second hand heart
mark seymour
the murlocs
ballarat // bendigo // geelong // surfcoast // warrnambool // werribee
cq unplugged
senses fail
issue 559 // 16 MAY 2013 // next issue: 30 may
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A WORD FROM THE TEAM
So we are coming to a time of year where all our favourite festivals begin to announce who is going to be lining up for them in 2013-14. We have already had the Splendour line-up just pass; it received a mixed reaction, we think way more positive than negative. When we are talking names like Mumford and Sons, The National, Of Monsters and Men and MS MR, I struggle to see how you can really go wrong. Again Splendour presents itself as a festival capable of assembling some of the best line-ups in the world. Forte Magazine looks forward to covering it and a host of other sensational festivals once again. There will be a string of festival announcements over the next couple of months. How fun!
This issue we have something a little different for our cover story; we are covering the theatre show Frankenstein. Forte Magazine loves the arts and it’s something we are keen to increase our coverage of – so keep a look-out for some changes in the coming weeks. We also take a close look at the wonderful CQ Unplugged event in the Local Feature. We have home-grown heroes on the rise The Murlocs, and the Black Aces are our By Popular Demand band. It’s another jampacked issue!
FORTE mag is published by FORTE PUBLISHING p/l abn 64 054 589 641 pHONE: 03 5229 7969 fAX: 03 5229 0318 po box 1388 GEELONG VICTORIA 3220
PUBLISHER...........................Anton Ballard general..............................enquiries@fortemag.com.au EDITOR/SALES MANAGER....Luke McNamara luke@fortemag.com.au COVER DESIGN.....................James Dulce PRODUCTION........................James Dulce David Di Cristoforo SCENE PHOTOGRAPHER.......April Grenfell Stefan Young ADVERTISING ......................Anton Ballard aballard@fortemag.com.au
Marc Wilkins marc@thegeelongtimes.com.au
Erica Martin erica@fortemag.com.au
CONTRIBUTORS................... Anthony Morris, Adem Ali, Ben Schultz, Chris Cruz, Chris Lambie, Cyclone, Daniel Meagher, Lucas Skinner, Natalie Rogers, Nekita Roberts, Nina Bertok, Ophelia Symons, Paul S Taylor, Phil Hickey, Renee Abbott, Sam Eckhardt, Sam Fell, Stephanie Zevenbergen, Tex Miller, Wylie Caird, and Tony Montana PRINTED BY......................... RURAL PRESS PRINTING (VIC) BALLARAT 30-32 Grandlee Drive, Wendouree ADVERTISERS AND AGENTS ARE ADVISED THAT ALL ADVERTISING COPY IS THEIR RESPONSIBILITY UNDER THE TRADE PRACTICES ACT. ADVERTISEMENTS ARE PUBLISHED IN GOOD FAITH AND ON THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE CONTENT IS LEGITIMATE AND LAWFUL. ADVERTISERS AND OR AGENTS SUBMIT ADVERTISEMENTS AT THEIR OWN RISK. THE EDITOR AND CREATORS HOLD NO RESPONSIBILITY WHATSOEVER FOR THE CONTENT OF THE MAGAZINE IN THE CASE THAT IT MAY OFFEND. FORTE ACCEPTS NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ERRORS OR OMISSIONS. FORTE RESERVES THE RIGHT TO EDIT ALL ARTICLES AND LETTERS.
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11
the HIGHLIGHTS
THE LATEST ON international & national news & tours Tyler and Earl Down Under
The Highlights: We gave our love a chicken, it had no bone. Coming up you have…
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English singer-songwriter Barb Jungr has announced a few shows to go along with her Adelaide Cabaret Appearance. Jungr is perhaps best known as a chansonnière, or a singer of chansons; that is, a lyricdriven French song. However, she has also written and presented for radio, as well as composed and written for various stage productions. Salon @ Melbourne Recital Centre – June 14 & 15.
Bleeding Through Swansong After more than a decade doing what they do best, California’s Bleeding Through has decided to hang up their boots. Vocalist Brandan Schieppati made the announcement earlier in the year but luckily for Aussie fans they’ll be going one more round. The metalcore champions came together in 1999. They have released seven albums including 2012’s final effort, The Great Fire. The Hi-Fi – July 27. .........................................................................
CNBLUE for You South Korean rock group and pin-up favourites CNBLUE have added a Melbourne date to their fly-by Blue Moon tour. Wikipedia has enlightened me to the fact that the ‘CN’ part of their name stands for ‘Code Name’, while the ‘BLUE’ is an abbreviation of the members’ individual images: ‘Burning’, ‘Lovely’, ‘Untouchable’ and ‘Emotional’. They will make your heart flutter. Festival Hall – May 31. .........................................................................
Flyleaf on the Horizon Hyped as having “the sweet-yet-tortured tones of Evanescence with the angry wails of Lacuna Coil,” Flyleaf will check in on Australia later in the year for what will be their first headlining tour. Formed a touch over a decade ago, the band released their self-titled debut album in 2005. It would go on to sell over a million copies and bring the band all sorts of acclaim. Their latest is New Horizons. The Hi-Fi – August 16. .........................................................................
Melbourne International Jazz Festival The Melbourne International Jazz Festival opens at the end of this month and there is a whole lot to love about this year’s program. The festival opens with ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’, a night of rock and pop classics re-imagined by Sarah McKenzie, Michelle Nicolle and Mahalia Barnes, along with a first-class band. That one takes place at The Palais on May 31. For the full goods head to melbournejazz.com. MIJF: May 31 – June 9. ......................................................................... Tyler, The Creator
One of the most talked about bands of recent times – for reasons good and bad – is Odd Future, and next month ringleader Tyler, The Creator will pay our country a visit with mate Earl Sweatshirt. Tyler recently released his third solo album Wolf, and the tour will be his third visit to our fair country. Earl is set to release his new effort Doris shortly, and the tour will be his first visit. The Palace – June 7.
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Kim Wilde, Woah Oh Thanks to songs ‘Kids in America’, ‘You Keep Me Hanging On’ and ‘If I Can’t Have You’, Kim Wilde was one of the biggest female names in the 1980s. She could also elevate the blood pressure with a simple ‘Woah Oh’. The Queen of English Pop has announced a handful of memory lane gigs for later in the year where she will be joined by Nick ‘Wouldn’t It Be Good’ Kershaw. The Palace – October 18.
Barb Jungr Returns
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Picture Perfect Red Paintings The revolution may not be coming but orchestral art rockers The Red Paintings are set to drop their highlyanticipated debut album The Revolution is Never Coming in June. The Geelong-born, L.A.-based band is led by Trash McSweeney and is known for their sublime live shows. Their latest single, ‘You’re Not One of Them’, has been receiving all sorts of good feedback, so you’re in for a cool show. The Espy – June 15. .........................................................................
Light Years Ahead of Kora Kora is undoubtedly one of Australia’s favourite New Zealand neighbours. The five-piece has clocked up over twenty years in the game since brother Kora’s began playing together under the moniker Auntie Beatrice. With family harmony still bubbling along nicely, the four brothers, along with Dan McGruer, will check in on Australia next month in support of their new album, Light Years. The Espy – June 21. .........................................................................
The Ever-Dangerous Coolio Coolio, he who had a monster hit in 1995 with ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’, the anthem for the film Dangerous Minds, has announced an Australian tour. His name may be a little quieter these days, but he has been no less busy. He released his last album in 2009 (From the Bottom 2 the Top), but has starred on a couple of reality television series and is a spokesperson for a couple of charities. Red Bennies – June 27. .........................................................................
Gympie Muster, Part III As we count down to the Gympie Music Muster, the music treats keep coming our way. The latest addition to the GMM team is ... drum roll ... The Seekers. Yep, Australia’s first international supergroup will roll out their biggest hits. Busby Marou, John Stone, Damian Howard, Jessica-Jade Bruce, Peter Denahy, Brendan Radford, Lance Friend, Greg Austen and Kellys Heroes will also serve time. August 22-25. .........................................................................
Because Bon Jovi Can
Is there a band more fitting for a stadium than Bon Jovi? I doubt it. The band – perhaps with Richie Sambora, perhaps not ... time will tell – is heading back for another dose of bad medicine (sorry). The tour is part of their Because We Can juggernaut, the leading single from the band’s twelfth studio album What About Now. Etihad Stadium – December 7. Take your mum – you know she loves ‘em. .........................................................................
A Little More Warped The second announcement concerning the return of Warped was made earlier this month by brains AJ Maddah, which should come as pretty good news to readers. Melbourne will get its turn on December 7. At the time of writing no further information was known but the ‘net is a vast place, my friends, so discover it if you haven’t already. Or, you can always follow Mr Maddah on Twitter. .........................................................................
Loudmouthed Mantra Melbourne-based rapper Mantra has some good news: some good news concerning himself, and some good news for you. The good news for him is that he has signed with Ten to Two Records, the team behind Xavier Rudd and Seth Sentry releases. The good news for you is that he has a new single and a tour. The new single is the autobiographical ‘Loudmouth’; his accompanying show is at the NSC on June 6. .........................................................................
Tip of the Hat to 44th Sunset Perth indie-rock upstarts 44th Sunset have been picked up to open for Georgia Fair on a tidy little tour this month. The band is Nick Thompson, Jack Hall, Jess Clancy, Michal Blakeman and Joseph Snelgrove; and they’re making quite the impression. 44th Sunset released their debut EP Boa Constrictor Hat at the beginning of last month and has drawn comparisons to bands including the Pixies. The Toff – May 25. .........................................................................
Lloyd Spiegel Modeling Work Only in his early 30s, bluesman Lloyd Spiegel is already considered a veteran – such has been his time in the music sun. Recently named one of Australian Guitar Magazine’s Top 50 Australian Guitarists of All Time, Spiegel was recently honoured by having two signature model guitars released by Cole Clark guitars. The FL2LS1 and FL2-LS2 are now in production and will be in stores next month. .........................................................................
King Kahn & BBQ Show If there was a duo to be entrusted to perfectly fuse RnB, doo-wop and psych music it would be King Kahn & BBQ Show. The Canadian duo had a solid run from the early
2000’s until 2010. In 2011 they announced they had started recording again and in 2012 the magical beast was once again live and well. The Tote – June 11 & June 12. It is sure to be a musical treat like no other. .........................................................................
The Janoskians Heating Up They’re the pranksters and fun lovin’ lads that make females of a certain demographic weak at the knees. They are The Janoskians. Their series of “public disturbance videos” on YouTube have amassed a staggering 100 million views while their first single ‘Set This World on Fire’ went straight into the Top 20 charts on iTunes. The YouTube sensations and self-proclaimed “Anti Boy Band” hit Festival Hall on June 27. .........................................................................
Lil B Debut Lil B, the stage name of Californian-bred Brandon McCartney, is heading out way for the first time next month. The rapper and author is behind the ‘Based Lifestyle’, a lifestyle which promotes positive thinking and creativity. He has released a stack of albums and mixtapes, and recently announced he is writing a second book which will be the follow-up to Takin’ Over by Imposing the Positive. The Hi-Fi – June 13. .........................................................................
The Improvisation of Rasa Duende Bobby Singh (tabla), Adrian McNeil (Sarod) and Damian Wright (Flamenco guitar) are the three very talented music souls behind Rasa Duende, a gorgeous fusion of Hindustani and Flamenco traditions. This unique musical journey can be heard through their album Improvisations. Come down to the Melbourne Recital Centre on June 13 and hear two musical cultures combine as one.
Bleeding Knees Club are Bored
Of Monsters and Men Sideshow
Those musical rabble-rousers Bleeding Knees Club have announced a handful of shows which kick off at the end of the month. They even have some new tunes in their kitbag. The lads released their debut full-length album Nothing to Do last year – and we all pretty much know how it’s all been going. Their new single is ‘Feel’ and it had them sitting down with Lindsay Gravina. Ding Dong Lounge – June 1.
Ah, ‘tis a good year to be an Of Monsters and Men fan as the Icelandic wonders are set for another crack at Australia later in the year. Yep, they’re part of Splendour alright, but the band has tagged on a couple more dates including an outing at The Palais on August 3. Formed in 2010, the band’s debut album My Head is an Animal has become one of those albums that every person seems to know about.
The Cat Empire Shines a Light
Not the End for Baby Animals
They are a band that picks up the spirits. They are The Cat Empire. The band has announced a handful of Aussie gigs for later in the year which are part of a bumper world tour which will take in around 70 dates across three continents. But, who cares about the rest of the world? The band plays The Forum on September 12 & 13? Why? It’s all about sharing their new album, Steal the Light.
As their loyal and loving fans know, Baby Animals have a brand-spanking new album called This is Not the End – their first in twenty years! Led by Suze DeMarchi, the Sydney-born band formed in 1989, performing their first gig under the moniker Woody’s Heroes. They flew to New York to record their debut album; an album which would spend six weeks atop the ARIA Album Charts. The Hi-Fi – June 22.
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Abbe May Rock You Much of Abbe May’s late teen years and twenties were spent living the rock n’ roll dream: sleazy venues, bustedup studios and cramped and dingy tour vans. But she has come out of it as one bad MF. At the beginning on next month Abbe will hit the road with her new album Kiss My Apocalypse taking centre stage. The album features singles ‘T.R.O.U.B.L.E’ and ‘Karmageddon’. Ding Dong – June 21. .........................................................................
Earthcore Turns 20 In 1993 Earthcore introduced Australia to what would become an iconic part of the Australian music landscape: the electronic music festival. Now, here we are with the festival set for a little, scratch that, big 20th birthday bash. Astrix, Ace Ventura, Captain Hook, Polaris, Piatto, Angy Kore, Ghost Rider and Tsuyoshi Suzuki are among those set to celebrate. November 29 – December 1.
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THE
FORT-NIGHTLY CALENDAR & GIG GUIDE
mark seymour may 18 at the sphinx hotel, geelong
Thursday May 16th THE MAX HOTEL: $12 Parmi Night ELEPHANT & CASTLE: $20 Asahi Seafood & Chips Night THE KOROVA LOUNGE: Sid O’neil (The Vasco Era) BRIDGE HOTEL (CASTEMAINE): Delaney Davidson (NZ) w/ Blood Burger & Archer BARWON CLUB HOTEL: Tape Wolf w/ Laughing Leaves, Bonniwells, Towelheads BARWON HEADS HOTEL: Open Mic Night w/ Dave Dorman MUSICMAN: The Soulenikoes Recovery Tour (Bendigo) THEATRE ROYAL (CASTLEMAINE): The Other Son (M) 6.15pm, Ana Karenina (M) 8pm COURTHOUSE ARTS: Geelong Queer Film Fesitval SPHINX: Trojan LIGHTHOUSE THEATRE (WARRNAMBOOL): Tommy Fleming
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THE LOFT (WARRNAMBOOL): Passing time GPAC: Frankenstein, Boxman BEAVS BAR: Dave Anderson BLACK HATT: Tradies Night in the Bar from 5pm till 7pm, Open Mic from 8pm with acoustic, bands, solos & duets THE SPHINX HOTEL: Schnitzel Night from $13 EUREKA HOTEL: School Uniform Party w/ Some Blonde DJ, TVB, Simon-one, MCK, Shorty J and heaps more! THE MAX HOTEL: Parmi Night $12, InnQUIZitive Trivia from 7.30pm till 10.30pm, amazing prizes, call to book your team’s spot
Friday May 17th CITY QUARTER BAR: Tom and Tayla THE GROVEDALE HOTEL: Good Faces 4 Radio SPHINX: Regular Boys EDGE GEELONG: Levi & Cody THEATRE ROYAL (CASTLEMAINE):
Petal & Pet FREE live music 6pmAna Karenina (M) 8.30pm THE MAX: Trojan LIGHTHOUSE THEATRE (WARRNAMBOOL): Strassman THE LOFT: Bonnie Ranch and the Alfo Tides BARWON HEADS HOTEL: Craig Sayer in the Bak Bar GPAC: Frankenstein, Australian Children’s Choir, Powercor Star Search MEGASTORE (BENDIGO): Fatty Phew OLD HEPBURN HOTEL: Nat Allison BRIDGE HOTEL (CASTEMAINE): McAlpine Fusiliers, 2 sets. THE GROVEDALE HOTEL: Good Faces for Radio THE KOROVA LOUNGE: British India PIPING HOT CHICKEN SHOP: Brother Popcorn BARKING DOG: 80’s Friday with live band Mr Hyde BEAVS BAR: Rosco BARWON CLUB HOTEL: Meat Beaters, Dukes of Deliciousness, The Kremlings ELEPHANT & CASTLE: Thank Guinness It’s Friday BLACK HATT: Blackshaws Beat free entry from 9.30pm BAR PIZZA: DJ Merv & Drink Promos LAMBY’S BAR & RESTAURANT: Live band: Test Pilot Molly & DJs Joe Joe and Joubin , open from 9pm AT THE HEADS: Live music from 5pm till 7pm (Barwon Heads)
Saturday May 18th WOOL EXCHANGE ENTERTAINMENT COMPLEX: British India ELEPHANT & CASTLE: Live Bands 9:30- Midnight - with Mr Hyde live THE GROVEDALE HOTEL: Peter Evans THE BLUES TRAIN: Brian Fraser, Jonno Zilber, Jimi Hocking’s Blues Machine, Andrea Marr Band GPAC: Frankenstein THE BRIDGE HOTEL (CASTLEMAINE): The Stilsons w/ Justin Bernasconi THE GATEWAY HOTEL: Brian Mannix, Scott Carne, Dale Ryder THE KOROVA LOUNGE: Second hand Heart BARWON HEADS HOTEL: Hey Charger ( Acoustic ) in the Bak Bar THEATRE ROYAL (CASTLEMAINE):
10am: Met Opera presents Handel’s Giulio Cesare, 7/8pm show: The Sun Rising Band - The songs that made Memphis OLD HEPBURN HOTEL: Hydrosis SPHINX: Mark Seymour TORQUAY HOTEL: Live Music in the Sports Bar from 9.30pm THE BARWON CLUB HOTEL: The Groves, Kung-Fu in technicolour and more HOME HOUSE: Upstairs: Dixie, Downstairs: Surrender MARTIANS CAFE: The Long & The Short Of It CHINESE WHISPERS: J-Heasy & Joel Fletcher THE LOFT (WARRNAMBOOL): The Shadow League and the Alamo THE MAX: Frequency EUREKA: The Pulp, FREE before 11am ODYSSEY TAVERN & BREWERY: CITY QUARTER BAR: Angie Hilton BEAVS BAR: Steve Pianto EDGE GEELONG: Peter Chapman Duo LAMBY’S BAR & RESTAURANT: Live band: Steller & DJs Joe Joe and Joubin , open from 9pm
Sunday May 19th MILLION PAWS WALK: Victoria Park, Ballarat; Lake Weeroona, Bendigo; Botanical Gardens, Castlemaine; Eastern Gardens Circuit, Geelong; Victoria Park Lake, Shepparton and Carnival Site @ Lady Bay Promenade, Warrnambool ELEPHANT & CASTLE: Live Tiger Brown Jazz OLD HEPBURN HOTEL: The Brownhorn Orchestra (WA) THEATRE ROYAL (CASTLEMAINE): 10am: Met Opera presents Handel’s Giulio Cesare, 3pm: The Other Son, 5 - 7 pm Ana Karenina BRIDGE HOTEL (CASTLEMAINE): Itchy Scabs GPAC: Brendan Grace, Strassman THE TORQUEY BOWLS CLUB: The Livingstone Daisies w/ Murdena KOROVA LOUNGE: Sun Rising The Songs the made Memphis THE OLD HEPBURN HOTEL: GEELONG RSL: Jazz with the Peter Allen Allstars EDGE GEELONG: Matt & Justin LAMBY’S BAR & RESTAURANT: Student & Industry Night (Free entry all night) w/ Live band - Unlimited & DJ’s
Upstairs - Yas, Downstairs - Joe Joe BARWON CLUB HOTEL: Second Hand Heart w/ The Evening Cast
Monday May 20th BARWON CLUB HOTEL: $10 Parmis GPAC: Strassman ELEPHANT & CASTLE: $20 Steak & Drink night SPHINX HOTEL: 11 Meals for $11 LORD NELSON HOTEL: Steak/Parmi & Pot for $15 on presentation of student I.D
Tuesday May 21st ELEPHANT & CASTLE: $20 Steak & Drink night THE SPHINX HOTEL: 11 Meals for $11, Poker Night (free) LIGHTHOUSE THEATRE (WARRNAMBOOL): Possum Magic GPAC: Bethany Films - A lady in paris GEELONG RSL: Steak Night $13
Wednesday May 22nd BEAVS BAR: Karoke LIGHTHOUSE THEATRE (WARRNAMBOOL): BARWON HEADS HOTEL: Trivia Night from 7:30pm CITY QUARTER BAR: Industry Night DIGGERS ARMS HOTEL: Wednesday Night Wheel from 7pm, cash & prizes up for grabs! ELEPHANT & CASTLE: Trivia Night from 8.30pm till 10.30pm THE SPHINX HOTEL: Steak Night from $16, Poker Night ($10 buy in) GEELONG RSL: Parma & Pot Night $13
Thursday May 23rd
EUREKA: Scribble Party w/ Issac Fryer, Matt Black, TVB, Simon-one, MCK, Shorty J and heaps more! ELEPHANT & CASTLE: $20 Asahi Seafood & Chips Night THE MAX: $12 Parmi Night THE KOROVA LOUNGE: San Cisco LIGHTHOUSE THEATRE (WARRNAMBOOL): Play it Forward BRIDGE HOTEL (CASTLEMAINE) : Old Violet w/ The Lost Heart Sirens THE LOFT (WARRNAMBOOL): Tarryn Hawker BEAVS BAR: Andy Forster BLACK HATT: Tradies Night in the Bar from 5pm till 7pm, Open Mic from 8pm with acoustic, bands, solos & duets THE SPHINX HOTEL: Schnitzel Night from $13 THE MAX HOTEL: Parmi Night $12, InnQUIZitive Trivia from 7.30pm till 10.30pm, amazing prizes, call to book your team’s spot
Friday May 24th BRIDGE HOTEL (CASTLEMAINE) : River of Snakes w/ The Honey Badgers BEAVS BAR: Jesse Reid TORQUAY HOTEL: DJ in the Sports Bar from 9.30pm SPHINX: Double Vision THE GROVEDALE HOTEL: Trojan THE BARKING DOG: 80’s Fridays with Mr Hyde THEATRE ROYAL (CASTLEMAINE): Something for Kate THE GATEWAY HOTEL: Luke O’Shea w/ Aleyce Simmonds and Lachlan Bryan LIGHTHOUSE THEATRE (WARRNAMBOOL): Lee Kernaghan BARWON HEADS HOTEL:
Kenny Miller in the Bak Bar OLD HEPBURN HOTEL: Callum Nash Ramage (launch) THE MAX: 3 on a Tree THE BLUES TRAIN: Mr Black and Blues with Chris Wilson, Stringybark McDowell, Anni Piper, Catfish Voodo THE CAPITAL (BENDIGO): Frankenstein GPAC: Possum Magic MARTIANS CAFE: Roesy CITY QUARTER BAR: Matt & Justin THE KOROVA LOUNGE: Bel Air THE PIER GEELONG: Whispers for Jack (John Farnham Tribute) EDGE GEELONG: Andy and Jenko BARWON CLUB HOTEL: Flower for Cops w/ Gunk, The Kremlings, Sunny Boyz ELEPHANT & CASTLE: Thank Guinness It’s Friday BLACK HATT: Drink promos from 5pm till 7pm (free entry) Fist Full of Steel performing live free entry from 9.30pm BAR PIZZA: DJ Merv & Drink Promos LAMBY’S BAR & RESTAURANT: Upstairs - Joubin, Downstairs - Joe Joe, Band - Test Pilot Molly IRISH MURPHY’S: Live music every Friday & Saturday night AT THE HEADS: Live music from 5pm till 7pm (Barwon Heads)
Saturday May 25th SPHINX HOTEL: Charlie Landsborough THE GROVEDALE HOTEL: James Carrigg EUREKA: The Pulp, FREE before 11am THE BARWON CLUB HOTEL: The Go Set BRIDGE HOTEL (CASTLEMAINE) : Little Murders w/ Sons of Lee marvin GPAC: Lee Kernaghan LIGHTHOUSE THEATRE
(WARRNAMBOOL): 75 Years of Buddy Holly BARWON HEADS HOTEL: Dave Johns in the Bak Bar CHINESE WHISPERS: Chardy & Torren Foot HOME HOUSE: Upstairs: Samual James vs Shameless, Downstairs: Crunk THE CAPITAL (BENDIGO): Frankenstein THE BLUES TRAIN: Mr Black and Blues with Chris Wilson, Stringybark McDowell, Anni Piper, Catfish Voodo OLD HEPBURN HOTEL: Michelle Parsons BEAVS BAR: Abe Anderson ELEPHANT & CASTLE: Live music with The Regular Boys - 9.30 till midnight TORQUAY HOTEL: Live Music in the Sports Bar from 9.30pm THE MAX: Trojan CITY QUARTER BAR: Jesse Reid EDGE GEELONG: Tom & Taylor LAMBY’S BAR & RESTAURANT: Live band: Steller & DJs Joe Joe and Mawry, open from 9pm
Sunday May 26th BRIDGE HOTEL(CASTLEMAINE): Itchy Scabs ELEPHANT & CASTLE: Des Cam band THE WOOL EXCHANGE ENTERTAINMENT COMPLEX: OLD HEPBURN HOTEL: Daylesford Secondary Showcase from 2pm, Followed by Sarah Wilkinson CITY QUARTER BAR: Live Music LAMBY’S BAR & RESTAURANT: Student & Industry Night (Free entry all night) w/ Live band Adam 12 & DJs Yas & Sulusi - open from 9pm THE COURTHOUSE ARTS: GEELONG RSL: Jazz with Maryborough Traditional Jazz
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FRANKENSTEIN may 16 through may 18 at gpac, geelong
scond hand heart may 18 at the karova, ballarat EDGE GEELONG: Good Faces for Radio
Monday May 27th
VENUEGUIDE!
THE gateway HOTEL
THE BARKING DOG
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BARWON CLUB HOTEL: $10 Parmis ELEPHANT & CASTLE: $20 Steak & Drink night SPHINX HOTEL: 11 Meals for $11 LORD NELSON HOTEL: Steak/Parmi & Pot for $15 on presentation of student I.D
126 Pakington St. Geelong West
Tuesday May 28th
BARWON HEADS HOTEL
BRIDGE HOTEL: Trivia Night hosted by Lifon Uranus from 7.30pm, free event (Castlemaine) ELEPHANT & CASTLE: $20 Steak & Drink night THE SPHINX HOTEL: 11 Meals for $11, Poker Night (free) GEELONG RSL: Steak Night $13
Wednesday May 29th DIGGERS ARMS HOTEL: Wednesday Night Wheel from 7pm, cash & prizes up for grabs! ELEPHANT & CASTLE: Trivia Night from 8.30pm till 10.30pm THE WORKER CLUB (MELBOURNE): Second Hand Heart BARWON HEADS HOTEL: Trivia Night from 7:30pm CITY QUARTER BAR: Industry Night BEAVS BAR: Karoke, Open Mic and Andy Forster THE SPHINX HOTEL: Steak Night from $16, Poker Night ($10 buy in) GEELONG RSL: Parma & Pot Night $13
Thursday May 30th BRIDGE HOTEL (CASTLEMAINE): Mary Fairburn LIGHTHOUSE THEATRE (WARRNAMBOOL): Akmal Live BARWON HEADS HOTEL: Open Mic Night w/ Dave Dorman THE KOROVA LOUNGE: Chasing Ghosts
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THE GROVEDALE HOTEL
bar pizza
236-258 Surfcoast Highway
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GROWLERS
137 Pakington St. Geelong
BARWON CLUB
509 Moorabool St. South Geelong
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1 Bridge Rd. Barwon Heads
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THE BASEMENT 159 159 Moorabool St. Geelong
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BEAVS BAR
77 Little Malop St. Geelong ....................................
THE BENDED ELBOW GEELONG
69 Yarra St. Geelong
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black hatt
54 Little Myers St. Geelong ....................................
THE BLUESTONE
103 Marr St. Ballarat
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Bridge hotel castlemaine
21 Walker St. Castlemain
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chinese whispers Cnr. Shorts Place. Geelong
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23 The Esplanade. Torquay
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HOME HOUSE
40-42 Moorabool St. Geelong
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IRISH MURPHY'S
30 Aberdeen St. Geelong
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JACK AND JILL 247 Moorabool St. Geelong
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LAMBYS
Cnr of Moorabool & Brougham St. Geelong
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THE MAX
2 Gheringhap St. Geelong
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MR. HYDE
11 Malop St. Geelong
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THE NATIONAL HOTEL 191 Moorabool St. Geelong
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odyssey
611 Surfcoast Hwy. Mount Duneed
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OPIUM BAR
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15 James St. Geelong
CITY QUARTER
Peter Lalor Hotel
Cunningham Pier, Geelong
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CLOUD 9
96 Pakington St. Geelong West
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Club TITANIUM
99 Ryrie St, Geelong
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eastern station 81 Humffray St Nth. Ballarat
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THE EDGE
1/6-8 Eastern Beach Rd. Geelong
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ELEPHANT AND CASTLE
158 McKillop St. Geelong
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THE EUREKA
98 Little Malop St. Geelong
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218-230 Princess Hwy. Corio
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331 Mair St. Ballarat
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RUMORS
5 James St. Geelong
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SLATE Pool Lounge
50 Little Ryrie St. Geelong
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THE SPHINX
2 Thompson Rd. North Geelong
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TOAST
114 Moorabool St. Geelong ....................................
the wool exchange entertainment complex 44 Corio St. Geelong
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the yarra hotel 120 Lydiard St (North). Ballarat
One Louder Entertainment and The Harbour Agency present
With special guest FRANKY WALNUT
SUN 16 JUNE
LIGHTHOUSE THEATRE/WARRNAMBOOL Tickets: (03) 5559 4999 // www.lighthousetheatre.com.au QG VKRZ DGGHG
TUE 18 & WED 19 JUNE GPAC - DRAMA THEATRE/GEELONG Tickets: (03) 5225 1200 // www.gpac.org.au
SAT 22 JUNE THE CAPITAL/BENDIGO
Tickets: (03) 5434 6100 // www.thecapital.com.au
SUN 23 JUNE
WESTSIDE PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE/SHEPPARTON
Tickets: (03) 5832 9511 // www.riverlinksvenues.com.au
ALL AGES Tickets on sale NOW For ticket information visit www.katemillerheidke.com facebook.com/katemillerheidke FORTEMAG.COM.AU
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“ Frankenstein is a remarkable production from the Ensemble Theatre, director Mark Kilmurry and cast. A highlight of the 2013 theatre calendar.” – Forte Mag, theatre review.
Lee Jones as the creature and Andrew Henry as Dr Frankenstein | Photo by Heidrun Lohr
Frankenstein By Natalie Rogers
When it premièred at the Sydney Opera House earlier this year, this show was touted as the production responsible for recharging the Sydney Ensemble Theatre Company overnight; and after a wildly successful run at The Playhouse, Sydney, Frankenstein will find a home on the Surf Coast this month for a short run of dates. Most of you will be familiar with the story – Mary Shelley’s classic novel has spawned numerous films, plays and television shows over the years since it was first published anonymously in 1818 – however, playwright Nick Dear, best-known for his screen adaption of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, has reworked this literary masterpiece to excite and enthral audiences of all ages. Nick Dear’s Frankenstein debuted at the Royal National Theatre in London back in 2011. Directed by
Danny Boyle (Slum Dog Millionaire), this production was so well received it went on to be shown in cinemas around the world. It was at one of these showings where Ensemble Theatre Director Mark Kilmurry first fell in love with it. Kilmurry allowed Forte Mag a backstage pass to the show to gain an insider’s look into how it became a huge success. “When I first saw it at the cinema I thought, ‘Oh gosh this is brilliant!’ It was such a good, ripping story that I thought I must do this,” Kilmurry laughed. “So once I asked for the rights, I was able to read the original play and I loved it even more. It’s beautifully written and an inspired adaptation because for the first time it gives the creature a voice. I couldn’t wait to get to grips with it and work out what I wanted to do with it. It was important to come up with my own way of working the script with the actors and to do the version of the play that I wanted to do.” One of the leading challenges facing any director is to get the casting just right, something Kilmurry is very familiar with. However, he says he is constantly impressed by the sheer volume of talent out there these days. “Every few years a fresh crop of young
actors came out of the drama schools looking for work. I knew my casting was vital. I needed a cast that would be able to perform very physically.” Starring a cast of Ensemble alumni – Lee Jones, Katie Fitchett, Brian Meehan and Michael Ross, with newcomer Andrew Henry as Victor Frankenstein – Kilmurry is more than pleased with his choices. “They are all wonderful; I’ve worked with a lot of the actors in other performances. I have worked with Lee (who plays the creature) before. He gives an absolutely brilliant performance. All of the cast have the physical ability to really tackle these roles.” So now he had his players, it was time to get down to the fun part. “The way I like to work is from the outside in; really workshop it together. We did lots of improvisations. The actors were tied up, blindfolded, leaping from chairs, tumbling around; it was a lot of fun. The birth scene was practically daunting for Lee, so all the actors got involved and helped workshop ideas; and the result is something to be seen.” In speaking to Kilmurry, I get the sense the entire cast and crew came together to create something quite
special. “What I love about theatre is the passion involved in it from putting a show on from scratch and working with fellow actors and creative people. Working with set designer Simone Romaniuk or Daryl Wallis (who does the sound) and all the crew, as well as the actors, is just special and precious. I wanted to present the play so everything is seen. I didn’t want to hide anything. A lot of the fire and sound effects are done live. The audience will see people creating the effects, and the setting of the stage is done by the actors too,” he explained. “The actors rarely leave the stage because they are all so involved in every moment of the play. We haven’t hidden the fact that it is a theatre production; we want to show the fact that it is a theatre production. That was fun, challenging and rewarding,” Kilmurry beamed. Forte Magazine is primarily written with music lovers in mind, and I’m told it will not disappoint. “The music was composed by Elena Kats-Chernin. She is a wonderful composer for orchestra, film, stage and television. She wrote the music for the cello. It has a lovely melancholy feel to it. It’s sad, but it also can be thrilling, exciting music. I wanted that element live in the show (played by cellist Heather Stratfold), and it was enlightening to develop.” Kilmurry appears humbled by the experience. “I am extremely lucky in my job and I love what I do. I look forward to going to work every single day.” But with a resume that would impress any theatre critic, I believe Kilmurry is bringing world class theatre to our doorstep. Tickets are selling fast, so be sure to catch this gem while you can. When&Where: GPAC – May 16 through May 18, gpac.org.au.
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Fourteen Nights at Sea By Tex Miller
After seven years as a band, Fourteen Nights at Sea are finally, with the release of their second album Great North, receiving some recognition for their post-rock / atmospheric and ambient sound. Drawing comparisons to the likes of commercially successful acts Sigur Rós and Mogwai, the band has had a massive couple of years with signing to South Australian-based record label Hobbledehoy Records. The release of this eerie and mesmerising album sees Liam Matthews, drummer for the band, catch up with Forte ahead of their performance at The Bridge Hotel in Castlemaine. “It’s been a busy time with the release of the album; since signing with the label the response has been quite strange, I think. Since then, a lot more people have started to pay attention, and we have landed some international supports which is really cool.” If you’re a fan of the post-rock/ambient genre, then you will be well aware that the duration of the songs are quite lengthy, and the strongest elements are the dynamics of light and shade within them. As a music lover, journalist and musician, the process of how an artist writes is an intriguing aspect to me. Discussing the inner workings of the creative mind, Liam feels that the initial reaction from the band is shock, because playing them it doesn’t seem like such a long time. “When we play songs, it doesn’t feel like they are going that long. When we wrote the album, we tried
The Superjesus By Cameron Brogden
The Superjesus are back, and they’re touring the nation after the success of their “one-off” reunion show. I caught up with frontwoman Sarah McLeod to discuss the tour, the band and the comeback. “I’ve played Geelong heaps of times before. I don’t know how many, but let me see...,” Sarah recalled. “We’ve played Lamby’s ... Beav’s Bar, I’ve played there, and I think there’s another one. I get confused. Anyway, I’ve definitely played Geelong a lot of times.” The band hasn’t been resting on their laurels, they’ve had their projects: Tim [Henwood] had The Androids and Rogue Traders, and recently toured as part of Chocolate Starfish. Paul [Berryman] had Faker. But Sarah’s been the busiest; with her solo career, as well as being a part of Screaming Bikini. I asked her about her new single. “That’s my dance side of things, because I do dance music, acoustic music and The Superjesus. So I have a new single coming out called ‘Hurricane’ with these DJs, Canadian DJs, Dzeko and Torres. That’s more of a techno, sort of European and American thing. We’re not even sure if it’s even being that promoted in Australia – it’s like a house music thing.” So how does a one-off reunion show turn into a national tour? Sarah explained. “We just had so much fun on the one show we couldn’t let it go … Hey, that rhymes,” she laughed. “We loved playing together again. We thought ‘Wow, there’s some pretty good chemistry here; we’ve learned all the songs, it would
The Murlocs By Xavier Fennell
One day I got asked to interview Ambrose KennySmith of The Murlocs (and King Gizzard). I found this kind of funny, because usually I get to interview famous musicians from god knows where! Not this time! Oh No! This time I got to interview someone who, to me, is just another dude from the Greater Geelong region who skates; but also just happens to be a part of two of the most exciting up-andcoming bands in Australia. When people think of The Murlocs they think, ‘Oh yeah, one of those rad bands comin’ outta Geelong’. As it turns out, all of those people are wrong. The Murlocs actually began in Ocean Grove, as Ambrose explained. “It kinda started with me and Matt at high school together, playing in bands like Sambrose Automobile and Blu-tac – a band we just played covers and shit in. Then I finished high school, and Matt was the year below me so we didn’t hang out that much. So one day I asked him to come and drum for Cal Shortal and I. We ended up jamming at his place, Manny’s bar.” The Murlocs particular style of bluesy-garage has been well-received by many since the release of their self-titled EP (2012) and TeePee EP (2012), presenting them with many exciting opportunities performance wise – some more unexpected than others. Ambrose spoke positively about some of their more significant performances and recordings of 2012. “Yeah, it was real cool when we got to play the Age EG awards. It was kind of more of [a] judgmental crowd with arms folded and grumpy faces, but I think it’s good to make an impression in those areas. We don’t really expect people to give a shit about
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incredibly hard to not make them go for twenty minutes, and there is only one song [‘Tired Hands’] which goes for ten. With this album we were aiming to get a lot more radio play. I’d say that it’s more of us creating control so that the songs don’t go forever. We tend to talk about songs as much as we play them.” Starting out playing drums as part of the school music program, the early influences on Liam’s music were heavy rock and punk music. Yet, it was a chance meeting at a gig in which he met the current guitarist of the band Jake whilst he was playing a solo show with a loop pedal, that Liam first discovered the post-rock genre. The technicality to Jake’s playing was the main catalyst that fuelled the start of their friendship. Seven years later, the band is stronger than ever, and through the slow and steady approach of writing songs, recording albums and playing gigs, it is a surprise that it is has been so long. As the owner of The Old Bar in Fitzroy, Liam has created several performance opportunities for bands around the local Melbourne region, which previously would have not been possible. “When Fourteen Nights at Sea started, we didn’t have an audience and it was hard to get an audience to come and watch us, because no-one was going out and listening to live music. It was great to have the opportunity to purchase The Old Bar, because it was a lot easier to have my own venue and put on shows and play our music to the audiences that were coming through the door.” With Great North just being reviewed as 10 out of 10 on a Danish music website, be sure to check out one of the most anticipated post-rock outfits around. When&Where: The Bridge, Castlemaine – May 31
be a shame to not do it again.’” With a name like ‘The Resurrection Tour’, you would think it was a new life for The Superjesus, but it could just be a play on the band’s name. “All we have planned is this one tour coming up, and then we’re ... It’s baby steps with us. We like to do something and then see how we feel from there. So we’re going to do this next tour, take stock, see how we feel, and then plan our next move after that,” Sarah explained. Is a full comeback even in the works? “It’s too early to say – I’ll tell you after the tour.” Sarah was tightlipped. It’s been ten years since The Superjesus last toured, and I asked Sarah if the industry had changed over that time. “It’s changed so much it’s like we have to rethink everything that we do. I think that’s one of the reasons we’re taking our time with everything, because we can’t do things the way we used to. We have to relearn how to be a band again in this day and age because it’s completely different; getting the songs to Facebook and how we interact with people, because we never used to interact with anyone. We’d just play. We were all mysterious and shit, and now we’re not allowed to be mysterious.” Sarah was also one of the panellists for the News Limited poll to find the Greatest Australian Singer that caused all that controversy. None of the controversy was at Sarah’s hands, however. “I had to vote for, like, ten people. Who did I have ... Suze DeMarchi, Chrissie Amphlett, Billy Thorpe. I think I had Jon Stevens in there. I didn’t have John Farnham; I was probably the only one who didn’t. Chris Cheney … I can’t remember. But it was a cool gig, that’s for sure.” There wasn’t even the slightest temptation to nominate herself? “That would be slightly selfcongratulatory, wouldn’t it?”
When&Where: The Wool Exchange, Geelong – June 9
a blues garage band like ourselves, but it was still a good thing to do.” As well as attention from mainstream media sources, The Murlocs had the privilege of recording a track for Warner Music’s modern day Nuggets: Antipodean Interpolations of the First Psychedelic Era compilation. To be considered amongst what are arguably Australia’s best current psychedelic bands is really something, as Ambrose confirmed. “When I was younger, skating around Geelong, Zach and Nick (of The Frowning Clouds) showed me the original Nuggets when I was about 14 and we all listened to it heaps. It’s pretty surreal to be part of that, and also be a part of the Sydney launch show.” Despite their recent successes, The Murlocs maintain a motivated, yet relaxed and collaborative approach to their music. Ambrose spoke warmly about this, as well their new single ‘Rattle the Chain’. “I more or less wrote the lyrics for ‘Rattle the Chain’ when I was on holiday with my girlfriend in Bali, and there was this huge chain over the rice fields made out of buckets. So the song is kind of a poverty, third world-setting reference, but the video has more a narcotic, being a junkie feel which I don’t know much about; but that’s a more literal vibe that could be taken from the song. Doing songs for Murlocs is different from King Gizzard. All of the Gizzard stuff comes from The King, Stu, but the Murlocs is more of a collaborative thing where we take time to work things out together.” The ‘Rattle the Chain’ video portrays the narcotic escapades played out by Julian Wild (also features in the ‘Bogan Grove’ video doing some mad drifts) who slowly becomes entrapped by a cascading chain. As a part of the growing success of the Geelong music scene, The Murlocs have proven that blues, garage and rock and roll in general are alive and well. They are playing at The Barwon Club on June 7, alongside fellow psych rockers The Living Eyes and Turtlenecjk.
When&Where: The Barwon Club, Geelong – June 7
TALK OF THE
TOWN!
Keepin' it Regional!
Livingstone Daisies
BY POPULAR DEMAND
tint master
mark seymour
elephant and castle
“ The last 18 months has been a whirlwind of non-stop shows, rehearsals and recording. And it only looks like it’s gonna get busier and more intense.” - black aces
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TALK OF THE TOWN! Talk of the Town: You drive us crazy with that Boogie oogie oogie oogie oogie oogie oogie oogie. Coming up you have… .........................................................................
Millions Paws Walk The dog: man’s best friend. The joy our little friends of all shapes and sizes bring us cannot be measured. On Sunday, May 19, Australia’s favourite event, the RSPCA Million Paws Walk, returns. The Australia-wide event includes 17 locations around Victoria, and is the RSPCA’s biggest fundraiser for the year. How will your registration fee make a difference? The RSPCA provides refuge to animals that are lost, abandoned or treated cruelly, and they rely on the generosity of community support to help them in their mission. Some 30,000 animals enter their Victorian shelters alone each year, and with the government only providing 3% funding, your open heart is paramount. Local walk locations include Victoria Park, Ballarat; Lake Weeroona, Bendigo; Botanical Gardens, Castlemaine; Eastern Gardens Circuit, Geelong; Victoria Park Lake, Shepparton and Carnival Site @ Lady Bay Promenade, Warrnambool. For registration details and all the information you need to know, please visit millionpawswalk.com.au. “A person can learn a lot from a dog, even a loopy one like ours. Marley taught me about living each day with unbridled exuberance and joy, about seizing the moment and following your heart. He taught me to appreciate the simple things – a walk in the woods, a fresh snowfall, a nap in a shaft of winter sunlight. And as he grew old and achy, he taught me about optimism in the face of adversity. Mostly, he taught me about friendship and selflessness and, above all else, unwavering loyalty.” John Grogan – Marley and Me. .........................................................................
King Khan & BBQ Show There are some bands you just have to mention twice, so Talk of the Town is going to pinch King Khan and BBQ show from The Highlights and give them another run. Why? Well, for starters they’re playing The Barwon Club, Geelong on June 15. But also, and their many loving fans will know this, they’re pretty darn good. The Canadian garage-rock had collaborated as members of the now defunct Montreal-based band Spaceshifts before disbanding in 1999. BBQ Show, aka Mark Sultan, would later hook-up with King Khan, joining him in his project, King Khan & the Shrines. They would release their debut as King Khan and BBQ show 2004. They split following a Sydney show in 2010, but all is good in the King Khan and BBQ Show world once again. .........................................................................
The Clanking of The Murlocs Say hello to Melbourne outfit The Murlocs: “Five skinny kids with roots firmly placed in their own blown-out, distorted brand of soulful RnB.” The band caught the attention of a wider music public with the release of their second EP, 2012’s Tee Pee EP. Recorded with Mikey Young at member Ambrose Kenny-Smith’s place, the release put the band on the road towards spots at Meredith, Harvest and Dig It Up festivals, and supports alongside the Steve Malkmus and the Jicks, Earthless, Gary Clarke Jr and Thee Oh Sees. Their new single is ‘Rattle the Chain’, a soulful and unique RnB track. Recorded with Paul Maybury, the track is a taste of their forthcoming debut fulllength. The Barwon Club, Geelong – June 7. .........................................................................
The Plucky Visnja Singer-songwriter, harpist and pianist: Visnja has got it going on. The Adelaide-born muso – whose name means ‘Cherry’ – was born the youngest of three children. She caught the music bug early on, learning recorder, piano and violin. She composed her first piece at the age of eleven and would compete in several Eisteddfods. Music continued to play a part throughout her teens, and in 1997 she moved to Melbourne. In 2002 she won two categories in the MusicOz song completion; in the same year she would make her debut appearance at Carols by
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Candlelight. The world music player also recently held her first art exhibition and launched her children’s songbook. For a night of gorgeous music head to Babushka, Ballarat on June 15. .........................................................................
Gil Askey & Friends The Piping Hot Chicken Shop will host a couple of fantastic shows next month with Texas-born, Australianbred jazz trumpet virtuoso Gil Askey leading the way. The musician, composer, producer and musical director was born in Texas before heading to Australia in 1973 as a seventeen-year-old. As a musical director he has worked with names including Diana Ross and the Supremes, the Four Tops, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, the Jackson Five and Gladys Knight; as a performer he has worked with the best of the best including Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington and Count Basie. Piping Hot Chicken Shop – June 7 & 8. The smart money says that these shows will sell out so get in now to avoid disappointment. .........................................................................
Never Lose Sight Fight On Equinox Productions and Geelong FReeZA are thrilled to present Brisbane’s Never Lose Sight as part of a sweet all-ages show at Courthouse ARTS next month. Formed in 2009, the post-hardcore five-piece has made a solid name through supports with acts including For Today, Texas in July, Antagonist AD, Shinto Katana, Confession, 50 Lions and In Hearts Wake. Last year the band came up with the goods with their debut album, Pride Fighter. Lining up with the Brisbane lads be The Outlines, Oh Pacific, Head Check and Searcher. South Australian melodic hardcore act Sierra will also be making the trip. They released a self-titled EP in February. Courthouse ARTS – June 22. *Fully supervised, drug and alcohol-free event. $15. 6-10pm.
Katie Noonan’s Songbook
In the Words of Fatty Phew
Four-time ARIA winner Katie Noonan will explore material throughout her entire career when she heads to GPAC on June 22 for her Songbook tour. Taking on music from george, Katie Noonan and the Captains, Elixir and her acclaimed solo album, the Songbook tour will show why the songbird is one of Australia’s most treasured voices. Growing up with a strong background in classical music, Katie took on opera and jazz at the Queensland Conservatorium. After graduation, she began fronting george and saw their debut release, 2002’s Polyserena, open at the #1 spot on the ARIA Album Chart. This year The Herald Sun announced Noonan one of the Top 20 Greatest Voices of All Time as voted by her peers. Noone could argue with that.
Geelong wordsmith Fatty Phew has been working on his craft since his thirteen-yearold-self discovered that the hip hop language spoke to him. He would then make it his mission to not only spread the hip hop word, but to bring Geelong into its world. He arrived on the scene at the close of the 1990s as a guest on Formula Radio Station with live ciphers and the much talked-about Watch Ya Step vs Battletown Battle. With the 2000’s upon him, a partnership with Autism would lead to plenty of shows. 2007 would see the release of his debut album, 23 Years in the Making, while in 2009 he crossed paths with producer Alter Ego and formed Insomnia. He has well and truly brought Geelong into the hip hop world. The Music Man Megastore, Bendigo – May 17.
The Pier Underage First Birthday Bash
Lily and the Drum Know the Beat
Coming up in July, The Pier, Geelong will host The Pier Underage First Birthday Bash. That’s right folks; it has been a hugely successful 12 months for the party people and the mood in the camp is most joyous indeed. What better way, therefore, to celebrate the occasion than with a monster of a show. You have: Will Sparks, Joel Fletcher, James Fava, Will K, Marcus Santoro, Mitch Loughnan, Matt Black, ROJDAR, Steve Toppa and Ayden Green. Melbourne’s Will Sparks is one of Melbourne’s brightest stars. Saluting the “Melbourne Sound’, Sparks’ recent release ‘Ah Yeah’ is a Beatport Top 100 # 1.The Pier, Geelong – July 8. Tickets are $20 pre-sale through Strapper Surf, promoters and Oztix. 7-11pm. Recommended age: 13-17.
Meet Lily and the Drum. There’s Lily – she sings and plays guitar, and there’s ‘Drum’ – he’s on percussion, harmonica and backing vocals. But, dear readers, there is much more to this little two-piece than a clever name. The Adelaide twosome made their public debut at the Promethean Theatre in 2011; they have since travelled extensively around their home state as well as Victoria and New South Wales. They like to refer to their sound as “Contemporary Retro”; that is, a sound that harks back to the simplicity of roots music. You will not find any computer-aided backing tracks here. Rather, you will find: “the undeniable quality and sound produced from humans using real instruments.” It’s a simple and winning formula. Martians Café, Deans Marsh – June 8.
Andrew Stockdale Solo Tour
Chambers & Chambers
We’re waking you up before Andrew Stockdale goes solo because we don’t want you hanging on like a yo-yo. With Wolfmother playing their final show in support of Aerosmith late April, the main man has decided to channel his energies into his solo project. We’ve already received a taste of what to expect with Stockdale releasing Keep Fresh earlier in the year, but who knows what the future holds. The career path of Wolfmother is pretty well-known, and quite interesting. Stockdale announced in an interview with the Herald Sun last month that he regretted not ditching the Wolfmother name when original players Myles Heskett and Chris Ross quit. Anyway, a new chapter begins and one way to find out what the future may hold is to get to his show at The Wool Exchange, Geelong on June 15.
Australia’s Queen of Country Kasey Chambers will head out on the touring path next month for a number of shows along with her old man, Bill. The Adelaide-born country songbird released her debut album The Captain in 1999 and it was recognised right away, winning the ARIA for Best Country Album. Album tracks would appear in The Sopranos and Lost. Her follow-up, Barricades & Brickwalls, debuted in the Top 10 on the ARIA Charts, thanks in part to the album’s big single, ‘Not Pretty Enough’. Last year she released Wreck and Ruin. The country road has been good to Kasey; a roomful of accolades and a loyal and loving fan base locally and abroad speaks for itself. Her home country shows are always something special and you can spend a night with Kasey at Gateway Hotel, Corio on June 29.
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Australian Burlesque Festival FEATURE: The Australia Burlesque Festival 2013 kicks off next month and Ballarat is included on its stopoff. Founded and Directed by Dolores Daiquiri and Rosy Rabbit, the festival is a showcase of classic glamour, neo-burlesque and strip tease. In 2013 you have some of the finest names in international and local talent including Roxi D’Lite, Indigo Blue, Frankie Valentine, Kelly Ann Doll, Rosy Rabbit, Fifi Fatale, Becky Lou, Miss Jane, L’amour, Lallah L’amoré, Jessamae St. James, Magenta Rose and Miss Ruby Deville. Reuben Kaye is your MC. The vivacious Roxi D’Lite is one of the world’s premier burlesque performers and a Queen of Burlesque at the Burlesque Hall of Fame in Las Vegas. Her burlesque career is one the sparkles like a diamond; in 2010 she became one of the youngest performers to be crowned Miss Exotic World. She has appeared in film and television, and was a guest villain in comic book The Goon. She is Canada’s Burlesque Queen; she is a self-proclaimed stripographer; she is Roxi D’Lite. Her Majesty’s Theatre, Ballarat – June 12. *Note: this is the first time the festival is visiting Ballarat. .........................................................................
Comedy Roadshow 2013 Last year, a team of funny buggers clocked up over 25,000 kilometres as they made their way through 65 towns and 90 performances as part of the 2012 Comedy Roadshow. And now here we are in 2013. The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is one of the world’s greatest gatherings of comedic folk, but not all of us have the pleasure of taking in a show. That is what makes the Comedy Roadshow such a treat – it brings the show to you. Now, I wish I could tell you who would be making you laugh but that information wasn’t available at the point of writing. Check your local venue closer to the date, or chance it; you will laugh no matter who is performing. The Capital, Bendigo – June 20; Her Majesty’s Theatre, Ballarat – June 21; Lighthouse Theatre, Warrnambool – June 27; Aireys Pub, Aireys Inlet – June 30; Civil Hall @ COPACC – July .
ballarat / bendigo / geelong / surfcoast / warrnambool / werribee I am Duckeye: Good Hubby Material There is this thing called YouTube. And on this thing people post videos of all descriptions. And on this thing where people post videos of all descriptions is a bunch of videos by Melbourne punk rock outfit I am Duckeye. In fact, there are around a hundred of them. Yes, this is a punk rock band that works hard. This is a punk rock band for the people. Can I get a ‘Hell Yeah’? Anyway, following a truckload of YouTube “Duckisodes”, three EPs and five video clips – not to mention a whole stack of shows – the band finally knuckled down on their debut album, Husband. Featuring lovingly-classy songs including favourite ‘Punching Dicks’, Husband is a fourteen-track fun comedy rock monster album. It also features unique photography by Randy Blythe. The Newmarket, Bendigo – June 7. .........................................................................
The Sneaky Manny Fox There is a little of this and a little of that thrown into making Manny Fox work. And boy does it work. Soaked in pop, their tunes dance across folk, ragtime and RnB – they even throw in a little foot stompin’ experimentalism for good measure. Their new single is ‘Do It Quick’ and it’s about teenage delinquents: Boy meets girl. Boy falls for girl. Boy brags about his skills as a thief. Boy attempts to impress girl by shoplifting but buckles under nerves and is pinched. Boy steals policeman’s cigarettes. Boy returns a hero. Ah, teenage love. Recorded by Nick Huggins, the single is available for free download through SoundCloud. It should serve as the perfect entrée to the band’s forthcoming debut album due for release in July. The Bridge, Castlemaine – June 7. .........................................................................
Winchelsea Health Club We’re more than just music here at Forte. As of the start of the month of May, management day-to-day operations of the Winchelsea Health Club transferred from the YMCA Victoria to the Surf Coast Shire. Major Libby Coker explains: “The change ensures a closer fit with Council’s strategic directions in relation to the way we deliver services to the Winchelsea community. Taking over the club’s management will enable us to be more directly involved in providing this service to ensure it continues to meet the local community’s needs.” She continues. “YMCA Victoria has done a terrific job managing the facility since it first opened. I would like to thank the Y, on Council’s behalf, for
its contribution to the club’s establishment to date. The strategic decision to transfer management responsibility back to Council in no way reflects on the organisation’s performance.” .........................................................................
Flocking to see Sheppard Six is the magic number when it comes to Brisbane indie-pop outfit Sheppard. Half of the band is comprised of Sheppard siblings George (keyboard), Amy (vocals, percussion) and Emma (bass); the other half of pals Jay Bovino (guitar, vocals), Michael Butler (guitar) and Jared Tredly (drums). Amy and George grew up in Papua New Guinea, but it wasn’t until they relocated to Australia that the Sheppard three found their love of music blossoming. The band had a cracker of a year in 2012. Not only did they release their self-titled debut, but they also signed with Chugg Entertainment and performed at the mighty OppiKoppi Festival in South Africa. Their new single is ‘Let Me Down Easy’ and they want to show you what it’s all about. The Vine, Bendigo – May 30 & The Karova, Ballarat – May 31. .........................................................................
All Aboard the Blues Train If you don’t know about the Blues Train, then you don’t know about the best darn train going around. Here is the deal: the Blues Train departs Queenscliff and gently rocks its way along the old Geelong train line. Stopping at Suma Park and then Drysdale, it then makes its way back to Queenscliff with another stopoff at Suma Park for good measure. Now, here is the best bit: up to 200 people are treated to some of the best blues music the country has to offer, with revellers swapping carriages at each stop so they can soak up some new tunes. Some good tucker and a beer only add to the experience. A pre sale for October dates is now on, and you had best get in now because places will go. For bookings and artist information please hit thebluestrain.com.au. .........................................................................
Echuca-Moama Winter Blues Festival The 2013 Echuca-Moama Winter Blues Festival is rolling around and if you are a little behind the eight-ball, here is what you need to know. The festival takes place in July and is the perfect antidote for the winter blues. Lining up you have: Alister Turrill, Andrea Marr Band, Andy Baylor, Blue Eyes Cry, Blues Bootcamp, Blues
Bootcamp All Star Band, Blues Mountain, Broderick Smith, Cass Eager, Catfish Voodoo, Chris Wilson, Claude Hay, Collard, Greens & Gravy, The Continental Blues Party, Dan Dinnen, Dreamboogie, Fiona Boyes Hammond Trio, Genevieve Chadwick, Geoff Achison, Jimi Hocking, John McNamara, Jules Boult, Lloyd Spiegel, Louis King, Marshall O’Kell, MBAS Stage, Mojo Webb, Mr Black & Blues (with Chris Wilson), Pete Cornelius, Phil Manning, PJ O’Brien Band, Qynn Beardman, Sean McConnell, Shane Pacey Blues Trio, Shannon Bourne, Smoking Gun, Spoonful, Stringybark McDowell and Wayne Jury with Andy Baylor. Phew! It’s exhausting just reading the lineup. The festival takes place across July 26, 27 & 28 with further information, including accommodation details, available through winterblues.com.au. .........................................................................
The Art of Chasing Ghosts We’ve all heard the expression, ‘It’s about the journey, not the destination’. With that in mind meet Jimmy Kyle. Jimmy Kyle is Chasing Ghosts and Chasing Ghosts equals folk. In his time Jimmy has shared the stage with names including Parkway Drive, I Killed the Prom Queen, The Amity Affliction, The Getaway Plan, Silverstein and Comeback Kid, but Chasing Ghosts is a new story. And it is a story that began in 2010. A soulful and intimate departure from his hardcore roots, Chasing Ghosts is acoustic folk with country undertones. 2011 saw the release of his debut album Confessions from a Phone Booth; tours with Neil Finn, After The Fall, Sarah Blasko, The Young Heretics and Ash Grunwald followed. His music life has been eclectic to say the least. The Karova, Ballarat – May 30. .........................................................................
All Signs Point to My Fiction Brisbane four-piece My Fiction seems to be doing everything right. Playing what they call indie rock without the baggage, the band has received airplay across the USA while their single ‘Every June’ was a finalist in the International Songwriting Competition. Rolling Stone certainly love ‘em saying, “My Fiction’s music brings to mind less the sun-drenched suburbs of Brisbane and more the cold streets of London. Galloping drums, Morrisey-tinged vocals and Eighties synths butt up against grungey guitars and muscular delivery …My Fiction can really write hooks.” More recently, the band has been putting touches on their second long-player. ‘New Cola Signs’ is a taste. The Newmarket, Bendigo – June 1.
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TALK OF THE TOWN! Toecutter Cutting through the BS
The Bon Scott Story
There lives a metal beast that goes by the name of Toecutter. The thrash metal powerhouse was born back in 1992 under the watchful eye of Mark Woolley, man who has carved out a reputable name over his many, many years in the music game. (Think Nothing Sacred and Hobbs’ Angel of Death.) In the early 90s, Mark formed Hatred. The heavy metal war machine would release a demo titled Unusual Punishment in 1993. Following more than a few incarnations, Hatred would become Toecutter and their debut album Lost Culture would be released 2001. More lineup changes follow would before the band disbanded. However, the thrash metal is still strong with this one and the band plays The Newmarket, Bendigo on May 25.
In the music world there are names that live on: Jimmy Hendrix, Elvis Presley and Kurt Cobain to name a few. Arguably, however, the name that stands alone is Bon Scott. Rarely has there been a man whose name is held in such high esteem; he was a rock n’ roll soldier of the highest order. Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be is the story of the man. On Saturday, June 1, Castlemaine’s Theatre Royal will pay tribute to Bon Scott on what is the 33rd anniversary of his death, at age 33. Nick Barker will be joined by a stellar band comprised of Tommy Boyce, Justin Gardner, Alex Raunjak and Steve Brown for a show which traces Scott’s life from his days in Scotland through to his hell-raising teen years and on to AC/ DC. Bookings through the venue.
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The Australian Voices World-renowned a capella group The Australian Voices have a brand new show and they’re bringing it to COPACC on May 28. The new show, Moon, has been described by Artistic Director Gordon Hamilton as a “classical story of longing, love found and lost, and love everlasting.” For trivia buffs, the new work is based on a poem by acclaimed Australian writer Venero Armanno. The poem tells the story of the lonely Moon who sends out her moonbeams to find Sam, a handsome man held-up at home with sickness and spending his hours in a virtual world; when Moon decides to come to Earth in physical form, new love blossoms. Come join the 20strong Australian Voices choir for a show which may just see a little magic come your way. .........................................................................
The Arockalypse is Coming Brace yourselves music lovin’ boys and girls because Arockalypse is coming and it stops for no mortal. Taking place at The Loft in Warrnambool, Arockalypse is a monster of a festival that takes place across the Queen’s Birthday weekend. Around thirty acts will take to the stage to do what they do best. What I can tell you so far is that Joe Gardner, Benny Walker Band, Zuzu Angel, Mick Ferguson and Murdena will be playing. Of course, I can only go with what information I have available to me at the time, so no doubt plenty more bands have been announced since. The best way to keep updated is to bookmark facebook.com/ theloftwarrnambool. Or, if you live near the venue, drop in and say, ‘Yo, L-Dawg, what’s the go with Arockalypse?’ Arockalypse: Good enough for the Queen; Good enough for you.
Here and Now for Kerser King of the hip hop underground, Kerser, is heading out on the road for the We Here Now tour, and he is bringing along his bro and best buddy Rates for the ride. The name of the tour comes from the Nebs-produced single of the same name which was released towards the end of March. If you want to pick up a copy you can do so through iTunes – it even comes as a nifty little three-track package featuring a radio edit, instrumental and an a capella version. Here is what Kerser had to say about the single: “It’s the best, ay. ‘Cause he’s my brother, but he’s my best mate. So it’s a dream come true. We’ve both been working together for years and years. We both think the same.” The Karova, Ballarat – June 13 & The Barwon Club, Geelong – June 14.
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The Departing Bernard Fanning A mid-year treat is in store for music lovers with Bernard Fanning set to hit the road in support of this forthcoming new album, Departures. It was a sad day when Powderfinger packed up their gear, but the music fire still burns bright within Mr Fanning. Sure, it’s been a while in between drinks – his last solo effort being 2005’s Tea and Sympathy – but all is forgiven. After assembling a collection of songs, the songman headed for L.A. where he teamed up with producer Joe Chiccarelli (Elton John, Eta James) and a bunch of session musicians who he hoped would share his vision. There was a reason he chose the session musician path, and speaking with ABC’s Justin Huntsdale, he had this to say: “I wanted to draw on their expertise and I wanted people who can play well, but also personalities that make it feel like fun. They wanted to contribute – they weren’t just waiting to go home, so it felt like a band. The songs are essentially what I’d written but they’re just executed way better than I could’ve done.” The first taste of the new album is single ‘Battleships’. He will be joined on tour by Big Scary and Vance Joy. Costa Hall @ GPAC – August 10. .........................................................................
Bendigo Blues & Roots Showcase Quick bite: Away we go with Blues & Roots Showcase #3. Presented by the Bendigo Blues & Roots Music Festival, the festival teaser and fundraiser will feature Lloyd Spiegel, Tom Tuena, The Mockbells, Taylor Sheridan, Talisa Jobe, Jarrod Shaw, We The Radio, Joel English, Andy Garlick, Oozin’ Blues, Morninghorse, The Rhythm Kings,
Winner!!! Congratulations to James Close who won the Freestyle $1000 wardrobe competition. Here is a picture of him receiving his bounty from store owner Andrea Witty. Winners are grinners! Now a very well dressed Grinner!!
Juxton and The Roosters. The Rifle – May 26. Midday onwards. .........................................................................
Best of the Rest The Bridge, Castlemaine: The Stillsons – May 18; Sons of Lee Marvin – May 25; Fourteen Nights at Sea – May 31; Palace of the King – June 14. The Newmarket, Bendigo: Regional Roulette tour with Heaven the Axe and friends – May 31. Music Man Megastore, Bendigo: Gay Paris and friends – May 30. Cape Horn Winery, Echuca: Dreamboogie – June 7. The Karova, Ballarat: Sun Rising (The Songs that Made Memphis) – May 19. Gateway Hotel, Corio: Adam Brand – June 8.
The Telltale Second Hand Heart Once upon a time, the world gave birth to five talented individuals whose paths would one day cross and form Second Hand Heart. These five talented individuals were vocalist and guitarist Jess Carroll, vocalist, keyboardist and percussionist Lily Parker, bassist Michael Hanley, guitarist John Waller, and drummer Chris Duffy. Now, when the day came for these Melbourne souls to enter the music world, they did so with gusto and soon they were performing with artists including Hunting Grounds, Holly Throsby and Kate Miller-Heidke. The fair maidens Jess and Lily provide lush harmonies over a blend of blues-infused, euphoric pop-rock, while their songs dance across themes of love, loss and life. Good story so far, right? This sweet little band recently took to crowdfunding site Pozible to help raise a little coin for their debut album. If you haven’t yet given the band a look-in, their new single ‘Hold On’ is as good a place as any to start. You want to know a titbit about the single? It was written between New York and Melbourne; so there’s that. The Karova, Ballarat – May 18.
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Elephant and Castle Hotel by april grenfell
Elephant and the Castle Hotel is just the place for a hearty meal this winter. With innovative menus, entertainment and a welcoming warm atmosphere, the long-standing establishment remains a popular place for socialising with friends and family. Just because it’s cold outside doesn’t mean you have to stay at home; the comforting interior of the venue feels like home away from home with lovely décor and a friendly vibe that you would naturally associate with an old local pub. While the venue prides itself on its history (which dates back to 1891), “the Elephant” boasts a modern and sleek restaurant and bar, with stunning photographs lining the walls either selected, or taken by, the man himself, Mr Paparazzi Darren Lyons, who took over the venue license in early 2012. Patrons are assured a memorable experience every time they visit, whether it’s for lunch or dinner, a
arts: function, or a few drinks in the spacious beer garden. A new winter menu has just been launched by talented head chef Damien Beggs which features “warmer” dishes, with Australian and Mediterranean influences noticeable throughout the selections. Baked Gum Shark and Osso Bucco are just a couple of dishes which now grace the new menu which has an extensive list of entrées, mains and desserts which aim to warm the belly. Open seven days, Elephant and the Castle Hotel is certainly keen to please everyone; with $12 lunches during the week, $20 steak and beer nights on Mondays and Tuesdays, and Seafood and Chips for $20 (including complementary Asahi stubby or glass of wine) on Thursday nights. Test your knowledge at the free Trivia night from 8pm on Wednesdays, or relax after work with ‘Thank Guinness its Friday’ and kick back with a $7 pint and footy on the big screen. Expect live music on Saturday nights from 9pm, and a laidback live jazz session on Sunday afternoons. Also coming up at Elephant and Castle in July is “A Night on the Couch” with guest speakers Cats captain Joel Selwood and Hawthorn captain Luke Hodge. Hosted by Darren Lyons and former Footscray AFL champ Doug Hawkins, the event is another great reason to venture down to the Elephant and enjoy the family-friendly pub this winter.
FONY 2013 By Tex Miller
When you log into Facebook, do you think about whom you’re really chatting to? This isn’t a scare tactic by any stretch of the imagination, yet it forms the premise for the new play by Geelong playwrights and arts identities, Ross Mueller and Georgina Capper. Having a chat about the upcoming production, initially I didn’t know too much about it; yet it is promising to be one of the most exciting pieces of theatre to catch this year. Also, since it is debuting in Geelong, that gives you added incentive to support the local arts scene! Having recently returned from the Australian Theatre for Young People in Sydney, whilst finalising the last details for the run of NSW shows Georgina and Ross, as expected, are very excited. “We went up and met with the gang last week and the space that we are taking it to in Sydney is very different. It’s like taking a show that’s built in a rectangle and having to put it into a diamond. Because it’s on the wharf up there, it has pillars holding the ceiling up. Our production will fit into the guidelines, but it will be an interesting time trying.” With such a topical subject, FONY 2013 address both the serious nature of social predators in the online world, while also providing some light humour to the matter. From the creative mind of Ross Mueller, the play in its simplest form is about the trolls that we invite into our lives. “It’s set in a room of a school with four young people
that have been detained by the principal. The police are about to get involved because there has been an incident on social media – discussing things like social responsibilities and being young. The way that we have pitched it is, ‘If you’ve ever been to school or if you’ve ever used the internet you will relate to this play,” Ross said. In saying that, the pair feels, although addressing important social issues, the play doesn’t chastise or lecture the audience about bullying and using social media. Georgina feels that FONY succeeds with ticking all of the boxes of good theatre whilst providing an entertaining show along the way. “What good theatre does is it highlights a whole heap of aspects that are going on within life and it doesn’t necessarily give an opinion. It allows for the audience to interpret and discuss further after the show; to feel confronted enough to be able to talk about it. That is the main goal of what we are trying to achieve. It’s everyday life stuff, but to a degree people just forget. It’s quite simple to just log onto Facebook and not think about what we are doing,” Georgina shares about the essence of good theatre. The process of writing for FONY was quite complicated due to the ensemble of cast members that the pair assembled. With the majority of the students in year 12, the youngest cast member is 19 and the oldest 26. Featuring some fresh local talent, be sure to make it down for the Geelong run of FONY before it heads interstate and eventually overseas next year. With negotiations with a London theatre company underway, this production isn’t going to be around for long. You’ve been warned!
When&Where: Courthouse Arts – June 26 through June 29. courthouse.org.au.
the Bendigo scene
Is live music these days on life support with the prognosis poor? by darlene taylor
Although venue owners across the country who were interviewed last year about the state of their industry for the website Mess+Noise were mostly positive about its health, it should be acknowledged that the venues mentioned are all located in capital cities. Away from the big smoke and the state of live music appears to go from non-existent to soso; opportunities aren’t endless if you’re stuck in a place with one pub and a town hall that prefers bingo to black metal. A two-hour trip on the V/Line train from the cultural hub of the universe, Melbourne, is the relatively large town of Bendigo. The place has got approximately 101,000 residents, beautiful Rosalind Park, an old goldmine and a mall with paving like something you’d see in a prison. The Bendigo Live Music Guide for May 2013 identifies twenty venues that are offering live music for the month. Unsurprisingly, some venues are committed to certain styles of music, with the Goldmines Hotel particularly fond of the blues and the Bendigo Folk Club preferring, well, take a guess. The Golden Vine Hotel, The Newmarket Hotel and The Music Man Megastore are arguably the most dedicated to offering a diversity of live music to Bendigonians; that is, they embrace and also go beyond the town’s romance with blues music and metal and its assorted subgenres (death, thrash, hair et al). Although a fairly recent arrival from another town, Paul Tzountzourkas, aka Music Man, went to the trouble of moving his store to ensure it included a space to feature bands. Without his strong commitment to live music, Tzountzourkas might’ve packed up his P.A. System and solely stuck to the selling instruments side of his shop because he says it, “literally took twelve months to go through all the right channels to obtain firstly permits from the council, and then to obtain our liquor licence.”
Frustrations with red tape aside, Tzountzourkas – whose family have been in the music business for ages – thinks there are currently lots more chances for youth to take in live music. However, he’s less upbeat about customers and whether they’re supporting live music, even after they’ve stated that they really want to see more bands perform. “The lack of support from patrons,” he says, “is really what’s killing the industry”. For Steve Saxton, lead singer/guitarist of the independent melodic rock band Berlin Postmark, the two decades since he first started playing in Bendigo has seen a reduction of available venues for original bands to play in. “The venues were different in the 90s; you had the Golden Vine that was the real focal point for original music, (you had) Velvets (now a rug shop). My overall estimation of the Bendigo music scene back then compared to now is that it was more supportive to original alternative music. You had more venues; the venues were a bit more likely to take something off the wall.” Saxton remembers a time when the town’s musical culture was “more eclectic; there was more emphasis on alternative (music) and being alternative and trying to find a different sound. “It was a very supportive time,” he says, “...and people were trying to fuse different styles. The jam sessions at the Vine were a real focus for that, so you had people just getting up, playing didg(eridoo) and drums and congas and guitar and lots of atmospheric guitars; this you don’t sort of see so much anymore.” Saxton was motivated by the success of Bendigo Blues & Roots Music Festival to start collaborating with The Music Man Megastore to organise a multiband event that’ll happen in the near future. Stay tuned for further details. Save Live Australia’s Music (SLAM) argues that events such as these can have a positive flow-
on effect for live music in the area. Given how enjoyable it is to go to the pub with your hoes in tow so you can shout about someone giving love a bad name, it’s not surprising to hear musicians say that cover bands still do as well as they ever did in Bendigo. “I will be blunt here,” says bass player Darby Lee, “pub rock or covers will come into play sometimes because everyone knows this style and will sing and dance along to it. This energy gets people to drink more bevos and in turn will assure you of more bookings.” Lee has decades of musical experience in various bands, including Subculture, Dave Evans and the Aussie Badasses, The J.R Baker Band and Leeway. His current group also features his sons, Jackson and Liam. “As long I can remember,” he says, “Bendigo has always had a healthy music culture, and I think this is because there are a lot of eager musicians out there that want to play their brand of music live to the public and hopefully get some kind of reaction. It doesn’t matter if it’s rock, covers, original, country or blues ... as long as you get bums on seats and a crowd reaction, it’ll grow from there.” Challenges to live music have been plentiful since the days when Saxton and Lee first started playing in bands. These difficulties include lengthy waits to get a licence to sell booze, the suburbification of inner city areas and the noise pollution laws that gentrified ex-suburbanites sometimes love, lockouts, poker machines and planning requirements. Traversing all these factors is the continuation, perhaps even amplification, of the old notion that live music venues are dangerous. Perhaps this reputation for wickedness explains why the local council recently provided security guards to oversee one venue for a youth event. The small number of punters inside no doubt felt safe, secure and too uncomfortable to enjoy themselves. Shane Homan, an academic from Monash University, claims that “where live music
has most often appeared is not in the usual debates about selecting the appropriate cultural forms for subsidy, quotas or funding, but in providing sometimes spectacular moral panics that provoke renewed debate about youth behaviour, the scope of night-time economies and the true place of local performance”. Although only anecdotally based on several late nights waiting at Bendigo’s most famous taxi rank near the Black Swan Hotel and the posh new toilet block, some of the pissed-up people in the queue had indicated that they’d come from clubs that play recorded music. Many reports on live music in Australia often focus on capital cities, including Homan’s which is about Melbourne. Deloitte Access Economics’s ‘The Economic, Social and Cultural Contribution of Venue-Based Live Music in Victoria’ makes brief mention of the regional parts of the State and the non-cultivation of a touring circuit. That is to say, bands don’t hire a mini bus or get in a car and do a road trip around the State. Local rockers, Rabid Zulu, have performed in Ballarat and Shepparton; however, it’s not always easy to gather the resources for such a trip. According to SLAM, venue owners aren’t always keen to put on up-and-coming bands because they don’t always come with their own gear. SLAM would like to see Bendigo’s musicians get creative and organise farm gigs, paddock gigs and at-home gigs. Freed from the regulatory framework (except the rules that don’t allow you to piss off neighbours and cows), these different avenues give bands the chance to start creating word of mouth about their music. When it comes to the health of live music in Bendigo, perhaps it’s a case of it depends on which band and which scene. It’s also the case that the public have to be prepared to take one for the live music team. So, Bendigo, support an essential part of Bendigo’s musical culture and go and see a gig.
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BY POPULAR DEMAND you asked for it, we go it!
BLACK ACES
It’s time to get a little cosy with Black Aces. Drawing inspiration from the heart of Australian rock – AC/DC, Rose Tattoo and the usual suspects – Black Aces sweat rock ‘n’ roll. They’re a ‘By Popular Demand’ band for a reason, as you shall find out… Hey guys, thanks for taking the time to be part of Forte’s ‘By Popular Demand’ section. Is being voted as one of regional Vic’s popular bands an honour? (Ha-ha.) Sure is! It’s great to be recognised by people in regional Vic! It’s great to be recognised full stop! Cheers! Please introduce the band members and tell us a bit about yourselves? Tyler – guitar and lead vocals. The typical front man – always happier with a beer in his hand, he’s a true showman once he’s up on the stage. I think he wishes he was Angus Young. Not afraid to tell it like it is, and won’t take shit from anyone. He definitely doesn’t shy away from a barney. Rhys – guitar. Rhys is from Shepparton – not much more needs to be said. He loves a punt, a Melbourne bitter and his KT26’s. Alex – bass. The newest member of the band, Alex was asked to fill in after Josh (original bassist) decided to leave. He’s been filling in for about 18 months now! (Haha.) Alex once fell asleep while we were at a show. Our mates The Deep End were playing, he was about three-foot away from the bass rig, but it didn’t stop him from curling up with his bass still in hand and snoozing away. Didn’t bat a bloody eyelid! Needless to say Alex enjoys a VB or two... Pete – drums. The drummer joined the band not long before Alex … typically the quiet one of the bunch. He’ll probably be the one to run off with all the cash when it goes belly up! (Haha!) Whereabouts do you guys hail from in Victoria? What’s it like for bands there? Well, we are from all over really. Rhys lives in Shepparton, Tyler lives in Bendigo, along with Alex who just moved back from Melbourne. And Pete still lives in Melbourne. Being a band based in central Vic requires a lot of travel, a lot of sleepless nights; staying on mate’s floors or two-star motels (or worse), haha. The great thing is the community, specifically the music community. Everyone knows everybody else, and we help each other out when we need a hand with gear or anything. It’s good like that. Tell us about the band’s history. When did you come together? What has the journey involved so far? Well, there have been a number of lineup changes over the years. Tyler is the founding member, but this lineup has been around for about 18 months, give or take. With the lineup changes, the sound of the band has evolved and refined. The addition of Rhys on rhythm guitar completely changed the dynamic of the band, and really gave birth to this incarnation of Black Aces. So, the steady change of members has interrupted the rhythm of the band somewhat, but with the introduction of Pete and Alex, who really lock in as a rhythm section, we seem to have found our stride and are really hitting our straps in terms of writing and performing. The last 18 months has been a whirlwind of non-stop shows, rehearsals and recording. And it only looks like it’s gonna get busier and more intense. You guys essentially do ‘Rock and Roll’, is this correct? How would you define your style? Rock ‘n’ roll, Hard Rock, Pub Rock. Basically, we are just a rock ‘n’ roll band. We like good old Aussie rock ‘n’ roll bands like the Tatts, The Angels, The Aztecs and of course AC/DC. How many releases do you guys have out to date? Do you have any others in the works? Well, we have a new release coming out this week … well, it may be out by the time this comes out. It’s a single called ‘On the Rocks’, and it’ll be available on iTunes and all those other platforms. We recorded a few tracks when we did ‘On the Rocks’, so we will have a couple more singles coming out over the next few months. We also have an EP recorded a few years back with the first lineup of the band. You can grab that on iTunes too. The band has just come off a tour. How was it? It’s actually still rolling on – we still have Adelaide, Sydney and Canberra, so there is still a lot to go. So far it’s been great. WA was an experience – we have never played there before. Got to play with some great local bands, Chainsaw Hookers and The Sure Fire Midnights. Do yourself a favour and check ‘em out! Also got to visit Bon’s grave – that was an experience! You have travelled much of Australia and taken part in heaps of live shows. What have been some of the craziest to date? Tell us a story. They are all crazy! Coming back and playing The Overlander (Rhys’ local in Shep) is always a rippin’ show; shots getting poured down
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your throat while you’re trying to sing. Not long ago we played in a town called Kyabram, in Victoria’s north. They had their annual bike show on and we were booked to play the showgrounds. The day was a great one; a heap of people there, all bikes. The stage was set up on the back of two semi-trailers, so they were up pretty high. Tyler can’t resist climbing up on shit when he’s playing. So, we are playing the last song and he starts climbing this rickety bit of fencing off to the side, with his guitar slung over his shoulder too, and he gets onto the roof of the trailer. Immediately we had the attention of every last person there. Well, he runs to the middle soloing and jumpin’ up and down, and immediately the thing starts bowing in the middle like a trampoline bouncing up and down; we were waiting for him to fall through and kill one of us! Once he realised what he’d got himself into, he didn’t come down. He just refrained from jumping as much – he had to finish the solo after all. Can’t say I (Pete) was worried about him getting up there, that’s the easy part. Getting down was a whole other story. He nearly ended up breaking his neck coming down. In the end, this big bloke called Nails, a roadie for one of the other bands, ran on and helped him onto his shoulders. Nails did his back! The show was a ripper though! Crowd bloody loved it. Since then we have had some of the bikies show up to more shows, which is great! Do you guys enjoy a lot of local support? Have you got a nutty fan base that come out when you play at home? Hometown support is probably spread between Bendigo and Shep – both towns could probably lay claim to us. Whenever we play either it’s a ripper night, and there is always support from the usual crowd. The thing with playing your hometown is you usually get loaded up with an endless supply of beers … and you never remember [the] night in the morning! What are some of the most memorable gigs you have played? Well, playing your hometown is always a great one, but getting the chance to play all over the country has been great. The last time we played in Adelaide was a ripper; we played a couple of shows. The first at a place called the Squatters. Have to say that was a great show, but was more memorable for the fact that the publican said we weren’t allowed to leave the place still walking! So there were more than a few sneaky shots, and you could say the night is a little hazy to say the least! Haha. The show the next night at Enigma was great! Fantastic crowd and really great bands. If you haven’t heard Cherry Grind from Adelaide, get on to ‘em! Playing at Cherry Bar is always a great one too. There was one show in Canberra where a band we were playing with, two of the members almost punched on before they even made it on stage. We were in the green room with them and they were fighting over the merch or something. The next minute one cops a pot glass to the face and they are both yelling at each other, up in each other’s face – escalated pretty quick, that’ll always stick in the memory. They made up and hugged half hour later! Haha. They turned out to be good blokes, in a ripper band ... just passionate about merch I guess! What is one thing Black Aces would LOVE to have happen to them over the next 12 months? Would be good to be still playing countless shows in countless places. Really, we want to be pushing to hit the US over the next 12 months. So that takes a bit a cash, so getting signed to a nice independent label in the meantime would help to support that! Once we return from Europe we will definitely be putting out an album, so to see that number one would be good too! Haha. What can fans expect at a Black Aces show? No bullshit rock ‘n’ roll. Really fucken loud no bullshit rock ‘n’ roll. Beer-fuelled, balls-to-the-wall, unadulterated, in-yourface rock ‘n’ roll. And you can have a beer with us after the show! What are the plans for the near future? First up we will finish the tour we are currently on. We have a couple more single releases in the pipeline. Maybe go back into the studio to drop some more tracks. Then in September we’ll be heading to UK and Germany for a tour. The coming months are gonna be pretty bloody busy! Anything else? Get out and see a local band, support your local rock ‘n’ roll venue, demand to see new bands in your area and head out to an Aces show when ya can! And buy our new single ‘On The Rocks’ now on iTunes! Check in on the band through facebook.com/ blackacesrock.
CQ UNPLUGGED FINAL By Tex Miller
Over nine weeks, and through six heats and three semi finals, some of the finest musical talent that Geelong has to offer battled it out recently at The City Quarter Bar for the coveted title of Winner Unplugged Summer series, as well as a cash prize from City Quarter Bar, recording time courtesy of Oxygen Music and editorial coverage in Forte digital and publications. The winner for this series is the exciting Tane Emia Moore. The Peoples’ Choice Award was taken out by local lads The Andy and Jenko Show.
Bec and Georgia
The CQ Unplugged Series it is a great platform for new bands and performers to get out into a different performance space and get your name out there. Performing on grand final were the seven finalists, which were made up of Olly Friend, Bec and Georgia, Rachel Brennan, Lyndal Barry, Tane Emia Moore, Andy and Jenko Show and Ellen Porter. The talent that was on show that night was fantastic and each performer had their own unique style.
CQ Unplugged Summer 2013 Winner: Tane Emia Moore
Rachel Brennan
When Olly Friend took to the stage to play songs off his freshly released debut EP entitled The Darling EP – the proceeds of which were going directly to the RSL – he whipped the crowd into a frenzy, especially with his cover of Redgum’s ‘I was only 19’. Although there were some technical issues with his set-up and having to go first, it was a good performance and start to the night nonetheless. Rach Brennan took to the stage with her popcountry-folkish vibes. Although just a simple arrangement of vocals, stomp box and guitar, the songs were enough to get everyone in the mood to sing and dance.
Lyndal Barry
Lyndal Barry, who took the piano / singersongwriter mould to a different level, played a soulful set of tunes which reflected on her varied musical background. Performing in Motown cabaret shows as well as funk and atmospheric electronica, Lyndal is a name to remember. Fellow musicians have often told me that it is all about the stage show and presenting yourself and product to the crowd; and that is simply what Andy and Jenko did when they got their 30 minutes of fame. Ponchos, jeans and funny hats were all the rage; as the vibe instantly changed when they started to play. Having played at Eureka and The Edge over the last four years, these guys couldn’t have been any more prepared for their performance. The highlight without a doubt was their surprise cover of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ by Queen. Two vocals and two guitars: I have no other words for it except to check it out online at Fortemag.com.au! Having represented Australia at the World Championships of Performing Arts in Los Angeles in 2012, Ellen Porter, like Lyndal, combined just piano and vocals and played a set of heartfelt and personal songs that will no doubt be represented
2nd Place "People's Champion": The Andy and Jenko Show
Olly Friend
on an EP or album soon. Bec Goring and Georgia Rogers showed why they are the future of Australian country music, playing some originals before a cover of the 90’s children’s TV show theme ‘Round The Twist’. Bringing back memories of my childhood, I can see these guys in ten years time on a major festival bill somewhere around the country. Finishing off the night was Tane Emia Moore, whose folky sounds and stellar vocal range led to him being crowned as the winner.
There’s yet another Unplugged series starting in the next couple of months, so get up and head to your local pub for your original music fix. With talent like this playing around the scene you definitely won’t be disappointed! The final has been filmed for Forte TV and can be viewed at Fortemag.com.au - check it out.
WATCH: See the video online at fortemag.com.au
Ellen Porter
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down to business:
Tint Master
Kathy and Dave of tint master
A tint above the rest. by april grenfell
Often you will see a car driving around town with dark windows, either for aesthetic reasons or to protect the occupants from the sun’s indiscriminate rays or glare. Whatever the reason, Tint Master has long been helping people with their window tinting needs, offering all sorts of solutions with a variety of quality films and tint shades. Owner Dave Kershaw said when it came to car window tinting, Tint Master stood out from the rest. “It takes years to become fully proficient and aware of the different models of cars and how to pull them apart for window tinting,” he said. “We know what we are doing. We undertake a lot of training and make sure we are kept up-to-date with different models of cars, tinting techniques and technologies. We understand the products and procedures, and are very careful in the implementation. We take a lot of pride in our work. We are happy when the car is absolutely perfect and is better than what the customer expected.” Depending on the type of car and tint film required, tinting your car windows at Tint Master can cost between $250 and $500 and takes around half a day to install. “Some people want black windows so their car looks good, but they don’t care about anything else; while others want comfort and maximum heat and UV protection but don’t care how their car looks,” said Dave. “We get a real mix of customers, but we have film to meet every individual requirement.” Tint Master’s expert tinting service extends beyond cars to home and office. While the professional team has 50 different tint films, the technology they exclusively offer is the EnerLogic, which won the 2012 Product Innovation category at the Australian Business Awards. Dave and his team are proud to offer the product, which he says has the equivalent benefits as double glazed windows but costs a quarter of the price to install. “The film keeps the heat inside during winter and keeps it out in the summer,” he said. “It delivers energy savings and comfort all year round. From the inside you don’t even know it’s there, but from the
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outside it is slightly more reflective at certain angles. It is twice as efficient as any other window film on the market.” Creating an environmentally and energy-conscious home or office is simple – just call Tint Master for a quote. “You really need to understand glass and the technology and what will be effective for each job, and we are specially trained to do that,” said Dave. Tinting a home or office takes about a full day to install, with the benefits soon to be realised with a healthy balance of energy efficiency
and substantial cost savings, topped off with a 10-year product guarantee. “We care about quality,” said Dave. “Overall, we aim to be an industry leader and embrace new technologies. We are not the cheapest, but we believe that we are the best.” Tint Master is located at 9 Gordon Avenue, Geelong West, ph: 5221 8877
Oz Greets Swedes Truckfighters By Daniel Lock
On Sunday, May 5, I went to the Cherry Rock Festival at the Cherry Bar in ACDC Lane. My brother had gotten us tickets, mainly to see a band he’s been on about for a bit over a year now. That band is a Swedish band named Truckfighters.
of Desert Cruiser being sung as Ozo held a microphone out to us in the crowd, to both Ozo and Dango standing on the barrier at different times, playing while keeping their balance with our support. As a finale, both string players removed their instruments and crowd surfed.
Now I hadn’t been entirely sold on this band – until Cherry Rock. These guys know how to rock!
To see a band, and be invigorated that much by the sheer amount of energy they produce, was absolutely something else.
They’re a three-piece band: Ozo (bass/singer), Dango (guitarist) and drummer (name I can’t confirm on tour). After missing their initial time to start due to something delaying them in their set-up, part-owner of Cherry Bar, James Young, came out and said they’d fill the void with a tribute to the late Jeff Hanneman in the form of a Slayer song. That both appeased and excited the crowd. When the tribute had finished, James came out again and introduced Truckfighters; and a shirtless Dango immediately came out and proceeded to rev EVERY member of the audience up. And when I say every member, he went around and acknowledged every part of the audience he could access, including the people and other bands to the side. Then Ozo and their drummer came out and began. Ozo greeted the crowd himself by leaning far-forward from the stage and giving a big, excitable, open-mouthed grin. They opened with ‘Desert Cruiser’, the first track on their first studio album Gravity X, and played with as much energy as they could expel. Audience participation was scattered all throughout the entire set; from the chorus
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As for their music, Truckfighters are stoner/desert rock. Their music has a lot of fuzz, is very heavy instrument wise with a lot of drone-rock development, and the vocals are fairly consistently gruff, with clean vocals cut throughout tracks. I’ve been to three gigs that have really impressed me this year: Tool at the Rod Laver – which was a feast for the eyes and ears, but also one that was expected; Kyuss Lives at The Palace Theatre, Melbourne. I wasn’t a Kyuss fan in my younger days, but after that gig I realised John Garcia’s vocals are amazing; and now, Truckfighters. Unida, John Garcia’s current band, actually headlined at Cherry Rock too, and after Truckfighters played, I think even the most dedicated fans to Garcia were unsure how Unida would go following THAT! But Unida brought quality music, and I’m happy to say none of the bands that played disappointed at all that day. As for Truckfighters, welcome to Australia; I’ll see you again at Melbourne’s Ding Dong Lounge Saturday, May 11 with a ticket that is way underpriced for such a great band! You can catch their opening track to Cherry Rock Festival at vimeo.com/65511046
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FREE CLASSIFIEDS SEND YOUR INFO TO: editorial@fortemag.com.au or p.o. box 1388, geelong 3220 or fax 5229 0318 FOR INDIVIDUAL USE ONLY, NOT FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES. Looking for a rock singer between the age 17-19. Main Influences are Green Day, Foo Fighters and Led Zeppelin. Band with Management and Label. Email and info at melodicmusic.com Looking for a drummer, not afraid to experiment. Male/female. Age 35++ ono. All original. English/ Australian influences without the radio play. Original to the extent of punk/pop sensibility 1978 to the not-so-now style. Think of yourself as a patron of The Saints, Stiff Little Fingers, Radio Birdman, Buzzcocks, The Smiths, Psychedelic
Furs, Iggy & The Stooges, Wedding Present, Happy Mondays etc etc, then forget you have to be. The usual... car, equipment, attitude, mental state (in an OK kind of...) punctual, earplugs accepted. Be prepared to apply yourself. Let us know on 0409 567 043. Please leave your details and we will hear you - Confirmation code: AKA 1963 Geelong rock band looking for lead vocalist. We are a Geelong based original band looking for a lead vocalist, have a lot of experience and heaps of great original music waiting to be sung.
Influences: pearl jam, chili peppers, foo fighters, nirvana, led zep, sound garden. Contact Ben 0432049231. Experienced Lead Guitarist Wanted. Top 40 Coverband. 70s 80s 90s and current. Based in Geelong. Must have commitment. Please Call Mark on 0438836469 or email at pudge_ gypsy33@hotmail.com Singer wanted for acoustic covers duo. Must like 90’s British bands and not into songs your “normal” covers bands play. Think Oasis, Morrissey & The Smiths, Libertines, Pulp, Blur, Verve, and similar Aussie & American groups. Nothing serious to start with but possible gigging if we sound great! Age no barrier and male / female encouraged to contact. Contact Liam: britpopcovers@gmail. com or 0430904407 Band Members Wanted: Looking for band members between the ages of 16-19 years of age for pop group. Looking for bass guitar, electric guitar, vocals and synth player. If interested, please contact 0417575237. Hard Rock Covers Band with experienced, solid, bass player and drummer team requires guitarist with skill, awesome sound, and decent equipment. We have full rehearsal live room, pro gear, and all recording equipment. Project will involve gigging, recording, and working on original material as well as edgy covers. Age no barrier, but must be directable team player and have own transport. Carlos: 0409493521 Wanted: Male Vocalist,
Two Guitarists Lead/ Rythm,Keyboard,Drummer to form an Original Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Band,Kevin Phone 0352757689, Email linnums@ optusnet.com.au Vocalist Wanted: Rock/alternative band, currently consisting of guitar, bass, drums. In search of a clean vocalist preferably with experience. Influences: Tool, A Perfect Circle, Karnivool, 12 stones, Godsmack, etc. Contact Dean 0431067758 Singer For Rock Covers Band Needed. New project that will incorporate some originals. We have large acoustically enhanced rehearsal room inc. P.A and all recording equipment. Project will involve live gigs/shows, recording, and working on orginal material. Age no barrier, but must be team player with own equip and transport. Covering rock/ pop/grunge/hair-band/ glam. You will be working with experienced team. Carlos: 0409 493521 Photographer Wanted for band photos. Semniprofessional ok. Call Josh 0430971319 Wanted, 40+ y.o. Muso’s to form a fun Rock Band. Bass, Drummer, Lead Guitar, Keyboards or other welcome. To play Classic Rock from the 70’s onwards. Call or Text Nick on 0408359821. Geelong Vocalist Looking for guitarist, bass and drummer to form contemporary blues/ rock band. Experienced players required.Ph: Craig 0404054045 or email transform_pt@ yahoo.com.au Singer/songwriter looking for musicians
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Om & The Pea By Xavier Fennell
Hailing from the small coastal town of Clifton Springs, Matt, the mastermind behind the organic roots/folk sound of ‘Om & The Pea’, is just that: an organic mind and style. While you’d be hardpressed to find any trace of him on the Internet, Om & The Pea has been playing prominently for quite a while now. I managed to get a hold of ‘Organic Matta’ for a chat about Om & The Pea and what he’s been up too. While I may have struggled to find anything on Om & The Pea via any sort of web search, Matt proves that you don’t need social media to get yourself out there and play some darn good gigs; maybe just a bit of love. “I’ve played wineries and cafes, and generally when I play I like to feed off what’s happening on the day. I have loads of things on stage; so sometimes I have a backing band, but I like to be interactive with the crowd too.” This folky, involved approach to performance means that Om & The Pea thrives in the atmosphere of folk festivals. “I’ve played at Port Fairy Folk Festival and Lake Bolac Eel Festival when I was playing with Tim and Cherie, two musicians I met in Warrnambool. I’ve also done a lot of campaign gigs, like for violence against women and youth homelessness awareness. They’re generally love jobs where I get to sell CD’s and merchandise.” As a community-involved musician, Om & The Pea takes inspiration from everything that he is a part of in this world, and he is evidently excited when
a large community-based gig comes his way. “My music’s very earth-based; issues around indigenous culture and respect for mother earth. This down to earth feel is probably why I haven’t gotten into the whole internet side of things yet, but I know now that I‘m getting busier I need to get onto it. On the 25th of May I’ve got a big gig coming up with some fire twirlers and installation artists who’ll be painting while we play. I’m also trying to get my friend who is a magician to come and do some magic for the kids.” These kind of collaborative ideas seem to come naturally for Om & The Pea, and I wanted to know if a release of this nature could be expected in the near future. “I love collaborating with people. I’d love to do a collaborative CD one day. It’s not something I’ve thought about much, but I’ve got two CD’s at the moment that people seem to be really enjoying. I did those with an awesome sound engineer, Paul Sherrey from Clifton Springs.” With a heart for community and mother earth, and an ear for the folk/roots music that goes with it, Om & The Pea keeps the feel-good organic vibes flowing throughout his life and those around him; a quick trip to his SoundCloud reveals a large catalogue of recordings that burst with strong folk and roots sounds. Any community lucky enough to benefit from a musician such as this is a lucky one.
Mark Seymour By Natalie Rogers
Mark Seymour is a romantic at heart. Touring nationally with his band known as Mark Seymour and the Undertow, he plans to showcase his latest album Seventh Heaven Club. “It’s a collection of love songs that have been selected from material that ranges over forty years playing music. It’s a concept album I suppose. We covered songs by Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Neil Young among others, and we will be doing a fair whack of it at those shows and it’s pretty exciting … We have had a great reaction to it,” Mark told Forte Mag recently. Since going it alone after his first band (Aussie Rock and Roll Hall Of Famer’s) Hunters and Collectors called it a day in 1998, Mark has continued to make music and tour, often appearing solo or as part of a group. “The big difference musically between what I did with Hunters and Collectors and what I do now, is when H and C played it was always the same basic format of a seven-piece rock band going out and doing a specific set of songs; whereas now I tend to mix it up. I have got a much bigger repertoire and a number of different formats,” Mark explained. “I perform on my own or as a duo, and with my band.” After years of bumping into each other at gigs and playing together on and off, Mark realised together they had the makings of a first-rate band. “They are guys I have been playing with for many years, but we wanted to consolidate it because I decided that instead of going away and demoing everything on my own, why don’t I bring this stuff to them. So the guys
Livingstone Daisies By Tex Miller
Having seen the Livingstone Daisies down at Apollo Bay a couple of weekends ago, I have it on good authority that they are one of the coolest bands I have seen. Their live show is great; yet everyone likes to take a piece of the band home with them, and thanks to the Livingstone Daisies, there is more than just the CD or the t-shirt. I recently caught up with Van Walker to have a chat ahead of their gig in Torquay. “When we got the first pressing of the vinyl record of our album, they made a slight mistake with side two in the pressing and it was a little bit out of synch and hadn’t been pressed to scale. We had to get them to send us a whole other batch, and the first lot was unsellable. Instead of throwing them out, we turned them into bowls, clocks and bar stools,” Van related about the quirky selection of merchandise. Their debut album, which was recorded within two sessions in Regional Australia, required the need for Van to borrow money from his local publican to make the sessions viable. Heading down to the property the band, which also features Liz Stringer on vocals and guitar, Michael Barclay on drums and vocals and Cal Walker (vocals and bass), recorded 16 songs within four days, and as a result of the quick and organic recording, the recording is very raw and original, with little overdubs. “We laid down the basic recording and then added
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got creatively involved together in a rehearsal room and we called it a band. It’s John Favaro playing bass; he was in The Bad Loves, Pete Maslen on the drums; he’s in Boom Crash Opera and Cameron McKenzie on guitars; he used to be in a group called Horsehead, and he also produces our records. They have all been in the music industry for years; they are seasoned players. As a band we have heaps of energy and a very clean simple sound. This is our second record together (they released a self-titled album in 2011) and hopefully there will be more.” While Mark prefers to focus on the future and his side projects – at the time of interviewing he was in Adelaide performing in Dust! The Story Of Asbestos. “I write songs for theatre. It’s something I have been doing for a few years now and this is just one among many” – he knows he will never truly escape his past and the constant requests for Hunters and Collectors biggest hits; known not only by diehard fans, but by the general population of Australia (with odds that on any given Saturday night around the country you will hear ‘Holy Grail’ or ‘Throw Your Hands Around Me’ being belted out by a bunch of friends in a pub). “We always play Hunters stuff!,” Mark laughed. “I know how much they mean to people.”
When&Where: The Sphinx, Geelong – May 18
the vocals over the top. Pretty much everything we recorded, we used. It was really easy to mix and a great way to make a record, because you don’t have to fiddle around with big jigsaw pieces trying to make it work. We didn’t record any overdubs we didn’t use.” Since the release of the album earlier in the year, Livingstone Daisies have since signed to Popboomerang Records and played festival spots around Australia. Playing at Gumball festival on the same weekend as Apollo Bay Music Festival, the hectic touring schedule and life has both good and bad sides to it. “We played at Gumball the night before and had to catch a plane early the next morning to get down to Apollo Bay. We played the gig and then I went to sleep for about 20 hours. We had a packed venue down at Apollo Bay, and the reception to the tunes has been great. There’s no signs of slowing down yet with international touring booked for later in the year, and then we’re headed back into the studio to record another album.” Looking forward to the coastal gig, there is something for everyone at a Livingstone Daisies gig. As a former resident of Torquay, this gig is somewhat of a homecoming for Michael Barclay. Although outlandish stage moves and Pete Townshend windmills are out of the question, the setlist will feature songs from both the current album as well as Walker and Stringer’s successful solo back catalogues. For a great night’s entertainment, and to warm them up before they head over to Germany, be sure to check out the Livingstone Daisies. Pick yourself up a clock whilst you’re at it! When&Where: Torquay Bowls Club – May 19. 2PM
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Eleanor McEvoy By Cameron Brogden
Back by popular demand, one of Ireland’s bestknown artists, Eleanor McEvoy, is touring the country playing her own shows and performing at Celtic festivals across Australia. She’s been touring her homeland (and the adjacent United Kingdom) in an Australian-made, Ford Fairlane hearse. Unfortunately, there will be no homecoming for her “Black Car”. “It’s bad enough trying to bring three instruments and various pieces of equipment onto an overseas flight!,” she said when I asked if the hearse will be joining her for this tour. She’s no stranger to the National Celtic Festival and Portarlington, and she’s looking forward to making her return. “Yes, I am delighted to be coming back. Portarlington is such a beautiful town and idyllic location for a festival. The people are so friendly and it’s a great opportunity to see other artists play,” she said. Eleanor just released a new album, so I asked her to tell us a little about it. “It’s called If You Leave… and I had been listening to a lot of early Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, Beatles before going into record it, so it’s recorded as those old albums would have been. The sound is very organic and a little retro. There are two main themes to the album; one is emigration and the other is Brian Jones (founding member of the Rolling Stones who died tragically before his time). These two themes overlap on the album,” she explained.
A songwriter first and foremost, Eleanor seems capable of writing beautiful lyrics about just about anything. I asked her about where she draws her inspiration from. “From people around me, from reading newspapers, from things that strike me as unjust; anything that has a profound effect on me for good or for bad compels me to write. It’s not an option for me not to do it,” she said. Forever a student of the art, I asked her about her influences. “From a songwriting perspective, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Elton John all would have had an influence on me early on. Performance-wise, Bruce Springsteen would have impressed me because his performances are real and don’t rely on backing tracks or costume changes or elaborate stage sets. It’s all about the music. More recently, I’ve been incredibly impressed by Adele’s performances – great to see that one of the most successful artists in the twenty first century is a woman with an amazing voice singing great songs to a piano accompaniment. It doesn’t get any more real than that.” But it all had to start somewhere. “I lived in a house that was full of musical instruments. My older sister and brother listened to and played music non-stop. I started playing piano when I was three. Playing music is as natural to me as breathing. I can’t imagine my life without it.” And, true to her own self, her only advice for young musicians making their way through the industry: “Always, always, always keep it about the music.”
When&Where: National Celtic Festival, Portarlington – June through June 10. nationalcelticfestival.com.
Senses Fail
in my life where I am happy, and to keep creating lyrics that are negative would be dishonest and made up. The lyrics to this record are pretty selfexplanatory, as are most Senses Fail lyrics. I have always been one to be autobiographical.
A touch over a decade ago, vocalist Buddy Nielsen posted an advertisement on the ‘net looking for likeminded music souls. The post attracted a handful of players and the original Senses Fail was born. Members may have come and gone but the pursuit of music excellence has always been their driving force. With a new album under their belt, now was the perfect time to have a little Q&A with the band’s ringleader, Buddy Nielsen.
‘Mi Amor’ is predominantly sung in Spanish. Tell us about the lyrics and where your connection to the Spanish language comes from? It was really something that was done as an accident. My connection to Spanish at this moment is that my girlfriend is Peruvian and fluent in Spanish. I took Spanish throughout middle and high school but never really became too good at it. I just wanted to try something a little different with this song, and the idea of singing in Spanish popped into my head and I went for it.
Tell us about your new album Renacer. How does it differ from Senses Fail’s past work and what has inspired the heavier direction? We wanted to change it up and push ourselves in another direction. We felt what we have been doing was old and tired, and we wanted to make new headway. With five studio albums and over a million record sales to date, tell us about how the band’s success has affected you? Are you leading a different life to the one you imagined growing up? I am about as grounded as any normal person. I work a full-time job while on tour, 9-5; I sit at my computer and answer emails. I have changed for the better by being a musician and I wouldn’t want to do anything else. I love being surrounded by music, and that was my goal when I was younger. Tell us about the lyrics on the new album – they seem to be generally positive, but are juxtaposed by this really heavy sound. Tell us about what the lyrics mean to Senses Fail? I wanted it to be positive yet heavy. I feel like most heavy music have negative-leaning lyrics and I wanted to convey a positive experience for listeners. I am just at a point
second hand heart By Natalie Rogers
We’ve all heard the expression, “The future’s so bright I gotta wear shades”, right? Well, whoever came up with such a wondrous phrase may well have had John Waller, guitarist for Melbourne indie outfit Second Hand Heart, in mind when he coined it. “We are so excited! It has been a while since we have played a gig in Geelong or even the Surf Coast,” John told Forte Magazine last week. Only two more sleeps till John, Lily (guitar & vocals), Chris (bass), Michael (drums) and Jess (guitar & vocals) return to their old stomping ground The Karova Lounge in Ballarat. “Lily, Jess and I met when I was studying a jazz course in Ballarat. That was about five or six years ago now,” John reminisced. “We are all from around the area.” Next stop is The Barwon Club for their only arvo show, where punters can expect a few surprises. “We have been working on a lot of new material,” Jon revealed – some of which you will hear at those shows. “You can expect dramatic rock-folk performances; it’s a blend of all music really, and we always try to find interesting grooves and sounds.” John explained: “We all sing, apart from Chris. There are points where we do fourway harmonies. The songs we have been writing lately are so fantastic. We are so happy about how it has all been going.” The recent explosion of creativity within the group
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It seems really important to you guys that you’re always reaching and pushing musical boundaries; aiming to keep fans expecting the unexpected. How do you do this? Tell us about the process of coming up with and developing new ideas? We just wanted to make ourselves happy and proud of what we are doing. I don’t think we intentionally want to try and alienate our fan base, but we do want to challenge them to try something different. Moving forward, I would imagine every record will change drastically from the next. Kicking off on your US tour before heading to the UK and France, you guys are playing gigs almost every night. After so long in the industry, how do you remain so motivated and so willing to perform under such a hectic schedule? We are just used to it. Having a lot of days off is a luxury and also taxing. When I am away from home I want to be playing. When you have a lot of days off you end up resenting them, because you are sitting somewhere thousands of miles from home doing nothing. has taken everyone by surprise – especially the band members themselves. “We planned to release an EP, but in the time we were doing that we wrote another four tracks so we thought hang on, maybe we should turn this into an album,” he laughed. “All the songs are quite unique but they just sit so well together, so there will definitely be another single released within the next couple of months. And our debut album will be out towards the end of the year if all goes to plan. The whole process has been really enjoyable; we all have loved it. We have been doing more collaborative writing where we build up the song from scratch together as a group.” The new single, ‘Hold On’, is a fine example of SHH’s recent songwriting success. As well as featuring heavily on triple j Unearthed, it also clocked up over 1,200 plays on SoundCloud in the first two days; while the music video (directed brilliantly by Josh Harris) has been viewed over 1,500 times. However, it appears it isn’t only the Australian indie scene that has embraced these five Aussie friends. After supporting French superstar Nadéah (whom you may remember from So Frenchy So Chic earlier this year), Second Hand Heart has been inundated by requests to record their enchanting lyrics in French. “We have had a lot of interest in recording our debut album in French as well as English,” John beams. “Jess can speak fluent French, and later this year Lily and Jess will be taking an investigative holiday to suss out the local music scene in Paris; and hopefully we will go over as a band next year.” So for all you SHH fans out there, Parles-tu Français? When&Where: The Karova, Ballarat – May 18 & The Barwon Club, Geelong – May 19
Of course, there are your great day-off spots like London or Manchester, but a lot of days off are spent sitting at a hotel on the motorway, eating burger king because it is your only option.
people, especially people I look up to. I love them all. Working with Brian McTernan was amazing; Shaun Lopez was wonderful as well. I liked each experience for what it was.
You guys have collaborated with plenty of industry heavyweights during your time. Tell us about one of your favourite collaborative experiences? We have worked with some very cool
What’s one thing that all Aussie fans should know about Senses Fail? We are generally nice people.
While we usually take a look at what is current on the web, this week we have decided to take a look back at some of YouTube’s most famous and popular clips. If you haven’t seen these, you are still using dial-up.
forte funny facts! • The average woman smiles 62 times a day; the average male only eight times a day. • Shakespeare invented over 1,700 words including Addiction, Gossip and Lacklustre. • Research has indicated Western people are at their happiest at 7:27pm on a Saturday night.
Youtube Vids of the Issue
• The idea for Pinocchio was created because the temperature of your nose increases when you lie. • Ironically, when a cockroach touches a human’s skin, it spends a long time after cleaning itself. • Cuba and North Korea are the only countries in the world that don’t sell Coca Cola.
WHAT THE??
Me at the Zoo (2005)
David Goes to the Dentist (2009)
Leave Britney Alone! (2007)
This video is in no way special, other than it was the FIRST video ever uploaded onto YouTube. It is crazy to think that this very average video was the first of what would become a worldwide phenomenon.
In this vid, which incredibly has over 111 million views, we drive home with a kid that is still trippin’ on happy gas. We have all been there after the dentist; we just haven’t had the entire world watching.
It has been six years since the world was subjected to this demented plea from a crazed Britney fan to ‘Leave her Alone’. It was out there – but it got the message out across the world, racking up a whopping 46 million views. It made number 4 on Time magazine’s most popular YouTube clips. I don’t suggest you watch it again though.
Score: 10/10
Score: 8/10
JUST SEARCH: Me at the Zoo
JUST SEARCH: David Goes to the Dentist
Score: 6/10 JUST SEARCH: Leave Britney Alone!
Reports have suggested an Airbus A350 was only seconds away from crashing into a UFO the other day. The plane, flying over Scotland, saw a mysterious object described as “blue and yellow” out in front. Preparing for a collision, the object quickly lowered itself under the belly of the plane. The pilot, who was described as suffering from shock, radioed Glasgow Airport and asked, “Have you got anything in our area?” To his amazement, the Control Tower responded that there was nothing on the radar. The experienced pilot, absolutely sure of what he saw, has baffled experts who ruled out a glider or weather balloon as the plane was far too high. I think this one will just have to go into the “What The?” UFO file, along with all the other creepy and mysterious things happening in the world.
TOO HEAVY TO HUG PAUL S TAYLOR chris cruz
Susan Boyle’s First Audition (2009)
Noah’s Daily Diary (2006)
This old duck, who was a little bit strange and a bit weird looking, got up on stage. The judges prepared to send her on her way with little thought. Instead, with one note, she became arguably the world’s most popular singer of the modern era. This little YouTube gem got number 25 on Time’s most popular list. History in the making. Don’t be snoozen on Susan.
This Guy, Noah, takes a photo of himself every day for six years; then he posted it for us to watch it unfold as his face changes through the years. This video still amazes me, and it was the first of many to follow soon after.
Score: 7/10
Score: 9/10 JUST SEARCH: Noah’s Daily Diary
JUST SEARCH: Susan Boyle’s First Audition
Blank Thankless Air By BLAIR HALL
Feud & Culture Review Unfunny, honest and clear food criticism is a very isolating experience to put oneself into, or so I’m finding. Firstly, there is the underqualification that is inescapable due to my very serious and unfunny sinus problems; 60% of the information that would be interpreted by the palate is muted. Secondly, there’s the choice that I made to live a vegetarian lifestyle,¹ which means that I’m stuck eating only one or two (or sometimes no) items on the menu. Lastly, there are my sociological anxieties w/r/t a nearubiquitous absence of truth as to whether or not I’m only at a restaurant because it looks right and is full of the right kind of people. And so I find myself in a trendy Mexican restaurant (which I won’t name out of respect), sipping water poured from a top-shelf Tequila bottle (Tromba) while lamenting the medication that is keeping me from the imported beers that I can’t afford anyway. The first, most evident feature of the restaurant is that everyone here is not just what you’d rate as a “Perfect 10” on the scientifically precise scale of attractiveness, but they are in fact all “12’s”. Everyone … excluding myself, of course. Especially the staff. I’m not even kidding; it’s unbelievable. Not a single face is unremarkable, outfit generic (regardless of thrift) or conversation seemingly un-engaging. I feel like a frumpily dressed leper with a bleeding hole in my face – or at least that’s what the looks on their faces say. It is here that I have the worst taco of my life. I’ve never eaten glass, so I can’t say that eating a glass taco is what it was like, but I now have a pretty great approximation of that having eaten the 6” (Gluten Free) Vegetarian Taco here at this as-yet undisclosed purveyor of fine Mexican dining (it was $5). I’ve never really known fear
while eating. I guess it would be a similar rush while eating the flesh of the Fugu Fish knowing that it could be your very last meal on this earth; but here I was attempting to navigate a terrain of flavours on the bland to sour end of the flavour spectrum, all the while attempting to avoid not chewing the shards of White Hominy into a fine dust so that one didn’t rupture my esophagus and cause massive internal bleeding and ultimately death.² Fortunately, a deus ex machine arrived here in Fonda Mexican in the form of D’angelo’s meditation on karma: ‘Spanish Joint’ being played so loud it was sheer pleasure over the restaurant’s very sub-bass capable PA. Never before had I so needed the soothing harmonies of D’angelo. In fact, I’ve probably never wanted or needed anything more in my whole life than to leave the restaurant the moment the song ended. Alas, like a slave shackled to the tree of obligation, I simply sat there and gnawed at hopes for a quiet meal in a nice restaurant with people I give a damn about and traded what was left of my will that night for a dangerously sharp taco and an actually not so bad ear of charred corn; because heroism, as I am forced out of self-preservation to perceive it here, is ineluctably tied to suffering. ¹ A lifestyle spent reading food packets and thinking ethically about things I’d rather just shrug off but, for reasons therapy is yet to uncover, I can’t. ² In hindsight, it might have been an okay idea to order the 6” (Gluten Free) Blowfish Taco available on the menu and taken my chances with the possibility of tetrodotoxin entering my system and numbing my lips and tongue ahead of consuming the dreaded 6” (Gluten Free) Vegetarian Taco.
After 11 years, bassist Andrew Seward has announced his departure from Against Me! Drummer Jay Weinberg left the band in December last year, so are they really still the same band? Opinion is understandably divided. Their new album Transgender Dysphoria Blues – in the works for a year now – is yet to see the light of day. Remember the FEST festival I mentioned in a recent issue? Well, they’ve added even MORE amazing bands to the lineup: Samiam, Cobra Skulls, Nothington, Weekend Dads, Lemuria and Dillinger Four. The event has now been extended and will be happening over the course of SIX DAYS. I kid you not. This Halloween. Gainesville, Florida. Be there – if you can afford it. Black Flag have issued their first new single in over 27 years. ‘Down in the Dirt’ is out now. You know you can’t resist, and if you can, there’s probably something wrong with you. Speaking of new singles, party-punkska blokes Less Than Jake have just posted a music video for their song, ‘Your Girlfriend Sucks’. Make Do and Mend and The Flatliners have teamed up to release a split 7” through Rise Records. Two brand new songs a piece – don’t miss it! Don’t forget, Youth of Today are heading our way in July – featuring original vocalist Ray
Cappo and guitarist John Porcelly! Miss it, and miss out. Brisbane punk/ grunge heroes The Unprettier have thankfully found a new drummer after the surprise departure of skinsman Bobby Squidington. The band has a split 7” with Hopes Abandoned on the way. Motley Crüe has announced plans to do one last world tour before permanently breaking up in late 2014. Um, okay! Still no word on FLAG or Black Flag Australian tour dates. Obviously Europe, Japan and America are far more lucrative markets – but come on, we’re hanging! I kind of suspect one of them will end up doing the Big Day Out. In crazy tour news, Sublime, featuring new singer Rome, will be headlining their own US tour this summer with Pennywise as special guests. On select dates, the Descendents will be the opening act. Surely somebody has got this backto-front. Shouldn’t it be the Descendents, with special guests Pennywise and openers Sublime? This does NOT sit right with me. Until next time, kids, read a book (I heartily recommend and endorse FLY by Ann Witherall); see a movie that DOESN’T star Tom Cruise; go to a museum; turn off the television; do SOMETHING. It’s time to wake up and make the most of the time you have left.
So, the other day I turned on my Xbox to have a bit of a Dead Space 3 session, when what did I stumble upon? The Revolver Golden Gods Awards 2013 being streamed on Xboxes across the world. In case you don’t know what the Golden Gods awards are, they’re an awards ceremony for heavy metal (and hard rock) artists. So I logged onto Twitter and got comfy and ready for an awesome arvo of golden statues being handed out to metal bands. Shit yeah! Apart from a few spats on Twitter between myself (being called a “hater”) and some “metal fans”, the ceremony was pretty good. Until Halestorm came on to play three songs. Halestorm are the sort of band you’d see on Eurovision that would have lost to Lordi that year. Confusingly enough, Arejay Hale from Halestorm took out the ‘Best Drummer’ gong. How Arejay beat, say Vinnie Paul or god forbid Joey Jordison, is beyond me. Then there’s a band called Black Veil Brides (BVB); dunno if you’ve heard of ‘em coz I hadn’t until then. They took out the award for ‘Song of the Year’ for ‘In the End’, which isn’t a Linkin Park cover, but some weird emo cross pop-punk bullocks. The ‘Best Vocalist’ award went to Cory Taylor and the award for ‘Most Dedicated Fans’ when to HIM. Slipknot got ‘Best Live Band’ honours and ‘Comeback of the Year’ went to Tenacious D. Now, I don’t know about you, but those artists mentioned above don’t seem terribly metal. Sure, Slipknot are always going to draw fans, and pop bands such as BVB will take out an award only to plunge into obscurity next year. And I didn’t even know HIM still had fans. And I didn’t even
know Tenacious D was still a thing. The ‘Paul Gray Best Bassist Award’ went to Lemmy, which gave the whole affair a touch of sincerity and truth. You see, the problem with the Golden Gods is that it’s up to music fans to vote for the winners, kinda like the Most Popular categories in The Logies – and we all know how that turns out. BVB are pretty active on Twitter and have over 1 million followers spread across the band and its members, which means whenever BVB are to be nominated for anything, their BVBarmy will unite to get their pretty-boi tattooed fashionistas across the line. Fans of bands such as BVB, Halestorm and, for example, Avenged Sevenfold, can go around bashing pop stars (and they do) until the cowbells come home, but in all reality these kids bagging out pop stars are at the same time making their “metal” bands pop stars. Ahhh, teenage hypocrisy: it’s a zany thing. While there are shitloads of killer metal bands out there with more of a focus on music and less of a focus on Twitter, it’s sad that they’ll be the ones left scratching their heads with the rest of us asking, ‘What happened to metal, man?’ Maybe we’re not ready for fan-voted awards. Metal needs peervoted awards, and that has never been more evident than the other day when BVB accepted their award with all the grace of a kid who cut himself too many times while wanking over his own profile pic featuring his new BVB-inspired hairstyle and tatts. If you have any news about local metal bands, shows or albums, let THTH know by emailing to tooheavytohug@ hotmail.com or get in touch via Twitter at @ TooHeavyToHug
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tweet of the week
ADEM WITH AN E'S
WORLD TOUR DIARIES: PT I Second support, Australia’s very own 5 Seconds of Summer, turn out to be a welcome surprise after the eardrum-bursting horror of Camryn only minutes earlier. But I’m not here for this. In less than an hour of support, the lights finally go out and the rumbles of pre-pubescent girls (and some boys who were clearly representing the Gays of the Future) take over the stadium. One by one the boys motion onto the stage; very surreal. No matter how many concerts I’ve gone to, I still get amazed by the location of a really bloody good seat. Practically on the stage with only eight rows separating myself from Niall and his mates, all my boyband dreams come true when Niall takes notice of my homemade t-shirt bearing his face and then proceeds to give me a very genuine and incredibly heterosexual thumbs up. Totally worth it. After a near two-hour show of boyband excellence, I was left with over 200 photos of Niall on my camera and one of the longest train rides back to London on record, which had me back at my hotel three hours after it was supposed to. Let it also be known that somewhere along the way back home from the concert, jetlag decided to smack me in the face and was showing no mercy. Less than two days to try and shake it before Paris...
FEBRUARY 28th
MARCH 4th
Landing in London after a long flight, I walk into the first of many moments I will be ripped off by a taxi service. 60 GBP later, I check into my serviced apartment in Heathrow and head off on a 15 minute near-argument with my telecommunications company back home. Then I rug up and catch the Tube (for the very first time) to Piccadilly Circus for one helluva bargain-spree at the nearby closing down HMV. Purchases of importance: Madonna Tote Bag, a Yoko Ono mug and three Girls Aloud CD singles.
Slowly dying on the Eurostar, I begin the near two-hour train trip to Paris. As I arrive, I get ripped off by a taxi driver but make it safely to my room at the Australian Embassy, which has the most magnificent view of the Eiffel Tower that it’s almost unbelievable and alarmingly too surreal for me to process. There are two reasons I’m here in Paris: the first is Liza Minnelli, and the second is Jim Morrison. Euro Disney seems like something that needs to be done too.
MARCH 1st
After bum-rushing her to the window of her car, here is my actual real-life face-to-face conversation with Liza Minnelli which happened after her flawless concert:
MARCH 2nd After a late night at the O2, there wasn’t much time for me to gather my bearings the following morning and hop on a train to Wales, but my impending eighth-row-from-the-front date with the boys from One Direction was not something I was going to pass up. If anything, it just made the delirium even more chaotic. After several hours roaming through a very aesthetically different countryside of England, I arrive in Cardiff and venture down to the venue’s entrance. Greeted with the deafening roar of a few thousand teenage girls, I grasp onto my Niall Horan facemask with gusto and head into the venue; only to be “treated” to the truly horrendous support act, Camryn. A relatively unknown American (and with good
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MARCH 5th
ME: “Liza! I’ve come all the way from Australia!” LIZA: “Ohhh Darrrrling, I hope it was worth it!” Paris is fucking amazing.
MARCH 6th So, Euro Disney is a complete crock of shit. I spent 95% of the five hours I was there waiting in a line of some sort, and the other 5% fending off pesky locals trying to scam me at any given opportunity. And how exactly is it humanly possible to have to wait nearly a full 60 minutes in line just to order some food? Euro Disney may have been a colossal disaster, but the only good thing about it was that at least I got to smoke as many cigarettes as I damn well pleased whilst there. The novelty of being able to smoke cigarettes AT A CHILDREN’S THEME PARK was not lost on me. Paris – Still amazing, although at this point I am gagging to get back to London.
MARCH 7th Jumping into a taxi, I head toward my final destination in France: living the lifelong Parisian dream of coming face-to-face with the final resting place of Jim Morrison at Père Lachaise Cemetery.
Since I was a child, and my beloved aunty introduced me to the magical world of The Doors, I’d always dreamed of paying my respects to The Lizard King by his iconic and infamous grave. After spending nearly an hour by his side, smoking a cigarette with a guy from Atlanta (who’d just gotten off a plane and headed straight to Jim), and swigging red wine with a couple of Bulgarian girls also paying their respects, I finally take a small tour of the remains of this gorgeous, stunning and highly-gothic cemetery. In doing so, I (albeit very intentionally) then pay further respects to two more pop cultural greats: Oscar Wilde and Édith Piaf. The Lachaise Holy Trinity; it was definitely an oddly life-affirming experience. After some traditional French cuisine at a cute little café around the corner from Père Lachaise, I make my way toward the train station en route back to London, well and truly ready for an obligatory 6 hours sleep.
HIT OR SHIT!
MARCH 8th After a (reasonably) restful 24 hours back in London, it was back to a no-excuses schedule – and more flights. Venturing to Piccadilly Circus to catch the Spice Girls musical Viva Forever on the West End may seem like a joyous celebratory event to be attending whilst in London, but the sad fact of the show being terribly undercooked and almost unwatchable dampens the excitement of being there. Unable to cope with the musical’s “storyline”, I call a cab 30 minutes before the show even comes to an end and head for Heathrow Airport. Stuff the Spice Girls musical; I’ve got a late night flight to Glasgow to catch and a date with six of my favourite drag queens of all time. America’s Willam (RuPaul’s Drag Race), Detox, Vicky Vox, Coco Ferocha, Isis Mirage and Guillotina Munter welcomed me with open arms into the cute little Scottish Gay Club called Menergy; with all of the Queens going above and beyond the call of duty and each taking time to not only chat with me, but to also extend their gratitude toward my unwavering support of their careers. An amazing night of drag performances ensued, including Willam, Detox and Vicky belting out their hugely successful hit singles, ‘Chow Down (at Chick Fil’ A)’ and ‘Boy Is A Bottom’, and the trio’s massive parody of Alicia Keys’ ‘Girl On Fire’. Drawing to a close at around 2AM, I head back to my swish hotel room – the first and only swish hotel room I will encounter on my entire trip – and pass out on the four-poster bed.
ALASKA THUNDERFUCK Perhaps only a runner-up in this year’s battle for Next Drag Superstar on RuPaul’s Drag Race, but absolutely the only finalist worthy of the title. We loved Jinkx Monsoon, but that crown doesn’t belong to her.
SHARON NEEDLES & ALASKA THUNDERFUCK What could have been Drag’s very first Royal Family was not meant to be … until All Stars, perhaps?
ALYSSA EDWARDS She may have been turfed from the competition early on but it’s obvious Alyssa, like Willam last year, is the unofficial winner of Drag Race this season. Look out for Edwards’ new reality series next year, which is being produced by Mamma RuPaul.
JINKX MONSOON We love you Jinkx but, based on your efforts on the show, you are not America’s Next Drag Superstar, and Ru has very much gotten it wrong.
MARCH 9th
ROXXXY ANDREWS
Waking up with a hangover right out of the Hellmouth, I check out of my hotel and head towards the end of the street to tackle a Scottish breakfast. Literally on the way I pass a Record Fayre; which then magically took almost one hundred pounds from me in what was like some kind of hypnotic shopping trance I barely remember anything of. In return, this blackout gives me a plethora of classic Madonna 7” vinyl singles and some Liza Minnelli cassettes. Not a bad morning’s work at all really.
In your dreams, gurl.
Make sure you grab next fortnight’s copy of FORTE for the final part in Adem’s European Tour Diary. By Adem with an E.
THE VOICE They should just rename it The Bland.
SHIT!
Queuing out the front of London’s O2 Arena at approximately 4:30PM for the early entry ticket line to Girls Aloud sees me battle with intense levels of excitement, delirium and bewilderment. Finally, just hours away from my front-row-moment with the Girls, it was at this point I was refusing jetlag to rear its ugly head; and thought I’d very nearly avoided it all together. Naturally, the Aloud show was the greatest pop concert I’ve ever been to (sorry Gaga!) and I returned to my temporary residence in London full of emotion and without a voice.
reason), Camryn made it her personal mission to ruin not only Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Stronger’, but also Rihanna’s ‘We Found Love’ – which she not only ruined but turned into a messy faux-metal abortion.
@ben_atar with one of the Twittospheres many tweets about Our Beloved Chrissy still pouring in.
HIT
On February 27th, 2013, I embarked on a whirlwind tour of the United Kingdom, Europe and a smidge of Asia. Regular Splinters readers will know the main objective behind this trip was to finally see Girls Aloud perform live in the flesh. So in early December I purchased two tickets to see the Mighty Aloud; one for their first London show and admittance to their final show which was in Liverpool and, coincidentally, would turn out to be their very last performance together as Girls Aloud. The trip that would begin to unfold in my months of planning no longer based itself purely on the reunion tour of the greatest girl band of our generation. As my bank balance began to dwindle, I found myself gearing up for a holiday with not only Girls Aloud, but also One Direction, Liza Minnelli, Olivia Newton-John, a viewing of the Spice Girls musical Viva Forever and a trip to Glasgow to hang out with six of my favourite Drag Queens. The thing that was, perhaps, the most significant point of the holiday, was that it was my first time ever departing Australia. Not only that, it would ensure a lifelong wish of getting my behind to the United Kingdom before my 30th birthday – just in the nick of time. But what of the trip’s outcome? Let’s take a squizz at Part 1 of the personal diary entries I made all across the globe during my sold-out, non-stop European-Pop tour.
“ Growing up in Geelong and knowing that Chrissy Amphlett was also born there used to give this boy in town hope.”
WHAT'S NEW!? A
Iggy & The Stooges – Ready To Die
B
Australian DJ duo Knife Party are back with the follow-up to the Rage Valley EP, Haunted House. This EP features three new tracks and a remix of their hit, ‘Internet Friends’. Available now on Warner.
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Rudimental – Home
UK drum and bass outfit Rudimental have finally dropped their debut album, Home. It was the triple j feature album a couple of weeks ago, which should have given it a lot of good publicity. Available now on Warner. D
Sleeping With Sirens – Feel Out
Orlando post-hardcore quintet, Sleeping With Sirens, are releasing their new album Feel Out at the end of the month. This is the band’s third LP, and it promises to be a big one. Available May 31 on Rise Records.
A
It’s been thirteen years since The Dandy Warhols released Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia, and it seems like that coincidence was too much to let pass. So they’ve released a special two-disc edition of their classic album. Available June 7 on EMI. E
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Andrew Stockdale – Keep Moving
Forever doomed to have the second-most famous afro in Australian music – the most famous being Guy Sebastian’s in his Idol days – unfortunately, Andrew Stockdale has dumped his band and gone solo. Available June 7 on Universal.
Altitude – Self Titled EP
Geelong band Altitude has just released their first EP digitally. They’re a garagerock four-piece with a great sound. Check out our review section for more, and keep an eye on Forte to see when they’re launching the physical version. Available now on SoundCloud.
Kingswood – Change Of Heart
Kingswood’s debut EP, Change of Heart, is awesome – as is their double single, ‘She’s My Baby/Wolf’. This deluxe edition of the Change of Heart EP combines the two (and adds two more tracks), leaving us with a rock and roll-saving double EP. Available now on Capgun Kids.
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Bring Me The Horizon – Sempiternal
Bring Me The Horizon are back with their fourth album, Sempiternal. This is the UK metal giant’s first release since the single ‘Alligator Blood’ was released in late 2011. There’s a review for it later in this issue too. Available now on Sony.
Surfer Blood – Pythons
Another band playing Splendour 2013, Surfer Blood are releasing another album just in time for the festival (and sideshows). Pythons is the band’s second album. With the critical acclaim their debut Astro Coast got, this one is sure to be a
Dialectrix – The Cold Light of Day
The Sydney MC is back with his third LP on Obese. He’s teamed up with Plutonic Labs and DJ 2Buck to record this one, with a few other artists as guest vocalists, including Def Wish. Available May 24 on Obese Records.
I was as shocked as you were that OMD are on this list. However, don’t get your hopes up. This is a DVD/ Blu-Ray release of a 2007 tour. It’s got all the hits on it. Available now on Shock Records.
Pet Shop Boys – Electric
Legendary English synthpop duo Pet Shop Boys are back with their twelfth studio album, Electric. Electric is the follow-up to last year’s Elysium and will be the first album released on their own label, x2. Available July 12.
G
OMD – Architecture, Morality & More
The Dandy Warhols – Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia
She & Him – Volume 3
Zooey Deschanel and M Ward are back with another release. It’s actually their fourth album, as on top of Volumes 1 & 2 there is A Very She & Him Christmas. Available now independently on iTunes.
New Zealand soul band Fat Freddy’s Drop is back with their third album, Blackbird. They’ve toured the world, with 412 shows in Europe, 27 Australian tours and 300+ shows in their homeland, so you know they’re the real deal. They’re also playing Splendour In The Grass this year. Available June 28th on Remote Control.
Knife Party – Haunted House
I’m sure there is a fair contingent of you that assumed Iggy Pop was already dead. But no, the Grandfather of Punk is still alive and still gyrating on a stage somewhere. This is the band’s fifth studio album – although it is Iggy’s twenty-second. Available now on Fat Possum.
must-have. Available June 14 on Warner.
Fat Freddy’s Drop – Blackbird
I
Lenka - Shadows
Former Decoder Ring vocalist Lenka is back with her third solo album, Shadows. There’s a review for it later in the issue, so you should flip forward and check that out. Available May 31 on INgrooves
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the barwon club
elephant and castle hotel
the barwon club
the barwon club
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geelong rsl
geelong rsl
elephant and castle hotel
beav's bar
elephant and castle hotel
home house
the edge
home house
the edge
home house
home house
the max hotel
the max hotel
cq
the max hotel
cq
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Whispers for Jack
eureka hotel
eureka hotel
irish murphys
eureka hotel
Celebrating the music of John Farnham with a tribute show & dinner option The Pier Geelong Friday 24th May, 6.30pm eureka hotel
— Tickets — Early Bird: $65 (2 Course Dinner & Show) $29 (Show Only) May 1 onwards: $75 (2 Course Dinner & Show) $39 (Show Only)
slate pool lounge
slate pool lounge
irish murphys
black hatt
black hatt
black hatt
— Support from 4 Letter Lies — Tickets available from The Pier and Music Work Shop The Pier Geelong | Cunningham Pier 10 Western Beach Foreshore Road, Geelong VIC 3220 (03) 5222 6444 | events@thepiergeelong.com.au www.thepiergeelong.com.au
The Pier Geelong
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@CunninghamPier
chinese whispers
chinese whispers
chinese whispers
lambys
chinese whispers
lambys
lambys
lambys
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FILM REVIEWS
Star Trek Into Darkness by anthony morris
J.J. Abrams reboot of the Star Trek franchise worked for a lot of reasons, but the one that’s been most overlooked is the fact that no-one was really expecting all that much. Star Trek was always a much-loved franchise, but it was a running joke that every second movie was a mess. Once there were two duds back-to-back, and the television series had all ended or fizzled out leaving them with no-one new to replace Picard and company, Paramount pulled the pin. So all Abrams really had to do was scrape off a few decades worth of gunk, play up the elements everyone knew already worked – the Spock / Kirk pairing is classic odd couple; Bones saying “dammit Jim” in the background – cover the joins with lens flares and mission accomplished; which might explain why this new outing, while fun for a while, falls apart the second you pay the slightest attention to anything. For example: we open with Kirk (Chris Pine) and Bones (Karl Urban) fleeing a bunch of tribesmen on an alien planet. Turns out they and Spock (Zachary Quinto) are violating Starfleet’s Prime Directive (don’t interfere with other planets) in order to save the tribesmen. It’s fun action and classic Star Trek; even when they return to Earth, Spock puts in a far-too-truthful report and Kirk gets demoted to second officer under his old mentor Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood). None of which matters in the slightest as a rogue Starfleet operative (Benedict Cumberbatch) blows up Starfleet’s London archives, then hides out in a deserted stretch of the Klingon homeworld. Admiral Marcus (Peter Weller) wants Kirk to take the Enterprise to just outside the Neutral Zone and fire fancy new photon torpedoes to kill him from a distance. Kirk isn’t about killing people without a trial (take that, Obama’s drone strikes!), so he takes a team down to the Klingon homeworld to take the terrorist alive; which leads to a fist-fight with Klingons that you’d expect to spark a war, only none of that matters either because now the movie is … well, anything further would be a spoiler – especially if you’ve never seen The Wrath of Khan. The action is solid but generic – seriously, you do not finish off a Star Trek film with a punch-up atop a flying truck – and the characters increasingly feel like parodies, but as a thrill-ride things move fast enough to keep you firmly entertained until the end credits. Just don’t expect to remember anything the next morning.
The Place Beyond the Pines
Spring Breakers The story of Spring Breakers is pretty simple; and don’t worry if you think you missed anything, because pretty much everything is shown at least twice. Seriously, there’s about 50 minutes of original footage here and roughly about the same length of voice over, but director Harmony Korine manages to turn it into a 90 minute film by showing a lot of the footage twice (or more) while changing the voice-over. So, after we get a bunch of slo-mo music video shots of partying youth (ladies, bikini tops are not essential) dancing to the soothing sounds of Skrillex just to make sure we get the idea that Spring Break symbolises the most amazing time ever, we meet our four heroines. They’re living for spring break; but partying hard takes money which they do not have. Obviously armed robbery is the solution to this particular problem, and while the religious one (Selena Gomez) isn’t totally on board with crime, you’ve got to get the money for spring break somehow, right? The other three – Candy (Vanessa Hudgens), Brit (Ashley Benson) and Cotty (Rachel Korine) – promptly hold up a local restaurant in one of this film’s few sequences that isn’t just a bunch of pretty images with some voice-over about how amazingly moving Spring Break is, and then it’s off to, you guessed it, Spring Break. Much poolside and street partying takes place, usually with a voice-over explaining that Spring Break is “the most spiritual place I’ve ever been” and “Grandma, I think you’d love it here”, then the police turn up and it’s off to jail in bikinis and handcuffs. While they don’t have money for bail, local drug dealer and would-be rapper Alien (“my names Al, but I’m not from this planet”) conveniently turns up to bail out his henchmen and he throws some bail money their way. Alien is played by James Franco, and he sinks his teeth into the role of a dim-witted gangsta with admirable (and extremely funny) gusto. This is pretty much a failure as any kind of shocking look into the depraved world of today’s youth. It probably won’t even dent the Disney-sweet reputations of its actresses. But as a garish candy-coloured exploration of a certain kind of dim-witted mindset, or as an exploration of the drive to erase yourself in a good time, this kind of works in an art-house way. In other words, your average four-minute hip hop video does it all – and better.
Snitch Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is usually the best thing in the movies he’s in, and not just because he often appears in some pretty average movies. His problem is that while he has the physique of an action star, he never quite comes across as the ruthless neck-snapping machine that, say, Jason Statham is; there’s a core of, for lack of a better word, “niceness” there that means his best action role to date (in the last Fast & Furious film) worked largely because he came off as a guy just doing his job. He’s just not plausible as a guy taking out the bad guys because he’s an angry killer, which goes some way towards explaining the somewhat convoluted nature of Snitch. When his son (who’s basically a good kid, naturally) is set up by his scuzzy best friend to accept a package full of drugs that the DEA is tracing, tracking magnate John Matthews (Johnson) discovers that the criminal justice system is built around people snitching on other people, and as his son is at the end of the chain (he doesn’t know anyone to snitch on), he’s the one who’ll be doing all the jail time. Because Matthews is the best dad ever – he’s divorced from the mother, because obviously none of this would have gone down under his roof – he cuts a deal with the slimy “tough-on-crime” DA (Susan Sarandon): he’ll use his ability to shift drugs around easily via his trucks to get inside the organisation of local hood Malik (The Wire’s Michael Kenneth Williams). Things quickly spiral out of control, and not just for ex-con employee Daniel James (The Walking Dead’s Jon Bernthal), who Matthews drags back into the criminal life to get an introduction to Malik; the Mexican cartel want Matthew’s trucks to shift their drugs and money around, and the DA’s more than happy to let him get in way over his head. Johnson is surprisingly plausible as an average man walking a dangerous tightrope (considering he looks like he could punch down a house), and though it’s hardly a well-crafted tale of suspense, it’s certainly effective both during the various confrontations and the occasional bursts of violent action. The big problem here is the tone, which shifts markedly from the early scenes (which seem a surprisingly harsh and nuanced attack on the way people are forced further into crime to avoid jail) towards the all-action ending that glosses over earlier concerns. But actually being about something is a problem a lot of action films would kill to have.
Iron Man 3: Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) has issues after all the action in The
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The Hunt Lucas (Mads Mikkelsen) is a temp teacher at a small Danish primary school. He’s struggling to make ends meet after a bitter divorce that cost him his regular teaching job, and things take a steep turn for the worse when the young daughter of one of his friends accuses him of exposing himself to her. Unlike many films of its type, there’s no mystery around what happened: she’s making it up to get back at him for a perceived slight, and the adults around her are all too ready to build on her story until Lucas finds himself an outcast, shut off from his community by a wall of lies that builds even after the young girl takes back her story. This scathing look at small town life never really points a finger at who’s to blame for the nightmare Lucas’ life becomes. Everyone is just playing their part and trying to do right, even the bullies and the bored locals. It’s Mikkelsen’s performance that really brings all this together, holding together the film’s webs of half-spoken suspicion and underlining the ever-growing burden that’s placed on his shoulders. The Hunt is a film that’ll stay with you for a long time. It’s one of the most powerful films you’ll see this year.
The Call Six months after messing up an emergency call that resulted in a teenage girl being kidnapped and killed, Los Angeles 911 operator Jordan Turner (Halle Berry) is still too shattered to go back on the front line answering calls. But while taking the group of newbies she’s training around the call centre, another teenager (Abigail Breslin) makes a desperate call, this time from the boot of her kidnapper’s car. Turner is the only one who can handle it, but will she manage to get it right this time? And even if she does do everything right, is that going to be enough to save the teenager from someone who – as becomes painfully clear as the film goes on – will stop at nothing to ensure he gets away with his prize? There are no prizes on offer for guessing how this extremely predictable story plays out, but that doesn’t mean the first two thirds of this thriller aren’t gripping. Director Brad Anderson (Transsiberian, The Machinist) keeps things simple and efficient here (which is always a good way to go with this kind of film), though there are a few oddball touches towards the end when things take a turn for the murder dungeon. The film’s middle stretch, where Turner advises the kidnapee on ways to figure out her location and signal for help while the police search LA’s highways and the kidnapper (Michael Eklund) becomes increasingly desperate in his escape attempts, is as good as you could ask for in a thriller. Sadly the ending, where Turner heads out to investigate the crime scene in person, is both inevitable and very, very silly.
Evil Dead
FILM WRAP Olympus Has Fallen: When evil North Koreans attack the White House just when everyone important happens to be inside, it’s up to Gerard Butler to use everything he learnt from watching Die Hard and save the day. Caution: everyone else in this movie is really stupid.
When motorcycle stunt rider Luke (Ryan Gosling) discovers he has a child from a one-night stand from the last time his circus came to town, he man’s up and does the right thing. He quits the circus, and tells his baby mama (Eva Mendes) he’s going to take care of his child and be a part of his life. She’s a bit more cautious, as she currently has a partner who they live with, so Luke figures the way to win her over is by being a provider. And, according to his boss (Ben Mendelsohn) at the shoddy garage where he works, that means robbing banks. That kind of lifestyle works fine until it doesn’t, at which point we’re introduced to beat cop Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper), who soon discovers that his local force is riddled with corruption and decides to turn that to his advantage. That’s far from the end of the story, as Luke and Avery’s lives find yet another way to intertwine over the years; but the surprise as to how things unfold is a lot of the pleasure to be had in this crime drama that’s both a series of standalone tales and a look at how lives unfold over the years. It’s a little rough around the edges – the scale of both Luke and Avery’s crime dramas seem slightly unlikely for a small town – but a string of great performances (all variations on “sullen but deeply feeling men willing to do what they think needs to be done”) more than makes up for any loose storytelling. This is a must for crime fans and drama fans; as for fans of Gosling, well, a little goes a long way here.
Avengers, so having to deal with super-terrorist The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) and a sleaze (Guy Pearce) hitting on his girl (Gwyneth Paltrow) makes for a pretty full schedule. Oh yeah, there’s a bunch of explosions and he flies around a lot in a robot suit. Drift: It’s the 1970s, and a bunch of Western Australian surfies decided to take on all comers (including an
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evil bank manager) to live out their dream of getting rich off affordable surf-wear. Oh, there’s also evil bikies here. And some decent big wave surfing. The Big Wedding: There’s a wedding, it’s big, there’s an all-star cast of slightly-faded and shabby names (Robin Williams?) and the comedy is not exactly on the cutting edge. Whatever your age, it’s the kind of
thing that your mum would like. Oblivion: Aliens blew up the moon, there was a war, humanity won, but the planet is now a wreck and only Tom Cruise gets to fly around repairing the giant machines left behind. But are things what they seem? Hopefully not, because they don’t seem that interesting. Nice visuals though.
Four friends drive out to a cabin in the woods to help a fifth, Mia (Jane Levy), as she promises to “play cold turkey” in an attempt to break her drug addiction; which actually makes sense as a reason to be holed up in a rundown cabin in the woods, but you’re not watching an Evil Dead movie for the narrative logic. No, you’re here for scenes like the one where Mia says to her brother, “Promise me you’ll stay with me until the end” and he says, “Cross my heart and hope to die”; because you know that kind of thing is not going to end well and may involve an electric carving knife. Sam Raimi’s original Evil Dead has a well-deserved reputation for being something of an endurance test, which is why Evil Dead 2 – which is basically a remake, only even more insane and played much more for laughs – is generally considered to be the better film. But being seen as an endurance test can be a big plus for a horror movie; the equivalent of a haunted house people have to be dared to enter, and where having survived it is a badge of honour. So clearly the idea here wasn’t so much to create a film that works as a story about characters you care about, but a film that works as a succession of increasingly gory and insane sights (and yes, you should stick around through the end credits). On that level this delivers. And while this really is little more than a bunch of people screaming a lot before tearing off their own limbs and maybe eating a chainsaw, it does all that pretty well.
MUSIC REVIEWS
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Bring Me The Horizon Sempiternal Sony
cultu By An th on
y M or ri s
If you’re someone who goes to the movies, you might have noticed that suddenly your choice of movies has expanded to include movies you may have actually heard of before entering the cinema. It’s hardly a secret – but it’s not exactly the kind of thing people spend much time thinking about either – that movies have seasons much like, well, the Earth. Only they don’t have names because really, who’s going to name the seasons at your local cinema? Especially when “crap” and “not quite as crap” pretty much covers it. Anyway, the seasons work like this: from around the end of November through until around the end of January you get a fun mix of big Christmas movies and quality Oscar hopefuls (if you want an Oscar you have to be released before the Oscars, but if you’re released too much before the Oscars the voters forget you exist); then from then until roughly now you have what’s best referred to as “a dumping ground”, where all the obvious duds and misfires are released. Seriously, think about the last few month’s worth of films. Even the “good” ones haven’t been all that good. Die Hard 5? That Die Hard in the White House one? Tom Cruise as a futuristic repairman on a messed-up Earth? Make no mistake, it’s a great time to go to the movies, as pretty much anything can happen and Hollywood’s idea of a dud may not be yours. But while there’s loads of variety on offer, it’s pretty rare that anything released then is going to stand out; unlike the season we’ve just entered
(okay, we probably entered it with Iron Man 3 a few weeks ago, but with Star Trek Into Darkness it’s officially arrived), which is best known as “Blockbuster Season”. Every single week from now until August or so sees a big movie starting up: next week is Hangover 3, week after is The Great Gatsby, week after is Fast and Furious 6, week after is After Earth AND Epic AND The Internship (which will split the box office as their audiences don’t really overlap), week after is Monsters University and Despicable Me 2 (so it’s probably school holidays) AND World War Z (presumably for the parents), week after that is Man of Steel, week after that is The Lone Ranger, week after that is Pacific Rim, week after that is The End, week after that is The Wolverine and the week after that is August, and suddenly we’re back to movies like Red 2 and 300: Rise of an Empire that will probably be a bit iffy. Some or all of those movies might not sound like hits to you, but they sure sound like hits to Hollywood; which is why in a lot of cases they’re the only movie starting that week so they don’t rain on each others’ parade. At least it’s not a non-stop parade of sequels and spin-offs (apart from the kids movies) this year, so the movies will only just all feel the same rather than actually being the same. But who doesn’t love explosions and people being flung through the air, right? Not sure how they’ll fit that into Gatsby though…
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Alastair: Considering I’m a relative newbie to the regular comics universe (I don’t know if my years as a Manga lover count as extra experience), Free Comic Book Day is like having all my Christmases come at once. Trades are discounted, comic fans are everywhere and I walk out of my local comic shop with five free comics. What’s not to like?
Jericco Beautiful in Danger MGM Melbourne five-piece Jericco have finally released their debut studio album, Beautiful in Danger. The band already has two EPs and a live album under their belts, as well as some 300 live shows over four years, which is no mean feat for a relatively unknown band. Opening track and lead single ‘Dance Like No One’s Watching’ has a bit of a Tool vibe going for it, which is definitely a good thing, but it takes it in another direction. The vocals throughout the album have a slight Phil Jamieson tinge to them, and there are clear influences from early Grinspoon in the band’s sound which I am forever a fan of. The basslines are fairly strong throughout, especially in tracks like ‘Cigarettes and Conversations’ which just seems to be part of what makes this band sound different. This is a debut album from a band who know themselves well enough to know what they want to achieve and how they want their album to sound. Worth a buy, not just because it’s a rock album, but because it’s actually pretty good. I can see these guys getting a lot of triple j play in future, and who knows what after that. Get in at the ground floor. By Cameron Brogden
Altitude Self-titled Independent
>>>>>> By Cameron Urquhart & Alastair McGibbon
Cameron: The other week it was Free Comic Book Day, and it was the best. Not the best FCBD, but just the best of anything. It was exciting to see the local comic book store packed to the edges with giggly comic nerds. If you saw a handsome blonde man skipping down the other day it was probably me, extremely giddy at the prospect of five free comic books. Yes, five. Yes, free. Yes, comic books. That’s why they call it Free Comic Book Day (“Aha!” you exclaim, slow on the uptake). However, I’ll only be talking about my favourite three. SpongeBob Freestyle Funnies brilliantly entertained and captured the feel of the show. For this I give it six out of 5 stars, because I love me some goddamn SpongeBob SquarePants. In the first story, Patrick and SpongeBob outpaint Squidward, and in the second Plankton tries to steal the Crabby Patty formula. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I don’t know if we can talk about anything. I also picked up kaboom! Summer blast!, collecting a few kids’ stories. In this collection we had Peanuts, Ice Age, Herobear, Regular Show, Garfield and most importantly, a tremendously funny Adventure Time written by Ryan North (of Dinosaur Comics fame, that internet one with the t.rex). I laughed-out-loud so many times. If you didn’t get this for your child, or childish adult friend, you really should have. Lastly I picked up 2000AD, and every time I finished a story I thought, ‘Damn, now I have to buy a trade because that was incredible.’ Especially Judge Dredd, but Dredd is always drokkin great. I think this column may have given away the fact I’m a childish dork … And I’d hidden it so well before this.
Sheffield five-piece Bring Me The Horizon are back with their fourth album, Sempiternal. A quick word of warning, I’m not usually a fan of metal. Having said that, I can kind of see the appeal of these guys. The vocals aren’t quite as clean as I’d like though, which will probably keep it from my regular playlist. The guitars are great and the drums are heavy, which is what you expect from your metal. There’s something of an epic feel to the album; with the DragonForceesque guitar and keyboard hooks of ‘The House of Wolves’ and the chanting in ‘Empire’. I can’t help but feel an early Linkin Park, nu-metal vibe throughout the album, especially in the cleaner vocals. In fact, that probably explains why he screams so much. Even lyrically, it’s all quite reminiscent of Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory. It could be what they were going for, but I seriously hope not. Not worth my money, but I know they’ve got thousands of fans who think I’m wrong, so check it out on YouTube for yourself first. By Cameron Brogden
My picks: Bad Medicine, in which Detective Joely Huffman attempts to solve a case involving a dead guy with a missing head. Not decapitated, mind you – it’s just gone. Like, invisible gone. Needless to say, the good detective is trying to get to the bottom of this mystery. This is a good read, ending in a cliffhanger. FUBAR, a collection of war stories from throughout history – World War II, Iraq and the American Revolution, among others – with one central theme: zombies. Think Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, only this time you get to see George Washington taking down some brain-munchers. Dark Horse’s Mass Effect/R.I.P.D./Killjoys combo was an interesting mix. The Mass Effect story revolves around Jeff ‘Joker’ Moreau ‘commandeering’ the Normandy during its first test flight, and provides a great back-story to a particularly interesting character from the video game series. The Killjoys story ties in to the latest (and final) My Chemical Romance album, and expands on the world created by singer Gerard Way. While it’s an average story, it’s interesting to see the world explored further. Finally, the R.I.P.D. one-shot For Fear, They Mirror True is a great introduction to a Dark Horse series that has a movie due to be released later this year, and was the standout of my picks – definitely recommend that you pick this one up.
I’m always a sucker for a local act, and I’m always a sucker for a proper rock band. Altitude is a Geelong four-piece indie-garage rock band, so they tick all the boxes. With a sound reminiscent of The Vines or Children Collide, the band’s EP is a must-buy. It’s only available digitally from their SoundCloud page, but it’s a steal at $5 (or if you think it’s worth more, you can pay more). Opening with their first single ‘Badada’, the EP goes from strength to strength. The guitars are a little raw, which is the basis for their garage sound, the drums are great, you could actually dance to it, and the vocals are clear. Lyrically, it’s standard fare; nothing spectacular, but it’s the sound that’s interesting. ‘Badada’ is what it would sound like if The Fratellis had a better guitarist when they recorded ‘Chelsea Dagger’. There are shades of Jebediah in ‘Amnesia’, the second track – and second single – from the EP. My highlight is the closer ‘On&On’ which sounds like it’s the lovechild of The Vines and Grinspoon. It’s releases like this keeping rock and roll alive in Australia. By Cameron Brogden
book review: Fly ann witherall It’s not very often that a novel draws you in and makes you feel like a fly on the wall, watching everything unfurl before you, but that’s exactly what Ann Witherall has managed to do with FLY, her debut novel. Set in the explosive world of the mid80’s Melbourne punk/squat scene, and following the story of Agro Annie, a teenage newcomer from Adelaide desperately seeking her place in the world, FLY is all at once riveting, bleak, and captivating, depicting a world full of colourful characters and shady scumbags; chaotic gigs and amazing bands, punks and skins, friends and enemies, drugs and alcohol, bikie gangs and prostitution rackets all come together to paint an unapologetically honest picture of a world left behind in the name of progress. It’s a stark reminder that punk rock was once a vital way of life for many people unwanted by the world at large, and not just a fashion statement for kids today who think Simple Plan and Metro Station are awesome. If the follow-up books to FLY are half as good as this, we’re in for another amazing ride. For an important, authentically Australian tale of teenage desperation, this rips the head off Looking For Alibrandi and shits down its neck. And I mean that in the nicest possible way. I wish we could have studied books like THIS in high school. Highly recommended reading. by chris cruz
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grogwatch So the worst has come to pass. As I predicted a few weeks back, my new favourite ever brand of Vodka – Absolut 100 – has not only vanished from store shelves, but now seems to be unobtainable everywhere I go. What the hell? What kind of a world do we live in where you can walk around waving money and shouting, “I want to buy your product” and the answer is, “Not interested”? Oh right, this world; because this crap happens all the time. But come on. I kept on buying this stuff every chance I got, so it’s not like the support for it wasn’t out there, and yet week after week the supplies got lower and lower until now we’re at the stage that, while the Dan Murphy’s website still lists it as an actual forreal product, every single possible method of ordering the damn stuff is blocked off. I may be drunk most of the time, but I do have a bit of an idea of how the booze world works, and if you spend any time at all staring at the bottle shop shelves you soon realise that while some products are with us forever, others only last a season or two, and it’s no point grieving over the ones that were never meant to last that long; that’s right, the bottle shop is a mirror of LIFE ITSELF, and Goddammit all to Hell, they should get me to visit primary schools to explain the ways of the world to kids using just that very analogy. But meanwhile, back at the bottle shop, I’m still shit out of luck. And it’s not just that they’ve taken my favourite brand away, because I did a bit of research beforehand and it seems this particular brand of Absolut was made for duty-free sales first and foremost, so for all I know someone screwed up at the warehouse in letting Dan Murphy’s have the stuff for sale in the first place. And yes, this also means I’ll be trying to find a duty-free shop that stocks the stuff, even though I have a vague idea that duty-free shops don’t actually sell stuff to people not holding an international airline ticket. (So if anyone can give me a definitive
answer there, email me at grogwatch@yahoo. com.au.) No, as previously stated way too many times in this column, the big problem here isn’t that this specific brand of vodka has vanished from the shelves – it’s vodka, all brands taste disgusting – but that this was the only brand of vodka with a 50% alcohol content. With most vodkas being 40% or less, I think the appeal is obvious: it’s stronger! So you have to drink less of it to get drunk! And vodka tastes horrible, so you want to drink as little of it as possible! I trust that’s explained the situation fully. Now back to the problem at hand, which is that – unlike other spirits such as whiskey and gin – it’s really, really, really hard to find any kind of vodka that says more than 40% on the label. It used to be really, really, really hard to find any booze that had more than 40% going for it – apart from the legendary and presumably toxic “Polish Clear Spirit” that went at 80%, and was probably some kind of repurposed industrial cleaner. But these days if you’re willing to splash some cash, you can find the higher-end whiskeys and gins packing well over 40% if you look hard enough. So what’s your problem, you yawn? Just waste your money on one of them, get hammered at the usual rate, and spend your evenings ranting at people on the internet only to wake up the next morning to discover that not only isn’t your computer currently connected to the internet, your computer currently doesn’t even live in your house because you took it down to the Cash Converters to raise the money to pay for the ultra-expensive booze you’re now addicted to. And by the way, what’s the story with all the DVDs for sale at the Werribee Cash Converters? I was there a few weeks ago for reasons I’d rather not go into right now (but which I can assure you were not me being thrown off the train for being drunk, or even just getting off the train at the wrong station because I was drunk; so I’m glad we cleared that up). Anyway, there I was, waiting for the next train, so I figured, ‘What the hey. Let’s go to the Cash Converters and see if they’re selling any of my stuff’. Which they weren’t,
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Now, I’ve been to a lot of pawnbrokers and Cash Converters in my time, because when you spend as much money on booze as I do you have to buy pretty much everything else second hand, and I’ve gotten pretty good at picking up the subtle differences between them. Much as we all like to have a laugh at Geelong being a town that’s more like a city dump largely populated by stab-happy freaks, the Geelong Cash Converters doesn’t have all that many DVDs on sale these days. Blu-rays, sure, but ye olde DVDs are a dwindling segment of the market. And why? Because they’re just not worth the trouble; they take up space, and more importantly, they’re not worth much of anything. Maybe box sets of television shows still retain some value, and if you’re going to actually have a decently put-together DVD section (and by “decently put-together” I mean “in alphabetical order”), then it’s worthwhile for a store to still have them to get people coming in to have a browse. But if you’ve just got piles of old movies stacked in any old order, you’re talking about a Cash Converters that is targeting a segment of the community that is more interested in coming in to sell stuff than coming in to buy. Put another way, I’m guessing the customers are bringing in wheelbarrows full of DVDs looking for cash faster than the staff can put them in order, which would also explain the crazy high prices. If you’re a Cash Converters and you’re selling DVDs that have “ex-rental” stickers on them, you’re pushing your luck hard asking for anything over five dollars. And box sets of TV shows could maybe go for twenty bucks max if you’re talking some awesome show that’s also kinda rare – and by that I mean that first series of Underbelly they still can’t legally sell in Victoria. And yet, from my reading of the store, the prices weren’t cheap and the selection wasn’t good; yet they had so much stuff on the shelves they couldn’t fit it all in, and yet they priced it like it was gold. Final verdict: I bought nothing and continued on my way to the nearest bottle shop. Which, like every other bottle shop in Victoria, did not stock Absolut 100.
is gone it’s gone – as I learnt a decade ago with the now vanished but amazingly good Suntory Vodka (no, not that Ice crap they used to sell in the small bottles, the good stuff that came in a square bottle with a willow tree pattern on it and dammit, I promised myself I wasn’t going to cry); (b) turn my attentions to the few whiskeys and gins that are available at around 45% or so alcohol content, even though they cost a metric shitload of cash and probably aren’t really worth it; or (c) just go back to the regular old vodka and make up in quantity what I’m losing in quality? Obviously the last option is the one that makes more sense, or it would if I had anything else going on in my life. But, considering that searching for booze is pretty much the only thing that keeps me from lying around on any flat surface I can find drinking the stuff, it’s probably not a bad idea to keep some element of “the search” alive just to keep me alive. And if this search involves me staggering from one bottle shop to the next, constantly pestering bored and uninterested staff about the technical details of alcohol that, for all they care could just say, “it’ll get you drunk” in the fine print on the label; always on the lookout for the small independent stores that just might still have some old stock; only ever finding the soulless big chains that treat booze as just something you stack high and sell cheap; even occasionally blundering into wine shops where the snooty staff seem to think that being able to describe their plonk using a variety of completely bullshit made-up terms that in no way accurately describes the acid-tasting swill they’re peddling to snooty wankers; then, well, how is that going to be different from any other Tuesday? Tony “Werribee’s not so bad really once you realise you’re going home to Geelong” Montana.
So, at the time of writing, I have a dilemma. Should I (a) continue my no doubt futile quest for my dream drink, because let’s face it, when booze
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THE FORTE
VOX
so again, glad we cleared that up. But what they were selling – and I assume, are continuing to sell because there’s no way they could have cleared those shelves without a bulldozer – were DVDs. Row upon row, shelf upon shelf of DVDs.
What is your favourite movie of all time?
Liam Matthew
Mark Seymour
John Waller
Van Walker
Luke McNamara
(Fourteen Nights at Sea)
(Handsome Guy)
(Second Hand Heart)
(Livingstone Daisies)
(editor of Forte Magazine)
‘Withnail and I’
‘Million Dollar Baby’
‘Donnie Darko’
‘An American Werewolf in London’
‘Home Alone’
Great acting by Richard Griffiths.
Given its advances of technology at the time.
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