Sauce - Issue 89, 4-3-09 by David K Q Williams

FREE

. ISSUE 89 . MAR 04 - MAR 17 2009 . TASMANIA’S STREET PRESS

“If you’re not cheered up by this, you have no soul” The List, Edinburgh

As seen on ABC TV’s Spicks and Specks

adam hills inflatable

Wrest Point Entertainment Centre 410 Sandy Bay Road, Sandy Bay

ONE NIGHT ONLY!

Friday 8th May Book now! At the Wrest Point Service Centre or call 1300 795 257

EVERYONE S

IRISH ON ST PATRICK S DAY S ATURDAY 14 TH M ARCH

T UESDAY 17 TH M ARCH

WARM UP FOR THE BIG DAY.

ST PATRICK'S DAY HUGE LINE UP STARTING FROM 7AM.

Guinness Tasters, $5 Irish Stew, Bagpipers.

Breakfast Buffet. Bagpipers. Top bands The Ranters, Daideo & The Blue Mosquitoes, Big Swifty. Classic Irish favourites for lunch and dinner.

genuine craic. www.irishmurphys.com.au

BART

21 Salamanca Place, Hobart 03 6223 1119

NEWS

#89- March 04 to March 17

Contents:

SAUCE NEWS Due to health reasons, our much-loved editor Chris Rattray will be taking some time off from his Saucy duties. On behalf of the SAUCE team, and no doubt his many fans out there, we want to wish Chris and his family all the best, and have our fingers crossed for a speedy recovery, because he will be missed!

THE GETAWAY PLAN BREAK UP The Getaway Plan has announced their break up this week, along with a string of dates for their final shows.

Until then, we are happy to welcome back David Williams to the editor’s chair. A big thank you to all those (including Chris) who pitched in to help us get #89 ready for print. 0 www.sauce.net.au

“There comes a point in everyone’s lives where they must sit back and assess if everything is working the way it should be.

Although the Melbourne quartet had a successful 2008, they’ve decided to call it quits. In a statement released to fans and the media, they said:

0 6 March @ The Brisbane Hotel, Hobart

Contents / News

Carus

Green Fingers

Psycroptic

Drapht / Downsyde

Muph & Plutonic

Oﬀ The Shelf

House Party / Stupid Fresh

Birds of Tokyo

DJ Ferris / Rebel D

Kate Miller-Heidke

Entertainment Guide

Midnight Oil

Amanda Palmer

Joe Lally / Loren

CD Reviews

Gig Reviews

UPCOMING GIGS

ROFLMAO

Cinecism

Wednesday, 4 March Ben Castles

Hot Mods

Zzapped

Street Fashion

Sauce Team:

HANDS ACROSS THE WATER Hosted by Angry Anderson, a concert for the Victorian Bushfire victims will be held at Aurora Stadium on the 21st of March. Featuring acts such as Spectrum, Matt Taylor’s Chain, The Giants, and Lowrider (feat. DJ Debris from the Hilltop Hoods), as well as local acts Mayfield, Nathan Weldon & The Two Timers, The Vibes and Bite Me, with more acts to be added. The concert is a daytime event and will be alcohol free. Check it out and support a worthy cause. 0 21 March @ Aurora Stadium, Launceston

We have come to a decision that The Getaway Plan will no longer continue to make music together. This is in no way the end of our careers as musicians. Music is and always will be the biggest part of our lives.” Their last run of shows will be in May and June in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. Tickets go on sale Friday, 6 March. 0 Tickets can be purchased from: www.thehifi.com.au

Editor - General Manager - Advertising: David Williams Email: david@sauce.net.au Phone: 0400 940 699

Launceston: Production Office Phone: 03 6331 0701 Art Director: Simon Hancock Email: simon@sauce.net.au

Friday, 6 March S&M Saturday, 7 March The Jam Jets (Blues)

If you don’t get to us in time, the prize will JACKPOT, so next edition there will be four CDs or DVDs to be won. And so on … Get a SAUCE sticker (email competitions@sauce. net.au with your postal address and CAR STICKER in the subject line if you want one!) and whack it on your vehicle! Check each edition of SAUCE to see if you’ve won. It’s that easy!

Contributors:

Sauce #90 - 18/03/09 to 31/03/09 Ad Artwork Deadline 13/03/09 @ 3pm

DOMESTIC COWBOY

. ISSUE 89 . MARCH 04 - MARCH 17 2009

Get your music heard on Australia’s first digital radio station dedicated to undiscovered artists. www.radarradio.com.au

AE 340

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 13th of March @ 5pm to win some CDs or DVDs!

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

Next Edition:

NEW MUSIC FOR RADIO

Thursday, 5 March Samuel Bester

Editorial Assistant: Meegan May

Chris Rattray, Meegan May, Carl Fidler, Glenn Moorehouse, Mischa Calcagno, Clara Murray, Dane Hunnerup, Steve Tauschke, David Walker, David Walker, Tiarne Double, Mick Lowenstein.

WANTED:

SAUCE STICKER WINNER

Hobart:

NEW GIG FOR THE SCANDAL After an eight month break, The Scandal will be back in live action for a gig in Hobart with A Death In The Family and Like….Alaska. They are also gearing up for the release of a new 7” - which will be out in May.

Congratulations to Sam of South Launceston, who contacted us after seeing his rego in last edition. Sam’s going to receive 12 spanking new CDs. He’s asked for Against Me!, Rise Against, Silversun Pickups, The Strokes, Foals, Block Party, Band of Horses, Dukes of Windsor and The Scientists of Modern Music ... and we’re going to do our best to give him what he wants, just for having a SAUCE sticker on his car, watching this space, and sending us an email. On ya, Sam!

Sunday, 8 March Open Folk Session Wednesday, 11 March Invisible Boy

COLLECTOR’S CORNER

CDs & DVDs New + Second Hand 37 Wilson St Burnie 03 6431 6616

Thursday, 12 March Lonny Tunes Feat. Frankie, Mick Attard, Firefly Family, British Battlegrounds Friday, 13 March - Boatshed Glen Terry with Pete Cornelius Saturday, 14 March - Boatshed A Night On The Greenwood Fabio and the Jive Master The Dudley Nightshades Halfway To Forth - $5 Sunday, 15 March Open Folk Session

GREAT FOOD

OPEN MIC NIGHT

THE LAST WEDNESDAY

OF EVERY MONTH

OPEN 7 DAYS

14 Brisbane Street, Launceston 6331 5346

claymcintosh@gmail.

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ROCK - PERTH // CARUS THOMPSON

No Creature of Habit

For Carus Thompson, having his solo work instantly compared to Paul Kelly isn’t necessarily a bad thing. “Paul Kelly is a huge hero, I love the way he’s without pretension. He’s a songwriter and he delivers a song and he’s very amazing at just managing to choose the right combination of words and tell the right story. So I’ve always been chasing that, it’s a great compliment if people think that, that’s great.” With the new album, Creatures of Habit, Carus seems to have reached what he’s been chasing over his twenty-year songwriting career. “When we set out to make this album, at the end of Three Boxes, I really started to get into my stride as a songwriter and also my relationship with Greg, the producer, it got quite trusting and were on the same page. We finished Three Boxes and thought, ‘I’ve really just started to get going’, and so I kept writing. And the first three songs that I brought to Greg, he went, ‘wow, this is a new level for you and for the new record, if the songs aren’t as good as these ones, they’re not making the cut.’ He pushed me and I pushed myself. I feel it’s the best bunch of songs that I’ve ever put on a record.” He sees continued growth and improvement in his songwriting, instead of just sticking to what’s worked for him in the past, he wasn’t willing to accept anything other than the new Carus and the new level of craftsmanship he’s forged. What’s been produced then, on the new album, are songs that are a mix of personal and storytelling, but all with an emotional truth and intensity. “I think you can write a fictional song, but unless you put some of yourself in it, it doesn’t ring true. A listener can spot that narrative. You have to be inside the song yourself, especially when you perform it, for it to have emotional currency. I think this record comes the closest to what I do as a singer-songwriter.”

“…I think if you saw Paul Kelly live or saw me live, I think we’re pretty different kind of performers. He’s an amazing performer as well, he’s a little more subtle than me, I go a bit more for the jugular...”

like Berlin, and although the schedule can be quite gruelling (“the other day I caught a train from Munich to Austria, played a gig in Austria, next day caught a train for eight hours and played a gig in the middle of Germany.”) and “the gigs are pretty intense, Carus describes the experience as simply, “incredible.” Plus, very few people in Germany have ever heard of Paul Kelly. Although he continues, “I think if you saw Paul Kelly live or saw me live, I think we’re pretty different kind of performers. He’s an amazing performer as well, he’s a little more subtle than me, I go a bit more for the jugular.” In Hobart, we can expect the mellow record being presented with an acoustic set up. “I’ll have a piano and a trumpet player, but even when I play solo, to just get up and play an hour and a half of mellow and intense songs, to me has never been particularly interesting as a performer. What I love to do is play really intense mellow songs then play a really upbeat song after that, to get those two emotions working together. The contrast, people are able to come with you. I like to try and give the whole experience at a gig, because you’re at a pub, you’re drinking beer and people have come to be touched but also to be entertained. It’s about them and their experience as well as your experience on stage.” sDavid Williams & Meegan May

For the performance of his new songs, Carus will be heading to Hobart after his European tour. Currently in Germany, Carus is enjoying sold-out shows in places

Experience Carus. Tickets from the venue. 0 22 March @ The Republic Bar, Hobart

Carey puts baby in the corner

REPUBLIC BAR & CAFE

Tix Available Online www.republicbar.com

299 Elizabeth St North Hobart Ph. 6234 6954

THURSDAY 5 MARCH

FRIDAY 6 march

saturday 7 march

sunday 8 march

fri 13 & sat 14 march

kate miller-heidke

sally dastey (tiddas)

MUPH & PLUTONIC

FYAH WALK

the red eyes

+ skipping girl vinegar $20pre / $25door 9PM

+ sam lohs (fruit)

+ $12pre / $15door

10PM

+ HORROR SHOW + MDUSU & DAMEZA

$18pre / $22door 10PM

(byron bay reggae)

9PM

$10

$12pre / $15door 10PM

Wednesday, 4 MARCH

Wahbash avenue

9pm

Wednesday, 11 MARCH

john zilber + amy kendall

9pm

Thursday, 5 MARCH

Kate Miller-Heidke + Skipping girl vinegar $20/$25

9pm

Thursday, 12 MARCH

joe piere & the blackberries

9pm

Friday, 6 March

sally dastey (tiddas) + sam lohs (fruit)

Friday, 13 March

the red eyes

$12/15

10PM

Saturday, 7 march

muph & plutonic +horror show + mdusu & dameza

Saturday, 14 march

the red eyes

$12/15

10PM

Sunday, 8 march

fyah walk (BYRON BAY REGGAE)

9pm

Sunday, 15 march

the sign

9pm

Monday, 9 march

Quiz Night

8:15pm

Monday, 16 march

mark wilkonson

9pm

Tuesday, 10 march

ally mok + rod fritz

9pm

Tuesday, 17 march

loren + Dean stevenson

WWW.SAUCE.NET.AU

$10

$12/15 10PM $18/12 10pm

$10

9pm

. ISSUE 88 . MARCH 04 -MARCH 17 2009

GREEN FINGERS All the freshest produce from The Greenhouse, Irish Murphy’s, Hobart. Oh hi there. Fertiliser from Irish Murphy’s Hobart’s the Greenhouse here. The last couple of weeks have been pretty off the chain for us with everyone saying boh and going back to Uni. It’s great to see fresh faces and our regular floor carvers shaking and stirring at the same time. A couple of our last gigs have been particularly dramatic with the return of several of our finest femme fatales, the fabulous ingénue Lana Chilcott treading the boards again with new songs to show and songinatrix Hayley Couper returning to our shores with a much punished stomp box and a new depth and power to her voice, it’s great to see these two back at it. To catch some more returning leading ladies in the next fortnight come and check out the narnian stringquintet Ethereal on Sunday the 8th of March and military goddess Emma Anglesey flying her Blackhawk from Victoria to entertain us all on the 10th.

HAYLEY COUPER

Chill the fuck out. We got new shit. People have seen hip-hop party band Unleash the Nugget yeah? Do you remember when they had three MCs? People have seen polished rockers The Evening

Dolls yeah? Have you noticed that the missing Nugget MC and the front man of The E Dolls are THE SAME GUY. That’s right, Benny Korkmaz, international man of mystery, has done it again with his new band La Vista. What the hell is it going to be? Is it some bizarre hip-hop/rock hybrid like Rage Against the Machine, Limp Bizkit or Aerosmith vs. Run DMC? Is it going to be a Microsoft operating system sounds electro quirk dance band? We don’t even know! Wednesday March 11th. Stop me if you’ve heard this one, what do you get when you mix a Jane Doe with a Conservatorium jazz student, a ‘psychometrics consultant’ and someone from immigration? No not a mysterious dead chick from a black and white zombie-boat-people tropfest entry, it’s a new band called Agent Fontaine, is it going to split your skull? Are rumours of live ballet jamming true? Thursday March 12th. Alright, we at Irish have a special celebration every year that just makes sense, of course, we smash St Paddy’s Day! On Tuesday March 17th we’ve got The Ranters, Daddy’o and the Mosquitos, and the Big Swifty and kicking off with the Hobart Highland Pipe Band we’re also doing an iPhone give-away (not very Irish but we’re sure you’ll forgive us) and an Irish menu serving from 7am-10pm, entertainment kicks off at midday and goes til after. We’ve also got some rumours and news, ooooooh, is it true that G House regulars The Trolls might be playing with a certain massive international ska band in Hobart soon? and Ejector, have they gone silent – word is they’re out of action working on their debut EP, they’ve gone underground working with eight eared octopus Brett Collidge and will birth the new one sometime in winter, not long followed by the Lakoda love child of Krysty and Justin! We wish them all the best and we’ll catch you all at the bottom of a pint sometime soon. sFERT

DALI SRHOJ & THE PAPER BAND

Get seedy in The Greenhouse: 0 Every Sunday - Thursday night @ Irish Murphy’s, Hobart

SUNDAY SESSIONS FROM 2PM IN THE BEER GARDEN!

Friday March 6 Rob Richards Saturday March 7 DJ Shane Friday March 13 DJ Skip Saturday March 14 Oﬀ The Cuﬀ

Thursday March 19

Karaoke 8pm til late

Biggest & Best Pub Meals Dining & Function Room Real Beer Garden Alfresco Dining THE COMMERCIAL HOTEL DINING HOURS 7 DAYS A WEEK

Lunch 12 noon - 2.30pm | Dinner 5.30pm - 8.30pm (9pm Fri & Sat) 27 George St Launceston, 03 6331 3868 6

. ISSUE 89 . MARCH 04 - MARCH 17 2009

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Alley Cat The Alley Cat Bar 381 Elizabeth Street North Hobart 03 6231 2299

Fri 6th & Sat 7th of March

Pinky Beecroft & The white russians Friday 13th of March

Psycroptic Stand Defiant METAL - HOBART // PSYCROPTIC

Dave Williams interviews Dave of Psycroptic. What have been the highlights of the tour in Europe? Every show has been a highlight of sorts, as it’s been our most successful European tour to date. We have sold a lot of merchandise and we are seeing the difference in having a big European label in our court pushing us and the album. It’s been great to see people on the other side of the world sing along to the lyrics. That still always blows me away. Touring with our old friends in Black Dahlia Murder and Cephalic Carnage, along side our new friends in Sylosis has insured everyday is an adventure filled with a lot of laughs. What has not gone according to plan, and how have you coped? Nothing on tour ever fully goes to plan...we know this and take in into account each time we go out. However, on this tour most things have been very smooth probably due to Karim, the excellent tour manager we have. He makes sure everything is working out the way it should be, and hides any problems from all the bands so they don’t have to stress about them. All of us in Psycroptic are pretty experienced with tours, so doing 30 shows back to back wasn’t really a problem... and being on a nightliner helps. For those who don’t know, a nightliner is a bus that has beds on it that all the bands are on. We shared a bus with Black Dahlia and Cephalic so it was our home for a month. This is quite a comfortable way to tour - much better than driving yourselves around in a band. How have the audiences there reacted to your performances, compared with Audiences here? It honestly really depends on where you play, as reactions different from country to country, culture to culture. For example, audiences in the east of Germany to the west of Germany, and much is the same all over Europe. As a general rule, we have found that the poorer the country is, the better the crowds are. This tour had some really great crowds for the most part -which were as good as any out in Australia...but it also had a couple of really unresponsive crowds for all the bands on the tour - which for a band, sucks. These were in Spain. The crowds apparently loved the shows after talking with some of them after the show, they just don’t like to show it! How has your experience on this tour differed to previous times you’ve toured there? This tour was by far the best European one we have done, as we were touring with good friends of ours, the shows were very well promoted and attended, and everything was arranged extremely well by the booking agent. Even the catering on the tour was the best we have come across. There isn’t much on it that I would change in hindsight... maybe just the weather and the smell of the upstairs of the bus! To what extent has the band’s signing to Nuclear Blast made a difference on this tour? Its helped a lot in gaining us new fans, as more people are aware of the band now since we signed to them. They insured the album has had a lot of promo and is WWW.SAUCE.NET.AU

distributed as widely as possible. For any label, touring is the most important promotional tour, and if anyone knows this, it’s NB. They helped out everywhere they could, and staff came to a few different shows to insure we all ok and see if we needed anything. How can you keep such a high-energy show at its peak, night after night? The way I look at it, its only 30 to 40 mins a day that you have to ‘work’ on tour - which is nothing in physical terms...so you can put a lot of energy into it. You just need to be in the right mind state. This lifestyle isn’t for everyone, and it can be hard, but you are playing to new crowds each night who want to see you at your best. They don’t care if you are tired - mentally or physically - they have paid their money, they want a show. You have to make sure you give them the show they want to see.

Who have you met, that you’ll never forget, and why? We have met a lot of different people over the years bands we grew up listening to and who have inspired us. It’s impossible to single out just one person. For example, a couple of nights ago we were hanging outside the bus, having some beers and another bus turned up...out jumps a friend of ours - Nick Barker (who has played drums in bands such as Testament, Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth, etc). It turns out that it was the Exodus (classic metal band) bus as he was filling in on drums for them. After having a few drinks on their bus, they came to ours and busted out the whisky. Things like that are crazy, and you don’t forget...but at the time it’s happening, it just seems so normal as its just the touring lifestyle. Everyday is an adventure. Every day changes us, sometimes a lot and sometimes a little. How has the trip over there changed you, personally and as a musician? Each time we go overseas, I guess it gets a little easier, and you realize actually how small the world is, and how similar everyone is. The first trip, we were all really nervous and unsure what to do in different countries. Now, even though we don’t speak any of the local languages, its very easy to get around and get

everything done that needs to be done. So personally, each tour gives me another insight into how different people and cultures interact and how to interact with them. Just a better understanding of humanity I guess. This might seem like a strange parallel to draw, but that’s how it is. As a musician (I really don’t like that word - I play music, but I’m not a musician), I guess you take little bits away from all the other players on the tour, stealing and learning from their skills. Shannon (The Black Dahlia Murder’s drummer), John (Cephical Carngage’s drummer) and I would sit around and trade ideas, so you could say this trip will change me as a drummer once I implement these new ideas. After returning to Tasmania you’re soon on your way to the US, to play on the bill of a couple of metal festivals, what are you looking forward to the most about going there? We are actually doing 2 tours - a tour with Carcass, then a tour with Suffocation, with a lot of festivals being played on the way. The first thing I’m looking forward to is the food...haha, they have amazing fast food over there. I can’t wait to get a massive burrito from Chipotle (a Mexican fast food chain). Of course all the shows will be great I’m sure, but I miss the food over there! We’ll be over there for 5 weeks worth of shows, so that’s a lot of Burritos we can get. Haha, plus it will be great to watch Carcass and Suffocation each night. The mini-festival you’re headlining at The Brisbane Hotel comprises metal and hardcore bands. Who came up with the genre-meshing concept and why do you think the bands’ will work together? I guess it was a joint idea by us and Stand Defiant. We wanted to do a home show in between our European and US tours - as it will be the only chance we have all year to play at home. So these 2 shows are the only ones for Tasmanian for 2009! We got in touch with Stand Defiant to see if they wanted to do the show, they were keen so we thought lets take it a step further - lets make it a mini fest with bands from both metal and hardcore scenes. I think it should work out well - all the bands on the bill are great at what they do, and most music lovers who will come to the show can appreciate good music. Of course there will be some people from either scene who will say ‘fuck that, I’m not going as its not a metal/hardcore show’, but you get these purists (or elitists!) in any subculture. I’m looking forward to the event and interested to see how it is received. sDavid Williams sPhotos by Dario Erreeigriega

Psycroptic along with Stand Defiant, Separatist, G.A.T.S.O., On Your Feet Soldier, both all ages and over 18 shows: 0 7-Mar @ The Brisbane Hotel, Hobart

The Woohoo Review UPCOMING SHOWS: Wednesday 4th of March Emma Anglesey 9pm FREE www.myspace.com/emmaanglesey Thurs 5th of March Jonny Hawkin 9pm $5 www.myspace.com/johnnyhawken Fri 6th of March Pinky Beecroft and the White Russians The Dudley Nightshades Vamp $13 Sat 7th of March Pinky Beecroft and the White Russians B Circuit $13 Sunday 8th of March Ally Mok and friends 8.30pm FREE Thursday 12th of March The Trumps Friday 13th of March The Woohoo Revue $7 9.30pm Saturday 14th of March The Woohoo Revue $7 9.30pm Wednesday 18th of March Andrew Marshall FREE 8.30pm www.myspace.com/andrewgmarshall Friday 20th of March Cars Rock and Bowl Firebird Murder Rats The Bone Rattlers The No No's 9.30pm WEDNESDAY NIGHT SPECIAL 6PM - 9.30PM $10 Beaut Beer & Bonza Burger Night. Your choice of beef, chicken or vege Alley Cat Burger with a 10oz. of Cascade Draught or Pale Ale. . ISSUE 88 . MARCH 04 -MARCH 17 2009

City Brothers HIP-HOP - PERTH // DRAPHT & DOWNSYDE

For Paul Ridge, better known to us as Drapht or for his song, “Jimmy Recard”, his friends in the group Downsyde were the reason he got into hiphop. And now, years later, Drapht and Downsyde have teamed up for a collaborative 2-hour spectacular that they’re taking around the country this March. We spoke to Paul and Scott, AKA Optamus, from Downsyde about the newfound popularity of hip-hop, what this means for their community and what we can expect from their City Brothers Tour. With bands like themselves and Hilltop Hoods making it big in the Australian mainstream, Drapht recently made the top ten on the Triple J’s Hottest 100 with his song ‘Jimmy Recard’, Scott describes how “we’ve been fortunate enough that the industry has been able to open up a bit and I think that’s by people who can appreciate Australian hip-hop. They’ve gotten over a few ills of being stereotyped, in Australia it’s not about gangsterism or misogynistic stuff necessarily, so I really think that it’s great that we’ve been able to have that success for a lot of us.” Paul, who speaks of how close-nit the Australian hip-hop community is, agrees, adding that “it’s good to see that everyone’s making a name for themselves and being able to live off the music, the stuff that we love and that brought us all together in the first place. It’s just a massive thing for us, it’s awesome.” And with this kind of success, is Drapht living the “Jimmy Recard” lifestyle, with ‘ladies swinging their bras’ at him? “Well funnily enough there have been a few shows where I have had a few flying objects and half the time they’re bras, but half the time they’re other things as well! I suppose it’s just weird for me to have my first single be ‘Jimmy Recard’, someone that I’m not. And people do portray me as that now, just because of the song. Half the people don’t know who Drapht is still, more they know the song ‘Jimmy Recard’. It’s the song that I was sort of giving myself shit about, seems to be the song who made me who I am” Though other songs on Drapht’s latest release, Brothers Grimm, also talk about a bit of a rock-star lifestyle, at least in regards to drinking copius amounts of alcohol and partying on the town, like in ‘Drink Drank Drunk’. Since the Downsyde crew and Drapht spent a lot of their early days hanging out together in their hometown of Perth, can we expect a few more

tracks like this being written after their tour? “Well I think there’s no doubt that part of what touring is and being in a band and having free alcohol everywhere you go, you certainly don’t sit there and read a book after the show that’s for sure.” But obviously, as Paul adds, “We’ve had a little bit of a pact between myself and Downsyde to be a little tiny bit sensible as well with being smashed, because we are doing five days in a row and it could be a little bit costly toward the end when people are losing their voices and that’s the last thing we want.” Well, even if the show’s after party isn’t going to be as wild as we might imagine, the show itself sounds really exciting for all Drapht and Downside fans with Scott explaining that “the show’s actually a collaborative of Downsyde and Drapht. It’s nearly two hours of us all on stage, eight people on stage. Most people assume that it’s a Drapht set individually and a Downsyde set individually but what we’ve come up with is a very innovative live show that basically centres around a lot of our songs from the last couple of albums and we just go back and forth. So it is really going to be a full on live show to watch.” Though they’ve both played with an impressive list of artists like Method Man, Hilltop Hoods, Cypress Hill and playing a number of different big festivals, playing together is particularly special. As Paul tells us, “22 shows together, on the road with some good friends, it doesn’t really get much better than that.” sMeegan May

Catch Drapht and Downsyde on their City Brothers Tour with special guest Pez: 0 24/3/09 @ The Republic Bar, Hobart. 0 26/3/09 @ Hotel New York, Launceston

OBESE RECORDS PRESENTS:

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. ISSUE 89 . MARCH 04 - MARCH 17 2009

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HIP-HOP - MELBOURNE // MUPH & PLUTONIC

First times can never be repeated and, as such, are very special times... Muph, what do you remember about … The first thing you can remember doing, ever? First thing I remember is digging holes in my front yard with a stick. The first girl you kissed? Her name was Danielle, and looking back i think she was a little afraid. She was my girlfriend at the time. I just remember being nervous, clammy hands nervous. You’ve bought back memories of when things were so innocent. ha thanks for that mate! I don’t recall it being that smooth, or at least as smooth as I’d like to be. Hope she’s doing well though! Hope my kiss wasn’t a curse. The first time. THE first time? hahaha it was a joke. I was drunk, she was NOT! I was taken advantage of. These questions are fairly personal ha! I remember it was extremely awkward and relatively short lived! Not much has changed I guess haha. The first job you had? My first job was delivering papers in Eltham. I made $4 a week. I ended up saving around about a grand!! I must have started that job when I was 14, I think. It was a cool job, all I had to do was basically walk around and listen to my walkman. That was back when people would listen to whole albums, no ipod shuffle included. The first hip-hop album you bought? Actually for quite a while I just asked for certain albums for my Birthday or Christmas. Also my brother schooled me a lot about hip-hop, so he’d choose albums and buy them for me for my Birthday. So it’s actually hard to recall the first one I actually bought, but I think it might have been The Coup “ Kill My Landlord”. The first time you two met? The years was 01 and we met at Prowla’s place, after I did a song for the Nuffsaid compilation “Beats From The Vaults Vol 1”. Pluto had done a remix for my track,

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“…I think we had about three people at our first show in Brisbane... the first few shows were absolute self esteem killers...”

I went to check it out. He was there, looking like a zombie! He told me he had sleeping problems, he suffered from insomnia. He didn’t talk as much as he does these days. He didn’t speak that much. He was close to being a mute. The first track you made together? Well that depends on technicalities. The first song we appeared on together was a remix of a song called “Not Ya Average”. After that I think we did a song Called “Don’t Cry Girl” which was on my solo album I released in 03. Your first tour together? The Hunger Pains Tour in 04! It didn’t start off so well. I think we had about three people at our first show in Brisbane. It was all a bit surreal because the album had just come out and it seemed like with each show the audience was getting bigger. But the first few shows were absolute self esteem killers. At the same time I remember just being excited about the fact that we were doing an actual official tour. It was a lot of fun, there was no pressure then, so everything seemed to be a bonus. The first argument you ever had? Don’t recall, but I was probably drunk at the time, and it probably had something to do with me being drunk at that specific time. Sorry Pluto! The first time you performed Don’t Worry About Nothin’ in front of an audience? That would have been on the “And Then Tomorrow came Tour” mid last year. It’s our official roll credits track. We tend to play it at the end of the set or close to, in the hope that the vibe the song decreases any chances of violence. In fact we’ve been fairly lucky, we don’t get many fights at our shows, usually none at all, and that’s all good with me! sDavid Williams See Muph & Plutonic together 0 7 Mar @ Republic Bar, Hobart

. ISSUE 88 . MARCH 04 -MARCH 17 2009

OFF THE SHELF Hello music lovers. It’s been getting pretty hot and steamy down at Irish Murphy’s, Launceston lately, and I’m not just talking about the weather! Last week Top Shelf received a huge injection of funk infused pop from Sydney band Super Massive. We mentioned last issue that they have already been awarded Best Alternative Artist at the MusicOz Awards and they kicked our Lonnie Cup After Party into overdrive. There was a touch of the Machine Gun Fellatio about the performance as Melina’s outfit seemed to get smaller and smaller as the show progressed. They oozed with sex appeal and professionalism that kept our revelers dancing into the wee hours of the morning. I know the team at Irish are keen to get Super Massive back so if you missed out, or if you were so excited at the Cup that you don’t remember, watch this space! On Wednesday the 18th of February we welcomed Frankie to Top Shelf. Frankie is pure bliss to listen to and writes songs from her heart. I’m not sure if Frankie is 18 or 19, but it is amazing to see the wealth of talent in such a young woman. If you missed out on this performance, you are in luck; Frankie will be back on the 11th of March supporting the Stoics. Nathan Wheldon And The Two Timers took to the stage with confident ease. They have developed a seamless, solid show that allows Nathan’s songwriting the space to shine. The new songs have an interesting theatrical angle that is loads of fun and very danceable. These guys never miss a beat and it’s always a pleasure to have them on the Shelf. This week, 4th of March, we have another Top Shelf debut with The Younger Dryas. They have accumulated quite a host of quality shows to date and will not disappoint. Mick Attard needs no introduction to Launceston music fans. He has established himself as a soulful sensitive crooner and will complete this ‘roots/blues heaven’ night. Wednesday the 11th of March will see local heroes The Stoics take to the stage, supported by Frankie. Ciaran and co never fail to impress with their entertaining stage antics and circus-like pop songs. They’ve been busy rehearsing with new bass player Toby and it will be interesting to see what this new voice can bring to the party. They had a great show last week at Launceston Uni for O-Week and they’ll have plenty of copies of their 2nd EP Wolves In Sheep’s Clothing to sell if you haven’t picked up a copy yet. As always, we thank our ever-growing crew for their help to make these nights a success. Special thanks to Frontline, Big Jase Howard, Matt Neil and happy snapper Toni M for great photos. sCARL FIDLER & GLENN MOOREHOUSE Photography by Toni M.

Reach for the Top Shelf! 0 Every Wednesday night @ Irish Murphy’s, Launceston 10

. ISSUE 89 . MARCH 04 - MARCH 17 2009

THE BEST OF TASMANIA’S

ORIGINAL MUSIC EVERY WEDNESDAY

4th March The Younger Dryas Mick Attard 4th March The Stoics Frankie COMING SOON Shoe (CD LAUNCH) Nathan Wheldon

There ’ s Always Something ... Thursday March 5 TASH & CAZ Friday March 6 THE GARY GARY’S Saturday March 7 LONG WAY HOME, CARL FIDLER Sunday March 8 BEN CASTLES, LONG WAY HOME, GLENN & JADE Tuesday March 10 CARL FIDLER

Thursday March 12 KRISTY & STEVE Friday March 13 LONG WAY HOME Saturday March 14 IN LIMBO Sunday March 15 ALEX WADLEY, NATHAN WHELDON, KRISTY TUCKER, AND FALLING Monday March 16 LUKE PARRY Tuesday March 17 St Paddy's Day Line-up: GLENN MOORHOUSE, LUKE PARRY, NITA & BEN, KRISTY & GINA, CAPTAIN O'BRIENS CRAIC

... Happening At Irish Murphy’s L I V E M U S I C 7 DAY S 3 BARS / FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE / RESTAURANT WOOD FIRED PIZZAS / LOG FIRES / ROOFTOP BAR OUTSIDE

211 BRISBANE ST LAUNCESTON 6331 4440 WWW.SAUCE.NET.AU

SYRUP: The HOUSE PARTY Team

ADAM TURNER GENRE: Fidgit, breaks, indie disco, jazz funk fusion and dubstep. HOME GROUND: DFD, BreakEven and Mesh PREFERRED POSITION: I’m not greedy, I’m happy to come second, or from behind, depending on whether there’s two or more of us. I don’t mind playing in the forward pocket either... I’m easy. SPECIAL ABILITY: Mad finger skills! It be all scratchy with the crabs like an itchy trigger finger African American. GAME STRENGTHS: Aggressive attack, sustain & release. high bassline player. Excellent stamina and ball-handling skills. GAME WEAKNESSES: Passing out, dribbling & holding the ball. ACHIEVEMENTS: Overcoming being traded to Serato for the ‘08 season, and being called off the bench to support the Plump DJs.

PARKEY

House Party 4 @ Syrup, Sunday, 8th of March

GENRE: Techno

Minimal-Tech

HOME GROUND: La Casa, and

HOME GROUND: Tackyland

HOME GROUND: DFD

occasional DFD substitution.

PREFERRED POSITION: Coming from behind... the decks.

PREFERRED POSITION: Full forward – away game at Watergate, Berlin. SPECIAL ABILITY: To get the cheerleaders dancing to music that goes click… click… beep.

PREFERRED POSITION: Upfront or in the middle.

SPECIAL ABILITY: The ability to pull out just the right track to keep the hot chicks on the pole

SPECIAL ABILITY: A master of the warm up.

GAME STRENGTHS: Same as above.

GAME STRENGTHS: Drinking lots of piss and still being able to DJ, well, not getting any worse than I already am anyway...

GAME STRENGTHS: Funky bass lines, girly vocals, Latin

GAME WEAKNESSES: Thinking the crowd will be patient and lured into a frenzy by deep on-field strategy.

GAME WEAKNESSES: Having to deal with drunk dickheads that think the sun shines out their ass.

GAME WEAKNESSES: Age. I don’t have the staying power

ACHIEVEMENTS: Being pleasantly surprised by the crowd getting rather excited over a super stripped back warm up move called the ‘Scarlet Macaw’ that includes bongos, a deep percussive groove and sparse analogue outbursts.

ACHIEVEMENTS: My best game is yet to come this year. I love Christmas party season, which is just starting - the time when there’s heaps of people that don’t come out every week, having the time of their life wondering why they haven’t been coming out every week.

GILLIE

KIR GENRE: Nu Disco, Indie Dance, Electronica, Electro, Fidget, House, Techno, Pop, Breaks…

HOME GROUND: DFD

SPECIAL ABILITY: I can scratch with my super tractor beam and I can play with one hand while drinking a martini.

GENRE: House in all its guises.

GENRE: Funky 70s, 80s and now some 90s

House-

GENRE: Indie dance, electro, fidget and techfunk

PREFERRED POSITION: Back left.

MATT B

NICK C

TRISTAN

GAME STRENGTHS: I play best when dropping fat basslines, with a bed of mash ups follow by dirty analog synths.

GAME STRENGTHS: Choosing the supreme tracks; its crucial to winning the game.

GAME WEAKNESSES: Hand-balling R ‘n B.

GAME WEAKNESSES: Being served by two-steppers on the dancefloor.

ACHIEVEMENTS: Definitely the Syrup house parties. Go team!

ACHIEVEMENTS: Strengths in karaoke electro, line jumping and backpack tossing.

ACHIEVEMENTS: I survived another year and will live to play again.

GENRE: Funk, House, Breaks, Mashups

HOME GROUND: Friday Nights: La Casa, Saturday Nights: DFD

SPECIAL ABILITY: Mastering KFUN position within 5 minutes of arrival to the decks.

that I used to.

STIRLO

GENRE: House music with a really dirty edge!

PREFERRED POSITION: KFUN (Kir Fattens Up Noise) - Behind the decks playing dirty disco luuuurrrrrvvvve to the dancefloor!

rhythms.

PREFERRED POSITION: Position 104 – Advanced Guide to Karma Sutra. From this position I am in control of the dance floor from behind. SPECIAL ABILITY: See preferred position! GAME STRENGTHS: Aside from above, the ability to use my special ability to turn the crowd into an amalgamation of sweaty, adrenalin fuelled bodies. GAME WEAKNESSES: Inability to turn my body into a human knot-shaped pretzel ACHIEVEMENTS: 2008 has seen me advance into a whole new realm of positions and has seen me play at several of the best clubs in Sydney.

HOME GROUND: Mashup Da Town PREFERRED POSITION: Ruck Rover SPECIAL ABILITY: Mind Reader GAME STRENGTHS: Playing In Front GAME WEAKNESSES: Too Smashed In Game ACHIEVEMENTS: Coleman Medal

ELECTRO - U.K. // STUPID FRESH

Not So Stupid

“…Just because it’s in our title, doesn’t mean we’re retarded....” UK party boys and DJ duo Stupid Fresh are bringing their fresh, h b butt d definitely fi it l nott stupid, t id ttunes d down under. d We find out what the story is… Behind describing yourselves as Korean Pop / Japanese Pop/ Powerpop on your MySpace page? Erm... Who knows? Cos they sound kinda cool… Behind your name, Stupid Fresh? We settled on the name after hours of other terrible titles. We took to the online Urban dictionary and minutes later an act was born. Behind the last stupid thing you did, in the fun sense of the word? Chris once farted on Richard Dinsdale. That was pretty fun. Behind the last stupid thing you did, which was embarrassing? On our flight to Adelaide from Canberra I was so hung over that I was sick the whole way, even before the plane had taken off. When the stewardess asked if I was ok, I told her that I was scared of flying so we didn’t get thrown off the plane. After that, I was checked on every five minutes with fresh bottles of water and sick WWW.SAUCE.NET.AU

bags while everyone looked on. Pretty embarrassing but I didn’t have the heart to come clean. Behind the most stupid thing you’ve ever done together? That would probably be wearing fake tan to a gig. Behind the title of your track “Bisexual Bitches”? Have you listened to the lyrics? We could hardly call it ‘Hetro Men’ could we? Behind the title of your track “KIll The System SF RMX”? This was a remix. You don’t get to choose the title! Behind the title of your track, “Spam Javelin”? I’m not sure if there’s a real story behind it. When you start a new track you have to give it a title before you do anything. Often enough we never bother changing it. We did consider ‘Sex Sausage’, ‘Love Truncheon’ and ‘Wibble Wand.’

Behind the most amazing gig you’ve ever played? We’ve had a few. At one gig in San Fransisco we had a whole selection of fake moustaches which we wore whilst playing. By the end of the night tons of people were walking around with them on including the promoter’s Mum. The Silly String that we sprayed in to the crowd seemed to go down well too. Behind your plans to be Stupid at your gig at Syrup, in Hobart, Tasmania? Ha ha. Just because it’s in our title, doesn’t mean we’re retarded. ...Altough I’m sure some kind of debauchery will occur. You’ll just have to come along to find out what. sDavid Williams

Experience the debauchery: 0 8 March @ Syrup, Hobart. . ISSUE 88 . MARCH 04 -MARCH 17 2009

ALTERNATIVE ROCK - PERTH // BIRDS OF TOKYO

Birds of Tokyo There’s magic in mistakes, according to Birds of Tokyo. While making last year’s second album Universes, the Perth quartet found in their LA-based British producer Tim Palmer an alternative route to studio satisfaction. Noted for his work with U2 and Pearl Jam, Palmer suggested the band celebrate their bum notes rather than strive for any semblance of musical perfection. “Tim would hear things that weren’t quite right on our record and we’d ask what we could do to fix it,” begins guitarist Adam Spark, “but he’d say ‘no, it’s totally wrong but it sounds awesome!’. “He said if things are out of tune but sound really cool then that’s a good thing. He likened it to working with David Bowie where he would hear major imperfections in the sound but Bowie would turn around and say ‘but you’ll love it by the end – it’ll be your favourite part of the record!’.”

“…We’re very slow and methodical with our progression - our band motto is ‘never rush’...” Mixed by Palmer at his Hollywood studio, the independently-released Universes has steadily gained traction since its release last winter, reaching Gold status and launching the band onto this year’s Big Day Out circuit. All this, without the twin burden of industry pressure and public expectation. “There were keys along the way which sort of kept indicating to us that things were going well,” says Spark of the band’s incremental rise. “We’re very slow and methodical with our progression - our band motto is ‘never rush’.” Maturing organically through the ranks of Perth’s scene since 2004, BoT fundamentally remain an indie act modelled on the business structure of a major label artist “where we have a manger, booking agent, label manager, publicist, radio pluggers; all these people who we pay to work with us” – and all funded by income generated by the group’s record and merchandising sales and live show takings. “The thing for us is just to look forward to the next six to 12 months and to know that this is our job,” says Spark. “That’s a pretty big trigger for us when you look back on your live shows and your record sales and stuff like that.” Recorded in an old three-storey sea-side house near Margaret River south of Perth, Universes demonstrates the confidence of a band willing to dispense with click tracks and trust their own live, earthy sound. “Obviously the more time you spend together and the more shows you play you become close individually and as a unit,” says Spark. “And we just felt comfortable working like that. It may not be perfect but it feels right to us to work that way. “Musically and lyrically, the album has a lot more depth. (Ian) Kenny, with his vocals, is touching on things he hasn’t touched on before and I think the music is probably a little bit less accessible in an immediate sense. But it has more of a shelf life in that there’s some intelligent stuff going on there. Most people probably wouldn’t spot it but there’s some interesting stuff going on there which is an indicator of our strength in the writing I suppose.” Following their national tour this month, the band will be looking abroad, specifically the lucrative US market where they’ll perform showcase gigs at Austin’s SXSW festival and LA’s Viper Room in March. Of course, any inroads Stateside will be made in their own time, at their own pace. “There’s enough interest in us in the US but we’re in this for the long haul and we want to make sure we get a career out it,” says Sparks. “We want to make sure we’re not jumping into anything.” sSTEVE TAUSCHKE

See Birds of Tokyo make some magicical mistakes w/Trial Kennedy and Tomas Ford 0 13 March @ The Uni Bar, Hobart 12

. ISSUE 89 . MARCH 04 - MARCH 17 2009

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DANCE - VIC // DJ FERRIS

TRANCE - MELBOURNE // REBEL-D

Ferris Wheel

At A Glance

So what kind of DJ has a name like Ferris you ask? If I was to reply ‘the kind of DJ that also rides bulls at a rodeo’ you’d get some kind of idea about the guy. Many DJs describe themselves as ‘adventurous’ but Ferris personifies the word as both a DJ and a person. Perhaps this attitude dates back to when Ferris was learning the DJ ropes in the early 90s during a three year residency at the Gallery Club in country Victoria. It might have been called ‘The Gallery’ but it sure wasn’t full of oil paintings. Just ask Ferris how many dreadlocks got yanked out by punters if he played a tune that a burly sheep-shearer took a dislike too! Or about the time he was set alight (although he tells people that what he really meant was the he was ‘on fire that night’)…or the time he fell through the glass DJ booth onto the floor below. These experience helped Ferris learn much about track selection and the critical (sometimes in an intensive-care kind of way) need to play the right track at the right time. Like so many of today’s greats such as Danny Tenaglia and Anthony Pappa, Ferris shared his time between club and mobile gigs, the mobile gigs being a DJs ultimate test of crowd-pleasing abilities. Leaving country Victoria far behind, Ferris made a break for it and found himself in South Australia’s capital, Adelaide. Talk about out of the frying place and into the fire! Controversial author Salman Rushdie visited Adelaide in the 1980’s, and later declared it “a perfect setting for a Stephen King horror novel,” adding that “sleepy conservative towns are where those things happen.” And he was right! Adelaide has been home to more bizarre cults, serial killings and weird murders than many much larger cities. Nevertheless, in the early 90s Adelaide was also Australia’s techno capital and Ferris learnt much sharing gigs with the likes of HMC, GTB and Groove Terminator (GT) and supporting internationals including The Prodigy, Dream Frequency and The Shaman. ’94 saw Ferris return to Victoria, this time to Melbourne, with plans of settling into the responsible 9-5 work schedule…while his friends placed bets on how many months it would be until he felt the need to return to DJing. Surprising everyone (and scooping the pool, thus making a considerable amount of money in the process) it was not until ’98 that Ferris dusted off the decks. Like a vampire in an Anne Rice novel, he had fallen into a musical slumber four years ago, bored and uninspired by what was passed off as good

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music. But suddenly he found himself surrounded by a very different scene in Melbourne which has by now become Australia’s international dance music gateway. A hypnotising underground paradise of progressive and breaks ruled by Phil K, Gab Oliver, Ozzie LA and the Melbourne club at which they wowed crowds each and every month called Sunnyside Up. Ferris had awoken and he was very, very hungry.

No more commercial shenanigans for this little black duck, Ferris was in the midst of a scene full of passionate people who made and mixed quality music…and he was thriving. Just a few months on from his self-imposed ‘wilderness years’, he had a full crate of bombs and more gigs than dreadlocks, His mix of deep, tribal, progressive and breaks making sure people took note wherever he played. His list of gigs include 3D, Darkbeat, Fokus, Sonar, KinetiK, Earthcore, Freebase, Scubar , Sunday Skool Fathom and Sunny. More than just a pretty mass of hair, the grey matter under it aint too shabby either. Ferris decided that after being held over a barrel by promoters since his first gig (and getting an appetite for it) he’d give the caper a go himself. Ferris held the much fames ‘Wild Things 2’ at Kryal Castle. Was it a success? Expecting only 800 people, he was awestruck when 4000 punters showed up and partied relentlessly in temperatures of

1.5 degrees this was followed by the ‘Fathom’ events and he eventually established a Thursday night cult following with Peach [director’s note: no DJs were harmed in the promoting of any of these events] 2002 saw Ferris make the leap from Melbourne minion to ‘luminary of the dance music scene’ as he was recently described by Melbourne streetpress magazine, Zebra. Not one to take baby-steps, Ferris achieved two of his biggest DJing goals within two weeks of each other. Firstly he played at Sunny, the club which had nurtured his obsession with dance music since ’98. Secondly, he played a set at Australia’s biggest outdoor music festival, Earthcore right alongside dance music legends such as Ken Ishii, lemon8, Si Begg, Andreas Kramer etc. For the uninitiated, Earthcore is an experiment where scientists from Langley Virginia send tens of thousands of people and countless international and local DJs into a (supposedly) inactive volcano crater to examine their behaviour over a period of three days every year in November. Not only did Ferris survive but, like the dreadlocked equivalent of the cockroach, thrived, earning him a Main Stage spot at Earthcore’s 10th anniversary in 2003. A tribute to his versatility, in 2003 Ferris has become only the second DJ to ever play two sets (breaks and progressive) in the one night at Sunnyside Up (now just called Sunny). Australia’s longest running monthly progressive night, this year Sunny celebrates its sixth birthday and regularly draws crowds of 800+ (without any advertising) playing alongside quality internationals like PQM, Andy Jarrod, Anthony Pappa, Barry Gilby, Austin Leeds, Gwill Morris DJing there regularly. But with Ferris’s starts rising just as quickly, Sunny isn’t the only one whose future looks bright.

Style: Hardstyle - Hard Trance Age: 19 DJing for: 5 Years (Since the age of 14) Star Sign: Aquarius Residencies: Amnesia / Underage Zone Highlights: Chasers, Gamma Bar, Lions Hotel, Hush Bar, Hugo Lounge, UNDERAGEZONE! Beach Club, playing in Finland, Europe and South America. Favourite DJ: Zanza Labs Favourite Tracks: Beholder - Bigger Better Harder

Ferris’ sound has been humorously described as small furry animals being tortured by African villagers. But more accurately, a blend of cutting edge tribal progressive and fat dirty electro breaks. His ability to read and respond to a crowd guarantees your dance floor, weather full of educated punters or girls dancing around handbags will be packed from start to finish. DJ Ferris plays: 0 6 March @ The Loft, Hobart

Comments: NEEEEEEEEEVERR give up your dreams. Even if you wanna bend over for people in St Kilda for 5$ ;). Put your mind to it and you will achieve whatever you want. In the case of bending over for people, put your back into it and you should be fine :).. but yeah HARDSTYLE TILL WE DIE! :) Rebel with Rebel-D: 0 13 March @ The Loft, Hobart

. ISSUE 88 . MARCH 04 -MARCH 17 2009

ROCK - BRISBANE // KATE MILLER-HEIDKE

Curiouser and Curiouser

“…I think [negative press] just contaminates the flow. It’s like a turd in the drinking water...”

Kate Miller-Heidke is not effect by negative press. Just don’t call her ‘light’. “It was recently used in an article about me in Rolling Stone and it pissed me off to the extreme. I don’t equate humour with light entertainment. I think often humour can really make you think.” It’s this vein of sophisticated humour that runs throughout the music of her new album, Curiouser, that inspired Kate to go the man who produced Flight of the Concord’s album (among other big names), Mickey Petralia. A big fan of the band and the “sparkly and innovative and fun and interesting” sound Petralia had created for them, which appealed to Miller-Heidke, so she took her band and made her way over to Pasedena, California, for a two-month recording session. The songs for the new album include dance track, ‘Can’t Shake It’ and the sweet and poignant track about bullying, ‘Caught in the Crowd’, and were co written by Kate’s producer/guitarist/collaborator Keir Nuttall. Also her husband, many were even penned on the couple’s honeymoon in Laos. Miller-Heidke describes her partner as “an incredible musician and

the best songwriter I’ve ever known. We bring the best out of each other.” He’s also listed as one of the few people she trusts, avoiding influences such as the negative press, although she is quick to stress that the majority is positive. “It’s just the occasional shit lazy writing that pisses me off… I mean, I think all that stuff just contaminates the flow, it’s like a turd in the drinking water.” Right on cue, a mysterious loud water noise ushers in from the background, much to the embarrassment of Miller-Heidke, who assures us that it’s probably just the washing machine. Clearly though, this girls flow is anything but blocked by negativity in the press or otherwise, if we judge from the quality of her new album. She’ll be bringing those new songs, and old songs, for a few intimate shows here in Tasmania during March. “It’s important tom me that the show is entertaining and that it takes people on some kind of a journey, I’m not of the navel-gazing school of performance, I’d like to be able to truly connect with an

audience. When I’m playing these songs I’m listening to them through the ears of the audience and so it is a mixture of humour: there are funny bits and there are sad bits and lots of other kinds of bits hopefully.” After a summer with only a few big shows, Kate is happy to get back in the swing of touring again, although she enjoyed her limited summer activities and those few big shows immensely. “We had an amazing time in December when we went over to Cambodia to do a gig for MTV Asia and it was at Angkor Wat, which is an ancient temple complex in Cambodia, and that was a really magical gig. It was to raise awareness about human-trafficking, which is a huge issue over there and there were a lot of amazing bands on the bill including Placebo and Duncan Sheik… It was a really incredible way to finish off the year. Then after that we did a few summer festivals and yeah, I went to the beach. But I’m happy to be on tour again, because I was missing it.”

Her Caught in the Crowd Australian tour will just be the beginning of a long stretch on the road, with promo tours planned around the world in May. “I want to spend a fair bit of time overseas and get my music released in another country or two, that’s important to me.” Any countries in particular? “Oh, I’m not really picky, any country that will have me really!” But before she gets snapped up by her surely soon to be huge global fan base, Miller-Heidke will happily making a few stops in Tasmania, “I’m really looking forward to coming back to Tassie actually, it’s been a while and I love the place.” sDAVID WILLIAMS & MEEGAN MAY

Curious? Check out Kate Miller-Heidke w/ Skipping Girl Vinegar 0 4/3/09 @ Spurs Tavern, Devonport 0 5/3/09 @ The Republic Bar, Hobart 0 6/3/09 @ Hotel New York, Launceston

124 DAVEY ST HOBART 03 6224 9494 WWW.HOTELSOHO.COM.AU

Monday

Wednesday

Sunday

Industry Night

Around The Clock Jug from 5pm

Around the clock Chicken Parmi from 5pm

$3.00 Basics from 9pm - 12am

Give us your best with Open Mic from 9pm

Around The Clock Jug from 5pm

2 for 1 All Beers & Basics from 9pm 14

. ISSUE 89 . MARCH 04 - MARCH 17 2009

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ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE Wednesday, 4 March

Saturday, 7 March

Tuesday, 10 March

Saturday, 14 March

sHobart

Hotel SOHO Beets With DJ Macca 9PM

Brookfield Vineyard Open Mic, Broadway Royale 7:30pm

The Greenhouse @ Irish Murphy’s Emma Anglesey (VIC), Dan Hennessy, Ruth Berechree

Brookfield Vineyard Crowfoot 7pm

The Alley Cat Bar Emma Anglesey 9pm The Greenhouse @ Irish Murphy’s David McEldowney, Ben Wells Band, NoFoTo The Metz Mid Week Metz DJ Camo 8pm The Brisbane Hotel The Tokyo Room + Joni’s Plastic Sunday + Aaron R. The Republic Bar Wahbash Avenue 9pm Wrest Point The Waifs $43.50 8:30pm sLaunceston Hotel New York Front Bar Irish Murphy’s Top Shelf The Boathouse on Northbank Toni Childs The Royal Oak Ben Castles Top Shelf @ Irish Murphy’s The Younger Dryas, Mick Attard sDevonport

Reservations/Credit Card Payments 1300 360 000

Satu r day Mar ch 7 @ 7 : 30 pm The Sign Satur day Mar ch 7 @ 7 . 30 pm Open Mic B road way Ro yale Mon day Mar ch 9 @2 : 0 0 pm Alan B ada las s i Fr iday Mar ch 13 @ 7 pm Dragon t he c hai n Satur day Mar ch 14 @ 7 pm Crow foo t Sunday Mar ch 15 @ 6 pm The Woohoo Re v ue Wedn esday Mar ch 18 @ 8pm LOR EN

All have meals available. www.brookﬁeldvineyard.com - info@brookﬁeldvineyard.com WWW.SAUCE.NET.AU

The Metz Mid Week Metz DJ Woodhouse 8pm The Republic Bar John Zilber + Amy Kendell 9pm sLaunceston Hotel New York Front Bar Irish Murphy’s Top Shelf

The Royal Oak The Jam Jets (Blues)

The Brisbane Hotel Quiz Em All Metal Quiz Hosted by Big Rick (MSI) + Solar Thorn

Lonnies Niteclub Macca, PD + guests

The Greenhouse @ Irish Murphy’s Prairie Nischler, Darlington

sHobart

The Loft Stand-Up Comedy

Irish Murphy’s TASH & CAZ The Royal Oak Samuel Bester Friday, 6 March sHobart Brookfield Vineyard Battle of the Choirs Hotel SOHO Smashers 9PM

Sunday, 8 March

Brookfield Vineyard Battle of the Choirs Hotel SOHO Open Mic w/ Tom Wolfe & John Harwood 9PM Syrup Syrup presents: “House Party IV” feat Stupid Fresh (UK), plus Gillie, Matt B, Tristan, Parkey, Turner, Kir, Nick C and Stirlo $10 presale/ $15 on the door 9.30pm The Alley Cat Bar Ally Mok and friends 8.30pm The Brisbane Hotel Hammerhead (CD Launch) + Taberah + Riff Hogs The Greenhouse @ Irish Murphy’s Ethereal The Metz Public Holiday Eve Metz on Sundays! DJs Camo & Woodhouse 4pm

Irish Murphy’s Michael Clenett, Selector

The Republic Bar Fyah Walk (Byron Bay Reggae) $10 9pm

Isobar Commercial Dance Music

Irish Murphy’s Sunday Jazz

Syrup “La Casa” feat Matt B + guests: Mez, & Gillie $10/ FREE For uni students 11pm

Raincheck Lounge Live acoustic music

The Alley Cat Bar Pinky Beecroft and the White Russians, The Dudley Nightshades and Vamp 13

The Loft DJ Ferris (Electro/House) + support 10:00pm

Licensed cafe open 7 days & late for all events

The Greenhouse @ Irish Murphy’s Sam Page, La Vista (debut), Joni’s Plastic Sunday

The Alley Cat Bar Jonny Hawkin 5 9pm

The Brisbane Hotel A Death In The Family + The Scandal + Like...Alaska

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

sLaunceston

The Brisbane Hotel Joe Lally (Fugazi) + All Fires The Fire + myblackson

The Mersh (The Commercial Hotel) DJ Shane

REDLINE

(*Conditions Apply)

The Republic Bar Muph & Plutonic + Horror Show + Mdusu & Dameza $18pre/$22door 10pm

Hotel SOHO Beets with DJ Macca 9PM

Syrup Mash-up da Town feat DJ Stirlo + guests Free 10pm

Hotel New York Uni Night DJ Doctor J 10:00-12:30 DJ PD 12:30-Close

Hobart to Launceston $62.10 Save $15.50!!

The Brisbane Hotel ALL AGES: Initiation Day - Psycroptic + Stand Defiant + Ghost and the Storm Outside + On Your Feet Soldier + Separatist $12pre/$15door 3pm 18+: Initiation Day Psycroptic + Stand Defiant + Ghost and the Storm Outside + On Your Feet Soldier + Separatist $12pre/$15door 9pm

sHobart

sLaunceston

Adults Advance Return*

The Alley Cat Bar Pinky Beecroft and the White Russians and B Circuit 13

Wednesday, 11 March

sHobart

"Tasmania's own"

Up to 18 years of age 60 cents per sector on all services Over 18 years of age 50% discount applies (Launceston – Hobart $17.30)

Syrup “Dirty F’king Dancing” feat Gille, Turner, & Parkey 10 11pm

Irish Murphy’s CARL FIDLER

Irish Murphy’s Long Way Home, Carl Fidler

The Republic Bar Kate Miller-Heidke + Skipping Girl Vinegar $20pre/$25door 9pm

STUDENT FARES

Isobar DJ Ali B

sLaunceston

The Royal Oak Invisible Boy

Thursday, 5 March

Coach Services

Irish Murphy’s Crystal & Jamie, Running With Scissors

The Republic Bar Ally Mok + Rod Fritz 9pm

Hotel New York DJ Randall 10:00-12:00 DJ Doctor J 12:00-2:00 DJ Cam 2:00-Close

Spurs Tavern Kate Miller-Heidke

103 Elizabeth St Hobart 03 6231 5578

Brookfield Vineyard The Sign 7:30pm

The Republic Bar Sam Lohs (Fruit) & Sally Dastey (Tiddas) $12pre/$15door 10pm

The Alley Cat Bar The Trumps The Brisbane Hotel Spheres (Ambient Doom) The Republic Bar Joe Piere & The Blackberries 9pm sLaunceston Hotel New York Uni Night Long Way Home DJ Doctor 1:00-Close Irish Murphy’s Kristy & Steve The Royal Oak Lonnie Tunes feat. Frankie, Mick Attard, Firefly Family & British Battlegrounds Friday, 13 March sHobart Brookfield Vineyard Dragon the Chain 7pm Hobart Uni Bar Birds of Tokyo w/ Trial Kennedy & Tomas Ford Hotel SOHO Chimp Militia VS No Foto 10PM

The Alley Cat Bar The Woohoo Revue 7 9.30pm

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

The Brisbane Hotel Amanda Palmer + Enola Fall + Liam Constable

www.myspace.com/fatlipstudios

The Republic Bar The Red Eyes $12pre/$15door 10pm Wrest Point Billy Whitton sLaunceston Country Club Kristy Tucker Hotel New York DJ Luke Warren 10:00-12:00 DJ Doctor J 12:00-2:00 DJ PD 2:00-Close Irish Murphy’s In Limbo The Mersh (The Commercial Hotel) Off the Cuff The Royal Oak Night on the Greenwood Featuring Fabio and the Jive master, The Dudley Nightshades, Halfway to Forth. Lonnies Niteclub Macca, PD + guests The Empire Hotel Rebecca Moore & Brett Hunt sHobart Brookfield Vineyard The Woohoo Revue 6pm Hotel SOHO Open Mic with Nick Wilfe & John Harwood 9PM The Greenhouse @ Irish Murphy’s Jam Jar The Metz Metz on Sundays DJs Woodhouse & Camo 4pm The Republic Bar The Sign 9pm Irish Murphy’s Sunday Jazz Raincheck Lounge Live acoustic Music sLaunceston

The Royal Oak Open Folk Session

The Alley Cat Bar The Woohoo Revue $7 9.30pm

Flemington Racecourse Future Music Festival The Mersh (The Commercial Hotel) Sunday Sessions 2pm Monday, 9 March

Hotel SOHO Labour Day p/h Party - G-Wizard (Syd) plus Residents 10PM The Republic Bar Quiz Night 8:15pm sLaunceston Irish Murphy’s CLOSED - LONG WEEKEND

The Loft International DJ Rebel-D (Hardstyle Dance) 11:00pm The Republic Bar The Red Eyes $12pre/$15door 10pm

Monday, 16 March sHobart Hotel SOHO Industrie Night with One For The Road 10PM The Republic Bar Mark Wilkonson 9pm sLaunceston Irish Murphy’s Luke Parry Tuesday, 17 March

sLaunceston

sHobart

Hotel New York DJ Roger Charles 10:00-12:00 DJ PD 12:00-2:00 DJ Doctor J 2:00-Close

Irish Murphy’s St Paddy’s Day - Hobart Highland Pipe Band, The Ranters, Dadioe &The Blue Mosquito, Big Swifty

Irish Murphy’s LONG WAY HOME

The Republic Bar Loren + Dean Stevenson 10 9pm

The Mersh (The Commercial Hotel) DJ Skip

sLaunceston

The Royal Oak Glen Terry with Pete Cornelius

Next Show: Monday April 7th - 8pm

@ The Backspace Theatre Sackville St Hobart FACEBOOK GROUP: SHORT BACK AND SIDESHOW

Sunday, 15 March

The Mersh (The Commercial Hotel) Sunday Sessions 2pm

The Brisbane Hotel Bushfire Benefit: Betamax + Pat Marshall + Linc Le Fevre + Luke Thomas + heaps more

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

sDeloraine

Syrup “I heart Techno” feat. Corney, Tristan, Samex 10 11pm

sMelbourne

Launceston Studio

The Republic Bar Chack Ragen + Tom Gabel

Irish Murphy’s Ben Castles, Glenn & Jade, Long Way Home

sLaunceston

Recording Mixing Mastering Production

The Brisbane Hotel ALL AGES ONLY!!! Deez Nuts + On Your Feet Soldier + Sunday Something Ruined + Sound A Surrender + Resilient

The Royal Oak Open Folk Session

Brookfield Vineyard Alan Badalassi 2pm

Lonnies Niteclub Macca, PD + guests

The Loft Stand-Up Comedy

Syrup “Dirty F’King Dancing” feat Kir, Gillie, Corney 10 11pm

Isobar Commercial Dance Music

Hotel New York Kate Miller-Heidke DJ Doctor J 12:30-2:30 DJ Randall 2:30-Close

The Royal Oak S&M

The Greenhouse @ Irish Murphy’s James Parry, Gretel and the Teramachi, Agent Fontaine (debut)

Isobar Commercial Dance Music

Irish Murphy’s Dave Wicks, Dr Fink

sHobart

The Mersh (The Commercial Hotel) Rob Richards

Syrup “Mash-up da Town” feat DJ Stirlo + guests FREE 10pm

Irish Murphy’s Katie & Ado, Transit

Irish Murphy’s Alex Wadley, Nathan Wheldon, Kristy Tucker, and Falling

sLaunceston

Irish Murphy’s The Gary Garys

Thursday, 12 March

Hotel SOHO New Retro Club 9PM

Irish Murphy’s St Paddy’s Day Line-up: Glenn Moorehouse, Luke Parry, Nita & Ben, Kristy & Gina, Captain O’Briens Craic

Venue Guide HOBART Brookfield Vineyard 1640 Channel Highway Margate 6267 2880 Hotel SOHO 124 Davey Street 6224 9494 www.hotelsoho.com.au Irish Murphy’s 21 Salamanca Place 6223 1119 irishmurphys.com.au Isobar Franklin Wharf www.isobar.com.au The Loft 142 Liverpool St Hobart 7000 (03) 6231 6552 www.myspace.com/ theloft142 The Metz on the Bay 217 Sandy Bay Road 6224 4444 www.themetz.com.au

The Alley Cat Bar 381 Elizabeth Street 6231 2299 www.myspace.com/ thealleycatbar LAUNCESTON The Commercial Hotel 27 George Street 6331 3868 Irish Murphy’s 211 Brisbane Street 6331 4440 www.irishmurphys. com.au Hotel New York 122 York Street 6334 7231 Lonnies 107 Brisbane Street 6334 7889 www.lonniesniteclub. com The Boathouse on Northbank 55 Lindsay St 6334 5677

The New Sydney Hotel 87 Bathurst Street The Royal Oak 6234 4516 14 Brisbane Street 6331 5346 Syrup www.myspace.com/ 1st Floor 39 Salamanca leapinlimpout Place 6224 8249 DEVONPORT www.syrupclub.com Spurs Tavern The Republic Bar King St 299 Elizabeth Street 6234 6954 www.republicbar.com The Brisbane Hotel 3 Brisbane Street 6234 4920 www.myspace.com/ thebrisbanehotel

Lonnies Niteclub Macca, PD + guests . ISSUE 88 . MARCH 04 -MARCH 17 2009

the

LOFT

142 Liverpool Street

Have You Ever Wanted To Be A Promoter?

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@ The LOFT! $1500 MAIN ROOM + BOND $750 BACK ROOM + BOND You provide the entertainment You take the door & bar sales You provide Security

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ROCK - SYDNEY // MIDNIGHT OIL

Never Say Never

COMING ATTRACTIONS

The last time Midnight Oil performed together was for WaveAid in 2005, a fundraiser for the relief effort of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. Since then, vocalist Peter Garret has made waves in Federal politics, and the rest of the band have continued with other ventures; bass guitarist Bones Hillman has been living in Nashville playing sessions, while guitarist Martin Rotsey and drummer Rob Hirst have been working on musical projects such as the bands Ghostwriters and The Angry Tradesman. But now the band that was never afraid to get behind a cause is reuniting for the special Sound Relief concerts. We speak to Rob Hirst about how it all came about and what this could mean for the future of the Oils. “Jim, Martin and myself from Midnight Oil had a chat and we dismissed out of hand the possibility of Pete [Garret] doing it, and so we were very surprised when the next call to me was from Gary Morris, our manager, saying that Peter was up for it.” From there the band decided to plan two special shows in Canberra, to warm-up and to help fund their charity concert performance. “First of all, for a band that hasn’t played in four years, we definitely need to get up to speed again, so those shows down in Canberra will be fresh to say the least, but also it’s actually very expensive to put on this kind of gig where we’re calling in our crew from all over the world, literally, and because we want to do it properly. We only have half an hour to forty minutes on stage at the Sound Relief gig, so we use our own desk and we want to make sure that it will sound good right from the word go.” With Peter agreeing to do the shows, Rob suggesting that it’s possibly the perfect antidote for, “the pressure and tedium of parliament”, they needed to locate the rehearsals and warm-up gigs in Canberra, “so Pete can wander out of Question Time, across the road and into the rehearsal room. He has an incredible work load, as you can imagine, so we figured that the best thing would be to shift down there, the mountain will go to Mohammad.” Preparation for the shows seems to be most necessary for Garret, who has been out of the musical arena 16

. ISSUE 89 . MARCH 04 - MARCH 17 2009

since entering into politics in 2004. For the rest of the group, Rob Hirst included, musical projects have kept the former band mates busy since the group disbanded in 2002. “We’ve never stopped playing since the band finished. So all those gigs, in my case with the Backsliders and The Angry Tradesman and with Martin from The Oils in the Angry Tradesman and then The Ghostwriters, and Jim playing with The Family Bog, his band, and Bonesy playing all those sessions in Nashville - I think that all the calluses are pretty much there anyway, so we should be able to make a pretty good go of it on the night.” The band is ready to go, but as far as a set list or an idea of what we can expect from the performance, Hirst can only tell us what he’d like to see, which includes a performance of ‘One Country’ and perhaps a section he calls “the busking part of the night”. It used to be a part of their on stage repertoire and would entail Hirst on “a stand-up drum kit, Jim Martin on acoustic guitars and we play a bit of harmonica. It’s kind of like a busking thing at the front of the stage; we might do a bit of that. But honestly that discussion hasn’t been had yet.” He jokingly likens their preparation to be very last minute, á la The Rolling Stones in the Martin Scorsese documentary Shine a Light, where they handed him the set-list mid-way through the first song. “It really reminded me of us, the real last minute thing. In fact at WaveAid we were cancelling songs as all the bands played a little bit over and our time got

squeezed at the end of the night, so who knows what or how many we’ll end up with.” And being back together after all this time? “After close on twenty years of living in close quarters and making all this music, what we did and the experience that we had here and around the world in that time, it feels more natural to be playing occasionally and hanging out than it does not to.” Hirst continues on the bands impending reformation, “Well obviously it’s tragic circumstances that have brought us together, but now that Peter’s agreed to do this… None of us ever thought that we’d be playing again after WaveAid, so it opens up a Pandora’s box for the future really, so never say never I guess is the truism.” sDavid Williams & Meegan May

See Midnight Oil perform together for (possibly) one of the last times Up Close in The Capital: 0 12-13/3/2009 @ Royal Theatre National Convention Centre, Canberra Sound Relief tickets on sale from 4 March. For more details on the impressive line-up and concert dates head to: 0 http://www.soundrelief.com.au/

6 March @ 10:00 pm

DJ FERRIS (ELECTRO HOUSE) + support 13 March @ 11:00 pm

INTERNAT’L DJ REBEL D (HARDSTYLE DANCE) 3 April @ 8:00 pm

AEROBICS

PARTY!

THE FRETS

www.myspace.com/theloft142

VENUE FOR HIRE Best rates in the city! Contact: Paul 0420 305 910

WWW.SAUCE.NET.AU

ALTERNATIVE - BOSTON // AMANDA PALMER

â&#x20AC;&#x153;â&#x20AC;ŚBecause they know your music, you already have that connection, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need to bother with any formalities â&#x20AC;Śyou just immediately trust each other. I just f**king love that. I love this job! Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s so much fun!...â&#x20AC;?

Tightrope Walker She does yoga, councils grieving strangers, tightrope walks between the light and the darkness and is known to associate with the Danger Ensemble. Are we talking about a new-age musical superhero? Nope, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just all in a days work for Amanda Palmer, one half of the Dresden Dolls, as she embarks on her solo tour around Australia, promoting her new CD Who Killed Amanda Palmer? As we begin talking to Amanda, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s clear sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a little distracted. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I just got out of a fucking incredible yoga class.â&#x20AC;? Uh-huh. But for Amanda Palmer, it seems yoga class can never be just yoga class. It all began after a night of jet lagâ&#x20AC;Ś â&#x20AC;&#x153;I kept waking up, so at four in the morning I just gave up, got up and drank some coffee. Then I got on the tram to go get a salad, go for a walk and come to yoga. And this fan came up to me on the tram and did that whole thing like â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;oh my god! Are you Amanda Palmer?!â&#x20AC;&#x2122; and I said â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;yeah, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m Amanda Palmer, how are you doing?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; And then we got off at the same stop; it turns out she lives right where I was going to get my salad. I invited myself into her place for tea, and it turns out that her roommate had died last week. And then we got into this really long heavy talk and I took her to yoga, and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why yoga was awesome.â&#x20AC;?

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a potential meeting just like this that actually brought her down to Tasmania. Her friend Neil Gaiman had a friend in Tasmania, and suggested they meet while Palmer was touring Australia. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He knew I was going to be down in this part of the world, even though I wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t scheduled to play Tassie. Then his friend sent me an e-mail saying â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;oh, you should really come and stay, you can stay at my house.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; And I just though, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;fuck it.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve always wanted to go and I knew I could take a couple days, so I just threw caution to the wind and tacked it on to the end of the tour. So Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m going to be staying with her, two blocks from the club, we have plans to go to yoga, we have plans to cook dinner and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m going to spend an extra day in Tassie and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m really excited, because Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve heard such beautiful things about it.â&#x20AC;?

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s these kind of serendipitous meetings, which seem to happen to Palmer quite frequently, that excite her about what she does. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Things like that will just happen to you, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be randomly on a tram and then wind up in someoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s beautiful place, with them making you tea twenty minutes later because they know your music and you already have that connection, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need to bother with any formalitiesâ&#x20AC;Śyou just immediately trust each other. I just fucking love that. I love this job! Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s so much fun!â&#x20AC;?

As itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;tacked onâ&#x20AC;?, Amanda informs us that the Danger Ensemble wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be joining her for the show in Tasmania, instead it will be a scaled back solo performance. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, with Amanda admitting that thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more chance for improvisation than the more choreographed show one would expect when she is performing with the Ensemble. For those not familiar with the music sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be playing here in Tassie, Palmer often deals with quite heavy subjects such as abortion and rape, like in the song â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Oasisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, and yet somehow turns it into palatable, beautiful, and even fun, music. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lot of pain,

WWW.SAUCE.NET.AU

thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s definitely a lot of darkness in the music, but then itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cut with this heavy sense of humour and lightness, which kind of makes the darkness cooler, I think it gives it a nice contrast.â&#x20AC;? She continues, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think actually the best kind of art is a tightrope walk between the darkness and the light and I think the best art usually finds a unique way to ride that line, that no oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ever thought of before. And you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have one without the other.â&#x20AC;? Growing up with a love of full-on pop music such as ABBA contrasted with â&#x20AC;&#x153;stuff that I think other people would consider just noise,â&#x20AC;? which she started listening to in her teen years, Palmer also rides a line between styles and genres. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t go to with either extreme, in the subject matter as well. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not ever my goal to make anyone uncomfortable or irritated or so challenged so that their head explodes. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the beautiful thing about it, being able to put weird subject matter into a pop package.â&#x20AC;? An interesting middle ground, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s anything but middle-of-theroad, Palmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s show is sure to be a one hell of a ride.

OPEN 7 DAYS

MONDAYS / TUESDAYS Industry Night t #FFS #VDLFUT o "OZ TUVCCJFT GSPN PVS GSJEHF GPS

WEDNESDAY - UNI NIGHT (POOB IBWF B CJH OJHIU 8F XJMM mMM ZPV VQ t 1BFMMB IE t 4BOHSJB +VHT t QN o QN $PDLUBJMT t 4DIPPOFST ! P[ QSJDFT

THURSDAY -BEJFT /JHIU (JSMT MFBWF UIF CPZT BU IPNF BOE DPNF JO GPS B TUJGG POF t $PTNPT

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SATURDAY / SUNDAY -B[Z "GUFSOPPOT t 4DIPPOFST ! P[ QSJDFT QN o QN RELAX JO PVS DPVDIFT VQTUBJST PS UIF TVOOZ DPVSUZBSE Got a FUNCTION? 8F DBO DBUFS GPS BOZ CVEHFU

sDavid Williams & Meegan May

Find out Who Killed Amanda Palmer? 0 14 March@ The Brisbane Hotel, Hobart

Corner of Burnett & Elizabeth St, North Hobart Opposite The Republic Bar s INFO ONBA COM AU . ISSUE 88 . MARCH 04 -MARCH 17 2009

ROCK - WASHINGTON D.C. // Joe Lally

Underrated

For Joe Lally, bassist of American punk band Fugazi, forming his solo project was “out of necessity” after the band went on hiatus in 2002. The music was something he couldn’t stop working at, and now he’s created his own interesting, experiemental brand of bass-driven rock. The band Fugazi was formed back in the 80s in Washinton, D.C. and took its name from a term used in the Vietnam War, which they had found in a book featuring peoples recollections of the War. The term came up in reference to a dangerous situation, but it wasn’t until around ten years later that they discovered the full meaning word, which was actually an acronym. “It was about ten years after we started the band, and somebody said, ‘you know it’s an acronym, right?’ and turns out it means – Fucked Up, Got Ambushed, Zipped In. So it’s that same kind of situation normal all fucked up where you can say quickly that it’s a dangerous situation ahead. And apparently, I had worked with someone in South Africa in the military and they said it was still used there, so I think it came about in the Vietnam War and it’s still used military slang.” If the band Fugazi was a band outside of situation normal, Lally seems to have continued that trend with his solo efforts. Due to his history as a bass guitarist, and with limited experience playing other instruments, Lally’s guitar sound is almost devoid of chords. While working on new material, Lally found himself alone while getting his ideas down, so “I forced myself to play guitar, but I can’t really play chords. There’s a more recent song that I added chords to, because I’d just been faking my way through it.” He continues on the subject of his new music, “the guitar playing that I did do since the summer, were all little leads, so it’s strange music that I’m making in a way, but then again it’s hard to make ‘strange’ music these days!” The part he struggles with is working on the material alone. He has compensated by finding musicians to work with in his new home in Italy, most prominently Elisa Abela. “I’m struggling with that because I’m not that interested, I’m kind of bored of working with myself, so I’m trying to get Elisa involved with this and try and make some of the music what we’re coming to as the two of us playing.” Elisa will be joining Lally for his U.S. tour, but in Australia he will be playing with

Australian sibling duo, Gallucci. Although having contacted him shortly after his first record was released, Lally is yet to play with the duo, but is confidant that due to the enthusiasm and preparation of the two, that the shows will go off without a hitch. Besides, his “concept musically is fairly minimal. I don’t think that the listener is going to get bored, so I don’t think that things have to keep changing in the music.” His current release, Nothing Is Underrated, seems to echo that statement. Lally dislikes what he sees as the endless drive in our society to list our accomplishments and projects, and not constantly accomplishing something as a drawback. For him, “maybe being quiet and understanding the silence of things and listening is something that can be given more attention, and is therefore underrated.” Nothing Is Underrated also features contributions from his former band mates, Guy Picciotto and Ian MacKaye, who played on the record and also produced it. And now that he’s working on new material, Lally would be keen to work with them again. “If there’s an ability to work together, I’m going to try to make that happen, even if it’s minimal.” So does this mean a chance that Fugazi might start playing shows together, or perhaps produce an album? “I’m ready. I felt that in the last record we really just nailed it…we were really happy with all the songs, so I was really ready to continue with that and even though I decided, yes we need to do this hiatus, it was not an easy thing to do. I miss playing with that bad… but unfortunately if you have to put a number on it I’d just say zero percent, because nobody’s talking about it. Brendan has four kids, one of them a baby, you know I don’t want him to be away from his children. My daughter’s seven…I keep my touring down to two or three weeks at the most because of that.” But don’t be disheartened Fugazi fans - children grow.

“…My concept musically is fairly minimal. I don’t think that the listener is going to get bored, so I don’t think that things have to keep changing in the music...” And with the obvious enthusiasm and respect that these guys have for each other, there’s bound to be musical collaboration between them in the foreseeable future. It might not be Fugazi, but with Lally’s solo material going from strength to strength, it will no doubt be something to rate highly.

sDavid Williams & Meegan May

Rate him yourself, and see Joe Lally w/ All Fires The Fire & Myblackson 0 11 March @ The Brisbane Hotel, Hobart

ROOTS - NSW // Loren

Grow Your Own

Loren. Writing music willing people to… “Revolt against the capitalist system and grow their own lettuce.” Loren is no stranger to Tasmania… making the trip from Northern NSW to bring his music to Tassie ears whenever he gets a chance. With a flood of festival appearances and a hectic touring schedule in 2008 flowing over in 2009, March will see his second visit to Tasmanian shores this year. What do you love about music? “What I love about music is that it truly is a universal language…it reaches us on so many different levels and it reminds us of what connects us all. It’s awesome to be a part of it in a live sense and also to know that people are enjoying it on an individual level in their own space.” If you could travel back in time and show one of your musical heroes your stuff, who would it be and why? “It would have to be Bob Marley...he’s the one person I would go back in time to meet...I would expect a brutally honest analysis of the music” With music than spans many genres and breaks down the barriers of age and culture, any attempts at modern comparisons or pigeon holes don’t quite work with Loren. What could a punter expect from your live 18

. ISSUE 89 . MARCH 04 - MARCH 17 2009

show? “A rollercoaster of moods”. You can also expect to be rubbing shoulders with a dreadlocked hippie, the local footy team, fellow musicians, middle aged businessmen and your grandma at any one of Loren’s shows. The demand for Loren’s music is evident in the support and respect he receives from his fans that keep coming back for more, and the echoing of his name that resident bar flies around town can hear in passing conversations. Loren will be back this month to play some intimate solo shows showcasing some of his new work that is destined to appear on the next album. Famous last words? “Grow your own veggies and eat more fruit.”

Loren Plays: 0 15/3/09 @ The Lewisham Tavern, Lewisham 0 17/3/09 @ The Republic Bar, Hobart 0 18/3/09 @ Brookfield Vinyard. WWW.SAUCE.NET.AU

Ministry of Sound Progression

INK Black Water Reign

UNIVERSUM Leto Destinatus

WARHORSE Gun$

I like dance music. I’ve liked it for ages. I like Ministry of Sound. I’ve liked them since I bought the unmixed double LP of Ministry of Sound – Volume One mixed by DJ David Humphries in 1992.

A new uprising hard rock band, that in due time, is sure to have a rapid following, if some radio station gives them enough recognition, as word spreads locally of BWR. The Sydney five-piece comprising of ex-members from industrial rock band Jerk, along with other accomplished musicians are bringing their blend of catchy hard rocking songs across Australia.

With only a short period of being together as a band since 2006, this Adelaide six-piece is sure to rip up the sound waves and have their solid blend of Australian heavy death metal heard around the world. A band which is very much influenced by the Swedish death metal and the new wave of American heavy metal. Igniting with their title track ‘Leto Destinatus’, they show hints of early Soilwork inspired music with signs of a vocalist style very similar to Chrigel Glanzmann of band Eluveitie and early Bjorn Strid of Soilwork.

Gun$ is the debut EP from stoner garage rockers, revealing five tracks from a band highly influenced by The Stooges and Brian Jonestown Massacre.

Ministry of Sound has produced a mammoth amount of compilations since then. They’re churning them out monthly. Fast forward to 2008. “Progression” A two CD “Emotive collection of progressive, trance and house” as it says on the cover. Disc one mixed by Will Cote is mostly just the usual. I hate this over compressed sound that seems to be everywhere. It might sound good on a PA or in the car at max volume, but for all else I think it just sounds silly. For more info type “loudness wars” into Wikipedia… Track 18: Mark Knight & Funkadgenda – Man With The Red Face. The only stand-out track on disk one. Produced by Laurent Garnier. This is a track that pushes my buttons. Disk two is mixed by Sameer Sengupta, who selected my mix-tape in a DJ comp in Sydney in the mid 90s. So I know he has good taste and yes there are some decent tracks in this mix. Ministry of Sound has come a long way since Volume One and this is a fairly good example of the commercialisation of their sound. 6/10 sNATHAN COLLINSON

The clever thing the band has done with their first seven-track album is that it features no filler tracks, instrumental, or overdubbed live tracks. Album opener Any Other Day is a nice short rock/ punk infused song that can give a mixed reaction, as it is not really the track on which to make an initial judgment on the band’s sound. If the band was to bring out a first single it would be My World as it has all the elements of a heavy rotated radio song. All the songs are really well crafted and enjoyable to listen to from beginning to last track, with song The High Road, which undoubtedly is my favorite from the album and rounds off an exceptional recording. Johnathon Devoy’s vocals may be off putting for some as he has a harsh punk scream slur to his growl. Overall it’s very fitting over the music played by the other band members. If one gives this band the time of day to listen to the album fully, they will notice that the band will have similarities to other groove anthem hard rock bands. which brings a lack of originality, but I think this band is out to make a crowd of young punters go nuts at their gigs. With an ‘I don’t give a fuck mentality if I sound like some one else’ the members of Jerk may come third time lucky with this band. 7/10 sDAVID WALKER

FOLK/GYPSY - MELBOURNE // THE WOOHOO REVUE

Woohoo!

Hot on the heels of another popular gypsy band, The Barons of Tang, The Woohoo Revue are heading to Tasmania to play some shows this March.

One thing I found frustrating was understanding the gutturally burning and deep vocal tones of Adam Soininen and Michael Soininens, and although the demon tone does compliment the music really well, it is a shame it is not clear enough to decipher. The clean vocal parts are unfitting and do not enhance the songs in any way, so it’s fortunate in some ways that the majority of the vocals are in a growl with both vocalists taking turns. Third brother in the group Jaron Soininen brings the backbone rage of smashing his drum skins and cymbals effectively giving the music a strong driving force. Keyboardist Rachael Maddens’ skills prevail throughout the music, shown in all its glory through track Misery Cell. Guitarists Michael Soininen, Stephen Murphy and bassist Liam Brophy produce their heavily influenced European thrash/ death metal blend to the sound of the band full of crunch and finger-melting lead work. Universum is a band that has done something very successful for their debut release, which will have many followers in their niche. This is an album for those who enjoy there melodic Death metal, and best of all it is Australian. 7/10 sDAVID WALKER

This Sydney five-piece is in no way related to the English seventies hard rock band or American doom metal band who all so go under the same name. Overall, if you have heard stoner rock music, it always has the aspects of jangled bright electric guitar sounds, slow to mid paced drumming, subtle bass lines and a vocalist who resonates in the back of all the songs like an intense hallucination. The seventeen minutes of music is finished before you have time to realize what just happened. Produced by Burke Reid guitarist of alternative electronic group Gerling created an ambience on the recording that could be easily mistaken as if you were listening to the music back in the late sixties. The vintage aspect mixed with the garage rock feel of the band gives it that highly sought after analogue tape recorder sound, which I believe is intentional due to the band’s style. There is no real standout track as the entire EP turns into one big atmospheric kaleidoscope dream, which in this case proves its point to be another band riding the stoner Combi-Van to a rock stardom trail? The EP is not that bad, but all so it is not that great. Think of it as going to a party out bush with a hundred guests and being the only sober person attending. 4/10 sDAVID WALKER

ROOTS - VIC // JOHNNY HAWKEN

Johnny Hawken Hailing from coastal Victoria is Johnny Hawken, singer-songwriter, who is happiest when he has a guitar in his hands and a surfboard at his feet. As a younger man, Johnny played lead guitarist in a few bands, including one called ‘Red Rattle Snake’, which featured such artists such as Xavier Rudd. The band didn’t last, but his love of music did, though it wasn’t until Johnny was in his mid 20’s that he finally found his own voice and began to perform solo.

Creating a musical circus of sounds, they describe themselves as “an explosive gypsy brass band.” Though the Woohoo Revue is only a recently formed band (but with plenty of old world European influences), they’ve sprung from members of The Counterfeit Gypsies and The Red Eyes, and created a virtual supergroup of Melbourne’s gypsy musicians.

on Triple J and other community radio stations around the country. Currently touring in promotion of this album, their live shows are known to be unpredictably entertaining, their last concert in Tassie was for The Alley Cat’s First Birthday Party and was said to be a thunderous performance.

The six-piece band presents an organised chaos of hectic thumping beats, horns, violins, and a full to the brim instrumental sound. All this is captured on their Debut album, Dear Animals, which has received airplay

Now they’ve hopped into the gypsy caravan and are back at for two more big shows! 0 13 & 14 March @ The Alley Cat, Hobart

Tasmania’s gender and sexuality support and education service

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0 6/3/09 @ Sportsmans Hall, Launceston 0 7/3/09 @ Bicheno Sealife Centre, Bicheno 0 8/3/09 @ Rock Pool Festival, Bicheno

Anyone interested in joining a community group for same-sex attracted young people in the Hobart area, please contact Working It Out on 03 6231 1200 or exec@workingitout.org.au

Hobart: 03 6231 1200 Burnie 03 6432 3643 Launceston: 6334 4013

Johnny will be making his way down to Tasmania for a few gigs in March: 0 5/3/09 @ The Alley Cat Bar, Hobart

Not quite straight…? Are you between 14 and 25? Wanna meet other gay, lesbian, bi and trans young people in a safe space…??

Working It Out Inc

Working It Out Inc. is a free and conﬁdential service

Xavier Rudd may actually be a good starting point to understanding Johnny’s sound, but with a softer vocal, as Johnny too would probably slot into the Blues & Roots genre with a Rock edge. His self-titled album is available for download in iTunes and also other online stores. Also playing regularly with his band The Royales, you can find out more on his MySpace: www. myspace.com/johnny hawken.

working it out .org.au

First meeting Thursday 12th March 2009 from 4.30pm in North Hobart. Contact us for the venue. WWW.SAUCE.NET.AU

SOUNDCHECK - out and about in the hottest venues ADAM TURNER & ANDREW CORNEY @ Syrup, 28 February

Diamonds of Burlesque @ The Loft, 21 February

We have some great local DJs in Tassie. With the continual branding and promotional activities of dance music labels, through the release of compilation CDs and tours, it’s easy to be swept up in the hype that surrounds DJs with a national or even international profile. However, as Public Enemy broadcast, years ahead of their time, ‘Don’t Believe The Hype, but, instead, go with what your gut tells you. First and foremost, does the music they play, and how they put a set together, make you want to dance? Over the years, I’ve interviewed many ‘big name’ DJs and the most lauded have had one thing in common, they have been aware that their job is to create a party with their music. With the right exposure, promotion and opportunities to play, many local DJs working clubs around Tassie could be superstars. Adam Turner and Andrew Corney are two such DJs, in my opinion. When my friends and I arrived at Syrup, Adam was (I worked out later) about half way through his set, and the dancefloor was bouncing. I soon found myself bouncing around with them, whereas at another gig, recently, I was bored with the music choices of the ‘name’ DJ, and found it hard to get my groove on. Sure, they were a support for someone of greater stature, but if they’re playing music for me, I want to feel like dancing. It’s what I’m there for. Overall, I’d describe Adam’s sound as funky House, with a feel of the Australian scene. In what little time I had left to enjoy his work, he took the dancefloor on a little journey, complete with peaks and valleys, and I think we need that. Without the dark, there can be no light. Corney took over the reins, and the tempo changed more to a Euro sound, in my opinion - a bit tougher, a bit more ‘stadium’ or 20,000 capacity club feel. His trips to Ibiza, and experiences in the Mecca of dance music have had an influence on his music tastes, certainly. It was the icing on the cake for me, and I felt the freedom, and fun, to dance my arse off. It was, unfortunately, time for me to leave after about an hour into his set (I had to work the next day) but I will always remember this night with a warm glow, and renewed love and respect for our local DJs (See HOUSE PARTY!). sDAVID WILLIAMS

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Truth be told, it was our own comedian, Mick Lowenstein who stole the show. As the mild mannered janitor in this ‘school,’ Mick’s deft performance and witty improvisations added an unexpected level of depth to this risqué show. There was a lot of humour, actually. It was a very funny night, overall, helped along by the ‘school mistress’ and the two ‘naughty boys’. I was expecting a traditional show of ‘the dance of the seven veils’ or something similar, but this was contemporary burlesque. The soundtrack of the night set the tone, launched by Kanye West’s/Shirly Bassey’s “Diamonds Are Forever”. There were a number of costume changes throughout the evening, with a tribute to Alex Gaudino’s dance track “XXXXX” and the famous film clip, featuring girls dressed in Ye Olde soldiers’ uniforms, and their swinging saxophones. The dancers were fit, strong and flexible. Their routines were fresh and funky. They were in time and having a great time. They were sexy and saucy, but in no way was the evening the least bit smutty. There was a lot of audience involvement, with one ‘very shy’ audience member getting involved, up close and personal. Was he a plant? I don’t think so. To me, the night felt more like a theatrical performance, and a good one at that, more so than a burlesque performance, or what I had imagined burlesque to be. It was, (obviously) my first time viewing burlesque in the flesh and I’m very glad I went. It was funny, classy, cool, and a bit crazy. About half the audience were female, including my wife. We had a great time and we’ll be going again, certainly, as soon as the opportunity arises. sDAVID WILLIAMS

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STRANGER THAN MICKTION

Now available in high-def.

Ok, I’m a gadget freak, I’ve never hidden the fact. I love anything with buttons, with perhaps the exception of tartan trousers. I think it stems from growing up in a house that had no gadgets at all. At least no gadgets that had been conceived later than the middle ages. I grew up in a house that had no phone, an old wireless the size of a grandfather clock and a black and white TV that was apparently powered by mice. So as soon as I could, I embraced technology with the fervour of a Mormon presented with a front door. These days my gadget entourage has been pruned to my iPhone (yes, wanker, I know) a laptop and some tartan trousers, which I cleverly wear disguised as a tie. I have an almost geek-like knowledge of various gadget tech specs and can pick the work experience kid at Harvey

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Norman from 1000 pixels away. I don’t know why, it’s not like it makes life any easier. It just makes life a series of upgrades, where we do exactly the same things on better looking little boxes. I quite like it, really. The problem is though, that my Mum, bless her, has an irrational fear of technology. She will cross the street, rather than walk past Dick Smith. She’s a smart woman, but getting on, and for some reason she looks at technology rather in the same way that a vampire might consider garlic. The other night, she decided to show me a “video” it was Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps. First, the “video” turns out to be a DVD, not such a problem until she tries to remove it from

the packaging. Completely ignoring the big bit in the middle of the disc that says “press” she proceeds to bend the disc into submission, achieving an almost origami like end product. The disc that now looks like it needs a good ironing, is inserted into the DVD player and that’s when things start getting difficult. Mum tends to just push buttons at random, without actually reading them. It’s odd. I just take for granted that anyone can put a disc in a player and watch it. No. For my Mum, this IS rocket science, but without the pocket protectors. Mum picks up the remote and stares at the array of buttons and makes a random selection, the whole thing turns off. It’s true. Hitchcock was the master of suspense. I wasn’t going to find out how this one even started. The phone rings, which propels

Mum from one technological disaster to another. I’ve given her a fairly standard cordless phone thing, so she doesn’t have to stand out in the hall to talk to people, but she keeps hanging up on people instead of pressing talk. “Hello? Oh. They’ve hung up. Prank callers… so rude!” True Story. sMICK LOWENSTEIN

Catch The Short Back and Sideshow! 0 7 April @ The Backspace Theatre, Hobart

WWW.SAUCE.NET.AU

CINECISM

BY DAVID QUINN - DAVID@DREAMWALKMEDIA.COM

DRAMA // WATCHMEN

Who Watches the Watchmen?

FLICKERFEST In 2009 Flickerfest will come of age and celebrate its 18th Birthday as Australia’s premier International Short Film Festival. Flickerfest is Australia’s only Academy Award® accredited Short Film festival and as such, attracts a high calibre of films entering each year from all around the world. After its ten-day festival kicking off at Bondi beach in January, Flickerfest is thrilled to be heading down south for the Tassie leg of our 18 venue national tour.

Over the years of 1986 and 1987 two comic stories were published that completely changed the face of the industry. These books were unlike anything that had been seen before them, they were unflinchingly dark, unashamedly adult and most importantly they both transcended their “funny-book” origins. Those comics were Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns and Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s Watchmen. Both were initially published as mini series’ with Watchmen running for twelve issues and The Dark Knight Returns running over four larger graphic novels. Both were subsequently collected into larger editions and became the “must-read” books of that generation of comic fans. Now 22 years later two films have done the same thing for superhero movies that their namesakes did for their sequential-art forbears. Chris Nolan’s The Dark Knight continues to be applauded by both hardcore fans and the general public alike as a proper “grown up” movie that just happens to have a superhero in it. And with a final bank balance that staggered the imagination it certainly appears that finally superheroes are being taken seriously. It has, however, been largely ignored by the folks who dole out awards; proof that even the incredible amount of cash it has made still isn’t enough yet to buy it legitimacy. And then there is Watchmen. The film is Zack Snyder’s translation of the “un-filmable comic” and a piece of cinema that will be, for many, a turning point in the understanding of what constitutes literature. In much the same way that the original comic subverted expectations of what super heroes and super villains did and were, the film subverts the expectation of what a superhero movie is. From the opening montage of super heroic imagery which gradually becomes more seedy and perverted to the ending, which is so morally ambiguous it leaves you unsure of who even won, this is not your average film. This is Art. Is this the hyperbolic ramblings of a long-time comic book fan? Quite possibly, but this is a film which constantly avoids meeting expectation and goes far beyond what we have experienced in superhero cinema to date. The superhero movie tropes are all on show here, the latex costumes and cool weaponry all make an appearance, but with each comes an aspect of their meaning. The fetish-like aspects of the costumes are explored, as is the deeply questionable sanity of the people who choose to wear them. The violence we take for granted with superheroes is also brought into stark clarity in the first major fighting set piece of the film. Gone is the cartoon style combat of the Spiderman films, or even the gritty messy style of The Dark Knight. Here a gang of muggers are greeted with arm bones broken through the skin, gutting and shattered necks all in Snyder’s ever so slightly stylised view.

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Snyder has given us as faithful a translation of the comic book as is possible. The characters are as broken, unhinged, despicable and aloof as they are on the page and in some cases even more disturbing. Rorschach (played by Jackie Earle Haley from Little Children) is probably the most clearly defined character in both the book and the movie, yet even he is obviously sociopathic at the very least. Dr Manhattan, the films only truly super-powered individual (Billy Crudup from Almost Famous) is becoming progressively more detached from humanity, a problem compounded by his ability to see both past and future events at once. The film’s central love story is a prime example of the adult tone, in that while Patrick Wilson’s character Dan Dreiberg is sexually impotent, his costumed alter ego The Night Owl is capable of a protracted and explicit sex scene. It was during said scene that it finally became clear that this was not your average superhero story: there was no cutting away, no avoiding the uncomfortable awkwardness, this was two adults having sex and the only way they could do so was by wearing their rubber costumes. Later horrendous scenes in the prison with an unmasked Rorschach only served to crystallize that belief. He is at once darkly humorous and in the next second terrifying in his coldly calculating bloodsoaked escape plan.

the music that provides a base to many of the films scenes. Bob Dylan’s The Times They are a Changing perfectly captures the feeling of the opening montage and is the start of a musical journey through a turbulent period in history. Iconic songs are used throughout, and though occasionally at odds with the visuals, they provide a counterpoint to the central themes of the scenes. The lack of music in some scenes is also artfully done, with the horrendous violence of some sequences underscored far more effectively with silence than overblown musical stabs. There are minor quibbles with the portrayal of Nixon, or more specifically his prosthetic nose, and it is by no means a short film. But Watchmen is something truly special. Is the mainstream audience ready for it? Who can tell? It may prove to be too confronting for many viewers. But then, being forced to grow up is never an easy path to take. Watchmen asks us hard questions about ourselves and gives no easy answers. It is worth the wait. Cine-COOL sDAVID QUINN 0 WATCHMEN OPENS NATIONALLY 5 MARCH.

The author gratefully acknowledges Supanova, Cool Shite on the Tube, Paramount, and Network PR for making this review possible.

On March 19th & 20th The State Cinema in Hobart will host two of the fabulous Flickerfest programmes, International 1 and Best Of Australian Shorts. International 1 will be screening on Thursday March 19th and features a wide variety of award winning short films from across the globe including the Oscar® nominated ‘On The Line’. Best Of Australian Shorts, screening Friday March 20th, features a fantastic line up of talent including ‘Chicken of God’ written and directed by Frank Woodley (of Lano and Woodley) and the AFI nominated shorts ‘fOUR’, ‘Mutt’, ‘Chainsaw’ & ‘Summer Breaks’. In 2009 Flickerfest received record entries from Australia and beyond, making Flickerfest the largest film festival competition in Australia.

For more information on the feast of short film heading to Hobart please go to www.flickerfest. com.au to purchase tickets call the State cinema on 0362346318 0 19 & 20 March @ The State Cinema, AUS

WIN tickets to Fickerfest! Catch the next new wave of short films at Flickerfest in Hobart with a special giveaway for Sauce readers! Experience the best short films from around the world during Flickerfest’s tour to Hobart. Sauce has has 3 x Double Passes to win to attend Flickerfest’s International 1 programme on Thursday March 19th and 3 x Double Passes to win to attend the ‘Best Of Australian Shorts’ programme on Friday March 20th at the Flickerfest International Short Film Festival in Hobart. 0To enter, email your contact details and “Flickerfest Comp” in the subject line, to competitions@sauce.net.au by Wednesday, 11th of March @ 5pm.

The film looks stunning and manages to maintain the feel of its comic book roots. It uses a similar colour palette and a visual style that is distinctly Zack Snyder yet reminiscent of Dave Gibbon’s original art. Snyder has thus far been seen as a mainly visual director, yet in Watchmen he is given excellent textual material and he rises to the challenge. What is said and heard as well as what is written on the walls, in books and delivered through voice-overs is all essential material to the understanding of the story. There is no wasted space in these shots and no piece of sound or dialogue that is unnecessary. One aspect that was a constant pleasant surprise was

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