Beat Magazine #1324 by Furst Media

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IN THIS ISSUE...

HOT TALK

TOURING

HOT CHIP

ARTS GUIDE, THE GOLDEN DRAGON

ART OF THE CITY

LENNY HENRY

EMERGE FESTIVAL

PROMETHEUS REVIEW, GET THE GRINGO REVIEW

JULIA STONE P. 40

QUARRY MOUNTAIN DEAD RATS P. 42

XAVIER RUDD

INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH,

THE BAMBOOS

LIL’ BAND O’ GOLD, MAXIMO PARK, JULIA STONE

KING CANNONS, QUARRY MOUNTAIN DEAD RATS

THIS WEEK IN 100%:

CARL COX

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PUBLISHER: Furst Media Pty Ltd. MUSIC EDITOR: Taryn Stenvei ARTS EDITOR / ASSOCIATE MUSIC EDITOR: Tyson Wray EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: Nick Taras SUB-EDITORS: Michelle Aquilina, Jac Manuell, Jack Parsons, Maired Bilton-Gough GENERAL MANAGER: Patrick Carr SENIOR ADVERTISING/EDITORIAL CO-ORDINATOR: Ronnit Sternfein BEAT PRODUCTION MANAGER: Pat O’Neil GRAPHIC DESIGNERS: Pat O’Neil, Rebecca Houlden, Gill Tucker, Mike Cusack COVER ART: Pat O’Neil ADVERTISING: Taryn Stenvei (Music: Bands/Tours/Record Labels) taryn@beat.com.au Ronnit Sternfein (100%/Beat/Arts/Education/Ad Agency) ronnit@beat.com.au Aleksei Plinte (Backstage/ Musical Equipment) mixdown@beat.com.au Adam Morgan (Hospitality/Bars) adam@beat.com.au Kris Furst (beat.com.au) kris@furstmedia.com.au 0431 243 808 Jessica Riley (Indie Bands/Special Features) jessica@furstmedia.com.au CLASSIFIEDS: classiﬁeds@beat.com.au GIG GUIDE SUBMISSIONS: now online at www.beat.com.au or bands email gigguide@beat.com.au ELECTRONIC EDITOR - BEAT ONLINE: Paddington Wray: tyson@beat.com.au

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HOT TALK

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FREE SHIT LIL’ BAND O’ GOLD Legendary Louisiana swamp pop/country/blues/ rock’n’roll supergroup Lil’ Band O’ Gold are back with their next gem, Lil’ Band O’ Gold Play Fats. The record features cover versions of the band’s favourite Fats Domino songs with guest vocalists and fans Robert Plant, Lucinda Williams, Ani DiFranco and our very own Jimmy Barnes and Tim Rogers lending a hand. Lil’ Band o’ Gold features some of the most influential musicians to ever have emerged from Louisiana, with each member having toured and recorded with everyone from Slim Harpo to Phillip Glass, Link Wray to Bob Dylan, Bo Diddley and Dewey Balfa. Pretty badass. We have four CDs to give away. SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS After bringing the ruckus last time they were here for Splendour In The Grass, New York’s dream pop group School of Seven Bells are coming back to Australia for The Hi-Fi Shoreline Series. Bringing with them flatknacker tunes from their third full-length, Ghostory, and one less member, the new lineup emanates an evolved sound and Ghostory might just be the band’s career defining release. Get ready to be fondled – School of Seven Bells play The Hi-Fi on Thursday June 21, and we have three double passes to give away To enter, head to beat.com.au/freeshit

SURES HYPNOTIC BRASS ENSEMBLE After stunning Harvest Festival-goers late in 2011, Chi-town brothers Hypnotic Brass Ensemble have announced their welcome return to Australia. Born and raised in Chicago, the eight siblings which make up Hypnotic Brass Ensemble have gone on to captivate audiences worldwide with their impeccable blend of jazz, soul, funk and hiphop. Support on the night comes from our very own soul-proponents Saskwatch, plus Judge Pino & The Ruling Motions. Hypnotic Brass Ensemble hit The Espy on Thursday July 26.

SURES are a four-piece from the suburbs of Sydney who play blissed out guitar-based surf pop. Fuzzy around the edges but melodic to the core, SURES have been making waves at home and abroad as a band to watch. Without a release to their name, they were chosen to support acclaimed international artists Best Coast, Real Estate and Wavves and were invited to play both Laneway Festival and Boogie Festival. In between playing all these live shows, the band found time to ﬁnish their debut EP, STARS, which includes the single of the same name and radio favourite Poseidon. They’ve just signed to amazing label Ivy League, home of Catcall and Lanie Lane, and are playing some shows to launch the EP before locking themselves away to record their SURE-to-be-amazing debut album. They play The Northcote Social Club on Thursday July 5.

OF MONSTERS AND MEN

1927

LOON LAKE

It’s been 22 years since 1927 burst onto the scene with their debut album, …ISH, selling half a million copies in Australia and producing the hit singles That’s When I Think Of You, If I Could, You’ll Never Know and Compulsory Hero. …ISH remains one of the highest selling debut albums ever by an Australian band to this day. Now the story continues with the release of their new album Generation-i (scheduled for release in July) and an East Coast tour with special guests The Rembrandts. They play The Palms At Crown on Friday August 24 with tickets available on Tuesday June 19 from Ticketek.

After spending the past year crushing it at pretty much every major festival, the lads from Loon Lake are gearing up for a sprawling national tour. The tour (which includes a few choice regional dates) will come after the launch of the new single Cherry Lips – the second taste from the upcoming EP Thirty Three. Following on from Not Just Friends, their breakthrough EP of last year, Thirty Three is set to consolidate Loon Lake’s position as one of the country’s hottest talents. Loon Lake hit Northcote Social Club on Saturday September 1.

After being heavily rumoured for Harvest and Falls Festival, Icelandic collective Of Monsters And Men have announced their Australian debut with a headline tour. Of Monsters And Men have been generating palpable buzz in the past year, earning acclaim for their appearance at SXSW and for their debut album My Head Is An Animal. Touted as ones to watch in 2012, the band could very well break through to become the next big thing. Of Monsters And Men hit The Corner on Friday July 20.

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Define your genre in five words or less: Good ol’ storytelling country music. When is this gig and with whom? The gig is this Thursday June 14 at The Workers Club with the legendary Bill Chambers. You might know him as Kasey’s Dad, but he’s extremely respected in his own right both here and in the USA. Why country music? Because you should always do what comes natural. I’m a white guy with Scottish and Irish ancestry, I’m unhealthily interested in heartbreak and tragedy, I’m short-tempered, prone to exaggeration and I enjoy ﬁshing. Those ingredients don’t exactly prime me for reggae or electronica now do they? It’s either country musician, divorce-lawyer or undertaker. I think I’ve made the right choice. Tell us your favourite story. I’ll do that at the gig. It’s about when I was 18 and working as a labourer for a stonemason, building a dry-stone wall. It involves an unfortunate dog, a one-eyed man and a 55-year-old woman relaxing on a sun-bed in her loungeroom. What makes you happiest about what you’re doing? I can make unfashionable music and travel around and play it to small but passionate groups of people. I’m fortunate to be able to do that and have people listen to me and support me. This makes me happy. Very happy. Describe the best gig you have ever played. I played at Bluesfest recently in Byron Bay. Having a dressing room in between Buddy Guy and Crosby Stills And Nash was quite a thrill. Everyone on that bill was exceptional and it was an honour to be part of it – and an honour to pull a crowd when there was so much other great music on at the very same time. Recent shows with Steve Earle and John Hiatt would also make my shortlist. What’s your favourite song, and why? Azealia Banks’ 212. It’s a perfect country song. Bob Dylan’s Tangled Up In Blue is also very good. How do you balance making and playing music with your other commitments? By reneging on all other commitments. Do you have any record releases to date? What are they? Where can I get them? My album Shadow Of The Gun is out now. You can get it pretty much anywhere you get music.

BARBARION Five years ago seven mighty men came together with a mission to return the manliness to mankind and to destroy the growing blandness taking over the world by following the path of metal. After a year of planning and plotting the first gig took place at The Tote back in 2008. Now this motely crew return to the crucible where it all began to celebrate their victories with a traditional winter solstice show especially for their fans. Experience the sonic and visual onslaught of Barbarion first hand back where it all began on Saturday June 23 at The Tote. Support from My Dynamite and Riff Fist with old friend DJ Byrn providing hymns from the metal gods.

HOT TALK

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THE PAPER KITES They’ve gone done gone and done it again. After a sold-out run of East Coast shows in February, The Paper Kites have sold-out their freshly announced show at The Northcote Social Club on Thursday July 12. The Melbourne four-piece certainly seem to be the hot ticket this winter. Luckily for fans, they have announced a second show at the same venue on Wednesday July 11. Onya, team. Tickets from The Corner box oﬃce or the venue website. Go get folked.

THE RUBENS The Rubens have added a new date in Melbourne after the ﬁrst shows on their Don’t Ever Want To Be Found tour sold out super fast. The Sydney four-piece will perform two headline shows at Melbourne’s Corner Hotel on Tuesday July 10 (on sale now) and Thursday July 12 (sold-out) before heading to Adelaide for Spin Oﬀ Festival and Byron Bay for Splendour In The Grass. Tickets to the second round of their headline shows are on sale now. Jinja Safari

INGRID MICHAELSON After a sold out 2010 Australian tour, New York native and quirky vocalist sensation Ingrid Michaelson returns to our shores for her sophomore tour this September. Bringing along her uniquely endearing stage presence, self-deprecating humour, heartfelt lyrics and pristine vocals, Ingrid Michaelson is set to once again wow Australian audiences. She plays The Corner Hotel on Thursday September 13.

JAMIE HUTCHINGS Ahead of a return tour to France where they will share the stage with the likes of Ty Seagull , Kid Congo Powers and more plus a maiden voyage to China, Bluebottle Kiss frontman Jamie Hutchings and his recently christened backing band The Goldﬁsh Memories’ (featuring bassist Reuben Wills and drummer Scott Hutchings) will make a rare live appearance over a small run of shows, including The Empress Hotel on Friday June 22 with support from Matt Bailey and TK Bollinger.

THE BLIND DATE TOUR Cross-continental love, eh? Three of our favourite party starters are bringing their matchmaking skills down under. New Zealand’s Opossom, Los Angeles’ White Arrows and Australia’s very own Jinja Safari are spiffing up and hitting the road on their ‘Blind Date’ tour. So shine your shoes, quiff your hair and get yo’self on the dance floor. The love-in takes place at The Hi-Fi on Friday August 10 and there’s a underage show on Saturday August 11 for all you lovers who are still under 18.

VAN SHE It’s been a long wait, but music fans are ﬁnally about to wrap their ears around the sophomore release from Sydney’s Van She. And to celebrate, the band are hitting the road this July. After dropping Idea Of Happiness on July 6 through Modular, Van She will hit the road for a sprawling Australian tour, including a stop in at The Hi-Fi on Friday July 13. Support comes from rising stars RüFüS.

LANIE LANE After selling out about a hundred shows at The Corner Hotel as part of a sold out national tour recently, Australia’s favourite charming crooner Lanie Lane is again taking her heady mix heady of early rock’n’roll, blues and rockabilly on the road for a solo regional tour called On My Own Track. Isn’t she ever? She plays Stones Of The Yarra Valley on Friday August 10, The Westernport Hotel in San Remo on Saturday August 11, The Caravan Club in Oakleigh on Sunday August 12. She then returns to play Beav’s Bar in Geelong on Thursday September 20, The Loft in Warrnambool on Friday September 21 and the Theatre Royale in Castlemaine on Saturday September 22. Kav Temperley

BOB DYLAN NIGHT Over ﬁfty years, 47 albums and more than 500 songs ago, Bob Dylan released his debut album. Since then, his music has achieved an unparalleled position in our collective imagination, with a body of work that transcends generation gaps, musical fads, and genre distinctions. To celebrate Dylan’s 50th anniversary as a recording artist, ﬁve of Australia’s distinctive 21st century performers will join forces to honour this remarkable legacy in their own unique voices – Kav Temperley from Eskimo Joe, Josh Pyke, Jebediah frontman Kevin Mitchell, singer songwriter Holly Throsby and Patience Hodgson from The Grates. Accompanied by a crack six-piece band under the musical direction of Ash Naylor (Even) each artist will select from the very best of the sprawling Dylan songbook for a night of inspiration and creation with the highest musical integrity. It hits The Palais Theatre on Friday July 6. Tickets are on sale from Ticketmaster. CHECK OUT ALL THE LATEST NEWS, REVIEWS AND FREE SHIT AT BEAT.COM.AU

Beat Magazine Page 11

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60 SECONDS WITH… THE CORSAIRS

COLLARBONES

THE NIGHT TERRORS The Night Terrors are radical instrumental heavyweights and mix a smooth blend of dark synth magic, thunderous dreamscapes and other-worldly electronica to create haunting theremin gems for your ears to absorb. They’re one of Melbourne’s most original and unusual acts. They have a sweet new East Coast tour named Monster/Lasers For Eyes, and they’re bringing along their friends Forces for the ride. If you haven’t seen Forces, just....do. Seriously. Swiftly. Or go see these bands together when they play The Toﬀ In Town on Saturday July 7, followed by an afterparty at The Liberty Social with DJ sets from both bands.

Collarbones are back with their brand new single, Missing taken from their forthcoming second album, due out later this year. Missing is a sinister track that aches with desperation. The ghostly drone of synthesisers on the track cushion Marcus Whales’ heartbreaking vocals, sung with refrain and yearning, throughout the track. An almost hollow drum machine is scattered throughout the chorus, ticking like a clock, marking time. On a bed of electronic screws and groans, Marcus’ voice rises above to its crescendo. To celebrate the release of the new single the band will be be playing a show at The Gasometer on Saturday June 16. Check single reviews for our thoughts.

FRASER A. GORMAN Fraser embraces an old-school, cotton field style that incorporates everything from ‘20s chain gang and gospel hymns to Doo-Wop country hip-shakers. He wears his influences on his sleeve taking notes from stalwarts like Lightin’ Hopkins, Bobby Dylan and Woody Guthrie. Also tipping his hat to contemporary luminaries of the same ilk such as Justin Townes Earle and Josh T. Pearson. With only one release to his name Fraser has already played festivals all over gaining supports for Joe Pug (USA) and The Cruel Sea among many, many others. With a ton of shows under his belt, including a raucous residency at The Retreat, Fraser A. Gorman is bringing his band to The Toff In Town on Saturday July 14 for a drunken honky-tonk. Support is coming from buzz kids The Murlocs and Courtney Barnett. 10 clams to get in and doors open at 8pm.

HEART OF ST KILDA CONCERT ILLY Off the back of his new smash single Heard It All, snowballing emcee Illy has announced a huge national tour – The Bring It Back album tour. The huge expedition will be the first chance for fans to hear material from Illy’s soon-to-be-released third album Bring It Back, live and in the flesh. In support will be Chasm Soundsystem feat. Scryptcha. If you’re hip to the hop, head to The Corner Hotel on Friday September 7 (18+) or Saturday September 8 (under 18 day show). Tickets on sale Tuesday June 19 at 9am from the venue box office and website.

2012 will see the heart of St Kilda Concert return for its fifth incarnation in what looks set to be its biggest yet. Held at the iconic Palais Theatre the coordinators have secured a huge line-up with some of our most exciting artists and entertainers in the fray. Raising money for St Kilda’s Sacred Heart Mission the line-up features Mr St Kilda himself Tim Rogers, Lanie Lane, Stonefield, Lawrence Mooney, Cal Wilson and Fiona O’Lachlin with more yet to be announced. The Sacred Heart Mission provides the basic necessities of life to those who need it most, providing food, clothing and accommodation. Oh, and did we mention it was hosted by Brian Nankervis? Well, It is! Help out this terrific cause on Wednesday July 18, tickets on sale this Friday through Ticketmaster.

So then, what’s the band name and what do you ‘do’ in the band? We are The Corsairs. Comprised of Simon, Harrison, Adam and the big J Collins. What do you think people will say you sound like? Well we locked our drummer (Josh) in a room and forced him to listen to bands like The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, and the like, until we had molded him into a catchy beat machine. So if that’s anything to go by, I would say surfy/ garage is the right sound. What do you love about making music? There is nothing better than getting that rush down the back of your neck when listening to music that you love.... and its even better when they are your own tracks. What do you hate about the music industry? Have you seen some of the video clips for pop stars? Check them out and get back to me. If you could travel back in time and show one of your musical heroes your stuﬀ, who would it be and why? I would have to say playing some tunes to the late great George Harrison would be fantastic but our guitar shredding maestro Harrison would be wooing Jimi for sure. What can a punter expect from your live show? A whole bunch of energy that will eventually make even the most timid punter end up jumping around up front. When are you playing live next and with who? We are playing at the fantastic Noise Bar this Saturday June 16, with The Latonas and Agility who are both kickarse Melbourne bands. What’ve you got to sell CD-wise? We have some demo CD to throw out that we will be using to pick tracks for the EP. Because we love our fans we will be giving them out for kisses and phone numbers. Guys, you will get them for free. Anything else to add? Don’t miss this show as Simon will be slowly undressing over the course of the set. Nice!

MAJOR TOM & THE ATOMS Featuring ex-Little Red baritone crooner Tom Hartney on lead vocals, Major Tom & The Atoms are an explosive rhythm ‘n’ blues orchestra set to release their debut EP, Shake It Til You Break It. After six years touring the world and beyond with Little Red, Major Tom has announced his departure from the group to return to his classic honkytonk roots and has assembled a dazzling six-piece band of rogues to share in the booty. Steeped in classic influences, Shake It Til You Break It represents as much a challenge to the musical status quo as a clarion call to the dancefloor, featuring the arresting groove of lead single The House That Love Built and all new offering Mockingbird, both as heard on Triple J. Check out Major Tom & The Atoms when they play The Evelyn Friday June 15.

HEAVEN After ten years, Australian heavy rock outﬁt Heaven are back and ready to kick ass once more with what’s sure to be a hell of a show at the Evelyn Hotel on Friday June 22. Heaven found success in the US during the ‘80s, releasing three albums (Twilight of Mischief/In The Beginning, Where Angels Fear To Tread, Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door) and supporting the likes of Motley Crue, Motorhead, Dio, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Their knack for making hard-driving yet melodic songs ensured they were formidable arena players, performing alongside the best of the big guns. Head to the Evelyn for your only chance to witness pure and authentic ‘80s rock plus some killer new tunes from Heaven. Beat Magazine Page 12

WATCH INTERVIEWS, CHATS & AWKWARD SILENCES... BEAT.COM.AU/TV

THU 21 June, Brisbane Black Bear Lodge

FRI 22 June, Sydney Goodgod Small Club

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FRI 29 June, Melbourne Phoenix Public House

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TOURING

WHO'S ON TOUR, WHERE AND WHEN

PROUDLY PRESENTS:

For all the latest touring news check out beat.com.au

INTERNATIONAL THE BLACK SEEDS Corner Hotel June 15 SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS The Hi-Fi June 21 LIL’ BAND O’ GOLD The Regal Ballroom June 27, 27, The Espy June 29 LADY GAGA Rod Laver Arena June 27, 28, 30, July 1, 3 EDDIE SPAGHETTI Cherry Bar June 30 FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS The Plenary July 14 I AM GIANT The Workers Club July 5 GOATWHORE Corner Hotel July 6 SIMONE FELICE The Corner Hotel July 11 KINGFISHA The Thornbury Theatre July 13 THE TEA PARTY The Palais Theatre July 14 CANCER BATS The Hi-Fi July 14 MELISSA ETHERIDGE The Plenary July 15 THE XX The Forum July 18 OF MONSTERS AND MEN The Corner Hotel July 20 BAND OF SKULLS The Corner Hotel July 22, 26 THE SHINS Festival Hall July 23 LANA DEL REY Palace Theatre July 23, 24 HOWLER, ZULU WINTER The Corner Hotel July 24 THE AFGHAN WHIGS The Hi-Fi July 25 FRIENDS Northcote Social Club July 25 MICHAEL KIWANUKA & BEN HOWARD The Corner Hotel July 25 JACK WHITE Festival Hall July 25 HYPNOTIC BRASS ENSEMBLE The Espy July 26 FUN. The Hi-Fi July 27 METRIC Billboard July 27 MUDHONEY The Corner Hotel July 27 FATHER JOHN MISTY The Corner Hotel July 28 SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS Belongil Fields Byron Bay July 27 – 29 YOUTH LAGOON The Corner Hotel July 29 DJANGO DJANGO, CAST OF CHEERS The Corner Hotel July 31 MIIKE SNOW The Palace July 31 ELECTRIC GUEST Northcote Social Club August 1 SMASHING PUMPKINS Hisense Arena August 2 MARK GARDENER The Corner Hotel August 5 JINJA SAFARI, OPOSSOM, WHITE ARROWS The Hi-Fi August 10, 11 BILLY TALENT Billboard August 12 SLASH Hisense Arena August 26 PENNYWISE The Palace August 26 PITBULL Rod Laver Arena August 27

THE ENGLISH BEAT Corner Hotel August 30 JOSE FELICIANO Palais Theatre August 31 THE BEACH BOYS Rod Laver Arena August 31 LOON LAKE Northcote Social Club September 1 AMERICA Hamer Hall September 6 PATRICK WOLF Forum Theatre September 11 INGRID MICHAELSON The Corner September 13 EARTH The Toﬀ In Town September 12, Corner Hotel September 16 HANSON The Palace September 14, 18 RUFUS WAINWRIGHT Hamer Hall September 15 WHEATUS Corner Hotel September 19 YELLOWCARD The Hi-Fi September 20, 21 LADY ANTEBELLUM September 25 MARTIKA Trak Lounge September 28 RUSSIAN CIRCLES, EAGLE TWIN The Corner September 28 CANNIBAL CORPSE Billboard October 5 STEEL PANTHER Festival Hall October 7 JOE BONAMASSA Palais Theatre October 11 EVERCLEAR The Hi-Fi October 13 WEDNESDAY 13 The Espy October 27 THE BLACK KEYS Sidney Myer Music Bowl October 31 COLDPLAY Etihad Stadium November 13 RADIOHEAD Rod Laver Arena November 16, 17 GEORGE MICHAEL Rod Laver Arena November 21

NATIONAL 360 The Hi-Fi June 15 NICKY BOMBA Thornbury Theatre June 15 MISSY HIGGINS Her Majesty’s Theatre June 16 MUSCLES The Bottom End June 16 DANIEL MERRIWEATHER Northcote Social Club June 17 1927, THE REMBRANDTS The Palms At Crown June 19 KING CANNONS Toﬀ In Town June 21 THE VASCO ERA The Corner Hotel June 22 FIRE! SANTA ROSE, FIRE! The Workers Club June 22 JAMIE HUTCHINGS The Empress June 22 NED COLLETTE & WIREWALKER Northcote Social Club June 23 BUSBY MAROU The Corner June 28 KIRIN J CALLINAN The Tote June 28 EMMA LOUISE Northcote Social Club June 28 WORLD’S END PRESS The Corner Hotel June 29 EVEN, THE FAUVES Regal Ballroom June 29 CHARGE GROUP The Tote June 29 ROCK FOR RECLINK The Hi-Fi June 30

THE NIGHT TERRORS Toﬀ In Town July 7 BOB DYLAN TRIBUTE TOUR Palais Theatre July 5, 6 SURES Northcote Social Club July 5 KARNIVOOL The Hi-Fi July 5, 6, 7 THE NIGHT TERRORS The Toﬀ In Town July 7 THE RUBENS The Corner July 10, 12 THE PAPER KITES Northcote Social Club July 11, 12 VAN SHE The Hi-Fi July 13 CAMERAS Purple Sneakers July 13, The Workers Club July 14, Pure Pop July 15 LADYHAWKE Billboard July 17 CHILDREN COLLIDE Corner Hotel August 10 KATE MILLER-HEIDKE Corner Hotel August 24 HILLTOP HOODS Festival Hall August 25

JULIA STONE The Forum September 7 ILLY The Corner Hotel September 7, 8 XAVIER RUDD The Palace September 13 ROCKWIZ Festival Hall October 12

RUMOURS John Maus, Tim & Eric, Fugazi, Lauryn Hill, Kate Bush, Purity Ring = New Announcements = Beat Proudly Presents

PROUDLY PRESENTS:

JINJA SAFARI, OPOSSOM, WHITE ARROWS The Hi-Fi August 10, 11

Q&A THE VULGARGRAD SCARLETS

Define your genre in five words or less: Russian criminal folk swing ska. So, someone is walking past as you guys are playing, they then go get a beer and tell their friend about you... what do they say? There’s a bunch of sailors with accordions in the next room that sound like Tom Waits soaked in vodka screaming in Russian? What the fuck do they think they’re doing? And I think I’ve seen that guy on telly. What inspires or has influenced your music the most? Soviet underground singers in the ‘60s and ‘70s touring the massive and highly illegal ‘apartment concert’ circuit. There are heaps of bootlegs from this era recorded on Estonian reel-to-reels that are incredible. When are you playing live/releasing your album/EP/ single/etc? We’re playing on Thursday June 14 at Northcote Social Club to release our new 7” Limonchiki – on yellow vinyl! We’ve also got the amazing Tek Tek Ensemble playing, not to mention the true renegade of rock’n’roll, Mikelangelo.

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WATCH INTERVIEWS, CHATS & AWKWARD SILENCES..... WWW.BEAT.COM.AU/TV

What makes you happiest about what you’re doing? It sounds cheesy, the most rewarding thing is seeing how happy we make other people! Audiences are often just stunned at what they’re witnessing – they can’t believe they’re seeing and hearing this from an Australian band. Describe the best gig you have ever played. Really hard to choose, we’ve had such great ones… During our recent European tour we played a fun gig in Frankfurt. We were well oiled (in more ways than one…) and were all up for a good time. There was an impromptu striptease and a shower of women’s (not exclusively) lingerie on stage, minutes into the gig. Russian immigrants, of course. What’s the strangest place you’ve ever played a gig? During the same tour we played a gig in Christiania – an area in Copenhagen set up in the ‘70s as a hippie commune and still outside the government’s jurisdiction. We played at a venue called Woodstock – a shed with a feel of a canteen at some intergalactic crossroads. The snap of Scandinavian winter had brought in a gallery of very odd characters, there was a wake celebration in one corner, a group of stoned Inuits in another, a pack of dogs running around and all shrouded in very heavy smoke. I don’t remember our second set…

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Beat Magazine Page 15

HOT CHIP BY DAN WATT

On a range of levels it is possible to look at making music as a cooking recipe. You have your chefs, the band, and then your core ingredients – the instruments. Musical acts have varying levels of difficulty in preparing their songs. For example, The White Stripes use minimal ingredients to produce something very satisfying (the comfort food of the music biz), whereas UK five-piece Hot Chip are at the scientific end of musical gastronomy with their melding of genres from disco to folk to deep house. Alexis Taylor shares the head cheffing of Hot Chip with Joe Goddard, although Taylor contributes the main vocals to most Hot Chip’s songs. Taylor gave us a master class on how Hot Chip cooked up their fifth album in ten years, In Our Heads. He begins by explaining the album’s title. “It is to do with the music sounding like it’s coming from dreams and a dream-like space and inviting listeners into that idea and therefore into our heads,” says the softlyspoken Englishman – his immaculate annunciation betraying his Cambridge University education. Taylor and Goddard have been friends since high school and started writing the songs that would become Hot Chip’s first material while they were still in school. The opening track to In Our Heads is actually a celebration of those formative days in Taylor and Goddard’s musicianship and songwriting. However, this wasn’t the starting point for the lyrics – that came from the blog of New York group Gang Gang Dance’s Brian DeGraw. “Brian had written one sentence at the top of his blog that was there for a few weeks that said, ‘Remember when people thought that the world was round?’. For some reason that line – that concept – just really got me thinking,” says Taylor. “So I just kinda wrote some lyrics that flowed on from that thought and were related to how everything has been turned around and I was thinking about listening to music and how it spins like a CD player or an iPod with a hard drive inside it spinning.” For those of you taking notes on the lyric writing aspect of the Hot Chip recipe, Taylor now reveals how he linked this concept back to personal experience and added real heart and feeling the song. “When writing the words I was thinking about moving parts spinning and also nostalgia to a time when Joe and I first listened to Phil Spector records together and the momentousness of that occasion.” He concludes on the cooking of this song by elaborating how the grand nature of its themes matched the musical make up. “We built the track up from its demo to something bigger and grander Beat Magazine Page 16

sounding. Charles Haywood came in and played drums on it and he added another level of intensity with his drumming. And we got Terry Edwards on saxophone to bring a Phil Spectre-y quality at the beginning of the track,” says Taylor. Charles Haywood was drummer for seminal British experimental group This Heat and Terry Edwards is an musician whose collaboration credits reads like a ‘who’s who’ of credible rock: Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Jesus & Mary Chain and Tom Waits. Above is one songwriting method for Hot Chip in preparing their delicious sounds, or as Taylor refers

“REMEMBER WHEN PEOPLE THOUGHT THAT THE WORLD WAS ROUND?’. FOR SOME REASON THAT LINE JUST REALLY GOT ME THINKING.” to it, “method two”. He now goes into more detail on both this method and the soon to be explained method one. “Sometimes I write songs on my own and sometimes Joe writes a song on his own. That’s method one,” Taylor says simply. “Method two is Joe writes some music but doesn’t finish it. Leaves it deliberately unfinished and doesn’t write words. Then I come in and write words and a melody and help him finish it.” However, pay attention wannabe master music chefs,

DISCUSS WHAT? BEAT.COM.AU/DISCUSSION

because method two has changed in recent years. “It used to happen around at his house in a small room; Joe and I working for hours on things, starting one track, moving on to the next track and then going back between them all. In more recent years things get sent by email to each other in an Mi4 version and then we come together to finish them up in the same place.” Now you may be thinking to yourself, ‘Isn’t Hot Chip a five-piece? Where the hell do Owen Clarke, Felix Martin, and Al Doyle fit in?’ “Well they don’t so much fit into the songwriting as into the recording and producing of each track,” explains Taylor. “There have been times, however, where they have been involved, like with Over & Over Felix was playing with us in the room as we were writing the song. He was involved in coming up with the bassline for that and then helping when I wanted to have these stupid lyrics put into the 7/4 time ‘K-I-S-S-I-N-G’ section of the song we kind of wrote together,” offers Taylor as an exception to the rule. Over & Over was the most successful single from Hot Chip’s 2006 release The Warning – an album that was many people’s first exposure to Hot Chip. Taylor now takes us through the more common roles of Hot Chip’s sous chefs in the metaphorical kitchen, the studio. “Al is very good at playing Prince-style guitar, bringing that disco sound to a track through guitar. Owen is also great on guitar and also on various odd synth sounds and Felix is really good with textural things, drum machines and so on.” The track on In Our Heads where the parts of Hot Chip’s sum are most tangible is Flutes. It was the first taste of the album ‘leaked’ by the band and the first two minutes of the song scared the shit out of many Hot Chip fans because it is almost pure ‘Goddard’; that is, edited tribal chants over the top of a deep house beat. Taylor explains how he took this song from a fully formed dance track and added the organic flavours that would make Flutes a Hot Chip song. “When Joe sent it to me it was a fully formed instrumental deep house track that I then turned into a song. I did that by adding a vocal melody as well as a wurlizter electric piano kinda outro. I also fleshed it out by playing some percussion that features throughout: a small wooden box that has different tones depending on where you hit it.” Well readers, you now have an in-depth picture of how the Hot Chip songwriting process works. I expect you to all have all a fully formed piece of music by the time Hot Chip get out here at the end of the year. Wait, was I meant to say that? Hmmmm… I’ll let Taylor tell you, “Well I can definitely tell you that we will probably be out by the end of year…” In Our Heads is out now on Domino/EMI.

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THIS WEEK: ON SCREEN Do you like really dumb shit? Because Adam Sandler has a new movie out this Thursday! After last year’s Jack And Jill, where Adam Sandler plays fraternal twins in possibly the worst idea for a film ever, it’s gotten to a point where I’m assuming Adam Sandler is just fucking with us now. “How can I make something dumber than last time?” is the Sandler approach. Anyway, while still in his teens, Donny (Adam Sandler) fathered a son, Todd (Andy Samberg – who is actually funny), and raised him as a single parent up until Todd’s 18th birthday. Now, after not seeing each other for years, Donny visits his son on the eve of his wedding, uninvited, and hilarity ensues as he’s forced to deal with the repercussions of his shitty parenting skills, while film-viewers are forced to deal with the repercussions of another potentially shitty Sandler film. Who knows, with Andy Samberg, and maybe some old school Sandler magic, this could actually turn out quite funny. It opens this Thursday June 14.

ON STAGE Keep Everything is a scrapbook for the stage – a collection of things that don’t fit. It works on the premise that from a single point of departure, an infinite array of events can unfold when the subconscious is allowed to lead. While developing the work, there is little editing, and even less contextual analysis of the content as it unfolds. Via a series of divergent offerings, it presents a glimpse into the mind which ultimately offers a broader understanding of the individual. It champions the absurd and sometimes vulgar nature of the spontaneous, by understanding that sometimes, it’s important to keep everything. It also has a promo blurb that I’m struggling to understand, but I’ve heard good things, so head to Chunky Move from Thursday June 14 to check it out.

ON DISPLAY We all have a mind – we think, but have you really ever thought about just exactly what makes us do the things that we do, or what physically controls us? For instance, I’m allergic to cats, but why do I always sneeze when my dog meows? This one’s deﬁnitely for those who enjoy a good questioning. If we were to map the human psyche, what would we see? Would it be similar to an architectural blueprint for a civilised world, resembling machinery and order? How can our thoughts physically control themselves? Using Osamu Dazai’s novel, No Longer Human, the works of Between These Things And Those Things give shape to the complex interior world of the human psyche. Let your mind be sent on an everlasting journey as Between These Things And Those Things heads to Oﬀ The Kerb from Friday June 15 – Friday July 6.

BEAT’S PICK OF THE WEEK:

Bollywood has a gargantuan output of films much admired around the world. From Bengali arthouse and Malayalam thrillers to Hindi blockbusters and Tamil action flicks, there is something for everyone in the Indian Film Festival. The best part about Bollywood films is that every movie seemingly ends on some form of choreographed belly dance – regardless of the ending. Some dude gets stabbed in the climax and they still party when the credits roll. Fucking rad. Melburnians can experience the cinema of India with 40 films at the Indian Film Festival, running now until Friday June 22 at Hoyts Melbourne Central. Some of India’s biggest stars and most respected filmmakers are coming to share their films in person, including a series of Q&A sessions with notable directors and producers. There will also be a series of Master Classes with special guests from India’s film industry: a costume designer, writer, animator and director/writer team. For more information head to iffm.com.au

Beat Magazine Page 18

THE GOLDEN DRAGON BY BELLA ARNOTT-HOARE

Plates of soggy prawn crackers, mountains of plastic bowls and the frenetic dining pace of a Chinese restaurant are familiar comforts to many cuisiniers in the Western world. But do you ever wonder who made you that Szechwan beef? Of course you didn’t, because you were too busy devouring it so voraciously you’re left gasping for air and beating at your chest like the primate you’re descended from. But the MTC’s new Lawler Studio production The Golden Dragon delves into the intricacies of these universal establishments, focusing on the often-ignored migratory experiences of their staff and the conditions of the enterprises. Lead actor Ash Flanders has his work cut out for him to perform as part of the ensemble show. His roles in the production switch between a young girl, a waitress, a male Asian chef, an old man and an insect. While this sort of feat requires suspension of disbelief on the part of the audience, it also requires deft characterisation and a honed malleability on the actor’s part. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, he says. “That’s what I love as a performer. It’s what gets me off,” he purrs with ironic sexual overtones. Though the setting could be in any international metropolis, the play is quite specific. Written by playwright Roland Schimmelpfennig, it explicitly examines the experience of immigrants into Germany

FREE SHIT TAKE THIS WALTZ Take This Waltz is a 2011 Canadian comedy-drama, centred around a 28-year-old freelance writer who lives in Toronto, as she struggles with and examines her feelings for her husband Lou, while exploring a new relationship with Daniel, an artist and who lives across the street. The brilliant cast includes Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, Sarah Silverman, and Luke Kirby. We have a few double passes to give away.

with a dry, laboured Germanic sense of language and a bizarre interest in brutality. The translation of the text, says Flanders, is interesting because of its typical German formality, but the microcosm it examines is undeniably human. “In terms of Australian audiences I think it will be easy to relate to. It’s that universal problem of: who are your people? Who do you look out for? Who should you look out for?” Ultimately its focus is the experience of displaced people, immigrants, and the connections and interrelations between people. This, thinks Flanders, transcends speciﬁcity and comes pretty close to the plots of soapies. “Someone’s leaving, or having an aﬀair, or having a baby, someone’s dying. The stories

SHAME Brandon is a successful, good-looking yet private 30-something, living and working in New York. Unknown to those around him, however, he is battling sexual addiction. His life becomes disrupted when his sister moves in, uninvited, for an indeﬁnite amount of time. Michael Fassbender is brilliant in this bizarrely beautiful tale of addiction, sexuality, and siblings. It’s a fascinating ﬁlm that has received much critical success, and we have a few DVDs to give away. Hit up beat.com.au/freeshit for your chance to win.

ARTS NEWS, REVIEWS, INTERVIEWS ONLINE – BEAT.COM.AU/ARTS

are almost hackneyed in that they’re so familiar, it’s something we’ve seen on Summer Bay, but it’s through this weird lens of a German slash Asian world.” The story’s initial action is centered around the haphazard removal of a tooth. “The [character] can’t go to a dentist, he doesn’t have any papers, so they have to do an extraction in the kitchen. So it’s got that German love of violent imagery, a savage world. It’s kind of bleak and poetic.” And it also highlights issues of illegal immigration and how people smuggling has become common in Germany. Where the immigrants are often demonised, Flanders says the most startling thing about the trend for illegal German immigration is consistent exploitation. “I’ve been reading people get brought over to be chefs in Germany in Asian restaurants, but you get over there and you’re getting paid so little and the loan – they just make up what number that is. So people are sleeping in restaurants, sleeping in laundries, and their family back home is being threatened if they try and leave. So it’s a seriously well-oiled machine and there’s something of that in this play.” In a climate of a ‘stop the boats’ campaign cries, a persistent fear of invasion from the ‘Other’, the play for Australian audiences could encourage empathy. “That could be you, it could be anyone, it could be other races coming to Australia, or displaced indigenous people. It’s allegory. “The people working in this kitchen don’t have the luxury of wishing life could be different. And yet all the other characters say at one point that they wish they could be someone else but their lives are infinitely easier than the people who are working in horrible conditions.” The story is underpinned by a classic parable. The cricket character Flanders plays references to Aesop’s fable The Ant And The Grasshopper, an ambivalent moral lesson about hard work. A grasshopper, so it goes, spent the warm months singing while the ant worked to store up food for winter. “The cricket didn’t work enough during the summertime and when winter came they weren’t able to survive, which ties back into capitalism, this idea of a hard work ethic for the benefit of the group. But that’s another thing about the play, because you could get it to say a lot of things,” says Flanders. The play is not necessarily moralistic though, and Flanders notices there are moments of dark humour spread throughout – it could even be seen as slapstick in persuasion amidst the chaos of actors switching roles, changing settings and general misunderstanding. “It’s kind of madness, the way humans fail each other is always funny. The way language fails us. People can be really horrible to each other and I’d say it’s darkly funny. Even the tooth extraction is funny, and magical and weird.” And although it may be a stretch, Flanders hopes that theatregoers will get a kick out of using their imagination to bring the piece to life. “[Theatre] is a place where, if I say that I’m wearing a red dress and I’m gorgeous you believe that, because we’re here to make believe, and have fun. Which has always been a big part of why I make theatre.” The Golden Dragon is showing at The MTC Lawler Studio from Wednesday June 20 – Saturday July 7.

PRESENTED BY MULTICULTURAL ARTS VICTORIA

EAMES

THE ARCHITECT & THE PAINTER Film Season > ACMI Cinemas Friday 1 June – Sunday 17 June 2012 Australian Centre for the Moving Image Federation Square, Melbourne www.acmi.net.au/ﬁlm

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Beat Magazine Page 19

THE COMIC STRIP

With Tyson Wray. Got news, gossip, reviews, thoughts, tip-oﬀs, complaints, hate mail? Email tyson@beat.com.au or send by ESP before Friday.

THE COMEDY SPECTACULAR The Comedy Spectacular presents a snapshot of the best local stand-up comedy that Melbourne has to oﬀer. This is a mega line up with comedic punch you won’t see anywhere else! Featuring Dave Thornton on emceeing duties plus Denise Scott, Dave O’Neil, Tom Gleeson, Peter Helliar and new talent Ronny Chieng. It’s all happening this Thursday June 14 at the Corner Hotel, doors from 8pm.

CHARLES DICKENS

YUNYU’S TWISTED TALES Alice in Wonderland, Bluebeard, The Pied Piper and Pinocchio get a make over as Yunyu will be corrupting fairy tales into a modern paradigm of music and art. Merging live music with cutting edge technology, Yunyu has collaborated with manga artist Queenie Chan and leading animators from around the world to bring her music to life. Check her out at Revolver Upstairs on Friday June 22. Tickets $25.

MELBOURNE ART FAIR Showcasing the work of an exciting new generation of unrepresented artists in association with public and independent contemporary art spaces from around Australia and New Zealand, the Melbourne Art Fair 2012 Project Rooms create opportunities for developing artists to present innovative and experimental work within the context of a major international visual art event. The Melbourne Art Fair, as well as the selected Project Rooms, highlight the diversity of current contemporary art practice by placing independent art spaces alongside a strong and vibrant gallery scene. With the likes of BUS Projects and the Centre for Contemporary Photography in the mix, amongst many others, 2012’s Melbourne Art Fair will be held from August 1-5, and is a must-attend event for any art junkie.

TAMARA WATT After seven years of loyal tenancy, artist Tamara Watt has been evicted from her home/studio without warning or reason, which one could only assume is for a way to make progress. Best way to do this? Have an event in your honour, selling your entire back catalogue. Yep, that’s what she’s doing. And like in any good sale commercial, pretend that there’s a voice screaming at you while you’re told all of the artworks that will go on sale are 40-55 per cent oﬀ the original gallery prices, varying anywhere from $20-$500. But it’s one day only, folks, so get down to Quinch Art on Friday June 15 from 6pm.

CALLING AUSTRALIA HOME Whether you’ve lived your entire life here, or have recently moved to Australia, one can’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of patriotism. At least that’s what we think – and the Jewish Museum of Australia happen to agree with us. As the museum celebrates its thirtieth birthday, it is getting set to launch the much anticipated new permanent exhibition Calling Australia Home, housed in the Zelman Cowen Gallery of Australian Jewish History. With nearly 150 objects on display, mostly drawn from the Museum’s Collection and some from the very ﬁrst time, the exhibition will engage audiences with the story of Jewish life in Australia from 1788 to the present. Get your dose of history with Calling Australia Home. Head to the Jewish Museum of Australia from Sunday June 17.

He wrote what were some of the greatest books of many of our childhoods, and now, in celebration on the 200th anniversary of his birth, ACMI and their On Film program are getting ready to celebrate Charles Dickens style. Presenting various ﬁlms over three days in a collection titled Of Paupers and Gentlemen: Charles Dickens on Film, the gallery will open with 1935’s A Tale Of Two Cities, followed along by the likes of Mystery of Edwin Drood, Great Expectations, and The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickelby. Delving deep into Dickens’ world, check out Of Paupers and Gentlemen as it heads to ACMI from Friday August 20 - Sunday August22.

THE SOUND OF MUSIC Whether you’re a fan or not, you’ll have at least belted out “The hills are alive with the sound of muuuusic!” at least once in your life. It’s time to get those vocal chords warmed up as our good friends at The Astor bring everyone’s favourite sing-a-long, The Sound Of Music, back to the big screen. Considered as a movie that transcends throughout the generations, grab your siblings, grab your parents, grab the grandparents, grab the next door neighbour and head down to The Astor from Sunday July 8 – Saturday July 14 to see The Sound Of Music like it was always intended; for the masses, on the big screen.

GRIMSTONES - HATCHED If you’re a fan of Tim Burton’s cult classic Nightmare Before Christmas, then this will deﬁnitely be right up your alley. This Winter, The Grimstones – Hatched, a production conceptualised and designed by Asphyxia, a deaf circus performer turned puppeteer – is getting ready to grace its presence on Gasworks Theatre. Containing a charming and delightful narrative delivered to audiences via Auslan and verbally using a haunting combination of intricately aged marionettes and giant books, The Grimstones tells the stories of a girl who reads dreams, a mother who sews garments lines with warmth and joy, a three-legged baby boy, and a grandfather who heals with magical concoctions. Head to Gasworks on Friday July 13 at 10am or noon.

THE WIGGLES Let’s excuse the fact that the future of The Wiggles is up in the air at the moment, and just continue to celebrate the legendary act along with the MSO. The two powerhouses will join forces in a world first limited run of shows at the iconic and newly refurbished Hamer Hall. Having recently announced that 2012 will be the final touring year for the original foursome – Anthony, Murray, Greg and Jeff – these world-first concerts will see the Wiggles perform their Wiggly hits live on stage with one of the world’s greatest orchestras. The perfect send off, the concerts will give many of their fans the chance to experience the wonders of a live concert for the first time. Let’s end here before we get too emotional. The Wiggles will meet MSO for three shows only from Friday August 24 – Saturday August 25. Head to mso.com.au for more information.

STICK TO SOMETHING It’s time to get sticky. Chilean-born artist Oscar Raby’s incredible sticky tape images cut reality into pieces – brick by brick, pixel by pixel. Raby’s work will take us on a visual journey from the virtual to the real and back again; stopping oﬀ at the worlds of electronic screens, sticky-tape, additive colour mixing and 3D images that aren’t really there – or are they? In Stick To Something, Raby presents a series of works that look at the surface of the screen as a threshold, a mirror and an obstacle. And, perhaps even just a distraction. Meticulously constructed from hand-cut sticky tape, Oscar Raby’s Stick To Something will present one everyday element like we’ve never seen before. Get sticky as No No Gallery presents Stick To Something from Saturday June 16 – Sunday July 1.

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NORTHERN EXPOSURE Everyone’s got their two cents about street art. But this is street art, with a twist. Nothing about having a tag or graphing, Northern Exposure is a street based project where artists and local business collaborate, leaving a playful trail of discovery for the attentive observe. Now in its eighth year, the project has its numerous facets, including sight speciﬁc art installations in window shops, art related workshops and performance, and either permanent or ephemeral artworks installed along the street, amongst so much more. But where can this all be found? Only on Northcote’s High Street between Friday June 15 – Sunday July 1.

LOL COMEDY

THEATRESPORTS Grab your mouthguard and a spare pair of underwear because Impro Melbourne are back with the 2012 instalment of the nation’s hottest theatrical sporting event: TheatresportsTM! TheatresportsTM is a competition-based improvisation format performed around the world in which teams perform scenes based on challenges from their fellow performers, or the match host. The pace is fast and the performance hilarious, and with 27 years of experience with the format behind them – you can expect Impro Melbourne to have their game on! Fresh from sellout shows at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, TheatresportsTm is running every Sunday during June at The Space, and the competition this year culminates in the epic Grand Final (Sunday June 24) at Federation Square’s iconic BMW Edge. Head to impromelbourne.com.au for more information.

SPANISH FILM FESTIVAL What do Salma Hayek, Ricardo Darin and Luis Tosar all have in common? Well, besides all being Spanish, they are just some of the stars of the Spanish-speaking world that are set to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Spanish Film Festival on the big screen. Screening a select programme of the best in contemporary cinema from Spain and Latin America, the festival will present 22 acclaimed feature ﬁlms across a wide range of genres, including a multitude of Australian Premieres. All you need to do to check it out? Visit spanishﬁlmfestival.com for more information.

MAN COVETS BIRD You know that movie with Jennifer Garner where she’s a kid one day and then an adult the next? Suddenly 30? Yep, this is just like that. A story about flying the nest, birdsong, and growing up, Man Covets Birds creates an enveloping world of prose, live music, melancholia and sunshine. Let’s tell you the tale of this boy; a boy who wakes up one morning to find that he has grown up. Despite recognising the man in the mirror, his parents and his town have no idea who he is. With no chance but to start a new life, he embarks on a journey into a strange, grown-up city full of machines and peculiar, lonely people. We could finish telling you the story, but that would be cheating. Find out what happens as Man Covets Birds heads to the Arts Centre’s Fairfax Studio on Saturday August 11 at 2pm and 6.30pm.

THREE MEN AND A RED HEAD Sounds like the name to the sequel of Three Men and a Baby, doesn’t it? Unfortunately lacking the wonder that is Tom Selleck’s beard, Three Men and a Red Head is the collaborated newest works by four talented international artists. The opening, duly named Three Men and a Red Head, features pieces from collaborative artists such as Kaliopy, Patrick Jennings Brady, Thomas Delohery and Otto Boron. Providing a diverse range of pieces by four celebrated artists from around the world, this is one collaborative exhibition not to be missed. The works of Three Men and a Red Head will don the walls of the 69 Smith Street Gallery from Wednesday July 4- Sunday July 22. Head to threemenredhead.com for more information.

PHILLIP STOKES Craft is getting excited to present a beautiful new collection of glass sculpture in their Window Space, and we too couldn’t be more stoked (see what I did there?). This latest work from glass artist Phillip Stokes is inspired by human microbiology. Bubble Lux is an illuminated installation of playful, organic forms that respond to human movement and dance. Yep, it’s deﬁnitely got its groove. Stimulated by the sculptural possibilities of human form and he organisation of musculature, Phillip creates dialogue between the viscous and sinuous qualities of the glass medium. Phillip Stokes’ Bubble Lux is on now at Craft until Saturday June 30.

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The Portland Hotel and The Local have teamed up to bring you the LOL Comedy Series, featuring some of Australia’s best comedic talent. After running for the past month or so it has drummed up some well deserved hype. The idea was born from the recognition that Melburnians love live entertainment in intimate spaces, and the smaller venues have an opportunity to carve a niche during the winter months when festivals in Melbourne are few and far between. Tonight Wednesday June 13 they have Jason Chong performing who has been receiving rave reviews all over the country. Followed by Dave Callan, who runs the Graveyard Shift at triple j, on Tuesday June 19.

FELIX BAR COMEDY Wednesday night, they’ve got US comic Jeﬀ Stilson headlining Felix Bar Comedy! Jeﬀ has appeared on Letterman eight times, been on The Tonight Show, written for Jon Stewart, the Academy Awards, Chris Rock, and you’ll know him from his many appearances on Channel 10’s The Panel. Plus we’ve got Asher Treleaven, Don Tran, Toby Halligan, Craig Annis and some special guests! Come down and check out the biggest night of comedy in St Kilda, every Wednesday night! It’s happening this Wednesday June 13 at 8.30pm for only $12, at Felix Bar, St Kilda.

SOFTBELLY COMEDY This Thursday, the legendary Greg Fleet headlines Softbelly Comedy! He’s one of our country’s national treasures, and he’s been all over TV, radio, and the world! Plus they’ve got Ben Lomas, Kate McLennan and three very special (secret) guests! Sweet combo! It’s all happening at Softbelly, 367 Little Bourke Street this Thursday June 14, 8.30pm, for only $12! Get in early for a good seat!

COMMEDIA DELL PARTE Last week Commedia Dell Parte was packed, maybe because there is now a heater in the bar. This Thursday you are in for a great night of laughs with special guest MC Steele Saunders joined by Mike Nayna, Jason Chong, Ethan Addie, Brent Flyberg, Simon Taylor, John Conway, Erin Melville and Anne Edmonds. The room runs on a ‘pay as you like’ basis, so come along and have a great laugh, then pay what you believe the show is worth on the way out. So if you enjoy the show chuck in a few sheckles and show your appreciation. Commedia Dell Parte runs every Thursday from 8.30pm at the George Lane Bar, St Kilda.

CHECKPOINT CHARLIE COMEDY Cheap piss and piss-cheap entry at the city’s best aboveground underground comedy room. Tonight, come ﬁll yourself with $6 drinks and put your continence to the ultimate test as a host of Melbourne’s comedians, including Jimmy James-Eaton, Mick Neven and a super surprise headliner spit funnies into the business end of a loud stick. Check in 8pm tonight at Eurotrash Bar - 18 Corrs Lane, Melbourne. $5 entry. Get down early for a seat.

COMEDY AT SPLEEN Mondays at Spleen are always a full house and a great night! This week looks like another cracker with Steele Saunders as host, plus there’s Andy McLelland, Mike Goldstein, Pete Sharkey, Toby Halligan, Michael Connell, Tom Ward and heaps more! It’s this Monday, June 18, 41 Bourke St at 8.30pm. It may be free, but they appreciate a good gold coin donation at the door!

BLUE TILE LOUNGE COMEDY The Blue Tile Lounge is a seminal room for some of Melbourne’s biggest rising stars. Karl Woodberry enjoys having a weekly room where some of the very best comedians may come and test their new material. You never know what will happen at The Blue Tile Lounge. Witness the many highs and occasional, awkward lows in the intimate and extremely friendly room. Karl’s most important criteria for Blue Tile Lounge is to get his comedy mates down to have a fun night in a relaxed atmosphere. The result is an inclusive, friendly vibe where the audience feels as much a part of the comedy as the comedian. Blue Tile Lounge is the perfect venue for this casual comedy approach. Beers are cheap, laughs are plentiful and fun times are absolutely guaranteed. Every Tuesday at the Blue Tile Lounge, Fitzroy from 8.30pm.

LENNY HENRY BY PATRICK EMERY

Lenny Henry says his new show, Cradle to Rave, is a celebration of Henry’s life-long interest in music – and the chance to express the occasional musical regret. “I’ve had this yearning to do music all along,” he says. “This show is about music as a sub-current of my life. For me, the show is about me re-engaging in music, and bemoaning the fact that I’m not a rock star, and that I’ve been playing piano for over ten years, and I’m still only in Grade 3!” he laughs. Almost 40 years ago, Henry, the teenage son of Jamaican immigrants, was indulging his nascent interest in performance at the occasional local disco. “I used to get up at discos and do impersonations,” Henry recalls. “There was a gentleman by the name of Oscar Martin who was DJing at this club, and he liked what I was doing. He wrote away to a couple of talent shows, including New Faces, and tried to get me on there.” Henry appeared on New Faces in 1975, and, at the age of 16, won the event. Henry had minimal practical musical experience as a child – “I played drums on Jonah and the Jazz,” he confides – though the Henry household had its share of musical icons on display. “I used to do impersonations of Elvis. We had lots of pictures all over the house – I thought at one stage that he was a relative!” Henry laughs. Consistent with his Jamaican background, Henry was reasonably well steeped in reggae music in the ‘70s. “One of my best mates at college, a white guy, was really into reggae, and he had loads of these old singles, bands like Toots and the Maytals,” Henry says. Henry was also exposed to a wide cross-section of ‘70s music, including the glam rock of David Bowie and Marc Bolan, and the emerging funk and soul sounds of the United States. “I went to a working class school, and I had a lot of white friends, and the thing about my white friends was that they were into totally different stuff so my musical tastes had this whole paradigm shift!” Henry says. The symbiotic relationship between reggae and punk – most obviously illustrated by The Clash – meant that punk rock was never too far from Henry’s musical radar, though when Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key Life was released in 1975, Henry bought a copy and kept it in its plastic cover for fear of damaging such a treasured album. “In the ‘70s I made the decision to be a soul guy, and not a reggae guy,” he says. Henry’s success on New Faces became the catalyst for Henry escaping his working class existence in the Midlands, and forging a career in comedy. “I didn’t have any idea what it was going to lead to at the time,” Henry says. “As a kid you have no idea about the future, so I just dived in. Pretty soon I was the major earner in the family, and I was able to buy my mum a house and a phone.” Not long after his New Faces triumph, Henry found himself recruited to the travelling Black and White Minstrel show, an experience for which he holds mixed feelings. “It was a bit of a political football, and we copped some criticism,” Henry says. “During the show I was singing Campdown Races, and after the show I was listening to funk and soul, so I was really conflicted at the time.”

“AS A KID YOU HAVE NO IDEA ABOUT THE FUTURE, SO I JUST DIVED IN.” Henry was introduced to other rising stars in the British comedy scene, including members of the Comic Strip troupe, including his future wife Dawn French and Alexei Sayle (a clip on YouTube shows Henry featuring on Sayle’s Pop Up Toaster single from 1982). Henry then teamed up with Tracy Ullman and David Copperfield (not the magician) in Three of a Kind in 1981. “David was a fantastic guitarist,” Henry says, “and Tracy was a great improviser – I learnt a great deal from Tracy”. With the Three of a Kind repertoire including the occasional parody, Henry was able to dabble in music from a different angle. “We had a guy working on the show who did great parodies of classic songs. So we did a parody of Da Do Run Run, and I did Earth, Wind and Fire,” Henry enlightens. Having appeared on countless television shows, toured the world with his stand-up show and ingrained himself on the international comedy circuit, a few years ago Lenny Henry decided to confront one of his remaining performance fears: William Shakespeare. “As a boy, I really didn’t like Shakespeare,” Henry says. “In about 2000 I decided I’d continue my education, so I did a BA through the Open University. And it was through that that I had my antipathy toward Shakespeare slowly chipped off, and by the end of it I had a hierarchy of Shakespeare plays in my mind.” After appearing in a radio documentary on people’s fear of Shakespeare, Henry was encouraged by contemporaries in the entertainment industry – including Dame Judy Dench – to perform Shakespeare on stage. Henry appeared in Othello, to very positive reviews. “Lots of the stuff about performing I knew already, but I did have to work on my voice technique, and to learn how to walk and stand properly,” Henry says. Such stage performance skills will certainly come in handy with Cradle to Rave. “We did a tour of this show in the UK, and we had a band for the last half of the show.” While Henry doesn’t rule out adding some local reference points – “what should I include?” he inquires politely – at this stage it’s about Lenny Henry’s personal musical journey. “I play piano, and you also get to see a grown man sweat,” Henry laughs.

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Lenny Henry performs at Her Majesty’s Theatre on Thursday June 21 and Friday June 22. ARTS NEWS, REVIEWS, INTERVIEWS ONLINE – BEAT.COM.AU/ARTS

Beat Magazine Page 21

EMERGE FESTIVAL BY BRIGITTE TROBBIANI

A Melbourne winter brings with it unbearable winds, circulating viruses and the emotional and mental exhaustion brought about by a combination of the above and not enough shelter from the rain on platform one. Multicultural Arts Victoria (MAV), however, are making your winter a little bit brighter, a little bit louder and far more colourful than the usual June winter we’re so unlucky to be graced with. MAV are excited to be hosting their ninth Emerge Festival this year, with a mammoth 12 events running from the start of June until the end of July – including the inaugural Emerge Film Festival. “Emerge is all about showcasing artistic and cultural talent in Victoria’s emerging refugee communities,” says MAV project manager, Jess Fairfax. “It’s pretty open to everyone, there’s no specific demographic that we target. We open it up to the whole community to immerse themselves with the multicultural talents within Victoria”. Kicking off the festival on the first is a visual arts exhibition with the Somali community aiming to paint (quite literally) a positive image of Somali landscapes and positive images to people both of the Somali and the wider Victorian community. Next up is the Heartlands 2012 Exhibition, which in its third year will feature paintings, drawings, mixed media and photographic works entered in the Heartlands Refugee Fine Art Prize. On Wednesday June 13, a creative performance in coordination with the Ethic Community Council of Victoria and Playback Theatre will feature amongst the artworks at Heartlands at fortyfivedownstairs. The inaugural Emerge Film Festival took place over three nights from June 3-5 and showcased talented, young filmmakers from diverse backgrounds. The film festival allowed people from refugee and emerging communities to emulate their experiences through the powerful medium of film. “We have Emerge in Dandenong [where] they have the biggest population of diverse communities in Victoria and we do a special Emerge down there showcasing the talent just within Dandenong and the cultures within that community.” Emerge in Dandenong takes place at the Drum Theatre. A special performance on Thursday June 21 at the Melbourne Recital Centre will see the networking of professional refugee musicians teamed up with professionals including incredible Bistat Seyoum and Laneway funk. There is also the opportunity for budding artists and musicians to take part in development workshops every Saturday from June 23-July 28. The workshops are for those who want to get a bit “cluey” in the industry, particularly the business side of making any form of art as well as help in festivals and getting their name out there.

YOU GET TO SEE THESE AWESOME ACTS, WHICH AREN’T ALWAYS PROFESSIONAL; THEY ARE EMERGING OR COMMUNITY GROUPS, ALL OF THESE DIVERSE FORMS OF MUSIC AND DANCE YOU DON’T GET TO SEE EVERYDAY.” The main event on Sunday June 17 will bring the Fitzroy Town Hall and Napier Street to life with it’s three stages, amazing musicians, food, art and markets and good times - a perfect winter warmer. Performances at the main event include Bistat Seyoum, Anbessa an incredible Kirar player, the J-AZMARIS lead by Daniel Atlaw, percussion groups and dance groups, reggae group, Ras Jah Know, The Burundi drums and plenty more. “It’ll be a pretty massive day, and its free which is always fun,” notes Fairfax. “The music is non-stop. We’ve got three stages so you can leave one and go to the next and see acts that you’ve never seen before.” Aside from the music there are cultural workshops, food from around the globe and a market place. “The food is always a huge draw card, we get a lot of feedback and everyone’s like, ‘oh my god, the food is amazing’,” Jess says, “everything is always delicious.” The marketplaces are always an opportunity to shop up big, offering an array of traditional Ethiopian clothes, Pacific island weaving goods and jewellery. There will be a Henna stall, and also ‘Happy Villages’ – Kenyan goods made by poor and HIV-positive women. There is also Sankofa, fair-trade beautiful homeware goods and this year Social Studio will have a stall, which allows refugee design students to showcase their work and sell it. “They design their own garments, [they’re] really beautiful”. The main event really is for everyone, combining incredible food, performances and artwork as well the opportunity to meet some of the artists throughout the day. “You get to see these awesome acts, which aren’t always professional; they are emerging or community groups. You know, all of these diverse forms of music and dance you don’t get to see everyday.” Apart from putting on amazing festivals to the thousands of Victorians who frequent the event each year, Emerge provides artists and musicians with assistance in breaking it into the difficult industry in Australia. “A lot of artists have had to flee their countries and have made Melbourne home, but we don’t complain about that because we have amazing artists and Bistat is one of them”. A lot of the performing artists from the festival are a part of the Visible Mentoring program, a program which helps guide artists who have been professional back home integrate themselves into the arts industry. “They’re all really professional, amazing talented artists so [the festival] is an opportunity to see them in action which is always incredible”. Multicultural Arts Victoria’s Emerge Festival is running now until Tuesday July 31 around Victoria showcasing the contribution emerging and refugee communities are having on contemporary arts and culture. Visit multiculturalarts.com.au for more information. Beat Magazine Page 22

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FILM REVIEW: PROMETHEUS BY NICK TARAS

“Disappointed”. “Boring”. “Let down”. The nerds on my Facebook are pissed off, and I trust my nerds, because when they’re not watching movie trailers and hacking into mainframes, they’re spending hours calmly debating on message boards, dissecting a film until all minute details are maturely analysed and judged. “Ridley Scott ruined my life” – bit of an overreaction, but there does seem to be a scent of frustration surrounding the response to Prometheus. Perhaps the film is a victim of its own captivating viral marketing campaign, which invited us to raise expectations to an unattainable level. Or, perhaps, nerds can shut the fuck up, because Prometheus left me dazzled. The film is a visual splendour, an enthralling turkey slap of ocular majesty across one’s 3D glasses. Set in 2093, the premise – centring on a crew that discover a star map to a distant civilisation believed to have created life on Earth but in the journey instead uncover a violent threat to the human race – is not necessarily innovative. However, its weaving of suspense, stunning visuals and heavy philosophical themes is masterfully executed. At its core, it explores the dangers that can arise from a search of our origins, and the film is rich in religious overtones of confronting our maker in our human yearn to discover meaning.

Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner was widely-admired for its set design, and its visual wizardry enticed the viewer into its dystopian world. Much like Blade Runner, from its opening scene at a crushingly commanding waterfall in Iceland, Prometheus is awe-inspiring in its scenery and visual effects; it is here where its strengths are found. Viewing the film in 3D at IMAX is a speechless experience. The 3D, for once, actually suited the film and invited you into the voyage with its wonderful realism. That being said, perhaps the abortion scene could’ve been in 2D, eh Ridley? Or like, not at all. Much criticism and dissatisfaction of Prometheus stems from its narrative, and that many threads are left open, begging to be answered in a sequel. Regardless, the film still stands on its own, and fits nicely within the Alien universe.

Sometimes Prometheus sloppily glides over details – such as how the story challenges “300 years” of evolution via natural selection, something science has firmly established as a fact (unless you’re a Creationist, in which case, how are you reading this?). It is an understandable frustration to have such important details hastily touched upon, but it’s difficult for a film to answer all these miniscule particulars and still maintain an interesting and continuous narrative. The film stars Michael Fassbender, who is very quickly becoming one of my favourite actors, and his brilliantly cold, emotionless performance as android

David conjured eeriness not felt since 2001: A Space Odyssey’s HAL. Charlize Theron’s performance as just an all-round general bitch also conjured an eeriness not felt since my ex-girlfriend. Overall, Prometheus does have its ﬂaws, but sometimes you’ve gotta ignore the bird shit on your seat to enjoy the ride.

French cinematographer Benoit Debie (Irreversible, Enter The Void, etc) uses a washed out palette to convey the sense of heat and corruption of both the Mexican locations and the prison itself. There is a nasty tone to a couple of the more violent scenes, and there is a torture scene that is also quite vicious. The film is also liberally punctuated with plenty of touches of droll, black humour, and Gibson’s wry voiceover adds to the film’s offbeat tone. The prison El Pueblito actually existed, until the authorities closed it down. Production designer Bernardo Trujillo recreates it in all its grimy, sleazy glory. The role of the laconic anti-hero here suits Gibson, who seems to be enjoying himself here and his manic energy

recalls his Lethal Weapon character. He also develops a strong rapport with Hernandez, who seems wise beyond his years. Bob Gunton, as a businessman inadvertently caught up in an elaborate escape plan, and an uncredited Peter Gerety, as an opportunistic embassy representative, also lend solid support. Get The Gringo is a surprisingly enjoyable action comedy that goes someway towards restoring Gibson’s tarnished reputation. For some reason the ﬁlm disappeared straight to DVD in the States, but thankfully we are getting a chance to see it on the big screen. Get The Gringo is currently screening in cinemas nationwide.

Prometheus is currently screening nationwide distributed through 20th Century Fox. You catch it in 3D on the world’s third largest screen at IMAX Melbourne.

FILM REVIEW: GET THE GRINGO BY GREG KING Get The Gringo is an unusual and violent prison drama that marks a return to form of sorts for Mel Gibson as the ﬂawed action hero. Most of the action takes place inside Mexico’s notorious El Pueblito prison in Tijuana, a corrupt hellhole which is run by the inmates and in which virtually anything can be bought – sex, weapons, drugs. It is “the world’s shittiest mall,” as Gibson’s character christens it. Gibson plays an anonymous getaway driver who winds up inside the prison after he crashes his car on the Mexico/ US border. When the Mexican cops discover $2 million in the car, they arrest him and conﬁscate the loot. Inside, he quickly learns some of the rules of the prison, which is run by the villainous the Cartel boss Javi (Daniel Giménez Cacho). He also befriends a young boy (Kevin Hernandez, from the Jonah Hill comedy The Sitter) and his widowed mother (Dolores Heredia), and protects them from the various corrupt guards and criminals who run the prison. The kid is due to lose a kidney to Javi who desperately needs a transplant. Meanwhile, vicious criminal boss Frank (Peter Stormare) sends hired goons to El Pueblito to recover the money that Gibson stole from him.

This is a testosterone-fuelled yarn that is reminiscent of the spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone, as well as the tough films of Sam Peckinpah and his protégé Walter Hill, which were often set in similarly seedy, lawless territory and populated by ruthlessly amoral characters. The film has been directed by Spanish born Adrian Grunberg, who lived in Mexico for 15 years and has worked as an assistant director for Gibson on films like Apocalypto and Edge Of Darkness. His use of slow motion during a violent shootout particularly recalls Peckinpah. Co-written by Gibson, Grunberg and former production assistant Stacy Perskie, the script is pared back to the essentials, and delivers some superbly staged action sequences, including the spectacular prison yard shoot-out.

FILM REVIEW: DARK SHADOWS BY CHRIS BRIGHT It’s official, Tim Burton is the Michael Bay of twisted fantasy. Where Bay adds slow motion action and explosions at every turn, it seems Burton will throw in weird characters and spooky special effects, even if they’re not needed. The first three quarters of Dark Shadows is easy to watch and fairly funny at times, but Burton turns the final act into a weird mess that feels rushed and completely over-the-top. As with Alice in Wonderland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Dark Shadows is a remake of something that already existed (a television series from the ‘60s) and once again, Burton has added his own visual styling and recast both Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. Depp plays Barnabas Collins, whose parents established a successful fishing business and built the town of Collinsport in the 1700s. But when Barnabas breaks the heart of a witch (Eva Green), she kills his fiancé and turns him into a vampire. The townsfolk label him a monster, capture him and lock him away in

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a coffin where he lays for almost two centuries. When he is finally released, the year is 1972 and Barnabas sets out to find childhood home and restore the family business to its former glory. The funniest part about Dark Shadows is watching Barnabas adapt to the 1970s. It’s made funnier by Depp’s performance because he perfects the oldEnglish tongue. His futuristic family are made up of an impressive cast, including Michelle Pfeiffer as the controlling mother, Jonny Lee Miller as her dodgy brother, Chloë Moretz as the troubled, teenage daughter and Australia’s Gulliver McGrath as the weirdo son. Those aside, the best supporting characters are the family helpers, made up of Bonham Carter as the child psychologist, Jackie

Earle Haley as the groundskeeper and Ray Shirley as the oblivious maid, Mrs. Johnson. I especially enjoyed Bonham Carter as the alcoholic doctor, but that’s mostly because she echoed an aged version of Marla Singer from Fight Club. Eva Green was probably the most annoying. Sure, she looked incredible, but it felt she was just trying to play Goldie Hawn from Death Becomes Her, including a forced American accent. They should have just cast an American in the role – because considering how much makeup they caked on, any fit blonde would have sufficed. The original television series was basically a supernatural soap opera, which had new twists and character developments with each episode. This premise does not successfully transfer to a single feature and it feels like Burton crammed big “shock twist” moments into single scenes (like the whole werewolf thing for instance). The only other point worth discussing is the soundtrack. Thanks to the ‘70s setting, it’s filled with the likes of Iggy Pop, The Carpenters, Barry White, T. Rex and even Alice Cooper performs his own songs in a cameo (which sounds cooler than it plays out). It’s unfortunate, because if it wasn’t for the horrible ending I would probably recommend this – as there are lots of laughs

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and the ‘70s references are fun. But the last half an hour is just complete nonsense, and the special eﬀects aren’t impressive enough to justify the lack of reason behind them. Luckily there are still a million more things for Burton to remake, so I’m sure he’ll just keep trying. My guess: The Addams Family. Dark Shadows is currently screening in cinemas nationwide

XAVIER RUDD BY BELLA ARNOTT-HOARE

For lack of a more eloquent term I’ve just called Xavier Rudd “Nature Guy” – but luckily he’s suitably amused for our interview to continue through my blundering use of language. “‘Nature Guy’, huh?” he says as he stifles a laugh-snort. “I feel like a superhero. I need a cape or a theme song. That’d be pretty cool. I could eat bananas that’d give me special powers.” In what was an attempt to highlight Rudd’s robust connection to the natural world, the longtime vegetarian and activist is about to release his seventh album Spirit Bird, inspired in part by his fondness for the scenic Kimberley in Western Australia. After 12 years of touring the multi-instrumentalist has produced what he thinks is his most self-reflective album. Since 2004’s platinum Solace, with songs like Let Me Be of anthemic surf-rock persuasion, and numerous releases between, he’s turned his gaze inward with a more musically introspective collection of songs. The story of the album and its eponymous lead track will no doubt become part of the musician’s mythology though. It’s a story he’ll retell many times during this tour, but one which frames his new album as markedly spiritual. The song Spirit Bird, he says, was penned after driving along a track in the Kimberley. “I got out of the car and there was a big mob of red-tailed cockatoos behind me. We’d been in this sacred country, and usually these birds are pretty flighty, but this one bird just looked down at me and locked eyes with me for I don’t know how long. She just spoke. She was creaking and groaning, and talking to me. Didn’t take her eyes off mine. And I started to have all these visions running through my mind really fast, it was like memories - but they weren’t my memories, they were visions of times and places and things that I hadn’t seen before. I felt still.” That night he wrote out the lyrics to the first half of the song in the sand and confined the ditty to the back of his memory. It wasn’t until a few years later in Canada he aired the tune again, sitting by a fire late at night. “I just started playing that song and it poured out of me again, this whole back-end which was different. It had more of a frustrated energy. So I wrote down what I sang and I was in tears at the end. I didn’t even really understand a lot of it.” The next morning, Rudd realised the time he was inspired to write the song was around the same time police in Western Australia had moved in to claim the land at James Price Point in the Kimberley. Call it coincidence or some sort of whacky mysticism, Rudd holds out that the spirit bird written about in the song is a “messenger from Kimberley Country that’s found its way through me.” Though a funereal hush descends on the room after he relates his intense personal experience and his piercing blue eyes search the room, he’s quick to snap back to familiar, jovial territory. Chatting about the album, he says it’s a result of his life’s extremities. “It’s always fullbore [for me] whether it’s good or whether it’s bad. I guess the big lesson for me lately is balance.”

“I WROTE DOWN WHAT I SANG AND I WAS IN TEARS AT THE END. I DIDN’T EVEN REALLY UNDERSTAND A LOT OF IT.” Indeed his arrival into the music industry was greeted on the same evening with another sort of arrival. “I was 21 when I had my first kid and I played The Evelyn Hotel the night that he was born. I had my first sound check and went to the hospital, then went back to play the show that night.” And the boy who worked at a golf course during the day, writing songs on a ride-on mower, found a lot of attention came to him quite suddenly. He was able to become a full time musician and began touring Canada and the States. “I first started playing shows overseas in Canada in 2000. It was pretty fast in that everywhere I went people appreciated [the music] and then people’d come. But it was still an organic, independent process. I was selling rooms out in the States and I didn’t even have a record out. It was people taping my shows and passing them around on the internet.” Canada, in fact, is another sort of spiritual homeland for the musician. “I’ve got two kids that are half Canadian, their mum’s from Vancouver Island, and that was the initial connection. My current partner is Canadian too – I don’t know how this keeps happening,” he laughs. But because of the pace of his success, including being awarded ARIAs and other industry accolades, he’s never had much time to focus on personal growth, he says. “All this stuff has happened, good and bad, and where does that leave me? This album’s a bit like that too. It’s personal. [Song] Full Circle probably talks about that, energetically anyway. That long journey back to [where you started]. I definitely look older, feel older, but what’s going on inside?” He’s no doubt been taught a number of hard-earned lessons in his time in the spotlight but his most valuable, he says, is about our own nature. “I’m a pretty open person, I’m from a small town and getting thrown into that world whilst having kids and everything, trying to carry that as well, I’ve just learned a lot about human behaviour I think.”

XAVIER RUDD hits the road and will play The Palace Theatre on Thursday September 13, The Ferntree Gully Hotel on Friday September 14, The Pier Hotel, Frankston on Saturday September 15, Costa Hall, Geelong on Sunday September 16 and Kay Street Saloon, Traralgon on Wednesday September 19. Spirit Bird is out now through Universal. DISCUSS WHAT? BEAT.COM.AU/DISCUSSION

Beat Magazine Page 37

INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH MUSIC INDUSTRY NEWS & GOSSIP

with Christie Eliezer * Stuﬀ for this column to be emailed to <celiezer@netspace.net.au> by Friday 5pm SHOCK LAUNCHES ‘HEAVY’ LABEL Shock Records has set up Halfcut Records for punk, hardcore and heavy acts. It already has three signings. UK’s Gallows have a new album on the way. Sydney’s Heroes For Hire, currently playing Japan and China before their Aussie tour this month, have their Sept-due third album produced by Steve Klein of New Found Glory. Metal band While She Sleeps from Sheffield, UK, have the This Is The Six album out on August 3, and tour here for the first time with House Vs. Hurricane. Halfcut Records is the brainchild of Stu Harvey (senior international label manager), of whom Shock’s GM of Music, Leigh Gruppetta says “is the best in his field, bar none, so we couldn’t be more excited about the long term future of Halfcut for the business.” He adds, “The punk and heavy music genres are certainly an area we have excelled of late so we believe the time is right to give these bands their own home.”

COTTLE, JPY, NAMED IN QUEEN’S HONOURS LIST APRA/AMCOS CEO Brett Cottle and singer John Paul Young were among those honoured in the Queen’s Honours List. Cottle became a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his contribution to songwriters and publishers as well as charities as Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy. John Paul Young got a Medal (OAM) as did Adelaide radio broadcaster Tony Pilkington and country music performers Lewis Mackereth and Mary Schneider. The highest accolade, the Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) went to Rolf Harris, Melbourne arts administrator Paul Clarkson (one time director of Arts Victoria and key person at the Melbourne International Arts Festival and Port Fairy Spring Music Festival) and former CEO of the Arts Council Jennifer Bott.

3CR RADIOTHON TARGETS $21K 3CR Radiothon (June 4 to 17) targets $21,000 to cover operating costs. For 36 years it has offered a socioeconomic and political alternative to corporate media, with 130 programs in 20 languages covering environmental, women’s, indigenous, ethnic, union and, music. Donate at 3cr.org.au, phone 03 9419 8377 or send a cheque or money order payable to ‘Community Radio Federation Ltd’ PO Box 1277 Collingwood 3066.

BEATLES BIGGEST SELLING SINGLE IN UK The Beatles are the biggest selling singles act in the UK since charts began in 1952, reports the Official Charts Company. They’ve had 17 #1 singles. At #2 is Elvis Presley, followed by Cliff Richard, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Elton John, Queen, Abba, David Bowie, Rihanna, Paul McCartney, Kylie Minogue, Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart and Take That at #15.

NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR THE DEADLYS Nominations are open for the indigenous Deadlys awards, held September 25 at the Sydney Opera House. Now in their 18th year they cover music, sport, entertainment and community achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through 26 categories. Nominations close June 30. Finalists announced on July 23. A new category is added this year, the Marcia Langton Award for Lifetime Achievement in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Leadership. Online nominations at vibe.com.au.

MANNINGHAM COMMUNITY JAM The Manningham Community Jam is on Sunday September 16 (11am to 2pm) at MC² (Manningham City Square) Community Open Day to celebrate the opening of the MC². It is a large-scale massed music event with the public, local musicians and families coming together to create an original piece of music under musician Gillian Howell. All instruments, all ages, all levels of ability. Four free workshops will be held in the week before to help create the music. But those who don’t attend the workshops can still take part in the Jam. All workshops will take place at the MC² Manningham City Square- Manningham Art Studios, Dance Studio, Level 2, 687 Doncaster Rd, Doncaster. To

60 SECONDS WITH… RENAE BRENNEN So then, what’s the band name and what do you ‘do’ in the band? I’m a solo artist, my name’s Renae Brennen, I’m a Melbourne singer/songwriter and I play the acoustic guitar. What do you think people will say you sound like? Vocally I’ve been compared as a mix between Tracy Chapman and Toni Childs, which all in all I’m not unhappy about – I love both of those artists a lot. What do you love about making music? I love that essentially there are no rules to making music, there are theories and books about it but music at the core, is about heart and trying to get that “heart” to cross over in live performance or recording is what I live for. If you could travel back in time and show one of your musical heroes your stuff, who would it be and why? It would have to be Joni Mitchell, I love her style of Beat Magazine Page 38

register your interest, or for more information email events@manningham.vic.gov.au or 9840 9304 Closing date for Expressions of Interest is Friday July 27.

THINGS WE HEAR *Johnny Depp joined The Black Keys at the MTV Movie Awards to play guitar on Gold On The Ceiling. Also at the awards, host Russell Brand thanked Kim Kardashian and her 72-day marriage for making his one-year nuptials to Katy Perry look long-lived. * Foo Fighters' Taylor Hawkins will play Iggy Pop in the movie CBGB about the famous New York punk club … Wu Tang Clan will play themselves in the Ol’ Dirty Bastard biopic, Dirty White Boy, but GZA is not be appearing in it. * The Route 66 store in Prahran’s Grattan Street, which focused on all things rockabilly, has closed. Its owner Ross Waddington died last October of cancer. Route 66 also hosted in-store gigs, the most memorable being Reverend Horton Heat & Paladin who after their gig hung out for hours after signing autographs and drinking with patrons. * Guns N’Roses banned fans wearing Slash T-shirts from their UK gigs. * One Direction will next year film a 3D movie that could make them £10 million each. It’s not decided if it will be a Monkees-type sitcom or a doco with concert footage. (Justin Bieber’s Never Say Never made £60 million at the box office). The band’s Louis Tomlinson has forked out £2.5 million house in North London – with four living areas and spa area for buddies when he throws parties, and five bathrooms so they have plenty of places to be sick in. * Fresh from Metallica planning to stage their own Orion Music Festival, Slipknot have their own festival Knotfest in August. Aside from Deftones, Lamb Of God, Deathlok, Serj Tankian, The Urge and Cannibal Corpse, it’ll have circus tops, pillars of fire, burlesque performers and firebreathers. * Gotye has stayed at #1 on the US charts for the eighth week while Rihanna just landed her 22nd Top 10 hit in America. * Sydney-based Stop Start/EMI have signed Brisbane’s Millions. * LA’s The Melvins are attempting to break a Guinness World Record for the fastest tour of the US Starting in Anchorage, Alaska, on September 5, they will attempt to perform in all 50 states in 51 days, finishing October 25 in Honolulu.

NEW SIGNING #1: OH MERCY LAND U.S. DEAL EMI Music Australia act Oh Mercy have landed a US deal with new indie Bad Cop Bad Cop. It was a long courtship, with the deal finalised in March at SxSW although it was only announced last week. Bad Cop Bad Cop boss Michael Nieves said, “We have long admired their fantastic music, and (songwriter) Alexander (Gow) and the band have written and recorded their strongest and most infectious songs to date. Oh Mercy is a career artist, and we are thrilled to be partnering with them on the release of Deep Heat”. Deep Heat is their third album and due for release here on August 24. “I was trying to think of what title I would give to an ‘80s dub compilation,” Gow says. The album is not ‘80s dub, although there’s more groove on it. It was recorded in Portland, Oregon with producer Burke Reid.

NEW SIGNING #2: JOE MATERA SECURES UK MANAGEMENT Melbourne guitarist and songwriter Joe Matera signed with UK management company FMSG (Firebrand Management Group) to look after his career in the UK and Europe. “I’ve been a fan of Joe’s work for a long time,” says director Rick Palin. Matera’s new solo instrumental album Creature Of Habit comes out in Europe in September, and a tour kicks off in Linz, Austria on Sept. 22. See firebrandmgmt.co.uk.

NEW SIGNINGS #3: UNIVERSAL PUBLISHING DO ASTON SHUFFLE Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) signed Canberra/Sydney based electronic duo, The Aston Shuffle, to an exclusive, world-wide music publishing agreement. They signed a record deal with EMI this March.

NEW SIGNINGS #4: URTHBOY, PYKE, JOIN ALBERTS Hip hopper Urthboy (aka Tim Levinson) and Josh Pyke have assigned their publishing to Alberts. Urthboy’s deal also covers his three solo albums and the five released by The Herd. The global deal with Pyke is for all future work.

LAUNCH PAD #1: REGENCY FILM DISTRIBUTION Shock Records’ parent company Regency Entertainment has launched Regency Film Distribution to bring “engaging and unique films” to screen in Australia and NZ. It will be headed by Ivan Vukusic (Walt Disney Studios, Umbrella Entertainment, Festival Records). First out are sci fi epic Love and documentaries Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir and Anton Corbin Inside Out.

LAUNCH PAD #2: AVOCA DRIVE Avoca Drive is a new label partnership from Andrew Jackson (Milton Archer management) and Claire Collins (Bossy Music). First release The Face EP by new UK production duo Disclosure is #4 on iTunes’ electronica chart.

LAUNCH PAD #3: DOWN THE HIGHWAY Down The Highway (downthehighway.com.au) is a logistics and touring services company set up to help artist managers, promoters and booking agents. They’ll do everything from booking flights and accommodations to renting vans to organising catering, crew and equipment. It is set up by Sophie Kirov who worked for festival companies and more recently with The Cat Empire team. She’s at sophie@ downthehighway.com.au.

MISSY DAZZLES INTO ELITE CIRCLE Missy Higgins joins an elite circle with her third album The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle debuting at #1 on this week’s ARIA chart. Ten Australian female solo performers hit No.1 but Higgins joins Olivia Newton-John, Kylie Minogue and Delta Goodrem with three No.1 albums. Kasey Chambers has four.

VENUES #1: ARTHOUSE CREW LAUNCHING LIBERTY HOTEL Melanie and Matthew Bodiam, who ran punk mecca The Arthouse, have a new venue. They’ve taken a six year lease on the Exchange Hotel Footscray (cnr Napier and Whitehall) and rebranded it as The Liberty Hotel. It sees them team up with Arthouse booker Adam Simpson. There are two bandrooms – one for 300, the other 200. A teaser video doesn’t give too much away, but it will host Poison City Weekender events on September 16 with The Smith Street Band, Jamie Hay, Jen Buxton, Paper Arms, Let Me Down Jungleman, Outsiders, Milhouse, Lincoln Le Fevre and Run Squirrel.

VENUES #2: THE THORNBURY LAUNCHES REGULAR FORUMS To help foster the creative arts in the Darebin area, Thornbury Theatre (859 High St), is holding a regular series where creative types can hear interesting speakers and network. The first is at 7pm on Thursday June 14, with Vanessa Pigrum of the Darebin Council’s Arts, Culture And Venues talking about the Darebin Music Feast and other opportunities for the arts in the municipality.

VENUES #3: NIGHTCLUB LOCKOUT FOR GEELONG? Police told the Geelong Advertiser they plan to discuss introducing nightclub lockouts in Geelong’s city centre to combat rising late night violence. Club owners protest that they have brought in safety measures and that a lockout would destroy their businesses. Sgt. Shane Connolly told the paper that clubbers who “pre-fuelled” before arriving in the city add to 5% of the violence.

VENUES #4: LIGHTHOUSE GETS FLOODED 580 people watching the Divine Divas at the recently relaunched Lighthouse Theatre in Warrnambool had to

story telling and melodic deconstructions to fit the story. Her art still inspires me and I continue to learn from songs I’ve heard hundreds of times. What can a punter expect from your live show? That once I see the crowd in front of me, I’ll know what I’m doing that night. My energy on stage is very much drawn from the faces in the crowd. I look at them and try and get a sense of where they want the music to go… sometimes it will be an intimate sit down show of songs that evoke emotion and understanding. Other times it will be about dancing, drinking and sing-a-longs, I love both! What’ve you got to sell CD-wise? I have an EP called Telling Secrets, it has five original tracks on it that I’m super proud of and came from a time of change for me in my personal life that is now time stamped by these songs. When’s the gig and with who? The gig is at The Elwood Lounge, Friday June 15 and Friday 22 at 9pm both weeks, I’ll be heading up on June 15 but the following week I will have a very good friend of mine, and amazing musician Duncan Yardley, joining me on violin.

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LIFELINES Ill: Melbourne singer songwriter Darryl Cotton, 62, (Zoot in the ‘60s, currently with Cotton (Jim) Keays and (Russell) Morris, has liver cancer. Ill: Sheryl Crow who battled cancer some years back, revealed she has a benign brain tumour. Ill: Foreigner keyboardist Michael Bluestein has bowed out of their upcoming US after being diagnosed with colon cancer. Ill: Pink, while in hospital for stomach flu, was operated on for something more serious when doctors realised they had to remove her gallbladder. Recovered: Jon Stevens of Noiseworks is out of hospital: he checked himself in when he lost feeling in one arm, and discovered it was pneumonia. Hurt: Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine hit on the head by a stone thrown by angry punters at Croatia’s Metalfast after rumours that WASP cancelled their set after an argument between Mustaine and Blackie Lawless. In Court: U2 bassist Adam Clayton’s ex-personal assistant Carol Hawkins pleaded not guilty to nicking £300,000 from his bank accounts over four years. Arrested: a French model over the theft of $200,000 worth of jewellery from Axl Rose during an after-party following the Gunners’ Paris show. Died: Melbourne bluegrass fiddle player Justin PriceRees, 37. A three-time National Fiddle Champion in Tamworth, he won his first title at 15. He went on to play with Hardrive, Murphy’s Law, Sundowner, Southern Exposure, Rough Cut and RCB From 2002 – 2008, he moved to America and played in the band Dread Clampitt. Died: three-time Grammy winner and U.S. engineer George Marino, lung cancer. He mastered classics as Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions, John & Yoko’s Double Fantasy and Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite For Destruction. Died: Herb Reed, 83, founder of 1950s US vocal group The Platters (The Great Pretender, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, My Prayer, Only You). Died: Bob Welch, one time Fleetwood Mac guitarist, 66, of a self inflicted gunshot wound in his home in Nashville. A failed spinal operation was going to leave him an invalid. Died: Dennis St. John, cancer. He was Neil Diamond’s music director and drummed on 50 recordings including Diamond’s Hot August Night, Bellamy Brothers’ Let Your Love Flow and Linda Rondstadt’s Desperado. beat a hasty retreat. A fire sprinkler activated, showering the first five or six rows and damaging the carpets. When the shower began, some people clapped thinking it was part of the show.

GOOD WORKS #1: THE HI-FI HOSTS ROCK FOR RECLINK The Hi Fi (Swanston St) is on Saturday June 30 hosting Rock For Reclink to raise funds for Reclink Australia to provide arts and sporting events to enhance the lives of disadvantaged people. Playing: The Blackeyed Susans Trio, Dave Larkin Band, Davey Lane, Jess Ribeiro & The Bone Collectors, Kim Salmon, Leena, Matt Sonic & The High Times, and The Ronson Hangup.

GOOD WORKS #2: AMNESTY EVENT, PETITION Amnesty International Australia wants to keep the world’s weapons out of the wrong hands. It holds an event today (Wednesday June 13) from 8am to 2pm in Federation Square. In a few weeks world leaders meet at the UN to negotiate a global Arms Trade Treaty. Amnesty is campaigning for a strong Treaty which puts human rights at its core. Amnesty ambassador Natalie Pa’apa’a of Blue King Brown will do a live set and launch Amnesty’s innovative and interactive digital petition app to collect 1,500 signatures (representing the 1,500 people killed everyday from armed violence) on iPads through the day.

HIGH RATINGS FOR QUEEN’S JUBILEE CONCERT The five-and-a-half hour telecast Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Concert scored high ratings in Australia and Britain. An average of 1.12 million Australian metro viewers tuned in to Nine Network to see Paul McCartney, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Kylie Minogue, Grace Jones, Gurrumul and will. i. am among others. It was the sixth highest rating program of the night said OzTam. In Britain, the BBC1 telecast drew an average of 14.7 million viewers and 17 million at its peak, making it the highest rating program of the year in Britain.

THE BAMBOOS BY TOM VARIAN

Melbourne-based funk, blues, lounge, whatever-you-want-to-name-it, nine-piece band The Bamboos have never been one to shy away from shifting through genres or a collaboration with a guest vocalist. Their latest release, Medicine Man, holds that tradition strong with vocalists as varied as Tim Rogers, Aloe Blacc and Megan Washington lending their pipes to the band and a sound that changes from track to track. “When you look at the track list of this record and see that it’s featuring this guy and this guy – I guess I worry that it’ll come across that I told my manager to get me these people, but it’s really not a case of that. Every song and collaboration has had its own little evolution,” comments Lance Ferguson, guitarist, bandleader and brain trust of the band. One early hit from the album is the brilliantly blues-y I Got Burned, featuring You Am I’s Tim Rogers singing a soulful falsetto. Lance sheds some light on how that collaboration came about. “I met Tim when I was playing guitar for Megan Washington on a Big Day Out tour and we hit it oﬀ. We talked about doing some sort of collaboration but at that time I didn’t feel like I had the right song for him.” Lance continues, “I Got Burned materialised about three quarters of the way through recording Medicine Man, when I felt like it was missing something. I wrote it fairly quickly, basically one night between studio sessions, and as soon as it rolled out I felt this was the right song for Timmy. I played everything at home then brought it in to the studio and John Castle (co-producer) thought it was all great so we just redid the drums and I called up Tim and he came down and did it.” Lance adds laughing, “His voice is great, it’s like some kind of fucked up fusion of Curtis Mayﬁeld, The

Stones and Tom Waits.” American funk and soul singer Aloe Blacc also lent his talent to the cause, adding silky smooth vocals over tune Where Does The Time Go?, a track that would sound at home on any Aloe album. “The first time I worked with Aloe was on my first solo album, with Quantic as well, and that was very much an online-based collaboration,” remarks Lance. “But ultimately I like to work with someone in the studio because you can obviously give immediate specific details and make changes quickly. So I was lucky to get Aloe in the studio this time when he was here touring but then the instrumental aspects of that track sort of evolved and changed later.” But of course, laying down tracks in a studio and then touring the songs are two separate beasts. With regular lead singer Kylie Auldist taking the main brunt of the vocal work live, Lance reveals some of the challenges of adapting songs for the live show. “One of the great logistical nightmares of involving a bunch of high profile guests on an album is that it’s not as if Aloe Blacc is going to join The Bamboos for a year,” chuckles Lance. “So we have to look at the album and think what the best way to present them live is. Kylie Auldist has really done a great job of making some of these songs her own on stage; I

“ONE OF THE GREAT LOGISTICAL NIGHTMARES OF INVOLVING A BUNCH OF HIGH PROFILE GUESTS ON AN ALBUM IS THAT IT’S NOT AS IF ALOE BLACC IS GOING TO JOIN THE BAMBOOS FOR A YEAR.”

really appreciate and admire what she’s done. We’ve actually enlisted a new member, Ella Thompson who has some tracks on Medicine Man, and she’ll be covering that other vocal spectrum, away from Kylie’s sound. My management won’t let me really talk about it, but there will be some special guests on the tour. Unfortunately I’ve got to be mysterious about that!” adds Lance, with a well bitten tongue. Ten years down and ﬁve LPs cut, do The Bamboos have another ten in them? “The life cycle of a band is a weird thing, but as long as I’m inspired to do it I don’t see why we won’t. The main aspiration for me is to make each

album diﬀerent and be a progression musically or develop things production wise. Also, I can’t really do anything else so I have no choice!” Lance adds with a smile that beams down the phone. THE BAMBOOS have sold out their show at The Corner Hotel this Saturday June 16, but fear not lovers of smooth funk. Due to demand, a second show has been added for Sunday June 17. Medicine Man is out now via Inertia.

“By tUrNs sWeEt aNd sAlTy, qUiRkY aNd dIrTy, TaKe tHiS WaLtZ iS a dEcEpTiVeLy cAnDy-cOlOuReD eXiStEnTiAlIsT rOm-cOm – wHiCh iS tO sAy tHeRe iS nOtHiNg qUiTe lIkE iT.” The Village Voice

“DeLiCaTe, bEaUtIfUl aNd pOwErFuL.” Hitﬁx

IN CINEMAS THURSDAY JUNE 14

NOVA CINEMAS, VILLAGE RIVOLI, KINO, PALACE COMO & PALACE BRIGHTON BAY DISCUSS WHAT? BEAT.COM.AU/DISCUSSION

Beat Magazine Page 39

LIL’ BAND O’ GOLD

BY NILS HAY

It’s hard to talk about music in Louisiana, or even rock’n’roll more generally, without mentioning Fats Domino. With most of their lineup hailing from his home state, swamp pop supergroup Lil’ Band O’ Gold don’t understate the influence he has had on their music. With the release of their star-studded record of covers, Lil’ Band O’ Gold Play Fats, singer and guitarist CC Adcock opens up about The Fat Man. “The music that we play is called swamp pop,” Adcock begins, “and swamp pop is really just Fats Domino’s music. Before the world found out about Fats – just like Elvis Presley – Fats was playing clubs and high school dances and drive-in theatres here in the Deep South, especially Louisiana. People like (drummer) Warren Storm grew up listening to Fats long before the world did, in the early ‘50s. (Saxophonist) Dickie Landry grew up here listening to Fats at this little club out the back of his family farm; of course it was a black joint, and he was 12, but he’d sneak out at night and go and hang out and listen to it.” Even though Fats was already in his early 40s when Adcock was born, his sense of melody and the loping feel of his music have well and truly rubbed oﬀ. “The thing about Fats,” he recalls, “is that I think early on I realised that Fats is a great equaliser; you could

listen to Fats with your grandmother and your parents – even if it was some cheap trick version of Fats Domino, everyone would know it’s a great tune and everyone in the car would be like, ‘Turn that up.’” Testament to this is the guest list on the new Band O’ Gold record, with Lucinda Williams, Ani DiFranco and Robert Plant all making contributions. “He’s an amazing cat,” says Adcock of the Led Zep frontman. “He’s got such wonderment about music and discovering new forms of music, new collaborations – he’ll try anything. It’s amazing. Given his stage and the cannon he was shot out of, it’s hard to believe he could be still so wide-eyed about trying new things and making new music.” Jimmy Barnes and Tim Rogers both make appearances as well, and while he’s coy about conﬁrming anything, the invitation is certainly wide open for both to

join the octet on stage for their forthcoming Sydney and Melbourne shows. “And when Cold Chisel plays the Lafayette, we’ll make a big gumbo and give it out at the show,” he jokes. “Cold Chisel. Hot Gumbo.” As famous as the south might be for the blues, the biggest lesson Adcock took from playing with The Fat Man himself was the smile. “For a kid that grew up in my generation, rock’n’roll, music had evolved from the ‘50s,” he explains. “Elvis set everybody down a small path, which was cool, but I never saw Kurt Cobain smile.” He pauses, “Maybe that ain’t what his music was about, but I tell you what, it might’ve helped the old boy. It would have. It not only makes you sing better when you smile, it makes everybody around you feel good.”

And as much as it’s not all about Domino, with the band still planning to record some more original material and keep on touring, it still very much is; Adcock reveals plans to continue expanding their Fats catalogue and working on a few more collaborations in the process. “I don’t think Fats is going to do it anymore, I can’t see him doing any more shows” he admits. “But we’d be happy to be a substitute so people can get their ﬁx.” Lil’ Band O’ Gold Play Fats is out now on Dust Devil Music/EMI. LIL’ BAND O’ GOLD play The Regal Ballroom on Wednesday June 27 and Thursday June 28, plus The Espy Gershwin Room on Friday June 29.

everybody goes through. Even though at the start I’d thought I’d write ‘confessional’ songs, I realised that they weren’t that confessional. I see people singing along with Going Missing in their masses on a nightly basis. I still think, ‘How did that happen?!’ It can only be because people go through the same things.” The National Health sees Smith broaden his horizons, the title track in particular drawing upon both a personal and political unease. “The narrator [in the song] goes down to the council and gets into a bit of a tizz,” Smith chuckles, scratching the surface of the song’s concerns. “It’s semihumorous, but that kind of happens all the time, where you’re in an institution and you’re feeling really frustrated with the powers that be and the way that people act in places like that. You could be in the job centre or whatever and you’re thinking, ‘I’m not scum and yet you treat me like scum!’. I’ve experienced that plenty of times in my life, enough to put that frustration into a song. It becomes about a broader

thing, especially in the times that we live in, in our country. But the ﬁrst line is, ‘England is ill and it is not alone’. It’s about other places. Western democracy and its economic models are being questioned for the ﬁrst time in a long time.” Smith expounds upon the album’s general direction, casting The National Health as optimistic against the odds. “I think that the record for me is about light at the end of the tunnel and being positive in the face of negative things that happen on a daily basis.” The all-too-brief interview comes to a close, the last-gasp matter of another Australian tour inevitably surfacing. In spite of an apparent gagging order, Smith does his best to let the tiniest of tidbits slip. “I’m absolutely not allowed to talk about it,” he laments, “but we would like to come back and there are plans afoot.”

In the past, Stone has talked about how different instruments inspire her songs – she might pick up an unfamiliar guitar and, when playing around with it, suddenly find the roots of an all-new song taking hold. She continues to find inspiration this way, the title track of the new album being a perfect example: on her last Australian tour with brother Angus, one of the players in their backing band brought a mandolin on the road with her. Stone’s interest was immediately aroused – she’d never written songs with one before, and she wanted to find out more. “The nature of the mandolin, the size of it, makes it very easy to travel with, so we’d always have it in the car with us while we were travelling between shows,” she says. “We were all really excited to have this new instrument to play with while we were driving around the country – it was our first big regional tour of Australia, and we got to play lots of places like Bunbury and Townsville, so we were seeing all these amazing landscapes on the drive. “I’d just been through this crazy love affair, I had this fresh experience of By The Horns happening, and then I had the mandolin. It’s a combination of things like that that make a

song happen,” she continues. “The voicing of the mandolin is diﬀerent from the guitar. I learned a couple of chords, a couple of ways to make sounds, and then I found my way around the mandolin in the boiling hot back garden of a Bunbury motel. I was sitting out there feeling sorry for myself thinking ‘it’s all so much!’ and plucking away. The chords I was hearing were ones I’d never heard on a normal guitar. I can play them on guitar now, but that mandolin really gave me the feeling of By The Horns. Even now, when I do acoustic sessions for online stuﬀ or whatever, I always bring a mandolin with me to play By The Horns. I feel like it always brings the sound of that song.”

MAXIMO PARK

BY NICK MASON

Celebrated post-punk revivalists Maximo Park have returned at long last with a new release in tow. With The National Health set to go global this week, frontman Paul Smith can’t wait to gauge a general consensus on the album. “I just want to make sure that people get a blast of it and see what they think!” he gushes. “That’s the attitude I’ve got at the moment: I’m a country preacher who goes from town to town and says ‘Hey, check this out! Spread the word!’” Fans can expect a few familiar Maximo Park hallmarks to feature throughout the new record. According to Smith, the band’s expertise not only remains intact, but honed, even, in the name of The National Health. “We wanted to make a record that was very direct. Every record is a response to the last one. You look back at the other things that you’ve done and you try and make something that shows you’ve learned from your mistakes, that showcases your strengths,” he muses. “To be direct and to be full of hooks and kind of positive - that’s what we believe the band to be. We have to question, ‘What is Maximo Park? What are we doing?’ One of the things that rang true is that we make pop music. That’s one of the things we do when we’re together. Outside of that, we all have quite diﬀerent tastes and interests, but when we’re together, that’s one of the things that happens.” Evenings with the wireless proved a huge catalyst in Smith’s musical awakening, his adolescence an exploration of pop music’s splendours. “I’ve always been really bewitched by the power of pop music – hearing a song on the radio for three minutes, whether it’s daytime radio or a more specialist show that’s on an evening. I used to spend my evenings after doing my homework or whatever listening to the radio, becoming obsessed with bands like Stereolab or Tindersticks

or Cocteau Twins... stuff that was coming through on the late night radio wave. It did change my life and it made my life better and improved my life when I was listening to these songs,” he recalls. “Even something like The Smiths... I first heard The Smiths on daytime radio and I thought, ‘Wow, this doesn’t sound like Duran Duran! This is a bit different to Bon Jovi!’ This doesn’t mean that they’re not good, either.” “You learn that there’s an alternative pop universe. You go back and listen to Big Star and, further back, you hear these trashy rock’n’roll songs and you become obsessed with this idea of thinking about life in three minutes and revealing something new about the same old emotions we’ve been having for centuries and centuries.” Smith himself has carved a career out of a superb lyrical prowess, the frontman a gifted wordsmith. His penchant for the personal, too, resonates throughout Maximo Park’s catalogue at large, his approach adored by fans. According to Smith, it was after an extensive bout of trial and error that he found his niche as a writer. “I wrote so many different kinds of songs and the only ones that made sense to me and felt real and honest were the ones that kind of reflected the turmoil in my own life – the kind of daily turmoil you feel when you’re just living your life, things that I suppose

The National Health is out this Friday June 15 through Cooperative Music.

JULIA STONE

BY ALASDAIR DUNCAN

When it comes to love, your teens are a whole different country from your 20s. Your perceptions shift, old ideas fall by the wayside and your heart finds ways to fix itself after being broken for the first time. These ideas have been on Julia Stone’s mind lately, and her shifting perception of love colours many of the songs on her new solo album, By The Horns. The catalyst for the songs was Stone’s break-up with her longterm partner, drummer Mitch Connelly, and her attempts to come to terms with the feelings that followed. “A lot of the songs on this record come from the belief in my heart, from being a 16-year-old girl to a 24-year-old woman, that this was the person I was going to marry and settle down and have a family with,” she tells me. “I had all those ideas about how the relationship would play out, and it was tough letting it go, especially since Mitch and I had grown up together and been friends for so long.” These emotional bruises show on songs like It’s All Okay and Let’s Forget, written as Stone tried to make sense of it all. “When that relationship ended, there was a really weird period of time touring without him and getting used to single life, which was a whole new thing,” she tells me. “You make plans and you think that love looks a certain way, or at least I did… My grandparents married really young, and I had this idea in my head that love would look the same way for me. It took time to realise that you can’t control things like love, you can’t just put it in a frame and put it on the wall – it doesn’t feel the way you think it’s going to feel. I guess that was the feeling that inspired a lot of this album; the trials and tribulations of growing up and falling in love with diﬀerent people and developing diﬀerent ideas about love, whether it’s a romantic love, a love between families or a love between Beat Magazine Page 40

friends. It’s an idea that really preoccupies me.” Stone finds many of these songs difficult to perform – though not for the reason you might expect. She’s at peace with the emotional content, but the arrangements on By The Horns, bigger than any she’s worked with before, have pushed her voice in all new ways. “It’s All Okay is one of the first songs I’ve written with such a strong drumbeat,” she tells me. “I’m quite a soft singer and I’ve never had to struggle to hear my voice before, but that song has such a strong drumbeat on the chorus, such a strong piano part, that suddenly I’m faced with that challenge. On this tour, that’s been one of the songs here I’ve really had to tell myself, ‘Focus, Julia!’ As that song goes on, I do start to feel the emotion of it, particularly in the choruses. I do sometimes come offstage feeling a little twisted after singing lyrics like that.”

DISCUSS WHAT? BEAT.COM.AU/DISCUSSION

By The Horns is out now through Picture Show Records. JULIA STONE plays the sold-out Splendour In The Grass at Belongil Fields, Byron Bay, between Friday July 27 and Sunday July 29. She also plays The Forum Theatre on Friday September 7. Tickets are on sale this Friday June 15.

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Beat Magazine Page 41

KING CANNONS BY JOSHUA KLOKE

Luke Yeoward is happy to be home. Not just because he’s able to enjoy the simple comforts of said home after recently returning from an intense tour of Germany, but because the idea of comfort altogether has been a long time coming for Yeoward. “I’m just at my home in Melbourne, which is nice,” admits the vocalist/guitarist of locals King Cannons, “but it’s unusual.” As the leader of the soul-infused punk rockers, Yeoward takes every opportunity to soak up his new surroundings. He speaks in an affable tone, and reflects on the tour of Germany as something of a turning point for the rollicking six-piece. “We were playing to sold out rooms every night, cruising in a big sleeper van every night. It was fucking amazing,” he says in earnest. Yeoward admits that the intensity and openness of the crowd certainly didn’t hurt. “They’re just keen; they’re up for it. They’re not too cool to have a good time. They’re not there to display their latest wardrobe or be seen. All the crowds were there to hear the music and be part of it.” With the release of The Brightest Light, their debut fulllength, Yeoward has managed to put something into the world that he hopes fans can indeed be a part of; after a disturbing upbringing, The Brightest Light sees Yeoward coming clean and coming to terms with his demons, and with a pretty uplifting soundtrack to boot. “It’s been a long time coming,” he says with a long sigh. Yeoward quit school at the age of 13 and took a job with his father at the mill. Yet punk music provided Yeoward with an outlet. Pressed on how strong ideas of redemption litter The Brightest Light, Yeoward opens up further. “I spent all of my teenage years angry and messed up. I was a punk and I just didn’t give a fuck. I hated everybody around me; the only thing I wanted to do was drink and do drugs and be an arsehole to everyone around me. But eventually, you realise you need to change. And when I did change, King Cannons was a result of that change. [The band] had been working at for almost five years now. I was in a good place in

my life; I’d gotten married, found a little house in Melbourne and there were tons of opportunities coming my way. Being in that positive spot after years and years of shit allowed me to tell the stories of my past. For the first record, I wanted to wear my heart on my sleeve so that people would know who I was and who we are as a band. That ended up being the theme of the record. “I had to get it all off my chest,” he continues. “Now I’ve got all these other avenues to travel down, in terms of songwriting. But for this first one, it was take it or leave it.” While ‘take it or leave it’ can be a polarising position to take, Yeoward believes he’s played his chips well. A remarkably assured debut, King Cannons’ invigorating mix of punk aesthetics and soulful harmonies is akin to other such rousing contemporaries as Against Me! and The Hold Steady. It’s much to raise your fists to. And while Yeoward is proud of his work on The Brightest Light, he admits that involving himself with that kind of introspection and self-realisation that was necessary to write the record wasn’t always smooth sailing. “Sitting in a room alone writing for a few months, you figure out some pretty interesting stuff about yourself,” he says. “Most of the songs that made it on the record left me pretty surprised while I was writing them. It’s something that I really believe in though, because you’ve got to have the truth in soul.” Truthful as it may be, how did the other five members of King Cannons feel about associating themselves with such an outwardly extroverted approach? “We’re all really good mates and they’re keen to tell me if I’m barking up the wrong tree. With the five years we’ve been together, we’ve had a lot of time to grow.” Though the members of King Cannons had run in the same

circles for some time, it was a chance meeting at a screening of The Future Is Unwritten, the Joe Strummer documentary that made the future of King Cannons very clear. And it’s fitting, considering how intense an influence The Clash has had on both Yeoward and the overall approach of King Cannons. “That film came out around the same time I was going through some changes,” says Yeoward. “Meeting those guys at the film – though I’d known them for awhile before seeing them at the cinema – it was like the spirit of Joe Strummer was speaking to me, saying, ‘Yes, what you’re doing is correct!’ And seeing them, with all of us being at the same point in our lives, it felt right. We saw that something positive could come out of it.” Yeoward and King Cannons continue to see themselves as the underdogs, an attitude that he’s incredibly comfortable with. The band has had to fight for nearly everything they’ve been given, and their resolve can be heard in spades on The Brightest Light. But being a band that relies so heavily on the live experience as part of their approach, Yeoward admits there were difficulties when attempting to capture their live sound on record. “It’s one of those things that you learn through trial and error. We’re very much a live band, because the music we make isn’t reinventing a genre or anything. It’s not brain surgery. It’s soul music, it’s rock’n’roll. And it has to be played with 110 per cent passion and conviction otherwise it won’t translate.

When we go into a recording studio, we have to set up together in the same room, look each other in the eyes and believe in what we’re doing. You’ve got to be your heart into things if you want results. You also need an engineer that can capture that sound. We’ve tried a bunch of different ways in the past; we’ve laid down vocals, drums, all of it at different times, but it just ends up sounding like a stale piece of shit. We want something with some soul and some spark. I think we achieved it; I’m too close to tell right now.” With The Brightest Light set for release, Yeoward knows the only option he has is to share the music of King Cannons. He’ll be sharing his story too, one song at a time. And then, with the help of crowds everywhere, Yeoward will find true happiness. “We’ve got a bunch of album launch shows coming up. And we’d like to get to some of the smaller towns in Australia as well. “We always get excited by walking through neighbourhoods that are a little harder. Where I’m from, we had to drive three hours to see any live music. People in those towns, they approach it with a lot of enthusiasm. They work hard and they’re there to have a good time.”

chuckles. “The only thing with it though, it has eight strings. That’s where I pay for it really. Sometimes it’s really hard when you’re trying to tune on a really noisy stage. But it’s so little too, it takes up no room. When we get on a plane everyone’s got to really loosen up [their] strings, because of the temperature change. But I just put my mando straight in the overhead. That’s my carry-on luggage.” Solo duties are shared between the mandolin, guitar and banjo, as well as singing responsibilities. “I’d say Lachy is the harmonies king,” he says. “There’re a few songs where we do three-part harmonies. I think that’s maybe one of the things that really helps the show, that it’s sort of always mixing up between who’s singing, it’s always changing. And we have a blast playing. The crowd starts getting up and dancing and we have even more fun. It always comes back to the washboard! He’s in the backline there but everyone loves him.” At the suggestion of adding some spoons in there for authenticity’s sake, Wishy begins waxing lyrical about the old hambone style. “It’s like you slap your thighs, click your ﬁngers. It’s crazy. You wouldn’t think you’d be so impressed by someone just slapping their thighs. You’d have to use some sort of knee protection,” he ponders. “Probably these hambone players have only got a certain lifespan... we wouldn’t want to wear him out too quick.” It’s pretty certain that a hambone player would bash himself to smithereens before the ﬁrst ten minutes of the show was up, as the

energy emanating from the stage and reﬂected in the crowd is palpable even when just watching footage of the guys play. The Melbourne show promises to be a typically raw exhibit, with the band set to rock the Northcote Social Club on Saturday night. That’s if they make it down without any mental fans kidnapping them. They’ve just survived a kind of weird highway ordeal, during the arduous drive from Melbourne to Manly on the day of our interview. “There was this crazy girl; she was basically veering all over the road, kind of passing us and then falling behind us. She was steering with her knees while rolling these massive joints,” Wishy says. After pulling into a servo for a quarter hour and joking that it would be downright scary if she was waiting for them when they came out, just that exact thing happened. “We ended up having to take evasive action and turning oﬀ down some country road, and getting back on the Hume a little bit further down. It was quite good because it ended up adding a little bit of drama to the trip and making time go a bit quicker.” Extra speed is something these guys are clearly not afraid of.

KING CANNONS launch The Brightest Light at The Toﬀ in Town on Thursday June 21. The album is released the next day, Friday June 22, through EMI.

QUARRY MOUNTAIN DEAD RATS BY ZOE RADAS “A squeezebox is a piano accordion,” Wishy begins to explain after I express intrigue with the Quarry Mountain Dead Rats’ debut album title, Bloodhound Killed My Squeezebox. “Before we did this album I used to play piano accordion, because I’m originally a piano player. [Banjo player] Suddsy has got this huge dog, a bloodhound: Earl. He’s named after Earl Scruggs the banjo player. I had my piano accordion sitting on the concrete ﬂoor one night. He ran into [it] and it smashed, and I didn’t have any money to buy another. Someone had a shitty old mandolin and it actually worked a lot better. So I’ve been playing that ever since... trying to get as good as I can. It’s a pretty quick learning curve, because everyone plays at a million miles an hour.” Quick time is what the boys’ fast-chopping, gravel-kicking bluegrass sound is all about. Spending this last weekend in Perisher for the Snowy Mountain festival, they will then head back to Melbourne to launch the album. It was recorded at Foggy Mountain Studios, which is part of Nash Chambers’ property in the Hunter Valley. The band were “stoked” to work with Shane Chamberlain, whom Wishy describes warmly as the “most chilled out guy ever; just totally cool.” Recording all the songs live, he says the pace was furious. “Some of the songs we did in one take; most were done in just a couple of takes. It was pretty frantic but it was fantastic to have someone so chilled as Shane working with us. It took the tension away; he was totally pro.” The band does have one previous EP release, titled The Loungeroom Sessions, and all songs from that have been re-recorded, with the addition of seven new songs. “It wasn’t even a loungeroom, it was the spare room of [guitarist] Lachy’s house,” Wishy laughs. “We had the washboard player standing out in the hallway. We didn’t have quite the equipment that we had at Shane’s house.” It’s odd that washboard player Ben Clements (“AKA ‘Johnny Washboard’”) was relegated to the corridor seeing as apparently he’s the luminary of the show when they play

live. “He used to be a punk drummer,” Wishy explains. “I’m not sure exactly how he got into washboard, [but he] does any sort of solo, and the crowd goes off.” Watching Clements play at various festival shows on YouTube, it’s alarming to anticipate his fingers just shredding away like he’s got a grater around his neck instead of an instrument. “He wears thimbles,” Wishy assures me. “He’s got thimbles for every finger and he tapes them on. So he’s totally useless once he’s in thimble-mode, you can do whatever you want to him, he’s completely helpless.” After playing with the Perch Creek Family Jug Band recently, Clements discovered that their washboard player has special gloves that he can just “chuck on”, and the Jugs almost killed themselves laughing at the thimble set-up. It’s cooler though; more DIY country styles. Wishy himself is pleased with his new instrument. The piano accordion was so heavy that he’d get back, neck and shoulder strain. “Now I’ve got this mandolin, and I pick it up and sometimes I’m not even sure the mandolin’s in the case; I have to open the case up and make sure it’s in there,” he

Q&A DANIEL CHAMPAGNE

What makes you happiest about what you’re doing? Just that it’s all I really want to do at the moment. I get to travel to all these amazing places, meet all these amazing people and never have to worry about anything other than turning up on time and playing music. What do you hate about the music industry? Nothing at all. I just think there’s so much room and freedom these days to get whatever you want out of it as long as you know what that is and keep working towards it. If you could travel back in time and show one of your musical heroes your stuﬀ, who would it be and why? Jimi Hendrix because I’d just like to shake his hand and watch him play. He was a massive inﬂuence and I think he’d be genuinely interested in what’s happened since he left. Thinking about it...maybe Robert Johnson also.

Beat Magazine Page 42

DISCUSS WHAT? BEAT.COM.AU/DISCUSSION

QUARRY MOUNTAIN DEAD RATS launch their debut record on Saturday June 16 at Northcote Social Club, with Howlin’ Steam Train, Sweet Jean and Master Gunﬁghts. Bloodhound Killed My Squeezebox is out now.

How long have you been playing, gigging and writing? I’ve been playing since I was four or ﬁve, writing since I was 14 or 15 and gigging since about then, but only full time since I left high school...about four years now. Do you have any record releases to date? What are they? Where can I get them? The 2011 album Pint Of Mystery and this year’s EP Real Live both can be tracked down at danielchampagnemusic.com. When’s the gig and with who? Saturday June 23 at the Caravan Music Club in Oakleigh. It’s my oﬃcial Real Live EP launch and there will be a few special guests on the night.

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Beat Magazine Page 43

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CORE GIG GUIDE

PUNK, SKA, HARDCORE NEWS, REVIEWS AND GOSSIP BY EMILY KELLY: EK1984@GMAIL.COM

The Amity Affliction have released details on their upcoming album, revealing that Chasing Ghosts will DESCENDENTS drop on September 14. It’s the band’s first album since Youngbloods which landed at #6 on the ARIA charts upon debut. Recorded in Florida with Michael Baskette, anticipation is rather palpable for this one especially on the back of the artwork which is pretty damn confronting. The band tweeted “our album artwork hasn’t even come out and it’s causing issues. The government won’t properly acknowledge suicide, but they’ll censor it”. The imagery, which portrays a young man who’s hung himself from a tree (rope and head aren’t visible but strongly implied), has caused a moderate stir. I’m gonna put it out there, it’s pretty fucking horrible and I’d be pretty interested to hear the powers that be justify the use of such upsetting imagery. Suicide is absolutely a topic that should be more freely discussed and dissected given how prevalent it is amongst young Australians. I’ve dealt with it, and still feel its many unending repercussions in my day-to-day life, and I’m not really stoked on constantly being subject to the image of a limp, lifeless body that they’ve submitted as artwork. Of course, going ahead with this imagery will at least prompt some debate and it’s an effective PR angle given the discussions it has sparked, but I could probably conjure half a dozen variations on the theme that wouldn’t cut so deep. Call me old fashioned.

CRUNCH!

Frenzal Rhomb have been doing quite the thorough tour of Australia of late including regional gigs in Queensland and Canberra. The band have now conﬁrmed they have plans to return to Melboune as well as visit Frankston, Jindabyne, Alice Springs and Toowoomba. Catch the Melbourne festivities at The Hi-Fi on Friday August 3 or if you’re really brave, head to Pier Live in Frankston on Saturday August 4.

Bad Religion have rather casually announced that they are currently working on a follow up to 2010’s The Dissent Of Man. Great news from a band that everyone is kinda expecting to implode at any minute to be revered in the echelons of punk rock greats for a couple years only to make a glorious and proﬁtable return in ﬁve years time. Onya BR for keeping on.

Chicago hardcore band Harms Way will join forces with Sydney’s Phantoms this winter. You can see them at Bang on July 28 or chuck an all ages mosh at the Phoenix Youth Center on July 29.

Brissy lads Nine Sons Of Dan have announced a new EP and national tour to roll out next month. See them at Revolver Upstairs on Saturday July 28 with Daylight Hours, While The City Sleeps and Have You Seen This Boy or on Sunday July 29 at underage venue, Spensers Live.

Melboune-based label UNFD has announced that they’ve added Sydney’s Hand Of Mercy to their already impressive roster. The band will release their new album Last Lights on the label on August 17. The band will unveil a ﬁrst taste of their new sound this week via their Facey page.

Chad Gilbert of New Found Glory will release a solo EP this winter, via Bridge Nine Recods. Using his solo moninker What’s Eating Gilbert, the Cheap Shots EP cops a release overseas on July 31 and has been described as “sleep ‘50s style pop with a nod to the punk sound of New Found Glory”.

Thursday June 14: Northlane, Feed Her To The Sharks, Culprits at Next Friday June 15: Graft Vs Host, Foxtrot, The Out Of Towners at IDGAFF Party Vibez, Declaration, Union Paciﬁc, Patriarchal Death Machine at The Bendigo Warbrain, Survival. Thick Skin, Reincarnation at The Gasometer Damn The Torpedoes, Uptown Ace at Victoria Hotel Empra, Octane Overdrive at Barwon Club, Geelong Thick As Blood, Taken By Force, Destined, Nicholas Cage Fighter, A Call To Anguish at Mechanics Institute, allarat Saturday June 16: Thick As Blood, Taken By Force, Crowned Kings at Bang Empra, Black Aces, Low Point at Newmarket Hotel, Bendigo Warbrain, Survival, Thick Skins, Outsiders Code at Phoenic Youth Center Jackson Firebird, River Of Snakes at The Bended Elbow, Geelong Gatherer, On Sierra at Curtin Bandroom Marching Orders, Stranglehold, Razorcut at The Bendigo Sean Callanan, Nathan Seekts, Grace Lawry at The Bendigo (3pm arvo show) Thick As Blood, Taken By Force, Crowned Kings at Bang

METAL, HEAVY ROCK, CLASSIC ROCK LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL GOOD SHIT WITH PETER HODGSON: CRUNCHCOLUMN@GMAIL.COM

GIG ALERT: THE RETURN OF CLAGG!

RUSH: CLOCKWORK ANGELS OUT NOW

Melbourne doom stalwarts Clagg return with a new lineup to destroy eardrums with their own brand of malevolent evil at the Tote on Friday June 15. Along for the hellride are Broozer (“Dark droning grooves matched with time signatures from Satan’s ballbag”) playing tunes from their upcoming album 12.4.12; three-piece Swidgen, and doom jazz maestros Agonhymn.

Australia got a four-day jump on the rest of the world in getting the new Rush album, Clockwork Angels. Have you got it yet? It’s incredible! It once again demonstrates why Neil Peart is one of the greatest drummers of all time, but Geddy Lee’s bass is the real standout this time around - it’s really up-front and punchy. Hopefully the ﬁrst-week sales numbers will be strong enough to convince someone to bring them to Australia. For the ﬁrst time ever.

FROM THE OTHER ER RS SIDE IDE OF ID O T THE HE DESERT...

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NEW FEAR FACTORY It was slightly delayed in Oz so if you’ve been looking for it, don’t freak out. But the new Fear Factory album The Industrialist should be out by the time you read this, via Riot. This one features just Dino Cazares and Burton C Bell (with producer Rhys Fulber), with Dino performing all bass parts and programming the drums, and there seems to be two reactions among fans: either they instantly love it, or they love it after three or four listens.

“EVOKES VISIONS BEASTS OF STREAKING “EVO “E V KES S VISI IONS S OF O CLUTCH AND AN ND THE TH BE EASTS O F BOURBON ST S REAKIN I G ACROSS THE NULLARBOR STOLEN A AC ROSS T RO HE NUL LLARBOR IN A ST STOL OL OLEN LEN OIL TANKER R CHASED BY BY LIGHTNING” BLUNT MAGAZINE ++++ ++ B LU LUNT UNT NT MAGAZ A INE E

ST T K IL ILDA. SUPPOR O TING NG MAMMO MO M OTH T MAMMO M TH ALBUM L AU A NC CH W TH DEAD WI D ST S AR A REN EN E N EG GA AD D DE E & SE S EDY Y JEEZUS S . 8PM. M

FITZ FI TZRO R Y. W IT I H TH T HE HE W WA A RD R DEN EN N S ((R R ET ETU UR RN S SH H OW O !) & M Y LEFT F B OO OT. 8 PM P .

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RISING WEST MAKES LIVE DEBUT Queensryche spin-off band Rising West played their two gigs over the weekend in Seattle, and by all reports (and YouTube videos) singer Todd La Torre (Crimson Glory) did a great job. The band, which features four fifths of the current Queensryche line-up, was formed so the Queensryche lads could have some fun playing the early metal stuff, which Geoff Tate doesn’t seem so into performing any more. Tate’s got a new solo album coming out soon and Queensryche still has dates booked at various points throughout the year. Drummer Scott Rockenfield said during a radio interview on the weekend, “There’s some great stuff coming down for us with Queensryche. Until we’re ready to explain what we’re doing, it’s kind of a day-to-day thing. Rising West is a way to go out, get to know Todd, do some music together with no strings attached and see what happens after the weekend. It’s a major work in progress.” Interesting.

DEF LEPPARD TRACKS ON ITUNES

‘THE HEAR EA T & THE CROW O N’ OUT NO OW O N I MP MPE M P DAN DA A CE E | WW WW WW. W THEDEVILRIDESOUT.COM.AU

Beat Magazine Page 44

Up until now, the only Def Leppard material available on iTunes has been their recent live album Mirrorball. Their back catalog isn’t on there, and singer Joe Elliott has previously mentioned the possibility of rerecording some old material so the band can get a better deal: the word is that their old label owns their old master recordings, but the band themselves own their publishing. Well, they’ve done it! The band has recorded new versions of Pour Some Sugar On Me and Rock Of Ages, and unlike most re-recordings I’ve heard by various bands, these versions are actually pretty good.

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Want a taste of Handwritten, the new album by The Gaslight Anthem? Get thee to YouTube and check out the video for 45! Handwritten is out via Universal on July 27.

KUNVUK TO HELP TASMANIAN DEVIL

SAVE

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Australian metal trio Kunvuk will donate 50 percent of all proﬁts from their second album Consume Rapture to the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program. “Devil Facial Tumour Disease threatens the existence of this incredible animal and we are putting our money where our mouth is to help save this most metal of all creatures,” the band says. “We will be donating 50% of all proﬁts from the Consume Rapture album. So when you purchase a copy of our album, either digitally or physically, you’ll be putting a good chunk of that money towards not only supporting Australian music but one of our most beloved and iconic animals.” Consume Rapture will be released this month. The album was mastered by Alan Douches at West West Side Music (Death, Swans, Mastodon, Converge, Baroness, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Clutch) in New Windsor, New York. Look for the track Hypochondriac on YouTube.

UGLY KID JOE RELEASE NEW EP Ugly Kid Joe were one of the last hard rock bands to sneak through some chart hits in the short-lived period when rock bands stopped having huge hair but before grunge killed the genre (see also: Mr. Big, Extreme). They’ve got a new EP out called Stairway To Hell. Their first release since their 1997 disbandment, it contains six tracks including Love Ain’t True, which features guest appearances by Angelo Moore and Dirty Walt of FISHBONE. A video has been released for the first track, Devil’s Paradise. The current line-up of UKJ is Whitfield Crane (vocals), Klaus Eichstadt and Dave Fortman (guitars), Cordell Crockett (bass) and Shannon Larkin (drums) - the same members who played on the band’s Menace To Sobriety and Motel California albums. Fortman has carved out a successful career as a producer, working with Slipknot, Evanescence and Godsmack, who count Shannon Larkin among their ranks. And Crane spent some time as vocalist for LIfe Of Agony.

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PUNK-A-BILLY FESTIVAL BY KRISSI WEISS

Punk. It has morphed into many forms over the decades, gaining strength with defiance and sometimes, losing validity by those that hide deceitfully under its name. (I’m looking at you, Joel Madden). But despite the argument about what punk music is or isn’t valid and true to the founding ethos, it goes beyond a genre and into a way of life that has wired differing communities together across this vast globe. Punk-A-Billy began as a one-off night of music six years ago and grew into a bi-annual event that has taken itself up and down the east coast and provided a stage for over 100 bands upon which to thrash their wares. Mik Dare is essentially the man behind the bands and as Punk-A-Billy saunters into its final curtain call, he hints at an even larger project that the Punk-A-Billy crew are planning behind closed doors. “We’ve got a great crew that have been involved with the festival over the last six years so I can’t take all the credit, but I am basically the man behind bands,” Dare explains. “[I do] everything from booking the lineup to organising the sideshows and Australian tour for the international acts. The crew from Psychosis Promotions and Knoodle back me up with advertising, keeping the show alive on the day and keeping me sane, I couldn’t do it without them.” And there enters that sense of community that keeps it all rolling. I am compelled to find out whether Dare, a man who has been immersed in the punk scene for years, has any opinions on the changing face of punk and those that I presumptuously label as “imposters”. He is too polite to cast those aspersions, though, unlike me. “I actually don’t believe I have the right to answer the question [of validity],” he says. “Everyone has their own ideals and opinions and I think it would be offensive of me to judge and typecast them. Punk is about having your say and making your own choices and who am I to say they’re wrong? “Punk has changed immensely since the ‘revolution’. It definitely still holds its relevance but it now has a lot of sub-sectors from the hardcore kids who believe in the old values of punk to the modern fashion victims jumping on

the band wagon. I think the evolution of punk music has strongly contributed to the variations but the origins of the culture still reign true and as always the culture is still stereotyped in a negative way. Which kind of shows it’s holding its own place in society just as well as it used to.” Upon asking Dare whether Punk-A-Billy always had the focus of reinforcing a sense of community, it seems that the answer is a solid ‘yes’. But why is something that is so successful, hanging up its boots? “Punk-A-Billy has always been for the bands. We, as the organisers, have never profited from it, we’ve even donated portions of the tickets sales to charity in the past so the financial aspect would never be an issue. Being a bi-annual festival, it basically means that from the moment one festival finishes we start booking the next and after six years it takes its toll, so we’ve decided to move onto a new annual project we have had planned for a while. It’s still under wraps at this stage though. I also believe the festival has achieved what we set out to do and a change is as good as a holiday.”

“OVER THE LAST SIX YEARS WE’VE HAD NUMEROUS SUGGESTIONS ON HOW WE COULD IMPROVE THINGS SO HOPEFULLY WE CAN UTILISE WHAT WE’VE LEARNED INTO THE NEW PROJECT AND GIVE THE PUNTERS AND COMMUNITIES EXACTLY WHAT THEY’RE AFTER.”

“We originally started Punk-A-Billy as means for people of all genres to come together and experience a mixed bag of music styles. Whether you’re a punk, skin, psycho, rocker or whatever takes your fancy, and over the years I think we’ve successfully achieved that as much as we could. Over the last six years we’ve had numerous suggestions on how we could improve things so hopefully we can utilise what we’ve learned into the new project and give the punters and communities exactly what they’re after.” As we discuss the idea of purist versus poser, I lighten things up by asking Dare, avid rocker, old school punk, what are his musically-based guilty pleasures? “I’m a punk myself so guilty pleasures and any kind of secrets are pretty scarce ‘cause I say it like it is,” he says. “So the guys from Rehab For Quitters and Strawberry Fist Cake (who I’m currently in the tour van with) said to mention something about the hole in the back of my guitar which can sometimes make for guilty pleasure.” Not the intention of the question but hell, it’ll give the crowd

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something to look out for next time they see Dare play. Dare has been working hard at his festival for a long time and after the final show, a well-earned rest is in order. “After the finale this weekend I’m looking forward to a week of sleep and after that it’s back to the bands. We’ve been speaking to a few international artists coming out later this year, through to mid next year. The ones I can tell you about are Evil Elvis (ex-KC & The Moonshine Band) in November and The Lucky Ones from Canada mid next year. So lots more touring and a whole lot more rock’n’roll to come!” PUNK-A-BILLY FESTIVAL GRAND FINALE PROM NIGHT graduates at The Barleycorn Hotel on Saturday June 16 from 2.30pm, with The Australian Kingswood Factory, Strawberry Fist Cake, No Idea, Rehab For Quitters and many more. Tickets are through stickytickets.com.au or Café On Albert and Broken Glass Records.

Beat Magazine Page 45

MUSIC NEWS

YOUR COMPREHENSIVE LOCAL GUIDE

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KELLIE LLOYD Kellie Lloyd, well known as the bass player in Brisbane’s Screamfeeder, is touring to promote her new solo record Magnetic North, an album of beautiful, haunting songs, pure sweet pop and dark heavy rock. Kellie’s solo work features alternate guitar tunings, melodic piano, dreamy vocals and songs inspired by PJ Harvey, Explosions In The Sky, Swervedriver, Beachhouse, Kurt Vile and Mazzy Star. Fans can expect a stripped-back dynamic wall of sound experience, with Kellie (on electric guitar) joined by Branko Cosic of Tape/Oﬀ on drums. Kellie will hit up her Melbourne launch, with supports Penny Hewson and Dead River, at The Grace Darling on Friday June 15. Presales are available via Moshtix.

SERI VIDA Having recently released the hounds on a suspecting crowd of Melbourne devotees (in the form of their seductive single The Hound), Seri Vida have left the northern quarters to roam the streets of the CBD in loud and obnoxious Friday night fashion. This time, with fellow packrats Fathoms, No Escape For The King and Constant Killer. An only child, a Cancer, a sometimes moody, otherwise confessional Seri Vida has been throwing tantrums on stages across Melbourne since fronting The Pang in 2009. The singer/songwriter has since moved on to more personal projects, dissecting her musical persona to discover a sound and soul uniquely her own. With plans to release her debut LP To Be Free late this July, now is the time to witness her artistic talents in their aggressively seductive prime. There will be howling, full moon or new moon. It doesn’t really matter. Check it out at Pony on Friday June 15, doors at 9pm.

THE CACTUS CHANNEL Mondays in June get your groove on as The Cactus Channel excite the dance ﬂoor at The Evelyn with some high-octane car chase funk, and smooth soundtrack soul to move you unnecessarily! With some of Melbourne’s ﬁnest funk and soul DJs dropping knowledge in between, you know some dapper times are going to be had, and best of all, it’s free. These uni holidays, there is really no excuse not to let your hair down, and get down. Doors open at 8.30pm. Roll on!

THE ELLIOTTS Tassie twins The Elliotts are set to bring their blend of indie pop rock to the Cherry Bar this Friday June 15. Catch the duo in all their glory as they’re supported by The Happy Endings and The Wells this Friday, doors at 5pm, action kicks oﬀ at 8pm.

CAST IRON PINATA Catchy funk-infused rockers, Cast Iron Pinata are making the trip down the highway to bring their infectious tunes to Cherry Bar for a show this Saturday June 16. Their single On My Knees has been making the rounds for a while now and has garnered the band plenty of buzz. Catch the Geelong band as they’re supported by Deadstar Renegade and Advocates at Cherry Bar this Saturday.

VAN MYER Wednesdays in June sees the return of Van Myer to The Evelyn, a venue that has become something of an ancestral home for the five-piece Melbourne outfit. They’ll be bringing their own unique blend of high energy rock, with awesome local acts featured each week and maybe a new song or two. It all kicks off at The Ev, come early and come happy!

DOUBLEBLACK Week two of the Doubleblack, Cherry Bar residency comes to life this Wednesday June 13 and if week one is anything to go by, this is where you’ll be drinking away your mid-week blues. Free entry and $4 Jagermeister is sure to sweeten the deal. Need more of a push? Riﬀ dogs The Vendettas will be kicking the night oﬀ. Rock away the cold at Cherry Bar tonight.

CHERRY JAM – OPEN MIKE MONDAYS The always poppin’ Cherry Bar wants to support the Melbourne music scene. They think bands will beneﬁt from playing on the same stage that has hosted The Black Keys, The New York Dolls, Mark Lanegan, The Tea Party and already showcases over 550 diﬀerent booked locals acts a year. They supply the back line, the mixer and the famous stage. You and your band plug in and play. 6.30pm to 11.30pm every Monday. Get involved. Beat Magazine Page 46

PATRIARCHAL DEATH MACHINE

MIKELANGELO

Patriarchal Death Machine are coming over from Adelaide to play politically charged hardcore and tell greengrocer jokes at The Bendigo Hotel on Friday June 15, with local cruising thrashers Party Vibez, who are hot as hell after releasing their new opus. The Union Paciﬁc bring their catchy punk choruses and Declaration bring their hell fast hardcore. All in all, a pretty rad night one would say.

Mikelangelo returns to The Old Bar on Wednesdays this month, to perform four of his favourite albums by monumental artists that shaped his ears as a lad. Each week he will tackle a different album and will be joined by different guests on this epic undertaking. This Wednesday June 13 he will cover Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds’ Your Funeral My Trial with the help of Julitha Ryan. Kicks off at 8:30pm, $7 entry.

WAY OUT/YUMCHA FUNDRAISER

BJORN BORD

Head to The Bendigo Hotel beer garden this Saturday June 16 at 3pm for a fundraiser, with entry at just $5. All proceeds will go towards two organisations known as Wayout and YUMCHA. Both groups are located in rural areas of Victoria and are set up to support rural based youth who are same sex attracted, or gender questioning. They set out to run workshops, and oﬀer counselling so youth are presented with opportunities to engage with peers in a positive environment where they are able to freely express their sexuality, talk about their rights and responsibilities, and seek validation and support around issues that impact on them such as the eﬀects of homophobia. They also run community campaigns to raise awareness about homophobia.

MARCHING ORDERS Head down to The Bendigo Hotel on Saturday June 16, for a night of awesome street punk. Celebrate the release of Marching Order’s 7” Songs Of Yesterday, alongside Stranglehold and RazorCut. To keep the night interesting, DJs, Mr and Mrs Smith, will play some pretty awesome tunes before and in between sets. The il Gobbo kitchen is open, too.

SKYSCRAPER STAN Skyscraper Stan writes songs, ﬁltering the musical landscape of the Southern United States through his jingle jangle guitar. The Commission Flats are Skyscraper Stan’s rock’n’roll machine, laying down the rhythms and searing riﬀs that make this band the kind of live experience you write home to mum about. After wrapping up their Sunday residency at The Old Bar, Skyscraper Stan And The Commission Flats have been peddling their troubadourcome-swamp-rock’n’roll around Melbourne, adding musicians to the line up whenever it seems appropriate. You can see them live and in person this Thursday the June 14 at The Tote with Matt Sonic, Holy Trash and I/O.

BAKERSFIELD GLEE CLUB Including members from bands such as of Redfish Bluegrass, Red Hot Poker Dots and Maurice Frawley’s Yardhands, Bakersfield Glee Club play a dynamite hand of traditional country. A masterful combination of fiddle, pedal steel guitar, telecaster, rich harmonies and rhythm brings these old sounds back to life. Bakersfield Glee Club play The Retreat Hotel this Sunday June 17 from 4pm. Free entry.

Stop everything – in parallel bands since the late ‘90s, the duo known as Someone Else’s Wedding Band keep themselves rather inclusive. Bass player Naf doubles up with percussive hockey pucks as drums as singer Jason accompanies with ukulele. Their musical inﬂuences range from Tom Waits to Sonic Youth to Weezer and back again. This broad spectrum inﬂuences their more many varied covers – folk inspired to heavy delay riddled instrumental originals. Check these lads out, brace for unexpected. They play at The Bendigo Hotel tonight with up-andcoming rockers Bravo Juliet and Sweet Teens.

Melbourne three-piece band Wicked City will rock The Old Bar on Friday June 15. Supported by She’s The Band (SA), Bodies and Woe (SA), the night kicks oﬀ at 8.30pm, is only 10 bucks, and DJ’s Longdong & Onion will keep you partying into the wee hours.

MARY ORCHER

MISS NICHOLLS

Staﬀan, Swede songwriter from local pop-quintet Francolin, will be playing a heap of brand new songs and a selection of oldies every Sunday in June in the Grace Darling Cellar. Joining him each week, for rare solo and duo performances, are talented friends from Tehachapi, Seagull, Planet Love Sound, Kid Sam and more. Sunday, 5pm, 5 bucks, be there.

SOMEONE ELSE’S WEDDING BAND

WICKED CITY

Hailing all the way from Berlin, Mary Orcher has made her way to Melbourne to play a set at The Old Bar on Tuesday June 19. Get on down early, to see Water Music do their thang, and it’s free, so you have no excuse not to. Kicks oﬀ at 8pm.

STAFFAN’S SONGS

Blake from The Peep Tempel will be playing songs from his not to be recorded side project, Bjorn Bord. For three nights only, exclusive to The Old Bar, he will be celebrating the recent end to his 20s by singing about how fruitless and generally fucked they were. No better way to cheer yourself up on a cold Monday night. Joining him will be the lovely Ali E. Get in early, missed opportunity is a terrible thing. Every Monday night in June, 8pm, and it’s free.

As a lead up to the release of their upcoming EP Here We Stand, Miss Nicholls have been building as much excitement as they can before the release on Wednesday July 4, with their high energy, upbeat and catchy set. Supported by the three big musically ﬂawless bands currently on the Melbourne music scene, Spykite, Too Soon and Temple, Thursday June 14 at The Bendigo Hotel is sure to be a party you do not want to miss.

HUDSON ARC Don’t miss Hudson Arc as they perform their own special blend of climactic string-laden pop at The Grace Darling Hotel on Saturday June 30. Using diverse and broad brushstrokes in their arrangements, one moment they journey through beguiling lilting sounds that create a peaceful, reﬂective atmosphere and the next, a bloodpumping crescendo that makes you remember you are alive. It’s evident this four-piece from Newcastle are classically trained musicians who like thinking outside the square in their compositions. Support is from The Hazelman Brothers and Gabe Lynch. Entry $10.

THE LOVETONES The Lovetones bring to you yet another psychedelic rock masterpiece, with the release of their new album Provenance – Collected Works. They will play a very special show to launch the album, which contains 17 songs and a live DVD compiled from their ﬁve studio albums (2002-2012). With special guests Immigrant Union (feat. Brent DeBoer from the Dandy Warhols) and Field Trip, Saturday June 23 is when it is all happening. And where? The Workers Club. Be there.

RECLINK COMMUNITY CUP That one day in, uh, June that we like to remember is back in full force this year, with the much-loved Reclink Community Cup returning to Elsternwick after a cameo visit in Sydney earlier in the year. Just as last year’s theme was the dark prince Nick Cave, this year’s motif will be that of The Cramps. Each band performing on the day will slot a Cramps track into their setlist – those bands being none other than Boomgates, reformed ‘80s punks Blue Ruin, and Bunny Monroe. Oh, and of course there will be the main event – the mighty Megahertz will try to regain the title of reigning champions from the Rockdogs. The 2012 Reclink Community Cup takes place Sunday June 24 at Elsternwick Park. WATCH INTERVIEWS, CHATS & AWKWARD SILENCES... BEAT.COM.AU/TV

CHRIS WALK

RUSSELS’S

CHICKEN

Move your hands, move your lips, move your head and shake your hips! Chris Russell’s Chicken Walk bring their two man Juke Joint party to The Retreat every Wednesday in June. No Sweet Home Chicago, no Dust My Broom, Chicken Walk play blues as if it were pulled straight from the heart of modern day Mississippi. Support from Claude Hay who will be kicking things oﬀ in the front bar from 8.30pm.

THE VENDETTAS It has been a busy time for The Vendettas since the release of their debut album Burn last year, the ﬁvepiece frequently hitting the local scene with some notable gigs at The Retreat, Cherry Bar, the Gershwin room (Espy) and The Palace (House Of Rock) while pushing their national proﬁle playing in Adelaide and Tasmania. With the upcoming show at Yah Yah’s this Friday June 15, The Vendettas return to their stomping ground of Smith St where it all started, bringing Idle Hands and Damn That River along for the ride. Free entry for all to enjoy the rockness.

HOUSE OF ROCK House Of Rock is moving to Inﬂation Nightclub, situated at 60 King St, Melbourne. They kick oﬀ on Saturday June 23 at 10pm, celebrating all of your favourite rockin’ tunes over two levels with all of the House Of Rock DJs you’ve no doubt grown to love over the year. Cheap drinks and giveaways all night long. Look out Melbourne, House Of Rock is beinging the rock to King St.

GOODBYEMOTEL Goodbyemotel are stepping boldly into the 3D spot light. On the afternoon of Sunday June 24, at Northcote Social Club, you will be given a pair of 3D glasses on arrival to then stand back and watch the band perform live with their 3D music and video spectacular. Pretty good way to spend a wintery Sunday arvo in Melbourne. Doors open at 2pm, so get in early.

SIMON WRIGHT BAND Whether it’s a dimly lit room in a small Fitzroy bar, a packed house at Byron Bay’s Beach Hotel or on main stage at a weekend festival in Victoria’s countryside, Simon Wright never fails to ﬁll the room with his presence. With an old beaten guitar, a charismatic stage persona and a song writing style that calls on the ﬂavours of blues, funk, soul, hip hop, reggae and rock’n’roll, Simon is able to entertain all branches of today’s pop subcultures. He plays The Evelyn on Tuesdays in June with some of Melbourne’s freshest funk soul and hip hop acts.

NEW EMPIRE Before setting oﬀ to the US with the Vans Warped tour later in July, New Empire will embark on their own headline tour, a series of intimate, acoustic shows that will showcase their material to perfection. They’ll hit Melbourne at The Toﬀ In Town on Sunday June 17 at 7pm. Tickets are $15+bf from Moshtix.

MUSIC NEWS

YOUR COMPREHENSIVE LOCAL GUIDE

For all the latest news check out beat.com.au

GEORGE HYDE AND JOSHUA SEYMOUR Get your biscuits in the oven and your buns in the bed, it’s George Hyde and Joshua Seymour at The Victoria Hotel on Sunday June 17. It’s a little bit country, a little bit folk, a little bit slow (that’s George), a little bit sad and some just plain little (that’s Josh, but fear not, he has a big heart). Zoe Marston provides the support from 5pm and she sounds as good as she looks. The evening is free and kicks oﬀ at 5pm. Yum-o!

ALBERT SALT Albert Salt continues his residency at The Toﬀ In Town this Tuesday June 19, having just released his new single Positive, a more up-beat reworking of his unique blend of rhythmic rock and electronic music. Albert’s unique and intoxicating music always promises a night of musical revelation, refreshment, and an excitement, which will captivate you and hold its place in your memory. With the addition of local bands supporting, this is going to play a big role in the developing Melbourne music scene. It’s $10 at the door, and kicks oﬀ at 8.30pm.

JAREK Melbourne instrumentalists Jarek are set to launch much anticipated sophomore album, Tree Of The Seas at The Evelyn on Thursday June 14. After some big support shows over the past six months including Laura, Sleepmakeswaves and Tangled Thoughts of leaving, Jarek will play their own headline show to celebrate the release of their second full length achievement. With supports Nice Boy Tom and Skippys Brain, the night starts at 9pm.

THE LOST SUNNIES The Lost Sunnies have taken up a Wednesday night monthly residency at The Tote Hotel this June. Catch them tonight, along with support from Chev Rise and another special guest. Doors open from 8pm.

THE KILLJOYS The Killjoys are playing a two-set spectacular in a rare full band show on Sunday June 17 at the Retreat Hotel. The six-piece stalwarts of Melbourne’s melodic pop scene will be playing songs from their new critically acclaimed album PEARL as well as a selection of material from their 24 year career. The evening kicks oﬀ at 7pm, and the best part? Entry is free, baby.

THE AUDREYS To mark the release of their most recent album Collected, The Audreys will play an intimate show at The Toﬀ on Saturday June 16, that will see Taasha and Tristan playing songs oﬀ all three of their albums, plus some new material. Collected is a unique package containing their three ARIA winning albums along with a rare collection of demos, b-sides, live tracks and videos. Tickets are on sale now for $25+bf through Moshtix, or are $30 on the door. Doors open at 8pm.

WOLF & CUB Two years since the release of their acclaimed second album Science And Sorcery, Adelaide’s Wolf & Cub are back with a cracking double A-side single, featuring See The Light and All Through The Night. With their smooth bass lines and catchy melodies, Wolf & Cub will play a set at The Toﬀ In Town on Thursday June 14. If you’re into swampy swaggers and swaying guitar tones grab a ticket from Moshtix for $20+bf.

GATHERER Gatherer’s set at The Curtin Bandroom this Saturday June 16, will feature their new album, So Be It, that has been two years in the making. Capturing the band at their most potent, the tracks ﬂow seamlessly from the moment the intro track International Getaway calmly rolls through its vintage inspired piano lines, and cascades into the resounding power the band are rightfully known for. The Curtin Bandroom this Saturday June 16, don’t miss it.

SASKWATCH Cherry Bar have been supporting the phenomenal nine-piece soul act that is Saskwatch for well over two years, and has now announced a special June residency for the band. The rest of the world is fast catching up on the most exciting band in Australia at the moment, so don’t miss out on the chance to see this fantastic nine-piece strut their stuﬀ. Thursday June 14, at Cherry Bar.

THE VAUDEVILLE SMASH The Vaudeville Smash make a welcome return to the Evelyn on Saturday June 16. After taking some time oﬀ to record their long awaited debut album, which has consumed every waking hour, The Vaudeville Smash have come up for air and a handful of gigs before the launch and national tour in September this year. Supporting them on the night will be indie darlings, Daydream Arcade and up-and-comers, Mansion, Alaska. 9pm.

PUNK-A-BILLY After 16 events across three states and playing host to over 100 bands from around the world, the PunkA-Billy Festival is set to go out with a bang for the Grand Finale Prom Night. Punk-A-Billy are proud to announce their ﬁnal ‘best of’ lineup, as decided by an online public vote. Local acts ripping it up one last time are The Australian Kingswood Factory, No Idea, Strawberry Fist Cake, The Half Pints, Dixon Cider, The Murderballs, Where’s Grover and the long awaited reunion of Punch The Clown. Tripping down the coast from NSW are Topnovil and Casino Rumblers, along with Queenslanders The Flangipanis, Myrtle Place and Jodie Flange. Finally, with thanks to the Aussie crowd who cast their vote; Canadian rockers Rehab For Quitters return to Australia to headline the festival. So get your mo-hawks upright and your quiﬀ’s slick one last time and head down to The Barleycorn Hotel from 2.30pm on Saturday June 16 to celebrate the end of an era.

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Beat Magazine Page 47

MUSIC NEWS

EIGHT MILES HIGH

YOUR COMPREHENSIVE LOCAL GUIDE

For all the latest news check out beat.com.au

LOURDES Lourdes take to the Evelyn for the ﬁrst time on Sunday June 17, bringing their own special brand of heady, driving, melodic pop jams. Along for the ride are Kite Club, returning from an extended hiatus with an all new line-up and a new collection of soaring, blissed out tunes. Rounding out the line-up is Lands, warping your eardrums with psychedelic lunacy. $8 on the door. 8.30pm. Bring your friends, bring your mum.

JACK DONNE With a deft approach to lyricism Jack Donne’s voice cuts with every rasping word. Howling over the top of simple little songs that reﬂect the dark essence of his lyricism, Jack is set to play an intimate show at Richmond’s Great Britain Hotel. Along for the ride is Jack Mitchell, an emerging Blues and Roots artist new to the Melbourne music scene. Playing a solo acoustic set, he showcases an original and engaging talent as a lyricist and devoted guitarist. Catch the two Jacks on Thursday June 14 at The Great Britain from 8pm. Free entry.

CHRIS WILSON Chris Wilson has been an essential part of the Aussie blues and rock music scene since taking the stage with the Sole Twisters over 20 years ago. By the end of the ‘80s, after Stints with Harum Scarum and Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls, Chris was renowned as one of our ﬁnest vocalists, harmonica players and songwriters. Chris Wilson and his band will perform two very special sets at The Retreat Hotel this Friday June 15 from 9.30pm. Entry is free.

Out of the ashes of Melbourne’s best kept secret The Sand Pebbles, welcome The Riding Hood. Playing their debut show at Bar Open, Chris, Mal, Tor and Wes will present a night of reinvention. The Riding Hood. Hypnotic. Kinetic. Freewheeling. Tor Larsen plays a rare solo set as support. Tor is best known for his time as The Sand Pebbles’ eccentric guitarist and co-lead vocalist, as well as fronting cosmic trippers The Sun Blindness. Opening your portal is Lucy Jean Roleﬀ. The Riding Hood. Buy the ticket. Take the ride. Bar Open, tonight.

Glaciers are stepping out. It began with two school friends playing their guitars in bedrooms and garages across Melbourne, taking cues from the crisp sounds of The Radio Dept. and Deerhunter. Years later, they’ve have emerged as a fresh four-piece, and have built a quiet buzz with a set of reverberating demos built around bright, echoing guitars and melodic bass lines. With blogs drawing parallels to the likes of Wild Nothing and Girls Names. Catch ‘em at Pony, Thursday June 14, 1am. Free entry!

Join our crazy Street Gypsies GOYIM on Sunday June 17 from 8pm at Richmond’s Great Britain Hotel. Bringing a fresh new take to Gypsy and Klezmer tunes from across Europe and New York, creating an infectious high energy street sound found among the Gypsies. See Paul on the slap double bass and Esther on the ﬁddle with her jingly gypsy bells strapped to her skirt. Esther’s intricate and frantic rhythms on the ﬁddle create a sense of urgency while making full use of the catchy melodies and tones. It’s free as too!

Yunyu (former triple j unearthed winner) has teamed up with New York Times #1 Best Selling Manga Artist Queenie Chan to create a twisted adult storytime. Merging live music with cutting edge technology, this innovative show will be brought to you by Yunyu, her six-piece band, live VJ and designer Imogen Ross. It’s at Revolver on Friday June 22.

Ships Piano’s noisy brand of scrappy pop-rock has scored them supports for Kelley Stoltz, Wavves, British India and Future of the Left. After a very successful Tote residency in April Ships Piano they are hungry for more! Come down and witness the brattish spectacle when they play at the Great Britain on Saturday June 16. They’ll be joined by their heavy, dreamy, alt rock friends Phantom Agents. The fun is from 9pm and it’s a freebie.

Melbourne-based folk/blues chanteuse Liz Stringer is set to take to the road celebrating the release of her much anticipated CD Warm In The Darkness with a bigger band and a much bigger sound, providing a natural progression from her previous releases to date. She plays the Caravan Music Club on Friday June 22.

TUESDAY

3-7PM F $4$9GROLSCH ROAST 5-10PM

$4 GROLSCH 3-7PM $12 STEAK 5-10PM

YUNYU

LIZ STRINGER

GOYIM

MONDAY

Playing tracks from their brand new record Cock Rockin’ Jackson Firebird will be making ears bleed and brains melt at the Retreat Hotel this Thursday June 13. Entry is free and support comes from special guests River Of Snakes. Come on down and help the guys kick this little Cock Rocker into gear. 9pm start.

SHIPS PIANO

THE RISING HOOD

GLACIERS

JACKSON FIREBIRD

WEDNESDAY

$4 GROLSCH 3-7PM, $9 BURGER 5-10PM

OPEN MIC NIGHT EVERY WEDNESDAY

REGISTRATION AT 7.30PM, MUSIC STARTS AT 8PM $50 VOUCHER FOR BEST ARTIST

THURSDAY

$4 GROLSCH 3-7PM, $12 PARMA 5-10PM

14TH JUNE FROM 8-10PM

FRIDAY

ALEX AND MICHAEL

SUNDAY

DANIEL MARCH

SATURDAY

$10 BLOODY MARY 10AM -4PM $8 SINGHA LONGNECKS 10AM - 7PM 16TH JUNE FROM 9-11PM

$5 CORONA 3-8PM $5 JAGER SHOTS 5-10PM $5 AGWA SHOTS 5-10PM $5 TEQUILA BLU SHOTS 5-10PM $5 PIZZA 5-10PM

$10 BLOODY MARY 10AM - 4PM $8 CARLTON, MELBOURNE, VB LONGNECKS 10AM -7PM $20 BOTTLE OF HOUSE WINES 10AM -7PM

RENAE BRENNEN

TURTLE & FOX

15TH JUNE FROM 9-11PM

Beat Magazine Page 48

17TH JUNE FROM 6:30-8:30PM

WATCH INTERVIEWS, CHATS & AWKWARD SILENCES... BEAT.COM.AU/TV

Alien Lane Management are delighted to present the inaugural Melbourne instalment of the Eight Miles High mini-festival, a celebration of psychedelic, ‘60s, surf, shoegaze and garage pop. Once again they’ve carefully selected bands that they love that are doing something great. The stellar lineup includes The Demon Parade, Sister Jane, Lowtide, Buried Feather and Flyying Colours. Make sure you get there early. Tickets are on sale now from Moshtix for $20, and are strictly limited. Saturday June 16, put it in your diaries.

RIVER OF SNAKES Recently, River Of Snakes went into Head Gap studios to record another distorted/happy 7”. Tracked and mixed in a 12 hour frenzy of liquorice bullets, M&Ms, gin, beer and hot noodles, Drink came out thumping like a fuchsia nightmare – snarling and biting like a sick-monkey on dexies. Their cover of Bikini Kill’s Rebel Girl is dirty, sharp and cheap, like an angry Amazon hymn with a fuzz-machine/guntoxic beat. The 7” will be out in late July/early August, but until then, they have a scored a national tour supporting Jackson Firebird who play The Retreat every Thursday in June. Get your dose of scuzz-rock before you grow old waiting.

CHEETSTREET This Friday sees Cheetstreet debuting at the Brunswick Hotel. Coming oﬀ the back of some well received highenergy shows and a place in Rage’s top 50 clips of 2011, the night promises plenty of ass shaking alternative rock moments with some stunning visuals. If you like your rock equal parts primal and cerebral, then you’ll enjoy what Cheetstreet are laying down. Catch them at the Brunswick Hotel on Friday June 15 – free entry!

SHAUN KIRK Following the success of his six month national launch tour of his chart-topping debut full-length album, Thank You For Giving Me The Blues, Shaun Kirk hits the open road once again with two big shows in Melbourne to celebrate the release of the album’s second single Drug Got A Hold Onto You and unveiling of his maiden ﬁlm clip. Shaun’s trademark style of boogie blues and soul is a live experience like no other. Surrounded by a stomp box, tambourine, high hat, cymbal, kick and snare drum, Shaun’s ﬂair for playing six percussive sounds with his feet, whilst delivering quality guitar and blues-harmonica performances, is undeniably impressive! See him on Saturday June 16 at Ruby’s Lounge, Belgrave and the Northcote Social Club on Sunday June 24.

ANGRY MULES

LACHLAN BRYAN

What do a ﬁnance manager, a student and a pensioner have in common? An aﬁcionado claims that they are “more patient, sure-footed, hardy and long-lived than horses, and they are considered less obstinate, faster, and more intelligent than donkeys.” Thanks, Wikipedia! It is the sheer endurance (not talking about pantyhose) and anger that is manifested through the style-free Angry Mules. After a short break, Angry Mules return to the infamous 2am slot at Pony and they are angrier, more sinister and brooding than ever. You should join the cult – it happens at Pony on Friday June 15.

You may have heard about Melbourne singer-songwriter Lachlan Bryan of late. Perhaps you heard his name when he opened for music legends Steve Earle or John Hiatt, or when he supported UK outﬁt Ahab, or maybe you’ve caught his music on radio in recent months. On the back of stand-out performances at Bluesfest and Tamworth Festivals in 2012 and a really impressive collection of glowing reviews for both his live shows and his album, Lachlan Bryan is taking the opportunity to head out on his own tour and to oﬃcially launch his debut album Shadow Of The Gun and celebrate the release of the second single from the album, Going Straight. He launches it at The Workers Club on Thursday June 14.

CLOWNS After a successful south-east Asian tour back in February, Clowns will be headlining Pony before they hit the road again on their tour of NSW in July. The Magic Bones play rock’n’roll with a varied array of influences and styles subtly coming out in their set. No one song fits a genre, but any one sound they make could be psych rock, pop, American country rock, garage and plenty more. One thing is for sure, it is most definitely rock and roll! Charm are a three-piece rock band and have been kicking around the venues of Melbourne since December 2009, and since then have played over 50 shows around town. They have been working hard in the studio and are hoping to release an EP in the latter part of the year. Melbourne based trio Thrasher Jynx are known for playing loud grungy tunes packed with hard hitting drum beats, wicked basslines, fat distorted guitar riffs and growling powerful vocals that leave a lasting impact on their sweat-drenched audiences. If you like grungy screams and lots of distortion get down to one of these girls’ shows and throw your body round to their sound. Saturday June 16, doors at 9pm.

THE 86 The 86 is the newest venue to open north of the river and it boasts an entertainment calendar like no other. The 86 stages cabaret shows that include everything from burlesque to drag and even Opera. There are two more nights of Free Improv Comedy by the performing group Exploding Heads Impro on June 14 and July 12 and from August this will run weekly on Monday evenings. Sunday evenings will take on a chilled vibe with live jazz played in the lounge aided by $3 wines. The newest addition to their live performances is the commencement of Acoustics Anonymous, an open mic night running every Wednesday evening from 8pm. There is a chance to take home $300 so get in there quick. Get down to The 86 at 185 Smith St. Open from 4pm Tuesday to Sunday.

THE NAYSAYERS The Naysayers have been around the traps for a couple of years and are busy making a name for themselves in the local scene with their slick rockabilly punk sound. Based in Carlton, The Naysayers are deﬁnitely one to watch with a reputation for a good fun show. Second up is St. Kilda act Honey Smack - formed just last year literally on a stage in St. Kilda. After a few jams together, they’ve played a few impressive venues while taking their blues/punk/rock sound to a wide audience. These guys kick out live, so come down and ﬁnd out! Headlining is The Black Hills, a local band with one full-length album already out. Their sound can be likened to early Blur with just a touch of Sex Pistols swagger. Pony, Thursday June 14. Doors 8.30pm.

THE RED LIGHTS After a solid start to 2012, supporting names like Hunting Grounds, Set Sail and Drunk Mums, The Red Lights are ready to pack their bags & hit the road courtesy of their debut EP Not In This Town. Embracing all the positive feedback from singles In A Daze and Dancing With Us, the boys are heading back to the beloved Evelyn on Friday June 21 for one of four EP launch shows across the East Coast. Supported by some gnarly Melbourne acts including bros The Neighbourhood Youth, The Corsairs and Tully On Tully, you best bring your 3D glasses and jumbo sized popcorn – you will not be going anywhere!

MUSIC NEWS

YOUR COMPREHENSIVE LOCAL GUIDE

For all the latest news check out beat.com.au

THE TOOT TOOT TOOTS It’s that time of year again. The weather is getting colder, the Unicorns are on the ﬁeld and The Toot Toot Toots are back at The Old Bar for their third annual June Sunday Residency. After successfully launching their latest opus at The Hi-Fi, they return to their favourite watering hole to make Sundays in winter worth leaving the house. It’s gonna be an epic run of Sundays. Support is coming from The Murlocs, Ali E and DJ George Hyde. It’s an 8pm start this Sunday June 17, and get down early ‘cause they will sell out every damn show. $10 on the door.

ROCK FOR RECLINK

DAMN THE TORPEDOES

BEE MASK

An all-star stellar cast has been assembled for Rock For Reclink which is to be held on Saturday June 30 at The Hi-Fi to celebrate the Reclink Community Cup week, and features some of the best names on the scene. Performing on the evening at Rock For Reclink will be The Blackeyed Susans Trio, Dave Larkin Band, Davey Lane, Jess Ribeiro & The Bone Collectors, Kim Salmon, Leena, Matt Sonic & The High Times, and The Ronson Hangup. Tickets are $35 plus booking fee and available now via Moshtix.

Damn The Torpedoes and Uptown Ace join forces for a night of rollicking rock action at The Vic. With the number of gigs under their collective belts numbering approximately 7 billion, these guys know how to put on a show, and they want you to have as much fun as they’re having. Damn The Torpedoes are a thinking man’s rock band - their wild punk rock sounds have been likened to Hot Snakes and The Bronx. Uptown Ace channel classic songwriters and rock and roll anthems, from Tom Petty to Hot Water Music to Husker Du. Both bands are preparing to head into the studio shortly, so now’s your chance to hear all their brand new hits in their purest form. The Victoria Hotel, Friday June 15 with free entry.

Bee Mask – Clevland USA’s Chris Madak – announces his ﬁrst appearance on Australian shores this June, playing The Gasometer on Sunday June 17. Developing a range of hand-made electronic devices, Bee Mask has been able to create a sound that is entirely his own. It’s through instruments that he has been able to grow such an otherworldly sound – an audio vision of a possible future, or a parallel universe in which the very nature of sound, space and time is bent, re-arranged and re-composed with utterly absorbing results. Brisbane label Room 40 releases Bee Mask’s fourth full-length in July – a 12” titled Vaporware/Sacanops.

VULGARGRAD Russian criminal hoodlums VulgarGrad last played in Australia 11 months ago at a sold-out show at the Northcote Social Club. Gravelly-voiced, Polish-born frontman Jacek Koman has been spending more time in jail and house arrest in Poland these days than in Australia, although other sources say he’s a bigshot TV actor over there, but how can such a fearsome man be so beloved by a Polish TV audience? In any case, VulgarGrad has been playing more often in Europe lately, and have recently returned from playing in Germany, Poland, Denmark and The Netherlands. They’ll be launching their new 7” Limonchiki at the NSC on Thursday June 14, an old Jewish gangster song from Odessa about stealing, drinking, and loving your mother. VulgarGrad will be aided and abetted on the night by the light-ﬁngered Tek Tek Ensemble, the handsome Croatian rock’n’roll thug, Mikelangelo and DJ Russian Disco.

SAM LAWRENCE With eclectic support from James Daley and indie folk-noir band, Manny Fox Hangman’s Club, Sam Lawrence presents the launch of his album Casi over two Wednesdays in June. Special guests, singer/dancer Tina Stefanou and cellist Vince Ward accompany Sam in bringing some of his 2008 Casi recordings back to life as well as performing, with vocal and body improvisation, an original range of collaborative work. Head to The Toﬀ In Town tonight to see the ﬁnal installment of these shows. Doors open from 7.30pm, with tickets $15 on the door, or $25 for the album as well.

WEXFORD Wexford is the solo project created by Melbourne based Singer-songwriter Tom Carty. It is a project that has a resounding pop appeal which incorporates an eclectic mix of all Tom’s favourite musical ﬂavours. With full band in tow, Wexford is set to release his debut single Took My Breath at The Prince Bandroom on Friday June 22. Doors at 8:30.

LOWER PLENTY After selling out the smallest venue in Melbourne for their album launch and, much to the band’s surprise, landing Triple R’s album of the week, Lower Plenty return to Bar Open this Thursday June 14. Comprising members of The UV Race, Total Control and Deaf Wish, Lower Plenty are not the band you’d expect from their lineage. They rollick where their former counterparts ravaged; representing less the sweaty mass of bodies at a UV Race gig and more the late winter afternoon you slept through to the day after. Lower Plenty play seminal miner-rock classics at Bar Open accompanied by BOSOM and Jealous Husband.

JACOB S. HARRIS & THE DISAPPOINTMENTS Jacob S. Harris And The Disappointments will be hosting an evening at The Old Bar on Thursday June 14 to celebrate the release of their debut self-titled EP. The formation of the trio in 2011 marked the end of a musical hiatus for band members Jacob S. Harris, Glen Ivers and Richie Valentino. Since then they have been working steadily on an ever-expanding catalogue of glum (yet somehow uplifting) numbers. After 12 months of recording, rerecording and procrastinating, they have ﬁnally produced something worthy of the name ‘The Disappointments’. On the night, expect to be regaled with themes of joy and woe – from idyllic clover-topped mountains to vile beasts of the moors – all augmented with plucked guitars and trumpets. Local boys Microﬂora and Nathan Hollywood will join them for an evening of song-singing and general merriment.

THE DEVIL RIDES OUT It’s been almost two years since monstrous West Australian sludge rockers The Devil Rides Out last hauled arse across the Nullarbor to Melbourne in support of the release of their debut album on Impedance Records, The Heart & The Crown. Since then, the band have kept themselves busy destroying Doomsday Festival in Sydney, holding their own alongside Dead Meadow, Fu Manchu and Black Cobra in Perth, while writing new material for their next recording, planned for a late 2012 release. Finally, this June they return to Melbourne for a run of shows set to illustrate why they are regarded as one of the ﬁercest live heavy rock acts in the country. Don’t miss this rare chance to catch The Devil Rides Out in action this Saturday night in the 2am late show at Pony with local newcomers Them Bruins. Pony, Saturday June 16 and also earlier on the same night at The Old Bar supported by The Wardens and My Left Boot. Doors are at 8.30pm and entry is $10.

BALACLAVA HOTEL 123 Carlisle Street, St Kilda East VIC 3183, Ph: (03) 9531 2709 www.facebook.com/BalaclavaHotel, Twitter: @BalaclavaHotel

FRI 15TH JUNE

FRI 22ND JUNE

FRI 29TH JUNE

9PM

RACHEL BY THE STREAM

BROOKE TAYLOR

NICO FORTE

10PM

SARA EIDA

LILLIS

10PM

BENNY WALKER DRINK SPECIALS FRIDAY NIGHTS: 4pm – 10pm $5 Coronas, $5 Kopparberg Cider Bottles, $8 Cocktails, $8 Mountain Goat Pints MONDAY NIGHTS: 5pm – 9pm $12 Mountain Goat Jugs TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY: 5pm – 9pm $6 Mountain Goat Pints

FOOD SPECIALS MONDAY:$12 Curry Night. TUESDAY:$12 Parmas and Burgers. WEDNESDAY: $15 Steak Night THURSDAY: $12 Parmas and Burgers. SUNDAY:$12 Roast of the Day

CHECK OUT ALL THE LATEST NEWS, REVIEWS AND FREE SHIT AT BEAT.COM.AU

Beat Magazine Page 49

ALBUM OF THE WEEK

COLLECTORâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S CORNER MISSING LINK

THE HIVES

Lex Hives (Dew Process/Universal)

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The self-coined slogan and Poptones compilation title Your New Favourite Band seems like an ancient dusty memory now, the clever catch phrase buried underneath a slew of releases and the exceptionally lengthy career (18 years!) of The Hives. With that knowledge underneath your cap and the fact the band released three EPs before the breakthrough compilation Your New Favourite Band catapulted them to super stardom in 2001, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easier to understand how the band could come to make an album such as Lex Hives and forgive them for a few indiscretions. The ďŹ fth studio album from the Swedes sees The Hives treading more steadily than they were on The Black And White Album; but still precariously exploring various genres â&#x20AC;&#x201C; unable to commit absolutely to one direction. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not to say that Lex Hives is a bad album, far from it in fact. When it comes to garage rockâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;n roll, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no denying that The Hives can pen an exhilarating and adrenalinecharged rocker. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sandwiched between these songs that throws a spanner in the works. The album starts oďŹ&#x20AC; with a paltry call to arms, tritely titled Come On â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Pellesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; vocals take their time arriving and waiting for them whilst hearing an unfamiliar voice singing â&#x20AC;&#x153;come on, come onâ&#x20AC;? on repeat is painful. Go Right Ahead attempts to rectify the damage but starting with a Daft Punk style vocal dashes any real hopes of doing so.1000 Answers ticks more boxes, opening with a low mixed punchy guitar riďŹ&#x20AC;, followed by the rest of band crashing in a bar later for maximum impact. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s classic Hives and as the frantic high-hat propels the song, it feels like the soul of Veni Vidi Vicious is being summoned from the depths. I Want More returns Lex Hives dangerously back to mid pace but the dirty blues edge and Pellesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Iggy Pop (circa The Idiot) style talk singing gives the track some grit and substance. Wait A Minute produces a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;what were they thinkingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; moment â&#x20AC;&#x201C; there is yet to be a song that repeats just one phrase over the span of three minutes that is bearable. After the pop abomination of the aforementioned track, things start to signiďŹ cantly take a turn for the better on Lex Hives. Patrolling Days is anthemic and gutsy, Take Back The Toys is infectiously persistent and Without The Money delivers some reverbed soaked twang, broadening the scope of guitar tones on the album. These Spectacles Reveal The Nostalgics is bristly and brazen and the energy rolls on through If I Had A

1. Everything Goes Wrong LP CONSTANT MONGREL 2. OďŹ&#x20AC;! CD/LP OFF! 3. Dopesmoker CD SLEEP 4. Not Just Another Anthology CD PERDITION 5. I Made Blood Better LP MAD NANNA 6. Time To Go â&#x20AC;&#x201C; The Southern Psychedelic Movement CD/LP VARIOUS 7. June 2012 MAXIMUM ROCK N ROLL MAGAZINE 8. Carved Into Stone CD/LP PRONG Cent â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a reminder that feverish rock â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; roll played with an air of desperation is what the Hives do best. Closer Midnight Shifter channels some â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;50s rock â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; roll undercurrents alongside subtle keys and horns and fuses it with 80sâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; rock. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all handclaps and hip shakinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and there â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s a deďŹ nite nod to Joan Jett & the Blackhearts Do You Wanna Touch Me in the chorus. Lex Hives starts oďŹ&#x20AC; shaky, but it ďŹ nds itsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; pace. The bad eggs threaten to bring the whole operation to its knees but the gems shine brightly enough to obscure the less appealing oďŹ&#x20AC;erings. While it seems that The Hives will never be able to return to their pre major label release glory days, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re still producing rock â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; roll a cut above the majority of modern day bands trying their hand at the genre. KRYSTAL MAYNARD

9. Contragenesis CD/LP IGNIVOMOUS 10. Yes Sir I Will LP CRASS

AIRIT NOW 1. WIIW (Way To War) KIRIN J CALLINAN 2. Looking Glass KINGFISHA 3. One Man Woman DALLAS FRASCA 4. NaĂŻve Bravado feat. Daniel Merriweather URTHBOY 5. Flaws HUNTING GROUNDS

Best Track: These Spectacles Reveal The Nostalgics If You Like This Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll Like These: THE VICIOUS, INTERNATIONAL NOISE CONSPIRACY, MASS HYSTERI In A Word: Adequate

6. Sharehouse Blues WOE & FLUTTER 7. Mockingbird MAJOR TOM & THE ATOMS 8. Glutton LIZ STRINGER 9. Mister Lester Moore THE PEEP TEMPEL 10. Home THE FALLS

SINGLES BY SIMONE

THORNBURY RECORDS 1. Blunderbuss LP JACK WHITE 2. Heavy Blanket LP HEAVY BLANKET

Hey! I just met you, and this is crazy, but hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s my kidney, I hear you need a donor and I believe we are a compatible blood type.

LA BASTARD

Take Me Away (Independent) Take Me Away is a lo-ďŹ , very â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;liveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; recording from local four-piece La Bastard, a kitsch, goofy surf rock-meets-cabaret tune with a queer little spoken word performance in the middle â&#x20AC;&#x201C; more theatre than music.

MOROCCAN KINGS

Grizzly Bear (Independent) Really hope at least a couple of the guys in this band are Moroccan. Their thumpy, screetchy blues minimalism lands somewhere between INXS, Red Hot Chili Peppers and The White Stripes; all too strutting and funky for my taste, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a conďŹ dent sound. The lead singer sounds like he likes to remove his shirt whenever possible.

REPTILE YOUTH

Speeddance (hfn Music) Danish disco synth act Retile Youth used to be called Reptile And Retard, which for various terrible reasons makes me laugh. Their debut single reminds me of The Rapture â&#x20AC;&#x201C; vocal heavy dance rock with a slightly hysterical edge, intense and compelling.

THE LAURELS

Changing The Timeline (Rice is Nice) Sydneyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shoegazer quartet The Laurels have a debut album due on in July, this is the lead single. The bolts are tight on Changing The Timeline, guitars and vocals locked together with grim precision, casting sharp shadows under the strobe lights.

COLLARBONES

Missing (Two Bright Lakes/Remote Control) Hooking into the still-nascent soul revival, Adelaide/Sydney duo Collarbones release a single that could have been written by Jai Paul. Warm but esoteric, the song is shaped by long, sliding samples that sound like continuous pan pipe notes gently manipulated by Autotune. One of the boys sings, with all the crooning, sexualised sincerity of club soul, while the beats stutter in and out of silence. Amazing.

CIRCLE

Fashion Me A Drum (Monday Records) Fashion Me A Drum begins with a persistent drumbeat and a throbbing guitar riďŹ&#x20AC;, and breaks into a series of climbing chords reminiscent of Temper Trap or 1927. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hearty but utterly naďŹ&#x20AC;, polite white pop with sweetly melodic male vocals that are just impossible to take seriously.

Cherry Lips (Independent) Triple j-loved Loon Lake have a tour starting in August and a new single starting now. Sparse but swinging, Cherry Lips is a song about getting the campďŹ re disco party started; a jovial, lighthearted, slightly goofy kind of sing-along party song. Those great slapping beats really make me smile.

BOY IN A BOX

On My Mind (ABC Music) Tobias Priddle and his merry men have joined ABC Music and released an excellent new single. With spitting verses, radiant backing vocals and a chorus that is a shameless exercise in stadium-scale eighties hair rock harmony, On My Mind is yet another slice of perfect pop from Boy In A Box.

Exactly Nothing (Domino/EMI) Exactly Nothing is described as a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;chill jamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; by the record label, as in, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Hey, have you got any chill jam to go with this toast?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not their fault â&#x20AC;&#x201C; this kind of wishy washy psychedelia is so formless and insipid you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to waste proper adjectives on it.

BERTIE BLACKMAN

Mercy Killer (Mercury) Bertieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s back, with a sharp, twitching single from her forthcoming Pope Innocent X album. Echoing the swinging jungle of PJ Harveyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s The Words That Maketh Murder, it is a spiky art pop tune; a collection of hand claps, arch lyrics and popping bass notes assembled with dark wit.

3. Noctourniquet LP MARS VOLTA 4. Dancing On Sinking Sands LP BULLS 5. Rebels 7â&#x20AC;? DAMN TERRAN 6. Vaya 10â&#x20AC;? AT THE DRIVE IN 7. Bloom LP BEACH HOUSE 8. OďŹ&#x20AC;! LP OFF! 9. Boys & Girls LP ALABAMA SHAKES 10. Ex Tropical LP LOST ANIMAL

WOOLY BULLY 1. Premonitions 7â&#x20AC;? COPS 2. Everything Goes Wrong LP CONSTANT MONGREL 3. Everybodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Got It Easy But Me LP THE INTELLIGENCE 4. When Christine Comes Around 7â&#x20AC;? GRUDGE 5. Hypochondriac 7â&#x20AC;? BAD ACHES

ILLY

LOON LAKE

REAL ESTATE

Beat Magazine Page 50

TOP TENS

Heard It All (Obese) Melbourne rapper Illy has won me over with his cunning reverse psychology: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Please forgive me if it all sounds so familiar/Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m sure that youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve heard this all before/Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m only one voice in a world of billions and no ideaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s original no more.â&#x20AC;? At the end, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m only one voice but that voice speaks up for yâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;all.â&#x20AC;? Jesus man â&#x20AC;&#x201C; I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know how to process hip hop with genuine humility vin it. His third album is due out later this year.

SINGLE OF THE WEEK CARLY RAE JEPSEN

6. Untune The Sky LP THE MOLES 7. Radar Eyes LP RADAR EYES 8. Câ&#x20AC;&#x2122;est Bon! LP USELESS EATERS 9. Stranglinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; You Too 7â&#x20AC;? SLUG GUTS 10. Dirty Fingernails LP GOLDEN BOYS

BEATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S TOP TEN SONGS ABOUT FOOD 1. Chips & Gravy CLAG

Call Me Maybe (Universal)

2. Candy MANDY MOORE

Generally I decide what goes here, however Beat editor Taryn Stenvei made a speciďŹ c request and then sent me some photos of herself doing karaoke which, I dunno, may have been some kind of threat. [Actually, 90% of my email chains tend to disintegrate into this exact exchange. Sorry (not sorry). - Ed.] If the title is ringing a bell, let me help: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy/But hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s my number, so call me maybe? Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard to look right at you baby/But hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s my number, so call me maybe.â&#x20AC;? If that doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t sound familiar currently, it will. This candied slice of pure mind-controlling evil is this biggest tune in the US right now. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s already a supercut video of various aesthetically challenged Americans (and Katy Perry) lip-synching to Call Me Maybe on YouTube, because so many people love this idiotic song so fucking much. Even I love this song, and I fucking hate this song.

3. The Lemon Song LED ZEPPELIN

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4. Peaches PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 5. Ice Cream MUSCLES 6. On Top Of Spaghetti TOM GLAZER & THE DO-RE-MI CHILDRENâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S CHORUS 7. Fruit Salad GAMEBOY/GAMEGIRL 8. American Pie JOHN MCLEAN 9. Raspberry Beret PRINCE 10. Sex And Candy MACYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S PLAYGROUND

ALBUMS

THE WALKMEN Heaven (Inertia) FOR MORE REVIEWS GO TO

BEAT.COM.AU/REVIEWS

MAXIMO PARK

The National Health (Co-Operative Music) A mellow opening minute slips from earshot and a blistering six-stringed barrage ensues, announcing the resurgence of celebrated alt-rock outfit Maximo Park. There is every indication it’s business as usual for the Newcastle band, though that’s actually what makes The National Health – their fourth studio album – so difficult to dismiss. If you’ve been a fan of Maximo Park from as early as 2005, the era of their acclaimed breakout album, A Certain Trigger, there ought to be a degree of comfort in The National Health’s splendours. It sees their deft pop sensibilities collide with ambitious craftsmanship, channelled through an electrifying indie-rock filter. Meanwhile thanks to Paul Smith, The National Health sports an arresting sentimentality, displaying a big heart beneath Maximo Park’s brash indie-rock bravado. “I wouldn’t bet my life, but maybe things might change tomorrow,” Smith muses anxiously, personal concerns clashing with political commentary in the album’s title track. Meanwhile, the stinging spite of Write This Down culminates in a slice of irresistible pop and the sunny Take Me Home gives rise to a bold gesture. In the context of Maximo Park’s catalogue, The National Health doesn’t exactly push the envelope. It does however, smack of electrifyingly brilliant indie-rock and pop, leaving Best Track: The National Health listeners without cause for complaint. If You Like These, You’ll Like This: This Is Not The World THE FUTUREHEADS, Our Earthly Pleasures MAXIMO PARK NICK MASON In A Word: Resurgent

FUTURE OF THE LEFT

The Plot Against Common Sense (Remote Control) A Malcolm Tucker understudy of the highest order, for years Andrew ‘Falco’ Falkous, front face and voice of unhinged Cardiff rock band Future Of The Left, has been abstrusely heckling human idiocy via the medium of catchy melodies and killer hooks. Well, I think; he has, as often as not, seemed to revel in the poetic joy of lyrical nearnonsense, and is known and loved for this obscurantism. So it might surprise some fans to discover that The Plot Against Common Sense, the band’s third album, seems somewhat less hieroglyphic than previous efforts. There are songs, plural, that appear to be about things! But let’s not get too carried away. After all, it may sound like the music industry, the Olympics, trust-fund rioters, middling middle-class obsessions, golden calves, environmental waste and Hollywood’s reanimator treadmill all get nailed to the wall in (generally) three-minute bursts of schizophrenic noise, but it could all be about the mathematical base code of the universe. Or Kampuchean architecture. It’s best not to assume. That’s the thing about FOTL. Even when you think you know what Falco’s on about, you’re probably wrong – likewise, if you think you know where they’re going musically. From ear-grating sonic steel wool to sing-along choruses sung in rounds, from marching-band refrains to disorienting balls of raucous noise, from B-52s-ish rockabilly breakdowns to assurgent crescendos of texture, the dynamic tonal shifts on The Plot Against Common Sense are more frequent than ever. This may be due to a pre-album lineup change that saw second guitarist Jimmy Watkins and new bassist Julia Ruzicka joining Falco and drummer Jack Egglestone. A second upshot of this change is that it’s freed Falco to further embrace that synthesiser: it’s everywhere, abrasive, bilious, hilarious, Best Track: Beneath The Waves An Ocean or Robocop 4: but – like everything else they do – always cognisant Fuck Off Robocop of the need for a hummable melody that will leave If You Like These, You’ll Like This: MCLUSKY, HOT earworms in your brain for days. SNAKES, DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979 In A Word: Loud MELANIE SHERIDAN

GRAVENHURST

A recent historical analysis – the name and author of which sadly eludes me – took a critical axe to nostalgic assessment of the morality of generations past. The book’s central thesis was that successive generations have constructed the previous era as containing a robust moral code subsequently undermined by wanton social, political, legal and economic changes. In reality there has never been a definitive utopian social order, merely a series of revisionist constructions that reflect subjective personal and philosophical preferences. That said – and it’s something to bear in mind the next time some old fart tells you anything was better ‘back in the old days’ – The Walkmen have a unique ability to contrive a world in which music was an intrinsic part of the social fabric, rather than a tool of artistic self-indulgence and commercial exploitation. And it’s all over The Walkmen’s new record Heaven, like a rash bred out of existence by an overdose of contemporary corporate antibiotics. The acoustic simplicity of We Can’t Be Beat is soft to the aural touch and Love Is Luck is the teenage dream we’d all love to re-live. Heartbreaker is a dirty garage track buffed into pop form like a reformed greaser graduating from finishing school, The Witch is as confronting as the Toot Toot Toots dressed to the nines in tuxedos and cummerbunds and Song For Leigh is everything a childhood lament should be, including post-indie melody and literary bent. On Jerry Jr’s Tune, The Walkmen take a nocturnal walk with Link Wray and find hitherto unchartered synergies. On The Love You Love, the motor’s revving, the foot’s flat to the floor and the car’s flying down the open road on a quest to embrace the spacious wonder of life. No One Ever Sleeps is a late-night high school dance to a fading Ricky Nelson while The House You Made (one of two bonus tracks on the Australian release) is The Scientists’ Shine rendered in its most elegant southern guise. It’s not just The Walkmen’s predilection for vintage instruments, which manages to conjure up the sonic aesthetic of a ‘50s music hall, nor singer Hamilton Leithauser’s emotive Best Track: Heartbreaker. vocal style. It’s just talent, and it’s heavenly. If You Like These, You’ll Like This: THE HOUSEMARTINS, RICKY NELSON and driving old jalopies. PATRICK EMERY In A Word: Whimsical

BILLY BRAGG AND WILCO

Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions (Nonesuch Records/Warner) To commemorate 100 years since the birth of Woody Guthrie, The Complete Mermaid Sessions updates the earlier releases and proves a neat little package for any fans of the series or the artists. Containing the original Mermaid Avenue album of 1998, 2000’s second volume of off-cuts and a third disc of the scraps that remained, it also includes the Man In The Sand documentary DVD on the making of the albums. Try as I might to listen to the entire list of songs, I’m here for the Wilco songs and them alone. Billy Bragg’s songs may bear more resemblance to the music of Guthrie, with their traditional arrangements and simple folk chords, but it’s hard to look past Bragg’s nasal whine and political grandstanding delivery. He’s a terrible, awful bore. And when the alternative is so full of wonder and the highest class, not drawing a comparison can prove difficult. Here we have a snapshot of one of the greatest bands of the last 20 years, in one of their most fertile periods and singing lyrics written by the voice of a generation, albeit a distant one. Tweedy still has that compelling little scratch in his voice that hasn’t been bred out by ewwww, practice, and Nels Cline hasn’t yet shown up on the scene to overplay the shit out of everything. What’s more, as he was still an integral part of the group as Tweedy’s creative foil, it’s the late multi-instrumentalist Jay Bennett’s sense of restraint here in creating tension out of what he doesn’t play that is so riveting. One By One and new editions to the series Listening To The Wind That Blows and When The Roses Bloom Again are a marvelous reminder of his sorely missed talent. And now due to the magic of playlists, you can create your very own lost Wilco album and not have to get off the couch every second track to hit skip. The Mermaid Avenue series beautifully illustrates the bridge between the tasteful and more organic alt-country playing on Being There and the technicolour explosion that produced Summerteeth. And if you like Billy Bragg, well, that’s your problem. Best Track: Secret Of The Sea If You Like These, You’ll Like This: WILCO, protest music, NICK HILTON and yes, OK, BILLY BRAGG In A Word: Roger

SLASH

The Ghost In Daylight (Warp)

Apocalyptic Love (Dik Hayd Records/Sony Music Australia)

Nick Talbot is a quiet achiever on the Warp label. He once stood out as a folky contrast to the edgy electronica the label were renowned for, but Warp has since widened the net and varied their output more extensively. Talbot still creates good albums, though he’s not as prolific as he once was (this is his first work since 2007), and there’s little that comes as a surprise on his latest album. The most notable change is a shift in tone away from the fiery Western Lands toward a wistful, shadowy folk sound that recalls his earliest albums. The Ghost In Daylight adopts a weary melancholia in its exploration of decay and disposition. There are some dark lyrics hidden beneath the soft exterior, though Talbot’s mild-mannered vocal doesn’t carry enough weight to make the sinister undertones cast too much of a dark shadow. The way the end of The Prize builds to an orchestral climax is a great example of what can be achieved when Talbot doesn’t rest on underplaying his compositions and finally submits to his emotive drives. A single electronica track, the near-instrumental Islands, is an atmospheric centrepiece and it’s a shame that the electronic elements don’t seep into his acoustic folk more often. After Islands, the remaining finger-picking ballads are subtle almost to their detriment. The strongest material is clearly nestled in the album’s first half hour, Best Track: The Prize but there’s enough of substance on here to gloomily If You Like These, You’ll Like This: Ocean Beach RED ruminate about on a cold autumn afternoon. HOUSE PAINTERS, Bryter Layter NICK DRAKE In A Word: Grave CHRIS GIRDLER

LIZ STRINGER

Warm In The Darkness (Vitamin Records) A high school physics teacher once chastised us for suggesting that the apparently simple concept of ‘cold’ had any scientific basis. What we had previously identified as cold, we were told matter-of-factly, is in fact an absence of heat – something must have energy to exist. In the thermal realm, only heat has energy. And, our erstwhile teacher continued, notwithstanding the incredulity of the class, the same conceptual argument applied to what we claimed to be dark. It’s unlikely that Liz Stringer gives a rat’s proverbial about such scientific an explanation. And that’s why when science fails, art triumphs. Stringer’s latest record, Warm In The Darkness is every bit as invigorating as a high school science class is frequently tedious. Warm In The Darkness is a noticeable departure from Stringer’s previous releases. There’s still a good supply of folkinfused country ballads: the touching narrative of Angela, the soft and tender Love, Love, Love and the warm embrace of Stay With Me Here. Yet the striking aspects of Warm In The Darkness come when Stringer, and her tough-as-nails backing band launch into classic rock’n’roll territory. In Anybody’s Language is a classic rock track worthy of perpetual popular commendation, Glutton offers a veneer of dirty Muscle Shoals rock over a soft interior and It’s A Long Way Down renders alcoholic misdemeanour in elegant pop sensibility. With Colourblind Stringer commands the oft-violated soulrock genre with the vocal dexterity and empathy of a southern Baptist preacher leading a Sunday morning congregation down the path of righteousness. The mere notion of warmth in darkness would be enough to send the aforementioned physics teacher into apoplectic scientific fits, but does that matter? When you’ve got a record like this, science doesn’t enter into the equation. Best Track: Colourblind If You Like These, You’ll Like This: ARETHA FRANKLIN, Just sit back, listen and enjoy. DRIVE BY TRUCKERS, NEIL YOUNG AND CRAZY HORSE. PATRICK EMERY In A Word: Soul

Slash’s self-titled debut solo album from a few years ago (not counting his Slash’s Snakepit releases, of course) was a cracker, with vocal performances from guests including Ozzy, Fergie, Lemmy, Dave Grohl, M. Shadows, The Cult’s Ian Astbury, Andrew Stockdale, Chris Cornell and more. One of the standout vocalists on the set was Myles Kennedy of Alter Bridge, who did such a killer job that he was enlisted for the subsequent world tour, which included several swings by Australia. Kennedy is the sole vocalist on Apocalyptic Love with backing provided from Slash’s band, The Conspirators. Even the cover hints that this is no more Slash II. So how does the new set stack up to its predecessor? Well for starters, it’s a much more uniﬁed experience. That’s to be expected as Slash featured so many guest musicians, both vocally and instrumentally. However just as the sheer eclecticism of contributors worked in the previous album’s favour, the steady lineup and consistent sonic setting works just ﬁne for this one. It feels like this is what Slash should be doing. The last one set him up as a viable solo artist outside of Guns N’ Roses or Velvet Revolver and this one lets him just get on with the important business of being Slash. The material ranges from up-tempo, wah-wah driven rockers like the album-opener (and title track) to the neoclassical-tinged material like Anastasia. Anastasia even sees Slash unleash his hitherto unrecorded Yngwie Malmsteen chops! Who knew, huh? With the exception of Far And Away and Not For Me the material is generally fast-paced and hard-rockin’, and nothing ever crosses over into ‘power ballad’ territory. This is the Slash of You Could Be Mine rather than November Rain. Some of the material has FM Rock Radio Hit written all over it such as Bad Rain and You’re A Lie, while others hint at almost Sabbath-like darkness. Kennedy’s voice is an acquired taste but he handles the material with ease, whether hitting the high notes Axl-style or employing moodier textures. Throughout Apocalyptic Love Slash plays like a man possessed. Those who always considered him to be the bluesy antithesis to his more shredding contemporaries might even be surprised at just how nimble his playing truly is. Best Track: You’re A Lie If You Like These, You’ll Like This: BUCKCHERRY, GUNS PETER HODGSON N’ ROSES, ELECTRIC MARY In A Word: Rockworthy

MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK Go (Epitaph/Warner)

Motion City Soundtrack are back on Epitaph with their decidedly un-punk ﬁfth studio album Go. Due for release this Friday June 15, the album was recorded in the band’s hometown of Minneapolis at the start of the year. The story goes that while recording Go the band were reveling in the freedom of having no label, allowing them to take their time and produce exactly what they wanted. Warner Music, distributing the album here in Australia, have labelled the album the band’s “most mature” to date. Now, it may be just me, but I always worry when I see those words attached to any band which was ever even in the slightest way a proponent of punk. There are some notable exceptions (Blink 182 for example), but for most of these bands “mature” equals boring. That said, there are a lot of worthwhile tracks on Go, and the album should appeal to long-time fans as well as engaging a number of new ones. As always with Motion City Soundtrack their upbeat tracks are their best. Opening track Circuits And Wire, The Coma Kid, and Bad Idea are among the best. Lead single True Romance, one of the better tracks oﬀ Best Track: Circuits And Wire the album and closest to the band’s best upbeat work, is If You Like These, You’ll Like This: THE REMBRANDTS, available digitally now. THE ACADEMY IS In A World: Light JOSH FERGEUS

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Beat Magazine Page 51

GIG GUIDE WEDNESDAY 13 JUN

THURSDAY 14 JUN

ROCK/POP

AUDIO CAFFEINE Revolver Upstairs, Prahran. 5:30pm. CHRIS RUSSELL’S CHICKEN WALK + CLAUDE HAY Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 8:30pm. CLAUDYKNIGHT + DANCING HEALS + JASON & THE LYREBIRDS Grace Darling Hotel, Collingwood. 9:00pm. $8. COLLAGE - FEAT: FULL CODE + LE BELLE + THE HIDDEN VENTURE + VIOLENT COLOURS Espy, St Kilda. 8:00pm. DOUBLEBLACK + THE VENDETTAS Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. DUFRAYNE + CONCERTED COLLECTIVE + HAIRY CHICKEN + SLAMMETZ Empress Hotel, North Fitzroy. 8:00pm. ROB FARNHAM + CALLE Gertrudes Brown Couch, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $8. THE LOST SUNNIES + SEX TAPE + SUN GOD REPLICA + TEENAGE LIBIDO Tote Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. THE RIDING HOOD Bar Open, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. VAN MYER + SQUAREHEAD Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $8.

1AM LATE SHOW - FEAT: GLACIERS + DJ GEEK PIE Pony, Melbourne. 1:00am. FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS (ALL AGES) Plenary Hall, South Wharf. 8:00pm. JACOB S HARRIS & THE DISAPPOINTMENTS + MICROFLORA + NATHAN HOLLYWOOD Old Bar, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $8. LAZYBOYPROACTIVE (SINGLE LAUNCH) + ARCADE TRICKSTER + DJ GARAGEE + ROBODOP SNEI + STICKLEBACK Revolver Upstairs, Prahran. 7:35pm. $5. MAMMOTH MAMMOTH + JACKSON FIREBIRD + RIVER OF SNAKES Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 9:00pm. MISS NICHOLLS + SPYKITE + TEMPLE + TOO SOON Bendigo Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. $5. PITY SCISSORS + MOTHER FUCKING TERESA Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. RBS LIVE - FEAT: THE HARLOTS + THNKR Red Bennies, South Yarra. 7:00pm. $8. SALT LAKE CITY + BRIGHTLY + DAVY John Curtin Hotel, Carlton. 8:00pm. SKYSCRAPER STAN & THE COMMISSION FLATS + HOLY TRASH + I/O + MATT SONIC Tote Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. $10. THE BLACK HILLS + HONEY SMACK + THE NAYSAYERS Pony, Melbourne. 8:30pm. THE INSTICNTS + ELECTRIC ALICE + THIS WEATHER + TWSS The Prague, Thornbury. 8:00pm. THE MEN THEY CALL JAYNE + DARK ARTS + SCOTT CANDLISH + THE UNMISTAKABLE Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick. 8:00pm. THE STEVENS + AUTOPORTRAITS + MAD NANNA Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy. 9:00pm. $7. THE TWOKS - FEAT: XANI & MARK + JIMMY DANIEL Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy. 9:00pm. URBANTRAMPER + BOOK OF SHIPS + DJ LOTION + SLEEP DECADE Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood. 4:55pm. VIRTUAL PROXIMITY + BUTCHERBIRDS + DEEP CROSSING Empress Hotel, North Fitzroy. 8:00pm. VULGAGRAD + DJ RUSSIAN DISCO + MIKELANGELO + TEK TEK ENSEMBLE Northcote Social Club, Northcote. 7:30pm. $16. WHITE SUMMER + KINGS OF THE NORTH + PRETTY LITTLES + THE CORSAIRS Espy, St Kilda. 8:00pm. WOLF & CUB Toﬀ In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. $20.

ACOUSTIC/COUNTRY/BLUES/FOLK CHARLES JENKINS Standard Hotel, Fitzroy. 7:00pm. GEORGIA FAIR 8:00pm. MIKELANGELO + JULITHA RYAN Old Bar, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. OPEN MIC Dancing Dog, Footscray. 7:00pm. OPEN MIC Thornbury Local, Thornbury. 7:00pm. OPEN MIC Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick. 7:00pm. OPEN MIC & JAM NIGHT Grind N Groove, Healesville. 8:00pm. SAM LAWRENCE (ALBUM LAUNCH) + MANNY FOX HANGMAN’S CLUB Toﬀ In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 7:30pm. $25. SOMEONE ELSES WEDDING BAND + BRAVO JULIET + SWEET TEENS Bendigo Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. $5. TOBIAS HENGEVELD + THE TEN IN ONE Workers Club, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. TOM TUENA Veludo Bar & Restaurant, St Kilda. 9:00pm. WINE WHISKEY WOMEN - FEAT: RACHEL BYRNES + TERESA DIXON Drunken Poet, West Melbourne. 8:00pm.

JAZZ/SOUL/FUNK/WORLD MUSIC BOPSTRETCH Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. DAVE REX TRIO Dogs Bar, St Kilda. 8:00pm. DIZZY’S BIG BAND Dizzy’s Jazz Club, Richmond. 8:00pm. $14. LETTERBOX MUSIC Open Studio, Northcote. 8:30pm. LO-RES + MAKA KHAN + SLIPPER 303, Northcote. 8:00pm. MAGGIE RIGBY (EP LAUNCH) Wesley Anne, Northcote. 8:00pm. MONASH RECITAL NIGHT Paris Cat Jazz Club, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. $10. RUN CABALLITO Bennetts Lane Jazz Club, Melbourne. 8:30pm. $15.

ACOUSTIC/COUNTRY/BLUES/FOLK ‘COMEDY SPECTACULAR’ - FEAT: DAVE THORNTON + DENISE SCOTT + TOM GLEESON + DAVE O’NEIL + PETER HELLIAR Corner Hotel, Richmond. 8:00pm. $20. ACOUSTIC NIGHT 29th Apartment, St Kilda. 9:00pm. ASHLEY NAYLOR Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy. 9:00am. BLUES MUSIC - FEAT: BO JENKINS + BLUESTOPIA Musicland, Fawkner. 8:00pm. $10. DANCO Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East. 8:30pm. DANIEL MARCH Elwood Lounge, Elwood. 8:00pm. HUSSY HICKS Drunken Poet, West Melbourne. 8:00pm. JACK DONNE + JACK MITCHELL Great Britain Hotel, Richmond. 8:00pm.

THE BAMBOOS Panda diplomacy is a thing. Seriously, look it up on Wikipedia. It’s not in reference to human-panda relations, because pandas are pretty chill dudes and not prone to pushing international warfare agendas like plenty of other superpowers in the international political sphere – panda diplomacy is actually used to describe China’s use of Giant Pandas as diplomatic gifts to other countries. I can see why, too. Pandas are super-chill bros. All they do is sit around, eat bamboo and look adorable. Though given that, I suppose the Bamboos wouldn’t be too chuffed about panda diplomacy coming to Australia. Sorry, bear friends – no pandas invited to their gigs at the Corner Hotel on Saturday June 16 and Sunday June 17. JAREK (TREE OF THE SEAS LAUNCH) + NICE BOY TOM + SKIPPYS BRAIN Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy. 9:00pm. $12. JESS LOCKE Edinburgh Castle, Brunswick. 7:00pm. LACHLAN BRYAN (ALBUM LAUNCH) + BILL CHAMBERS + THE WEEPING WILLOWS Workers Club, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. LOWER PLENTY Bar Open, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. MATT COLLYER & THE COMPANY + BIG SEAL & THE SLIPPERY FEW + THE PROMISES + THE WEEKEND PEOPLE Gertrudes Brown Couch, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. $8. MRS HEMINGWAY + TAYLOR/FINN DUO Wesley Anne, Northcote. 6:00pm. NICK MURPHY Labour In Vain, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. OPEN MIC Acoustic Cafe, Collingwood. 6:30pm. OPEN MIC Arcadia Hotel, South Yarra. 7:00pm. OPEN MIC NIGHT Lyrebird Lounge, Ripponlea. 8:30pm. RUBY’S SHOWCASE Ruby’s Lounge, Belgrave. 7:00pm. SIMON BRUCE Bar Nancy, Northcote. 8:00pm.

JAZZ/SOUL/FUNK/WORLD MUSIC COLECTIVO29 Open Studio, Northcote. 8:30pm. DAZ HAMMOND COMBO 303, Northcote. 8:00pm. $10. LIVE UNDERGROUND JAZZ - FEAT: MICHAEL GRIFFIN QUINTET Bluestone Downstairs, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00am. LIVE UNDERGROUND JAZZ Bluestone Downstairs, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. SASKWATCH Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 8:30pm. $10. STEPHANIE MONK 7 Dizzy’s Jazz Club, Richmond. 8:00pm. $14. THE IVORY JUNCTION + BIANCA FENN Veludo Bar & Restaurant, St Kilda. 7:15pm. THE LUKE HOWARD TRIO Paris Cat Jazz Club, Melbourne Cbd. 9:00pm. $15. THE SAM KEEVERS QUARTET Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. TIM WILLIS & THE END (ALBUM LAUNCH) Bennetts Lane Jazz Club, Melbourne. 8:30pm. $15.

FRIDAY 15 JUN ROCK/POP

360 360’s getting himself and you into a spin this Friday June 15 at The Hi-Fi for an 18+ show that is sure to leave you all dazed and dizzy. Whether it’s his babin’ good looks, divisive neck tatts, or unprecedented electro hip hop, he is sure to draw you in with his serious beats with a perfect circumference. With the first show sold out, get around this one before it faces a similar fate! Get right around it. Dare we say, circle it on your calendar? And so on. Circles. Beat Magazine Page 52

2AM LATE SHOW - FEAT: ANGRY MULES Pony, Melbourne. 2:00am. BILL & THE JERKS + COHORTS NOMEN + JAYNE LN + PANCHROMATIC + PURPLE TUSKS Noise Bar, Brunswick. 8:00pm. $5. BOMBAY ROYALE + DJ EMMA PEEL Luwow, Fitzroy. 9:00pm. $10. CASINO RUMBLERS + STRAWBERRY FIST CAKE + THE FLANGIPANIS + THE RESIGNATORS + THE SHADOW LEAGUE Revolver Upstairs, Prahran. 8:00pm. $10. CHRIS WILSON + DJ TRAFFIC JAM Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 9:30pm. CLAGG + AGONHYMN + BROOZER + SWIDGEN Tote Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. $12. CREATURES OF KARMA (ALBUM LAUNCH) + CATHOUSE CANARY: EP LAUNCH + CERES + ROCK SCARS Northcote Social Club, Northcote. 8:00pm. $15. DAMN THE TORPEDOES + UPTOWN ACE Victoria Hotel, Brunswick. 9:00pm. GRAFT VS HOST + A BOMB WHORS + FOXTROT Idgaﬀ Bar & Venue, Abbotsford. 8:00pm. KELLIE LLOYD (ALBUM LAUNCH) + DEAD RIVER + PENNY HEWSON Grace Darling Hotel, Collingwood. 9:00pm. $10. KIDS OF 88 + DEJA + ILL’S + RED INK Espy, St Kilda. 8:00pm. $12. KILL TWO BIRDS + CHEETSTREET + HOUNDSTEETH + MY FAVOURITE EMILY Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick. 9:00pm.

SUBMIT YOUR GIGS TO GIGGUIDE@BEAT.COM.AU

MAJOR TOM & THE ATOMS (SHAKE IT TILL YOU BREAK IT LAUNCH) + QUANG DINH BAND + RED ROCKETS OF BORNEO Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy. 9:00pm. $15. MAMMOTH MAMMOTH + DEAD STAR RENEGADE + SEEDY JESUS + THE DEVIL RIDES OUT Espy, St Kilda. 8:00pm. MANIAXE + BLACKENED + HARLOTT + ORDNANCE The Prague, Thornbury. 8:00pm. NANTES + DIRT FARMER + THEM SWOOPS Workers Club, Fitzroy. 9:00pm. ORIGINAL ROCK NIGHT - FEAT: AUDEMIA + MISS NICHOLLS + MOONSHIFTER Musicland, Fawkner. 8:30pm. PARTY VIBEZ - FEAT: THE UNION PACIFIC + DEATH MACHINE + DECLARATION + PATRIACHAL Bendigo Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. SERI VIDA + CONSTANT KILLER + FATHOMS + NO ESCAPE FOR THE KING Pony, Melbourne. 9:00pm. THE BLACK SEEDS + CHEAP FAKES Corner Hotel, Richmond. 8:30pm. $33. THE ELLIOTTS + THE HAPPY ENDINGS + THE WELLS Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. $13. THE QUARTERS + AS A RIVAL + WAVERLEY Cornish Arms, Brunswick. 8:00pm. THE VENDETTAS + DAMN THAT RIVER + IDLE HANDS Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy. 9:00pm. TURTLE & FOX The Hammy, Melbourne. 10:00pm. VICTOR PENDER Cape Cafe, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. WARBRAIN + REINCARNATION + SURVIVAL + THICK SKIN Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. WICKED CITY + BODIES + DJ LONGDONG + DJ ONION + SHE’S THE BAND + WOE Old Bar, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $10. YOSEMITE + FLASH FOREST + LEAKS + WILLOW BEATS Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm.

ACOUSTIC/COUNTRY/BLUES/FOLK 3CR’S BURNING VINYL BENEFIT LIVE BROADCAST - FEAT: BISON GRASS + CABIN INN Old Bar, Fitzroy. 2:00pm. ADRIAN WHYTE Town Hall Hotel, North Melbourne. 10:00pm. BENNIE & FLY-BY-NIGHTERS Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East. 9:30pm. BENNY WALKER & RACHEL BY THE STREAM Balaclava Hotel, Balaclava. 8:00pm. CHEV RISE + BATTERY KIDS Penny Black, Brunswick. 9:30pm. EATEN BY DOGS + PERICO + THE GREAT WESTERN Empress Hotel, North Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $8. GANGA GIRI Baha Tacos & Tapas Bar, Rye. 8:00pm. HYFRYDOL Edinburgh Castle, Brunswick. 6:00pm. LOCAL BAND NIGHT Ruby’s Lounge, Belgrave. 8:00pm. $10. RENAE BRENNEN Elwood Lounge, Elwood. 8:00pm. ROSS HANNAFORD & BART WILLOUGHBY Basement Discs, Melbourne Cbd. 12:45pm. SHAUN KIRK Grind N Groove, Healesville. 8:00pm. THE GARY ADAMS & JIMMY WILLIAMS BAND Newport Bowling Club, Newport. 7:30pm. THE SPEEDSTERS Pascoe Vale Rsl, Pascoe Vale. 8:00pm. $8. TRADITIONAL IRISH MUSIC SESSIONS - FEAT: DAN BOURKE Drunken Poet, West Melbourne. 8:00pm.

JAZZ/SOUL/FUNK/WORLD MUSIC ALWAN + VARDOS Open Studio, Northcote. 7:00pm. BUSTAMENTO Thornbury Theatre, Thornbury. 8:00pm. $30. JONO FRANCISCO + DJ ARLEN DE SILVA Prince Maximillian, Prahran. 8:30pm. KINGFISHA (ALBUM LAUNCH) + KOOI 7:30pm. $15. KUNJANI Dizzy’s Jazz Club, Richmond. 9:00pm. $20. NUMBER STATION + THE TOWNHOUSES + WINTERPLAN Wesley Anne, Northcote. 8:00pm. THE ELLY HOYT QUARTET Bennetts Lane Jazz Club, Melbourne. 8:30pm. $25.

THE QUIVERS + CHILDREN + LEFTY 303, Northcote. 8:00pm. $5. THE STEVE MAGNUSSON TRIO Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. THE STEVE SEDERGREEN QUARTET Paris Cat Jazz Club, Melbourne Cbd. 9:30pm. $20. THE TERRIFICS - FEAT: EMOTION 21 + BRIAN HENRY HOOPER + EMMA JANE HAWKINDS + HEIDI EVERETT + RUDELY INTERRUPT Caravan Music Club, Oakleigh. 8:00pm. $23. TRIO AGOGO 303, Northcote. 6:00pm.

SATURDAY 16 JUN ROCK/POP 2AM DOUBLE LATE SHOW - FEAT: THE DEVIL RIDES OUT + THEM BRUINS + DJ MR SHARP Pony, Melbourne. 2:00am. ALLY OOP & THE HOOPSTERS + VELCRO Tote Hotel, Collingwood. 5:00pm. BANG - FEAT: THICK AS BLOOD + CROWNED KINGS Royal Melbourne Hotel, Melbourne Cbd. 9:00pm. $20. BE’LAKOR (ALBUM LAUNCH) + ARBYNTH + DARK EARTH + OKERA Espy, St Kilda. 8:00pm. $15. CASH SAVAGE & THE LAST DRINKS + THE DEATH RATTLES Tote Hotel, Collingwood. 8:30pm. $12. CAST IRON PINATA + ADVOCATES + DEADSTAR RENEGADE Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. $13. CATACOMBS + DAMNATIONS DAY + MYRIDIAN + THE PLAGUE PLAGUE Central Club Hotel, Richmond. 8:00pm. $10. CLAMPDOWN Rochester Castle Hotel, Fitzroy. 9:00pm. CLOWNS + CHARM + THA MAGIC BONES + THRASHER JYNX Pony, Melbourne. 9:00pm. COLLARBONES + BON CHAT BON RAT + BROTHERS HAND MIRROR + NAMINE Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. DAVID O’CONNER + AMINITA + LONG LEGGED MONSTERS Cornish Arms, Brunswick. 8:00pm. EIGHT MILES HIGH - FEAT: THE DEMON PARADE + BURIED FEATHER + FLYYING COLOURS + LOWTIDE + SISTER JANE Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy. 7:30pm. $20. FINE ART DEALER + RICK DA SCALE + TRANSISTOR + WICKED GAME Espy, St Kilda. 8:00pm. GANGA GIRI + CULTURE CONNECT + CUMBIA COSMONAUTS + IHHP + PHIL PARA Espy, St Kilda. 6:00pm. GATHERER (ALBUM LAUNCH) + COBRA KHAN + ON SIERRA John Curtin Hotel, Carlton. 8:00pm. GUY SEBASTIAN + BEN BURGEES Palais Theatre, St Kilda. 7:30pm. HOUSE OF ROCK Palace Theatre, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. $15. HUSK + PODKIN FLY + THE EMPIRE + THE SOULENIKOES Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick. 9:00pm. JUDGE PINO & THE RULING MOTIONS Bar Open, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. KEGGIN’ + CRUNTBURGERS + FISTY CUFFS Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. LITTLE MURDERS + THEE WYLDE OSCARS Victoria Hotel, Brunswick. 9:00pm. MANATARMS + ALITHIA + BREAKING ORBIT The Prague, Thornbury. 8:00pm. MARCHING ORDERS (VINYL LAUNCH) + DJ MRS & MRS SMITH + RAZORCUT + STRANGLEHOLD Bendigo Hotel, Collingwood. 3:00pm. $6. PASSI JO & WARAKO MUSICA + DJ DAN THE MAN + ZELIA ROSE BURLESQUE Luwow, Fitzroy. 9:00pm. $10. POURPARLOUR + LANGUAGE OF THE BIRDS + TULLY ON TULLY Revolver Upstairs, Prahran. 8:00pm. $12. QUARRY MOUNTAIN DEAD RATS (ALBUM LAUNCH) + HOWLIN’ STEAM TRAIN + MASTER GUNFIGHTERS + SWEET JEAN Northcote Social Club, Northcote. 8:00pm. $10. ROB FARNHAM + CALLE Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 10:00pm. SHAUN KIRK + HIDING WITH BEARS + TOM RULE Ruby’s Lounge, Belgrave. 8:00pm. $15. SUPER HUMANZ MUSIC MARATHON - FEAT: DAN ROLLS LIAM + DEADLY ARE THE NAKED + ELECTRIC SUNKINGS + GRAND PERCEPTOR + LIAM LIMEBUCKET + PSALM BEACH + ARMED KOREAN + BIRHANI LAWRENCE + DEAN STANTON + DEL LUNA + EATER OF THE SKY + GRAND PRISMATIC + KYLE TAYLOR + NICOLETTE FORTE + PIONEERS OF GOOD SCIENCE + SPERMAIDS + ALISTER TOOL + SUSAN LILY + TJ JOBE 303, Northcote. 12:00pm. $10. THE BAMBOOS (ALBUM TOUR) + AXOLOTL + DJ PIERRE BARONI Corner Hotel, Richmond. 8:30pm. $35. THE BON SCOTTS + ANNA SMYRK & THE APPETITES + DEL LUNA Grace Darling Hotel, Collingwood. 9:00pm. $12. THE CORSAIRS + AGILITY + THE LATONAS Noise Bar, Brunswick. 9:00pm. $6. THE DEVIL RIDES OUT + MY LEFT BOOT + THE WARDENS Old Bar, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $10. THE LOST DAY + CHOP SQUAD + TOO SOON Idgaﬀ Bar & Venue, Abbotsford. 12:17pm. $5. THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME + CHAINED LIZARD Musicland, Fawkner. 8:30pm. $15. THE VAUDERVILLE SMASH + ALASKA + DAYDREAM ARCADE + MANSION Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy. 9:00pm. $15. THE VOLCANIKS Town Hall Hotel, North Melbourne. 10:00pm.

THE DEVIL RIDES OUT I mean, he certainly isn’t going to tiptoe, is he? Head along and watch these monstrous WA sludge rockers rip through a few venues, like satan on his skateboard, this weekend. They play The Espy on Friday June 15 (supporting Mammoth Mammoth) and The Old Bar on Saturday June 16, followed by the late slot at Pony. Ear-grinding goodness. URBANTRAMPER + LEAKS + SLEEP DECADE National Hotel, Geelong. 8:00pm. $10. VICTOR PENDER Cape Cafe, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. YUNG WARRIORS (ALBUM LAUNCH) + CHRISSY J + JOHNNY MAC Workers Club, Fitzroy. 9:00pm.

ACOUSTIC/COUNTRY/BLUES/FOLK ABBIE CARDWELL AND HER LEADING MEN + SUPPORTING DJ’S TO BE ANNOUNCED Prince Bandroom, St Kilda. 9:30pm. ACOUSTIC AFTERNOON - FEAT: SEAN CALLANAN + GRACE LAWRY + NATHAN SEECKTS Bendigo Hotel, Collingwood. 3:00pm. ALEX & MICHAEL Elwood Lounge, Elwood. 8:00pm. ATLUK + BAD AT KNITTING + BY THE NIGHT Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick. 5:00pm. CHERRYWOOD Labour In Vain, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. INTO THE WOODS + RUNNING AWAY WITH THE CIRCUS + THE STAFFORDS Empress Hotel, North Fitzroy. 8:30pm. LES THOMAS + ALISON FERRIER Edinburgh Castle, Brunswick. 4:00pm. PHANTOM AGENT + SHIPS PIANO Great Britain Hotel, Richmond. 9:00pm. RAISED BY EAGLES Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 4:00pm. SATURDAY NIGHT ACOUSTIC REVUE Chandelier Room, Moorabbin. 8:00pm. $10. SATURDAY NIGHT ACOUSTIC REVUE - FEAT: PAUL BARRY + JAMIE PYE + MATT HARRISON Chandelier Room, Moorabbin. 8:00pm. $10. SKINNY LEATHER TIES + JACKET OFF Veludo Bar & Restaurant, St Kilda. 3:00pm. STOMP DOG Drunken Poet, West Melbourne. 8:00pm. TEENAGE SHUTDOWN + SYE LAXTON Gertrudes Brown Couch, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. TESSA MCKENNA & THE SHAPIROS Union Hotel, Brunswick. 9:00pm. THE AUDREYS Toﬀ In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. $25. THE BLACKEYED SUSANS Union Hotel, Brunswick. 5:00pm. THE ORIGINAL SNAKESKINS Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 7:30pm. WAZ E JAMES BAND Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East. 9:30pm.

QUINCE JAM Open Studio, Northcote. 4:30pm. THE CRAIG SCHNEIDER TRIO Dizzy’s Jazz Club, Richmond. 9:00pm. $20. THE ELLY HOYT QUARTET Paris Cat Jazz Club, Melbourne Cbd. 9:30pm. THE FUNKITEKS Penny Black, Brunswick. 9:30pm. THE KERRYN TOLHURST BAND Thornbury Theatre, Thornbury. 8:00pm. $18. THE PAUL WILLIAMSON QUARTET Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. VANESSA CRAVEN (ALBUM LAUNCH) + LLOYD SPIEGEL Wesley Anne, Northcote. 8:00pm.

SUNDAY 17 JUN ROCK/POP BEEMASK + ANGEL EYES + DAVID SHEA Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. DANIEL MERRIWEATHER Northcote Social Club, Northcote. 8:00pm. $27. HIGH VOLTAGE ROCK SCHOOL Grace Darling Hotel, Collingwood. 2:00pm. $14. JIMI HOCKING & SPECTRE 26 + MOTHER + THE ARGONAUTS Espy, St Kilda. 8:00pm. $10. JVG GUITAR METHOD Labour In Vain, Fitzroy. 5:00pm.

74 JOHNSTON ST FITZROY 9417 4155

www.theoldbar.com.au OPEN EVERY NIGHT 12PM - 3AM FREE WI FI

wednesday 13th June

MIKELANGELO PLAYS CAVE -

JAZZ/SOUL/FUNK/WORLD MUSIC

YOUR FUNERAL MY TRIAL

ANDREW DE SILVA + DJ ARLEN DE SILVA Prince Maximillian, Prahran. 8:30pm. ANDREW NOLTE & HIS ORCHESTRA Open Studio, Northcote. 8:30pm. CANNONBALL Bennetts Lane Jazz Club, Melbourne. 8:30pm. $25. INTO THE MYSTIC - FEAT: JOE CREIGHTON Caravan Music Club, Oakleigh. 8:00pm. PHOEBE & THE NIGHT CREATURES Tony Starr’s Kitten Club, Melbourne Cbd. 10:00pm. $5.

thursday 14th June

JULITHA RYAN

8:30PM $7

JACOB S HARRIS & THE DISAPPOINTMENTS MICROFLORA, NATHAN HOLLYWOOD

8:30PM $8

friday 15th June 3CR BURNING VINYL LIVE BROADCAST BISON GRASS, CABIN INN

2PM FREE

WICKED CITY SHE’S THE BAND (SA), BODIES, WOE (SA)

8:30PM $10

DJ’S LONGDONG & ONION

saturday 16th June

THE DEVIL RIDES OUT (WA) THE WARDENS, MY LEFT BOOT DJ CISCO ROSE

8:30PM $8

TIL LATE, FREE

sunday 17th June

THE TOOT TOOT TOOTS SAINT JUDE, ALYSIA MANCEAU DJ MARY OCHER

8PM $10 TIL LATE, FREE

monday 18th June

PUNK-A-BILLY How much fun d’ya reckon you can punch into this weekend? Be sure to use your Strawberry Fist Cake, eh? These guys, plus The Australian Kingswood Factory, No Idea, Rehab For Quitters and many more make up the lineup to this year’s Punk-A-Billy Festival. Unfortunately for us, it’s the grand final event (Prom Night!) meaning no more Punk-A-Billy. Sad, man. But send ‘em off in style at the Barleycorn Hotel this Saturday June 16, kicking off at 2.30pm.

BJORN BORD (PEEP TEMPEL) ALI E

8PM FREE

tuesday 19th June

MARY OCHER (BERLIN) SARAH CHADWICK (BATRIDER) WATER MUSIC

8PM FREE

ART OPENING ‘DELUXE REISSUE’

7PM FREE

band bookings: bandbookings@theoldbar.com.au

SUBMIT YOUR GIGS TO GIGGUIDE@BEAT.COM.AU

Beat Magazine Page 53

60 SECONDS WITH… THE DEVIL RIDES OUT Define your genre in five words or less: Heavy rock’n’roll. What do you love about making music? Creating something for no other reason than personal expression and pure joy of it. What do you hate about the music industry? The dominance of commerce over art. What do you think a band has to do these days to succeed? It depends on your definition of success. Based on our definition – forget what anyone else is doing and play from the heart. Describe the best gig you have ever played. Supporting Clutch was special. A big inspiration to us so to get to share the stage with them was one of those great moments as both a fan and a musician.

LOURDES + KITE CLUB + LANDS Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $8. MIDNIGHT CALLER + THE ENCLOSURES Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick. 9:00pm. MILD SPARROW & THE MIGRATIONS Thornbury Local, Thornbury. 4:00pm. NEW EMPIRE Toﬀ In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 7:00pm. $15. REDX + THE DEAD BEATS Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. STAFFAN SONGS + CHRIS BOLTON + LUCY WISE + MISHA HERMAN Grace Darling Hotel, Collingwood. 5:00pm. $5. TEMPLE + BRYTAL ASSAULT + YOSHITORO. MISS NICHOLOS Idgaﬀ Bar & Venue, Abbotsford. 8:00pm. THE BAMBOOS (ALBUM TOUR) + AXOLOTL + DJ PIERRE BARONI Corner Hotel, Richmond. 8:30pm. $35. THE KILLJOYS Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 7:00pm. THE NATIVE PLANTS Union Hotel, Brunswick. 5:00pm. THE SPHERES Qv Square, Melbourne. 6:00pm. $7. THE TOOT TOOT TOOTS + ALYSIA MANCEAU + DJ MARY ORCHER + SAINT JUDE Old Bar, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $10. THICK AS BLOOD Phoenix Youth Centre, Footscray. 8:00pm. TIGERTOWN + CORDIAL FACTORY + DIRT FARMER Workers Club, Fitzroy. 7:00pm.

ACOUSTIC/COUNTRY/BLUES/FOLK BENNY WALKER TRIO Post Oﬃce Hotel, Coburg. 4:00pm. BITTER SWEET HEARTS Standard Hotel, Fitzroy. 7:00pm. BO JENKINS Bay Hotel, Mornington. 3:00pm. BRUCE PUMPA & THE PERFECT GENTLEMEN + GREG WALSH + MU-THEORY Gertrudes Brown Couch, Fitzroy. 3:00pm. $10. CHARLES JENKINS + LLOYD SPIEGEL Drunken Poet, West Melbourne. 4:00pm. CHRIS RUSSELL’S CHICKEN WALK + DEAN MULLER Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 2:00pm. DAREBIN SONGWRITERS GUILD 303, Northcote. 3:30pm. FLYING SAUCER TERROR + ROESY Bar Nancy, Northcote. 6:00pm. GEORGE HYDE & JOSHUA SEYMOUR Victoria Hotel, Brunswick. 5:00pm. GOYIM Great Britain Hotel, Richmond. 8:00pm. JIMI HOCKING Mentone Hotel, Mentone. 3:00pm. LAKE PALMER Town Hall Hotel, North Melbourne. 6:00pm. MATT MCFARLANE Empress Hotel, North Fitzroy. 4:00pm. MICK PEALING + GEOFF WELLS Carringbush Hotel, Abbotsford. 4:00pm. MOPTET Grocery Bar, St Kilda. 8:00pm. MUSTERED COURAGE 303, Northcote. 8:00pm.

Describe the worst gig you have ever played. Maroochydore. Shut down after one song for being too loud and heavy. Something good to have in the CV though I guess.

whatson@thepush.com.au What’s the strangest place you’ve ever played a gig, or made a recording? A woman asked her boyfriend what he would want for his birthday if he could have anything. He said us playing at his house. So she hired us to play at his backyard birthday party. Strange in the best possible way.

When’s the gig and with who? Friday June 15 at The Espy supporting the Mammoth Mammoth album launch. Saturday June 16 at The Old Bar with The Wardens and My Left Boot… followed by a late Pony appearance. Ouch.

NICK CHARLES St Andrews Hotel, St Andrews. 1:00pm. NICK CHARLES & BLUE STRINGS + MARTY KELLY & AUBURY MAHER Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East. 5:30pm. OPEN MIC Chandelier Room, Moorabbin. 4:30pm. PHIL PARA The Bay, Mordialloc. 4:00pm. RAW BRIT St Andrews Hotel, St Andrews. 9:00pm. SHANAKEE Bay Hotel, Mornington. 4:00pm. SIMON WRIGHT Veludo Bar & Restaurant, St Kilda. 7:30pm. SUNDAY OPEN MIC Chandelier Room, Moorabbin. 4:00pm. THE ANNUAL CRAZY CHIX SHOWCASE - FEAT: MY IMAGINARY HEART + DALE BRIDGE + EMMA KATHRINE + FIONA CLAIRE + INITIALLY NO + JANA REILKA + SANDY JEFFS + SOPHIA CHAPMAN + TAYLOR PROJECT Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick. 4:00pm. THE ASTROS + BUG & THE WHATELOTION + KESTRAL Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. THE AUDREYS Palais, Hepburn Springs. 8:30pm. THE BAKERSFIELD GLEE CLUB Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 4:00pm. THE DUKES OF DESPAIR Penny Black, Brunswick. 5:00pm. THE DUST REVIVAL BAND Edinburgh Castle, Brunswick. 5:00pm. TURTLE & FOX Elwood Lounge, Elwood. 8:00pm. WARREN EARL & THE ATOMIC ROCKERS Gem Bar, Collingwood. 8:00pm.

JAZZ/SOUL/FUNK/WORLD MUSIC ADE ISH TRIO Open Studio, Northcote. 4:30pm. CURDS N GRAINS + ULTRAVIBRALUX Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. MELTING POT Wesley Anne, Northcote. 2:00pm. PHOEBE & THE NIGHT CREATURES Prince Maximillian, Prahran. 3:30pm. ROSS HANNAFORD & THE CRITTERS Caravan Music Club, Oakleigh. 3:00pm. $15. SAM BRITTIAN + NICK BALCONE Wesley Anne, Northcote. 8:00pm. THE GRAND WAZOO Thornbury Theatre, Thornbury. 6:00pm. TREVOR WATTS & VERYAN WESTON Bennetts Lane Jazz Club, Melbourne. 8:30pm. $20. YURODIVYE Open Studio, Northcote. 8:30pm.

MONDAY 18 JUN

HAUSTION + THIS FREE FIELD Northcote Social Club, Northcote. 6:00pm.

ACOUSTIC/COUNTRY/BLUES/FOLK BLACK CAT BONE St Andrews Hotel, St Andrews. 3:00pm. SECRET MONDAY ACOUSTIC SHOW Labour In Vain, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. THE MONDAY DRFIT Empress Hotel, North Fitzroy. 8:00pm.

JAZZ/SOUL/FUNK/WORLD MUSIC CIRCULATION + TOM NOONAN COLLECTIVE 303, Northcote. 9:00pm. $8. THE ALLAN BROWNE TRIO Bennetts Lane Jazz Club, Melbourne. 8:30pm. $15. THE CACTUS CHANNEL + DJ JEEVES Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy. 8:30pm.

TUESDAY 19 JUN

BLAKE SCOTT + ALI E Old Bar, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. CHERRY JAM Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 6:30pm. DREW Veludo Bar & Restaurant, St Kilda. 8:30pm. MONDAY NIGHT MASS - FEAT: RITES WILD + EX-

DRUMMER LOOKING FOR BAND OR PLAYERS. Played with Liquid Engineers in the mid 80s (see You Tube Countdown Liquid Engineers). Looking to play for enjoyment. Originals preferred but happy to play anything. Micheal: 0404 093 139

SERVICES EXPERIENCED STOREMAN LOOKING TO GAIN MEANINGFUL EMPLOYMENT. Frustrated at the thought of ﬁnding the right person to add to your business? Do you have a position that requires an attention to detail? Look no further. Not interested in 9-5 grind. I like to be thrown in the deep end. Email me: statman@optushome.com.au

ACOUSTIC ACTS WANTED for Bar Betty in Smith Street, Fitzroy. Paid Gig. Please phone Sandra or Michelle on 9417 3937. Bar Betty - 129 Smith Street, Fitzroy.

MAN WITH A VAN. Best value movers in Melbourne. Now with trucks!!!! Equip with 1 or 2 experienced men, trolleys and removal blankets. Available 7 days. Check out www.manwithavan.com.au or call us on 9417 3443.

BANDS & PROMOTERS WANTED. Any style for Collingwood venue. First gigs welcome, live CD recording available. Contact Jane after 12pm on 0425 796 828.

NEW REHEARSAL ROOM. Now open in Reservoir. Great rates and facilities. One-oﬀ and long term bookings available. Single room, so get in quick! Contact Matt 0405 968 160

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending the screening of Parkway Drive’s ‘Home is for the Heartless’ DVD. It follows the band on their world tour across 42 countries over five continents and into a vast array of strikingly different cultures. From all over America to Russia to Spain and the slums of India, these guys toured it all, playing in places where no big bands had played before. What makes this documentary stand out from every other band doco you’ve ever seen is its focus on the cultures and people they were playing for. The last time the Byron Bay boys graced our screens was with Parkway Drive: The DVD, which was the highest selling Australian music DVD of 2009 and won the Rolling Stone award for ‘Best Music DVD’. Their latest effort is incredibly picturesque, with some amazing landscapes captured and immaculately filmed. It’s by far the most intriguing documentary of a band’s world tour that I’ve ever seen, and it’s definitely worth the watch if you get the chance to see it. Oh yeah, the music is epically awesome too. But you would expect that from Parkway Drive. You have the chance to soak up some more of the local hardcore talent this Friday when Electric Productions FReeZA (in Cardinia) present June Ka-Boom!, featuring Prosthesis of Mind, Alice in Zombieland, Disparity, Kontact, Syndrome, and Brooklyn for the unbelievably low price of $5! And if hip hop is more your thing, this week’s got some gems for you. On Thursday there are FREE dance and vocal lessons at the Broadford Youth Centre, and on Sunday 360 is playing his sold out underage show at the Hi-Fi in Melbourne, with the usual supports from Hermitude and Bam Bam. Enjoy!

ROCK/POP

ALL AGES TIMETABLE

ALBERT SALT Toﬀ In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 8:30pm. $10. BRUNSWICK DISCOVERY - FEAT: SMELLS LIKE NIRVANA Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick. 7:30pm. COLLAGE - FEAT: JASON SEEMAN + JAMIE MACDOWELL + JOHN LILLIS + NICOLETTE FORTE + THE ELLIOTS Espy, St Kilda. 8:00pm. MARY OCHER + WATER MUSIC Old Bar, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. PATRON SAINTS Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. THE SIMON WRIGHT BAND + DJ BIG KAHUNA BURGER + DJ GHOST ORCHID + REDX Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. URBANTRAMPER + AINSLIE WILLS + DJ LOTION + THESE PATTERNS Workers Club, Fitzroy. 8:00pm.

Wednesday 13 June Lisa Mitchell w/ Georgia Fair, St. Michael’s Church, Corner Collins & Russel Street, Melbourne, 7:30pm, $55, ticketek.com.au or 132 849, AA

ACOUSTIC/COUNTRY/BLUES/FOLK JACK JOHNSTONE Veludo Bar & Restaurant, St Kilda. 8:30pm. LINCOLN MACKINNON John Curtin Hotel, Carlton. 8:00pm. OPEN MIC Empress Hotel, North Fitzroy. 7:30pm. RUTH LINDSEY Labour In Vain, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. THE LIMELIGHT Order Of Melbourne, Melbourne Cbd. 7:00pm. $10.

JAZZ/SOUL/FUNK/WORLD MUSIC ROCK/POP

33c PER WORD PER WEEK (INC GST)

Beat Magazine Page 54

Wednesday June 13, 2012 With Ruth Mihelcic

If your music was a chocolate bar, which one would it be, and why? Scorched Peanut Bar. Hard and full of nuts.

BANDS WANTED for artist showcase in the Espy Gershwin room. A great step towards bigger shows. Contact mark@gunnmusic.com.au

MUSICIANS WANTED

ACCESS ALL AGES

If someone made a movie about your life, who would play you? I’m not sure but they’d be incredibly handsome.

CLASSIFIEDS • Send your classified listing information to Beat Magazine at 3 Newton St, Richmond 3121 with a cheque, money order or credit card number (including expiry date and name on card, NOT AMEX or DINERS) (1.5% surcharge on Visa and MasterCard) OR deliver it yourself with cash OR you can email your classifieds to us - classifieds@beat.com.au with credit card details • DEADLINE IS THURSDAY 5pm, prior to Wednesdays publication • Minimum $5 charge per week. We do NOT accept classifieds over the phone - sorry.

+ BEAT PRESENT...

MAL WEBB 303, Northcote. 7:30pm. ST LEONARD’S Dizzy’s Jazz Club, Richmond. 8:00pm. $14. THE PAUL WILLIAMSON QUARTET Bennetts Lane Jazz Club, Melbourne. 8:30pm. $15. THE TURNING TIDE Open Studio, Northcote. 8:30pm.

THINK MOVING SUCKS? Call Little Red Trucks! Moving Melbourne everyday. Call 9380 6444 or head to www. littleredtrucks.com.au

Thursday 14 June Hip Hop Dance Lessons & Vocal Training w/ Rhiannon’s Performing Arts, Broadford Youth Centre, Broadford, 4:30pm – 6:30pm, Free, Buffy Leadbeater on 5734 6313, AA Friday 15 June Thick As Blood w/ Taken By Force, Mechanics Institute, 117 Sturt Street, Ballarat, killyourstereo.com, AA June Ka-Boom! w/ Prosthesis of Mind, Alice in Zombieland, Disparity, Kontact, Syndrome, and Brooklyn, Beaconsfield Community Complex, O’Neil Rd, Beaconsfield, 6pm – 10pm, $5, cardinia.vic.gov.au or Kaylie Sinnbeck on 1300 787 624, AA Zero Gravity Hip Hop Event, Melton Youth Services, 193 Barries Rd, Melton, 7pm – 9pm, melton.vic.gov.au/ youth or Michelle Read on 9747 5373, AA Saturday 16 June Guy Sebastian, Palais Theatre, Lower Esplanade, St Kilda, 7:30pm – 10:30pm, $65.50, ticketmaster.com. au or 136 100, AA Missy Higgins, Her Majesty’s Theatre, 219 Exhibition Street, Melbourne, 7:30pm, $65, ticketek.com.au or 132 849, AA

EMPLOYMENT FLAUNT IT. Internationally acclaimed producer of pro-feminist erotica looking for conﬁdent, adult women to smash the stereotypes and earn good money ($500 and up). Don’t overlook this til you’ve found out more about it. Rebecca 9495 6555 or www. feck.com.

SALES DJ RECORDS 12”-house/detroit techno/disco/rock for sale. Cheap! (Moving interstate). 1/9 Trevethic Road Springvale 3171. George 0409 383 773

SORRY GILL For biting your ﬁnger over a tiny piece of Milky Way, I’ll try and be more like Alby next time. Love Whatamess. BOSTON CELTICS Yours truly, LeBron.

SUBMIT YOUR GIGS TO GIGGUIDE@BEAT.COM.AU

Sunday 17 June Thick As Blood w/ Taken By Force, Phoenix Youth Centre, 72 Buckley Street, Footscray, oztix.com.au or 1300 762 545, AA 360 w/ Hermitude and Bam Bam, The Hi-Fi, 125 Swanston St, Melbourne, 12pm, $30 + bf, The Hi-Fi on 1300 843 443, U18 BItsat Seyoum w/ Anbessa Gebrehiwot, Tenzing Yeshi, Kairo, La Descarga, Ras Jahknow, Autochi, Koorie Tiddas Choir, Jerusalem Gospel Rumba, Click Fablice & Macc-too, and The Burundian Drummers, Fitzroy Town Hall, Napier St, Fitzroy, 12pm, Free, contact (03) 9201 1540, AA Missy Higgins, Her Majesty’s Theatre, 219 Exhibition Street, Melbourne, 7:30pm, $65, ticketek.com.au or 132 849, AA

GS T GI TS A L AL VEN GB ! E E & THE FRE E AR

FRIDAY JUNE 15TH

Wed. June 13th: wine, whiskey, women

8pm: Teresa Dixon 9pm: Rachel Byrnes Thurs. June 14th:

8pm: Hussy Hicks Fri. June 15th:

6-8pm: Trad Irish Music Sesh with Dan Bourke & friends Sat. June 16th:

9pm: Stomp Dog Sun. June 17th:

4pm: Lloyd Spiegel 6:30pm: Charles Jenkins

GREAT BRITAIN HOTEL

GEM 6TH BIRTHDAY BASH

THURS 14 JUNE

JACK DONNE + JACK MITCHELL

SATURDAY JUN 16TH

8PM SUN 17 JUNE

TUNES BY SABO

DJ JUMBO 10PM SAT 16 JUN

SHIPS PIANO + PHANTOM AGENT

SUNDAY JUN 17TH

9PM

WARREN EARL & THE ATOMIC ROCKERS

SUN 17 JUNE

GOYIM (TWO SETS) 8PM

WEEKLY ASSORTMENTS MonDAYS

FREE POOL ALL NIGHT

Tues. June 19th:

8pm: Weekly Trivia

“All Shows Always Free” The Drunken Poet, 65 Peel Street (directly opposite Queen Vic Market), Phone: 03 9348 9797. www.thedrunkenpoet.com.au

$10 PIZZA & POT

289 WELLINGTON ST COLLINGWOOD 94195170 WWW.THEGEMBAR.COM.AU

TueSDAYS

MRS SMITH’S TRIVIA $10 PIZZA & POT 9PM

WEDNESDAYS

OPEN MIC NIGHT 9PM

KITCHEN OPEN 6 NIGHTS

447 CHURCH ST RICHMOND 9429 5066 www.greatbritainhotel.com.au

• • • • • WEDNESDAY • • • • •

FRIDAY 15/6, 10PM

ADRIAN WHYTE & FRIENDS SATURDAY 16/6, 10PM

THE VOLCANIKS FRIDAY 22/6, 6PM

SWAMP MOTH FRIDAY 15/6, 10PM

ADRIAN WHYTE & FRIENDS

COMEDY TRIVIA QUIZ MEISTER THURSDAY JUNE 14TH NICK MURPHY & FRIENDS JUNE RESIDENCY ACOUSTIC SHOW FROM 8.30PM

SATURDAY JUNE 16TH CHERRYWOOD

MALACHI DOYLE & FRIENDS

• • • • • THURSDAY • • • • •

UNI NIGHT

DERBY THURSDYS

JUNE RESIDENCY FROM 5-7PM

CHECK OUT DERBY THURSDAYS ON FACEBOOK.

SUNDAY JUN 17TH JVG GUITAR METHOD

• • • • • SATURDAY • • • • •

WITH JON VON GOES (RRR) FROM

SATURDAY 23/6, 6PM

FROM 8PM. GREAT PRIZES & GIVEAWAYS.

5-7PM

MONDAY JUNE 18TH

SHE BAR

EVERY 2ND SATURDAY PRESENTS SHEBAR AN ALL GIRL NIGHT 9PM

SECRET MONDAY ACOUSTIC SHOW

FROM 8.30 PM WITH GUEST MUSOS

SATURDAY 16/6, 6PM THE FUTURAS & BEN ROGERS INSTRUMENTAL ASYLUM 64 FALCON, 10PM

FREE ENTRY ALWAYS!

TUESDAY JUNE 19TH RUTH LINDSEY & FRIENDS ACOUSTIC FROM

8.30PM

• • • • • SUNDAY • • • • •

BBQ

STARTS 5PM TILL LATE

TOWN HALL HOTEL 33 ERROL STREET, NORTH MELBOURNE (03) 9328 1983 FOR BAND BOOKINGS PLEASE CONTACT MILES: TOWNIEBANDS@GMAIL.COM SUBMIT YOUR GIGS TO GIGGUIDE@BEAT.COM.AU

Beat Magazine Page 55

BACKSTAGE

REHEARSAL PROFILE

KINDRED STUDIOS

THE PLACE FOR MUSICIANS

for more information or ad bookings call Aleksei on 9428 3600

Location: 212A Whitehall Street, Yarraville, 3012. Hours of operation: Monday - Friday 9am to midnight. Sat - Sun Midday to 6pm, Sat - Sun 6pm to 1am for events and performances by arrangement. Rooms and facilities: Front theatre stage, 11 music rehearsal rooms, chillout lounge, dance floor, free WiFi, live music, pool tables, group bookings, boutique and tap beer plus snacks available. Instruments available for hire: 2 x Marshall Combo Guitar Amps 1 x Marshall Speaker Cabinet (no head) 2 x Drum Kit 2 x Bass Amp (one stack, the other combo) 2 x Roland Keyboard

Cost of rooms and special deals: Monday to Thursday 6 hrs $65, 3 hrs $50 Solo 6 hrs $40, 3 hrs $30 Friday to Sunday 6 hrs $55, 3 hrs $40 Solo 6 hrs $30, 3 hrs $20 Parking and loading available? All day parking on Harris Street, with access to Kindred loading bay. Extras: Front theatre stage for live performance has a projector, theatre curtain, turntables, nexo rig and an in house sound technician for use. Phone: 03 9687 0233 or 0418 120 954 Website: www.kindredstudios.com.au E-mail: info@kindredstudios.com.au

18 Duffy street Burwood 3125

10 large and identical 30m2 rooms Air-con and ventilation in PA/foldback combos at 1000w Storage and every room Acoustic Engineer-designed soundproofing amp/kit hire

s s

• • • •

PH: (03) 903 88101 M: 0417 000 397 Email: hydrastudios@bigpond.com

Albums EPs Singles Demos

T-Bone Tunes Recording Studio, St Kilda

www.tbonetunes.com Former London-based EMI Studio Engineer Warm Toft Mixer, Classic Mics & Pre’s, Live Room, Protools or Logic, Lynx and more! 03 9005 5946 •

0437 244 371

Toyland Recording Studio zLive Bands, Singers, Demos, Albums zAnalog or Digital, Neve Pres, Neumann mics zRecording, Editing, Mixing, Mastering z25 Years Experience, we get the job done! z9482 2111 or 0412 060 664

www.toyland.com.au Beat Magazine Page 56

BACKSTAGE: BEAT’S ONE STOP SHOP FOR MUSICIANS

BACKSTAGE NOW RUNS IN FULL COLOUR! For new full colour ad pricing please contact Aleksei on 9428 3600 or email mixdown@beat.com.au

B A N D

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G R E E N

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PROVIDED

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PHOTOGRAPHIC AND VIDEO STUDIO Pro & Conc. Rates Available For Photographic, Music Video & Band Shoots Starting From $150 Multi-Purpose Change & Makeup Room Grip & Lighting gear available Communal Lounge & Wireless Internet Excellent on-site parking CONTACT: CY -ARTISTIC DIRECTOR- 0401 379 973

Brand New World Class PA Systems Clean studios with storage available Drum Practice Room On Site - Guitar, Amp & Drum Tech.

SESSION TIMES: Mon - Fri Day Session: 11am-5.30pm Night Session: 6pm - 11.30pm Saturday: 11am- 5.30pm LATE NIGHT ACCESSORIES STICKS, STRINGS, SKINS.

MUSIC TUITION: All teachers are professional performing musicians with qualifications. Lessons available in Drums, Piano/Keys, Guitar, Vocals, Bass and Ensemble.

Ph: 9529 1123 24 Maquarie St Prahran www.r2revolverrehearsals.com

w w w . t h e w h i t e r o o m . n e t . a u

PA HIRE

Vintage, New & Second Hand Amps, Effects Pedals & Rigs

Huge Selection – All major Brands

Comprehensive PA systems delivered, set up and operated with crew. Compact, easy, sound systems you can pickup and assemble yourself.Components such as microphones, speakers and effects are also available separately. Lights also available. For details phone Mark Barry on 03 9889 1999 or 0419 993 966

www.bssound.com.au bssound@bigpond.com

571 High Street Preston VIC 3072 Tel (03) 9471 1023 Fax (03) 9471 1919 Internet: www.jamhutstudios.com

Guitars and Amps wanted Top CA$H Paid

Clean and fully ventilated rooms with professional equipment. Complimentary tea & coffee.

REHEARSAL

Expert Guitar & Amp Repairs Mods & Restoration Fast Turnaround Affordable Rates Technicians on site

3 hr sessions from $40 6 hr sessions from $65 RECORDING

$60 per hour, ProTools HD with engineer

313 – 315 Whitehorse Rd BALWYN 3103 Phone: 03 9888 6899 www.eastgatemusic.com

EQUIPMENT HIRE Vocal PA’s from $80, ampliﬁers and drumkits available.

Become a part of our Musical Community

6 hour rehearsal from $35 Rehearsal Studios - Licensed Bar Emporium - Cafe - Venue www.soundrehearsalstudios.com.au 91 Cochranes Road, Moorabbin Vic 3189 Tel 9532 2288

IMPLANTMEDIA CD with 2 PAGE INSERT

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in PVC (sleeve)

100 - from $2.35 each 500 - $1.40 each 1000 - $1.08 each

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CD in CARD SLEEVE 100 - from $2.95 each 500 - from $1.80 each 1000 - from $1.30 each

CD with GATEFOLD

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12” Vinyl in PRINTED SLEEVE

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BACKSTAGE: BEAT’S MUSICIANS DIRECTORY

HUNDREDS OF OTHER PACKAGING OPTIONS AVAILABLE! FOR A PRICE ON ANY PACKAGE AT ANY TIME VISIT: WWW.IMPLANT.COM.AU/QUOTES Beat Magazine Page 57

LIVE

Photo by Nikki Lam

Photos by Charles Newbury

FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE Sunday May 20, Rod Laver Arena Everybody loves Florence Welch. Or at least it seems that way. As the hordes made their way to Rod Laver Arena, every specimen of human was in tow: from teenybopper girls clutching banners and doing their best to imitate their idol with dyed red hair and hippie headbands, all the way to groups of older men loaded up on beer from the footy, stocking up on more pints to get them through the show – and everything in between. As an ambient blue haze soaked the arena, the stage revealed Flo’s soaring silhouette to screams of adoration. She ripped into opener Only If For A Night and first impressions were good. The meaty drums sounded suitably huge and provided a solid foundation for Welch’s wails, which were as strong as ever. With her dark eye make-up and maroon cape, she looked almost demonic as she grasped the air and pointed out sections of the crowd – to the point that it was almost scary. However, after the first couple of numbers, it became evident that this was just part of her stage character, because as soon as a song finished, she would warm the crowd with her charm and jovial chit-chat, finding a way to dwarf the arena and give the gig a sense of intimacy that shouldn’t be possible. Despite sustaining a foot injury from earlier in the tour, this had done nothing to impede her energy. She galloped and twirled from one side of the stage to the other in the

on-form Cosmic Love and Rabbit Heart (Raise it Up) and it wasn’t until Shake It Out that cracks appeared in the set. For some reason, something just didn’t quite click; the band didn’t seem as bonded as they had previously been, and Florence wasn’t fully committing herself to the notes you’d expect her to. However, it turned out to be an anomaly. As soon as Dog Days Are Over came out, the crowd was bouncing in unison, and Spectrum saw Welch issuing screams of “say my name” atop a dangerously pulsating bassline. However it was Seven Devils that stood out – the atmospheric strings, eerie piano line and ghostly choral vocals provided a welcome break from the exhaustingly big choruses we had been dealt prior. Coming back out to an encore of No Light, No Light, the track saw Welch go back into psycho-mode as she banged on the drums like a mad, possessed witch. It proved to be good enough to justify a set omitting You’ve Got The Love and showed that Florence was definitely Florence; but on that night, Rod Laver Arena was the Machine, under her control. CALLUM FITZPATRICK LOVED: Seven Devils. HATED: Feeling like I was at a boy band concert. DRANK: A Sunday night lemonade.

BONJAH Friday June 8, Corner Hotel Melbourne blues and roots outfit Bonjah have got the world in their sights, but before setting off on a European tour the New Zealand four-piece played a farewell show at The Corner in Melbourne to say a heartfelt goodbye to the city that has become their second home. Kicking off the proceedings was Sunshine Coast fivepiece Mitch Davis & The Dawn Chorus, who played a short but powerful set, led by the bluesy riffs and soulful vocals of Mitch himself, and backed up by The Dawn Chorus’ tight rhythm section. They may have been the first on, playing to a thin crowd, but they still played with passion and potency. So much potency that according to Buckley Ward frontman Jimmy Allen, “we’re all pregnant” after their set. While Buckley Ward were a little more thoughtful and subdued, they were no less enchanting. Their lush melodies and ethereal soundscapes were a pleasure to behold. Maybe Allen and co. were slightly nervous about playing to a larger crowd than they’re used to, as they seemed a little stiff and lacking in stage presence, but this can be forgiven as their emotive pop songs are lovinglycrafted and were played with controlled deftness. Sonically, they reminded me of a cross between The Cure and Empire Of The Sun; pleasant and tuneful yet with underlying tones of heart-wrenching pathos. By the time Bonjah hit the stage The Corner was absolutely bustling with people who were all there to see the headliners play what could be their last Australian gig in a venue this modest. There was a sparkling atmosphere in the place, an understanding between band and crowd that this wasn’t just any gig, it was the start of something special. The hot-blooded funk rock of opening track Colours got

the crowd moving early on, and showcased how much soul the Bonjah guys have, especially singer Glen Mossop, whose gravelly tones are almost sultry in their delivery. The gig itself was put on in association with The Make A Wish Foundation, with $1 from each ticket sale being donated to the charity. Not only that, but at one point they brought on Tilly Aires from the foundation to sing a cover of Amy Winehouse’s Valerie and my god – that girl can sing! Bonjah treated the crowd with a set that showcased their full range of eclectic abilities, from the aforementioned funk, through the quiet, contemplative blues of Go Go Chaos, to the campfire sing-along of Bring Back The Fire and the rousing indie rock of crowd favourite The White Line. The band were on superb form throughout, playing with energy and passion, and the sound was thick and full, with extra emphasis given to the pounding drums. Years of busking have shaped Bonjah into a solid and versatile live act; a fact which is accentuated when, halfway through Fly, Mossop left the stage and the remaining band members seamlessly broke into an impromptu Jam. Little moments like this made for a special and memorable night, and left the adoring crowd beaming at the end. If they can put on performances like that every night while they tour Europe, they’ll be returning a much bigger band. ADAM ROBERTSHAW LOVED: The atmosphere inside. HATED: The rain outside. DRANK: Carlton Draught.

DEVIN Thursday May 24, Northcote Social Club

Photos by Ben Clement

RAP CITY 2012 - GHOSTFACE KILLAH, DOOM Saturday June 9, The Forum Hip hop has grown to attract a broad range of listeners. Few hip hop artists embody this diversity as much as Ghostface Killah and DOOM. The Forum was a sea of snapbacks, hipsters and hardcore hip hop heads for one of the year’s most lyrical events, Rap City. While proceedings took a bit of time to pick up, the electric energy inside the venue was palpable from the start. Following opener Killah Priest, the masked DOOM made his way to the stage after what seemed like a relatively brief wait for a hip hop gig. In some ways it was an odd choice to have DOOM on so early, as he would seem the logical lead-in directly before Ghostface. Living up to his on-record persona the revered MC breezed through his catalogue of solo classics and collaborations (Madvillain, DangerDoom) with all of the quirky charm you would expect. While his mangled diction didn’t translate as well live during parts of the set, it was enough to keep DOOM disciples nourished. Recognised as one of hip hop’s finest wordsmiths, while remaining criminally underrated in mainstream circles, Chino XL proved that he’s still got it with a blistering set. At times it appeared that Chino may have lost some punters with his complex rhyme patterns. However, after a stunning freestyle, where he referenced everyone from Beat Magazine Page 58

Chris Brown and Rihanna to the Queen, Chino had the whole crowd fired up. With the stage set, the beloved Ghostface Killah made his entrance. From the moment the classic Criminology blared out of the speakers it was clear who the crowd was there to see. Tony Starks did not disappoint as he delivered every verse with pure energy. The atmosphere at a fever pitch he rocked through a crowd participation edition of Protect Ya Neck, where members of the audience were brought on stage. As Ghostface said his thanks and made his way to the merch stand to sign autographs, you were left with a sense that you were part of something special. While it seemed to be over very quickly, you still felt that you got bang for your buck. ANDREW ‘HAZARD’ HICKEY

LOVED: The enthusiasm of the performers. HATED: The constant pleas of “we’ve travelled all the way here to perform for you tonight” in an effort to get more of a crowd response. DRANK: James Boags.

Devin – the little guy that could. Well there’s drums and bass too, they just don’t really cop a mention in the band name. Sucked in. Anyhow, filing into the Northcote Social Club I was frothing pretty hard due to the addition of The Delta Riggs on the bill. It was a bit of weird one as they were the only support on the night. It’s a shame as any number of Melbourne bands could have easily slid right into that opening slot. The Delta Riggs didn’t seem fazed and by the end had enough punters gathering up the pieces of their brain from the walls and floor of the NSC. The Riggs didn’t mind, clearly getting more and more used to leaving brains splattered across sticky carpets. Have you seen them? Take a long hard look at yourself if you haven’t. I’m-a go ahead and call them our generation’s Rolling Stones. I know Jagger and co. are still kicking it, but you know what I mean. Mr Elliot Hammond was put on Earth to tickle ivory in a rock’n’roll band and tonight is no exception. Showbiz McConnell made sure his drums knew he hated them, laying in non-stop. Mary, a tasty treat off the new EP is a damn sexy tune and killer live as are triple j favourites Money and Counter Revolution. There is no denying these guys put on a filthy, sweaty,

baby-making show. Next up is the main Devin (and band). He is pretty fucking good at what he does. True to form, the soldout Melbourne crowd seemed pretty unimpressed with everything and certainly wouldn’t be caught dead having a boogie. So Devin strutted around and at times looked a little like he was in a bad dream as everyone just stood there and stared back. The songs sounded great, if not a touch repetitive. You’re Mine was CD perfect and Masochist got similar treatment. For a punk rock threepiece, it sounded giant. Devin also got his taste of Aussie hilarity when during one pre-song-intro-anecdote some drunkard made a poo gag. Devin chose to ignore it a press on. Error. The drunkard said it again. Hat off to you sir, love your work. (The poo guy, not Devin. Although Devin was pretty good.) JACK PARSONS LOVED: Drunk Guy. And The Delta Riggs. HATED: Devin ignoring drunk guy. DRANK: Egg nog.

SEEKAE Sunday May 27, Vivid LIVE: Sydney Opera House +DOME, Seekae’s immaculate 2011 release, never really got the recognition it deserved. But I suppose when we’re dealing with glitchy IDM electronica, the record probably ended up punching above its weight in the Australian music arena. Tonight at the Opera House, we witnessed a transformation that will transpose Seekae into the next echelon – one that will hopefully result in a deserved widespread acknowledgement. The opening portion of the set was supplemented with an eight-piece string section. The symphonic touch is hardly breaking any new ground, but the organic lushness complemented the harsh electronica elements to a stunning effect. All the while, the three unassuming lads from Seekae threw each other wry smiles, dutifully noting the somewhat ridiculous magnitude of the setting. After the evening’s string-adorned component closed, the performance took an unexpected turn. While we were sold on the premise of the orchestral, Seekae utilised the setting to debut a collection of tracks featuring vocals. Turns out these dudes can actually sing. Building upon their post-dubstep qualities, the new works are comparable to those of James Blake and Chet Faker.

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After showcasing the new material, the band moved into their familiar formation to perform some of +DOME’s standout cuts. It says something when one simple, glitched tone can instigate a flurry of whoops and whistles – as was the case when the flawless 3 began. There they were, three dudes and their sound machines utilising the Opera House theatre’s PA to full effect, trying to hold back their smiles. Tonight Seekae ruled the country’s most iconic venue. Next stop, the world. Ambling down the stairs into Circular Quay I looked around at Harbour Bridge, at MCA, and up at the sails. Everything was illuminated, everything was amazing. There was definitely something special happening in Sydney that week. LACHLAN KANONIUK

LOVED: The sound quality was breathtaking. HATED: Being confined to a seat when the urge to dance kicked in. DRANK: A smuggled bottle of wine. Classy.