BMA Mag 365 Feb 15 2011

www.bmamag.com

Darren Hanlon Dazza does Canberra #365FEB16

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The Waifs Lead us into temptation

gtm

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Beauty and the Bass

Q: If you were a cooking utensil, what cooking utensil would you be?

A: A colander: my story is full of holes.

Turn to page 28 to find out who said this.

# 3 6 5 F E B 1 6 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 Julia Winterflood T: 02 6257 4456 E: editorial@bmamag.com Accounts Manager Ashish Doshi T: 02 6247 4816 E: accounts@bmamag.com Super Sub Editor Josh Brown Graphic Design Cole Bennetts / Jemist Exhibitionist Editor Yolande Norris E: exhibitionist@bmamag.com Film Editor Melissa Wellham Principal Photographers (The Flashbulb Posse) Andrew Mayo Nick Brightman NEXT ISSUE 366 OUT MARCH 2 EDITORIAL DEADLINE FEB 21 ADVERTISING DEADLINE FEB 24 Published by Radar Media Pty Ltd ABN 76 097 301 730 BMA is independently owned and published.

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

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Like a huge meteor the likes of which only a big budget Hollywood film could accurately depict, Beauty and the Bass is hurtling towards Canberra and is about to make a massive impact on the dance music scene. It’s a red carpet dance event, a chance to glam up like a celebrity A-lister, pose for the paparazzi and make love to the camera. Taking place in the huge main ballrooms of Hellenic Club Woden, over two stages you can catch Goodwill (MOS), Elmo Is Dead (Fake, Syd), Beni (interview on page 19), Paqman (Melb), Nik Fish (Sublime, Syd) and the local beat gods Ashley Feraude, Offtapia, BTham, Team Wing, Department of Defiance, PeDrO to name but a few. Entry Only tix are a mind blowing bargain at $45 and if you can get them deluxe tickets (2nd release $95) will get you food, beer, wine and champagne ‘til midnight. Be beautiful, be bold!

The Ashton Shuffle’s Friday Night Shuffle 2011 is becoming the year of Canberra’s The Aston Shuffle.

They kicked it off with the epic premiere of their live show alongside David Guetta at Sydney’s Shore Thing on NYE 2011, and then moved into the studio to put the finishing touches on their debut album, and now they’re moving into a different kind of studio.

Mikah and Vance are taking over the airwaves of the 10pm – midnight slot on triple j for Friday Night Shuffle, and they’ll be bringing the newest tracks and remixes from around the globe to your radio. The Aston Shuffle are the most promising and prolific emerging talents in Australia’s booming dance community, currently voted #1 touring DJs on the most recent inthemix50 and spending a combined 210 weeks in the ARIA club chart with 13 weeks at #1 in their short, three years on the scene. They are one of those rare outfits who mange

to successfully straddle the underground and mainstream with solid commercial and alternative radio support for their originals, and muster decent blog hype, recently reaching #2 on the hype machine twitter chart. Massive BMA love, boys.

Dave Carr and Lolo Lovina at The Phoenix David Carr’s Fabulous Contraption explore the forces of good and evil in the world of instrumental folk music. You’ll hear intricate guitar work, marry-your-sister banjo, and a sensitive but hard-grooving rhythm section. Like drifting calmly down a river only to find yourself in the midst of a crocodile infestation, the music moves between extremes; from trancelike calm to dancing-on-the-tables lunacy. With members from Ukraine, Hungary and Australia, high energy Gypsy band Lolo Lovina draw influences from across Eastern Europe and Latin America. The bulk of the band’s lyrics are in Rromani, the language of the Gypsies.

It is from this language that the band derives their name, which means Red Beer. They’ll be tearing Phoenix apart on Saturday Feb 19.

50 First Dates Tour at Pot Belly Bar Dan Parsons and Steve Grady embarked upon the 50 First Dates tour last month, a road trip with a difference which will see the pair abandon the typical hipster haunts in favour of lesser known halls and public bars in 50 of Australia’s more mysterious and far flung towns.

Dan and Steve met at uni, both turning up to a band rehearsal with acoustics at which point Dan was shunted to electric. Since then they have been strong influences on each other’s music - Parsons teaching Grady finger style guitar and getting him into country

music while Grady introduced Dan to pop artists that had been previously outside his sphere of influence. They’ll be playing for free at The Pot Belly in Belconnen On Wed Feb 23.

Jack Carty at The Front Jack Carty is a rare find. An inspired artist with a way with words and melody sculpted by a unique upbringing, a natural flair and a dedication to his craft. After extensive touring throughout Australia and the US and the gong for singer-songwriter of the year at MusicOz 2010, he’s currently bringing in the New Year with a run of festival dates. Jack will be lighting up C-Town with a show at The Front on Friday Feb 18.

Mingle Turns Two What started as the brainchild of three humble uni kids has somehow grown into one of the longest running dance nights in town. Two years down the track, many parties on and three bars later Mingle is still bringing the noise on Thursdays.

The’ve hosted the likes of Housemeister, A1 Bassline, Mark Dynamix, Cassian, The Aston Shuffle, Nina Las Vegas, Loot n Plunder and all for free!

What sets them apart is their continued drive to play the freshest music every Thursday irrespective of genres. Cheese, Offtapia, Yohan Strauss, Tim Heaney, Faux Real, Aeon, Hazan, Peking Duk, Barry White, RTFM crew, Jacob Levi-Howes, Smashed, Shaolin, Hazan and Cha Cha Cha all got their starts at Mingle... true story. Mingle celebrates its second birthday at Trinity on Thursday Feb 17 with 15 of Mingle’s all time best DJs. Free entry, doors from 7pm.

Mingle DJ

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FROM THE BOSSMAN You will, by now, be au fait with Part 1 of my Practical Joke Fail yarn that ran last issue – concerning my ill-fated troika of trickery on long suffering friend Cole Bennetts. Here is Part 2.* It had been a good while since my last ‘vapour bomb’ – the wholesome practise of emptying the best part of a can of aerosol (or deodorant, or air freshener… remember, kids, pungency is king) into a confined space that someone is about to enter. Such as a toilet. And as far as toilets go, they don’t get much smaller or confined than the one at BMA HQ. After going so long without suitable air freshener, one nasal offending day I’d had enough and dispatched an underling to get some. Later that afternoon, after a much needed round of coffee, mine and Cole’s piss cycle – like that of so many men in pubs before us – synced. We both motioned to the pisoir at the same time and Mr B, in his infinite kindness and profound foolishness, proffered me to go first.

Once in the loo, I spied our new fragrant can of joy and let fly a celebratory spray. My joy at the air freshener, exacerbated by its long absence and magnified by my mindset for mischief, saw me depressing the button for a full 30 seconds until the air glistened with chemical lavender dew. Giggling maniacally, I left the smell chamber, stifling titters as I passed a Bennetts keen to show the cistern what his barista of a bowel had to offer.

I waited for what I thought was going to be a gentle yelp, maybe a small cough or two, and a mild expletive to tie things off nicely.

Chuckles all round. Instead, I was greeted to a gurgling sound effect not out of place in a war film, followed by brutal hacking and spluttering and the sound of the toilet door being violently flung open. Out staggered an alarmed looking Cole; hands affixed around his throat, tears streaming down his hot red face.

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

And for the love of God, keep it brief! [All entries contain original spellings] AHHHHHHHHRRGGGGGHHHHH! I just want to kill you motherfucking jazz nazzis! Once again Ive ended up jamming with some of the ANU jazz schools finest and again it degraded in a a total noodle fest of who can play louder, faster and more esoteric. Music should be like a conversation between instruments but time and time again the jazz nazzis show that they have no comprehension of anything other than the musical equivalent of a shouting match. It doesnt matter what instrument the nazzis play- Ive played with drummers, bass players, guitarists, trumpet and sax players and its been the same for the last seven years! Heads up assholes- the audience leaves when you play your self indulgent extended wanking solos for 10 minutes at a time. Other non- nazzi musos get pissed off cause there is not even a few beats to get a few notes in edgeways. Learn something about the value of rests- thats where you dont play. Learn something about taste in phrasing instead of how many notes can be crammed in a bar. Some attention to dynamics would be great too. Maybe think about your tone too, or even look up from your navel gazing to make eye contact with punters if there are any.

“Jesus!” I gasped. “You alright?” // “Did you… spray… something in the bathroom?” he managed to rasp. // “Ummmmm… Yeah.” // “I’m <HACK!> allergic to lavender.” // “I, I see. Call the doctor shall I?”// “gurglegurgleblaaaaaaaaargh”// “OK, just lie down.”

Having nearly fatally poisoned my good friend on two separate occasions now, I thought it best to steer clear of practical jokes for the time being, and wait until I’d brushed up on them to a point where they’re not so lethal. Determined to sweep my track record all away I came across a delightful video courtesy of the lively weekly e-zine Popbitch, which concerned a gaggle of baby otters at Chester Zoo in England jumping up and down and squeaking in the cutest fashion imaginable. It was enough to put The Mighty Boosh’s Kittens In a Barrel soother to shame. Bearing in mind my recent unmitigated parade of terror towards Cole, and the fact the man was on a heart stopping deadline that had him chain-smoking in a manner that would put Phillip Marlowe to shame, I sent it through to him by ways of an apologetic appeaser. “Feeling a bit stressed?” I wrote in the body of the email, suggesting this would soothe his wrinkled brow. Cute baby jumping squeaking otters. What could posi-bligh go wrong?

I received this email back - “I AM feeling a bit stressed!!!!! It brought back memories of being in the small clawed-otter enclosure during my zoo days, where I got my foot stuck in the pond laying in a bush that was conducting electricity from the electric wire, sending pulses of electricity coursing though my body as the otters went into pack mentality to eat me alive!!!!

AAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!”

“Right. I see… doctor?” // “Yep.” ALLAN SKO - allan@bmamag.com *If not, you can catch up with Part 1 on www.bmamag.com .

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and

another thing…

Before I have time to say something along the lines of “it’s not my fault” she’s off again. “I know it’s not your fault, Mickey love. But you’ll have to explain to Mr Shrubbs that we don’t carry those sort of lines here. Has he thought of maybe looking for something on the internet?”

“I’m afraid Bobby doesn’t do very well with modern things.”

“No, no. I’m sure.”

She looks pensively at me, distributes the foam cups of coffee and shoos (no pun intended) her assistants, both of whom are still trying not to laugh, out into the back room. “I’ve just had a thought. You know my Eugene? He went up to London last weekend and bought a pair of shoes just like the ones you’re after. I’m sure he’d be honoured to let Mr Shrubbs borrow them if they were going to be worn on television.” Before I can say that “Mr Shrubbs” wouldn’t want to put anyone to that sort of trouble, or indeed explain that “Mr Shrubbs” has trouble looking after his own underpants, let alone somebody’s new pride and joy in the footwear department, Nikki has put Gog and Magog in charge of the shop and is ushering me into her car, prior to heading home to speak to her Eugene.

“Don’t worry about the petrol. I’ll put it on expenses. Head office love it when we go the extra mile – quite literally in this case – for our customers!” She gives an excited little giggle, releases the handbrake and we’re off. And we certainly are going the extra mile.

Nikki, it appears, lives about 20 miles from her shop, back towards Colehills. I should have just followed her in the Land Rover. I don’t like leaving Bobby any longer than is absolutely necessary. For a start, I’ve got the keys to the drinks cabinet with me. He gets confused when left alone for too long.

“Here we are!” trills Nikki as we pull into the drive of her immaculately appointed Barratt home. It’s the modern equivalent of a two up, two down, and in one of the two downs, Eugene is engaged in the Wii with his mate Carlton. Clearly disgruntled that his mother has arrived unannounced, swiftly appraising him of the situation and the emergency inherent within it, whilst clearing clutter from all around him, he silently moves upstairs, returning with the box, new shoes gleaming inside, and hands them to me glowering. I proffer a tenner for his trouble, and, as he goes to take it, Nikki intercedes.

“No, no, no! Eugene wouldn’t dream of it, would you Euge?”

He makes to protest, but shrugs, sits down and starts Wii-ing again.

Carlton gives him a look of utter contempt. “Um, well I’ll see if Bobby can, you know, sign a few records or something…” This is the sort of thing I hate, the feeling of uselessness and fraudulence. You see, people literally cannot get their heads around the idea that the man they see on their CD covers, in magazines, and on VH-1’s ‘70s specials can’t even manage to buy himself a pair of shoes. But if they can play a small part in prolonging the magic, at their own trouble and expense, then, well, it’s the least they can do. At least it’s the least Nikki can do. Eugene’s never heard of Godhammer. I promise, against my better judgement, to have them back to Eugene by Friday. He nods, not looking away from the screen, and we depart. Back in town, I thank Nikki profusely and head back to the Land Rover, where I check my mobile. 11 missed calls. Bobby might not know much about modern things, but he has managed to master ringing me when his nose hair needs trimming. scott adams - thirtyyearsofrnr@hotmail.com

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Who: Electric Lake and uniVibes What: You Are Here - The Laneway Festival When: Sat Mar 12 Where: The Melbourne Building Laneway

Walk away from the city. Escape the bus interchange, cross Northbourne Avenue and turn left. You are here, in a laneway café.

Under the urban trees, surrounded by progressive artists, people sit on milk crates, nodding to music, playing chess, eating and drinking. You Are Here’s Laneway Festival is a day of live art and progressive music in the alley of the Melbourne Building. Come for free, rock on your crate, play boardgames, share a pizza, spoon a coffee, witness live art, be absorbed by a couch and a theatre performance, and take a different look at the city you live in.

WHO: Indier than thou WHAT: Purple Sneakers WHEN: Fri Feb 25 WHERE: Transit Bar

Purple Sneakers is back in 2011 to remind you that somewhere between shameful ‘90s pop and the neurotic pounding of dubstep there is a club where shredding guitars and mirror balls join forces to create the most epic indie party Canberra has ever seen. They’re smuggling Monkey Genius, Minou and Johnny Segment across state lines to deliver the freshest indie tracks and maybe pick up some thumping bass lines and a shifty hitchhiker on the way.

Showing them how to party capital style are local deviants Lucky Punk, Eddie Shaggz and Less Than Three. 8pm, free.

WHO: Party By Jake WHAT: Partybyjake.com WHEN: Right now, bitches WHERE: On the internetz

Partybyjake.com is a Canberra based blog for lovers and creators of up and coming indie and dance music, fashion, events and party photography. They have hosted events featuring the likes of Flight Facilities, Cassian, Gloves, Treasure Fingers, Tensnake and many more, while helping to expose independent clothing labels from all over Australia, including Pete Versus Toby, Mypetsquare, I Heard They Eat Cigarettes, Aviary, Owl Vs Pig and Mocan. The blog already has followers from Australia, UK, USA and Europe. Check it out if you are ever in need of something cool to listen to/read/ see/do/touch! www.partybyjake.com .

WHO: Super Best Friends WHAT: Appearing at Summer Rhythm Festival WHEN: Sat-Sun Feb 19-20 WHERE: Summer Rhythm Festival

WHO: Matthew Cornell WHAT: Introducing Planet B-Boy WHEN: Fri Feb 25 WHERE: Arc Cinema, National Film and Sound Archive

The NFSA’s first SAR (Scholars and Artists in Residence) Fellow for the year is hip-hopper Matthew Cornell, who will produce a hip-hop/folk EP and accompanying film clip to illustrate the frontier spirit of Australia, focussing on the histories of frontier communities. At 8pm on Friday Feb 25 Matt will introduce a screening at Arc cinema of the cult film Planet B-Boy, an overview of break dancing throughout the world. This will be followed by a free dancing demonstration in the courtyard. Admission to the dance exhibition is free, normal Arc screening prices apply for the film. Head to the NFSA website for more details.

WHO: Electro trio WHAT: The Unravelling WHEN: Fri Feb 25 WHERE: ANU BAR

Two of Australia’s hottest electro acts are performing at the ANU Bar on Friday Feb 25 with special guest from the UK Icon.

The Unravelling are a Sydney four-piece who have recently released their first album Everything is Normal on Setting Sun Records. They’re currently doing an east coast tour and will be touring the US, South America and Japan later this year, but before they head off, be sure to catch them at ANU Bar on Friday Feb 25. Alice Space Doll in support. Doors at 8, student concession available.

Photo credit: John Sones - as part of This Show Is About People by Shaun Parker Company

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“We’re Super Best Friends. We’re a fun indie-punk band, recording our first studio... ah, recording after two DIY EPs. It’ll be bassdriven, have keys, drums, guitars and vocals. Ready Aim Fire!

(2009) just scored 4/5 stars in the current issue of Blunt... take that punks. We’re playing Summer Rhythm Festival and a Los Cap/SBF tour is rumoured. Last year, our Ready Aim Fire! video got played on Rage and Landed Music. We hit Melbourne, got to Sydney with Hoodlum Shouts and did ACT/NSW supports with Children Collide and Violent Soho. We hate name-droppers.”

transit

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blast off! ben hermann In recent years, the popularity of poetry in all its forms has flourished throughout Australia, creating a number of new thriving scenes and cultures that were barely a blip on the radar a decade ago. Whether it’s Australia’s now dominant domestic hip-hop scene, or the near endless number of poetry nights, jams, slams, and other related festivities, it seems Australians are finally catching on to a trend that has already swamped Europe and North America.

This March, the Canberra Theatre Centre will play host to one such event, BLAST!, which will showcase some of Australia’s brightest and most exciting actors, MCs, comedians, rappers, beatboxers and poets. One such performer is Emilie Zoey Baker, a published award winning poet and poetry slam champion, and currently the Education Officer for Australian Poetry (formerly the Australian Poetry Centre). Unsurprisingly, she is very excited about the increased popularity of poetry in all its forms in Australia.

“Australia is the new kid on the block in the international slam world. The Australian Poetry Slam has only been running for four years and it’s like a drooling toddler, still quite literally finding its feet, its poets and its audiences,” she says.

My goal is to reinvigorate the way poetry is perceived. It’s cool!

The idea of a poetry slam is hard to describe to people who haven’t witnessed one, but not nearly as difficult as conveying the atmosphere and excitement that it involves for both participants and audience members. Indeed, being until recently a relatively under-publicised art form that is purely live and whose true nature is difficult to communicate through radio, TV or other forms, may be the very reason for its initially slow growth. “Slamming is a mix of theatre, performance art, poetry and comedy, and when writing a slam poem you are writing with an actually ‘sitting in front of you’ audience in mind,” Baker says. “You must think about how to say certain lines, when to pause, when to add your MC Hammer moves and how to finish with a bang. Slam is judged by the audience – generally, random members are chosen and they hold up scorecards out of ten – so you are writing for them, not yourself.”

Last year Baker won the Slam Review as part of the 2010 Berlin International Literature Festival. No small feat in itself, Baker’s achievement is even more inspiring considering she is also the first Australian ever to compete in the Festival. “It was really nerve-wracking,” she admits. “I ended the set with a poem about

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Lleyton Hewitt and other sports celebrities. They had no idea what I was talking about, but as it was an international slam, there were competitors from all over the world and each did a poem in their native tongue.”

Also performing at Blast! will be Queanbeyan’s very own Omar Musa, who has recently returned from performing at the Jaipur Literature Festival in India, and will shortly be recording his sophomore hip-hop album in the USA. Musa, who has travelled to all corners of the world in his capacity as both rapper and poet, embodies the very talent, enthusiasm and determination that is seeing hip-hop, poetry and slams become genuine competitors with other art forms. “He’s brilliant,” says Baker. “His poems are like really well planted gardens – a perfect blend of hearty vegetables, scented herbs and fabulous colours. A garden for the ears.”

The performers of Blast! will no doubt have been attracted to their respective forms of poetry and performance for different reasons, however Baker explains her own interest in poetry and slams as you might hear an addict speak of their habit. She tells of the night she first experienced a live poetry reading, where “the poets were mad, exciting, sexy, energetic and politically incorrect. There was an electricity that seemed to physically vibrate in the air.” She goes on, “The instant gratification of poetry performance is what becomes addictive. It’s a risk to have your poetry leave home at such a young age, straight into the ears of complete strangers.

Poems written for the stage – particularly slam poems – must be able to withstand loud noises, communicate quickly to an audience and get tough if need be.”

Baker has been involved in an endless list of slams, festivals and various other poetry-related events for years now, and she explains that the scene will continue to grow in strength so long as the excitement of poetry and literature is taught to children. Last year, for example, Baker coordinated the first ever Victorian teen slam OutLoud. The event included a recycled themed category, where teens chose a classic or contemporary poem and did a cover version of it. “I think by re-inventing it [poetry] constantly is what will spark youth interest,” Baker explains. “Poetry still has a stale reputation and it’s hard working with schools on writing and performing as no one has ever heard of slams in some parts of the states, whereas in the UK it’s included in the curriculum! My goal is to try and do that here; to build it from the ground up, to reinvigorate the way poetry is perceived. It’s cool!”

Blast! will take place at the Canberra Theatre Centre on Friday March 18.

It will feature a mouth-watering line-up of young entertainers including Omar Musa, Ben Pobjie, Lesson MC, Emilie Zoey Baker, Mark Llod, Kodak, Indigo, Adam Hadley and DJ Rush. The all ages show will begin at 5pm in The Playhouse and will be followed by a Q&A session. The over 18 performance will be held in the Link Bar at 9pm. Tickets for adults/under15s are $25/$20.

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ALL AGES Finally somebody has acknowledged that not everybody can go to Soundwave, and that not everybody even wants to go to Soundwave, for that matter. Screw Soundwave cannot possibly make its aim and message more obvious. The event will see a huge local line-up including Knives To The Throne, Prospects, Asylum, CarpeDiem, Psychic Asylum, InDistrict, They Killed Everyone and more. The protest/cheaper alternative, if you will, takes place on Saturday February 26 at Woden Youth Centre. Entry costs a stupidly cheap $5. This is a strictly drug and alcohol free event and “Moshing is Mandatory!”.

Two of Canberra’s most rapidly accelerating bands, Drawing North and Atlantis Awaits, are readying themselves for their last Canberra gig before embarking on a three month tour of Australia and New Zealand. Their farewell performance at the Woden Youth Centre will also feature special guests all the way from Brisbane, The Dream The Chase. You can witness it all on Saturday March 5.

Doors open at 6pm and entry is $10 at the door.

The Woden Youth Centre on Saturday March 12 will proudly present Nightshift 2011, an entire night dedicated completely to funky, funky, funk. Hitting the stage this year is the Melbournebased funk electro duo known to the world as Paqman, as well as energising local acts Pleased to Jive You, Astrochem, Doctor Johnson and Peter Akhurst. Doors open to you, the public, at 4.30pm. Tickets are sold at the door for the miniscule price of $10.

Mosh/hardcore Sydney boys Hand of Mercy will be shaking down the walls of the Axis Youth Centre on The Fallout tour. Joining them on tour will be Newcastle-based hardcore five-piece One Vital Word. Hand of Mercy have gained quite a reputation for their live performance, supporting big names such as The Amity Affliction, Enter Shikari, Shai Hulud, As I Lay Dying, Confession and One Vital Word. You can be part of this spectacular double header line-up on Sunday March 13. Ticket prices have not been specified but can be purchased at the door.

On Saturday March 19 you can find yourself a part of Youtunes #3, a hardcore/rock/metal extravaganza featuring local acts Venom Eyes, Reiner, Killing Birds, Imperial, Scattered, Prospects, Mushmellow, Psychic Asylum and Asylum. It kicks off at 6pm and tickets can be bought at the door of the Kaleen Community Hall for $10. The organisers of the event have promised it to be “a night full of bruises”. The Kaleen Community Hall has just emerged from the depths of nowhere, so be there to encourage them to keep doing what they are.

2011 has proved itself a prosperous year already after only a month and a half and Canberra’s all ages scene is no exception. Yes indeed, there was light at the end of the tunnel that was last year’s horrible downturn for the all ages scene. Now we are swimming in it!

NAOMI FROST allagescolumn@gmail.com

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LOCALITY

ANU O Week is in full swing, so I caught up with ANU Union Chair Ben Duggan for a chat about the changes that have been made and the changes that are in store for ANU Bar.

Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been a substantial decline in the number of major gigs at ANU Bar in the last year. What are the reasons for this? There certainly werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t as many international and interstate bands coming through Canberra last year. The ones that did were looking for a venue with the capacity to hold larger numbers and venues that allowed under 18s. For example Powderfinger enquired with us but when they found out we do not allow under 18s they went to UC. We also had a management changeover. On a more positive note our band bookings this year have started quietly however they are now coming in. I believe we have around 20 gigs already locked in for this year. We have also had a new manager start this week and he will be looking to attract more bands this year.

Why do you want to rename the venue? The Board would like to rename the venue to differentiate the ANU Bar from Uni Pub. Combined with the refurbishments, we hope that a new name will improve the vibe of the bar and make it a more attractive venue. A number of people have complained to me that ANU Bar is a bit of a dull name so I thought we should put it to our Union members to decide what the bar should be called. We are currently in the stage where people are able to suggest names. They can email them to union.chair@anu.edu.au. In around two weeks we will be compiling the list of suggestions, selecting the best three and will then allow Union members to vote on four different options. There will be three names and then a final option for keeping the same name.

What effect do you think renaming the venue will have? I believe it will improve the culture of the Bar, making an iconic venue even better. There are a number of great bars at universities around Australia and I thought that by naming the bar after an Australian icon, we would give the place a bit of character and make it more memorable. Some names that have been suggested include The Kirby Bar after retired Justice Michael Kirby and The Whitlam after iconic former PM Gough Whitlam.

Despite the decrease in gigs, how do you think ANU Bar has improved over the last year? It has been great to see the refurbishments happen over the last six months on the interior and the new speakers have provided regulars with better music. I believe the bar has become a more happening place on campus with a larger number of students and academics drinking there. There were a few great gigs last year and I hope to see ANU Bar continue to be a great venue for bands into the future.

JULIA WINTERFLOOD julia@bmamag.com

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DANCE THE DROP The Kicks team have just announced the first round of artists for the 2011 Warehouse Music Festival, and I daresay it’s an absolute cracker! The current line-up includes beatport king Deadmau5, teenage party anthem machine Martin Solveig, trance deities Gabriel and Dresden, sexy soul sister Wynter Gordon, big room remix merchants Dada Life and my personal favourite, 2010’s most exciting newcomer Skrillex!

Running a successful independent Thursday night club event in Canberra is about as easy as nailing the US national anthem – just ask Christina Aguilera. The lads at Mingle have managed to survive in a competition with the ‘drink until you can’t feel feelings anymore’ university orgies that bigger clubs promote on Thursday nights, armed only with a simple commitment to good music, so help them celebrate their second birthday at Trinity Bar on Thursday Feb 17.

The Summer Rhythm Festival line-up includes some great local and interstate acts including Space Invaders, King Tide, Agency Dub Collective, Dubba Rukki, Raw City Rukus and Ashley Feraude. The festivities kick off on Saturday February 19 at the Goolabri Resort in Sutton. Keep in mind that this is a not for profit event and Summer Rhythm will be making a donation to Beyond Blue.

You love their cheese, chocolate and boxy people movers, now The Swiss prove they can also make killer disco. I am of course referring

myspace.com/pangnight

to the South Australian live act who are heading back to Canberra on Sunday February 20 for an intimate Sunday session DJ set at Trinity Bar. If drinking on Sunday is cool, then consider me Miles Davis.

The Hipster Handbook suggests that you need three things to be accepted into their exclusive anti-society. A Fu Manchu soup strainer, lens-less black rimmed glasses and the Purple Sneakers DJs. The fixie mounted scenesters are back at Transit Bar on Friday February 25 brimming with wolf tees and classic faux indie dance floor weapons. The line-up includes Monkey Genius, Minou, Johnny Segment, Lucky Punk, Eddie Shaggz and Less Than Three.

Sometimes you come across a DJ name which reminds you of a HeMan toy. Hypnagog is one such name. With ‘record box included’, this local action figure is lighting up the stage at the next Effigy event at Hippo Bar on Saturday February 19 alongside Ben Evans, Black Samurai, Biggie, String Theory and Fourthstate. You have the powerrrrrr!

Finally, after the demise of Lot 33, 4sound has moved to a new home at Monkey Bar. Stay tuned for more information on that soon.

Adios mi amigos!

TIM GALVIN tim.galvin@live.com.au

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GENTLE BENI estelle gonzalez Bennie Single, better known to most around the country as BENI (or, reaching further back, DJ Damage), is one of the most recognisable characters in Australian EDM of recent times. Beni, who started his career at a tender young age with the notorious party troupe Bang Gang, recalls his formative years tentatively. “I don’t remember anything,” he states when questioned of his favourite Bang Gang memories. But those days are behind him, as the talented young impresario is now a married man, unfortunately for any Canberra beauties who planned on wooing him whilst in town. But as a fortunate aside said beauties still have a chance to see the maestro at work as he plays the Beauty and the Bass Red Carpet Dance Ball at the Hellenic Club on Friday February 18 alongside Nik Fish, Elmo is Dead, Goodwill and more.

It was actually a lot more fun than I could have imagined

As this promises to be Beni’s first ever red carpet event we’ve put the word out to make it as smooth an experience as possible. As yet there are no major plans for his entrance but perhaps a photo op with Nik Fish (who Beni is quite excited to see!).

Though Beni is by no means a stranger to the scene. Having journeyed through three very different eras of his career he looks upon it as a seasoned traveller. “It’s kind of felt like a normal transition to be honest, they all had stages and I think they’ve all kind of developed into more. I guess each has been a new stage of my career but it’s just felt like a natural progression.”

And with wisdom like this being spouted how could we feel unsafe in his capable hands as he prepares to drop a set loaded with personal favourites from DJ Detronic, Harvard Bass and Azaria Three. But as talented as he is at remixing, Beni remains the artist and prefers to create original tracks, although he won’t be able to name his favourite until the album is finished in a few weeks. Just like any expectant father he still can’t settle on a perfect name for his baby, in the form of his first solo artist album due in 2011. “I’ve got about ten thousand that I’m trying to pick from,” he coos.

Having been on the road for so long, Beni has written and recorded in various locations such as New York, LA, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo and Barcelona. But this is all part of the experience for the doe-eyed Sydney boy, taking the world city by city, along with guests including Sam Sparro. But this globetrotting is all part of the creation experience for Beni. “I guess the fact is that I was on tour so much in the last few years that I didn’t really have a choice if I was going to do the album, then I kind of had to do it that way. It was actually a lot more fun than I could have imagined.”

Catch Beni live at Beauty and the Bass, held at the Hellenic Club in Woden on Friday February 18. Tickets are available from the event’s website.

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one we might want in the future. The program, which has run for the past couple of years in the lead-up to Canberra’s 100th birthday celebrations in 2013, contains the City of Design Talkfest, featuring presentations from both the beaurocratic and the artistic ends of the city on how Canberra can best harness (and retain) its talents and build a more vibrant environment, as well as events dealing with design education and public art.

Hannah Dalrymple, Animotive rings, 2010.

Photo: Art Atelier Photography

Events like these are what make the Centre so vital - their desire to engage with the web of the city, and facilitate a conversation about what considered and beautiful craft and design can do for a place and its community.

PEDAL TO THE METAL glen martin Traditionally, a 40th birthday might herald both a bunch of gifts and some stiffening of the joints. In the case of the CRAFT ACT: CRAFT AND DESIGN CENTRE 40TH ANNIVERSARY, celebrations will be done a little differently. It’s the audience who will receive a bevy of gifts thanks to an exhaustive program of exhibitions and events throughout 2011. As for joint pain and leg weariness, it appears this 40-year-old shows no sign of slowing.

The Centre primarily deals in objects, negotiating a space between design, fine art and manufacturing. In its gallery space and adjoining shop you’ll find jewellery, sculptural and everyday objects made with artisanal flair. “This is work that acknowledges how special it is to hold or touch something which is unique” says Diana Hare, the Centre’s Curator and Exhibition Manager.

“And the artists who we exhibit are representative of the sector, from students and emerging artists through to the big guys, who are internationally recognised as leaders in their practice. We’re so lucky as an organisation to be able to represent and exhibit makers of this calibre, all of whom have a connection to the Canberra region.”

Over the course of its 40 years, the Centre has grown into a hub for craft and design artists, and a place for discussion on the very role craft and design plays in our lives. The Centre acts as an advocate for practitioners, building relationships with artists who work in textiles and fibre, metal and jewellery, glass, ceramics, furniture and objects, as well as hosting events and promoting research and debate.

Events such as the Designing a Capital: Crafting a City program highlights the Centre’s commitment to placing craft and design at the centre of the discussion about the city we live in now, and the

Avi Amesbury, the Centre’s Executive Director, feels that it is this sort of engagement with the ideas that influence both art-making and community-building that fuels the centre. “It’s so important to have that conversation about the kind of place we want to live in - we all want to be involved in our city, and these events allow that conversation to breathe.”

Much of the Centre’s success has stemmed from its ongoing relationships with practitioners, and the wider community of supporters, teachers and policy makers who frequent the space and contribute to the organisation.

Most critical has been the talent whose work has graced the exhibition space and shop, tapping into the reserves of talent coming out of the ANU School of Art, the University of Canberra and Canberra Institute of Technology design centres, where curator Hare says: “The quality of the student is, in many cases, ‘world class’.”

The organisation’s support of emerging artists over its 40 years has been returned by these artists continuing to produce work for the Centre’s shows, and the line-up of talent in their birthday year reads like a roll-call of the brightest exports and locals Canberra has contributed to the craft and design world.

The Centre’s 2011 program will feature a series called Elements, focussing on work made in glass, clay, fibre, wood and, first of all, Metal. Amongst Metal’s featured artists are some of the more significant names in national and international metalwork, including Johannes Kuhnen, Eugenie Keefer Bell, Robert Foster, Gilbert Riedelbauch, Rohan Nichol, Oliver Smith, Sabine Pagan and Sean Booth. Each artist exhibits their own idiosyncratic take on both manipulating and interpreting metal in a bunch of surprising ways.

“It’s a show that reflects these makers abilities not only to create beautiful objects, but also to tame and manipulate a substance, and to do so with incredible skill” says Hare.

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Shows like these reflect the strength of a space like the Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre for its viewer - uniting the everyday and the imagination in objects which at times extend the possibility of what a substance can be fashioned into. This is fine art that can be held, worn, or put on a plinth and be admired.

The support that the Centre receives from its membership and Canberra more generally indicates the esteem this small but perfectly formed centre is held in. “We do run on limited resources” says Hare. “For a small organisation, we’re punching above our weight. But we love it - there’s so much passion in this place, and that makes it worthwhile.”

The exhibition Elements: Metal exhibition continues until Saturday March 19 in Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre’s Gallery, Level 1 North Building, 180 London Circuit. Also showing are Hidden Treasures by Michelle Kelly and Harvest by Hannah Dalrymple.

To stay in touch with the other events happening over the Centre’s 40th birthday year visit the website at www.craftact.org.au .

Johannes Kuhnen, Vessel, 2009. Photo: courtesy of the artist.

FIRE INSIDE Vanessa Wright 2010 opened with a bang thanks to Blaze 4, kick-starting an amazing 12 months for emerging art in Canberra. And if Blaze 5 is anything to go by, 2011 is shaping up to be another killer year. Blaze showcases the talents of the best emerging artists in Canberra and is also an opportunity for the studio residents of the Canberra Contemporary Art Space to exhibit their work from the previous year. The artists included in this year’s exhibition are Emma Beer, Chris Carmody, Tim Dwyer, Daniel Edwards, Natalie Mather, Suzanne Moss and Daniel Vukovlijac, co-curated by Alex Boynes and Annika Harding.

Blaze 5 will contain a diverse range of work; including textiles, painting, video and installation pieces, but what ties the work of all these artists together is a concern with abstraction and representation. Abstraction and other forms of nonrepresentational art have been a strong tradition in the work of Canberra artists, stemming from the ANU School of Art program. It has come to define much of the Canberra art scene over the years and the School of Art’s This Way Up series of exhibitions last year was a testament to that strong aesthetic.

high this work is a masterpiece in pattern, construction and colour from one of Canberra’s most promising emerging artists. Tim Dwyer will be showing one of his signature psychedelic video works, and Chris Carmody’s work will be an installation involving pop up books which he has painstakingly turned inside out, promising to be as interactive as it is astounding.

Blaze 5 predicts an exciting and unpredictable start to the year for CCAS and is an excellent way to see what Canberra’s emerging artists have in store for us, their unsuspecting audience.

Opening drinks for Blaze 5 are at 6pm Friday February 18 and the exhibition continues until Saturday April 2 at the Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Gorman House.

One of the highlights of This Way Up was the work of Suzanne Moss, who is also featuring in Blaze 5. Her paintings are complex, dynamic and overall intelligent, prompting the viewer to see the infiniteness of the cosmos in the tiny, luminous squares of her work and to leave them contemplating their part in the universe. Understated and subtle Moss’ paintings may be, but incredibly powerful in their intricacy of technique.

As Annika Harding states in the catalogue essay, Natalie Mather’s paintings will cause you to “cherish the precious, revel in the abject and ride the glorious gravitational pulls between ground and weightlessness.” Mather’s works on plywood pop with unexpected colour and explore the idea of pictorial space combined with sci-fi and geometric elements. This girl just continues to get better and better. But what about the boys, you ask? Well, from Dan Edwards we will be seeing an incredible textile piece. At over four meters

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Dan Vukovljak Rip 6x, 2010

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swimmer, but also a vaudeville star, businesswoman, health guru and author. Considered radical at the time, the star’s interests are now embraced by women, especially those who think nothing of wearing revealing swimwear and embracing an active lifestyle.

BODY OF WORK Vanessa Wright Now, more than ever, celebrities are as famous for their bodies as their talent. INDECENT EXPOSURE, a new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, celebrates the life of Annette Kellerman, an Australian icon who used her body to perform feats that others only dreamed of. Kellerman was clearly no run-of-the-mill celebrity. A trailblazing endurance swimmer, she became famous for performing underwater tricks in figure-hugging swimwear. Remarkably, the star did all this in the early 20th century, when women were considered scandalous for showing their knees in public.

The Portrait Gallery – with its emphasis on celebrating inspirational Australians – is the perfect venue for the long overdue Kellerman exhibition. Dubbed “the perfect woman”, the swimmer was the poster girl for what exercise and fitness could do for the female form. Indecent Exposure presents Kellerman as a talented and ambitious woman who was not only a world-recording holding

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Kellerman’s life was not always as glamorous as her portraits suggest.

Born in Marrickville in 1887, she overcame rickets through swimming, a sport she competed in professionally from her teens. After moving to London in 1905, she gained fame for swimming in the polluted river Thames and attempts to swim the English Channel. These feats – then considered beyond the capacity of women – propelled her into the limelight. In 1907 she made headlines in the United States, arrested for “Indecent Exposure” while wearing her signature onepiece men’s style swimsuit on a public beach. Soon after she created a sell-out vaudeville act and went on to star in several silent films until her retirement in the early ‘30s.

National Portrait Gallery Curator Joanna Gilmore presents a captivating biography of Kellerman that focuses on her varied professional interests. To do so, Gilmore has sought out more than just her portraits. Copies of the star’s fitness and beauty advice books, souvenir posters and footage from her movies and performances are included in the show. Of course, there couldn’t be a Kellerman exhibition without her famous swimwear. Two sparkling mermaid costumes worn during Kellerman’s famous vaudeville tank performances are complemented by two chic 1920s Kellermanbrand swimsuits. These, like each item in the exhibition, contribute to telling the story of Kellerman’s varied and intriguing life, which is curiously unknown to many Australians. A refreshing exhibition that celebrates a star who made real achievements with her body, and inspired many to follow suit.

Indecent Exposure is on show at the National Portrait Gallery until Tuesday April 26.

ARTISTPROFILE: George Edwards

What do you do? Lots of things. I tend to be a jack of all trades currently I’m heavily into zines, illustration and type, but I also enjoy sculpture, painting, printing (Lino and etching), drawing, sewing, graphic design, animation and photography.

When did you get into it? I always drew when I was younger and my parents made the possibly life- altering decision to let me run wild with the things that I loved. This meant arts, drama and sport at school, then design and visual arts at uni, which has led me to be a part time crazy artist lady.

Who or what influences you as an artist? Hmm such a broad question… at the moment I’m liking tattoos and tattoo typography.

But I find inspiration anywhere - like the other day I purchased five amazing cowboy comics published in the ‘50s.

What’s your biggest achievement/proudest moment so far? I’m not sure… I’ve received some awards and scholarships so I’m pretty stoked whenever something like that happens. It makes me happy when people I don’t know tell me that they like my work - that makes me feel pretty good.

What are your plans for the future? My plan has been to do what I do and hopefully one day I’ll get paid for it! I’d like to set up a communal art space for less established artists, I’d like to get a grant so I can focus on all the ideas I want to make happen, I’d love to start a magazine in Canberra, I’d like to go back to uni and do post grad, but all I really know is that I’m travelling soon. Real life can wait ‘til I get back.

What makes you laugh? I’m one of these people who tend to laugh a lot - so that’s hard to answer.

What pisses you off? Anyone who is arrogant and thinks themselves to be better than others, or makes others feel less important - that really gets my back up.

What’s your opinion of the local scene? Currently it’s quite small and ‘niche’ in a way. I can see Canberra really picking up over the next few years as there are a few people here willing to put in the hard yards to create a supportive atmosphere for emerging artists. I’m hoping to be around when Canberra is the place to be - but I think that might be a fair way away.

What are your upcoming projects? I’ll be involved with the upcoming You Are Here Fest and I’ll also be involved in a few group shows, one at itrip iskip and another at Photo Access towards the end of March.

Contact info: www.georgeisat.tumblr.com , george.is.also@gmail. com , 0405 662 600

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Dan Lorrimer [Space Displace] Canberra Contemporary Art Space Manuka Thursday February 3 – Sunday February 13 The tumultuous 12 months that follow graduation from art school are a time when some artists are finally able to let go and dig in.

They may not have been the students who had the most celebrated exit, may not have been the ones with the most accolades, but their creative fires stay burning long after the pow wow of a visual arts degree has called it a night. For some the first year ‘out’ means long hard months of unlearning with many falling by the wayside, but for others it’s a golden hour in which the penny finally drops.

One such case in point is Dan Lorrimer, an ANU School of Art Sculpture workshop graduate in 2009 who threw himself wholeheartedly into the emerging artist game in 2010. But now, in the opening moments of 2011, Lorrimer has really asserted himself as a deadly serious contender.

[Space Displace], Lorrimer’s debut solo exhibition, finds him pulling out all the stops. Where his earlier works were weighted by the onus of institutional expectation and the requisite conceptual baggage, [Space Displace] finds a body of work as ebullient as it is elegant, renegade yet refined.

For the show Lorrimer has joined forces with emerging curator Vanessa Wright, and between them they present a highly considered and impeccably executed exhibition that leaves no box unticked. The works are complimented by pristine plinths, edgy signage and an

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eloquent catalogue text, but it is the sheer presence of the five steel sculptures that leaves these other aspects barely registering.

Lorrimer’s hard-edged luxe forms bring to mind the finely honed wares of fellow Canberra sculptor Kensuke Todo, demonstrating a grasp of the trade well beyond his years and experience. Like many of his contemporaries, he is informed by symptoms of the digital age. But bypassing the overt references or of-the-moment clichés Lorrimer instead marries the solid, unchanging characteristics of his material (oxidized steel) to a digital ether and the intangibility of the modern condition. It makes for a reactive yet surprisingly harmonious union, and the resulting sculptures are uniformly, gracefully explosive. A terrifyingly strong debut that heralds a formidable 12 months to come.

YOLANDE NORRIS

WHO: You, me, that guy over there WHAT: You Are Here WHEN: Thursday March 10 – Sunday March 20 WHERE: Canberra CBD

bit PARTS WHO: Daniel Edwards WHAT: Exhibition Pattern Pixel WHEN: Opening 6pm Thursday February 16 WHERE: Canberra Contemporary Art Space Manuka “Daniel Edwards defies stereotypes and gender boundaries with his innovative and contemporary approach to weaving, tapestry and felting” reads the CCAS website. In short he’s a dude who does amazing things with textiles. When he graduated from the ANU School of Art, Edwards’ artwork incorporated subjects such as music, family photographs and domestic objects, but more recently he has become enamored with geometric patterning and punchy colour work. Pattern Pixel is his solo exhibition following a 12-month stint as a CCAS studio resident. If you don’t make it along to the opening you can check out the show until February 26 at the Manuka art space.

You already know there’s all kinds of amazing things happening here in this little city, and You Are Here is a festival that’s gonna cram it all into a relentless ten days just so we can collectively step back and go “oooh...ahhhh”. All kinds of happenings are being readied for your delectation – visual art, theatre, performance art, installation, music, experimental music, music that’s more like sounds than music, circus arts, dance, poetry, spoken word, words that are spoken so it’s more like poetry, fashion, street art, bikes, roller derby and a nomadic family who live on the street. Find it on Facebook as youarehere.

WHO: artsACT WHAT: Startup grants WHEN: Applications close Friday Feb 25 WHERE: for Canberra artists ArtsACT is offering ‘Start Up’ grants of $500 to young ACT artists for activities that develop or promote the artist and their arts practice. If you’ve never been successful in receiving a grant before then this is a great one for you as your previous failures render you eligible to apply! (i.e.: you must not have received a grant before.)

Other conditions of eligibility are that you must be aged between 18 and 25 years and be an ACT resident or have an ACT-based arts practice. The funding can be used towards promotion costs, materials, documentation, or venue and equipment hire costs associated with an arts activity. Round one closes 5pm on Friday February 25 so don’t delay: Head to www.arts.act.gov.au .

WHO: Ensemble offspring WHAT: Process Music WHEN: 6pm, Sunday February 20 WHERE: The Street Theatre Ensemble Offspring, Sydney’s champions of weird and wonderful music, are renowned for their eclectic and progressive repertoire and are bringing their latest work Why Patterns? to Canberra for one night only. Ensemble Offspring take a novel look at patterns in music, focusing on the concept of ‘process music’, from which the extremely popular Minimalist movement emerged. The program features work

by Feldman, Polansky, Reich, Lely as well as award-winning Australian composer Kate Moore, who began her compositional career at the Australian National University’s Canberra School of Music. Tickets are $25 or $19 concession and can be booked by contacting 6247 1223 or visiting www.thestreet.org.au .

WHO: Zine makers and other sickeningly talented folk WHAT: Stallholder callout! Canberra Zine Fair WHEN: Saturday April 9 WHERE: Canberra Contemporary Art Space Gorman House Ah, remember last years’ Zine Fair? What’s that? You don’t?! Well it’s just as well there’s another one this year to save your credibility my friend. What’s more, there’s still time to book a stall! If you make zines or related paraphernalia then be sure to get in touch with the ACT Writers Centre ASAP. The fair itself is once again presented in conjunction with the Canberra Contemporary Art Space and will be held in their cavernous galleries from 10 to 4pm on Saturday April 9. Get more info or secure yourself a table by calling 62629191 or dropping them a note via admin@actwriters.org.au .

WHO: Zine maker Jo Daniell WHAT: Space Invaders Artist talk WHEN: Thursday February 17, 12.45pm WHERE: National Gallery of Australia Conveniently, just as this year’s zine fair is about to send us all bonkers again for the world of handmade publications (see left), the NGA presents an artist talk by one of the zine making greats.

Jo Daniell, artist and zine writer, discusses her approach to zine making, including Butch: a zine about budgies, at a handy lunchtime session in situ at the Space Invaders exhibition. Get there and get inspired for April’s fair, and while you’re at the NGA you can take the opportunity to catch Space Invaders one last time before it closes on February 27. Best of all, the talk (just like the exhibition) is free!

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Q&A

with Darren Hanlon

Q: If you were a cake, what kind of cake would you be?

A: Neapolitan cake: red blooded, pale skinned and brown haired.

Q: If you were an animal, what animal would you be?

A: I think my Chinese horoscope animal is pretty apt. Ox: slow but dependable. It might take a year but I’ll get the job done.

Q: If you were a car?

A: A Delorean: rust proof and discontinued.

Q: If you were a television show?

A: Letters and Numbers (SBS): light-hearted, nerdy but educational.

Q: If you were a cooking utensil?

A: A colander: my story is full of holes.

Q: If you were a herb? Or spice?

A: Something the colonel wouldn’t be interested in.

Q: If you were an ‘80s icon?

A: Michael J Fox’s haircut.

Q: If you were an instrument?

A: An Astrolabe: clumsily navigating through this world by way of stars.

Q: If you were a cold beverage?

A: Islay Whiskey with a drop of water (sipped in a Scottish winter, for the coldness). For no other reason than it’s what I like.

Q: If you were a type of tea?

A: Loose leaf black with a dash of rice milk: mostly old fashioned and a fraction new age.

Q: Do you wish you were a little bit taller, perhaps a baller?

A: No, I’m built for public transport, which is where I spend most my life.

Q: Do wish you had a girl on the phone so you could call her?

A: Even though this was a good attempt, questions shouldn’t

rhyme. Plus if she was on the phone I would have already called her.

Q: What are you reading at the moment?

A: Bob Ellis’ Suddenly Last Winter, Zhu Wen’s I Love Dollars, a book of Mary Oliver poems and a friend’s manuscript.

Q: What are you doing for dinner?

A: Being stood up.

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It was another busy deadline week when the latest presser from that lovabale Aussie minstrel Darren Hanlon came through. “Ah ha!” we cried, as we so often do. “Marvellous. Another visit from that plucky plucker of heart and guitar strings.” (Yes, we really do talk that way at BMA HQ). He was striking out on his Butterfly Bones single tour, you see, with the lovely Carry Nation in tow. But a quick scan of the press release was to reveal a terrifying fact; no Canberra show! Hanlon’s usual beloved venue of Tilley’s was unavailable, so the ACT was to miss out it seems. “Balls to that!” we cried. So in collaboration with The Street Theatre, we decided to put our money where our mouth is - determine it didn’t taste that good - and decided to book the man a Canberra date for Wednesday March 2 instead.

So here he is. In lieu of a ‘proper’ interview - and knowing Darren is a man with a sense of humour - we decided on a somewhat more, shall we say, loose approach to the interview process. We hope you enjoy, and see you at the gig. ALLAN SKO

DREAMING OF DAN chiara grassia He may have released his latest album Dan Kelly’s Dream last year, but the man with the knack for capturing the surreal and spinning words into delightfully vivid stories is still touring the country.

Vigorously. While his last performance in the capital in October witnessed spontaneous light shows, eclectic band dress-ups and his own signature frazzled quiff, DAN KELLY is all set to grace Canberra again, this time in solo mode. Two very different gigs are lined up; the first playing alongside old Canberra sweethearts The Falling Joys at the National Museum of Australia and the other supporting Drones’ frontman Gareth Liddiard.

Regarding the former, Kelly notes that the show is “a different thing.

It’s probably more storytelling and, you know, more suited to a wider range of people. More family-oriented. I can’t believe I’m saying that about myself!” he laughs, voice blistering through the phone line. “I’ve been putting myself out there, doing those sorts of shows. It’s a good way to travel and you don’t have to pay seven people in the band. It’s a little more low-key.

I really like playing solo, talking more about the songs; semi-comedy type of show.”

I’m lucky enough to have a band who don’t seem to tell me to fuck off

One-off lakeside shows aside, Kelly is about to embark on a massive road trip around the country with Gareth Liddiard. “I’ll just be playing solo with Gaz, but mine is a bit more smoke and mirrors. Gaz’s is just the power of the written word and guitar playing. I like when I do a solo show to just keep moving and not do the same thing… There’s a certain amount of songs I do all the time, but I just try and make the setlist diverse enough that it’s still moving… The songs are so storybased that I’ll try and get onto a certain thing and then try and go with that. It’s not like Playschool, but it’s definitely more interactive than what I do with the band.”

Accompanying Kelly during the solo shows will be Augie March keyboardist Kiernan Box, member of Kelly’s Dream Band and fancy dress accomplice. The theatrical presence of cobbled together costumes makes for a perfect companion to Kelly’s lyrics, rich in imagination and dripping with vibrancy. “Kiernan’s going to dress like a Hindu,” announces Kelly, before shrugging off the statement. “He might dress up. Solo stuff I feel like I don’t need to be as obvious. I found some good outfits lately – I found a great karate outfit that I’m pretty keen to look into, stage-wise. I’m lucky enough to have a band who don’t seem to tell me to fuck off. I dressed like a spaceman from Norway and they were into it, and that’s kind of fun. If I was incredibly brilliant, I wouldn’t bother, but I think every little bit helps.”

Catch Dan Kelly and The Falling Joys live at the National Museum Amphitheatre on Saturday February 26. Entry is free, so make sure to get there early. Playing times are from 7-9pm. Dan will also be supporting Gareth Liddiard at The Maram on Wednesday March 23. Tix through Moshtix.

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BIRDS OF PLAY ALISTAIR ERSKINE The thing I love most about music festivals are the surprise acts – where despite your carefully planned timetable meticulously designed to fit in maximum value from a jam-packed summer festival bill, there is that moment where you deviate from your path and the surprise destination provides an unforgettable highlight.

At Peats Ridge Festival this New Year’s, GUINEAFOWL was that band for me. I rushed in, attracted by their power pop jives, and stuck about as a team of musicians on stage carried amazing vocal and guitar harmonies in tightly condensed brackets of stunningly constructed rock and roll. I knew nothing of them, but knew I needed to know more.

I got the opportunity to speak to Sam Yeldham, aka Guineafowl, last week and decided I should get him to fill us in on who and or what this band is.

Sometimes you just have to swear and dance

“It started out as a solo project for me, but over time I grabbed the others to help out for live performances and also with the recording.

At other times it will just go back to being me writing the songs again by myself, so it’s kind of like Bright Eyes in that way – not really just a solo project, but not entirely a band either.” Does this mean Sam is a bit of a megalomaniac over how the music should sound?

“Absolutely not. The reason those harmonies that you spoke of before sound so good is because my band are fantastic and create them themselves – purely the benefit of having excellent musicians with you.”

How, though, did it get to this point for this young man and his merry bunch of indie players? “When I first left school I was in an arty, noisy band. I guess you could say that I had to get that music out of me before I could get to write the music I do as Guineafowl.” I ask him how old he is, and he says “I normally don’t tell anyone this…” before telling me. Just know, he is so young he adorably thinks he should be shy about divulging that he would still have been in primary school whilst your intrepid reporter was graduating from year 12.

Guineafowl have just released their (or possibly “his”) debut EP Hello, Anxiety, a wonderful example of the dichotomy that Sam knows runs through his music. “I try and make the music as happy and light as possible to provide a counterpoint to the rather dark and paranoid lyrics and themes that come through with the words.” My Lonely Arms is the track on the EP that best shows off that paradox – energetic indie pop combined with overt, anxious frustration culminating in a furious danceathon for anyone within earshot. “Sometimes you just have to swear and dance, actually.”

Guineafowl roll through Transit Bar on Thursday March 3, with Readable Graffiti and Crash the Curb. Wander by, and get just as surprised as I was by these youngsters and their wonderful paradoxical excellence. Tickets are $10 + bf and are available through Moshtix.

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Waif Hello to Temptation

matt petherbridge

A year shy of their 20th anniversary, Australia’s favourite folk darlings THE WAIFS are back with their sixth record Temptation.

I politely interrupted singer/songwriter Vikki Thorn in the middle of home-schooling her two boys to find out how friendships, family and motherhood are at the crux of The Waifs.

“When you become a mother, you give most of your time to raising your children. I’ve got two boys, five and six years old, and Donna [Simpson, vocals/guitar] has a five-year-old also. It’s taught us to value and appreciate the fact we still get to tour and record, write and play music.”

From humble beginnings of learning Bob Dylan songs in her bedroom to being invited to tour as Dylan’s support act throughout Australia and the US at the height of her band’s success in 2003, Thorn is an artist who remains relaxed and down to earth and clearly enjoys family life without any regrets, which is something I pick up on as she laughs infectiously during our chat.

For the past few years, Thorn and family have enjoyed living overseas on a southern Utah farm. Despite being housebound for months due to heavy snow, it provided a fruitful and creative time, as it provided the genesis for almost half of the songs on Temptation. “Any spare moment I got in the house during that winter, I picked up the guitar and wrote about four or five songs, more songs than I’ve written in ten years!”

“My songs [on Temptation] sounded like I was pretty miserable but they’re not always directly about me. You can be inspired by different moods you’re in or something you see and before you know it, your song can develop into something completely different. But I’m still writing in the first person so I guess people may make those assumptions.”

It took ten years of hard touring to make a living. We never had day jobs; we were… prepared to rest on the bones of our arses to make it work

Describing the recording sessions as “a reunion of sorts”, Thorn and the band bunkered down after a short American tour to “record very quickly” in a Minneapolis basement in just ten days. “We weren’t sure if we were going to make another album, but we did a couple of small tours and had a heap of songs.

We thought ‘let’s just get these songs down and if it sounds good, we’ll release it.’”

“Temptation feels less disparate compared to our earlier albums.

Occasionally over the years, the songs that you do agree on work together. For our last album SunDirtWater, the songs sound more like a collection of songs by three different songwriters. The songs didn’t work as an album,” Thorn laughs, frankly.

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Song credits are a well documented source of pain for bands with multiple songwriters, something which Thorn finds pleasure and pain in. “The difficulty in having three songwriters in the band is finding a collective vision. I sometimes fantasise what it’s like to be the head of a band where you make all the creative decisions and you make the album you want.

“We’ve learned to accept that, but at the same time it’s a continual frustration. Of course, we’re at the point now where we can all do our own things. Josh [Cunningham, guitar/vocals] – a lot of the songs he’s bringing to the band are gospel songs. We don’t always want to play that material so he has his own outlet for that.

We’re all cool with that… it’s just a bit of negotiation and a bit of compromise to make it work.”

Over the past 19 years The Waifs have remained a fiercely independent band, funding their own records and touring off their own bat. Temptation will be released through their long-time label Jarrah Records, which they co-founded with their manager Phil Stevens and the one and only John Butler. I wrongly assumed Jarrah Records was all John Butler’s doing – Thorn quickly gave me a history lesson.

“Actually, Jarrah was originally formed as an umbrella company.

The Waifs and [John Butler] both release their albums under Jarrah, but we’re completely independent of each other. I think it was initially formed because we were both travelling in the US trying to get distribution deals. They wouldn’t deal direct with a band name – they wanted a company name so I think [Jarrah] was born out of a necessity.”

She does acknowledge my faux pas gracefully though. “We’ve just used [Jarrah] as our label, but John has really been active with it, he’s embraced and promoted it, really taken it to another level. In that sense, it has become his label.”

The band recently announced their 2011 Australian tour, with upcoming dates largely made up of regional communities, such as Broome and Cairns, which are often overlooked by Australia’s biggest musical acts. Whilst Thorn has dreamed of “jumping in a van and playing every little small town and skipping the cities”, she has accepted that the band’s individual families would be unable to live on the shoestring as hard as The Waifs did in their early years – emphasising heavily on the word ‘hard’!

“It took ten years of hard touring to make a living. We never had day jobs; we were on the road continually moving around from town to town, prepared to rest on the bones of our arses to make it work. For a lot of musicians these days, they can’t just pack up everything and leave and live like we did. Living in each other’s pockets wasn’t an easy or pleasant thing to do, but it did pay off for us in the end.”

Catch The Waifs supported by swamp blues chanteuse Mama Kin at The Canberra Theatre Centre on Thursday February 24. Tickets are $56.

Temptation will be released through Jarrah/MGM in March 2011.

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Given the nature of his upcoming performance, I put the question to Seymour about whether he thinks that the marriage of music and visuals can impinge on the imagination.

SEYMOUR FLIX

The open air experience is big. We’ve had some absolute pearlers

matt petherbridge MARK SEYMOUR knows all about telling stories. The former (or current) Hunters and Collectors frontman (depending on the occasion), is currently travelling around regional Australia showcasing a contingent of great Australian and overseas short films as part of Flix in the Stix. No stranger to civic events, Seymour has been performing two sets in between the short films to great success. With the tour set to end in the picturesque National Botanical Gardens, he caught up with BMA’s Matt Petherbridge about the tour so far, the marriage of music and film and details on his upcoming album.

“Although the shows are weather dependent, the contrasting entertainment is a winner! I had my doubts, but the novelty [of the idea] attracted me,” Seymour muses. “The open air experience is big.

We’ve had some absolute pearlers. Orange was a stand out the other night!” I admit to him at this point that when I first heard the Hunters and Collectors classic Holy Grail at eight years of age, the lyrics painted the story in my mind without ever seeing the music video.

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“Not at all,” he states. “I love music videos. They’ve always varied in quality, just as bands and performers do. Punters will always free associate, it’s entirely personal.” Speaking of personal relationships with art, Seymour continues to have mixed feelings about his old band Hunters and Collectors. “The band was bloody huge and it still gets ignored mostly when the gurus write their occasional retrospectives, so I’ll take the accolades however they fall.”

He implores me to read all about the band’s history in his memoir Thirteen Tonne Theory, referring to the chapter Great Idea for a Song as “funny in a tragic way”, pointing out similarities between the exchanges from his band and Metallica’s in their documentary Some Kind of Monster. From the man who wrote Holy Grail about Napoleon’s march to Moscow on a lark during an otherwise dreary recording session, Seymour has long been regarded as one of Australia’s best storytelling songwriters. He describes his collaboration with Australian poet Geoff Goodfellow, Tobruk Pin, which follows the story of “a big industrial accident and the consequent worker solidarity it inspired” from his 2007 album Westgate as one of his proudest songwriting moments.

However, Seymour remains upbeat about what continues to inspire his songwriting. “My thoughts change all the time; I’m constantly chasing the muse. I get bored easily, which of course fails to explain why I remained true to the band for 18 years. I have to say, that was a fairly long winded aberration!”

Catch Mark Seymour live at Flix in the Stix, held at the Australian National Botanic Gardens on Saturday February 26. Tickets are available through Moshtix.

NEVER LOST THAT FEELING JUSTIN HOOK SWERVEDRIVER know rotten luck. Good timing also held some sort of unjust grudge against them. For a start, their 1991 debut album Raise was released a month before My Bloody Valentine’s game changing Loveless and a month after Nirvana’s Nevermind. Falling bang in the middle of two of the most well regarded releases of the last quarter century was hardly a blessing in disguise.

Then add the fact that Raise – hymns of wide open vistas and sandy deserts and odes to Yank muscle cars – was totally out of sync with the prevailing musical moods, think Bandwagonesque and Screamadelica, and you’d be forgiven for thinking Swervedriver didn’t know how to cop a break. Despite a warm following in the UK, the band really found a rabid audience in the US and Australia, reasons for which still partially allude lead singer/guitarist Adam Franklin. “Yeah, it’s different in every country and always interesting to try and figure out why. Maybe Australian and American audiences get into us more because of lyrics about driving across the desert for miles. And there you have two countries where you can do that.”

By the mid-‘90s We chose that path Swervedriver had outgrown – we signed to the their misaligned ‘shoegazer’ majors and got into roots and were racking up bed with the devil. success in the burgeoning That’s how it works alt-rock landscape; a magical place where money and record deals were being thrown around in some crazy race to the bottom. From 1995 onwards Swervedriver’s career became the litmus test of torture at the hands of record labels, rapidly churning though Creation, Geffen and then A & M, as an unperturbed Franklin explains.

“The first time we got dropped by A & M and then consequently Creation it made us stronger, we’d just made our best album [Ejector Seat Reservation] and we just thought we’d stick it out.”

Franklin recalls running into a Creation employee around this time who was puzzled as to why the band didn’t split following their release from the label. “I laughed and said there’s no reason to break up just because we’d been dropped. Then the next one [99th Dream] was picked up by Geffen and the girl that signed us lost her job. That took the wind out of our sails. But we chose that path – we signed to the majors and got into bed with the devil. That’s how it works.”

And so the inevitable split. “I suppose we didn’t officially break up although it felt like the end. We certainly never announced it or anything. I think there was maybe a plan to go on hiatus and then maybe get back together but we never really did it until many years later.” After ignoring numerous requests Swervedriver finally caved in 2007. “It was natural in the end, quite spontaneous – everyone was up for it.” Four years into Swervedriver Mk II they’re still very much into it.

Catch Swervedriver and supports Tumbleweed and The Laurels live at Sydney’s Metro Theatre on Friday February 18. Tickets are $50.10 + bf and are available through Ticketek.

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Photo: Tony Mott

JOY TO THE WORLD peter krbavac With contemporaries such as The Hummingbirds, Ratcat and Smudge back in operation, it seemed only a matter of time before Canberra’s own ‘90s janglepop legends THE FALLING JOYS would dust off the guitars. With the four members again living in and around the Canberra region, The Joys are reconvening to play their first show in 15 years at the National Museum of Australia’s By the Water concert series.

“You did feel like it was a scene,” frontwoman Suzie Higgie reflects on the halcyon days of early ‘90s Australian indie rock, when bands like The Clouds, alongside The Joys, were infiltrating the mainstream. “I suppose when any bands are starting off, you have comrades in other bands. There was an excitement and a swapping of ideas. I suppose looking back, one of the most common threads was that there were girls playing guitars a lot more – that was a prominent thing. Girls were getting a bit more active in bands around the town.”

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Kim Gordon The Falling Joys formed in Canberra was the best in 1985, relocating to Sydney a batsperson in the few years later and releasing a team. And Henry string of singles and EPs leading Rollins got really up to 1991’s debut LP Wish List. The serious album housed certified alt-rock hit Lock It, which dominated the airwaves and charted in 1991’s Hottest Hundred list at number 20 – beating out the likes of Anarchy in the UK and Stairway to Heaven. The band hit the road, playing the first Big Day Out and touring with the likes of Blondie, Buzzcocks, Big Audio Dynamite, Divinyls, Midnight Oil, Dinosaur Jr and Sonic Youth.

“All around that period we were quite involved with [Sonic Youth],” Suzie says. “Henry Rollins was around too. We all ended up going to Moore Park in Sydney... trying to teach them all to play cricket. It was hilarious to see their faces when you say ‘no, you don’t run around the field, you run back and forth.’ I remember Kim Gordon was the best batsperson in the team. And Henry Rollins got really serious,” she laughs.

Ultimately, it was this dogged touring that led the end of The Falling Joys. “It was ten years and we were getting a bit weary,” Suzie says.

“We toured very heavily, very heavily,” she emphasises. “We’d been to America, we were all just a bit over it and I think we needed to stop.”

However, with 15 years out to focus on families, studying and other pursuits, Suzie says the band is relishing the opportunity to get back together. “We don’t know what else we’re going to do [beyond this show],” she says. “We’re just going to play that by ear. The wonderful National Museum of Australia approached us because I think they’d heard whisperings that we were thinking about playing again. Being a Canberra band too, we’re all around a bit more and you forget how many fans you used to have – well, still have – who are still around.”

The Falling Joys will play the outdoor amphitheatre at the National Museum of Australia with Dan Kelly on Saturday February 26. Entry is free.

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sweet liquorice itself, the album’s style “may not be for everybody”.

Personally, I’m intrigued – and as his Reflections LP was one of my faves for 2009 I’m looking forward to whatever Stimming brings to the table. The album is out in March.

THE REALNESS Obese Records are gearing up for a mammoth 2011 and the first cab off the rank is Terra Firm’s Simplex who is set to deliver his debut solo LP Audio Biography on Friday Feb 18. Promising to be a hardhitting exhibition of the Adelaide sound pioneered by the Certified Wise crew, the album is also an extremely personal affair for the hip-hop veteran. Produced entirely by Simplex himself, the record melds a classic hip-hop sound with modern flourishes, consistently weaving in a subtle rebellious streak to the bulk of its lyrical content.

The record features appearances from Delta, Ranto Bokgon, Candice Monique and Motions.

LA’s Daedelus has been representing the beat scene for many years and is both a true veteran of the scene and a certified workaholic.

He’s back again, this time with a fresh new LP on Ninja Tune entitled Bespoke. Never one to conform to any one style, Daedelus is happy to flirt with eccentricity and simply be himself. He’s teamed up with a diverse range of vocalists for the album including Busdriver, Bilal and Inara George. The album is out Monday April 11.

Hamburg’s Stimming has reportedly channelled a difficult period of in his life into his music to produce his upcoming second LP Liquorice. The head of Diynamic Music has moved away from his usual 4/4 style to create something fresh and unique, heavily based on field recordings and explorations of a more experimental style of electronic music. The record’s title is apparently a hint that, like the

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Those Slaughterhouse goons are back at it again following their dope self-titled LP from a few years back. Their new EP is out shortly and features an incredible line-up of producers on board – Mr. Porter, M-Phazes, Black Milk, Grind Music and Frequency. Dres from Black Sheep is on there too, as are the entire LOX crew. It doesn’t get any better than that. Can’t wait to get a copy.

London duo Kryptic Minds will drop their second LP Can’t Sleep in April. Their debut effort One Of Us narrowly missed out on my top ten of 2009 and was a deep, dark, sub-heavy bass music odyssey on Loefah’s amazing Swamp81 label. For Can’t Sleep they’ve jumped over to the Black Box label and have apparently maintained the wintery sound of their debut but also take in influences from Detroit techno and even Portishead! Definitely put this release on your radar for 2011.

On the poppier end of the bass music spectrum, the debut record from Katy B is just around the corner. With a voice that’s everywhere at the moment, crossing genres from r‘n’b, funky and dubstep, On A Mission could be a record that blows up across the globe and continues dubstep’s flirtation with the charts. Show-wise, the newly refurbished ANU Bar plays host to Melbourne’s Raven on Saturday March 19. Illy is also scheduled to drop into the bar on Friday April 8.

Keep your eye on BMA for more details on both shows.

To hear music from all these releases and more, tune to The Antidote on 2XX 98.3FM every Tuesday night from 9:30 – 11pm.

ROSHAMBO - roshambizzle@yahoo.com.au

THE TURNS OF PHRASE niki burnside I don’t know if I’m alone here, but I’m one of those people who listen to songs and hear the lyrics completely differently to how they were actually written and sung. Case in point – Skylight, by PHRASE, who is of Melbourne origin and you’ve no doubt heard on triple j. Here I was thinking that Phrase had actually woken up in a skylight. As you can imagine, I was curious to find out how he found himself in such a predicament. Must have been quite a night out, I thought.

I was partly right; it was a big night. And, according to the man himself, he woke up the next morning on a plane. As he himself, ahem, phrases it, “I woke up in the skylight.” And so the song was born. He did not clarify whether he was meant to be there, or how he got there. If you want to know if he was thrown on the aircraft involuntarily, having already passed out, I cannot tell you.

I woke up in the skylight

For those of you heading to the Summer Rhythm Festival this Saturday February 20, things are looking promising. For one thing, it will be an eclectic combination of Canberra talent and exciting exports from around Australia. Phrase guarantees “extreme and unadulterated partying”, having been tucked away out of sight and out of trouble lately, recording his latest album. Phrase is one hip-hop artist attempting to escape his genre and create an original style. Not comfortable with such a singular definition, his upcoming album is all his own, without the intertwining of samples from other artists, a well known stylistic move made by other hip-hop artists to popular effect. Phrase’s artistic goals and meteoric rise to fame suggest that what’s to come will be innovative and fresh. Coming from an already heavily pigeonholed musical style, his has an ambitious purpose.

Despite the stories of big nights and the kind of rumours that surround someone like Phrase – whose teenage years, allegedly, were a troubled time – his present life is, unsurprisingly, more complex and definitely mellower than his hip-hop persona. A married man, Phrase admits to escaping to retreats like Phillip Island to write his lyrics.

Like any artist, seclusion is a useful way to develop his music. That and Jameson’s, he says. When he’s relaxing, it’s also good food and nice people. On that note, I assume he’s looking forward to the Summer Rhythm Festival and sharing a green room with his own particular favourites M-Phazes, Illy and DJ Flagrant.

The festival will be celebrating the summer, when it’s especially enjoyable to flee outside, enjoy a cider in the sun and listen to anything you please. There is no one musical style dominating the weekend, with everything from folk to rock to hip-hop. Based on his own particular musical goals, this should suit Phrase just fine.

Catch Phrase live at the Summer Rhythm Festival, held at Goolabri over Saturday-Sunday February 19-20. Tickets range in price depending on whether you go for one or both days and they’re available through Oztix.

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METALISE The next couple of weeks will deliver an unprecedented amount of heaviness with all the sideshows and the main touring behemoth that is the Soundwave Festival. Welcome news came through last week that the Sydney leg has shifted venue from the sweatbox that was the Eastern Creek site to the well tested Sydney Showgrounds which hosts the Big Day Out. Of course realising I now could have gone to UFC AND Soundwave with the Acer Arena literally a stone’s throw away, I was kicking myself, but hey, first world problems…

On a more serious note, I just want to acknowledge the passing of Gary Moore, one of Ireland’s all time great guitar players at the young age of 58. RIP. The Haunted love Australia and to celebrate the launch of their new album Unseen due out in March, the Swedes will be back at The Manning Bar in Sydney on Friday May 27. Most of the final mixes should be in the can now and the album will be out through Century Media when it drops.

Nevermore also have bolstered their frequent flyer miles with several Aussie tours and the band will be back for another visit, also at The Manning Bar with locals Anno Domini on Saturday June 11.

Tickets for both shows will be available through Ticketek.

On the local front there’s also a bunch of great shows to look forward to. The Basement on Friday February 18 hosts a Punk vs Metal evening with Toxic Men, Chainsaw Mascara, Reign of Terror and Knight Hammer to celebrate Kim and Weas’ birthdays. The following night, Saturday February 19, hosts a visit from Sydney’s Synperium, along with local blackened warriors Mytile Vey Lorth, Tortured, Hellbringer and New Blood. Saturday February 26 features a night entitled Canberra vs Melbourne with bands to be advised, but surely this is the musical equivalent of bringing a gun to a knife fight… that said it’ll be worth a look!

Of course the big upcoming show in early March is the huge international bill of underground warriors at The ANU Bar on Thursday March 3. Monarch, the French doom savants, are joined

by Unearthly Trance of New York, Eagle Twin from Utah, Iron Lung from Washington and 4 Dead, who have recently gotten themselves a new drummer and hail from parts unknown. This show is an absolute treat for fans of quality underground music and if you can’t make it out of town for all the big shows in Sydney and elsewhere, this more than makes up for it.

There’s an all ages fest in Sydney under the moniker The Sydney Brutal Deathfest coming up on Sunday February 20 with a huge bill at The Lucky Australian. Ignite The Ibex, Alice Through The Windshield Glass, Elysian, Norse, Absolution, I Am Atlas, Point Below Zero, Syko Sapian, New Blood, Requiem For Prague and Ilcontent. A mere 20 bucks gets you in the door on the day.

Josh NP: War Is our Destiny – Church of Misery – Early Works JOSH NIXON doomtildeath@hotmail.com

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GIVING A FUCK ALLAN SKO A word from Bossman Allan Sko: Ahoy there gentle BMA readers of the metal community. A small break in your regular programming, so that we may keep you black swathed purveyors of fine music abreast of some recent developments here at BMA HQ. Firm fans of metal that we are, when we heard the news that beloved brewdle online magazine METAL AS FUCK (MaF) and its creator/ editor Leticia Supple was going to shut its operations in order to take a break, BMA Another Thing Columnist (and runner up in the Drunken Gandalf convention) Scott Adams leapt on the case. Long story short, we now own and run Metal as Fuck, and we intend to maintain the awesomeness instilled by Miss Supple, as well as enact some exciting plans we have for the magazine as the year progresses.

Launched in 2009, Leticia has been the driving force behind MaF since its inception. In its first year, with a global team of writers and photographers, the mag covered the major European festivals and continued in its second year to expand its reach. Leticia commented that she was excited to be passing the magazine on to Radar Media (BMA). “Scott Adams has taken over MaF just as it is on the cusp of great things,” says Supple.

“It is great to know that they will take it even further. It was a big decision to sell but as my life has changed, it’s turned out to be the best one. They will continue in the spirit in which it was established, and I know that they will do amazing things.”

Indeed Scott Adams – with over 30 years metal experience under his studded belt as critic and performer, as well as avid fanboy – has been hard at work already as the site’s new editor/operator, ensuring there’ll be much to enjoy at MaF. “I have secured Lee Barrett – the man who discovered Opeth and Emperor – as a columnist/reviewer,” he says, spitting chips all over my face in the process. “His column will run in the form of a monthly ‘tip sheet’, letting the kids know what’s going to be cool in the upcoming months. I have sorted out a supply deal with Razamataz, which gives MaF a line on ‘classic designs’ from the likes of Bathory and Venom. Despite wanting to make the webstore a place that underground Aus bands can sell their wares, a few ‘big guns’ on the page will get people looking around. And the big guns will be extreme bands – no AC/DC or stuff you can get anywhere else.”

As well as eager punters, this is good news for local Canberra groups too, presenting a direct and helpful line to merch opportunities.

And adding a touch of local ed flavor will be beloved BMA Metalise columnist and page-sharer Mr Josh Nixon, pitching in a monthly column on his vast knowledge base to entertain all and sundry on the joys of esoteric metal.

Much to enjoy. So if you haven’t already, you can check out the site at www. metalasfuck.net . For more information about content and merch, you can email Scott Adams at scott@metalasfuck.net .

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the word

on albums

AMANDA PALMER AMANDA PALMER goes down under [liberator]

album of the issue DECEMBERISTS the king is dead [capitol]

A blast of country harmonica greets you to almost every song on this, The Decemberists’ marked counterpoint to their increasingly dense concept albums of late. Fans of Meloy’s lyrical genius won’t be let down – within two songs, he name checks “Hetty Green, the queen of supply-side bonhomie bone-drab / If you know what I mean?” and by the time June Hymn exudes Colin’s fascination with the quieter, rural life, his turn of phrase is in top gear: “Thrush’s bleeding battle with the wrens / Disrupts my reverie again”.

Here the band abandon the conceptual narrative, and just stick with the theme – amazing, reverent country music played to perfection from The Decemberists, a band formed around waltzes and shanties, now lending their craft to the old west for the first time en masse. Only This Is Why We Fight touches on the usual tempo and feel of the previous two albums. And it’s the breakaway that makes this album grand – Meloy and co, paying their dues to their favourite songwriters, with simmering songs about love, loss and the quiet life.

Absolute perfection for this summer.

ALISTAIR ERSKINE

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Watching music videos on Rage until the wee hours occasionally reaps an amusing gem. One of my recent moments of gratification came when Amanda Palmer’s Map of Tasmania flashed elaborately decorated pudendas across the screen. There was even a cameo by the mother of brazenfemale-sexuality-to-phat-beats, Peaches. But the catchy indie dance single, featuring British mashpop outfit The Young Punx, is not definitive of its album, Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under.

Also known as Amanda Fucking Palmer, one half of The Dresden Dolls, the New York-based singer, songwriter, punk cabaret queen’s second solo release is a tribute to her loyal Aussie following. The acoustic folk songs, most with just AFP’s often comic lyrics against her piano or ukulele-playing, aren’t just about Australia; nine out of 12 tracks on the release were recorded live at various venues around the country. While every song on …Goes Down Under may not have translated so well recorded live as its undoubtedly flamboyant rendition in flesh, this intimate album clearly demonstrates Palmer’s seasoned songwriting skills and sense of show.

Stand-out tracks for moi included Vegemite (the Black Death), the aforementioned Map of Tasmania and Bad Wine and Lemon Cake.

Karuna Gurung

MOGWAI Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will [Rock Action Records/ Sub Pop] There comes a time in most bands’ careers when the listener knows what to expect from a new release. This is not necessarily a bad thing, and it is a pleasant surprise when a band takes a different route or introduces new elements into a well-worn sound. Conversely, it can also be disappointing when a band does not move on and sticks with the same old formula. Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will generally falls into this latter category.

The album is Mogwai’s seventh, and comes three years after the brilliant The Hawk is Howling.

The record generally delivers what is expected – meandering post-rock soundscapes with lush and layered production.

However, its failing is that it does not push Mogwai’s sound any further than it has already been before. Instead, what is offered is somewhat of a purposeless self-pastiche that can be confusing to listen to.

This is most evident earlier on, where songs build and build yet ultimately fail to take off.

Whilst this does have some redeeming features (Too Raging to Cheers and You’re Lionel Richie explode out of their sedate beginnings into controlled sonic frenzy), it often feels like an exercise in treading water. The few glimpses of what could have been are tantalising, but ultimately not enough to carry the entire record. Mogwai still have so much potential, it is just a shame that it was not explored here.

Liam Demamiel

QUEENS OF THE STONEAGE QUEENS OF THE STONEAGE (reissue) [Liberation/] Despite an ever-ballooning and intermittently settled line-up, QOTSA is essentially Josh Homme. This 1998 debut album represents his first set of songs since the dissolution of Kyuss.

Expectations were high. Which direction would Homme take the band: the pop-influenced swagger path of Demon Cleaner or the trippy, staccato prog funk road of Supa Scoopa? Time proved he could forge a new fork – all of the above and more.

At the time, QOTSA felt unburdened where Kyuss was loaded with baggage. Homme claimed he was going for robot rock, a nothing phrase masking his obsession with discursive Krautrock. But he got it. On Regular John the die was cast – repetition, groove, heft and harmony – the sound of falling up an Escher staircase. Avon and If Only complete an incredibly fluid and riff-heavy troika. To the disappointment of many, things slowed down to an amiable saunter soon after – the tuff gnarl of Mexicola and rabid snarl of How To Handle A Rope providing the only real back-end shout outs. But Homme was always more interested in shapeshifting liquid dynamics, and to complain is to undermine the jazzy contributions of ex-Kyuss bandmate and co-writer Alfredo Hernadez.

QOTSA – the album – remains an intriguing vision of a chaotic future. Three extra tracks drop in seamlessly during the album, not as addendums and neither disrupting the flow nor spoiling the original; a further sign of Homme’s restless vision.

JUSTIN HOOK

singled out

with Dave Ruby Howe

talib kweli gutter rainbows [Javotti Media/3D]

The Streets Computers and Blues [679]

The Waifs Temptation [Jarrah/MGM]

From start to finish, Gutter Rainbows is a slice of hip-hop nostalgia. Never one for bells, whistles or over-production, Brooklyn’s finest takes you back to when funk and soul reigned and when rap was just rap: classic, simple and oh-so-good.

Originally, Rainbows – Kweli’s fourth solo album – was slated to be a digital-only release, but thanks to a little outside help a physical release saw the light of day.

If Computers and Blues is indeed ‘the final Streets album’, then it would be hard to deny that – regardless of your opinion of Mike Skinner’s coupe de grace – he has made his exit with delightfully refined aplomb. Skinner’s had his share of highs and lows over the last four albums, yet he’s decided not to go out in a blaze of aweinspiring glory, and nor is he slamming down the phone and storming out in a huff. Instead, he’s leaving after some gentle yet heartfelt reminiscence, a bright-eyed view of the future, a warm hug and, as you would expect from Skinner, a cheeky wink as he walks off into the sunset.

Like a fine wine, The Waifs are getting better with age with their sixth record Temptation.

Possibly their strongest cohesive vision yet, the band have crafted an impressive batch of songs that will touch the melancholy and heartache in our hearts.

The album’s title track is an ode to hard-living and triumph, the obvious choice to introduce Kweli’s childhood and the inspiration for the record, while the following track So Low is pretty near perfect, with a blissful hook and infectious beat. Mr International, clearly the most radio friendly, is sultry and sexy and though it may not fit the overall mood of the album, it stands easily on its own. Wait For You is a retro tinged number that benefits from Kendra Ross’ impressive vocals and on the next track, Ain’t Waiting, Kweli and New York boy Outasight reference what seems like every fairytale ever written. Kweli has that rare ability to toe the line between underground and mainstream with ease and that’s what sets him apart from other rappers.

While widely touted as one of the best, he receives the kind of respect from fans that is often discarded with commercial success. While Kweli’s heyday may have been during the Hi-Tek/Mos Def years, Gutter Rainbows proves that he’s still one of hip-hops most talented game players.

Marissa paine

Skinner’s inclination for earnestness and experimentation has always seen him walk a fine line between critical acclaim and alienation of his fans, but it’s unlikely that Computers and Blues will ruffle too many feathers.

Most notably though, is Skinner’s concern not just for the now, but for the future.

You can hear it in the poppy electronic hooks that are laced through the album, at times making it sound more like Moby, Kanye or even The Roots. But you know that it’s not just a coincidence when he sings about it - from Puzzled

by People to the modern day perils of facebook relationship management on omg.

It’s been fun, Mike. Please say it ain’t so. ben hermann

Recorded in just ten days in a Minneapolis basement, the album is indeed tempting. The strength of The Waifs remains their three part harmonies, which inject huge vocal swells into the slow chug of I Learn The Hardway and the gospel-tinged title track.

The blues-inflected Moses recalls a past era of scratched vinyl, whilst Buffalo paves the way with palm-muted chords that meanders beautifully into the plaintive Just Like Me. Drifting Dreamer does just that in the most whimsical of ways.

Highlights on the album are Beautiful Night, which shifts along with a subtle Sheryl Crow-esque groove and the cathartic Somedays, which shows songwriter Vikki Thorn wearing her heart on her sleeve; “Somedays I just want to ditch my responsibilities/leave behind dirty dishes/dirty floors.”

For all of those people who haven’t paid attention to The Waifs since their break out songs London Still and Lighthouse – it would be a damn shame if you neglected this record. At no time does it come across as forced; it’s a truly relaxing listen, best enjoyed with a bottle of red over a candlelit dinner.

MATT PETHERBRIDGE

Lupe Fiasco The Show Goes On [Warner] It would seem as though Lupe’s becoming the Kanye West of 2008 with his bravado snowballing into self-delusion.

But even then Kanye wouldn’t have done something as crass as this. As infectious as the Float On melody may be, this is far too simple for someone of Lupe’s esteem. How far away is Guetta’s phone call?

Nicki Minaj Moment 4 Life ft. Drake [UMA] So this is quite great. For one the production is next level with the gentle piano intro and clapping snares working surprisingly well before getting a boos of strings-assisted grandeur. And then there’s Nicki Minaj who manages to light up whatever she touches and relegate Drake and his nasal drawl to just a flavour of the month MC in comparison.

The Strokes Under Cover Of Darkness [Sony BMG] While it once appeared more likely that we’d hear Nick Valensi: Experience The Hair before a new Strokes LP here we are with the first taste of the NYC band’s Angles record in Under Cover Of Darkness.

And it’s great. But you could’ve guessed that, right? Some decidedly roughshot production takes it back to the garage while Julian Casablancas playfully croons over some dueling guitar chunks. Welcome the fuck back!

43

the word

on films

WITH MELISSA WELLHAM

As Valentine’s Day rolled around, so too did a slew of rom coms released for the sole purpose of tricking unsuspecting couples into cinema seats – though there are slim pickings. No Strings Attached stars Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher as a young couple who can’t fight their overwhelming attraction to one another, although allegedly the stars fought the whole way through production. Gnomeo and Juliet is an animated retelling of Shakespeare’s classic, starring… garden gnomes.

Still, at least there’s Tamara Drewe: fairly enjoyable, and suitably quirky. Thank goodness for the Brits.

quote of the issue

“She’s poured herself into those shorts; I hope they don’t give her thrush.”

Beth (Tamsin Greig), Tamara Drewe

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Tamara Drewe

The Next Three Days

Sanctum 3D

Set in the sleepy English countryside, Tamara Drewe is based on the graphic novel by Posy Simmonds, which in turn is a modern retelling of Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd. When Tamara Drewe (Gemma Arterton) blusters back into her bucolic hometown – with a decidedly smaller nose post-plastic surgery, and a far greater effect on men – after years away, she stirs up the passions of the locals. She inspires the affections of visiting rock star Ben Sergeant (Dominic Cooper), the married and egotistical ageing writer Nicholas (Roger Allam) and childhood sweetheart Andy (Luke Evans). What follows is a satirical comedy involving sex, romance, cups of tea and murder.

If I wanted to watch Russell Crowe brood and act like a tool for over two hours… well, let’s be honest, I’d never want to watch that. So why the hell did I see The Next Three Days?!

Sanctum has an interesting enough premise and some beautiful underwater cinematography – but with a waterlogged script and performances that are about as thrilling as driftwood, Sanctum barely makes a ripple. Based on co-writer Andrew Wight’s life-and-death experience of leading a diving team through underwater caves, Sanctum follows suit. After a cyclone floods the cave they are working in, a team of divers are faced with rising waters and diminishing oxygen.

Experienced explorer Frank (Richard Roxburgh) and his son Josh (Rhys Wakefield) must try to lead their team through unexplored underwater caves to the ocean, and to safety.

Tamara Drewe wants to be wickedly funny, but the script isn’t quite smart enough. The pacing is also problematic, perhaps because the graphic novel was originally a series of newspaper strips, which makes the film very episodic. It’s not awful, but it’s not quite on the nose. However, the film is also lighthearted and doesn’t take itself too seriously, which allows the viewer to forgive many of its more obvious flaws.

The ensemble cast is also excellent. Arterton plays her sexually liberated sometimehome wrecker Tamara without seeming unlikable – which is no mean feat. The most interesting characters, however, are the colourful countryside personalities. A comedy of manners without manners, Tamara Drewe is spirited and sexy, if also a little bit silly.

MELISSA WELLHAM

Crowe plays John Brennan, whose wife Lara (Elizabeth Banks) has been imprisoned for murder. For reasons that are never fully expressed or explored, John decides to break Lara out. Exciting, right? Well, it’s intermittently interesting, but mostly just dull.

I couldn’t have cared less about whether she actually did it, nor whether they would successfully escape. Also, Crowe can’t carry the film by himself, so it just drags on to its conclusion, trudging through a mess of subplots (one of which includes Olivia Wilde, the only good thing in the film). The actual breakout is moderately exciting, but the fact that I didn’t give a hoot about any of the characters meant that I was left cold and vaguely irritated by the end.

The Next Three Days just fell short for me. Director Paul Haggis doesn’t get us to an emotional connection, but he also doesn’t deliver quite enough guilty-pleasure, ballsout action or even dramatic tension to make up for the film being so shallow. The last half hour is the only exciting part, and that’s after Crowe has blundered around for two hours looking vaguely desperate.

Overall, the biggest waste of time since I saw My Super Ex-Girlfriend.

MEGAN McKEOUGH

Directed by Alister Grierson, James Cameron is the executive producer of the film – a fact that has been emphasised in all the promotional material.

Although I doubt that this film would have been much better even if James Cameron had directed it, it seems unfair to be linking Sanctum with Cameron’s big blockbusters. An epic Sanctum is not; it’s barely even an anecdote. The actors are mostly lifeless, even before the majority of them succumb to a watery end – which is disappointing, considering the talent involved. Roxburgh and Ioan Gruffudd are both good actors, and Home and Away’s Wakefield has proven himself before in the Australian drama The Black Balloon. It’s a shame that Sanctum will tarnish these actors’ reputations. Then again, it’s such an awful film, hopefully Sanctum will sink without a trace.

MELISSA WELLHAM

the word on dvds

Let Me In [Icon] I never quite understand the antagonism towards Hollywood remakes. If some clueless, coked-up studio exec wants to feed some beloved boutique film into the turd machine of mainstream cinema and spit out a big budget bedazzling god-awful remake – then so be it. Who cares, honestly?

The creative team behind the original toiling away in some hovel in Vladivostok might be lucky enough to get a steady stream of Blu Ray residuals and everyone involved in the remake will hang their heads in shame and possibly gain a little humility in the process. In an ideal world, that is. In this world we have Dinner for Schmucks.

Still, Let Me In isn’t an epic fail on that scale, more a head scratching ‘Huh? Why bother?’

Let The Right One In is barely 18 months old and remains an icy, intense-teenagebullying-through-the-prismof-a-Swedish-vampire film pleasure. In a sea of teen novel mediocrity, it was the real vampire film of the decade. So what to make of this almost note for note, scene for scene remake? Clearly it’s in love with the original and hasn’t taken any ill considered liberties with the plot or characters. The film has made the concessionary move to the US (New Mexico) but the bleak desolation remains.

Likewise the elemental story remains; shy beaten up boy meets free wheeling shoeless girl, boy falls in love, girl reveals herself to be ageless vampire, dad collects blood for girl, boy catches train with girl in box to escape authorities and start life of blood collection for new girlfriend. It’s actually a tender story treated with restraint – except for the hugely violent but sporadic spurts, larger and bloodier in this version.

Kody Smit-McPhee is suitably saucer eyed and Chloe Moretz is vicious and sympathetic in equal measure – but despite the outsized skills of each actor, the chemistry is sodden; a regrettable flaw for a film of exquisite technical expertise.

JUSTIN HOOK

Curb Your Enthusiasm – Season 7 [HBO] As a Seinfeld fan, it’s hard to watch Curb Your Enthusiasm without thinking Larry David is ‘doing Jerry Seinfeld’ with his mannerisms and speech. It must be remembered however, that Larry David co-created and co-wrote Seinfeld so if anything, Seinfeld was ‘doing’ Larry David.

Curb Your Enthusiasm is the mockumentary-esque story of the daily life of Larry David – a semi-retired television producer and writer. The character of David, played

by David, is a fictionalised version of himself and various actors play themselves playing the roles of David’s wife, his manager and manager’s wife.

In many episodes, celebrities guest star, playing fictionalised versions of themselves in situations planned and set up

by David.

Most seasons have an overarching story arc and in S7 the arc focuses on David finally agreeing to create a Seinfeld reunion show, on the basis that casting his ex-wife in a major role might win her back. As well as the entire regular cast of Seinfeld, celebrity guest stars in this season include Christian Slater, Ben Affleck, Meg Ryan and Rosie O’Donnell.

Possibly the most awkward parts of the show are the stares and silences with which David is faced. The main plots and sub-plots of the episodes are mapped out in advance by David; however a majority of what the audience sees is improvised – meaning sometimes the actors just stare incredulously at David, not knowing exactly how to respond to what he just said or did.

Despite the uncomfortable feeling you get when watching, Curb Your Enthusiasm is a hilarious look at American life through the eyes of someone who doesn’t convene to ‘acceptable social behaviour’.

It is witty, observational, wellacted, brilliantly edited and highly addictive.

Clare Butterfield

Dogtooth [Madman] Expectations can be ruinous.

When a film is tagged as controversial it can be difficult to disaggregate your feelings for the film from how those around you are reacting.

For better or worse, art is rarely consumed in a vacuum especially when it is nominated for Best Foreign Feature by the Academy (it lost).

And so it goes with Dogtooth; everything about it screams polarising. A family on the outskirts of an unnamed Greek city carry out a surreal existence. The three adultaged children have grown up in a gated compound having never experienced the outside world. Their parents feed them fanciful and terrifying stories of the world (planes are toys that fall from the sky, kittens rip apart grown men) and distort commonplace naming of objects (a chair is a sea, the salt shaker is a telephone) all for the purpose of outright psychological control. They live a denuded life, create mundane games to pass their time and get the odd fuck from a female security guard the father procures for his son’s pleasure and, um, development. Tellingly, we never learn the names of any of the family members. The sex in Dogtooth is played for control and distance not titillation. That the parents seem to survive on a diet of dissociated hardcore pornography is part of the ironfisted grim reality of life inside the compound.

Not much happens in this film, striving as it does to be a malevolent character study of parents crossing that line from protectiveness to cruel dictatorship. It is a subdued film. Elegant even, in its own twisted way. And like all statement cinema, Dogtooth is devised to be dissected.

Whether it’s internally robust enough to withstand such pressure is another question.

Like the family itself, just one loose thread could unravel this whole mess.

JUSTIN HOOK

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the word

BLACKBOX

on games

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Developer: Criterion Games Platform: iPhone Length: 1 – 5 hrs Rating: Take or leave I’m still yet to be convinced that a truly awesome racing game can be made for the iPhone. Whilst Hot Pursuit is definitely quarter-miles better than its predecessor, the experience it offers pails in comparison to what the PSP was offering years ago with the likes of Ridge Racer and Burnout. Granted, it’s running on less specialised hardware, but that doesn’t really excuse how bland the game is. The racing tracks alone consist of the same uninspired elements repeatedly copied and pasted. That said, I did still find myself getting a decent bit into this one, particularly once the pace picked up. While for the most part this experience wasn’t marred by anything particularly offensive, I wouldn’t call it overwhelming either.

Stick Cricket Developer: Stick Sports Platform: iPhone Length: 2+ hrs Rating: Classic, definitely grab Stick Cricket can be as infuriatingly frustrating as it is hugely addictive. The main source of its appeal comes from just how freaking hard it is. If you do actually manage to complete this one, I would expect nothing less than a signed letter from Mr Benaud himself. Control-wise, the game is beautifully simple with it featuring just two buttons – although it could benefit from having the straight drive as seen in the PC counterpart. However once you factor in the sheer range of deliveries and their required timings, mastering this game is far from easy. The two player mode also works particularly well, allowing players to give the bowling a crack, albeit in a very automated kind of way. All up, it’s a great experience which many console cricket games could learn from.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Developer: Criterion Games Platform: iPhone Length: 1 – 5 hrs Rating: Take or leave Ironically, repetition is probably my most used word throughout all my reviews, but on this occasion it’s definitely necessary. Not only does Infinity Blade consist entirely of consecutive one on one duels, when you’re inevitably popped off by the head honcho, you do it literally all again… and again, until eventually you can return the favour. I was amazed though how long such a format kept me gripped. While of course the steady upgrading and game centre achievements help to keep things interesting, it’s the feel and diversity of the combat, along with the inherent desire to master it that kept me hooked. So whilst a single play through (or bloodline) will take less than half an hour, all up there’s still a few solid hours of play here.

TORBEN SKO

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The comedian hosted talk show or variety show, the mainstay of American television, has been a bit of a hit and miss affair on Australian screens. Graham Kennedy was very good at it in the ‘60s and ‘70s, Steve Vizard made a ham-fisted yet successful attempt at pretending to be David Letterman back before most Australians knew who David Letterman was, The Panel turned the format on its head in the ‘90s with five interviewers and Andrew Denton who owned their timeslots for the best part of the last decade.* They were the successful ones. The gutters of TV guides are littered with the wreckage of the ones that didn’t make the grade and over the past few years the networks have been content to recycle the US and UK products, albeit days late, rendering many of the monologues pointless.

This week two new local shows hit our screens – Adam Hills in Gordon Street Tonight (ABC1, Wed, 8.30pm) and Ben Elton Live From Planet Earth (WIN, Tue, 9.30pm). One tanked. The other didn’t.

Hills’ show – a mix of the variety, talk and quirk – was a riveting affair, drawing on Hills’ own personality and self-deprecating humour.

The show-warming gifts from studio guests were inspired. Then there was the brilliant homage to the studio’s former resident show, Countdown – James Reyne performed the Dragon track April Sun in Cuba on the stage it was performed more than a quarter of a century before. It’s proof that the key to Spick and Specks’ success is at least partially due to Hills. Elton’s show, billed as a live variety show had a few moments of humour but not enough to keep remote control fingers from walking. Elton is a brilliant comedic writer, behind some of the UK’s best cult comedies – The Young Ones and Blackadder among them – and an inspired writer and novelist – Stark, Gridlock, Dead Famous, High Society and the musical We Will Rock You. As a stand-up comic he is hit and miss and as an actor, barely watchable. Live from Planet Earth was proof Elton should stick to making his name from behind the typewriter.

The Underbelly franchise, unable to find enough crime for a whole series this year, has gone to telemovies. Look out for Underbelly Files: Infiltration (WIN, Sun Feb 20, 8.30pm), and The Man Who Got Away (WIN, Sun Feb 27, 8.30pm).

Laid (ABC1, Wed, 9.30pm), created by triple j it girl Marieke Hardy and Kirsty Fisher, is the best new show on television. Its black humour and tightly written scripts make it a must on your viewing schedule (or catch up TV list).

The best of the other newbies include Mike & Molly (WIN, Wed, 8pm), $#*! My Dad Says (WIN, Mon, 8pm), Ugly Americans (SBS1, Mon, 10pm) and the two new episodes a week of The Big Bang Theory (WIN, Tue-Wed, 7.30pm).

Not shy of controversy, Auntie’s spiritual series Compass (ABC1, Sun, 10.20pm) sits down with some notable Australians including Philip Nitschke, Rolf de Heer, Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton and Clare Bowditch. Don’t miss The Filth and The Fury (ABC2, Wed Feb 23, 8.30pm), Julien Temple’s bookend to The Sex Pistols. Tip – watch The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle first so you know why John Lydon is such a cranky bastard.

TRACY HEFFERNAN tracyheffernan@bigpond.com *For one of the best talk shows of all time, Blackbox recommends scouring the internet for The Henry Rollins Show. Paradoxically it’s available from the iTunes store.

SOUL D N A HEART zoya patel After 15 years of touring together, I wouldn’t have been surprised if Dean Butterworth, bassist for GOOD CHARLOTTE, had been tired and irritable after yet another day on the road.

Chatting to me from Cardiff, Wales, during their tour of Europe and the UK, Dean is perfectly chipper and amiable on the phone. “The tour’s great, it’s all sold out! It’s going really well, we couldn’t be more pleased!” he gushes, right off the bat.

Still playing their pop-tastic brand of radio-friendly rock music, Good Charlotte have just released their fifth album, Cardiology, and have wasted no time in hopping a plane and heading overseas to spread the gospel of their music to the rest of the world.

It’s not the same as it used to be, though, Dean reminisces, when the band was younger and had fewer responsibilities. “Things get a little more complicated when you’ve got families to take care of,” he muses. “When you’re younger you kind of just leave, but now even if you just have a girlfriend it gets hard, being gone for five weeks at a time.”

Luckily for Good Charlotte, they really believe in what they’re selling, which makes the whole process of touring easier.

Cardiology was a labour of love – the band recorded the whole album with producer Howard Benson, before scrapping it after being disappointed with the sound, and re-recording with Don Gilmore.

We’re always trying something new in the hopes that people are going to like it

The end result is a polished album full of the catchy guitar hooks their fans love, and a newer, more summery pop sound that shows how the band has progressed from their Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous days.

Their most recent single from Cardiology is Sex on the Radio, which has been doing exceptionally well on the airwaves, not that Dean is surprised about that at all. “I’m a big fan of the song, so I’m not shocked it’s doing well,” he says. “It’s a very power-pop kind of song. There are so many different songs on all of our records – there’s more sort of rock stuff, and more pop stuff, and I think that’s the one thing that we do is try to have a little diversity in all the songs. We’re always trying something new and something different, in the hopes that people are going to like it.”

head out on a national tour of the States, and then fly down under for their Australian tour, much to Dean’s pleasure.

When asked where his favourite place to tour is, there’s no hesitation. “Australia, for sure. Our last Australian tour was amazing, and we can’t wait to come back. I mean, for me, it’s my favourite place to tour in the world, and it has been for years.”

Is that because of the sun, surf, or fans? Apparently, all three.

“I’m a huge surfing fan, so whenever I get there, I try to get in the water. The climate’s a lot more like California, where we all live, and everyone’s so nice! I just like the vibe there.”

As well as the atmosphere, though, Dean prefers our music industry to that in the States. With all the developments in technology, the industry is strikingly different to 15 years ago when Good Charlotte were just starting out. “Everyone’s trying to figure out a different way of getting music out there, with modern technology. We’re all on that learning curve, just trying to figure it out, and we figure the best thing to do is to be out, be travelling, touring, playing live,” Dean explains.

In America, though, that isn’t always enough. “It’s so much more difficult, especially for us. In Australia, you guys play music videos on TV. In the US, for example, MTV? It shouldn’t even be called MTV, because they don’t play music videos. It’s all reality television. They should call it RTV!” As our time starts to run out, I try to get some juicy gossip about the Madden twins out of Dean, but he isn’t biting at all. “I get asked about this a lot,” he says, with a weary laugh. “It’s great, it’s really great. Two brothers, two twin brothers, in a band. Everybody gets along really well. Every now and then there’s some brotherly tension, which is natural, I think, with siblings, but generally, the energy is really good, and they’re both amazing guys.” Sure, sure.

It would be easy for a band like Good Charlotte, after so many years in the industry and so much success, to get rather complacent about their music. However, Dean assures me that that’s certainly not the case. “Just because we’ve had success doesn’t mean we don’t still feel ambition. We still feel that fire, and want it more than ever. We’re still as hungry as any brand new band is!”

Catch Good Charlotte live at the AIS Arena on Sunday April 10.

Tickets are $89.80 + bf and can be purchased through Ticketek.

And people certainly do like it – Good Charlotte recently uploaded a video to their website that shows them street testing the song on unsuspecting passers by (unsuspecting because the band are dressed in ridiculous disguises), and the feedback was almost all good.

Dean points out, though, that the fans aren’t the only people who matter when it comes to liking an album. “We, the five of us, have to like what we’re playing, you know. We’re really proud of this body of work on Cardiology!”

The band are in for a long stint of touring over the next few months. Once their sojourn in Europe and the UK is finished, they

47

the word

Amanda Palmer / Mikelangelo / The Jane Austen Argument The National Gallery James O Fairfax Theatre Tuesday February 1

on gigs

The phrase ‘I’m going to see Amanda Palmer tonight at the National Gallery’ is not one often uttered by the concert-going class of Canberra. Partly because this particular gig was the punk cabaret queen’s first venture to the nation’s capital, but mostly because the National Gallery is hardly a normal venue for this kind of concert.

Reserved mostly for film screenings and classical ensembles, the James O Fairfax Theatre seems an oddly sterile home for Palmer who is known as a rule breaking trailblazer. It’s a surprise she can get a gig anywhere after twittering photos of herself going through costume cupboards at the Opera House. However the venue, which is quite small, proved an incredibly intimate place for the show which was compèred by the great Mikelangelo. Known about Canberra for his group The Black Sea Gentleman’s impressive Folk Festival performances, the giant Balkan man brought his charisma and his bare chest to the stage to make a few jokes before introducing the first support, indie piano duo The Jane Austen Argument.

The pair has a great connection and obvious songwriting talent, playing a short set that consisted mostly of tracks from the newly released EP The Birthing Pyre. However, the duo don’t seem particularly comfortable on stage and at times lead singer Tom seemed to be straining for emotion. You feel that as they mature though, the pair will leave these insecurities behind and the intelligent songs and impressive style will still remain.

Next up is Mikelangelo himself, who has sadly only brought one Black Sea Gentleman with him, the Great Moldavio. After a rather intense solo a capella rendition of an old Negro spiritual death song, which sounded right at home amongst Mikelangelo’s deep baritone tones, Moldavio joined in on clarinet for a few more numbers about death and the devil, as well as to tell the story of how he got his name. The music, which was mostly made up of accordion, clarinet and guitar sounds, set a glorious klezmer backdrop for Mikelangelo’s powerful vocals, however his personality and onstage charm at times upstage his formidable musical talents.

After a short break, it was time for the main act. With a shout from Mikelangelo, Palmer appeared, but not onto the stage as we had assumed, but instead behind the audience, coming down the stairs, singing the opening track from her new CD Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under, her cover of the 1920s jazz classic Making Whoopee.

However this light ukulele cover felt like filler when followed by Astronaut, which saw Palmer absolutely dominate the piano. The serious vibe continued with a heartfelt rendition of Ampersand before Palmer started to chat.

The serious vibe of the venue, perhaps exaggerated by the serious lack of a bar, made for a tame crowd that Palmer delighted in, talking casually with everyone throughout the course of the night, and even selecting individual audience members to make requests. This resulted in us hearing the happiest song about abortion ever written (Oasis) as well as a yet to be released, but sure to become a classic The Bed Song, which Palmer was at first hesitant to reveal.

PHOTOS: Nick Brightman

48

The rest of the night was filled mostly by tracks from the new album, including the two collaborations with The Jane Austen Argument and Mikelangelo. A surprising highlight was her cover of the Australian folk song The Drover’s Boy. There were still plenty of old tracks for the fans, with The Dresden Dolls back catalogue being given some room as always, and as the night finished, with Amanda crowd-surfing while the entire audience sang The Lion Sleeps Tonight you couldn’t help but feel that this was pretty close to a perfect Amanda Palmer show.

Simon Binns

the word

Hey Dad, can you pick me up from Josh’s, otherwise it’s like two buses The PhoenixSaturday February 12 and Sunday February 13

on gigs

When, at the end of the night, the venue decides to turf its stage carpeting – covered in beer, sweat, vomit, glass fragments, grime and the spillover from untold celebratory champagne bottles – into the hopper out back, you can be fairly sure you’ve been at a good show.

Certainly, Canberra hasn’t seen much like it in quite some time, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. So we rewind about 30 hours to mid-afternoon Saturday when shaggy-haired Bo Greenwood, the third of 18 acts, settled himself onstage and the more sensible audience members fumbled about in their pockets for their ear plugs.

With a bass drum and tambourine at one foot, a snare at the other and a battered guitar in hand, Greenwood blasts through a set of raucous, grinding, primitive garage blues. The latest addition to his show is a WWII pilot’s helmet with inbuilt microphone still intact. Hooked up to the PA, the ancient mic adds a suitable raspiness to his vocals. Killing Birds follow, upping the volume but slowing the tempo. Since gaining a third member, the band has quickly moved beyond their early Nirvana-lite thrashing, settling into a shoegazery wash of guitars. The influences – Slowdive and, in particular, Smashing Pumpkins – are more than apparent, but when the band have songs as strong as their set opener it hardly seems to matter. Later in the evening, folk-tinged rockers Voss preview some new tunes from the brilliantly titled forthcoming LP R.I.P Goodtimes. Kasha also previews new album material, further exploring their electronic side. The public approves.

By now, the line outside the pub is snaking up East Row. Anticipation is building for Party Bus’ closing set and the duo don’t disappoint.

Every aspect of the show is completely obnoxious. The music is ear-splittingly loud: like some cruel sensory deprivation experiment.

Almost instantly, the dancefloor is awash with spilt pints as punters struggle to stay upright. The first of many champagne bottles is uncorked and sprayed over band and audience. Party Bus MC Shaun downs a litre of cordial between songs and spends the next few minutes on his hands and knees, throwing it back up. The term ‘pashtackle’ is coined as people rush the stage and make out with the group. Everyone has a time.

The next afternoon the Party Bus MC is back onstage, fronting Love Shy and looking distinctly subdued. Last time local audiences saw the band, he – and as a result the rest of Love Shy, most of their equipment and a good number of the audience – was covered in a slick of flour, eggs, milk and chocolate sauce. It was Shaun’s birthday and he decided to celebrate by ‘making a cake,’ as it were. There was no such spectacle today though: just ten or so bursts of furious hardcore punk, dispensed with in as many minutes.

PHOTOS: stephen dobson

Later, two-piece Crash the Curb hit the stage with a similarly precise and succinct set. The band has a clutch of new songs for the faithful, while drummer Grace now has vocal mic, trading yelps with guitarist Adam over the duo’s peppy, poppy punk songs. The songs fall into two categories: three chord chuggers and more intricate, melodic tunes built around crafty time changes and layers of looped guitars.

Both are equally pleasing. Closing the festival is Assassins 88 and TV Colours. It’s a fitting end, as TV Colours’ The Kids Are All Grown Up has become something of an anthem for the summer. Day two ends in similarly chaotic fashion, with crowd surfers narrowly avoiding ceiling piping and the whole joint again liberally doused in champagne.

I quietly wonder who’s going to clean all this up.

PETER KRBAVAC

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GIG GUIDE Feb 16 - Feb 19 wednesday february 16 Arts BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT!

Poetry night. This shit gon get crazy.

THE PHOENIX PUB

Pattern Pixel

An innovative and contemporary approach to weaving, tapestry and felting. ‘Til Feb 26. Opening 6pm.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE - GORMAN HOUSE

Comedy Open Mic Comedy

8pm, free, loads of local and interstate comedians.

POT BELLY BAR

Live

Dance

Dance

Open Decks

Beauty And The Bass

8pm.

Timber

Dress up, walk down the red carpet and enter Beauty and the Bass. Feat. DJs Goodwill, Beni and more.

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

Rev

LOT 33

Straight up, party down grooves.

HELLENIC CLUB

Mingle’s Second Birthday

Your weekly indie/alt dance party. $5.

All in DJ bash of Mingle’s all time best DJs. Free entry. $5 beers, $5 basics and $10 cocktails. 7pm TRINITY BAR

Live Open Mic Night 9pm, free.

POT BELLY BAR

Chicago Charles 10pm-2am.

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

The Bridge Between

Hippo Live

6-10pm.

HIPPO LOUNGE

Open Pinata

Wayne Kelly Trio.

BELGIAN BEER CAFE

Rock Nation Unplugged

With Crash the Curb, Genevieve Chadwick and Kathryn Hartnett.

8pm, free.

THE HUSH LOUNGE, PHILLIP

Wednesday Lunchtime Live Gillian Pereira - cello. 12.40.

WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE

Something Different Fame Trivia / $5 Night

Round up your smartest friends and show them off with Fame Trivia every Wed night.

TRANSIT BAR

THE PHOENIX PUB

Deep Sea Arcade Vs Surf City

It’s a battle of the bands as NSW’s Deep Sea Arcade take on NZ’s Surf City. $8 through Moshtix.

TRANSIT BAR

Chicago Charles

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Cat Dog Monkey Album Launch A fun and funky Canberra band who want people to dance out their heartache. 7.30pm, $10.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

thursday february 17

Funky Fedoras

Lounge music from 7-10pm.

Arts

THE GEORGE HARCOURT INN

Arc: Detective Dee

HIPPO LOUNGE

And the Mystery of the Phantom Flame.

2pm.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Arc: Dreamland

Ivan Sen’s spiritual journey through the UFO heartland of Nevada. 7pm.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

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Vel’vette

friday february 18 Arts Blaze 5

Emerging Artists Showcase. Opening 6pm. Running until April 2.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE - GORMAN HOUSE

BAR 32

Tom Middleton (UK) TRINITY BAR

Bass Jackers

Feat. a massive surprise guest.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Cheese (‘80s/Retro)

Musical gouda. Free entry. 8pm.

TRANSIT BAR

Ashley Feraude

The magnificent magnifique.

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

Sculpture Bar

Enjoy the smooth sounds of Frank Madrid and Jonty Hall with some Veuve Clicquot on the side. 5pm.

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

The String Contingent

With The Shiny Bum Singers. 7.30pm, $17/$14/$12 (members).

THE MERRY MUSE

Friday Night Acoustic Series

Featuring The Groove Kings. 8pm, free.

HARMONIE GERMAN CLUB

Drawing North

With Friendly Yen, Scaramouche. 8pm.

THE MARAM, ERINDALE CENTRE

saturday february 19 Arts Arc: Outdoor Screenings

Beetlejuice (M). Doors open at 7 for a sunset start.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Arc: Dreamland

Ivan Sen’s spiritual journey through the UFO heartland of Nevada. 2pm.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Touch Of Soul

Dance

HIPPO LOUNGE

Jimmy2Sox (Flight Facilities)

Live

TRINITY BAR

The Amosa Brothers.

Charles Chatain 8.30pm.

P J O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

The Ellis Collective Debut Single Launch Debut single Means What It Means, out Feb 21 on iTunes. Album launch March 28.

THE PHOENIX PUB

Punk Vs Metal

Toxicmen, Chainsaw Mascara, Reign of Terror and Knight Hammer.

THE BASEMENT

I Wanna Give It Tour

Feat. Resist The Thought and Buried in Verona, with Reigner Knives and more. $12/$15 at the door.

TUGGERANONG YOUTH CENTRE

Heuristic

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Jack Carty

Young run-away, travelling troubadour, and inspired artist with a wealth of musical and life experie THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

With Graz (Syd).

Frankie

Hip swinging’, foot stompin’ exotica.

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

Academy Saturdays

With Zoe Badwi and Chris Fraser.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Urban Playground

R&B, hip-hop, oldskool, anthems with DJs Karma Stylez and MC Tee. 10pm.

MONKEY BAR

Hypnagog

Presented by Effigy.

HIPPO LOUNGE

Live Oscar 5pm.

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

The Snowdroppers

Australia’s premier purveyors of low-down and dirty blues. $12 on the door. 8pm.

TRANSIT BAR

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GIG GUIDE Feb 19 - Feb 27 saturday february 19 live Genevieve Chadwick

Raw energy and enthusiasm through original songs of love, loss and freedom.

8pm, by donation.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Summer Rhythm Festival

tuesday february 22 live Runaway Skyline

A three-piece primarily influenced by the ‘70s/’80s post punk and ‘90s alternative movements. 7pm.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

The Beautiful Girls, Space Invaders, The Red Eyes, Phrase, Canyons and swags of awesome local acts.

Something Different

GOOLABRI

Every Tuesday!

Melbourne Ukulele Festival Showcase

THE PHOENIX PUB

Karaoke Love

Five impressive internationals and three local legends - the cream off the top of the MUF! 7.30pm.

THE MERRY MUSE

Agency Dub Collective

Reggae dub and dancehall from 1 to 3pm.

THE GEORGE HARCOURT INN

Dave Carr’s Fabulous Contraption

With Lolo Lovina and Lachlan Carr.

THE PHOENIX PUB

sunday february 20 Arts Arc: Dreamland

Ivan Sen’s spiritual journey through the UFO heartland of Nevada. 4.30pm.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Come. Sing. Win. Be Awesome.

TRANSIT BAR

wednesday february 23 live Wednesday Lunchtime Live

Come and have a fiddle from 9 ‘til midnight.

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Sunday Best

The Gossips (laidback lounge). 5pm, free.

A BITE TO EAT CAFE

Summer Rhythm Festival

The Beautiful Girls, Space Invaders, The Red Eyes, Phrase, Canyons and swags of awesome local acts.

GOOLABRI

Process Music

Presented by Ensemble Offspring, Sydney’s champions of weird and wonderful music.

THE STREET THEATRE

Sunday Sessions on the Deck With James Southwell. 2pm, free.

CANBERRA IRISH CLUB

monday february 21 live The Rebound Slapdown

Mushmellow, Hunting Dogs, Friendly Yen.

Viva Las Vegas (G). Doors open at 7 for a sunset start.

Fun Machine

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

THE PHOENIX PUB

Dance

With Space Party and Killing Birds.

friday february 25 Arts Planet B-Boy

Cult classic about breakdancing, with an intro from Matt Cornell, artist in residence.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Dance

HIPPO LOUNGE

HIPPO LOUNGE

Enjoy the smooth sounds of Ashley Feraude and Dan Bray with some Veuve Clicquot on the side. 5pm.

LLIK LLIK LLIK

Canberra’s finest night of deep house and techno makes it grand return.

Free, 8pm.

TRANSIT BAR

Skin & Bones TRINITY BAR

D’Opus

Party rocker supreme.

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

Academy Saturdays With Matt Nukewood.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Urban Playground

R&B, hip-hop, oldskool, anthems with DJs Karma Stylez and MC Tee. 10pm.

MONKEY BAR

Live

Irish Jam Session

Illya

The Crunch

One Love Dubstep Invasion

By the Water

Come and have a fiddle from 9 ‘til midnight.

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Rock Nation Unplugged 8pm, free.

THE HUSH LOUNGE, PHILLIP

Round up your smartest friends and show them off with Fame Trivia every Wed night.

TRANSIT BAR

thursday february 24

TRINITY BAR

With Kid Kenobi and Glove Cats.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Jemist

Luscious long locked music junkie.

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

Purple Sneakers

Minou (Syd), Lucky Punk, Eddie Shaggz, Less Than Three and more. Free.

TRANSIT BAR

Live Piano Concert by Vladimir Miloševic

Open Decks 8pm.

LOT 33

Mingle

TRINITY BAR

Faux Real

Crafty and cunning, like a fox.

Samantha Fox. KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

Flix in the Stix

Feat. Mark Seymour plus an award winning short film selection. Tix: 1300 438 849, or from Landspeed.

EUCALYPT LAWNS, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS

Pop Singles

Assassins 88, Little Killing, Teddy Troubles.

THE PHOENIX PUB

Freestyle BMX Games 2011

8.30pm.

Dance

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AUSTRALIA

Big Mitch

Arc: Detective Dee

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Featuring Dan Kelly and The Falling Joys. Free!

Something Different

WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE

And the Mystery of the Phantom Flame.

7pm.

HIPPO LOUNGE

6pm.

Arts

P J O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

Spruce Moose 8.30-11.30pm.

OLD CANBERRA INN

The Unravelling

The very best in local and international dirt, park/street and flatland riders, plus more.

STROMLO FOREST PARK

sunday february 27

Live electro strikes the ANU Bar! With Icon and Alice Spacedoll. 8pm.

dance

Traverse Poetry Slam

Shockone (Perth)

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Read your favourite piece, compete with your hottest word play or simply listen and judge. 7.30pm.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Friday Night Acoustic Series Featuring Steve Russell. 8pm, free.

HARMONIE GERMAN CLUB

TRINITY BAR

Live Art Song Canberra

Season of Song Concert 1. Joie de Vivre. Tickets at the door. 3pm.

One Night in Chile

WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE

MONKEY BAR

Lounge music from 1-3pm.

9pm, free.

Something Different

Sunday Best

Dirtey Rascals

Freestyle BMX Games 2011

Live Open Mic Night POT BELLY BAR HIPPO LOUNGE

BELGIAN BEER CAFE

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Arc: Outdoor Screenings

Mario Gordon

Something Different

TRANSIT BAR

Arts

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

The Bridge Between

For all those who work all weekend come and party with us!

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

saturday february 26

Niels Rosendahl Quartet.

THE PHOENIX PUB

Hospitality: Nurse Your Wounds

Three-part harmonies, heartfelt lyrics, unpredictable on-stage banter and an uplifting aura. $15.

Hippo Live

WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE

Fame Trivia / $5 Night

Irish Jam Session

The Little Stevies

Sculpture Bar

Butch (Germany)

Live

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Principal cast members from Canberra Philharmonic’s production of 42nd Street. 12.40.

Something Different

TRINITY BAR

Doors at 7pm.

Trivia Night

Dance With The Swiss (DJ set).

Symbols

6-10pm.

Annie and Michael

Lounge music from 7-10pm.

THE GEORGE HARCOURT INN

Latin Kaos

The very best in local and international dirt, park/street and flatland riders, plus more.

STROMLO FOREST PARK

The Playmates

THE GEORGE HARCOURT INN

The Deejay Gosper Trio. 5pm, free.

A BITE TO EAT CAFE

The Hatty Fanters

They pride themselves on three things: their live sound, their name and their costumes. 7.30pm.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Sunday Sessions on the Deck With Sugarcane Collins. 2pm, free.

CANBERRA IRISH CLUB

GIG GUIDE Feb 28 - March 16 thursday march 03

monday february 28 something different Freestyle BMX Games 2011

The very best in local and international dirt, park/street and flatland riders, plus more.

STROMLO FOREST PARK

Hospitality: Nurse Your Wounds For all those who work all weekend come and party with us!

TRANSIT BAR

tuesday march 01 comedy Open Mic Comedy

Come along and share a laugh or show your flare on stage. 7.30pm.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Something Different

dance

comedy

Open Decks

Raw Comedy

8pm.

LOT 33

Open Mic Night 9pm, free.

POT BELLY BAR

The Bridge Between 6-10pm.

THE GEORGE HARCOURT INN

The Ultimate Rock ‘n’ Roll Jam Session The music of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash.

Bookings: 6275 2700.

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

THE PHOENIX PUB

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Karaoke Love

Guineafowl

The Hello Anxiety EP tour with Readable Graffiti and Crash the Curb. $10+bf pre/$12 door.

TRANSIT BAR

friday march 04

live Cherie, Love; Sage, Pleased to Jive You. THE PHOENIX PUB

Wednesday Lunchtime Live Adam Cook – piano. 12.40.

WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE

Rock Nation Unplugged 8pm, free.

THE HUSH LOUNGE, PHILLIP

Darren Hanlon

dance Sculpture Bar

Enjoy the smooth sounds of Frank Madrid and Jonty Hall with some Veuve Clicquot on the side. 5pm.

Something Different Fame Trivia / $5 Night

Round up your smartest friends and show them off with Fame Trivia every Wed night.

Urban Playground

UCU REFECTORY

R&B, hip-hop, oldskool, anthems with DJs Karma Stylez and MC Tee. 10pm.

The Fuelers

MONKEY BAR

THE PHOENIX PUB

Sam McLaren

Drew Walky, Andriano Tedde, Mudpie Princess.

THE PHOENIX PUB

live Weird Al Yankovic

Live in concert! Tix through Ticketek.

ROYAL THEATRE

tuesday march 08

tuesday march 15

something different live

Trivia Night

Every Tuesday!

Eddie Vedder

THE PHOENIX PUB

The one and only. Tix through Ticketek.

Karaoke Love

ROYAL THEATRE

Come. Sing. Win. Be Awesome.

TRANSIT BAR

Something Different Trivia Night

wednesday march 09

Oh Mercy

Dizzee Rascal

POT BELLY BAR

dance

live

WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE

THE MARAM, ERINDALE CENTRE

9pm, free.

saturday march 12

monday march 07

Live

With The Subs (Belgium) and Tai (Germany). Tickets through Ticketek.

THE PHOENIX PUB

MONKEY BAR

Wednesday Lunchtime Live

Captain, My Captain

THE STREET THEATRE

R&B, hip-hop, oldskool, anthems with DJs Karma Stylez and MC Tee. 10pm.

live

Great Barrier Grief tour. Tix through Moshtix.

LOT 33

Open Mic Night

Urban Playground

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

Our nation’s most wonderful wordsmith, presented by yours truly, BMA! Tix through thestreet.org.au .

Open Decks

8pm.

Live

Dance

Lounge music from 7-10pm.

7.30pm.

Peter Akhurst

With MC Dave Thornton. Tickets at the door. 8pm.

BNatural

Every Tuesday!

wednesday march 02

dance

BELGIAN BEER CAFE

Trivia Night

TRANSIT BAR

thursday march 10

TILLEY’S DIVINE CAFE

Live

Monarch

Come. Sing. Win. Be Awesome.

saturday march 05

Every Tuesday!

THE PHOENIX PUB

Karaoke Love

Come. Sing. Win. Be Awesome.

TRANSIT BAR

Teegan Peemoeller – harp. 12.40.

wednesday march 16

Rock Nation Unplugged 8pm, free.

THE HUSH LOUNGE, PHILLIP

live

Something Different

Wednesday Lunchtime Live

Fame Trivia / $5 Night

WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE

Round up your smartest friends and show them off with Fame Trivia every Wed night.

TRANSIT BAR

TRANSIT BAR

Xena Hawkins - viola. 12.40.

Something Different Fame Trivia / $5 Night

Round up your smartest friends and show them off with Fame Trivia every Wed night.

TRANSIT BAR

OUT mar 02

you are here weird al yankovic national folk festival womad ...and more!

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FIRST CONTACT SIDE A: BMA band profile

ADAM HOLE AND MARJI CURRAN BAND Group members: Adam Hole (guitars, stomp box, vocals), Marji Curran (guitars, vocals, tambourine) and Phoebe Fox (drums, percussion).

Describe your sound: Chris Johnson from The Canberra Times summed it up perfectly for us in a recent review. “It’s Robert Johnson meets Jimi Hendrix meets Slash – who together have run off with Janis Joplin and Courtney Love.”

Who are your influences, musical or otherwise? Jimmy Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Derek Trucks, Janis Joplin, Mia Dyson, Jeff Lang… The list goes on and on.

What’s the weirdest experience you’ve had whilst performing? The first time doing a morning pub gig on the outskirts of Brisbane where we were introduced to brekky, beer and boobs!

What’s your biggest achievement/proudest moment so far? Playing in the pub that had the highest record of stabbings in Australia and living to tell the story… AND not getting our drinks spiked and saving Phoebe from being kidnapped that night too.

What are your plans for the future? Our plans for the future are to keep loving making music and to venture overseas again in 2012 for a tour in the UK. What makes you laugh? We all make each other laugh because we are all a bit quirky in our own way. Some might say not all there… we like to call it quirky.

What pisses you off? Adam farting all night when we were confined in a small cabin on the Spirit Of Tasmania with ten metre swells and sea sickness… I pretty much wanted to kill him!… between trips to the bathroom that is.

What’s your opinion of the local scene? Canberra has so many amazing musicians, it’s just a shame that there are not enough good venues to support them. The Gypsy Bar – bring it back!

What are your upcoming gigs? Saturday Feb 19 – The Summer Rhythms Festival, Saturday Feb 26 – Gundaroo Wine Bar, Sunday Feb 27 – The Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle Contact info: www.adamhole.com, adam@adamhole.com, marji@marjicurran.com, Adam Hole – 0421 023 226, Marji Curran – 0402 645 492

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Aaron Peacey Aaron 0410 381 306 Activate Jetpack activatejetpack@ hotmail.com Adam Hole Adam 0421 023 226 Afternoon Shift Adam 0402 055 314 After Close Scotty 0412 742 682, afterclose@hotmail.com Alcove Mark 0410 112 522 Alice 0423 100 792 Allies ACT (Oxfam Group) alliesact@hotmail.com/ myspace.com/alliesact Amphibian Sound PA Clare 0410 308 288 Amplif5’d Classic rock covers band Joy 0407 200 428, joybarac-heath@hotmail.com Annie & the Armadillos Annie 6161 1078/0422 076 313 The Ashburys Dan Craddock 0419 626 903 Aria Stone, sax & flute, singer/ songwriter (guitar) Aria 0411 803 343 Australian Songwriters Association (Keiran Roberts) 6231 0433 Arythmia: Ben 0423 408 767/ arythmiamusic@gmail.com Backbeat Drivers Steve 0422 733 974, www.backbeatdrivers.com Big Boss Groove Andrew 0404 455 834, www.bigbossgroove.com.au Bill Quinn Overheard Productions bill@overheard.com.au, Ph: 0413 000 086 Birds Love Fighting Gangbusters/DIY shows - bookings@birdslovefighting.com Black Label Photography Kingsley 0438 351 007 Blister Bug Stu 0408 617 791 Bridge Between, The Rachel 0412 598 138, thebridgebetween.com.au Bruce Stage mgr/consultant 6254 9857 Caution Horses Nigel 0417 211 580 Chris Harland Blues Band 0418 490 640 chrisharlandbluesband@yahoo.com.au Clear Vision Films rehearsals/film clips/stunts - 0438 647 281 wcoulton.clearvisionfilms.com Cole Bennetts Photography 0415 982 662 /colebennetts.com Cris Clucas Cris 6262 5652 Crooked Dave 0421 508 467 Danny V Danny 6238 1673/0413 502 428 Dawn Theory Nathan 0402 845 132 D’Opus & Roshambo hifidelitystyles@yahoo.com DJs Madrid and Gordon 0417 433 971 DJ Latino Rogelio 0401 274 208 DJ Moises (RnB/Latin) 0402 497 835 or moises_lopez@hotmail DNA Vic 0408 477 020 Drumassault Kate 0414 236 323 Easy Mode Daz 0404 156 482, easymodeband@gmail.com Entity Chris 0412 027 894 Epic Flagon band@epicflagon.com Fighting Mongooses, The Adam 0402 055 314 Final Warning Brendan 0422 809 552 Fire on the Hill Aaron 0410 381 306/ Lachlan 0400 038 388 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 Groovalicious Corporate/Weddings/ Private functions 0448 995 158 groovalicious@y7mail.com Guy The Sound Guy live & studio sound engineer, 0400 585 369, guy@ guythesoundguy.com HalfPast Chris 0412 115 594 Hancock Basement Tom 6257 5375, hancockbasement@hotmail.com Happy Hour Wendy 0406 375 096 Haunted Attics band@hauntedatticsmusic.com

Hitherto Paul 0408 425 636 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 Jim Boots 0417 211 580 Johnny Roadkill Paulie 0408 287 672, paulie_mcmillan@live.com.au Karismakatz DJ Gosper 0411 065 189/ dj@karismakatz.com Kayo Marbilus myspace.com/kayomarbilus Kurt’s Metalworx (PA) 0417 025 792 Little Smoke Sam 0411 112 075 Los Chavos Andy 0401 572 150 los.chavos@yahoo.com.au Manilla Green Herms 0404 848 462, contactus@manillagreen.com, Mario Brujo Gordon world/latin/ reggae/percussionist and DJ. 0405 820 895 Martin Bailey Audio Engineer 0423 566 093 Words for You: writer/publicity/events Megan ph 6154 0927, megan@wordsforyou.com.au Mercury Switch Lab Studios mercuryswitch@internode.on.net Missing Zero Hadrian Brand 0424 721 907 hadrian.brand@live.com.au Moots aspwinch@grapevine.com.au Huck 0419 630 721 MuShu Jack 0414 292 567, mushu_band@hotmail.com MyOnus myonusmusic@hotmail.com/ www.myspace.com/myonus No Retreat Simon 0411 155 680 Ocean Moses Nigel 0417 211 580 OneWayFare Chris 0418 496 448 Painted Hearts, The Peter 6248 6027 Phathom Chris 0422 888 700 The Pigs The Colonel 0422 412 752 Polka Pigs Ian 6231 5974 Premier Audio Simon 0412 331 876, premier_audio@hotmail.com Rafe Morris 0416 322 763 Redletter Ben 0421 414 472 Redsun Rehearsal Studio Ralph 0404 178 996/6162 1527 Rhythm Party, The Ross 0416 010 680 Roger Bone Band Andy 0413 483 758 Rob Mac Project, The Melinda 0400 405 537 Rug, The Jol 0417 273 041 Samsara Samahdi 0431 083 776 Sansutra J-Ma 0403 476 350 Simone Penkethman (Simone & The Soothsayers, Singing Teacher) 6230 4828 Soundcity Rehearsal Studio Andrew 0401 588 884 Solid Gold Peter 0421 131 887/ solid.gold@live.com.au Super Best Friends Matt 0438 228 748 Surrender Jordan 0439 907 853 Switch 3 Mick 0410 698 479 System Addict Jamie 0418 398 556 The Morning After (covers band) Anthony 0402 500 843/ myspace.com/themorningaftercovers Tiger Bones & The Ferabul-Zers Danny feralbul@aapt.net.au Tim James Lucia 6282 3740, LUCIAMURDOCH@hotmail.com Top Shelf Colin 0408 631 514 Transmission Nowhere Emilie 0421 953 519/myspace.com/ transmissionnowhere Udo 0412 086 158 Undersided, The Baz 0408 468 041 Using Three Words Dan 0416 123 020, usingthreewords@hotmail.com Voodoo Doll Mark 0428 650 549 William Blakely Will 0414 910 014 Zero Degrees and Falling Louis 0423 918 793 Zwish 0411 022 907

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