BMA Mag 325 20 May 2009

www.bmamag.com

#325 MAY21

inside this issue

COG

HANCOCK BASEMENT

RIVA STARR

...IN WAREHOUSE! THE WAREHOUSE! ...IN THE

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We’ve got gig, film and festival tix, CDs and DVDs (if only we had a couple of cartons), and if you’re anything like us, this is all your hard earned goes on.

Go ahead, take a gander, top shelf stuff that is. For a swipe at this sizeable swag of life’s essentials, send entries to

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editorial@bmamag.com and we’ll all sit around and laugh and debate your worthiness of the guff.

1 DEATH TO DRACUELLA Two no hopers. One cursed village. A bus full of female foreign students and an army of salacious lesbian vampires.

One recently dumped, the other jobless, Fletch (James Corden) and Jimmy (Mathew Horne) head to the country for a weekend of hiking, beer and local ladies, but things go pearshaped as they find themselves holed up in a remote village populated by gorgeous women cursed by a legendary lesbian vampire Queen. They’ve no choice but to accept their destiny and rise to the challenge of becoming Lesbian Vampire Killers. Thanks to Paramount Pictures we’ve got five double in season passes in our hobo-gloved hands. If you want one, tell us about your lesbian vampire fantasy. Come on, everyone’s got one. Only at the movies from May 21. lesbianvampirekillers.com.au .

2 HA DE DE HA HA HA If there’s one thing Canberrans do well it’s get their grump on when the cold weather arrives.

But wait, what’s that? What’s that you hear? Laughter in the air? Yep, that’s right folks; the Melbourne Comedy Festival Roadshow is making a stop in our lovely capital. Because cold or hot, everyone deserves a good laugh; the comedians,

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musicians, and general weirdos have thrown themselves into a van and are tearing across our wide brown land. They’ll be in town May 22 and 23, and we’ve four double passes up for grabs.

All you lovely peeps need do is tell us about the funniest character you’ve ever met on the road.

3 BORN TO BE WILD This is a shout out to all the ears and eyes of all you electro dance lovers. Wild Wknds is the new collaborative album from two of Sydney’s most loved DJs, DJ Archie and KCB, and the double album is packed with remixes straight from their magic fingers. With Britney Spears, Sneaky Sound System, Kaiser Chiefs, Natasha Beddingfield, the Prodigy, Lady Gaga and more, you’ll be sure to be shaking it on whatever floor you can. Tell us about the wildest weekend you’ve ever had and you might just find one of four copies of Wild Wknds in your hot little hands.

4 WAGONS WHEELIN’ Well pick up those heels and grab your partner because Henry Wagons and the band are

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rolling into the old ANU Bar on Saturday May 30, and they’re bringing with them their fourth and most explorative album to date. Think a little bit of Johnny Cash melancholy mixed with Roy Orbison’s charm and throw in some Creedence Clearwater Revival for good measure and you might start to feel what The Rise and Fall of Goodtown has to offer. Wear your flannie, grab a pitchfork and some hay, leave the cattle at home and tell us what country song you’ve always secretly wanted to sing at karaoke and why for your chance to snag a double pass.

5 WATT A MAN! If the name Reggie Watts rings a bell, it’s probably because he’s been doing some serious performing in this country of late. Back from the Sydney Festival and 11 sold out shows around the country, Reggie Watts is making his way to Canberra on June 5 and he’s inviting you to come along to the Folkus Room for free! His shows comprises of “one man, one loop machine, ten octaves, three hundred characters”.

Sound like your cup of humorous tea? This comedian

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and musician addresses it all from the catacombs of Egypt, to science, racism, pop culture and even the internet. So if you want to win a double pass and see why this quirky New Yorker is so loved by the likes of Regina Spektor, Dresden Dolls, Flight of the Conchords and Arj Barker, tell us what you’d do in front of a sold out crowd that’s guaranteed to make them laugh.

6 WRAAAAAAGHGH AGAIN! We’ve been told it’s the biggest event in sports entertainment and we sure as heck ain’t gunna doubt ’em, because they’re bigger than us, and burlier than us, and we wanna throw that bulk your way! The pop culture phenomenon that is WrestleMania is in its 25th year, and we’ve got five copies of WrestleMania Volumes 21-25 just sitting here roaring at us. Each DVD includes bonus features including the Hall Of Fame induction ceremony, photo galleries as well as the back-breaking excitement of the WrestleMania championship matches.

To score, tell us who you’d love to wrestle.

Until April 19 2009, I’d never broken a bone, and I was proud of my track record. This long lasting love affair with self preservation came crashing down along with me and my push bike. I was three quarters through my season in the Melbourne Comedy Festival.

It was the Sunday of a Tuesday-Sunday run and I was feeling somewhat ‘emotionally volatile.’ I’d visited a friend to sell her my spare pedal tuner for some cash flow, bolted over to Safeway and done my patented ‘shopping without a list, wandering the aisles scanning every item with frenzied eyes’ routine. I had a backpack bulging with goods and I was in a rush to get home to cook some chops and have a nap before the show. I was cycling dangerously, and I knew it. It was night, I had no lights on my bike and dark clothes on. I gunned up to the intersection, which was red, and thought ‘hey, look at me, I’m a bike, I can do what I want.’ I burned around the intersection and pedalled as fast as I could down a busy main street.

I was hitting my top speed when in front of me a parked car flung open its driver’s side door. I had one second to sit with the fact that I was about to ride straight into it.

HIT! I flew through the air like a bony ghost. It was dark, the blood was hurtling to my head. Instincts activated. My body braced itself.

The bike came with me. I couldn’t tell you the exact maths of what happened. I landed with a strangely satisfying thud, directly on my right shoulder. It must have looked amazing – and terrible. At first I was winded, slightly in shock. I lay on my side, still alive, an instant survivor. A young couple loomed over me.

‘Mate, are you alright?’

‘Do you need an ambulance?’

‘Move your fingers.’

‘I didn’t see you.’

My first response was to laugh. I was tipsy with adrenalin. ‘Ha, oh man, oh fuck, I totally stacked my bike.’ I’d been a tightly compacted spring for so long and this crash had unravelled me. Sure, I was stunned and scratched and smacked around, but the pain wasn’t piercing and there was something darkly amusing about it straight away. I’d crashed my bike like a 12-year-old and was sprawled out like a drunk dog. It felt like life was sharing a divine joke. A hyperactive uncle pulling the rug from under me, leaning over with whiskey breath and grinning, ‘Hey kiddo, seriously, there’s only so much you can do.’

I told the couple I didn’t want an ambulance because I couldn’t afford it. Clearly my brain hadn’t been injured in the accident. My first instinct was to check my guitar strumming arm that had taken the fall. I almost cried. My favourite cardigan was torn at the elbow!

The couple whose car I’d hit offered to take me to a hospital, but I thought I should just go home. It turns out they were off duty policemen! It explained why they were so efficient at checking on me. Once I was home I sat on my bed holding ice to my shoulder as it began to clamp up. I had a little weep. This was appalling timing.

After a wait in emergency my arm was x-rayed and I was informed I’d fractured my humerus. I would have to cancel the rest of my Comedy Festival Shows. Alone in the doctor’s office, my heart sank completely. ‘You fucked up,’ I thought. I looked up at the bright lights, my arm in a sling, my legs dangling over the bed and chuckled in disbelief. ‘Finally, you get a break.’

JUSTIN HEAZLEWOOD www.bedroomphilosopher.com Justin performs as The Bedroom Philosopher and writes for Frankie, Jmag and The Big Issue. The Bedroom Philosopher launches his new album at ANU Bar on Tuesday July 2.

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See…You can polish a turd # 3 2 5 M A Y 2 1 Fax: 02 6257 4361 Mail: PO Box 713 Civic Square, ACT 2608 Publisher Scott Layne General Manager & Advertising Manager Allan Sko T: 6257 4360 E: advertising@bmamag.com Editor Julia Winterflood T: 02 6257 4456 E: editorial@bmamag.com Accounts Manager Fahim Shahnoor T: 6247 4816 E: accounts@bmamag.com Graphic Design Jenny Freeman Exhibitionist Editor Naomi Milthorpe Film Editor Mark Russell Principle Photographers (The Flashbulb Posse) Andrew Mayo Nick Brightman John Hatfield NEXT ISSUE 326 OUT JUNE 11 EDITORIAL DEADLINE MAY 25 ADVERTISING DEADLINE JUNE 4 Published by Radar Media Pty Ltd ABN 76 097 301 730 bma is independently owned and published.

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

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Derek Warfield, Ireland’s greatest living balladeer, is currently in Australia with his new band The Young Wolfe Tones. After the release of his new album On The One Road he and his band want to show Australia the best of Irish tradition. Derek Warfield and Damaris Woods, Luke Ward and Kevin O’Donnell perform with pure passion and everlasting energy. Fresh from Ireland, they’re playing at the Canberra Irish Club on Saturday May 30.

ALL TANG-LED UP With their unique sound the Barons of Tang have created a new genre they like to call ‘Gypsy Death-core’, and they’ll be performing at The Pheonix on Friday May 29 on their Tour De Farce. If you crave new and never before heard sounds, don’t miss the chance to experience this brand new genre.

MMAD WORLD Musicians Making A Difference (MMAD) and Channel V have joined forces to make the world we live in a better place by using a simple method that everybody can be a part of: they’re giving Australian musicians a chance to make a difference by sharing their musical talent either within the community or by entering a film clip with a positive message to the public. Anybody

SCHOOL OF ROCK Music is everywhere, but very little is said about how you actually get a career in the industry. That is where Rock the Schools comes in. Peter Garret is the official patron and The Take, Claire Clarke and Stone Parade are on board to spark interest and educate Australia’s youth about the many career paths in the music biz. Rock the Schools will be running a one day workshop at Canberra High School on June 9 and Campbell High School on June 10. For more information on the tour and a full schedule go to www.rocktheschools.com.au .

DIRTY, DIRTY! You may have seen their raunchy new video clip on Channel V over the past few weeks, as after the release of their new EP Romance Roulette, Tasmanian rock band The Dirty Love have quickly gained attention

from radio stations and music channels all over the country.

They’re now touring on the Romance Roulette Tour, so whether you’re a fan or simply curious, catch them at the Pot Belly Bar on Thursday May 28.

DREAMTIME Dragon Dreaming ’08 was an ethereally illuminated amble through the subconscience of an enormous swag of ridiculously talented artists, and now the threeday arts, music and lifestyle festival is a recurring dream to be experienced from October 3-5. Do you dare to dream? For the call is out for contributors! Musicians, visual and installation artists, food, craft and clothing stall holders, workshop presenters, performers, healers, and the all-important rare breed of upstanding human being that is the volunteer, heed the call by emailing info@ servantsofsound.org. For more tantalisingly tasty information, www.dragondreaming.net will satiate you soon.

DIRTY LOVE

FIELDS OF GREEN

of any age can take part. For more information and for a registration form go to www.mmad.org.au . Entries close at midnight on Monday August 31.

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another

YOU PISSED ME OFF!

thing…

Black Sabbath has a new album out, although things are a bit complicated. Y’see, the Sabs aren’t allowed to call themselves Black Sabbath anymore because the band’s original vocalist, the inimitable Ozzy Osbourne, whilst not willing to write or tour any new material with the band, isn’t willing to vacate the mic in favour of someone more game. So, in order to actually get some stuff out for you to enjoy, the band – now featuring the classic Heaven & Hell lineup of guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler, drummer Vinny Appice and vocalist Ronnie James Dio – has taken to calling itself, somewhat fittingly, Heaven & Hell.

This isn’t the first time this has happened, of course. Sabbath had tired of Osbourne’s antics as early as 1977; duly fired, the prince of darkness was replaced by Birmingham throatsmith Dave Walker (most famously the voice, over two spells, of blues-rock outfit Savoy Brown), who lasted long enough to record a British TV show with the band before being replaced by... Ozzy Osbourne.

Ozzy’s second spell in the band didn’t last long, however, and by 1979 Dio was in the band for what became recognized by many as the band’s second golden age. Three great albums flowered under Dio’s vocal leadership before, as became the norm, the band foundered amidst ego-driven misunderstandings and the singer was shown the door.

Dio’s replacement was, somewhat improbably, former Deep Purple yodeller Ian Gillan. Gillan’s arrival in the band shocked even himself – “I went to the pub with Geezer and Tony. When I woke up the next morning I was in Black Sabbath” – but once again the association didn’t last long. After one album, the much maligned Born Again, Gillan was paid off and replaced, very briefly, for the act’s Live Aid performance by... Ozzy Osbourne.

After Live Aid Sabbath hit the skids, with Iommi forming an American version of the band (fronted by the ludicrous ‘male model’ David Donato) before opting to put out a solo record to buy himself some time.

Succumbing to record company pressure however, the guitarist agreed to put out the resultant elpee, Seventh Star, as a Black Sabbath record.

Iommi had settled on another former Purple vocalist, Glenn Hughes, as the voice of SS, but two dates into the tour the former Trapeze singer got involved in a full and frank exchange of views with the band’s production manager and had to leave the band after sustaining injuries that left him temporarily unable to sing. Hughes was replaced on the hoof by American Ray Gillen (who later went on to find fame with former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Jake E. Lee in Badlands), who then went on to record vocals for the next Sabs oeuvre, 1986’s Eternal Idol.

Of course, Gillen didn’t last the course, and left before recording of the album was completed. Iommi went through three producers and eight musicians in the recording of this next ‘Black Sabbath release’ but his selection of a new vocalist, the relatively unknown British singer Tony Martin, was an important one. Martin, a fine vocalist with a voice heavily redolent of Ronnie James Dio, helped Iommi resurrect his somewhat battered band with vocals on three excellent late-eighties albums, the best of which, 1989’s Headless Cross, sits proudly with anything the more lionised Sabbath lineups have recorded. But the fans in the US didn’t take to this lineup, and with ticket sales drying up and the band beginning to flounder, Iommi stated to cast his net once again. The weak link was deemed to be Martin, and his replacement? I’ll tell you next time…

SCOTT ADAMS thirtyyearsofrnr@hotmail.com

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

And for the love of God, keep it brief! [All entries contain original spellings] So seriously, sucked in loser.

You booked your party at the Braddon Club but failed to pay your deposit nor confirm your booking. Then when you rock up, looking like a complete tool in your blonde mullet, guess what? Party’s not on.

Boo hoo for you...

I should have known you were a complete tosser when your mate, dressed up as Angus, looked down his nose at a local singing ACDC. Funnily he was not only treating the lady with comtempt, but also with

a complete lack of recognition that the song she was singing had been penned by his costume’s namesake...

Maybe I’m the stupid one though, I tried to help you out and suggest an alternate venue.

You were a horrible rude fucker (BTW even your friends were clearly embarrassed)...

So I really hope your party sucked and all of your friends (maybe 6 of them) HATE YOU!... YOU, DICKHEAD, PISSED ME OFF...

FROM THE BOSSMAN Well check us out with our balls all shiny – we’ve gone and got ourselves a new design... Who’d a thunk it!

Yes, like an aging whore slapping on frankly alarming amounts of rouge, we’ve tarted ourselves up for you. But unlike aforementioned strumpet, we’re now so lovely that you’d take us home to show your mother (if only we’d just cut out that darn sailor talk, of course).

We have the disgustingly talented graphic design talents of Jen Freeman to thank for this. She’s tamed the rainbows, harnessed the awesome powers of Form and Function, and created a new design that registers a healthy 11 on the scale of Gorgeous. For this, we thank her.

So let the colours dance over your eyeballs, you lucky people.

And it’s a free country (to be phased out 2017) so tell us what you think.

(NB: not to be confused with ‘tell us where to go’).

Also, be sure to keep an eye out for our brand spanking new website to boot (www.bmamag.com), heading your way very soon, with a whole new set of enjoyable bells and whistles.

As our tagline for this issue says: BMA, you can polish a turd!

ALLAN “AGE BEFORE BEAUTY” SKO

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WHO: PARTY PEOPLE WHAT: MINGLE @ TRANSIT WHEN: THURS MAY 21 WHERE: TRANSIT BAR

Whilst it’s a relative baby of the club scene, Mingle @ Transit’s foundations have been stirring for quite some time among the collective consciousness of young party goers. One Thursday every month, Transit Bar is transformed into a dance haven for new sounds from forward thinking local and interstate musical talent, with expert lighting and visuals projected and mixed by the RTFM crew. So come lose yourself in the freshest dubstep, electro, house, breaks, techno and mind-bending atmospherics. For more info add the facebook group mingle @ transit and keep an ear out for big things to come.

WHO: HELL CITY GLAMOURS WHAT: RIFFAGE! WHEN: FRI JUNE 19 WHERE: ANU BAR

It barely seems ten minutes since BMA alerted you to the grandeur of unknown (to you at least) Sydney upstarts The Hell City Glamours, but now they’re back with tour supports for the likes of the New York Dolls, Airbourne and Kiss frontman Paul Stanley under their belts, an excellent album in shops the world over, an American tour and, well... we can’t keep it a secret any more: A BMA-APPROVED ANU SHOW! That’s right, Riffage! is back, with support from local indie titans Hancock Basement and hard rockers The Escape Syndrome (pictured). Be there. $10

WHO: TIJUANA CARTEL WHAT: WORLD DANCE/FUNK WHEN: SAT MAY 23 WHERE: HIPPO BAR

After a sell out show on their last visit to Canberra , Gold Coast band Tijuana Cartel will return by popular demand to the Hippo Bar for an encore performance on Saturday May 23. After being labeled one of the buzz bands of the recent Byron Blues Festival, Tijuana Cartel continue their 40 date national album release tour to ever growing national audiences. Their second album, They Come, has been getting fantastic airplay across the country and their funky flamenco world dance music and the vibrant energy of their live shows make it a night not to miss. 9pm, tix $15 at the door.

WHO: ROUND WINNING DJS WHAT: PANG! DJ COMP FINAL WHEN: FRI JUNE 5 WHERE: LOT 33

It’s been an emotional month since hopeful local DJs stepped up to the decks at Lot 33, with four intense rounds coming to a close. With the final looming, 14 preliminary winners are training their ears, techniques and fist pumps towards taking nightclub glory. Hoping to impress a judging panel of the ‘who’s who’ of chin-strokers from Canberra’s dance music scene and, more importantly, their audience, these guys (and girl) are officially some of the best locals you’re likely to see. There’s only one winner, and this is a popularity contest. It’s on.

WHO: GOOD-WILLED ROCKERS WHAT: CHARITY NIGHT WHEN: FRI MAY 22 WHERE: WODEN YOUTH CENTRE

Woden Youthie is holding a fundraiser to raise money for an 11-year-old girl in Ghana called Grace, with all funds raised going towards her education. Grace’s mother died when she was a baby and her aunt is now looking after her in this poverty stricken environment. Headlining the bill are alternative rockers Slovac, alongside pop punksters Retraspec and grunge/alternative band Fallsuit Theory. Also on the bill are young newcomers West of the Sun who are organising the event. This is a strictly no alcohol or drug event. Tix $7 at the door.

WHO: NIK FISH WHAT: ROCK HARD HOUSE WHEN: FRI MAY 29 WHERE: ACADEMY

Nik Fish’s unique and addictive style of hard house has blown away the EDM scene for over 20 years. You’ll hear his music shaking the walls of Sydney’s best clubs. His combination of bass, synth and voice effects have left clubbers all over the world in a trance; hypnotised and begging for more, and now they can finally have more as he’s compiled an album of his most demanded and mind blowing creations. Black hits the shelves on Friday May 8, and Canberra can experience the magical energy of Nik Fish at Academy on Friday May 29.

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V for

VANHELDEN

CYCLONE

Never was there a more reluctant futurist in dance music than ARMAND VAN HELDEN. Not only has the New Yorker outstayed many a ‘90s superstar DJ, but he’s also presaged the scene’s rampant hybridisation. Van Helden, for all his waywardness, is as relevant as ever.

The unusually frank DJ cares little for critics. He rejects intellectualism – and pretentiousness – in dance culture. His attitude towards scene politics is, if not cavalier, then casual.

Indeed, the flamboyant van Helden might have morphed into a shameless celebrity DJ, like DJ Am, but that’s something else he spurns. “I’m not interested,” Armand insists. “I have a lifestyle that I think is fine. I have friends who tell me, ‘You’re not hungry any more.’ I know what they mean. I’ve had times in my life where I had the potential to manifest a larger scale type of venture, but I’ve turned it down.”

In order to become a household name [you have to throw] on a clown suit.

The good-humoured van Helden alludes to extravagant boardroom scenarios with music industry powerbrokers placing Faustian deals on the table. But he wasn’t prepared to be a “slave” to fame. “I’m a producer,” Armand says. “In order to become a household name, it’s like throwing on a clown suit – or maybe a clown nose. It’s something that I’ve just never really been interested in.”

Van Helden is so nonchalant, laconic and streetwise that it’s impossible not to wonder why he didn’t gravitate to hip-hop. At one stage, bored with house, he did hint at a defection. However, van Helden isn’t enamoured of contemporary rap, let alone crunk, preferring ‘ol’ skool’ East Coast hip-hop. Armand may have a teenage son, but he’s still the b-boy. While van Helden looks the playa, attracting Ali G jokes, he’s never craved bling. He doesn’t own a car or even drive. At any rate, hip-hop is moving closer to house with Kanye West producing electro. It’s nothing extraordinary for rappers to dig house, Armand believes.

Van Helden issued his first record, Stay On My Mind, in 1992, though his breakthrough was Witch Doctor on Strictly Rhythm. Its success opened the way for remix gigs. From the get-go, van Helden was idiosyncratic. His bizarre remix of Tori Amos’ Professional Widow topped the UK charts. The DJ invented speed garage with his take on the Sneaker Pimps’ Spin Spin Sugar. The perverse Armand caused disquiet in house ranks with his debut album, Sampleslayer... Enter The Meatmarket. It was straight hip-hop.

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Van Helden had his biggest pop moment with You Don’t Know Me from 1999’s 2Future4U, a bona fide ‘garage’ LP. Armand’s subsequent albums haven’t always struck the same (commercial) mark, but he doesn’t repeat himself. Because of that, the dude continually entertains.

In 2005 van Helden yielded Nympho (cue: the smash My My My) via Norman Cook’s Southern Fried, followed two years on by the ‘80s-splashed Ghettoblaster. Last year he presented a ‘greatest hits,’ something few DJs manage. Van Helden relishes the prevailing ethos in house. “This era right here reminds me of when drum ‘n’ bass – and breakbeat – was new. It reminds me of the early days, the energy and how fresh things felt, when drum ‘n’ bass was starting to become a big thing – and also breaks and big beat and stuff like that. That time was exciting as well. It was open to pretty much anything you wanted to do. Drum ‘n’ bass would take on all these rap songs and then just go crazy and cut ‘em up, and then the breakbeat guys would take old soul samples and cut ‘em up. It’s like that excitement again.”

Van Helden feigns unfamiliarity with tags such as ‘fidget house,’ but he knows the music and its players. Does he lay any claim to ghetto house? Armand is unsure. “The only thing I can claim is way back in the early ‘90s, I was a breakbeat and drum ‘n’ bass fan, but I was known in house music and, at that time, all those people didn’t talk to each other. So, because they didn’t talk to each other, I was like ‘well, this is stupid, how come these people don’t hang out?’ I didn’t get it. I just decided, I’m gonna make house with a drum ‘n’ bass bassline in it - and that’s all I did.” He charts the new dance as “a fan.” “I like a lot of the stuff I hear. I’m more of a lover than a hater. I just like everything that’s going on.”

Van Helden isn’t coy in general, but he’s not exactly forthcoming about future projects. The DJ has lately cut Bonkers with Dizzee Rascal for his next LP. But, as of now, he’s not plotting an album. Van Helden is enjoying collaborating. He’s even hooked up with A-Trak.

Van Helden seems laidback but, to have achieved so much, he must have been ambitious once. It’s true, Armand no longer feels he needs to “prove something,” but he’s not complacent. “It’s weird,” he ruminates. “I’m in a zone where I really just look at what I do as a lifestyle and as a living and as a career. I think these days more in terms of legacy.” He doesn’t wish to compete with other DJs. He’s content to unleash “random” hits. And possibly it’s that carefree – and eccentric – outlook that underlies all van Helden’s accidental innovations. “When the people are like ‘you’re not capable of making another good song, why don’t you just retire?,’ then that’s probably when I’ll do that,” he laughs. Won’t be any time soon.

Van Helden is part of the awesome Winter Warehouse Music Festival lineup, taking place at the AIS Arena on Sunday June 7. Tickets through Ticketek.

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ALL AGES A massive couple of months coming up for all of us underage Canberrans! I’m really quite excited, as I’m sure you are, for some of the epic musical treats on the way.

INC under 18s will be chucking one of the biggest underage dance parties Canberra has ever seen, with awe-inspiring performances from DJs Adam, Enz, Bricksta and even more, so get out to the Woden Basketball Stadium on Friday May 15 and bust a move to the full light show and phat beats. Tickets are available from Landspeed Records for $20 or pick them up on the door for $25.

Deviously cool, The Presets will be taking the stage at the AIS Arena for their very last Australian tour of 2009. This is your last chance to see the boys live for the year, as after this tour it’s back to the studio to write their third album. After the success of their previous two albums, Beams and Apocalypso, the biggest bad boys in electro will blow you away with their unique brand of dirty techno stylings. Taking sleazy electro punk to the next level, with their gritty guitars and trashy synth, this Sydney duo are the biggest thing in electro at the moment. So come on down to the AIS Arena on Wednesday May 27.

America’s very own straight edge hardcore punk exports, Have Heart, are dropping into the Tuggeranong Youth Centre along with Australia’s own home grown Carpathian. Have Heart have grabbed the hardcore scene by the throat and won’t be letting go until they’ve conquered the world. This fivesome formed in 2002 and have since released three albums and one demo, the most successful being the most recent, Songs to Scream at the Sun. The band have been blown away by their success. When they first got together, their only goal was to play a couple of shows in their hometown – they were never in it for the fame or money, but now they have taken the world by storm. So don’t miss out on seeing two of hardcore’s best. Have Heart and Carpathian will be at the Tuggers Youthie on Wednesday May 27.

With two new members and a swish debut EP, House Vs Hurricane will be tearing up the Tuggeranong Youth Centre on Thursday June 11. Yet another great hardcore group from Melbourne – make sure you don’t miss this one because all the cool kids are going to be there. So tear yourself away from your World of Warcraft or your Runescape, because joining the lads will be Nazarite Vow, Dead Kings and I Exist. My favourite band of the moment, House Vs Hurricane, have fast made a name for themselves. You can’t walk past the goon bag without seeing an angst-ridden young boy in his tight black jeans and a House Vs Hurricane t-shirt.

And now for the most exciting thing to hit Canberra since Kevin Rudd, Deez Nuts and Amity Affliction will be teaming up together for the Drunk and Disorderly Tour. So you better ask your mum please and fight for your right to party (see what I did there…) and get yourselves down to the Weston Creek Community Centre on Friday July 3. Deez Nuts are Australia’s favourite rapcore band and you’d be nuts not to love them. So don’t miss it boys and girls, or you’ll be answering to me. Stay true.

That’s all from me for now.

I’ll see you next time. Party hard.

LIZ ROWLEY

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LOCALITY Much like the Chupacabra, the Wendigo and the Loch Ness Monster, Canberra’s live music scene is shrouded in mystery. Some say that it is an elaborate hoax, that it exists only in fairy tales, and that my collection of blurry polaroids do not amount to reliable evidence.

But! As the initiated know only too well, Canberra is home to talented and prolific musicians.

The Pot Belly has supported many local artists over the years and this fortnight is no exception. On Thursday May 28 The Pot plays host to a lineup of rock acts, featuring Tasmania’s The Dirty Love and locals ZZG and Paulie the Water Tiger. If your ideal night out is less rock and more folk, you can head to The Pot on Friday May 29 for the soulful stylings of Freyja’s Rain.

In a similar vein, local blues man Jonno Zilber is supporting Richard Steele at the Folkus Room. Catch them at the ItaloAustralian Club on Friday May 22.

Ex-pat Kat Harley (of Beanort fame) is visiting from Sydney and bringing her new band Border Thieves along for the trip. Once the obligatory sightseeing is out of the way (Questacon, anyone?) they’ll be part of a packed lineup at the ANU Bar on Thursday May 28, playing alongside Potential Falcon, Line Drawings and local up-andcomers Cat Cat. The fun starts at 8pm, and tickets are $10.

You can also catch Border Thieves playing a more intimate gig at The Phoenix, where they’re supporting Melbourne’s The Night Terrors. Be there on Saturday May 23 from 8pm. triple j Unearthed legends and all-round nice guys Hancock Basement are launching their limited edition 7” vinyl on Thursday May 28. Be at Transit Bar from 8pm to get your hands on a slice of Hancock history in the making.

The Trivs have had a busy month, what with two interstate gigs and the launch of their shiny new EP. To show them some love, get along to Bar 32 on Saturday May 23; they‘re supporting Melbourne’s Tall Buildings and Sydney’s The Model School.

Domus Adultus is still going strong on Thursday nights at Hippo.

The lineup for the Thursday May 21 features Drew Walky, Jacquie Nicole, The Blue Ruins and Julia and the Deep Sea Sirens. On Thursday May 28 you’ll be serenaded by Rhys Crimmin, Second Sun and Also from Tokyo. At the time of writing, the lineup for Thursday June 4 has yet to be announced, but rest assured that it will be another night of great music, complete with couches, cocktails and mood lighting. Lovely.

My polaroids may be blurry, but I believe in the Canberra live music scene. If you want to believe, come out this fortnight and see for yourself.

As always, any musos that would like to be featured in the next Locality column should drop us a line at locality.bma@hotmail.com . Playing a gig that we haven’t mentioned? Send us your details and we’ll get the word out.

Until next time, CATHERINE JAMES locality.bma@hotmail.com

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DANCE THE DROP

This is a desperate final broadcast for all survivors of the dreaded swine flu pandemic. We have survived, we are still here. We have alcohol, music and night clubs. I repeat, alcohol... music... and... nightclubs. If there is anyone out there, please, please come before midnight to take advantage of our half priced drink specials and free tapas. Bah! If three days without sleep doesn’t kill us, why should we worry about some sniffly Mexican hogs? Bring on the parties!

Stuttering sonic soldiers llik llik llik proudly present Melbourne Techno Collective regular Craig McWhinney on Friday May 22 at Transit Bar. Entry is on the cuff (free) and local supports come from Rory Bobbin, Biggie and Gabe. This event is followed by Hancock Basement’s 7” launch on the Saturday night and even though John Holmes was 12”, that’s still mighty adequate.

Saturday May 23 at Lot 33 features successful Sydney professional ping pong duo Brendan Fing & Matt Nukewood for Ping Pong Pang while Pang! goes it alone, presenting Dutch tech masters the 16 Bit Lolitas on Friday May 29, ably supported by ace Chinese Laundry resident Club Junque.

Hippo Bar is proving that it’s more than just a haven for gob smacking cocktails with Voodoo on Saturday June 20. This will be a night of luscious soulful drum ‘n’ bass featuring DJ Dred and The Crunch, so get on down (or up in this case) and support some local freshmakers.

The full lineup for the Warehouse Winter Music Festival has been announced with French techno god Popof being added to the amazing roster along with a local contingent consisting of Jaytech, Tim Galvin, DJ Kiz, Trent Richardson, Scottie Fisher, Hubert, RYFY, Sean Kelly, Jamie Vale, Offtapia, Mark Nichols, Escha along with Sydneysiders Chris Fraser, David Beres and A Tonez. With internationals like Armand Van Helden, James Zabiela, NASA and Laidback Luke on the bill, this event will sell out fast so don’t forget to get your ticket soon or else you might be one of those sad faced fluoro fanatics stuck on the other side of the AIS fence!

After achieving massive success with their last few events, the promotional powerhouse that is Alliance (Friction & Lexington Music) returns to Academy on Saturday May 30 with the Canberra leg of the Ministry of Sound Housexy tour, featuring chart topper Mobin Master, whose crazy massive Show Me Love has been the crowd pleasing favourite of choice for all club DJs for the last 18 months.

New bar on the block Tongue & Groove has started up its own Saturday night house music event with residents Tim Galvin and Raw FM’s own DJ Tori Mac taking the reigns every weekend alongside special guests so come down from 10 pm for some dance floor friendly favourites.

Finally I’ll leave you with my hot tip for May – Dutch rising star Chuckie has been jammed into my CD player for the last few weeks with some awesome bouncy club rockers. Since coming at us full force like a groggy Australian swimmer with Let The Bass Kick earlier this year, he has been churning out some great tech and electro house music. Check out his latest mix compilation Dirty Dutch for a double CD of quality club music.

Until next issue, just remember when the media tells you to stay away from Hog’s Breath it doesn’t mean you can’t go and enjoy some pre-club curly fries and a slow cooked vertebrate with your lovely dinner date.

TIM GALVIN tim.galvin@live.com.au

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Starr Power Tim Galvin Metamorphosis is a wonderful thing. Just as the caterpillar enters a cocoon to become a beautiful butterfly and angelic teen Barbie dolls enter a nightclub to become messy harlots, so has Stefano Miele experienced a ponderous transformation of his own. Previously celebrated as international breakbeat superstar Madox, in 2008 he did a musical Megatron and switched to producing bouncy tech house under the guise of provocative new kid on the block, RIVA STARR, although it hasn’t been such an instant switch. “I have always been producing and playing house music so with the common elements it has been quite natural,” explains Starr. “When you think that someone like Locodice started out producing hip-hop and are now producing what they are, it shows that you can be really diverse.”

The streets are filled with all of these big DJs with one thing in common: they are all drunk!

His profile was really catapulted into the stratosphere with appearances at the 2008 Miami Music Conference, where he caught the ear of most of the big name DJs with some well timed hot releases and blinding DJ sets.

“I didn’t go this year [but] it was a really good experience when I went in 2008. I played at the Dubsided after party with Switch and Sinden, Jesse Rose and Claude Von Stroke which was insane! It’s such a great place to be, the streets are filled with all of these big DJs with one thing in common: they are all drunk!” he laughs.

One thing that separates him from other tech house producers is that he is always trying to change up his sound so he doesn’t keep churning out the same sounds over and over again. “I am working on an album at the moment,” reveals Starr. “There is a lot of groovy housey stuff on there as well as something with breakish elements too.”

Having had such continuous success as an artist, performer and remixer it would be safe to say that he would feel some pressure to create big records every time he stepped into the studio. Not so, Starr replies confidently. “No, I don’t feel pressure to make hit records. Some producers are scared that they do not want to disappoint people and just make tunes for the club. I see it as being more about fun and not just ‘business.’”

Having played at massive festivals all across the globe, it begs the question, which does he prefer – the intimate confines of a club or the balls out hedonistic nature of a music festival? “Actually I have fun at both. At festivals you can play the more banging stuff and you get to hang out with lots of other DJs and it’s really fun but to play in a darkish club with a more intimate vibe is really good too. I love to play a lot of after parties so I can get the best of both!”

Keep busy this upcoming Queen’s birthday long weekend by checking out Riva Starr as part of the awesome Warehouse Winter Music Festival lineup.

It’s on Sunday June 7 at the AIS Arena. Tickets on sale now from Ticketek and Landspeed Records.

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Putting on an exhibition specialising in three dimensions is no mean feat. “This was one of our biggest installation jobs ever!” she laughs.

Looking around at the sheer size, fragility and complexity of some of these pieces it’s easy to see why. Eagle-eyed gallery fans will recognise that a few of these works have been on display previously to now, but Ward is excited that they are being seen here in a new light and a different context. A major exhibition such as this also gives curators the chance to purpose-build the exhibition rooms to house particular artworks so that they can finally be experienced just as the artist had intended.

SOFT TOUCH YOLANDE NORRIS Breasts. Feathers. Plastic bags. Felt. Fur. Foam. Hair.

“The 1960s saw a fundamental shift in thinking about sculpture,” says curator Lucina Ward, who is showing me around the National Gallery of Australia’s latest exhibition Soft Sculpture.

“Historically, sculpture meant carved wood or stone, or bronze cast from clay or wax models. In the early twentieth century, artists began to make constructions, incorporate found objects, and designate everyday items as art. Materials were increasingly diverse after the development of mass-produced synthetic polymer products in the 1950s.”

Essentially, art discovered plastic, along with a new-found love for anything that could be moulded, modelled or reappropriated.

Ward tells me that the idea for Soft Sculpture began back in 2000, when she and then co-worker Anthony White were working on a cataloguing project of the Gallery’s extensive sculpture collection.

They were particularly taken by works from the ’60s and ’70s that could be classed as being part of the ‘anti-form’ movement which sprang forth in the 1960s and reacted against traditional artistic forms, materials and methods.

From the minute you step foot into the NGA’s exhibitions wing you can see why Ward is so excited about this show. The foyer has been transformed into a scene not unlike something out of Alice In Wonderland. A pile of oversized candy-coloured pills spill into the space from one corner, while a giant-size droplet of grey liquid oozes ominously from the ceiling. The whole while, a clear plastic lotus flower is waving hypnotically, beckoning you to enter the show.

One example is Penetration by French artist Annette Messager.

A darkened room has been filled with handmade body parts suspended from the ceiling - a cloud of squishy bones and organs all painstakingly sewn out of wool and cotton. Visitors weave in and out through the organ maze as if touring their own insides. Ward is also grateful to have on full display the sprawling installation Stripes From The House of the Shaman by the uber-famous Joseph Beuys.

This bizarre arrangement of seemingly unrelated materials - lengths of felt, animal skins and ground minerals – has been given a powerful symbolism by the artist’s hand.

Sculptors are using soft materials to imitate hard, and hard materials are masquerading as soft. “These artists are completely de-constructing the idea of the sculpture as a monument - that monuments are historically what sculpture is.”

Locals may also find Sheep On A Couch strangely familiar – artist Les Kossatz is the very same man responsible for everyone’s favourite baffling public art piece Ainslie’s Sheep, also known as ‘those weird sheep in Civic’. “He’s moved on from sheep now,” Ward amusedly assures me.

Soft Sculpture may be a feast for the eyes, but the desire to touch is overwhelming. It will be hard to control yourself and any kids, little or big, that you take with you. Ward agrees, “this is a great exhibition for little people,” and I wonder if there is something about sculpture, about objects, texture and movement, that sparks our imagination and appeals to the child inside of all of us.

This is an exhibition experience that leaves you feeling invigorated and inspired. Back in the outside world, you’ll find yourself looking at things differently, and you may find you want to touch everything: hair, foam, fur, felt, plastic bags, feathers, breasts. What makes a sculpture a sculpture anyway? I ask Ward. “Exactly!” she replies enthusiastically.

Soft Sculpture is on show at the National Gallery of Australia until July 12 and is absolutely one hundred percent free.

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ARTIST PROFILE: RachaelFreeman

What do you do? I am a painter but also make zines and write music with my partner. My paintings could be described as romantic landscapes with apocalyptic edge. Generally I use a mix of mediums from oil to house paint.

When did you get into it? It’s hard to say really. At a young age I always went for the sketchpad whilst others maybe went for books or dolls. There was never really any question of what I wanted to do with my life; I always knew that art was everything. I feel quite lucky in that regard; I’ve never questioned my path.

Who or what influences you as an artist? Artists such as Mathew Barney and Luc Tuymans are at the top. Also the amazing artists who are my friends in Canberra and abroad who inspire me constantly in my everyday life, from photographers to composers.

What’s your biggest achievement/proudest moment so far?

I think actually finishing university! It took me six years to do an undergraduate. I don’t believe in rushing.

What are your plans for the future? To keep painting - I have a CCAS residency for the second half of this year that I’m looking forward to.

What makes you laugh? The funny cat from next door with a lopsided mouth that has adopted us, and has developed an exclusive diet of fresh tuna.

What pisses you off? Bloody cold houses in Canberra. Cold tea.

Insincerity. Mistreatment of animals.

What’s your opinion of the local scene? The scene in Canberra has always been a vibrant and extremely supportive community. It would also be great to have more ARIs (Artist Run Initiatives) set up here to offer more alternative exhibiting space.

Upcoming exhibitions? I have some work in a group show space scapes in Tassie at the moment, curated by local, Fernando do Campo. I’m also showing at Strathnairn Gallery in July with Gosia Pilat. I have my six month CCAS studio artist residency soon, with a solo show in early 2010 at CCAS Manuka.

Contact Info freeman.rachael@gmail.com .

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“I love them all!” she says. “If forced to choose, I think the opening song would have to be one of the cleverest, cheekiest opening numbers in the history of musical theatre.”

FLASHDANCE CATHERINE WOODS Anne Looby has created a musical devoted to a subject close to our hearts - literally. BREAST WISHES, opening at The Playhouse on Wednesday May 27, is an unconventional, fun-filled and curious approach to women’s experiences of their bodies throughout their lives. “I identify very strongly with Carol, the character I play,” Looby says, “given that much of her experience is based on my own life: growing up flat-chested, then being in midlife and grappling with the ravages of gravity!”

Breast Wishes is the collaborative effort of celebrated and accomplished writers, Merridy Eastmen, Jonathan Gavin, Richard Glover, Wendy Harmer, Sheridan Jobbins, James Millar, and Debra Oswald. Joining Looby on stage are Angela Kennedy, Gretel Scarlett, Chelsea Plumley, David Harris and Valerie Bader. Highly respected Los-Angeles born musician and songwriter Bruce Brown was integral in crafting the musical pieces that drive the Breast Wishes narrative, but Looby struggles to pick a favourite song.

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Looby was inspired to create the show following her younger sister’s breast cancer survival. She approached the National Breast Cancer Foundation four years ago with the concept in mind and the show continues to raise awareness and funds for the NBCF. Looby hopes the musical leaves the audience with “a sense of hope, love and above all, acceptance of their bodies.” Looby relied on the openness and honesty of friends, family and colleagues to gather the unique experiences that are at the affecting heart of Breast Wishes. “I don’t think you can create a show about breasts and not deal with the issue of breast cancer, which touches so many thousands of people’s lives,” she says. Breast Wishes takes a journey through the issue with both sensitivity and humour, including the perspectives of the sufferers but also their husbands, sisters, mothers, fathers and friends – but the show is far from simply a sombre health message.

“I have always maintained that laughter is the best medicine and these wonderful scenes in Breast Wishes allow our audience to see the humour in the face of adversity.” So take this opportunity to gather your friends and family and celebrate that part of women’s bodies that is so fascinating and essential. “Everyone that sees the play will find something to identify with, whether it be that they are large breasted or small, real or enhanced, breast feeders or not,” Looby insists. “Breasts are many things: sexual, nurturing, a badge of femininity, motherhood, even survival.”

Breast Wishes flashes at The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre, from Wednesday May 27 to Saturday May 30 @ 8pm. Matinees Saturday and Sunday @ 2pm, twilight show Sunday May 31 @ 5pm. Tix $55/$48/$35.

To book call Canberra Ticketing on 6275 2700 or visit the CTC website at www.canberratheatre.org.au .

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IN REVIEW

The National Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition will not change your life. In fact, it will hardly make a blip in it. To be fair, the NPPP is only new on the art award scene – this year was only the second instalment – and awards do take some time to find their niche and gain momentum and all that. It is entirely possible that the National Portrait Gallery just didn’t get enough entries to be able to be overly selective – after all, the temporary exhibition wing in the new building has a lot of wall space to fill.

To start at the beginning, the prize was open to entries from all over the country, so long as they were photos and portraits. Easy enough criteria to fill, but one would like to think that like say, the Archibald Prize, artists would use this as an opportunity to push the limits of the medium and the notion of portraiture itself. No such luck. This is where the NPPP has me worried. There are some very, very average works in this show. No sooner had I stepped out of the exhibition had I forgotten pretty much everything that was in it.. I did a second round – concentrating as hard as possible, but same result. When I was later asked what my favourite piece was I came up with absolutely nothing.

That said, the judges have done a good job sorting through the chaff and picking a winner to take home the whopping $25,000 prize. Cormac and Callum, Ingvar Kenne’s portrait of his sons, is fairly interesting as these things go, quite dark and bizarre, and definitely one of the more accomplished works in the show. Interestingly it was bagged in all major newspapers the day after the prize was announced. Despite the exhibition’s pedestrian nature I would suggest a visit to the National Portrait Gallery anyway. Take your mother. The exhibition is free, the permanent collection is pretty satisfying and if you haven’t yet checked out the new building then it’s about time you did.

YOLANDE NORRIS

ARE YOU EXPERIENCED? NAOMI MILTHORPE Paul Capsis has never performed in Canberra before, but he’s been to Queanbeyan. The mind boggles at this fabulous cabaret character even setting foot in Q-Town, but apparently the audience was responsive – so responsive that “they were urging me to be more political.” And did Capsis take that advice on, I ask? “Not really,” he admits. But, he replies, “sometimes just standing there singing is political.”

Capsis will be “standing there singing” in the Can this fortnight, performing his cabaret show, A Capsis Experience, at The Street Theatre. And he’s thrilled to be playing a city he’s never been to before. “I’m really, really excited.”

A CAPSIS EXPERIENCE will give the audience a “quintessential cabaret show,” says the artist. “I’m going to present a mixture of work I’ve been performing for the last ten years,” including original songs, material by Lou Reed, Kate Bush and Paul Kelly, and what Capsis calls “channelling, presenting the dead divas” – exploring the work and lives of unique women like Janis Joplin, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, and Billie Holiday. Capsis explains that it is these women who he constantly turns back to for inspiration. “Performers are different today, in terms of how they’re packaged, and how they’re put out there.

There’s something about those women that’s unique; their story, the particular way they performed, their history. I feel like [the act] is tributing them, tributing what they contributed to entertainment.”

Capsis explains the strength that he gets from channelling the power of “fascinating women and fascinating men” like Reed and Joplin, whose most enduring contribution – what makes art and entertainment great, in the end – was their individuality. “How does someone like Lou Reed get out there now, because he’s so against everything that is supposed to be talented and interesting now. And it’s just thank god for an era that was just so different. People like Janis Joplin and Lou Reed could get out there and be themselves.”

Luckily, Capsis has been granted that privilege in his own career.

From creating original work in his cabaret shows and recording with Tim Freedman on his 2007 album, Everybody Wants to Touch Me, to performing as Riff Raff in the Gale Edwards-directed Rocky Horror Picture Show, Capsis has been able to mark out his own artistic path. “You can [get bored] if you keep doing the same thing, after a while the challenge isn’t there,” Capsis says. Luckily, he’s been able to find the right balance, of “working with different people, working in theatre and films and my own stuff.”

He was AFI-nominated for his supporting role in Ana Kokkinos’ Head On and has Helpmann and Green Room awards enough to sink a small boat. But the experience of working with artists like Edwards, Barrie Kosky, Jim Sharman and Marion Potts has been the greatest reward. “I’ve been very fortunate, incredibly blessed…

I’ve worked with the best of our time,” says Capsis. “They’re great teachers and great brave artists, they don’t compromise their work.”

Neither, luckily, does Capsis himself.

Paul Capsis brings A Capsis Experience to the Street Theatre on Saturday May 30 @ 8pm and Monday June 1 @ 7.30pm. Tickets $35. Call 6247 1223 to book.

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UNINHIBITED One of the biggest accusations that is levelled at arts makers (and audiences) is that they (or we) are a bunch of lily-livered, heads-upown-arsed, rarefied-atmosphered bourgeois pigs, complacently patting each other on the back whilst quaffing wine and eating cake, Marie Antoinette-style. And unfortunately the nature of ‘the beast’ that is, for example, theatre, is that it is a rich man’s luxury. It’s expensive to put on and therefore expensive to enjoy. People need to be paid (and let’s be thankful that they still can be) and unlike film, costs can’t be offset by worldwide distribution. Generally speaking, only the moderately wealthy (or the moderately insane arts writer) can even think of affording a seat to the theatre on a regular basis.

So it’s nice when occasionally one can point to companies or shows that, to use the phrase from one of Haley Joel Osmont’s lesser efforts, pays it forward. The other night at the opening of The Alchemist as I was, in my rarefied bourgeois manner, enjoying free wine and canapés and snootily remarking on my fellow punters’ shoes, I was reminded of the great things that the arts can do: like Bell’s Hearts in a Row initiative.

Hearts in a Row is a programme in which money and theatre seats are donated to charity orgs, disadvantaged schools, et cetera.

Essentially, this is a way for charitable folk to give the less fortunate a chance to see some top-shelf art, sometimes for the first time in their lives. You can read about it on the Bell website but what struck me most was that another of the primary accusations levelled at theatre, that it isn’t a form of art that appeals to ‘the people’ (whoever they are), was pretty much quashed by the responses of the recipients. A student from Airds High School in Campbelltown (surely a place of ‘the people’?) said after seeing Hamlet (surely a play of the hoity-toit?): “I want to watch it again and again...watching the play is way better than reading it.”

Now, the Hearts in a Row initiative asks the philanthropicallyinclined for donations of $10,000, so it may not be a possibility for you or me. But another conversation I had the other day reminded me that we can all do a little bit to give backwards or forwards.

I was at The Street Theatre talking to an arts maker and she said something that I had, in my quaffy-cakey-bourgeois way, never considered: that when she gets an invitation to the theatre she likes to take someone who would ordinarily never go, either because it’s not their thing or because they can’t afford it. I’ve always taken my fellow theatre wankers, but her point was that those people - the dyed-in-the-wool arts people - will always go, will always find a way to afford it. Now, I don’t have $10,000 to donate and probably neither do you (unless you are an eccentric millionaire, in which case you should check out Hearts in a Row on the Bell website, www.bellshakespeare.com.au). But maybe you can afford to sock a penurious mate $15 to see a locally-produced play, or the gold coin donation to the next Music at Midday concert co-run by the CTC and the RMC band (next one Tuesday June 2, proceeds go to local charities, see www.canberratheatre.org.au for details) or maybe even just buy them a coffee after going to a free exhibition at CCAS or ANCA. It’ll make you feel better, it’ll make your mate feel better, and it’ll make the artists glow with pleasure that someone out there is enjoying their work.

NAOMI MILTHORPE princessnaea@gmail.com

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b i t PA RT S WHO: You! WHAT: Acting For The Fun Of It 2: An Actor Prepares WHEN: Eight-week course commencing Tuesday May 26 WHERE: C Block Theatre, Gorman House Exhibitionist’s favourite theatre critic and teacher, Peter Wilkins, is presenting a new acting course for older thesps, titled An Actor Prepares. Over the eight weeks of the course, aspiring theatricals will learn to create characters, build roles, interpret texts – all the basics of an actor’s craft. Following from the theories and systems of Stanislavski, Brecht, Grotowski, Olivier and Peter Brook, Wilkins will take you through the foundations of acting through to the creation of a performance.

The course costs $210 and runs every Tuesday night at C Block Theatre. For details on how to enrol, call Peter on 0408034373 or email peterwilkins@grapevine.com.au .

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WHO: Hispanic Artistic Expression Company WHAT: The Open Couple by Dario Fo WHEN: May 21 to 23 @ 7.30pm WHERE: The Street Theatre If you want farce, you got it, Española style. Dario Fo may have a Nobel, but more to the point he’s a funny bastard. His delightful play The Open Couple, centreing on a husband and wife who attempt an open marriage, is opening at The Street Theatre in a Spanishlanguage version from the Hispanic Artistic Expression Company, that combines Fo’s witty text with live music by Oscar Jimenez.

Ay Carumba!

WHO: Steph Day and Hilary Thackway WHAT: Elodi Magazine WHEN: Now! WHERE: itrip iskip and Smith’s Alternative Bookshop It ain’t often that Canberra gets its own brand-spankin’ new publication to salivate over, and it’s rare that said publication is the brainchild of two girls whose collective age doesn’t even equal 50.

But here we have it: issue one of Elodi Magazine, designed, written, edited and made by two Can wunderfraus, Stephanie Day and Hilary Thackway. The issue launch was a smorgasbord of hip: held at itrip iskip, attended by youngsters in tight pants and vintage sneakers, soaked in cool. The mag is a celebration of fashion and illustration and costs $25. You can find it at itrip iskip, Smith’s, or you can contact the mag itself at elodimagazine@hotmail.com .

WHO: Anyone with something to say WHAT: BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! WHERE: The Phoenix WHEN: Third Tuesday of every month, 7:30pm SPOKEN WORD! One microphone, two minutes, no props, no music - B!S!N!B! welcomes anyone to the stage. As the MC of ‘The Other’ slam Julian Fleetwood said “I have next to nothing to do with it. Blame someone else if it all goes horribly wrong.” After sacrificing him on the altar of the Mutant God of Spoken Word at the first B!S!N!B! organisers Hadley, Andrew Galan and Michael Ellis moved on to have three winners: Tim Kent, Leon Twardy and Sidra Mahmood. 120 people packed Phoenix, judges drank cheaply, and welcomed 14 performers to do their thing. Free-entry to yell, whisper, rant and rhyme.

WHO: Melbourne Opera WHAT: Verdi’s La Traviata WHERE: Canberra Theatre WHEN: Saturday May 30 @ 7.30pm Verdi’s La Traviata is one of the most captivating operas in history, and thanks to the Melbourne Opera it hits the Can for one night only on Saturday May 30. Says the press release: ‘La Traviata has just completed a successful season at the Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne where The Age called it “a heart-rending and beautiful production”.’ It features over 90 performers accompanied by the 42-piece Melbourne Opera Orchestra. At $49 and $26 a pop for B reserve tix, this is good value opera – and if you’ve forgotten Mother’s Day, perhaps a good thing to take the matter to. Just remember to take tissues.

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“I grew up on a lot of different things,” he tells me, pointing specifically to ‘70s hard rock, seminal ‘90s acts like Soundgarden and metal staples such as Meshuggah and Converge. “It’s hard to pinpoint a modern influence… for me Helm is rock for 2009.”

HELM’S DEEP CHARLIE HOWARD When I get round to calling singer and guitarist Lucas Stone from HELM on a Saturday evening, I find him settled at home, devoted to a quiet night looking after his daughter. The equanimity of this setting lends our chat a smooth and leisurely flow and Lucas is measured and at times even contemplative in his observations about the band he put together in the Gold Coast in 2007.

Being quite new to Helm, the first thing that struck me was the diversity of sounds that the band draws upon. The Helm experience ranges from Neurosis-esque sludge metal to detailed forays into the melodic soft-loud dynamics of classic post-rock. Interestingly, Lucas is quick to play down any direct external imprints on Helm’s music and is reluctant to categorise the band. His approach is more philosophical and he informs me that 18 years of songwriting and close involvement in music, combined with the levelling effects of life changing events, has channelled the Helm project into an expression of the exact stage of development he and the band are at now.

I’m intrigued to learn that Helm’s arrival on the scene follows an entirely natural and inspired course. “I hadn’t written a song for a couple of years,” Lucas tells me. And then all of a sudden a string of personal evolvements saw him “reinspired to get stuck back into it” with the creative impetus to write “an album’s worth of material in three or four months.” As far as this positive energy is concerned, it seems that the other guys in Helm are going through similar changes. “We’re all happy boys,” Lucas assures me.

HELM IS ROCK FOR 2009

The sense of equilibrium found in the band’s attitude towards its music, while sonically at odds with some of the more cathartic moments that the band touches on, is reflected in the focused and accomplished feel of the first release, Keelhaul. It’s an ambitious and frequently dark record that runs a surprising depth of emotions.

And there’s more to come. Helm will be heading back to the studio as soon as August to record a follow up and remain in the public radar.

My experience with bands that channel the same heavy, dense territory as Helm is associated with enormous live shows, rife with both volume and presence. I was thus curious to hear from Lucas his thoughts on Helm’s extensive upcoming national tour. He insists that the band’s priority is to “play hard” and “try and smash it out so everyone gets their dollar’s worth.” I can only imagine it’s a sight well worth seeing.

Helm play The Basement on Friday May 29 with special guests Five Star Prison Cell and Spoil. Contact the venue on (02) 6251 4541 for ticket info.

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METALISE Well knock me down like Ricky Hatton on the end of Manny Pacquiao’s lethal left hand if we don’t have another international tour to announce.

Barely needing any introduction, the band whose music that save all but one of their ten studio albums until 2007 was banned from sale in Australia are touring! Yes brutal brutallisers, Cannibal Corpse have arranged a rendezvous for their hammers and your faces for a right smashing set of shows in Australia and New Zealand. All ages you ask of a band that you were not allowed to buy in a record store in Australia for like 15 years? Hold onto your butchered afterbirth it’s licensed all ages! The Roundhouse in Sydney on September 12 12. Ber-utal.

Of course in the next few weeks many hardy metal fans will inject money into the economy of the McDonalds’, KFCs’ and Hungry Jacks’ of the Hume Highway (Pheasants Nest on the way home for coffee or red bull for the night owls) for either or both of the UK’s Cradle of Filth’s twin nights at The Metro in Sydney, Thursday May 28 and Friday 29, with Sydney’s Synperium and Perth’s Naetu. Tickets through justsayrock.com.au if you’ve not got one yet.

Florida’s absolute deathliest of all death metal monstrosities Morbid Angel are not coming to town, but I’m sure our own local death kings Infinitum won’t mind their Mcstop on the Hume Hwy when they support Trey, Dave and Pete bring Destructhor of Norwegian band Myrkskog alongside Daemon Foetal Harvest. Friday June 5 also at The Metro and get their early to cast the horns skyward for the Canberra lads. Ticketek or Metro Theatre website for tickets.

Alchemist and the bastard child of three states, Captain Cleanoff (Newcastle, Melbourne and Adelaide) who will be relatively fresh from their appearance at Obscene Extreme this European summer are looking to do a local show at The Basement on September 12 and are looking for a local band to support. Got the chops? Got the tunes?

Hit the Alchemist myspace (.com/alchemistau) up with your interest and you’ll be playing alongside two of Australia’s finest bands.

Speaking of The Basement, only a short few weeks ‘til we have the honour of hosting the voice of the only version of The Phantom of the Opera that I’ve ever cared for. The one and only Mr Paul Dianno graces the stage of Belconnen to bring the tunes to life that we didn’t get to hear on his old band’s tour last February as well as some choice cuts of his solo work. Of course Monday isn’t traditionally the most metal night for a thrash, but I can’t wait for the Monday June 1 show and a sore next Tuesday morning at work. Be sure to check BMA resident Iron Maiden expert Scott Adams’ chat with Paul on the next page.

Sanctuary!

JOSH NIXON doomtildeath@hotmail.com NP: Shotgun Boogie – Church of Misery – Houses of the Unholy

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taken over the years. But I don’t know how to do anything else apart from performing music and I’m not about to go home and take up stamp collecting, so my poor body will have to keep taking the torture I guess!”

DIRTY DIANNO SCOTT ADAMS “Whatever he has been taking, please get me a coupla bags of it.

When you next visit him (in the high security mental hospital facility) please ask him if he wants me to send him some pink feathers to go with his new yellow dress.”

PAUL DIANNO is bemused. The above was the answer he gave when I quizzed him about a claim my mate John Monaghan has made for years concerning the great man – something along the lines of the former Maiden vocaliser having been the telephone engineer responsible for fitting the new phones in his house in the early ‘90s.

Despite barely stopping for breath since leaving the Irons in 1982, these odd stories often crop up – another being Dianno’s spell working for petrochemical giants BP. With him being on tour so much, it’s a wonder anyone would wonder what the man’s up to. How does he keep going? How does the body keep together?

“I keep it together with tape and chewing gum!” he enthuses. “I’m not sure myself how it is holding together after the pummeling it’s

Dianno is about to descend on Canberra for a show at that noted venue of legends, The Basement. What should the keen-eared punter expect to hear from the voice behind the first two Maiden albums in the ‘09? “You’ll just have to come to the show to find out!” he responds with gusto. “But of course I’ll be doing some Maiden classics. People can expect to hear stuff like Wrathchild, Prowler, Murders in the Rue Morgue, Phantom of the Opera, Killers, Running Free and Remember Tomorrow.”

Given Dianno likened being in Maiden to being looked after by “Hitler and Mussolini,” how does he like the freedom managing one’s own affairs gives him? “I just want myself in control now; that way I don’t have to ask various arsebags how my career is going or whether they’ve managed to save any money for me. This way I am the boss and I can make appointments to see myself whenever I want…”

I keep it together with tape and chewing gum!

So there you have it. Dianno is one of metal’s true legends, an ironclad trouper of the first order who deserves our love, respect (and a little bit of ticket money) and admiration in equal measure.

Who said no one ever comes to Canberra? Batten down the hatches people, this’ll be a good’un.

Paul Dianno will put on a brutal metal performance of epic proportions on top of an equally brutal signing session at 5.30pm at The Basement in Belconnen on Monday June 1. Tickets through Moshtix.

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cog article PHOTO: NATHAN WEBSTER

COGNITIVE THOUGHT

MINE’S ON THE 45

CATHERINE WOODS

PETER KRBAVAC

The full-bore power and energy that bounds from the stage during a COG live performance is distilled and less ferocious but no less visible in drummer and creative driver of the band, Lucius Borich.

Borich sees life as a cyclical system so it’s no surprise to learn that the music making process, for him, is about writing, rehearsing, performing and recording. Though he makes no promises on a third album, it would be amazing if the sort of determination and desire to succeed didn’t end up quickly transforming into a recorded masterpiece. The writing and recording process is on the horizon for now though, with their mind-blowing performances still waking up the nation. The Between Oceans tour encompasses the entire Sharing Space track list; an album that garnered rave reviews from the music press and fans universally.

Once an omnipresent, err, presence in the Canberra music scene, indie-popsmiths HANCOCK BASEMENT have been laying low of late, punching clocks at Sydney’s esteemed BigJesusBurger studios.

The first taste of the fruits of their labour will be the forthcoming Hey Kids/Don Juan 7” vinyl - yes, a proper record! So, where better to chat with Nick Craven, lead singer and guitarist, than amongst the cramped, dusty rows of crates in an undisclosed record store.

The amount of power that government has over us is a scary joke

Borich is nothing if not extraordinarily disciplined and dedicated to his craft.

Despite the relentless tour schedule, he is adamant that Cog never tires of their own music, nor are they immune to the energy and vitality of their audience. “We like to rehearse,” he admits. “A bloody good song is a good song and you like it. Take Resonate, for example. It still doesn’t sound dull or stagnant to me when we’re performing.”

So what does this ultra-dedicated musician do in his down time? As it turns out, unsurprisingly, Borich spends many hours reading about and researching political and global issues. These topics inevitably feed into the lyrics and philosophy binding the albums together.

Borich laments the “cesspool of incessant corruption” that he feels has swallowed world politics and the corporate world. It is his ultimate aim that people take more personal responsibility for their own actions and beliefs. “The amount of power that government has over us is a scary joke,” he says. “All types of freedoms are being stripped away. It’s a cycle of lies, deceit, lies and deceit. Ultimately, I think people want to be freer and feel safer. It comes back to change within the self and everyone is going to have to do a lot of soul searching so that we can take the power back.”

Though the touring schedule is too chaotic to accommodate family, with “a lot of driving and not much sleep,” Borich spends a good three to four months at home, spending his leisure time jamming with his father, a fellow musician, and surfing. “To step off the land and just reconnect with the environment is amazing. Only a surfer knows the feeling.” Borich describes the act as being “spiritually in the moment.”

But it is not long before he manages to segue back into his love of music and creating. It seems that for him, and for Cog, spiritual fulfilment comes in the form of musical creation and performance.

You can catch Cog, supported by Oceansize (UK) and Calling All Cars, at the Hellenic Club in Woden on Wednesday May 27. Tickets from the venue or visit www.theatlasagency.com

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The afternoon gets off to a bad start when, much to my chagrin, Nick scores a dirt cheap copy of Kraftwerk’s Autobahn. As we scour the racks, he fills me in on the band’s movements since the launch of their debut EP in 2006. “We’ve really been pushing the interstate shows in Sydney and Melbourne. We made the Garage to V final in 2007, but more recently we won triple j Unearthed’s Trackside competition, which got us a fair bit of airplay. Our new single We Started Something’s been getting a bit of a push on triple j too. We’ve also learnt how to play our instruments properly,” he adds, “and have become far better songwriters.”

Indeed, listening I like the interaction to the joyous pop of the vinyl, hoisting explosion Hey Kids, or the darker this massive black Don Juan on the disc onto a turntable. flip, reveals a band It is a real experience brimming with

new musical ideas and a bigger, fuller sound. Part of this can be attributed to their decision to add bass to the mix, after resolutely sticking to the two guitars ‘n’ drums format since their heady formative days in mid-2004. “It’s really beefed up the sound and broadened our musical scope,” Nick says.

Bassman Todd Gregory also provided the feline-themed artwork for their 7”. “Plus he’s a redhead, so that rounds out the band’s hair colour spectrum,” Nick chuckles, holding a dog-eared copy of Eno’s On Land aloft and looking across the aisle quizzically. “Only ten bucks - want it?” As avid fans of the history of popular music, committing their own tracks to wax is the realisation of a long-held dream for Hancock Basement (completed by drummer Tom Spira and multi-instrumentalist Nick Beresford-Wylie). “So many of our favourite bands have released stand-alone 7”s that become part of their history,” Nick says, while inspecting a copy of Buzzcocks classic Singles Going Steady compilation.

Nick’s fixation on those big glossy black circles began early, with Australian kids’ folkie Peter Combe. “My guess,” he ponders, “is that it was mid-late period Combe, - some would say his best era. I liked the interaction of the vinyl, hoisting this massive black disc onto a turntable and playing around with it. It was a real experience.”

Hancock Basement launch their 7” with The Inheritors at Transit Bar on Thursday May 28. Entry is free. Vote for the band in round one of the Uncharted comp - www.uncharted.com.au .

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BLACKBOX The new black in tellyland has got to be the panel quiz show – cheaper than a Millionaire-type quiz where you have to give prizes to the boring contestants and more interactive than straight panel shows. The recipe goes something like this… take two or three regular team leaders who have a knack for comedy, being starstruck and some knowledge of the show’s subject matter, add some guests – a mix of comedians and celebrities who have something to spruik and add a well-loved and funny host and you’ve got a winner. The concept is not new – Good News Week (SCTEN, Mon, 8.30pm) has been around for more than a decade, originally on the ABC, and Spicks and Specks (ABC1, Wed, 8.30pm) and Rockwiz (SBS, Sat, 9.20pm) have both proved must-watch telly for music trivia geeks – but it is spreading. Talkin ‘bout Your Generation (SCTEN, Tue, 7.30pm) just started and SBS’s new sports quiz show The Squiz (SBS, Sat May 23, 8.30pm), hosted by Anh Do, kicks off this weekend.

HAVE HEART PETER KRBAVAC From the very beginning, Boston’s HAVE HEART always asserted the band would have a very limited lifespan. All the same, when they announced their dissolution at the beginning of the month, hardcore fans were left no less stunned at a disappointingly abrupt end for a band who, it was felt, were yet to reach their peak.

The future of Have Heart always seemed to be balanced on a knife edge, and when I spoke to vocalist Pat Flynn in Indianapolis, midway through their US tour with Polar Bear Club last month, he was understandably noncommittal about further plans. “I dunno…,” he considered, when asked about the possibility of a third full length. “I know we’re definitely going to write another EP, it’ll be out in the fall, but as far as another LP…” he trailed off. “We never even expected to write an LP, let alone a second LP.”

India is certainly on the TV producer’s radar. Following the Story of India recently aired on Auntie, comes Jamie’s Journey with the Children of India (Prime, Sat May 23, 4.30pm) featuring pretty boy gardener Jamie Durie, Office Tigers (SBS, Wed May 27, 8pm) – a four-part doco that follows American corporate trainers as they teach young Indian workers in Chennai and Mumbai Calling (ABC1, Tue, 9.35pm), the new Sanjeev Bhaskar comedy about a call centre in In fact, it seems the members (Pat, bassist Ryan Briggs and current India – Richard E. Grant stars in the May 26 ep. guitarists Kei Yasui and Ryan Hudon, and drummer Vincent Conti) If you can’t remember the last time you went to bed sober before never expected much more from Have Heart than a couple of local 3am then you should make sure you set your recorder for Dead Tired Massachusetts shows as a diversion from their other bands of the (SBS, Wed May 27, 8.30pm) which proves that (apparently) lack time. Beginning in 2002 as straight-ahead youth crew band - “kinda of sleep is slowly killing us all… better to burn out than fade away like a Youth of Today covers takes on a whole new meaning. band” - they quickly moved beyond these restricted Ever the speed lover, Top Gear’s Richard Hammond steps away from parameters, before 2006’s the race track (but not too far) for Richard Hammond’s Engineering much-lauded The Things We Connections (SBS, Sat May 30,ww 7.30pm) that looks at Airbus Carry, their debut LP, signalled A380 and Taipei’s 101 Tower among other engineering marvels. their arrival.

Should I Smoke Dope (ABC2, Wed May 27, 9.30pm) takes immersive The follow up, 2008’s Songs to Scream at the Sun, brought another journo Nicky Taylor on a pot-smoking journey where she explores musical departure for the band, mining a slower, heavier vein compared whether cannabis should be re-classified as a class B drug in the UK to the breakneck pace of Things... The album divided opinion, though and treated differently to heroin and cocaine, including taking part ultimately seems to have won over far many more than it may have put in a medical trial to see if pot makes you mad. off. All this is, of course, of no consequence to the group.

Other docos and new shows to look out for over the next three “We’ve been alienating people since we fucking started,” Pat weeks include Lost Worlds: And Man Invented Animals (SBS, laughs. “When we wrote The Things We Carry that really alienated Sun May 24, 7.30pm) tracking the taming of wild animals over the the whole youth crew audience we’d built up. When we wrote our centuries to produce cute kitties and puppies for your home, Lugosi: second record we wanted to play around and let other influences Fallen Vampire (ABC2, Sun May 24, 9.35pm) which tells the story of like Helmet, Far, Deftones through - stuff that we love outside of the the first actor to play Dracula, the legendary Bella Lugosi, Michael traditional hardcore realm. That alienated people too. But whatever; Palin: Around the World in 20 Years, where Palin revisits some of his it’s worked for us, we’ve kept ourselves happy and as far as I know, adventures and the people he met along the way and the return of every tour we do has only gotten bigger and bigger. So we must be Sea Patrol (WIN, Mon May 18, 8.30pm). doing right in terms of people responding.”

And the big news is the return after their post-APEC hiatus of The Described by Pat as “a very short, abridged version of The Prodigal Son. Chaser’s War on Everything (ABC1, Wed May 27, 9pm) – celebrities, About growing up, coming to life,” Songs to Scream at the Sun should politicians, public servants and shoppers beware. They’re on the prove a fitting swansong for Have Heart. They should be proud, bowing streets again. out on top and on their own terms. Not many bands can claim that.

TRACY HEFFERNAN

We’ve been alienating people since we fucking started

tracyheffernan@bigpond.com

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On their final Australian tour, Have Heart will hit the Tuggeranong Youth Centre on Wednesday May 27, supported by Carpathian and locals Vera and I Exist. The show is all ages and tickets are available from Moshtix outlets and www.moshtix.com.au . Songs to Scream at the Sun is out on Bridge Nine via Stomp.

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the word

on albums

album of the week LITTLE BIRDY CONFETTI [UNIVERSAL]I With their third album the band’s intention was to capture earlier sounds from the ‘50s - ‘60s and give them a modern flavour.

This approach comes across strongly in the lead and backing vocal treatment of songs such as Hairdo and Into My Arms. Katy Steele’s high voice is well suited to this style of delivery. Most of the album consists of low key pop-ballads and it rarely takes off into something more lively. The main exceptions are Summarize (which with its “Kiss-Kiss Bang-Bang” lyrics is up there with the band’s best) and the part ballad, part country stomp of opening track Brother. The secret track at the end, an instrumental number with a beautiful blend of keys and cello, will appear if you keep Confetti running for nine minutes. Stay Wild with its poignant tones backed by string arrangements is another great song. Katy’s diction sometimes makes the lyrics hard to understand, but there is no mistaking the emotion invested in this record that runs through every song. The plaintive vibe will pull at the heart strings even if the words aren’t clear. Fans of the band will love this latest effort.

RORY MCCARTNEY

ALIZÉE PSYCHEDELICES [SONY BMG]

SNYPA LEVI THE SOJOURNER [FOREIGN DUB/MGM]

French bubblegum pop anyone?

Don’t run away – this is actually quite good.

I’ve been a fan of Alizée for a while and this is a new direction. Songs like Décollages seem totally out of place but add a great range to her concert performances.

There is plenty of material here to please all tastes; freshness, diversity, experimental quality and an open-minded approach to music. While it misses the sweet fairytale atmosphere and teenage sexiness of Gourmandises and MCE, it really is an achievement. Fun, flirty and French.

New Zealand comes through with some great sounding reggae.

US reggae vocalist Snypa Levi’s first solo offering since settling in New Zealand and collaborating with NZ band Dubwize to record their debut album in 2001 starts a little slow, then continues on to be quite a lively collection of vocal and toasting styles.

Sixteen Rastafarian influenced compositions, of which Rasta... be Militant, Can’t Take, Get Down To It, I Press On and the closing version, Dub Of Athens were the highlights for this reviewer.

Not every track’s a winner, so try before you buy!

CECILIA PATTISON-LEVI

SIMON HOBBS

GOODNIGHT OWL GOODNIGHT OWL [INDEPENDENT]

SUBWAY TO SALLY KREUZFEUER [NUCLEAR BLAST]

The man behind the charming Owl moniker, Eddie Alexander, grew up in Alice Springs, and the central desert’s ancient expanses; sleeping dinosaur lying eternally dormant hills, winding dry riverbeds and striking ghost gums now make up his dreams it seems as he currently resides in Melbourne.

Longing for this country runs deep beneath his pocketful of five comforting gems, as do the delicately delivered themes of love and loss. Each song is a collection of curious images and experiences so heartfelt it’s easy to share in Eddie’s catharsis, and though the undercurrent is often wistfully nostalgic, the delightful arrangements, combining folk, pop and playful electronica in a style similar to The Postal Service’s, are ultimately joyful.

They sank deep into this desert girl’s soul.

German folk metallers STS are back, and, whilst I have little or no idea what they’re on about on this, their 14th album (its all in German), what I do know is they blow up quite a storm musically.

Originally more folk (make that medieval) than metal, the Subways have, over the years, honed and polished their sound considerably so that in 2009 they sound like a less ridiculous version of Rammstein (not difficult to sound less ridiculous then Rammstein I know, but you get my drift) with an occasional penchant for whipping out the sackbuts for a bit of renaissance revelry. This isn’t as unedifying as it might sound, with the title track in particular laying it down in fine style, and if you like an unusual tinge to your sturm und drang you could do worse than check this mutter out.

JULIA WINTERFLOOD

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NAMBUCCO “HERZBLUT” DELIRIA

singled out

WITH D DAVE AVE R RUBY UBY H HOWE OWE

ESKIMO JOE FOREIGN LAND [WARNER] What do you do when you’ve been around for as long as Eskimo Joe? Add some vaguely Eastern influences. Oh dear. But even after the appearance of the band’s explorations, the whole song just devolves into some washed out and dumbed down crossbreed of U2, Kings of Leon and Bon Jovi. Yeesh.

LA ROUX IN FOR THE KILL [POLYDOR/UNIVERSAL] Yeah, okay, it is hopelessly of the moment with those retrocrushed synths and wailing vocals, but let’s face it – this kicks in at all the right places. If there’s any justice in the world, this will be huge.

LOST VALENTINOS MIDNIGHTS [ETCETC/UNIVERSAL] After the sun-soaked desertdisco of Serio, Sydney princes Lost Valentinos take another step into the wilderness. This time they’re camped out in the bush for the night, huddled before a fire with nothing but wild berries to eat. That’s just part one. As the red berries take hold in part two, senses are altered and time is stretched for a thumping spirit quest across the cosmos. Genius.

NATALIE BASSINGTHWAITE 1000 STARS [SONY BMG] Maybe if I was also botox-ed out of my brain I would enjoy this, but as it stands I’m needle free and it just sounds like an even blander version of Delta Goodrem.

the word

on films

WITH MARK RUSSELL

A lot of filmic firsts in this issue. Feature debut for the writer/director of the brilliant Samson and Delilah. The directorial debut for Charlie Kaufman – the greatest screenwriter of modern times.

And the first of what is bound to be a painfully long series of X-Men Origins films. I hope all the X-Men get treated with equal reverence as Wolverine. I always thought Jubilee needed more attention. Sure, she’s got the weakest power but she’s hot. She also had that early nineties Fresh Prince of Bel Air fashion attitude that said “I’m wearing a pink headband and a yellow trenchcoat. So fucking what?” We need to know where this chick came from!

quote of the issue

Tammy (Emily Watson) “I feel ok, mostly...

Fucking might help.”

Synecdoche, New York

SAMSON AND DELILAH

SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK

WOLVERINE

‘I’m giving it five stars as well.’

David Stratton’s words have rung around the box office like so many unpopped corn kernels. The rare occurrence of both At The Movies reviewers giving this film full marks has led to an incredible scramble for tickets. Is it worth it? Every goddamn moment.

Here it is: the directorial debut from the greatest screenwriter of our times, Charlie Kaufman.

He bent our brains with Being John Malkovich, Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; and now he’s offering up the sum of modern human existence in Synecdoche.

Samson and Delilah is a film that will sink you deep into the mire of fear, depression, shock and guilt. But it also presents moments that will soar you into a profound appreciation of life. And all of this is done with barely any dialogue.

It’s a nervous time watching the opening. Kaufman fanboys are all holding their breath to see if the man has any directing chops. It’s a frantic scan to look for weird scene flow, attempts at too much flair or anything that will show up someone trying to walk before they crawl.

Thankfully there’s none of this. As far as the technical aspects go, Synecdoche is beautifully done.

You can’t help but love Wolverine the character. He’s grizzled, doesn’t care about much and he’s got the brawn to back up this indifference. Hugh Jackman filled the pleather suit admirably enough for the earlier X-Men trilogy and he’s stepped in (or at least cashed in) here. The first leg of this film shows enough promise for a popcorn flick. There are booms. There are bangs. A bunch of wild and wonderful characters get into some action sequences. It’s even got the odd bit of dark morality to it.

Somewhere around the middle though, the wobbles set in.

This story of a petrol-sniffing Aboriginal youth and his courtship of a girl from his community has a poignancy you don’t see often from Aussies.

We’ve always done sadness well, especially concerning substance abuse, but Samson and Delilah refuses to resort to sledgehammer tactics to get this kind of power.

Warwick Thornton is an incredible filmmaker. His writing and direction skills are superb, but his directorial flair lies in photography. His expert eye for shot construction is the key to the success of such minimal dialogue. He gently sews the elements together, creating a slow story that never rushes yet still builds inexorable momentum towards a climax that leaves us with plenty of mental marination. The fact that it’s a debut for Thornton and the two sublime stars (Rowan McNamara and Marissa Gibson) makes this film all the more astounding.

I’m jumping wholeheartedly on the bandwagon.

It’s the story of Caden Cotard, his ailing health, failing marriage and drive to explain existence.

Caden’s way of reconciling all of these things is to use a newly gifted ‘genius grant’ to create the most ambitious theatre work ever. It gets out of hand – and slightly surreal – as this work becomes an unending narrative snake, eating its own selfreferential tail.

Kaufman is like a creative pit bull – you’ve gotta keep him leashed or else he’ll run amok and maul something innocent, like our self-perception. Unfortunately he’s left a little too much to his own devices here. As such, this immense and very complex subject matter often becomes lost amongst a wave of hyperbole and kookiness. It is so ambitious and infinite that you can’t help but be a little overwhelmed. It’s still great, and will leave you ruminating pleasantly; it just could’ve been a lot more simply by being a little less.

Amidst the twentieth shirtless Jackman scene you start to realise this is less a film and more an extended preview for other films, merchandising and studios with more money than sense.

Once you’ve adjusted to this level of mediocrity, the wheels suddenly fall off completely.

Suddenly you’re tumbling through nonsensical stories that entirely lack motivation. Now you’re in an absolutely woeful climax where it’s all getting bigger and more extreme. Everything’s blowing up and people are dying everywhere, and we’re starting to envy them.

There are a few fan-pleasing references tacked on but most are a stretch as far as believability goes. On top of it all, they managed to make Gambit – a great character in the cartoon – into an absolute twat. Maybe his spin off film will show him in a better light but as it stands he’s constantly in the way.

Do yourself a favour and walk out halfway through. You won’t have missed any story and you’ll still have seen plenty of explosions and gratuitous pectoral shots.

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the word on dvds

TWILIGHT [SONY]

FROST/NIXON [UNIVERSAL] The behind-the-scenes account of David Frost’s (Michael Sheen) 1977 interviews with Richard Nixon (Frank Langella) is excellent tense drama; a character study of what one man will do to adjust the law with director Ron Howard giving simple moments extreme gravitas. At nearly two hours it doesn’t slow down nor has a dull moment. Langella becomes Nixon without ever being a parody. Sheen is subservient in many ways to Nixon illustrating the young interviewer’s intimidation by this man. Credit goes to screenwriter Peter

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Morgan for telling a story both timely and necessary. This series of interviews set up David Frost for life as a serious interviewer and the talking heads/mocumentary style owes as much to comedy as it does the original texts itself. It’s my favourite film of 2008 due to the relevance it has to today’s political world with another ‘Nixonian’ despot having just left the Whitehouse. Don’t miss it. Extra features include a look at the real stoush and making of as well as interviews with key cast members.

GEOFF SETTY

The ultimate vampire love story is told from the perspective of Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart). On her first day at high school she meets the mysterious Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and instantly becomes infatuated. Edward and his family are vampires who have dedicated their undead life to resisting human blood, substituting it with the blood of animals. Edward is drawn to Bella not just because of her unusual potent scent, but because of the love he feels for her, thereby drawing her into his world and the dangers that

come with it. Director Catherine Hardwicke succeeded in staying true to Stephanie Meyer’s vision by working closely with her in bringing the story to life. Hardwicke uses a similar filming style to that of her film Thirteen (2003), with hand held cameras and natural tones to encapsulate the emotions and feel of the novels. The special effects are not exceptional. The fast-running scenes look more like a cheesy blur. The DVD provides many deleted scenes, behind the scenes, interviews and commentary.

LAUREN HERNANDEZ

the word

Other highlights included a three quarter pace rendition of Sharkfin Blues and the swelling emotional epic cover of Kev Carmody’s River of Tears. It was also pleasant to hear the excellent album Havilah well represented in the set. The band members themselves enjoyed an appreciative Canberra audience, comparing us favourably to the previous evening’s Brisbane crowd, who drummer Mike Noga labelled a “pack of cunts.”

on gigs

A solid performance from a very relaxed but also very good and very generous band. May these nice young men and woman call again soon.

DAVE BUTLER

The Grates / Children Collide / Tom Ugly ANU Bar Wednesday May 6 I was a little concerned the day The Grates were set to play at ANU. I was equally pissed off and pleased when my editor informed me that the gig had sold out the day before. ‘Great!’, I said. And for the trio from Brisbane it is commendable. It’s no easy feat for a band touring off the back of their second album, especially after spending so much time overseas of late. But for the person attending the sold out gig there’s always the promise of the lines for entry, the bar, and the bathroom; which is enough to make your beer stained shoes cringe. Plus you know you’ll have to go up against numerous drunken wankers who decide that even though we’re in a financial crisis their stimulus money is best spent on Patience and co.

PHOTOS BY ANDREW MAYO

The Drones / Witch Hats ANU BAR Thursday April 30 Bringing the requisite share of fatigue and influenza, I fell in line to watch The Drones. First came Witch Hats with a new batch of tunes much better than its first. Thin, snarling guitar, big swampy bass and a singer who was willing to belt it out really helped these Melbourne lads come across. The band’s next Canberra show should be well worth a look if it continues to grow and develop like this.

The Drones arrived a little late and with the kind of onstage entrance that you almost never see from a rock band. No lights, no building drums and guitar crescendo to kick us off. Instead, the band members each kind of rambled up on to the stage and had a bit of a chat to each other and to the crowd. It was clear from the outset that Liddiard and co. were in a pretty laidback mood, which seemed to suit the Thursday night crowd well. No stress, no hassles – just plenty of smiles, a few beers and a great band. When the first licks of Nail it Down wafted down from the stage, there was a roar of approval and we were away.

The show that followed featured a good mix of tunes from the last three albums, with one or two acoustic rarities thrown in. One was the brooding Locust from Wait Long By the River…, with some extra ad-libbed lyrics. The other was the lengthy colonial murder ballad from Gala Mill, Sixteen Straws. This song in particular was worth it just to see the typically unorthodox way that Liddiard plays the acoustic guitar, letting out chopped up arpeggios between lyrics while drummer Mike Noga accompanied on harmonica.

After braving the cold and the line extending past eyesight, I was quite shocked when I got inside because, well, I’d just never seen so few pairs of skinny leg jeans. Fashion snobbery aside, one thing was for sure, everyone there was sharing the same level of anticipation for the headliners of the evening. Debutantes Tom Ugly bore the brunt of the Melbourne Bitter-loving crowd, and while they plodded comfortably enough through their set it’s clear these guys are still finding their feet when it comes to performing live.

Children Collide drew almost as much excitement from the crowd as The Grates themselves and proved with each and every song that you don’t need much more than three eager guys to make catchy songs and a whole lot of noise. If their set wasn’t just before the most beloved threesome of Australian pop-rock, the crowd would have been left sorely disappointed at their departure.

To my knowledge The Grates have never played a bad set, and this show was no different. Miss Patience brought it all; performance, pitch and personality. Alana banged the drums with such determination your feet were forced to move along. And John smiled shyly and thanked the crowd from time to time. Opening the hourlong set with Milk Eyes, Patience showed us the vital difference between the drunk guy in the crowd screaming “Whooooooo” at the top of his lungs, and the girl on stage crooning down a microphone.

She’s getting paid for it, by you, the drunken tone-deaf audience member. Don’t scream until the interval of songs and ruin it for everyone else. It didn’t take the crowd long to get their camaraderie together with even the manliest of attendees being locked in ‘lookinto-my-eyes-and-sing-it-with-me’ poses with their mates, and every skirt on the floor swirling along.

Whether you were covered in sweat at the front, or twisting and tapping at the back, the fun was electric. The highlight of the night came from an encore duet between Patience and Johnny Mackay of Children Collide and also finding out that Canberrans receive an A+ for our spirit fingers. I left the gig with a grin on my face and only one concern left: the state of Patience Hodgkin’s bed and just how trampolined it’s been from all that stage practice.

KATY HALL

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41

GIG GUIDE May 21 - May 24 THURSDAY MAY 21 Arts Soft Sculpture

A wonderful exhibition of art formed by non-traditional materials. Head to softsculpture.com.au for details. national gallery of australia

Every Base Covered

Live

Our Last Enemy

Live

Grettovska Duo

THE BASEMENT

Lucie Thorne

With Linda Andonovska (flute) and Harold Gretton (guitar). Works by Bela Bartok, Astor Piazzolla, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Antonas Ourovzovnov, Philip Houhgton and a world premier by Tusos Stylianov. Adults $20, Consession $15, Students $15, Children under 12 free. Enquiries on 0404 317 988.

An anthology of short plays, written and directed by Sam Floyd. Until May 30. Tix $14/$10. Bookings: 0450 067 322.

WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE

Cotter Heritage Story

Katia Skanavi

QL2 THEATRE, GORMAN HOUSE

Cotter Heritage Story: Containing Pasts, Sustaining Futures: Works inspired by the Cotter. Running until May 27.

CANBERRA GLASSWORKS

Naked

From 10pm.

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Australian debut piano recital tour.

LLEWELLYN HALL

The Galvatrons

A is for Animals Exhibition

The Van Halen style rockers launch new single Cassandra.

AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL

Something Different

The A to Z of animals in warfare. Until July 20.

Spooky Action at a Distance

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Collaborative art installation coinciding with the NGA’s Soft Sculpture exhibition.

Running until July 12.

Thursdays @ Sub Urban

NEW ACTON PRECINCT

SUB URBAN

ARC: The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

Animals in War Memorial

Unveiling of a new plaque, with RSPCA.

1972, PG.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

John Mawurndjul Survey

A major survey exhibition of paintings and etchings by internationally renowned indigenous artists. Runs until May 24.

DRILL HALL GALLERY, ANU

Dance

Ladies night. Buy one cocktail, get another free.

SCULPTURE GARDEN, AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL

Karaoke

Cash prizes, 2 for 1 basic spirits and tap beer. DJ Peter Dorree from 11 with free pool.

TRANSIT BAR

Rowan Marshcroft

Playing a seamless blend of funk, soul and hip-hop.

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

Tables Have Turned

Spinning your favourites from 9pm.

THE DURHAM

Trash Thursdays

$2 drinks until 2am and discounted cocktails. With DJs Adam and Esscue.

Two for one entry with Uni sticker.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

42

Mr. Lincoln THE DURHAM

After Work Jazz From 5 to 8pm.

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Top Shelf

From 10pm to 2am.

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Rev

Canberra’s weekly alternative club night with two levels of DJs playing rock/ indie/dance/punk/pop.

BAR 32, SYDNEY BUILDING, CIVIC

AINSLIE HALL

Hancock Basement

Official 7” launch, come and support the boys.

TRANSIT BAR

The Night Terrors

With supporting band The Boarder Theives (Sydney).

THE PHOENIX BAR

Pop and Lock to House Music

From 10:30pm to 2am.

Direct from France, Adnane “Haryuken” Nemri teaches how to move to house music at DNA. Every Friday, from 7:30-9pm. $15 per class, or $132 for a 10 class card. Call 6247 3150 for more info.

DANCE AND AERIAL STUDIOS

SATURDAY MAY 23 Arts ARC: L’Age D’Or & Simon of the Desert

1930, PG & 1965, PG respectively.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Carry On Karaoke PJ O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

Day Play

Karaoke With Grant

Gorman House Markets

PJ O’REILLY’S, TUGGERANONG

The Melbourne singer/songwriter comes to launch new album Black Across the Fields, considered to be a fine example of Miss Thorne’s intricate guitar work, spacious gritty rock and dark folk. Tickets $20/$15 at the door.

Something Different

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

GORMAN HOUSE

Burley Griffin Antique Centre

Heuristic

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Point of View Album Launch

With supports Escape Syndrome and Easy Mode. $10.

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Bosom Buddies Breast Cancer Support Group

A musical fundraiser for the Bosom Buddies Breast Cancer Support Group.

Local acoustic band No Idea will be hosting the event to raise money for the special cause. Bosom Buddies Inc. is an ACT based volunteer organisation that actively supports individuals living with breast cancer, and assists their families, friends and other supporters. Entry $5 or by donation.

POT BELLY BAR

Na Maza

Na Maza with supports Friend or Enemy, Tortured and Organised Human Sound.$10 on the door.

THE BASEMENT

KINGSTON FORESHORE

Saturdays @ Sub Urban

Dance

Dance

SUB URBAN

Fridays @ Sub Urban

Raven DJs

Flamenco guitars, electronica, percussion, trumpet and dance. $15.

FRIDAY MAY 22

Mingle

Univibes presents The Mingle Mash Up, with music crossing the spectrum of dubstep, house & jazz fusion, prog, electro and techno featuring DJs Ric Robs, ShleyZ & Jonty (live), Reverse Dog, Chrisye, Tim Heaney and Yohan Strauss. Free entry.

With Switchblade and Art of Deception.

With live DJs and live music from 9pm.

SUB URBAN

LLIK LLIK LLIK

Featuring Craig McWhinney (Melbourne - Haul Music), free entry.

TRANSIT BAR

Downtown Brown

Playing a seamless blend of funk, soul and hip-hop.

Jump on board with $8 cocktails, 6-10pm. Raven DJs plays at 10pm.

HIPPO LOUNGE

Frankie Madrid Madness

Playing a seamless blend of funk, soul and hip-hop.

SUNDAY MAY 24

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

Arts

Onelove Sound Machine Tour

ARC: Nazarin

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

Live

Candy Cube

Woden Youth Centre Bash

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

WODEN YOUTH CENTRE

Tijuana Cartel

THE DURHAM

Minx rolls out to support the release of the 3-disc Sound Machine 2009 CD.

With Retraspec, Tell Me Bluntly, Fallsuit Theory and West of the Sun. $7.

With live music from 9pm.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

1958, 18+.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

DJs Peter Dorree and Matt Chavasse.

Dance

Shakedown!

Cube Sunday

BAR 32, SYDNEY BUILDING, CIVIC

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

Indie/alt/dance action. Free before 10pm.

Party on after the weekend is over with DJ TJ. Free pool.

GIG GUIDE May 24 - May 29 Live

Live

Sunday Sessions @ Sub Urban

Luke Sweeting

SUB URBAN

Chuse Jazz Tuesdays

Happy Hour and Live Music from 4pm.

Sunday Sessions

Enjoy a good relax with Charles.

ALL BAR NUN

Milonga, Tango social dance

Celebrating the imminent Argentina’s National Day, Parlour Wine Room will host a monthly Sunday celebration of all things Argentinean. Come join Canberra’s lovers of Tango music and dancing. For bookings call (02) 6162 3656.

PARLOUR WINE ROOM

TRINITY BAR

(TRINITY) BAR, DICKSON

Something Different Carry on Karaoke

Hospitality Night

Featuring Univibes DJs. TRANSIT BAR

Bootleg Sessions

THE PHOENIX, EAST ROW, CIVIC

Something Different Meat Raffle Mondays

Buy a drink, score a raffle ticket, grab a meal and receive 5 tickets.

THE DURHAM

8th Annual Australian Air Guitar Championship

The search is on to find the greatest guitarist that never played. This is the first qualifying heat and Grand Final is June 13. Phone 6288 5088 or head to www.airguitaraustralia.com to register.

CANBERRA IRISH CLUB

TUESDAY MAY 26

Andy Mac, Meet the Artist

A documentation on Melbourne graffiti/ street culture by Andy Mac. $55 per head for a three course meal plus glass of wine. Book on (02) 6162 4588.

Music by The Dave Rodriguez trio.

DE JOUR RESTAURANT

Dance Fridays @ Sub Urban

Carry-on Karaoke

TRANSIT BAR

THE DURHAM

Fame Trivia

Playing a seemless blend of funk, soul and hip-hop.

Karaoke Night

Nik Fish Black Tour

Trivia Night

HOLY GRAIL, KINGSTON

WEDNESDAY MAY 27

king o’malley’s

Every Wednesday, from 9:30pm.

PJ O’REILLY’S, CIVIC HOLY GRAIL KINGSTON

Dance The Presets

Video Hits, Nova and MySpace present the last Australian headline tour for the enigmatic electro duo for 2009.

Supported by Van She, tickets from www.ticketek.com.au .

AIS ARENA

$5 Night

TRANSIT BAR

Live Cog

THURSDAY MAY 28

Wednesday Lunchtime Live

That’s right! The kind of music you like for a bargain price of only $2 entry.

WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE

Rhys Crimmin THE PHOENIX BAR

Jemist

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

With Enerv8, Nasty and Nomad.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Live

THE PHOENIX BAR

1953, 18+.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Live at the Phoenix.

Helm

With supports Five Star Prison Cell, and Spoil.

THE BASEMENT

ARC: Land Without Bread

Heuristic

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

THE DURHAM

1933, 18+.

Dance

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

P.J O’REILLY’S, TUGGERANONG

But my sneakers are red?

ARC: Illusion Travels By Streetcar

Live Entertainment

Live entertainment; does exactly what it says on the tin.

Purple Sneakers DJs

The Barons of Tang

Rather Large

HELLENIC CLUB

SUB URBAN

Arts

On the Between Oceans tour with supports Oceansize and Calling All Cars. Tix $30 + bf from venue 6281 0899 or through theatlasagency.com .

Doors 7:30pm.

Live at The Phoenix.

Arts

SCULPTURE GARDEN, AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL

Pot Belly Trivia

$5 pizza and pint deals, oh yes! How much fun can you have for a five-er?

LIVE

At the scupture garden.

From 7:30-10:30pm

THE DURHAM

Dance

Sandakan Rememberance Ceremony

With live DJs and live music from 9pm.

Fame Trivia

$10 Schnitzel Sunday

MONDAY MAY 25

HIPPO LOUNGE

Arts

Mundine squares off against Geale, and you can see it live at Kingo’s. Undercard from 7pm.

PHOENIX BAR, CIVIC

POT BELLY BAR, BELCONNEN

AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL

Live from the USA, entry $7.

Trivia Night

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

50th Birthday, Hall of Memory

Madeline Hawke Trio

IBO Middleweight Championship Screening

THE DURHAM, KINGSTON

Something Different

TUGGERANONG YOUTH CENTRE

Something Different

Irish Jam Session From 5pm.

Resist present Have Heart with special guest Carpathian. Tickets from Moshtix outlets and www.moshtix.com.au .

Entertain yourself or be entertained by others. Either way you totally win.

TRANSIT BAR

FRIDAY MAY 29

Have Heart

Featuring B-Tham and Smish.

TRANSIT BAR

Rowan Marshcroft

Playing a seemless blend of funk, soul and hip-hop.

Trash Thursdays

Canberra’s prominent folk/blues covers.

After Work Jazz From 5 to 8pm.

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

The Cool

From 10pm to 2am.

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Rev

Canberra’s weekly alternative club night with two levels of DJs playing rock/ indie/dance/punk/pop.

BAR 32, SYDNEY BUILDING, CIVIC

With DJs Adam and Esscue. $2 drinks til 2am.

Something Different

Live

A 3 day preview of Jon Cattapan’s commission as an Official Artist to East Timor.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Potential Falcon

Potential Falcon are Simon Connolly, Joe Foley, Donovan Martin, Huw Murdoch and Hugo Temby.

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Charles Chaitan From 10pm.

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Dos Locos

Retro/disco, Latin/Salsa, pop, rock.

THE DURHAM

Jon Cattapan Preview

australian war memorial

Sausage Sizzle for Cystic Fibrosis

As part of 65 Roses Day, enjoy a sausage sizzle and music from stalwart DJ Anjay from 11:30pm.

L. J. HOOKER, BELCONNEN

May ‘Girls Own’ Poetry Slam

A special slam just for the ladies (well, men are allowed too).

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFE

Something Different Thursdays @ Sub Urban

SATURDAY MAY 30

Ladies night. Buy one cocktail, get another free.

Arts

Karaoke

1929, 18+.

SUB URBAN

Cash prizes, 2 for 1 basic spirits and tap beer. DJ Peter Dorree from 11 with free pool.

ARC: Un Chien Andalou ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Carry On Karaoke

ARC: Criminal Life of Archibaldo De La Cruz

Karaoke With Grant

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

PJ O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

PJ O’REILLY’S, TUGGERANONG

1955, 18+.

Melbourne Opera’s La Traviata Accompanied by a 40 voice Canberra Opera Chorus.

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

43

GIG GUIDE May 30 - June 04 A Capsis Experience

A Capsis Experience by Paul Capsis.

Book at www.thestreet.org.au (02) 6247 1223.

THE STREET THEATRE

Day Play Gorman House Markets GORMAN HOUSE

Burley Griffin Antique Centre

Bonjah

Debut album release Until Dawn national tour with supports Wagons.

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Saturdays @ Sub Urban With live music from 9pm.

SUB URBAN

The Cool

From 10pm.

THE DURHAM

KINGSTON FORESHORE

Dance Exposed + Friends

Come help us celebrate our 2nd birthday.

TRANSIT BAR

D’Opus

Spinning a selection of underground and upfront hip-hop ‘n’ funk.

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

SUNDAY MAY 31

Dance Hospitality Mondays

Get your work mates together after a massive weekend and come to Mooseheads where your hospitality moosecard gives you the best deals in town. It’s your very own staffies party.

With DJ Rawson playing the music you need for a Monday night.$3 for any mixed drink or RTD. $5 special cocktails. $6 Red Bull and Vodka.

MOOSEHEADS PUB

Arts

Live

ARC: Viridiana

Paul Dianno

1961, M.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Dance

Hardline Media proudly present for the first time ever in Australia the original voice of Iron Maiden. The Beast Downunder Tour with special guests.

Performing all the Maiden classics and songs from his solo projects. With supporting bands Darker Half and Sword Toward Self. Tickets from www. moshtix.com.au .

Housexy Tour

Cube Sunday

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

THE BASEMENT

Candy Cube

Live

THE PHOENIX, EAST ROW, CIVIC

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

Sunday Sessions @ Sub Urban

Mobin Master, Ashley Feraude and Rexy.

DJs Peter Dorree and Matt Chavasse.

Shakedown!

Indie/alt/dance action. Free before 10pm.

Party on after the weekend is over with DJ TJ. Free pool.

SUB URBAN

Sunday Sessions

Live

ALL BAR NUN

Real music, real people, real good times.

BEDFORD, HUNTER VALLEY

Oscar

From 10:30pm to 2am.

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Los Chavos

Live at The Phoenix.

THE PHOENIX BAR

The Wedded Bliss

CD launch, The Swingin’ Arms Hotel.

WHITE EAGLE POLISH CLUB

Celebrating 15 Years...

Gala concert by current Wesley Music Scholars including Bronwyn Douglass and Rebecca Collins (sopranos), Ellen Malone (mezzo-soprano), Timothy Knight (tenor), Joshua Bruke (bass), Linda Priebbenow (violin), Jack Hobbs (cello), Alexander Ross (trumpet), Philippa Clark (oboe) and Marko Sever (piano). Adults $10, students $5, children free. Tickets at the door.

Enquiries on (02) 6232 7248.

WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE

Spend your hard-earned Sunday with Dos Locos.

Irish Jam Session From 5pm.

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Something Different

Jumptown Swing: Blues & Swing in the City

Learn to dance with Jumptown Swing.

Class at 5pm, DJs from 6pm.

MONKEY BAR

MONDAY JUNE 01

Something Different Carry-on Karaoke

Every Wednesday, from 9:30pm.

THE DURHAM

Fame Trivia

PJ O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

Karaoke Night

HOLY GRAIL KINGSTON

THURSDAY JUNE 04 Arts ARC: The Milky Way 1969, M.

Live

(TRINITY) BAR, DICKSON

Something Different Meat Raffle Mondays

Buy a drink, score a raffle ticket, grab a meal and receive 5 tickets.

Bomber Command Ceremony SCULPTURE GARDEN, AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL

M16 ARTSPACE

Chuse Jazz Tuesdays

Every Tuesday, from 7:30pm.

Wreathlaying by Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce.

Radar

A new exhibition, featuring the works of Graham Eadie, Suzanne Moss, Gazsmith, Frank Thirion and Elefteria Vlavianos. To be opened by Peter Haynes, Director of ACT Museum and Galleries on Wed Jun 3 from 6pm.

Gallery hours Wed-Sun 12-5pm.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

$10 Schnitzel Sunday THE DURHAM

Arts

LIVE

THE DURHAM

Fame Trivia THE DURHAM

Trivia Night

Got knowledge?

THE PHOENIX BAR

Fame Trivia

From 7:30-10:30pm.

THE DURHAM, KINGSTON

Delta & Mojo (NY)

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Dos Locos From 10pm.

king o’malleys, civic

Something Different Thursdays @ Sub Urban

Ladies night. Buy one cocktail, get another free.

SUB URBAN

8th Annual Australian Air Guitar Championship

The second qualifying final to see who is the heir of air. Grand final June 13.

Pot Belly Trivia

CANBERRA IRISH CLUB

Carry-On Karaoke Trivia Night

Cash prizes, 2 for 1 basic spirits and tap beer. DJ Peter Dorree from 11 with free pool.

Carry On Karaoke

POT BELLY BAR, BELCONNEN TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC

Karaoke

Arts

PJ O’REILLY’S, TUGGERANONG

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

Trivia Night

A Capsis Experience

HOLY GRAIL, KINGSTON

PJ O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

A Capsis Experience by Paul Capsis.

Book at www.thestreet.org.au (02) 6247 1223.

THE STREET THEATRE

44

TUESDAY JUNE 02

Happy Hour and Live Music from 4pm.

BAR 32, SYDNEY BUILDING, CIVIC

The Gum Ball Festival

Bootleg Sessions

WEDNESDAY JUNE 03

Karaoke With Grant

PJ O’REILLY’S, TUGGERANONG

GIG GUIDE June 05 - June 10 FRIDAY JUNE 05 ARTS

DAY PLAY

DANCE

Gorman House Markets

Warehouse

GORMAN HOUSE

Vanity Fair Portraits 1913-2008 This is the first exhibition to bring together rare vintage prints with comtemporary classics from Vanity Fair and the legendary Conde Nast Archive.

The National Portrait Gallery is the sole venue in Australia to host this travelling exhibition.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Burley Griffin Antique Centre KINGSTON FORESHORE

DANCE Numbers Radio

All the way from sunny Melbourne... sure to be a great night out.

TRANSIT BAR

Chrome

DANCE Fridays @ Sub Urban

With live DJs and live music from 9pm.

SUB URBAN

Alongside your usual batch of Chrome DJs will be DJ Virulent of Crystalline Effect and Plague Sequence. This is a show you have to catch! Entry $6.

HOLY GRAIL, CIVIC

Ashley Feraude

Girl Thing

With DJ Tori Mac. Ladies only from 9pm ‘til 1am, men welcome after that.

Free entry until 11pm plus discounted selected drinks.

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

Pang! DJ Comp Final

14 DJs battle it out for glory, and a slot on the Warehouse line-up. $15.

LOT 33

Canberra’s favourite son rips Academy a new one, with supports Rexy and Tim Galvin, plus Frank Madrid playing the Candy Bar. ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

AIS ARENA

Cube Sunday

Party on after the weekend is over with DJ TJ. Free pool.

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

LIVE Sunday Sessions @ Sub Urban

Happy Hour and Live Music from 4pm.

Candy Cube

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

THE DURHAM

DJs Peter Dorree and Matt Chavasse.

Special K

Shakedown!

Irish Jam Session From 5pm

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

BAR 32, SYDNEY BUILDING, CIVIC

Special K

Special K joins us from Melbourne.

THE DURHAM

After Work Jazz KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Rev

Canberra’s weekly alternative club night with two levels of DJs playing rock/ indie/dance/punk/pop.

BAR 32, SYDNEY BUILDING, CIVIC

From 7:30-10:30pm.

THE DURHAM, KINGSTON

Pot Belly Trivia

POT BELLY BAR, BELCONNEN

Carry-On Karaoke

TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC

Trivia Night

PJ O’REILLY’S, TUGGERANONG

Trivia Night

WEDNESDAY JUNE 10 ARTS Signs of Life

By Gina Watt.

M16 ARTSPACE

LIVE

Live at The Phoenix.

Evermore

MOOSEHEADS PUB

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

Saturdays @ Sub Urban

LIVE

Carry-on Karaoke

SUB URBAN

Bootleg Sessions

THE DURHAM

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Special K

From 10:30pm to 2am.

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

THE PHOENIX, EAST ROW, CIVIC

$8 cocktails 6-10pm.

TUESDAY JUNE 09

THE DURHAM

Truth of the World: Welcome to the Show, national tour. With support bands End of Fashion and The Sundance Kids.

Tickets through Ticketmaster.

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Every Wednesday, from 9:30pm.

Jumptown Swing

Learn to swing dance. No partner required! Classes $12/$10 conc.

WHITE EAGLE POLISH CLUB

LIVE

Fame Trivia

ARTS

Chuse Jazz Tuesdays

Karaoke Night

ARC: That Obscure Object of Desire

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

TUGGERANONG YOUTH CENTRE

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Fame Trivia

THE PHOENIX BAR

Heuristic

1953, 18+.

PHOENIX BAR, CIVIC

Get your work mates together after a massive weekend and come to Mooseheads where your hospitality moosecard gives you the best deals in town. It’s your very own staffies party.

With DJ Rawson playing the music you need for a Monday night.

Rap Battle

ARC: Wuthering Heights

Trivia Night

Hospitality Mondays

With live music from 9pm.

ARTS

HARMONIE GERMAN CLUB

THE PHOENIX BAR

SOMETHING DIFFERENT If you think you can spit mad game, pimp limp your way down. Free entry, 6:30pm start.

Learn to swing dance. No partner required! Classes $12/$10 conc.

Roland K. and the Sinners

Flying Colours Five Tour with special guests Pez, featuring 360 DJ Matik, Diafrix.Tickets from Ticketec and Oztix.

From 10pm to 2am.

Jumptown Swing

Lauchlan Coventry & The Princesses

Bliss n Eso

Curious Fate

THE DURHAM

DANCE

Live at The Phoenix.

From 5 to 8pm.

SATURDAY JUNE 06

MONDAY JUNE 08

LIVE

Buy a drink, score a raffle ticket, grab a meal and receive 5 tickets.

HOLY GRAIL, KINGSTON

SUB URBAN

Indie/alt/dance action. Free before 10pm.

LIVE

Canberra’s own dance festival returns for its sophomore year, this time exhibiting the awesome might of Armand Van Helden, Nasa, James Zabiela, Laidback Luke, John Fleming, Dirty South, London Elektricity, Kissy Sell Out, Riva Starr, Guns & Bombs, Justin Martin, Nick Catchdubs, Art vs Science, The Aston Shuffle, Stafford Brothers, Timmy Trumpet, Frank Stafford and Beni. Tix $87.40 from Ticketek and Landspeed Records.

Meat Raffle Mondays

SUNDAY JUNE 07

1977, M.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

(TRINITY) BAR, DICKSON

PJ O’REILLY’S, CIVIC HOLY GRAIL KINGSTON

$10 Schnitzel Sunday THE DURHAM

HILLTOP HOODS, THE DEVOTED FEW, WOLF AND CUB, HELL CITY GLAMOURS, OUT JUNE LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO …AND MORE 11

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FIRST CONTACT Aaron Peacey Aaron 0410 381 306 Adam Hole Adam 0421 023 226 Afternoon Shift Adam 0402 055 314 After Close Scotty 0412 742 682, afterclose@hotmail.com Alcove Mark 0410 112 522 Alice 0423 100 792 Allies ACT (Oxfam Group) alliesact@hotmail.com/ myspace.com/alliesact Amphibian Sound PA Clare 0410 308 288 Amplif5’d Classic rock covers band Joy 0407 200 428, joybarac-heath@hotmail.com Annie & the Armadillos Annette 6161 1078/0422 076 313 The Ashburys Dan Craddock 0419 626 903 Aria Stone, sax & flute, singer/ songwriter (guitar) Aria 0411 803 343 Australian Songwriters Association (Keiran Roberts) 6231 0433 Arythmia: Ben 0423 408 767/ arythmiamusic@gmail.com Backbeat Drivers Steve 0422 733 974, www.backbeatdrivers.com Big Boss Groove Andrew 0404 455 834, www.bigbossgroove.com.au Birds Love Fighting Gangbusters/DIY shows - bookings@birdslovefighting.com Black Label Photography Kingsley 0438 351 007 Blister Bug Stu 0408 617 791 Bridge Between, The Rachel 0412 598 138, thebridgebetween.com.au Bruce Stage mgr/consultant 6254 9857 Catchpenny Nathan 0402 845 132 Caution Horses Nigel 0417 211 580 Chris Harland Blues Band 0418 490 640 chrisharlandbluesband@yahoo.com.au Clear Vision Films rehearsals/film clips/stunts - 0438 647 281 wcoulton.clearvisionfilms.com Cole Bennetts Photography 0415 087 833/colebennetts@gmail.com Colourful Racing Identities Josh 0410 135 605 Cris Clucas Cris 6262 5652 Crooked Dave 0421 508 467 Danny V Danny 6238 1673/0413 502 428 D’Opus & Roshambo hifidelitystyles@yahoo.com DJs Madrid and Gordon 0417 433 971 DJ Latino Rogelio 0401 274 208 DJ Moises (RnB/Latin) 0402 497 835 or moises_lopez@hotmail DNA Vic 0408 477 020 Drumassault Kate 0414 236 323 Easy Mode Daz 0404 156 482, easymodeband@gmail.com Entity Chris 0412 027 894 Epic Flagon band@epicflagon.com Fighting Mongooses, The Adam 0402 055 314 Final Warning Brendan 0422 809 552 Fire on the Hill Aaron 0410 381 306/ Dan 0410 480 321 4dead Peter 0401 006 551 Freeloaders, The Steve 0412 653 597 Friend or Enemy 6238 0083, www.myspace.com/friendorenemy Funk Shui Dave 0407 974 476 Gareth Hailey DJ & Electronica 0414 215 885 GiLF Kelly 0410 588 747, gilf.mail@gmail.com HalfPast Chris 0412 115 594 Hancock Basement Tom 6257 5375, hancockbasement@hotmail.com Happy Hour Wendy 0406 375 096 Haunted Attics band@hauntedatticsmusic.com Hitherto Paul 0408 425 636 Infra Retina Kyle 0437 137 775/Michael 0425 890 023/www.infra-retina.com In The Flesh Scott 0410 475 703

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Inside the Exterior Nathan 0401 072 650 Itchy Triggers Andrew 0401 588 884 Jacqui Seczawa 0428 428 722 JDY Clothing 0405 648 288/ www.jdyclothing.com Jenn Pacor singer/songwriter avail. for originals & covers, 0405 618 630 Jim Boots 0417 211 580 Johnny Roadkill Paulie 0408 287 672, paulie_mcmillan@live.com.au Karismakatz DJ Gosper 0411 065 189/ dj@karismakatz.com Kayo Marbilus myspace.com/kayomarbilus Kurt’s Metalworx (PA) 0417 025 792 Little Smoke Sam 0411 112 075 Los Chavos Andy 0401 572 150 los.chavos@yahoo.com.au Manilla Green Herms 0404 848 462, contactus@manillagreen.com, Mario Brujo Gordon world/latin/ reggae/percussionist and DJ. 0405 820 895 Martin Bailey Audio Engineer 0423 566 093 Mercury Switch Lab Studios mercuryswitch@internode.on.net Missing Zero Hadrian Brand 0424 721 907 hadrian.brand@live.com.au Moots aspwinch@grapevine.com.au Huck 0419 630 721 MuShu Jack 0414 292 567, mushu_band@hotmail.com MyOnus myonusmusic@hotmail.com/ www.myspace.com/myonus No Retreat Simon 0411 155 680 Ocean Moses Nigel 0417 211 580 OneWayFare Chris 0418 496 448 Painted Hearts, The Peter 6248 6027 Phathom Chris 0422 888 700 The Pigs The Colonel 0422 412 752 Polka Pigs Ian 6231 5974 Premier Audio Simon 0412 331 876, premier_audio@hotmail.com Redletter Ben 0421 414 472 Redsun Rehearsal Studio Ralph 0404 178 996/6162 1527 Rhythm Party, The Ross 0416 010 680 Roger Bone Band Andy 0413 483 758 Rob Mac Project, The Melinda 0400 405 537 Rug, The Jol 0417 273 041 Samsara Samahdi 0431 083 776 Sansutra J-Ma 0403 476 350 Simone Penkethman (Simone & The Soothsayers, Singing Teacher) 6230 4828 Soundcity Rehearsal Studio Andrew 0401 588 884 Solid Gold Peter 0421 131 887/ solid.gold@live.com.au Super Best Friends Matt 0438 228 748 Surrender Jordan 0439 907 853 Switch 3 Mick 0410 698 479 System Addict Jamie 0418 398 556 Taboo Bamboo Greg 0439 990 455 The Morning After (covers band) Anthony 0402 500 843/ myspace.com/themorningaftercovers Tiger Bones & The Ferabul-Zers Danny feralbul@aapt.net.au Tim James Lucia 6282 3740, LUCIAMURDOCH@hotmail.com Top Shelf Colin 0408 631 514 Transmission Nowhere Emilie 0421 953 519/myspace.com/ transmissionnowhere Udo 0412 086 158 Undersided, The Baz 0408 468 041 Using Three Words Dan 0416 123 020, usingthreewords@hotmail.com Voodoo Doll Mark 0428 650 549 William Blakely Will 0414 910 014 Zero Degrees and Falling Louis 0423 918 793 Zwish 0411 022 907

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