Beat Magazine 1512 by Furst Media

M E L B O U R N E R E C I TA L C E N T R E P R E S E N T S

MICHAEL GIRA ( S WA N S )

Michael Gira is one of the most important voices emanating from North America today. Over the past four decades, his work as a solo artist and with his bands Swans and Angels of Light, have resonated deeply and inspired generations of musicians. Gira visits for a rare solo performance, his first in almost a decade, performing works from all his projects, weaving together an intense and personal vision of contemporary song.

‘For Gira, going acoustic is about drawing out the dynamics, the drama and threat of his music by slicing it to the bare bone.’ The Guardian

TUE 8 MARCH 7.30PM TICKETS $50

THE NECKS S AT 5 M A R C H 7 . 3 0 P M

TICKETS $55/$45

Cult Australian improv trio, The Necks’ live shows have been described as religious experiences. Celebrated for creating immersive sets with sensitivity, intelligence and stamina, blending jazz, ambient and avant-garde, their music gradually changes as the narrative fades and drifts – and no two shows are ever the same.

‘Absolutely riveting... how three musicians can sound like 18 is a mystery... extraordinary magical sounds emerged from the ensemble.’ Financial Times (UK)

‘Entirely new and entirely now. They produce a post-jazz, post-rock, posteverything sonic experience that has few parallels or rivals.’ The Guardian (UK)

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See the best of Melbourne with public transport. Now running all night on weekends.

ptv.vic.gov.au

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OUT FEBRUARY 19

FEATURING 19 TRACKS INCLUDING THE SINGLES ‘HIGHER’ FEAT. JAMES CHATBURN & ‘1955’ FEAT. MONTAIGNE & TOM THUM

RE-STRUNG.COM

TOURING IN APRIL B E AT.C O M . A U

HILLTOPHOODS.COM

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B E AT.C O M . A U

BAR

WEDNESDAY 17 FEBRUARY

OPEN MIC

Show the Boogie Man what youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got! THURSDAY 18 FEBRUARY

NATHAN HEWITT DUSTY STARR DEVIL TULIP FRIDAY 19 FEBRUARY

STEVE LUCAS Happy Hour from 5pm

$5 Stubbies and $5 basic spirits THEN

GUILLOTYNE TRAGIC EARTH ONE KINGDOM SATURDAY 20 FEBRUARY

SISTERS DOLL SUNDAY 21 FEBRUARY

CHEEZ & CHALK TESS & THE TOM KATZ MINNIE ME AFTER WORK HAPPY HOUR FROM 5PM:

WED, THURS & FRI 160 HODDLE ST ABBOTSFORD

Monday Residency 7.30pm

MORELAND CITY SOUL REVUE

Get on board the soul train and check out this all-star cast of musos playing old soul and soulful funk. PLUS: Check out the dinner special: Moreland City Soul Revue fried chicken dinner. Every Monday night at the Union!

Sat 20 February 5pm

CHRIS PICKERING BAND

Psychedelic twang meets indie-rock, perhaps best described as a cosmic chess game between Paul Simon and Jonathan Wilson.

Sat 20 February 9pm

SHANTY TOWN

A Dance filled evening from this homegrown nine piece ska powerhouse, with musical roots all the way from Kingston.

Sun 21 February 3.30pm

NICK HADGELIS

Catch this talented multi-intrumentalist (mandolin, keys, harmonica, accordian...what doesnt he play?) before he heads to Canada.

Sun 21 February 5pm

SMALL TOWN ROMANCE

Upbeat five piece playing country classics and honkytonk heart-stoppers.

LIFE IS NOISE PRESENTS

australian tour 2016

19/02 MELBOURNE MAX WATT’S

March 16 · Max Watt’s · Melbourne TICKETS FOR THE MELBOURNE AND SYDNEY SHOWS FROM LIFEISNOISE.COM, OZTIX AND THE VENUES · POSTER BY ERROR-DESIGN.COM

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HOMESHAKE • PG. 27

#1512 • FEBRUARY 17 12

HOT TALK / FREE SHIT

UPCOMING TOURS & GIG OF THE WEEK

COVER STORY: SPIDERBAIT

WHAT’S ON PHANTOM RIDE

ART OF THE CITY THE COMIC STRIP CALENDAR

KIM CHURCHILL • PG. 26

K R I ST Y C O OT E • PG. 28

CHAMBER MADE OPERA OUT OF THE CLOSET REVIEWS

BEAT EATS

BEATS

KIM CHURCHILL

HOMESHAKE

TWEEDY KRISTY COOTE

GLEN MATLOCK KINGSTON ARTS POP UP BAR

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CORE & CRUNCH COLUMNS

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ALBUM OF THE WEEK SINGLES / CHARTS

ALBUMS

GIG GUIDE / ALL AGES

BACKSTAGE

INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH

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PUBLISHER: Furst Media Pty Ltd. MUSIC EDITOR: Cara Williams ARTS EDITOR, ASSOCIATE MUSIC EDITOR & ONLINE EDITOR: Tyson Wray SUB EDITOR: Augustus Welby ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE & EDITORIAL COORDINATORS: Thom Parry EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS: Cassie Hedger, Gloria Brancatisano, Jess Zanoni, James Di Fabrizio, Kate Eardley. MANAGING DIRECTOR, FURST MEDIA: Patrick Carr BEAT PRODUCTION MANAGER: Michael Cusack GRAPHIC DESIGNERS: Michael Cusack, Andrew Rozen, Lizzie Dynon. COVER DESIGN: Michael Cusack COVER PHOTOGRAPHY: Ian Laidlaw ADVERTISING: Cara Williams (Music: Bands/Tours/Record Labels) cara@beat.com.au Thom Parry (Hospitality/Bars) thom@beat.com.au Keats Mulligan (Backstage/Musical Equipment) mixdown@beat.com.au Tom Brand tombrand@beat.com.au CLASSIFIEDS: classifieds@beat.com.au GIG GUIDE SUBMISSIONS: now online at www.beat.com.au or bands email gigguide@beat. com.au ACCOUNTANT: accountant@furstmedia.com.au OFFICE MANAGER: Lizzie Dynon ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE: Luke Forester: accounts@furstmedia.com.au DISTRIBUTION: Free every Wednesday to over 2000 points around Melbourne. Wanna get BEAT? Email distribution@beat.com.au CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS: Mary Boukouvalas, Ben Gunzburg, Anna Kanci, Charles Newbury, Tony Proudfoot, Laura May Grogan, David Harris, Emily Day, Lucinda Goodwin, Dan Soderstrom. SPECIAL PROJECTS EDITOR: Christie Eliezer SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR: Patrick Emery SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER: Ian Laidlaw COLUMNISTS: Emily Kelly, Peter Hodgson, Lachlan Kanoniuk, Anna Whitelaw BEAT TV/WATT’S ON PRESENTER: Dan Watt CONTRIBUTORS: Kelsey Berry, Graham Blackley, Gloria Brancatisano, Chris Bright, Avrille Bylock-Collard, Alexander Crowden, Liza Dezfouli, Jules Douglas, Jack Franklin, Emma Gawd, Chris Girdler, Joe Hansen, Nick Hilton, Peter Hodgson, Lachlan Kanoniuk, Cassandra Kiely, Billy Killing, Jody Macgregor, Nick Mason, Denver Maxx, Krystal Maynard, Paul McBride, Miki Mclay, Rhys McRae, James Nicoli, Adam Norris, Jack Parsons, Leigh Salter, Sisqo Taras, Kelly Theobald, Tamara Vogl, Dan Watt, Augustus Welby, Garry Westmore, Rod Whitfield, Jen Wilson, Thomas Brand, Alex Watts, Tyson Wray, David James Young, Bronius Zumeris, Simone Ubaldi, Natalie Rogers, James Di Fabrizio, Tex Miller, Emily Day, Matthew Tomich, Matthew Woods, Matilda Edwards, Lee Spencer Michaelsen, Joe Hansen, John Kendall, Bel Ryan, Izzy Tolhurst, Isabelle Oderberg, Navarone Farrell DEADLINES: Editorial copy accepted no later than 5pm Thursday before publication for club listings, arts, gig guide etc. Advertising copy accepted no later than 12pm Monday before publication. Print ready art by 2pm Monday. Deadlines are strictly adhered to. © 2016 Furst Media Pty Ltd. No part may be reproduced without the consent of the copyright holder.

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HOT TALK

THE BIGGEST IN INTERNATIONAL & NATIONAL NEWS

Free $hit THE MUMMIES

EAGLES OF DEATH METAL ANNOUNCE MELBOURNE SHOW Eagles of Death Metal are returning to Australian shores. Already announced to perform at Bluesfest, they’ve just announced a show at the Croxton Bandroom on Friday March 25. Since their formation in 2008, Eagles of Death Metal have released four albums (Peace Love Death Metal in 2004, Death By Sexy in 2006, Heart On in 2008 and 2015’s Zipper Down), toured the globe many times over and played a bunch of the world’s biggest festivals including Coachella, Rock Werchter, Glastonbury, Roskilde and many more. Catch them on Friday March 25 at The Croxton Bandroom.

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL ANNOUCES OPENING AND CLOSING NIGHT ACTS The Melbourne International Jazz Festival has announced headline artists for the opening and closing night of this year’s festival. This 2016 incarnation of the event will present jazz wunderkind Esperanza Spalding for the first time ever in Australia, celebrating her groundbreaking new project, Emily’s D+Evolution. The young bassist/ vocalist/composer has continually blazed unmarked territory, winning the 53rd Grammy Award for Best New Artist – an unprecedented win for a jazz musician. To close the festival, the revolutionary Wayne Shortner will take to the stage with three of the world’s finest jazz musicians, Danilo Perez, John Patitucci and Brian Blade. The Melbourne International Jazz Festival will run from Friday June 3 through to Sunday June 12. Visit the festival’s website for more details.

A WILHELM SCREAM TO RETURN TO AUSTRALIAN SHORES Massachusetts natives A Wilhelm Scream will return to the country this May. Recognised internationally for their relentless, energetic and exhausting live shows, the band is a riff-heavy, overwhelming assault on the senses. Catch them before they head back to the studio to finish their follow-up record to Partycrasher. They’ll hit up The Reverence Hotel on Thursday May 26. Tickets via the venue.

The Jessica Stuart Few are set to venture out to Australia in March for a national tour, to coincide with the release of their new album, The Passage. After a co-tour around Australia in early 2015 with Marta Pacek (including Folk Festival headliner performances), followed by tours through Japan and China, The Jessica Stuart Few somehow found time back home to record their third album. The Passage marks the follow-up album to the critically acclaimed trio’s previous award winning releases, 2010’s Kid Dream and 2014’s Two Sides To Every Story. The Jessica Stuart Few has captivated live audiences around the world, with their quirky mélange of folk, jazz, rock and soul. Grab your chance to see them when they play The Retreat Hotel on Monday March 21. BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 12

UK four-piece Rudimental will return to Australia this May to play their biggest headline shows to date, joined on tour by fellow UK powerhouse Jess Glynne, plus local talent Thandi Phoenix. The drum and bass outfit have gone from strength to strength with the release of 2015’s We The Generation, featuring favourites such as Bloodstream, Never Let You Go, Platinum-selling single Lay It All On Me, plus the new single Rumour Mill. Rudimental celebrated the album’s release with a near sell-out global tour, which included a string of sold out Australian headline shows, explosive performances at Glastonbury, Governors Ball Music Festival, Bonnaroo and T in the Park. Don’t miss them this time when they play Margaret Court Arena Tuesday May 10. Tickets via Ticketek.

TINPAN ORANGE ANNOUNCE NATIONAL TOUR AND NEW ALBUM COHEED AND CAMBRIA ANNOUNCE AUSTRALIAN TOUR

THE JESSICA STUART FEW TO RETURN TO AUSTRALIAN SHORES

RUDIMENTAL TO RETURN TO AUSTRALIA

New York’s post-hardcore/prog visionaries Coheed and Cambria are coming to Australia this May for a headline tour. The four-piece have released seven acclaimed science-fiction concept albums across the span of their career. Their latest offering The Color Before The Sun, marks the bands first non-conceptual album and the first to be recorded live in the studio. They’ll be hitting up Max Watt’s on Tuesday May 10. Tickets are available now through Oztix.

Seasoned folk darlings Tinpan Orange have announced their fifth studio album, Love Is A Dog. Set for release Friday April 8, they’re hitting the road to celebrate. Love Is A Dog has been deemed as a luscious and intricate concept album, adorned with soaring string arrangements, sparse guitar hooks and frontwoman Emily Lubitz’s delicate, show-stopping voice. Don’t miss them when they play The Toff In Town on Saturday May 7.

Considered as one of the most important bands to come out of the Califorinian garage punk scene (shit mate, they practically invented it), The Mummies are bringing their DIY flavoured carnage to our shores. Originating in 1988, the band gained fame by swapping professionalism for tattered mummy costumes, insulting attitudes and damaged equipment which ultimately inspired generations of dirtbag musicians.If you’re punk enough to get excited by free shit, head on over to the Beat website for a double pass giveaway for when the show kicks off at Max Watt’s, Thursday March 10. Oh and bring a mummy suit made of toilet paper because shit is going to get messy.

PEEP TEMPEL DOUBLE PASS If you missed the Shadow Electric’s Estonian House sessions last year, you blew it. Big time. Lucky for you, not only are they running the event with Melbourne rockersThe Peep Tempel as a headliner, but we’re giving away a sweet double pass for you champs. Not only will attendees be treated to a beautifully atmospheric hall, they’ll also be introduced to a brand of scathing rock both honest yet catchy in its delivery. It’s as meaty as a Christmas ham and twice as delicious. If you’re fishing for free tickets, hit up Beat’s website and we’ll get you in to The Peep Tempel’s Estonian House on Thursday February 18 for free.

THE ELTHAM JAZZ, FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL TO RETURN The Eltham Jazz, Food & Wine Festival will return later this month, and they’re holding a launch party to celebrate. There will live music from Soul Sacrifice, wine traders, a face painter, a bouncing castle and a mini train. The Eltham Jazz, Food & Wine Festival will take place over Saturday February 27 and Sunday February 28.

LOS CHICOS CONFIRM MELBOURNE SHOWS Los Chicos have locked in two Melbourne headline shows to accompany their appearance at Boogie. The Spaniards will be bringing their pubrock-punk and country-gospel-punksoul back to Australia for a fourth time. Expect a smattering of guitars, flipflops and ridiculously catchy rock’n’roll. Check them out on Saturday March 19 at The Tote, or on Wednesday March 23 at Sooki Lounge. HOT TALK

THE MICK FLEETWOOD BLUES BAND GEAR UP FOR MELBOURNE SHOW The Bluesfest sideshows keep rolling in. Mick Fleetwood, the iconic co-founder of Fleetwood Mac, will be heading Down Under with his Grammy nominated band, The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band, featuring Rick Vito. The group will be performing early Fleetwood Mac songs along with a string of blues classics. Don’t miss ‘em at 170 Russell on Tuesday March 29. Tickets via Bluesfest touring.

JAZZ, SWING, BLUES AND ROCK MUSIC INCLUDING SUN RISING - THE SONGS THAT MADE MEMPHIS, GREG CHAMPION & THE COOL ROCKIN DADDIES, THE SEVEN UPS, GROOVE DOCTORS, SOUL SACRIFICE AND THE JACKSON FOUR.

PRESENTS

FOUNDING MEMBER OF FLEETWOOD MAC WITH HIS GRAMMY NOMINATED BAND

“

The band’s sound takes you back to the early blues-driven years of Fleetwood Mac, a musical legacy from the 1960s, reaching forward to today.

”

MAUI NEWS

TUESDAY MARCH ALSO PERFORMING AT

170 RUSSELL

FROM BLUESFESTTOURING.COM.AU, 02 6685 8310 & THE VENUES BLUESFEST 2016 TICKETS FOR MORE INFO VISIT BLUESFESTTOURING.COM.AU B E AT.C O M . A U

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THE BIGGEST IN INTERNATIONAL & NATIONAL NEWS

[ Formerly The Hi-Fi Bar ]

World’s End

FRI 19 FEB

HIGH ON FIRE USA

After the successful release of their debut album Cheers, neo-funk outfit Holy Moses Heartache are gearing up to release their second album You’re Welcome. Having toured and gigged extensively throughout the year, which has included playing at The Queen’s Night Market, Port Fairy Music Festival and Mount Beauty Music Festival, the band will celebrate their second album with support from local talents Head Clouds and Ruby Whiting, with MC Master of Ceremonies. It’s going down at The Toff on Saturday February 20.

SAT 20 FEB

ŽELJKO BEBEK & BAND MON 22 FEB

THE SWORD USA TUE 23 FEB - SOLD OUT

OCEAN COLOUR SCENE UK SAT 27 FEB

1349 NOR

TUE 01 MAR

G - EAZY USA WED 09 MAR

THE MUMMIES USA

THE WOOHOO REVUE CONFIRM FIRST MELBOURNE SHOW OF 2016 Playing their first headline show in Melbourne in over a year, The Woohoo Revue will be bringing their unique brand of Balkan jazz to Estonian House. Performing as part of The Brunswick Music Festival, the fiendishly talented collective have toured their all-out instrumental party across Australia and Europe, playing Glastonbury, Fusion and Colours of Ostrava. The Woohoo Revue will be supported by six-piece Galata Express and ocker jazz group The Willie Wagtails at the Estonian House in West Brunswick on Saturday March 19.

WENDY STAPLETON TO PRESENT THE DUSTY SPRINGFIED STORY

THU 10 MAR

IBEYI FRA/CUB SAT 12 MAR

FREDDIE GIBBS USA WED 16 MAR - SELLING FAST

SUNN O))) USA

FRI 18 MAR - SELLING FAST

DIED PRETTY SAT 19 MAR

TUAN HUNG & DAM ME VNM Ĕ

FRI 06 MAY

COHEED AND CAMBRIA USA FRI 13 MAY

LITTLE MAY SAT 21 MAY

ELUVEITIE SUI

BEN FOLDS TO TOUR AUSTRALIA WITH YMUSIC IN 2016 Multi-platinum singer/songwriter and producer Ben Folds has announced he will tour Australia in August 2016. Performing on stage with Folds will be the celebrated New York City based chamber ensemble, yMusic. Folds and yMusic will be showcasing new songs from his recently released album, So There, which has already amassed critical acclaim, debuting in the number one spot of Billboard’s Classical and Classical Crossover charts. Catch them play at the Palais Theatre on Friday August 26. Tickets go on sale Friday February 19.

Acclaimed songstress Wendy Stapleton will tell the tale of British pop legend Dusty Springfield next month. In this original production that has delighted audiences all around Australia, New Zealand and United Kingdom, Stapleton presents the outstanding tribute to the songs and career of Dusty Springfield. Springfield endured a 35-year-long career in music thanks to her unique, heartbreaking voice and her unfailing belief in song writers such as Carole King, Gerry Gollin, Randy Newman, John Kander, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, just to name a few. Starring Wendy Stapleton as Dusty and featuring fabulous musical theatre singer, dancers and musicians, the show promises to take you on a colourful journey through all the hits of the ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s that made Dusty a household name. It’ll be going down on Saturday March 12 at The Yarraville Club. Tickets via the venue.

SAT 11 JUN - SELLING FAST

RADIO BIRDMAN SUN 12 JUN

DEATH DEALER USA

KADAVAR LOCK IN MELBOURNE SHOW

SUN 26 JUN

BLACK STONE CHERRY USA THU 14 JUL - SOLD OUT

THE CO-GROUND SOULCIAL TO TAKE OVER THE GASO NEXT MONTH

SAT 20 AUG

A Thursday night soul-down is in order, as The Co-Ground Soul-cial brings together some of Melbourne’s finest heavy riffing and soul inspired bands. The evening will feature the almighty soulful tunes of The Eighty 88’s, The Cactus Channel and That Gold Street Sound. A party with purpose, all funds raised at the event will go towards supporting Co-Ground, who are a volunteer led, non-profit group raising money for local and overseas education partnership programs, re-building schools and providing opportunities for people who need them. They’re pretty good at it too, taking out the 2015 UC Anti-Poverty award. The night will also feature Motel Diablo and Max & Mili DJs, plus some special guests and surprises. It’s goin’ down Thursday March 3 at The Gasometer.

COG

STEEL PULSE UK SAT 10 SEP

FROM THE JAM UK SUN 09 OCT

THE LEVELLERS UK SUN 13 NOV

THE MISSION UK TIX + INFO

MAXWATTS.COM.AU 1300 724 867

125 SWANSTON ST, MELBOURNE

BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 14

HOLY MOSES HEARTACHE TO LAUNCH SECOND ALBUM

DMA’S ANNOUNCE AUSTRALIAN DATES FOR ALBUM TOUR DMA’S have announced they will be embarking on a worldwide tour. The Sydney based trio have recently played to capacity crowds at Laneway Festival, and their latest single Too Soon has been confirmed as a definitive summer anthem. On the horizon for DMA’S are major slots at Coachella and SXSW, though first they will drop their debut album Hills End on Friday February 26. The boys will be performing in Melbourne on Saturday June 11 at the Corner Hotel. Tickets on sale now.

VISHTEN TO EMBARK ON AUSTRALIAN ALBUM LAUNCH TOUR Acadian powerhouse trio Vishtèn have announced they’ll be touring Down Under to celebrate their fifth studio album, Terre Rouge. Acting as Francophone musical ambassadors throughout the world, the Canadian trio have dazzled audiences with their fiery blend of traditional French songs and original instrumentals. The fusion of their trademark blend of fiddle, guitar, accordion, whistles, piano, bodhrán, octave mandolin, jaw harp and percussive dance make for a unique tour de force of traditional and contemporary sounds. Check them out at Spotted Mallard Wednesday March 2.

LINEUP ANNOUNCED FOR 2016 MOOMBA FESTIVAL Big name Melbourne bands will headline each night of the 2016 Moomba Festival. The headliners this year include indie pop band Alpine, triple j favourites British India, Tim Rogers & The Bamboos, plus renowned indigenous signer Emma Donovan fronting Emma Donovan & The Putbacks. The Moomba Festival Main Stage will kick off with the FReeZA Push Start Battle of the Bands Grand Final on Friday March 11 from 5pm. The festival features performances every night over the Labour Day long weekend, through until Monday March 14. The full lineup will be released via the Moomba website on Wednesday February 17. Fraser A. Gorman

BY THE MEADOW ANNOUNCE 2016 LINEUP Boutique festival By The Meadow will return this April for round three. Capped at 600 punters, the 2016 festival will feature The Harpoons, The Ocean Party, Fraser A Gorman, Luke Howard, Lanks, Magic Bones, Milwaukee Banks, Planète, Crepes, Mosé + The Fmly, Anthonie Tonnon, Habits, Canary, The Attics, Uncle Bobby, Edward R, IO, Couture, Velvet Bow, Redspencer, Nafasi and Forever Son. Dive into a world of leisure and pleasure. By The Meadow will take place on Saturday April 2 and Sunday April 3 in Bambra, Victoria.

Fresh from being announced as headliners for CherryRock016, Kadavar have locked in their own headline tour. The hirsute German stoner-psych rock outfit have announced shows in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. The trio will be bringing their groove of stoner rock with ‘70s psychedelia, following the release of their latest album, Berlin. They’ll be heating up Corner Hotel on Saturday April 30.

ENDLESS BOOGIE ANNOUNCE BOOGIE FEST SIDESHOW New York’s blues/garage/rock band Endless Boogie are set to return to Australian shores. Playing right around the country, these blokes will hit Boogie Festival in Victoria and create majesty at a headline show at The Curtin. Built on a love of Bon Scott, Lobby Lloyd and everything else good, Endless Boogie will play all the hits from their three long players and EPs. Get down with them at The John Curtin Hotel Thursday March 24. Tickets via the venue. HOT TALK

THE ALL SEEING HAND RETURN TO AUSTRALIA Wellington trio The All Seeing Hand are set to return to Australian shores in 2016. Known for mashing together the mind-melting combination of turntablism, drumming and throat-singing, the group creates a sonic force to be reckoned with. The All Seeing Hand are the kind of act you really have to see and hear to believe. They’re booked in for a show on Saturday March 5 at The John Curtin Bandroom. Tickets are available now.

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FEB $18 ROAST

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ALL BURGERS $13

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DAILY HAPPY HOUR! 4-6PM

$3.50 POTS, $5 BASICS & HOUSE WINE

Wesley Anne - Bar • Restaurant • Etc -

MONDAY

ROO AND WINE 11

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FREE

THE THE TH HE E

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Thursday 18 February -------------------------------------------------

Jane Cameron 6pm, Front Bar

FREE

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Friday 19 February --------------------------------------------------

Kerryn Fields FREE & The Dudettes 6pm, Front Bar

Jon M Laughlin c

8pm, Band Room, $20

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Imogen Pemberton

FREE

MON

ROO & WINE - $ 11 .99

TUE

WED

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11 BURGER NIGHT SPONSORED BY 4 PINES BREWERY

THU

Big Band Frequency 2pm, Band Room, $5

2 for 1 selected Mains Monday from 5pm

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$ N E K C I H C 15 D E I FR & BEER

6.30pm, Front Bar

BEER GARDEN FR E E

BOB HUTCHINSON TRIO, 5PM

SDAY

WEDNE

THUR 18 FEB

BEER GARDEN PM FR E E

FREE

FR E E

POT & PARMA - $ 15

FRI 19

1 1 S R E G BUR $

TUESDAY

FRIDAY

SMITH’S TRIVIA 8 PM

6pm, Front Bar

Sunday 21 February -------------------------------------------------

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UPCOMING

I N T E R N AT I O N A L

PIKNIC ELECTRONIK MELBOURNE Federation Square January 17-April 3 KALACOMA The Evelyn Hotel February 17, 24 THE CITY OF STONNINGTON’S CLASSIC CONCERTS Victoria Gardens February 27 FAIRFIELD SUMMER SERIES Fairfield Ampitheatre February 21, 28 JEMMA NICOLE The Tote February 21, 28 PRINCE State Theatre February 17 A$AP ROCKY Margaret Court Arena February 17 DAN MELCHIOR The Old Bar February 17, The Tote February 26, John Curtin Bandroom February 28 DAN POTTHAST Northcote Social Club February 18 THE PEEP TEMPEL Shadow Electric February 18 REGGAE ROYALTY Palais Theatre February 18 WAXAHATCHEE Howler February 18 ALPINE Estonian House February 19 CERES Northcote Social Club February 19 URBAN SPREAD Pelly Bar February 19, York on Lilydale February 20 COSMO’S MIDNIGHT Howler February 19 DAVE RAWLINGS MACHINE Palais Theatre February 19 TINA ARENA Hamer Hall February 19 PARTY IN THE PADDOCK Burnscreek, Tasmania February 19 RIVERBOATS MUSIC FESTIVAL Murray River, Echucha February 19 – 21 HIGH ON FIRE Max Watt’s February 19 JD MCPHERSON Corner Hotel February 19 FAT FREDDY’S DROP The Forum February 19 HA THE UNCLEAR The Tote February 19 HOLY MOSES HEARTACHE The Toff in Town February 20 WHITE NIGHT MELBOURNE Various Venues February 20 DEKMENTAL FESTIVAL Caulfield Racecourse February 20 SECRET FESTIVAL Yarra Valley February 20, 21 DALLAS CRANE The Corner February 20 GOOD LIFE FESTIVAL Melbourne Park and Hisense Arena February 20 ROB THOMAS Rob Laver Arena February 20 KATE MILLER-HEIDKE Estonian House February 20 DREAM A HIGHWAY featuring GILLIAN WELCH Festival Hall February 20 JEREMIH Trak February 21 LEFTFIELD Yarra Valley Estate February 21 ALBERT HAMMOND JR The Corner February 21 THE SWORD Max Watt’s February 22 HORROR MY FRIEND Old Bar February 22 WU-TANG CLAN Margaret Court Arena February 23 OCEAN COLOUR SCENE Max Watt’s February 23 THE GAME The Forum February 24 JANE MCARTHUR The Gasometer Hotel Thursday February 25 PAUL DEMPSEY Corner Hotel February 26 SAVIOUR The Workers Club February 26 MANGELWURZEL Northcote Social Club February 26 SPIDERBAIT 170 Russell February 26, 28 THE JEZABELS The Forum February 26 GBH The Bendigo Hotel February 26 CHI WAH WOW TOWN TBA February 26 – 28 SUFJAN STEVENS Hamer Hall February 26 THE ELTHAM JAZZ, FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL Various Venues February 27, 28 ALITHIA Cherry Bar February 27 PRETTY CITY The Gasometer February 27 HOMESHAKE The Curtin February 27 MOSES GUNN COLLECTIVE Northcote Social Club February 27 ECCA VANDAL Howler February 27 MARCS FESTIVAL AC/DC Lane, Duckboard Place February 28 SUFJAN STEVENS Hamer Hall February 28 NATALIE PRASS Melbourne Recital Centre February 29 RAVI COLTRANE Bird’s Basement March 1 - 6 PASSENGER Palais Theatre March 1 MISS QUINCY The Retreat March 1, 8, 15 and 22, Shebeen April 21 G-EAZY Max Watt’s March 1 VISHTEN Spotted Mallard March 2 CALEXICO Hamer Hall March 2 CO-GROUND SOUL-CIAL The Gasometer March 3 GLEN MATLOCK, EARL SLICK & SLIM JIM PHANTOM Ding Dong Lounge March 4, The Flying Saucer Club March 5 MAX FROST Northcote Social Club March 4 SENSES FAIL Corner Hotel March 4 THE SNOWDROPPERS Howler March 4 THE ALL SEEING HAND The Curtin March 5 SOUL-A-GO-GO Bella Union Trades Hall March 5 L.K MCKAY Anyway March 5 COME TOGETHER Edendale Farm, Eltham March 5 BOOTLEG RASCAL Northcote Social Club March 5 CHAPTERFEST 24 Gasometer Hotel March 5 PALMS Shebeen March 5 CLUTCH The Forum March 5 GREENTHIEF Cherry Bar March 5 TEX PERKINS AND CHARLIE OWEN Croxton BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 16

A R T I S T S

H E A D I N G

Bandroom March 5 ALVVAYS Northcote Social Club March 6 SYDNEY RD STREET PARTY Sydney Rd March 6 THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN The Forum March 6, 7 THE NECKS Melbourne Recital Centre March 7 GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR Melbourne Recital Centre March 7 PEKING DUCK The Forum March 8 MICHAEL GIRA Melbourne Recital Centre March 8 THE MUMMIES Max Watt’s March 9 SLEATER-KINNEY The Croxton March 9 RUBY BOOTS Northcote Social Club March 10 IBEYI Max Watt’s March 10 ART VS. SCIENCE 170 Russell March 11 THESE NEW SOUTH WALES Shebeen March 11 ASH The Gasometer March 11 MOOMBA FESTIVAL Various Venues March 11 - 14 A FESTIVAL CALLED PANAMA Lone Star Valley March 11 - 13 PORT FAIRY FOLK FESTIVAL Port Fairy March 11 – 14 THE DUSTY SPRINGFIED STORY The Yarraville Club March 12 GAYTIMES FESTIVAL Kinglake March 12 - 14 FREDDIE GIBBS Max Watt’s March 12 BEN HARPER AND THE INNOCENT CRIMINALS Sidney Myer Music Bowl March 12 BUILT TO SPILL The Corner March 12 MADONNA Rod Laver Arena March 12, 13 GOLDEN PLAINS Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre March 12 – 14 PURE POP FOR NOW PEOPLE Rochford Wines, Yarra Valley March 12 TOTAL CHAOS The Reverence Hotel March 13 JOHN GRANT The Forum March 13 BUZZCOCKS The Corner March 13 CLOSURE IN MOSCOW The Workers Club March 13 THE CHARLATANS 170 Russell March 13 AT SUNSET Rubix Warehouse March 13 BUCKCHERRY 170 Russell March 14 ST GERMAIN The Forum March 14 ACTION BRONSON The Forum March 15 BRUNSWICK MUSIC FESTIVAL Various Venues March 15 - 20 BIG DADDY WILSON Flying Saucer Club March 16 HIGHLY SUSPECT The Evelyn March 16 LUKA BLOOM The National Theatre March 16 DON MCLEAN Hamer Hall March 16 SUNN O))) Max Watt’s March 16 SONGHOY BLUES Melbourne Recital Centre March 16 THE FUMES The Gasometer March 17 MARY BLACK The Forum March 17 THE VIOLENT FEMMES The Corner March 17 MILES & SIMONE The Toff in Town March 17 THE JENSENS Shebeen March 18 DIED PRETTY Max Watt’s March 18 SEVENDUST 170 Russell March 18 BRYAN ADAMS Rod Laver Arena March 18 STEVE EARLE & THE DUKES Melbourne Recital Centre March 18, 19 THE STIFFYS The Old Bar March 19 STRUNG OUT The Corner Hotel March 19 D’ANGELO Palais Theatre March 19 TEDESCHI TRUCKS BAND Forum Theatre March 19 THE WOOHOO REVUE Estonian House March 19 KIM SALMON The Northcote Social Club March 19 THE PENINSULA PICNIC Mornington March 20 LORD HURON The Corner March 21 LUCKY PETERSON Northcote Social Club March 21 THE JESSICA STUART FEW The Retreat Hotel March 21. KENDRICK LAMAR Rod Laver Arena March 21 TWEEDY Melbourne Recital Centre March 21 ELLE KING Corner Hotel March 22 KAMASI WASHINGTON Prince Bandroom March 22 STURGILL SIMPSON 170 Russell March 23 MODEST MOUSE Margaret Court Arena March 23 LOS CHICOS Sooki Lounge March 23 RHIANNON GIDDENS The Corner March 23 THE RESIDENTS The Croxton March 23 YEO Howler March 24 ENDLESS BOOGIE The John Curtin Hotel March 24 HOUNDMOUTH Northcote Social Club March 24 ST. PAUL & THE BROKEN BONES The Corner March 24 CARMADA Star Bar, Bendigo March 24 BLUESFEST Byron Bay March 24 – 28 EAGLES OF DEATH METAL The Croxton March 25 WALKEN AND MUDDY CHANTER The Tote March 25 WAFIA Northcote Social Club March 25 COLD WAR KIDS 170 Russell March 25 BOOGIE FESTIVAL Bruzzy’s Farm March 25 – 27 THE HILLS ARE ALIVE Krowera March 25 – 27 TOM JONES Hamer Hall March 25 THE SELECTER Corner Hotel March 25 EILEN JEWELL Caravan Club March 26, Thornbury Theatre March 30 A GAZILLION ANGRY MEXICANS Cherry Bar

T O

M E L B O U R N E

Gig Of The Week

PARTY IN THE PADDOCK Friday February 19 - Sunday February 21 Tasmania’s very own all-ages camping festival is ready to take off for 2016, with promises to be even bigger and better than last year. Recently added to the huge lineup are The Bennies and Ecca Vandal, who join the plethora of acts already announced, including Violent Soho, Spiderbait, The Preatures, British India, Tired Lion, Tkay Maidza, Harts, Bad//Dreems and more. Not only does the event feature some stellar acts and an exceptionally chilled-out atmosphere in one of the most beautiful landscapes in Australia, it also aims to raise the important issue of mental health awareness. Party In The Paddock runs for three days from Friday February 19 to Sunday February 21, in Burns Creek, Tasmania. Tickets are available via the festival’s website. March 26 THE HILLS ARE ALIVE South Gippsland March 25 – 27 LEGION MUSIC FEST Melbourne Showgrounds March 26 LEFTÖVER CRACK Bendigo Hotel March 27, 28 (AA) NAHKO AND MEDICINE FOR THE PEOPLE The Corner March 27 THE WORD The Corner March 28 THE MICK FLEETWOOD BLUES BAND 170 Russell March 29 NOEL GALLAGHER’S HIGH FLYING BIRDS Margaret Court Arena March 29 JASON ISBELL Melbourne Recital Centre March 29 THE DECEMBERISTS Hamer Hall March 29 TAJ MAHAL Melbourne Recital Centre March 30 NATHANIEL RATELIFF & THE NIGHT SWEATS 170 Russell March 30 LUKAS NELSON & PROMISE OF THE REAL Howler March 30 MELISSA ETHERIDGE Palais Theatre March 30 VINTAGE TROUBLE The Corner March 30 STIFF LITTLE FINGERS 170 Russell March 31 ALLEN STONE The Corner March 31 MIKE ELRINGTON The Flying Saucer Club April 1 SHADY COTTAGE East Trentham April 1 THE BENNIES The Corner April 1 THE BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA Melbourne Recital Centre April 1 JACKSON BROWNE Palais Theatre April 1 BY THE MEADOW FESTIVAL Bambra April 1, 2 TIGERTOWN Northcote Social Club April 2 THE TIMBERS Yarra Hotel April 2 ED KUEPPER Melbourne Recital Centre April 2 CITY AND COLOUR Sidney Myer Music Bowl April 2 BRIAN WILSON Palais Theatre April 3 LOW Melbourne Recital Centre April 4 GORDIE TENTREES Billyroys Blues Bar, Bendigo April 7 MONTAIGNE Howler April 8 SKYSCRAPER STAN AND THE COMMISSION FLATS Cherry Bar April 8 SASKWATCH The Corner Hotel April 8 OH PEP! Northcote Social Club on April 8 CALIGULA’S HORSE Ding Dong Lounge April 8 THE MURLOCS The Tote April 8 CITY CALM DOWN The Corner April 9 DAUGHTER 170 Russel April 10 CHRIS ISAAK Margaret Court Arena April 13 TRIVIUM 170 Russel April 13 WEDNESDAY 13 Corner Hotel April 14 MONIQUE DIMATTINA Melbourne Recital Centre April 15 SONS OF ZION The Croxton April 16 NADIA REID Northcote Social Club April 19 BLACK SABBATH Rod Laver Arena April 19 GANG OF YOUTHS 170 Russell April 22 HILTOP HOODS + MSO Rod Laver Arena April 23 VANCE JOY Margaret Court Arena April 23 SARAH BLASKO The Forum April 23 PURE FESTIVAL Shed 14 April 24

S O . M A N Y. G I G S .

JOSH GROBAN Palais Theatre April 25 DANNY BROWN Forum April 26 RYAN BINGHAM Northcote Social Club April 27 VIC MENSA Prince Bandroom on April 28 MUTEMATH Corner Hotel April 28 RATATAT 170 Russell April 28, 29 ODESZA Forum April 29 MS MR Prince Bandroom April 29 WIDE OPEN SPACE FESTIVAL Ross River Resort April 29 – May 1 KADAVAR Corner Hotel April 30 GROOVIN THE MOO Prince of Wales Showground, Bendigo April 30 SUPERSUCKERS Cherry Bar April 30 CHERRYROCK016 Cherry and AC/DC Lane May 1 MATT CORBY Palais Theatre May 1, May 2 MILLENCOLIN 170 Russell May 3 RICHIE RAMONE Cherry Bar May 3 OF MONSTERS AND MEN Palais Theatre May 4, 5 HINDS Northcote Social Club May 6 TINPAN ORANGE The Toff In Town May 7 IRON MAIDEN Rod Laver Arena May 9 RUDIMENTAL Margaret Court Arena May 10 COHEED AND CAMBRIA Max Watt’s May 10 THE WONDER YEARS Corner Hotel May 12 PURE GOLD LIVE Palais Theatre May 13 SCREECHING WEASEL AND MXPX Prince Bandroom May 20 TINASHE The Forum May 25 THE BEARDS The Loft May 25, The Golden Vine May 26, Karova Lounge June 23, Barwon Club June 24, The Corner June 25 ERIC BURDON AND THE ANIMALS The Palais May 18 A WILHELM SCREAM The Reverence Hotel May 26 ANGELUS APATRIDA Bendigo Hotel May 28 THE DRONES 170 Russell May 20, The Tote May 28 THE CAT EMPIRE The Forum Theatre May 27, 28 CHERIE CURRIE The Corner May 28 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL Various Venues June 3 – June 12 DMA’S The Corner June 11 TOTALLY 80’S Palais Theatre July 15 COG 170 Russell July 15 BEN FOLDS WITH YMUSIC Palais Theatre August 26

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SPIDERBAIT Fucken Awesome b y pat r ic k eme r y

Pic By Ian Laidlaw

In 1996 Spiderbait became the first Australian band to top the triple j’s Hottest 100 with their single Buy Me a Pony. A raucous track that perfectly balanced Spiderbait’s blend of punk rock attitude and pop sensibility, the song pipped Tool’s Stinkfist and Ben Folds Five’s Underground to take the number one spot. 20 years later, Spiderbait drummer, vocalist and songwriter Mark “Kram” Maher remains proud of the band’s seminal achievement. Kram also acknowledges the irony of the track’s win, given it took the piss out of the major labels’ frenetic bidding war to ink a deal with Spiderbait. “That song was kind of like a comic book version of how bad it can actually be, and the song still resonates with people today,” he says. “But the label loved [the song], even though it was about them and everyone else – they had enough of a sense of humour to get it. And it wasn’t just about them – it was about the whole concept of record labels.” A few years before – having released the Circle K single, P’tang Yang Kipper Bang Uh! EP and Shashavaglava album on the independent Au Go Go records – Spiderbait found themselves swept up in the major label feeding frenzy that had commenced with the formation of Rooart in the late-1980s, and was propelled forward by the success of Nirvana’s Nevermind in 1991. Spiderbait – Kram, bass player and co-singer Janet English and guitarist Damien Whitty – grew up in the New South Wales country town of Finley, before moving to Melbourne in the late 1980s. Kram moved down to study music at Melbourne University, and he was immediately fascinated with the depth and breadth of independent music on offer in Melbourne. “I remember the first time I ever heard Triple R, and it just blew me out – all this music I’d never heard before, announcers that I never heard speak like that before, with great knowledge but without the big razzle-dazzle commerciality BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 18

of commercial radio and TV, which is all we really had,” he says. “I think we just got an explosion of stimulation. I was studying music at Melbourne and playing a lot of jazz, and I was listening to bands like Black Flag and Dead Kennedys and found it really energising. And I really loved the politics of the culture, the equality of it.” Things came to a head for Spiderbait across the road from St Kilda’s Prince of Wales Hotel midway through a Dinosaur Jr concert. “We fell in love with J Mascis straight away. We loved Dinosaur Jr, and to see them live – the energy of the music was so exciting to play. You love great songs, but it’s how you gravitate to the energy in the art that you love,” Kram says. Taking a nature break across the road due to the impenetrably long lines at the Prince, Kram, Whitty and English decided to form a band. “I think we had our first rehearsal up at Janet’s farm in a giant shed where her dad kept his tractors. We set up there one day when the tractor wasn’t there, and we recorded the rehearsal. Basically all we played was Dinosaur Jr and Cosmic Psychos songs. That was all we knew,” Kram laughs. Spiderbait took their cues from a variety of places; Kram had an interest in jazz and had also jammed with Whitty in a rock’n’roll vein while the pair was still in Finley; English was blessed with a lilting pop voice, but embraced punk rock with an equally passionate fervour. Like the Hard Ons, Spiderbait walked a sharp line between pop and metal. B E AT.C O M . A U

“We had instances over the years where people couldn’t understand how you could have a pop singer and a metal band in the same band, and the songs are so varied and you don’t know which songs to push,” Kram says. Not long after that fateful Dinosaur Jr gig, Wally Kempton, the Meanies’ bassist and manager who also booked The Tote Hotel in Collingwood, offered Spiderbait their first gig. “I remember we were pretty crap that night, but people loved us,” Kram laughs. “I was too nervous to notice. Back in those days I’d just put my head down and play – I was too frightened to look at the audience.” Spiderbait quickly came to the attention of Milne and Moon, and signed to Au Go Go. Despite their burgeoning success on the Melbourne independent scene, strained personal and emotional relationships made it seem as if Spiderbait would fold, before regrouping to record Shashavaglava. “We’ve almost broken up plenty of times,” Kram laughs. “Bands usually break up for three reasons: one is the relationships within the band, two is money, and three is if they’re going nowhere. I think we had all three of those things over the years, and worked them out and we’re still here. We kind of have an equality, to be equal, even though we’re different personalities.” Kram believes the three-person composition of the band has helped with their longevity – that, and a robust sense of humour. “We are very much three duos. Myself and Whitt are very much a jamming phenomenon. We did a session for the last record when we literally jammed for 10-15 minutes, and we went back and looked at it and just chopped up parts, and that’s what we used to do in the early days. Myself and Janet are a songwriting team, and she’s more focused on the songwriting craft and less on her instrument. And Janet’s such a great singer, and she’s always thinking about the song. And her and Whitt, they just crack each other up – a real comedy team.” While Spiderbait watched contemporaries such as Killing Time, The Hummingbirds, Tumbleweed and Ratcat come off second best after dealing with a major label, Kram says the relationship with Universal (originally Polydor) has been overwhelmingly beneficial to the group. “It allowed us to have a career, we made a lot more money, and it gave us the freedom to create the way we wanted to.”

Kram singles out a Big Day Out show in the mid-‘90s as a quantum leap for the band. Playing Old Man Sam for the first time in front of a big audience, the trio was amazed and flattered by the response. “We went on the stage and we still felt like a pub band and something changed that show, and it was pretty much condensed in that song – the reaction to that song was so huge and epic. It was like stadium rock, and we really rose to the occasion. We weren’t freaked out by it, and when we came off the stage we were a different band. I think we got a huge injection of confidence in our ability to play to a massive crowd.” With live appearances impeded by domestic responsibilities and new recording hampered by logistics and a laissez-faire attitude, there was a nineyear gap between Spiderbait’s sixth LP, Tonight Alright, and its 2013 follow-up, Spiderbait. “We’d just been putting it off for so long – we were always going to do another record, but it takes us forever to get around to doing things with regards to our own lives. We’ve never been very focused on the future. We’re into doing what we’re doing at the time. But when everyone agreed to do it, and particularly when we got Frank [producer François Tétaz], that’s when it came together.” As they prepare to hit the road to celebrate their silver jubilee, Kram says Spiderbait are largely the same as they were 25 years ago. “We’re happy – we’re like this iconic band that seems to have made it, had its chapter in the annals of Australian rock history, which to us is a complete surprise, and something we’re proud of, and we’re proud of each other. But we’re proud that we’re really the same band that we were at that first gig at The Tote. We really haven’t changed and the dynamic hasn’t really changed. We may not play again one day, but I don’t know if we’ll make a big song and dance about it. If we had a farewell tour, we might have so much fun that we’d decide to keep going. ” SPIDERBAIT’s 25th anniversary tour comes to 170 Russell on Friday February 26 and Sunday February 28, with special guests Tired Lion. They’re also playing at Party in the Paddock, which goes down from Friday February 19 – Saturday February 20 in Burnscreek, TAS.

B E AT.C O M . A U

BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 19

This Week: Kicking off this Thursday at The Wheeler Centre comes Blak & Bright, the inaugural Victorian Indigenous Literary Festival. The event runs for four days, which will include of bevy of performances, workshops and panels. There’ll be novelists, poets, playwrights, songwriters, oral storytellers and comedians all coming together to trade industry experience and provide inspiration for the zealous punters. It’s poised to be an enlightening event, which is presented by the First Nations Australia Writers Network, with Australian Poetry, the City of Literature Office, the Emerging Writers Festival, Express Media, the Melbourne Writers Festival, the Small Press Network, the Wheeler Centre and Writers Victoria. It kicks off at 7pm on Thursday February 18 night and runs all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Check blakandbright.com. au for full details. There’s no doubt that the passing of the late, great (brilliant and unrivalled) David Bowie still hangs heavy in the hearts of music and arts lovers all over the world. It’s probably not going to get any easier, but the great thing is that we have such a wide catalogue of work to cherish and re-live. Best known for his innovations in music and fashion, Bowie was also an eager actor, appearing in a number of films all through his storied career. He’s perhaps best known for his role in Labyrinth, which the canny folks behind the Shadow Electric are presenting in the Outdoor Cinema at the Abbotsford Convent this Thursday. Labyrinth was directed by creator of The Muppets, Jim Henson, and sees Bowie starring as The Goblin King alongside a 15-yearold Jennifer Connolly who is on the search for her lost little brother Toby – something made difficult by The Goblin King and a creepy array of Henson’s signature puppets. See Labyrinth at the Shadow Electric Outdoor Cinema this Thursday February 18. The name Theatr Iolo no doubt rings a bit for keen theatre-going parents round the world. The award winning Welsh theatre company has been around for 25 years providing some pretty wacky pieces of theatre for children. Director Sarag Argent was behind the recent successes Out of the Blue and Luna, and now Theatr Iolo are back in Melbourne with Boxy & Sticky. The premise is simple – it takes the limitless imagination of children on a wonderful ride of invention. When looked at through the eyes of an inventive child, a box is never simply a box, and likewise a stick is never simply just a stick. The box could be a computer, the stick could be the mouse, the box could be a buggy, the stick could be a golf club, the box could be a piano, the stick could be a conductor’s baton, the box could be a canvas, the stick could be a paint brush – you get the gist. The imagination is an amazing resource, and Theatr Iolo are all about pushing it beyond constrictions. Head along with your little ones, you’ll no doubt leave feeling a buzz of inventiveness. Matinee performances are showing at the Arts Centre’s Playhouse Rehearsal Room from Wednesday February 17 – Sunday February 21

PICK OF THE WEEK Opening at La Mama Theatre this week is The Unspoken Word Is ‘Joe’. This new work from Zoey Dawson and Declan Greene has already seen sold-out seasons at Melbourne Fringe and Brisbane Festival, and been nominated for three Green Room Awards and won the coveted Melbourne Festival Discovery Award at the Melbourne Fringe Festival, despite proudly claiming to be one of the worst plays ever written. To find out what that means check it out at La Mama between Wednesday February 17 and Tuesday March 1.

BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 20

Woof!

Phantom Ride BY MYF CLARK

pening at ACMI this week, Phantom Ride is a two-screen video work inspired by the history of cinema and the way in which trains have featured as an extension of the camera for the purposes of experimentation with the moving image. Taking as a starting point films such as the Lumiere Brother’s Leaving Jerusalem by Railway (1896), regarded today as the first ever tracking shot, Daniel Crooks’ latest installation creates a continuous, seamless tracking shot that moves the viewer through a fragmented reality, constructed from a collage of Australian railways. The work references the phantom rides of early cinema, a genre of film popular in Britain and the United States in the early 1900s. Pre-dating narrative features, these short films showed the progress of a vehicle, usually a train, moving forward by mounting a camera on its front. Beat had the chance to sit down with Crooks and chat about his upcoming exhibition, his influences and his advice to future filmmakers. As one of Australia’s most renowned contemporary artists, and a multiple award winner, Crooks’ work has been widely exhibited nationally and internationally and is held in private and public collections including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the National Gallery of Australia and the Museum of Contemporary Art. When asked about how he was inspired to get into filmmaking, Crooks says, “I originally studied graphic design because it was set in a nice half way zone between science and art. My favourite subjects at school were physics and geometry but I was also very into printmaking and photography. So I was studying design, but the most exciting thing by far in studying design was the moving image stuff, where I got to play

with video cameras and Super 8 cameras. So that’s why I moved to Melbourne – to study animation.” His current project, Phantom Ride, came out of a number of previous projects and Crooks says most of his work stems from what came previously or immediately before. “The project came out of a long standing interest in the nexus of the train as an embodiment of our ideas of time. I had a longstanding interest in trains as a kind of metaphor for time and the experience of time but also the mechanics and the underlying logic of cinema and the moving image as well. “I made a work a couple of years ago called Embroidery of Voids, which was a never ending tracking shot down a series of Melbourne laneways and, in a sense, it’s kind of a combination of that. I was imagining these train lines would give me these perfect smooth shots to start with, but because I wasn’t allowed to shoot on working train lines I had to use scrappy old lines.” When asked about how he thinks audiences might respond to his work, Crooks says, “what a lot of artists would hope is that the audience will look at the world

EVERYTHING MELBOURNE

in a slightly new way, with slightly new eyes and slightly new ears. I guess I would hope to destabilise the concrete model of the world that most people have and that it’s maybe not as fixed and real as we might hope. “I think we’re moving back into a post-camera or postoptical era and I think the moving image and being able to capture more than the life that comes through a lens means we can start opening up whole new ways of thinking about reality.” When it comes to advice for future filmmakers and artists, Crooks is blunt and honest in his response. “Stay hungry, stay foolish,” he says. “I think I have been very lucky with seeing the internet and growing up with it and what I see as an advantage now is that I couldn’t know absolutely everything that was going on anywhere else – I didn’t know there was a guy in Slovenia doing something, I didn’t know there was people in the States or Europe working in similar areas. So if I’d seen that on YouTube I maybe would’ve stopped. Playing around, experimenting and jamming it on YouTube is not enough – you’ve got to keep on going, keep pushing, keep refining and resolving until you get something and I think that’s a big difference.” His current exhibition wouldn’t be possible without the support of the Ian Potter Moving Image Commission, a year-long commitment that lets artists dedicate a significant period of time to creating a new work that will significantly further their practice. For Crooks, a highlight has been having a budget to make this work in a hands-off process. “There’s 1,000 percent creative freedom and there’s no stress about how the money is being spent – it really is an incredible privilege to be able to have the support to realise the project which is possibly too ambitious. A wise person once said to me ‘You can’t get anywhere in this world with biting off more than you can chew,’ and I think I’ve bitten off more than I can carry.” Phantom Ride is showing at ACMI until Sunday May 29.

For more arts news, reviews and interviews visit beat.com.au

DIRTY SECRETS COMEDY

THE COMIC STRIP

Coming Up

Rose Callaghan

Festival of Live Art

Tuesday March 1 - Saturday March 13 Various Venues

200 Years of Australian Fashion Saturday March 5 - Sunday July 31 National Gallery of Victoria

Jurassic World: The Exhibition Saturday March 19 - Sunday October 9 Melbourne Museum

Melbourne International Comedy Festival

DIRTY SECRETS COMEDY

Wednesday March 23 - Sunday April 17 Various Venues

Tonight they have a super sweet lineup at Caz Reitop’s featuring Nick Crapper, Tegan Higginbotham, Rose Callaghan, Jack Druce plus heaps more for the price of $5. Mention the code word ‘crapper’ and get two tickets for the price of one. Get in early for some great whiskey and beer. This show is going to go off. See you every Wednesday at 8.30pm.

CRAB LAB Tonight for absolutely nothing you can see ten of the country’s finest stand ups - right in the heart of the city. Xavier Michelides hosts Laura Davis, Greg Larsen and a load of special guests (in the past few weeks there’s been Arj Barker, Luke McGregor, Celia Pacquola & more) it’s an 8.30 start at the House of Maximon, 16 Corrs Ln, CBD.

THURSDAY COMEDY Top secret headliners that not even Beat can tell you about are taking the stage for Thursday Comedy. Past weeks have seen drop-ins from Pete Helliar, Arj Barker, Nazeem Hussain, Tommy Little and Dave Thornton, so it’s safe to say this will be worth a punt. It’s all happening this Thursday, February 18 at 8.30pm, at the European Bier Café, 120 Exhibition St, CBD - all for $12.

KINGS OF COMEDY Melbourne’s weekly Friday comedy outing is back with their 19th show on the 19th of February. With Michael Shafar as MC and Greg Larson headlining, it’s all capped off with the likes of Sam Peterson, Michael Tancredi, Ross Purdy, Stuart Dualman, Simon Hughes and Firdi Billimoria. Another solid lineup this Friday February 19 at Ladida, 577 Little Bourke Street, CBD. It kicks off at 7.30pm.

CLUB VOLTAIRE COMEDY This Sunday there’s a huge lineup at Club Voltaire Comedy, featuring Beau Steggmann as MC alongside Jess Perkins, Angus Gordon, Kate Dehnert, Matt Stewart, Timothy Clark and more. It’s totally free (they’ll accept donations, however) and kicks off at 7.30pm.

Degas: A New Vision

Friday June 24 - Sunday September 18 National Gallery of Victoria

Melbourne International Comedy Festival Unveils 2016 Program The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is celebrating 30 years of laughs, and they’ve put together a massive program that encompasses the past, present and future of Australian comedy to celebrate. In celebration of their 30th anniversary, the festival will be throwing several special events including a major exhibition delving into the history of the event and a one night only ‘Birthday Bash’ with stand-up from comedy heavyweights past and present. Participating Australian comics include Celia Pacquola, Anthony Morgan, Hannah Gadsby, Judith Lucy, Tommy Little, Frank Woodley, Wil Anderson, Tom Gleeson, Sam Simmons, Peter Helliar, Damien Power, Dave Thornton, Dave Hughes, Steen Raskopoulos, Tom Ballard, Anne Edmonds, Joel Creasey, Matt Okine, Nick Cody and a whole lot more. International highlights include the likes of Rich Hall, Sarah Millican, Sara Pascoe, Danny Bhoy, Penny Arcade, David O’Doherty, Arj Barker, Stephen K Amos, Ongals, Urzila Carlson, Luisa Omielan, Ross Noble and Paul Foot alongside debut Australian appearances from Bridget Everett, Mae Martin, Hall Cruttenden, Igor Meerson and Sara Schaefer. Nationally renowned programs making their return to the festival include open mic competition RAW Comedy, the youth oriented Class Clowns, indigenous showcase Deadly Funny as well as the Allstars Supershow, Oxfam Gala and Upfront Gala. The 2016 Melbourne Comedy Festival runs from March 23 - April 17 at various venues. For full program details, head to comedyfestival.com.au.

COMEDY AT THE WILDE Tuesdays at The Wilde some of Melbourne’s best young comedians join with sign up on the night open mic acts for one of the loosest nights in town. This week Comedy Up Late’s Sam Taunton is joined by Daniel Connell, Kate Dehnert and more. It’s this Tuesday February 16 at 153 Gertrude St, Fitzroy at 8pm. And, it’s totally free.

Show At Forum Melbourne One of India’s most well-loved comedy collectives are making their debut on Australian soil. Tanmay Bhat, Gursimran Khamba, Rohan Joshi and Ashish Shakya have attracted a huge following in both their home country and internationally, garnering over 1.4 million subscribers on their YouTube channel. The troupe was also responsible for India’s first ever celebrity roast, viewed over three million times. Their hour-long Australian shows will feature stand up routines, songs and sketches. Catch them at The Forum on Friday May 6. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.

The National Theatre Melbourne 2016 Season Launch New Look and 80th Birthday Celebrations The 2016 season at The National Theatre Melbourne kicks off on Monday February 15. The program aims to appeal to a diverse array of tastes. For starters, there’s the concert narrative looking at the musical innovation to come out of St Kilda, Hell Aint a Bad Place to Be – The Story of Bon Scott. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights keeps the focus on music, this one swaying towards Broadway-approved musical theatre. They’ve also got the drama Ghost Stories, which has been a hit on London’s West End. Plenty of Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Melbourne Fringe Festival shows are also coming to The National Theatre Melbourne in St Kilda. It’s not strictly an adults only program either. School holiday performances and workshops for younger theatre lover are included, with the likes of The Lizard of Oz, Inside the Walls and Sticks and Stones. The 2016 program begins on Monday February 15.

Australian National Academy

COMEDY AT SPLEEN Mondays at Comedy at Spleen are always chockers. It’s simply never not full. The only place to be on Mondays will be packed full of laughs with guests, and it’s the place where big names drop in. This Monday features Ray Badran as MC, plus John Cruckshank, Jonathan Schuster, Laura Davis, Blake Freeman, some very special guests and more. It’s this Monday, February 22, at 41 Bourke Street in the CBD, at 8.30pm. It’s free to get in, but they appreciate a good gold coin donation at the door.

All India Bakchod Lock In

of Music Announce 2016 Program

Metropolis New Music Festival Returns For 2016 In the fifth collaboration between the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Melbourne Recital Centre, Metropolis New Music Festival is living up to its name with a 2016 program that explores city life. Featuring a slew of Australia’s most acclaimed contemporary composers and musicians, Metropolis will be anchored by three concerts programmed by American conductor and pianist Robert Spano, music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Titled City Life, the series of concerts will showcase works from Michael Daugherty, Steve Reich and Unsuk Chin. Closing the MSO’s series of concerts is a program centred around imaginary cities, including Messiaen’s Couleurs de la Cité Céleste and the world premiere of Australian Barry Conyngham’s Diasporas. Elsewhere in the program comes a culture-mashing collaboration between celebrated Canadian composer and turntablist Nicole Lizée, Australian Art Orchestra Artistic Director Peter Knight and Sydney-based conceptualist Austin Buckett alongside original multi-keyboard works from celebrated pianist Michael Kieran Harvey. Rounding it out comes a series of free foyer performances. Metropolis New Music Festival 2016 runs from Monday May 9 - Saturday May 21 at the Melbourne Recital Centre. For full program details and bookings, head to melbournerecital.com.au. G E T S O M E C U LT U R E U P YA

The Australian National Academy of Music has revealed their 2016 program, bringing together 15 major shows that will see the worlds of classical and contemporary music collide. The aptly titled A Musical Big Bang will open the season, featuring the world premiere of acclaimed clarinettist Paul Dean’s Oboe Concerto alongside works from Nørgård and Sibelius. The works of iconic composers Mozart, Dvorak and Brahms will be showcased with Wind Power - a repertoire of music written for winds and chamber orchestra. Similarly, the compositions of Beethoven, Poulenc and Debussy will be explored with Unbearable Lightness of Listening spearheaded by virtuoso pianist Paavali Jumppanen alongside ANAM musicians. Elsewhere, program highlights include Piano, But Not As We Know It - analysing the origins of the cosmos through the lens of sonatas and contemporary works - alongside the Australian premiere of Enno Poppe’s acclaimed composition Speicher, a performance from the Sydney Symphony Brass Ensemble and more. The Australian National Academy of Music’s 2016 program will run from March 5 - November 11. BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 21

For more arts news, reviews and interviews visit beat.com.au

Chamber Made Opera BY ADAM NORRIS In 1966 Ingmar Bergman, one of cinema’s most visionary directors, released Persona to immediate and somewhat controversial acclaim. Although now recognised as one of the hallmarks of 20th century film, its depiction of fragmented identities, taboo sexual themes and psychological distress made for confronting viewing. Fifty years later, Chamber Made Opera is mounting an ambitious response to the Swedish classic, and while Another Other is firmly rooted in Bergman’s original story, artistic associate Erkki Veltheim is confident this production stands on its own immersive strengths. “I think for [Chamber Made Opera], the film touches on ideas that we’re all interested in as artists,” Veltheim says. “One of those is the question of what is art in society, and that was at the forefront of Bergman’s mind too when he was making Persona. So there’s a lot of self-referential images and aspects to Persona that he explores. Another thing is this fracturing and merging of characters, which has inspired people like David Lynch in films like Mulholland Drive. That is to us a very relevant topic – the idea of what is it that constitutes your character, your personality? But a third thing we found interesting was that Bergman was making

a story about women. It’s a very female story, the two leads and the doctor in the background are women, and the only man is the blind husband of one of the characters.” It is a strong point Veltheim raises. With the exception of almost incidental characters, the narrative is propelled by the mute character Elisabet, and her nurse Alma. One particular scene has developed a certain level of renown for an evocative sexual encounter that is entirely verbal; it uses one form of expression to portray an entirely different one. “It’s interesting that [Bergman]’s chosen to do that,” Veltheim says. “And for instance,

the orgy description by Alma, we’ve explored the idea that this is a female fantasy which is written by a man, which to us opens up a lot of tricky gender politics. Who has a right to speak about these things? Does a man have a right to speak a woman’s fantasy? So we’ve taken some of those elements and explored them in our own way. This work is not a restaging in any way of Persona. It’s more that we’ve used Bergman’s material and made our own work as an interpretation of those ideas. “From the very beginning we’ve tried to propose an alternative to the main stage opera companies, and find an alternative way to make what is essentially multi-disciplinary art in more intimate surroundings. Chamber Made has tried to find a new and innovative way to present music-based work that often – but not always – has the human voice as its central feature.” Chamber Made Opera is itself now moving into its 28th year, and has managed to sustain itself through these years of operation by maintaining a program that is consistently unpredictable. Even those familiar with the company’s body of work will enter a production largely blind, and it is this sense of curious wonder that keeps patrons returning. “It’s definitely a really central thing to all our works. This idea that you don’t know quite what you’re walking into. People who go to opera or to concerts, they’re well trained to expect the proscenium stage; they know their role as an audience. So I think Chamber Made Opera tries to reconfigure that role, so the audience has to renegotiate their relationship with each other and with the staged performance. In this work we have a four channel video projection, and the audience is seated inside this projected installation. So they see this overlaid, collaged image, they see the performers inside these transparent screens, and they

see each other. We’ve got two audience banks facing each other. So in some ways it’s a confronting way to seat the audience, since they’re both aware of themselves as being inside the work, but [they’re] also able to observe the other audience as part of the work.” Another Other is described as a “multisensory experience,” and while I worry Veltheim might find this off-topic, I was reminded of a friend’s recent trip to Japan. He was particularly excited to see the new Star Wars in 5D – where smells waft through the cinema, water is sprayed about, all kinds of stimulus employed. Though this rather gimmicky event is not quite the intention here, I wonder if this is where our engagement with entertainment is gradually heading. Are we moving towards a much more physical viewing experience? “It’s interesting, because I always see cinema as being a kind of inheritor of the multimedia art and entertainment form that opera was once heading towards. Like in the 19th century how opera was trying to become more and more immersive, and then with cinema the technology kind of took over, and now we have bigger and bigger cinemas and we can make the audience experience more and more saturated and emergent. So there’s a definite parallel there, and for us, the way we try to use that immersion or saturation is to give the audience a really physical experience. In many ways it’s not that dissimilar, but the difference is that what we’re doing you would likely consider more abstract or impressionistic. It’s definitely not the narrative experience you would usually find in the cinema.” Chamber Made Opera present Another Other from Thursday February 18 – Sunday February 21 at Meat Market, North Melbourne.

OUT OF THE CLOSET Queer happenings with Anna Whitelaw

The day before Fairfax announced a slump in polling numbers for the Coalition, Malcolm Turnbull posted his own rather lovely Valentine’s Day message to his wife Lucy. For the gay and lesbian community, the love note left a bitter taste in our mouths as it was a reminder how we are excluded from such a significant institution and rite of passage. As we head towards a potential snap double dissolution election, Turnbull is caught between a rock and a hard place on marriage equality. His own backbenchers who oppose same sex marriage, including Senator Eric Abetz, have openly admitted that they wouldn’t be bound by a plebiscite, thus making a national public poll a waste of over $150 million of taxpayers’ money. Even if the plebiscite found overwhelming popular support for same sex marriage, we would still end up waiting for the federal Parliament to pass legislation to make it a reality. The idea of a plebiscite is so stupid, even a child can see it’s unnecessary. 11-year-old Isabella Mills wrote a letter to the Prime Minister asking him to dump the plebiscite. She expertly unpacked why it was a compromised and flawed policy he inherited from Tony Abbott. All of this comes at a time when marriage equality activists now claim that they have a majority of federal MPs in favour of legalising same sex marriages. According to analysis by Australian Marriage Equality, a conservative estimate puts support for broadening the definition of marriage at 76 MPs out of 150 in the House of Representatives. In other words, if the Prime Minister actually allowed a conscience vote on the issue today, it would pass. This Friday, the girls behind Fanny’s at Francesca’s Bar in Northcote are throwing their very popular queer night FRIYAY. Head down from 5pm-8pm for free entry, $5 entry after 8pm and DJs all night. As the queer crowd moves northward to Thornbury and Preston, this little party is growing into one of the best local queer nights around. If you’re sick of meeting men on Grindr, Scruff, Tinder, Squirt, Manhunt or whatever the latest hook up app is, VicBears are hosting Saturday afternoon aqua aerobics classes for bears and cubs to come along and have a wet workout. Held at Collingwood Leisure Centre’s indoor pool at 1:45pm on Saturdays, it costs $10 per session. For something more literate (or if you are too old for Thursgay and Poof Doof ), Hares & Hyenas is hosting a night of readings by wellknown contributors who wrote pieces for BOLD, a collection of writing from older gay, lesbian, bi, trans and queer people collated by David Hardy. The speakers will include Sally Goldner, Allison Brown, Tina Healy, Jean Taylor, Crusader Hillis and Graham Willett. From 7pm in the Hare Hole. On Sunday, Sundaylicious is back at the Wharf Hotel in South Wharf throwing their monthly gathering for Sapphically inclined ladies (and their friends). As always, its free and it kicks off at 4pm. Scruff and Sircuit are teaming up to create a new men-only night called BEEF at Sircuit. The launch party will be held on Friday February 26, and will feature a roster of interstate and local DJs and performers. BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 22

EVERYTHING MELBOURNE

F I L M

Review ZOOL ANDER 2

Remember the movie Zoolander? It’s pretty much impossible to forget when your annoying co-worker keeps quoting that stupid line about the Derek Zoolander Centre for Kids Who Can’t Read Good (it’s been 15 years, Ben; you need to chill the fuck out). Well, the sequel you were definitely not hanging out for is out now, and oh God it is just awful. Zoolander and Hansel are lured back into the fashion world by millennial hipster designer Don Atari, whose character is such a cringe-worthy take on the long dead hipster motif that it could have only been the brainchild of the same generic, 40-year-old male screenwriter who thought that including a transgender model named All (played by Benedict Cumberbatch in a depressing blow to society’s collective heart) would be incisive and funny. Zoolander and Hansel storm out of the show, determined to quit fashion forever, when Interpol agent Melanie Valentina (Penelope Cruz, who definitely isn’t Italian) of the fashion police division – no, seriously – enlists their help in finding out who is murdering pop stars. The film only gets more incoherent from here, losing all semblance of plot, characterisation, timing – really, any of the necessary ingredients for a comedy – in a ham-fisted attempt to tread the same tired comedic ground as the first movie. I can’t think of a single reference from the original film that isn’t repeated in Zoolander 2, jammed into the empty spaces in the films appallingly pathetic narrative. Every single original joke is explained away and flogged eternally, into a painful void of baffling jokes about people with “mental impairments” and Zoolander’s son being fat. This is a poorly photocopied version of the original Zoolander, with the exact same jokes that were excusable in 2001. In a box-office climate where sequels, remakes and big franchises rule, Zoolander 2 is a microcosm of all that is wrong in Hollywood right now. It dangles cameo after cameo in your face like a set of car keys designed to distract you from its unbelievably shitty and lazy writing. You might think that Zoolander 2 pulls this off in a light-hearted, selfaware kind of way, and it has some semblance of self-awareness, but only in the sense that it knows exactly how bad and insulting this film is to its audience. This film is the cinematic equivalent of a baby crib mobile, all palatable noises and pretty colours, except it’s made of human turds instead of soft toys. This is, without a doubt, the worst movie I have ever seen in my life. To excuse it as simple fun is to sanction the ever-growing pile of crap Hollywood tells us counts as film. BY ALI SCHNABEL

W I T H T O M B R A N D - T O M B R A N D @ B E AT.C O M . AU

B E AT.C O M . A U

BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 23

snaps khokolat koated

club guide wednesday february 17 • COQ ROQ WEDNESDAY

- FEAT: JENS BEAMIN + AGENT 86 + MR THOM + JOYBOT + BLABERUNNER Lucky Coq, Windsor. 8:30pm. • CURIOUS TALES - FEAT: DJ WHO + TIGERFUNK + TOM SHOWTIME + FLAGRANT Bimbo Deluxe, Fitzroy. 7:00pm. • MORNING GLORYVILLE #9 - FEAT: MAXWELL MORTISVILLE + SALAVADOR DARLING + BEX CAVANAGH 1000 Pound Bend, Melbourne Cbd. 6:30am. $22.50. • REVOLVER WEDNESDAYS - FEAT: DANIELSAN + JAKE JUDD Revolver Upstairs, Prahran. 7:00pm.

thursday february 18 • 3181 THURSDAYS - FEAT:

HANS DC + STM + JAMES STEETH + MORE Revolver Upstairs, Prahran. 6:00pm. • CAMPUS THURSDAYS Chaise Lounge, Melbourne Cbd. 9:00pm. • DISCO VOLANTE - FEAT: DELTIOD CURVE + THE MILKMAN + BOWANCE + YANI ARSENAKIS + BALTIMORE GUN CLUB Onesixone, Prahran. 8:00pm. • LOCAL MOTION - FEAT: BILLUS MOON + NELSON + DAN FABRIS + SENPOLO Toff In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 11:00pm. • UPTOWN Trak Lounge Bar, Toorak. 10:00pm. • VARSITY - FEAT: PAZ + MATT RAD + PYZ Bimbo Deluxe, Fitzroy. 6:00pm. • WE ARE YOUR FRIENDS Carlton Club, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm.

friday february 19

faktory

• #MASHTAG - FEAT: NUGEN + MALPRACTICE + FLAGRANT Bimbo Deluxe, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. • AVALANCHE CREW - FEAT: DJ TURF + BEN RYAN Railway Hotel, Brunswick. 6:00pm. • CAN’T SAY La Di Da, Melbourne Cbd. 10:00pm. • CIROQ FRIDAYS Cq, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. • CLUK EPIK - FEAT: DJ DEAN The Croxton, Thornbury. 9:00pm. $5.00. • COSMO’S MIDNIGHT + KUCKA Howler, Brunswick. 8:00pm. $17.00. • DJ KNAVE KNIXX Edinburgh Castle, Brunswick. 9:00pm. • EARTH FREQUENCY FESTIVAL (AFTERPARTY) FEAT: GROUCH + STAUNCH + SAFIRE + CHESHIRE

+ MORE Railway Hotel, Brunswick. 9:00pm. $20.00.

• FABULOUS FRIDAYS -

FEAT: VARIOUS DJS Co., Southbank. 9:30pm. $20.00.

• FAKE TITS - FEAT: BOOGS

+ SPACEY SPACE + SUNSHINE + SAMMY LA MARCA + BUTTERS + ADAM BARTAS + JUNGLE JIM Tramp, Melbourne Cbd. 10:00pm. $15.00. • GOOD MANNERS - FEAT: MALL GRAB + SLEEP D + JENNIFER LOVELESS + SLIM VIBRATO + MORE Boney, Melbourne Cbd. 9:00pm. $10.00. • HALO-HALO - FEAT: ALUK + SANDY + BAYU + B-MO Loop, Melbourne Cbd. 10:00pm. • LUCK TRUCK FRIDAY DOWNSTAIRS - FEAT: 99 PRBLMZ + CONGO TARDIS #1 + LITTLE LEAGUE BOUNCE CLUB Lucky Coq, Windsor. 9:00pm. • MAARS + LEEMAN + TALI Penny Black, Brunswick. 9:00pm. • MUSIC MAN Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 11:30pm. • NICE7 + BRIAN FANTANA + DAMON WALSH + SHANNON BRIGGS + MORE Revolver Upstairs, Prahran. 10:00pm. • PANORAMA FRIDAYS UPSTAIRS - FEAT: PHATO A MANO + MR.GEORGE + MATT RADD + ASH-LEE Lucky Coq, Windsor. 9:00pm. • PHIL GOOD FRIDAYS FEAT: PHIL K Railway Hotel, Brunswick. 6:00pm. • POPROCKS - FEAT: DR PHIL SMITH Toff In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 9:00pm. • ROUTE 94 Brown Alley, Melbourne Cbd. 10:00pm. $27.50. • THE DISCO - FEAT: GREG SARA + LUKE MCD + JEN TUTTY + MORE Onesixone, Prahran. 8:00pm. • THE EMERSON CLUB FRIDAYS The Emerson, South Yarra. 3:00pm.

saturday february 20 • ANDY PADULA Railway

Hotel, Brunswick. 10:00pm. • ARCHIE HAMILTON + SAFARI STABLE + DYLAN GRIFFIN + BROCK FERRAR + JACOB MALMO + MORE Railway Hotel, Brunswick. 3:00pm. $10.00. • AUDIOPORN SATURDAYS - FEAT: LE ZOK + JAMES WARE + GREG SARA + TOM EVANS + MORE Onesixone, Prahran. 9:00pm. $15.00. • CHAMPAGNE INTERNET Prince Public Bar, St Kilda . 10:30pm. • CQ SATURDAYS Cq, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm.

• CRXZY SXXY CXXL - FEAT:

DJ MIMI + DJ JADE ZOE + MORE Laundry Bar, Fitzroy. 10:00pm. $10.00. • DJ ERNIE DEE Edinburgh Castle, Brunswick. 9:00pm. • DJ JEFF LEPPARD Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 11:30pm. • DRUMSOUND + BASSLINE SMITH Grumpy’s Green, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. $10.00. • ELECTRIC DREAMS FEAT: VARIOUS DJS Co., Southbank. 9:00pm. $20.00. • HOT STEP - FEAT: 99 PROBLEMS + TIGER FUNK + SILVER FOX + ASKEW Bimbo Deluxe, Fitzroy. 6:00pm. • IN THE CARRIAGE - FEAT: DJ JNETT Toff In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 6:00pm. • JANK FACQUES Carlton Club, Melbourne Cbd. 12:05am. • LOST WEEKEND - FEAT: TAMA SUMO + LAKUTI + STM + MYLES MAC + JIMMY CAUTION + MORE Boney, Melbourne Cbd. 10:00pm. $25.00. • OBLIVEUS + HYPERFOKUS + MATT RAD + AKIN Penny Black, Brunswick. 10:00pm. • PLATFORM ONE SATURDAY NIGHTS Platform One, Melbourne. 9:00pm. • PONY SATURDAYS La Di Da, Melbourne Cbd. 10:00pm. • PROGNOSIS - FEAT: GMJ MUSIC + DAVE JURIC + COOKIE + MOSKALIN + MORE Loop, Melbourne Cbd. 10:00pm. • SEVEN SATURDAY DISCOTHEQUE Seven Nightclub, South Melbourne. 10:00pm. $20.00. • TEXTILE SATURDAYS FEAT: KODIAK KID + D’FRO + JENS BEAMIN Lucky Coq, Windsor. 9:00pm. • THE EMERSON CLUB SATURDAYS - FEAT: FAMILIAR STRANGERS + KIN + ANDY MURPHY The Emerson, South Yarra. 9:00pm. • THE HOUSE DEFROST FEAT: ANDEE FROST Toff In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 11:00pm. • THE LATE SHOW - FEAT: REX + DANIELSAN + PAZ + LEWIS CANCUT + MORE Revolver Upstairs, Prahran. 10:00pm. • TOMMY’S CLUB - FEAT: SCAT Matthew Flinders Hotel, Chadstone. 8:00pm. $10.00. • TRAMP SATURDAYS Tramp, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm.

sunday february 21 •ANYWAY - FEAT: VARIOUS

ARTISTS Bottom End, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. $25.00. • BOP ART - FEAT: HAWAII

+ WHO + TIGERFUNK + MATT RADOVICH + LEWIS CANCUT Bimbo Deluxe, Fitzroy. 7:00pm. • DAYDREAMS Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood. 4:00pm. • DJ MADDY MAC Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 2:00am. • GOOD TIMES - FEAT: MATT RADOVICH Railway Hotel, Brunswick. 3:00pm. • JUNGLE - FEAT: HANDS DOWN + ZAC DEPETRO + PETE LASKIS + TRAVLOS + JOHN DOE Tramp, Melbourne Cbd. 6:00am. $15.00. • LEFTFIELD 170 Russell, Melbourne Cbd. 7:00pm. • LIFE’S A PEACH - FEAT: JAMIE VALE + STAKSI + WARSAWYER Carlton Club, Melbourne Cbd. 6:00pm. • ONE DAY SUNDAY Penny Black, Brunswick. 1:00pm. • PIKNIC ELECTRONIK FEAT: DUBFIRE + KEVIN SAUNDERSON + THE HACKER + KODE 9 + MORE Federation Square, Melbourne Cbd. 1:00pm. $15.00. • REVOLVER SUNDAYS FEAT: BOOGS + SPACEY SPACE + T-REK + MORE Revolver Upstairs, Prahran. 7:00am. • ROOFTOP SUNDAYS - FEAT: KHANH + KEN WALKER + JESUS The Emerson, South Yarra. 12:00pm. • SUMMER SERIES #10 FEAT: HUXLEY Revolver Upstairs, Prahran. 7:00pm. • THE SUNDAY SET - FEAT: DJ ANDYBLACK + SHAGGIS Toff In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 4:00pm. • WAX ON WAX OFF Lucky Coq, Windsor. 7:00pm.

tuesday february 23 •CARRIAGE 252 - FEAT:

SALMON BARRELL Toff In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 9:00pm. • CUSHION TUESDAYS Cushion, St Kilda. 10:00pm. • OASIS TUESDAYS Tramp, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. • SEE YOU NEXT TUESDAY Bimbo Deluxe, Fitzroy. 7:00pm.

• A$AP ROCKY + RAURY Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne. 6:00pm. $91.65.

• MELLOWDÍASTHUMP - FEAT: MAX

CRUMBS + AYNA + GEEZY + CAZEAUX O.S.L.O + SKOMES Boney, Melbourne Cbd. 9:00pm.

thursday february 18 • HOUSE OF BEIGE - FEAT: MIZRIZK Railway Hotel, Brunswick. 6:00pm.

friday february 19 • 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. • ILLY + DYLAN JOEL + CITIZEN KAY 170

Russell, Melbourne Cbd. 8:30pm. $36.50. DJ TIMOS + DJ KAHLUA + DJ ANGE M & ANDY PALA Chaise Lounge, Melbourne VIBES + JADE ZOE Laundry Bar, Fitzroy. Cbd. 9:00pm. $10.00. 9:00pm. • SOUL WAVE - FEAT: NEEZY + HEUREY sunday february 21 + MISTERI + BOBBY LOVE + MORE Rubix Warehouse, Brunswick. 12:00pm. $15.00. • HARRY BAKER THE SUNSHINE KID + ANGUS KING + DEFRON Whole Lotta Love, Brunswick East. 7:00pm. $10.00. saturday february 20 • JEREMIH Trak Lounge Bar, Toorak. 7:30pm. $65.00. • BIG DANCING - FEAT: TRAV + LARRIE • KICK FLIPS RAP BATTLES (DAY TWO) + MIMI + CELERY HAM + MORE Laundry Whole Lotta Love, Brunswick East. 1:00pm. Bar, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $10.00. • HEEMS + ZURI AKOKO Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $29.00. tuesday february 23 • KHOKOLAT KOATED SATURDAYS FEAT: DAMION DE SILVA + K DEE + DURMY + TIMOS Khokolat Bar, Melbourne • WU-TANG CLAN Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne. 7:30pm. $99.98. Cbd. 9:30pm. • KICK FLIPS RAP BATTLES - FEAT: DUNN D VS HARRY BAKER Whole Lotta Love, Brunswick East. 1:00pm. $10.00. • RAURY + JOY Howler, Brunswick. 8:00pm. $40.00. • RHYTHM NATION SATURDAYS - FEAT:

• PARTY & BULLSHIT - FEAT: SONIC

electronic - urban - club life

with augustus welby If you’re feeling down, why not make yourself a t-shirt proclaiming how much more you like sweet potato fries than regular fries?

PULP Announce Tribute Saturdays Series From the team behind Eurotrash comes Tribute Saturdays, spinning the best – and the worst – of R&B music. From Alicia Keys to Jay Z, each week a new artist will be selected to pay tribute to by putting a request in through Tribute Saturdays’ Facebook page. With videos of their weekly featured artists playing on loop over the dance floor, there’s even a complimentary drink on offer just for busting a move. The night is capped off with boxes of free apples alongside specials on espresso martinis and house brewed ‘juicetails’. Get down to Tribute Saturdays at PULP on 18 Corrs Lane, CBD. Entry is free.

monday february 22 • CALL IT IN - FEAT: INSTANT PETERSON + DYLAN MICHAEL + ROBYN TREASURE Toff In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. • MONDAY STRUGGLE FEAT: TIGER FUNK Lucky Coq, Windsor. 6:00pm. • THE MONDAY BONE MACHINE - FEAT: ANDREW PADULA + T-REK Boney, Melbourne Cbd. 9:00pm. $5.00.

urban club guide wednesday february 17

off the record

Carl Cox Unveils Lineup For Pure Event One of the most charming DJs in the business is heading up a brand new music festival. A world musical ambassador, a champion of techno, a dance music pioneer and label owner, the now-Frankston resident Carl Cox has locked in the lineup for his inaugural Pure event. The 2016 lineup features Cox himself alongside internationals Joseph Capriati, Format:B plus locals DJ HMC and Eric Powell. It’s going down on Sunday April 24 at Shed 14. Tickets via Moshtix.

Piknic Electronik Moves To The Railway Hotel Brunswick For one week only, that is. Piknic Electronik Melbourne’s second season has been going hard at Federation Square every Sunday since mid-January (and will continue doing so up until April). This Sunday, however, they’re moving the occasion of electronic music and relaxed socialising over to Brunswick’s Railway Hotel. To make sure it doesn’t go unnoticed, they’ve put together a lineup full of king hitters, including Robag Wruhme, TheCamiloS b2b Alex Anderson, A13 (AONETHREE) and even more to be announced. Given the smaller surrounds, tickets are strictly limited, so quick – grab one for yourself and friends. It all happens from 3pm (and continues into the am) at The Railway Hotel Brunswick this Sunday February 21.

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KIM CHURCHILL C L E V E R

E N O U G H

PR E S S

R E CO R D

B Y N ATA L I E R O G E R S

These days former busker Kim Churchill may seem like one of the jet set elite, having notched up more stamps on his passport than years on this earth. However, he still daydreams about the life he led before gaining international fame – living in the back of a van with a surfboard in one hand and a guitar in the other, playing in pubs every night and chasing an endless summer. “The last few days I’ve been yearning to take the van back down south where I’m from, and park at some of my old haunts – there’s something really soothing about it,” he says. “I don’t think I’ll ever properly move out of the van. Perhaps it’s naïve of me to think that, but I hope not.”

Growing up on the south coast of NSW provided the perfect playground for the sandy-haired grommet. “When I was younger, big waves looked like mountains charging towards me,” he says. “I’ve been scared in the water a lot.” But even a few close calls couldn’t prompt him to hang up his wetsuit for good. “Once I thought I saw a crazy, weird animal in the water. It was huge and had loads of fins and was lolloping around like some kind of dying alien. I was totally freaked out and went in to the shore. It was dusk in a remote part of Mexico. Early in the morning I saw it again and pointed it out to a local. He was a bit spooked but paddled over to it. He gave it a little nudge and two enormous sea turtles were so startled that they stopped having sex and swam off… and we laughed our heads off. They’d been going all night.” Churchill’s warm, laidback manner is a huge part of his appeal. He first picked up an acoustic guitar at four years old, and has been making music ever since. He began writing lyrics as a teenager and can still remember the first song he ever wrote. “It was called Qui Languit D’amore or something like that,” he laughs. “I was 15 and it was a super cheesy love song for my girlfriend. I’d just watched the Bob Dylan documentary, No Direction Home, and I wanted to write songs so badly. It was crazy. Fortunately I was such a naïve judge that I didn’t hate my first attempts. I actually got quite psyched by having songs. It was the first step for sure. I recorded albums – terrible stuff – and went and sold them while I busked. It was the exciting beginning of my career.” He’s now 25-years-old and already has four albums under his belt. The travelling troubadour shows no sign of slowing down either. Prior to packing his van and hitting the road for Urban Spread’s Summer Series, he’s at home working on his fifth record. “I’m back here putting the finishing touches on the new album and getting the pieces stage-ready,” he says. “The most difficult thing is the drum parts. I’ve never tried to do such complex drum parts with my feet before. A lot of my rehearsals at the moment are just the foot drums, set up with the Pro Tools session on a big TV screen in front of me, practising like I’m on one of those arcade dancing machines. “It’s down-time though,” he adds. “I’m surfing and painting and cooking each day. It’s the closest thing to time off I could handle.” Visual art has been a passion of his since a young age. “Art and reading were big for me [growing up], but as I grew they were naturally taken over by sports, girls, partying and that kind of stuff. But now I’m touring, so I’ve constantly been finding that I prefer the quiet hotel room and some paints. It’s lovely to be reunited with art, to be honest. It’s also cool to be so terrible at something that I never have any expectations. If the tiniest little corner of a painting I do looks OK, then I’m over the moon. It’s a nice change from music, where I’m an incredibly harsh judge of every minuscule part of my work. Being a beginner is really liberating it seems.” While the multi-instrumentalist may be a novice at RESIDENT DJS some things, he has songwriting down to a precise art. “Some songs have taken me minutes to write, and then five years to really appreciate. I think the hours spent busking and playing little bars were really helpful though. There really aren’t any shortcuts around weekly Friday night with resident djs providing putting in the hours. stellar sounds mixing funk, soul, disco house, “Sometimes I’ll write poems, sometimes I’ll write the funky breaks... funky anything. FREE ENTRY music [first]. Whenever that’s the case, I find it’s more of a complex process of compromises and delicately COCKTAILS FROM 5PM. LIVE MUSIC FROM 10PM finding harmony within the two elements. Sure, it’s Drink specials all night. totally doable, but I find my best stuff is [written] when it happens all at once. The chords are happening, and the melodies and lyrics just come out fully formed. DJS FROM MIDNIGHT I just have to hope I was clever enough to push record.”

GREEN WOOD

LOFT OPENING WEEKEND

MOTOWN , FUNK & SOUL BAR

FRI

19TH FEB

SAT

20TH FEB

FUNKY MUNKY

DEXTRUS KDJ ZANNA

JAMES EMILY SCHNALL JIMMY GIO GARCIA DUO DANNY OSX SUPPORTED BY LORI COCKTAILS FROM 5PM LIVE MUSIC FROM 8PM

Upstairs – cnr Smith & Gertrude St Fitzroy | greenwoodloft.com.au OPEN THURS – SAT 5PM TO LATE | FACEBOOK .COM/GREENWOODLOFT

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KIM CHURCHILL is playing the Urban Spread Summer Series, with Jordie Lane and Woodlock, at The Pelly Bar, Frankston on Friday February 19 and York On Lilydale, Mt Evelyn on Saturday February 20. He’s also joining the likes of Songhoy Blues, Melissa Etheridge, The National and more at Bluesfest 2016, which runs from Thursday March 24 – Monday March 28 at the Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm, NSW.

HOMESHAKE M U S I N G S

O F

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BY JESS ZANONI

It’s evening in Montreal when Beat speaks to Homeshake, AKA Peter Sagar. For those who aren’t familiar with the Edmonton born slacker jazz and R&B virtuoso, he’s issued three releases as Homeshake over the last few years. Whether it be 2014’s debut LP In The Shower, or the 2015 follow-up Midnight Snack, Homeshake could be deemed the soundtrack of everyone’s desire for familiarity and ease; evocative of the times where we finally catch a break and embrace creature comforts. “That was sort of the lifestyle I had for quite a while,” says Sagar. “It was crazy on the road all the time. I would be daydreaming all the time about going home and relaxing so it obviously sinks pretty deeply into most of your records.” Although both LPs depict the joys and anxieties of being a homebody, there’s a notable disparity between the two.This is due to Sagar switching from electric guitar to synthesisers, which brings new flavour and depth to Homeshake’s sound. “People got a little excited about that,” he says. “An overreaction almost, like there’s no guitar on the record. I just don’t want to get stuck in a rut. The last one didn’t have synth because I just really wanted to play synthesiser – I just needed something to shake it up a little bit. Maybe I’ve just grown weary of guitar a little bit. I probably would have made the same album over and over again if I didn’t shake it up a little bit. I needed more instrumentation. I don’t try and force anything, I just let it out.” Prior to establishing Homeshake, Sagar spent a few years touring the world in Mac DeMarco’s live band. By contrast, the Homeshake project is centred on writing and recording, with touring a mere necessity. “The band that I tour with – my friends Mark and Greg are really amazing – I love hanging out with them, being on the road with them, but I just can’t tour too much. I can’t spend too much time at it, so I never really want to. I know I have to, and I enjoy it while it happens. I’m definitely excited for new places though.” Despite his reluctance to get on the road, the non-stop cycle of writing, recording, releasing and touring leads to some interesting creative discoveries. “I do pretty much hate every song I’ve recorded and released up until now,” Sagar says. “The song Faded is about my partner Salina. She is a ceramist and every time she makes anything, as soon as she’s done she instantly hates it. Just before she finishes it she’s like, ‘I’m really happy with this one.’ I feel like I have to feel that way for at least a week to keep a song. I haven’t listened to it [Midnight Snack] in quite a while. I listened to it a while ago on tour and it was really crazy to see how different they become live. I’m a little frustrated because I listen back and I go, ‘Damn, I sing that a lot better now.’ ” All of Sagar’s songwriting takes place in his home, and the Homeshake albums are recorded at a studio called The Drones Club only four blocks away from where he lives. He places great significance on a tight knit community of artists and friends. “A group of my friends and I, we run this sketchy studio space together and have shows there and stuff. There’s so many great acts here. There’s Sheer Agony, who are power pop. Jackson, who is friends with that band, he recorded Midnight Snack with me. And we’re currently working on the next one. I also share my drummer Greg with that band. There’s Un Blonde, a fantastic local group. My neighbour Project Pablo, he makes fantastic house music.” Thanks to Project Pablo, Sagar has a newfound affinity with electronic music. “Everyone wants something new, and electronic music has a lot of new texture to add that you can’t get with your classic rock lineup.” Midnight Snack was released in September last year, and the next Homeshake record mightn’t be too far away. “It’s going to be longer. I’m trying to put together 15 or 16 songs. So far I’ve just done a few poppier synth drum machine tracks, but it’ll be pretty mixed up. We’ll see.” A few months ago Sagar posted a picture to his Instagram showing an obscure review of an album called Midnight Snack written by Jeremy Sagar. “Yeah that’s my dad,” he laughs. “He reviewed albums for a local paper in Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island where my parents live now and where my Mum grew up. One week, he didn’t have any power so he couldn’t listen to any records to review so he just made one up. A lot of little anecdotes in it are inside jokes and comments to his friends.” Strangely, this wasn’t the basis for the title of the latest Homeshake LP. “When I told him my album was going to be called Midnight Snack, he couldn’t believe it and he told me that story. I was really surprised, because I couldn’t believe there was a story that he hadn’t told me. I had heard every story but that one. It was weird but really, really great.”

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HOMESHAKE is playing at the John Curtin Hotel on Saturday February 27 with Good Morning and Zone Out (sold out), and Monday February 29 with Smile and Kirkis. Midnight Snack is available now via Strange Yonder.

TILL 29 TH FEB ONLINE ONLY www.thebongshop.com.au

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AUSMUTEANTS U P

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B Y PAT R I C K E M E R Y

A few weeks back, Ausmuteants posted an advertisement for an upcoming gig at the Eastern Hotel in Ballarat. The poster was inspired by the title and cover of Courtney Barnett’s phenomenally popular album Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit – which itself was inspired by a poster that adorned the inside door of Australian toilets in the 1970s and 1980s. Ausmuteants’ scatological take on the tag line – Sometimes I Shit and Think and Sometimes I Just Shit – cut through the philosophical façade of Barnett’s album title. “I felt bad because I never intended to put shit on Courtney’s Grammy sweeping music career,” says Ausmuteants guitarist Jake Robertson. “The worst criticism we received was that the parody was similar to something that The Bennies did. It made me want to quit music. We are not bong-guzzling, ska sympathisers and resent those who are.” Ausmuteants formed in Geelong in 2009 when Robertson and Billy Gardner, both already members of Geelong’s vibrant garage rock scene, bonded over a mutual interest in The Music Machine and The Golden Dawn. “Billy had a made a Brian Jones-era Rolling Stones MySpace page when he had a broken leg,” Robertson says. “When we started it was just us two, then we got Marc [Dean] on bass. Marc loved post-punk stuff and then we got Shaun [Connor], and he loved hardcore and disco. I like all of that stuff.” At the time Gardner’s principal band, The Living Eyes, were in the midst of a brief hiatus while their drummer recovered from repetitive strain injury, before Robertson filled the drum slot temporarily. Killing time before the rest of the band turned up for rehearsals, Gardner and Robertson began jamming on more aggressive songs, and the seeds of Ausmuteants were sown. Early inspiration came from two fixtures of the 1970s San Francisco experimental punk scene, Chrome and Tuxedomoon. Eventually, Robertson says, “We started branching out as we started running out of things to plagiarise.” For some bands and fans steeped in punk attitude, synthesisers are to punk rock as lamb cutlets are to Morrissey’s idea of a perfect culinary world. But synthesisers are embedded in punk rock’s evolutionary course. Consider the case of Devo, one of punk rock’s seminal reference points – or even locally, the Primitive Calculators and The Ears, both bands who made liberal and eclectic use of the synthesiser in a serious punk scene. “There’s this comp called Messthetics, which has all the UK ’79 DIY bands,” Robertson says. “It has a song called Machine Gun by a band called The Rich & Famous. That was one of the first things I tried to write like in this band.” Ausmuteants issued their debut release, the Split Personalities cassette, in 2012. Their debut LP, Amusements, followed in 2013, and the Order of Operation LP came in 2014. The cover of the latter features an office photocopier: “originally I wanted it to look like a car’s operation manual. Come in a blue vinyl cover and smell like air freshener. But it was too expensive,” Robertson says. The opening song from Amusements, Bad Day might be seen to epitomise the band’s pissed off worldview: a bad day in a bad week, in a bad month, and a bad year to boot. But there’s no deep existentialist meaning here – it’s simply a reflection of the difficulty of the creative process. “We just have trouble coming up with lyrics – those things are hard. Also if it’s one of the cranky songs, it’s usually singing from somebody else’s perspective or about an entire group as opposed to one person. I suppose I’m a ‘I have half of a drink left,’ kind of guy.” As for songs like Freedom of Information and Depersonalisation from Order of Operation, there’s no Orwellian analysis happening here – unless, of course, masturbation is a metaphor for political insight. “Shaun wrote Freedom of Information, but I can safely say there is no political message in any of our songs. Outside of some petty social commentary – all of which is obvious and poorly written – Freedom of Information is about sometimes preferring a wank to intimate contact.” Ausmuteants have garnered a positive reaction overseas, including a favourable review of Order of Operation from Pitchfork and an appearance at Gonerfest in 2014 (both the band’s albums have been released on Goner Records in the US). “American audiences don’t have the same gossip driven, sheep mentality towards us. They definitely do to other bands in their hometowns – at least I think that’s what it is. Otherwise Melbourne people just don’t like it when arseholes put melodies in fast music – which I don’t blame ‘em for.” Robertson doesn’t think Ausmuteants are getting any more mature in their songwriting – if anything, they might be regressing – and Geelong is still as culturally invigorating as ever. “There’s not many bad things about Geelong,” Robertson says. “I love Geelong. I guess the worst thing is you need a car and sometimes walking home at night can be sketchy. But that’s the same anywhere.” And apparently even the city’s colourful mayor, Darren Lyons, is a fan of Ausmuteants. “Darren Lyons actually fronted us the money to record the first album because we all had mohawks. Darren is for da punx. Up da punx.” AUSMUTEANTS are playing a free show at Brixton Broadcast Melbourne with Beaches, The UV Race and plenty more on Saturday February 27 at The Tote. They’re also supporting The Peep Tempel at Shadow Electric, Estonian House on Thursday February 18. BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 30

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CORE

PUNK, SKA, HARDCORE NEWS, REVIEWS & GOSSIP with EMILY KELLY ek1984@gmail.com

AFI’s Davey Havok has teamed up with No Doubt (minus Gwen Stefani) to form a new band. The quartet has completed an album (presumably written with Gwen in mind, but as her mainstream popularity/solo career continued to skyrocket they needed to find a vocalist with a similar register) that is ready

CRUNCH

to find a label. I can’t even picture what it is going to sound like. Hands Like Houses are doing an acoustic performance and signing at 24Hundred’s Melbourne headquarters on Saturday February 27 in anticipation of their new album Dissonants. That one comes out on Friday February 26 via Rise Records/ UNFD. Lead single Colourblind is out now. Rad Jersey pop punk outfit Major League have announced they’re calling it quits. “There was no falling out,” they insist. “The bond we share with one another no one will ever understand.” They will make announcements on their individual plans in the coming months.

I EXALT & JUSTICE FOR THE DAMNED

Adelaide’s I Exalt and Sydney’s Justice For The Damned are teaming up for nine shows across the east coast next month, including an over-18 show at Bang on METAL, HEAVY ROCK. CLASSIC Saturday March 26 (tickets at the door ROCK LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL only) and an all-ages show at Wrangler on GOOD SHIT Sunday March 27 (tickets from Destroy All Lines). with PETER HODGSON crunchcolumn@gmail.com

LAGERSTEIN AT THE BENDIGO

Brisbane’s Lagerstein have released their second album All For Rum & Rum For All and Australia will have the first chance to see the new album played live. Equipped with beer bongs and a party attitude, Lagerstein host a party like no other. Come along in your best pirate attire and join the crew onboard the S.S. Plunderberg. Joining this epic party will be Rainbowdragoneyes (USA). This one man band will have you hooked by the first song with his extreme chiptune dance metal awesomeness. Rainbowdragoneyes has wowed audiences all over the world with music made entirely from his Nintendo Gameboy and Sega Genesis. Watch out for his 8-bit circle pits. Plus Melbourne’s own Hybrid Nightmares and Arbrynth. It happens this Friday February 19 at The Bendigo Hotel.

CROWNED KINGS AT THE BENDIGO

1054 Records presents Saturday night hardcore at The Bendigo Hotel. Consisting of Melbourne’s finest hardcore bands with Crooked Path opening the night then Southpaw, Rust Proof, Ganbaru and Vicious Cycle all building up the main event: Crowned Kings. Mainstays of Melbourne’s hardcore scene, they’ll be playing their final show before heading off to Europe with the legendary Sick Of It All. This will be high energy, high quality and an all round heavy evening. Doors open at 7:30. $15 entry, 18+.

PLINI & HEAVY METAL NINJAS

Before retreating to his bedroom-studio to concoct another batch of prog-delights, guitar virtuoso Plini will return to the stage for two special headline shows this month. Just home from a nationwide tour with home-grown prog-metal legends Ne

A Wilhelm Scream are returning to Australia this May for a big headlining run. Their last studio album was released in 2013, but there are rumours that a 7” is on its way. You can buy tickets to their Melbourne show at The Reverence Hotel on Thursday May 26 right now. This is sure to sell out so you need to move fast. Brisbane punk band Columbus have signed a deal with Australian label UNFD and promptly released a new single Replace Me to celebrate. It’s the first tune from their debut album, which will come out later this year. Stay tuned for tour dates later in the year. Adelaide punks Grenadiers have announced their new single Live Fast Diabetes, and will tour the east coast in support. See them

Obliviscaris, Plini will treat audiences to an evening of progressive music performed with some of Australia’s finest young musicians – including drum-sensation Troy Wright and Jake Howsam Lowe and Simon Grove of Sydney tech-wizards The Helix Nebula. Covering material from his EP trilogy and more, audiences will be taken on a musical journey that will stir happiness in the heart of any fan of prog, metal, fusion or post-rock. Plini will also hold an intimate workshop before each concert – an opportunity to learn about his approach to guitar playing and discuss anything from composition and production, to being an independent artist. Also New Zealand quartet Heavy Metal Ninjas will be bringing their epic flamboyance to Australia for the very first time. The costumed collective, led by virtuoso Richie Allen, put on a spectacular live show that flows freely between the ferocious and the delicate and truly must be seen to be believed. And Melbourne prog overlords Teramaze will be opening. It happens on Saturday February 20 at Northcote Social Club.

NEW SIXX:A.M. SINGLE ON THE WAY

live when they smash out a set at Shebeen on Saturday March 12 with Poison City newbies Horror My Friend. Tickets are available now. Coheed and Cambria will tour Australia this May, playing a bunch of headlining shows in capital cities. The Colour Before The Sun Australian Tour will arrive in Melbourne on Friday May 6 at Max Watt’s and there are meet and greet packages available. Between The Buried And Me have invited I Built The Sky to join them for their upcoming Melbourne show at 170 Russell on Monday February 29. Tickets still remain for The Coma Ecliptic tour that’ll see them bring their modern rock opera to the live arena.

in 2016 via Eleven Seven Music/Sony Music Australia. “We are not a political band but we are extremely reflective,” Sixx says. “During the making of this album, we were under the same media siege as the rest of the world, so Rise came out of that and hopefully reminds people that we all have a voice.”

BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME NEXT WEEK

One of the world’s most progressive acts, Between The Buried And Me, return to Australia this month. Grandiose, dynamic, heavy, melodic, technically challenging: these are all words that fall equally short when trying to describe BTBAM’s sonic offerings. With album number seven, Coma Ecliptic (2015, Metal Blade), they have managed to take a significant evolutionary step forward and pushed their creative limits. Instrumental prog rock/jazz outfit, Chon, are joining BTBAM as their special guests, and the opening bands for each show are just as special. Melbourne’s opener is the instrumental wonderment of I Built The Sky. Catch them on Monday February 29 at 170 Russell.

SIXX:A.M., comprising bassist Nikki Sixx, guitarist Dj Ashba and vocalist/producer James Michael, have announced the arrival of new single, Rise, from the forthcoming first volume of a double album, coming

GIGS

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 17:

FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND, HARBOURS, JAWS OF DEAF AT CENTRAL CLUB HOTEL

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 18:

WAXAHATCHEE, INFINITE VOID, CAMP COPE AT HOWLER THE PEEP TEMPEL AT ESTONIAN HOUSE DAN POTTHARST, THE RESIGNATORS, SWEETIME AT NORTHCOTE SOCIAL CLUB HAVOC, ADVOCATES AT BARWON CLUB, GEELONG

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19:

FAT FREDDY’S DROP, THOMAS OLIVER AT THE FORUM JEBEDIAH AT MELBOURNE ZOO CERES, THE PRETTY LITTLES, SLOWLY SLOWLY, MAX QUINN’S ONOMATOPENIS AT NORTHCOTE SOCIAL CLUB LAGERSTEIN, RAINBOWDRAGONEYES AT BENDIGO HOTEL HAVOC, ADVOCATES AT WRANGLER STUDIOS THE SIGN OF FOUR, GRAVEMIND, DIAMOND CONSTRUCT, OF DIVINITY, DESPISED, CROOKED PATH AT THE REVERENCE HOTEL DALLAS CRANE AT WESTERNPORT SUMMER BLOOD, GRIM RHYTHM, MARICOPA WELLS, DIANA RADAR AT THE OLD BAR HITS, BITTER SWEET KICKS, VAN WALKER AND THE HEART BROKERS, JAMES MCCANN AND THE NEW VINDICTIVES, LA BASTARD, HARRY HOWARD DUO, TEX NAPALM AT THE TOTE

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 20:

DALLAS CRANE AT CORNER HOTEL FAT FREDDYS DROP, THOMAS OLIVER AT THE FORUM PINI, HEAVY METAL NIGHTS, TERAMAZE AT NORTHCOTE SOCIAL CLUB HAVOC, ADVOCATES AT BANG CROWNED KINGS, VICIOUS CYCLE, GANBARU, RUST PROOF, SOUTHPAW, CROOKED PATH AT THE BENDIGO LAGERSTEIN, RAINBOWDRAGONEYES AT MUSICMAN MEGASTORE, BENDIGO ABOLICON, BACKYARD FUNK, CASH AT THE WHO CLUB, WARBURTON SIX FT HICK, RON PENO AND THE SUPERSTITIONS, THE HOLY SOUL, SHIFTING SANDS, THE SPOILES, POWERLINE SNEAKERS, DIGGER AND THE PUSSYCATS, DAN BRODIE AT THE TOTE

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 21:

ROLLING THUNDER FESTIVAL FEAT. CLOWNS, THE SWORD, AMERICAN SHARKS AND MORE AT COBURG TOWN HALL LAGERSTEIN, RAINBOWDRAGONEYES AT BARWON CLUB, GEELONG RADIO MOSCOW, KINGS DESTROY, HOLY SERPENT AT KAROVA LOUNGE FAT FREDDY’S DROP, THOMAS OLIVER AT THE FORUM BAJA BLEEDERS, SAINT HENRY, CHIEF PROTAGONIST AT THE BENDIGO

MONDAY FEBRUARY 22:

THE SWORD, AMERICAN SHARKS, CLOWNS AT MAX WATTS

BEASTWARS BRINGERS OF DEATH

BY ROD WHITFIELD

New Zealand’s sludgiest stoner rock band Beastwars have been on the scene for about a decade now, and they’re soon to release their third album, The Death of All Things. According to drummer Nathan Hickey, the title of the album goes deeper than the general apocalyptic thoughts that many of us have in these times of political, economic and military turmoil. “We’re pissed off with the state of things,” he says. “But we went into it, right from the very beginning when we started this band and we were recoding our first record. We just wanted to do three great albums, and if we do three great albums you can’t ask for more than that. “Most bands have an amazing few albums, then the next one kind of sucks and they may break up after that, or keep on putting out mediocre stuff. So we just wanted to make three albums that we were really proud of, and what the title alludes to is that we’re making this album with the intention of it being our last.” That being said, Hickey can’t confirm this’ll be the very last thing the band puts out, or whether the accompanying tour will be the last one they do. This will depend upon the reaction The Death of All Things receives from critics and fans. “If people buy it, then we’ll definitely be interested in making more music,” he says.

“But it’s a funny time for the band because we love playing live. I feel like when we’re playing live that’s how people should see us, rather than listen to a record. But it’s just hard, because everyone’s getting old, everyone’s got jobs and everyone’s got kids and mortgages. We’re a middle aged metal band. If we were 20-years-old, we’d probably be all over Europe, and generally playing a lot more than we do.” The band’s future is also compromised by the fact Hickey is picking up and moving to the other side of the planet once the album cycle is complete. “As soon as the record comes out, and as soon as we’ve done the tour, I’m moving to London,”

he says. “So we’re probably going to be a band, as such, but because we don’t tour – we only tour New Zealand twice a year and come over to Australia only fairly often – it just means that it’s going to be quality over quantity of the shows that we play.” In the meantime, The Death of All Things is due out in April, and it’s an absolute beast of a record. If it does turn out to be their last, it would be a very fitting send-off for the prestigious heavy rockers. “I think we’ve just made a record that is better in terms of songwriting and dynamics,” Hickey says. “That’s really what we’ve been striving for; a record

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that’s more dynamic. The first two records are quite dense and just pummelling the entire time. But this one has a lot more light and dark moments, just the whole quiet/loud thing. I think we’ve nailed it this time.” The band will soon be back on our sunny shores to give fans a taste of new tunes ahead of the album’s release. The feature show is an appearance at Melbourne’s Rolling Thunder festival, which happens this weekend. It’s an all-day event and the lineup is truly epic, including US headliner The Sword. “I’m just so excited about playing Rolling Thunder. To have that sort of lineup is just

very special, and I think it’s just going to be great fun.”

BEASTWARS are playing the Rolling Thunder Festival at Coburg Town Hall and Ballroom on Sunday February 21, alongside The Sword, Fuck the Fitzroy Doom Scene, Clowns, Radio Moscow and many more.

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EV IEWS FOR

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T H E

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Photo by Anna Madden

CHVRCHES

FORUM MELBOURNE TUESDAY FEBRUARY 9

Anticipation and pure excitement cut through the air of the packed out venue minutes before Chvrches took the stage. It might have been a Tuesday night, but the crowd’s eagerness suggested it was Friday in their eyes. Their first show in Melbourne since sophomore release Every Open Eye, the Scottish trio of Lauren Mayberry, Iain Cook and Martin Doherty appeared from the shadows to a vivacious reception. Opening with Never Ending Circles and We Sink, Mayberry was front and centre providing the only human interaction.

FAT TUESDAY NEW ORLEANS FESTIVAL PIAZZA ITALIA

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 10

Fat Tuesday, better known by its French name, Mardi Gras, is traditionally a feast that precedes the fasting and religious observance of the Lenten Season. In New Orleans, Mardi Gras has transformed into a celebration of that city’s own vibrant musical and culinary culture and places much emphasis on its Creole and Cajun history. Considering Melbourne’s current interest in Southern food and culture, why not celebrate Fat Tuesday here too? Piazza Italia in Carlton provided a luxurious amount of space in which attendees could meander, sampling from food stalls and taking in the musical acts. It was a slow start to proceedings, with most people presumably still at work during the

HEALTH

Electronic-fuelled music can often be perceived as monotonous and dull live, but Chvrches found ways to inject complexity into their live performance. Cook and Doherty had their hands full, belting out heavily layered sounds comprising smooth bass lines and thunderous synths. Mayberry occasionally relived herself of frontwoman duties to bring a touch of live percussion into the equation. Mayberry has matured into quite the frontwoman. Moving around the stage with mic in hand, she nailed every note whilst providing energy and interaction for the late afternoon. Children gallivanted, adults socialised, but it lacked the drama and colour that typifies Mardi Gras in New Orleans. The Gumbo Blues Band, featuring Jerome Smith, Steve Lucas and Chris Wilson, stomped through a clutch of blues standards. Wilson’s tone and skill on the harmonica showed why he is one of the best blues players in the country and Lucas blew the stage away whenever it was his turn to sing. While MC Brian Nankervis did his best to rouse the crowd into party mode and Bruce Milne and Mohair Slim spun classic New Orleans tracks, it was time to investigate the food stalls. The Jambalaya, which is smoked sausage and chicken mixed with rice, spices and topped with spring onion, was delicious. Next up was a bowl of Gumbo, that thick, rich, sweet and spicy gravy stew so popular in New Orleans. On this instance it consisted also of smoked sausage, chicken, celery, bell peppers, Cajun spices and rice. Damn that was tasty, it really was. However, the main problem with the event was that the majority of people wanted to be in the bar area, which, unlike the area Photo by Ian Laidlaw

HOWLER

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 11

If you’d only heard the likes of LA Looks and Life from Health’s third LP, Death Magic, you could be forgiven for classifying them alongside indietronica acts Chvrches and Passion Pit. Bright synthesisers, easygoing dance beats and hooky melodies, all draping a tingling sense of vulnerability. But where those other acts strive towards defiance, Health offer very little in the way of hope. As such, those comparisons were utterly BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 32

groundless when it came to the majority of material performed during their noisy – and brief – time on the Howler stage. Singer and guitarist Jacob Duzsik barely acknowledged the crowd, and appeared generally disinterested in being anywhere at all. A lack of intra-band harmony could explain the absence of Health’s fourth member, guitarist/synth player Jupiter Keyes. As a result, all of the synths and much

crowd to feed off. The gutsy vocalist had fans singing along to their many hits, with Lies, Gun and Leave A Trace easily being crowd favourites. Doherty had his moment in the spotlight with Under The Tide, taken from the band’s debut LP, The Bones Of What You Believe. Doherty had clearly been waiting for this chance to burst out of his prison of synths to take the mic, and he displayed an array of shuffle-style dance moves akin to what you’d see at an early ’00s rave. And the crowd ate it all up. The highlight of the night came when Mayberry angelically led Clearest Blue. While Mayberry’s elegant vocals kept the audience in a trance, Cook and Doherty slowly worked up a crescendo of bass and synth, culminating in Mayberry yelling the line “Will you meet me more than halfway.” With only two albums under their belt, an hour and a half set might’ve been pushing it, but Chvrches were able to construct a 17 song setlist – a testament to the quality of their releases. By Michael Edney LOVED: Everything. Absolutely Everything. HATED: Tuesday. DRANK: H20. in front of the stage, was also shaded from the afternoon sun. Drinks were not allowed out of said area and so, even as more people arrived, the musicians continued to look out on only a handful of punters. The Always For Pleasure All Stars featuring Kerri Simpson donned Big Chief headgear and ably dished up some classic New Orleans covers by the likes of Dr. John. By eight o’clock the crowd had multiplied many times and loosened up somewhat. Consequently The Horns of Leroy had a much easier time convincing people to come out and dance, and the fun nature of their music certainly helped. Essentially a marching band, complete with a sousaphone and carried bass drum, the seven-piece quickly had people moving as they blew their way through mostly instrumental tunes, such as Professor Longhair’s classic Big Chief. By BIGGALEXWATTS LOVED: Gumbo. HATED: Having to leave early. DRANK: An amber ale. of the guitar work disappointingly came from a backing track. Duzsik and bassist John Famiglietti conjured noise however they could, but it felt a bit off – especially given the centrality of synths to the newer material, and how frequently Famiglietti put down his bass to windmill his hair around as though auditioning for a Guns N’ Roses video. Regardless, there was still much to admire about the LA noisemakers’ set. Firstly, they pushed the Howler sound system to within an inch of its life as they marked out a trail of sonic destruction. But, much like Robert Smith’s erratically teased hairdo, as chaotic as it seemed, the pieces were assembled in this order to serve a greater purpose. Despite their conspicuous missing limb and reliance on backing tracks, the band members weren’t thrown off task. Drummer Benjamin Jared Miller in particular made the phantom technological accompaniments seem redundant. He’s a big man, but his size didn’t hinder his ability to pound out drum beats with schizoid intensity. Chatter with the crowd became no less likely as the set wore on, but the many Health devotees weren’t fazed. After all, it’s subversion – of both pop and noise music – and general disaffection that drew everyone together. BY AUGUSTUS WELBY LOVED: The clean guitar tone, for the six seconds it was audible. HATED: Could’ve at least given Famiglietti a keytar. DRANK: To my Health.

DIIV

CORNER HOTEL THURSDAY FEBRUARY 11

DIIV’s new album Is The Is Are heralded many changes for the band. It’s a wellassembled addition to their discography that feels more focused and moody than their previous album, Oshin. However, the newfound melancholy could’ve easily been divisive. Sure, it’s more evolved, more adult, but it’s a noticeable step away from the positive, airy sound that earned the band their cult following in the first place. But regardless of the perceived musical evolution, there was never any doubt DIIV would deliver a night full of summery tones and ethereal riffs, ensuring nobody would leave the venue unsatisfied. While street art videos beamed from the screens to either side of the Corner’s stage, DIIV’s performance manner was more humble than on their crisply produced records. But despite the lack of that immaculate clean-toned flair, it wasn’t at all jarring. They placed more emphasis on the perfect execution of every riff, drenching every bass note in post-punk crunch, and making every guitar lick sound like it was rolling off a cloud.

BEACH HOUSE 170 RUSSELL

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 11

Beach House are one of those bands that create perfect background music. That sounds like a slating comment, but it just means they’re palatable to all ears. They also create perfect music to listen to through headphones at work. Normally anything with lyrics becomes too distracting for desk-job productivity, however Victoria Legrand’s vocals seamlessly mesh with the arrangements, giving their sound an instrumental vibe. The band arrived onstage right in time and began with a new song, Levitation, the opening number from 2015’s Depression Cherry. That’s not actually the band’s latest offering; they dropped two albums last year, the aforementioned Depression Cherry and later in the year, Thank Your Lucky Stars. The latter album wasn’t as commercially successful, but it was well received by critics. The band seemed aware that Australian fans would be more familiar with the former, and the setlist included five songs from it.

BATTLES MAX WATT’S

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 12

During the last decade Battles have managed to maintain relevance despite being a somewhat niche act. The New York band are loved for creating incredibly unique noise with the tools that they’re given, and their success hasn’t resulted in hundreds of imitation acts. Beyond this, the amount of energy conveyed in their live show, despite not having a vocalist, is almost a rebellion against convention. Tonight’s set was both a showcase of instrumental innovation and a dance party with loop pedals. The three-piece, guitarcentric band effortlessly introduced glitchy and technical atmospheres, beeping and booping like a malfunctioning computer. That’s not to say there weren’t any synths involved, quite the contrary – an arsenal of extra equipment was necessary to maintain the level of unexpected technicality that Battles delivered. Guitarist Ian Williams was armed with two vertically angled keyboards to make for quick and easy switches between his instruments; bassist Dave Konopka had a giant pedal board in front of him; and drummer John Stanier kept a crash cymbal way above his head for that extra bit of dynamic flair. Their live performance did justice to their recordings, so far as to grant them new life. Despite lacking a vocalist, Gloss Drop

IF YOU ARE READING THIS YOU ARE TOO CLOSE

The first half of the set was slightly placid compared to the second half. While they got people moving with a sped-up rendition of How Long Have You Known? and Dopamine, things really kicked off with Mire (Grant’s Song). The room exploded, and crowd surfing or stagediving audience members became the norm for every song afterwards. From there, the set churned on in weird harmony. Frontman Zachary Cole Smith introduced every song and rhythmically chugged his guitar with reined in enthusiasm, whilst crowd members jumped on the stage and then promptly straight off it. The band seemed regimented and the crowd seemed chaotic. While all parties seemed to be enjoying themselves, the show was stolen by the insane audience, tearing the shit out of each other with the music seeming like a documentary soundtrack. BY THOMAS BRAND LOVED: Reception for the new tracks. They’re great, and it’s good that people agree. HATED: This girl jumped on stage, bumped the mic and pulled a really weak ‘shaka with the tongue out’ move. This isn’t Instagram. Go away. DRANK: Four beers and suffered for it, strangely. Thank Your Lucky Stars was represented twice with All Your Yeahs and Elegy to the Void. The rest of the short set was made up of material from their two previous albums, Bloom (2012) and Teen Dream (2010). Arguably their most popular song, Myth, was a serious high, bringing the crowd into the equation. But on the whole, aside from a rather comedic bit of banter with a section of the audience that had a pointless light shinning on them, Legrand and bandmate Alex Scally failed to engage the crowd much. It must be said that they sounded amazing, authentically living up to the quality of their recordings. However, it was a little bit like a carbon copy. And given that they barely moved around onstage, combined with the venue being inexplicably hot, the whole occasion made you sleepy. Beach House are musically exceptional, but they suit a dusk slot at a festival like Falls where you can sit on the hill with friends, drink in hand and soak in the dreamy tunes. BY ALEXANDER CROWDEN Loved: The amazing vocals. Hated: How ridiculously hot it was. Drank: Cider. lead single Ice Cream was lifted by Stanier’s emphatic drumming. There was something noticeably jazzy about his technique – fluctuating between boisterous and commanding to simplified and smooth. As the band kicked into Atlas towards the end of the set, the crowd pulsated with positive glee. The entire set was an occasion of flawless segues and build-ups, illustrating a realm of beautiful instrumental flow and warped rhythms, sounds and tempos. Each band member was given the necessary amount of breathing room, indicative of the trio’s mutual respect and ability to use that respect to create something awe-inspiring. BY THOMAS BRAND LOVED: Running into pals everywhere. HATED: Being responsible for pals everywhere. Drank: Sweet tunes.

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ST JEROME’S LANEWAY FESTIVAL FOOTSCRAY COMMUNITY ARTS CENTRE SATURDAY FEBRUARY 13

With mega festivals such as Big Day Out and Soundwave now buried beneath the soil, Laneway has become the hottest touring festival of the Aussie summer. Those deceased festivals had their respective heydays, but the bigger they became, the less friendly they were. I don’t think anyone nostalgically reflects on time spent standing in a long line for drink tickets ahead of entering a caged off area to wait in another long line to buy an overpriced drink (while missing three bands in the process). Tickets for Laneway Melbourne again sold out in advance, and once again the sun tirelessly beat down on the Footscray Community Arts Centre. But Laneway 2016 was as friendly as ever. Although the program mightn’t have been characterised by obscure, underground acts, it wasn’t entirely dedicated to those with mass appeal either. Up early on the Dean Turner stage, gleeful Brisbane indie poppers Blank Realm cultivated familial vibes, appearing utterly at ease in their own skins and showing the rest of us how to do so. Silicon was disappointingly kicked off

Photo by Zo Damage

THE INTERNET CORNER HOTEL

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 9

the tour, and Ali Barter filled his slot on the Very West stage with some sweet – and safe – pop rock. Canadian duo Majical Cloudz took advantage of the gutsy subs of the hillside Mistletone stage. An early highlight, their set overcame usual festival drawbacks to lucidly explicate melancholy in an understated but no less powerful way. Grungy punk trio Metz continued the Canadian dominance of the hillside. Metz’s angsty and technically intense performance was abetted by vicious instrumental tones. However, it all came packaged with a smile; not so much an assault as it was an incentive to let loose. Over on the Future Classic stage, Shamir adopted a vastly different tact to Metz, but was just as successful in getting bodies moving. Backed by a four-piece band, including a co-leading female vocalist, Shamir’s Motown-indebted, electro soul provided a more than acceptable reason for skipping lunch. Soul stayed on the Future Classic stage, but the tone drastically shifted when Thundercat (AKA Stephen Bruner) Expectations were high for The Internet’s first visit to our shores since releasing last year’s list-topping album Ego Death. The line snaking around the Corner was full of excited fans chattering with anticipation. Jaala are a really good band, their highly original mixture of jazz, punk and soul ensuring they’re a constant surprise to watch. Despite sharing some musical territory with the headliners, they weren’t an obvious choice of support act, and it was hard to gauge if the crowd took to their inyour-face punk stylings. As soon as The Internet walked on, however, it was nothing but love. The Los Angeles five-piece started with Get Away, the first song from Ego Death. Frontwoman Syd Bennett received cheers, and herself and a shirtless Jameel Bruner did their best to keep the crowd hyped, although clearly humbled by the reception. Playing songs both new and old, their more upbeat and pop-oriented recent material earned the most attention, while the songs that shifted away from The Internet’s mellow, neo-soul groove seemed less convincing. The smooth and soulful number Just Sayin was given a more energetic reading, complete with a crowd participation section singing along to the “You fucked up” hook. Gone, a collaborative track between Syd and UK duo Snakehips, had a spaced-out dance feel and programmed drums, which seemed out of place in the set. The instrumentalists

Photos by Simon Atkinson led a three-piece band of stupidly advanced jazz/funk practitioners. Despite being the only act on this stage to go without backing tracks, Thundercat’s performance was the day’s busiest instrumental display. Bruner’s manipulation of the six-string bass defied all standards of good taste, and he was effusively matched by drummer Justin Brown who appeared to be at the mercy of a speed-loaded puppeteer. Moving back to Mistletone, Health did a good job at tying together the extremities of the festival lineup, covering the ferocity of Metz and High Tension, learned technicality of Battles and pop sensibilities of Chvrches and Purity Ring. It was a bass-heavy and song-centric performance that painted the band as professional noisemakers rather than troublemaking punks. The Internet held the big crowd at the Dean Turner stage in the palms of their hands. Their albums revolve around slinky, laidback neo-soul, but today they injected a dose of piss and vinegar, with frontwoman Syd tha Kyd proving a hypnotic leader. There were plenty of acts on the lineup that were all extremely competent and sounded great, particularly Rhodes player Bruner and bassist Patrick Paige, who played an incredibly tasty solo at one point. Syd’s voice is perfectly suited to The Internet’s smooth sound, and when she used her falsetto it was an absolute treat. However, it seemed a shame that backing tracks were used quite obviously throughout the set; unnecessary backing vocals poking through the front of house mix instead of blending with the live sound of the band. Producer Matt Martin was also included on keys, however his synth parts felt cheesy and superfluous considering the quality of the other musicians onstage. Special Affair was the highlight of the set and received the biggest crowd response, its walking bassline and catchy melody providing undeniable joy. Although the material and musicianship was strong, something special from The Internet’s recorded efforts didn’t translate live. Even when singing along to a well known song, such as Girl, the audience seemed largely disengaged and the energy in the room did not lift in the manner you would expect. BY BIGG ALEX WATTS LOVED: Special Affair. HATED: Did not care for the backing tracks. DRANK: Water. W W W. B E AT.C O M . A U

didn’t qualify as young and hip, but it was Battles who owned the longest standing international reputation. As such, they gave lessons in just how to attack a festival set. Indeed, there was plenty of attack, but Battles’ finest attribute is how they balance dynamically-soaked jazz punk freakouts with moments of restraint. Legends of their domain, there was nothing to do but marvel at the seeming ease with which they smashed through crowd favourites The Yabba and Atlas. Vince Staples started by telling us if we weren’t ready to go crazy, then he didn’t want us there. It sounds like an attempt to intimidate the crowd, but Staples genuinely wanted to stimulate something singular. While he mightn’t have got quite the response he was asking for, it was definitely an engaged crowd, au fait with the material from Staples’ excellent debut, Summertime ‘06. He was full of charisma, praising our “beautiful city” and thanking us for putting our “Anglo Saxon hands in the air.” But once the beat kicked in, he became an unrelenting MC

THUNDERCAT

MAX WATT’S HOUSE OF MUSIC THURSDAY FEBRUARY 11

Despite his size and trademark ninja vest, strapped loosely over a lumberjack flannel, Thundercat cuts an unassuming figure. Backed by acclaimed jazz drummer Justin Brown and keyboardist Dennis Hamm, the cat otherwise known as Stephen Bruner donned his six-string bass and launched into Hard Times. Along with contemporaries Flying Lotus, Kamasi Washington and Kendrick Lamar, Thundercat is at the forefront of a movement pushing contemporary jazz, and by default funk and hip hop, in a new direction. In a live setting, the ideas he presents on record were reduced to their base elements, with the trio using the song structures as templates within which to construct solos and to jam. Dipping through selections from last year’s The Beyond / Where The Giants Roam and 2013’s Apocalypse, pauses were brief or nonexistent. The few times Bruner did attempt to speak, he seemed awkwardly short of banter. The inclusion of Complexion, one of many songs with Thundercat’s fingerprints all over it from Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, was an unexpected pleasure. After using a wah pedal to imitate the rhythm of the rapped vocals, the bassist took the time to praise his friend as a genius, along with

relating experiences that’d fuel a lifetime of nightmares. Laneway refrains from naming definitive headliners, but Chvrches’ closing set on the Dean Turner stage had all the necessary ingredients to recommend them as headliners for any festival in the world. Frontwoman Lauren Mayberry didn’t let up during the 50-minute display, fluttering from stage right to left and back again, while extending defiant lyrical refusals to be submissive. Mayberry’s two bandmates are often regarded as mere sidemen, but they exhibited equal energy as they crammed on synth loops and trance beats. Chvrches haven’t written anything short of a certified synth pop banger, and it was a near-ecstatic end to an inspiring day’s entertainment. BY AUGUSTUS WELBY LOVED: A lot of stuff. HATED: Old man legs. DRANK: In place of friends.

taking a sly dig at Kanye, “TLOP, what’s that? Don’t even.” Thundercat’s playing was nothing short of mesmerising. His fingers moved across the fretboard like droplets of rain, while holding down a solid groove. It was a seemingly effortless performance from the 31-year-old bassist, his precision never wavering. Lotus and the Jondy from Apocalypse became a soloing showcase for Brown, and proved to be one of the highlights of the night. The drummer attacked the kit in a manic display of timing and passion, moving in and around the beat as his bandmates remained locked into a groove, revealing why he’s one of the world’s most in demand jazz drummers. Them Changes, one of Thundercat’s best songs, was also a set highlight, while party anthem Oh Sheit It’s X revealed itself to be little more than a very catchy chorus, not that it really mattered. Returning for an initially solo encore of Without You was a nice variation, before the band joined in and took the evening home. It was a masterclass from one of the innovators of funky stuff. BY BIGG ALEX WATTS LOVED: The gig. HATED: The girl in front of me constantly twitching with impatience and checking her phone. DRANK: Nothing. BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 33

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Top Tens PBS FM TOP TEN

1. Né So ROKIA TRAORÉ 2. The Electric Night Descends LUKE HOWARD TRIO 3. Screws Re-Worked NILS FRAHM 4. Hwal KEDA 5. Ultimate Care II MATMOS 6. Tan EP LAFAWNDAH 7. Diamond in the Forehead GARRY GRAY AND THE SIXTH CIRCLE 8. The Path OLOF MELANDER 9. Right There EP MIA DYSON 10. Don’t Let the Kids Win JULIA JACKLIN

RECORD PARADISE TOP TEN WILD NOTHING

Life Of Pause (Captured Tracks/Remote Control)

Jack Tatum and friends cover immense emotional ground with a hint of nostalgia. Wild Nothing’s Life Of Pause is a profoundly textural release. It’s an album designed as much for the taste buds and the nerve endings as the ears; one you could even plunge your arms into, as though submerging them in a barrel of paint and oil. There’s a whiff of nostalgia to the record too – ‘80s-inspired electro work dominates the proceedings, with a dash of ‘90s shoegaze fuzz thrown in for good measure – but never in a way that feels reductive or parodic. The pleasures to be derived from songs like A Woman’s Wisdom or the album’s excellent title track aren’t carbon-copied from a bygone era. Although they adopt a language and a tone popular in the past, they have enough idiosyncrasies to feel like self-contained, unique efforts. Better still, although the album is unashamedly jaunty – the driving, delicious To Know You is a genuine crowd-

pleaser in the optimal sense of the word – there’s an overriding sense of melancholy to keep things balanced. Loss deeply permeates tracks like Whenever I, as sadness cuts through the sax solos and oozing choruses. “I thought you’d be good for me,” croons Jack Tatum, “But I know what you are now.” It’s lemon and sugar; it’s pebbles and cotton; it’s darkness and light; and it’s perhaps the best album Wild Nothing have yet released. JOSEPH EARP

DZ DEATHRAYS Blood On My Leather (I OH YOU) DZ push themselves on Blood On My Leather, cramming goofball characteristics into a song far from goofball. The pop harmonies on the hook work, the ridiculous build and drop comes across as a parody of EDM, and as shit as that sounds on paper, it’s a bit genius in

practice. It’s good, dumb fun, done smart. ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER Write Back (Ivy League) There’s shyness to the vocal delivery and mixing in Write Back, belying (or compounding) the barrelling drive of the instrumentation, and sounding something like The Triffids via The War On Drugs. There’s uplift upon uplift via rising guitar licks. Taken from a double A-side, slated for Record Store Day. CHOOK RACE At Your Door (Tenth Court) Listenable, passable, but there’s little to grab onto – even when

SHEER MAG Can’t Stop Fighting (Independent)

divorced from the context of Melbourne’s past half-decade of trebly garage jam oversaturation. The conveying of humble desire fails to resonate, a calculated economy of language coming up short. That’s not to say lyrical simplicity or limited conceptual scope can’t provide a conduit for emotional connection. Still, the air is pleasant on At Your Door, even if it is a fleeting breeze. LOOSE TOOTH Bites Will Bleed (Independent) Loose Tooth carve a quarry of space from the outset, alldownstroke riffs, slight echo on the kit and soaring vocals. There’s splendour in the verse, disarming menace in the titular cry. It feels good to get lost in this.

W E

I can’t get enough of Sheer Mag. The Philadelphia outfit proved their riff mastery on last year’s II EP, their unabashed worship of ‘70s Gold FM power chords and Steely Dan/Thin Lizzy soloing continues here on Can’t Stop Fighting. And as always, the ace in the hole is singer Christina Halladay’s sheer vocal power. Can’t Stop Fighting is about hope, a rally against passiveness. Something to believe in. BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 34

HOW SICK IS MUSIC? HEAPS WICKED

HEARTLAND RECORDS TOP TEN 1. Art Angels LP GRIMES 2. Love Is Lost 12” DAVID BOWIE 3. Eternal CD BOX SKELETAL FAMILY 4. Barbarian War LP/CD ABOMINATOR 5. Skeletons LP DANZIG 6. Free Things Are Cool LP BECK 7. Submarine 10” ALEX TURNER 8. House Of God LP KING DIAMOND 9. Les Revenants LP MOGWAI 10. Atom By Atom LP SATAN

SYN TOP TEN

SINGLE REVIEWS WITH LACHLAN Molly was a great reminder of a golden age when Australian television presenters were endearingly mediocre, rather than painfully embarrassing. RIHANNA FEAT. DRAKE Work (Universal) Riri’s Anti finally dropped a few weeks back, sans her two big singles of the past 12 months. Work was therefore tasked single duties, creeping with sparse production and the catchy offhand repetition on the hook. Another winning team-up with Drizzy.

1. Primary Colours EDDY CURRENT SUPPRESSION RING 2. Self Titled EDDY CURRENT SUPPRESSION RING 3. Adore Life SAVAGES 4. High ROYAL HEADACHE 5. Aubergine Dreams LAZERTITS 6. Tyrannamen TYRANNAMEN 7. Grey Tickles, Black Pressure JOHN GRANT 8. Sukierae TWEEDY 9. Not To Disappear DAUGHTER 10. Are They Still Here? THE CITRADELS

1. Your Fix CITY CALM DOWN 2. Untethered HALCYON DRIVE 3. 1955 HILLTOP HOODS FT MONTAIGNE & TOM THUM 4. Golden Age LANKS 5. I Wanna Be Your Man SARAH BLASKO 6. Prayers/Triangles DEFTONES 7. The Songs Are Over EINARINDRA 8. Overcome LAURA MVULA 9. Lot To Learn LUKE CHRISTOPHER 10. If I Get High NOTHING BUT THIEVES

BEAT’S TOP TEN SONGS ABOUT BEING FUCKEN AWESOME

1. Everything Is Awesome TEGAN & SARA 2. Best Friend YOUNG THUG 3. The Greatest CAT POWER 4. I Love You All The Time EAGLES OF DEATH METAL 5. Simply The Best TINA TURNER 6. You’re My Best Friend QUEEN 7. Awesome NICK LOWE 8. We’re A Winner THE IMPRESSIONS 9. Excellent Birds LAURIE ANDERSON 10. Greatest Love Of All WHITNEY HOUSTON

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DRINKING FROM THE SUN, WALKING UNDER STARS RESTRUNG (Golden Era Records / UMA)

Aussie hip hop legends Hilltop Hoods’ latest project features a selection of tracks from Walking Under The Stars and Drinking From The Sun that have been restrung, remixed and restructured, alongside a handful of new cuts. While the songs maintain their original essence, they are reinvigorated with the help of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and the Adelaide Chamber Singers. Floating in on a heavenly vocal performance, The Thirst Pt. 6 introduces a speech sample from 1999 film, Beyond The Mat. Soon enough the familiar sound of the three local heroes emerges, spitting out the philosophical lyric “Life’s a road, it goes one foot after the next.” Composer Jamie Messenger’s beautifully evocative string arrangements bring the song to a close. Drinking From The Sun Restrung blends a hard-hitting rap rhythm with a euphoric vocal performance. As the energy bleeds out, it’s clear the boys are experimenting at a whole new level. Released in 2015, Higher (feat. James Chatburn) is an instant hit, with a catchy lyric and a killer kick drum rhythm. Through The Dark (Reprise) is stripped back to a delicate instrumental piece featuring an assortment of strings and twinkling chimes, whereas the restrung version that appears later is quite similar to the original. 2014 single, Cosby Sweater, is transformed through the use of horns and a flirty flute line. Although it’s a fine effort, the revision will never match the popular predecessor. Speaking In Tongues Restrung, Lights Out Restrung and Rattling The Keys To The Kingdom Restrung are worthy contenders, however the true highlight of the release is 1955. Focusing on small town life, the song sees Montaigne at her absolute finest, belting out a more than memorable vocal performance alongside Suffa and Tom Thum.

USELESS EATERS

SANTIGOLD

TEMPORARY MUTIL ATION (Slovenly)

99¢ (Atlantic Records)

Seth Sutton doesn’t beat around the bush. For a musician only approaching his mid-20s, he’s amassed a huge body of work (predominantly under the Useless Eaters moniker). Band members come and go, but 7”s, EPs and albums are abound on labels all over the place. It’s safe to say that when you buy a new Useless Eaters record, you won’t regret it. Temporary Mutilation, Useless Eaters latest five-track EP (out digitally and on 10” vinyl) is another offering to add to the good heap. The title tracks makes for an interesting opener considering it’s the most left field of the five tracks. It saunters along channelling The Fall; sporadic, noisy but with an eerie pop undertone driven by a tastefully placed xylophone melody. The chord progressions in Breathing Smear are reminiscent of Total Control in their more angst-ridden moments. Poison Dart works its robotic charm over the top of a minimalist electronic drumbeat, while a hedonistic and drone-like riff provides a solid base for some weaving guitar lines to slither all over. Car Accident Face is the most garage rock‘n’roll number on the EP. Sutton’s never been averse to incorporating elements of pop, and he also knows how to work the standard rock band thing, replete with hooks and pleasing pop progressions when he wants to. Scene + Sequence returns to less obvious reference points, closing the EP with snarling post-punk, propelled by militant snare rolls. Temporary Mutilation is capricious in nature – a mixed bag of punk, garage, post-punk and experimental noise – but each individual track is delivered with complete resolve. It’s clear that Useless Eaters prefer erratic excellence over monotonous consistency.

With only three albums in the past eight years, it’s clear Santigold is not forcing her art. Every album has a very clear objective, whether it’s to define her genre or make a statement – 99¢ is a bit of both. In a recent interview Santi White said, “Everything is a product at this point, including people and relationships.” This is reiterated in both the title and colourful album art, which features the singer shrink-wrapped in a bag among various accessories. Thankfully the concept adds new meaning to her already appealing sound instead of distracting the listener. The beat of Can’t Get Enough Of Myself feels somewhat tame compared to earlier dance anthems like L.E.S. Artistes and Say Aha, but it’s perhaps her best and most catchy song to date. Big Boss Big Time Business adds a dose of reggae, but feels repetitive without a climax. Banshee lifts the tempo with a fun clap motif, continually slowing before dropping again. Chasing Shadows is the third single to be released from the album and it’s not hard to see why; melodic keys bounce along perfectly with White’s high-pitched lyrics. Things stay poppy with Walking In A Circle and the rather slow single Who Be Lovin Me, which features American hip hop artist ILoveMakonnen. Rendezvous Girl and Before The Fire are more subtle numbers with very simple instrumentals, but still very enjoyable. All I Got packs a bit more punch, while Outside The War drops the bar again. Run The Races is slower but a grower, and thankfully Who I Thought You Were brings back the singer’s signature attitude to finish. The first few tracks of this album are among the best of Santigold’s career, but the rest of the album fails to keep the momentum going.

BY KRYSTAL MAYNARD

BY CHRIS BRIGHT

BY PHOEBE ROBERTSON

PORCHES

LITTLE GEORGIA

POOL (Domino)

Pool is the debut full-length album from Porches. Project mastermind Aaron Maine pieced together the 12 tracks in his Manhattan apartment with partner and collaborator, Greta Kline (AKA Frankie Cosmos). Single word titles – Underwater, Braid, Mood, Hour, Pool, Glow, Shaver, Shape, Security –almost exclusively fill the tracklist, painting a picture of both maturation and self-doubt; a need to be acknowledged and loved before a single note has been heard. The pool water, never in a truly fixed state, serves as the perfect vessel in which to raise these mixed sentiments. The title track, coming in eight songs deep, starts with just bass, a beat and Maine’s words recalling, “Oh how I could just see it now / Your body, as it comes down / In slow, motion now.” The rhythm becomes more complex, and the lyrics “slow motion” become the catalyst for the drop of a pounding tropical beat. Next up, Glow is considerably slower and surprisingly sombre after the rousing title track. Closing with via the line, “I tell you the truth, you tell it to me too / I know I need you, you know that we are through,” Glow is a perfect example of the emotional highs and lows of the album. Car is a pure, stirring pop number, taking delightful sonic turns without being clichéd or predictable. Although only two-and-a-half minutes long, Maine devotes a fifth of the song to an intensive, emotive ending – and it’s brilliant. BY IZZY TOLHURST

OPIA

BOOTLEG (Independent)

Acoustic folk charmers are pretty much the go for Little Georgia’s debut album, recorded live in a farmhouse on coastal Victoria. But there are two exceptions. The first is the opening track Intro – sure, it’s a pleasant enough track filled with sprightly strums and distant vocal exercises, but with only another seven tracks to follow, a two-minute-and-35-second introduction seems a tad excessive. Get past this and we’re hurled into bare emotion. Standouts include third track Emily, which carries a dreamy guitar tone. Lead single Forget Me is a pivotal moment with a significantly darker vibe and muffled and pessimistic vocals of the duo’s female half, Ashleigh Mannix. The end statement of, “When I die I’ll find another road”, captures the sentiment of the whole song perfectly. California is another downplayed affair with sparse strums and Mannix’s counterpart Justin Carter taking the limelight. However, the second unnecessary moment arrives with closing track Heartbreak. Hitting the three-minute mark of the song, the vocal break repeats itself for a further two minutes, making you wonder exactly why. These misdemeanours aside, Bootleg is a beautiful collection, showcasing gorgeous vocal synergy. BY CHELSEA DEELEY

ALBUM REVIEWS - BECAUSE YOU CARE WHAT WE THINK

EON (Independent)

Perth based three-piece Opia have been around for a while, cranking out interesting, atmospheric alternative rock for an ever-growing audience. It takes a full-blown album for a band to truly stretch their musical wings and reach their full potential, and that has been achieved in no uncertain terms on Opia’s debut long player Eon. You can hear strong influences in this band’s music – at times they resemble a more succinct, streamlined version of Cog – but they put their own slant on Aussie progressive/alt rock at the same time. On Eon, they’ve smoothed the edges of that scene’s sometimes-jarring dynamic focus, arriving at a more subtle sound. The album’s a smooth, easy ride, relative to many of their contemporaries, but the songs are very strong. Signs shows the band’s ambient and electronic influences; the title track is all pounding rock but still highly melodic; lead single Still Standing is probably the album’s best cut with its driving forward momentum, rhythmical discordance and catchy chorus; and Commonality rounds things off in fine, epic style. This album is wall to wall killer, with very little filler. With its top notch production, strong songs and musicianship and obscure but interesting lyricism, Eon is another excellent Aussie music package. BY ROD WHITFIELD

BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 35

GIG GUIDE

TIGRESS MAGAZINE FOR GIRLS - FEAT: DES CHIO + ELUSIVE + SANDY HSU Toff In Town, Melbourne Cbd.

7:00pm. $5.00.

TINA ARENA Corner Hotel, Richmond. 8:00pm. TREEHOUSE + HI TEC EMOTIONS + DEPARTMENT. + THUG MILLS Tote Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. WILD MEADOWS + SHE’S THE DRIVER + ZOE RYAN Tote

WEDNESDAY 17 FEB SILVERKANE//SLVRKN

TH E B E N D I G O H OT E L Port Fairy’s very own four-piece SILVERKANE// SLVRKN will be bringing their unique brand of blistering punk rock to the Bendigo for the first time in 2016. Joining them for the night are Bazza, Splatterpuss and Cmash Cmunt. Why not wander down, grab yourself a burger and a beer and see what all the fuss is about? Doors at 8pm.

BEN CARR TRIO + BLIND SPOT 303, Northcote. 8:00pm. BIG EASY SOUL SESSIONS Carlton Club, Melbourne

Cbd. 8:00pm.

BOPSTRETCH Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. DIZZY’S BIG BAND WITH PETER HEARNE Dizzy’s Jazz Club, Richmond. 8:00pm. $10.00.

DVO ÁK UNDER THE STARS - FEAT: JOSHUA WEILERSTEIN + STEFAN CASSOMENOS Sidney Myer Music Bowl,

Melbourne. 7:30pm.

Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. $5.00.

CHARLES JENKINS Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 8:30pm. COTTON CLUB - FEAT: MR BLACK & BLUES + THE BLUEBELLS + DJ MATTHEW FREDERICK Spotted Mallard, Brunswick. 7:30pm.

GWYN ASHTON Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford. 7:00pm. KRISTILEE & THE CLOUD MOUNTAINEERS Open Studio,

Northcote. 8:00pm. $10.00.

LOOKING FOR LAWSON - FEAT: JOHN THORN + LINDSAY FIELD + EMILY TAHENY Bella Union Bar, Carlton. 7:30pm. $17.00.

OPEN MIC Mr Boogie Man Bar, Abbottsford. 7:00pm. OPEN MIC NIGHT Purple Emerald, Northcote. 8:00pm. OPEN MIC NIGHT Ascot Vale Hotel, Ascot Vale. 8:00pm. RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE - FEAT: JOEY ELBOWS The

Tote Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. $8.00.

Centre Melbourne), Southbank. 8:00pm. $87.90.

MINGUS THINGUS Paris Cat Jazz Club, Melbourne Cbd.

Fitzroy. 7:00pm.

8:30pm. $20.00.

Restaurant, Frankston. 2:30pm.

SUNNYSIDE + LIV CARTLEDGE + JORDAN CLAY & THE SKELETON BAND + SOPHIE OFFICER Bar Open, Fitzroy. 8:00pm.

DAN MELCHIOR + HEIROPHANTS + EXEK + VACUUM + MORE Old Bar, Fitzroy. 7:00pm. $12.00. KALACOMA + RKDA + ANDONIOUS Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $10.00.

WINE WHISKEY WOMEN - FEAT: JASMINE BETH + DOMINIQUE Drunken Poet, West Melbourne. 9:00pm.

THURSDAY 18 FEB COSMIC RAIN

T H E R E V E R E NC E The Rev loves a delicious mixed-bag of a lineup. Kicking the night off on Thursday February 18 will be country/pop group Waterline, who are celebrating their recently released video for the track 12 Clicks Bell Street Song. John Williams’ Doubleshot will be serving up a dose of classic blues, featuring some great blues guitar and slide riffs. Betty Rumble is adding another flavour to the evening, with classic pop/rock covers from ‘70s and ‘80s. Finally Cosmic Rain, who are looking to release their debut album this year, will inject some melodic pop/rock goodness into your ears. Starts at 8pm, $10 entry.

Brunswick East. 8:00pm.

TH E RE T R E AT Charles Jenkins hits The Retreat for a solo residency this month. Jenkins was super busy in 2015, releasing an award-winning Zhivagos record, Too Much Water in the Boat, while his new project Charles Jenkins & The Amateur Historians played a mountain of sold out festival shows, and he announced some reunion shows with Ice Cream Hands. On Wednesday February 17, Jenkins will perform songs from his swelling back catalogue as well as new material for a Zhivagos record slated for later in 2016. Charles Jenkins will play two sets at The Retreat Hotel from 8.30pm. Entry is free. So are good times. Have them.

BACKSTAGE - JAM NIGHT - FEAT: MATT STILLERT + THE SHAKE SHACK BOOGIE BAND Musicland, Fawkner.

7:00pm.

BOYCRIEDWOLF Musicland, Fawkner. 7:30pm. BRUNGAS BAND + MANGO RETREAT + MOODY SPOOKS Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $5.00.

COLLINGWOOD OPEN - FEAT: ELLA HOOPER + DARLING JAMES + MOUTH TOOTH Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood.

8:00pm. $20.00.

DAN POTTHAST + THE RESIGNATORS + SWEETIME Northcote Social Club, Northcote. 7:00pm. $23.00.

NIRVANA TRIBUTE OPEN MIC Whole Lotta Love, RUBIX RADIO ON KISSFM Rubix Warehouse, Brunswick. 8:30pm.

THE BRUNSWICK HOTEL’S OPEN MIC Brunswick Hotel,

THE MARQUIS + MANNEQUIN DEATH SQUAD + COSMOS CREATURE Tote Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. $10.00. THE RUN + HEY MAMMOTH + OLLY FRIEND Workers Club (geelong), Geelong. 7:00pm. $6.00.

THE TARANTINOS Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm.

$5.00. BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 36

JADE ALICE + JAMES FRANKLIN Shebeen, Melbourne

Cbd. 7:30pm. $10.00.

KARLI WHITE + SECOND SIGHT + HALT EVER + GOLDEN SYRUP Old Bar, Fitzroy. 7:00pm. $8.00. MEZZ LIVE Chelsea Heights Hotel, Chelsea Heights. 5:30pm.

OSHIN + LITTLE CREATURES + BALTER VADA + TOBIAHS Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick. 8:00pm.

PLEASURE AVALANCHE + FUZZSUCKER + HALF MONGREL Tote Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. $5.00.

SHOWCASE NIGHTS Purple Emerald, Northcote. 8:00pm. STAY GOLD - FEAT: VOID OF VISIONS + DEATH IN BLOOM + ABURBEN Laundry Bar, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $20.00. THE ANIMALS Corner Hotel, Richmond. 7:30pm.

$44.00.

PIQUÉ

WHOL E LOT TA LOVE Piqué will be mashing up some jungle punk with some rock steady tunes at Whole Lotta Love, with Fuzzsucker and Asthmatics. Go for the music, drink all the beer and stay for the influences on your originality. It’s just a fancy way of saying fun times will be had, so you should probably be there and not something with four equal sides. Free entry, doors at 8pm.

DARYL ROBERTS Wine Larder, Brighton. 6:00pm. FULTON STREET Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 9:00pm.

Kilda. 7:30pm. $99.90.

Club, Fitzroy. 7:30pm. $10.00.

THE TOFF I N TOWN Melbourne locals The Outside Inn are hitting The Toff In Town to celebrate the release of A Lot Can Change, the first single from their debut EP Inntro. The vibrant collective are expected to bring their exceptional blend of hip hop, electronic and neo soul into the public eye for a night of positive vibes and high energy. There’ll be a mix of tracks both old and new, giving guests an exclusive opportunity to listen to material from the yet-to-be-released debut EP. Support for the evening will be coming from friends Yve Gold and Hennessy. Catch The Outside Inn at The Toff In Town on Thursday February 18. Doors open at 8pm, entry is $13.

8:00pm. $10.00.

SIMPLY RED + NATALIE IMBRUGLIA Palais Theatre, St

Brunswick. 6:30pm.

THE OUTSIDE INN

WATERLINE + JOHN WILLIAMS DOUBLESHOT + BETTY RUMBLE + COSMIC RAIN Reverence Hotel, Footscray.

Brunswick East. 6:00pm.

THE CHERRY DOLLS + TOOTH & TUSK + BATZ Workers

GORSHA + HAYLEY BETH + GUY PARKMAN BAND + A*TUIN

TESSA LYES + JOSEPH VAN DER HURK Grumpy’s Green,

AELION + SHE BEAST + THE HIGH DRIFTERS + CASTRATION PARTY Bendigo Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. ALICE IVY + LAZER BABY + NORTH ELEMENTS + LEISURE SUITE DJS Workers Club, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. $12.00. ASTHMATICS + PIQUE + FUZZSUCKER Whole Lotta Love,

CHARLES JENKINS

GODS + PIIE + DEAD ENDS John Curtin Hotel, Carlton.

7:30pm. $6.00.

Luwow, Fitzroy. 8:00pm.

SUNDAY SOULTRAIN - FEAT: SAFARI MOTEL Daveys Bar &

E STON I AN HOUSE Three-piece rock’n’roll outfit The Peep Tempel are still revelling in the glory of receiving the coveted ‘Boot’ award at the Meredith Music Festival last year. On top of this, the Melbourne trio have solidified a reputation as a brazen live act, with an unflinching punk rock aesthetic. They will be sizzling up the stage at Estonian House on Thursday February 18 with supports Ausmuteants and The Dead Heir. Tickets are selling like hotcakes and are available via the venue. Doors are at 7pm.

MISSY HIGGINS + PAUL DEMPSEY Hamer Hall (arts

LOCAL CALL - FEAT: RINTRAH Railway Hotel , Brunswick. 6:00pm.

THE PEEP TEMPEL

$10.00.

WAXAHATCHEE

H OWLE R Waxahatchee, aka American singer/songwriter Katie Crutchfield, will be performing her indie rock anthems for Melbourne fans in all of their explosive, fuzzy glory. The tour marks Crutchfield’s second visit to Australia, though this time she’s bringing her band. Punters can expect plenty of material from her acclaimed third album Ivy Tripp, released in 2015. Supports include Infinite Void and Camp Cope. Doors are at 8pm, tickets via the venue and Moshtix website.

B E AT.C O M . A U

JOEL HAVEA

THE G RACE DARL I N G Joel Havea is coming home after seven years spent eating, breathing and living music in Hamburg, Germany. The Tongan born, Melbourne raised musician is a talented songwriter and a naturally gifted singer and guitarist, whose unique rock/pop inspired songs reveal a vast array of musical and cultural influences. Catch him at the Grace Darling for the Melbourne leg of his east coast homecoming tour, with supports Bradlee Jay and DJ Jackson Ross. Tickets are $15 on the door, $14.50 pre-sale. Starts 8pm.

GIG GUIDE FULTON STREET

C H E RRY B AR The world’s longest running weekly soul night, is welcoming back the magical Fulton Street. Boasting a rock-solid rhythm section and dynamic horn section, Fulton Street draw on soul and R&B, both old and new combined, creating a thoroughly modern sound that is all their own. The seven-piece are psyched to be introducing their new guitarist, along with features from Mya Wallace, thando and Moe on BVs. Legendary DJs Vince Peach and Pierre Baroni (PBS 106.7FM), are set to spin some tasty funk and soul 45s until the sun comes up. Doors at 9pm and entry is $10.

ALICE IVY

T H E WO RKERS CLUB Alice Ivy, aka Annika Schmarsel, is set to heat up The Workers Club as part of her first ever Australian tour, in support of her newly released single, Touch. Alice Ivy grew up on the Victorian Surf Coast and after relinquishing the clarinet, she has since finely tuned her own style of soul and electronic music, listing the likes of The Avalanches, Banoffee and J. Dilla as her core influences. Doors are at 7.30pm, $12 on the door.

GORAN BREGOVIC & HIS WEDDING & FUNERAL BAND

VOYAGE TO THE MOON Melbourne Recital Centre, Southbank. 7:30pm. $54.00.

ALISON FERRIER Charles Weston Hotel, Brunswick.

6:30pm.

DAN LETHBRIDGE Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford. 7:00pm. DEVIL TULIPS + DUSTY STAR + NATHAN HEWITT Mr

Boogie Man Bar, Abbottsford. 7:00pm.

HAPPY CAMPERS CLUB - FEAT: DAVIES WEST Caravan Music Club, Oakleigh. 6:30pm.

THE HIP JOINT - FEAT: ZEKT COLLECTIVE + BEE AMPERSAND + OLIVER FRANCIS + MORE Boney,

JANE CAMERON Wesley Anne, Northcote. 6:00pm. KALLIDAD Post Office Hotel, Coburg. 8:30pm. OPEN MIC NIGHT Drunken Poet, West Melbourne. 7:00pm. OPEN MIC NITE Inkerman Hotel, Balaclava. 7:30pm. SANTA TARANTA Spotted Mallard, Brunswick. 8:30pm. SARAH MARY CHADWICK + POPOLICE Catfish, Fitzroy.

THE NEW IMPROMPTU QUARTET Paris Cat Jazz Club,

SPARKS + THE DREAMER & THE LEMUR Sooki Lounge,

TIMBALERO THURSDAY La Di Da, Melbourne Cbd.

THE STRAY HENS Open Studio, Northcote. 8:00pm.

THE GOOD EGG THURSDAYS - FEAT: HENRY WHO + TIGERFUNK + LEWIS CANCUT Lucky Coq, Windsor. 7:00pm.

Melbourne Cbd. 9:00pm.

Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. $20.00. 9:00pm. $10.00.

9:00pm. $5.00.

Belgrave. 9:00pm. $10.00.

VAN WALKER + SHANE REILLY Labour In Vain, Fitzroy. 8:00pm.

Hamer Hall (arts Centre Melbourne), Southbank. 8:00pm. $30.00.

JO QUAIL Melbourne Recital Centre, Southbank.

FRIDAY 19 FEB BLAK GALA: SONGS BEHIND THE STORIES

7:00pm. $29.00.

JOEL HAVEA + BRADLEE JAY Grace Darling Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. $15.00.

TOBIAS HENEGEVELD

MALT & RYE + MARK COFFEY Dizzy’s Jazz Club, Richmond. 8:00pm. $10.00.

TH E RE TRE AT Tobias Hengeveld songs are rare and valuable stories, swaying between local landscapes and other-worldly themes. His steady-burning release The Daylight Express, is a celebrated work of rousing rock tunes, poignant riff-based reflections, and magnetic dark ballads. Support comes from folk singer/songwriter Nigel Wearne. Henegeveld will be playing at The Retreat Hotel on Thursday February 18. Free entry, doors at 8.30pm.

MELBOURNE IMPROVISERS COLLECTIVE Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy. 8:00pm.

MIDNIGHT EXPRESS - FEAT: PREQUEL + EDD FISHER Toff In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 10:00pm.

RUGCUTTERS - FEAT: LEIGH BARKER + MICHAEL MCQUAID Bella Union Bar, Carlton. 8:00pm. $17.00.

SPEAKEASY + FUNK RABBIT 303, Northcote. 7:00pm. THE CLICHÉS - FEAT: THE CLICHES Carters Bar,

UB40 + SLY & ROBBIE + INNER CIRCLE Palais Theatre, St

Northcote. 7:00pm.

Q&A

SHEBEEN As part of the inaugural Blak & Bright Victorian Indigenous Literary Festival, Blak Gala: Songs Behind The Stories, presents an evening of heartfelt musical performances. Comprising of tales behind the tunes, powerful and honest narratives, the event promises to connect country, community, family and more. Uncovering pitch-perfect musical perspectives – from the poignant to the playful, the night will be hosted by MC Tammy Anderson and features James Henry, Monica Weightman and Kutcha Edwards. Tickets are $20 for adult and $12 concession, available through the Blak & Bright website. Starts 8.30pm.

Kilda. 6:45pm. $98.00.

ALEX BELL Tell me about your latest single, The Mountain and the River. I wrote the song based on a poem by Pablo Neruda. It’s the first release for Borrowed Verse, which is a project that creates new songs from poems. You established Borrowed Verse in Brisbane, teaming up poets and musicians. What have you been involved with? It started out with local poets and singer/ songwriters, but since then I’ve connected with a number of artists interstate, including a great collaboration between Ben Salter and an Indigenous Queensland poet, Herb Wharton. We’ll be recording and releasing a number of these new songs. You’re putting on a Borrowed Verse tour over February/March. What artists will be involved at the Wesley Anne this Sunday? I’m pretty excited about the lineup. From the music side of things, Jessie L Warren (Halfshark, Half/Cut) and Dirt Hand will play sets, and two incredible poets are featuring: Matt Hetherington and also Maria Zajkowski. And lastly, what are your plans for the rest of 2016? I’m releasing my fourth album later this year, and also working with more artists on shows and collaborations for Borrowed Verse. ALEX BELL performs Sunday February 21 at the Wesley Anne as part of Borrowed Verse, alongside Dirt Hand, Jessie L Warren, Matt Hetherington and Maria Zajkowski.

COMING UP SUNDAY EVENINGS’ IN FEB

CAT CANTERI ‘LATE NIGHT’

EP LAUNCH RES

TUESDAYS IN FEBRUARY

FACT HUNT TRIVIA

CHEAP TACOS + $16 JUGS OF THUNDER RD

Hosted by RRR’s Tristen Harris, this is a comfortably dumb trivia for music fans and couch potatoes, no sport, no politics and no book-learnin’. QUIZ FROM 8PM - RESERVATIONS - samanda@spottedmallard.com NO COVER

WEDNESDAY 17TH FEBRUARY

COTTON CLUB

FT. MR BLACK & BLUES

BEGINNER BLUES SWING DANCE LESSONS FROM 7:30PM ($15 P/P) BANDS FROM 8:30PM, NO COVER CHARGE

THURSDAY 18TH FEBRUARY

SANTA TARANTA SHOW TIME 8:30PM, NO COVER CHARGE

FRIDAY 19TH FEBRUARY

DANE CERTIFICATE & HIS ORCHESTRA

NO COVER CHARGE, SHOW TIME 7:30PM WED 24TH FEB

VIN GARBUTT (UK) DOORS/DINNER 6PM, SHOW TIME 8:30PM PRE SALE $30 + bf

THURS 25TH FEB

DAVEY CRADDOCK (WA) & THE SPECTACLES + TIM EASTON (USA) DOORS/DINNER 6PM, SHOW TIME 8:00PM PRE SALE $15 +BF

‘BOX OF SMILES’ SHOWCASE + SPECIAL GUESTS

DOORS/DINNER 6PM, SHOWTIME 8:30PM

SATURDAY 20TH FEBRUARY

FRANKIE WANTS OUT 10TH BIRTHDAY SHOW

$8 Pints

DOORS/DINNER 6PM, SHOW TIME 8:30PM PRE SALE $20 + BF

sunDAY 21ST FEBRUARY NOLA SUNDAYS

THE GRUBS PERFORMING 2 X SETS FROM 5:00PM NO COVER CHARGE

SIZZLING SOUTHERN STYLE CHICKEN & AUTHENTIC NOLA COCKTAILS

Craft Beer

4pm-6pm Daily but Fridays 4pm-7pm KITCHEN HOURS Tues-Fri open 4pm Sat & Sun open 2pm

TICKETS

For ticket sales visit www.spottedmallard.com 314 Sydney Rd, Brunswick

B E AT.C O M . A U

BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 37

Q&A

FRANKIE WANTS OUT

Hey. Who are we speaking with and what’s your role in Frankie Wants Out? I’m Andy Coates and I sing in the band. You guys will be hitting up The Spotted Mallard on Saturday February 20 to celebrate your tenth anniversary. What can punters expect? Punters can expect a high-energy show and we are going to play as many crowd favourites as possible; including some of our very early songs from our first EP, The Melbourne Way. Ten years is a mighty long time. How has your sound developed since your incarnation way back in ‘06? I think we have all become more mature and better musicians and our sets are always tight; we used to be far more relaxed and loose. What’s the best show you’ve played in your ten years of activity? When we supported Cherry Poppin’ Daddies at the Corner Hotel; it was one of those shows where everything just goes right. The crowd was amazing and we played really well. Also a lot of people knew our lyrics so they sang along. That’s a really nice feeling. You started off by playing at small jazz joints on Smith St and eventually went on to be recognised nationally. How has Melbourne’s music scene changed since the early days? It’s strange to see so many live music venues close/ change over the years, but it is also nice to see so many new venues open. Cover charges are more expensive and social media plays a huge part in promotion, but apart from that the same principles apply; good bands get good gigs. FRANKIE WANTS OUT are celebrating their tenth anniversary at The Spotted Mallard on Saturday February 20.

GIG GUIDE COSMO’S MIDNIGHT

H OWL E R Last year saw a number of milestones for Cosmo’s Midnight, including debuting a new live outfit to massive success at the OutsideIn Festival and hitting number one with their track Snare ft. Wild Eyed Boy. The duo has been taking their distinctive brand of hyper-real and sparkle-saturated dance music to the next level. Their Moments EP is a mash of crosscultural influence, innovative production styles and imagination beyond compare. Catering for the new pop generation, the project is making waves in the electronic music landscape. Kucka will be supporting, with doors at 9pm. Tickets via the venue for $20.

30 DEEP (THE FINAL SHOWDOWN) - FEAT: DAMAJAH + ELFTANZPORTER + TUMI & DAM PROUD + NHATTY MAN + MORE 24 Moons, Northcote. 8:30pm. BOSSA NIGHTS - FEAT: DARIUS & NOEL MENDOZA + DJ JUAN + DJ NAS Osti, Prahran. 7:00pm. CYNDI BOSTE Drunken Poet, West Melbourne. 8:30pm. DANE CERTIFICATE & HIS ORCHESTRA Spotted Mallard,

Brunswick. 6:00pm. $10.00.

FAT FREDDY’S DROP Forum Theatre, Melbourne Cbd.

TRACY MCNEIL & THE GOODLIFE

ALPINE

MASHAKA Dizzy’s Jazz Club, Richmond. 9:00pm.

EINSTEINS TOYBOYS + ROADHOUSE Musicland, Fawkner.

MIRIAM PULTRO (DARK NIGHT OF DESIRE) Club Voltaire, North Melbourne. 9:00pm. $15.00.

EMPAT LIMA + THE SHABBAB + GREGOR + MILK TEDDY + GIRL CRAZY John Curtin Hotel, Carlton. 8:00pm.

Jazz Club, Melbourne Cbd. 7:00pm. $25.00.

FINISHING SCHOOL Bella Union Bar, Carlton. 9:30pm.

Bar, Rye. 7:30pm. $10.00.

GRAEME JAMES + GREAT EARTHQUAKE + HELLO SATELLITES Grace Darling Hotel, Collingwood.

T H E P O S T O FFI C E H OT EL Tracy McNeil and her band The GoodLife, present a fresh new sound that infuses her Canadian roots with the heart and grit of Melbourne’s thriving alt country scene. Rumour has it they’ll be road-testing some new material from their highly anticipated new release for those in attendance. Two sets from 9.30pm with free entry. $16.00.

MOVEMENT 9 (MUSIC OF AMY WINEHOUSE) Paris Cat RIGIDY ROURKE & THE LOVE DOGS Baha Tacos & Tapas SAN LAZARO + DE LA CALLE Bar Open, Fitzroy. 9:30pm. SLEAZY LISTENING - FEAT: ARKS + RICHARD KELLY + HYSTERIC + K HOOP Toff In Town, Melbourne Cbd.

$10.00.

7:30pm. $20.00.

HA THE UNCLEAR + THE FINKS + JESSIE L WARREN Tote

$30.00.

(essendon), Essendon. 10:00pm.

Greenwood Loft, Fitzroy. 10:00pm.

THE BREADMAKERS + THE NAYSAYERS The Luwow,

Fitzroy. 8:00pm.

Melbourne Cbd. 9:00pm.

$10.00.

Hotel, Collingwood. 9:00pm. $10.00.

THE BILLIE ELLA & LOUIS SHOW - FEAT: TRICIA EVY + DAN BARNETT Paris Cat Jazz Club, Melbourne Cbd. 8:30pm.

I LUV MY RADIO - FEAT: DJ TONES Blue Diamond,

7:30pm. $10.00.

5:00pm.

8:00pm. $69.90.

FUNKY MUNKY - FEAT: KDJ + DEXTRUS + ZANNA

E STON I AN HOUSE Sublime pop icons Alpine are set to play a one-off show at Estonian House on Friday February 19. The six-piece Melbourne outfit combine the vocal prowess of dual frontwomen Phoebe Baker and Lou James, to create sophisticated yet dreamy pop tunes. Alpine will be supported by Dorsal Fins and Leisure Suite. Doors at 7pm, tickets via the venue.

JOEL HAMLIN Reverence Hotel, Footscray. 8:00pm. JUNGAL + TIM’S MYTH Retreat Hotel, Brunswick.

9:30pm.

LOONEE TUNES Sooki Lounge, Belgrave. 9:30pm.

HELEN RYDER Dog’s Bar, St Kilda. 9:00pm. HEY HEY IT’S FRIDAY - FEAT: ASTRO BOYS Royal Hotel

SOUL, REGGAE AND SKA DJS

THE REVE REN CE HOTE L The Reverence are re-launching Friday’s in the Front Bar this February, bringing out their favourite DJs to play you the very best of soul, reggae and ska. Adopted resident Joe Hamlin will be taking the reigns for the night. No cash-dollar needed, just bring your squad and maybe some beer money. From 8pm until late.

INTO THE MYSTIC (THE MUSIC OF VAN MORRISON)

EASY BROWNS TRUCKSTOP CHICKEN JAM BAND

Thornbury Theatre, Thornbury. 7:00pm. $30.00.

WH OL E LOT TA LOV E If you’re looking for the right band to get down and groove to, Easy Browns Truckstop Chicken Jam Band has got you covered. Featuring high-energy, fun as funk live tunes you’d kill your first born for, it’s a movement you don’t want to miss out on. Join them and Elusive, The Murks and BlackPink from 8pm for a measly $7.

JON ENGLISH + PETER CUPPLES Flying Saucer Club,

WHITE BLEACHES

T H E WO R K E R S C LU B After taking a few months off to record, White Bleaches are back to play The Workers Club with good mates The Shakes and Slow Driver. White Bleaches have been making some serious noise on the music scene with their surf garage inspired rock and are in the process of putting together an EP. With The Shakes and Slow Driver on board, its going to be full tilt cracker of a night. So if you want to have your ears torn apart by some loud garage psych rock come down and enjoy the show. Doors at 8.30pm, entry is $5.

Elsternwick. 6:00pm. $30.00.

KUCHI KOPI + TOM PRETTYS Karova Lounge, Ballarat. 8:30pm. $6.00.

LA DANSE MACABRE + BRUNSWICK MASSIVE RESIDENT DJS Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy. 9:00pm. LAMA Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East. 9:30pm. LOS MAS ALTOS + EAT THE DAMN ORANGE + SUPER SALOON + CHIA CITIZENS Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick.

9:00pm.

THE STEVE MAGNUSSON TRIO Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy. 8:00pm.

THE STRETCHROPOLITANS Paris Cat Jazz Club,

Melbourne Cbd. 9:30pm. $20.00.

THE WIKIMEN Open Studio, Northcote. 8:30pm. $10.00. TRADITIONAL IRISH MUSIC SESSION Drunken Poet,

West Melbourne. 6:00pm.

VOYAGE TO THE MOON Melbourne Recital Centre, Southbank. 7:30pm. $54.00.

WHAT THE FUNK FRIDAYS Purple Emerald, Northcote. 9:00pm.

ALFI ROCKER TRIO Inkerman Hotel, Balaclava. 8:00pm. BEAST FEAST (DAY ONE) - FEAT: HITS + BITTER SWEET KICKS + VAN WALKER & THE HEART BROKERS + JAMES MCCANN & THE NEW VINDICTIVES + MORE Tote Hotel,

Collingwood. 7:00pm. $18.00.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER Ascot Vale Hotel, Ascot Vale.

8:00pm.

BIG LEAGUE + THE STEAMING JEANS + OLD ETIQUETTES Catfish, Fitzroy. 9:00pm.

CAPTAIN SPALDING Customs House Hotel, Williamstown. 9:30pm.

CERES + THE PRETTY LITTLES + SLOWLY SLOWLY + MAX QUINN’S ONOMATOPENIS Northcote Social Club, Northcote. 8:30pm. $12.00.

COLLINGWOOD OPEN - FEAT: OH MERCY + THE OCEAN PARTY + GABRIELLA COHEN Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. $22.00.

BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 38

MATT GLASS AND THE LOOSE CANNONS

THE B.E AST Matt Glass broke out onto the music scene with his debut album Famous Last Words in 2011, with the single Setting Sun leaping to number one on the triple j Unearthed roots charts. His 2014 record The Spaces In Between, features Matt Glass’ gentle vulnerability, with instinctive songwriting that evokes the likes of Josh Pyke and Whitley. Album single The Last Time is both soulful and bittersweet, peppered with an alt-country undertone reminiscent of Johnny Cash. Support comes from Sean Kirkwood who entwines his love of blues and folk, to deliver a unique performance of lush, acoustic melodies. Don’t miss ‘em at 9.30pm.

MELBOURNE ZOO TWILIGHTS - FEAT: JEBEDIAH + GLENN RICHARDS Melbourne Zoo, Parkville. 5:30pm. $55.00. OHMS + STAY SHARP + KILLERBIRDS + RADIO WONTON Grace Darling Hotel, Collingwood. 9:00pm. $8.00.

PETER DICKYBIRD 303, Northcote. 8:00pm. SAVE THE DOGS FUNDRAISER - FEAT: 1/6 + VYTAL ONE + CHICHO JOHNSTON + BARONE Laundry Bar, Fitzroy.

9:00pm. $10.00.

SUMMER BLOOD + GRIM RHYTHM + MARICOPA WELLS + DIANA RADAR Old Bar, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. $10.00. THE RIPCHORDS Club Italia Sporting Club , St Albans.

CONTRAST + HOLLOW EVERDAZE + MIRIS + BRAD POT + NATALIE HAYDEN Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $10.00. DYLANESQUE The Who Club, Warburton. 8:30pm.

8:00pm. $5.00.

EASY BROWN’S TRUCKSTOP CHICKEN JAM BAND + ELUSIVE + THE MURKS + BLACKPINK Whole Lotta Love,

THE STIFFYS The Loft, Warrnambool. 8:00pm. TINA ARENA Hamer Hall (arts Centre Melbourne),

THE SIGN OF FOUR + GRAVEMIND + DIAMOND CONSTRUCT + OF DIVINITY + DESPISED + CROOKED PATH Reverence

$10.00.

Hotel, Footscray. 7:00pm. $10.00.

Brunswick East. 8:00pm. $7.00.

Southbank. 7:00pm.

B E AT.C O M . A U

This Week:

WEDNESDAY 17 FEBRUARY - 7PM $12

DAN MELCHIOR SOLO AND ART SHOW

HEIROPHANTS, EXEK VACUUM, PALM SPRINGS COMFORT CASSETTES DJS THURSDAY 18 FEBRUARY - 8PM $8

KARLI WHITE - LAUNCH SECOND SIGHT, HALTEVER GOLDEN SYRUP

FRIDAY 19 FEBRUARY - 8:30PM $10

SUMMER BLOOD - LAUNCH GRIM RHYTHM, MARICOPA WELLS DIANA RADAR

SATURDAY 20 FEBRUARY - 8:30PM $10

LITTLE DESERT

HOWL AT THE MOON, HI TEC EMOTIONS SUNDAY 21ST FEBRUARY - 8PM $6

BEERS OAKED SUNDAYS:

THE SUGARCANES

LINCOLN LE FEVRE & THE INSIDERS THEE CHA CHA CHAS SUNDAY ARVO - 3PM FREE

JESS PARKER, ALISTER TURRIL MONDAY 22ND FEBRUARY - 8PM $5

MUNDANE MONDAYS:

PUSSY JUICE

PURE SHIT, SUDDEN PLEASURES TUESDAY 23RD FEBRUARY - 7PM $6

ART & NOISE - OPENING DIECUT, SHADOWFEET PLUM GREEN, AGONHYM

$10 JUGS MON - SAT UNTIL 7PM, ALL NIGHT SUNDAY $5 CANS ALL THE TIME 74 JOHNSTON ST, FITZROY | ph. 9417 4155

theoldbar.com.au OPEN 4PM - 3AM MON-FRI 2PM - 3AM SAT-SUN

Q&A

LOS MAS ALTOS Define your genre in five words or less. Latin American 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? “These guys are awesome. They sing in Spanish and the energy of their music is so good I just want to dance.” How long have you been gigging and writing? We have been gigging in Melbourne for seven years, we play covers of the songs we grew up with while living in Latin America. What has been your favourite gig you’ve played to date? The Mexican festival at Federation Square in front of about 500 people. Which band would you most like to have a battle/ showdown with? Santana. What inspires or has influenced your music the most? The Latin American rhythms and how that combines with rock music to make an interesting sound. What do you think a band has to do these days to succeed? Be genuine, don’t take themselves too seriously, have fun and be good musicians. Why should everyone come and see your band? Because there really isn’t anything like us in Melbourne. LOS MAS ALTOS are playing at The Brunswick Hotel on Friday February 19.

BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 40

GIG GUIDE TOOTH & TUSK

T H E G R AC E DA R LI NG TOOTH & TUSK have been turning heads after a steady slog of performing and recording over 2015. Following the success of their first two singles, they have now released a third, disco-fuelled track, Never Going Back, which has already garnered positive reviews. To celebrate, TOOTH & TUSK will be performing a launch show at The Grace Darling, with supports from psych rockers The Dead Heir, the raw and powerful BATZ, and new kid on the block William Van Der Vliet. Expect a raucous garage dance party. Doors 8pm, entry $12.

RAURY

ANDY WHITE & THE BAND OF GOLD + CAROLINE NO Open

H OWL E R Atlanta-bred Raury is a 19-year-old prodigy, known for his fusion of folk and hip hop flavours. This year he was invited as a special guest on A$AP Rocky’s national tour, following his standout performances at Laneway in 2015. The self-proclaimed ‘Indigo Child’ has graced the stages of some of the world’s premier music festivals including Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Sasquatch and Melt! Festival. Raury’s energetic, on stage charisma has seen him perform in the past with giant acts such as Childish Gambino, Kid Cudi, Outkast and Kanye. Doors are at 8pm, tickets are $40 via the venue.

SAN LAZARO Open Studio, Northcote. 8:30pm. SHANTY TOWN Union Hotel , Brunswick. 9:00pm. SIN FRONTERA + KALLIDAD Sooki Lounge, Belgrave.

9:00pm.

SUMMER CARNIVAL - FEAT: JOSHUA WEILERSTEIN + DALE BARLTROP Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne. 7:30pm.

TARA MINTON (LONDON BY NIGHT) + JOANNE O’CALLAGHAN + EMMA CLAIR FORD Rising Sun Hotel,

South Melbourne. 8:00pm. $30.00.

THE BLEEDING FLARES Baha Tacos & Tapas Bar, Rye. 7:30pm. $10.00.

THE DAVIDSON BROTHERS + IAKI & THE HITS The B.east, Brunswick East. 12:00pm.

THE EIGHTY 88S + THE STEAMING JEANS + OLD ETIQUETTES Catfish, Fitzroy. 9:00pm. ALL OR NOTHING Ascot Vale Hotel, Ascot Vale. 8:00pm.

Studio, Northcote. 5:00pm. $10.00.

BANG - FEAT: MODERN DATING + ADVOCATES + HAVOC Royal Melbourne Hotel, Melbourne Cbd. 10:00pm. $20.00.

BEAST FEAST (DAY TWO) - FEAT: SIX FT HICK + RON PENO & THE SUPERSTITIONS + THE HOLY SOUL + SHIFTING SANDS + MORE Tote Hotel, Collingwood. 7:00pm.

$18.00.

BURIED FEATHER + BLACK HEART DEATH CULT Retreat

Hotel, Brunswick. 9:30pm.

CROWNED KINGS + VICIOUS CYCLE + GANBARU + RUST PROOF + MORE Bendigo Hotel, Collingwood. 8:00pm. $15.00.

DALLAS CRANE Corner Hotel, Richmond. 8:30pm. $20.00. DREAM A HIGHWAY - FEAT: GILLIAN WELCH + DAVE RAWLINGS MACHINE + WILLIE WATSON + HAAS KOWERT

FRANKIE WANTS OUT

T H E S P OT T E D M A LL A R D Frankie Wants Out are a nine-piece, gangster-swingjazz outfit, who have been making music in Melbourne and across Australia for the past ten years. In late 2005, the band started off by playing small jazz joints on Smith St, Fitzroy. Over the years, they have built a national following after playing several tours and festivals, in addition to supporting the US swing legends Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Cherry Poppin’ Daddies. With two EPs (The Melbourne Way & Trouble) and an LP (Prohibition) under their belts, the band is excited to be celebrating their ten-year anniversary in style, with a huge show at the Spotted Mallard. Support from Zoe K, 8.30pm on the door. Tickets are $20.

B E AT.C O M . A U

THE CHARGE

WHOL E LOT TA LOVE Grunge cats The Charge are taking over Whole Lotta Love off the back of their 2015 album Order of the Owl. To kick off the night The Charge will be joined by special guests Shannon Trottman and Will Heine (Debase/Bugdust) and Errin Kelly (Bottle of Smoke) playing acoustic sets. Doors are at 8pm with tickets priced at just $10.

TICE + JOY + HEIN COOPER Festival Hall, West Melbourne. 6:00pm. $76.20.

GIRL FRIDAY Edinburgh Castle, Brunswick. 5:00pm. GRUDGE! + HAILGUN + DISPARO + CHRISTCRUSHER + CABIN FEVER + MORBID ANAL + METH LEPPARD + DRAINLIFE + ROT Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick. 8:00pm. HA THE UNCLEAR + TRASH FAIRYS The Eastern, Ballarat East. 8:00pm. $10.00.

HOLY MOSES HEARTACHE + RUBY WHITING + HEAD CLOUDS Toff In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 7:30pm.

$15.00.

ICEHOUSE Palais Theatre, St Kilda. 7:30pm. $85.00. JAMAICA JUMP-UP #11 - FEAT: JESSE I + STRYKA D + MOHAIR SLIM + MISS BROWN + MORE Gasometer Hotel,

Collingwood. 9:00pm. $15.00.

KATE MILLER-HEIDKE + AYLA Estonian House,

Brunswick West. 7:30pm. $50.00.

KRISTY COOTE + TYRONE NOONAN Thornbury Theatre, Thornbury. 7:00pm. $20.00.

LEAVING HOME Black Hatt, Geelong. 8:00pm. LITTLE DESERT + HOWL AT THE MOON + HI-TEC EMOTIONS Old Bar, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $10.00.

LAMB BOULEVARD

THE WORKERS CLUB Folk foursome Lamb Boulevard will be launching the freshly recorded single Here We Go, which follows the success of their recent EP Humble Beginnings. Blending influences of roots and indie, the Bacchus March lads may be new to the scene, but they possess an impressive level of quiet confidence. Supports for the matinee show include VanderAa and Wally Howlett. Starts at 1pm, tickets $15 on the door.

GIG GUIDE MESA COSA Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy. 2:00am. $7.00. MICK PEALING & MAL EASTICK (THE SONGS OF ANDY DURANT & STARS) Flying Saucer Club, Elsternwick.

8:40pm. $28.00.

NATURE TRAILS + MAKE MORE + RAD ISLAND + CROPROT Reverence Hotel, Footscray. 8:00pm. $10.00.

OSAKA PUNCH + JERICCO + ACOLYTE & THE SOULENIKOES W4, Melbourne. 7:00pm. $20.00. PLINI + HEAVY METAL NINJAS + TERAMAZE Northcote

Social Club, Northcote. 8:30pm. $18.00.

ROB HIRST & SEAN SENNET + THE NEW ORIGINALS + BONES ATLAS + FIFTH FRIEND Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 5:00pm. $13.00.

ROCKET SCIENCE + SECOND SIGHT + TIME FOR DREAMS + SOW DISCORD Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy. 1:00pm. $12.00. SATURDAYS R COVERED - FEAT: RADIO STAR Royal Hotel

(essendon), Essendon. 10:00pm.

SECRET VALLEY - FEAT: LEFTFIELD + BRAND NEW HEAVIES + RONE + LUKE VIBERT + PARRA FOR CUVA + MORE Yarra

STEPHEN CUMMINGS Caravan Music Club, Oakleigh. 8:00pm. $28.00.

THE GUILTS Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 5:00pm. THE IVORY ELEPHANT Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy. 9:30pm. THE WOODLAND HUNTERS Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford. 7:00pm.

WHIPPER + TOMMY T. & THE CLASSICAL MISHAPS Tote Hotel, Collingwood. 5:00pm.

SUNDAY 21 FEB GRETTA RAY

P OS T OF F I C E H OT E L The young and talented Gretta Ray is an indie pop songstress who has been gaining some serious momentum of late, with her combination of quirky anecdotes and faultless melodies. The 17-year-old will be dedicating the upcoming show to the launch of her recent EP Elsewhere. Two sets starting at 4.30pm, free entry.

THE ATTICS + BLACKWOOD JACK The Loft,

3 EMOJIS Ascot Vale Hotel, Ascot Vale. 8:00pm. AINSLIE WILLS + RAT & CO DJS National Gallery Of

THE LOVELY DAYS + GREEVES + INTZU + DJ HUSSEY

ALBERT HAMMOND JNR Corner Hotel, Richmond.

Valley Estate, Dixons Creek. 12:00pm. $86.90.

Warrnambool. 8:00pm.

Workers Club, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. $5.00.

Victoria, Melbourne. 1:00pm. 8:00pm.

THE NEW YORKS + ELECTIC EXILES 303, Northcote.

ALTIYAN CHILDS & THE NEW REBELLION + SARA JANE

THE SHOT GLASSES Inkerman Hotel, Balaclava. 8:00pm. TNNL CNTS + KISSING BOOTH + BENNYLAVA + SLOWLY SLOWLY + MORE John Curtin Hotel, Carlton. 8:00pm.

BAJA BLEEDERS + LIVING EARTH SOUND SESSIONS + SAINT HENRY + MORE Bendigo Hotel, Collingwood. 6:00pm. BRIAN EL DORADO & THE TUESDAY PEOPLE + ATIVANDAL + THE ELEMENTALS Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cbd.

8:00pm.

$12.00.

VIOLET SWELLS Penny Black, Brunswick. 9:30pm. ELJKO BEBEK Max Watt’s, Melbourne. 8:00pm. $60.00. ANNA CORDELL Charles Weston Hotel, Brunswick. 6:30pm. CHRIS PICKERING BAND Union Hotel , Brunswick.

5:00pm.

EXILE (SONGS & TALES OF IRISH AUSTRALIA) - FEAT: PAUL KELLY + SHANE HOWARD + PAULINE SCANLON + MORE Hamer Hall (arts Centre Melbourne), Southbank. 7:00pm. $65.00.

HAYHOE Gem Bar, Collingwood. 7:00pm. IMOGEN PEMBERTON Wesley Anne, Northcote. 6:00pm. KARAOKE WITH ZOE Customs House Hotel,

Williamstown. 9:00pm.

MELBOURNE ZOO TWILIGHTS - FEAT: MARK SEYMOUR & THE UNDERTOW + BEN SALTER Melbourne Zoo,

Parkville. 5:30pm. $60.00.

MUSTERED COURAGE Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 12:30pm.

PHEASANT PLUCKERS Drunken Poet, West Melbourne.

9:00pm.

ROB SNARSKI Grandview Hotel, Fairfield. 7:00pm.

$10.00.

SHANE DIIORIO BLUES BAND Brunswick Hotel,

Brunswick. 5:00pm.

303, Northcote. 6:00pm. $20.00.

6:30pm.

CAT CANTERI Spotted Mallard, Brunswick. 7:30pm. COLD IRONS BOUND Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 5:00pm. FEAR LIKE US + JESS LOCKE + NATHAN SEECKTS + NICK FERRETTI Reverence Hotel, Footscray. 4:00pm. GREAT EARTHQUAKE The Eastern, Ballarat East.

PUGSLEY BUZZARD

T H E D R U NK E N P O E T Pugsley Buzzard is a consummate artist performing hundreds of shows every year. From the jazz cellars of Berlin, to downtown New Orleans, Pugsley has dazzled audiences far and wide with his unique brand of piano driven boogie and blazing stride. Pugsley plays The Drunken Poet from 4pm, Sunday February 21. 2:30pm. $28.00.

OVERBOARD ROCK N ROLL BOAT PARTY - FEAT: DALLAS FRASCA + THE BENNIES + TEQUILA MOCKINGBYRD + MORE Victoria Star, Docklands. 12:30pm. $49.00. PLANET 80S - FEAT: DJ NUKLEOPATRA + REWIND 80S BAND Rubix Warehouse, Brunswick. 8:00pm. $15.00. PVBLO + MONDEGREEN + THE HYPNOTIC + FRYERS Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $10.00.

RADIO MOSCOW + KINGS DESTROY + HOLY SERPENT + A BASKET FULL OF MAMMOTHS Karova Lounge, Ballarat.

7:30pm. $30.00.

REECE MASTIN + ALYS FFION St Kilda Memo, St Kilda. 3:00pm. $23.00.

FEAR LIKE US

THE REVERENCE Folk punk five-piece Fear Like Us are back for another month, after recently announcing a new album due for release in May this year. Having just dropped their first single The Lowest Form Of Love last week, anticipation is high. Fear Like Us will be playing some new and old tunes in the Front Bar, accompanied by Jess Locke, Nathan Seeckts and Nick Ferretti. Free entry and an early start at 4pm.

SECRET VALLEY - FEAT: LEFTFIELD + BRAND NEW HEAVIES + RONE + LUKE VIBERT + PARRA FOR CUVA + MORE Yarra Valley Estate, Dixons Creek. 12:00pm. $86.90.

THE FAQS + BEYOND VEGAS + JULES FOX & THE HYPOTHETICAL PARTICLES Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick. 8:00pm.

HABITS + MARTIN KING + PILLOW PRO Evelyn Hotel,

THE SUGARCANES + LINCOLN LE FEVRE & THE INSIDERS + THEE CHA CHA CHAS Old Bar, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. $6.00. AJAK KWAI 303, Northcote. 3:30pm. $10.00. BIG BAND FREQUENCY Wesley Anne, Northcote.

JAM AT MUSICLAND SUNDAYS Musicland, Fawkner.

DANY MAIA + TUMANDUA Open Studio, Northcote.

3:00pm. $5.00.

Fitzroy. 2:00pm. $10.00. 7:30pm.

KARATE ELVIS The B.east, Brunswick East. 2:00pm. MICK PEALING & MAL EASTICK (THE SONGS OF ANDY DURANT & STARS) Flying Saucer Club, Elsternwick.

BORROWED VERSE

WE SL E Y A NNE This Sunday marks the first stop for Borrowed Verse’s 2016 east coast tour. Featuring sets from a collection of acclaimed musicians and poets, the show will premiere a series of new collaborations and launch the project’s first single, The Mountain and the River, a Pablo Neruda poem adapted by Alex Bell. Artists set to play include Alex Bell, Dirt Hand, Jessie L Warren, Matt Hetherington and Maria Zajkowski. Entry is 7.30pm and tickets are $10 on the door.

Q&A

2:00pm. $5.00.

8:00pm.

FAIRFIELD SUMMER SERIES (HEATWAVE) - FEAT: COOKIN’ ON 3 BURNERS + EMMA DONOVAN & THE PUTBACKS + CHRIS GILL Fairfield Amphitheatre, 5:00pm. FAT FREDDY’S DROP Forum Theatre, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. $69.90.

FRENCH RESISTANCE Milano’s Tavern, Brighton. 7:00pm.

BAJA BLEEDERS

T H E B E ND I G O Baja Bleeders are a two-piece surf punk band from Adelaide who are ready to take a swing at Melbourne for their debut Victorian show. They’ll be joined for the evening by good friends, reggae/alt rap collective Living Earth Sound Sessions, Saint Henry and Garage Rockers Chief Protagonist. Doors are at 5pm.

B E AT.C O M . A U

THE OUTSIDE INN Hi there. Who am I talking to and what do you do in The Outside Inn? This is Matt. I go by Blue Moon. I’m a singer/ songwriter, producer and audio engineer. I drive the spaceship. What made you draw together your wicked fusion of hip hop, electronic and neo-soul? Natural progression. Like any artist our influences come through in our music. A Lot Can Change is an example of some places we draw from, but more importantly where we’re at with our own voice. Lets talk about that single, A Lot Can Change. What’s the message you’re trying to push with that track in particular? Change through consciousness. Knowing that the external world can be influenced by your inner world and vice versa. The world we live in is sick and we can’t change it positively by thinking negatively about what ails it. It’s challenging the self to be the change it wants to see, hopeful for the better. Thematically, will the release of your Inntro EP be delivering more messages? Inntro is about introspection. It’s an aural expression of some our deepest thoughts and processes that have carried us to this point. It’s through introspection that we connect with Self and thus all that is. Facing fears, speaking your truth and developing your own voice are constant reminders to self and others. What can fans expect for Inntro’s launch at The Toff In Town? Impact. Bass. Energy. The single launch will be on another level. We’re about progress. We’re about gratitude. THE OUTSIDE INN are playing at The Toff In Town on Thursday February 18.

STANDING TALL Open Studio, Northcote. 4:30pm. SUMMER SOUL SESSIONS - FEAT: HYJINX Continental

Hotel Sorrento, Sorrento. 3:00pm.

SUNDAY SOUL SESSIONS Purple Emerald, Northcote. 9:00pm.

THE CRAVE Dog’s Bar, St Kilda. 8:00pm. THE STEVE MARTINS Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East. 9:00pm.

ZILLANOVA + KELSEY JAMES Retreat Hotel, Brunswick.

7:30pm.

ANDY BAYLORS’ BANKSIA BAND Lomond Hotel,

Brunswick East. 5:30pm.

BENNY PETERS BLUES REVIEW Gem Bar, Collingwood. 7:00pm.

BENNY PETERS BLUES REVUE Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy. 4:00pm.

BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 41

Q&A

GIG GUIDE

The Push

BOB HUTCHINSON TRIO Edinburgh Castle, Brunswick.

5:00pm.

PRESENT

BORROWED VERSE Wesley Anne, Northcote. 7:30pm. $10.00.

CHEEZ & CHALK + TESS & THE TOM KATZ + MINNIE ME Mr Boogie Man Bar, Abbottsford. 8:00pm.

DAY OF CLINT + SAVI BOMB + MOTORMAN + UNDERGROUND Bar Open, Fitzroy. 6:30pm. ELWOOD BLUES CLUB Prince Public Bar, St Kilda .

8:00pm.

WHITE BLEACHES So then, what’s the band name and what do you ‘do’ in the band? White Bleaches. I try to sing and I also try to play guitar. What do you reckon people will say you sound like? We’ve had people say Allah-las or Black Lips. What do you love about making music? Playing music with mates is the best part about making music for sure. What do you hate about the music industry? Nothing really. wWe aren’t deep enough in it to see any underbellies yet. If you could travel back in time and show one of your musical heroes your stuff, who would it be and why? I’d travel back and see Whitney Houston. I’d ask her to hold me in her arms and sing The Bodyguard song. If you could assassinate one person or band from popular music, who would it and why? Probably Mariah Carey so we could strap some fake boobs on our chest and trick James Packer into giving us money. What can a punter expect from your live show? You will have to come down next week and suss it yourselves. WHITE BLEACHES are playing at the Workers Club with The Shakes and Slow Driver on Friday February 19.

FAT COUSIN SKINNY Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford. 7:00pm. GREG WALSH Pera, Brighton. 2:00pm. GRETTA RAY Post Office Hotel, Coburg. 4:30pm. JACKSON MCCLAREN Wesley Anne, Northcote. 5:00pm. JAZ DELOREAN Labour In Vain, Fitzroy. 5:00pm. JEMMA NICOLE + LEVITATING CHURCHES + RUBY KUBETZ Tote Hotel, Collingwood. 5:00pm.

JESS PARKER Old Bar, Fitzroy. 3:00pm. KELLY AUTY + WAYNE JURY Big Huey’s Diner, South Melbourne. 4:00pm.

KRISTY COOTE + TYRONE NOONAN Toff In Town, Melbourne Cbd. 7:00pm. $20.00.

LARGE NUMBER 12S Royal Oak Hotel, Fitzroy North. 4:00pm.

LUKE AUSTEN Drunken Poet, West Melbourne. 6:30pm. MICHELLE GARDINER Customs House Hotel,

Williamstown. 3:00pm.

MOOSEJAW RIFLE CLUB Standard Hotel, Fitzroy.

7:00pm.

NAKED + FAYE SOFT + ORLANDO FURIOUS + SWEET WHIRL Grace Darling Hotel, Collingwood. 6:00pm. $10.00.

NICK HADGELIS Union Hotel , Brunswick. 3:30pm. PUGSLEY BUZZARD Drunken Poet, West Melbourne.

4:00pm.

ROCK N RIOT Inkerman Hotel, Balaclava. 4:00pm. ROCKBOTTOM JAMES + QUADRAJET + DJ MAX CRAWDADDY Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 3:00pm. $5.00.

SMALL TOWN ROMANCE Union Hotel , Brunswick.

Q&A

5:00pm.

STEPHEN CUMMINGS Caravan Music Club, Oakleigh. 3:00pm. $28.00.

SUNDAY SESSIONS - FEAT: VARIOUS ARTISTS Lucky Coq, Windsor. 4:00pm.

THE GRUBS Spotted Mallard, Brunswick. 5:00pm. TIM MORRISON + TOMMY KENDE Albert And Sydney,

Brunswick. 4:00pm.

TOBY GRAHAM + PIQUE + LARA TRAVIS + ALEX CAMERON Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy. 2:00pm. $6.00.

OSHIN What do you reckon people will say you sound like? We’ve been told that we sound like a mixture of Fleet Foxes and Mumford & Sons. But, we’ve also been told we have a very unique sound compared to other bands. What do you love about making music? Making music allows us to artistically and musically share our deepest thoughts to a crowd and draw them in with a sound that is unique and different to today’s popular music. We love seeing a crowd’s reaction to one of our songs. If you could travel back in time and show one of your musical heroes your stuff, who would it be and why? We would go to George Harrison as our music in the first stage is quite similar to his, but as we progress through the making of the piece we would show him how much the sound has been changed but still similar. If you could assassinate one person or band from popular music, who would it be and why? We would assassinate Kanye for singing Bohemian Rhapsody live and for wanting to make a Bowie tribute album. What can a punter expect from your live show? A punter can expect the most entertaining show and the odd AC/DC cover they probably weren’t expecting at all. OSHIN are playing at The Brunswick Hotel on the Thursday February 18 alongside Eric Benz, Balter Vada and Tobiahs. BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 42

THE SWORD

M A X WAT T ’S Austin heavy metal legends The Sword are making their highly anticipated return to Australia this week, hitting up Max Watt’s on Monday February 22. The Sword are a force to be reckoned with. These legends have supported Metallica and performed at the 2011 and 2013 Soundwave Festivals, but this little visit will mark their first headline tour Down Under. Shit yeah. Catch them on Monday February 22 at Max Watt’s with American Sharks and Clowns.

SLIPPER + MUNKI 303, Northcote. 8:00pm. PAUL GREENE Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford. 7:00pm.

TUESDAY 23 FEB THE SWORD DJ’S

C H E R RY B A R Warlock Rock exponents The Sword, are gearing up to headline both Rolling Thunder Fest and Max Watts. In the meantime, they’re bringing their favourite wax to Cherry Bar. The night will host a lineup of local stoner-sludge-psych-metal-rock, care of dope supports Fuck The Fitzroy Doom Scene, Watchtower and Weedy Gonzales. $5 entry and doors at 6pm.

ANNA’S GO-GO ACADEMY Bella Union Bar, Carlton.

6:30pm. $10.00.

BLACK MOLASSES + KARATE BOOGALOO Evelyn Hotel,

Fitzroy. 9:30pm. $5.00.

MANDEK PENHA + CHAOS MAGNET + LUIS Workers Club, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. $10.00.

MONTEVERDI’S VESPERS - FEAT: CONCERTO ITALIANO Melbourne Recital Centre, Southbank. 7:30pm. $89.00.

RICHMOND MUSIC ACADEMY Dizzy’s Jazz Club, Richmond. 6:30pm. $9.00.

COLLINGWOOD OPEN - FEAT: SMILE + TOURIST DOLLARS + SCOTDRAKULA + PALM SPRINGS Gasometer Hotel,

Collingwood. 7:00pm.

COLOURING CATS Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick. 8:00pm. DIECUT + SHADOWFEET + PLUM GREEN + AGONHYM Old

Bar, Fitzroy. 7:00pm. $6.00.

DOC HALIBUT Retreat Hotel, Brunswick. 8:30pm. GUNNS Shebeen, Melbourne Cbd. 7:30pm. $8.00. THE SWORD + F*CK THE FITZROY DOOM SCENE + WATCHTOWER + WEEDY GONZALES Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. $5.00.

MONDAY 22 FEB CHERRY JAM Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cbd. 8:00pm. KALLIDAD Open Studio, Northcote. 8:00pm. KATEY BROOKS + DAMON SMITH Retreat Hotel,

Brunswick. 8:30pm.

MONDAY NIGHT MASS - FEAT: TAIPAN TIGER GIRLS + NAKED + THE BUNYIP MOON + SECRET VALLEY Northcote Social Club, Northcote. 8:00pm.

PUSSY JUICE + PURE SHIT + SUDDEN PLEASURES Old Bar, Fitzroy. 8:00pm. $5.00.

OCEAN COLOUR SCENE Max Watt’s, Melbourne. 7:30pm. OPEN MIC Tago Mago, Thornbury. 3:35pm. TASTE OF INDIE TUESDAY - FEAT: DUO/TRIO NIGHT Prince Public Bar, St Kilda . 7:30pm.

THE VIGNETTES + MASTER GIBBS + BIRTHDAY GIRL + OFF TO BATTLE 303, Northcote. 7:30pm. $5.00.

WANT YOUR GIG IN GIG GUIDE? EMAIL A SHORT BLURB AND PIC TO MUSICNEWS@BEAT.COM.AU

THE MARTEL CORPORATION + VINTEN Workers Club, Fitzroy. 7:30pm. $3.00.

WORLD NEWS RECORDS PRESENTS - FEAT: GABRIELLA COHEN + JIMMY CHANG + JAMES SEEDY Evelyn Hotel,

Access All Ages WITH GRACE KINDELLAN If you’re interested in organising events for young people in your community, now is a great time to get involved in your local FReeZA committee. There are eighty committees across Victoria that organise a huge range of alcohol and drug free events for 14-18 year olds that suit the different needs and tastes of each area. Committee members gain a heap of experience in event planning, artist liaison, stage management and many other skills that are super useful for a career in the music industry or performing arts. Head to www. freeza.vic.gov.au for more information about how you can get amongst it. The Drones have announced an all-ages afternoon show at The Tote on Saturday May 28 as part of their Feelin’ Kinda Free album tour. The album drops on March 18 with two singles already out and if their recent set at PBSfm’s Drive Live is anything to go by, their renowned live shows are as enthralling and vicious as ever. Head to www.tickets.oztix.com.au for more information. Soak up the summer music season with Fed Square Live, a series of free, outdoor performances every Thursday from 5.30pm at, you guessed it, Fed Square. Relax into a deckchair and unwind as the sun sets over some of Melbourne’s most talented acts. Head to www.fedsquare.com for more details. Tonight, and every Wednesday night until the end of March, you can check out music across three stages at the Queen Victoria Night Market from 5pm till 10pm. This week you can catch The Marabou Project’s non-stop journey through jazz and soul filled with traditional melodies and a charge of irresistible African rhythms. Plus, Australian rock doyennes Kim Salmon and Ron S Peno unite as the Darling Downs to play their sparse, haunting country ballads. For more information and details of upcoming line ups, check out ww.qvm.com.au Start the weekend in a very cultural way when Black Cab play Friday Nights at NGV! With a year of soldout shows and a blistering set at Paradise behind them, this is a great chance to see some new tracks as well as their characteristic blend of pounding electronica. Tickets include entry to the Andy Warhol | Ai Wei Wei exhibition and access to exclusive talks, food and bars from 6pm to 10pm this Friday, February 19. For more information, head to www.ngv.vic.gov.au The Moonee Valley FReeZA Outdoor Cinema Summer Series brings great movies to lovely local parks and galleries for you to enjoy for free after dark. It kicks off next Friday February 26 with a screening of the hilarious 90’s classic, Wayne’s World from 6pm at Incinerator Gallery in Moonee Ponds. You’re welcome to bring your own food and non-alcoholic drinks, plus there will be a food truck and popcorn too. There are two more screenings on Thursday March 26 and Friday April 1 with more details available at www. facebook.com/mooneevalleyfreeza Aireys Inlet Open Mic Festival is looking for performers to play at the 2016 festival from March 18-20. Submit your expression of interest in the form at www.aireysinlet.com.au and they will reply with all the details you need to apply. If you’re under 15 and are interested in performing there’s a special section for you – Surf Coast Future Stars. You may only want to play one or two songs, you may be a solo artist or perform as a duo or trio, it’s all welcome. Submit your interest at the above link and they will reply with all the details!

Fitzroy. 8:30pm. $6.00.

IRISH SESSION Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East.

All Ages Gig Guide

8:00pm.

CLASSIFIEDS

S U N DAY F E B R UA RY 21

33c per word per week (inc GST) Send your classified listing to classifieds@beat.com.au. Payment options include VISA/Mastercard or EFT (1.5% surcharge for credit card payment).

Deadline is Monday 11am, prior to Wednesday’s publication. Minimum $5 charge per week. We do not accept classifieds over the phone - sorry.

ACTS WANTED FOR SUNDAY ROCK SHOWS Contact: mark@gunnmusic.com.au

ROCK/METAL ACTS WANTED FOR LOCAL ROCK SHOWS Contact: mark@gunnmusic.com.au

BANDS/DUOS/SOLO ACTS WANTED FOR ACOUSTIC/INDIE FEST Contact: mark@gunnmusic.com.au

NOW BOOKING BANDS at Dane Certificate’s Magic Bar. Email danecertificate@yahoo. com.au *

B E AT.C O M . A U

MODELING. We’re looking for confident women of all styles (aged 18+) for our pro-feminist photographic projects with an emphasis on style and creativity. Nude/undies, paying $100 to $500 per shoot. Don’t overlook this until you’ve found out more about it. Rebecca ph.9495 6555

Gippsland Regional Skate Park Series – Lakes Entrance w/ scooter, skate and BMX events, Lakes Entrance Skate Park, 10.30am – 3.30am, Free, www. skatepark.ymca.org.au AA

Wed 17th February

W I N E , W H I S K EY, W O M E N 8pm: Dominique (NSW) 9pm: Jasmine Beth Thurs 18th February

Open Mic Night

8pm:

Friday 19th February

6pm: Traditional Irish Music Session 8.30pm:

Cyndi Boste Saturday 20th February 9pm: Pheasant Pluckers Sunday 21st February 4pm: Pugsley Buzzard 6.30pm: Luke Austen Tuesday 23rd February

8pm:

Weekly Trivia

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

WEDNESDAY 17TH 7PM

ESSENTIAL MISC

CAN YOU HEAR ME MAJOR TOM?

THURSDAY 18TH 7PM

JUNGLE FUNK

WEDNESDAY 17 FEBRUARY

GWYN ASHTON DAN LETHBRIDGE THURSDAY 18 FEBRUARY

RESIDENT MANCHILD WITH SPECIAL GUESTS. AFROBEAT, CUMBIA, FUNK, SAMBA & LIVE PERCUSSIONISTS

FRIDAY 19 FEBRUARY

ULYSSES WULF + ERN MALLEY

FRIDAY 19TH 7PM

HORIZON FT. BABICKA, BABY BJORN, UMUT

SATURDAY 20TH 7PM

SATURDAY 20 FEBRUARY

THE WOODLAND HUNTERS FAT COUSIN SKINNY PAUL GREENE

CALYPSO OF HOUSE PAUL JAGER & GUESTS

SUNDAY 21 FEBRUARY

SUNDAY 21ST 7PM

HUNG UP MISS GOLDIE

TUESDAY 23 FEBRUARY

& DAVE BOOTS

EASTERN EUROPEAN STREET FOOD NOON UNTIL 9PM SUN - THUR. A LITTLE LATER FRI & SAT

B E AT.C O M . A U

BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 43

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STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON TAKES AIM AT LAWSUIT The team behind hit movie Straight Outta Compton lashed back at a $110 million lawsuit filed by former NWA manager Jerry Heller. He says he was depicted as a villain, not compensated for their use of his likeliness and stole his work. The film makers – including NBCUniversal, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, director F. Gary Gray and the Oscar-nominated screenwriters – insist there is no defamation. They used Heller’s own autobiography to argue that many of NWA’s episodes were subject to “ambiguous and hotly-debated” interpretation and a scene where he refused to hand over a $75,000 cheque to Ice Cube didn’t make him a bad guy.

THE JEZABELS ASSIGN PUBLISHING TO NATIVE TONGUE The Jezabels have assigned their publishing to Native Tongue just as their new album Synthia gets a world release. Native Tongue’s Matt Tanner said, “As long time fans of The Jezabels, we’re really excited to be joining them on the next part of what has been quite an extraordinary journey so far. Synthia is a truly accomplished body of work and we take pleasure in being a part of the team.” The album was released last week via MGM in Australia/New Zealand, The Groove Merchants in US, Caroline in UK/ EU and Dine Alone in Canada.

GOOD WORKS #1: CO-GROUND’S LATEST FUNDRAISER Co-Ground is a volunteer led, non-profit organisation which raises money for local and overseas education partnership programs, re-building schools and providing opportunities for people who need them. It’s taken out the 2015 UC Anti-Poverty award. Putting on music events is a priority for them. Their next fundraiser is the soulthemed Soul-cial ‘16 at the Gasometer on Thursday March 3 with The Cactus Channel, The Eighty 88’s, That Gold Street Sound, Motel Diablo and Max & Mili DJs. $15 at the door.

GOOD WORKS #2: FRANK’S TREATMENT Frank is the three-year-old son of drummer Dave and singer/voice coach Rachael of Tex Perkins’ band (as well as playing with Archie Roach, Chris Russell, Mick Thomas and David Bridie). He has been diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma, a grapefruit sized tumour that started in the adrenal gland, spread to other organs and is now in his bones. Dave and Rachael have pushed back gigs to look after him full time. A crowd-funding campaign at https:// www.gofundme.com/frankiesrecovery had a strong response in the first 24 hours but of course medical expenses are high, as are living expenses for two musicians who’ve had to reduce their workload.

BEAT MAGAZINE PAGE 46

THINGS WE HEAR Which Skyhooks member refused to watch the Molly tele-series? We’ve heard three Aussie singers put their hands to audition for Stone Temple Pilots: two from Perth and one from Newcastle. How many have you heard of ? Ernst & Young study Digital Australia, State of the Nation 2015-16 found Aussies spend $181 a month on digital services – 10% on music/movie streaming. With all first round Prince tickets sold out in ten minutes, frustrated fans were blaming websites of ticketing agencies for meltdowns. PBS 106.7FM’s Soul-A-Go-Go returns to Bella Union at Trades Hall, Carlton on Saturday March 5 with the station’s Vince Peach (Soul Time), Miss Goldie (Boss Action), Richie 1250 (Stone Love), Pierre Baroni (Soulgroove’66), Andrew Young and a live set from Hammond driven instrumental band The Shackmen (feat. members of The Bamboos and The PutBacks). Live Industry, who cancelled this weekend’s Secret Valley festival for low ticket sales, say “We hope to return with an alternative, yet similar event later in 2016.” Perth Formula 1 ace Daniel Ricciardo rocked out with Parkway Drive at their headlining show on Friday night at London’s O2 Academy Brixton before 5000 fans. A reunion of five original members of The Triffids after five years was one of the features of the Perth International Arts Festival’s opening spectacular, Home, before 50,000, It celebrated all things WA, including John Butler, The Drones, Waifs, Kavisha Mazzella, Dave Warner and Ernie Dingo. The Triffids were joined by Rob Snarski, The Panics’ Jae Laffer and The Drones’ Gareth Liddiard standing in for the late Dave McComb’s vocals on Wide Open Road. UK’s digital Pure Radio, sold in Australia, is up for sale. Merlin, digital rights agency for the global indie label sector, is reducing its administration fee on commercial deals by 20% - from 2.5% of revenues to 2%. Katie Noonan is the new Artistic Director of the Queensland Music Festival and promises an emphasis on indie acts. Kelly Osbourne says she’s “paying for Ozzy’s crimes” after a bat shat on her head. A house party thrown by Big White to fund their trip to SXSW drew 400 fans, some forced to climb through windows.

SAATSUMA SCORE LABEL, AGENCY, DEALS New Melbourne electro-soul act Saatsuma are off to a good start. They have signed a record deal with Blank Tape and are

AIR, Sounds Australia and PPCA are seeking expressions of interest from indie labels to take part in a ten-strong Australian delegation to Indie Week 2016, a label focused conference hosted by A2IM (American Association of Independent Music) happening June 13-16 in New York. Australian delegates have attended since 2013.

Canadian indie Dine Alone Records has set up an office in Sydney in partnership with Troy Barrott’s Hub Artist Services. It’s the label’s fifth office after Toronto, Montreal, Nashville and LA. Dine Alone had success here with City And Colour (whose If I Should Go Before You album went top five), Alexisonfire, Tokyo Police Club and Hey Rosetta. It also released in North America DZ Deathrays, The Jezabels, Miami Horror, Dune Rats, Children Collide and Zeahorse.

WANNA ATTEND INDIE WEEK?

STIE EL RI IE

DINE ALONE SETS UP AUSTRALIAN OFFICE

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MUSIC INDUSTRY NEWS & GOSSIP

INDUSTRIAL

releasing debut single Storm. They’ve signed with Bamboo Flight Crew to present their debut show on Friday April 1 at the Shebeen Bandroom with Martin King (Harpoons/Oscar & Martin) and Huntly. Saatsum, who formed as a studio project last year with Memphis Kelly, Joel Ma and Cesar Rodrigues, also signed with 123 Agency for bookings.

EDEN MULHOLLAND JOINS 123 AGENCY Folk rock performer and film, TV, theatre and dance composer Eden Mulholland is the latest to join Melbourne’s 123 Agency. He’s been touring since releasing his second album Hunted Haunted late last year and returns to his native New Zealand next month with Boy And Bear. His single The New Old Fashioned just got a remix from Marat Sad (Samuel Lockwood of The Jezabels).

JESSE HOOPER JOINS COLLARTS Killing Heidi/Verses co-founder, guitarist, songwriter and producer Jesse Hooper is new Head of Music Performance Degree at Collarts Music College. Hooper’s recent career has seen him work with young people in music and the arts. He currently collaborates with the Artful Dodgers Studios and Australia’s first entertainment social enterprise booking agency, Amplify, while also completing his Masters of International Music Business. “Collarts is an innovative and industry-aligned institution and I look forward to continuing to integrate my experience in contemporary music into the course design and delivery,” he said.

MUSIC BANK WINNER RELEASES SINGLE Bank of Melbourne’s Melbourne Music Bank is a competition to uncover Victoria’s music talent. Last year, it attracted hundreds of submissions. Winner at the State Theatre final was Jade Alice, who studies Interactive Composition at the Victorian College of the Arts and counts Kimbra, Joni Mitchell and Broods among her influences. The judging panel included ambassador Ella Hooper, Bank of Melbourne Head of Brand and Marketing Jac Phillips, Beat Editor Cara Williams, PBS Homebrew host Maddy Mac, 123 Agency’s Damo Costin, Varrasso PR’s Frank Varrasso and manager Chris Robinson. Things are moving for Alice: her debut single Kick Drum is out, with a launch at Shebeen on Thursday February 18 and a performancebased video. “The song is about a feeling of uncontrollable happiness,” she says, “a feeling I hope resonates with others when they listen to it.”

MAITREYA FESTIVAL TAKES COUNCIL TO VCAT Next month’s regional Maitreya Festival at Wooroonook Lakes has started VCAT (Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal) proceedings against Buloke Shire Council and Victoria Parks. It wants a threeyear permit approved so it can plan its events over a longer term period. The permit was rejected last Wednesday with the Council explaining the festival had not supplied information such as insurance, security bonds, emergency plans and liquor licensing and ambulance agreements. From March 11-15, the music, arts and dance festival is expected to draw 9000 punters and inject $2.7 million into the local economy. Promoter Lachlan Bell said that it had contributed $2.1 million last year after drawing 7000, and $10 million over the last five years. Local businesses in the drought-hit area need the tourist dollars and are urging the two sides MUSIC INDUSTRY NEWS & GOSSIP

STUFF FOR THIS COLUMN TO BE EMAILED TO C E L I E Z E R @ N E T S PA C E .N E T. A U B Y F R I D AY 5 P M

to keep talking. A petition at http://www. ipetitions.com/petition/maitreya-festival calling for the decision to be overturned targeted 1000 signatures. Within 24 hours, 1938 had added their names. See full story at beat.com.au.

MATT CHROMATIC DESIGNING ATLANTIS Matt Chromatic, who’s created stages all around the world, will design March’s three-city Atlantis 2016 stage. His Dragon design was listed in the top 25 festival stages of all time and his King of the Castle in the top 15 stages of 2015. Atlantis said, “From the moment you enter the gates of the city until you leave, you will be treated to a fully immersive production experience, lights, lasers, sound, pyro and effects. We will also tell you a story throughout the night. This is unlike any other show you have seen.” Meantime, Marlo’s official hard-trance festival theme, Titans, is out March 4 via Armada / 405 Recordings.

CHUGG ENTERTAINMENT CEO STEPS DOWN Chugg Entertainment’s CEO and codirector Matthew Lazarus-Hall will step down in late March. To focus more on his young family, he’s setting up his own consultancy firm. He’ll continue to work with Chugg as a consultant on specialist projects and, through his new firm, will continue to run the CMC Rocks QLD festival, and lead and operate Laneway Festival across Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. His role at Chugg will not be replaced, but shared by founder Michael Chugg and General Manager of Touring, Susan Heymann.

BEATLES CONTRIBUTE £82M TO LIVERPOOL The Beatles contribute £82 million a year to the Liverpool economy as fans from around the world make pilgrimages to where it all began for them in the ‘60s. The report was commissioned by Liverpool City Council and conducted by two Liverpool universities. It found that The Beatles economy in Liverpool grows 15% each year with “further significant growth potential” in the future.

HILLTOPS INITIATIVE BACK FOR 11TH YEAR The Hilltop Hoods Initiative is back for its 11th year, to further careers of emerging Australian hip hop and soul artists who are APRA AMCOS members yet to release an album commercially. Winner gets $10,000 cash to cover costs of manufacturing, marketing and distributing an album or EP, legal advice from Media Arts Lawyers and a Love Police ATM merchandise startup kit. Deadline is Tuesday March 22, winner announced Wednesday May 11. See apraamcos.com.au/hth.

UK MUSIC MAGAZINES SALES RISE Most UK music magazines showed a rise in circulation in recent figures The biggest success was the NME. After going free last September, it had a massive 1,897% jump to 307,217 (the highest in its 64 year history) from 15,384 the same time in 2015. Its website NME.com rose 25% to 5.6 million users and its social users up 24% to 25%. Mojo remains the most paid for UK mag (70,445, up 4.7%), Q was up 0.1% to 44,050, Rock Sound up 3% to 13,924. Dropping were Kerrang! by 12.5% to 24,207, Metal Hammer by 14.6% to 20,961, Classic Rock by 5% to 51,219 and Uncut by 3.4% to 47,890.

Lifelines EXPECTING: Alanis Morissette and Mario ‘Souleye’ Treadway, their second. BORN: daughter for singer Kate Alexa and her husband, making Mushroom founder Michael Gudinski a grandfather. HOSPITALISED: DMX after being found unconscious at hotel after suffering from bronchitis “for a couple of days.” INJURED: Jason Derulo required 20 stitches in a leg after falling over while dancing in a Paris nightclub. IN COURT: rapper Meek Mill has three months on house arrest after being found guilty of changing a December court-approved travel schedule and accompanying girlfriend Nicki Minaj to the American Music Awards. SUED: rapper Future by ex-fiancée Ciara for $15 million for alleged slander and libel in tweets and interviews in which he questioned her skills as a mother. DIED: NSW guitarist and teacher Rob Yeatman from a serious illness. DIED: Innovative US singer/ songwriter Dan Hicks, 74, throat and liver cancer. DIED: US performer Joe Dowell who had a US chart topper in 1961 with Wooden Heart, 76, from a heart attack.

AC/DC LAUNCH ‘LET THERE BE ROCK’ FUND, B&C CANS AC/DC is launching the Let There Be Rock Fund. It invites up and coming talent to cover their favourite AC/DC song in any style and go in the draw to win prizes and industry experiences. See biggestfanpromo. com.au/acdc/. The fund is partly funded from sales of the new AC/DC Bourbon & Cola range, each new monthly range showcasing an AC/DC album cover. Buyers of the bourbon and coke can also win a prize including signed Gibson SG Specials.

HOPELESS SIGNS THE READY SET Hopeless Records signed US electro-pop act The Ready Set, releasing their new album, I Will Be Nothing Without Your Love on April 8. Their debut album I’m Alive, I’m Dreaming yielded the platinum single Love Like Woe.