GREAT SOUTHERN BLUES FESTIVAL
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SAN CISCO
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FASH N TREASURE FASH N TREASURE
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BEYOND FESTIVAL
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THE GREEN SHED
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MERLOC STUDIOS LAUNCHES!
“We used to look up at the sky and wonder at our place in the stars.” #470August26 Fax: (02) 6257 4361 Mail: PO Box 713 Civic Square, ACT 2608 Publisher Scott Layne Allan Sko General Manager Allan Sko T: (02) 6257 4360 E: advertising@bmamag.com
Editor Jeremy Stevens T: (02) 6257 4456 E: editorial@bmamag.com
Accounts Manager Ashish Doshi T: (02) 6247 4816 E: accounts@bmamag.com
Sub-Editor & Social Media Manager Andrew Nardi
Canberra’s music scene has always been one to support its own – organising gigs with local acts, using local filmmakers, and generally being around for each other like we oughta be. Now, thanks to Sam King, we have a brand new recording studio to make use of – Merloc Studios! Speaking of the studios, King says: “Merloc can be a place that stays relevant throughout those shifts [in the broader industry]. Whether it be people wanting me to be involved from the demo phase of a project or just adding the finishing touches on things they’ve recorded or produced at home.” After producing records for artists like Owen Campbell, Julia & the Deep Sea Sirens, and Cracked Actor, he decided about two years ago to begin planning for Merloc. It’s sure to be an asset to our already supportive and growing music scene. Head on down and check it out at the open-studio event on September 12. Entry is free, Coolio Desgracias will be DJing, and it kicks off at 6pm. Find it at Canberra Technology Park, 49 Phillip Ave, Watson.
FIX AND MAKE
DE BACKER TO BASICS
How do we fix things? How are they made? These are things we tend to think about much more now, and we have to.
Everyone’s favourite Aussie who we used to know (still do, really) – the man who now essentially musically represents our continent to the rest of the world, Wally De Backer – has jumped back on board with his other little project, The Basics, and they’re getting ready to tour our fine country once again.
How we relate to the objects around us is becoming increasingly important as we more broadly begin to recognise that – hey, maybe producing and producing and producing new things and using up the world’s resources isn’t a sustainable practice into the future. Whoops. If these are the things you tend to think and care about too (and you probably should), the newest program being launched by Hotel Hotel will be for you. Fix and Make will kick off on Saturday October 24, and it’ll encompass a 12-month program of workshops, panels, and talks exploring how we all relate to objects. The launch is from 10am to 2pm, you’ll be able to check out some sweet workshop demos at the Nishi Gallery, and there’ll be food and producer markets in the gardens outside and on Parlour Wine Room’s deck. Could you ask for more? (The answer is no, this is gonna be great. What is wrong with you? Stop being so greedy, alright?)
In anticipation of their brand new album, The Age of Entitlement, the trio are planning to kick off an enormous run of shows to celebrate and show us all what they’ve got (and trust us, it’s good stuff). To make things even better, this isn’t one of those “Oh, we’re doing a tour, let’s just play Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane” shindigs either. The guys are heading all over the place – Maitland, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns, Adelaide, Alice Springs, Darwin, Broome, Fremantle, Launceston – and yes, to answer your question, they are coming to our fine city! You’ll be able to catch them at Transit Bar on Thursday October 15, and their first album in six years – The Age of Entitlement – is sure to get a nice airing along the way. Get down and support the guys – anyone doing a proper national tour deserves it.
Graphic Design Chris Halloran Film Editor Emma Robinson Cover image credit: Wouter Van de Voorde NEXT ISSUE 471 OUT September 9 EDITORIAL DEADLINE September 2 ADVERTISING DEADLINE Sept 3
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Image credit: Cybele Malinowski
Published by Radar Media Pty Ltd ABN 76 097 301 730 BMA Magazine is independently owned and published. Opinions expressed in BMA Magazine are not necessarily those of the editor, publisher or staff.
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FROM THE BOSSMAN All The Small Things As we transition into spring, we are thinking big. Big footy finals, big flower displays at Floriade, big trips to the coast. But we should not forget about the small things. Those crucial bits of everyday detritus that often pass us by. God is in the details, they say. I don’t know who ‘they’ are exactly... What do I look like, a nerd? What’s that you say? I often talk about wrestling, comic books, and look the way I do, making me a prototypical nerd? Well played, fictional questioning readership. Back on point, here is my ode to the small things: 5c pieces I know a person who simply throws their 5c pieces away. I’m sure many do. I mean, what can you get with five cents? We should send them the way of the 1c and 2c pieces and phase them out. Hell, why stop there? Get rid of 10c, 20c and 50c while we’re at it so the smallest denomination is $1, making us all feel rich and slightly confused when attempting to buy 20c lollies. Well, no. 5c may be the smallest, but it all adds up. Ask any self-respecting beggar. Get enough and you’re in McDonalds ice-cream heaven. I am convinced that if we gathered together all the discarded 5c pieces across the land, we’d solve our debt crisis overnight. Look after the pennies, and all that shit. But mainly I don’t throw mine away due to some financial karma, BECAUSE HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU TRIED PAYING FOR SOMETHING AND BEEN FIVE BLOODY CENTS SHORT!?! ENOUGH TIMES TO MAKE YOU SHOUT IN CAPSLOCK, THAT’S HOW MANY! Ahem.
YOU PISSED ME OFF! Care to immortalise your hatred in print? Send an email to editorial@bmamag.com and see your malicious bile circulated to thousands. [All entries contain original spellings.] To the group of four boys who at Death Cab for Cutie, felt the need to heckle Ben Gibbard throughout the set about being soft, yet obviously were big enough fans to spend almost $80 on tickets AND know all the words to every song. Obviously you needed to get absolutely shitfaced before the show to reconcile the fact that you can both have emotional depth and also be a man. I pity you. And your potential girl/ boyfriends. Next time you’re scared of your feelings though, do us all a favour and stay at home. You made it awfully hard for me to have the therapeutic cry that I so deserved. Dear Canberra driver - You might be driving a 4WD as big as a caravan, but if it’s shiny and silver you are next to INVISIBLE against a grey winter landscape at dusk. Or on a foggy morning. Or any grey time of day. What’s more, all the reflectors I have all over my bike, my bag, my vulnerable bike rider person, are USELESS if you don’t have your LIGHTS ON to make the reflection happen!! Yes, I have my own lights on, and yes, I am looking out for idiots like you, but please get a brain and switch those sexy lights on before you squash someone.
Paperclips Back in 2004 I bought a box of paperclips. About a year ago, they finally ran out. Such a large amount of time had elapsed between the buying of the box and the useage of the clips that my brain - much like the loss of a beloved family pet - simply cannot believe that they’re gone. And so I wander from room to room like a lonely widow* who has lost their companion, fruitlessly searching for a paperclip that will never turn up. I stubbornly refuse to buy another puppy. I mean box. Such is their impact. Soy packets Come lunchtime, when we manage to stem our insane urges for artery-clogging grease, we can occasionally find ourselves being good little boys and girls and getting some thoroughly healthy sushi. As sushi-goers will know, everything comes with those little fishies filled with soy sauce. I mean ev-er-ree-thing. I once went to nick a napkin to wipe my nose and the eagle-eyed server saw it and immediately flyballed a soy-fish pack expertly into my top pocket. If you’re like me, you rarely use all the soy, but you’ll be loathed to throw it away. ‘I’ll use it one day’, you tell yourself like the big fool you are, instead resting it on your desk at work or swimming in the back cupboard at home until your colleague/partner finally cracks and throws all 87 of them out. Which begs the question… How many swimming pools of soy could you fill with the discarded fishies? You’d need a Godzilla-sized sushi roll to soak that up. I believe it’s the subject of Al Gore’s next doco. McDonalds Napkins I mean, they’re just always there, aren’t they? When the eventual nuclear holocaust claims us all in 2022, the only things left will be cockroaches and McDonald’s napkins. ALLAN SKO - allan@bmamag.com *why I’m a woman in this scenario is beyond me but hey… It’s 2015 amarite? In for a penny, and all that shit.
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Image credit: Ian Laidlaw
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WHO: SELF DEFENSE FAMILY WHAT: TOUR WHEN: WED SEP 2 WHERE: LACKLUSTRE HQ
Self Defense Family embody a unique brand of post-hardcore and punk. Rest assured, the six-piece are happy to be leaving their capitalist utopia known as ‘New York’ to deliver a healthy dose of introspective banter directly to us Canberrans. If you still need an idea of what these guys are about, know that they’ve previously collaborated with post-hardcore giants, Touché Amoré. They’ll be supported by Agency and Narks. Entry is a mere $10 and they’ll be ready to go at 7pm. Lacklustre HQ can be found on Google Maps, but if in doubt, the address is 110 Macarthur Avenue.
WHO: THE SNOWDROPPERS WHAT: ALBUM LAUNCH WHEN: FRI SEP 4 WHERE: TRANSIT BAR
Canberra is privileged to host Sydney blues-rockers The Snowdroppers on the same day as their album, Business, is released. This show will also mark the band’s first gig in over 18 months, so you can expect them to explode onto the stage with high energy and a serious urge to get down to — uhh, business. They’re armed with a swag full of new material ready to be experienced live for the first time ever. Joining them are Sydney’s up-and-coming garage-fuzz rockers, Food Court. Tickets are just $17 + bf through Moshtix. The meeting will open at 8pm.
WHO: JESS RIBEIRO WHAT: ALBUM TOUR WHEN: SAT SEP 5 WHERE: THE PHOENIX
To celebrate the release of her new album, Kill It Yourself, Jess Ribeiro and her band are heading to Canberra. Kill It Yourself marks a bold change in direction for Jess, with her previous LP My Little River receiving critical acclaim amongst the alt-country scene. Album highlights include ‘Hurry Back To Love’, which was written on a scrap of paper after Jess had an argument on the phone with her boyfriend. The result emphasises her remarkable voice and her natural disposition for melody. Tickets are just $10 at the door. The show starts at 9:30pm.
WHO: MODERN BASEBALL AND IRON CHIC WHAT: TOUR WHEN: WED SEP 9 WHERE: TRANSIT BAR
Being young sucks. We’ve achieved nothing, we’re going nowhere – all we’ve got is a smart phone with a broken screen and a list of friends on a social media website who probably don’t know we exist outside of a static profile picture. It’s nice to know that Modern Baseball get it. They’re a quirky Philadelphian band with a melodic indie rock sound and a lot to say about being a young good-for-nothing. They’re not afraid to have feelings, either. Grab your tickets for $20 + bf through Moshtix, and join the party at 8pm. They’ll be headlining with the excellent Iron Chic.
WHO: THE SMITH STREET BAND WHAT: TOUR WHEN: FRI SEP 11 WHERE: MAGPIES CITY CLUB
By all accounts, Melbourne’s The Smith Street Band are absolutely killing it right now. They had a stellar 2014 – touring relentlessly, releasing their third album Throw Me In The River to huge critical acclaim, and more or less leading a punk revival in Australia (with a touch of folk). Yeah, I said it. So you’d do well to catch ‘em when they swing by Magpies with their US friends Andrew Jackson Jihad and The Sidekicks, as well as fellow Melbournites The Sugarcanes. Tickets are $34.70 through Oztix. Be there by 8pm.
WHO: TKAY MAIDZA WHAT: TOUR WHEN: FRI SEP 11 WHERE: ACADEMY
Tkay Maidza is such a sweetie. When I saw her at Laneway, you could tell by the smile on her cute, little face that she was just happy to be playing to a crowd of admirers. Onstage, the fivefoot-something Aussie rapper unleashes a sound that’s as large and as furious as a stompy brontosaurus. With hits like ‘Switch Lanes’ and ‘M.O.B.’ pleasing crowds all over, her unprecedented flow and wordsmanship is always more than enough to get the party jumping. She’ll have Willow Beats, Porches, and L.K. McKay in support. Tickets are $25 + bf through Moshtix. Be there at 9pm.
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RORY MCCARTNEY Folk legend JOAN BAEZ came to prominence during the 1960s – the decade of protest – as a performer who put her talents behind worthy causes. She played Woodstock and marched with Martin Luther King for civil rights. Some 55 years and 30 albums later, she’s still touring the world. Baez spoke to BMA via Luxembourg, about her work and upcoming tour in September. Asked if she has a rekindled interest in long-distance tours, she laughs. “No, I have an interest in doing tours I haven’t done in a long time. We had a fantastic time and received wonderful reception in Australia two years ago, and we thought we’d go back.” While she previously had no concerns about her future singing career, Baez admits that she must now take her ageing voice into account. “My voice is dropping in pitch and it becomes difficult to keep it in a shape that you want people to hear,” she confesses. “While I will never sound the way I sounded 30 years ago, I make the most of what I have, and realise I very much enjoy the lower range,” she says. “When I’m in command of it, I don’t miss the higher notes. They get harder to make, so I think, what the hell, what do I do in place of that? I develop a richer and stronger lower range. I rearrange the pitch on a lot of songs, and some – which don’t benefit from being lower – get left out. Others enter the repertoire because of where my voice is now.”
being an organisation which she describes in glowing terms. “It does particularly well in Europe, which has a wonderfully imaginative and active Amnesty filled with young people. In the States it needs more work, but has proved to be an amazingly solid organisation over decades.” Baez’s 2008 release Day After Tomorrow was a very spiritual record. Asked if spirituality grows with life experience or gets worn away by a temptation to give in to cynicism, Baez confides: “I’m saved by the fact that I was always cynical, although people just never knew it. I’m protected from thinking that we were really going to save the world. However, the state of the world is alarmingly violent and ruthless, and you have to pick whatever mode of activism suits something that has reached your heart,” she says. “Until there is a mass movement that people are involved in, which chooses its own direction for you in a way, we have to seek out our own direction in this really terrible time.”
You have to pick whatever mode of activism suits something that has reached your heart
As to her opinion on the state of music today as a means of representing causes and concerns, Baez says: “It depends what country you’re in. Where countries are in obvious distress, the songs arise from that.” She cited a recent example of a visit to Turkey where she learned a song that came from the Gezi Park protests. “It was a wonderful song that wouldn’t have happened if they hadn’t been in such a state of distress.” Baez despairs that the world is in a terrible state without realising it. “There are good songs being written in the States and elsewhere that do not have a platform to be heard, as music is dominated by showbiz and music that is, in some cases, absolutely worthless. The flood of music we had during the ten years back in the ‘60s and early ‘70s was a phenomenon,” she says. “It was urged on by the obvious difficulty of those years.” In a world rich in trouble, there are many causes to choose from today. Baez cites global warming as a cause close to her heart, which she confesses is almost too terrifying to deal with. Choosing a cause closer to home, she says: “In the States, it’s the police violence and mass incarceration of people of colour. While the civil rights movement was for many a big victory, for others it was something infuriating, and having a black president is just something they cannot deal with.” Baez is a recent recipient of the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award, with Amnesty
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Of the forthcoming tour, Baez says: “It was a good set last time, but you cannot do the same thing when you come back two years later. I’m in the process of making an album, and some of the songs from that we’ll be preparing so we can sing them in Australia.” Asked if her last live album, Diamantes, will be a source, she says: “I’ll do one or two songs from that, but then I do a couple of songs from many albums, going back half a century. Songs have to have certain qualities for a show. Also, people like certain songs and will be hoping that we do them again,” she explains. “There’s a skeleton of the show that we do. Then we switch things around to make it fresher, or make it suit the country.” Baez has been touring with her son Gabriel Harris for about five years and she loves the fact that he can tour with her and accompany his ‘mom’ on percussion. “If he had a big ego it wouldn’t work, as he has to match up to a pretty low-key style on stage.” Not having done any songwriting herself for about 25 years, Baez has often covered traditionals and the work of other songwriters. Asked about her favourite songwriter when it comes to picking songs for herself, she affirms: “Right now – going through songs to prepare for an album – I would say Tom Waits. He has written some astoundingly spiritual, clever, and moving work that is also very sing-able.” As for her message for young musos who want to make a point with their music? “Keep writing, hang out at open mics, and try to remain inspired for yourselves, as that will inspire other people.” Joan Baez plays the Royal Theatre at the National Convention Centre at 8pm on Thursday September 17. Tickets are from $96.85 + bf, available at tiketek.com.au.
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LOCALITY Winter is dying, you guys. It’s almost done! While we’re not out of the seven-layer-wearing woods yet, the edge is starting to come off the chill, and there’s really no better way to celebrate than by cosying up to a bunch of other people in a crowd in front of some awesome Canberra talent, am I right? (I’m totally always right.) Super Best Friends are bemoaning the fact that heaps of top folks are heading to other places with their new single/video combo, ‘All My Friends Are Leaving Town’. To ease the pain (and facilitate catchups), they’re heading off on a sizeable tour, with their hometown gig on Thursday August 27 at The Phoenix. Things kick off at 8pm, and for $10 at the door you’ll also be treated to sets from Agency and skinpin. It’s been a nice run lately, with more welcomes than farewells on the Canberra music scene, but Fricker is breaking that streak when they play their last show at Magpies City Club on Saturday August 29, starting at 8pm. They’ll be leaving us with a tasty souvenir though: their new EP But Also It Will Rain, which will be available on the night in a limited run of physical copies. Entry is $5, with the line-up being filled out by Bleach It Clean, Helena Pop, The Ians, and Benjamin Drury. Welcome the warmer months at the Polish Club on Friday September 4, as Brother Be, Monsterpiece and Beth Monzo take to the stage for the Spring Fling. Topical costumes are encouraged, with flower power sure to be out in full force. Tickets are $15 – less for concession and CMC members – and are available at the door, with proceedings kicking off at 8pm. Transit Bar is going to get particularly shiny on Saturday September 5 from 8pm, because Coda Conduct are back on home turf on their latest tour, marking the release of their latest EP, Paint It Gold. They’re going to be joined by special guests Stateovmind and Lash, with tickets available through Moshtix. If you’ve been missing your Bootleg Sessions fix for a while, Monday September 7 is a great day to get your fill. As usual, it’s free (although donations are welcome and encouraged) and it starts at 8pm, with the evening’s line-up including Positive Feedback Loop, Massive Sherlock, Borderline Lucy, and Hat Trick. With a few names that haven’t been bandied about too often, it might just be the night you stumble across a new Canberran aural delight. So head along and take the edge off the Monday blues! On Thursday August 27, you’ll be able to treat your ears to some of the sweetest guitar sounds Canberra has to offer when CIT MIC Nights present the Canberra Guitar Showcase at Gorman Arts Centre from 7:30pm. The list of talents who’ll be performing is massive, from the guitarists to a spectacular backing band, so you’ll definitely be getting value for money, with tickets just $10. For more information, point your favourite browser to agac.com.au/event/cit-micnights-canberra-guitar-showcase. No matter the style you’re into, Canberra has definitely got something cooking for you this fortnight. Don’t be the idiot who stays home and misses it! NONI DOLL nonijdoll@gmail.com @nonidoll
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it’s still more than we’ve ever done. We usually scrape by.”
PRESSURE AND PLANNING ANGELA CHRISTIAN-WILKES “It’s a kind of pressure on us to deliver a product to people when they’re giving us their money upfront,” Matthew Wright tells me of crowdfunding. “But it’s the best kind of pressure that a band can ask for, one’s that direct from their fans… It’s a nice transaction. An easy transaction.”
We’re more active in the band now than we have ever been before
Now that Dark Horses has made its way into the hands of their fans, it will be played from over 30 different stages across eight states and territories. Wright notes they also want to reach as many people as possible before heading off to the United States – another anticipated big first for the group: “We’ve made records there, but we’ve never actually toured in the US.”
However, the most important reason for such an extensive Australian tour is to bring their music back to these familiar and far-flung spaces. “It’s always been important to us to play to people who don’t get to see live music often. It’s a wonderful experience going to those places and bringing joy to those people.” Get reacquainted with The Getaway Plan at The Transit Bar on Saturday September 12. Tickets are $20 through Moshtix.
It has been over two years since THE GETAWAY PLAN’s departure from label UNFD, and a year since the group announced their plans to crowdfund their third album, Dark Horses. Whilst Wright is quick to commend the unconventional – but increasingly popular – method, he hasn’t ignored the downsides of their new-found independence. “There has been a shitload more work for us and we’ve been swept off our feet – more work than we could ever have anticipated. At the same time, we’re more active in the band now than we have ever been before, with every single aspect of it,” he says. The band submitted their Kickstarter pledge, recorded, produced, created the artwork and mailed out the pre-orders themselves – an intense but “imperative” process done to ensure fans received the final product. On the plus side of this, the hard-yards have resulted in a new source of pride. “It’s just so much more gratifying when things do pay off, knowing we’re responsible for it. It’s very easy, when you have a label, to push blame onto other people when things don’t work out… When it’s you in charge of things you can only learn from your experience.” Whilst cutting loose from labels ensured The Getaway Plan covered unfamiliar territory behind the scenes, a new rhythm section saw the group develop anew musically. Brothers Dan and Mike Maio “opened up our ability to jam more as a band and write together as a band.” Prior to this, the songwriting process was slower and more forced, whereas the writing of Dark Horses was more productive than any other project. Together they wrote around forty songs, but Wright is quick to note: “Twenty of them are absolute fucking garbage… but
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of different DJs. And when I say different DJs, I mean I was a guy on a microphone for like, rave events and stuff. Not necessarily straight up hip-hop.” I giggle – the thought of Jem on the mic at a rave seems incongruous, although I’m not sure why. “What was that like?” I ask.
ERICA MALLETT JEM NATIVIDAD seems to have a ubiquitous presence in Canberra’s hip-hop scene. After settling here in the late ‘90s and cementing himself as an artist in various genres, he has become a central figure in the local music community. Jem has played – and still plays – a pivotal role in painting the landscape of Canberra’s music scene. For this reason, much to Jem’s dismay, a few of the younger emcees (including myself) have taken to calling him The Sensei. We meet up one lazy afternoon on Lonsdale Street, Braddon. A few coffees later, we meander towards The Mandalay Bus and take a seat at a wooden picnic table in the park – the timber is carved with the “woz ere”s of a generation of bored capital kids with no curfew. After talking shit for a while, I ask Jem how long he’s been in Canberra for. Pulling a cigarette out of his jacket pocket, he starts. “I moved to Australia from the Philippines when I was six years old,” he says out one side of his mouth – the unlit cigarette now dangling from the other side – “And I was here for maybe a year and a half. My mum married an Australian dude, and that’s why I came to be an Australian.” Jem lights his cigarette and inhales, pauses, drops the lighter back down on the table and continues. “Through my childhood, I moved around a fair bit, I lived in Nauru, Greece, Canada – which is why I talk the way I do.” Jem’s accent, now that I think about it, is hard to place. “I’ve been in Canberra steadily since 1996.”
I watch as Jem stubs his cigarette out on the table and flicks the butt onto the concrete below us. “I emceed hardstyle events and shit, you know. I was rocking with Typhonic for a while and his thing was breaks and ghettotech and drum and bass.” “So that was similar to what other people were doing in Canberra?” I ask, slightly amused as I try to imagine the emcees I know rapping over hardstyle. “Yeah, that’s what the scene was like, I guess back 15 years ago …” He stops briefly and furrows his brow, as if he’s counting the years disbelievingly. “Yeah, 15 years ago … The hip-hop scene in Canberra was strong, but small. There were dudes working to make things happen. That’s where Four Storey Empire came in, dudes like Mexi, Wepon…” I nod. The names are ringing bells, but I feel guilty for not knowing more about artists considered pioneers. I make a mental note to do some research later. “So, there were actual hip-hop nights in Canberra,” he goes on. “Ill Repute (at Heaven) was the name. And then Canberra got into the battling thing.”
I guess I like flying underneath the radar
“What did the Canberra hip-hop scene look like back then?” I ask. “I mean, were you an emcee? What did you think about hip-hop?” Jem smiles wryly. “No” he says, “See, I used to always have to clarify that my love for hip-hop is due to a love of music. When I was younger - twelve, thirteen – yeah, I listened to a hell of a lot of hip-hop. You know, Digital Underground or Public Enemy or whatever the things were that people were listening to in that day and age.” He laughs and leans forward to rest his forearms on the table, smoke drifting languidly from the cigarette between his fingertips. “And then, you know, I guess the grunge thing broke out, and I got more into guitar than I did emceeing and rhyming and stuff like that …” Jem tells me about his musical background – playing guitar, bass, and singing in bands as a teenager – and I suddenly feel foolish for having never thought of Jem outside of the world of hip-hop. “What the rock thing taught me was not only the musicianship part of it,” he continues. “But they wrote really cool lyrics that made sense to me as a teenager. And due to that, I started writing. And it was from that writing where I started doing emceeing.” The emceeing, says Jem, was when he discovered that he had a greater love of music. “I realised that I didn’t need to attach myself just to heavy guitars or 808s or anything like that. It was just hey, I love music and I’ll follow music irrespective of what genre it is.” After starting rapping at age 16, Jem became increasingly involved in the Canberra live music scene. “I was emceeing at 18, 19, for a lot
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“That was weird.” He shrugs and laughs too. “You know, looking back on it, it was probably because I was comfortable on a microphone, because of having a musical background. So I could stand in front of people.”
When I ask him what year that was, he lights up. “Whatever year Anton turned 18.” Grinning, Jem recounts the story of when he met Anton, an emcee who now lives in Melbourne, at one of the first battle nights at Mombasa. “He was just fucking murdering everyone!” We talk about other battle emcees at the time, and I start recognising more names. “Belief was doing— oh, sorry, now Brett Super or Bahlu…” Jem stops and looks mischievous, “Ha! Take thaaaat sucker! Not a secret anymore!” The conversation moves on to his involvement with various other crews. “There was Danoz, from Rhyme Ministers, who I met because he was the singer in a metal band I knew. That’s where dudes like Dee On and Limbs Pay Debt came from. There was Agency Dub Collective … And I was also emceeing with an eight or nine-piece band called Jedis on Crack.” I sit there nodding, becoming slightly overwhelmed as I try to put everything into some kind of chronological order. “Then there was my last attempt at emceeing,” he continues, “with Anton, D’Opus as DJ and beat-maker, and female emcee Mewz.” At this point he notices me struggling to keep up, because he stops. “God, this is a long-ass history,” he says. I agree and we both laugh. Jem goes on to tell me about how, in 2003 or 2004, he began DJing more. This was, he says, simply an organic progression – a result of having so many records and wanting to share them with others. At first, he admits, he resisted the title of ‘DJ’.
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“To call yourself a DJ,” he explains, “is a badge of honour. You have to take yourself seriously, it means you spend time practicing.” He trails off, then adds: “I’m a DJ now. I’m happy to say that I’m a DJ now.” We talk for a while about how he puts DJ sets together. Jem explains that it’s an art of context, about watching the room, choosing accordingly, and therefore “about music coming out irrespective of genre.” In terms of styling himself, he tells me he takes influences from kings like Spinbad, Z-Trip and The Nextmen. “So I guess this all jumbles together,” he says, motioning a washing machine with his hands, “and the reason I said I have this love of music is I think that’s what has taken me to become the DJ I am today. Because I understood the music. I was obsessed by it. I had a lot of it. Because I was spending my childhood making mixtapes for people and sharing music. That’s pretty much what I do in front of people these days.” “That’s a good quote,” I tell him. “I’m going to pull that shit and blow it up in big letters.” He thinks about it, then half nods and we sit quietly for a few moments. The afternoon is getting on now. I look away from Jem for the first time in about half an hour - there’s a young mother wearing a puffy vest walking a pram through the park and some pigeons pecking at an empty McDonald’s bag. Jem pushes a bottle cap around the edge of the table. I pull my jacket in around my neck and break the pause. “You obviously do a lot of event organising with Transit Bar.” This is perhaps Jem’s most official title – he’s the go-to guy for booking one of Canberra’s most respected venues. “When did that start happening?” He explains that Transit has been open for eight or nine years, but he started taking over it in about the second year. This was a result of having to book venues for his own bands to play. “At around the same time,” he says, “I was running Stonefest, over at UC with my mentor Pete Spicer, who I always have to name drop because he was an early believer of me.” Peter Spicer, I find out later, was the co-founder of the pioneering Canberra music magazine BMA. “I always pay respect to people who believed in me early on,” Jem continues. “When I was in bands and stuff, there were venues that put a lot of faith into me. You know, believed that I could put on gigs.” He looks slightly amused. “You know, from a business perspective, hiphop had a bad reputation there for a while. Dudes tagging, violence, beef, whatever. People didn’t want a part of that.” I nod, remembering one of Jem’s posts on the Facebook group, The Canberra Hip-Hop Movement, after a recent gig at Transit Bar. It read: “Protip: stop tagging the venues that support you. Fucking idiots.”
Jem goes on to tell me how he has high hopes that attendance numbers at hip-hop gigs might go from 50 to around 200 people. “In a population of 380,000 it’s still difficult to do that,” he says, “but I have hope that we are able to get to that stage.” “It’s interesting,” I point out, “that a lot of the audience members at hip-hop shows are also emcees.” He lets out a snort. The concept is obviously one he’s all too familiar with. “That is the nature of hip-hop. It’s great that people support each other. But we’ve gotta break that barrier – you’ve gotta be appealing to the common person. I think we probably have to do a better job at selling ourselves.” “In what way?” I ask. “I guess this is the million dollar question,” he grins “How the fuck do we do that?” I sit in silence, looking at him expectantly. I realise he’s not going to continue. “I thought you would have the answer!” I tease. “Nah, I don’t have the answer. And that’s why I’m not the fucking sensei!” he cries, throwing his hands in the air, half in humour, half in frustration. We jokingly glare at each other. “So,” I ask him, “can you give me a few final thoughts on the current state of hip-hop in Canberra? Reflections?” “Well I think it’s very cool that there is a supportive community here,” he says. “I actually think it’s more or less a first for Canberra. I’m glad it’s gotten to that stage. I mean, it started off with that barbecue, right!?” The barbecue in question first brought together the administrators of the aforementioned Facebook group, The Canberra Hip-Hop Movement. It is now over 1,000 members strong. Two years on from its creation, the group continues to grow at an incredible pace. “Did you organise the barbecue?” He tells me that yes, he thinks so, but it was originally Johan (AKA Context, AKA Cunty, AKA Uncle Joy) who spurred it on. “Johan started that Facebook group, then contacted me and was like ‘I dunno who you are, but it looks like you’ve got some sway, do you want to be an admin?’” Jem had responded with a resounding no. “It was because I guess I like flying underneath the radar. I’m happy to facilitate, because I wanna see that growth. But I don’t wanna be that dude directing things because that cramps other people’s style.” “Aha!” I say, thinking I’ve found a title for Jem that we can agree upon. “So you’re The Catalyst then!” “No! I’m not The Catalyst, man! I just put on shows so people can play!”
“It has taken me a long time to build up trust again with the venues,” he says. “And it’s crazy to think there’s a hip-hop gig every week these days. That certainly was not the case ever in the history of Canberra.”
I sigh. He goes on. “Maybe that’s where the Sensei bit comes in. But whatever. That’s where my passion lies. I want to see more great music, not just the records that sit on my shelf.”
I grin. This feels good to hear. “So you think we’re moving forward?” I ask, already knowing the answer.
Though he insists he’s not the fucking Sensei, not The Catalyst, just a lover of music, it’s clear that Jem’s passion isn’t introverted. Whether obvious or subtle, his influence on the Canberra music scene can be found in the unlikeliest of places. As the light fades and the Canberra chill begins to set in, we walk to Northbourne Avenue and say goodbye. I know that I’ll see him again soon. Even if it’s just a glimpse at the back of a crowded gig – eyes glued to the stage, listening.
“Absolutely,” he says. “I would love for Canberra to be where it’s not ruled by one hip-hop act doing their thing. This is going to start sounding pedestal-y-ish” – he pauses and looks at me, but I know what he means – “but it’s a perfect time now for people to step up and do their shit.” I think about this for a second, and not just for potential wisecracks about pedestals and stepping up. I’ve lived in Canberra since I was born, but I’ve only been involved in the hip-hop community for a little more than two years. In that time, I’ve noticed a huge increase in gigs, emcees, producers, and community support.
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Amongst a whole bunch of great upcoming gigs, Transit Bar will be hosting Coda Conduct on Saturday September 5 at 8pm, and Brother Ali on Monday September 14 at 8pm. See transitbar.com.au for details and their full gig calendar.
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Suavess also dropped his Chilla Shit mixtape last week. A fair bit more laid back than Jedbrii’s effort, chuck this one on when kicking back on a weekend arvo.
THE REALNESS I know it’s been said before, but people who say there isn’t anything going on in Canberra must be walking around with their eyes closed. Every couple of weeks I sit down to write this column by trawling through Facebook and the internet to find upcoming local gigs and releases. Whenever I begin this process, I’m always blown away by the amount of gigs and releases I haven’t seen or have missed out on giving a shout-out to. In the words of Pras though, “Let bygones be bygones and so on and so on…” So here’s some news about local stuff. On Friday August 14, local MC Jedbrii released his debut Mindstate Mixtape. Featuring other Canberra mainstays like Jimmy Pike, Mattrix and Keech, mixed by one half of the Ansah Brothers, Citizen Kay, mastered by Hayds and featuring cuts from Ill Gato, this release is almost peak Canberra. That’s not a bad thing, though. ‘High’ and the use of Dilla on ‘Love Tripping’ stand out. Mindstate Mixtape is available for free download and streaming at Jedbrii’s SoundCloud. Genesis Owusu – the other half of the Ansah Brothers – also deserves a massive shout out this fortnight for putting Canberra firmly in the eyes of those in the know – last week, he was announced as one of the finalists of triple j’s Unearthed High competition. His inclusion in the list is fair recognition though, as he’s been all over it for a while. It’s good to see ‘The Day After Valentines’ cop the amount of praise that it has on the Unearthed website. Watch this space.
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Something international that I need to give some words to this week is the surprise arrival of a new Talib Kweli album. Featuring Miguel and the most under-appreciated member of TDE, Ab-Soul, the appropriately titled Fuck the Money also features production by The Alchemist and is available for zero dollars online at Kweli’s website. On the gig front, as mentioned last issue, the ACT DMC Championships are going down on Friday August 28 at Transit Bar. The event – put on by KP Records – can be attended by purchasing tickets for the paltry sum of $20. They are on sale online and – if there’s any left – at the door. Coda Conduct are also coming back home Saturday September 5 for a show as part of their Paint It Gold tour at Transit. Stateovmind is helping out on support, so too is Lash, following the success of his Anonymous Antics launch last week. Coming all the way from America’s Midwest, Brother Ali will also be hitting up Transit on Monday September 14. Supports are yet to be announced. You’ll be able to get down and catch the politically outspoken Rhymesayers member and former pupil of Chuck D and Rakim by heading to Moshtix. Finally, the NWA biopic Straight Outta Compton will be hitting screens on Thursday September 3. Even if the movie sucks, listening to NWA on cinema speakers should make it worthwhile. BRADY MCMULLEN - realness.bma@gmail.com
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CODY ATKINSON What is truly in a name? A bit, or otherwise this column will be a waste of space. But what makes a good band name, or a terrible one? I don’t know yet, but hopefully the answer is long enough to make this column fit the page. Cody Atkinson reportages. Where do band names even come from? The concept of band names derives from Johannes Band, creator of the first power trio in 1632. Johannes’ Band became well known for their interpretations of the baroque masters of the day, such as Johnson, Peri, Van Halen, and Slash. So what makes a great band name? Eh, that’s a bit hard to explain. To paraphrase Justice Potter Stewart, I know a good name when I see it. But it’s far easier to point out where names go wrong rather than right. Okay, what’s in a bad name then? Where do you start? How about at the start?
Personally, I like a bit of blue work in a name every now and again. Dick Diver has a solid name, with alliteration and all, but even it’s a little too dicky to be featured on commercial radio or TV, if that was going to happen. How about the “fuck” bands? Yeah, the late 2000s saw a wave of relatively good indie bands with the word ‘fuck’ right in the middle of their name, such as Holy Fuck, Fucked Up, and Fuck Buttons. I like it when a band’s name represents who the band is, which all three of the above do. However, you do sometimes get cases like when Fuck Buttons were featured at the 2012 Olympics, and the broadcasters had to call them F Buttons, which is a shot across the chops. And when Fucked Up won the Polaris Prize in Canada, there was an outcry that public money went to a band with a “dirty” name. Them’s the breaks when you get in the “fuck” game.
It’s far easier to point out where names go wrong rather than right
The biggest thing for me is band names that are so long that you have to shorten them to just the initials of the band, which makes no sense when reading it back. Newish Adelaide band Hi I’m Reclusive Author Thomas Pynchon are extremely guilty of this in their novella-length band name that alludes to modern US literature and perhaps even The Simpsons. NO ONE is saying that whole band name aloud. Instead, people shorten it to HIRATP, which when you say it out loud sounds like you are having a stroke. So short names are the go, then? Well, not too short. Three or four syllables seems to be the sweet spot when it comes to good band names, with a little bit of variation on either side. It’s also pretty hard to get away with a one-syllable band name and be still somewhat findable on the internet. I mean a one-syllable band name is rarely bad, but it probably can’t get to excellent territory. Like Low, for example. That’s a good, solid name for a great band right there, and one that kinda describes their music. But to find a Low video you have to google something like “Low band USA”, which is a terrible name for a band. If you can’t google it, it’s probably not a good name? I know it’s a bit stupid, but it’s also a bit true. If you can’t find out who a band are, how do you know if they are good or not? Most prominently, !!! have run into this trouble as Google flat-out refuses to search for those three characters. When your band name comes back with “did not match any documents”, there’s a little bit of a problem with your name. How about punctuation, more generally? It can go either way, but there’s a tendency for punctuation to take away more from a name than it gives. For every Godspeed You! Black Emperor, there’s a Ke$ha or Panic! At The Disco or The Go! Team. If people are going to start making fun of your name because of some wacky character that you fell in love with at 3AM, perhaps it’s a mistake.
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How about a little bit of casual swearing in a band name?
Okay, I feel the column has been building to this... Yeah?
What are some terrible band names, for lolz sake? Okay, let’s start with the grand daddy of them all... Who, Granddaddy? No, but that’s a bad name too. I’m talking about... [Language warning.] Anal Cunt. The US grindcore aficionados, and writers of gems like ‘Women: Nature’s Punching Bag’, probably had one of the most outthere band names going. And of the people I asked for input here, they also agreed that they had the worst band name altogether. On to the less Crass (which is a pretty awesome band name BTW), you have gems like Hoobastank, whose name reads like their music sounds. I saw a band called Daemon Foetal Harvest the other year, which yeah, kinda sums them up really. Puddle Of Mudd had an ordinary name, and then added an extra ‘d’ to it. Boyz II Men is so freaking bad it’s good, so it’s not on this list on that technicality, but we do have room for Limp Bizkit here. And The Band takes the prize for the laziest band name ever, despite their actually good music. It seems that there might be a relationship between the quality of a band and the interpretation of how good their name is… That could very well be true. It’s easier to give a pass to a great band if their name is a bit lacking, point-in-case being The Beatles. It’s an ordinary name at best, a lame pun that happens to be three syllables and not much more. But because the band was so good, most people totally overlooked that, and rightfully so. But isn’t a band’s name the most superficial basis on which you can judge a band by? Yep. Absolutely. It’s pretty great.
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DANCE THE DROP
Ah, festival season is upon us. What, I hear you ask – it’s only the end of winter! Sure, it’s not yet summer, but with decent pickings from August to April (and I guess May and July if you count Groovin’ the Moo and Splendour...) for a seasoned festivalgoer, it’s a long period of the year.
For me, festival season starts with Psyfari up in the Capertee Valley (supposedly the world’s second largest canyon), with a weekend of sunshine, friends and doof-doof music across three stages. Threeday outdoor festivals are an entirely different beast to single-day multi-stage concerts however, and to make your festival experience truly awesome, you need to think beyond just a packing tent that doesn’t collapse and a cold tin of beans for lunch. Camping should be done in style, preferably with a decent crew of rad peeps. Bring something for a communal space, be it a giant tipi-style bell tent, an outdoor kitchen, or heaps of shade sails. Just as many of the best experiences take place while drinking beers at a campfire as they do on the dancefloor. Costumes are also a must. Techno dance-offs are a lot more fun when there’s at least someone dressed up as some kind of space wizard battling a dude in a dragon onesie. Even better is glitter – bring glitter and you’ll soon be everyone’s friend. If you want maximum raving time, eat decent food. Sure, you can buy nothing but Hare Krishna curries all weekend, but bringing some proper, slow release energy food that consists of more than just a few cans of Red Bull and chips is usually a good idea! Most of all, wander around and check out a bunch of music you haven’t heard before – discovering your new favourite DJ when you stumble onto the DnB stage at 3am when you ‘really were going to go to bed this time’ is the best part. I’m sad I’ll miss it, but if you’re in Canberra this Friday August 28, be sure to head along to Digress Lounge for some seriously cool drum ‘n’ bass action presented by the Headz Are Rolling crew. UK-based selector AMIT (Metalheads and Ninja Tune labels) will be spinning his unique brand of Asian and dub-influenced beats, with support from Tidy and Fourthstate. Alternatively on Friday August 28, Baytek will be launching his new track ‘Got The Love’ at Mr Wolf, with support from Double Agent, 3verest and Megan Bones – $10 on the door. Friday will also see heavy-hitters Slumberjack bring their massive sounds to Academy, with Royce, Nay Nay, and Jake Raven in support – $15 before 11pm. Also that night (man, this is big one for Canberra), the DMC World DJ Championships return to Canberra. This year’s winner will receive the ACT DMC title and a place in the national final in Melbourne – let the battle commence! Tickets are $20 at Transit Bar. Finally, Savage comes to Canberra the following weekend, bringing his hybrid of bounce, trap, and big room EDM sounds to Academy on Friday September 4 – $15 before 11pm. But for those at Psyfari this weekend, I’ll see you on the dancefloor! PETER ‘KAZUKI’ O’ROURKE contact@kazuki.com.au
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support from Sydney’s Propeller and Canberra’s own Silver Lining and Starrats. Entry is just $10 on the door. Also on Thursday August 27, you can catch local favourites Super Best Friends returning to The Phoenix on their ‘All My Friends Are Leaving Town’ Tour. They’ll be supported by locals Agency and Skinpin. This one will also only cost you $10 on the door. Introductions are hard. I don’t know what to say. I guess hey, I’m Ian and I wrote this column. It’s all about punk music in Canberra, which I think is a pretty rad place. Below is a list of places and times where you can take in some of the local punk culture, so pop by sometime if you’re in the mood. But yeah, I guess apart from that, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me. I won’t give you any of my contact details but you know, whatever. Enjoy this column I guess. Sydney punk duo Corpus will be returning to the capital on Thursday August 27. They’ll be at the Magpies City Club with
On Friday August 28, you can head down to Magpies City Club to catch Sydney’s Dividers and Nerdlinger along with locals Sketch Method and Capes. Sydney’s Sleepy will be hitting up The Phoenix on Thursday September 3. They’ll be joined on the night by locals Primary Colours and Thunderbolt City. Entry to this one is just $5 on the door. On Wednesday September 9, the USA’s Modern Baseball will be stopping by Transit Bar as part of their joint tour with fellow Americans Iron Chic. Tickets are available for $20 + bf through Moshtix. Australian punk hallmarks The Smith Street Band are headed out on yet another tour. This time they’ll be travelling around the country in September alongside their American mates Andrew Jackson Jihad and The Sidekicks, and fellow Melbournians The Sugarcanes. They’ll be stopping by the Magpies City Club on Friday September 11. Tickets are set at $34.70 and are available through Oztix. Be sure to snatch up your tickets nice and early ‘cause this one’s sure to sell out! On Tuesday August 8, Ainslie & Gorman will be featuring local folk-punk outfit Helena Pop as part of their ‘Out To Lunch’ program. For this special performance the band will be joined by a three-piece string section. The forty-minute set will kick off at the Ainslie Arts Centre from 12:30pm, for just $5 on the door. Also on Friday September 11, you can catch Melbourne duo The Stiffys at The Phoenix. Not sure if they count as punk, but they sure do seem to give a minimal number of fucks. Anyway yeah, that’s all I can really think to tell you at this point in time. I’m not really sure how to finish this either… IAN McCARTHY
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METALISE Okay, so get it out of the way early – Abbath, the most memeworthy lord in metal, is doing a solo tour of Australia. For the former Immortal frontman, the only sacrifice you must make is to slap down a few bucks for tickets and trip up the Hume to Manning Bar on Friday October 16. Grim. You might wanna book a hotel in Sydney for the weekend, wash your corpse paint off, pull on your denim and stay up there for the Megadeth show on Sunday October 18 at the Hordern Pavilion, with Finnish shredders Children of Bodom. Megadave now have Lamb of God drummer Chris Adler and a new lead guitarist from South American power metal band Angra on deck, and have just broken from the studio to follow up 2013’s Super Collider record. The Friday October 16 line-up for the Captain Cleanoff show is sorted now, with locals Wretch on the cusp of releasing their new record. The boys released an absolutely filthy film clip that has been up and down on YouTube since vokillist Ben sent it to me. Blightworms are also along for the ride and the gig will be their first with the addition of a bass player to the now four-piece line-up of grind madness. They’ve got a bunch of new material to run through, with the aim of putting an EP and split out sometime in the near future. That’s a big night’s grind for everyone at the Transit Bar.
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Huge show announced for the Basement straight outta Belcompton on Saturday October 31, with the Metal Fiesta 8 Halloween Spectacular. Power metal gods Lord headline a first-class bill of Australian talent including Frankenbok, Lo!, Nouveaux, Claret Ash, Immorium, Perpetual End, CHUD, and Forstora. I think the set I’m most looking forward too though is the waaaaaaay overdue return from our 50% own The Levitation Hex (the other 50% are Melbournites). I am really excited to hear their new recordings, following up on their fantastic debut, and I’m stoked that they’re playing on a big show in the revitalised venue. That is going to be a huge night and if you need any further enticement, burlesque performances from The Velvet Vixens might get you off the couch from 6pm when the doors open. After the pleasing destruction of the Yob tour, it’s only a few short weeks until the Earthless and Elder double-header hits Sydney on Saturday October 24 at the Newtown Social Club. Don’t forget that one. I would like to briefly take a couple of lines to pass on my sincere thanks to all the folks – and there were over 2,000 Facebook shares and a tonne of likes – that passed on news of my guitar getting pinched from a show at The Entrance in June. The amazing Senior Constable Richard Saxon brought the guitar down to a course in Goulburn he was attending, and I now have it back at home and honestly couldn’t be more humbled or thankful for all the kind words. JOSH NIXON doomtildeath@hotmail.com
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E X H I B I T I O N I S T
Full image credit: Allan Amato
ARTS | ACT
CHUCK ALLAN SKO You could describe Chuck Palahniuk’s writing style as telling you a joke whilst punching you in the gut. So it is with his 12-years-in-the-making short story collection Make Something Up. But that is not all there is to discuss. There is talk of the Fight Club 2 comic and his wealth of screenplays, including which book is next for a screen adaptation. But to the most pressing matter first. The magnificently titled Make Something Up (Stories You Can’t Unread) has, aptly, a funny story behind it. “The title comes from tragedy,” Chuck explains. “It was a story I worked on forever about a very aristocratic man on board the Titanic. As the ship was sinking his Irish-Catholic valet was begging him for a comforting story about the Beyond and God and the Afterlife, when the aristocrat didn’t believe in it. So he was finding himself forced to invent a theology to placate this panicking man that he felt responsible for. That was to be the title story. And I could never make the story work. I’m on the cusp of making it work now. But it’s ironic that the title story never made it into the book. “There’s irony in the title too in that you can’t really make something up,” he says poignantly. “You might think you’re inventing but things already exist. Everything you think you’re inventing is something you’re just following.” In previous interviews Chuck has revealed fan letters to be a primary source of inspiration for his short story work. Is this still the case? “It really is,” he beams. “There are some stories in there that I should just plain call the Penny and Matthew stories. They’re a married couple with one child who are close friends of mine and I go and spend an evening with them at least once a week. I’m always hearing stories about their lives. The Phoenix story about the cat is very much a Penny and Matthew story, as well as the one with the baby in the back seat.” I wonder if Chuck worries he will offend those close to him by including them in his work. “I always say my family is off limits,” he says. “That was validated when [American humorist] David Sedaris told me writing about his family alienated them, that his family had suffered by becoming public figures of his work. In the US also when you make people into public figures they have less legal rights for slander and so I don’t want to do that to those I love. Whereas my friends seem to be flattered by it.” Despite the collection taking 12 years to complete, Chuck has a lot of love for short stories. “It’s still my favourite form,” he enthuses. “I can read them in totality in workshops and get such effective feedback. They’re also fantastic to test a premise to see if it’s worth expanding into a novel; putting your toe in the water and seeing if people instantly engage with an idea.”
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Chuck has revealed in the past that he deliberately makes his books a certain length, largely to avoid overstaying a story’s welcome (“Extend comedy past the 300 page mark,” he said, “and it just falls apart.”). Would he ever consider a magnum opus? “I would love to write something as long as Confederacy of Dunces,” he says. “It’s such a big fat epic that maintains energy the entire time. I’m not that kind of a swimmer, I don’t have that kind of breath. There’s an enormous psychic weight with the incomplete, and you have to be with this incomplete thing for years at a time. That’s exhausting and crippling. I would go crazy. David Foster Wallace was driven to suicide with his huge incomplete book. I don’t want to do that.” Instead Chuck is turning his wicked eye to the comic form for the first time in the highly anticipated sequel to Fight Club, which sees our Narrator trying to keep Tyler Durden at bay with psychotropic drugs. “It’s going great,” Chuck enthuses. “I was really glad I had written all ten episodes beforehand so that the artists would have an idea of what elements would stay with the story, what they should really focus on.” “Comics are going to make me a better screenwriter due to the similar storyboard style and I already have a few little screenwriting jobs coming up,” Chuck continues. “I’m going to be a co-screenwriter on the movie treatment for my book Lullaby. A Portland filmmaker Andy Mingo bought the rights a few months ago. Andy had made a short film of that story Romance that’s in the collection.” With the new form, Chuck feels somewhat like he’s starting anew, and he loves it. “I appreciate with the comics each episode my editor gets back to me with a long list of questions and suggested revisions,” Chucks says. “The more I write the more I really appreciate editing and questioning, but the irony [with prose writing is] the more I write the less likely it is people will question my work. I’m more happy to do that now later in life than I’ve ever been. There’s always room for improvement.” With short stories, screenplays and comics, Chuck is certainly giving his fervent fanbase plenty to chew on and showing he is not short on ideas. Proof that inspiration can strike anywhere, Chuck reveals that it hopefully won’t be 12 years before his next collection. “On tour this year, the ticket agent wanted to do something special with his computer. Just as he was about to switch it on, he looked at me bright-eyed and said, ‘Let’s see what happens!’. And that seemed like such a funny, innocent phrase, but so loaded with expectation. I think that will make a great name for my next collection. Chuck Palahniuk’s Make Something Up is out now through Random House. For an extended version of this article, head to bmamag.com.
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JON RONSON JEREMY STEVENS Identity theft is not a particularly new concept, but when an individual is essentially mimicked by a Twitter bot created by some academics, well – that’s something a little bit different. When it happened to JON RONSON, he started to explore public shaming and what it means in a society that’s so heavily rooted in online activities and interactions. His latest book, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, focuses on just this – and the bottom line is that drawing the collective, often anonymous, ire of the internet has serious consequences for all. The catalyst for the book was an incident in early 2012, when Ronson noticed a Twitter account posting under his name and with a photograph of his face. It tweeted about food, Seinfeld, and other things the real Ronson wouldn’t tweet about himself. Ronson discovered a group of academics had set up the “infomorph”, and they wouldn’t take it down. But they would meet with him. Ronson filmed the meeting and uploaded it to YouTube. After uploading it, the internet converged on the video in support of Ronson, expressing dismay and disgust at the academics’ behaviour. The academics were shamed into eventually retiring the account – and this led Ronson to explore all kinds of online, public shaming and their effects. George Dunford, Director of the Digital Engagement Support Branch at the National Library of Australia, says that Ronson’s work regarding our online behaviour is important to think about. “We’ve been running the Digital Culture Talk series at the library for a long time, and it’s really about trying to get a connection between technology and the arts and culture,” he says. “Jon Ronson’s really interesting to us because he’s looking at the etiquette around social media that’s emerging. “The impulsivity that you can have online – the ability to have an impulse and then just suddenly communicate something – is a great thing, in many ways,” Dunford says. “But sometimes we do find ourselves hitting something that probably needs some more thought before we do it. It’s a very busy storm, and you can get quite caught up in what’s happening in social media and things can escalate very quickly.” As for the effect this shaming can have on broader, more diverse discussions within society, it’s not great – and it’s certainly something we should all be mindful of. “The last sentence of the book that Jon uses is: ‘We are defining the boundaries of normality by tearing apart the people outside of it.’ And I think that’s a really good point to make here, in that social media has the ability to do both,” says Dunford. “It has the ability to put messages out there, and it has the ability to, through the crowd, silence people.”
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Jon Ronson will be speaking about his latest book, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, at the National Library of Australia on Tuesday September 1 at 6pm. Tickets are $20 and can be booked at nla.gov.au/event/public-shaming-with-jon-ronson.
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A R T | C O M E DY | D A N C E | L I T E R AT U R E | T H E AT R E The festival challenges commonly held notions about the association of Arab culture with a conservative approach to life. “Speed Sisters is about Palestinian women racing cars. If that doesn’t challenge the stereotype, I don’t know what does,” Abboud says. “These films are all about debunking narrow views of Arab culture. Like any community, you have people trying to break through conservatism and living on the fringes.”
ARAB FILM FESTIVAL RORY MCCARTNEY The latest in a series of ethnic film festivals to strike town, the ARAB FILM FESTIVAL hits our screens on Fri–Sun August 28–30. With its themes taken from the thriving cities and yawning deserts of the Middle East, BMA caught up with festival co-director Fadia Abboud to find out more. “In Canberra, we have five features and a couple of shorts. It’s really a boutique film festival,” says Abboud. All in Arabic (with subtitles), the movies come from Egypt, the UAE, Jordan, Palestine, and Lebanon, with one of the shorts harbouring from Iraq. Plus, there’s a special short film on the opening night. “It’s an Australian production called Man In The Mirror, about an Arabic-speaking Iranian asylum seeker. In detention, he was told that he looked like Michael Jackson – when he didn’t even know who he was! He loved to dance, researched Jackson, and started mimicking his moves. Out of detention he started working as a Michael Jackson dancer.”
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Themes embrace survival and coming-of-age stories for both boys and girls, including Cotton, an Iraqi short focusing on the intimate moment when a girl becomes a woman. Coming from another angle, Ghadi from Lebanon shows a boy with disabilities tackling small town mentalities. Set during the First World War, Theeb follows the journey of a boy in a landscape filled with warring armies and brigands. “The people in Theeb are actually non-actors. The director stayed with them for eight months to develop the story and find the right performers.” A special film, it cast actual nomadic Bedouin tribespeople in the roles, bringing a unique freshness to the screen. “The Bedouin have a special look and you cannot find other people who speak that language,” Abboud says. “The authenticity is there, including how they ride camels and light their fires. Just to see something set in that period with real people is an excellent experience.” Apart from Cotton, the other entry from Iraq is the drama Hassan In Wonderland. The film is a gritty depiction of what it’s like to grow up in a war zone, as a young boy plays amongst bombed-out cars and buildings. “These are the playing fields for kids in a certain area in Iraq.” However there’s comedy too, in From A To B, which Abboud describes as “like a road movie without the alcohol”. The Arab Film Festival screens at the National Film & Sound Archive from Fri–Sun August 28–30. Screening time details are available at arabfilmfestival.com.au or nfsa.gov.au. For tickets, phone 6248 2000 or just rock up at the venue.
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SAMUEL TOWNSEND Over the last 20 years, Big hART – Australia’s leading arts organisation committed to social change – has tackled a myriad of complex societal issues that span substance abuse, mental illness, domestic violence, young offenders in rural environments, and the incarceration of indigenous youth. The company, founded in 1992, has built a reputation around stories that leave an impact – a residual legacy woven throughout communities in Australia. As I chat with Rose Ricketson, producer of the current phase of Project Cosmopolitana, she mentions the company’s motto: “It’s much harder to hurt someone if you know their story.” This evocative catch-cry provides a prism through which Big hART frame their projects, big or small. Over the past two years, Ricketson has been instrumental to the development of numerous projects based in the Monaro as part of Project Cosmopolitana: an evolving initiative, which over ten years has worked with as many regional communities. “The project seeks to celebrate a cohesive society and what that looks like – through art, recipes, theatre and movement, with collaboration at its core.”
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This September, the culmination of these creative developments will result in GHOSTS IN THE SCHEME. “A story about three friendships set on the backdrop of the Monaro. It’s a drama and it’s a black comedy, and it’s set in the time of the Snowy Hydro Scheme,” Ricketson tells me. “It’s got a really nice poetic, lyrical, musical and visual reference to this part of the world, which is totally unique.” For Ricketson, the importance of Big hART rests in the relationships it’s helped to build: “Not just the connections formed between Big hART, myself, and the community here in Cooma, but also the creation of new platforms for people to connect through. It’s been a really beautiful process.” Ricketson has overseen a number of creative developments and rich cultural events in the region during her time as project producer, and speaks feverishly about contemporary Cooma as well as its colourful history. “The community recognises its rich and sexy cosmopolitan history, and I feel it’s enjoying the process of celebrating that,” she says. “Cooma enjoyed years of being a thriving cosmopolis of nightclubs, bars, cafés, dancing, and international cuisine, and it has a powerful story.” The story, which exists as a template narrative, works with a dynamic cross-section of community members – from seniors and students, to new and old migrants. Historical aspects that are unique to the Monaro region and its residents past and present have been woven into a collaborative theatrical tale that will be brought to life by actors Lex Marinos, Annie Grigg, and Bruce Myles, with music by Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen. Big hART’s Ghosts in the Scheme is set to transform a community on the fringe – perhaps shifting our own perspectives about a place that is often considered a sleepy alpine pit stop. Ghosts in the Scheme will run at the Canberra Theatre Centre from Wed–Sat September 2–5. For ticketing and more information, visit canberratheatrecentre.com.au.
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ARTISTPROFILE: Emily Jackett
What do you do? I try to make things that conjure a false sense of nostalgia. My background is in photography; I mainly work with photographs and mixed media to create images and sometimes installations. I often use found photographs and objects in an attempt to provoke an invented romantic sentimentality. When, how and why did you get into it? I started making things in high school and from there I studied at art school, out of a great desire to continue making things. Who or what influences you as an artist? I am often influenced by writers whose core themes come back to people, their interactions, identities, and histories – at the moment, Christopher Isherwood,
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Patrick White, and Helen Garner, among others. I am also greatly influenced by philosophies around memory, identity, and difference, and how these in turn are influenced by and feed visual culture. What makes you laugh? Inappropriate jokes. What pisses you off? Rude people and slow walkers. What about the local scene would you change? I would want to bring it a larger audience. Upcoming exhibitions? The upcoming exhibition is a group show at PhotoAccess in Manuka called At A Loss, with Evan Baden, Dean Butters, Aimee Fitzgerald, and Elly Freer. It will run from Friday August 27 to Sunday September 20. Contact Info: emilyjackett.com
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LITERATURE IN REVIEW
Like a good mixtape, Hornby intercuts the everyday with the profound – grabbing your attention with a clever opening, and then tweaking it up or down a notch. An awkward one night stand, for example, leads into a reflection on how each failed relationship ‘wrote’ the next.
If you’re reading this, it is very likely that you’ve read High Fidelity (or at least seen the movie). If you haven’t, get on it.
The a-bit-too-neat ending is just about the only thing that disappoints. It lacks the punch of earlier chapters, largely due to Laura, who exists as a plot driver rather than a character we genuinely care about. Unlike the other exes, she’s a little harder to pin down. Nothing much happens, until the final quarter. It’s as though Hornby suddenly found himself on the home stretch and needed to tie off every loose end, quick.
High Fidelity Nick Hornby [Penguin; 2008 – First published in 1995]
Hornby drops us straight into the action. Rob – a 35-year-old record shop owner and music obsessive – is dumped by Laura. High Fidelity, in a nutshell, is the story of what happens next. He goes to work, falls for an American singer-songwriter, visits his parents, and contacts every ex-girlfriend who ever broke his heart. Through all this, he learns to take responsibility for his actions – in love and life. Without being preachy or saccharine at all, I should add. Hornby has a knack for turning the mundane into the memorable, giving his protagonist just the right amount of complexity. The scene where Rob reorders his record collection stands out for being his most vulnerable yet triumphant moment. Despite the not-very-nice things he does, you do wish he would sort his life out because we see ourselves in Rob. He says the things we think but we’re too afraid to admit. “Sex is about the only grown-up thing I know how to do; it’s weird, then, that it’s the only thing that can make me feel like a ten year old.” Equally memorable are the snarky asides and colourful characters. The ribbing between Rob and his friends/employees Dick and Barry is hilarious. “Since when did this shop become a fascist regime?” “Since you brought that terrible tape in.” “All I’m trying to do is cheer us up. That’s all. Very sorry. Go and put some old sad bastard music on, see if I care.”
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Much has changed since High Fidelity was first published 20 years ago, but you don’t need to know the songs to appreciate Rob’s obsession with music as a form of self-expression. This – together with the themes of relationships and growing up – keeps the story fresh. It tackles fear of love and loneliness in an irreverent yet realistic manner. Perfect for music lovers (yes, you) and anyone working out this mystery called life (all of us, really). SHU-LING CHUA
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It is an oft-quoted and general truism that those who actively seek power are those who should be actively denied it. This is not something with which I have had to contend – influence, as it often is, being continually bestowed upon me without it having been sought, thanks to the dazzling nature and enticing allure of my magnificent, full-bodied moustache. Magnificent, full-bodied moustaches aside, anyone who seeks the highest office their land has to offer must be sufficiently ego-driven to have their intentions called into question. If I expressed a barely containable desire to hoof a passing dachshund into the nearest body of water, my cravings could be framed as mildly eccentric, but ultimately sound. Should those yearnings constitute the power to govern all my compatriots however I saw fit, the launching of a small dog into a lake appears positively honourable by comparison. And yet we enthusiastic dog-kickers are often frowned upon while self-ascribed ‘leaders’ are lauded as noble creatures operating at the vanguard of community progress. It is a positively muddled state of affairs. Having spent a fair amount of time recently traversing the exhaustive corridors of your national Parliament, placing wellmeaning manila envelopes stuffed with tainted cash into the hands of suitably positioned elected representatives, I have noticed a sizeable number of young self-satisfied people performing most any whim of their political overlords. These young men and women so obviously have their eyes on the prize – the prize, as they see it, of a fast track to political representation, and the gradual slide from the inconsequential backbenches to junior ministry to full minister to Prime Minister. They believe that spending time in particular buildings satisfying particular people will see them better equipped to implement effective government. No dog-kickers, these. They would rather permit a dog that not moments earlier had its face up another dog’s arse, to lick their cheeks, were it to guarantee the backing of the dog-enthusiast faction of whichever political party they intend to straddle to influence. But this isn’t about dogs. Or is it? Are these fawning pubescents not fulfilling a similar role to man’s most favoured four-legged football? Fetching this, nuzzling that? No doubt they see this submission as a necessary step on the road towards alpha supremacy – happy to be gelded, cuckolded, or in any other way embarrassed, all the while compiling a list of those whom shall be made to pay come their inevitable rise. Well I, for one, won’t stand for this scheming youthful ambition, and it is for this reason that upon my last visit to Parliament, having handed out my financial motivations, I took to giving the canine population of Canberra a breather and booted as many preened, haughty little upstarts through the corridors as I could. I estimate that I managed to wound or seriously harm as many as 25 before being sufficiently restrained, and I remain confident that this civil service will be repaid by both the wider community and any of the nasty little upstarts who happen to ascend to power. GIDEON FOXINGTON-SMYTHE
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bit PARTS Image credit: Greg Primmer
CROSSING AHEAD WHAT: Dance WHEN: Tue–Wed Aug 28–29 WHERE: Canberra Theatre Centre The Canberra Dance Development Centre is celebrating 30 years in dance, and its birthday is being marked by a brand new performance – Crossing Ahead, which is about the tethering together of our individual futures. It features choreography by four former Canberrans who have all made it big on the national and international dance stage: CDDC alumni and acclaimed choreographers Daniel Riley, Paul Knobloch, James Shannon, and Sara Black. The production has seen these talented dancers working with current students to choreograph four new dance works. There will be two nighttime shows and a matinee on the 29th. Tickets start from $25 + bf and are available through canberratheatrecentre.com.au. DANCE KALEIDOSCOPE WHAT: Dance WHEN: Sun Aug 30 WHERE: Belconnen Arts Centre Dance Kaleidoscope 2015 is a celebration of ACT dance. It also marks a time to blow out the candles on Belconnen Arts Centre’s sixth birthday cake. The event premieres inaugural dance commissions for local dance makers and features dance performances by local community groups. See Dance Northside, Eva Damarjati of Move to Self-Love, Hilal Dance, Golds from Canberra Dance Theatre, Monaro Folk, Mudrakar Kathak Dance School, Quake Bellydance, and The Earthly Delights Historic Dance Academy as they dance new and existing works, drawing from rich traditions and practices in contemporary Australian dance. Entry is a gold coin donation. The celebrations will commence at 3pm. OUT TO LUNCH WHAT: Concert Series WHEN: Every Tuesday from Sep 1 WHERE: Ainslie Arts Centre
Image credit: Supplied
Tuesdays seem to fall at that point of the week where the memory of the last weekend has faded, and the next weekend is so far away. Thankfully, there’s a lunch break between 12:30pm and 1:30pm. That’s a good time to head down to Ainslie Arts Centre for a different concert every week. On September 1, you’ll be treated to Eddie Bernasconi and Friends, and the next week you can look forward to Helena Pop and Strings! On the 15th, you can kick back to Andrej Thompson Trio, and then on the 22nd you’ll be serenaded to the sounds of Three Men, One Chamber. All shows are just $5 on the door. BOB FRANKLIN WHAT: Comedy WHEN: Fri Sep 18 WHERE: Uni Pub You may have seen Bob Franklin on TV in Jimeoin and Bob’s Cooking Show, or in one of Shaun Micallef’s programmes, or Stupid, Stupid Man, or The Librarians, or Thank God You’re Here, or in a movie like The Craic, Bad Eggs, Boy Town or Beneath Hill 60. You might have also seen his live comedy at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala or on one of the Melbourne Comedy Festival Roadshows. Either way, you know you need to see him now. Tickets are $20 through unipub.com.au or $22 at the door. He’ll be supported by Tom Gibson, Andrew Bensley and others. The laughs will start at 8pm.
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the word
on albums
album of the issue ADRIAN SHERWOOD SHERWOOD AT THE CONTROLS VOL. 1: 1979–1984 [ON-U SOUND RECORDS] Sex Pistols vocalist Johnny Rotten was on to something when he championed roots and dub reggae around the time this music was going places in the UK, during the mid-to-late 1970s, and the dub influence would come to fruition with the heavy rhythm focus of his next band, Public Image Ltd. Moving forward, reggae appealed to post-punkers who chose to explore hard dance rhythms when all the layers were peeled away, but also wanted to delve into studio craft and visceral sound shapes that distinguished this music from the threechord thrash that inspired it. One artist/producer paying close attention was Adrian Sherwood, who I first came across via electro dub collective New Age Steppers, which featured the likes of Slits singer Ari Up vocalising over ultra-stripped down reggae rhythms – a dream combination. This collection of Sherwood’s production work encompasses dub, mutant disco, and nascent no-wave, making for a succinct yet solid survey of innovative artistry. The sounds on offer emphasise rhythm – almost tribal-like at times – but sculpted by electronics and studio fiddling with psychedelic spatial effects bringing on a decent head-trip. Inspired by the crossover between reggae and punk rock, Sherwood was quick to jump behind the mixing desk, also starting
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his own label On-U Sound, whose vaults have been trawled by the compilers.
Some names will be familiar, such as Manchester art-prole band The Fall – with surly vocalist Mark E Smith spraying out rousing word-strings on 1980 single ‘Middle Mass’ – and Mark Stewart entering dark funk territory that had made his former band The Pop Group both compelling and scary. The Slits bring wide open dub spaces to 1979 track ‘Man Next Door’ and Sherwood conjures a scorching mix on the appropriately titled Prince Far I track ‘Nuclear Weapon’. Far I was a prominent Jamaican roots reggae performer and this track does much to bridge the gap between reggae and the melange of sounds coming out of Britain in the wake of the punk rock first wave. Some of these moved in a hard funk direction, as can be heard on ‘Hungry, So Angry’ from short-lived UK group Medium Medium, which explores a minimalist hard dance vibe – commonplace in the post-disco world. The rhythms are edgy and raw as are the saxophone interjections, but one listen through and you gotta move. Almost the same could be said for the 1982 African Head Charge track ‘In A Trap’, from a group that was drawn from the ever-growing stable of On-U Sound artists with percussionist Bonjo Lyabinghi as the mainstay. Inspired in part by Brian Eno and David Byrne’s take on African funk – My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts – African Head Charge explore an imagined world of rhythmheavy psychedelia, with Sherwood in the producer’s chair to weird the sound out even more. This is great stuff that adds up to a fantastic overview of a strange yet fertile period in British music. The legacy is also substantial. Much electronic music in subsequent years has drawn inspiration from Adrian Sherwood’s vision of the producer as an artist freed from all limits. DAN BIGNA
BIG STRONG BRUTE GOOD WORK [INDEPENDENT RELEASE] Bris Vegas resident Paul Donoughue’s eccentric sense of humour is readily apparent from his stage name Big Strong Brute. The folk-popper released an EP in 2010 and his debut album Avalanche of Truth in 2012. Those painted him as a purveyor of powerful, stark tunes with a raw crispness, exemplified by ‘Hands’ from his We Can Sleep Under Trees In The Morning EP. However, Donoughue has had enough of that unadorned sound as – like Dylan before him – he’s gone electric. The dramatic style change in the EP Good Work is likely to polarise fans. While he still made all the music himself, the honest, stripped bare folk has been dragged down and drowned in fuzzed-up indie pop-rock with all the intensity of a full band. That same talent for observational, opinionated songwriting is still there, but it is harder to hear, especially in the crowded spaces between the distorted music of ‘Heavy Mountain’, which comes across like a punked-up Semisonic. While his devotees may cringe, the el cheapo beat box sound and the toy piano plink-plink are used to great effect in ‘Wait’ – their optimistic tones pushing the theme that things will get better. The toy piano returns amidst bright shards of sound in ‘Wedding Pages’. The messages about the falseness of what ‘society’ values, and how these in no way resemble real life, are strong, but why Donoughue had to refer to The New York Times (rather than, for example, The Canberra Times) is just one example of the cultural cringe element of Australian songwriting. In the last throw of the EP, Donoughue combines with Helen Franzmann in the cute duet ‘Roleplay’. Donoughue’s style switch has brought new vitality to his music, for the better. RORY MCCARTNEY
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ADMIRAL FALLOW TINY REWARDS [NETTWORK]
HARTS BREAKTHROUGH [PAVEMENT RECORDS]
A good Scots accent can be an attractive feature in singing, and so it goes with Louis Abbott of Admiral Fallow. Having released two LPs with a strong acoustic core, the band from Glasgow changed tack and used keyboards as the centrepiece of their third indie-folk record.
Operating out of his bedroom, Darren Hart writes, produces and records his own material. His music has achieved something much closer to the gravity of a full band however, employing a variety of instruments rather than the somewhat ersatz vibe of a computer-centred bedroom producer. Operating under the stage moniker Harts, the Melbournian launched his debut EP Offtime in 2013, with the LP Daydreamer following closely behind in 2014.
The shift sees a move from a crisp sound to a less tightly bound one. The album starts well with the epic, intense ‘Easy as Breathing’, a CD highlight with its rippling keys propelled along by high impact percussion and vocal cascades in the chorus. Close on its heels comes the equally impressive ‘Evangeline’, a blissful song which sees Sarah Hayes take a more prominent role in the vocals. ‘Happened in the Fall’ opens with a medical monitor beeping, which converts to a chime like an antique video game. This harshness serves as an effective foil to the swelling harmonies and fragile melody of the vocals, which overwrite each other in a palimpsest effect at the close. The band’s free flowing style of composition comes through clearly in the shifts in momentum in ‘Good Luck’. However, the LP is less appealing from here on in. While the interplay between the vocals of Abbott and Hayes is the chief feature of this record, the band has not pressed home this advantage, letting the LP down with somewhat unfocused musical arrangements. The record has an upbeat, happy mood, and the songs are certainly pretty, but the keyboards can sound as just an unconnected assortment of rhythms as seen in ‘Building as Foreign’. All songs are very easy to listen to, but several are equally easily forgotten. RORY MCCARTNEY
Like its title, this EP marks a sea change in the artist’s work. While previous releases were very indie-pop with a large pizza slice of electronica, Breakthrough is a look over the shoulder to the ‘70s, with a foot firmly in the rock camp and a shed load of wild guitar work. Tracks are complex, achieved through the juggling of sequencers, samplers and loop pedals. The title track has a funky leading edge – with a sharp beat, vocals that drift between crisp and echo-affected, and guitars that swap between fuzzy and psychedelic. There’s a syncopated, shuffling mantle to ‘When A Man’s A Fool’, with a dust storm of blazing guitar and horn sounds added through the keys. The bluesy CD highlight ‘Streets’ unrolls the best funk-blues riffage on the EP. While ‘Seven Eight’ – a song written by Harts several years ago – sees a momentary return to indie-pop, the soulful closer ‘Ain’t Too Far Gone’ swings back towards the ‘70s with a moody atmosphere. Its tension is broken by passages of the unleashed guitar the artist loves so well. Breakthrough has achieved Harts’ aim of paying homage to the soul-funk-blues gods that have him in their thrall. However, this EP is a musical waypoint, not a destination, and his next release is likely to be very different. RORY MCCARTNEY
LED ZEPPELIN IN THROUGH THE OUT DOOR – 2015 DELUXE EDITION [ATLANTIC] The recent overhaul of Led Zeppelin’s discography has now concluded with the appearance of the final three albums, Presence (1976), In Through The Out Door (1979) and the outtakes collection Coda, originally released two years after the death of drummer John Bonham put an end to the band. The general view is that Zeppelin’s grandiose creativity peaked on the double album extravaganza Physical Graffiti (1975), with the group subsequently unseated by the more energised, anti-hero punk rockers that arrived shortly after. It does become apparent after a cursory listen to these later works that Zeppelin had begun running out of creative steam, considering that the Chicago blues influences as a driving force were nowhere to be found on In Through the Out Door. It nevertheless remains my favourite of the later albums and is also the most musically diverse. Although the band often entered the realm of the overblown on stage, the arrangements never blow out here with an amazing attention to detail once again shining through. The standout instrument is the synthesiser, which might otherwise have infused the songs with an electronic iciness, but Zeppelin’s consummate songwriters used it as added flavour to enhance the more contemplative side of Jimmy Page’s guitar work and Robert Plant’s vocals. Beyond that, a 1950s rockabilly influence is made explicit on hip shaking track ‘Hot Dog’, and the calypso vibe on ‘Fool in the Rain’ is a nice touch. The standout tracks are the opener ‘In the Evening’ with yet another killer riff from Jimmy Page, and emotional ballad ‘All My Love’, which exposes the sensitive side of pleasure addicted rock gods. DAN BIGNA
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LIZARD PUNCH CANTALOUPE SUCKS [INDEPENDENT RELEASE] Press ‘play’ for track one. Wham! Is there a problem with the player, the disk, or is it meant to be this fast? Do not adjust your set, dear listener, as this is the breakneck pace of Lizard Punch. These punkers compare themselves to Frenzal Rhomb, but even those guys were not as crazy as this. What they do share with the venerable Frenzal – in this second LP from the Melbourne band – is a whacky sense of humour. It’s a CD version of a teen gross-out movie, with lots of emphasis on sex and bodily functions. All respect to vocalist Jim as he emits machine gun tempo lyrics to ‘Space Junk’, which could be a 33-1/3 disk spun at 78RPM. ‘Trade It For Bacon’ sees the band experiment with multi-vocals, although the lyrics are lost in a blur. ‘Morning Glory’ starts at an almost normal punk pace, before the band hits the afterburner and the track ends in a cloud of spent exhaust gases. You need to listen closely to keep up with the torrent of words, amidst the wild guitars. ‘Worms’ sets the tone for the record, with the winning phrases “they’re living in my poo” and “now I’m giving them to you.” Other subjects include accidents with jeans zippers, yabby races, Donkey Kong and the dreaded driving the porcelain bus after too much of a good thing. Top humour award goes to ‘Eating The Animals Of The Ocean’ but there’s far too much information provided in the unsavoury ‘Bear In The Backyard’. By the way, the band sets a new record for the shortest ever title track, coming in at a mere 10 seconds. RORY MCCARTNEY
MADISEN WARD AND THE MAMA BEAR SKELETON CREW [LIBERATOR MUSIC] This duo is a rare attraction, with an unusual composition and a unique sound. Listening to lead track ‘Live By the Water’ conjures hillbilly visions of thickly timbered hills and stills bubbling moonshine. However, this African-American duo of 26-year-old Madisen Ward and his mother Ruth hail from the mid-West. They shot from being unknown outside Kansas City to a sensation – via the Letterman Show – suddenly finding themselves in demand due to their unique folk style. Their debut Skeleton Crew was produced by Jim Abbiss (Adele, Arctic Monkeys). The music varies from the simple, catchy interplay between acoustic guitars to a richer vein of sound achieved with a backing band. It’s the singing that commands attention, however. Ward’s booming voice, frequently changing in tone, has the force of half-shouted words. ‘Yellow Taxi’ (not to be confused with the Joni Mitchell song) bears some of the best vibrato in the disk. Ward’s voice draws comparisons with the amazing singing of Australia’s Steve Smyth, but it’s even more gobstopping. After the opener, the pace leaps up off its stool to jig to the bouncy ‘Silent Movies’, with its irresistible twangy rhythm. The beautiful lyrics of ‘Dead Daffodils’ – typical of the high standard of songwriting on the LP – are eloquently expressed by singing with a sound that changes shape like a chameleon and features extensive use of the falsetto. Beginning with chirping crickets and solemn cello, the mother and son duet ‘Down in Mississippi’ catalogues both the welcoming and oppressive aspects of that state, while a mischievous tune creates the right sense of the bizarre for the tale of love and death that is ‘Undertaker and Juniper’. An awesome debut.
THE RUBENS HOOPS [IVY LEAGUE RECORDS] It’s like The Rubens have read a style guide to rock n roll, and in this instance, it really pays off. The band, comprising of the three Margin brothers and Scott Baldwin, have delivered finely on their sophomore release. This is a solid achievement given the praise their 2012 debut received, including a J Award nomination for Album of the Year. They retain the swagger that is a constant to their sound but also add a greater mix of influences such as soul, grunge, blues, rock, gospel and hip-hop. Yes, hip-hop is a major influence on Hoops, and the band have admitted it in lead-up interviews – you could also infer it from the album title. Their classic cover of The Roots’ ‘The Seed’ from live sets could be considered a sign of things to come for this album too. Stand out tracks include ‘Hold Me Back’ (an upbeat song reminiscent of Daniel Merriweather’s work), ‘Things About to Change’, and the first single ‘Hallelujah.’ Their lyrical themes mix hope and heartache, with the title track being a perfect mix of the two feelings. Their sound on Hoops is enhanced by the slick production skills of David Kahne who has worked with The Strokes and Lana Del Ray. This allows the mix of musical genres and influences to blend together perfectly and give the album its own unique vibe. This album cements The Rubens as one of Australia’s prime rock acts of the current climate, and it will be interesting to see how it translates live on their upcoming tour. JARROD MCGRATH
RORY MCCARTNEY
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singles in focus BY CODY ATKINSON ANGIE ‘DOWN FOR THE COUNT’
FILTHY APES INDIGOVIDUAL [INDEPENDENT RELEASE]
SZYMON TIGERSAPP [EMI & ELOPER MUSIC]
Produced by Mitch McDonald of the Love Junkies, Indigovidual is the ambitious debut offering from Perth four-piece Filthy Apes. The band are known for stage antics that include monkey masks and tossing bananas. While their PR is somewhat pretentious, stating they were formed “in secret” (it’s hard to imagine the paparazzi sniffing ‘round for this lot), there is no doubt that they can make a heap of noise.
Friday 21 August – a secret was shared with the music world. The Borzestowski family of Newcastle, NSW, along with Eloper Music & Records, released Tigersapp. It is the posthumous release of Szymon (pronounced Shi-mon) Borzestowski’s sole work.
Released almost a year ago to whet appetites, the stoner rock strength opener ‘Colour Café’ sets the bar high with coiling serpentine guitars, an electro-buzzing like a furious European Wasp and semi-trailer loads of wah-wah guitar. Lastly, there’s a dose of wailing psychedelia that invites you to select your café lounge and watch the universe drift by. Followed by the torrid track ‘Dr Zulu’, with its brutally fractured guitars, you could be forgiven for assuming this is a solid collection of 70s influenced heavy headbanging material. Not so! Filthy Apes have more than one string to their bow (or banana to their bunch), surprising with a sudden switch to the grungy ‘Race Into Space’, with its punk impudence and ragged riffage as it drops a tongue lashing on those “comfortably numb, stuck in your ignorant bliss”. The revs drop as the band eases into the chugging bluesy rhythm of the title track with its snarling chorus, in an example of the multi-vocalist feature, which is a band strength. ‘Psychedelic Egyptian Solitude’ mixes a more conventional indie approach with harsher garage sound, while the closer exhibits prog-rock elements with dramatic changes in texture. Blessed with a complex playing style with weird angles and overlaps, Filthy Apes does its best to be all things to all men and women in the hard rock spectrum.
After Szymon tragically lost his battle with depression in 2012, Mark Holland of EMI and Craig Hawker of Eloper worked with the blessing of Szymon’s family to complete an already promising record, enlisting producers Rusty Santos (Animal Collective, Owen Pallett) and Ian Pritchett (Angus and Julia Stone) to mix Szymon’s work. And the record is beautiful. Upon his realisation that he could write and create music that he believed people would love, Szymon spent his first year out of school writing and recording –culminating in these twelve songs. The album pulls you into Szymon’s sweet world with intricate guitars, a tender falsetto, and tiered harmonies. Szymon played every instrument, layering melodies with moments of delicate brass. While often reminiscent of 1960’s folk-pop, the record is flitted with jazz and funk influences and drawn together with electronic elements. Instrumental tracks space out the album, each song emotionally complementing the next. Lyrically, Szymon makes thoughtful observations of the world and demonstrates an anthropological sensitivity, “Looking for breath in all this villainy” (‘Golden’). In an instance where your response to an album is influenced by more than an auditory experience, potentially dwarfed by a tragic story, we urge you let not the story overshadow the music. Szymon has created something timeless—an accessible album, full of hope.
RORY MCCARTNEY
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KEREN NICHOLSON
Swagger-heavy with a tambourine that seemingly goes for days, ‘Down For The Count’ is the piece of garage pop that you needed to hear today. The grit coexists here with some killer melodies, battling for dominance of the track. But it’s the psych guitar solo break that really pulls it all together at the end.
DEERHUNTER ‘SNAKESKIN’ Deerhunter skate with the edges of lazy funk, glam and their more familiar indie rock on ‘Snakeskin’, and the results are pretty good. The experimentalism inherent in the early Deerhunter stuff rears its head later on, and it really rounds out ‘Snakeskin’ quite nicely.
MY DISCO ‘KING SOUND’ If brutal minimalism is the aim of the game, then My Disco are masters of it. On the cusp of releasing their fourth album together, My Disco sound as judiciously viscous as ever. There’s just two words used in ‘King Sound’, and somehow they make it seem like enough is expressed with them alone.
DELTA GOODREM ‘WINGS’ OH MY GOD DELTA GOODREM IS BACK! SOUND THE BELLS, SING TRA LA LA! DELTA FUCKING GOODREM IS FUCKING BACK! HOW DID WE SURVIVE WITHOUT HER? [Listens to song]... oh, that’s who Delta is... this isn’t very good, it’s just bland aspirational dance-pop... ugh. Delta Goodrem is back, I guess.
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the word
on films
WITH EMMA ROBINSON
No director is perfect, but some get close. They find something they are good at and hone it until the hallmarks of what sets them apart become what young filmmakers aspire to. Guy Ritchie is very much on his game with The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Give or take a few bumps in the road between the roaring success of 1998’s Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels and now, his latest film has in spades what we want from Mr Ritchie – a funky soundtrack and quotable quotes for the next 20 years.
quote of the issue “For a special agent, you’re not having a very special day, are you?” – Hugh Grant (Waverly), The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
TRAINWRECK
STALKHER
GIRLHOOD
The latest offering from director Judd Apatow sees multi-talented actor, writer, and professional funny person Amy Schumer at the helm of the film, both writing and starring in Trainwreck. Amy (Schumer) has had drilled into her during her tender young years that monogamy is inherently unworkable and adheres to this philosophy with gusto well into adulthood. That is, until she meets the lovely sports doctor, Aaron Connors (Apatow favourite Bill Hader). After reluctantly falling in love, Amy is forced to ask herself, is sleeping with wildly inappropriate men really giving her what she wants from life?
Playfully described by director and lead actor John Jarratt as “Misery meets Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf”, StalkHer is an indie Australian horror film that’s full of surprises.
No matter who you are, your teen years are always going to suck – it is simply a matter of degree. One of the defining characteristics of a miracle should not be that they are rare. If a person successfully completes adolescence and enters adulthood relatively unscathed, it is nothing short of miraculous.
The release of Bridesmaids in 2011 helped annihilate the ridiculous assumption that women can’t be funny. Indeed, Apatow himself has aided the smashing down of this idea by producing the uncomfortably realistic and very funny HBO series Girls. However, Trainwreck has been subjected to criticisms like: “Well it’s a very funny film, but is it feminist?” This leads me to believe that the success of Trainwreck is inextricably tied to whether or not it successfully pushes a specific agenda, and not if it is actually a decent film. And it is. The dialogue is biting and hilarious without being lazy (I’m looking at you, Ted 2), and it is a story most people will have seen before, with the novelty of seeing it from the female perspective (which should not be a novelty at all). Here’s looking forward to what Schumer does next. EMMA ROBINSON
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The opening scene of StalkHer lures you into a false sense of security, with brightly lit slow motion shots of our protagonist Emily as she walks through a hospital in her nurse’s uniform to Tom Jones’ ‘She’s a Lady’. We accompany Emily to her home, where we steadily transition from ‘a good time for all the family’ to ‘I’m going to double check I locked my door real quick’, as the setting becomes increasingly dark, cold, and isolated. StalkHer is a quirky, witty dialogue between a ‘stalker’ and his ‘victim’, and it explores sex, gender, relationships, and love. The back-and-forth power play between Emily and her stalker Jack provides an endearing juxtaposition of playful banter in a macabre setting. As viewers, we are made to question what makes a villain and what makes a victim. Through evocative symbolism and jarring cuts between our perceived reality and the characters’ inner fantasies, we are constantly asking which character these roles belong to. With engaging editing, striking cinematography, nostalgic (read: quintessentially Aussie) art direction, and a killer soundtrack, StalkHer is an experimental romp through the psychological states of two individuals, who each develop in ways you would not expect. It is a film you should probably watch twice. ELEANOR HORN
Marieme (Karidja Toure) is a 16-year-old girl taking care of her two younger sisters whilst avoiding her abusive and volatile older brother. After being told she would not be able to attend high school due to unsatisfactory grades, Marieme seeks out her place in the world by joining a tough yet tender group of young women. As the film progresses, themes regarding race, class, gender, and sexual orientation are brought to the forefront in a swirling mass of the uncertainty that is being a teenager. What is particularly impressive about this film is the lack of socio-political agenda. Rather than leading the audience to the lake and shoving their heads in so they’ll drink the message down, the director provides an affectionate yet unassuming account of what growing up is like. When Marieme begins to take control of her life, she makes several questionable decisions that don’t provoke judgment within the audience. Likewise, the question of her sexuality was left ambiguous, planting the idea that sexuality is a continuum and does not need to be defined. A brilliant film. EMMA ROBINSON
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FANTASTIC FOUR
THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.
Josh Trank, director of 2015’s Fantastic Four (yet another dark and gritty reboot of a superhero franchise), recently became embroiled in controversy when he uploaded a renegade tweet: “A year ago I had a fantastic version of this [film]. And it would’ve received great reviews. You’ll probably never see it. That’s reality though.”
Do I really want to subject myself to a tongue-in-cheek film based on a 1960s television series of the Cold War spythriller persuasion, complete with an insanely attractive cast (swoon!), awesome oldschool stunts (gasp!), mod vibe (groovy!), killer suits (suave!), a swingin’ soundtrack (primo!) and an abundance of innuendo (naughty!)? Yes, I really do!
While I’m not convinced Trank ever had a chance at making this film good, this whole scandal has become a textbook example of a studio that does not know how to capitalise upon its own creative property. Trank’s Fantastic Four is by all indicators a failure – and it shows all the trademark signs of misguided studio meddling.
The Man From U.N.C.L.E centres on top CIA agent Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) and his KGB counterpart Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) working together to prevent the propagation of nuclear warheads by a sinister international criminal organisation, led by the glamourously ruthless Victoria Vinciguerra (the scene-stealing Elizabeth Debicki). Solo and Kuryakin’s only lead is a cute but irritable East German mechanic and daughter of a Nazi-era scientist, Gaby Teller (Alicia Vikander). Director Guy Ritchie clearly relishes the overthe-top premise of U.N.C.L.E. The production is sexy, slick, and stylish: think Mad Men meets Mission Impossible, with a touch of Archer and a nod to Connery-era Bond. Cavill redeems himself from his insipid performance in Man of Steel, with an inspired turn as the dry con man turned agent. While Hammer hams up his Russian accent at times, it does not detract from the superb chemistry of the central duo. If you’re partial to spy gadgets, car chases, US/Russia camaraderie, and a bit of pure F.U.N., U.N.C.L.E. is well worth a watch. Plus, totally bangin’ soundtrack.
Fox Studios has hastily thrown a bunch of disparate elements together in the hope that a blockbuster film will magically arise from a variety of young talent. The script is plagued by issues of pacing, poor character development, and the kind of gloomy tone reserved only for a Batman film. The humour and light-heartedness of the early Fantastic Four comics is almost completely absent. Fantastic Four wades through a muddy and uninteresting plot for an hour-and-a-half and then suddenly rushes to a conclusion within the last 15 minutes. This is bad storytelling and felt like a slap in the face for the audience. Save for the occasional special effect, this film is in no way fantastic. Misguided? Yes. Weak? Yes. Terrible? Absolutely. PATRICK JOHNSON
MAJELLA CARMODY
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the word on dvds
FALLING SKIES: SEASON 4 [WARNER HOME VIDEO]
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD [ROADSHOW]
Falling Skies certainly started with plenty of promise. A big name producer (Spielberg) and an alien apocalypse/ earth rebuilding in the face of menacing overlords had all the hope of a V via Battlestar Galactica-type affair. But a debut season that played it very slow and worked hard to make the show a character study rather than a space monster series meant it floundered somewhere in the middle. The second season heard those complaints and it was better, but by the fourth, bad habits have snuck back in, and it seems more comfortable in that big mushy middle. And that wasn’t a glib BSG reference, by the way, because that show’s co-exec producer – David Eick – takes over showrunner duties on this fourth season. The biggest impact Eick has had on Falling Skies is it is now a darker show, oppressive even, and it starts to explore some of the thematic mythology Eick’s other show built – especially the human/ slave ghettos. But try as he might, he just can’t seem to turn this ship around.
George Miller has said somewhere that he wanted to make this latest iteration of Mad Max a film that could be understood in Japan. Meaning, he wanted people who couldn’t understand the English (and occasionally made-up dialect) dialogue to get just as much out of it as those that could. And though it’s hard to run a scientifically reliable test on that, I’m confident he’s succeeded. Because Mad Max: Fury Road is one of the most visually arresting and otherworldly film experiences in a long time. It’s not really a film as such – it’s more a 120-minute-long chase scene that plays havoc with notions like narrative structure, character arcs, and reality. It starts. Then it goes up a gear. Then another. Then another. And each step it takes, the stunts get wilder, the vehicles more maniacal, the dust plumes thicker, and the intensity deeper.
Tom Mason (Noah Whyle) and the team of survivors who surround him finally learn the true nature of the Espheni (the ruling aliens) and what he’d need to do to conquer them. But before that there’s plenty of running battles and actual running. One of the things about Falling Skies is that by design it can’t really stop or take a break – the human/alien war means the show feels like seasons of guerrilla tactics and plotting. But there is an end in sight and it involves a trip to the moon with his daughter Lexi, who has alien DNA in her. It’s easy to mock a show like Falling Skies but that’s because you’d like it to be better, less chaotic, and more capable of living up to some of its promise. JUSTIN HOOK
It starts with Max (Tom Hardy) captured by the War Boys, whereupon he becomes a universal donor – a blood bag for Immortan Joe’s (Hugh Keays-Byrne AKA Toecutter from the first Mad Max) army. He spends the next 45 minutes strapped to the front of a desert hot rod whilst the real star of the film, the one-armed Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) hurtles through wastelands in a hijacked armoured truck of ‘breeders’. By this stage there’s no point asking questions – let it wash over you, because it just works on some hitherto unknown metaphysical level. It took Miller years to get this film made, with a reboot first mooted in 2001. Who knows what it would have looked like back then, but I’d like to think the effort it took the director to get this film happening played some part in this audacious outcome. He spilt blood to get Mad Max back on the big screen – and it’s wilder than anyone could have ever imagined. It is an instant classic. JUSTIN HOOK
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THE WIRE – THE COMPLETE SERIES BLU-RAY [WARNER HOME VIDEO] Like many reviewers at the time of its release, I struggled to find enough superlatives for this HBO crime drama. Terms like “Shakespearean” and “best show ever” were thrown around with giddy abandon but the terror of embarrassment prevents me from checking if I used such phrases back in the mid ‘00s. Whatever the case, The Wire became the go-to for people jumping into serious cable drama at the dawn of the ‘Golden Era of TV’. Over five deliberately paced seasons, David Simon used Baltimore as a template to play out all the woes that he thought had befallen the modern North American city. The urban decay, rampant corruption, drug culture, failing education system, dysfunctional institutions, and cannibalisation of the blue-collar workforce. It was epic story-telling. The point of this review is to look at The Wire through entirely new eyes. When it first aired it looked and felt gritty. In 2002, when the first season began, standard 480i definition and the old-school 4:3 aspect ratio dominated. I remember watching it on a banged-up old CRT TV in a shared house in Ainslie. It seemed appropriate; this wasn’t a show in desperate need of HD, huge LED TV 16:9 1080p treatment. And as Simon has said, filming it in 4:3 ratio (despite using 35mm film, thereby future-proofing the print) was the only financial choice they had. So he and execproducer Robert Colesberry framed and delivered the entire series in 4:3, even though HBO offered them 16:9 hi-def halfway through. This release on Blu-ray is obviously brilliant, but in stretching everything out some scenes were diluted. So at HBO’s invitation, Simon went back and reframed them in the editing suite to capture their original intent. Which means this is no half-assed cash-in Bluray release, and though the DVD box set will keep traditionalists happy, this probably stands as the definitive version of an extraordinary show. JUSTIN HOOK
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45
the word
on gigs
Sex On Toast, Prom Transit Bar Wednesday August 19 On Wednesday I moseyed on down to Transit to see Melbourne’s Sex On Toast, self-described as “1980s pop music, yacht-rock, R&B and synth-funk.” They were supported by Canberra locals and indie-pop outfit Prom. Although Prom’s vocalists Nick Delatovic and Julia Johnson (of Julia and the Deep Sea Sirens) look like Christian peer group leaders, once they got a few drinks in them they immediately got nasty. Their performance was energetic, entertaining and melodramatic, and their music speaks to the lovesick teenager inside us all. The first thing I noticed when I saw Sex On Toast was their size – the members, that is—I mean—never mind. The second thing I noticed were the outfits – sparkly, white jumpsuits and aviators – and for a moment I mistook Angus E. Leslie for a psychedelic, time-travelling coke dealer. Their music was feel-good, sexy, and incredibly catchy – not dissimilar in style to Here Come The Mummies. If I had to describe Sex On Toast in one word, it would be effervescent. The set itself was super tight and well thought-out; it continued to build and swell until they performed their newest single, ‘Oh Loretta!’, and the crowd went off. They were infected by the funk. It’s a terminal disease, baby. (What did I just write?)
PHOTO BY ELEANOR HORN
the word
on gigs
Sex On Toast has incredible stage presence; they’re the kind of guys who can keep the whole place jumpin’ while simultaneously flirting with you. Yes, you specifically. As Molly Meldrum said, do yourself a favour and pick up their EP Ready, the first of two Rough/Ready instalments. I suggest you play it alongside The Dooleys at your next swingin’ fondue party – emphasis on the swingin’. ELEANOR HORN
Miami Horror, Young Franco, Joy, Cleopard ANU Bar Thursday August 13 The fun arrived early, with band members spotted surfing on wheeled equipment cases in the refectory. The mood of the evening built up slowly, starting smooth and easy as Cleopard’s soft vocals wafted over us. Their warm rhythms were danceable enough, but it was easier just to sway and drift to the music. A drummer provided some rigidity to the supple keyboards and Cleopard closed with the delicate ‘Down In Flames’. Joy and her band made a visual impact – she in orange and black and the fellas all in white. Joy sang with an intensity that belied the fragile quality of her delivery. While an electro-dance diva, the huskiness of her voice had blues potential, while some echoed effects added an ephemeral quality. The set went well, especially considering it was their first gig in this format. Young Franco took control of his mixing desk with flair, leading the punters with his own vigorous moves. While a more synthetic form of music, it was effective, getting the floor moving at last and proving a worthy warm-up act for the headliners. Miami Horror kicked off with the sparkling keys of ‘American Dream’. The show benefited from the variety enabled by two lead vocalists and the band’s ability to switch from guitar-dominated to keyboardfocused songs. It was a polished set, with glam overtones and nonstop danceable numbers. The tone took a funky turn when Cleopard appeared briefly on vocals. Miami Horror kept the showmanship values high, testing their sense of balance on bass drum, crowd barrier and fold-back speakers. The night closed with vocalist Aaron Shanahan moving to the dancefloor and being hoisted on punters’ shoulders. RORY MCCARTNEY
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the word
BCBG, Gloss, Bobby Kill, Eadie and the Doodles The Phoenix Pub Thursday August 20
on gigs
Walking into the busy Phoenix a little late, I was greeted by Eadie and the Doodles, one of the better new Canberra bands of the last 12 months, packing up their instruments. It was a bit of a downer, but luckily for me (and you guys as well) local legend Pat has filmed most Eadie sets, amongst other local bands, and thrown them on the YouTube account “twohandsonlyonemouth”. Well worth the effort if you missed them like me. Bobby Kill hit the building crowd with a set that foreshadowed a new album, full of almost entirely new material. Kill, and TV Colours by extension, have something that’s pretty rare for any band – a truly unique sound. The clattering of the drum machines, the soaring distorted guitar solos, and the slightly hidden new-wavey vocals all make up that rich tapestry of his sound. Gloss are the new Circle Pit. With guitars, keys, and beats playing the base with intertwining vocals, Gloss struck the crowd with their laconic brand of garage pop. Something seemed a little off with the sound at the start, but Gloss persevered and slowly won the crowd over.
PHOTO BY MEGAN LEAHY
Maybe it was the long night or the shrinking crowd, but my expectations for BCBG were pretty low. Boy, was I wrong to underestimate them. Hailing from Paris, BCBG played the type of set that makes you love live music. Mixing swirling psych and splashes of guitar, with cool-edged electronica at its base, it was the vocals of Mariette that really set it apart. Finally, a two-person French electronic act that we can all get behind. CODY ATKINSON
the word
on gigs
Gurrumul, Katie Baker Canberra Theatre Centre Monday August 10 With the powerful vocals of blues singer Katie Baker, the night opened with a bang. Always in motion, her body swayed with the music and her hands moved to the lyrics, alternating between flowing motions and machine-like staccato. Backing came from a lone guitarist, his thumb busy with sharp plucks as he looped his rhythms. Baker got the crowd snapping their fingers to her music (it’s amazing the metallic click some people can generate). The main gig opened with a couple of favourites from Gurrumul’s earlier material, before moving to the more upbeat stuff from his new The Gospel Album. His performance proved that he is different from any other performer you are likely to encounter. Shown to his place on stage by assistant and band member Michael Hohnen, Gurrumul is intensely immersed in his playing. Apart for singing, he says nothing, leaving it all to Hohnen to talk between songs. Almost emotionless, apart from a quick grin or two, he only lets loose with a sharp Elvis-style “thank you very much” at the closing of the show. Even his playing style is different, with an unusual straight-fingered plucking and the rapid shuttling back and forth of fingers on the fretboard in some songs. With all the singing in the Yolngu language, the lyrics don’t distract at all, and there is time to concentrate on the extraordinary quality of the vocals and the flow of the music. The gig had strong local participation too, with members of Canberra’s Sing Australia Choir providing backing for most of the night. A song about crows from a forthcoming LP gave a hint of the musical direction Gurrumul might take next. RORY MCCARTNEY
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the word
on gigs
Snowtunes Festival Jindabyne Saturday August 15 As the mercury dropped with the cold coming on two fronts – from the wind coming off the idyllic Lake Jindabyne and the Snowy Mountain Range – Snowtunes lived up to its name. Despite the cold, the early performers did well to keep the early attendees moving, halting bodies weary from a day on the mountain from turning into stiff limbs. Bad Decisions, Northie, Sydney MC Losty, mememaster Fortafy and Stacie Todd kicked things off with short and enthusiastic sets. While the early performers did an admirable job of getting the crowd moving, after nearly two hours, the overt hardstyle and EDM apparent throughout the evening’s earliest sets started to become monotonous, and it threatened to make the whole event feel like an outdoor Meche rather than a music festival. As if on cue, Paces arrived on the scene. The Gold Coast producer and DJ stuck to his chillwave guns and provided what was, at that stage, some much needed aural variety with finesse. As it turned out, Paces proved to be the calm before the storm though, as Kronic followed with all the subtlety that could have been expected of a Lil Jon collaborator. Perth DJs Slumberjack provided a crowd-pleasing trap set that perfectly rounded off the night’s DJ contingent. As Tkay Maidza stepped out on stage, it was plain to see that not too many people were feeling the cold coming off the lake anymore. Both the early performers and bar staff had done an impressive job of getting the crowd warmed up through physical exertion and the liberal application of ‘beer jackets’, a fact evidenced when the bar announced they had run out of everything except mid-strength and wine. Tkay brought all the enthusiasm and humility that has won her admirers all across Australia, touring off the back of her runaway success over the past year. While some of her delivery felt flat and lacking precise pronunciation, staples ‘Brontosaurus’, ‘U Huh’ and the set-closing ‘Switch Lanes’ were obvious crowd favourites.
ABOVE PHOTOS BY MURRAY ENDERS
Allday’s delivery also suffered, suggesting it may have been a problem with speaker arrangements, or just where I was standing. Sound issues aside, Allday turned up to put on a show and did so memorably, with maximum punter participation on the triple j favourite, ‘Always Know The DJ’. Veterans Hermitude are one of the few Aussie acts that have been doing it so well for so long, that every time you see them, you know you are in for a real treat. Snowtunes proved no exception. Playing a set mostly comprised of newer material from the recently released Dark Night Sweet Light, the Blue Mountain beat-makers also highlighted unreleased work and a selection of tracks from 2012’s HyperParadise such as ‘Get In My Life’ and the ever-popular ‘Speak Of The Devil’.
ABOVE PHOTO BY JANNA HUNTER
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While it was so much more, at the very least, Snowtunes was a lesson in event planning. Despite minor sound problems and the temporary lack of bar stock, the picturesque location, colourful stage design and considered artist timeslots allowed everyone to get warmed up while saving the best for last, making the first-year festival the success it was. Nailing an obvious hole in the saturated festival market, this is one that deserves to return and, hopefully, become a yearly event. BRADY MCMULLEN
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ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE August 26 - August 28
Listings are a free community service. Email editorial@bmamag.com to have your events appear each issue. WEDNESDAY AUGUST 26
ART EXHIBITIONS Archaeology, Excavation and the Arcane
Glassworks exhibition. 17 Jun- 30 Aug CANBERRA GLASSWORKS
Without Borders
Emergencies, Natural Disasters, Epidemics, Conflicts. 5-30 Aug. BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE
Junction
Rory Carter. Until August 30. Weds- Sun 11am- 5pm. Free CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)
Mental Case
Paintings and Installations by Janet Angus. 11-28 Aug.
ON THE TOWN
Skin
Christine Anu
Chicago Charles & Danger Dave
NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY
THE STREET THEATRE
9pm. Free.
KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB
4Some Thursdays
Free Entry & $4 Drinks Specials. ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB
Crossing Ahead
Burlesque and cabaret. 7:30pm. $20. POLIT BAR & LOUNGE
Tarot Card Reading
Booking only 0404364820. 5-7pm. POLIT BAR & LOUNGE
FRIDAY AUGUST 28
Footy Fever
University of Canberra Faculty of Arts and Design staff exhibition. 7-30 Aug.
NISHI GALLERY
Shaken and Stirred
For Love
Traces and Hauntings
Various artists. Aug 28- Sept 13. 11am-3pm. Free.
DANCE
BELCONNEN COMMUNITY CENTRE
BILK GALLERY
Interrestial: Interactive Ceramics Exhibition
SOMETHING DIFFERENT
ART EXHIBITIONS
24 July-30 Aug. Wednesday to Friday 11.00 to 5.00 Saturday 11.00 to 4.00.
27-30 Aug. 11am-3pm daily.
Curated by Alexander Boynes. Aug 28- Oct 3. Tues - Fri 11am - 5pm, Sat 10am - 4pm. Free.
Four new dance works from acclaimed choreographers. $25-73.95. CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE
Stylin’ Up. 8pm.
Robbie Mann Plays Stride Piano 7-9pm.
POLIT BAR & LOUNGE
Australian 2015 DMC Champs Hoest By Ran-Dee. 9pm. TRANSIT BAR
ON THE TOWN Oscar
10:30pm. Free.
KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB
LIVE MUSIC
SOMETHING DIFFERENT
Nerdlinger
Uni Pub Comedy Club
MAGPIES CITY CLUB
UNI PUB
With Dividers, Capes, Sketch Method
Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Platero and I
Josh Earl. 8pm. $20.
Jacob and Gideon Cordover. 7:30pm. $15-$30. WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE
CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)
BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE
LIVE MUSIC CHECK YOUR HEAD
Your monthly dose of beats, rhymes and life. 8pm. $5. THE PHOENIX BAR
SOMETHING DIFFERENT Retro Arcade special
feat. Jose Ciminelli on Defender RELOAD BAR & GAMES
TRIVIA Tranny Trivia
Glamour & Song questions. 8pm. Book Online. POLIT BAR & LOUNGE
THURSDAY AUGUST 27 ART EXHIBITIONS World Series
Kate Stevens & Julian Laffan. 12-5pm daily. M16 ARTSPACE
At A Loss
Various Artists. 27 Aug- 20 Sept. PHOTOACCESS MANUKA
Selkie Series
Spike Deane. 12-5pm daily. M16 ARTSPACE
Skin
27-30 Aug. 11am-3pm daily. NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY
Wordsmith
Sarah Norris. 12-5pm daily. M16 ARTSPACE
LIVE MUSIC Super Best Friends
With Agency, Skinpin. 9pm. $10. THE PHOENIX BAR
The Preatures
With The Creases & Low Lux. Tickets from http://premier.ticketek.com.au/. ANU BAR AND REFECTORY
Corpus
With Silver Lining, Propeller, Starrats MAGPIES CITY CLUB
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ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE August 29 - Sept 5 SATURDAY AUGUST 29
SUNDAY AUGUST 30
Interrestial: Interactive Ceramics Exhibition
ART EXHIBITIONS
ART EXHIBITIONS
Various artists. Aug 28- Sept 13. 11am-3pm. Free.
Traces and Hauntings
Skin
Wordsmith
University of Canberra Faculty of Arts and Design staff exhibition. 7-30 Aug.
27-30 Aug. 11am-3pm daily.
World Series
BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE
Kate Stevens & Julian Laffan. 12-5pm daily. M16 ARTSPACE
At A Loss
Various Artists. 27 Aug- 20 Sept.
NISHI GALLERY
LIVE MUSIC
Fricker (EP Launch)
Dance Kaleidoscope
Blood, sweat and tears
With Helena Pop, The Ians, Benjamin Drury. $5.
CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE
Robbie Mann Plays Stride Piano
New commissioned works by emerging Canberra Dance artists and a dance showcase from community groups
7:30pm. $92.20
Archaeology, Excavation and the Arcane
LIVE MUSIC
Digital Feast
Spike Deane. 12-5pm daily. M16 ARTSPACE
Without Borders
Emergencies, Natural Disasters, Epidemics, Conflicts. 5-30 Aug. BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE
Interrestial: Interactive Ceramics Exhibition
Various artists. Aug 28- Sept 13. 11am-3pm. Free. NISHI GALLERY
Irish Jam Session
Traditional Irish musicians in the pub from late afternoon. Free. KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB
Ange & Wayne
THE PLAYHOUSE
Awesome Aussie Roots Music. 4pm. WILBUR’S CAFE BAR
MONDAY AUGUST 31
CIT Presents The Bootleg Sessions
M16 ARTSPACE
Bare: Degrees of undress 14 Aug- 15 Nov. Free.
Various Artists. 8pm. Free. THE PHOENIX BAR
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 1
NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY
Junction
Rory Carter. Until August 30. Weds- Sun 11am- 5pm. Free CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)
For Love
24 July-30 Aug. Wednesday to Friday 11.00 to 5.00 Saturday 11.00 to 4.00. BILK GALLERY
DANCE Crossing Ahead
Four new dance works from acclaimed choreographers. $25-73.95. CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE
LIVE MUSIC Born Lion
With Creo, SketchMethod. 9:30pm. $5. THE PHOENIX BAR
4th Degree
10.30pm. Free.
KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB
Diesel
A Time & Place Tour. 8pm.
THEATRE
Matt Dent
NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY
Sarah Norris. 12-5pm daily.
A. BAKER
Ghosts in the Scheme
GRYPHONS
LIVE MUSIC
Wordsmith
DJs, VJs, $10 feast. $6 Drinks and boardgames. Free entry.
Jazz Band. 12:30-3pm.
Skin
27-30 Aug. 11am-3pm daily.
KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB
DANCE
SOMETHING DIFFERENT
Selkie Series
Brother Be
10pm. Free.
Spring Fling Gig. With Monsterpiece, Beth Monzo. 8pm. $15/12.
BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE
CANBERRA GLASSWORKS
Icon
M16 ARTSPACE
NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY
Sarah Norris. 12-5pm daily.
PHOTOACCESS MANUKA
Glassworks exhibition. 17 Jun- 30 Aug
LIVE MUSIC
ON THE TOWN Karaoke Salan
Every Tues 8pm. Book online at www.politbar.co POLIT BAR & LOUNGE
THEATRE A Taste of Honey
TRIVIA Tranny Trivia
Glamour & Song questions. 8pm. Book Online. POLIT BAR & LOUNGE
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 3 ART EXHIBITIONS
The Phoenix Quiz Trivia. 7.30pm.
THE PHOENIX BAR
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 2
THE STREET THEATRE
ART EXHIBITIONS
ON THE TOWN
World Series
THEATRE Ghosts in the Scheme
11am, 2pm, 8pm. $40-55. THE PLAYHOUSE
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 5 ART EXHIBITIONS Juggler of Gravity
Dan Moor Sculptural installation. 5-26 Sep. TUGGERANONG ARTS CENTRE
World Series
Kate Stevens & Julian Laffan. 12-5pm daily. M16 ARTSPACE
At A Loss
Various Artists. 27 Aug- 20 Sept. PHOTOACCESS MANUKA
CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)
CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)
LIVE MUSIC Sleepy
With Primary Colors, Thunderbolt City. 9pm. $5. THE PHOENIX BAR
With Bare Bones, Starrats, Purity, Silver Lining
TRIVIA
POLIT BAR & LOUNGE
Footy Fever
Ruby Green & Gwenna Green. Opens 6pm September 3 continues until September 13. Weds- Sun 11am- 5pm.
Ghosts in the Scheme THE PLAYHOUSE
7-9pm.
Self-Help
Jason Maynard Duo
11am, 2pm, 8pm. $40-55.
MAGPIES CITY CLUB
11am, 2pm, 8pm. $40-55.
Revolutionary masterpiece by the eighteen year-old Brithsh playwright. 7:30pm. $34.50 THE COURTYARD STUDIO
THE POLISH WHITE EAGLE CLUB
9-12pm. Free.
Curated by Alexander Boynes. Aug 28- Oct 3. Tues - Fri 11am - 5pm, Sat 10am - 4pm. Free.
Selkie Series
Spike Deane. 12-5pm daily. M16 ARTSPACE
Interrestial: Interactive Ceramics Exhibition
Various artists. Aug 28- Sept 13. 11am-3pm. Free. NISHI GALLERY
KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB
Wordsmith
When Giants Sleep
M16 ARTSPACE
Sarah Norris. 12-5pm daily.
Bare: Degrees of undress
MAGPIES CITY CLUB
14 Aug- 15 Nov. Free.
Paul Lewis
Self-Help
Brahms, Beethoven. 7pm. LLEWELLYN HALL
Brendan Gallagher
Australian veteran songwriter. 8pm. $15 (presale via trybooking.com). THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ
SOMETHING DIFFERENT Tarot Card Reading
Booking only 0404364820. 5-7pm.
NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY
Ruby Green & Gwenna Green. Opens 6pm September 3 continues until September 13. Weds- Sun 11am- 5pm. CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)
LIVE MUSIC Jess Ribeiro 9:30pm. $10.
THE PHOENIX BAR
POLIT BAR & LOUNGE
Love Saturdays
Kate Stevens & Julian Laffan. 12-5pm daily. M16 ARTSPACE
THEATRE
10pm. Free.
ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB
At A Loss
Ghosts in the Scheme
Sinatra at the Sands
THE PLAYHOUSE
CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE
Doors open 9pm. $10 before 11pm.
SOMETHING DIFFERENT Still Life, with shadow and light
Various Artists. 27 Aug- 20 Sept. PHOTOACCESS MANUKA
Footy Fever
Term 3 Adult Art Classes Enrolling Now. 10am. $140.
Curated by Alexander Boynes. Aug 28- Oct 3. Tues - Fri 11am - 5pm, Sat 10am - 4pm. Free.
Goldeneye Tournament & Cocktail party
Selkie Series
TUGGERANONG ARTS CENTRE RELOAD BAR & GAMES
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CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)
Spike Deane. 12-5pm daily. M16 ARTSPACE
11am, 2pm, 8pm. $40-55.
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 4 ART EXHIBITIONS Hidden Treasures
50 artists, hidden treasures. 4- 20 Sept.
Groovalicious KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB
7:30pm. $70.
ON THE TOWN Disco Kids & (pa)Rents Dance Off
Under 13s dance fun in a real night club. 4-5:30pm. $10(Kids) $15(Adults). POLIT BAR & LOUNGE
BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE
@bmamag
ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE September 5 - Sept 19 SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 5 SOMETHING DIFFERENT Poetry Workshops
Buried Treasure. 10:30-1:30pm. $35/30.
BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE
THEATRE
Self-Help
Ruby Green & Gwenna Green. Opens 6pm September 3 continues until September 13. Weds- Sun 11am- 5pm.
CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)
SOMETHING DIFFERENT Geek Chic Speed Dating RELOAD BAR & GAMES
Ghosts in the Scheme
TRIVIA
THE PLAYHOUSE
Tranny Trivia
11am, 2pm, 8pm. $40-55.
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6 LIVE MUSIC Dad and I
2-4/5pm.
GRYPHONS
SOMETHING DIFFERENT Woodfire Pizza and Fine Wine Day 11am-7pm.
STRATHNAIRN HOMESTEAD GALLERY
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 8 LIVE MUSIC The Story So Far
Glamour & Song questions. 8pm. Book Online. POLIT BAR & LOUNGE
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 10
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 9 ART EXHIBITIONS World Series
Kate Stevens & Julian Laffan. 12-5pm daily. M16 ARTSPACE
Juggler of Gravity
Dan Moor Sculptural installation. 5-26 Sep. TUGGERANONG ARTS CENTRE
At A Loss
Various Artists. 27 Aug- 20 Sept. PHOTOACCESS MANUKA
Footy Fever
Curated by Alexander Boynes. Aug 28- Oct 3. Tues - Fri 11am - 5pm, Sat 10am - 4pm. Free.
CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)
Selkie Series
Spike Deane. 12-5pm daily. M16 ARTSPACE
Hidden Treasures
50 artists, hidden treasures. 4- 20 Sept. BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE
Interrestial: Interactive Ceramics Exhibition
Various artists. Aug 28- Sept 13. 11am-3pm. Free. NISHI GALLERY
Wordsmith
Sarah Norris. 12-5pm daily. M16 ARTSPACE
Presented by Canberra REP. 17 Sept-3 Oct. Bookings 62571950. CANBERRA REPERTORY SOCIETY
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 18
LIVE MUSIC
DANCE
Irish Jam Session
Youth Dance Festival 2015: Explorations
Traditional Irish musicians in the pub from late afternoon. Free. KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 15 COMEDY
16-18 Sept. 7:30pm.
CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE
FILM Think The Magic of Cinema Canberra Short Film Festival. 18-20 Sept.
THE PLAYHOUSE
LIVE MUSIC
ON THE TOWN
Stakemyrep.com launch w/ Daheen (live)
Naked girls read out loud comedy. 7:30pm. $15. POLIT BAR & LOUNGE
SOMETHING DIFFERENT Tarot Card Reading
15-26 Sept. 2pm, 8pm. $45-65.
Karaoke Salan
Every Tues 8pm. Book online at www.politbar.co POLIT BAR & LOUNGE
Booking only 0404364820. 5-7pm. POLIT BAR & LOUNGE
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 11
MAGPIES CITY CLUB
POLIT BAR & LOUNGE
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 13
Much ado about nothing
Naked Girls Reading
ON THE TOWN Every Tues 8pm. Book online at www.politbar.co
CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)
THEATRE
The Warf Revue
LIVE MUSIC
Karaoke Salan
Ruby Green & Gwenna Green. Opens 6pm September 3 continues until September 13. Weds- Sun 11am- 5pm.
COMEDY
With Man Overboard, Relentless. Tickets from http://tickets.destroyalllines.com MAGPIES CITY CLUB
Self-Help
The Smith Street Band
With the amazing Andrew Jackson Jihad, The Sidekicks, The Sugarcanes.
Robbie Mann Plays Stride Piano 7-9pm.
POLIT BAR & LOUNGE
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 12 ART EXHIBITIONS World Series
Kate Stevens & Julian Laffan. 12-5pm daily. M16 ARTSPACE
Juggler of Gravity
Dan Moor Sculptural installation. 5-26 Sep. TUGGERANONG ARTS CENTRE
At A Loss
Various Artists. 27 Aug- 20 Sept. PHOTOACCESS MANUKA
Footy Fever
Curated by Alexander Boynes. Aug 28- Oct 3. Tues - Fri 11am - 5pm, Sat 10am - 4pm. Free.
CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)
Selkie Series
Spike Deane. 12-5pm daily. M16 ARTSPACE
Hidden Treasures
50 artists, hidden treasures. 4- 20 Sept. BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE
Interrestial: Interactive Ceramics Exhibition
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 16 ART EXHIBITIONS
DENDY CINEMA
1pm. $15.
DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR
Robbie Mann Plays Stride Piano 7-9pm.
POLIT BAR & LOUNGE
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 19
Juggler of Gravity
ART EXHIBITIONS
TUGGERANONG ARTS CENTRE
Dan Moor Sculptural installation. 5-26 Sep.
Dan Moor Sculptural installation. 5-26 Sep.
At A Loss
Various Artists. 27 Aug-20 Sept.
Juggler of Gravity
TUGGERANONG ARTS CENTRE
PHOTOACCESS MANUKA
At A Loss
Footy Fever
PHOTOACCESS MANUKA
Curated by Alexander Boynes. Aug 28- Oct 3. Tues - Fri 11am - 5pm, Sat 10am - 4pm. Free.
CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)
Hidden Treasures
50 artists, hidden treasures. 4-20 Sept. BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE
Various Artists. 27 Aug- 20 Sept.
Footy Fever
Curated by Alexander Boynes. Aug 28- Oct 3. Tues - Fri 11am - 5pm, Sat 10am - 4pm. Free.
CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)
Hidden Treasures
50 artists, hidden treasures. 4- 20 Sept.
DANCE
BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE
Youth Dance Festival 2015: Explorations
14 Aug- 15 Nov. Free.
16-18 Sept. 7:30pm.
Bare: Degrees of undress NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY
CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE
COMEDY
TRIVIA
The Warf Revue
Tranny Trivia
THE PLAYHOUSE
Glamour & Song questions. 8pm. Book Online. POLIT BAR & LOUNGE
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 17 DANCE Youth Dance Festival 2015: Explorations 16-18 Sept. 7:30pm.
CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE
15-26 Sept. 2pm, 8pm. $45-65.
FILM Think The Magic of Cinema Canberra Short Film Festival. 18-20 Sept. DENDY CINEMA
SOMETHING DIFFERENT Fash N’ Treasure
10am - 3pm. 7 Feb, 21 Mar, 11 Apr, 9 May, 13 June, 15 Aug, 19 Sep & 7 Nov. Entry $3.
Various artists. Aug 28- Sept 13. 11am-3pm. Free.
SOMETHING DIFFERENT
EXHIBITION PARK IN CANBERRA (EPIC)
Tarot Card Reading
THEATRE
Bare: Degrees of undress
Booking only 0404364820. 5-7pm. POLIT BAR & LOUNGE
Much ado about nothing
NISHI GALLERY
14 Aug- 15 Nov. Free.
NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY
Wordsmith
Sarah Norris. 12-5pm daily.
Presented by Canberra REP. 17 Sept-3 Oct. Bookings 62571950. CANBERRA REPERTORY SOCIETY
M16 ARTSPACE
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ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE September 20 - Oct 10 SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 20 FILM Think The Magic of Cinema
Canberra Short Film Festival. 18-20 Sept. DENDY CINEMA
SOMETHING DIFFERENT Canberra Blues Society Monthy Jams Long John. 2pm. $3/$5.
HARMONIE GERMAN CLUB
THEATRE The Confidence Man
A gripping interactive audio-visual thriller. 20-23 Sep. THE STREET THEATRE
MONDAY SEPTEMBER 21 THEATRE The Confidence Man
A gripping interactive audio-visual thriller. 20-23 Sep. THE STREET THEATRE
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 22 ON THE TOWN Karaoke Salan
Every Tues 8pm. Book online at www.politbar.co POLIT BAR & LOUNGE
THEATRE The Confidence Man
A gripping interactive audio-visual thriller. 20-23 Sep. THE STREET THEATRE
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 23 ART EXHIBITIONS Juggler of Gravity
Dan Moor Sculptural installation. 5-26 Sep. TUGGERANONG ARTS CENTRE
Footy Fever
Curated by Alexander Boynes. Aug 28- Oct 3. Tues - Fri 11am - 5pm, Sat 10am - 4pm. Free.
CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)
COMEDY The Warf Revue
15-26 Sept. 2pm, 8pm. $45-65. THE PLAYHOUSE
SOMETHING DIFFERENT Circus Oz
Sep 23-26. 7:30pm. $60-80. CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE
THEATRE The Confidence Man
A gripping interactive audio-visual thriller. 20-23 Sep. THE STREET THEATRE
Much ado about nothing
Presented by Canberra REP. 17 Sept-3 Oct. Bookings 62571950. CANBERRA REPERTORY SOCIETY
TRIVIA Tranny Trivia
Glamour & Song questions. 8pm. Book Online. POLIT BAR & LOUNGE
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 24 SOMETHING DIFFERENT Tarot Card Reading
Booking only 0404364820. 5-7pm. POLIT BAR & LOUNGE
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 25
TRIVIA Tranny Trivia
Glamour & Song questions. 8pm. Book Online. POLIT BAR & LOUNGE
THURSDAY OCTOBER 1 LIVE MUSIC Italian Souvenir
With the Lanyon Trio.
TUGGERANONG ARTS CENTRE
SOMETHING DIFFERENT
LIVE MUSIC
Tarot Card Reading
Robbie Mann Plays Stride Piano
POLIT BAR & LOUNGE
7-9pm.
POLIT BAR & LOUNGE
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 26 ART EXHIBITIONS Juggler of Gravity
Dan Moor Sculptural installation. 5-26 Sep. TUGGERANONG ARTS CENTRE
Footy Fever
Booking only 0404364820. 5-7pm.
SATURDAY OCTOBER 3 ART EXHIBITIONS
POLIT BAR & LOUNGE
SATURDAY OCTOBER 10 ART EXHIBITIONS Bare: Degrees of undress
14 Aug- 15 Nov. Free.
NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY
ON THE TOWN DJ Raven
70’s, 80’s, 90’s, Dance Classics and Top 40. From 9pm. Free. VIKINGS CHISHOLM
CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)
Bare: Degrees of undress
Bare: Degrees of undress
Much ado about nothing
NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY
Karaoke Salan
Every Tues 8pm. Book online at www.politbar.co
Footy Fever
14 Aug- 15 Nov. Free.
14 Aug- 15 Nov. Free.
ON THE TOWN
Curated by Alexander Boynes. Aug 28- Oct 3. Tues - Fri 11am - 5pm, Sat 10am - 4pm. Free.
Curated by Alexander Boynes. Aug 28- Oct 3. Tues - Fri 11am - 5pm, Sat 10am - 4pm. Free.
CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)
TUESDAY OCTOBER 6
NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY
THEATRE Presented by Canberra REP. 17 Sept-3 Oct. Bookings 62571950. CANBERRA REPERTORY SOCIETY
COMEDY The Warf Revue
15-26 Sept. 2pm, 8pm. $45-65. THE PLAYHOUSE
THEATRE Much ado about nothing
Presented by Canberra REP. 17 Sept-3 Oct. Bookings 62571950. CANBERRA REPERTORY SOCIETY
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 29 ON THE TOWN Karaoke Salan
Every Tues 8pm. Book online at www.politbar.co POLIT BAR & LOUNGE
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 30 ART EXHIBITIONS Footy Fever
Curated by Alexander Boynes. Aug 28- Oct 3. Tues - Fri 11am - 5pm, Sat 10am - 4pm. Free.
CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)
LIVE MUSIC A State of Grace
The music of Tim & Jeff Buckley. Bookings on 62752700. CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE
THEATRE Much ado about nothing
OUT
MON??
NIGHTFEST BLUE KING BROWN BURIED IN VERONA THE CONFIDENCE MAN ...AND MORE!
Presented by Canberra REP. 17 Sept-3 Oct. Bookings 62571950. CANBERRA REPERTORY SOCIETY
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FIRST CONTACT Aaron Peacey 0410381306 band.afternoon.shift@ gmail.com.au Adam Hole 0421023226 Afternoon Shift 0402055314
Kayo Marbilus facebook.com/kayomarbilus1
Amphibian Sound PA Clare 0410308288
Kurt’s Metalworx (PA) 0417025792
Annie & The Armadillos Annie (02) 61611078/ 0422076313 Aria Stone sax/flute/lute/ harmonica, singer-songwriter Aria 0411803343 Australian Songwriters Association Keiran (02) 62310433 Back to the Eighties Ty Emerson 0418 544 014 Backbeat Drivers Steve 0422733974 backbeatdrivers.com Birds Love Fighting Gangbusters/DIY shows-bookings@ birdslovefighting.com Black Label Photography Kingsley 0438351007 blacklabelphotography.net Bridge Between, The Cam 0431550005 Chris Harland Blues Band, The Chris 0418 490 649 chrisharlandbluesband @gmail.com Cole Bennetts Photography 0415982662 Danny V Danny 0413502428 Dawn Theory Nathan 0402845132 Danny 0413502428 Dorothy Jane Band, The Dorothy Jane 0411065189 dorothy-jane@dorothyjane.com Drumassault Dan 0406 375 997 Feldons, The 0407 213 701 Fire on the Hill Aaron 0410381306 Lachlan 0400038388 Fourth Degree Vic 0408477020 Gareth Dailey DJ/Electronica Gareth 0414215885 Groovalicious Corporate/ weddings/private functions 0448995158 Guy The Sound Guy Live & Studio Sound Engineer 0400585369 guy@guythesoundguy.com
Los Chavos Latin/ska/reggae Rafa 0406647296 Andy 0401572150 Merloc - Recording Studio, Watson. Sam King: 0430484363. sam@ merlocrecords.com Missing Zero Hadrian 0424721907 hadrian.brand@live.com.au Morning After, The Covers band Anthony 0402500843 Mornings Jordan 0439907853 Obsessions 0450 960 750 obsessions@grapevine.com.au Painted Hearts, The Peter (02) 62486027 Polka Pigs Ian (02) 62315974 Rafe Morris 0416322763 Redletter Ben 0421414472 Redsun Rehearsal Studio Ralph 0404178996/ (02) 61621527 Rug, The Jol 0417273041 Sewer Sideshow Huck 0419630721 Simone & The Soothsayers Singing teacher Simone 62304828 Sorgonian Twins, The Mark 0428650549 Soundcity Rehearsal Studio Andrew 0401588884 STonKA Jamie 0422764482 stonka2615@gmail.com Strange Hour Events Dan 0411112075 Super Best Friends Greg greg@gunfever.com.au System Addict Jamie 0418398556
Haunted Attics band@hauntedatticsmusic.com
Tegan Northwood (Singing Teacher) 0410 769 144
In The Flesh Scott 0410475703
Top Shelf Colin 0408631514
Itchy Triggers Alex 0414838480
Undersided, The Baz 0408468041
Jenn Pacor Singer-songwriter avail. for originals/covers 0405618630
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