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Movies • TV • Comics • Anime • Sci-fi • Fantasy • Games • Cosplay • Wrestling • Comps • Fun
Tuxedo Mask! Flame Princess! Death The Kid! ...and so much more! *
The Australian Timezone Supanova Pinball Championship!
ets or k c i T e do h g h at rt throu o
Also featuring zombie masters Tony (The Walking Dead) Moore and Arthur (Zombie King) Suydam
Melbourne ShowgroundS April 11 and 12 w w w. s u p a n ov a . c o m /beat
*All guests confirmed health and other commitments pending. †Must be accompanied by a paying adult.
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OPEN TIL 5AM FRI & SAT NIGHT +
HUGE BEER GARDEN BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 6
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0s 3 R 5* E D UN LY $3 ON
BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE DIRECTOR PETER EVANS
23 APRIL – 10 MAY ARTS CENTRE MELBOURNE BOOK NOW
ARTSCENTREMELBOURNE.COM.AU 1300 182 183
#AsYouLikeIt2015 *Valid Sunday – Wednesday performances only. Subject to availability. Transaction fees apply.
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WE DO
2
LIVE MUSIC: Thursday March 26
Melbourne Hit Parade (covers the sounds of classical rock, Sat 28 March 5pM
Gun Barrel StraiGhtS Folk-rock act makinG itS
union deBut – think the PoGueS meetS the StoneS via Paul kelly.
Sat 28 March 9pM
collard, GreenS &
Gravy Gritty
down-home, Foot-StomPin’ BlueS that would Sound riGht at home in a miSSiSSiPPi Juke Joint. led By ian collard.
Sun 29 March 3.30pM
Fenn
11am to 1am O P E N 7 D AYS
DJS FRIDAY/SATURDAY
wilSon
younG Gun SinGer-SonGwriter.
Sun 29 March 5pM
Small town
romance two-StePPerS, Get Primed
For thiS uPBeat Five-Piece PlayinG country claSSicS and honkytonk heart-StoPPerS.
Globe Alley (off Little Bourke St.)
(03) 9663 4041 .BELLEVILLE-MELBOURNE.COM
BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 8
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funk, soul & rnb) 8PM
Friday March 27
The Gami Gami Devils (country/folk) 9PM
Sunday March 29
The Rusty Terminals (acoustic rock covers) 5PM
Thursday April 9
Simon Paparo (originals) 8PM
Friday April 10
The Clichés
(covers the sounds of classical rock, funk, soul & rnb) 8PM Sunday April 12
MISPRINT presents Sunday Songwriters Cam Mineo, Nicola Brown, Bun & Boots, Nardia B, The Bean Project (originals) - 5PM Thursday April 16
Acoustic Sessions w/ Nardia B. feat Paul Vergara
& Thomas Byrne (jazz, soul & blues originals). 8PM
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SUPPORT LOCAL MUSIC
BECOME A MEMBER OF MUSIC VICTORIA MUSIC VICTORIA
FROM $33
BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 12
MORE INFO: MUSICVICTORIA.COM.AU
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in this issue
16
hot talk
20
tourinG
22
the ProdiGy
24
whats on, absinthe
25
art oF the city, cominG uP
26
ellyn stern
27
2015 melbourne international comedy Festival Guide (liFt out)
95
out oF the closet
99
beth hart, boxwars
100
countinG crows, michael Franti & sPearhead
101
music victoria, the dead salesmen, Gabriel & cecilia
102
child, mastodon
the ProdiGy page 22
boxwars page 99
103
core/crunch, iron reaGan
104
music news
109
live
108
album oF the week, sinGles, charts
mastodon page 102
child page 102
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HOT TALK
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Q&A WED 25TH MARCH
MALLARD MOVIES + PBS FMS’ HOMBREW PRESENT:
BURIED COUNTRY + BOOK LAUNCH
/ Q&A WITH CLINTON WALKER
(AUTHOR/FILM MAKER) SHOWTIME 8:30PM.
60 Seconds With…
THURS 26TH MARCH
SPOOKYLAND
(SYD)
+ SUNBEAM SOUND MACHINE SHOWTIME 9.30PM.
FRI 27TH MARCH
HORNS OF LEROY
Stick this in your pipe and smoke it. Cheech and Chong, the high flying 1970s comedy duo have returned for their Up In Smoke – The Greatest Hits tour. The pair are taking their hippie/stoner stand-up to Melbourne for a single show at The Palais, with tickets on sale from Thursday March 26 at 4.20pm (pun most likely intended) at ticketmaster.com.
SHOWTIME 9PM.
SAT 28TH MARCH
DAVID FRANCEY(CA) +
LUCY WISE
DOORS/DINNER 6PM | SHOWTIME 8:30PM
SUN 29TH MARCH BRARSEY SUNDAYS:
FUNK BUDDIES 4.30PM
TUES 31ST MARCH
FACT HUNT (TRIVIA) QUIZ STARTS 8.30PM
WED 1ST APRIL
LABORASTORY DOORS 6PM | STORIES FROM 8PM
THURS 2ND APRIL
Submerge
CHEECH AND CHONG
EPICURE
Laying dormant for the past five years after packing up and calling it a day, Ballarat rockers Epicure have announced their reformation for some special one-off shows across Australia, celebrating their limited edition double vinyl release of 2004’s The Goodbye Girl via Heart of the Rat Records (due April 4). The Goodbye Girl was the band's sophomore LP, spawning triple j Hottest 100 hits Armies Against Me, Life Sentence and Self Destruct In Five. Catch Epicure perform in Melbourne on Saturday May 2 at Northcote Social Club. Tickets are available at northcotesocialclub.com.
RAT & CO
Before The Shadow Electric winds up for another season and take down their cinema screen for the winter, they’ll throw one last rager. Rat & Co will present their first headline show this year, with Sleep D supporting fresh off the back of this year’s much talked about Golden Plains appearance. They’ll be joined by Ollie Elmers on visuals served up in full HD on the giant screen and Jesse Fultone and LA Pocock on the DJ decks. It goes down on Thursday April 2. Hit shadowelectric.com.au for more details.
BETTY & OSWALD
Garnering a respectable following in Sydney, Betty & Oswald are taking their arthouse blues/jazz fusion to test the waters in Melbourne following the release of their new single King of Bohemia after refining their songwriting in Montreal late last year. Clearly big fans of America’s big white hat, the band are performing an east coast tour of Australia before flying off to Canada in May for performances during Canadian Music Week. Melbourne will host two free shows – one at Sooki Lounge in Belgrave on Friday April 17 and the other at The Espy on Saturday April 18.
NANA MOUSKOURI
Greek superstar Nana Mouskouri will return to Australia for the first time in ten years next month. One of the topselling female artists ever, Mouskouri has sold over 300 million albums over the span of her nearly 60-year career. She is best known for her 1961 single White Roses. The tour, which comes just months after her 80th birthday, will see her play five exclusive shows. See Nana Mouskouri at Hamer Hall on Tuesday April 14. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster. Something For Kate
MZAZA
“GHOSTS” TOUR +
LA MAUVAISE REPUTATION DOORS 6PM | SHOWTIME 8:30PM
MONDAY 6TH APRIL
LUKE WINSLOWKING
So then, what’s the band name and what do you ‘do’ in the band? We are called Submerge and I’m the singer, Ronnie. What do you reckon people will say you sound like? We’re not trying to emulate any one band, we’ve crafted our own sound. We are influenced by bands like Mastodon (why we are in Melbourne), Tool, Karnivool, Deftones, Jericco and Cher. What do you love about making music? The ability to scream at the world without it screaming back at you, even to the point that people will scream along with you. That’s when you know you have someone on the same plain as you. It’s very cathartic. What do you hate about the music industry? Pretentious wankers who think they are the music industry. If you could travel back in time and show one of your musical heroes your stuff, who would it be and why? Jim Morrison from The Doors. He’s the reason I started writing and singing when I was a kid. What can a punter expect from your live show? Some high energy, hang-from-therafters shit. That’s if The Brunny has rafters. What’ve you got to sell CD-wise? We’ll have a self-titled three song EP for sale on the night. Anything else to add? We are currently working with Sylvia Massy (Tool, Deftones, System of the Down) on our single to be released in a few months. Check out SUBMERGE at The Brunswick Hotel on Saturday March 28.
(USA)
DOORS 6PM | SHOWTIME 8:30PM
CRAFTY PINTS $8
SOMETHING FOR JOHN BENEFIT GIG
4-6PM DAILY
KITCHEN HOURS: TUES-THURS FROM 4PM
NEW HAIR OF THE DUCK MENU
SAT - SUN FROM 2PM
TICKETS
For ticket sales visit www.spottedmallard.com
314 SYDNEY RD BRUNSWICK
BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 16
FLEETWOOD MAC
Fleetwood Mac are back. After an unfortunate cancellation of their 2013 Australian tour, Fleetwood Mac are returning for their On With The Show Tour which will undoubtedly culminate in a room full of impassioned fans howling Go Your Own Way with starry eyes and clenched fists. Featuring all five founding members, the tour marks the first time that Fleetwood Mac have toured in their original lineup since 1998, so make sure you catch this rare event while it lasts. Tickets go on sale at 10am on Wednesday April 1 for two shows at Rod Laver Arena on Monday November 2 and Wednesday November 4 – or if you miss that, a third show at Mt Dundeed Estate, Geelong on Saturday November 7. Tickets available at livenation.com.au.
Something For Kate, Clare Bowditch and Darren Middleton are teaming up to host a benefit gig at The Corner to help raise funds for John Hedigan, who has recently been diagnosed with a brain tumor. Hedigan, who toured in 2009 with Something For Kate and helped Clare Bowditch on the road to becoming an established musician has left a quiet but profound impact on the Australian music scene. With several special guests penned in to join, you can catch this crop of exceptional Australian talent on Sunday April 19 at The Corner Hotel (the first show sold out mighty fast, so best get moving and nab yourself a ticket). All proceeds go towards John and his family.
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THE FUNKOARS
Citing an urge to bring back hard '80s street justice into the Australian hip hop scene, the Funkoars are returning with their fifth full length album In Case Of Emergency and a tour to boot. The boys are taking on Melbourne with two shows at The Workers Club on Thursday May 14 and Friday May 15. Tickets available at thefunkoars.com.
BEAT MAGAZINE & CHEERSQUAD PRESENT
BaR WedneSdAy 25 mArcH
Open Mic
Show the boogie man what you’ve got ! free drink to encourage every performer!
tHurSdAy 26 mArcH
THe WeiGHT OF SiLence devoid of All
fridAy 27 mArcH
SLYDeR
with Siyor and me- Graines roy mackonkey SAturdAy 28 mArcH
WOnROWe ViSiOn with Little House Godz Turret SundAy 29 mArcH
LipSTicK AnD SpURS cHOiR After Work HAppy Hour from 4pm:
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VISIT OUR WEBSITE!
ESPY.COM.AU
THU
26 MAR FRI
27 MAR SAT
28 MAR SUN
29 MAR
B AS E M E N T FREE!
F R O N T B A R FREE!
SAN SAKAAR
EZEKIEL OX
THE PRINTER CONVENTION. 8.30PM
N.BRAHJ. FROM 9PM
AMBER ISLES, HUNGRY & FOOLISH JAMES MANGOHIG F R O N T B A R FREE!
B AS E M E N T $10 AT DOOR
G E R S H W I N $10 AT DOOR
PAT CHOW (WA)
BLACK ACES
DIANA RADAR
JOHNNY DANGER, SUPER SALOON HEMY & MARSHALL. FROM 9PM
YOU YANGS, SADULTS. FROM 9PM
NOISY WHISPERS
TWO HEADED DOG, JULIA WHY? ROLLING PERPETUAL GROOVE SHOW. F R O N T B A R FREE!
EARLY OPENERS
B AS E M E N T FREE!
G E R S H W I N PRE $20+BF
MASSIVE
ROCKAPALOOZA
LEANNA KINGWELL, CITY SHARPS
RAGING IN THE MACHINE, RHCP TRIBUTE TOLLS, JACK VIE.
SMOKE STACK RHINO
FAITH NO MORE TRIBUTE
THE PEOPLE feat.
F R O NFORMOSA T BAR ALEX BAUDO
MAYFIELD, SUPERSOUNDS MIXTAPE. FROM 6PM
HOLY HOLY
+ AINSLIE WILLS + FOREIGN/NATIONAL RESIDENCIES ALL FREE!
GUNN MUSIC SHOWDOWN
PAST PRESENT, FORMILES, KIMBERLEY HEBERLEY BENEATH THE LIES, ARCTIC TEMPLE, RED SOAKING WET AIRWAVES, CYPRUS, SKYMOTH. FROM 12.30PM
T H U R S DAY 2 A P R I L
THE FIREBALLS
+ LOS CHICOS (ESP) + THE KAVE-INN + KIT CONVICT & THEE TERRIBLE TWO
M O N DAYS
T U E S DAYS
W E D N E S DAYS
+ SPECIAL GUESTS FREE ENTRY - 7PM
BAYSIDE MUSO NITE 7.30PM
UNSIGNED MUSO NITE 7.30PM
88 with MOSÉ
MINI COOP
G E R S H W I N TIX $12 VIA BANDS
F R O N T B A R FREE!
T H U R S DAY 2 A P R I L
KRYPTIC
‘BRIGHTSIDE’ ‘COLLAGE’
SAT U R DAYS
PHIL PARA
+ SPECIAL GUESTS FROM 6PM
SAT U R DAY 1 1 A P R I L
MOBB DEEP (USA)
+ MOTLEY & CROWNED CARTEL + MISTRESS OF CEREMONY + SINKS + DJ DISCOURSE
SAT U R DAY 4 A P R I L FREE ENTRY!
KING OF THE NORTH
+ CHILD + THE BLACK ALLEYS +HOUSEWRECKERS + PHIL PARA
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BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 17
74 JOHNSTON ST FITZROY 9417 4155
theoldbar.com.au OPEN 4Pm - 3am mON-FRI 2Pm - 3am SaT-SuN FREE WI FI
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Q&A
MOn - fRi til 7pM - $6 pints MOndays - $15 Jugs Mt gOat sundays - $10 Jugs uniCORn lageR $5 Cans eveRy day/night
Talking shop with Evan Read from
Wednesday 25th MaRCh
EatNoise
Maps Of tasMania the phOsphenes eaRly nights
8pM $8
What’s EatNoise all about then?
thuRsday 26th MaRCh
supeR Best fRiends
pat ChOW Captives the lOst day
8pM $10
fRiday 27th MaRCh
Kids Of ZOO OuCh My faCe flOuR speRMaids
The Strange 8:30pM $10
satuRday 28th MaRCh
gOd BOWs tO Math(nZ)
pale heads (deBut shOW) geneRal Men OveRtiMe 8.30pM $10 sat aRvO:
pete COnveRy (flOuR), alex haMiltOn (piCKeRs), BOB haRROW (iMMigRant uniOn) penguin ClassiCs 2pM fRee sunday 29th MaRCh
BeeRsOaKed sundays: suMMeR BlOOd
KING PARROT
King Parrot have announced a brand spankin’ new album and a tour to boot. Recorded by the legendary Philip H. Anselmo (Pantera, Down) at his Nodferatu’s Lair studio in New Orleans, Dead Set showcases the signature King Parrot sound, laying waste to the senses with high octane grind, thrashing riffs, pummelling beats and punk rock mayhem. Catch ‘em on Saturday May 16 at The Corner or on Sunday 17 May at Wrangler. Hit Nerve Gas’ website for more details.
apaRt fROM this paRty viBeZ
8pM fRee
MOnday 30th MaRCh
Mundane MOndays:
the Midnight sOl MORphMeMe dReaM fatigue
8pM $5
tuesday 31st MaRCh
CReeping BaM +guests
8pM $6
band bookings: bandbookings@theoldbar.com.au
www.thepublicbar.coM.au
2 3 8 V i c t o r i a s t, n o r t h M e l b o u r n e open til 4aM fri/sat
$6 Pints eveRy day until 7PM $10 Jugs eveRy day until 8PM $5 Cans all the tiMe
EatNoise is a new online service for original bands, live music venues and fans hungry for live music. It’s a social platform that fuses the great communication aspects of Facebook with the solid points of what once made MySpace great, and is dedicated to live, original music. It’s to live music, what bandcamp is to recorded music, and I’m trying to do what Bandsintown and Songkick does, but better with much more interactivity. What is the most rewarding aspect about running EatNoise? I’ve played in bands before, and while it’s great fun playing music, there’s also a ton of hardships to overcome: they’re the last to get paid, building a fan base, selling albums, and making a living. More than just talent, it takes guts, commitment and putting yourself out there.
MILES AWAY
After taking a five year break to work on new material, Miles Away are releasing their follow-up LP, Tide. Piecing together the album via email correspondence from Berlin to Perth, Tide stands as a successful attempt for the Perth hardcore act to fine tune the songwriting process, producing an 11-track record full of emotive melodies and explosive vocals. Miles Away are throwing the launch at Northcote Social Club on Thursday May 14, supported by Philadelphia hardcore act Blacklisted. Tickets on sale from Oztix.
Tell us about the EatNoise Launch Party at The Workers Club on Friday March 27. We’ve got a sensational and diverse lineup. First, we’ve got James Grim’s (Brothers Grim & The Blue Murders) new band, dirty country outfit James Grim Woodcutters, then the rockabilly group The Rechords. Third, we’re introducing rockers The Black Guild with members from Fuck the Fitzroy Doom Scene, Dirty York and The Living End. Headlining are psych rockers The Strange, who are launching their single and video clip Piece of Your Strange. Plus, we’ve got some Burlesque. We love burlesque; it’s a perfect match for live rock’n’roll. EATNOISE is launching this Friday March 27 at The Worker's Club.
FREE SHIT LUKE WINSLOW-KING
After busting out some impressive slide guitar for SXSW, New Orleans deltafolk musician Luke Winslow-King will be touring Australia for the first time ever in April. The tour will take Winslow-King and his wife Esther Rose on a five date tour across Australia, with a headlining slot penned in at The Spotted Mallard on Monday April 8. Tickets available via livenation.com.au.
Wednesday 25th MaRCh
Mild Manic Colourblind, bound by Hound ZepHyr
THE AVENUE PRESENTS
All ages fans, listen up. To celebrate National Youth Week in April, The Avenue Presents have dropped a seriously colossal live music grenade for the all ages crowds. Check this shit out. The mammoth all-star lineup will feature the likes of stoner-pals The Bennies, sleazy surf-rock freaks Guantanamo Baywatch (US), wild garage party-starters Mesa Cosa, and those crazy rock’n’roll fiends Grenadiers. It all goes down on Sunday April 11 at Queens Park in Moonee Ponds. Visit beat.com.au/freeshit to score a double pass on us.
VEGAN CRUISE GIVEAWAY
Melbourne’s favourite vegan hotspot Mantra Lounge are hitting the waters this Sunday with their Vegan Cruise 2015, promising the city’s best vegan foods garnished with the spectacular sights and sounds of the Yarra. In addition to the delicious vegan cuisine there’ll be a selection of speakers and entertainment, including a Q and A session with President of Vegetarian Victoria, Mark Doneddu. Mantra Lounge have kindly thrown two cruise tickets our way, head over to beat.com.au/freeshit if you want in.
8pm. Free enTry
BLUESFEST 2015
thuRsday 26th MaRCh
iconic ViVisect morbid AnAl, oligArCH, SToning
Byron Bay Bluesfest is kicking off Thursday, and with most of the ticket options sold out, we got you covered for the best sideshows. Beat’s got a hold of double passes for G. Love & Special Sauce, Chris Robinson Brotherhood and The Beat gigs going down this weekend, and we’re giving them all away. Click on beat.com.au/freeshit for your shot at the tickets.
8pm. $10
FRiday 27th MaRCh
corpus
union pACiFiC, old love, employmenT 8.30pm. $10
satuRday 28th MaRCh
Mesa cosa
migHTy boyS, dumb punTS, JurASSiC nArk, purple duCk, bone Soup kArAoke 8pm. $10
sunday 29th MaRCh
coastal shelf SweeT wHirl, SAm kArmel 4pm. Free
MOnday 30th MaRCh
sulks
penguin ClASSiCS, JASon bAngS 7pm. $5
tuesday 31st MaRCh
the dare ohhs guy perkinS 7pm. $5
kiTCHen open:
mon - THu 5pm - 9pm, Fri - SAT 12pm - 9pm Sun - 12pm - 8pm www.Misskatiescrabshack.coM
BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 18
MONEY FOR ROPE
Touted as holding some insane rock’n’soul surf garage parties, Melbourne six-piece rock act Money For Rope are set for a show at Ding Dong Lounge featuring some whopping double drum-kit action amongst a soiree of odd instruments (there’s a kazoo in there somewhere). Tickets are $10+BF presale at dingdonglounge.com, or can be purchased on the door at the show on Saturday March 28. Supporting are Horace Bones and Trans Paranoia.
DEEZ NUTS
Deez Nuts’ forthcoming album Word Is Bond will see the Melbourne/New York based band wrap up a world tour with shows announced this week for Melbourne on Friday June 12 at Arrows, and Saturday June 13 at The Corner. Supporting the Australian leg of the Word Is Bond tour will be Antagonist A.D, releasing their album Haunt Me As I Roam, along with hardcore acts Relentless and Earth Caller. Tickets available from oztix.com.au.
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5 1 - 5 5 G E R T R U D E S T, F I T Z R O Y. P H . ( 0 3 ) 9 4 1 5 6 5 5 8
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SATURDAY 28 MARCH Matinee:
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SUNDAY 29 MARCH Matinee:
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AYLEEN O'HANLON, BLACK SOUL CHOIR, THE WAY 1:30PM / $15+BF
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MONDAY MARCH 30
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ALISON WONDERLAND RUN DEBUT ALBUM FEATURING THE SINGLES
I WANT U + U DON’T KNOW OUT NOW
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BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 19
TOURING
WHO'S ON TOUR, WHERE AND WHEN
For all the latest tour dates check out beat.com.au
INTERNATIONAL
NATIONAL BRARSEY SUNDAYS The Spotted Mallard March 25 – April 26 ADALITA The Gasometer March 25 NORTHEAST PARTY HOUSE Northcote Social Club April 25 PAT CHOW The Old Bar March 26 LOON LAKE Shebeen March 26 THE HILLS ARE ALIVE The Farm March 27 – 29 TIMBERWOLF Shebeen Bandroom March 27 LISA MITCHELL Howler March 27 BIG SMOKE Howler March 28 THE CONTROLLERS The Worker Club March 28 MONEY FOR ROPE Ding Dong Lounge March 28 SKYSCRAPER STAN AND THE COMMISSION FLATS The Gasometer March 28 PENINSULA PICNIC Mornington Racecource March 29 THE WAIFS Thornbury Theatre April 1 THE BOMBAY ROYALE The LuWow April 2 RAT & CO Shadow Electric April 2 CAPTIVES The Espy April 3 THE MURLOCS Northcote Social Club April 3 BOOGIE 9 Bruzzy’s Farm, Tallarook April 3 – 5 HUSKY The Espy April 5 ROLLING GREEN FESTIVAL Rochford Wines Yarra Valley April 5 HOBBLE DAY John Curtin Hotel April 10 THE GOOD MORROWS Ding Dong Lounge April 10 BENNY WALKER Thornbury Theatre April 10
LAURA JEAN The Gasometer Hotel April 11 BY THE MEADOW FESTIVAL Bambra, Victoria April 11 – 12 THEM BRUINS Workers Club April 11 CLINT BOGE The Evelyn Hotel April 11 IRON RAEGAN The Tote April 11 THE AVENUE PRESENTS Queens Park April 11 AUGIE MARCH Melbourne Recital Centre April 15 ANDY BULL 170 Russell April 17 CALLING ALL CARS Ding Dong Lounge April 17 DARREN HANLON Corner Hotel April 17 BABAGANOUJ The Grace Darling April 17 BETTY & OSWALD Sooki Lounge April 17, The Espy April 18 LIA MICE The Grace Darling April 18 JORDIE LANE The Toff In Town April 18, 19 SOMETHING FOR JOHN BENEFIT GIG Corner Hotel April 19 MELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA’S ANZAC TRIBUTE CONCERT Hamer Hall April 23, 24 THE DELTA RIGGS Corner Hotel April 23 JEMMA & THE CLIFTON HILLBILLIES The Gasometer Hotel April 23 NANTES Shebeen April 24 BONJAH Howler April 24 TKAY MAIDZA Northcote Social Club April 24 THUNDAMENTALS Corner Hotel April 24 CHAINSAW HOOKERS The Public Bar April 24 MONTAIGNE Wesley Anne April 25 ONE DAY Prince Bandroom May 1 EPICURE Northcote Social Club May 2 MONTGOMERY Shebeen May 8 LURCH & CHIEF Howler May 9 CHERRYROCK015 featuring Red Fang, Beastwars, Child and more, AC/DC Lane Sunday May 10 THE FUNKOARS The Workers Club May 14, 15 JOHNNY CASH IN SOLITARY Flying Saucer Club May 14 MILES AWAY Northcote Social Club May 14 COURTNEY BARNETT The Forum May 15 THE CASANOVAS Ding Dong Lounge May 15 KING PARROT Corner Hotel May 16, Wrangler Studios May 17 CRAFT & CULT 2015 Grumpy’s Green May 20 SAN CISCO 170 Russell May 22, Hi-Fi Bar May 23 (U18) THE GETAWAY PLAN Corner Hotel May 22 THE PEEP TEMPEL Howler May 23 SUPERSUCKERS & THE BELLRAYS Corner Hotel May 29 SHE WHO ROCKS TOUR Hi-Fi Bar May 29 HOT DUB TIME MACHINE Hi-Fi Bar June 5 IN HEARTS WAKE 170 Russel June 5, Arrows June 6 (U18) DEEZ NUTS Arrows June 12, Corner Hotel June 13 DALLAS FRASCA Howler June 19 TITLE FIGHT Corner Hotel June 26 DARREN COGGAN The Palms July 3 MSO BACK TO THE FUTURE LIVE The Plenary November 6, 7
RUMOURS: HOT CHIP, FLORENCE + THE MACHINE, MUMFORD AND SONS
PROUDLY PRESENTS
MAR
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CHARLES BRADLEY Corner Hotel
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G. LOVE AND SPECIAL SAUCE Thornbury Theatre
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THE WATERBOYS Melbourne Recital Centre March 27 MASTODON Festival Hall March 27 THE HILLS ARE ALIVE The Farm March 27 – 29 EMERY Northcote Social Club March 29 SWITCHFOOT 170 Russell March 31 KEB’ MO’ Melbourne Recital Centre March 31 CHARLES BRADLEY Corner Hotel March 30, April 1 JURASSIC 5 Festival Hall April 1 PAOLO NUTINI Palais Theatre April 1 TONY JOE WHITE Ding Dong Lounge April 1 LOS CHICOS The Espy April 2, The Tote April 3, Boogie Festival April 4, Barwon Club April 5, The Retreat Hotel April 10 SERENA RYDER Northcote Social Club April 2 MICHAEL FRANTI Festival Hall April 2 BETH HART Melbourne Recital Centre April 2 INNER VARNIKA TBA, Victoria April 3 – 5 BOOGIE 9 Bruzzy’s Farm, Tallarook April 3 – 7 REBELUTION Corner Hotel April 3 GEORGE CLINTON & PARLIAMENT FUNKADELIC 170 Russell April 3 BAND OF SKULLS Bluesfest, Byron Bay April 3, Rochford Wines April 5, Corner Hotel April 7 WAZE & ODYSSEY Royal Melbourne Hotel April 3 COUNTING CROWS Palais Theatre April 4 G. LOVE AND SPECIAL SAUCE Thornbury Theatre April 4 THE CHRIS ROBINSON BROTHERHOOD Corner Hotel April 4 THE BLACK KEYS Rolling Green April 5, Margaret Court Arena April 7 TROMBONE SHORTY AND ORLEANS AVENUE Corner Hotel April 6 HUNTER HAYES Prince Bandroom April 6 DISPATCH Palais Theatre March 31, Prince Bandroom April 7 RODRIGO Y GABRIELA Palais Theatre April 7 POKEY LAFARGE Caravan Club April 8, Corner Hotel April 9 GARY CLARK JR. 170 Russell April 8 JIMMY CLIFF Corner Hotel April 8 GUANTANAMO BAYWATCH Barwon Club April 8, The Tote April 9, Queens Park April 11 LUKE WINSLOW-KING The Spotted Mallard April 8 MARLON WILLIAMS Gasometer Hotel April 9 DAVE & PHIL ALVIN Northcote Social Club April 9 JEFF MARTIN The Espy April 9, The Workers Club April 15 DONAVON FRANKENREITER Corner Hotel April 10 NORMA JEAN Evelyn Hotel April 10 JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE Northcote Social Club April 10 THE GIPSY KINGS Palais Theatre April 10 STEVE SMYTH Howler April 11, Karova Lounge April 12 MOBB DEEP The Espy April 11 IRON REAGAN The Tote April 11 FRANK TURNER Corner Hotel April 12 ARCHITECTS 170 Russell April 12 NANA MOUSKOURI Hamer Hall April 14 ATILLA Arrow On Swanston April 15 (AA), Corner Hotel April 16 (18+) THE DICKIES The Evelyn April 16 THE OCEAN The Evelyn April 18 CITIZEN Reverence Hotel April 20, 21 (AA) DEMI LOVATO Margaret Court Arena April 24 GEORGE MAPLE Howler April 25 YOU ME AT SIX The Hi-Fi April 30 SAM SMITH Margaret Court Arena April 30 PEACE Ding Dong Lounge April 30 PEACHES The Hi-Fi May 1
A WILHELM SCREAM The Evelyn Hotel May 1 CHARLI XCX Corner Hotel May 1 ACE FREHLEY The Forum May 2 PALOMA FAITH Palais Theatre May 5 OPETH The Forum May 7 ANASTACIA Palais Theatre May 7 EVERCLEAR Corner Hotel May 8 MARY OCHER Dane Certificate’s Magic Tricks, Gags and Theatre May 8 THE BACKSTREET BOYS Rod Laver Arena May 8 SILVERSTEIN 170 Russell May 8 SUFFOCATION & DECAPITATED Corner Hotel May 9 CHERRY ROCK AC/DC Lane May 10 ALT-J Rod Laver Arena May 10 MOTLEY CRUE & ALICE COOPER Rod Laver Arena May 12 LENNON: THROUGH A GLASS ONION Playhouse May 13 – 16 BAM MARGERA Corner Hotel May 15 THE HAUNTED & INSOMNIUM The Hi-Fi May 15 NICKELBACK Rod Laver Arena May 15 DANCE GAVIN DANCE Corner Hotel May 17 HERBIE HANCOCK & CHICK COREA Hamer Hall May 28 BORIS Corner Hotel May 30 BEN HOWARD Margaret Court Arena June 1 BAD MANNERS Corner Hotel June 4 AGAINST ME! Corner Hotel June 6 MACHINE HEAD 170 Russell June 22 EMMYLOU HARRIS & RODNEY CROWELL Palais Theatre June 25 YELLOWCARD Margaret Court Arena July 11 JOHNNY MARR The Forum July 22 MAROON 5 Rod Laver Arena September 26 KISS Rod Laver Arena October 8 NEIL DIAMOND Rod Laver Arena October 27 AUDRA MCDONALD Hamer Hall October 31 FLEETWOOD MAC Rod Laver Arena November 2, 4, Mt Dundeed Estate November 7 EARTHCORE Pyalong, Victoria November 26 – 30 TAYLOR SWIFT AAMI Park December 11
BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 20
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BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 21
THE PRODIGY By Augustus Welby
Without even listening to The Prodigy’s new album, its vicious intentions are made clear. First there’s the resentful title The Day Is My Enemy; then there’s the cover image, featuring a poised red fox. Yet, even these foreboding signifiers can’t prepare you for the anger that erupts upon pressing play.
“I wouldn’t say it’s dark,” says lead songwriter and producer Liam Howlett. “[But] it feels really pushy and violent. It felt necessary for it to be like this. I don’t really know why it came out so much like that, but it steered itself really.” The UK electronic genre-hoppers have long been a lockup-your-daughters kind of act. The band’s third album, 1997’s The Fat of the Land, brought Keith Flint’s vocals to the fore, which injected spikes of fiery rage. This time around, however, anger dominates like never before. “I don’t consider myself an angry person. I don’t sit there getting angry about things I want to put into songs,” Howlett says. “But electronic music at the moment seems to have been hijacked by pop music all around the world. It’s got more and more commercial, more and more shit as time’s gone on. I felt like electronic music needs to have the other end, and it’s our responsibility to write the rebel soundtrack. It’s what we do.” The Day Is My Enemy comes five years after The Prodigy’s last record Invaders Must Die. Although Flint and co-vocalist MC Maxim have been present since The Prodigy started, initially it was just Howlett on the recordings. These days, there’s no questioning The Prodigy’s a band – anyone who caught them headlining this year’s Future Music Festival can testify to this. Nevertheless, Howlett still assumes creative responsibility. As you might predict, this can provoke imbalance within the group. “Because I write the tunes, I sometimes forget how frustrating it is for the guys to be waiting for it to happen,” Howlett says. “Throughout 2012, we thought we had an album called How to Steal a Jetfighter. Those tracks, I listened to them and thought, ‘These aren’t that good. I can do better than this.’ So I threw them all in the bin, told the guys and they were like, ‘OK, what have you got instead?’ I’m like, ‘Nothing.’ So that was a bad time.” BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 22
Within any band, conflicts are bound to crop up here and there. Of course, internal tension is never pleasant to deal with, but that doesn’t mean it should be avoided. To illustrate: as far as Howlett’s concerned, The Day Is My Enemy wouldn’t possess such power if it weren’t for certain niggles between himself and Flint. “It was all written at the end of 2013 and last year,” he says. “The tensions between me and Keith – we’re fine now because the music has reunited us – but that whole fucking time was quite intense. So there’s a bit of that in there. You can’t expect friends and business things to always be smooth. Me and Keith are intense people. Maxim’s very laid back. Keith’s a real motherfucker; he does not do anything he doesn’t want to do. But ultimately he really supports me and our band.”
“ELECTRONIC MUSIC AT THE MOMENT SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN HIJACKED BY POP MUSIC... [IT] NEEDS TO HAVE THE OTHER END, AND IT’S OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO WRITE THE REBEL SOUNDTRACK.” After eclipsing the confines of the UK rave scene, The Fat of the Land turned The Prodigy into international chart-toppers. As mentioned earlier, this record saw Flint promoted to frontman. Curiously, The Prodigy’s following release, 2004’s Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned, featured zero input from Flint or Maxim. However, when Invaders Must Die came around, Flint was back in the spotlight, backed by Maxim, which
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earmarked it as the long-awaited Fat follow-up. This configuration persists on The Day Is My Enemy. “We’ve almost been working towards this album for the last ten years,” Howlett says. “Invaders Must Die felt like it was a quite celebratory sort of album. The tracks from it that we liked playing live, like Take Me to the Hospital and the more vocal tracks, that was the starting point for making this record and making it the most band record we could.” The Day Is My Enemy isn’t entirely devoid of guests. On the title track, trip hop alumnus Martina Topley Bird interpolates Ella Fitzgerald’s All Through the Night. The record’s standout track is Ibiza – a scathing criticism of lazy EDM DJs, which features vocals from Sleaford Mods’ Jason Williamson. “The Ibiza thing is an observation that I needed to put into a song because someone has to say something about it,” says Howlett. “It just so happens that Jason felt the same. DJs run the electronic music scene, we’re an electronic band and it’s our right to talk about it. And for us, it’s a good, venomous, fun subject to write lyrics about.” Sleaford Mods are skilled at utilising bitterness and disgust to form amusing social commentaries. The Prodigy, similarly, excel at harnessing anger to stir up uninhibited primal energy. Yes, The Day Is My Enemy does have an angry heart, but it’s also a heck of a lot of fun. “That’s so important,” Howlett says. “That’s one of the reasons I’m not really into metal, because it doesn’t seem to have a certain comfortable-ness with itself. It’s not that it’s taking the piss out of itself, but it’s got a knowing wink, with a punch at the same time – that’s how I like my music to come across.” THE PRODIGY’s The Day Is My Enemy is out through Cooking Vinyl.
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BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 23
This Week:
With Tyson Wray. Got thoughts, news, gossip, complaints or cat photos? Email tyson@beat.com.au or send by carrier pigeon before Friday 12pm. devastation: “It’s still a dangerous act for anybody, because you are hanging in the air quite high,” Isogawa says. “But I think we’ve trained enough and we’re confident with the act that we can focus more on the connection between us for the performance, rather than the technical side.” All previous visitors to the Spiegeltent will know it’s not a particularly spacious arena. The tent’s compact size has led to the development of a fairly unique straps performance. “The front row can reach out and touch the stage without getting out of their seats,” Isogawa says. “We have to be aware at all times, we have to be careful not to kick anybody in the face, because they really are that close to you. You can make eye contact with the person sitting in the front row. It really changes the way you perform. It’s more like you’re giving someone a performance rather than performing to an audience.”
Melbourne Theatre Company will bring Samuel Beckett’s modernist masterpiece Endgame back to the mainstage this week. The one-act, fourcharacter play tells the story of Hamm (Colin Friels), a blind man who cannot stand; Clov (Luke Mullins), his servant who cannot sit; and Hamm’s parents Nagg (Rhys McConnochie) and Nell ( Julie Forsyth), who have no legs and live in dustbins. Endgame will run from Saturday March 21 to Saturday April 25 at Southbank Theatre. Hayao Miyazaki splashes onto the big screen with the charming tale of Ponyo, the story of a goldfish princess who befriends a five-year-old boy. When she decides to become a human just like him, the delicate balance of land and sea is thrown off kilter. It will take some serious help from the greatest powers in the ocean to make things right again. Ponyo will screen at ACMI from Monday March 30 - Sunday April 12. Melbourne Ballet Company will perform their newest work Lucidity this week. Inspired by the concept of human interdependence, Lucidity presents an uplifting program of contemporary ballet. During this season, Melbourne Ballet Company will also host a series of master classes for students of all ages. Lucidity will take place on Friday March 27 and Saturday March 28 at Hawthorn Arts Centre.
PICK OF THE WEEK
Absinthe By Augustus Welby I remember my first dram of absinthe like it was yesterday. The sickly green liquid came from a bottle my friend’s mother had recently brought back from the Czech Republic. Before taking a shot of the aniseed-spiked motor fuel, my two friends and I shared a grimace, knowing it was goodbye to reality as we knew it. This same sort of gulping acknowledgement seems apt to precede a performance of the Spiegelworld show Absinthe.
Now its 29th incarnation, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival will feature a record number of shows and comedians from around Australia and the world. There will be more than 400 Australian comics gracing the stage during the festival, including Judith Lucy, Wil Anderson, Ronnie Chieng, Fiona O’Loughlin, Dave Hughes, Nazeem Hussain, Adam Hills, Celia Pacquola, Meshel Laurie, Effie, Jim Jefferies, Em Rusciano, Joel Creasey and Tripod with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. There will also be plenty of international talent, with Ruby Wax, Arj Barker, Miranda Sings, Jen Kirkman, Michael Che, Rich Hall, Stephen K Amos, Noel Fielding and Jason Byrne all making the trip to Melbourne. Melbourne International Comedy Festival will take place from Wednesday March 25 to Sunday April 19 at various venues around Melbourne. Grab a copy of our lift-out guide found within this very copy of Beat and get circling!
BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 24
From the creators of Empire, Absinthe is an oldfashioned, adults-only cabaret, comprising circus, comedy, burlesque and vaudeville, with interludes from grotesque, mustachioed host The Gazillionaire. Staged in the Spiegeltent, situated on the Crown rooftop, Absinthe features a sequence of separate performances. However, don’t let the variety show element fool you into thinking the creators have skimped on quality. “It’s world class,” says one half of the Duo Straps act, Maika Isogawa. “[All the performers are] really spectacular acrobats. It’s sexy, it’s new; it’s an hour and a half of continuous entertainment. You will laugh, you will be amazed.” Given that Isogawa’s a cast member, her objectivity is somewhat questionable. After all, she’s probably so immersed in the world of Absinthe that life outside of the show now appears rather innocuous. Still, it’s worth noting that, while Absinthe started in Las Vegas in 2006, Isogawa only came on board for this Australian tour. Additionally, prior to joining Absinthe she spent eight years training at Minnesota’s esteemed Circus Juventas School. “[Absinthe] is really unlike any circus show I’ve ever seen,” she says. “From my point of view, I’ve seen a lot of circus shows, and this has been the best show I’ve ever seen.” Jacob Oberman, another Circus Juventas alumnus,
completes the Duo Straps act. Isogawa and Oberman have collaborated previously, but not quite in this capacity. “We work well together, but we had never done this act together before this job,” she says. “[We] trained with the current straps duo that is in the Las Vegas show for a month. We’re taking someone else’s routine and adding our own personal flair. Because we are younger and we’re traveling, rather than staying in Las Vegas, it’s fine to mesh our own style with their current act.” So what exactly does their act involve? Duo Straps is basically an aerial ballet, which requires the performers to defy gravity, more or less. “It’s two seatbelt-like straps hanging from the ceiling and we fly and spin into the air,” Isogawa says. “There’s a lot of [me] hanging from my partner, there’s a lot of trust involved. I think the point of the act is to make it seem so effortless that you’re more paying attention to the story that we’re telling, rather than the difficulty of the acrobatics. “The moves have been choreographed,” she adds. “But of course with any live performance things can change. That’s just part of the fun ± to be able to adapt to little things or to change the whole act to make it work for the night.” The execution of such tasks requires a high level of physical fitness and acute control over one’s limbs. Otherwise, it could very easily result in bodily
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“You can make eye contact with the person sitting in the front row. It really changes the way you perform. It’s more like you’re giving someone a performance rather than performing to an audience.” It’s safe to say that Absinthe is a shamelessly profane adventure, which holds nothing back when it comes to lurid sexuality. However, in this respect, Duo Straps is something of an anomaly. “It’s supposed to be more of a love story,” Isogawa says, “[There’s] more of a romantic suggestiveness, rather than a racy one. Most of the show has more of a sexy feel, but ours has more of an intimate feeling.” Isogawa’s acrobatic expertise isn’t her only impressive talent. Before joining Absinthe, she’d actually just commenced a science and engineering degree at a pretty darn elite university. “I just started at Stanford University before I came here,” she says. “I graduated high school and went straight to Stanford and then I got the phone call three months in and had to leave. I hope to go back to finish that degree, but right now I’m just focused on having a great experience here. “[The cast of Absinthe] feels like quite a happy family. All of us like to work out during the day. It’s not excessive, but it’s enough to keep our bodies ready for the performance for the night. Other than that, we do have time to explore the beautiful city of Melbourne so I’m thankful for that.” Absinthe will be performed in the Spiegeltent on the Rooftop at Crown from Thursday March 26.
For more arts news, reviews and interviews visit beat.com.au
Coming Up A Moon Safari By Steam Bicycle Tuesday April 7 - Sunday April 12 ACMI
Meme Girls
Wednesday April 8 - Saturday May 2 Malthouse Theatre
Supanova Pop Culture Expo
I Call My Brothers Melbourne Theatre Company will present the Australian premiere of a new, thought-provoking play by Jonas Hassen Khemiri. I Call My Brothers recreates 24 hours in the mind of a young Arab man following a terrorist attack. The play is inspired by the 2010 suicide bombing in Stockholm and reflects on racial assumptions and prejudices. I Call My Brothers will run from Thursday April 16 to Friday May 1 at Southbank Theatre.
Nina Simone Black Diva Power
Ruth Rogers-Wright is returning to Chapel off Chapel for a limited season of Nina Simone Black Diva Power. Nina Simone was one of the most extraordinary artists of the 20th century; an icon of music who crossed the genres of jazz, blues and soul. She was the consummate musical storyteller and passionate civil rights activist. This compelling play focuses on the developing friendship with Lorraine Hansberry playwright and black activist, played by Zuleika Khan, who persuades Nina to become active in the civilrights movement. Although initially reluctant, Nina Simone ascended to greatness with her activity and songs of the movement she would perform, many of which she wrote. Accompanied by Steven Grant on piano, Nina and Lorraine are brought to life on stage, as their story, interspersed with the music of Nina Simone, unfolds. It will be performed from Friday April 24 - Sunday May 3.
Tyler Oakley Tyler Oakley is YouTube gold. Established as one of the most influential LGBT vloggers, he is an A-Lister in the digital age. Now, Oakley is packing up his living room and hitting the road for his first-ever live tour! Tyler Oakley’s Slumber Party is a dynamic, multimedia live event that celebrates and showcases one of today’s hottest social media stars. Come dressed in your best onesie and join Oakley for an intimate and immersive experience that includes music, comedy, fan contests and giveaways, meet and greets, surprise guests, and of course, Q & Slay. Get an up close and personal experience with everyone’s YouTube bestie. Oakley’s videos are hilarious, engaging, and unapologetically personal. With an undying love for all things pop culture, his quick wit, and an innate sassiness, Oakley is immediately lovable and undeniably viral. Most recently he advised President Barack Obama on social media strategy, and was referred to as a “millionaire in the currency of likes” in the 2014 Frontline investigative report, Generation Like. Please note this isn’t really a slumber party…you will have to go home after the show. Get ready to be slayed. Catch him on Saturday September 12 at The Forum Theatre.
Dance into the Sun is an exhibition of a selection of works from the collection Sandra Tobias has developed as an artist in residence and her many public projects. Tobias’ work often reads as a diary of events, places and times. They are colourful, expressive and offer intimate views of her humanistic perceptions. An RMIT graduate, Tobias, has exhibited in Melbourne and overseas, including the annual PARCO Urban Art exhibition in Tokyo among others. She has developed several community arts projects, including the Postedit’s what was written! installation at Federation Square. Tobias is currently finishing an artist in residence at St Vincent’s Hospital, producing work for 2015 exhibition and developing her next arts project My Maisonette (Melbourne Fringe Festival 2015). Dance into the Sun will be on display at the Cambridge Studio Gallery from Wednesday April 8 - Sunday April 18.
The ArT Of Asking: hOw i LeArned TO sTOp wOrrying And LeT peOpLe heLp – AmAndA pALmer ($32.95)
Rock star, crowdfunding pioneer, and TED speaker Amanda Palmer knows all about asking. Performing as a living statue in a wedding dress, she wordlessly asked thousands of passersby for their dollars. When she became a singer, songwriter, and musician, she was not afraid to ask her audience to support her as she surfed the crowd (and slept on their couches while touring). And when she left her record label to strike out on her own, she asked her fans to support her in making an album, leading to the world’s most successful music Kickstarter. Even while Amanda is both celebrated and attacked for her fearlessness in asking for help, she finds that there are important things she cannot ask for-as a musician, as a friend, and as a wife. She learns that she isn’t alone in this, that so many people are afraid to ask for help, and it paralyzes their lives and relationships.
Covering the early years of 1981-1983, Hip Hop has made a big transition from the parks and rec rooms to downtown clubs and vinyl records. The performers make moves to separate themselves from the paying customers by dressing more and more flamboyant until a young group called RUN-DMC comes on the scene to take things back to the streets. This volume covers hits like Afrika Bambaataa s Planet Rock, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five s the Message, the movie Wild Style and introduces superstars like NWA, The Beastie Boys, Doug E Fresh, KRS One, ICE T, and early Public Enemy. Cameos by Dolemite, LL Cool J, Notorious BIG, and New Kids on the Block
werner herzOg: A guide fOr The perpLexed – pAuL CrOnin ($55)
Antarctica: A Year on Ice
In association with Climarte, ACMI are set to present Poles Apart - a season exploring the great frontiers of our planet. The Poles still remain largely undiscovered and their mysterious panoramas, strange species, gigantic icebergs, impenetrable ice-floes and inhospitable conditions all contribute to the intrigue that guides our fascination with these ‘ends of the Earth’. Four films feature as part of the season, including Antarctica: A Year on Ice, Expedition to the End of the World, Art from the Changing Arctic and Last Days of the Arctic (Andlit noroursins). It will take place from Saturday April 18 Friday May 15.
Oedipus Schmoedipus
Wednesday May 6 - Sunday May 10 Arts House
NEON Festival of Independent Theatre Thursday May 14 - Sunday July 25 Southbank Theatre
But Wait... There’s More
Wednesday June 17 - Sunday July 12 Circus Oz Big Top, Birrarung Marr
Dylan Moran
Monday July 27 - Thursday July 30 Arts Centre Melbourne, State Theatre
MSO: Back To The Future Live In Concert Friday November 6 - Saturday November 7 The Plenary
Dance into the Sun
hip hOp fAmiLy Tree VOL 2 1981-1983 – ed piskOr ($34.95)
Poles Apart
Saturday April 11 - Sunday April 12 Melbourne Showgrounds
Wild Tales
Spanish Film Festival The Spanish Film Festival have revealed the full program for their 2015 incarnation. Opening with Spanish Affair and closing with Wild Tales, the 2015 festival will feature 38 films. Other highlights include Get Married If You Can, Instructions Not Included and Sorry If I Call You Love. The Melbourne edition of the festival will take place from Wednesday April 22 - Sunday May 10 at Palace Cinema Como, Kino Cinemas and Palace Westgarth. Head to spanishfilmfestival.com for more details.
Most of what we’ve heard about Werner Herzog is untrue. The sheer number of false rumors and downright lies disseminated about the man and his films is truly astonishing. Yet Herzog’s body of work is one of the most important in postwar European cinema. His international breakthrough came in 1973 with “Aguirre, the Wrath of God,” in which Klaus Kinski played a crazed Conquistador. For” The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser,” Herzog cast in the lead a man who had spent most of his life institutionalized, and two years later he hypnotized his entire cast to make “Heart of Glass.” He rushed to an explosive volcanic Caribbean island to film “La Soufriere,” paid homage to F. W. Murnau in a terrifying remake of “Nosferatu,” and in 1982 dragged a boat over a mountain in the Amazon jungle for “Fitzcarraldo.” His place in cinema history is assured, and Paul Cronin’s volume of dialogues provides a forum for Herzog’s fascinating views on the things, ideas, and people that have preoccupied him for so many years.
CheCk OuT Our weBsTOre: pOLyesTer.COm.Au – FREE AustRAliA-widE shipping.
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priVATe pOrnOgrAphy in The Third reiCh - hAns VOn BOCkhAin ($34.95)
Sex in the Third Reich: this subject is bound to raise wild speculation. What happened behind closed doors of a nation whose regime broke all taboos? More than 300 private pornographic photographs, almost all from one private collection which survived the most adverse conditions, provide ruthless testimony of the high time when those pictures were still sensational and daring, coquettish and provoking, but most of all: prohibited.
nyhC: new yOrk hArdCOre 1980-1990 – TOny reTTmAn ($39.95)
Known for its glamorous 1970s punk rock scene, New York City matched the grim urban reality of the 1980s with a rawer musical uprising: New York hardcore. As bands of misfits from across the region gravitated to the forgotten frontier of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. With a a backdrop of despair, bands like Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags, Murphy’s Law, and Youth of Today confronted their reality with relentlessly energetic gigs at CBGB, A7, and the numerous squats in the area. Tony Rettman’s ambitious oral history captures ten years of struggling, including the scene’s regional rivalries with D.C. and Boston, the birth of moshing, the clash and coming to terms of hardcore and heavy metal, the straightedge movement, and the unlikely influence of Krishna consciousness. With a foreword by Freddy Cricien of Madball, who made his stage debut with Agnostic Front at age seven, “NYHC” slams the sidewalk with savage tales of larger-than-life characters and unlikely feats of willpower.
Chris sTein / negATiVe: me, BLOndie, And The AdVenT Of punk – Chris sTein ($69.95)
On the occasion of Blondie’s fortieth anniversary, Chris Stein shares his iconic and mostly unpublished photographs of Debbie Harry and the cool creatures of the ‘70s and ‘80s New York rock scene. While a student at the School of Visual Arts, Chris Stein photographed the downtown New York scene of the early ‘70s, where he met Deborah Harry and cofounded Blondie. Their blend of punk, dance, and hip-hop spawned a totally new sound, and Stein’s photographs helped establish Harry as an international fashion and music icon. In photos and stories direct from Stein, brilliant writer of hits like “Rapture” and “Heart of Glass,” this book provides a fascinating snapshot of the period before and during Blondie’s huge rise, by someone who was part of and who helped to shape the early punk music scene. As captured by one of its greatest artists and instigators, and designed by Shepard Fairey, this book is a must-have celebration of the new-wave and punk scene, whose influence on music and fashion is just as relevant today as it was four decades ago.
BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 25
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Ellyn Stern By Christine Lan Ellyn Stern is an incredibly versatile actress. Although most fans flocking to the Supanova Pop Culture Expo are most enamoured with her anime roles, Stern has worked across film, television, theatre and voice acting for over 30 years. “I knew from a very early age that I wanted to be an actress, and somebody gifted me with the complete works of Shakespeare when I was 12 years old,” says the LA actress. “I used to go into the bathroom after I’d have fights with my mother and I’d act out dramatic scenes to the mirror.”
Dance Review: Motion Picture Choreographer Lucy Guerin has always been fascinated by the idea of movement and exploring the limits of traditional dance. Her previous works have been experimental in nature, and her distinctive approach to contemporary dance has evolved and intensified over the years. Her latest production is Motion Picture, which premiered as part of Dance Massive at Arts House in North Melbourne. Motion Picture takes the classic 1949 film noir D.O.A. directed by Rudolph Mate, and reinterprets it via the medium of dance. The film tells the story of Frank Bigelow, an unassuming businessman who is poisoned by a deadly toxin and uses his remaining hours to try and discover who is responsible and why. The film used many of the tropes of the noir genre, and it was these cinematic conventions that appealed to Guerin when creating this work. The classic film noir is an integral part of the performance, but it is projected onto a screen located behind the audience, which means that you have to crick your neck if you wanted to check out the action during the night. The staging for Motion Picture is sparse and minimal. There are only six dancers on stage two men and four women, most of whom have performed as part of Lucy Guerin Inc in previous productions from this exciting and innovative dance company. The performance space is a blank white area at the front of the theatre, a blank canvas on which Guerin’s performers then create their visual reinterpretation of the film, thus blurring the line between the purely visual medium and live dance. And occasionally the white lines of a
road are projected onto the white wall behind the dancers, giving us a sense of momentum, a journey. The dancers respond to some of the sounds and visual cues of the film to shape their movements as they reinterpret the action. But what transpires is not traditional dance as we know it. The performers use the limited space of the theatre in interesting fashion. Each of the six performers initially mimic the actions and dialogue of the characters from the film through precise choreography. Then there is a vibrant scene set in a jazz club, and the dancers really come alive, throwing themselves into a vigorous and energetic routine. But there is also a lot of stillness as, at times, the performers merely become passive spectators watching the film, giving the whole production an element of voyeurism. BY GREG KING
Motion Picture was performed as part of Dance Massive.
Stern has had an incredible acting career, which began with theatre from the age of 12 to doing film and television from the age of 18. At 15, she acted in her first major play, Peter Pan, with Vincent Price. “I started in junior high when I was 12 years old in the drama classes. As soon as I got to be 18, I began to seriously study and I studied with unbelievable coaches. I’ve studied all my life – I studied acting, singing, voice, Shakespeare, archery, sword fighting, dance…I was in the ballet company; I did modern dance, jazz, musicals…my desire was to be a full scope actress, so that I could be in touch with whatever was given to me.” At the time that Stern started doing anime, there wasn’t even a name for it. “It was in the early ‘80s and it was even before Robotech,” she considers. “Robotech was the first one that blew up. I had no idea that this work that I was doing was going to blow up and have the kind of significance it did. It came as a total surprise to both myself and to Richard [Epcar – Stern’s husband who shares her acting passion and line of work]. My whole career was on camera on film, television and on stage, and voice work became something of a sideline. I had no idea it was going to take such prominence in my career, which goes to show you that for anybody who wants to participate in the entertainment industry and in the voice industry, this is something you need to do. “You need to learn about voice; you need to learn about acting and all different facets of the business that surrounds it, so that when it comes about, you’re ready and they can go, ‘Oh wow, you can do this’. And that’s exactly what happened. I’d just finished doing a lead in a film and the casting director asked me afterwards, ‘Would you like to do some voice work?’ And I said, ‘Sure’, so I went to the audition and I said, ‘Do you mind if I bring my boyfriend along?’ So Richard and I both got the job and we’ve been working ever since, and that was over 30 years ago.” Stern runs an in-depth panel called Women in Anime, where she addresses the problems of the attitudes of women in anime and discusses concerns such as anorexia, bulimia, surgery and narrowly-defined gender roles. While these issues are increasingly being addressed, she believes much more needs to be done. “Anime has very stereotypical visually-drawn images of women where the breasts are very large; the eyes are very round, and the bodies are idealised in a way that isn’t realistic,” Stern asserts. “Anorexia and bulimia are two of the issues; the other issue is selfempowerment for women. It’s beginning to change,
but there aren’t that many roles that have really good images for women. There are becoming more and more roles within anime today that are showing women in a better way, in a better form and showing them more empowered and more self-identified without being objectified, but we’ve still got a long way to go. “There’s more to it than just the bulimia and the anorexia – it’s about the image of women. We all have beacons and role models; people that we look up to and so when we are in love with anime…the stories are wonderful; the philosophical and psychological stories are beautifully drawn, and they’re challenging stories – we want to identify with those challenging stories and we want to feel empowered by those stories, but I think it’s also important to feel empowered by role models.” The passionate actress describes all her characters as her babies. “Each time I do a role, I fall in love with it,” Stern expresses. “Each one of them is one of my children that I have created. There is a Disney project that I just did and I had a lot of fun doing that. I play the mother in it. I enjoyed doing Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. I played the character of Haraway. I loved my character in Bleach. I played Masaki Kurosaki in that one and she had an ethereal quality to her. I like the deeper characters; I like characters that are multidimensional and not superficial, but I like comedy, also. I worked on Bobobo-bo bo-bobo and they were really funny characters that I did there. I loved my character in Noein – Miyuki Goto – and she was a very good role model. She was a mother who was concerned about bringing up her son; she wasn’t objectified, and she had real emotion. “Authenticity is the most important thing to me in any character that I portray,” says Stern. “That is always my goal, and I hope in every single character that that truth rings out and becomes apparent to all the listeners. That is what I look for – authenticity.”
Ellyn Stern will be a special guest at the Supanova Pop Culture Expo, which takes place on Saturday April 11 and Sunday April 12 at the Melbourne Showgrounds.
Cabaret Review: Retro Vampt “Have a drink inside,” the weird vampire suggested. “You’re gonna need it.” And need it I did. Dracula’s is an immersive experience into erotic horror and trashy comedy. Basically, imagine getting drunk with the Addams Family on a porno set and then Russell Gilbert and Dave Hughes turn up. If you’re like me, you’ve driven past Dracula’s near RMIT and wondered what the fuck happens in that place. Well, the show actually begins outside Dracula’s. Actors greet you in the queue with the same jokes they undoubtedly use every night. Soon after, you move up creaky stairs into one of the quirkiest bars in Melbourne. The décor is made from hundreds of horror items that could only be collected over Dracula’s 34-year history. Coffins, mummies, fortune-tellers, Minotaur statues with huge dicks, the exposed buttocks of waiters – it’s all here. After champagne and chicken dim sims, it’s all aboard the ghost train. I shouldn’t give much more away here but if you ride the Frankston line then you won’t be impressed. We’re now seated and entrée is served. According to the Dracula’s website, one food critic allegedly wrote, “The food alone is worth the ticket price.” For about $100, I wouldn’t take it that far, but it’s surprisingly worthwhile. Matching the theme, dessert is rich Belgian chocolate custom made into the shape of a coffin. Now it’s what we’re all here for, the show – Retro Vampt. Meet your cast: Tess Tosterone, Ben Dover and Hans Onass. You might be able to guess that the comedy is cheesy and kitsch, but damn, it’s so much fun. The Dracula’s brand has been tested and refined over three decades, so while many of their
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jokes would flop at an amateur comedy night, they slayed in the context of Dracula’s. One of the best segments was a series of misheard lyrics. In Daft Punk’s Get Lucky, the robots singing “We’re up all night to” will now forever be “We’ll rub a Mexican.” The musical versatility of the cast cannot be overstated. They incredibly transition from double bass to drums to guitar with ease. There’s no way you could’ve ever convinced me that one of the best covers of Stairway to Heaven I’ll ever hear is at a theatre restaurant. Half the fun of Retro Vampt is that you don’t know what wacky cabaret bit is next. To preserve the surprise, I won’t detail the show itself too much. But in a room scattered with hens’ and bucks’ parties, you can’t resist being charmed by the outrageous fun. The set design is also imaginative and clever, including two electronic drum kits amazingly built into a swinging metal doughnut. When I told friends about my upcoming visit to Dracula’s, I was astonished by the vast amount of envious friends who said, “Oh, I’ve always wanted to go!” You owe it to yourself to experience guiltfree cheesiness on this scale once in your life. You owe it to yourself to walk out with a “I got sucked at Dracula’s” wristband. Go. BY NICK TARAS Retro Vampt is currently being performed at Dracula’s.
BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 26
Out Of The ClOset
Thankfully, not all of Scott Morrison’s Liberal Party colleagues agree. As Judith Ireland wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald this week, there are signs of movement within the Coalition party room towards support of gay marriage since the start of the year, with 11 MPs declaring privately they would now support same sex marriage after previously opposing or being undecided. Among those who publicly support same sex marriage are frontbenchers Communications Minister (and Prime Minister-in-waiting) Malcolm Turnbull, Simon Birmingham and Kelly O’Dwyer. This slow and inexorable shift within the Liberal Party towards what we all know is an inevitability comes at a time when polling consistently shows the public support for same sex marriage at an overwhelming consensus of 72 per cent. (To put that in perspective, that’s more than triple the number of people who support Tony Abbott remaining Prime Minister, who had an approval rating of just 19 per cent as preferred PM in the last poll). Last week, the Senate threw their weight behind a free vote on marriage equality, with the Greens, ALP and crossbenchers voting in favour of a motion by Greens
As I’ve just turned the big 3-0 last year, I feel the pinch of marriage inequality more acutely than I did when I was younger. It’s not because I personally have plans to get hitched, rather, it is because I’m surrounded by weddings. Where once upon a time, everyone I knew spent our weekends at The Peel and Revolver, and my Facebook page was full of pictures of people off their chops at music festivals, nowadays my spare weekends are dominated by engagement parties, weddings and baby showers, and my Facebook newsfeed is full of an inescapable torrent of photos of brides and babies. Even at work, the discussion around the water cooler once dominated by gossip and sex now involves discussions about dresses, catering options and invitation etiquette. Every so often, people will ask if I want to get married, or what I would wear (not a dress obviously), or whether we’d both have hens’ nights and who would walk down the aisle first. While I dread the thought of the avalanche of gay wedding invitations that will inevitably follow marriage equality finally passing, and the thought of rainbow coloured vegan wedding cakes and matching tuxedos caketoppers makes me feel slightly queasy, I do want see my gays start getting married like everyone else is. With so much talk of weddings, as an openly gay person, you feel like you’ve been helping plan a party you aren’t invited to. Every time we gays have to sit at wedding ceremony, dressed to the nines, spend as much dough on a gift and hear the celebrant repeat the definition from the Marriage Act declaring marriage is between a man and a woman, you see people give you pitying glances and your heart breaks a little.
Drown So I for one hope that our Parliament hurries the fuck up and get this shit over with sooner rather than later, so we gays can start paying you all back by throwing our own obnoxious huge weddings too. CHURCH is throwing the second last Sunday session of the season this Sunday March 29, before the religious experience goes on hiatus and turns monthly for the winter months. Presented by CLOSET, CHURCH is a place of worship for queers and queens on the northside, and welcomes a congregation of saints and sinners from bearded homos to baby dykes and everything in between. From 3pm till late, CHURCH has free entry, free ice creams, a sunny beer garden, $10 Bloody Marys and DJs Catriona Constance v Mellydee, Mimi, JLAW and more. On Easter Saturday, Thick’N’Juicy will take over the whole of The Royal Melbourne Hotel to host one of its legendary sweaty day parties from 1pm-9pm. Tickets are $35 + booking fee or $45 on the door. With DJs Alex Taylor, Amanda Louise and Colin Gaff from Sydney, Argonaut, Jason Conti, Grant Cook, Kam Shafaati and performances by Dean Arcuri and Polly Filla. There will also be a free after party upstairs for ticketholders who want to kick on into the night. Presales are available on from mannhaus.com.au.
For the ladies, the girls behind So Juicy at Fabrique is transforming into new lesbian monthly called Mother, which is not to be confused with the energy drink and welcomes all ladyl overs (not just MILFs). 10pm till 5am at Fabrique Bar, 272 City Road, Southbank. $10 before 11pm and $15 after, with free pizza at midnight, darts, gay twister and teapot shots. Mother launches on Sat March 28. Further info visit facebook.com/motherparty. Don’t miss the final weekend of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival this week. After their sold-out samesex speed dating sessions, MQFF is also throwing their annual Celluloid Casserole screenings of new Australian shorts at the LOOP, presented by Shaun Miller Lawyers, LOOP and MQFF. On the night, you’ll get to mingle with the filmmakers, see who wins the awards and all it costs you is a gold coin donation. From 7pm - 10pm on Wednesday March 25. If you missed them, there will be four encore screenings of some of the most popular films next Monday including LA-based lesbian rock musical Girltrash, sombre Australian drama Drown set on Sydney’s beaches and the gay rom com The 10 Year Plan. Got tip offs, praise, complaints or cat photos? Email closetpartymelbourne@gmail.com to be included in this column.
mantra lounge presents:
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Their arguments against having children sadly sound an awful lot like our new Social Services Minister Scott Morrison when he wrote back to one of his constituents explaining he didn’t support same sex marriage, because he believed marriage was an institution for men and women to raise families where the children have a mother and a father.
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young to allow a conscious vote on the issue. The Coalition government of course voted against the motion, but it passed anyway. Meanwhile, crossbench Liberal Democrat Senator David Leyonhjelm has introduced draft legislation to legalise same sex marriage and plans to move to debate the “freedom to marry” bill in the Upper House this week during the sitting fortnight (even though he admits he doesn’t have the numbers to get it passed).
all
Last week, Italian fashion designers Dolce & Gabbana started the biggest gay celebrity feud when they declared in a newspaper that they didn’t support gay adoption or endorse gay parents having children through assisted reproduction, dubbing children conceived through IVF “synthetic children”. Sir Elton John tore them a new one, and called for #boycottdolcegabbana. Celebrities from Victoria Beckham to Courtney Love rallied with him, while Ricky Martin rightly pointed out how selfhating D&G sounded, as gay men themselves.
Queer happenings around town with Anna Whitelaw.
0 n c 2 r uise
4pm 29th MARCH food entertainment speakers
tickets available now vegancruise.eventbrite.com.au CHECK OUT ALL THE LATEST NEWS, REVIEWS AND FREE SHIT AT BEAT.COM.AU
BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 95
aeroplane words / gareth bryant
Vito de Luca, AKA Italian-Belgian producer Aeroplane, has established himself as a party-starting DJ, a remixer du jour, and a leader of the nu-disco and Balearica music scene. His distinctive analogue house sound sets him apart from the rest. In the last year, Aeroplane has produced several popular Hype Machine-charting remixes, including of Justin Timberlake’s Suit & Tie, Mystery Skulls’ Paralyzed, Charli XCX’s Boom Clap, Mayer Hawthorne’s Wine Glass Woman and Stromae’s Tous Les Mêmes. We caught up with him ahead of an appearance at the Rabbits Eat Lettuce festival over Easter. Sound-wise, what do you expect to trend in 2015? I’m not sure. It’s getting really difficult to follow everything as there are hundreds of small bubbles, and you never know which one is about to burst and which one is about to grow. I do have a feeling that 2015 will be beat-less. I’ve noticed that a lot of music at the moment has little to no beat, and by beat I mean drums, putting songs and performances upfront. I like that.
What else is fresh out of the Aeroplane lab? We’re told you’ve collaborated with Mayer Hawthorne and Kimbra – what can you tell us? That it’s true for both. And I can’t tell much [else] about it at this stage. The next thing is a song with Benjamin Diamond called Let’s Get Slow coming out through Capitol France, and after that I have a two-track house EP that’s also finished.
Aeroplane and an artist album – any plans on that front given the impending release of your new track, Let’s Get Slow? I’m considering it but I need to finetune the direction. I like concept albums and not collections of random songs. So once that direction/concept will be clear, I’ll get to it and will probably record it very quickly. Driving is pointless if you don’t know where you’re going.
You’ve collaborated with Kimbra, who comes from our neighbouring New Zealand. Let’s test your Australian music knowledge – name us three other Aussie acts you recommend to our readers, and why. There’s obviously Tame Impala or Empire Of The Sun, both from Perth I think, or Jagwar Ma from Sydney. Why? Because they’re three really great bands, and I would recommend to go see them live too. And if you live in
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Your sound has a definite ’80s vibe to it. How do you capture that with the equipment you use? I have realised over the years collecting vintage gear that, even if it helps, it doesn’t make you sound a certain way. It’s your culture and your knowledge of a genre that makes you do the right thing to emulate it. What’s your favourite piece of music-related hardware? I bought a Roland Jupiter-8 in the early stages of Aeroplane. It’s still the most inspiring piece of gear I own.
Australia and don’t know these three bands, it’s about time you go listen to them. You’re headed to Australia for a series of shows including Rabbits Eat Lettuce at the Easter long weekend. What’s your favourite Easter memory? I guess chocolate eggs? It’s kind of weirding me out that I don’t have any Easter memories. Family gatherings, mainly. I’m sure most festivals blend into the next one, but have you heard much about Rabbits Eat Lettuce? To tell you the truth, this is the first time I have heard about it. Looks fun, though. In the past year alone, you have remixed tracks for Justin Timberlake, Mystery Skulls, Charli XCX, Mayer Hawthorne and Stromae. What attracts you to a remix project? You do different remixes for different reasons. [Sometimes] just because it’s great for profile and it’s fun to get involved in that A-list stuff. Stromae because hashtag Belgium; Mayer because it’s a great song. I can’t like the song too much if I want to remix it, though. Every time I have fallen in love with a song and reached out to ask for the stems, I couldn’t do the remix – it always felt like I couldn’t make it better.
electronic - urban - club life
Who would be your ultimate collaboration with anyone still alive? And on the flip, who do you wish you could have worked on a project with who is no longer with us? I’d like to work with a band. Like Midlake or Fleet Foxes. Also Mark Hollis from Talk Talk is my dream vocalist. Or Bowie, for obvious reasons. Most people I get influenced by are still alive, but if I had to pick one, I’d love if Bernard Edwards could be my bass player. In Australia, rock and hip hop continue to dominate the local markets; electronic music is beginning to experience a resurgence since the early-to-mid2000s success. How is EDM (if I can use that term with you) trending in Europe? EDM as a genre is reaching the end now. [But] if by ‘EDM’ you refer to electronic music in general, it has always been strong in Europe. It comes and goes in the charts, but it is still dominating the clubs in different shapes and forms.
Aeroplane will be performing at Rabbits Eat Lettuce which takes place at Woodfordia, QLD from Friday April 3 to Monday April 6. He will also perform at OneSixOne on Friday April 3.
UPCOMING
MARCH
on tour GIORGIO MORODER [ITA] Wednesday March 25, Trak Lounge Bar PHIL KIERAN [UK] Friday March 27, Revolver Upstairs JURASSIC 5 [USA] Wednesday April 1, Festival Hall AUDIOFLY [ESP], MARTIN BUTTRICH [USA], BLOND:ISH [UK] Friday April 3, TBA LUMINOX [USA] Friday April 3, Laundry Bar INNER VARNIKA: DONATO DOZZY [ITA], TERREKE [USA] + MORE Friday April 3 - Sunday April 5, TBA MOBB DEEP [USA] Saturday April 11, The Espy JAMES ZABIELA [UK] Friday April 17, Brown Alley JULIO BASHMORE [UK] Friday April 24, Brown Alley PEACHES [CAN] Friday May 1, The Hi-Fi. EARTHCORE: DANNY DAZE [USA], CHRIS LIEBING [UK], MISS KITTIN [UK] + MORE Thursday November 26 - Monday November 30, Pyalong
tour rumours
Kyle Hall, Nina Kraviz, Bicep, Motor City Drum Ensemble, Ø [Phase], Alex Niggemann, Steve Bug
five things with phil kieran
jay lumen wo rd s / a ug u st u s we lby
Germany, Holland, England and Spain – these are the European nations synonymous with modern electronic music. Looking a little deeper, Italy, France, Scotland and Belgium also house prominent electronic scenes. Hungary, on the other hand, barely enters the competition. At least, that’s the way it appears to a casual, remote onlooker. But Budapest DJ and producer Jay Lumen argues otherwise. “We have some big festivals here in Hungary, major festivals as well,” Lumen says. “Not only for underground, but all kinds of electronic music. The scene is pretty strong here, especially Budapest, which is really good for me. I play a lot in Hungary. I have 60-70 per cent of gigs outside of the country and 30-40 per cent inside the country.” In recent times, Lumen’s certainly not been at a loss for gig opportunities. Having gained recognition as a tech-house/ techno DJ, Lumen’s spent the last five years navigating his way through the global club circuit. For Lumen, living and breathing music 365 days a year seems entirely natural. “I started to learn music when I was seven years old,” he says. “I started to learn how to play the violin and all kinds of things about the music. I was singing in a choir as well. I think all of my life was going around the music until now, and I hope for the future as well.”
news Growing Up I grew up going to piano lessons from as early as I can remember, then moved onto guitar lesson then bought a drum kit and just bashed it in my parents garage. I never really thought I was going to do music full time at that age, I just enjoyed it. Then at 16 I decided it was all I wanted to do. Inspirations I would pick Brian Eno as one of my all time biggest heroes. He works across all my musical tastes from prog rock to electronica, soundtrack work and he’s an all round amazing inspiration. Your Crew I’m a one man band, really. I’ve been in two bands before but it’s something I’ve started myself and then moved on. Music has been my only source of income for 20 years now so I don’t know anything else. The Music You Make And Play I’m going to be playing quite a lot of different music, it might go from starting off with mellow indie tripped out stuff to heavier techno and I don’t like to plan what I do, only just pick good tracks Music, Right Here, Right Now Never really understood the word “scene “ to be very honest. It kind of makes me cringe every time I hear it. I sort of get what it means, but for me, its music and it’s my world I live in. If you mean particularly where do fans of “dance music” go to here in Belfast (where I live), I have noticed a shift in people wanting to put on small parties and do it a bit more DIY, which is cool as it feels a bit more organic and put on by the fans of electronic music themselves. Phil Kieran will perform at Revolver Upstairs on Friday March 27.
23 MEYERS PLACE, MELBOURNE 3000 4PM TO LATE | 7 DAYS A WEEK P: (03) 9654 0500 LOOPONLiNE.COM.AU
Jay Lumen will be performing at Rabbits Eat Lettuce which takes place at Woodfordia, QLD from Friday April 3 to Monday April 6. He will also perform at The Railway Hotel on Sunday March 29.
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the funkoars
off the record w i t h
Although Lumen’s classical violin training occurred at a very young age, the shift into electronic production still seems rather drastic. However, his affection for electronic music also stretches back to his youth. “When I was a child, I started to listen to all the Chicago house and Detroit techno sounds from the late ‘80s and I really loved it,” he says. “That kind of music is real fresh, still today as well. It was 30 years ago, but I think it’s really fresh now again. So that was the point when I felt I have to make something in electronic music. It was the first bang for me; I was sure that I have to make some of my own sounds in electronic music and I was sure that I have to be a DJ.” Lumen’s an admired professional behind the decks, but this success is effectively trumped by his reputation as an original producer. There’s barely been a single week during the last four years when Lumen hasn’t had a tune sitting high in the Beatport charts, and the winning streak continues courtesy of his latest release, the eight-minute techno jam Departures. With consistent sales success comes artistic affirmation, but Lumen isn’t letting it go to his head. “My manager said that I was in the Beatport Top Ten with all of my releases in the last four years, which I didn’t
believe,” he says. “And he said, ‘You are the only one all around the world.’ I’m so happy, but still, I’m the same man. I try to do what I love, which is the music. “I want to try to show a piece of myself for the people – what I’m thinking, if I got some influences when I was on tour or something like that. I just play and produce the sound of what I actually feel. It doesn’t matter if I am in Top Ten or not, I just keep my way and make what I love. If the people are happy when I’m playing, I’m happy as well.” Lumen’s now released more than enough originals to fill an entire DJ set. However, in a further display of refreshing modesty, the Hungarian’s DJ sets are an exploration through the vast fields of techno, tech-house and house music. “I play a lot of tunes from other artists, of course,” he says. “I play my own sounds as well – around 20 per cent of my sets are my own tracks. I don’t feel that I have to do like some other acts that play their sounds only. First of all I’m a DJ, which is why I like to show some new sounds from some others. [To play] the songs that I like, that’s why I’m a DJ.” While Lumen’s career has revolved around the aforementioned genre zones, he’s not a single-minded listener. “When I’m driving, I check the alternative radio for some alternative pop-rock sounds, for drum and bass, for symphonic orchestra sounds, all kinds,” he says. “I’m especially in love with original motion picture scores, the symphonic sounds of John Williams, Alan Silvestri, Hans Zimmer, Howard Shore.” It’s fair to surmise that being naturally inclined towards music from all over the place has expanded Lumen’s tools for diversifying his own productions. “It’s much better to get much more impressions from other musicians, from other styles,” he says. “You can keep your ears so clear. If you’re listening only one way and to one sound, it’ll get boring for you. If you’re listening only to techno, you will be not fresh enough with your sounds. “As a producer I make techno, tech-house and sometimes house as well,” he adds. “As a DJ, I do the same. But of course I listen to all kinds of music. I think it’s really important for all of the productions.”
t yson
w ray
“Rogue owl caught after year-long reign of terror in Dutch town” noooooooooooooooo I loved him.
espionage This Easter Sunday, prepare to throw down with The Operatives as they present a world-class lineup of local DJs and producers. Featuring a lineup that spans hip hop, garage, bass, soul and beyond, the day will see performances from Kirkis, Billy Hoyle, Lucianblomkamp, Silent Jay, Jace XL, Queen Magic, HighTea,Sean Deans, Jamie Now, JPS, Anomie, Jonny Faith, Amin Payne, Bee Ampersand and Jade Zoe, while Brendan Harwood will be weaving his hypnotising visuals throughout the night. It all goes down on Sunday April 5 at Howler. - See more at: http://www. beat.com.au/content/operatives-announce-eastersunday-espionage-party#sthash.WxSYEKIT.dpuf
Adelaide hip hop outfit The Funkoars are heading out on the road again. The tour is in support of the group’s latest single Below Average, which will feature on the their upcoming fifth album In Case Of Emergency. The trio have also recruited a number of friends for the tour – with DJ Total Eclipse, Mathas and Eloji coming along for the ride. Catch The Funkoars at The Workers Club on Thursday May 14 or Friday May 15.
soul-a-go-go PBS 106.7FM will host a night of funk and soul music at Shebeen. The night will feature PBS DJs Miss Goldie, DJ Manchild, Richie 1250, Vince Peach, Chelsea Wilson and Andrew Young. The night kicks off at 9pm, continuing right through to the early hours of the morning. It all goes down on Saturday April 4 at Shebeen.
the shadow electric andre crom Thick as Thieves have announced Berlin DJ/Producer Andre Crom will visit Australia this weekend. Crom is known for his weaving take on tech house, and is about to release the highly anticipated track release The Devil. Andre Crom will perform at The Railway Hotel on Sunday March 29.
party profile: slice records metaphoenix launch party
Before The Shadow Electric winds up for another season and take down their cinema screen for the winter, they’ll throw one last rager. Rat & Co will present their first headline show this year, with Sleep D supporting fresh off the back of this year’s much talked about Golden Plains appearance. They’ll be joined by Ollie Elmers on visuals served up in full HD on the giant screen and Jesse Fultone and LA Pocock on the DJ decks. It goes down on Thursday April 2.
The Scullamooks When is it? Saturday March 28. Where is it? Loop, 23 Meyers Place, CBD. Who’s playing? PZP, The Scullamooks, Stepping Inwards, Shifty Gypsies, Squiddy Fiddler and Tøn. What sort of shit will they be playing? Underground techno, prog, psy, glitch and exquisite electronica sure to get your body moving. What’s the crowd going to be like? Relaxed friendly party people and lovers of local electronica and live visuals. What will we remember in the AM? A blurr of quality music and good vibes. What’s the wallet damage? Depends on how much you drink because it’s free entry! Give us one final reason why we should party here. It will be a great night showcasing some of Melbourne’s finest producers from the underground electronic dance scene, accompanied by mind bending visuals in the innovative space that is Loop. It is going to be an audio visual delight sure to excite all your senses.
March 27
March 28
april 2
techno GaLLeria
april 4
Metaphoenix
GenraW
Deep Space
F R E E E N T R Y, 1 0 P M
Launch party
visu a l s by Kr y st a l S c h u l t he iss
Shifty Gypsies, Squiddy Fiddler Ear Mind Eye. Visuals by Tøn
F R E E E N T R Y, 9 P M
Elle Spiral (Kissfm), Mandrax (Destroy Ordinary), D.M.B (Operation Phatty Attack), Undefined (Twisted Audio) E.M.F (Hard Kandy) , Telemikus (3D, Harder Faster)
F R E E E N T R Y, 1 0 P M
F R E E E N T R Y, 1 0 P M
Hollows, Booshank, Dj Kiti,
Point Zero Productions Stepping inwards
electronic - urban - club life
Caspian, Cleverhands, Bevin Campbell, Ranjit Nijjer and Juxtpose (EP launch) 97
club guide snaps laundry
wednesday mar 25 LOUNGE SUITE - FEAT: DONALDS HOUSE + NAISE + CC:DISCO! Lounge, Melbourne Cbd. 9:00pm. GIORGIO MORODER Trak Lounge Bar, Toorak. 7:30pm. $50.85. MELLOW DIAS THUMP Ferdydurke, Melbourne Cbd. 7:00pm. REVOLVER WEDNESDAYS - FEAT: DAN SAN Revolver Upstairs, Prahran. 7:00pm. thursday mar 26 3181 THURSDAYS - FEAT: HANS DC WITH GET BU$Y + JESSE YOUNG + WHO & SAM GUDGE Revolver Upstairs, Prahran. 6:00pm. DANCE TECHNIQUE - FEAT: POST PERCY + GROOVE CONTROL + BEN RYAN New Guernica, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. FLANAGANS THURSDAYS FEAT: DJ ONTIME + COLONEL Pier Live, Frankston. 8:00pm. JUNGLETRONICA - FEAT: BEN KELLY Sooki Lounge, Belgrave. 8:30pm. MIDNIGHT EXPRESS - FEAT: PREQUEL + EDD FISHER + BRYAN LAWRENCE + CHICO G Toff In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 10:00pm. MOTORSOUL Ferdydurke, Melbourne Cbd. 7:00pm. PINEAPPLE INSTITUTE FEAT: MOONSHINE + COCOA NOIRE + WOZ + OLIVER FRANCIS + HUDSON JAMES JR + ODEN Lounge, Melbourne Cbd. 9:00pm. SUMMER NIGHTS Chaise Lounge, Melbourne Cbd. 4:30pm. THE RITZ - FEAT: KEN WALKER + ANDO + JOSHUA GILLILAND Trak Lounge Bar, Toorak. 10:00pm. $20.00. VARSITY - FEAT: PAZ + MATT RAD + PYZ Bimbo Deluxe, Fitzroy. 6:00pm. XS DISCO - FEAT: VARIOUS ARTISTS Onesixone, Prahran. 8:00pm.
party profile: yard bounce Jessie I
friday mar 27 #MASHTAG - FEAT: NU-GEN + MALPRACTICE + FLAGRANT Bimbo Deluxe, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. AFTER DINNER MINT - FEAT: DJ OBLIVEUS Big Mouth, St Kilda. 9:00pm. CAN’T SAY Platform One, Melbourne. 9:00pm. CC (DISCO!) - FEAT: CC:DISCO! + M5K Ferdydurke, Melbourne Cbd. 7:00pm. CHEEKY TIKI FRIDAYS La Di Da, Melbourne Cbd. 5:00pm. $20.00. CIROQ FRIDAYS Cq, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. CITIPOWER + DAWN AGAIN + RAW WAX The Mercat, Melbourne. 10:00pm. $5.00. DEATH TO THE LIBERTY
- FEAT: REPAIRS + MILES BROWN + VACUUM + REGIONAL CURSE + NUN DJS Liberty Social, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. $10.00. EXTREMA 400 - FEAT: MANUEL LE SAUX Brown Alley, Melbourne Cbd. 9:00pm. $40.00. FABULOUS FRIDAYS Co., Southbank. 8:00pm. FAKE TITS - FEAT: BOOGS + SPACEY SPACE + SUNSHINE + SAMMY LA MARCA + BUTTERS + ADAM BARTAS + JUNGLE JIM Tramp, Melbourne Cbd. 10:00pm. $15.00. FLOSSTRADAMUS + HOODBOI 170 Russell, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. $55.00. FRIDAYS @ ONESIXONE - FEAT: JEN TUTTY + LUKE MCD + LEWIE DAY + PREQUEL + KATIE DROVER + MITCH KURZ + MIC NEWMAN + TOM EVANS + JOEL ALPHA + LIAM WALLER + AARON TROTTMAN + NICK JONES + JESSE YOUNG + ANDRAS FOX + JAC OSCAR WILKINS Onesixone, Prahran. 8:00pm. GET LIT - FEAT: TWERKSHOP + GET BU$Y + MOONSHINE + NAM + D’FRO Lounge, Melbourne Cbd. 9:00pm. GFR007 (INTO THE VOID) FEAT: GFR SOLDIERS Brown Alley, Melbourne Cbd. 9:00pm. $15.00. HAPPY PEOPLE - FEAT: DJ SUSAN + LEO + WINTERS + JIMMY LEGS Boney, Melbourne Cbd. 6:00pm. LA DANSE MACABRE Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy. 9:00pm. LUCK TRUCK FRIDAYS DOWNSTAIRS Lucky Coq, Windsor. 9:00pm. OMG FRIDAYS Seven Nightclub, South Melbourne. 10:00pm. $20.00. PANORAMA FRIDAYS UPSTAIRS - FEAT: PHATO A MANO + MR.GEORGE + MATT RADD + ASH-LEE Lucky Coq, Windsor. 9:00pm. PHIL KIERAN + OK SURE + DAMON WALSH + JAMES STEETH + RANDALL FOX + SAFARI + KATIE DROVER + WHO Revolver Upstairs, Prahran. 7:00pm. POPROCKS Toff In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. SLEAZY LISTENING - FEAT: ARKS + RICHARD KELLY + HYSTERIC + K HOOP Toff In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 6:00pm. STEPPAS DRUM & BASS FEAT: DAVID CRAFT + TOM DOCKRAY Little & Olver, Fitzroy. 10:00pm. $10.00. TECHNO GALLERIA - FEAT: HOLLOWS + BOOSHANK + DJ KITI Loop, Melbourne Cbd. 9:00pm. THE EMERSON CLUB FRIDAYS The Emerson, South Yarra. 3:00pm. THERAPY FRIDAYS - FEAT: STEVIE MINX + MATTY G +
APAX + CHRIS MAC Level 3 @ Crown, Southbank. 8:00pm. $20.00. saturday mar 28 OPEN DECKS - FEAT: DANCE MISSION DNB RESIDENT DJS Horse Bazaar, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. ANYWAY - FEAT: VARIOUS DJS Bottom End, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. AUDIOPORN SATURDAYS - FEAT: DR. ZOK + JAMES WARE + GREG SARA + JACOB MALMO + TOM EVANS + ROWIE Onesixone, Prahran. 9:00pm. $15.00. BIG DANCING - FEAT: GET BUSY + MAFIA + MAT CANT Laundry Bar, Fitzroy. 9:00pm. BIG MOUTH SATURDAYS - FEAT: DJS ROWIE + ANDYCAN + CYNDI BOSTE & SLIM KNACKERS Big Mouth, St Kilda. 9:00pm. BIG YAWN + DOCUMENT SWELL Hugs & Kisses, Melbourne. 12:00pm. $10.00. CQ SATURDAYS Cq, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. CUSHION SATURDAYS Cushion, St Kilda. 9:00pm. ELECTRIC DREAMS Co., Southbank. 8:00pm. $20.00. FALLOPIAN TUNES - FEAT: DOCUMENT SWELL + BIG YAWN + MATTHEW BROWN + RITES WILD Boney, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. $12.00. FAMILIAR STRANGERS The Emerson, South Yarra. 10:00pm. $20.00. HARDRIVE Little & Olver, Fitzroy. 11:30pm. $10.00. HESSIAN MAG PARTY - FEAT: THE HARPOONS + HABITS The Shadow Electric, Abbotsford. 6:00pm. HOT STEP - FEAT: 99 PROBLEMS + TIGER FUNK + SILVER FOX + ASKEW Bimbo Deluxe, Fitzroy. 6:00pm. MANIA + SLEEP D Lounge, Melbourne Cbd. 10:00pm. $15.00. METAPHOENIX LAUNCH PARTY - FEAT: STEPPING INWARDS + SHIFTY GYPSIES + SQUIDDY FIDDLER + EAR MIND EYE Loop, Melbourne Cbd. 10:00pm. MIDNIGHT RUN (LATE NIGHT PARTY) Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne Cbd. 11:30pm. OSCAR KEY SUNG DJ + DARCY BAYLIS DJ + JB Ferdydurke, Melbourne Cbd. 7:00pm. PLATFORM ONE SATURDAY NIGHTS Platform One, Melbourne. 9:00pm. PONY SATURDAYS La Di Da, Melbourne Cbd. 10:00pm. ROLAND TINGS The Mercat, Melbourne. 10:00pm. SATURDAY MORNING - FEAT: SUNSHINE Revolver Upstairs, Prahran. 7:00am. SEVEN SATURDAY DISCOTHEQUE Seven Nightclub,
South Melbourne. 10:00pm. $20.00. SHENANIGANS - FEAT: RADIO CHOAS Pier Live, Frankston. 8:00pm. T. WILLIAMS - FEAT: PHIL KIERAN + RANSOM + MAT CANT + JIMMY LE MAC + DAVID SPACE + DANIELSAN + PREQUEL + PAZ + LEWIS CANCUT + EDD FISHER + LA POCOCK Revolver Upstairs, Prahran. 7:00pm. TEDDY’S Trak Lounge Bar, Toorak. 10:00pm. $25.00. TEXTILE SATURDAYS - FEAT: KODIAK KID + D’FRO + JENS BEAMIN Lucky Coq, Windsor. 9:00pm. THE HOUSE DEFROST - FEAT: ANDEE FROST Toff In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 11:00pm. THERAPY Level 3 @ Crown, Southbank. 9:00pm. $20.00. TRAMP SATURDAYS Tramp, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. TUNES BY SABO - FEAT: DJ SABO Gem Bar, Collingwood. 7:00pm. YARD BOUNCE Laundry Bar, Fitzroy. 10:00pm. $10.00. sunday mar 29 CALYPSO OF HOUSE + PAUL JAGER + KANZO + EDD FISHER Ferdydurke, Melbourne Cbd. 12:00pm. DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE - FEAT: NIGEL LAST Toff In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. ENCORE - FEAT: DAN SLATER + ADAM LOVE The Emerson, South Yarra. 9:00pm. JUNGLE - FEAT: HANDS DOWN + ZAC DEPETRO + PETE LASKIS + TRAVLOS + JOHN DOE Tramp, Melbourne Cbd. 6:00am. $15.00. REVOLVER SUNDAYS - FEAT: BOOGS + SPACEY SPACE + RADIATOR + SILVERSIX + SAUL BLISS + DAN ZINA Revolver Upstairs, Prahran. 7:00pm. SONTAGG - FEAT: PWD + SHEDBUG + SAM HILTON + BEENAK Lounge, Melbourne Cbd. 6:00pm. SPITROAST SUNDAYS Cushion, St Kilda. 10:00pm. THE SUNDAY SET - FEAT: DJ ANDYBLACK & HAGGIS Toff In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 4:00pm. monday mar 30 AO + MOW + MIMICRY Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy. 9:30pm. $3.00. CALL IT IN - FEAT: JAMES TOM & DYLAN MICHEL Toff In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. tuesday mar 31 OASIS Tramp, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. SEE YOU NEXT TUESDAY Bimbo Deluxe, Fitzroy. 7:00pm. TWERKSHOP Boney, Melbourne Cbd. 6:30pm. $15.00.
urban club guide wednesday mar 25
AFTER DINNER MINT - FEAT: DJ HOOKEY Big Mouth, St Kilda. 10:00pm.
When is it? Saturday March 28. Where is it? Laundry Bar. Who’s playing? Jesse I, Troublemekka, SK Simeon, Ee’da, DJ Sam , Ras Crucial. What sort of shit will they be playing? Jump-up Caribbean sounds – dancehall, soca and bashment. What’s the crowd going to be like? An international mix of energy, vibes and dancehall style. What will we remember in the AM? Not much. What’s the wallet damage? $10. Give us one final reason why we should party here. Because Jamaica and Trinidad are a long way away, and this is the closest you’ll get here in Melbourne.
98
thursday mar 26
AFTER DINNER MINT - FEAT: DJ JMCEE Big Mouth, St Kilda. 10:00pm. NO MONEY NO PROBLEMS - FEAT: WE BE QUEENS Boney, Melbourne Cbd. 10:00pm.
friday mar 27
BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY - FEAT: DJ RCEE + KAHLUA + DJ SHOOK + DJ ANGEL JAY Chaise Lounge, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. FAKTORY FRIDAYS - FEAT: DAMION DE SILVA + K DEE + DURMY Khokolat Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 9:30pm. MEET. EAT. BEATS - FEAT: RA + ANDRE LE VOGUE The Fitzroy Beer Garden, Fitzroy. 7:00pm.
ONE PUF - FEAT: MIKE MIDNIGHT + ALASKA + GING + DAVID SPACE + 2FUDDHA + TOMMY GROVES Boney, Melbourne Cbd. 10:00pm. PARTY & BULLSHIT Laundry Bar, Fitzroy. 9:00pm. PEGZ Laundry Bar, Fitzroy. 9:00pm. $25.00.
DJ TIMOS + DJ KAHLUA + DJ ANGE M & ANDY PALA Chaise Lounge, Melbourne Cbd. 9:00pm. $10.00. THE CONTROLLERS + HORROR MY FRIEND + ELK & MAMMOTH + THE QUARTERS + GHOST CUB DJ SET Workers Club, Fitzroy. 7:30pm. $13.00.
saturday mar 28
sunday mar 29
KHOKOLAT KOATED SATURDAYS FEAT: DAMION DE SILVA + K DEE + DURMY + TIMOS Khokolat Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 9:30pm. MANE DJANG KARIRRA 303, Northcote. 8:00pm. MAS HUNT + SHADES + JUNEBUGGIE Workers Club, Fitzroy. 1:30pm. $5.00. MEET. EAT. BEATS - FEAT: DAVE JURIC + WALTER JUAN + MARCUS HOLDER + ANDRE LE VOGUE The Fitzroy Beer Garden, Fitzroy. 7:00pm. RHYTHM NATION SATURDAYS - FEAT:
electronic - urban - club life
BE. SUNDAYS Co., Southbank. 10:00pm. $15.00. SUNDAY AFTER DINNER MINT - FEAT: DJ TRAVESTY & DANNY DOBS Big Mouth, St Kilda. 5:00pm.
monday mar 30
AFTER DINNER MINT - FEAT: DJ CLEGS Big Mouth, St Kilda. 10:00pm.
tuesday mar 31
AFTER DINNER MINT - FEAT: DJ K-SWIZZLE Big Mouth, St Kilda. 10:00pm.
snaps khokolat koated
faktory
BETH HART
By Adam Norris
For someone who’s been living the beguiling life of a muso for over 20 years now – with all of the usual rewards and with several of the particular lows – Beth Hart is one of the most open and enthusiastic speakers you can imagine. Her reflections on her career and the hurdles of bipolar disorder are told with campfire ease as though she is excitedly telling of them for the first time. She and her band are back in Australia for Bluesfest, and this storytelling virtue will serve her well; as Hart has found in the past, each performance needs a character of its own. “I love the Internet,” Hart laughs, her accent touched with a slight huskiness. “‘Cause when you’re coming to their town, people can really let you know what songs they want to hear. And that’s why I have my band learn so many songs. I have a new drummer that I’m breaking in, he’s learned 54 songs for the road. But I do very much cater the show to each town. There are certain songs that I’ll have in each show, but every show is going to be tailored to the territory. Like in France, I know they like more jazz. They also love rock’n’roll, which are two genres so far apart, but that’s what they like and I play it while I’m there. That’s what I love about touring so much, you really get an awareness of where you are and what they like. It makes it fun, but it also makes it challenging for us as a band, because you have to stay on top of all the material. It never makes for the same day twice.” Harts debut, Beth Hart and the Ocean of Souls, was released back in 1993, but it wasn’t until her ‘99 LA Song (Out of This Town) that she found her breakthrough. A song that charts a dark and distressing time in Hart’s life, it’s remained a fixture in her set over the years, yet its power has not diminished for her audiences, or for Hart herself. “I never have to tap into a song. I think it’s because when I write this stuff, I’m so emotional at the time,” she explains. “I can’t write when I’m light-hearted or in some middle-ground where things are just drifting along. I don’t like when I’m in that place. But if I’m really emotional, I need to get something out – and it could be being emotional over something that’s joyous or funny, or something that’s more of a struggle. And when I do that, it gets cemented into my memory, and forges some connection straight to my heart. LA Song, when I play it live it’s like I just wrote it. It’s like when you’re a kid and you go through traumatic events, even
though you get through them, those ghosts never go away. They’re still set in your heart, and it’s hard to let go. Now I’m starting to think it isn’t even about letting go. It’s more about making friends with it, with having compassion and finding the lesson in it. The strength you’ll get from going through it.” There are ghosts that can never be exorcised, whose presence in our lives is the shade we can never quite escape. As Hart suggests, learning to live with these memories can be one of the most difficult and despairing tasks a person can find themselves faced with, though the understanding that comes with survival is profound. For Hart, the dangers were never just emotional, but a real mortal threat. “Drug addiction wasn’t just affecting my music. It was destroying my body, my soul,” she confesses. “It was ripping apart my relationships. I was around 12 when I started. I was what you’d call ‘periodic.’ I’d go months without touching anything, and then I’d go on a bender for three or four days. Which is seriously dangerous, but it seemed to be working for me at the time. I seemed to be able to keep going, get my career happening, find a manager, putting bands together, writing music, all that stuff. But then, when I was around 26, on my second record I had a hit. And when that happened, it made my bipolar go out of control, because I’d never felt such overwhelming anxiety and panic, and I wasn’t right. I started drinking every day. And then I was taking pills. “Life is so much better now, but I still have my struggles,” she continues. “Back then, I was skin and bone, my hair was falling out. I was so far gone I wasn’t making good decisions. But one of the most beautiful things that happened – and this is why I disclose my drug addiction and my bipolar – is though it’s not a good thing to experience, I found the gratitude in it. And the gratitude was that I had to reach out for help
BOXWARS
and want, more than anything, to change my life. So I’m really grateful for everything I’ve been through. For those times I’ve survived. I get to be alive today. I’m 43 years old, and it was stacked against me that I’d ever make it past 30. Here I am, and I’m so thankful for that.”
BETH HART is playing at the Melbourne Recital Centre (Elizabeth Murdoch Hall) on Thursday April 2, before she heads up to Bluesfest, which runs from Thursday April 2 to Monday April 6. Better Than Home is due for release on Tuesday April 14 via Mascot Records.
to get the good times rolling at Boogie, the boys place the emphasis firmly on fun and less on competition, which is what always makes being a spectator a rollicking good time. “The main point of Boxwars is not to win,” says Koger. “There are no winners in Boxwars, there’s only losers.”
BOXWARS will battle it out at the ninth Boogie Festival, which will be held over the Easter weekend from Friday April 3 to Sunday April 5 at Bruzzy’s Farm.
By Isabelle Oderberg
There can be no doubt the supreme overlord of all Boxwars, Ross Koger (also known as ‘co-founder’), is cooking up something special for Boogie Festival 9 in Tallarook over Easter. He revealed that while they do try to keep the theme under wraps, he could offer Beat readers a clue: whose cuisine reigns supreme? “There will be some culinary delights on display and there’ll be some heat in the kitchen,” he says. This will be Boxwars’ eighth appearance at the glorious music festival, which is no doubt one of the more intimate on the Victorian circuit. If you’re not familiar with Boxwars, the event sees a large group of slightly unhinged but hugely artistic individuals create incredibly detailed costumes and props out of cardboard boxes, then stage a battle where all costumes and props are systematically and dramatically destroyed. Boxwars’ history stretches back to Boxing Day 2002, and the planning started, as you can imagine, with beer. “We were at a party and we were drinking... We had those pool noodles and we were having a sword fight while drunk. If you know those things, you know that no matter how hard you hit, it doesn’t hurt, so you can go a little bit ballistic.” Koger explains. “Afterwards, we were like, ‘How can we make this better?’ and that’s when we came up with the idea of dressing up in cardboard armour. Then we thought, ‘What do we need the pool noodles for? Let’s just toss away the pool noodles and let’s use cardboard swords and cardboard weaponry’.” Just like in a real war, the suits started getting bigger and eventually, they had to take it out of their backyards and into the park. That’s where the first Boxing Day event happened. The Boxwars crew met the Boogie crew at another music festival tour, Big Day Out, where Koger was running Boxwars in each city. “They mentioned to us that they were starting a new festival called ‘Boogie’ and wondered if we wanted to be part of it... The Boogie Festival has evolved just like Boxwars has – we’ve been improving and getting bigger and more epic, and so has Boogie itself. So it’s been a unique position to watch that festival grow and us too,” Koger says. The Boxing Day event, which takes place every year,
has a very different vibe to the Boogie experience, with lots of kids and families taking up their place in Caulfield Park to cheer on the warriors. “For Boxing Day, it’s what’s we consider our open event, it’s our annual event and it’s also something that we have to hold because that’s what Boxwars originated from and we keep that open and anybody who wants to participate in it can do it. All they have to do is dress up in cardboard armour, say they want to participate and sign up at the desk,” Koger says. “But for Boogie, it’s a little bit different. It’s a chance for us to show off our abilities to build an event. It’s a closed event and we have our own warriors involved, but if you’re a great warrior, for instance on Boxing Day, then you get the opportunity to come and join us in events around Australia when we do music festivals.” So what sort of slightly deranged individual decides to spend weeks putting together their armoury and partake in a Boxwar? “They’re a cardboard warrior. They’re creative and destructive at the same time. The unique quality of a cardboard warrior is that they see something and they want to destroy it. But, at the same time, they have the innate ability to be able to construct it. I think there’s a paradox in a Box Warrior, but I think it’s one that everyone can find entertainment value in,” Koger explains, with a scary level of gravitas. When asked to name his favourite Boxwar themes, Koger’s first pick is Boogie last year, with an idea to make a symphony and then destroy it with a monster truck. “Then we actually made it happen and the monster truck was about three metres tall. The best thing was when we rode that into the centre of the battle and we were playing AC/DC’s Long Way To the Top – we had a drum kit and a guitar on the back and it was just one of those moments that was amazing,” Koger proclaims. While there’s a fair amount of alcohol-based lubrication
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BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 99
COUNTING CROWS
By Adam Norris
Sure, we all know that song. It helped catapult an emergent Counting Crows to the big leagues, and has become a staple of seemingly every karaoke joint on the planet. But over the course of seven successful albums, they remain most decidedly a band that refuses to be defined by the catalyst of Mr. Jones. In fact, as singer Adam Duritz recounts, each song from their catalogue tends to evolve over time, changing shape and implication as the days roll by. It’s almost as though his writing has a life of its own. Released at the close of 2014, Counting Crows’ latest album, Somewhere Under Wonderland, is already proving to be a strong fan favourite, and contains some of the finest material Duritz has yet composed. God Of Ocean Tides is a particular standout, and is a song the singer suspects is “one of the most beautiful songs [he’d] ever crafted.” “Having a good atmosphere when I’m writing is important,” he says from his home in New York. “But that said, I’ve written in hundreds of different locations. This record was written at home, but some parts of it were composed off the top of my head, walking down the street or riding the subway, falling asleep at night. I think each [song] is a story. There are a set of emotions or feelings that are stuck inside there, but the story itself can be spread in a lot of different ways, and that’s often depending on how you feel that day. For one thing, I don’t remember how I felt the day I recorded each song, so they’re usually based on how I feel each day and that’s an ever-changing thing. My feeling has always been to let them change. You need to sing a song as though it was happening right now for the first time, and that way it doesn’t get boring for the band either.” Beyond record sales, Counting Crows have amassed a tremendous live following, thanks primarily to the energy and spontaneity they bring to gigs. It’s one of the testaments of a band’s true endurance, and for Duritz, the allure of the stage remains as enticing as ever. This is most clearly evidenced when discussing the epic 2009 tour dubbed The Saturday Night Rebel Rockers Travelling Circus & Medicine Show, which also featured Michael Franti and Augustana. Rather
than split up each act, it was a series of shows that saw each band perform together for the duration of the gig. “That was really the most fun I’ve ever had onstage, and I think was completely groundbreaking,” Duritz says. “I don’t think anyone has ever done a concert like that. They were four hours long every night, where we were completely integrated into each other’s bands. It was like a wild weave of music that stretched on for hours. But at the time, our managers really didn’t want us to [do it], our agents weren’t happy with it. There was a lot of sabotage of the tour that went on, especially in terms of ticket sales. We don’t work with those people any more. It didn’t do well in terms of ticket sales, because nobody knew it was happening. “We were doing a lot of tours in the years before that, these enormous co-headline tours that had made us an enormous amount of money. But I felt like the fans were getting ripped off, only seeing five minutes of the band they liked. There were so many different bands there, and if you only liked one or two, you’re paying a lot of money for not a lot of music. I felt like it was shitty, so I wanted to do a concert where bands played together, but you also got the bands you liked the whole night. I was doing up to 40 songs a night during that Travelling Circus. We’d [start] at seven and play until 11, and I’d be onstage the entire time. I thought that was the greatest thing I’d ever done. But [management] didn’t get the word out about it. People would be showing up thinking that the band they really wanted to see weren’t going to be on until eight or nine o’clock, so they missed whole hours of the concert, and I think a lot of people got really bummed out about that.”
Though many years have since passed, the bitterness of not having those shows realise their potential remains a sore point for Duritz. They do indeed sound like exceptional events, with so much talent on display in so fresh a format. Yet the chances of ever seeing a similar endeavour restaged are slim. “It would be hard to get anyone to allow us to play the Travelling Circus again here. They did such a good job of torpedoing those shows. It was such a mess, but it might be good in a way because we got rid of those people. But I wish it had gone differently, because it
was one of the greatest things I’ve ever done and I don’t know if I’ll ever get the chance again. We even had a hip hop act. It was different, it was fun. I fucking loved it; I’ve never had so much fun at a concert. It could have been huge.”
Franti’s lyrics have always been charged with social and creative commentary. Finding the right vehicle for his expression, though, has not always been a straightforward ride. The effort to match substance to sound has seen radical shifts in both his songwriting and his musical philosophy. “There was a specific moment when I was writing a song about HIV testing for the very first Spearhead album, called Positive. I remember I’d written a song with Disposable Heroes about the AIDS crisis, and it was like, ‘Fuck the government because they’re not responding, it’s a real crisis out there.’ I live in San ’Cisco, which if New York was ground zero for AIDS, then day two was San Francisco. So I went and got tested myself, and when that happened, I was suddenly stricken with
fear and sadness. I realised it was impossible for me to write a song about HIV testing that would empower anyone else to go get tested if it was filled with anger and rage. It had to be something that was almost sexual, that was whispered. And that’s really the way the song came across. I realised whatever song that I write has to emotionally fit the music in the same way that I score a screenplay in a movie scene. That really opened up a whole new world of musicality to me.”
Check out COUNTING CROWS at Bluesfest on Thursday April 2, which goes until Monday April 6, and The Palais on Saturday April 4. Somewhere Under Wonderland out now through EMI/Universal.
MICHAEL FRANTI & SPEARHEAD By Adam Norris
Years ago, one of my university lecturers sat the class down and proceeded to explain why Michael Franti was the most important lyricist at large in the world today. It was a big claim, but that particular lecturer was weirdly intimidating, so we dutifully wrote down the singer’s name and set forth to find the truth for ourselves. I’m glad we did, because Franti is indeed a musician whose songs are not just catchy as hell, but inspire you to question the life around you. Just don’t call him an academic’s musician. “There was a time when I used to hate that moniker,” he says. “I didn’t want to be a songwriter just for intellectuals. One of the things that I’ve learnt over the years is that to be able to state something simply, to mean what you say and say what you mean within a melody that lots of people can understand, it’s a craft that’s really challenging... There’s always a wealth of things to write about. I think the challenge for me is to find new ways to do it.” Franti will be returning to Bluesfest this year after an appearance in 2014. “I go to there as a fan first, and as a musician second,” he laughs. “My favourite thing to do there is to walk around, aimlessly stumble into different tents, and find the greatest band that you’ve never ever heard of.” Franti will curate a Soulshine mini-festival onsite, featuring Soja and Trevor Hall and mixing music with yoga. However, it’s a collaboration from Franti’s early days that’s most fascinating to this day, and remains to Franti one of “the coolest things [he’s] ever done musically.” This was his 1993 work with William S. Burroughs. “I was out on tour at the time with U2. Bono, myself, and my Disposable Heroes partner Rono [Tse] went into this really fancy hotel room, and Burroughs shows up with a bowling ball bag. He drops it on the bed, and it bounced really heavily, like there was an actual bowling ball in there. I was really impressed. The guy’s like 80 years old and he’s still going bowling? And then BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 100
he goes…” Franti clears his throat and delivers an uncannily accurate, reedy Burroughs impersonation. “‘I’ve just come from the shooting range and I thought you might like to see my gun collection,’ and he pulls out this .357 Magnum, the Dirty Harry gun. The barrel of the gun was so long, it’s like one of those tricks where you reach into a cup and pull out a walking cane, watching this giant gun come out of a bowling ball bag. And then he says, ‘Here’s my 9mm, here’s my .38 special I got in New York in 1948,’ here’s this, here’s that. This whole collection is coming out of this tiny bag, and he’s handing them to us and we’re brandishing them around, posing with them in the mirror, pretending to shoot. And then he goes over to Rono and goes, ‘Hey, wait a minute, don’t point that thing at anyone, are you crazy?’ And he opens up the chamber and there’s still one bullet left in it. And we all let out this collective gasp, amazed that none of us had just got our head blown off. After we left, we were all talking about it, and we were pretty sure he did that just for effect.” Franti laughs at the memory. “Here are these big rock stars coming in, thinking they’re pretty badarse. But I’ll show them who’s really the badarse here.” Franti’s music has gone through a wealth of transformations over the years. From his own university days playing with spoken-word/industrial outfit The Beatnigs, to The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy, to his ongoing odyssey with Spearhead,
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Check out MICHAEL FRANTI & SPEARHEAD at The Prince Bandroom on Thursday April 2. They then head to Bluesfest which runs from Thursday April 2 to Monday April 6.
MUSIC VICTORIA
Patrick Donovan
By Patrick Emery
Perhaps Music Victoria’s most significant achievement in the last 12 months is one of its least heralded: the former Napthine Government’s promise of $1.5m funding for contemporary music programs and Music Victoria, shortly before Victorians decided against returning the government to power. Compared to the $22 million promised by the ALP, the Napthine Government’s fiscal promise was negligible. But given the conservative government’s natural reticence toward arts funding – especially the contemporary music scene – the promise confirmed Music Victoria’s success in making support for the local music industry a significant policy issue, and deserving of serious political attention. Patrick Donovan, Music Victoria’s Chief Executive Officer, is proud of their achievements in both raising the policy profile of contemporary music in Victoria, and in working with government to effect change in regulatory arrangements that provide practical benefits for local musicians. Chief among the latter successes was Music Victoria’s role in convincing the former government to introduce the ‘agent of change’ principle in Victorian planning law. The introduction of the agent of change principle has garnered interest not just in Australia, but also overseas, demonstrating how Victoria is leading the world in recognising the contribution of contemporary
music to both the social and economic fabric. In May, Donovan will travel to Brighton in the UK to speak about Melbourne in the Music Cities Convention; a few days prior, Donovan will present at the Canadian Music Week in Toronto. On the broader political front, Donovan is proud of Music Victoria’s Positions and Priorities white paper, published in early 2014, a document which provided the groundwork for the major parties’ policies in the 2014 Victorian election. “We survey our members quite regularly,” Donovan says of its development. “We survey them on what areas they want advice on, and what areas we should focus on. A lot of consultation went into our first strategic plan.” Music Victoria’s strategic plan – which is due for revision over the coming months – highlights a paradox in Music Victoria’s modus operandi: while the contemporary music scene continues to embrace the discourse of rebellion, and construct itself as an agitator against the forces of dominant political institutions, Music Victoria’s very existence – not to mention
its successes with the agent of change principle and exemptions to the Building Code – highlights the value of working collaboratively with those institutions to effect real change. “We’re independent, and we’re not-for-profit. But we’ve formed partnerships with Melbourne Airport, Tourism Victoria, with councils. We have really strong governance, we’re conservative with our budget and expenditure,” he says. Keen to keep building on its successes so far, this week Music Victoria commences its annual membership drive. Having devoted considerable attention to problems with the local live music infrastructure, Donovan says the focus of this year’s membership drive is on local musicians and fans. “There have been some urgent pressure points in the regulatory system for venues that needed attention. Bands needed places to play because that’s the main source of income for musicians these days,” Donovan says. “Now we’re getting onto musicians – we want musicians and fans out there to sign up because they’re helping to create a stronger music community that they’ll benefit from.” To illustrate what he refers to as Music Victoria’s “value
proposition” for musician members, Donovan points to the deal the organisation has struck recently with a preferred travel provider, Travel Beyond Group. Under this deal, Music Victoria members will access to a range of benefits, including discounted flights, discounted rates and reduced excess on car hire. Music Victoria has also done a deal with transport service company Uber, under which members signed up and paid by Thursday April 2 will receive $30 off their first ride. “So for any musician or fan unsure of the value of being a member, you pay $33 membership, and you pretty well get that back straight away,” Donovan says. “We’ve achieved things in four years that no-one’s ever achieved in Victoria – and haven’t been achieved around the country. I think we’ve got a pretty good reputation for getting shit down, and meaningful shit.”
Dead Salesmen duo were coming out with that I was extremely happy to let go of that band and become a member of The Dead Salesmen.” Julitha Ryan – who joined the band for the recording of Amen and their Only Fire EP – will be on stage with Bath, Haywood, Ryda and drummer Len Hyatt for the vinyl launch. Despite playing their last show together in March 2002, they’re all closer than ever. “We played very solidly for around ten years and we were living in each other’s pockets,” Bath recalls. “I dearly love all the members of the band.” Across their career, The Dead Salesmen always maintained their integrity, sincerity and artistic ideals. “When you’re in a band, it’s like you against the world,” says Bath. “At the time we were together, we really believed – and still do – that we were something really genuinely special. So that in itself led to us wanting to maintain this integrity and I even think when we finally split up, it was partially that if we can’t be as
great as we possibly can be… if we can’t live up to our own ideals then we didn’t want to do it anymore.” The special reissue of Amen on deluxe vinyl is selling well, so Bath hopes to, ultimately, reissue all their albums on vinyl. “That would be my dream and then launch all of them,” he enthuses. “There is a bunch of songs we wrote that never ended up on an album and I would love it if we actually got together to record those last few songs. It would be a question of us all being able to find the time and being able to really commit to doing it with the same authenticity that we did everything else with, so as long as we felt we were in a position to do that, I think we could possibly do it.”
melodies. The pair understand the importance of maintaining something for listeners can grab onto, but it doesn’t always go as planned. “We have actually had a lot of confusion come from it,” Cecilia says. “People are quite confused about what sound we are. But that EP was us experimenting and trying to show all that we can do.” “That’s kind of what it’s all about,” continues Gabriel. “To keep it interesting and fresh, but also not alien. I really do believe in writing songs in an almost selfish way, with no concerns for what the radio might think, because then you can give birth to a really true product. Oftentimes, while you may be somewhat alien, because you’re so passionate about what you’re doing, people can see and understand that passion.” Gabriel and Cecilia’s no holds barred approach is a marked deviation from the cookie cutter fare that
dominates reality talent shows. Eyelids Bouncing was their first release following The Voice, so perhaps it was a reaction to the normalising shackles imposed by the competition. However, during their time on The Voice, they were actually granted a certain amount of freedom. “On the show, the underlying thing is that they were trying to get everyone to sing in their pop genre and really fit the mould,” Gabriel says. “Other participants in the show weren’t even allowed to play instruments or do their own versions of songs. But we proved that was what we were able to do and that was what we were about, more so than singing pitch perfect and enunciating everything perfectly and whatnot. So they allowed us to explore that a bit more.”
The MUSIC VICTORIA membership drive is on now until Thursday April 2 with prices starting at $22 for individual members (concession). Visit musicvictoria.com.au and support your music community.
THE DEAD SALESMEN
By Christine Lan
The Dead Salesmen are one of our country’s musical treasures. The revered Ballarat group deliver profoundly affecting songs; articulating the deepest of sorrows while offering a life-affirming sincerity through shimmering, stirring melodies. In a special partnership with Heart of the Rat Records, The Dead Salesmen’s brilliant 1998 album, Amen, will be reissued on limited edition deluxe vinyl. What’s equally exciting for devoted followers is the band will perform together for the first time in 13 years to launch this special vinyl reissue of Amen. “Sonically, it’s definitely the best album we ever produced,” says bassist Patrick Bath, “and thankfully it was recorded on big two-inch tape, so it’s got a very nice, warm analogue feel, which lends itself very excellently to being on vinyl.” For Bath, The Dead Salesmen’s three albums – Jealousy (1993), Bluestoned (1995) and Amen (1998) – capture three distinct periods in the band’s existence. “The first one was very much a youthful album; it’s a lot faster and it’s got a lot of exuberance and energy about it,” he considers. “The middle album is our dark period and that’s where we’re getting a little bit grungier... The third album has a real beauty to it... There’s a maturity
and intelligence to the lyrics.” Although the bulk of Amen will be performed at the launch, the band will also play numbers from Jealousy, Bluestoned, and possibly some off their EPs. Bath has been making albums since he was 16, but knew very quickly that The Dead Salesmen represented something he wanted to be a part of. “When the Duo [singer Justin ‘Hap’ Hayward and guitarist Justin Ryda] got together and wanted to make their first recording, I was helping to produce and we made a tape and sold it ourselves at record shops,” he relates. “I had my own funk band... [But] I was so immensely impressed with the songs that the
THE DEAD SALESMEN perform on Friday March 27 at The Evelyn Hotel, with support from Marc with the Sea. The reissue of Amen is out now on limited edition deluxe vinyl through Heart Of The Rat Records.
GABRIEL AND CECILIA
By Augustus Welby
Byron Bay siblings Gabriel and Cecilia Brandolini gained nationwide exposure last winter for placing ninth on the reality talent show The Voice. Failing to claim top spot wasn’t a major setback for the duo, and after exiting the competition they got stuck into recording their second EP. Released in October, Eyelids Bouncing boasts diverse instrumentation, slick production and lateral song structures. “At its heart it’s a very experimental EP,” says Gabriel. “The whole point was to test the boundaries and try radical things and find our feet. We worked really closely with a producer Kamal Engels and we all contributed a bunch of ideas. We got a drummer in, we got our dad to play electric guitar and Kamal also played some bass. They were all our ideas, but we worked with a bunch of people to creatively direct it into strange, esoteric directions.” The pair’s experimental inclination is exemplified by the EP’s title track and lead single. The song begins as a fairly innocent-sounding gypsy waltz. When the chorus kicks in, however, it transforms into a driving alternative rock song. These opposing elements then proceed to form a somewhat unlikely union from the second verse onwards.
“When we brought that song to Kamal we actually hadn’t finished it, but we had an idea about the sounds,” Cecilia says. “We wanted the effect of two sections sounding completely different and then blending at the end. It was really fun being able to experiment in the studio with things you can’t do when you’re fiddling on acoustic instruments at home.” “It’s really exciting to juxtapose two completely different genres together,” adds Gabriel. “It’s so much more interesting to listen to and create something that’s so uncommon. You break outside the boundaries of all rules and regulations and you really just have this infinitely open-ended platform.” Despite the heavy emphasis on unfettered experimentation, Eyelids Bouncing also suggests Gabriel and Cecilia have a knack for penning memorable
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GABRIEL AND CECILIA’s Eyelids Bouncing is out now. BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 101
CHILD
By Augustus Welby
Local trio Child have only been around for a couple of years, but they’ve quickly become leading lights in Melbourne’s stoner rock scene. Throughout 2014, the band spent basically every other weekend building mountains of voluptuous riffs in one of the city’s many rock’n’roll dens. However, Child’s bluesy take on stoner rock hasn’t just caused a stir in Melbourne. In February last year, the band dropped their debut self-titled LP, which was made available internationally via Bandcamp. Right away, the downloads starting stacking up. “It went berserk,” says singer/guitarist Mathias Northway. “It went to #1 on Bandcamp and we’re looking at it going, ‘Are you serious?’ We couldn’t understand how. Of course [it was selling in] Melbourne, but it was mainly Germany, the States and Scandinavia.” Twelve months after its initial release, Child has finally been pressed to vinyl, and you could accuse the band of being rather sluggish in transferring the album to shiny wax. In Child’s defense, however, they ran into a few obstacles along the way. “With that [immediate response], along came about eight or so record offers,” Northway says. “We had an offer from [Austria’s] Napalm Records and they were trying to sign us good and proper. The contract and lawyers and negotiations took about four months, all for it to be withdrawn at the very last minute. That left a bad taste in our mouths, because we’d wasted so much time. We were about to change our lives to cater for it. As part of the contract, we had to tour Europe in July, so we were getting ourselves ready for that, but then it all fell through.” Despite being understandably dismayed, this hiccup didn’t send Child straight back to independent squalor. Rather, the new batch of shiny LPs – which get launched this Friday at The Tote – wear the insignia of Berlin label Kozmik Artifactz. “Kozmik Artifactz popped up and said, ‘The rep from Napalm you’ve been dealing with is really gutted it didn’t work out, but we really want to press the record’.” Northway says. “We were like, ‘Oh man, of course. This is great.’ We went with them mainly because they’re really honest. There’s no strings attached. Basically they have the rights exclusively for vinyl, which means that we still own everything.” Given this overseas deal has only just been finalised, one wonders how listeners in the Northern Hemisphere were directed towards Child’s music in the first place. Even Northway’s not quite sure, but he’s got a hunch. “I think we’ve got to thank the internet bloggers,” he
says. “Clint, who runs Hand of Doom Radio, he’s a champion for Melbourne heavy stoner, blues, doom music. He was one of the first to get wind of it and through all of his contacts throughout the internet, it just spread. I remember seeing his face at so many of our early shows and I think that’s where the Europeans caught wind of it.” When the deal with Napalm Records fell through, so did Child’s European tour plans. However, they’re still determined to capitalise on the fervent European interest. As such, the plan is to be on that side of the planet by October. “We’ve all gotten really excited about playing music and being able to do it in any way and anywhere we want,” Northway says. “If people are really appreciating what we’re doing, that gives us more incentive to do it and to do it better, with more honesty and more integrity. It’s a natural progression. We want to get ourselves into a position where we won’t have to worry about whether we can pay the rent or anything.” Child aren’t the only Melbourne band presently making a dent in Europe. Without underselling the merits of their peers, Northway points out that Child’s breakthrough helped to spotlight what’s happening elsewhere in this town. “With the attention that we were getting, all of a sudden the bands we were playing with were getting looked at as well,” he says. “Bands like Horsehunter, who I reckon are going to go on to big things, Watchtower, Seedy Jeezus. Our good mates Dead City Ruins, who we toured Indonesia with in November, they’ve jumped over to Europe to make a crack of it and they’re going to stay there. King of the North are heading over, Don Fernando’s heading over.” Melbourne’s been proudly boasting about its preeminent rock’n’roll ranks for decades. Now, thanks to the Internet, plenty of local underground acts are receiving attention from further afield. Still, it’s not as though giant bags of money are flying around. “It’d be nice to live the fantasy and live all the
stories that I’ve heard from older peers, like Masters Apprentices,” Northway says. “All this stuff like, ‘When we got signed, they flew us to England.’ But it doesn’t happen like that anymore. The big labels, there’s only four of them. It’s worth digging in. If you’re playing in a band, you may as well be starting a company at the same time. “We all changed our lives in order to play in Child,” he adds. “I moved over from Adelaide in 2011 specifically
to start this band. It’s fortunate that it worked out and got spread abroad. If it hadn’t, I’d still be busting my arse and playing just as hard as I am now.”
make for good tattoos, that’s for sure.” So what does Kelliher think about the forthcoming Episode VII - The Force Awakens? “Hopefully J.J. Abrams will make up for all the shit that George Lucas fucked up during the prequels,” he says. “They were terrible. There was no story there. It was so confusing... I don’t know how any eight or nine-year-old would be able to tell what the Trade Federation is or what fucking Watto is. Star Wars was a very simple movie. You could tell the Blockade Runner was being chased by a giant ship and
it was probably the good guy being chased by the bad guy. ‘They’re building a space station, the good guys have stolen the secret plans - let’s find those droids. Hey, this is the old wise man. Let’s rescue a princess.’ How simple is that? And every boy of my generation would be like ‘That’s what I want to do. Fly the space ship, use the blaster and rescue the princess’.”
Catch CHILD on Saturday March 27 at The Tote, supporting The Shrine at Cherry Bar on Friday May 1 and appearing at the mighty CherryRock015 on Sunday May 10. Child is out now through Kozmik Artifactz.
MASTODON
By Peter Hodgson
Mastodon are pretty frequent visitors to Australia, with their 2014 Soundwave appearances and sideshows attaining particularly legendary status among fans. But for all the antipodean love for the Atlanta four-piece, they’ve never actually toured Australia as headliners. That’s about to change, with a short run of three headlining shows in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in support of the band’s latest critically-acclaimed album, Once More ‘Round The Sun. “It’s pretty far for us but we thoroughly enjoy coming to Australia and I’m not just saying that because you come from there,” guitarist Bill Kelliher says. “If I could live anywhere else in the world, it would be there and I tell people who’ve never been there that they need to go. It’s like a really, really nice USA,” he laughs. “Nice people, good food and good times.” The band is particularly psyched about the opportunity to stretch out with a headlining set. After all, even when they were top of the bill on their Soundwave Sidewaves last year, it wasn’t quite the same thing as their own headlining tour in terms of setlist or production. “Soundwave and Big Day Out are great, but when we do those sideshows they’re not quite the same as doing a whole headlining tour,” he explains. “It’s weird, because Australia is the size of the US but to go over there and do a headlining tour is like three gigs, whereas we can play the States for a full year and still not hit every state, playing every second night. I don’t know why we’re only doing three gigs. We should do ten. I know some other bands have been over there and hit all the major cities and secondary markets, but I don’t know. I think the people who book our band just try to get the biggest shows, but why not hit some of the smaller cities? But I don’t make the rules.” So why not do ninja gigs at bars? “I played [at Whole Lotta Love] with my other band, Primate, last year,” he enthuses. “We actually just played a 200-capacity venue here in Atlanta last week right before we went to Mexico. It was for a benefit, a secret show that we BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 102
announced a couple of days before the actual gig and sold out in about 30 minutes. And it was fun. It was definitely taking it back to the old-school vibe. We used to play back there when we first started and even back then, ten, 12 years ago we used to sell it out. It was a hot, sweaty, fun thing to do, for sure.” Kelliher will be bringing a handful of his signature Gibson Halcyon Les Paul guitars with him. Available to the public, these guitars feature a golden sunburst finish and his own, signature Lace Music electronics. He also has a limited edition Golden Axe model based on the pointy Explorer shape, long hailed as an icon of heavy music - but those buggers are too big to bring to Australia on this run. “I’m going to bring three or four Les Pauls over there. It’s a nightmare with freight stinging you for every little last thing. And the Explorer is such a big, oddly-shaped guitar that it doesn’t fit into the standard three-guitar case we bring outside the country... And there are certainly worse problems to have in life, but unfortunately that’s all we can bring over there.” Kelliher is a huge Star Wars fan and it seems a shame to have him on the phone and not ask about his enduring love of the original films. “I’m covered in Star Wars tattoos, he begins. Bounty hunters, Princess Leia, a Storm Trooper, a Death Star with Grand Moff Tarkin inside of it. I love all the imagery of it. It’s great. That’s why I collect all the toys, ships, posters… The artwork and the way it looks is amazing. So futuristic, and all the characters are so well-done and interesting. They
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Catch MASTODON at Festival Hall on Friday March 27. Once More Round The Sun is out through Warner.
CORE
PUNK, SKA, HARDCORE NEWS, REVIEWS & GOSSIP
By Emily Kelly: ek1984@gmail.com Melbourne thrashers King Parrot have revealed a release date for their long awaited new album. Dead Set will come out on Friday May 15 and the band will return to Australia to tour extensively in support. See them smash The Corner Hotel on Saturday May 16 with High Tension and Collosvs. Wilhelm Scream
So keen to see Wilhelm Scream smash out a set at The Evelyn next month. Even better to see that Anchors and Tigers will support at their Thursday April 30 show and Anchors and Post Script will bring some bodies to the Friday May 1 show. There are still tickets for the April gig but they will disappear shortly. The Decline reckon Giving Up Is A Gateway Drug and despite the loss of a couple of members last year, the Perth band aren’t about to call it quits anytime soon. The punx are touring internationally later this year, but before that they’re lapping our land and landing in Collingwood to play Bendigo Hotel on Wednesday April 15 with Foxtrot, Max Goes to Hollywood and Del Lago. Matt Skiba played his first shows with Blink 182 over the weekend and damn, it’s pretty funny to see him channelling his inner 15 year old to fit in with the Blink aesthetic. It’s a bit of a change from the morbid Skiba we’ve always adored in Alkaline Trio videos. Speaking of, Skiba has stated recently that he has no plans to leave Alk3 despite what must be tremendous commitments with Blink. Meanwhile Tom DeLonge has announced he plans on releasing four albums this year. Ambitious. Soundwave have locked in next year’s east coast only festival dates already, putting to rest any speculation the festival won’t return after rumoured losses this year. The festival will be pinching Big Day Out’s traditional dates and running through the Australia Day long weekend in January – more than a month earlier than usual. The event will also return to a one day only format and will arrive in Melbourne on Tuesday January 26, the Australia Day Public Holiday. Miles Away dropped a bomb last week revealing they’ve got a new album in the works. Resist will put the record out on Friday May 8 and it features guest appearances from members of Bane, Cleave, and Dreamtigers, as well as A Death In The Family’s Jamie Hay. See the band play live at Northcote Social Club on Thursday May 14. Tickets are available now.
CRUNCH
METAL, HEAVY ROCK. CLASSIC ROCK LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL GOOD SHIT
With Peter Hodgson: crunchcolumn@gmail.com
CORE GIG GUIDE THURSDAY MARCH 26: Super Best Friends, Pat Chow at The Old Bar Chasing Ghosts, Laura Palmer, Millie Tizzard at Next FRIDAY MARCH 27: Mastodon at Festival Hall Ganbaru, Scalphunter, Coffin Wold, Cosmic Kahuna at Bendigo Hotel Corpus at The Public Bar Korpus, Union Pacific, Old Love, Employment at The Old Bar Pat Chow at The Espy SATURDAY MARCH 28: Initials at The Reverence Emery, Take Us To Vegas, Renegade Armada, Incentives at Bang The Controllers, Horror My Friend, The New Eyes, The Quarters at The Workers Club
NEW FROM MAMMOTH MAMMOTH
From the desk of Mammoth Mammoth: “After locking themselves in the disabled dunnies of the infamous Cherry Bar for 13 straight days with nothing more than a stack of Melbourne Bitter slabs, a pile of Home Girls magazines and a big bag of goey for sustenance, Mammoth Mammoth explode back out with their brand new album of beer drinkin’, bong rippin’, nang huffin’ face-melters. Each limited edition pack has been individually cursed by Beryl, their personal one titted Haitian voodoo priestess. MAMMOTH VOL4 Hammered Again features ten tracks (plus bonus track) of derailed dreams, no-chance knuckle fights, psychotic night sweats, sinners temptation and a jihad on morality all washed down with a few bottles of premium grade, over-proof nihilism. So it’s good times for all. And something everyone can enjoy.” The album is released on Friday March 27.
SUNDAY MARCH 29: Emery, Take Us To Vegas at Wyndham Youth Center Emery, Take Us To Vegas, Inventions, Fear of Flying at Northcote Social Club Scalphunter, Drifter, Muscle Car and Cherry Bar TUESDAY MARCH 31: Ecca Vandal, Gatherer at The Gasometer
Deez Nuts
MORE TICKETS FOR THE OCEAN RELEASED
Germany’s premier post-metal act The Ocean return to Australia in April with Brisbane-based progressivealternative powerhouse Caligula’s Horse as their special guests. Due to massive demand, a limited number of new tickets have just been announced for the show at The Evelyn Hotel in Fitzroy on Saturday April 18. The Ocean will be playing their highly acclaimed record Pelagial in full for the very first time in Australia. The Melbourne local support is Orsome Welles.
DIREBLAZE ALBUM LAUNCH
Direblaze released their self-titled album a few weeks ago through Rosetin Records. To support the release, they’ll be at Bendigo Hotel in Collingwood this Saturday March 28 with Sarfaust, Dark Earth and Abbraxxas.
BRUCE KULICK CONVENTION APPEARANCE & MASTERCLASS
Former KISS lead guitarist Bruce Kulick is in town this week for two events: a guitar masterclass at Allans Billy Hyde and the Melbourne KISS Convention at The Seaford Hotel. The convention runs over Saturday and Sunday, and each day is packed with 12 hours of merchandise, collectables, exhibitions of rare KISS memorabilia, photo displays, film clips, auctions, and live entertainment featuring Sisters Doll, Shewolf, Path of Destruction and Stacey V in addition to Kulick. The Allans Billy Hyde masterclass is on Thursday March 26 at 7pm. Kulick says, “I am so excited to return to Australia this March 2015 because 20 years ago, KISS came to play in your country. It was called KISS My Ass ‘Down Under’ and has so many memories and awesome highlights for me to share... I was proud of what we accomplished and I will be digging into some of my favorite songs, discussing the work that goes into these shows, the setlist, and of course, my guitar work for live performances. We know that playing guitar live can differ from the studio versions and there’s nothing like performing in front of your fans. So please come join me at Allans Billy Hyde. It will be wonderful reliving this tremendous tour with you all, one that I will never forget.”
THE BABY ANIMALS & THE SUPERJESUS TOUR
Deez Nuts will pair with excellent Kiwi band Antagonist AD to promote both bands’ new releases. Earth Caller and Relentless will support nationally and open up proceedings at The Corner Hotel in Melbourne on Saturday June 13. Tickets are available from Thursday March 26. Deez Nuts’ new album Word Is Bond is out on Friday April 24, while you can grab the new Antagonist LP from this Friday.
The Baby Animals and The Superjesus are teaming up for a national tour in support of She Who Rocks. The tour kicks off in Suze DeMarchi’s hometown of Perth before hitting The Hi-Fi in Melbourne on Friday May 29 and Saturday May 30. Up-andcoming Aussie bands/artists are also currently flooding to GiggedIn to apply for a support slot on the tour, with entries closing on Friday May 1 and the winners being announced on May 8. All artists go into a public vote resulting in a shortlist, with the support acts then chosen by an industry panel including the She Who Rocks promoters, Social Family Records and the headline artists. Bands must include at least one female member and be ready to perform a minimum 30 minute set of original material.
ACE FREHLEY TOUR
Speaking of former KISS guitarists, don’t forget the legendary Ace Frehley is in town on Saturday May 2 at The Forum Theatre. Tickets are on sale now. Ace is supporting his new album, Space Invader, and will be playing solo tracks as well as KISS klassics.
SUFFOCATION TOUR
The US Technical Death Metal Legends Suffocation head our way in May with Nuclear Blast labelmates Decapitated to unleash their mayhem on the fans. They’ll be at The Corner Hotel in Richmond on Saturday May 9.
IRON REAGAN
By Rod Whitf ield
Blizzards, snowbound roads and other extreme weather conditions can make life on the road difficult. For Virginia-based hardcore punks Iron Reagan, who’ve just concluded an American tour supporting Napalm Death and Voivod, the dates in the frosty east got a little hairy at times, according to frontman Tony Foresta. “The weather in the east was just scary,” Foresta reflects. “[The tour] was great, it was one of the best I’ve ever been on, despite the fact we got stuck some places. Once we drove off the fucking road and went into a ditch. About a week ago we drove into a jackknifed semi trailer on the highway. “You just gotta be real careful, and drive really fuckin’ slow,” he continues. “We had to cancel a couple of shows because we wouldn’t have made it safely. We were definitely out there in the trenches.” Iron Reagan are heading to Australia in early April, and while we’ve bid farewell to our summer, it’ll still be a damn sight warmer in Oz than the conditions they experienced on the Napalm Death tour, and Foresta can’t wait to visit our shores. “I love Australia so much,” he enthuses. “Iron Reagan have never been there yet, so it’s going to be a major time for us, and we couldn’t stop talking about it when we were out on the road. “My other band, Municipal Waste, have toured there twice,” he says. “But it’s going to be great bringing
Mark, Rob and Ryan there. They’re all really excited about it.” Iron Reagan are often labelled a ‘supergroup’, as the band features current and former members of high profile heavy acts Municipal Waste and Darkest Hour, however Foresta seems very unimpressed with the term and the fact that they’ve been lumped with the label. “We never really tried to form a supergroup,” he maintains. “None of our bands have really been big, or super. We’re just a bunch of dudes from Richmond who grew up together and started jamming. Me and the drummer, Ryan, have jammed together for ten years and we had all these ideas kicking around. And when he quit Darkest Hour we said, ‘Fuck it man, let’s finally do this band.” While Iron Reagan’s live set lives up to the notion of, ‘We’re here for a good time, not a long time’, they still manage to pack an awful lot into the time they’re onstage. “It’s a very high energy set,” he describes. “We only play for about 25 to 30 minutes, but we play about 30 songs in that time.”
You would think that such a short stage presence wouldn’t allow much time for Foresta to connect verbally with the audience between songs, but according to him, that’s not always necessarily the case. “If I drink a lot, I’ll all of a sudden have something to say about everything,” he laughs. Following their Australian tour, the band will embark on an extensive tour of Europe. “We’re playing some really cool festivals that I like a lot,” Foresta says. “We’re
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playing Groezrock in Belgium and Hellfest in France. I’ve played them before and they were really cool, so I’m pretty sure they’re going to be good times.”
IRON REAGAN play The Tote on Saturday April 11. The Tyranny of Will is out now through Relapse Records. BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 103
Q&A
Biddlewood
So then, what’s the band name and what do you ‘do’ in the band? We’re Biddlewood and we’re made up of guitarist/ vocalist/songwriter Tali Harding-Hone, bassist/ vocalist/songwriter Bridget McArthur, and drummer/vocalist Isabel Campbell-Taylor. What do you reckon people will say you sound like? A lot of people see us play and their immediate response is HAIM; yeah, duh we’re girls, and there are three of us, very original. We think we’re a bit of a mix of The Cranberries, The Strokes, Washington, and San Cisco. What do you love about making music? We love the freedom it gives us to tell stories, both autobiographical and fictional. What do you hate about the music industry? We hate the lack of girls out there. It’s an advantage in that we stand out more, but often, the fact that the first thing people think of about us is “they’re girls,” rather than “they make sick music,” can get pretty annoying. If you could travel back in time and show one of your musical heroes your stuff, who would it be and why? Mozart, because I think he’d be really shocked and it’d be amusing. Catch BIDDLEWOOD at The Workers Club on Sunday March 29.
BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 104
WEDNESDAY MARCH 25
indie folk pleasantries, having been invited twice to play at the Americana Festival in Nashville. He also caught the eye of Nylon and American Songwriter magazines, hailing him as one to watch across 2015. Ben Wright Smith wraps up his residency this Wednesday March 25 at The Retreat Hotel from 8.30pm, entry is free.
DRUNK MUMS
MAPS OF TASMANIA
You’d be hard pressed to find someone that’s into rock’n’roll and not into a Drunk Mums record. It’s well written, raw and most importantly free of pretension. In essence, what they do is straight up Aussie rock’n’roll with a contemporary garage slant, and an enthusiasm to match in the live setting. Drunk Mums are wrapping up their residency at Cherry Bar this Wednesday March 25. Doors from 6pm, $5 entry from 8pm.
Maps of Tasmania are planning on turning the tables on soft rock for their debut show at The Old Bar this Wednesday March 25, playing a set of the least abrasive punk rock you’ll ever hear. Featuring members of not-so soft rock bands (Legends of Motorsport, Warpigs), Maps of Tasmania aim to bring some long overdue respectability to a much maligned genre. Come down to The Old Bar from 8pm, entry is a smooth $8. No earplugs required.
CHERRY BAR
THE OLD BAR
MOONEE VALLEY DRIFTERS
THE POST OFFICE HOTEL
LADY OSCAR HOWLER
Last year saw Melbourne locals Lady Oscar charge forward without looking back. Recently recording their debut mini LP, and with a string of successful shows throughout the year showcasing their unique sound and charming, enrapturing stage presence, Lady Oscar aren’t close to settling down. Come join them at Howler for the launch of Dapper Desperado, the product of six heads butting together to forge a sound not quite like any other. Lady Oscar’s live shows are something not to be missed.
THURSDAY MARCH 26
THE SONGWRITER SESSIONS
BEN WRIGHT SMITH
T H E R E T R E AT H O T E L
Melbourne songwriter Ben Wright Smith recently released his single No One, and begins his nationwide tour in support with a residency at The Retreat Hotel, playing his live set every Wednesday in March. Last year saw Smith play with the likes of D.D. Dumbo, Holy Holy and Bertie Blackman, but it's not just Australian audiences who’ve been captured by his
TEQUILA MOCKINGBYRD YA H YA H ’ S
Melbourne’s all girl trio Tequila Mockingbyrd pack a high energy punch. The jägerbomb-fuelled party-byrds bring a thirst for good time rock’n’roll that will knock you off your feet and keep you wanting more. Join Tequila Mockingbyrd as they finish off their month long residency at Yah Yah’s this Thursday March 26. They play from 9pm with guests Busy Kingdom, The Elliots and Blind Thrills. Free entry.
SURRENDER
BAR OUSSOU
The Songwriter Sessions are coming to Bar Oussou for the first time ever. The Taste of Indie Collective and Australian Musicians Radio AMR.fm present a Nashville-style format where three songwriters get on stage to discuss the songwriting process, and play a couple tunes too. This week’s free session features Bob Crain from Ashbury Medicine Show, along with Kat O (Kill TV) and Ken Ford in a very special guest appearance. Get down to Sydney Rd this Thursday March 26. The night kicks off at 8pm.
With 18 years of playing live, figuring it comes to ‘round two thousand gigs under their belts, the Moonee Valley Drifters have become a music staple of the northern suburbs. No strangers to any great Melbourne venue, they’re putting on a show this week at The Post Office Hotel on Sydney Rd. The Moonee Valley Drifters play two sets from 8pm onwards. Free entry, of course.
BENDIGO HOTEL
SPOOKYLAND
THE SPOT TED MALLARD
Just coming off supporting The Lemonheads and Cold War Kids, and a series of successful shows in the US and UK, Sydney’s Spookyland are coming to the Spotted Mallard this Thursday March 26. Support on the night comes from locals Sunbeam Sound Machine. Get down to The Mallard for this free entry show, kicking things off at 9.30pm.
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Surrender were, up until recently, based in Perth until they made the ol’ switcheroo to Melbourne. Now they’re in a relatively strategic position to take on the nation with an emotional storm of raw, passionate melodic hardcore this side of a teenager’s Tumblr page, beginning with a Bendigo Hotel gig this Thursday March 26. Supporting them are The Evercold, The Approach and Of Stolen Moments. Hit up the Bendy from 8.30pm, $5 entry.
MINTON’S PLAYHOUSE SESSIONS
MASTODON
F E S T I VA L H A L L
Mastodon are here touring album six in the band’s first headline tour of Australia, having previously toured with Slayer, as well as playing at Soundwave and Big Day Out. Once More Round the Sun, the band’s latest album, was released in June 2014. Catch Mastodon on Friday March 27 at Festival Hall.
THE B.EAST
THE SOULENIKOES + MASS SKY RAID THE WORKERS CLUB
The Soulenikoes are giving fans a sneak peak of things to come, promising to showcase some new material for their show this Thursday March 26 at The Workers Club. Joining in on the action is Mass Sky Raid, riding the success of their new single Enemy. Also joining the lineup are hard-hitting instrumental prog rockers Kettlespider and discopunks Myyth who recently played a packed Workers Club for their Relics single launch. Doors open 7pm, tickets are $5+BF from the venue or $10 on the door.
MERLE STREET JAZZ BAND RUBY ’S MUSIC ROOM
Starting out in a small lounge room in the front of a house on Merle Street, MSJB was the result of a trumpeter who, having received no calls from bands looking for musicians, decided that the only way he was ever going to play to the people was to start a band of his own. MSJB are committed to “playing jazz like jazz”, and state that if you’re looking for “In the Mood” then please look elsewhere. For everyone else though, Merle Street Jazz Band fit the bill. They play on Thursday March 26 at Ruby’s Music Room from 8.30pm. Tickets are $10 with a Facebook checkin, $15 otherwise.
Bringing together an array of brilliant jazz and be-bop musicians from around Melbourne to play in jam style format, the B.East are gearing up for another round of Minton’s Playhouse Sessions. A few months ago, The B.East joined forces with Robert Simone, and procured an event that would occur once a month, bringing us an array of brilliant musicians who carry the old vibes of Minton’s Playhouse in jam style format. Rob and his house rhythm band are joined by some to be announced special guests. Come down, or even get on the stage yourself. Kicks off at 8pm, free entry. FRIDAY MARCH 27
EATNOISE LAUNCH PARTY THE WORKERS CLUB
Celebrating the launch of their social music hub, Eatnoise.com are marking the event by bringing a stacked line-up to The Workers Club. Featured on the lineup are James Grim Woodcutters, The Rechords and The Black Guild – all in support of psych-rock band The Strange launching their new single Piece of Your Strange. With burlesque scheduled to run throughout the night, make sure you get down to The Workers Club on Friday March 27 from 7.00pm to get a slice of the action. Presale tickets are $15.85+BF from oztix.com.au.
Q&A
New Dub City LISA MITCHELL HOWLER
Lisa Mitchell is back on home soil and upon her return, has announced an acoustic tour to celebrate the success of Wah Ha. The tour will see Mitchell joined onstage by guitarist and serialcollaborator Tim Harvey in a rare opportunity to see the internationallyacclaimed singer/songwriter in some of Australia’s finest intimate rooms. Supporting Mitchell on all shows is the talented newcomer, East. Mitchell comes to Howler on Friday March 27.
JODY & THE JOY RIDERS THE REVERENCE HOTEL
If you like drinkin’ and dancin done country style, Jody & The Joy Riders is for you. Rocking at The Reverence, this Friday night will mark the end of their residency shows with some twangin’ upbeat country flavoured songs of murder, mayhem, broken hearts and love. It’s free entry too. Forget your working week; come join this rowdy mob for a night of toe tappin’ fun from 8pm onwards.
WHITE SHOES & THE COUPLES COMPANY THE LUWOW
White Shoes & The Couples Company are an Indonesian pop/funk/jazz band from Jakarta. Currently signed to both Indonesian label Aksara Records and American independent label Minty Fresh in Chicago, the White Shoes music is laden with influences from the Indonesian movie soundtracks of the '70s, '30s jazz and '60s pop music. The night is presented by local Indonesian pop band Empat Lima, who will also be DJing their fave Indonesian record finds. Come down to The LuWOW this Friday March 27 from 8pm onwards, entry is a cool $5.
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Who am I speaking with and what do you do in New Dub City? Ali MC, frontman and producer of New Dub City. You combine reggae, dub and punk with many different musical styles you’ve encountered while travelling. What has been your most profound musical experience abroad? Attending an all night Voodoo ceremony in Haiti. Intense drumming and dance, combined with chanting, and a lot of drinking. The whole experience ends up as part of a ‘punk rock travel book’ I’ve written called The Eyeball End. You’re launching your latest short documentary Mane Djung Karrira on Saturday. Can you tell us a little about it? Mane Djang Karirra means ‘the place where the Dreaming changed shape’ in local Kunibidji language. It’s a short documentary following New Dub City as they tour to the remote community of Maningrida, West Arnhem Land. How would you describe the energy of an average New Dub City gig? We always make sure we put on a high energy show. We involve the audience as much as possible – everyone can become part of the show. Check out NEW DUB CITY’s launch of Mane Djung Karrira at Bar 303 on Saturday March 28.
BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 105
Q&A
CORPUS
THE PUBLIC BAR
Corpus are celebrating the launch of their new video for the single (I Plan To) Starve (On You) by hitting the road and they’ll be playing The Public Bar with friends The Union Pacific, OLD LOVE and Employment. It’s sure to be a real banger of an evening so get your dancing shoes on. Friday March 27 at The Public Bar from 8.30pm. Entry is $10.
PRIDELANDS
THE REVERENCE HOTEL
Manorism
Define your genre in five words or less: Dream, indie, alternative, pop, rock. How long have you been gigging and writing? We formed at the end of 2013. We started playing the Melbourne scene after several months of writing and developing our sound in early 2014. What has been your favourite gig you’ve played to date? An exceptional gig for us was playing O-week at Monash Clayton at the start of this year. We had beautiful sunshine, summer vibes and a great reception which made it memorable for all of us. What inspires or has influenced your music the most? Our musical inspiration varies from an incredibly wide range of artists, both new and old from all different genres. Our influences extend to our individual experiences and journeys in life. What do you think a band has to do these days to succeed? It really depends on an artist’s interpretation of what success means to them. Our aim is to develop as musicians and artists, produce music that we enjoy and to share it with others so they can hopefully enjoy it, too. Why should everyone come and see your band? We have a unique sound that may resonate with you. Our live performances tend to have some special surprises, so they’re definitely worth checking out. Catch MANORISM launch their EP Oceans at Laundry on Thursday March 26.
CONCLUSIONS YA H YA H ’ S
New band on the block Conclusions are all set to showcase their classic pop rock flavour this Friday March 27 at Yah Yah’s. Featuring a who’s who lineup of Melbourne artists, Brent McMullen (EVEN/voxsound) Sacha Lucas (Morning After Girls), Nick Harding and Ace Morley, they’ll be joined on the night by Guests of Ghosts plus a few special guests. Tickets are $13 on the door from 8pm.
TECHNO GALLERIA LOOP BAR
Fort Heart Presents Techno Galleria at Loop, bringing together the ideas and concepts behind techno and minimal sounds in collaboration with visual and photographic interaction. DJs Hollows, Booshank and Kiti will be filling the dance floor with techno staples, with visuals provided by Krystal Schultheiss. Come join them for a night of sound, vision and movement. Free entry, from 9pm til late. BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 106
Heavy hitters Pridelands have just released their debut EP Natives, and are headlining a big night at The Rev to celebrate. They’ll be joined by ViperLove (NSW), Static Revenue, DriveTime Commute and Blind Eye for the show going down this Friday March 27. Get down to The Reverence Hotel from 7.30pm onwards, only $5 entry.
on something new, Dorsal Fins were born after a week of 40+ degree days in the studio, making it up as they went along. The resulting album Mind Renovation is a dazzling journey of controlled chaos, traversing the broadest spectrums of pop music; from synthladen ditties to dreamy, ethereal ballads to brain-bending grooves, captivating throughout. 12 months on and Dorsal Fins have come alive, turning into a full-fledged live band. Mind Renovation will be launched at The Gasometer this Friday March 27 with Jacky Winter & Good Morning as supports. Doors open 8pm, tickets are $15 on the door. SATURDAY MARCH 28
THE QUARTERS
W H O L E L O T TA L O V E B A R
Expect a pumping night of rock‘n’roll with a dash of punk on Friday March 27 as The Quarters get ready to shake the walls of Whole Lotta Love. Appearing with them are the post-hardcore outfit Gladstone, Adelaide punk rockers Dead Joe and punk/folk dudes The Suicide Tuesdays. Doors open from 8pm, $10 entry.
DIANA RADAR THE ESP Y
Launching a six track EP of high energy, uncontrollable rock, Diana Radar are celebrating their debut release at The Espy’s Basement on Friday March 27. Described as heavy, raw and melodic, expect a mosh inciting show as the band plays with support acts You Yangs, Early Openers and Sadults. Doors open from 9pm, $10 entry at the door.
THE OCEAN PARTY
THE B.EAST
From the streets of Paris via the alleyways of Melbourne comes a dashing ensemble of fatuous felines to oil up your bowstrings. Chalouche are Melbourne’s premier bunch of dodgy cats. Singing in French, Chalouche offers a mix of originals and cover tunes derived from a broad gypsy-Mediterranean tradition. They play this Friday March 27 at The B.East from 9pm. Entry is free.
WHAT THE FUNK FRIDAYS PURPLE EMERALD
Melbourne’s home of the hottest funk acts What The Funk Fridays are back at Purple Emerald. Each week, they’ll be showcasing a new performer, who’ll be bringing their funky rhythms to the Emerald crowd every Friday from 9pm. This week they’ve got Paint The Town bringing down the house, with DJ Mr Lob sending the night out in style. Free entry, 9pm at Purple Emerald.
DORSAL FINS
THE GASOMETER HOTEL
Created and led by Liam McGorry (Saskwatch/Eagle and the Worm) as an excuse to work with his best buds
SPOONFUL
THE POST OFFICE HOTEL
Regulars of the live music scene, last year marked Spoonful’s 21st year together as a band. With their sound wholeheartedly embracing rhythm and blues, soul and rock’n’roll, Spoonful, featuring Paul Winstanley on bass, David Lord on keys/vocals/harp and brothers Andre and Kit Warhurst on guitar/vocals and drums/vocals respectively, now mine their wealth of collective experience to create something that is uniquely their own and much loved by their legion of fans. They perform two free sets at The Post Office Hotel this Saturday March 28 from 9.30pm onwards.
Q&A
Indie-pop quintet The Ocean Party are playing a quaint show at Fitzroy’s Labour In Vain, promising a free night of seductive saxophone tinged tunes. Support comes from Redspencer with DJ Geoffrey O’Connor wrapping up the night with a late running set. They hit the stage on Saturday March 28, doors open 7pm.
Emery
SCALPHUNTER
CHALOUCHE
Submerge are popping their interstate cherry, coming all the way from SA for a The Brunswick Hotel gig this Saturday March 28. Submerge will be joined by riffsters Zandata, psychedelikids Loki and booze rockers Little Miss Remembering. It’s a free entry gig, so come along and help us hold up the bar. The gig kicks off at 9pm.
T H E L A B O U R I N VA I N
THE BRUNSWICK HOTEL
Whatever you think you know about punk rock, chuck it out the window and grin as you watch it smash to smithereens; Scalphunter are here to obliterate expectations. With a blistering live show and a unique ability to steal the hearts of fans of all musical persuasions, it’s no surprise Blunt Magazine featured Scalphunter as one of their 20 Bands To Watch in 2014. With their debut album slated for a release in the latter half of the year, national tours will see them tearing it up near you soon. Scalphunter perform this Friday March 27 at The Brunswick Hotel with Ganbaru, Coffin Wolf and Cosmic Kahuna. Free entry, from 8pm till late.
SUBMERGE
THE BRUNSWICK HOTEL
MESA COSA
THE PUBLIC BAR
Mesa Cosa are wrapping up their east coast tour by putting on a massive party at The Public Bar this Saturday March 28. Starring local legends Mighty Boys, good time jammers Dumb Punts and the awesomely named Jurassic Nark, they will also be joined by none other than special guest MC Purple Duck who will be doing a super rare live show performing tracks from his Duck Side of the Moon LP. The night will be capped off by all night karaoke brought to you by Bone Soup, what a time to be alive! Mesa Cosa headline the night, starting at 8.30pm. Entry is $10.
LACE AND WHISKEY
W H O L E L O T TA L O V E B A R
Playing their first gig of the year on Saturday March 28, Lace and Whiskey are taking their brand of '70s and '80s influenced hard rock to Whole Lotta Love. Joined by progressive rockers Free Burn, alternative hard rockers Medicine Dog and some crazy bastards called Keggin who describe their genre as ‘spew’, expect a huge night of loud tunes. Pack your steel liver, and get in early. Doors from 8pm with $5 entry.
DIREBLAZE
BENDIGO HOTEL
Thrash group Direblaze are still reeling from the release of their selftitled LP earlier this month through Rosetin Records. To support the album, Direblaze have announced a celebration show at the Bendy, with Sarfaust, Dark Earth and Abbraxxas on the bill, going down this Saturday March 28. The show starts 8pm, with $5 entry at Bendigo Hotel. Get in quick.
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Infinite Entertainment
What role does FReeZa play in the Melbourne music scene? FreeZa provides a helping hand for young bands to get a foot into the music scene by providing them live shows to play that are targeted towards the local community and surrounds of Wyndham. Also, this provides Melbourne with fresh bands that are bringing something different to the music scene in genres such as Hardcore, Metal, R&B, etc. Emery are a big deal, how did you get them involved in this special, all ages gig? We saw that Emery announced their Australian tour back in December and we contacted the Australian booking agents. We wanted to offer the AA scene a taste of Emery for a fraction of the cost. What other local bands are involved? No! Not the Bees and To the Airship are local Wyndham bands, as well as QLD band Take Us To Vegas. All of whom are amazing and talented. What can attendees expect from the day? Attendees can expect a rad, youthfriendly environment for them to rock out to while watching some of their favourite bands play. The day will flow smoothly and will be a great experience for those attending. Will events like this at the Wyndham Youth Resource Centre become a regular occurrence? Hopefully. We want to organise and run as many events as we can. EMERY are playing at Wyndham Youth Resource Centre in Hoppers Crossing on Sunday March 29 from 12.30pm. This is an all ages event.
TRICK DOG SYNDICATE
SIMON HUDSON BAND
SOCIETY OF BEGGARS
Following a raging summer residency at The Penny Black, improvised groove trio Trick Dog Syndicate are set to return, bringing their chaotic instrumental drum and bass and hip hop repertoire to the Black this Saturday March 28. Joining the trio will be heavy-hitting MCs Kieran Lee (Big Words) and Will Scullin. Trick Dog Syndicate perform two sets from 9pm, with free entry.
Simon Hudson Band’s highly original music weaves a captivating blend of folk, Latin and roots music with influences including The Cat Empire, Jose Gonzalez, Neil Finn, and Paul Simon. Their debut EP Time and Space is a captivating vignette of skilled songwriting – addictive hues of roots rhythms go hand-in-hand with honest lyricism. They’ve locked in a gig this Saturday March 28 at The B.East from 9pm onwards, with free entry.
Society of Beggars grew out of Adelaide’s local indie-rock scene and moved east to the cold of Melbourne to start work on a tough, stone-hard sound that would reflect the band’s history and future. Linking dark, sinewy melodies and rhythms with lyrics tuned to the dissonances of what it is to be alive; love, hate, life and death, Society of Beggars try to take in their disparate influences and turn them into something personal and universal. They’ve locked in a gig at Cherry Bar for this Saturday March 28, supported by Low Fly Incline and Battlesick. Entry is $13 from 8pm onwards.
T H E P ENNY BLACK
BEC GORING
THE DRUNKEN POET
Somewhere wandering the streets of Brunswick is a jazz guitar student with a baby face, a ‘what you lookin at mate?’ haircut and chops any young muso would die for. Soulful vocals backed by a never-ending bag of blues infused riffery, eloquent harmonies whilst maintaining a striking contrast among songs. Backed by The Elwood Winters, a trio with equally as much grunt and talent, Bec swings between songs alluding to relationships, adversity, and all the important stuff that keeps the world going round. She plays The Drunken Poet on Saturday March 28 at 9pm. Free entry.
Q&A
THE B.EAST
BIG SMOKE & GOOD MORNING
How long have you been playing together? Third Eye was formed about 18 months ago, however before we started the band, there were a few things that needed to be done. In the end, we got together, stood in a circle, and just worked it out. You’re doing a tribute to Tool this Friday, what do you connect most with about the music of this inimitable band? It’s hard to pick just one thing with a band like Tool; but if we had to put our finger on one, it would definitely be everything. What can punters expect from your live show? We’ve been praised for not only our musical likeness of Tool, but also for our re-creation of Tool’s live show. We incorporate breathtaking lighting and laser effects, visual displays incorporating video clips and other Tool-related artwork, and musicianship unlike any other Tool tribute band you have seen. This combination results in complete immersion into the Tool experience. Describe the first time you heard Tool, what was it like? The four of us were together holding our hammer, screwdriver, drill and spanner respectively when all of a sudden, our pants got tighter. Why should everyone get down to this gig? It’s coming up on eight years since the last Tool release and fans are getting restless. We’re here to ease their suffering by offering them a show they will not soon forget, featuring over two hours of your favorite Tool tracks. Catch THIRD EYE performing the music of Tool this Friday March 27 at Rubix Warehouse.
SUMMER BLOOD THE OLD BAR
This Sunday marks the end of a filthy grungy punk residency for Summer Blood, so come down to The Old Bar for the Grand Finale or pack ya bags and get lost. There’s a flood of cheap beer flowing around with $10 jugs and $5 cans, which is all anyone needs for a seedy Sunday sesh. This week’s support slots come from Apart From This and Party Vibez. Doors are from 8pm, entry is free.
THE BLACK ALLEYS & RED X
GOD BOWS TO MATH (NZ)
This Saturday March 28 sees Red X hitting Yah Yah’s, bringing along The Black Alleys to help launch their latest single. The Black Alleys began rockin’ their garage inspired tunes at venues across town over three years ago and have since been refining their live show to create what has been called “a frenzied spectacle of unrestrained, anarchic abandon.” Come down for what should be a huge lineup at Yah Yah’s. Tickets are $10 (comes with a free jager shot) from 8pm.
Ranking their last appearance at The Old Bar as one of their favourite shows ever, NZ heavyweights God Bows To Math are returning this Saturday night in support of their new album Brighter Futures. They’ll be joined on the night by noisy punks Pale Heads in their debut live performance, and local up and comers General Men and Overtime for their debut live performance too. This will be the best show this week so better get in early. Doors open 8.30pm, $10 entry.
$5 A SLIDER!
Tuesdays
$10
PIZZA ALL DAY!
Wednesday Nights Z-STAR (UK)
T H E R E T R E AT H O T E L
Come down to The Retreat Hotel on Sunday March 29 for a night of passionately delivered blues and soul, as Z-STAR takes the stage for what is sure to be a high octane show. Performing a stunning acoustic set with the talented Sebastien Heintz on guitar, Z-STAR’s tuneful songs and soundtracks transcend the decades and sit perfectly into the category of great music. Doors open from 5pm, entry is free.
BRARSEY SUNDAYS SPOT TED MALLARD
THE WORKERS CLUB
Melbourne locals The Controllers are celebrating the launch of their new EP Animals with an east coast tour throughout March/April. Bringing their mix of melodic, punk-rock to Melbourne alongside Horror My Friend, don’t miss them this weekend as they kick things off at The Workers Club on Saturday March 28 with special guests The New Eyes and The Quarters. Tickets are $15.30+BF from oztix.com.au. Doors open at 7.30pm.
HESSIAN MAG PARTY SHADOW ELECTRIC
The new kids on the block, Hessian Magazine are here to turn fashion upside-down and bring on the good vibes. After a sold out launch for their debut issue in September, the babes are back, throwing another party to thank supporters, raise some dollars and generally just for shits’n’gigs. With more acts to be revealed over the coming weeks, the initial lineup is damn hot. Bec, Jack and Henry from The Harpoons will be on the decks for a killer DJ set while Habits are bringing their saucy electronic techno goth R&B bangers. Prepare for a night of sweet tunes and boozy dance floor antics. The party starts 6pm at Shadow Electric, tickets are $15 and includes a copy of Hessian mag.
HOUSE OF LAURENCE THE RAINBOW HOTEL
Born out of Christopher Lawrence’s solo recording project, House of Laurence are a psych-rock quartet holding the desire to intoxicate audiences with their infectious grooves. Releasing their Awake LP last month, House of Laurence are ready to unleash their sound upon Melbourne audiences this Saturday March 28 at The Rainbow Hotel. The show kicks off at 9.30pm, entry is free.
MAS HUNT
THE WORKERS CLUB
Come down to The Workers Club this Saturday March 28 for an afternoon of fresh Melbourne hip hop, featuring live performances from local rappers Mas Hunt, Shades and Junebuggie, with DJ Vince spinning tunes throughout. Head to the heart of Fitzroy for a couple of Saturday afternoon beers and enjoy the entertainment that this unique show has to offer. Doors open 1.30pm, entry is a cheap $5.
MIX ’N’
SLIDERS
THE OLD BAR
THE CONTROLLERS
Monday Nights
MATCH
LOOP BAR
The legends at Howler have put together a line up of their favourite Melbourne bands, with some eclectic and wonderful local acts in store for punters. On the bill is Big Smoke and their beautiful Americana inspired tunes, Good Morning and their sun-drenched garage pop and Shiny Coin with their punky pop vibes. Tickets are $10 at the door. Starts at 7.30pm.
HOWLER
SUNDAY MARCH 29
METAPHOENIX LAUNCH PARTY Saturday March 28 will see Metaphoenix’s launch party at Loop, Art Space and Bar, showcasing some of Melbourne’s finest underground dance producers backed by mind bending visuals by Tøn. Metaphoenix will be traversing different styles of local underground electronica from tech, prog, psy, glitch and minimal beats sure to emphasise the high level of talent of Melbourne’s dance scene. Word up your friends and see you there. Doors open 10pm. Free entry.
YA H YA H ’ S
Third Eye
CHERRY BAR
Shake your tookus to the tempo and get your booty to the bar, it’s Brarsey Sundays at the Spotted Mallard. Featuring a rotating cast of the most ‘kick-brarse’ (HA!) big bands bohemian Melbourne has to offer, this weekly celebration of swing culture will be running from 4.30pm every Sunday through March and April. This week’s instalment stars The Funk Buddies. With delectable edibles and big booze for small coin, this free entry event is the hot ticket back to a bygone era of hotjazz and second line swingin’ hip cats.
ILLA TURBA
THE BRUNSWICK HOTEL
This Sunday March 29 come see the week off at The Brunswick Hotel for an evening of gothabilly, doom and the blackest death metal imaginable with three dark monoliths: Speechless, Obscürum and Rick Grimm’s Illa Turba. It’ll be a big loud night, don’t let your Sunday go quietly and get down to The Brunny. Doors open 8pm with free entry.
ACCIDENTAL BEDFELLOWS
W H O L E L O T TA L O V E
Expect a night of richly poetic music as indie folk duo Accidental Bedfellows take to Whole Lotta Love on Sunday March 29. Supported with an acoustic set by Ten Gallon Head’s guitarist Ben Bellonie and an alt-folk country slot by Greg Steps, get to Whole Lotta Love for a soothing night of six-string seduction. Free entry. Doors from 4pm.
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BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 107
Q&A
JIMMY DOWLING & VAN WALKER THE DRUNKEN POET
Scalphunter
Define your genre in five words or less: Sweaty, super attractive punk rock. 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? Holy shit, look at that group of b-grade celebrity models. I can’t believe that, in between their micro dermal abrasions and skin lifts, they had time to rehearse and learn how to play music. What has been your favourite gig you’ve played to date? The best show we ever played was at this tiny little venue in WA. No one really came, but the lighting was amazing and we all looked super awesome. What do you think a band has to do these days to succeed? Apart from actually having decent songs, you need to commit and put in your all. One in ten bands are good, one in a hundred work hard enough and one in a thousand actually get decent recognition. Catch SCALPHUNTER at The Brunswick Hotel on Friday March 27, at The Reverence on Saturday March 28, and at Cherry Bar on Sunday March 29.
COCOON CONCEPTS RECORD LABEL TONY TRALONGO'S
COCOON SPACESHIP COCOON SOUNDTRACK FOR SHORT FILM SOUNDTRACK 2 - LANDING AT DAWN
SHOCKWAVES
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COCOON CONCEPTS RECORD LABEL MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA
BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 108
2015 UPDATE: We are proud to announce that most of our catalogue stocks have been shipped to France for worldwide distribution!
MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA
Jimmy Dowling’s music has a raw but skilled quality throughout. It’s authentic, confident, and engages your attention in its emotive, visual language. You’ll find a nostalgic empathy and visceral reflection of the everyday, of the everyman. Dowling’s strong delivery shines beyond the mediocre to touch your imagination. Singer songwriter Van Walker first heard the music of Bob Dylan around adolescence, beginning to pick his guitar and write some songs. Hundreds later and a hell-bent pick, he moved to Melbourne to form the rock’n’roll outfit The Swedish Magazines, and sing his unique hillbilly stuff on the side. Both artists will be joined by a very special guest, the wonderful Shane Reilly. Join us for a very special Sunday March 29 at The Drunken Poet. Jimmy plays two free entry sets from 4pm, with Van hitting the stage at 6.30pm.
THE VANNS
THE GASOMETER HOTEL
Sharing stages with acts such as Sticky Fingers, Kingswood, The Griswolds and Northeast Party House, The Vanns have spent most of their time touring Australia since taking out 2012’s Red Bull Bedroom Jam. Now with their new EP Scattered By Sound in hand, you can catch them on their massive 21 date national tour, returning to The Gasometer Hotel on Sunday March 29 for two massive shows. Catch their all ages afternoon performance from 1pm, with their 18+ evening show from 8pm. Tickets are $10.75+BF from OzTix.
THE HARMANIAX
THE RAINBOW HOTEL
The Harmaniax have created a unique blend of Cajun, Zydeco and blues inspired music. Geoff le Blanc, Paul Jonas, Nick Thorpe, Billy Abbott, Fingal Capaldi and John Smith combine their sounds of double bass, clarinet, snappy washboard and a few guitars to give Australian audiences a little taste of the bayou tunes that flow through their veins. The Harmaniax play a free entry show at The Post Office Hotel this Sunday March 29. Doors open 9pm.
THE HORNETS
THE POST OFFICE HOTEL
The Hornets feature some of the country’s most well known and respected musicians. Singer songwriter Craig Horne, together with guitarists Jeff Burstin and Wayne Burt (both of Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons, Black Sorrows) are joined by Wayne Duncan (Daddy Cool) on bass, Chris Tabone (Bad Loves) on drums and Bruce Haymes (Paul Kelly and Renee Geyer’s bands) on keyboards. The Hornets have become a regular fixture on Australia’s blues and roots music scene for nine years, releasing six LPs to rave reviews and building a huge cult following as a consequence. Catch The Hornets as they hit The Post Office Hotel this Sunday March 29, playing two free entry sets from 4.30pm onwards.
PINK HARVEST Pink Harvest are a Melbourne threepiece that birthed out of the ashes of five years of musical experimentation and one hell of an experience in California. Mixing a spooky dissonance with a groovy psychedelic edge, Pink Harvest are the pioneers of the new sound; spooky groove. They’re already a couple weeks into their Cherry Bar Tuesday residency, catch em for their last performance this week. Supporting guests include Who’s This? and Fuhn Boy. The music starts at 9pm with free entry.
JEROME KNAPPETT & ZIGGY BRITTEN
THE REVERENCE HOTEL
Last year was a little unlucky for local acts Max Goes To Hollywood and The Flying So High-Os. Ziggy’s (Max Goes To Hollywood) car was stolen, and most of the band’s equipment along with it. Luckily they’ve decided to put on a few shows to try and raise some cash to replace the stolen gear. Ziggy Britten and Jerome Knappet (The Flying So High-Os) are coming to The Rev for the last three Sundays in March, with a mad crew lined up to help the good cause. Come down, drink some beers and help the boys get some new guitars from 3pm onwards. Free entry. MONDAY MARCH 30
SULKS
THE PUBLIC BAR
New Zealand expats Sulks are bringing some smooth indie folk vibes to The Public Bar on Monday March 30. The duo are set to headline a night backed with enchanting folk/pop from The Penguin Classics and sweet blues/ country tunes from Jason Bangs. Entry is only $5 with doors opening from 7pm.
MARLON WILLIAMS & THE YARRA BENDERS
Wednesday April 8 The Gasometer
THE SUGARCANES
THE KILL DEVIL HILLS
Saturday April 11 John Curtin Bandroom
GENA ROSE BRUCE
T H E R E T R E AT H O T E L
After winning the 2013 Telstra Road to Discovery national songwriting competition and releasing a series of singles and EPs with help from ARIA nominated producer Jan Skubiszewski, Singer/songwriter Gena Rose Bruce is hitting up The Retreat on Tuesday March 31, taking her respected Americana song writing style to the stage. Support on the night comes from Mia Wray. Music from 7.30pm onwards. Free entry.
ANDREA MARR
Saturday April 11 The LuWOW
ROLLS BAYCE
Thursday 16 April John Curtin Bandroom
JORDIE LANE
Saturday April 17 Sunday April 19 The Toff In Town
SOAK
Friday April 17 Shadow Electric
THE OCEAN
LOOKING FORWARD
Saturday May 16 The Corner Hotel
Thursday April 2 The Grace Darling
LENT OUTTA SHAPE
THE GASOMETER
South African-born with Sri Lankan heritage, Ecca Vandal’s parents left South Africa after Apartheid in the late ‘80s. After settling in Melbourne, Vandal sunk her teeth into jazz at an early age before discovering the intoxicating world of hip hop and the DIY spirit of punk rock. Bjork is a musical hero, Miles Davis is an all-time favourite, and Mr Bungle and Fugazi led her to the tumult of Deftones and Meshuggah. To describe her influences as ‘broad’ doesn’t quite cut it. Ecca Vandal wraps up her Tuesday residency at The Gasometer this Tuesday March 24. Tickets $10 on the door. Doors 7.30pm.
WATCH INTERVIEWS, CHATS & AWKWARD SILENCES... BEAT.COM.AU/TV
SLUMBERJACK
Friday April 24 Can’t Say
KING PARROT
THE ELLIOTTS
ECCA VANDAL
PIERCE BROTHERS
Sunday April 19 170 Russell
Sunday April 26 The Retreat
Wednesday April 1 The Grace Darling
Friday April 3 Bar Open
Saturday April 18 The Evelyn Hotel
CHARLIE MARSHALL
LUKE TOOZE
BASKERVILLIAN
RITA SATCH
POKEY LAFARGE
Wednesday April 8 Caravan Music Club
Friday April 10 The LuWow
Thursday April 2 The John Curtin Hotel
SHADOW ELECTRIC
SOUL-A-GO-GO
Saturday April 4 Shebeen Bandroom
HOBBLE DAY
BENDIGO HOTEL
Feast your ears on a gig to remember. The Future Past is a music night set to showcase bands that have experienced an influx of change, exchange, and development. Come down to Bendigo Hotel as they celebrate the departure and arrival of musicians of new and old. The bands on this awesome bill are The Jack Rabbits, The Strum Rebellion, Cat Jump Rd and Folkenhail Blues. Music kicks off at 5pm, entry is $5.
Friday April 3 – Sunday April 5 Bruzzy’s Farm Victoria
Friday April 10 John Curtin Bandroom
THE FUTURE PAST
TUESDAY MARCH 31
Think pop melodies, rich harmonies of Motown with dark soulful beats mixed with a powerful jazz inspired husky vocals and that’s the sound of one Miss Rita Satch. Fresh off her recent tour in Paris and sold out Melbourne performance, Rita Satch and her band will be performing a special show at The Shadow Electric on Sunday March 29 alongside Aleister James and a special guest to be announced, with local acts Anthony Young and The Next Man and 30/70s in support. Widely known for her soulful and seductive live performances, Rita Satch has fast developed a reputation as an unforgettable presence in Melbourne and Sydney’s growing neo-soul movement. Catch her performance this Sunday March 29 from 3pm at Shadow Electric. Tickets are $10 from the venue.
BOOGIE 9
CHERRY BAR
THE GETAWAY PLAN
Friday May 22 The Corner Hotel
SAN CISCO
Saturday May 24 170 Russell
THE RAINBOW HOTEL'S
BEER OF THE WEEK Holgate Road Trip IPA (Brewed in Woodend) Holgate started in Natasha and Paul’s backyard in Woodend in 1999. Dedicated to their craft beers, Holgate is one of Victoria finest craft brewers. The Holgate Road Trip IPA is a great example of a American west coast IPA. A supercharged and dangerously sessionable hop bomb, this IPA is loaded with Chinook, centennial and Citra hops from the pacific north west of the USA, with lots of piney, citrus and grapefruit flavour and aroma. A firm favourite at The Rainbow.
LIVE
REPORTS FROM THE FRONT ROW
For more reviews go to beat.com.au/reviews WOMADEL AIDE Botanic Park Adelaide, Friday March 6 to Sunday March 9 Youssou N’Dour and Neneh Cherry by Tony Lewis
‘The World’s Festival’ returned to Adelaide to host some of the hottest new acts (and some oldies but goodies) from around the globe, and was met with the most pleasant weather the event has seen in years. Usually hosting extreme heat as well as its multi-national artist roster, festival-goers this year were treated to sunny, warm autumn weather as they flooded in for headline acts including Rufus Wainwright, Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club (featuring members from the famed Cuban band), Youssou N’Dour and Sinead O’Connor. Friday saw the festival kick slowly into gear, with acts featuring only from the early evening. One to watch was Aussie duo Willow Beats, a fairly new partnership of Narayana Johnson and niece Kalyani Mumtaz. The one-time triple j Unearthed outfit had their throng of supporters gyrating before long, and had a good energy flow as they swapped instrument for mic. Finishing the set with some dirty wobble/glitch always leaves a good taste in the mouth. Later in the evening, showing us how it’s done were Buena Vista Social Club members, well-seasoned professionals in Latin American and traditional Cuban music. It was one of two sets for the festival, two of the last sets the band is due to play before the brand retires for good. A great experience to be part of. Over the other side of the pond, Romania’s true gypsy spirit took no prisoners when Fanfare Ciocărlia took the stage. Known to most as the guys who covered Born To Be Wild for blockbuster Borat, just 11 of the 80-strong outfit made it to Australian shores to deliver WOMAD their own big fat gypsy wedding. From piccolo to tuba, they rocked our socks. Rufus Wainwright rounded off the evening with a stripped-down set featuring the man himself on piano and guitar, and a guest spot from sister, Lucy Wainwright. His crystal clear voice was laced with equal parts sentiment and cheek, and his rendition of Leonard Skynyard’s Hallelujah was not to be scoffed at. On the performance art side, a group worth a mention was the UK’s Smashed. Comprising of professional jugglers, circus performers and rhythmic gymnasts, they were an unexpected afternoon drawcard with their eccentric characters and tendency to not only throw and catch, but throw and purposely drop things. If you’re a fan of fine China, I wouldn’t recommend this one. Aussie hip hop represented with Astronomy Class, who had fans grooving along to their smooth beats. On the other end of the local music sphere, C.W. Stoneking impressed with his unique brand of Australiana/Americana. A definite highlight for the early evening was Balkan Beat Box, a modern take on Balkan gypsy music that incorporates hip hop, exotic Asian beats, electronica and of course, a bit of sexy sax. Brazilian pocket rocket Flavia Coelho rocked her way into our heart and was farewelled with a big cheer from a bunch of new fans. Another of the Aussie songwriters featuring at this year’s festival was Adelaide’s own Max Savage. With a voice that defies his age, his gruff growl enchanted the afternoon audience and if that wasn’t enough, the a cappella My Darling Adelaide sealed the deal. Swedish sisters First Aid Kit illustrated stunning vocal harmonies as they breezed through their relatively small back catalogue with a couple of covers including Paul Simon’s America and Jack White’s Love Interruption. Day Two rounded off with Youssou N’Dour, complete with hype man who made sure we knew N’Dour was the “king of African pop.” The infective energy that seeped from that stage was incredible and the dancer’s smiles could be seen from the very back. Festival buddy Neneh Cherry also popped in for a guest appearance on Seven Seconds & Waiting. The final day featured Australia’s Fourplay String Quartet, who performed a mixture of old and new songs turned string compositions. Lara Goodridge replaced violin for vocals and delivered Mississippi swagger: a modern take on a classic sound. Someone who has definitely earned her place on the WOMAD stage was Buffy Sainte-Marie, the Native American dynamite. Her politically-charged music flooded the speakers with decades of determination and deliverance, and her songs spoke of Keshagesh (being a greedy guts), destroying nature and human rights. She also sang (and at times bleated – literally, bleated) what many people don’t realise was her own composition, Up Where We Belong, and one of her best known anti-war songs, Universal Soldier. She finished in style with a traditional dance. The last of the Aussies with guitars was Timberwolf, definitely one to watch in the folk rock scene. An amazing vocalist and songwriter, he already had his groupie work cut out for him. People packed into one of the side stages for Gotye’s indigenous collaboration with Djalu Gurruwiwi,, which saw Gotye duet in traditional Aboriginal songs and blend cultures in bilingual storytelling. Neneh Cherry,, a mystery for the best of two decades, returned to the stage with some new sounds. Embracing the electronic age, she had energy beyond her almost-50 years. However, though her music sounded more polished, her punk roots still showed through the politically themed back screens and raw conversation with her audience. And last but definitely not least, Sinead O’Connor showed she still has one heck of a voice and dogged determination to not be ‘the star.’ However, she may have taken offence to hating the bright lights that little bit too far, keeping her sunnies on for almost the whole gig. She sang of Margaret Thatcher, cynical women, cucumbers in places they shouldn’t be, and everything else that features in a day with O’Connor. And of course, Nothing Compares 2 U.. And nothing does compare, especially when she trails the dying note of her biggest hit to “And a double-ended dildo.” Stay classy, WOMAD. LOVED: Getting my gypsy on. JEN WILSON
ECCA VANDAL The Gasometer, Wednesday March 17 Outside of major tours, mid-week is a gamble for putting on gigs, but a curious handful flocked to The Gasometer to see newcomer Ecca Vandal. While Vandal has thus far released only two songs, her first single, White Flag, was immediately embraced by triple j, helping to create that tidal rip of excitement around her known technically as ‘buzz.’ The band, consisting of drums, guitar and a bassist, who also played samples triggered via a laptop, provided a solid, loud and raucous cacophony for the diminutive Melbourne singer to rage over. The style of music is an extremely unique and seamlessly blended mixture of hard rock, courtesy of the pounding drums and crunchy guitar, hip hop, referenced in the sampled sounds and occasionally vocally, and punk, thanks to Vandal’s fierce and energetic vocal style. This vivacity is also manifested in her stage persona: just as the music never stays mellow for long sections, neither does the singer remain static, as from the very beginning of the set she danced across the foldback with ease, locking eyes with the crowd and inviting them to get into it with each pointed wave of her limbs. And damn, she can sing. The songs were packed of so much stylistic and dynamic range, and Vandal’s vocals were at the centre of the sonic maelstrom, a tiny figure in baggy clothes with a voice that could fill the room, at times even cutting through it. Without the audience being familiar with more recorded work, the 40-minute set was a good length, and both White Flag and Battle Royal were delivered faithfully, although neither of those songs show the depth that some of the others displayed. The final track, Father Hu$$la, was the set standout, with drum and guitar samples being filtered and effected to give a trip hop feel while the band stayed tight and heavy and Vandal moved from softer melodic singing to rapping on the hook. With so much packed into one song, the effect was exhilarating and confounding, a great representation of overall sound. Taking into account this was Vandal’s sixth performance ever, some perspective is given to the sophisticated nature of the track construction and arrangement, the band’s already in-place live chops and sonic palette. See Ecca LOVED: The last song. Vandal on a small stage while you can. HATED: The St. Patrick’s Day crowd I ran into ALEX WATTS
KYLIE MINOGUE Rod Laver Arena, Wednesday March 18 Around two-thirds of the way into Kylie’s sole Melbourne show of 2015, on the back of last year’s middling Kiss Me Once, I tried, unsuccessfully, to convince myself this wasn’t one of the best pop shows I’ve ever seen. Better than Gaga. Better than Biebz. And yes, even better than Beyonce. I walked into Rod Laver a Kylie agnostic, never truly appreciating her standing as one of our true musical icons. That’s my bad. Tonight’s show is a masterclass in arena pop, flicking the switch between aesthetics – all tasteful, entering a mitigated, classy raunch at times (“All my family are here. Dad, don’t look at certain parts,”) – shifting to bubblegum Barbie to BDSM-lite with uncanny ease, all pulled off with a distinctly relatable, down-to-earth charm. Kylie’s still our neighbour: “Wow, looks like some of you put the pedal to the metal on the Janome.” The dorky charm is set up by an opening DJ set disco producer legend, Giorgio Moroder, who only really started DJing two years ago, perched at the end of the runway with lights and lasers blasting overhead as he pulls endearing grandpa shuffle shapes while relaying Donna Summer classics and a truncated, more-upbeat version of Daft Punk collab Giorgio By Moroder. He later joins Kylie for their collab Right Here, Right Now, which works better in the arena environment, before Kylie stuns with an a cappella run-through of I Feel Loved. After Moroder exits the stage, Kylie confesses one of three demos she recorded at 17 was Donna Summer’s Giorgio-produced Dim All The Lights. “Right now, this is the biggest disco in the world.” It feels like it, and it feels great, with Spinning Around going into the brute Your Disco Needs You. The late-nite hypnotic sex of Slow, which feels as modern as a FKA Twigs cut, is replete with a jaw-dropping backup dancer. The sheer pop glee of Hand On Your Heart and I Should Be So Lucky are all compounded by ridiculous theatrics and all-encompassing lighting. The third act, though by no means terrible, fails to stick the immaculate landing set-up by all that came before, mired by newer material that doesn’t quite sound as timely as her truly timeless top shelf selections from her decades-long canon. But the fan service is genuine. There’s a lot of heart here tonight. Before the show, Sam Johnson takes to the stage to command a chant for Molly Meldrum, who he depicts in an upcoming telemovie, while the guru makes his way to his chair before popping a rainbow umbrella. Later on, INXS’s Need You Tonight is performed while a platform lifts Kylie above the stage. We’ve got a good musical history here. LOVED: Slow being horny as hell. “Looks like we’re pulling into Flinders Street,” precedes HATED: No Confide In Me, but that might not The Loco-Motion: a reminder that Kylie, an international work in a stadium, but still, no excuse for leaving icon, is still Our Kylie. Better The Devil You Know off the setlist. LACHLAN KANONIUK
HATED: Youssou N’Dour’s unnecessary hype man. DRANK: South Australian wine.
Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club by Steve Trutwin
BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 109
upon leaving. DRANK: Beer.
WATCH INTERVIEWS, CHATS & AWKWARD SILENCES... BEAT.COM.AU/TV
DRANK: Bubbly.
Die Line
ot Print Does N
THIS WEEK AT
ALBUM OF THE WEEK COURTNEY BARNETT
THURSDAY 26TH MARCH
QUESTION 1 TRIVIA 8PM START, CALL VENUE FOR TABLE BOOKINGS
NORTHSIDE SPACE FUNKERS DJING INSIDE & OUT FROM 7PM. FRIDAY 27TH MARCH
MAIN BAR FROM 9.30PM
THE RED BRIGADE DJS:
DJS – KODIAK KID / DJ MAARS / SAM MCEWIN SATURDAY 28TH MARCH MAIN BAR FROM 9.30PM
TRICK DOG SYNDICATE
+ BIGWORDS MC’S SINGLES DJS:
D’FRO / NO NAME NATH / LOBB SUNDAY 29TH MARCH MAIN BAR FROM 5PM
ESTEE BIG BAND IN THE BEER GARDEN 3PM -
‘EASY NOW’ DJS MONDAYS
$10 LONGNECKS $4 PIZZA & FREE POOL TUESDAY 31ST MARCH
FREE MOVIE NIGHT:
BILLY ELLIOT
Screening in the beer garden at 8pm
WEEKLY FOOD SPECIALS
SUNDAY - $10 ROAST MONDAY - $10 STEAK TUESDAY - $10 FISH N CHIPS WEDNESDAY - $10 BURGER (BEEF/ CHICKEN/VEGO) THURSDAY - $10 PARMA
ALWAYS FREE ENTRY INSIDE & OUTSIDE
420 SYDNEY RD, BRUNSWICK (03) 9380 8667, INFO@THEPENNYBLACK.COM FACEBOOK.COM/THEPENNYBLACK.420SYDNEYROAD @THEPENNYBLACK THE_PENNYBLACK
BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 110
Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit COURTNEY BARNETT 2. Tepid Peppermint Vol 2 BRIAN JONESTOWN 3. Something Supernatural CROBOT 4. The Scene Between THE GO-TEAM 5. Lashes to Ashes, Lust to Dust BOX HIM 6. Short Movie LAURA MARLING 7. Live At Biko MARK KOZELEK 8. Shadow of The Sun MOON DUO 9. Man It Feels Like Space Again POND 10. 2112 RUSH
herself down the ladder of success before anyone has a chance to take a pot-shot in her direction. On Dead Fox, Barnett wanders allegorically from hipster obsessions with organic food to Jackson Pollock roadkill: it could be casual musing, it could be political commentary, or it could just be a great song. The last two tracks – Kim’s Caravan and Boxing Day Blues – are a slight departure from the prevailing style of the record. The spacious and distant feel of the former barely disguises a confessional tone; the latter paints in stark relief the consumerist obsessions and specious community rhetoric of the festive season. While this album has already caused Courtney Barnett’s star to rise spectacularly, Courtney Barnett isn’t a rock star: she’s just Courtney Barnett, and there isn’t anyone else like her. PATRICK EMERY
BY LACHLAN
For all the latest singles check out beat.com.au “Extremely proud to welcome into the world our first born son, Marcusbontempelli Kanoniuk.” – Me in around a decade’s time, probably.
HOZIER
Someone New (Sony) Achieving the near impossible, Hozier somehow turns a song about being a root-rat into the most boring shit imaginable, so insipid that the Logies are trying to lock down a special guest performance.
EARL SWEATSHIRT
Grief (Columbia) Q1 2015 continues to shit all over the entirety of 2014 in terms of hip hop, Earl Sweatshirt preceding the release of sorta-surprise new LP I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside with a bleak, groggy storm in Grief. It’s a tough, rewarding slog, capped off with a soulful coda release.
BLUR
There Are Too Many Of Us (Warner) Oh cheer up Albarn, you cunt.
SKRILLEX & DIPLO FEAT. JUSTIN BIEBER
Where Are Ü Now (Warner) Close your eyes. Closed? Good. Now imagine that Sonny, Wesley and Biebz have dropped one of the hottest tracks of 2015. Wait, how are you reading this with your eyes closed? You lying piece of shit. Anyway. This is it. A huge, forward-thinking slapper, exceeding the sum of its parts with Jai Paul-style flair. All class, but that doesn’t change the fact Diplo is a shit bloke. Sonny and Biebz are orright though.
TOTAL GIOVANNI
Paradise (Dot Dash/Remote Control) Fresh from claiming resounding MVP honours at Golden Plains, Total Giovanni drop the sultry, and a little bit darkly, Paradise, not reaching for anything spectacular, but a tidy dancefloor-sating groove all the same.
GUANTANAMO BAYWATCH
Too Late (Create/Control/Suicide Squeeze) The last thing I expected from a churlish band name like that was some bang on ‘50s R&B schmaltz, but that’s what we have in Too Late. It’s the kinda shit where we pan to the audience and they’re all bawling their fucking eyes out at the heartthrob onstage. Check it out at The Tote on Thursday April 9.
WOODES X ELKKLE
Muddy (Independent) A tasteful throwback to turn of the millennium, icy pop, vocalist Woodes channels a touch of Frozen-era Madonna over production from fellow Melbourne up-and-comer Elkkle. It’s refreshingly detoured beyond current trend.
PBS TOP TEN 1. 2.
Blast LOVE OF DIAGRAMS Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit COURTNEY BARNETT 3. Terraplane STEVE EARLE AND THE DUKES 4. Another Eternity PURITY RING 5. Lackluster THE FINKS 6. Sister City T:DY TW:NS 7. The Blues Train: Shake Rattle & Roll VARIOUS 8. We Slept At Last MARIKA HACKMAN 9. Self Portrait CAM BUTLER 10. Self-titled NATALIE PRASS
RECORD PARADISE TOP TEN 1.
Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit COURTNEY BARNETT 2. Pretend You’re Mine PEARLS 3. Melbourne, Florida DICK DIVER 4. About Time CHOOK RACE 5. Policy WILL BUTLER 6. Tyranny JULIAN CASABLANCAS AND THE VOIDZ 7. The Race For Space PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING 8. Beach Coma SHIFTING SANDS 9. Blast LOVE OF DIAGRAMS 10. Gon’ Boogaloo C.W.STONEKING
COLLECTORS CORNER MISSING LINK TOP TEN 1.
Orangutan Suicide Sessions 4 x tape RUPTURE 2. Degenerate LP EXTORTION 3. Faceless Burial demo tape FACELESS BURIAL 4. Live in London 2008 CD NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS 5. Yobani Bliad Pizda tape RUPTURE 6. Setting Sun EP CD TAM VANTAGE 7. Supersonic 12” OASIS 8. Radio Birdman 7CD/DVD box RADIO BIRDMAN 9. Aufheben CD THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE 10. Sunbather CD DEAFHEAVEN
BEAT’S TOP TEN SONGS THAT MAKE US LAUGH 1. 2. 3.
SASKWATCH
I’ll Be Fine (Northside/Remote Control) Slimming their ranks, soul revue types Saskwatch land somewhere between garage blues and pop punk on I’ll Be Fine. It’s a weird energy, the lo-fi inclinations not really playing to Saskwatch’s strengths, especially as it holds back a sense of power in Nkechi’s vocals. Having said that, it does compound the introspective doubt and assurance professed in the song. But yeah, a weird energy.
HEARTLAND RECORDS TOP TEN 1.
Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit (Milk! Records)
There are many aspects of Courtney Barnett’s music to admire: the quirky lyrics, the catchy riffs, the wry humour, and the manifest absence of ego. But above all, it’s the sheer ordinariness makes the strongest subconscious impression. It’s said the best books you read are the ones you wish you’d written yourself. When Barnett riffs on the northward drift of the housing affordability belt into Preston in Depreston, it resonates better than any egghead economist’s academic analysis; when she charts the journey of a suburban office worker in Elevator Driver, Barnett crystallises everything tedious we’ve ever imagined about the contemporary world. Musically, you’re forever hearing a riff that seems vaguely familiar, almost seminal: a snippet of Kinks in Aqua Profunda, a flash of You Am I mod riffage in Nobody Really Cares If You Don’t Go to the Party, bubblegum Monkees garage in Debbie Downer, even some Kim Salmon blues-noir in Small Poppies. These are the songs we all wish we’d composed in our Nuggets-riddled garage, but only Barnett has the talent to do so. Yet the ordinariness is deceptive: you don’t write a song like Pedestrian at Best, with its subtle post-modernist inflection without serious talent and deep insight into the cannibalistic tendencies of the music game. In the late-‘90s, Regurgitator fired a pre-emptive strike against popular and critical criticism in I Like Your Old Stuff Better Than Your New Stuff. Barnett comes at the challenge of expectation from another angle, lowering
TOP TENS:
SINGLE OF THE WEEK JEN CLOHER
Needle In The Hay (Milk!) Cruising along with an inebriated, locked in groove, Needle In The Hay feels like what new Pixies jams should sound like. It rocks hard, with tension generated through restraint, emanating cunning lyricisms. A solid, standalone track, released as a split seven-inch available at its launch at Shadow Electric, Saturday April 18.
WATCH INTERVIEWS, CHATS & AWKWARD SILENCES... BEAT.COM.AU/TV
Love Song BILL BAILEY Prejudice TIM MINCHIN Always Look on the Bright Side of Life ERIC IDLE 4. Eels THE MIGHTY BOOSH 5. Carol Brown FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS 6. Bundaberg Rum OTIS LEE CRENSHAW 7. Inside of You ALDOUS SNOW 8. (In God’s Eyes) Everybody’s Hot PETER AND LOIS GRIFFIN 9. Cats Are Cunts CONAN O’BRIEN 10. Kickapoo TENACIOUS D
ALBUMS SUPER BEST FRIENDS
New music in review this week - For more reviews go to beat.com.au/reviews
Status Updates (Gun Fever Records)
Back in 2013, a little-known band from Canberra managed to convince our Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and a cast of Aussie pollies to goof off in a music video that quickly went viral. That band was Super Best Friends, and if you somehow missed the video for their track Round and Round, you missed seeing then-PM Kevin Rudd bust his best dorky dad dance moves and Tony Abbott’s attempts at lip-syncing. The trio may have kept a low profile after dropping this viral nugget, but now they’re back, this time wielding a politically-charged debut that’s going to earn them more cred than any clever clip could. Status Updates isn’t just an album – it’s a call to arms. This is the sound of a band, clearly fed up with the status quo, rallying for change. Super Best Friends don’t bury what they think beneath layers of cryptic lyrics either: their messages are delivered with a razor sharp wit atop gritty hook-laden rock. Dog Whistling takes aim at right wing “stop the boats” rhetoric by pouring scorn over Australia’s mistreatment of asylum seekers in offshore detention centres. “Public outrage puts them in a cage,” cries vocalist Johnny Barrington over a syrup of grungy distortion. Out Tonight takes a jab at the alcohol-fuelled binge-and-brawl culture, and Moving Backwards provides a damning assessment of Aussie politics. Like the album title suggests, everyone has an opinion to convey through social media. But unlike a lot of shit posted online, Status Updates deserves your attention for addressing real issues with an unmistakable urgency and insight.
SPIT & MAC
MODEST MOUSE
The Hourglass (Independent)
Strangers To Ourselves (Sony)
Geelong, not only home of “the greatest team of all,” but also the stomping ground for some of Australia’s most promising up-and-comers – case in point: hip hop duo Spit & Mac. This debut LP has been five years in the making, but thankfully, the attention to detail in terms of production and sound mixing has paid off. Much like prominent Aussie hip hop groups Hilltop Hoods, Thundamentals or The Herd, Spit & Mac combine catchy instrumentals with insightful lyrics. The string section behind intro I Know You Dig It immediately echoes that of Hilltop’s The Hard Road, a clear influence throughout the album. There’s a real country-bogan twang to their sound, but the lyrical structure of their music is much more sophisticated. The back and forth banter between the duo is fun and brings an element of competitiveness that really pushes the tempo. Opening track, Remember, is a big start, packing a powerful punch that’s bound to get heads moving. It’s quite a bold statement, considering the song is rubbing up their own egos, but it works. The Devil Inside, featuring the enchanting vocals of Zoe Starr, offers an old-school beat, layering piano and strings to good effect. Fire and Ice may sound influenced by George R.R. Martin’s popular series, but it’s a harrowing account of ice addiction. The range of instrumentals used throughout the album is impressive, Sacrifice is backed by a rolling guitar and strings section, while title track The Hourglass incorporates piano and tambourine. With 17 tracks in total, it’s a lengthy debut but luckily there’s enough diversity in the delivery to maintain interest.
Marking the end of an eight-year hiatus for Modest Mouse, Strangers to Ourselves sadly doesn’t strike as a big leap in development for the band. All the hallmarks of the band’s later incarnation are back, Isaac Brock’s semi-yokel cadence, the odd airy note-bends on guitar and several well written and immaculately produced tracks, and while this results in a digestible album, it doesn’t make for a memorable one. But Modest Mouse still know how to make a damn good song. Lampshades on Fire is a fine example of this, carrying clever vocals, catchy riffs and snappy drums as it toys with ideas of rampant human consumerism eventually destroying everything. Opener and title track Strangers to Ourselves is both calm and sensitive with its violin, refrained vocals and distant guitar, and outside of all this there are no tracks that feel rushed, lazy or simple. The issue isn’t due to any real flaws – rather Strangers to Ourselves plays it way too safe. None of the tracks are excitingly different from their previous two albums, and the release seems to cater for the radio-indie market rather than pushing the band to new heights. The song Pistol tries to take a step towards being experimental but just comes off as boring. Wicked Campaign doesn’t separate the band from modern indie, drawing connotations to the puke inducing stadium rock of modern Kings of Leon, and Ansel gives off the unshakable feeling of an alt-j song with its similar steel drum patterning. Sadly, Strangers to Ourselves probably isn’t the comeback fans will truly want.
CHRIS BRIGHT
THOMAS BRAND
JACK PILVEN
LAURA MARLING
ÉTIENNE DE CRÉCY
Short Movie (Caroline)
Super Discount 3 (Sony)
“I’m just a horse with no name,” sings Laura Marling on Short Movie’s opening song, Warrior. It references the band America, while the music embraces rustic Americana and spaced-out British folk. This is the most Americansounding of the 25-year-old Brit’s albums, and its sense of place – whether exploring the Joshua Tree area or being stifled by LA life – follows a soulsearching period for the singer. After setting the bar high with the hour-long break-up album Once I Was An Eagle, Marling scrapped an album’s worth of material and tackled an unsettling period by trying to demystify the writing and producing process. The result, her first self-produced effort, is looser and more exploratory than Marling’s previous work. Marling opens up about urban claustrophobia on the exhilarating False Hope, asking, “Is it still okay that I don’t know how to be at all?”. She sings of the woman downstairs losing her mind, the fear of becoming her is an unsettling thought in her insomniac state. The emptiness and isolation of LA is neatly summed up by the lyric “You’re not somebody until somebody knows your name.” The uncertainty of the lyrics contrast with the confident, upfront vocal delivery and the detailed, but are uncluttered by production. Marling is playful with her vocal delivery, matching music with a range of styles, from brooding crooning to beat-like vocal rhythms. The American feel bleeds through in the music, as a heavier dependence on electric guitar and the odd nod to Dire Straits vies with acoustic folk and formal structures. It makes for a rich and finely tuned distillation of a restless, rootless soul. CHRIS GIRDLER
26TH SAt MAr
28TH
thu Apr
2ND
To Pimp A Butterfly (Universal)
Super Discount 3 represents the third movement in Étienne de Crécy disco triptych that’s spanned three decades. The Parisian is best described as a DJs’ DJ or what a tastemaker orders off the menu; when it comes to electronic music this guy ‘gets it.’ The critically lauded de Crécy debut Super Discount was released in 1996 and, now, almost 20 years on since the first installment comes Super Discount 3 and it similarly reflects the contemporary dance scene. Opening song Night (Cut The Crap) is crisp, yet makes your belly rumble. Respite comes in a ‘80s-style synth breakdown – an era and style a lot of French electro artists seem to adore, like Kavinsky and Pyramid. Two of the song titles, WTF and Hashtag My Ass, indicate de Crécy likes the idioms of online communication. The former track of the pair is a rap dance track, a style that was being pushed big by Armand Van Helden (Bonkers) and MSTRKFT (Bounce) back in 2009, and this dated juxtaposition of styles makes the track feel a little forced for 2015. The songs on the album that appear to pay homage to the synth-dominated disco of the early ‘80s are the highlights. The song You is a sensual, driving and immensely satisfying experience and the kind of song you dream about hearing at a club at 6am – look out for the flute. Longtime Étienne de Crécy collaborator Alex Gopher contributes to Smile – a warm, yet glitchy track that balances texture with cheese to create a high quality dance track. Ultimately, this a great French house/electro record from an artist that doesn’t need to prove himself to anyone anymore.
The one downside of creating a hugely successful debut album is the seemingly impossible task of backing it up with a second. After the enormous success of good kid, m.A.A.d city, Kendrick Lamar found himself in this exact situation. When Lamar’s second album To Pimp A Butterfly was released, early reports indicated that he might have pulled off the impossible – releasing an album that is as good, if not better, than the first. To Pimp A Butterfly sees Lamar leave behind the catchy, radio-friendly anthems of its predecessor, branching off in ways no one would’ve imagined. It’s poetic, philosophical and socially aware, yet deeply conflicted. It still features the same, deep personal criticism and selfreflection, but Lamar takes it further this time round. u, the counterpart to single i, is uncomfortable, yet mesmerising to listen to, as Lamar progresses into an alcohol-fuelled breakdown, essentially sobbing the last two verses of vicious self-criticism. Lamar’s created a genre-bending marathon that spans 16 tracks and 79 minutes, with elements of soul, funk and even jazz. The most bizarre track, however, is saved for the end when Lamar samples a 1994 Tupac interview to create a conversation between himself and his hero on Mortal Man. To Pimp A Butterfly is not a comfortable or easy listen by any means – from its themes to the sheer length of it – but it is certainly worthwhile. Lamar could’ve taken the easy route and continued along the same path as his first album, on Butterfly, you feel the pressure and responsibility he feels to act as a voice to the people and live up to the influences he idolises so much.
DENVER MAXX
KELSEY BERRY
GIGS
GIGS thu MAr
KENDRICK LAMAR
ECHOLAAND
Fri Apr
“purE WAStE” dEBut rECOrd LAuNCh + Extreme Wheeze + Nina renee
10TH
ZErO thrOuGh NiNE prESENtS: hEAdS & BOdiES FEAt.
JApANESE WALLpApER
EVERYDAY
CURTIN
2ND ANNUAL HOBBLEDEHOY RECORD COMPANY SHOWCASE feat.
27 JUNE - SpRAY pAINT (Austin, uSA)
CERES + CHARGE GROUp + AUSMUTEANTS + CUNTz. ON SALE NOW! + FOURTEEN NIGHTS AT SEA + ON SALE NOW @ JOhNCurtiNhOtEL.COM + Jamie hay & Liam White + Luke howard. (First Show in 2 years!)
SAt Apr
11TH
KILL DEVIL HILLS + Kim Salmon + Cherrywood. ON SALE NOW
& THE INSIDERS
WEd Apr 15TH 22ND 29TH
THE DO YO THANGS MINI RESIDENCY
ANNuAL GOOd FridAy EvE ShOW + robert Muinos + Georgia Mac
6PM
JuSt ANNOuNCEd!
Lower Spectrum + Sleep d + rara + Orlando Furious+ Luke howard + tom day + telling+ Surf dad + 6AM at the Garage+ Bacon Booty disco + ZtN dJs + secret guest announced on the night! ON SALE NOW.
LINCOLN LE FEVRE
$13 JUGS
ON SALE NOW.
16/4 ROLLS BAYCE ‘On My Own’ Tour 18/4 SYDONIA - Album preview Show + BRANCH ARTERIAL + RED SKY BURIAL 23/4 THE LOVE JUNKIES (WA) + SKULLCAVE
CHECK OUT ALL THE LATEST NEWS, REVIEWS AND FREE SHIT AT BEAT.COM.AU
29 Lygon ST, CarLTon / T: 9663 6350 BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 111
GIG GUIDE
WHAT'S ON AROUND MELBOURNE THIS WEEK
For all the latest gigs check out beat.com.au
WEDNESDAY MAR 25 INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS ••ADALITA + CLAWS & ORGANS Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. $20.00.
••AZTX + JURRASSIC NARK + LAMB BOULEVARD +
TWINSPEAK Bar Open, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. ••COLOURED CLOCKS + TOOTH & TUSK + HAPPY GO BLUES Workers Club, Fitzroy. 7:00pm. $5.00. ••COQ ROQ WEDNESDAYS - FEAT: VARIOUS DJS Lucky Coq, Windsor. 7:00pm.
••DRUNK MUMS + DJ MERMAID Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. $5.00.
••KICKASS KARAOKE Sooki Lounge, Belgrave. 8:30pm.
••LISA SALVO + LEHMANN B SMITH BAND + PRIME Grace Darling Hotel, Collingwood. 8:30pm. $8.00.
••MAPS OF TASMANIA + THE PHOSPHENES + EARLY
NIGHTS Old Bar, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. $8.00. ••MILD MANIC + COLOURBLIND + BOUND BY HOUND + ZEPHYR Public Bar, North Melbourne. 8:00pm. $7.00. ••ROD STEWART Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne. 8:00pm. $189.00.
••SPIRAL ARM + THE SUNDAY REEDS + VHS DREAM Toff In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 7:30pm. $10.00.
••THE MOODY SPOOKS + THE
CONVERSATIONALISTS + THE DEAD PANS Bendigo Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm.
••Z-STAR Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford. 8:30pm.
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC ••30/70 + MANGELWURZEL + OLIVER PATERSON
BEAT PROJECT Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $5.00. ••BEN CARR TRIO Open Studio, Northcote. 8:00pm. ••BOPSTRETCH Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. ••CHRIS YOUNG QUARTET 303, Northcote. 8:30pm. ••DIZZY’S BIG BAND Dizzy’s Jazz Club, Richmond. 8:00pm. $14.00.
••GL + HARVEY SUTHERLAND + SUI ZHEN +
SILENTJAY & JACE XL + SIMON TK + EDD FISHER + JIMMY DAWG Hugs & Kisses, Melbourne. 8:00pm. ••PUSH Paris Cat Jazz Club, Melbourne Cbd. 9:00pm. $15.00. ••SMS GROUP Ruby’s Music Room, Melbourne Cbd. 7:00pm.
••LADY OSCAR + 30/70 + JJOOBBEE Howler, Brunswick. 8:00pm. $10.00.
••LOON LAKE Shebeen, Melbourne Cbd. 8:30pm.
••MELBOURNE HIT PARADE Carters Bar, Northcote. 8:00pm.
••NEXT - FEAT: CHASING GHOSTS + LAURA PALMER
+ MILLIE TIZZARD Colonial Hotel, Melbourne Cbd.
8:00pm. $15.00.
••PLUGGED IN THURSDAYS - FEAT: THE FABRIC Revolver Upstairs, Prahran. 8:30pm. $7.00.
••ROBERT K CHAMPION + JESSIE LLOYD + MONICA
WEIGHTMAN Reverence Hotel, Footscray. 8:00pm. $10.00.
••ROYMACKONKEY + NUMERATOR + TWO HEADED
DOG + STONE REVIVAL Tote Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. $10.00.
••SALTWOOD Open Studio, Northcote. 8:30pm.
FOOLISH + THE PRINTER CONVENTION Espy, St Kilda. 8:30pm.
••SPOOKYLAND + SUNBEAM SOUND MACHINE Spotted Mallard, Brunswick. 9:30pm.
••SUPER BEST FRIENDS + PAT CHOW + CAPTIVES +
Brunswick. 7:30pm.
••DON HILLMAN’S SECET BEACH Clifton Hill Hotel, Clifton Hill. 8:30pm.
••MUDDY’S BLUES ROULETTE Catfish, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. ••OPEN MIC Whole Lotta Love, Brunswick East. 7:00pm. ••OPEN MIC Mr Boogie Man Bar, Abbottsford. 7:00pm. ••OPEN MIC Purple Emerald, Northcote. 8:00pm.
••SAMANTHA CAULIFLOWER + SAM LOHS Drunken Poet, West Melbourne. 8:00pm.
••OPEN MIC Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick. 7:00pm.
THURSDAY MAR 26
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS ••ANDREW RIGGO Customs House Hotel, Williamstown. 9:00pm.
••ANIMAUX + THE SAND DOLLARS + LAZERCATZ
2000 Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $10.00. ••AUDITION NIGHT - FEAT: WATERLINE + IGOR ALEINIK + MULLEN + BRETT FRANKE Musicland, Fawkner. 7:00pm.
••BYO VINYL NIGHT The Bodega, West Melbourne. 7:00pm. ••CLIVE MANN + DEAR PLASTIC + THE BEEGLES +
THE CURSE Tote Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. ••CONTRAST + PARADING + HIDEOUS TOWNS Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. $10.00.
••DASH + JP KLIPSPRINGER 24 Moons, Northcote. 8:00pm. $5.00.
••ECHOLAAND + EXTREME WHEEZE + NINA RENEE John Curtin Hotel, Carlton. 8:30pm.
••EZEKIEL OX + JAMES MANGOHIG + N BRAHJ Espy, St Kilda. 9:00pm.
••ICONIC VIVISECT + MORBID ANAL + OLIGARCH +
STONING Public Bar, North Melbourne. 8:00pm. $10.00. ••JAKE CLEMONS Northcote Social Club, Northcote. 8:00pm. $32.00.
••JULIA WHY + DENIM OWL + THE NEWSLETTERS Grace Darling Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. $10.00.
BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 112
AUSTEN Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 8:30pm. ••VAN WALKER Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East. 8:30pm.
FRIDAY MAR 27
+ OF STOLEN MOMENTS Bendigo Hotel, Collingwood.
••ASTA Northcote Social Club, Northcote. 8:30pm. $15.00.
8:30pm. $5.00.
••TEQUILA MOCKINGBYRD + BUSY KINGDOM + THE
ELLIOTS + BLIND THRILLS Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy. 9:00pm.
••BLACK ACES + NOISY WHISPERS + JOHNNY
DANGER + SUPER SALOON + HEMY & MARSHALL Espy, St Kilda. 8:00pm. $10.00.
••THE JESSICA STUART FEW + MARTA PACEK Bridge
••BLACK NIGHT CRASH Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne
••THE SOULENIKOES + KETTLESPIDER + MASS SKY +
••BROCKWAY LIGHTS + LOGIC DEFIES LOGIC + SUB
Hotel, Castlemaine. 8:30pm. $15.00.
RAID MYYTH Workers Club, Fitzroy. 7:00pm. $5.00.
••THE WEIGHT OF SILENCE + DEVOID OF ALL Mr
Cbd. 11:30pm.
ROSA + BAD UNCLE Bendigo Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm.
$5.00.
Boogie Man Bar, Abbottsford. 8:00pm.
••CAPTAIN SPAULDING Customs House Hotel,
8:00pm.
••CHERRY DOLLS + THE CROOKEDS + TOOTH &
••THURSDAY UNI NIGHT Purple Emerald, Northcote. ••TOM DOCKRAY + BRENDAN FORWARD Whole Lotta Love, Brunswick East. 8:00pm.
••TZATZIKI PARTY + THE SUICIDE TUESDAYS +
LUKE SEYMOUP BAND + SHUT UP JACKSON + THE PUNCHING PONIES Bar Open, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. ••WESTERN STARS + PATCHES + KILBY Toff In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 7:00pm. $5.00.
••ANDREW FARRELL Ruby’s Music Room, Melbourne Cbd.
••BEN WRIGHT SMITH + JEMMA NICOLE Retreat Hotel,
••TRAINWRECK TRIO + CRUSTY MUSTARD + LUKE
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
Melbourne Cbd. 8:30pm. $18.00.
ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK
Mastodon’s Leviathan and Crack The Skye albums somehow cemented the band as Hipster Metal mainstays, with coffee aficionados hailing them The Greatest Thing To Happen To Metal while not actually knowing anything about the genre. Turns out the hipsters were pretty on point. Catch Mastodon this Friday March 27 at Festival Hall.
THE LOST DAY Old Bar, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. $10.00.
••SURRENDER + THE EVERCOLD + THE APPROACH
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC
••THE ROOKIES The Rooks Return, Fitzroy. 8:00pm.
MASTODON
••SAN SAKAAR + AMBER ISLES + HUNGRY &
$15.00.
••SUGARFOOT RAMBLERS Bennetts Lane Jazz Club,
GIG OF THE WEEK!
8:30pm. $15.00.
••CELLO ROMANCE Melbourne Recital Centre, Southbank. 6:00pm. $38.00.
••CRAIG MATTINGLEY Ruby’s Music Room, Melbourne Cbd. 6:00pm. $17.50.
••DOMINIQUE & BIG BAND - FEAT: THANDO The Luwow, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. $12.00.
••HAMMOND SESSIONS - FEAT: ARTIE STYLES
QUARTET 303, Northcote. 8:00pm. $10.00.
••MEL SEARLE & THE CRAIG SMITH QUINTET - FEAT:
Williamstown. 9:00pm.
TUSK Grace Darling Hotel, Collingwood. 8:30pm. $10.00.
••CHILD + HOLY SERPENT + GRIM RHYTHM Tote Hotel, Collingwood. 8:30pm.
••CONCLUSIONS + GUESTS OF GHOSTS Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy. 8:00pm.
••CORPUS + UNION PACIFIC + OLD LOVE +
EMPLOYMENT Public Bar, North Melbourne. 8:30pm. $10.00.
••DAVID ELLEFSON + HARLOTT Prince Bandroom, St Kilda. 8:00pm. $55.60.
••DIANA RADAR + EARLY OPENERS + YOU YANGS +
SADULTS Espy, St Kilda. 9:00pm. $10.00. ••DJ KEZ Victoria Hotel, Brunswick. 9:00pm. ••DORSAL FINS + JACKY WINTER + GOOD MORNING Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. $12.00.
••EATNOISE LAUNCH PARTY - FEAT: JAMES GRIM
WOODCUTTERS + THE RECHORDS + THE BLACK GUILD + THE STRANGE Workers Club, Fitzroy. 7:00pm.
$13.00.
FREQUENCY Dizzy’s Jazz Club, Richmond. 8:00pm. $14.00. ••MERLE STREET JAZZ BAND Ruby’s Music Room,
••EINSTEIN TOYBOYS + CRANKED Musicland, Fawkner.
••MINTON’S PLAYHOUSE SESSIONS The B.east,
EASTWOOD REVINE Pier Live, Frankston. 8:00pm. $5.00. ••JOHN DOWLER’S VANITY PROJECT + LITTLE MURDER + ROB CRAW Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford. 8:30pm. ••JUMPIN IN JAKARTA - FEAT: WHITE SHOES AND THE COUPLES CO. The Luwow, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. $5.00. ••KIDS OF ZOO + OUCH MY FACE + FLOUR + SPERMAIDS Old Bar, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $10.00. ••LUCIE THORNE WITH HAMISH STUART + JIMMY DOWLING Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine. 8:30pm. $20.00. ••MASTODON Festival Hall, West Melbourne. 8:00pm. $77.30. ••MOTEL LOVE + THE SHOCK WAVES + DJ ADALITA
Melbourne Cbd. 8:30pm. $15.00. Brunswick East. 8:00pm.
••MOVEMENT 9 Paris Cat Jazz Club, Melbourne Cbd. 9:00pm. $20.00.
••SAM KEEVERS Bennetts Lane Jazz Club, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. $18.00.
••SOUL IN THE BASEMENT - FEAT: SOULSHAM + DJ
VINCE PREACH + DJ PIERRE BARONI Cherry Bar,
Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. $10.00.
••THE MELBOURNE IMPROVISERS COLLECTIVE Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy. 8:00pm.
••WILBUR WILDE & THE JOHN MONTESANTE
QUINTET The Commune, East Melbourne. 6:00pm. ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK ••BOB CRAIN + KAT O + KEN FORD Bar Oussou,
8:30pm. $10.00.
••FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE - FEAT: SINGLE INCOME &
Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 9:30pm.
••PAPA G & THE STARCATS Bar Open, Fitzroy. 10:00pm. ••PAT CHOW + TWO HEADED DOG + JULIA WHY? +
Brunswick. 8:00pm.
THE ROLLING PERPETUAL GROOVE SHOW Espy, St
Melbourne. 6:00pm.
••PRAYER BABIES Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East. 9:30pm.
••DAVID CRAFT + EMILEE SOUTH Drunken Poet, West ••HUME BLUES CLUB - FEAT: SUGAR BLUE + SHAKE
SHACK BOOGIE BAND + DJ BARRY MAXWELL Musicland, Fawkner. 7:00pm.
••KIM RICHEY Basement Discs, Melbourne Cbd. 12:45pm.
••LIAM GERNER, JOSH RENNIE-HYNES & CAITLIN
HARNETT + LIAM GERNER + JOSH RENNIE-HYNES & CAITLIN HARNETT Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford. 8:00pm. $10.00.
••OPEN MIC The Farmer’s Place, 8:00pm.
••THE MOONEE VALLEY DRIFTERS Post Office Hotel, Coburg. 8:00pm.
Kilda. 8:00pm.
••PRIDELANDS + VIPERLOVE + THE CITY AT NIGHT +
DRIVETIME COMMUTE + BLIND EYE Reverence Hotel, Footscray. 7:30pm. $5.00.
••SCALPHUNTER + GANBARU + COFFIN WOLF +
COSMIC KAHUNA Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick. 9:00pm. ••SKYSCRAPER STAN & THE COMMISSION FLATS Sooki Lounge, Belgrave. 8:00pm.
••SLYDER + SIYOR & ME-GRAINES + ROY
MACKONKEY Mr Boogie Man Bar, Abbottsford. 7:30pm.
$10.00.
••THE DEAD SALESMEN + MARK WITH THE SEA
WATCH INTERVIEWS, CHATS & AWKWARD SILENCES... BEAT.COM.AU/TV
Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy. 9:00pm. $12.00.
••THE FKUPS + WORM CROWN + SHORT LEASH +
THE WRECKS + JET POWERS 303, Northcote. 8:00pm. $5.00.
••THE HILLS ARE ALIVE - FEAT: REMI + SAFIA +
PIERCE BROTHERS + THE PRETTY LITTLES + ASTA + LUCA BRASI + LITTLE BASTARD + SPOOKYLAND + KIRKIS + LUCIANBLOMKAMP + DARTS The Farm,
3:00pm.
••THE NAYSAYERS Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne Cbd. 9:00pm. $7.00.
••THE QUARTERS + GLADSTONE + DEAD JOE +
SUICIDE TUESDAYS Whole Lotta Love, Brunswick East.
8:00pm. $10.00.
••THE SWING MERCHANTS Open Studio, Northcote. 8:30pm.
••THE VENDETTAS + THE GRAVELTONES +
AUSTRALIAN KINGSWOOD FACTORY + DJ MAX CRAWDADDY Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. $13.00. ••THIRD EYE + THREE QUARTER BEAST Rubix Warehouse, Brunswick. 8:00pm. $10.00.
••TIMBERWOLF Shebeen, Melbourne Cbd. 8:30pm. $12.00. ••WATT’S ON - FEAT: VARIOUS ARTISTS Prince Public Bar, St Kilda . 8:30pm.
••WHITEHORSE + HEADLESS DEATH +
ASBESTOSISIS + CONTAMINATED Tote Hotel, Collingwood. 8:30pm.
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC ••BRUNSWICK STREET TO BOURBON STREET Paris Cat Jazz Club, Melbourne Cbd. 7:30pm. $20.00.
••CHALOUCHE The B.east, Brunswick East. 9:00pm.
••ELISSA RODGER SEXTET Paris Cat Jazz Club, Melbourne Cbd. 8:30pm. $20.00.
••GIAN SLATER BAND Bennetts Lane Jazz Club, Melbourne Cbd. 8:30pm. $25.00.
••JAMES SHERLOCK TRIO Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy. 8:00pm.
••SEVIL SABAH & THE ROGER CLARK QUARTET Dizzy’s Jazz Club, Richmond. 9:00pm. $20.00.
••SOUTHSIDE SOUL - FEAT: DJ LADY SOUL & BIG
DADDY WARBUCKS + THE SOUL TWINS Kingston City
Hall, Moorabbin. 8:00pm. $5.00.
••THE GLASS MOON Paris Cat Jazz Club, Melbourne Cbd. 9:30pm. $20.00.
••THE HORNS OF LEROY Spotted Mallard, Brunswick. 9:00pm.
••UP TRIO Ruby’s Music Room, Melbourne Cbd. 6:00pm. $22.50.
••WHAT THE FUNK - FEAT: PAINT THE TOWN + DJ MR
LOB Purple Emerald, Northcote. 9:00pm. ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK ••THE GAMI GAMI DEVILS Carters Bar, Northcote. 9:00pm. ••BANDAOKE Pier Live, Frankston. 9:00pm.
••BUTTERED LOAF Post Office Hotel, Coburg. 9:30pm.
••CHARLES JENKINS & THE ZHIVAGOS + RON S
PENO & THE SUPERSTITIONS Flying Saucer Club,
Elsternwick. 8:00pm. $23.00.
••CHRIS WILSON Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy. 5:00pm.
••GREAT WOMEN OF COUNTRY - FEAT: BECCY COLE
+ MELINDA SCHNEIDER Hamer Hall (Arts Centre Melbourne), Southbank. 8:00pm. $70.29.
••JEFF MARTIN (RETURNING FROM THE OCEAN AT
THE END) Sooki Lounge, Belgrave. 8:00pm.
••JODY & THE JOY RIDERS Reverence Hotel, Footscray. 8:30pm.
••KARATE BOOGALOO Catfish, Fitzroy. 9:00pm.
••LISA MITCHELL - FEAT: EAST Howler, Brunswick. 7:30pm. $25.00.
••LUKE WATT Drunken Poet, West Melbourne. 8:00pm.
••PHILWIGGINS & DOM TURNER ALBUM LAUNCH
DEAD JOE + TORCHES + TAKE YOUR OWN + LASER BRAINS + AGENT 37 + BOMBS ARE FALLING + BOTTLECAPS Reverence Hotel, Footscray. 4:00pm. $12.00. ••WONROWE VISION + LITTLE HOUSE GODZ + TURRET Mr Boogie Man Bar, Abbottsford. 7:30pm. $10.00.
Caravan Music Club, Oakleigh. 8:00pm. $23.00.
••PHIL WIGGINS & DOM TURNER Basement Discs, Melbourne Cbd. 12:45pm.
••REBETIKO - FEAT: ACHILLES YIANGOULLI + NICK
KOUTSALIOTIS + CON KALAMARAS + JEMMA NICOLE Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 7:00pm. ••SPENCER P JONES Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 5:30pm. ••THE WATERBOYS Melbourne Recital Centre, Southbank.
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC ••CRAIG SMITH QUINTET Paris Cat Jazz Club, Melbourne Cbd. 9:30pm. $20.00.
••DIANA MAY CLARK The Luwow, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. $5.00.
8:00pm. $91.70.
••TOM WAITS TIME Gem Bar, Collingwood. 9:00pm.
••TRADITIONAL IRISH MUSIC SESSION - FEAT: DAN
BOURKE Drunken Poet, West Melbourne. 6:00pm.
SATURDAY MAR 28
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS ••KARAOKE WITH ZOE Customs House Hotel, Williamstown. 9:00pm.
••4TRESS + AGENTS OF ROCK + MR STITCHER Cbd Nightclub, Melbourne Cbd. 10:00pm. $12.00.
MONEY FOR ROPE
BIG SMOKE
“All you had to do was follow the damn-” oh we’re talking about the band, right. Sounding about as far from Grove St gangster rap as you can get, country rock’n’rollers Big Smoke are bringing their Americana swing to Howler alongside garage pop duo Good Morning and local cuties Shiny Coin. Head to Howler this Saturday March 28 from 7.30pm onwards, tickets are $10 on the door.
••ANTHONY ATKINSON & THE RUNNING MATES +
THE MOVED Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford. 8:30pm. ••BANG - FEAT: TAKE US TO VEGAS + RENEGADE ARMADA + INCENTIVES Royal Melbourne Hotel, Melbourne Cbd. 7:00pm. $20.00.
••CAT OR PILLAR + GLASS EMPIRE + LANTERNS +
BLACK SEA OF TREES + FEVERTEETH + BEAR THE MAMMOTH + PAGEANT FAMILIES Grace Darling Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. $10.00.
+ LUKE HOWARD + TOM DAY + LEAKS John Curtin Hotel, Carlton. 8:30pm. $15.00.
••INITIALS + DAYBREAK + LAURA PALMER + ANGRY
SEAS + EMPLOYMENT Reverence Hotel, Footscray.
8:00pm. $10.00.
••KRYPTIC + MINI COOP TOLLS + JACK VIE Espy, St Kilda. 8:00pm.
••LOOK WHO’S TOXIC + THE ESCARGO-GO’S + THE
KEGGI Whole Lotta Love, Brunswick East. 8:00pm. $5.00. ••GOD BOWS TO MATH + PALE HEADS + GENERAL MEN + OVERTIME Old Bar, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $10.00. ••GOLD CHISEL (15TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW) + NO EXIT + NO STAIRWAY Musicland, Fawkner. 8:30pm.
TALLY HOES Victoria Hotel, Brunswick. 9:00pm. ••LUCIE THORNE & HAMISH STUART + JIMMY DOWLING Thornbury Theatre, Thornbury. 8:00pm. $16.00. ••LUPINE + OSCAR BUBLÈ & THE BUTTERBOYS + RABBLE ROUSER Bar Open, Fitzroy. 9:00pm. ••MASSIVE + SMOKE STACK RHINO + LEANNA KINGWELL + CITY SHARPS Espy, St Kilda. 8:00pm. ••MESA COSA + MIGHTY BOYS + DUMB PUNTS + JURASSIC NARK + PURPLE DUC + K BONE SOUP KARAOKE Public Bar, North Melbourne. 8:00pm. $10.00. ••MIDNIGHT ALIBI The Loft, Warrnambool. 8:00pm. ••MONEY FOR ROPE + HORACE BONES + TRANS PARANOIA Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne Cbd. 9:00pm.
••HEADS & BODIES + JAPANESE WALLPAPER +
••MUTTON + BATPISS Tote Hotel, Collingwood. 5:00pm.
••CONICS Shebeen, Melbourne Cbd. 8:30pm. $12.00.
••DEAD FARMERS + DEAF WISH + AUSMUTEANTS Tote Hotel, Collingwood. 8:30pm.
••DIRE BLAZE + SARFAUST + DARK EARTH +
ABBRAXXAS Bendigo Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. $5.00. ••ED SHEERAN + JAMIE LAWSON + CONRAD SEWELL Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne. 8:00pm. $100.93.
••FREE BURN + LACE & WHISKEY + MEDICINE DOG +
$20.00.
LOWER SPECTRUM + ORLANDO FURIOUS + RARA
$10.00.
••PETE CONVERY + BOB HARROW + ALEX HAMILTON
+ PENGUIN CLASSICS Old Bar, Fitzroy. 2:00pm.
When Money For Rope get on any stage, casual observers in the audience manoeuvre themselves from “I literally could not give a fuck” to “oh shit this is my jam” as they shoulder their way up front. The show only gets better from there. Following their headline Kyneton Music Festival appearance last month, Money For Rope play this Saturday March 28 at Ding Dong Lounge, with Horace Bones and Trans Paranoia. Tickets are $12.25 from OzTix. ••PURPLE TUSKS Sooki Lounge, Belgrave. 8:30pm.
••ROCKAPALOOZA - FEAT: FAITH NO MORE TRIBUTE
+ RAGING IN THE MACHINE + RHCP TRIBUTE Espy, St Kilda. 8:00pm. $20.00.
••RUMJACKS Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine. 8:30pm. $15.00.
••SKYSCRAPER STAN & THE COMMISSION FLATS
+ THE SUGARCANES Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood.
••GOOD MUSIC - FEAT: ETHAN MCLAREN Prince Public Bar, St Kilda . 8:00pm.
••GRACE KNIGHT Bennetts Lane Jazz Club, Melbourne Cbd. 8:30pm. $40.00.
••ISM TRIO Ruby’s Music Room, Melbourne Cbd. 8:30pm. $27.50.
••JOSEPH TAWADROS Melbourne Recital Centre, Southbank. 8:00pm. $45.00.
••NIKO SCHAUBLE & STEVE MAGNUSSON DUO Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy. 8:00pm.
••SARAH MACLAINE & THE ROGER CLARK QUARTET Dizzy’s Jazz Club, Richmond. 9:00pm. $20.00.
••THE SWING MERCHANTS Paris Cat Jazz Club, Melbourne Cbd. 8:30pm. $20.00.
••YELLOWBIRD JAZZ BAND Paris Cat Jazz Club, Melbourne Cbd. 7:30pm. $20.00.
ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK ••BEC GORING Drunken Poet, West Melbourne. 9:00pm.
8:00pm. $10.00.
••BIG SMOKE + GOOD MORNING + SHINY COIN
10:00pm.
••COLLARD GREENS & GRAVY Union Hotel, Brunswick.
BATTLESICK + DJ MERMAID Cherry Bar, Melbourne
••DANNY WALSH & THE WEED KILLERS + AYLEEN
••SLOW GRIND FEVER #23 Tote Hotel, Collingwood. ••SOCIETY OF BEGGARS + LOW FLY INCLINE + Cbd. 8:00pm. $13.00.
••SPOOKYLAND + THE TROTSKIES Revolver Upstairs, Prahran. 8:30pm. $15.00.
••SUBMERGE + LITTLE MISS REMEMBERING +
Howler, Brunswick. 7:30pm. $10.00. 9:00pm.
O’HANLON & THE CROOKED MANSION Fitzroy Pinnacle, Fitzroy North. 4:00pm.
••DAVID FRANCEY + LUCY WISE Spotted Mallard, Brunswick. 8:30pm. $25.00.
ZANDATA + LOKI Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick. 9:00pm. ••THE BLACK ALLEYS + RED X Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy. 8:00pm.
••GUN BARREL STRAIGHTS Union Hotel, Brunswick.
••THE MEANIES + BAD VISION + AD SKINNER
••HOZIER + DUSTIN TEBBUTT Corner Hotel, Richmond.
$10.00.
Northcote Social Club, Northcote. 8:30pm. $20.00.
••TRINITY ROOTS + KARL S. WILLIAMS Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $15.00.
••TRIO MANIPULATO Customs House Hotel, Williamstown. 2:00pm.
••WOLFPACK + SCALPHUNTER + POSTSCRIPT +
5:00pm.
••HOUSE OF LAURENCE Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy. 9:00pm. 8:30pm.
••JAKE CLEMONS Flying Saucer Club, Elsternwick. 8:00pm. $30.00.
••KEVIN WELCH + DUSTIN WELCH Caravan Music Club, Oakleigh. 8:00pm. $30.00.
••KRAKEN SESSION Drunken Poet, West Melbourne. 3:00pm.
Restaurant & Wine Lounge
Great food • Live music • Not in Fitzroy A U T H E N T I C D E G U S TAT I O N D I N I N G & E N T E RTA I N M E N T F U S I O N
THIS WEEK’S ENTERTAINMENT:
FREE ENTRY!
FRI – LOST PROPERTY (90s - current covers) - 10.00pm SAT – COVER CREW (90s - current covers) - 10.00pm SUN – GEMINI (Soul & Funk Duo) - 10.00pm 674 Mount Alexander Road, Moonee Ponds. For bookings, ph. (03) 9372 9911 VIVOTAPAS.COM.AU / FACEBOOK.COM/VIVOTAPASANDWINELOUNGE
CHECK OUT ALL THE LATEST NEWS, REVIEWS AND FREE SHIT AT BEAT.COM.AU
BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 113
GIG GUIDE
WHAT'S ON AROUND MELBOURNE THIS WEEK
THE PUSH PRESENT
ACCESS ALL AGES
For all the latest gigs check out beat.com.au ••MELALUKA Catfish, Fitzroy. 9:00pm.
••MICHAEL MEEKINGS & THE LOST SOULS + DJ
MUSICMAN Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 5:00pm. ••OCEAN PARTY + RED SPENCER + GEOFFREY O’ CONNOR Labour In Vain, Fitzroy. 7:00pm. ••SHANE DIIORIO BAND + DJ DAN ATTARD Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick. 5:00pm.
••SPOONFUL Post Office Hotel, Coburg. 9:30pm.
••THE GRAVELTONES + WILD TURKEY + DJ SHAKY
MEMORIAL Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 8:00pm. ••THE RULING MOTIONS Open Studio, Northcote. 8:30pm. ••THE SIMON HUDSON BAND The B.east, Brunswick East. 9:00pm.
••THE STEVE MARTINS Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East. 9:30pm.
••VIC OLD TIME JAM SESSION - FEAT: CRAIG
WOODWARD + WARREN ROUGH Victoria Hotel,
Brunswick. 5:00pm.
SUNDAY MAR 29
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS ••FLYING BISONS Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy. 8:30pm.
••A STRANGE DAY + SEE SAW + SPIKE Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy. 6:00pm. $5.00.
••ACCIDENTAL BEDFELLOWS + TEN GALLON HEAD +
GREG STEPS Whole Lotta Love, Brunswick East. 4:00pm. ••ALBERT’S BASEMENT - FEAT: SKIM THE RIM + FISH BUTT DICKS + LIME WORKS + $LOW Tote Hotel, Collingwood. 5:00pm.
••BEERSOAKED SUNDAYS - FEAT: SUMMER BLOOD
+ APART FROM THIS + PARTY VIBEZ Old Bar, Fitzroy.
8:00pm.
••BIDDLEWOOD + THE MARLENES + UNCLE BOBBY Workers Club, Fitzroy. 7:00pm. $5.00.
••BIG SEAL & THE SLIPPERY FEW + MURDENA +
MITCHELL A POWER Toff In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 7:30pm. $5.00.
••BIG SMOKE + LUKE BRENNAN & THE STICKY
VALENTINES Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford. 4:00pm. ••CMIDNIGHT SCAVENGERS + NAKED BODIES + FRAUDBAND + THE MOTH BODY + ANDREW MCCUBBIN Tote Hotel, Collingwood. 4:30pm. ••DRIFTER - FEAT: DRIFER + SCALPHUNTER + MUSCLE CAR Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 8:30pm. ••ED SHEERAN + JAMIE LAWSON + CONRAD SEWELL Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne. 8:00pm. $100.93.
••EMERY + TAKE US TO VEGAS + INVENTIONS +
FEAR OF FLYING Northcote Social Club, Northcote. 7:30pm. $36.95.
••GUNN ARTIST SHOWDOWN - FEAT: PAST PRESENT
+ FORMILES + KIMBERLEY HEBERLEY + BENEATH THE LIES + ARCTIC TEMPLE + RED SOAKING WET + AIRWAVES + CYPRUS + SKYMOTH Espy, St Kilda.
12:00pm. $74.00.
NEXT MAN DEAD The Shadow Electric, Abbotsford. 3:00pm. $10.00.
••ROCKABILLY SUNDAYS - FEAT: HEELS ON DECKS
DJ Prince Public Bar, St Kilda . 4:00pm. ••SUNDAY SCHOOL - FEAT: COASTAL SHELF + SWEET WHIRL + SAM KARMEL Public Bar, North Melbourne. 4:00pm.
••SYMETRIX + BATTLESICK + DISCO COMPUTER Bar Open, Fitzroy. 7:30pm.
••THE FUTURE PAST - FEAT: THE JACKRABBITS
+ STRUM REBELLION + CATJUMP ROAD + FOLKENHAIL BLUES Bendigo Hotel, Collingwood. MIXTAPE Espy, St Kilda. 6:00pm.
••WANITA LAUNCH PARTY - FEAT: WHITE SHOES &
COUPLES COMPANY + EMPAT LIMA + PARKING LOT EXPERIMENTS + DJ NIGHTWRK Copacabana, Fitzroy. 2:00pm. $10.00.
••ZIGGY BRITTEN & JEROME KNAPPETT + MICK
PORTER + THE BERKLEY HUNTS Reverence Hotel,
Footscray. 3:00pm.
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC ••ALL DAY FRITZ Open Studio, Northcote. 5:00pm.
••BRARSEY SUNDAYS - FEAT: FUNK BUDDIES Spotted
Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick. 8:00pm.
••LIPSTICK & SPURS CHOIR Mr Boogie Man Bar, Abbottsford. 5:00pm. $10.00.
••MAL WEBB & KYLIE MORRIGAN 303, Northcote. 3:00pm.
••MIN WAGE - FEAT: LAZERTITS + SHARDS + NO
8:00pm. $5.00.
••PAUL WILLIAMSON’S HAMMOND COMBO Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy. 9:00pm. $10.00.
••SULKS + PENGUIN CLASSICS + JASON BANGS Public Bar, North Melbourne. 7:00pm. $5.00.
••THE MARY GOLDSMITHS + DEAD SET LEDGER Workers Club, Fitzroy. 8:30pm.
••ALLAN BROWNE QUINTET Bennetts Lane Jazz Club,
••SYMMETRIO Bennetts Lane Jazz Club, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. $18.00.
ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK ••ACOUSTIC SUNDAYS - FEAT: LAUREL Customs House Hotel, Williamstown. 3:00pm.
••ADAM BRAND (MY SIDE OF THE STREET) Flying Saucer Club, Elsternwick. 3:30pm. $30.00.
••CIDER SUNDAYS The Loft, Warrnambool. 8:00pm. ••FENN WILSON Union Hotel, Brunswick. 3:30pm.
••FLYING ENGINE STRINGBAND The Mercat, Melbourne. 12:00pm.
••JAM SUNDAYS Musicland, Fawkner. 6:00pm.
••JON STEVENS + IAN RICKARD Caravan Music Club, Oakleigh. 3:00pm. $33.00.
••JULES BOULT Catfish, Fitzroy. 5:00pm.
Melbourne Cbd. 8:30pm. $18.00.
••B3 BREAKOUT 303, Northcote. 8:00pm.
••CHARLES BRADLEY Corner Hotel, Richmond. 7:30pm. $60.00.
••CHRISTOPHER GORDON & MUJI Ruby’s Music Room, Melbourne Cbd. 7:00pm. $12.50.
••DARYL MCKENZIE JAZZ ORCHESTRA + TAMARA
KULDIN The Apartment, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. $15.00. ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK ••ANJA & ZLATNA Melbourne Recital Centre, Southbank. 2:00pm. $38.00.
••ANJA & ZLATNA Melbourne Recital Centre, Southbank. 6:00pm. $38.00.
••THE MUTUAL APPRECIATION SOCIETY - FEAT:
NICK O’MARA + ALISON FERRIER Retreat Hotel,
Brunswick. 7:30pm.
TUESDAY MAR 31
••JVG GUITAR METHOD + JON VON GOES + DALE
LINDREA + ASH DAVIES + MARK FERRIE Labour In Vain, Fitzroy. 5:00pm.
••PORK CHOP PARTY Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine. 4:00pm. East. 5:30pm.
••SMALL TOWN ROMANCE Union Hotel, Brunswick. 5:00pm.
••STEVE MARTINS’ ENCORE Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East. 9:00pm.
••STUMP DOG Royal Oak Hotel, Fitzroy North. 4:00pm. ••SUMMER OF SOUL - FEAT: PAPA CHANGO &
CHELSEA WILSON + DJ VINCE PEACH Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 7:30pm.
••SUNDAY SESSIONS - FEAT: VARIOUS ARTISTS
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS ••CREEPING BAM Old Bar, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. $6.00.
••ECCA VANDAL + GATHERER Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood. 7:30pm. $10.00.
••FITZROYALTY - FEAT: MADELINE LEMAN & THE
DESERT SWELLS + EMILEE SOUTH Little & Olver,
Fitzroy. 7:00pm.
••PINK HARVEST + GENERAL MEN + BLEEDING
FLARES Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 6:00pm. ••SWITCHFOOT + ANTISKEPTIC 170 Russell, Melbourne Cbd. 7:30pm. $49.00.
••THE ARCHAIC + BLIND THRILLS + ZEPHYR Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick. 8:00pm.
••THE DARE OHHS + GUY PERKINS Public Bar, North Melbourne. 7:00pm. $5.00.
••THE COSMOPOLITANS Gem Bar, Collingwood. 7:00pm.
••THE SPIRIT OF DUB + TRICK DOG SYNDICATE +
••THE HORNETS Post Office Hotel, Coburg. 4:30pm.
••ZAC BROWN BAND + DISPATCH Palais Theatre, St Kilda.
••THE SOOKI LALA’S BAND + OPEN DECKS & OPEN
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC
MIC Sooki Lounge, Belgrave. 3:00pm. ••THE VANNS + THE SUGARCANES Gasometer Hotel,
••CHRISTOPHER GORDON & GORDON GUNN Ruby’s
••THE HARMANIAX Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy. 4:00pm.
••THE RUSTY TERMINALS Carters Bar, Northcote. 5:00pm.
BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 114
MATH + SPACEJUNK + NAKED BODIES + COSMIC KAHUNA Northcote Social Club, Northcote. 8:00pm. ••MUNDANE MONDAYS - FEAT: THE MIDNIGHT SOL + MORPHMEME + DREAM FATIGUE Old Bar, Fitzroy.
Jazz Club, Melbourne Cbd. 8:30pm. $18.00.
••SMS TRIO Open Studio, Northcote. 8:00pm.
Ferntree Gully Hotel, Ferntree Gully. 2:00pm.
WANTED 12 zesty lemon cakes for no real reason somethinginmybelly_rihanna@cakecakecake.com BANDS/ACTS WANTED for Espy Shows. Shoot an email through to mark@gunnmusic.com.au for more details DRUMMER WANTED for well-established Melbourne rock band. Influences include AC/DC, The Hellacopters, Aerosmith and Velvet Revolver. Pro gear and own transport req. Contact Steve 0433152960 for more details. VOCALIST WANTED for Oasis, Jam, Who, Kasabian, Kinks, Beetles, Stones influenced rock. Phn: 0433 726 449
••MONDAY NIGHT MASS - FEAT: GOD BOWS TO
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC
••GRAYSON FARRUGIA SHERLOCK TRIO Bennetts Lane
BLACK SOUL CHOIR + THE WAY Workers Club, Fitzroy.
••KLARA ZUBONJA 303, Northcote. 8:00pm.
SoCal natives Switchfoot have done it all. Eight studio albums selling over 5.5 million copies, travelling to five continents in the past year, we can’t even rich guilt them with the hundreds of thousands they’ve raised for charity. What bastards. With frontman Jon Foreman promising a solo release later this year, this should be the time to catch Switchfoot before the eventual solo tours begin. Switchfoot plays this Tuesday March 31 at 170 Russell. Tickets are $49+BF from metropolistouring.com.
Mallard, Brunswick. 4:30pm.
••REBELS WITHOUT A CLUE Lomond Hotel, Brunswick
1:30pm. $15.00.
SWITCHFOOT
5:00pm. $5.00.
••THE PEOPLE + MAYFIELD + SUPERSOUNDS
••LARGE NUMBER 12S Standard Hotel, Fitzroy. 7:00pm.
••ILLA TURBA + OBSCÜRUM + COFFIN CAROUSEL
With Kendrick Lamar’s record dropping a week early and the release of our girl Courtney Barnett’s first official album, we’re sure you’ve been pretty busy in the last week. But we’ve got a few things to fill you in on so we suggest you keep reading.
••RITA SATCH + 30/70 + ANTHONY YOUNG + THE
12:30pm. $12.00.
••HIKE-A-PALOOZA - FEAT: AYLEEN O’HANLON +
WITH JESS ZANONI
SISTER Grace Darling Hotel, Collingwood. 7:00pm. ••PENINSULA PICNIC - FEAT: THE WAIFS + PAUL DEMPSEY + TINPAN ORANGE + PIERCE BROTHERS + HAYDEN CALNIN Mornington Racecourse, Mornington.
Collingwood. 1:00pm. $8.00.
••VAN WALKER & SHANE REILLY + JIMMY DOWLING
& SHANE REILLY Drunken Poet, West Melbourne. 4:00pm. ••Z-STAR Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 5:00pm.
MONDAY MAR 30
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS ••88 WITH MOSE Espy, St Kilda. 7:00pm.
••CHERRY JAM Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm.
••ED SHEERAN + JAMIE LAWSON + CONRAD SEWELL Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne. 8:00pm. $100.93.
••LALIC + SAGAMORE + DAVE O’CONNOR Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $5.00.
ASTRO & THE AGES Workers Club, Fitzroy. 7:00pm. $8.00. 8:00pm.
Music Room, Melbourne Cbd. 8:30pm. $12.50.
International students: check out the free Walk This Way hip hop program. Over five weeks, participants will be mentored by professional artists in the hip hop forms of MCing, DJing, breakdance and street art. This will coincide with key speaking tours of some of Melbourne’s peak cultural institutions, including the Arts Centre Melbourne, ACMI, and The Malthouse Theatre. To round things off, there’ll be a cultural dinner at various spots around Melbourne and a celebratory jam with all mentors and participants at DJ MzRizk’s Block Party event. It’s for international students and local residents aged 18-25, free and will run during April/May. Applications will open in late March, check out www.thepush.com.au. NIDA is Australia’s National Institute of Dramatic Art, a centre of excellence in training for theatre, film and television, training exceptionally gifted young people at a tertiary level, preparing them for careers in the dramatic arts. triple j Unearthed and NIDA are joining forces and are offering six bands or individual artists with the opportunity to have a live action video clip created for their track by NIDA’s directing, design and production students. Once completed, the tracks will then be premiered on rage on ABC1. If you can get yourself up to Sydney between Monday July 20 and Sunday August 2, you’d be mad not to enter. Entries close Sunday April 5 and all the details are at www.triplejunearthed.com. Mornington’s Peninsula Picnic is a gorgeous day full of food, wine and music that kicks off this Sunday. You’ll experience the sweet sounds of The Waifs, Paul Dempsey, Tinpan Orange, Pierce Brothers and Hayden Calnin. It’s only $12 if you’re under 18, but you’ve got to bring an oldie with you, but hey, they’d love it too. Jump onto Ticketek for tickets and further info. If you’re in Year 11 or 12 and are studying Art or Studio Art for VCE, or are just an art lover, you might want to check out StArt Up: Top Arts exhibition. It showcases outstanding work from 2014’s talented bunch of art students who received exceptional study scores for their art subject. The display features their folios, developmental material and preparatory work alongside their final pieces. It’s a great way to get inspiration for your own work or just to see the breadth of skill and creativity that our city’s youth possess. It’s held at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia at Federation Square and you don’t have to book tickets because it’s free.
ALL AGES GIG GUIDE
FRIDAY MARCH 27
• Wall To Wall Street Art Workshops w/ Juddy Roller Artists, Street Art/Stencilling Workshop and Public Exhibition, grassed area next to Benalla Skate Park, 10am-2pm, Free, www.facebook.com/benallastreetart, AA • Mastodon w/ guests, Festival Hall, 300 Dudley St, West Melbourne. 7pm, $77.30, www.festivalhall.com.au, AA Saturday March 28 • Ed Sheeran w/ Jamie Lawson and Conrad Sewell, Rod Laver Arena, Olympic Boulevard, Melbourne VIC 3000, 7.30pm, resale $228.85, http://www.ticketmaster. com.au/, AA • BSWS Skate Park Series Heat Hamilton & Official Skate Park Opening, Hamilton Skate Park, Ballarat Rd, Hamilton, 10.30am-5pm, Free, www.wdhs.net, AA Sunday March 29 • Solar Sounds w/ Local Bands, Whatmough Park Clubrooms, Kalparrin Ave, Greensborough, 4pm-8pm, $8, www. facebook.com/JetsFReeZAAA, AA
••RICHMOND MUSIC ACADEMY & THE ROGER
CLARK QUARTET FEATURING GRACE CORDELL Dizzy’s Jazz Club, Richmond. 6:30pm. $9.00.
••ROB BURKE & TONY GOULD QUARTET Bennetts Lane Jazz Club, Melbourne Cbd. 8:30pm. $18.00.
••TRUCE Melbourne Recital Centre, Southbank. 6:00pm. $38.00.
WINDARI-MIXED Open Studio, Northcote. 8:00pm. ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK ••DAVID RYAN HARRIS + MORGAN JOANEL Toff In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 7:00pm. $25.00.
••GENA ROSE BRUCE + MIA WRAY Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 7:30pm.
WATCH INTERVIEWS, CHATS & AWKWARD SILENCES... BEAT.COM.AU/TV
••GREG WALSH Musicland, Fawkner. 7:00pm.
••IRISH SESSIONS Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East. 8:00pm. ••JON CLEARY & THE MONSTER GENTLEMEN Corner Hotel, Richmond. 7:30pm. $50.00.
••KEB’ MO’ Melbourne Recital Centre, Southbank. 7:30pm. $70.00.
Thursday 26th @ 8.30pm
VAN WALKER & CO. (Alt-country)
Friday 27th @ 9.30 pm
PRAYER BABIES SATURDAY 28TH MARCH
OCEAN PARTY
RED SPENCER GEOFFREY O’CONNER (DJ) FROM 7PM
SUNDAY 29TH MARCH
JVG GUITAR METHOD WITH JON VON GOES, DALE LINDREA, ASH DAVIES, MARK FERRIE FROM 5PM COMING UP
JESSE VALACH JOHNNY CASINO FOOD AT THE LABOUR DOUGY & WESTOM BBQ FRI, SAT & SUN ALL MUSIC IS FREE
(Adult pop!)
Saturday 28th @9.30pm
Wed 25th March
WINE, WHISKEY, WOMEN 8pm -
Sam Lohs
THE STEVE MARTINS
9pm - Samantha Cauliflower
Sunday 29th @ 5.30 pm
Emilee South 9pm - David Craft (WA)
(Standup soul-blues)
REBELS WITHOUT A CLUE (Celtic country)
Sunday 29th @ 9pm
STEVE MARTINS’ ENCORE (Acoustic roots)
Tuesday 31st @8pm
IRISH SESSION! (Fiesty fiddlin’)
ALL GIGS ARE FREE
Thurs 26th March
8pm -
Fri 27th March
6pm: Traditional Irish Session
8pm -
Luke Watt (solo) Sat 28th March
3pm - Kraken Session 9pm -
Bec Goring Sun 29th March
EXCELLENT RESTAURANT AND BAR MEALS
4pm: Jimmy Dowling & Shane Reilly
BRUNSWICK EAST, VIC 3057 9380 1752
The Drunken Poet, 65 Peel Street (directly opposite Queen Vic Market), Phone: 03 9348 9797. www.thedrunkenpoet.com.au
LOMOND HOTEL 225 NICHOLSON STREET
Van Walker & Shane Reilly
6.30pm:
WEDNESDAY 25TH 7PM
MELLOW DIAS THUMP THURSDAY 26TH 7PM
MOTORSOUL FRIDAY 27TH 7PM
CC DISCO M5K SATURDAY 28TH 7PM
OSCAR KEY SUNG DJ DARCY BAYLIS DJ JB SUNDAY 29TH 12PM - 1AM
CALYPSO OF HOUSE PAUL JAGER KANZO EDD FISHER
TUESDAYS
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WEDNESDAYs
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THE BEAT RAFFLE
wITH POSTIe P & DJ BuICk @ 7Pm- fuNk/SOuL/PArTy JAmS & $1 wINGS $15 JuGS ALL NIGHT. DrINk DrINkS, HeAr BeATS, wIN STuff.
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THE FURBELOWS
mAGIC 5 PIeCe SwING BAND @7Pm
LAMB BURGER & PINT - $15 ALL free eNTry
GrumPy HOur $6 PINTS AND $5 BASICS Tues-Fri from 4-7pm.125 Smith Street, Fitzroy.
www.GrumPySGreeN.COm.Au CHECK OUT ALL THE LATEST NEWS, REVIEWS AND FREE SHIT AT BEAT.COM.AU
BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 115
VEGAN SPOTLIGHT:
Mantra Lounge’s Vegan Cruise What was the inspiration behind the Vegan Cruise? The owner of Mantra Lounge, Ash Sonthalia, said it best: “The cruise will give like-minded people a chance to socialise, be entertained and sample some of the best vegan food the city has to offer.” We are really excited to bring not only vegans, but the wider community together. What sort of things can attendees expect? People should expect to be very well fed (so come hungry), to be entertained by speakers and music, and to hopefully win some great prizes from some of our favourite vegan businesses in our raffle. It’s all of our favourite things on a boat: friends, food, and fun. What’s the biggest misconception about veganism or being a vegan? That it’s difficult. At Mantra Lounge, we don’t think vegan food should be exclusive or expensive, so we’re out to challenge that perception. We want to make vegan food (or as we call it, ‘food’) accessible, and nonexclusionary, which is why we produce savoury mains and extravagant desserts at such great prices. Our range of cuisine is proof that vegans can eat just about anything, take our creamy lasagna to our tofu-based tiramisu, for example. It’s nice to see more and more vegan restaurants popping up, what sets Mantra Lounge apart from the others? The vegan community is really well looked after; we are so spoilt for choice in Melbourne. What really sets Mantra Lounge apart from the rest is our pricing. Our most popular meal deal is a $7.95 main, salad, and dessert combo. Eating hearty, wholesome food doesn’t need to break the bank. Give us one last reason why people should attend the Vegan Cruise? Oh buoy… It’s pier pressure time. The cruise is a great opportunity to sample Mantra Lounge’s finest culinary delights aboard the high seas on a boat full of like-minded individuals and prizes. It’s aboat time you got your tickets to the first ever Vegan Cruise. Hope we sea you there. MANTRA LOUNGE’s Vegan Cruise sets sail on Sunday March 29 from 4pm. Get your tickets through vegancruise.eventbrite.com.au.
News Bites.
Doritos Announce Chip Roulette
Doritos are playing with fire with the release of Doritos Roulette, the new, limited edition product featuring the hottest chip ever created by the brand in Australia. Most of the chips in each packet are Doritos’ classic Cheese Supreme flavour, but hidden in every handful is one very hot chip. They all look the same, so the challenge is you never know what you’re going to get. The thrill is sharing them with mates and waiting for their spicy reaction. With a clear warning from Doritos that this product is only for the bold, the mysterious hot chips rack up a scorching 7,360 Scoville Heat Units. This puts them higher on the scientific scale of spicy food than jalapeños and chipotle. Spice experts have compared the experience to taking a shot of hot sauce. You’ll be able to pick this thrilling snack at major retailers until September.
Tex Perkins And The Dark Horses Announced For The Grape Escape
Joining them will be Buddha in a Chocolate Box, Even the Lion, Sons of May and more. Held in picturesque Halls Gap in the heart of The Grampians in Victoria’s north-west, The Grape Escape celebrates a match made in heaven: great food, wine and live music. 125 artisans will be making an appearance at the festival, which is held over two days. There’ll also be masterclasses, Matt Preston and grape stomping. The Grampians Grape Escape is taking place on Saturday May 2 and Sunday May 3. Full lineup and more information can be found at their website.
TWIN PEAKS WAS A VERY GOOD SHOW Twin Geeks! This week we are taking the walk in the pines to the sleepy and somewhat murdery town of Twin Peaks. Spoiler alert. ACROSS
DOWN
puzzleguy@beat.com.au
BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 116
WATCH INTERVIEWS, CHATS & AWKWARD SILENCES... BEAT.COM.AU/TV
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BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 117
INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH
MUSIC INDUSTRY NEWS & GOSSIP
With Christie Eliezer * Stuff for this column to be emailed to <celiezer@netspace.net.au> by Friday 5pm
SFX BLAMES STEREOSONIC PARTLY FOR EARNINGS DIP
Australia’s Stereosonic festival was partly to blame for its American parent company, SFX Entertainment’s, weak fourth quarter and a loss of $131 million on revenue of $354.4 million for 2014. As for the fourth quarter, pro forma revenues declined 7.6 per cent to $95.9 million from $103.9 million. SFX CFO Richard Rosenstein said greater interest in single-day shows (in Australia) meant “tickets sales did not meet expectations” for Stereosonic. Pro forma attendance for all SFX global events rose 8.9 per cent to 88 from 71 in 2013. Pro forma festival attendance increased 1.5 per cent to about 2.9 million and attendance at nonfestival events increased 19.5 per cent to about 2.4 million. Excluding the Rock in Rio festivals, festival attendance in 2014 grew 18.7 per cent. SFX expects 2015 revenues to exceed $500 million, with investor sponsorship and brand partnership revenue to exceed $100 million, from $35 million last year.
STREAMING FEES GOES TO COURT
This week saw record companies and commercial radio at the Copyright Tribunal for the dispute over extra fees for radio streaming music on their sites. The PPCA (representing labels) says streaming is giving extra ad revenue to radio, and it should pay up. Commercial Radio Australia argues streaming is covered in current fees and labels are just double-dipping.
PIERCE BROTHERS SIGN WARNER DEAL, UK AGENT
Melbourne folk-pop duo Pierce Brothers signed with Warner Music in Australia/NZ. They tour Australia in April before relocating to Europe for their summer. They also signed with UK’s Free Trade Agency (Ed Sheeran, War on Drugs, St Vincent) who’ve booked them on major festivals as The Great Escape, Canadian Music Week and Pinkpop in Netherlands, and showcases across Europe including dates with The Cat Empire and two of their own shows in London in May. As announced here previously, they recently signed to Europe with RCA/Sony. In Australia Jack and Pat shifted 40,000 EPs independently and recently sold out a record five shows in Melbourne.
MELBOURNE’S MESHIAAK GET FORMER SLAYER DRUMMER
THINGS WE HEAR
• Which band member had a mild tanty because a venue promoting his band’s upcoming gig spelt his name wrong? • Will Foo Fighters next Sonic Highway series look at studios in the UK, and at least one Melbourne studio? • Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst, already peeved that the Associated Press confused him with murder suspect Robert Durst, got more pissed when their correction of the report claimed that he was no longer in the band. • Morrissey’s new t-shirt shows him posing nude next to the Queen. •50,000 signed a petition to stop Kanye West headlining Glastonbury Fest. • For the promotion of his new Funemployed album, The Bedroom Philosopher has outsourced his interviews. You can’t speak to him about it, but you can chat to Courtney Barnett, Benjamin Law, Kate Miller Heidke, Scott Edgar (Tripod), Paul Livingston (Flacco), Tony Martin, Scott Edgar, Lawrence Greenwood (Whitley) or Damian Cowell of TISM. • The LA Weekly asks: “Is Courtney Barnett the most exciting new songwriter in rock?” • Rap supergroup Run The Jewels was attacked during a SXSW show. A man rushed onstage making for El-P but was stopped by Killer Mike. Roadies hustled him off and knocked him down when he tried to get on again. • The original Taxiride lineup is playing gigs after 15 years. • When did Tool guitarist Adam Jones know the band was going to win their lawsuit against their insurance company? When he found out the judge’s name was Randy Rhodes. “I knew the power of metal and my appreciation of metal was going to be like a guardian angel.” • Taylor Swift’s 1989 has sold 4.5 million, beating the 4.1m of 2012’s Red and 4.4m of 2010’s Speak Now.
Barnett; Woody McDonald of 3RRR and booker of Meredith and Golden Plains, Mikey Cahill, senior music writer at the Herald Sun; Simon Winkler, 3RRR Music Director and Lucy Buckeridge, EMI publicist and singer/bassist of Lowtide. It’s at The Toff in Town on Wednesday April 15. See www. step-events.com.
BACKLOT FILMS ALLY WITH DELUXE
Backlot Films founders Tony Ianiro and Mark D’Angelo struck an alliance with Deluxe Australia. It’ll provide the film and television industry with a one-stop-shop for post-production and logistics services. Deluxe will also provide management for three dispatch warehouses in Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. Backlot Films already has a distribution company that will provide filmmakers with an alternative opportunity to secure a cinema release.
WANNA PLAY CLOUD COVER SUNDAY?
Cloud Cover Sunday is a Sunday session at the Purple Emerald in Northcote on Sunday April 26, with stripped back versions of covers and originals. They’re taking acts submissions until Thursday March 26 at www.facebook.com/cloudcoversundays.
ANOTHER PUSH FOR THORPIE STATUE
Another push has begun for a bronze statue to be set up in Melbourne of legend Billy Thorpe. All details at www.change.org/p/billy-thorpe-s-bronze-statue-inmelbourne-city-put-up-a-bronze-statue-of-billythorpe-a-legend-in-australian-music.
SCNDL BACK IN NORTH AMERICA
After two North America tours last year, Melbourne’s SCNDL (DJ producers Tom Grant and Adam Amuso) are currently playing San Diego, San Francisco, Miami, New York City and two shows in Canada. They just completed the CLUB MTV tour and released a free download on SoundCloud.
TWERPS CONTINUE GLOBAL QUEST
• Filming the “making of ” Sydney Julia Why?’s album Wheel took two stays in a psych-ward, a dislocated shoulder, a severed thumb and a nerve-damaged arm.
After a month-long US tour of 22 cities (including festivals as Burgerama and Treefort), Melbourne’s Twerps return to Australia to launch their Range Anxiety album and the stop-start video for Start created by new Twerps bassist Gus Lord on his iPhone. They head off for their first ever UK/Europe tour. The 17 dates between Friday May 15 to Thursday June 4 include festival slots as Primavera, the Great Escape, This Is Not A Love Song and Beaches Brew.
ABBEY ROAD SETS UP ACADEMY IN SYD, MEL
Melbourne country/pop duo Jeanie signed with ABC Music. New single You’ll Be With Me Till I Die comes off debut EP Crazy, out on Thursday April 2 and launched at The Toff In Town on that day with Monique Brumby. Jeanie formed late last year by ABC3 presenter Olivia Phyland and composer Aaron D’Arcy.
The world famous Abbey Road Studios in London has launched the Abbey Road Institute offering a 12 month Advanced Diploma in music production and sound engineering co-designed with its engineers. The academies will be held all over the UK as well as in Sydney, Melbourne and Germany. Students can also use the famed studio’s gear. See www. abbeyroadinstitute.com.
DREAMWEAVER SCORES GLOBAL INTEREST
US RECORDED MUSIC REVENUE UP TO $4.86B
SLAM/BAKEHOUSE DUO WIN PRIZE
FIVE RECORDING GRANTS GIVEN
Melbourne metal band Meshiaak (Meh-she-yuk), formed last year by ex-4Arm frontman Danny Tomb and Teramaze guitarist Dean Wells, have now got US ninja drummer Jon Dette in the lineup. Dette played with Slayer and Anthrax (with both on Soundwave 2013), Testament, Evildead and Killing Machine. Having landed a global deal with Mascot Label Group, they’re in Green Day’s Jingletown Studios in Oakland, US, tracking their debut album.
JEANIE SIGNS WITH ABC MUSIC
Pushed along by streaming, the US recorded music market grew for the fourth consecutive year in 2014. Wholesale revenues were up 2 per cent to $4.86 billion. But estimated retail value was $6.97 billion, down slightly (-0.5 per cent), marking the fifth straight year of flat retail revenues. Revenues from streaming music services as Spotify, YouTube and Pandora grew 29 per cent to $1.87 billion, and accounted for 27 per cent of total industry revenues. Downloads remained the largest component at 37 per cent of the market (down from 40 per cent in 2013). Physical formats continued to fall from 35 per cent to 32 per cent representing $1.85 billion. Which means streaming made more money.
ICONIC SUNBURY FESTIVAL REMEMBERED
The iconic Sunbury Festival was celebrated in Sunbury as part of the 39th SunFest. A parade of ‘70s cars drove festival founders John Fowler (now retired and running the Lake Boga Observatory) and Peter Evans, stage producer Adrian Anderson, artist Rob McKenzie, Billy Thorpe’s widow Lyn and publicist Paul Murphy. People who lined the streets yelled, “I was there!” and “I was conceived there!” There was also an exhibition of photos and mementoes from 1972 to 1975 in a hall while the Sunbury movie along with archival footage of performances and interviews screened non-stop. BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 118
• Sheppard’s Bombs Away album cracked the US Top 40, sitting at #31.
Helen Marcou and Quincy McLean, who run Bakehouse Studios and set up SLAM (Save Live Australia’s Music), won this year’s 20,000 Facilitators Prize at the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards. The judges cited the pair’s history as “musicians, agitators and living proof that genuine and lasting change can be brought about if strongly enough desired.”
WANNA SHOWCASE AT AWME?
World music and roots festival and conference AWME opened submissions for artist showcases by Friday May 1 from talent in Australia, NZ and the Pacific. Acts must be export ready, available at all four showcase days, and with a professional manager (and a business team) who can represent the artist and meet with delegates during the event. You need high quality marketing items such as CDs and live videos, and be prepared to play nationally and/or overseas if a deal is offered.
STEPS, COLLARTS, DISCUSS MELBOURNE AS THE MUSIC CAPITAL
Society of Tastemakers & Elegant People (STEP) and Collarts will, for their April event, discuss Melbourne The Music Capital. Speakers are Nick O’Byrne, Program Director of BIGSOUND and manager of Milwaukee Banks and Courtney
LIFELINES Dating (reportedly): Taylor Swift and Scottish DJ Calvin Harris. Expecting: NZ’s Brooke Fraser and husband Scott Ligertwood. She cancelled a ten-date NZ tour for April and May claiming “scheduling conflict.” Married: Aussie singer Jason Short (Ten Tenors, now pop/opera ARIA) and US TV host Paige Hemmis of Hallmark Channel’s Home & Family. Ill: John Hedigan of Something for Kate undergoing therapy for a brain tumor. SFK, Clare Bowditch and Darren Middleton are among those playing the Something For John fundraiser at The Corner on Saturday April 18. Ill: Zayn Malik has left One Direction’s Asian tour due to “stress”. In Court: 50 Cent is to stand trial for uploading a “revenge porn” sex tape of Rick Ross’ ex-girlfriend on YouTube in 2010. In Court: two Perth men are on trial in the Supreme Court on charges of the “gay bashing” death of former Sydney DJ Warren Gerard Batchelor, 49, in November 2013. He died in hospital after being attacked in a public toilet in a park, allegedly hit with a metal pole and his head stomped on. Died: Mike Porcaro, bassist with Toto, 59, from Lou Gehrig’s disease. Died: US producer Thom Wilson, who produced The Offspring’s first three albums, as well as those by T.S.O.L., Bouncing Souls, Iggy Pop, Dead Kennedys, The Aquabats, D.I., The Vandals. Cause of death unknown. Died: Andy Fraser, 62, bassist with Free, from cancer and AIDS. He was 15 when he co-founded Free in 1968 (he co-wrote All Right Now) then Sharks with Chris Spedding and his own band before writing for Robert Palmer, Joe Cocker and Rod Stewart and being involved in Rock Against Trafficking. Died: Michaell Brown, keyboardist and songwriter with ‘60s US band The Left Banke (Walk Away Renee), 65, heart failure. Died: former Twister Sister drummer AJ Pero, 56, heart failure.
The new single Be Yourself by Melbourne’s Dreamweaver (singer/songwriter Harrison Storm) is causing waves globally. It’s received 30,000 plays on SoundCloud, airplay on KCRW FM and rave juice on Hype Machine blogs such as Timber & Steel, Pause Musicale and Art Surfer Magazine. His debut EP Sense Of Home is launched at The Evelyn on Sunday April 12.
The PPCA and Australia Council gave out five grants of $15,000 to help acts record new music. Mia Dyson will cut three EPs, each in a different city with a different producer (Joe Pisapia, Erin Sidney, Ben Tolliday). The Growl record a third album in LA. Alex Masso with Sydney jazz act The Vampires cut their fifth album featuring West African-born, USbased guitarist/vocalist Lionel Loueke and produced by Lloyd Swanton (The Necks).
THE DRONES LAUNCH TROPICAL FUCK STORM RECORDS
The Drones launched their own label Tropical Fuck Storm Records (TFS Records). Through 2015, the band will release their seventh album as well as a reissue of their back catalogue starting with their Here Come The Lies debut (along with a first-time gatefold vinyl LP) and a new range of merch.
GURUS ANNOUNCE NEW DRUMMER
Hoodoo Gurus’ new drummer is Nik Rieth, ex Celibate Rifles, Tumbleweed and The New Christs. He will tour Europe with Radio Birdman in June, and play his first Gurus gig in August.
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SHEERAN TO MENTOR NOVA’S ‘FRESH DISCOVERY’
Ed Sheeran is mentor for Nova’s national talent search Fresh Discovery. Applications have closed, and auditions are being held around the country. The winner, announced on Friday March 27, gets a deal with Warner Music and a mentoring session with Sheeran. The judges are Warner A&R Executive James Roberts and Warner Music Talent Scout David Caplice and are looking for the “real deal” – someone who’s contemporary, creative and innovative.