BMA Mag 370 Apr 26 2011

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A E TH #370APR27

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Choice r’s moo iniste the M f vin hIE C oo r The at g live

E D I S IN Blue King

Brown

ANU BAR

May 12

Ben Folds. The Wombats. The Drums ONLINE: My Friend the Chocolate Cake. Birds of Tokyo. Bliss N Eso. Michael Jackson Tribute

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Warrant and Quiet Riot pull out of Metal Health Tour

“I have scrumpy head. Do not even bother.” #370APRIL27 Fax: 02 6257 4361 Mail: PO Box 713 Civic Square, ACT 2608 Publisher Scott Layne Allan Sko General Manager & Advertising Manager Allan Sko T: 02 6257 4360 E: advertising@bmamag.com Editor Julia Winterflood T: 02 6257 4456 E: editorial@bmamag.com Accounts Manager Ashish Doshi T: 02 6247 4816 E: accounts@bmamag.com Super Sub-Editor Zoya Patel Graphic Design Cole Bennetts Exhibitionist Editor Julia Winterflood E: editorial@bmamag.com Film Editor Melissa Wellham Principal Photographers (The Flashbulb Posse) Andrew Mayo Nick Brightman NEXT ISSUE 369 OUT MAY 11 EDITORIAL DEADLINE MAY 2 ADVERTISING DEADLINE MAY 5 Published by Radar Media Pty Ltd ABN 76 097 301 730 BMA is independently owned and published.

Opinions expressed in BMA are not necessarily those of the editor, publisher or staff.

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Last issue’s cover story on the Metal Health Tour was fine and dandy for the Warrant love, but apparently unwarranted was the alleged barney between the promoters of the Metal Health Tour and both Quiet Riot and Warrant’s management that has now seen both acts pull the pin on the tour (head to promoter Intense Impact’s facebook page for the full run down). LA Guns will still play, and stepping into the opening breach is Mike Stone of Queensryche’s new band The Stick People.

Saturday April 30 is the date, and ANU Bar the venue if you’re still interested.

Global Battle of the Bands Canberra Heat The world’s biggest international band competition, the Global Battle of the Bands, is on its way back to Canberra.

Local bands will have the chance to compete on the world stage to win a first prize worth US$100,000. The 2010 GBOB World Final was held in February and all finalists received an all-expensespaid trip to Kuala Lumpur to compete. Does Canberra’s local talent have what it takes to be the next GBOB World Finalist?

Original bands should jump on board the 2011 Canberra heat, held at The Basement on Saturday May 14. Anyone wanting to enter should email redletter@bigpond.com or call 02 9519 3978.

Foo Fighters: Back & Forth and Wasting Light 3D screening at Dendy Fans of the Foo Fighters will be lining up for tickets to a riveting new film about the band, Foo Fighters: Back & Forth, screening at Dendy Cinemas Canberra on Saturday April 29 and Sunday April 30 at 9pm, and again on Sunday May 1 at 3.30pm. This definitive documentary by James Moll

chronicles the 16-year history of the Foo Fighters; from the band’s very first songs, created as cassette demos Dave Grohl recorded during his tenure as Nirvana’s drummer, through their ascent to Grammywinning, multi-platinum, arena and stadium headlining status as one of the biggest rock bands on the planet. The film also includes a look at the making of their new album Wasting Light, where the band went totally back to basics and recorded in Grohl’s garage completely on analogue tape.

No computers, no software - just a band recording an album in a garage. The film was produced by Nigel Sinclair who also made No Direction Home: Bob Dylan and Amazing Journey: the Story of the Who. Foo Fighters: Back & Forth will be followed by a performance of the new album Wasting Light, recorded live in Los Angeles on April 5 and screening in full 3D. For more info head to the Dendy site, and for the chance to win tickets head to www. bmamag.com .

2012 act arts fund open for applications That’s right, you glistening purveyors of the arts you, the time has come once again to eagerly prepare your application for a chance to dip into artsACT’s Money Bin-like coffers. If you have a piece of art - a painting, photography, a theatre piece, a recorded piece of music... You name it - and need the money to fund it, this is your chance. Applications are invited from individuals, groups and organisations wishing to undertake projects and activities that develop or provide access to the arts in the ACT in 2012. It’s open now, and closes at 5pm on Wednesday June 8 , unless you’re applying as a Key Arts Organisation in which case you have until 5pm on Thursday June 30. There is an information session running at The Street Theatre along Childers Street at 6pm on Wednesday May 4. Happy hunting, y’all. Be sure to budget for a BMA ad. For more info: www.arts.act.gov.au

FROM THE BOSSMAN If social media has taught us anything, it’s that we’re an opinionated race. You won’t catch monkeys whiling away on comment-driven sites (although Chimp facebook* WOULD possibly be the greatest invention ever – OOK haz banana! <BUBBLES likes this>. That does it, I’m sending an email to Zuckerberg).

Back in my day (that is, three weeks ago) we’d just plod through a crappy day, suffer the indiscretions of our boss, be annoyed at our co-workers spoiling the results of the football match we’d taped the previous night, and be perturbed at the old lady counting out her penny jar at the bank thus ruining our precious lunch hour. “How was your day?” your wife/partner/flat mate/gay Philipino lover would ask at the end of such a day. “Shithouse,” you’d reply. Then you’d get on with the joy of an evening of relaxation.

Now, we’re happy to let fly with the most mundane of personal observations (Allan is having a piece of toast//Allan has finished toast//Allan is experiencing bowel movements) but equally we’re happy to pump the oxygen of publicity to such vacuous commentary. (LOL Did u have with vegemite?//LOL! Totes!) And don’t get me started on the spelling.

YOU PISSED ME OFF! Has someone yanked yer chain recently? Well send an email to editorial@bmamag.com and have your sweet vengeance.

And for the love of God, keep it brief! [All entries contain original spellings] To the fascist, gun-toting security bitch who rudely intercepted me as I innocently tried to withdraw MY cash from an ATM that was about to be serviced, you PISSED ME OFF. Learn some f@ cking manners, you cow. Your lead-ejaculating strap-on does NOT give you the right to be rude to people who inadvertently get in your way. I would have told you to f@ck off to your face but I’ve got manners! I hope you pull your trigger accidentally and blow a huge hole in your ego.

Lordy Lordy [Land]Lord, I’m on to you like a rash on cheese. You let yo fellow [hu]man live in conditions not fit to pay for, and when these same [hu]mans rent a room out, it leaves a sista wondering what she gotta do to rent a room that don’t smell like mould do?

Invest in yo investment. Don’t be too proud for pride.

If yo gonna have a house then have a home.

I have recently found myself at one of life’s opinion-laden crossroads, being both a father of a four-month-old who does not make sleep her bedfellow (Dad Joke #4,334) as well as entering the winter flu season. If there are two things in this world that people have an opinion on, it’s getting a child to sleep and how to deal with a cold…

“Oooo, that’s easy! Put your baby down at 6pm on the dot and you’ll be fine, they’ll sleep through the night//Feed them ‘til they vomit just before you put them down, they’ll be apples// Whatever you do don’t feed them before you put them to bed, starve them proper, and they’ll be pearly//Cuddle them close for 57 minutes then bathe the room in a pool of amber light, clap thrice, cite the Lord’s Prayer backwards and you’re set//Add a dab of lavender to milk, run a bath and put an orange in it…”

Ill are you?

“Try echinacea//Try garlic//Eat three//Eat four//For fuck’s sake drink lots of water//Don’t drink excessive water, you ape!// Stand on your head and sip orange juice from a silly straw, the sillier the better//Set yourself on fire and consume the ashes of the clothes you were wearing… It stings a bit, but you’ll forget all about your cold.”

Yup, we all have an opinion, some helpful, some useless, some just ridiculous and social media allows us to eagerly spray our advice like a 12-year-old with a super soaker. Our need for validation courses through our veins on a daily basis. But just remember the true purpose of advice my friends; to help others.

Whilst many of us can fall into the narcissistic need to be right all the time, the true informational gift bearers are the ones with a genuine desire to give selflessly of their time to help others.

Good luck sussing them out. I’m off to map out Chimp facebook; opinions welcomed.

ALLAN SKO allan@bmamag.com *many would argue this describes the current facebook

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another thing…

We return from the pub after a brief three hour session during which time Bobby has consumed six pints of real ale, a pint of stout and a couple of bourbons. By the time we get back to the house he has slumped, face down, on the back seat of the Range Rover and is snoring loudly. Usually I park up in the garage, but that confuses Bobby when he wakes up so today I crunch the four wheel drive up the gravel drive and park right at the front door, which I leave open so that his highness can get into the house when he wakes up in a panic needing the toilet.

To be honest I’m happy for a bit of peace and quiet. I’ve never had kids - I haven’t even had a girlfriend for about eight years so I guess the chance would be a fine thing - but I imagine that if I did it would be much like looking after Bobby Shrubbs, minus the eye-watering alcohol fumes. As you’ll remember, we’re off to Denmark tomorrow for a ‘where are they now’ style TV Show, where Bobby will perform a couple of Godhammer’s hits with the show’s house band. I’ll use the time I get now while he’s asleep to get out his favourite Les Paul, give it a polish and a new set of strings, and sort out some stage clothes for him (even though Bobby vaguely acknowledges the power of television in forming people’s opinions, if left to his own devices he’s still likely to turn up for any event in his favourite granddad shirt, dungarees, clogs and sheepskin coat, whatever the weather).

At first everything goes to plan. The Les Paul – a 59 Gold Top – is a beautiful, beautiful thing, Bobby’s pride and joy and treated accordingly. Tomorrow’s show is a ‘live’ one – there’ll be no miming, and the boss will be plugged in, so the strings are changed and tuned (I don’t play much myself, but know enough to get the bugger in tune when I do this sort of low-level tech work) and the touring flightcase is got out of the shed for the occasion. Clothes are selected; Rhona takes care of that side of things generally (though obviously not the shoes, which I’m still hoping will make it back to Carlton and his Wii in one piece), and a set of clothes that say ‘man in his late middle age who still knows where it’s at’ are selected and placed in a capacious suitcase which also has a padded section for the safe international transport of duty free booze. At least that’s what goes in there these days. A man-bag is also packed, containing all of Bobby’s many medicaments and an extra supply of sleeping tablets, a hangover from the days when Bobby’s inability to ‘keep normal hours’ meant that a little mickey finn slipped into his drink was the only way to get the man to sleep at all in order to avoid the wild-eyed, bedraggled Bobby that had a habit of scaring housewives in Middle America all through the seventies and eighties when he appeared on their daytime television screens hawking his latest hit album.

It’s then that I realise I haven’t got Bobby’s passport in hand. It’s not in his bedside table, and it’s not in the safe, which are the only two places I’ve ever seen him put it. I go downstairs and head back outside, where the beast is sitting upright but looking slightly dazed.

I’m dreading the answer, but I ask the question… scott adams - thirtyyearsofrnr@hotmail.com

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EVERY NIGHT

SHUFFLE tim galvin Newsflash Jon Stanhope - your recent Live in Canberra campaign missed the mark. Big city dwellers won’t be convinced to haul their leather sofa and 2.3 children down the federal highway by way of postcard snaps of beautifully empty parklands, a skyline monopolised by ancient airships or innocent gangs of soon to be culled kangaroos alone. To attract more visitors to the nation’s capital, you should simply commission a 20-feet high marble statue of THE ASTON SHUFFLE. Such is the popularity of the Berra-bred, bearded twosome, the mere presence of a chiseled likeness would be sure to increase our population by at least 15 percent.

Mikah Freeman and Vance Musgrove are nuclear fueled achievement machines set to ‘win’, recently taking out the coveted top spot in the national ITM top 50 DJ poll, securing a prime time slot on triple j as hosts of The Friday Night Shuffle and releasing their acclaimed debut album - not a bad 12 months in anyone’s book.

Knowing that a record can possibly have a boob moment in it is one thing, but when no one has ever heard it before and it’s still a boob moment, then that’s awesome!

“I don’t think any of those things were things we expected to happen and you have to pinch yourself every moment someone says ‘here is a laundry list of things’ but at the same time, amidst all of that we still try and have a ‘heads down, bums up’ attitude towards everything,” says Vance.

“In the same respect, as amazing as it is, it scares the living shit out of us and as awesome as it is, it just makes us want to get better as artists,” adds Mikah. “This meteoric rise has happened over a period of time and as quick as you get big you can fall.”

Tonight is a special night, as it heralds the Canberra launch party for their much-anticipated LP Seventeen Past Midnight, a fittingly diverse collection of musical memories, which has been a long time in the making. The audience is brimming with a lot of old faces, a warm mish mash of family and friends, most of whom have known the duo since they were old enough to operate a synthesizer.

“Our music is about a moment or a feeling, or something that has happened to us,” says Mikah, contemplatively, as Vance chimes in with a grin. “In fact I can exclusively reveal that an alternate album title was Can I Borrow a Feeling. Didn’t quite make it through in the end there.”

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It wasn’t original material that initially put the Shuffle on the map.

Their groundbreaking remixes for Malente, Claude Von Stroke and Chris Lake laid the foundation for a meteoric rise which sees them currently sitting on top of the tree as Australia’s most in-demand dance music producers/DJs. As most who have tried will attest to, the intrinsic journey that an album begets is another thing altogether.

“We always aspired to do an album, we always thought we had one in us but the distinction is between knowing you want to do it and having the aspiration to do it and feeling like you have got it together enough to know how. That was the thing that took a little bit of self discovery I think,” says Vance. “I mean you can work for four weeks on a record and it can be practically finished, but it doesn’t feel like it clicks, and then something that you have been working on for two minutes which is 12% finished can click and you go ‘right there is the essence of that’.”

Prior to the interview, the lads had just spent some quality time in the studio recording their latest installment of The Friday Night Shuffle, an offer that came about after the ITM results were announced, as Mikah explains.

“When they asked us to do the radio show, me and Vance were like ‘are you serious man?’ We didn’t have any experience, no ideas in that kind of thing and we aren’t exactly the most charismatic guys like ‘heeey, what’s going on!’” he laughs. “So when we thought about it and we processed it a bit, I think by that number one accolade, in triple j’s mind I think, is that people respect us and trust us in the music that we play. So the way we approached it then was that it’s not necessarily about us and our radio show, it’s about us curating two hours of music on triple j every Friday night. You know what I mean?”

Those who spent their New Year’s Eve on Bondi Beach would have seen the guys debut their new live show, a pad bashing, key stabbing electronic symphony which stole the show from headliners David Guetta and Armand Van Helden.

“It was such a build up,” says Mikah. “Like the album was pretty much done then, so we were focused on that.”

Noticeably excited, Vance continues “[It was all about] the little moments of ‘there are ten tracks here which nobody has heard’, and how are they going to react, and you are in the middle of playing it and you kind of look up from the keyboard and you see people with their hands in the air and chicks on dudes’ shoulders and stuff! It’s like they have never heard this record before and they like it! Knowing that a record can possibly have a boob moment in it is one thing, but when no one has ever heard it before and it’s still a boob moment, then that’s awesome!”

The Aston Shuffle will be getting people moving at Groovin The Moo on Sunday May 8 at the UC Meadows. Tickets are $99.90 + BF, through Moshtix.

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WHO: Vinyl lovers WHAT: Big record, CD and book sale WHEN: Sat April 30 WHERE: Dickson Tradies

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Who doesn’t love the dusty fingered aesthetic and giddy thrill of a rare find that a good record fair throws your way? Well we’re in luck, because playing out on Saturday April 30 will be the return of the aptly named BIG Record, CD and Book Sale to The Tradies in Dickson.

Some near 50,000 releases spanning all the decades and all the genres will be there, from pop, rock, metal, dance, R&B, blues, country AND western, classical, jazz, and everything in between. We have been assured there will be items for as little as $2, as well as $300+ rare gemstones. Books and CDs will also be for sale, ensuring a little something for everyone. Go forth, and cake your digits in dust!

WHO: Ciecmate WHAT: Game Over LP WHEN: Out now WHERE: All good rekkid stores

In the immortal game, there are few grand masters. They let their hands do the talking, issuing challenges where skill meets skill and strategy becomes reality. To succeed, you have to have knowledge and clarity: one false move and you’re lost. Ciecmate is in it for the long haul. Game Over is Ciecmate’s magnum opus. Entirely self-produced, recorded, mixed and mastered, with the exception of one track produced by fellow grim soothsayer Tornts, Game Over captures the jagged texture of Wu Tang, the enlightening messages of Poor Right-eous Teachers, and the savage truths of Immortal Technique. Check it now, mate.

WHO: Lowrider WHAT: Radelaide quartet currently killing it WHEN: Thurs May 12 WHERE: Transit Bar

It’s full steam ahead for Lowrider – the Adelaide quartet that are tipped to become one of the breakthrough acts of 2011.

After absolutely tearing the roof off the Hot Produce stage on the national Big Day Out circuit and no doubt doing the same at Bluesfest, not to mention the fact they were the national support for the John Legend tour, Lowrider are heading to the capital on Thursday May 12. As tens of thousands have now discovered, they are one of the country’s most exhilarating live acts, and they are currently in the best form of their career. Don’t miss out.

Heartache

Avenues

matt petherbridge

The marriage of Oscar nominated screenwriter and musicobsessed novelist Nick Hornby with the musical genius and convicted piano murderer BEN FOLDS is a match made in pop-culture heaven. Last year after numerous run-ins, (including Hornby’s inclusion of a Ben Folds five track Smoke in his music essay collection 31 Songs, and their first taste of co-writing on William Shatner’s 2004 ironic music comeback album Has Been), the genius pair finally delivered their first, full length collaboration Lonely Avenue. BMA spoke with Folds about sharing the creative process with Hornby and his latest project, building a home studio!

“At the moment I’m trying to set up a little place out the back of my house to make noise, basically, a little studio out the back so I can make stuff up. I’ve never really been able to do that at home,” Folds muses. “I started off with a four track tape machine and then I realised it would be a lot easier and more realistic if I just used a computer with Pro Tools on it.

I’ve got all of my favourite synthesizers from the studio in there, an upright piano, a toy bass and an Akai drum machine.”

I never have much material at all that hasn’t gotten onto an album. It’s not like I sit around and have a stockpile of music.

I guess it’s like, ‘A measured person always speaks when he has something to say’

Right now, Folds admits he’s still “cleaning up and making wires go in the right place,” before he gets to the point of laying down some new demos. Despite his ability to “jive” and “make up a lot of songs on stage”, he doesn’t consider himself a very prolific songwriter.

“I’m a very prolific song starter though!” he laughs. “I never have much material at all that hasn’t gotten onto an album. It’s not like I sit around and have a stockpile of music. I guess it’s like, ‘A measured person always speaks when he has something to say’.”

When I ask Folds how he first discovered Nick Hornby’s work, the phone almost goes dead silent as he stumbles over uncertain stuttering for a bit. “I guess it’s a boring story,” he chuckles. “We met a long time ago, maybe... I don’t know... 2002? I was reading his music, I mean, what? I was reading his books when I first went to the UK in about 1996. In addition to that, he was at some of the gigs as well, so eventually we hooked up.”

He still laughs about the inclusion of the Ben Folds Five track Smoke in Hornby’s music essay collection 31 Songs. “I thought it

was funny! I mean, he was really impressed by the lyrics and that’s a very high compliment but I sent him an email saying, ‘Thanks for the great compliment, I didn’t actually write those lyrics but I’m glad that you like it!’” says Folds.

Hornby and Folds worked largely by correspondence in the creation of Lonely Avenue. Hornby would slam down lyrics at blistering speed and email them to Folds, who would then accept the challenge to come up with some music, damn quick!

“He sent me lyrics through email and then I would pick those up and write the music around it. Most of the songs on the album were written that way. I chose the lyrics that lead the music most naturally for me and wrote what I thought made musical sense around them. I didn’t really get into the meaning of the songs while I was in the writing period, because it was like, ‘Holy shit!

Nick sent me lyrics’,” he laughs, maintaining that he rarely had to revise the lyrics.

“There were a couple of moments here and there but for the most part, they’re pretty much structured how he sent them.” It may come across as comical, but most of the music for Lonely Avenue was written on a toy bass!

“It was the only instrument I had behind my desk. You know how people carry those midget guitars for the plane? I don’t have one of those, but I have a really little, short scale bass instead!” says Folds. “It’s just easy and portable. I’d work out the chords and try to remember what key it was in, so by the time I got to the studio with a piano in it, I could dictate the music and arrangements to the band.”

Residing in the UK, it was impossible for Hornby to simply drop into the studio, but when he was nominated for an Academy Award – it looked like he may have been able to travel to the US! “That was going to be his big travel moment, then he got the bad news, he was nominated for Best Screenplay (for 2009’s An Education) and he couldn’t come,” Folds laughs.

As far as Folds’ Australian tour is concerned, he’s looking forward to returning to his former home. “I love Australia. It’s just got a good feeling about it, it’s so far away from here... maybe that’s why I like it!” he jokes. “I love being in Adelaide because that’s where most of the people I know are. I lived there for about four years, I wanted to try and make things easier on the kids but it was making it so difficult for me to tour regularly that we just all ended up back in the States.”

Ben Folds will be wowing audiences with his tunes on Wednesday May 11 at the Royal Theatre, National Convention Centre. Tickets are $96.35 + BF, and are available through Ticketek.

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DANCE THE DROP

Canberra is full of bears. They are all around us, all the time. “Well, I haven’t seen any,” you might say, in a confident and argumentative tone. “Bears are only native to certain continents including North and South America, Europe and Asia, so a statement like that is both ridiculous and offensive!” (Did you just read that in Arj Barkers voice? I did). I am of course not referring to your forest variety, furry picnic basket thief here, but rather the hordes of Canberrans who, as soon as the mercury dips below 18 degrees, choose to meander back to their toasty caves and hibernate for the chilly season.

Yes, your nipples get hard and smoking outside feels like you’re sucking in pure nitrogen, but that doesn’t mean that the music scene comes to a grinding halt. In fact, what better place to be than inside a heated room full of sweaty friends and strangers!

Academy warms up in May with a host of big room events beginning on Friday May 6 with Australia’s sexiest tech DJ Emily Scott. Peking Duk’s new monthly party Young Blood returns on Friday May 13 with one of my favourite sonic sophomores Northie headlining. Ministry of Sound wobbles your insides with the Sounds of Dubstep tour featuring Will Styles on Friday May 20 and finally on Friday may 27, trance guru Marlo lands back in Canberra for a special 3D event! Bangin!

Trinity Bar is like that hot girl who keeps rejecting your advances; it always seems to have something on every day of the week. The team has just launched not one, but two new weekly nights to fill the void in your party planner. The Wednesday and Thursday post work period is now home to Refreshing Afternoons where you can enjoy a free BBQ while soaking up a chilled soundtrack, and Sundays play host to Live Sundays with a new band every week.

But what about bass music? Well fear not young reverberation junkies, Low Freq moves away from its natural habitat at Transit Bar for a special event at Trinity on Friday April 29. All the regular misfits are here including Faux Real, Fourthstate, Scully, D.Wils, Ced Nada and something called a Giant Rocktopus.

In the spirit of our Shuffle-rich issue, I have to remind you all to grab a ticket to the Groovin the Moo spectacular taking place on Sunday May 8 at the University of Canberra just so you can support the lads in their quest to take over the world. Many of us have had evil world domination aspirations before but few have been able to realise them, so living vicariously through The Aston Shuffle should provide ample sustenance for all of us mere subordinates.

So grab your overpriced flannelette shirt and a thick pair of jeans and join the rest of us on the freezing footpaths of the inner city for another month of night-time celebrations. Be brave Canberra, be brave.

TIM GALVIN tim.galvin@live.com.au

myspace.com/pangnight

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SURFING THE WAVES OF SUCCES danika nayna

Unless you’re a BMA reading granny (good on you, Nan), you were not yet born when lindy hop and rockabilly made its appearance.

Lucky for us, the summery sounds of the retro beach and accompanying hipster fashion has made a swinging comeback. THE DRUMS hadn’t even released an EP when Let’s Go Surfing took over Australian radios. In fact, everything they did after packing up their rural American lives and headed for the Big Apple came way too easily.

After talking to guitarist and founding member Jacob Graham, my ideas of them being a Beach Boys reincarnation, donning shortshorts and playing bonfire parties on the beach were quashed. The truth is that they’re lovely and intelligent We were very musicians who are disgustingly talented caught up in at everything they touch and have a clever the idea of idea of what people might like. These Americana and creative types… it’s so unfair. and ies mov old

girl groups from the ‘50s; that idealised vision of the glory days of America

“Jon and I both had never played a guitar before. Never even touched one until we started this band and started recording songs and decided that we wanted to kind of just randomly, for fun, make a guitar record,” says Jacob, after telling of their unfavourable past as a failed electro-pop band called Goat Explosion. Hmmm.

On that note, you don’t have to listen too intently to work out The Drums’ music is a simple two or three chords with some whistles chucked in. The catchiness is just inescapable. So get the song Let’s Go Surfing into your head right now. What do you think of? Beaches?

Sun? Cruising down the boulevard with the top down on your sweet Jeep with a couple of surfboards in the back? I put that vision to Jacob and was surprised to find out he’s never waxed a board in his life. “It’s so strange because a lot of people think we sound really surfy,” Jacob says, to which I kindly point out that he sings multiple songs about or featuring surfing.

“Yes, you can’t really blame them! With that record specifically we were very caught up in the idea of Americana and old movies and girl groups from the ‘50s; that idealised vision of the glory days of America.”

So no, they don’t go surfing. In fact, Jacob grew up on a farm and met son of a pastor Jonathan on Bible camp, where they both discovered they were equally weird 11-year-olds who liked to collect old synthesisers and listen to Kraftwerk. They decided then and there that they would be bestest friends forever, and fair enough too because I don’t think a single other 11- year-old on the planet could find anything in common with those two. Cute. They’ll be bringing the summer sun to Groovin the Moo and I suggest you bask in their warmth and hold on to that California dream.

The Drums will be bringing the groove to Groovin The Moo on Sunday May 8. Tickets are through Moshtix, for $99.90 + BF.

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MERRY MARSUPIALS

VIVID ASPIRATIONS

ZOYA PATEL

justin hook

It strikes me as ironic that THE WOMBATS named themselves after the famously slow-moving, obstinate Australian marsupial – the band have never been more busy. With promotion heating up for their upcoming album, This Modern Glitch, and an Australian tour as part of the Groovin The Moo line-up coming up in May, this band is anything but lazy! Case in point, when I chat to Tord, the band’s bassist, it’s just past midday in London, and he’s been awake for hours doing promo interviews. “I got Ideally, we’ll get a break for breakfast, though, which a day off in one is nice,” he says, wearing the hectic of the places schedule like a trooper. play re we

When Steve Pavlovic was announced to curate this years VIVID SYDNEY many an eyebrow arched. Following Brian Eno (2009) and Lou Reed/Laurie Anderson (2010) the choice appeared humble.

It was when the line-up was announced that the knives were well and truly unsheathed. Pavlovic, founder of Modular Records, was accused of stacking the line-up with artists from his own label (Tame Impala, Cut Copy, The Avalanches) with a few extra on the side (Spiritualized, Sonny Rollins) for flavour. He was also blithely ignoring an obvious conflict of interest and using the governmentfunded Vivid Festival to promote and further the commercial success of bands on his label. It set the mainstream media and blogosphere on fire.

whe the festival, and get to meet some locals, and have a few drinks, and a few good parties

I’ve heard tales of their grueling promo timetable for their debut album, A Guide to Love, Loss and Desperation, and how it almost ruined all three band members – is this album going to be equally exhausting to promote?

“It’s been slightly better organised this time around,” Tord reassures me. “I guess when you’ve done it once, you know all the pitfalls, and what you shouldn’t do, and how much you can take.”

The negative energy from their last touring stint caused a change in their sound, when the band sat down to write for the new album.

“When we came off touring, I think we kind of wanted to get away from what we did on the first record, and some of the songs we wrote were really grungy, like almost heavy, and it was a rebellion I guess against what we did, or what we used to be.” The record label weren’t entirely pleased to lose their larrikin-esque pop sound, and suggested a bit of a retune. Even, so, the edgier sound still remains.

“I still think the music is darker in the sense that it’s more sculptured, and there’s more synth on this record than the first. I think it sounds more mature,” Tord muses. Another interesting thing is that the album had four different producers work on it. “I didn’t really know whether it was going to work, because it really is different working with each different producer,” Tord says. “But I think the only thing that does is it makes it more interesting.”

With the album due out at the end of April in the UK (and presumably around the same time here in Australia), the band are keen to hit the road. Playing smaller cities for Groovin The Moo is particularly exciting, Tord says. “We’ve been to Australia a few times, and it’s always the same cities. We always go to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, and we don’t really get to see anything else other than the cities,” he explains. “So it’ll be good to see and meet people from smaller places in Australia as well! Ideally, we’ll get a day off in one of the places where we play the festival, and get to meet some locals, and have a few drinks, and a few good parties.”

Partying with The Wombats? I doubt anyone could resist!

The Wombats will be enthralling audiences at Groovin The Moo on Sunday May 8. Ticket are $99.90 + BF, through Moshtix.

Some pretty serious accusations, but Pavlovic is having none of it. Prior to our late morning conversation he’d spent a lazy hour or so down at the beach and certainly didn’t sound in siege mentality. “I guess if you cared what people say it’d be relevant.

I care about what real people think and I have things to share with those people. It’s the industry side that doesn’t allow me to care what anyone thinks; I couldn’t give a shit about that side. Some of the music blogs and websites out there – it’s really just five nerds from East Brunswick in cardigans being holier than thou.”

Some of the music blogs and websites out there – it’s really just five nerds from East Brunswick in cardigans being holier than thou

Whilst not entering a debate about the roster, Pavlovic will happily discuss constraints placed upon him. “I was brought on in December last year and had to announce by March. That’s not much time to pull it together. A lot of touring artists know what they’re doing six to 12 months in advance. There were lots of acts we were unable to get. But there’s no point losing any sleep over it or who they were because it just didn’t happen.”

There were also additional constraints like the fact there’s some festival or other on every weekend. What was once exclusive and worthy of anticipation is now as frequent – and often as lowbrow and violent – as a football match. Pavlovic, who got his start in the industry touring Mudhoney and Nirvana, has also run the occasional festival; the great long lost zeitgeist-capturing festival of the Australian circuit, Summersault in the mid 1990s.

Vivid is a recent addition to the calendar and as such runs the risk of adding to our general festival fatigue. Pavlovic, unsurprisingly, disagrees. “I don’t think so. The last few years have been all about 30,000 kids in a park. People are moving away from that to a more intimate thing. We (Modular) would like to be doing festivals from a business point of view, but we can’t think of anything that we could offer that is different. I look at the majority of the festivals out there and think same shit different station.” Agree with Pavlovic or not, but he’s trying to change the station.

For the all information on Vivid Sydney head to vividsydney.com .

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ALL AGES On Friday April 29, New York ambiet/alternative/indie quartet As Tall As Lions will swing through the capital as part of The Sound of Animals Touring. Joining them at the Tuggeranong Alliance Church in Calwell will be unique Central Coast based folk-western/indie band Elliot the Bull. Tickets are $23.50 through Oztix.

Looking for a cheap laugh? On Friday May 13 you have a chance to get them when Akmal steps up on stage at the Canberra Theatre Centre for The Life of Akmal. Tickets cost just $34.90 for concession and $39.90 full price from Canberra Ticketing. Doors open at 8pm.

Finally, Groovin The Moo is right around the corner. This is your final chance to purchase your tickets for just $99.90 (+bf) from Moshtix or www.gtm.net.au. The line-up for 2011 will feature all the best from home and abroad, including AC Slater (USA), Art Vs Science, Architecture In Helsinki, The Aston Shuffle, Birds of Tokyo, Bliss n Eso, Crash the Curb, Cut Copy, Darwin Deez (USA), Datarock (NOR), Drapht, Dr. Don Don, The Drums, The Ellis Collective Band, Fun Machine, Gotye, The Go! Team (UK), Gyroscope, The Holidays, Horrorshow, House of Pain (USA), The Jezabels, Nina Las Vegas, Raw City Rukus, Sampology, UNKLE – live (UK), Washington and The Wombats (UK). All the action will take place at the UC Meadows on Sunday May 8 beginning at 10.30am.

British indie/pop-rock boy James Blunt is to our delight touring the country once again, this time in support of his latest album Some Kind of Trouble. On Wednesday May 18 the Some Kind of Trouble Australian Tour will bring Blunt with his special guest act, Melbourne’s The Verses, to The Royal Theatre. Tickets cost between $89.45 and $99.10 depending on seating from any Ticketek outlet.

You are in for a treat Canberra, with a unique opportunity to hear the upbeat, melodic stylings of Ben Folds. Folds is coming all the way from the USA to embark on the Lonely Avenue Australian tour with special guest Kate Miller-Heidke. The pair will be stopping by The Royal Theatre on Wednesday May 11. Tickets are $96.05 (+bf).

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Metal five-piece Emmure from Queens, New York are touring the Australian coasts to share with the masses the glory of their latest album on the Speaker of the Dead Australian tour. On Wednesday June 15 the boys will hit the stage the Tuggeranong Youth Centre with Sydney’s Shinto Katana, who always work up a good crowd on their visits to the Capital. I would recommend buying tickets in advance for this one, they cost only $27 (+bf) from any Moshtix outlet. Doors open at 6pm, so go get your mosh on!

NAOMI FROST allagescolumn@gmail.com

LOCALITY

Just a few of the colourful characters at the 2011 National Folk Festival. Read the full review in our May 11 issue.

JULIA WINTERFLOOD julia@bmamag.com

PHOTOS BY COLE BENNETTS JULIA WINTERFLOOD julia@bmamag.com

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both composers of the minimalist music style. Steve Reich, in particular, is credited with pioneering this style that has given rise to sampling. According to Chris, “Reich is one of the most influential musicians of the 20th Century, with DJs, ambient music and many others following in his slip stream. His music involves mesmeric repetitive rhythms, it is very striking.”

GEOMETRIC PERFECTION ZOE PLEASANTS What do Canberra, Walter Burley Griffin and Schubert all have in common? According to Chris Latham, director of the CANBERRA INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL, they all embody perfection.

“Canberra is a geometrically perfect city, a work of art,” explains Chris. And Walter Burley Griffin was the creative genius who, together with his wife Marion, conceived the design for Canberra.

Griffin was unconventional; he took a risk and designed his vision of an ideal city. “So, what better way to celebrate the perfection of the Griffin design, and Canberra as the manifestation of this design, than with the perfect music of Schubert?” asks Chris, who is clearly very passionate about his job.

If references to Schubert haven’t prompted you to check whether you’re reading a stray copy of your Grandma’s Limelight magazine instead of your BMA, you might be thinking to yourself that finding a link between Canberra and Schubert is a bit of a long bow to draw.

Well maybe it is, but if it is the excuse needed for this eclectic set of concerts, let’s draw it. Chris wants “to take you on a guided tour through your city” with a diverse set of concerts in venues all across Canberra that, of course, will be featuring plenty of interesting bowing (and not just the music of Schubert).

I asked Chris to talk me through the festival, which runs for 12 days and includes over 30 concerts. I asked what, in particular, he would recommend for classical music novices (albeit experienced connoisseurs of good music) to try? He replied with talk of a didjeridu on Red Hill; the music of Phillip Glass, Steve Reich and Schubert; four sexy Danish guys; and a very different piano recital.

Chris’s first recommendation is the concert that kicks off the festival atop Red Hill, one of the geometric nexus points of Canberra (Dawn Voices, Wednesday May 11 at 7am, Red Hill Lookout). Chris describes it as “a rock-out concert with half an hour of amazing didjeridu”. Well worth getting up early for! Next on Chris’ list is The Fourth Estate, Wednesday May 11 at 6:30pm, Kings Hall, Old Parliament House. In Chris’ words this concert features “really groovy, ambient music which will lull you into a trance, very beautiful”.

To honour the Griffins, the festival is featuring the music of contemporary American composers Steve Reich and Philip Glass

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Reich’s music can be heard at Sounding the High Court, Friday May 13 at 12pm, at the High Court of Australia, and at three concerts at the Fitters’ Workshop, Kingston: Lux Aeterna, Friday May 20 at 8:15pm; The Kuusisto Brothers, Saturday May 21 at 5pm and Music for Eighteen Musicians, Sunday May 22 at 2pm. Philip Glass’s music will be featured in the opening Dawn Voices concert on Red Hill and in a concert on the final day of the festival at the opposite end of Canberra, atop Mount Ainslie, (Mt Ainslie: The Revealing, Sunday May 22 at 11am, Mount Ainslie Lookout.)

For some bowing of strings that are easy on both the eye and the ear, Chris recommends the Danish String Quartet. Four good looking, young, talented Danish guys playing music with verve and passion: need I say more? They are performing in their own concert on Friday May 13 at 6pm, Albert Hall and as part of other concerts during the festival.

Schubert is featured heavily throughout the festival program including three dedicated concerts of his works: Schubert: Transcendent Perfection, Monday May 16 at 7:30pm, National Portrait Gallery; Schubert Quintet, Tuesday May 17 at 6pm, and Schubert Unveiled, Saturday May 21 at 8pm both at Fitters’ Workshop, Kingston. Schubert was a prolific composer who wrote more than 1000 compositions during his short life. Exhausted, he died of syphilis at the young age of 31 before his talent was fully appreciated. Chris describes his music as “a musical Mona Lisa, sad but beautiful, cathartic, music to turn to for solace.”

For my money, one of the most interesting concerts of the festival will be the Vikings of the Sunrise concert, Friday May 20 at 6pm, Fitters’ Workshop, Kingston. This concert features the music of Stephen Scott and his Bowed Piano Ensemble. This ensemble takes a foray into the interior of the piano. As Chris explains “you will hardly recognise the sound of the piano, it is unique, interesting and a great experience.” Chris went on to explain that the ensemble “is made up of students from Colorado College in the States who have been taught by Stephen Scott throughout the year and then, during their summer holidays, go on tour.” What a great concept! And trust Chris to link this back to Canberra, “just as Walter Burley Griffin came up with a completely different idea for a city, Stephen Scott has found a completely different way to play the piano!”

Finally, Chris recommends finishing your festival with the Finnish vocal ensemble, Rajaton (Rajaton Returns, Sunday May 22 at 5pm, Canberra Theatre Centre). But wait, there’s more: concerts in our iconic buildings; a concert that involves being driven all around Canberra in a bus; and concerts featuring the music of Mahler, Mozart, Bach, Debussy and Vivaldi. Get amongst it and enjoy.

The Canberra International Music Festival runs from Wednesday May 11 to Sunday May 22. For full program details go to www.cimf.org.au .

The collaboration between Bonachela and Bosso is just beginning to hit its stride, at the beginning of what could potentially be a longstanding, renowned relationship. Nonetheless, it begs the question of whether the two artists see themselves now as almost intrinsically linked. “I hope that Ezio and I will find ourselves working together again many times and I believe that when we do we will continue to discover and share inspiration from many aspects of humanity and beauty yet to be discovered in this world” Bonachela says.

BREATHE IN BEN HERMANN In 2009, choreographer Rafael Bonachela gave dance audiences We Unfold - his first production as Artistic Director for the Sydney Dance Company and his first in collaboration with composer Ezio Bosso. We Unfold toured globally to widespread acclaim, giving Bonachela his first major success with SDC and also signalling Bonachela and Bosso as one of the contemporary dance world’s newest and greatest collaborations.

Bonachela and Bosso will return to the Canberra Theatre Centre this May with SDC’s BETWEEN BREATH AND FORM as part of its world premier tour season. The production is a double-bill featuring 6 Breaths and LANDforms; two productions which Bonachela describes as being “very different in flavour, so we thought they would complement each other very well.”

As with We Unfold, Bonachela and Bosso have taken an organic approach to the productions’ creative development, encouraging improvisation and the creation of a complimentary, symbiotic relationship between Bonachela’s choreography and Bosso’s composition. “There is no formula as such between Ezio and me,” Bonachela says. “Sometimes the idea for the dance comes before the music and informs the score very strongly and the work is then born out of this strong idea and the music follows.”

Bonachela admits that since the success of We Unfold, he has approached his work with greater confidence and a sense of freedom, but stops short of conceding that this confidence, or his position as Artistic Director, has significantly altered his work. “I’m more confident because I know so much about Sydney and Australia and my new life now,” he says. “But also I have gathered together a fantastic ensemble of dancers during my two years as Artistic Director and they inspire incredible confidence and pride. But you have to remember that when I wear my ‘choreographer’ hat and go into the studio with the music and the dancers, I am in a different world to that of Artistic Director in many ways. That world takes over for that time of creation where I always want to make the best piece I have ever made.”

Between Breath and Form will play at the Canberra Theatre Centre from May 5-7. Tickets available from Canberra Theatre Centre.

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ARTISTPROFILE: Melanie Tait

What do you do? Broadcaster, producer, author, playwright, procrastinator.

When did you get into it? I’ve been scribbling dreams since I could hold a pencil. One of my scribbled dreams became a play called The Vegemite Tales, which played in London for seven years and made me legit.

Who or what influences you as an artist? Heartbreak and the music that goes with it. Mostly. I seem to be someone who’s most creative when things are a bit shit. Plus a slew of great writers who make me want to up the ante: Truman Capote, Margaret Atwood, Tony Kushner, Caryl Churchill, Gwen Harwood, Geraldine Brooks, EL Doctorrow, Sarah Jones, Nora Ephron, Caleb Lewis.

What’s your biggest achievement/proudest moment so far? I don’t imagine I’ll ever be able to get over how audiences connected with The Vegemite Tales, but outside that Now Hear This!, a storytelling night I’ve conceived and curated with the ABC and The Street Theatre makes my heart beat a little faster and my lips curve upward every time I think about it.

What are your plans for the future? To extend the reach Now Hear This! has further than Canberra. To conjure up a mesmerising play.

To pen a cracker book. To write a screenplay provoking as much grinning and heart clutching as Hannah and Her Sisters. To keep chugging out ABC CanberrArts. To convince my friends to stop f’n changing their surnames when they get married.

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What makes you laugh? I’m not being accentist but… West Country, Essex and Welsh accents. And Midwestern American accents. And Bowral accents.

What pisses you off? Sexism and the language around it makes me CRAZY. Except, curiously, when it’s coming from the mouth of a 23-year-old Eddie Murphy in Delirious.

What’s your opinion of the local scene? I think Canberra is an incredibly safe space for an artist. It’s a place to try new things without a huge amount of pressure. I dig its colour and eccentricity.

Still, I’d like to see some of my favourite theatremakers step outside their comfort zones and get more ambitious, serious and committed to expanding their work.

What are your upcoming projects? I’m a resident playwright at The Street Theatre, so when I’m not working on Now Hear This! and ABC CanberrArts, I’m busting my gut trying to finish my play In The Park.

Contact info: tait. melanie@ abc.net.au

bit PARTS WHO: Anyone with a story to tell WHAT: Now Hear This!

WHEN: Entries open now WHERE: abc.net.au/canberra Have you got a great story to tell? Now Hear This! is an entertaining evening created by 666 ABC Canberra and The Street Theatre as an opportunity for Canberrans to share their personal stories. Your story can be funny, sad, embarrassing, uplifting, strange, risqué, bawdy, extraordinary or simple – as long as it’s a true story from your life and matches the theme of Love is a Four Letter Word. There are a couple of rules for your ten minute story: it’s not stand up comedy, it’s not a confessional, it’s not a raging diatribe and storytellers won’t be relying on anything but their memory. As part of this experience they are also offering a workshop for the storytellers selected, which will be presented by 2007 UK Storyteller of the Year, Rachel Rose Reid. Visit abc.net. au/canberra for more details.

WHO: Alister Spence WHAT: Renowned jazz pianist WHEN: Sat May 7 WHERE: The Street Theatre Renowned Sydney jazz pianist Alister Spence returns to Canberra with his new trio MRS on Saturday May 7 for the three week run of shows that is hellosQuare’s Peking Spring Festival. Featuring Sydney heavyweights Mike Majkowski on bass and Finn Ryan on drums, MRS take over The Street Theatre’s Street 2 for a night of wild freewheeling improvisation, supported by the guitar swells and low end wobble of Canberra’s own Mornings. The night starts at 8pm, tix $18 or $12 concession. Bookings are essential – either at the box office, online atwww.thestreet.org.au or via phone on 6247 1223.

WHO: artsACT WHAT: ACT Arts Fund WHEN: Entries open now WHERE: arts.act.gov.au The ACT Arts Fund is one of the main ways the ACT Government provides direct support to the arts. Each year applications are invited from all artists, groups and organisations wishing to undertake arts programs, projects and activities in the ACT. The 2012 ACT Arts Fund will close on 5pm Wednesday June 8 2011 for applications to the Project Funding, Communities Working With Artists Funding, Program Funding and ACT Creative Arts Fellowships categories. All applicants are encouraged to attend a one hour information session held at The Street Theatre on Wed May 4 at 6pm which will outline the types of funding available and provide helpful hints on submitting an application. For more info head to the website.

WHO: Visual whiz kids WHAT: Last Friday Drinks WHEN: Fri April 29, 5pm WHERE: National Portrait Gallery The time has come again to party it up at the NPG for Last Fridays Drinks. On Friday April 29 they are laying out the red carpet and going on a trip down memory lane as they channel Stuart Campbell portraits of Aussie film stars of the ‘70s and ‘80s. Be prepared for retro tunes supplied by Jemist, video mashups of old-school Aussie films by Luke Penders and Travis H Heinrich, and even the chance for a bit of star-spotting. As the chills of autumn have already headed our way, come on down, warm up with a few beverages under the outdoor heaters or cosy up in the Gordon Darling hall.

WHO: Canberra Reparatory Society WHAT: Humble Boy, written by Charlotte Jones WHEN: Fri May 6 – Sat May 21 WHERE: Theatre 3 All is not well in the Humble hive. 35-year-old Felix Humble is a Cambridge astro-physicist engaged in what he hopes is groundbreaking research. Following the sudden death of his father, Felix returns home to find that all sorts of changes have taken place during his absence. His father’s beloved garden is neglected, and his mother’s behaviour difficult to understand. “It is a wonderful honeycomb of ideas - about bereavement, black holes, mothers... fathers, gardening, ambition, disappointment and bees,” said Kate Kellaway of The Observer. Humble Boy was the winner of the Canberra Critics’ Circle Best New Play Award 2002, and the People’s Choice Best New Play Award 2002. canberrarep.org.au .

WHO: The 2011 Epson ACT Australian Institute of Professional Photography WHAT: Annual Awards Exhibition WHEN: Opening night Thurs May 5, 7pm. Running ‘til Sun May 15 WHERE: The Artworks, Fyshwick The ACT Division of the Australian Institute of Professional Photography presents an exhibition of award winning photographs that were judged at the 2011 Epson ACT AIPP Professional Photography Awards in Sydney. “The exhibition will include captivating images from Canberra’s best professional photographers, showcasing a wide variety of photographic styles including landscape, illustrative, portrait, family, wedding and commercial photography,” said Ben Kopilow, ACT AIPP President.

The AIPP is the peak industry body for professional photographers in Australia, and strives to promote and maintain the highest standards of professional competence and business ethics in the industry.

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KIWI KROONERS

WORLD-WIZE BUT NOT WEARY

Alisha Skerrett

Lauren Bicknell

By the sounds of things KORA will be in their element at this year’s Gum Ball Festival. With a love of jamming, surfing, and hanging out, headlining the chilled out, two-day music, camping and arts festival in New South Wales’ Hunter Valley is the perfect gig for this fivepiece band. The band’s guitarist, Stu, who also dabbles in keys and vocals, says they’re also looking forward to catching up with family in Newcastle. “Newcastle has the meanest beach and swell. I wouldn’t mind going out for a wave while I’m there. Plus my Aunty Momo cooks the meanest kai (food).”

“This music is about life. It’s about the people and this planet, the world we live in today, the challenges that prepare us, the history that inspires us to change, the battles that surround us and the victories that wait for us, this era that demands our attention and the training of our minds to be mighty.” (Worldwize intro, 2011)

Hailing from the beach town of Whakatane, in New Zealand’s North Island it’s no wonder these guys make everything they do seem effortless.

The experimental rock/funk collective is made up of four Maori brothers and the token white guy Dan McGruer.

Their name is actually the brothers’ surname, and is from the Whakatohea iwi (tribe). For some people, working with family would be a nightmare, but for these guys it’s just as laidback as their attitude.

We’ve seen some pretty mean sights from snowy Japan, to the dark avenues of Amsterdam

“Working with the boys has been wicked. I mean, together we’ve seen some pretty mean sights from snowy Japan, to the dark avenues of Amsterdam, to the humidity of Singapore and the fastness of London.

Not to mention Australia!”

Despite the occasional disagreement the guys have produced something unique, powerful and popular. “We have come up with some very sick stuff together, for instance our new intro track we’ve been playing live lately, Candy Cane. I like that song, I like it a lot. It’s highly energetic straight from the word go.”

Kora’s debut self-titled album was released in NZ in 2007 and shot straight to the top of the Official NZ charts; debuting in the number one slot, and has now reached double platinum sales. The guys are currently working on another album and playing at Gum Ball was an opportunity they couldn’t miss despite being in the middle of studio time. They’re looking forward to seeing Space Invadas, and taking some time out to eat, drink, jam and listen to the bands. They also plan on trying some of the local produce.

“We are definitely going to indulge in a bit of wine, as we are keen wine drinkers. I’m a pinot noir man myself, so hope there’s a bit of that there.” I doubt the guys will be disappointed!

The seventh annual Gum Ball kicks off on Friday April 29, featuring 22 acts including, Custom Kings, Dirty York, Resin Dogs and The Bamboos. For more info and tickets visit: www.thegumball.com.au. Tickets are also available through Oztix.

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BLUE KING BROWN are making themselves heard across the world.

They can own a small room or fill a stadium with their inescapable sound. Frontwoman Natalie Pa’apa’a said, “We sing about what’s going on in our world, from our perspective, but we address it in a way that we hope will inspire people to help them to feel empowered as opposed to guilty… we all have the power to make a difference and united We sing about we have incredible power.” what’s going

on in our world, from our perspective, but we address it in a way that we hope will inspire people to help them to feel empowered

The band is planning to honour Canberra as the first stop in their Australian tour promoting their energetic new album Worldwize Pt 1- North & South. Natalie said they’ve always been a touring band. After Blue King Brown had been playing together for just a few months they headed up the east coast. “Before we were into the studio and before any of that we were always and have always been very focussed on performing live and our large show and literally getting the music to the people.”

While they’re well known for their festival appearances, a Blue King Brown gig is a different experience. “What I love about playing a smaller venue, or indoors, or playing our own shows is that we really get the chance to deliver the full picture and landscape of a Blue King Brown show.” There are a couple of main differences between this latest album and their first, Stand Up. Natalie said this album is more focussed on urban-based genres and there was a larger amount of post-production involved. “We took our time with it and just made sure it was as dope as we wanted it to be before we released it.”

If you’re still thirsty for more BKB though, you can check out another collaboration they did with Gurrumul Yunupingu. Gathu Mawula [revisited] displays a coming together of two distinct styles to create something unique and beautiful.

The busy artists hope to be able to keep performing the very special track when they can. “Wherever our paths cross over… I hope that we will get together and perform that song, I hope that we might see him out there on the road and here and there. We’ll hopefully be able to keep playing it live because it’s a real blast.” But if you can’t catch them together in a live setting the video they made is also well worth a watch.

Blue King Brown will be playing in Canberra with special guests Diafrix on Thursday May 12 at the ANU Bar. Tickets can be bought through Ticketek for $36.55.

THE REALNESS First up this month is the debut full length from Collarbones, a duo who live in separate cities, but through the wonders of modern technology have combined their talents on Iconography out now on Two Bright Lakes. The fellas obviously share a vision, as the album has a wonderful cohesion of sound and ideas, taking influence from a myriad of styles to create a wholly unique and individual sound.

Iconography is a record that commands your attention and repeated listens. It’s out now! There is definitely something magical bubbling in the Australian electronica scene at the moment, as along with the aforementioned Collarbones, comes the return of Sydney trio Seekae with their second LP +Dome on Rice Is Nice/Pop Frenzy.

From the first few seconds, it is clear that +Dome is going to be something special, guitars building into a wash of distortion and reverb before the stop-start fractured rhythms emerge and take hold.

Designed to work perfectly as a headphone listening experience, there are also selections that will do damage on the right dancefloor.

One of the best records I’ve heard this year, no doubt. You need this record. Repping Melbourne town, Declan Kelly aka Dream Kit has just dropped his debut EP Future Tense via Two Bright Lakes. A real multi-talent, Kelly is a DJ, sound designer, broadcaster and producer and his sound takes in influence from bass music, Detroit techno and downbeat electronic hip-hop.

For those wanting their sounds a little sweeter and loved-up, the debut record from Melbourne duo Oscar + Martin should hit all the right chords. Having recently supported Caribou and Four Tet, their debut LP For You is out now again through the busy Two Bright Lakes label. Full of vulnerable melodies, r’n’b laden hooks and cut-npaste fuzzy tape loop samples, these fellas have dipped into their love of various genres to create their own set of tunes about youth, love and the power of moving on.

Releasing their final album this April is four-piece Snowman.

Absence is released through Dot Dash and has been designed as a swan-song of sorts, “a parting gift... a hometown farewell kiss” according to the band. The album is wrapped up in the story of two lovers, one of whom passes away, while the other tries to communicate with the other’s ghost. Sound interesting? You don’t even know the half! This is an intricately crafted, beautifully melancholy record and a perfect note for Snowman to go out on.

Not for the feint of heart mind you, it is dark and brooding but electrifying music that defies any sort of genre classification. I’m hooked on it and will likely be so for a long while yet.

Finally this month, is the sophomore album from New York’s Cold Cave. For all those missing that industrial warehouse vibe of the ‘80s (they would probably hate me writing that) then Cherish The Light Years will be your new best friend. This is that Cure, Sixousie & The Banshees, New Order type shit for the ‘now’, full of pulsing electronic, layers and layers of distortion and ‘sunglasses at night’ style Joy Division vocals steez. Equal parts throwback and fresh vision, this is great stuff.

To hear music from all the above and much, much more, tune to The Antidote on 2XX 98.3FM every Tues night from 9.30pm.

ROSHAMBO roshambizzle@yahoo.com.au

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TIME TRAVELLER

FRESH AS SPRING

PETER ROSEWARNE

ALISHA SKERRETT

CW STONEKING speaks just the way he sings, in a disjointed yet understandable speech, somewhat like Louis Armstrong, and with as equally a wonderfully husky strength. He’s not putting it on for stage presence. Stoneking’s albums may contain characters like King Hokum because when Stoneking writes a song, “a story emerges.” But what you hear, what you see, is the real deal. And yet, Stoneking attests, “I don’t think I sound very 1930s, my stuff is not the same as old stuff. I think mine sounds more like rough-hewn pop music made by a 1980s bogan with a weird voice who’s heard a bunch of old records.”

If you see music as a garden with different sounds, textures and feelings, then POLLEN TRIO is the band for you. Drummer Evan Dorian says they’re always trying to achieve texture in music like that of a garden in spring. “Sometimes I picture a garden scene with bits of crap in the air. I’m hoping we can sound like that.” The Canberra band formed in 2008 during their music studies at ANU, and even though the name Pollen Trio was ‘borrowed’ from a mate, it fits their style perfectly. “A friend and I set up a trio for a gig and he named it Pollen Trio. I liked the name and thought it suited what we were trying to achieve so asked if I could steal it,” Evan says.

To the amateur ear though (that is, my ear) the similarities between Stoneking’s music and older artists’ music is uncanny. The difference is that today there are (at least technologically) arguably fewer limits when it comes to developing music.

The band is made up of Austin Bucket on piano, Rhodes and pedals, Evan Dorian on drums, Christopher Pound on double bass and new addition and Miroslav Bukovsky who plays trumpet and percussion. Having finished studying the guys enjoy being free from the confines uni placed on their musical freedom. “It gives us the feeling we can make our own music now and not jump through the hoops uni assignments require.”

I think [my music] sounds more like roughhewn pop music made by a 1980s bogan with a weird voice who’s heard a bunch of old records

Regardless of the time and place, Stoneking acknowledges that “good musicians make good stuff whatever style they have, or whatever influences they have.

People have natural inclinations to the type of sounds they like.

You can hear what sounds I like from my record. I went for a long time where I couldn’t buy new music because I could only afford to buy what directly related with what I was doing, which was old blues. I don’t believe in the term ‘modern music.’ Modern art stretches all the way back to the 1880s but modern music is only supposed to be what’s on the radio now?”

Stoneking raises a good point. Where do you draw the line, and should you? “I like gospel music,” he imparts. “I’m not going to go round the world snatching up styles for every new record though - that’s not really where I’m at. I tend to write in slow-ish tempos when I’m making stuff by myself, but you get a few thousand people together, they want fast stuff, so I’ll try to make some like that for those occasions.”

Stoneking seems adamant about distinguishing his music not just apart from his ‘modern’ contemporaries but also from those he draws influence. He is as eager as ever to approach music his own way. “I always wanted a brass band to play on my original songs.

After I put out King Hokum I could afford to use one and by the time I did Jungle Blues, I was really getting into writing the tunes specifically with the band in mind. I usually do some solo numbers at my shows too. There’s some flavours of tune that just go better with a voice and a guitar.”

Before touring overseas once more, Stoneking will be performing as part of The Gum Ball festival, in the beautiful Belford. The Gum Ball Festival runs on Friday April 29 and Saturday April 30. Tickets and info are available through www.thegumball.com.au .

28

We start with something and hope for it to take on a life of its own. We want to make changes in texture, tempo and density

Improvised jazz is what the trio is trying to achieve when they perform. “We start with something and hope for it to take on a life of its own. We want to make changes in texture, tempo and density.”

For all those out there who, like me, have no idea what the texture of music is, Wikipedia defines musical texture as the way the melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic materials are combined in a composition, thus determining the overall quality of sound of a piece.

The guys are playing as a part of the Peking Spring Festival, a three week festival of free and paid performances in Canberra between Thursday April 21 and Saturday May 14.

Other acts include Kim Salmon, Candlesnuffer, MoHa! of Norway, Horatio Pollard hailing from the United Kingdom, The Black Moth Pure Evil Trio and Loveshy. “It’s going to be a great festival and we’re pretty happy to have been asked to play.” The guys are also releasing a new CD at their gig and hope it will be well received. “People should come to our gig if they’re interested in seeing music they haven’t seen before and are interested in music that’s spontaneous. Go Peking Spring!”

The Pollen Trio will be playing the Peking Spring Festival on Saturday May 14 at The Street Theatre. Tickets are available through www.thestreet.org. au for $18, or $12 concession.

I couldn’t give a fuck but I still have to do it within a budget, which normally is zero - or pretty close to

SCATTERED YET STRONG peter krbavac Formed in 1979 in the lounge room of a Surry Hills house, Sydney post-punk group SCATTERED ORDER began as sound engineer Mitch Jones, and musician Michael Tee. Shortly after forming the band, the pair, along with a few musician friends, founded the M Squared label. It was a fertile period for the Sydney music scene: charged with the spirit of punk rock and armed with the first wave of affordable home recording equipment. “Before then, the only alternative was to pay a fortune and go to a professional studio to get recorded,” Mitch confirms.

“There was no in between: it was either that or record it onto a cassette player, but as soon as Tascam started bringing out multitracks, you had small studios starting to take off.”

“A lot of the stuff I thought wouldn’t stand up has stood up, which has been really nice,” Mitch says of M Squared’s old recordings.

“It brings back a lot of happy memories for all of us I think, because at that time we just couldn’t give a fuck what we were doing, we were just doing it.” This attitude hasn’t changed either, he adds. “I’ve realised that I’m never going to make money out of it so therefore I just have to tailor what I do. I can’t spend money I don’t have, so I’ve just brought that kind of sensibility to the couldn’t-give-a-fuck attitude,” he laughs. “I couldn’t give a fuck but I still have to do it within a budget, which normally is zero - or pretty close to.” And as Scattered Order enters its fourth decade, there’s no end in sight. “I still enjoy playing this sort of music,” Mitch says. “I think the band’s continually developing. I don’t know where it’s going to go but that’s half the fun. I just keep trying to find people to play with, so I’ll keep playing as Scattered Order.

I’ve realised this is what I’m meant to be doing with my life.”

Scattered Order play The Phoenix on Wednesday May 11 for the Peking Spring Festival. Also playing are Cleptoclectics, Savages and Andrew Fedorovitch. Entry is free.

While M Squared only lasted a few short years - “It ended with a lot of debts and we locked the place up and hid from the landlord,” Mitch laughs - Scattered Order endured.

With Mitch remaining the sole constant member, the band has continued, in one form or another, for the best part of the last 30 years. The line-up has remained fluid, with members of X, Blackeyed Susans, Lime Spiders and The Johnnys drifting in and out of Scattered Order over that time.

In 2009, Mitch and Michael met up after 25 years to work on some reissue projects: Terrace Industry, a box set charting the brief history of M Squared and 41 Pardons, the first in a series compiling rare and unreleased recordings from the label.

However, trawling through the label’s archives inspired them to revive the Scattered Order name and recommence working together.

29

METALISE AGAINST THE GRAIN BEN HERMANN It’s been an eventful couple of years for Florida punkers AGAINST ME!. Between a near-continuous touring schedule, losing their long-serving drummer Warren Oakes, releasing two albums on their first major label, Sire Records, and thereafter being dropped by said record company, it’s fair to say that founding member and frontman Tom Gabel has had much to carry on his shoulders. “I think that good or bad, with any change, whether or not it’s comfortable, it can only be beneficial to songwriting,” he says. “Especially for myself, for whom writing is cathartic and relaxing.”

It’s rare to find someone who you trust as an artist and whose opinion you’re willing to use as a basis to compromise and change your songs. We felt lucky that we found that in Butch

The plethora of factors weighing on the band took its toll in late 2010, when the group was forced to cancel their Australian tour for White Crosses - their final release on Sire Records and second with prolific producer Butch Vig. After a few months to recuperate, the band have embarked on yet another hectic touring schedule for 2011, bringing them to the ANU this May.

Speaking to Gabel about the group’s split with Sire Records, it’s obvious that the group is fairly nonplussed with the affair; it being more of a matter of circumstance than anything else. “It’s complicated and boring, to be frank” Gabel says.

“In a nutshell our contract was finished, and Sire were doing a lot of cut-backs, in the process of which they fired all the people we were working with - our publicist, our A&R person, they all got sacked and we were worried we would just be lost in the mix.”

During their time on Sire Records, releasing last year’s White Crosses and 2007’s New Wave, the group also released The Original Cowboy on their previous label - the SoCal monolith Fat Wreck Chords. The album is a collection of demos and unreleased songs from their recording sessions prior to their second album As the Eternal Cowboy, and the group will be release an equivalent for 2005’s Searching for a Former Clarity in May. Nonetheless, Gabel has discounted returning to the label for their next album. “I don’t think so, it’s kind of weird going back,” he says. “It’s nice that the future’s wide open. We’re still in the mindset of touring White Crosses, and have recorded a quick EP between tours that will come out in a month or so. However, we’re not really sure what the next record will be like, so we haven’t really started thinking about labels yet either.”

As for retrieving Butch Vig again for production duties, Gabel is similarly non-committal. “I think it depends on the songs,” he says.

“It’s rare to find someone who you trust as an artist and whose opinion you’re willing to use as a basis to compromise and change your songs. We felt lucky that we found that in Butch, and we really enjoy working with him. So I’d love to have him again, but it also depends on his schedule. He’s a very busy man, you know…”

Against Me! will play at the ANU Bar on Friday May 6. Tix through Ticketek.

30

So last issue’s cover story on the Metal Health Tour was fine and dandy for the Warrant love, but apparently unwarranted was the alleged barney between the promoters of the Metal Health Tour and both Quiet Riot and Warrant’s management that has now seen both acts pull the pin on the tour (head to promoter Intense Impact’s facebook page for the full run down). LA Guns will still play, and stepping into the opening breach is Mike Stone of Queensryche’s new band The Stick People. Saturday April 30 is the date, and ANU Bar the venue if you’re still interested.

Segression, one of Wollongong’s more well established metal bands, have revived themselves for the Never Dead Tour, on Saturday May 7 at The Maram with a great bill of Aussie metal.

Melbourne band Dreadnaught don’t make it up here that often and it’s always a pleasure to see these guys ply their trade. Contrive are coming off a freshly minted album The Internal Dialogue mixed by Mr Devin Townsend and are always at the ready to riff along with locals Immorium.

Helmet are coming back again in June, and Canberra is getting another visit from they of the ‘90s uncompromising rock. They must have had a good time last visit as they’re taking in 11 cities on the tour. The band will be in town Thursday June 30.

On international tours, since last issue Kvelertak of Norway, who forged an album making it into many top ten lists last year, have elbowed their way onto the Soundwave Revolution bill. The full lineup at present is: Holy Grail, Times Of Grace, Yellowcard, Unearth, Steel Panther, Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows, Thursday, Funeral For A Friend, Devin Townsend, Zebrahead, Sum 41, Black Veil Brides, The Dangerous Summer, Set Your Goals, Hellogoodbye, Whitechapel, Hellyeah, In This Moment, The Word Alive, Skindred, The Damned Things, Every Time I Die, The Acacia Strain, We Are The In Crowd, Madina Lake, Make Do and Mend, Story of The Year, We Are The Ocean, Young Guns, Four Year Strong, This Providence, The Swellers and the Terrible Things.

Bastardfest announced their fest dates and first line-up announcements for the shows taking in everywhere but here, unfortunately. The Sydney one is on Saturday September 10 at the Sandringham Hotel with Psycroptic, Pod People, Bane of Isuldur, Ouroboros and Chaos Divine announced thus far.

KK Downing of Judas Priest has announced his departure from the band ahead of their epitaph world tour to farewell Birmingham’s second biggest contribution to heavy metal. All the best on the golf course KK! I Exist have wrapped recording with USA’s uber doom producer Billy Anderson in Melbourne. Look for album tours mid year on their new home, Resist Records. While on local hardcore, 4 Dead’s long awaited full length is rumoured to have a mid year release date also.

This week’s edition of Unkle K’s band of the week is Portland, Oregon’s best ever named metal band Tenspeed Warlock. myspace.com/tenspeedwarlock JOSH NIXON doomtildeath@hotmail.com

drum tracks in two days – and that’s pretty tough shit for anyone to do.”

He’s not wrong. And from what I’ve heard this time around, whilst the band still use bluesy hard rock as their template, there’s a bit of variety going down in the recording arena, something that’s surely aided by the regular changes in studio scenery.

GLAMOUR GODS SCOTT ADAMS I can’t seriously believe you’ve never heard of Sydney’s finest purveyors of the big beat – the HELL CITY GLAMOURS – so let’s just dive in from an assumed standpoint of everyone knowing the score and, preparatory to their upcoming show at Transit Bar see what the boys have been up to recently, via the gift of a chinwag with HCG frontman Oscar McBlack. McBlack is in a good place right now, and the recently-married throat-smith-cum-axepert is happy to fill me in on the progress the band are making on their soon-to-be-released second album when we talk.

“Things are going really well; we’ve got four songs down so far, which we’ve recorded with three different producers.” That’s a very west coast, Fleetwood Mac way of going about things, I muse? “Well, you know, we’ve only got a limited budget. This way, we make a bit of money at the shows we play, we go straight into the studio, and we get something down. It’s a good way to do things I think. Last time we recorded, Robbie [drummer] had to put down 15 recordable

Last time we recorded, Robbie [drummer] had to put down 15 recordable drum tracks in two days – and that’s pretty tough shit for anyone to do

“Absolutely. The two songs you’ve heard [at the time of our chat I had indeed only been lucky enough to earwig a brace of the band’s new output], One for The Road and Trainwreck, are poles apart. We’ve got some country rock stuff, some punky stuff, some heavier numbers. You know, the sort of artists I love – The Stones, bands like that. On their classic albums, there’s so much different stuff.” Indeed there is, I interject, I love the varied nature of Exile on Main Street.

“Exactly! They recorded that in different places, at different times, yet the whole thing hangs together so well! You gotta love that.”

Indeed you do. And whilst Oscar – one of the finest men ever to draw breath, by the way – is far too modest a mouse to claim that level of greatness of his own outfit, I’ve no such hang-ups making like baggage in the arrivals lounge of my fevered brain – so I’ll say it for him. There are a lot of charlatans out there earning a crust out of similar good-time proclivities to the glams and none of them – none, I tells ya! – do it with the sass, the swing, Christ let’s just admit it and say the goddamn sexiness – of Sydney’s finest. It’s gonna be a blast on Saturday May 7– make sure you get there early.

Hell City Glamours will be rocking out Transit Bar on Saturday May 7.

Tickets will set you back a mere $10 + BF from Moshtix.

31

singled out

the word

I

with Dave Ruby Howe

on albums

hugh laurie let them talk [warner]

low anthem smart flesh [nonesuch]

NO RATING

album of the issue The Aston Shuffle Seventeen Past Midnight [Downright/Ministry of Sound]

Usually when you couple a long awaited album release with skyscraper high expectations you are left somewhat disenchanted and indifferent. Lucky for fans of the duo, their debut album is an affirmation of the immense talent of The Aston Shuffle, and in short, it is absolutely brilliant. As the familiar growl of I Wanna See You grumbles through the speakers, the initial blows are landed in what turns out to be a surprisingly diverse electronic onslaught.

Bring it Back, Your Love and Anticipointment deliver the trademark bouncy main room jabs for which the lads are so well renowned, inclusions like Amaze and Intro Forever discharge an indie uppercut and The Surface, Start Again and Where Are Your Teeth pound your ears with chunky house music. Just when you feel like you have their combinations worked out, the angry fist of Drop connects with your jaw, knocking beads of sweat from your face as you fall face first to the canvas.

This is a brutal gloves-off sonic street fight which you just can’t win, but hey, there are two of them and only one of you.

TIM GALVIN

32

Hugh Laurie has released a CD? Hugh Laurie? Great, just what this world needs... More House music. (Boom-boom! To be honest, I haven’t heard a single note of this album but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to waste a perfectly good CD review column for the sake of a half-baked gag. Professional?

Not in the slightest. Funny? O come now, admit it Chuckles.

Normal service next issue. allan sko

Authenticity is waaaaay overrated. Each successive week brings forth another eerie, ghost-hummed, recorded-in-aconverted-church collection of trad-inspired folk tunes flecked with obscure Appalachian instruments. This obsession with telling stories in the meekest way possible is just as artificial – in the year 2011 – as an overproduced Rhianna three-minute extravaganza.

Maybe even more so. At least big bright unadulterated pop songs seem of the moment.

Which makes this sort of stuff quite reactionary. The Band had it right in the late ‘60s, retiring to Upper New York State and escaping the social chaos enveloping the country to refine the template for honky alt-America for generations to come.

Which is not to say Low Anthem are a band without merit. It is to say they do sound a lot like The Band, especially so on Hey, All You Hippies! – a swirling, vintage keyboard led stomp echoing Levon Helm’s staggering delivery and the ramshackle backing of a set of musicians sounding right on the edge of falling apart. It takes seasoned pros to make it sound this loose.

Boeing 737 is equally loose, but more forceful sounding like a 4am Springsteen rave up as the bar shutters are about to be drawn. Love and Altar has clearly fallen off the last Damien Jurado album and the title track is Lambchop-lite. Quality stuff all, but hardly invigorating.

Smart Flesh works well within the confines of its genre, nothing more, nothing less.

JUSTIN HOOK

Digitalism 2 Hearts [CO-OP] Digitalism: so 2007, right?

Well, yeah. And though the intervening years have been a little underwhelming for both Digitalism and the electro scene they helped create 2 Hearts.

The album finds the German two-piece back and hitting their stride. While it’s not quite as instantaneous as Pogo was it still has that same unbridled energy that’s ideal for dark dancefloors. 2007 was pretty great, actually.

LMFAO Party Rock Anthem ft. Lauren Bennet & GoonRock [UMA] How LMFAO are still fooling everyone with their cheap and nasty finger-paint electro pop is beyond me. What’s even more baffling is that they’re doing it all with a straight face.

Metronomy The Look [Warner] Metronomy’s new album is a serious downer compared to their previous high-quirk pop, but that doesn’t mean they’ve lost their charm. Indeed The Look, one of the record’s best cuts, shows off the band’s more measured approach with a gentle mid-tempo pace and echoing vocals while offering a glimpse at their old selves with that extended soft-synth solo.

The Potbelleez From The Music [Vicious/ UMA] If it wasn’t official before, the world has left The Potbelleez behind. The same generic beats and the same Year 7 songwriting can only get a fifth rate Sneaky Sound System so far.

the word

BLACKBOX

on games

Sword & Sworcery EP Developer: Superbrothers Platform: iOS Length: 2hrs 1month Rating: Worth the price tag Unfortunately, because the Steam community took a bit longer to collect a bunch of potatoes than hoped, GLaDOS’s reboot process didn’t occur early enough for this issue. If you’re at a loss as to what I’m talking about, the simple version is that Portal 2 didn’t quite come out early enough. This did however present a good opportunity to play a game I had heard great things about, Sword & Sworcery EP. Now, when I say I’ve heard good things about this game, the reviews I read were near orgasmic - raving that the game is “a near-perfect polyamorous marriage of brilliant eight-bit visuals, clever puzzlesolving, and an unforgettable soundtrack.” Without knowing much more about this game other than its reported awesomeness, I was expecting it to posses some inexplicable quality or quirk that once played would have you undoubtedly won over. Unfortunately, instead I found a pretty typical point-and-click adventure game, albeit a pretty good one.

As mentioned, the music and sound effects are top notch. Despite being fantasy based, Jim Guthrie, the game’s music composer, isn’t afraid to drop the occasional pumping drumbeat. Likewise, the dialog also strays from the expected, featuring lines like: “The glowing ghost dude sure did talk a lot of unhelpful nonsense”, “We Scythians loathe rainbows” and “We were like groan not another fetch quest amirite”. The visuals are also very appealing thanks to its artistic blend of old and new-school elements.

The game-play however is a bit more of mixed bag. In general, I found the pacing far too slow, what with the fact that a large proportion of your time is just spent wandering about. Whilst this isn’t exactly a rare phenomena in this style of game, the actual map is so small that you inevitably find yourself retreading the same ground a lot.

Whilst this does in turn build a familiarity with the setting and a certain belonging, on this occasion it’s still just a tad on the small size. I also found the game didn’t offer up as much variety. When not walking, you’re generally either performing another touch puzzle or engaging in some rather rudimentary combat. Whilst none of this stuff is terrible, without taking the breaks the game advises, it can (and did for me) become pretty repetitive. Interestingly, to help enforce these breaks, there are certain things can only be achieved with regards to the (real) lunar cycle. Whilst I did find this concept intriguing, I was also happy to discover that I could bypass this element (tip: don’t slay the dancing bear).

As always given the one buck price tag, it’s worth the cost. From there, it’s for you to decide whether the idea of a artistic, wellexecuted, light hearted, yet slightly shallow adventure game takes your fancy.

TORBEN SKO

TVs across the land are about to be overwhelmed by pomp, ceremony and an overdose of kitsch and not just from the upcoming royal nuptials. May is Eurovision month, an event that provides more elaborate frocks, more protocol, more tradition and more inane commentary than any royal event.

Eurovision fever kicks off with the Secret History of Eurovision (SBS1, Fri May 6 & 13, 7.30pm) which traces its origins in 1956 through its expansion at the end of the cold war to the worldwide TV phenomenon it has become. The Semi-Finals follow (SBS1, Fri May 13, 8.30pm & Sat May 14, 7.30pm,) with the Eurovision Final (SBS1, Sun May 15, 7.30pm).

For those who just can’t look away, the Royal Wedding broadcasts include The Royal Wedding (ABC1, Fri Apr 29, 6pm) with BBC presenters such as Huw Edwards, and William and Kate – The Royal Wedding (Prime, Fri Apr 29, 4pm) with Chris Bath. Not interested?

Pop out to the pub, they’re sure to have the footy on instead. And for god’s sake don’t get sucked in by all those specials that promise the inside goss… pretty sure the palace isn’t going to allow the dress design to be leaked to Dicky Arbiter.

Over those engineering marvel shows? This one will hook you in – Animal Monster Moves (SBS1, Saturdays, 7.30pm) shows vets and transport engineers move herds of elephants and rhino, and killer sharks across continents. There’s also Man Made Marvels Sydney Opera House (7Mate, Sun May 8, 7.30pm) and Ultimate Factories – Ferrari (7Mate, Sun May 8, 7.30pm).

The end of the Easter holidays brings with it a raft of new shows, including Chris Lilley’s newie, Angry Boys (ABC1, Wed May 11), Swingtown (ABC2, Mon May 2, 8.30pm), the new series from the makers of Big Love that takes on ‘70s swingers rather than modernday polygamists, Meet the Natives USA (ABC2, Sat May 7, 7.30pm) which takes five South Pacific tribesman to live with the ‘tribes’ of Americans – cowboys, Californians, etc. And new seasons of Dr Who (ABC1, Sat Apr 30, 7.30pm), Masterchef (SCTEN, Sun May 1, 4.30pm) and Collectors (ABC1, Fri May 6, 8pm) that starts with Monopoly, sci-fi memorabilia, and milk paraphernalia.

Docos to check out include Intangible Asset No 82 (ABC2, Sun May 15, 8.30pm) which sees Australian drummer Simon Baker search out Korean shaman, Kim Seok-Chul; Madagascar (WIN, Wed May 4, 7.30pm), which looks at the wildlife and natural environment of the island; The Real King’s Speech (ABC1, Thu May 5, 8.30pm) uses interviews to delve into the relationship between King George VI and his speech therapist; Atlantis: The Evidence (ABC1, Thu May 5, 9.30pm); and Gaddafi: Our Best Enemy (SBS1, Sun May 8, 9.30pm).

Keep your recorder ready for some movie classics - Shawshank Redemption (GEM, Sun May 1, 8.30pm), Unforgiven (GEM, Fri May 6, 8.30pm), The Sandpiper (GEM, Sun May 1, 3.30pm) starring Elizabeth Taylor, Carry on Screaming (GEM, Wed May 4, 12pm), Witness for the Prosecution (ABC2, Sat may 7, 8.30pm) starring Marlene Dietrich and Glory (ABC2, Sat Apr 30, 8.30pm).

Good Game (ABC2, Tue May 3, 8.30pm) goes all super hero looking at super games from Superman on the Atari 2600 to Batman: Arkham City on Xbox 360.

TRACY HEFFERNAN tracyheffernan@bigpond.com

33

the word

on films

WITH MELISSA WELLHAM

Often I don’t know how to feel about advances in computergenerated graphics. On the one hand, such developments have convincingly brought some truly amazing films into the world: Lord of The Rings, Harry Potter (!), etc. But on the other hand, being able to create other worlds has also resulted in films like Avatar: technically impressive, but pretty lame. And then on the third hand (just go with it), we have films like Sucker Punch, that don’t deserve to be committed to celluloid.

Perhaps humans should not be permitted such technological power? Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

quote of the issue “Don’t ever write a check with your mouth you can’t cash with your ass.”

Wiseman (Scott Glen), with just one of the many amazing lines from Sucker Punch

sucker punch

paul

rio

Sucker Punch, directed by Zack “You know what’d be cool? If this entire film was in slow motion!” Snyder, will leave you feeling as if you’ve been sucker punched. With inarticulate themes of female empowerment (that are actually more demeaning than anything else), an utterly incoherent plot, and laughable lines of dialogue, Sucker Punch is nothing more than a fanboy’s wet dream, replete with obligatory LoTR references.

I’ll cut to the intergalactic shoot-out scene – Paul is enjoyable, fun and full of nerdy references. I couldn’t help but love it.

Fun and forgettable, Rio is the story of Blu (Jesse Eisenberg), a domesticated Macaw who cannot fly, living the city lifestyle with his owner, Linda.

When it is revealed that Blu is the last male of his species, he travels to Rio to meet Jewel (Anne Hathaway) the last female blue Macaw. You can, ahem, guess what happens next…! Not really. Instead, Blu and Jewel are birdnapped by some villainous animal smugglers, and upon escaping must band together with a group of street-smart city birds in Rio, to find Linda again. Along the way they all learn important lessons about friendship, being true to yourself, blah blah blah. You know the feel-good formula.

After a traumatic opening scene in which Babydoll’s (Emily Browning) harrowing adolescence is revealed, she is sent to a mental institution where she is to be lobotomised.

To escape her fate, she escapes into her own mind, where she is being held captive at a brothel along with other girls at the asylum. Cue revealing outfits.

And to break out from the brothel, the girls escape into fantasy video-game landscapes created by Babydoll’s apparently magical dancing ability. It’s just like Inception!

Only it’s rubbish.

The biggest problem with Sucker Punch is that it’s boring.

Never has the concept of hot chicks in Japanese schoolgirl outfits kicking zombie Nazi ass been so uninteresting. The offensive faux-feminism and ridiculousness of the film could be forgiven if Sucker Punch was, well, cool – but the action sequences are overlong, and the direction mostly unremarkable.

After watching Sucker Punch you will feel as if you’ve been lobotomised. Or you’ll wish that you had been, before such a distressing viewing experience.

34

Melissa Wellham

British nerds Graeme (Simon Pegg) and Clive (Nick Frost) plan to trek across the US, from one alien hotspot to the next. However, after they come across an actual alien, Paul (Seth Rogen), their plans go out the window and chaos ensues as they attempt to help him.

Written by Frost and Pegg, but directed by Greg Mottola (see: Superbad), Paul manages to merge Brit comedy and US humour to good effect.

Rather than being a cringeworthy mess, Paul is warm and entertaining, largely thanks to the genuine chemistry between the two leads. Also, while somewhat of an odd choice for the voice of Paul, Rogen is actually pretty funny (horror!).

As for supporting characters, the usual suspects are all here (Jane Lynch, Jason Bateman, Bill Hader), and round out the familiar but pleasing cast.

The film manages to maintain a good balance – crude, but not irritatingly vulgar; nerdy, but not so that it alienates (pun intended) less-nerdy folk. The pace does start to lag around two-thirds of the way through, but everything comes together nicely in a corny but amusing conclusion.

Overall, Paul is just a darn good time. It’s a road trip film with shoot-outs, romance, aliens, fireworks, probe jokes and novelty t-shirts – what more could you want?

MEGAN McKEOUGH

Rio is outrageously predictable, and certainly not a kid’s flick that keeps its adult viewers in mind. With nary a selfreferential pun or innuendo to be heard, don’t expect fastpaced banter or witty dialogue.

What you can expect is a visual feast of hyper-coloured feathers and Rio street scenes.

The best thing about Rio is the vocal talent involved. This reviewer is not-so-secretly in love with the gawky Jesse Eisenberg, even in bird-form.

Anne Hathaway has proved her vocal talent before in the animated Hoodwinked!, and will.i.am, Jamie Foxx and George Lopez all turn in amusing supporting performances.

Rio is a film about a bird that can’t fly and, like the main character, this film doesn’t soar to great heights – but it’s not completely landlocked, either.

MELISSA WELLHAM

the word on dvds

American: The Bill Hicks Story [Madman] In the late ‘80s Bill Hicks was a bolt of the sharpest lightning you could have ever imagined.

He tore though every taboo, threw the standard conceit of stand-up out the window (set up, story, punch line) and basically ranted on stage against those he hated – the government, marketers, religion, corporations. A foulmouthed living embodiment of Adbusters.

He was the comedian for the ‘90s alt-nation generation.

Tool sampled him on their breakthrough album Ænima.

Super Furry Animals sample him in live versions of the appropriately titled The Man Don’t Give A Fuck. Hicks himself revelled in this attention. By the time everyone had come around to his way of thinking he was entering live shows in full rock mode: loud Hendrixinspired music, all black and attitude to wither his most ardent detractors. By the time of his death he was outgrowing cult status. Death confirmed him a legend. I don’t happen to agree with Hicks’ deification but it’s impossible to argue his impact on comedy. Towards the end Hicks was a bitter man too often getting caught in a rabbit warren of personal hates. It was only his overt posturing on the alleged spiritual benefits of drug use that prevented him from being the Richard Nixon of comedy.

American: The Bill Hicks Story goes a long way to explaining all this through selective interviews with some of those close to him, spartan archival footage and heavy use of animated photos.

As a comprehensive overview of his life it’s useful, but vague around the edges and wilfully ignorant on other key points. It feels half finished. His crippling alcoholism is brushed off lightly and his legendary beef with Denis Leary deserves plenty more attention, probably its own doco. The man deserves better. justin hook

fair game [Sony]

Lebanon [Madman]

It’s easy to get used to the idea of counter espionage without making links to reality. Spies litter popular culture. Shows like Get Smart told us spies had shoe phones. Spy flicks routinely tear up the multiplex re-inventing themselves periodically a la the gritty verite styling’s of the Bourne trilogy or the last couple Bond films. So far, so fiction. But spies exist in real life. They even have families and kids. Fair Game is the story of one such CIA spy who for reasons political expediency is outed – her cover, aliases and contacts exposed in the middle of a mission leaving her out in the cold. Fanciful, but fact.

Lebanon is not a film for claustrophobics. When almost every scene of this 90-minute film takes place either inside an Israeli Defence Force tank or from the perspective of the gunner’s crosshatched gun sight lens, be prepared to squirm.

Valerie Plame was a 20-year veteran at the CIA when her husband was sent to Africa in 2002 to investigate claims Saddam Hussein had purchased yellowcake uranium.

This thoroughly debunked and always-questionable transaction was used by George W. Bush as a central plank for his Iraq folly. Plame’s husband – Joe Wilson – knew the claim was bogus and said so in a New York Times op-ed piece. But the White House, and more specifically Vice President Dick Cheney didn’t want anything to puncture the alternate reality.

So they threw Plame and Wilson under a bus, divulging Plame’s identity to discredit them both.

It’s the sort of story that makes fascinating doco material, not necessarily great cinema.

Fair Game is great cinema.

Doug Linman, who helmed the first Bourne film, brings a similar washed-out intensity.

Naomi Watts and Sean Penn as the troubled couple capture the strains of extraordinary circumstances. Confused, aggrieved and angry but never hammy or melodramatic. Quite a feat for Penn, usually 100% pork all the way. True stories often play loose with the facts, but as Plamegate proves, truth can be stranger – and more mendacious – than fiction. justin hook

Four young, confused, argumentative and equivocating Israeli soldiers are on a prosaic mission in the middle of a Lebanese warzone circa 1982. Basically they have to get from point A to point B safely, follow orders and shoot to kill when required. Problem is, gunner Schmulik has never fired in a combat situation and struggles to engage the enemy. All of the action outside the tank takes place from Schmulik’s perspective – dying goats on the side of the street, dismembered Lebanese chicken farmers on the side of the road and widowed mothers stumbling dazed. Through it all Schmulik consistently fails to fire or when he does – is hardly forthright. In doing so, Schmulik provides a silent undermining and conflicting voice to their task. Is it nerves or does he disagree with the orders shouted down the walkie-talkie? The lingering camera lets the viewer decide that. For the most part it’s a slow burning affair. But when they are abandoned in a Syrian neighbourhood after some bad intelligence the tension ratchets impossibly high.

Lebanon proved to be a divisive choice for Golden Lion (Best Picture) at the Venice Film Festival in 2009 and triggered a battle of protest letters by the Hollywood elite at the Toronto Film Festival in the same year.

Valuable in that it is prepared to use the confusing brutality of conflict to make some resonant points and mildly controversial in that it doesn’t beat the viewer over the head with politics, Lebanon still finds plenty of room to make some incendiary statements through the narrow sight of a gun. justin hook

35

GIG GUIDE April 27 - April 30 wednesday april 27 Arts Ballet Russes

The Art of Costume. Tix: nga.gov.au.

Running until May 1.

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

Geese

Inspired by Artaud’s surreal imagination and the bizarre world it engendered. Tix through CTC. COURTYARD STUDIO, CTC

If Music be the Food For BeAN A visual exploration of music through painting, photography, sculpture and more. April 18-29.

BELCONNEN GALLERY

Live The Bridge Between Band

Blues and roots at its finest. Awesome harmonies, sensational guitar. 7-10pm.

NATIONAL PRESS CLUB, BARTON

No Idea

Classic hits. 1-3pm.

THE GEORGE HARCOURT INN

Open Mic Night 9pm, free.

POT BELLY BAR

Jazz City

With Good Suns.

THE PHOENIX PUB

Chicago Charles Vel’vette

Every Wednesday night!

Good Suns (Mel)

Live

THE PHOENIX PUB

With Jazz City (Mel) & Beth n Ben. 9pm.

Indigo Girls

Something Different

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

Printmaking Paradise

BAR 32

ANU Jazz

Monthly jazz night showcasing School of Music jazz students.

With Jacque Schultze, 6-12 years or for families to enjoy together. $28, includes materials. 10-12pm BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Beading Adventures

ANU SCHOOL OF MUSIC

With Barb McGann, 8 years +. $28, includes materials. 2pm-4pm.

Something Different

Karaoke

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Fame Trivia

8.30pm till 11pm followed by DJ Kiz till 5am.

TRANSIT BAR

Refreshing April Afternoons

No brain drains allowed on Transit Bar’s Wed night Trivia evening. Register your teams by 6pm!

Bags of Fun with Singing

Fun for the family with Chrissie Shaw. $5 children, adults free. 11:30am – 12:15pm.

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

Free BBq, $5 bottled beers, Live Jazz Wednesdays & Thursdays, 5pm.

TRINITY BAR

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

friday april 29

Bollywood Dance For All

thursday april 28

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Arc: Last Train Home (M) Canberra premiere. 7pm.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

An Artist’s Journey

Still life, landscape and nature studies

by Jan Vincent.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Purple Sneakers DJs

Mo’ of that ol’ purple draaaank goodness. Easter mayhem with the Purple Sneakers crew. Free Entry.

TRANSIT BAR

REV

CANBERRA GLASSWORKS

Serendipity: Experimentation Play and accidental discovery by Photography, Fashion and Visual Art Staff, CIT. BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Between Light and Shadow

Canberra’s weekly Indie/Alt/Dance Party every Friday.

Portraits by Stuart Campbell, including portraits of Bruce Spene, Peter Weir & more.

Purple Sneakers

Geese

BAR 32

Lucky Punk, Randall Stagg, Minou, Eddie Shaggz, Kill the Landlord, Architect DJs. Free.

TRANSIT BAR

New Era w/ Low Freqz Free entry.

TRINITY BAR

Foreplay Fridays

9pm till 5am with DJ’s Matt & Pete. Two for one drinks & free entry until 11pm.

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

8pm, $28/$24.

COURTYARD STUDIO, CTC

Connections

Featuring artwork from Joy McDonald.

Open Wed-Sun, 12-5pm.

M16 ARTSPACE

Geese

Inspired by Artaud’s surreal imagination and the bizarre world it engendered. Tix through CTC.

Naughty By Nature

COURTYARD STUDIO, CTC

The Crunch

2pm.

HIPPO LOUNGE

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Live

Paul Selwood – Perspective Cut Outs

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

The Gum Ball

Kora, The Vasco Era, CW Stoneking, Space Invadas and more. thegumball. com.au .

DASHVILLE, BELFORD, HUNTER VALLEY

Lachlan Coventry Duo

Arc: Botany Bay (G)

Paul Selwood is one of Australia’s finest sculptors. Wednesday – Sunday, 12-5pm.

ANU DRILL HALL GALLERY

Arc: My Man Godfrey (G) 4.30pm.

Still life, landscape and nature studies

by Jan Vincent.

Geese

New Jersey super-group Naughty By Nature are perming live at Academy.

Pre-sale tix available online.

CASINO CANBERRA

Alliance @ Academy presents Naughty By Nature

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

CHAPMAN GALLERY

1pm and 8pm, $28/$24.

COURTYARD STUDIO, CTC

Connections M16 ARTSPACE

Inspired by Artaud’s surreal imagination and the bizarre world it engendered. Tix through CTC. COURTYARD STUDIO, CTC

Paul Selwood – Perspective Cut Outs

Paul Selwood is one of Australia’s finest sculptors. Wednesday – Sunday, 12-5pm.

ANU DRILL HALL GALLERY

An Artist’s Journey

Still life, landscape and nature studies

by Jan Vincent.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

If Music be the Food For BeAN A visual exploration of music through painting, photography, sculpture and more. April 18-29.

BELCONNEN GALLERY

36

Dance

Drink!

HARMONIE GERMAN CLUB

Geese

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (M). Season run April 17 April 24.

O’CONNOR SCOUT HALL

An exhibition which explores the functions and cultural significance of the humble cup.

An Artist’s Journey

Geese

Arc: Uncle Boonmee

Arts

Featuring ‘Lianna Rose’ (NSW), 8pm, free. www.liannarose.net

Featuring artwork from Joy McDonald.

Open Wed-Sun, 12-5pm.

COURTYARD STUDIO, CTC

Double Hitch

Bird Park

Arts Inspired by Artaud’s surreal imagination and the bizarre world it engendered. Tix through CTC.

saturday april 30

Paintings by Prudence Flint. Opening 5.30pm, exhibition runs until May 29.

Refreshing April Afternoons TRINITY BAR

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Arts

Free BBq, $5 bottled beers, Live Jazz Wednesdays & Thursdays, 5pm.

Poetry & good times 7.30pm-10.30pm.

Poetry & songs from guest poet Janet Jackson.

Friday Night Acoustic Series.

Bollywood dancing, $15 (5-8 yrs) $20 (8+yrs). 2:00 – 3:00pm & 3:30 – 5:00pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Traverse Poetry Slam

Featuring sculpture art from Belinda Toll & Shellaine Godbold. Open Wed-Sun, 12-5pm.

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

HIPPO LOUNGE

8pm, Entry $8.

Little Worlds

Works by 8 emerging artists who have studied at the ANU School of Art. Opening 6pm. ‘Til May 1.

Of Stranglers fame. Hits from The Stranglers and classic solo material.

Latin Wednesdays

Pure Evil Trio + Loveshy

ANU SCHOOL OF ART

Hugh Cornwell

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Tickets on sale through the venue.

Many Hands is an exhibition spanning all visual art disciplines. 6pm.

M16 ARTSPACE

Dance

MONKEY BAR

Many Hands

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Heuristic

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Seaworthy + Kharkov + Reuben Ingall 8pm, Entry $8.

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE BOOKSHOP

Spruce Moose 8.30-11.30pm.

OLD CANBERRA INN

Something Different Bags of Fun with Singing

Fun for the family with Chrissie Shaw. $5 children, adults free. 11:30am – 12:15pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Papermaking –Dancing the Blues With Paper With Susan Pieterse. 8 years +, registration through Arts Centre website. 2 – 4 pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Sounds on Site - Music + Art: Rock Prophecies (M). 7pm.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Little Worlds

Featuring sculpture art from Belinda Toll & Shellaine Godbold. Open Wed-Sun, 12-5pm.

M16 ARTSPACE

Dance Cube Saturdays

10pm till 5am with DJ’s Matt & Pete.

Two for one drinks & free entry until 11pm.

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

DJ Pred

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Dexter

Turntable wizadry from one of the most exciting men behind two turntables. $10.

TRANSIT BAR

Mario Gordon HIPPO LOUNGE

GIG GUIDE April 30 - May 05 Urban Playground (RnB) MONKEY BAR

Live The Gum Ball

Kora, The Vasco Era, CW Stoneking, Space Invadas and more. thegumball. com.au .

DASHVILLE, BELFORD, HUNTER VALLEY

Brendan Drake Trio CASINO CANBERRA

Solid Feat. Shockone (Perth) Free entry.

TRINITY BAR

Mother and Son THE PHOENIX PUB

Quiet Riot

Warrant, LA Guns. Tix through Ticketek.

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Oscar

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Single Twin + Hoodlum Shouts

8pm, $18/$12 concession. Bookings – www.thestreet.org.au or 6247 1223.

THE STREET THEATRE

Mother and Son (Wgong)

With Crash the Curb & Killing Birds, 9:30pm.

THE PHOENIX PUB

Something Different BIG Record, CD and Book Sale

Over 50,000 records, CDs and books.

9-5pm, free entry.

TRADIES CLUB, DICKSON

sunday may 01

Little Worlds

Featuring sculpture art from Belinda Toll & Shellaine Godbold. Open Wed-Sun, 12-5pm.

M16 ARTSPACE

Dance Hospitality Sundays

10pm till late with DJ TJ. Free entry, free pool & discounted drinks.

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

Live The Bridge Between Duo

Blues and roots at its finest. Awesome harmonies, sensational guitar. 5-8pm.

GUNDAROO WINE BAR

Pro Blues & Roots Jam Something Different Dance on the Edge II

Leap into Dance Week 2011, 2-3pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Sunday Best 5-7pm, free.

A BITE TO EAT CAFE

Phoenix Flea Market

A bizarre bazaar of bric-a-brac and bits and bobs. It’s a garage sale in a pub!

Free set up. 12-5.

Film screening - ‘Refresh’ THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Battle of The Bands, 8pm-11pm, Ft. The Wakes, Mudpie Princess & more.

MOOSEHEADS PUB

Drop-in any week. Class fee $14.

For details call 9387 7717 or www. meditateincanberra.org .

tuesday may 03

Something Different Featuring Mick Neven (Melbourne) plus supports. 8pm, $10 from www. comedyact.com.au, or at door.

CIVIC PUB

Fame Trivia

Brain teasers and useless facts.

Register your team by 6pm to get involved.

monday may 02

Serendipity: Experimentation

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Between Light and Shadow

Portraits by Stuart Campbell, including portraits of Bruce Spene, Peter Weir & more.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

artsACT 2012 ACT Arts Fund Info Session

THE STREET THEATRE

thursday may 05

Arts Connections

Arts

M16 ARTSPACE

Play and accidental discovery by Photography, Fashion and Visual Art Staff, CIT.

Featuring artwork from Joy McDonald.

Open Wed-Sun, 12-5pm.

Paul Selwood – Perspective Cut Outs

Serendipity: Experimentation

Paul Selwood is one of Australia’s finest sculptors. Wednesday – Sunday, 12-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

An Artist’s Journey

M16 ARTSPACE

ANU DRILL HALL GALLERY

Still life, landscape and nature studies

by Jan Vincent.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Something Different

Play and accidental discovery by Photography, Fashion and Visual Art Staff, CIT.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Plugged In

HOLY GRAIL, CIVIC

An Artist’s Journey

Canberra premiere. 7pm.

HIPPO LOUNGE

Comedy Club

Live

Ft. Lianna Rose. 2pm, free.

Arts

Arc: Last Train Home (M)

Ben Marston Quartet

All applicants for the Arts Fund are encouraged to attend. No booking required. 6pm.

A BITE TO EAT CAFE

Featuring artwork from Joy McDonald.

Open Wed-Sun, 12-5pm.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

TRANSIT BAR

Hippo Live

WESLEY CHURCH

5pm-7pm, Free.

Connections

2pm.

Come nurse the wounds of a working weekend.

THE PHOENIX PUB

TRANSIT BAR

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Arc: Muriel (18+)

Hospitality: Nurse Your Wounds

8pm.

Buddhist Meditation Classes

Son of Rut

Directed by Felix Barbalet. Written by Melanie Tait. 5pm Free.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Dance

Captain My Captain

CANBERRA IRISH CLUB

4-6pm, free.

Between Light and Shadow

Still life, landscape and nature studies

by Jan Vincent.

M16 ARTSPACE

Live

Something Different

THE PHOENIX PUB

M16 ARTSPACE

Featuring artwork from Joy McDonald.

Open Wed-Sun, 12-5pm.

Sunday Sessions on the Deck

Arts Portraits by Stuart Campbell, including portraits of Bruce Spene, Peter Weir & more.

Connections

Karaoke Love

Come and get involved in one of Canberra’s most loved Karaoke nights.

TRANSIT BAR

wednesday may 04 Arts Little Worlds

Featuring sculpture art from Belinda Toll & Shellaine Godbold. Open Wed-Sun, 12-5pm.

M16 ARTSPACE

Connections

Featuring artwork from Joy McDonald.

Open Wed-Sun, 12-5pm.

An Artist’s Journey

Still life, landscape and nature studies

by Jan Vincent.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Live The Bridge Between Duo

Blues and roots at its finest. Awesome harmonies, sensational guitar. 6-10pm.

BELGIAN BEER CAFE

Grace Night

Aria nominated.

SOUTHERN CROSS CLUB WODEN

Open Mic Night 9pm, free.

POT BELLY BAR

MIC Night feat. Chasing Rabbits 7:30pm. $5 entry.

CIT MUSIC INDUSTRY CENTRE

37

GIG GUIDE May 05 - May 11 Sister Jane (Syd)

With Teddy Trouble & Standing Waves, 9pm.

THE PHOENIX PUB

Alanna & Alicia

Acoustic from 7-10pm.

THE GEORGE HARCOURT INN

Friday Night Acoustic series

MRS + Mornings

8pm, $18/$12 concession. Bookings – www.thestreet.org.au or 6247 1223.

THE STREET THEATRE

Featuring ‘Jeremy Edwards’ solo (from-Dust Radio Band/Sydney). 8pm, FREE entry.

BMA presents Hell City Glamours TRANSIT BAR

An Artist’s Journey

Katie Noonan and Karin Schaupp

friday may 06 Arts

HARMONIE GERMAN CLUB

8pm, $39/$35 conc/$32 groups 4+/$25 students.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

THE STREET THEATRE

Fathom

Emily Scott

New paintings by Stephanie Haygarth.

Opening 6pm, exhibition runs until May 22.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Inner Worlds: Portraits & Psychology

Dance

Live

Mario Gordon

Hoodlum Shouts

saturday may 07

CSIRO DISCOVERY CENTRE

Exploring key moments of connection between psychology and portraiture in Australia.

HIPPO LOUNGE

Connections

10pm till 5am with DJ’s Matt & Pete.

Two for one drinks & free entry until 11pm.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Featuring artwork from Joy McDonald.

Open Wed-Sun, 12-5pm.

M16 ARTSPACE

Dance Jemist

HIPPO LOUNGE

REV

Canberra’s weekly Indie/Alt/Dance Party every Friday.

BAR 32

Foreplay Fridays

9pm till 5am with DJ’s Matt & Pete. Two for one drinks & free entry until 11pm.

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

Soul B In It

Warm your heart and boogie your soul with Buick and the crew. Free Entry.

Cube Saturdays

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

tuesday may 10 Dance

With Life and Limb, Fighting League & Savages. 7pm.

Karaoke Love

The Bridge Between Band

TRANSIT BAR

THE PHOENIX PUB

Blues and roots at its finest. Awesome harmonies, sensational guitar. 1-4pm.

Put that hairbrush down. Take the stage and do it fo’ real!

Trivia Night 8pm, free.

THE PHOENIX PUB

Sunday Sessions on the Deck

wednesday may 11

CANBERRA IRISH CLUB

Tony Haley

Live

THE PHOENIX PUB

A BITE TO EAT CAFE

Gigmund Freud presented by hellosQuare

5pm-7pm, Free.

This Vacant Field supported

by Pete

Special acoustic performance

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Featuring Nick Charles (Melbourne), 4pm. Tickets @ door $10/$8 CBS members.

Academy Saturdays with Ashley Feraude

Groovin The Moo

8pm.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Hell City Glamours

TRANSIT BAR

The Fiasco album launch tour. Tix through the venue. 8pm.

Against Me!

Blues and roots and stuff in between, 3-6pm.

Blues and roots at its finest. Awesome harmonies, sensational guitar. 9-12am.

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

9:30pm.

My Friend the Chocolate Cake

The Bridge Between Duo

THE PHOENIX PUB

The Fuelers

Melbourne septet The Bon Scotts are a bittersweet mix of playful melodies, & percussion. 8pm.

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Hospitality Sundays

4-6pm, free.

The Bon Scotts

With Off With Their Heads and Pirate Satellite. Tix through Ticketek.

Ft John Lollback, Matt Skinner, Them as Well and The Walking Who, 8pm, Free entry.

10pm till late with DJ TJ. Free entry, free pool & discounted drinks.

Urban Playground (RnB)

Live

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

TRANSIT BAR

The Bootleg Sessions

Dance

SOUTHERN CROSS CLUB JAMISON

With Johno & The Trannies and Tonk. $10+BF presale from Moshtix, $15 on the door. Presented by BMA!

TRANSIT BAR

A night of music and mayhem for the weekend worker.

Live

sunday may 08

Live MONKEY BAR

Dance Hospitality: Nurse Your Wounds

Rock and Rock outta control with the ‘Glamours.

Still life, landscape and nature studies

by Jan Vincent.

monday may 09

THE STREET THEATRE

CC Hall and friends CHARLIE BLACKS

Ross Wilson

Ft Scattered Order, Cleptocleptics, Savages & Andrew Fedorovitch. 8pm.

THE PHOENIX PUB

HARMONIE GERMAN CLUB

Ben Folds

The Wombats, Datarock, Architecture in Helsinki and swags more awesome bands. gtm.net.au .

UNIVERSITY OF CANBERRA

Yep, you read right, Ben Folds! Lonely Avenue Australian Tour. Tix through Ticketek.

ROYAL THEATRE

ANU Jazz

Something Different

Monthly jazz night showcasing School of Music jazz students.

Sunday Best

ANU SCHOOL OF MUSIC

A BITE TO EAT CAFE

w/Cleptoclectics + Savages + Andrew Fedorovitch. 8pm, free entry.

5-7pm, free.

Scattered Order

Phoenix Flea Market

THE PHOENIX PUB

A bizarre bazaar of bric-a-brac and bits and bobs. It’s a garage sale in a pub!

Free set up. 12-5.

THE PHOENIX PUB

Something Different Fame Trivia

Call up your very smartest friends and enlist them to ensure Wed trivia triumph.

One of Oz’s iconic artists. cscc.com.au .

SOUTHERN CROSS CLUB WODEN

TRANSIT BAR

CASINO CANBERRA

OUT may 11

jebediah hungry kids of hungary propagandhi pegz ...and more!

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