Forte #600

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sleep w ave “We're stoked! I’ve been quietly pushing for us to be on the tour for a while, and we’re very very excited.” pg.23

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REVOLUTION

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THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM

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SPECIAL EDITION

FEB/MAR

2015

DAY ONE • SATURDAY 21 FEBRUARY

SLASH MARILYN MANSON FALL OUT BOY JUDAS PRIEST GODSMACK ALL TIME LOW PAPA ROACH OF MICE & MEN ESCAPE THE FATE APOCALYPTICA LAGWAGON TONIGHT ALIVE CROSSFAITH BUTCHER BABIES CONFESSION THE SWELLERS CONDITIONS COLDRAIN KING 810 DAYSHELL THIS WILD LIFE

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in this issue:

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Anthony Morris, Adem Ali, Alastair McGibbon, Amanda Sherring, Cameron Brogden, Chris Cruz, Chris Lambie, Daniel Lock, Jessica Alves, Dr John Lamp, Madelin Baldwin, Montana Agustin, Natalie Rogers, Paul S Taylor, Sue Rawkins, Tex Miller, Wylie Caird, Xavier Fenell, Tony Montana printed by

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t h e l a t e s t n a t i o n a l & INTERNATIONAL music & enterta inment ne w s

It’s All Happening for Gang of Four By the time March rolls around next year, fans of Gang of Four should be feeling pretty good. The Leeds postpunk outfit is currently working on a new album, What Happens Next, their first release since 2011’s Content. Word has it that The Kills’ Alison Mosshart will appear on several tracks, including lead single ‘Broken Talk’. Big Pink’s Robbie Furze is another of the album’s guests.

I Call Your Bluff

Summertime with Angus & Julia Siblings Angus and Julia Stone wish to spend a little of their summer with you.

Following a sold-out national tour, their 2015 summer jaunt will shine the sun on their self-titled third album. The story goes that mega producer Rick Rubin overheard the siblings’ music at a party and decided that they were just the kind of people he wished to work with. The result received some killer reviews.

Margaret Court Arena – February 27.

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Better So, this weekend is the Victorian state election.

Now, we are not going to tell you who you should vote for. But, we do feel as though you should vote. Sure, you can bang on about how your vote doesn’t matter anyway and complain about the BS of compulsory voting

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in a democratic society, but we’ve heard it all before. If you can make a vote for Big Brother, surely you can make a vote here. I mean, it’s essentially the same thing.

Nickelback Return One of the great things about a Nickelback tour is that it makes a lot of people (or, in the words of Taylor Swift, haters)

unhappy. The other great thing is that it makes a lot of people very, very happy. And I am cool with both options. The tour brings their latest album, No Fixed Address, front and centre, though there will no doubt be plenty of time spent on their now pretty healthy back catalogue. Rod Laver Arena – May 15.

Back in 1998 Matt Damon and Edward Norton started in a pretty decent movie about poker called Rounders. Now it looks as though we’ll be getting another poker-based film, this time based on Molly Bloom’s memoir, Molly’s Game. Molly became known as the ‘Poker Princess’, hosting high-stakes poker games before those cheeky IRS scamps came sniffing.

Aaron Sorkin has been reported as the man put in charge of the script.

Ali E Goes Scavenging Until recently, Ali E’s musical path was usually walked with other people in tow, through bands including Damn Terran,

Heavy Beach and Little Athletics. This changed with the release of ‘We Are Strangers’ earlier in the year, and now through new single, ‘Seagull’. Turning to artists including No Joy and Mikal Cronin for inspiration, Ali set out to write an upbeat song about a difficult time. The Old Bar – December 3.

Rootin’-tootin’ Wayne Hancock Juke joint swing king Wayne “The Train” Hancock is set to pay Australia a visit next year.

Effortlessly fusing honkytonk, western swing, blues, Texas rockabilly and big band, Hancock released his debut, Thunderstorms & Neon Signs, in 1995. In his words: “Man, I’m like a stab wound in the fabric of country music in Nashville.

See that bloodstain slowly spreading? That’s me.” Ding Dong Lounge – March 6 & Caravan Music Club – March 7.

You Gotta Have Soul With its combination of music, yoga, spirituality and “loving life”, the Michael Franti-led Soulshine Festival is a slice of paradise. The life-loving muso will be taking the festival to Bluesfest next year, but further shows have been added. Franti: “The Soulshine Festival is about coming together to celebrate life – the

life of our planet – and the power we all have to make a difference.”

Festival Hall – April 2.

The Busy Times of Sarah Blasko Although The J Files recently spent a night looking back at the decade-long career of Sarah Blasko, the best news to come out of the night was that we can expect to hear quite a bit of new music from the songbird. Speaking with host Dom Alessio, Blasko said that she is busy scoring a film soundtrack, as well as working on a new album. The film is a new comedy from the mind of Australian actor/writer/director, Brendan Cowell.

Mmm, Tastes Frooty

Sharon. Sharon!

Following the release of single ‘Froot’, Marina and the Diamonds has announced that her third album, also called Froot, will be released in April 2015. To help with its release, Marina has announced the Froot of the Month, a series in which she will reveal one new track every month leading up to the album’s release.

Those who pre-order the album have access to this healthy little gimmick.

You can check out the title track now, if it pleases you.

Here we go again.

Following Sharon Osbourne’s recent tease about new episodes, The Hollywood Reporter shared details on the revival of The Osbournes.

VH1 looks set to air a new batch of episodes featuring Ozzy, Sharon, Jack and Kelly, after nearly ten years since the series signed off. Sharon noted that the series is likely to be made up of six or eight episodes, but who is to know for sure in this crazy, crazy world.

Waltzing into Villainy Two-time Academy Award-winner Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained) will join Daniel Craig, Léa Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw and Dave Bautista in Sam Mendes’ (still untitled) Bond film. You don’t need to be a rocket surgeon to guess that Waltz will be playing the film’s number one bad guy. The new Bond flick is due November 2015. Mendes also directed Skyfall.

The Falls Find Replacements Robyn and Röyksopp pulling out of The Falls (and subsequent sideshows) wasn’t exactly the best news in the world, but hoping to ease the pain are La Roux (pictured) and Empire of the Sun, their respectable replacements. Organisers: “We’re super jazzed to announce not one, but two of music’s greatest dance-pop heavyweights will be stepping up. Please welcome the following superstar artists will be joining the 2014 line-up.”

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t h e l a t e s t n a t i o n a l & INTERNATIONAL music & enterta inment ne w s

Sci-Fi Park Chan-wook Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, otherwise known as The Vengeance Trilogy, put Park Chanwook on the map. Now, Variety has reported that he has signed on for a sci-fi thriller called Second Born.

In a future world, mankind stores human consciousness in microchips, thus allowing the exchange of bodies while retaining thoughts. This has opened the door to a black market of body thefts.

Homer Simpson, Smiling Politely Chet Faker’s Homecoming Every now and again a local release makes the music world sit up and pay attention. Earlier this year such a release came with Chet Faker’s debut, Built On Glass. He scored multiple ARIA nominations, nine in fact, and by now the results will be in. The smart money says he would have gone home a happy man. The album has also kept him very busy and will continue to play out to crowds in ’15. The Palais – February 27.

Sasha Grey Feels the Heat With a resume that already boasts the adult movie world, acting, modelling and book writing, Sasha Grey can now add DJ to the list.

In case you didn’t hear the news, Sasha is paying Australia a brief visit next month where she will show off her new skills. She recently released the single ‘Heat of the Night’, for which she collaborated with Jayceeoh. Anyway @ The Bottom End – December 6.

Just in time for Christmas is the new Smashing Pumpkin’s album, Monuments to an Elegy.

Recorded in Chicago with the band’s guitarist Jeff Schroeder, who has now been in the band since 2007, the album features Tommy Lee on drums – something that has been widely discussed. You may have already stumbled upon singles ‘One & All’ and ‘Being Beige’, both of which have been teased. The album drops December 12.

Alright ... Ding Ding You may have heard that another round of Rocky is coming, though in this one the people’s champ takes a back seat to Adonis Creed,

the grandson of Apollo Creed. Michael B. Jordan (Fruitvale Station) will play Adonis, a young man whose natural boxing skills draw him to the ring. In a nod to the late Burgess Meredith, the man who played Mickey, Rocky’s trainer, Sylvester Stallone will play the role of Creed’s trainer.

Shooting begins in January.

Rockin’ It, Iggy Style The annual Flash Collection line welcomes its 2014 pin-up, Iggy Pop. For those unfamiliar, the Flash Collection is a collaboration between Sailor Jerry Clothing and a like-minded creative spirit. The collection was recently curated by Paul Simonon, legendary bass player for The Clash.

Iggy has designed three items – a premium denim vest, a hand-tooled leather belt with brass buckle and embroidered Sailor Jerry flash patches.

The Wrong Side of Paris The Dark Arts, album number three from Gay Paris, drops in 2015, but they have first single ‘Draw, You Harlequin Saints’ to keep you happy until then. They even dropped a clip, with these little words to go with it: “To give you a taste of things to come, Satan’s favourite party dudes (axiomatically us) have released a music

video to show you all just what happens to those who try to resist.” Cherry Bar – December 5.

A Crime of Passion It has been two years since Adelaide’s Leader Cheetah announced that they were “on a bit of a break”, but the time hasn’t been wasted.

Frontman Dan Crannitch, for example, has been plotting his new project, Love & Other Crimes.

The name lends from Lee Hazlewood’s 1969 classic, and according to Dan they’re “aiming for big dramatic orchestral pop with groove”. Their debut single is ‘Pray Woman’.

The Living End’s Lucky Seven You’re always going to walk away from Face the Music with some pleasant surprise news. For The Living End fans, this came with the news that not only is the band working on their seventh album, but that Chris Cheney is also working on a solo album. Though the only information we know about the solo album is that it is “going to come out at some point”, it’s pleasant surprise news nonetheless.

A Tribute to McCartney Right about now you can get your hot little hands on a tribute album to Paul McCartney, and you have Ralph Sall to thank for it. Ralph, among other things, is a record producer who has put his touch on tracks by STP, Sublime, Cheap Trick, Aerosmith and Jane’s Addiction. The Art of McCartney is a 42-track set featuring contributions from Brian Wilson, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, Chrissie Hynde, Alice Cooper, The Cure, Willie Nelson and many more.

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S leep w ave FEATURE STORY Written by Natalie Rogers

You’ve heard the whispers for months and now it’s official - Florida’s Sleepwave have been added to the 2015 Soundwave line up. “We’re stoked!” smiled front man Spencer Chamberlain when we caught up just ahead of the public announcement, “I’ve been quietly pushing for us to be on the tour for a while, and we’re very very excited. I guess I can be quite persuasive!” he laughed.

Clearly in high spirits, Spencer admits that he’s in a very happy place, which wasn’t the case late last year when his former band Underoath went their separate ways under a cloud of constant infighting and reported substance abuse issues.

Sleepwave is essentially a duo with long-time friend Stephen Bowman. “This band began organically – we would talk for hours about the music we loved but also stuff we hated. One of the first bands we agreed on was Soundgarden, and I could be wrong, but I think they’re playing at Soundwave? And Slipknot, right? That’s going to be so cool,” he says.

“Soundgarden are a huge influence on Sleepwave. They were a band that Stephen and I both grew up listening to as kids, and now to be on tour with them – it’s exciting!

But we also loved Nirvana, NIN and Deftones. In the beginning we were just two friends that enjoyed playing music together – we didn’t know it would turn into something like this.”

Sleepwave released their debut album Broken Compass in July this year, with both sharing the duties of bass, keys, guitars and programming, while Spencer also shouldered the weight of chief songwriter and vocals.

“I don’t mind working harder for what I want – it makes me happy not to be in a democratic situation where everything gets vetoed every other day. We made this music for ourselves, you might say selfishly.

“I write songs to help sort out things in my life and about some things that I went through – I think that’s what the greatest songwriters do. I don’t think Kurt Cobain or anyone like that was thinking about other people when he wrote those amazing lyrics,” Spencer explained. “He was a selfish songwriter – he was writing for himself.”

Spencer is unapologetic in his opinions and not afraid to speak honestly about where he sees some of his musical contemporaries heading. “A lot of bands get lost in writing music they think other people might like and trying to

be popular. That’s when you’re seven steps behind rather than five steps ahead, and that’s where things get sticky.

Once you start doing things for other people and not for yourself, you lose yourself completely.”

Despite Sleepwave gaining momentum, and Spencer’s seemingly happy demeanour, his true feelings about the disbanding of Underoath continue to bubble just under the surface.

“I didn’t want to involve anyone else because Stephen and I are totally capable and can handle things ourselves.

Also, it puts me in the position where someone can’t come to me one day and say the band’s breaking up – that’s happened before. I didn’t want to put myself in a position like that again. If we handle everything ourselves, why shouldn’t the band just be me and him? Then we’ll get a group of friends to play with us live – it feels a lot safer,” Spencer says.

The mood lightens as talk turns to the crew that he and Stephen chose to be Sleepwave’s touring band; Josh McLin on bass and keyboards, Jack Burns also on keyboards and guitar and Chris Kamrada on drums.

“Besides me and the drummer, no one else in the band has been to Australia, so it’ll be exciting to experience it with the group of guys that I hand picked to be in the live show.

“You guys are basically on the other side of the world to us. Most Americans don’t get to go to Australia for something like this, so it will be cool to take my friends

there and play these massive festival shows and some club shows too.”

“So Sleepwave will be playing sidewaves?” I ask.

“Nothing is confirmed yet, but I would be pretty upset if we didn’t!” he grinned. “I’ve got some friends there from the Underoath days and they’ll take us around. There are a lot of different restaurants, bars and spots around the city that we enjoyed. Obviously the beaches – the last time I was there I was renting surfboards on my days off and we did some cliff jumping. We did all sorts of cool stuff like that, so I’m excited to get back to do that with this group of guys.

“And this time around we may have a little more time off because Sleepwave is not a headlining band yet, because we’re so new,” Spencer said modestly. “We’re only playing 30 to 40 minute sets, but we play a lot of stuff live in between songs that you won’t hear on the record.

“I like to write a lot of music just for live shows and experiment with new sounds. At the end of a song we’ll drag it out and morph it into something else and then turn it into the next song that you’ll hear on the record.

We have a lot of fun with the set...we’re making the music that we love – that’s what Sleepwave is about.”

When&Where: Soundwave, Melbourne - February 21 & 22

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The Gaslight Anthem Written by Natalie Rogers

Jersey boys, The Gaslight Anthem, are currently at the business end of their Get Hurt world tour. They’ve spent the better part of 2014 on the road, playing to packed clubs, concert halls and arenas across Europe, the UK and North America before they finish up Down Under in the New Year. On a rare day off in New Orleans, bass player Alex Levine called in for a chat.

“This tour has been going extremely well,” Alex says with a smile. “We’re just hanging out today but usually we’re really busy. Right now I’m walking through the city – it’s amazing,” Alex continued, revealing that while they do get homesick, he and his fellow band mates try to make the most of their time away and soak in whatever the place has to offer.

“We’ve been having so much fun, especially hanging out with the guys from Bayside. They’re our support band on this tour. They’re good friends of ours – one of the best live bands out today. I’m not sure if they’ll come with us to Australia though,” Alex confessed, “we haven’t figured that out yet.

“We will soon, hopefully, because we can’t wait! By the time we touch down in January it’ll be nearly two years since we’ve played for you guys – and we love it there. Australia is really fucking cool.”

Get Hurt is The Gaslight Anthem’s fifth album and hailed as a return to form, after the 2012 release

of Handwritten failed to live up to some critics’ expectations.

Refreshingly, Alex is not shy in his response to the haters. “Fuck them!

I don’t give a fuck – I’m still going to write and play music. If you like it, cool, and if you don’t, fuck you! Whatever, don’t buy it and don’t listen to it . . .

“I don’t really have time for people that wanna go out of their way just to dump on something. To the people who do like what we do, thank you very much and we really appreciate it. Get Hurt itself seems to go over really well.

“Especially ‘Vicious’, ‘A Thousand Years’, and ‘Dark Places’ – these songs always get a great response, but it’s hard for me to gauge that

When & Where: The Forum, Melbourne - February 3

stuff. I’m always jumping around playing my bass, not paying attention to whether people like it or not!”

Alex laughed.

The Gaslight Anthem have always maintained that they’re heavily influenced by the New Jersey punk scene, while front man Brian Fallon has made no secret of his

admiration for Long Branch born Bruce Springsteen.

However, Alex insists he wouldn’t have picked up the bass in the first place if it weren’t for The Cure.

“Simon Gallup from The Cure is the best bass player, and I’m a huge Clash fan! Paul Simonon is a legend. I really like a lot of the English bass players

and English new wave and punk-rock. That was my thing when I was a kid. Oh, who am I kidding, it’s still my thing!”

The Church Written by Natalie Rogers

“We’re looking forward to playing Queenscliff Music Festival next weekend because we played it once before and we felt we were pretty bloody dreadful! So it’ll be nice to come back and make amends.” A promise made is a promise kept by Tim Powles, drummer of the legendary alt-rock outfit The Church.

Almost five years on from their 30th Anniversary and the ARIA Hall of Famers are busier than ever. “I’m outside in the bushes of Ian’s [Haug – new guitarist, ex Powderfinger] studio in rural Brisbane. I’ve got a G ‘n’ T in my hand and it’s raining lightly – it’s very beautiful. I’ve been cooped up inside all day long and I’ve had very little sleep. We have so much happening at the moment,” Tim says.

“We recently played the East Coast capital cities for the release of Further/Deeper [The Church’s 25th album, out now through their own label Unorthodox Records] and stupidly or bravely we simply played the entire album – no old songs. It was something we needed to do, we blooded in,” he paused smiling, “We got our hard-core fans totally involved in it, but now we’re ready to mix up some of our old favourites and a few fan favourites and put the whole festival set together for Queenscliff.

“Well, we’ll see how people’s memories are when we get there but I assure you that we’ve got a lot better in the last few years. We did a ‘Psychedelic

Symphony’ show at the Opera House with a huge orchestra, played with The Pretenders and then we did the wineries with Simple Minds and Devo. We learnt a lot as musicians – we all suddenly got a lot better!

Which is an odd thing for a band that’s been going for as long as we have,” he laughed.

In 2010 The Church returned home after a lengthy tour of North America to commemorate a milestone. “We’ve got a lot of fans in America and, in fact, we think America kind of kept us going through late ‘90s and early 2000s. It was the American fans that were really solid then.

That’s how we survived – by going there regularly all the way through the 2000s.

When & Where: Queenscliff Music Festival – November 28, 29 & 30

“Then when we realised we could celebrate our 30th Anniversary, we became more home focused. It’s like we suddenly turned a corner and we realised that we’d (maybe) stubbornly, but miraculously, somehow stayed together.

“We’ve all been through a lot though, then we had a bit of a bump and one of our long time members [guitarist Marty Willson-Piper] decided that he didn’t like the way things were going and didn’t want

to be involved anymore. It’s now a year since Ian came along and there’ve been a lot of changes. But we survived, and this album [Further/Deeper] has been a massive reward.

“The reception for Further/Deeper has been awesome! It tips its hat back to fan favourites like ‘Priest = Aura’ [1992] and ‘Forget Yourself ’ [2003].

Particularly with Steve Kilbey’s lyrics, there’s a sense of timelessness. Personally I think that’s kind of a boring

thing to say about The Church, but it’s true,” Tim grinned. “At the moment the main stress that we’re all suffering is, ‘Oh, so what’s going to go wrong now?’ Because things are actually going right!”

Archie Roach Written by Tex Miller / Photo by Pierre Baroni

Archie Roach is a man that needs no introduction. Over the past twenty-five years, Roach has developed a unique style of storytelling that has woven its way into his many songs. Best known for his ‘90s tune ‘Took The Children Away’, which talks directly of experiences of his family being a part of the Stolen Generation, Roach was on tour with Rodriguez when I caught up to chat with him.

“I’ve only played one date with him, but the crowd was great. It was good to perform with such a legend like Rodriguez. I haven’t had the opportunity to sit down with the man himself but I’ve chatted to his daughter – who is a lovely lady. He is getting a little frail these days, but it’s going to be good to sit down and chat with him at some point,” he says.

After taking some time off from performing, it’s good to see Roach back on the road and on stage. One of the upcoming dates for Roach is playing as a part of the Music to a Tee event on the 12th of December at Barwon Heads: “The shows are going great and I can’t wait to get back down to Barwon Heads and along the coast and play again. There is just something really special about those audiences, the vibe is simply electric.”

Into The Bloodstream is the latest release for Roach and one that involved dealing with many personal problems to take on in the writing and recording process.

“I suffered a stroke and they took half my left lung – it was 24 forte

a very tough time to come through. I went into the studio and did a vocal take, then I’d take a little bit of oxygen and rest for a bit. It took a bit longer to record in that respect. It was a great process though and it helped me to rehabilitate,” Roach says.

This latest release is regarded as, quite possibly, the most ambitious album of Roach’s career due to the extensive list of musicians involved in the production. Choirs, brass sections and strings, Roach describes the experience of playing a live show with this arrangement as just “magic”.

One of Roach’s long time collaborators is Paul Kelly. Working with Roach on his debut album Charcoal Lane, it was the rock royalty walking into the studio that initially surprised Archie as they

“ ...it’s all about connecting with people emotionally.” worked on the songs. Having experienced musicians play on the tracks it made the eye-opening experience for Roach a comfortable and positive one.

“I never knew anything about recording and you’d go in and do a vocal track to this guide. Different musicians would come in and lay down their part. I remember being really taken back by the experience. Steve Connelly produced it and the next minute we were working with the Bull Sisters (Vika and Linda) and the Finn Brothers.

I learned so much from recording that first album and having all those heavyweights of the industry alongside me was great too,” he says.

At the time of writing ‘Took The Children Away’, Roach had no idea of the success that was soon to follow. Last year, the song was added to the National Sound Archive, which is one of the most prestigious honours for a track.

“I never knew that song would be as big as it has become. You never set out to write hit songs, but it’s all about connecting with people emotionally. I think that’s what made that song – the story and emotion behind it,” Roach says.

With a new album out next year make sure you catch this living legend whilst he’s in town.

When&Where: 13th Beach Golf Links, Barwon Heads - December 12

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R evolution

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A 360 New Year

Shaun Kirk Takes the Wheel

Study What You Love

2015 will kick off with a bumper tour from Matthew Colwell, a man you probably know better as 360. His name has been popping up a fair bit recently. First, a few people got their knickers in a twist for comments he made on Q&A. The Herald Sun chimed in, god bless their little hearts, which he responded to wonderfully. Then some prankster claiming to be 360 got the better of 3AW. But let’s just let his rhymes do the talking. The tour supports his latest release, Utopia, a release he has already taken to major cities. Regional Australia gets a run now, and we do it better than anyone. And by ‘it’ I mean everything. Barwon Heads Hotel, Barwon Heads – January 25 & Whalers Hotel, Warrnambool – January 26.

His name sure does get a good workout in Forte, but in our defence he is always up to something. Set for another touring adventure before 2014 comes to a close, Shaun is on the road with ‘Two Hands on the Wheel’, the second single from his latest album, Steer the Wheel. The newie treads country blues and features contributions from Kyle and Dan Lizotte from Halfway to Forth. Two Hands on the Wheel’s accompanying video clip features snippets from live performances, sound checks, spontaneous musical collaborations and highway drives, along with behind-the-scenes and fly-on-the-wall footage. Old Hepburn Hotel, Hepburn Springs – December 5.

If you’ve been umming and ahhing about taking music more seriously than you have, the people at Oxygen College in Geelong are the best at putting your career to a great start. Enrolments are now open for full and part time courses in music performance, music business, electronic music, sound production, photography and art.

It’s time to take things seriously. For more information visit www.oxygencollege.com.au or call 1300 195 303.

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Half Empty for Blackwood Jack Hey there Blackwood Jack fans. What’s the good word? I think you will find the good word is that The Pessimist is coming your way. The warm and wonderful Warrnambool three-piece is gearing up for the release of their new EP at their local, and they’re understandably pretty chuffed. Now, in case you are not down with Blackwood Jack, the band is the combined talents of Ben Cue, Daniel Paroissien and Talen Galbraith. They will rock you and they’ll roll you, leaving you with a hazy memory of the night before – a good hazy memory, naturally.

The Loft, Warrnambool – December 6. Joining them to launch The Pessimist will be Red Eagle, Kashmere Club and King Evil.

Let’s Do the ’80s Is there anything as magnificent as ’80s music?

I can think of maybe two things, three tops.

Absolutely ’80s is a flurocoloured ’80s get-together of some of Australia’s finest. It’s a place where you knock back drinks like the Cosmopolitan, Fuzzy Navel and Kamikaze. It’s a place where Pudding Pops are on the menu. It’s a place called Wandin Valley.

But most of all, it’s a place where names including Brian Mannix (Uncanny X-Men), Scott Carne (Kids in the Kitchen) and Dale Ryder (Boom Crash Opera) are kings once again. Going as strong as they ever have, these three gents have a date lined up at the Barwon Heads Hotel, Barwon Heads on December 27. Head on down and share in some post-Christmas cheer.

One For The Mantel Now we know Geelong has some damn good venues to eat out at and listen to some good tunes, but it’s always nice when that is recognised in the form of a glitzy award. The most recent to be added to the list is the Geelong RSL, who at their Hall of Fame night won the category award of 2014 Licensed Sub-Branch of the Year for The Most Outstanding Sub-Branch. Let’s give a little round of applause for our local legends.

You Twilight Up My Life Lakeside Twilights is set to return for another season of music merriment.

The concert series is held annually during the warmer months, setting up shop at lakeside settings around regional Victoria. Russell Morris, Daryl Braithwaite, Mental as Anything and Pseudo Echo are first up.

Russell put out his first releases all the way back in 1967. His big hit, ‘The Real Thing’, was released only a couple of years later. The song, written by Johnny Young, also found success in the US, hitting #1 in Chicago and New 28 forte

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York. His latest release is 2014’s critically acclaimed Van Diemen’s Land. Lake Wendouree Fairyland Reserve – December 6. Snap up your tickets through Ticketmaster.

On The Big Screen We’d be lying if we weren’t a bit excited about the new independent cinema, The Pivotonian, officially opening it’s doors with a screening of Locke on November 27 at 7pm.

Tickets are an easy $15, which leaves plenty for a Little Creatures beer, Siketa hot dog or an organic ice-cream choc top. Once the credits roll the experience doesn’t have to be over competely, the cinema have already announced a three-month summer season featuring Nightcrawler, What We Do In The Shadows and Rock the Casbah. 57 Pakington St, Geelong West - November 27

Gin & Musical Tonic Genre slicers and dicers The Gin Club welcome their new single ‘Dancing with the Ghost’ with a nice little December tour.

The track is lifted from their forthcoming album, Southern Lights. It was in 2003 when a bunch of Brisbane open mic night locals decided to pool their talents and try their hand at music. Their time since has been spent supporting countless bands and gracing the stages of festivals both local and abroad. From the presser: “Another epic tune from the pen of Adrian Stoyles, ‘Ghost’ shows off all the elements the Club are renowned for – atmospheric pop/rock with flourishes of cello and keys and a real antipodean character.” The Eastern, Ballarat – December 6.

Newstead Live Music Festival I reckon we should have a look at one of the treats coming our way in 2015 – the Newstead Live Music Festival. Held from January 23 through to January 26, the festival welcomes a fine selection of international and local artists – not bad for a historic little country town. Lining up will be Vin Garbutt, Tim Edey Trio, Martyn WyndhamRead, Black Market Tune, The East Pointers, Scott Cook, Greg Champion, Martin Pearson, Liz Stringer, The Little Stevies, Enda Kenny & Dave O’Neill, The Mae Trio, The Company, Cat Canteri Band, Rowena Wise, Ange Takats and more.

For further information and ticket sales, please visit newsteadlive.com.

Newstead is a stone’s throw from Castlemaine.

It’s Time for a Change Last month saw the release of Welcome Change, the new album from the lovely Lily and the Drum.

Things are pretty simple when it comes to this duo.

There is Lily; she sings

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and plays guitar, and there is ‘The Drum’; he, yep, drums, and also provides some backing vocals and harmonica. When it comes to their music, they like to describe it as “contemporary retro, roots and blues with a dash of rockabilly”. Lily and the Drum released their debut album, Nobody Just Like Me, in 2012. The following year it became one of the most played albums on the Australian Roots and Blues chart.

Their latest is a ripper, too. Martians Café, Deans Marsh – November 29.

I’m Heading to Natestock We’re at that time of year where money can be a little more scarce than usual, but if you have a few dollars to spare then please read on. Nathan Skewes, a Ballarat man and great friend to many of the region’s bands, passed away in June 2012. 12 months prior, his wife, Belinda, lost her life following a brief battle with metastatic cancer. They left behind two children, Ashleigh, six, and William, four.

Both children are in the care of friends. Wormhole, Wildeornes, Swhat and Pan are among the bands set to perform at Natestock, a big night of tunes where all proceeds go towards the Ashleigh and William Skewes trust fund. The Karova, Ballarat – November 29.

Entry $15 – get behind it.

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Building Things of Stone and Wood They are to Melbourne what The Go-Betweens are to Brisbane, and they are also celebrating a big milestone in ’14. I am talking about those warm and lovely folkies, Things of Stone and Wood. Formed in 1989, the band would ply their trade through long-term residencies around their home city. If for no other reason, you would know them as the ‘Happy Birthday Helen’ band. They released the song in 1992, a song written by Greg Arnold for his then girlfriend, now wife, Helen Durham. Later speaking to Molly Meldrum about the track, Arnold said: “[It] was just a gift for Helen ... it was never intended to be released. But when I played it to Mikey he said, ‘This is a ripper, we’ve got to do this song’ ... The drive along the Yarra is all true ... We kissed on the bridge that fell down ... was actually London Bridge on the Great Ocean Road ... It was such an intensely personal love song, so it was weird hearing the song everywhere.” The band disbanded in 1998, following four albums. They would join forces for a second spell in 2001, before breaking up in 2006. In 2013 the original line-up got things going once again, and now, in 2014, 25-year celebrations are in well-deserved order. Aireys Pub, Aireys Inlet – December 6 & Ararat Live @ Ararat Performing Arts Centre – December 11.

Watch Rach Go Local folk songstress Rach Brennan is set to conquer Europe in a whirlwind three-month trip, but before we get ahead of ourselves, Rach will be playing one last show at the Barwon Club before she boards her plane the next day. While the show is a little bit of a bon voyage, be sure to buy her a farewell drink at the bar, it’s also a chance for the group to launch their newest single ‘Don’t Watch Me Go’.

The trip to Europe has come off the back of around 220 gigs in the past two years and an equal amount of time in planning. Barwon Club - December 5

Queenscliff Music Festival Here we go for one last time, my friends. One final look at 2014’s Queenscliff Music Festival. You know all about the line-up, so we’ll just fill you in with all those little things we feel you should know.

That way, all you need to do is dress yourself. And surely not even you can screw that up. The times are as follows: Friday, November 28 – 6 p.m. through 12-midnight; Saturday, November 29 – 11 a.m. through 12-midnight; and Sunday, November 30 – 11 a.m. through 5.30 p.m. Your wristband is your golden ticket, and without it, well, let’s just not have that happen. Please take your ticket to the Wristband Exchange area, located next to the front gates. You know kids under the age of 14 are free, right? Bring them along, but make sure they grab a wristband as well. The easier option can be the better option, so extended bus services will operate throughout the festival’s duration. Hit the festival’s website, qmf.net.au, for timetable information. Sealed or empty plastic bottles are okay, but leave the booze at home. Low beach chairs are allowed, but please bear in mind that some areas are standing room only. If you have any questions at the festival, please say G’day to the friendly folk at the Box Office, located at the entrance to the festival. Enjoy.

Painters and Dockers

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Motor City Music Festival What can we say about Geelong’s Motor City Music Festival that hasn’t been said before? Steven Tyler says: “Yeeeeow! Man, this is some kind of cool-ass s**t”, while Steven Seagal says: “Yeah, mumble grumble. I like it. Star dust.” That bit may be made up, but we’re pretty sure they would love it – and how could anyone not?! The basics are it is an all-out music extravaganza boasting over 50 acts performing across three days on five stages. Friday night alone delivers Painters and Dockers, Defryme, Safari Motel, The Black Sorrows, Broderick Smith, Chris Wilson Band, Claude Hay, Gwyn Ashton, Electric Mary and Phil Para. Saturday is Blues and Tributes Day, featuring artists including Chubby Rae and the Elevators, The Sammy Owen Blues Band and Geoff Achison, plus tribute acts including Rhiannon – A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac and Appetite for Destruction – one for the Guns N’ Roses fans.

Sunday is family-friendly paced, delivering such talent as Golden Guitar award-winners McAlister Kemp, Toyota Star Maker Quest award-winner Travis Collins and Country Music Channel Hall of Fame recipient James Blundell, plus the likes of Mick Thomas and Vika & Linda Bull. There will also be plenty of grub, craft beer halls, free carnival rides and, to top it all off, a fireworks display. March 6-8, 2015. Hit motorcitymusicfestival.com.au for more.

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They’re Not Really That Mean Let us all rejoice in the Silver Jubilee celebrations of the one, the only, the band-namedefying super stars of punk rock … ladies and gentlemen, The Meanies.

25 years is a long time to be doing anything.

Let alone punk rocking across the universe, always going forwards because they still can’t find reverse. But The Meanies have done it like champs. Yes, 1989 was the year things began. While David Hasselhoff was blowing down the Berlin Wall, some dudes decided to play some punk rock. And since then they have pretty much done it all. The Bridge, Castlemaine – December 5 & The Karova, Ballarat – December 6.

Hooray, hoorah! * Keep your eyes peeled for possible further dates.

Torquay High Tide Festival While the mood in the Torquay High Tide Festival camp is always buzzing, things this year are sure to be that little bit more joyous with 20th birthday celebrations taking place.

The festival works under

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a simple philosophy: “To conduct a local event that celebrates our diverse community, culture, environment and arts that encourage community participation.” Held in early December, just before the silly season gets too crazy, the festival helps celebrates the region’s rich history while providing varied entertainment throughout the day.

Every year the festival runs under a theme. In 2014 the theme is Horses by the Sea, based on the Lighthorse Camp held in Torquay during WW2.

December 6 is the date.

Kyneton Music Festival It’s hard to keep track of all the festivals popping up everywhere, but we’re doing our best.

Another one we reckon you should keep an eye on is the Kyneton Music Festival, due to take place in sunny February.

They certainly know how to deliver over Kyneton way, with Little Bastard, Tully on Tully, Yeo, Magic Mountain Band, Cherrywood, Lunatics on Pogosticks, Liz Stringer, Tracy McNeil & The Good Life, Three Kings, Archer, Eaten by Dogs, The Seven Ups

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What’s On In The Rat? Written by Daniel Lock

Good evening carollers and Xmas decoration enthusiasts.

It’s beginning to look a lot like stressmas, so here’s the list of what music and venue you may be eager to visit to drown out the covers being played at your local supermarket for the upcoming Christian holiday.

Thursday November 27 at The Eastern has Arkie Williams and the Mudlarks as the introduction to open mic night. Entry is free and if you’re looking for some

live music exposure, it’s a great place to start.

The Karova Lounge have Violent Soho playing to the masses.

This gig is listed as “sold out” so if you’re into them and haven’t scored tickets then I’m afraid you may have missed the boat on this one.

Supporting acts include Ceres and Apart From This. Tickets were $25.

Friday November 28 has the very talented Birahny Lawrence playing at the Babushka Bar. Birahny is a solo

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and Abbie Cardwell & The Chicano Rockers set to perform. The festival takes place at the Mechanics Institute across February 20 & 21. Ticket information and all the other stuff you need to know can be found through kynetonmusicfestival. com.au.

Mercury Rising Inspired by the likes of Muse, Bloc Party and Arcade Fire, Mercury Rising’s journey began in 2010. Sharing the stage with bands including The Hoodoo Gurus, The Angels, Getaway Plan, Red Ink, Amy Meredith, Evermore and British India suggests you’re travelling okay as a band. International recognition is even better. Late last year the Melbourne electroindie band won the Australian Emergenza Band Competition, beating out around 400 bands in doing so. This scored them a ticket to the Taurbertal Festival World Final in Germany August gone, where they placed a sweet fourth in a field of 18. Wrap your ears around their new single ‘Déjà vu C’est la vie’.

Music Man Megastore, Bendigo – November 28. artist who’s enjoyed playing to crowds internationally. She’s now a Melbourne living lass but is still a regular at her favourite spots here in Ballarat. Entry $5.

The Eastern have local grunge rockers Morning After Morning playing, supported

by Art Pope and Tartarus. Entry: TBC. The Karova have fiver night on with a Beyonce tribute set being played.

Entry: $5 (naturally).

Saturday November 29 Babushka Bar have Luke John Shearer playing.

Entry: TBC. Meanwhile, The Eastern have local music veterans The Vests playing. Entry: TBC.

Boxing Day Slam Boxing Day is surely one of the greatest days of the year. It is a day where you can do anything without reprimand. Want to munch on a turkey leg as you watch the cricket while wearing nothing but Santa undies? Watch away. Want to steal your nephew’s new toy because, hell, he can’t use it properly anyway?

Steal away. Over in Geelong, it’s all about their annual tradition, The Boxing Day Slam. Touch Me, I’m Sick is behind it all, and while they may be a little older, they still know how to have a good time – even though recovery may take a little longer these days. The Meanies, they’ll be there. They’re doing the rounds as part of their 25-year celebrations. If you haven’t shared a drink with The Meanies, you just ain’t part of the cool crowd. Civil Civic, they’ll be there. NME dig ’em, as does The Guardians. Lot of people dig them, actually.

Mololuck vs Chook will be doing the DJ thing. There will be plenty more, but that was all that was available at the time of writing. The Barwon Club is your host – partly because they are the only ones crazy enough to do such a thing.

Tickets are available now through Oztix. Come on, touch me I’m sick.

NightJar Festival What started as an innocent little vision in 2010 has become a much-loved part of the Torquay and Geelong communities. NightJar, named after a local owlet that lives on the land, is The Karova Lounge have Natestock on, a charity event for two local young siblings left without parents after a tragic series of events befell their family. Local artists band together to bring an awesome night of music for a good cause. Set to play are Pan, SWHAT, Wildeornes and Wormhole. Entry: $15 (all proceeds go towards the kids trust fund).

Sunday November 30 The Eastern will have Pork Chop Party playing out in the beer garden or inside, depending on what Mother Nature holds in store. Free entry.

Thursday December

a vibrant, colourful and eclectic mix of a night market, music festival, art exhibition and a showcase for emerging designers – all with soul. In Torquay alone, the night welcomes around 10,000 people per event. Torquay dates are held every Thursday night 4 has David Grimson playing a solo set at Babushka Bar. Friday December 5 has The Gathering Tide playing at Babushka Bar. The Gathering Tide are a two piece folk act involving a guitar, fiddle, and vocals from both members. Entry: TBC. The Karova Lounge have Hunting Grounds taking the stage with support from Bel Air and Average Personality Star. Entry: $12 Saturday December 6 sees Temple Of Tunes playing the stage of Babushka Lounge. So for some toe-tapping acoustic blues get down and see them. Entry: TBC.

in January, kicking off on New Year’s Day, 4-10 p.m. Geelong dates are held every Friday night throughout February, kicking off on February 6, 4-10 p.m. Take a couple of minutes out of your day to have a look at nightjarfestival.com.au.

The Eastern will be hosting the popular Melbourne peeps The Gin Club. So for a huge array of instruments and songs get down and see them strut their stuff and try to fit all those instruments and themselves on stage. Entry: TBC. The Karova Lounge are hosting The Meanies on this same night of nights (so much to choose from). Supporting them are Batpiss, SWHAT and The Rye Catchers. Entry: $18.

Huge line up across the board on that night. Anyway, I’m Daniel and thanks for being my reader(s).

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Our Little Friends Pets are such great companions, and the love owners can have for their pet is at times unequalled.

Unfortunately, our little friends don’t always get such a great run. Held tomorrow night, November 28, at St Albans Football Club is a fundraiser for little creatures in need. Hosted by Shelley Thompson and Susan Johnson, the night will feature tunes from Cam Henderson. Geelongborn Henderson realised his dream when he took out runner-up on Australia’s Got Talent. His album is Angel Without Wings.

Tickets are $30 at the door. Raffles, auctions and door prizes will also feature. Money raised will go towards GAWS (Geelong Animal Welfare Society) and AWDRI (Australian Working Dog Rescue). 6.30 p.m.

The Fearless Luke Jon Shearer Newcastle multiinstrumentalist Luke Jon Shearer will be on the road for over three months in support of his album, Close Your Eyes, Open Your Mind. The tour kicked off at the beginning of October and has been tracking its way around the country, and will continue to do so until mid-January. Then it looks as though some international touring is on the cards, so things are pretty busy. Shearer actually spent time in Sydney outfit Temple of Sorrow before entering the studio as a solo

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muso. He was quick to find his feet, performing a few shows with a threepiece band in tow before heading abroad for a run in the US. ‘Fearless’ is the album’s new single. Babushka Bar, Ballarat – November 29.

Luluc Passing You By Well, they have toured the US and Canada, but now Luluc (pronounced Loo-Luke, should it ever come up) are back on more familiar soil.

Zoë Randell and Steve Hassett are the souls behind this quiet folk duo. Passerby is the name of their second album, and their first for Sub Pop. It comes six years after their debut album, Dear Hamlyn.

Double J summed up their review of the album with: “With a record like Passerby, the virtue of patience is invaluable.

Listen to it now, but take some time to savour it.” And there has been plenty more nice things said about the release.

The Bridge, Castlemaine – November 27 & Old Hepburn Hotel, Hepburn Springs – November 30.

Dean Ray & Bonnie Anderson Two stars of the talent show world will show just why they fared so well at Warrnambool’s Lighthouse Theatre on December 17.

Melbourne-based Dean Ray stunned X-Factor with his rendition of ‘Bette Davis Eyes’ during his audition. Proving it was no fluke, Dean would place runner-up on the sixth season of the show. His selftitled album is out now.

You Cain Do It 30 years ago. When you start a story with ’30 years ago’, you begin to feel like an old man shaking his fist at the clouds. Anyway, many bands took their first musical steps in the year we call 1984. Adelaide’s The Mark of Cain is one such band. Formed by the Scott brothers, John and Kim, along with Rod Archer and Roger Crisp, the band would have a reshuffle before releasing their debut album, Battlesick, in 1989. Their third album, the 1995 Henry Rollinsproduced Ill at Ease, became their breakthrough release. The band has been on the road since the end of October in support of single ‘Greg-11’, a track that features longtime pal, Henry Rollins.

John Scott: “I wrote about someone coming back from a bad conflict anywhere, and that the thought of coming back to their family or girlfriend or boyfriend is what kept them going [through] Hell, only to find they’ve even betrayed by the very people they relied on – and who else would get that but Rollins who tours war zones and visits combat casualties in Europe and the US. Rollins gets us, he knows our shit. When called he responded.” The Barwon Club, Geelong – December 19. The always raucous King of the North will provide support.

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Not bad for a kid who grew up in Meandarra, Queensland. In what must seem like a lifetime ago, Bonnie Anderson became the winner of the first Australia’s Got Talent in 2007. She was only a kid back then, but her drive was evident. She has since performed over 150 gigs, which includes a tour with Olly Murs. ‘Rodeo’ is her latest single.

Queenscliff Blues Train Hey folks, believe it or not tickets are currently available for the Queenscliff Blues Train throughout January and February.

Sure, it’s a little hotter, but a better escape you would be doing well to find. The gist of things is that the experience offers four different themed carriages with different seating configurations. On every show there is a solo act, a duo, a trio and then a full band, each offering an intimate concert for just 50 people at a time. Three intervals for rest and refreshment take place, as does a meal at the historic Queenscliff Railway Station. Go solo, with a friend, or with a group – it doesn’t matter. For a look at who’s playing and to make your booking, check in on thebluestrain.com.au.

A Couple of Pierced Brothers Melbourne folk duo the Pierce Brothers are doing alright. Having returned from a triumphant showing abroad, the lads kept good times going with a healthy string of local dates. Comprised of twin brothers Jack and Pat, the pair paved their way busking on the streets. Next thing you know they’re performing a recordbreaking five sold-out shows at Melbourne’s Shebeen, selling out shows in London and performing to a monster crowd of 10,000+ at the Lowlands Festival in the Netherlands. While in the Netherlands, the brotherly duo was invited to perform on 3FM Radio, which has an audience of 1.5 million. Get your hands on their EP, The Night Tree. Torquay Hotel, Torquay – December 4.

Riverboats Music Festival Held in a beautiful natural amphitheatre next to Australia’s longest river, the Riverboats Music Festival is one of the most gorgeous music festival settings you’re likely to come across.

2015 delivers yet again, inviting Sarah Blasko, Dan Sultan, Tex Perkins & The Dark Horses, The Whitlams, Diesel, The Bamboos, Mick

Together with Rick Astley Tickets still remain for Rick Astley’s show at GPAC on November 30. The Together Forever tour sees Astley return to our shores for his second visit in a short time, the last time being 2012. Born in the small coal-mining town of Newton-Le-Willows, Astley released a little single called ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ in 1987. His debut single as a solo performer, ‘Never…’ eventually topped the charts in 25 countries. While he would hit the #1spot with his first eight singles (UK Charts), none would leave an impression quite like his first. Since his last Australian tour, Astley has been hard at work on new material. Once again, that’s GPAC on November 30. Sing along, you know the words…

Australia Day, Havaianas Day Australia Day in 2015 means we’re getting another run of the Havaianas Thong Day Challenge.

In 2015 they’ll say goodbye to single digits and celebrate the big 1-0. For those not hip to the square, the day brings together thousands of people through family-friendly activities. The highlight of the day is the Havaianas Thong Challenge, where every man, woman and child get their shot at a world record. You also get giveaways, a beachside BBQ, live DJs playing some great Aussie tunes and a celebrity MC to host the day. Oh, and the current record of most people in the water on an inflatable Havaianas thong is held by WA. Torquay gets a shot, so let’s do it. Hit havaianasthongchallenge.com.au for more.

Harvey, Adalita, Fraser A. Gorman, Sal Kimber & the Rollin’ Wheel, Matt Walker & Lost Ragas, Stella Angelico and Raised by Eagles to nestle underneath the towering red gums. On the Sunday morning of the festival, February 15, an official festival breakfast takes place, which is a winner with everyone.

Echuca-Moama – February 13-15. Find all you need through riverboatsmusic.com.au.

Such Golden Features At the beginning of the year, THUMP (that would be Vice’s electronic music channel) came across an unsigned four-track EP on SoundCloud by a mysterious musical force by the name of Golden Features. Within a matter of days, this masked man had clocked up tens of thousands

of plays. The number of plays is impressive enough by anyone’s standards, so THUMP had a little chat and found out the man with the golden touch was Tom Stell, an Aussie lad.

With things going along swimmingly, Golden Features has announced his debut headlining tour. Star Bar, Bendigo – November 28. * If you are curious about his one-on-one with THUMP, you can track down the full interview through thump.vice.com.

Dan’s the Man Finger-picking acoustic guitar, tasty blues harp and warm and soulful vocals is how we are introduced to Dan Dinnen through his website. Versatile is missing from that intro.

The bluesman is equally at home as a solo artist or part of a duo or trio, while his ability to jump from interpreting a blues

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Down Nebraska Way Musicians taking time out from their bands to explore new ideas: it’s not an unfamiliar scenario. In 2008, Simon Bailey and Kris Emond took a breather from their usual gig to jam out some ideas.

Recruiting Anth Dymke, this trio would christen themselves Pony Face. They have, in their relatively short life, released an EP and two albums, but their latest venture is something special.

Never one to do things by the book, the band has taken on Bruce Springsteen’s 1982 album Nebraska.

The story goes that after Springsteen played his Nebraska to his right-hand man Steve Van Zandt, ‘Little Steven’ said: “The fact that you didn’t intend to release it makes it the most intimate record you’ll ever do. This is an absolutely legitimate piece of art.” The album, which continues to cause debate among Springsteen devotees, has nevertheless been called “one of the greatest documents of American life” by Rosanne Cash. For a band to step up to the plate the way Pony Face has to put their touch on it says a lot about this trio. For what is sure to be a special evening, Pony Face, along with a bunch of friends, will play the album in its entirety at The Bridge, Castlemaine on November 28. classic to performing his own material is as seamless as it gets. His talent has certainly been recognised over the years. In 2009 he was the MBAS Blues Performer of the Year, while his track, ‘Ain’t No Good’, from his 2010 release Back Home, won Song of the Year in the 2010 Vic/Tas Blues Music Awards. He also fronts Greg Dodd & The Hoodoo Men. Pistol Pete’s Food & Blues, Geelong – November 28.

New Year’s on The Pier Q&A

There’s nothing worse than getting to the day before New Year’s Eve and realising you don’t have a single iota of how you’re going to bring in the New Year. That’s where the people at The Pier Geelong come in; they’ve organised everything for you at a tidy price and extremely picturesque venue. Who needs to get stuck at the supermarket thinking of the ingredients to a Pina Colada when you’ve got tickets to New Years on The Pier.

Hi Liz, thanks for taking the time out to chat to Forte, how are you and what are you up to at the moment?

At EMC Group it is nonstop action at the moment. We have all venues moving into summer mode and New Year’s Eve event organising has gone into full swing.

It’s not long now until New Year’s Eve, how are things coming along for the event so far?

We’re progressing really well, the event is going to be bigger and better this year.

All our big name acts are booked and for our super organised Functions Manager Jess Morris, it’s all business as usual from here. Jess and her team are really looking forward to this year’s event and there is a huge hype around the venue at the moment.

The event has run for a few years now, how will this year be different?

It has been an amazingly successful annual event for

us at The Pier Geelong, with people attending from all over country Victoria each year. This year we have a massive headline act with Grant Smillie, we are so excited to have him coming in from LA. We were also fortunate enough to have Andy Murphy off the back of his Stereosonic gig in Melbourne. Not to mention the rest of our amazing line up with Lesware, Mike Metro and Kids Table to bring in 2015!

You’ve got some pretty great acts playing on the night, what made you decide the final five that you have?

Because they are really hot at the moment and we know people will travel from far and wide to see them at our amazing venue on New Year’s Eve. There’s also a few local DJs performing at the event as well, have they been chosen?

We have secured Mitch Loughnann, a brilliant

young DJ who has been playing weekly around Geelong’s venues. Kids Table is also a Geelong home grown act so it will be great to have him back in town to play.

What can punters get from their ticket price?

If they purchase before Christmas they’ll pay only $99 and receive 10 drink tokens, which includes spirits, and delicious finger food, as well as our top line up, who could ask for more.

To buy tickets simply visit tickets.oztix.com.au and search venue “The Pier”.

The view is already pretty incredible from The Pier, what’s it like when the fireworks are going off?

Yes you’re right, it is the best view in town floating out on Corio Bay and the fireworks are an added bonus to the night. They explode right over head, you cannot get any closer.

And what’s the vibe like at the party?

With the mix of DJs on the night it has a fun summer festival vibe.

A dance party over the bay really creates a great atmosphere. Everyone is brought together as they celebrate and bring in the New Year.

There are quite a few New Year’s events around Geelong, why should people head to the Pier to bring in the New Year?

There is no better place to be than on Geelong’s gorgeous waterfront bringing in the New Year and with the package we’re offering, where else would you want to be?

This year we have the makings for the best NYE in Geelong!

As a venue, what is The Pier hoping to achieve in 2015?

A larger events calendar for Geelong’s public to attend and enjoy. The Pier Geelong are the experts in amazing events and you’ll see far more of this in 2015, stay tuned….

Thanks again for taking the time out to chat with us, is there anything you’d like to add before we finish up?

Don’t miss out, hurry and secure your tickets - it’s never too early for NYE!

Aside from regulars becoming almost like family, Josh’s family and friends also visit the kitchen. And thanks to the open plan, they can come down and see him at work. “Because it’s an open kitchen they can come in and say hello to the staff and ask us some questions. ‘How’d

you do that?’ and that sort of thing,” Josh says.

Attached to the café is the Darriwill Farm store, a chance to get the quality produce from the farm without making the trip to the farm itself. There’s a variety of chutneys, spicy sauces and all the snacks and treats from the traditional

When&Where: The Pier, Geelong - December 31

Darriwill Farm Café Highton Written by Amanda Sherring

It’s not uncommon for cafes now to have their front counter filled with an array of brightly coloured, and sugar filled treats, though not many can claim they’re all made in house like they are at Darriwill Farm Café in Highton. “Everything is made in house – or as much of it as possible. That means sauces, soups, as much as we can, the only thing we can’t do is bake our own bread here,” head chef Josh Beaumont says.

Though the café is capable of much more than just brightly coloured treats and they dish up classic meals that are made exactly how you want them, whether that’s eggs sunny side up, scrambled or a little on the runny side.

“We just do the basics really, the simple things and done right. So you’re going to get your eggs cooked perfectly,” he says.

The café works from a seasonally changing menu, though items like the smoked salmon bagel with citrus cream cheese, rocket, house pickled cucumber, red onion and caper mayo is a firm favourite pretty much all year.

This follows on from the Darriwill Farm ethos of embracing all of the lost qualities of traditional Australian rural food and the country store experience. This wouldn’t

be made possible without the team the passionate team Josh leads.

“They’re a really good kitchen team, good people and good hard workers,” he says. “They’re all really passionate about food.”

For someone who grew up in Geelong and even did a year apprenticeship at the café, Josh knows more than most what kind of experience anyone who passes through the glass door should receive.

The Darriwill Farm café is one of those places that become part of the daily routine. There’s no pretentiousness in the venue and the quality isn’t a problem either.

“We’ve got people that come in here seven days a week, a few times a day even. Our staff know exactly what they’re going to order, we know their coffee and how they like it,” he says.

Aussie home. They’re all available to purchase, and some of the produce is used in the café as well.

Chances are you’ve had something with a particularly tasty sauce or jam on it in the café, and you’ll most likely be able to pick it up next door to enjoy inbetween café visits.

Where: Shop 10-11, 65-71 Barrabool Road, Highton Ph: 03 5241 2933 Retail: MonSat 9am-5pm; Sun 10am-3pm Café: Mon-Sun 7.30am-5pm

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CELEBRATING 600 ISSUES! FORTE #500 (10 FEB 2011) TO #600 (27 NOV 2014)

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FORTE #500 (10 FEB 2011) TO #600 (27 NOV 2014) CELEBRATING 600 ISSUES!

g n i t a r b Cele ! ! s e u s Is 600

forte 33 HERE'S TO THE NEXT HUNDRED!

  19th Annual   

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Photo by Matt Richards Photography

When&Where: Queenscliff Music Festival - November 28-30, Motor City Music Festival - March 6-8 & Nightjar Festival, Torquay - January 15

R

evolution

LOCAL FEATURE Written by Tex Miller

Combining indie-pop guitar sounds of bands like The Jungle Giants and the sweet melodic crooning of Matt Corby, there is a new Geelong band on the rise: meet Revolution. From the outset they may seem like a bunch of young folk getting together to have a jam, but since taking out the regional final of the Push Start Battle of the Bands in Geelong at Courthouse ARTS recently, they are a band on the rise, and one to watch in the coming months. When I first sat down to chat to Jack Harman, lead vocalist and guitarist for the group, the band were excited about the opportunities that are ahead for them in 2015.

“We are all really genuinely stoked that we are having this interview right now. This is the first one we have really done as a band so to be talking to you about our music, is a bit of a surreal moment,” Harman says. Although it’s only been two weeks or so since the band took out the regional final, Revolution are still coming to terms with getting the opportunity to play on the Moomba bill over the Labour Day weekend next March.

“In a matter of speaking mate, it feels quite numb to be honest with you. We’ve been on cloud nine for a while, but everything is just starting to sink in. You spend months and months practising, writing and jamming with ideas out

in the back shed – it’s when you come onto the stage and people start enjoying what you have created that you start to think this has legs and the opportunity to develop into something much bigger. We’ve got gigs coming up at Queenscliff Music Festival on the Foot in the Door bill and at Motor City Music Festival next year as part of the Live and Local. Things are starting to build and it’s like a grass fire really – starting out small and then developing into something much bigger,” he says.

In a time when the gigs are starting to roll in for the band, the main focus is to keep on writing and perfecting the live show to offer the audience a surreal and

highly energetic experience that will blow their minds. With one EP to their name, Revolution is hard at work on the follow up. The launch of the debut release however was earlier this year at Triumph Music Festival at St Joseph’s college playing alongside fellow indie kids Residual.

“We got asked to play at Triumph fest and we thought what better opportunity to launch our EP and music than in front of a crowd of 5,000 people. One of the songs off the EP ‘Change the World’, is about promoting racial equality and speaking about poverty and awareness – we thought it was sending the perfect message for the festival. They used it as the backing track to the promo video which was

awesome as well,” Harman says.

With no expectations of what was going to occur, the band headed into the studio to record their EP. It was a nerve-racking experience for the band though the pressure helped develop the songs. “Once you’re in the studio and you’ve got a blank canvas to work off, it’s quite exciting to see each individual process with the mixing and mastering. We didn’t really have much knowledge of recording but it’s a really good feeling and we are really keen to get back into the studio,” he says.

With music running in the family, it was always an assurance that the Harman boys were bound to do something with their talent.

The band currently comprises

Jack Harman on lead vocals and guitar, Riley Harman on guitar, Nic Tutone on guitar/keys, Sebastian Rawson on bass and Casey Searle on drums. The chemistry between all five members of the band on stage is addictive and demands you to dance, no matter your skill level.

Speaking about the living in the Harman household and the various record collections it seems that Jack has stumbled on some pretty embarrassing discoveries. “I was into AC/DC, and my parents to a point disapproved of that.

They asked why did I have to listen to that music. I then found their Spandaeu Ballet collection and asked them the same question!

Riley was always getting lessons on various different instruments and that inspired me to pick up the guitar and have a bash. It’s been a natural progression for us as a band so far,” Harman says.

With many different influences of the band coming through each individual member, it’s an exciting time to see where the next set of songs will develop. John Mayer, AC/DC, The Jungle Giants and Metallica may show the varying degrees of music tastes of each member, however the sound that

the band creates is something distinctive and fresh.

“I think from listening to such different genres, when we head into the jam space it allows us to develop ideas to the next level again and give the songs a little more punch than what they would have had previously. We are having trouble deciding what genre we are, because we haven’t had anyone that sounds similar,” he says.

Having heard the band at the recent Battle of the Bands, it’s easy to hear influences of Matt Corby and jangle of the indie rock guitar.

To my ear, I heard a little bit of a Crosby Stills and Nash vibe, so be sure to head out to one of their gigs soon to make up your own mind.

Part of the prize pack of the regional finals was a video clip and professional recording time – this is the just the start on something a lot bigger. If you want to be a part of the journey make sure you head over to their Facebook page and give them a few listens on triple j Unearthed. With a follow up EP to be released next year, discover one of the regions best new bands before they sign to Sony and are booked to play the John Peel Stage at Glastonbury.

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Motor City Music Festival at the Geelong Revival Motoring Festival Get your engines running! Our friends and partners at the Geelong Revival Motoring Festival are returning to the Geelong Waterfront Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th of November. Taking over the foreshore and surrounds, Geelong’s own Motor City Music Festival is once again proud to present the musical sounds to keep you entertained whilst watching cars do battle in the time trials.

The Motor City Music Festival stage at Steampacket Gardens, next to the Carousel, will feature some of the best rockin’ rockabilly music in town.

First up are the F100s, with their rockin’ retro honky tonk rockabilly sound. They mix Lefty Frizell, George Jones, Merle Haggard and Buck Owen

The F100s

(Bakersfield-style) which gets the dance floor jumping! They’ll be dragging down the straight to the Motor City Music Festival stage on Saturday afternoon 1-3:30pm.

Like their own custom made hot rods, the Straight 8’s are custom built to rock out. Australia’s longest running rockabilly band, the Straight 8’s are the real deal. Head on down to the Motor City Music Festival stage on Saturday afternoon 4-6pm.

On Sunday morning, before the roar of the track, head to the Motor City Music Festival stage for some Sunday morning blues with John McNamara.

You’ll soon hear why John has been selected to represent Melbourne at the International Blues Challenge next

February in Memphis TN. He’ll also be appearing at Pistol Pete’s Food and Blues on Thursday 11th of December Motor and City Music Festival, Geelong Showgrounds, March 2015. Sunday 30th 10-11am Hank’s Jalopy Demons have some mileage out of their sounds and tunes to prove it: for the past 18 years these Demons have been purveyors of the rockin’ hill billy sound. Appearing on the Motor City Music Festival stage Sunday 1-3:30pm.

Rounding out the rockabilly-blues on the Motor City Music Festival Stage is Warrnambool’s own, The Sky Rockats – set to kick it into gear and into rockabilly space with their brand of rockin’ rockabilly cool, from the ‘50s all the way to the ‘90s.

Sunday 3-4:30pm.

GEELONG REVIVAL MOTORING FESTIVAL The Geelong Revival Motoring Festival is on again and this year it is set to be bigger and better than ever.

Now spanning across three days, the jam packed schedule will feature all things vintage from November 28 to 30. The event brings together hundreds of classic and exotic vehicles to Geelong’s magnificent waterfront, along with racing, exhibits, entertainment, food, music and fashion. The weekend spectators can browse through vintage treasures at Piccadilly Market and jive along with rockabilly performers at the Motor City Music Festival Stage. Saturday night will also see the inaugural cocktail party which will officially open the Geelong Museum of Motoring.

With this year’s theme being “Australian Made”, the Geelong Revival Motoring Festival is the perfect time to recognise Australia’s significant contribution to the motoring industry. The Geelong Speed Trials is a historic motoring

event which began in 1956 and has always been held on Geelong’s iconic waterfront. The original speed trials were organised by the Western District Car Club and gave the local Geelong community the opportunity to witness world-class motorists race in the annual quarter mile sprints.

Over the years, competitors have included a significant number of international and national motor racing identities, including Jack Brabham, Lex Davison and Bob Jane. The speed trials ceased to exist for almost a decade before the event was finally ‘revived’ in 2012.

Inspired by the Brighton Speed Trails in the United Kingdom, the Geelong Revival Motoring Festival is now the largest Historic Sprints event in Australia.

The motoring festivities begin on Friday evening with hundreds of unique cars and motorcycles

When & Where: Geelong Waterfront - November 28-30

cruising through the streets of Geelong’s CBD in the inaugural “Geelong Revival Motoring Festival City Cruise”. Saturday and Sunday will see Shannons Classic Motor show in full swing. This year’s motor show will feature over 500 classic, retro, performance, prestigious and quirky cars, motorcycles and caravans scattered along Geelong’s waterfront precinct. At the same time over 300 exotic cars and motorcycles will race down Ritchie Boulevard in the quarter mile sprints.

This year the Geelong Revival Motoring Festival is hosting “The Amazing Mill Markets – National Vintage Fashion Awards”. The fabulous Miss Ruby Rabbit will be hosting this year’s awards. The well travelled pin-up personality and rockabilly stylist will help

everyone re-live some of fashions favourite decades. Sponsored by the Amazing Mill Markets, this year’s show will be spread over two days. Saturday will showcase the modern classics post 1960, while Sunday’s parade is for the more traditional enthusiasts.

This year’s event will also see Saturday’s entertainment extended well into the evening, as families are invited to sit back and relax after a huge day of racing. The free Steampacket Cinema will run from 6pm till late. Starting early with CARS for the kiddies, and the young at heart, it will be followed with Gone in 60 seconds and then Mad Max the original.

Featuring something for everyone in the family, this year’s Geelong Revival Motoring Festival is an event not to be missed! forte 37

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The Juke Written by Amanda Sherring Photos by Stefan Young

While many resist it, change is one of the best ways to bring in something new to your life, or even venue, and it’s proved to be just what The Grovedale needed.

After joining his father in managing The Grovedale Hotel, Joel Taylor convinced his dad to reinvent the old sports bar into a beer garden fit for the laneways of Melbourne.

Almost two years of planning lead to the creation of The Juke, a beer garden unlike anything previously on offer at The Grovedale.

Earthy tones of brick and wood share the same space, separated by pops of reds and yellows from oil tin seats and bright shades of green that climb up the far wall in the feature garden.

The Juke is part of a series of renovations at The Grovedale Hotel, including a facelift of

the exterior, and is all to reinvent the iconic pub. “Often you get painted with the same brush: we’re painted with the suburban venue brush,” Joel says.

“You’ve got to do something really different to get everyone’s attention, and I think that’s the thing with successful venues, what you might like someone else mightn’t so you have to cater for really different styles.”

The reinvention stems much deeper than selecting a colour for the walls, Joel has put just as much thought into the drinks and food on offer as well. Most notably The Juke is one of very few venues in Victoria taking on the duo tank initiative of Carlton Draught.

The duo tank system takes away the need to pasteurise the beer for preservation – like in beers on tap – instead, every glass poured from the tank will be fresh from the breweries – basically beer as it should be.

“They take it

straight from the brewery, put it in a tanker, drive it down the highway and fill our tanks up. The same day it’s brewed, we’re serving it,” he says.

Aside from offering fresh beer to customers, Joel has opened up the craft beers on tap.

The new selection features beers from Matilda Bay Brewery, Port Melbourne, Mountain Goat at Richmond, Feral from Western Australia and an import lager from Brooklyn, New York.

“It’s just about having something along the gradual steps that people can work through from lightest to heaviest over the night,” Joel says.

Paired with an American inspired bar menu, including sliders, ribs and fried chicken burgers, and original and acoustic covers by local musicians on the Friday and Saturday night, The Juke becomes the perfect place to wind down after work or to catch up with old friends.

“I’m hoping that people can have a relaxed unique experience at The Juke,” he says.

“There are no rules

here. I just want people to come in and be able to relax, listen to some good tunes, eat some good food, have a few beers and catch up with friends.”

Looking at the design of the venue, which features a large communal table made from wood from the Point Lonsdale pier – supplied by Williams & Campion in North Geelong – the idea is to get comfortable for conversation to f low.

If sitting on a table is too formal for you, there are chairs scattered throughout the space, all picked up

by Joel from op shops and antique stores.

“I just kept buying stuff and we got to a point where the interior designer was like, ‘You have to stop buying stuff, we’ve got enough stuff ’. Then we sort of just put it all in here and it all worked,” Joel says.

Add in a fine piece of artwork – in the form of wall mural by street artist Mike Makatron – and all bases are more than ticked, making it one of the best new additions to the Geelong beer garden scene.

Where: The Juke is at The Grovedale Hotel, 236 Torquay Rd, Grovedale Ph: 5243 2814 grovedalehotel.com.au

Our Town’s Ice Fight: Greater Geelong Declaring a Year of Action to Tackle Ice Work has progressed since a successful August 14 - 15 IDEAS Summit, where over 60 selected people from a cross section of the Geelong and Barwon communities came together to brainstorm and come up with 12 direct action community projects that will be used to raise awareness and prevention initiatives in readiness for the Declaration Day (held on November 14).

In the lead up to this Declaration day, teams took the concepts shared at the IDEAS Summit and turned them into properly planned projects with clear actions, outcomes and responsibilities.

The direct actions are targeting; youth, education, workplaces

and sport. This innovative approach to move from information forums to direct action is a national first on this scale and highlights the exceptional work being undertaken in the Greater Geelong area to make a substantial difference on this issue.

The level of involvement and commitment from our Geelong community leaders thus far has been inspiring with support from five local councils, state government departments locally and over 40 businesses. It is amazing to see what can be achieved when the community comes together and pools its considerable talents and resources to make a difference locally. We have selected people who can build ideas and

believe they can lead or make a difference in their community, school, workplace or sports club.

They are community members with unique skill sets.

On November 14 we announced our planning initiatives where we declared a year of action to tackle Ice. All our actions are focused on awareness and prevention.

We understand that awareness without action is useless, so as a collective community we are seizing the moment and taking a united and collective approach to tackle Ice in our community through practical and structured actions.

For more information visit www.icefight.com.au or www.facebook.com/ ourtownsicefight.

Portugal. The Man

Written by Amanda Sherring

While they may regret the punctuation in the middle of their name, there’s not much else the fourpiece band could add to that list. When I sat down to chat with bassist and vocalist Zach Carothers, the band was in the midst of a free tour in Australia, skydiving and generally living it up.

“Even though we’re always together and not taking time out, we like to get together and do things,” Zach says. “We went skydiving yesterday, we hiked all over Byron, went surfing for the first time, rope swings, hang gliding – we’re always doing something but we always try and make it fun.”

As to how Zach went surfing

for the first time, he couldn’t have enjoyed it more – even if there was a minor accident. It certainly helped being taken around by Taylor Steele, director, filmmaker and regular surfer who Zach describes as “a really good dude”.

“Taylor took us out to the pass, where it was easy to learn. I stood up on my first wave, and on the second one I hit somebody. We hit each other so it wasn’t completely my fault,

but it was an amazing experience,” he says.

It seems wherever they go, the band is making lifelong friends, and their current tour just so happened to stem from a friendship with the people behind Monster Children magazine.

“We made friends with Monster Children last time we were here.

We are just fans of what they do and we pretty much hung out a lot and partied even more while we were here,” Zach says.

“So they do this whole thing with Corona, the free tour, and when Corona were looking for bands I think they pretty much just wanted to hang out with us for five weeks – and that’s how it happened. We thought fuck yes, we love this country and the opportunity to come here and spend five weeks doing free shows sounded like a great idea to us.”

While the band has a long list of friends scattered across the

globe, there was a time when things in-house were a little bit different.

Before their newest release Evil Friends (2013), the band simply weren’t getting along.

Zach described it as “the darkest time of [their] lives”, though – now with a full functioning band – there is barely a hint of sadness in his voice.

Evil Friends became a chance for the band to “start fresh” and with Danger Mouse producer, Brian Burton, he made it more than possible to do so. “Once we went in there we wanted to start fresh. We had already recorded, I think, nine songs on our own before we went into the studio with him,” he says.

“So we scrapped all that and started out fresh. Somewhere along there John had showed him the songs we did before, which we really liked and Brian thought so too, so a few got added to the album.”

It’s hard to know exactly when to expect another release from the band, though there are talks of an eight album and also a possible repeat of their track to raise awareness for endangered tigers on Earth Day last year, however, Zach remained tight lipped, stating that either are a possibility.

When & Where: Torquay Hotel, Torquay – November 28 (Free!)

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T H E NIG H T V IBE

I f Th e Sh o e F i t s . . .

Written by Tex Miller / thenightvibe.com.au

Written by Jessica Alves

You know you’ve got a shoe addiction when you’ve always got room in your wardrobe for one more pair. It’s particularly difficult for me to negotiate which pairs of shoes are necessary to have and which ones aren’t because, to me, all shoes serve a very important purpose. Sometimes it’s for functionality and sometimes it’s simply because they look good. But in saying that, if I absolutely had to whittle it down to five pairs, it would be these...

The Ankle Boot Being vertically challenged, I love a good heeled ankle boot, as they’re very practical for winter and they don’t cut off my height like a knee high boot would.

They’re also pretty warm, and whilst practicality is kind of expendable when it comes to shoes, you don’t want to be walking around in a strappy heel when winter is here.

The Leather Sandal Whether you’re a trendy footbed kind of gal, or more into the minimalist classic kind – every woman should own a pair of leather sandals.

I’ll always go a neutral when buying leather because, in my opinion, it’s just too expensive to be spending so much money on a pair of shoes that aren’t going to last through the trends, and lets face it, black goes with everything.

The Flat It’s essential for every woman to own a pair of flat shoes. I’ve never been a big fan of the ballerina flat myself, I’m more partial to the slipper kind. But whether you’re into pointy toes or espadrilles, you definitely need one pair of flat, no fuss shoes that you can throw on in a pinch. They’re also great for the day after a night of painful heel-wearing.

Sneaker This one has been a bit controversial in my life. I’m usually not a sports-luxe person, so I make them work by taking them away from their clothing genre.

Aside from wearing them to my pump class, I think they look great with a black and white stripped dress or little white lace dress.

An added bonus is that they’re super comfortable and great for when you’re going shopping.

High Heeled Pump This is for many people the most generic of all the shoes, but for me, they’re an excuse to step outside of my comfort zone. Considering ninety-nine per cent of my wardrobe consists of grey, white and black, it doesn’t hurt to add in a little bit of colour, and what better excuse to invest in a new pair of shoes?

I’m a shoe addict in the way that whenever I see a shoe in a neutral colour, (i.e. anywhere in between the colours black and white) I kind of have to have it.

No, you’ll never see me walking around in a pair of ten-inch Lady Gaga inspired heels, but I just can’t say no to one of the classics.

Instagram @jessicazalves youtube.com/msbonvivants

When you really sit down and think about it, there are many regional Victorian bands and musicians kicking goals all around the music scene today. With Hunting Grounds (Formerly Howl), King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Mia Dyson and local Geelong band Revolution, there has been a revival over the last few years of bands getting out of their bedroom and hitting the big stage and super stardom. Living around Geelong may to some people seem like a very sheltered lifestyle as there isn’t too much music coming to town, but if you look beyond the big names there is plenty of buzz around the scene.

If you have a bit of talent and are lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, things can start to happen. In the last week, the J Awards were announced and it’s awesome to see that there are some regional Australian acts scooping up them up.

Although Chet Faker took out album of the year, the inaugural Double J Australian artist of the year award went to none other than former Surf Coast gal Mia Dyson.

Having worked extremely hard at refining her sound and song writing, Dyson relocated to the States in the mid noughties to further her career prospects – although these days she lives over there most of the year. We are lucky enough to still call her one of our own, due to their local

family roots. I remember seeing Dyson play at the 2003 Queenscliff Music Festival and debuting songs off her first album Cold Water. From that moment I, and the fifty people that were watching her in the Sea Scout Hall, realised it was an unspoken understanding that she was bound for big things.

In an article with the Sydney Morning Herald in 2005, she stated that growing up in Torquay during her teenage years had a profound effect on her early musical life. This was drawn down to the amazing arts and culture scene that we are lucky to have around the Surf Coast and Geelong region. No matter where you look, there are always opportunities for young bands, artists and writers to voice their own work.

Another act that has been smashing it internationally is Surf Coast psychedelicrock kids King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Having toured America and currently doing a few laps of Europe, they have been catapulted onto the world stage. Their most recent album I’m In Your Mind Fuzz, was nominated as one of the best albums of the year by triple j, and although it didn’t end up taking home the gong, it is an incredible listen and shows that there is no slowing down yet. Playing alongside Brian Jonestown Massacre and the Black Angels, the

band took time in the US to lay down the roots for their most recent material. Their recorded output is quite astounding too, with six albums in a matter of years.

One of the coolest aspects of King Gizz is that a couple of months back, Stu from the band put their whole discography on the internet for free. If you’d like to stock up make sure you check out their Facebook page.

Another local band that are going from strength to strength is Revolution. After winning the regional final of the Battle of the Bands at Courthouse Arts, they are set to play at Moomba festival next March. There are many different local up and coming bands that are looking for a start. What really brings a smile to my face is that by just heading down to the local pub, you are able to see many up and comers getting their foot in the door. You’re never able to fully know where they are headed, but there is a big chance that you are looking at the next big thing.

It is a great thing that local Australian music is being recognised on a national level and hopefully – with any luck – these big mega stars, such as Mia Dyson and King Gizzard, will be back to play in Geelong soon.

With a world of discovery out there, be sure to step out and support local music because you never know where they will be tomorrow.

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Saints & Sailors Q&A

After recieving a bit of a facelift, the Portarlington venue is ready for a Summer season and whatever celebration you care to bring along with you. Adapt at multi tasking the venue offers a spot to grab a bite to eat, listen to some great live music and a stunning view across the bay. We had a chat to one of the owners Mitch, about his pretty excellent spot on the coast.

Hi Mitch, thanks for taking the time to chat to Forte, how has the Summer preparation been going?

It’s actually been a little hectic!!

We’ve recently undertaken some pretty major renovations so it’s been a race against time to get everything up and running and looking swanky again. We’re nearly there now so we are pleased and relieved that it’s all come together for the festive season.

How long has Saints & Sailors been running now and how did it originally come about?

We just ticked over into our fourth year a couple of weeks ago, time flies as they say. The idea of opening a live music venue/bar/ restaurant somewhere down the coast had always been a bit of a daydream of ours. After years and years of sitting behind a desk my wife noticed this great old building had come up for lease and she was actually the one who was gutsy enough to say go on, it’s now or never. We both had formed a bit of a shared vision, so we quit our reasonably well paid and comfortable jobs and here we are.

What sorts of facilities does your venue offer?

We offer an extensively stocked bar, casual dining/restaurant area, live stage area that can be configured for both standing and seated shows,

Where: Where: 36 Newcombe St, Portarlington When: Thu-Sat 5pm-late; Sun 12.30-6pm Contact: 0418 517 323 Web: saintsandsailors.com.au

a chill out room towards the back of the venue featuring couches and comfy chairs with a large projector screen, a double tiered undercover deck and garden outdoor area featuring an open fire and fantastic views over to the bay and pier.

Your venue has provided the region with another impressive live music venue, who have been some of your more memorable acts to date?

We really have been lucky to have had some absolutely fantastic acts over the years. A few memorable shows that come to mind would be the legendary Chris Wilson, blues stalwart Geoff Achison, a seven-piece bluegrass band from Perth called The Seals and a killer solo set from Paul Woseen from the Screaming Jets.

In addition to the music and

bar, you also boast an impressive restaurant, tell us about some of the menu favourites?

We serve a variety of tapas style dishes, shared plates, pita pizzas and a small selection of mains.

Where possible we try to focus on using local ingredients and produce and keeping our meals affordable without compromising on quality or freshness. Our ‘From the Sea’ share plate which features a variety of our seafood samplers, including house made popcorn prawns, local marinated mussels and tender locally sourced salt and pepper squid is a real favourite at the moment. Starting December, for the first time we will also be offering a meze styled breakfast menu from Thursday to Sunday.

For first time visitors, what can customers expect from the Saints & Sailors experience?

Well we’ve often been complimented on our ‘leave your pretentions at the door’ atmosphere. Saints is an incredibly welcoming and relaxed venue. We pride ourselves on having the best staff in town and I think a lot of that stems from our staff genuinely enjoying themselves whilst working, interacting with the musos and making people feel as comfortable as they would at home. We can have a really diverse range of punters in on any given night aged from 18 to 80, which I think is a fairly rare yet great thing to have these days for our type of venue. I should also mention that we have an impressive range of original artworks both on display and for sale as well as a couple of hand painted murals that have to be seen to be believed.

What are some of the acts you have coming up this Summer?

We’ve got a bumper schedule lined up this summer. We’ve got a heap of local acts over the next few months including RDZJB, Murdena and Luke Biscan. We’re looking forward to a really special new years eve with a variety of musos on the night including Tex Miller, Ukelele Carnival and Chris WIlson & The Pirates of Beer. Blues legend Stringybark McDowell will also be joining us in January as will former Reptiles frontman Nick Barker.

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Shaun Kirk Q&A

Amidst yet another tour around Australia, we had a chat with high energy, blues and soul singer Shaun Kirk, and we were feeling a bit of deja vu, having talked to him only a few months ago under similar circumstances.

Hey Shaun, thanks for taking the time out to chat with Forte, how are you and what have you been up to?

Thanks for having me again. I’m doing real good, busy gallivanting around the country as per usual.

Last time we talked to you, you’d just released Steer the Wheel and were about to embark on another tour to New Zealand, how did everything go?

Fantastic! The crowds had grown since I was there last time, which is all you can ask for really. The response was amazing and I also got to head to the south island which was new territory for me. Mind blowing scenery!

It seems whenever we talk to you you’re in the middle of a series of shows. Do you get to spend much time with family and friends?

I try my best to catch up with people as much as I can. I think it’s important to try and balance things but admittedly I think I am somewhat addicted to playing gigs and keeping on the move…

We loved that you’re setting out to record the whole film clip for ‘Two Hands on the Wheel’, how has it been going so far?

It’s a fantastic little side project for me! I’m a pretty creative guy, but I think if you put all your creative

energy into one single medium (e.g song writing) it is easy to burn out. So it’s great to have something different to focus on and learn about.

I’ve caught some great moments so far and I’m hoping to give people a unique insight into the life of a troubadour.

Is it hard at all making time to sit down and record each bit?

Not really, I’m focusing on catching natural moments on the road, rather than sitting down in front of a camera and miming. So most of the shots are as simple as setting up the camera and letting the moments come.

You’ve even done the odd bit of busking here and there, is it good to be getting back to performing on the streets?

Yeah! It’s good to play

Release: Steer the Wheel available now When&Where: Northcote Social Club, Melbourne - November 30

with no real pressure. To be able to sit and talk to a passer-by between songs and not have to worry about the audience getting impatient. Busking also acts as a bit of a rehearsal for me personally as I don’t get much time elsewhere.

How has the crowd responded to your new album performed live?

Great! It’s a good feeling when you can’t actually tell what the favourite song on the album is because

everybody is requesting something different. This seems to be the case with this record.

You’ve done your fair share of touring Australia and now a bit of New Zealand, is there anywhere overseas that you’d love to do a tour of ?

I’m really focused on getting to the USA right now.

My management who are based in LA are working hard to make it happen. Fingers crossed!

Thanks again for having the chat with us, is there

anything you’d like to add before we finish up?

Thanks for your support Forte, as well as all the punters out there who are getting behind my music!

It means a lot to me! I hope to catch up with you all at a show very soon :)

Lily and The Drum Q&A

In the past three years Lily and the Drum averaged out at about 100 gigs per year, and lucky for us they’re swinging our way for a show or two. We were lucky enough to have a chat to the band about the recording process and they’re favourite places to perform – lucky for us the coast happens to be a strong contender.

Hi guys, thanks so much for taking the time to talk to Forte, where are you currently and what are you up to at the moment?

We are in Adelaide at the moment where we have been busy doing a series of album launches promoting our brand new album Welcome Change. We started on October 17 with a sell out show (which was nice) just north of Adelaide and then a couple more in Adelaide and suburbs. It continues on in the new year.

Plenty of travelling and lots of great gigs coming up!

The new album Welcome Change has been out for a few weeks now, how long was the recording process of that one?

The album took us about six months from start to finish. We wrote all the songs during this time in between gigs and some while travelling in the old Holden wagon way out there somewhere! We then set aside some time for the actual recording. The recording was done in batches. On a couple of sessions we reeled off four songs, where as other days we only had time to get one down.

Since forming just over three years ago, you have

toured quite heavily including hitting the festival circuit pretty hard, what has been your most memorable show to date?

Mildura New Years Eve in front of 5000 people, Semaphore Music Festival in SA 2013, 2014 we got swamped for CD sales as we came off stage on both occasions. Also, the Blues in the Barossa 2013 where we performed on the small stage, and again being surrounded by people wanting to buy CDs and wanting autographs. We were so busy a few punters joined in to help sell the CDs – I think they were even signing the CDs for us!!

Based in Adelaide but travelling all over, where have been some of your favourite places to perform?

We love coastal and river towns, but

When & Where: Martian’s Cafe, Deans Marsh - November 29

having said that we have had some great times in places like; Melrose Music Muster at the foot of the Flinders Ranges in SA, the iconic Deans Marsh Café – a great music venue in Victoria supported by music lovers.

Fantastic small country towns all over the country like Orroroo and Robe in SA, Nhill and Cape Bridgewater in Vic, Kangaroo Island off SA coast – too many to name. Nearly 300 gigs in the last three years and all different types of venues and great characters met.

With plenty of tour dates scheduled in support of the new album, what else will 2015 hold for Lily and The Drum, do you have any New Year’s Resolutions?

In 2015 we are looking to travel to QLD and further up throughout NSW, and also have to try and get to WA, NT and Tasmania. We have had so much support from radio stations all over the country, we’re not sure how we are going to visit all these places – a helicopter could help!? The song writing process is something we

both really enjoy so time needs to be allocated to get the next album out.

New Year’s resolution: Lily promises not to keep turning her guitar up so loud and John promises he won’t hit the drums so hard….. hmm sure!!

GEOFF ACHISON Written by Tex Miller

If you look at the best Australian blues guitarists of all time, Geoff Achison is without a doubt on the list. In 1994, Achison released his debut album Big Machine and since then has gone in leaps and bounds. I got the opportunity to sit down with Achison recently to have a chat about guesting with the Allman Brothers, playing alongside his long-time mentor and collaborator Dutch Tilders and how it feels to be celebrating the anniversary of the disc.

“That was the first project out of the Dutch Tilders band. It’s kind of shocking when you add it all up, but there we go, 20 years. I don’t feel that old,” Achison jests. Like many guitarists before him, Achison got his start playing in bands from an early age and was taken under Tilders wing, who Achison describes as the Godfather of Australian blues.

“Dutch emigrated from Holland during his teenage years and after living in post war Europe for many years – and discovering old American blues records – came out to Melbourne. He began to play in coffee shops around town and was a shining light at the time.

Nobody had really heard this blues music before – it was a revolutionary time to be involved in the scene,” he says.

Striking up a lifelong friendship, Achison took off on the road with the Dutch Tilders band, playing hundreds of gigs all around Australia. Talking about 44 forte

their time on the road, Achison is quick to tell me that he never really relaxed completely around Tilders. “I was always star struck by him, even after spending five or six years on the road – there was just something that took him to another level. He was a brilliant performer and someone that we all miss very dearly,” Achison says.

Inspired by Tilders to pick up the acoustic guitar, the sound that Achison now produces with his solo show and the Souldiggers, is astounding and still to this day turning heads both here and abroad.

One of the best things that Achison did for his music career was to head over to the US and soak up the atmosphere and blues scene. It is an experience that Achison

“ Nobody had really heard this blues music before – it was a revolutionary time to be involved in the scene” would recommend to any young blues player, without hesitation.

“Oh yeah! I would highly recommend that.

On my first few visits, I didn’t have much more of a plan than go to America. You just got to turn up. If you want to investigate what might happen, you just have to put yourself in that scenario. Besides the money for the airfare, it’s an easy country to get into – there’s no language barrier and the blues clubs are just great. You are always likely to strike up a conversation. They’re friendly and it’ll do wonders for your music,” he says.

The next few months are a celebration of Big Machine, culminating in the live disc that was recorded at the GH hotel in St Kilda with the Souldiggers earlier this year. Playing at the Bridge Hotel on November 29, Achison is excited about the opportunity to get back down there to play.

“That’s my home turf. I used to play with Allan Watson’s jazz band at the Theatre Royale, it was a pseudo hippy jazz band. They’d play the latest movie and we’d have our gear set up and when that finished, we kicked in to play some tunes. I can’t wait to get back that way and play again,” Achison says.

Release: Geoff Achison & The Souldiggers 20th Anniversary Concert DVD available now When&Where: Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine - Nov 29

Forte Columns

PULP Written by Alastair McGibbon

le monde entier Written by Madelin Baldwin lemondeentier.net

blues news Written by John (Dr John) Lamp Proudly pesented by The Sleepy Hollow Blues Club

Cajun music is a style often played alongside mainstream blues. Its home is certainly Louisiana, as is the blues.The style originated as waltz or two-step, usually played with accordion, fiddle and triangle.Contemporary Cajun has a heavy influence of rock, R&B, blues, soul, and zydeco, producing a less traditional, more contemporary sound.

If you want to find some fine Cajun music, just try Googling Blind Uncle Gaspard, Joseph Broussard or the Red Stick Ramblers. You might also like to try Clifton Chenier to compare some zydeco.But that’s not the story I want to talk about today. Where did Cajun come from, the people and the music?

This is an amazing story, going German Christmas Markets back to the 17th century in North These are hugely popular and you America. At that time, there was a can pretty much find them throughout French colony in Lower Louisiana, and the different European countries now, another in the Nova Scotia, Quebec but Germany’s rocks. You can find all and Maine area further north. As the sorts of decorations, types of food and older of us suffered through in history drink at the markets (which can be lessons, the English General Wolfe found in main streets etc) and you’ll always find the famous hand glass-blown attacked this colony and dispossessed the existing inhabitants in 1710. ornaments. Frohe Weihnachten!

Over the next forty-five years, Paris the Acadians refused to sign an Paris in general is absolutely stunning unconditional oath of allegiance at Christmas time. The Champs-Élysées sidewalk is transformed into a board walk, to Britain. During this period, Acadians participated in various with a sort of wood verandah over the militia operations against the top of the pavement. There are all sorts British and maintained vital supply of stalls selling mulled wine, chestnuts, lines to the French Fortress of crepes and Christmas decorations, with Louisbourg and Fort Beausejour. a huge White Wonderland theme.

I’m not going to dwell on that Christmas Eve is the main event, too much, because the indigenous usually celebrated by attending mass inhabitants were also dispossessed and then going home for a huge meal

by Europeans generally. Anyhow, the of fois gras, oysters, venison and loads French settlers called their northern more. My type of Christmas for sure! settlement Arcadia and themselves Canada Arcadiens – in French, les Cadiens.

In some areas of Canada, there is a The English, skilled at absorbing and strange tradition called ‘mummering’. adapting languages, took on Cadiens People dress up in disguise/costumes, and came out with Canada and knock on front doors and say in an Canadian. There were, as mentioned, altered voice, “Are there any Mummers Cadiens who did not want to be in the night?” or “Any Mummers ‘loud Anglicised into Canadians, so they in?’” – meaning ‘Are Mummers allowed left and travelled south to the other in the house?’ Then they’ll sing, eat French settlement of Louisiana. some Christmas cake, and if the host The Acadians’ migration from doesn’t guess who the Mummers are, the Canada was spurred by the Treaty of host must join the Mummers in their Paris (1763) which ended the war. merry-making. Going Mummering is a The treaty terms provided 18 months fun Christmas season activity for adults. for unrestrained emigration. By this “Mummers” usually come out between time, the Spanish were in control of December 26 and January 6 (the 12 Louisiana, but they had no problem days of Christmas). However, some with the Cadiens to live as they liked. come out only before Christmas Day. Under Napoleon Bonaparte, France Hogmanay in Scotland took back the territory in 1800 in the Though not strictly Christmas, hope of re-establishing an empire in this is a big New years Eve tradition in North America. In 1804 the USA Scotland. Usually celebrated with all the took over the area as part of the normal drinking, fireworks and parades Louisiana Purchase. The Cadiens with a torchlit procession, but on New kept their name and their developing Years Day there is the Loony Dook – a musical and linguistic traditions.

25-year-old tradition where you go to Since then they have developed South Queensforth and jump into the a distinct dialect of French, unique freezing cold water. Yep, you read right. music, folklore and cuisine. One It actually raises loads of money for of the linguistic developments various charities, but I’d certainly rather was the transformation of Cadien be a viewer at this spectacle! The best to Cajun, originally an insulting part of this is that January 2 is a public term used by English speakers. holiday in Scotland, simply to allow you So this distinctive Louisiana music to get over the festivities. How sensible. actually has French roots, most likely Japan from the rural folk traditions.

In Japan, less than 1 per cent of the Dr John (Mac Rebennack, not population is Catholic, so Christmas me!) has also recorded Cajun themed Day is more a celebration event than music, probably the best known being a religious one. The main event is Loup Garou (Werewolf ). (youtube.

Christmas Eve, and for single women com/watch?v=kOyHhyNfnXE ) the night has become marketed as a In 2007 the Grammy Award good time to spend with a loved one for Best Zydeco or Cajun Music – similar to Valentine’s Day. Children Album category was created. also wait for presents from the Buddhist Zydeco developed from Cajun version of Santa called Hotei-osho incorporating influences from who is said to have eyes in the back the French Creole community. of his head (uh .. slightly terrifying).

Hog Stomping Zydegators Christmas here is not so much a family from Warrnambool do some event, so anywhere you go you’ll be excellent Zydeco. Definitely worth able to have a good time and enjoy the keeping your eyes open for it.

Japanese version of Christmas vibe.

I love Christmas – for me, it brings memories of BBQs in the sun, champagne breakfasts, 5am starts (even though I’m 25..) and afternoon naps.

But growing up all of the Christmas shows we watch on TV or in the movies are all about the snowy Christmas day (I could watch Jonathan Taylor Thomas rush home to make Christmas over and over), warm lit fires and a few sips of egg nog. Depending on where you are in the world, Christmas is very different due to varying weather and cultures. Here are a few cool Christmas events you can attend – depending on what hemisphere you might be travelling through at that time of year.

Ah, Free Comic Book Day. Who doesn’t love it? Seriously, if you didn’t answer in the affirmative to that question – what the hell is wrong with you? Comic stores literally give away free comics! One of my favourite things about FCBD is that it’s actually twice a year – the first day is on May 4 (also known as International Star Wars Day), and the second is on Halloween – Halloween ComicFest. I’m a little behind this year – even though I was able to actually make it to ComicFest, I haven’t actually had time to talk about this year’s haul until now. There was a pretty wide range on offer, but unfortunately there just aren’t enough words in this column to cover them all!

This year, I picked up a pretty wide range of titles: issue #1 of Secret Wars (the classic Marvel event), Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Special Edition (a reprint of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s preLong Halloween Batman miniseries), Robert Kirkman’s Super Dinosaur, The Extinction Parade #1 (written by Max Brooks, of World War Z fame) and Michael Turner’s Soulfire issue #0, written by Jeph Loeb and the titular Michael Turner.

One downside to FCBD titles is that the titles on offer aren’t always the cream of the crop – for every great story there’s a couple of lessthan-stellar titles. Either they’re flashy with no substance, or they’ve got a great but underdeveloped story with appalling artwork. In this case, thankfully, there’s little of either. For the most part, the issues I picked up were solidly written, and usually had strong artwork to back them up.

It definitely helps when you have experienced writers like Jeph Loeb

behind the titles. The Legends of the Dark Knight story, All Hell Breaks Loose, is a reprint of a Halloween special that Loeb and Sale worked on back in 1993, and both have said that working on the miniseries lead to them developing the classic Long Halloween story that we all know and love. You can see what drew the pair to developing the series – All Hell Breaks Loose is very similar to the style of The Long Halloween; it’s darker and moodier than a lot of modern Batman stories (if that’s even possible) and there is a very similar look and feel in Sale’s depiction of the Dark Knight.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, you have Max Brooks’ (son of legendary comedian Mel) The Extinction Parade. Max has something of a fascination with zombies – his first published work was The Zombie Survival Guide, back in 2003. He then went on to write World War Z, which you might remember was made into a movie starring Brad Pitt not too long ago. In case you hadn’t picked up on where I’m going here – yes, the Extinction Parade also features zombies. Only this time, there’s also vampires involved! The concept is alright – vampires revelling in the destruction of humanity, only to realise that their food source is about to go extinct – but it’s let down by rather patchy art. Raulo Caceres’ art is brutal and dark – as a zombie-themed book should be – but he struggles to draw people, whether they’re vampires, zombies or average Joes being eaten.

All in all – some good books, some average books, and a hell of a lot of fun! See you all next issue, for a milestone – Pulp #50!

PUNK!

because I ran into them all – good times! Oh, and also, nobody got kicked in the face or anything.

Riot Grrrl legends Babes In Toyland are back together and ready to start playing shows again – hard to believe it’s been 18 years between drinks!

Green Day frontguy Billy Joe Armstrong is making his way into the movies now. He’s costarring with Selma Blair and Judy Greer in a new movie called Geezer. Should be interesting!

UK dance-punk-anarcho combo, The Prodigy, are heading back to Australia in March to take part in the Future Music Festival.

Oooh, Keith Morris (former vocalist for Black Flag, Circle Jerks and Bug Lamp, and currently OFF!) has an autobiography on the way, titled My Damage: 40 Years On The Front Line Of Punk. Catchy!

But don’t hold your breath – it’s not being released until 2016!

Pennywise frontman Jim Lindberg has a new side project called The Wraths. I don’t know about y’all, but I get nervous every single time this guy strays from Pennywise! It’s like, can we trust him to go back? LMFAO! Anyways, my fingers are crossed.

Check The Wraths out NOW! Can you believe they’ve bothered to re-make the Band Aid single, ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ Hmmm...

It’s a pile of bollocks, and featuring the likes of Rita Ora and One Direction. Have I been able to bring myseld to listen to it, but it DID sell over 200,000 copies in its first week of release in the UK. Kudos, I guess...

Anyways, boils and ghouls, we’ve reached the end of yet another edition of this here column, make sure you tune in again next time – so to speak!

Written by Christopher Cruz

So, the Download Festival (kind of like the UK Soundwave, if you will) is already looking like a corker, and it isn’t happening for another seven months! The first round of announcements includes Muse, Faith No More, A Day To Remember and Marilyn Manson. Epic! If you’re heading to Europe next winter (their summer) you’d be crazy to miss it!

Emo frontrunners and all-round killer band, Saves The Day, are about to re-release their legendary second album Through Being Cool on 12” vinyl. Killer album on a killer format. The guys have also just released a brand new 7” single, ‘The Tide Of Our Times’.

Cancer Bats have just dropped a killer new video for their single ‘Satellites’. Go Youtube it NOW! Wowsers, NOFX absolutely BLITZED the crowd at the Barwon Heads Hotel – the show was absolutely packed out (perhaps even oversold) and the mosh kicked off as soon as the band hit the stage, and hadn’t even started playing yet. Yes, it was that mental! ‘Leave It Alone’ got an airing, as did all of ‘The Decline’, and the encore included a killer, spot on ‘Linoleum’.

An amazing set from a much loved band. The Bennies opened up the show, and punters seemed to enjoy them. Members of local bands Agent 37, The Shorts and Rehashed were in attendance. I know this,

too heavy to hug

pop culture

Written by Paul S Taylor

Written by Anthony Morris

Here we go, let’s wrap this year up and the final three pre-Xmas Forte issues by beginning THTH’s annual Top5 of 2014 countdown!

It’s that time of year where television watchers’ gaze turns to the future, and not just because all the good shows are wrapping up as the ratings period winds down. No, this is the time of year where the networks start announcing their plans for the coming year and while Ten, SBS and the ABC have announced what they have in store for 2015, it’s only really the ABC that’s had anything serious to announce.

For Ten at least, it’s basically business as usual. That is, more reality shows and more desperate skipping from one tent pole series to another in the hope that just one popular show will hide the fact that they have nothing else going on.

While SBS doesn’t really have the budget to do much more than the occasional race-related reality show. But the ABC – much to the chagrin of Rupert Murdoch if the non-stop attacks on it from his papers are to be believed – is a real network with real programming, and is pretty much the only Australian network that still bothers with local comedy that means they have at least two kinds of non-reality entertainment to offer.

Then again, the use of the word “diverse” in this press release seems more than slightly ironic: “In 2015, ABC will premiere diverse new Australian drama including THE SECRET RIVER – the screen adaptation of Kate Grenville’s classic novel about a good man compelled to participate in a crime of inhuman savagery; HIDING – the tale of a Queensland family who are placed into witness protection in Sydney; THE BEAUTIFUL LIE – a contemporary re-imagining of the greatest tragic romance of all time, Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina; and the riveting paranormal mystery series GLITCH.” So… more of that “quality” drama than hardly anyone seems to watch, hey?

At least Glitch sounds like someone at the ABC has noticed that the BBC seems to be doing well out of an endless stream of low budget science fiction and fantasy material. As for the new comedy material in 2015, that’s just as predictable: “Comedian CHARLIE PICKERING returns to ABC to present a news comedy show that promises to be opinionated and outspoken; Shaun Micallef stars as our third longest-serving prime minister in THE EX-PM – a narrative comedy that fixes its beady eye on the world of grounded high-flyers struggling to stay relevant; and Wil Anderson heads home to Australia for a fresh new take on the world of spin, along with regular GRUEN panellists Todd Sampson and Russel Howcroft.”

With The Chaser stepping back from the news comedy side of things, and The Roast recently axed, it’s no big shock that there’s a new news satire on the horizon – though Shaun Micallef ’s Mad as Hell will also be back in 2015.

But there are a few new shows coming up too: Judith Lucy has a news series titled Judith Lucy is All Woman (“It’s a timely exploration of where women are at in modern Australia – and what that means for men – told from the unique perspective of someone who’s been a woman for most of her life.”) while Sammy J & Randy have their own sitcom, Ricketts Lane and ABC2 (which loses Josh Thomas’ Please Like Me to ABC1) will be getting 8MMM Aboriginal Radio, a comedy set inside an Alice Springs community station plus Maximum Choppage, a comedy series written by and starring Lawrence Leung. It sounds like a pretty solid line-up… until you realise that’s meant to cover the whole year and if previous years are any guide at least a couple of these shows won’t air until 2016.

5: Triptykon – Melana Chasmata

Like smoke rising into the frigid night from the smouldering depths of a chasm, Triptykon’s second album will invade your senses with its thick, heavy plumes and thin, fragile wisps as it swirls around you.

When it comes to the likes of Thomas Gabriel Fischer at the helm, it’s no surprise that Melana Chasmata is such a varied masterpiece that floats between avant-garde metal, gothic metal, doom-laden soundscapes, black metal and back again in ring like cycles.

The album opens with the crushing, headbanging groove of ‘Tree Of Suffocating Souls’, a song that can get the most discerning metal fan instantly on board.

From there the album will float and snake its way through its journey, always sure of the next chosen direction – even if the listener isn’t – offering respite, intensity, interest, misdirection and surprising twists and turns.

The vast amount of oxygen required to give the album life may mean the long journey could require energy to listen to – which can put listeners off – but this is one journey worth every inch of your attention.

‘In The Sleep Of Death’ a haunting tale is told with foreboding and melancholy, ‘Breathing’ is stomping groove laden, flat out metal track, while ‘Boleskine House’ is a slow, stumbling, beautiful giant.

Closing the album is ‘Black Snow’ and ‘Waiting’, the pair of tracks hold onto each other, compliment each other and float together to the heavens like an ancient married couple. They are beautiful, all knowing but not all speaking, more observant and cautious than brash – confidently doing what the need to do to serve the album.

As an album on its own, Melana Chasmata is a masterpiece of darkness, beauty, groove and restraint.

It’s a painting with many layers to focus on as it emphasises back at you that masterpieces don’t need colour – they only need heart and a soul and a story. This album is true art.

In other news

Thy Art Is Murder and Psycroptic will play The Hi-Fi on Saturday December 13 and Ringwood OLP on Sunday December 14.

Graves and Ocean Grove will play Bang on Saturday December 20 and an all ages show at Phoenix Youth Center on Sunday December 21.

Metallica will be re-releasing Kill ‘Em All and Ride The Lighting in remastered deluxe versions in 2015.

Marduk with special guests Inquisition will tear the Northcote Social Club to shreds on Wednesday January 14.

Marilyn Manson will release The Pale Emperor on Friday January 16.

The 2015 Melbourne Soundwave festival will be held at Flemington Racecourse on Saturday Feburary 21 and February Sunday 22.

Cancer Bats will release their fifth studio album Zero on Friday March 13.

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

forte 45

Refining the Palette

Analogue Academy Written by Amanda Sherring

What started as a friendship at work and a mutual love for the arts and photography, Daniel Horvat, James Cox and Joshua Maxwell de Hoog have since turned their passions into Analogue Academy: a café, gallery and film processing lab with the possibility to f low beyond that.

“We wanted to create a space that was all inclusive when it came to the arts and photography.

We shoot different things, in different styles, but bond over a love for film and analogue photography,” Joshua says.

“I think the main reason for creating Analogue Academy was to have a place that wasn’t so much about the future, but rather appreciating what we have and seeing the beauty in a physical form of photography.”

Located down a private alleyway, Analogue Academy is a place for like minded individuals to hang out and appreciate art at its core, and possibly partake in the occasional poetry slam or two.

“We thought it’d be a good escape for lots

of people and coffee seemed to be essential to that idea. As to where that idea leads, we will have to see. I think it’d probably be silly if we didn’t sell cookies though,” he says.

The space is also a way to inspire people to start using film again. James, Joshua and Daniel are hoping to make the process cheap and accessible so that anyone can enjoy capturing things on film.

Hearing the word ‘analogue’, you may think the space will only showcase works from photographers, and while it’s what brought the trio together, it’s by no means all they showcase at the space.

“We don’t want to limit ourselves to photography when it comes to exhibitions,” Joshua says. The importance is instead

placed on the locality of the artists who are exhibited on the walls, helping to keep the talent of the region in Geelong.

“We will be sourcing lots of local artists for shows, trying to keep Geelong artists in Geelong rather than them feeling the need to branch out into Melbourne,” he says.

“Geelong has the potential to be a very strong art community, and we’d love to be a part of that movement.

Our first show is Courtney Ward, a painter who is very dedicated to making Geelong’s art scene thrive and one of the main instigators of lots of collective art shows to date.”

Opening a business for the first time; Joshua, James and Daniel have taken to the project at full speed,

NURTURING THE PLACE – Bill Meyer The Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum has been working together with local artist Bill Meyer to present a collection of 50 digitally altered prints. For nearly 30 years Meyer has resided for part of the year in the Central Victorian rural location of Tarilta.

His 100 acre bushland property contrasts vividly with his second home in Israel. It enables him to focus on awareness of human emotion and its interaction with the

46 forte

even getting involved in the jack hammering of the venue. While there are a few nerves ahead of their opening to the public, they have faith that Geelong will see Analogue Academy for what it’s worth.

“With that come some nerves, but we’d like to think Geelong has a growing crowd of people who are interested in the arts and this is something

that would appeal to them,” Joshua says.

For more information on future events, like their Facebook page (www.facebook.com/ analogueacademy).

WHERE: Halfway down Cuzens Place, Geelong (Look for the black archway and picture of Mr.T) WHEN: Analogue Academy’s first show will be held on 6.30pm December 6

CINDERELLA – A Pantomine Presented by Medimime

physical environment.

Meyer distinguishes himself in his art by incorporating Jewish values and many works are titled with Hebrew text.

Meyer’s use of digital technology to create works that reference an exploration of the landscape as a psychological space.”

Director of the Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum, Ms Jennifer Kalionis, said: “This exhibition will explore

Gallery. 14 Lyttleton Street, Castlemaine.

WHERE: Castlemaine Art

Medimime Productions Inc proudly presents their 40th anniversary pantomime, Cinderella!

Cinderella spends her time with her Father, Baron Hardup and her best friend Buttons, until her father marries the Wicked Stepmother. Forced to do all the chores by her new Ugly Stepsisters, Cinderella is very unhappy. That is until she meets a stranger in the woods. The show is suitable for the whole family. Come along and boo and hiss!

12 x 12 PLAYS Local writers and performers from across the region bring 12 original plays to the Potato Shed.

Each play is 12 minutes long. Some deal with the darker side of life while others will have you laughing in the aisles.

This very popular series of original works is a must-see end of the year dramatic treat not to be missed.

WHERE: Potato Shed.

EARLY IMAGES OF GEELONG Drawings, prints and photographs from the Gallery’s permanent collection that record and interpret the township of Geelong from the mid-to-late nineteenth century.

Includes works by ST Gill, Wilbraham FE Liardet, John Skinner Prout, William Tibbits and Alexander Webb.

WHERE: GPAC. 50 Little Malop Street, Geelong.

Peninsula Drive, Drysdale.

WHEN: Until 14 December.

WHEN: 21 – 29 Nov.

WHEN: 12 Dec. 7pm.

WHEN: Until 15 March 2015.

WEB: castlemainegallery.com

INFO: www.gpac.org.au

PHONE: 5251 1998

INFO: www.geelonggallery.org.au

WHERE: Geelong Gallery. Little Malop Street, Geelong.

Refining the Palette

Kardinia International, Year 12, Beethoven is for Midnight, Henry Caldwell

Odyssey Film Festival Written by Amanda Sherring

As a student it can be a hard feat trying to get your work taken seriously outside of the schooling community, but thanks to Trent Edwards, Media Studies teacher at Lara Secondary College and the Youth Development Unit at CoGG, it’s become a little bit easier.

“I had so much talent in my classroom, and such immaculate artistic talent, that I wanted it to be seen to a further audience,” Trent says. “And around the local secondary schools too we had so many media students that were creating great content.”

Back for its second year, Odyssey Film Festival showcases the works of Year 11 and 12 Media Studies students from 11 schools across Geelong and the Surf Coast.

Creating the film festival isn’t at all in Trent’s job description and is something he has taken on outside of his

work as a teacher, though his passion for teaching has attributed to its creation. Though luckily, it’s something he hasn’t taken on alone.

“The Youth Development Unit have been an incredible help in the process of this from day one until now, it’s been phenomenal. I couldn’t do it without them, Odyssey wouldn’t exist,” he says.

Trent has also received support from Cr Jan Farrell, fellow teachers and those at other schools as well as parents of students involved in the event.

The general idea of Odyssey is to give an added incentive to the

gruelling process of creating a piece of work for VCE. “The main aim of the festival is that you do all this work for the whole year and your mum and dad may be the only people who see it, Odyssey then gives you the opportunity to show it at a major cinema,” he says.

With the quality of clips shown at last years event, which Trent assures me has increased with this year’s submissions, it would be a shame not to show them. The students are taking the camera to new places and angles in every clip to recreate the images in their heads.

“They strap the camera to a car, put it on a tripod or do whatever they need to do to get the shot they need,” Trent says.

“Last year’s winner Joey Knox was in a tree with a camera on the end of a pole so he could get panning shots from the

point of view he wanted to – so they’re very creative about how they go about it.”

Aside from sourcing new and unusual ways to capture a shot, the students have created original scripts and intriguing characters through their own creativity and the guidance of their teachers.

As the 18 clips are screened over the three nights, those watching will have the chance to vote for their favourite with an app created by Chris McDermott. The two winners are awarded with prizes on the last screening at Village Cinemas and everyone gets the joy of having their film on the big screen.

EIKON: Icons of the Orthodox Christian World Discover the extraordinary power of icons, which have sustained and shaped belief in different times and contexts, sometimes against significant odds.

Icons are beautiful sacred portraits, glowing with rich colours and gold leaf, but for Orthodox Christians they also represent the Divine Presence - they have been referred to as ‘Windows on Heaven’.

EIKON brings eighty high quality works,

originating from Greece and Russia, as well from Cyprus, Syria and Palestine, and range in time from the twelfth to the beginning of the nineteenth centuries.

Viewing the exhibition will be a special event, with dramatic lighting and a soundscape incorporating traditional chanting, bells and other sounds of an Orthodox service, recreating the original setting of the works.

WHERE: Art Gallery of

Ballarat. 40 Lydiard Street North, Ballarat.

WHEN: Until 26 January

2015.

INFO: artgalleryofballarat.

com.au

WHERE& WHEN:

Surfworld, Surf City Plaza, Torquay – December 3, Potato Shed, Drysdale – December 5 & Village Cinemas, Geelong – December 6.

TORQUAY HIGH TIDE FESTIVAL 2014 A celebration of art, culture, street parade, music, dance, workshops, treats and food. Fun for the whole family. The festival is held to celebrate the local culture and residents’ commitment to living in this beautiful coastal area.

It is held in December prior to the tourist season onslaught, enabling the focus to remain local and to allow maximum participation before people are tied up with a hectic season but encouraging those visiting the area to participate.

WHERE: Various venues around Torquay.

Northern Bay,Year 11, One Man Hide and Seek, Aimee Hynes

WHEN: 6 December.

INFO: www.torquay.vic.au

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Ghanda: Behind the Prints Written by Amanda Sherring

Step into any one of the 20-plus Ghanda stores across Australia and you’ll find rack after rack of colourful slogans and detailed illustrations printed onto all your wardrobe essentials. It’s easy to appreciate the designs at face value, but you mightn’t fully realise how they came to be.

After starting in 2003 selling garments out of the back of his car at markets in Torquay, Josh Rudd quickly tapped into what locals were missing out on in other surf wear labels.

“When I started the business I would sell T-shirts at a market and I’d know from customers exactly

what we were selling.

I’d run back here at night and print exactly the same ones and sell them again,” Josh says.

This focus on what the customer wants has helped attribute to the brands success and is something they’ve continued to strive towards in every tank top and hoodie that leaves their factory.

“Other companies just guess what their customers want and if it doesn’t sell they just make it really cheap in store to get rid of it. Essentially, if it’s not good they make it cheap, then more people are buying stuff that they didn’t want

anyway,” he says.

Before designer Holly Fahey adds: “And they’re not as targeted to the customers as we are.”

While the design itself is created with customers in mind, the process of how they are transferred onto the garment is what makes the brand unique.

As it stands, Ghanda are one of two screen printers in Victoria – when previously there were 14 – that actively print their own produce. By printing in house the brand have created around 25 jobs at the warehouse, all supported by every garment purchased.

When so many brands are sending designs over to China for printing, it’s a refreshing change when a company can see the shirt design process from start to finish.

“It’s so good that they just call me up when they’re finished printing, and I come over to check on colours and the design.

That’s definitely something I couldn’t do if we printed in China,” Holly says.

Visiting the factory I was lucky enough to see this happen first-hand, and as Josh and Holly showed me around, workers frequently approached Holly for advice on colours and how the design was taking shape.

While it was a factory filled wall to wall with boxes of clothing, machinery in the middle and a faint odour of paint in the air, the vibe of each worker was a pleasure to witness.

As they tagged garments, folded shirts and cut up templates, there was a smile on each face as we walked past and a few swaying to

the music that boomed from the far corner.

Many people don’t realise the effort that goes into each and every one of the products that you see in store, while this is something Josh wants people to know it’s also about the many opportunities that are on offer at Ghanda.

“We want to share that passion for garments, versatility and the artwork so that young people can see that in design there’s a few different options – you don’t just have to be a good drawer to do something,” Josh says.

“You can get into the printing side of it and things like that, and the best thing about all of it is it’s done locally.”

In future the brand hope to further their operations at the factory by introducing the facilities for them to dye their own shirts as well, allowing them even more f lexibility and control of every design.

To see exactly what they’re capable of creating visit www.ghanda.com or any Ghanda store.

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Blues Boot Camp Q&A with Wayne Jury

Deciding to pursue a career in the music industry can be one of the hardest decisions to make. With a passion for music, practical skills and industry savvy, making it becomes possible. One way to gain some of these skills is through the Blues Boot Camp next year, we had a chat to Wayne Jury about what the camp involves.

Hi Wayne, thanks for taking the time out to chat with Forte, how are you and what are you up to at the moment?

I’m well, thanks. I’ve just finished a short three gig run with Alison (Ali) Penney from Sydney, who is a long standing colleague and friend – always good fun, she’s so vibrant and a great musician.

I’m also doing a bit of admin work for the Port Fairy Folk Festival.

Blues Boot Camp is now in its fifth year, is it really rewarding knowing how many young musicians you have helped?

Yeah Blues Boot Camp is a great experience for not only the students but for the tutors as well. To be able to pass on knowledge and see people benefit from your experience, the mistakes and successes, is highly satisfying. To watch people grow in confidence after two days of workshops is very rewarding.

You have a pretty amazing career, did you attend many of these kind of workshops when you were starting out?

No. I had lessons from a great singing teacher called Jack White (not of the White Stripes). He retired here from Canada and he gave me the nitty gritty, nuts and bolts of singing which I value to this day.

If not, did you wish at all that something like this was available to you?

When I was cutting my teeth in the music industry it was different, much more amateurish.

The Aussie music industry was still learning. Now it’s a highly organised and professional industry with specialists in every field. It would have been great to have experienced professionals giving me tips and guiding me. At the same time we learn lessons from our mistakes.

How important do you think it is for young musicians to learn from people who are actively involved in the industry?

It’s important but people who are passionate about performing music will always find a way.

Musicians in the industry working at the front line have learned a lot of lessons, have a lot of contacts and experienced many different scenarios, they have a lot of knowledge to pass on, so it’s got to be a good thing to pick their brains. If it came to text book verses experience, I would pick experience every time.

There’s quite a few great tutors that will be involved in the camp, what do they each bring to the event?

They all have the ability to inspire each student and find the essential element that excites and motivates each individual.

One size does NOT fit all. Sarah Carroll is not only a great singer, songwriter and musician, she is

When&Where: The Potato Shed, Drysdale - January 6-8 2015

a great communicator. Tim Neal is so inventive and creative and an exciting musician. Michael Pollitt combines traditional with modern guitar skills as well as marketing through social media, Kelly Auty is an exceptional motivator with dynamic vocal and performance skills. Chris Wilson is a great musician and motivator and Dave Robertson is not only a great player he has an easy going way of teaching that has you learning before you know it. I love working with these people!

The camp is essentially an extended workshop, what can participants expect

from the experience?

Fun and hard work for a start.

We play a lot of music, learn musicianship skills and write and learn songs. We look at marketing, being safe in a musicwork environment, industry skills, performing as a group, cooperation, compromise, team work, and building partnerships. There will be one-on-one lessons as well as group workshops. It can be pretty intense but basically it’s what it’s like to be a working musician.

And at the end of the camp is a group performance, how have they gone in previous years?

The performances seem to draw

out emotions and abilities in people that are sometimes unexpected. The quality is high. There is nothing like watching someone who has worked their butt off for two days stand up on stage and give it their best, then there are the looks on their family and friends faces… truly priceless and moving.

Lastly, what do you get most out of holding the Blues Boot Camp?

Working with a team that inspires people to create and express themselves is pretty darn good.

Watching the participants interact and make music together is truly inspiring. Making and playing music with others for me is essential. I get

to do all this…I’m a lucky guy!

Thanks again for taking the time out to chat with us, is there anything you’d like to add before we finish up?

I’d like to say thanks to the Arts and Culture Department from the City of Greater Geelong for supporting this project through their Community Arts Grants program. The City has a strong commitment to Arts and Culture.

The music and art we produce here is a reflection of our society.

Music is a fantastically creative way to express yourself. Sing people!

For more information or to apply visit www.bluesbootcamp. waynejury.com.au.

Dallas Frasca Q&A

Known for their don’t-hold-back attitude and their passion for empowering people worldwide, we had a chat to Dallas Frasca in the middle of their You Are Beautiful national tour.

Hi Dallas Frasca, how are you and what have you been up to at the moment?

Extremely well and busy as usual! The band are still on the same mission and climbing the rungs of the ladder to go as far as we can upwards. We’ve been in the studio on and off a lot of the year working on the new record, ‘Love Army’ (due out 2015), we’ve been visiting Europe a whole lot (about to announce our fifth tour in two years) and are currently in the middle of a national tour to every nook and cranny of the country to promote our brand new single.

You’ve just released the clip for ‘You Are Beautiful’ which is a great track with an even better message. Do you think it’s important to send these sort of messages out into the world?

Thank you!! We are super proud of this release and have an incredibly positive response so far. As songwriters/performers I suppose we understand the powerful and influential role you are in when you stand up in front of a lot of people.

It’s your choice and responsibility what sort of art and message you deliver to the world so at this point I suppose we’d prefer to inspire and empower people rather than writing shallow and meaningless crap, but each to their own. At the end of the day, we write about things that mean something to us.

Frustratingly the track got banned even when Redfoo’s misogynistic track wasn’t, does it still annoy you that 50 forte

things like this still happen?

After watching RedFoo’s incredibly offensive and misogynistic clip released this week, it got me thinking – ultimately, what is more harmful for today’s culture, A: visuals and lyrics about shameless sexism or B: restrictions on full frontal nudity that convey a message about powerful body imagery? Okay, so maybe I’m a little fucked off because our video my band just released to, ‘You Are Beautiful’ about body confidence, positivity and empowerment had a restriction placed on it by YouTube (10,000 hits in the first 24 hrs) has something to do with it.

RedFoo’s clip is not only degrading to women but exploits woman in such a blatant way it supports a rape culture attitude, yet there’s ZERO restrictions? I mean what are the boundaries between acceptance with Misogynistic Attitude vs Empowerment / Body Confidence in society? It is a confusing time in culture and I felt passionate enough to write a song about it.

‘You Are Beautiful’ is a nonviolent and non-sexual visual representation that is promoting a positive body image. Yes there is nudity but really, what’s more offensive? RedFoo, Miley Cyrus (the overt sexualisation swinging naked on a wrecking ball) Nicki Minaj or J.Lo + Iggy Azalea spreading their butts apart, singing, “Give him what he asks for?” What would you rather your kids watch in a PG time slot? I mean, how are these music

When&Where: Golden Vine Hotel, Bendigo - December 5 & Yah Yah’s - December 12

videos truly shaping the world?

When the women in Red Foo’s clip repeatedly make it clear that they don’t want to engage in certain activities like ‘girl-on-girl action’ or drink tequila, they are harassed and verbally insulted by a group of overpowering men who shout in their faces: ‘Shut the fuck up’’.

Charming. I suppose you could say I was a little pissed our beautiful and empowering clip got lost in the weird world of censorship.

I read too that Slash gave

you a pretty good comment, was that a huge pinch-yourself moment for you guys?

Just over a year ago, the band was invited to open Bob Irwin’s new Wildlife Sanctuary last year with none other than Slash himself. I was holding a crocodile, Slash was holding a huge ass mother of all pythons and there was close to 100 paparazzi in a frenzy, screaming questions in front of us. I’ve had some pretty surreal moments, but that’s up there. We hung out for a

bit and he grabbed a copy of our album and was driven off in his tour bus with our record on ten blaring out the windows. About an hour later, he tweeted us saying: “Great vocals, riffs & groove!”

Yes, still pinching ourselves.

Thanks again for taking the time out to chat with us, is there anything you’d like to add before we finish up?

We cannot wait to share the new record with everyone next year, I’m almost bursting at the seams to get the record out. We’ve

got an exciting collaboration with Whitfield Crane from Ugly Kid Joe and a few other surprises. People can follow our crazy touring adventures on facebook.com/dallasfrasca or twitter.com/dallasfrasca. Make sure you check out our controversial new film clip for ‘You are Beautiful’ http://youtu.be/yRwnAG8qf Uc to see what all the fuss is about.

Good luck with the rest of the tour!

Thank you I hope to see you all on the road x

Bluestone

LILY AND THE DRUM

By John Lamp

For blues lovers there’s no better way to see in the New Year than by attending Bluestone. Now in its 19th year, the two-day event staged by Geelong’s Sleepy Hollow Blues Club features an impressive lineup of classic and original blues music from some Australian legends and emerging artists.

Headlining on New Year’s Eve is one of Oz’s elite blues acts: Geoff Achison and the Souldiggers. Geoff needs no introduction – nominated

by Australian Guitar magazine as one of the country’s top 50 guitar virtuosos in 2012, his scorching style is reminiscent of Eric Clapton, Gary Moore and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Geoff has recently released a CD/DVD featuring a fantastic 20th anniversary live concert recorded at The GH venue in Melbourne. 1994 to 2014 – that’s quite an achievement.

Four other Geelong and Melbourne-based blues acts complete an awesome NYE lineup; Brian Fraser, Stringybark McDowell and Rusty, Greg Dodd and the Hoodoo Men and Rod Paine and the Full Time Lovers.

Midnight will bring a traditional New Year countdown and celebration, followed by overnight camping with a night under the stars. Last year we were also treated to the sight of the International Space Station passing overhead just after midnight.

In the morning, Recovery Day, there’s plenty of black coffee, but usually a bit of a queue for the barista! On New Year’s Day, four more sensational acts take the Bluestone stage, featuring some of the cream of this country’s female blues artists.

At the top of the bill are Chubby

BEST FILM

Rae and the Elevators. Chubby Rae (aka Marisa Quigley) has been touted as “possibly the blackest white woman since Janis Joplin” and her voice described as “dripping raw honey from the mottled grain of rough cut timber, washed down with a splash of spiced rum”.

Before they take the stage, three other very impressive front-women will perform with their bands – JJ and the Blue Dogs, Blue Eyes Cry and Sweet Felicia and the Honeytones.

Sleepy Hollow Blues Club has run since 1994. Club president Rocky Vignale said the club stages eleven Sunday sessions a year at Geelong Trades Hall with a jam session and feature blues act. Bluestone is the club’s marquis event each year.

“We showcase the best Geelong talent, acts from Melbourne and interstate – and the occasional

international lineup,” he said.

“Bluestone 2014/15 has a fantastic selection of great blues talent. We’re expecting upwards of 500 people and it’s always a safe and great event.”

The music kicks off at 6pm on Wednesday December 31 at the Murgheboluc Oval, gates open at 10am that day.

Thursday’s show gets underway at 11am and runs until 6pm.

Free overnight camping is available to all ticket holders for the night. It is a licensed venue, no BYO and no glass, dogs or fires are permitted. A two-day ticket is priced from $70 to $100 dollars.

To book: www.trybooking. com/GHXY. More information: www. sleepyhollowbluesclub.org.au Email: info@ sleepyhollowbluesclub.org. au; phone 0434 126 644.

New album out now

After the success of their debut album “Nobody Just Like Me” and the recent EP “As a Matter of Fact” on the Australian Roots and Blues Charts Lily and the Drum will be promoting their new 11 track album “Welcome Change”

FRIDAY NOV 28th RED ROCK REGIONAL THEATRE

520 Coorangamite Lake Rd. Cororooke (Colac) Doors & bar open 7.00pm

SATURDAY NOV 29th MARTIANS CAFE 12 Lorne Rd. Deans Marsh 7.30-10.30pm Check with the venues for details

www.lilyandthedrum.com.au

18 amazing short films from 11 schools across Geelong, Bellarine and the Surf Coast

AUDIENCE FAVOURITE

Download the Odyssey Mobile App and vote for your favourite film during the screening

Geelong Year 11 and 12 Media Studies Film Festival 6-8pm 3 Dec - Surf World, Surf City Plaza, Torquay 6-8pm 5 Dec - Potato Shed, Peninsula Dr, Drysdale 6-8pm 6 Dec - Village Cinema 194 Ryrie St, Geelong

Tickets $5 plus booking fee online or $10 at the door if available

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Inside Splinters

5 GIGS

Written by Adem Ali

THE INSIDE SPLINTERS

TO P

TORI AMOS Absolutely slayed us last week at the Palais with her Unrepentant Geraldines Tour.

THE artRAVE Live Stream

o f 2 0 14

By the time you read this, Gaga’s final EVER artRAVE will have streamed LIVE over at Yahoo and, no doubt, will be made available on torrent sites the world over soon after.

With the year’s end fast approaching, it’s surely time to start banging out some of those beloved, end of year ‘best of ’ lists. Before you’re taken through the Splinters Songs and Albums of 2014, I thought we’d kick off proceedings with a tribute to the best tours, concerts and gigs that were brought to Australia during 2014 – in a classic, unforgettable Top 5 format.

Obviously, it’s very good news for Lady Gaga.

#01.

LADY GAGA’s artRAVE: The Artpop Ball One of the most euphoric and entertaining experiences of a lifetime, Lady Gaga’s artR AVE took the formula of what we’ve been accustomed to when it comes to the rock/ pop concert format and totally turned it round on its head.

At one point during the show Gaga shouts: “This is not a pop concert. THIS IS A R AVE!!!”, a statement that is hard to argue with coming off seeing the show two nights in a row during its Aussie run in August. During this near two-hour tour-de-force ravea-thon, cannons shot confetti and glitter all throughout the venue for what felt like the entire two hours, whilst the thumping bassline of 90 per cent of the set list, coupled with Gaga’s exceptionally talented and techno-driven support act Lady Starlight, this giant pop party exceeded the expectations I had placed on it – expectations that were already high. Standing in a venue that a younger, spring chicken version of me from over 10 years ago used to go to raves in, hearing Starlight playing Techno and then seeing Gaga hammering out my favourite album of 2013 live and in the flesh, I quite

honestly had a number of cathartic moments over those two nights thanks to the entire experience. And of course, meeting Gaga afterward and having one-on-one time with her certainly helped with the final ranking for this tour on the list you are now reading.

Lady Gaga’s artR AVE: The ARTPOP Ball remains the greatest live show I have witnessed to date, and if you missed her while she was here you’re an absolute goon.

#02.

TINA ARENA’s Reset Tour Queena Arena’s big, long awaited comeback to Englishbased, original music was nothing short of a triumph in 2013 with the release of her studio album Reset. Come 2014, it proved to be an even bigger year for the Young Talent Time original and queen of Australian pop music. With the Reset Tour, punters were treated to a Reset-heavy tour that also managed to explode with a finely crafted selection of her biggest hits and fan favourites. Hearing ‘Symphony of Life’ and ‘Dare You To Be Happy’ in the f lesh were an absolute treat, but it was the climactic encore of ‘Chains’, ‘I Need Your Body’ and ‘You Set Fire To My Life’ that made this one of the most spectacular shows I’ve ever seen.

#03.

death last year. Closing with one of Splinters’ songs of the year ‘Wedding Day’ only added to the brilliance of this eclectic and wild show.

TORI AMOS’ Unrepentant Geraldines Tour Music legend and professional piano plinkety-plonker Tori Amos’ Unrepentant Geraldines album is absolutely one of the best records of 2014, so it’s of no surprise her show at Melbourne’s gorgeous Palais Theatre made this final list. Playing a series of requests (including hit singles ‘Cornf lake Girl’ and ‘Pretty Good Year’), Tori wowed and impressed her loyal crowd with a completely faultless voice, heart-wrenching lyrics and a touching, balladdriven cover of Divinyls’ ‘I Touch Myself ’ – which Amos dedicated to the legacy of Chrissy Amphlett. A truly beautiful, powerful moment and by far the greatest tribute to Chrissy since her untimely

#04.

FLIGHT FACILITIES’ Down To Earth Tour Aussie duo Flight Facilities have been blowing our dance f loor-based minds with killer cuts over the years, but 2014 heralded the release of their highly anticipated debut album Down To Earth, and boy, did it deliver. Their shows were like an incredible party, celebrating the best in Aussie dance music and proving we are up there with the international cream of the crop when it comes to the genre. The boys put on a wicked live show with incredible special guest vocalists joining them on stage.

#05.

MILEY CYRUS’ Bangerz World Tour Miley Cyrus’ bonkers and ADHD inspired Bangerz World Tour was the perfect snapshot of her year and mass-inf luence. The tour projections beamed Miley’s mug being intertwined with memespecifics and a load of Miley-based Internet GIFs. She rode a giant hot dog through the air (!!), there was a 20 ft replica of her late dog that beamed lights out of its eyes during several numbers, and the confetti and balloons f lew through the air at a non-stop rate. Was it a hot mess? You’re damn right it was. But it was a truly entertaining and uplifting hot mess. Hearing her perform ‘Rooting for my Baby’ as well as a series of Beatles and Jeff Buckley covers were all immediate highlights.

For more music news and reviews follow @AdemWithAnE on Twitter!

“ Should we do something about your tiny penis while we’re at it?”

MARINA & THE DIAMONDS Hot off the heels of her fantastic new single “Froot” comes news Marina’s third studio album will be dropping April 2015.

or

TONY ABBOTT AT G20 Hammering the final nail into the ‘Australia has turned into a complete laughing stock’ coffin.

THE AALIYAH LIFETIME MOVIE Oh boy…

New Zealand music boss @LordeMusic serves producer Diplo in ultimate style after he started a kickstarter program to get Taylor Swift “a booty”.

DIPLO What a dickhead.

MISS NUDE 2014

HOLLY FOX PERFORMING LIVE 1 NIGHT ONLY

Friday 5th Dec

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ICE CAN TAKE AWAY

EVERYTHING FRIENDS, HOPES, LOOKS & FREEDOM

­t ¡ªĄàtʾàYď THERE’S NO PLACE FOR ICE

For assistance call DirectLine 1800 888 236 Greater Geelong area 1300 094 187 In an emergency call 000 Produced by Paul Kelly Creative

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Film Reviews

Films reviewed by Anthony Morris

Jimmy’s Hall Reportedly this is legendary firebrand director Ken Loach’s final film. Here’s hoping he changes his mind. He’s in classic form here – telling the real life tale of left-leaning Irishman Jimmy Gralton (Barry Ward) who was kicked out of Ireland in 1933 without trial for the “crime” of setting up a hall in Country Letrim. Jimmy had spent much of the ‘20s in the USA (he wasn’t all that popular due to his leftie antics back then either), and on his return in 1931 to post civil war-Ireland his local community pushes him to reopen his trademark public hall.

He soon caves, and with it featuring both education and the jazz music he brought back with him from the States, he’s on a collision course with the local priest (Jim Norton), who sees his politics and

t h e w rap John Wick his entertainment as the devil’s work. It’s hardly subtle stuff, though Loach’s work rarely is, and the dialogue is sometimes a little too on-the-nose, but this real-life version of Footloose (only with more farming and way more powerful priests) has moments of simple power inbetween the more didactic lectures. It’s a look at a time when the IRA and the Church have imposed grim repression of the political and spiritual kind, but it’s not a bleak vision despite the downbeat direction of the story – where there’s dancing, after all, there’s still hope.

The Mule

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay pt 1 Here’s a twist you might not expect from a film in a franchise titled “The Hunger Games”: no Hunger Games. Funny thing is, while dramatically it means this is the least action-packed Hunger Games film by far, thematically ditching the Games works, because the theme underlying them – the idea of entrenched power exploiting young people as media icons to maintain their hold on power – is still a big part of this film.

In the wake of the big escape from the Games arena and the rebellion tipping their hand at the end of the last film, both sides are getting down to business. No more fancy fight-to-the-death reality shows to distract the people from the real issues – the struggle here plays out as duelling media campaigns, with the rebels of District 13 using Katniss ( Jennifer Lawrence) as their spokesmodel while the Capitol’s sinister President Snow (Donald Sutherland) has Peeta ( Josh Hutcherson) filling the

same role for him. The twist being that Peeta is one of the two men Katniss loves – the hunky but bland Gale (Liam Helmsworth) being the other – and was left behind during the big break-out that ended the previous film. Cue plenty of shots of Katniss looking anguished as Peeta sells her out live on TV. Many of Katniss’ spokesmodel scenes are hilariously on-the-nose, especially the one where the leaders of District 13 – including President Coin ( Julianne Moore) and media manipulator Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman) – gather to list the moments in the previous two films where audiences responded best to Katniss.

Fortunately for the film this top-level focus group decides that audiences respond to her best when she’s out there fighting the good fight, so she makes the occasional media stunt tour of areas that the Capitol has attacked so she can look outraged for the cameras and shoot down the occasional bomber with her new explosive arrows. The occasional battle scene aside – the rebels are out there doing some

actual rebellion to keep things ticking along – much of this is set in the bunkers of District 13, making this feel a lot like what it actually is: a film based on the first half of a novel. At least the politics is interesting: The Capitol might be bad, but pretty much everything Peeta says about how many people will die for nothing in an uprising makes sense.

District 13 might be good, but their massed chants of “hoo-rah” while President Coin makes quasifascist speeches underlines the fact that neither side here is pure as the driven snow. The film itself tells us that audiences warm to Katniss best when she’s out there doing stuff, then it keeps her in a bunker sitting around looking tormented for much of the film. Lawrence does her best, and these days her best is pretty impressive. But there’s not a lot she really can do, especially with her characters PTSD severely reduced from what it was in the novel.

Basically, this will probably slot in fine when you can watch the entire saga in one go; as a stand alone film, it’s a little wobbly on its feet.

The year is 1983, the America’s Cup is the biggest news in Australia, and Ray Jenkins (Angus Sampson, who also co-wrote and co-directed) is a shy, quiet guy who finds himself forced into a life of crime. On an end-of-season footy trip to Thailand, Ray’s friends and family see the perfect opportunity to manoeuvre him into returning home with a kilo of heroin stuck up his backside.

Then when his return trip through Australian customs doesn’t go to plan, he ends up in a hotel room with detectives Croft (Hugo Weaving) and Paris (Ewen Leslie).

Croft would rather pummel a confession out of him; Paris is inclined to sit back and wait – after all, they know where the drugs are. There’s only one way they’re leaving Ray, and they’ve got that exit guarded.

It’s been a rough year for Australian films at the multiplex, with even well-reviewed films struggling to drag audiences away from big budget blockbusters. So this crime comedy is trying something different: aside from a series of “spotlight” screenings with cast and crew members in attendance, it’s going direct to Video On Demand, being available to purchase and download on all major digital platforms from November 21. The idea being that by skipping cinemas

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Interstellar It’s the future and Earth is falling apart. Luckily there’s space, which is full of food and water and… uh, maybe not. Still, our heroes blast off into it to find somewhere new to live. Basically, this looks gorgeous, but doesn’t really hold up either as science lecture or heartwarming human tale.

Fury

it avoids the mandatory three month delay between a cinema release and becoming available at home which – according to some – kills any buzz a film may have generated in cinemas.

Instead, now you’ve heard about it you can watch it without having to try and find a cinema showing or waiting 90 days before you can check it out at home. It’s almost certainly the way of the future. At the moment one of Geelong’s two main cinemas is only showing four movies this week because The Hunger Games is taking up almost half the cinema screens there – and this is a smart film to try it with. It’s a decent thriller, with a plot that gets more involved and interesting as the film goes on, and while you might expect a bit of poo humour, surprisingly that side of things is played straight.

Instead the comedy (and this isn’t really a comedy as such) comes from the characters, especially Weaving’s rough-edged cop. It’s a tense, gripping (clenching?) film that most likely would have struggled in Australian cinemas; hopefully this experiment with VOD pays off.

Fat Pizza vs Housos Smashing together two franchises is always a risky business.

It almost never makes either one look good (remember Aliens vs Predator?) and even when the result does work (Freddy vs Jason) it doesn’t take long for everyone to pretend the whole thing never happened. But we’re talking about Housos and Fat Pizza here: surely both franchises are just an excuse for writer/director/star Paul Fenech and his mates to run around swearing their heads off ?

Surprisingly, no – in bringing his most successful series in contact with his most recent, Fenech (accidentally?) reveals something his long-time followers may have suspected for a while now – he’s getting worse.

For those who think Fenech’s work is just slapped together hurriedly, the simple yet efficient plot of this film will come as a surprise: when former Fat Pizza owner Bobo ( John Boxer) gets out of prison after serving a 15-year stretch for chainsawing someone who annoyed him, he (and his mother) have to rebuild the Pizza business. Only problem is, rents and wages have skyrocketed, and the only place crummy enough to be affordable is Sunnyvale.

Having an actual open business in their neighbourhood freaks out the Housos, especially once Bobo’s mum starts pulling strings at the

Keanu Reeves is the baddest bad-ass alive, so when the Russian mob kills his puppy and he comes out of retirement for revenge, everyone else dies. Front-runner for best movie of the year.

World War II is coming to an end, but that doesn’t mean any shortage of tank-related action in this crude action film that really would like to have something profound to say about the nature of war but just ends up serving up a bunch of fairly silly action clichés – what elite Nazi troops were trained to just run blindly at machine guns?

Pride Based on the true story of a group of London Gay and Lesbian activists who banded together to help the striking miners in Thatcher’s Britain, this is the kind of heartwarming film that doesn’t need to resort to cheap tricks to make you cry and feel good.

The Drop It’s crime time in your typical seedy New York neighbourhood, and while this isn’t really anything special story-wise (thugs are robbing local bars in an attempt to score big on the mob’s money. Plus Tom Hardy finds a puppy), this is your last chance to see the recently departed James Gandolfini on the big screen, which makes this well worth your time.

Gone Girl

Let’s Be Cops

local Centerlink to a): get the locals working there for free as a work-forthe-dole scheme, then b): has their benefits paid in food vouchers they have to spend at Fat Pizza.

Soon the residents want to tear the place down, as meanwhile recent anti-bikie legislation has de-fanged the local bikie gang (who now have to travel everywhere by maxitaxi), allowing Habib (Tahir Bilgic) – now back working at Fat Pizza – and his drug dealing mates to corner the market by peddling drugs inside the pizzas. Plus there’s the usual wave of “thongings”, topless women, swearing dwarves, fat cops pigging out, sex dungeons and songs that involve people shouting the name of the TV series (heavily skewed towards Fat Pizza this time). It’s basically a live-

action cartoon like everything else Fenech has ever done – there’s even a brief Swift & Shift Couriers cameo early on, just to tie his three TV series together – but by bringing back the original Fat Pizza characters (Sleek the Elite returns from fifteen years in Gitmo, while Fenech plays both Houso’s thong-wielding sex machine Frankie and Fat Pizza’s hopeless Paulie, fresh from fifteen years trapped in a sex dungeon) Fenech makes it clear that while Fat Pizza actually had comedy characters that could interact in funny ways, Housos just has a lot of people swearing their heads off. Basically, this is better than Housos vs Authority, worse that Fat Pizza The Movie. Though to be fair, that’s a pretty fine line we’re talking about here.

Ryan ( Jake Johnson) and Justin (Damon Wayans Jr) promised themselves if they hadn’t made it in L.A. by the time they were 30, they’d give up. Well, they’re 30, and they sure haven’t made it: Ryan (a washed up footballer) spends his days “training” a bunch of random kids down at the local park, while Justin (a game designer treated like crap where he works) is spending a lot of time sighing at – but not talking to – local waitress Josie (Nina Dobrev).

Then when Ryan misreads the invite to their high school reunion – yet another chance to be reminded that they’re losers, obviously – and they turn up in costume as cops, it seems like the final indignity. Only thing is, walking home they discover that cops get a lot more respect (and kisses from random girls) than they do in their daily lives.

Ryan, being the kind of guy who just goes with things, soon buys a fake cop car off eBay and reads up on

regulations and tactics; Justin is a lot more wary, but when his cop powers enable him to save Josie from a bunch of sinister Albanian crime figures, he’s on board too. But the Albanians aren’t going to give up so easy, and before long the duo find themselves involved in real police work… which isn’t exactly their strength.

This is a pretty thin idea even when it turns into a buddy cop film once the duo start trying to take down the Albanians, but the chemistry between Johnson and Wayans is strong enough to make it work just as an excuse to hang out for these guys for 90 minutes.

Johnson, who is basically playing a slightly more maniac version of his New Girl character, keeps the laughs coming, while KeeganMichael Key (of Key & Peele fame) turns up as a dreadlocked drug smuggler the guys kidnap (then befriend, as you do). And while there’s really only one joke here – hey look, cops doing un-cop-like things – this successfully wrings every last possible laugh out of it.

The best-selling novel is now a hit thriller – well, it’s a thriller unless you figure out the stories many twists and turns (which aren’t all that hard to figure out), in which case the first section is a bit of a plod.

But once the various mysteries are all out in the open this becomes a fun, if jet-black, satire on relationships and the way those outside of them are always quick to judge.

Matthew McConaughey, Interstellar

Music Reviews

We Two Thieves

Various Artists

AT MIDNIGHT WE RIDE

Triple J Like a Version 10

MGM

ABC Music

Danielle Caruana and Emily Lubitz each enjoy a fan base in festival favourites Mama Kin and Tin Pan Orange respectively.

Together, sitting around a Fremantle kitchen table, they’ve cooked up another kind of magic as We Two Thieves. The debut contains songs written by one, the other or both, which allows a nice range of personality among the folk stylings. Overall, it’s all about the voices: gorgeous harmonies pivot and weave around tall and true tales.

Production is clean and inviting, carried out by the pair along with WA guitarist Dave Mann (Dave Mann Collective) and sometime TPO collaborator Harry James Angus (The Cat Empire). The latter provides banjolele on melancholy opening track ‘Only For You’ (by Kin and Aaron Embry). Angus wrote ‘Glory Down’, which affords the vocal duo a lonesome prairie canvas on which they croon with old time Americana ease.

Their own ‘Peach Tree’ - the

Covers can either surpass the original or become a failing embarrassment for the artist, wherever you stand on the cover debate, triple j has made a successful venture in their Like A Version program and the releases that follow. This double CD and DVD pack marks a decade of covers, so it’s worth putting your hands together for such a great achievement.

The original of ‘Happy’ managed to get everyone up and dancing, it was on everything from ads to shop soundtracks and while that’s a hard thing to beat, John Butler Trio came pretty darn close in their rendition.

I’m sure there’ll be plenty of people divided over Chet Faker’s decision to cover the old school ‘You Don’t Treat Me No Good’, though it didn’t really do anything for me. It seemed like a rehash of the original and Chet Faker, it left me nothing but cold.

Arctic Monkeys legend

catchy single - is a charmer worthy of The Andrews Sisters. The dominant folk/ roots setting welcomes in an occasional gypsy flourish and a little C&W (‘Too Old To Die Young’). ‘Ned Kelly’ sings from the view of an anxiously waiting ‘Delta Dawn’ whose wayward man may never return. There’s a jubilant melody as complicated love unfolds on ‘Set

Me Free’. After toe-tapping aplenty and palpable joy, they leave us with a waltz of the fragile and vulnerable who glimpse a flicker of redeeming light.

Guitars come from Lubitz and Mann, ukulele from Kin. Mann also provides backing vocals and mandolin. Another fine festival treat has been born.

By Chris Lambie

DEAD

Tkay Maidza

the biggest fan of seven minute opening tracks) after a second or third listen I got into what these guys were trying to recreate.

When you listen to the album it takes a while to pin point that it’s just two guys.

It really sounds like a three or four piece band. It’s loud, unrelenting and the bass is sure to shake your body as you listen to it. The stage show is sure to be energetic and ‘everything goes’. My favourite track has to be ‘Check The Exits’, which sounds a little like British India in that it draws the punk rock influence with heavy guitar and drums on the track.

Sadly, the boys from the band admitted that they weren’t going to be giving the new album Captains of Industry to their parents for Christmas, but this might be right up your dads alley. So you better give it a listen for good measure.

By Tex Miller

Benjamin Booker

While it’s important to have these hit songs make the cut, it’s much more important how KLP has put them all together – after all, you probably have most of these tracks on your iPod already.

Disc one starts off strong and doesn’t let up until you hit ‘Never’ by Phonat, from there things keep to the mellow beats and if you were at a party, chances are there’d be lots of sweet talking done to these tunes.

Highlights on the second disc are ‘Tongues’ by Joywave and ‘With Me’ by Cashmere Cat. It’s a bit hard to comment on the mammoth 44 songs that are in the release, but to some it up they’re a great collection of tunes. Play disc one first and save the second for when you’d rather not listen to any real form of lyrics and simply want to dance erratically to a collection of songs.

By Amanda Sherring

CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY We Empty Rooms

When I got the opportunity to interview DEAD a few months ago, we were chatting about the release of Captains of Industry, the new album from the band. The opening track entitled ‘Fools Will Get You Everywhere’ is a seven minute epic that filled my headphones with a rollicking drumbeat for the first two and half minutes.

Although initially it got a bit too much for me, (not

Various Artists Triple j House Party Vol. 3 ABC Music

Maybe you’re short on party tunes, or you’re just looking for a track to memorise and sing-a-long to word-for-word to impress your friends, whichever option you’re after, KLP’s mix is the answer.

There’s some sneaky favourites thrown in, ‘Given The Chance’ by The Kite String Tangle, ‘Tightrope’ by Illy and ‘Talk Too Much’ by Andy Bull to name a few. But realistically, being a triple j release the list could go on and on.

The Preatures Supports: Holy Holy and Redspencer

The Barwon Club Thursday November 20

When I went into the Barwon Club to see The Preatures Blue Planet Eyes tour, I was expecting to get a good show. To say the show was simply ‘good’ would be a massive understatement.

The show kicked off with guests Redspencer and Holy Holy, both of whom put on a great show. However, Holy Holy were received particularly well, especially with songs such as ‘Impossible

Like You’, ’House Of Cards’ and of course their most recent song release, ‘History’. They had an energetic and powerful stage presence, and I’m excited to see where they take their talent.

After much anticipation, we were finally blessed with the presence of the main event: The Preatures. They kicked off their performance with their song ‘Blue Planet Eyes’ from their debut album of the same name. Lead vocalist Isabella Manfredi’s performance was absolutely mind blowing throughout, reaching out and touching audience members,

tipping a bottle of water over her head half way through the set and playfully butting heads with guitarist Jack Moffitt.

Whilst most of their songs were upbeat and vibrant, they also played ‘Two Tone Melody’, which was both beautiful and a welcome shift in atmosphere.

Having said that, the entire performance took my breath away. I was even lucky enough to lock eyes with the goddess herself, for what felt like minutes, whilst she sang ‘Rock and Roll Rave’, which let me tell you, was one of the single most magical moments of my life. It’s definitely a performance that I’m not going to be forgetting any time soon.

By Jessica Alves

Alex Turner made a great contribution in ‘Feels Like We Only Go Backwards’ as did Karnivool with ‘Hey Now’. The Delta Riggs were pretty spot on with ‘Gooey’, it had their own flavour which is exactly what you want in a cover.

Lastly, who could forget the epic that was the ‘Ausmusic Month Medley’ by Illy, that featured a number of iconic

Australian tracks all mashed up into just over five minutes of Illy bliss.

You may love them or you may hate them, but triple j have done a pretty fine job of selecting some of the best covers around, and there’s a DVD with performances from an extra six acts on top of the covers in the first disc. That’s what I call value for money. By Amanda Sherring

little bit of synth, the beat is created. As the song continues on extra elements and sound effects are added in, one being what sounds like a gun reloading, and the track takes on a life of its own.

There is a moment in the middle where it seems

like it all gets a bit too much, but on a night out it would certainly be just the right level of hectic.

Essentially ‘Switch Lanes’ is the last original track on the release, and I’m pretty glad it made the top three. The last two tracks on the EP are two remixes of ‘U-Huh’, one by KLP and Luke Million, which are great if you’re into that kind of thing.

Though there’s only so many times you can hear different variations of the same song.

When her first track came out, it was pretty much a no-brainer that she was going to make her mark in the industry, and fast, Switch Tape is simply the first of many releases to come.

By Amanda Sherring

rock guitar and a rhythm section to die for kick in from the very start of this album – it is an unrelenting rock and roll journey.

Fuzzed out guitar lines are slightly reminiscent of Gary Clark Jr., and the

thing about this album is it’s extremely catchy with many easy to sing lyrics and memorable instrumental lines. ‘Chippewa’ rolls on like a bluesy rock kinda boogie, and I could see this song right on the set list after the havoc and debauchery of ‘Have You Seen My Son?’.

This is an impressive debut by Benjamin Booker and it should rightfully own a place on your summer party play list. Benjamin is definitely bound for big things, so if you can see him when he makes the trip over here for Laneway make sure you do.

By Tex Miller

actually play. Their latest effort, Heavy Disco, is an excellent mix of ska punk and a little alt rock, and yes, it is as awesome as it sounds. I stumbled onto the ska punk genre purely by accident, and it’s quickly become a favourite of mine. The Bennies come across as the lovechild of The Aquabats and The Living End – a strange combination on

the surface, but one that works really, really well.

While the titular first track is more alt rock/ punk, track three (‘Party Whirlwind’) starts off with a great ska bass/brass combo before adding in some heavy guitar riffage further down the line. It might sound a bit strange at first, but there’s nothing quite like ska/punk with a strong Aussie accent.

Heavy Disco has that perfect blend of lighter ska sounds and heavier punk tones, and despite its short length, it leaves a lasting impression.

All things considered, Heavy Disco is a great release from a funny, slightly off-beat band, and is definitely worth a spot in your collection.

By Alastair McGibbon

SWITCH TAPE Dew Process

Much like her career in the industry, Tkay Maidza’s debut release Switch Tape starts of just as strong with party track ‘U-Huh’. The chorus has simple lyrics, maybe five different words at tops, and that’s its real appeal. You can sing-a-long and have enough focus to pull some killer dance moves at the same time.

‘Finish Them’ is a slightly different tactic from the 18year-old rapper. As the song starts and layer upon layer of Tkay’s vocals come in, plus a

SELF-TITLED Rough Trade/Remote Control Records

He’s signed to Jack White’s Third Man Records and he’s coming out for Laneway Festival early next year. He’s released his debut album earlier this year and is kicking pretty much every goal that he can. If you haven’t heard Benjamin Booker, he creates rock and roll that your mum and dad would be proud of. Pounding drums, edgy

The Bennies HEAVY DISCO Poison City Records

I love bands with a sense of humour. There’s nothing better than a band that can take the piss out of themselves while smashing out some excellent music. The lads from the Bennies have clearly got a well-developed funnybone – they describe themselves as “Psychedelic Reggae Ska Doom Metal Punk Rock From Hell” - and they most definitely pump out some primo tunes.

After that rather intimidating description, it might be hard to nail down exactly what the Bennies

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Music Reviews

PHOTO REVIEW

a day on the green GEELONG / november 2014 Photos by lucinda goodwin

Last Words

grog watch Written by Tony Montana

Recently a friend of mine asked me why I wasn’t on social media. Ok, they didn’t mean “me” as in “an account under my actual real name”, because that would be boring as hell because I never actually do anything and why would I want to talk to people anyway.

No, they meant “Tony Montana”, which means my opening sentence here should have been more like “Recently a friend of the actual person who writes this column asked why the fictional character who is the subject of this column isn’t on social media”.

Only then the obvious answer would have been “A fictional character can’t be on social media, for one thing, how would they type in what they want to say?”. And you wonder why I drink.

Anyway, this friend seemed to think he had a decent point. Presumably today,

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this kind of dumb-joke heavy, barely coherent ramble would be the kind of thing that could really take off on social media, propelling me – so long as I was willing to spend a large chunk of every day tweeting my various drunken mumblings – into the upper stratosphere of online media. At which point I pulled him up and said that was all well and good, but what specifically would I be getting out of all this online fame? I mean, I am aware of numerous people who seem to have made social media the focus of their wacky comedy stylings, and pretty much all of them either have boring day jobs or spend a lot of time trying to get people to buy T-shirts. Unless there’s been a sudden expansion in the market for vomitstained T-shirts, I’m not sure the public wants to buy what I’m selling.

My friend looked confused, so I explained further and with the bare minimum of references to alcohol.

Social media is a great way to get people to pay attention to you, but it’s

not really much of a way to get people to pay you. Unless you want to sell ads – yeah, good luck there – society is yet to figure out a way for writers working on their own to make much of a profit from social media. Sure, the end game is to become famous enough that someone with money (a magazine or book publisher) will hire you, but I’ve kind of already managed that and I’d rather not give off the impression I was looking to move on because it was hard enough to trick one magazine into publishing endless tales complaining about over-priced alcohol – what kind of a world are we currently living in where a 700ml bottle of absolute Vodka is around $36 while a litre bottle of the same stuff is $49, I mean c’mon folks, do the math – followed by stories about the time I woke up in a wheelie bin that was actually in my bed at the time.

Had a drunkenly put a female wig on the wheelie bin? Was I “inside” it in a sexual sense? Who can say. Who

would even want to say? I’m sorry I even brought it up. The point being, stories like that barely even belong in Forte, where you have to go to the effort of picking it up and turning to this page to read it, thus forfeiting all your legal rights to sue if the idea of me having sex with a wheelie bin causes you to a stroke, and not the kid that presumably I was having during this increasingly sordid tale. They certainly don’t belong online.

Which was the other reason why there’s no official Tony Montana twitter account, even through there are probably dozens of “Tony Montana” accounts based on the character from Scarface and yeah, that’s probably another good reason why I’m not on social media. But the real, really real reason why is even more basic – pretty much everything I ever think to say on social media is either massively offensive (to someone or other) or an extremely thinly disguised attack on someone I know and am technically

supposed to be friends with. And I don’t think that’s all that unusual, considering the large numbers of people who mess up their lives and careers on social media on a seemingly daily basis. Seriously, unless I’m actually thinking about some serious issue of the day – which c’mon, almost never happens and when it does it’s clearly a massive mistake. Plus, who would even want to hear my opinions on that crap. The only kind of thing I could contribute to social media would be things that would get me in loads of trouble. Think about the conversations you have with friends: would you want every single person you know or have ever met to hear them? Of course not, because they’re almost certainly about farting. But the alternative – unless you’re willing to sit down and write actual jokes and then give them away repeatedly for free in an attempt to make people like you – is to just talk bland rubbish about inoffensive topics.

Which, despite what at least one of

the two major newspapers in this state would like you to believe, isn’t really a great way to attract readers. Basically, social media either requires you to put in serious work for no reward or to bore people stupid intentionally, and seeing as I get to do both in this column fortnightly, I figure I’ll just stick to what I know best. And just slander my enemies online under another, entirely different, fake name.

Tony “The name Professor Burpenstein Von Fartypants seems available” Montana

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