Brag#614 by Furst Media

ISSUE NO. 614 MAY 27, 2015

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MUSIC, FILM, THEATRE + MORE

This Week

SY NEY FILM FESTIVAL 2015

SYDNEY'S BEST

PUB

TRIVIA SPOTS

DA NIEL JOHNS

His divisive new record has got people talking.

JA MIE X X

The man behind the xx sound branches out once more.

S L E E P M A K E S WAV E S

The Sydney rockersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; massive tour comes to a close on home soil.

A LY X DENNIS ON

A collaborative maiden effort from a talented local voice.

Plus

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rock music news

the BRAG presents

welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... with Chris Martin, Meggan Turner and Lauren Gill MOJO JUJU Newtown Social Club Saturday June 20

speed date WITH

BRUCE STEPHENS FROM KIM KILLSPEED

Your Profile Kim Killspeed is melodic vocally and a 1. bit edgy instrumentally. Not too heavy, not too light – hopefully just right. We like to write good songs and deliver them as a band the best way we can.

Best Gig Ever Because Kim Killspeed is a first time thing for all of us, it’s mildly thrilling to play live and get a positive response, wherever it is. So really, all our gigs are good ones. We’re a little bit innocent I suppose, which I think is nice considering we’re no longer in our 20s,

ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant PHOTOGRAPHERS: James Ambrose, Katrina Clarke, Ashley Mar, Xinger Xanger, Prudence Upton 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

Oh Mercy

AWESOME INTERNS: Meggan Turner, Ayla Dhyani, Sarah Basford REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Nat Amat, Prudence Clark, Tom Clift, Keiron Costello, Christie Eliezer, Fergus Halliday, Cameron James, Tegan Jones, Lachlan Kanoniuk, Emily Meller, David Molloy, Annie Murney, Adam Norris, Kate Robertson, Natalie Rogers, Erin Rooney, Spencer Scott, Natalie Salvo, 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 EDITORIAL POLICY: The views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher, editors or staff of the BRAG. ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE: Luke Forrester: accounts@furstmedia.com.au ph - (03) 9428 3600 fax - (03) 9428 3611 Furst Media, 3 Newton Street Richmond Victoria 3121 DEADLINES: Editorial: Friday 12pm (no extensions) Ad bookings: Friday 5pm (no extensions) Fishished Art: No later than 2pm Monday Ad cancellations: Friday 4pm Deadlines are strictly adhered to. Published by Furst Media P/L ACN 1112480045 All content copyrighted to Cartrage P/L / Furst Media P/L 2003-2014 DISTRIBUTION: Wanna get the BRAG? Email distribution@ furstmedia.com.au or phone 03 9428 3600 PRINTED BY SPOTPRESS: www.spotpress.com.au 24 – 26 Lilian Fowler Place, Marrickville NSW 2204 follow us:

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Sibling rockers Stonefield have backed up the latest taste of their new sound with the announcement of an Australian club tour. The Findlay sisters – much like the classic rock’n’roll groups who inspire them – have moved things in a more psychedelic direction lately, with their ‘Golden Dream’ track bringing the far-out vibes to the airwaves since its debut on triple j last week. There’ll be more where that came from on their second album, due out later this year. In the meantime, get on it with Stonefield at Goodgod Small Club on Friday July 3.

Oxford Art Factory Friday July 24

YEARS & YEARS

What: Ultrasound out Saturday May 30 independently Where: Lazybones Lounge When: Saturday May 30

Oh Mercy will follow their Splendour In The Grass appearance and upcoming album release with a national launch tour, kicking off in August. The Melbourne-based project by singer-songwriter Alexander Gow has undergone something of a renovation, with these tour dates set to feature a new-look live band and augmented instrumentation. At their heart, though, Gow’s songs are about classic pop melodies and accessible Australian themes. Oh Mercy’s new album, When We Talk About Love, will drop on Friday June 19. Launch dates include Friday August 28 at Oxford Art Factory and Saturday August 29 at Newcastle’s Cambridge Hotel.

Following last week’s announcement of the 2015 Soulfest lineup, the anticipation has only grown with the addition of some great new names to the list. Ms. Lauryn Hill will return to Australia for the festival this October, sure to deliver an electric live show full of the gamechanging tracks with which she made her name. Miguel will be there too – he supported Bruno Mars in Oz last year – as will the Yasiin Bey

Oxford Art Factory Sunday July 26

(Mos Def) and Talib Kweli rap collaboration, Black Star. Rounding out the second artist announcement is Jazmine Sullivan, a seventime-Grammy-nominated soul singer and songwriter who’ll be marking her debut Down Under. The full Soulfest lineup also includes the likes of Mary J. Blige, Jill Scott and De La Soul, and it’ll take over The Domain on Saturday October 24.

CHRIS CORNELL ACOUSTIC TOUR

The gravelliest voice in rock, Chris Cornell, will head around the country for a run of solo acoustic shows this November. The multiple Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter has sold more than 30 million records worldwide through his success with Soundgarden, Audioslave and Temple Of The Dog. The tour will give fans the chance to see Cornell perform songs from right across his threedecade career, as well as new songs from his forthcoming studio album, in a stripped-back setting. Cornell takes over the Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House on Friday December 11 and Saturday December 12. Tickets go on sale 10am Monday June 1.

HELL TO THE YEAH

Can we get a ‘hell yeah’? Apparently we can. Metal supergroup Hellyeah have announced that they’ll return to our shores this August for their first Australian tour in five years. Featuring former members of Mudvayne, Pantera, Nothingface, Bloodsimple and Uberschall, Hellyeah have released three albums in their eight years together, including 2014’s Blood For Blood. They’ll be sure to get the moshpit moving when they unleash their intense brand of heavy metal on five Australian cities this winter. Hellyeah will play the Metro Theatre on Thursday August 27.

The Preatures

THE BELL RINGS AGAIN

Lisa Kekaula’s Californian rock’n’roll outfit The BellRays have locked in a new run of Australian tour dates. The announcement follows the cancellation last month of a May co-headline tour with Supersuckers – news that super sucked, that’s for sure, but this will do plenty to ease the pain. The BellRays have been delivering their fusion of dirty rock, blues, punk and soul behind Kakaula’s mighty voice for more than 20 years now, and they’ll be bringing it all to Newcastle’s Small Ballroom on Saturday August 8 and Newtown Social Club on Sunday August 9.

DEF LEPPARD ON TOUR

Iconic rock band Def Leppard have locked in a string of arena shows across the country. Credited as defining the ’80s metal sound that came out of Britain, Def Leppard have forever

THREDBO LONG WEEKEND CONCERT

Winter is hard. It’s cold, it’s windy, it’s wet, and it’s extremely difficult to get out of bed in the morning. Lucky for us, the cold season has one redeeming quality: snow. Australia’s favourite winter destination, Thredbo, will be kicking off its winter season over the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, and it’s going to be a packed schedule. There’ll be hot pool parties, fireworks, deliciously warm food, and free outdoor concerts, this year featuring The Preatures, Red Wine Roses and Crooked Colours. The music takes place on Saturday June 6. xxx

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STONE THE CROWS

WOLF ALICE

self-sufficient when it comes to getting a shine on.

A LITTLE MORE SOUL Stonefield

Metro Theatre Friday July 24

Your Ultimate Rider Honestly? We have never had a rider, 5. apart from a drink ticket or two. We are very

etched a combination of hard riffs and skin-tight leather pants into popular culture. They have sold over 100 million records worldwide, with hits such as ‘Pour Some Sugar On Me’ and ‘Love Bites’. Coming along for their Australian dates will be fellow rockers Live and Baby Animals. They’ll take over Qantas Credit Union Arena on Tuesday November 17.

GIG & CLUB GUIDE COORDINATORS: Sarah Basford, Sarah Bryant, Ayla Dhyani, Meggan Turner - gigguide@thebrag.com (rock); clubguide@ thebrag.com (dance, hip hop & parties)

AZEALIA BANKS

Current Playlist I’m very old-school, really. I’m grateful to have seen the Stones, The Who, Elton John, Deep Purple, Eric Clapton, Aerosmith and David Bowie. And I saw Santana and The Steve Miller Band from side of stage a couple of years ago. That was an education. You can’t argue with longevity, whether it’s Kylie or Status Quo. I really admire all of them.

HAVE MERCY ON US

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: Sam Caldwell, Ayla Dhyani, James Di Fabrizio, Lauren Gill, Meggan Turner

Newtown Social Club Thursday July 23

especially me. It’s true that I’ve been playing gigs for decades, but I’m a first instrument drummer. This is my first crack at the guitar onstage, which I find a little daunting when I consider all of the great guitarists I’ve played with, and still do.

Years & Years photo by Mike Massaro / Wolf Alice photo by Jordan Hughes

Keeping Busy The past few months have been spent finishing our first recording, Ultrasound. We did it with (the fabulous) Ben Worsey at Everland Studios in Five Dock, going in for a few hours here and there, whenever two or three of us were free. And Candy recently had a baby, George, a future Australian cricket captain. George came in to the studio for several sessions and made some important judgement calls at critical moments. We always took his advice. We did have one genuine busy moment in the studio – the clock was ticking down during a vocal session and George sent out a message that now was the time for a nappy change. Andy and I told Candy to keep singing and we did the change in the control room. George was very happy with the result, and also with his mum’s vocal take.

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live & local

free stuff

welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... with Sam Caldwell, Lauren Gill, Meggan Turner

five things WITH

BEAT THE DRUM

JAMIE HUTCHINGS FROM INFINITY BROKE living in a separate dwelling with walls, smells, sounds, et cetera. Your Band Reuben Wills plays bass 3. and sings backing vocals, and is a natural. Scott Hutchings plays second guitar and auxiliary drums/ percussion, and provided all the images for our two albums and shot and directed our film clip. The drummer on both albums was Jared Harrison who is amazing but unfortunately he’s become too busy to tour. Instead we have the very talented Hugh Deacon along – he’s the virtuosic baby.

Growing Up Scott (my brother, who is 1. also in IB) and I do come from music. Our mum was always really supportive of us being creative and encouraged us to play a lot. We shared a drum kit and smashed it every day after school and she kindly tolerated it, but it’s our dad who is the musician. He is a rare bird – the professional one. He can play around ten different woodwind instruments and is/was a hired gun. Needless to say he

finds our music pretty painful to listen to. Our sister Sophie is also a pretty amazing composer. Inspirations If I had to whittle it down to 2. one, like a lot of musicians I’d say Tom Waits. He can deal out artifice as well as sincerity. He can be a total traditionalist or jump head first into the avant-garde. The first album I heard was Bone Machine. I love the way each sound has a full-blooded life of its own, as if it’s

head to: thebrag.com/freeshit

The Music You Make Our first album River Mirrors 4. had a very strong percussive/ psychedelic influence, so I’d cite bands like Can and fusion-era Miles. Our new album Before Before is more concise; there’s a pretty strong raw soul and noise rock influence. We definitely like to let loose but there’s always that experimental, improvisational element too. We recorded both albums with our good friend Chris

Colquhoun. He’s a self-taught engineer and understands our musical perspective exactly. Music, Right Here, Right Now 5. Loads of amazing music is being made constantly. There’s a longterm music scene here that is incredibly rich and I’d love to see it more visible. One of the best shows I saw last year was Louis Tillett at the Factory Floor with Jeffrey Wegener on drums and Ken Gormly on bass – three long-term Sydney musicians collaborating in a pretty magical way. I don’t have a particular haunt; wherever good music is being made, from warehouses to clubs – it’s the music that draws me more than the venue.

Australia’s favourite youth radio station triple j turned 40 in January this year, and like all good 40th birthday parties, the celebration in The Domain was a wild one. Some of triple j’s best buddies turned up to play to a huge crowd, including Hilltop Hoods (with a bunch of friends), The Cat Empire, The Presets, The Preatures, You Am I, Vance Joy and Ball Park Music, plus a heap of guests from Paul Dempsey and Sarah Blasko to Daniel Johns, Megan Washington and Gotye. Those music lovers at the Js thought it would be nice to film their birthday party for posterity, and now Beat The Drum is out on DVD and CD – a great addition to any music fan’s collection. We’ve got three DVD/CD packs to give away. To be in the running, head to thebrag.com/freeshit.

With: Before Before out now through Come To The Dark Side Luke/MGM With: Yes I’m Leaving, The Maladies Where: The Factory Floor When: Saturday May 30

The Cat Empire

Electro duo Voltaire Twins are back with their new single, ‘Goodnight Spirit’, and a headline Sydney show. Perth twins Tegan and Jaymes have been locked away recording their debut album, Milky Waves. Due out in August, it features the production work of Ana Laverty (Cut Copy) and Steven Schram (San Cisco, Little Red). Voltaire Twins will play Goodgod Small Club on Saturday June 13.

Voltaire Twins

THE PALEST OF HEADS

Melbourne’s Pale Heads have locked in a string of shows to celebrate the release of their debut LP. The six-date national tour will see the punk rockers play cuts from the album, Headless, which is due out this Friday May 29 through Poison City Records. Catch ’em on Friday June 12 at The Record Crate. Joining Pale Heads on the night will be Yes, I’m Leaving, Mr Sterile Assembly and Dead Farmers.

BONEZ GET WEIRD

Sydney rockers Bonez have been getting bigger and bigger since their inception in 2013. Not only was their 2014 debut EP On The Pig’s Back Vol. 1 a hit on the community radio airwaves, but they’ve expanded from a three-piece busking outfit to a full five-piece unit. After some solid touring of the east coast in support of their upcoming EP Let’s Get Weird – and the expansion of their ‘Let’s Get Weird’ campaign, encouraging people to stay loyal to their beliefs – they’re ready for a Sydney EP launch at The Vanguard. They also have a huge announcement to make to their fans on the night. It goes down on Friday May 29, with The Lockhearts, Eddie Boyd and The Phatapillars and Stone Monks in support.

WE ALL WANT TO... GO ON TOUR

After success with their 2010 self-titled debut and 2012’s Come Up Invisible, Screemfeeder guitarist Tim Steward’s other band, We All Want To, have announced a national tour in support of their recently dropped third album The Haze,

Just A Gent

Singer-songwriters Jack Carty and Jordan Millar have announced that they’ll hit the road

together for a special ‘by request’ tour this winter. After selling out two shows in Sydney in March, the pair have decided to take their show around the rest of Australia, selecting intimate venues for their completely audiencecrafted setlist. Carty, who released his third studio album Esk six months ago, has been touring extensively, playing alongside the likes of Ingrid Michaelson and Darren Hanlon. Millar, on the other hand, has been spending time working on new music in the studio, as well as opening for the likes of McBusted and Xavier Rudd, since releasing his critically acclaimed Advice From Beyonce and The Wheel EP last year. They’ll play Venue 505 on Saturday August 8.

with stops including Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane. The Haze was produced by long-time collaborator Darek Mudge with Wayne Connolly mixing several of the tracks. In addition, the album’s second single ‘Eileen Afternoon’ has just been released. Catch the indie rockers at The Vanguard on Saturday June 7.

JUST A GENT AT BEACH ROAD

The Smith Street Band

THE SMITH STREET FESTIVAL

The Smith Street Band love life, and we love life when there’s more Smith Street Band in it. So it’s probably a good thing that we’ll be seeing a bit more of them later this year. The boys have gotten together with their label, Poison City Records, to co-curate a mini-festival for Brisbane and Sydney in September. The punked-up gentlemen will be headlining their own I Love Life events, playing alongside some exciting local and international acts. They’ll be joined by Andrew Jackson Jihad, Modern Baseball, Iron Chic, The Sidekicks, Oslow, Hannahband and Walken. After finishing off their North American and European tours, the festivals will be a perfect homecoming for The Smith Street Band, whose eager fans are keen to have them back on familiar soil. The Sydney half of the festival goes down at the Metro Theatre on Saturday September 12.

thebrag.com

Voltaire Twins photo by Ren Pidgeon

The Beach Road Hotel is gearing up for a big week, featuring appearances from Just A Gent, Murray Lake, Woodlock and more. Having only just celebrated his 18th birthday, Just A Gent AKA Jacob Grant is finally able to legally attend the clubs he’s been playing at since rising to prominence over the past year. As part of his Just Turned 18 Tour, he’ll be doing a free show on Wednesday May 27, supported by the Sosueme DJs and scratch DJ Awe. Friday May 29 will feature Murray Lake and Richie Ryan, and a last-minute change sees indie group Woodlock taking the Saturday May 30 slot.

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JACK CARTY AND JORDAN MILLAR TEAM UP

Bonez photo by Fluke Media

VOLTAIRE TWINS LAUNCH SHOW

Bonez

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Industrial Strength Music Industry News with Christie Eliezer

THINGS WE HEAR * Which singer has launched a crowdfunding drive to get her teeth fixed in Thailand? * Which musician was doing an interview at his home when men turned up at the door to repossess his car? * Which band got roped into doing an impromptu ukulele version of ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ during a live radio interview in Queensland, due to a studio gear malfunction? * Scammers are ringing up musicians saying they’ve scored an Australia Council grant and asking for their bank details. * Accountancy company Venn Milner, the liquidators of Music Events Holdings who ran Future Music and Summadayze, have asked for more time to recover the money. There’s almost AU$3 million owed to 52 suppliers and $200,000 to former employees. They imply assets were transferred

out before Music Events went down in September 2013, and suggested they might take some former directors and company officers to court to recover the money. The intellectual copyright of the two festivals was sold to Michael Gudinski, who has no connection whatsoever in this liquidator’s matter. * DC Comics is trying to block a request by Rihanna to trademark the word Robyn (the singer’s first name) for an online magazine. DC says it’s too close to its character Robin (Batman’s buddy), invented in 1940. * Hermitude’s Dark Night, Sweet Light hitting number one on the ARIA chart is not only their first chart-topper but the first for their label Elefant Traks. It is the first album to top the ARIA chart with ‘Dark’ in its title, the 11th with ‘Night’ and the fifth with ‘Light(s)’. The record will be out overseas through Nettwerk Records in August. * Kim Salmon will reform the original 1978 The Scientists lineup for the Leaps And

AUSSIE RADIO AND MAGS MORE ENGAGING THAN BANDS Radio remains the Australian sector that engages most with Facebook users, says a first quarter 2015 Facebook Performance Report from The Online Circle. It measured the fan base of a business and the extent to which it engaged with them. Radio’s impact has risen since the last report, with 299,582 weekly engagements on Facebook. Joan Warner of Commercial Radio Australia said social media helped the sector “interact … and continue to lead the field in building lasting, deep relationships with audiences.” Radio’s impact measured three times more than the runners-up, newspapers and

Bounds festival in Melbourne in July. * Lorde is fending off criticism she made a mistake splitting with manager Scott Maclachlan, the man who discovered her as a 12-yearold and steered her to global success. “Yes, I’m a young lass, but I’m also making the best decisions for me each day. #stayeducated,” the 18-year-old tweeted. But some commentators have pointed to acts who fell from fame after cutting from their svengalis – from The Monkees to Spice Girls to Duffy and Lady Gaga. * Just before the Mötley Crüe/ Alice Cooper Adelaide show, Tommy Lee went off with 15 of his entourage to buy sneakers at a Nike store in Rundle Mall, according to The Advertiser. Nikki Sixx went to Frontyard Tattoo in Mount Barker to do ink on its customers, while the Coop headed to the Grange Golf Club for a round. * Cloud Control are having problems with their next album. After the January departure of bassist Jeremy Kelshaw,

magazines. Musicians and bands came in sixth (18,001 engagements per week), ahead of sport.

MUSIC SAFE FROM AUSTRALIA COUNCIL CUTS

The axe began wielding at the Australia Council after the Federal Budget slashed its appropriation for 2015-16 to AU$184.5 million. Thankfully, the Contemporary Touring Initiative and Contemporary Music Touring Program will continue, as will Playing Australia. Among the arts programs that have been axed is ArtStart, which offered help to recent arts graduates in setting up their businesses.

who left to pursue “civilian life”, they’re now getting booted out of their makeshift Redfern studio by Saturday May 30 because the derelict building is being demolished. In recent storms, chunks of plaster fell off the ceiling and water gushed everywhere. They’re asking fans to lend them their living room until they find something. * Brit boy band Blue sold 15 million records worldwide. Now singer Lee Ryan is the fourth member to file for bankruptcy. * Famed Californian punk venue 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley banned Green Day in 1994 after they signed to major label Reprise/Warner. But this month the band was welcomed back for a secret gig to raise funds for a fire-damaged indie publisher. Rancid’s Tim Armstrong joined the Dookie dudes for a rendition of Operation Ivy’s ‘Knowledge’. * Vance Joy’s ‘Riptide’ has gone double platinum in the US for two million sales, and Sheppard’s ‘Geronimo’ is now certified platinum in the US for sales of one million.

DANCE AGENCIES SOAPBOX AND 360 MERGE

In a prelude to an expansion into the Asian and US markets, the Ministry of Sound’s Sydney-based booking, management and tour agency Soapbox Artists and Melbourne’s 360 Agency have merged. They now represent some of Australia’s biggest DJs and producers including Timmy Trumpet, Uberjak’d, MaRLo, Havana Brown, Savage, Stafford Brothers, Bombs Away, Ruby Rose, Kronic, The Faders and SCNDL. Soapbox Artists general manager Trent Grimes and 360 Agency managing director Pete Sofo will jointly run Soapbox Artists.

‘BAD BLOOD’ BREAKS VEVO RECORDS

Taylor Swift’s ‘Bad Blood’ video has broken a Vevo record, hitting 20.1 million views in its first 24 hours. The previous mark was set last August by Nikki Minaj’s ‘Anaconda’, with 19.6 million views. Swift, who had eight wins at the Billboard awards, has had five billion video views in total.

GLOBAL EDM MARKET NOW WORTH US$6.9 BILLION

The global electronic dance market has grown 12 per cent from last year to be worth US$6.9 billion, according to the International Music Summit’s 2015 Business Report released last week in Ibiza. North America accounts for US$2 billion. The Asia-Pacific (of which Australia is the largest market) is worth US$1 billion. The EDM scene is expected to see huge growth with its continued move into the mainstream, with the movie We Are Your Friends starring Zac Efron due for overseas release in August, and Simon Cowell’s Ultimate DJ television show (see below) set to launch.

ULTIMATE DJ SHOW TO BEGIN IN 2016

Simon Cowell’s Ultimate DJ television show (The X Factor for the EDM set) will launch in the second quarter of 2016. Some EDM figures like Fatboy Slim have criticised the idea. But Cowell has teamed up with Ultra Music founder Patrick Moxey to secure the winner a record deal with Ultra Records and Sony Music, and a headline slot at a major EDM festival. DJ Steve Aoki will reportedly act as a judge. Moxey says the TV show will effectively break new DJs globally.

MANSIONAIR SIGNS TO MUSHROOM, LIBERATION

Sydney indie electronic trio Mansionair have signed a record deal with Liberation Music and a publishing deal with Mushroom Music. Mansionair formed in January 2014, and debut single ‘Hold Me Down’ got ten million views on YouTube, two million plays on SoundCloud and peaked at number one on Hype Machine. In addition, the Sydney trio have inked a deal with Glassnote Records for North America, the UK and Europe, joining Mumford & Sons, Chvrches, The Temper Trap and Phoenix. They are managed by Danny Rogers and Campbell McNeill at Lunatic Entertainment.

8 :: BRAG :: 514 :: 27:05:15

Lifelines Expecting: singer Sophie EllisBextor and The Feeling’s bassist Richard Jones, their fourth. Marrying: Demi Lovato and boyfriend Wilmer Valderrama, who stood with her during her ups and downs, including a rehab stint in 2010. Hospitalised: surgery to remove nodules and a cyst on her vocal chords has put Kasey Chambers out of action for two months. Ill: Founding Yes bassist Chris Squire has been diagnosed with acute erythroid leukemia. He’ll sit out their upcoming North American tour with Toto. Recovered: Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson is now cancer-free after treatment last Christmas for a tumour at the back of his tongue. Jailed: Rusty Edward Sellner, 22, for two years after breaking into Miley Cyrus’ house in LA and stealing some of her items. In Court: two security guards at Brownstock festival in Essex, UK, on charges of kidnapping. They found Australian 32-year-old Paul Wickerson stumbling around high on LSD, coke and K. Instead of looking after him, they handcuffed and took him four miles away “for fun”, to see if he could make it back. The disorientated Wickerson was killed after being hit by four cars. In Court: Ugandan pop singer Panadol wa Basajja faces ten years’ jail for contravening the country’s new strict ‘anti-porn’ laws by dancing in her underwear in the music video for her song ‘Ensolo Yange’. Sued: Steve Aoki by a fan who was at a San Diego show, and claims she broke her neck and ankle when the DJ jumped into the crowd riding his plastic raft. Cleared: a Las Vegas cop who took Guns N’ Roses guitarist DJ Ashba on a free helicopter ride in 2013 so he could propose to his girlfriend has been cleared by a police board. It said Captain David O’Leary shouldn’t have been demoted. Died: Bruce Lundvall, 79, former CEO of Blue Note Records (he signed Natalie Cole and Richard Marx), from Parkinson’s disease. Died: The Posies drummer Darius Minwalla, 39, cause unknown. Died: Louis Johnson of US soul-funk group Brothers Johnson, 60.

UNIVERSAL PUBLISHING SIGNS I KNOW LEOPARD

Universal Music Publishing Australia has signed rising Sydney ’70s-inspired pop band I Know Leopard to a global deal. Their debut 2014 EP Illumina was followed by some hard touring, singles ‘Daisy Eyes’ and ‘Perfect Picture’ got triple j and community radio spins (and global interest), and they played the opening slot for Laneway Festival in Sydney through triple j’s Unearthed comp. Singer Luke O’Loughlin said of the UMP team, “They really seem to identify with where we are coming from musically and fully support our vision. It’s nice to feel so nurtured at this stage of our career and know that our songs are in good hands.”

ALISON WONDERLAND SELLS OUT

The Australian leg of Alison Wonderland’s Wonderland Warehouse Project 2.0 tour is now completely sold out, with ticket sales in excess of 25,000. The tour kicked off on the weekend, after two sets at Coachella and sold-out shows in LA, Miami, NYC, Chicago and Seattle. Run hit number one in the US on Billboard’s dance/ electronic and US iTunes Electronic charts.

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CINEMATOGRAPHY

DIRECTING

PRODUCING

SCREENWRITING

Five fully-funded films in two years. Be Fearless. Now co-located with the Actors College of Film and Television, IFSS offers unique opportunities for creative collaboration and inspiring film projects. VET FEE-HELP approved. Apply now for July and Feb 2016 intakes.

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Artefact Sound And Vision By Augustus Welby

ext week, Sydney band Artefact will play their very first gig at Leichhardt Town Hall. The live debut comes seven months after the album No Safe Place introduced Artefact to the world. It might be just a six-track release, but the record contains 40 minutes of deftly textured postpop, the culmination of a multi-year incubation period. “I like texture, so I certainly put a lot of work into the particular textures of all the six tracks,” says bandleader and songwriter Jim Flanagan. “In all honesty, some tracks took a full nine months to structurally get right. I tried 25 or 26 different structural things, none of which I was happy with … It’s always a balance. You need to know when to call it and walk away.” Artefact’s debut LP is credited to Jim and another Flanagan, Chrissy. While Chrissy’s backing vocals are a key feature of the finished product, No Safe Place was truly Jim’s brainchild. “To make the demo took a full two years, by myself, just me in my bedroom basically,” he says. “I originally scraped a living as a composer and sound designer in Sydney for three or four years back in the late ’90s and early noughties. I was composing lots of electronic music and strings and kind of weird jazz ensembles. Then I went and lived in Europe and the UK and didn’t write a note for nine years. And then came back three years ago and had a massive itch I wanted to scratch and [started] doing this.” After detailing the demo recordings to the point of insanity, Flanagan sought out Sydney composer and jazz pianist Stu Hunter to produce

the album. A respected member of the local jazz scene, Hunter’s electronic trio Moniker will also be debuting at Artefact’s launch show next week. While Flanagan has dabbled with jazz composition in the past, that’s not what led him to Hunter. “It was just fortuitous running into Stu,” he says. “A friend of a friend of a friend knew Stu, so I flicked the demo to him and he just liked it and offered to produce it.” Hunter’s presence helped prevent the record’s textural intricacies from sounding congested or overly abstract. The band has named artists like Talk Talk, Spiritualized and The Beach Boys as influences. Earnest attempts to replicate artists of this ilk usually wind up sounding rather tiresome, but Flanagan wasn’t particularly interested in emulation. “I certainly wanted to do something that stood on its own feet and didn’t sound too much like other people,” he says. “But they are certainly people and artists that I like a lot. I certainly have a lot of time for Mark Hollis. There’s a lot of polyphonic vocal arrangements on the record, and I’ve been a long-term fan of Brian Wilson and the kind of threeminute pocket symphony approach to songwriting. “In its own way it’s a very complicated textural sound, but I don’t think it’s a particularly difficult listen. A lot of my favourite music is music that didn’t necessarily reveal itself immediately. We live in a world of instant gratification, where people are less interested in music and films and plays and things that kind of serve that purpose. So I didn’t want it to be difficult, but I wanted it to be something that

possibly revealed its secrets very slowly.” You don’t need to be a musicologist to realise that presenting No Safe Place in a live setting will be challenging. To achieve it, Artefact have expanded into a six-piece collective of multi-instrumentalists. Although the live show has been nearly a year in the making, Flanagan has refrained from being overly precious about the original recordings. “We have tried to develop the sound of the record into something that is clearly still the record but works differently live,” he says. “To me they’re two quite different things. It’s the same music but presented to the audience in very different ways. I always think that’s bad, when someone slavishly tries to reproduce a record on a stage. Live music should be live and it should

be dirtier and rough around the edges, regardless of the type of music.” Artefact’s live debut will also be a highly visual experience. Featuring staging by theatre director Michael Pigott and projection mapping from local multimedia artist Laura Taylor, Artefact are trying to give Sydney’s Vivid Light spectacular a run for its money. “We’re trying to do something a little bit fun with the staging,” Flanagan says. “Projection mapping is becoming prevalent in all different kinds of arts media – people like Amon Tobin and Flying Lotus have been using elements of projection mapping in their live shows. It’s custom-made threedimensional footage, textured for the surface that we’ve designed for the show. A series of objects are basically hung from the ceiling,

so we have in effect a threedimensional space. Projection mapping is a process by which whatever footage you’ve designed is projected onto those threedimensional surfaces. “We’re performing [No Safe Place] as one continuous track,” he continues. “All of the tracks bleed into each other. We have a break in the middle. Those two sets are very particular in length and Laura has basically designed the footage to work off the precise dramatic changes of the music as we play. It’s almost like a film or a theatre experience.” What: No Safe Place out now independently With: Stu Hunter Where: Leichhardt Town Hall When: Friday June 5

Daniel Johns It’s Time To Talk By Adam Norris debut solo album Talk, no matter how it sounds. “I feel like this record was always going to be divisive, but that’s just what happens,” Johns says. “Especially in my career. Some people like it, some people fucking hate me. I feel like everything that I feel or have felt is somehow represented over the catalogue of my career. Especially on Talk, and that’s part of the reason I called it that. There’s a bunch of shit that I’ve never, ever talked to anyone about. It took me two years to even write a lyric, even when the music was there. I was just using distorted voices; I couldn’t write to save myself. I didn’t know how to open the fl oodgates, and I didn’t know what might come out. I was kind of scared of that. But as soon as I started entertaining the idea, I thought, ‘Well, if I’m going to be a singer, I probably should say something.’”

he building across the street from EMI Music’s Sydney headquarters is a thoughtful sight. You can see straight through the smashed windows and broken boards to the dilapidated interior; graffiti arcs across cracked walls, garbage litters the fl oor. It’s in stark contrast to the polished, comfortable interview 10 :: BRAG :: 614 :: 27:05:15

room in which Daniel Johns sits, and it’s difficult not to juxtapose this image with the artist himself. Though his past work is hardly the stuff of indiscriminate damage, his return to the music scene fi nds a songwriter far distinct from his former path. He is revitalised, if resigned to the reality that some people are going to resent his

“They’re quite universal topics. If I feel something from the music that’s quite dark, I can tap into my reserves from when I was 19 years old. I can still feel those times. If it needs to be optimistic, I have a good relationship with my girlfriend I can tap into, or my family. It’s like a little dress-up box of emotions you can open up when you need it. And so it all dribbled out.”

“There was no sitting at a desk and saying, ‘Let’s call these people, let’s do it like this,’” says Johns. “They were a lot of happy accidents. There were also no collaborations that didn’t work. Every one turned out great in a different way, and then it’s up to me to bring it together, or make it sound like it wasn’t six million people all doing different things in the same room. I needed to be really quite strict about where things were going, because otherwise it could easily have just sounded like a fucking mess. The way that I’m singing isn’t considered in any way. It was more the freedom to not have to yell over cymbals and distortion, all of that stuff anymore. Also, because I did the bulk of the record in my living room, I felt really comfortable to gain the mic up, turn off everything electronic that was buzzing. The fridge had to go, the air fi lters. I just wanted to sing quite intimately, because I thought it would be nice for a solo record. It would almost be like telling secrets.”

As Johns and his band take the stage for Vivid LIVE, audiences will hear for themselves where this new sound has travelled. The road from Silverchair to Talk has been a winding one to say the least, but the result is worth the wait. Johns’ lyrics are in fine form, and the music itself – though a giant, electronic stride from what most fans are accustomed to – clearly speaks of an artist pushing the limits of what he can achieve. Hearing him now in the flesh is likely to showcase exactly that. “Live, I’d like to be quite strict. [There’s] the possibility of doing maybe one or two reworked Silverchair tracks, and maybe one or two Dissociatives tracks, but for Talk, I’d like it to sound like the record. Maybe with a bit more wildness, a few more effects, some craziness. “I was really adamant on the record that stuff needed to be restrained. I didn’t want it to seem like, ‘Hey, listen to my new toy for 20 minutes.’ So I’d like to stay true to the record, especially given it’s the first time I’ve played it, and the first time I’ve played with this palette. Part of my approach to this record was wanting all the emotion to be coming from me; to have the synth, the beats almost like setting a scene. Then it’s up to my voice to translate that.” What: Talk out now through EMI Where: Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House as part of Vivid LIVE 2015 When: Thursday May 28 and Friday May 29

thebrag.com

Daniel Johns photo by Harold David

He chuckles and looks down. There is quite a media myth surrounding Johns – for evidence, you need look no further than the overblown frenzy that followed his recent tumble outside a Sydney bar – but in person he is an engaged, softly spoken man. He listens closely to questions and does not second-guess his replies.

Anticipation for what exactly the former Silverchair frontman has been working on these past eight years has been reaching fever pitch, and although he acknowledges the expectation, he seems largely unfazed. His goals are less aligned with astounding people with some unexpected new direction as they are needing to fi nd new inspiration, to build a new voice – quite literally, in a sense. To that end he found disparate assistance from the likes of producers Joel Little, Louis Schoorl and Damn Moroda, and artists such as M-Phazes and Styalz Fuego.

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Sleepmakeswaves The End Of The Map By Erin Rooney f pictures tell a thousand words, then the post-rock melodies of Sydney’s Sleepmakeswaves must tell a million. Because without lyrics in the tracks to tell a story, the band finds other ways to effectively draw in listeners and evoke intense emotions during live shows, says guitarist Otto Wicks-Green.

Though previously his background was in playing and listening to thrash metal, Wicks-Green soon adjusted from identifying as a ‘metal fan’ to more generally a ‘music fan’, expanding his taste and occasionally bringing some of his metal influences back into the band’s songwriting process.

“The first thing for us is dynamic. We work with a great sound engineer who knows our songs very well, and knows that it’s not just about creating a sound that pummels people through an hour and a half. It’s a journey. There’s this gradual rise, then this explosion, then it kind of all just falls away again.”

“In the song ‘Great Northern’, there’s this two-part guitar harmony duel thing – that’s totally thrash metal. I love sneaking that kind of incongruous stuff into this postrock framework; it makes me really happy.” Sleepmakeswaves have changed the musical path they’ve been on from the beginning, too. Their latest album, Love Of Cartography, was borne of a love of travel and, for Wicks-Green, of maps. Instead of a requiem-esque record like their earlier albums, their mission was to make the new release more optimistic and accessible. Listening to Love Of Cartography, this idea of a journey makes a lot of sense – the music escalates, rises and falls, finishing with a sense of completion on ‘Your Time Will Come Again’.

Tugging between influences as wide as electronic and metal, Sleepmakeswaves’ purely instrumental tunes are designed to soothe, energise and often inspire reflection. And leading up to the final shows of their international album tour for Love Of Cartography, Sleepmakeswaves have quite literally been on a journey themselves since the album was first released.

“What drew me to this project was that it was very genuine. It’s very emotional and very intense. The live shows were intense, the chord progressions were beautiful and it was that sweeping prettiness with this heaviness that I loved.”

diary so far consists of a euphoric performance in Shanghai, where they didn’t expect to fill the huge Mao Livehouse but had plenty of dancers and crowd-surfers come support them, and a show on a boat in Budapest, played in a packed room underwater.

it be writing, recording or touring), you just want to be in the other one. Although the touring cycle has been inspiring and eventful, Wicks-Green admits he wishes he had some time back home with the band. He daydreams of the band’s plan to escape to a beach house on the coast to write another album, jamming out riffs and sitting down to noodle on the guitar.

The album was funded by a Pozible campaign, and the fans had such faith in the band to make a great record that the campaign exceeded the target. “I think it’s actually a more organic, natural and intuitive way of raising money for albums now,” says WicksGreen. “Especially in this kind of punk rock, DIY theme that we’re in, where everyone supports each other and that’s the whole vibe. So I find the whole thing really positive, even though you wake up some mornings and you’re just frantically trying to do the calculations.”

Like anything, a long tour can often be too much of a good thing. But luckily, Wicks-Green sees light in all of the energy and exhaustion they’ve gone through. “Being on tour is kinda like being in a longterm relationship – you have your ups and downs, but at the end of the day you love them.”

“That’s one of the best things you can do with a guitar! That’s when magical things happen,” he says. “[Our next album] will probably turn out to be quite heavy again. I want to bring back the crushing guitar.”

Incredibly, the album has now taken Sleepmakeswaves across 22 countries for 55 shows. Their tour

Life in a band, he adds, is often like going through the seasons – whichever stage you’re in (whether

Until then, Sleepmakeswaves have some big shows left on the final leg of their tour, finishing up with their

totally blind. Punters On A Barge will be released locally via Melbourne’s underground punk label Homeless Records. Over the last couple of years, Spray Paint have established connections with a couple of other acts on the Homeless roster, Deaf Wish and Cuntz.

On A Barge doesn’t deviate too far from the band’s minimalist set-up: drums, two guitars and three vocals. Like previous Spray Paint releases, Punters On A Barge is full of tracks that revolve around a single, repetitive drum rhythm and minor guitar and vocal permutations.

biggest headline date yet, at the Metro Theatre in Sydney. WicksGreen puts it quite simply: while touring overseas can be incredibly exciting, Australia is home, and it’s where they love playing most. And after all the time Sleepmakeswaves have spent overseas, playing their final show for a while must come as some relief. “It’s going to be freaking awesome,” says Wicks-Green. What: Love Of Cartography out now through Bird’s Robe/MGM With: This Will Destroy You, Gay Paris, Serious Beak Where: Metro Theatre When: Saturday June 13

Sleepmakeswaves photo by Georgia Blackie

Wicks-Green started off as just a fan of Sleepmakeswaves, watching their shows at the old Hopetoun Hotel in Surry Hills (RIP). But his reputation as a guitarist, built up partly through performing covers on YouTube, earned him a recommendation and eventually a place in the band. And it’s an experience Wicks-Green says he’s been incredibly grateful for since joining the group soon after his 20th birthday.

Spray Paint Punting On Punk By Augustus Welby

“We met label head Richie [Ramone] in Memphis, Tennessee at Gonerfest in 2013,” says Plump. “Cuntz were also playing that year and we all just kind of hung out and got very drunk. We then played again together in our hometown of Austin, Texas. We stayed in touch and here we are.” The sonic quality of Punters On A Barge is a step up from Spray Paint’s previous release, last September’s Clean Blood, Regular Acid. This is explained by a slight tweak in the band’s recording approach.

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“Deadlines and the desire to travel are what make us tick,” he says. “I’m not a particularly wealthy man and I have a desire to travel to all corners of the globe. Touring allows us to see the world and get drunk in the best bars in the world on the cheap. Also, it’s fucking punk rock – there is absolutely no reason to continually edit/mix the songs. This type of music needs a sense of urgency. If a song doesn’t work, then move on.” This is the Texans’ first trip Down Under, but they’re not coming in

The fact Spray Paint don’t have a bass player could be thought of as a restriction, but it opens the way for some crafty and often percussive dual guitar work. That said, the set-up isn’t the result of a grand vision.

“I should mention that we don’t really know how to work Pro Tools that well and early on I personally erased like ten hours of work,” he laughs. “It was a bad night. Mikey Young [Total Control, Eddy Current Suppression Ring] mastered it and I have no idea how he made it sound so good. He is a genius.”

“We were all in another band with a few other folks and we just stayed late after practice one night and a few songs happened,” Plump explains. “We recorded them, not planning on making a new band. [But] I like the space the drums get with no low end in the way. Also we tune our guitars pretty low.”

Aside from the occasional flourish of keyboard or bass, Punters

The majority of Spray Paint songs are distinguished by the

“We take lyrics very seriously,” Plump says, “but we try to not be obvious about what we are saying. It is all about how the words look written down and how it makes you feel. It is a picture of some very ugly and nasty things this world has to offer.” Considering the amount of time spent writing, recording, travelling and sitting in front of a computer dealing with managerial stuff, you’d think Spray Paint was a fulltime commitment. But – goodness knows how – the three band members also hold down day jobs. However, their fortunes are currently on an upward slant. “We are enjoying a certain amount of success, but we have logged in many, many hours of touring with other bands for the past ten years. I’m happy that we are doing semidecent after not doing particularly well for a long time. It makes us appreciate it very much.” What: Punters On A Barge out Monday June 1 through Homeless With: Feedtime, Cuntz Where: Factory Floor When: Friday June 26 thebrag.com

Xxx

ast year, Austin trio Spray Paint played 87 shows, hitting 66 cities across 12 different countries. Unwearied, the band has booked in an Australian tour this June, coinciding with the release of latest LP Punters On A Barge. On top of the heavy touring commitments, Spray Paint are an exceptionally busy creative unit, with Punters On A Barge the band’s fourth record in the space of two years. Guitarist and co-vocalist Cory Plump gives us an insight into the band’s staggering productivity.

“The same guy recorded both of them,” Plump says. “However, [with] Punters we recorded the skeletons of the tracks in two days. If someone didn’t have a chorus part then we would just not play. Then we took the recordings into our practice space and just layered stuff and got weird with it.

“We focus on not overthinking things,” Plump says. “Pretty much every song we’ve ever written comes out of a jam. It comes to us quick and in flashes. We are usually not sober, but we record everything and sift through the garbage later. Sometimes we start with drums, for sure. Our drummer Chris [Stephenson] is an excellent guitar player as well. We all write, and sometimes I’ll have a drum suggestion – usually less cymbals – but, you know, sometimes someone will make up a little guitar part and we’ll see where it goes.”

band’s intriguing lyrics, which are delivered in a speak-sing manner that recalls the likes of Thurston Moore, Jonathan Richman and Mark E. Smith. The lyrical content is generally somewhat abstract, which suggests the trio is more interested in evoking a sensation than unfurling a narrative or emotional confession.

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The Cherry Dolls Melodic Toys By Augustus Welby

ince forming in early 2014, The Cherry Dolls haven’t been shy about sharing their wares with the world. Beginning with ‘Wasted Pearls’, which arrived before they’d ever played live, the Melbourne band has unfurled five singles in the space of 12 months. The quintet’s latest release, ‘The Last Time’, maintains the loose rock’n’roll aesthetic of the four songs that preceded it, while also introducing a more dynamic sound. “It’s a bit of a departure,” says guitarist Jacob Kagan. “It’s a bit more of a song; it’s got a bit more colour. I think we thought about the lyrics a bit more, as opposed to just riffs and solos.” Perhaps the most notable point of distinction is the magnification of frontman Josh Aubry’s vocal range. In contrast to the distorted howls of ‘Wasted Pearls’, ‘The Last Time’ lucidly emphasises Aubry’s melodic capacity. This is the first single to be released since Kagan joined the band six months ago, and he’s quickly become enmeshed in the band’s creative engine. “I like to take a lot of control with coming up with ideas and writing songs,” he says. “I think melody is really important. Instead of just being a rock’n’roll singer and just screaming and jumping around, it adds another dimension to the kind of performer you are. I don’t know whether I directly influenced [Aubry] to do that, but I rely heavily on melodies.” You don’t need to rack your brain to detect the sorts of bands that excite The Cherry Dolls. Late ’60s and early ’70s rock’n’roll acts like The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Faces and New York Dolls figure prominently in the band’s creative DNA. However, they’re not trying to be a mere throwback. “Originality is definitely very important,” says Kagan, “but I do like to plant it in something, so that people know that it’s coming from somewhere. Stuff that’s way too original, not too

many people can relate.” The band’s stylistic standing is matched by its production choices. All five singles convey a raw, live energy, where nothing sounds tirelessly laboured over. ‘The Last Time’ is the first song drawn from a forthcoming EP, which was produced by The Delta Riggs’ Alex Markwell. The track might’ve been carefully constructed, but the recording approach remained no-nonsense. “I don’t really like to fuck around too much in the studio,” Kagan says. “It’s great when you’re good at it, and getting lots of different sounds out of synthesisers and messing around with the computer, but I like to use the Velvet Underground approach and just play it. I don’t think you need lots of bells and whistles to affect people. I just like to knock them out and then move on. I don’t really care about mistakes too much… unless they’re really bad.” The Cherry Dolls have just hit the road for a national run of headline dates. They’re cruising into New South Wales for four nights, including three Sydney shows next weekend. This is easily the biggest chunk of touring in the band’s short history, but Kagan says the members already know how to deal with each other’s personality quirks. “It’s not going to be an issue. Me and Thomas [van der Vliet, drums] are the oldest guys in the band by three or four years, so we generally bunk together. We’re like the grumpy old guys, so no-one comes and pisses us off and we can go to bed whenever we want. And the other stinky dudes can go to sleep in the other room and stink it up.” Where: The World Bar / The Standard Bowl / Lansdowne Hotel When: Friday June 5 / Saturday June 6 / Sunday June 7

Jeremy Neale Hold On, He’s Comin’ By David James Young

eremy Neale is – in a twist that surprises absolutely no-one – in a fantastic mood. “I just saw Mad Max!” he proudly announces. “It was amazing, man! I loved how it was still so Aussie – like, every third word in the background was ‘g’day’ or something. They’re already working on a sequel – I’m psyched!” The baby-faced Brisbane native never makes interviews seem like a task – to him, it’s just a chance to chat about whatever’s going on at the time. It’s this that has allowed Neale to become one of the most notoriously lovely people in Australian music – few can match his enthusiasm, his charm and his work ethic. After a spell of touring with both the dozenstrong Velociraptor and surf-pop side project Teen Sensations, Neale is back to work on his own solo material, beginning with a cracking new single, ‘Hold On Together’, which features former Go Violets singer Phoebe Imhoff on guest vocals. “I’ve got an EP in the works at the moment,” Neale says. “I’ll hopefully have it out by late August, and it’s going to have the two singles I’ve put out so far, along with four other tracks I’ve been working on. I’ve already started writing for the album, too. That’ll be all new, and it’ll be out in the world in 2016. I wanted the EP to establish that I want to move around stylistically under my own name. At this point, I feel like people just think of me like, ‘Oh, that Jeremy, he’s just a rock dog.’ I am, for the record – but I’m also other things! Sometimes, I’m a New Romantic dog. The ’80s rule, man!” ‘Hold On Together’ allows Neale to embrace his inner ’80s pop star, complete with a tempo kick-up and some Kenny Logginsworthy guitar and wailing sax. It’s certainly a far cry from the garage-dwelling jangle he’s often associated with, which begs the

question as to whether he writes with a particular project in mind or if he’s a free bird in that sense. “I’m a constant daydreamer, so I’m never short on ideas of what I want to do,” he says. “I like to just do a bit of everything. Whatever I think is possible, I’ll push myself to make it happen. I get too distracted if I’m writing specifically, though. If I start writing for Velociraptor, I could get maybe two songs in before I start wanting to turn them into my solo songs. I guess I just write a bunch of songs and then divvy them out when they start to take form a bit more.” Neale and his backing band will be playing a quick run of shows in support of ‘Hold On Together’, which includes the standard set of east coast capitals – and then, for whatever reason, a stop in Maroochydore on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Despite it sticking out like dog’s bollocks on a tour schedule, Neale insists that it’s turned into quite the surprise package for touring artists. “There’s a guy that runs Sol Bar that has done an amazing job of fostering a live music scene in an area that has never really had quote-unquote ‘indie’ coming through,” he says. “It’s this amazing vibe there now – the shows are always great; the people there always make it worth however long the trip is.” As for what people can expect at a Jeremy Neale show? “Just a coupla rock dads cuttin’ loose.” It couldn’t get much more convincing than that. With: Flowertruck Where: Waywards When: Friday May 29

Alyx Dennison Experimenting With Convention By Augustus Welby

round the turn of the decade, Sydney musicians Alyx Dennison and Freya Berkhout got a lot of people talking with the dramatic experimental pop project Kyü. Unfortunately Kyü split up in 2011, at which point Dennison seemed to disappear from view. That is until March this year, when she reasserted herself as an artful conjuror of lateral pop music with her debut self-titled solo LP. While Alyx Dennison largely forgoes Kyü’s electronic flavour, the record is still replete with avant-garde experimentalism and immersive soundscaping. However, as far as Dennison’s concerned, it’s a marked departure from her earlier work. “With Kyü we didn’t use much conventional instrumentation, then this is very song-y songs at times,” she says. “There is still bits of experimental stuff, but I was really self-conscious of the fact that it was guitar songs in C that, at times, had a folky nature. I was scared about coming across as daggy or it being too middle-of-the-road. While we 14 :: BRAG :: 614 :: 27:05:15

were recording it I kept saying stuff like, ‘This is really daggy,’ or ‘Oh my God, this sounds like Coldplay.’” In reality, nothing on the record tempts Coldplay territory, but you can understand what Dennison means. See, on the one hand, the album encapsulates Eastern instrumentation, soaring weirdopop and ambient post-rock. And yet, it remains very accessible. This is largely due to the centrality of Dennison’s vocals. Granted, there are moments when the lyrical details get obscured by buoyant instrumentation. But tuning into her lyrics – which cover themes of fading friendship, mistaken life choices and the odd fantasy narrative – greatly enhances the record’s impact. “I wrote a lot of the songs in the period of time where I thought that I had quit music, so I didn’t think anyone would hear them. That’s why I think it’s a very lyrical record. It was more of a therapeutic thing. While I don’t think that the music in the album is particularly challenging or interesting, it’s not about the

music as such. It was so much more about the words and what I had to say, and I just comforted myself by thinking, ‘Next time it will be all about the music,’ and I can be more selfindulgent in that way.” Across the record’s eight tracks, a variety of different arrangements and textures come into play. The opening track, a three-part number called ‘Triptych’, weaves in and out of intricate instrumental sections, while ‘My My’ comprises just percussion and vocals, ‘LAX’ adopts a strippedback acoustic folk set-up, and ‘Jewels Are Just Lumps’ is a hearty slice of baroque pop. For Dennison, determining the nature of a song’s arrangement is an integral part of the creative process. “Normally I get an idea for something and stick with it,” she says. “Usually when I write songs, rather than writing a whole song, I’ll just create a really fleshed-out 30 seconds that’s really produced and sounds how I want the rest of the song to sound. It’s a really backwards way of working.”

With regards to composition, everything came from Dennison, but the album includes contributions from Nick Wales on strings, Bree van Reyk on percussion and Georgia Mooney and Brian Campeau on backing vocals. Also, producer David Trumpmanis played a crucial role in bringing it to life. “Working with him was amazing,” Dennison says. “We really worked together on everything. I couldn’t

have done it without him. A lot of it was him dealing with my crazy ideas and me explaining things hardly in English. And he worked very well with that.” What: Alyx Dennison out now through Popfrenzy/Caroline With: Seja, Fieldings Where: Newtown Social Club When: Thursday June 4

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“The most intimate rock doc ever” – ROLLING STONE

Strong coarse language and drug use

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arts in focus

arts news...what's goin' on around town... with Chris Martin, Meggan Turner and Ayla Dhyani

Is there a little bit of Aunty Donna in everyone? Are you baiting me? Is that what this is? Do you want me to make a sperm joke? Is this a trap?

our Melbourne Comedy Festival application; we had like eight minutes to decide on a name

Sketch comedy is undergoing somewhat of a renaissance in comedy circles at the moment. How do you keep it fresh for modern audiences? It seems like for audiences these days, the YouTube generation, little four-minute jokes played out are actually the norm. Sketch is still pretty lame, but it’s so lame that it’s cool. You know? Is that lame of

me to say? Or is it lamely cool? Who were your idols in the sketch comedy world, starting out? Monty Python, Monty Python, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Monty Python, Terry Gilliam, Graham Chapman, and Monty Python. You made your debut at the Edinburgh Fringe last year, and sold out your season in Melbourne this year. What’s Aunty Donna’s ultimate ambition? Pay rent for June. Where: Giant Dwarf When: Thursday June 25 – Saturday June 27

LIKE ME, LIKE ME NOT

Mongrel Mouth returns this year with another immersive theatre piece – this time a comedy, Like Me. Performed across two levels and eight rooms of a 166-year-old mansion in The Rocks, Like Me stretches the expectation of theatre into a unique experience. The audience is encouraged to roam throughout the establishment and engage with the action. Directed by Duncan Maurice, the play is set in a derelict treatment centre where nine former patients have taken over the facility. Like Me will be performed at Merchants House from Thursday June 18 – Saturday July 11.

Jay and Silent Bob

JAY AND SILENT BOB RETURN

The brains behind comedy cult heroes Jay and Silent Bob are coming to Australia this September. Actor, writer and director Kevin Smith has invited his long-term sidekick Jason Mewes along for his Australian tour, where fans can expect some storytelling, in-character antics and misbehaviour before Smith conducts a Q&A session. The visit will mark a break from Smith’s work on a third Clerks film, due for release in 2016. An Evening With Kevin Smith takes place at the State Theatre on Friday September 18.

LAUGH STAND JUNE LINEUP SYDNEY FRINGE FESTIVAL 2015

New South Wales’ largest independent arts festival, Sydney Fringe Festival, has confirmed it will be back for its sixth year in 2015. The festival will return this September with its largest program yet. Organisers have added the booming locale of Erskineville as a new Festival Village, and will be presenting a range of pop-up spaces, shopfronts and street activations in the Inner West. This year, the Fringe will present more than 300 productions across 50 venues. Selected highlight events have been revealed as part of the first announcement, including a minifestival within a festival hosted by The Chaser’s Giant Dwarf venue from Tuesday September 1 – Sunday September 13. There’ll also be a dedicated kids’ program and a Silent Dinner Party on Saturday September 26 at Marrickville Town Hall, for those who prefer some peace and quiet. The full program for the Sydney Fringe will be unveiled in August, and this year’s festival will run from Tuesday September 1 – Wednesday September 30.

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Breaking A Monster will be screening at Dendy Newtown on Monday June 8 while The Summer Of Sangaile will be at Event Cinemas George St on Sunday June 7. We’re giving away five double passes to each of these sessions, so make your way to thebrag.com/freeshit to be in the draw.

Aunty Donna photo by Raphael Recht

Like Me

The Wonderful World Of Dissocia

The Sydney Film Festival always features a wide variety of films, ranging from the downright scary to the downright amazing. Two of those showing at this year’s festival include the rockumentary Breaking A Monster and the Lithuanian drama The Summer Of Sangaile. The former offers a look into one of the youngest bands to hit the big stage, Unlocking The Truth. The latter is a tender story about a teenager in Lithuania and her encounters with another girl, who shows her how to express her creativity and break free from her selfimposed shackles.

xxx

SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL

BRODEN KELLY FROM AUNTY DONNA before the application deadline. One of us went, “Just fucking Aunty Donna or something.” Pretty magical stuff really.

ow did Aunty Donna come to exist? We needed a name for

head to: thebrag.com/freeshit

The Summer Of Sangaile

five minutes WITH

free stuff

Sydney’s long-time home of stand-up comedy, The Laugh Stand at the Harold Park Hotel, has revealed its lineup for the month of June. The weekly fun continues from Tuesday June 2, when headliner Ben Darsow leads a program that also includes emcee Jonas Holt and comics Danny O’Toole, Luke Joseph Ryan, Jen Carnovale, Sam Kissajukian and former Spicks And Specks team captain Adam Richard. Other featured acts in June include The Casablancas, Sam McCool and Corey White, before Mikey Robins hosts the monthly comedy gala night on Tuesday June 30.

ONE OF THE CLASSICS

Sydney Classic Theatre Company is a brand new theatre collective that aims to reinvigorate old texts and present them in modern contexts. Its first production, Shakespeare’s Romeo And Juliet, debuts this week. The famous play, now some four centuries old, tells the tale of a son and daughter from two rival families who fall in love. More than just a love story, Romeo And Juliet explores the mistakes of youth and how they collide with the prejudices of older generations. For its maiden effort, Sydney Classic Theatre Company is partnering with F&C Theatre Makers, a company dedicated to propelling the female voice forward in the theatrical space. With director Angela Blake taking the reigns, the two companies hope they can inspire young creators, women and men alike, to explore classical texts and present

them in their own voice. Romeo And Juliet is playing at the Fusebox Theatre at the Factory Theatre from Wednesday May 27 – Friday June 5.

RAINING CATS AND DOGS

Rising Australian actor Xavier Samuel is set to feature in an up-and-coming Australian comedy double bill, The Dog / The Cat, at Belvoir next month. Starring Samuel, Andrea Demetriades and Benedict Hardie, The Dog / The Cat is a new production from playwrights Brendan Cowell and Lally Katz. The plays depict two interconnected stories of love and stupidity. The Dog / The Cat will be playing from Thursday June 18 – Sunday July 26 at Belvoir St Theatre.

SYDNEY FROM ABOVE

Partnering up with The Affectors, The Rydges Central Hotel Group is set to open up its doors to unveil a new and special art exhibition, Mythology. Rydges’ first-ever art event will take place on its rooftop, overlooking Surry Hills and the Sydney city skyline. Visitors will be invited to explore immersive spaces in the hotel that focus on themes of ancient and contemporary mythology. Interactive pieces will have visitors immersing themselves in the experience of the exhibition. Magical cocktails and canapés will accompany the curious artworks. Mythology is taking place on the rooftop of the Rydges Hotel in Surry Hills on Friday June 5. To register your interest and find out more, head to affectors. com. thebrag.com

AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE SQUABBALOGIC’S PRODUCTION OF

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T H E B R A G'S G U I D E T O ▼

SY NEY FILM FESTIVAL 2015

COVER FEATURE

WEDNESDAY JUNE 3 – SUNDAY JUNE 14

MY SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL

RUBEN GUTHRIE

Beautiful People Doing Ugly Things By David Molloy

With Festival Director Nashen Moodley

aking a film about high society disasters looks like a hell of a lot of fun – glitz, glamour, red carpets, pressed suits and endless champagne. But for a first-time film director and an actor who’s never led a feature, the task can be intimidating.

two years leading up to Ruben that it was almost like he had his hand up saying, ‘Someone give me a big movie role, I could do a really good job!’ … My editor and I will attest to the fact that there’s not really one take in the entire film where he wasn’t giving me everything he had.”

experiences, but if it starts owning you, that’s a problem. And I think there’s a lot of pretty serious binge drinking going on in our culture that’s not only accepted but in a way kind of [considered] heroic, you know? It’s almost like you’re a legend for behaving disgracefully. And that’s a real worry.”

This is particularly true when a story requires the kind of moneyed look that a tale like Ruben Guthrie demands, and which an independent film can only hope to emulate. However, it’s a deeply personal story for writer/director Brendan Cowell – which is perhaps why we’re able to see it complete.

On the topic of working with Cowell, Brammall is similarly gushing. “It was a beautiful working relationship,” the actor says. “I sort of gave him my soul for the duration of filming and he gave me his heart as some sort of safekeeping.”

The director’s statements mirror those of his lead, whose research took him into AA meetings and the lives of addicts.

nce again it has been an enormous pleasure to bring together this selection of the best of international cinema, and we are really excited to share this program of exciting films with our audience. Alongside the international films, we have an incredibly strong lineup of Australian cinema and we’ll present many of them as world premieres. It’s wonderful to see such superb local works telling the stories we all want and need to hear, and we can’t wait to present them. This year, in our campaign, we assert that We Are Made Of Movies, exploring the idea of the complex and central role of cinema to the human experience. While contemplating the films that are so much part of our collective consciousness, we hope that this selection introduces the next generation of classics – films that will remain indelible in the minds of those who see them. Our program this year sees many filmmakers finding unusual and spectacular new ways to tell stories. From a film shot entirely on iPhones, to one entirely in sign language, the program is filled with daring and uncompromising works that are sure to provoke and challenge. This program is political, sexy, and with more than 60 countries represented, truly international in its outlook, bringing together new countries, cultures and perspectives for us to experience together. We have a great number of very funny films too and a number of films about love and romance in all its forms. Together, these films give us a sometimes disturbing, sometimes hopeful view of the world today. We’re sure they will engage, entertain, titillate and satisfy. We invite you to join us at the festival, and hope that these films will give you much to think about – and a great deal of pleasure.

“It was a daunting task but it was one I really had my sights set on,” says Cowell. “I didn’t want to give up. Now we’re in such a great position with the opening night of Sydney Film Festival, I’m glad we fought that hard to make the damn thing.” Ruben Guthrie started life seven years ago as a play, loosely based on Cowell’s own experiences and anecdotes with a hefty dose of creative licence. Now on the verge of the film’s release, Cowell shrugs off his personal association to the story. “Little by little as you go into making a film, it becomes less about me and more about the actors and the characters we create,” he says. “In no way did I make it like it was even slightly biographical, you know? It was [the cast’s] story to tell. We told it together. I’m a collaborator, I want everyone to do their job and I want everyone to bring me freaky shit and I’ll decide whether it works or not.”

Brammall, best known for his roles in TV’s Offspring and Upper Middle Bogan, says the weight of carrying the film didn’t often factor into his day-today work on the set. “It’s just like any other job, really,” he says. “Except I was in every single scene. It took everything out of me.” Not surprising, as not only is Ruben a very different beast to the affable Brammall, but one at both the peak of his career and on the knife-edge of addiction. “It’s a funny film but it’s an inky black comedy,” he says. “That’s why we call it a black label comedy. So even though there’s laughs in it, to me the reality of it was finding essentially an alcoholic – so it was a very, very dramatic role to play, knowing that it was real. That was the joy of it, actually.”

And boy, do they bring the freaky. The alcoholic advertising man Ruben bursts onto the screen in the form of Aussie TV darling Patrick Brammall.

Cowell is quick to assert that Ruben’s addiction could be to “anything” and that the film is not an anti-alcohol piece. “What I’m saying is a polemic – I use alcohol as a way of talking about human beings,” he says. “At the same time, alcohol’s a pretty serious issue in Australian culture.

“Patrick’s a revelation,” says Cowell. “He was [producer] Kath Shelper’s idea. He’d been onscreen so much in the

“We’ve got to look at our relationship with it, and I think it’s the best thing in the world to punctuate incredible

“[It] was uplifting, strangely,” Brammall says. “These people have come of their own volition because they’re wrestling with something. They get up and share their stories and they listen to each other’s stories, and I thought, ‘If these are the broken people, we’re OK.’ It was a real kind of shot in the arm for me, that humanity.” Brammall, too, avoids proselytising. “As an actor, I can’t afford to be thinking big-picture about what sort of comment we’re making here,” he says. “It’s just moment to moment.” Darkness aside, the cast and crew found plenty of joy on set, from stunt shots that sunk Ruben to the bottom of a pool to improvisations with hidden cameras at the Randwick races. No rest for the wicked, though – Cowell and Brammall are both intent on producing new, original Australian content. “I always think the more we can create, the better off we are,” says Brammall. “Whether we have money to market them or not, we should hear our stories. Local content’s the go.” As for the name Ruben Guthrie, just where did it come from? “You can look deep into it to find out what the writer is hiding in the name,” says Cowell. “But you won’t find anything. It just sounded good.”

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TALES

OFFICIAL COMPETITION ▼

“I always try to show the subject matter in a way to avoid censorship,” says Bani-E’temad, who has had difficulties with state censors herself; Tales was actually completed back in 2011, but has only now been approved for release. “Naturally there is a great deal of sensitivity around social cinema and navigating [it] is not easy, but this is an unavoidable part of the process of making socially conscious fi lms in Iran. Thankfully, despite all the problems we encountered, the fi lm was made and released publicly exactly as I wanted, with no enforced cuts.

Portraits Of Tehran By Tom Clift group of factory workers rallies against government bureaucracy. A battered woman seeks refuge from her abusive, drug-addicted husband. A taxi driver has a chance encounter with a prostitute and her young daughter. These are just a few of the stories that make up Rakhshan Bani-E’temad’s Tales, a vivid and moving portrait of life in present-day Tehran, and one of 12 films in the Official Competition at this year’s Sydney Film Festival. “In no way do I claim that my films are a full reflection of the social conditions in Iran,” says BaniE’temad. “My point of view is more towards prevailing social problems. I hope by critically looking at them I can help improve conditions.” It’s an admirable goal, and one she has been working towards for quite some time. Dubbed the First Lady of Iranian Cinema, BaniE’temad has been making features and documentaries for more than 30 years, boldly tackling an array of social issues in a nation where filmmakers and artists are subject to strict government control. Case in point: another movie in competition at the festival this year is Tehran Taxi, the third film made in secret by director Jafar Panahi in defiance of a 20-year ban on filmmaking laid down in 2010.

“During my filmmaking career these conditions have varied in ease and difficulty, depending on the taste and agenda of those in charge of cultural affairs at the time,” she continues. “Despite all the problems that exist for filmmakers in Iran, filmmaking is not impossible. Cinema is an art and industry beloved by Iranians and every year more young filmmakers appear on the scene.” Tales tackles the issue of censorship quite explicitly, through a documentary filmmaker character who appears in the film. In the final scene, he remarks that “no film ever stays in a drawer”, reflecting Bani-E’temad’s own views.

“Censorship and imposing limits cannot keep a film banned forever,” she says. “Eventually, every work of art will be seen.” But censorship is just one of a number of social issues touched on in Tales. Several of the characters in the film are struggling with drug addictions, a problem that BaniE’temad feels is exacerbated in Iran because of its location.

“Our country, due to its geographical position, is on the transit route of drug trafficking from Asia to Europe. Every year, a number of Iranian drug enforcing agents lose their lives in fighting the traffickers. Drug addiction among our youth is one of the serious issues facing our society. Of course, in recent years there have been positive changes in parts of this system, but still there is a lot of unnecessary red tape.”

So too does the film address violence against women, something that has long been a concern of Bani-E’temad’s work. “Violence against women is a serious issue which requires a lot of attention, not just in Iran but worldwide,” she says. “In Tales I have dealt with a number of social issues with special focus on women, and naturally domestic violence is high on the agenda.”

WH E R E : STAT E T H E AT R E WH EN : TH U R SDAY J U N E 11 A N D FR IDAY J U N E 12

OFFICIAL COMPETITION ▼

STRANGERLAND The Kindness Of Strangers By Adam Norris

“I’m incredibly transparent onstage; I speak very openly about why I wanted to make this fi lm. When my father died, when I was around 22, I was stricken with grief and felt incredibly helpless, like a lot of people when they lose a loved one. I’d moved to New York where I could grieve privately away from my family, and I found myself wanting to connect with people, and I didn’t know anyone, and I found myself wanting to be sexual.

t the media screening of Strangerland, something altogether unusual occurred. Most film reviewers are a casehardened sort, so attuned to anticipating the narrative shapes of cinema that engaging real emotion is a rare reward – yet as the credits rolled, not just one but two other journalists were reduced to tears by this superb, distressing debut. Director Kim Farrant has accomplished not only a beautiful (and troubling) film about familial grief, but has reached into the depths of her own experience to do so. “When I was at Sundance for the world premiere, I saw it in a room that was half reviewers, press, buyers, and the other half family and friends,” Farrant recalls. “That

was really fascinating, because I feel like the audience were kind of in a state of shock, not quite knowing how to deal with the uncomfortable place it had taken them. Then I watched the following six screenings at the festival – I mean, I didn’t work on it for 13 years not to attend the screenings – and it was so wonderful to sit in an audience with people who are crying, people who are gasping. People who were really unnerved and unearthed from it. “I’d stick around and do the Q&A afterwards, and a lot of the feedback was along the lines of feeling very uncomfortable having watched the film, people reminded of how they acted out 40 years ago when their husband died and have never told anybody this before but

they’ve been carrying around these years of shame … Very raw responses. For me, that was incredible. Some people love it, some people won’t, but that’s not really my business, in a way. What was really amazing was being in the room with people who are moved, who want to go and see their children afterwards, who want to go and express themselves where they haven’t been. And that’s part of the big intention of why we made it.” Farrant speaks rapidly, clearly, but in almost stream-of-consciousness fashion; her thoughts run on each other’s heels, her sentences endlessly active. It is little surprise that she had the tenacity to pursue this project for over a decade; she is unmistakably driven, impassioned by the potential of this stirring story.

“As a filmmaker, you have to be crazy to some extent to spend years of your life often in a room by yourself. Writing proposals, writing scripts, on Skype, all of those emails to producers and writers around the world. I know I’m tenacious, and I believed in this project for a very long time, and it was hard to get it out of development because it was confronting and controversial, and people found that a challenge. But that’s not a reason to give up, and so I kept going, and finally it got greenlit. So I’m really glad I hung in there.” That audiences might find the themes presented in Strangerland confronting is almost certain, yet never is the film gratuitous or trite. Instead, it addresses a very real, and for Farrant, very personal concern.

“In retrospect, what the hell was going on? I was in such a vulnerable place and wanted to reach out to connect, and had a couple of encounters in the year that I was there and realised later that I was just desperate to feel some kind of connection that would bring me anything but the grief – that could temporarily make me feel like I was in control, that I could get my centre back again. But actually, connecting with a stranger was the last thing I needed. What I needed was a big cuddle, and for my dad to be alive again. “So I spoke openly about those things, and I think for some people it was really refreshing to have that level of honesty, to be able to relate to the characters through the director in that way, which is what was driving me to make the fi lm, which was also why I hung in there for so long. I knew we all act out differently in times of crisis, we all go into different behaviours or addictions as ways of coping, and sexuality in a time of grief is often something that isn’t spoken about, and happens behind closed doors and can lead to a lot of shame. So I wanted to help eradicate some of that shame by showing a true character, to give voice to the shame side of our psyche, the shadow side of sexuality in crisis.”

WH E R E : STAT E T H E ATR E WH EN : FR IDAY J U N E 5 A N D SATU R DAY J U N E 6 AND: ALSO SHOW I NG AT CASULA P OWE R H O U S E A RT S C E N T R E A N D H AY D E N O R P H E U M PIC TU R E PA LAC E C R EM OR N E ON SATU R DAY J U N E 6 20 :: BRAG :: 614 :: 27:05:15

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ESSENTIAL BERGMAN

Saraband

David Stratton Selects By Ian Barr

hat is there left to say about Ingmar Bergman? The legendary Swedish filmmaker is one of the few international film directors to achieve worldwide household name status; he’s practically synonymous with cinema as confrontation with – rather than escape from – one’s own inner demons. Though his films sometimes evade easy interpretation, they’re far from obscure – there was once, after all, a time when his 1957 landmark The Seventh Seal and its iconic chess-game-with-Grim-Reaper imagery was the subject of semirecognisable parody in 1989’s Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. “How many films did he make? 40 films or something – it’s very difficult to leave any one out, you’d like to show all of them,” says David Stratton (whose celebrity, accrued from his work with Margaret Pomeranz on The Movie Show and its different incarnations, arguably eclipses Bergman’s in Australia) on the task of selecting ten titles for this year’s Essential Bergman program at Sydney Film Festival. Stratton’s involvement in the curation of the retrospective (he’ll also be in attendance at each of the ten screenings during the festival) lends a suitably personal lens through which to view Bergman’s rather imposingly canonical films. Considering Bergman’s reputation as a harbinger of existential angst, it’s easy to forget his international breakthrough – 1955’s Smiles Of A Summer Night – was a comedy. “I was a teenager at the time, I was 17,” says Stratton, detailing his first encounter with Bergman via the film. “I was already quite a film buff, I saw almost everything that opened in cinemas; of course, that was mostly from America or Britain,

and almost nothing in the way of foreign language films. I’d never seen a Swedish film before, and it was actually shown at a film society, which I’d then joined as a way of seeing films I couldn’t see in regular cinemas. And the experience of seeing this film for the first time, with a very appreciative audience, had quite a staggering impact on me. It dealt with themes and situations that films just didn’t tackle in those days, and it did it with such a light touch – so humorous yet painful at the same time, and so elegantly done. It was quite a revelation.” Despite his trail of consensus masterpieces – The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, The Virgin Spring, Persona, Cries And Whispers, Fanny And Alexander, just to name a few playing as part of the retrospective – Bergman’s reputation was never completely secure, and a New York Times op-ed titled ‘Scenes From An Overrated Career’ (written by critic Jonathan Rosenbaum mere days after Bergman’s death in 2007) seemed to confirm an anti-Bergman backlash bubbling from the margins for some time. “I think there were always critics who found fault with his work,” Stratton concedes. “The perennial question that any critics asked when his films were released – and don’t forget, he made films at a staggering rate; he made an average of a feature film a year, sometimes two in his heyday – was, ‘It’s all very well, but what does it mean?’ or ‘What is he getting at?’ or ‘It looks good and it’s beautifully acted, but…’ and there was always a ‘but’.” ‘It looks good and it’s beautifully acted’ gets at Bergman’s lesscontested virtues – the work of cinematographer Sven Nykvist, and his regular troupe of actors,

particularly Liv Ullmann. “The human face is the most important subject of the cinema,” Bergman once said, and watching the indelibly expressive faces of his actors on the big screen lends unmistakable credence to that statement. Bergman’s career was a turbulent one, and Stratton reminds that his filmography was sometimes uneven as result. “Because he had this big fight with the Swedish tax authorities in the 1970s, he was virtually exiled from Sweden for about six years. There were things like that which impacted on his career and on his critical standing. I think it’s interesting that Cries And Whispers [1973] was made after such a bad patch for him, and Fanny And Alexander [1982] was made after another bad patch. Those two are among his greatest films, I think.” It’s also worth noting, as Stratton suggests, that the vagaries of film distribution and censorship meant that his films weren’t as widely seen in Australia as the United States – The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries, among other earlier works, were unavailable on home video in this country until DVD releases in the last decade. “At a certain point in the 1960s, an American company – United Artists – backed his films,” Stratton explains. “That means that United Artists had the rights to all the Bergman films made after about the 1960s and naturally because of that they got a good release. Something we shouldn’t forget is that when the films were released in Australia, many of them fell afoul of censorship, because censorship was rather strict in the 1960s, so many of Bergman’s films were quite severely cut by the censors – films

like The Silence, The Virgin Spring, Persona and so on.” As such, this year’s Sydney Film Festival retrospective offers a chance to see the films on high quality 35mm prints, as they

were seen in their day. But more crucially, it offers viewers a chance to re-experience a body of work that made cinema a public forum for emotional and intellectual inquiry on a since-unmatched scale.

W H E N : T H E E S S E N T I A L B E RG M A N P RO G RA M RU N S F RO M S AT U R DAY J U N E 6 – S U N DAY J U N E 14 . T H E F U L L P RO G RA M I S AVA I L A B L E AT S F F. O RG . AU

DEATHGASM

FREAK ME OUT ▼

Scary Metal By Tom Clift

“T

he goal with Deathgasm,” says writer-director Jason Lei Howden, “was to make the sort of film that I wanted to watch when I was a teenager. The perfect storm of gore and metal and boobs and dick jokes.” He chuckles to himself before adding, “I guess I kind of succeeded in that.” He’s not wrong. One of the highlights of the Freak Me Out section at this year’s Sydney Film Festival, Deathgasm is a schlocktacular horror comedy about a wannabe teenage metal band that accidentally summons a demon intent on destroying the world. It’s also another

example of a terrific Kiwi genre film, building on the success of titles like Housebound and What We Do In The Shadows, which proved big hits on the festival circuit last year. “A lot of people have taken an interest in New Zealand genre films, and it’s something that we need to be supporting,” says Howden. “I never even realised until I went to South By Southwest, and all these Americans were like, ‘We love Kiwi horror films.’ I think it’s something that we should embrace.” Deathgasm was partially funded after Howden won the Make My

Horror Movie competition, a contest run in collaboration with the NZ Film Commission, which had a NZ$200,000 prize up for grabs. In an interview with the New Zealand Herald, executive producer Ant Timpson identified Howden’s enthusiasm as a key factor that helped him stand out from the crowd. Watching the final product, it’s clear the judges made the right call, with Howden’s love of horror movies and metal bursting from every frame. “A lot of the inspiration came from my teenage years, being a teenaged metalhead, and the sort of movies

that me and my mates would watch back then,” says Howden. “Stuff like Braindead and Day Of The Dead and Return Of The Living Dead; really any movie that had ‘dead’ in the title. And also a lot of heavy metal horror films from the ’80s, things like Trick Or Treat and Black Roses.” Although Deathgasm is Howden’s first feature, he’s had a long career in the film industry, working for special effects companies including Weta in NZ and Iloura in Melbourne on films such as The Hobbit, The Great Gatsby and Man Of Steel. Naturally, Deathgasm didn’t have quite the same budget as a superhero flick, although Howden is still very happy with the results. “My original script was just insane,” he laughs. “I didn’t even send that version to the producers. We were always trimming it down and trying to make the most of the resources we had, and I think for the limitations, we still managed to get a lot in there and do a lot with what we had.”

While Howden’s film definitely won’t be for everyone, the reaction from horror fans since it premiered at SXSW has been overwhelmingly positive. “It’s been incredible,” he says happily. “I couldn’t have predicted how well it would be received. Most of [the reviews] have been really positive.” One of the best pieces of feedback so far came from an audience member at the Stanley Film Festival in Colorado, where marijuana was recently legalised. “One guy’s review was, ‘I just walked into the cinema, and I was so stoned, and I didn’t know what was happening, but there were chainsaws and boobs and it was awesome,’” says Howden, laughing again. “So that’s our target audience I guess.” Howden also reckons there’s a pretty easy way to determine whether the movie will appeal to you. “If you see the title Deathgasm and think, ‘Maybe this isn’t for me,’ then you’re probably right.”

WH E R E : E V E N T C I N E M AS G E O RG E ST R E E T / D E N DY N EWTOWN WH EN : FR IDAY J U N E 5 / SU N DAY J U N E 7 22 :: BRAG :: 614 :: 27:05:15

thebrag.com

SLOW WEST

contemporary. It was the romanticism and classicism of Kodi that sold it.”

Compass Points By Harry Windsor

hen ex-Beta Band member John Maclean decided to make a feature after several music videos and two shorts starring Michael Fassbender (including the BAFTA-winning Pitch Black Heist in 2012), he dreamt up Slow West. Set in 1870 in Colorado but filmed in New Zealand, it stars Kodi Smit-McPhee as a young Scotsman crossing the West to find his lost love, alongside Fassbender as an inscrutable tough guy who decides to chaperone the boy and Ben Mendelsohn as a bounty hunter on their tail. So why a Western? “I kind of thought that it would be a nice way to make something cheap and still look respectable budget-wise,” laughs Maclean. “And it felt like I could tell a story that was contained as well, which felt more manageable for a first film than shooting in a city. I

didn’t really want to make a Western in towns or with lots of extras and people saying ‘Howdy ma’am’ and stuff. And then just thinking that I could do something different with the Western as far as coming at it from a European point of view, with European characters.” Maclean wrote with Fassbender in mind as well as Mendelsohn, of whom he’d been a fan since Animal Kingdom. Finding an actor to play the sincere, idealistic Jay Cavendish was tougher until he came across SmitMcPhee. “Kodi just seemed to be physically perfect and the kind of person who was able to travel across the world and at the same time appear quite fragile,” says Maclean. “And a lot of young actors spend too much time in the gym. They look very

Shooting in NZ gave the film an unusual, Southern Hemisphere brightness, which suits its slightly unreal, fairytale-like quality. “Robbie [Ryan, director of photography] is a master of light and it’s something he was worried about – the flat light. Another journalist asked why we turned up all the colours and I had to say that that’s what we got when we shot, without grading, that was just the light. I’d given Robbie a lot of references; Sam Peckinpah films of the ’60s and ’70s, which do have that technicolour feel about them”. But whatever its visual palette, Slow West is nothing like a Peckinpah film. It has a tone all its own, odd and idiosyncratic and often very funny. Yet it never comes off as empty quirk. “I recoil at the word ‘quirk’, really,” says Maclean. “I think in the script the lines never felt like jokes, they just felt like ridiculous situations, and then in the shoot we just really played it straight.

“None of the characters ever thinks they’re funny.” A sense of the ridiculous and the poetic – and the possibility of both existing simultaneously – pervades the film. Late in the piece, Jay and Fassbender’s taciturn cowboy recite to each other from horseback. “The idea was that Jay’s always been almost pretentiously poetic, and Michael’s

character has always been very unpretentiously non-poetic,” laughs Maclean. “And that was the point where he let his guard down, and showed that he was more intelligent than he was letting on, he wasn’t a brute, and he did have poetry in him. One quotes from Ambrose Bierce and the other from Nathaniel Hawthorne, writers of the time. They’re both referring to ghostly things.”

P ROGRAM: SPECIAL PRESENTATI O NS AT THE STAT E WH E R E : STAT E T H E AT R E WH E N : T H U R S DAY J U N E 4 A N D FR IDAY J U N E 5 A N D : A LSO SH OWIN G AT CASULA POW ERHO USE ARTS C E N T R E O N F R I DAY J U N E 5 A N D H AY D E N O R P H E U M PIC TU R E PA LAC E C R EM OR N E ON M ON DAY J U N E 8

▼ BEST OF THE FEST: THE BRAG’S SFF SHORTLIST HOLDING THE MAN

Closing Night: State Theatre, Sunday June 14 Adapted from being commonly regarded as the one of the best novels in the history of Australian literature, Holding The Man is a heartfelt narrative of a high school romance that transcends the social norms of its era and ends in misfortune. John is the captain of the football team at an all-boys high school while Tim falls into the role of the aspiring actor, swept up in John’s masculinity-cloaked tenderness. The film explores themes of acceptance and discrimination while following the lives of John and Tim out of high school and into tragedy. Holding The Man is a true love story that will resonate with all who witness it.

LOVE & MERCY

By Sarah Basford

Special Presentation: State Theatre, Sunday June 7 / Event Cinemas, Tuesday June 9 / Hayden Orpheum, Thursday June 11 There’s much more to The Beach Boys than surfing Californian waves and matching bad haircuts with stripes. They have also long been championed as pioneers of the ’60s sound with the genius of Brian Wilson at their helm. Love & Mercy follows the trials and tribulations of Wilson (played at various ages by Paul Dano and John Cusack) on his quest to produce groundbreaking music, ultimately leading to the downfall of the iconic band and his frail psyche. A feature full of the Cali sound and how those classics were crafted, Love & Mercy is one to watch, even if it is just for Dano’s shaggy hairdo.

TEHRAN TAXI

Official Competition: State Theatre, Monday June 8 and Tuesday June 9 / Hayden Orpheum, Thursday June 11 Director Jafar Panahi has not been legally allowed to make films since 2010, when he was arrested and jailed for six months for allegedly producing propaganda against the Iranian government. Since then, he has produced three films showcasing his anger and frustration. Tehran Taxi follows a taxi driver, Panahi, who attaches a camera to his dashboard and records his conversations with customers, revolving around daily life and politics in Iran. Pushing the envelope of cinéma vérité, Panahi lets us into his world, and it’s highly rewarding.

DOPE

Special Presentation: State Theatre, Monday June 8 / Event Cinemas, Saturday June 13 “It’s hard out there for a geek,” the poster boldly declares. Dope follows a group of three geeks who hail from a hard, gang-ridden hood and land themselves in a bit of strife when they happen upon a stash of ecstasy. They must sell the stash in order to appease a notorious drug dealer, played by Harlem hip hopper A$AP Rocky. Sounds pretty dope to so far, right? The geeks bond over their love for ’90s hip hop and punk while they set off on an unimaginable journey into the depths of the hood. It’s a fresh portrait of the social issues menacing the US, laced with an appropriate dose of hilarity.

AMY

Sounds On Screen: Dendy Newtown, Friday June 5 / Event Cinemas, Saturday June 6 2011 saw one of the music industry’s most talented daughters taken well before her time, consequently sending ripples of melancholy around the world. From the makers of the acclaimed documentary Senna comes the story of London singer/songwriter Amy Winehouse, who was as well known for her music and artistry as much as her battle against some inner demons. This documentary follows her rise to fame with never-before-seen footage and interviews with her closest confidants. If you’re looking for an intimate look into the perplexing dichotomy of her image, this is your go-to.

Every Friday in May we’ve got free live acts playing in Liverpool.

GANG OF BROTHERS

A musical assault that crosses over genres, deeply funky and seriously Phat. Their culturally diverse and inﬂuential style digs deeper and deeper in the pocket of groove and rock!

Friday May 29 3.30pm – 7.30pm

Macquarie Mall Macquarie St, Liverpool Brought to you by Liverpool City Council.

Saturday May 30 2pm X-factor contestant

JESSICA JADE & RED ROY For the full program visit www.liverpool.nsw.gov.au/liveatthemall BRAG :: 614 :: 27:05:15 :: 23

Film & Theatre Reviews Hits and misses on the silver screen and bareboards around town

Woman In Gold

WOMAN IN GOLD

Safety Switch

In cinemas now In the pursuit of truth and justice, Woman In Gold fails to deliver where so many others have torn out our hearts and broken our tear ducts. It feels as though director Simon Curtis was shooting for the determination and righteousness of such classics as To Kill A Mockingbird, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington and A Time To Kill, but was wrangled back by a Hollywood safety net. The result? A flat, mediocre and otherwise passionless fight. It comes as even more of a disappointment when you realise just how much potential the film held. Its cast is well seasoned, with Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds at the helm. And its story is pure, having been based on the true-life battle of Maria Altmann (Mirren), a woman who fled Austria during the Nazi reign and who, decades later, is undertaking a lengthy quest to be reunited with the stolen portrait of her aunt (The Woman In Gold).

Ironically, it’s Altmann’s backstory that takes centre stage and tugs at our emotions. Riddled with pain and beauty, it’s a chillingly beautiful montage of the days she spent with her aunt, the magic and joy of her wedding, the sadness and guilt of leaving her parents, and the fear and terror of the Nazis as she fled to safety. Now that would have been a story to break our tear ducts. Stephanie Yip

■ Theatre

Samson

SAMSON Playing at Belvoir St Theatre until Sunday May 31 There’s nothing more ubiquitous on Australian stages and screens than teen angst. The latest addition to the cycle is debutant playwright Julia-Rose Lewis’ Samson, downstairs at Belvoir after premiering at Brisbane’s La Boite. The play revolves around three friends mourning the death of a mate. The cast is a suitably politic cross-section of multicultural Australia: a black girl, an Asian boy, a white girl and an Aboriginal boy. Ashleigh Cummings, best known for TV’s Puberty Blues, stars as Essie, the deceased’s best friend and still carrying his secret; a secret that she can’t tell anybody – especially Beth (Belinda Jombwe), the dead boy’s girlfriend. Essie can’t bring herself to visit the makeshift shrine that’s been cobbled together at the site of the accident (or was it?), whereas Beth and Sid (Charles Wu) make the pilgrimage regularly. Sid is holding a candle for Beth, and both unite against Rabbit (Benjamin Creek), a younger Aboriginal boy they see as an interloper, as well as a bad influence on Essie, with whom he becomes increasingly close. Belvoir’s Downstairs Theatre is a much smaller space than La Boite, and you can tell the blocking was worked out in a less restrictive space. But the effect is certainly immediate. The foursome lunges about the

SAFETY SWITCH Played at the Old Fitzroy Theatre until Sunday May 24 I hate the police – I always have. For some reason, whenever I see a cop, I’m overcome with an uncontrollable feeling of guilt and anxiety – I have visions of me fleeing flashing lights, the taser and the inevitable knee in the neck. For the record, I’ve actually never committed a crime, and I guess I would hate the police even more if I was arrested leaving work, interrogated for hours on end and was of Middle Eastern appearance. Based on true events, Safety Switch, by Rowan Freeman, takes us into the lives of two actors (Freeman and

stage within a hair’s breadth of the audience. The stage’s dimensions magnify the somewhat awkward balancing act director Kristine Landon-Smith must navigate: a social realist story set within the dimensions of an abstract theatrical space. Characters wrestle on the ground and in the next breath they’re running around designer Michael Hili’s graded stage pretending they can’t see each other. Lewis has fashioned a sincere tribute to teenage pain and tentative connection, but Samson’s attitude towards race is oblique. The cast is ethnically various but the main character, from whose point of view the story is told, is white – like the playwright. The sidelining of Rabbit, an Aboriginal boy, feels pointed, even though the play is markedly devoid of any reference to race. Last year’s Sugarland at ATYP dealt with similar themes, but race, and its attendant resentments, was front and centre. In Samson it’s ignored – and whether this is progress or willfully naïve is murky. Harry Windsor

See www.thebrag.com for more arts reviews

Arts Exposed What's in our diary...

Human Rights Arts and Film Festival Dendy Newtown, until Saturday May 30 The Human Rights Arts and Film Festival is going on a road trip around the country, and lucky for us, Sydney is on the list of stopovers. The festival features an array of hard-hitting films that are bound to get you thinking and reconsidering the status quo. Some familiar names are on the program, as well as some lesser-known stories set to be put up in lights. The highlight of the Sydney schedule is I Will Not Be Silenced, following Australian Charlotte Campbell-Stephen as she pursues the men who gang-raped her when she was living in Kenya in 2006. For for the full program and ticketing info, visit 2015.hraff.org.au. 24 :: BRAG :: 614 :: 27:05:15

■ Theatre

I Will Not Be Silenced

Mansoor Noor) who are arrested leaving work one night by two police officers (Warwick Allsopp and Fiona Pepper) and accused of planning a terrorist act.

all involved, as well as sharp and witty dialogue, Safety Switch cleverly questions what is often perceived as the truth versus what you want to believe really happened.

In an intensely quiet and bleak stage space – reminiscent of the cold, dreaded police station questioning rooms – the actors are intensely interviewed, threatened, and in a sense manipulated by the police in regards to the imitation weapons they had been carrying to their car following a rehearsal. As the story develops, their seemingly innocent actions are painted as a well-executed terror plot that had sought to jeopardise the safety and security of Australians.

Under Eden Falk’s tight direction, this is a thrilling show that leaves you wondering just how big a part ethnicity and paranoia can play in the question of innocence. Given the current hysteria surrounding terrorism, exaggerated even more so by the Australian media, Safety Switch is a poignant reminder that even the most innocent-seeming actions can end with you phoning your lawyer and staring through a set of bars, the keys long thrown away.

With solid performances from

Prudence Clark

five minutes WITH THE

UNDERGROUND ART MARKETS PARTY

ell us about the concept behind The Underground Art Markets Party. The concept is basically to create an artistic space for anyone and everything in an environment that’s fresh and new to Sydney. We really hope to get involved as much as possible with local businesses and create a new artistic hub in Bondi Junction. There is so much potential and we hope to have a place that artists can come and share their ideas. This first market event we have DJs, live bands, projections, acrobatics and all sorts of stalls from live painters to records to shisha. Something for everyone. How important is it to feature a cross-section of the Sydney arts community? The more events we run the more amazing people we meet. It’s great to try and get as many different artists involved as I think most people don’t even realise what’s out there. It’s really when you have all these people together in a space that it makes the atmosphere so alive. Just how much is that community thriving in 2015? So much! Even the response to the first initial concept was insane with enquiries and attendees and so many creatives

supporting what we are trying to do. Even interstate creatives reached out asking when we would take it Australia-wide! It is something that will constantly keep growing and thriving. Who’s headlining the entertainment on the night? What else can we expect? We have Oddly Wholesome, who do amazing work incorporating arts and music with such a fresh vibe at their events. They will be taking over the main stage from 7pm as the party heats up. Since it opened, Jam Gallery has been committed to local artists and musicians. Where to next from here for the

venue? We have built on quality and a consistently changing atmosphere. I believe the different cross-sections see their venue in their own light, which is great. Jam Gallery’s point of difference is really the creative drive we have to keep working with local artists. Bondi Junction and this space have so many possibilities and we will continue to try and bring people together and reach the goal of creating our own little wonderland. Check our Facebook for all our events as they come up. What: The Underground Art Markets Party Where: Jam Gallery When: Sunday May 31 thebrag.com

Safety Switch photo by Mansoor Noor

What follows reads like your typical Hollywood script: Altmann enlists the help of a young whippersnapper lawyer, Randol Schoenberg (Reynolds), to oversee her case. And, as a sort of perfect kismet, he too has ties to the Holocaust and Austria, being the grandson of one of its most famous composers.

Determination settles in, as does the disappointment of setbacks, but at each turn there isn’t enough to make the audience root for the underdog. Mirren focuses too heavily on delivering a quirky character, so that times of defeat leave the audience deflated instead of tenacious. Reynolds is much the same, his character lacking the gusto and conviction of a man seeking the justice his client deserves, and we inevitably begin to stop caring about the result.

Samson photo by Lisa Tomasetti

■ Film

Fancy yourself a trivia buff? We polled some of Sydney’s best venues for pub trivia, with a few brain-teasers to get you going. Study up!

IT’S TRIVIA TIME: 1. How many years did the Hundred Years’ War last? 2. Who might use a maulstick? 3. Hippophobia is the fear of which creature?

4. Which planet has the tallest mountain: Earth or Mars? 5. When there are two full moons in the same month, what is the second called? 6. True or false? South Africa

has three capital cities. 7. When Jimi Hendrix moved to England, which guitarist took him in and watched as he became famous within a week?

8. Which alcoholic spirit is derived from juniper berries? 9. How many time zones are there in China? 10. In what area does a spermologist specialise?

4. It’s called: Tranny Trivia Who’s the host? Our resident drag queen and Oxford Street icon Miss Penny D It’s called: Thursday Night Trivia Who’s the host? Quiz Meisters Trivia with Kyle Legacy – the white Jimi Hendrix and a local comedy legend. What’s the vibe? Bondi locals, young professionals, hospitality crew, anyone ready for fun.

What’s the vibe? Tranny Trivia attracts a mixed group of people of all ages. It’s a fun, laidback night that’s guaranteed to make you laugh. You don’t need to be a serious trivia player to play or to have a good time. With Penny D hosting you never know what’s going to happen. Be prepared to expect the unexpected! Winning big: There are heaps of prizes and giveaways to be won each week including 3x $25, 1x $50 and 1x $100 bar tabs. The winning group also gets a chance at winning the cash jackpot of up to $500.

Winning big: Weekly prizes, drink giveaways, and most importantly, bragging rights! Insider tips: Have a funny and original team name, it gives you a confidence boost. Bring a diverse crowd mixing the genders and ages. Questions can be left-field so you need to be able to cover the answers with your broader scope of general knowledge. Have all the help you can get. Address: 71 Beach Rd, Bondi When: Every Thursday, 7pm kick-off, bookings suggested but not essential Website: beachroadbondi.com.au Phone: 9130 7247

2. It’s called: Think And Drink Trivia Who’s the host? John Dixon What’s the vibe? CBD corporate crowd and punters. Winning big: You can win one of three house beer jugs (lightning round prizes), a $15 venue voucher, $30 venue voucher and $50 venue voucher. Insider tips: 1. Enjoy yourself and don’t take it too seriously 2. Assemble a large team of players 3. Come along early to grab the best table in the house 4. Keep up to date on current affairs, events in the news and pop culture 5. Try our delicious bar snacks to keep your brain stimulated Address: 81 Sussex St, Sydney When: Wednesdays from 6pm Website: thebristolarms.com.au Phone: 9262 5491

Insider tips: Get in early to secure a spot for your team as tables fill up fast. Johnny Wong’s Dumpling Bar is also open from 6pm offering $1 dumplings all night.

Address: 383 Bourke St, Taylor Square, Darlinghurst When: Every Wednesday from 8:30pm Website: kinselas.com.au Phone: 9331 3100

5. Who’s the host? Matty, an experienced, original and hilarious host. What’s the vibe? We have a good mix of trivia masters, young whizzes and old heads. Winning big: There is a Bonus Round Jackpot that goes up to $3,000 increasing by $50 each week and is currently at $1,600. The winner of the regular round receives a $60 bar voucher to the hotel, second receives a $40 voucher and there are two fun games that break up the rounds where the winner receives one of two $20 vouchers. Insider tips: We have a Facebook clue posted every week that is a picture and this picture forms the basis for the first questions in each round. These questions are worth double points.

Address: 162 St John’s Rd, Glebe When: Wednesday night from 7:30pm Website: nagsheadhotel.com.au Phone: 9660 1591

6. It’s called: Monday Trivia! And Music Trivia Tuesday! What’s the vibe? Students, families and Inner West locals. Winning big: Monday – $30 and $20 venue vouchers plus $12.50 meals and $13 jugs. Tuesday – $100 venue voucher plus $12.50 meals and $13 jugs. Insider tips: Bring a big team and study up on general knowledge and music questions. Address: 345 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe When: Mondays and Tuesdays, 7:30pm Website: toxtethhotel.com.au Phone: 9660 2370 to win a little mid-trivia challenge or a round. If you form a team and come regularly you go in the draw to win a $300 food and bev voucher as well. It’s called: God Save The Quiz – it’s music trivia Who’s the host? Dave Pike – the legend, also known as Big Dave.

It’s called: Brewhouse Quiz Night Who’s the host? Horatio O’Shea

Winning big: Brewhouse vouchers – $100 for first, $50 for second and $20 for third as well as some not-so-good booby prizes. It’s $10 for a plate of spicy or BBQ buffalo wings, and a Cricketers Arms IPA, Spearhead, half pint of Red Tape Brewery beers or a house wine/champagne.

Winning big: Winners take a $50 bar (and food) voucher, there’s another $30 voucher and a $15. Dave’s always giving away free jugs, sometimes just for fun, but also if you happen

Address: 2 Addison Rd, Marrickville When: Wednesday nights from 7:30(ish) until 10(ish). If you have a bigger group it doesn’t hurt to book in advance (the same day is sweet) just to make sure you get a table for everyone, it often fills up. Website: facebook.com/thevicenmore Phone: 9557 1448

Insider tips: Teams of eight people maximum. Check out our Facebook page for a free clue every Wednesday lunch. Address: 22 The Promenade, King St Wharf When: 6:30pm Wednesday nights (except on State of Origin nights) until around 8:30pm. Bookings are recommended. Website: kingstbrewhouse.com.au Phone: 8270 7901 Answers: 1. 116 (A series of conflicts waged from 1337 to 1453) 2. A painter (it is a long wooden stick used by painters as a support) 3. Horses 4. Mars (Olympus Mons has a height of 21.9km, almost three times as tall as Everest) 5. A blue moon 6. True (Pretoria is the executive capital, Bloemfontein is the judicial capital, and Cape Town is the legislative capital) 7. Eric Clapton 8. Gin 9. One 10. Trivia

King St Brewhouse photo by William Watt

What’s the vibe? An eclectic mix of beer nerds, office workers and tourists.

What’s the vibe? Everyone’s welcome of course, but no kids allowed in the front. We have a bunch of teams that come each week – students, some older gents, couples, it varies. Anyone who’s keen on music, knows a bit about it, or is really good at pretending to.

Insider tips: Be brave! There’s a killer section at the end of trivia each week where each team can rewrite the lyrics to a song specified by Dave and one member from each team, if they’re feeling ballsy, can jump up on the stage and bang out their version. The participants are judged by the audience.

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BRAG :: 614 :: 27:05:15 :: 25

Album Reviews What's been crossing our ears this week...

ALBUM OF THE WEEK ELLA THOMPSON

Following up her work with GL, Axolotl, The Bamboos and Dorsal Fins, Janus allows Thompson to flaunt her more-than-considerable vocal talents in a solo setting. Neo-psychedelia, ’80s synthpop, sparse balladry and layers of distorted, dreamy loveliness provide the backdrop to Thompson’s tuneful talents.

Janus Hub/Caroline

Do your homework and get on board with one of Australia’s finest new voices.

Listen up, class: no talking at the back and spit out that gum. Today’s lesson incorporates history, music, a multi-talented Melburnian and a debut album featuring one of the finest female voices in the country right now. Roman Mythology 101 tells us Janus was the god of all beginnings, synonymous with doorways and the opportunities they present. He also had two faces to look towards both the past and present, and at times sported a hipster beard. All of these elements relate to the form and feel of Thompson’s excellent debut LP (besides the facial fuzz, of course).

Hazy opener ‘Drift’ and the Spector-esque ‘Away Too Long’ seduce and spellbind, while first single ‘Arcade’ is a honey-drenched slice of synthpop that oozes contradiction. However, the songs benefit most when Thompson gives her vocals some oomph, such as on ‘I Go Over’. This isn’t a sunny synthpop record by any stretch; there’s misery in many of the lyrics (particularly the album closer ‘Losing You’), but despair has never sounded so good. Paul McBride

ANTI-FLAG

IMMIGRANT UNION

WHITESNAKE

JEFF BECK

PAPER ARMS

Politically conscious punk rockers Anti-Flag have returned with their tenth studio album, American Spring. Over the past 12 years the Pennsylvanians have carved a niche as one of the top political punk acts in the US, and they make their return to share their thoughts on the state of the world today.

For a band that prides itself on the mixed heritage of its members, Immigrant Union show off a remarkably limited repertoire of sounds on Anyway. I’m reminded of that classic Blues Brothers scene where the bartender informs Messrs Blues that he’s got both kinds of music; country and Western. Immigrant Union aren’t stuck in the same binaries as Bob’s Country Bunker, but they are in danger of making a bunch of songs that sound very similar.

You’re on thin ice when you start rebooting 40-year-old tracks that are beloved of many diehards. No matter the job you do, there will be a percentage of people who are against the project, and who’ll deride the new recordings for any manner of ills, from inauthenticity, daring to change arrangements, recording techniques, the players involved, or whatever else.

The recording of Jeff Beck’s last album, 2010’s Emotion & Commotion, was delayed after Beck sliced off the end of his finger while prepping carrots for a dinner party at his London home. Thankfully, Live+, a collection of live tracks from last year’s US tour with ZZ Top, sees the guitar virtuoso back at top form.

Two years since their last release, the smoke has cleared and Paper Arms are back with a new record. It’s an album that takes a few twists and turns, but ties everything together to mark an impressive release.

This happens to be the most wellproduced album Anti-Flag have released to date. Everything sounds huge, but at the cost of sanding off the edges. The songs have strong melodies and harmonies, but no truly catchy moments, and the guitars go through every popular punk rock riff of the past 15 years. The exception is ‘Brandenburg Gate’, apparently about socialism and featuring help from Rancid’s Tim Armstrong. ‘Without You’ is a collaboration with Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello, but it’s almost impossible to tell.

Easing us in with the dreamy jangle-pop of ‘Shameless’, the band crafts melodies that tinkle in the background of a light rhythmic guitar. Soothing vocal harmonies drift over the top with lyrics reminiscent of an idyllic childhood. It’s a fantastic lead-in, and leaves you feeling fuzzy like a warm day in the sun. Everything afterwards is hit-and-miss. The album is filled with lush arrangements, but few of these alternative country songs are interesting enough to warrant as more than background music. ‘War Is Peace’ kicks off with its foot-stomping chorus line and banjo breakdown, but it’s too little too late.

Why David Coverdale has chosen to revisit his days in the soulful Deep Purple Mark III and IV lineup by taking his shit-hot band into the studio to remake this collection of tracks from the Burn and Stormbringer albums is anybody’s guess. Coverdale is Coverdale, of course, and his honeyed vocals, now deeper and with a side order of gravelly gravitas, make the most of opener ‘Burn’ and ‘Lady Double Dealer’, but where the slow burn of ‘Mistreated’ and ‘Holy Man’ never previously failed to impress, here Cov’s voice struggles on the former, and the near-metal bluster does the songs no favours. This album is an enjoyable enough romp through an underrated phase of Deep Purple’s – and Coverdale’s – career, but it is an undeniably unnecessary folly.

Here, Beck plays the role of ventriloquist. He deftly coaxes an array of abstract sounds from his signature white Stratocaster like a snake charmer. They’re sounds so diverse you begin to expect an orchestra to reveal itself from the side of stage. A renowned instrumental guitarist, Beck has added vocals to this recording, accentuating his classic material whilst still allowing his instrument to take centre stage. He shreds, picks and distorts his way through old favourites like ‘Big Block’, ‘Hammerhead’ and ‘Morning Dew’, and on to subtle arrangements of Sam Cooke’s ‘A Change Is Gonna Come, ‘Superstition’ (a track originally penned for Beck by his friend Stevie Wonder) and his popular Beatles cover, ‘A Day In The Life’.

A few songs shine through the mud, but overall American Spring is a forgettable effort from a band that was releasing stronger and more memorable albums a decade ago.

The Good Ol’ Boys this is not, but the dashes of brilliance in Anyway don’t distinguish the album. It’s suited to dusty whisky bars, but make sure you have a lot of whisky.

In turning the heavy rock-o-meter up to 11, Coverdale has unwisely sapped many of the songs dry of the very thing that made them stand out in the first place: their soul.

At Beck’s last show at the Enmore Theatre in 2010, two men sitting next to me, born a generation apart, were simultaneously shaking their heads in disbelief. Hopefully the guitarist will be back to tour his new material soon.

Spencer Scott

James Ross

Shane Pinnegar

Tim Armitage

American Spring Spinefarm/Caroline

Far from the political climate of the Bush era that brought upon albums like The Terror State and For Blood And Empire, American Spring may be reflective of the current state of politics – it’s polished, underwhelming and hard to care about.

Anyway Independent

The Purple Album Frontiers

INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK

KING PARROT Dead Set EVP/Rocket

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King Parrot’s 2012 full-length debut may have bitten your head off, but the Aussie grind lords’ smashing second album will Dead Set rip your face apart.

Anselmo (of Pantera/Down fame), whose creative influence becomes mouthwateringly obvious during a few choice shred solos (special mention to ‘Hell Comes Your Way’).

Dead Set is fatter and angrier than her older sister. For the most part, she’s on a furiously thrashing riff rampage, chucking one big destructive tantrum of kicks and blasts; then once the rage passes, she’ll seethe an undeniably sinister stream of crust, waiting for the next chance to detonate.

The record is a lesson in structured modern brutality, concreted by a thick base of devilish downtuned guitars throughout, and punctuated by Matt Young’s signature shrieks. The addition of a few well-placed, feral and low-down growls for contrast is a very nice surprise indeed.

Some downright tasty dynamic punches and sophisticated rhythmic conflict separate this record from your stock-standard grind or thrash album. The production efforts are top-notch, and worthy of a name drop to boot – Dead Set was recorded by Phil

Dead Set is a most sexy aural buffet of bang-your-head moments, sure to please a slew of very solid wall-to-wall (of death) crowds on the band’s current tour.

Jeff Beck Live+ Warner

Great Mistakes Poison City

There’s a massive ’90s vibe over the entire album, from the vocal style to the big guitar chords – bands such as The Smashing Pumpkins, Dinosaur Jr. and Postblue immediately come to mind. The vocals encapsulate that grunge feel, both effortless and demanding of attention at the same time. From relationship material on ‘Strings’ to the politically charged ‘You Don’t Speak For Me’, the lyrics are all-encompassing and have that sing-along vibe that a lot of Poison City artists share. The production on the record makes it their biggest-sounding yet, but not at the expense of their sound or energy. It’s still very much a punk record, but each song is layered, which only makes the big moments sound bigger. Paper Arms have also experimented since their last release, bringing in more dynamic elements and a few guitar effects to keep things interesting. A ’90s throwback that keeps things feeling modern, and one of the strongest Australian punk releases this year. Spencer Scott

OFFICE MIXTAPE And here are the albums that have helped BRAG HQ get through the week... BLOC PARTY - Silent Alarm BLONDIE - Eat To The Beat PERRY KEYES - Sunnyholt

PULP - Different Class MORRISSEY - You Are The Quarry

Sheridan Morley thebrag.com

out & about

live reviews

Queer(ish) matters with Lucy Watson

What we've been out to see...

y friend recently titled her Honours thesis Queers: They’re Fucking Everywhere. It’s true. We are. We’re in your pubs, clubs, cafés. We’re fucking in your back alleys, backyards, back rooms. And now, we’re in the BRAG.

This weekly column will be written by me. I’m a queer, I’m here, get used to it (et cetera). It will cover issues that are broadly relevant to the LGBTQIA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, asexual) community and its allies. And herein lies my first problem. The acronym. The alphabet soup. It’s incredibly difficult to describe, represent, encapsulate, or speak to a community as diverse as that which is grouped under the LGBTQIA (or variation thereof) umbrella term. The umbrella is simultaneously incomplete and too broad, pigeonholing and ill-fitting. While sexual identities and gender identities might seem related – and can face similar modes of discrimination – really, they’re pretty different. One concerns how you relate to other people, the other concerns how you view yourself. The experiences of trans and intersex people are vastly different to the experiences of a cisgender (meaning those who identify with the gender they were assigned at birth) gay man, for example. To lump these identities together is reductive, and erases the individual experiences and struggles that these different groups face. The alphabet soup also reduces people to a label, one that might not fit. The spectrum of sexual and gender identities is far broader than the labels we’ve given them – like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, sometimes there are gaps, and sometimes you just need a lot of lube to make it work. Either way, it’s not great. Although not often a problem we experience in the Sydney rain, sometimes umbrellas are too big. Not every issue affects every letter of the acronym, so to

use LGBTQIA when you’re only talking about the L or the G misrepresents the experiences of every other letter/person/ identity you’ve lumped in to your discussion by accident. Some people use ‘queer’ as an umbrella term, over and above the alphabet soup. I identify as queer, because as well as fucking women, I try to fuck the system. To me, queer is a label that describes someone who consciously objects to the way society has organised itself, and behaves differently as a result. Not every LGBTQIA-whatever person is like this, and that’s fine. I don’t want to marry into a rigid, normative institution, but if someone else wants to, then more power to them. But for that reason, I don’t think queer works as an umbrella term. It’s also possible for heterosexuals to be queer – think kink, poly, anything that society doesn’t really expect or talk about. You het queers are welcome in my world. LGBTQIA is cumbersome, and mostly just wrong. Queer doesn’t work either. We need a new term. I’ve spoken to a few people who don’t like to define themselves in opposition. But really, the only thing that unites this diverse group of sexual and gender identities is exactly what we’re not – we’re all not heteronormative. Not straight. We’re bent. And that’s awesome. Being such a diverse group of interesting, bendy, colourful folk, I can never hope to speak for everyone, and nor should I. I can best represent my own experiences as a queer, cisgendered woman in (the Inner West of) Sydney. I may be able to adequately reflect the experiences of those closest to me, but ultimately everything I write will be my own thoughts, rants, and shout-outs to events I like and I think you’d like too.

this week…

Paul Mac

when he fi nally addressed the crowd towards the end of the first half, it was jarring.

Sufjan Stevens is known for deeply personal music, but his latest album is particularly raw. Centred on Stevens’ late mother, it touches on themes of addiction, abandonment and loneliness, mirrored by instrumentation that’s stripped bare. Stevens’ Vivid LIVE show was almost entirely drawn from it and onto the Sydney Opera House stage, which begs the question: how do you transfi gure something so dark and private into entertainment for 2,000 people?

Which brings us to the next way he turned the darkness into a performance: humour. Whether aimed at his lyrics (where a swim teacher “called me ‘Subaru’”), or his seemingly improvised halftime interlude, laughter somehow permeated the night.

Sydney Opera House Sunday May 24

There are a few possible answers. The first half of the night was a gentle introduction to the themes of Carrie & Lowell, with Stevens often appearing alone with guitar in hand. The Concert Hall was near silent for lyrics such as “How? How did this happen? / How? How did this happen?” The screen fl ickered with old home videos and it became clear the performance was going to be equally unfi ltered. Other songs were fi lled out by four extra musicians, who switched between keys, banjos and trombones. ‘Fourth Of July’ grew huge onstage, at times dipping into post-rock territory. Even as Stevens repeated the words “We’re all gonna die” over and over, the audience was transfi xed. In fact,

House Of Ladosha Birdcage, Sydney’s resident weekly Wednesgay lez-fest, is turning three this week. Head up to The Sly Fox this Wednesday May 27 for an Animalia-themed bash to celebrate this weekly staple. From 10pm, there’ll music from KLP, Love Club and Birdcage regulars. There’s also a performance from surreal showgirl Betty Grumble – if you’ve ever needed to see a shitcovered dildo removed

SUFJAN STEVENS

from a woman’s arse onstage, you should probably get there. Vivid Sydney is happening for gays and straights alike. My highlight for this weekend is the Goodgod Minceteria on Friday May 29. Goodgod and queer party legends House Of Mince are bringing out House Of Ladosha, a collective of queer rappers from Brooklyn, to sass out the Studio, Sydney Opera House. Prepare your body for voguing.

But it was the second half that took the show from entertainment to something else entirely. After an extended build-up, punctured with a few of Stevens’ older tracks, the fi nal trance-inducing instrumental blowout was the perfect way to seal off the show. Strobe lights fl ung across the Concert Hall and grew more frenzied as the reverb hit full volume in a euphoric climax. Each of these factors exposed the darkness of Stevens’ latest material under the lights of the stage. But the lasting impression was due to more than the impressive visuals or the astounding energy of ‘Chicago’ in the encore. The real way this show transcended entertainment was through its unflinching honesty. With it, Stevens took the audience out of the Opera House and into his own world – a sad, funny and beautiful place. Emily Meller

Shout-outs for this Saturday May 30 to the opening of the 2015 Sydney Roller Derby League season. Buff and tough women will be bashing into each other in lycra under the bright lights of Luna Park. Also on Saturday, the Red Rattler in Marrickville is hosting a Sniff Off party – the antidrug dog campaign run by the NSW Greens. As queers are often routinely vilified by cops, and queer events unfairly targeted (who remembers Mardi Gras, every year) by drug dogs, this is a campaign I can get on board with. Paul Mac is headlining. Lastly, next week sees the opening of Debby Doesn’t Do It For Free – an exhibition at the Tap Gallery by a collective of sex worker artists, activists and performers. Opening night is Tuesday June 2, and the show runs until the 6th.

Until next week, people. And don’t forget – we’re fucking everywhere. PHOTOGRAPHER :: ASHLEY MAR

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up all night out all week . . .

live reviews What we've been out to see...

THE DRONES

song documents the downward spiral of depression, but it conveyed a feeling akin to the exhilaration of fury.

Raw, ugly, aggressive, disarmingly direct – all of these descriptions are regularly applied to The Drones. Sounds a bit confronting for the tidy reverential halls of the Sydney Opera House, right? But in spite of that, this wasn’t the Melbourne band’s first time inside the sails.

The Drones are often deemed a distinctly Australian band. While not a miscued appraisal, theirs isn’t a clichéd, BBQs and beach-bods look at Oz. This was evident in Wait Long By The River highlight ‘Locust’, which bites into the isolation and vast emptiness, the illusions we uphold to keep from feeling like small fi sh, and the malign and ultimately selfdestructive lies we accept in order to remain ‘the lucky country’.

Sydney Opera House Sunday May 24

Known for his garrulous onstage banter, tonight frontman Gareth Liddiard kept the talk to a minimum. However, he did let us know that on the way to the venue, the band’s GPS took them all the way to the other side of the Harbour Bridge and back again. “It was an iconic drive,” he quipped, pausing, before clarifying, “because we were in the car.” By this point, The Drones were four songs into an anniversary recital of 2005’s Wait Long By The River And The Bodies Of Your Enemies Will Float By – a historic entry into the Australian rock music canon, which seems inspired by many a wrong turn. The Drones’ oft-perceived rawness is less a sign of nonchalance than a byproduct of the stark themes and primal emotions underlying a great many of their songs. There’s nothing pretty about sucking the brains out of a prawn head, but for those who dare, that’s where the real flavour is. Likewise, The Drones go in for the dirt. This was clear from this evening’s opening number, the widely worshipped ‘Shark Fin Blues’. The

Some of the noises conjured up by the two guitarists onstage were downright agonising, especially in the show’s final number ‘The Miller’s Daughter’. Meanwhile, when Liddiard leapt into that song’s piercing lyrical tirade, traceable melodic scansion disappeared. His lyrics are basically the antithesis of Victorian romantic poetry, but they’re just about always worth hearing. Tonight, a lot of words were lost in the whirl of beating aggression, but it wasn’t at the cost of the songs’ ferocious impact. On the contrary, Liddiard and co. are at their most convincing when sublimating their rage into the songs, which they did for the entirety of this 80-minute performance. And that’s what it takes to be a fucking icon. Augustus Welby

british india

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22:05:15 :: Metro Theatre :: 624 George St Sydney 9550 3666

REPRESSED RECORDS SHOWCASE FEAT. ROYAL HEADACHE Sydney Opera House Saturday May 23

One of the more noteworthy shows put on for this year’s Vivid festival ended dramatically with punk rebellion, confusion and the riot squad, and is sure to be talked about for years to come. Repressed Records presented a showcase of six bands, trying to encapsulate all manner of variety in Australian indie music. A noble idea, but when the headliner is one of the most cherished hometown acts of recent memory and they’re playing their first official gig in over a year, you’d forgive the audience for not having much interest in listening to free jazz or minimalist piano. Things got off to a good start with the debut of Snake & Friends, a new sixpiece project from the prolific Al Montfort. They began by mining Spacemen 3/Sun Ra territory, with two saxophones and mantric lyrics. But the rest of their set was given over to material close to Montfort’s efforts in Dick Diver, paired with delightfully complicated basslines. After that, the bands got more disparate. Superstar were dream-pop indebted to Beach House, and like other imitators of that band, were pleasant enough to listen to but had no live dynamics. Exhaustion followed, whose free jazz set ebbed and flowed in intensity, but sets like theirs are dependant on the mood in the room, and they weren’t getting anything from the Royal Headache crowd. The same problem plagued Monica Brooks, who played a 20-minute minimalist piano piece similar to those of Julius Eastman. Brisbane’s Blank Realm were up next, and the night got back on track. They played bright indie dance, and while the

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performers were extra sloppy and their dancing was wildly out of time, they gave off a dorky, uninhibited joy that fed into the crowd and reminded them that this was a show that they could actually engage in. The long-awaited return of Royal Headache finally came, and it didn’t disappoint. Shogun immediately started prowling around the stage, seemingly at war with his own head. They have a female keyboardist now, and she fits in well. The band previewed some new songs, and if those are anything to go by the second album will feature tracks double the normal Royal Headache length (around three minutes), with a more pronounced soul influence. A few songs in, they hit the trinity of ‘Psychotic Episode’, ‘Down The Lane’ and ‘Girls’, during which the crowd up front all stormed onto stage – something you’d never expect to see at the Opera House. The looks of disbelief and joy exchanged between drummer Shotty and bassist Joe were mirrored around the entire Joan Sutherland Theatre. It turned into a celebration. A celebration that lasted only three minutes, that is, for in an instant a swarm of cops had arrived – security had apparently panicked, and tension and confusion filled the room. Five minutes passed before the stage was cleared, the band pleading with the crowd not to do anything stupid. They played another song, a subdued cover of Womack & Womack’s ‘Teardrops’, before the gig stopped for good. For approximately 28 minutes, Royal Headache were back. The vitality exhibited in those 28 minutes made all the tedium beforehand completely worthwhile, and the dramatic end means it’s one for the books. Leonardo Silvestrini

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Powerhouse Museum Friday May 22

The Hoodoo Gurus’ retrospective Vivid event, Be My Guru, Evolution Revolution, was an extraordinary, multimedia concert experience from no ordinary band. A rotating lineup of the eight past and current members of the Hoodoo Gurus (save for new recruit Nik Rieth) rocked up a storm at the Powerhouse Museum, toasting to a frenzied and fun-packed 28 years. The concert was held in the temporary exhibitions hall (which did wreak some havoc with the acoustics) and some exhibits had been set up about the band, including vintage guitars belonging to Dave Faulkner and Brad Shepherd, and Rick Grossman’s precision bass that he used with the Gurus as well as Divinyls and Matt Finish. There were also posters chronicling every one of Faulkner’s bad haircuts, as well as VIP passes, setlists, signed memorabilia, vinyl, CDs, clothing and two dinosaur figures from the Stoneage Romeos era. For the two-hour show itself, songs were played mostly chronologically

and with limited introduction. Stoneage Romeos and Mars Needs Guitars! got the most airtime, but the Gurus – laidback and cool – made the whole set seem so enjoyable and effortless. Songs like ‘Arthur’ and ‘(Let’s All) Turn On’ saw the guys acting like young rebel rousers and trading dirty blues riffs. The exuberant pop of ‘Like Wow – Wipeout’ and ‘What’s My Scene?’ whipped the crowd into a frenzy. ‘Bittersweet’, meanwhile, seemed both vibrant and apt, as this was the last chance fans would have to see the retiring Mark Kingsmill at the drums. The diehard fans were treated to rarities like ‘Snake Shake’, while the newer ‘Crackin’ Up’ was electric. But the most spine-chilling energy came when all eight members – Faulkner, Shepherd, Kingsmill, Grossman, Roddy Radalj, James Baker, Clyde Bramley and Kimble Rendall – joined together for three encores. Despite the difficulties with the venue, the whole show was like being on an out-ofcontrol nostalgia train. In the end, Vivid Sydney proved to be the right time for the Gurus’ trip through history. Natalie Salvo

the jungle giants

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23:05:15 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford St Darlinghurst 9332 3711

17:05:15 :: Beach Road Hotel :: 71 Beach Rd Bondi Beach 9130 7247 S: OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER DENCE UPTON :: CLARKE :: ASHLEY MAR :: PRU :: JAMES AMBROSE :: KATRINA

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23:05:15 :: The Standard Bowl :: level 3 383 Bourke St Surry Hills

22:05:15 :: Captain Cook Hotel :: 162 Flinders St Paddington 9360 4327 BRAG :: 613 :: 20:05:15 :: 29

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Bill Callahan

JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Bad Plus Foundry616, Ultimo. 8:30pm. $50. Jump Jive Thursdays - feat: The Dominos Marble Bar, Sydney. 8pm. Free. Vivid Music @ Seymour: Music For Double Bass Seymour Centre, Chippendale. 9pm. $28.50.

FRIDAY MAY 29

THURSDAY MAY 28

JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC

FRIDAY MAY 29 Sydney S d Opera House

Bill Callahan $49. 7pm. WEDNESDAY MAY 27 INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

Dave Graney The Bearded Tit, Redfern. 7pm. Free. Davey Craddock + James Thompson 5 Sawyers, Newcastle. 7pm. Free. Echo Deers Corridor Bar, Newtown. 5pm. Free. Lurch & Chief Small Ballroom, Newcastle. 7pm. Free. Mark Travers Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. Free. Morrissey Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 8pm. $109. Muso’s Club Jam Night Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt. 8pm. Free. Soda Open Stage - feat: Jeremy Gregory And The Soda House Band + Guest Vocalist Wilson O Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 5pm. Free. The Preatures Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 7pm. $35. Vivid Music @ Seymour: Gothic Seymour Centre, Chippendale. 7:30pm. $36. You Beauty Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 8pm. $10.

ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK

Xxx

BandsOnStage - feat: Band Of Mercanes + Red Whiskey + Mass + Mick Hambly Lewisham Hotel, Lewisham. 7pm. Free.

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JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Bad Plus The Basement, Circular Quay. 7pm. $55. Nothin But Jam Marble Bar, Sydney. 7pm. Free.

THURSDAY MAY 28 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK

Basement Blues Society - feat: The Russell Morris Band + Ali Penney And The Money Makers The Basement, Circular Quay. 8pm. $35. Bill Callahan Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 7pm. $49. Larissa McKay Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly. 7pm. Free. Luke Escombe & The Corporation The Annandale Hotel, Annandale. 8pm. Free. Rob Eastwood Fortune Of War, The Rocks. 7pm. Free. SongsOnStage - feat: Mick Hambly + Chris Brookes Ruby L’otel, Rozelle. 7:30pm. Free. Songwriter Sessions - feat: John Chesher + Guests Mars Hill Cafe, Parramatta. 7pm. Free.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Bands Next Door - feat: Wolf Cola + She Rex + Bin Juice The Loft (UTS), Ultimo. 8pm. Free. Belinda Marks

Penrith RSL, Penrith. 11am. Free. Boris Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $49. D Henry Fenton + Lianna Rose + Liz Martin The Vanguard, Newtown. 7pm. $18. Daniel Johns Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 8pm. $59. Dave Graney & The Mistly Heritage Hotel, Bulli. 8pm. Free. Greg Hopper & Dee Donavon Penrith RSL, Penrith. 11am. Free. Hot Spoke Marlborough Hotel, Newtown. 8pm. Free. Jack Horner Fitzroy Hotel, Windsor. 6:30pm. Free. Jetty Road + Luke Dickens The Vanguard, Newtown. 6:30pm. $35. Legions + Downside + Ill Natured + Burning Season Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 4:50pm. $10. Mark Travers The Oriental Hotel, Springwood. 9pm. Free. Muso’s Club Jam Night Carousel Inn Hotel, Rooty Hill. 8pm. Free. Rock The World (Bar) Semi Finals - feat: Various Artists The World Bar, Kings Cross. 8pm. $15. Sarah Mary Chadwick Golden Age Cinema, Surry Hills. 9pm. Free. Skyscraper Stan Opera Bar, Sydney. 8pm. Free. The Late Night Soda Social - feat: Dick Smithers And The Doo Wops + Black Diamond Hearts Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 5pm. Free. The Wiggles Mounties, Mount Pritchard. 10am. $27.90. Vivid Music @ Seymour: Gothic

Dirty-Cash Marble Bar, Sydney. 8:30pm. Free. Jeniqua Maroubra Sands Hotel, Maroubra. 5pm. Free. Leanne Paris The Annandale Hotel, Annandale. 8pm. Free. Marc Hannaford Quartet Foundry616, Ultimo. 8:30pm. $35. Sexy Sunday Jam Bellini Lounge, Potts Point. 7pm. Free. Vivid Music @ Seymour: Musify + Gamify - feat: Ensemble Offspring + Robbie Avenaim + Chris Abrahams + Michaela Davies + Alon Ilsar + Lucas Abela Seymour Centre, Chippendale. 7:30pm. $38.50. Vivid Music @ Seymour: Senex Et Sonis Seymour Centre, Chippendale. 9pm. $28.50.

ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK

Bill Kacir Manly Leagues Club, Brookvale. 9:30pm. Free. Charles Jenkins Coogee Diggers, Coogee. 8pm. $10. Chris Pickering + Forster Anderson The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 7pm. $5. Davey Caddock + James Thompson + Roland KaySmith Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham. 8pm. $10. Hot Potato Band + Amber Rae Slade + The Mighty Big Noise + Jorja Carroll Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 9pm. $15. Sacred Earth Paddington Uniting Church, Sydney. 7pm. $35. Steve Crocker Chatswood RSL, Chatswood. 5pm. Free. Ted Nash Duo Kings Park Tavern, Kings Park. 7pm. Free.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS AJ Collingwood Hotel, Liverpool. 4:30pm. Free. Andy The Kid + Enter Reality + The Iron Eye Spectrum, Darlinghurst. 9pm. $15. Arrester + Royal Chant + Solid Effort + DJ Deckhead Standard Bowl, Surry Hills. 6pm. Free. BandsOnStage - feat: Kim Killspeed + The Lightning

Experience + Daisy Ruby L’otel, Rozelle. 8pm. Free. Beatnix - Beatles Show Canterbury Hurlstone Park RSL Club, Hurlstone Park. 8pm. $20. Blake Tailor The Oriental Hotel, Springwood. 8pm. Free. Bonez The Vanguard, Newtown. 7pm. $18.60. Boris Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $49. Clive Hay Bankstown Sports Club, Bankstown. 7pm. Free. Creo Tattersalls Hotel Penrith, Penrith. 8pm. Free. Dave Graney & The Mistly + Taxi Vs Pigeon Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 7:30pm. $23. Diesel Lizotte’s, Dee Why. 8pm. $82.50. Downthunder Kings Head Tavern, South Hurstville. 7:30pm. Free. Halcyon Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8:30pm. Free. James Valentine Sydney Town Hall, Sydney. 5pm. Free. Jeremy Neale Waywards, Newtown. 7pm. Free. Joseph Gatehau Quakers Inn, Quakers Hill. 8pm. Free. LJ Marrickville Ritz Hotel, Marrickville. 8pm. Free. Midnight Drifters Penrith RSL, Penrith. 9pm. Free. Mowgli + Suburban Haze + Jacob + Lapse Red Rattler, Marrickville. 7pm. $5. Murray Lake + Richie Ryan Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach. 8pm. Free. No Life Til Leather Civic Underground, Sydney. 8pm. Free. Nova & The Experience + Love Like Hate Captain Cook Hotel, Paddington. 7pm. Free. Paulini + Vince Harder The Basement, Circular Quay. 7:30pm. $25. Reckless Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9:30pm. Free. Sarah Paton Town Hall Hotel, Balmain. 5pm. Free. Saving June Colonial Hotel, Werrington. 8:30pm. Free. Sodagreen The Star Event Centre, Pyrmont. 8:15pm. $89.72. The Mad Hatters Vineyard Hotel, Vineyard. 9:30pm. Free. Vivid Music @ Seymour: Gothic Seymour Centre, Chippendale. 7:30pm. $36.

SATURDAY MAY 30 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK Gemma Glendenning Kings Park Tavern, Kings Park. 7pm. Free. Mojo House Band - feat: Jesse & James Mojo Record Bar, Sydney. 7pm. Free. Paul Hayward Town & Country Hotel, St Peters. 4pm. Free. PJ O’Brien Band The Annandale Hotel, Annandale. 8pm. Free. Rai Thistlethwayte + Jared Baca + Blake Wiggins Macarthur Tavern,

Campbelltown. 9pm. $25. Richard Bona The Basement, Circular Quay. 8pm. $65.20. SongsOnStage - feat: Russell Neal + Slightly Off + Luke Mahler Ettalong Beach Club, Ettalong Beach. 7:30pm. Free. Steve Crocker The Belvedere Hotel, Sydney. 7:30pm. Free. Vivid Music @ Seymour: Bridge – Electroacoustic Review Seymour Centre, Chippendale. 8pm. $28.50.

JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Alphamama Marble Bar, Sydney. 9:30pm. Free. Sexy Sunday Jam Bellini Lounge, Potts Point. 7pm. Free. Vivid Music @ Seymour: Musify + Gamify - feat: 7bit Hero + Austin Buckett + Paul Heslin + The Infosthetic Orchestra Seymour Centre, Chippendale. 7:30pm. $38.50.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

A Benefit For Nepal - feat: Jeremy Edwards + Jimmy Dowling + Mick Daley + Julia Jacklin + Mark Lucas + Cletis Carr + Sam Newton + Sugar Bowl Hokum + Holocron Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham. 6pm. $10. Against Me! + Joyce Manor Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7pm. $50.85. Beatnix - Beatles Show Parramatta RSL, Parramatta. 7:30pm. $15. Ben Howard Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park. 8pm. $78.66. Big Way Out Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills. 9:30pm. Free. Cold Play Show Oatley Hotel, Oatley. 8:30pm. Free. Dave Graney + The Mistly + Taxi Vs Pigeon Coogee Diggers, Coogee. 5pm. $23. Davey Craddock The Lass O’Gowrie Hotel, Wickham. 7pm. Free. Goons Of Doom + Little Coyote Moonshine Cider & Rum Bar, Manly. 9pm. Free. Harbour Master Picton Hotel, Picton. 8pm. Free. Hits & Pieces Penrith RSL, Penrith. 9pm. Free. Imogen Clark Rooty Hill RSL Club, Rooty Hill. 6:30pm. Free. In Hearts Wake + We Came As Romans + Beartooth + Storm The Sky UNSW Roundhouse, Kensington. 7pm. $45. Iron Bark Rock Carousel Inn Hotel, Rooty Hill. 8pm. Free. Killers Show Manly Leagues Club, Brookvale. 9pm. Free. Kim Killspeed + Piperlain + Lion Calamity Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 9pm. $15. Last Stand Chisel Barnes Show The Parkway Hotel, Frenchs Forest. 9pm. Free. Melbourne Ska Orchestra + Mojo Juju + Project Collective Ska Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 7pm. $35. Morrissey Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 8pm. $109. Move On Be Strong + Stand

thebrag.com

Bill Callahan photo by Hanly Banks

pick of the week

Seymour Centre, Chippendale. 7:30pm. $36. White Bros Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. Free.

g g guide gig g

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Atlantic + Stateside The Lair @ Metro Theatre, Sydney. 4:45pm. $10. Neil Finn City Recital Hall, Sydney. 8pm. $79.90. Papa Pilko & The Binrats Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $15. Party Central - feat: Wildcatz Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9:30pm. Free. Rebecca Johnson Band Town Hall Hotel, Balmain. 9:30pm. Free. Rock Chix Kareela Golf Club, Kareela. 8pm. Free. Ryan Thomas Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 3pm. Free. San Cisco + Crooked Colours + Methyl Ethel Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 7:45pm. $39.95. Soul Nights Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8:30pm. Free. Soundproofed Club Cronulla, Cronulla. 8pm. Free. The Urge The Kent Bar & Grill, Hamilton. 9:30pm. Free. Venom Clubnight - feat: Hypergiant + Squawk + Dianetics + Bort + The Elk Collective Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $15. Waxhead + The Badlands + Bornio + DJ Geoff Storey Standard Bowl, Surry Hills. 6pm. Free. Woodlock Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach. 8pm. Free.

SUNDAY MAY 31 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC

Ethnodelica + Raduga Trio Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 6:30pm. $23. Grace Jones Carriageworks, Eveleigh. 8pm. $127.

ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK

Bill Kacir Strawberry Hills Hotel, Surry Hills. 2pm. Free. Dave Ireland Picton Hotel, Picton. 1pm. Free. Finn The Kent Bar & Grill, Hamilton. 8:30pm. Free. From Street To Stage - feat: Joe Moore + Various Other Artists Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 6pm. Free. Jimmy Dowling Marrickville Bowling Club, Marrickville. 4:30pm. Free. John Kennedy’s 68 Comeback Special The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 5pm. $5. Mark Lucas & The Dead Setters Rozelle Antique Markets, 10:30am. Free. SongsOnStage - feat: Russell Neal + Guests Harlequin Inn, Pyrmont. 3pm. Free. Sunday Courtyard Sessions - feat: John The Annandale Hotel,

wed May

Against Me! + Joyce Manor Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle. 7:30pm. $53. Dave Graney & The Mistly Royal Exchange, Newcastle. 8pm. Free. Dean Michael Smith Oatley Hotel, Oatley. 1pm. Free. Disparo! + Hangman + Scrotal Vice + Dead Architect Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 5pm. $10. Gypsy + Breaking The Hyoid + The Three Horsemen + Snow Leopard + A Troubled Paradise Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 12pm. $10. Harbour Master The Rivo Hotel, Riverstone. 1pm. Free. Hoi Polloi Lazybones Lounge,

May

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

(9:30PM - 1:30AM)

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

MONDAY JUNE 1 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC

Grace Jones Carriageworks, Eveleigh. 8pm. $127. Sonic Mayhem Orchestra Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 8:30pm. Free.

Swing It Tuesdays - feat: The Basement Big Band The Basement, Circular Quay. 6pm. $8.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Live & Originals - feat: Men With Day Jobs + Amy Oliviaa + Isia Ashton + Katherine Vavahea Mr Falcon’s, Glebe. 7:30pm. Free.

JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC

Afta Cuándo Seymour Centre, Chippendale. 7:30pm. $38.50. Co-Pilot Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. Free. Grace Jones Carriageworks, Eveleigh. 8pm. $127. Steve Mckenna Trio Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 8:30pm. Free.

NSW SOLO TOUR May 27 May 29 May 30 May 31 June 3 June 5 June 7

5 Sawyers, Newcastle *w/ James Thomson Petersham Bowling Club, Sydney* Lass O’Gowrie, Newcastle* Croatian Club, Newcastle* The Midnight Special, Sydney The Gasoline Pony, Sydney. Mark Lucas album launch Blue Water Country & Blues Music Festival, Nelson Bay

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

(3:00PM - 6:00PM)

sun

May

U2 Elevation Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 4:30pm. Free. UK Anthems Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 8:30pm. Free. Urban Guerillas Town And Country Hotel, Sydney. 2pm. Free.

ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK

DAVEY CRADDOCK

May

sat

Marrickville. 6:30pm. Free. Morrissey Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 8pm. $109. Neil Finn City Recital Hall, Sydney. 8pm. $79.90. Sam Newton The Mill Hotel, Milperra. 12am. Free. Skyscraper Stan Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 8pm. Free. The Archaic Revival + Mad Charlie + Sparrows + Arcane Saints + The Balls Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 4pm. Free. The Drey Rollan Band The Forresters, Surry Hills. 2pm. Free.

SongsOnStage - feat: Mick Hambly + Chris Brookes Kelly’s On King, Newtown. 8pm. Free.

fri

Melbourne Ska Orchestra

ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK

29 SATURDAY AFTERNOON

TUESDAY JUNE 2

Against Me!

28 (9:00PM - 12:00AM)

Marty Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. Free.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

thu

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

Annandale. 3pm. Free. Ted Nash Ingleburn Hotel, Ingleburn. 3pm. Free. Vanessa Heinitz Fortune Of War, The Rocks. 1pm. Free.

May

(8:30PM - 12:00AM)

New Single Better Alone Out Now

(9:30PM - 1:15AM)

mon

tue

01 June

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

02 June

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

DaveyCraddock.com thebrag.com

BRAG :: 614 :: 27:05:15 :: 31

g g picks gig p

up all night out all week...

FRIDAY MAY 29

Grace Jones

Arrester + Royal Chant + Solid Effort + DJ Deckhead Standard Bowl, Surry Hills. 6pm. Free.

Bad Plus The Basement, Circular Quay. 7pm. $55.

Bonez The Vanguard, Newtown. 7pm. $18.60.

Lurch & Chief Small Ballroom, Newcastle. 7pm. Free.

Dave Graney & The Mistly + Taxi Vs Pigeon Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 7:30pm. $23.

Morrissey Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 8pm. $109. The Preatures Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 7pm. $35.

Davey Caddock + James Thompson + Roland Kay-Smith Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham. 8pm. $10.

THURSDAY MAY 28

Boris Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $49.

Bands Next Door - Feat: Wolf Cola + She Rex + Bin Juice The Loft Uts, Ultimo . 8pm. Free.

D Henry Fenton + Lianna Rose + Liz Martin The Vanguard, Newtown. 7pm. $18.

Diesel Lizotte’s, Dee Why. 8pm. $82.50.

SATURDAY MAY 30 A Benefit For Nepal - Feat: Jeremy Edwards + Jimmy Dowling + Mick Daley + Julia Jacklin + Mark Lucas + Cletis Carr + Sam Newton + Sugar Bowl Hokum + Holocron Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham. 6pm. $10.

Boris

Kim Killspeed + Piperlain + Lion Calamity Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 9pm. $15. Melbourne Ska Orchestra + Mojo Juju + Project Collective Ska Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 7pm. $35. Neil Finn City Recital Hall, Sydney. 8pm. $79.90. San Cisco + Crooked Colours + Methyl Ethel Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 7:45pm. $39.95. Waxhead + The Badlands + Bornio + Dj Geoff Storey Standard Bowl, Surry Hills. 6pm. Free. Woodlock Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach. 8pm. Free.

SUNDAY MAY 31

Against Me! + Joyce Manor Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7pm. $50.85.

The Archaic Revival + Mad Charlie + Sparrows + Arcane Saints + The Balls Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 4pm. Free.

Ben Howard Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park. 8pm. $78.66.

TUESDAY JUNE 2

In Hearts Wake + We Came As Romans + Beartooth + Storm The Sky Unsw Roundhouse, Kensington.

Grace Jones Carriageworks, Eveleigh. 8pm. $127.

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Daniel Johns photo by Harold David

Daniel Johns Daniel Johns Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 8pm. $59.

7pm. $45.

WEDNESDAY MAY 27

BRAG’s guide to dance, hip hop and club culture

brag beats

off the record:

plus: + club news + club snaps + club guide + review

recloose

jamie xx what’s coming next? thebrag.com

BRAG :: 614 :: 27:05:15 :: 33

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, Meggan Turner and Lauren Gill

five things WITH

Hermitude

RIDVAN in the library and I overheard the guy next to me expressing how he hates dubstep. We became best friends after that. Turns out he was a DJ/ producer and after months of watching him produce I kind of got inspired to give it a try as well. His name was Loutaa, and here I am. The Music You Make And Play 4. The music I have in the works currently is undergoing a bit of a makeover and I’m starting to lean towards making that Aussie glitch hop style. I like the alternative direction in the Flume/What So Not style. I have always found I want to put as much feeling into my tracks as I could, but I constantly felt limited trying to do that while making it Melbourne Bouncefriendly. I will continue to play Melbourne Bounce at live shows for the time being – but always remember anything is possible and there are no rules! Music, Right Here, Right Now 5. The scene is becoming a lot

Growing Up I grew up listening to Bass Hunter and that Euro hardstyle stuff, but I’ve always loved music with good vibes. All the different phases I went through as a child really helped me build a vast bank of musical knowledge. I think as a musician, having a solid understanding of all the different types of music available is the basis of what is going to help you create your own material in the end.

Inspirations Deorro, 100 per cent. He is the guru. As a producer, he is incredibly talented and is able to put

his thoughts into sounds. Melodies come as second nature to the guy. As a person, his views are so humble and selfless, always prioritising his fans and aiming to ultimately help others. I remember when he was first starting out and his production quality was merely average, but the ideas he put down were just pure gold. It was only a matter of time before he became popular. Other genres really inspire me too and I’ve started listening to anything and everything. Your Crew One day in high school 3. around age 16, I was sitting

Get ready to brave the cool winds and actually go outside this winter – Snowtunes is here and it’s worth leaving your bed for. With the gorgeous backdrop of Lake Jindabyne in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Snowtunes will feature good food, a variety of bars, carnival rides, and of course some great acts, led by headliners Hermitude. They’ll be joined by the likes of Allday, Tkay Maidza, Slumberjack, Paces, Kronic, Losty, Fortafy, Northie and Bad Decisions. You’ll be able to take full advantage of the snowfields during the day before putting on some dry clothes and dancing the night away. Snowtunes 2015 takes place on Saturday August 15.

in Manly (evening) and Spice at Barrio Cellar (that’s the former Spice Cellar HQ in the CBD) on Sunday June 7.

Hudge

less about talent and a lot more about the marketing – who has the best image, who has the most followers, who puts the most money into promotion and, even more to the extreme, who has the best ghost producer. I know it won’t happen but I wish the focus could just be on the music. But the best thing about the local scene is how passionate the locals are about the DJs and the music. What: Ridvan won Ultra Music’s remix competition for Will Sparks’ ‘Another Land’ More: soundcloud.com/ ridvan

MORE MISTER NICE GUY Stephan Bodzin

SNOWTUNES FESTIVAL

Italian tech house maestros NiCe7 are making their way to the east coast of Australia for the June long weekend. Nicola Daniele and Cesare Marocco joined forces in 2005 and proved that you’ve gotta do the basics right to make it in the music biz, with their five-track Back To Basics EP from 2012 having an enduring presence to this day – so much so it’s about to be re-released by Defected with new mixes. Apart from their own D-Floor imprint, Daniele and Marocco have released on the likes of Noir Music, Gruuv, Suara and Great Stuff. Their pedigree will be on full display at Daniel San

TIME FOR TYLER

Hip hop prodigy Tyler, The Creator has announced Australian tour dates as part of his Cherry Bomb Tour. The visit follows the Odd Future member’s release of his new album, which debuted at number 13 in Australia following its digital release. In 2013, Tyler landed on our shores for a co-headline tour with Earl Sweatshirt, but this time he’s going it alone at the Big Top, Luna Park on Saturday September 5.

Jay Electronica has announced that he’ll journey Down Under this July. After first bursting onto the scene in 2007 with his epic mixtape, Act 1: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge), Jay has gone on to release a slew of singles and collaborations with the likes of Common, Big Sean and Mac Miller. He signed to Jay Z’s Roc Nation in 2010, but the world is still awaiting his debut album. Hopefully he’ll tease some songs from it when he plays three intimate shows across Australia this winter. One of those will be at The Basement on Friday July 24.

A HUGE NIGHT WITH HUDGE

Thanks to the party-loving Cantaloop crew, Play Bar will this weekend host a bumper lineup of local heroes and an international visitor, DJ Hudge. South London expat and New Zealand resident Hudge was a perpetual presence on the clubbing scene in his English days, responsible for co-creating the famous River Thames boat party, Take It 2 The Bridge. The action didn’t stop when he moved to NZ in 2012, with Hudge now hosting Uptown Boogie alongside DJ T Rice on national radio. His superior tastes in hip hop, funk and more will feature in Surry Hills on Friday May 29, with Coolhand Luke, Frenzie and the Cantaloop DJs lending a hand.

HE’S A BUSY BOD

Highly influential techno producer and DJ Stephan Bodzin is backing up the release of his Birth EP with a short’n’sweet tour Down Under. The enduring German artist is gearing up for the release of a new album, Powers Of Ten, the follow-up to his 2007 debut, Liebe Ist…. He comes from a rather different background than most producers, having started out composing music for theatre. There’s no dancefloor in Europe’s most prestigious theatre houses, but there will be at Chinese Laundry on Saturday June 27.

JAY ELECTRONICA

Tyler, The Creator

Number56

56 REASONS TO PARTY

Launching this week, the new Number56 club night will take place behind a hidden door in Sydney. The first chapter in a series of exciting events across the country, Number56 has no fixed address. It will celebrate everything that German’s cultural capital Berlin has to offer: magical music, abstract art and the creative spirit. Once attendees have registered for tickets to Number56, they’ll take part in a hunt to find its location. Clues are to be unveiled on Instagram (@Number.56) before an email is sent on the day confirming the details. The hosts will be providing some delicious Berlin street food and drinks on the night, just to make sure the proceedings are that little bit more authentic. The first Number56 party is happening this Thursday May 28. Head to number56.com.au for details. xxx

34 :: BRAG :: 614 :: 27:05:15

thebrag.com

Jamie xx Another Colour By Augustus Welby

he recent announcement of In Colour, the debut solo LP from Jamie xx, stirred anxiety in the hearts of diehard fans of The xx. Were the relationships between the band members in a state of decline? Did this mean that the producer/percussionist (also known as Jamie Smith) was exiting the trio? Thankfully, these worries were soon alleviated, first by In Colour’s lead single ‘Loud Places’, which features the unmistakable vocals of The xx’s Romy Madley-Croft, and then the full album tracklist, which finds xx co-vocalist Oliver Sim taking the lead on ‘Stranger In A Room’.

Jamie xx photo by Flavien Prioreau

While Smith confirms the band members are still the closest of friends, his solo debut was bound to eventuate sooner or later. “Pretty much since making the first xx album, I’ve been working on this music,” he says. “The way that I ended up joining The xx is because I was making the backing beats on CD for them to play along to in bars and pubs – I wasn’t going to be onstage – but I was making my own stuff on the side at the same time.” Smith’s production and drum programming has been an integral feature of The xx’s two incredibly well received LPs, 2009’s xx and 2012’s Coexist. However, while the band’s recorded work leans towards an organic indie pop aesthetic, In Colour is indebted to classic UK electronic music. In this respect, ‘Loud Places’ and ‘Stranger In A Room’ are something of a revelation, exhibiting a complementary unity between Smith’s electronic production and his bandmates’ vocals. “At the same time I was making my album, we were making the third xx

record,” he says. “What my album has allowed us to do is work a little differently to the way we worked on the last two albums, and be a bit more open to the process in which we work and the sounds that might come out in the end. This next xx album has the potential to be a hybrid of my album and an xx album.” In Colour features heavy use of samples, masterful programming and instrumental tidbits, plus Young Thug and Popcaan show up to add rhymes and melodies to the late-album party rejuvenator ‘I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)’. Throughout, Smith steers clear of obvious hooks and song structures, and instead employs a minimalist touch that allows major impact to stem from small textural embellishments. It’s plain to see that In Colour is the result of countless hours of studio labour. “[I’d been working on this music] without the intention of it becoming an album,” Smith says. “I needed to tell myself in the end that it was going to be an album, because that was the only way I was going to finish with this music and stop fiddling.” While a lot of In Colour was produced in isolation, Smith wasn’t fiercely independent when it came to getting the record finished. “I still needed the help that Romy and Oliver can give,” he says. “Because we know each other so well, I needed them just to listen to it. Even just to sit next to somebody who you trust and listen to the album in its entirety, you don’t even need them to say anything because you can pick out all the parts that you are cringing at.”

The prospect of a Jamie xx solo LP has loomed ever since the release of We’re New Here in 2011. We’re New Here – a remix album of Gil Scott-Heron’s I’m New Here – not only drew attention to Smith’s underground electronic panache, but it grabbed him a fan base in his own right. The record’s positive impact, though, also had certain side effects. “I ended up DJing a lot, doing the circuit every Thursday till Sunday, being exhausted, and that actually hindered my creativity. I was really happy it was well received, but I was almost not even aware of it because I was just working really hard and not doing what I love, not actually making music.

“Maybe after it was all over, then the fact that it was well received helped me. But I think it was more just growing up and getting the confi dence. Like any other person going from 17 to 26, I’ve just become more confi dent in myself.” Hefty workload aside, Smith’s extensive DJing commitments weren’t totally counterproductive. In fact, In Colour is structured to reflect the nature of his DJ sets. “My favourite set to see is when somebody can surprise you and take something in a completely different direction,” he says. “Because the album is quite varied, I needed to find a way to do that, but for it to still sound like a coherent body of work.”

Off The Record

The remainder of 2015 will involve plenty of touring behind the record, as well as finalising the third xx album. Oh, and Smith’s also scoring a ballet adaptation of the Jonathan Safran Foer novel Tree Of Codes, to be presented at the Manchester International Festival in July. It’s a pretty impressive outlook, and it far exceeds what Smith anticipated while making the first xx album. “I didn’t even think about the prospect of it actually being on a record, in a record store,” he says. “I just thought about putting all of this music that we had into a computer or something. I never thought that far ahead.” What: In Colour out Friday May 29 through Young Turks/Remote Control

RECOMMENDED Carmada

Dance and Electronica with Tyson Wray Iron Curtis

nigmatic Berlin-based producer Iron Curtis has locked in an Australian tour. With a lush aural aesthetic that features unmistakable influences from Detroit, Chicago and Hamburg, Curtis combines pure deep house and soulful techno. Having released on the ilk of Mirau, Morris Audio, Mule Electronic, Retreat and Jack Off, he’s also one half of the acclaimed Achterbahn D’Amour outfit with releases on Acid Test. Catch a rare Sydney performance on Saturday July 11 at The Spice Cellar.

One of the busiest men in dance music, Kölsch, is returning to Sydney. Over the course of his career he’s sold millions of records worldwide under his various different monikers and worked with some of the biggest names on the planet. A regular on the imitable Kompakt label, he also runs the mysterious Tattoorecs with his brother Johannes Torpe (all releases have no titles but instead are represented by tattoos), and has earned support from the likes of Sven Väth, Richie Hawtin, Magda, Tiefschwarz and Ricardo Villalobos. He’ll also be dropping his second full-length record, 1983, on Kompakt a week before he lands in Sydney, so catch him on Saturday June 13 at Chinese Laundry. New Zealand-based producer Recloose is coming to town. Way back in 1997 he sent a demo to Detroit don Carl Craig and was immediately signed to his Planet E label.

Not a bad way to kick-start a career, eh? Since then he’s released on basically every important label under the sun, including Rush Hour Recordings, !K7 and Peacefrog, and also works as a turntablist in Carl Craig’s Innerzone Orchestra and is a trained jazz saxophonist. In recent years he’s been recording and playing with his more funkinclined live band, so don’t miss the chance to catch him in rare full-blown house mode when he lays down a DJ set at The Spice Cellar on Saturday June 27. One half of brotherly duo Tiefschwarz, Basti Schwarz, has announced a return to Australian shores. Over the course of their 15-year career, the two German Schwarz boys have released on seminal imprints Souvenir Music, TimeWarp and NAU, remixed the likes of Cassius, The Rapture, Missy Elliott, Kelis and Masters At Work and worked alongside Cassy, Seth Troxler and Dave Aju, just to name a few accolades. Recloose

They’re set to release their fourth studio album, Left, on Watergate Records next month, so expect to hear a slew of new material when it all goes down on Saturday July 25 at The Spice Cellar. Tour rumour: word on the grapevine is that over the Queen’s Birthday long weekend Glaswegian DJ and producer Andy Graham AKA Sei A will be stopping by for a Sydney show. Best releases this week: Marcos Cabral is really bringing the heat on his latest record Buried Alive Twice (on L.I.E.S.). Other highlights include Gunnar Haslam’s Margareten (Mister Saturday Night), Errorsmith and Mark Fell’s Protogravity (PAN), Jupiter Jax’s Visitors (100% Silk) and Black Deer’s Pray For Us (No ‘Label’). Sadly I’m really not feeling Container’s LP (on Spectrum Spools), sounds way too cheesy for my liking.

FRIDAY MAY 29

Oxford Art Factory

Carmada Oxford Art Factory Auntie Flo Goodgod Small Club

SATURDAY JUNE 13 Cut Copy DJs The Spice Cellar

Kölsch Chinese Laundry

SATURDAY FRIDAY MAY 30 JUNE 26 Steve Bug The Spice Cellar

Kobosil Bridge Hotel

Justin Jay World Bar

SATURDAY JUNE 27

Basic Soul Unit Burdekin Hotel

Stephan Bodzin Chinese Laundry

SATURDAY JUNE 6

Recloose The Spice Cellar

Frank Booker Marrickville Bowling Club

Iron Curtis The Spice Cellar

Andras Fox The Spice Cellar

SUNDAY JUNE 7 Toddla T Spectrum Tin Man TBA TOKiMONSTA

SATURDAY JULY 11 SATURDAY JULY 25 Tiefschwarz The Spice Cellar

SATURDAY AUGUST 22

Borrowed Identity Bridge Hotel

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BRAG :: 614 :: 27:05:15 :: 35

club guide g

send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com

club pick of the week

Losty + Do You Even DJs + Jordan Tourany + Nick M + Matty Reaiche + Delmixx + Maestro Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 10pm. $25.

Joyride

SATURDAY MAY 30

SUNDAY MAY 31

CLUB NIGHTS

Sydney Opera House

Elefant Traks Feat: Joyride + L-Fresh The Lion + Jayteehazard + DJ MK-1 + Adit + Dggz 6pm. $30. WEDNESDAY MAY 27 CLUB NIGHTS

Just A Gent Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach. 9pm. Free. The Wall The World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. $5.

THURSDAY MAY 28 HIP HOP & R&B

Sydney Freestyle Lounge feat: Various Artists Play Bar, Surry Hills. 7:30pm. Free. Yum Yum Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 9pm. $10.

CLUB NIGHTS

Carmada Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $28.50. Number56 - feat: Steve Bug + Deepchild + Murat Kilic Secret Location, Sydney. 6pm. Free. Pool Club Thursdays feat: Resident DJs Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney. 5pm. Free. The World Bar Thursdays The World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. Free. Ugly Ducklings presented by FBi Radio & Vivid Music - feat: Sweetie & Shag Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 8pm. Free.

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FRIDAY MAY 29 HIP HOP & R&B

Friday Lite - feat: 40 Oz Bounce + Mace Dogg + Sean Dogg + Maerebach Music + 1Fm1 + Cache One + Baby Face Thrilla + Victoria Kim Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 10pm. Free. Hustler Fridays - feat: MC Shaba Hustle & Flow, Redfern. 7pm. Free. Vent@Valve - feat: Hosts Izzy & DJ Maniak + Vito + Rale + Bigredcap + BRB + Harjot Singh + T-Wreckz + J Neri + Saz + Mr Jdn + Samy Bakr Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10.

CLUB NIGHTS

Aaron Manhattan + Amanda Louise + Guests The Spice Cellar, Erskineville. 7pm. Free. Argyle Fridays - feat: Resident DJs The Argyle, The Rocks. 6pm. Free. Auntie Flo + Dreems + D&D Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 7pm. $23.50. Bassic - feat: Friction + Linguistics + Joe Ford + Rene Lavice + A-Tonez + Ellagator + The Bassix + Samrai + Rack A Mack Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 8pm. $22.60. Blvd Fridays - feat: Ember Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $13.40. Carmada Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $28.50. DJ Hudge + Coolhand Luke +

Frenzie + Cantaloop DJs Play Bar, Surry Hills. 6pm. Free. El Loco Later - feat: DJs On Rotation Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills. 10pm. Free. Factory Fridays - feat: Resident DJs Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 7pm. Free. FCX - 10 Years Of Future Classic - feat: Flume + Flight Facilities + Seekae + Hayden James + Touch Sensitive Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 4pm. $129. Feel Good Fridays Bar100, The Rocks. 5pm. Free. Fridays @ Oatley Hotel feat: DJ Keeri Oatley Hotel, Oatley. 8pm. Free. Goodgod Minceteria! feat: House Of Ladosha + Zanzibar Chanel + Victoria Kim + Sle & Bhenji Ra + Ariane + Kato Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 9pm. $40. Linda Jenssen Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly. 8pm. Free. Loco Friday - feat: Various Live Bands And DJs The Slip Inn, Sydney. 5pm. Free. Oneseventy UV White Party - feat: DJs Weaver + JTS + Haze + Sc@R + Zander + Jozzi + Round 2 Competition Winners MC Riddle & MC Whiskey Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 9pm. $20. Rare Finds - feat: Hey Geronimo + Sea Legs + Polish Club + Visions DJs + Buddy System DJs The Sly Fox, Enmore. 8pm. Free. Sean Tyas + Coming Soon +

Astral People - feat: Robert Owens + Amir Alexander + Ben Fester + Preacha Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 9pm. $40. Basic Soul Unit + D&D + Trinity + Grand Jete + James Petrou + Whitecat + Dave Stuart Burdekin Hotel, Darlinghurst. 9pm. $20. Cakes - feat: 4 Rooms Of Live Music + DJs And International Guests The World Bar, Kings Cross. 8pm. $10. Carmada Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $28.50. Dirty South Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $28.60. El Loco Later - feat: DJs On Rotation Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills. 10pm. Free. FCX - 10 Years Of Future Classic - feat: Flume + Flight Facilities + Wave Racer + George Maple + Charles Murdoch Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 4pm. $129. Infamous Saturdays - feat: Live DJs Scubar, Sydney. 7pm. Free. Justin Jay The World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. Free. Linda Jenssen Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly. 9pm. Free. Lndry - feat: Main Course + Bot + Astronomar + Neoteric + Jensen Interceptor + Stephane 1993 + Natnoiz + Kings + Marley Sherman + DJ Just

1 + Jade Le Flay + Mike Hyper Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 8pm. $22.60. Pacha - feat: Uberjak’d + Savage Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney. 6:30pm. $38. Rees Hellmers + Royaal + Venuto + I.K.O + Seiz + J-Reyes Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 9pm. Free. Sienna Saturdays - feat: Resident DJs The Establishment, Sydney. 9pm. Free. Sniff Off Party - feat: Paul Mac + Platform 19 + Hubble + Wyldestyle Red Rattler, Marrickville. 7pm. $10. The House Of Who - feat: Rotating DJs + Levins + Nacho Pop + Kato’s Wig Shop Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 8pm. Free. The Rhythm Of The Night - 90s Vivid Party - feat: Swoop (Live) + Joyride + Levins + Ariane + Shag + Charlie Chux + Gcoo + Babygirl Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 9pm. $15. Trixie Mattel + Katya Arq Nightclub, Sydney. 8pm. $25. Vivid Ersknvl - feat: Steve Bug + Murat Kilic + Phil Smart + Robbie Lowe + Gabby + Steven Sullivan + Slowblow + Kate Monroe + Amanda Louise + Guests The Spice Cellar, Erskineville. 9pm. $25.

HIP HOP & R&B

Astronomy Class + Joelistics + Ellesquire + Srey Channthy + Vida Sunshyne Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $28. The Chop - feat: Souluxe + Broke (DMC NSW Champ) + Deadly Yarranidgy + DJs Raine Supreme + Benny Hinn Play Bar, Surry Hills. 6pm. Free.

SUNDAY MAY 31 CLUB NIGHTS

La Fiesta - feat: Samantha Fox + Agee Ortiz + Av El Cubano + Resident DJ Willie Sabor The Establishment, Sydney. 8pm. Free. Recover Unit Trio + Kentami + Nad Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly. 3pm. Free. S.A.S.H Sundays Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 2pm. $10. Sounds On Sunday - feat: DJ Kieran Oatley Hotel, Oatley. 6pm. Free. Strobe Light Unicorns! - feat: Stereogamous + Guests The Spice Cellar, Erskineville. 2pm. Free. Sundays In The City - feat: Various DJs The Slip Inn, Sydney. 12pm. Free.

HIP HOP & R&B

Elefant Traks - feat: Joyride + L-Fresh The Lion + Jayteehazard + DJ Mk-1 + Adit + Dggz Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 6pm. $30.

MONDAY JUNE 1 CLUB NIGHTS

Mashup Monday - feat: Resident DJs Side Bar, Sydney. 8pm. Free.

TUESDAY JUNE 2 CLUB NIGHTS

Chu The World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. Free.

up all night out all week...

WEDNESDAY MAY 27 Just A Gent Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach. 9pm. Free.

THURSDAY MAY 28 Carmada Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $28.50.

FRIDAY MAY 29 Auntie Flo + Dreems + D&D Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 7pm. $23.50. DJ Hudge + Coolhand Luke + Frenzie + Cantaloop DJs Play Bar, Surry Hills. 6pm. Free. FCX - 10 Years Of Future Classic Feat: Flume + Flight Facilities + Seekae + Hayden James + Touch

Sensitive Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 4pm. $129. Goodgod Minceteria! - Feat: House Of Ladosha + Zanzibar Chanel + Victoria Kim + Sle & Bhenji Ra + Ariane + Kato Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 9pm. $40.

SATURDAY MAY 30 Astral People - Feat: Robert Owens + Amir Alexander + Ben Fester + Preacha Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 9pm. $40. Astronomy Class + Joelistics + Ellesquire + Srey Channthy + Vida Sunshyne Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $28. Basic Soul Unit + D&D + Trinity + Grand Jete + James Petrou + Whitecat + Dave Stuart Burdekin Hotel, Darlinghurst. 9pm. $20. Pacha - Feat: Uberjak’d

+ Savage Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney. 6:30pm. $38. The Chop - Feat: Souluxe + Broke (DMC NSW Champ) + Deadly Yarranidgy + Dj’s Raine Supreme + Benny Hinn Play Bar, Surry Hills. 6pm. Free. The Rhythm Of The Night - 90s Vivid Party - Feat: Swoop (Live) + Joyride + Levins + Ariane + Shag + Charlie Chux + Gcoo + Babygirl Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 9pm. $15. Vivid Ersknvl - Feat: Steve Bug + Murat Kilic + Phil Smart + Robbie Lowe + Gabby + Steven Sullivan + Slowblow + Kate Monroe + Amanda Louise + Guests The Spice Cellar, Erskineville. 9pm. $25.

SUNDAY MAY 31 S.A.S.H Sundays Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 2pm. $10.

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