BMA Mag 315 26 Nov 2008

THREE15 November 27.08

SPARKING AN EXPLOSION OF ROCK AT THE FALLS FESTIVAL

ALSO INSIDE: MOWGLI, THE BAMBOOS, PRINCESS PISSY PANTS AND A SWAGGER LOAD MORE!

bma magazine

bma magazine

bma magazine

bma magazine

FREE STUFF Confucius Says...

Kid Confucius has been tearing up the mainstream since 2001 with their mix of soul, rock, and pop music. Their last album Stripes strove to bring back motown soul and succeeded wildly. Their latest release, The Let Go, has also been greeted with open arms. This reinvention of the band brings them no farther from soul, but indefi nitely closer to mainstream rock. The fi rst single from the album, Good Luck, became the most added alternative track to Australian radio during the last week of August and is heralded as a new beginning for the band. Their new sound has been described as 'garage soul' and sees a fusion of boisterous guitars, roomy drums, distorted horns and overdriven and ballsy vocals.

They are currently touring in support of their new album and will be playing the Transit Bar on December 6. We have three copies of their new album to give away if you can answer one simple question. What record label are these guys currently signed with?

Next Exit From Hopscotch Entertainment, we have a DVD collection consisting of the movies Bad Lieutenant and Last Exit to Brooklyn. Bad Lieutenant follows a police offi cer who seems to have lost all morality, with the only thing differing him from the criminals being his thirst for justice. His only real show of compassion emerges when he comes into contact with a nun who has been raped and yet has forgiven her attackers. His focus then goes to the seeking of vengeance. Last Exit to Brooklyn, based on the novel by Hubert Selby Jr, is a dark, brutal and

gritty feature focusing on several residents of 1950s Brooklyn as they struggle to survive amid social turmoil, desperation and poverty. Released on November 6, we have two packs to give away, thanks to Hopscotch Entertainment, who have also recently put out Mongol (November 20) and Sukiyaki Western Django (October). To gobble up one of these bad boys, tell us, in the movie Bad Lieutenant, who plays the part of the raped nun?

Fugitive Pieces Opening recently at Dendy Canberra Centre, Fugitive Pieces tells the story of Jacok Beer, a man whose life is transformed by his childhood experiences during WWII.

The moving production follows Jakob from when his parents are killed by Nazi soldiers in 1942, to his smuggling out of Poland to Greece, his emigration to Canada, and the lessons he learns as he fi nally begins to live in the moment and to accept love when it is offered to him. The fi lm is based on the beloved and bestselling novel by Canadian poet Anne Michael and was directed

by Jeremy Podeswa, known also for his work on Six Feet Under.

Recently winning the Most Popular Film award at the Sydney International Film Festival, Fugitive Pieces is a truly moving story with sensuous grace. We have six double passes to give away, so to nab one, simply tell us whether you’d rather live in Poland, Greece or Canada.

Suck in that gut!

With two hit singles drawing the attention of dance-lovers to the talented and beer-guzzling (we can only assume) ways of The Potbelleez, the arrival of their debut self-titled album is sure to cause nothing short of trafficstopping celebrations throughout the streets of our land.

bma magazine 6

Their burgeoning track, Don’t Hold Back combines Dave & Jonny’s punchy electro-laced beats, guitar-licked sonics and Ilan’s captivating vocals. It spent an incredible 17 weeks at No.1 in the ARIA dance charts and 29 weeks in the ARIA Top 40 singles chart. The single also went platinum, selling over 100,000 units – gaining them three ARIA nominations for 2008, in the categories of ‘Highest Selling Single’, ‘Breakthrough Artist – Single’ and ‘Best Dance Release’. Seriously, how could you not want a copy of this album?

Unless you’re some kind of crazed foosball player with a bad haircut, tell us when the Potbelleez last played in Canberra, and we’ll do our best to send to you via carrierpigeon one of the fi ve copies of their album which we currently have hanging up in the BMA vegie-patch as crow-scarers.

done anything but gotten tamer.

The fi lm includes footage from two of their 2006 performances, as well as some from earlier in the band’s career. Jack White, Buddy Guy and Christina Aguilera also make appearances, alongside the boys. If you’d like to get a hold of one of fi ve copies ofShine a Light, tell us, in what year was the album Let It Bleed released?

Ridgy Didge It’s seems that it’s almost time again to wrap up ’08 and bring in ’09, and we here at BMA have found no better way to bring in the New Year than with a trip up to Peats Ridge for Australia’s fi rst ever major event completely run on renewable energy. The Peats Ridge Festival kicks off on December 29 and keeps on rolling through to January 1. To keep you all entertained, there will be an endless line up of acts including Kid Confucius, The Devoted Few, Filastine, Salmonella Dub, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, Jon Cleary, The Temper Trap, Mamadou Diabete, Hermitude, Bluejuice, The Temper Trap and many more.

Everybody Must Get Stoned When you’re told to come up with the name of an English rock band, I’m sure most of you would have something to say about The Stones. One of the world’s longest running rock bands, The Rolling Stones recently had a documentary made about them, Shine a Light, by Oscar award winning director Martin Scorsese.

While some of you may view Mick Jagger and Keith Richards as older than the dinosaurs, the performance of the band has

KID CONFUCIUS If you think you could possibly lose interest in the music, there will also be a banquet of markets, stalls, a children’s festival and many other amusements. The third and fi nal release of tickets is on sale right now, but if that sounds like too much troube, we have two double passes to give away. To get your hands on them you just have to answer one question. What was the major award given to the event by the NSW Government?

STRUTH BE TOLD SOME HIGH AND LOW POINTS IN MUSIC HIGH: Gary Numan – Cars (1979) 0:07 - Seconds of tension building laser noise is broken with a trifecta of snare hits as synth meets kit to create the original electro blueprint.

Guns & Roses – November Rain (1992) 7:09 - After being seriously musically ‘backed up’ we are given some sweet relief as Slash does exactly that, hanging one of the most deceptively emotive solos of all time.

Beck – Where It’s At (1996) 1:22 - Spazzed out robo-Beck sings “two turntables and a microphone” through vocoder over ultra-hip break beat. Total BS! (Before Scientology).

Powderfi nger –Belter (2001) 0:22 - The thunderous E-chord entry is best experienced in the opening of Oz fi lmTwo Hands.

Lenny Kravitz – Are You Gonna Go My Way (1993) 2:10 - Flange sandwich anyone? Stadium-sized breakdown for this overblown blasterpiece.

Radiohead – Just (1995) 2:25 - Johnny Greenwood drives an electric bus through a plate glass window with this bone-splinteringly original distortion fl utter.

Jimi Hendrix – Crosstown Traffi c(1968) 0:30 - One of the best uses of piano in a rock song. Industrial-grade sustain helps mask some dealergrade lyrics.

Madonna – Like a Prayer (1989) 0:01 - Madonna sings “life is a mystery” over ambient gospel backings to create the fi rst truly emotional dance song. Try feeling vaguely sexual and melancholic at nine.

Rage Against The Machine – Guerilla Radio (1999) 2:28 - Tom Morello makes his guitar sound like a harmonica and discovers one thing The Beatles didn’t already do.

Augie March – Owen’s Lament (2000) 5:35 - Glenn Richards reaches the melodic and emotional peak of this understated opus.

LOW: Tina Turner – Simply The Best (1989) 3:05 - The saxophone solo plays like a musical mass-shooting, spraying notes in all directions.

Kid Rock – All Summer Long (2008) 0:01 - Pop music hits new low as elements from timeless tunes Werewolves of London and Sweet Home Alabama are forced together by Dr Wankenstein.

The Flaming Lips – The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (2006) 0:01 - Fascinatingly annoying “ya ya” opening counts as a dramatic failure for indie-saviours.

Enigma – Sadeness (1991) 0:22 - Reverby synth-beat mixed with Gregorian chants? This has dated worse than Rolf Harris’“let me Abos go loose, Bruce”.

Kanye West – Stronger (2007) 0:38 - One of the best ever electro songs is ‘helped’ by confidently arbitrary rapping. “Play secretary I’m the boss tonight”? You don’t spray paint over Picasso!

Vanessa Amarosi – Absolutely Everybody (1999) 3:41 - By this stage you have heard the chorus 133 times and hate absolutely everybody.

Crazy Frog – Popcorn (2005) 0:34 - No, the tune alone isn’t enough, now he has Tourette’s over it. When humans are on trial, aliens will use this as evidence.

Oasis – All Around The World (1997) 9:00 - In the same session Noel Gallagher will be brought to trial for Beatle-crimes. Stare in disbelief at the counter.

Cotton Eye Joe – Rednex (1994) 0:55 - The worst period of music meets the worst clash of genres (country and techno). Now throw in a whiny girl singing a half-rap.

Sheryl Crow – If It Makes You Happy (1996) 1:20 - Perhaps the biggest pop-lyric logic blunder of all-time. “If it makes you happy / it can’t be that bad”. Hello................killing?

JUSTIN HEAZLEWOOD www.bedroomphilosopher.com bma magazine 7

NEWS Attention Rev-Heads

Calling All Cars have just fi nished wrapping up their tour supporting Birds of Tokyo, as well as playing the main support slot for The Getaway Plan. This punk rock band has just fi nished a year of touring and now plan to wrap up the next two months with a tour of their own. Starting on November 21 their tour of Australia will be running until December 27, with a stop by Transit Bar on December 17. If you can’t wait to get your hands on some music by these guys, their new EP Animal was recently released to much acclaim.

Calling All Artists...And Such Attention Canberra creatives: Canberra Contemporary Art Space wants exhibition proposals for next year at its popular artist-run gallery in Manuka. Individual artists or groups are invited to make proposals for exhibitions which could potentially be held in 2009.

As this is an artist-run space you will have to be available to install and mind your two-week exhibition and pay a $500 gallery rental fee. If you have a great

idea for an exhibition and can meet these requirements then now is the time to submit an application! Put together your CV, a one page description of the project along with installation requirements and fi ve images of examples of your artwork.

Don’t forget to include your name and contact details and then snail mail to Yolande Norris, Program Manager, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, PO Box 885, Civic Square, ACT 2608. If you have any questions you can drop an email to yolande@ccas.com. au. Proposals need to be received

by December 18 and successful applicants will be notifi ed by mail early in the new year.

A Hard ACT To Follow While Australia has a large amount of budding musicians, there is little support of any who do not fi t into the genre of pop music. Any of the harder music such as rock and punk, has been neglected. That is why the project, Hard ACT To Follow has been put into action. The idea is that a number of live acts in the ACT will be recorded and put onto a compilation cd in order to create more of a buzz about local bands who are struggling to make it in the mainstream obsessed world we live in. Bands in the ACT who play these genres and wish to be a part of the project can submit an application to www.hardact. com.au.

We've Zine it Coming While I’m sure many of you attended the chilly zine fair in June, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed to fi nd out that another will be hosted by the ACT Writer's Centre on Saturday January 31 at Gorman House.

While we’re not sure as of yet, the word is that it will be quite similar to the previous event. If that is the case, we can expect a band or two to show up and provide us with plenty of music while we wander around trying to fi nd the latest local artists.

Registration is free, but if you would like to rent a table from the Centre, the cost is $10 (at the last event a table seemed to have grown legs and walked off ), however it is free if you are willing to bring and set up your own. Get your crayons out!

The Roof is Afi re If you can think of any person who has cruised around Sydney Harbour in a giant guitar boat, you are a better man than I.

That’s right, ARIA award winning artist Josh Pyke is the subject of our discussion, with his new album Chimney’s Afi retaking up the number one spot on the Australian charts. If some of you failed to get my pun on the guitar boat, Pyke had a custom boat made for his music video Make You Happy, which has been nominated for Music Video of the Year. He is going to be touring Australia with Sydney four-piece Cloud Control. They will be in Canberra on February 28 at the ANU Bar and tickets are on sale on December 1..

Oooh, You Burn!

Sydney based rap and hip-hop artist Scott Burns has been around for a number of years and has recently released his debut album Day 1, which features a host of hip-hop’s brightest such as A-love, Chasm and Sereck from Celsius. Triple J picked up a few of the tracks for their ever growing collection and feedback on the album has been tremendous. It seems that this new album will be another great add to your collection. On another note, Burns is throwing launch parties across Australia and will be passing by Canberra

bma magazine 8

on December 20 at Transit Bar with guests That’s Them, Alikeminds, Gabi and Loulou and Dj’s Buick and Bom. The Big V

V Festival started out three years ago as a two show festival in the Gold Coast and Sydney.

They now have expanded to Melbourne and Perth as well.

This wild spread has brought in many talented acts and in 2009, V Fest will have the pleasure of hosting The Killers, Snow Patrol and Kaiser Chiefs as well as Australian bands The Temper Trap and Canyons, among many others. The festival will be rockin' out from March 28 up until April 5. You can currently get tickets from Virgin Mobile on presale, and as of November 28 you can purchase tickets from Ticketmaster as well. For more info, visit www.vfestival.com.au.

30 Days Later

Canberra artist Karin Maier recently delved into the idea of digitally sharing her art through applications such as facebook in her project 30 Days of Give and Take. Her acceptance of the idea that physical work can be shared over the internet led her to travelling to Japan to showcase her work. As well as completing a piece of artwork each day for 30 days, Maier documented both her trip to Japan as well as her artistic process while she was creating the works. Her show is set to be launched at the Front Gallery, Lyneham from November 26 up until December 2.

AND ANOTHER THING...

Well, it’s that time of year again. And here, after gathering all the nominations in from various parts of my brain, are the results, viz, my top fifteen albums of 2008. Once again I’ve added the salient parts of my reviews to help you digest my decisions, plus, should you be so minded, the best track from each album – get downloading!

1. Whitesnake - Good to be Bad (Stomp): “Coverdale is in fine form here, throatwise… and with the benefit of a beefy production job he manages to recall his glory days with some style and no little panache. And that makes this album a pleasure to listen to.” Download: Can You Hear the Wind Blow.

2. Metal Church - This Present Wasteland (SPV/Riot): “As a whole TPW is shot through with a steely ‘classic metal’ sensibility that makes it accessible to even the most timid of hard rock fans… Absolutely brilliant.”

Download: Breathe Again.

3. Grand Magus - Iron Will (Rise Above/Riot): “There’s a seam of class running through this record that’s so big I’m surprised BHP aren’t mining it and attempting to flog it to the Chinese.” Download: Iron Will.

4. Avantasia - The Scarecrow (Nuclear Blast/Riot): “Even before you have time to dust yourself down the album’s epic title track is upon you; eleven minutes of pure pomp metal nirvana with a simply massive chorus that’ll have you out of your seat, punching the air and frightening the kids before you realise what you’re doing.” Download: Twisted Mind.

5. Extreme - Saudades de Rock (Stomp): “With vocalist Gary Cherone giving an absolutely earth shattering performance throughout and axepert Nuno Bettencourt redefining the term ‘shred’, there’s an air of downright brilliance permeating this album.” Download: Star.

6. Asia - Phoenix (Frontiers/Riot): “Shadow of a Doubt – surely the best song from 1984 never heard before – is, frankly, tearjerking in its perfect reconstruction of Thatcher-era teen abandonment soundtrack music.”

Download: Shadow of a Doubt.

7. Motorhead - Motorizer (SPV/Riot): “Return to form is an overused phrase, but that’s really the most accurate way to describe what is a very good album indeed.” Download: When the Eagle Screams.

8. Evergrey - Turn (SPV/Riot): “Evergrey combine melody and crunch to devastating effect… These Scars may well be the best goth-metal-pop-rock song ever.” Download: Soaked.

9. Hell City Glamours - Hell City Glamours (Own Label): “A frankly stunning aural assault that is unequivocally Rock and Roll. You’ll love it.”

Download: Ready To Fall.

10. Melodyssey - The Two Windows (Own Label): “You may never have heard of Melodyssey, but – if there’s any justice in this crazy world we live in – that’ll all change soon.” Download: The Constant Rain.

11. Opeth - Watershed (Roadrunner): “The word ‘progress’ often infers a cold, calculated attempt at change for change’s sake, but there’s a warmth to Opeth that sets their ‘prog’ apart from, and ahead of, the pack and as such this is the best album of its kind you’ll hear all year.” Download: Hessian Peel.

12. Cavalera Conspiracy - Inflikted (Roadrunner): “Put simply, this is the best record either Cavalera sibling has been involved with since Sepultura’s landmark release, 1996’s Roots.” Download: Bloodbrawl.

13. Black Crowes - Warpaint (Stomp): “This could be their best work since their two opening statements of intent in the early nineties.”

Download: Locust Street.

14. Ayreon - 01011001 (SPV/Riot): “If you like your metal on the thoughtful side, then Ayreon is undoubtedly for you. Marvellously overblown.”Download: The Fifth Extinction.

YOU PISSED ME OFF Has someone yanked yer chain recently? Well, send an email to editorial@bmamag.com and have your sweet vengeance. And for the love of God, keep it brief! ALL ENTRIES CONTAIN GENUINE SPELLINGS. To the pubic servant fuckers that call up my call centre and call me names u wouldnt say infront of ur mother, oh and especially the guy who called me mentally disabled, fuck you, u pissed me off, how are you better than me? I know how to do my job, u come and try arsehole.

Im just a student working to pay my rent so fuck ur uneducated ignorance. U make me laugh coz im not the dickhead yelling into the phone in the middle of garema place looking like a bloated red balloon.

To the following people, who will undoubtedly make my summer much less enjoyable than it should be: a) the morons who decided to move Summernats so that it now

runs over NYE. Is this even true? Well if not, then I still hate Summernats. The fact that the destruction of the environment and the objectification of women is still celebrated is a fucked up reflection of our society; b) the douchebags who wear those slip-on shoes from Parliament; c) the weather, for turning Canberra into a parched-as desert where our rivers are barely good enough to swim in; d) the people at the Kambah Pool nudist beach, for not looking like Scarlett Johansson; e) your mum; and f ) all the Canberra fucking houses that are built to store heat - YOU ALL, TO A GREATER OR LESSER EXTENT, WILL PISS ME THE FUCK OFF!!!!

FROM THE BOSSMAN A few weekends back, the girl and I were treated to the double-barrel cinematic feast that was Dave Chappelle’s Block Party and ol’ timey favourite The Blues Brothers. The combo of these films sparked the warm memory of the 'credits rap' phenomenon that swept through the movie industry in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.

The white corporate world had just cottoned on to this strange and daring new form of music called hip-hop, they saw that the kids bloody loved it, and the irises lit up with neon dollar signs.

What followed was that the credits of many major blockbusters were peppered with a delightfully hackneyed rap, where the plot of justwatched film was neatly summed up in 70bpm format. This, of course, could be later bundled in an easy-to-sell medium (this is back when people actually bought these things called CDs, or the cassingle if you were truly old school). Bobby Brown’s Take Control from Ghostbusters II helped kick things off and against my better judgement, I’m gonna go on record and say I bloody love that song. But who could get through the early '90s with shouting “T-U-R-T-L-E POW-er!” at some point?

I’d like to see this cheesy rap make a comeback. Maybe for the 17th instalment of the Indiana Jones franchise?

15. Steve Lukather - Ever Changing Times (Frontiers/Riot): “What you get here is, in effect, a better (i.e. more guitar-orientated) than usual Toto album – and that’s a delight to hear.” Download: Tell Me What You Want From Me.

“Weeeell his name is Jones/Likes digging up bones/Has a big whip/And a hat of brown tones/Battles Nazis, the Ruskies and a whole villainous team/So he can get the artefacts that “belong in a museum!”

SCOTT ADAMS

Or perhaps not.

thirtyyearsofrnr@hotmail.com

ALLAN “SHOULD PROBABLY BACK AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER” SKO

bma :: Issue313 www.bmamag.com "bma: putting the 'street' back into street press" 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.

Fax: 02 6257 4361 Mail: PO Box 713 Civic Square, ACT 2608 Publisher Scott Layne General Manager & Advertising Manager Allan Sko: T: (02) 6257 4360 E: advertising@bmamag.com Editor Ben Hermann T: (02) 6257 4456 E: editorial@bmamag.com Accounts Manager Fahim Shahnoor : T: (02) 6247 4816 E: accounts@bmamag.com

Super Sub Editor Julia Winterflood Graphic Design Jessica Condi Film Editor Mark Russell Principal Photographers (The Flashbulb Posse) Andrew Mayo/Nick Brightman/John Hatfield Issue 316 Out December 11 Editorial Deadline November 28 bma4magazine Advertising Deadline December

TIDBITS WHO GEORGE FEST WHAT FOLK AND FUNK FEST WHERE GEORGE HARCOURT INN WHEN SAT DEC 6

As Christmas races towards us, it seems that things slow down and drag out to the last. If you’re looking for a good way to spend your time in the lead up to the holidays, you may want to consider going to The George Fest, where Australian bands ranging from folk music to a bit of funk will be performing. The hosts of the festivities will be none other than the George Harcourt Inn, a pub with a more laid back attitude than the average venue. On December 6 however, this place is bound to be a little less quiet, as Sydney rockers Finn start up the afternoon at 3pm.

You can kick off your shoes for a while and relax where local singer and her band, Annie & The Armadillos, and folk singer Ms Ashleigh Mannix take you into the evening. After that former Australian Idol contestant and his band, Dan England & The Thieves, bring a bit of funk into the evening and Sydney band King Farook bring the show to its end at midnight. Admission is free and all you have to do is show up and enjoy yourself on December 6. BRAD PYN

While they might not have been around for very long, Mercy Arms have managed to stir up quite a buzz in the three years they have been together. The alternative rock band is based WHO in Sydney and got together only days before their fi rst gig. Consisting of Thom Moore (lead MERCY ARMS vocals, guitar), Kirin J. Callinan (guitar), Ash Moss (bass guitar) and Julian Sudek (drums) this WHAT original band is a breath of fresh air in the pool of stagnate synths and redone riffs from past SYDNEY ALT-ROCK songs that the music industry seems to be supporting nowadays. The band has done extensive WHERE touring with the likes of The Pixies, Editors, Cut Copy and The Strokes. While they don’t have an ANU BAR extensive catalogue, the band released an EP in ’07, and last August found the band releasing WHEN their self-titled debut album independently. Upcoming for the band is their first single from THUR DEC 4 the album, Half Right. They are to be touring Australia next month and will be playing the ANU Bar on Thursday December 4. BRAD PYN WHO HOLA MEXICAN FILM FESTIVAL WHAT MEXICAN FILMS WHERE DENDY, CANBERRA CENTRE WHEN DEC 11 - 14

WHO OXFAM CHRISTMAS FAIR WHAT GREAT X-MAS SHOPPING WHERE ALBERT HALL WHEN SAT NOV 29

bma magazine 10

Get out your tequila and sombreros my good friends, it’s time for the Hola Mexican Film Festival. From December 11 to14 at Dendy, a range of fi lms will be screened featuring award winners from directors such as Christopher Zalla (Blood Of My Blood), Gael Garcia Bernal (Defi cit), Sergio Tovar Velarde (Aurora Boreal) and Rodrigo Pla (The Zone, The Desert Within).

Also included are several western sci-fi movies, comedies and documentaries. There will be an opening night fi esta, with plenty of food, beer and music to go around, followed by the fi lms the next day. For starters, there will be two 60s ’ sci-fi films that have been refurbished, followed by two films co-produced in Mexico and Chile. The top ten films from Mexico’s own short fi lm festival will be played next and the last event will be an animated fi lm,Una Pelicula De Huevos (A Movie About Eggs). The festival will also visit Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. For more information, please pay a visit to www.holamexicoff.com. BRAD PYN Been trying to fi nd some way to put an end to that Christmas shopping list without too much hassle? It seems that we may just have you covered this month with the Oxfam Christmas Fair.

Money from the fair will be used to aid those in need in the community, so there’s no need to feel guilty either. The fair will have a selection of unwrapped gift cards, toys, home wares, as well as teas, coffees and chocolates. Over 40 stalls will be set up for the sale of the local crafts and wares brought for sale at the Albert Hall in Yarralumla. If you’re still not convinced, entertainment will be provided by local performers, including Kh’ara Belly dancers. There will also be an Embassy Goodwill Stall selling goods that will give all proceeds to Oxfam Australia.

The only entry fee will be a gold coin donation and all proceeds raised at the event will support Oxfam’s nutrition programs in East Timor. The fair will be held on Saturday November 29 from 10am to 4pm, Albert Hall, Yarralumla. BRAD PYN

WHO TUGGERANONG SKATE FESTIVAL WHAT WHEELS, BANDS AND GOOD TIMES WHERE TUGGERANONG SKATE PARK WHEN SUN NOV 30

As to some extent a ‘fringe’ to the Tuggeranong Community Festival, the Rollin’ To Summer Youth Festival will transform the Tuggeranong skate park into a pseudo-Warped Tour on Sunday November 30. The day will kick off at 9am with the skate competition, followed by a performance by the Wheelers – a high-contact sport for young people and adults who use wheelchairs – and will conclude with the BMX competition in the afternoon. Local metal heavyweights Gasma will punish the ears of punters throughout the day, but in case that ain’t enough for you, then you can catch Melbournites the Nation Blue, House Vs Hurrican and Twelve Foot Ninja, and DJ Jowie, whippin’ up their hooks from 6pm. With the Nation Blue fast becoming one of Australia’s foremost punk/hardcore groups, and having recently been jetting about Brazil, Japan and America, they will undoubtedly inject a healthy dose of snarling fury into the day’s events. The who caboodle will last from 9am – 8:30pm and best of all, it’s free!

WHO ATOMIC HOOLIGAN WHAT UK BREAKBEATS WHERE TRANSIT BAR WHEN FRI DEC 12

Already having an almost cult base in the UK, Atomic Hooligan are coming to Australia to promote their new album. The DJ duo Terry and Matt Hooligan are regarded as one of breakbeat’s premier artists, due to how consistently they have managed to create hit after hit for the dancefl oor. As their fi rst album managed to be ranked in the Top 10 Best Albums in DJ Mag, they seem to have managed quite well in keeping up appearances with their latest album Sex Drugs and Blah Blah Blah. The rock and rave album came and astounded reviewers.

While most of their pieces are much more uplifting than most current music, they have a gritty edge to most of their songs. Atomic Hooligan will be touring over the summer and their Australian tour starts on December 5 and goes through to January 1. Their Canberra show which is sure to end in a party for the ages will be on December 12 at Transit Bar. BRAD PYN

7 Akuna St

Canberra City

ALL SHOWS FREE ENTRY

bma magazine PH/FAX 6162 0899 / transitbar@gmail.com | www.myspace.com/transitbar

11

So, instead, the four-piece returned to Glasgow, where they found an amazing new home to record in, setting up camp in an old theatre.

“We’ve got the dressing rooms as a recording studio, and we’ve tried everything out and all possibilities. We’ve had a really good time recording, and it’s nice to be home.”

For You Could Have It So Much Better, the band had come directly off tour and gone straight into it, writing and recording at the same time, with a desire to get the album out as quickly as possible.

Nick says that the approach works quite well – he likens it to how albums were made in the 1960s – but for Tonight they wanted to do it completely differently, fully writing the songs before even beginning to consider recording.

TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT “We’ve lost the angular guitar thing that all bands in Britain are playing, with all these octave bass lines and these indie disco drum beats that you hear all the time. We wanted to fi nd new ways to shake your hips.”

Andrew Weaver Every few years, British music seems to go through a movement in time that is never forgotten. The wonderful ‘war’ between Oasis and Blur highlighted Brit-pop in the mid-1990s, the punk explosion of The Sex Pistols and The Clash will never be forgotten, and it seems that – alongside Arctic Monkeys and the dearly departed Libertines – FRANZ FERDINAND are the latest UK generation’s zeitgeist group.

Nick McCarthy is not a settled petal – instead, he’s locked away in the band’s home town of Glasgow, in their studio, putting the fi nishing touches on Tonight, the third Franz Ferdinand album. It’s had a much, much longer gestation period than their second effort, You Could Have It So Much Better, with Nick explaining that the amount of time that they’ve spent creating it is much the same as when they recorded their debut.

“The second one was done while we were on tour,” he explains. For Tonight, the band wanted to ease that sense of dislocation and pressure – while they’d been touring for four years in between making it and releasing their sophomore set, he thinks that “…we needed a normal life to be able to write about something again. I don’t want to write about being on tour, or getting on aeroplanes. It’s not interesting… it might have been interesting in the `30s or something! I like stories and songs about people around us – on tour you meet someone for an hour or two and you might become best friends but then you never see them again!” bma magazine 12

“We were writing for about a year and then recording for three months, and then we mixed it for another few months,” he says of the creative process.“We don’t want to overthink our songs, but sometimes they need to go through a certain procedure. It was really important for us to do small tours in between writing sessions and then see if they were working. You have to watch out that you don’t lose the immediacy of writing a song and then recording it and then that’s it – and there were some songs that we did (write and then record straight away) like that. It can be great when you capture a song as soon as you’ve written it – there’s some magic about it. You have to catch that moment in time. However you get it.”

Already, Tonight has garnered plenty of talk of different infl uences and different sounds making themselves apparent – everything from African rhythms to tribal beats to reggae dub has been cited, particularly in the English music papers, as an infl uence on the sound of the album. But, as Nick explains, that’s not entirely the case.

“We did this African Express gig in Liverpool, something that Damon Albarn organised, and we were playing with a lot of African musicians, and it came from there,” he clarifies. “We’ve listened to a lot of Arabian music but it doesn’t mean it’s going to be an Arabian record! We take our infl uences from everywhere. I wouldn’t call it an African record at all; we’re from Glasgow where it rains all the time and our backsides are very white indeed. Although we wanted to make a dance record – something you could swing your hips to.”

While that’s always been the case with the music that the band have created, it sounds to some degree as if Franz Ferdinand have made a deliberate move to step away from what some would argue is their ‘signature sound’, and that has left an indelible imprint upon plenty of British bands since they began gaining notoriety.“We definitely have gone away from what we used to do,” he agrees.“It’s boring. I don’t think you can do that kind of music anymore – maybe someone will want to listen to it, but not me! I don’t want to do records that I don’t want to hear myself.”

Is that simply a matter of growing up, slowing down and taking a deep breath, and wanting to hear yourself make new music? “I don’t know if we’ve slowed down… but that sounds like we’re granddads!” Nick says after a short sharp burst of laughter.

“In general it’s a little bit slower,” he says of Tonight, “and it’s like a dancefloor/dancehall record, and very bass and drums driven. We’ve lost the angular guitar thing that all bands in Britain are playing, with all these octave bass lines and these indie disco drum beats that you hear all the time. We wanted to fi nd new ways to shake your hips.”

Franz Ferdinand are touring in December/January, including performances at the Falls Festival. Their new album is due at the end of January.

bma magazine 13

ALL AGES

Well, as the year draws closer to an end, bands seem to be pulling their fi nger out and putting on some of the best shows we’ve seen all year. So as I sit here, wondering where

the year has gone, I realise that I probably should just shut up and get on with it. For starters, the show I am defi antly most excited about would have to be Delta Goodrem’s upcoming tour, Believe Again. In fact, I am so excited I think a little bit of wee just came out.

We haven’t heard anything from our favourite ex-neighbour since her triple platinum album Delta last year. So get ready, because on January 23 Delta will be ready to take the stage at the Royal Theatre, National Convention Centre but it’s going to cost you as tickets aren’t cheap at $120 a pop.

And now for the real shit.

Antagonist A.D. have just announced their We Are Dead tour. Our favourite kiwi cousins are pulling out the big guns for this show, with support from The Broderick. Antagonist A.D are everybody’s favourite hardcore heavyweights and since forming in 2004 they’ve fast made a name for themselves on the hardcore circuit. Their sound can best be described as raw metal core that will blow your mind. But not only do they have a mind numbingly gnarly sound, this is a band with a conscience; Antagonist A.D’s lyrics

are inspiring, raising the issues of today’s culture, particularly the exploitation of animals across the world. And now Antagonist A.D are preparing to take to the stage at the Tuggeranong Youth Centre on December 3. It’s sure to be a rad gig as Antagonist have played along side such iconic bands as Parkway Drive, Carpathian, Most Precious Blood, Have Heart, and Break Even. So get you’re dancing shoes on bitches.

Up next, our favourite hardcore yanks White Chapel are hitting the road for the release of their debut album This Is Exile. White Chapel are planning to help us celebrate the coming of ’09 with one of the most head-banging death metal shows we’ve seen in a long time. White Chapel boasts a truly eclectic brand of music, fusing gnarly riffs and earbursting vocals. Having shared stage space with Darkest Hour, The Red Chord, Cephalic Carnage, and The Devil Wears Prada these six handsome young lads will leave your ears ringing and your toes tapping. So get yourself to The Basement on January 10.

Anyhow, coming up on December 6, the Gungahlin Youth Centre will be holding a free open day. That’s right, free. live music, free fairy fl oss, a BBQ, airbrush tats and a bucking bull will all kick off at 11am and end at 3pm. So if you fancy a game of pool, ping-pong, or a go on the dance machine, get your mums to drop you at Ernest Cavanagh Street, Gungahlin.

And yet another free shindig this summer, the Tuggers Youth Centre will be brining you Rolling into Summer at the skate park. Featuring live music from The Nation Blue, House VS Hurricane, Twelve Foot Ninja, Gasma, and DJ Jowie, as well as skate and BMX competitions from 9am to 6pm. Not to forget the Wheelers Extreme Wheelchair Sports. So jump on your bike and get your pretty little selves to Tuggeranong on Sunday November 30.

Well that’s all from me this edition, I hope to see you next fortnight for the last ever BMA of 2008.

LIZZY LIZ-LIZ ROWLEY elizabeth_rowley@live.com.au

bma magazine 14

LOCALITY

In 1876, Alexander Bell and Thomas Edison invented the microphone. The fi rst electric guitar arrived in 1925 courtesy of Adolph Rickenbacker.

In 1965, Vox built new amplifi ers over three times more powerful than their existing ones so The Beatles could perform at Shea Stadium, the fi rst ever stadium concert. Fast forward to 1976 and The Who have become the loudest band in the world, playing at 126 decibels at Charlton Athletic. Yep, ever since humans began beating two rocks against each other, people have wanted to hear it ‘one louder'. There’s an undeniable thrill to volume.

Who hasn’t roared down the highway, one hand on the wheel, with Search And Destroy playing at face-melting levels?

That said, some of the best performances I have seen have been on the opposite end of the scale. Well before The Who and The Beatles, the fi rst ‘gigs’ were held around a campfi re for a dozen Neanderthals. It need not be loud. Many of Canberra’s venues are like that campfi re – cosy, intimate and not expecting KISS through any time soon. This begs an interesting question: if Canberra had bigger venues (and bigger crowds fi lling them), would we have louder bands? Or to put it another way, does having smallish venues account for our seemingly high number of folky acts?

Enough conjecture – on with the gigs! Pop-punk upstarts Tell Me Bluntly have been honing their skills with a slew of live shows recently. If you like Paramore, Killing Heidi or Magic Dirt, then they might be right up your alley. Check them out at Woden Youth Centre on November 28 for $5, playing with Adelle, Please To Jive You and Slovac. If you are busy that night, or end up going and having the best time of your life, then you have a second chance to catch them on December 5 with Please To Jive You, Slovac and Astrochem, once again at the WYC and still only a measly fi ver.

Those purveyors of dirty heavy grooves Moh Van Wah are plenty excited by their debut album, Weapon Of Choice. Join in the excitement (and pick up your very own copy) at The Basement on December 5, and since you’re already going to be there, why not also check out All Guns Blazing, Monster Elephante and Loud So Clear?

If you are young (or young at heart) and live Northside (or like driving), the Gunghalin Youth Centre is hosting a free open day on December 6 from 11-3pm. They have told me there will be live music, but not who any of the bands will be. Think of it like one of those ‘mystery showbags’. Actually, forget the live music – go for the free fairy floss and bucking bull! Yee-haw!

If you know what’s good for you (and have a taste for the darkly rhythmic side of life) please do not miss the last Chrome of the year. DJs Salem, Stealth.Elf and metaVirus will be spinning your favourite goth, industrial, and dark electro tunes from 9pm at The Holy Grail on December 6. Entry is $6 – and remember, this is the last Chrome until February so don’t miss out!

Finally, a callout to all the rock bands across this beautiful territory!

With the support of the ACT Government, the Hard ACT to Follow project is producing a compilation CD of live recordings of rock, metal, punk and hardcore bands from the ACT region. Bands interested in being involved in the project are invited to lodge an Expression of Interest before December 31. Selected bands will then be recorded at a gig for possible inclusion on the compilation, which is due for release mid 2009. And if your band is selected, it doesn’t cost you anything! For more info, check out www.hardact.com.au Until next time dear readers, it’s been real.

LUKE MCGRATH lukemcgrath@hotmail.com

bma magazine 15

DANCE: THE DROP Schools out! Well for most of you institutionalised whiteboard watchers, the end of another year is cause for celebration with more events than you can poke a two for one drink special at. In the coming weeks you may see haggard looking youths stumbling around our city centres like zombies, but fear not Canberra, for these are not the undead hunting for fl esh but rather the future of our nation being unleashed from their yearly studies, with the only brains they will be harming being their own.

Movember sees one of the most talked about gigs this year happening at Transit Bar with ‘Germany’s Daft Punk’ Booka Shade squeezing their live show into the popular venue on Thursday November 27 for the unbelievable price of NOTHING. That’s right, Pang, Bacardi and Coopers have combined forces like promotional power rangers to allow for free entry on the night. Not one to be missed for fans of quality music. In the following weeks, Transit also hosts one of many after parties for the Foreshore Summer Music Festival on November 29 and Kid Confucious and Casual Projects land on December 6 with their live funk/hip-hop extravaganza.

And speaking of after parties, Academy will be also be hosting a Foreshore after party, featuring Bang Gang DJs, The Vandals, The Hump Day Project, Chris Fraser, Ashley Feraude & Sean Kelly.

To the disbelief of some local media moguls Friction and Lexington music managed to hand back the Old Parliament House courtyard in the condition they found it after the mega successful fi rst instalment of Our House so the guys have put together another great lineup for December. The House of Senates Courtyard will play host for the Ministry of Sound Annual Party on December 21 featuring Kid Kenobi & MC Shureshock , John Course and Chris Fraser supported

by Derty Rich , Ashley Feraude and Michael O Rourke.

The lineup for the 2009 Trinity Block Party on Saturday January 10 has been announced with headliners P-Money (NZ), The Bamboos ft Kylie Audlist (live), Good Buddha (Live), Sampology & TheTom Thum MPC Beatbox Show being joined by The Hump Day Project, D’opus & Roshambo, DJ Just 1, and Goldfi ngerwho is hosting the event. Just like previous years, all ticket profi ts go to Oxfam so you can help fi ght world hunger with your powers of drinking and dancing. Take that Angelina Jolie! Tickets go on sale from the usual outlets on November 20.

A Bob Marley famously said, “I shot the Sherriff, because he didn’t support the Reggae scene”; lovers of smooth beats and cocktails should head down to Hippo Bar where Capital Dub Style & Hippo are cool running their monthly One Love Sessions on Thursday December 4 with DJs playing reggae/dancehall/roots/dub from 8pm.

Finally, with Canberra being famous for politicians, porn and producers I thought I might throw in a few updates on what local music makers are up to, if only to prove to their girlfriends that all that time in front of the PC wasn’t watching adult cinema and downloading Heroes.

Cool Weapon have been signed to a non-exclusive deal with Fat Northerner, a Manchester dance label, who have also included their track Keep On in one of their latest compliations Digital Northerner Volume 4 which is available from iTunes and most major digital retailers. Local DJ/producer Dale Baldwin has also released an EP on Elektrax Progressive which can be purchased online from beatport or related sites. I have sent you my account details guys, I think we agreed on 20% right?

Until next issue I’ll leave you with this helpful tip: never add your parents on facebook. They might not have any idea how to send an email or program a VCR but they wont have any problems fi nding that dubiously tagged half naked photo of you dancing on a table at that 21st last weekend.

TIM GALVIN tim.galvin@live.com.au

bma magazine 16

1 FOR THE MASSES “I knew that DJing was something I wanted to do; the scratching and juggling was always going to be the next step after learning how to mix” Tim Galvin J isn’t the tenth letter of the alphabet, J isn’t Silent Bob’s hetero life partner, J isn’t something you smoke, J is DJ JUST 1. Known to his parents as Justin Tam, he has more aliases than a crazed Jennifer Garner fan. He is the ACT’s premier hip-hop DJ and has a DMC Championship belt sitting on his parcel shelf to prove it. His 12” medical records list haemoglobin type ‘A1200’ proving he has turntablism in his blood, he is all about entertainment and from a young age J was brought up on RnB and hip-hop like you and me were brought up on Sesame Street.

“I’ve always loved music, especially hip-hop, after I’d heard a few mixtapes I knew that DJing was something I wanted to do; the scratching and juggling was always going to be the next step after learning how to mix.” His bedroom is lined with studio equipment and thousands of records and in 2001 he began his inner club life, quickly establishing weekly residencies at the most prolifi c RnB hangouts in Canberra, sometimes playing up to fi ve times a week at places like Meche, Sultans and Minque to swelling crowds.

Musically, his style has always gravitated towards the cooler side of black music as J explains, “the main artists I have been influenced by are probably DJ Kentaro, DJ Premier, J Dilla, Q-Bert, Mixmaster Mike, Pete Rock…. to name a few, there are way too many to list.” In 2004 he came out of nowhere to win the ACT DMC Championships with innovative deck work that blew away the competition with what will go down in history as ‘The Green Machine routine’ that had Gary Belcher and Chicka Ferguson asking for post match autographs. “I wanted to come with something different and managed to get my hands on a copy of the Canberra Raiders theme song, so I incorporated that into the beginning of my set and being a big rugby league fan and the fact I’d be repping ACT in the Australian fi nal it just seemed to fi t.”

Since taking the crown he has been one of the busiest in the business, becoming a major fixture at RnB and hip-hop clubs all over the city. “I’ve mainly been doing club sets and mixtapes, I got to do Good Vibrations last year in Sydney with Pharoahe Monch and Cypress Hill and I’ll be there again next year in February with The Roots and The Pharcyde; I think the festivals are defi nitely something I want to be playing more at.”

This month sees J step up to the ones and twos at the Foreshore Summer Music Festival on what is a predominantly dance based lineup.

“Foreshore’s going to be massive, I’ll be bringing a bit of hip-hop to the festival with a few tricks and cuts thrown in.” So what’s next for the turntable terrorist? “So far I’ll be at the Block Party at Trinity on Jan 10 and at the Good Vibrations Festival in Sydney on Feb 14, as well as playing my usual residencies around Canberra.” How many turntablists does it take to rock a party? Just 1.

DJ Just 1 will play at Block Party, in the Trinity Car Park, Dickson, on Saturday January 10 from 2 - 10pm. Joining him will be P-Money, Tittsworth, The Bamboos featuring Kylie Audlist, Good Buddha, and more.

“We give a lot of energy to the people and when they pick it up and work with it and return it then there is a lot of energy going on”

HOT IN THE SHADE

Henry Holland

Ooh yep, can you feel that? Summer is coming. And you know what that means? Ice cream, sunshine, summer romances, holidays and partying.

Lots of partying. I could almost write an album about all the sunshine and partying ahead. I could call it The Sun and the Neon Light. Catchy huh? But I won’t, because I've already been beaten to the job by German minimal maestros BOOKA SHADE. And to celebrate the release of their third album they’re touring Down Under for what are sure to be some of the wildest parties all summer. Neat.

Walter Merziger and Arno Kammermeier formed Booka Shade in the early ’90s after initially playing together in a school band. After fl irting with different styles of music and producing pop songs for German record labels, they formed their own imprint with the establishment of the Get Physical label in 2002. But it was with the release of debut album Memento (2004) and sophomore Movements (2006) that they forged their way into the collective conscious of music fans worldwide.

Now recognised as the epitome of minimal tech-house music, the duo are responsible for such groundbreaking dance-floor gems as Body Language, Mandarine Girl, In White Rooms and current single Charlotte.

“When we started the Get Physical label it was something like a playground for everybody who was involved,” Arno says. “We just wanted to produce the music that we felt wasn’t out there, but which we felt should be released. When we produced DJ T’s Freemind, together with other people’s music at that time, it became one of the blueprints of what was later called electro-house. But we never sat down and said ‘OK, let’s create something like electro-house’ or whatever. I always had the feeling that what we did never fi t in any kind of category. For minimal music we had way too many melodies but still somehow it reached people and people liked it so we don’t care a lot about the categories, we just do what we do.”

The boys have had an absolutely massive year, having played basically all the biggest festivals on the planet including Coachella, Glastonbury, Lollapalooza, Creamfi elds and I Love Techno. Arno says that while the super-festivals are incredible, they get equal enjoyment from playing small-club sets.

“In the very small sweaty club shows it’s very intimate,” he says. “You can basically just reach out and touch the audience and be very close with them. We wouldn’t be satisfi ed if we were playing only big stages, because you would probably lose a little bit of the contact with the audience. We do have quite an energetic live show. There is a lot of physical presence that we have on stage, Walter and I, because we work a lot on stage as musicians. We give a lot of energy to the people and when they pick it up and work with it and return it then there is a lot of energy going on. I think people really appreciate that.”

Now you know what to expect when Germany’s fi nest take over Transit Bar. Sounds like it’s going to be hot in the Shade.

Booka Shade play at Transit Bar on Thursday November 27, with Scottie Fischer, Mig-L, Hubert, Dave Norgate and Expose DJs. Entry is free, so get along early to grab your spot!

BAMBOOZLED THE BARE NECESSITIES “I am still trying to fi nd my own sound and personally I would like to create a new style of music, not something that is already being made by other people” Tim Galvin Those born in the ’80s will remember MOWGLI as the kid from Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, while in the years to come their more fresh faced counterparts will most probably link that particular alias to Italian born producer Michele Savasta.

Mowgli is one of a new young generation of ‘less equals more’ house music producers who have risen from relative obscurity seemingly overnight, although his particular story started way back in the ’90s where he was submerged in the Italian hip-hop culture as a graffiti artist and amateur music producer.“I was always into black music; when I was growing up my father had a lot of Myles Davis style records and from this I got into Public Enemy, Wutang and A Tribe Called Quest you know, when you are young and angry what better music is there to listen to than this?”

From hip-hop he made the natural progression into the drum and bass scene where he experienced much success, even starting his own record label with friends called Touchresponse. He soon yearned for a new direction and (thankfully for the genre) started experimenting with house music.“I got bored of drum and bass because there is only so much you can do with something that speed, only so much you can create. I have always liked house and big beat music and with the speed slowed down you can do so much more with records; it’s more groovy and spacey.”

Moving to London sparked the biggest turning point in his career so far, starting with his cheeky bootleg of the Chemical Brothers’ Do It Again which pricked up the ears of beat benefactor Pete Tong.“The Chemical Brothers bootleg was surprising because it only took me 4-5 hours to do and I put it on a few blogs here and there and within not too long it had 40-50,000 downloads! I got a copy to Pete Tong and he loved it and played it on his radio show; lots of people were contacting me, even Martin Solveig who plays more commercial house wanted to work with me, it was great!”

From then on, unlike the Federal Reserve Bank, the rate of interest in his music defi nitely went up. He has already been associated with the ‘Mowgli sound’, a deep chuggy production accent that makes him stand out from the overpopulated world of club music signatures. “For me it’s good that people have associated my records with a particular sound but I cannot hear it myself; I am still trying to fi nd my own sound and personally I would like to create a new style of music, not something that is already being made by other people.”

Having already laid down remixes for Armand Van Helden, Martin Solveig, Tricky, Simian Mobile Disco and X-Press 2, he is now taking time out to focus on his own solo work following the success of his recently released Club Life EP. “I have two labels of my own at the moment, deadfi sh and freshfi sh; the Mowgli stuff will be coming out on the deadfi sh label and my Minimow project will be on the freshfi sh label.

I am very excited about those releases as they push this minimal tech sound that I love at the moment and the records have already been getting played by Pete Tong and Annie Mac. I decided to start my own label because you don’t need a record label these days, you can do everything yourself.”

He hits our shores in the near future promising to unleash some heads down future funk on a new generation of unsuspecting club kids.“I play a lot of different things, lots of groovy techno but not only one style. I like good records from all genres, anything with a great arrangement. People are getting bored of the consistent sound with no breakdowns and I like things that have a good build up then a big breakdown… I just like big tunes!”

Mowgli play at Lot 33 on Friday December 12, with the Aston Shuffl e, Beat It, King James and Hubert. Entry $15 from 10pm. bma magazine 18

“I think it's important to not keep churning out the same stuff, to have a derivative style...I think by expanding you have mor substance” Miranda O'Brien When a band who describes themselves as raw funk and sweet soul decide to cover an indie song, you’ve got to give them credit for being innovative with their craft, and for tackling a challenge. Covers are always compared to the original, however the only clue that THE BAMBOOS’ King Of The Rodeo is actually a Kings Of Leon cover, is the title and the words. “I’m a fan of Kings Of Leon and we wanted to connect with that side of music. It’s a tradition in funk and soul music to cover pop songs of the day. The band’s cool and I wanted a song that had originating quality,” Lance Ferguson, lead guitarist of The Bamboos says.

The Bamboos are a seven piece group hailing from Melbourne whose latest album Side Stepper is their third studio release. Forming in 2001, the funk outfi t started out as a four piece band who independently released their fi rst album through Lance’s own label. They have since gone on to acquire more band members and have extensively toured internationally with the likes of Mr. Scruff.

“The only song that didn’t make it on the new album was our version of the Foo Fighters’ Generator. Originally we planned to cover that, but we recorded it and it just didn’t work. I rushed home that night and wrote the arrangement for King Of The Rodeo,” says Lance.

One of the great things about Side Stepper is that while homage is paid to funk and soul music, modern twists are also injected.“I think it’s important to not keep churning out the same stuff, to have a derivative style” the nice-as-pie Lance says. "We definitely still fit in a mould, but it’s a bit more Northern soul. I think by expanding you have more substance.”

It’s obvious from listening to Side Stepper that the band draws a link between hip-hop and funk, however unlike a lot of commercial hip-hop which graces our airwaves, The Bamboos don’t sample the hell out of originals. They’re better than that. Lance comments, “Without sounding like I’m preaching I really like to educate people with entertainment, that’s why I love to pull out an original and play it live, not just sample it.”

The Bamboos’ music is infectious and defi nitely jig worthy. Even if your dancing skills resemble over excited kids at a concert of The Wiggles it’s all ok, it’s just about feeling good and having a good time. When you produce music which really does inspire a good boogie, one has to wonder if musicians can jig to their own music. “Unfortunately I listen to our stuff for hours and hours, and when it’s fi nished I don’t want to go near it for at least a month. But then later I want to make sure it’s still good. I love when I get to the point where I’m not analysing it and can just enjoy it for what it is,” explains Lance. He informs me he does get to this stage with quite a few of The Bamboos songs.

You can catch The Bamboos featuring Kylie Audlist at Block Party in the, Trinity carpark on Saturday January 10. Tickets on sale through Moshtix, Trinity Bar and Landspeed Records.

bma magazine 19

METALISE Unfortunately there’s some sad news this column with the passing of Nazxul guitarist Greg Morelli due to a motorcycle accident in the early hours of November 20. The tragedy is only exacerbated by the fact he had just fi nished work on the new Nazxul record in Sydney and Greg had reportedly been very happy with the way the album had turned out and was looking forward to touring the new work here and overseas. Vale’ Greg Morelli.

On a more positive note, if there’s one thing that has become a welcome staple of the Metal column since I began writing it, it’s international bands touring. To kick things off, The Summer Slaughter Tour has recently torn strips off the UK, USA and Canada and now thanks to Soundworks Touring it’s Australia on the chopping block. Germany’s Necrophagist, the USA’s Dying Fetus and The Faceless are being joined by Belgians’ Aborted and Geelong’s The Red Shore as well as some local supports on each leg of the tour. Fittingly the Sydney leg of the tour takes place on Black Friday March 13 2009 at the Manning Bar and the show is an all ages one. Tickets through moshtix.com.

Also heading over in Q1 next year are the Swedish masters of doomy atmosphere’s Cult of Luna. Touring their fi fth studio albumEternal Kingdom, it’s a dark concept album based on a diary they found in their rehearsal space, a former mental institution. They’ll be bringing tunes from this and their vaunted back catalogue to Sydney’s Manning Bar, Saturday February 14. Scorpion Entertainment presents this in a busy month of international tours along with the Death Angel/Armoured Saint tour in March.

On the local front, Herratik, System Addict, Temptris and Reign Of Terror are playing an all ages show in Goulbourn on Friday December 12 at the PCYC and then Herratik and System Addict back up the following night at the Basement in Belconnen with Machete and Tortured. Both shows cost a mere 10 bucks for a healthy slab of local heaviness.

The Day Everything Became Nothing have had an awesome 2008 with the release of their best studio album to date in Brutal and a very well received tour of North America. To cap off their annus brutalis, they’re recording a live DVD and album at the East Brunswick Club in Melbourne on December 12 on a monster grind bill with Cut Sick, The Kill and Roskopp.

Finally, and whilst not a pure Metalise event, a good cause and a few heavy bands warrant a mention of the Rock for RADD drink driving awareness show at the Holy Grail in Civic on December 20.

Following the loss of two friends in a drink driving accident two years ago, three of their mates decided to hold a show to commemorate their passing and to raise awareness at the festive time of year of the dangers on the road when you’ve been too merry. Aside from a 11 band bill that includes Gasma and The Veebees, there’s also a raffl e for a signed pair of boxing gloves fromAnthony Mundine and all donations raised on the night will go towards this worthy cause.

GASMA

JJ – Cough – Sigillum Luciferi – 288 Years of Sin JOSH NIXON doomtildeath@hotmail.com

bma magazine 20

“For the most part the record was the result of me at home getting everything to where it needed to be.”

Don't forget HAPPY HOURS in the ANU Bar

OB(SERVING) THE ASCENDANCY

Every Week Day 4pm-6pm

Jim Beam on Campus Pool Comp every Tuesday 5pm rego, 6pm start

Josh Nixon Tasmaniac’s PSYCROPTIC recently signed with one of the world’s premiere extreme metal labels Nuclear Blast, but the road warriors of the Apple Isle are not resting on their laurels. With a new album that is being widely received as one of the best of 2008 and an extensive tour of Australia and the world to follow, there is no rest for Australia’s kings of extreme metal.

Visit www.myspace.com/ anubar

Australian extreme metal has received more and more attention in recent years thanks to bands like Psycroptic. By going the extra thousand miles or so to tour Europe or the US, in a market that is relatively niche, staying true to their artistic vision and pulling up the sleeves for some old fashioned hard work has paid a much deserved dividend. That much is apparent in the sheer precision performance I’ve just witnessed as well as the songs from their latest album Ob(servant).

For a band already isolated from Australia’s mainland and its long roads and hard slog, Psycroptic have never once failed to put in that extra effort. That is refl ected in the venue I fi nd myself as I speak with guitarist, producer/engineer and songsmith Joe Healy. Behind the merchandise desk at a festival in Orange in country NSW, among bands like Butterfi ngers and Something With Numbers, Psycroptic are not only conspicuous by name and sound, but in that they get by far the most enthusiastic response of the day.

The new album was created for the most part in Tasmania, with guitarist Joe writing the songs and bringing them complete to the band as opposed to their previous jam based writing method. Joe said of the process for Ob(servant), “We spent a couple of days in a studio getting the drums down and then I took it home and had the time to really work on building up the guitars and getting the sound to a level before sending it to the States for mixing and mastering with Logan.” That Logan being Logan Mader, former guitarist of Machine Head. “But for the most part the record was the result of me at home getting everything to where it needed to be, getting Jason in to do the vocals and then off to the US for a fi nal polish,” adds Joe. As I fi lmed the Orange set on vocalist Jason Peppiatt’s camera (tour DVD on the cards fans), it was apparent how the large tours and international shows have helped forge the band into the molten metal machine they’ve evolved into. Jason stalks the stage perpetually, as bassist Cameron and Joe tear up their fret boards to the vacuum tight, yet unrelenting power blasts from drummer extraordinaire, Joe’s brother Dave Healy. Their musicianship positions them fi rmly at the front of the pack in Australian extreme metal stakes.

When discussing the breadth of their touring schedule Joe gives the impression of ‘business as usual’.“We want to tour as much as we can. I have got commitments with Ruins and Dave has Blood Duster, but Nuclear Blast are looking after us really well and the album is doing well and getting good reviews. So we will try and tour overseas as much as we can!”

Given the power and vitality of a band in their peak form the Ob(servant) tour and album is one all fans of ultra fast death metal must not miss.

They roll into the Basement in Belconnen Friday December 19 with Neo Obliviscaris, Infi nitum and Aeon of Horus. The band will also include in the run of Aussie shows a tour with the triple axe attack of Whitechapel.

Nov/Dec 08/Feb 09 FRI 28th NOV

THURS 4th DEC

SAT 28th FEB

USING THREE WORDS CD Launch

TONK D'OPUS & ROSHAMBO ALTA VOLANTE MERCY ARMS + SPECIAL GUESTS Tix on sale @ Ticketek $18.75*

JOSH PYKE + SPECIAL GUESTS Tix on sale Mon 1st Dec '08 @ Ticketek $36.75*

*Tickets thru Ticketek. Transaction fees apply.

Pre-purchase tickets & guarantee entry!

Psycroptic play at the Basement, Belconnen, on Friday December 19. Joining them will be Ne Obliviscaris, Infi nitum and Aeon of Horus

bma magazine 21

Music Geek Speck-Tacular!

“You just play with what you're comfortable with and if it happens...well, it happens”

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO JIM Justin Hook

JAMIE LIDELL is about to see if all those Elton John comparisons floating around since the release of his third album Jim (Warp) earlier this year are based in reality. You see, Lidell is currently in Belgium prepping for a run of arena sized shows through Europe with the bespectacled, outrageous one himself. But if playing in front of tens of thousands just-made-redundant fund managers and their over-jewelled suburban wives is a nerve wracking experience, it’s not showing. In fact, he confides that it’s not the crowd size that concerns him, but the set up. “The most nervous thing about the shows is that we don’t even get a sound check.

We’re trying to get the best 45 minute set that we can but I’m more worried about equipment failure.” And well he should. Stadium shows are capricious beasts and Lidell swings from full band, nu soul rave ups to avant-ballads over DJ scratching faster than an Elton wig change.

“I wanna go out the back and cry!” he adds with an anxious laugh that sounds tongue in cheek, but is no doubt frighteningly real.

Jamie Lidell made his mark in 2005 with his genre splitting, attention grabber Multiply. It was a gonzo amalgam of Otis Redding, Sly Stone, Jackie Wilson, Hendrix, Stevie Wonder and the list could on for another page or so. It was defiantly retro yet paradoxically incredibly current. It sounded like a time capsule from Motown, the golden era of the ’60s and ’70s where pop was soul was rhythm was blues, but it was held together by very Internet II-era electonica. It was the sort of music that made Saturday nights smarter, sleeker and sexier. As a performer Lidell also copped hints from his eclectic range heroes, knowing that image is everything, so long as it is propped up with quality songs. There was lots of tin foil and lamé, however. On the back some extraordinary press attention after the release of Multiply including an Artist Of The Year gong from the redoubtable XLR8R magazine, Lidell hit the airplanes with passport in hand.

The Brussels-via-Berlin-via-Brighton songster had a successful run of international dates only to see the wind disappear from his sails. Expanding about his experiences the other side of the Pacific Ocean, Lidell laments the slowdown .“The second tour wasn’t as successful as the first. It had all sort of died down. But there’s no point going over there with the idea that you can crack America. You just play with what you’re comfortable with and if it happens... well, it happens. But you know, you live and learn.”

This Zen-like conversational path is a pleasant change from the usual array of musicians who talk of breaking into markets and relentlessly regurgitate press releases to bored journalists. In fact even though he’s on the other side of the world on a creaky line, Lidell sounds positively ebullient. Apart from rehearsing for the Elton shows, Lidell has started doing some friendly DJ sets,“you know just throwing on some records, maybe some Interpol, then doing a bit of live singing over the top,” he explains.

Regardless of where he is on this crowded globe, Lidell assures me he has friends in every port to hang out with, play some music with and get some ideas from. Yet despite this, he notes some keen differences. “Oh yeah – there are some differences. There aren’t as many fantastic beaches in Belgium as there are in Australia.” Yup. He has a point there; another pasty-white musician to watch out for in the forthcoming southern summer months.

Jamie Lidell will play at the Falls Festival this December/January. His latest album Jim is out now on Warp Records via Inertia. bma magazine 22

“What we’ve been very lucky to have engendered in the show is a feeling of a group of people coming together and having a good talk about music” Dan Bigna I am sure there are many music geeks out there, and I am most likely one of them. Some distinguishing features might include name-dropping obscure 1960s garage bands in inappropriate social situations, or ignoring that party invite in favour of a television documentary on John Lennon that simply can’t be missed. I suspect that ALAN BROUGH from ABC music quiz show Spicks and Specks belongs in this category. Not only does he enjoy talking about music, popular or otherwise, on national television, but it turns out that Brough is very much welcome in those furthest corners of alternative music fandom where one can unselfconsciously pursue their interest outside of the mainstream entertainment industry.

The show has become a much loved part of Australian popular culture since its first season in 2003, and its ongoing appeal has much to do with the casual and often hilarious discussions that take place each week where popular music icons are given the opportunity to shed the studied cool and talk about whatever happens to be on their mind.

Brough, who happily admits his devotion to US hardcore punk music from the 1980s, appreciates the relaxed atmosphere on the Spicks and Specks set. “To me it’s just chatter, and what we’ve been very lucky to have engendered in the show is a feeling of a group of people coming together and having a good talk about music, and in that respect I think there is a certain freedom. We are very lucky to be on the ABC because had we been on a commercial channel we probably would have been cancelled.”

The show has certainly been a success, due in part to Brough’s passion for music which can be traced back to his teenage years in 1980s New Zealand when he began to investigate punk rock and supercool indie-pop music from bands like The Clean and The Bats. “I had been a punk fan at school and had been in a punk band as lots of people were at the time,” Brough says, “and I then got into post-punk stuff like Joy Division, but also stuff like The Stooges, The MC5 and Television, all those progenitors of what became the American hardcore scene. It just seemed like the logical next step for me from The Sex Pistols and a lot of the Flying Nun label bands from New Zealand.”

After arriving in Australia, Brough became involved in stand-up comedy and landed various roles in film and radio, but his musical taste was by this time well refined. “I remember on my sixteenth birthday buying Tally-Ho by The Clean. Not a lot of my friends were listening to this kind of thing, so it was very underground but also a really thriving scene. I think there are people out there attracted to music that others either don’t get or like and I was one of them.” There is something admirable about music fans willing to express disdain for commercialised entertainment, and Brough is content with the implications. “I think it is really about mapping out your territory, and also a lot of good music is made by people who have had similar experiences to you. That music talks directly to you, and so you form a relationship with it.”

This sense of engagement also translates to Spicks and Specks in a live setting. “It is a step beyond people yelling at the TV screen and wishing we could hear them,” Brough says. “The format of the show is basically the same, but it is a lot more interactive with the audience and I really love doing it. I know people who know a lot more about music than what I do, but I happen to know a little bit about a lot of things, and I very much enjoy the job I’m doing.”

The Spicks and Speck-tacular will go off like a frog in a sock from Wednesday December 10 to Friday December 12 at the Canberra Theatre.

Tickets are $54.90. Tickets from Canberra Ticketing.

bma magazine 23

A GIRL AND HER DOG “I guess the show is a loving and irreverent journey through the 12 and a half years of my much loved pet Murphy… aka Goo, Hayshe, McGoobertroid and the afore-crowned Princess Pissy Pants” Cecilia Pattison-Levi It’s a story as old as time – a story about a girl and her dog. It’s a comedy show for anyone who has ever had a four legged friend fi ll their house with dog hair, their gardens with doggy dos and their heart with love. On the strength of the success of the shows in Canberra in September this year, the show PRINCESS PISSY PANTS aka Princess Pissy Pants The Greedy Cheese Eating Bitch and Other Naughty Dogs Tales is returning to Canberra for Christmas shows this December. So if like most Canberrans you wanted to see the show last time but couldn’t get tickets because it sold out, or you heard about it after the show had fi nished, or you saw it and want to see it again, or you simply have a love for dogs and love a good laugh, then do not despair. The delightful Joanne Brookfi eld is returning and bringing the joy of dogs back into our lives.

Princess Pissy Pants The Greedy Cheese Eating Bitch and Other Naughty Dogs Tales has been a hit with audiences and critics alike around Australia and New Zealand. The show was fi rst performed as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and has grown from there. “It’s been great to make a connection with people,” says Joanne. “The love of a pet – the unconditional love and the acceptance of the importance of that relationship has been so affi rming. People really respond to it and want to share their stories. It has been an unanticipated outcome of the show and I fi nd it very rewarding to be able to make that connection with people.”

“The show is a story really,” says Joanne. “I am a story teller and it is a narrative about that relationship between people and their companion pets. I just happen to talk about my relationship with Murphy. I guess it is a eulogy and a celebration of the preciousness of life and the extra dimension that animals can give to our lives. I guess the show is a loving and irreverent journey through the 12 and a half years of my much loved pet Murphy… aka Goo, Hayshe, McGoobertroid and the aforecrowned Princess Pissy Pants.

Joanne Brookfield's one-woman performance is a relaxed address to the audience, initially more akin to stand-up or an informal chat than traditional theatre. “Yes, I try to keep the feel of the show informal and slightly more fluid,” says Joanne. “It means that each show is unique and special because the show slightly changes depending on the audience.

The bulk of the show stays the same but it does move and fl ow depending on the audience.”

Along the way the show has been raising both money for and awareness of the important work dog shelters and animal welfare organisations do in each town the show has performed in. “It is really great to meet such lovely and good people in the crazy world we live in,” says Joanne of the animal welfare people and organisations in the ACT. “They are just great decent people who deserve the support of the show and of the community. It’s amazing work they do rescuing animals.

The show has this spin off effect and it is to help highlight their role in the community and hopefully to educate people about the life long responsibility of pet ownership and the joy that can bring to our lives.”

So if you’ve ever stared into big brown eyes, or kissed a doggy snout or felt that your puppy or your cat understands you more fully than your shrink, then you must see this outstanding show.

Princess Pissy Pants will be returning to Canberra and will be performed at the Canberra Theatre Courtyard Studio on December 4, 5 and 6 at 7pm. bma magazine 24

BLACKBOX

Big Dreamers (ABC1, Thu Nov 27, 9.30pm) is sure to be the funniest show of the year, without actually meaning to be funny.

The doco follows the debate and subsequent decision to build the Big Gumboot in Tully, central Queensland, in an effort to save

the town through tourism. While your faithful Blackbox columnist has an unhealthy obsession with Australia’s big things and will often travel great distances to the home of these decaying relics, the fact that the Big Oyster, sitting on a major highway, is now a used car lot should probably have sounded alarm bells for Tully’s Rotarians…

Good old Auntie has been spruiking the station’s summer lineup for weeks – a mixture of documentaries, one offs, repeats of popular shows and new series.

Among these you’ll fi ndVictoria’s Empire (ABC1, Wed Dec 3,

9.30pm) where comedienne Victoria Wood travels the old British Empire to visit places and landmarks named after the similarly monikered monarch.

In stark contrast to the national broadcaster’s varied approach is SCTEN’s repeat, repeat, repeat philosophy. Surely there can’t be too many repeats of Law and Order (Thu, 8.30pm, Fri, 9.30pm) or NCIS (Tue, 8.30pm) we haven’t seen at least twice throughout the year. So desperate is the network for content that The Bold and the Beautiful (SCTEN, Mon-Fri, 6pm) comes into prime

time. The only new content comes in the form of a new series of The Wedge (Sat, Dec 13, 10pm) and Army Wives (SCTEN, Mon Dec 1, 8.30pm) a drama about army wives and The Ex-list (SCTEN, Mon Dec 1, 9.30pm) which follows people as they reconnect with improved exes.

Over at Prime, they’ve got a whole raft of new programs, some interrupted series and the jewel in the crown – a new series of Dirty, Sexy, Money (Prime, Tue Dec 2, 9.30pm). Among the new shows are Eli Stone (Prime, Tue Dec 2, Thu Dec 4, 8.30pm) about a San Francisco lawyer searching for meaning after an hallucination, Britannia High (Prime, Sat Dec 6, 6.30pm) set in a London performing arts school and new episodes of Las Vegas (Prime, Wed Dec 3, 8.30pm). They also now have the outstanding Seven Wonders of the Industrial World (Prime, Sun Nov 30, 7.30pm) which aired elsewhere earlier in the year and are going back to the pilot episodes of How I Met Your Mother (Prime Mon-Fri from Dec 1, 7pm) and Bones (Prime, Mon Dec 1, 8.30pm).

The Mega Falls of Iguaçu (ABC1, Sun Dec 7, 7.30pm) explores the greatest waterfall in the world and takes viewers on a visually sumptuous ride into South America. Go camp out at the home of a friend who owns a plasma – this deserves a big screen. Other docos to look out for include the new series The Museum (ABC1, Tue, 8pm) which goes behind the scenes at the British Museum and The Long Way Down (SBS, Wed Dec 3, 8.30pm) that takes Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman through Africa.

Get frustrated that all the cooking shows are obsessed with slow food? Check out Nigella Express (ABC1, Wed, 6.30pm).

Be sure to catch Street Soccer Zimbabwe (SBS, Tue Dec 2, 10pm) and In the Hands of the Gods (SBS, Tue Dec 2, 10.30pm) ahead of the Homeless World Cup Final (SBS, Sun Dec 7, 5pm).

Tune in for Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death (ABC1, Wed Dec 3, 8.30pm). If you thought the chickens were funny, just imagine the contraptions they will have in a bakery.

TRACY HEFFERNAN tracyheffernan@bigpond.com

THEATRE COLUMN

I feel like the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland: I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date.

And that date is deadline. Again.

Protestations of innocence are beginning to fall on deaf ears, with Our Gracious Leader waiting, I’m sure, to pummel me with a sock fi lled with alarm clocks E[ d - or Lego] the next time I fob him off with the word ‘thesis’ [Ed - or 'drunk']. Anyway. It’s almost done.

I’m sure you’re all breathing sighs of relief that they’ll be no more of this ‘satire, Evelyn Waugh, twentieth century’ lah di dah infecting Theatre Column. And hopefully next year’s columns will be signed with the title of DOCTOR. The Messenger CYT’s major production of the year is The Messenger, an adaptation by Ross Mueller of Markus Zusak’s award-winning Australian novel. The story follows 19-year old cabbie Ed Kennedy as he stops a bank robbery and begins to receive mysterious messages which change his life as his views of his friends and family evolve. But who is sending the messages? Ooooh…

Canberra Youth Theatre presents The Messenger at C Block Theatre, Gorman House, from November 26 to December 6. Tix $20/$15. For info and bookings phone 6248 5057.

Eight Women It’s the time of year to start thinking about Christmas shows, especially if you are of the ‘publicservice-group-entertainmentterrors-and-horrors-of-organisingfunctions’ persuasion. If you are, then look no further! Centrepiece is back with a Chrissie dinner & show extravaganza in conjunction with Teatro Vivaldi: an adaptation of Francois Ozon’s hilarious French cabaret-farce, 8 Women.

Centrepiece and Teatro Vivaldi Restaurant present 8 Women at the ANU Arts Centre from December 10 to 18 @ 7pm.

Dinner and show $70; discounts for group bookings. To book, phone Vivaldi on 6257 2718.

Princess Prissy Pants

The Red Shoes

Joanne Brookfi eld’s incredibly popular, awesomely titled show is back in town: Princess Prissy Pants The Greedy Cheese Eating Bitch and Other Naughty Dog Tales will perform in the CTC Courtyard Studio once (or more accurately, thrice) more for your delectation on December 4, 5 and 6. Go to it. Go on.

Prokofi ev. Ballet. Strange choreographic loves and enchanted shoes. If this ain’t your cup of tea (and let’s face it, most of you probably rolled your eyes at the second word. Heathens) then don’t go to see the West Australian Ballet’s The Red Shoes.

If it is, see it. And give yourself a pat on the back. You are of the elite (and yes, I’m turning up my nose. Right. Now.).

Joanne Brookfi eld inPrincess Prissy Pants at the Courtyard Studio, Canberra Theatre Centre, from December 4 to 6 @ 7pm.

Bookings and info can be got thru the CTC website or by phoning Canberra Ticketing on 6275 2700.

The West Australian Ballet presents The Red Shoes, choreographed by Simon Dow. The Playhouse, December 3 to

6 @ 7.30pm. Matinee Saturday December 6 @ 1.30pm. Tix $50/$43. U27 $30. Ye crème de la crème may call Canberra Ticketing to make your bookings: 6275 2700.

Reminders Just making sure you’re all well aware that Serious Theatre’s Oceans all boiled into sky (The Street) and Rep’s Cosi (Theatre 3). I’m sure I’ll see you there. I’ll be the one holding the wine.

NAOMI MILTHORPE princessnaea@gmail.com

DISCOLOGY SINGLED OUT

WITH DAVE RUBY HOWE Kanye West Heartless (UMA) Kanye’s next fixation with Slug-esque emo rap is nothing short of puzzling, but at least Ye’s still got a gift for solid beats and a love for new wave synth sounds. Heartless succeeds on exactly that; those processed-pipes kill it when they’re jutting out all staccato and the beat tumbles down, bottoming out your speakers. Jam. Katy Perry Hot N Cold (EMI) You know what, fuck it. This is pretty terrifi c. That other one about, what was it, fi sting a girl, totally sucked. This however has some undeniable bubblegum pop awesomeness. It’s catchy, packs bite, sass and bucket loads of bounce.

Sure it’s not about to change your life, but it’s damn fun.

Ladyhawke My Delirium (Modular/Island) They’re just kind of throwing these Ladyhawke singles out at will, hoping something will keep the momentum of Paris Is Burning going. My Delirium is a fi ne tune, nothing wrong with it at all, no sir. Its pick as a single is puzzling though, as it lacks the pop-dynamism of Pip’s previous gems and ends up just being kinda bland.

Nathalie Bassingthwaite Alive (Sony BMG) …I don’t hate it. But I still hate her. Her with her dead eyes, plastic lips, and coal black heart. The song itself is nothing. It’s easy, disposable dance-pop.

What makes it worse is that N-Bass over here is even less than nothing.

Sub-nothing. And she proceeds to drain every single inch of life out of this tune in her attempts to be the next Kylie, Rihanna or GaGa or whoever.

Sneaky Sound System When We Were Young (Whack!)

Okay, so the original sucks some pretty serious arse, doesn’t it? No matter, SSS have spent all those hard cred-bled Motorolla dollars getting some phenomenal remixes to make this package halfway decent. From DFA house-head Juan Maclean, to UK fidget maverick Sinden and French soft-pop zombie Breakbot, they’re all lining up for some big mixes. Even local kids like Shazam and DYC get in on it and manage to salvage the original for some really wonderful disco fun.

The Killers Human (Island/UMA) Okay okay. On one hand they’ve got Stuart Price producing their record.

But on the other they’re still poncing about like they're contenders to the throne of world’s biggest douche group. I mean, “Are we human, or are we dancer?”. Are you for real, Flowers?

It’s hard to enjoy that ridiculous rockgoes-trance breakdown when they’re just that annoying.

Axel Rudi Pell Tales of the Crown (SPV/Riot) Not to be confused with Cardinal George Pell, the popular Catholic Prelate, ARP is a German heavy metalist of the old school – so old in fact, that this, Tales of the Crown, is his eighteenth solo release. If you favour leather trousers, a mullet, moustache and carry an EU Passport the chances are you’ll be up with Herr Pell’s output, which is a stolid mix of Blackmore, Schenker and Malmsteen infl uences all mixed up with a late nineties power metal sensibility that at times makes for quite an invigorating listen. Pell has tried to move a little with the times here – Angel Eyes moves away from the usual stately pomp or double kick mayhem into rhythmic territory that has more in common with (gulp) AFI – but the meat and potatoes remain the same.

Hence album opener Higher rolls along like the Imperial Star Destroyer at the start of Star Wars, tipping its hat to Rainbow as it lumbers by, whilst the catchy Riding on an Arrow is a marvellously spritely departure into pop metal of the Magnum ilk. Of course, there are a few clunkers – Buried Alive in particular brings back a few bad by-numbers power metal memories, and Touching My Soul, whilst good, is probably a little past it’s sell by date for today’s tastes, but Pell, together with vocalist Johnny Gioeli puts in a top performance overall and this makes for an enjoyably traditional listen.

SCOTT ADAMS

The Go Set Rising (MGM Distribution) The latest from Melbourne’s The Go Set is their hardest and most sonically brilliant LP to date. The fi rst of their two-album deal with Eurolabel Coretex, it was recorded with Jonathon Burnside (Melvins/NOFX), giving it a more powerful punk edge. The songs are upbeat shanties of solidarity and struggle, performed loud and fast in that high-energy, singalong style.

Only 11 tracks, including The Miner’s Son, Roaring Forties and The Black and White Picture, but the closer, a great cover of Radio Birdman’s New Race seems out of place. Try before you buy.

SIMON HOBBS Oasis Dig Out Your Soul (Big Brother/ Warner Brothers) Whilst I’d never be churlish, or indeed ignorant enough to state blankly that ‘Oasis are crap’, I am a responsible writer of reviews, eager to set you on the right course as you enter the record store jungle, birthday gift voucher in hand looking to purchase the latest in top new choonery but needing a little guidance, so, here goes.

‘Dig Out Your Soul is crap’.

contender’ style rambling of an annoying lunchtime drunk keen to make friends with whoever’s left in the pub on a Tuesday afternoon. Oasis may deserve plaudits for having survived the cocaine blizzard they blundered into in the late nineties, they may still occasionally dine out on their Morning Glory credentials, but they can’t possibly need the money anymore, so they should stop trotting out tedious, self referential drivel like this now.

SCOTT ADAMS The Wreckery Past Imperfect (Fuse Music) What defi ned a good portion of Australian independent music that followed the intense punk energy of The Saints in the mid to late 1970s was an unadorned rawness that wrapped itself in whatever sound created the most immediate and hard-hitting impact. The Wreckery chose a simmering blues that could be compellingly lowkey as on I Think This Town is Nervous from 1985 which comes across as an unsettling calm before the storm. But then there is the classic Ruling Energy single from 1987 which encapsulates what this band was all about, with a churning rhythm section punctuated by slashing guitars, menacing sax and lyrical nuggets about suffering and redemption which vocalist Hugo Race delivered in a trademark baritone croon. Race had been involved with the earliest incarnation of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and critical assessment tended to place The Wreckery’s unholy blues racket in the shadow of the awesome St Nick. But the band forged its own path, and this beautifully remastered two disc collection of Wreckery recordings from the mid to late 1980s reveals a band fi ring on all cylinders before drugs and disintegration took hold.

DAN BIGNA

Put simply, we’ve heard it all before.

And whilst some bands, AC/DC for Snowman instance, are happy to churn out the The Horse, the Rat and the Swan same record year after year oblivious (Dot Dash Recordings) to modern mores or peccadilloes, yet Everything will not pull it off, Oasis, similarly limited in be fi ne. Perth fourvision to the ’Dacca but comparatively some Snowman’s third division in execution, cannot. sophomore album, The thing that made their early The Horse, the albums relevant was that for every Rat and the Swan tiresome Lennon pastiche there was a perfectly captures makeweight slice of genuinely exciting the sense of rock ’n’ roll; on DOYS there is none. The betrayal felt by all rockers trundle in at the same pace of us who boarded the train at Young as the ballads, the tired mid-period Modern Station only to come face to Beatle sitar mania washes in and out face with Big Brother. Singer-guitarist of your distracted consciousness like and songwriter Joe McKee denies that the music you hear whilst waiting social commentary was his intention, to pick up your Tikkah Masala at the but it is a testament to McKee’s talents Indian takeaway, and Liam’s trademark that listeners can allegorise his art to snarl, once so invigorating, now just the extent that they can. Snowman as sounds like the inane ‘I coulda been a a whole is no easier to pin down than its frontman. Guitar, bass, violin, keys, woodwinds and percussion are equally at home creating brooding atmosphere as with aural anarchy. The misanthropic We Are the Plague offers a glimpse of the album writing process, an experiment in paranoia which resulted Gamma Ray in the band temporarily breaking Hell Yeah!!! The Awesome Foursome Live in Montreal (SPV/Riot) up. On The Gods of the Upper House, A marvellously recorded document of one night on their cries of “we are machines” are apfi rst North American headlining tour, in support of2005’s ropos if not because of Snowman’s sleekly magnifi centMajestic, HY!!! sees these German uncompromising stance against power metal Magi in absolutely stunning form. With nearly an increasingly conformist music twenty years of material to choose from, they were never industry, then because the song going to please everyone with this double album – I for clangs. In the hands of a lesser one would have liked more from their spine tingling debut, 1990’s Heading for Tomorrow, but that is absolutely just band, this sensory bombardment nitpicking on my part. Mainman Kai Hansen was once the would be over relied on. Snowman heart and soul of genre titans Helloween, and if ever a man are smarter than that. Compare the had a fi nely tuned ear for this ludicrously grandiose style deadbolt of Daniel Was a Timebomb of music, it’s him. This is a fact evidenced here as classic to the subtle vice of Diamond after classic from both the Pumpkin children and the GamWounds. The latter model is no less mas gallop forth from the speakers at what Rob Halford effective than the former. This takes would describe as ‘breakneck speed’. This is a powerhouse skill. Whatever your interpretaperformance in every sense of the phrase, and whilst every track is a winner, can I just say that tion of The Horse, the Rat and the if Blood Religion doesn’t get you off the sofa and out of your strides, cardboard guitar in hand, Swan, you’ll be hard-pressed to menacing the cat with each windmilling powerchord shape you simulate, then you are not fi nd a more devastating album this the metallian I’ve always thought you were. Bloody brilliant. decade. A masterpiece.

NAMBUCCO ‘MAN ON A MISSION’ DELIRIA PAUL KELLOWAY

Cell Out

With Mark Russell; shaken or stirred doesn't matter but you've gotta get the Rohypnol just right.

Everybody seems to be suckling on the teat of the James Bond cashcow. There are many 007-themed advertisements and a nice bit of product placement throughout the fi lm. This would be fi ne if it didn’t affect the realism of the story. Bond asks for Gordon’s gin by name. Gordon’s?! Give the guy Miller’s, or Hendrick’s, even Bombay Sapphire for his reinvented martini. You can’t have the man who embodies style and taste drinking bloody rocket fuel. It’s enough to make me throw down my reviewer’s Crayola™ in disgust.

Traitor It wouldn’t be totally out of line to suggest that the issue of terrorism is complex. There’s a fair whack of moral ambiguity and it’s only two year olds and George Dubya who see white knights vs evil doers. Traitor attempts to clear up some of the murkiness by using international terrorist operations as a setting for a story, rather than the story itself. Samir (Don Cheadle) is an Islamic man who sells bombs to, and makes bombs for, terrorists. We follow him as he rises up the ranks to become a person of extreme interest for FBI agents Clayton (Guy Pearce) and Archer (Neal McDonough). A terrorist bomber as the main character, overly simple you say? Unfortunately, yes.

Quantum of Solace Finally we fi nd out why the fi nal half hour of Casino Royale was so boring. It wasn’t a false-finishing denouement intended to rival The Return of the King, it was the beginning of a new fi lm; this fi lm –Quantum of Solace.

We pick up exactly where we left off.

Bond (Daniel Craig) is moping over his dead girlfriend Vesper and this makes him angry enough to kill everyone in his way. Apparently we need half an hour of this to convince us he cared for the girl.

It may sound a little pathetic to pick apart the story of a Bond fi lm, but if you take out this angst you’ve actually got quite a tight fi lm. The writers (including Academy Award

The Wackness Many people may dismiss The Wackness as another wanky, self-indulgent indie ‘coming of age’ story, with dialogue littered with false wisdom and all the colours toned down to be intolerably dreary. That would be a mistake, as The Wackness is an original, moving and surprisingly uplifting fi lm that takes the teenage experience and depicts it in an interesting and unique setting.

It’s New York, 1994, hip-hop is on the rise and misfi t teenager Luke (Josh Peck) sells pot on the side while pining for the stepdaughter (Olivia Thirlby) of his troubled and immature psychologist/customer, Dr Squires (Ben Kingsley). As Luke wanders the streets of New York unsure of when and where

"I got mad love for you, shorty. I want to listen to Boyz II Men when I'm with you."

Luke (Josh Peck) The Wackness

Writer/director Jeffrey Nachmanoff manages to take this very loaded character, an incredibly nuanced actor in Cheadle, and make something that barely scrapes a fi ngernail down the skin of this premise. Basically we fi nd out that terrorism’s bad, and not all Muslims are violent fanatics… not exactly groundbreaking stuff.

There are a few moments where things get tense, a few more interesting new facts brought up regarding misconceptions about Islamic extremism but if you take on this kind of subject matter, you’ve kinda gotta reinvent the wheel. Cheadle is still brilliant but he’s got very little to work with. The Samir we know is more a noble caricature

than a character of interesting duality.

Traitor is also let down a lot by its climax. Nachmanoff builds things up as if it were a masterful stroke of twisted storytelling – it’s not. Again it’s overly simple, only answers a few of the questions the fi lm has asked, and doesn’t stand up logistically to post-mortem inspection. Personally I reckon we’re edgier and smarter than Traitor gives us credit for. I want an Irish coffee and some ethical unknown unknowns, not a baby-cino and a bunch of known knowns.

winner Paul Haggis) have twisted, crunched, crammed and hackneyed the beginning of the script to fi t in all the ‘motivation’. They focus so hard on this that it’s the only real plot we get for the fi rst act (other than a few references to a really really powerful, and really really secretive organisation and some stuff about manipulating South American politics). Insert a few action set pieces that accomplish absolutely nothing story wise and things initially look very grim.

This may sound like I didn’t like Quantum but not so. Take the last half hour of the last fi lm, and the fi rst half hour of this fi lm, and cut them into a fi ve minute section at the beginning of

Quantum and it’d be superb. Once that was out of the way we’d be left with a great bit of action cinema that does a few new things with an old idea. It’s lots of fun and keeps the thrills and innovation rolling along. The new Bond, the Bond of our times, has grown up even further. Hell he even manages a social conscience regarding abuse of natural resources.

he will fi t in, he jumps through all the usual ‘coming of age’ hoops, until the fi lm’s conclusion where he emerges, inevitably, all the wiser.

It’s true that there are all the typical elements – outcast falls for the pretty rebel, ‘father’ fi gure turns out to be not-so-together, and ultimately teen angst transforms into lessons learned and experiences logged. Luckily, there is so much more to The Wackness, and it lacks most of the usual clichés while maintaining a largely individual feel.

The acting from the leads is outstanding, and Kingsley and Peck have a wonderful chemistry. The plot is well executed and well paced, and director Jonathan Levine infuses a personal feel

into the fi lm that makes it an intimate experience that engages you right to the end.

Well-formed characters and amusingly earnest dialogue round out this fi lm into a refreshing few hours. Though not without its fl aws,The Wackness is defi nitely worth a watch.

MARK RUSSELL

MARK RUSSELL

MEGAN McKEOUGH

GIG REVIEWS You Am I/Tame Impala @ ANU Bar, Thursday November 13 In a city feeling the heavy weight of exams and sore pockets from a heady festival season, not to mention the woes of economic crisis, it was heartening to arrive to a near capacity crowd at the ANU. And who better than Tim Rogers and his merry band of sharply-dressed men to kick out the doldrums – and, indeed, the jams – with a refreshing blast of their iconic Australian rock.

For all the praise heaped on Tame Impala – not least from You Am I themselves – they failed to impress tonight. Over about 40 minutes the boys seemed to play only fi ve songs including a rendition of Blueboy’s ’90s club staple Remember Me – remember what happened last time a band based their career on a cover… Kid Courageous, anyone? The fresh-faced trio never seemed to rise above tedious, third tier Kyuss worship. You could call into any Lyneham share-house on a Saturday afternoon for this kind of dull, formless ‘psychedelic’ jamming. With Wolfmother moving on to greener pastures – pastures

hopefully outside the 20-acre lot of the music business – Modular are obviously hedging their revisionist rock bets on these three Perth kids.

But while they were hardly riveting tonight, they do have potential, and they are incredibly young. Given the sharp incline of improvement in any band’s formative years, a year down the track we could well be singing a different tune.

As the lights dimmed, the imposing fi gure of Rusty Hopkinson appeared behind the kit and started pounding out the intro to Damage. Andy Kent, Davey Lane and Tim Rogers followed soon after, provoking a mass singalong from the faithful. Things were off to a rollicking start; a trio of songs from Dilettantes were received with open arms, before Rogers-solo-track-turned-all-out-rocker, Arse Kickin’ Lady From the Northwest – introduced as a “cult classic” – had the audience jumping about and punching the air.

Rogers was in fine self-deprecating form, at one stage requesting the audience address him as Jeff Martin, although his request for coke during the second song signalled he was in an odd mood – he normally doesn’t ask for this sort of thing until at least halfway through his more troublesome gigs. Rogers’ banter was as oblique as ever, though his ability to silence any heckler still remains.“Don’t make the mistake of addressing me like I’m a real person,” he chastised one particularly vocal audience member, “I’m a hologram, and I’ll be hovering over you as you masturbate gently later tonight, young man.”

Excitingly, it seemed You Am I were not going to hand the audience what they wanted on a plate, including some obscure choices from the canon with little apology. A cover of The La’s There She Goes came towards the end of the set; Rogers – a man who’s always insisted he can’t sing easily – wrapping his tonsils around Lee Mavers’ spinetingling falsetto. But as enjoyable as it was, it was no substitute for any of You Am I’s similarly chiming pop gems – Mr Milk, Soldiers, What I Don’t Know About You et al – which were notable in their absence.

A poignant moment occurred during Heavy Heart – reworked with a full band arrangement built around Lane’s keys – when Rogers asked the crowd to think of a more original way to display the ecstasy of rock than holding their lighters aloft. Bemoaning the cheesiness of such gestures and their easy invitation for parody by the likes of Julia Zemiro, Rogers’ comment may have run deeper than his trademark playfulness. You get the feeling that for all his mockery of the genre and its clichés, he’s a man who still believes in the redemptive, transformative power of rock ‘n’ roll. The last of the true believers. With Denton appearances and praise during triple j’s Aus music month as ‘a classic Australian songwriter’, Rogers’ comment and the way he refused to give the crowd what they wanted may be refl ecting his fear that he could easily become a parody of himself and the music he loves like so many of his forefathers.

However, towards the end of the set the band acquiesced with the staple Berlin Chair, perhaps feeling obligated to deliver a handful of hits to a You Am I-starved province that only get a show every couple of years. But there’s always a curve ball. This time it was an intense reading of Pink Floyd’s Astronomy Domine; Rogers channelling Syd Barrett’s unhinged howl, and proving what a weak Floyd-pastiche Tame Impala were. Rogers even invited the band to join them onstage but they never arrived – intimidated, perhaps?

Overall, the show hit all the right spots; the new tunes sounded fab, the old as vital as ever, and, like any good You Am I show, it was a rollercoaster of emotions. Nonetheless for the seasoned You Am I fan – the kind of fan who had been receiving interstate setlist updates via text message from similarly obsessed friends in the weeks previous – there was a slight taste of disappointment, given the mouth-watering track selection on offer to our Melbourne and Sydney comrades. But, as has always been the way with this greatest of Australian bands – and with Tim Rogers in particular – nothing is ever that easy. And you wouldn’t want it to be, either.

YOU AM I @ ANU BAR PHOTOS BY JAMES THOMSON

NICK CRAVEN & PETER KRBAVAC

Hell City Glamours @ The Basement, Saturday October 25 By the time the Hell City Glamours vacate the stage at about fi ve past one in the morning, The Basement resembles the Cantina at Mos Eisley Spaceport. Wild eyed youths are lurching around the venue, strides at half mast, all bearing a slack jawed grin after one of the fi nest expositions of hard rock they’re likely to have witnessed all year. Hell, some of them are even clutching FREE SKATE DECKS and BASEMENT ENTERTAINMENT PACKS that they won in the raffl e (they love a raffl e at the Basement). Sadly, not one of these loose-faced loons are likely to remember just how good the evening was, so… to recap: after The Vee Bees primed the baying (sold out) crowd with a neat blast of oi! infused Aus brutality, Sydney’s Hell City Glamours were utterly, utterly marvelous.

Touring in support of pub rock legends The Angels has left them sharp, tight and utterly devastating. Songs from their new, self-titled album are delivered with an assurance and venom not heard in aeons – High Brow, Josephine and Ready to Fall all take line honours tonight, but there really isn’t a dull moment here, whilst old favourites such as Hey Man and White Trash, Hot Love simply wipe the fl oor with any band on the planet trotting out this kinda schtick and holding their paws up in competition.

HCG really are the business, brothers and sisters, and it’s up to you, me, us – all of us – to spread the joyous word amongst the naysayers and unbelievers. As my old sparring partner Frank Davies might have had it as we lay in the gutter outside a Camden Town pub at the height of Britpop one sticky summer night – This is Rock n’Roll…

SCOTT ADAMS Holly Throsby and The Hello Tigers @ ANU Bar, Thursday October 9 Holly Throsby is all too often unfairly lumped into the all-purpose female singer-songwriter basket of Higginses, Blaskos, Bowditches and Miller-Heidkes. It’s a lazy categorisation which doesn’t do anyone involved any favours. No slur on the aforementioned gals, but she’s streets ahead of any of them. Lyrically, Throsby tends to favour abstraction and evocative imagery over the more plain spoken, slice-of-life stylings of her contemporaries. Musically, she trades in spare, primarily guitar-driven folk-pop; on record augmented by the inventive and quirky arrangements of Tony Dupe, and on the live stage filled out by multi-instrumentalist wiz kids Jens Birchall and Bree Van Reyk, sharing an armful of instruments including accordion, cello, melodica, glockenspiel, as well as the standard drums ‘n’ bass between them. Overall, her songs, and her hushed, confessional delivery, have a resonance that draws you in.

So, wrenching my feet from the clutches of Bar 32’s unnervingly sticky, fluid-soaked carpet, I left the schizophrenic, 8-bit psych pop of Go Genre Everything behind, braved the unseasonably chilly winds and half-cut law students, and headed for our nation’s university.

Throsby is the kind of artist more suited to a ‘bohemian’ inner city pub, theatre shows, or a friend’s crowded lounge room, yet she still managed to create the same kind of intimate atmosphere in the cavernous, high school cafeteria setting of the ANU Bar. The crowd huddled close around the stage in pin-drop silence, craning their necks and straining their ears to catch every glimpse of and every anecdote from the softly-spoken singer.

As one would expect, the set was liberally sprinkled with tunes from A Loud Call, her third album. Like Under the Town before it, the new LP sees Throsby pushing further extremes – the pop songs are poppier, the sombre, atmospheric songs richer and more densely layered. Generally though, it is fair to say A Loud Call is her most accessible work to date, so it was no surprise that when I arrived inexcusably late on last minute reviewing duties, I was relegated to a position 20 odd rows back and spent most of the set admiring the crowns of Throsby and Birchall’s heads.

There were old favourites included too; Up With The Birds accompanied by some fi eld recordings of native birds that hometown gal Van Reyk had made in Belconnen earlier that day; Things Between People providing a moment of refl ection on relationships past. The slightly skewed but undeniably catchy Making a Fire, a somewhat unlikely pop hit, received a rousing reception – the audience indulging in the politest of shout-alongs, joining Van Reyk in the “NO!” that precedes the fi rst chorus – as did recent radio favouritesOne of You For Me and Heart Divided. Towards the end of the set, Throsby announced that after

three years they had fi nally settled on a name for her longtime backing band, introducing Birchall and Van Reyk by their formal title – The Hello Tigers. Say “Hello, Tiger”, in the cracked voice of the 60-something larrikin propping up the bar in your nearest RSL and you’ll get the idea.

Reminding us of her self-designed shirts, Holly bade everyone goodnight and stepped into the backstage gloom, only to re-emerge minutes later to man the merchandise desk, happily chatting with glowing punters. You wouldn’t catch Missy doing that…

PETER KRBAVAC The Butterfl yEffect @ UC Refectory, Friday October 24 Out on the town with BMA boss ‘Big’ Allan Sko, one fi nds oneself outside the Refectory at UC enjoying the balmy night air swathed in other people’s fag smoke; it’s one of the unwelcome side effects of our nanny state’s insistence on the death of passive smoking that support bands the nation over are destined forever to play only to third full houses whilst everyone else makes like a laboratory beagle in an effort to stock up on nicotine before a nerve wracking ninety minutes without a puff when the headliners are on. But there you go. And so to the main event.

The Butterfl y Effect are touring on the back of an utterly monstrous elpee, Final Conversation of Kings, and consequently you’d think they’d be lording it over the assembled throng with a degree of well-deserved smugness; but it ain’t so. It takes the band a while to break through the shackles of a tepid sound – when you’re weaving sonic tapestries of the calibre this band manage on wax, the least you expect from your soundman in the live environment is a grasp of sonics – and even when they do get going there’s a hint of ‘going through the motions’ about their performance, which isn’t to detract from the quality of the fare on offer. It’s just that, in my world at least, a little more commitment to the cause is always appreciated from those up on stage, and tonight’s performance lacked a little spark from a band that generally delivers in spades in the live environment.

SCOTT ADAMS

FIRST CONTACT: Write your band’s name as well as the name and phone number of the

BMA BAND PROFILE

THE BLUFFHEARTS

Band Name:

The Bluffhearts.

Where did your band name come from?

Sometimes a bluff is just a bluff. Other times, you may be bluffi ng that you are bluffi ng. People that gamble like this with love are Bluffhearts.

Group Members: Naomi Bluffheart (vocals/spoons/kazoo), Luke Bluffheart (guitar/ harmonica), Melanie Bluffheart (drums), Matt Bluffheart (stand-up bass), Matt Bluffheart (slide guitar), Jon Bluffheart (banjo).

Describe your sound: Like Norah Jones, if she inhaled a bottle of whisky and passed out in front of a honky-tonk.

Who are your infl uences, musical or otherwise?

Whisky, hangovers resulting from the overconsumption of said whisky, Hank Williams, Courtney Love, love.

What’s the weirdest experience you’ve had whilst performing?

Certainly the time we were playing at Wembley with Hank, and he popped backstage for a line and we said ‘Hank! You’re a professional!

Get some help! You should know your own lyrics by now!’ That could’ve been a dream.

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

Hearing the crowd sing back to us at our fi rst ever gig, and then getting a standing ovation. It felt like the closing moments of Walk The Line. Except it was at The Phoenix, not in a prison.

What are your plans for the future?

To play Tamworth and record our debut album, Tales Of The Bluffhearts.

What makes you laugh?

The ‘newsbars’ on Sunrise. Jonboy’s reasons for being late. Naomi’s drinking problem.

What pisses you off?

When you specifi cally ask someone to stop on their way home from work to get some things for breakfast the next morning, and you wake up to fi nd they forgot the tequila.

What’s your opinion of the local scene?

Far superior to the one in Yass.

What are your upcoming gigs?

Friday November 28 at the Street Theatre at 6pm.

Friday December 19 at the Front, Lyneham, with the Big Score, the Missing Lincolns, and One Foot in the Gravy.

Contact Info: Luke Bluffheart – 0410 983 450.

person to contact (limit of two contacts ie. phone and email) and send $5 (cheque or money order made to Bands, Music, Action) to bma: PO Box 713, Civic Square, ACT, 2608. For your $5 you’ll stay on the register until you request removal. Changes to listings also cost $5.

Aaron Peacey Aaron 0410 381 306 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.au Annie & the Armadillos Annette 6161 1078/0422 076 313 The Ashburys Dan Craddock 0419 626 903 Aria Stone singer/songwriter(guitar), sax & fl ute Aria 0411 803 343 Australian Kingswood Factory Sharon 0412 334 467 Australian Songwriters Association (Keiran Roberts) 6231 0433 Arythmia: Ben 0423 408 767/ arythmiamusic@gmail.com Backbeat Drivers Steve 0422 733 974, www.backbeatdrivers.com Bastards Jamie 0424 857 282/ www.bastards.altpro.net Big Boss Groove Andrew 0404 455 834, www.bigbossgroove.com.au Birds Love Fighting Gangbusters/DIY shows - bookings@birdslovefighting.com Blister Bug Stu 0408 617 791 Bridge Between, The Rachel 0412 598 138, thebridgebetween.com.au Bruce Stage mgr/consultant 6254 9857 Casual Projects Julian 0401 016 885 Catchpenny Nathan 0402 845 132 Caution Horses Nigel 0417 211 580 CD and Website Design Brendan 0404 042 574 Chris Harland Blues Band, The Chris 0418 490 640 chrisharlandbluesband@yahoo.com.au Chuffs, The Glenn 0413 697 546 Cold Heart Projects Andrew 6294 5450 Cole Bennetts Photography 0415 087 833/colebennetts@gmail.com Colourful Racing Identities Josh 0410 135 605 Cool Weapon Luke 0410 983 450/ Josh 0412 863 019 Cris Clucas Cris 6262 5652 Crooked Dave 0421 508 467 Cumulonimbus Matt 0412 508 425 Dance With Amps Marcus 0421 691 332 Danny V Danny 6238 1673/0413 502 428 DayTrippers, The Reidar 0414 808 677, daytrippers@grapevine.com.au (dp) New Media Artists Mal 0414 295 297 Dogact dog-act@hotmail.com, Paulie 0408 287 672.

DJs Madrid and Gordon 0417 433 971 DJ/MC Bootcamp Donte 9267 3655 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 Dubba Rukki Jim 0409 660 745 Easy Mode Daz 0404 156 482, easymodeband@gmail.com Entity Chris 0412 027 894 Epic Flagon band@epicfl agon.com EYE eye@canberra.teknet.net.au 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 FirePigs, The Danny 6238 1673/0413 502 428 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 Guff Damian 6230 2767 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 Adam Hole Adam 0421 023 226 Infra Retina Kyle 0437 137 775/Michael

0430 353 893/www.infra-retina.com In The Flesh Scott 0410 475 703 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 Jennifer Versatile singer looking for band; 0422 158 362 Jim Boots 0417 211 580 Karismakatz DJ Gosper 0411 065 189/dj@ karismakatz.com Kurt's Metalworx (PA) 0417 025 792 Lenders, The Tim 6247 2076 Little Smoke Sam 0411 112 075 Los Chavos Jules 0413 223 573 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 Malumba Dan 6253 5150 MC Kayo Marbilus 0405 648 288 kayo_101@hotmail.com, www.myspace. com/kayo_marbilus, Meatbee Ben 0417 492 560 Missing Zero Hadrian Brand 0424 721 907/hadrian.brand@live.com.au Moots aspwinch@grapevine.com.au Huck 0419 630 721 Murder Meal Combo Anthony 0419 630 721 MuShu Jack 0414 292 567, mushu_band@hotmail.com Myriad Kath 6253 8318 MyOnus myonusmusic@hotmail.com/ www.myspace.com/myonus Neptune's Necklace Mark 6253 1048 No Retreat Simon 0411 155 680 Ocean Moses Nigel 0417 211 580 OneWayFare Chris 0418 496 448 Painted Hearts, The Peter 6248 6027 Para 0402 277 007 Petra Elliott Petra 0410 290 660 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 Queanbeyan Music & Electronics 6299 1020 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 Sara Vancea Sara 6247 9899 Seditious Intent Toby 0419 971 547 Sindablok Duncan 0424 642 156 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 Stalker and Liife Darren 0413 229 049 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 That ‘80s Band Ty 0417 265 013 The Morning After (covers band) Anthony 0402 500 843/ myspace.com/themorningaftercovers Tim James Lucia 6282 3740, LUCIAMURDOCH@hotmail.com Top Shelf Colin 0408 631 514 Transmission Nowhere Emilie 0421 953 519/myspace.com/transmissionnowhere TRS tripstate@hotmail.com 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 Woden Youth Centre Jeremy 6282 3037 Zeitgeist www.zeitgeist.xwave Zero Degrees and Falling Louis 0423 918 793 Zwish 0411 022 907

GIG GUIDE November 27 - 29 THURSDAY NOVEMBER 27

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 27

friday NOVEMBER 28

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 29

ARTS _____________

LIVE _____________

LIVE ____________

ARTS _____________

Coulorophobia - Fear of Clowns An exhibition by Cole Bennetts.

Continues until Nov 29 CCAS, GORMAN HOUSE Permanent Rainbow An exhibition by Peter McKay. Continues until Nov 29 CCAS, GORMAN HOUSE Seventh Drawing Biennale Curator Elizabeth Cross has chosen artists whose draughtsmanship is rooted in observation. Continues until Dec 14 DRILL HALL GALLERY, ANU After Dinner Set in the late '80s, the audience sits with five 30-something singles, in a bistro setting on a Friday night, complete with band, booze and sometimes bizarre antics. Until Nov 29.

Tix $22/$18 BELCONNEN THEATRE Oceans All Boiled into Sky A road trip/coming of age story set in the nation's capital after the Earth's oceans have boiled into clouds of steam. Until Nov 29. Tix $20/$15 THE STREET THEATRE, ACTON The Messenger Following the adventures of a 19 year old cab driver who one day inadvertently stops a bank robbery. Until Dec 6. Tickets $20/$15 CANBERRA YOUTH THEATRE, GORMAN HOUSE, BRADDON 30 Days of Give and Take Artist Karin Maier created a work a day for 30 days and gave them all away. Now see the exhibition!

Opening from 6:30pm. Runs until Dec 2 THE FRONT CAFE, LYNEHAM Arc Cinema: Ichi The maker of Appleseed turns to live action, bending gender and genre in a distaff revision of the Zatoichi blind swordsman films.

Beginning 7:30pm NATIONAL FILM AND SOUND ARCHIVE Over the Front: The Great War in the Air This exhibition highlights the role of the young men of the AFC. Opens 6pm AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL

Mammal With Poetikool Justice and Me The Conqueror ANU BAR, ACTON Max Power From 9pm-midnight KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC The Bridge Between With friends. From 8 - 11pm THE FYSHWICK TAVERN, CANBERRA AVENUE

Punk Vs Metal: Heavyweight Title Fight Featuring Kill for Satan, All In Brawl, Reign of Terror, Eye Gouge, The Toxicmen and Forgery. From 8pm. Entry $10 THE BASEMENT, BELCONNEN Using Three Words CD Launch With Tonk, D'Opus & Roshambo and Alta Volante. The Jim Beam party crew will also be there ANU BAR, ACTON Dean Haitani From 5:30pm SOUL BAR, WODEN Heuristic From 10pm-2am KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC Rev Weekly punk/indie/dance/ electro/alternative night. Woo! BAR 32, N'BOURNE AVE, CIVIC Undercover From 10pm HOLY GRAIL, KINGSTON The Hottentots With Vic Farrell and David Griggs. From 7:30pm THE MERRY MUSE, TURNER Mr Lincoln Rocking on from 10pm THE DURHAM, KINGSTON Tell Me Bluntly With Adelle, Please to Jive You and Slovac. Entry is $5 WODEN YOUTH CENTRE

Arc Cinema: Kabei - Our Mother Yoji Yamada's deeply affecting look at a family in pre-WWII Tokyo. Beginning 4:30pm NATIONAL FILM AND SOUND ARCHIVE Arc Cinema: I Just Didn't Do It A Hitchcockian nightmare about a man falsely accused, and struggling with the Japanese legal system. 7:30pm NATIONAL FILM AND SOUND ARCHIVE Hot to Trot An evening of dance of startling depth and quality, performed with commitment and passion.

The short works will be shown in a one-hour performance repeated four times over the weekend, at 6pm and 8pm each day. Entry $10/$5 QLT THEATRE, GORMAN HOUSE, BRADDON

DANCE _____________ Booka Shade German minimal tech-house at its finest. With Scottie Fischer, Mig-L, Hubert, Dave Norgate and Exposed DJs. Free entry!

TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC Trash Thursdays $2 drinks until 2am and discounted cocktails. With DJs Adam and Esscue ACADEMY, CIVIC Blast From The Past Tunes from the ’80s and ’90s MINQUE, FRANKLIN ST, MANUKA Jemist From 9pm. $5 Coopers pints THE DURHAM, KINGSTON

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ Braddon Brainbuster Trivia 6pm rego, 6.30pm start. Beer/ food vouchers, cash prizes to win THE BRADDON CLUB Carry On Karaoke PJ O'REILLY'S, CIVIC Basement Pool Comp THE BASEMENT, BELCONNEN Karaoke With a Twist PJ O'REILLY'S, TUGGERANONG Karaoke Sing your tits off from 9 til 11pm.

Cash prizes and 2-4-1 basic spirits and tap beer CUBE NIGHTCLUB, CIVIC FRIDAY NOVEMBER 2828 28 28 28 FRIDAY NOVEMBER

ARTS _____________ Songs for a Joyul Traveller Tim Hansen will present a rollercoaster concert featuring a diverse program of original works. From 8pm THE STREET THEATRE, ACTON The Peter Cook & Dudley Moore Riotous Revue Playing every Friday and Saturday until Dec 20. Directed

by Jasan Savage. Hilarious comedy sketches GALLERY CAFE, UNIVERSITY OF CANBERRA, BRUCE

DANCE _____________ Shockwave II Canberra's premier dubstep event, featuring Bec Paton, Buick, Crooked Sound System, and Bowl and Scissors. Entry $5 before 10pm MERCURY BAR, N'BOURNE AVE Souled Out Fridays R&B with DJs Daz, Nate, Adam MINQUE, FRANKLIN ST, MANUKA Acid Jax ACADEMY, CIVIC Havana Nights Tropical rhythms and passionate dancing, from 8:30pm MONKEY BAR, BUNDA ST, CIVIC After Work Dranks With DJ Jemist. He's mightymighty, and he's letting it all hang out. From 5pm TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC Cheese Retromania with Jemist, Pornstylus and Dutch Courage.

From 9pm TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC Dusty Grooves Jazz, funk and soul with Jemist.

From 9pm. Yes, Jemist again HIPPO BAR, GAREMA PLACE

DAY PLAY _____________ Gorman House Markets GORMAN HOUSE Burley Griffin Antique Centre KINGSTON FORESHORE Oxfam Christmas Fair Featuring over 40 stalls selling locally-made crafts and fairly traded products from around the world. From 10am to 4pm ALBERT HALL, YARRALUMLA

GIG GUIDE November 29 - December 10 SATURDAY NOVEMBER 29

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 30

TUESDAY DECEMBER 2

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 3

DANCE _____________

DAY PLAY _____________

ARTS _____________

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________

Foreshore Featuring The Presets, Sasha, PNAU, Above & Beyond, Dukes of Windsor, The Galvatrons, 16 Bit Lolitas, Skool of Thought, Mission Control, Kazu Kimura, Bang Gang DJs, Stafford Brothers, Bass Kleph, Axe Aklins, The Aston Shuffle, Jeff Drake, Chris Fraser, and many, many more.

Final release tickets $89.95 from Ticketek, moshtix, Landspeed Records, Parliament Clothing, and www.inthemix.com COMMONWEALTH PLACE Transit Foreshore Afterparty With Club Junque, Kane Bligh, Scott Fischer, and Ronnie Gordon. Free entry TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC Academy Foreshore Afterparty With Bang Gang DJs, The Vandals, The Hump Day Project, Chris Fraser, Ashley Feraude and Sean Kelly ACADEMY, CIVIC Monkey Bar Foreshore After Party With Skool of Thought (UK) and Bass Kleph. Doors open 9pm MONKEY BAR, BUNDA ST, CIVIC Bushdance Canberra's biggest queer event!

From 7pm - 1am. Entry $25/$20 concession at the door YARRALUMLA WOODSHED Jazz Sessions Smooth jazz, wine tastings MINQUE, FRANKLIN ST, MANUKA

Old Bus Depot Markets KINGSTON Burley Griffin Antique Centre KINGSTON FORESHORE Tuggeranong Homestead Markets TUGGERANONG HOMESTEAD Summer Sun Days Every Sunday through Summer, from 2pm. Free BBQ TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC Sunday BBQs $10 BBQ lunch between 1 and 3pm. Happy hour from 2-4pm and live bands between 2-5pm.

Sizzlin'!

THE BRADDON CLUB Rollin to Summer Skate and BMX comps, with Wheelers demos, and performances from The Nation Blue, House vs Hurricane, Twelve Foot Ninja, Gasma and DJ Bowie.

From 9am til 8:30pm TUGGERANONG SKATE PARK, GREENWAY

Through a Different Lens This film festival will feature films by, with and about people with a disability. From 5:30pm NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

Fame Trivia PJ O'REILLY'S, CIVIC Carry-On Karaoke From 9:30pm.

THE DURHAM, KINGSTON $5 Night TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC Karaoke HOLY GRAIL, KINGSTON

LIVE _____________ Aeon of Horus CD Launch With Dred, Sword Towards Self, and Epoch of Inexistance. From 8pm. Entry $10 THE BASEMENT, BELCONNEN Kudos Kicks off at 10pm. $8 cocktails, 4pm-10pm THE DURHAM, KINGSTON The Cool From 10:30pm - 2:30am KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC Itchy Triggers From 10pm HOLY GRAIL, KINGSTON Slim Pickens THE PHOENIX, EAST ROW, CIVIC

DANCE _____________ Sunday Playground $3 Coronas and finger food throughout the afternoon MINQUE, FRANKLIN ST, MANUKA Cube Sunday 9pm till late with DJ Peter Dorree CUBE NIGHTCLUB, CIVIC

LIVE _____________ Irish Jam Session From 5pm KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC The Bouchet Brothers From 3 - 6pm OLIM'S HOTEL, AINSLIE MONDAY DECEMBER 1 1 111 MONDAY DECEMBER

DANCE _____________ Hospitality Night With Sean Kelly & guests TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC

LIVE _____________ Bootleg Sessions Local musos bustin' it out THE PHOENIX, EAST ROW, CIVIC

LIVE _____________ Musical Madness presents Nothing But the Blues To be held the first Tuesday of every month. Featuring Blues For You and The Adam Hole and Marji Curran Trio. From 9:30m FILTHY McFADDEN'S, KINGSTON

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ Fame Trivia From 7:30-10:30pm THE DURHAM, KINGSTON Pot Belly Trivia Every Tuesday POT BELLY BAR, BELCONNEN Carry-On Karaoke TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC Trivia Night PJ O'REILLY'S, TUGGERANONG Trivia Night HOLY GRAIL, KINGSTON Trivia Night THE PHOENIX, EAST ROW, CIVIC WEDNESDAY DECEMBER WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 3 3 333

ARTS _____________ The Red Shoes Performed by the West Australian Ballet. Choreographed by Simon Dow. Until Dec 6. Tickets $50/$43 CANBERRA THEATRE PLAYHOUSE

DANCE _____________ Caribbean Vibes Recharge from 8.30pm MONKEY BAR, BUNDA ST, CIVIC

LIVE _____________ Captain, My Captain Along with Chantelle Milin, Kara Youngentob, Lloyd AlisonYoung, Little Sister and The Glaciers THE PHOENIX, EAST ROW, CIVIC Antagonist A.D. With The Broderick TUGGERANONG YOUTH CENTRE

THURSDAY DECEMBER 4

ARTS _____________ Open Air: Portraits in the Landscape The first exhibition in the temporary exhibition spaces of the new National Portrait Gallery.

This exhibition invites visitors to reflect on what places mean to people. Until March 1 2009 NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY Princess Pissy Pants: The Greedy Cheese Eating Bitch and Other Naughty Dog Tales This show, which has been a hit with audiences and critics alike, is about the twelve and a half years Melbourne-based stand up comedian Joanne Brookfield spend with her German Shepherd cross, Murphy. From 7pm. Until Dec 6. Tickets $24.70 CANBERRA THEATRE COURTYARD STUDIO

DANCE _____________ Trash Thursdays $2 drinks until 2am and discounted cocktails. With DJs Adam and Esscue ACADEMY, CIVIC Blast From The Past Re-live your favourite tunes from the ’80s and ’90s MINQUE, FRANKLIN ST, CIVIC Funky Thursdays With Special K. $5 Coopers pints.

From 9pm THE DURHAM, KINGSTON One Love Sessions DJs playing reggae, dancehall, roots, and dub from 8pm HIPPO BAR

LIVE _____________ The Boat People With Washington (live) TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC

THURSDAY DECEMBER 4

saturday DECEMBER 6

Saturday DECEMBER 6

ARTS _____________ Mercy Arms With special guests. Tickets $18.75 ANU BAR, ACTON Tripitide 9pm - midnight KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ Braddon Brainbuster Trivia 6pm rego, 6.30pm start. Beer/ food vouchers, cash prizes to win THE BRADDON CLUB Basement Pool Comp THE BASEMENT, BELCONNEN Karaoke With a Twist PJ O'REILLY'S, TUGGERANONG Karaoke Belt your lungs out from 9 til 11pm. Cash prizes and 2-4-1 basic spirits and tap beer CUBE NIGHTCLUB, CIVIC FRIDAY DECEMBER 5

DANCE _____________ UG Beats With Jaytech, Jemist, Exit, Pornstylus and Alistair. 9pm TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC Two Fresh With Stewie, King James, Hubert, and Beat It. Entry $15. 10pm LOT 33, KENNEDY ST, KINGSTON Souled Out Fridays Smooth, sexy R&B, with Canberra's all star DJs MINQUE, FRANKLIN ST, CIVIC Havana Nights From 8.30pm MONKEY BAR, BUNDA ST, CIVIC Friday Night Mix Up With DJ Craig PJ O'REILLY'S, TUGGERANONG Retro Night From 10pm ACADEMY, CIVIC

LIVE _____________ Irrelevant With Mary Jane Kelly, Ghost Town, Skyway and Cold Front.

All Ages TUGGERANONG YOUTH CENTRE Rev Weekly punk/indie/dance/ electro/alternative night. Woo! BAR 32, N'THBOURNE AVE, CIVIC Bliss With The Bridge Between.

From 6pm SOUL BAR, WODEN The Drop Bears From 10pm HOLY GRAIL, KINGSTON Moh Van Wah CD Launch With All Guns Blazing, Monster Elephante and Loud So Clear.

From 8pm. Entry $15 THE BASEMENT, BELCONNEN Tell Me Bluntly With Please to Jive You, Slovac and Astrochem. Entry $5 WODEN YOUTH CENTRE

Blaze 08 The Canberra Contemporary Art Space studio residents' exhibition, featuring Sonja Barfoed, Kress Beecher, Rosalind Lemoh, Owen Lewis, Fiona Little, Anna Madeleine and Amy Nguyen. On show until Jan 31. From 6pm CCAS GORMAN HOUSE, BRADDON Arc Cinema: Patti Smith - Dream of Life Steven Sebring's beautiful and intimate portrait follows 11 years in the life of the 'Godmother of Punk'. From 7:30pm NATIONAL FILM AND SOUND ARCHIVE

DAY PLAY _____________ Walk Against Warming Walk for your future. From 11:30am CITY WALK, CIVIC CENTRE Gungahlin Youth Centre Open Day With live music, free fairy floss, BBQ, airbrush tattoos, pool, ping pong, a dance machine, a bucking bull, and many more games.

From 11am - 3pm. Free entry GUNGAHLIN YOUTH CENTRE Gorman House Markets GORMAN HOUSE Burley Griffin Antique Centre KINGSTON FORESHORE

DANCE _____________ Chrome The last Chrome for 2008!

Featuring Salem, Stealth.Elf and meta Virus. It will be just the Chrome Crew so the music will be served up just how you like it! Kicks off at 9pm. Entry $6 HOLY GRAIL, CIVIC Minx (One Love, Adel) With Cassette, Bad Ezzy and Staky. $5 entry for laides plus free glass of champagne. $10 entry otherwise (for those nonladies amongst you). 10pm LOT 33, KINGSTON Keli Hart With Pred, Team Wing and Frank Madrin in the candy bar ACADEMY, CIVIC Jemist From 9pm KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE Sleep Monday With Knife Machine, Craig Obey and Lady Lauryn. Doors open 9pm. Entry $15 MONKEY BAR, BUNDA ST, CIVIC P.Inc Dance Party A queer friendly extravaganza!

From 6:30pm-12am. Entry $20 full/$15 concession from the venue and on the night DNA STUDIOS, GORMAN HOUSE

LIVE _____________ Curious Fate 10:30pm - 2:30am KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC Teeth and Tongue Jess Cornelius launches her debut solo album Monobasic.

Special afternoon show, with Jonny Telafone THE FRONT CAFE, LYNEHAM

Kid Confucius With Casual Projects TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC The Rhythm Method From 10pm HOLY GRAIL, KINGSTON Potbelly Battle of the Bands Final From 8pm THE BASEMENT, BELCONNEN Delace With Astrochem. 9:30pm til late.

Entry is free THE POT BELLY, BELCONNEN RockZone Kicks off at 10pm. $8 cocktails from 4-10pm THE DURHAM, KINGSTON The George Fest With King Farook, Finn, Ashleigh Mannix, Annie & The Armadillos, and Dan England & The Thieves.

From 3pm to midnight. Free entry. Food and drinks available.

Families welcome THE GEORGE HARCOURT INN, GOLD CREEK Sunday DECEMBER 7

DAY PLAY _____________ Tuggeranong Homestead Markets TUGGERANONG HOMESTEAD Sunday BBQs $10 BBQ lunch between 1 and 3pm. Happy hour from 2-4pm and live bands between 2-5pm THE BRADDON CLUB Summer Sun Days Every Sunday through Summer, from 2pm. Free BBQ TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC Silversun Sundays Short films hosted by Silversun Pictures. With music by Jemist.

From 4pm KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

DANCE _____________ Sunday Playground Chill out on the Astro deck or misbehave on the dancefloor. $3 Coronas, and free finger food MINQUE, FRANKLIN ST, MANUKA Cube Sunday 9pm till late with DJ Peter Dorree CUBE NIGHTCLUB, CIVIC

LIVE _____________ Irish Jam Session From 5pm KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC Crayon Fields (Melb) Melbourne indie-pop faves playing an afternoon backyard show. With Sly Hats, The Motifs, Jessica Says and Jonny Telafone.

From 2pm 1 WATTLE ST, O'CONNOR MONDAY DECEMBER 8

DANCE _____________ Hospitality Night With Sean Kelly & guests TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC

tuesday DECEMBER 9

LIVE _____________ ASA Waxlyrical Sessions THE PHOENIX, EAST ROW, CIVIC Musical Madness at Filthy's With Leigh Answers (ex My Onus), Julia and the Deep Sea Sirens, and One Foot in the Gravy. From 8:30pm FILTHY McFADDEN'S, KINGSTON

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ The Wiggles That's right. I'm not joking. The freakin' Wiggles! Performances at 10am and 1pm AIS ARENA, BRUCE Carry-On Karaoke TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC Fame Trivia THE DURHAM, KINGSTON Pot Belly Trivia POT BELLY BAR, BELCONNEN Trivia Night PJ O'REILLY'S, TUGGERANONG Trivia Night HOLY GRAIL, KINGSTON WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 10

ARTS _____________ Eight Women An adaptation of Francois Ozonon's hilarious French cabaret-farce. Directed by Aaron Ridgway and starring stalwarts Jordan Best, Jenna Roberts and Stella Wilkie. Get a hot deal with the Christmas dinner and show extravaganza! Until Dec 18, from 7pm. Dinner and show $70 TEATRO VIVALDI

DANCE _____________ Caribbean Vibes MONKEY BAR, BUNDA ST, CIVIC

LIVE _____________ The Ellis Collective THE PHOENIX, EAST ROW, CIVIC Something More With Slowburn, Cold Front, Vera Cruise and This Plague. All Ages TUGGERANONG YOUTH CENTRE

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ Fame Trivia PJ O'REILLY'S, CIVIC Carry-On Karaoke From 9:30pm. $1000 grand prize THE DURHAM, KINGSTON Karaoke Night HOLY GRAIL KINGSTON $5 Night Try something new!

TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC

DVDEVOTEE

Dirty Sexy Money (Walt Disney Studios)

Back To You (20th Century Fox)

Burn Notice – Series One (20th Century Fox)

Essentially your joy of Dirty Sexy Money depends on how much you like watching Peter Krause (Six Feet Under) and Donald Sutherland (MASH) perform, which in my case is a hell of a lot. Nick George (Peter Krause) never really knew his father Dutch, who was the lawyer for the wealthiest family in the history of forever the Darling clan - led by patriarch Tripp Darling (Donald Sutherland). When Dutch, dies in a mysterious plane crash, Nick inherits this family.

Channelling the spirit of The Royal Tenenbaums and with dollops of dark humour, Dirty Sexy Money is more fun than it should be, as we watch Nick take a trip down the road marked ‘shitloads of excess’.

Back To You seemed like a bit of an anachronism when it fi rst aired last year. It was a return to the simpler more predictable days of situation comedy; multiple cameras, live studio audience, back-and-forth banter suitable for the whole family, and Kelsey Grammar. Pretty basic primetime stuff. But at least it’s not Two and a Half Men – what the fuck accounts for the success of that show?

Is it maybe in times of crisis and uncertainty we want familiarity, comfort and nothing too challenging? But then a black man has just become President of the United States, so forget that theory. Gawd, when did everything get so confusing? Anyway, Back To You sees Grammar trading barbs with Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond) his co-anchor at a smallish town TV station. The pair’s drunken hook up at a party ten years previous led to a daughter he didn’t know existed and much of this fi rst, and only, series revolves around the slow reveal and concealment of this fact.

Reasonable hilarity ensues, matching the growing slow boil and smoulder of chemistry between Grammar and Heaton. However the real treat lays elsewhere in Fred Willard’s absurdist non-sequiters, superb timing and peculiar reminisces, and even though he’s trawling similar ground as he did in Best In Show, Waiting For Guffman, A Mighty Wind et al, it’s still a freakish delight to catch him in full fl ight, as is normally the case here. And fortunately it picks up immeasurably when Josh Gad as the nervous, inexperienced station manager and Ty Burrell as the awkward, stumbling fi eld reporter end up becoming the worthwhile focus points of the show as the Grammar/Heaton/child storyline peters out to an obvious and laboured conclusion. It’s no 30 Rock, The Offi ceor Arrested Development, but it doesn’t want to be. It may be an old design, but Back To You is broad, dependable and solid but a million times better than Two and a Half Men.

Burn Notice is an unusual and at times frustrating show. When drip fed on freeto-air television last year it was difficult to warm to; it seemed cheap and nasty, unsure what exactly it wanted to be – an espionage thriller? Smarmy, tongue in cheek comedy?

Cool, controlled insider spy drama? In the end it turned out to be a nimble mix of all these and a whole lot better than anyone had reason to hope for. We have Bruce Campbell to thank for that. And Jeffrey Donovan. The latter, in the lead role, plays Michael Westen as a spy who suddenly without warning or reason fi nds himself ejected from his shady CIA-esque employer – blacklisted or ‘burned’.

Calling on his out-to-pasture, flabby, insolent best friend Sam (Campbell) with contacts all over the spy industry, Westen spends equal time attempting to regain his identity and then uncover the source of his blacklisting, funding himself via mercenary jobs as they arise, usually involving the protection of foolish loose acquaintances who get in too deep for their own good. Through it all Westen’s voice-overs provide DIY advice for the budding spy – the best way to win fi ghts, how to out manoeuvre mobsters and lose a tail, manufacture explosive devices from household equipment and everything in between. OK, you have every right to assume we’re eerily close to MacGyver territory here but this one manages to charm its way out of that abyss with taught writing and, of course, Donovan and Campbell. Gabrielle Anwar as Westen’s on/off girlfriend grows exceptionally more bearable once she drops the risible IRA back story and preposterous ‘Oirish’ accent, and if that’s the most heinous crime of the show, then that’s hardly a complaint. Burn Notice settles after some early staggers and when measured against the yardstick that all DVD TV show releases should be measured by, namely is it worth repeated viewings; then yes, it’s a complete screwball success.

Burn Notice is released on December 3, 2008

The problem comes when the soap opera elements overwhelm the fun the viewer should have - the priest with the son he denies, then later really wants is more suitable to Home and Away than something that has the class of this. The other complaint is that there are too many characters, with the twins, in particular Juliet being a waste of space (I believe in the second season she appears only as a guest star, so that has probably begun to rectify the situation). A particularly brave step in a mainstream American television program is the inclusion of Carmelita (Candis Cayne), a transsexual who is having an affair with a married politician, Patrick Darling IV (William Baldwin). In general much of what is here is a huge bus ride of fun – particularly the mystery element of what actually happened to Dutch.

Well shot, with magnifi cent scenery and great performances from Sutherland, Krause and Jill Clayburgh as matriarch Tish Darling, Dirty Sexy Money is, all up, a fun if mindless ride.

Extra features include a look at the sets, bloopers, a look at Candis Cayne, commentaries and a heap more.

GEOFF SETTY

JUSTIN HOOK

JUSTIN HOOK

NEXT ISSUE: FINAL ISSUE OF THE YEAR! FEATURING BLOCK PARTY, O IN THE PARK, GURRUMUL, NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS AND LOADS MORE. FOR ALL YOUR SUMMER FESTIVAL NEEDS, SO EAT IT UP YOU BIG FATTY! YOU LOVE IT!!