ISSUE NO. 604 MARCH 18, 2015
FREE Now picked up at over 1,600 places across Sydney and surrounds. thebrag.com
MUSIC, FILM, THEATRE + MORE
INSIDE This Week
PL AYING TIMES INSIDE
ALABAMA SHAKES
Their not-so-difficult second album is on the way.
BRITISH INDIA
The Oz rockers explain their appetite for success.
RUSSELL PETERS
One of the biggest names in world comedy is on our doorstep.
GINA WILLIAMS AND GUY GHOUSE
Keeping their language alive.
Plus
JEFF MARTIN MICHAEL FRANTI ONE DAY
STRAIGHT ARROWS
THE WORLD AT HIS FEET
THE LAURELS WEDNESDAY MARCH 18
DCUP
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FOUNDING PATRON
Berg Family Foundation
Presented in association with the Australian Youth Orchestra and Sydney Conservatorium of Music
THE AUSTR ALIAN BALLET
2 – 22 April | Sydney Opera House Government Partners
Media Partner
Lead & Production Partner
Lead Partner
Principal Partner
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rock music news
the BRAG presents
welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... with Chris Martin, Kelsey Berry and Lauren Gill
The Basement Wednesday March 25
speed date WITH
1.
Your Profile We’re a band of misfits and marauders. We’re gin and green tea drinkers. We’re a group of musical pillagers who sound like the unoiled wheels on a lurching gypsy caravan. If you listen very closely you’ll experience tender romance and dark corners, death and redemption, human struggle versus biblical consequences, dreams/ nightmares and bad weather. We can be as gritty as a 1920s speakeasy and as smooth as Sinatra at The Sands.
PAOLO NUTINI Enmore Theatre Tuesday March 31
MARK MOLDRE
Keeping Busy We played a bunch of shows last 2. November… since then I’ve been busy
me who pulled out all the fuses from The Church’s amplifi ers.
trying to break my usual pre-next album writer’s block curse. I know there’s a fl oodgate waiting to be opened – I’ve just got to get my fi nger out of the hole in the dam wall. Coming up is fi ve days at the National Folk Festival in Canberra (that’s in April). We’re already packing our gypsy caravan with grain-free bread, notebooks, Tintin books, Coopers long necks, a soldering iron, a typewriter, Chet Baker CDs, vintage instruments and probiotics.
Current Playlist Bob Dylan at the State Theatre was 4. an evening to remember. I’d read loads
3.
Best Gig Ever We played a bunch of shows with The Church a while back. On the night of the National Theatre show in Melbourne, The Church were having problems at soundcheck and were running really late – which meant that when we took the stage to open the proceedings there was an absolute full house (a rare gift for the support act). The audience were attentive and hushed, the venue was beautiful and the onstage sound was magic. A night I’ll never forget. PS: It defi nitely was not
JEFF MARTIN
of bad live Dylan reviews. He was in fi ne form and it was an evening of non-stop goosebumps. C.W. Stoneking’s new album Gon’ Boogaloo hit my turntable a couple of weeks ago and it won’t be coming off any time soon. Your Ultimate Rider I’m a difficult one when it comes to riders 5. due to dietary requirements. Grain-free, sugar/ fructose-free and no red meat and I’m OK. My ultimate rider is just something that tastes good and isn’t dust. What: National Folk Festival 2015 With: David Francey, Heartstring Quartet, Baka Beyond, All Our Exes Live In Texas and many more Where: Exhibition Park, Canberra When: Thursday April 2 – Monday April 6
GEORGE CLINTON & PARLIAMENT FUNKADELIC Enmore Theatre Wednesday April 1
DAVID GRAY State Theatre Wednesday April 1 and Tuesday April 2
JOHN MAYALL Factory Theatre Thursday April 2
G. LOVE & SPECIAL SAUCE The Basement Sunday April 5
THE GIPSY KINGS Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House Tuesday April 7 and Wednesday April 8
JIMMY CLIFF Metro Theatre Thursday April 9
FBI LIVE
Boy & Bear
MANAGING EDITOR: Chris Martin chris@thebrag.com 02 9212 4322 ONLINE EDITOR: Tyson Wray SUB-EDITOR: Sam Caldwell STAFF WRITERS: Adam Norris, Augustus Welby NEWS: Kelsey Berry, Ayla Dhyani, Lauren Gill, Nicholas Hartman, Meggan Turner ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant PHOTOGRAPHERS: Katrina Clarke, Ashley Mar ADVERTISING: Georgina Pengelly - 0416 972 081 / (02) 9212 4322 georgina@thebrag.com ADVERTISING: Les White - 0405 581 125 / (02) 9212 4322 les@thebrag.com PUBLISHER: Furst Media MANAGING DIRECTOR, FURST MEDIA: Patrick Carr - patrick@furstmedia.com.au, (03) 9428 3600 / 0402 821 122 DIGITAL DIRECTOR/ADVERTISING: Kris Furst kris@furstmedia.com.au, (03) 9428 3600
KISS DOWN UNDER
GIG & CLUB GUIDE COORDINATORS: Nicholas Hartman, Emily Meller, Spencer Scott gigguide@thebrag.com (rock); clubguide@thebrag. com (dance, hip hop & parties) AWESOME INTERNS: Nicholas Hartman, Meggan Turner, Ayla Dhyani REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Nat Amat, Ian Barr, Prudence Clark, Tom Clift, Keiron Costello, Christie Eliezer, Fergus Halliday, Cameron James, Tegan Jones, Lachlan Kanoniuk, Mina Kitsos, Emily Meller, Annie Murney, Adam Norris, Kate Robertson, Erin Rooney, Raf Seneviratne, Leonardo Silvestrini, Krissi Weiss, Rod Whitfield, Harry Windsor, Tyson Wray, Stephanie Yip, David James Young Please send mail NOT ACCOUNTS direct to this NEW address 100 Albion Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010 ph - (02) 9212 4322 fax - (02) 9319 2227
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THE BRAG
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Bluesfest has added three new acts to its Thursday lineup, only weeks out from the festival. Replacing Lenny Kravitz and Ben Howard, who have both pulled out of their tours, will be Aussie acts Angus & Julia Stone, Boy & Bear and Sticky Fingers. Jurassic 5 will also play an extra set on the Thursday. Howard’s sideshows in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle have now been postponed by six weeks. Bluesfest 2015 will be held from Thursday April 2 – Monday April 6 at Tyagarah Tea Farm in Byron Bay. Howard’s show at the Sydney Opera House on Sunday March 29 has been rescheduled at the Hordern Pavilion on Saturday May 30.
A WELL-ROUNDED PALLETT
Canadian composer, violinist, keyboardist and vocalist Owen Pallett will return to our shores later this month to showcase tracks from his opus In Confl ict. The 2014 album is drawn from years of collaborative work with Brian Eno, who sings backup vocals and plays synth and guitar. Eno is not the only industry heavyweight with whom Pallett has collaborated – he’s previously worked with The National, R.E.M., Franz Ferdinand and is currently a touring member of Arcade Fire. He’ll be at Oxford Art Factory on Saturday March 21. The Delta Riggs
A LITTLE BIT COUNTRY
Acclaimed country music singersongwriters Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell are joining forces for an Australian tour. After first meeting nearly 40 years ago, the pair released Old Yellow Moon in 2013, with a follow-up album set for release later this year. Harris has more than 25 albums under her belt, along with 13 Grammy Awards and a Country Music Hall of Fame induction. Crowell’s songs have been recorded by Johnny Cash, Norah Jones, Etta James and Grateful Dead, among others. Australian singersongwriter Harmony James will join the pair on their Australian tour, which lands at The Star Event Centre on Saturday June 27.
PIGSTY IN JULY
PigSty In July will return to the Hunter Valley this winter after its 2014 debut, and the lineup has now been announced. The ‘little sister’ event to the region’s Gum Ball music festival, PigSty In July is a ‘second-hand formal’themed one-day party, and this year’s lineup features ten acts from a variety of genres. A reformed Ice Cream Hands top the bill, joined by Aussie hip hop act L-Fresh The Lion. The lineup also includes Chris Russell’s Chicken Walk, Grenadiers, Bootleg Rascal, Pow Wow, Tropical Zombie, Dashville Progress Society, The Lairs and The Firemen. PigSty In July 2015 will be held at Dashville in Belford on Saturday July 4. Tickets are limited to 600 and on sale now.
THE DELTA RIGGS
Fresh off of a national tour with Foo Fighters, The Delta Riggs have come back with even more big news, announcing a mini-album and tour. The Melbourne psych-rock outfit will hit the road in support of their surprise album, Dipz From The Zong, which is due out on Friday April 24. Featuring exclusive remixes, alternate versions of ‘Supersonic Casualties’ and ‘The Record’s Flawed’, and unreleased songs, the album will be released on limited press 12-inch. They’ll hit the Metro Theatre on Friday May 1 with Harts and Food Court.
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BLUESFEST LINEUP CHANGES
Break out the face paint; Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer are coming to town. The legendary KISS are set to return to Australian shores in October during their 40th Anniversary world tour, in what promises to be a wall-to-wall hitfest from their extensive back catalogue, including tracks such as ‘Rock And Roll All Nite’, ‘I Was Made For Loving You’, ‘Detroit Rock City’, ‘Love Gun’ and ‘Shout It Out Loud’. The tour will also see the Australian premiere of ‘The Spider’, a stage production moved by 38 computer controlled winches, featuring 220 automated lights, weighing in at 43,000kgs, incorporating 900 pieces of pyrotechnics and powered by 400,000 watts of sound. The show goes down on Saturday October 10 at Allphones Arena. Tickets go on sale on Thursday March 26.
Rodney Crowell and Emmylou Harris
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EDITORIAL POLICY: The views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher, editors or staff of the BRAG.
The hippest, chillest music radio station in town, FBi, has released the next set of names to grace its new live performance space. Under the banner of Jack Daniel’s and its Jack Daniel’s Future Initiative, which helped to build the new gig space in FBi’s Redfern Studios, FBi Live is getting into full swing. Having previously featured Tkay Maidza, George Maple and Cloud Control, the next gigs will spotlight upcoming Melbourne rapper Baro and garage rock band Gang Of Youths. Baro has recently been touring with Melbourne’s Illy and Canada’s Badbadnotgood, and has a debut EP almost ready to be unleashed. Gang Of Youths, on the other hand, will be smashing out their single ‘Evangelists’, as well as the rest of their dirty, visceral output. Baro plays Local Live at FBi on Saturday March 21, and Gang Of Youths headline on Wednesday March 25. For more info and to reserve free tickets, visit fbiradio.com/live.
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live & local
free stuff
welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... with Chris Martin, Nicholas Hartman and Ayla Dhyani
head to: thebrag.com/freeshit
five things WITH
Bustamento
WILL HOMAN FROM GREENTHIEF night through high school, I quickly made up for any lost ground.
obviously made by musicians, but not just for musicians.
Inspirations The Music You Make As a teenager it was always I’ve always seen us as a 2. 4. the classic guitar heroes like bit of a mix of The Mars Volta Page, Hendrix or Gilmour, and while I’ll always have a special spot for them, over time I grew to understand that the bands that they come from were always more than the sum of their parts. Now I’m much more partial to the likes of John Paul Jones, Brian Wilson or Paul McCartney – amazing musicians that would always put the song first over a moment in the spotlight (just a coincidence that they happen to play bass?). Growing Up I grew up in a little rural town 1. called Derrinallum (population just
Your Band I joined Greenthief back in 3. 2013 when they made the move down from being in Brisbane to Melbourne. What grabbed me about them initially was their big rhythm section sound and that they had the essence of a great jammy band, but everything was tight and to the point. Music
The prolific Nicky Bomba (Bomba, Melbourne Ska Orchestra, formerly John Butler Trio) has spent much of the past two years touring the world with his Bustamento project, and it’s all come to a head with new album Intercontinental Journal 7, released in the last lights of 2014. The band focuses on Caribbean rhythms, transcending calypso, early reggae and ska, and latest single ‘Back Again’ even comes with a Motown flavour. Bustamento are getting set to head out on a national album launch tour, and will stop in at Paddington Chapel on Friday April 10 for the One Space event, where their appearance will coincide with a popup Egg Of The Universe wholefoods café and bar. We’ve got a double pass to give away to the show – to be in the running, visit thebrag.com/freeshit and tell us what you’d write about in your intercontinental journal.
Music, Right Here, Right Now 5. Although it’s definitely a doubleedged sword in terms of ‘success’, I love the fact that it’s so much easier to make music than it has been in the past. The limitations are more to that of creativity and drive than money or being on a label which is awesome. With: The Underscore Orkestra Where: Frankie’s Pizza When: Thursday March 19
The Bon Scotts
Voyager
Perth’s Voyager have announced a national tour to launch their new video for their track, ‘Seasons Of Age’. The song is taken from the progressive metal outfit’s critically acclaimed 2014 album, V. Joining them will be French alt-heavyweights Klone, whose latest album, Here Comes The Sun, is set for release in April. Together, they’ll hit the Factory Floor on Saturday May 23.
The Bon Scotts have released the second single from their latest and second album, Modern Capitalism Gets Things Done. ‘Summer Tapes’ is a nostalgic throwback to the days spent putting together mixtapes, falling in love, and most importantly, living an irresponsible childhood. The seven-piece Melburnian folk/rock/pop group brings cowbells, trumpets, mandolins, saucepan smashing, violins, cellos, accordions, tubas, harmonicas, synths, vocoders, programmed drums and guitars together for a cacophony of rather accessible folk revivalism. The Bon Scotts are stopping at the Great Northern in Newcastle on Friday March 20 and Shady Pines Saloon on Sunday March 22.
LURCHING AROUND
Non-stop Melbourne sextet Lurch & Chief are set to embark on a headline tour in support of their second EP, Breathe. Since their soldout debut performance, Lurch & Chief have crafted a solid reputation for chaotic live shows, and Breathe marks a darker direction in their sound. Hayden Somerville and Lilibeth Hall’s dual vocals will take over Moonshine in Manly on Thursday May 21, Newtown Social Club on Friday May 22 and Newcastle’s Small Ballroom on Wednesday May 27. Breathe is due out Friday March 27 through Illusive.
Tully On Tully
ROCK THE WORLD (BAR)
LOONY TUNES
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NO MERCY, THEY’RE KILLERS
IT’S TULLY TIME
After stepping into the studio with renowned producer Tony Buchen (Andy Bull, The Preatures) for their new single ‘All These Words’, Tully On Tully have hit the road to play it for the masses. The indie-popsters, fronted by Natalie Foster, are set to drop a new EP, and ‘All These Words’ is but the first taste of the fresh material. Canberra’s Slow Turismo will join them at Brighton Up Bar this Thursday March 19.
As a part of Frankie’s Pizza’s regular Sabbath Sessions, The Mercy Kills have returned from touring last year with Courtney Love for a oneoff Sydney show following the release of their recent EP Paradise Motel. The Melbournebased indie punk band will return to Frankie’s after a whirlwind 2014 that saw the release of their new EP, a tour with the Queen of Grunge, and the production of a documentary showcasing their experience on the road (due out this May). Special guests on the night are Hailmary, Lillye, Kaato and Evol Walks. The Mercy Kills play Frankie’s on Sunday March 22. thebrag.com
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The Standard Bowl – Sydney’s premier destination for live music and nine-pin bowling fun times – is getting into the swing of its new weekly Nothing’s Shocking Thursdays night, with a boss lineup this week. Seekae’s Alex Cameron brings his solo show back to the venue, which is pulling in big crowds since its facelift this time last year. Huon Kind will
support Cameron this Thursday March 19, with tunes from DJ Darren Cross.
The World Bar has announced a new band competition to showcase Sydney’s emerging talent. Teaming up with A Red Letter Day and Burgess Bookings, the venue is set to liven the Kings Cross scene even further with the opportunity for up-and-coming musicians to be discovered on the rise. Gearing up for Heat One are featured artists Flaccid Mohawk, Ryse, Marko Markovic & The Junky Bunch, Heart Of Mind, Dan Crestani, 3 Boys & A Fire, The Fragile Kind, Killing Lennon, Now Or Never, Lion Calamity, GinKinta, The Still Shadows and Into The Wild, with more to be announced. The World Bar will be hosting the first round on Thursday April 2, and the comp will continue on Thursday nights through till June.
Ahead of their short single launch tour for the track ‘Surfin’, party boys Loon Lake have locked in Creo as their Sydney support act. Loon Lake singer Sam Nolan has made a full recovery from throat surgery in order to bring the good vibes back to town, with the band’s new stripped-back approach to live shows set to debut at Brighton Up Bar on Friday March 27. Not that the fans will be in anything but full voice.
NOTHING’S SHOCKING AT THE STANDARD
The Bon Scotts photo by Lucy Spartalis
GREAT SCOTT, BON’S BACK VOYAGER COME OF AGE
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over 200) and we had one music teacher who taught everything, so rather than starting out with chords or tabs I was playing flute parts to things like ‘Yankee Doodle’ or ‘The Entertainer’ with the letters of the notes written underneath the sheet music. I
later found that it was great for training my ears, but not much else. I basically had to learn the guitar all over again when I went to boarding school and got a proper teacher when I was 14. Luckily though, this happened to coincide with my introduction to Led Zeppelin and ’60s/’70s music, so after playing for seven or eight hours every recess, lunchtime and
NICKY BOMBA’S BUSTAMENTO
and Queens of the Stone Age. We like to keep things musically interesting and raw – the energy of our live show is definitely a major part of the band, but there’s a discipline that brings things back to more pop sensibilities.
National Folk Festival 2-6 APRIL, 2015 | EXHIBITION PARK, CANBERRA
MUSTERED COURAGE
ALL OUR EXES LIVE IN TEXAS
CHRISTOPHER COLEMAN
OH PEP!
WHITETOP MOUNTAINEERS (USA)
KIPORI BABY WOLF WOODS (USA)
ONE TICKET - ACCESS ALL AREAS
A range of ticket options, day, season passes and camping packages are available. Book online: folkfestival.org.au/tickets or T: 02 6242 5944
DISCOUNTED EARLY BIRD TIX AVAILABLE UNTIL 30 MAR
plus many more!
creativity community participation inspiration expression
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Industrial Strength Music Industry News with Christie Eliezer
THINGS WE HEAR * Which indie label is wondering whether to sell out to a major label? Quiet feelers have been put out. * Has Taylor Swift insured her legs for US$40 million? * Which guitarist paid for his girlfriend’s weight loss problem, only to be dumped when she decided she and her new body could do better? * Will KISS be able to play the
AFL Grand Final in Melbourne – as the rumours are claiming – when they’re booked to play Perth the same night? * Will Apple’s music streaming service be pay-only with no free options? * Digital radio listening in five metro cities in Australia has grown by 24.2% to 3.2 million, according to GfK figures. * So many Tame Impala fans logged on to the band’s website last Wednesday to hear their new track ‘Let It Happen’ that the site crashed. * In 2015, Miami’s Ultra Music
ICON MENTORS TO LAUNCH IN MAY
James Reyne, Diesel, Rob Hirst, Jim Moginie, Mark Seymour, Pete Murray, Suze DeMarchi, Dave Leslie and Ian Moss are among those involved in a new initiative called Icon Mentors, set to launch in Sydney in May. They’ll mentor rising songwriters on rhythm, melody and harmony, lyric development, song structure, instrumentation, mood creation and production. Execs such as Tony Glover (Sony Music), John O’Donnell (managing director, EMI), Michael Harrison (Frontier Touring), Andy Kelly (Ivy League Records), John Watson (Eleven Music) and Damian Trotter (Sony Music Publishing) will be advising on career strategies. Icon Mentors is put together by Rick Grossman (Hoodoo Gurus, Divinyls) and Stephen Baker (Australian National Association of Teachers of Singing). Each course will only take in 40 students and it starts on Monday May 4 at Trackdown Studios, Fox Studios. To register your interest, email contact details to info@iconmentors.com. More info at iconmentors.com.
CITY OF SYDNEY OFFERS FREE REHEARSAL SPACES The City of Sydney is offering free rehearsal spaces for school and tertiary students involved in music, theatre and dance. “As
Festival is adding Bali and Macau. Cheap ticket fares to Bali could be tempting for Aussies, but what of Indonesia’s drug laws? * Mumford & Sons say they are definitely returning to Australia this year. * Speaking on triple j, when told about Big Day Out and Soundwave’s retreat to the east coast, Richard Branson mused it might be the time to bring back V Festival. “I think the future of a big music festival should be good because people love live music and I hadn’t realised that Australia had such a setback. Where
more Sydneysiders move into apartments and our population becomes more dense, it’s increasingly hard for musicians and performers to find suitable spaces to play and rehearse,” said Lord Mayor Clover Moore. The initiative, under the City’s Live Music and Performance Action Plan, will be tested for 12 months before community feedback is sought. The nine areas involved are Millers Point, Potts Point, Redfern, Zetland, Alexandria, St. Peters, Erskineville, Camperdown and Glebe. See cityofsydney. nsw.gov.au for a list of the halls offered.
CHANGES AT INERTIA GROUP
Inertia Group founder Ashley Sellers has promoted Colin Daniels to CEO, saying, “Colin has been integral to Inertia’s solid growth over the last seven years, anticipating market trends and driving change to maintain Inertia’s position as Australia’s premier independent music group.” Daniels will oversee Inertia’s music division and its interests in publisher Gaga Music, management company IE Inertia and Handsome Tours. Sellers remains as director and board member, continuing to work alongside Daniels on strategic growth and new business opportunities. Ben Suthers, who joined last year as operations manager from Big Day Out, has also been promoted to director of operations, administration and finance. Former
there’s setbacks in a country, that’s where Virgin loves to tread, so maybe we should try to get the team at the V Festival to have another look at Australia.” * Tkay Maidza has sold out her shows in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. * Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong is opening a guitar store, Broken Guitars, in his hometown of Oakland, California. * When Sheppard visited a Toronto TV station on the coldest day of the year, the crew thought it’d be a whizz to take them skating to do their interview.
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Suing: Courtney Love is taking aim at a YouTube user who posted a fake Nirvana song, ‘Flaccid Bone’, which he claimed he hacked from her archive.
At the fifth Country Music Channel Music Awards in Brisbane, Adam Brand took out the Australian artist and video categories. Other winners were Morgan Evans (male Oz artist), Keith Urban (international artist), Amber Lawrence (female Oz artist) and The McClymonts (group). Performers included Lady Antebellum, Troy CassarDaley and a team-up by Brand, The Wolfe Brothers and Travis Collins on Billy Thorpe’s ‘Most People I Know’. The awards screen on CMC on Thursday March 19 and on FOX8 on Saturday March 28.
LISA MITCHELL GOES GLOBAL WITH PLAY IT AGAIN SAM
Australian singer-songwriter Lisa Mitchell has signed a world deal with Europe’s Play It Again Sam. Peter Thompson, managing director of the label, said: “We are delighted to welcome Lisa to Play It Again Sam. As big fans of her work we think she is a unique songwriter and performer. Her new album is sounding amazing and we feel Lisa has the potential to reach an international audience.” The deal does not cover Australia and New Zealand, where Mitchell is signed with Parlophone. The 24-year-old recently extended her global publishing deal with Sony/ATV Australia. Both her albums Wonder and Bless This Mess went top ten in Australia. Mitchell is managed by Cathy Oates.
Ministry of Sound Australia has struck a deal with the USA’s Casablanca Records (home of Martin Garrix and Tiësto) to release Timmy Trumpet and Savage’s ‘Freaks’. The track reached number three on the ARIA chart and was certified quadruple platinum. It also achieved platinum sales in Sweden and Finland, and gold sales in the Netherlands.
Sydney trio Mansionair have signed to Glassnote Records for North America, the UK and Europe. They join a roster that includes Mumford & Sons, Chvrches, The Temper Trap and Phoenix. The band will this week follow five performances at SXSW in Austin, Texas, with two New York club dates. Mansionair’s debut single ‘Hold Me Down’ racked up two million plays on SoundCloud and more than eight million on YouTube, while their recent first Australian headline tour was a sell-out.
Ten young indigenous Northern Rivers creatives will take part in Arts NSW’s IAM: Indigenous Arts Mentorship, where they’ll work with industry pros for four months. The sessions cover music, fashion, film, dance, comedy and visual arts. 17-year-old Byron hip hopper Jannali Doncaster will be mentored by Ajay McFadden, tour director/ operations for Niche Productions and Live Nation. 17-year-old singer Tahni Walton is to be mentored by Byron singer and DJ Renee Simone.
SNOOP DOGG GOES DIGGING FOR NEW ARTISTS
Snoop Dogg has begun a global search for the best new performers, DJs, producers and songwriters. He wants to use new technology to collaborate with them via thenakedsong. com. 10 :: BRAG :: 604 :: 18:03:15
Jailed: Geoffrey Thomas Cockerill, 30, who set fire to Adelaide’s Crown & Anchor when 200 to 250 people were inside watching NZ band Five Mile Town, for two years and two months.
CMC AWARDS WINNERS
INDIGENOUS TALENTS GET MENTORED
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Arrested: Angie Stone in Atlanta, for allegedly hitting her 30-yearold daughter with a metal stand and knocking out her front teeth.
Suing: Kraftwerk frontman Ralf Hütter is hitting eZelleron Inc., the makers of a new energy supply unit for mobile electronic devices called Kraftwerk.
MANSIONAIR SIGN GLOBAL DEAL WITH GLASSNOTE
fri
Injured: Slipknot guitarist Mick Thomson was stabbed in the head during a drunken fight with his brother at his home.
Universal Music Australia exec Yvonne Cho joins on April 5 as senior label manager, in charge of Inertia’s distribution clients, such as Beggars Group, Remote Control, Cartell and Kobalt Label Services.
TIMMY TRUMPET AND SAVAGE’S ‘FREAKS’ GETS US RELEASE
wed
Lifelines
Died: pioneering US documentary maker Albert Maysles, 88. Among the 50 docos he made was the 1970 Rolling Stones film Gimme Shelter. Died: Lew Soloff, trumpeter with Blood, Sweat and Tears, 71, of a heart attack. With the band from 1968 to 1973, he appeared on hits ‘Spinning Wheel’, ‘You’ve Made Me So Very Happy’ and ‘And When I Die’. He left the group to join jazz orchestras. Died: Jimmy Greenspoon, keyboardist of 3 Dog Night, aged 67, of cancer. Died: Melbourne-born prog icon Daevid Allen, 77, weeks after he announced he was suffering from inoperable cancer. Allen arrived in London in the 1960s during the psychedelia movement, forming Soft Machine and Gong. His last public appearance was at a poetry recital in Byron Bay on February 27.
UNIVERSAL MUSIC TURNS DOWN BUYER
Vivendi, the owner of Universal Music Group, turned down an attempt by America’s Liberty Media to buy the record company. Liberty Media owns Sirius XM, 27% of Live Nation and 1% of MTV parent Viacom. Universal makes significant money for Vivendi, with earnings up 11.3% last year.
SUM MANAGEMENT ADDS WOODES TO ROSTER
Sydney-based Sum Management (Katie Noonan, KLP, Playwrite) has signed Woodes to its roster. 22-year-old Melbourne singer, composer, producer and model Elle Graham last year released a single ‘Decisions’ with Gold Coast producer Atticus Beats, which led to label interest in the U.S.
THE GLADSTONE CHANGES HANDS
The Gladstone Hotel in Chippendale, which hosts live indie music, has changed hands and will re-open soon after a revamp. New owner and Riversdale co-founder Paddy Coughlan confirmed the music will continue.
WAGON REPLACES SWIFT AT DOUBLE J
Henry Wagons will host new Double J Monday night show Tower Of Song. It will cover storytelling, from roots to outlaw and alt-country, Americana and bluesy rock. Wagons’ show replaces Revelator, hosted by Emma Swift, who is moving back to Nashville to further her international career.
FRESH BLOODS
Sydney’s Bloods set up their US dates (some of them with The Preatures) by signing with Chicago’s Minty Fresh Records. Their new home includes acts Mike Scott, Veruca Salt, Cardigans and Orange Peels. Bloods will release their debut album Work It Out (with cassette versions on red acrylic) soon. The US tour ends mid-April. thebrag.com
EVERY BANDS, BOOZE, BOWLING, GOOD TIMES! THURSDAY
FREE
DOORS OPEN
ENTRY
9PM-LATE
19T 19T 9THHMA MA M RC RCHHFEA FEAT:T: T
ALEX CAMERON / HUON KIND + DJ DARREN CROSS (GERLING, THE E.L.F)
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BRIDGES TO BABYLON BY DAVID JAMES YOUNG
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or many listeners, their understanding of British singersongwriter David Gray begins and ends with ‘Babylon’, the 1999 single that elevated him from humble travelling folk singer to a global-scale performer. Of course, Gray existed before the song – it did, after all, come from his fourth studio album, White Ladder – and he continued to exist after it, releasing his tenth studio album, Mutineers, in June last year. There is an all-too-common misconception, however, that David Gray is something of a one-hit wonder. The argument might work from a charts standpoint, but then again, one could argue the same for Jimi Hendrix or Radiohead. It misconstrues the point and displays an inability to see the forest for the trees. Gray merely takes it in his stride. “I think there are different layers of appreciation [from] everyone that ties into something really big when it enters the mainstream,” he says. “White Ladder was that for me – when it happened, it happened on a really big scale. Subsequently, the next few records did quite well, too, off the back of that. That’s sort of what happens when you’re firing in the mainstream. The casual listener is getting to experience what you do, but only on account of it being ploughed down all of the main avenues. When
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At 46, Gray has been writing, recording and touring for basically half his life. He’s dealt with critical acclaim and platinum sales as well as the release of albums that were more or less universally ignored. Through each high and low, however, he has found ways of connecting with his audience. “There are other listeners and there are other means of getting music out there,” he explains. “My early music found a home in Ireland, and I think a lot of my later success was because of the foundations that I had built for myself there. It gave me the inspiration to kind of get out there and take on the world. That happened as a kind of word-of-mouth thing. It goes to show that there’s more than one way of getting yourself recognised and validated. There are probably a few people that think I’ve only got a couple of songs, but that’s because those are the only ones that they’ve been exposed to. There’s no educating the masses in that way, but you just keep doing what you do. Who knows how it’ll play out?” Mutineers has garnered a respectable following since its release, collating yet another mix of sombre, acutely detailed and finely tuned folk rock with the occasional flair for the orchestral blended in. It’s somewhat of a landmark release, given it is Gray’s tenth studio album, some two decades removed from his debut, 1993’s A Century Ends. In terms of Gray’s songwriting, while the method by which he ends up with a new composition may shift, it’s what inspires the songs in the first place that remains a sole constant in his process. “It’s definitely the same sort of triggers – both in the way that I think about it and the way I capture ideas,” he says. “It’s
words. It’s the atmosphere that wants to come with those words. That’s what moves me. I like the sound of words; I like the rub and the space between them. I’m always looking to exploit that. My methods have moved on, in a way. Doing the same things in the same way can become really predictable. This time around, to use a Ghostbusters analogy, I reversed the flow. I started working with lyrics first, going backwards into the music itself. That’s not the way I normally do it, but I was hearing songs in all kinds of places. The way people say things, the conversations people have on the bus – I could just get a snippet of something someone said in the seat in front of me on the bus and I’d think, ‘That’s a song!’” Next month will see Gray and his band return to Australia in support of Mutineers, heading back to Byron Bay’s Bluesfest for the first time in nearly ten years and performing a run of headlining dates alongside it. When it comes to what constitutes a David Gray show these days, the man himself is quick to admit that there’s a lot to consider. You can’t attempt to incorporate everything from a ten-album discography, no matter how long your shows last. For Gray, it’s all about striking a balance between the old and the new, allowing them to co-exist in the setlist. “I try and get the balance right, but I’ve got to lean towards how I feel,” he says. “It’s all about the songs that feel the most vital to me at the moment – and that happens to be a lot of the new stuff. That’s what I tend to lead with, but I always make sure to weave in the older stuff, as well as the hits. There’s a part of the show where the band head off and I play solo – that’s a point where I can more or less play anything that I feel like at the time. It’s an easy time to take requests, too. Basically, the main set is never the same two nights in a row. It all depends on how I feel. Two hours might seem like a long time, but it really isn’t when you’re trying to fit in as much as I am!”
Gray is no stranger to Australian shores – as a matter of fact, practically every album he has released post-White Ladder has charted here, including a top-ten peak position for 2005’s Life In Slow Motion. He’s played arenas, festivals, club shows and tiny bars – there’s essentially no side of touring this country the man hasn’t seen. How strange, then, that the very first time Gray toured our land, he was flying away from a parent’s worst nightmare. “I’d just dropped my daughter on her head!” he begins, which is admittedly one of the worst ways one can start a story. The daughter in question, Ivy, survived unscathed and is now in her tweens. “Total accident, of course, but by the time I was in Australia I’d received about 7,000 messages. Her head had swelled up and they thought they might have to operate on her brain. It wasn’t the easiest landing I’ve had, to say the least. Amazingly enough, though, the first show that I played was in Brisbane, at a venue that I think has shut down now, and it was just rocking. It was a really, really good show.” “I’ve always loved doing Australia,” he continues, his enthusiasm unshakeable. “The last time I did Bluesfest, I think, was 2006. The crowd was just fantastic; the show was great. Some of the guys in the band still say that’s one of their favourite shows ever. It was a cracker!” What: Bluesfest 2015 With: The Black Keys, Zac Brown Band, Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, Alabama Shakes, Train and many more Where: Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm When: Thursday April 2 – Monday April 6 And: Also appearing at the State Theatre on Wednesday April 1 and Thursday April 2 More: Mutineers out now through IHT/ Kobalt
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David Gray photo by Jake Walters
“THERE’S MORE THAN ONE WAY OF GETTING YOURSELF RECOGNISED AND VALIDATED. THERE ARE PROBABLY A FEW PEOPLE THAT THINK I’VE ONLY GOT A COUPLE OF SONGS, BUT THAT’S BECAUSE THOSE ARE THE ONLY ONES THAT THEY’VE BEEN EXPOSED TO.”
that dies away, people are somehow led to believe that you’ve stopped, just on account of you not getting the same amount of exposure that you were getting before.”
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Alabama Shakes The Soul Of The South By Adam Norris something of a classic conundrum. Labels can be instrumental in shepherding your music to heights undreamed of for a fresh act, but hidden beneath the music can lurk the compromise of forces outside the band having a hand in production. Most of the time it’s to both parties’ benefit. But you can’t help but note the enthusiasm with which Howard speaks of the band members captaining themselves.
“There wasn’t any pressure there, which is why I think it turned out the way it did,” Howard explains in her breezy Southern drawl. “If we had pressure put on us, it would have been to do something just like Boys & Girls again. But we had a one-off deal with our label. One record and we’re out, we’re free! So we did Boys & Girls and found ourselves able to do whatever we wanted to do. Without a label there – and they can be useful, sure – but now we could make the kind of record that we wanted to do. And so we took our time to work out
what was exciting to us, what challenged us, what did we hate and love, and where was the compromise. Where could we meet in the middle. The result is that Sound & Color is here and now, while Boys & Girls was there and then. We made that record when we were 20 years old, and now here I am at 26, knowing a lot more stuff about the world.” She pauses, then laughs. “Well, I hope so.” You quickly get the impression that not all was smooth sailing with ATO Records on Boys & Girls, which is
While their first album brought almost universal acclaim, a common observation was that despite their early strengths, Alabama Shakes were a band who had yet to truly find the sound that would define them. Ostensibly a blues-soul-rock outfit, there was clearly space to stretch their wings, and as Howard explains, working out the kind of musicians they wanted to be was paramount.
This sophomore album will likely go a long way to confirming that individuality; it is a record of great variety (of sound and colour, you might say). Not that this is likely to be the band’s final form. Evolution is gradual, but insistent. “The core is the four of us being musicians and helping each other through writing songs. I’m not going to sit here and say just because we had some success I’m a terrific songwriter. We’re all learning. Always learning.” What: Bluesfest 2015 With: The Black Keys, Zac Brown Band, Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, David Gray, Train and many more Where: Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm When: Thursday April 2 – Monday April 6 And: Also appearing at the Enmore Theatre on Thursday April 2 More: Sound & Color out Friday April 17 through Rough Trade/ Remote Control
The Meanies The Fun Never Stops By Augustus Welby
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While The Meanies have visited us regularly enough, two trips to Sydney in less than six months is an almighty rarity. Following next week’s show, they’ll again retreat from the live arena. However, believe it or not, there’s actually a new album on the way.
ast October, Aussie punk veterans The Meanies rolled into town on their 25th anniversary tour. As that milestone indicates, the four Melburnians are no spring chickens, so fans questioned whether they could conjure the manic onstage energy that made them so notorious in the early ’90s. Hopes dimmed somewhat when it was revealed that crazed frontman Link McLennan had broken his foot on the Adelaide stop of the tour. Nevertheless, even a motionless McLennan didn’t stop The Meanies from putting on one hell of a show.
“It’s always Link’s baby, but we’re all babysitters,” Kempton says. “He just decided on the track order last week and at the moment it’s sounding really good. So once we’ve agreed on that, it’ll get sent off to get mastered and then it’ll get pressed. The album art’s being worked on as we speak. The plan is to have that sitting there waiting for us after we hibernate for the winter, then put the fucker out and probably tour again around September/October.
The Meanies head back to Sydney next weekend, and bass player Wally Kempton is confident they have another cracking gig in store. “We’ve had a pretty charmed life, so no matter who’s going to turn up, we’re going to have a great time,” he says. “Whether it’s ten people or 10,000 people, Link’s still going to put on a good show.” The Meanies have led a stop-start existence. Formed in 1988, over the next six years they released four LPs and a tonne of singles. Then, following the success of 1994’s 10% Weird, the band went on hiatus as the members focused on a variety of other projects. In the years since, they’ve intermittently regrouped for tours and one-off gigs, but refrained from releasing another album. Throughout, Sydney has remained a favoured gig location. “Our very, very first show in Sydney was with Hard-Ons and Exploding White Mice at The Phoenician
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Club,” Kempton recalls. “The HardOns manager, Tim Pittman, was influential in making that happen. Chris Dunn from Waterfront Records played him a Meanies seven-inch when he went into Waterfront one day and they just lost their shit over it, so Tim started giving us shows up there. We
played with Nursery Crimes and You Am I on the same weekend once – a very young You Am I. I don’t think even their EP Snake Tide was out. “Two of our more memorable shows were October ’95, when we played the Metro. We did an all-ages
show during school holidays on a Thursday afternoon and then we did a Friday night show and it was just packed. I think Frenzal Rhomb were supporting us. It was just party time. We’d got to a stage where we couldn’t do any wrong. And then we decided to stop playing, of course,” he laughs.
“We got inspired by our old buddies the Cosmic Psychos, because they just keep on keeping on. They keep making records because they can and because they want to, and just bring them out, no pressure. I said to Link, ‘Why don’t we do that? We’re still playing, why just be a heritage act when you could actually be somewhat current again and release new material?’ If we’re going to keep doing it for the fun, we might as well keep creating the fun.” With: Chinese Burns Unit, Hostile Objects Where: Newtown Social Club When: Friday March 27
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ince 2012’s Boys & Girls, Alabama Shakes have proven to be one of those bands that make a stake for themselves very quickly, winning critics and fans with enviable ease. Their debut tracks were strong, certainly, and their live performances established them as festival favourites, but it is Brittany Howard’s seismic voice that disrupts your day and gets your toes tapping. Three years after the debut, new album Sound & Color is on the way – a further step up for a group intent on piloting music in its own way.
“Sound & Color was a different experience, and because we didn’t have that pressure to produce an album, it was really just a band playing songs that they like. [As a band] we don’t tend to hang out a bunch, though not because we don’t like each other. We live in the same town so we get together easily to rehearse. We have this basement with a whole rehearsal set-up down there; everybody brings their amps and we just try to musically figure out what we think is cool, what we’re into, show each other records. That’s how we reconnect. ‘What are you listening to?’ ‘Have you heard this?’ ‘Hell yeah, I’m into that too!’ We see each other less now, but it isn’t because we’re getting tired of playing. It’s just that after all of this time we’re much more focused, whereas when we used to get together it was like, ‘Whatever, if we play, we play, if we don’t, we don’t.’ But we’re one of those bands who just like so much stuff, you know?” She laughs again. “So for this [album] we decided to try and put it all in there.”
“We’re the kind of band that doesn’t have a real format at all in how we do things. Really I can’t tell where a song is going to come from. I spent a lot of time in my basement demoing songs, and then when we had rehearsal I’d show the others. And not all of them were cool, but the songs they did grab onto were also the ones that I was most excited about. A lot of songs happen that way, but then there are some that happen organically in the studio. We recorded 21 songs in total, and when it came time to cut the fat, it was kind of easy. You could just tell that something wasn’t quite done. We have a lot of quality control between the four of us, and if someone likes or dislikes a certain song, it’s for a good reason. We all rely on each other’s opinions because we all respect each other’s tastes. That’s important. Be open to what’s new or different. I don’t want to be a retro soul band. I want to be Alabama Shakes.”
Michael Franti & Spearhead The Soul To Shine By Adam Norris
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ears ago, one of my university lecturers sat the class down and proceeded to explain why Michael Franti was the most important lyricist at large in the world today. It was a big claim, but that particular lecturer was weirdly intimidating and so we dutifully wrote down the singer’s name and set forth to find the truth for ourselves. I’m glad we did, because Franti is indeed a musician whose songs are not just catchy as hell, but inspire you to question the life around you. Just don’t call him an academic’s musician. “I’ve thought about that, and there was a time when I used to hate that moniker,” he says. “I didn’t want to be a songwriter just for intellectuals, you know? I think that one of the things that I’ve learnt over the years is that to be able to state something simply, to mean what you say and say what you mean within a melody that lots of people can understand, it’s a craft that’s really challenging. Not to write pages and pages of words that explain everything, but kind of leave some mystery there, to try and be eloquent in a shorter space. There’s always a wealth of things to write about. I think the challenge for me is to find new ways to do it.”
government because they’re not responding, it’s a real crisis out there.’ I live in San ’Cisco, which if New York was ground zero for AIDS, then day two was San Francisco. So I went and got tested myself, and when that happened I was suddenly stricken with fear and sadness. I realised it was impossible for me to write a song about HIV testing that would empower anyone else to go get tested if it was filled with anger and rage. It had to be something that was almost sexual, that was whispered. And that’s really the way the song came across. I realised whatever song that I write has to emotionally fit the music in the same way that I score a screenplay in a movie scene. That really opened up a whole new world of musicality to me.” What: Bluesfest 2015 With: The Black Keys, Zac Brown Band, Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, Alabama Shakes, Train and more Where: Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm When: Thursday April 2 – Monday April 6 And: Michael Franti’s Soulshine Festival is at the Enmore Theatre on Sunday April 5
Franti will be returning to Bluesfest this year after an appearance in 2014. “I go there as a fan first and as a musician second,” he laughs. “My favourite thing to do there is just to walk around, aimlessly stumble into different tents, and find the greatest band that you’ve never ever heard of before.” This year’s festival is full of outstanding talents and tent-pole names, and Franti will curate a Soulshine mini-festival onsite, featuring Soja and Trevor Hall and mixing music with yoga. However, it is a collaboration from Franti’s early days that is most fascinating to this day, and remains to Franti one of “the coolest things I’ve ever done musically”. This was his 1993 work with William S. Burroughs. “I was out on tour at the time with U2. Bono, myself, and my Disposable Heroes partner Rono [Tse] went into this really fancy hotel room, and Burroughs shows up with a bowling ball bag. He drops it on the bed, and it bounced really heavily, like there was an actual bowling ball in there. I was really impressed. I mean, the guy’s like 80 years old and he’s still going bowling? And then he goes…”
“And he opens up the chamber and there’s still one bullet left in it. And we all let out a collective gasp...” Franti clears his throat and delivers an uncannily accurate, reedy Burroughs impersonation. “‘I’ve just come from the shooting range and I thought you might like to see my gun collection,’ and he pulls out this .357 Magnum, the Dirty Harry gun. The barrel of the gun was so long, it’s like one of those tricks where you reach into a cup and pull out a walking cane, watching this giant gun come out of a bowling ball bag. And then he says, ‘Here’s my 9mm, here’s my .38 special I got in New York in 1948, here’s this, here’s that.’ This whole collection is coming out of this tiny bag, and he’s handing them to us and we’re brandishing them around, posing with them in the mirror, pretending to shoot. And then he goes over to Rono and goes, ‘Hey, wait a minute! Don’t point that thing at anyone, are you crazy?!’ And he opens up the chamber and there’s still one bullet left in it. And we all let out this collective gasp, amazed that none of us had just got our head blown off. After we left we were all talking about it, and we were pretty sure he did that just for effect.” Franti laughs at the memory. “Like, ‘Here are these big rock stars coming in, thinking they’re pretty badass. But I’ll show them who’s really the bad ass here.’” Franti’s music has gone through a wealth of transformations over the years. From his own university days playing with spoken-word/ industrial outfit The Beatnigs, to The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy, to his ongoing odyssey with Spearhead, Franti’s lyrics have always been charged with social and creative commentary. Finding the right vehicle for his expression, though, has not always been a straightforward ride. The effort to match substance to sound has seen radical shifts in both his songwriting and his musical philosophy. “There was a specific moment when I was writing a song about HIV testing for the very first Spearhead album, called ‘Positive’. I remember I’d written a song with Disposable Heroes about the AIDS crisis, and it was like, ‘Fuck the thebrag.com
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Oh Pep!
Howling By Adam Fighting At OnWolves The Home Front Norris By Krissi Weiss
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months ago, Oh Pep! would have been hardpressed to anticipate the shape of the year to come. The Melbourne quartet had been slowly but surely gaining momentum since the 2012 release of their eponymous debut EP, but with their Folk Alliance Australia win for 2014 Young Folk Performer of the Year, they found themselves propelled from festival to festival, continent to continent, all the while shouldering the secret burden that one of their members is actually (probably) a werewolf. Fresh from the Port Fairy Folk Festival, songwriters Olivia Hally and Pepita Emmerichs put on a brave face as they discuss the upcoming release of their first album, and why they feel the popularity of folk music isn’t going to fade anytime soon. “I feel like people think of folk in terms of the instrumentation now,” Emmerichs says. “That’s what we grew up playing, and so we’re just drawn to those traditional folk instruments anyway. I think the Australian folk scene is getting broader and broader, which you see at places like Woodford, but even the smaller festivals. You’re seeing more up-and-coming folk singers, and I feel like there are a lot of bands and songwriters in that scene now because of the instrumentation. We just got back from the States, where the folk scene is huge and there are no limits. You can see that in bands like Punch Brothers, who are now playing with drums and using a bunch of effects. They’re using folk instruments but essentially playing pop music. So I feel like, on the back of the US scene where all that stuff seems to be evolving, it’s just going to get bigger here.”
While Oh Pep!’s music has its feet firmly planted in the world of folk, they remain a band actively trying to explore new ground and stretch songs into unfamiliar territory. The indie folk circuits are certainly seeing more and more diversity in their performers, but remaining conscious of your audience’s expectations remains at the bedrock of a successful set. “We’ve come up against this before, especially when we’re playing more trad folk festivals,” Hally explains. (As she talks, an ominous growling begins to stir in the background.) “Port Fairy has more pop acts, you know, so I feel like we go there and it’s fine to do our usual thing. But we’re mindful when we’re playing those trad festivals of playing a more traditional kind of music – throw in more of our bluegrass stuff, or our older country songs, to cater to that crowd. But in saying that, we really try to just do what we do and not second-guess ourselves or the crowds. I mean, they’ve booked us, so they know what we’re about! But a lot of folk festivals now have so much pop in them that it doesn’t really matter.” “And at festivals you can kind of play different sets, a longer show,” adds Emmerichs. The growling is conspicuously absent when she speaks. “You can make sure you get all your songs in over the weekend. You get to put more surprises in there. More experiments, songs that aren’t quite there yet. Whereas with pub gigs, you have to play to keep people’s attention.” Oh Pep!’s experimental side has evolved quite naturally. Between their impressive performance schedule and the wide musical
influences they are exposed to, you suspect this is not an act to settle on one particular sound for any great length of time. There is always room for chance. Speaking of, the growling has now progressed into the occasional bark, though when fears of lycanthropy are raised, Hally artfully dodges the concern with a laugh. “We’re still writing a few more tunes for our first album,” she says. “But because we’ve been playing our songs for so long, sometimes we have to find new ways to make them work for us, you know? We might throw in something extra, and I’m a sucker for changing the phrasing from gig to gig. They’re definitely evolving. Some people like it when you stick to the tempo of the CDs, others like it when you move things about. It keeps it interesting for everyone.”
“Change is very natural,” Emmerichs adds, her voice oddly distant. She pauses, and when she speaks again she sounds her normal self. “I think that happens to everyone to a degree, which is interesting. The album release, though, is still a little up in the air. We’ve done a bunch of demos, which is super exciting, and now we’re bringing out people to work on it. We’re still a few months off, but it’s starting to feel like a tangible thing. We’ve only ever had those two EPs, so I’m excited to see where it goes from here. Well, I think they’re exciting, but I guess I have to say that,” she laughs. “We’re more aware now of exactly what we want with our sound, and for that matter exploring sounds that we haven’t used before,” Hally
explains, clearly unperturbed that her bandmate is seemingly a shapeshifter. “There’s more of a pop infl uence this time, some rock. I shouldn’t say too much. Except that it’s going to be totally heavy metal as well. Hmm. Maybe that’s one of the things that I wasn’t supposed to tell you.” They laugh, excited by the strange road ahead. Ever unrolling. Ever changing. What: National Folk Festival 2015 With: David Francey, Heartstring Quartet, Baka Beyond, All Our Exes Live In Texas and many more Where: Exhibition Park, Canberra When: Thursday April 2 – Monday April 6
British India Touch And Go By Augustus Welby
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rom the release of their debut EP up until their third album, Melbourne’s British India came across as a music nerd’s band – that is, a bunch of dudes with massive record collections making music for people with similarly obsessive listening habits. However, on the band’s fourth LP, 2013’s Controller, it seemed they were now targeting a more general audience. This impression continues on British India’s new album, Nothing Touches Me. Reflecting on the transition, frontman Declan Melia says it was inevitable.
“It comes down to nothing more or less than us being more comfortable in the studio, and being in a position to dictate what we want more. If you listen to the early records, to a song like ‘Tie Up My Hands’ or ‘Run The Red Light’, if they weren’t so sparse in their production then it would sound just as populist as some of the new songs. It’s not that we’ve said, ‘Let’s make something more populist and more slick.’ Since the inception of the band that’s been our goal, but because we were so inept in the studio we weren’t able to realise it.”
“Working with Harry Vanda when we were 19 or so, we weren’t in a position to say, ‘This is what we want,’” Melia explains. “And it’s a good thing. I think those records were masterfully produced for where we were at the time. I look back on 16 :: BRAG :: 604 :: 18:03:15
These days, it’s no longer the legendary Vanda giving British India a hand in the studio. Nothing Touches Me was recorded in two segments with two different producers. First off, the band took a trip to Golden Retriever Studios in Berlin to work with Simon Berckelman (AKA Philadelphia Grand Jury’s Berkfinger). “Obviously we like the stuff he did with Art vs. Science and Velociraptor,” says Melia. “He also did stuff with friends of ours, Red Ink. They’re maybe less well known, but he did great production with them so we sought him out. “A lot of the stuff from the Berlin sessions isn’t what you hear on the record,” he adds, “but the Berlin trip really affected the record, and not in an abstract or casual way. It was a really different record before we went to Berlin and it was a very important part of the record’s maturing process.” After straightening their vision in Berlin, British India returned to Melbourne and finished the record under the supervision of Glenn Goldsmith. “He actually produced [2010’s] Avalanche and Controller,” says Melia. “I wouldn’t say it’s a good working relationship, but it’s a successful working relationship.” A major sign of the band’s shifting intent came in the form
of Controller’s lead single ‘I Can Make You Love Me’. Not only did the distortion pedals take a back seat, but vocally, Melia embraced melodic niceties and a tone of vulnerability. Even more so than on its predecessor, Melia’s singing distinguishes Nothing Touches Me. “It’s really down to the two producers,” he says. “They were just saying, ‘Stop bellowing, sing this well, I’ve heard you do it before.’ It’s not something that comes naturally to me – you can tell by our first four records – but there’s a big difference between writing a line and how you sing it. That really determines how it’s felt by the listener.” Given that his vocals now sit boldly out front, Melia no doubt felt extra pressure as a lyricist. However, he says he’s always been a
conscientious wordsmith. “At the start of the band, not being an awesome guitarist, not being an awesome singer, lyrics were where I could justify my position. I’m obsessed with lyrics and I always thought, right from Guillotine, that our credo was that post-Strokes rock bands have just had terrible lyrics, especially in this country. So it was something I’d always made a point of.” Perhaps it’s due to Melia’s vocals being the record’s centrepiece, but the lyrics on Nothing Touches Me seem to tug at the heartstrings more so than in the past. “With Controller, the more successful songs were the songs like ‘Summer Forgive Me’ and ‘I Can Make You Love Me’, with the really confessional, dark lyrics,” he agrees. “That was really encouraging for me
to carry on further down that path. I wanted to make an emotional record for sure. “Being in your late 20s, you kind of know who you are and [can say], ‘This is what I want to do.’ In some ways, British India have always been a little ashamed of our guitar-y, rocky kind of sound. The fight between what we are and what we wanted to be, I can hear on every record. But with this one, we really knew exactly what kind of record we wanted to make.” What: Nothing Touches Me out now through Liberation With: Grenadiers, Tired Lion Where: Metro Theatre / Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle When: Friday May 22 / Saturday May 23 thebrag.com
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Melia’s self-professed ineptitude hasn’t prevented the band from fostering a diehard following. British India’s first full-length, 2007’s Guillotine, was loaded with shouty vocals, loose instrumentation and a sense of brash recklessness. But it also contained enough memorable tunes to fast-track British India onto many a summer festival stage.
them really fondly. At the time of [Guillotine] coming out, all of the big bands on triple j were like the anti-riff-rock kind of thing. It was Cut Copy and Van She – these very slick sounds. Then we came out with this really sparse, jangly, garage-y record and it was a nice counterpoint, which is obviously not something that we planned.”
Jeff Martin Thy Will Be Done By Adam Norris
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ither solo or as frontman of seminal prog rock band The Tea Party, Jeff Martin brings to the stage a presence few artists are able to match. His voice glides between thunder and tenderness like an Old Testament prophet, and his songs are littered with lyrics inspired by some of the most radical and influential voices of the last hundred years. From Aleister Crowley to Jack Kerouac, Roy Harper to Daniel Lanois, Martin’s palette is ambitious to say the least. After close to a decade’s hiatus, The Tea Party returned with their eighth album last year, The Ocean At The End, and on the eve of an exhaustive Australian acoustic solo tour, Martin still finds himself humbled by the unusual shape of his career. “It’s quite funny,” he chuckles in his trademark deep voice. “I’m doing a warm-up show down in Margaret River before the tour, and so just before we started this interview I went across the street to grab a six-pack for the drive. I’m literally standing in the middle of the street waiting to cross, and this car slows down. A guy I’ve never met before sticks his head out the window and goes, ‘Mr. Martin?’ I say, ‘Yeah?’ And he just cranks his stereo, and he was listening to the song, ‘Ocean At The End’. And the guy’s like, ‘This is so freaky!’ while all of these cars are honking their horns behind him and trying to swerve around. And I guess that’s one way to answer how that album sits with me today. For a band that had been away for all that time, for us to have the record still connecting with people just as they’re driving down the street, I just couldn’t be prouder.”
Having released their first self-titled album back in 1991, the sound of Martin and The Tea Party is a difficult beast to categorise. Their affiliation with Middle Eastern music is well documented, but over the years the band has embraced a host of different genres and instrumentation. In turn, they have found themselves as unexpected avatars of rock fusion, inspiring others just as they themselves move off into fresh directions. “Definitely as far as our artistry is concerned, it’s a matter of what the three of us are exposed to, and we all bring to the table many different things,” Martin says. “For instance, when Edges Of Twilight was created, there had been a tour of the Middle East. Ever since I was a little boy I’d been fascinated with music from that part of the world – it was something that resonated with me for some strange reason even at 11 years old. So that’s always been a part of our musical psyche. It’s funny, when we first came out in ’93 we got these comparisons to Led Zeppelin and The Tourists, acts like that. But now things have come full circle, and a lot of bands these days who attempt anything Middle Eastern immediately get compared to The Tea Party,” he laughs. “Which is quite flattering, I guess, to see how in the consciousness of the critical press we’re that well known.” Of particular note are Martin’s reflections and investigations into occult studies. His forays into esoteric spirituality infuse much of his professional and creative life, which is
arguably all the more remarkable given how often such philosophical engagements are dismissed by contemporary voices. “The spiritual belief in Thelema, which is something that Crowley founded back in the early 1900s, is a big part of my life, especially here in Perth,” Martin says. “Our business manager is an artist himself but is known for being the number one curator of occult fine art, so here on the walls of my studio surrounding me are original Crowley paintings, paintings by James Gleeson, Kim Nelson, artists like that. So it’s very much a temple to the esoteric, which is always going to be part and parcel to the music that I write. Even though what I do is mostly rock’n’roll, it’s rock with a lot of layers underneath it.” It is fascinating, yet a school of thought that remains largely unknown to many people. To hear a term like ‘occult’ brings with it all manner of baggage, most of which has little to do with the real-world application of beliefs like Thelema. For Martin, in a world so intent on the next piece of technology, the next glamour, it is something grounding that he can draw from every day. “The purpose of ritual and meditation in those schools of thought are what help you swim through the mire of technology, through the overwhelming claustrophobia of so much information out there. It makes you able to return to the self, before you start to fragment. I’m not a preacher, but this type of path is something that you have to discover for yourself, and it has to work for you.
“If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. But certainly it has for me. Thelema allows me to keep everything in order. It’s almost like a spiritual filing cabinet so that nothing overwhelms me. People think, ‘Hey, Jeff Martin is into black magic and all that,’ which couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s all about positivity, and is ultimately about me being a loving human being with empathy and compassion – all of those beautiful things that a lot of us forget about.”
What: The Ocean At The End by The Tea Party out now through Anthem/Sony Where: The Basement When: Wednesday March 25 And: Also appearing at Lizotte’s Kincumber on Tuesday March 24, Lizotte’s Newcastle on Tuesday March 31, The Brass Monkey on Wednesday April 1 and Newtown Social Club on Saturday April 4
Gina Williams And Guy Ghouse The Language Of Song By Adam Norris heritage. I think we all have the responsibility to learn the language of where we come from.” Listening to Williams’ songs is curiously akin to listening to opera. At first glance there might not seem a strong corollary between Australian indigenous languages and, say, Turandot. But beyond the words themselves there exists another language, where the sentiment of the words – the essence, perhaps – instils the songs with emotions and meanings that transcend vocabulary. While the material that Williams and Ghouse performs is not traditional Noongar songs, the pulse of the language remains clear.
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ina Williams sounds surprised to hear from me, though she is quick to assure me it is not because she has forgotten our interview. Rather, she has lately found herself to be a performer much in demand, and there are only so many hours in the day. Hailing from Balladong in Western Australia, Williams and her musical partner, Guy Ghouse, have been involved in a remarkable pursuit over the last few years, bringing the highly endangered Noongar language back from the brink of extinction. Given the great lengths taken to eradicate the language in the first place, and the dwindling population that still speaks it, their endeavour is all the more urgent. thebrag.com
“The language was hunted down,” says Williams. She is passionate in her speech, and with good cause. “Children first, as part of Auber Neville [former Chief Protector of Aborigines in WA]’s policy of taking kids. They were moved all around, separated from families, and the language was hunted almost to extinction. If you consider now, we have less than 250 speakers left, and in my lifetime we’ve seen it go from 16 to 14 dialects. Anyone can do the math and see just how critically endangered it is. By a lot of official standards the language would already be considered extinct, but we know that isn’t true.” Though Williams speaks sadly about the history of indigenous
Western Australia, there is yet great hope that through her music, sung entirely in the Noongar language, a piece of Australia’s cultural history may be sustained across the entirety of the country. “What I think is really interesting is how people have been responding, and not just because we’re dealing with something that’s really rare. People seem to understand that it’s really something quite beautiful. It truly comes from this country. There’s a lot of talk at the moment of identity, of ‘What is Australian culture?’ My observation is, the indigenous voice – not just here in Perth, but all indigenous languages – have a real part to play in informing our
“A couple of things happened when I went overseas,” says Williams. “I was in London for a month and was offered this opportunity to sing. While I was there I thought, ‘Why not? I might just try a couple of these language songs as well.’ And people were very polite for my English songs, but when I sang in language it captured something. One bloke came up to me and said, ‘I have no idea what you were singing about, but I understood the heart of it.’ You don’t need to know the words. We all share passions, we all know what love and loss are. It doesn’t matter what language you express it in, it’s something we all share. That was a real turning point. “I think what we do is deeply, deeply personal. People are often really keen to point out the differences between us. But when we’re singing in language, what’s really key in all of this is that it celebrates the things we have in common. I know that sounds like a bit of a cliché. But what we’ve discovered is that even though I’m singing a language that only a handful of people will understand, we’re actually not so different.” Williams laughs, and then happily sighs. Quite clearly a project in
which she has invested much time and energy, it is not only the responsibility of preserving the language that keeps her going, but the excited reception these songs have received. There is an almost fundamental connection between our contemporary cultural lives and the ancient languages of indigenous Australia, despite the paucity of exposure. Indeed, the word ‘noongar’ itself translates quite humbly to ‘human being’, and there are few things more communal than that. “I can get a bit evangelistic about this,” Williams says. “But I think it’s such a beautiful language, so I get quite passionate about it. It has the rhythm of a heartbeat, and we’ve been blessed to have found such support from within the community. Not so long ago, people didn’t want to hear it. My mum grew up not being allowed to speak it, with the language being beaten out of her. So it’s not ancient history, this is still recent. We’re at a point now that every time an Elder dies, our hearts are in our throat because they’re like a library. We lose more of the language, lose more words. So I think we have a responsibility as artists to keep language alive. “It’s kind of overwhelming, the response we’ve had. People are genuinely touched and genuinely connect, and that keeps the language moving. I’m more than happy to make friends with the entire world one gig at a time, if that’s how we have to do it. If that’s how this language is kept alive, then I’ll happily sing until the day I die.” What: National Folk Festival 2015 With: David Francey, Heartstring Quartet, Baka Beyond, All Our Exes Live In Texas and many more Where: Exhibition Park, Canberra When: Thursday April 2 – Monday April 6
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Saturday 4th April
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Monday 6th April
George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic Paull Kelly ll presents The h Merrii Soull Sessions i Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaires Angelique Kidjo Watussi Nikki Hill
Sunday 5th April
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MOJO Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals Rodrigo d i y Gabriela bi l Xavier Rudd & The United Nations Hunter Hayes Beth Hart The Beautiful Girls JJ Grey & Mofro
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Michael Franti & Spearhead SOJA Rebelution Trevor Hall Yoga & acoustic jam Mariachi El Bronx The Beautiful Girls
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CROSSROADS
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Music Maker Blues Revue Phil Wiggins & Dom Turner Matt Andersen James T. The Bella Reunion Eddie Boyd & The Phatapillars (2014 Busking Competition Winner) Marlon & The l Williams ll h Yarra Benders d
JUKE JOINT
Playing For Change Blue King Brown Declan Kelly presents Diesel n' Dub feat. Emma Donovan, Radical Son, Pat Powell & Tony Hughes Tony Joe White Diesel Serena Ryder Steve Smyth 2015 Busking Competition Winner
DELTA
Gary Clark Jr. Mavis Staples John Mayall Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin with The Guilty Ones Ash Grunwald Pokey LaFarge Karl S. Williams
JAMBALAYA
Jurassic 5 Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls Melbourne Ska Orchestra Angelique Kidjo Gary Clark Jr. Ash Grunwald Declan Kelly presents Diesel n' Dub feat. Emma Donovan, Radical Son, Pat Powell & Tony Hughes Skipping Girl Vinegar
JAMBALAYA
12.00
Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaires Blue King Brown Fly My Pretties Mavis Staples Ruthie Foster RocKwiz Live
DELTA The Rumjacks Jon Cleary & The Monster Gentlemen Nikki Hill Diesel Justin Townes Earle Phil Wiggins & Dom Turner Matt Andersen Steve Smyth
JUKE JOINT Playing For Change Music Maker Blues Revue Watussi Karl S. Williams James T. Serena Ryder Genevieve Chadwick h d k & The h Stones Throw h
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MOJO
2015 PLAYING SCHEDULE
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Start MOJO Paolo Nutini Alabama l b Shakes h k Hozier Melbourne Ska Orchestra Mariachi El Bronx Skipping Girl Vinegar Genevieve Chadwick & The Stones Throw
CROSSROADS David Gray The Gipsy Kings Rodrigo y Gabriela The Waterboys John Mayall Nikki Hill Steve Smyth
JAMBALAYA Playing For Change Fly My Pretties Dispatch Donavon Frankenreiter Keziah Jones RocKwiz Live
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EUVER SEULB REKAM CISUM
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DELTA Jon Cleary & The Monster Gentlemen Pokey LaFarge Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin with The Guilty Ones Jeff Lang Rebelution The Beat Kristy Lee Marlon Williams & The Yarra Benders
LULUC
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MOJO The Black Keys Alabama l b Shakes h k Paolo Nutini Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue Beth Hart Band Of Skulls Switchfoot Delta Rae
CROSSROADS Zac Brown Band Hunter Hayes Train Jimmy Cliff SOJA Keb' Mo' Nikki Hill
JAMBALAYA Gary Clark Jr. Chris Robinson Brotherhood Ruthie Foster G. Love & Special Sauce JJ Grey & Mofro RocKwiz Live
DELTA
EUVER SEULB REKAM CISUM
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JUKE JOINT
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Dispatch Donavon Frankenreiter Playing For Change Declan Kelly presents Diesel n' Dub feat. Alex Lloyd, Frank Yamma, Emma Donovan, Radical Son,Pat Powell & Tony Hughes The Beat Keziah Jones Jake Shimabukuro Kristy Lee
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JUKE JOINT
16.30 15.00 13.30 12.00
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Thursday 2nd April MOJO Counting Crows Trombone b Shorty h & Orleans l Avenue Sticky Fingers Jurassic 5 Declan Kelly presents Diesel n Dub feat. Frank Yamma, Emma Donovan, Radical Son, Pat Powell & Tony Hughes Frank Yamma Arakwal Opening Ceremony
CROSSROADS Angus & Julia Stone Hozier Boy & Bear Augie March Justin Townes Earle Skipping Girl Vinegar (solo)
JAMBALAYA Jimmy Cliff SOJA Playing For Change Chris Robinson Brotherhood Wagons Luluc
DELTA Nikki Hill Keb' Mo' G. Love & Special Sauce Matt Andersen Shaun Kirk Kristy Lee
JUKE JOINT
SKCAJMUR EHT
The Rumjacks Delta Rae Music Maker Blues Revue Dewayne Everettsmith The Bella Reunion
12.00
CHADWICK & THEWinner) STONES THROW 13.15 MARLON WILLIAMS & THE YARRA BENDERS 12.00 Eddie13.15 Boyd & GENEVIEVE The Phatapillars (2014 Busking Competition 12.00 EDDIE BOYD & THE PHATAPILLARS 2014 BUSKING COMP WINNER PLEASE NOTE THAT NSW WILL CHANGE TO FROM DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME TO EASTERN STANDARD TIME ON SUNDAY 5TH APRIL
EUVER SEULB REKAM CISUM
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Music Maker Blues Revue Jeff Lang Matt Andersen ABC Gold Coast FM National Broadcast Dewayne Everettsmith Frank Yamma Shaun Kirkk h
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SHAUN KIRK
22.00 20.15 18.45 16.00 14.30 13.15 12.00
(This Schedule was correct at time of printing but is subject to change without notification)
CORRECT AT TIME OF PRINTING - SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE
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arts in focus
free stuff head to: thebrag.com/freeshit
arts news...what's goin' on around town... with Chris Martin, Ayla Dhyani and Meggan Turner
five minutes WITH
IRINA MOROZOVA FROM GOLDNER STRING QUARTET most remarkable quartet ever written. It touches each of us in a very personal way because of the hardship and struggle that Beethoven was enduring at the time of composition, and we all can relate to that for different reasons. György Ligeti was one of the most remarkable musical minds of the 20th century and we are all invigorated by his skill as a composer and amazing thought process. Paul Stanhope is one of the most important younger composers active in Australia today and we are delighted to champion his excellent new quartet, written especially for us, which contains a haunting lament based on an Aboriginal theme. How strong is the chamber music scene in Australia these days? It is now the strongest it has
ever been. There are so many more opportunities for young players. There are scholarships, mentoring programs, better and more venues in which to play and a proliferation of young ensembles anxious to make it on the stage. It helps to have events like the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition and to have organisations such as Musica Viva, who provide tremendous stimulus to musicians contemplating a career in chamber music and who provide real support to that end. Where: City Recital Hall Angel Place When: Monday May 4 and Sunday May 10 And: Also appearing at Harold Lobb Concert Hall, Newcastle on Thursday April 30
Ah yes – it’s that time of year when we cast an ever-so-slightly envious eye to Melbourne and Jen Kirkman the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. It’s one of the largest events of its kind in the world, and a compulsory stop for the funniest comedians and performers from here to Timbuktu. The festival will take over the Victorian capital from Wednesday March 25 – Sunday April 19 this year, and much of the action will be centred on the Jameson Festival Club, where local and international comics drop by on an unpredictable lineup. To make sure Sydneysiders don’t miss out on the fun, the MICF has kindly given us a prize pack for one lucky BRAG reader (and a friend) to enjoy all the action. It includes a night’s accommodation for two at The Adina South Yarra on Thursday April 2, a double pass to US comedian Jen Kirkman’s show at Melbourne Town Hall the same night, and entry for two into the Jameson Festival Club nearby. For your chance to win, head to thebrag.com/ freeshit.
IT’S A FACE-OFF Future Senior/Former Youth
Presented by Australian theatre producer John Frost and artistic director Lyndon Terracini, Jekyll And Hyde – the musical adaptation of The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson – is set to hit Australian shores later this year. The famous storyline plays with the concept of interweaving good and evil to a point where the human psyche splits into separate identities. Auditions for the principal and ensemble cast will occur over the next few months, and dates and venues will be announced shortly. Christopher Renshaw will fill the director’s seat. Visit jekyllandhydemusical.com. au for details.
HELPMANN AWARDS 2015
IT’S ON FOR YOUNG AND OLD
The local Bondi community and the Rock Surfers creative collective have collaborated on a new production, Future Senior/Former Youth, set to open this week. In order to create the work, young artists interviewed senior community members and senior artists interviewed their younger neighbours with the idea of walking a mile in someone else’s shoes. Alfie Gledhill and Jill Mackay perform in this verbatim/documentary piece, playing at Bondi Pavilion Theatre this Thursday March 19 – Saturday March 21.
Live Performance Australia has released the finer details about the 2015 Helpmann Awards ceremony, which celebrates the live entertainment industry. The Helpmann Awards honour the outstanding people and elements – at the front and the back of the stage – from a variety of live performance genres, including musical theatre, contemporary music, comedy, opera, classical music, theatre, dance and physical theatre, children’s presentations, regional touring and cabaret. The 15th edition of the Helpmann Awards will take over the Capitol Theatre on Monday July 27. To find out more, head to helpmannawards.com.au.
THE AXIS OF AWESOME IRISH FILM FESTIVAL DeAnne Smith
SYDNEY COMEDY FESTIVAL 2015
Sydney, get your funny bones at the ready: the full program for Sydney Comedy Festival 2015 has landed. The 11th edition of the annual event will roll into town at the end of April, bringing some of the biggest names in international comedy to venues around Sydney. Returning names include Jim Jefferies, Ross Noble, Stephen K Amos, Noel Fielding, The Topp Twins, Wil Sylvince, Cal Wilson, Paul Foot, Jimeoin, DeAnne Smith, Daniel Sloss, Jeff Green, Tony Woods, Josie Long, Daniel Kitson, Craig Hill and Angelo Tsarouchas. Meanwhile, making their Sydney Comedy Festival debuts this year are the likes of Greg Behrendt, Jen Kirkman, Adrienne Truscott, Dave Anthony and Mike Wilmont. And as per usual, there are some local legends on the bill, from Akmal and Effie to Ronny Chieng and Sam Simmons. Sydney Comedy Festival 2015 takes place from Monday April 20 – Sunday May 17. The full program is available at sydneycomedyfest.com.au, and tickets are on sale now.
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The Irish film industry has given us plenty to enjoy over the years. Colin Farrell, for one – and of course, The Commitments. Now, Sydney film lovers will get their chance to immerse themselves in all things Irish cinema with the inaugural Irish Film Festival, launching at the end of the month. The opening night party will feature a screening of comedy The Stag, about a modern
NAIDOC IN THE CITY
meterosexual Irishman, and there’ll be a nightly Festival Club open until midnight and featuring Irish music (both traditional and contemporary). Other films on the schedule include Good Vibrations, a biopic about Belfast’s godfather of punk Terri Hooley, and closing night feature Out Of Here. The 2015 Irish Film Festival takes place at the Chauvel Cinema from Thursday March 26 – Sunday March 29.
The Axis Of Awesome will be playing four ‘greatest hits’ shows in Sydney this May. After spending almost a decade travelling across the globe making people laugh, The Axis Of Awesome are returning to their hometown to play a best-of show, aptly titled Homecoming Kings. The Axis Of Awesome will play at the Concourse Theatre in Chatswood on Saturday May 2 and at the Factory Theatre from Thursday May 14 – Saturday May 16 as part of Sydney Comedy Festival 2015.
NAIDOC In The City
The National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee, grown from the first political groups to seek rights for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians in the 1920s, is set to celebrate NAIDOC In The City again this year – a fourth annual Sydney celebration of the history, culture, and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The free event is an opportunity to showcase and recognise the importance of indigenous culture, featuring a range of familyfriendly activities and performances, including live music, dance, food, art and Australian animals. The event will be hosted in Hyde Park on Monday July 6 from 11am to 3pm as a part of NAIDOC Week, the national program running from Sunday July 5 – Sunday July 12.
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he Goldner String Quartet is made up of two married couples. Does that make it easier or harder to work together? We get asked this question more than any other. It is just the same as any other profession where married couples have to work together. It either works or it doesn’t. In our case, it has worked. The challenge in a string quartet is that you often have to be critical of each other and must find a way to do so without destroying marital harmony. It is also a situation
where it’s not possible to switch off from the job at 5pm. What can you tell us about the history of the group? We formed the quartet in 1995 after playing together in the Australia Ensemble and successfully performing some difficult quartet repertoire. Ken Tribe was most encouraging that we form a quartet to specialise in this repertoire and we wanted to honour Richard Goldner, a remarkable musician, pedagogue, violist, inventor and mentor to all of us. He founded Musica Viva in 1945 and left Australia a remarkable musical legacy. How are the works you’ve chosen for your latest tour personally relevant to you? Beethoven’s quartet Op. 132 is simply, in our opinion, the
MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GETAWAY
’71 [FILM] The Troubles Of Youth By Tegan Jones n the surface, ’71 may seem to be a shoot-’em-up history lesson set against the violent backdrop of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. But savvy cinemagoers will quickly realise that the story represents far more than a young soldier who is separated from his platoon behind enemy lines. As director Yann Demange discusses, war is war and is never black and white.
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Gregory Burke wanted to specifically highlight. “Absolutely,” Demange replies. “It’s a fact about the situation. When I was researching the film, I met people who were very high up on both sides. There was this one breakthrough moment where I was talking to someone who was describing the things they had to do, and I asked how old they were at the time. He said he was 19 or 20 and my jaw hit the floor.
Although the young filmmaker was initially drawn in by the strength of the script, there was one element in particular that convinced him to sign on for ’71. “I really fell in love with one of the characters, Jimmy,” he explains. “When I read that character, I knew that I was in. That kid is so perfectly formed.”
“I continued researching and I found that a lot of the captains, as well as the sergeants in the British Army, were between 18 and 23. It was mind-blowing when I found that out, because we’re talking about young boys. Under these extraordinary circumstances, look how far [war] can stretch our humanity, look how far people will go for the strength of their convictions.”
He continues, “The way that Jimmy captures how hate is handed down and how children can just spout opinions that they don’t clearly understand – it’s just an incredible piece of writing. It’s that cycle of perpetuating hatred and anger. He was also just so charming, funny and fresh.”
Human behaviour, and the exploitation of it by people in power, is intrinsic to the film. The protagonist, Gary Hook (played by Jack O’Connell of Skins and Unbroken fame), is just a young man who wants to belong and who is ultimately used and betrayed.
Something about ’71 that strikes particularly hard is its representation of the children involved in the conflict, as well as just how young the soldiers were on both sides. I ask Demange if this is something he and writer
“Oh my God, you just hit the nail on the head,” Demange replies. “As an outsider growing up, I understand the desire to want to belong to a tribe, to have a sense of home and family. I think armies fill that gap for a lot of kids,
’71 because they welcome them with open arms. But then they’re so quick to sacrifice these kids in messy, dirty conflicts where no-one really knows what’s going on.” Demange injected his research into the film by casting age-appropriate and almost exclusively unknowns for his roles. This choice was so effective and jarring that one can’t help but draw parallels between the young soldiers of the film and the ones who are currently being recruited by the likes of ISIS. “Absolutely. When I read the screenplay and decided to make the film, it was because I felt
it was almost contemporary. Gregory really identified a pattern in human behavior that keeps repeating itself. “You could be talking about Iraq, Afghanistan, the Ukraine – there are lots of examples and we all have them in our history. [The film] has really captured something that we are in the middle of right now, which is a global crisis. We need to get to grips about it soon and break the pattern.” What: ’71 (dir. Yann Demange) Where: In cinemas Thursday March 19
Russell Peters [COMEDY] The Prizefighter By Tyson Wray
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ussell Peters is an anomaly in the comedy world. While it might surprise many purists within the practice, his level of global appeal in the contemporary scene is impenetrable. He currently holds the record in Dubai for the fastest-selling concert in the history of the Emirate, his attendance records are yet to be eclipsed in South Africa, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and his home country of Canada, and in 2012 he became the first comedian to perform at Barclays Center in Brooklyn to a crowd of over 10,000, making it the largest comedy show ever in the history of the New York City borough.
Wyl Sylvince [COMEDY] Help For The Helpless By Augustus Welby
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his time last year, Wil Sylvince was getting ready for his maiden trip Down Under in order to perform at the Sydney and Melbourne comedy festivals. The ironic and selfdeprecating Haitian-American had no trouble winning over local crowds, which prompted the creation of new show Syllables, Fat & Celibacy, specifically for his forthcoming return. Once again, he’ll hit up the Sydney Comedy Festival, only this time he feels much better prepared. “I was super nervous [last year],” he says. “I was not sure if some of the references would get mixed up. Comedy is really about knowing stuff. If you don’t know stuff, then you’re not going to get the joke. So my concern was how much explanation I had to do so I could get into the joke. But then that kind of worked out, because sometimes the explanations turned out to be funny – another bit itself.” Sylvince’s comedy dips into various aspects of personal life – making frequent reference to his Haitian heritage and relationships with family members. Syllables, Fat & Celibacy is a curiously descriptive title, and once again the show’s content is derived from lived experiences. “I basically talk about my entire life change with my health – basically I’ve been self-helping myself,” he says. “This is a real example but it’s going to sound dumb: I used to walk pigeontoed and I just forced my feet to walk outward everyday for three months until I started walking straight. I changed my diet, I stopped having sex with girls that I don’t care about. So that’s basically it, but of course I’m going to talk about other stuff.”
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It’s easy to picture how a discussion of overweight woes and rejigged sexual preferences could turn into a soppy motivational speech. Yet while Sylvince typically finds comedy in darker places, he doesn’t ham up the sentimental details. “Most of my humour comes from serious situations,” he says. “I’m not trying thebrag.com
to make everything funny. My thoughts, or the way I process stuff, just happens to be funny, if that makes sense. I just take it and that’s how I process it in my head. “For example, in Brazil, I think Brazilians, they bleach their assholes. So in Brazil I assume if you call someone an asshole, it’s a compliment. You know, their assholes are squeaky clean. So that’s how I process it. People are like, ‘Oh, anal bleaching,’ but I think it’s a good thing – you can go down to Brazil and call someone an asshole and they’ll say ‘thank you’. But that’s probably a bad example of how I interpret things. “If something happens to me and I can turn around and make it funny, it’s going to end up in my standup,” he adds. “So even if I go into detail, as long as the detail is going to get people to laugh, that’s fine with me. I don’t mind being too personal.” Having conquered his personal demons and flipped them into an hour’s worth of standup, Sylvince will return to Oz full of confidence. Still, he doesn’t pretend to have cracked a secret code. “Comedy is always a new challenge,” he says. “Even if you’re doing the same club every night, every crowd is different. So I’m still nervous. There’s a lot of new jokes, I’ve got to make sure they work, so there’s no rest period where I’m like, ‘OK, I’m good now.’ It’s a whole new challenge. I did like 20 minutes last time, now I’m doing an entire hour. 20 minutes was easy, but now it’s an hour.” What: Syllables, Fat & Celibacy as part of Sydney Comedy Festival 2015 Where: Factory Theatre When: Wednesday April 22 – Saturday April 25 And: Also appearing at The Comedy Store on Sunday April 26
While Peters is no stranger to selling out the biggest venues across the globe several times over, he confesses that returning to the dark and dingy clubs where he first began making his mark is as imperative today as it was when he began over 26 years ago. “To me, arena shows and stadium shows, they’re like title fights,” he says. “Comedy clubs are where you go to train. You’ve got to do the groundwork, you’ve got to build yourself up. You’ve got to spar and fight with comics that are younger and hungrier than you. Firstly you have to earn your place, but then you need to maintain your position. It’s really like boxing; you always need to go back to the beginning. If you try and skip a step in this game then you’re going to end up on your ass.
something. People feel the need to record things, and in doing that, you take yourself out of the moment. To make the most out of any show you need to stay in the moment and to stay in that space. It’s not that difficult.” This month sees Peters return to Australian shores for the first time since his sell-out tour in 2013. “The show is really a snapshot of my life right now,” he says. “I think this show really allows me to get away from that whole usual ethnic style of comedy. There’s a lot of stuff that’s basically about me being a 44-year-old man still struggling to try and fit into this world. I mean, I’m still immature but I’m also a father. We live in a technological world but there’s still so much about it that puzzles me, which to be honest is embarrassing for an Indian guy,” he laughs. “As I perform my show every night I’m still polishing it up. The show is always changing. You may expand on a bit, you might economise something. You might find that something works better if you say it this way or that way. It’s forever a changing process. There’s always challenges and ways to keep myself entertained while I’m up there performing.” Where: Allphones Arena When: Saturday March 28
“You’ve got to give it to those guys, those ones who are out there performing every night and working on their stuff. There’s this thing – you can go around and have people paying to see you and being enamoured by your performances, but it creates this false sense of security. Once you put on those gloves it’s an equal playground. That’s when you find out just how funny your jokes really are.” While the vicious proclamation that illegal downloading is killing the music industry rings incessantly, many seem to overlook the problems that the YouTube age is creating for modern-day comedians. In his 2006 DVD, Outsourced, Peters begins by greeting the audience with, “Look at you, you filthy downloaders!” Fiscal implications aside, the recording and distribution of a show, a joke or a punchline can affect a comedian in a live setting far greater than it can a musician. “That’s why I have my security guys at my shows,” Peters explains. “They’re not there to protect me, they’re there to protect my artistic product. They make sure that nobody in the audience has a camera out and are trying to record it. “We live in a time where people just find it really difficult to simply sit down and watch
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Film & Theatre Reviews Hits and misses on the silver screen and bareboards around town xxx
■ Film
■ Theatre
INHERENT VICE In cinemas now Inherent Vice is P.T. Anderson’s crack at stoner noir. It’s Los Angeles, 1970, and Doc Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) is a private investigator. His ex-girlfriend approaches him about a kidnapping plot on her current squeeze, a billionaire, by his wife and her lover. The plan is to gaslight him into a loony bin and convince him to sign his wealth over. Sportello then heads on a one-man chase through three different cases that all intertwine at a cartel known as the Golden Fang. Through a haze of pot smoke, he encounters a trove of characters from rockers, burnouts and drug-crazed dentists to an LA detective who’s awkwardly mourning the death of his partner in embarrassing circumstances. Anderson has proven himself as one of our era’s greatest auteurs, with There Will Be Blood and Magnolia both masterpieces of the last two decades. Inherent Vice is his approach to stoner comedy, mixing surf psychedelia, noir and black comedy with a Cheech and Chong aesthetic. With such a range of influences, it’s hard to know what this film is trying to be, and at many points it comes off like Anderson is badly attempting to make a Cohen Brothers film. The plot is a labyrinth of twine, with subplots abounding, and none of it making
Played at the Old 505 Theatre until Sunday March 15
Inherent Vice much sense. Characters drop in and out with no real purpose or even plot function, and their coincident interconnectedness never really rings home in the way a good whodunit should. While some performances stand out, such as Josh Brolin’s Detective Bigfoot, the characters offer little for an audience to care about and are often not onscreen long enough for us to enter their worlds. Joanna Newsom oddly plays Sportello’s best friend and also the film’s narrator, but her character serves no purpose at all, other than to hang out with him at a few pointless moments. Also, at just under two-and-a-half hours, it becomes a cumbersome and often tiring watch. The plot definitely thickens, but it seems this one does so in a haze of some really good weed. Harry Windsor
■ Film
KIDNAPPING MR. HEINEKEN In cinemas now
Kidnapping Mr. Heineken is based on the true crime book by journalist Peter R. de Vries. Both the book and film go into explicit detail about the abduction of the billionaire and his chauffeur, Ab Doderer (David Dencik). The film is directed by Daniel Alfredson (The Girl Who Played With Fire) and is the second retelling of these events after the Dutch-language film, De Heineken Ontvoering. In Kidnapping Mr. Henieken, Anthony Hopkins stars as Heineken, shining while playing masterful power games (sound familiar?) with the five amateur kidnappers. The criminals include the group’s mastermind, Cor van Hout (Across The Universe’s Jim Sturgess) and his underlings (Sam Worthington, Ryan
Kidnapping Mr. Heineken
Presented by G.bod Theatre Company and the Mardi Gras Festival, Jeanette Cronin’s onewoman show Queen Bette kicked off the 2015 season at the Old 505 Theatre. The legendary Bette Davis commanded the screen with far more nuance than she displayed in real life. As her fame solidifi ed, the reigning Warner Brothers star had a fi erce reputation for volatility and determination. Strung together from various interviews, screenplays and Davis’ autobiography The Lonely Life, this new portrait of a motion picture icon is a collaboration between Cronin and director Peter Mountford. Cronin brings some serious gusto to her interpretation of Davis, with a large focus on her early years and rise to fame. Hailing from Massachusetts, we see the bright-eyed actress bursting with enthusiasm and self-confi dence. Cronin conveys Davis’ relationship with her dedicated mother and distant father. She is a boisterous child who transforms into a headstrong adult.
The production is enhanced by thoughtful lighting design from Juz McGuire. As if viewed through a sepia lens, the silhouettes and soft lighting conjure up a different era. The set is the dressing room of a dejected fi lm star, similarly stuck in time. At one point, Cronin draws a lavish ‘B’ in red lipstick on the mirror – her signature in lights. This resurrection of oldworld glamour doesn’t feel too overstated; it plays out quite nicely. While Cronin gives a powerful and assured performance, one might question whether it verges on melodrama. You can’t help craving a few moments of vulnerability. One of the
more memorable scenes features Cronin reciting passages from All About Eve. Her tone is gentler and her guarded exterior begins to come down. It is also aesthetically compelling – we see the glowing tip of a cigarette and the scattered pages of the screenplay. In spite of her glittering career and impressive list of Oscar accolades, it seems the misery of Bette Davis’ personal life was concealed with great care. You have to admire her toughness, her ambition and her verve. On the whole, this production showcases just that. Annie Murney
Kwanten, Thomas Cocquerel and Mark van Eeuwen). The actors each put in decent enough performances (if you can forgive Australian accents being spoken by Dutch crooks).
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In 1983, Alfred ‘Freddy’ Heineken was kidnapped. The abduction of this prominent billionaire, the grandson of Gerard Adriaan Heineken (the founder of the Heineken beer company), resulted in the paying of the largest ever ransom at the time (35 million Dutch guilders, or about US$50 million today).
Queen Bette
QUEEN BETTE
But it is the execution of the film that ultimately lets it down. Shades of grey and subtle hues are frequently used, and when combined with long, dialogue-heavy scenes that mostly take place indoors, a lot of the suspense is taken out of the story. Events that could have been tense and gripping feel rather slow and flat. Kidnapping Mr. Heineken is based on an interesting true story: the 21 days the beer mogul was held captive. It also shows the aftermath, in which some of the criminals were on the run from the law. But ultimately it depicts a perfect crime that isn’t so perfect, and is at best a bland drama. Natalie Salvo
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Arts Exposed What's in our diary...
Word Travels Multilingual Poetry Slam Customs House, Friday March 20
Word Travels
As part of Harmony Week and World Poetry Day celebrations, Word Travels will be putting on its annual Multilingual Poetry Slam this week. The event will celebrate the diversity of languages present within Sydney by calling on performers to share their poetry, stories, lyrics and monologues and spark a diverse conversation. The slam will offer the perfect platform for more marginalised members of the community to step up and speak up about their ideas of identity, culture, community and language, as well as give community members an opportunity to share creative ideas. ABC Radio National presenter Sunil Badami will host the event, and the day will feature a performance from Somali poet Hani Aden, who was recently released from Christmas Island. For more info and to book, visit wordtravels.info. 22 :: BRAG :: 604 :: 18:03:15
thebrag.com
bread&thread Food & Fashion News...with Meggan Turner and Chris Martin
NIGHTHAWK DINER
As stylish food trucks go, this one is a standout: The Nighthawk Diner makes its way around Sydney town in the form of a 1959 International Harvester pulling a trailer, from which owners Al and Jim create a dynamic and changing menu. It’s all inspired by American cuisine and dining culture, and the success of the Nighthawk has seen it take over something of a home base at The Unicorn in Paddington. Check out thenighthawk.com.au to find out where the Diner will pop up next.
Things are getting a little swanky at Gazebo in Elizabeth Bay, following the launch of the venue’s new Piano, Plates & Martinis night every Thursday. Resident performer Scot Finnie will tickle the ivories from 7:30pm weekly, with dinner available from the à la carte menu or the choice of four plates for $35pp (based on two people sharing). There’s also a new Ciroc vodka martini menu to match the plates. Have it shaken, have it stirred, have it however you like.
MERCEDES-BENZ FASHION WEEK AUSTRALIA
The Nighthawk Diner
SYDNEY CRAFT BEER WEEK
Sydney Craft Beer Week has announced its dates for 2015. We all know that beer is a significant component of Australian culture, which is why it’s important to celebrate its value in our society. With over 130 events held across
more than 60 of Sydney’s leading venues, SCBW brings together craft beer enthusiasts with venues and brewers. This year’s event will take place from Saturday October 17 – Sunday October 25. The callout is on for venues and brewers to register for events – head to sydneycraftbeerweek.com for more details.
Faulty Towers: The Dining Experience
Gazebo
PIANO, PLATES, MARTINIS
Sydney fashionistas rejoice: the schedule for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia has been released. Living up to the hype, the week-long event will showcase the spring/summer 2015/16 collections from (in alphabetical order): Aje, Alice McCall, Beauty Berry, Bec & Bridge, Betty Tran, Bianca Spender, Blue Glue Bikinis, Bondi Bather, By Johnny, Daniel Avakian, Dyspnea, Ellery, Fella, Galanni, Ginger & Smart, Gypsea, Han, Haryono Setiadi, IXIAH, Jayson Brunsdon, Jennifer Kate, Jewels + Grace, Kate Sylvester, Kirrily Johnston For Cooper Street, La Biquini, Lee Mathews, Macgraw, Manning Cartell, Maticevski, One Fell Swoop, Phoenix Keating, Romance Was Born, Steven Khalil, Strateas.Carlucci, Swarovski, Ten Pieces, Watson x Watson, We Are Handsome, Zhivago and Zingiber. MBFWA will commence with one of Australia’s top talents on the international stage, Kim Ellery, with
the Mercedes-Benz Presents Ellery runway show. The full schedule is available at mbfashionweek.com/ australia, and runs from Sunday April 12 – Thursday April 16 at Carriageworks.
EASTER LONG WEEKEND PUBS
Fancy a tipple over the Easter long weekend? The W. Short Hotel Group’s pubs, dotted around Sydney and the mid-North Coast, are the places to be from Friday April 3 – Monday April 6. The Rocks’ famous Australian Heritage Hotel will offer a daring selection of chocolate brews all weekend, and is hosting an Easter egg hunt from midday on Easter Sunday. Up the road, The Glenmore will serve as a bit more of a party destination, with DJs spinning on Good Friday and Easter Saturday before the recovery menu kicks in on Easter Sunday, Bloody Marys and all. The Easter Bunny himself will host crab racing at Scubar on Easter Monday night, while The Royal in Leichhardt will
The Cidery
Bloody Caesar
HAIL CAESAR
It’s a great time of the year for foodies in Sydney. Alongside the success of Taste Of Sydney over the weekend, the inaugural Spectrum Now Festival has rolled into town, and a heap of venues around the place are putting on food and drink specials to celebrate. One of those is The Clock Hotel in Surry Hills, which is offering a Tequila Bloody Caesar cocktail accompanied by a Canuck Pintzo – that’s skewered debreziner sausage, sweet corn fritter, maple-glazed bacon, McClure’s pickle, pickled onion and maple BBQ sauce. It’s available for $25 on Saturdays and Sundays until the end of the month. have something for all the family, including an Easter egg jar guessing competition. 42: that’s our answer, because it’s always the answer.
THE CIDERY BAR & KITCHEN
The new contemporary urbanstyle venue in central Sydney, The Cidery Bar & Kitchen, has gone from strength to strength since its launch last August. As the name suggests, the venue specialises in Sydney Cider, produced in-house at World Square by Sydney Brewery. To soak up the cidery goodness, check out the menu of specials including $10 tapas on Tuesdays – a combination of salt and pepper squid, Spanish chorizo and warm Sicilian olives.
FAULTY TOWERS: THE DINING EXPERIENCE Bassiillll! It’s the fine dining experience that Fawlty Towers fans never dreamt of: a live, improvised tribute dinner with Basil, Sybil and Manuel, and a three-course meal served in the Utzon Room at the Sydney Opera House. As followers of the legendary television series will know (and if you don’t, well, stop what you’re doing and fix that right away), anything can happen – only one-third of the live show is scripted, but madness and hilarity is guaranteed. Rob Langston, Karen Hamilton and Anthony Sottile star as the terrible trio, serving up a storm from Friday March 20 – Sunday March 22. Just don’t mention the war.
JOHNNY WONG’S DUMPLING BAR
restaurant profile
LEVEL 1, 383 BOURKE STREET, TAYLOR SQUARE, DARLINGHURST OPENING HOURS: WED, THU AND SUN 6-11:30PM; FRI-SAT 6PM-3AM Something to start with: Steamed pork juicy bun (also known as soup dumplings)! The main course: Roast duck gu bao served with pickle mustard and pork crackling with fried shallot sauce. Side: steamed silken tofu with fried shallots, coriander and sweet tamari.
Who’s the cook? Head chef Pol and his team of dumpling warriors. Eye candy: Exposed brick, Chinese newspaper wallpaper, neon signage and fantastically tacky Chinese paraphernalia! 30 seats of happiness.
Room for dessert? Then you didn’t eat enough dumplings. Make us drool: If you don’t like dumplings, you’re gonna have a bad time! Johnny Wong’s is a place where you can smash a couple of dumplings (or 20) whilst having a tasty cocktail and listening to hip hop. Simply put, if Biggie was still
alive, he’d eat dumplings at Johnny Wong’s. This 30-seater hole in the wall is known for its relaxed attitude toward simple honest Asian street food. The dumpling and salad menu changes seasonally depending on produce and what flavours people are digging.
The bill comes to: Around $30. $1 dumplings on Wednesday from 6pm-late, y’all! All dumplings featured in the menu are available. Website: wearelofi.com.au
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Flavours: Tiny little dumpling bar featuring a seasonal selection of fresh dumplings, Asian salads and street foods.
Care for a drink? $12 cocktails! Obe-Wong-Kenobe – Ketel One vodka, lemongrass, fresh chilli, mint and ginger beer. Jenny From The Wong – Tanqueray gin, fresh basil, apple and ginger marmalade.
thebrag.com
BRAG :: 604 :: 18:03:15 :: 23
Album Reviews What's been crossing our ears this week...
ALBUM OF THE WEEK COURTNEY BARNETT
Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit Milk/Remote Control
The sharpest young voice in Australian songwriting makes a captivating debut.
ALISON WONDERLAND Run EMI
On her debut album, Alison Wonderland (AKA Alex Scholler) seems intent on showing that ‘bangerz’ doesn’t have to be a dirty word – and she very nearly pulls it off. The unrelenting bass in her 2014 single ‘I Want U’ probably had you hooked on Wonderland’s peculiar brand of dance-pop-meets-dub, even if you kept it a secret guilty pleasure. But the question for her full-length was whether it would have enough depth to sustain 12 tracks. Lead single ‘U Don’t Know’ doesn’t provide much of an answer, and lands very close to her earlier work – the tried and tested formula of placing saccharine vocals over a jarring beat. It’s catchy, but not that exciting. But delve a little further, and it turns out those crutches disguise genuinely interesting structural twists. ‘Already Gone’, featuring Brave and Lido, is slow, sparse and a little weird. But it’s title track ‘Run’ that really straddles the line between straight-up club jam and the strange zone Wonderland has carved out for herself. Maybe it has something to do with her being a classically trained cellist – at times the song feels highly orchestrated.
What is it about Courtney Barnett that has resonated in such a way that it has managed to reach to the farthest ends of Western musical culture, allowing her voice to be heard on an international scale? It’s an extraordinary achievement for someone who, by her own account, is perfectly ordinary. Then again, that may well be where the trigger lies – Barnett has an unrivalled ability to fi nd those proverbial diamonds in the rough, scraping beneath the surface of the seemingly humdrum and inconsequential to reveal something far deeper and rich in character development.
SCREAMING FEMALES Rose Mountain Don Giovanni
New Jersey’s Screaming Females have been kicking around for the past decade, strong in certain circles but for the most part flying under the radar, at least in this country. A power trio in the true sense of the term – no note wasted – their sound has always been confronting. Their calling card is singer and shredder Marissa Paternoster’s sucker-punch vocals and zig-zag riffs that snake around each other. But for all its metal-inspired licks and stop-start sharp turns, Rose Mountain is an unexpectedly pop album, and maybe their most accessible to date. Paternoster’s voice sounds more controlled than on previous recordings, but not completely tamed. The Screamales could always write a decent hook, but everything feels amplified on Rose Mountain, from chugging opener of ‘Empty Head’ to the relentless back-and-forth pull of ‘Broken Neck’ that breaks down into one of their more tender moments. While dipping back into the hard rock territory they explored on 2012’s Ugly (‘Leave It All Up To Me’), the real surprise is how big the choruses are getting, particularly ‘Wishing Well’. The last three songs are killer, with album highlights ‘Triumph’ and closer ‘Criminal Image’ boasting a classic rock feel but with more bite.
Take the first track on Barnett’s debut LP, which begins as an acutely detailed description of a 20-something’s menial day and ends up twisting into something entirely different by the time the chorus rolls around. She moves into homesickness and home-buying, hype machines and coffee shops, the promised land and a life without parties. Every topic, every story and every last piece of anecdotal evidence evolves into something far greater than the sum of its parts. It’s a perfectly imperfect look at life and the way we live it. Transcending ‘dolewave’ and all surrounding indie rock trends, Barnett has released perhaps the year’s most thought-provoking album. David James Young
SHLOHMO
Sonic Soul Surfer There’s A Dead Skunk/Caroline
Dark Red is like the yo-yo shows you used to see at school. At first it’s kind of impressive, until you realise the whole schtick’s pretty limited and you’re pretty sure you’ve seen these tricks before. Shlohmo has attempted to break away from the softer sounds of his debut, but fails to grab attention with his new oeuvre.
Seasick Steve has quite the life. Running away from home at age 13, he lived a rough and vagrant existence, working odd jobs and stowing away on freight trains to get around for the next 20 years. After settling down somewhat – he reckons he’s lived in about 60 houses during his life – and becoming a session musician, Steve has been quite prolific since his belated debut album.
It’s a disappointing effort, as the electronic music producer had been releasing a steady stream of increasingly promising EPs. Dreamy keys and rich textures characterised his early work, drawing influences from hip hop and DnB without borrowing too much from either. Instead of continuing to perfect the melancholic style he had been developing, Dark Red is filled with industrial drums and harsh guitar licks. Eerie synths are used to excess and seem uninspired. While there are hints of the old, they get drowned out among showy and derivative beats. Shlohmo’s talent for layered backgrounds and melody occasionally shines through, but it’s not enough to rescue the lacklustre songs.
It’s no secret that Wonderland is as much a songwriter as a DJ/ producer. So go dance your arse off – no shame.
Their sound is cleaner – stray ends slicked down – without sacrificing any of their brutality.
This is definitely a darker place for Shlohmo. Taking it there may have been the next step for a man too comfortable with his sound, but it means it’s going to take a few more EPs before he hits his groove again.
Emily Meller
Chiara Grassia
James Ross
INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK It’s strange to think that Goon is Tobias Jesso Jr.’s first full-length endeavour, and his first proper venture into piano-plus-voice territory – the singer-songwriter sounds like he’s been tugging heartstrings since birth.
TOBIAS JESSO JR.
Goon True Panther/Remote Control
At first listen, some songs on Goon teeter on ’70s pop-rock, or else, sound almost passable for inclusion on a bad rom-com soundtrack (the “babe”s and “baby”s sung effortlessly over slow, emotional keys make the perfect ballad accompaniment to Meg Ryan’s next film, right?). Except Goon isn’t about the superficial. Jesso Jr.’s music is much better suited to soundtrack real-life daydreaming and introspection, like
24 :: BRAG :: 604 :: 18:03:15
SEASICK STEVE
Dark Red True Panther/Remote Control
on the deliciously hazy ‘Without You’. He isn’t afraid of pauses or deep gurgling brass (‘Hollywood’), and doesn’t take himself too seriously (e.g. fake “boo hoo”s in ‘Crocodile Tears’). In an album brimming with consolation songs for every type of messed-up relationship, Jesso Jr. likes to tell things how they are, whether it’s about breaking up with a girl, a lover, a place or simply an ideal. Recorded with the help of a tonne of producers including Patrick Carney (The Black Keys) and John Collins (The New Pornographers), Goon is a beautifully constructed debut from the singer-songwriter.
Sonic Soul Surfer is the 74-yearold’s sixth record since his debut release all the way back... in 2004. Sonic Soul Surfer is a bluesy traipse through a very Americana life, with Steve very much acting the raconteur old man, telling stories about gangs, rough life and that one time he caught a fish (I assume that’s what ‘Barracuda ’68’ is about, anyway). Sonic Soul Surfer swans all over the blues space, with rocking songs like opener ‘Roy’s Gang’, ‘Summertime Boy’, ‘Sonic Soul Boogie’ and ‘Barracuda ’68’ switching in and out between tracks suitable for a Mexican standoff, like ‘Dog Gonna Play’, ‘Swamp Dog’ and ‘Your Name’.
FALLING IN REVERSE Just Like You Epitaph/Warner Falling In Reverse’s latest album Just Like You is unapologetic and proud of it. A great improvement from 2013’s Fashionably Late, Just Like You is a mixture of posthardcore, pop-punk and metalcore. Despite the fact it’s often politically incorrect, the album is the band’s best work to date, returning to the musical stylings of debut album The Drug In Me Is You with post-hardcore songs that feature stylised pop choruses. The album explores frontman Ronnie Radke’s personal life, from his struggle with substance abuse to his disassociation from the world. Opener ‘Chemical Prisoner’ and ‘Stay Away’ detail Radke’s battle to remain sober and the devastating effect that his addiction has had on his life. On the other hand, ‘Wait And See’ depicts the madness that Radke believes is entrenched in wider society, with lyrics such as, “We teach our children to kill, instead of teaching them wisdom / Politicians waging wars and blaming our religions”.
Although there’s nothing terribly new to this blues record, it’s an engrossing journey back to a time and lifestyle that this artist lived.
Despite a few generic tracks, Just Like You is certainly worth the listen. Radke’s vocals are distinct as ever, and lead guitarist Jacky Vincent is a standout performer.
Nicholas Hartman
Jack Lacy
OFFICE MIXTAPE And here are the albums that have helped BRAG HQ get through the week... THE STROKES - Is This It MODEST MOUSE - Strangers To Ourselves SAN CISCO - Gracetown
THE NATIONAL - Trouble Will Find Me RUN-D.M.C. - Raising Hell
Katie Davern thebrag.com
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london grammar
12:03:15 :: Hordern Pavilion :: 1 Driver Ave Moore Park 9921 5333
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up all night out all week . . .
one spirit tribe
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What we've been out to see...
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live reviews
VIEW FULL GALLERIES AT
14:03:15 :: Paddington Uniting Church :: 395 Oxford St Paddington 9331 2646
Metro Theatre Saturday March 14
“…Unless anyone is tired?” It was a cheeky rhetorical question put forward to the crowd by Kingswood lead vocalist Fergus Linacre. Gauging from the response, nobody was, so the Melburnians continued their reign of energetic rock’n’roll with ‘Side To Side’, the third song in their encore of the night – but the fun didn’t start or end there.
from their hugely popular debut album Microscopic Wars and EP Change Of Heart, including ‘I Can Feel That You Don’t Love Me’, ‘Sucker Punch’ and ‘Change Of Heart’, the four-piece was on point and had plenty more to give to the rowdy Saturday night crowd at the Metro. Delivering unapologetic ’70s rock’n’roll, highlights included ‘Eye Of The Storm’, ‘Ohio’ and ‘Micro Wars’, which had the crowd peaking as Alex Laska nailed one of his many ridiculously good guitar solos. Energy was high and hair was flying everywhere. So it should be. Julienne Gilet
Earlier in the night, five-piece Brisbane band The Belligerents had opened with an injection of indie-pop. A little later, Lurch & Chief took the stage with their mix of ’60s- and 90s-influenced jams, dynamic sound and massive stage presence. The dynamic duelling between lead singers Hayden Somerville and Lili Hall was highlighted on tracks like ‘On Your Own’ and a sultry cover of Chris Isaak’s ‘Wicked Game’. Playing songs from their Wiped Out EP, the Melbourne collective won the crowd over with infectious tunes, seductive lyrics, rad drum solos and an onstage chemistry that was hard to beat. By the time Kingswood had played through an epic main set, jamming over songs
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KE PHOTOGRAPHER :: KATRINA CLAR
balkan beat box
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KINGSWOOD, LURCH & CHIEF, THE BELLIGERENTS
11:03:15 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford St Darlinghurst 9332 3711 BRAG :: 604 :: 18:03:15 :: 25
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up all night out all week . . .
What we've been out to see...
RUFUS WAINWRIGHT, LUCY WAINWRIGHT ROCHE State Theatre Monday March 10
hard-ons + bare bones
15:03:15 :: Frankie’s Pizza :: 50 Hunter St Sydney
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Love or loathe him (though I’m not sure the latter is even possible), Rufus Wainwright sure knows how to deliver a strange show. At the risk of spoiling the necromancy, this was most evidenced with the surprise guest appearance of ‘Judy Garland’, who arrived on the heels (quite literally, you suspect) of daughter Liza Minnelli to add a touch of camp glamour to this entertaining and surprisingly lengthy performance. Opening was Wainwright’s sister Lucy Wainwright Roche, who along with fellow sibling-muso Martha proves that the Wainwright family are probably magic. Her songs swing from the delicately sad, as in the lovely ‘Open Season’, to surreal observations about wading through piles of babies awaiting adoption. Her sing-along to Springsteen’s little-known ‘Everybody’s Got A Basketball’, however, was the unlikely highlight. Rufus himself was seemingly born into performance. The familiar ease with which he addresses his audience, his relish of the double entendre (this was post-Mardi Gras, after all) and his quite impressively snug leather pants were all somehow hallmarks of an entertainer at the height of
Spookyland’s set came towards that crucial point at a festival when the decision is between sitting down and stopping drinking or having a few more. One snarl from those Bob Dylan-dipped vocals was enough to have anyone in earshot down on their knees.
PICS :: AM
Brighton Up Bar Friday March 13
Bonez are definite crowd-pleasers, playing the party-starter shift. Before you can have any doubts about their musical influences they blast a cover of ‘Walk This Way’, and singer Tomi Gray proves that frontmen can be as ridiculous as they want to be, so long as they damn well own it. Escaping the stage to allow the rest of the fivepiece some space, Gray trails his hands over various punters, kisses bass player Bernardo Lopes in what is presumably a fit of artistic passion, and catapults off the drums. The band backs him up with black singlets and groovy guitar licks. It’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show meets Road House, and it’s a lot of fun. She Rex take the stage in a different manner. They’re unapologetic and angry as Nikki Rast delivers acerbic raps over grungy hooks. The group has shifted away from the rap-rock of Rage Against The Machine to create a rawer, grungier sound. Rast screams political dissent over the crashes and the strums of ‘Power’ and incites the crowd to ‘Get Yours’ during the eponymous song. As the band experiments with discordant notes – or the unfortunately quiet vocal harmonies – Tash Adams’ fluid drumming holds everything together. She Rex are definitely a different beast from before, and it’s going to be interesting to see how they evolve.
As the night drew to a close, the paddock-revelling masses exited the University of Wollongong’s grounds. The tired eyes and happy ears weren’t too bad of an excuse to leave the house.
Once the bar has filled out The Dead Love rush in with a set that’s designed for the people. Riffing off the earlier energy, they shred through tracks that could have been made by a ’90s grunge band that wasn’t Nirvana. Or Mudhoney. Or really any of the good ones. It doesn’t matter, though, because the crowd laps it up and is dancing like crazy. Bass player Clint Ossington charmingly introduces the group and casually strolls up and down his frets for the rest of the set. They switch between a variety of genres popularised during the ’90s, but the point has been made. We’re getting macho, occasionally sensitive rock’n’roll, so it’s time to get on board. It’s furious and easy to digest, and the audience dead set loves it.
Kiera Thanos
James Ross
Festivities kicked on well into the night with the likes of Step-Panther, Shining Bird and Drunk Mums providing the evening’s soundtrack. Highlights featured the seasoned performances from DZ Deathrays and Bad//Dreems alongside home-grown garage duo Hockey Dad, who had all those before them eating out of the palm of their hands.
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Adam Norris
The Dead Love have developed a reputation as a hard-rocking Sydney outfit. Their final shows for a while (they’re off to find the new sound) see an equally reputable rock lineup on show at Brighton Up Bar.
By the time The Walking Who took to the stage, festivities were in full swing. The Wollongong natives were at their prime during ‘With Roses’, which followed an almost unrecognisable rendition of buddies Angus & Julia Stone’s ‘Wasted’.
MAR :: S :: KATRINA CLARKE :: ASHLEY
Highlights? Where to begin? ‘April Fools’ was lovely, as was crowd favourite ‘Cigarettes And Chocolate Milk’. My money, though, totally impartially rested on one of my very favourite songs, ‘Foolish Love’, also serving as the finale. Wainwright’s voice is unlike any other, and his songwriting staggering. I cannot recommend highly enough catching so fine a talent.
You know what’s refreshing these days? A festival where those in attendance are merely present for the music. Not for a shitty low-res Instagram photo or to be that ignorant bloke up the back who didn’t realise that seven beers ago was seven too many. You know what I’m talking about.
It’s always difficult to play at the start of any event, but The Cherry Dolls rose to the challenge, and succeeded. Early risers were also welcomed to the kaleidoscopic dreamscapes delivered by Richard In Your Mind. The sunlit shower of sitars and synthesisers eased the masses into what became an afternoon of sonic goodness.
OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER
The evening was also Wainwright’s opportunity to thank and reward those who pledged to his recent operatic project, with one backer finding themselves with a dedicated aria (though sung in French, so who knows – perhaps Wainwright was bitching about the guy the whole time).
THE DEAD LOVE, SHE REX, BONEZ
Wollongong’s boutique Farmer & The Owl Festival occurred across four main stages; an all-encompassing musical showcase fetched together by music label/booking agency Yours & Owls and record store Music Farmers. Throw in some Sailor Jerry, Coopers and Converse, and that’ll give you one hell of an occasion. An impressive array of talent was on show, spanning from the US lo-fi outfit Bass Drum Of Death to local lipstick-flaunting inhabitants The Pinheads.
14:03:15 :: North Sydney Oval :: North Sydney 9936 8100
On occasion Wainwright would abandon the piano and spring about stage on guitar, which certainly served to break up the evening somewhat but also – reluctant as I am to criticise a fellow I found so preternaturally entertaining – worked to showcase just what an exceptional pianist he is.
FARMER & THE OWL FESTIVAL University Of Wollongong Saturday March 14
party in the park
his talent. And my God, such virtuosic piano. Hearing his songs is one thing, but watching Wainwright summon sounds from his piano is an exercise in awe. Even the imperfections became fascinations, as in the “Ahhh, I always fuck up the difficult part!” stumble in the midst of new song ‘Lucy’s Blue’.
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send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com
WEDNESDAY MARCH 18 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC The Roots & Riddim Club Launch - feat: The Errol Renaud Trio + DJ Dizar Play Bar, Surry Hills. 6pm. Free.
ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES, FOLK Muso’S Club Jam Night Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt. 8pm. Free. No Other Tour - feat: Josh Rennie-Hayes + Caitlin Harnett + Liam Gerner The Vanguard, Newtown. 6:30pm. $14. Songs On Stage - feat: CJ Fairleight Olympic Hotel, Paddington. 7:30pm. Free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
Brooke Fraser + Hayden Calnin Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 8pm. $51. Evie Dean Hillside Hotel, Castle Hill. 7pm. Free. Fat Bubba’s Chicken Wednesdays Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 5pm. Free. Kagu + Fanny Lumsden & The Thrillseekers Spectrum Playground, Sydney. 6:45pm. Free. Mark Travers Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. Free. Vibrations At Valve - feat: Band Competition Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $15.
THURSDAY MARCH 19 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES, FOLK
Muso’s Club Jam Night Carousel Inn Hotel, Rooty Hill. 8pm. Free. Songs On Stage - feat: Mick Hambly + Chris Brookes + Steve Smith Ruby L’otel, Rozelle. 7:30pm. Free. Winterbourne Moonshine Cider & Rum Bar, Manly. 8pm. $15.
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Alice Terry And The Skinny White Boys Golden Sheaf Hotel, Double Bay. 9pm. Free. David Ryan Harris + Morgan Joanel Venue 505, Surry Hills. 8pm. $29. Laura And The Blackjacks The Annandale Hotel, Annandale. 8pm. Free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
Alex Cameron + Huon Kind + DJ Darren Cross Standard Bowl, Surry Hills. 9pm. Free. Be Faced + Christian The Satanist + Another Door Opens + Helens Gate Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10. Bernie Hayes & John E The Gasoline Pony,
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Marrickville. 7pm. $5. Billy Idol + Cheap Trick Qantas Credit Union Arena, Darling Harbour. 8pm. $102.10. Carla Maree + Grooveworks + Mark Kristian + Terry Kaff Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 12pm. Free. Dave White Duo Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. Free. Francisco’s Fortune + Lincoln + Colour Cage Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 7:30pm. $10. Macy Gray Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 8pm. $79. Pearls Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 7pm. $12. Snowtown Trio + Elana Stone Spectrum Playground, Sydney. 7pm. Free. Songs On Stage - feat: Bryce Halliday + Madison Jade + Adam Kiss + Justine Wahlin + Men With Day Jobs + Emad Younan Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 8pm. Free. The Alpha Experiment Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 8pm. $10. The Late Night Soda Social Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 5pm. Free.
FRIDAY MARCH 20 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES, FOLK Rohan Cannon The Henry Sports Club, Werrington County. 7:30pm. Free. Stormcellar Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 9pm. $15. The Dusty Ravens - feat: Adam Young The Gasoline Pony, Sydney. 7pm. $5. Us Too Duo Ramsgate RSL, Sans Souci. 7:30pm. Free.
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC
Our Secret World Of Play feat: Bateria 61 + Edseven Play Bar, Surry Hills. 6pm. Free. Sonido De Los Andes - feat: Patricio Lara Venue 505, Surry Hills. 6pm. $21. The Protestors The Annandale Hotel, Annandale. 8:30pm. Free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
Am 2 Pm Vikings Sports Club, Dundas Valley. 7pm. Free. Ange North Sydney Harbourview Hotel, North Sydney. 6:30pm. Free. Armchair Travellers Duo Dooleys, Silverwater. 6pm. Free. Bands On Stage - feat: Crossroad Y + Mass + Bonfire Bison Ruby L’otel, Rozelle. 8pm. Free. Big Rich Manly Leagues Club, Brookvale. 8:30pm. Free. Civilians + Jesse Lyleson + DJ Deckhead Standard Bowl, Surry Hills. 6pm. Free. Courtyard Sessions - feat: The Liberators Seymour Centre, Chippendale. 6pm. Free. Darren Johnstone The Crest Hotel Sylvania, Sylvania. 7pm. Free. Dorsal Fins - feat: Main Beach + Robert Muinos
Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 7:30pm. $12. Double Jeopardy Duo Pittwater RSL, Mona Vale. 8pm. Free. Double Trouble St George Leagues Club, Kogarah. 9pm. Free. Greg Lines Coogee Legion Ex-services Club, 7:30pm. Free. Happy Hippies Time & Tide Hotel, Dee Why. 7:30pm. Free. Hitseekers Western Suburbs Leagues Club, Leumeah. 9:30pm. Free. Hooray For Everything Windsor Leagues Club, Windsor South. 9pm. Free. Jed Zarb The Oriental Hotel, Springwood. 8pm. Free. Jump On Board The Kylie Minogue And Robbie Williams Double Club Engadine, Engadine. 8:30pm. Free. Kylie Minogue Qantas Credit Union Arena, Darling Harbour. 8pm. $112. Marty Stewart Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 4:30pm. Free. Melody Rhymes Town Hall Hotel, Balmain. 5pm. Free. Mental As Anything + The Chosen Ones Western Suburbs Leagues Club, Leumeah. 8pm. $15. Nicky Kurta Town Hall Hotel, Balmain. 8:30pm. Free. Panorama Wagon Wheel Hotel, St Marys. 9pm. Free. Pepa Knight + Olympia Spectrum Playground, Sydney. 7pm. Free. Reckless Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9:30pm. Free. Red Red Kroovy + Dead Farmers + Roaming Catholics + Aloha Units Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10. Rockin Mustangs Penrith RSL, Penrith. 9pm. Free. Rosenthorne Ettalong Beach Club, Ettalong Beach. 8pm. Free. Ryan Thomas The Palace Hotel, Sydney. 11pm. Free. Skyzthelimit Penrith Gaels, Kingswood. 8pm. Free. Something For Kate + Jen Cloher Taronga Zoo, Mosman. 6pm. $70.95. Songs On Stage - feat: CJ Fairleight Lewisham Hotel, Lewisham. 8:30pm. $15. Soul Tattoo Quakers Inn, Quakers Hill. 8pm. Free. The Bon Scotts The Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle. 8pm. Free. The Frocks Colonial Hotel, Werrington. 8:30pm. Free. The Kamis Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8:30pm. Free. The Tribe Marlborough Hotel, Newtown. 11pm. Free. The Wiggles Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 10am. $27.90. Timberwolf + Gordi + Bears With Guns + Avaberee Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $14.
SATURDAY MARCH 21 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Chris Gudu + Afro Pamoja Camelot Lounge, Marrickville.
pick of the week Xavier Rudd & The United Nations
SATURDAY MARCH 21 Metro Theatre
Xavier Rudd & The United Nations 8pm. $67.85 9pm. $22.70. The Catholics Venue 505, Surry Hills. 6pm. $21. Yuki Kumagai + John Mackie Well Co. Cafe And Wine Bar, Leichhardt. 8pm. Free.
ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES, FOLK
Bob Gillespie Penrith RSL, Penrith. 2pm. Free. Paul Hayward Town & Country Hotel, St Peters. 4pm. Free. Penny Lane George IV Inn, Picton. 3pm. Free. Satellite V Garry Owen Hotel, Rozelle. 8pm. Free. Tori Darke Wentworthville Leagues Club, Wentworthville. 10pm. Free. Winterbourne Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $15.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS 60s Chartoppers Ramsgate RSL, Sans Souci. 7:30pm. Free. Alex Hotel Mosman, Mosman. 9:30pm. Free. Armchair Travellers Duo Courthouse Hotel, Darlinghurst. 10pm. Free. Back To Bacharach - feat: Casey Donovan + Doug
Williams + Darren Mapes + Hayley Jensen Canterbury League Club, Belmore. 8pm. $30. Blake Tailor Northies Cronulla Hotel, Cronulla. 9pm. Free. Californication - Red Hot Chili Peppers Show The Bradbury, Bradbury. 8:30pm. Free. Cath & Him Dee Why RSL, Dee Why. 9pm. Free. David Liebe Hart Hermann’s Bar, Darlington. 8pm. $28.60. Deep Sea Arcade + Grace + Caitlin Park + Left Spectrum Playground, Sydney. 1pm. Free. Dirty Deeds - The AC/DC Show Penrith RSL, Penrith. 9pm. Free. Endless Summer Beach Party Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9:30pm. Free. Evie Dean Panthers, Penrith. 5:30pm. Free. Georgia White Rooty Hill RSL Club, Rooty Hill. 6pm. Free. GJ Donovan Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 4:30pm. Free. Hooray For Everything Padstow RSL Club, Padstow. 6:30pm. Free. Iron Lion Moorebank Sports Club, Hammondville. 9:30pm. Free. Jed Zarb The Henry Sports Club, Werrington County. 7:30pm.
Free. Little Brother + Glass Fingers + Incentive The Annandale Hotel, Annandale. 8:30pm. Free. Oliver Goss Strattons Hotel, Sydney. 8pm. Free. Owen Pallett Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $40. Peoples Palace + New Oxford + Village Echoes + DJ Deckhead + DJ Lou Lou Standard Bowl, Surry Hills. 7pm. Free. Rattle & Hum - U2 Show Kingsgrove RSL Club, Kingsgrove. 8pm. Free. Rob Henry Plough & Harrow, Camden. 8pm. Free. Ross Wilson + Mental As Anything Taronga Zoo, Mosman. 7pm. $70.95. Sinatra At The Sands - feat: Tom Burlinson Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8pm. $42. Sound City Town Hall Hotel, Balmain. 9:30pm. Free. Soundproofed Wyong Leagues Club, Kanwal. 9pm. Free. The Fox And A Spoon feat: Julia Jacklin + Jacob Pearson + Direwolf + Aphrodite Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $12. The Holy Soul + Garry David + Peter Fenton + Bacchantes Union Hotel, Newtown. 9pm. Free. BRAG :: 604 :: 18:03:15 :: 27
g g guide gig g send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com
five things WITH
MICHAEL GRIFFIN
Growing Up I was born into a musical family with 1. my mum being a music teacher and my
improves you so much. Start spreading the news…
‘Shut The Funk Up’ which will be available on my debut album Unexpected Greeting (ABC).
dad being a professional saxophone player. Music was always around and I loved it. Pretty sure I came out of the womb clicking my fi ngers and tapping my feet.
Your Band For my album launch I’ve got the same 3. guys from the album. They are some of the
Music, Right Here, Right Now The music scene has never been an 5. easy road, but it’s about persistence. We
best musicians of this generation. We have all known each other since we were teenagers and have grown up climbing the jazz ladder together. It’s myself (alto saxophone), Dane Laboyrie (trumpet), Chris Long (piano), Brendan Clarke (bass), Tim Geldens (drums) and Briana Cowlishaw (vocals).
persist because we live and breathe it, it’s who and what I am. I believe Sydney is getting better, more venues are trying to make it work, which is good. I think the culture of Sydney has suffered a lot in recent times but I do believe things are changing for the better.
Inspirations Obviously I’ve been influenced by so 2. many musicians, of course, mainly jazz. I love it all. As far as saxophone players, my faves are Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Kenny Garrett and Vincent Herring. Going to the land of jazz, NYC, was where I learnt the most. I saw the best jazz of my life, stayed up till 5am every night hopping between jazz clubs. Got my butt kicked by several people Whiplash-style [laughs]. Being around so many incredible musicians naturally The Motor City Syndicate Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8:30pm. Free. The Tribe Ivanhoe Hotel, Manly. 10pm. Free. Venom - feat: Mad Charlie + Whisky Smile + The Archaic Revival + Black Smith Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 9pm. $15. Whispering Jack Show Rooty Hill RSL Club, Rooty Hill. 7:30pm. $10. Wildcatz Epping Hotel, Epping. 10pm. Free.
SUNDAY MARCH 22 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES, FOLK If Love Were The Moon - feat: Lisa Schouw + Penelope Wells + Peter Bailey + Robin Gist Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 6:30pm.
$24.70. Jack Bloak Minstrel Show - feat: Jack Bloak Jug Scullers + Veronica Wagner + Russell Neal + Lawrence Osborn Old Fitzroy Hotel, Woolloomooloo. 6:30pm. Free. Mitch Grainger Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham. 7pm. Free. Satellite V Marrickville Bowling Club, Marrickville. 4:30pm. Free. Songs On Stage - feat: Cj Fairleight + Silent Garden + Lorias James + Michael Kugel + Brynn Liker + Hayden Tahere + Konn Harlequin Inn, Pyrmont. 3pm. Free. Stephanie Jansen Plough & Harrow, Camden. 8pm. Free. The Broads - feat: Surprise Canadian Guest The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 5pm. $10.
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC
Hinterlandt Ensemble
+ Weltmaschine And Morphingaz Glebe Town Hall , Glebe. 7pm. $18. Pakistan Folk Music And Cultural Festival Darling Harbour, Darling Harbour. 11am. Free. Quantum Milkshake + The 93 Project + Angry Little Gods Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 4pm. $10.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
Benny Vibes Lo-Fi, Darlinghurst. 5pm. Free. Blake Tailor Panthers, Penrith. 3:30pm. Free. Drew Fitzroy Hotel, Windsor. 1pm. Free. Gary Johns Trio Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 8:30pm. Free. Hailmary + The Mercy Kills + Lillye + Kaato + Evol Walks Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 6pm. Free.
The Music You Make I love music that swings, music 4. that’s cookin’. It’s really important for me to connect with my audience. You’ll hear me play everything from jazz standards, the blues, blistering fast bebop, soulful ballads… however, I may even surprise you. I composed a hip hop instrumental entitled Jeff Martin + Papa Pilko And The Binrats + Cash Savage And The Last Drinks + Iluka Spectrum Playground, Sydney. 1pm. Free. Jimmy Bear The Henry Sports Club, Werrington County. 1pm. Free. Martys Place Royal Motor Yacht Club, Newport. 3pm. Free. Merilyn Steele Band Penrith Rsl, Penrith. 2pm. Free. Ron Ashton Ramsgate Rsl, Sans Souci. 2pm. Free. Russell Nelson Waverley Bowling Club, Waverley. 3pm. Free. Sleeper + Clinic 13 + Capital Colours Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 3pm. $10. The Bon Scotts Shady Pines, Darlinghurst. 8pm. Free. U2 Elevation Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 4:30pm. Free. Zana And Jenna - feat: Zana Rose + Jenna Murphy
What: Michael Griffin & Dale Barlow: Tribute To Cannonball/Coltrane Where: Foundry616 When: Wednesday March 25 And: Launching Unexpected Greeting at Foundry616 on Wednesday April 15
The Annandale Hotel, Annandale. 3pm. Free.
MONDAY MARCH 23 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES, FOLK
Songs On Stage - feat: Stuart Jammin + Chris Brookes Kelly’s On King, Newtown. 8pm. Free. Steve Twitchin Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. Free. Sun Kil Moon City Recital Hall, Sydney. 7:30pm. $55.
Viches + Ill Theory Play Bar, Surry Hills. 6pm. Free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
Adz & Cookie Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. Free. Jeff Martin Lizotte’s, Kincumber. 6pm. $82. Jeff Martin
TUESDAY MARCH 24 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES, FOLK Innersoul - feat: Josue
gig picks up all night out all week...
WEDNESDAY MARCH 18
FRIDAY MARCH 20
Macy Gray
Brooke Fraser + Hayden Calnin Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 8pm. $51.
Courtyard Sessions Feat: The Liberators Seymour Centre, Chippendale, 6pm, Free. Kylie Minogue Qantas Credit Union Arena, Darling Harbour. 8pm. $112.
Billy Idol
Mental As Anything + The Chosen Ones Western Suburbs Leagues Club, Leumeah. 8pm. $15. Something For Kate + Jen Cloher Taronga Zoo, Mosman. 6pm. $70.95.
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THURSDAY MARCH 19
Macy Gray Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 8pm. $79.
Billy Idol + Cheap Trick Qantas Credit Union Arena, Darling Harbour. 8pm. $102.10.
Pearls Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 7pm. $12.
SATURDAY MARCH 21 Chris Gudu + Afro Pamoja Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 9pm. $22.70.
Deep Sea Arcade + Grace + Caitlin Park + Left Spectrum Playground, Sydney. 1pm. Free. Little Brother + Glass Fingers + Incentive The Annandale Hotel, Annandale. 8:30pm. Free. The Fox And A Spoon - Feat: Julia Jacklin + Jacob Pearson + Direwolf + Aphrodite Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $12. Winterbourne Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $15.
SUNDAY MARCH 22 Hailmary + The Mercy Kills + Lillye + Kaato + Evol Walks Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 6pm. Free.
Jeff Martin + Papa Pilko And The Binrats + Cash Savage And The Last Drinks + Iluka Spectrum Playground, Sydney. 1pm. Free. The Bon Scotts Shady Pines, Darlinghurst. 8pm. Free.
MONDAY MARCH 23 Sun Kil Moon City Recital Hall, Sydney. 7:30pm. $55.
TUESDAY MARCH 24 Innersoul - Feat: Josue Viches + Ill Theory Play Bar, Surry Hills. 6pm. Free.
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BRAG :: 604 :: 18:03:15 :: 29
brag beats
BRAG’s guide to dance, hip hop and club culture
dance music news club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Chris Martin and Lauren Gill
speed date WITH
BEN LEMI FROM TRINITY ROOTS
Yolanda Be Cool
NORTHERN BEACHES HOUSE PARTY
Your Profile Sound-wise we like 1. to explore a wide range of dynamics from quiet, intimate moments to heavier rocked-out sections and for elongated periods. We like to take our time with some of the psychedelic jams in order to build up a trance-like energy for the live shows. We’re all influenced by heavy Jamaican roots music like early Bob and The Wailers, Lee Scratch Perry and Toots and The Maytals. With Citizen we’re also drawing on bluesy flavours and even more folky moments to allow different sentiment and messages to come through in the songs.
2.
Keeping Busy The last four months have seen a combination of a lot of time spent in the studio and also on the road. We’ve been crafting Citizen for the last 18 months but in the last couple we’ve really worked hard to refine everything and to make sure that the initial ideas in the music are still clear amongst all the fine details. On the touring front, we’ve been
hitting a few good summer festival slots around NZ and managed to slip away to Glasgow and London for a few gigs and a quick reconnaissance/contactmaking mission. The last few weeks have definitely been all about prepping for this Australian tour both in the rehearsal room and on the email/admin front. Best Gig Ever So many highlights to 3. reflect on – one that comes to mind is a gig I played whilst on tour with NZ band Urban Tramper in Europe a few years back. We were put on the bill to play at festival in a decommissioned train station in the middle of Stuttgart. The station had long been inactive and was overgrown with all sorts of vegetation, but the place was anything but asleep as thousands of people wove in and out of old train carriages, carrying pints of weissbier, dancing to music that was coming from all sorts of different makeshift stages and DJ booths. We were set up inside one of the old carriages with enough
room for the three of us in the band on a tiny stage and about 30 heaving punters squished into the carriage between us and the bar. Current Playlist Right in this very 4. moment I’m listening to
The Mona Vale Hotel’s boutique party event, Northern Beaches House Party, is back for a second shindig. The concept is simple: a throwback to the days when all the cool young kids on the north side of Sydney would flock to a mate’s place while the parents were away for a weekend house party. After the event’s debut on Boxing Day last year, it’s returning for the Easter long weekend, with DJ sets from Yolanda Be Cool, Touch Sensitive, Mazde and Fear Of Dawn plus a whole heap of locals including Declan, Nanna Does, Rodman and Steph Lusk. There’ll also be live music from The Nuclear Family and more. Northern Beaches House Party’s Easter edition is on Sunday April 5.
Philipp Jung
Gillian Welch, who is one of my faves – although I’m not a huge country connoisseur, I really love her voice and songwriting. Gillian’s work with producer T Bone Burnett is beautiful stuff. Your Ultimate Rider We’re all big single 5. malt whisky fans, so as long as there is some decent Scotch around then we generally have no complaints. I personally would love to have some clean rainbow-coloured socks on each rider, that’d be grouse, but I’m not fussy otherwise. What: Citizen out now independently With: Karl S. Williams Where: Oxford Art Factory When: Thursday March 26
OH MAN, IT’S M.A.N.D.Y. One half of German production duo M.A.N.D.Y., the enigmatic Philipp Jung, will headline proceedings under that banner at Chinese Laundry this Saturday March 21. The Berlin-based minimal house muso is in town to play Return To Rio at Del Rio over the weekend, and he’ll roll into Laundry to top a bill that also includes Strange Clouds, A-Tonez, Acaddamy, Avon Stringer, Rodskeez, Mars Monero, Reno, DJ Eko, DJ Just 1, King Lee and Propoganda.
Giorgio Moroder
4ELEMENTS FESTIVAL
The Errol Renaud Trio
LUMINOX
American producer Luminox will run the trap when he makes his Australian debut this April, bringing his bass-heavy hip hop sound to six cities across the country. In the space of just a few months, his remixes and originals have risen to become festival standards, with his best-known works including remixes of Major Lazer’s ‘Original Don’ and Uberjak’d’s ‘Back 2 Life’. Luminox will hit Chinese Laundry on Thursday April 2.
ROOTS & RIDDIM CLUB
A new fortnightly event, the Roots & Riddim Club, is bringing the good vibes to Surry Hills starting this week. The Errol Renaud Trio will captain the ship for the launch night, direct from the Caribbean islands of Trinidad & Tobago. Expect skank, soca and steelpan. DJ Dizar will spin in support. It all goes down at Play Bar on Wednesday March 18.
30 :: BRAG :: 604 :: 18:03:15
MARQUEE TURNS THREE
Sydney’s own world stage when it comes to partying, Marquee, is celebrating its third anniversary this Saturday March 21 with The White Party. As the name suggests, the dress code is simple – ‘A Night In White’ – so you’d best be careful not to smudge any birthday cake on your bright new outfit. Don’t let that hold you back from dancing to the grooves by Sultan + Shepard, though, as the LA duo lead a lineup that’ll be kickin’ it all night. In white. Right? Right.
MINISTRY OF SOUND AT PACHA
Ministry of Sound is set to curate a special event at Ivy this weekend as part of its Clubbers Guide To 2015 Tour. Taking over Pacha Sydney for the night, the global dance tastemakers behind Ministry of Sound have invited Glover and Krunk to lead the party, with the promise of Pacha’s new Objektophilie production show sure to astound. The regular rotation of locals will be on hand as well: A-Tonez, Dave Winnel, Jesabel, Chris Arnott, Samrai, Elly K, Dylan Sanders, Sushi, Fingers, King Lee, Just 1, Heke, E-Cats, Tom Fogarty, Chris Fraser and Trent Rackus.
MARAUDING MORODER
Electronic icon Giorgio Moroder has announced a series of headline dates in Australia alongside his support slots for Kylie Minogue. The Academy Award-winning composer, DJ and producer has shot back into prominence of late, having featured in an autobiographical song on Daft Punk’s latest record, Random Access Memories. He’s known as the godfather of modern dance, but has also written for blockbuster films (Scarface, The Never Ending Story) and even the Grand Theft Auto video games. Moroder will release his new album, 74 Is The New 24, later in 2015. In the meantime, catch him at the Metro Theatre on Thursday March 26 (…or supporting Kylie at Qantas Credit Union Arena on Friday March 20).
xxx
An all-ages hip hop festival is set to take over Sydney’s west in the form of 4Elements, going down at Bankstown Arts Centre on Saturday March 21. The event is free entry and runs throughout the day, with a slew of DJs, dancers and street artists as well as panel discussions and food. The lineup boasts the likes of Bam B No, DJ Blak Al, The Millipedes, Mirrah and Team 9Lives, and is running in conjunction with Harmony Day 2015.
Aeroplane Reaching New Heights By Gareth Bryant which one is about to grow. I do have a feeling that 2015 will be beat-less. I’ve noticed that a lot of music at the moment has little to no beat, and by beat I mean drums, putting songs and performances upfront. I like that. Aeroplane and an artist album – any plans on that front given the impending release of your new track, ‘Let’s Get Slow’? I’m considering it but I need to finetune the direction. I like concept albums and not collections of random songs. So once that direction/concept will be clear, I’ll get to it and will probably record it very quickly. Driving is pointless if you don’t know where you’re going. What else is fresh out of the Aeroplane lab? We’re told you’ve collaborated with Mayer Hawthorne and Kimbra – what can you tell us? That it’s true for both. And I can’t tell much [else] about it at this stage. The next thing is a song with Benjamin Diamond called ‘Let’s Get Slow’ coming out through Capitol France, and after that I have a two-track house EP that’s also finished.
V
ito de Luca, AKA Italian-Belgian producer Aeroplane, has established himself as a partystarting DJ, a remixer du jour, and a leader of the nu-disco and Balearica music scene. His distinctive analogue house sound sets him apart from the rest. In the last year, Aeroplane has produced several popular Hype Machine-charting remixes, including of Justin Timberlake’s ‘Suit & Tie’, Mystery Skulls’ ‘Paralyzed’, Charli XCX’s ‘Boom
Clap’, Mayer Hawthorne’s ‘Wine Glass Woman’ and Stromae’s ‘Tous Les Mêmes’. We caught up with him ahead of an appearance at the Rabbits Eat Lettuce festival over Easter. Sound-wise, what do you expect to trend in 2015? I’m not sure. It’s getting really difficult to follow everything as there are hundreds of small bubbles, and you never know which one is about to burst and
Your sound has a definite ’80s vibe to it. How do you capture that with the equipment you use? I have realised over the years collecting vintage gear that, even if it helps, it doesn’t make you sound a certain way. It’s your culture and your knowledge of a genre that makes you do the right thing to emulate it.
inspiring piece of gear I own. You’ve collaborated with Kimbra, who comes from our neighbouring New Zealand. Let’s test your Australian music knowledge – name us three other Aussie acts you recommend to our readers, and why. There’s obviously Tame Impala or Empire Of The Sun, both from Perth I think, or Jagwar Ma from Sydney. Why? Because they’re three really great bands, and I would recommend to go see them live too. And if you live in Australia and don’t know these three bands it’s about time you go listen to them. You’re headed to Australia for a series of shows including Rabbits Eat Lettuce at the Easter long weekend. What’s your favourite Easter memory? I guess chocolate eggs? It’s kind of weirding me out that I don’t have any Easter memories. Family gatherings, mainly. I’m sure most festivals blend into the next one, but have you heard much about Rabbits Eat Lettuce? To tell you the truth, this is the first time I have heard about it. Looks fun, though!
What’s your favourite piece of music-related hardware? I bought a Roland Jupiter-8 in the early stages of Aeroplane. It’s still the most
In the past year alone, you have remixed tracks for Justin Timberlake, Mystery Skulls, Charli XCX, Mayer Hawthorne and Stromae. What attracts you to a remix project? You do different remixes for different reasons. [Sometimes] just because it’s great for profile and it’s fun to get involved in that A-list stuff. Stromae because hashtag Belgium; Mayer
“When you’ve got four rappers on the same track, and they’re amongst the best doing it, of course you want to be able to hold your own on a track, or onstage next to these guys. It’s a real positive element.”
part of our music; it’s taking where we grew up, our slang and things like that. It’s taking that with us where we go. We more want to share that with people than to think of it as holding the music back.”
Seeing each other at work also encouraged a constant cycle of reviewing and revising – “to outdo themselves and outdo each other,” Lupi explains. “That definitely happens and will continue to happen. It’s just the nature of the project. And ultimately you’ve ended up with a better result – you can’t really be mad at it.”
In between their various individual musical projects, One Day are professional partiers who curate a monthly block party. Since its inception two years ago, One Day Sundays has outgrown its long-time home at The Vic in Marrickville. “We wanted to put on the sort of Sunday session that we would all want to go to. It’s kind of taken on a life of its own now,” says Lupi. Boasting capacity turnouts, the boys are setting their sights interstate. “We’re trying to [keep] a momentum going, and just keep throwing these parties and hopefully not kill ourselves in the process.”
because it’s a great song. I can’t like the song too much if I want to remix it, though. Every time I have fallen in love with a song and reached out to ask for the stems, I couldn’t do the remix – it always felt like I couldn’t make it better. Who would be your ultimate collaboration with anyone still alive? And on the flip, who do you wish you could have worked on a project with who is no longer with us? I’d like to work with a band. Like Midlake or Fleet Foxes. Also Mark Hollis from Talk Talk is my dream vocalist. Or Bowie, for obvious reasons. Most people I get influenced by are still alive, but if I had to pick one I’d love if Bernard Edwards could be my bass player. In Australia, rock and hip hop continue to dominate the local markets; electronic music is beginning to experience a resurgence since the early-to-mid2000s success. How is EDM (if I can use that term with you) trending in Europe? EDM as a genre is reaching the end now. [But] if by ‘EDM’ you refer to electronic music in general, it has always been strong in Europe. It comes and goes in the charts, but it is still dominating the clubs in different shapes and forms. What: Rabbits Eat Lettuce 2015 With: Berg, Opiuo, Zomboy, Jay Lumen and more Where: Woodfordia, Queensland When: Friday April 3 – Monday April 6
One Day Inner West Is Best By Sharon Ye
M
ost people have entertained the idea, perhaps fleetingly, of working with friends. But the logistics of working and playing together are rarely balanced enough to make the venture actually viable and fun – the reason for doing business together in the first place. The One Day crew have found that balance, cultivating their burgeoning hip hop powerhouse while maintaining camaraderie amongst the ranks. One Day are made up of the seven Aussie hip hop tastemakers who perform separately as Spit Syndicate, Jackie Onassis, Horrorshow and Joyride. With Sydney’s Inner West providing the backdrop to the boys’ teenage years, their music is deeply rooted in the place that gave them their slang and influenced their music. The majority of the crew attended the same high school, Petersham’s Fort Street High School, and Nick Lupi from Spit Syndicate recalls its nurturing environment.
One Day photo by Cole Bennetts
“When we first started in Year Seven, there was a fairly strong hip hop presence at this school, be it dudes in the older grades that were into graffiti, rapping or DJing,” he says. “We were exposed to that when we started, and we were very impressionable at that age – like most 13-year-olds are.” Although the crew has been in the rap game for close to a decade, the constituents’ respective schedules haven’t previously allowed for a collaborative effort of the scale they’ve achieved now. Last year the One Dayers got together with the intention of making a mixtape, but a stint in their makeshift Byron Bay studio convinced them otherwise: that they had a whole body of work fit for a debut One Day album, Mainline. “We’ve done songs together here and there over the years, we’ve toured together in various capacities, but we haven’t actually been on a tour with all four of the acts,” says Lupi. “The main motivator behind Mainline was being able to take that on the road. To see that come to fruition is really fun.” thebrag.com
When asked to spill the beans on who’s the biggest troublemaker on tour – this is a group of young men and mates, after all – Lupi laughs and fumbles for an answer before reaching a diplomatic conclusion. “There are some members of the crew who perhaps you know are going to be late to rehearsal, and some members of the crew you know are going to be pushing to stay out a bit later. But I would say we all cause trouble in equal parts in our own ways.” Despite having seven cooks in the kitchen, One Day finished their album in just six months. “There were certainly some spirited discussions, especially given we’re all very strongminded and opinionated individuals,” says Lupi. “And I think being friends – and being very close friends – we felt comfortable voicing our opinions to each other.” Indeed, Lupi says there was a healthy competitive spirit between the group’s MCs. “That kind of competition exists within the crew even when we’re doing our own individual stuff,” he laughs.
Mainline is an unapologetic dedication to the place that raised the One Dayers – particularly the Sydney train line between Strathfield and Central. But the crew was never worried that the album wouldn’t resonate with fans outside the Inner West loop. “We were certainly aware that some of the things were Inner Westspecific,” Lupi says. “But that’s a big
After the band’s latest tour, the boys will be knuckling down to work on their own projects, with releases expected from Spit Syndicate, Joyride and Jackie Onassis later this year. But Lupi assures us that Mainline
isn’t going to be a one-off for One Day. “It was too much fun and we got so much out of it to leave it at just the one,” he says. And with Horrorshow’s MC Solo as his roomie and the other boys living within a stone’s throw, Lupi says they’re “in each other’s faces all the time”. How do they keep it together, ensuring each member’s mental health is maintained? “There’s a lot of shit going on,” says Lupi. “But ultimately it comes down to the fact that we’re making music, touring and doing business with our best friends.” What: Mainline out now through Elefant Traks/Sony With: Briggs, Jayteehazard Where: Metro Theatre When: Saturday April 18 And: Also appearing alongside Flight Facilities, Hermitude, Peaches, The Preatures and more at Groovin The Moo 2015, Maitland Showground, Saturday May 9
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club guide g
send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com
club pick of the week Âme
SATURDAY MARCH 21
The Hi-Fi
Dixon + Âme
Guide To 2015 - feat: Glover + Krunk + A-Tonez + Dave Winnel + Jesabel + Chris Arnott + Samrai + Elly K + Dylan Sanders + Sushi + Fingers + King Lee + Just 1 + Heke + E-Cats + Tom Fogarty + Chris Fraser + Trent Rackus Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney. 6:30pm. $38. Red Bull Music Academy - feat: Taylor McFerrin + Future Classic DJs + Anomie + Rimbombo Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 11pm. Free. Sienna Saturdays - feat: Resident DJs The Establishment, Sydney. 9pm. Free. Something Else Burdekin Hotel, Darlinghurst. 9pm. $20. Spice - feat: Delano Smith + Murat Kilic + Michelle Owen + Mike Witcombe + Le Brond The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 9pm. $15. The House Of Who - feat: Rotating DJs + Levins + The House Of Who + Nacho Pop + Kato’s Wig Shop Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 8pm. Free.
Tim Boffa - feat: DJ Ray Antonelli Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly. 6pm. Free.
Sundays In The City - feat: Various DJs The Slip Inn, Sydney. 12pm. Free.
SUNDAY MARCH 22
MONDAY MARCH 23
CLUB NIGHTS
CLUB NIGHTS
A Guy Called Gerald Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 9pm. $24. La Fiesta - feat: Samantha Fox + Agee Ortiz + Av El Cubano + Resident DJ Willie Sabor The Establishment, Sydney. 8pm. Free. Reggae Sundays Kings Cross Hotel, Kings Cross. 5pm. Free. Reign Sundays Marquee, Pyrmont. 9pm. Free. Rob Kay + Brenny B Side Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly. 5pm. Free. S.A.S.H Sundays Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 2pm. $10. Sunday Sessions - feat: Cadell + Tom Kelly + Ocky Goldfish, Kings Cross. 4pm. Free.
Mashup Monday - feat: Resident DJs Side Bar, Sydney. 8pm. Free.
TUESDAY MARCH 24 HIP HOP & R&B
Straight Outta Compton - feat: DJ Yella + Tha Alkaholiks + Spice 1 + Baby Eazy-E3 + Curtis Young Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $44.20.
CLUB NIGHTS
Chu The World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. Free.
up all night out all week...
8:30pm. $64.50. WEDNESDAY MARCH 18 CLUB NIGHTS
DJ Tom Kelly Goldfish, Kings Cross. 9pm. Free. Morning Gloryville - feat: Levins + Max Attack All Sorts Indoor Sports Factory, Sydney. 6:30am. $20. The Wall The World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. $5.
THURSDAY MARCH 19 CLUB NIGHTS
Pool Club Thursdays - feat: Resident DJs Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney. 5pm. Free. The World Bar Thursdays The World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. Free.
FRIDAY MARCH 20
Taylor McFerrin photo by Simon Benjamin
HIP HOP & R&B
Hustler Fridays - feat: MC Shaba Hustle & Flow, Redfern. 7pm. Free. Tripple One + Amy Iheankwa + Spidey’N’Den + Tag Shai + Jimmy Hinks + More Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10.
CLUB NIGHTS
Argyle Fridays - feat: Resident DJs The Argyle, The Rocks. 6pm. Free. Bassic - feat: Cassian + 32 :: BRAG :: 604 :: 18:02:15
Indian Summer + Dom Dolla + Go Freek Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 8pm. $12. Bonobo The Hi-Fi, Moore Park. 7:30pm. $55. DJ King Lee + DJ E-Cats Lo-Fi, Darlinghurst. 6pm. Free. DJ Marty Wentworthville Leagues Club, Wentworthville. 9pm. Free. El Loco Later - feat: DJs On Rotation Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills. 10pm. Free. Enter The Pyramid - feat: Cmsnt 61 + Francis Xavier + Kato + Passenger 440 Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 9pm. $10. Factory Fridays - feat: Resident DJs Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 7pm. Free. Feel Good Fridays Bar100, The Rocks. 5pm. Free. G-Wizard Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $18.40. Linda Jenssen Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly. 8pm. Free. Loco Friday - feat: Various Live Bands And DJs The Slip Inn, Sydney. 5pm. Free. Mum - feat: Robusst + Roleo + Captain Keen’s Fun Machine + Library Siesta The World Bar, Kings Cross. 8pm. $15. Soul Control - feat: Adrian E The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 9pm. Free. The Fuse - feat: Ronnie + Mose + Mr Zux Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 9pm. $10. Voodoo - feat: Tenisha + Angry Man + Matt Roberts + Maestro + Delmixx + Jordy B + Pep.B + Chidibang + Thomas Dimitri Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 10pm. $25.
SATURDAY MARCH 21 HIP HOP & R&B
Baro Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 8pm. $15. Baro FBi Live, Alexandria. 5:30pm. Free.
CLUB NIGHTS
3rd Anniversary White Party - feat: Sultan + Shepard Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $28.60. Atolla - feat: Polarheart + No Body Died Kings Cross Hotel, Kings Cross. 8:30pm. Free. Cakes - feat: 4 Rooms Of Live Music + DJs And International Guests The World Bar, Kings Cross. 8pm. $10. Chipped - feat: James Fazzolari + Dungeon Events DJs The Chippendale Hotel, Chippendale. 12pm. Free. Dixon + Âme The Hi-Fi, Moore Park. 8:30pm. $64.50. DJ Marty Wentworthville Leagues Club, Wentworthville. 9pm. Free. DJ Pro/Gram + DJ Heke Lo-Fi, Darlinghurst. 6pm. Free. El Loco Later - feat: DJs On Rotation Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills. 10pm. Free. Infamous Saturdays - feat: Live DJs Scubar, Sydney. 7pm. Free. LNDRY - feat: M.A.N.D.Y. + Strange Clouds + A-Tonez + Acaddamy + Avon Stringer + Rodskeez + Mars Monero + Reno + DJ Eko + DJ Just 1 + King Lee + Propoganda Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 8pm. $22.60. Ministry Of Sound Clubbers
Bonobo
FRIDAY MARCH 20 Bonobo The Hi-Fi, Moore Park. 7:30pm. $55. Enter The Pyramid - Feat: Cmsnt 61 + Francis Xavier + Kato + Passenger 440 Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 9pm. $10. Voodoo - Feat: Tenisha + Angry Man + Matt Roberts + Maestro + Delmixx + Jordy B + Pep.B + Chidibang + Thomas Dimitri Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 10pm. $25.
SATURDAY MARCH 21 3rd Anniversary White Party - Feat: Sultan + Shepard Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $28.60. Baro Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 8pm. $15. LNDRY - Feat: M.A.N.D.Y. + Strange Clouds + A-Tonez + Acaddamy
+ Avon Stringer + Rodskeez + Mars Monero + Reno + DJ Eko + DJ Just 1 + King Lee + Propoganda Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 8pm. $22.60.
Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 9pm. $24.
Ministry Of Sound Clubbers Guide To 2015 - Feat: Glover + Krunk + A-Tonez + Dave Winnel + Jesabel + Chris Arnott + Samrai + Elly K + Dylan Sanders + Sushi + Fingers + King Lee + Just 1 + Heke + E-Cats + Tom Fogarty + Chris Fraser + Trent Rackus Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney. 6:30pm. $38.
TUESDAY MARCH 24
Red Bull Music Academy - Feat: Taylor McFerrin + Future Classic Djs + Anomie + Rimbombo Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 11pm. Free.
S.A.S.H Sundays Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 2pm. $10.
Straight Outta Compton - Feat: DJ Yella + Tha Alkaholiks + Spice 1 + Baby Eazy-E3 + Curtis Young Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $44.20. Taylor McFerrin
Spice - Feat: Delano Smith + Murat Kilic + Michelle Owen + Mike Witcombe + Le Brond The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 9pm. $15.
SUNDAY MARCH 22 A Guy Called Gerald
thebrag.com
Off The Record Dance and Electronica with Tyson Wray
I MAG I N E BE I NG MAD E TO
xxx
Nina Kraviz
FEEL LIKE CRAP JUST FOR
C
alling all acid heads – A Guy Called Gerald is descending on Sydney this weekend. One of the most influential names in the late ’80s Manchester acid house scene, Gerald Rydel Simpson was one of the founding members of 808 State, and his live performances are the stuff of legend. Using his signature Roland TB-303 bass synthesiser and the TR-808 drum machine (all without the aid of any DJ software), live performances from AGCG are known to last anywhere from two to 14 hours, depending on the response from the dancefloor. It goes down on Sunday March 22 at Oxford Art Factory. One of the leading names from the impenetrable L.I.E.S. imprint is coming to town. With a steady slew of all-killer-nofiller releases since 2011, Terekke is one of the most exciting up-and-comers in the techno game. To make his debut trek Down Under even more special, he’ll be bringing over his very selectively toured live show. He’ll be joined by HVCK, Cale Sexton, Ben Fester, Kali, Adi Toohey, Adrian E, Grant Camov, T Mingus and TGMN. It’s happening on Saturday March 28 at the Chippendale Hotel – highly recommended.
Facebook to announce that in 2015 the festival would return to its original one-day format: “We will be announcing our dates for 2015 shortly and wanted to share some exciting news with you first! We will be returning to one day shows in 2015 nationally! Same cities, the best artists and more!” Stay tuned for dates and the lineup to emerge soon-ish. Tour rumours: it looks like we’ll be seeing a headline tour from Russia’s leading lady of techno Nina Kraviz later this year. Dutch DJs/producers Ruben Fernhout and Jerry Leembruggen AKA The Partysquad are set to hit Sydney next month, as is Japanese don Chida.
BEING
LEFT
H A N D E D.
Okay, that’s hard to imagine? But being gay, lesbian, bi, trans or intersex is no different to being born left handed, it’s just who you are. So stop and think because the things we say are likely to cause depression and anxiety. And that really is pretty crap. GO TO LEFTHAND.ORG.AU TO WATCH THE VIDEO
STOP t THINK t RESPECT
Best releases this week: Pearson Sound has blown it out of the water with his selftitled full-length album on Hessle Audio, while other highlights include Morkebla’s Meet Me In A Decompression Chamber (Farbwechsel), Soichi Terada’s Sounds From The Far East (Rush Hour), L’estasi Dell’oro’s I Look Upon Nature While I Live In A Steel City (Field) and Rhythmic Theory’s Lucid State / Shores Of Caladan (Ancient Monarchy). Phil Kieran
Techno heavyweight Phil Kieran will return to Sydney next month. From humble beginnings in his hometown of Belfast as a resident at Shine Club, over the course of his career he’s released on the likes of Skint, Soma, Cocoon, Novamute, Electric Deluxe, Snork and his own PKR label, worked with Peter Hook, Gary Numan, Green Velvet, Speedy J and David Holmes, and also scored a handful of films, most notably for the soundtrack of Steven Soderbergh’s The Girlfriend Experience. Catch him on Sunday April 5 at Home Nightclub for S.A.S.H. It looks like the recent boom of festivals expanding to two days has gone bust. Over the weekend Stereosonic took to
RECOMMENDED SUNDAY MARCH 22
Mr. Ties Marrickville Bowling Club
SATURDAY APRIL 11
A Guy Called Gerald Oxford Art Factory
Fritz Kalkbrenner The Spice Cellar
Developer The Sly Fox
SATURDAY MARCH 28
SATURDAY APRIL 4
Milton Bradley Burdekin Hotel
Kettenkarussell, Leafar Legov, Konstantin Burdekin Hotel
Audiofly, Martin Buttrich, Blond:ish Greenwood Hotel
Terreke Chippendale Hotel
Guy J, Eelke Kleijn Burdekin Hotel
THURSDAY APRIL 2
SUNDAY APRIL 5
Voices From The Lake,
Phil Kieran Home Nightclub
SATURDAY APRIL 18 James Zabiela Chinese Laundry
FRIDAY MAY 29 Carmada Oxford Art Factory
Got any tip-offs, hate mail, praise or cat photos? Email hey@tysonwray.com or contact me via carrier pigeon. thebrag.com
BRAG :: 604 :: 18:03:15 :: 33
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VIEW FULL GALLERIES AT
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up all night out all week . . .
live review What we've been out to see... CLIENT LIAISON Oxford Art Factory Saturday March 14
Leg-warmers and leotards were out in force over the weekend. Bringing decadence back into vogue, Client Liaison stand out in a music scene dominated by nonchalance and effortless cool. The Pretty Lovers tour in support of their self-titled EP has sold out shows across the country, including two nights at Oxford Art Factory. Harvey Miller and Monte Morgan tread the fine line between satire and seriousness. A genuine love for the shiny sounds and aesthetics of the ’80s blurs this distinction. However, the spectacle isn’t to compensate: their tight synthpop stands on its own. Complete with billowing mullet and sequined back-up dancers, Client Liaison are all about embracing the gimmick. Their total commitment is what makes them irresistibly danceable.
As Miller took the stage in a pink blazer, the duo churned through the likes of ‘Feed The Rhythm’ and ‘Pretty Lovers’. They also unveiled a newer song, ‘Canberra Won’t Be Calling Tonight’. A television was wheeled out for the occasion, screening panning shots of parliament and John Howard’s bushy eyebrows. Delivering the song like diplomats loosening their ties, the performance complemented Morgan and Miller’s taste for corporate fashion and Australian iconography. On that note, the likes of Christine Anu and INXS surfaced in their set, pulling on nostalgic heartstrings. If you’re not an ’80s revivalist, you soon will be. Such a hyped niche act, Client Liaison claim that “unlike a joke, our humour doesn’t come from a punchline”. At the end of the day, ironic or not, they’re bloody good fun. Annie Murney
s.a.s.h sundays
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15:03:15 :: Home :: 101/1-5 Wheat Rd Darling Harbour 9266 0600 OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER
34 :: BRAG :: 604 :: 18:03:15
KE S :: ASHLEY MAR :: KATRINA CLAR
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