On the street Every Second Wednesday
Issue #35 07/02/07 - 20/02/07
SATURDAY 10TH FEB
WEDNESDAY 28TH FEB
SATURDAY 3RD MARCH
FRI / SAT NIGHTS New Resident Djs
Launceston Cup Night
upcoming
gigs
122 YORK STREET LAUNCESTON 6334 7231 WWW.JAMESHOTEL.COM.AU
Funkin Unbelievable Later - Randall Jage Jag
eister Promo! Pro om o m !
PD & RANDALL
DEP5012/SAU
Cigarette smoke is a toxic, poisonous mix of substances. And smoking delivers it straight into your body.
australia.gov.au/quitnow
Authorised by The Australian Government, Capital Hill, Canberra
A Great Pub In The Centre of Launceston Budget/Backpacker 124 George St Launceston (03) 6331 4015
Accomodation Rates from $15 per person
Live Entertainment 4 Nights A Week
Our Customers Say We Have The Best Meals In Town
POMOMOFO
Modernise, Mofo’s! BY DAVE WILLIAMS
OK, I get it. Yes, they’re an eclectic musical trio from Sydney. Yes, they’re rather good. Yes, they’re touching down at Curly’s Bar in Hobart on the 9th of this month. That’s all clear enough. But really, what the hell kind of a name is “Pomomofo”? A puzzling question. But fear not, dear readers – in the interests of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism (or at least a funny interview), I decided to get to the bottom of it... How did the name “Pomomofo” come about? Where does it come from? Ah … We could come up with a different answer for this every time. [Laughs] But the stem of it - I guess - is “Pomo”, [which] a friend of ours used to say when he meant “post-modern”, and I guess the name just flowed really nicely, because we thought he was a bit of a “mo-fo”, just for being so post-modern as to actually shorten the word “post-modern” … It was just a bit of a laugh - all that stuff - you know? So you guys are actually “Pomomofos”. I guess. We definitely started out like that. I guess post-modernism is all about drawing on a hell of a lot of different influences - and, you know - lots of movies and books … Just kind of referencing each
other. Then, yeah, we are. For me, post-modernism is about appropriating anything artistic. Whether it be audio, video, graphics - whatever - and giving them new meaning by juxtaposing them against each other. Totally! Exactly, yeah. I mean - for me personally - that’s almost the way I write songs … I normally just try and write new soundtracks to movies. The EP we did a few months back; a lot of the lyrics from that were as if we were trying to write songs for the next Brett Easton Ellis novel, basically. [Laughs] He wrote ‘American Psycho’ … We kind of went through a bit of a phase of being kind of obsessed with him, but I think we’re moving on from that now! You’re playing the Good Vibrations Festival, as well as coming down to Hobart; how did you end up on the bill for Good Vibrations? Did you have to apply? or were you chosen? What was the process? We were chosen. The guys who programmed Good Vibes put us on the bill, they’d seen us play, and there’s a loose connection between our booking agent and the festival. So that always helps. Yeah – when they told us we were definitely on - we were stoked. And how long have you guys been together? Will this be the biggest gig that you’ve played? Easily. Well, we’ve been together for two years. We
played at Homebake last year in Sydney … Up to that point, it was the biggest, but this is going to be bigger I think. We’ve never played in front of fifteen thousand people before, so that should be interesting! How are you feeling about it? A bit nervous, or you haven’t really got to that stage yet? I think … We’re not really that nervous, but we’ve
“
We were trying to write songs for the next Brett Easton Ellis novel … He wrote “American Psycho”
”
got this new bit of equipment; it’s a synthesiser that we’re still trying to figure out how to use. So that’s added a bit of spark to the whole thing, because we’re not sure what’s going to happen when we get up there! But it should make things a bit exciting, anyway! To listen to the entire interview go to www.sauce.net.au/interviews
LEE COOMBS
Publisher / Editor David Williams Graphic Design Simon Hancock
shancock@sauceonline.net
Editorial Tom Wilson
twilson@sauceonline.net
Contributors: Adam Ferguson, Emma Dilemma, Nicky Wilson, Chris Rattray, Ryan Cooke, Ryan Farrington, Ian Murtagh, Felix Blackler, Zadoc, Patrick Duke. Dane Hunnerup. Deadlines Sauce #36, 21st Feb - 03 March Adver tising Booking: 14/02/07 Adver tising Ar twork: 15/02/07 Gig Guide: 14/02/07 Editorial: 14/02/07
Address: Po Box 5094, Launceston, Tas, 7250 Phone: 03 6331 0701 Advertising: advertising@sauceonline.net Editorial: editorial@sauceonline.net Opinions expressed in Sauce are not necessarily those of the editor, publisher or staff.
Contents 4-6
Bangers & Mash
7-8
Rock Salt
9
Hard Boiled
10
Hip Hop / Punk
11
Blues Roots
12-13
Gig Guide
14
CD / DVD Reviews
15
Gig Reviews
16
Adrenaline Junkie / Travel Bug
17
Special Feature - Pulp Mill
18
In Focus
20
Ar ts
21
Comedy
22
Toon / Games / Street Fashion
PAGE 4
Making A Name BY DAVE WILLIAMS
Unlike many of his peers, UK deck monster Lee Coombs has made a name for himself that is … well … his own name. Ahead of his show in Hobart this month, he spoke to me from “God’s Waiting Room” – Florida – about the underground scene, and why he’s not called “DJ Flash” … Whereabouts are you at the moment? I am in sunny Florida. Cool. So you’re on tour, so to speak; promoting your album and playing a few shows? That’s right, yeah. What’s the difference between the UK audiences, and those in the States? Well, the States is so big that it depends where you are. Obviously the crowds on the east and the west coast are way different to the crowds in the middle. East Coast vs. West Coast? Yeah, but they’re all kickin’. It’s like playing in loads of different countries, the US. You have to treat it like Europe or something like that. It’s great. I do much better on the west coast than I do anywhere else. Why do you think that is? Ah … I think they like my music more! Do you think that the west coast is more … hedonistic? No, I wouldn’t say that. Hedonistic, I think, is worldwide; that is something that is all over the place. I think that the way people perceive music, and what they want out of it, is different in different places in the world. Can I just ask, why did you never pursue a DJ name? Why did you stick with your own name, rather than … “DJ Flash” or something like that? [Laughs] If you’ve met me before, you’ll realise why! I’m just not one of those sorts of people! And anyway, a lot of people think my name is made up! … That’s not me. I just use my name, and [people can] take me for what I am. Simple as that. I’m not trying to be anything else. I’m not on a tax dodge; I don’t have to put a different name, and sort of pretend I’m someone else in a different place!
Your new album has strong acid-house elements. Do you think there’s [currently] a general return to where the dance music scene started in the late 80s,with the smiley face and the acid-house movement? Um… You know what? I’ve always been doing that, so, for me, it’s always been there. But I think there’s definitely been … The 80s scene has become really big in the last couple of years. You know, in Europe, especially Germany – the whole German electro sound has really come to the
“
I’m not on a tax-dodge …
”
front, and they do replicate it like it was made in the 80s. So yeah – it has really come round again; come full-circle. What about in the UK? What’s the general trend - in terms of the breaks scene - in the UK? Well breaks has always been really strong in the UK … People just like good underground music now. There’s probably very few nights that still go on that offer purely breakbeats, you know? There’s a lot of different sounds involved in a night now, and it’s not just about a scene; it’s about good underground music. I think that’s a way to put it. What makes music “underground”, as opposed to “not underground”?
James Kitto BARRISTER / SOLICITOR
Civil & Criminal Law
Professional Service At Reasonable Rates 2 Cameron St Launceston PH: 6331 2555
Well I mean, underground music is obviously something that people have to search out. Pop music is something that gets thrown down people’s throats on the TV and the radio, and it’s always a little bit tongue-in-cheek and watered-down for the masses. And underground music is very specialist; as in, not everyone’s going to like it, but when you get the dudes who do like it in one area, they love it – really love it. So, to me, that’s what it’s all about. To Listen to the entire interview go to www.sauce.net.au/interviews
PHIL K
You’d Better Find Out! BY DAVE WILLIAMS
ACOUSTIC ORIGINALS
Every Thursday, From 9pm
1 8 15 22 1 8
ST
TH
TH
ND
ST
TH
F E B R UA RY Atalana Heale Simon Ditcham Fink
F E B R UA RY Patrick Berechree The Sign Late Night Radio
F E B R UA RY Nathan Burley Micheal Clennett Sir Veto
F E B R UA RY Crystal Campbell Samuel Bester Hannah
MARCH Lana Chilcott The Sign Fink
MARCH Bridget Pross Samuel Bester Timbre
21 SALAMANCA PLACE. HOBART. 03 63 6226 1119 WWW.IRISHMURPHYS.COM.AU
M E T A L FA N S !
E XT E N S I V E R A N G E O F M E TA L & I M P O R T S E RV I C E
If you ask him, Phil K will tell you that he doesn’t exactly know what genre he plays. Well, I personally think that whatever he’s doing, he should keep doing it. Because two decades of disc-spinning experience yields something very, very special – as anyone who’s been on one of his dance floors will testify. That, and he’s probably the most disarmingly friendly DJ SAUCE has ever spoken to. He got in touch ahead of his two-date Tasmanian visit. What’s turning you on in the world of dance music at the moment? My favorite producers right now would be Steven Bodzin and Oliver Huntsman; I think they’re my favorite guys at the moment. Why? I guess, it’s because they make really dark and dirty music, which has always been a favorite of mine. It just kind of changes form every couple of years. So you’re into the dark, electro sort of stuff? I’ve always been into darker, deeper music in one form or another; I don’t know what people call it of a day… I’m almost inclined to say “yeah, I’m into electro” but what some people are kind of terming ‘electro’ is just not what I like, so I’m scared to say to you that I like electro because I don’t know what that means any more. It’s a really wide term and it’s used quite loosely… some people say “I play electro”, and I’m like, “OK, I want to hear about that”, and I go there and it’s like…cheesy pop music with synthesizers. So if you compare that to Oliver Huntsman; No! I don’t know what genre of music I play. I think I play stuff that’s kind of dirty and dark and deep and funky; and whether you call it techno, whether you call it electro, whether you call it break-beat… I just
play what I play and I don’t really look for genres, I just look for good music. Do you see any general trends in the dance music scene in Australia right now? Being away for so long and coming back to it… I guess generally, as a whole, it’s still quite cheesy; the WHOLE of it, I mean it’s always going to be and it’s never going to change. Like I was saying, The form has changed, like a couple of years ago you still had people trying to knock out all these funky house records with cheesy vocals, where as now they’re still trying to knock out cheesy records but instead of using disco samples, the’re using synthesizers, so it’s a means to an end that has just slightly kind of changed. That’s only what I’ve experienced over the last week; but to be honest I don’t really know what’s going on ‘cause I’ve only been home for two weeks.
“
L O R D I - T H E A R O C K A LY P S E
I don’t know what genre of music I play
”
How long were you away and where did you go? Nearly two years. I was living in London in 2005 and thought I still wanted to live in Europe, but didn’t want to live in London. So, I decided to move to Greece which I visited in 2005 and really liked; so I moved there for 2006 and stayed there ‘til Christmas day… Then I came back [to Australia] for a couple of days, then I went over to Mexico for the first few weeks in January and I just got back.
G WA R - B E Y O N D H E L L
IN STORE NOW AT
To listen to the entire interview go to www.sauce.net.au/interviews PAGE 5
LTJ BUKEM When the man behind those wire-rimmed glasses and that disarming smile writes his job description, just what does he put? “The man who took the drum and bass concept from a small venue off London’s Charing Cross Road to the nation’s superclubs and then onto the international stage?” “The geezer whose records launched breakbeat into a brand new galaxy of sound?” Or maybe he just writes “Renaissance man for a digital age”. In truth, LTJ Bukem is all of the above. From running sound systems to cutting up breaks at raves; from relocating the heart of breakbeat culture to redefining the spirit of drum and bass; the man known to his friends as Danny Williamson has sat at the forefront of breakbeat evolution, lighting the way with little more than a zest for life and a love of music. In the mid-eighties, at the age of seventeen, Bukem discovered the joys of clubbing. The teenager
SIMON COYLE regularly checked out the local soul clubs and legendary rare groove all-day-ers. As a keen record buyer, he soon became interested in the idea of putting over his own version of the club soundtrack, and before long he got involved with a sound system. Throughout this time, he also had a jazz funk band, although this had never presented itself as a serious past-time, just fun. The DJing was his main thing, and, by 1987, he gained something of a reputation for his sets. However, it was 1988 that Bukem first realised that DJing could offer a full-on career. In 1990, LTJ Bukem got his first big break at Raindance. Booked to play between one and two AM in front of 10,000 people, it was the first true test of the fledgling DJ skills. It may have taken all his mates to push him onto the stage, but it proved to be a set that he’ll never forget. From the first track he ripped it up, and LTJ Bukem, the world class DJ, was truly born.
Whilst most young cats were out living a life of pimples and sexual tension, Simon was at home mixing up an audible storm, and, by the tender and illegal age of sixteen, making his first real public appearances. Just hitting the wrong side of 30, he’s now one of the more established DJs in the Asia Pacific region, dropping the WetMusik sound around the globe; a sound he helped forge in his hometown of Melbourne, Australia. Simon launched WetMusik alongside label partner Simon Digby at the turn of the millennium. Making a global impact, it’s about to celebrate its 25th release, fittingly by one of the genre’s most important artists, Joey Beltram. Past anthems from artists like Ben Sims, Umek, Paul Mac, Misjah, Hertz, Valentino Kanzyani, Cave, Marco Nastic and the Australian
based contingent of Alpharisc, Jorge Watts, Wille tell, Simon Coyle and Simon Digby have helped build the Wet sound into an Australian icon. Simon brings intelligence and foresight into an often-misunderstood genre. His eclectic techno sound has been moulded from a long standing passion for hip house, hip-hop, electro, Detroit techno, Chicago house and general fatness, providing him with a unique and very solid platform to launch his audio assaults. He has taken his sound around Europe, particularly throughout the Eastern and Southern parts in countries like Croatia, Slovenia, Spain and Belgium. Check him out on three decks – the boy gets busy …
DAVE SEAMAN
Listen To The Veteran BY DAVE WILLIAMS
After his show at Syrup recently, we caught up with superstar DJ Dave Seaman. What’s going on in the UK dance scene these days? I notice you say on your website that “rave is back”… Well that is according to Vogue – I was being a little tongue-in-cheek as I did explain. It never has really
been away. Obviously fashion cycles dictate what’s hot and what’s not, and the media would have you believe things die, when, of course, they don’t really; they just start a new cycle. That is what’s happening with dance music in the UK at the moment. Only a couple of months ago Fedde le Grand “Put Your Hands Up For Detroit” went to no. 1, closely followed by Bodyrox “Yeah Yeah” at no. 2 – which, of course, both started out life as underground electronic anthems. So things ain’t looking too shabby over this side of the world. My recent NYE at Renaissance in London was one of the best ones I have had for many years. 2500 people going crazy in a warehouse – just like the old days. In the 20 or so years you’ve been playing, you must
JDS
What duo has had everyone from Laurent Garnier to FreQ Nasty & Lee Coombs describe their tunes as “blinding”, “huge”, “absolutely f**king rocking it” and so on …? That project is JDS. After teaming up with Julian Napolitano (of “Perpetual Motion”), Darren Pearce and Julian wrote the huge club hit and Ibiza Anthem “9 Ways”. This was snapped up by FFRR Records (after fighting off bids from the likes of Positiva) and only narrowly missed out on a Top 40 rank…instead earning itself a place as one of the all-time club classics. Never ones to be static, Darren & Julian took the JDS project forward and in 1998 came “London Town”
(Pepper Records), closely followed by “Destiny Calls” (Incentive) in 1999. More recently they released the huge “Blackout” on TCR, prompting comments of “brilliant” from Laurent Garnier and causing Norman Cook to state that JDS “do the best breakdowns ever!” Darren Pearce of JDS has been moving dancefloors with his DJing for over ten years, and is increasingly in demand. He’s recently completed highlysuccessful tours of South East Asia and Australia, with many future dates across Europe. JDS released their debut album “The Adventures of the Purple Funky Monkey” on TCR (licensed to the Fuzzy label for Australia) to huge critical acclaim, with 365 Mag summing it up nicely when they said “Breaks does not get any better then this. Essential in your collection!”
DJ YODA
DJ Yoda is one of Britain’s most admired and original DJs, having built a reputation as the only DJ to single-handedly inject humour into UK hiphop. Admired for his originality as well as his sense of fun, he is possibly the only DJ in the world who can fill a club cutting George Formby with Jurassic 5, or 80’s pop with New York rap. Tipped by Q Magazine as one of “The 10 DJs you must see before you die”, and voted alongside DJ Premier as “One of the Top Three DJs in the World” in Hip Hop Connection magazine, DJ Yoda is no ordinary scratch DJ. Born in London, Yoda
PAGE 6
represents a new brand of mix-master who will play any kind of music to make people dance – with a hip-hop set that can take the audience from underground rap to TV themes, to nursery rhymes, country, soul, reggae, drum and bass, 80’s pop and back again. Alongside his sometime DJ partner Dan Greenpeace (of XFM’s All City Show) he released “Unthugged” in 2003, and provided Pete Tong with his first ever hip-hop Essential Mix for Radio 1 – bootleg copies of which have been doing the rounds ever since. Leaving mixtapes aside for a while, Yoda released his first artist album, “The Amazing Adventures Of DJ Yoda”, last year. On it, Yoda provided beats for Biz Markie, 2005 MOBO-winner Sway, Princess Superstar, Jungle Brothers, MC Paul Barman, and a host of other vocalists, and he won’t stop until he works with all the cast of Sesame Street on a turntablist DJ track.
have seen trends come and go…what was your most exciting period? Now is the only exciting period. The past is already gone and the future doesn’t exist yet, so this is the only time to be worried about. Everyone it seems wants to be a DJ, but what does it take to be really good and get noticed? Well technical skills of course, but programming does come into it; choosing the right records and playing them at the right time is a valuable skill, and of course you can’t beat experience when it comes to things like that. But most of all, today, social skills play the biggest part. Being able to forge and nurture relationships with the right people is invaluable. Do you ever listen to young DJs coming through? If so, what are you noticing? Are they pushing boundaries into new territories or are the pioneers still leading the way?? Of course new DJs bring new things to the table.
When I do get a chance to listen to someone playing before or after me at gigs, it’s always exciting to see young, raw enthusiasm; but as I said before, one thing they cannot buy is experience, which the pioneers obviously have in abundance, and it’s what keeps them up there at the top of their game. If you were to do a “Back to Mine” CD…what tunes would you chose? I actually did the second in the series. Nick Warren did the first. Check it out! What can we expect from your sets these days? I always try to play a balance of the best electronic house music out there. I always carry some tech-y stuff, funkier stuff and deeper stuff, and try and mix it all together in a coherent way to create a nice smooth journey. That never has changed. The only thing that is different is that the records will be newer.
SARAH BLASKO
Crossing The Line BY TOM WILSON
As good as relaxation is, there comes a time when one needs to get up and get back into the swing of things. Still, after releasing her second album last year – the enigmatically titled “What The Sea Wants, The Sea Will Have” – singer/songwriter Sarah Blasko certainly deserved a bit of time off. She delved into the processes that created the album before she geared up for 2007 … What have you been doing during Summer, outside of music? Nothing! Excellent! I’ve been reading and listening to music. Pretty much nothing – it’s been great. I’ve done that for a while. It gets easier the longer you do it, doesn’t it? Yeah, it does. I’m in the swing of it now. Yeah, although now I’ve actually got to do stuff.
“
I d o n ’t re a l l y g e t played much on c o m m e rc i a l ra d i o
”
[With] Your album, how different was the writing process, compared to the process on your debut? Well it was very different. The songs were written in a shor ter space of time, mainly because I’d spent a couple of years sor t of touring and doing stuff for the last record, and I really hadn’t had a lot of time to write. So I was really keen to just get stuck into it. I kind of … yeah, I kind of just got obsessed with writing … writing very quickly. It came from a very different place I guess. I felt like I knew what I didn’t want to do, which was probably the result of a few years of thinking about that kind of stuff; thinking about how you want to do things better or differently. But yeah, most of them were written at the star t of last year, and the end of the year before that. Yeah – what else can I tell you? (Laughs) I guess you could tell me what you think this album says about you, in terms of your evolution as an artist? [Pause] God, there’s a mouthful! Well that’s a big question … It’s very hard to talk about that kind of stuff, I guess – to have a perspective on it, because you just sor t of do what makes sense to you, and what you feel … what you feel is right, for where you’re at. But I do feel like I’m only just getting my eye in (sic), to be honest. I feel like I’ve got a lot of work to do, and a lot of things I want to do, I guess. I think that’s what it’s sor t of made me realise, this record. It felt … It was kind of a very satisfying record to make, in a lot of ways, because I did feel fairly clear about what was impor tant with this. The song “Always On This Line” has received a lot of airplay on Triple J – how successful has it been on commercial stations, do you think? Well, I don’t really get played much on commercial radio; mainly Triple J and community stations … Triple J’s been the main thing for me. I don’t know if I’d comfor tably fit in a commercial radio format – I think just mainly because my songs are a bit too long! (Laughs) They need to be, like, 3:20 I think. Something like that. Mine usually go for about 3:40, or four minutes! (Laughs) What was the inspiration behind the lyrics of this song? With “Always On This Line”? Well, it’s kind of just about … I think that, often, when I write songs, it’s not really about one par ticular kind of thing. And, you know, often it’s directed at myself as much as anybody else. So I think it kind of comes across like it’s perhaps directed at somebody else … It’s just about being comfor table, and feeling like you never take chances. The fact that you can kind of kid yourself into thinking that you have everything under control in life, when really, you don’t really have any. To listen to the entire interview go to www.sauce.net.au/interviews
PAGE 7
CHAMPAGNE SHOES
No Sucking Involved BY TOM WILSON
Considering he played on the same stage as a man in a fluffy pink suit and a halfnaked woman doing cartwheels, one could be forgiven for not recognising Ross Johnston from his time playing bass for Machine Gun Fellatio. As much as we all miss MGF, we take solace in knowing there’ll be no such distractions when Ross brings his techno-cabaret concoction to Launceston for the Tasmanian Variety Freak Show this month. He spoke to me about his show “Champagne Shoes”, and playing the 2002 Gone South high on mushrooms ... So what can you tell me about Champagne Shoes? What can I tell you about it? Well, we call it “techno-cabaret”. It’s a cabaret performance; there’s songs, there’s characters, and a lot of humour. And it’s sung to a musical backing, which is live techno music. And it does draw on traditional styles as well; jazz and blues. But there’s also a dance and techno feel to it. How much have you performed it so far? Well, we’ve been performing quite regularly over the last year. We’ve just been doing odd shows around Sydney, and occasional ones out of town; we’ve played down in Melbourne, and we hit some of the regional areas up here in NSW. But we haven’t been trying to go all-out and get a constant thing going ... We’re not pushing it; it’s just something that we’re letting grow. And it is. We don’t do a show unless we’ve got some new
stuff for it, really. How do you think Champagne Shoes is going to fit into Freak Show in Launceston? Well ... We’re a pair of freaks, I guess! Excellent! [Laughs] You know? It’s not going to be that hard! It sounds like the sort of thing we’d perform at. We do a lot of shows like that in Sydney; whenever we get an empty spot, we’ll get up and just do a couple of songs.
“
... None of us had slept, and we’d taken a whole bunch of mushrooms!
”
We’ll just pull out whatever feels right for the night. It’s not just me playing music and Vashti singing to it – there’s a lot of performance in there, and a lot of involvement with the audience. And each song has new characters; it’s not just one persona that’s doing the whole show. Each song will have a different character to perform it. So who are some of the characters? Can you tell me? Well, usually we start out with somebody who’s lost something; they look as though they’re on the way somewhere. Then we’ll go into a character who’ll give you a French lesson; how to pick up someone in a nightclub. Basically, by the end of that piece, you
should have a good pick-up line to use in Paris. Then we’ll go to Germany, and just do some hardcore industrial techno, and get screamed at a lot. Lately we’ve been finishing with a cover, where we’ll do a poker version of “I’m bored”. [Laughs] Incidentally, do you remember performing the Gone South Festival in Hobart in 2002 [in MGF]? That was when it was up on the hill there, wasn’t it? You know, I do remember it, but we hadn’t slept for about two days when we got there; we’d come directly from Brisbane.
I bring it up, because you were the first mainland band I ever saw; my first gig, seeing a woman [KK Juggy] dressed as a “Thunderbird”, becoming rapidly undressed as a “Thunderbird”... [Laughs] Well, there’s a fair bit of that spirit in our show ... But it was a good show; I remember being on stage there, and we were all so confused! [Laughs] We were in a real state, because none of us had slept, and we’d taken a whole bunch of mushrooms to stay awake!
MENTAL AS ANYTHING
New Album In Progress BY DAVE WILLIAMS
They first formed in the late 70s, were huge in the 80s, still big in the 90s, and unlike other iconic bands of Oz rock, they’ve managed to stay together, as friends and as a band, into the new millennium. Before their upcoming show at the Batman Fawkner Inn, I got the latest news on the Mentals from frontman Andrew “Greedy” Smith. What is mental about Mental As Anything these days? That we still tour Australia and overseas constantly. The longest break from touring being 6 weeks in 1990 when I fell from a horse and broke my arm. Who is the most mental and why? No comment.
PAGE 8
What’s the most mental thing you’ve ever done in your music career? We held a competition in the US where we did a nominated household chore for each winner. We cleaned a house in LA, washed a sheepdog in San Francisco, put up curtain rods in Chicago, mowed a lawn in Phoenix Arizona … to name but a few. I understand the band has just returned from overseas - where did you go and what did you do? We played three dates in PNG. Very different, but great fun. What plans do you have to release new material? We are finishing off a new album of new original songs for release later this year. What keeps the band together after all this time?
The fact that we can go anywhere in Australia and still find people who want to hear us play our songs. Thank you Oz radio!
“
My hernias are constantly laughing at me
”
How do you keep the love for performing your hits? We find playing them as well as we possibly can very satisfying, and I think we play them better now than ever before.
What evolution has the band had, musically, in the past ten years? With Duck coming in as bass player we have a new writer with a more hard rock sensibility. With Rob Souter on the drums (ex-Dynamic Hepnotics and Slim Dusty for fourteen years) we can now realise our songwriting ambitions more easily and have more fun on stage. Mike Caen on guitar (ex-Dragon, Jenny Morris, Margaret Ehrlich) is a player of true finesse who gives the other writers great scope. What is mental about your live performances? That we even attempt to get through a whole show still on our feet. My hernias are constantly laughing at me. Martin’s pretty fit, but. What can we expect in Tassie from your upcoming show? Our hits, the odd cover (Harold Dorman), and maybe a glimpse of the upcoming album.
TRIVIUM
No Time For Wave BY TOM WILSON
They’ve been coined as standard bearers for “The New Wave Of American Heavy Metal” a genre which, let’s face it, has as much going against it as for it. But that’s not to say that Trivium give a shit, because they don’t; and, come, on, “new wave” bands don’t end up touring with Iron Maiden. I spoke to guitarist Corey Beaulieu on Trivium’s BDO road trip. Did I hear one of you guys say you were going to go see Tool tonight? Yeah. They’re playing in Sydney – their own show, off [the] Big Day Out. We have the day off, and we’re just hanging out. Some of our crew guys are friends with some of the people in the Tool crew, and we got invited to go check out the show and stuff. And I haven’t watched Tool ever, so [we figured] it would be something cool to do, instead of the crap we got into last night. What did you get into last night? Well we went down into some section of town, [and] pretty much every bar we went to, we pretty much almost got into a fight with the security guards! (Laughs) They kept trying to rip us off and shit, and, you know, we didn’t take kindly to that. We had some problems in that section of town, so we figured we’d go somewhere a little more happening! (laughs) One thing I’ve really wanted to ask you guys – the term “New Wave Of American Heavy Metal” is bandied around a lot with you. Do you believe that’s what you are? Do you believe that’s what Trivium is? No. Nope. The New Wave Of American Heavy Metal
was a term coined before we really came out. It was a bunch of other American bands, and we never were part of that, and didn’t really give a shit about it. We don’t want to be part of any wave; any kind of section of the world, or anything like that. We play music. We just do our own thing, and we’re not part of any group of bands trying to coin some kind of term or movement. We just do our own thing. We just do what we wanna do, and we’re not associated with any other bands, or any scene.
almost got into a fight with the s e c u r i t y g u a rd s !
“
”
got to play in front of a lot of people, all over Europe, so it was a great opportunity for us to get in front of a lot of new people and stuff. Just to be on tour with a band that you really respect and you really like is a lot of fun; you get to listen to them and watch them all the time, and you get to hang out with them and stuff.
totally different kind of place than what we’re used to. We’ve played arenas before, but just to do it consistently every night was just awesome. I can’t wait to be a band at that level; to be able to play arenas, ‘cause we definitely like that kind of vibe, and the rush of 16,000 people and stuff.
And playing arenas is really fun, because it’s just a
To listen to the entire interview go to www.sauce.net.au/interviews
ALTRUEISTIC RECORDINGS PRESENTS:
I couldn’t agree more. So who are some of your favourite bands? Some of my favourite bands are Megadeth, Metallica, Pantera, Slayer, Iron Maiden, Annihilator … fucking so many – I’m trying to think of some … Testament, Black Label Society, Ozzy. Just, like, a lot of the classic metal. Real metal bands. I don’t know if this has happened yet, but I heard you guys were touring with Iron Maiden. Has that happened yet? Yeah, we just did that. We did six weeks in Europe with them, in November-December. Awesome. How was that? It was amazing … Everyone loves Iron Maiden; they’re one of our favourite bands. To have a chance to go on tour with them was awesome. We
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS: MDUSU & DAMEZA, EPC, DRAZ, DEEDARE & MORE DOORS OPEN 9PM TIL LATE - $6 ENTRY
MYNSES’ DEBUT EP THE MYNSTRUAL CYCLE IS AVAILABLE FROM CHILLI DJ & RUFFCUT OR ONLINE AT WWW.ALTRUEISTIC.COM ALTRUEISTIC RECORDINGS
PAGE 9
MC TREY
THE SCANDAL
A Foreigner Finds The Middle
Success No Influence
BY DAVE WILLIAMS
BY TOM WILSON
One third of hip-hop trio Foreign Heights, Fijian-born wordsmith MC Trey spoke to me on the release of the new self-titled LP.
performance-wise. (sic) When you go to some of the clubs over there, they play a lot more, kind of, underground music. A lot of stuff that I heard there hasn’t even been released in Australia. Then, when I came back, they were starting to play bits of it.
Do you see Foreign Heights as the kind of act that is putting forward political messages? Or do you see yourselves as a party act? Where do you see yourselves fitting in to the Oz hip-hop landscape? I think we’re in the middle of it all. We kind of like to write party stuff, and then we kind of also like to remind people about issues that are happening around the world, and remind them that we can all do something about it. I don’t know; I don’t want to be put into one particular category, because I feel … Everyone likes to have a bit of a party and let their hair down every now and then, but then I think everyone has some sense of urgency … They want to talk about issues that are important to all of us. Yeah – I think we’ve got a bit of all of that in our music.
A lot of the American stuff they’d get first,
What issues are important to you at the moment? Basically, I talk about a lot of stuff that is happening to young people in Western Sydney. [And] You know, stuff about the environment. There’s that song, “Picture This”, which is about reminding people to think about their actions and what they’re doing today, ‘cause … we want the environment to last for the next generations, for the next generations to enjoy. Did you grow up in Western Sydney? I did, yeah. Well I was actually born in Fiji, but migrated to Sydney when I was eleven, and have lived in western Sydney for most of my life. [I’ve] lived in other parts of Sydney, like the northern end and the eastern end, but have returned back to Sydney to continue my work and be near my family. Pretty crazy stuff going on in Fiji as well. Oh yeah. I was there … for a few months mid-last year. Yeah – a lot of dramas. Not much of a hip-hop scene in Fiji though, is there? Not really, no. They do kind of … they do get into urban music and reggae music and stuff. Oh, love the reggae! Yeah! Yeah! But not much, you know, in terms of
“
I started rapping other people’s lyrics
wouldn’t they? Yeah.
”
And how did you become an MC? Were you a bit of a show-off as a kid? Aw…maybe. I don’t know; mainly just listening to other artists. I loved writing when I was a kid; I was always writing and listening to other people’s songs. You know; had my tape deck – stop, play, and rewinding, and trying to figure out what people were saying. And I’d write it down. Like, I had these books with all these people’s lyrics, you know? I was like ten years old, copying people’s lyrics and trying to figure out what people were saying. I think that was where my development in lyricwriting started … Didn’t really start getting into performing it out live until I saw other hip-hop groups. We’d go to parties, and people would be freestyling and rapping, and I’d say, “OK, I’ll give this a go”. And I started rapping other people’s lyrics, and eventually felt strong enough to say my own stuff, and it continued from there. To listen to the entire interview go to www.sauce.net.au/interviews
For any independent artist, putting out an LP is an undertaking not to be sneezed at. Three people who definitely don’t need to be told that are Hobart’s The Scandal, who released their debut full-length, “Never Hold To Shore”, just a few short months ago, and recently got in touch to tell me all about it. How long did it take to put together your debut LP, “Never Hold To Shore” – the writing, recording … everything? Writing for the record took the longest. We started writing songs with the aim of releasing an LP about two years ago. A lot of the songs took a long time to finish. We would write what would end up being about 90% of the song and then it would be four or five months until we were finally happy that all the finishing touches were just about right. Then even after that, we were still trying to write better drum fills or better vocal melodies right up until the day that we went into the studio. The LP was set to be released sooner than it actually was - why the delay? The artwork for the album is a little bit out of the ordinary. We spent a lot of time with Mischa Pringle piecing together photos and drawings and ideas, and we wanted to make something that was fairly unique, so we decided to have a booklet with a kind of wrap-around piece. I thought that we had explained to the pressing plant exactly what we wanted but it took them a couple of goes to get it spot-on, so that’s why the album was out a week late. I’m pretty positive no one was really too upset that they had to wait an extra seven days to get a copy though. An LP takes a lot of work. What were some of the challenges in the making of this record?
MC TREY, NICK TOTH & MAYA JUPITER (FOREIGN HEIGHTS) PAGE 10
PUNK
Our band is a complete democracy; every member has to be into an idea for us to do it, and any member can veto any idea, so sometimes it can take a while for us to find common ground on any idea. That includes song structures and lyrics, artwork, even down to which shows we play and where, and with which bands. So the most challenging thing can sometimes be making sure we are all on the same page as a band.
“
Our band is a complete democracy
”
Obviously then there are heaps of technical issues with recording, but we knew that already so we were prepared to do a lot of problem solving in the studio. Linc le Fevre who produced the album for us was awesome for that. He brought a voice of reason to the band and came up with some great ideas for the recoding, so we sort of turned that challenge into an enjoyable experience. Your split EP of two years ago with Stand Defiant was well received; if it hadn’t been received as well, how do you think your LP would have turned out differently? I don’t think the album would have been any different at all. We didn’t exactly take the success of that first EP as a mandate to sit on our laurels and continue to write songs that sounded exactly like those four songs. We always try to further ourselves and get better as songwriters and I don’t think that has changed in any way since the split.
ASH GRUNWALD
BLUES ROOTS
Blues Turns To Ash BY DAVE WILLIAMS
Even in a genre of music as laid-back as blues, doing it for a living isn’t easy. Between his recent festival circuit and his pending tour of the mainland coast, Ash Grunwald was probably looking forward to a good lie-down. But we weren’t going to let him be until he told us about traveling with his music, and why he still loves it. What have you been doing lately? Well, I just did a big tour, basically pretty much after New Year’s; it just kept going … Did Woodford, The Pyramid Rock and then the Feel Good Festival in Sydney, and from there basically kept touring up the east coast right up to the Gold Coast. Then I came back for a couple of days and just played a couple of shows on the weekend, and then I’ve got a couple of Day On The Green’s next week, then I start my tour for the single... They’re really different sort of markets, I would say; like The Pyramid Rock Festival as compared with A Day On The Green. Would you agree with that? Yeah [chuckles]. Yeah, well I guess I’m lucky that … I guess my audience is pretty wide; [it] sort of doesn’t really sit in any one scene, so it’s pretty cool to be able to swap between doing supports for guys like Pete Murray… and then playing roots festivals and rock festivals and different things. It’s good to not be in any one scene; that’s the good thing about being a weirdo, I guess. I don’t really fit into any categories. How was the Pyramid Rock Festival this year? Yeah, it was sick; really good. I haven’t done it before. I think it’s the third year of it. It was sold out, which was really good. It was all really big ‘cause, you know, that time of the year is just crazy.
We pretty much had to leave and be [back] in Sydney that night, so it was pretty full-on. But the gig was just so fun; in fact, this whole round this New Year’s has been my favorite by far I reckon for gigs. Woodford was sick as well; that’s just so huge, Woodford.
“
It’s good to not be in any one scene; that’s the good thing about being a weirdo
”
I was playing before The Beautiful Girls and John Butler on one day, and that was just so fun, and good to see John Butler playing solo. He only did a couple of songs, but it was really interesting … I just had a ball over the New Year’s. Do you think maybe it’s got to do with you enjoying playing more now than maybe ever before? I don’t know. I mean, I do enjoy it more these days I guess … I’ve always just been stoked on it. I just think you’re lucky to be doing it for a job! You should never take it for granted … I guess now, I don’t know … something has changed in me … I’m really just loving it. Just playing guitar a lot more at home. I guess … also because [beforehand] I was doing the radio show on Triple J, and that’s only once a week, but it just took a bit of my headspace away from just music. So I’m really just loving it at the moment. To listen to the entire interview go to www.sauce.net.au/interviews
LIOR
BLUES ROOTS
Producer Makes The Difference BY DAVE WILLIAMS In the journey of recording an album, an artist’s creativity and integrity will only take them so far; more often than not, it’s the guiding influence of a producer that brings everything together and can turn a mediocre work into a great one. Before leaving on his European tour, I spoke to Sydney singer/songwriter Lior about the music and those who help make it happen.
Who are you going to be doing the recording with? I’m going to be using the same producer that I used on “Autumn Flow”, Franc Tetaz, and I’ll have the same band… and there will be some orchestral stuff as well, and with some of the arrangements I think we’re going for [it] a little bit more ambitiously, in terms of the scope of the record, but still maintain
So where are you going? I’m heading off to the UK in a couple of days and doing a tour throughout England, Scotland and Ireland.
“
How long will that be for and where are you going to after that? It’s going to be for about a month and then I get back and I’ve obviously got the Womad’s coming up both in Adelaide and New Zealand after which I’m going into the studio and recording the second album. So that’ll probably take about three months or so.
… I think I know what I want to achieve …
”
the rootiness and organic flavor of what I do, I guess That seems a little unusual to me, to be using the same producer for your first two albums!
Not if you’re really happy with him… I was very happy with him, and he’s sort of become an integral part of my work, and I think that he’s a very versatile guy that’s a brilliant producer and artist, really.
at what they do, they can work as that media-aid between the artist and the listener, to really kind of bring the two together, and help the artist achieve exactly what they’re trying to do.
And I’m very comfortable working with him, so I didn’t really feel the need to go out and sort of start sussing out different producers and going and changing the sound, because I think I know what I want to achieve, and I guess he helps me do that.
Do you think there’s the risk of having quite a disparity between what you may produce as a live performing artist and what you may produce as a recording artist? Well, I think a good producer won’t go in, and try and alter the thing so much that it’s totally different to what it is live. I think a good producer will try and take all the great things about the artist and try and capture them, I suppose, in the clearest and most direct way.
How big of an influence to you think producers have on the final product? I think they have a huge effect, I think pretty much any great artist of the past and present who has produced albums that have changed the face of music have used the influence of a producer, going back from The Beatles and George Martin, who’s often referred to as the fifth Beatle, and to Rick Rubin and the Chill Peppers. I just think a producer, ultimately, if they’re good
When are you looking to release new album? And do you have a working title for it yet? No, I don’t have a working title for it … I’ll probably release it mid-this year. To listen to the entire interview go to www.sauce.net.au/interviews
PAGE 11
Feb 7th to 20th S AT U R D AY F E B R U A R Y 1 7 T H
35 CAMERON ST L’TON 6331 7222
MENTAL AS ANYTHING WE D N E SDAY 7T H H O BA RT Re p u bl i c B a r & C a fé E s h a k ’s A f r i c a n B a n d 9 pm
Trou t PACK (swiss) + G h o s t A n d Th e S t o r m O u t s i d e
O ’ Ke e fe ’s Picasso
TH U R SDAY 8T H H O BA RT I r i s h M u rp h y ’s Pa t r i c k B e re ch re e Th e S i g n L a t e N i g h t Ra d i o Re p u bl i c B a r & C a fé 4 L e t te r F i s h 9 pm Syrup M E S H – H o b a r t ’s o l d e s t c l u b n i g h t , b re a k s / d r u m + b a s s w i t h re s i d e n t D J s M ez a n d M o d e l T + G u e s t s Trou t B u z z E x p l o d e L ove : L u c i e n s i m o n + I M a d e A Pe r i s c o p e + O p t o M a g i s
Sat February 17th FROM 7.30PM TIl MORNING
THE
Northern Club Laneway FEATURING
Champagne Shoes (Machine Gun Fellatio)
Tonchi & Jaezed
L A U NC E STO N Ja m e s H o t e l UniNight S g t G re e n D j G Rox O ’ Ke e fe ’s Annie Piper Roya l O a k D a n Tow n s e n d a n d N a t h a n We l d o n I n the bar @ 9
F R I DAY 9T H B U R NIE S t a ge D o o r t h e C a fé Th e A n dy Fa r re l l Tr i o 7.00pm
H O BA RT C u r ly ’s B a r Po m o m o fo
(Melbourne)
Samora Squid
(Sword Swallower)
The Sound of Sex Ed (Melbourne)
The
Emma Dilemma Show
Frith and Fleur In the Nude
Peachy (Hobart)
PLUS xxzx mat carswell georgie chaos madeline rose the muddy turds palm this! dj pd vj phundt Tix $20 available from The Northern Club & Fresh on Charles prizes for best costumes PROUDLY SUPPORTING AUSTRALIANS FOR CAMBODIAN EDUCATION
THE NORTHERN CLUB 61 Cameron St LAUNCESTON - 6331 3568
B at m a n Faw kn er In n Th e C o u g a r Gir ls Ja m e s H otel G l e n n Mo or h ou se Re ality A s h G r u n w a ld + Re u b e n J T D j Ra n d a ll
Saloon Uni Night A l p h a nu m e r i c , D J p l ay i n g c o m m e rc i a l music and Karaoke in the Loft.
STREET PARTY!
L A U N C E STON
Syrup 1 0 p m : L AT E N I G H T B O OT Y C A L L – Re s i de n t D J ’s Mez , C h i l l i & D ave Web b e r
L A U NC E STO N
EMMA DILEMMA & THE NORTHERN CLUB PRESENT
Wre st Point Akmal
Re p u bl i c B a r & C a fé Th e Dr o n e s s u p p. D a r l i n g D ow n e s 10pm Syrup Downstairs 5pm Early Chill Out After Wo r k 7 p m : KO – Re s i d e n t D J ’ M ez ‘ L ay i ng d ow n t h e C h u n k s “ O ” F u n k ’ D ow n s t a i r s 1 1 p m : B O O G I E – 7 0 ’s & 8 0 ’s F U N K w i t h re s i d e n t D J ’s N i c k C a n d Duncan L a C a s a – S ex y vo c a l h o u s e Trou t P u re P u n k 3 : Bumtuck + Gr r r r + TBA
L A U NC E STO N B at m a n Faw k n e r In n GRAND OPENING Ja m e s H o t e l L e i g h Ra t c l i f fe Re ality Dj PD Roya l O a k D ave A d a m s & Fr i e n d s I n t h e b a r @ 9 Saloon Karaoke on early from 10.00pm fo l l ow e d by Rew i n d Door 9.30pm
S ATU R DAY 10T H H O BA RT Halo P i t ch B l a c k Re p u bl i c B a r & C a fé M a d Vi o l e t ( C a n a d a ) s u p p. B r i d ge t P r o s s 10pm Syrup D ow n s t a i r s 1 0 p m : TAC K Y L A N D – 7 0 ’s 8 0 ’s a n d 9 0 ’s R E T RO w i t h re s i d e n t D J ’s Billy BoB & Naughts U ps t a i r s 1 1 p m D i r t y F k i n g D a n c i n g p re s e n t s – h o u s e, e l e c t r o & b re a k s, w i t h re s i d e n t D J ’s G i l l i e & A d a m Tu r n e r, + C o r n ey & T i m o
Roya l O a k S & M in the bar @ 9 30 Saloon S u p e r S a tu rd ay, Th e Pa r ty Con tinu e s. . . D o o r 9 . 3 0p m
S U N DAY 11T H H O BA RT Halo L e e C o o m b s (UK) Ra i n ch e ck Lou n ge L ive A c o u stic Mu sic Sta r ts 4p m Re p u bl i c Ba r & Ca fé Me rch a n t s in Gr oove 8:30pm S y ru p Re g a t t a Day Eve w ith PHIL K
L A U N C E STON C o u n t r y Cl u b Resor t Akmal
M O N DAY 12T H H O BA RT Re p u bl i c Ba r & Ca fé B e n t e Fa uste (Ge r m a n Hip - h op ) 8:30pm
L A U N C E STON Ja m e s H otel HO Club
T U E SDAY 13T H H O BA RT Re p u bl i c Ba r & Ca fé S a ra h B l a sko su p p. D a im e n 9pm
W E D N E SDAY 14T H H O BA RT Halo Jurassic 5 Afterpar ty
HOBA RT Cu r ly ’s Ba r MS Fe st Sou th e r n Sh ow ca se B ra n d e d Le ft Ha n d e d Th e Sca n d a l Th e Rea c t i o n s Th e Scie n tists O f Mod e r n Mu sic He a d s O f Sta te Rep u bl ic Ba r & Ca fé N e llie & Th e Fa t B a n d 10p m Sy r u p D ow n sta ir s O p e n @ 5p m Gre a t w in e s a n d cock ta ils 7p m : KO – Re sid e n t D J ’ Mez ‘ Layin g d ow n th e Ch u n k s “ O ” Fu n k ’ D ow n sta ir s 11p m : B O O GIE – 70’s & 80’s FUN K w ith re sid e n t D J ’s N ick C a n d D u n ca n Up sta ir s fr om 11p m : D J YO DA (UK)
S t a ge D o o r th e Ca fé Ja z z C l u b ‘ 07 w ith Vik tor Z a p p n e r Tr io, fe a t u r i n g D e n ise Sa m 8.00pm
H O BA RT Ir i s h M u rp h y ’s N a t h a n B u r ley Mi ch e a l Cle n n e tt S i r Ve t o Re p u bl i c Ba r & Ca fé L i m o u s i n e (Syd n ey), Th e n o n o’s & Th e E ve n i n g Dolls 9p m S y ru p ME S H – Hob a r t’s old e st c lu b n igh t, b re a k s / d r u m +b a ss w ith re sid e n t D J s Mez a n d Mod e l T + Gu e sts
www.saloon.com.au 03 6331 7355
O ’ Keefe’s Ju keb ox Roya l O a k Le o & Mick In th e b a r @ 9 30 Sa l oon Karaoke on early from 10.00pm followed by Rew in d D oor 9. 30p m
S AT URDAY 17T H HOBA RT Halo Sim on Coyle (Me lb ) Rep u bl ic Ba r & Ca fé Su g a r tra in 10p m Sy r u p D ow n sta ir s 10. 00p m : TACKYLA N D – 70’s 80’s a n d 90’s RET RO w ith re sid e n t D J ’s Rolly & B illy B ob Up sta ir s 11p m : D ir ty Fk in g D a n cin g Pre se n t th e b e st Ele ctr o, Hou se n’ B re a k s w ith re sid e n ts A d a m Tu r n e r, Gillie+ Kir & DSKO
Batm a n Faw kn er In n Me n ta l A s A nyth in g
T H U R SDAY 15T H B U R N IE
1 9 1 C H A R L E S S T R E E T L AU N C E S TO N
Ja m es H otel Gle n n Moor h ou se Re ality Th e Gin Clu b (Me lb ) D j PD
S y ru p 1 0 p m : L AT E N IGHT B O OT Y CA LL – Re sident DJ’s Mez, Chilli &Dave Webber
Saloon Uni Night E t h e l t h e Fr o g, D J p layin g com m e rcia l mu sic and Karaoke in the Loft.
FRIDAY 23RD FEB & LAST FRIDAY OF EVERY MONTH 8pm til late - Free Entry B4 9pm
LA UN C ES TON
Trou t Tab e ra h + Roa d k ill
L A U N C E STON
70s, 80s & 90s
Trou t Plot Z in e la u n ch : Th e N o N o’s + Th e In fe cte d + A sk in g for it.
Re p u bl i c Ba r & Ca fé S a ra h B l asko su p p. B r id ge t p r oss 9pm
Trou t H y p e rd o n ia + T BA
FLASHBACK DISCO
LA UN C ES TON Ja m es H otel D j Ma cD N or th er n Cl u b Th e Tasm a n ia n Va r ie ty Fre a k Sh ow 7: 30p m till m or n in g O ’ Keefe’s Le igh Ra tc lif fe Roya l O a k A n igh t on th e Gre e n w ood Fe a t. Ru b e n Elle n b e rge r, D a n Tow n se n d , Th e Stoics a n d Th e Em b e r s
S UN DAY 18T H HOBA RT Ra in ch eck Lou n ge Live A cou stic Mu sic Sta r ts 4p m Rep u bl ic Ba r & Ca fé Ca ke Wa lk in g B ab ie s 8: 30p m
M ON DAY 19T H BURN I E
L A U N C E STON
Sta ge Door th e Ca fé Ja z z w ith Vik tor Z a p p n e r Tr io, fe a tu r in g A l D avey 8. 00p m
Ja m e s H otel UniNight F u n k i n U nb e li evable D j G Rox
Rep u bl ic Ba r & Ca fé Ma n ic Mon d ay (3 A cts) 8: 30p m
HOBA RT LA UN C ES TON
Burnie
Stage Door The Cafe 254 Mount St Upper Bur nie 64322600
Hobart
Cur ly’s Bar 112 Mur ray St Hobar t 7000 6234 5112 www.curlysbar.com.au Halo 37a Elizabeth St Mall Hobar t 6234 6669 Irish Murphys 21 Salamanca Pl Hobar t 7000 6223 1119 www.irishmurphys.com.au Raincheck Lounge 392-394 Elizabeth Street Nor th Hobar t 6234 5975 Republic Bar 299 Elizabeth St Nor th Hobar t 6234 6954 www.republicbar.com Syrup 1st Floor 39 Salamanca Place Hobar t 6224 8249 syrupclub@bigpond.com
Launceston Batman Fawkner Inn 35 Cameron Street Launceston 6331 7222 Gunner s Ar ms Bar & Bistro 23 Lawrence St Launceston 6331 3891 James Hotel Reality Nitec lub James Bar 122 York St Launceston 6334 7231 www.jameshotel.com.au info@jameshotel.com.au
Ja m es H otel HO Clu b
O’Keefes 124 George St Launceston 6331 4015
Roya l O a k Ru b e n E l l e n b e rge r In th e b a r @ 9
T UES DAY 20T H HOBA RT
F R IDAY 1 6T H B U R N IE
Rep u bl ic Ba r & Ca fé Tra in w re ck 9p m
Royal Oak 14 Brisbane St Launceston 6331 5346
O ’ Ke e fe ’s Ben Castles
S t a ge D o o r th e Ca fé G aye C l a rke & th e B ig B a n d Sou n d 7.00pm
Saloon 191 Charles Street Launceston www.saloon.com.au hotel@saloon.com.au 6331 7355
DVD KING TIDE
SPARTA
SCARED NEW WORLD
THREES
I know this review is meant to be only about this Sparta album, but let me tell you about the time my life was changed for the better. It was a hot summer’s day in January 2001 and a young Ryan had set off to Melbourne to see his favorite band of the time, Limp Bizkit instead of seeing AC/DC in Hobart on the previous night. Upon arriving at his first Big Day Out, to his shock the Bizkit had pulled out of the tour. Promising not to let this ruin my day, I set out to discover a new, better band and what I came across was the amazing At The Drive In (Sparta is made of three former members of this band). What I was about to witness was one of their last ever shows before they broke up and boy they didn’t disappoint. There isn’t too many times in your life you are witnessing something special that you’ll never forget. For such a powerful and mosh friendly band to come out and ask the crowd to settle down and respect each other before they started their set is something you rarely see.
King Tide has gone from one of Australia’s best reggae acts to the best reggae act in Australia with this release. Bold statement, I know, but this very cruise-y, yet intense and insightful album is like a time machine; one full of Aussie musicians striving to take all that is good and pure in their chosen path and improve on it, without compromising the fundamental message of love and reality which our forefathers strove to imprint on us.
The point I’m trying to get at here is that Sparta’s music continues to bore me and this album is a load of rubbish and they should get over their issues with Omar and Cedric and reunite one of the most influential bands of all time (at least for me).
“Scared New World” isn’t only a reggae album; it’s an Australian reggae album, filled with funky licks, sweeping instrumentals and all the ingenuity the universe has come to expect from us crafty little buggars. The final track “Convict Space Dub” and “Funky Reggae” – three minutes and forty-seven seconds of just that – is a perfect testament to this. The title of this album is also a reflection of the insight the band has on the direction our society has taken in general, and can be heard – with clarity – on tracks like “Factory Kids” and “World’s Gone Whack”. There’s also a cover version of Bob Marley’s ‘Mr. Brown’; very true to the original, yet with their distinctive Down Under twist. Bob’s influenced every reggae artist since gracing us with his presence, and that track fits perfectly with the ethos of this album. King Tide has hit the nail on the head with this one.
No Rating
8/10
FEEL THE LOVE
The Batman Fawkner Inn. Saturday night. Two years ago. A friendly guy from Newfoundland scribbles a list of “recommended bands” on the inside of a matchbook from a mainland hotel. He hands it to me. I read them. “Kasabian?” I ask. “What’re they like?” “Awesome, man. Check ‘em out.” It’s taken me two years, but I’ve finally done just that. And I’ve got to say – they aren’t bad at all. Synthesised bass lines build momentum early on in the opening title track; a momentum that is thankfully consistent throughout most the lean thirty-nine-minute running time (absent only in the disappointingly shallow and pretentious “British Legion”.) “Shoot The Runner” is the kind of funky number I can see being remixed into a dance track by a keen DJ; a fat rhythm underlining the saucy chant of “I’m the king and she’s my queen, bitch!” “Stuntman” sees the band put on their electro hat; an upbeat, textured number sounding like what Radiohead might put out if Thom Yorke smiled more. “Empire” is a tightly produced album; choirs and string sections swirl smoothly together behind tuneful wails.“Last Trip (In Flight)” plays like the soundtrack to a thousand road movie helicopter shots; the kind of track you’d want on the radio at the beginning of a long car ride; eyes squinted into the setting sun, with the highway stretching off ahead of you. The same could be said for “Empire” as a whole. In fact, it could be said for Kasabian. Songs like this make me glad cars have radios. Review By Tom Wilson
PUBLIC WARNING Self-proclaimed “Biggest Midget in the Game”, Lady Sovereign is the newest grime/UK hip-hop act to make waves in the international music market. Known for her ability to mash cheeky punch-line raps with semi-punk electro beats, Sov also brings a type of charisma that makes your ears prick up, matched with an energetic, tongue-twister rap style. The lyrical content of this album leaves a lot to be desired, but I suppose that’s because it’s intended as a club release, in which case it doesn’t take anything away from the unique verbal word-play and intriguing lyrical structures. I’m a sucker for “back in the day”-style tracks, which is probably why my favourite track is “Those Were The Days”; a bouncy track displaying a lighter side to Lady Sovereign, matched with a cruise-y guitar sample and a smooth, 80s drum beat. “Blah Blah” is your traditional grimy banger, bearing vocals that discuss Sov’s boredom with haters – with lines like “Somebody just dialled my digit / S-O-V you’re no one, ha-ha is it / Flattered by the way that you use your credit”. The only collaboration on the album is a remix of Sov’s recent hit “Love Me or Hate Me”, where Missy Elliott grabs the reigns for a halfdecent verse just to mix things up a bit. Overall, the uniqueness is commendable, but the lyrical content does let the album down, leaving it as just a great club album, rather than a great allrounder.
DEEP FACE
KASABIAN EMPIRE
7/10
Review by Adam Ferguson
Review by Ryan Cooke
LADY SOVEREIGN
Wanna feeeeeeeeeeeel the luurrrrrrrrvvveee? Another Fly Music release, Melbourne’s Deep Face are described on the album as “The shifting continuum of Deep Face … framed in a soul-tronic stream of rhythm and grace; feel the love, bend the space”. That’s short for “another casual commercial release filled with some really great tracks”. The album starts with “I Want To Live”; an extremely commercial happy-house pop hit, with smooth, funky piano licks, guitars wah-ing, strings and pads screaming, and, of course, a very soulful vocal influenced by Shirley Davis. The next track, “Electricity”, definitely hit me by surprise with a sweet break, consisting of organic brass instruments covered with some sweet break beats, which are themselves covered by a subbed-out bass line. Track five would be my pick of the CD, just due to its particular house-y/electro sound, with a great abundance of vocals that seem to make you tingle a little. Consisting of an extreme variant of sounds, it covers many different styles to keep anyone interested, with natural and electronic instruments produced by Chris Corby (he certainly does show his skills in the studio). The album also consists a remix of “Been Good” by Ivan Gough & Grant Smillie (TV ROCK) for those “Flaunt It” fans (not that we all hate that f**king song by now). Perfect for warming up on a night, or even some nice café BGM – not my style, yet there are tracks on there I’m still going to listen to in the future. Check it out. 7 Soulful sexy monkeys out of 10 Review By Patrick Duke
7/10
Review By Ryan Farrington
SOLILLAQUISTS OF SOUND AS IF WE EXISTED Straight off, if you’re keen on hip-hop and selfawareness, I urge you go and buy this album today. This album is amazing; from the incredibly creative and well-sculpted beats to the expressive lyrical content, this is exactly what I’ve been waiting for. Florida four-piece Solillaquists of Sound delve deep into the human mind, pick it to pieces and present the results through an energetic, flavoursome form of hip-hop.
BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE THE POISON: LIVE AT BRIXTON Not being familiar with this genre of music, surprisingly I found myself really getting into it. BFMV is a four-piece metalcore band from Bridgend, South Wales. Formed in 1998 under the name “Jeff Killed John”, they originally played Metallica, Limp Bizkit and Nirvana covers. The music is generally percussion-based, though occasionally they do break out into a more melodic style, especially in their recent works. The songs are mostly great, though they do tend to leave a lot of ideas unresolved both musically and visually (particularly in the music clips in the extras). The production qualities of the show are generally disappointing, especially the camera work/ angles which become extremely distracting. If it weren’t for the fantastic lighting design and the stage presence of BFMV, the DVD would definitely be a flop. In having said this, I was, however, thoroughly entertained. Definitely worth a look for die hard fans and newcomers alike. Review By Kerzlake
“Property & Malt Liquor” has MC Swamburger and vocalists Tonya Combs and Alexandrah expressing their thoughts on liquor stores in black neighbourhoods and other social issues in US suburbia. The beats are constructed in a way where beautiful, orchestral pieces sway in and out of the tracks, giving an ocean-like, rolling vibe – as if they could go on forever. The jazz, vocal harmonies through each track work well with the balance of the music as a whole, and run alongside Swamburger’s raps like parallel train tracks. 10/10
Review By Ryan Farrington
SONIC YOUTH THE DESTROYED ROOM – B-SIDES AND RARITIES The year: 1981. Disco had become pop, roller skates with leg-warmers were cool, I was but a glint in Daddy’s eye, and Sonic Youth were in the process of becoming a musical entity. Twenty-six years on, and the band that can’t be pigeon-holed into any other category I’ve heard except “avant-garde rock band” has released a collection of almost unseen (except in Japan and perhaps remote parts of eastern Europe), eclectic “gems” of post-modern, twisted, avant-garde rock-like stuff from their years with Geffen; stemming from the early 90s to 2003. The first track is a ten-minute-plus jam session/ outtake from “Sonic Nurse”, which is previously unreleased and depicts perfectly the cohesion needed by a progressive group of artists to constantly recreate their sound, in order to stay relevant to themselves and their fans. This release is full of such quirkiness throughout, and is hard to listen to at first. But it is very easy to gain an appreciation for, especially given the right frame of mind – let’s say a different perspective on music; [seeing it] as an art form, as opposed to pure entertainment. Respect has come my way for the Japanese market through listening to “The Destroyed Room”, as two of my favoured tracks – “Kim’s Chords” and “Beautiful Plateau” – have previously been released as bonus tracks on “Sonic Nurse” in said market. On the ball, Japan! Usually, when a band releases a rarities compilation, it is for die-hard fans only. To a degree, this no exception … except [it’s for] lovers of art in general. 7/10 Review By Adam Ferguson PAGE 14
DONNA D’CRUZ
SUGAR DADDY
RASA EXOTICA III
IT’S GOOD TO GET HIGH WITH THE WIFE
The third series created by Donna D’Cruz is stated as a “luxurious selection of uplifting music and rare gems that will make your heart beat faster!” Yes, what a crock of shit when it has “Love Generation” on the track listing. But enough of the biased opinions there – let’s run you through the CD. A sixteen-track mixture of house, salsa, full on gayness (“Like A Virgin – Big Daddy”), tribal beats and some rarities to add a hint of sustenance. As the CD starts with a great funky track, it soon flops into the most ridiculously shithouse song I’ve ever heard; the aforementioned “Like A Virgin – Big Daddy”. After that derived song, it makes its way into a French-sounding café jive by Sarah Vaughan, “Whatever Lola Wants” (Gotan Project Remix), then followed by some laid-back house beats and a very rare Aretha Franklin remix. As the CD progresses, it travels and winds its way into a happy vibe mixture of house tracks, then the highlight, “Afrika Bambaataa” by Soul Makkossa, kicks in with an awesome break beat, which is definitely the top pick of the CD to my ears. I’d personally direct this CD towards a café-oriented environment, yet Donna D’Cruz has been traveling the globe, spreading her love and getting a very big response for this style of music. Not my slice of pie, but you may like it if you’re after a collection of obscure tracks you may never hear in nightclubs around here.
Tom Findlay (½ of Groove Armada) And Tim have been bumping heads together to get a very sophisticated clash of 80’s music smashed with a 21st century vibe, to make this sleazy, dirty, sexy music; hence having one piss-funny cover (and title) of a Mafia leader lookalike (or is it really a lookalike?). You literally do have a very different style of music; poxy to the ear, but gradually, over a few listens, it does tend to improve into sophisticated, easygoing beats. A blend of hip-hop, slow breaks and easy-yet-dirty slower tracks, the album is produced very smoothly. Featuring guests such as Cmone, Jack Splash, Greg Wilson and David Jordan, there is a large variance between the tracks. Second track “Hypnotise” – with its nice, deep bass line – would have to be described as being close to a Jamaroquoi sound; soulful vocals, pianos, slap basses and some nice samples layered throughout. Highlight track of the album is “Chasing Tail”, which does have a very commercial vibe; a ballad with synths galore, distorted guitars with a sweet addictive riff, hard rock drums and the typical catchy hook. Check it out; it’s dirty, sexy, a little slow on the BPM, yet has its own style written all over it. 6 Cigar Sucking Monkeys out of 10
5 drab monkeys out of 10
Review by Patrick Duke
Review By Patrick Duke
AMERICAN REVOLUTIONS: THE HIGHWAYMEN DOCUMENTARY In the eighties, amidst a wave of New Country, four outlaw legends banded together. They were: “Willie Nelson, the outlaw kyote; Waylon Jennings, the riverboat gambler; Kris Kristofferson, the revolutionary communist radical; and Johnny Cash, the father of our country…” Clean, slick, entertaining and informative, this documentary is a must see even if outlaw country isn’t your thing. Director Morgan Neville has definitely outdone himself with this one. Featuring rare footage shot by Don Was, of their 3rd and final recording sessions in 1994 and exclusive new interviews, this doco offers a revealing and intimate behind-the-scenes glimpse of four country music superstars. Full of laughs, dramas and good times, the thing that most struck me was the portrayal of the innate kinship that these four men shared with each other, both on the road and off. An honest and intelligent glimpse into four selfdoubting, ordinary guys from the south. Review By Kerzlake
Dave Seaman
The Embers & The Dead Abigails
Kate Meehan and Skip Landy
SYRUP - 26/01/07
JAMES HOTEL - 25/1/07
THE ROYAL OAK - 27/01/07
By Felix Blackler
By Dave Williams
By Adam Ferguson
Plump DJs HALO – 10/01/07 By Felix Blackler
An experienced international, Dave Seaman is at the forefront of the progressive house sound, and just released his new mix compilation, “Therapy Session 3”. After building a strong fan base from previous shows, it was good to see a solid crowd jockeying for position, as the supports did a great job warming up the crowd in Syrup. In usual fashion, Dave Seaman took to the decks with a smile from ear to ear, obviously still enjoying his job after over twenty years on the scene. Seaman kicked off in style with a series of progressive melodic tracks that moved into a deeper groove, showing his experience as he controlled the vibe with each track, and got the crowd jumping with some solid build-ups. Throughout his set, Seaman displayed a full mix bag of tunes, from the more obscure house with electro punches to some massive well-known tracks, including a solid remix of “Pictures” by Sneaky Sound System that I had not heard before. Possibly due to his last visit to Hobart, which blew me away, I felt Dave was a bit more reserved in this performance. Using his insane knowledge of the tracks he played, his mixing was exceptional, but I was left with that little niggle in the back of my mind wanting a little more; that extra cherry on top. Alas, you cannot always have your cake and eat it too. It was still a top night – it’s always great to see the experienced Seaman back in Hobart.
At 10:15, the doors of “Reality” opened, and the room flooded with people. Were they all there to see The Embers and The Dead Abigails, or was it because there was a public holiday? Mostly it seemed that they were there for the bands, as the front bar was packed with punters who’d paid $10 on a night when there was normally only a $5 charge. By 10:45 there was a line-up at least twenty metres long. It was the earliest queue I’d seen at the James in some time, and with the return of uni nearly a month away, it was obvious the bands have pulling power. By 12:00 the queue was forty metres! The Embers created atmosphere from their first notes. Suspense was first, followed by the party; rock, funk, even elements of hip-hop flowed through their set. But it was always upbeat, and the crowd lapped it up with the groove pulsating through the mass of bodies that were grindin’, bumpin’ and jumpin’ throughout the entire set. At 12:15 TDA took the stage. Rock was what we got; harder than I’d heard them before, yet still with their melodic edge. The crowd reacted to the changing pace, responding to the feast of Randall’s drums; a solid beat onto which Cos, Glenn and Carl added the sauce. Soaring harmonies gave their music a more sophisticated style than The Embers, with lyrics about the self and young life; TDA organized their set well, breaking it up around slower tracks that eventually built to a climax in pace. TDA – who are true pros – supplied us with both the familiar and the unexpected. A great show by two of Launnie’s finest.
Dubbed “Australia’s Queen of Blues” Kate – originally of Hobart – has been on the Australian blues scene for around twenty-four years. Skip was born and raised in Canberra, and is easily the best blues pianist I’ve ever seen live! Separately, they are accomplished individuals – Kate winning a “Chain Award” for Female Vocalist of The Year in 2002/03 at The Australian Blues Festival among others; and Skip, first pounding the ivories at Byron Bay’s Blues and Roots festival in 1984 and recording/touring with various bands and artists since. Together, they’re a staple at most major blues festivals around the country, and the perfect compliment to each other. On the last day of their Tassie tour, supported by a small but stoic crowd in “The Boatshed” at The Oak, the duo performed some classic old-school blues (both originals and covers), pulled some sweet little jokes (Kate even sang an orgasm, blues-mamma style, just like in the classics), and both delivered it all in the ease one might expect from two such professionals. Skip is an absolute stand-out on the keys and had me transfixed on his seemingly effortless style and speed, and Kate has one of those gutsy voices that transcends generations, and is instantly recognisable to any fan of the blues; a real comfort after the hangover I most richly deserved.
It’s hard to review a gig so overwhelming it leaves you speechless, but here we go … Having the Plump DJs at Halo is, for some, like having the Pope round to dinner. Creating a name as the biggest breakbeat act in the world, their debut visit to Hobart was an opportunity not to be missed. A sold out show, tinned sardines would have looked more comfortable than trying to get around Halo. Out to impress, Lee and Andy were loaded with tracks from their previous albums “Eargasm” and “Saturday Night Lotion”, and a stack of new tunes, some specifically made for their tour of Australia. In the first hour, Plump DJs turned Halo into a frenzy as they mixed in some new killers, showing their evolving talents to produce fresh, pumping breaks. The pure magic in which beats were rolled seamlessly into the next, with a distinctively “plump” sound, had jaws dropping to the floor. After a taste of things to come in 2007, the roof was raised as they treated the crowd to some loved tracks including “Soul Vibrates”, “Acid Hustle” and more. Delivering close to a three-hour set, the guys were going nuts, feeding off the energy from the crowd as they took turns dropping in the next bomb.
If you love classic blues/piano, make an effort to see them next time you get the chance.
Halo has become one of Australia’s favourite clubs for both the punter and the DJ, and pulling the Plump DJs for easily one of their best shows to date is a clear testament to their success.
Crazy Penis
The Scientists of Modern Music
Jeff Martin & Ritesh Das
Unleash The Nugget
TELEGRAPH STREET PARTY - 6/01/07
CURLY’S BAR - 12/01/07
THE VENUE - 26/01/2007
REPUBLIC BAR – 12/1/2007
By Felix Blacker
By Ian Murtagh
By Dane Hunnerup
By Ian Murtagh
As the clouds hovered above Hobart, I wondered what the Telegraph Street Party would be like. When I arrived late afternoon, a good-sized crowd was already hovering under what shelter they could find as Hobart’s fine locals were dropping beats to scare away the rain gods.
If the Bad Luck Charms are the darlings of the Indie scene in Hobart, then the Scientists are the princes. Just back (kinda) from their stomping New Year’s Eve gig headlining in Melbourne (after playing Falls) there was no end to the energy they poured all over a pretty packed room.
It’s a bloody nice night in Hobart when you’re turning up at the Republic on a Friday to see a local band headlining over an Adelaide band. Note this date down in your diaries and pay attention to the next few words: This is significant.
As the rain eased, more punters piled in as Pty Ltd (Brisbane) played the first of their two sets.
They remind me of Enola Fall in the way that you love all their songs and have absolutely no clue what any of them are called. Case in point; their massive new song “White Noise” that we the fans know affectionately as “Drum’N’Bass”.
There are not many bands in the world who have earned a cult status on par with The Tea Party; Jeff Martin being the frontman/major songwriter and driving force behind this band. As soon as I hit Salamanca for this show, it was evident that his fans hadn’t forgotten, as one of the widest cross-cultural spreads of people I’ve seen turned up for this soldout show.
A three-piece live act, these guys were a perfect fit supporting the headlining Crazy Penis (UK), moving people between the covers with a funky electro groove. In between sets, local Gnosis took some supporting DJ work to new levels, rolling in a great mix of jumping jazzy tunes, thick with deep keys that were mixed and scratched together to display the amazing talents of some of our locals. After another dose of Pty Ltd groove, Crazy Penis took to the stage, led by the sultry diva Danielle Moore who blew the crowd away with her crisp seductive voice hurtling over the band’s deep, soulful sound, as she strutted the stage like a peacock with poise. The crowd grew heavily as Crazy Penis built massive energy to lead the party through songs from their latest album “A Night on Earth” before wishing Hobart a great year, leaving us to head home and work on their new album. Big ups to the Telegraph Street Crew who made another memorable night with great music; the whole day brought together with a fantastic headlining act.
I’ve been following these guys around since they did their first gig at the Art/Con Ball in 2005 and I’m amazed at the improvements they make to their already flawless formula almost every time they play. How else can I say it? There literally seems to be no stopping them. Definitely the sort of band that thrives on audience response, if they don’t get big cheers after every track I honestly think they feel they didn’t get it right; so, in future, come prepared to scream. Songs that went spastic were “White Noise” (of course) and “Technology Illiterate” (but that always goes off) and, though Cal and Simon reckon it’s not chops, I really dig “Sky Love” (you can hear it on their Myspace or get it on their new single). I’d have to say they’re about the best Hobart has to offer; certainly the most original (in my eyes) and, in just a year, they’re easily the most successful. This gig kicked arse and showed who wears the crown in Hobart.
Stratos Roussos set it up with his special joie de vivre, bringing out some of his more sensual numbers. Dean Stevenson continued to set up the air of mystery as the crowd became pensive – many of them gagging to see a musical hero who had appeared to have dropped off the map. When Jeff took the stage, there was an instant electricity between him and the audience. This man knows how to communicate, and boy does he know how to play. With consummate skill and a voice that hasn’t lost its edge at all, he wooed the audience, pulling out a collection of Tea Party tunes, a few well placed covers (best Buckley cover I’ve heard) and a bunch of newer material from his recently released solo album “Exile and the Kingdom”. Although not on the dime as much as I had hoped, Ritesh Das added a depth and bed of support to Martin’s tunes, and brought out his strong eastern leanings on tabla and doumbek. Big congratulations must go to Em and James of NOOK Entertainment. This was their first show together, and if this one was any measure of what’s in the wings, then I’m sure we’ll be blessed with more performers of this calibre in the year to come.
They were one of the best acts at Falls 2006, and, sure, it can be said that I’m a massive fan of local music. But when you watch a bunch of interstate bands trying hard to be close to as good as what UTN are doing, then it’s not hard to make the trade. Two words made Falls Festival for me when it came to the Nugget, and they were “Tommy Butler”. Still riding the wave of playing to loads of people on a really, really big stage, they were ferocious. Hobart crowds are really digging the local stuff lately, and they were certainly showing it tonight. The band’s power to pull people to the dance floor was in full force. They’ve finally done this amazing thing to their song “We Don’t Have American Accents” and changed the chorus into something that doesn’t make you want to smash your face against other people’s fists. It’s catchy again! I found myself singing along, dancing… I even made merriment. The new chorus really has bumped the song up my list of faves. Stand out of the night was “Wookie”. I mentioned it before, but Tommy Butler is a smooth as tonic addition to the UTN crew. The scene’s been lacking since he departed from Fell to Erin, and it’s awesome to have his creativity on the skins back. I’d like to see Benny step up a bit more on the turntables – he’s either shy or underused. Let’s see …
PAGE 15
Jase’s World Tour
TRAVEL BUG / ACTIVITY
How To Survive In Moscow BY JASON RICHARDS DON’T ask strangers for help unless you speak fluent Russian. They simply are not interested! DO stare at Russian women. They are amazing. It’s almost like they cull the ugly ones at birth. DON’T cause long-term muscular neck damage. DO ride the subway. The stations, originally built as bomb shelters 100m below ground, all resemble palace grand ballrooms. Well cool.
DON’T DON’T DON’T EVER EVER EVER give the nice policeman your passport. A western passport will reap the nice policeman a massive reward if he places it in mafia hands for on-selling. DO bribe the policeman at the first opportunity. DON’T accept his first offer. DO haggle and, at all times, strongly refuse his invitation for gulag (prison).
DON’T freak out when you are crushed in a sea of Russians. Just go with the flow. After all, you literally have no choice, no matter how strong you are. More people use the Moscow subway in a day than the London Underground and New York Subway combined! If you see the malaise you’ll find this easy to believe.
DON’T relieve yourself on a tree after leaving a nightclub in Moscow.
DO find a place to eat with a menu in English. Pointand-shoot ordering at Cyrillic scribble can be very disappointing.
DON’T go there for a pleasure cruise, but if you want to experience a uniquely differently way of life, some incredible architecture, awesome nightclubs, and beautiful women, a return flight from Melbourne will scratch you approx. $1900.
DON’T expect a smile from your friendly waitress. You’re a westerner.
For all its difficulty and expense in traveling, its people’s outwardly cold nature, and the possibility of legal (or illegal) scams, and opportunistic policing, Russia is a unique place to experience.
DO make a friend at your hostel that speaks some Russian (thanks Mustafa). September is the perfect time of year to visit Moscow. Just after summer, the weather is just nice enough – not too hot, and not too cold – and the level of tourists scurrying about with oversized cameras, hopping on and off tour buses wearing bum bags, is bearable. I spent five days in Moscow. It served as my gateway to the Trans-Siberian Railway through to Mongolia and China. The capital of the once USSR, is now claiming something resembling democracy, but in reality, is run by the worldly notorious Russian mafia. Currently Moscow is said to be the 3rd most expensive city in the world. In an odd way this is true. A simple bed in one of the 3 hostels that exist in this city of 13 million will set you back a princely $80. While a packet of cigarettes will cost you $2, a bottle of vodka around $5, fresh fruit and vegetables and meat will see you pulling out the VISA card. I learned a few things while touring Moscow with a Swiss-born, Egyptian Muslim, Canadian Passportholding, Russian-speaking guy named Mustafa Mohammad. Some quick DOs and DON’Ts if ever you find yourself in Moscow: DO learn the Cyrillic alphabet. nothing is in English, and nobody is interested in speaking it.
DON’T smile in public places, especially the subway. Smiling is just something Moscovites don’t do. No, really – they just don’t do it. You will get stared at for looking happy. DO ask a young attractive hostel employee named Anastasia where there is a good nightclub to go to on a Tuesday night. DON’T hesitate. DO take her advice and head for that dance floor. Moscow clubs are awesome. DON’T think that because you’re a westerner and you’ve just learnt to ask for five vodka shots in Russian, that you are capable of drinking them. DO leave the club with your friends. Moscow streets at 3am can be very hazardous. Try and hang out with a huge Brazilian guy named Roberto. DON’T stop to relieve yourself on a tree on the way home and get caught by a member of one of the most corrupt police forces in the world. DO be nice to the policeman, and make sure you have a photocopy of your passport and visa.
ADRENALINE JUNKIE
Baker Skateboards Demo BY RYAN JOYCE
The day started to rain, and we thought it would all day. But an hour before it kicked off, the sun came out, and it was all on (as well as my sunburn!). The crowd was wild, and it was like a party there. Beers, skating and music – it was crazy!
ON TOUR THROUGHOUT FEBRUARY Hobart 1st to 6th Launceston 7th to12th
1800 043 080 www.skydivetasmania.com.au
Dustin Dollin was out with a knee injury, so he was on the mic all day – beer in hand, wearing two pairs of sunnies, making too many calls to understand! After a few minutes, the park cleared and the skating happened. All the guys were tired, and we could tell (4AM plane flight and shop signings earlier in the day). So these guys warmed up by doing some rail tricks, but within fifteen minutes they were onto the main item; a 4 Flat 5 stair set with the worst up-down-up-down-UP run up for it. First off was Brain Herman with a Hardflip second go! Then Tre Flip after a few kick-outs, then a Nollie Inward Heelflip first go! It was the best trick of the demo by far. After the skating died TK started to have a little rap battle with a few local Tassie boys, and, from what I heard, he got shut down. Then I heard that he shut them down, so who knows? The after party was held at the Trout Bar and that was pretty chilled.
BEGAL - NOLLIE FS TAILSLIDE PAGE 16
All in all, thanks to the Baker guys for coming, and thanks to Red Herring Surf for getting them here.
BRANDON - FS 5-0
SPECIAL FEATURE
Greens Senator For Tasmania
CHRISTINE MILNE the proposal, they changed their process; to me, that means that, when they were talking about a non-chlorine elemental process, perhaps they were floating the idea of a pulp mill? They were softening up the public, to see if they could muddy the waters. They knew that if they put out the proposal that they intended to build, it would be immediately rejected as it was seventeen years ago; people would see it for what it was. So what they tried to say is that they were going to build something that was, quote, “world’s best”, “environmentally sustainable” and so on, in order to break down some of the opposition; when, in fact, in my view, they never had any intention whatsoever of building a plantation-based, chlorine-free pulp mill. That was never part of their agenda.
“
Gunns have asked that
the guidelines be slackened for them
”
In recent history, few issues have provoked impassioned debate like Gunns’ proposed Pulp Mill. Last edition, we spoke to the man behind it all, Gunns chairman and managing director John Gay. Now, as part of our ongoing special feature on this issue, SAUCE has gone to the other side of the argument, bringing you an exclusive interview with someone who has defeated this kind of proposal before, and is confident she’ll do it again – Greens senator for Tasmania, Christine Milne. In a nutshell, what are your problems with the currently proposed pulp mill for the Tamar Valley? Well, the pulp mill is old technology, and it’s not the best use of Tasmania’s timber resources. This is exactly the same technology that was proposed back in 1989; a native forest-based pulp mill, using the Kraft, sulphur-based process to pulp the wood. In 1989, they were going to use elemental chlorine for bleaching; now they’re going to use chlorine dioxide. Chlorine dioxide bleaching technology was around by the early 1990s, so this is old technology. What was promised to Tasmanians was a plantation based, chlorine-free pulp mill, and what we’re getting, of course, is nothing like that. Secondly, it’s not going to create the kind of employment that was suggested; in fact, the best way of generating more employment is further downstream processing. If they were serious about that, they would have a paper machine adjacent to the proposed mill, and they haven’t, because they’re just going to sell bales of pulp onto the global market. In 1989, the reason that the Tamar Valley was rejected for this-technology pulp mill was because of atmospheric inversion in the Tamar Valley; because Bass Strait is very shallow off the mouth of the Tamar, they wouldn’t achieve the dilution and dispersion that they were aiming for, in terms of getting rid of the effluent. Now, nothing has changed in that time, in relation to the geography, or Bass Strait. In fact, things are worse because, with global warming, you’re going to have warmer surface layers, and, most likely, you’re going to have more settlement of pollution in the surface layers. Bass Strait basically slots backwards and forwards, and doesn’t flush, so over time you’re going to have a concentration of marine effluent, and the Tamar Valley atmospheric inversion will trap pollution in the valley, and air quality is going to be a major issue. When do you believe it was promised – and by who – that the proposed pulp mill would be non-chlorine elemental? It was promised by John Gay at the very beginning when they started talking up the pulp mill; the state government was there too, with Lara Giddings at the time, talking up the fact that Tasmania was going to have a plantation-based mill. That was really critical, because there is widespread opposition to the logging of native forests. Logging primary forests is an ecological outrage, now that there’s so much evidence that deforestation is one of the major drivers of climate change. And so, in order to try and win some public acceptance, the company and the government came out saying, “We won’t be using native forests – we’ll be using plantations.” Of course, they went back on that as soon as they got serious about a proposal – and now they want to lock in native forest logging for thirty years. So it was definitely the company, John Gay, and Lara Giddings, the minister of the day. When you say that when they got serious about
You’re saying about Bass Strait being like a pond; what evidence do you have for that? Who’s putting forth that evidence? The CSIRO has done quite a lot of work on the movement in Bass Strait, and there’s a lot of scientific modeling to support it – and I can provide that. Basically, the pulp mill proponents claim that the effluent will just flush away, but in fact it doesn’t. In the winter, it can be trapped there, and doesn’t flush, for a period of probably six months. So rather than dispersing and diluting, it actually concentrates over time. That’s why we’ve opposed ocean outfalls – if you’re going to build a pulp mill, you should build a closed loop, so that you reduce the intake of water, and you don’t pump out effluent into the marine environment. John Gay has said that the water that will be discharged into Bass Strait will actually be cleaner than the Tamar River currently. If that’s the case, how could you oppose it? If there’s no action to clean up the Tamar River, how can you oppose something that’s going to discharge cleaner water? It’s a public relations point to say that. The fact is; they’ve got a chemical stream that they are going to dump into the marine environment, that does have organo-chlorines as part of that effluent, and they bio-accumulate in the food chain. That is a fact, and whatever John Gay says, he cannot avoid agreeing that that’s the case. When you use chlorines, you get that bio-accumulation in the food chain. Therefore, isn’t it more important to tighten the regulations as to what is legal to discharge, rather than to attack a company which is working within the regulations? Well the regulations have been altered to accommodate Gunns, not the other way round. They’ve been exempted from the state air quality guidelines because they can’t meet them. This pulp mill is a sulphur process – that means it will stink. There’s not a Kraft pulp mill in the world that doesn’t stink, and the CSIRO’s just come out with its air quality assessment of the pulp mill, and says, quite clearly, that it has concerns about the fact that Gunns have failed to consider fugitive sulphide emissions from the project. That’s why using the Kraft process is not a good idea, and that’s why I’ve always said that, if you use a paper machine, you can produce pulp using other processes, so that you don’t use sulphur and it doesn’t stink. But, because they’re trying to produce pulp and not paper, they’re trying to sell into a global market for Kraft pulp, and therefore they’re condemning people in the Tamar to the stench. Talking about air quality, the emissions requirements; are they decided and regulated by the state government? Isn’t it federal? No, they have state air quality legislation, and the Commonwealth has been assisting the north, in terms of improving air quality in the city, especially through the woodheaters program, as part of federal Commonwealth initiatives. But there are Tasmanian air quality guidelines, and Gunns have asked that the guidelines be slackened for them, because they can’t meet them, particularly on nitrogen oxide emissions. Isn’t it then up to the governments, and politicians such as yourself, to stand up to big business, and say, “These are the regulations; meet them, or don’t go ahead”. How is the government getting away with this? Why aren’t parties like The Greens making more of a show on this? Well, the opposition to the pulp mill has been demonstration through all the submissions to the RPDC; I’ve certainly contributed to that, as have The Greens, pointing out that we’re opposed to the project because it will pollute both air and water, and we’ve gone into the detail of how that will occur. The fact is that, in Tasmania, the Lennon government will facilitate Gunns. That has always been the case; when the last proposal for the pulp mill came forward, it was the Commonwealth who ultimately stepped in, because the Tasmanian government kept making the guidelines weaker and weaker and weaker to accommodate the company. That’s precisely the process that’s going to take place here. Gunns will say, “Reduce the stringency of the guidelines, or we won’t build this pulp mill.” And, of course, the government is so desperate for them to do that, that they will do whatever is necessary. That’s why we’re making the stand we’re making. This is not a good idea for Launceston. It’s going to have a terrible impact on the forest. The fact that the government has excluded assessment
THE PULP MILL PART 2 (OF 4) BY DAVE WILLIAMS
of the forests from the assessment process just shows you the extent that they will bend over backwards to facilitate the company. And worse still, at the federal level, the Howard government has just bought in an amendment to the Environmental Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act, to say that the Commonwealth minister is prohibited from assessing the impact on the forests of any forestbased factory or development. So you’ve got a situation where governments are doing everything they can – against the public interest, in terms of the environment – to facilitate this particular pulp mill project. In your opinion, why is the government so desperate to see this pulp mill go ahead? Well I think there’s been a long history in Tasmania of “development at any cost”, and it’s back to the old cut-it-down, dig-it-up mentality that used to exist in Tasmania, that now exists under the Lennon government. And it’s the same at the federal level. They just do not believe that their environmental responsibilities should stand in the way of what they want in terms of development. We’ve got a situation where climate change is real and urgent and desperate. This pulp mill is going to emit large amounts of greenhouse gasses, not to mention the logging of the forests and the deforestation driving climate change. And yet, they’re not prepared to take that into account with this project. John Gay has said to me that the forests which they’re going to supply the pulp mill, apart from the plantations, are regrowth forests only. So they’re earmarked for logging anyway, and they have been previously. Well, there’s a long history of that, and it depends on what your definition of a re-growth forest is. They declared some forests through which a fire went at the turn of last century to be called “re-growth forests”, and I would dispute that. Right back in 1992, the government of the day bought in resource security legislation, handing over public forests to the companies, and say that if those public forests are to be protected in the future, the companies have to be compensated. That brought down the Labour government, and I was part of the Greens … so I’ve got a very, very strong memory of all that went on during that period. The fact is; we ought not to be logging these forests. Many of them are high conservation value forests, which should be in the World Heritage Area, and which are not, because people like John Gay and others lobbied very hard to have them kept out for logging. They were put into logging zones, and the company is arguing that they should be logged. But, of course, that’s a commercial proposition from them; it’s got nothing to do with biodiversity conservation. And, as a federal court decision revealed yesterday, logging practices in Tasmania are unlawful, because they don’t uphold biodiversity conservation. That’s a pretty big blanket statement. Do you think that’s a fair statement; to say that all logging operations in Tasmania are illegal? What it’s saying is that the logging that’s taking place there is taking place not in accordance with the Regional Forest Agreement, and therefore it is unlawful, and the reason for that is it’s impact on threatened species. The ramifications of this court case will effect all logging operations in Tasmania, and I think the Premier will get advice from the Solicitor General. This will pan out in the next few years, but it is my view, listening to that federal court judgment yesterday, that it will have ramifications for all logging operations in Tasmania, which are not being conducted in accordance with the RSA, because they’re breaching the forest practices code. Why do you believe that Gunns have, in your opinion, reverted to the process which uses chlorine bleaching, instead of following what you believe was their first proposal, which didn’t involve that process? Because it’s cheaper. It’s cheaper technology. It’s operating around the world. They can just buy a plant and equipment and put it in. It’s not best practice; it’s something that will be cheaper for them to do, because it relies on large amounts of water which will be given to them at a very substantial discount rate. It relies on using the environment as a free source for dumping waste, both into the atmosphere and into the sea. And they get a cheap forest resource as well. That’s what makes it cheap. If they followed what you believe was their first proposal, which was a non-elemental chlorine process… Not native forest-based, not chlorine, not Kraft, a paper machine and so on? Would you support that? We’ve said that we will consider pulp mill proposals that are genuinely sustainable. But I wouldn’t be supporting a pulp mill in Tasmania, because I don’t believe it’s the best use of our forests. It’s about looking at what forest resource we’ve got, and where we can maximise jobs and returns. The Greens have developed a “Forest Transition Strategy”, which suggests that investment in a range of other forestbased projects would actually return more to the state, and have more jobs, than a pulp mill project. And I still believe that is the case.
But if that is the case, why aren’t investors rushing to Tasmania to invest in that? If it’s such a good business model, why isn’t it happening? Well it’s not happening because there’s a monopoly that virtually has access to the Tasmanian timber resource. Forestry Tasmania and Gunns are such [a monopoly] that that’s how the government operates in this state. Look at what’s happening with the pine mills in Scottsdale, and see how they’re starved of resources for the future, even though they employ a lot of people. There are serious questions to be asked in Tasmania about industry policy, about future direction, and about the relationship between the state government and the timber company Gunns. Can you blame Gunns for trying to get the best deal that they can? To try and make the most money that they can? That’s business, isn’t it? That is certainly business, but enlightened business these days looks at the triple-bottom-line, and they haven’t recognised that they have an obligation to environmental sustainability. That is where I would argue that Gunns do not operate from that kind of business model; they want to maximise the returns to their shareholders at the expense of the environment and the public purse, because they’re getting enormous subsidies as well. The federal government just gave them $5,000,000, in spite of the fact that Prime Minister Howard promised the $5,000,000 for a feasibility study into a plantation-based, plantation-based mill. He gave them the money anyway, even though that’s not what they’re going to build. So that’s just one example. The royalty deal – we still don’t know, because that’s being kept secret. We don’t know how much Gunns has agreed to pay for the public forests of Tasmania to feed their pulp mill. So yes; they are being driven by a profit motive, as, in fact, a lot of corporates are. And as you rightly say – it is a role of government to regulate, and that’s where Tasmania fails badly, because they’re not prepared to uphold environmental standards in the face of pressure from industry. To what extent would you agree that the only thing that will stop the proposed pulp mill – in its current form, anyway – is a change of government in Tasmania, as well as at a federal level? Actually, whilst that may alter support for the mill, because it would certainly alter the level of public subsidy going to the mill, what will ultimately stop this pulp mill is the economics of it. It’s not economically viable, and it never has been. I think they will really struggle to get investors for this mill, because anyone who invests in this mill knows that they’re investing in native forest logging in Tasmania; that they’re investing in a long-term problem in air pollution in the Tamar Valley, and pollution into Bass Strait. I think that they will struggle to get the maths right to get anyone to invest in it. For example; when you look at their impact assessment, they are predicting a huge profit from the furnace in which they’re going to burn native forests to create energy. They’re saying that they’re going to make millions from selling this energy as supposed “green energy”. Now, who’s going to buy it? They’re anticipating that the whole Mandatory Renewable Energy Scheme is going to continue, and the federal government has said that it’s not. So the whole math around that part of the project are completely wrong. If that’s an indication of what their maths are like around the rest of the project, I just can’t see it being viable. It suffers from sovereign risk, because a change of government could end the subsidies, and when that happens it won’t be viable either. So my view is; they will struggle to get an investor in this project. From my point of view, however, Gunns seems to have the runs on the board in terms of making money; they’ve increased their share price by over 700% in the recent past. They’ve gone from a hardware company to something that’s capitalised at over a billion dollars. Wouldn’t you say they would have worked out whether they can make money from this or not? Well, you’d think so. But it’s a vastly different thing from making huge profits out of export woodchipping. The reason that their share price went as it did is because Jim Bacon allowed them to maximise their export woodchipping in Tasmania. There use to be a limit on export woodchipping out of Tasmania, and then the Labour government just abandoned all that and gave them carte blanch to go up to 5,000,000 tonnes of woodchips out of Tasmania per year. It’s a simple process to knock down trees, chomp them into woodchips, send them to Japan and make maximum profits, especially if you’re getting the forests for very little, then you can make a huge amount in Japan. That’s a very different prospect from running a pulp mill, and I think that’s where you’ll see Gunns come unstuck.
NEXT EDITION FOREST INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION OF TASMANIA
TERRY EDWARDS PAGE 17
DARREN ARONOFSKY
IN FOCUS
Pushing The Boundaries Of Life Through Film BY ANDREW SECCOMBE
Maverick American filmmaker Darren Aronofsky is best known for bringing stories to the screen in a way that audiences have never experienced. From the breakout success of 1998’s “Pi” to his landmark second film “Requiem for a Dream” (2000), Aronofsky has managed to both thrill and disturb audiences with his intense portraits of characters plagued by obsession: be they migraine-suffering mathematicians, TV addicts or amorous junkies. His new film “The Fountain” explores obsession in a vast new array of contexts, following the journey of Thomas Creo (Hugh Jackman) through space and time, as he searches for the Fountain of Youth to save the woman he loves.
Isabel, the Queen of Spain (played by Rachel Weisz) and then within a heartbeat the viewer is thrown into the modern day struggle of Tommy Creo, a scientist desperate to save his wife Izzi (also played by Weisz) who’s dying of cancer. Moments later Tom is then navigating through space in a 26th century ship containing the fabled Tree of Life, en route to Xibalba, a distant nebula which he believes will reunite him with Izzi once it explodes,.
“That’s the fun of it. All acting is, is playing a game in the sandbox. When you’re in the sandbox, you’re using your imagination and you want to take it as far as you can. And if you do go too far, that’s what the editing room is for.” He goes on to praise the talents of Hugh Jackman, who was required to utilise an incredible emotional range during filming, as well as undertake fourteen months of tai chi and yoga training for the futuristic storyline.
“
“The thing about Hugh is that he just fully commits,” says Aronofsky. “I know it got hard for him because we completely pushed the envelope. We went really to the edge of what was humanly possible and because physically and emotionally he’s just so gifted, he was basically able to go anywhere we wanted to go. By the end it got really, really heavy but he powered through and got there.”
… the story is told over a
1,000 year period …
”
In a sprawling epic that challenges typical narrative structures, the story is told over a 1,000 year period, with Thomas taking the form of a 16th century Spanish conquistador, a modern day scientist as well as that of a 26th century astronaut. “Most American films are sort of brainwash-orientated,” Aronofsky explains. “People expect stories in a certain way. We very much wanted to return the film to a more minimalistic approach and try and take people on alternative journeys.” Constantly seeking to challenge audiences, Aronofsky always knew that some viewers wouldn’t be able to engage with the “deeply structured” storytelling style, yet he asserts that he’s never made films to please everyone. “I think that you need a lot of time to digest “The Fountain”,” he remarks. “People who have seen it two or three times have had a very, very different experience with it because I think they’re able to see the “puppet strings” that are actually in place.”
“It’s dealing with a lot of big questions and it also approaches the film-watching experience in a very different way,” Aronofsky says, regarding the film’s themes of immortality, death, rebirth, life and love. Indeed such heavy subject matter stretched the abilities of the film’s lead actors, as Rachel Weisz has revealed that at times she and Hugh Jackman were in tears after a take on set, only to then be further pushed by the director to deliver a still more authentic performance. Yet Weisz has described such in depth immersion in her roles as “heaven”, solidifying Aronofsky’s reputation as an actor’s director.
One of the central themes that the director wished to explore within the film is how the quest for eternal life may indeed take away from the humanity that defines us. As a scientist Thomas is relentless in his search to find an organic compound to save his wife, yet is in such denial, that he fails to make the most of the remaining time he has with her. Aronofsky believes that this obsession comes from hope, as ultimately Thomas must accept his wife’s death rather than try and prolong her life. “Hope puts you into the future and I think inner peace puts you into the present,” he says. “Hubert Selby Jnr always talked about hope being ‘tomorrow everything will be alright’ as opposed to looking at the moment and finding everything alright “now”.
The film is frenetic to say the least. The 16th century story sees Thomas fighting Mayan warriors to protect
“If everyone has a certain amount of trust I think the whole goal is to push as far as you can,” he says.
Such profound questions of the human experience are explored in typically atypical Aronofsky style,
with “The Fountain” showcasing some awe-inspiring visual images throughout. Influenced by similar quest films like Werner Herzog’s “Aguirre: The Wrath of God” (1972) and Alejandro Jodorowsky’s “The Holy Mountain” (1973), as well as referencing Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in America” (1984), the film flashes between Mayan Temples in ancient Mexico and the galaxies of outer space in the blink of an eye. Remarkably, despite the dazzling visual effects and compositions, no computer generated imagery was used, with the director preferring a more classical approach. “Computer animation is an evolving tool,” says Aronofsky. “It gets better and better. I think because it is a constantly improving art, if you use it on the cutting edge as opposed to using it to shape small things, you’ll end up creating something that won’t look good after a year or so. Most CGI films date very, very quickly.” Overseas “The Fountain” has divided critics, who’ve been frustrated by the film’s intangibility and alternative structure but Aronofsky says that ultimately his chief concern is whether the actors and his fellow collaborators are proud of their work. The film, essentially a love story, doesn’t deliver any easy answers or definable message regarding its themes and he explains that that is exactly what he was aiming for. “How can you put it a nutshell?” he asks. “It’s too difficult even to put into words exactly – they’re questions that we’ve been asking since the beginning of time. And there is really no answer. It’s all about the energy that connects us all which is so indescribable, yet we all know it’s there and we can feel it at a gut level.”
A Night On The Greenwood Damian Greenwood was a local blues legend. He began a voyage of musical discovery and an original music mission ensued that developed into a decade of songwriting, performance and recording. Sadly Damian passed away last year. To honour and continue Damian’s passion and commitment to Tasmanian original music, the Damian Greenwood Encouragement Award has come into being. “A Night On The Greenwood” concert is held twice yearly to provide a platform for the promotion and support of Tasmanian original music. These concerts provide the funding for the Damian Greenwood Encouragement award.
GIG GUIDE 7th - 22nd February Saturday 10th
Monday 12th
Wed Thu Fri Sun Tue Wed Thu
7th 8th 9th 11th 13th 14th 15th
Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu
16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd
Bente Fauste
supp. Bridget Pross
$7 cover 9pm
(Canada)
$4 cover 10pm
www.republicbar.com PAGE 18
(German Hip-hop)
The Embers Reuben Ellenberger The Stoics Daniel Townsend Royal Oak Hotel February 16th 9pm Presented by The Damian Greenwood Memorial Fund. www.poorbluessinger.com.au
Republic Bar & Cafe 299 Elizabeth St North Hobart Ph. 6234 6954
Eshak's African Band $3 cover 9pm 4 Letter Fish 9.pm The Drones supp. Darling Downes $12 pre $15 Door 10pm Merchants in Groove 9pm Sarah Blasko supp. Daimen 9pm Sarah Blasko supp. Bridget pross 9pm Limousine (Sydney) supp. The no no's & The Evening Dolls
Mad Violet
Featuring performances by:
$6 cover 9pm
Nellie & The Fat Band $3 cover 10pm Sugartrain $3 cover 10pm Cake Walking Babies 9pm Manic Monday (3 Acts) 8.30pm Trainwreck 9pm Jed Rowe 9pm Son Del Sur $3 cover 9pm
Advertisement
Designer? Engineer? Teacher?
The opportunities are endless It’s a great time to be planning your future! The variety of career opportunities open to young people is broader than ever before. Career Advice Australia can help you get the skills, training and support you need to make the most of it. It’s never too early to start thinking about your future – visit australia.gov.au/skillsforthefuture or call 13 38 73 to find out more.
australia.gov.au/skillsforthefuture or call 13 38 73 Authorised by the Australian Government, Capital Hill, Canberra.
CAA-Y
Advertisement
Most people who receive Centrelink payments do the right thing and tell Centrelink when their circumstances change.
s g n i n r a e d e r Undecla 0 0 0 , 8 $ r e v cost man o
If you don’t, penalties range from having to repay the debt, to court fines or even prison.
g financial court of obtainin rt po re ’t dn ption and es di benefit by dece on sometim er A st . Fo gs of in e rn dl sh ea 200 hours Tony Brin sentenced to as all his ca w st ny oa C To l d tra un en ice. He eck fo the NSW C community serv of as routine ch w d s hi an l e al tim g rtback all clarin working pa so had to pay t was not de al ar st k ew lin N tre g en in C trelink as also receiv earnings and e money to Cen th 33 lt, . su m re hi a t s ns A ai court fine. Allowance. raised a debt ag ell as a $2,350 d w ire qu g re in ar as w pe ap events, year old Tony Even before ased on real *b gs in rn ny ea To s t, ur have to report hi at the local co es and locations m s na ge an k ch lin r tre Cen and any othe ged. began to pay his been chan stances to ds ar um w rc to ci k s ee hi w to 0 a fortnight. $8 e was Centrelink each ,560 debt. H $6 y an m d ha ford local Last year, he convicted in Gos d an bs jo e different part-tim
To avoid debt and penalties, you must tell Centrelink immediately if there are any changes to you or your partner’s circumstances such as: • Changes to income and assets from any source • Changes to work hours, commencing or stopping work • Changes of address, or rent detail, or if you start or stop sharing with someone • Changes of partner or family details • Change of study details
13 62 80
To report changes in your circumstance, call
australia.gov.au/supportthesystem Authorised by the Australian Government, Capital Hill, Canberra
STSSP72/E/24
• Changes to residence or leaving Australia temporarily or permanently
IS THEATRE - WHATS ON
SPOTLIGHT
QUEEN OF THE SNAKEPIT
CLASS CLOWNS 2007
MARCH – STATEWIDE
MARCH – STATEWIDE
Born and raised on Flinders Island, actor Cheryl Wheatley is a proud fourth generation islander. “Queen of the Snakepit” is a theatrical collage of life and family on Flinders Island. This moving portrayal of longing, endurance, strength and solitude is staged cabaret style in the island’s infamous ladies lounge – the Snakepit. PERFORMANCES: FLINDERS ISLAND Flinders Island Sports Club Whitemark 23 & 24 March At 7pm LAUNCESTON Earl Arts Centre 26 & 27 March At 6 & 8pm HOBART Backspace Theatre Sackville Street (behind the Theatre Royal), 29 & 30 March At 9.30pm, 31 March At 6.30 & 9.30pm TICKETS Adult $29 Concession $15 Family (of 4) $68 BOOK TICKETS ONLINE or Phone Tickets.com on 1300 785 851 Tickets for this event are also available on Flinders Island from: Flinders Island Visitor Information Centre: (03) 6359 2380
OPERATION MAY – STATEWIDE “Operation” inventively combines new media and live sound with macro and micro puppetry to see through the eyes of a suspected terrorist and his interrogator as they battle for information. Integrated technology brings the audience to the forefront of this battle, as a suspect’s story is removed from him and deciphered using small puppets, magnified by the interrogator’s surgical camera. As time runs out, protocols of surgery turn to those of torture and, given a stake in the outcome, the audience must decide from whose perspective they’ll watch; theirs, the suspect’s, or the interrogator’s. Employing the techniques of autopsy and crime scene investigation, Blood Policy’s first production promises to be a thrilling and visually arresting examination of the war from the perspective of the individual. Co-Director / Puppeteer: Sam Routledge, Co-Director / Puppeteer: Martyn Coutts, Sound Artist: Aaron Cuthbert, Puppet Maker: Andrew McDougall Designer: Alison McNicol PERFORMANCES HOBART – Backspace Theatre, Sackville Street (behind the Theatre Royal), 15 - 19 May at 8.00pm TICKETS Adult $28 Concession $22 Group Price (8 or more) $22 Book Tickets Online or Theatre Royal Box Office on 1300 785 851
PAGE 20
Damian Callinan - Class Clowns Host It’s on again! In conjunction with our good friends at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Is Theatre proudly presents Class Clowns Tasmania 2007! Is Theatre are inviting young Tasmanian’s (between 14 – 17 yrs) to prove to us that they’re as funny as they think they are and participate in the second largest comedy festival in the world! The best act from Tassie will be flown to Melbourne for the Class Clowns National Final, which will be held on the main stage of the Melbourne Town Hall, during the April 2007 Festival. The National Winner takes home $1500 for themselves and $1500 for their school. Is Theatre are holding heats around Tassie as follows: Launceston Heat: Saturday 10 March, 7pm The Earl Arts Centre Hobart Heat: Friday 16 March, 7pm The Backspace Theatre (Sackville St, behind Theatre Royal) State Finals: Saturday 17 March, 7pm The Backspace Theatre (Sackville St, behind Theatre Royal) Tickets to all heats and the finals available at the door For full competition details and how to register go to www.istheatre.com or contact Is Theatre on 03 6234 8561 All forms of comedy are eligible including individual stand up routines, double acts, sketches, musical comedy, parodies and satire.
AKMAL SALEH
COMEDY
Horrorscopes THE PSYCHO PSYCHIC SCREWS WITH YOUR LIFE
Don’t Tell His Wife
ARIES Digging in your heels isn’t getting you anything but a serious case of cramps in your feet. Give in and let them do all the work.
BY DAVE WILLIAMS
A man of combustible energy who’s managed to find the funny side of being a Muslim post-9/11, Akmal Saleh is heading this way. He spoke his mind on impotence, terrorists, yobbos, and having written proof that he’s great in bed. Comedians seem to write a lot of material based on observations and personal experiences, and you have a part of your show which deals with impotence. I just wonder; what have been some of your partner’s reactions at times when you’ve been less-than a “stand-up” performer? (Laughs) “Stand-up”, so to speak. Do I talk about impotence…? I do! I used to do a joke about mechanics… I did some research there and found out that statistically, mechanics are the most likely people to suffer from impotence. Which is good ‘cause mechanics are always ripping me off. Just imagine this mechanic in bed next to his wife saying “Sorry love. Won’t be ready ‘til Thursday”, I guess that’s the joke your talking about. Yeah. But what about your own personal experiences with being less than a stand-up performer? No. I’m well and truly… I’m a genius in bed! I’ve had references from women [saying] “this guy is the best root I’ve ever had.” If you want me to show you; it’s in written form. No complaints yet. That must help with the whole on-line dating thing. Oh yeah, I should mention that I am married as well, and if my wife happens to be listening to this; just joking darling. But if she’s not, I am a mad root man, I really love it! Considering the huge amount of material that 9/11 has given you, I was wondering to what extent your ancestry or ethnicity is a blessing these days for being a comedian?
I’ve got a theory that I think you can talk about anything if it’s out there and if you know how to tackle it properly. I don’t think that my ethnicity plays that bigger part because the whole terrorism thing is open slather, anyone can talk about it. You don’t really have to be of that background to tackle it because it is so out-there. And I’m not a Muslim, I probably have less of a right to talk about it but I feel that I can anyway, just being a comedian. Anyone can talk about anything, you can talk about race or immigration or terrorism if they tackle it the right way. I don’t know if I have more license to talk about it than anyone else.
“
I am a mad root man …
an appearance in all of my jokes, that, “Ow ya goin ya mate,” “Ow ya goin ya c*nt”, I love that Aussie vernacular, this guy comes up to me in the street and he goes, “Mate, you are the funniest c*nt eva”, and I say, “Can I quote you on that?” “Mate you are such a sick c*nt.” Oh thank you, mate that’s beautifully put. Do you write a lot of poetry?” To listen to the entire interview go to www.sauce.net.au/interviews
TAURUS Green apples may bubble out of your head when you kiss. Panama hats and stick insects may turn you on. You may fall deeply.
GEMINI Do not be like the mushroom, who covers himself altogether with his head. Be like the zucchini, and develop a humorous shape.
”
You talk a lot about typical Australians. To what extent would you agree that Australian culture is ripe for comedic material? Comedy is about what you observe, what you’ve grown up with, I grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney, where everyone is a yobbo, wherever you were from, everyone’s working class and it’s funny to me, that’s what I’ve observed… I’ve always found that, “Ow ya goin mate,” really funny, that always cracks me up, that yobbo element… I embrace it, I think it’s great. Most of my friends are yobbos and there’s plenty of comedy to be had from what you know best. What I know best is that character… he makes
CANCER It’s Hairy Cell Bonanza Month! Celebrate your growths with glowing radiation.
LEO You ARE the most handsome westerner they will EVER see. From one island to another – feel the love. Purrrrr…
VIRGO Added creaminess, subtle citrus and cashew flavours enhance your berry undertones. You are adventurous at first, with a languid afterglow.
BORAT
LIBRA
“See My Movie Film!”
Be prepared for a toxic shock this month! Don’t leave it in there for too long before you pull out.
BY ANDREW SECCOMBE “I like very much Australias. Eh…gidday mate! Put nother crustacean on barbeque. Wa-wa-wee-wa!” Sound familiar? Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev has just touched down in Sydney as part of his promotional duties for his new film “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”, and he’s making the most of his time here. He’s already hit a gay bar in Oxford Street, is keen to meet a kangaroo and is very impressed with our Danni Minogue.
is fairly unconcerned with however. “These Jews are very crafty,” he says. “They pretend as if they like you and then they swipe you with the claw. I must say they have been much controversies in my country because of the anti-Semitisms in my moviefilm. However eventually the Kazakh censor decided it could be released after deciding there was just enough.” And you all know that Baron Cohen is in fact Jewish yes?
The creation of award-winning English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat has horrified and amused audiences everywhere with his appearances as part of “Da Ali G Show”, and the new documentary proves to be even more extreme. Borat is backward, anti-Semitic and misogynistic but equally curious and considerate, and his encounters across America will make you squeal, squirm and cringe like never before. His interactions with interview subjects and everyone he meets are most often hilarious but also expositive, as the true prejudices of people arise whether they know it or not. The documentary sees Borat traveling America for various cultural lessons, and along the way he learns how to best use a toilet, protect himself from Jews and even manages to fall in love with Pamela Anderson. The scene where he discovers his producer pleasuring himself over Pamela’s various assets will go down as one of the funniest sequences you’ll ever see on screen. Just wait… Trouncing box office expectations in the US, the film has taken Borat’s fame to new heights, as he’s now sky-rocketed to rock-god type status. No longer can he enter hotel swimming pools naked and anonymously wash himself, as he describes an encounter in Sydney where he was subject to the stares of countless wide-eyed children. So too his popularity in the States has changed even the most simplest of interactions for the wandering journalist. “My life has changed very much,” he says. “People stare at me wherever I go. In Los Angeles I went to laboratory in a park and a man gave me hand relief for no money. I was surprised he could even recognise me because it was through a hole in the wall. Very nice.” The film and the character have managed to generate plenty of controversy, as government officials from Kazakhstan have expressed their considerable offense regarding the portrayal of their homeland as a community of sexist simpletons who pride themselves on being a major exporter of human pubic hair as well as being blessed with clean prostitutes. There’s also been various concerns over Borat’s open anti-Semitism and his hatred of neighbouring Uzbekistan. It’s something that Borat
“Seinfeld” fame as well as Jay Roach, director of the “Austin Powers” films. In fact, if Baron Cohen didn’t keep up the façade of Borat throughout filming it could have potentially led to even greater personal danger. A group of Virginian cowboys for instance threatened to lynch the filmmakers after Borat delivered a version of the Kazakh national anthem to the tune of the Star Spangled Banner – so staying in character was necessary to stave off further inflammations. But Borat seems unaware of such dangers and is as chirpy and earnest as anyone could expect at his press conference. He’s a fan of “Home and Aways” apparently, (he’s even keen to get Colleen’s number), is happy to relate his disgust of female journalists as well as tell his tale of how an encounter with a supposedly feminine nightlife companion has resulted in his “anoos” hanging loose like “the mouth of a tired dog.” What is particularly intriguing though is what might be the future of the Sagdiyev clan and whether Borat is planning to have more children beyond his eleven-year-old son, Bilak.
The story behind the film is as interesting as Borat is clueless. Apparently Baron Cohen stayed in character throughout the entire shoot, a warrant was issued for his arrest whilst filming in “New Yorks”, two of his production team were indeed arrested there and the filmmakers were often followed by the FBI after several communities suspected them as being terrorists. Baron Cohen’s devotion to his art went to incredible lengths as he stayed in character even when being questioned by Secret Service Agents outside the White House or by state police. Such artistic commitment has been perceived as adding a whole new dimension to the reality TV phenomenon with Baron Cohen’s performance receiving high commendations from key creatives within the project which included Larry Charles of
“I am not plan to make any more childrens,” Borat says. “Although my eleven-year-old son Bilak have just make a new baby with his wife which we are hoping to sell to Madonna. I want to make clear that we are ready to paint its face chocolate if necessary.” Borat has already described Madonna as a transvestite whose nether regions “are like two monkeys fighting in a hammock” but it would seem that Bilak may have some good times ahead if his father has anything to do with it. “I am also a fan of your Danni Minogue. Wa-wa-wee-wa! Very nice. My son Bilak is travelling here from Kazakhstan. If he survived the journey I promised that he can make sexy time inside of her. Why not?” But for the moment Borat is focused on his film, which he indeed has high hopes for come awards season. “I am hope to receive Oscar for Best Anti-Jewish film,” he says. “But there is of course very stiff competition from your Melvin Gibson.” Now counting himself amongst the celebrity A-list, the Kazakh patriot is proving himself to be a well-traveled citizen of the world, endlessly pursuing knowledge and experience whilst not letting his fame get in the way of his amiable personality. His press conference comes to an end yet he departs with his customary moustache-tipped smile and double thumbs up. “Thank you very much,” he says. “I like you. I like sex. Gidday mate!”
SCORPIO You may go far this month. There are stars everywhere, especially in the sky.
SAGITTARIUS You’re in the right place at the right time. The stars want to send you a confirmation of that belief right now. Be ultra paranoid about meteorites.
CAPRICORN
The stars shine on socializing this month, or you might want to cosy up at home (and maybe peruse the online personals). Follow your mood. You may end up with a lazy slob-nerd boyfriend/girlfriend.
AQUARIUS Suck on a Teletubby with a vacuum cleaner. Taste the difference. Confused? So is the Teletubby. Behave!
PISCES Less is more? Poo to that. If one is fun, two (or more) is better. Go Fish.
GUNNERS ARMS
Pizza & Beer
10
$
(One pot per pizza) 23 LAWRENCE ST. L’TON - 6331 3891 PAGE 21
254 Mount St Upper Burnie 7320 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 9
THE ANDY FARRELL TRIO 7.00pm, $5 cover charge SATURDAY FEBRUARY 10
CLOSED THURSDAY FEBRUARY 15
JAZZ CLUB '07 VIKTOR ZAPPNER TRIO
Kira - 16
Lenny - 20
Raelene - 22
If you were alone with Paul Lennon for 5 minutes, What would you do? Give him a make-over.
If you were alone with Paul Lennon for 5 minutes, what would you do? Drink a beer with him, it’s only 5 minutes after all.
If you alone with Paul Lennon for 5 minutes, What would you do? Get him to shave his horrible mostache, and give him the low-down on how to take care of his skin.
If you were alone with John Howard for five minutes, what would you do? Tell him to piss off and die! Laeve David Hicks in Guantanamo bay or bring him home? Bring him home.
If you were alone with John Howard for 5 minutes, what would you do? Ask for a hand-out. Leave David Hicks in Guantanamo or bring him home? Bring him home.
If you were alone with John Howard for 5 minutes what would you do? Trim his eyebrows. Leave David Hicks in Guantanamo or bring him home? Bring him home for a fair trial.
ACE COMBAT ZERO: THE BELKAN WAR PS2
featuring Denise Sam from Launceston on vocals and percussion 8.00pm, $5 cover charge FRIDAY FEBRUARY 16
Gaye Clarke & the Big Band Sound
BY CHRIS RATTRAY
7.00pm, $5 cover charge Flying the friendly skies in a supersonic fighter jet is one of those teen fantasies rendered unattainable for most of us, but thanks to the PS2 and Namco, you too can rain twin turbo-charged missile doom on the heads of your enemies! And your enemies will come at you thick and fast in this dog-fighting simulator-cum-arcade game, the sixth entry in the venerable Ace Combat series.
yet another bogey out of the sky more than makes up for it.
Taking place a little before the last game in the series, we follow the destiny of Cypher and his wingman, Pixy, during a war with the neighbouring country of Belka.
It’s a tough challenge, actually, and deceptively involving. It’s easy to pick up and play but mastery requires aptitude for multi-tasking, priority and risk management – not to mention the ability to not fly into the ground, which I’m pretty good at.
We’re talking alternate-earth history here so keep up – Belka wants a piece of your home country of Osea and you’re a stick jockey defending the skies, skirting closely to the kind of homo-erotic machismo prevalent during Top Gun. The only thing that could have made this game any more enjoyable would have been the inclusion of Kenny Loggins’ classic track Danger Zone. Well, anyway, the constant radio banter between your squad pilots, the semi-theatrical orchestral score and thudding subsonic explosions as you blow
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 17
Held loosely together by a narrative consisting of some excellent animation and a lead actor who bears a passing resemblance to Ray Liotta, each mission adheres to a tried and true formula – stay in the sky as long as you can, avoid being slammed by enemy missiles, and try to send as much of your ordinance up their tailpipes as you can.
CLOSED MONDAY FEBRUARY 19
VIKTOR ZAPPNER TRIO
Your wingman, the every-faithful Pixy, can also be commanded to cover you or attack your foes, so he’s a bit handy.
For those of you lucky enough to have been given a PSP for Christmas, the handheld version of this game, Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception is also available. While it boasts a smaller amount of missions, it recreates the console experience admirably. Whichever variety you go for, you can be assured that these latest Ace Combat titles will prove remarkably fun from the get-go. Get some!
Jazz featuring Al Davey from Sydney on trumpet 8.00pm, $5 cover charge THURSDA FEBRUARY 22
3.5 air-to-air assaults out of 5.
JAZZ CLUB '07 VIKTOR ZAPPNER TRIO featuring Teresa Beck-Swindale from Loongana on tenor sax 8.00pm, $5 cover charge
Alana & Callan
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 23
THE ANDY FARRELL TRIO 7.00pm $5 cover charge SATURDAY FEBRUARY 24
HIPNOSIS Return of the bellydancers 7.30pm, $5 cover charge
To be continued ... PAGE 22
L]Zc ^h V X]V^g cdi V X]V^g4
L ]Z c ^iÉh V XV gW d[ g ZYjX^c\ Xa ^b YdZhcÉi _jhi ad
`ZZe^c\ ^i [gd
dc h id gZ Ä V l
ViZ X]Vc\Z# L
X` je XVgWdc
b ]Vgb^c\ i
Vn
dd Y
Y^dm^YZ!
]Z Vibdh"
e]ZgZ# Jh^c \ lddY bZV ch ndj VgZc Éi jh^c\ aZhh Zck^gdcb ZciVaan"[g^Z cYan V ai Z g c V i^ k Z h a ^` Z e aV h i^ X ! h iZ Z a d g Vajb^c^j & b # I]Z bdgZ l ddY ndj j hZ! i]Z bd gZ igZZÉh lZ eaV ' ci ! hd c Zmi i^bZ ndj Wj n [ jg c Óddgh ^ i jg Z d gZbZb g l ^cY WZg id X d l h ! d ]ddhZ l g ddY#
;dg bdgZ ^c[dgbVi^dc k^h^i i]Z ;dgZhi VcY LddY EgdYjXih GZhZVgX] VcY 9ZkZadebZci 8dgedgVi^dc Vi mmm$\mfhZY$eh]$Wk
E]/ %( +' ' ) &%( ( l l l#[^ViVh#Xdb#Vj
F orest I ndustries A ssociation of T asmania
& 7n X]ddh^c\ lddY egdYjXih l]ZgZkZg edhh^WaZ ^c ]djhZ XdchigjXi^dc! \gZZc]djhZ \Vh Zb^hh^dch Zfj^kVaZci id '* idccZh d[ XVgWdc Y^dm^YZ eZg ]djhZ XdjaY WZ hVkZY ^c 6jhigVa^V ;dgZhih! LddY VcY 6jhigVa^VÉh 8VgWdc 7VaVcXZ! ;LEG98 # ' I]Z '%%' GZ\^dcVa ;dgZhi 6\gZZbZci G;6 ;^kZ NZVg GZk^Zl [djcY i]Vi IVhbVc^VÉh [dgZhih ]VY \gdlc Wn dkZg &%!,%% ]ZXiVgZh h^cXZ i]Z h^\c^c\ d[ i]Z V\gZZbZci i]ViÉh Zfj^kVaZci id i]Z h^oZ d[ &&-. [ddiWVaa ÒZaYh i]Z h^oZ d[ i]Z B8< eZg nZVg #
Check out the new front bar OPENING FRIDAY 9 FEBRUARY TH
Totally new look and style 35 CAMERON STREET LAUNCESTON 6331 7222