BMA Mag 380 Sep 28 2011

www.bmamag.com

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Win a trip to Ireland See the King O Malleys ad inside for more details.

Oktoberfest!

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Win a trip to

Ireland

Only at King O’Malley’s. Purchase a pint of your favourite Carlton beer or Bulmer’s Cider and go into the draw for your chance to win.

Oktoberfest!

This year we will be tapping kegs of Lowenbrau and Hofbrau bier and serving it up in traditional stein glasses.

Watch the Rugby World Cup right here on our big screen TV. Beer and Sport. What more could you want, right?

Sat 1 Oct, Oscar Sun 2 Oct, Charles and Mitch Mon 3 Oct, Trivia (every Mon at 6.30pm) Tues 4 Oct, Irish Jam Session Thurs 6 Oct, Dos Locos Fri 7 Oct, Special K (5pm), plus Top Shelf (10pm) Sat 8 Oct, TBA Sun 9 Oct, Charles and Mitch Mon 10 Oct, Trivia (every Mon at 6.30pm) Tues 11 Oct, Irish Jam Session Thurs 13 Oct, Chicago Charles

King O’Malley’s. We’re your local pub.

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2011 out and tag your photo on our Facebook page: Facebook.com/kingomalleys Don’t forget to check

2011

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P H O T O G R A P H : DA N N I N I X

BMA’s proudest moment ever on page 21. #380S E P T 2 8 Fax: 02 6257 4361 Mail: PO Box 713 Civic Square, ACT 2608 Publisher Scott Layne Allan Sko General Manager Allan Sko T: 6257 4360 E: advertising@bmamag.com Advertising Manager Paul Foley T: 6257 4360 E: sales@bmamag.com

Editor Julia Winterflood T: 02 6257 4456 E: editorial@bmamag.com Accounts Manager Yu Xie T: 02 6247 4816 E: accounts@bmamag.com Super Sub-Editor Zoya Patel Graphic Design Cole Bennetts Exhibitionist Editor Julia Winterflood E: editorial@bmamag.com Film Editor Melissa Wellham NEXT ISSUE 381 OUT OCT 12 EDITORIAL DEADLINE OCT 3 ADVERTISING DEADLINE OCT 6 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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School’s in for young rock musos at Music For Everyone’s October Rock School, which is running from October 11–15.

Music For Everyone, the ACT’s premier community music organisation, presents a fun week of afternoon workshops for vocalists and young players of electric guitar, bass guitar and drums who want to play in rock bands. Participants will fine-tune their skills with the expert guidance of a great team of experienced Music For Everyone tutors, who are also professional Canberra band members. Participants aged 11 to 16 need to have some experience playing one of the aforementioned instruments, or choose singing as their main focus. For more info head to mfe.org.au .

Two Pirate gigs at ANU Bar Sydney’s avant-garde wonder kids Pirate have released their long-awaited debut album Left of Mind, the follow up to their 2009 self titled EP. First single In The Balance features the first significant use of melodic vocals by the band and evokes shades of experimental acts such as My Disco and PVT. The album veers between scathing riffs and rhythmic complexity to tightly focused tilts at experimental pop, yet is unrelenting in its scope.

Catch Pirate at ANU Bar on Friday September 30 with sleepmakeswaves, Meniscus, Mornings and Looking Glass and again on Wednesday October 12 with Floating Me.

Ukestock – Canberra Ukulele Festival of Fun Celebrating the instrument that continues to take the world by storm, on Saturday October 1 the Tuggeranong Arts Centre will host the inaugural Canberra Ukulele Festival of Fun. At long last, the National Capital will have its very own

Jack Carty at The Front Indie folk darling Jack Carty is hitting the road again hot on the heels of the extraordinarily successful Hope, Smoke and Everything Tour with Leroy Lee and Jordan Miller. This time, leaving his friends behind, Carty returns to the East Coast with a string of intimate shows in some of Australia’s coolest café lounges. Following the release of his debut album One Thousand Origami Birds earlier this year Carty’s been ardently demoing new songs that he will be sharing with audiences across two sets – old and new – during his latest café voyage. He’ll be at The Front on Thursday October 6. Doors at 8pm.

Casey Donavon Pays Tribute to Mama Cass Cass Elliot, better known as Mama Cass, was loved the world over for her humour, fashion and optimism, and was the powerful voice that drew together the lush harmonies of superstar group The

Mamas and the Papas. In an uplifting yet moving tribute Casey will perform all of Elliot’s tunes, as well as The Mamas and the Papas favourites California Dreaming, Monday Monday and Dream a Little Dream of Me. It’s all happening at the Canberra Theatre on Friday September 30. For bookings and more info head to canberratheatrecentre. com.au .

Charge Group at Phoenix Charge Group are a Sydney art rock band who wield electric guitar, violin, bass and drums. Their 2008 debut Escaping Mankind won them broad acclaim, a European indie record deal, and colourful descriptions like “A transcendental bastard blend of Dirty Three, Fugazi and Nick Drake.” Awesome. Catch them at Phoenix for free on Thursday September 29.

triple j Unearthed Launch Party triple j is launching brand new digital radio station triple j Unearthed and they want you to help them celebrate. Come and be part of Australian music history at the UC Refectory on Wednesday October 5 from 7pm, as D’Opus & Roshambo, Crash the Curb, The Fighting League, The Aston Shuffle and Hau from Koolism herald in the new all Australian station. Best of all it’s free.

Hau from Koolism will be MCing the launch of triple j Unearthed

Music For Everyone Rock School Holiday Workshop

community ukulele festival with workshops, performances, sales, prizes and jam sessions.

Whether an absolute beginner or seasoned performer, there’s something for everyone including Ukestock, a free community massed ukulele play-along picnic presented by Ukelyptus, during lunch on the lawns beside the Arts Centre overlooking Lake Tuggeranong.

Sounds divine. For more info head to tuggeranongarts.com .

FROM THE BOSSMAN <This is the third and final part of this frankly ludicrous tale from a Street Press office; to read the previous sordid bits, jump onto bmamag.com and head to the From the Bossman section on the home page> Our new, young, female writer was still there – bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, eager to absorb the sights, sounds and smells of a Street Press office – and the bulging pile of porn was making another break for it from its hastily stuffed place of cover, slowly snaking its way into the middle of the office floor to shout “Hey! I belong to these massive perverts!”.

As I indulged in another round of banal distraction banter – “So how long left at uni?”/”You must be tired after all that study; go home and have some well earned rest…”/”Wow! Look at that enormously interesting thing behind you!” – Cole proceeded to feverishly foot-spasm the mags back into their reluctant hidey-hole with ankle-splintering gusto. “Shall I list what CDs I’ve taken?” enquired our eager-to-please first-dayer, referring to the computer dangerously close to the area where Cole was admirably footcrabbing our reputation back into place. “No, no, no!” I retorted through clenched teeth. “‘Tis your first day! No need for such professionalism,” so with a cheerful seeya and a gentle push out of the door later we were finally in the clear.

Fucking phew. We breathed a sigh of relief before, naturally, collapsing in a pile like two giggling schoolboys.

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

And for the love of God, keep it brief! [All entries contain original spellings] To the carload of bogan degenerates at the intersection at McDonalds in the city, who decided to terrorize some poor old motorist for politely beeping you when you failed to notice the light had gone green... Do everyone a favour and drive that shitpiece of a car as hard and fast as you can into a tree. A small, soft, beep of the horn is a way of saying ‘Hey there fellow motorist! I see you’ve failed to notice the light has gone green!

Hey, happens to the best of us, no sweat, just letting you know.’

It is not then an invitation for your fucktard of a passenger to extend their middle finger, and then to do a vicious burn out sending plumes of black smoke back in their direction. The poor guy was probably just trying to get home to his loving family, and you twats were in the way.

A carload of bogans scaring a polite old man of a motorist; way to fucking go fellas. Sign up to the UFC straight away with that kind of arse-kicking credentials.

Do yourselves, your long-suffering parents (wherever they are) and the rest of the world a favour and drive off a fucking cliff already. Dicks.

“OK, that was too close,” I barked, straightening up. “We’re getting rid of these things right now.”

We piled the offending articles back into the bin; a task that took some minutes. We were just about done, and I was about to close the lid and seal this dark chapter in BMA lore for good when I suddenly spied the sweetest plum, the diamond in the rough…

Furniture Table Leg Porn. I am seriously not making this up.

Somewhere in the world, this exists.

I held the magazine at arm’s length as a scientist would examine a brightly coloured beaker, and began gaudily leafing through.

It was at about the halfway point when I was aware of a pair of eyes on me. Looking up from a section most likely entitled Got Wood? I saw, to my abject horror, the second new young female writer I had invited to the office that day. I might as well have been sans pants.

By this point, Cole and I had become the go-to experts in porn concealment for the East Australian sector, and we somehow covered our tracks again. Afterwards Cole’s foot was in need of an ice pack and my throat was in need of an ice cold beer. For months I lived with the uneasy thought that these two had seen all and had simply decided not to mention anything, choosing instead to silently judge, and not-so-silently tell everyone they know about the massive perverts over at BMA. Fortunately, it seems we did OK; many years later, when regaling this yarn to said writers at a work bash – safely schooled in the ways of BMA by then – they swore they knew and saw nothing of our fleshy faux pas. There’s a moral in all this somewhere – don’t look through bins, let sleeping porn lie, generally don’t be a twat – but in the end this was just another day at BMA HQ. ALLAN SKO - allan@bmamag.com

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WHO: Beth n Ben WHAT: Local roots and reggae duo WHEN: Sun Oct 16 WHERE: New track on Unearthed now, EP launch at White Eagle Polish Club

Dynamic and downright sexy Canberra roots and reggae duo Beth n Ben have just released the first digital single Back of the Line from their upcoming sophomore EP Economy Class on Unearthed, to drum up a bit of buzz in the lead up to the launch at the White Eagle Polish Club on Sunday October 16. Dress in your finest vintage threads and witness the divine Cherie Kotek, Clever Sunday and some other very ‘special’ performances from 3–7pm. Head to triplejunearthed.com/bethnben and be sure to rate and review the track so it can climb up the charts.

WHO: Corinbank WHAT: Garden Party WHEN: Sat Oct 15 WHERE: National Botanic Gardens

Join the Corinbank Crew in the beautiful surrounds of the National Botanic Gardens for a party under the stars and the announcement of next year’s line-up. Three of the local bands who are on the Corinbank 2012 bill, Beth n Ben, James Fahy Trio and Fun Machine will provide the scintillating soundtrack. Limited seats are still available for the Slow Food Banquet, a three course dinner prepared by award winning chefs using local produce. An organic sausage sizzle will also be available so bring a picnic blanket and get ready to boogie! For all the info head to corinbank.com .

WHO: The Bon Scotts, supported by james fahy WHAT: Ramshackle folkpop WHEN: Thurs Oct 6 WHERE: Transit Bar

Some may wonder why The Bon Scotts chose a name that often has them confused with an AC/DC covers band. They do too. For in reality their sound couldn’t be more different. The Bon Scotts play distinctively clamorous ramshackle folk-pop full of sweet melodies, arresting percussion and sing-along choruses. Theirs is an infectious blend of playful cynicism and youthful fancy, laced with irony and hype, unconventional hooks and a distinct, eclectic sound that has put them at the forefront of the new folk revival. Between stints on the road The Bon Scotts have spent a large part of 2011 writing and recording their sophomore album. $10 on the door.

WHO: The Delivery Vs Rattlehead WHAT: Alt-country Showdown WHEN: Sat Oct 8 WHERE: The Phoenix

There’s gonna be one helluva showdown in the nation’s capital as two of Australia’s finest purveyors of alt-country, The Delivery from Sydney and Rattlehand from Brisbane, go head to head in a clash of cowboy boots and heart-crushing croons. Both groups have just released a split 7” single appropriately titled Seven Inch Showdown and it’s out now on Stanley Records. The show kicks off at 9pm and it’s free to get in, which should free up some of your hard-earned cash for a few amber ales and perhaps a copy of the new single, which will be available on the night.

WHO: FLOATINGME WHAT: Raaaaawk WHEN: Wed Oct 12 WHERE: ANU Bar

With their new track Breaking to Breathe about to hit the airwaves, FLOATINGME have announced a national tour in support of it. Since the release of the band’s self-titled debut album this year, the Sydney five-piece have supported Shihad, Dead Letter Circus and have sold out shows on a co-headline tour with Thousand Needles in Red. FLOATINGME comprises vocalist Andrew Gillespie, guitarist Antony Brown and keyboards Tobias Messiter of groundbreaking ’90s Sydney band Scarymother, along with drummer Lucius Borich of Cog and bassist Jon Stockman of Karnivool. Tix on sale now through Ticketek.

WHO: I Dream In Transit, supported by A Dead Forest Index WHAT: Whispers in the walls WHEN: Fri Oct 7 WHERE: The Front

Here be the facts: I Dream In Transit are a three-piece from Melbourne. They make music with light, noise and reverb. They write songs about industrial lights and airports and try to replicate the sound of nightmares. It’s a combination of naïveté and paranoia. They are launching a new 7” single called Explosion which was pressed in Germany and has a hand silk screened, 100% recycled cover. Said Ross Clelland of Drum Media, “..,it is quiet music, but no less unsettling for that. There are whispers in the walls. It is the music of waking from bad dreams you can’t quite remember... it’s in my head for hours.”

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MASTERS OF THE WIND SINEAD O’CONNELL Despite a struggle with phone numbers, a bad connection and time differences, chatting to CLOUD CONTROL really just felt like chatting to good friends overseas. Friends you haven’t talked to in a while who just wanted to let you know about something funny that was happening in the room. Our conversation began with them describing the awful hotel they were hitched up in – “it’s so bad, there’s like frost on the inside of the window, and the wallpaper is peeling off…” they laughed over loudspeaker. It was early in the morning and while bombarded with phone interviews the band were still up for a chat and particularly up for exploiting their fellow musician Jeremy who was caught up in some kind of a bathroom kafuffle.

All I know is there was laughter, some shouts of “don’t write that!” a lot of “sorry, what were we saying?” followed by more commentary to make sure no one was left out of any goings on in their dingy dwelling somewhere in the Netherlands.

We love each other

Cloud Control have tamed the circus that is the festival track during the summer after performing at Falls Festival and Laneway. Yet by no means do they consider themselves famous or worthy, even still getting surprised when their shows sell out at home and abroad. However, with their Ivy League seal of approval and their track record having any say in it, there should be no surprise at all – the band have been nominated for every award from the ARIAs to the J Award, taking out Best Album, Best Live Act and Best Video at the Sydney Music Arts and Culture awards and cleaning up at the AIR awards.

Fame has brought them across seas to the foreign unknown where they often miss their hometown the Blue Mountains. Being as much a family as a band though, they get through. When asked what they loved most about being on tour, frontman Alister Wright responded, “We love each other.” Quickly followed was a mumble, “not in a weird way or anything…”.

Of their favourite gigs one that springs to mind was one they performed in Amsterdam, in the beginning when it all began. “We’d never been to Amsterdam before, the room was full, and people were crowd surfing! It was so incredible.” He adds, “Spending time on the road away from the people you love can be really hard.

But it’s so worth it when you perform in front of a crowd and you realise there are people who actually like your music!”

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And what fine music it is! Their debut album Bliss Release has enough force to bring peace to the galaxy. The harmonies featured throughout are some of the best going around the nu folk scene. A tangible bass line and the quasi-African rhythms that accompany the melodies augment a fresh sound that rises above the noise of mass folk-pop artists. The startlingly well-blended voices of Wright and Heidi Lenffer are disarming to say the least, harvesting an organic, pastoral, summery vibe throughout. Reviews consistently set the band apart from their contemporaries on the opinion that it is their vocal adrenalin – a blend of The Mamas and the Papas and Fleetwood Mac – which produces charming three and four part harmonies to swoon and sigh over, alongside the coos and woos of Death Cloud and Just for Now. A whirlpool of crashing guitars and ethereal vocals set against the amicable rhythm bring insight into how the title of the album premeditates the listener’s encounter with bliss. A triumph of the folk psychedelia you might find in The Byrds as well as the lulling harmonies of the Fleet Foxes. The result? A cool ascent into the clouds themselves where control may be in fact long gone.

Meditation Song #2 (Why, Oh Why) is like a pregnant flame that bursts into life, while This Is What I Said has been tagged as the best track in the pack, with its David Byrne-esque verses and haunting chorus. In addition, keyboardist Heidi Lenffer’s vocals in the closing of Beast Of Love offer colour and safety to the ordered chaos of their orchestrations. Then, there’s Gold Canary.

Undeservingly cast aside some after drowning in attention upon release, it transcends criticism with a revival of tribal intonations and pure, creative integrity. There have been comments suggesting they maintain safety in the current trend approved formula, however when you listen closely enough it is clear there is no method or automatic rhythm to Cloud Control’s madness.

So, what on earth do they do in their spare time? “We watch lots of TV shows... a lot of 30 Rock, have you seen it? It’s so good! And also X-Files!” If you’re wondering whether the music featured in the latter show is of any inspiration to them… it is.

They expressed so with pride. When it comes to songwriting it’s a matter of “sharing ideas, which can be really interesting because we all have such different ideas and opinions about things.” Every song is different, and the conception of each song comes from a unique source, one that they all hold with great sentimentality.

Cloud Control are definitely “soul collectors” of some kind, a sure fire hazard. And “There’s nothin’ in the water”, well maybe not in ours, but surely there’s somethin’ in theirs, because they are too fine a breed to be cast among us minions.

Cloud Control will be crooning to audiences at the Mission To Launch Festival on New Year’s Eve, Saturday December 31, at Weston Park. Gates open at 3pm, and tickets are available through Ticketek from $110.

“brilliantly personal and so very sharply observed”

Daily Telegraph 2011

ONE NIGHT ONLY

Saturday 29th October Canberra Theatre Centre BOOK NOW

canberratheatrecentre.com.au or 6275 2700

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ALL AGES Floriade, Canberra’s famous celebration of Spring is here again.

The iconic Canberra event in its 24th year has taken on the theme, ‘A Feast for the Senses’ – and that it is! Praised for its 1,000,000 flower bulbs carefully selected and designed in flowerbeds depicting different elements of each year’s theme, Floriade is the best way to welcome spring. But flowers aren’t the only thing that the festival offers. You can enjoy rides, delicious food, music, live performances, and a spectacular array of local and national business stalls and shops.

To add to all of this excitement, this year Floriade offers the hottest chilli in the world! Australian owned chilli producers The Chilli Factory have officially broken the world record with the Trinidad Scorpion. Thankfully there are a number of beautifully located cafés on site that you can run to and get a drink and enjoy the colourful view of Floriade while you wait for the “20 minute burn” to wear off. Floriade is a free event, but I would recommend bringing some cash for delicious food and goodies, which believe me are hard to resist from the second you walk in the gates.

Floriade is open every day, 9 to 5pm weekdays and 9 to 5.30pm on weekends, until Sunday October 16. The festivities take place at Commonwealth Park, so get out there and enjoy the spring air.

On Friday October 28 you can join Sydney alternative/pop/ rock quad New Empire on the Canberra leg of their national Symmetry tour. The mind blowing line-up of supporting acts include Melbourne’s “soul pop/rock” six-piece For Our hero, Love & Satellites, as well as Canberra’s very own and very much loved pop/rock five-piece Drawing North and electro/pop/punk act The London Town Fire. New Empire’s debut album came in at the number one selling rock album in Australia and you can hear it all live! The action takes place at the Woden Basketball Stadium at 6pm. Tickets are available through Moshtix.

On the same night alt-rock screamo four-piece For This Cause will too be making their way through the capital city on their very own national tour in celebration of their new album Journeys.

These Brisbane boys will be shaking down the walls of the Tuggeranong Youth Centre, with hopefully some yet to be announced supporting acts. Ticket prices and times are yet to be revealed, although I doubt it will be anything unusual. Stay tuned for more info.

Coming up is the Woden Youth Centre’s Band Comp, opening doors for youth bands aged 12 to 25 years old. Bands have a chance at winning amazing prize packs that include two days recording time at Tru Sound Music Studios with the professional assistance of Ian Pav (of Pav Music), which is valued at $2,020, as well as a Press and Album Art Photography Package with Cole Bennetts Photography, valued at $2,000. The heats for the competition will run on the weekend of Friday October 28 and Saturday October 29 at the Woden Youth Centre. So if you’re in a band and want a chance to win everything you need to get an album going, pick up a form quickly from the centre today.

Registration closes at 5pm on Friday September 30. For more info contact Sindy Perason at sindy.pearson@wcs.org.au or 6282 3037.

NAOMI FROST allagescolumn@gmail.com

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LOCALITY

Welcome to Part 2 of our report on New Venues in Canberra.

Now, let’s talk about Dionysus. I refer not to the Greek God of wine (and all that he entails) but to one of Canberra’s most exciting new venue prospects, and though it’s a ways off it looks to be worth the wait. There’re three main reasons for excitement – its operators, its scope and the venue policy.

The operators are Dave Caffery (uniVibes founder) and Adrian “AJ” Threadgould (stand-up geezer). Many months ago, I sat down with AJ and he outlined their vision for the venue, which was spectacular to say the least; fully fitted interior, artspace, purpose built stage.

Lease problems have seen them move from a potential venue at the ANU Exchange (y’know… The place where McGregor Hall used to reside) to the currently-being-built Nishi Apartments in New Acton (y’know… The place that had the big fire a few months ago).

Summoning investors to the tune of a sizable sum, plus winning a $20,000 grant at the ACT Innovation Awards lends the project to something special.

As AJ tells us: “We’re on track to open the year after next <insert disclaimer re: accuracy>. It will be a purpose built live music and arts space fused with hospitality components. We’re integrating live entertainment, including theatre and live art as well as music, with a gallery and cafe/bar. The acoustically exceptional space and 350500 capacity will attract major artists from around Australia and internationally, but our vision is to promote Canberran artists of all forms and this will be a platform on which Canberra will thrive.” Like I said, exciting. We have to wait until 2013, but it should be worth it.

Zierholz! It’s the bar name you can shout with an overly-excited German accent. For years dear ol’ University of Canberra was one of only two (three at a stretch) universities without a bar, but only because they did away with their Vintage Dingy Pub that I enjoyed so often years ago as a student for hefty renovations to reinvigorate the space as purpose built micro-brewery/music venue Zierholz @ UC. As Anna Wallace, Queen Bee at UC Live! told us: “Punters can expect the same quality of brews and gourmet pub food currently offered at the Fyshwick brewery, and UC Live! will be presenting regular touring acts.” Speaking to Ms Wallace on the reg, she has been balling her cute little fist in frustration at all the touring acts we’ve missed due to the venue not being ready yet, so expect its opening to flood Canberra with many a notable night.

And finally there’s a new Italian style sports bar called the Peroni Bar within Rydges Lakeside in the city, which opened two weeks ago to coincide with all major Rugby World Cup games. Whilst not purveyors of live music, with their four big screens it does offer a handy alternate place in town to catch big screen sport.

Julia Winterflood’s back on Locality duties next issue. Yay! It’s been real, kids. I’ll still be talking my regular nonsense over at the Bossman column, so I’ll catch you there.

ALLAN SKO - allan@bmamag.com

Canberra’s best pub & original live music venue.

October Gig Guide Why wait for your bus and taxi in the spring sun when you could miss them repeatedly within the darkness of the phoenix!

wed 28 September Wet Hair (USA Mornings Biscuits

thurs 6 October Roger Bone band David Bath and the Hot Tubs

thurs 29 September Charge Group Savages Danger Beach

sat 8 October The Delivery Rattlehand

sat 1 October Claire Little Napier

sun 9 October Kitchens Floor

sun 2 October Kitchens Floor (Shiver Like Timber (Assassins 88 mon 3 October Frolic Music presents

Bootleg Sessions Bears with Guns Love Migrate

mon 10 October

cmc presentsBootleg Sessions Dougie & the Pizza Boys

Adam Cousins Band the Burley Griffin thurs 13 October Super Best Friends Fare Invader sat 15 October -

fire on the hill MONDAYS: BOOTLEGS SESSIONS 8PM TUESDAYS: QUIZ NIGHT 7.30PM. OPEN EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK FROM LUNCH TO LATE. GUINNESS & CIDER ON TAP...

COCKTAILS A BIT OF AN ASK. REDOLENT OF THINGS PAST...

MOST GIGS & EVENTS FREE ENTRY 23 East Row, Civic | Bus Interchange | Tel: 6162 1581

www.LoveThePhoenix.com

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DANCE THE DROP

In a world filled with empty Facebook event invites from people you hardly know, piles of dusty flyers clogging the entry way to chic clothing stores and endless radio ads voiced by over enthusiastic marketing drones, it’s pleasing to see that some of our local music events can survive on little more than word of mouth and a few vague statements punched into a friend’s keyboard.

Local drum ‘n’ bass promotional team TJS don’t need to advertise, the bassbin brigade are back with a seductively elusive ‘secret’ party aimed at true jungle souljahs. Reeeewind is being held on Saturday October 8 at an as yet unnamed location and features some of the best new and old names in the underground scene including Paul Blackout, PaPaf & Arkation, Centaspike, Bec Paton, Dred, Jaycee, Para, Miss Universe, Fourthstate, MGO, Ced Nada, Killosis and MC Darkwing. Make sure to look out for skywriting, ask that guy in Civic that always requests change or simply keep your eyes peeled online for more information about the venue closer to the event.

It’s a well-known fact that Canberra breeds amazing dance music talent. Our fair city can lay claim to a swag of big hitting industry folk including The Aston Shuffle, Chris Fraser and Jaytech to name but a few. To celebrate the next generation of late nightclub kings, a trio of young producers have banded together to release the Nostalgia EP, a collection of deep tech and dubstep featuring contributions from young upstarts Princi, Bricksta and BC Schtang (Ben Colin and Schtang). The Clubhouse is featuring an exclusive launch of the mini album on Friday September 30 featuring all three producers alongside local support act Nick Riveria. Entry is a paltry $10, so get along and support our future electronic stars!

As you may have read in this issue, UK’s ‘co creator of Fidget’ Sinden is returning to Canberra for an exclusive intimate show at Trinity Bar on Saturday October 15. This special event is presented

by InTheMix and celebrates Sinden’s appearance at the Parklife festival, so if you missed out on tickets to the Sydney boob and beef fest then this is just the next best thing, isn’t it?

It’s been a huge month for new music in clubland and I have a swag of new tunes to share with you this edition. Joe Goddard has come out of the woodwork with his amazing crossover hit Gabriel, a haunting personal favorite which contains some of the best female vocals I have heard since Iio’s Rapture. One of the biggest tunes in the Swedish house scene, Deniz Koyu’s Tung has finally made its way onto Australian dancefloors, Moby has returned with a brilliant new single Lie Down In Darkness which has been released with a massive Bassjackers remix, Dr Kucho has waved his magic wand over house classic Hale Bopp and Alesso has cranked things up with his new big room record Nillionaire.

TIM GALVIN tim.galvin@live.com.au

facebook.com/ trinitybarcanberra

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SEVEN DEADLY SINDENS KEEP STEPPIN’ TIM GALVIN

rk

With every iconic achievement comes the endless bugbear of the stereotype. Artists and inventors can spend their whole career distancing themselves from their most famous accomplishment; just ask Colonel Sanders, who in our minds will always be depicted with a bucket of tasty chicken parts, or David Hasselhoff who will for the rest of his life be pictured running in slow motion down a nameless beach in red budgie smugglers. Another artist who is a member of this particular club is SINDEN, who was part of the group of UK producers who gave birth to the now defunct genre of fidget house music.

Troy Beetles AKA DATSIK hails from British Columbia – not necessarily the home of broken beat and dubstep but certainly a place where the music has a following. And with that, he brings a credible discography of tight dubstep hits and future bangers. He’s twiddled knobs for some of the biggest names in the business and for a kid in his mid-20s the world is his oyster, for he is only just getting started.

“Of course it’s a blessing!” He says, from his hotel room in LA. “It was genuinely really exciting back at the beginning because it was a sound we created and developed; it shook dance music up for the best! It was just a shame that it was copied by many and became derivative.”

Sinden is part of an elite trio of UK producers, including Herve and Switch, who as a forward-thinking unit keep pushing the boundaries of bass, always searching for the freshest new sound to reignite international club music. “At the moment I’m excited about house and techno where bass coexists, just stuff that is fun for the club, edgy still, but funky,” says Sinden. “I’m listening to a lot of rap as well.”

We worked our arses off on it

Sinden’s biggest release to date is the aptly named Mega Mega Mega, an amazingly leftfield album co-produced with long time collaborator the Count of Monte Cristal. The long player is a blistering collection of chewy club records and rattling new age calypso that provided a proper challenge for both artists. “We worked our arses off on it,” he says “There was so much material that we couldn’t even run with, songs with artists we couldn’t even clear.

It makes you despondent because you think you’re onto something cool, but then some label or artist politics play a part, and you have to go back to the beginning.”

Aside from the exasperation of a full length album release, Sinden has managed to remain vigilant in the studio, racking up an incredibly diverse body of work in the past few months including a sizzling release on US label Mad Decent and some knob twiddling for international dancehall artists like Natalie Storm. “I’m doing some tracks with a few Jamaican artists like Natalie for a future solo release. Switch and myself have just started a few house tracks that we need to just finish off. [I have] a few remixes here and there too, there’re a lot of tracks in the pipeline!”

With such a multifaceted approach to music, no two Sinden sets are ever the same, so what can Australian audiences expect from his upcoming shows? “Really stuff that hits the party full impact, dancefloor business,” he says. “Aussie audiences give it all, which I love; they just get wild and get loose. The vibe in the club is always so sweaty and jamming!”

Sinden is hitting up Trinity Bar on Saturday October 15, with Ajax, Offtapia, Peking Duk, Eldred, Shaolin, Cheese, Sammy Sounds Like and Dave Norgate. Entry is $20 on the door.

The story goes like this: “I mean growing up, I had an audiophile for a father and I was always into sound systems and that kind of stuff. I was into snow boarding and I was into old school hip-hop and that sort of got me started. When I was 15, I started replicating those beats and really started getting into it. I even got into turntablism a little bit. I went to school for audio engineering and everything basically worked out. Now people are telling me this is what they saw me doing so I couldn’t be happier!”

People are telling me this is what they saw me doing so I couldn’t be happier!

Indeed, the connection between urban music, extreme sports and having a good time is a strong one. You don’t hear skaters listening to classical and you don’t hear boarders talking about their love of ‘80s. And Troy is no exception: “I heard dubstep on this insanely massive system and from that, I made the switch from hip-hop to dubstep – that was kind of the reason, because it just made sense!

So now I find myself taking a step back and fusing material a little more and bridging the gap between the genres.”

Production wise, the lad has been busy in the studio. He is a proponent of the quality over quantity paradigm but that doesn’t stop him from releasing EP after EP of quality beats. And his releases on Ex7, Rottun Recordings and Mad Decent are testament to that. “I’ve got a track in the works with Bassnectar and another one with Diplo. So it’s all pretty exciting stuff right now and hopefully I’ll be working with some new artists – and I would love to work with some members from the Wu-Tang Clan. That would be right up my alley! Otherwise, I’ve been doing a bit of everything.”

So for the gigs down under, Troy expects to really wind the vibe right up. “I started using CDs and then went onto Serato and now I’m using Ableton and two controllers; I know it’s not being a DJ per se, but I’m performing so I can do something that is unique – and have a lot of fun doing it! That is what I’ll be using at the Stereosonic tour that is coming up. It’s my second time to Australia, so I’m looking forward to getting back – the shows I did last time were awesome!”

And who’s to say they won’t be even more hectic this time?

Datsik will be playing at Foreshore Festival (which shares some of the Stereosonic line-up) on Saturday November 26. Third-release tickets are still available through foreshorefestival.com.au for $119 + BF.

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E X H I B I T I O N I S T Delatovic isn’t new to writing, but this is his first full-length play.

After studying scriptwriting at the University of Canberra, Delatovic was attracted by the immediacy of theatre. He also draws on a background as a songwriter.

Rig explores complex ideas, so it’s not surprising that it was a challenging script to write. “I knew who the characters were – the problem was that wasn’t shown in the play, so I had to shape it again.

Some aspects of the plot and story that are fundamental now weren’t in the first few drafts at all, and some characters only share a name with their original version.”

Delatovic says it’s been a great learning experience. The script was accepted into The Street Theatre’s Hive development program, which gave him the opportunity to work the play with a leading dramaturg. This was also a rare opportunity for Thomas who, already on board as director, was involved in those discussions.

PHILANTHROPY, PIRATES AND PASSION

“Very few directors who aren’t also writers have that chance to be involved in the early stages of a play’s development. Usually you pick up something like Shakespeare or even a modern Australian classic, and you’ll never even meet the writer,” Thomas says.

EMMA GIBSON

He has championed the script since the first time he read it. “I read an early draft and I could not put it down. I called Nick and said ‘Dude, we have got to have a reading’. So we called actors and got about six or eight of them to come and read the script in Nick’s lounge room. Even though it was a really early draft, we all enjoyed the experience.”

About four years ago Nick Delatovic saw a television interview with Bono and was struck with an idea for a play. “I wanted to look at philanthropists and how they’re perceived, as well as their capabilities and limitations,” Delatovic explains. “The idea just spiralled from there, and then I began conceiving characters.”

The result is RIG, which is being produced by the National University Theatre Society. Set mostly on an oil rig in the middle of the Indian Ocean, the play centres on Francis, who is ensnared by a secret cabal of rich kids who are hell bent on saving the world from their parents. All Francis wanted was a quiet place to die, but these young billionaires have other plans for him, and those plans are world changing. It beats suicide, but there’s more in store for Francis, and his role in the story is not what he thinks it is.

Director Cameron Thomas (better known as Cammy T) pithily describes the play as a revenge science fiction social satire – and happily, his interpretation isn’t too different from the way Delatovic describes it: “It’s a story about extremely privileged people doing dangerous things for very good reasons… with pirates.” Yes, pirates.

But you’ll have to come to see the play to find out more. Instead of spoilers, the guys and I spoke about the play’s origins.

The cast comprises Leon Twardy, Alison McGregor, Simon Thomson, Erana Loftus, Andrew Johnston, Scott Cummings, Jeremy Broom, Luke Ashe – some of whom have been involved since that early reading. There’s always the temptation to keep revising, refining – and re-defining – work, but Delatovic reached the point where he was satisfied with the script.

“I’d learnt the full range of lessons in redrafting, so the only thing left to learn from the script was to see it performed. I’m pretty good at drawing the line at the end of one project, particularly when it comes to songwriting, and then moving onto the next,” Delatovic says.

“It’s really exciting and I’m very nervous. I know I’m extremely fortunate to have such a high level of talent in the cast and crew on board for my first play. I really appreciate Cammy’s grounding influence. If I were to direct it, I’d get too caught up in the semiotics and the big ideas.”

Whether Bono or Brangelina, there are high profile, powerful philanthropists everywhere you look. “None of the characters are an analogy for one person, but in some parts of the play the audience can draw a clear line with notable public figures.

Thomas, a graduate of Charles Sturt University’s acting program, is a stalwart of Canberra’s theatre scene, and has previously directed children’s theatre. This is his directorial debut for an adult audience – and he’s looking forward to it.

It’s a great place for a writer to start, as long as they can the peel the layers back, because it gives the audience an instant idea of how they feel about a character. And hopefully I can then confound those expectations!” Delatovic says.

“Nick’s writing is very in tune with people’s ideals and what they strive for, whether we’re talking about the environment, world affairs or personal ideas of utopia. I like to take those ideas, turn them upside down, shake, and see how it settles. So it’s about questioning those ideas,” Thomas says.

“There is a lot of suspension of disbelief required, but it’s still anchored in believable character motivations. For me, the story isn’t about underdogs. It’s about powerful people dealing with the burdens of their power. I think that’s going to be an ongoing preoccupation for me as a writer.”

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And there are pirates.

Rig is showing at the ANU Arts Centre Drama Lab from Wednesday October 12 to Saturday October 22. Tickets information and booking are through nutsbookings@gmail.com .

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“Madison was a big book. It took two years because my mother was diagnosed with cancer. I was finishing up the previous book Tell All when she was diagnosed, then as she was being treated and they sent her home – essentially to die – I was working on the Madison book. It took me about a year after she had died to finish it.”

At this point, I offer my sincerest condolences.

“It sucked, but y’know, it kept my mind occupied, and I could be with her and it gave us a perfect time together. And I’m not the only person who has had to take care of their mother. Everyone dies, this is something we all have to deal with and it’s a shitty shitty thing…

“With my father dead in 1999 I felt this huge grief about losing them both and I couldn’t write about that grief directly. But if I wrote from the perspective of a dead girl and her parents were both still on Earth, and she wasn’t really accepting the drama of being in hell, then I could make that funny. And I could still have her miss her parents because they’re alive, but they’re alive on Earth. That was my way of making sad things funny.”

From micro tragedy to macro; at the time of interview, London’s inhabitants were tearing the place down to start afresh. Is this a redneck interpretation of what was a far more deep and complicated message in Palahniuk’s Fight Club?

WE ARE ALL GOING TO HELL ALLAN SKO CHUCK PALAHNIUK writes coruscating, devastating novels; punchy pieces of 250-page prose with paradigm shattering ideas and ideals.

You know Survivor, Choke, Diary, Fight Club, right? Sure, you know Fight Club.

With the world’s great cities on fire and its financial system in ruin, we need the Chuckster more than ever. And despite often violent and sex-filled prose (Guts concerns innards sucked out anally by a filter whilst trying to have an asphyxiation-enhanced wank in a swimming pool… Y’know, that old chestnut) the man is a stand up gentleman; softly spoken and generous with answers. We wrestle with the heavyweight issues; his mother’s death and how it informed his new book Damned; how Fight Club’s core message is still being ignored as evidenced by the recent London riots; and who would win in a fight between him and Bret Easton Ellis.

But first, after grappling with the pronunciation of his last name (“we say Pall-uh-nick here”) we get to the core of what makes the man tick. “When I was little I really wanted to be a priest. The idea of sitting in the dark and having people tell me their worst secrets was so appealing.”

Years on and Palahniuk has his wish, receiving mounts of mail from people across the world detailing their deepest, darkest thoughts.

“People have to tell their stories as part of adjusting or accepting their lives and I think I present as a safe person to tell stories to,” Palahniuk says. “There are so many, and a lot I end up using. The Guts story was sent to me. Often the things you read in my books are stories people have told me. There was a terrific one from a young woman who had an internship at a movie studio and her job was to stamp ‘Return to Sender’ on all Mel Gibson’s hate mail. It was her Full. Time. Job.” Palahniuk himself knows the need to tell a story. His latest two part book Damned, concerning 13-year-old Madison and her literal banishment to hell, acts as a form of catharsis for its author.

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“My first reaction was along the lines of what happened with the Norway shooter, Anders. Initially he had said that it was a gender issue; about the lack of opportunity or expression for young men.

And very quickly, I noticed all the mass media dropped the gender angle. I’m always fascinated when it’s a ‘young men gender issue’. The media doesn’t pick up or promote that aspect. Women’s issues are very easy and fashionable to depict and promote, but young men’s issues are somehow tainted or forbidden. Also, when you look at the pattern of young successful men committing suicide in the past year it’s really remarkable – David Foster Wallace, Heath Ledger, Alexander McQueen… These men should be the most accomplished of their field, they shouldn’t be killing themselves. And nobody wants to talk about it.”

It’s now gone 40 minutes and we’ve conversed on many other subjects; why 250-ish pages for each book? (“Extend comedy past the 300 page mark and it just falls apart”); did he feel embarrassed about Fight Club the book after watching the film as I had read? (“The film was better in the way the novel would have been better if I had written one more draft”); did a film adaptation of Survivor get canned due to 9/11? (“David Fincher encouraged 20th Century Fox to option it, it was in development. Jake Paltrow – Gwyneth’s brother – had even written a screenplay but with 9/11 it became untouchable”); and how the voice of his books were once the same but no longer (“[I grew up] and out of that voice and had to keep myself interested too.”). But we finish with the big one; The Chuckster, or Bret Easton Ellis in a fight?

“O!” he laughs heartily. “I haven’t seen him in years… I would say he has the weight advantage so I would give it to him.”

Chuck Palahniuk’s Damned is out now through Random House Publishing. The full 4,000 word transcript of this interview is available at bmamag.com .

REGARDING THE ONLINE ART WORLD Glen Martin Travis H Heinrich is telling me that he is both busy and mentally sound. “I’m a pretty sane guy,” he says, convincingly enough. “Having a lot of things on at once is what keeps me that way.” For Heinrich, a lot of things translates to a roster of projects that might crush less hardened creatives. As he completes his final year of Honours at the ANU Art School and puts in hours with various institutions to pay the bills, Heinrich has created or collaborated in a slew of one-off projects such as the two-day Hey Dad… music and art festival at The Phoenix, several events at Smiths Bookstore, and RE: – an online art project that has surpassed his modest expectations.

“It’s a monster,” he says, halfway through a coffee. “We’ve just passed 10, 000 page views, which is well beyond my expectations. I’m a little tired to be honest. I don’t even drink coffee.”

RE: might be affecting Heinrich’s beverage intake, but the effort has paid off for the creator and its participants. The premise is simple enough – six artists (Anna Madeleine, Benjamin Forster, Robbie Karmel (whose fish tops this piece), Luke Penders, Sarah Catherine Firth and Heinrich) produce five new works each. The work is staggered, and each work is a response to the previous offering of another artist. The show therefore utilises the web in a particularly engaging and contextually specific manner. A collection has emerged, every week from Sunday March 13 of this year (the final work will appear online on Saturday October 1) that showcases the individual makers and pieces, whilst also becoming a conversation that addresses the suite of possibility that the web offers.

“It’s as much a site for documentation and conversation as it is a stand-alone art show experience,” says Heinrich. “There’s a novelty with online exhibitions currently, but as technology moves on we’ll become more comfortable with it. The web provides us with a bunch of opportunities. And there’s a nice irony that it is a Canberra project with a global audience.”

RE: exists because Heinrich had become impatient with the process of showing works in traditional spaces. “I was frustrated by the bureaucratic process of applying to show in galleries – RE: was born because I just wanted to get my work out there and facilitate a project without having to jump through hoops. Essentially the point of having a show is to get people to see work – that’s what this is.”

Once the conversation between the six artists concludes, RE: will continue – both as an archived online space, and as an idea that will reemerge. “It’s something I’ll be doing again, opening it up to a wider pool of contributors. I’m looking at accepting contributions, or reactive works from anybody. Which will be an even bigger monster.”

You can check out RE: online at regarding.com.au. The final artwork will go live on Saturday October 1.

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Close, who plays a number of roles in the production, including a journalist, a high level public servant, a waitress and two different mothers. “It’s about all the other people in the House of Reps who don’t get their names in the news a lot. It looks at the work they do, and the good side of what politicians do.”

When Valentine was commissioned by The Street Theatre three years ago to write MP, she had intended to address primarily the role of and issues relevant to female politicians in Canberra, but ended up focusing more on the effects of emotions, rather than gender, in politics.

A NEW PERSPECTIVE BEN HERMANN Australians are well known and proud of their healthy disrespect of anything resembling authority or superiority. In no other regard is this more apparent than in our treatment of politicians who are labeled as anything from cowardly and arrogant, to liars and cheats (on a good day, that is). MP, the new production by Alana Valentine (Run Rabbit Run, Parramatta Girls) which will have its premier at The Street Theatre this October, goes some way in revealing some of the unknown and under-appreciated problems faced by lesserknown politicians as a matter of daily routine.

The production follows shadow back-bencher Ava Turner MP (played by Geraldine Turner), and her attempts to gain justice for one of her constituents, and in the process reveals the politics, strategy, moral quandaries and power-plays ingrained in the parliamentary process. “It’s about the type of MP who is regarded as a strong local member type who is not your flashy front-bencher,” says Andrea

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“She wanted to focus on a human being; a person, who happened to be an MP, who happened to be a female MP. It’s a story about people, and what people go through and their emotions that affect other people,” says Close. Valentine interviewed a host of politicians and journalists prior to writing, including Julie Bishop, Kate Lundy, Annabel Crabb, Virginia Haussegger, and a great number of public servants who didn’t wish to be named. Most of the events portrayed in MP actually occurred, but they are not the types of events that gained so much (if any) public exposure. As Close explains, MP has taken regular events from the stories of these women, and placed them in a dramatic context to highlight the underlying issues.

“Each character in this play shows a level of recklessness by stepping over the line to create change, and that’s what gives it its dramatic edge,” she says. “What we see in politics is the absolute tip of the iceberg and there’s so much underneath the surface that’s thankless and we don’t know about. I think that politicians are often taken for granted in that respect. They’re not appreciated for just how much work they’ve done.”

MP plays at The Street Theatre from Saturday October 1 – Saturday October 15. Tickets are $49 from thestreet.org.au .

stories involving college kids; every time some kid pulls off a heist, I get a call… Literally 30 to 40 a week,” Mezrich tells. “…Moon came via mutual friends of the main character – he had just gotten out of jail, and his friends were fans of mine and pitched me the story. I met Thad and was blown away.”

FROM FACEBOOK TO THE MOON ALLAN SKO To some BEN MEZRICH’s name may be unfamiliar, but you’re likely to know his work. He is the author of The Accidental Billionaires, a book that was turned into a little film called THE SOCIAL NETWORK. As exhibited by giving the world one of 2010’s best films, Mezrich has a knack for finding stories to be spun into Hollywood gold.

Among his nine books is Bringing Down the House later turned into the Kevin Spacey-starring 21, and now comes Sex on the Moon, already snapped up for a film.

The story concerns gifted NASA intern Thad Roberts and his plan to steal moonrocks from the Johnson Space Centre in Houston; a substance so valuable it’s actually illegal to even own. This is not high-literature; the book is written in a broad thriller style with teeth-grinding clichés like “…[they] weren’t the only ones about to embark on a life-changing adventure”. But the man can snuffle out a story and has made a very tidy living out of it.

“Since The Social Network, I’ve become the go-to guy for crazy

Taking a year to write (“eight months of research, the rest writing”) Mezrich met with Roberts on many occasions. “He is one of the most complex and intriguing people I’ve ever written about,” Mezrich recalls. “Brilliant, but a little crazy. I was scared when I first met him, but he is very charismatic. He was guarded; it took a while to establish trust. Prison was a tough time for him, it broke him down but he’s doing his best to build himself back up.”

Mezrich can be commended for his bravery of telling stories about very powerful groups. “NASA and Facebook were similar in that neither wanted me to write these books, and both are scary billion dollar enterprises. But I stick to the truth and go through a very thorough legal edit. I tell these stories based on interviews and legal documents, although I do write in a cinematic style, the stories are as they were told to me. I think …Moon is a very positive look at NASA, and I think it will do good things for them. I love NASA, and I wanted to show the genius and fun of the place.

“Likewise, I love Facebook, and I use it every day. Zuckerberg is a genius and The Social Network was a very good thing for him and Facebook.”

Sex on the Moon is out now through Random House Publishing.

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ARTISTPROFILE: Andrew Holmes

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Honestly, why the hell was that movie made?

What’s your opinion of the local scene?

What do you do?

There are some incredible young writers, directors and actors around that I feel the local scene is going to be bolstered by for a long time to come. It’s in great hands.

I do theatre type things, including a PhD. Crazy, I know…

What are your upcoming performances/exhibitions?

When did you get into it?

Another PhD production of an Archibald MacLeish radio drama The Fall of the City. It’s a fascinating play, written in 1937 in response to the fries of fascism in Europe.

It all started being three years old and watching a video of the ballet of Romeo and Juliet three times a week. The rest is history!

I get really inspired by seeing how amazing other people’s work can be. Most recently, STC’s production of Blood Wedding.

We have a great cast and are going to create a killer atmosphere within the theatre space. ANU Drama Lab, Wednesday October 26 to Saturday October 29, free entry. Limited seating available, so bookings are essential.

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

Contact info:

I loved the last play I did, Panic by Archibald MacLeish. I was really proud of how my cast approached an exceedingly difficult play and the way they challenged themselves.

andrew.holmes@anu.edu.au

Who or what influences you as an artist?

What are your plans for the future?

Who knows? Artistic Director of STC? I’m coming to you, Cate Blanchett…

What makes you laugh?

RON FREAKING SWANSON! What pisses you off?

People who don’t realise how amazing they are. And Sucker Punch.

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IN REVIEW

Namatjira Canberra Theatre Centre Wednesday September 14 to Saturday September 17 Most plays don’t start with the actors talking candidly to the audience. Namatjira isn’t like most plays. Bringing to life the remarkable and bittersweet story of Indigenous watercolour artist Albert Namatjira, the play transcends theatre conventions to offer an entertaining and thoughtful perspective on the cultural misunderstandings that clouded his life and times.

A testament to the skill of playwright Scott Rankin, the play tells of the extraordinary life of Namatjira with a compelling mix of humour and drama. Through a hilarious sequence of German languageimpersonation and mockery of the clichéd ‘whitefella’ view of the Indigenous community, audiences are given a picture of life for Indigenous Australians like Namatjira, who lived in the Northern Territory early last century. The artist’s astonishing rise from humble beginnings to one of the country’s leading artists in the ‘40s is deftly conveyed. The heartrending consequences of this fame and privilege – particularly his becoming the first Indigenous individual to be granted Australian citizenship – are compassionately treated, without pointing the finger of blame at those who contributed to the misfortune Namatjira experienced in his final years.

The artist’s descendants, as lead actor and narrator Trevor Jamieson informs us, brought Namatjira to life. It is part of the Namatjira Project, run by the arts and social change organisation Big hART. The audience expressed great respect for the Namatjira family when Jamieson introduced three of the artist’s relatives, who formed part of the supporting cast. The presence of these relatives – artists

in their own right – who quietly draw on the scenic landscape during the production, brings home the significance and legacy of Namatjira’s story.

The production’s tapered back style complements the play’s meditative narrative. The story unfolds through a blend of narration and action, which allows for a contemporary perspective on the story. Relying on the organic talent of the small cast, rather than elaborate costumes and stage effects, the humble production is sympathetic to the humble man that inspired it. Jamieson’s accomplice, actor Derik Lynch, makes a wonderful addition to the cast. Lynch steals every scene he appears in, with his transformation into Namatjira’s wife, the Queen and a would-be Barry White impersonator, among others, are highlights of the show.

Lynch’s cross-dressing antics, aside from proving great amusement to theatregoers, reveal the production’s deeper meaning. Although ostensibly about Albert Namatjira’s fascinating life, the play is, moreover, an insightful comment on the disconnection between the Indigenous and settler communities. By placing the spotlight on the stereotypes about Indigenous people, it stimulates deep contemplation, evidenced by the mix of laughs, gasps and sobs emerging at once from the captivated audience. These responses indicate that the artist’s story is one that remains both relevant and poignant.

A remarkable show about a remarkable man, Namatjira is one of the best Australian plays of recent years.

Grace Carroll

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bit PARTS WHO: National Archives of Australia WHAT: Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize WHEN: Now until Sun Nov 13 WHERE: National Archives of Australia This spring the National Archives of Australia will again host the ever-popular Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize from the South Australian Museum. It is Australia’s richest prize for natural history art, boasting a total prize pool of $114,500. The National Archives is hosting the 34 winning and highly commended artworks from the competition, including paintings, sculpture and objects, and works on paper. Local artists also feature in this year’s exhibition and sculptures are a highlight, from beautifully formed ceramic rabbits to objects reflecting coastal plants and sea life. A muted colour palette dominates this year’s selection of winning paintings and works on paper, creating a unified feeling across the exhibition, contrasted with an occasional splash of colour. See nature’s beauty captured in art this spring at the National Archives, the only venue outside Adelaide showing the leading works from this prestigious competition.

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WHO: Canberra Contemporary Art Space WHAT: Close Range WHEN: Sat Oct 8 WHERE: Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Gorman House Close Range will reinvent the way you think about contemporary performance, dance, music, and visual art. The show will be a whole day event, beginning with cutting edge performance art films by local, national and international artists running during the day in the gallery space. Come 7.30pm the gallery will transform into a stage for local and national artists who will be literally leaping outside of their comfort zones, working in new fusions, mediums, and in a new space. All the works will be short and tight, quick glimpses of the possibilities presented when art forms combine. Each performer will cross the boundaries and drag you with them. Here the difference between performer and audience gets a bit blurry, and you might just find that you are a part of the art itself. $10.

WHO: Arc Cinema WHAT: New Korean Cinema WHEN: Thurs Sept 29 – Thurs Oct 27 WHERE: National Film and Sound Archives This is the first survey since 2009 of the latest films from maybe the most vibrant, energetic and movie-mad popular culture anywhere.

It re-confirms Korean cinema trying and succeeding at almost any kind of filmmaking. The sometimes confronting brutality hasn’t quite gone away, but even this trait dilutes itself through an incredible breath of genres; from K-horror, through dynamic actioners or gentle (but sometimes also bittersweet) romances, to uncompromising art cinema. The lessons of its success in dealing with many of the same commercial issues with which Australian cinema struggles also remain instructive. For the full program head to nfsa.gov.au/arc .

WHO: Centrepiece Theatre WHAT: Love Song by John Kolvenbach, directed by Jordan Best WHEN: Weds Oct 5 – Sat Oct 15 WHERE: Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre

Jenny Pollak (NSW), New world order – Terra Australis.

Sculpture and objects, highly commended

WHO: Claire Pendrigh WHAT: Exhibition Blot WHEN: Opening Thurs Sept 29 6pm, running ‘til Sun Oct 9 WHERE: Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Manuka Canberra is no stranger to abstract art, but when someone steps up and challenges the way we see abstraction, we pay special attention.

Claire Pendrigh is an artist doing just that. Her new exhibition Blot straddles the border of abstraction and figurative art. Pendrigh investigates the way we see our world, and our place in it, both through seeing the abstract in the figurative, and the figurative in the abstract. Using this idea that people can interpret abstract shapes according to their view of the world, Pendrigh has created a series of paintings both abstract and figurative that are left open for interpretation.

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A fun, sophisticated and sexy story about love, life and loss, Love Song explores the power of imagination, and questions perceptions of reality and illusion. Written by John Kolvenbach for Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre, and premiered in Australia by the Melbourne Theatre Company in 2008, Love Song is an off-beat romantic comedy. The story concerns a small family – the hard-nosed and uptight Joan, her mentally ill brother Beane and Joan’s husband, Harry. Love Song explores what it means to love and the feelings and emotions love provokes. Is love a delusion, or can the desire and energy of new love generate its own reality? Head to theq.net.au for all the info.

WHO: National Library of Australia WHAT: Treasures Gallery opening WHEN: Sat Oct 8 WHERE: National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia’s greatest treasures will be on permanent display in the new state-of-the art Treasures Gallery.

Opening on October 8, the Treasures Gallery will feature some of the National Library’s most prized items collected over the past 100 years. From Lieutenant James Cook’s journal of the Endeavour to Eddie Mabo’s papers, from Australia’s earliest existing printed document to Jørn Utzon’s model for the Sydney Opera House sails.

This new display space will provide visitors to the National Library with a truly remarkable experience. Entry is free.

LEARNING FROM THEIR MISTAKES BEN HERMANN “Well, like any gig, you tend to remember the good bits, because it’s more fun.” Gareth Liddiard – frontman of blues/rock quartet THE DRONES – admits that his memory has a habit of retaining only those parts of a show which, whether it be out of distinction or vanity, are worthy of retention. The group has recently released A Thousand Mistakes, a live DVD with over four and a half hours of footage, and Liddiard sounds glad of the experience that compiling the DVD has afforded him; namely, of reliving so many live shows as they actually occurred. “The gigs are peppered with good bits and shit bits. If we didn’t have the footage, I’d probably just remember the good bits, but it’s great to have it all there.”

The gigs are peppered with good bits and shit bits. If we didn’t have the footage, I’d probably just remember the good bits

A Thousand Mistakes includes a selection of rare live footage filmed between 2005 and 2010 and a full show recorded in 2010 at Melbourne’s The East Brunswick Club. The group also recorded an intimate live session at a warehouse in Fairfield, Victoria, inviting Hammond organist and keyboard player Steve Hesketh to play some of the group’s popular, but rarely performed tracks. Or, as Liddiard describes them, “the ugly little step sisters that don’t fit in”.

Although Hesketh won’t be joining the group when they tour A Thousand Mistakes, Liddiard says they still plan to base their playlist around some of the group’s older, less-played favourites. “A lot of those songs are songs we can’t, from a practical perspective, do live because of the personnel or equipment needed,” he says.

“However, we are going to base the tour on those [the Fairfield Warehouse Sessions] set lists as much as we can.”

The group’s most recent LP, 2008’s Havilah clocked up a swagger of critical acclaim, including a nomination for the J Award’s Album of the Year. Since then the group has done little writing; first Havilah’s tour, followed by Liddiard’s solo tour, followed by the recording and compilation of the DVD which Liddiard describes as “the biggest head-fuck”.

“During the whole DVD process we were out of our comfort zone.

With albums, we know what we need to do at each stage of the process and know who to call for a certain result. The whole film thing was an alien process. It was multi-tiered, multilayered and, for the most part, very technical and quite boring and wearing.”

As for the upcoming tour, Liddiard says that watching hours of the group’s live footage in all its raw, unedited glory has not made him more self-conscious during their shows. “Not myself, but as a band, I can see things that your member of the general public would not.

I’m more like a coach, always having higher standards and higher expectations.”

The Drones play the ANU Bar on Friday October 7, with support from Adalita. Tickets are $28+bf from Ticketek.

ANU Bar Gig guide October SleepmakeSwaveS [FRI 30 Sept] vida latin Renegado, puRa muSic FeStival [TUE 4 Oct] the dRoneS [FRI 7 Oct] Floating me [WED 12 Oct] watuSSi [SAT 15 Oct] THE REGULARS

Mon–Fri - Jugs of all tap beer only $10.50 (4–6pm).

DJ’s in the Beer Garden from 2pm every Thursday.

ANU BAR, ANU Union Building 20, Acton Canberra (02) 6125 3660 | www.anuunion.com.au For more gig listings go to our website.

Tickets through Ticketek & at the door on the night.

Photo: Doomriders at the ANU Bar, Cole Bennetts for BMA Magazine.

29

MEN OF MANY COLOURS justin hook Even though they were a phenomenal commercial success and have written some of the smartest (Taking the Town), eeriest (Icehouse) and iconic (Great Southern Land) songs in the last 30 years, ICEHOUSE don’t really get their dues. Yes, they’re widely respected, but not loved in the same non-ironic way as Midnight Oil or The Saints.

Now I’m not suggesting it warrants a Royal Commission, but it’s not entirely out of order. Now that they have reformed in the wake of the recent remastering of the debut album (Icehouse) and greatest hits CD/DVD set (White Heat) lead singer/guitarist and songwriter, Iva Davies is in the odd position of talking about his band again. “It’s slightly surreal and it’s becoming my job again. But it’s also quite an interesting time because I am going back to a place I know very well but I just haven’t visited it for a long time.”

From the debut through to the massive best seller Man of Colours, Davies worked his way through multiple genres and played around with what constituted a ‘pop song’: the epic dryness of Southern Land, the radio friendly bombast of Mr Big, the new wave urgency of Taking the Town, the Bowie-ness of Hey, Little Girl.

From the very beginning it sounded like Icehouse knew exactly what they wanted. Not so says Davies. “I didn’t have perspective or any kind of distance at all. So in that sense I didn’t have a vision. All I had was a very strong knowledge of what I wanted and what I didn’t want.”

We were a bit of an anomaly. I was very aware that we were a punk band in the middle of a punk movement but also very contradictory

Surprisingly it turns out that what he wanted was Pink Floyd. “I was 17 when I first heard Dark Side of the Moon – it had an extraordinary space you could just walk around in. It told me that you could do amazing things in a recording studio. Because even though we were basically a pub band what I really wanted to do was get into a studio and make those kinds of aural pictures.”

During the ruthless local ‘80s pub rock scene Icehouse not only prospered, they also had no problem playing certain industry games.

Like playing on the venerable Countdown. “We were a bit of an anomaly. I was very aware that we were a punk band in the middle of a punk movement but also very contradictory. We didn’t buy into the grandstanding that came with the punk movement. It ultimately evaporated but was taken very seriously at the time. But we had our own space so it didn’t worry us that we could go from the Oxford Tavern [tough as nails Sydney pub] and then turn up on Countdown.

Didn’t bother us in the least.”

And now they’re playing shows again, Davies finds himself in pubs again, playing a warm up show at St Kilda’s Esplanade Hotel recently.

“I haven’t been in a pub for about 20 years! So it was quite a shock to the system.”

Icehouse are making a comeback at Homebake, on Saturday December 3, at the Domain in Sydney. Tickets are available through Ticketek from $102. The band will also be playing Meredith Music Festival from Friday December 9 to Sunday December 11. Unfortunately, tickets are sold out.

30

much better time. We can run around more as the set is bigger and there are just more people. We have 2,000 people there instead of the usual 300. The atmosphere is electric!”

A ROCKIN’ YULETIDE LIAM DEMAMIEL A staple of Saturday night viewing since 2005, ROCKWIZ has come to occupy a special and unique place in Australian music culture.

The show, helmed by the sharp and sassy Julia Zemiro and created by super music nerd Brian Nankervis, quickly became the most enjoyable show on SBS since Des Mangan’s It gets harder and Cult Movies (read borderline pornography). harder every year to find songs that Not content to rest on their laurels, the are new and are RocKwiz family is hitting the road for the about Christmas and we don’t want to second time in their short history with The do a Mariah Carey Christmas RocKwiz Christmas Tour.

“Last year we did a huge 35 date tour around the country; people said that they loved the show but asked how we were going to do it on stage,” Zemiro says when asked about the practicalities of transforming the television format into a live show. “Brian Nankervis, the band and myself are used to being on stages. We don’t have to worry about camera shots, swearing and we have a

Zemiro believes that there is much to look forward to with the tour’s Christmas theme. “It gets harder and harder every year to find songs that are new and are about Christmas and we don’t want to do a Mariah Carey Christmas,” she says. “But there will be heaps of songs about peace, love and understanding. One Christmas show we had Tim Rogers singing Christmas from the Tommy musical by The Who, the whole place just went berserk.”

The highlight of RocKwiz is its live performances, and there is a clear Australian flavour when it comes to Zemiro’s favourites of the past few years. “We have had 120 shows, so that means we have had at least 240 guests!” she laughs. “For raw energy, I think Tim Rogers is a standout. He just gives every time he is on the show. He is so extraordinary, and we just love the kind of energy he brings.

A personal favourite of mine is Chrissy Amphlet of Divinyls. I just thought she was wild and absolutely amazing. They are the kind of performances you remember and will always love.”

As for working with Nankervis, Zemiro says that she is “the luckiest girl in the world. Brian is like a big brother to me now. In fact, everyone who works on RocKwiz is like a family now. But Brian is one of the most patient and funny people I have ever met. Whenever I am feeling a bit down I think, ‘what would Brian do?’. He would find that little extra bit of patience that he has got left somewhere so that he can just get through that moment and connect with the people and connect with what you have got to do.”

The RocKwiz Christmas Tour will be landing in Canberra on Thursday December 1 at The Royal Theatre. Tickets are through Ticketek for $79.90.

A Thousand Mistakes DVD out October 7

Friday October 7 ANU BAR Tickets:

www.thedrones.com.au or www.theatlasagency.com

31

RECEPTION – GOOD AND BAD

RENEGADE RAPPER

JUSTIN HOOK

Palimah Panichit

Getting a hold of Jorma Vix proved very difficult one Tuesday a couple of weeks back. Not because his band MARIACHI EL BRONX were on stage supporting Foo Fighters (that was the next day) or in the studio recording a Dylan cover for an Amnesty International compilation album (that was the previous day) but more because he has a terrible telecommunications carrier. “Aw man – I recently talked to my cell phone provider because my phone doesn’t work at my house and they were all like, ‘Your house is between three towers and it doesn’t know which tower to connect to… So you’re just fucked’. It’s a blessing in disguise until I get an important phone call.”

Which is why this delayed conversation took place on a street not far from Daniel Lanois’ house. But that’s another story.

One thing about hip-hop is that it is born from culture, with a peppering of personal perceptions and experiences. Your local fish and chip shop parking lot could behold cyphers as authentic as any New York basketball court – if the passion is there. Alas, it is to be found in communities and thus lost in translation – naturally there are cultural and language barriers to overcome, vernacular, different social norms and practices. It goes on.

In 2009 LA-based hardcore band The Bronx started gigging as a traditional mariachi band. The debut album was well received, as were the shows they played as their alter egos. This year’s follow up album is a more diverse experience and it feels like a band finding confidence in their newish genre footing. “For the first album we had just started learning and picking up the instruments and were all new to it. But over the last couple of years we have been researching, meeting new people, and taking lessons through YouTube.”

For the most part we’ve had a fucking wonderful reception

Donning mariachi suits and sombreros you run the risk of becoming a stale and ugly joke, but the band have dodged hostility. “For the most part we’ve had a fucking wonderful reception. We’ve been very careful not to make a mockery of it or make it seem too campy and people who listen to traditional mariachi hear that we’re paying homage to it.”

In the process of furthering their mariachi sound they also stole multi-instrumentalist Ray Suen from The Killers who, despite not coming from a restaurant band background, was still able to add layers of complexity to the sound. Indeed it’s this aspect of discovery that most excites the entire band, explains Vix. “When we started The Bronx there’s no way we’d ever have a violin or accordion on our album.”

With Mariachi El Bronx appearing on Jay Leno, touring with Dave Grohl and recording Dylan covers – are we witnessing the slow dissolution of The Bronx? Not quite. “There’s a good feeling for what The Bronx does. Not everyone is going to be into five guys screaming loudly into your face and playing as fast as possible. But the mariachi thing is more digestible. Playing drums in The Bronx is gnarly; I’m sweating and puking. But with the mariachi band we get to sit back and enjoy it a bit more. We love it and I don’t see us not doing it so it’s not a side project for us. It just feels like we have two full time bands now.”

Mariachi El Bronx II is out now through iTunes and bricks ‘n’ mortar purveyors of quality tunage.

32

But as the Mighty Mos Def once said, “You don’t have to understand it. You can feel it. The vibrations are past understanding.” Enter RENEGADO: an award-winning Brazilian rapper on a mission. Fire, fuego, feu, fogo – whatever your tongue, he has it in his own way.

Employing characteristics of North American rap with Brazilian cheek and I want to take my music to as Latin American rhythms, he is a prime example of how malleable hip-hop can many people as possible and be. Socially motivated and musically unite all the talented, Renegado was born for tribes this. “I found rap in my early teens and it was love at first sight. I started rapping at age 13, and devoted it to social work. I became part of my community association from 13 years of age and have always acted from that basis. Rap adapts easily to any place it goes, as it deals with the everyday issues of young people. Today, in Brazil, there is no doubt that rap is the spokesperson of the youth. I firmly believe that rap only becomes legitimate when it understands the culture it comes from.”

Ambition is rife in his music, mashing youth’s ardor with social strains; and as a determined individual, his desires are not solely contained within his immediate surroundings. “The world around me serves me as a source of inspiration. I try to stay focused on general topics that are part of people’s lives because I believe that my music has to be their companion. I believe this is due to the fact that my music was born without borders, without prejudice. I want to take my music to as many people as possible and unite all the tribes. I think this focus is being achieved.”

Despite winning the 2008 Hutuz Prize for Best New Artist, Renegado’s charge is not critically or commercially driven. “In producing my first album I was certain that this was the journey I wanted to take without worrying about the market, but I am happy to go where the music leads me. For me success is having as many people understand the purpose of my music as possible, and trying to engage them with the truth and strength that I bring in my verses.

“The new album is ready and I’m in the process of designing the new show and tour. I intend to extend the performance of my work to new fans and take my music to other tribes.”

Renegado will be performing as part of the Pura Vida Latin Music Festival that is lighting up the streets of Canberra this October. The man himself will be playing at ANU Bar on Thursday October 4. Tickets are through Ticketek for $41.05.

a kinder shade of green

CARRIED IN HEARTS AND MINDS Palimah Panichit

Li v ing Green Festival

C A N B E R R A 2011

Y’all know the name.

JEFF LANG, the six-string slinging, leading man of Australia’s homespun roots scene, is back with his 15th album, Carried in Mind.

The title and the tunes contained therein are strongly evocative of both bittersweet and innocuous memories, where times and their spaces are illustrated lovingly by a shaky paintbrush. It seems only natural that this would be the case, as Lang cuts a legendary figure in Australian music – his many experiences and memories would be fascinating to regard even without the dusty beauty of his blues and roots backdrop. It is impressive in itself that after 15 records, Lang still wants to dazzle.

“It’s not so much a challenge. It’s not as if you go into playing music for another day saying ‘Oh god, it’s day number 15, 954; oh god what do I do to make myself enjoy this?’ “I’m always If you stay interested in where the next song is curious, you end coming from, and when it’s going to show up discovering up. That’s what keeps it fresh and keeps music from all it interesting.” ld

• sustainable, fair trade & cruelty-free food, products & services • talks on environmental, animal protection & health issues • live music & dance performances • free yoga & gardening workshops • children's entertainment & more!

Have fun g easy discoverin duce our re to s ay w otprint carbon fo g kind while bein s and to human als other anim

Albert Hall Commonwealth Ave 10am—4pm Sunday 16 October FREE ENTRY

www.liv inggreenfestival.org.au

over the wor and hearing connections

Lang’s love for roots music is clear and resonant – he speaks about it with a quiet old love. It really is no surprise that he’s continued for as long as he has with fans that still adore him.

“My music is kind of a mongrel music form, in many ways. It informs the language of what you play. I had Bob Dylan and Ry Cooder playing around my house when I was growing up – that’s just part of what I understood music to be, growing up as a young lad.

“If you stay curious, you end up discovering music from all over the world and hearing connections.”

Seeing as he originated in a different era, Lang remains undecided on what he thinks of the boom of music downloading. “I still buy records, myself. Maybe I’m old fashioned. That probably rolled from just growing up in the era of vinyl. I don’t know; they said that taping songs off the radio was going to kill the business, too. Certainly, it’s misguided if people think that recorded music is not worth anything and that it should all be free. I mean, it doesn’t cost nothing to make a record. You can’t expect people to give it all their ability for nothing.”

Lang is soon embarking on an Australia-wide tour, which includes a home stop in Canberra – where Lang is originally from. “I’ve always enjoyed playing Canberra; there’s a sentimental attachment because I was born there and I’ve still got family there. There was a tiny place called the R’n’B Bar in Phillip, and they had some crazy gigs there.

We ended up doing our gig and then jamming ‘til about 7.30 the next morning. You know, sitting outside with our leads running into the club while people were commuting to work.”

Jeff Lang will be crooning to audiences at The Street Theatre on Sunday October 2. Tickets are from $25and are available through thestreet.org.au .

33

THE REALNESS What is in the water at the moment? There must be something special, as a whole bag of albums have just dropped or are just around the corner from a host of prolific (and popular) local artists. First up is Babylon from Phrase, his third LP. It is an epic listen, taking influence from rock and psychedelia, and exhibits Phrase’s gutsy and adventurous songwriting ability. Featuring an unlikely cast of guest vocalists including Alex Burnett, Davey Lane, Guineafowl, Jane Doe and Jimmy Barnes, Babylon shows Phrase confident in moving from rapping over loops and breaks into carving out his own fresh individual sound.

Whilst not following the same path as Phrase, those lovable rogues

The Funkoars are more content to tread familiar ground whilst sounding no less inspired on their hard hitting fourth album The Quickening. The kids should just love it as they’ve delivered once again. Sesta has stepped up his production game and handles the bulk of the album, while Trials unsurprisingly contributes his share of bangers. They are joined by guest producers Dazastah, Simplex, Debate and the legendary Large Professor. The album also features guest spots from K21, Vents and Hilltop Hoods. It’s out now on Golden Era. Out on Friday October 7 is the long awaited debut solo LP from Lyrical Commission’s Trem. A true veteran of the scene, razorsharp lyricist and skilled producer himself, Trem contributed to the production of the album, and also invited guest producers Beat Butcha, Amazing Maze, Thorotracks, Must, Wik and Prowla to all contribute to the album’s backdrop. Kingz Konekted, Culprit, Brad Strut, Lazy Grey and Q-Unique all appear as guests. Pretty sure I am not alone in being excited for this one.

Also out on Friday October 7 through Obese and Myspherical Entertainment is the debut LP from In Good Company, a collective made up of Whisper, Syntax and Breach. Whisper has really stepped up his production game, soundtracking the bulk of the album with a myriad of quality and varied beats. Also on the boards are M-Phazes, Jase, Dutchman & J Smith and Joe Lewis. Guest spots come from Eloquor, Mantra, Ginger Van Es, Boltz and Skyzoo.

Local lad and recent TV superstar, Omar Musa has just unveiled the free MoneyKat mixtape with his good pal Mighty Joe. The Year of the MoneyKat mixtape is the perfect precursor to their forthcoming debut album due in 2012 and showcases their skills, poetry and passion for hip-hop. Pick up a copy at moneykat.wordpress.com. Omar also contributes a stellar spoken word piece The Big O to the recent mixtape by Elefant Traks artist The Tongue. The Sextape is Tongue’s third free mixtape and features guests Bias B, Nick Lupi, Seven, Ellesquire, Toe Fu, DJ Skoob and production from Lotek and the legendary Mdusu whose Two Girlfriends is the real highlight. Grab a copy through the Elefant Traks site.

Finally this issue is the news that Xzibit will be playing The Maram on Wednesday November 30.

Support from Raw City Ruckus, Big Dave, Kodak, Buick and D’Opus and myself. Get your tickets early!

Roshambo aka Ced Nada roshambizzle@yahoo.com.au

34

caught you sinking

METALISE

triple j & Cross Section present

justified in everything airtrails pure love passive aggressive until you feel less hurt

Having spent the last three weeks on the road with the Bastardfest tour, it served as a pretty good health check for the Australian metal and heavy community. It seems there’s a diverse and healthy amount of music being made out there at any time since the scene galvanised around the early ‘90s with the advent of Metal for the Brain and the various states’ bands started making their networks to play together interstate in the time before booking shows on the interweb was an option. d.USK are a band that formed to bring the music of legendary band .dISEMBOWELMENT live to the masses and I got to see them on the Queensland leg and catch up for a chat with them in Melbourne. They were amazing and it was welcome news when they told me at The Tote in Collingwood that they have been asked to play their classic album Transcending The Peripheral in full at Holland’s and the world’s premiere doom festival Roadburn next year. It’s great to see the impact of that album on the doom world, even after 20 years.

Speaking of doom-fests, Australia’s fourth Doomsday Festival is gearing up with the line-ups and artwork for posters is being finalised. As touched on last time, this year the Sydney event is at The Sandringham in Sydney on Saturday October 15 and features Cough, Clagg, Pod People, Summonus, Looking Glass, Daredevil, Mother Mars, The Devil Rides Out and Rituals of the Oak.

until you're faceless just through me like you were god lonely and coming apart again

breaking to breathe national tour from here

the sky's a cruel illusion to subdue to fall through my failure to see it just like you oh save me save yourself I've no blood for your promises a shame hell to pay open your eyes

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 12TH ANU BAR CANBERRA, ACT w/ Special Guests www.premierticketek.com.au

mirror mirror shatters inwards rains down another ill will to power rains down the actors for your widescreen drama a whirlpool at the gates sucked through and breaking to breathe from here the sky's a cruel illusion

SELF TITLED DEBUT ALBUM IN STORES NOW

to subdue to fall through my failure to see it just like you oh god

Looking Glass are just about ready to put out their third release and I am totally salivating at how this record will be received. I have often stated this, but we really do have the absolute best power trio in the country living in our fair city and there is no band that can match what they do when they’re on. Marcus and Lachlan both deserve recognition as being at the pinnacle of their chosen instruments and Clint’s drumming is just spot on this time around. Of course it’s about songs and this record really combines the tighter more traditional songs of the first album and seamlessly combines it with the more jammed out feel of the second album. Essential!

Karma To Burn are a top notch three-piece instrumental act whose Wild Wonderful Purgatory record was on high rotation at my place back in the late ‘90s. The band had a hiatus from 2002 ‘til 2009’s live shows and their two subsequent records, Appalachian Incantation and V. They are playing the Sydney Coma Festival on Saturday January 28 next year as well as dates booked for Melbourne and Geelong – more on that to come as we get closer to (gulp) 2012.

Where does the year go!?!

Children of Bodom and Voyager announced a national tour last month with their five date Australian tour slated for November.

Saturday November 12 at the Big Top in Luna Park in Sydney.

Unkle K’s band of the week: Author & Punisher ­– myspace.com/ authorandpunisher – an industrial doom and drone metal, one-manband utilising primarily custom fabricated machines/controllers and speakers.

JOSH NIXON doomtildeath@hotmail.com

35

the word

on albums

album of the issue wilco the whole love [dpbm]

For a band who’ve had rather mixed experiences with labels it seems a logical move to start their own. Wilco, arguably one of the most creative of rock bands at the moment, have done just that.

Leaving a productive contract with label Nonesuch, the band have struck out on their own, forming the dBpm label.

The Whole Love is its first release and Wilco’s first in over two years. His previous two releases, specifically 2009’s Wilco (The Album), were criticised as showcasing a complacent band content to rest on their laurels and draw on past sounds instead of forging new ones. Yet from the seven-minute noise infused opener Art of Almost, it is clear that The Whole Love is a very different creature.

The melodies are more basic and the songs less layered and dense. The album as a whole seems less deconstructed yet still roves and lulls into the more experimental. Jeff Tweedy’s vocals really make the album and have perhaps never sounded better. The Whole Love can only be characterised as a continuation of the fine music Wilco have been making for years (or a return to form, for those that way inclined).

LIAM DEMAMIEL

36

Amebix Sonic Mass [Easy Action]

Glen Campbell Ghost On The Canvas [Surfdog]

Josh Pyke Only Sparrows [Ivy League]

Amebix are a name that you’ll have come up against more than once if you’re a long-inthe-tooth fan of heavy music.

Their squalid, uncomfortable mix of anarcho-crust lyrical drive and sludgy death metal sonic dynamics has proven a fertile template for more than one bunch of noisy upstarts since the band’s Devon-based inception in the late ‘70s.

Glen Campbell is a true survivor.

His volatile personal life is tailor made for the country but behind the headlines is a masterful songwriter and interpreter of song. He’s also a deeply emotive vocalist, mercifully free of the syrup and dramatisms that blemish most country artists.

If you aren’t familiar with his definitive versions of Jimmy Webb’s Wichita Lineman or

By The Time I Get to Phoenix get to it– they are unarguable American classics.

Only Sparrows marks a significant change for Pyke as it’s the first time in eight years he’s formed a band to record with. In past albums much effort had gone into his playing each instrument just right as the record came together. This time around he’s been able to focus more on arranging the overall album. This results in some special musical touches, such as the percussion representing an onrushing train in Coffee Cups. His collaborators included Katy Steele who adds a delicate backing to Punch in the Heart, the only track on which Pyke played all the instruments himself. Pyke’s word-smithing ability, exercised in the midst of the snows of a New York winter, remains as strong as ever. The clever lyrics reveal more of themselves through repeated listening. Hilarious highlights include “If I could write a sad song every day of the week/I’d be the happiest fucker I know” in No One Wants a Lover.

In its 2011 incarnation, Amebix is an altogether more sophisticated beast, plying a riff-heavy trade that, especially on the likes of the strident God of the Grain, comes on like a reggae/electronica-free version of the mighty Killing Joke.

There’s literally no fat on this release at all, as each one of the ten tracks gets straight to the point; the result being an album that delivers a constant stream of high quality, intelligently bombastic doom, interspersed with the likes of the quasi-title track, Sonic Mass Part 1 where the band ventures into the kind of neo-folk territory that’s usually the domain of acts such as Sol Invictus.

Follow up track Sonic Mass Part 2 adds a bit of Motorhead and Hwkwind to the mix, but this album is more – so much more – than a mere game of spot the influence. Much like Killing Joke’s last album, it’s a record that synthesises bang your head gonzoid mayhem and intelligent lyrical observation to such an effective extent that you’ll find yourself returning to it again and again. Fantastic stuff.

SCOTT ADAMS

Earlier this year Campbell was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease so Ghost on the Canvas is his farewell album. It would be unfair to compare this to his staggering ‘60s Capitol output; a modern equivalent might be Rick Rubin’s Johnny Cash albums. Indeed 2008’s Meet Glen Campbell attempted the very same rebirth with some well chosen covers (Foo Fighters, The Replacements and um…Travis) for a new audience.

Canvas is a natural extension and a far better record.

For starters, Robert Pollard is here dueting on Hold on Hope (from Guided By Voices 1999’s Do The Collapse). As is Chris Issak, most of the Dandy Warhols, Billy Corgan, Keith “Nicole Kidman” Urban and Paul Westerberg. But the covers are a distraction as the Campbell’s originals are stunning; It’s Your Amazing Grace is achingly beautiful and uplifting. Strong carries the forward looking, stoicism-through-adversity sentiment even further.

Fittingly patchy, this man is going out in style.

JUSTIN HOOK

There are echoes of past songs in some of the lines too. Josh’s voice brings on the cocooning feeling of being in a deliciously warm bath.

However, Only Sparrows lacks the stand out tracks that made Memories & Dust and Chimney’s Afire such successes. The track list is more a collection of variations of tone in the one colour, rather than a varied palette. That being said, highlights appear in Particles and Follow Me Down.

Overall, more soothing than invigorating. rory mccartney

singled out

with Dave Ruby Howe

The Brian Jonestown Massacre Singles Collection 1992-2011 [a recordings]

Unknown Mortal Orchestra Unknown Mortal Orchestra [Spunk]

Esteemed UK magazine Uncut gave this highly enjoyable compilation a bad rap on the grounds that BJM main dude Anton Newcombe peddled little else than second rate garage rock. This is kind of unfair because of the skin tingling inthe-moment feel to the garage good stuff that is a big part of this band’s appeal. It’s distinctly possible there is a new BJM album on the cards because this compilation includes the band’s latest single Illuminomi which as far as raggedy ass, yet beautifully simple rock ‘n’ roll is concerned hits the mark with its ultra-cool Velvet Underground downtown vibe. This track is coupled with b-side There’s a War Going On that unashamedly draws on the riff from the ‘60s folk-rock classic Codeine but with distorted production qualities and an always appealing too-cool-for-school attitude to bring it into the here and now.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra is the pet project of Ruban Neilson (formerly of NZ punk smuts The Mint Chicks), who recorded the tracks during his spare time on weekends in a friend’s basement and drip fed them onto the internet.

Following the buzz, he has now released this short self-titled debut and is feverishly touring as a three-piece.

But Anton Newcombe is about so much more. Earlier tracks are represented by a devotion to the slow burning influence of My Bloody Valentine’s ripped sonics which, along with other shoegazer psychedelic music fans/performers, had it sorted in the early ‘90s and sprinkled some magic on American psychedelic garage fans like Newcombe. When classic rockers like Not if You Were the Last Dandy on Earth are linked with the cool psych moves of When Jokers Attack, you know these are the stirrings of something good.

DAN BIGNA

The sound of this album can be encapsulated in one word: TAPE. All the songs were recorded on old multi-track machines and the trebly hissed-out vibe immediately sets it apart from the digital era. Unknown Mortal Orchestra mixes funk-psych guitar with hip-hop breaks to create an unusual early ‘70s nostalgic debut. But after the dazzle of magnetic retro froth subsides, two or three tracks emerge. fFunny FFrends and Thought Ballune overwrite the brain with deep metronomic groove and How Can U Luv Me aspires to singledom with its chirpy, phasey, feel-good pop. Despite these breakthrough moments the archaic production values work to ensure that Unknown Mortal Orchestra remains a niche album. Ruban probably wants to keep it that way. As success propels the band around the world, replaying again and again the magical moments captured in lonely creativity, the risk of being eaten by the machine must loom in their mind.

ALEX SWANN

The Rapture In The Grace Of Your Love [Modular] In retrospect you’ve got to feel sorry for The Rapture. After pretty much defining the 2003 punk-funk zeitgeist with their debut album Echoes, they then went on to release the unfairly hated-on 2006 follow-up Pieces Of The People We Love. In the wake of bassist Matty Safer’s departure, this third album sees The Rapture slimmed down to a trio alongside co-producer Philippe Zdar and sounding more relaxed and free-flowing than perhaps ever before.

There’s a noticeably celebratory atmosphere present on the majority of the 11 tracks here; opener Sail Away sees Luke Jenner’s vocals soaring out over a backdrop of shimmering synths and fluid disco snares that conjures up Mr Fingers meeting head to head with Arthur Russell, while Free Bird comes infused with a warm Motown gospel feel that sees stomping garage rock drums and wiry guitar melting into a gorgeous bleed of multitracked vocal harmonies. This could also be The Rapture’s most openly emotional and personal collection, something particularly brought out by closer It Takes Time To Be A Man’s wander out into curiously Stephen Stills-esque soft rock soul, complete with descending choral backing vocals and slowburning horns from Gabriel Andruzzi, who indeed takes far more of a central role on this album. While they’ve had something of a bumpy road over the last few years, ITGOYL is The Rapture’s most cohesive and effortless album yet.

Chris Downton

Brite Futures Baby Rain [Turnout] Though we can’t call them by their old awesome title, Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head, the re-dubbed Brite Futures sound just as fun as ever on comeback single Baby Rain, dialing up the giddy synth quirks and bouncy, pouty brat vocals like they never left in the first place. I don’t want to tell you how to live your life but you really need to hear this.

David Guetta Without You ft. Usher [EMI] Do you like cheese? Hope so, because you’re going to get a lot of it with this. And not just the one kind, either! With Guetta you’ve got a spread of smelly French cheeses and with Usher, uh, whatever’s on special this week and due for expiry. But the funny thing about Without You is that despite the schmaltz these two pour atop the track, it’s light and kind of goofy in its sincerity. And hey, it beats the shit out of Sexy Bitch.

Nicki Minaj Fly ft. rihanna [UMA] People know that Rihanna sucks, right? Hell, I’m pretty sure that Rihanna knows that she sucks too. So what’s the point then of having her trill harshly on the hook of tunes like this? Yet we still find ourselves in this position, with everyone just turning whatever cheek’s left and putting up with it. It’s like she’s roofied us and we can only just lie there and take it.

And yes, I feel violated now.

37

the word

on films

WITH MELISSA WELLHAM

Remakes can be truly terrifying things: demon spawn sprung from a good original idea, its spirit twisted and perverted. Of course, they can also be very entertaining.

Fright Night is one such entertaining remake, blending humour and horror to great effect. However, good horror remakes are few and far between, while the bad breed at an alarming rate (The Omen, House of Wax, The Grudge, etc etc etc.). It probably all comes down to casting. Fright Night (Colin Farrell, Anton Yelchin, David Tennant, and Toni Collette) vs. House of Wax (Paris Hilton). Enough said.

quote of the issue

“That is a terrible vampire name.

Jerry?” Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin), Fright Night

One Day

Fright Night 3D

Page One

One Day has faced far more, and much more caustic criticism, than its source material – the bestselling novel of the same name by David Nicholls.

However, while it’s true that the film is an overly sentimental and slightly mawkish romance – it’s no more so than the novel.

Yeah yeah yeah – vampires, right? Done to death (pun intended). Fright Night, however, is just fun enough, just gory enough, and just tonguein-cheek enough to make this vampire movie resurrection thing worthwhile (more puns!).

When the internet was born, newspapers began to die. This isn’t newsworthy information, but what makes Page One interesting is the unprecedented access to the paper the audience is privy to. The film covers a lot of ground: why print journalism is unsustainable, the pitfalls of online news, plus a few tangents into the sordid world of corporate media management and corruption more generally.

It’s an informative film, but also incredibly entertaining and engaging. Rather than just an investigation into the external factors affecting print runs, director Rossi gives the audience a surprising amount of access to personal stories.

We are introduced to a variety of characters from the Media department at The New York Times – and while they are real people, they are indeed what you would call ‘characters’.

Emma Morley (Anne Hathaway) and Dexter Mayhew (Jim Sturgess) first meet on July 15 1988, after their college graduation. The two of them couldn’t be more different: Emma is bookish, while Dexter is brash. After almost sleeping together, the two decide to be friends – and the film subsequently shows one day in their lives each year, for the next 20 years. Over time their relationship grows and while it may take them 20 years, eventually Emma and Dexter realise they were always meant to be together.

I’d forgive you if you were dry-retching right about now.

But there are a few things that make One Day stand out from a crowd of romantic dramas, each trying to tell a love story like it’s the first time such an emotion was ever felt. The script is more interesting and witty than most, and director Lone Scherfig (An Education) imbues the film with some beautiful imagery.

Mostly, though, the success of the film is due to Hathaway and Sturgess, who manage to deliver their often cringeworthy dialogue without cringing.If you enjoyed The Notebook, you’ll like One Day. Melissa Wellham

38

Charley (Anton Yelchin – adorable!) has a dorky ex-best friend (McLovin!), a super fine girlfriend (babe!) and a suspicious but rippling neighbour, Jerry (Colin Farrell – he got hot again!). Oh, and he lives in a Nevada town where people keep disappearing one by one (vampires?!). The plot isn’t exactly complex, and Fright Night dispenses with any mystery within the first fifteen minutes. From there, it’s a rollercoaster of gore, fangs and blooooood. Yay! Yelchin turns in a delightful performance as the nerd turned cool guy turned vampire killer, and some throwaway vamp culture references make things all very modern. David Tennant turns up (the Doctor!) in a vague Russell Brand impersonation, and keep an eye out for a Franco smile.

Fright Night is one of those films where the trailer really says it all – straight-up action and very little depth. It’s not scary, but there are a few fun jumpy moments, and overall if you go in not expecting much you’ll have a fine old time. It’s not trying to be something it’s not, and I respect that.

MEGAN McKEOUGH

One-time drug addictcome-columnist David Carr represents the old guard of journalism, while blogger Brian Selter represents the tuned-in and switched-on young guard.

The relationship and tete-atetes between Carr and Selter makes for entertaining viewing.

This documentary is ultimately not pessimistic, however. Yes, newspapers are dying, and are not a financially viable form of disseminating the news. Yes, online ‘news’ blogs featuring more Paris Hilton than Palestine are on the rise, and rarely have the resources to employ fact checkers or invest in long form investigative journalism. But no, news is not dead. It just needs to adapt; evolve. Unfortunately, this film doesn’t know how.

MELISSA WELLHAM

the word on dvds

Friday Night Lights: Seasons 1-3 [Universal] Last week Friday Night Lights won a couple of Emmys – for writing and Kyle Chandler’s flawlessly rich performance as Coach Taylor – and whilst utterly deserved it was too little too late; this critically loved show recently finished its fifth and final season. Yet it wasn’t built for awards and the red carpet. For one it’s naturalistic.

Scripts are provided, but adlibbing within the character and plot is the norm. This realism shows in the loving attention to detail of everyday, middle class suburbia. You know, the stuff we don’t usually see without studio approved gloss – if at all.

The heart of the show is the partnership of Eric and Tami Taylor (Connie Britton in a sustained equally brilliant performance) who arrive in Dillon, Texas where Eric is the new high school football coach.

Being Coach is more than just a coach though and football is more than a sport. In Dillon – it’s everything.

From this relatively simple set up, concentric circles expand drawing lives together and painting the most articulate, nuanced and real vision of community, relationships and life ever seen on the small box.

It goes far beyond the writing; the simplest of gestures capture layers of exposition and motivation. Chandler apparently refused paragraphs of dialogue because he could capture the intent with one look. Through it all are some seriously gorgeous epic sweeps of rural Texas and the best soundtrack on TV, bar none.

After a near perfect first season the sophomore slump is pronounced but the ship is soon righted and even if it doesn’t have the cache of cool attached to its cable cousins Friday Night Lights sits easily and justifiably at the top of the heap. Better than Mad Men or The Wire? You bet.

JUSTIN HOOK

Jackass 3.5 [Paramount]

The Thick Of It – S3 [Roadshow/BBC]

There’s a tinge of uneasy sadness in watching this film, knowing that one of the original Jackass crew – Ryan Dunn – died after a drink driving accident in June. Friends and family would most likely prefer you to not focus on the fact that Dunn was well over the blood alcohol limit. But he was, and he took another person’s life with him.

Malcolm Tucker is one of the greatest comedic characters in television. A modern update of Yes Minister’s obsequious Sir Humphrey Appleby, Tucker is the sort of guy for who if one ‘fuck’ is good enough then ten in quick succession is even better. As the Director of Communications for an unnamed UK government, Tucker (played with gangly, hollow-eyed menace by Peter Capaldi) is responsible for cleaning up everyone else’s mess; fixing and spinning like a Caledonian whirling dervish.

Whilst it’s commonly accepted that Tucker is a fictional version of Tony Blair’s spin doctor Alistair Campbell, series creator Armando Iannucci is more coy, rightly pointing out that politics is full of these sort of aggressive morally questionable characters.

Since its inception there has always been a sense of wilful unhinged danger about the exploits of Johnny Knoxville and co. In the MTV shows and first films they were a decade younger and wounds healed quickly. The only way they could have conceived and then pulled off their stunts was surely a function of being either high and/or drunk. Now that most of them are in their middle aged years, sober, and with families, you have to wonder how they pull themselves out of bed to do this stuff. And if Dunn’s death will force them to reconsider.

Whatever the case Jackass 3.5 is a sort-of sequel to last years Jackass 3D; it’s basically a new film of unused footage that looks nothing like its predecessor.

Sadly the lurid glory of 3D, especially the slow motion stuff, is notable in its absence. Some would argue they should have retired on that high point. This one is basically the crew on tour in Europe. But it takes some sort of mad genius and gonzo talent to be able to plan and execute newer, better stunts, and all credit to the production team that they manage to keep the series alive.

A 40-minute doco on the genesis of the series is a worthy extra and possibly a knowing coda to the whole Jackass thing.

JUSTIN HOOK

Season 3 opens with a cabinet reshuffle which means new ministers, new blood. Hugh Abbott’s exit is dealt with suitably delicately; actor Chris Langham had no chance to return with a child sex conviction looming very large in the background. His replacement Nicola Murray (Rebecca Front) picks up the slack effortlessly – just as clueless and just as reliant on Tucker. The danger with a character like Tucker is twofold: the tornado of profanity can wear thin very quickly and the intensity of such venom can outshine the rest of the cast.

Luckily, Capaldi seems more fluid and acrobatic in insult construction than ever before.

And a bickering supporting cast (Chris Addison, James Smith, Joanna Scanlon) is easily up to the task of sharing Tucker’s limelight, despite being ever wary of his presence. This longer season allows characters to settle and grow and we even see Tucker’s house after the man himself has a little stress leave. A strange idea, but a brilliant show.

JUSTIN HOOK

39

the word

BLACKBOX

on games

As the jury is still deliberating over Deux Ex, for now I’m turning to my new iPad and looking at a selection of games for it

Sid Meier’s Pirates!

Developer: Firaxis Games Platform: iPad Rating: Worth grabbing I remember playing this a few years ago when it came out as a fully-fledged console and PC game and the experience translates surprisingly well to the iPad. You play as a scoundrel of the seas, looting and plundering your way through the ships and towns of the Caribbean in your stolen warship. Your task is to track down the evil Baron that kidnapped your family in order to free them, but you are also free to explore the Caribbean independently, making friends and enemies alike amongst the old world powers vying for Caribbean supremacy. Recommendation: an anomaly in that it costs more than $2, and is actually worth it (hey, it used to cost $80).

My Horse Developer: NaturalMotion Games Platform: iPhone, iPad Rating: Would be better used as glue Being recommended to me by none other than Apple itself, I quickly delved into the My Horse experience in order to “Live the dream of owning and looking after a realistic horse”. Unfortunately this is another game running under the false premise of being “Free to Play”, a business model of gaming where the gameplay is merely a thinly disguised set of levers designed to induce you to purchase some form of in game currency. These purchasing levels are manifested here as purple gems that you need in order to speed tasks up, tasks that would otherwise take hours to complete. Recommendation: Avoid unless you really like horses and in-game payment systems.

Papa Sangre Developer: Somethin’ Else Platform: iPhone, iPad Rating: Definitely try it Papa Sangre gives a whole new (at least for me) gaming experience, being designed for blind gamers. The game works entirely through immersive three-dimensional sound (through two headphones, don’t ask me how it works), and in order to save someone from El Papa’s dark underworld you need to listen to the sounds of your environment and the creatures inhabiting it. The lack of visual stimuli might put many people off, but I found it interesting how fast you can adapt to just using the sound of the virtual world in order to navigate and avoid being eaten by monsters. Recommendation: Do it. It’s a fun and surprisingly scary.

PETER DAVIS

40

Blackbox has been enjoying the televisual delights of Turkey over the past few weeks which pretty much consist of Turkish versions of English game and reality shows, and low budget over-acted soap operas. Picking up three years after the film, This is England-1986 (SBS1, Mon, 10pm) continues its portrayal of life growing up working class in Thatcher’s Britain. The movie and the show are based on British filmmaker Shane Meadows’ own upbringing and paint a grim picture of alienation that was a feature of the time.

One would have thought we might have dropped the term ‘fast tracking’ by now as all US series (apart from anything really good like Treme) are now played to Australian audiences just days after their US debut. Anyway the latest ‘fast tracked premiere’ is Unforgettable (WIN, Thu Oct 6, 8.30pm) a US drama starring ‘Australia’s own’ Poppy Montgomery as an ex-detective with a disorder that means she remembers everything clearly. Of course she is lured back to help the police solve a murder.

Also ‘fast-tracked’ is Person of Interest (WIN, Sun, 9.30pm), a crime drama set amongst corruption and cops in New York, where a presumed dead federal agent teams up with a computer genius to beat the system. It’s created by Jonathan Nolan (Memento), Bryan Burk and the legendary J.J. Abrams.

Franchising, like any good advertiser should, The Gruen Transfer has given birth to Gruen Planet (ABC1, Wed Sep 28, 9pm) which will look not just at advertising but at how advertising and public relations affect how we see the world – why everything is spin, branding, advertising and image control.

Also coming are series three of Breaking Bad (ABC 2, Thu Sep 29, 9pm), new United States of Tara (ABC2, Tue Sep 27, 8.30pm), the new Charlie’s Angels (WIN, Tue Sep 27, 7.30pm), a new season of CSI (WIN, Wed Sep 28, 8.30pm), William Shatner’s Weird or What?

(SBS1, Mon Oct 3, 7.30pm), Big Love (SBS1, Thu Oct 6, 10pm) and The Hamster Wheel (ABC1, Wed, 9.35pm) which sees The Chaser crew looking at how journalism works which is really just an excuse for more pranks.

Other docos to check out include Planet Egypt (SBS1, Sun, 7.30pm), a series looking at what transformed an agrarian society into one of the world’s great empires, Compass: Death in Brooklyn (ABC1, Sun Oct 2, 10pm) which looks at the New York neighbourhood of Crown Heights where racial tensions between Orthodox Jews and African Americans resulted in riots 20 years ago, Rome Wasn’t Built In a Day (ABC1, Tue Oct 4, 8.30pm) follows the construction of a Roman villa using only Roman methods, Choccywoccydoodah: Failure Is Not An Option (ABC2, Fri Oct 14, 6pm) which goes behind the scenes at the infamous British chocolate shop that helped Tim Burton create Willy Wonka’s world, Sunday Best: Jesus Camp (ABC2, Sun Oct 9, 8.30pm) which looks at the evangelical Christian camps that recruit born-again Christian children to become an active part of America’s political future, Louis Theroux: Louis and the Nazis (ABC2, Wed Oct 12, 8.30pm) which sees Louis meet members of the White Aryan Resistance including everyone’s favourite baby-faced warblers Lamb and Lynx.

Don’t miss Triple J Presents Architecture in Helsinki (ABC2, Tue Oct 11, 10.20pm).

TRACY HEFFERNAN tracyheffernan@bigpond.com

the word

Urban Soul Food Urban Food Store + Café Saturday September 17

on gigs

Slotted in amongst the shiny new apartments and ambiguous sculptures of New Acton, the Urban Food Store + Café beckoned.

Rather than their usual organic foodstuffs, tonight they were hosting a cornucopia of poetry. This was the final leg of the Global Poetics Tour, courtesy of the Molonglo Group and the Centre for Poetics and Justice, an organisation aiming to explore the intersection of spoken word and social justice. On offer was a veritable smorgasbord of some of the finest local, interstate and international poetry slam champions and spoken word performers.

Luka Lesson, our MC for the night, began by reading a poetic response to an Aboriginal artwork, rendering repetitions of forms, colours and abstractions. The crowd was politely hushed, attentive and too quiet for Luka’s liking. He didn’t want us to wait until the poems were over to respond. He encouraged everyone to get snapping, clapping and vocally engaged for the approaching succession of poets.

Doubting Thomas began by slinking through the crowd, embodying a feel-good bearded charity mugger, but soon he began slamming, guilt tripping, dripping righteous anger, laying down a compelling damn-theman diatribe. Next, Alia Gabrez presented a forthright antithesis to a ‘roses are red’ love poem. Darkwing Dubs wrote names in raindrops and made us both laugh and believe that if Jesus was born again, he’d be Buddhist. Joel McKerrow smacked out percussive protests within rhythms of shifting time signatures. Tariro Movando descended stairs, danced, twirled and spun words across the swelling café crowd. By now, I could safely say it wasn’t just booze lifting everyone’s spirits and voices.

Two familiar faces added some heightened local pride to the mood of the night. Omar Musa gave us both a love/hate tribute to his hometown of Queanbeyan, and the powerful My Generation, which has become something of a signature piece for him. After him, along came Hadley, regaling us with his Irish-lass-slash-bog-hag’s tale of woe, and then, like some kind of unhinged preacher, he shouted forth his own love/hate tribute to Canberra: “this town, this town, will hold you down…but those are your hands around your neck!”

By now, everyone was bloated with words, but still salivating, so after a brief breather of an interval, the two high-pedigree headliners from New York took to the stage. Ken Arkind took us through the present injustices of American history, gave a hilarious takedown of somebody’s request to sleep with his ex, and dictated a love letter to San Francisco. Finally, Jive Poetic slammed the lie of US manifest destiny afresh, questioned genetic tampering via the seedless grape, and threw himself into the crowd, protesting slavery, and seeking to demolish any injustice he could name, with nothing more or less than words. As with many times throughout the night, the poets made it seem possible.

The feast was finishing up. We cleared chairs for a dancefloor as an impressive assortment of beatboxing, rap and tunes were offered up

by Kodak the Moment, Omar Musa and D’Opus respectively. Some stayed on to continue the party, many began heading home, but all surely were satiated with the poetry we’d been served up and I know I’d heartily recommend checking out any of the aforementioned poets.

photos: alex moffatt

One friend thought that perhaps the strong political bent of the event felt a bit too much like saving the world by preaching to the converted.

It’s hard to avoid accusations of posturing, hypocrisy or plain old disagreement when you explicitly inject politics into things, but I’m confident the crowd left entertained, inspired and challenged by the diversity of poetry offered up. For me at least, the words resonated long after the banquet of Urban Soul Food ended.

DUNCAN FELTON

41

GIG GUIDE Sept 28 - Sept 30 wednesday September 28 arts Exhibition – Press Print 2

A Megalo project supporting emerging artists, curated by John Hart MEGALO PRINT STUDIO

Resurrection

Hippo Live

HIPPO LOUNGE

The Bridge Between

A Megalo project supporting emerging artists, curated by John Hart

BELGIAN BEER CAFE

Pecha Kucha Vol 10

With Simon on harp. 6.30-9.30pm.

MEGALO PRINT STUDIO

Something Different

Pecha Kucha is a night for people to get together and witness presentations from local creatives.

Trivia Night 7:30pm.

An exhibition by John Johnson.

THE PHOENIX PUB

Klaus Moje – A Continuum

Exercise your grey matter every Wednesday night. Register your team at the bar by 6pm.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE GORMAN HOUSE

Featuring the work of renowned artist, Klaus Moje. Running until October 20.

CANBERRA GLASSWORKS

2011 Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize

Celebrate nature’s beauty captured in art. Inspiring and thought provoking.

‘Til Nov 13.

NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA

Exhibition - Creative Alchemy

Works by Canberra artists that visualise, interpret, spark debate and have fun.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Exhibition – Press Print 2

CRAFT ACT

Entrapment

Fame Trivia

An exhibition by Jenni Kemarre Martiniello. Continuing until October 1.

TRANSIT BAR

2011 Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize

Fame Trivia

Free entry fantastic prizes, bookings are essential. 6pm.

P J O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

thursday September 29 arts Klaus Moje – A Continuum

Live

Featuring the work of renowned artist, Klaus Moje. Running until October 20.

Acoustic Soup

Exhibition - Creative Alchemy

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE GORMAN HOUSE

Celebrate nature’s beauty captured in art. Inspiring and thought provoking.

‘Til Nov 13.

NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA

Dance

uniJam

Young, genius musicians casually jamming with an electronic producer.

Midday-1pm.

UNION COURT, ANU

uniVibes: Thursday at the Bar

Sun, beer, bands, DJs and fusion on the deck. 2-7pm.

ANU BAR BEER GARDEN

Something Different Karaoke

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

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

friday September 30 arts Klaus Moje – A Continuum

HIPPO LOUNGE

Featuring the work of renowned artist, Klaus Moje. Running until October 20.

Live

Exhibition - Creative Alchemy

Dirtey Rascals

CANBERRA GLASSWORKS

Open Mic Night

Works by Canberra artists that visualise, interpret, spark debate and have fun.

POT BELLY BAR

Exhibition - Blot

9pm, free.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Works by Canberra artists that visualise, interpret, spark debate and have fun.

Carter Rollins

An exhibition by Claire Pendrigh.

With Ashleigh Mannix. 8pm, $10.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE - MANUKA

Wet Hair (USA)

Exhibition - Blot

Charge Group

Exhibition – Press Print 2

THE PHOENIX PUB

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE - MANUKA

$8.50/$7 students and Co-op members. 6.30pm.

THE FOOD CO-OP

Mornings, Biscuits. 9pm.

Carly Fern and the Humicorn

Supported by Yes/No. 7.30pm, $5 at door.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

42

CANBERRA GLASSWORKS

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

An exhibition by Claire Pendrigh.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Savages, Danger Beach. 9pm.

THE PHOENIX PUB

Richard In Your Mind: Sun Tour

W/ The Laurels + Fishing. Tickets $10 + BF through Moshtix. Doors open 8pm.

TRANSIT BAR

A Megalo project supporting emerging artists, curated by John Hart MEGALO PRINT STUDIO

GIG GUIDE Sept 30 - Oct 03 Ectopia

An exhibition by Yhonnie Scarce.

Continuing until October 1.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE - GORMAN HOUSE

2011 Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize

Celebrate nature’s beauty captured in art. Inspiring and thought provoking.

‘Til Nov 13.

NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA

Poetry Slam

Exhibition - Blot

Exhibition - Creative Alchemy

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE - MANUKA

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

An exhibition by Claire Pendrigh.

Resurrection

An exhibition by John Johnson.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE - GORMAN HOUSE

Exhibition – Press Print 2

A Megalo project supporting emerging artists, curated by John Hart MEGALO PRINT STUDIO

From 7.30pm.

Entrapment

Comedy

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE - GORMAN HOUSE

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

the chUCkle hut Launch With Tom Ballard

Plus Steve Philip and Dave Jory in support. 8pm, tix $18.50 from Moshtix.

An exhibition by Jenni Kemarre Martiniello. Continuing until October 1.

Ectopia

An exhibition by Yhonnie Scarce.

Continuing until October 1.

UC

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE - GORMAN HOUSE

Dance

2011 Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize

Foreplay Fridays

9pm till 5am with DJs Matt AND Pete.

Two for one drinks and free entry until 11pm.

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

Emily Scott

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Purple Sneakers DJs

Works by Canberra artists that visualise, interpret, spark debate and have fun.

Exhibition - Blot

An exhibition by Claire Pendrigh.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE - MANUKA

Exhibition – Press Print 2

A Megalo project supporting emerging artists, curated by John Hart MEGALO PRINT STUDIO

Fashioned Here

Fashioned Here unpacks the wardrobe of Canberra Museum and Gallery (CMAG).

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

2011 Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize

Celebrate nature’s beauty captured in art. Inspiring and thought provoking.

‘Til Nov 13.

NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA

Celebrate nature’s beauty captured in art. Inspiring and thought provoking.

‘Til Nov 13.

Dance

Dance

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA

Cube Saturdays

Hospitality Sundays

10pm ‘til late with DJ TJ. Free entry, free pool and discounted drinks.

Live

TRANSIT BAR

10pm ‘til 5am with DJs Matt and Pete.

Two for one drinks and free entry until 11pm.

Live

One Love: Mario Gordon

THE STREET THEATRE

Free live music. 8.30pm.

Day Play

Casey Donovan Pays Tribute to Mama Cass

Canberra Ukulele Festival of Fun

Dragon Dreaming Festival celebrates art, music and nature, and the freedom of self-expression.

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

TUGGERANONG ARTS CENTRE

Last Friday of the month. Free entry.

Charles Chatain

P J O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

Including songs by The Mamas and the Papas. Tix through the venue.

Dragon Dreaming Festival 2011 Dragon Dreaming Festival celebrates art, music and nature, and the freedom of self-expression.

CUBE NIGHTCLUB HIPPO LOUNGE

Including Bosko & Honey. 9.30am-5pm, $15/$10/$40 family.

sleepmakeswaves

Claire

HARMONIE GERMAN CLUB

KOWEN FOREST

W/Mornings, Meniscus, Pirate and Looking Glass.

Little Napier. 9.30pm.

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Ernest Ellis & The Panamas

A Touch Of Soul

8pm, $15.10.

HIPPO LOUNGE

TRANSIT BAR

Something Different

Feat. Mikelangelo and the Tin Star, John Holmes Trio, Tiny Tom Last and more. $15.

Last Friday Night Drinks

5-9pm. Drinks, art, entertainment – what more could you ask for?

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

saturday october 01 arts Klaus Moje – A Continuum

Featuring the work of renowned artist, Klaus Moje. Running until October 20.

CANBERRA GLASSWORKS

Exhibition - Creative Alchemy

Works by Canberra artists that visualise, interpret, spark debate and have fun.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Dragon Dreaming Festival 2011

KOWEN FOREST

Kitchen’s Floor (Bris)

Shiver Like Timber (Syd), Assassins 88.

7.30pm.

THE PHOENIX PUB

8.30pm, free.

Dragon Dreaming Festival 2011

Bluestone Junction. 8pm, free.

Friday Night Acoustic Series

Launch of album Carried In Mind.

Bookings through thestreet.org.au.

Space Party

Live Dragon Dreaming Festival celebrates art, music and nature, and the freedom of self-expression.

KOWEN FOREST

Jeff Lang Album Launch

THE PHOENIX PUB

Oktoberfest

THE SIR GEORGE, JUGIONG

The Neo

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Sunday Best 5-7pm, free.

A BITE TO EAT CAFE

[NULL] Present Assemblage 23

Dark wave, goth and industrial. $20 on the door.

TRANSIT BAR

Pura Vida Latin Music Festival Choc Quib Town Their music is hammered out on instruments like the marimba, with rapif-fire hip-hop.

FLORIADE

MONDAY october 03

Darwin’s premier live funk and roots act. 8pm, $10/$8.

arts

Something Different

Featuring the work of renowned artist, Klaus Moje. Running until October 20.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Carry On Karaoke 9.30pm.

P J O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

SUNDAY october 02 arts

Klaus Moje – A Continuum

CANBERRA GLASSWORKS

Exhibition - Creative Alchemy

Works by Canberra artists that visualise, interpret, spark debate and have fun.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Exhibition - Blot

An exhibition by Claire Pendrigh.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE - MANUKA

Klaus Moje – A Continuum

Exhibition – Press Print 2

CANBERRA GLASSWORKS

MEGALO PRINT STUDIO

Featuring the work of renowned artist, Klaus Moje. Running until October 20.

A Megalo project supporting emerging artists, curated by John Hart

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GIG GUIDE Oct 03 - Oct 08 MONDAY october 03 arts 2011 Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize

Celebrate nature’s beauty captured in art. Inspiring and thought provoking.

‘Til Nov 13.

NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA

Dance Happy Happy Mondays

Something Different

Something Different

Karaoke Love

Fame Trivia

TRANSIT BAR

P J O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

Warm up those vocal chords and get personal with the classics. 9pm.

Trivia @ The Phoenix

Enjoy a vague sense of accomplishment. From 7:30pm, with $10 cocktails from 9pm.

THE PHOENIX PUB

wednesday october 05

Free entry, fantastic prizes, bookings essential. 6pm.

Comedy

Fame Trivia @ Transit

8-10pm, $20/$15 conc/groups.

Every Wednesday, from 7:30pm TRANSIT BAR

THURSDAY october 06

Live

Exhibition - Creative Alchemy

Open Mic Night

KOWEN FOREST

Frolic Music Presents The Bootleg Sessions

Bears with Guns, Love Migrate and more.

THE PHOENIX PUB

The Fridays

With Rockeby Venus and Ashleigh Mannix. 8pm, free.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Pura Vida Latin Music Festival Desorden Publico (Venezuela) Iconic Venezuelan ska band!

FLORIADE

Pura Vida Latin Music Festival - Renegado

Brazil’s most successful rapper with full live band. floriade

Something Different Trivia @ King O’s

Every Monday night. 7pm, free entry, $100 bar tab first prize.

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA

Works by Canberra artists that visualise, interpret, spark debate and have fun.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Klaus Moje – A Continuum

Featuring the work of renowned artist, Klaus Moje. Running until October 20.

CANBERRA GLASSWORKS

Exhibition - Blot

An exhibition by Claire Pendrigh.

Opening 6pm.

Live Renegado

Brazil’s most successful rapper with full live band. Supported by Ro and D’O. Tix through Ticketek.

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

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CIVIC PUB

Vel’vette

HIPPO LOUNGE

9pm, free.

POT BELLY BAR

Pura Vida in the City

Latin Music Festival. ANU Bar, Canberra Theatre & Garema Place.

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

The Bon Scotts

Clamorous ramshackle folk-pop full of sweet melodies, arresting percussion and sing-along choruses.

TRANSIT BAR

Exhibition – Press Print 2

Young, genius musicians casually jamming with an electronic producer.

Midday-1pm.

MEGALO PRINT STUDIO

No Health Without Mental Health

Mixed media artworks by students of the BCS Open Art Program. Opening 4.30pm.

BELCONNEN GALLERY

Comedy The Stevenson Experience 8-10pm, $20/$15 conc/groups.

CIVIC PUB

tuesday october 04

8-10pm, $20/$15 conc/groups.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE - MANUKA

A Megalo project supporting emerging artists, curated by John Hart

Live Hippo Live

HIPPO LOUNGE

Triple J Unearthed Launch Party D’Opus & Roshambo, Crash the Curb, The Fighting League. 7pm, free.

UC REFECTORY

Young Blood

Foreplay Fridays

Celebrate nature’s beauty captured in art. Inspiring and thought provoking.

‘Til Nov 13.

Dragon Dreaming Festival celebrates art, music and nature, and the freedom of self-expression.

Dance

The Stevenson Experience

Live Dragon Dreaming Festival 2011

CIVIC PUB

Feat. Peking Duck, Spenda C, Doctor Werewolf and Bounce Crew DJs.

arts 2011 Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize

The Stevenson Experience

Comedy

Every Monday is a Happy one at Transit Bar. TRANSIT BAR

friday october 07

uniJam

UNION COURT, ANU

uniVibes: Thursday at the Bar

Sun, beer, bands, DJs and fusion on the deck. 2-7pm.

ANU BAR BEER GARDEN

The Bridge Between

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

9pm ‘til 5am with DJs Matt and Pete.

Two for one drinks and free entry until 11pm.

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

Soul. Be In It.

Original breaks, funk, electro and hiphop from Canberra’s finest purveyors of wax. Free.

TRANSIT BAR

Live A Touch Of Soul HIPPO LOUNGE

Friday Night Acoustic Series 8pm, free.

HARMONIE GERMAN CLUB

The Drones

With special guest Adalita. Tix through thedrones.com.au or theatlasagency. com .

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

I Dream In Transit

Supported by A Dead Forest Index.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

saturday october 08

With guests. 6.30-9.30pm.

Arts

Jack Carty

2011 Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize

BELGIAN BEER CAFE

The jaunty folkster returns for an intimate show.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

The Roger Bone Band

With David Bath and The Hot Tubs.

8pm.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Celebrate nature’s beauty captured in art. Inspiring and thought provoking.

‘Til Nov 13.

NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA

Exhibition - Creative Alchemy

Works by Canberra artists that visualise, interpret, spark debate and have fun.

Something Different

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Karaoke

Featuring the work of renowned artist, Klaus Moje. Running until October 20.

9pm ‘til 11pm followed by DJ Pete ‘til 5am. Sing to win cash prizes.

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

Klaus Moje – A Continuum CANBERRA GLASSWORKS

GIG GUIDE Oct 08 - Oct 12 Exhibition - Blot

sunday october 09

An exhibition by Claire Pendrigh.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE - MANUKA

Exhibition – Press Print 2

A Megalo project supporting emerging artists, curated by John Hart MEGALO PRINT STUDIO

No Health Without Mental Health

Mixed media artworks by participants of the BCS Open Art Program.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Close Range

A night of performance art/dance.

Tickets $10 at the door. 7.30pm.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE GORMAN HOUSE

Comedy The Stevenson Experience 8-10pm, $20/$15 conc/groups.

CIVIC PUB

Dance Alex Carder HIPPO LOUNGE

Cube Saturdays

10pm ‘til 5am with DJs Matt and Pete.

Two for one drinks and free entry until 11pm.

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

Purple Sneakers presents Fresh Prince

Arts 2011 Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize

Celebrate nature’s beauty captured in art. Inspiring and thought provoking.

‘Til Nov 13.

NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA

Exhibition - Creative Alchemy

Works by Canberra artists that visualise, interpret, spark debate and have fun.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Klaus Moje – A Continuum

Featuring the work of renowned artist, Klaus Moje. Running until October 20.

CANBERRA GLASSWORKS

Exhibition - Blot

An exhibition by Claire Pendrigh.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE - MANUKA

Fashioned Here

Fashioned Here unpacks the wardrobe of Canberra Museum and Gallery (CMAG).

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Exhibition – Press Print 2

A Megalo project supporting emerging artists, curated by John Hart MEGALO PRINT STUDIO

No Health Without Mental Health

Bec Sandridge

WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE

Live

Something Different

CMC presents the Bootleg Sessions

Trivia @ The Phoenix

THE PHOENIX PUB

THE PHOENIX PUB

Mooseheads Presents Jack Daniel’s Plugged In

Local bands playing indie/alt, rock, pop, pop punk, acoustic, chilled, every 2nd Monday. From 6pm.

Glasshouse DJs

Live

TRANSIT BAR

The Delivery Vs Rattlehead

There’s gonna be a showdown in the nation’s capital! Free.

THE PHOENIX PUB

Liz Stringer

With Mick Thomas, Van Walker and Shackleton 3. 8pm.

Free entry.

Live Quiet Child 7.30pm.

THE PHOENIX PUB

Sunday Best 5-7pm, free.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

A BITE TO EAT CAFE

Something Different

3-6pm.

Carry On Karaoke 9.30pm.

Beth n Ben CANBERRA IRISH CLUB

Rig

Free entry, fantastic prizes, bookings essential. 6pm.

Written by Nick Delatovic, directed

by Cameron Thomas. $15/$5 (NUTS members).

P J O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

Trivia @ King O’s

ANU ARTS CENTRE

Every Monday night. 7pm, free entry, $100 bar tab first prize.

Mindscapes Festival

Graffiti for Mental Health. 12-2pm.

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

TUGGERANONG SKATE PARK

Exhibition – Press Print 2

tuesday october 11

A Megalo project supporting emerging artists, curated by John Hart

Hospitality Sundays

OLD BUS DEPOT MARKETS

TRANSIT BAR

Arts

Fame Trivia

FashnTrasure Market

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

Every Tuesday, from 9pm. Free entry.

wednesday october 12

Something Different

Celebrate nature’s beauty captured in art. Inspiring and thought provoking.

‘Til Nov 13.

Books, jewellery, records, accessories, hats, frocks and pretty much everything second hand.

Karaoke Love

MOOSEHEADS PUB

Dance 10pm ‘til late with DJ TJ. Free entry, free pool and discounted drinks.

Enjoy a vague sense of accomplishment. From 7:30pm, with $10 cocktails from 9pm.

Adam Cousins Band and more. 8pm.

Day Play

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Complimentary supper, tickets $25/$15/$10. Book online at thestringcontingent.com. 7.30pm.

monday october 10

Arts

TRANSIT BAR

The String Contingent

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Mixed media artworks by participants of the BCS Open Art Program.

Free entry.

Live

Supported by locals, Alice Cottee and Sidney Creswick. 7pm.

MEGALO PRINT STUDIO

No Health Without Mental Health

2011 Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize

Mixed media artworks by participants of the BCS Open Art Program.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA

Something Different

Mindscapes Festival

National Short Film Festival and MIEACT Moving Minds Launch. 6pm.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Fame Trivia

Free entry, fantastic prizes, bookings essential. 6pm.

P J O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

Exhibition - Creative Alchemy

Works by Canberra artists that visualise, interpret, spark debate and have fun.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Fame Trivia @ Transit

Every Wednesday, from 7:30pm TRANSIT BAR

Exhibition – Press Print 2

A Megalo project supporting emerging artists, curated by John Hart MEGALO PRINT STUDIO

No Health Without Mental Health

Mixed media artworks by participants of the BCS Open Art Program.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

P J O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

OUT OCT12

stonefest pnau the vasco era the wharf revue ladysmith black mambazo ...AND MORE!

45

FIRST CONTACT

SIDE A: BMA BAND profile

Pornstar Pretty Where did your band name come from? A girl that we used to know who chose a career as a stripper influenced us to write a song and the name was catchy so we thought we would try it out.

Group members: Rinn (vocal distortionater and her own back up dancer), Tim (guitar string vibrationist and part time swan), Harley (extreme percussive melodist, ukulele, triangle, djembe, south eastern pipe, piano, button accordion, violin and rusty trombone, professional drumstick break artist), Rob (Payne in the Bass, pool cleaner, and pie warmer).

Describe your sound: Rock with and an edge of a bleeding unicorn and rainbows.

Who are your influences, musical or otherwise?

Rinn – Jem, Pizzazz, System of a Down, Jack Off Jill, Ani Difranco, Phil Anselmo; Rob – Charlie Sheen, Caligula and Aloysius Snuffleupagus; Harley – HIM, Iron Maiden, Brian Vigleone, Wim de Vries; Tim – Slipknot, Three Days Grace, Manson, HIM. What’s the weirdest experience you’ve had whilst performing? Seeing an entire pool comp stop to come and watch us instead of play their games, and Rob. He is THE weirdest experience!

What’s your biggest achievement/proudest moment so far? Forming the band on Thursday July 2 and somehow playing a full one hour set on Monday July 27 with songs that we are pretty happy with!

What are your plans for the future? Flying to Antarctica to play for the emperor penguins then probably going to chill for a while – after that, back to Canberra to work on recording an EP and of course, getting out there and entertaining the locals as much as we can!

What’s your opinion of the local scene? Super duper with a chance of a dance off.

What are your upcoming gigs? The Maram for the new ownership party on Saturday October 15. Again at The Maram for the Women Who Rock Movember fundraiser on Saturday November 26.

Hope to see you there!

Contact info: rinnethia@hotmail.com

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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 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 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

MO SEpresents

Official Facebook Event

Halloween Black Party TRICK OR TREAT!?

From dusk til dawn, mooooseheads brings you a night like no other. With giveaways and prizes for those who dress up. And a balloon drop at the stroke of midnight! + djs and zombie bar tenders treating you to the scariest night in the capital.

DRE S

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T ric ksNT rea ts for everyone

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new promo c d for t hose an phm mor dressed u p!

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29

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Step inside Canberras haunted nightclub...

We dare you!

BOOHAHAHA!

MO SEHEADS 47 mooseheads pub&nightclub

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