.”
• • • •
A Green List park is well designed and knows what its natural, social and cultural values are. The governance is equitable meaning the costs and benefits are shared. The area is managed effectively – staff are motivated and treated well and there’s a good management plan. These all lead to good outcomes
The Gold Coast’s Springbrook would be a very strong contender if Queensland became partners. He said however the Queensland Government’s proposed cable car project in Springbrook could be a red flag if it is not done to the international standards of a protected area that the Greenlist sets out. He also said if the Moreton Bay Marine Park was up for consideration the impacts and standards of the proposed Cruise Ship Terminal and Casino Complex would be a factor to assess.
“That’s what it’s all about and if they do those things we will recognise it,” he said.
“What you do on land ends up in the sea. They are often hard to measure and a sensitive area like that would be of significant concern I’m sure.”
He said it would have been a good question – If Queensland had entered the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park would it have achieved the criteria to make the Greenlist?
He said anyone can apply for the Green List: groups, councils, state governments, national governments to create pride in and recognise environmental achievements.
A lot of people on the ground are doing fantastic work on the Reef, the coordinator said, but because of the potential large scale impacts it wouldn’t be the best one to recognise, even though the efforts of great people have done so much to slow down the reef ’s decline. Hardcastle said the IUCN Green List standards are very simple:
Mic Smith Image above: IUCN announced 23 International members of Green List to recognise excellence in protected area management. Byron Bay’s Yvonne Stewart (front second from right) and Sue Walker (front third from right) were first on the list. Photo supplied by James Hardcastle IUCN
“… an overall monetary value of $4.16 billion is estimated as the economic baseline value of the Gold Coast Broadwater in 2012.” Broadwater Marine Project – economy and tourism factsheet
GRAND THEFT WAVEBREAK A rally on Sunday 7 December, dubbed Grand Theft Wavebreak will allow the community to gather peacefully and demonstrate that there is anything but ‘a strong level of support’ for the plans of Chinese proponents of a cruise ship, residential and retail development and massive infrastructure project. The comments around level of support relate to a statement made by Queensland’s Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney who said in August that the proponent, the ASF Consortium needs to show community support before any development will be approved. “State land would only be made available for development if ASF could demonstrate community support for the scale of development proposed at the Broadwater,” Seeney said. A decision on whether proponents will receive a resort licence and associated gaming licence is expected in early 2015. Coincidentally, so is a state election. If you’ve been following the cruise ship terminal – casino – dredging - highrise and residential development – Wavebreak Island – Doug Jennings Park – The Spit saga, you’ll know that plans have grown and evolved significantly since the issue first emerged. Way back when Peter Beattie was Premier. Blank caught up with father of three, Luke Sorensen. He’s an award-winning local photographer, the Vice President of Save Our Spit and has spent his entire life on the Gold Coast. And not surprisingly, he is very vocal in his opposition to ASF’s development proposals. “It’s quite simple,” Luke said. “The Government, the Consortium, local MPs, the Mayor and his band of Councillors and the Deputy Premier have been overtly ignoring, censoring, subjugating and deferring from listening and responding to the public on this issue.” Luke tells me that proposals have evolved from a last-minute
election pledge from Tom Tate for a $30 million rate-payer owned floating terminal in the Seaway, to now having a whole new massive city which comprises private residential, commercial and casino spaces, dozens of highrises and the cruise ship terminal. “Which seems to defy all known technical, geographical and scientific constraints of the area,” he added. It’s been two years since the last rally was held at Doug Jennings Park at The Spit. It was well attended – with some saying it was the biggest rally the City of Gold Coast has seen with thousands of people showing up. The previous rally, in 2006 was also big and many of you will remember at that rally, Jeff Seeney and Lawrence Springborg stood side-byside with a LNP commitment to protect The Spit and open space on the Gold Coast. “And that was before we had any idea about the huge scale of development that would eventually be proposed,” Kate Mathews, president of Save Our Broadwater told me. “And we’ve only had a clear understanding in the past month. ASF
project or not, some matters should be of concern and should be put on the table transparently,” Luke told me. He was referring to World Bank debarment of ASF consortia members, some of the questionable business practices of ASF which have seen the company referred to ASIC along with what has been considered cronyism by local activists with the Mayor’s former media adviser Simone Holzapfel being engaged by ASF. “ASF would be using her as a conduit to Tom Tate and the mayoral office. That would be the reason they employed her. They are not dumb,” a lobbyist told the Gold Coast Bulletin in a recent story. “The state government is aware of all the concerns and the history of these companies yet they still offer the land and Broadwater up and hide behind the so-called ‘no risk’ mantra?” Luke asked. “I think that the risk factor blew through the roof some time ago.” So, what do local communities think is at stake? Let’s start with the environment: a large and ongoing dredging regime
“We are not opposed to development but this massive proposal is in the wrong place. ASF should buy private land like any other developer - not steal our magnificent public open space and waterways which are a tourism and recreational heartland of our city …” Kate Mathews SAVE Our Broadwater
have utilised commercial-in-confidence to the hilt to conceal the truth of their real plans in this matter.” In the two years that have passed since the 2012 rally, organisations like Save Our Spit, Save Our Broadwater and Save Our Southern Beaches have been working to bring the whole process into the light. A new organisation, Gold Coast Community Association has also sprung up. And Gecko – Gold Coast & Hinterland Environment Council have been vocal opponents since day dot. “We’re confident that whether you like the concept of the
and the ships themselves (should they come) will have a massive impact on both water quality and biodiversity. Speaking of which, there are turtles, dugongs, dolphins, rays, eels, fish and migratory birds. In fact, people speak of the Seaway, with its 450 recorded species, as being one of the most diverse and accessible dive sites in Australia. Gecko – Gold Coast & Hinterland Environment Council has also expressed concern at the loss of more than 75ha of public owned open space: parks, foreshores, beaches and waterways. www.blankgc.com.au
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Environment Luke Sorensen adds to the list: “the social problems that come from gambling, the demand on our infrastructure, the probability that most jobs will go to foreign workers, accessibility and affordability of the area, the dive site, the surf break …” While ASF have revealed plans to dredge the Seaway to a depth of 12 – 13 metres, the new local project director Tim Poole has said that solutions would be created to protect the break. “We will be taking the proposal to the peak surfing bodies for their input in the coming weeks,” he told the Gold Coast Bulletin in a recent story. We contacted ASF to ask which specific surfing groups they’d be consulting with but their Director couldn’t name any specifically. “There are a number of interested parties and groups within the surfing community and we will be seeking to meet with all of them over the coming months,” Mr Poole said. He did go on to tell me that the ASF Consortium views the wave quality at The Other Side as a very important recreational amenity and will design the dredged channel and associated sand traps to reflect that. “The ASF Consortium is currently investigating impacts on The Other Side using highly specialised and state-of-the-art modelling techniques,” Mr Poole said. The current ASF proposal is mind-boggling, to say the least. If it goes ahead as it is currently proposed, it will include a cruise ship terminal, integrated resort, retail and residential communities. That means at least 11 hotels, 65,000m2 of retail floor area and 6,750 residences and 31,000m2 of commercial floor area. There would be 20 restaurants in the integrated resort alone and four night clubs. The largest tower would be up to 50 storeys with other towers up to 39, 26 and 22. In addition to the casino, there would be three new marina developments as well. If you think all of that brings economic development, well yes. ASF are estimating 15,200 long-term permanent jobs. We contacted ASF to ask for specifics about the breakdown of those fifteen thousand jobs and they provided a long list of roles including everything from hairdressers, chefs, cloud computing hardware providers, security alarm installers, turf growers, wedding planners, Indigenous education and arts promotion, couriers, chefs, toy retailers and stevedore staff. Luke Sorensen agreed that those employment figures sound impressive. “It sure does sound great doesn’t it, and I know all too well what unemployment is like, but it’s not exactly that simple. It doesn’t take long to do a little research into these companies to see what kind of jobs they offer.” Save Our Broadwater also expressed concern at some of the claims of ASF around employment. “ASF have made it quite clear that this resort will be targeted at the Chinese,” Kate said. “So people will need to speak the language which means they can utilise 457 Visas to recruit for retail and casino positions. We won’t even get those jobs.” “And ASF have already said that out of the 5000 jobs required to construct it in the first five years, 2000 of those won’t be local. They’ve already admitted that.” “Given that they persistently and constantly give the best case scenario to the community, we should be very skeptical about their employment claims,” Kate said. When we spoke with Tim Poole from the ASF Consortium he said that most of the ongoing jobs will be provided by local people and businesses. There are also potential adverse economic impacts. Kate from Save Our Broadwater has more to say on this issue, 38
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“The region (Main Beach) will become a construction zone wasteland if the project is approved. There has been a serious lack of information on the proposal and the proponent’s level of community consultation is a joke.” Gold Coast Community Alliance President, Susie Douglas
which hasn’t had a run in mainstream media at all. “Some local commentators have said that this development will basically hoover up all development activity on the Gold Coast for the next decade,” Kate said. “31,000m2 of commercial floor area, 62,000m2 of retail, plus the huge residential/ apartment complex. These are massive scale developments. The impact of that on Southport and other retail and residential areas on the Gold Coast will be significant. The market is not infinite.” Add to that 6,750 new apartments, and you have a serious glut, Kate says. The ASF Consortium is still undertaking community engagement and their Local Project Director Tim Poole told us that they’re creating mobile Project Information Centres that will travel around the Gold Coast starting in the next few weeks. “These centres will give the community a chance to look at detailed information about the Project including visuals, will give them a chance to ask any questions and to feed back their thoughts,” Mr Poole said. “We are finalising the itineraries for the mobile centres at the moment as well planning other consultation initiatives. In the meantime, the community can continue to have their say through our website.” The ASF Consortium was expected to undertake extensive community consultation throughout October. But their consultative efforts left many local organisations seething. In a statement on the Gecko website, Campaigns Coordinator Lois Levy says that all the consultation undertaken by ASF were based on artist’s impressions with no firm plans or reports to provide solid information. “The community still has no real idea of what they are being consulted about or what the environmental, economic or social impacts would be,” Lois goes on to say. Gecko also notes that some stakeholder groups consulted with were self-selected and the online survey process included questions which were not appropriate for gathering community feedback. Jeff Seeney has made it quite clear that the ASF Consortium
needs to demonstrate strong community support for their proposals. It’s no wonder then that Save Our Spit, along with dozens of other community organisations on the Gold Coast are encouraging the broadest possible cross section of people to attend the community rally on 7 December. “I think there are still a lot of people that are willing to sit on the fence, to swing and let others decide, and hey it’s their free democratic right to do that, but all I would say is that this rally, this next election and this time in our lives has actually afforded them a great opportunity. It’s a great opportunity to make a change and participate in something great, to fight for what is theirs and leave a legacy that future generations will look back on with pride,” Luke said. “We need development and growth, Save Our Spit and all of our community is screaming for it,” Luke said. “But we are screaming for balance, for sustainable growth and an intelligent future that thinks itself out, that makes decisions for a hundred years from now, not decisions based on irrational economic fears driven into us by the media and government of the day.” And while Save Our Broadwater is not one of the organising groups behind the rally, there’s no question they’ll be showing up in force. “At the moment our community is engaged in a wide range of activities,” their spokesperson Kate told Blank. “We’re letterboxing over 30,000 houses with our flier this week, we have a petition and an auto email to decision-makers. We are united with Save Our Spit and Gecko in this rally.” “Information is dribbling out from ASF – they function by innuendo and marketing grabs rather than verifiable supporting facts – for example they still haven’t released the all-important environmental studies,” Kate said. “So it really is extremely important for people to show that they oppose the project.” “A tangible, visible show of people on 7 December is vital,” Kate added. “If people have never attended a rally before, we encourage them to make this their first.” As well as attending the rally, you can also sign Save Our Broadwater’s petition at saveourbroadwater.com/how-to-help. Samantha Morris Rally, Grand Theft Wavebreak Sunday 7 December, 11.00am Broadwater Parklands Get informed at: saveourspit.com | saveourbroadwater. com | gecko.org.au Or the developer’s website at: goldcoastevolution.com.au
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taking a closer look at life on the GC
Issue #16 December 2014
art | culture | surf | body | lifestyle | enviro | food | literature