Sauce - Issue 77, 17-9-08 by David K Q Williams

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Edition #77

17/09/08 - 30/09/08 Made in Tasmania

Weekends at Irish Mur phy’s Hobart We got it covered. P

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RED RIVAL THE FUSS (MELB) THE BLOODSPOTS (NSW) NOFOTO (ACOUSTIC) THE HIGH LOWS (ACOUSTIC) JAM JAR (OPEN MIC JAZZ SESSIONS) JASON ALLEN PATRICK BERECHREE SAM PAGE POWERCHILD HIGHBRAKE BOTOX TRUMPS CRYSTAL AND THE MIDDLE SEA MARITA MANGANO AMY KENDALL SAM BESTER

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SAUCE #77

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ROCK - AUSTRALIA // ASH GRUNWALD

Mushroom Meeting Leads to Magic

say opposites attract, and nothing could have been truer than when Ash Grunwald met Pip of TZU at a Mushroom shindig. Charged with oThey producing a demo by the end of the day, Ash and Pip found their combination of home-grown rockin’ blues and phat-assed beats led to some pretty bangin’ tunes. Fungi, DAVID WILLIAMS, dug up the dirt ahead of Ash’s forthcoming Tasmanian tour…

How’s the whole feeling now that you’ve finished the album and are now onto the next stage? Good! I’m just sort of recuperating after a long stint overseas and having a week or so off… you know, then the big tour starts, which is the biggest tour I’ve ever done, so it’s going to be pretty full on. It’s definitely a milestone for you every time you do something you’ve never done before; it must give you a lot of confidence about what’s going on in your career? You do want things to be moving forward. I guess, when you’re a couple of albums down the track and been on the scene for five or six years, you sort of want to be making your mark a bit, or whatever… I certainly was trying that on this album, to make it the best I can and make it a unique statement of what I’m about… something we’ve never heard before, hopefully.

Yeah, for sure. Definitely. That’s something that’s really important to me. Rather than do something that’s completely left of field it has been a gradual progression. This album has been a fresh kind of direction whilst still being a logical step for me. The beats and stuff is something I’ve been mucking around with for a long time. I actually did my own beats on the track, Give Signs, and it was really good to work with an expert now, rather than me mucking around – actually somebody that’s got really good beats going, that was Pip from TZU… he did a really good job, produced the whole album, and really made it a lot more polished and professional sounding, I guess, than anything I’ve ever done in the past.

the day. We just really hit it off and ended up basically – well, we did! – we recorded and finished the song, Fish Out of Water, which became the title track of my album, so it was pretty fruitful! “Magic happens!” as the bumper sticker says… Yeah, you gotta trust those bumper stickers… but yeah, it was really good. I’d been searching for someone like Pip to work with for so long. Didn’t really know anyone or even know where to look… and it’s great. It’s just really good to have someone who’s an expert at doing beats and an expert at recording things that sound presentable to a wider audience. We’ve just got different sensibilities and the combination works well I think.

gotta really “play in” a new song. There’s a big difference between recording it in the studio and playing it live. Especially the way we made these songs – Pip would come up with a beat, and I’d chuck down a riff and chuck another riff with it, and cut and paste it and you know, chuck this bit here and this bit there… it was a real mishmash the way we put it together. Then you’ve gotta get out and go, “Can I actually play this?!” It’s pretty bizarre! I had to learn to do some pretty fancy footwork on some of the tracks to actually get the same sound as… you know, the break beat, a loop of a drummer really, but I’ve gotta play it with my feet. Pretty bizarre…

And you’ve been testing out a lot of the album in live performance, especially overseas? Yeah, I’ve done a lot of playing which has been really good because you just get up to speed on them. You’ve

CATCH ASH GRUNWALD ALL OVER TASMANIA IN OCTOBER: THE REPUBLIC, OCTOBER 2; SIROCCO’S, OCTOBER 3; BATMAN FAWKNER, OCTOBER 4; THE LEWISHAM TAVERN, OCTOBER 5; AND THE LOFT, OCTOBER 08. HIS NEW ALBUM, FISH OUT OF WATER, IS OUT NOW. sDAVID WILLIAMS

HIP-HOP – NEW YORK // APOSTLES

around the world and pays the rent (well most of it). Even though its haaaard work (travelling and hustling e’rday) I’m still doing what I love… MUSIC

they go through. We wanted to keep the music going and to pass knowledge on to the seeds… Apostles is for the babies…

You’ve been to Australia before – to what extent has the country changed since your last visit, that you’ve noticed? I’ve seen, over our last few visits, the Aussie hip-hop scene develop and grow. When I first heard it, there was a lot of that backyard BBQ stuff (which is cool) but now I’m hearing a lot of songs about politics in Australia and more stuff from the heart. MC’s are really diggin’ down and putting more substance and emotion in the music which a lot of fake-ass MC’s in the ‘States aren’t doing. It’s good to see that.

You’ve been quoted as saying that your music is “ladies-take-your-panties-off” hip-hop. When was the last time anyone removed his or her clothing at your gigs? Well we have had some topless episodes, which is always nice especially when the fruits are ripe. We also had an unfortunate experience in Geelong a few years back where some dude high off his ass came on stage with his pants and underwear around his ankles. Luckily Megawatt threw him off stage. He flew into the camera girl ass first. That’s some footage I don’t ever want to see again.

Do you see a progression from one album to the next?

How did you and Pip hook up? We are both published by Mushroom and they get their songwriters together to have a songwriting day. You just basically get set up there, and have everything provided for you and you just have to record a demo by the end of

Hip-Hop For the Rest of Us

“We are all dynamic and complex individuals,” says G. Riot of NY-based hip-hop group, Apostles. This belief informs their brand of “Grown Folks Hip-Hop”. G-Riot explains, “We rap ‘bout things that everyday people go through. That can mean a lot of things cause people go through a lot of shit in their lives,” he says, “So while we talk about social issues like bullshit in politics we also speak about partying and having a good time.” What was it that made you react against the fantasy lyrical content of your contemporaries? Basically they’re speaking that bullshit. Now normally I don’t mind a little bullshit but they got everybody believing that’s this is what hip-hop is about. It creates a culture of people who can’t relate and communicate with each other and hip-hop is the opposite. I know we all got to hustle and get that money but flaunting riches in peoples faces especially when the majority of hip-hop listeners aren’t ballers is straight disrespect. Surely, the more successful you become the more the “fantasy” becomes reality? To what extent has this happened for you? Well for us we have not reached BALLIN level yet. Right now we’ve been able to get to a point where we can do this music thang fulltime. It’s brought me

What kinds of educational materials will be available from your new company, June 12 Entertainment LLC? We’ve been doing music entrepreneur workshops in the states. Basically we’ve been teaching youths about the different ways to make money using music, from production to management to marketing. We use the music as the forum but they can use these tools in any direction they take. What motivated the creation of an “edutainment” company? We’ve all worked as educators at some point in our lives. The kids we work with are the same knuckleheads that we were coming up so we can relate to the struggles

What kind of message do you hope people take away from an Apostles gig? Basically when you leave an Apostles gig you should mainly feel like you had the best time of your life. We want you to feel like you were a participant in a big party rather than just an observer of a show. If you catch the lyrics cool… “Only one tenth rewind and those fans are mine”- Icon. GET YOUR TOP OFF WITH THE APOSTLES AT THE ALLEY CAT, SEPTEMBER 20. sCHRIS RATTRAY

SAUCE #77

NEWS CALL FOR MELLOW FEST MUSICIANS #77 - September 17 to 30

Contents 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 17 18 19 20 21 22

Ash Grunwald / Apostles News / Fat Lip / Freya Hanly Marshall & The Fro / Dragonforce Andrew Kennedy Henry Wagons Crystal & The Middle Sea DJ Skip Good Buddha D’Opus & Roshambo GT / Bass Kleph Alley Mok / The Roobs Birling Gap / Lincoln Le Fevre Gig Guide Gig Reviews CD Reviews John C Reilly / Will Ferrell Flip Top Heart Arts Sparks Zzapped! Hot Mods Miss Indy Street Fashion / Competitions

Contact:

Phone: Advertising: Editorial: Editor: Email: Sub -Editor: Email: Graphic Design: Email: Accounts: Email:

03 6331 0701 advertising@sauce.net.au editorial@sauce.net.au David Williams david@sauce.net.au Chris Rattray chris@sauce.net.au Simon Hancock simon@sauce.net.au Lisa-Marie Rushton accounts@sauce.net.au

Opinions expressed in Sauce are not necessarily those of the Editor or staff. Sauce Publishing accepts no liability for the accuracy of advertisements.

Contributors Dave Venter, Mahliha Rickard, Rick McCullock. Adam Ferguson, Kevin Gleeson, Clara Murray, Nicole Calabria, Peta-Maree Julin, Tabitha Fletcher, Skye Crosswell, Michael Blake, Tom Butler, Sam Harvey, Tom Wilson, Tiarne Double, Dion Brooks

Next Edition Sauce #78 - 01/10/08 to 14/10/08 Deadline: 26/09/08

The School of Visual and Performing Arts is in urgent need of any local acoustic solo or duo acts to play at this year’s Mellow Fest. Proceeds from Mellow Fest go towards ACTAS Equity Day, helping final year drama students attend an agent’s day in Melbourne, in the hopes of securing an agent to help further their careers. Please email Anoushka to register your interest: hughesac@utas.edu.au. Get quiet at Mellow Fest at the School of Visual and Performing Arts, Inveresk Railyards, Saturday October 4, 4-9pm.

BUKKCITY IN TOWN Melbourne hip-hop artist, Bukkcity launches his EP, Same Place, at The Republic Bar, Saturday, September 27. Stand up and be counted at what promises to be a powerful show of beats and flow.

FALLS FESTIVAL SOLD OUT! The Falls Festival in Lorne, Victoria is completely SOLD OUT. Tickets are still available for The Falls Festival Marion Bay Tasmania. To secure your tickets, go to: http://www.fallsfestival.com

MUSICOZ ENTRY DEADLINE EXTENDED The Musicoz Submission Deadline for the prestigious 2008 awards has been extended by two weeks to September 30. With the largest and coolest prize pool and the most impressive judging academy as well as opportunities galore, you too could turn into a Musicoz success story. Former winners include Bliss n Eso, BlueJuice, Sick Puppies (toured with Evanescence in the US), and The Sunpilots. Enter online at:

THE SUITCASE Touring Travel Tips with Freya Hanly of Freya Hanly & That Brutal Moon

What are the three most essential items you make sure you bring with you on tour and why? My three band buddies! Because they are great friends, make me laugh and play incredible music with me… what more would you need? Which three albums or songs keep you going when on the road? Last tour we listened to lots of dub, which was great driving music, Jen Cloher’s Dead Wood Falls, Katie Tunstall’s Kaleidoscope and Rufus Wainwright’s Poses. Listening to the other’s CD collections in the car is a really cool side bonus of being on tour. I’ve discovered lots of new faves from them. Where was the last place you went on tour and how was it? We went up to Coral Bay, 1200km north of Perth, playing gigs and festivals on the way. It was just amazing. Sarah, my bass player, went swimming with the whale sharks, we went quad bike riding, got taken out on an ocean cruise and saw a very rare Dugong and its calf. We had campfire jams with the locals on the beach at Monkey Mia. The gigs were beachside and beautiful. It’s those experiences that make all the frustrations of the music industry so worth it. Who’s waiting for you at home? My completely adorable daughter Belyan and when she’s not touring herself, my beautiful partner. So coming home is pretty sweet! CATCH FREYA HANLY AND THAT BRUTAL MOON AT THE ALLEY CAT BAR, SEPTEMBER 27 AND THE LEWISHAM TAVERN, SEPTEMBER 28. FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT HER WEBSITE AT: http://www.freyahanly.com

BLUES - AUSTRALIA // MARSHALL AND THE FRO

Hippies Serve Up Diet of Roots wasn’t a good time to talk to Marshall, the titular name behind oItOz-based blues and roots outfit, Marshall and the Fro. He’d just

played a couple of festivals and, “…had a flu through it all. [My] voice lasted till the last show and then went husky,” he types, “I also had a tooth pulled out the day before…” However, Marshall is totally absorbed in his music, having played guitar since the age of four. He went on to give me more insight into his background via email…

http://www.myspace.com/deligma SUN, SEPTEMBER 7TH Satanicus - Guitar takes After recording the drums last weekend it was time for guitar. Marshall Mode 4 and quad box was used for amp tone. The Marshall had the nice “bitey” attack we were looking for. It was loud.... VERY LOUD! Two songs down, three to go. http://www.myspace.com/satanicusband

SAUCE #77

What’s been the most extraordinary thing that’s happened to you as a result of being in this band? Hard question… maybe playing the East Coast Blues and Roots Festival for the last two years and receiving a support and energy that I had yet to experience. The PA speakers were swaying, security had to hold them up, and the people were jumping. It sent me into another zone, beautiful stuff. What’s the ideal attire in which to enjoy a round of Marshall and the Fro? Boardies, singlet, thongs, beer, friends… for the summer). What was the last best pair of thongs you ever saw and who was wearing them?

11 years ago… I had just turned 18. I took off to the States in search of ways to perfect my craft and although I can’t be 100% on which it was, I can say without doubt that at this very moment eleven years ago I was either jamming after sneaking into a blues club to play, trying to sneak into a blues club to play or on a train somewhere in the midwest on my way to find more blues clubs to sneak into. I have fond memories of that time because I look back and wonder how I had that much guts... Just an underage kid walking straight into clubs demanding a shot on stage.... Guess it’s because I was too young to know I couldn’t do it! 11 months ago… I was in the least likely place I would ever imagine ending up... Tokyo. Even stranger than that, I played a series of sell-out concerts at Disneyland that month. I had no idea how I got there and still don’t but it’s the single most amazing thing I’ve ever experienced. I had just met the right people who could make things happen and so I’d leave Melbourne, jump on a firstclass flight to Tokyo and get off feeling like I was on a different planet.... I mean, an 115kg, 6ft Australian doesn’t blend into the crowd in Japan anyway, but to have that kind of attention on top of it was totally surreal, often enjoyable, but mostly petrifying. 11 weeks ago… I was deciding whether it was time to finish up the new CD. I’ve been putting it off to spend more time with my son and after all the hard work and strange happenings in Japan, the thought of going back to “push push push” just didn’t seem all that inviting.... If you are wondering if I’ve gone ahead and finished it, maybe you’d better ask me again in another eleven weeks.

11 hours ago… I was reading a book to my three-year old son, entitled Why I Love my Daddy. Needless to say, I tend to favour that book above the others. Why I Love my Mummy (the sequel) had a much bigger budget but lacks the energy and substance of the original.

What’s the most “rootsy” type of thing you’ve ever done, where you’ve completely lived up to the stereotype? Lived in hippie communities in Cairns and Bellingen with no power, acoustic guitars and growing our own food; growing our own music. What is it about roots music that resonates with people? I think it’s organic, real, honest, and includes many genres of music. People all over the world can relate and can experiment with so many different instruments and combinations of instruments.

Our lives are measured in moments. Sometimes those moments are soft and low, and other times they’re off the scale. Lloyd Spiegel dialled into some of the moments that have brought him to this point in time…

11 days ago… I was enjoying a very rare Sunday off. I’d intended on having the whole month off but one or two gigs a week for me is a very easy month so I dare say there will be more Sundays like it in future.

What is it to be totally absorbed in the Marshall and the Fro “thing”? Going away with a smile on your face and a good work out, losing yourself for an hour and telling your friends that you could have had the best night of the year so far.

Dilon Smith from Burnie recorded vocals for the new track Believe. A few weeks prior to the recording I gave Dilon a bit of vocal homework. Dilon’s task was to write three different vocal melodies and harmonies for each song. That way he was over prepared with ideas for the final takes. A week later he returned with a bucket load of ideas. The results were impressive! He nailed it in the first couple of takes. Check out the band’s MySpace for a sneak peek!

With Lloyd Spiegel

Fremantle’s Freya Hanley brings her beautifully poetic songs of a more serious nature to Tasmania later this month. But will she bring her nose trumpet or German nurses?

http://www.musicoz.org

THU, SEPTEMBER 4 Deligma - Vocal takes

TURN THE DIAL TO 11

11 minutes ago… I was thinking about how I was gonna answer this question in eleven minutes time.... This wasn’t the answer I had planned.

Our friend, “Man Power”, who plays harmonica with us sometimes, rocked up with two odd thongs. Both looked like they had been through WW3! He’s a crazy hillbilly from the hills near Byron Bay. Oh, and my Mamma came home with a 6ft blow up thong. We took it to the beach forty metres down the road and I got it out the back and managed to ride a wave to the shore… after many failed attempts [Laughs] What do you want people to take away from a Marshall and the Fro gig? A positive energy and a smile! Oh and a CD or two. CATCH MARSHALL AND THE FRO AT THE LAUNCESTON BLUES AND ROOTS FESTIVAL AT THE BATMAN FAWKNER INN, OCTOBER 24-26. sCHRIS RATTRAY

11 years from now? I’ll be 40 but since I was ten, I’ve answered any question about where I see myself in five, ten, 20 years time the same way. I just want to be playing for people who enjoy it and still want to be enjoying it myself. Sure, like any business, you want to see progress but it doesn’t have to be limited to progress in dollars or popularity. So often musos lose sight of the fact that it’s just a great feeling to be able to pick up an instrument and play something on it so I’m hoping at 40 I haven’t lost that feeling. ENJOY LLOYD SPIEGEL AT THE ROYAL OAK, SEPTEMBER 19. ALSO, CHECK OUT HIS WEBSITE AT: http://www.lloydspiegel.com/ s CHRIS RATTRAY

METAL - LONDON ONDON // DRAGONFORCE

Furious New Album Easy Listening

an impending Australian tour, it was time for SAUCE to go one-to-one with Dragonforce to learn a little more about the making of their recent oWith new album, Ultra Beatdown. We were almost thrown in the first round however, when we were greeted by a strangely familiar accent… “I’m from Ukraine,” says the band’s keyboardist, Vadim Pruzhanov, down the line on a drizzly London morning, “People tell me I sound Australian but I have no idea why. No reason to sound it. People say [it] all the time.” In spite of his suspicious-sounding accent, his band’s music is set to transcend all barriers once more… or should that be, beat them down mercilessly in a blistering inferno of metallic-mayhem, a metaphor that leads nicely into our first question - what is it about the music that inspired you to call the album Ultra Beatdown? “The music has some futuristic elements to it,” he enthuses, “And the cover is all related together… the sound is kind of futuristic like a computer game in a way. If you look at the cover – the guy that did it worked for Nintendo and does covers for them. It looks pretty cool, and the name itself is pretty cool. We thought Ultra Beatdown was like, you know, some kind of invisible force coming down to beat you down… it was Herman’s idea man,” he clarifies, “I had nothing to do with it!

The description reminds us of Ultimate Fight Championships or something… almost no laws and really bloody… “Yeah, it has something to do with that, and obviously it’s a term that could be used in a lot of fights… and “ultra” is kind of like, together, a futuristic kind of mess-up…” Vadim explains before launching into his thoughts on the new album. “We’re really happy with… the new album because it came out the way we wanted it to. On previous records when we’ve listened to the album, because we’re such perfectionists, we notice different bits and pieces in the songs I could have improved or I could still add stuff to, but this album’s great… we’ve reached a point where the songs are the catchiest they could ever be and the compositions fit so well together… the whole thing is perfectly contained, so we’re really, really happy now. I listen to the album every single day! I don’t usually listen to our own records; I’m like, “Fuck that! I’m gonna go on tour and play these songs for the next couple of years!” But we’re really pleased with the outcome. It was a long journey of eleven months of writing and recording and arguing, but it’s all worked out for the best.”

Wednesday September 17 Steph Brett (acoustic blues) Free 8pm

Saturday September 20 $8 9:30pm

Thursday September 18 Kyle Jenkins ( QLD ) Davey St Blues $5 9pm

s Ap os tle nn D

( New Yor k)

+ Du

Friday September 19 Bone Rattlers 9.30pm $5 Saturday September 20 Apostles ( NEW YORK ) Dunn D $8 9.30pm

Saturday September 27 $7 9pm

Sunday September 21 $5 pizzas

Freya Hanley

& That Brutal Moon

Wednesday September 24 Joanies Plastic Sunday Sam Cole The Overview Free 8pm

So you almost had your own Fight Championships in the studio every now and then, SAUCE ponders? “Oh yeah, a little bit of that… people have different visions about different things and everybody wants to improve the songs but sometimes you have to make sacrifices,” he reflects, “It’s hard – we’re all different people with different characters and we have different ideas about things and sometimes it’s hard to decide who’s right and who’s wrong and we get, like, several different people’s ideas to listen to the stuff… I wouldn’t say we’ve been completely hateful towards each other, but there’s been a few arguments here and there.” But the end result was worth it, as he says, “It’s cool now, because what I like about the album and the songs is that fact that it’s remained pretty fresh and new up until the time when we finished it, we finished mastering it about three days ago, even a couple of hours before the end of mastering we changed things and took things out, or replaced them, and improved the songs. From the beginning to the very end of it we were recording and writing it, which we do hand-in-hand, which is

a bit weird, but we do… there was always something exciting. I find now, when I listen to it, I never get bored of it. Compared to Inhuman Rampage it’s more balanced out… Inhuman had more great melodies, but it was more chaotic, and kind of brutal whereas this one kind of grows on you.” DRAGONFORCE UNLEASHES THE BEATDOWN THROUGHOUT AUSTRALIA IN OCTOBER ON THE FOLLOWING DATES: FREMANTLE METROPOLIS, OCTOBER 22; ADELAIDE – HQ, OCTOBER 24; MELBOURNE - FORUM THEATRE, OCTOBER 25; BRISBANE - TIVOLI THEATRE, OCTOBER 27; AND SYDNEY - THE METRO, OCTOBER 28. CATCH THE REST OF THIS INTERVIEW AT SAUCE.NET.AU. sINTERVIEW BY DAVID WILLIAMS ARTICLE BY CHRIS RATTRAY

Thursday September 25 The Highlows $5 9pm Friday September 26 Charles du Cane Ivy St The Military Police 9pm $5 Saturday September 27 Freya Hanley & that Brutal Moon Bird To Prey ( WA ) Ally Mok 9pm $7 Sunday September 28 $5 pizza

Alley Cat

The Alley Cat Bar 381 Elizabeth Street North Hobart 03 6231 2299 Wednesday Night Special 6pm - 9.30pm $10 Beaut Beer & Bonza Burger Night. Your choice of beef, chicken or vege Alley Cat Burger with a 10oz. of Cascade Draught or Pale Ale.

SAUCE #77

ROCK - BRISBANE // ANDREW KENNEDY

New Album to Stimulate the Muse is great, but not everyone gets it. Everyone gets a good song though,” o“Jazz says Brisbane’s Andrew Kennedy. All the bebop and skoobedeedoo of the

formalised jazz world at the Brisbane Conservatorium held little appeal for Andrew, despite its initial siren’s call. “I thought, “Well jazz is so complex, if I can play jazz, I can probably play anything,” he says. Finding jazz piano of no use after graduation, he “switched mostly to guitar and developed a real love for songwriting.” Testament to his love of songwriting is his new album, Running Stumbling Bumbling Bursting, out now… What are you most proud of in relation to the album? I think this record is the first time I’ve really sounded like “me”. I’m actually a producer myself and I recorded my first album, Shrugging It Off, in the total isolation of my home studio. The problem was that, with no one around to bounce ideas off, I went a little nuts. A few times I ended up deleting perfectly good takes and starting again just cause I’d lost perspective. I wanted this record to be a different experience so I hired Brisbane producer Caleb James to wear the “producer” hat, which allowed me the freedom to just be an artist. It was so much easier to perform and create when that’s your only job. Caleb really brought out the best in me so I that’s probably the best thing about the record. The thanks in your liner notes mention “some fella at a gig recently who gave me a compliment just when I needed it” – what did he say and why did you need it? Oh God, it’s hard to explain. I do a lot of covers gigs around Brisbane to pay the bills and it can be pretty soul destroying work a lot of the time. But there was this one gig earlier in the year that really got me down. I’d had an awful day, I was exhausted and I’d pinched one of my fingers in a mic stand just before the gig started. Try to imagine me on the stage in this Nowheresville pub near some train tracks. There’s four people in the room, all of whom are watching the footy on the TV’s, not even the bar girl was listening to me. I’m trying to sing my heart out, but in the back of my mind I’ve got images of my school friends and their investment properties going through my head. I’m thinking, “I gave up my day job for this?” So I close my eyes and lose myself in a guitar solo. Next thing I look up and there’s this fella standing in front of me saying, “Man, you’re awesome. What the f*ck are you doing playing in this shithole?” No joke, I was close to tears, it felt so good to hear someone say that. Then the guy finished his drink and left five

Apparently you’ve been recognised in the street a couple of times – what’s that feel like? It was really confusing actually. I played a gig in Tamworth last year at the Albert Hotel, the next morning I was checking out the music store in the main street. I’m standing there with a guitar in my hand and some guy goes, “Hey are you Andrew Kennedy?” And I’m thinking, “Finally, I’m a celebrity,” and the fella says, “Yeah I saw you at the hotel last night, it was good but you should have played a bit more country music.” Ah well.

to Melbourne for years. Later, when she moved back to Brisbane, we met properly for the first time and started dating and eventually got married. She’s definitely my muse. Currently I’ve written about ten or eleven songs about her. She’s actually a bit spoilt because if I don’t write one every year or so she gets impatient. The track Little Trooper on the CD is all about her, and the photo of the bunny slippers in the artwork are actually her slippers.

How did you meet your wife and to what extent does she inspire you? We actually met when we were little kids, but we didn’t know each other. Our parents went to the same church and we have a photo where the two of us are in the same room at the age of eight or nine. Then her family moved

When was the last time you had to run for anything? Well, I’m actually training to run a marathon at the moment, just one of the things I want to do before I die. So I actually run quite a bit. But I’m not a very natural runner. It’s taken me months just to get a decent 10km time. Then my brother goes out and runs 10km on his second try and beats me. Little shit. When was the last time you felt as if you could burst? That’s a tough one - maybe during a long gig with no toilet break? Actually I read a lot of philosophy, religion and science books. I find those topics really fascinating but a lot of the science stuff goes over my head. I was recently trying to slug my way through Stephen Hawkings’ A Brief History of Time and occasionally I would have these little light bulb moments where I finally understood something. I was so excited that I woke up my wife and tried to explain some random aspect of quantum mechanics. She didn’t care but I was so excited I just had to tell someone. That shit is amazing. Under what conditions do you usually find yourself stumbling or bumbling? I suppose the creative process of making a record can be pretty unbalanced and precarious. During the making of my new EP Caleb and I would sometimes hit a dead end and just stare blankly at each other not knowing what to do next. When that happens you just have to take a break, grab a bite to eat or just come back to it the next day. I guess a stumble or a bumble is a sign that you’re going in the wrong direction or doing something wrong. Time to regain your balance. You seem to have a love/hate relationship with being on the road and the time it takes you away from your

LIVE MUSIC

Friday September 19 DJ Skip Saturday September 20 Coming Rob Richards Soon aoke Kar Friday September 26 Thursdays 8pm til late Oﬀ The Cuﬀ Saturday September 27 Darren Lloyd

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Lunch 12 noon - 2.30pm | Dinner 5.30pm - 8.30pm (9pm Fri & Sat) 27 George St Launceston, 03 6331 3868 SAUCE #77

photos I took myself, like the image for Coming Home. You can see the car headlights illuminating the road, and there’s the warm glow of houses in the distance that you want to get to.

minutes later.

COMMERCIAL HOTEL

wife – aside from caffeinated drinks, what keeps you going? Mainly the fear of going back to a normal job. Even after the shittiest of gigs, I can go through a McDonalds drive thru and be thankful that I’m not the one on the other side of the window. Also, I guess all artists are pretty idealistic and we like to think that we are “destined” to do what we do. Being on the road or playing lots of late night gigs mightn’t always be fun, but it’s part of the deal. Even Powderfinger slugged it out for ten years in pubs before they made it big.

How did you go about selecting the images to include in the album artwork? There’s some quite evocative images there, such as the Tiananmen Square image, the spaceman… and the bunny rabbit slippers. Yeah, I wanted each panel of the artwork to represent the lyrics of each song. I was pretty instinctual about selecting photos. I wanted the images to evoke the right emotion as well as the right meaning. So, for instance, the NASA image of that astronaut floating above a distant blue earth almost sends shivers down my spine. You look at it and realise how fragile we are, and that’s exactly what the song Numbers is about. Some of the

What message do you want people to take away from the new album? I’m not sure that I have a message behind my music; my songs are more about capturing stories, moments and feelings. But when people come up to me after gigs and say how much a song connected with them, I feel really pleased. CONNECT WITH ANDREW KENNEDY AT THE LOFT, SEPTEMBER 20. HIS NEW ALBUM, RUNNING STUMBLING BUMBLING BURSTING, IS OUT NOW ON BROKEN TOY RECORDS. sCHRIS RATTRAY

ROCK – MELBOURNE // HENRY WAGONS

Never the Twain Shall Meet we catch up with Henry Wagons he’s contemplating his oWhen upcoming performances with Dave Graney, “I’ll be playing before

Dave Graney each night, so I can get off the stage and take notes on how to be a proper entertainer,” he says. “I can just relax and have a beer and jot down a few tips and pointers for myself. It’s pretty much me and Dave playing on our own each night and I’ll be first, he’ll be second.”

Do you think having him play after you, do you think differently about your performance, and so does it end up being a different performance because you’re playing before Dave Graney? Good question, I like to think that we’re just two separate acts on a Johnny Carson Tonight Show kind of thing… you know I just pretend there’s some legendary American entertainer introducing us and I’m on first, he’s on second. I’d rather live in my own little bubble in terms of performance. If I started thinking about whether Dave Graney’s heavy and amazing vibe might have impacted my show it might freak me out a bit… In a weird way – and hopefully it’ll come down to the show – but in a weird way I think the two acts are pretty complimentary in a way because you’ll hear a lot of spinning shit and a lot of posturing, and a lot of heavy, long storytelling so I reckon it’s a good Johnny Carson Tonight Show that people will be seeing. We’ve played together a few times in the past and it always works out pretty well. Say if a friend of your mum… your mum was talking to her about you and your music and the friend asked, “What kind of music does he play?” What would you like your mum to say to that friend? Get your hands off my son! And I guess it’s country music, but it’s inspired by the thought of opening-up-a fresh-tomb kind of country, kind of the most monstrous and dark, flash, big themed kind of country. Pretty much inspired by the fifties, sixties and seventies greats. I’m not saying I’m a patch on them but I love the likes of Hank Williams and Cash and Merle Haggard and that sort of business. And they’re a good soundtrack to my life. I don’t necessarily listen to their records all the time but I think I’ve got their songs circulating in my head all the time. I can’t get those bastards out so, that’s basically where I’m coming from, essentially.

Quite a lot, my records have been accused of being morbid. I like it being there that way I don’t have to deal with it in my real life… I guess I should start doing extreme sports or some sort of stuff to be free of this fear… but yeah I think most country music out there is kind of drivel-full, and I’m talking about your Shania Twain’s and that sort of crap. That bad American mainstream are unfortunately what people tend to think when you say country music. But the country music that really engaged me when I was younger was the kind of country that talked about being on death’s door, and you know standing on the gallows, or being an absolute wretch who peers over the loss of your wife or your girl or whatever… The farm, the dog, the wife… Yeah, the dead dog, that’s it. Forget about the new fuckin’ adoption show on Channel Nine, that just makes me laugh, it gives me an evil laugh. It’s those classic country songs that do it for me and that’s where I’m coming from too. You’ve had a lot of press writing good things about you – how do you think you’ve got so many of them fooled? [Laughs] Who knows… I’ve been really happy with how the record’s been received. I guess… the band’s been together for most of the “noughties” so I guess we’re just getting the hang of it. CATCH HENRY WAGONS SUPPORTING DAVE GRANEY AT THE BATMAN FAWKNER, OCTOBER 2, AND THE ALLEY CAT, OCTOBER 4. THEIR LATEST ALBUM THE CURSE LIGHTNING IS OUT ON SPUNK RECORDS.

sDAVID WILLIAMS

How much dark country is there [in your music]?

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SAUCE #77

ROCK - HOBART // CRYSTAL AND THE MIDDLE SEA

New Band Crystallises Vision

As an adopted child from Nauru, amongst a family of four other adopted children, Crystal Campbell never felt like she belonged… until she picked up her first musical instrument, an acoustic guitar. From that point, she grew into a wider family of like-minded musicians. Her new band, Crystal and the Middle Sea, is set to sail later this month, and you’re invited to join them on their voyages... What pivotal moment ignited your passions for being a musician? I was in Grade Five when I first picked up the guitar and the first song I sang and played was Love is All Around by Wet Wet Wet. I didn’t live far from school and when school would finish I’d visit Mrs. Lusted in the music area and show her songs I had learnt from ear either on the guitar or piano. I suppose you could say I’d show off to her and thinking back I must have annoyed the crap out of her! In primary school I played the guitar for the first time, the piano, as well as a little drums. Apparently, you were something of a Mariah Carey fan in your early school years and had most of her albums… now you own only two. What happened to them do you think? Well, if you must know when I was about nine for a Christmas present I got Mariah Carey - Music Box. It was on tape of course being the late 80’s and then the collection grew from there. As I got older I didn’t really

like the commercialism of Carey’s sound particularly in the late 90’s. But I have to say, if it weren’t for her album Music Box I wouldn’t be able to do my vocal adlibs today. As for where those other albums are now, I think I sold them… It seems your tastes have matured somewhat – what are a few recent releases that have really sparked your interest and why? I got four words for you: Chaka Khan – FUNK THIS! I went out and bought her album about two months ago and it’s all I’m listening to on my MP3 player. Chaka Khan’s voice is an inspiration in itself and just the pure funkiness she delivers is enough to make me scream! Of course I had listened to her older stuff from Rufus and as you know that is classic funk. Being a student of the Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music, people have drawn me in the direction of a lot of different styles of music though. I draw inspiration from local Hobart artists as well as the more commercial sound

of John Mayer or Estelle. I think if you really want to improve your writing you need to listen to something you wouldn’t normally listen to. What prompted the change from Horizon to Crystal and the Middle Sea? Any musician would know that you never start off with the same band members unless you’re all musical geniuses or have grown up together. Horizon was grouped prematurely and the sound I was looking for just wasn’t set in my mind at the time. So after long deliberation I decided on regrouping and with that renaming. I also have this fascination with the sea which I’m sure comes from my ancestry.

on all my songs but then asked Jamie if he would take over because of my limited ability to play and as we are at the Conservatorium of Music we came across Liam through the Uni. What’s the best time you’ve had together? Recording together has really brought us closer as a group musically and personally. At the moment I am recording an EP made do-able by a Tasmanian Arts Grant at a home studio. As a group, The Middle Sea have not had as many gigs as I have solo so I’m still counting down the days for our best gig together. You never know, our gig at Irish on the 28th may be our best time together! How will Crystal and the Middle Sea create waves in the music industry? My main focus of my writing comes solely down to the vocal production. I prefer to have solid harmonies and melodies that make people listen and think, “I like the sound of that!” Even though I haven’t been back to my birthplace I like to think that I’m still reconnecting with my roots when it comes down to the music that I create. I’d also like to one day be a real role model that’s keeping it real, if you know what I mean. It’s a hard question to ask though and one I hesitate to answer as I still have a LOT of work to do!

Who’s in the band and how’d you all come to play together? Well, currently I’m playing bass guitar and singing. My partner, Jamie Pregnell, is on lead guitar/rhythm and Liam O’Leary is on drums. I originally played the guitar

SEE CRYSTAL AND THE MIDDLE SEA AT IRISH MURPHY’S HOBART, SEPTEMBER 28. sCHRIS RATTRAY

DJ PROFILE: DJ SKIP

There’s Always Something ... WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 17 Foreign Films

Sometimes all it takes to make someone happy is their favourite song, a brew, and people to shout at over the racket! Introducing DJ Skip, who’s been providing the racket since 2005… How’d you get into DJ’ing? Because of my interest in music I was asked by a local DJ to join his business, which I then purchased from him. I’ve been full time since 2005 working my own business called Mobile Music Enterprises. I’m known as DJ Woodsy in the northwest and DJ Skip in the north. I have played at weddings and parties and I have just expanded into having Karaoke nights with a newly purchased machine, which I find very popular.

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FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 26 Long Way Home

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 21 Nathan Wheldon Brief Illusion Buff Star Deluxe

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 27 Victor Charlie Charlie

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 22 Mark Vincent

What’s the best thing about DJ’ing at The Commercial Hotel? The great atmosphere and the old traditional style What’s the strangest request anyone’s ever made of you and what’d you do? When the staff couldn’t get the people to leave at closing time, they asked me to play some unpopular music so they wouldn’t hang around. What was the last album or song you listened to that you can’t get out of your head and why? The Dire Straits album, Sultans of Swing, because of that particular time of my life in the late 70’s. Who do you hope to see in the crowd at your gigs? The usual locals because they are the backbone of the gig and maybe Jimmy Barnes or Jon Bon Jovi! CATCH DJ SKIP AT LAUNCESTON’S COMMERCIAL HOTEL FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 19. sCHRIS RATTRAY 8

SAUCE #77

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 24 Mick Attard Nathan Wheldon & The Two Timers

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 23 Ben Castles

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 28 Hamish & Sara Victor Charlie Charlie MONDAY SEPTEMBER 29 Ben Castles TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 30 Phil Picasso

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HIP-HOP - SYDNEY // GOOD BUDDHA

HIP-HOP – AUSTRALIA // D’OPUS & ROSHAMBO

the soul section, then the funk section, and then the rock section.” I’m not so easily fooled and insist that Andy is lying, and that he is looking at all his Shannon Noll CD’s. Good Buddha is Zen with this and confesses he has got all of those…

that’s what I reckon,” says Rowan Thompson (a.k.a. Roshambo). At the time of this interview he and his compatriot, D’Opus had just released their new album, The Switch, “It’s a busy time and a rewarding time cause we’ve just finished a record and just put heaps of work into it and now we can just get it out there and give it to the people and they can just make up their own mind about it.”

Getting High With the Fat Man Opus Signals New Direction For Duo call interrupts Andy “Good Buddha’s” record hunting. He declares “It’s a blessed thing to be able to make music and have people actually oMy that, “I was looking through the hip-hop section, before moving on to ocare about it if you know what I mean, cause you’d be doing it anyway So tell me have you smoked any good Buddha lately? I was actually gonna say that not for a couple of days but someone gave me a joint last night so that’s a lie yeah. I have. It was quite good. It was quite strong. Yeah, me too. Don’t worry. [Coughs] So what’s been happening in the Sydney scene at the moment mate? That’s a very good question; I’ve actually been living in Melbourne for the last two years. Right, so I just totally fucked that up then… Nah, the rest of the dudes are up in Sydney. Give me the Melbourne one then. What have you been seeing happening in the Melbourne scene? In the Melbourne scene and with bands like The Herd from Sydney there’s been a ridiculous amount of really good Australian hip hop and live music hip-hop, and hip-hop generally coming out recently. The Herd’s just put out an album, Ilzilla have just put out their album TZU have just put out their album, we’ve put out our album – an album that’s better than everyone’s but I’m biased.

So you guys have got the new album Hit the Sky Running. How long has this been in the works for, man? Two years, give or take. We started writing the stuff and we were so happy with what we were coming up with that we thought - let’s do this one properly. The last album we did, we did at home, with home studio equipment, and it produced a definite sound, but we’ve always wanted to get into a proper studio and lay everything down to take, do everything with a professional engineer, make everything sound as good as it could. Which we decided we would do with this one… So yeah we were so happy with it we thought we’d make sure we take out time and save enough cash to do this the way it deserves to be done. So then we had… time to relax and perfect the tunes, rehearse the arse out of them, whilst we got the money together to get the studio time to do what we wanted to do. So as a group, when it comes to songwriting, who tends to be the bossy one, who’s the bitch that everyone pushes around? We tend to write a lot of the stuff together, grooves, that sort of stuff, we’ll get together and jam, come up with a bunch of shit, and then usually Alex has got the strongest songwriting sense out of all of us, he’s also best singer, so he tends to come back with more the bes develop developed songs after that. Other than that we all tend along – we’ve all got strengths and weaknesses the to get al up for, it all seems to work pretty well. We others make m fight, we don’t have arguments… since I’ve moved don’t fig they probably sit around going “That to Melbourne Melb f*cking Andy he’s a bit of a lazy layabout, he doesn’t do shit and we’ve been carrying him for years…” HIT TH THE SKY RUNNING IS OUT NOW. SOME PARTS OF THIS INTERVIEW MAY OR MAY NOT BE FICTITIOUS. FIC SAUCE DOES NOT CONDONE DRUG USAGE. sTOM WILSON

I like the title, The Switch. witch. The good thing about that title is it can mean n so many things. I was just mething that motivated that wondering was there something title? Where did that come me from? Basically we were umm-ing and ahh-ing about all sorts of titles as you do when you’re trying to come up with something to encapsulate everything you’ve done over the last while, and we basically just changed up our sound we were doing, we switched up the reasons we were doing music and why we would keep doing it and switched the directions in which we thought we were going too. Also you can even think about it differently, like switching the trigger on the bomb, sort of blowing up a big f*cking heap, all sorts of clichéd stuff as well. But basically we just switched our sound up and went from making pretty straightforward stuff to something a bit different, testing ourselves a bit.

your personalities better th than what you did before? I had been looking for someo someone to do music with, and same with Ross, and we got together and it clicked, but I think we were not more mor immature but having a bit more fun with it the first time and it’s a switch to taking ourselves more seriously this time. I was a bit more content to be myself a bit more and say the things that I wanted to say rather than what I thought people wanted to hear. And Ross had really worked hard on his sound and switched up the ways he was using his equipment, the way he was sampling, the way we were thinking about writing songs rather than just putting raps over beats which is what I think we did the first time round, and we really wanted to write a strong set of songs that would fit together as a cohesive record if you know what I mean. So I think we grew up a bit this time which was good.

So is that what you mean by a switch in direction? Yeah definitely man, definitely. Our EP was pretty straightforward. Ross and I were still getting to know each other a little, and still getting to know what sort of music we wanted to make ourselves and the EP was just a bit of a practice. When it came to making the album we wanted to switch away from that conventional form of making hip-hop music, or what hip-hop music meant, or what it could be, and do something that was unique, and more us, and switched to our personalities than try to make music that we thought people would expect us to make.

What gave you the confidence - was it just getting older? Yeah, and making music too. I think the more music you make the more comfortable you get in your own skin, and how to have your own voice. DOPUS AND ROSHAMBO’S NEW ALBUM, THE SWITCH, IS OUT NOW ON MERCURY SWITCH LAB. FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT THEIR WEBSITE: http://mercuryswitch.org/

sDAVID WILLIAMS

Okay you’ve got to explain that a bit further if that’s all right. What is it about this music that expresses

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DANCE – LOS ANGELES // GT

DANCE - SYDNEY // BASS KLEPH

Dancers Give in to Bass Instincts

Dance Doyen Finds Life on Mars

a scant month or so ago, we interviewed Bass Kleph ahead of oOnly his Wish You Were Here tour. Kleph’s touring now in support of the

album of the same name and is set to revisit Tasmania soon. In part one of this interview (SAUCE #75) Kleph had just explained to me some of the sexiest things he’s seen on dancefloors… continuing on, he elucidates on the least sexy things he’s seen and gives me a history lesson on jackin’. It’s not what you think…

“…it’s kinda sounding like Duran Duran meets The Clash meets The Killers…”

a new MOS compilation under his belt, there are no signs of oWith GT slowing down. In fact, he continues to produce an alarming output. Ahead of his forthcoming engagement in Hobart, he spoke a little about his new band, Life on Mars…

What’s happening in the world of GT lately? Well, amongst my many pastimes I’ve been working on a new project with a buddy of mine over here called Chris Carter for the last two years, which is a bit more rock and guitar driven than my previous work. If I had to compare it to other bands I guess it’s kinda sounding like Duran Duran meets The Clash meets The Killers on the dancefloor. We’re called Life on Mars. We’ve signed to ETCETC in Australia and we are mixing the album in August. It’s being mixed by the guy who did the first Killers record so we are in good hands. It should be out early next year I imagine but some stuff will get thrown up on “the internets” long before then, I guess. Also I have released a new tune under the name of Chili Hi Fly - this appears on the MOS compilation Clubber’s Guide to Spring 2008. I put out tracks under this name a few years ago – it’s more of a funky house style than say, a GT or a Tonite Only track… also, I just mixed the new MOS compilation Clubber’s Guide to Spring 2008. What do you think has been your greatest achievement so far - separate from the awards and marketing speak? I think it’s the firsts you remember the most [like] putting my first record out was a pretty amazing feeling and then seeing Carl Cox (one of my fav DJ’s at the time) dropping in a set – well, it just about topped that! Even the first time I got paid to DJ was pretty rad. I remember thinking, “Wow, I can get paid for doing this? Crazy, I might give it a shot.” 22 years later here we are!

When was the last time you failed spectacularly? I fail all the time I just don’t tell anyone about it! Okay then, I know you want some dirt… When I’m DJ’ing I tend to try out a few things FX and mix wise and they don’t always work out how I thought they would but the best thing about doing that stuff, then and there, is the moment is gone in an instant and the crowd is onto the next track. Also, in hindsight probably the record label putting my face on five million coke cans probably wasn’t the best idea either… How does the dance culture of Los Angeles differ from Australian dance culture? The whole culture of “club music” and “dance music” is basically top 40 and urban over here [in LA]. Australia is much more influenced by European culture and club culture as a whole. There are pockets of good scenes and some good nights playing good tunes and most of the hot and not so hot DJ’s come through all the time but it’s not as prevalent as it is, say in another big international - the same size as London, but I must say there has been a big revolution in the past 18 months and now they have a coupla big day festivals like Parklife and whatever here which is great, so I think we are on an upward trend of growth right now. SYRUP PRESENTS MINISTRY OF SOUND CLUBBER’S GUIDE TO SPRING FEATURING GT, WITH SUPPORT FROM GILLIE AND ADAM TURNER, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26. sCHRIS RATTRAY

What’s the least sexiest thing you’ve seen anyone attempt to do while trying to do something sexy, specifically while DJ’ing? [Laughs] Wow, yeah… that rings a bell. You often get some groupies dancing in ways that they don’t realise how bad they look sometimes, if they’ve had a few too many strong lemonades. Sometimes they’ll be trying their hardest to look sexy and it’s like… it’s not something you could force. To what extent could that be read as the inspiration behind the track, Bump Uglies? [Laughs] That track’s like an old jackin’ record… it’s nasty but sexy music you can dance to or do all sorts of things to. I like that sort of sound. I like something to sound a bit nasty, a bit edgy. I don’t want it to sound too happy or too cheesy… I want it to make the crowd want to move in that way, make it have a sexy feel about it. Did you say “jackin’ record?” What exactly is a “jackin’” record? Well, initially, back in the day, it was referencing a style of dancing everyone was doing to it, like jack your body

& HIS LADYBOYZ

FRIDAY 17

OCTOBER

Thanks for sharing that – I’m obviously not up with all my dance music terminology! To cap things off, can you share with us what happened in your very first “bumping uglies” experience? [Laughs] Probably not that much! It’s something that everyone gets better with in time… more practice and more experience! GET JACKIN’ WITH BASS KLEPH ON HIS WISH YOU WERE HERE TOUR AT THE JAMES HOTEL, SEPTEMBER 20. sCHRIS RATTRAY

BRIAN MCFADDEN

NOISEWORKS SATURDAY NOVEMBER 1 WREST POINT ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE* TEX PERKINS

and d everything… it’s like a very sexual style of dancing, to put it simply. It comes about in a lot of music these days, ys, too. If you say something’s “jackin’” it means that it’s got that kind of bouncy, swingy edge to it. Like, a lot of the new stuff we’re doing at the moment is very jackin’ – you hear it and it makes you really wanna nod your head kind of stuff. It’s that kind of groove where it’s jackin’! I just can’t help move to it!

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SAUCE #77

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ACOUSTIC - HOBART // ALLY MOK

Just Your Cup of Tea

helps me to get through life,” says Ally Mok, probably over a warm mug of tea. “It’s kind of like o“Songwriting summarising something and putting it into dot points to make it more manageable ,” she continues. This

outlook infuses her laidback approach to her music, but it was her study trip to Brazil that really opened her eyes to new ways to craft music…

How did your style, “Australian Folk meet Brazilian grooves” come about? Well, my songs in essence tell stories and deliver messages in the style of Australian folklore, but underneath them are jazzy chords in a Bossa Nova groove that I absorbed whilst in Brazil, now the two areas are as inseparable as a cup and tea.

find our friend’s shack, where we were hoping to stay, was locked. So we slept out on the concrete, too tired to try and find somewhere to pitch out tent. It was all worth it though when we woke up, went down to the beach and watched a magnificent sunrise.

How did you come to study guitar in Brazil? I did a student exchange in Brazil after college, there I met heaps of amazing musicians, and my friends opened my eyes to new chords and rhythms that I didn’t even think existed. What was your favourite thing about living in Brazil at this time? The discovery of culture, language and self. I became such close friends with so many inspiring people and learnt so much more about the world seeing it through another culture and thinking and talking about it in another language. What was the best night out you had in Brazil? One of the most memorable nights was when a friend and I desperately wanted to get out of town for the weekend and go to the beach. So after she finished work we jumped on our pushbikes and headed off for a crazy night mission to the nearest beach, an hour’s drive away. The night was spent in the shadows of huge trucks and trying to escape large dogs. We eventually arrived at the beach town in the wee hours of the morning only to

You describe your output as “good tea drinking music” – what is it about your music that makes it appropriate for such a beverage? I guess I think of drinking tea as something comforting, especially during winter. It’s a moment to do something [that’s] nice for yourself and relax. There are so many types and flavours of tea; it can be drunk with friends

THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY With Aydn of The Roobs

each other with what we could accomplish. Also it was Emma’s first time in the studio and I really enjoyed it more with her along.

Any artistic endeavour can launch you into moments of soaring achievement… or straight into the deepest pit of despair. Aydn of The Roobs let us in on the process and background of their new, self-titled album…

Other than that, a real high point was getting the mastered album back from Ernie O. at Ambient Space in Melbourne. We picked Ernie because he did such a great job re-mastering all The Philisteins material for the recently released anthology on Off The Hip records.

What was the most challenging thing about creating your new album? Trying to convey the energy and the feel of what people like about us live was a challenge, since we are a very visual and performance oriented band. Chonga particularly worked very hard to convey the energy and raw sexuality that comes across in a live show. Once the original recording process was completed, getting the specific sounds that we wanted for drums bass and guitars took a lot of work. On top of that it was the first time any of us had worked in a completely digital studio, but with the help of our engineer and co-producer, we managed to be able to use the studio in as analogue a way as you can. I think this was a new experience for Alex too, and he relished the challenge to help us work in a way we were comfortable working, as well as being particularly helpful with the pure digital stuff. On top of all that the studio had three location moves during the recording and mixing process, which, on top of each member’s differing obligations and time constraints, meant it took us a very long time to finish the mixing to a point we were happy with. There was one other thing that delayed us that was really the lowest point during the making of the album - Alex Martin, our engineer/co-producer was diagnosed with a potentially fatal illness. I’m happy to say he’s in fine form now. What particular track are you most proud of and why? I really like Bad Bad Girl. Timmy Jack wrote it, and it’s a great riff and I’m really happy with my guitar solo on it, which is very James Williamson (from the early 70’s Stooges). Sun Don’t Shine was a track we had a lot of trouble mixing until Emma suggested a different version we’d recorded which Alex had mixed with some backwards guitar and interesting sound treatments. It was much more in keeping with the spirit of the song and had a thoroughly better bass sound, so I just had to add a few bits of guitar and it was ready. It’s a real psychedelic tour de force, and a very apt final song for the album. What was the highest point during the making of the album for you, and why? The highest point in the making was working on the overdubs especially the lead vocals and backup vocals. Chonga really had to rethink his vocal delivery to try and capture his on-stage style without the visual aspect to accompany it. We spent a lot of time getting the backups right and often surprised

Describe to me the journey you hope people will go on as they listen to the album? The Album (self-titled, and our first full-length release) is almost a concept album. It begins with an expression of love and takes the listener through a story of the highs and lows of sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll, ending with the reflective Sun Don’t Shine. What were some of the things that influenced you (as in other literature, music, art, culture) during the making of the album? Musically and songwriting-wise the album draws on our experience of early blues music and country (though no doubt the listener will be hard pressed to make the association) through to The Stooges, New York Dolls, Ramones and MC5. Girlfriend is somewhat inspired by a Mad Magazine record album that came out in the early 60’s called MAD Twists Rock and Roll.

or alone, with colleagues or with strangers. It can be in a cup, in a bowl, from a pot, from a bag... so as tea is so diverse, I guess there’s no particular type of music one should listen to when partaking of such a beverage, but I try and make my sound warm, with uplifting messages and a relaxed happy feel which I associate with the concept of tea. As lots of my songs are story-based I think you get more out of them if you can hear all the lyrics, and drinking tea is a good time for that. Who are some of your friends we can expect to see you play with at your upcoming gigs, and what do you love about them? Barney Hurrel has been a great gigging companion this year. He plays mandolin in a way that transports you to a sunny back porch in the hills, on a lazy Sunday afternoon. I’ve just started doing a few gigs with Rachel Walter (violin and glockenspiel), and you can expect to see her at upcoming gigs. I love being silly and giggling with Rachel, she is extremely nurturing to my childhood dreams. When I was young I always wanted to play violin just so that I could get the rosin out of its little secret compartment and put it on the bow. So now at practices, Rachel says, “You can put rosin on the bow if you like, and I’m not even going to get it out of its compartment.” CATCH ALLY MOK AND FRIENDS AT THE ALLEY CAT BAR, SEPTEMBER 27 SUPPORTING FREYA HANLEY AND THAT BRUTAL MOON. sCHRIS RATTRAY

Film-wise, there are lyrical and sonic references to Mad Max, Once Upon a Time in America, Girl on a Motorcycle, Stone, and the Bikie movies of Roger Corman. Literarily, William Burroughs is my all time fave writer, and some of his concepts and phrasing have inspired my compositions on the album, especially his books Cities of the Red Night, and The Soft Machine.

IN THE BOATSHED

Friday September 19 at 9pm

Lloyd Spiegel Saturday September 20 at 9pm

Phoenix Lights Blue Team Go! The Make-Loves IN THE BAR

Wednesday September 17 at 9pm

Mark Vincent & Friends Thursday September 18 at 9pm

Rueben Ellenberger Saturday September 20 at 9:30pm

Turry Beevor Wednesday September 24 at 8:30pm

Open Mic Night Thursday September 25 at 9pm

Samuel Bester Friday September 26 at 9pm

Mick Attard & Friends Saturday September 27 at 9:30pm

Sara and Hamish

GREAT FOOD

OPEN MIC NIGHT

THE LAST WEDNESDAY

OF EVERY MONTH

OPEN 7 DAYS

14 Brisbane Street, Launceston 6331 5346

What other albums could this one be compared to? It’s extremely difficult to be objective in answering this question, but I can say that it has been likened to The Heartbreakers’ LAMF by one sneak preview listener. If I were forced to pick something, I might choose The Clash’s second album, Give’em Enough Rope. Most people think of either the first album or Combat Rock, while their second is a much more pure rock ‘n roll album. THE ROOBS, WITH LADY INSANE, LAUNCH THEIR NEW ALBUM AT THE BRISBANE HOTEL, SEPTEMBER 27. FROM THEREAFTER IT WILL BE AVAILABLE FROM ALL LOCAL RECORD STORES… THAT DON’T SUCK. FOR MORE INFORMATION, CHECK OUT THEIR WEBSITE: http://www.theroobs.com

sCHRIS RATTRAY

Tuesday October 7th 9pm - 11:30pm

Prairie Nischler Tim Downey Patrick Berechree Seth Henderson (Hannah) FREE ENTRY @ THE GREENHOUSE

Irish Murphy’s 21 Salamanca Place, Hobart

Ph: 6223 1119 SAUCE #77

WHAT’S THE STORY With Ant Roberts of Birling Gap

THE BIGGEST IMPACT… With Lincoln le Fevre of Lincoln le Fevre and the Insiders A self-described “skinny little nerd” at a northern suburbs high school who, “managed to get through without getting beaten up,” Linc le Fevre found respite in jam sessions with his Dad who taught him to play guitar at an early age. Having avoided big impacts at high school, we asked what else, aside from his father’s influence, has had the biggest impact on Linc le Fevre ahead of his forthcoming album release, 30-Watt Heart…

UK acoustica outfit, Birling Gap, attach a great deal of importance to place. Their attachment to the titular beach they’ve named themselves after may possibly be challenged by their current tour of Australia… could they be reborn as Mount Wellington? Wineglass Bay? In any case, Ant from Birling Gap revealed more ahead of their gigs here in Tasmania… Behind your band name? Birling Gap is a hamlet on the south-east coast of England, which sits on the cliffs of the Seven Sisters, in East Sussex. At the foot of the white cliffs is the picturesque beach of Birling Gap, where all four members of the band feel a strong connection and have spent a lot of time there, surfing and swimming and enjoying the surroundings. The name just seemed to fit so well with the music we create and it’s a part of who we are. About how your band got together? Towards the end of 2005, some friends of mine entered me into a “Battle of the Bands” competition. Winners were to receive a large cash prize and recording time in a top studio. All I needed to do was find a band. I turned to two close friends, Jake Cairns and Matt Gadd, who had been gigging together around Kent. Having appeared as a guest on stage with them a few times before and enjoyed jamming together, it all came together naturally. Birling Gap won the heat, hands down. Unfortunately the competition was postponed indefinitely and the band is still awaiting conformation of a new date of the final! And waiting! Nat Jonk joined the group towards the end of 2006, bringing an extra flavour to the overall sound, on the cello. Of the last time you were in trouble with the law? I did have to spend an uncomfortable, cold night in a cell after a night on the town a few years ago. Spirits were high and I’d had a few. A group of friends and I joined the rest of the party population of my hometown, in the central precinct of Eastbourne, East Sussex, at 2am on a Saturday morning. There is always a police presence in the form of a meat wagon, or a patrol car to try and disperse the crowd without incidents. This midsummer’s morning there were two unassuming police officers sitting in their patrol car. One of the club-goers put 50 pounds in the air and said he would give it to anyone who dared to run over the police car. As he was just finishing what he was saying I was grabbing the 50 pounds from his hand and running towards the police car, which I proceeded to run up the back over the roof and down the hood. I had a good running start and made it around the corner before the extremely disgruntled police hunted me down and very forcefully detained me. The great thing about it was the arresting officers turned out to be quite nice guys. We had to make a pit stop before we reached the police station, to try and reshape the hood of the car that I had damaged, otherwise I would have been charged with intentional damage of government property. The whole station were in stitches when they heard what I’d been brought in for. I’ve seen the officers in my local pub since and we all had a good laugh about it! Behind your most prized music-related possession? I used to play a real beaten up old plank and even though it had holes and dents in it, I battled through playing it. When we arrived in Melbourne last year Nat surprised me with the greatest present I’ve ever received, a beautifully made Australian Maton. It creates a real bright sound that I haven’t felt from playing other guitars. It is always a pleasure to play it. We’ll be writing about your band in five years? “Birling Gap- Headline Act In The First Festival On The Moon!” [Laughs] Who knows? I’m just looking forward to the next couple of months of touring around an amazing country with my best friends and experiencing all the great things Oz has on offer. BIRLING GAP STOP OFF IN TASMANIA AT THE REPUBLIC BAR, SEPTEMBER 17 AND IRISH MURPHY’S LAUNCESTON, SEPTEMBER 18. s CHRIS RATTRAY 12

SAUCE #77

What album has had the biggest impact on you, both personally and as a musician, and why? When I was in grade eleven, I had this tape that had Siamese Dream by the Smashing Pumpkins on one side, and August and Everything After on the other side. The first was given to me by a friend, and it took me from the cock rock rubbish I had listened to all through high school and taught me the importance of texture and sound. I was pretty sad back then, and the Counting Crows record was like an anaesthetic to what I was going through. Everyone’s got one of those I guess. Which gig has had the biggest impact on you, as a punter and that you’ve played, and why? Seeing Screamfeeder play at Trout a couple years ago was the closest thing I could hope to come to having one of my favourite bands play in my loungeroom. The downside was that it might have been a bit of a low-

point for them. Still, we all drank and chatted well into the night. As a performer, playing with Tim Rogers on a bright autumn afternoon at A Day On The Green a few years ago was a highlight, both because I played to a really diverse and appreciative crowd and made some new friends, but also that I got to sit backstage and chat over a few beers with Tim. Also [it’s] the only gig to this day that I’ve been given a decent rider. What impact do you hope your music will have on people? I dunno. I want to give people a story that they can relate to; a story told in their own voice of familiar people and places they know. Sometimes I want to give people a shiver up their spines. Sometimes I want them to forget where they are and let me carry them for a while. Other times I don’t give a f*ck, and I just want to have fun for myself. What’s an example of the impact you’ve made on people through your music? Sometimes there’s someone in the audience, and I don’t know them, but I can see them halfway back with their head tilted back and their eyes closed. I hate it when I can’t see the audience because I can’t tell if I’m connecting or not. Mind you, it’s worse when I can see that I’m not connecting to anyone. LINC LE FEVRE PLAYS WITH HOLLY THROSBY AT THE REPUBLIC BAR, SEPTEMBER 18; AND LAUNCHES HIS ALBUM AT IRISH MURPHY’S

(LAUNCESTON), SEPTEMBER 25 (WITH NATHAN WHELDON); AND THE REPUBLIC BAR AGAIN, SEPTEMBER 26 (WITH NOVACAINE). sCHRIS RATTRAY

GIG GUIDE\ WEDNESDAY 17 HOBART The Alley Cat Bar Steph Brett Brisbane Hotel Joni’s Plastic Sunday + The Overview + Lakoda Irish Murphy’s Red Rival + The Fuss (Melb) + The Bloodspots (NSW) The Republic Bar Birling Gap

The Royal Oak Lloyd Spiegel (Boatshed)

LAUNCESTON Irish Murphy’s Foreign Films

BURNIE Sirocco’s Bar Gyroscope

The James Hotel Front Bar DJ Joycie + DJ Competition

SATURDAY 20 HOBART The Alley Cat Bar Apostles (NY) + Dunn D

THURSDAY 18 HOBART The Alley Cat Bar Kyle Jenkins + Davey Street Blues

Bookings Essential Call Dave Venter for a quote 0408 373 066 or email fatlipstudios@gmail.com

Launceston Studio www.myspace.com/fatlipstudios

Hobart Music & Cole Clark Guitars Present

Lloyd Spiegel performing in store 20/9/08 at High Noon. Giveaways to be won 103 Elizabeth St Hobart 03 6231 5578

Brisbane Hotel Lilith Lane (Vic) + Mark Steiner (NY) + Julian Poulsen & Paul Mileham Irish Murphy’s NoFoTo (Acoustic) + The High Lows (Acoustic) The Republic Bar Holly Throsby + Linc Le Fevre Syrup Mesh- Hobart’s longest running club night DJs: Adam Turner, Mylestone, Soundwave, Kyle Old-skool & New-skool Breaks, D’n’B, Glitch, Dubstep, Fidget and tough electro Doors open @ 10pm FREE Entry

Licensed cafe open 7 days & late for all events

Friday September 19 Folk Night (Daystar) Free Saturday September 20 Skylark (Jazz) $10 Saturday September 27 Internation Act Keith Potgier Dinner included $50 All have meals available. www.brookﬁeldvineyard.com - info@brookﬁeldvineyard.com

Brisbane Hotel Flesh V’s Venom + HDOT + Moe Grizzly + The Superkunts Brookfield Vineyard Skylark

LAUNCESTON Irish Murphy’s Ben Castles WEDNESDAY 24 HOBART The Alley Cat Bar Jonies Plastic Sunday + Sam Cole + The Overview Brisbane Hotel The Highlows Irish Murphy’s Powerchild + Highbrake + B.O.T.O.X. The Republic Bar Shagpile LAUNCESTON Irish Murphy’s Mick Attard + Nathan Wheldon & The Two Timers The James Hotel Front Bar DJ Joycie + DJ Competition The Royal Oak Open Mic Night THURSDAY 25

Irish Murphys Garod Matcham + Damage Control The Loft Andrew Kennedy + Crystal Campbell + The Frets + The Shots The Republic Bar Sugatrain Syrup Syrup presents: Dirth F’king Dancing DJs: Gillie and Adam Turner + Special Guest SMITHMONGER (UK) Newest and Freshest in Big room House, Electro, and Fidget House Doors open at 11pm $10 on the door ($5 for Uni students) Wrest Point Casino Gyroscope w/ Shihad

HOBART The Alley Cat Bar The Highlows Irish Murphy’s Trumps The Republic Bar The Idols + Dirty Love Syrup Mesh- Hobart’s longest running club night DJs: Adam Turner, Mylestone, Soundwave, Kyle Old-skool & New-skool Breaks, D’n’B, Glitch, Dubstep, Fidget and tough electro Doors open @ 10pm FREE Entry LAUNCESTON Batman Fawkner Birds of Tokyo

LAUNCESTON Irish Murphy’s Birling Gap

LAUNCESTON Commercial Hotel Rob Richards

Irish Murphy’s Linc Le Fevre & The Insiders

The James Hotel Uni Night DJ PD 10:00-11:30 Cover Band The Gary Garys (2 Sets)

Irish Murphy’s Victor Charlie Charlie

The James Hotel Uni Night DJ Randall 10:00-11:30 Cover Band Funken Unbelievable (2 Sets)

The Royal Oak Rueben Ellenberger DEVONPORT The Warehouse Gyroscope / Shihad FRIDAY 19 HOBART The Alley Cat Bar Bone Rattlers Brisbane Hotel The Fuss + The Bloodspots (QLD) + Red Rival + All Fires The Fire

Brookﬁeld Vineyard. 1640 Channel Highway. Margate. 7054. Ph 6267 2880

Irish Murphy’s Captain O’Briens Crac The James Hotel DJ Joycie 10:00-12:00 DJ Rodger Charles 12:00-2:00 DJ Buff Star Delux 2:00-Close

The Royal Oak Mark Vincent & Friends

Recording Mixing Mastering Production

LAUNCESTON Commercial Hotel DJ Skip

Brookfield Vineyard Folk Night (Daystar) Irish Murphy’s Mickey & Pete + Dr Fink The Republic Bar Illzilla + The Trolls Syrup Syrup presents: La Casa- Hobart’s HOME of HOUSE Sexy, Vocal House, Tough Disco, Chicago ‘Jackin’ House and Big Room House DJs: Matt B, St.Nick and Timo Doors open at 11pm $10 on the door (FREE for uni students)

The James Hotel DJ Joycie 10:00-11:30 DJ PD 11:30-1:00 DJ Bass Kleph (SYD) 1:00-3:00 “Wish you were here” National CD Tour DJ Randall 3:00-Close The Royal Oak Bar: Turry Beevor Boatshed: Phoenix Lights + Blue Team Go! + The Make-Loves SUNDAY 21 HOBART The Republic Bar Trumps Irish Murphy’s Jam Jar MONDAY 22 HOBART The Republic Bar G.B Balding LAUNCESTON Irish Murphy’s Nathan Wheldon + Brief Illusion + Buff Star Deluxe TUESDAY 23 HOBART The Republic Bar Angie Clennett Irish Murphy’s Jason Allen + Patrick Berechree (Darlington) + Sam Page

The Royal Oak Samuel Bester FRIDAY 26 HOBART The Alley Cat Bar Charles Du Cane + Ivy St + The Military Police Brisbane Hotel “Ride The Sky” AFTERPARTY with myblackson + Asking For It! Dj Dameza + More. Late Night Karaoke Irish Murphy’s Nick & Tom Wolfe + Dr Fink The Republic Bar Linc & The Insiders + Novocaines + Andrew Swift Syrup Syrup + Ministry of Sound present: Clubbers’ Guide to Spring 2008 Featuring Groove Terminator, support DJs Corney and Gillie Doors open at 11pm Tickets: $20+bf at Ruffcut Records and online via www.syrupclub.com Door sales if available

"Tasmania's own" UniBar Birds of Tokyo

REDLINE

LAUNCESTON Commercial Hotel Off The Cuff

Coach Services

Hub All Fires The Fire Youngerdryas

DISCOUNTED STUDENT FARES

Irish Murphy’s Long Way Home

University Student Semester Special $12.50 per sector

The James Hotel Joycie 10:00-12:00 DJ Buff Star Delux 12:00-2:00 PD 2:00-Close The Royal Oak Mick Attard & Friends SATURDAY 27 HOBART The Alley Cat Bar Freya Hanly & That Brutal Moon + Bird To Prey + Ally Mok

* Hobart to Launceston $55.60 (Return) * Devonport to Launceston $39.10 (Return) *Conditions Apply

Reservations/Credit Card Payments 1300 360 000

160 Elphin Road L a u n c e s t o n TA S 7 2 5 0

Brisbane Hotel THE ROOBS CD LAUNCH w Lady Insane. RED LIGHT DISKO w Azza Matazz n Kylie Wylie Front Bar

Live music Woodfired pizzas Extensive bottleshop

Brookfield Vineyard Keith Potgier Irish Murphy’s Jeremy Matcham + The Smashers The Republic Bar Bukkcity + 360 +Draz LAUNCESTON Commercial Hotel Darren Lloyd Irish Murphy’s Victor Charlie Charlie The James Hotel PD 10:00-12:00 Joycie 12:00-2:00 Cam 2:00-Close The Royal Oak Sara & Hamish SUNDAY 28 HOBART Lewisham Tavern Freya Hanly And That Brutal Moon

ph: 03 6331 1344 fax: 03 6331 2191 e: thenewsteadhotel@hotmail.com

Venue Guide DEVONPORT

The Alley Cat Bar

The Warehouse

381 Elizabeth St 6231 2299

20 King Street Devonport 6424 7851

410 Sandy Bay Road Sandy Bay

HOBART

6225 0112

Brookfield Vineyard

www.wrestpoint.com.au

1640 Channel Highway Margate 6267 2880

Irish Murphy’s Crystal and the Middle Sea The Republic Bar Cake Walking Babies

Wrest Point

LAUNCESTON Batman Fawkner Inn

Hotel SOHO

35 Cameron St 6331 7222

124 Davey Street 03 6224 9494

Commercial Hotel

www.hotelsoho.com.au

27 George Street Launceston 03 63313868

LAUNCESTON Irish Murphy’s Hamish & Sara + Victor Charlie Charlie MONDAY 29 HOBART The Republic Bar Quiz Night LAUNCESTON Irish Murphy’s Ben Castles TUESDAY 30 HOBART The Republic Bar Joe Piere Irish Murphy’s Amy Kendall + Samuel Bester + Marita Mangano

Irish Murphy’s 21 Salamanca Place

Country Club

6223 1119

Country Club Ave Prospect

www.irishmurphys.com.au

6335 5777 www.countryclubtasmania.com.au

Metz On The Bay 217 Sandy Bay Rd

Irish Murphy’s

6224 4444

211 Brisbane St 6331 4440

www.themetz.com.au

www.irishmurphys.com.au

Syrup

James Hotel

1st Floor 39 Salamanca Place

122 York Street

6224 8249

6334 7231

Raincheck Lounge

The Newstead Hotel

392 -394 Elizabeth St. North

160 Elphin Rd 6331 1344

Hobart 03 6234 5975

The Hub 1 Tamar St

LAUNCESTON Irish Murphy’s Phil Picasso

Republic Bar

6334 9288

299 Elizabeth St 6234 6954

www.tamarbackpackers.com

www.republicbar.com The Royal Oak The Brisbane Hotel

14 Brisbane St 6331 5346

3 Brisbane St 6234 4920

myspace.com/leapinlimpout

thebrisbanehotelhobart@ gmail.com

SAUCE #77

GIG REVIEWS BRITISH INDIA @ Lonnie’s Nightclub, August 28 ‘08

CARUS W/ HALFWAY TO FORTH @ The Royal Oak, September 13, ‘08

DJ TSUYOSHI @ Syrup, September 13, ‘08

ENOLA FALL @ Irish Murphy’s (Hobart), August 27 ‘08

British India have all the energy and passion of a band who’s tuned into their live performances, giving the crowd what they deserve. The beauty of Lonnies as a venue is that you can get up close and personal with the entertainment. With a great variety of places and views to absorb the music Lonnies continues to put on great lives acts, and British India did not fail on their end.

Sans band, Carus’s brand of solo acoustica folk needed to have chutzpah behind it to carry off a night’s worth of entertainment as his support act, accomplished duo, Halfway to Forth, are not to be followed lightly.

Anticipation for DJ Tsuyoshi at Syrup was high with fans both old and new arriving early. Several warm up acts kept the crowd pumping before Tsuyoshi himself finally took the stage at roughly 1:30 am. Once there, he cranked the energy to a new level and kept it there for the rest of the night, invigorating the crowd.

The night began with the faint sound of a banjo coming somewhere from inside Irish Murphy’s. Unlike most concerts, the sound wasn’t coming from the stage, as three of the band members were still setting up. We searched for the source of the sound when we saw lead front man, Joe Nutall, weaving through the crowd playing and singing.

At the beginning of the night countless hoodies and tight jeans began rolling in, excited with the buzz of seeing a top ten ARIA album band. British India certainly has a lot of support in Launceston, with the crowd closing in and getting into the spirit of the gig. With the national success of Tie Up My Hands from Guillotine, British India has been on the forefront of new Australian music, playing the big music festival scene. They’ve been back to the studio and recorded new songs for the album Thieves, and continued to work hard, touring these new and old songs throughout Australia before attacking Europe and the UK later this year. Declan Melia’s vocals were a little soft during this gig, but were ably supported by the solid drums of Matt O’Gorman. A couple of slips evident by out of tune instruments earlier on did not detract from the energy that British India has on stage. Their set was effortless and polished, but with the right amount of work by the artists to make sure everyone got their money’s worth. It was almost like being in your own backyard, or in someone’s garage rocking out with old friends. Intimate and energising, British India rocked the old and the new, satisfying the crowd and staff alike. DION BROOKS

The brothers Lizotte, Dan and Kyle, may be terminally stuck in the groove between Devonport and Ulverstone, but their effortless brand of blues took the small crowd on plenty of journeys elsewhere. Their tight set ranged from the demure harmonies of Damned if I Know to the catchy groove of Treasure of Memories. Every song was performed with grace and the kind of self-assuredness that comes with complete dedication to their craft, with songwriting abilities far in advance of their youth. “I’m envious,” commented Carus as he took the stage. Indeed, he seemed to need to warm into his set for the first few songs. His harmonica provided a lonely accompaniment to his solo guitar, but as he relaxed I found myself relaxing into his music. Notable tracks included the heart-aching This Time and new track, Burn. At one point, Carus untethered himself from the confines of the stage to serenade the noisy bar-flies. By the time he stood on the table in the centre of the room, all eyes were fixed firmly on him and he’d won the entire crowd. An inspired jam with Halfway to Forth followed, kicking the entire night up to “frenzied dancefloor mode”, as they ripped through covers of Land Down Under, Get up, Stand Up and Johnny B. Goode. He also threw in an original he’d only written ninety minutes prior, which put a fire under him as Halfway to Forth made it seem like they’d played it with him for years, transforming the night into something truly greater than the sum of its parts. Carus was triumphant by the end thanks to his newfound friends. They might be Halfway to Forth, but they proved that they play second fiddle to no one. And you can quote that on the inevitable CD release. CHRIS RATTRAY

Tsuyoshi himself never seemed to tire – seamlessly weaving one track into another creating a non-stop wall of high-paced sound defined by thundering bass lines with a few surprises along the way. I never thought I would hear Metallica’s Seek and Destroy worked into a dance track. It is clear that Tsuyoshi enjoys his work and this comes through in the level of polish he presents. The venue itself was great, with the sound levels being perfect – loud but very clear with no distortion, creating an immersive experience with plenty of room for the fairly large crowd to dance – which they did solidly all night. The audience responded well to the energy and pace behind Tsuyoshi’s sounds, finding the energy to go on through the night. Crowd numbers stayed high and the people were happy with the performance. Everyone seemed to get along well and generally just have a good time. Overall, the night went off very well.

As he did this he took time summing up the audience as if to work out how the night would turn out. After pumping up the crowd, he jumped up on stage and the more intriguing events of the night took off. One thing to know about local band Enola Fall is that, even though the lyrics are written simply, there is a sense that you’re being invited into Joe’s own personal thoughts. Being in a room with many others hearing these delicate words makes the experience much more surreal and captivating. This is something Joe is aware of and, at countless times, there was interaction with the crowd. At one point we were instructed to turn to the person next to us, introduce ourselves and to waltz to the next song. As well as dancing, we were treated to songs off their upcoming album as well as old favourites I Will Raise An Army and I Made a Friend. Sadly, this was bass guitarists Stan’s last gig, so Joe serenaded I Made a Friend to him. Seeing Enola Fall live gives you another way to interpret their songs, to give another meaning to their music.

RICK MCCULLOCK

As well as this, throw in the unpredictable events that the boys will take you on and you have an amazing night that can be only be described as brilliance. SKYE CROSSWELL

HOOK N SLING & PHAT N UGLY @ The James Hotel, August 30 ‘08

MYBLACKSON @ The Brisbane Hotel, September 10 ‘08

THE HIGHLOWS ALBUM LAUNCH @ The Republic Bar, September 10 ‘08

THE SUNPILOTS @ Irish Murphy’s Launceston, September 13, ‘08

The James Hotel is well known for its dance music events, a place where Launceston’s finest DJ’s come to shine and show off their passion for dance. Hook N Sling is definitely someone to show off to and local DJ’s, Phat N Ugly’s Cam and PD did that with ease.

I was wondering whether a cold mid-week night was going to keep punters away, but thankfully, as the bands were about to start, the crowd started rolling in.

The trio formerly known as Sir Veto are back, after having headed interstate to record their latest album, under their new name The Highlows.

First up were Paint Your Golden Face. It’s hard not to compare them to the now-defunct Viva Computer as the two driving forces behind Viva Computer make up this new outfit. I couldn’t really get into it though. There seemed to be a lack of direction and, dare I say it, at times sounded pretentious. Maybe time will get them there. Jordy’s drumming was as good as ever and probably the only highlight of this set for me.

Their sound has developed since previous endeavours, and the band has found a groove mixing strong melodies and harmonies with lead-singer Terry Nomikos’ classic pop-rock voice – something that not many local bands seem to be able to achieve with such success.

I got to Irish a bit after nine. I wasn’t expecting a support band so I was happy to see Nathan Wheldon and the Two Timers gearing up for the opening spot. I hadn’t seen them in a while and was keen to see them in action again.

Hook N Sling definitely served his purpose for all clubbers – that, and more. He brought magic. Put faith back into those who thought a performance such as his only exists at old school raves and city back alleys. Each dancer was lost in their space and felt the love those beats imprint into your heart. As amazing and spectacular as Hook N Sling may be, Phat N Ugly stole the show. They stepped up to the plate and continued a great night without any disappointment. They brought a blast from the past mixing the Mario Brother’s theme song. They also played a variety of dance chart toppers from the past year.

Next up were The Trolls. This is the first time I’ve seen them with the full line-up and it works really well. There was no over-use of the brass section, a good mix of rock and ska/funk. Their music is an infectious dance style and I’m sure they get a kick when they have people on the floor in front of them.

At first I thought they could get cheesy but I never thought The Veronicas Hook Me Up could sound so good as a house track! Amazing what talent is hiding in Tasmania.

I haven’t seen myblackson before. These guys really impressed me - a tight three piece in indie rock style with some songs showing a punk influence. Highly entertaining for the whole set. Driving guitar with solid drum and bass is going to win me over every time and they certainly delivered that.

Overall I hope the venue continues to hold such events as those who were there had a bloody great night!

Overall - a varied evening of music styles, but an enjoyable diversion for a work night.

MAHLIHA RICKARD

KEVIN GLEESON

The Highlows are rounded out with bass guitarist Michael Shelley and drummer Luke Ellis who rocked out on the biggest drum-set I’ve ever seen on stage. As part of the band’s new sound, The Highlows boast an edgier, no-nonsense sound that still has ties to their melodious-rock roots, a claim that is, by all intents and purposes right on the money. The band performs just as well (and perhaps better) live as recorded, with their high-energy music and tight harmonies. Songs such as Running Nowhere have a faster, drumheavy pop/rock sound, while songs like Before the Operation (played live without the usual piano backing) transitioned smoothly into a softer, rock-ballad style. This is a band that has settled into their niche with verve and you can expect to hear a lot more from them in the future.

First thing’s first; I have to say that Nathan Wheldon and the Two Timers completely outshone The Sunpilots on the night. Their sound was crisper; their performance was livelier. In fact, they seemed to out-class their counterparts in all the right areas. Since going from a three to a five piece band there’s more groove and punch in their sound. Also, Wheldon’s songwriting has been taken to another, more dynamic level and the on-stage chemistry and presence of the band makes you want to watch them. Plagued with sound issues from the get go, The Sunpilots never really broke into stride. Their big emotional rock sound didn’t fit at all well, and instead of toning it down they just turned the levels up, which just lead to a confused sound. There were flashes of brilliance from Bob Spencer on guitar and in the one softer ballad they played, but overall I was left disappointed knowing their music is way better than what was served up this night. ADAM FERGUSON

NICOLE CALABRIA Photo by Jacqui Beven Photography

SAUCE #77

CD REVIEWS

GRINDIN’ - Remixed By M-Phazes

ASH GRUNWALD - Fish Out Of Water

THE STOICS - Wolves In Sheep’s Clothing

THE SUNPILOTS - Living Receiver

For those who don’t know, M-Phazes is pretty much the leading producer in Australia at the moment. Not only does he make dope beats, he has a work ethic second to none, with a body of work that is rapidly heading international, with the Gold Coast–via-Melbourne beat maker’s work appearing on albums from American, Canadian, French & UK heavyweights, many of whose tracks are featured on this release.

So aptly named, it’s blues (Jim), but not as we know it. It’s also funk. It’s also rock. And with the recorded clangs of metal that feature as percussion, and purposeful production, there’s even a bit of industrial. And that’s just in the first track, Can U Find A Way. On the second track, Mojo I can even hear Motown, or maybe a bit of Prince. While such a variety of styles may be alarming to some of you out there, chill out, it works. Ash’s vocals are recognisably blues, but twenty-first century blues. Blues that you can shake your booty to.

Local Tasmanian band, The Stoics, are certainly no stranger to the rest of Australia’s music scene. So it seemed on my last trip to Sydney when everyone knew of them and what they are all about. Although some may say they have Triple J to thank for that. I have seen them live many times and after hearing their newly released EP, Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing, I can understand how they have snuck their way into people’s homes.

When you are given a CD to listen to by a band that you’ve never heard of, I guess it’s a gamble to have the first play straight up on a Sunday morning

Hip-hop as a genre lends itself very well to having its songs remixed, and M-Phazes proves he is a master of the remix. From thugged-out gangsta tracks, to conscious wordplay, and even R&B tinged ballad-style tracks, he seems to be able to provide the perfect mood for the subject material of the respective rappers, and creates tracks that are different from their respective originals, yet still feel like a natural match between beat and lyrics. Phazes even shows his music theory skills, being able to keep all the singing vocals in key, yet still using different chord progressions from the original tracks (something other producers don’t even know about, let alone are capable of doing effectively). Highlights for me would be the opening track – a remake of UK group Foreign Beggars’ English hit Hold On (ft. Skinnyman) which is getting mad love here in Australia, Mystro’s track Come Fly with Me (ft. Daniel Merriweather) off his Diggi Down Under album, and Move.Meant’s track Relax (ft. Mike Anthony) off their album The Scope of Things. In conclusion, this album makes for excellent listening, and is definite proof that Australia is now a serious player in the world of international hip-hop. 8/10 TOM BUTLER

This album picks up where Give Signs left off, and it seems the success of that song, and album, has given Ash the confidence to evolve even further into new territory. Give Something Away is the first song that you’d say approaches traditional blues, and he nails that too. It is atmospheric and has a feeling of longing and woe. However, soon you realise that the track is actually a message of hope, of how to deal with the pain of humanity. Joke on Me was the surprise track for me of the album, with the beats and timing reminding me of a hip-hop track. Another to make me sit up and listen, again, was Breakout, which, with its bass and fuzz could easily be remixed into a club track. Major respect goes out to the back-up vocalists. Their dulcet tones fill out the tracks and add emphasis superbly. This is an album that is going to make for a great live performance. Or it could even be the “pump up” album you put on before going out. I could keep going, but have no room left, and I’m sure you would like a few surprises left. As Doctor Evil would say, “Frikkin’ buy it.” It is going to be a turning point in this artist’s career. 9/10 DAVID WILLIAMS

This indie folk band is made up of Quinny on bass, Monty (trumpet), Ciaran van den Berg (lead vocals and guitar), Beau (drums and vocals, and Maria (piano and vocals). And, put together, their instruments blend in well. Drums are mellow, not too soft or hard, and versatile. The sounds of piano and trumpet definitely complete songs as a whole. Vocally, I thought Maria’s voice compensated for the male vocalists. Although, my favourite track, When I Grow Old, definitely compliments all vocalists. Members of the public helped them out on their first track, Too Old Too Fast, which makes it pretty cool to listen to! Their last track, Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing, was a great way to end the collection of songs. Not only did it have a darker side but had a somewhat theatrical feel. Overall, I enjoyed listening to the EP and found it very festive. It wouldn’t be something I’d usually listen to but definitely my first choice to get me through a hard day - something to sing along to, full of warmth and full of talent.

However, what a pleasant surprise to my ears. Living Receiver is The Sunpilots debut album. The singer Raj’s smooth voice gives this indie rock album an emotional edge. The songs are all attached with words of meaning and the band has a tight melodic sound with good harmonies. If one didn’t know any better you could easily mistake them for the band, Live. This album could quite easily slip its way comfortably into commercial radio airplay. As impressed as I was I found a lot of the songs had the same feel, especially towards the end of the CD . It’s one of those albums where we could all relate to at least one song on the CD. My pick would have to be the catchy first tune, Animals in my Mind. Unfortunately, I was unable to make it to their live performance in Launceston recently, but I can safely say this album may get a few more plays in my CD player before it gets lost in the black hole of my CD collection. 6/10 PETA-MAREE JULIN

6/10 MAHLIHA RICKARD

SAUCE #77

Uncover This Stompin A two part dance work performed in a residential house and a cul-de-sac in launceston. Uncover this is about exposing hidden aspects of our private lives to the public. Part 1 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; The house 30th September / 1st, 3rd, 4th October At 8pm Part 2 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; The cul-de-sac 10th, 11th October At 8pm Hidden cameras & public screens Find out more at www.stompin.net Adults: $15 / Concession: $10 Double ticket special price: Adults $25 and concession $15 For performance location details and bookings call the Princess Theatre 03 6323 3666 Book now. Limited tickets available. Choreographer: Adam Wheeler Performers: 25 young Stompin dancers Lighting Designer: Daniel Zika Composer: David Franzke

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

SAUCE #77

Uncover This was assisted through Arts Tasmania by the Minister for Environment, Parks, Heritage and the Arts

Step Brothers SCREEN – COMEDY

In an era when computer-generated imagery is becoming commonplace in movies, Will Ferrell is keeping it real. Well, sort of. A pivotal scene in his new comedy Step Brothers has the Anchorman star getting some payback against bullying step-sibling John C. Reilly by rubbing a very personal part of his anatomy on Reilly’s prized drum kit. Basically, Ferrell teabags a cymbal or two. But that’s not the star’s actual scrotum seen on screen – it’s a custom-made prosthetic that Ferrell claims cost somewhere in the neighbourhood of $25,000. (That figure may have been exaggerated for comic effect, by the way.) But according to the stars of Step Brothers, audiences appreciate the authenticity of the effect.

ARTS - HOBART // FLIP TOP HEART

Flip Top Flip-Flops Into The Village It’s not long now until entries close for this year’s Flip Top Heart festival. Your piece could end up at The Falls Festival and beyond! I spoke with The Village’s Ian Pidd about how Flip Top fits into his festival, and how local artists can make an impact on a global stage…

What have been some of the more successful acts originating from Flip Top Heart? My two absolute favourites are the first Phonics show - like a cross between a wonderful spangly, suburban dance academy and an episode of The Secret Life Of Us. And Alex Duncan and Anna Eliston ‘s wonderful black clowning piece, Das Kleine Kampf - Hitler and Stalin go head to head in a hand written Power Point style shoot out about who was the more effective leader; funny and dark and, unfortunately, strangely relevant. Both these works played really well at The Falls and we then presented them at the big annual Village in Melbourne. And folks loved ‘em. How does Flip Top Heart tie in with your artistic endeavour, The Village? The Village exists to showcase good new short works in a variety of mediums. So does Flip Top Heart. The Village needs stuff that is longer than three minutes so that’s why we make time to work on the winning pieces to give them a bit of extra flesh. But I often do directorial and dramaturgical work on other things that come into our various Villages, so no difference there. And I like nothing better than being in the room when a new company or individual makes a splash. The Village tries to be amongst the first to present new talent. So does Flip Top Heart.

“People have stood up in screenings and cheered,” claims Ferrell. “ They’re saying, “That nutsack’s really happening!’”

“Which is good, because you’re incredibly germphobic,” says Ferrell. “Yeah, plus I can’t read,” adds Reilly.

“You can smell the texture,” adds Reilly. As you might have guessed by now, Step Brothers, directed by Adam McKay of Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby fame, isn’t exactly a squeaky-clean, familyfriendly comedy. While Anchorman and Talladega Nights (the first film to team up Ferrell and Reilly) had their share of disreputable moments, neither was as foul-mouthed or risqué as their latest collaboration, which has the two actors playing Brennan and Dale, grown men still living with their parents as they edge towards 40. When Brennan’s mother marries Dale’s father, the two manchildren find themselves living under the same roof, first as mortal enemies and then as best friends when they discover their shared passion for chicken nuggets, Steven Seagal and dinosaurs. “They’re between eight and 13,” Reilly says of the pair’s emotional maturity. “Their obsession with chicken nuggets is them at around eight years old. And they rocket up to 13 when they talk about women.” Reilly, the Oscar-nominated character actor who lit up supporting roles in the likes of Chicago, Boogie Nights and The Hours, has carved out a second career as a standout comic performer since joining forces with Ferrell and McKay on Talladega Nights – he subsequently took the lead role in the hilarious music-bio spoof Walk Hard. But while he’s no stranger to improvisation on the set, Step Brothers marks the first time he’s worked on a story from the scripting stage. “It’s really fun, and I felt really appreciated by these guys that they cared enough to let me be part of putting the movie together,” he says. “I’ve collaborated on movies in the past, and added a lot, but it’s never really been recognised in this way – that I’m part of the team. My approach was just telling stories while Will took notes. I didn’t actually have to put my hands on a computer keyboard.”

What are the origins of The Village? The Village began when a small group of us involved in Snuff Puppets were touring to a lot of international festivals and had too much time sitting in hotel rooms and decided to design a new festival so that it worked how we, as artists, wanted it to work. We wanted lots of lovely handmade venues, lots and lots of quality short shows that were dirt cheap or free, we wanted the least possible distance between the audience and the artists, we wanted to eat together, we wanted to be

low tech, and we wanted the artists calling the shots. And good food and coffee and wine. And to have lots of quality local work appearing at each festival as well as bringing in new stuff. And that is what we do... we do the big annual Village in Melbourne (Edinburgh Gardens, North Fitzroy, November 5 - 9) and we do the two Falls Festival sites. But we do regular regional Villages and in Feb ‘09 will do a Village in St. Kilda that will only feature Indigenous works. To what extent is The Village achieving its mission statement of having “artists and community members leave The Village with a strong sense of the essential goodness of people?” Well it is hard to put my finger on how it happens, but The Village certainly get a lot of folks feeling very, very good. Edinburgh Gardens is an absolute blast and has very quickly become a much-loved gig in the city. Artists love the easy way they can try new things and get stuff off the ground. The audience loves how beautiful the setting is and how for a very small amount of money they can see and hear the best stuff going. Both artists and audiences come back again and again. It is an absolute antidote to cynicism and defies folks to pick it apart as an arty wank. And the Falls Villages certainly have a lot of that same flavour. Finally, what do you hope to see from this year’s Flip Top Heart? Bring it on. Make it as short as you can. Don’t use the whole three minutes unless you really need it. Don’t get stuck on it having to be purely performance - music, film, and puppetry, live real-time animation [are all acceptable]. Try to surprise the audience with where the piece finishes up. Don’t be afraid to be intimate. Use the theatre. Be deliberate - plan it, rehearse it, draft it again, make sure it is finished! ENTRIES FOR FLIP TOP HEART ARE NOW OPEN! REGISTER YOUR PIECE (MINIMUM LENGTH – FIFTEEN SECONDS, MAXIMUM LENGTH THREE MINUTES) WITH IAIN LANG (iain@tastheatre.com / PH: 6234 8561) FOR A CHANCE TO TAKE PART IN THE FINAL AT THE BACKSPACE THEATRE, OCTOBER 4. sCHRIS RATTRAY

Step Brothers originated with Ferrell, Reilly and McKay looking to recapture the enjoyment they had making Talladega Nights together. “It was so much fun that we thought we’d like to do another one,” smiles Ferrell. “So Adam and John and I sat around and pitched a bunch of ideas around, wrote ‘em all down, and it was great: we had four or five ideas that really made us laugh. And then Adam came to us the next day and said ‘Oh, I’ve got one other thing’ and he pitched us this Step Brothers premise. John and I instantly knew that this was the thing to do,” he says. “It’s obviously fertile ground for a comedy but at the same time it speaks to what’s going on in America right now. There’s a whole generation of people who don’t want to work to get anywhere. There was a time when these people become billionaires by seemingly creating Internet companies out of nothing and every kid in college instantly went ‘I want to do that’. You know, they simply won’t work as an assistant or something. It’s led to this generation of entitlement, which these guys personify.” Both Ferrell and Reilly have new projects awaiting release – Ferrell will soon be seen in a big-screen adaptation of the ‘70s TV series Land of the Lost, while Reilly is playing the ringmaster of a rather unusual circus in the offbeat comedy Cirque du Freak. But another reunion of this duo may be in the offing, especially if the rumours about a second Anchorman movie are true. When asked if he might be able to find a spot for Reilly in the sequel, however, Ferrell was noncommittal. “He should be so lucky,” he scoffs. “Why are you asking him?” retorts Reilly. “Don’t I have a say in this?” STEP BROTHERS SEPTEMBER 18.

OPENS

CINEMAS

BIGGER... BETTER... FIRST...

ONLY AT THE MOVIES! SAUCE #77

Arts Sparks SHOUT! THE MUSICAL THE LEGEND OF THE WILD ONE G-String Productions When Rod and Liz moved from Canberra to Launceston they brought their respected amateur theatre company, G-String Productions with them. No wonder Shout! was so slick, with ten weeks of dedicated rehearsal, stunning costumes, and local talent worth fainting over, fifties style. We’re shouting about Bill Carney who trod Sydney boards for years before bringing his charismatic figure to our stages. Yelling for Danny Gibson who took a break from directing many of Tasmania’s shiniest shows to play O’ Keefe’s sleazy promoter, and getting J Lo loud for Ashton Maher. Ashton’s voice could summon angels as she sang with Rod Beaver as the wild one’s sweet, yet abandoned first wife. As for the lead role, Mr. Beaver had the voice and the energy, to do the legend of Johnny, true rocker justice. For the show, my companion was an age-challenged adult, aka, a child, and her eyes were wide for the full 32 songs and almost as many dance numbers. Together they brought the fifties, sixties, and seventies, back to vivid life. The raw energy and spectacle of the show was evident in her fascination. She forgot to declare boredom, request chocolate, or demand to be taken home. The only weakness was that many of the interactions between characters were two dimensional, and at times this created a sense of thin bridges for the many show-stealing numbers. Kudos to the dancers, for their energy as they channeled the joy of rock’n roll when it was so fresh and so very, very bad. And what a stroke of genius to bring on the likes of musician Nathan Wheldon for the backing band. The five-piece was tight, professional and at times they looked blissful as they retro rocked from curtains up to curtains down. Shout! was performed at the Princess Theatre just before the onset of August, so they’ve had time to unwind and start cooking up another legendary show. Sauce will keep you posted. CLARA MURRAY

SAUCE #77

ARTS – LAUNCESTON // THE RED LOUNGE

Second Show to Explore the Mysteries of Love “It’s about love, the different kinds of loving people experience,” says Debbie Parish, writer of new play, The Red Lounge, from young theatre company, Unhindered Productions. “Set in an underground bar in 1920’s, Prohibition era, New York, the theme of love is brought out in an atmosphere of jazz, liquor and dancing. The play follows three couples, each dealing with their own type of love; old love, new love and broken love.” It’s an interesting setting, so I was keen to discover the origins of the story of The Red Lounge. “Our last show, Behind This Mirror, was a very dark and psycho play, so for our second show we wanted to put on a play that completely contrasted - for both the audience’s sake and ours. So as a company we decided on a lighter theme and what we wanted out of our next performance. With that I went away and wrote The Red Lounge.” And what kinds of things did she undertake as research for the writing of the show? “Weirdly enough the play was a spur of the moment, written in one night kind of thing,” Debbie says. “I was watching a lot of 1920’s, 1930’s movies at the time and just started writing. I settled on 1920’s - it has always felt like the more romantic and sexy decade.” Not only did Debbie write the play, but she acts in it as well. Which character is most like her and why? “The characters weren’t made for anyone in particular, however when we got down to casting I realised that the character Rose, who I play, is very much like me. She’s flirty, light-hearted and loves to dance. All but the dancing I relate to.” Writers rarely write in a vacuum, so how much of her life and experiences have informed the script? “I think anyone who has ever experienced any type of love will find something to relate to in this play. Even though The Red Lounge is set in the past, the experiences of the characters are universal.” Debbie elaborates, “Really, this play could be set today and could be about anyone.” It can be a thrilling process to see your words come alive on stage. Debbie agrees. “As the writer it’s been an intriguing experience seeing my play workshopped and performed. The actors have brought out aspects of the characters that I even had no idea about. It’s great seeing the play and the characters come to life. From an actor’s standpoint it’s been interesting and enjoyable learning various dance moves, especially for me who can’t dance at all!”

Speaking of the other cast members Debbie says the entire company is involved in some capacity. “Jane Bowles is our director, Jessica Brownrigg plays the Red Lounge’s sexy blues singer, Jazzy, and Clare Leonard plays the sultry femme-fatale Shirley. I play Shirley’s bubbly friend Rose. Matt Hyde, a fellow actor and local musician, plays the ruggedly handsome but rather illegal bartender JC.” And there are some new faces from Launceston College. “Justin Groves and Matthew Wesley, play the “man of few words” Tony and his more optimistic friend Jim. We also have on board saxophonist, Owen Hankin, to add a little “sax” to the occasion.”

The Red Lounge is sure to be an exciting show from this enthusiastic company. But on the topic of future shows, Debbie remains enigmatic. “That’s definitely a TBC, but look out for us, we’ll keep you posted!” CATCH THE RED LOUNGE SEPTEMBER 19 AND 20 AT THE HUB BAR. FOR TICKET SALES CALL THE HUB BAR ON 6334 9288. DOOR SALES AVAILABLE. ALL TICKETS $5. FOR FURTHER ENQUIRIES CALL UNHINDERED PRODUCTIONS ON6334 7854. sINTERVIEW AND ARTICLE BY CHRIS RATTRAY

games, gadgets, and other digital distractions RACING – PS3

Race Driver: GRID Love your racing games realistic? Be prepared to experience real emotions, like frustration and exhiliration all at once! DION BROOKS hurtles around the track for your benefit… Eyeing off Race Driver: GRID, I have to admit a little scepticism about how great a driving game could be. How pleasantly surprised I was to find that the intro to Race Driver: GRID actually whet my appetite for the whole genre! I was taken in by the excitement of learning to drive, fairly badly I might add, and all the little set-up options. Here’s a game that allows you to create not only your own team, but also you own “personality”. Fulfilling my Top Gun fantasies with a cool name like “Maverick”, I was pleased to hear the voice-overs interacting with that name during races. While fun at first, afterwards they became monotonous and rigid. A little variety would have greatly increased

“…It’s a game for pros, built by pros…” the total feeling of submersion that Race Driver: GRID is attempting.

GAMEPLAY: 50%

It never seems to want to work with you to win. Codemasters, the studio that brought you V8 Supercars and Colin McRae Dirt, are well aware of what makes a great driving game; perhaps a little too aware. Here they’ve crammed in more than you could imagine, letting driving fans into all manner of events, cars, and styles. The fun of this game stems from the multiple places, cars and challenges. Being able to race in events all over the world, in all different styles was the grander aspect of Race Driver: GRID. It has an epic feel, concluding with a 24 hours LeMans at the end of each season. You really feel that you have to devote just as much time and energy to your team as a real one. The Flashback option is great, stolen straight from Prince of Persia, allowing you to rewind time and avoid your last crash. The difficulty is just that: the difficulty. Race Driver: GRID is not the most accessible game for beginner drivers. Not being one who’s ever been comfortable with the driving genre, I was determined to give this game my full attention. Even when I turned the difficulty to “IQ lower than salad” the game continues to penalize you, even with the Flashback feature, which is difficult to access easily. It’s a game for pros, built by pros and just like a pro, takes your money and leaves you feeling embarrassed and booking an appointment with a doctor.

GRAPHICS: 85%

The cars look great, the choice of views is excellent and the damage left on the track is a great feature. The bland crowds, are really, really obvious and tacky, which detracts from the overall experience. SOUND: 90%

Some of the ambient tracks get the blood pumping! It’s a shame that this is the one totally enjoyable aspect of game. PLAYABILITY: 35%

Being as there are so many different modes, you can struggle around in all sorts of locations and events! OVERALL: 45%

Given a lot of time and energy, I’m sure that you’ll love it in the end. (Multiplayer unreviewed) RACE DRIVER: GRID IS AVAILABLE NOW FOR XBOX360, PS3, MICROSOFT WINDOWS AND NINTENDO DS, (FOR TOTAL MULTI-PLATFORM FRUSTRATION!) sDION BROOKS

PUZZLE – XBOX360 LIVE ARCADE

Fable II: Pub Games

NEWS

An alternate fantasy setting can’t disguise the fundamental repetitiveness of traditional casino-style games, writes TIARNE DOUBLE…

HELL’S KITCHEN: THE GAME SERVES UP VIRTUAL GORDON RAMSEY

Surprise, surprise! This is a game for a game but not in-game. Unlike classic RPG minigames that break up the NPC conversations and monster hacking, Fable II: Pub Games is a standalone minigame. It’s all about money making before the actual game so you can gain advantage against other players waiting with baited breath for the sequel to the acclaimed Fable RPG set for an October 2008 release. Fable II: Pub Games is a tweener-game and seems it’s pulled straight from DOA Beach Volleyball but is severely lacking in bouncing physics and bikinis. It’s a flimsy title disguising casino style games rehashed into fantasy style runes and feudal systems with names like Keystone, Spinnerbox and Fortune’s Tower. It’s the worst pub ever. The blackjack table is dictated by knights, the roulette wheel is run by bovine wenches, the jackpot reels look like an Ouija board. Oh and there is no beer – seriously: no beer. Just you, sheer luck and the CPU. You are able to play numerous fields of “bets” placing to try and gain maximum monetary head start for your character-to-be. You can use your character from Fable or select one of the default characters. The tutorial system and help screen allows any level player to get the gist and the premise of each style of pub game is simple, so you could wing it. The ability to pay debts and replenish your lost cash from the bank means the game lasts longer than ten minutes of haemorrhaging cash. Even though you are praying for jackpots you are also rewarded with grades of bidding and you can open up higher bid games to up your potential winnings. The most favourable part of the game and the only redeeming feature of this soulless game is the unlockable artwork that shows lovely sketches of backgrounds and creatures from the Fable realm. I meet this game with the same fervour and enthusiasm as I meet the lint from my pocket. The game requires you to spend a decent amount of time playing to strike it rich and a lot of mashing the A button whilst you up your level to increase your bid odds. I didn’t have the

Hell’s Kitchen: The Game will be available on Nintendo DS , PC and Mac in September and Nintendo Wii in December from all major gaming retailers.

staying power to put up with it. If you like repetitive minigames and wish to fork out for a slight advantage before the big match I’d strongly suggest the demo before delving into your pocket for the full game. I’m hoping the payoff is worth it.

FAR CRY 2 RELEASE DATE FPS fans are in for a treat when Far Cry 2 is released for XBox360, PS3, and Windows PC on October 23.

GAMEPLAY: 40%

Like a sausage recycled through a sock. GRAPHICS: 70%

Nice detail and interesting take on wood grained pub furniture. SOUND: 60%

Pleasant non-intrusive theme that makes you feel like you’re at a medieval shindig. PLAYABILITY: 50%

Easy to pick up but becomes button bashing with probability as your fickle mistress. OVERALL: 55%

It’s a minigame, sadly, without the rest of the RPG. FABLE II: PUB GAMES IS AVAILABLE NOW FOR DOWNLOAD VIA XBOX LIVE ARCADE. sTIARNE DOUBLE

Key Features: • Chef Ramsay watches players’ every move and judges them as they progress by yelling at them, praising them or shutting down the kitchen if their skills don’t meet his expectations. • As players progress, they’ll gain access to authentic Gordon Ramsay recipes, including many that are offered exclusively to game owners. • In Career Mode, players can earn stars to build their way up from a Single-Star restaurant to a prestigious Five-Star establishment. As the player advances through the ranks, their star rating advances and the recipes become more varied and intricate. • In Arcade Mode, the pressure builds as customers become increasingly demanding. Players will be challenged to keep up with the pressure before time is up, or Chef Ramsay loses patience and closes the kitchen.

Developed by Ludia, Hell’s Kitchen: The Game is based on the hit television program featuring world-renowned Chef Gordon Ramsay. The game will allow players to experience the show’s highpressure kitchen and dining room challenges as a faithfully rendered 3D Chef Ramsay watches their every move. “I had a great time doing the voice for my own animation,” said Gordon Ramsay. “Being in a video game is a new experience for me and I’m very pleased with the results.” After executing the three phases of an order – preparation, cooking and service – Chef Gordon Ramsay will score each meal. As they progress through the game, players will be rewarded with access to recipes from Chef Ramsay’s own repertoire.

GIVEAWEAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! WE HAVE ONE COPY OF RACE DRIVER: GRID TO GIVE AWAY ON PS3!

“Far Cry 2 is an amazing journey that will take you to the darkest places of Africa where each player will choose how they play. This will provide gamers with an unprecedented experience in the FPS genre,” says John Parkes, EMEA Marketing Director. The obligatory Collector’s Edition release will feature: - Exclusive wooden box - Original Far Cry 2 Game - Limited edition Far Cry 2 t-shirt - The Art of Far Cry 2 Art book - Collector map - Making-of DVD http://www.farcry2.com.

Email zzapped@sauce.net.au and tell us what your favourite game of all time is! One email will be chosen at random TO WIN, so get writing now! SAUCE #77