Sauce - Issue 84, 24-12-08 by David K Q Williams

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. ISSUE 84 . DEC 24 2008 - JAN 06 2009 . TASMANIA’S STREET PRESS

THEY’RE NO 80S RESET...

THE PRESETS PLUS TEGAN & SARA THE CAT EMPIRE THE FRETS ALLY MOK BLACK SWANS OF TRESPASS DJ GILLIE FELL TO ERIN EJECTER GAMES: GUITAR HERO WORLD TOUR FILM: WANTED ARTS HOT MODS AND A SACKLOAD MORE...!

S FA L L L I VA FEST & MAP SITE ABLE T E M TI E! INSID

Fantastic line up with top bands NoFoTo and Damage Control. Open until 2am.

Weekends at Irish Murphy’s Hobart

We got it covered! The best bands. Your favourite tunes. Every Friday and Saturday night on the waterfront. Sunday through Thursday, growing new music and nurturing good times

Bring in 2009 with Nick & Tom Wolfe and Hobart’s best party band Selecta.

DECEMBER

FRIDAY 26TH KATIE & ADO, DR FINK

SUNDAY 28TH THE MIDDLETONES

SATURDAY 27TH SAMBO, DAMAGE CONTROL

MONDAY 29TH JESS PATMORE, DAN HENNESSEY, RYAN KINDER

JANUARY

TUESDAY 30TH WAX DOCTOR WEST

FRIDAY 2ND NICK & TOM WOLFE, DR FINK

JANUARY

SATURDAY 3RD KATIE & ADO, THE SMASHERS

THURSDAY 1ST CRYSTAL CAMPBELL, GEORGE BEGBIE, TONY BRENNAN SUNDAY 4TH PRAIRIE NISCHLER, SAM PAGE TUESDAY 6TH AUSTRALIAN SONGWRITERS ASSOCIATION

HOBART | 21 Salamanca Place

6223 1119 | www.irishmurphys.com.au

WWW.SAUCE.NET.AU

. ISSUE 84 . DECEMBER 24 2008 - JANUARY 6 2009

EDSPACE

#84- December 24 to January 6

Contents: 4

News / Off The Shelf / Fat Lip

The Presets / Taste 08 Program

Ejecter / Ally Mok

Black Swans of Trespass / The Middletones

DJ Gillie / Indi Jade

ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE

12/13

Falls Festival

The Saints / The Frets

Gig Reviews

Hot Mod

Cinecism

ROFLMAO

Zzapped

Street Fashion / CD Reviews

Sauce Team:

Phone: 03 6331 0701 General Manager - Advertising: David Williams Email: david@sauce.net.au Editor: Chris Rattray Email: chris@sauce.net.au Art Director: Simon Hancock Email: simon@sauce.net.au Editorial Assistants: Belle McQuattie & Meegan May Opinions expressed in Sauce are not necessarily those of the Editor or staff. Sauce Publishing accepts no liability for the accuracy of advertisements.

Contributors: Carl Fidler, Dave Venter, David Quinn, David Walker, Dorian Broomhall, Glenn Moorehouse, Jessica White, Justin Heazlewood, Mick Lowenstein, Mike Wilcox, Ollie Heyward, Rick McCullock, Skye Crosswell, Tabitha Fletcher, Tiarne Double

NEWS

Hi everyone, and welcome to this festive edition of your Tasmanian street press, SAUCE! Apologies for the terrible pun that has heralded the debut of my very own editorial column and I promise more of it in the future. I’ve been placing subliminal messages throughout the magazine over the last few issues, as if I’ve been creeping inside your ed…

Speaking of dreams, I’ve always dreamed of having my very own editorial column. I would fantasize about telling the readership that the issue about which I am writing has some really interesting stuff in it, like a Falls Festival feature, and alliteration. It would also feature stuff about The Taste Festival, so that you can plan your days when you’re not at Falls. I’d also mention stuff about the great interviews with all kinds of really interesting people like Ed Kuepper, The Presets, Tegan & Sara, and even local people, who are also interesting, that we’ve got in the issue that you’re now reading. And speaking of the internet, SAUCE Magazine has a brand new Facebook Group! No, really! It’s on the internet, on Facebook! Join up and talk at us! It will make a nice change from talking to ourselves. This editorial will be posted up there and the first person to leave a comment will win a CD or two! So there you have it, it’s SAUCE #84, it’s got stuff in it, and you and I like stuff, so let’s hang out! Have a SAUCEy Christmas! (* Douglas Adams didn’t write much after he died, but I’m sure that’s not going to stop him.) CHRIS RATTRAY EDITOR

SAUCE STICKER WINNER

IS THIS YOUR REGO? YOU WIN! If this is your car, email a pic of yourself in front of your rego to competitions@sauce.net.au, with STICKER WINNER in the subject line by Friday, 2nd of January @ 5pm to win four new release CDs. In the body of the email, let us know what genres of music you’d prefer the CDs to be from. JACKPOT!!! If you don’t let us know in time, the prize will JACKPOT, so next edition there will be six CDs to be won. And so on …

After receiving top ratings from Triple J Unearthed, the Devonport band returned to record another new track. Their style... progressive death metal. Lots of galloping rhythms to taste. It sets the scene for a horizon of Vikings riding to a bloody battle.

To get in on the action, get a SAUCE sticker (email chris@sauce.net.au with your postal address and CAR STICKER in the subject line if you want one!) and whack it on your vehicle! One vehicle with a sticker displayed will be chosen each edition to win the CDs. Check each edition of SAUCE to see if you’ve won. It’s that easy!

The track Winter Days is online now at.... www.myspace.com/thedarkestwinters THURSDAY, DEC 18 Mindset The band have returned to promote the EP release of Reset, Revive. On a Tassie tour with support from Hobart band, Stand Defiant. You can buy the EP from JB Hi-Fi, and most music stores. Also available online at... www.myspace.com/mindsethc SATURDAY, DEC 20 Breakfast Balcony The band from the North West coast are back! Starting pre-production for their second studio album. The first album was released in January earlier this year, gaining alot of popularity. The next project has now begun... 4

Having scattered across the country after ten years of rock and roll shows, Fell To Erin are returning for one big boxing day show at the Republic Bar. Fell to Erin played over two hundred shows since 1997 until their last gig in 2006. Now, all band members are back in Tasmania, and it’s under that condition that front-man, Lincoln le Fevre, says they’d play again. “We made it pretty clear at our last show that there was no fat lady, and she sure wasn’t singing anything. We always said we’d play a show whenever everyone was in the same city.” Fell to Erin plays at The Republic Bar, December 26. www.felltoerin.com

. ISSUE 84 . DECEMBER 24 2008 - JANUARY 6 2009

We told you that Wednesday December 10 was not to be misssed. We told you that Foreign Films were going to provide one hell of a show. We told you that this would be their one and only show for the summer. Well... two out of three aint bad! The atmosphere on the night was palpable as Foreign Films took to the stage, the crowd eager to digest their take on British Indie Pop. They didn’t dissapoint, playing a strong set of well crafted melodic songs, delayed guitar tones engulfing the listener whilst Mark’s voice soared over the top of the band. At the end of the set an encor was insisted upon to which Mark responded heroically with an impromptu rendidtion of Flight Of The Conchordes, The Most Beautiful Girl (In The Room). Which leads me to the only point that we got wrong; this will not be their only gig for the summer. We have secured their services for our Christmas Eve bash! The line up for Wednesday December 24 is now Mick Attard and Stu Van (The Embers), Foreign Films, Nathan Wheldon and The Two Timers. Do we need to say anymore other than this will be a great way to celebrate the year that was.

SPRECKENSTEIN IS DEFORMATTED Hobart-based EBM producer Spreckenstein is releasing his debut album ‘Deformat’ on Friday the 9th of January at The Brisbane Hotel. The event is presented by Hobart’s long running goth club The Coven and will include goth DJs featuring DJ Ebolabelle(Vic). http://www.myspace.com/spreckensteinmusic CRADLE OF FILTH TOUR OZ IN MAY Conspicuously missing from our shores since 2000’s Midian tour, the highly successful extreme metal innovators from Suffolk, England will deliver their full theatrical rock show in May 2009 to Australian audiences who have been kept waiting in the depths of murky darkness for ‘ages’.

Sauce #85 - 06/01/09 to 20/01/09 Ad Artwork Deadline 02/01/09 @ 3pm

SATURDAY, DEC 13 The Darkest Winter

Top Shelf at Irish has landed! Over the past few weeks we have seen great numbers flocking to Irish Murphy’s to soak up the vibes from the finest Launceston bands. We are continuing to look ahead and are not far off announcing two of Hobart city’s finest acts onto our bill. Keep your eyes and ears posted for their arrival. The feedback from the audience and the bands is that the addition of sound and production (thanks Jase, Frontline) has enhanced the experience. Whoda thunk it!

Space! It’s big. Really big, as the dearly departed Douglas Adams once wrote, before he died*. It could almost be as big as the internet, which is also fairly big, apparently. I saw it once. Just once. It popped up, dacked me, and ran off, screaming at the top of its lungs about pornography. Or maybe that was a dream.

Next Edition:

STUDIO DIARY

FELL TO ERIN TO PLAY ONCE-OFF GIG

OFF THE SHELF The latest from Top Shelf @ Irish Murphy’s Launceston...

A limited number of exclusive advance tickets are now on sale and available through www. justsayrock.com.au SOUNDSCAPE PLAYOFFS The finalists for The Soundscape Playoffs playoffs have been announced! They are: Abbey Doggett Chi-Roh, Ejecter Hannah Loose Cannons The New Saxons Phoenix Lights The Trolls Winners will be decided by a judging panel and the audience, with the winning bands scoring a slot on the 2009 Soundscape Festival bill Catch the playoffs December 27 @ The Republic Bar

Last Wednesday, December 17, saw another geat turnout for The Dog Line and Deux Pervertis. Ben Miller (vocals, acoustic guitar, mandolin) and Andy Collins (electric variax guitar) performed acoustic versions of their Voyuers material using various instrumental textures along the way. Ben’s song writing and melodic approach shines in this enviroment with Andy providing the right support at the right times. Hopefuly we can get the whole band in next time. Here I’ll hand over to Randall Black for his thoughts on The Dog Line gig. “The Dog Line are a rock band. Straight up, no frills. Dark clothes. Dark guitars. There was light and shade but even the light was dark. Stand out tracks were Summertime and Stefanos for their tight, atmospheric and edgy sound. It’s great to hear two guitars not killin’ each other.” Top Shelf at Irish will take a well earned rest next week for New Year’s Eve but will return on Wednesday January 7 with The Emma Fair Band and Andrew Winton (a lap steel guitar player from WA who has recently supported Jeff Lang, Josh Pyke and Ash Grunwald. www.andrewwinton.com). Plenty more to be announced in the new year so keep reading this dilectable column, look out for the posters or if you’re on Facebook look up Top Shelf at Irish. CARL FIDLER & GLENN MOOREHOUSE Photo credit - The Dog Line: Toni M and Andy Collins Grab the best off the Top Shelf! 0 Every Wednesday night @ Irish Murphy’s, Launceston (except Wednesday, December 31)

COLLECTOR’S CORNER

CDs & DVDs New + Second Hand

392 - 394 Elizabeth St. North Hobart Ph: 03 6234 5975

37 Wilson St Burnie 03 6431 6616 WWW.SAUCE.NET.AU

TASTE FESTIVAL

2008 Program 28/12/2008 - 03/01/2009 Ciy Forecourt Contained Taste feat. cinema bites, The Stay Well Taste Lounge, 4 Flavours– Projections, Installed Taste 11am - 11pm Silo Forecourt Tez and Tones Adventure Waterfront Stage Acoustic Lunch 12 noon– 2pm Unplugged 3–5pm Evening Blues 6–8pm Plugged In 8.30–10.30pm except new year’s Ciy Forecourt RACT Insurance International Buskers Festival 11am - 11pm Silo Stage Various performers sun 28–tue 30 dec, 11am–11pm wed 31 dec, 11am–3.45pm* thu 1 Jan–sat 3 Jan, 11am–7pm* *7pm festival club doors open PW1 The Shed (DJ Sets) 1–3pm 6–7pm 8.30–10.30pm 7pm Festival Toilet Blocks The Fix-It Men PW1 YouChew 7pm Parliament House Lawns Chess 12pm - 5pm Salamanca Arts Centre La Piazza – Wine and jazz bar 10pm - 1am

“…You don’t make music to keep it hidden to certain hipster crowds…”

ELECTRO - SYDNEY // THE PRESETS

More Than an 80s Sound in ‘08

“I think it’s a constant desire to better ourselves and prove ourselves, evolve and advance forward,” says oKim Moyes on his outfit’s endless-seeming momentum. Maybe that’s why he sounds so tired on the phone

Parliament House Lawns Little Devil 11am - 5pm Ciy Forecourt Street Taste 11am - 11pm PW1 The Stalls 11am - 11pm The Festival Club The MBF Food & Beverage Theatre 12.30–1.30pm & 3.30–4.30pm 29/12/2008 - Silo Stage Stall Awards & Top of the Taste 3pm 31/12/2008 - The Taste Festival NYE @ The Festival (Theme: White Party!) 7pm - 1am

to us this morning. “It’s definitely not something that we dreamed about being, or something we feel that we’ve achieved. It’s a constant desire to fulfil something that’s probably never going to be satisfied.”

01/01/2009 - Peacock Theatre Calamity Cabaret (kid’s show) 1pm

The Presets are capping off a very successful year, with a swoop of ARIAs to line their mantelpieces this Christmas. Perhaps Kim’s wearing them around his neck in some kind of bizarre bling escapade? Is that why he sounds tired? “The accolades are not at all even important to us,” says Kim, “they’re nice things to have, and it’s nice to be recognised by the record industry, by Triple J and certain publishing houses or whatever. But it’s certainly not the reason why we set out to do what we do and it’s certainly never something we thought we’d be able to achieve either. We seriously thought what we were doing was out on the fringes, and a little bit too odd or different to be anywhere in those realms of accolades. Now that it’s happened, it’s really great. It feels like we’ve done something worthwhile, but it’s certainly not the driving force to what we do, I don’t think it would be for anybody. There’s probably someone out there that would be bitter they didn’t win the ARIA Award or something like that, and to be honest, if we’d have been nominated for an ARIA Award and not won it, we’d probably be upset as well. But for us it’s really just making the music that we like and trying to do something different, trying to better ourselves each time and that’s just enough for us, to keep us satisfied for the moment.”

01/01/2009 - The Festival Club After Taste (w/ Dave Arden, Shane Howard & Bomba) 7pm

It may be that they started on the fringes, but the more the industry recognises their work, the more they become the mainstream, something that Kim has “never really had a problem with. Our music becoming common or popular or as many people as possible discovering it – it was kind of like the whole point. You don’t make music to keep it hidden to certain hipster crowds. For instance, when we started we would play to hipster crowds and after a while it felt like we were preaching to the converted and so we wanted to play to more crowds from the suburbs and other places. I think you want your music to be heard by as many different people as possible, and the people that want

it to be hidden from certain types of people and only available to what they think are cool kids are just really playing themselves. It can be a bit daunting when you’re walking down the street and you hear your music coming out of shops, you wonder if it’s overkill, but this is the pool that we dove into, so we’ve just got to keep our head above water and try not to drown in our own bullshit. I don’t really give a shit. I don’t care. I’m not afraid about any of that stuff, I don’t care about becoming common or anything. I prefer it.” And if the alternative is being a starving artist playing to a bunch of likeminded navel-gazers, then that’s not an option for Kim. “I mean there probably is some middle ground as well,” he concedes, “but we’ve been doing this for a long time. In bands and out of uni for about thirteen years, so to be able to make a living out of it without having to be doing part time jobs or be on the dole; I guess that’s been one of our dreams as well. To actually be getting paid.” And being adored by millions of people worldwide? “Oh you know, we could always live without that. We’re not that insecure!” How do they retain that cutting edge that made them popular in the first place? “We don’t have to think too hard to make music that’s like that,” says Kim. “The struggle for us has been trying to create music that retains qualities of that but is also a bit more pop and accessible. So I actually feel like it’s the other way around. I think we’d be able to easily make very cutting edge, forward thinking music, but it would probably isolate a lot of people in the commercial world and our record labels wouldn’t want to put it out and people wouldn’t be able to understand it. The struggle for us is to be able to marry those two things so that it’s acceptable and playable and also retains qualities of cutting edge.” The Presets cite influences such as iconic 80s acts like The Petshop Boys and The Smiths. If it was big

in the Eighties, why not now? “Well, what we do is a little bit deeper than that and if you’re reducing us to being a throwback band, trying to revive an era that’s long gone, it’s kind of missing the point. The point is that the music that we make is fundamentally based on those sorts of sounds. A lot of it has to do with the gear that we use and the fact that we don’t use guitars, so automatically that builds a world from the era that you’re talking about, but what we’re doing is so much broader than that. Take a track like Aeons off Apocalypso, there’s nothing quite like that in this era or in eras long gone by, but it has a sentiment that does feel like it’s something that’s happened before. It’s something that a lot of people, particularly journalists have always made comment about, how it is like an 80s sound, and I think it’s become increasingly less and less. We’ve really made an attempt, not to shake that, but to make it a little bit deeper or interesting.” We can only hope in thirty, fourty years time, some exhausted street press journalist is going to be talking to someone and ask them a question like, isn’t your music a throwback to The Presets? “Yeah, that would be pretty funny!” laughs Kim. As the interview draws to a close, the jingle and jangle of awards he’s wearing (hypothetically) around his neck sound suspicously like a certain jolly fat man’s sleigh. Not that The Presets really need any more baubles to line their stockings... sCHRIS RATTRAY Catch The Prests and their presents at… 0 February 7 @ MSFest, Launceston 0 February 14 @ Good Vibrations, Sydney 0 February 15 @ Good Vibrations, Melbourne 0 February 21 @ Good Vibrations, Gold Coast 0 February 22 @ Good Vibrations, Heirrison

01/01/2009 - Peacock Theatre Calamity Cabaret 10pm 02/01/2009 - The Festival Club After Taste (w/ Liyarn Ngarn) 7pm 02/01/2009 - Peacock Theatre Calamity Cabaret 02/01/2009 - Parliament House Lawns Attitude Live feat: Hannah, Ejecter, Let the Cat Out, Unleash the Nugget 2pm - 7pm 03/01/2009 - The Festival Club After Taste (Comedy Bites w/ Short Back and Sideshow, ImproVice, Late Night Comedy Club) 7pm 03/01/2009 - Salamanca Place Salamanca Market 8:30am - 3pm 03/01/2009 - Parliament House Lawns African Cultural Festival 11am - 3pm 04/01/2009 - Salamanca Arts Centre Sing Salamanca! 7pm 04/01/2009 - St. David’s Park The Mercury Kidz in the Park 11am - 4pm 04/01/2009 - Domain Regatta Grounds Hobart Kite Fesival 10am - 2pm 04/01/2009 - Parliament House Lawns Chill Out on the Lawns 2pm - 6pm

Island

For local information about: HIV/AIDS, Gay Men’s Health, Safe Injecting & Needle & Syringe Programs 1800 005 900 / 03 6234 1242 Hepatitis C 1300 HEP ABC (1300 437 222) WWW.SAUCE.NET.AU

www.tascahrd.org.au 319 Liverpool Street, Hobart - Open 9am - 5pm Mon- Fri (Tues 12:30pm - 5pm) . ISSUE 84 . DECEMBER 24 2008 - JANUARY 6 2009

Just because you remember where you left your car… don’t push your luck. Voluntary breath testing at the Falls Festival 7am - 1pm New Year’s Day

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. ISSUE 84 . DECEMBER 6 0123_FP_Sauce_ad.indd 24 2008 - JANUARY 6 2009 1

WWW.SAUCE.NET.AU 17/12/08 5:11:10 PM

SPOTLIGHT ON... EJECTER With Jonno Coleman At the turn of the century, the band formerly known as Jimson Weed suffered “plenty of split lips and bumped heads. After college in 2001, the band imploded and we all split our separate ways after we got jobs and the like…” However, despite joining the workforce, music’s lure was too strong. “In late 2007, we gave ourselves the name ‘EJECTER’ and started rehearsing in the old mental asylum at New Norfolk (sounds scary but it wasn’t),” says Jonno, twitching slightly. “We were really quite crap after all the years of nothingness, but we regularly practiced until we could just pull off a 45 minute set without too many obvious mistakes.” How did Ejecter come to be? One night I went out and saw my little brother’s band (Hannah) play at The Republic Bar, and I’m not sure if I’ve told him this, but he was probably the catalyst for us to start playing again. I got really inspired and could feel all the old energy coming back from watching their live show and thought “that’s it! I’m sick of being bored and watching my life crawl by. If my little bro can do it, then so can I!” Must have been the weekend after that I called everyone up and we all agreed to start the band up again and get amongst it. As time went on and Sean came along, things just really meshed and we believe we’ve now got our distinct live Ejecter sound happening. The music after we got back together was fairly mellow. Much softer than what we played years ago. But as this year has gone by it’s getting louder and heavier and more full sounding. After a couple of gigs, we got Pete Baldwin to manage us and he has been absolutely pivotal to what we’ve done so far by keeping us focused and organised with planning for the future and keeping us in line. We wouldn’t have done a quarter of the stuff we’ve done this year without him.

What’s been the lowest point during the history of the band and why? I would say that when a band member leaves the fold, there’s this incredibly low point when you feel like you know it’s about to happen and a huge anxious feeling of “What happens next?” The answer so far has always been clear and that is, move on or end the band. So far we continue to move on! But it never makes it any easier to face facts sometimes. What’s been the highest point for Ejecter and why? The journey of this year has been full of peaks and lulls. We’ve had some frustrating gigs with no people, but we’ve also had some real crackers that I’ll never forget. The Royal Oak in Launceston hosted one of our best gigs ever. The first time we played there earlier in the year, we were in the smaller bar packed into the corner. Matt and Sean had to stand on the floor with Drew and I up on the drum rise. People were stepping on Matt and Sean’s guitar pedals while they were jumping around. It was packed and the vibe was sizzling. Everyone was up close and personal and the sound was near deafening! That was so fun. Also, one of the gigs we played at Irish Murphy’s in Hobart in late November was very much the same - a whole bunch of people packing the floor of the Greenhouse area and generally going off to the songs that we wrote. So much fun! But the highest point so far would be recording our new EP just this month. We got Brett Collidge from Izaneers studio in Burnie to come down and produce us at Red Planet in Hobart. He had some great ideas, and these new songs that we’ve been saving up for all year and itching to record, took on a new life. It was fantastic to have a third party suggesting ideas that didn’t necessarily change the song, but just added the cherry on top to make it that little bit edgier. What is the most challenging thing about being in Ejecter? The last few months - doing so many gigs and still

THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY Talking about her new EP with Ally Mok “I’ve lined up some gigs in Hobart leading up to my CD launch on January 24,” says Ally, quickly consulting her mobile phone contact list. “All the people who played on the CD are coming down from Victoria in January to play at the launch so it will be a fun and busy start to the year with lots of collaborating and playing gigs. Then, at the end of January I’m moving to Melbourne to start a music course. I’ve got grand dreams of one day doing a Masters in Music Therapy, so completing a degree in music will set me on the path for that, as well as pushing and expanding my music and vocals further and further. I’m also pumped to do the ‘Melbourne’ thing for a while - collaborations, music, art, culture.” What was the most challenging thing about creating your new album? The most challenging thing, and also the most intriguing part was to think about the songs in a “big paintbrush” and a “little paintbrush” way, at the same time. What I mean by that is considering the big picture, and predominately the feel of the songs; how it’s going to sound on a first time listen, then at the same time paying attention to “little paintbrush” details, so that each time you listen to the CD you can pick up on something different, I wanted to make sure there were lots of intricate little parts which make songs unique. What particular track are you most proud of and why? It’s so hard to choose because, as it is a five track EP, it’s really allowed me to spend a lot of time on each song, so each track stands alone as a complete picture, with its own style and colour. Each track

trying to have enough time to be creative. In general though, probably meshing everyone’s individual tastes in music to get the ‘Ejecter sound’ which is both challenging and rewarding at the same time. What particular original track are you most proud of and why? I’m most proud of Green Ocean which is a new one off the upcoming EP. The music rolls like a big wave. And it has plenty of fat bass and drums, “Skree Widdly” guitars and soaring vocals. The lyrics are important for that song too. Very metaphorical. They talk about life and society and the journey of life by linking it to a rising and falling ocean. It also hints on why some people who are detached from “the machine” so to speak, are so happy without it clouding their judgement as it does. Plus there’s a singalong bit and it rocks! What are some of the things (as in other literature, music, art, culture) that influence the band’s output? Tasmania in general, stories from our families, band jokes, a vast array of other bands, our mates, our working lives, our ladies and all kinds of stuff. I find sleep influences our output a lot. If we don’t sleep much, we don’t output too much either. What other bands can your sound be compared to? I can tell you what bands we listen to a lot and maybe people hear it in our music from time to time: The Tea Party, Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band, Dream Theater, Opeth, Jeff Buckley, Jeff Martin, Paul Kelly, Nirvana, Soundgarden to name a few… Get cranked to the max with Ejecter! 0 December 27 @ The Republic Bar, Hobart 0 January 2 @ Attitude Live, Parliament House Lawns, Hobart

has a different combination of instruments - some are more acoustic whilst others are really driving. I think The Creek Song probably commands the most attention, the harmonised horn lines, an earthy woody double bass sound and awesome drumming all come in together as soon as the song starts. It’s pretty hard to resist tapping your foot to. What was the lowest point during the making of the album for you, and why? I guess the lowest point, which I think is totally inseparable from the recording process is just that realisation of how much time it takes to capture what you are after. Having to do things over and over and over for days or weeks or months, then listening to it and realising you want to do it again, but with a totally different approach. It takes a lot of time and can be frustrating, but through this process songs can really develop and grow, and so can the artist. What was the highest point during the making of the album for you, and why? The highest point was definitely working with all the amazing musicians who played on the CD. They really brought the songs to life with me and added their own special touch, shifting the dynamics, helping to create the right feel, completing the whole picture of each song. As a solo artist it’s such a treat to hear your songs with a full band and with all the intricate details and extravagant combinations of instruments, which you’d only ever dreamed of! Describe to me the journey you hope people will go on as they listen to the album? I hope people find inspiration and liberation from the “ho hum” side of life, there’s always a bright side if you seek it, sometimes you just have to look extra hard. I think my lyrics are easy to relate to and from personal listening I know there is something amazing

SUN 28 DEC – SAT 3 JAN Check out two stages of local artists, plus DJ residencies in the Shed. Begin the day with rhythms from Acoustic Lunch, then relax into Unplugged, catch the vibes of Evening Blues and wrap up with Plugged In grooves.

1, 2 & 3 JAN Enjoy three special one-off nights at After Taste in the Festival Club. Line-ups include world and indigenous music by Dave Arden, Shane Howard, Bomba and Liyarn Nyarn (feat. Ruby Hunter & Archie Roach) and local Comedy Bites. All shows followed by cool local djs. Great food by local chefs. Buy your tickets now!

in simply discovering that you’re not the only one who feels like that. The music is a giant snowball of my own personal journey - Brazilian influences, jazz, blues and folk styles all meshed together, brought to life with my talented musical friends that I have met along the way, so the listener is hearing the end result of my life’s journey so far as a singer/songwriter and I invite them to come along. What were some of the things that influenced you (as in other literature, music, art, culture) during the making of the album? Feist, Kings of Convenience and Eva Popov, were the main artists that I was naturally drawn to this year. I loved how the song writing was really strong, each song could standalone. The tracks were focussed around the vocals, illustrated with the most beautiful harmonies and warm rich tones. I also loved their unique choice of instruments to encapsulate something special for each song. What other albums could this one be compared to? Elements of Emiliana Torrini, Fisherman’s Woman and Feist, Let it Die come through, as do probably all the artists that I have been inspired by along the way... Jolie Holland, Lucie Thorne, Clare Bowditch and lots more!

Join Ally on her life’s journey! 0 January 13 @ Irish Murphy’s, Hobart 0 January 14 @ The Alley Cat Bar (with Loren Kate), Hobart 0 January 15 @ The Alley Cat Bar (with Elena Williams), Hobart Purchase the CD at www.myspace.com/allisonmok

the taste festival hobart’s waterfront celebration

08/09

FRI 2 JAN Rock out to all-ages gig Attitude Live featuring Let the Cat Out, HANNAH and Unleash the Nugget! Attitude Live is back for its third year, with another great line up of Tasmanian bands.

PICK UP THE GUIDE, GO TO TASTEFESTIVAL.COM.AU OR CALL (03) 6238 2100 FOR28 MORE INFORMATION. DEC 04 JAN WWW.SAUCE.NET.AU

28 DEC 4 JAN . ISSUE 84 . DECEMBER 24 2008 - JANUARY 6 2009

WHAT’S THE STORY? With the Black Swans of Trespass

THE BIGGEST IMPACT With Abel Smee of The Middletones “We tried a standard lineup (bass and drums) before discovering the joys of the stomp box and the ‘less egos in the band’ two piece,” says Abel, trimming the fat on a Christmas ham. “Recording has always been a passion and we had completed our first album before we played our first gig. We’ve only been playing live for two years and we’ve had some good success, winning awards at the Forth Valley Blues Festival (Best New Talent ‘07 and Committee’s Choice award ‘08). We were spotted at this year’s Cygnet Folk Festival and we were invited to the Blues at Bridgetown in WA to perform at the festival in November and have been asked to return again next year. We’re currently working on our third studio album as well as a live EP to help try break into the mainland festival scene.”

There are stories that have truth and then there are stories that reveal truth through fiction. It’s within the twisty-turny world of the latter, the realm of parable and aphorism, or even the wellspring from which great jokes pass from lip to lip, that the Black Swans of Trespass dwell. In the best traditions of Aussie yarndom, we gave Carlos an opportunity to spin his stories… Behind your band name? The story comes from a line of a poem from the greatest poet that never existed, Ern Malley. If you don’t know the story of Ern Malley - google the name! I chose it because there are many parallels between the Australian literary scene that existed then and the Australian music scene now. Substitute Angry Penguins for Triple J.

What album has had the biggest impact on you, both personally and as a musician, and why? The Unforgettable Fire, U2.. Classic U2 before they got too commercial. I was about seven when I first heard it and wanted to rock thereafter. Honeymoon is Over, The Cruel Sea- began the love of slide guitar, the Sea showed that you could play the blues without doing the twelve bar thang and be popular in the mainstream. Which gig has had the biggest impact on you, as a punter and that you’ve played, and why?

Jimi Hocking at the Forth Valley Blues. Jimi was lead axe man in The Screaming Jets but fortunately moved on to solo career.. I’m no fan but the gig was great, Jimi played some seething guitar and wild lead mandolin but what really did it was his stage presence... gags and anecdotes, a man not afraid to be himself which made a refreshing change from the “I’m too cool to speak to the audience vibe” from many guitar heroes. We worked on our stage presence after watching that gig and it seems to be what makes the difference... engage the crowd kids. What impact do you hope your music will have on people? We nearly didn’t play at the 08 Cygnet Folk Festival. They said our $200 fee was too much! We love going to Cygnet so we said we’d play for nothing. Ended up playing an awesome gig to a great crowd and were approched afterwards by a talent spotter from Bridgetown Blues in WA. We went there last month,

Of the last time you were completely pissed off? It’s a story I call The Legend of Plunky’s Kiss. There was once a very arrogant guitar player who would not get off the stage to let the other acts on. Everyone was very mad at him. Eventually I had to unplug him to plug the next act in. He then got violent and started shoving people around. This made Plunky (that’s my banjo,) very upset. So Plunky gently kissed him just above the ear to remind him to share and that banjos are far superior to guitars, and that he needed to show more respect. That was the last time I was really mad. And that’s the difference between a trampoline and a banjo - principally that you can’t swing a trampoline like a club. But don’t get me wrong, Plunky abhors violence, and really it was more like a kiss from a very devastatingly sexy woman than hit in the head with a blunt object. The incident is legendary now, and many people since have congratulated Plunky for her firm stand. This was the first, and will be the last time Plunky ever did something like this. Of the last time you were in trouble with the law? I’m not allowed to talk about it in Victoria, Tasmania or South Australia, until the court case is held, but I can tell you in the ACT, NT or Christmas Islands. I once got beat up by four Connex ticket inspectors. Of the last famous person you met? I met Akmal Saleh at Tullamarine Airport once while on tour. I went up to him and said, “Hey, you’re the guy that does the voice for that character on the cartoon, Tracey McBean, aren’t you?” He was totally stoked. Later on I discovered he was, like, fully famous and was on heaps of channel ten shows. I like Akmal. He’s cool. Behind your most prized non-music related possession? It would be the old laptop, just for communication and also computer game escapism. But I do love my 6’4 Mike D’Sas Kneeboard. Kneelos are the banjo players of the surfing world. Catch the Black Swans of Trespass... 0 January 3 @ The Alley Cat Bar 0 January 4 @ Brookfield Vineyard 0 January 6 @ The Republic Bar 8

. ISSUE 84 . DECEMBER 24 2008 - JANUARY 6 2009

What’s an example of the impact you’ve made on people through your music? Can’t really say we hope for an impact other than people enjoying our music and maybe buying a CD. People will interpret songs differently but if listening to our music changes the colour of their day, well that’s awesome. For us, we certainly feel the vibe changing when we are making an impact on an audience, there’s suddenly a lot of love in the room and people really get into it instead of just going through the motions. Get some love in the room with The Middletones... 0 December 28 @ The Greenhouse, Irish Murphy’s Hobart

DECEMBER 24 Nathan Wheldon & The Two Timers Foreign Films Mick Attard & Stu Van Riel (The Embers)

About how the band got together? I started the band a long time ago to experiment with different banjo tunes. Jolene was a terrific cabaret singer with a great voice that can be sweet and powerful. Very versatile. As soon as she had some time I grabbed her, and now she does a lot of songwriting and is a great asset. The band has about six people for large gigs, and three to four for smaller ones. The people are drawn from the larger musical family of Melbourne. Of the first gig you ever played together? The day CC met Jolene, he had a show across the road from her work, at a place called Bar Open. He taught her two songs, Lazy Bones and Bill Bailey. An hour or two later she did the gig. CC then wrote her boss a letter of resignation, forged her signature and hit the road. At first Jolene was very angry. Now she’s stoked!

all expenses paid, kick arse gigs and top quality treats! Moral of the story being that it’s not always about money.

THE BEST OF TASMANIA’S

ORIGINAL MUSIC EVERY WEDNESDAY

JANUARY 7

Emma Fair Band Andrew Winton (WA)

There’s Always Something ... FRIDAY DECEMBER 26 The Gary Gary’s SATURDAY DECEMBER 27 Victor Charlie Charlie SUNDAY DECEMBER 28 Hamo & Sara, Luke Parry Reflector MONDAY DECEMBER 29 Glen & Jade TUESDAY DECEMBER 30 Hamo & Sara

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 31 Victor Charlie Charlie FRIDAY JANUARY 2 Pocket Rocket SATURDAY JANUARY 3 In Limbo SUNDAY JANUARY 4 Nat & Adam, Long Way Home MONDAY JANUARY 5 Ben Castles TUESDAY JANUARY 6 Phil Picasso

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DANCE – HOBART // DJ GILLIE

Perfectionist Produces Pounding Pulsations! “I’ve been into dance music and in particular house music since I first became interested in music at around twelve years old,” says Gillie, odispelling the myth that DJs spring fully-formed from the womb. “I started listening to acid house and rave in the late 80s/early 90s and since

then I’ve stayed true to all things house music. I started DJing in a local youth club in Scotland in 1987 and since 1993 have been taking it seriously. All my life I have been exposed to music…”

What was the pivotal moment that made you realise being a DJ was for you? I’m known to be a perfectionist and when writing music this perfectionist trait plays with my head as I never, ever get things finished as I’m rarely happy with what I’ve come up with. I tend to change this part then that sound and by the time I make all the amendments I end up with a totally different track and then start changing everything again! With DJ’ing I can blend tracks, baselines, a capellas and make edits and I feel like I get things done more. As a DJ you select and create tracks and sounds and we individually present a style that is unique to the DJ. No two DJs are the same and there is way more to it than being a human jukebox playing other people’s songs! I also love to see and watch people dance to the songs that I’ve either edited or spend hours and hours and sometimes weeks and months searching for. Who have been your influences in this regard? My early influences have been from the UK acid house scene, the music coming out of Chicago and listening to the pirate radio stations that played all the best, unreleased and rare songs. Some of the early DJs and acts that inspired me were Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk, Graeme Park, Frankie Knuckles, Robert Owens, Marshall Jefferson, Inner-city, A Guy Called Gerald, Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley and the list goes on and on and on…

How about festivals or performances you’ve been to – which ones made the greatest impression on you and why? There are way too many festivals and performances that I’ve been too that have made an impression on me and these are mainly due to seeing DJs doing new tricks behind the decks and give me ideas for other things that I can do in my sets. I’m a bit of a trainspotter but without the geeky writing down of tracks in my phone! How would you describe your style behind the decks? Energetic, fun, musical, harmonic, funky, driving and very, very dirty! What’s the weirdest thing or request anyone’s ever asked of you in your capacity as a DJ? One guy asked me to call him a taxi, another asked me to buy his girlfriend, there are heaps of stupid requests for music and the other month I got asked to play Bon Jovi by a guy that looked like he had not yet left the tight jean, black t-shirt wearing Bon Jovi era. By far the strangest request that I had

What have been some of the key albums, tracks, or artists that have steered you down this path? There are a few tracks that I list in my favourite songs so far: Stone Roses – Fools Gold (Rabbit In The Moon Mix), Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley – Jack Your Body (Original Mix) and Indeep - Last Night a DJ Saved My Life (Original Mix) these are the three songs that I will listen to again and again and again forever in a day and not get sick of them.

was from a girl who asked me to DJ at her wake and asked if she could put my contact details in her will! What do you hope Santa leaves for you under your tree this year? A new Macbook Pro. Who do you hope to see at your sets on Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve? I hope to see all the people that I’m close too as well as heaps of new faces that will stick around throughout the year in all the clubs, pubs, bars and festivals that I’ll be playing at! sCHRIS RATTRAY

Get close to Gillie! 0 December 26 @ The Metz (with Camo, Stirlo, Woodhouse, and Madden), Hobart 0 December 27 @ Syrup’s DFD, Hobart 0 December 31 @ Hotel New York, Launceston 0 January 3 @ The Festival Club, After Taste

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Why did they have such an impact on you, do you think? Because these guys were writing tracks that were upfront, fresh at the time different and they turned your usual rock or disco song into something futuristic and different. This is why I’m still into house music today – it’s the most consumable and addictive thing I know exists and I search for that perfect track every day!

FIRST AND LAST With Indi Jade

The first album I ever bought was… ugh gag me... Hilary Duff. and I had to buy it because… I was twelve, and had been given large sums of money to spend on whatever I pleased, for a sad thoughtless birthday present.

MONA FOMA CURATED BY BRIAN RITCHIE PRESENTS

The last gig I went to was… my high school rock concert, dear lord. and something I’ll never forget about it was... everything. The beauty of holding them all there even from backstage. They were captivated by us. The first music video I remember seeing was… Madonna, The Immaculate Collection, video tape. My stepfather’s doing. and the greatest impression it left on me was… Madonna impersonating Marilyn Monroe, in Material Girl, made me feel powerful. The last movie, book, or album that really affected me emotionally was… The Green Mile. Beautiful. and it really got me because… it’s terribly sad, and really reaches out for people on a very personal level about their belief in God. Well if you read into it... The first band I was in was called… Skate & Blade. and we’re not together anymore because… it consisted mainly of my older cousin, Joshua and I at the fragile ages of ten and eleven, in my auntie’s backyard singing into the branches of an ugly shrub “Oh my god Becky look at her butt...” We were crushed by the harshness of the music industry. The last time I ever did something special to music, I was… writing a song about a girl I loved. and I was with… my best friend, my guitar.

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Catch Indi (with Prairie Nischler ,Josh Durno, Jess Patmore, and Josh Mazey): 0 January 6 @ ASA Wax Lyrical, Irish Murphy’s, Hobart 10

. ISSUE 84 . DECEMBER 24 2008 - JANUARY 6 2009

WWW.SAUCE.NET.AU

ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE WEDNESDAY 24 sHobart

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

Launceston Studio www.myspace.com/fatlipstudios

Hotel SOHO Christmas eve party with DJ Macca.5pm The Greenhouse @ Irish Murphy’s Christmas Eve Party The Metz Mid Week “Xmas Eve” Metz5pm Xmas Eve Metz Woodhouse8pm The Republic Bar Fula with Ejhak$49pm

Syrup Dirty F’king Dancing DJs: Gillie, Adam Turner + Corney$15 on the door ($10 for Uni students)11pm The Republic Bar Soundscape Band Playoff including Ejecter and more.10pm

WEDNESDAY 31 sHobart The Greenhouse @ Irish Murphy’s Nick & Tom Wolfe, Selecta The Republic Bar New Years Eve with Sugartrain$1010pm

sLaunceston Hotel New York Roger Charles 10:00-12:00: The Doctor 12:00-2:00: Cam Irish Murphy’s Victor Charlie Charlie

103 Elizabeth St Hobart 03 6231 5578

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DISCOUNTED STUDENT FARES University Student Semester Special $12.50 per sector * Hobart to Launceston $55.60 (Return) * Devonport to Launceston $39.10 (Return) *Conditions Apply

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The Mersh (The Commercial Hotel) Hard Drive SUNDAY 28

Top Shelf @ Irish Murphy’s Nathan Wheldon & the Two-Timers, Mick Attard + Stu Van Riel

sHobart

SATURDAY 24

The Metz Metz on Sundays Camo 4pm

sHobart The Brisbane Hotel The Night Terrors + Dan Cross + K-Mason. Front Bar: The Red Light Disko w AzzaMattaz & Kylie Wylie

The Greenhouse @ Irish Murphy’s The Middletones

The Republic Bar New Retro Club9pm

sLaunceston

Hotel New York DJ Buff Star Delux 10:00-11:30: The Doctor 11:30-1:00: DJ Gillie (Syrup, Hbt) 1:00-3:00: DJ Randall

FRIDAY 26 sHobart

MONDAY 29

Irish Murphy’s Katie & Ado, Dr Fink The Metz The Boxing Day Belta!!! - Featuring DJs Camo, Stirlo, Woodhouse, Gillie, and Madden2pm The Republic Bar Simon Russell & Guilty As Charged + Fell To Erin$310pm

Irish Murphy’s Victor Charlie Charlie

sHobart The Greenhouse @ Irish Murphy’s Jess Patmore, Dan Hennessey, Ryan Kinder The Republic Bar Carl Rush8:30pm

sMarion Bay Falls Festival THURSDAY 01 sHobart The Greenhouse @ Irish Murphy’s Crystal Campbell, George Begbie, Tony Brennan The Republic Bar Wishing Well9pm

sMarion Bay Falls Festival

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

Licensed cafe open 7 days & late for all events

Sunday January 4th

Black Swans of Trespass 4.00 pm All have meals available. www.brookﬁeldvineyard.com - info@brookﬁeldvineyard.com WWW.SAUCE.NET.AU

Hotel New York DJ Joycie 10:00-12:00: DJ Buff Star Delux 12:00-2:00: DJ PJ Irish Murphy’s The Gary Gary’s The Mersh (The Commercial Hotel) DJ Skip

sHobart Brookfield Vineyard Black Swans of Trespass 4pm Hotel SOHO Open Mic with Christian & John9pm The Greenhouse @ Irish Murphy’s Prairie Nischler, Sam Page The Republic Bar Wahbash Avenue9pm

The Royal Oak Sara Jane & Nathan Wheldon9pm

sLaunceston

sMarion Bay Falls Festival

Irish Murphy’s Nat & Adam, Long Way Home

FRIDAY 02

MONDAY 05

sHobart

The Alley Cat Bar The Wishing Well

Hotel SOHO Industrie Night with the Smashers10pm

The Republic Bar Unleash The Nugget + Hannah + D.J. Dameza$1010pm

The Republic Bar TBA8:30pm sLaunceston

sLaunceston Irish Murphy’s Pocket Rocket

Irish Murphy’s Ben Castles TUESDAY 06

sHobart The Greenhouse @ Irish Murphy’s Wax Doctor West

The Mersh (The Commercial Hotel) TBA

The Metz Metz on Sundays Camo 4pm

sLaunceston TUESDAY 30

The Royal Oak The Titz

sLaunceston

sLaunceston Irish Murphy’s Glen & Jade

Irish Murphy’s In Limbo

SUNDAY 04 The Mersh (The Commercial Hotel) Off the Cuff

sLaunceston Irish Murphy’s Hamo & Sara, Luke Parry, Reflector

The Brisbane Hotel The Roobs + Cocktails & Dreams

Syrup Dirty F’king Dancing DJs: Gillie, Adam Turner + Tristan$15 on the door ($10 for Uni students)11pm

sLaunceston

sLaunceston Hotel New York Roger Charles 10:00-11:30: Cover Band T.B.C 12:00-2:00: PD

The Republic Bar Unleash The Nugget + Hannah + D.J. Dameza$1010pm

The Royal Oak Ben Castles9pm The Mersh (The Commercial Hotel) DJ Skip

sHobart

sLaunceston

sHobart

Irish Murphy’s ASA Wax Lyrical: Prairie Nischler,Indi Jade,Josh Durno, Jess Patmore, Josh Mazey (Joni’s Plastic Sunday)9pm

Irish Murphy’s Hamo & Sara

The Alley Cat Bar Black Swans of Trespass8pm

The Republic Bar Black Swans of Trespass 9pm

The Brisbane Hotel Late Night Krackieoke w Bleeter & Bluurter

sLaunceston

The Republic Bar Kate Mehan + Skip$39pm

SATURDAY 03

SATURDAY 27 sHobart Irish Murphy’s Sambo, Damage Control

sMarion Bay Falls Festival

Irish Murphy’s Phil Picasso

The Biggest Variety Of Comedy In Tassie! Stand up, Sketch, Physical, Musical Comedy, Burlesque, Sitcom. Next Show:

Sat 3rd Jan @ The Taste Festival UPSTAIRS @ THE NEW SYDNEY, BATHURST ST $9 ENTRY - FACEBOOK GROUP: SHORT BACK AND SIDESHOW

Venue Guide HOBART

LAUNCESTON

Brookfield Vineyard 1640 Channel Highway Margate 6267 2880

Batman Fawkner Inn 35 Cameron Street 6331 7222

Hotel SOHO 124 Davey Street 6224 9494 www.hotelsoho.com.au

The Commercial Hotel 27 George Street 6331 3868

Irish Murphy’s 21 Salamanca Place 6223 1119 www.irishmurphys. com.au

Country Club Country Club Avenue 6335 5777 www. countryclubtasmania. com.au

Metz on the Bay 217 Sandy Bay Road 6224 4444

Irish Murphy’s 211 Brisbane Street 6331 4440 www.irishmurphys. The New Sydney Hotel com.au 87 Bathurst Street 6234 4516 Hotel New York 122 York Street Syrup 6334 7231 1st Floor 39 Salamanca Place Lonnies 6224 8249 107 Brisbane Street www.syrupclub.com 6334 7889 www.lonniesniteclub. The Republic Bar com 299 Elizabeth Street 6234 6954 The Newstead Hotel www.republicbar.com 160 Elphin Road 6331 1344 The Brisbane Hotel 3 Brisbane Street The Northern Club 6234 4920 5/61 Cameron Street www.myspace.com/ 6331 3568 thebrisbanehotel www.thenorthernclub. com.au The Alley Cat Bar 381 Elizabeth Street The Hub Bar 6231 2299 1 Tamar Street www.myspace.com/ 6334 9288 thealleycatbar www. tamarbackpackers.com Wrest Point Entertainment Centre The Royal Oak 410 Sandy Bay Road 14 Brisbane Street 6225 0112 6331 5346 www.wrestpoint.com.au www.myspace.com/ leapinlimpout . ISSUE 84 . DECEMBER 24 2008 - JANUARY 6 2009

FUNK - MELBOURNE // THE CAT EMPIRE

Constant Party E

“A band like us tends to evolve in i ostart out and you’re playing betwe

POP – CANADA // TEGAN AND SARA

Booksmart Therapy for Twin in Solitude

years - when you’re 20 or 21, it’s pretty m places and through the experience, bo changes your performance style, it cha even though we’ve still gone back to pla band has been improved by the big lear

This feeling of evolution was reflected in their last album Many Nights. “The new album is more melodic than the albums,” says Felix. “It was an album where we concentra more on the simple arrangements. It was great work with John Porter, I’m a huge Lips fan and I really liked arrangements, not that it sounded like that, but it was nice to work with someone as experienced as that and to t songs, some of which were festive and some that were qui and some that were really unexpected for a band like us, some that were expected. It just gave us that ease to say we a collection of songs and we worked on the arrangements to and create a simple song based album. It was a really, really experience making that album, especially working with J Porter – who is a really extraordinary man.”

“…the way one would read, or lose themselves in a book, is sort of how I approach music…” and Sara’s Sara is taking a break. “I’ve been in New York for the last five weeks, trying not to oTegan work on music very much, not on my own music!” says Sara. “I’ve been helping out with some friends’

bands and doing some work that didn’t involve my band. Tegan and I did a brief trip down to New Orleans to write some songs together, but we’ve actually written what I think will end up being on the album already, so I’m trying to sort of step away and let the music sit for a bit. We’ve done like, forty songs, so I’m starting to feel like… we’ve got enough that we can kind of slow it down,” she says, laughing the laugh of the prolific, which, in this case, is cutely girlish.

Working with other musicians must be something of a holiday for her, a rejuvenation process. Sara reflects, “I’ve never actually done this before, at least not as intensive… the last couple of months I’ve been working with a band from Australia called An Horse, they came over and toured with us in America and they’re so amazing, the crowd response was so incredible so I’ve been trying to help them out, more from a business perspective, setting them up with a label and an agent… it’s been really fun using some of the skills and the experience that Tegan and I have had over the last ten years… that’s been really cool. Also, I’ve been involved in this other project, more in kind of like a musical way, giving feedback, like a producer type thing.” “It’s nice, because with Tegan and Sara, it’s all I think about, and I’m very obsessed with how it appears, the aesthetic and the songs, so it’s really nice to be involved in a project that’s not really my own because I feel like I can relax a little bit and be a little more intuitive… I don’t have to over-think, or [be] overly critical of any ideas I have, I can just throw them out there and then the band and the artists can pilfer them for themselves.” Their most recent release, The Con, has me fascinated – the aesthetic has obviously had a lot of (over?)thought put into it, and its resemblance to a second-hand paperback novel is especially striking. “I’m a great lover of reading,” says Sara. “There’s something very solitary about reading – this thing that you do alone. I mean, there’s lots of things that you can do alone, but it’s very rare that you sit down next to a person and read a book at the same time. I love the introverted nature of being a

reader. This album, when we started brainstorming ideas for what kind of artwork and what kind of vibe, visually, it was gonna take on, it was this idea that the album was very introspective, we talked a lot about relationships and the beginning and end of things; it sounds cliché, but, of course, life and death and how everything is very cyclical and we came up with this idea of a tree stump – you know, the idea that when you cut a tree down, you can see its life, its rings, it’s all cyclical… we didn’t think it was necessarily the right image for the cover, but it started to branch out into this idea of old illustrations, almost like a Nancy Drew type thing, or a Hardy Boys type book or something, something with words and pictures, and that led to the idea of what if the CD itself looked like a book… I’m not sure how directly literature affects what I write in terms of music or lyrics, but the way one would read, or lose themselves in a book, is sort of how I approach music. It’s a very insular, introverted process for me. It’s then very strange to make an album and go and play it to thousands and thousands of people and make it very public! It’s very strange,” she laughs again. And performing with her twin sister must feed into that strangeness, in that she can’t ever really get away from her own reflection. “There’s something very strange about having someone who looks like you,” Sara agrees, “but it’s less about how I see her and more about how others see us. To have that projection from people all the time is very strange. When you think about the individual from your perspective, you see yourself as being very autonomous and special and different from other people, and it’s really strange, because I don’t feel like I’m different than anyone, but the projection from the outside world is that we’re not very different, that we look the same, we might feel the same, talk the same and think the same… it really

does separate you from other people. There’s a projection that you’re sort of divided from people, even when you’re not, but there’s a disconnect – you’re like this strange, intimate thing that they don’t understand or whatever. It’s interesting being in a band with a sibling because, a lot of people in bands, you get very close to each other because you’re spending such a dramatic amount of time together, you’re creating music together and playing together, and experiencing all this stuff together, but to have that added intensity of it being siblings, you know each other so infinitely well, yeah… it’s very strange.” Sara’s desire to be alone seems a reaction against that, this desire to be separate from everyone else, including her twin sister. “Oh my god!” she exclaims. “I feel like I’m in therapy! This is amazing! I was like, lying around today and I was like ‘God, I totally need to see my therapist!’ but this is actually great! I feel like you’re right, it’s probably true. I choose individual activities. I’ve never been much of a team player. I’ve always enjoyed the solitude of reading, even writing music – I’ve never been very collaborative, my nature is not very collaborative with people. It’s always been something I’ve really struggled with. I love to be in control, I’m a leader. I like to work with people but I like to be in charge of people. That doesn’t make me always easy to work with!” sCHRIS RATTRAY Be part of the strange loop with Tegan and Sara at Falls:

0 December 29 – January 1 @ Marion Bay www.fallsfestival.com.au

“It’s a completely reflective process in terms of songwrit If you can imagine life on a tour bus with a band like us, w a band who went to a lot of really different and colou places, we could play at rock festivals then at a cultural fest like Edinburgh. So we were exposed to a whole different of people, characters, situations and also our musical t changes so much. So in terms of it being a reflective process an incredibly reflective and also personal process. But then, also have to remember that you’re in a band that has its ene and its fans and people that have heard your songs on an alb in a foreign country, and then you go and play a show. So have to find a line between being true to yourself and being to what you’re in and what your performing.”

TIMETABLE FIELD STAGE – MARION BAY – Monday, December 29 2.00-3.00pm 3:00-4:00pm 4:00-10:00pm

MAIN STAGE – MARION BAY – Tuesday, December 30

Evolves on The Road

its own ways,” says Felix Riebl, on his band’s songwriting shift in recent years. “When you een one and three AM starting slots at festivals, which is what we did for a good couple of much the best place in the world. And then you tour in a bus and see a whole lot of colourful oth good and bad, you develop a new view on things and it changes your songwriting, it anges all sorts of things. It’s been the sort of band that everyone involved has grown with, aying festivals and still do our thing, I think the band and the quality of the musicians in the rning curve by us all.”

m, So e old ated king d his just take ieter and e had o try nice John

ting. we’re urful tival t set taste s, it’s , you ergy bum you true

“A band like us is interesting because you can feel really personal one night before a show and not feel festive at all, but then there’s something that happens between these six people and it’s really a chemistry based thing,” Felix continues, explaining how The Cat Empire functions on stage. “Somehow the combination of us strange characters together has a certain result and that gives it that authenticity I suppose.” And surely the presence of a huge throng of people has something to do with it. “It’s funny you mention the crowd,” he says. “I think a lot of the fans will tell you, that the combination of each other really produces a certain musical effect, but also that the crowd also adds that as well, they’re like another member of the band or another ingredient. Especially Cat Empire crowds, because we can really go anywhere in the world that we’ve toured and be around people that are very giving, we’ve had really fantastic audiences and I think them alone keeps the intensity up.” Felix certainly prides himself on the party atmosphere The Cat Empire creates. How often does he get to see the daytime? “We’ve had a great year this year, we finished an outdoor run in Australia in April, and this year we’ve had time off more or less. A lot of that time was spent listening to old recordings we did. At the moment I’m outside of the studio in Melbourne, we’re mixing a best live CD. We’ve been listening to live recordings we’ve made over the last six years. It’s been a really nice experience for me, because when you’re on the road, it can become such a blur to you, especially after a couple of years.

Mamadou Diabate Anna’s Go-Go Academy Dj Kano Dj Chris Gill Dj Manchild Dj Mohair Slim Dj Emma Peel

When you get a chance to listen to some of the shows you’ve played you almost experience your travels again in hindsight, and you can go back there and you realise what things sounded ridiculous and what things actually sounded quite good and it really changes your perspective of things, because when you’re in it, it can be quite hard, you’re pretty much just holding on and trying to stay sane enough to play the next show. Where as when you get a chance to sit down in your own space and read the paper in the morning and then go into the studio, it lets you settle down a lot more and realise what you really loved about it,” he pauses. “And what you didn’t love about it. It’s a really nice process.” Going through this process must be akin to looking at an album of photographs. “I think that I was married to the band,” says Felix. “The music anyway was like my first love affair. It was all consuming, the thing you were involved with every day, travelled with every day, the thing you felt incredibly emotional towards. Going back is like looking through a photo album of your first loves. And in that there might be actual love affairs involved in other songs that were about that. It’s a bit like the music itself and this whole project was one big affair.” sCHRIS RATTRAY Hello hello! Have an affair with The Cat Empire! 0 December 29 – January 1 @ Marion Bay www.fallsfestival.com.au

11.15-11.55am 12.10-12.55 1.10-2.00 2.15-3.05 3.25-4.15 4.30-5.20 5.40-6.40 7.00-8.00 8.15-9.15 9.35-10.45pm 11.05-12.35 12.55-1.55 2.00-3.10am

The Stoics Violent Soho Lincoln Le Fevre & The Insiders Wolf And Cub Architecture In Helsinki Mystery Jets Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed & The True Loves Blue King Brown The Grates Gomez Franz Ferdinand Jamie Lidell A-Trak

FIELD STAGE – MARION BAY – Tuesday, December 30 11.00-11.40am 11.55-12.45 1.00-1.50 1.55-2.10 2.10-2.25 2.35-3.25 3.30-3.40 3.40-4.00 4.15-5.05 5.20-6.10 6.25-7.00pm

The Evening Dolls (Jjj Unearthed) Cw Stoneking The Dodos Mc Michael Chamberlin Josh Thomas Murs Mc Michael Chamberlin Sam Simmons Fleet Foxes Cut Off Your Hands Enola Fall

MAIN STAGE – MARION BAY – Wednesday, December 31 11.15-11.55am 12.10.12.55 1.10-1.55 2.15-3.10 3.25-4.25 4.40-5.40 5.55-6.55 7.20-8.25 8.45-9.50 10.10-11.30pm 11.50-1.05 1.20-2.05am

The Bone Rattlers Tame Impala Grafton Primary Tzu Donavon Frankenreiter Tegan And Sara Faker Sharon Jones + The Dap-Kings The Kooks Cat Empire The Hives Late Of The Pier

FIELD STAGE– MARION BAY – Wednesday, December 31 10am 10.30-11.10 11.15-11.25 11.25-11.35 11.35-11.45 11.55-12.45 12.50-1.00 1.00-1.20 1.30-2.15 2.30-3.25 3.40-4.30 4.45-5.35 5.50-6.50 7.10-8.00pm

Dewayne Everitt-Smith - Festival Welcome Nathan Wheldon & The Two Timers Mc Danny Mcginlay Hannah Gadsby Sammy J Soko Mc Danny Mcginlay Lehmo Dash And Will Lykke Li The Drones Darren Hanlon Atmosphere Feat Brother Ali Ash Grunwald

ROCK - AUSTRALIA // ED KUEPPER (THE SAINTS)

THE BIGGEST IMPACT With Caitlin Martin of The Frets

Doing Us No Favours

“We’re a pop/funk/rock band thats been cruisin’ around the traps for almost two years now,” says Caitlin, specifically uncategorically. “After a short break a few months back, we re-grouped with a new drummer and are finally back into the swing of things, writing heaps of new tunes and grabbing as many gigs as we can!” Surely to make a big splash at The Soundscape Festival, we wondered what kinds of things have influenced the band? What album has had the biggest impact on you, both personally and as a musician, and why? That would have to be Polyserena by George, It’s an album I always find myself listening to.

“…I’ve done favours in the past and I wouldn’t do something on the basis of that in this situation…” When your mate calls you up and invites your band to play a gig, you might ask yourself (or your omate) “do we get free beer?” But if your mate’s name is Nick Cave, and your band is The Saints,

you might well think “hmm, this will be the second time the original lineup’s come back together in the last thirty years after we broke up in 1978... is there free beer?” We might never know the answer to the latter, but we did have the pleasure of talking with Ed Keupper, whose mate, Nick, invited him to play at a little gig in January for Mona Foma... Ed Kuepper has enjoyed a prodigious solo career since The Saints’ dissolution and the last time The Saints played was at the Queensland Music Festival last year, so surely the Mona Foma event is just another gig. Ed disagrees. “Nothing is just another gig to me, I take all that stuff pretty seriously, hopefully without becoming a nervous wreck in the process, but I guess it’s got some significance, as the original Saints have never played Tasmania. I’ve done it solo and with various bands and such, but for The Saints to do it, it’s a kind of rare as we’ve hardly played together for such a long time and it’s unlikely that it will ever happen again, so it’s special for those reasons. For me, anyway.” Preparation for this particular lineup of The Saints must have been fairly daunting in a way. “Well it was kind of a weird thing; it was a mixture of a whole lot of things,” Ed explains. “As it’s pretty well documented, the original band split up in a pretty friendly way, but then relations became fairly strained on and off over the years. Then you’re put in a situation where I guess some people feel some ambivalence about some things, and at the same time you’ve got to overlook that sort of thing and focus on the things that are really important, and that’s playing the music, that brought us all together in the first place, as well as you possibly can.”

Ed has mentioned that this kind of reunion is unlikely to happen again. It seems then, that this has been done as a favour to Nick and everyone who remembers The Saints fondly. Ed is quick to disagree. “I’m not doing it as a favour. I’ve done favours in the past and I wouldn’t do something on the basis of that in this situation again.” And he’s also quick to point out that he’s “never disassociated myself from the original Saints, I formed that band in high school and it’s an absolutely seminal part of what I do, I’ve never denied it, I’m quite proud of the stuff we did. I don’t carry on about the stuff we did, because then it sort of gets boring, but it’s just kind of complicated by the fact that Chris kept a band called The Saints going on for the years after that. But I have no ambivalence about the stuff that we did together, I’ve got no issues with it at all, and I don’t feel that it was anything that I ever needed to live down.” And does he ever feel that The Saints overshadowed his own career? “Well I guess to some extent that may be true but on the other hand I’ve also run a reasonably successful solo career now for most of my life and I’m quite happy where I’m at with that side of things. The Saints thing is a separate thing; it’s interesting to see if after all this time you can make it work. It was my first band, it was everyone in the band’s first band, and so

Being a singer and all, Katie Noonan amazes the hell out of me. Their songs are so intense, they’re insane! Which gig has had the biggest impact on you, as a punter and that you’ve played, and why? My favorite local band is definately Joni’s Plastic Sunday. We all love going to watch any gig those guys play. The songs are always going somewhere we don’t expect and they’re all such great musicians. Super impressive. As for one of ours, it was actually one of the smaller pub gigs that had the biggest impact on me. It was the first time we got people bustin’ some moves and they all looked like they really enjoyed the music.

it’s got to have some significance. And the important thing is that you have to make the music work, and beyond a nostalgia type of thing. That’s important to me.”

After playing to a whole lot of unenthusiastic punters, it was a breath of fresh air for sure. Soundscape’s gonna be pretty massive too, I reckon I might change my answer when thats over!

Does Ed plan for the Mona Foma gig to be documented in any way, so we can all own our own pieces of nostalgia, of what may well be a slice of music history – the final time the original Saints lineup played together? Unfortunately not. “I’m not intending to record the show. As far as an ongoing involvement with the band beyond these shows, I don’t think there will be anything. So to get into a situation into where we record it and put it out just becomes too complicated. I’ve got a life to get on with,” says Ed, definitively.

What impact do you hope your music will have on people? Probably just to take a light-hearted view on life, have some fun but still be aware of what’s improtant.

But since when has he ever not? sCHRIS RATTRAY

Get a life with Ed Kuepper and The Saints (w/ Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds)! 0 January 12 @ Derwent Entertainment Centre,

Hobart www.mofo.net.au

I don’t think our music really promotes any kind of message, we’re more selfish beings than that, we write for ourselves mostly. What’s an example of the impact you’ve made on people through your music? God! Probably the most obvious thing is that theres three girls fronting the band. We always get comments from chicks about that. We don’t really think too much about it, but if it makes more gals wanna play good music then we’re all for it. Don’t fret! You can catch the awesome Frets on... 0 January 17 @ The Soundscape Festival, Hobart Regatta Grounds

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Friday December 26 DJ Skip Saturday December 27 Hard Drive Wednesday December 31 Oﬀ the Cuﬀ Friday January 2 DJ Skip

Queen Victoria Museum and Art Art Gallery atschool Inveresk The Queen Victoria Museum Tasmanian of Art, Burnie Regional Gallery, and Art Gallery at inveresk, University of Tasmania, City centre precint, 20Launceston December Wilmot 2008 – Burnie 26 April Hunter 2009 Invermay road, street, Hobart street, 20 December 2008 – 26 April 2009

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. ISSUE 84 . DECEMBER 24 2008 - JANUARY 6 2009

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GIG REVIEWS DIRTY F’KING DANCING - DJS: GILLIE, ADAM TURNER, CORNEY + TRISTAN @ Syrup, December 20

PSYCROPTIC @ The Brisbane Hotel, December 5

THE BAWDIES VS THE BASICS @ The Republic Bar, December 6

‘GRUMPY OLD MEN’ @ The Alley Cat Bar, December 4

Renowned technical death metal band Psycroptic has a huge following in their hometown of Hobart. The venue was brimming with metal fans that were also keen to support Zero Degrees Freedom, Black Asylum and Separatist. When Psycroptic’s vocalist, Jason, finally hit the stage he summoned the crowd, bringing on a brutal mosh pit of thrashing bodies and sweatdrenched hair which maintained its carnage through the night… clear signs that these were true fans of Psycroptic’s blast-beats and rapid tempo changes.

“Do you guys want to dance?”

A showcase of male solo artists – ‘Grumpy Old Men’ was well worth seeing, but my main charge for the night however was to review Ed Guglielmino, a Brisbane indie folk artist who has skirted the scene for some time, recently starting to receive airplay on Triple J - but he really is an acquired taste.

Peppo utilised his low-pitched growls and engaging stage performance to captivate the audience, towards the end even diving in to the crowd. Guitarist, Joe, weaved complex layers of riffs with clever fills. “The guitarist was tasteful for the genre,” said a Psycroptic first-timer in the crowd, “he didn’t just play fast like some death metal guys, he played slow every now and then which gave the fast stuff more impact, some really nice melodic shit too!” Dave went berserk playing excellent, extreme drumming that escalated under the intense guitar riffs. He was brutal, fast and overflowing with aggressive energy. “The drummer is a freak of nature,” commented another random from the crowd. “I’ve never seen anyone play double kick drum that fast!” Louder, more audible bass would have been preferable for my taste but Cameron’s performance was impressive regardless. He knew what he was doing; he was definitely ripping it up. Is there any stopping Psycroptic? They possess a sound that is uniquely their own, a precise blend of brutal, intense groove.

The Bawdies needn’t have bothered asking. With their easy lyrics about love lost, wanted or gained, and loveable guitar riffs, to not dance was not an option. When these Japanese groovers got on stage we thought “they look just like the Beatles!’ They had the whole works going on - mop top hair, suits, early Beatles-sounding tunes and even the trademark Beatles “wooo” along with hair shaking. This isn’t to say they’re just ripping off an iconic band, they added their own style. They sound what the early 60s would sound like today. Next up were Aussies, The Basics. Their style, chords and lyrics are like a blend of The Beatles and The Police. I saw them play earlier this year and it was obvious that touring has left them a bit exhausted. Although there wasn’t as much crowd interaction as last time they didn’t fail to disappoint in getting everyone pulling out their dance moves whatever they played. At one point the bass guitarist declared “we’re going to play a 60s song now! I don’t understand why you’re cheering? It could be any song!” Even with all their touring the drummer still had me amazed with his skills. I felt he was going to make a hole in the kit for beating it so hard and fast! We were treated to an encore of The Bawdies and The Basics playing one song together, one more Basics song and their version of Police’s Roxanne. This was a great finish to a fantastic night, afterwards by the look on everyone’s faces they were deeply satisfied, and tired from a whole lotta dancing. SKYE CROSSWELL PHOTO BY MICHAEL BLAKE

JESSICA WHITE & OLLIE HEYWARD

The songs themselves are well written, with an unexpectedly intellectual sound they are plaintive and tug at the emotions, but at times also the eardrums. Those also performing that night who “struck a chord”, for want of a better pun, were Wolf and Arrow, a Brisbane artist who plays very a experimental style of ambient guitar, and uses a variety of gizmos to create an amazing volume of spiritual and poignant sound. Well worth seeing. Andy Wear also took to the stage with much character, playing his own style of slow rock on electric guitar. He can definitely sing, and his songs tell a story that is often quite entertaining. The general feel of the night was that of a musical exhibition, where one was free to observe and enjoy the art of music in it’s essence, in the cosy and appropriate venue of the Alley Cat. Certainly an excellent option for a night’s entertainment. TABITHA FLETCHER

It was always interesting to hear the occasional island of more contemporary music that appears in the sea of more traditional trance produced by these DJ’s, if anything this helps to bring more of a focus to their work. The DJs handled the changeover period well with absolutely no break in the entertainment or the pace of the evening, which was built up to a medium to high pace and held there for the duration of the evening. This seemed to please the crowd who responded to the night well. All things said, it was another great night out at Syrup with plenty of high quality entertainment to be had. RICK MCCULLOCK

299 Elizabeth St North Hobart Ph. 6234 6954

New YEARS EVE

FRI 02 & SAT 03 JANUARY

SUGARTRAIN

UNLEASH THE NUGGET

MONDAY JANUARY 12

+ HANNAH + DJ DAMEZA $10 10PM + JILL & MATT BARBER

Fula with Ejhak

1 Friday 26/12/2008

Simon Russell & Guilty As Charged + Fell To Erin

$3 10pm

1 Saturday 27/12/2008

Soundscape Band Playoff

10pm

1 Sunday 28/12/2008

New Retro Club

9pm

1 Monday 29/12/2008

Carl Rush

8:30pm

1 Sunday 04/01/2009

1 Tuesday 30/12/2008

Kate Mehan + Skip

$3 9pm

1 Monday 05/01/2009

$4 9pm

FRIDAY JANUARY 16

DOUGIE MACLEAN WHITLEY ++ WASHINGTON JILL MITCHELL

1 Wednesday 24/12/2008

1 Wednesday 31/12/2008 1 Thursday 01/01/2009 1 Friday 02/01/2009

1 Saturday 03/01/2009

1 Tuesday 06/01/2009 WWW.SAUCE.NET.AU

Syrup once again provided a dynamic yet chilled out atmosphere for the performance, with the sound being top notch, confirming the venue’s reputation as a welltuned space that serves to complement the talents of the many amazing acts that it attracts. As the night progressed the tracks melded seamlessly, creating a thick and heavy atmosphere with tight bass lines being complemented well by nicely selected melodic overlay. These performers are well regarded by the regular crowd and this respect is well justified, as they never fail to create a good time for all involved.

REPUBLIC BAR & CAFE

Tix Available Online www.republicbar.com

$10 10PM

It seems he may be attempting to revive the style of Jeff Buckley or grasp at the coat tails of Radiohead. The fact of the matter is that the voice of Ed G is suited to those with somewhat eclectic taste – perhaps most likely fans of Belle and Sebastian. Perhaps he could be forgiven a little as he did perform as a soloist that night, and did have some warm-up issues to start with.

Saturday night at Syrup started off a little more subdued than one might expect for the last big Saturday before Christmas. But things soon warmed up as the first DJ got up and running with some moderately paced tunes.

$30 9PM

$20/$24 10PM

New Years Eve with Sugartrain Wishing Well Unleash The Nugget + Hannah + DJ Dameza Unleash The Nugget + Hannah + DJ Dameza

Wahbash Avenue TBA Black Swans of Trespass

$10

10pm 9pm

$10

10pm

$10

10pm 9pm

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. ISSUE 84 . DECEMBER 24 2008 - JANUARY 6 2009

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. ISSUE 84 . DECEMBER 24 2008 - JANUARY 6 2009

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CINECISM AUSSIE’S HUGH LOOKS BETTER AS A CANADIAN

y e l l A Cat The Alley Cat Bar 381 Elizabeth Street North Hobart 03 6231 2299

Monday, December 15 saw the release of the trailer for the new film in the X-Men saga, X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It gave us glimpses of not only a ripped-ashell Hugh Jackman, literally clawing back audience respect after Australia, but also a large ensemble cast including Ryan Reynolds as the “Merc-with-a-mouth” Deadpool and the long-awaited ragin’ Cajun, Gambit. Wolverine is due for release May 2009.

Friday 2nd January

THE CROW SAYS “NEVERMORE” Stephen Norrington, best known for directing the first Blade movie is set to direct a re-imagining of the cult classic The Crow, His last film, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was made in 2003, and neither he nor its lead actor (Sean Connery) have made a film since. The original Crow has inspired numerous sequels, a TV show spin-off and tie-in novels since its release in 1994 and it is considered a cult classic and an icon of “goth” culture. THE DARK BLU KNIGHT

ACTION // WANTED

Not What You Expected

Neither Timur Bekmenbatov or Mark Millar are what you would call “old school”. Timur’s best known films to date have been the meagre-budget Russian genre films Nightwatch and Daywatch. While Mark Millar has been ruffling feathers in the comics industry with his creator owned stories and his unusual take on established franchises. Their creative collaboration on Wanted is a strange pairing, yet it almost is a match made in heaven, writes David Quinn in our new film section, Cinecism... Wanted, in both its original comic book and the film version, is the story of Wesley Gibson the self confessed “most insignificant asshole on the planet,” partner of a cheating girlfriend and whipping boy of and overbearing boss. He is approached by a gorgeous woman one day in a convenience store and told that his long dead father has in fact been killed yesterday and now he needs to do something about it. He is then whipped into shape by a mysterious group of semisuper powered individuals and returned to the world as a hardened killer only to turn on his newly acquired team when he realises all is not as it seems. That is where the similarities stop. The comic book of Wanted places Wesley in the care of a worldwide group of comic book supervillains who have killed off all of the superheroes and now run the world. The beautiful woman is actually dressed up as her namesake, the fox, and is plenty-happy to kill every last person in the convenience store where she meets Wesley who, by the end, is as de-sensitised to killing, raping (!) and torturing as her. The film however, places Wesley in a shadowy cabal of deadly haberdashers who read fabric to determine who they must kill for the betterment of mankind. Oh, and it proposes that if you’re cool enough you can make bullets curve in mid-air. Which is the more ludicrous? That is up to the viewer to decide. Wanted, the film, does garner some brownie points

for the completely unashamed joy that it takes in bending, folding, pushing and stretching the laws of both physics and gravity into amusing pretzel-like shapes. It makes no apologies for its abject stupidity and occasionally even winks at us with a sly grin and seems to say “yeah it’s bullshit but it looks cool doesn’t it?” and damn if it isn’t hard to disagree. Every bit of glorious slow-mo bullet-time silliness is a total treat. Unfortunately the film insists on trying to be serious at times too and that’s where it comes unstuck. Morgan Freeman’s performance is totally phoned in and bland, while Angelina Jolie pouts and glowers through yet another action flick to little effect. James McAvoy is enjoyable but does little to really shine. Overall Wanted is uneven and frustratingly close to awesome. Some films are epic love stories of script and director: glorious unions of creators with the final products being a veritable orgasm of creative juices. Wanted is not so much an epic union as a first clumsy fumbling encounter between two youthfully exuberant lovers. It is over excited, too eager and sadly slightly messy. But it sure is fun and something you won’t forget any time soon... CINE-COOL s DAVID QUINN 0 Wanted (M) is out now on Blu-ray and DVD.

The Dark Knight has not only smashed box office records worldwide, but has now taken on the home market with the same gusto. Blu-ray sales for the film have decimated previous records and given a much needed shot in the arm to the format. The inclusion of IMAX filmed sequences in the Blu-ray release have given fans one more reason to make the switch to the relatively new format.

The Wishing Well Saturday 3rd January

HE’LL BE BACK, AGAIN

Terminator Salvation, the fourth film in the longrunning sci-fi series hasn’t even been released but it has already been greenlit for a sequel. Seemingly days after the first trailer appeared online, the director McG (no, not Mr G), announced that they were going ahead with the next film in what will hopefully be a new trilogy. Terminator Salvation stars Christian Bale as humanity’s saviour John Connor and Aussie lad, Sam Worthington, as the enigmatic Marcus Wright. The governator Arnold Schwarzenegger has thus far not been involved in the film.

Agree? Disagree? Flame Quinny’s ass at david@dreamwalkmedia.com! The most cutting and incisive emails will be featured on this page… and you may also win some prizes!

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. ISSUE 84 . DECEMBER 24 2008 - JANUARY 6 2009

ROFLMAO STRUTH BE TOLD Meditations on being Tasmanian with The Bedroom Philosopher...

STRANGER THAN MICKTION Xmas shopping shenanigans from The Land of Lowenstein...

Australian’s please let us rejoin, For it is one degree. With oldies loyal and health in turmoil Our shops are shut by three. Our land is ground into nature’s chips Forestry’s stripped us bare It’s a mystery gays were allowed to stay Advance Tasmania where? With employment strained the young jump ship Advance Tasmania where?

“So this is Christmas” John Lennon said, and considering the time of year, he’s right on the money. I find the hurricane of commercialism that sweeps everyone up into a gift buying frenzy kind of novel. It’s interesting wandering about through throngs of jittery stressed out people in the CBD and soaking up the tension. I like to diffuse the whole thing by getting about in stripey pants. Yep, works a treat. All manner of humanity feel they have to snap out of their retail detail and pass comment on my leg wrappers.

In the high school of Australia, Tasmania lurks down by the bins, watching beautiful Melbourne and Sydney laugh and frolic, hoping that even the weird kid Adelaide will sit next to it at lunchtime. As a Tasmanian, you can’t help but be aware of your lot in the geographical playground, as the cruel jibes and patronising remarks ring in your ears. I’ve been on the receiving end most of my life, even within the troubled ranks of Van Diemen’s Land. In the High School of Tasmania, it was my home town that sat alone in the grass waiting to be picked near-last for basketball by captains Launceston and Hobart. “Shit Burnie, you cost us the game again!”

“Nice pants,” say the more imaginative people. “Where did you get those?” ask the suspicious. “I like your pants… lucky I didn’t say I like what’s in them,” says a slightly un-nerving guy at a café. Was that a dead seagull in his bag? At least he had his Christmas shopping under control. Another guy approaches me and says that I must be a musician because I’m wearing black and red striped pants. He was making a few assumptions there, but he was correct. He wanted to know if I’d play some old jazz standards with him. He played clarinet. I can but stare. “They’re just pants man.” A group of elderly ladies disapprove their way past, finding a stripey-legged bloke somewhat vulgar. I find the fact that one of them is carrying a little handbag

But the best bit about Christmas in the city is the queues. It’s like theatre for the mirthless. People standing about doing big pantomime looks at their watches, in the belief that the checkout chick they’re waiting to do battle with will suddenly realise how slow and incompetent she is and do everyone a favour by taking herself out with a high powered stapler in full view of a group of pre-school children. Perhaps I’m reading too much into it.

with a sequined kitten on it, somewhat poetic. In the Christmas chaos there’s people carrying all manner of oddly shaped packages, every second person has a Guitar Hero box and loads of people are making jokes about getting someone a Wii for Christmas. I laugh loudly at all of them, even though none of these people are talking to me. They scowl at me then look down. “Nice pants.” Someone has a red box tied up with a polka dot ribbon. I bet that’s for someone special.

I like to join the queues just so I can be part of the yuletide cheer that permeates each and every one of them. Sitting down in the middle of the line is considered poor form though apparently, as is suggesting that all the queue inhabitants break into some line dancing. I mean we are in a line… some people just can’t join the dots. Or they join the dots and it still looks like a dot, only bigger. Or the Dots join them and suddenly their entire world becomes one long CWA cake drive. Yeah. That happened to me once. True story. sMICK LOWENSTEIN The Short Back and Sideshow is back: 0 January 3 @ The Taste Festival, Hobart

I left the coastal village of Burnie - a cross between Summer Bay and Chernobyl (with respect) - in 1999 to attend Uni in the A.C.T. Even in Canberra, described by Paul McDermott as “the place people go to die,” I was a constant source of side show amusement. One night on Ressies I was browning some mince when a girl wandered over. “Where are you from?” “Tasmania.” (Cue tone usually reserved for a child with damp shorts.) “Oh, you poor thing.” This naïve arrogance matched an earlier image I had of mainlanders, occurring while walking the Overland Track with my Nan, a popular five day bushwalk near Cradle Mountain. It was day three and a Sydney family were staying in the same hut as us. To my amazement the father, some kind of high flying exec, had managed to smuggle a newspaper along and was headfirst into the financial section. When asked if he was looking forward to the day’s walking he shrugged. “Seen one mountain, seen them all.” I nibbled my trail mix, horrified. Who was this desensitised freak in chinos? Growing up in Tasmania meant you couldn’t take anything for granted. It was the little things in life that brought the most joy, like a spectacular sunset, or a third TV channel. I remember when Silverchair bothered to make the trip over the Bass Strait in 1996. I was so excited I lost my virginity. I think being Tasmanian gives you an innate ability to laugh at yourself. There’s a kind of bemused ruffian pride among adults, a quiet air of ‘we know we’ve got problems, but we wouldn’t trade it for anything and plus, Australia loves an underdog.’ This is expressed less wittily by teenagers who are more likely to spraypaint ‘HOLE’ on the surf club. (Think of the ‘Landcare’ logo, with the cupped hands forming Australia. They can’t do Tasmania so it’s literally a hole.) By the same token, sometimes the Tasmanian apple can fall far from the tree. There are those who escape to the mainland only to either deny their former heritage, or form a loner superiority. “Yeah there’s a time difference on the mainland, Tassie’s ten years behind.” These are the kind of ex-pats most likely to make a two headed or incest joke, the two faced motherf*ckers! The twist is that the isolation of Tasmania is a trait that unites us all. Ever had a look around at our place in the high school of the world? Hey, check out the cool kids hanging behind the gym - London, New York, Berlin. And where’s Australia? With New Zealand playing squatter in the library… again. In conclusion, in the words of my Nan: “you can take the man out of Tasmania, and then it’s just ‘Tasia,’ which sounds like a small Asian electronics company.” sJUSTIN HEAZLEWOOD

0 www.bedroomphilosopher.com 20

. ISSUE 84 . DECEMBER 24 2008 - JANUARY 6 2009

WWW.SAUCE.NET.AU

COMEDY games, gadgets, and other digital distractions

ZZAPPED CREW’S GAMES OF 2008

MUSIC // WII

Guitar Hero World Tour

Wanna start your own band, but can’t sing, drum or play guitar... no worries!

This is the year that will forever go down in history as the year Zzapped! began in these very pages. But, aside from that, it’s also been a year full of landmark game releases. Nobody will soon forget the towering behemoth that was Jumper: Griffin’s Story (Xbox 360), or the simple pleasures of My Horse and Me (DS). And who isn’t still enjoying the frenetic action of History Channel: Battle for the Pacific (PS3)? I’ll tell you who – nobody! Because those games were actually voted into the Top 50 Worst Games of 2008 on metacritic.com. So here’s your Zzapped Crew’s favourite games of 2008. sMIKE WILCOX SPORE (PC)

Lay down your AK47, enchanted staff and other video gaming weapon of choice. In case you hadn’t noticed, the last couple of years have seen music-based games enjoy massive fame and fortune and it’s largely thanks to the hit series, Guitar Hero with its Gibson GS-shaped controller. However this, the fourth in the series, has cranked the gameplay to eleven and expanded the franchise in a major way by introducing a microphone and drum kit peripheral along with the guitar, plus a Tarago crammed full of new modes and features. At its core, Guitar Hero World Tour (GHWT) sticks to the original concept which sees you gradually unlocking the game’s set list of over 80 classic songs by playing along to them with one of the instruments. The main career mode again requires players and their band to gig their way out of the garage and up to stadium stardom, and in the process earning cash for new band gear and outfits, plus sponsorship deals. A few game features are different, obviously to do with the new instruments and then also whether playing solo or with mates in a band. Other game options and modes include Quickplay, Head-to-Head, Online Jams with friends or foes, Rockstar Creator for customising band members and instruments, Music Store to buy and download new songs, Music Studio which lets you lay down and even upload your own basic music tracks, and finally on the Wii version (road tested here), there’s a unique freestyle jamming mode that can star any of the Mii characters you’ve created (which to be honest is pretty naff).

feature is you can use any compatible (professional) MIDI drum kit with this game by plugging it into the MIDI input port. The other new instrument is, of course, the microphone, which is just like your typical hand-held variety, although unlike the other instruments, it’s connected to the console via a USB cable. If you’ve ever played SingStar before (go on admit it), you’ll know the drill here. You’re scored on your pitch and timing of a song’s lyrics. It’s probably worth noting, unlike the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the GHWT instruments, the Wii guitar and drum kit must each be connected to a Wii remote to work, and extra ones of these aren’t included. While we’re on console comparisons, although the gameplay is virtually the same across all versions, the Wii is clearly behind the pack in the graphics stakes, plus it’s limited onboard memory is not well-suited to players keen on building a library of downloadable songs. But these are petty gripes at what is easily one of the finest times you’ll spend behind closed doors with your Wii and some mates. If you can spare the cash, make sure you spring for the complete band version of the game, otherwise it can be purchased with just the drums or guitar. sMIKE WILCOX GAMEPLAY: 90%

0 The extra modes and things to do offer great replay, and naturally the new instruments are the stars of the show. GRAPHICS: 65%

Turning to the instruments, the new larger guitar controller now has an extra touch sensitive “slider” area on which you can strum, whammy, hammer on and slap (in bass guitar mode). The longer whammy bar seems easier to reach and smoother to use, plus there’s a new star power button right under where your palm sits when you play the strum bar. The new six-piece drum kit consists of a stand-alone bass drum pedal and five velocity-sensitive pads for snare, two toms, and two cymbals all grouped together on a pretty sturdy stand. Being a real drummer of sorts, I’m happy to report these are surprisingly well made and fun to play, although along with many gamers, I initially found the sensitivity of the pads less than consistent. Fortunately the makers of the game recently addressed this issue by offering a small downloadable Drum Tuning application along with a free MIDI-to-USB cable which allows you connect the drums to a PC and adjust the sensitivity of each pad, which makes a huge difference.

0 While eye candy isn’t on show here like most games, it reveals the Wii’s lack of graphical grunt. SOUND: 90%

0 Over 80 classic songs from Hendrix and Motörhead through to Tool and Korn, and all original master recordings. PLAYABILITY: 80%

0 The easy levels are tons of fun, but expect some serious challenges playing the same songs set to expert mode. OVERALL: 85%

0 GHWT is the magnum opus of the series, by completely shaking things up and breathing fresh features and depth into it. 0 GUITAR HERO WORLD TOUR IS AVAILABLE NOW FOR WII, PS3, PS2, AND XBOX 360

Although it’s unlikely to be used by many, another cool

0 COMING UP… DOMESTIC COWBOY

After roughly 10 million light years in the making, the gaming guru that gave us The Sims phenomenon, Will Wright, finally handed over his latest ‘god’ game a few months ago. While it’s tricky to pigeon-hole into a single genre, Spore is one of those masterpieces that comes together through experiencing the sum of all its parts, that is part Real-time Strategy, Life simulator and Creature creator. From nurturing a single-cell organism at the start, through to guiding tribes of fullycustomised mercenaries on interplanetary meet n’ greets, the immersive gameplay and unique spin on familiar gaming turf makes Spore one of this years top PC titles. sTIARNE DOUBLE METAL GEAR SOLID 4: GUNS OF THE PATRIOTS (PS3) Having played the predecessors on every Sony console available and now it’s exclusive comeback on the PS3 (at the time the only reason I wanted a PS3)I place my chips on this solid standing epic. With the best mix of stealth, action and giant freaking nuclear robots to contend with it has been borne unto a capable machine allowing full cinematic graphic glory. With better-than-Bond femme fatales, smoother moves than Jean Claude Van Damme and the sneakiness of a Ninja, Snake undoubtedly wins as the best VG hero.

IN THE PUBLIC BAR

Thursday January 1st

Sara Jane & Nathan Wheldon 9pm

Friday January 2nd

Ben Castles 9pm

Saturday January 3rd

The Titz GREAT FOOD

OPEN MIC NIGHT

THE LAST WEDNESDAY

OF EVERY MONTH

OPEN 7 DAYS

14 Brisbane Street, Launceston 6331 5346

sCHRIS RATTRAY LITTLEBIGPLANET (PS3) Nothing has brought more joy into my household recently than Sony’s DIY platformer, LittleBigPlanet (reviewed last issue). One of the roles I find myself assuming as I grow older is that of parent, and I’m more and more on the lookout for games I can share with the children in my stead. I love to play through a level or two with the seven and nine year old, or to watch them play so naturally together – brother and sister bonded by Sackboy and his infinite adventures through the LittleBigUniverse. And besides, the game that has had me hooked throughout the year, Warhawk, was released last year, so I can’t count it. Damn you, internal consistency! And self-refererentialism!

Look out for reviews of Resistance 2, and Tomb Raider: Underworld coming up in future editions of SAUCE!

claymcintosh@gmail.com

ASA and The Greenhouse present Wax Lyrical at Irish Murphy’s

Tuesday 6th January 2009 Prairie Nischler Indi Jane Josh Durno Jess Patmore Josh Mazey 9pm - 11pm FREE ENTRY

@ THE GREENHOUSE

Irish Murphy’s

21 Salamanca Place, Hobart Ph: 6223 1119 WWW.SAUCE.NET.AU

. ISSUE 84 . DECEMBER 24 2008 - JANUARY 6 2009

STREET FASHION

BY MICHAEL BLAKE

Name: Louise Age: 21 Favourite Band: Something for Kate What’s the best day of Christmas? The first day of Christmas What’s the weirdest Christmas present you’ve received? A gift voucher for an old ladies’ shop How’re you spending your New Years? At the Taste

Name: Alice Age: 18 Favourite Band: Sneaky Sound System What’s the best day of Christmas? Christmas Eve, it’s exciting What’s the weirdest Christmas present you’ve received? Oscar the Grouch undies How’re you spending your New Years? Drinking at Falls

Name: Meg Age: 18 Favourite Band: Justice What’s the best day of Christmas? The one with kangaroos What’s the weirdest Christmas present you’ve received? A can of beer and some bacon How’re you spending your New Years? Cleaning up vomit at Falls

Name: Mollie Age: 18 Favourite Band: Modest Mouse What’s the best day of Christmas? The one with the golden rings What’s the weirdest Christmas present you’ve received? Stolen hotel shampoo How’re you spending your New Years? In the dirt at Falls

CD REVIEWS BLEEDING THROUGH Declaration

PINKY BEECROFT AND THE WHITE RUSSIANS Somethin’ Somewhere Better

If California’s Bleeding Through did nothing for you with their previous efforts then expect a surprise, as the band have teamed up with Strapping Young Lads’ Devin Townsend to produce and engineer the band’s fifth studio effort - which promises to be the best to date in their career so far. Declaration takes BT from a mediocre hardcore act to what I believe will give the band a more respected appreciation within the metalcore scene. Through stellar production and a band aiming for individualism, this could be the call to possibly breaking the metalcore strain of the same old sounding band. The album has strong hints of modern thrash mixed with the early Swedish death metal movement, two styles that are common in the metalcore genre.

This album from former Machine Gun Fellatio frontman and his new band The White Russians is not only well written lyrically but very musically interesting – a great debut album. The line up of instruments is essentially a traditional rock band – guitar, bass, drums, and organ. The use of the organ throughout adds colour to the White Russians’ record, and stops it from becoming stilted; it stands out from the pack.

Compared to the previous album, The Truth which had more clean vocal lines, vocalist Brandan Schieppatis’ use of dominant screeches and growls suits the music considerably, with the occasional clean vocals in songs such as Death Anxiety and There Was a Flood showing improvement in delivery and style. The introduction of new guitarist Jona Weinhofen (ex - I Killed The Prom Queen) adds a mega crunch to the band’s sound, in the way of a heavy guitar tone played with absolute aggression and passion. The track, Sister Charlatan, displays the finesse of keyboardist Marta Peterson who brings a spinechilling gothic sound to the group, which makes for an interesting listen, together with the solid guitar playing, evoking harmonious, yet savage imagery. Declaration is, by far, one of the most enjoyable metalcore albums to come out in 2008. 8/10 DAVID WALKER 22

Lyrically Beecroft has written predominantly about women and drinking. Not very original subjects, but he does it in such a clever way it seems fresh and different. The opening lyrics “Woke up with nothing to do/thought I’d try shoplifting” are a perfect example of Beecroft’s witty lyrics.There are two covers on this album – something that may seem quite surprising. The first one, Unsent Letter, a new version of a song he originally performed back in the MGF days, includes the title of the album in its lyrics. The second is a very different take on the classic Blondie song, Call Me. The White Russians could easily convince any unsuspecting listener that these are original tunes – they flow within the distinctive sound of the album so easily. It would be interesting to hear The White Russians perform their material live as Somethin’ Somewhere Better has a raw edge to it that indicates they have concentrated on keeping production to a minimum in order to be faithful to their performance sound. However, with a bagpipe cameo on This Song Has Only Got Happy Words, exceptions can and will be made.

. ISSUE 84 . DECEMBER 24 2008 - JANUARY 6 2009

9/10 DORIAN BROOMHALL WWW.SAUCE.NET.AU