ISSUE NO. 641 DECEMBER 2, 2015
FREE Now picked up at over 1,600 places across Sydney and surrounds. thebrag.com
MUSIC, FILM, THEATRE + MORE
INSIDE This Week
SH A K E Y GR AV E S
The Bluesfest act so big he's even got a day named after him in Texas.
JE S SIC A PR AT T
A vulnerable voice that will speak to the masses at Fairgrounds.
GRAYSON
PERRY
BIG D A DDY K A NE
Hip hop's smooth-talking and sharp-dressing legend gets cosy.
GORDI
Balancing a career in music with a medical degree can't be easy.
MONO
Japan's finest post-rock exponents are in Sydney this week.
Plus
S T E V E A L BINI L A NIE L A NE JUL I A HOLT ER MOON DUO A ND MUCH MOR E
MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE
Australian Institute of Music
Get serious with a Bachelor Degree. Trimester 1 starts 25th January 2016. The Australian Institute of Music offers courses in Contemporary Performance, Classical Performance, Audio Technology, Dramatic Arts, Music Theatre, Entertainment & Arts Management and Composition & Music Production.
Visit aim.edu.au to apply now
w
MUSIC IN SYDNEY CBD & PARRAMATTA | BUY TICKETS NOW MATTHEW E. WHITE USA
SYDNEY CBD 15 JANUARY
PARRAMATTA 16 JANUARY
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FM BELFAST & HERMIGERVILL ICELAND | AUSTRALIAN EXCLUSIVE
SYDNEY CBD 10 JANUARY
PARRAMTTA 8 JANUARY
COSMIC CAMBODIA
DAM–FUNK (LIVE)
THE CAMBODIAN SPACE PROJECT
USA
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SYDNEY CBD VENUE MERITON FESTIVAL VILLAGE HYDE PARK NORTH
mardi gras film festival
PARRAMATTA 14 JANUARY
PARRAMATTA VENUE LENNOX THEATRE RIVERSIDE
feb 18 - mar 3 2016 11 films on sale now
OPENING NIGHT SUMMERTIME
BEAUTIFUL SOMETHING
ADDICTED TO FRESNO
IN BED WITH MADONNA
THU 18 FEB 7PM
FRI 19 FEB 9.30PM
FRI 19 FEB 6.30PM
WED 24 FEB 6.30PM
Start your 2016 festival with the Australian Premiere of this luminous and sensual French film. Set among 1970’s activism in Paris, Delphine and Carol spark a romance that will forever change their lives.
Brian is a poet who can’t seem to catch a break with men. Jim is an actor who is tired of being ignored. In interweaving stories the two explore cruising, clubbing, and casual sex. A tender and sexy glimpse into the life of contemporary gay men.
Orange is the New Black’s Natasha Lyonne, and the director of But I’m a Cheerleader re-join forces in this thrilling flick about sex, murder, and sisterhood. When Shannon accidentally kills a man her lesbian sister must help her hide the body.
A 25th anniversary harbourside screening. Follow the pop powerhouse through health troubles, controversial onstage simulated masturbation, and flirtations with Antonio Banderas. Also featuring iconic concert footage.
Full program jan 14 Ticketing and more info at
queerscreen.org.au thebrag.com
BRAG :: 641 :: 02:12:15 :: 3
rock music news
the BRAG presents
welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... with Gloria Brancatisano, Sam Caldwell and Eden Gillespie
FOALS Hordern Pavilion Tuesday January 5
speed date WITH
BLOC PARTY
JACOB TROTTER FROM THE CAIROS summer, and we’re hitting the road in January for our Love Don’t Feel Right tour. In our spare time we ride pushbikes, build cars, go swimming, and talk about our feelings openly and honestly. Best Gig Ever 3. I don’t know if we could pick a favourite gig. They’re all
1.
Netflix, coriander, Mexican food, each other, and candlelit dinners for four or more. Keeping Busy 2. Lately, we’ve been spending all our time in the studio cutting transients for our upcoming sophomore LP. We’re playing a few festivals over the
Current Playlist 4. Hazel English is writing some of the best, understated pop songs around at the moment. Her track ‘Fix’ is definitely worth a listen. Last Dinosaurs released one of our favourite albums of 2015. The title track ‘Wellness’ is honestly
PARTY IN THE PADDOCK –
brilliant. We also really like the song ‘Distant Dreaming’ by Shining Bird. It’s such a great tune that features heavily in our tour van playlists. Additional honourable mentions to Winston Surfshirt, Craig David, Dreller, High-Tails, Bad//Dreems, Zeffirelli and Silicon.
ft. Violent Soho, Spiderbait, The Preatures and more Burns Creek, Tasmania Friday February 19 – Saturday February 20
GLEN MATLOCK, EARL SLICK & SLIM JIM PHANTOM
5.
Your Ultimate Rider Our current rider features beers, a bottle of spirits, fruit and gluten-free sandwiches… Our ultimate rider would probably involve personal chefs who cook breakfast foods at any time of the day. Croissants flown in direct from France. Some kind of fresh fruit juice. 100-year-old Scotch. Joyrides in an MR2. A waiter that addresses us as ‘sir’. Wi-Fi password. iPhone chargers. You know, the essentials.
Newtown Social Club Sunday February 28
STURGILL SIMPSON Metro Theatre Tuesday March 22
SHAKEY GRAVES The Basement Thursday March 31
Where: Brighton Up Bar When: Friday January 22
Of Monsters And Men will return to Australia next year. The Icelandic sensations delivered a rapturous performance at this year’s Splendour In The Grass, and have since played at the likes of New York’s Beacon Theatre and LA’s (get him to the) Greek Theatre, along with an appearance at Austin City Limits. Currently in the midst of a huge European and UK tour (including two sold-out London Brixton Academy shows last month), 2016 will bring Lollapalooza appearances, South African festival performances and now an Australian tour. Catch them on Sunday May 1 at the Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House.
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: Gloria Brancatisano, James Di Fabrizio, Eden Gillespie, Tegan Reeves, Aaron Streatfeild ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant COVER PHOTOGRAPHER: Pal Hanson PHOTOGRAPHERS: Katrina Clarke, Ashley Mar ADVERTISING: Les White - 0405 581 125 / (02) 9212 4322 les@thebrag.com Tony Pecotic - (02) 9212 4322 tony@thebrag.com
Of Monsters And Men 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 GIG & CLUB GUIDE COORDINATOR: Sarah Bryant - gigguide@thebrag.com (rock); clubguide@thebrag.com (dance, hip hop & parties) AWESOME INTERNS: Elias Kwiet, Tegan Reeves, Aaron Streatfeild, Eden Gillespie REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Nat Amat, Prudence Clark, Tom Clift, Joseph Earp, Christie Eliezer, Tegan Jones, Lachlan Kanoniuk, Emily Meller, David Molloy, Annie Murney, Adam Norris, George Nott, Daniel Prior, Kate Robertson, Natalie Rogers, Erin Rooney, Spencer Scott, Natalie Salvo, Leonardo Silvestrini, Jade Smith, Lucy Watson, 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
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THE BRAG
4 :: BRAG :: 641 :: 02:12:15
EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
Kiwi noise punk outfit Die! Die! Die! have an upcoming EP, and they’ll traverse the ditch for a tour Down Under to celebrate. Set to drop this Friday December 4, What Did You Expect is follows up from 2014 LP S W I M, and sees the trio further cement its place as seasoned authorities on noise rock with its solid melodies that shine through all the chaos. Catch our cousins from Dunedin as they gallivant down the east coast, stopping at Newtown’s Waywards on Saturday January 23.
HOLY MOLY
Everyone’s favourite new pop duo Holy Holy have announced a national tour for January to kick off at Sydney’s Oxford Art Factory. And on top of that announcement comes the news that the band will be giving away a free track to those who buy tickets to a show, an album or some merch from now until the tour kicks off. Said song, ‘The Constitution’, was an original contender for the duo’s latest record, When The Storms Would Come. Oscar Dawson and Tim Carroll are coming home off the back off their second European tour, which was well received by critics and fans alike. Joining Holy Holy on the tour will be synthpop up-and-comer Olympia and Canadian alt-folk/pop group The Franklin Electric. See it all go down on Friday January 15.
HEY, ALEXANDRIA...?
British metal band Asking Alexandria are set to return to Sydney in 2016 for the first time since Soundwave 2014, and new frontman Denis Stoff will be take centre stage. Joining Stoff and the rest of the outfit will be Phoenix metalcore group Blessthefall and Australia’s own metal royalty, Buried In Verona. Expect more screaming vocals and heavy, chugging electric guitars when Asking Alexandria and mates hit the UNSW Roundhouse on Friday April 15.
PET ANNIVERSARY
The Beach Boys’ frontman Brian Wilson is set to perform at the Sydney Opera House to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Pet Sounds next year. Wilson is known for his sun-drenched ’60s Californian pop, but seeing him live brings a rare opportunity to strip away the thick Beach Boys harmonies and focus on his single melody line. There will, however, still be the chance to see some of The Beach Boys together in the same room. Wilson’s long-time friends and old-time Beach Boys Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplin will also perform on the night, accompanied by a nine-piece band. Feel all the good vibrations at the Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House on Tuesday March 29.
on Tuesday March 22. Forefathers of the experimental and avant-garde The Residents are returning Down Under for the first time in a decade for the festival, and will play the Factory Theatre on Thursday March 24. Detroit native and blues powerhouse Janiva Magness is doing a string of intimate sideshows, and will be at the Factory Theatre on Monday March 28. LA-based group Lord Huron are making their maiden voyage Down Under in 2016, and they’ll play the Factory Theatre as well on Monday March 28. Californian rock’n’roll outfit Lukas Nelson and Promise Of The Real arrive at the Factory Theatre on Monday March 28, while Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats are coming to the Metro Theatre on Thursday March 31. Finally, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Taj Mahal is set to take the stage with an intimate solo show at the Factory Theatre on Friday April 1.
The Jezabels
JOYFUL TIMES
Vance Joy will play his biggest headline shows to date when he brings his Fire and The Flood Tour to the east coast next April. The Australian dates will follow a run of shows across North America, which follows the 64 dates he’s already done in the United States and Canada this year supporting Taylor Swift. Joining Joy for all shows on the tour will be local duo Holy Holy, who released their debut album When The Storms Would Come earlier this year. See Vance Joy and the Holy Holy boys when they play the Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House on Sunday April 24.
SIDESHOW NEWS FOR BLUESFEST
As the excitement (and bill) grows for Bluesfest 2016, so too has the number of sideshows set to hit our fair city in autumn. New York guitar slinger Lucky Peterson is all set for his comeback performance at Bluesfest, and has locked in his first Sydney show in decades at The Basement
THE JEZABELS ARE ALIVE
With The Jezabels’ third album, Synthia, set to drop on Friday February 12, the indie rockers have announced they’ll be heading around the country to celebrate. And given the four-piece spent the last 18 months off the road writing and recording for the release, it’s cause for all of us to celebrate too. The album’s first official single will come early next year, but fans have been given a first taste of what’s to come with six-minute track ‘Come Alive’. The tour will take the band to five major cities around the country, starting in Melbourne and finishing up in Perth, with a Sydney date at the Enmore Theatre on Wednesday March 2.
thebrag.com
The Jezabels photo by Cybele Malinowski
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
BLUESFEST LINEUP GROWS
Just when you thought Bluesfest 2016 couldn’t get any bigger. Headlined by R&B megastar D’Angelo and The Vanguard, the latest announcement also includes Cold War Kids, Hiatus Kaiyote, Houndmouth, Fantastic Negrito, Con Brio, Kaleo, Mike Love, The Bros. Landreth, Kim Churchill, Mojo Juju, Pierce Brothers, Harts and Steve Smyth. They join the likes of Brian Wilson, Taj Mahal, The Residents, Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats, Shooglenifty, The National, City And Colour, reggae legends UB40 featuring Ali Campbell, Astro and Mickey Virtue, blues rock maestro Joe Bonamassa and Grammy Award-winning group Tedeschi Trucks Band. Bluesfest 2016 will take place from Thursday March 24 – Monday March 28, just north of Byron Bay at Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm.
Sunn O))) photo by Peter Beste
HOLD YOUR HORSES
Shakey Graves photo by Jarred Gastriech
special in different ways. We played an amazing show with the beautiful Nova Heart at Yugong Yishan in Beijing last year. Cargo Bar in Vietnam was another good one – we got to play three encores and ate the best pho of our lives. Your Profile Hello. We’re The Cairos. We play dreamy pop music by day, and sultry, hot buttered soul jams by night. We sound like Kevin Shields having a passiveaggressive disagreement with Isaac Hayes about The Beatles. We like swimming holes, nature walks, long road trips, sunbaking,
Enmore Theatre Thursday January 7
EXPOSE YOUR MUSIC TO OVER 100,000 CUSTOMERS A WEEK AT SYDNEY’S LARGEST MARKETS 9325 6297 • 9325 6213 RETAINER AND MERCHANDISE STALL AVAILABLE
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BRAG :: 641 :: 02:12:15 :: 5
live & local
free stuff
welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... with Gloria Brancatisano, Eden Gillespie and Tegan Reeves
head to: thebrag.com/freeshit Rae Howell_Credit – Anne Skilbeck
five things WITH
KEVIN STARRS FROM UNCLE ACID AND THE DEADBEATS Inspirations 2. Neil Young, Tony Iommi, Steve Harris, Blackie Lawless, each member of The Beatles. There’s loads, but I’ve always liked musicians who do whatever they want regardless of trends or anything like that. People that stick to their convictions. Your Band 3. I’m the singer and lead guitar player; we have Yotam Rubinger on vocals and rhythm
listening to The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, The Pogues, The Dubliners… all stuff that I still listen to. It gave me an appreciation of good melody and harmony at a young age, which hugely influenced my songwriting approach.
The Music You Make 4. Everyone calls themselves ‘psych rock’ these days and we get thrown into that as well sometimes, but I like to think of our music more as psycho rock. I suppose that just means psychos playing rock! We recorded our last album mostly at Toe Rag Studios in London,
Music, Right Here, Right Now 5. The music scene has plenty of great bands knocking around. The problem is getting people to hear them. The rock press would rather write another story about the making of Led Zeppelin III than to talk about upcoming bands. It all comes down to money in the end and if you’re a small band on an indie label it makes things that much more difficult. We’ve done things the more organic way, in that our fan base isn’t bought in magazine advertisements and PR bullshit, it’s come together by fans spreading the word among themselves. I saw Bohren and Der Club Of Gore recently and their low lighting and minimal stage set-up was incredible. They pretty much played in darkness, which was quite inspiring and something I’ve always wanted to do. What: The Night Creeper out now through Rise Above With: Grinding Eyes Where: Oxford Art Factory When: Friday December 11
ARCHIE ROACH AND FRIENDS
25 years ago, indigenous musician Archie Roach released his album Charcoal Lane, which went gold and won him two ARIAs as well as an international Human Rights Achievement Award. A year on, in 1991, the side project of David Bridie and Helen Mountfort, My Friend The Chocolate Cake, dropped their eponymous debut album and have since seen seven more records and years of high-profile tour dates. The decades of friendship between these acts would witness several collaborations and even have Bridie produce Roach’s second album, Jamu Dreaming. Now, for the first time in 20 years, they will come together in a double bill to mark 25 years of friendship and great music under the iconic sails at the Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House. Take a walk down memory lane and celebrate these Australian icons’ careers on Saturday January 9.
Lunatics On Pogosticks
SLYDE ON IN
YOUR MATES ON TOUR
After 2014’s EP Sleeping Till The Weekend, Byron-Bay-via-Melbourne’s Lunatics On Pogosticks have put their loony antics to the side to work extensively on their debut album. The first result is new single ‘MDMAtes’, a track that reeks of the dingy, dark corners of the Aussie pub rock scene. Lunatics On Pogosticks hit the scene after winning triple j Unearthed High back in 2013, and have since played such festivals as Falls and Farmer & The Owl, and supported the likes of DZ Deathrays, Jebediah and Grinspoon. They’ll be bringing ‘MDMAtes’ to Brighton Up Bar on Saturday February 20.
PREP FOR THE PLOT
Parramatta’s very own music festival The Plot is all set for its return, and organisers definitely hadn’t lost the plot (or maybe they had) when they locked in a huge bill of local and international artists. This Saturday December 5, punters will have the chance to see the likes of Tkay Maidza, Tuka, Urthboy, UV Boi, Art Vs Science, Ngaiire, Asta, Basenji,
THEIR NAME IS LUCA
6 :: BRAG :: 641 :: 02:12:15
Luca Brasi
THE FINAL CONFESSION
This January will see Confession take one final bow, embarking on a month-long tour to see out their career. Following on from frontman Michael Crafter’s stints in I Killed The Prom Queen, Bury Your Dead and Carpathian, he formed Confession in 2008 as a last-ditch effort to see the world through music. Countless tours of Australia with the likes of Parkway Drive, A Day To Remember, The Amity Affliction, Deez Nuts and more were followed up with spots on the Warped and Soundwave tours, as well as international journeys throughout Europe, Japan and South
Chris Martin and co. are back in business. Coldplay, undoubtedly one of the world’s biggest bands, have emerged from the recording studio with their seventh album, A Head Full Of Dreams. Already, ‘Adventure Of A Lifetime’ has given fans a taste of the band’s new technicolour direction, an enthusiastic update to the introspective sound of 2014’s Ghost Stories. Helping the cause across the record are a bunch of special guests, including Beyoncé, Noel Gallagher, Tove Lo and Merry Clayton. Coldplay have recaptured the beat, and the fruits of their labour will be available for you to own on Friday December 4 via Parlophone/Warner. We’ve got fi ve copies of A Head Full Of Dreams to give away to the biggest Coldplay fans we can fi nd. Head to thebrag.com/freeshit and tell us why that’s you.
East Asia. Confession will take over UTS Underground on Saturday January 30.
VANDALISM IN NEWTOWN
Following the release of the video for her new single, ‘End Of Time’, Ecca Vandal has announced a seven-date headline tour for next February and March. The tour will follow a summer that sees Vandal supporting Young Fathers as well as playing slots at Port Macquarie’s Festival Of The Sun and Tasmania’s Party In The Paddock. ‘End Of Time’ is the first single of Ecca Vandal’s that does not feature a distorted guitar, and is instead injected with gritty, pulsing, danceable beats, showcasing Vandal’s anti-genre persona. Joining her on the road will be Brisbane punk-infused rockers Waax. Catch Vandal when she plays Newtown Social Club on Friday March 4.
SMAC MY LINEUP UP
As if the first lineup for FBi’s new-look SMACs Festival on Sunday January 10 wasn’t enough to get excited about – featuring the likes of Cosmo’s Midnight, Tuka, Vallis Alps and Shining Bird – the guys and gals at the radio station have outdone themselves again, announcing a second list of killer acts to be added to the bill. Perhaps the most intriguing addition to the bill is that of DJ Albo – AKA our Federal Shadow Minister for Transport and Tourism, Anthony Albanese. Technicolour superstar Wave Racer will join surfer gronks Hockey Dad, singer-songwriter Montaigne and shape-shifting dance performer Bhenji Ra alongside a slew of other artists. Check out the full lineup at thebrag.com.
A VERY SOCIAL CHRISTMAS PARTY
Mark Wednesday December 23 as a night of stellar local music in your diary, because Newtown Social Club is hosting its Christmas party. The lineup includes Avoid Island, Good Counsel Music, Keyring Jeans, The High Ceilings and DJ Dion (Palms). Young Henrys and Archie Rose Distilling Co. will be there to make sure your whistle is wet, with doors opening at 7pm. Entry is free, so get down early.
AUSTRALIAN CRAWLEY
Lisa Crawley
Melbourne singer-songwriter Lisa Crawley has launched her newest EP Up In The Air along with a string of gigs on her nationwide tour. Crawley’s EP was produced by Ryan Ritchie, who has previously worked with the likes of Kimbra on ‘Cameo Lover’. Up In The Air is a five-song collection that documents Crawley’s time globetrotting over the past few years. She’ll be in town on Thursday December 17 to perform at Petersham Bowling Club.
thebrag.com
Luca Brasi photo by Ian Laidlaw
In the lead-up to their third album, Luca Brasi have dropped a new single and announced a run of national tour dates for next January. The new track, ‘Aeroplane’, is a taste of what’s to come from the follow-up to 2014’s By A Thread. This year, the Tassie punks have toured alongside acts including Violent Soho, Kisschasy, Title Fight and You Me At Six, as well as playing killer slots at the Poison City Weekender, St Kilda Festival, Party In The Paddock and The Hills Are Alive. They’ll play six shows around the country, accompanied by Sydney post-hardcore band Endless Heights and UK punks Brawlers. Get to Goodgod Small Club on Friday January 29.
The Griswolds and triple j Unearthed winner Sampa The Great (just to name a few) when they descend upon the Monument grasslands at Parramatta Park. The fest will also feature stalls from local foodies, such as Emmy’s Gozleme, Hillbilly Cider, Taj’s Indian Masala and many more, and past plotters are able to purchase tickets at the same price they did in 2013.
The good people over at Newtown’s Slyfox have a big week ahead of them with a stellar lineup for Thursday’s Live At The Sly. This time, the show will be headlined by Inês, who promises a futuristic exploration of sounds from the past including jazz, soul and R&B. She’ll be joined by local duo Yum Yum, AKA producer Jayo and vocalist Natalie Slade, and soul/R&B singer Jerome Fandor, who dropped his debut EP Utopia at the end of 2014. Boogie down at Slyfox on Thursday December 3.
COLDPLAY
Coldplay photo by Julia Kennedy
Growing Up 1. We always had good music playing in the house and in the car. I can remember
guitar, Itamar Rubinger on drums and Vaughn Stokes on bass. Funny enough, we all met in a hotel lobby. Usually I like to do things DIY, so I like to keep the production, mixing, art design all in-house. A lot of bands don’t care about their artwork, but for me it’s a big deal. It all needs to tie in with the music, so I’m really fussy about who I chose to work with in that respect. We have a few really good artists that we use for merch designs that I know I can always trust. We worked with two great engineers on this album in Liam Watson and Luke Oldfield, neither of whom had worked with us before, but they both did a great job in capturing the raw sound of the band.
which has been used by The White Stripes, Tame Impala and hundreds of other bands. In terms of our live show, don’t expect pyro, bright lights or much talking – we creep around in the shadows and just go for it. I would say our contemporaries are bands like Blood Ceremony and Danava, who are both incredible live and on record.
DECEMBER 11TH—13TH 2015 FRI 10AM—8PM SAT 10AM—6PM SUN 11AM—5PM 537 CROWN STREET, SURRY HILLS 2010 @NIQUECLOTHING
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BRAG :: 641 :: 02:12:15 :: 7
Industrial Strength Music Industry News with Christie Eliezer
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THINGS WE HEAR * Which punk band bailed out at the last minute from a video shoot in which the members were required to be in a tub of worms? * Last weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s X Factor grand final drew just 1.204 million metro viewers (down from 1.42m last year and 2.43m in 2013), and the ARIAs got 461,000, down from 574,000 last year. * Why has the Guns Nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Roses website introduced new merchandise featuring the bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s original lineup? * Did Taylor Swift change her mind at the last minute and not attend the ARIAs because sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d been busy shooting a video in the Blue Mountains? * Is German-owned media giant Bauer eyeing a $1 billion takeover of radio network Southern Cross Austereo (Hits, 2Day FM, Triple M)? * Adeleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 25 album, which reached triple platinum in Australia in five days, set new records for most sales
in the first week in the US (knocking off NSYNC) and in the UK (topping Oasis). * In between a public attack on their local promoter HiphopTV over their cancelled Australian visit due to low ticket sales (including posting its ownerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mobile number), US hip hoppers The Outlawz have set the ball rolling on a movie about 2Pac. * Going viral online is footage of a man in a wheelchair crowd-surfing at a Parkway Drive show in North Carolina, then falling off after half a minute. * Fear Factory were the third band in a week to be involved in a crash on their tour bus. This time it was in Germany at 4:30am and in the snow. No-one was hurt. * During a Brisbane court hearing of two men over the murder of a woman and her kids years ago, a man giving evidence revealed that one of the accused paid him and others $500 to burn down the Torinoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nightclub in the â&#x20AC;&#x2122;70s â&#x20AC;&#x153;for an insurance
jobâ&#x20AC;? because â&#x20AC;&#x153;the nightclub wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t doing too wellâ&#x20AC;?. * A British PhD student named the fireworm fossil â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a marine relative of earthworms and leeches â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the Rollinschaeta myoplena in honour of Henry Rollins, as the organism was a â&#x20AC;&#x153;muscly beastâ&#x20AC;?. * Jarryd James and Meg Mac are co-headlining dates in Sydney this month, while Melbourne and Brisbane are now sold out. * INXSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Tim Farriss and wife Bethany have sold their nine-hectare farm, Bowerbrook, in the picturesque Kangaroo Valley on the NSW South Coast for $800,000. * Out of the 5,000 people who attended Strawberry Fields festival, 200 were nicked for drugs including ecstasy, LSD and magic mushrooms. * A Florida police officer has been fired after he sung with a death metal band while on duty because the force didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want the public â&#x20AC;&#x153;to be in fearâ&#x20AC;? of him.
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15 NAMED FOR AMINâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S RELEASE PROGRAM The 15 participants in the Australian Music Industry Network (AMIN)â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s six-month, fivestage business development program for independent labels, Release, had their first workshop in Victoriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hepburn Springs last weekend, moderated by business strategy consultant Mariel Beros. Mentors in the program will include Andy Bryan of Stop Start) and lawyer Julia Kosky, Terry McBride of Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Nettwerk and New Zealand artist manager Craig Pearce. 12 of the participants are from Australia, and the other three from NZ. Victoria has the most: Joseph Alexander, Katie Besgrove, Tristan Ludowyk, Mark Monnone, Huw Nolan and Hamish Mitchell. Sydneysiders Neil Hunt and Andrew Stone join David Crowe and Jalyay Jaja Thompson from Alice Springs, with Mace Francis from Canberra and Trina Massey from Brisbane.
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Aside from The X Factor winner Cyrus Villanueva, Sony Music Entertainment Australia has also signed runners-up Louise Adams, a former Mt. Gambier lawyer, and Sydney duo Jess & Matt. Both acts have released their debut singles.
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The eight winners of this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s APRA AMCOS Professional Development Awards were announced at the rights associationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s headquarters in Ultimo. Chosen by 1,200 songwriters and composers, the artists getting $15,000 each included three from the Popular Contemporary contemporary (Timothy Carroll of Holy Holy, Ngaiire, Jack Carty) and Ruby Boots (Country), who admitted she thanked APRA AMCOS â&#x20AC;&#x153;every three monthsâ&#x20AC;? when her royalty cheques came in; Briggs (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander), who said heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d use the money for his Bad Apples label; Peter McNamara (Classical); Aaron Kenny (Film and Television); and Jeremy Rose (Jazz). The inaugural Indigenous Music and Media Award went to Marcus Corowa.
ENGLISH, DONLEVY JOIN AMPAL BOARD
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Music Sales managing director Jane English and Matthew Donlevy of Frankdon Music have been elected to the AMPAL (Australasian Music Publishers Association Limited) board. Re-elected were Bob Aird of Universal Music Publishing, Simon Moor from Kobalt and Philip Walker from Origin Music. AMPAL is also looking for a new general manager after Jeremy Fabinyi steps down in the New Year. The one-time Festival Records head took over the role in 2012 after returning from ten years in Europe.
VIVID SYDNEY WINS AWARDâ&#x20AC;Ś At the Australian Event Awards, Vivid Sydney beat Byron Bayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bluesfest for Best Tourism
Event while the Argyle Diamonds Ord Valley Muster in Ord Valley won Best Regional Event over Blues On Broadbeach, Falls Marion Bay and Bluesfest. The Glow Winter Arts Festival (City of Stonnington) took Best New Event. Best Achievement in Venue Management went to Luna Park Sydney.
â&#x20AC;ŚAND SO DOES BLUESFEST
Lifelines Ill: Louisiana rapper Lil Boosie, 33, is battling kidney cancer. Hospitalised: MotĂśrhead guitarist Phil Campbell, no reason given, forcing them to blow out a Berlin show at the last minute. Injured: The Word Alive singer Telle Smith broke his back stagediving in Pomona, California, but says it was worth it as the crowd had been real thirsty. Ill: All Shall Perish fans have rallied around Craig Betit and his infant daughter for her medical bills. She was born with â&#x20AC;&#x153;vascular abnormalitiesâ&#x20AC;?, and the fans ended up raising double the funds he asked for. Injured: Cast drummer Keith Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Neill was beaten by security at a show in England as he tried to get friends backstage to sign items. Arrested: two men will face court in February after being caught in separate incidents sneaking into Sydney Olympic Park before the weekendâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Stereosonic festival to allegedly drill drugs into buildings before the security fences went up. Jailed: an Adelaide gym owner for three-and-a-half years for manslaughter, after his display of â&#x20AC;&#x153;late-night bravadoâ&#x20AC;?. Last May outside the Apple nightclub, he punched and killed a 44-year-old man who was abusing security staff for throwing him out.
Bluesfest won its third gold at the 26th NSW Tourism Awards in Sydney last week in the Major Festival and Event category. Tamworth Country Music got silver and Vivid Sydney bronze. Bluesfest director Peter Noble, who thanked his team, said the honour was greater considering three headliners pulled out at the last minute.
Died: Cynthia Robinson, co-founder and trumpeter for Sly and The Family Stone, after a six-month battle with cancer. In 1993 she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as the first female and first AfricanAmerican trumpet player.
WANNA HOST A ONE NIGHT STAND?
Died: Sylvia Choi, 25, a qualified pharmacist from Oyster Bay, in hospital after a reported drug overdose at Stereosonic Sydney.
Want triple j to host the One Night Stand concert in your town next year? Get on its website to share info about your area and how hosting the concert will make a difference. Meanwhile, digital media ranking system Brand Data reports that in recent months, triple j was the biggest radio brand for online engagement (not volume of traffic). YouTube gave triple j the largest engagement â&#x20AC;&#x201C; an average of 259,000 activities tracked in a 24-hour period â&#x20AC;&#x201C; while the station has 417,000 Twitter followers. Triple j has a combined 1.74 million listeners on all its platforms. This year it had a 7 per cent market share in the five major capitals, up from 5 per cent last year.
BARELY DRESSED/REMOTE CONTROL SIGN OH PEP!
OPEN DAY FOR OXFORD CREATIVE ACADEMY The Oxford Creative Academy, which offers music skills courses, is hosting an open day on Saturday December 5 at its studio at 8 Hercules Street, Surry Hills. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s offering five courses from February, each lasting 12 weeks: Basics, Songwriting, Music Production, Audio Engineering and Business Entertainment. The open day includes a mixing demonstration, a studio tour, enrolment info, an industry talk from The A&R Departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Matt Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connor and Q&A sessions.
Barely Dressed Records and Remote Control have signed Melbourne indie-folksters Oh Pep! Band members Olivia Hally and Pepita Emmerichs met at the Victorian College of the Arts, where they studied jazz and classical music respectively. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve won awards at Folk Alliance Australia and played Americana Music Festival and CMJ in the US. Their debut EP Living is out now on iTunes and Spotify.
NEW VISA SERVICES COMPANY SETS UP
NEW LIVE VENUE IN MARRICKVILLE
SECURITY INCREASED AT CONCERTS
On its tenth anniversary, Rowena Crittleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mammoth agency and merchandising company has set up a 350-capacity live music venue/creative space at its Marrickville office, 22-24 Cook Road. Acts can play, showcase and hold signings there.
3.2 MILLION AUSSIES ACCESS DIGITAL RADIO Market researcher GfKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s latest DAB+ Digital Radio Report shows that almost 3.2 million Australians have embraced digital radio since it was introduced six years ago. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 40 per cent of Aussies in major capital cities. According to the report, 1.33 million people tune specifically to digital stations while 2.36 million listeners tune in to DAB+ simulcasts of AM and FM stations in five capital cities.
OKRA Migration is a new entertainment visa advice and services company for artists and tour personnel looking to travel to and perform or work in Australia. A registered migration agent will take the hassles out of the visa process and organise visas. Contact Tom Noonan at info@okramigration.com or okramigration.com.
In the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, the US and European live sectors have started to take security more seriously, with more police and searches immediately introduced. But it is accepted that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard to safeguard clubs worldwide: metal detectors are expensive, bouncers are more worried about drunken behaviour than bombers, and clubs have back and side entrances for load-ins and load-outs, which make security a nightmare. The heads of three Australian promoters â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Live Nation, Frontier and Chugg Entertainment â&#x20AC;&#x201C; told the BRAG they were working with venues and the police on future strategies. The immediate moves from this month, at least for major international shows, are bans on backpacks and large bags, and pat-downs for those wearing bulky clothing. thebrag.com
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CONTEMPORARY OF BODY AND MIND
BY ADAM NORRIS
GRAYSON PERRY I
n addition to having a name divinely suited to the detective novels he reads to unwind, Grayson Perry is about as colourful as they come. The Turner Prize-winning artist has been celebrated across the globe, and now the Museum of Contemporary Art is staging the very first major exhibition of Perry’s work in the Southern Hemisphere. Best known for his vibrant, occasionally explicit ceramics, the recently appointed Chancellor of the University of the Arts London has been at the forefront of contemporary art for decades. Yet as he explains, the composite of Grayson Perry – between his transvestism, his art, his scholarly work, his private life – is a complicated, overlapping affair, and what he is best known for today may not stay that way forever.
form the voices of ‘Yes, this is art, and this is good.’ It’s a field you need to move through strategically and somewhat intuitively. “If there’s one phrase that fills me with dread, it’s ‘global culture’. That’s a disastrous idea – I don’t think any artist should ever worry about that. I’ve just been putting together my talk for the Opera House, and I quote W.H. Auden who said, ‘A poet’s hope: to be, like some valley cheese, local, but prized elsewhere.’” Perry laughs. “That’s how I see it. You make work for who you are, where you are, when you are. Raphael, Picasso, they didn’t worry about being a global artist. They just got on with doing what they were in response to the world they inhabited. Of course, there are now certain sorts of artists who are very much global figures, and increasingly we’re seeing a style of international ‘superstar art’, you might call it.”
“We all have a portmanteau identity,” Perry reflects. “All of us are parents, children, brothers, sisters, colleagues, playmates. I have a whole series of identities – it’s something I’ve looked into. There’s a kind of hierarchy of who we are. Gender, for instance, is very fundamental to the sense of who you are, whereas something like, say, our level of education is a bit more superficial. There are many different influences on who you are, so I always imagine I’m a kind of group of people. Have you seen the last Pixar film, Inside Out? It’s great. I think that’s rather what it’s like – we all have a bit of a boardroom in our head, each person trying to be in control.” A great number of interviews and essays on Perry tend to open with a variation on the phrase, “Artist and transvestite Grayson Perry…”, as though they are very distinct aspects who only ever meet at family holidays. But across Perry the ceramic artist, Perry the artist in tapestry and paper, Perry the transvestite, Perry the guy who does the Sunday crosswords, there remains a common font. He is an artist driven to create, but it is a compulsion he has found must be cultivated and encouraged. “You have to be disciplined. No artist ever gets anywhere without being disciplined; it’s the only way to get things done. The idea of some chaotic Bohemia is a nice myth, but I don’t think it really exists. You’re not going to climb the greasy pole of the art world that way. What I’m very interested in is the mechanics of the art world. I think people think that art just kind of appears somehow, that it’s all just very natural and easy. But nothing is natural and easy – it’s all very self-conscious, it’s often a grind. “There’s this idea that anything that makes its way into a gallery is art. I remember a couple of decades ago, photography was everywhere in the art world; it seemed like every second exhibition was photography. And the tide of that has to a certain extent receded, and some photographers made it. Some, of course, didn’t.”
“You have curators probably at the head of the table; somebody once described them as the Popes of art. The curators of big museums have a lot of power, they can give that stamp of authority. The MCA having my exhibition now, that’s a big stamp of authority for me [and] my validation as an artist. From there you have dealers and collectors, other artists, teachers, the media. All these people
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“You make work for who you are, where you are, when you are. Raphael, Picasso, they didn’t worry about being a global artist. They just got on with doing what they were in response to the world they inhabited.”
“I know I’ve said a few clumsy things. I think I phrased it wrong. I’m really just interested in the way things become contemporary art, because lots of things sort of shuffle into the contemporary art world, and some make it and some don’t. I’ve talked a lot about it in my lectures, how things become art. When I talk about Aboriginal art, I should have been more specific, and I was thinking of the more traditional style of dot paintings on canvas. I’m not saying all Aboriginal art can’t secure a foothold in contemporary art. An Aboriginal person who goes to art school is just as likely to become a contemporary artist as anyone else. “You’re dealing with a very oppressed minority, so the normal rules don’t apply. The rough-and-tumble of cultural dialogue perhaps needs to be shelved, and I think I made a bit of a boo-boo there. But I’m quite happy to talk it through with anyone who wants to talk about it.” Though his own work has been heralded for its autobiographical nature, these days Perry is less inclined to mine his own life for inspiration. Rather, he prefers to turn to the world at large, to find creative sustenance in unexpected places. At the end of the day, though, it still comes down to dedication and faith. “I quite often have a fairly well-resolved vision of what something is going to be. An out-of-focus, slightly hazy vision from the off, and the difficult process is trying to bring that into focus. All of the detail, the practicalities. Often an idea will be mostly complete, but sometimes I have to hack away at it for ages, trying different versions to get it right. But it’s all organic, there’s no real method. You just have to be good at spotting when things are happening, to treat your ideas with respect and not dismiss them.” What: Grayson Perry: My Pretty Little Art Career Where: Museum of Contemporary Art When: Thursday December 10 – Sunday May 1
thebrag.com
Grayson Perry photo by Pal Hanson
It is an old punchline these days: the person admiring a sculpture on the wall of a gallery, only to discover it is actually the air conditioner. ‘Art’ is a complicated word, and the ways in which a piece attains cultural significance can be labyrinthine. Perry’s first exhibition of ceramics was back in 1983, and as his career and canvas have expanded, he has witnessed the development of contemporary art – and the ways in which it is validated – from close quarters.
With My Pretty Little Art Career set to open next week, already Perry has found himself in contentious water. Having visited the Royal Academy’s 2013 survey exhibition of Australian art and the Indigenous Australia exhibition at the British Museum, he commented on the appropriateness of indigenous art being considered contemporary. When it is a continuation of a very long tradition, he seemed to suggest, can it still be discussed and showcased in a contemporary art context? It was a question that received an immediate backlash here in Australia, taking Perry sadly by surprise.
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SAT 27 FEB METRO THEATRE Single Launch - 9 Piece Roots Reggae Band NORTH OF THE HARBOUR: Sunday 6th DEC STEYNE HOTEL, MANLY
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Gordi Music As Medicine By Joseph Earp for me a real part of the process,” she says. That said, as Gordi started playing more shows, including international dates and appearances at the Bigsound conference in Brisbane, she did begin to feel a little strange about performing such emotive songs publicly. “I often think about how funny it is that it’s something that I started out doing for myself that lots of people are listening to … It is such a personal thing,” she admits. But recent advice, imparted by a friend, gave her a fresh perspective. Although the writing of the songs still has personal, cathartic significance, she accepts the tunes become something else when released into the world. “You’re putting this thing out there for [listeners] to interpret for themselves,” she says.
A
t just 15 years of age, Sophie Payten experienced a revelation. “Nothing had ever captured my interest as much,” she says now. “I thought it was really cool.” Those who know Payten as acclaimed folk-pop artist Gordi, the musician behind tracks like the layered ‘Can We Work It Out’, might be surprised to hear it wasn’t music that so struck a chord with her way back then – it was the human body. On that day, in the middle of a science lesson, Payten’s relationship with medicine began. Not that music wasn’t there for her. “[It’s] always been there … I sort of never really thought it was a realistic option.” Payten wrote her first song when she was 13, and performed in eisteddfods and at
family gatherings throughout her childhood. But even then, a career as a musician seemed – though not necessarily unattainable – simply not a workable goal. “Music has always been a fantasy,” she says. That was until 12 months ago, when Payten began “refining” the image she projected as Gordi. She began actively considering the press shots she used and the shows she played, working to create a cohesive sense of who she was as a musician. At the same time, she started uploading future folk numbers like ‘Nothing’s As It Seems’ and ‘Taken Blame’ to triple j Unearthed – songs that combine trembling acoustic work, dashes of electronica and Payten’s own striking voice.
But even as she sent her music out into the world, Payten was still not necessarily thinking about any kind of specific audience. The songs are “100 per cent” autobiographical, and Payten considers writing them a kind of therapy. Her music is deeply based within her own life, to the extent where her friends often grill her on the specifics of certain lyrics. “I’ve always thought that the best songs come from a real place,” she says. “It’s always telling some sort of story about something I’ve been through.” ‘Taken Blame’, in particular, is about “a really awful personal experience”, and writing the tune was part of her recovery. “Whether it’s grieving about a relationship or grieving about something else, it’s always
Payten often receives messages from fans through her Facebook page, as strangers reveal to her that her music has gotten them through a particularly rough time. It’s interactions like these that Payten relishes almost as much as the experience of playing live; that unique opportunity musicians get to deeply and significantly connect with their audience. “I really do love [performing],” she says, her voice full of very genuine warmth. “If things are getting a bit stressful, I just have to remind myself that if I wasn’t doing this, I wouldn’t get that chance.” And, as Payten readily admits, things do get stressful. She’s now in her fourth year of studying medicine, juggling the dreaded med exams and headline dates in Sydney and Melbourne. Although her busy periods as a musician always seem to overlap with the pressures of standardised testing,
she says it’s all manageable. In fact, in some ways, it’s a blessing. Upon her return from her recent stint at CMJ in New York, she realised how much she had missed the normality one has to abandon when they tour. “I loved the experience, but weirdly enough it made me sort of realise that I do want a job,” she says. “Not a five-day-a-week job, just something normal to come back to.” Her plan – she laughs at the suggestion it might be “concrete” – is to release her debut EP in February next year, return to studies, and then eventually take some time off from uni in order to really promote the work. She’s proud of the EP, and as a selfdescribed “big picture” person, took joy in constructing the finished whole. “On any sort of record you have big moments and little moments, and I feel like we’ve done that with the tracklist we’ve got.” Indeed, the release will be something of a summation of her work over the last year. “An EP needs to be a crosssection of what you represent,” she says. It always comes back to the work for Payten. Amidst the award nominations, the critical notices and the stresses of juggling her medicine and her music, what matters is the songs and why she writes them. She still thinks back to being 13 and the music she wrote then; the ability it gave her to manage what she might not have otherwise been able to manage. Not much has changed after all. “That’s what it’s always been about,” she admits with a gentle laugh. “Getting through something.” Where: Goodgod Small Club When: Thursday December 10
Lanie Lane The Comeback Kid By Adam Norris
W
hen Lanie Lane announced her retirement from the world of performance, it took many people by surprise. Over four years, seven singles and two albums, she had charmed countless fans and even found herself recording alongside the likes of Jack White. But the constant pressure of life on the road, combined with the emotional sacrifices a life in music can demand, led to Lane bowing out from the spotlight indefinitely. Now she’s back, and much sooner than anticipated, thanks largely to the courtship of the Woodford Folk Festival. Between the festival and her Summer Gathering tour, we are on the cusp of seeing a vibrant new side of the rockabilly troubadour.
The last ten months has seen a tide of change come over Lane. Beyond additions to her personal life, she has been striving to expand the limits of her creativity, and while music remains a fundamental aspect of her day-to-day, she is just as likely 12 :: BRAG :: 641 :: 02:12:15
“I think when you dramatically change the course of your life, lots of space opens up for new things. For me it’s been a new relationship, a new dog, and then there’s art practice, a new home, living in a different state that is the complete opposite of Victoria. Living in Queensland in this gorgeous, dry, tropical area, everything has changed so much, and so obviously to get here there have been so many adventures along the way. So many stories and unexpected turns of events. It’s been pretty epic, and I’ve had to continually adjust myself to keep up with the changes. Life is so unexpected, and you just can’t ever make logical sense of how things turn out. I think I’ve been learning to be OK with that, and how that can be the best place to be. To surrender to life. It doesn’t mean to not do anything, but to go with the flow. “When Woodford came along and asked me to [play], it was an immediate feeling of yes. From there, these other shows kind of rolled out. I had to go through some internal checks that this was what I wanted to do, and it was. It’s going to be awesome, and one of the biggest gifts for me is going to be the chance to sell my art. That’s one of the biggest parts of it all for me, and I’ve been working really hard on that. It’s the first time I’m doing it – I’ve never had the guts to show my art before, or thought that I was good enough.
This week I’m screen printing for the first time, standing around in 40-degree heat ironing 150 tea towels. It’s really cool. But also hot,” she laughs. With a string of east coast tour dates ahead, Lane is truly on the cusp of a profound moment in her artistic career. While the shape of her musical persona is still somewhat ephemeral, there are nevertheless ample opportunities for fans to see how one of Australia’s most down-toearth entertainers has grown in this period of introspection and renewal. There is new material to be heard, but Lane is just as excited to see audiences connect with this parallel aspect of her storytelling.
“I’ve been so much more visually creative this year, which is why it’s important for me to bring that on the road. If people are interested in my creative, artistic work, then I’m sure they’ll be interested or open to seeing me as a holistic artist, not just a musician. That’s been one of my biggest openings this year. Musically, I’ve written maybe four songs this year, and I’ll play those and that’ll be great, but it’s not like a huge new body of work. “To me, it’s all connected. I was burned out from being industrial, in trying to make it with ambition. I can’t fathom anything like that. But I think it happens naturally, like it is at the moment. Doing small parts that I can manage. I’m literally doing
everything for this tour. I have a booking agent, but everything else is me, all the way down to what kind of tags we’ll put on the artwork. That’s a battle I can handle. But I think my conception of music and visual art, everything that you’re creating comes from the same force, and so to me, it’s always colliding and merging and integrating, all coming from within. Those worlds are never separate.” Where: Django Bar When: Thursday December 3 and Friday December 4 And: Also appearing at Woodford Folk Festival 2015, Sunday December 27 – Friday January 1
thebrag.com
LanieLane by Cybele Malinowski
“I was doing heaps of festivals, but I’d never done Woodford. I kept asking, ‘Why haven’t I done Woodford? I want to do Woodford!’” she laughs. “It just never happened, and I never went on my own just to see it, either. When you’re a musician, so much of your life is spent at festivals that you don’t really go to them. You need a break sometimes from live music, from crowds. So I never got to go, and now it’s finally here! If I wasn’t doing Woodford, I wouldn’t be doing the [headline] shows. It just wouldn’t have happened at this point. But I think that’s good, because I didn’t overthink anything. It’s been happening very naturally.”
to be found now focusing on visual art. For years it was an aspect of her art she felt reluctant to share, but now, having taken time to recharge and redirect her energy, the Victorian native feels it’s time to start exercising that side of herself.
Moon Duo Beyond The Shadows By Adam Norris
T
hird albums are strange beasts. After the expectations that follow a band’s debut – will they change direction, will they carry across that fl edgling potential; in short, will their second record actually be any good? – in many ways a third record is what directly addresses a musician’s longevity. A sense of voice and tone has been established, and listeners have faith in the artistry. Colorado’s Moon Duo have always cultivated a dreamy, protean sound, and their third album Shadow Of The Sun takes this even further. It is psychedelic but never inaccessible, born in part from band members Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada feeling ill at ease with any time not spent making music. “It’s not all downtime,” Yamada recounts of the band’s recent time away from touring and recording. “But for some reason that period of time felt restful, but also very unrestful. I’m not sure how to describe it exactly, but for me, it felt like one of those times in life when you’re just … Sometimes I go through these times of feeling I’m fi nished with whatever habits and mindsets defi ned a certain time in my life, they just feel old, and I start seeking out new ones. Ones that fi t how I’m feeling about existence, about the world at the time. Right now it’s a mix between laziness and errand-running. We’re in the middle of a lot of heavy touring, so when we get home it’s in these little pockets of time. Half of it is sleeping and watching Seinfeld reruns, and the other half is running around trying to take care of everything we couldn’t do on the road.”
in the room, all of these factors combine in a chemical reaction. And to me, that’s the artistic experience of live music from either side – playing it or watching it. And so I really want to make an effort to make that experience as singular as possible, from as many sensory angles as possible. Usually we have a live mix, and the concert is never quite the same on any given night either. That’s the beauty of it, I think. “Part of it is that none of us really move around much onstage,” she laughs. “We’re not Nick Cave prowling down on the edge of the stage and getting right in people’s faces, engaging them in that way. That being absent from our performance, it’s kind of an effort to pull people in maybe. We want to create an environment that feels interactive. Who: Shadow Of The Sun out now through Twelve Suns/Rocket With: Grinding Eyes, Glass Skies Where: Newtown Social Club When: Thursday December 10
The singer-keyboardist laughs. “It’s like psychological moulting. Sometimes I need to just shed some kind of skin.” It is a philosophy that seems to fi nd itself refl ected in Moon Duo’s music itself. The pair have often remarked on the transformative nature of music, and luring listeners towards a different consciousness is fundamental to their output. Moon Duo are an act drawn to convergence and unexpected connections, and in recent times Yamada has experienced this first-hand while roaming about on tour. “It’s a strange kind of binary lifestyle. It’s either very, very outward, or very inward. The travel is wonderful, but it also changes one’s brain. Going from place to place to place, I have moments on every tour where I wake up and I have no idea where I am for fi ve minutes and have to reach back in my head to work out where we are. There are moments where I feel a certain malaise about it, and moments where I love it. That dislocation is a unique experience, which has its upsides and downsides, but it has defi nitely transformed the way I experience time and geography.” Moon Duo’s upcoming Australian tour will mark their third visit Down Under, and while Yamada is generally a measured, thoughtful speaker, when talk turns to these gigs her voice becomes more animated and excited. Their relationships with live audiences are of particular relevance to Moon Duo’s artistry, and the Australian music scene is of particular interest.
Moon Duo photo by Antonio Curcetti
“Wherever we go, we get temporarily but intensely absorbed into the local music scene for the night. I think there’s a sort of communal thread to those scenes around the world, but the audiences and the interactions can vary pretty widely from place to place. Sometimes it’s a refl ection of underlying behavioural norms and cultural customs – that is quite interesting. Australian audiences I fi nd very friendly actually, really open. I feel like my memories of Australian shows always involve good hangs with people afterwards. People will come right up and talk to us, and they generally seem really great.” One of the most enticing aspects of Moon Duo’s forthcoming shows is the inclusion of live painting. It is an intriguing blend of disciplines, and one which more and more artists are being drawn towards. As Yamada explains, even identical sets will contain subtle differences in the music, and no two performances are ever repeated. Enhancing this individuality with impromptu artworks builds on the audience’s immersion, a sensory banquet of overlapping image and sound. “Originally the inspiration was kind of an an acid test of those experiences in the ’60s in San Francisco, where their goal was to achieve the state of sensual interplay. And I think that that’s a really great aspect of art as related to music. You have a live music performance, and even if it’s recorded or on video, it can never really be experienced again. Whatever happens on that night, between the band and the crowd, the energy thebrag.com
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Steve Albini The Artist Online By Patrick Emery
W
hen punk rock musician and studio engineer Steve Albini hears predictions of the apocalyptic economic impact of the internet on musicians’ livelihoods, he recognises echoes of dire prophecies of yore. When sheet music was first made available, court musicians predicted the end of their livelihood. When the phonograph was invented, concert hall and opera performers saw the end of their careers. When broadcast radio appeared in the home, it too signalled the end of days for musicians. And when recordable cassettes turned up (followed by recordable CDs), well, that really was the death knell.
Winning The War By David James Young
W
hen Shakey Graves – AKA Alejandro Rose-Garcia – arrives in Australia for his second jaunt Down Under, it will be around the time of Easter as part of the gargantuan Bluesfest lineup. A couple of months prior, however, will see Rose-Garcia celebrating a very different holiday. For the last four years in his home city of Austin, Texas, February 9 has been Shakey Graves Day, as originally deemed by then-mayor Lee Leffingwell. Rose-Garcia’s celebrations have included playing a $5 show, putting his entire discography up on Bandcamp with pay-whatyou-want pricing and even hosting a giant game of laser tag. “As always, it’s gonna be a party,” says RoseGarcia with a chuckle. “As every one passes, I get even loftier ambitions about what we’re gonna do to celebrate. I’ll just be cloud-talking, saying, like, ‘We’ll rent a boat!’ or something like that. There’ll be a show, of course, and I won’t take any cash from it – I’ll pay my band really handsomely and pay the opening acts three times what I would for a normal gig. I try and use it as a feeding frenzy for everybody – it’s a prosperous time on the savannah, where all the animals eat.” Although Rose-Garcia has been performing his Americana tunes as Shakey Graves for the better part of a decade, it was only in the last few years that his work began to garner wider attention. A grassroots following and huge sales on independent music distributing website Bandcamp brought national and subsequent global interest. His latest album, last October’s And The War Came, was released internationally this year and has continued to receive warmly positive reviews from all across the world. When asked to reflect on the album and its successes, Rose-Garcia notes that even though the perfectionist demon on one shoulder will niggle away at any perceived flaws, it’s better to take up with the angel on the other side and have pride in what you’ve done.
2015 began in a big way for Shakey Graves, as Rose-Garcia and his current backing band – vocalist Esme Patterson, guitarist Aaron Robinson and drummer/percussionist Chris
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“The whole thing was surreal. It’s such a weird experience because it’s so fast and it’s recorded so early in the morning. It barely even feels like an actual memory – it’s not like we got to hang around and shoot the shit with Dave or anything like that. It was a real ‘wham, bam, thank you ma’am’ deal. We took in as much of it as humanly possible, though. It was magical – it almost felt like a dream.” In the time since the release of And The War Came, Rose-Garcia has been busying himself with extensive touring and media appearances in support of the album. New songs and ideas have come up here and there – a demo collection, Nobody’s Fool, was released online for this year’s Shakey Graves Day – but for the most part, they haven’t been at the forefront of his attention. A key factor in all this is finding the environment that works best for him, as far as writing music is concerned. “When you’re on the road, writing music is usually the last thing you want to be doing,” he says. “Think about it this way: I’m playing six nights out of the week. When I write music, it’s because I have excess energy – it comes to me when I’m in my robe, I’m off tour, I’ve slept until the afternoon and I feel like drinking coffee, smoking weed and playing guitar. When I’m touring, I have tonnes of shit to do – if I’m not travelling to the show, I’m getting ready for the show. If I’m not getting ready for the show, I’m making sure that I’ve eaten, called my girlfriend, even spoken to my parents. Most of my energy is going toward keeping myself sane.” He mentions, however, that some jams have surfaced from soundchecks with his aforementioned backing band, which he describes as “weird, complicated surf rock with beautiful vocals”. He’s unsure if this material will ever see the light of day – least of all under the Shakey Graves name – but holds out hope. “There’s some meaning to this madness,” he laughs. “I promise you!” What: Bluesfest 2016 With: The National, Tom Jones, Kendrick Lamar, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and many more Where: Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm When: Thursday March 24 – Monday March 28 And: Also appearing at The Basement on Thursday March 31 More: And The War Came out now through Dualtone/Cooking Vinyl
In fact, Albini is so enamoured with technological developments that he believes they’ve gone a long way to addressing the issues he outlined in his 1993 Baffler essay, ‘The Problem With Music’. Back then, Albini contended, the music industry was so laden with ancillary actors – managers, labels, publishing companies, public relations agents – that any revenue generated by artist sales would inevitably be eroded well before a trace of income reached the creating artist.
But with a plethora of distribution scenarios now in existence, the notion of ‘control’ of a musical product is an anachronistic assumption. “I feel like any music that’s released now has to be done with open eyes – that is, you have to realise that that’s how the world treats music now. It’s shared amongst enthusiasts, you don’t have exclusive control over music once you’ve released it. I’m comfortable with that, but some people are not comfortable with that and they want to change the world so they can retain some semblance of control over the music once it’s released. I think that’s not realistic.” Unsurprisingly, not everyone agrees with Albini’s provocative assessment. When in 2014 Albini dipped
“Perhaps I’m fl attering myself when I say I’m being rational, but all of these opinions have been gleaned by me through consideration and experience and also through my interactions with other musicians – I’ve taken on the positions held and expounded by other musicians,” Albini says. “So I take them at their word when they say their income goes up the more people share their music.” Ever the pragmatist, Albini prefers a debate that’s rooted in rational argument, not the emotive pleas and hyperbolic assertions that often characterise the vexed issue of online fi le sharing and streaming services. “I don’t think there’s anything necessarily religious or sacrosanct or insulting about taking a position, especially on an economic issue,” Albini says. “When it’s purely a matter of money and why someone ought to be paid, or ought not to be paid, or feeling bad that someone’s not being paid – I feel these capitalistic positions are very easy to discuss rationally and I don’t think you gain anything by appealing to emotions when you’re not talking about someone’s personal attributes. What you’re talking about is a procedural thing or a practical matter of execution of business.” Who: Shellac Where: Metro Theatre When: Tuesday December 8
But the internet changes all of that – in Albini’s mind, at least – for the better. More avenues of distribution means greater awareness and increased niche markets, which is good for artists. And most importantly, the ability of an artist to market direct to their audience means that musicians are no longer captive to the industry model and its nasty hidden costs. “The efficiency of that [new] model means that people will be operating on a sustainable basis, on a smaller scale, which allows for much wider variety, which allows for more specialisation, which allows for musicians and audiences to interact in a way that’s uniquely suited to a certain kind of music or a certain frame of mind,” Albini says.
Steve Albini photo by Freekorps
“You don’t want to end up like George Lucas or something, just constantly changing things and trying to make them perfect,” he says. “I wouldn’t change a thing about this album, but I’ve definitely learned more about the songs when we’re playing them live. I’ve found ways to make the songs sound even better when we’re performing them, but I’ve only come across that through actually playing the songs after the album came out. It’s a real chicken-andegg situation, if you know what I mean. The main thing that I’ve learned is that you should play a song in as many different ways and as many different styles as possible. From there, it’s a matter of figuring out which one works the best for what you’ve just written, and being absolutely certain about the finished product.”
Boosahda – were one of the final musical guests on the Late Show With David Letterman before the veteran talk show host retired. Although literally hundreds of artists appeared on the show over the years, Rose-Garcia and co. knew the weight of being one of the very last to be seen on the show.
But what actually happened, the Chicago maestro argues, is that these seismic changes resulted in an increased awareness and appreciation of music. And notwithstanding the dire predictions of musicians and industry executives, the internet is actually a good thing for musicians. “As more and more musicians realise that they can operate without the participation of a music label, then those labels will be operating with a thinner and thinner back catalogue, and the arc of the technology will bypass them completely,” Albini says.
While Albini recognises the importance of copyright, he believes the whole concept – especially the notion of ‘control’ of an artistic work – needs to be re-thought in an online world. “What someone who originates a piece of work has is the first bite of the apple. They can popularise it, monetise it first – sort of like the inventor of a mousetrap. If you have something first, you can exploit it first before anyone else,” he says.
his toe into the waters of public discourse and asserted that the internet is not a threat, but an opportunity, the reaction was swift and harsh. However, ahead of his Australian tour with his band Shellac this month, Albini says he’s not just voicing his own opinions, but those of his contemporaries.
Shakey Graves photo by Kirk Stewart
Shakey Graves
“There have been other paradigm shifts in the music industry, and at every juncture when things have changed, the established music industry as it sat at the moment reacted with horror, and not with a resignation that they had to adjust their expectations,” Albini says. “They made it seem as if it was morally wrong that things had to change.”
Street Preachers and countless others, also says it’s time to look critically at the issue of intellectual property, and in particular copyright. Originally a licence granted by the Crown to permit people the right to print books, copyright has morphed into an economic interest. With the prevalence of piracy and streaming services (which, Albini agrees, pay a bare pittance to the artists featured), the value of that economic interest has been substantially eroded.
Albini, whose storied studio career has seen him work with the likes of Nirvana, Pixies, PJ Harvey, Manic thebrag.com
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Jessica Pratt Embrace The Change By Tegan Reeves to understand how the music reflects that period of time.” Many of the tracks on Pratt’s second record, On Your Own Love Again, read as if they are directed at very specific people in the American songwriter’s life. Interestingly, Pratt has never been confronted with the question, ‘Is this song about me?’ “I’ve never had to deal with someone asking me point blank if something was about them – that would be fun though, I guess. Though that hasn’t happened, I wonder maybe if people know. I think I’m maybe too afraid to ask. “I think a lot of that stuff you kind of realise long after the fact, of course when something comes out and people read reviews or talk about it, and offer their own slew of comparisons. People have their own ideas about what to take out of a song, which is a cool process – I like hearing what people take out of my music.”
“I had a very sustained period of transition prior to making this second record, which involved moving from one city to another – the city that I’ve lived in for a really long time – getting out of a relationship, I had some big family issues, just kind of a tumultuous year and a half. There was a lot changing and I had to sort of go a little bit numb to function throughout those changes. When it came time for me to make this last record, I was able to process a lot of it in the songs, and a lot of it was very unconscious, so I’m still coming
“I think anytime you are in a position where you play songs with emotional content frequently, it has this way of morphing into something else entirely – they can represent something else, or you can precede them or perform then in a way that allows them to be a little more abstract. Music is a very valuable medium; I think that’s why it’s the easiest for me have that cathartic experience with it. I wouldn’t say it’s physically difficult – it just feels natural.”
“I just kind of listen to a lot of different music, but I certainly wasn’t infusing the music I was listening to with what I was making at the time. But I listen to a lot of stuff like The Carpenters. It’s hard to have a definitive list of people that influence me the most, but I love Paul Williams – he’s one of my favourite singers and songwriters. I think at the time of recording [this album] I was listening to The Walker Brothers a lot; I really like Scott Walker, the way he sings and his delivery. For some reason – I don’t know why – but I’m apprehensive about making a solid statement about my influences. These things, they come back to haunt you.” It’s hard not to get the impression that Pratt feels somewhat haunted by her 2012 self-titled first album – granted, it was recorded in 2007 when Pratt was just 20 years old, and in some rather fortuitous circumstances. Tim Presley of Darker My Love, The Fall and White Fence heard Pratt’s demos on Facebook and contacted her, encouraging her to release her music, which she eventually did through Presley’s label Birth Records. “I feel like that was extremely pivotal and I think that it lent me the necessary confidence to go forward in a much more dedicated way,” Pratt says. “I see that period of time as a very lucky experience. “I don’t dislike my older material, but it was recorded such a long
time ago, and it was released so much longer after it was recorded – it was recorded mostly in 2007 and I was very young,” she says. “People really like that record a lot, which is really cool, but I think anyone who tries to take themselves seriously with whatever they’re making maybe can have the tendency to not be able to see past the imperfections of their earlier stuff. When I was making the second record, the only thing that people knew was that first record, and I really wanted to prove myself – maybe I had a bit more of a bitter viewpoint on the first record. At this point, I don’t really have any interest in hearing the first record for a while, but I’m sure several years from now I’ll listen to it again.” Recently returned from a whirlwind tour of Central and Eastern Europe playing support shows for José González, Pratt mentions that she is looking forward to the change of pace that her forthcoming Australian tour will provide. “I like coming to this part of the world, because there’s not a million different places to play, the tours are a bit more leisurely, and I feel like it makes the shows better.” What: Fairgrounds 2015 With: Father John Misty, Ratatat, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Meg Mac and more Where: Hazelberry Park, Berry When: Saturday December 5 And: Also appearing at Newtown Social Club on Tuesday December 8 More: On Your Own Love Again out now through Drag City/Spunk
Jessic Ppratt photo by Colby Doscher
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essica Pratt’s mesmerising voice delivers powerful stories of heartbreak and loneliness, exposing vulnerabilities in a brutally devastating yet honest manner. Her lyrics delve deep into the inner psyche, opening themselves up for a myriad of interpretations. In conversation, however, it feels as though Pratt is holding back, perhaps wary of being held accountable for anything she might say, which makes for an interesting contradiction.
Surely performing songs heaped with such intense levels of emotion and personal connections would be difficult, but Pratt looks at the situation with a sense of optimism.
Pratt seems wary of making any kind of statement regarding her influences, or even artists she looks up to, and keeps it fairly broad when I ask her what she is listening to at the moment.
Julia Holter Wild Thing By Jody Macgregor
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A singer-songwriter Julia Holter caught a lot of listeners by surprise this year with her album, Have You In My Wilderness. To those who haven’t followed her career, the record seems to have come out of nowhere to universal critical acclaim, but it’s been a surprise to those who have followed Holter over the course of her previous three albums as well. Her first record, Tragedy, was based on a Greek play from the fi fth century BC and was as difficult a concept album as that suggests. Her second, Ekstasis, had no concept and was a much more welcoming listen for new ears. But immediately after that, she released another dense conceptual work: Loud City Song, based on the novel and musical Gigi. It seemed like Holter was turning inwards again, even though it was her first album recorded with other musicians rather than crafted entirely on her own in the bedroom.
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“A lot of these songs really require a band, I think,” Holter says, summing it up simply. Though she started out performing entirely solo, these days she has a drummer, bass player and a violinist who also sings as part of her band. “At this point I’ve been playing with other people for three years now. I do do solo shows though, and I like them a lot, but it’s just different.” Holter is comfortable no matter which format she performs in, and always has been, in a way that’s surprising for someone whose music started out as a bedroom project of a very personal kind. “Performing for me has always been natural,” she says. “It kind of weirds me out – I don’t know why it is, because I’m not seriously introverted but I am more of an introvert, not super social or whatever – but I love performing for some reason. I’m not really sure why.” Part of it is perhaps that Holter’s songs aren’t really about her. Even when they’re not based on existing fiction, there are stories to the songs and roles she plays. “I would say I play a character,” she says. “I think that’s what most people do, even if they aren’t aware of it. I feel like even if you’re singing a song about your life, it’s not like talking to somebody. If you go up on a stage and perform, for me, unless it’s for a political cause, it’s not a form of communication. It’s usually a sentiment that’s being expressed and it’s not addressed to a particular person.” That’s an unusual idea, but one that matches her music, which
takes characters and stories and boils them down to moods. There are no morals to be imparted at the end of Holter’s songs, just feelings. “Usually you’re performing for a group of people and there’s this thing being exchanged, but it’s not exactly communication,” she says. “I think in the same way, you’re not your own person, you’re something else – just like the audience themselves are not like separate people that are receiving information from you, they’re this mass of listeners that are having all their own experiences.” To fuel her songs, sometimes Holter will go looking through books, but not in a methodical way. “Sometimes when I’m writing lyrics I fl ip through random anything, just looking at
words and looking at sentences, completely random just going from one page to another, different random pages. [It] kind of gets the creativity moving a little bit. The thesaurus is also useful.”
Skunks by Reinaldo Arenas, which she describes as “really intense and difficult to read”, and if it serves as inspiration for any of her future songs, you’ll know because they’ll be sad as hell.
Holter’s most recent music has been a score for the boxing film Bleed For This, still telling a story, but this time purely instrumental. “It’s very simple music – I’d say a kind of dark, bluesy piano and then there’s some string pads,” she explains. The downside to the success of her new album is that she’s been on tour so much she hasn’t been able to make it to any of the screenings yet.
“It’s really depressing and hits you over the head with really depressing and bleak situations in a surreal way. It’s interesting suffering through it, because it’s painful to read. Sometimes that’s OK – I think things are just painful and miserable and that’s the way some art is, and it should be that way.”
To get an idea of what the next song Holter writes might sound like, I ask what she’s reading right now. It’s The Palace Of The White
What: Have You In My Wilderness out now through Domino/EMI Where: Newtown Social Club When: Wednesday December 9 thebrag.com
Julia Holter photo by Tonje Thilesen xxx by xxx
Have You In My Wilderness, album number four, is surprisingly outwards-looking. There’s no central theme, although literary characters do crop up – one from Colette’s novel Chance Acquaintances, Sally Bowles from The Berlin Stories and Cabaret – and instead what holds it together is a new element in her sound. Her early work experimented with twisting up traditional classical instruments, plenty of strings and a whole lot of reverb, then adding jazzy instrumentation on Loud City Song. Now she’s still working with that core, but in a much more rhythmic way. The humble drums have proved essential to her new songs, making them feel lively where older songs were stately, and even when drums are
absent, other instruments take up the slack to propel them ever forwards.
Mono Darkest Before The Dawn By David James Young
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heirs is a name – all of two syllables and four letters – that has become synonymous with the outer reaches and the upper tier of the greater post-rock spectrum; one that triggers such a wide array of emotions and sends listeners to countless places in their own minds. Mono might not have a celebrity profile or a legion of devotees, but it’s safe to say those who have come to know the Tokyo natives and their music since their arrival all those years ago have keenly followed along with each step they have taken. Most recently, this has led to the release of two albums simultaneously – their seventh and eighth LPs, respectively, The Last Dawn and Rays Of Darkness. “The two albums ended up representing the counterpoints in life,” explains Takaakira Goto, better known as Taka, one of the band’s two guitarists. “Light and darkness, hope and hopelessness, love and loss… the emotions which can’t be expressed, pain which you can’t put into words, happiness which you can’t simply measure. We also, at the same time, felt and hoped that they could be something to exceed the darkness.” Along with these recordings marking the first time Mono have ever released what is essentially a double album, Rays Of Darkness also features the first-ever use of vocals in a Mono song. The track in question, ‘The Hand That Holds The Truth’, stars the vocal talents of Tetsuya ‘Tetsu’ Fukagawa, singer in another cult favourite Japanese band, Envy. “For a long time, I always wanted to collaborate with Tetsu,” says Goto. “He’s been a good friend of
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ours for so long, so I’m really glad it became a reality. Even during the time I was writing the song, I could clearly hear how his vocals would fit in together. When we actually collaborated, I didn’t really give him any instructions, but he already knew what I was hoping to achieve. The song turned out to be such an incredible piece and we’re all very proud of it.” Over the course of their eight albums, Mono’s sound has been in a constant state of transit, shifting from shimmering, shaken guitars to flourishing orchestral arrangements. The latter, in particular, have formed a considerably big part of the band’s later material, leading some to classify Mono’s work as contemporary classical or neoclassical. It certainly raises the question as to where the Mono sound may head next – and, according to Goto, it’s going to have more to do with what he and his bandmates are getting out of the creative process than public opinion. “If I were to borrow Beethoven’s words, I think music is something that ignites fire in men’s hearts and brings tears to women’s eyes – and, of course, vice-versa,” he says. “Every individual refl ects their own life through music like spiritual travels, like every cell in your body getting triggered unconsciously. After experiencing fantastic movies, books or art, there is a power that allows you to see and feel new values of your life which you didn’t really notice. We really hope we can create the same kind of experience to people. We have been trying to fi nd something new in rock guitar music which no-one has done before. Now, I am thinking we
should focus [on] what we want to do more than what we should do.” It’s worth both noting and commending that Mono have held the same core lineup for the entirety of their career – Goto, guitarist Hideki Suematsu, bassist Tamaki Kunishi and drummer Yasunori Takada. Having formed towards the end of 1999, Mono will have celebrated their 16th birthday by the time they arrive in Australia for a run of headlining shows as well as an appearance at Meredith Music Festival. When asked to explain what it is that has kept the band going this entire time, Goto boils it down to one thing: not musical ability or touring stamina or creative efficiency, but pure, simple friendship. “It’s truly lucky that we have a strong mind as a team – like family,” says Goto. “We have
travelled the world together every year for the last 16 years, and we feel like we all grew up together gradually as children to adults. Everything we saw was fresh. Everything we did was an adventure with a continuation of facing the unknown, excitement and setbacks. The whole process was like learning all the essentials of life through our music and travels.” Mono’s Australian dates will be their fi nal shows for the year, wrapping up an exhausting tour schedule that has seen them spend more than half of 2015 performing in support of The Last Dawn and Rays Of Darkness. Having played many acclaimed and well-attended shows here previously, Mono are looking to close out both 2015 and their world tour in style.
“This year was very, very busy,” says Goto. “We’ve played about 170 shows, including a South American tour. We just came back from a European co-headlining tour with Sólstafir from Iceland. We will tour with Shellac in Japan soon, then we will play a Chinese festival and then we will go to Australia and New Zealand. All moments and opportunities are fantastic. We feel we can share something special with Australian fans really deeply as an art. We are very, very excited to come back there soon.” What: The Last Dawn and Rays Of Darkness out now independently Where: Newtown Social Club When: Sunday December 6 and Monday December 7
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The Hotelier Running Away From Home By Augustus Welby most bands do. [We want to] develop our songwriting around this specifi c sad pop style and the sort of narrative between albums. We’re going to continue to develop it, hopefully.” It’s interesting to hear Holden describe the band’s sound as “sad pop”. In contrast, the Pitchfork review of Home, Like Noplace Is There (which gave it a rating of 8.2) called The Hotelier “punk as fuck”. However, more than anything else, critics have tagged them an emo band. The arrangements on Home, Like Noplace Is There cohere with a recognised emo rock sound, but the most emotive element is undeniably Holden’s lyrics and vocals. “I think almost that entire album must have been written instrumentally first and then lyrically later,” he says. “But as a person, I talk a lot and I like to fully develop an idea in a way that pop song structure doesn’t really allow me to. So we maybe don’t repeat choruses because I want to continue to talk about this same idea throughout the song.”
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t’s nearing two years since The Hotelier released their second LP, Home, Like Noplace Is There. While it wasn’t the Massachusetts act’s first showing, it was the album that introduced them to the wider listening populace. In the wake of Home’s breakthrough success, the band’s 2011 debut, It Never Goes Out, has gained plenty of exposure. However, certain comments on The Hotelier’s official blog suggest they’d rather distance themselves from that first LP. “In a sense we’re like, ‘We make hardly anything like that anymore,’” says frontman and main songwriter
Christian Holden. “We play ‘Weathered’ and ‘[An Ode To The] Nite Ratz [Club]’ and ‘Vacancy’ and ‘Title-Track’ from that record live, but there’s so many songs on it that I think are really goofy. I wrote them when I was 18, in high school still. At the same time, people seem to really like listening to It Never Goes Out with the context of Home, Like Noplace Is There. Pitchfork gave it a 7.7, which is really high for an album that I wrote when I was 18 and in high school and says the line, ‘Punk rock saved my fucking life,’ on the record. I don’t necessarily care to distance myself from it. I just think it’s goofy.”
In contrast to Holden’s appraisal of The Hotelier’s maiden effort, Home, Like Noplace Is There is teeming with adult themes, covering self-destructive behaviour, death, addiction and betrayal. 20 months down the line from its release, Holden harbours no regrets about how the album turned out. “I think it did what I wanted it to do – people were able to get it in the way that I wanted people to get it,” he says. “I’m very happy with how that record came out and the reception. I think we want to try to do something a little bit different every single album, as probably
Indeed, it often appears the arrangements twist and turn at the behest of Holden’s volatile vocal delivery. Even if the music is written first, it’s then altered to support the vocals. “When we write a song, I’ll write the instruments, I’ll write the vocal melody, and then when recording we’ll tweak little things in the songs to snap in with the vocals,” Holden says. At no point on the album does the frontman sound relaxed. Granted, a few of the songs aren’t entirely frantic, but the narratorial voice stays concerned at all times. The band has done a truckload of gigs since Home’s release, which means Holden has frequently navigated his way back through those lyrical themes.
“I felt a lot of things when I wrote those songs, and I was writing it down on paper, because a lot of it is stuff that you don’t get to say out loud,” he says. “But after singing those songs 150 times last year and then just about as many this year, I don’t think about every single word in the story behind them as much as I just fall into a groove. It’s not like I’m revisiting all these things every single time I’m singing them.” The Hotelier recently fi nished recording their third album, which is due sometime in autumn 2016. Holden and co. mightn’t be the biggest band in the world, but Home was defi nitely a major breakthrough. Approaching album number three, Holden sought to ascertain what gave the previous LP such widespread appeal. “I was listening to that album a lot thinking, ‘What makes this album Hotelier? What are people going to be looking for?’ At a certain point I had to stop. When we were writing Home, Like Noplace Is There, I was listening to the bands that were in our scene and I was like, ‘What makes this stuff click with people?’ At a certain point I was like, ‘OK, I have to stop comparing this record to anything and I just have to write it.’ So for a year I didn’t really listen to anything. And then now, instead of comparing it to other bands in our scene, I just had to stop comparing [the new album] to Home, Like Noplace Is There and I had to just be like, ‘This is not going to be Home, Like Noplace Is There II. It’s going to be its own unique piece.’” What: Home, Like Noplace Is There out now through Tiny Engines With: Ceres Where: Black Wire Records / Factory Floor When: Wednesday December 9 / Thursday December 10
Irrelevant Riff Out For The Ninja By Chelsea Deeley For Divinity, Refl ecting And Refracting, Ascension and New Guilt) and graced stages with the likes of Descendents and Bodyjar. Surprisingly, Anderson is nonchalant about some of those achievements. “When you’re supporting big bands like that, you’re often just a number,” he says. “I mean, I said g’day to some of the guys in Descendents and they were cool, but you know, beyond that it’s not that much. “Honestly, we always really enjoyed our own shows,” he adds. “It was like it was our thing.” It was during one of their own tours that Irrelevant first encountered a young SoferSchreiber, later to become known as The Ginger Ninja.
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has come celebration across the music community, and this was more than enough motivation for Sydney melodic rockers Irrelevant to jump at the chance to reform for the occasion. “We’ve always sort of been about the rule that everyone has to want to do it and it has to work
for everyone,” explains Mick Anderson, the quintet’s drummer. “We met Nick a few times and we thought this gig is a really good cause and a great vibe.” With an existence that spanned more than a decade, Anderson and his Irrelevant cohorts released four albums (The Need
With seven years having passed since their split, things in the Irrelevant camp are quite the muted affair. Despite fi elding the odd gig offer from time to time, the decision to take up any booking is met with hesitation and a great deal of consideration. Or as
So if the undoubtedly worthy cause and the stellar lineup isn’t enough to coax you into this sweet Saturday of music, beer and a fat middle finger to violence, then don’t say you weren’t warned – because as Anderson makes clear, a full Irrelevant tour isn’t on the cards. “If we did want to do it properly, then we’d write new music for sure,” he says. “But I don’t think [it’s possible] with our lives at the moment as we’re all a bit older and everyone has certain things going on. “We’re all quite adult these days. Except for a couple of us,” he laughs. What: Gingerfest 2015 With: Gay Paris, The Porkers, The Sinking Teeth, Mad Dash, The Hard Aches and more Where: Factory Theatre When: Saturday December 19
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G
ingerfest, returning to the Factory Theatre this month, is a day for local punk and rock pioneers to shred themselves silly in homage to one of the most dedicated and devoted fans of the Canberra scene, Nicholas SoferSchreiber, who was murdered in his own home on Boxing Day 2013. From unthinkable tragedy
“We had met Nick a few times after some shows in Canberra, and I’d seen him a couple of times at Sydney shows too,” Anderson says. “I think we hung out with him one night at a house party after a show. He was a real nice guy.”
Anderson so eloquently puts it: “You sort of get to the point where, if these shows are not a one-off, it kind of feels like you’re taking the piss by expecting people to come out all the time and watch you play songs that you wrote ten years ago. It also has to be something that isn’t a show for a show’s sake. If this hadn’t have popped up, then I can’t see us having gone to the effort to play again.”
arts in focus
arts news...what's goin' on around town... with Eden Gillespie, Tegan Reeves and Aaron Streatfeild
free stuff head to: thebrag.com/freeshit
SUFFRAGETTE
five minutes WITH
LIZA FEENEY FROM SYDNEY EAST ART WALK idea comes from Europe and was implemented by the Dank Street group of galleries of which Conny was a part. Her move to Darlinghurst prompted her to create the SEAWALK, a great idea!
The Sydney East Art Walk is returning for DoDarlo’s Xmas Party, but it’s been around for some time. Where did the concept come from and how does it work? The Sydney East Art Walk was the brainchild of fellow gallerist Conny Dietzschold who runs Conny Dietzschold Gallery. The
How does the art walk deal with the perception of art galleries as exclusive places and make them more accessible to the community? By creating the art walk we are generating a map – on the day of the art walks we have lots of people wandering between galleries, it’s a great buzz. The map can be and is used between art walks for people to discover the 20-plus galleries in this East Sydney area. The casual nature of the walk and the friendly reception which people find when they visit the numerous galleries has introduced a whole new audience to the galleries. Sydney is by far Australia’s biggest city – why do you encourage people to explore
these cultural spaces on foot and not by car? The galleries on the whole are in close proximity, and being in the heart of Sydney there are many transport options, so driving could limit your experience as you can discover so much more on foot. The bars and great eateries in the east are everywhere if you know where to look, and the galleries are happy to point people in the direction of something yummy as they make their way to the next exhibition. What range of artworks can visitors expect to see on their art walk afternoon? The galleries in the East Sydney Art Walk represent a broad crosssection of the arts, which is what you would expect from artists. The work and the galleries are a reflection of the concerns and personalities that make up this diverse precinct and Australia in general. There are galleries which have been operating for 50 years, such as Watters Gallery, and new
galleries such as Stanley Street Gallery, which is in its fourth year. The collegiate feeling among the galleries is, I think, unique to this field. Apart from the art walk, you represent Stanley Street Gallery – is there anything special planned for DoDarlo on Saturday December 5? For the DoDarlo event, Stanley Street Gallery will be hosting a soiree in our beautiful courtyard, wine and refreshing drinks and an opportunity to view truly unique works of art and jewellery. It is also an opportunity to meet some of the artists – oh, and we will be offering free gift wrapping for your pressies. What: Sydney East Art Walk as part of DoDarlo Xmas Party 2015 Where: Darlinghurst When: Saturday December 5 More: dbp.org.au/do-darloxmas
Suffragette While the feminism movement still has plenty of battles to fight today, often there’s nothing more illustrative and inspirational than to remember the history of what its pioneers achieved over the last century. Sarah Gavron’s new film, Suffragette, follows the story of feminism’s first foot soldiers and their fight for equality. In many cases, peaceful protest was not enough, especially for those women who hadn’t been afforded a proper education. Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Meryl Streep and Romola Garai star in this account of the British suffragettes. Suffragette opens in cinemas on Saturday December 26, and we’ve got ten in-season double passes to give away. Enter the draw at thebrag.com/freeshit.
TAKE A CHILL BILL
ChilOut, an organisation acting on behalf of children seeking asylum, has announced a funny fundraiser for an unfunny cause. A cast of Australian’s finest comedians has banded together in support of ChilOut, with the lineup sporting the likes of Rove McManus, Dave Williams, Justin Hamilton, Susie Youssef, Michael Hing, Tom Walker, Rebecca de Unamuno, Cam Knight, Cameron James, Dave Jory, Celeste Barber and even more top secret guests. ChilOut is not-for-profit and relies on donations to act on behalf of the almost 200 children currently imprisoned in environments that undermine and threaten their mental and physical safety. Stand Up For ChilOut kicks off at 7:30pm at the Giant Dwarf Theatre in Redfern Thursday December 17.
Kings Cross Theatre
Han Solo
HAN SOLO COMES SOLO
DESTINATION ART
Three Sydney public art galleries, nine iconic Australian artists, one exhibition. Mosman Art Gallery, Manly Art Gallery & Museum and S.H. Ervin Gallery are combining efforts in a unique collaboration dedicated to some of Australia’s most iconic artists. Spread over the three galleries, Destination Sydney will exhibit the works of Lloyd Rees, Brett Whiteley and Elisabeth Cummings, plus living legends John Olsen, Peter Kingston and Kevin Connor. Also featured are S.H. Ervin regulars – the wonderful Grace Cossington Smith, Margaret Preston and Cressida Campbell. Teaming up with respected curator Lou Klepac, Destination Sydney will feature artworks drawn from major public and private collections. Visitors will encounter works by the aforementioned artists, as well as some unusual and unexpected pieces. Destination Sydney runs from Saturday December 5 – Sunday February 21. Entry to Mosman Art Gallery and Manly Art Gallery & Museum is free, however entry fees apply at S.H. Ervin Gallery.
Looking For Grace
NEW KINGS CROSS THEATRE
Sydney’s newest theatre space in Kings Cross is set to be operated and curated by bAKEHOUSE Theatre Company, which has taken over level two of the Kings Cross Hotel. Initially trialled as a pop-up venue during this year’s Sydney Fringe Festival, bAKEHOUSE Theatre Company has reconfigured the theatre into an exciting and flexible space, with seating for 75 to 90 patrons. The space, which has already opened, is currently staging emerging indie company Lies, Lies and Propaganda’s production Roadkill Confidential. Next year’s productions include work by Siren Theatre, Kristine Landon-Smith, Tooth and Sinew and bAKEHOUSE Theatre itself, plus a full and exciting Mardi Gras program and an audacious festival of work celebrating Sydney’s female artists. For more information, including the 2016 program, hit up kingsxtheatre.com.
ART SAFARI
Co-curated by Sophie Kitson and Louise Dibben, the SafARI 2016 program will feature a series of events and exhibitions taking place around the Kings Cross area of Sydney between Friday March 11 and Saturday March 26. As the unofficial fringe to the Biennale of
Sydney, SafARI is a showcase of unrepresented artists from all around Australia and will present the work of 27 of Australia’s best up-and-comers. It will take in the full spectrum of contemporary multi-disciplinary practice, spanning sound, text-based, digital/online and performance. For the first time, SafARI 2016 will
OPENAIR CINEMA
The 20th St George Openair Cinema season will open with the Sydney premiere of Australian film Looking For Grace. When rebellious 16-year-old Grace takes off, her exasperated mum and dad enlist the help of a close-toretirement detective, and begin the long drive from Perth out to the Western Australian wheat belt to try to find her. The acclaimed film from award-winning director Sue Brooks stars Radha Mitchell, Richard Roxburgh and rising star Odessa Young. The St George Openair Cinema 2016 program runs from Friday January 8 to Friday February 19 at Mrs Macquaries Point. See the full program at stgeorgeopenair.com.au.
thebrag.com
It’s almost time for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and in amongst all the breathless excitement of fans around the world, Sydney Star Wars geeks are getting a huge dose of good news: Han Solo himself, Harrison Ford, is visiting the Sydney Opera House for a fan event. The Optus-sponsored day will be full of Star Wars-themed activities, including music, trivia, and the BB-88 droid. However, Ford will be the undoubted star of the event, as he jumps in the Millennium Falcon (OK, it’s probably just a 747 aeroplane) to say g’day to thousands of Star Wars fanatics. The event will take place a week out from the release of the much-anticipated seventh episode of the franchise, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, on Thursday December 17. Ford and a multitude of Star Wars fans will take over the Sydney Opera House Forecourt on Thursday December 10.
present the Explorer Writing Program, featuring ten emerging and unpublished Australian writers. Co-curator Kitson said, “SafARI 2016 promises to be the most exciting version yet. We are working with some of the most engaged and interested emerging practitioners within Australia, and it is with great pleasure we can present their work around Sydney in March next year.” From now until mid-December, the team at SafARI is running a fundraising campaign through the launch of an Australian Cultural Fund, created to raise the much-needed money to release the SafARI catalogue. To donate to the fund, head to safari.org.au.
ALL ABOUT WOMEN
The Sydney Opera House has dropped the 2016 program for All About Women, featuring over 30 international guests. Orange Is The New Black author Piper Kerman, Miranda July and Anne-Marie Slaughter will headline next year’s program, which comes just in time for International Women’s Day 2016. Issues such as equality, gendered violence, masculinity, female incarceration and indigenous activism will be some of the hot topics discussed by the panel on the day. The event will be held Sunday March 6. BRAG :: 641 :: 02:12:15 :: 19
Dropped [THEATRE] Holding Fire By Tegan Jones
I
f two female soldiers were trapped in a room, awaiting their fate, what would they talk about? The Old Fitz Theatre’s latest production, Dropped, explores this question as well as the notions of gender stereotypes and memory. In between the dark humour and mélange of pop culture references, audiences will discover what it means to be both a woman and a soldier in a time where the concept is still relatively new. One of the most striking aspects of this piece is its reference to the works of Samuel Beckett, which fans will notice immediately. “The first page of the play consumed me because of the difference in its style,” says actor Olivia Rose. “It’s like Beckett’s Waiting For Godot in the way that it’s written. The writer, Katy Warner, absolutely adores his writing and there’s all sorts of references we’ve found in the rehearsal room.” Warner’s direct inspiration for the play also arose in a beautifully simple and utterly human way. “The play came about when Katy was in her kitchen listening to the radio,” Rose explains. “It was in 2011 when the bill was passed by government that decreed that Australian women could fight on the frontline in Afghanistan. She was blown away by that idea and thought, ‘Hang on, I’m a young woman. I could be fighting, and what does this mean for me?’ It really intrigued and plagued her, so she wrote this play as an ode to that thought.” In addition to the distinctive subject matter, the format of the play itself will be out of the ordinary, which is good news
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for anyone who is looking for something new and exciting. “It’s going to be a different theatrical experience for people,” says Rose. “The characters don’t even have names, they’re just A and B, somewhere in the future in some place. That’s literally the direction, although there are clues in the text about where this place is. “The style might not suit everybody, but I certainly think that you will walk away challenged and changed. It’s such a fine line between being the real woman and the clown, and that’s what this play has shown me – how women get through these scenarios. How do they survive, and what happens afterwards?” The word ‘soldier’ often has such a mechanical air to it, which this play strives to break down – particularly the stereotypical image of a man. This is perhaps what makes Dropped so challenging and confronting. “It’s funny; I hadn’t thought about it, but I’m guilty of it,” Rose admits. “When I hear the words ‘solider’ or ‘veteran’ I think of men, and that’s what intrigued me. It’s a very unique and absurdist take on it, but I like the underlying message of exploring two women in a room. “The audience will get to question and experience what state of waiting these characters are in. They’re not waiting at home with a cup of tea. They’re in the barracks and they’re waiting in a bomb fight they’ve just moved in on.” There are only roughly 9,000 women serving in the Australian
armed services, and they are rarely given a public voice. Beyond what we see on television, we don’t know a great deal about their experiences and how their gender has possibly played a role in that. “We’ve talked to many women in organisations such as the Women Veterans organisation and they are just so incredible,” says Rose. “The media presents one particular pretty picture of soldiers with make-up, but we need to ask for the real story. Ask what happens when they come home. Of course, that’s not everybody’s experience, but this is a cluster of veterans’ experiences. This play questions the role of a woman as a soldier and a mother, for example.” The thought also leads into the vast amount of pop culture references in the play. It may seems strange, given the severity of the characters’ circumstances, but what else is there to talk about when mortality is staring you in the face? “It’s interesting when you’re sitting around what you’ll talk about,” laughs Rose. “You talk about recipes and all that random shit to help get you through, it’s bizarre.” One wonders if Dropped could have as big an impact on its audience if the characters’ genders were reversed. “I can’t see this play being done by men,” Rose replies. “It could, but I don’t think it would evoke the same sorts of questions, fears, or concern any preconceived notions by society about what it’s like to be a female soldier. Sure, men are fathers too, but there is something very discordant about a woman
holding a baby and a woman holding a machine gun.” Memory, truth and morality are also prominent themes throughout the play. How do both soldiers contend with what their job asks of them? How do we as an audience feel about both the horrors of war but also those who sacrifice their lives in service? “There’s so much repetition in the play and one of the most used words is ‘remember?’ with a question mark,” says Rose. “So it asks what you remember, what
you forget, what’s real and what’s not. One of my favourite lines that my character says is, ‘We’re helping them, saving them. Aren’t we? Aren’t we?’ It’s questioning the whole moral justifi cation of it. They’re women trying to defend something greater than themselves. They’re aspirational. Nobody joins an army thinking that they’re doing a bad thing.” What: Dropped Where: Old Fitz Theatre When: Tuesday December 8 – Sunday December 20
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GameFest 2015 [GAMING] It's Playtime By Tegan Jones
N
erds and noobs alike will descend upon Newtown this week for GameFest 2015 – the epic five-day gaming festival at the Old 505 Theatre that aims to combine interactivity, theatre and gaming into one big celebration of inclusiveness. Boasting free and ticketed events, GameFest is a hub for both seasoned veterans and new players alike. The initial inspiration for GameFest – and this is something that any con-goers can probably understand – is the universality of games and how they bring people together. There’s far more to them than what may initially meet the eye.
GameFest photo by Victoria Nelson
“Last year I ended up in a conference in Turkey for people who travel for work,” says GameFest founder Jon Gracey of Moonshot Games. “I ended up with a bunch of people from all over Europe and we all needed something to play or do in the evening. Everyone spoke English, but of varying degrees, and two of the Germans were really into board games. They brought up the idea of playing Werewolf and so we thought, ‘Fuck it, there are 15 of us, we have a massive conference table, let’s get some tea lights and run a game!’ “I have a background in comedy and have done some improv so I ran this really theatrical game with relative strangers. I had some creepy music playing on Spotify and a YouTube clip of a fireplace on my laptop and it just went down so well.” This experience enlightened Gracey on the unique and
incredibly special ways games can affect people, even those who wouldn’t consider themselves to be fans. “All of us didn’t really know each other and a lot of the people there just weren’t really into gaming, so it opened my eyes to how many people would do this kind of stuff,” he says. “The gameplay is basically just interacting. You don’t have to learn a bunch of complicated rules. Like in Werewolf, you just don’t show anyone your card and you lie; everyone knows how to do that. That kind of thing just made me realise that there are so many people out there who love this stuff and if you give them a character or something to do in a game, they’ll go for it and play. It’s so good to see what different people will bring to a gaming experience.” Unless people are into gaming, they may not be aware that there is a whole world beyond your stock standard Monopoly and Scrabble sets. GameFest aims to help people discover and fall in love with something new. “I myself am still relatively new to tabletop games; I’ve only been playing maybe for the last three or four years. I’ve been playing video games for as long as I remember, but this was like discovering a new genre. I suddenly realised that we’ve all been lied to,” Gracey laughs. “Things like Monopoly aren’t board games, they’re just random games of chance and there’s very little skill involved. The more I’ve played, the more I’ve realised there’s just so much great stuff out there. There are so many people who love video
games, roleplay, tabletop or theatre, and I really want anyone even with a passing interest to come down. I really want people who love games and those who are new to them to hang out and encourage each other to bring their own stuff to the table.” Although there will be ticketed events in the evenings, the majority of the festival will centre around the fact that it is, for the most part, free. “We have a free space that is open from midday to 6pm, when the first talk starts, and it’s there for anyone to drop in,” Gracey explains. “It’s going to be a really safe, friendly space where we have a bunch of video and board games set up. It’s basically just a chance for anyone who’s around to come along and just play, watch, experiment and have fun.” The evening talks and events are
more suited to those who want to jump a little further into the gaming world. “On Tuesday we have some great Intro to D&D [Dungeons & Dragons] talks and games with top-notch DMs [Dungeon Masters] David Hollingworth and Nick Irving, both who have very different styles but who are fantastic,” says Gracey. “Wednesday we’ll have a talk by architect and gamer Claire Hosking and a 20-person game of Werewolf with some great settings and actors. Thursday is our only [all-live] gaming day, where instead we’ll just be doing escape rooms from midday to 9pm. “On Friday there’s a talk by Unpub Mini creator Paul Sztajer and a largescale game of Two Rooms And A Boom. It’s an amazing hidden role game where one team tries to sneak a bomber into the opposite team’s
side, but no-one knows who each other is. That’s going to be run as a cocktail party complete with a live jazz band. “On Saturday we’ll be running our very own game called Bring Them Home that sort of combines FTL: Faster Than Light, The Martian and Space Cadets. One person plays an astronaut who has been cut off from their crew whilst everyone else represents different space agencies trying to get them back to Earth safely… so they get the credit.” With such a comprehensive intro, there’s only one thing left to do: get gaming. What: GameFest 2015 Where: Old 505 Theatre When: Until Saturday December 5
DoDarlo Top Five Y
ou’ve done Darlo – but have you done it right? Darlinghurst is one of Sydney’s most thriving precincts for business, culture and good times, and after the success of its maiden DoDarlo event earlier this year, the Darlinghurst Business Partnership is throwing a special DoDarlo Xmas Party this Saturday December 5. Venues and business across the suburb will unite with special events, deals and workshops to celebrate all the things that make Darlo great. Tegan Reeves picks out five of the hottest places to be.
The Record Store
255b Crown Street Unsure what to get the teenage nieces and nephews for Christmas? The vinyl revival is in full swing, and you’ll be the most popular gift-giver around thanks to a few records. If you’re feeling especially generous, The Record Store stocks some fairly serious turntables as well. DoDarlo at The Record Store will feature drinks, a vinyl sale, and guest DJs spinning vinyl live in store. And as one of Sydney’s premier record stores, there are over 3,000 new release, rare and second-hand records in stock. Get digging.
My Little Cupcake
King Street Gallery
329 South Dowling Street 177 William Street It could just be me, but do King Street Gallery on William people actually like eating a is currently exhibiting works cake that is made mostly out by highly acclaimed Australian of old fruit? Christmas cake artist Elisabeth Cummings. is for people with dentures. Enjoy a wine or champagne Cupcakes, on the other while viewing Cummings’ latest hand, are a whole bunch exhibition, New Paintings. It has of fun and colour. This been said that Cummings’ work Saturday, My Little Cupcake from the last 15 years has been will be giving customers a some of her best, ensuring free cupcake for every this exhibition features some five standard or of her finest paintings. She large cupcakes is credited with influencing Best they buy over the many other Australian counter. Sweet artists with her abstracted Of The deal. style and use of colour.
Old Growler
218 William Street Specialising in local, seasonal and sustainable food and drink, Old Growler will be serving up for DoDarlo its spiced Chai Nog – a festive blend of applejack and whisky, egg white, chai syrup and cinnamon – in addition to the usual weekend food and drinks menu. If all the Christmas shopping is wearing you down, this is the place to kick back and rest your feet.
Fest
Brand X
Basement, 180b Campbell Street Brand X will be opening its doors to anyone who wants to learn about the Risograph machine and The Rizzeria – the artist collective that owns and operates the machine. Drinks and nibbles will be provided while The Rizzeria runs workshops on the stencil press, screen printing onto textiles and other surfaces using its stencils. Unique, affordable art made by local artists using the Risograph machine, including prints, towels and zines, will be available for purchase. thebrag.com
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Film & Theatre Reviews Hits and misses on the silver screen and bareboards around town
An Index Of Metals
■ Film
CREED In cinemas now
Creed
Every boxing movie, with the exception of Raging Bull, is roughly the same. Some are better, some are Southpaw. The new installation in the Rocky franchise, Creed, is doubtlessly better than the latter, but offers little more than expected.
■ Opera
AN INDEX OF METALS Reviewed at Carriageworks on Monday November 16 The avant-garde exists to challenge us. So in one sense, An Index Of Metals is an enormously successful piece. In another sense, it’s straight up one of the goddamn weirdest experiences you’ll have in a theatre this year. This, it seems, is how opera is to break into the world of contemporary art – by accessing its every trope. Described as an ‘electric poem’ by its composer, the late Fausto Romitelli, this staging by Kip Williams enshrines a lone soprano, Jane Sheldon, inside a cubic lighting rig, where she is met by one man portrayed by six. Amidst a libretto wherein she recounts the elements that have betrayed her, she confronts both this man and herself. Williams’ use of blinding light and silhouettes to open the show is immediately promising. The stage, in fact, is An Index Of Metals’ greatest asset, a cube of parcans used to illuminate the figures onstage in bursts, waves and pulses. The flow of light is masterfully tied to the complexities and grotesque distortions of Romitelli’s composition, a Frankenstein’s monster of tortured orchestral elements, synths, electronic and rock instruments. Sheldon’s performance, at the core of the work, is sublime. She sings with great clarity and emotion Romitelli’s incomprehensible lyrics – which reference “loops of soup”
and being “crucified by noise” in lieu of anything tangible – and swings between soprano highs and guttural lows with the control of a master. Then there are the men, whose contribution is twofold: they present an element of physical threat that colours this reviewer’s perception of the deeper ‘meaning’ of the performance, and they showcase everything that is rote and clichéd in the staging. It seems a performance is simply not ‘modern’ if it doesn’t have superfluous nudity and excessive amounts of stage blood. Oh, and of course, endless slow walking. Slow walking all night long. These elements, used overabundantly in this and so many other productions, are frustrating (though often amusing) because they mask something very frightening and very powerful in the potentiality of Williams’ set-up. Romitelli’s wilfully obtuse libretto has been imbued with an emotional sincerity that loses credibility from association with such universitygrade ‘high art’ trappings. The mesh of modern aural and visual elements with classical operatic form makes for a feast of the senses, but one which confuses the palate.
Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan) is a puncher of men. He’s been punching his whole life, even when he had small fists. But he wants to be the best, like his estranged (and dead) father, world champion punchman Apollo Creed, the punchin’est puncher to ever punch. With the help of legendary punchist Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), can Adonis become the punchest of them all? Of course he can. Traditionally, we root for the underdogs in these stories, men for whom boxing is the only way out of the cycle of poverty and rage. Creed seems at first like he’s our man: we meet him in juvie, constantly fighting. He’s a kid whose loss of his parents leaves him hopeless, angry and alone. But then he’s collected by his soon-to-be stepmother, Mary Anne (Phylicia Rashad), whisked away to Apollo’s mansion, and within minutes he’s shacked up with a comfy finance job and a sports car. He’s satisfied fiscally, but not fistily. It’s an opportunity to explore an
interesting spin on the genre, but no. Instead we’re meant to empathise with him despite the golden safety net he has whenever he gives up. Even his mentor’s lessons are ultimately selfi sh: “You’re doing this for you, no-one else.”
There’s a lot of talk about building one’s own legacy – it’s why Adonis won’t use his father’s name – but there are so many indicators of how great the Rocky films were that one wonders if Coogler should have taken his own advice.
These are the ‘heroes’ we are now told we love: no longer the Rockys fighting their way up from the bottom, but bored onepercenters with daddy issues.
The power of that history is manifest in Stallone, one of Creed’s greatest assets. He single-handedly carries the weight of the franchise and gives us a deeper, more vulnerable look at the man he’s played for 40 years. Dare I say it, this may be the best he’s been in that time.
Ryan Coogler’s scripting and directing efforts here smack of fresh takes on old material quickly stifled in favour of Save The Cat! basics. Even Adonis’ love interest – musician Bianca (Tessa Thompson) – has lines about “not just existing to motivate” Adonis, but then ends up serving exactly that purpose in the plot.
It coulda been a contender, but Creed seems happy to settle for a life less legendary. David Molloy
■ Theatre
ORLANDO Playing at the Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House until Saturday December 19 Orlando
David Molloy
Arts Exposed
What's in our diary...
The Sound Of Music Playing at the Capitol Theatre from Sunday December 13 Cameron Daddo and Amy Lehpamer in The Sound Of Music
Orlando is biography. And yet, it’s not the life of one specific human being that is the heart of this story, but the soul of all – infinite and defiant to the boundaries of time and gender – that breathes and breaks throughout the play. Written by Virginia Woolf as a novel but astutely adapted for the stage by Sarah Ruhl, Orlando walks abstractly in the footsteps of Vita Sackville-West, an intimate friend of Woolf’s who fell in love with a diplomat only to realise they were both homosexuals. With a five-star gender-bending cast, led by the enthralling Jacqueline McKenzie (Orlando) and supported by the enigmatic and equally entertaining John Gaden (Elizabeth I), this delicious concoction of classic
and contemporary, story and chorus, begins as a single atom: Orlando, who is surrounded by a husk of youth in the Elizabethan Age. Throughout his lifetime this husk is shed as the character of Orlando develops. In the 16th century he is a boy, leggy and hopeful, his manhood a stark feature of his costume and a reminder of who he is in that present moment. It is here where Elizabeth I bestows him with riches and rank and he meets Russian princess Sasha, who whisks him away only to leave him heartbroken. By the 17th century, Orlando is courted by an archduchess and his gender begins to alter, so much so that by the 18th and 19th centuries, Orlando (as a female) finds herself entertaining
the privileges and abhorring the penalties of the other sex. The pace changes at the fifth and final incarnation as Orlando is thrown into our present. It’s not a self-revelatory moment, nor does it uphold the story or comedy of previous reincarnations, but that is perhaps the point, as it is this ‘living in the present’ that is the onus of Woolf’s work. The soul is an androgynous, continuous essence, while the shell is merely a vehicle to live in the world – and live it does; in the profound words of Orlando, the remarkable costumes of Renée Mulder, and the lilting song of the six-strong chorus, which seamlessly weaves soft lyrics into each and every moment of this endless human journey. Stephanie Yip
Tickets start at $79.90. Visit soundofmusictour.com.au to book. 22 :: BRAG :: 641 :: 02:12:15
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Orlando photo by Prudence Upton
The hills are alive, people. The world’s favourite musical, The Sound Of Music, is setting off on another lap of Australia, starring some of our own most decorated stage stars in Amy Lehpamer (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Once, The Rocky Horror Show) as Maria Rainer and Cameron Daddo (Legally Blonde, Big River) as Captain Georg von Trapp. This is the lavish London Palladium production of the timeless Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber, John Frost, David Ian and the Really Useful Group. More than two million people saw this production on the West End after it opened in 2006, and now you can join them in experiencing the Von Trapp story like you’ve never seen it before.
bread&thread Food & Fashion News... with Tegan Reeves, Chris Martin and Veronica Jenkinson
NIGELLA MEETS ANNABEL
The Sydney Opera House will be hosting an intimate chat in the New Year between foodie icon Nigella Lawson and renowned journalist Annabel Crabb. Crabb will be in familiar territory, thanks to her cooking and chatting experiences with the nation’s politicians in her TV show, Kitchen Cabinet. This time she’ll be talking to the author of nine cookbooks and a fellow popular TV personality in the UK’s Lawson. Experience another side of Nigella at the Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House on Wednesday January 20. Nigella Lawson
Fort Denison
SUNSET SESSIONS
Fort Denison, that island oasis in the middle of Sydney Harbour that you haven’t visited since your year seven school excursion, is set to become Sydney’s newest music venue. That’s the idea behind the summertime Sunset Sessions being held at Fort Denison Restaurant, which also happens to be one of Sydney’s prettiest dining spots. Extended ferry services are operating throughout summer from Circular Quay, perfect to transport you to a sunset dinner or Sunday lunch outing. To help wash down the drinks and eats, music will be provided by the resident DJ and saxophonist, Zak. You can expect a dose of R&B and acid jazz – hopefully just the start of a growing music program on Sydney’s fortress island. The program, menu and booking details are available at fortdenison.com.au.
IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS FARE
Yes, the silly season is upon us. Thankfully, it’s not all about cold turkey and egg nog – foodies (and those looking for last-minute gift ideas) can tuck in at Sydney Living Museums’ annual Christmas Fare, returning to the calender on Thursday December 17. The event is all about locally made, seasonable and sustainable food, alongside artisan craftware
and gourmet produce. Expect to taste Brooklyn Boy Bagels, T Totaler and Tippity Tea, Steph’s Gourmet Foods, Pecora Dairy and Kristen Allan cheeses, Farmer Jo’s muesli, Bilpin Bush Honey, Currong Comestibles, Murrungundy Pistachios and Pukara Estate. Young Henry’s and Freeman Vineyard will be there with the brews and bevvies. It all happens at Hyde Park Barracks, and even if you’re only attending to treat yourself, we can hardly blame you.
Vic On The Park
VIC ON THE PARK NEW MENU
Marrickville’s favourite pub and beer garden at the Vic On The Park has just got a whole lot tastier. Under the direction of new head chef Kirsten Baker, the venue has expanded both its vegetarian and non-vegetarian options, and is focusing on getting great results from quality local produce. $12.50 lunch specials include the pumpkin and asparagus vegan salad, the rump steak, chicken schnitzel and the hearty beef burger, while there are plenty more specials to be found, like Sydney rock oysters with ginger and soy; gravlax salmon salad; grilled swordfish with confit cherry toms, baby fennel, kipflers and warm chardonnay vinaigrette; or the jerk chicken share board with fresh jalapeño oil, wild rice salad, grilled flatbread and sriracha mayo.
DOWNWARD DOGS AND CATS
Flight Of The Conchords aren’t the only ones feeling the inner city pressure. Apparently, so are a number of Sydneysiders who have taken up cat yoga as a cathletic way to relax and release the stresses of the concrete jungle. So, what does cat yoga entail? Well, it’s mostly yoga with cats crawling around you as you try and nail a steady salute to the sun, followed by a 15-minute cat cuddling session to channel some paws-itive energy into your inner being. If yoga’s not your thing, never fear – the venue, Surry Hills’ Catmosphere Cat Café, also hosts all kinds of events where you can pat a cat while doing things like trivia and drinking coffee. You shouldn’t need any more purr-suasion to visit catmospherecafe. com and book a session. Cat yoga happens every Thursday.
be released one season before the rest of the world (fi nally we don’t get left behind – love it). The Spring/Summer collection is rocking a sportier aesthetic, experimenting with techniques like laser cutting and bonding. It’s all so exciting we suggest just going a little bit nuts. It’s nearly Christmas after all.
MERIVALE MOVES ON PADDINGTON
The Merivale march on Sydney’s scene is continuing this summer, with its threepronged charge onto Oxford Street in Paddington having already begun with the opening of The Paddington (formerly The Paddington Arms). The new-look venue boasts a rotisserie-based
menu from executive chef Ben Greeno, plus cocktails by Palmer and Co.’s Sam Egerton and Toby Marshall and wine chosen by Franck Moreau and Adrian Filiuta. In coming weeks, Greeno will open a new chicken shop next door to the bar, soon to be followed in early 2016 by the Fred’s restaurant. Wulugul Pop Up
COS SYDNEY OPENS Nique
NIQUE WAREHOUSE SALE
The purveyors of all the neatest looks for men and women, Nique, is holding one of its famous warehouse sales in Sydney this month. From Friday December 11 – Sunday December 13 at 527 Crown Street, Surry Hills, shoppers will be able to score samples, clearance and past season stock at up to 70 per cent off. But get in quickly for the best deals. The sale opens at 10am Friday, 10am Saturday and 11am Sunday.
thebrag.com
Sydney fashion followers rejoice: Swedish retailer COS has opened its doors at the Old Commonwealth Bank building in Martin Place. It may be COS’ 140th store worldwide, but it’s only the second to open in Australia. Sydney’s COS store will be releasing two collections a year, and thanks to our Aussie climate, the collections will
WANDER DOWN TO WULUGUL
Let’s face it; the one drawback of pop-up dining and drinking is that it just doesn’t last. Why must all good things come to an end? Thankfully, Sydney’s newest pop-up at Barangaroo is a little longer-term than you might be used to. The 170-metre-long space designed as the Wulugul Pop Up is more like an arcade for the taste buds, and the food and beverage operators are bedding in there for the next nine months. Among them are Sydney’s own Mamak, Gin & It, RivaReno Gelato and Edition Coffee Roasters – but if we’re honest, our top tip is Belle’s Hot Chicken, bringing its spicy delicacies direct from Melbourne. Once the pop-up period is finished, 14 casual dining restaurants will take up permanent residence at the harbourside site.
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BARS BRAG
A Work In Progress 50 King St, Sydney CBD (02) 9240 3000 Mon – Fri noon-2am Ash St Cellar 1 Ash St, Sydney CBD (02) 9240 3000 Mon – Fri 8.30am-11pm The Attic 275 Pitt St, Sydney CBD (02) 9284 1200 Mon – Fri 11am-1am; Saturday 5pm-1am Assembly 488 Kent St, Sydney CBD (02) 9283 8808 Mon – Tue 5-11pm; Wed
– Fri noon-midnight; Sat 5pm-midnight The Australian Heritage Hotel 100 Cumberland St, The Rocks (02) 9247 2229 Mon – Sun 10.30am-midnight Balcony Bar 46 Erskine St, Sydney CBD (02) 9299 3526 Mon 5pm - late; Tue – Fri noon-midnight; Sat 5pm-midnight BAR100 100 George St, The Rocks (02) 8070 9311 Mon – Thu noon-late; Fri – Sat noon-3am; Sun noon-midnight
Bar Eleven Lvl 11, 161 Sussex St, Sydney CBD (02) 9290 4712 Thu 4-9pm; Fri – Sat 4-11pm The Barber Shop 89 York St, Sydney CBD (02) 9299 9699 Mon – Wed, Sat 4pm-midnight; Thurs – Fri 3pm-midnight Basement 33 Basement, 27-33 Goulburn St, Sydney CBD (02) 8970 5813 Mon – Thu 5pm-late The Baxter Inn Basement 152-156 Clarence St, Sydney CBD Mon – Sat 4pm-1am
Bondy’s L1, 16 Philip Ln, Sydney CBD (02) 9251 2347 Thu – Fri 5pm-late; Sat 5pm-late Bulletin Place First Floor, 10-14 Bulletin Place, Circular Quay Mon – Wed 4pm-midnight; Thurs – Sat 4pm-1am deVine 32 Market St, Sydney CBD (02) 9262 6906 Mon – Fri 11.30am-11.30pm; Sat 5.30-11.30pm Frankie’s Pizza 50 Hunter St, Sydney CBD Mon – Fri noon-3am; Sat – Sun 4pm-3am
THE BEARDED TIT
Tell us about your bar: Welcome to The Bearded Tit, the happiest bar on Earth. A revolving door of the avant-garde, the absurd and the downright cheeky. Let your senses be blown gently with our free DJs and live performance every night of the week. Spontaneous, unexpected and always free, come try your luck at Redfern’s clubhouse for misfits, locals and creative spirits. The décor is a fantastical trip down Alice’s rabbit hole, with some tequila and your grandma’s medication thrown in, guaranteed to whisk you away from the everyday. The drinks and staff aren’t bad either. What’s on the menu? Our version of the humble cheese board, aptly named the Jacuzzerie Board, is a large selection of mouthwatering treats designed to massage your taste buds. Creamy, dreamy cheeses, both local and imports, and succulent treats from FUMO Meats, a local all-natural smokehaus of fun, are waiting for your call. All selections are served with Redfern’s own Wild Cockatoo Bakery bread, crackers, and
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a selection of fantastical condiments from Cornersmith and FUMO. Not into posh nosh? Well, our piping hot pies from our old-school pie oven stock four tasty options at $6 a pop, with the cauliflower, leek and cheese keeping the vegos happy as well as the infamous Roasted Jumping Beans from Kitty’s Fruiteria next door. If your appetite starts to wander we have some collaborative offerings with our favourite local kitchens, Wah Fung BBQ and Lorentto Pizzeria. Care for a drink? We love making cocktails from the classic to the kitsch, but you can’t beat our Sunday Bloody Sunday $10 Hail Marys, spicy as hell and guaranteed to bring on stigmata. They’ve got Ketel One vodka, tomato juice, lemon juice, Worcestershire and three kinds of hot sauce, served with fresh coriander and cracked pepper. A religious experience. Sounds: The Tit List comes out every week with a list of what to do, who to
bar bar
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ADDRESS: 183 REGENT ST, REDFERN PHONE NUMBER: (02) 8283 4082 WEBSITE: THEBEARDEDTIT.COM OPENING HOURS: MON – THU 4PM-MIDNIGHT, FRI – SAT 2PM-MIDNIGHT, SUN 2-10PM
TH
EK
B R A G ’ S G U I D E T O S Y D N E Y ’ S B E S T WAT E R I N G H O L E S
Gilt Lounge 49 Market St, Sydney CBD (02) 8262 0000 Wed 6pm-midnight; Thu & Sat 6pm-2am; Fri 5pm-2am The Glenmore 96 Cumberland St, The Rocks (02) 9247 4794 Mon – Thu, Sun 11am-midnight; Fri – Sat 11am-1am Goodgod Small Club 53-55 Liverpool St, Sydney CBD (02) 8084 0587 Wed 5pm-11pm; Thu 5pm-1am; Fri 5pm-3am; Sat 6pm-3am Grain Bar 199 George St, Sydney CBD (02) 9250 3118 Mon – Sun noon-late Grandma’s Basement 275 Clarence St, Sydney CBD (02) 9264 3004 Mon – Fri 3pm-late; Sat 5pm-late The Fox Hole 68A Erskine St, Sydney CBD
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see, and it’s always free. We have a very eclectic, some might say schizophrenic musical taste that we love to share with our fellow Tits. From disco to pop to alternate country to hip hop to vintage classics and guilty pleasures, we have it all. Whether spinning on vinyl or part of our Tits Live gigs on our stage, your ears will be as happy as your taste buds. Highlights: The Tit isn’t just a place for drinking; it’s also a place for venturing the new and showcasing the fabulous. With five exhibition spaces, a stage that hosts weekly art performances and an in-house open mind policy, there’s always something to stimulate your senses. With a ‘no dickhead policy’, it’s a place where everyone is family, locals are celebrated and strangers quickly become BFFs. The bill comes to: Grab three friends, or a hot date if you’re hungry, and go for one of our custom built-for-sharing Jacuzzerie Boards. The Bearded Tit’s go-tos for dairy indulgence and smoked meaty fun, favourites include Gippland’s Tarago Shadows of Blue, Maffra cheddar, Bourbon-smoked beef and tequila-cured salmon. Follow this with our Not So Old Fashioned cocktail artfully transformed into gelato by our talented neighbours Ciccone & Sons. With this coming in under $50, we promise you won’t go home alone.
(02) 9279 4369 Mon 7am-3pm; Tue – Fri 7am-evening The Grasshopper 1 Temperance Ln, Sydney CBD (02) 9947 9025 Mon – Thurs & Sat 4pm-late; Fri noon-late Harpoon Harry 40-44 Wentworth Ave, Sydney CBD (02) 8262 8800 Mon – Sun 11:30am-3am The Lobo Plantation Basement Lot 1, 209 Clarence St, Sydney CBD 0415 554 908 Mon – Thu, Sat 4pm-midnight; Fri 2pm-midnight The Loft UTS 15 Broadway, Sydney (behind 2SER) (02) 9514 2345 Mon – Wed 2pm-10pm; Thurs – Fri 2pm-late Mojo Record Bar Basement 73 York St, Sydney CBD (02) 9262 4999 Mon – Wed 4pm-midnight; Thu, Sat 4pm-1am; Fri 3pm-1am The Morrison 225 George St, Sydney CBD (02) 9247 6744 Mon – Wed 11.30am-midnight; Thu 11.30am-1am; Fri – Sat 11.30am-2am; Sun 11.30am-10pm 11.30am-10pm The Palisade 35 Bettington St, Millers Point 0421 001 474 Tue – Fri noon-2.30pm & 6pm-9.30pm; Sat 6pm-9.30pm Mr Tipply’s 347 Kent St, Sydney CBD (02) 9299 4877 Mon – Sat 10am-late Palmer & Co. Abercrombie Ln, Sydney CBD (02) 9240 3000 Mon – Wed 5pm-late; Thu – Fri 3pm-late; Sat – Sun 5pm-late Papa Gede’s Bar Laneway at the end of 348 Kent St, Sydney CBD Mon – Sat 5pm-12am Ramblin’ Rascal Tavern Basement, 60 Park St, Sydney CBD Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun 6pm-10pm Rockpool Bar & Grill 66 Hunter St, Sydney CBD (02) 8078 1900 Mon – Sat lunch & dinner The Rook Level 7, 56-58 York St, Sydney CBD (02) 9262 2505 Mon, Sat 4pm-midnight; Tue – Fri noon-midnight The SG 32 York St, Sydney CBD 0402 813 035 Tues – Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat 6pm-midnight Shirt Bar 7 Sussex Ln, Sydney CBD (02) 8068 8222 Mon –Wed 8am-8pm; Thu – Fri 8am-10pm Since I Left You 338 Kent St, Sydney CBD (02) 9262 4986 Mon – Wed 5pm-10pm; Thu – Fri 5pm-midnight; Sat 6pm-midnight Small Bar 48 Erskine St, Sydney CBD (02) 9279 0782
Mon – Fri noon-midnight; Sat 5pm-midnight The Smoking Panda 5-7 Park St, Sydney CBD (02) 9264 4618 Wed – Sat 4pm-late Stitch Bar 61 York St, Sydney CBD (02) 9279 0380 Mon – Wed 4pm-midnight; Thu – Fri noon-2am; Sat 4pm-2am The Swinging Cat 44 King St, Sydney CBD (02) 9262 3696 Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight Tapa Vino 6 Bulletin Place, Circular Quay (02) 9247 3221 Mon – Fri noon-11.30pm Uncle Ming’s 55 York St, Sydney CBD Mon – Fri noon-midnight; Sat 5pm-midnight York Lane 56 Clarence St, Sydney CBD (02) 9299 1676 Mon – Wed 6.30am-10pm; Thu – Fri 6.30pm-midnight; Sat 6pm-midnight
121BC 4/50 Holt St, Surry Hills (02) 9699 1582 Tue – Sat 5pm-midnight Absinthe Salon 87 Albion St, Surry Hills (02) 9211 6632 Wed – Sat 4-10pm Arcadia Liquors 7 Cope St, Redfern (02) 8068 4470 Mon – Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm Bar Cleveland Cnr Bourke & Cleveland St, Redfern (02) 9698 1908 Mon – Thu 10am-2am; Fri – Sat 10am-4am Bar H 80 Campbell St, Surry Hills (02) 9280 1980 Mon – Sat 6pm-late; Sun 11am-3pm Bellini Lounge 2 Kellett St, Potts Point 0432 241 556 Thu – Sun 6pm-late The Beresford 354 Bourke St, Surry Hills (02) 8313 5000 Mon – Sun noon-1am Black Penny 648 Bourke St, Surry Hills (02) 9319 5061 Mon – Sat 7am-midnight; Sun 7am-10pm Button Bar 65 Foveaux St, Surry Hills (02) 9211 1544 Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight Café Lounge 277 Goulburn St, Surry Hills (02) 9016 3951 Mon – Thu 5pm-midnight; Fri – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sunday 4-10pm Casoni Italian Bar & Eatery 371-373 Bourke St, Darlinghurst Tue – Thu 5pm-11pm; Fri – Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun 5pm-10pm Central Hotel 42-50 Chalmers St, Surry Hills (02) 9212 3814 Mon – Sat 10am-2am; Sun 10am-10pm Ching-a-Lings 1/133 Oxford St,
Darlinghurst (02) 9360 3333 Tue – Wed 6pm-11pm; Fri – Sat 6pm-1am; Sun 5pm-10pm The Cliff Dive 16-18 Oxford Square, Darlinghurst Wed – Sat 6pm-4am The Commons 32 Burton St, Darlinghurst (02) 9358 1487 Tue – Wed 6pm-late; Thu – Fri 12pm-late; Sat – Sun 6pm-late The Darlie Laundromatic 304 Palmer St, Darlinghurst Mon – Sat 5pm-11pm Darlo Bar 306 Liverpool St, Darlinghurst (02) 9331 3672 Mon – Sun 10am-midnight Darlo Country Club Level 1, 235 Victoria St, Darlinghurst 0449 998 005 Wed – Thu 5pm-midnight; Fri – Sat 5pm-2am Dead Ringer 413 Bourke St, Surry Hills (02) 9331 3560 Mon – Fri 5pm-midnight; Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm Della Hyde 34 Oxford St, Darlinghurst Mon – Sun 5pm-3am Eau De Vie 229 Darlinghurst Rd, Darlinghurst 0422 263 226 Mon – Sat 6pm-1am; Sun 6pm-midnight The Forresters 336 Riley St, Surry Hills (02) 9212 3035 Mon – Wed noonmidnight; Thu – Sat noon1am; Sun noon-10pm Gardel’s Bar 358 Cleveland St, Surry Hills (02) 8399 1440 Tue – Sat 6pm-midnight Gazebo 2 Elizabeth Bay Rd, Elizabeth Bay (02) 9357 5333 Mon – Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat – Sun noon-midnight Golden Age Cinema & Bar 80 Commonwealth St, Surry Hills (02) 9211 1556 Mon - Sun 11am-9pm Goros 84-86 Mary St, Surry Hills (02) 9212 0214 Mon – Wed 11:30am-midnight; Thu 11:30am-1am: Fri 11:30am-3am; Sat 4pm-3am The Hazy Rose 1/83 Stanley St, Darlinghurst (02) 9357 5036 Wed – Thu 5pm-midnight; Fri – Sat 3pm-midnight; Sun 3-10pm Hello Sailor 96 Oxford St, Darlinghurst (02) 9332 2442 Tue – Sun 5pm-3am Hinky Dinks 185 Darlinghurst Rd, Darlinghurst (02) 8084 6379 Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun 1-10pm Hollywood Hotel 2 Foster St, Surry Hills (02) 9281 2765 Mon – Wed 10am-midnight; Thu – Sat 10am-3am Hustle & Flow Bar 105 Regent St, Redfern (02) 9310 5593 thebrag.com
CRAFT BEER OF THE WEEK Pour it in your mouth-hole... (responsibly).
FROSTY’S @ FRANKIE’S PIZZA, 50 HUNTER ST, SYDNEY The brew: A super light and snappy pale ale. It’s actually a very simple beer – we’ve collaborated with breweries on stuff from choc, chilli, cherry imperial stouts to double Belgian blackberry IPAs. This beer’s a no-brainer – a beautifully flavourful, peoplepleasing partystarter. It glows brilliant gold with a super simple pale malt bill allowing Oz-grown Galaxy hops to spread their wings and shine in their unmistakably fresh and tropical glory.
Tue – Sat 5pm-midnight Li’l Darlin Darlinghurst 235 Victoria St, Darlinghurst (02) 8084 6100 Mon – Sun 4pm-late Li’l Darlin Surry Hills 420 Elizabeth St, Surry Hills (02) 9698 5488 Mon – Fri noon-late; Sat 4pm-late LL Wine and Dine 42 Llankelly Place Potts Point (02) 9356 8393 Mon – Thu 5pm-11pm; Fri – Sat noon-late; Sun 11am-10pm The Local Taphouse 122 Flinders St, Darlinghurst (02) 9360 0088 Mon – Wed noonmidnight; Thu – Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon11pm Love, Tilly Devine 91 Crown Ln, Darlinghurst (02) 9326 9297 Mon – Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun 4-10pm thebrag.com
The brewer: We’ve collaborated on over 20 commercially released beers now, all with some of the best breweries around Oz. Collaborations will always be our focus but this little beauty is one of our own designing. Ironically, we haven’t lifted a finger in the actual brewing, though. We have mates out at a fucking amazing brewing facility in Smeatons Grange called BrewPack who’ve nailed it, kegged it and trucked it over to pound with the punters here at Frankie’s. Best drunk with: Frosty’s is best drunk in between all the other glorious brews this country has to offer. It’ll cleanse the palate with its remarkably fresh flavour and clean mouth feel, perfect for recharging before heading back to war. During: A motherfuckin’ session! While wearing: Your call man. And listening to: Anal C**t! Haha, nah, this is more of a Beach Boys kind of beer. More: frankiespizzabytheslice.com
Low 302 302 Crown St, Surry Hills (02) 9368 1548 Mon – Sun 6pm-2am Mr Fox 557 Crown St, Surry Hills 0410 470 250 Tue – Wed 5pm-late; Sat 10am-midnight; Sun 10am-10pm The Norfolk 305 Cleveland St, Surry Hills (02) 9699 3177 Mon – Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm Old Growler 218 William St, Woolloomooloo 0422 911 650 Tue – Sat 5pm - midnight The Passage 231A Victoria St, Darlinghurst (02) 9358 6116 Mon – Sat 5pm-late Peekaboo 120 Bourke St, Woolloomooloo 0403 747 788 Mon – Thu 4pm-10pm; Fri – Sat 4pm – 12am Play Bar 72 Campbell St, Surry Hills (02) 9280 0885
Tues – Sat 5pm-midnight Pocket Bar 13 Burton St, Darlinghurst (02) 9380 7002 Mon – Wed 4pm-midnight; Fri – Sat 4pm-1am; Sun 4pm-midnight The Powder Keg 7 Kellett St, Potts Point (02) 8354 0980 Wed 5pm-1am; Thu 5pm-2am; Fri – Sat 4pm-2.30am; Sun 1pm-midnight The Print Room 11 Glenmore Rd, Paddington 0424 034 020 Wed – Fri 3pm-late; Sat 12pm-11pm, Sun 12pm-10pm Queenie’s Upstairs 336 Riley St, Surry Hills (02) 9212 3035 Tue – Sat 6pm-late & Fri noon-3pm Roosevelt 32 Orwell St, Potts Point 0423 203 119 Tue – Fri 5pm-midnight; Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm Rosie Campbell’s
320 Crown St, Surry Hills (02) 8356 9120 Mon 5pm-midnight: Tue – Sun 4pm-midnight Shady Pines Saloon Shop 4, 256 Crown St, Darlinghurst Mon – Sun 4pm-midnight The Soda Factory 16 Wentworth Ave, Surry Hills (02) 8096 9120 Mon – Fri 5pm-3am; Sat – Sun 6pm-3am Surly’s 182 Campbell St, Surry Hills (02) 9331 3705 Tue – Sun noon-midnight Sweethearts Rooftop 33/37 Darlinghurst Rd, Potts Point (02) 8070 2424 Mon – Thu 2pm-11.30pm; Fri – Sun noon-11.30pm This Must Be The Place 239 Oxford St, Darlinghurst (02) 9331 8063 Mon – Sun 3pm-midnight The Tilbury Hotel 12-18 Nicholson St, Woolloomooloo (02) 9368 1955 Mon – Fri 9am-midnight; Sat 10am-midnight; Sun 10am-10pm Tio’s Cerveceria 12-18 Nicholson St, Woolloomooloo (02) 9368 1955 Mon – Fri 9am-midnight; Sat 10am-midnight; Sun 10am-10pm Vasco 421 Cleveland St, Redfern 0406 775 436 Tue – Sat 5pm-midnight The Village Inn 9-11 Glenmore Rd, Paddington (02) 9331 0911 Mon – Sun 12pm-late The White Horse Hotel 381-385 Crown Street, Surry Hills 1300 976 683 Mon – Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm The Wild Rover 75 Campbell St, Surry Hills (02) 9280 2235 Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun noon-10pm The Winery 285A Crown St, Surry Hills (02) 9331 0833 Mon – Sun noon-midnight
Anchor Bar 8 Campbell Pde, Bondi (02) 8084 3145 Tue – Fri 4.30pm-late; Sat – Sun 12.30pm-late Bat Country. 32 St Pauls St in Randwick (@ The Spot) (02) 9398 6694 Mon – Sat 7am-midnight; Sun 7am-10pm Beach Road Hotel 71 Beach Rd, Bondi Beach (02) 9130 7247 Mon – Sat noon-1am; Sun 11am-10pm Bondi Hardware 39 Hall St, Bondi (02) 9365 7176 Mon – Wed 5pm-late; Fri noon-midnight; Sat 9am-midnight; Sun 9am-10pm The Bucket List Shop 1, Bondi Pavilion, Queen Elizabeth Drive (02) 9365 4122 Mon – Tue 11am-5pm; BRAG :: 641 :: 02:12:15 :: 25
out & about
Your bar’s not here? Email: chris@ thebrag.com
Queer(ish) matters with Lucy Watson
A
s we Sydneysiders head into December, the prospect of going to the beach to cool down seems unavoidable. But which beaches are all your fellow queers heading to? I’ve put together a list of all the popular places I can think of.
Gordons Bay
let your queer body be free. Lady Bay is particularly popular for men, and from what I’ve heard, exhibitionist men, since it’s a bit of a popular tourist haunt as well.
McIvers Baths
I like Gordons Bay because the treacherous rocks make it difficult for children and a fun time adventure for dogs. Double win! Known to have at least two lesbians present at all times, Gordons Bay is usually a safe space to ditch your top and paddle around. Low tide kinda sucks, and the high presence of stingrays makes it a little exhilarating, but generally Gordons is good for snorkelling, sunbaking, playing with dogs and getting a burger from Out Of The Blue in Clovelly afterwards.
Little Congwong Beach This little nudist beach near La Perouse is famously and fabulously queer. The highlight here is when the Streets boat pulls into the bay to sell some ice-creams and all the naked bears frolick towards it for their summer treat.
McIvers Baths, also known as the Coogee women’s baths, have been a popular place for lesbians and Muslim women for some time. It’s a glorious place where women can take off their tops or hijabs, depending on personal preference, and swim in a men-free environment. I’m not sure how trans-friendly McIvers Baths is, and that’s something worth considering. But if you want to go and relax with a Mills & Boon novel (supplied by the baths, in the change rooms), don’t forget your 20 cents to throw in the bucket on the way in.
Redleaf (Murray Rose Pool)
My friend told me to include this one because it’s quiet, secluded and beautiful. It’s in the Royal National Park just south of Sydney, a popular hiking spot for the more rugged queers among us. You can hike to and from Otford train station.
OK, so I’ve never been to Redleaf during the day, but I’m sure it’s great. It’s perfect for a night-time swim though, and the shark net makes you feel safe from animal dangers. Head there after you’ve been getting sweaty at Tokyo Sing Song, take your clothes off, swim to the platoon and dance on that in the dark. Trust me.
Lady Jane (Lady Bay) Beach
Milk Beach
Werrong Beach (Otford)
This is another popular nudist beach because, if I’ve learnt anything about queers at the beach, they like to take their clothes off. And really, why wouldn’t you when most swimwear is ridiculously gender normative? Just go naked and
Milk Beach probably isn’t very gay, but it’s small enough that if you head there with a car of gays, you’ll probably queer it up enough to make it count. It has stunning harbour views and you can read some good innuendo into its name, so hit it up.
As with Milk Beach, you can make most beaches queer (especially the small ones) just by being there, though that requires a bit of bravery if you’ve got it. If you don’t like the ocean, Andrew (Boy) Charlton Pool, Victoria Park Pool and Fanny Durack (Petersham) Aquatic Centre are all pretty gay places to swim, but probably more strict about clothing than the beaches. If you want to get wet but don’t like the sun, Arq probably has a foam party coming up sometime soon.
this week… Christmas is coming. This Wednesday December 2, Snatch and Grab, Heaps Gay and Snap Back are teaming up again at the Newtown Hotel for another gay X-Mess bash, featuring Cunningpants, Mira Boru, Sveta, L’Oasis and heaps more, as well as performances from Burley Chassis and Fran Giapanni. After that, head up to Slyfox for Birdcage to kick on with Sveta and Cunningpants, as well as NatNoiz and DJ Hookie. On Friday December 4, the Sydney Uni Women’s Collective is putting on its annual performance and party night, Knightess. At a secret warehouse location, the event features Chunyin, Corin, Buoy, Lovely Head, Baby Face Thrilla and more. And one for the diary: On Friday December 18, Homosocial is back for Ho Ho Homosocial, at 90 Liverpool St
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DJ Hookie
(entrance across the road from Goodgod). The party features Andy Webb, Matt Vaughan, Cunningpants and new kid on the block (and certified babe)
DJ Shanks, plus performances from Aaron Manhattan and Tammy Thomas, who each make up the Ho and Ho of Ho Ho Homosocial.
Wed – Sun 11am-late The Corner House 281 Bondi Rd, Bondi (02) 8020 6698 Tue – Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun 3pm-10pm Fat Ruperts 249 Bondi Rd, Bondi (02) 9130 1033 Tue – Fri 6pm-late; Sat – Sun 2pm-late Mr Moustache 75-79 Hall St, Bondi Beach (02) 9300 8892 Mon – Fri 5pm-11pm; Sat noon-11pm; Sun noon-10pm The Phoenix Hotel 1 Moncur street Woollahra (02) 9363 2608 Wed – Thu 4pm-11pm; Fri – Sat noon-11pm; Sun noon-10pm The Robin Hood Hotel 203 Bronte Rd, Waverley (02) 9389 3477 Mon - Sat 10am-3am; Sun 10am-10pm Speakeasy 83 Curlewis St, Bondi (02) 9130 2020 Mon – Sat 5pm-11pm; Sat – Sun 4pm-10pm Spring Street Social (and Jam Gallery) Underground 195 Oxford St, Bondi Junction (02) 9389 2485 Tues – Sat 4pm-3am Stuffed Beaver 271 Bondi Rd, Bondi (02) 9130 3002 Mon – Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm
The Angry Pirate 125 Redfern St Redfern (02) 9698 9140 Tue – Thur 5pm-midnight; Fri – Sat 3pm-midnight Bar-racuda 105 Enmore Rd, Newtown (02) 9519 1121 Mon – Sat 6pm-midnight Bauhaus West 163 Enmore Rd, Enmore (02) 8068 9917 Wed – Fri 5pm-midnight; Sat – Sun 11am-midnight The Bearded Tit 183 Regent St, Redfern (02) 8283 4082 Mon – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri – Sat noon - midnight; Sun noon - 10pm Blacksheep 256 King St, Newtown (02) 8033 3455 Mon – Fri 4pm-11pm; Sat 2pm-11pm; Sun 2pm-10pm Bloodwood 416 King St, Newtown (02) 9557 7699 Tue – Wed 6pm-late; Thu – Sun 5pm-late Calaveras 324 King St, Newtown 0451 541 712 Wed – Sat 6pm-midnight The Chip Off The Old Block 3 Little Queen Street, Chippendale (02) 9318 0815 Tue – Sat 4pm-11pm Cornerstone Bar & Food 245 Wilson St, Eveleigh (02) 8571 9004 Sun – Wed 10am-5pm; Thu – Sat 10am-late
Corridor 153A King St, Newtown 0405 671 002 Tue – Fri 3pm-midnight; Sat 1pm-midnight; Sun 1pm-10pm Cottage Bar & Kitchen 342 Darling St, Balmain (02) 8084 8185 Mon – Wed 5pm-midnight; Thu – Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon10pm Different Drummer 185 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 9552 3406 Mon – Sat 4.30pm-late Doris & Beryl’s Bridge Club and Tea House 530 King St, Newtown Mon – Fri 5pm-midnight; Sat – Sun 5.30pm-midnight Earl’s Juke Joint 407 King St, Newtown Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun 4-10pm Freda’s 109 Regent St, Chippendale (02) 8971 7336 Tues – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun 4pm-10pm The Hideaway Bar 156 Enmore Rd, Enmore (02) 8021 8451 Tue– Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri – Sat noon-1am; Sun noon-10pm Hive Bar 93 Erskineville Rd, Erskineville (02) 9519 9911 Mon – Fri noon-midnight; Sat 11am-midnight; Sun 11am-10pm Kelly’s On King 285 King St, Newtown (02) 9565 2288 Mon – Fri 10am-2.30am; Sat 10am-3.30am; Sun 11am-11.30pm Knox Street Bar Cnr Knox & Shepherd St, Chippendale (02) 8970 6443 Tue – Thu 4-10pm, Fri – Sat 4pm-midnight Kuleto’s 157 King St, Newtown (02) 9519 6369 Mon – Sat 4pm-late; Thu – Sat 4pm-3am The Little Guy 87 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 8084 0758 Mon – Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat 1pm-midnight; Sun 3pm-10pm Mary’s 6 Mary St, Newtown (02) 4995 9550 Mon – Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm The Midnight Special 44 Enmore Road, Newtown (02) 9516 2345 Tues – Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun 5pm-10pm Miss Peaches 201 Missenden Rd, Newtown (02) 9557 7280 Wed – Sun 5pm-midnight The Moose Newtown 530 King St, Newtown (02) 9557 0072 Wed – Sat 6pm-midnight Mr Falcon’s 92 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 9029 6626 Mon – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri 3pm-midnight; Sat noon-midnight; Sun 2pm-10pm Newtown Social Club
387 King St, Newtown (02) 9550 3974 Mon 9am-6pm; Tues – Fri 9am-8pm; Sat 10am-8pm The Oxford Tavern 1 New Canterbury Rd, Petersham (02) 8019 9351 Mon – Thu noon-10pm; Fri – Sat noon-11pm; Sun noon-9pm Raven’s Eye 127 King St, Newtown (02) 9557 6429 Mon – Thu 5pm-midnight; Fri – Sat 11.30am-midnight; Sun 11:30am-10pm The Record Crate 34 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 9660 1075 Tue – Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm The Royal 156 Norton St, Leichhardt (02) 9569 2638 Mon – Thu 10am-1am; Fri – Sat 10am-3am; Sun 10am-midnight Secret Garden Bar 134a Enmore Rd, Enmore 0403 621 585 Mon – Sun 1am-11pm Soho In Balmain 358 Darling St, Balmain 0407 525 208 Tue – Sun 5pm-midnight Temperance Society 122 Smith St, Summer Hill (02) 8068 5680 Mon – Thu 4pm-11pm; Fri – Sat: noon-midnight; Sun: noon-10pm Thievery 91 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 8283 1329 Tue – Thu 6pm-11pm; Fri 6pm-midnight. Sat 11pm-3pm & 6pm-midnight Timbah 375 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 9571 7005 Tue – Thu 4pm-10pm; Fri noon-11pm; Sat 3pm-11pm; Sun 4pm-8pm Wilhelmina’s Liquid and Larder 332 Darling St Balmain (02) 8068 8762 Tues – Fri 5pm - late; Sat – Sun 8am - late The Workers Lvl 1, 292 Darling St, Balmain (02) 9555 8410 Thu – Sat 5pm-3am; Sun 2pm-late ZanziBar 323 King St, Newtown (02) 9519 1511 Mon – Sat 10am-4am; Sun 10am-12am Zigi’s Wine And Cheese Bar 86 Abercrombie St, Chippendale (02) 9699 4222 Tue 4pm-10pm; Wed – Sat 2pm-late
Alberts Bar 100 Mount St, North Sydney (02) 9955 9097 Mon – Wed 11.30am-10pm; Thu 11.30am-11pm; Fri 11.30am-midnight Firefly 24 Young St, Neutral Bay (02) 9909 0193 Mon – Thu 5-11.30pm; Fri 4-11.30pm; Sat noon11pm; Sun noon-10pm The Foxtrot 28 Falcon St, Crows Nest Tue – Wed 5pm-midnight; Thu 5pm-1am; Fri – Sat 5pm-2am; Sun 4pm-10pm The Hayberry Bar
& Diner 97 Willoughby Road, Crows Nest (02) 8084 0816 Tue – Thu 4pm-12am; Fri & Sat noon-midnight Sun noon-10pm Hemingway’s 48 North Steyne, Manly (02) 9976 3030 Mon – Sat 8am-midnight; Sun 8am-10pm Honey Rider 230 Military Rd, Neutral Bay (02) 9953 8880 Tue – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun 4pm-10pm InSitu 1/18 Sydney Rd, Manly (02) 9977 0669 Tue – Fri 5pm-midnight; Sat 9am-midnight; Sun 9am-10pm The Hunter 5 Myahgah Rd, Mosman 0409 100 339 Mon – Tue 5pm-midnight; Wed – Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm Jah Bar Shop 7, 9-15 Central Ave, Manly (02) 9977 4449 Mon – Fri 4pm-late; Sat 9am-late; Sun 9am-10pm The Local Bar 6/8 Young Ln, Neutral Bay (02) 9953 0027 Tue – Fri 11.30am-midnight; Sat 7am-midnight; Sun 7am-10pm Los Vida 419 Pacific Hwy, Crows Nest (02) 9439 8323 Mon – Wed 5pm-midnight; Thu – Sat 11.30am-midnight; Sun 11.30am-10pm Manly Wine 8-13 South Steyne, Manly (02) 8966 9000 Mon – Sun 6.30am-late The Mayor 400 Military Rd, Cremorne (02) 8969 6060 Tue – Wed 5pm-late; Thu – Sat noon-late; Sun noon-10pm Miami Cuba 47 North Steyne, Manly (02 99775186 Tue – Thu 8am-10pm; Fri – Sat 8am-1am; Sunday 8am-4pm Moonshine Lvl 2, Hotel Steyne, 75 The Corso, Manly (02) 9977 4977 Thu 5pm-2am; Fri 1pm-2am; Sat noon-2am; Sun noon-midnight The Pickled Possum 254 Military Rd, Neutral Bay (02) 9909 2091 Thu – Sat 9pm-1am SoCal 1 Young St, Neutral Bay (02) 9904 5691 Mon – Tue 4pm-late: Wed – Thu noon-1am; Fri – Sat noon- 2am; Sun noon-midnight The Stoned Crow 39 Willoughby Rd, Crows Nest (02) 9439 5477 Mon – Sun noon-late The Treehouse Hotel 60 Miller St, North Sydney (02) 8458 8980 Mon – Fri 7am-late; Sat 2pm-late Wilcox Cammeray 463 Miller St, Cammeray (02) 9460 0807 Tue – Thu 4pm-10pm; Fri – Sat 2pm-11pm; Sun 2pm-10pm thebrag.com
Album Reviews What's been crossing our ears this week...
ALBUM OF THE WEEK MOPE CITY
and album closer ‘Disasterpiece’ both combining a fragile kind of beauty with vague unease to stunning effect.
Petri Dish Tenth Court
Mope City’s Petri Dish exists in the overlap between the mundane and the mythic, that odd place where the ordinary bloats and transforms into something wholly unreal.
A stunning local effort that takes the everyday and makes it epic.
MY DISCO Severe Temporary Residence
Listening to My Disco’s fourth album is the audio equivalent of watching a performance of Waiting For Godot for the first time. Chances are you’ll be waiting for a big moment – a final pay-off – before realising all too late that it isn’t coming; therein being what is ostensibly the point. As such, it’s not something you’re immediately going to enjoy or even quoteunquote ‘get’. That’s never been My Disco’s endgame, and that’s certainly not about to change – especially with a name like Severe. It’s a long, winding and murky LP that introduces itself with a gruelling eight-minute slither across a two-note bassline and emphatic, walloping tom hits. Certainly, there are moments on the record that were never going to work regardless of context – the nothingness of ‘King Sound’ springs to mind – but tracks like the pulsing ‘Careless’ and the intense ‘Our Decade’ will slowly but surely work their way into one’s subconscious. At the very least, Severe is an LP that commands presence. My Disco continue to challenge and fascinate with their every move, and although Severe’s never going to sit right with everyone that comes across it, it’s worth investing in. You never know. David James Young
Harmonies jostle for space; vocals get wrapped in reverb; pop choruses drown in fast-acting distortion. ‘Lens-Blur’ and ‘Incessant & Dull’ see the band at its most paradoxical, as the choruses mash up hope and hope’s very opposite, creating an odd sense of cathartic defeat. In fact, contrast is the word of the day, with ‘Toxic Cells Bind’
It’s instantly relatable from beginning to end, but never in a way that seems like mere reportage. Though the melancholy, distorted strains of ‘Letterbomb’ or the tainted piano strikes that open ‘W.O.Y. (Wave Of Youth)’ will resonate with any who feel stripped of direction (i.e. most of us), this isn’t an album that simply aims to translate regular life into music. There’s a vaguely epic quality to the tunes, and as the jangly choruses and shoegaze-indebted riffs begin to pile up like the bracken in a bonfire, one comes to feel as though they are bearing witness to the construction of something genuinely special.
BILLY FOX
JAALA
MOONCHILD
Lights Independent
Hard Hold Wondercore Island/Warner
Please Rewind Tru Thoughts
Four angry young Memphis women who don’t give a damn what you think are here to kick over your stuff, and you’re gonna love it.
Lights is a refreshing taster of Billy Fox’s developing sound, and it’s a pleasure to be taken along for the ride. The EP opens with ‘Lights’, which is probably the track most similar in sound to many popular electronic producers on Sydney’s music scene at the moment (like Basenji and Kilter). It’s danceable, yet not too abrasive as easy listening, so an appropriate introduction to the record.
Melbourne outfit Jaala’s latest output is an eight-track LP that confronts themes of difficult love and dreams. With Cosima Jaala on lead vocals and guitar, Loretta Wilde on bass, Maria Moles on drums and Nic Lam on guitar, Hard Hold feels like a gateway jazz album, although Jaala have themselves described their sound as “jangling indie rock and proggy art-pop”.
In light of comparisons to the legendary Erykah Badu, submitting one’s ears to the latest from soul/jazz-tinged trio Moonchild initially suggests false advertisement. But don’t worry; the conclusion to draw is that it’s a major slow-grower.
In their third year playing together, Nots have smashed out their first LP, and it’s all over in a blistering 27 minutes. Loaded with phrases guaranteed to become the shouted mantras of their fans, it’s a fun blast of punk from a band whose apathetic delivery belies their fury. Nots have clearly settled into their niche, though, and this does make many of the songs sound a little too similar. Vocalist Natalie Hoffman’s harangue, especially, is iconic but strays towards monotony as the last chords of ‘Talk Show’ fade. What separates Nots from their peers is the perfect placement of Alexandra Eastburn’s synthesizers, conjuring up both a vibrant nostalgia for the riot grrrl era and a weird Memphis grooviness that keeps them sounding fresh. Danceability is We Are Nots’ greatest asset. It’s never better than in the riotous, 46-secondlong ‘Get Along’, a punchy burst of wailing guitar, unrelenting bass and warbling synth.
This trend is continued with ‘You’, a particularly repetitive track that lacks the same zest as the other songs – it floats and bounces around but doesn’t quite seem to go anywhere as a composition. But then, ‘Bloom’ features mysterious, airy vocals and percussion not unlike Glass Animals’ rhythmic sound, and begins to give the EP some flair. ‘Pressure Down’ is where things get really interesting. The melody is nothing short of addictive, and Fox’s many layers of clicking, harmonies, saxophone and synth keep the track moving along, punctuated by clever builds.
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It’s broad in scope, from the rawness of the opening track, ‘Hard Hold’, to the looseness of ‘Lowlands’, to the disjointedness of the funk basslines in ‘War Song’. The influences of improvisational jazz and math rock make themselves known in the seemingly messy arrangements on the album. ‘Order’, the fifth track, feels like the most poppy manifestation on the record. ‘Salt Shaker’ could be mistaken for a soul and groove rendition of a Courtney Barnett song – and that’s not a criticism, perhaps just a reflection of the shared experiences and influences of Australian singersongwriters and composers.
Effortlessly cool and gutsy as hell, the record is a sign of musicians who, given time to shake out of their malaise, will kick every arse before them. Spin it and get mad.
Fox flirts with different approaches to songwriting, but hasn’t quite committed to a particular signature sound as yet. However, each track here has elements that work well and it will certainly be exciting to see where he takes his music next.
‘Hymn’ closes the album, wrapping it in a church-like reverie. It’s gentle, it’s sweet, and it’s comfortable territory. Frontwoman Cosima Jaala indulges in a little voice ululation, and it works gorgeously.
David Molloy
Erin Rooney
Sarah Little
Love It Need It Miss It Want It is a hot ache of a record; a chronicle of lust and longing that reaches suitably orgiastic heights.
Love It Need It Miss It Want It Liberation
Joseph Earp
We Are Nots Heavenly Recordings
NOTS
INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK
R.W. GRACE
Petri Dish is an anxious pleasure; a striking, fully realised work that has a real and yet surreal power totally of its ow n.
It’s also a makeover of sorts. R.W. Grace, the Perth-based musician behind the EP, once recorded under the name Grace Woodroofe, and to call Love It Need It Miss It Want It a stylistic departure from her previous work would be an understatement. Whereas Woodroofe’s work was considered and acoustic, Grace’s slick, sultry tunes derive their power from sheer excess. A song like the brilliant ‘Down Looking Above’ gains hypnotic power with every sweep of its debauched chorus, and by its conclusion tips right over into the realm of the gleefully melodramatic.
Indeed, what with its ultrapolished instrumentation and Grace’s scale-climbing voice, Love It Need It Miss It Want It is like the soundtrack for a yet unwritten Broadway show. Songs like ‘All The Friends I Lost’ and ‘Bound For Tragedy’ combine heartfelt emotion with the black latex sheen of intoxicating perversity. Love It Need It Miss It Want It doesn’t as much end as it does reach climax, and by the time it’s over, one is left reeling. This is exactly the kind of pop we need: overstuffed, overwrought and essential.
The wholly understated vocals of frontwoman Amber Navran float just high enough to peek out from the surrounds of the shimmering percussion and keys, but for the most part they blend into the compositions with ease. Nowhere is this more apparent than on opening track ‘All The Joy’, and later ‘Nobody’. Then there is the instrumentation itself. It too holds a subtle tone, not embarking too far from the slow jam vibe but adding that extra bit of juice in the pivotal parts to keep the build upping nicely. The funky squelch of bass in ‘I’ll Make It Easy’ and ‘The Truth’, with the wave of cymbals and tempo of the keys, hold this well. A record truly made for the lovers of downbeat simplicity, there is a tangible warmth to this album. It may not be a sprinter, but it could prove a classic case of slow and steady wins the race. Chelsea Deeley
OFFICE MIXTAPE And here are the albums that have helped BRAG HQ get through the week... THE SHINS - Port Of Morrow UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA - Multi-Love GARY CLARK JR. - The Story Of Sonny Boy Slim
MUMFORD & SONS - Sigh No More YOU AM I - Porridge & Hotsauce
Joseph Earp
BRAG :: 641 :: 02:12:15 :: 27
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up all night out all week . . .
THE BENNIES, THE HARD ACHES, WET PENSIONER
Adelaide duo The Hard Aches might have been thought to be an odd choice to go in tandem with tonight’s headliner; perhaps a little on the serious side for what is ostensibly a party.
Factory Floor Friday November 27 Wet Pensioner are a bizarre Molotov cocktail – shaken, not stirred – of hardcore punk, avant-garde noise and songs that are so funny they come full circle and must be taken deadly seriously.
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unfun ’15
the coronas
Every time The Bennies play, frontman Anty Horgan asks the crowd two allimportant questions: “How you fuckin’ feeling?” and “Do you feel alive out there?” The answers to both are always a resounding, unanimous yes. You only
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Their costumes of choice – one a monstrous cop, the other a mad scientist – certainly assist in the matter, but even with the aesthetic taken out of the picture, Wet Pensioner do things unlike any other. Their triumphant closer – an ode to so-bad-it’s-good action classic Face/Off – seals the deal: even those who had walked in indifferently are left screaming “I’m John Travolta / And I’m Nick Cage!”
All doubts are swept aside, however, as they launch into their brisk single ‘Loser’ (sadly not a Beck cover) and brandish their unique take on honest, forthright melodic punk with its alt-rock and Bragg-ian twists. Rather than serve as a blunt contrast, they’re a complement – they’re just as passionate and bring just as much energy, albeit in a different part of the spectrum.
27:11:15 :: Factory Theatre :: 105 Victoria Rd Marrickville 9550 3666
26:11:15 :: Factory Theatre :: 105 Victoria Rd Marrickville 9550 3666
OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER
S :: KATRINA CLARKE :: ASHLEY
MAR ::
speed date WITH
JAKARTA CRIERS
’90s (as the sunshine hurts our eyes). Although we are what you might call pessimists, we seek the accompaniment of sunshine girls with flowery dresses; the optimistic ying to our brooding yang. Must enjoy candlelit walks on the beach.
2.
Your Profile 1. Hello, our name is Jakarta Criers. We don’t usually do this sort of thing, but we increasingly find ourselves seeking companionship 28 :: BRAG :: 641 :: 02:12:15
in this melancholy world of ours. A little bit about us: we’re a fun-loving bunch of guys who enjoy sitting in dimly lit rooms drinking beer and listening to old cassettes from the
Keeping Busy As if day-to-day life isn’t hectic enough, we have been doing all these things on top of that. We spent a week and a bit down in Sydney with the incredibly talented and all-round legend Jean Paul Fung, recording our second official EP – Regal Twin. On top of that, we have been doing the odd show around the South East Queensland area, which saw us head up to Toowoomba for the first time, which is a great place. Just recently we’ve ramped up our live presence, doing an east coast tour including Melbourne, Sydney, Byron Bay and our comfy old bosom in Brissie. Next year should be an interesting one for us – nothing too set in stone but something inevitably
pops up and takes us in a new direction, no doubt including some new tracks. Best Gig Ever 3. Every time we seem to do a gig, we rate it as the best gig we’ve ever done (and then forget about it two months down the track). So, in that spirit, I would have to say to say a show we did within that two-month timeframe down on the Goldie. The best shows are always the ones that you don’t have much expectation of – and this one was on the Gold Coast on a Sunday night carrying sizeable hangovers. But the crowd was large and awesome, the rider was flowing and we ended up having a real fun show. Current Playlist We have been mostly going to 4. back to go forward with our current likes. Bruce Springsteen, INXS, Paul Kelly and Creedence Clearwater Revival have been mostly occupying our record players of late. That being
said, we’ve got a thing for Eves The Behaviour and also Courtney Barnett, who’s bringing the love back to Aussie rock’n’roll poetry, which is awesome. Best recent gig would without a doubt be The Darkness at the Tiv a couple of weeks back. Those guys are just the right amount of hilarious and awe-inspiring musicianship that can make you watch them all night. Your Ultimate Rider We are an unfussy lot, just 5. a simple rider of cold beers (not too cold), a carton of Peter Stivy’s Classic Blue (must be Classic Blue), water from the mountains of Peru and a bowl of M&Ms with the brown ones picked out. If not possible, a couple of free beers behind the bar and perhaps a parmy if we’re lucky. What: Regal Twin out now Where: Oxford Art Factory When: Thursday December 3
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live reviews What we've been out to see...
need to watch The Bennies for a matter of minutes to see why they elicit such a response – theirs is a show full of righteous, rambunctious and rollicking songs that celebrate life’s simple pleasures, although we’re talking more sniffing glue than sniffing the roses. Tonight’s set is allencompassing – it goes from the band’s first album (with the skank-ready ‘Acid On Me Brain’) right up to a taste of the latest (the stomping, big-business ‘Party Machine’). A packed room screams along whenever it’s told, fans heaving and
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up all night out all week . . .
clamouring on top of one another in the process. It’s less a commanding presence and more an inviting one – The Bennies are having the time of their lives when they play, and you’re very welcome to do the same as a spectator. ‘Hold On’ sees the night out, with bassist Craig Selak leading the crowd in a warm, armin-arm sing-along. The vibe is through the roof, the smiles are mile-wide and the party rages on. David James Young PHOTOGRAPHER :: ASHLEY MAR
Newtown Social Club Sunday November 29
Leaving the house more often is totally worth it if it means a night like this, and discovering Sydney musicians like Rainbow Chan. Dancing behind her dreamy pop harmonies, she led the Sunday punters of Newtown Social Club away from the dwindling weekend with her energetic electronic pop/dance tracks. Dan Kelly is a captivating storyteller both within his lyrics and onstage banter. Regaling his audience with the real-life anecdotes behind each track revealed his version of the weird and wonderful characters of northern New South Wales. Performing solo, Kelly improvised fullband tracks by enlisting the audience. As he narrated where band members should have come in, a charmed audience sang when required, and out of nowhere Liam Finn jumped onstage for the drum cue of ‘Never Stop The Rot’. Closing with a Jimi Hendrix-style ‘Advance Australia Fair’ before diving into ‘Bindi Irwin Apocalypse Jam’, the self-proclaimed “23rd best guitarist in Australia” knows his audience well. From the first notes of ‘Fire In Your Belly’, Liam Finn had the audience transfixed for the entire set. Opening with just an electric guitar, his signature sound grew as more musicians were invited to the stage. They could have gone on to play
LULUC, SINGLE TWIN, CAITLIN HARNETT Newtown Social Club Friday November 27
An alt-country/folk singer with a warm, honeyed voice, Caitlin Harnett’s music sits somewhere between the haunted folk of Karen Dalton and Neil Young in mellow, pastoral mode. On songs like ‘Honey Are You Alright’ she strikes a delicate balance between downbeat and defeated. Fans of emotive Americana, come on in. Ex-Deloris frontman Marcus Teague, AKA Single Twin, takes the middle slot and it’s a set as notable for his surreal, dryly hilarious song introductions as the wordy, finely detailed music itself. The languorous ‘My Silken Tooth’ is introduced as being “about the most unfortunate pizza delivery ever made” and it only gets more bizarre from there, with riffs on becoming completely flat and forming your garbage into the shape of an ex. The music is uniformly first-rate meanwhile, with the sparse, intimate ‘Goodnight’ featuring some ghostly whistling. Continuing the theme of talented musicians whose serious music belies their jovial demeanour, Australian expats
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his entire discography and no-one would have complained. There is a unique intensity in Finn’s live performance that completely captivates an audience. His wild eyes grew focused in the emotional performance of ‘Snug As Fuck’, while a moment of inspiration called for a rearrangement of ‘Second Chance’. You could clearly see Finn’s energy levels heighten as proceedings exploded into a dramatic theremin solo during ‘Miracle Glance’, or a powerful drum break whenever he could step away from his guitar. The Nihilist’s ‘4 Track Stomper’ in particular was both a set highlight and a gateway to a beautiful chaos for Finn. It is as if his only frustration is that he cannot play all the instruments at the same time.
devine electric
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LIAM FINN, DAN KELLY, RAINBOW CHAN
29:11:15 :: Frankie’s Pizza :: 50 Hunter St Sydney
The contributions from guest Eliza-Jane Barnes balanced Finn’s energy with smooth harmonies and an eclectic range of percussion instruments. The setlist weaved its way from the delicate EP release ‘On Your Side’ to The Nihilist’s intense ‘Burn Up The Road’. As he stood on his drum stool with arms stretched wide, Finn’s cowboy-hat-patterned shirt was switched with a black glittery show jacket in preparation for the final song. Crashing down into a cover of Devo’s ‘Gut Feeling’ with Kelly on guitar, a stage full of Australasian music royalty jammed until the final chord and Finn fell into the drum kit for a dramatic finale. Tanydd Jaquet
Luluc are a laid-back, jokey presence from their first song ‘Reverie On Norfolk Street’. They quickly endear themselves to a small but appreciative crowd who mainly remain seated in front of the stage. Their set features most of last year’s excellent, slow-burning Passerby, full of close harmonies, gentle melodies and an overall sense of warmth and comfort. ‘Without A Face’ is a good example of their quiet but lush approach, with restrained beats sitting underneath cozy harmonies. ‘Star’ sees them summoning the ghostly melancholy of Nick Drake, while ‘Tangled Heart’ adds a bit of reverb to a tale of a lost love and lingering thoughts of loss. Zoe Randell’s voice is a thing of wonder, never forceful but mightily expressive. Even songs as filled with yearning and sadness as ‘Passerby’ and ‘Gold On The Leaves’ become almost overwhelmingly pretty and tranquil. They finish with an encore of ‘Little Suitcase’ and ‘I Found You’, further softly strummed reminders that passion need not be measured in volume.
wed
02 Dec
thu
(9:00PM - 12:00AM)
03 Dec
(9:00PM - 12:30AM)
fri
04 Dec (10:00PM - 1:40AM)
SATURDAY AFTERNOON
sat
05
5:45PM 8:45PM
Dec
SUNDAY AFTERNOON
sun
06
(8:30PM - 12:00AM)
(10:00PM - 1:15AM)
mon
07 Dec
(4:30PM - 7:30PM)
Dec
tue
(9:00PM - 12:00AM)
08 Dec
(9:00PM - 12:00AM)
Daniel Herborn
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one for the road
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up all night out all week . . .
23:11:15 :: Enmore Theatre :: 118-132 Enmore Rd Newtown 9550 3666
It’s called: Sundays Live At The Bowlo
It sounds like: Good music Acts: Acts for December are The Slowdowns, The Roadrunners and Satellite V. Coming up in the New Year we have some very exciting local and interstate artists to announce shortly. Sell it to us: Every Sunday under the Bowlo ’s copper-crowned pornesque ceiling, live music shall help you to forget working week and take you back to the better your impending times of the weekend near gone. The meticulously manicured bowlin g greens are offered for those who wish to get out and enjoy a game of bowls. The bit we’ll remember in the AM: A time that was far better than your Monday morning. Crowd specs: Everyone’s welcome, even the kiddies. Wallet damage: Music is always free and every thing else is at bowlo prices. Where: Marrickville Bowling Club, 91 Syden ham Rd, Marrickville When: Every Sunday from 4:30pm
aria awards 2015
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party profile
sundays live at the bowlo
26:11:15 :: The Star Event Centre :: 80 Pyrmont St Pyrmont 9777 9000
on the record WITH ERNIE The First Record I Bought 1. London Calling by The Clash when I was about 13. I loved it and still do. A kid in my street got me onto Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols, which he nicked from his older brother and I loved it. The Clash was a logical progression. When I listen to those songs, it takes me back to those formative, tender times. I love that those punk bands were influenced by the reggae that they were surrounded by when they were coming up. Very cool.
done, well done, Mr. Politician Man / Ya done such a great job a-selling out me country with ya business plan”. Also I got some Son Little, which is unreal. The First Thing I Recorded 3. The first Magic Lunchbox release, The Yeeros Living
Dangerously. I don’t have a copy anymore. Troy Horse had a studio on King Street opposite the Sando. Oneinch tape machine, et cetera. Sounded like a hundred dollars.
The Last Record I Bought The Last Thing I Recorded 2. Well Done by Kabaka Pyramid. 4. The new Kinsky EP. We He’s part of the reggae revival recorded the basic tracks in my house happening in Jamaica at the moment. With that revival comes the social justice and inequality themes from a gratin ago in the songs of these artists like him and Chronixx. Kabaka’s stuff is intelligent, sarcastic and clever. “Well 30 :: BRAG :: 641 :: 02:12:15
in Erko, which is a wooden countrystyle cottage. Very live-sounding. We set up the control room in my neighbour’s lounge room about six doors down, running the cables down the footpath. About a million
GARLAND FROM KINSKY
people played on it, so I can’t list them all here. It was mixed at Volta studios in Tokyo with my old mate Dr’n’Ric, who did the first record. Big analogue heaven. He did some live dub mixes that will be on the EP also. The Record That Changed My Life 5. Again from my formative years, Midnight Oil 10-1. Such a big sound jumping out of the speakers. The Oils were without peer at this time. I always got my education through popular culture, a lot more than school, and their music was where it started as far as that goes. Maralinga? What’s a Maralinga? With: Jesse Morris Band Where: Camelot Lounge When: Thursday December 10
thebrag.com
g g guide g send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 2 INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS DZ Deathrays + Bully Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 4pm. Free. Leah Senior The Vanguard, Newtown. 6pm. $18.80. Lucinda Williams Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 7:45pm. $102.77. Mark Travers Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. Free. Mew Manning Bar, Camperdown. 7:30pm. $65. Mitch Grainger Cat & Fiddle, Balmain. 8pm. $20. Plectrum Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 7pm. $5. Sugar Jam Open Mic Night Sugarmill, Kings Cross. 8pm. Free. You Am I Metro Theatre, Sydney. 2:30pm. $52.90.
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Khusugtun Factory Theatre, Marrickville. 7pm. $30.
ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK Gadjo Guitars Mr Falcon’s, Glebe. 7pm. Free. Muso’s Club Jam Night Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt. 8pm. Free.
THURSDAY DECEMBER 3 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK
Muso’s Club Jam Night Rooty Hill RSL Club, Rooty Hill. 8pm. Free. RB Mr Falcon’s, Glebe. 8:30pm. Free. The New Savages The Wanderer, Surry Hills. 7pm. Free.
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Joe Kalou + Octave Inc + The Mesclados Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 9pm. $10. Live Soul By The Greens Marrickville Bowling Club, Marrickville. 5:30pm. Free. Thursdays In Jam - feat: El Moro + DJ Av El Cubano Jam Gallery, Bondi Junction. 9pm. Free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS A Tribe Called Red + OKA + DJ Marc Kundalini + Muggera Dancers & Didge + Welcome To Country From Uncle Max Factory Theatre, Marrickville. 7pm. $25. Black Heart Breakers + Nunchukka Superfl y + Witch Fight + Drillhorse Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt. 8pm. $9.80. Dave Anthony Manly Leagues Club, Brookvale. 7:30pm. Free. Glenn Esmond Fortune Of War, The Rocks. 7pm. Free. Live At The Sly feat: Ines + Yum Yum + Jerome Fandor Slyfox, Enmore. 7:30pm. Free. Plts Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $12. Ratatat + Black Cab
Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $60.20. Screamfeeder Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 10pm. Free. Slide Mcbride Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. Free. The Dominos Three Wise Monkeys, Sydney. 8pm. Free. The Gonzo Show + Sloom Band + Ammamoth + Slow Cultural Band + Kayah Duen Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10. The Sticks Freda’s, Chippendale. 8pm. $8. The Usual Suspects Oxford Hotel, Darlinghurst. 8pm. Free. Thump Presents feat: Cliques Strict Face + Thomas William + Melt Unit The Chippendale Hotel, Chippendale. 8pm. Free.
FRIDAY DECEMBER 4 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Galapagos Duck The Basement, Circular Quay. 7:30pm. $24.30.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Adrian Joseph Chatswood RSL, Chatswood. 5pm. Free. Beast Big Top Sydney, Milsons Point. 6pm. $103.50. Benn Gunn Figtree Hotel, Sydney. 9pm. Free. Bill Kacir Vineyard Hotel, Vineyard. 9pm. Free. Custard + Raindrop Factory Theatre, Marrickville. 7pm.
$40. Damien Lee Manly Leagues Club, Brookvale. 9:30pm. Free. Dave Anthony Padstow Park Hotel, Padstow. 7pm. Free. East West Deathgrind Fest 7 Day 1 - feat: Captain Cleanoff + Infested Entrails + The Holiday Project + Nekrology + Frame 313 + Hacked To Chunks Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 9pm. $10. Flamin’ Beauties Crown Hotel, Sydney. 8pm. Free. Geoff Davies The Push Bar, The Rocks. 7:30pm. Free. Glenn Esmond Kings Park Tavern, Kings Park. 6pm. Free. Jo Meares Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 9pm. $15. Leroy Lee 99 On York, Sydney. 3:30pm. Free. Matt Toms Lord Raglan Hotel, Alexandria. 7pm. Free. Meg Mac + Jarryd James Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 7pm. $52.91. Never Shout Never + Forever Ends Here + Day Break + We Take The Night + Into The Wild Factory Theatre, Marrickville. 7pm. $48.10. Reckless Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 10pm. Free. Rob Eastwood Castle Hill RSL, Castle Hill. 6:30pm. Free. Sam Smith Qantas Credit Union Arena, Darling Harbour. 7:30pm. $89.05. Sanzu + Rise Of Avernus + Gods Of Eden + Genetics + The Seer + Hollow World Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $17. Swerve Society
pick of the week Kingswood
SUNDAY D EC E M B E R 6
Frankie’s Pizza
Frankie’s 3rd Birthday Kingswood + The Lockhearts + Two Age 4pm. Free. + Kelly Dance + Aegean Sun + Greenwave Beth Newtown Social Club, Newtown.
7:30pm. Free. Ted Nash Bar Cleveland, Redfern. 8:30pm. Free.
The Mark Of Cain + Thorax + Making Manning Bar, Camperdown. 8pm. $35.
The Party Scarves Royal Motor Yacht Club, Newport. 8:15pm. Free. Unknown Mortal
education profile WITH
OXFORD CREATIVE ACADEMY
The Daphne Rawling Band photo by Colin Lucas
Songwriting Specialisation: Get right into the mind of a songwriter. This course will specialise in basic music theory and lyric workshops, and cover in depth rhythm, melody, harmony and defi ning artist direction. Music Production Specialisation: A specialisation for dedicated, aspiring producers. This course will dissect drum programming and mixing, bass programming, synth textures, vocal production, guitar techniques and production aesthetics.
Courses on offer: Fundamentals Course: Learn the core fundamentals that you need to succeed in the music industry. This course will guide thebrag.com
you to the area where your interest and passions lie, covering songwriting, music production, audio engineering, live sound and the music business.
Audio Engineering Specialisation: Delve deep into the digital and analogue music world. This course will specialise in sound recording, microphone techniques, EQ, compression, and what it takes to create your own sonic signature. Business Entertainment
Specialisation: Understand all you need to know about the modern entertainment business. In this course we will tailor an individual development plan for launching and managing your creative career, products and portfolios right into the marketplace. What makes us different: The Oxford Creative Academy (OCA) is a cutting-edge music institute that offers practical courses in a realworld environment, redefining music education. It is a place that nurtures creative people to recognise their unique talents and develop the skills necessary to succeed in today’s music industry. What else you need to know: Produced by a creative partnership between the Oxford Art Factory and The A&R Department, OCA will be offering five exciting 12-week courses starting in February 2016.
Open Day: At OCA Open Day, you will have the chance to sit in a world-class music studio and listen to working professionals in the music industry today. The information session will include a live mixing demonstration with professional music engineers, a studio tour, an industry talk from music entrepreneur Matt O’Connor (Warner Music, The A&R Department), with an introduction of the Oxford Creative Academy, enrolment information for OCA’s 2016 courses and Q&A sessions with the speakers throughout the day. What: Oxford Creative Academy Open Day Where: Hercules Street Studios, 8 Hercules St, Surry Hills When: Saturday December 5
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g g guide gig g
g g picks gig p
send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Orchestra + Alex Cameron Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7:30pm. $45.
SATURDAY DECEMBER 5 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC One Drop Rankin Riddim Summer Fest - feat: Stranger Cole + Rankin Riddum Allstars + Club Ska Jam Gallery, Bondi Junction. 8pm. $48.
ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK Booshwa Empire Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 9pm. $15. Paul Hayward And His Sidekicks Town & Country Hotel, St Peters. 4pm. Free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Aaron Oswald Picton Hotel, Picton. 8pm. Free. Alfredo Malabello The Push Bar, The Rocks. 7:30pm. Free. Andy Tipton Kings Park Tavern, Kings Park. 7pm. Free. Big White Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $11.50. Bird’s Robe 5th Birthday - feat: Sleepmakeswaves + Troldhaugen + Toehider + Meniscus + Captain Kickarse And The Awesomes + Pirate Manning Bar, Camperdown. 1pm. $32.15. Dave Mason Cox Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 5:45pm. Free. Diesel The Basement, Circular Quay. 7:30pm. $45. East West Deathgrind Fest 7 Day 2 - feat: The Kill + Intense Hammer Rage + Internal Rot + Dark Horse + Tortured + Tanned Christ + Daemon Foetal Harvest + Morbid Anal + Wounded Pig + Burial Chamber + Wretch + Hygiene + Viscera + Obat Batuk + Brutal Struth + Rite Of Violence Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 2pm. $15. Endangered Species Carousel Inn Hotel, Rooty Hill. 8pm. Free. Glenn Esmond Duo
The Greens, North Sydney. 4pm. Free. Glenn Esmond Trio Narrabeen Sands Hotel, Narrabeen. 8:30pm. Free. John Dixon Panania Diggers, Panania. 8pm. Free. John Vella Fortune Of War, The Rocks. 3pm. Free. Ne Obliviscaris Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $30.70. Party Central Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 10pm. Free. Psychotic Turnbuckles + The Stoneage Hearts + The Prehistorics Factory Theatre, Marrickville. 8pm. $19.50. Rise Against + Clowns + Outright Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park. 7pm. $82.38. Sam Smith Qantas Credit Union Arena, Darling Harbour. 7:30pm. $89.05. Six60 Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 8pm. $61.07. Slum Sociable Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $18. Studio 529 Panania Hotel, Panania. 8:30pm. Free. Summer Flake The Vic, Enmore. 8pm. Free. The Fallen Gentry Mr Falcon’s, Glebe. 9:30pm. Free. The Plot - feat: Andy Garvey + Art Vs Science + Asta Basenji + Book Seeka + B Wise + Crooked Colours + East + Friend Within + Future Love Hangover + The Griswolds + Jawz + L-Fresh The Lion + Luen + Luke Million + Matoma + The Meeting Tree + Ngaiire + Paces + Safi a + Shantan Wantan Ichiban + Spit Syndicate + Stoney Roads DJs + Tkay Maidza + Tuka + Urthboy + UV Boi + Young Franco Parramatta Park, Parramatta. 2pm. $69. Thurston Moore Band Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $77.70. Whelan And Gover The Belvedere Hotel, Sydney. 7:30pm. Free.
SUNDAY DECEMBER 6 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK Blues At The Bull Festival - feat: Geoff Achison + Stormcellar + Weekend Detention + Blues Collective + Mark
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‘N The Blues Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills. 12pm. Free. Finn And Friends Town Hall Hotel, Sydney. 6:30pm. Free. Ivanhoe The Deck, Sydney. 3:30pm. Free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Adrian Joseph Royal Motor Yacht Club, Newport. 2pm. Free. Blake Wiggins The Rivo Hotel, Riverstone. 4pm. Free. Dave Anthony Ingleburn Hotel, Ingleburn. 1pm. Free. Frankie’s Pizza Third Birthday feat: Kingswood + Frankie’s World Famous House Band + The Lockhearts + Two Age + DJ Goggles Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 4pm. Free. Gary Johns Trio Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 8:30pm. Free. Glenn Esmond Fortune Of War, The Rocks. 6pm. Free. Jared Baca Picton Hotel, Picton. 12pm. Free. Lonesome Train Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 4:30pm. Free. Mono + Fourteen Nights At Sea + Tangents Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 6pm. $49. Nathan Cole The Mill Hotel, Milperra. 12pm. Free. Open Mic Epping Hotel, Epping. 5pm. Free. Open Mic Night Nag’s Head Hotel, 5:30pm. Free. Ted Nash Strawberry Hills Hotel, Surry Hills. 4pm. Free. The Kill + Home Burial + Massive Bicep + Dispolar + Avian Terror Black Wire Records, Annandale. 1:30pm. $5. The Living Room + Dave Wilkins + Jack And Chi Lewisham Hotel, Lewisham. 4:30pm. Free. Vanessa Heinitz Macarthur Tavern, Campbelltown. 12pm. Free.
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Paul Mbenna & The Okapi Guitar Band + Swahili Dance Band Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 6:30pm. Free. Mundane Life 002 - feat: Vavenge + Ivan Lysiak + Sally Rainbow Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 5pm. $10.
up all night out all week...
MONDAY DECEMBER 7
SATURDAY DECEMBER 5 Bird’s Robe 5th Birthday - Feat: Sleepmakeswaves + Troldhaugen + Toehider + Meniscus + Captain Kickarse And The Awesomes + Pirate Manning Bar, Camperdown. 1pm. $32.15.
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Sonic Mayhem Orchestra Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 8:30pm. Free. Spin Drifters The Basement, Circular Quay. 6:30pm. $18.30.
ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK John Maddox Duo Mr Falcon’s, Glebe. 7pm. Free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Anton Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. Free. Frankie’s World Famous House Band Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 9pm. Free. Live & Original @ The Corridor feat: Zech Abbott Corridor Bar, Newtown. 7pm. Free. Mercury Rev + DJ James Dela Cruz Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $64.50. Mono + We Lost The Sea + Serious Beak Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 7pm. $49. The Monday Jam The Beresford Hotel, Surry Hills. 6pm. Free.
TUESDAY DECEMBER 8 INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Father John Misty Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 9pm. $49. Live & Original @ Mr Falcon’s feat: Men With Day Jobs + Pepper Jane + Scandalgate Mr Falcon’s, Glebe. 7:30pm. Free. Live Rock & Roll Karaoke Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 4pm. Free. Open Mic The Bourbon, Potts Point. 7pm. Free. Shellac Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $45.88.
Diesel The Basement, Circular Quay. 7:30pm. $45. Meg Mac
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 2 DZ Deathrays + Bully Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 4pm. Free. Khusugtun Factory Theatre, Marrickville. 7pm. $30. Lucinda Williams Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 7:45pm. $102.77. Mew Manning Bar, Camperdown. 7:30pm. $65. You Am I Metro Theatre, Sydney. 2:30pm. $52.90.
THURSDAY DECEMBER 3 A Tribe Called Red + OKA + DJ Marc Kundalini + Muggera Dancers & Didge + Welcome To Country From Uncle Max Factory Theatre, Marrickville. 7pm. $25. Live At The Sly - Feat: Ines + Yum Yum + Jerome Fandor Slyfox, Enmore. 7:30pm. Free. Ratatat + Black Cab Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $60.20. Screamfeeder Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 10pm. Free.
FRIDAY DECEMBER 4 Custard + Raindrop Factory Theatre, Marrickville. 7pm. $40. Galapagos Duck The Basement, Circular Quay. 7:30pm. $24.30. Meg Mac + Jarryd James Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 7pm. $52.91. Never Shout Never + Forever Ends Here + Day Break + We Take The Night + Into The Wild Factory Theatre, Marrickville. 7pm. $48.10. Sam Smith Qantas Credit Union Arena, Darling Harbour. 7:30pm. $89.05. Unknown Mortal Orchestra + Alex Cameron Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7:30pm. $45.
Ne Obliviscaris Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $30.70. One Drop Rankin Riddim Summer Fest - Feat: Stranger Cole + Rankin Riddum Allstars + Club Ska Jam Gallery, Bondi Junction. 8pm. $48. Psychotic Turnbuckles + The Stoneage Hearts + The Prehistorics Factory Theatre, Marrickville. 8pm. $19.50. Rise Against + Clowns + Outright Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park. 7pm. $82.38. Six60 Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 8pm. $61.07. Slum Sociable Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $18. The Plot - Feat: Andy Garvey + Art Vs Science + Asta Basenji + Book Seeka + B Wise + Crooked Colours + East + Friend Within + Future Love Hangover + The Griswolds + Jawz + L-Fresh The Lion + Luen + Luke Million + Matoma + The Meeting Tree + Ngaiire + Paces + Safia + Shantan Wantan Ichiban + Spit Syndicate + Stoney Roads DJs + Tkay Maidza + Tuka + Urthboy + UV Boi + Young Franco Parramatta Park, Parramatta. 2pm. $69. Thurston Moore Band Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $77.70.
SUNDAY DECEMBER 6 Mono + Fourteen Nights At Sea + Tangents Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 6pm. $49.
MONDAY DECEMBER 7 Mercury Rev + DJ James Dela Cruz Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $64.50. Spin Drifters The Basement, Circular Quay. 6:30pm. $18.30.
TUESDAY DECEMBER 8 Father John Misty Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 9pm. $49. Shellac Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $45.88. Father John Misty
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Acronym Orchestra Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 8:30pm. Free.
thebrag.com
brag beats
BRAG’s guide to dance, hip hop and club culture
dance music news club, dance and hip hop in brief... with James Di Fabrizio, Eden Gillespie and Aaron Streatfeild
festival profile WITH
THE MAIN GERMAIN
SUBSONIC 2015
St Germain
For the first time in 15 years, French producer St Germain will return to Australian shores with a career-spanning headline show. After an extended hiatus, St Germain has made his way back into the studio to release his latest self-titled album. It comes as a long-awaited followup to his multi-platinum-selling record, Tourist, which brought the producer international acclaim and sent him on a mammoth tour spanning several continents. Witness the comeback of St Germain when he takes the Enmore Theatre on Tuesday March 15.
AMALGAMATION OF D
What’s the history of your event? Subsonic 2015… step this way. Step closer. A little bit closer now… There. Now we can welcome your familiar face back and extend a hand of friendship to our first-timers. Welcome to the family and let us just say how pleased we are to have you join us here, in our seventh year. Yep, seven amazing years in this beautiful, lush green valley of Riverwood Downs. Since December 2009, good folk like you have travelled from across Australia and the planet here, to join together in a bespoke celebration of music, art, friendship and community. What’s the vibe? Every year, hundreds of teams and individuals
HOW BIZARRE
come together to create, build, curate and activate all of our offerings and programs at Subsonic Music Festival. The philosophy underpinning Subsonic is a reflection of the ethos of our kind of people – the kind of people who make the world a better place to live in. A golden rule to live by, so marvellously simple, yet incredibly profound: Just be awesome.
Dub FX, Kowton, Freq Nasty, Tijuana Cartel, Klue, The Seven Ups, Mortisville & Friends, Oka, Hypnotech, Dov1, Dub Princess & Isaac Chambers, Jenova Collective feat. Miss Bridget Walsh, DR CAT, Ill Gates, Night Nurse and many more.
Who’s on the bill? Roman Flügel, Francesca Lombardo, Max Cooper, KiNk, Rick Wade, The Opiuo Band, Wolf + Lamb, Enzo Siragusa, Seb Zito, Rich NxT, Alexkid, Maayan Nidam, Margaret Dygas, Jay Haze, Patrice Scott, Dirty Doering, dOP, Mista Savona, Bella Sarris,
What: Subsonic 2015 Where: Riverwood Downs Mountain Valley Resort, Barrington Tops When: Friday December 4 – Sunday December 6 More: subsonicmusic. com.au
thebrag.com
DJ W!ld, German Brigante and Be Svendsen lead the lineup, joined by local heavyweights Yolanda Be Cool, plus Steve Ward, Uone, Cassian, Thankyou City, Flex Cop and more. Limited earlybird tickets are on sale now and start at $50, so if you want to make a leap into the unknown, the time is now. Bizarre Garden 2016 takes place from Friday February 5 – Sunday February 7.
Pretty Lights
BASSIC GENTLEMEN
Everyone’s favourite young gent, Just A Gent, and Stereosonic superstar, Jauz, will be headlining the Bassic bill at Chinese Laundry this week, joined by the likes of Ember, Nemo, Deckhead, Offtapia, Whyse, Yng Bldz and Blue Grass. While Jauz might be the bigger name, our own Just A Gent, otherwise known as producer Jacob Grant, has been going from strength to strength for a man who only turned 18 this year, and has even caught the ears of such tastemakers as Skrillex, Diplo and Dillon Francis. He is also a nominee for Producer of the Year at the Stoney Roads Awards. The party takes over Chinese Laundry this Friday December 4.
DOORLY DOES CHRISTMAS
LOOK AT ALL THE PRETTY LIGHTS
Colorado-based producer Derek Vincent Smith, AKA Pretty Lights, is coming to Sydney in the New Year for a massive headline show. As undoubtedly one of the biggest electronic music acts on the planet, the Grammy-nominated producer, DJ and mashup king has visited Australia previously for Stereosonic in 2011 and Big Day Out in 2013. He’ll be back on our shores for a set at Victoria’s Rainbow Serpent Festival alongside The Opiuo Band, and is due to take over the Metro Theatre on Friday January 15 with help from Opiuo and Emancipator. Let the lights shine on you.
Doorly
Modern dance icon Doorly is making his way Down Under over Christmas for his biggest Australian tour to date. The Ibiza Rocks resident grew to notoriety as the mind behind the Afterparty events in the north of England, and his penchant for house production, DJing and remixing has seen him go on to headline parties around the globe. More recently, Doorly has been on the collaboration circuit, working alongside the likes of Green Velvet, DJ Pierre, Switch and Harry Choo Choo Remero. He remains a weekly Pacha resident on Ibiza and the host of radio shows on London’s Rinse FM and Evolution Radio in the US. But he’s taking a break from all that to visit a bunch of Aussie dancefloors, including Chinese Laundry on Saturday December 26. xx
Bizarre Garden, the festival of all things electronic and eccentric, is back for 2016 with a bumper lineup at a secret location. The self-professed “music, camping and lifestyle gathering” located somewhere on the North Coast of New South Wales (and a 90-minute drive from Byron Bay) has revealed its first round of performers for its February return. Catz N Dogz,
Ticketing details: Final release $275, online sales end midnight Wednesday December 2. $300 at the gate.
Italian dance music star Idriss D has announced that he will be releasing a new album this December titled Amalgamation. With over ten years’ music experience behind his name, Idress D’s Amalgamation is set to focus on the very heart of nightclub culture witnessed by the man himself. The LP comes from Memento Records, which has handled artists such as Luciano, Paco Osuna, Argy, Tom Clark and Okain. Amalgamation drops on Friday December 18 and you can stream lead track ‘Transition’ on Memento’s SoundCloud.
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Big Daddy Kane Smooth Operator By Aaron Streatfeild
“Honestly, since childhood, I’ve been dying to see what a Vegemite sandwich is,” he says. “I just wanna
see one – I’ve always wanted to see one.” Since the mid-’80s, Kane has impressed his smooth-talking and sharp-dressing influence on the hip hop community worldwide. With the rise of the Juice Crew – the Queensbridge hip hop collective that brought Kane and others into the spotlight – Kane forged the foundation of what was to be an extensive and highly influential career. Fast-forward almost three decades, and the name Big Daddy Kane still echoes through the hip
hop halls of fame. Heck, even today the New Yorker is at the forefront of most contemporary rappers’ list of influences. But such discussion should not stand as a eulogy. Kane’s legacy is not yet complete, despite the arrival of online services like Spotify, Pandora and YouTube that bring with them an audience of listeners who weren’t even born when he started his career. How has Kane managed to maintain relevance in a time of immeasurable access and endless choice?
I M A G I N E B E I N G M A D E TO
F E E L L I KE C RAP J U ST FOR
talk modern-day influences; who and what keeps an artist known for his lyrical prowess on his toes and excited about the craft he has nurtured for so many years.
Unlike many of his peers, Kane’s confidence in his back catalogue isn’t a symptom of arrogance. When it comes to discussions over his biggest achievements, he is as sincere and humble as anyone.
Following shows in the UK, Kane and his entourage will make their way to the sunburnt continent for the aforementioned Meredith date as well as a string of sideshows.
“I would definitely say having the opportunity to work with Quincy Jones, Patti LaBelle, Barry White – they were all great moments in my career,” he says. “Also, watching T.I. performing my song ‘Smooth Operator’ at the second VH1 Hip Hop Honors in 2005, I just thought that was so interesting. He is a Southern rapper and he is doing an East Coast song, but he is doing it in his Southern style. You know, it’s like when you hear Johnnie Taylor or Willie Nelson remake an R&B song – it gave me that feeling. So that was something really spectacular to witness.” Further questions directed towards Kane’s long list of career highlights are rewarded with a thoughtful and polite response, but it is evident the rapper is more focused on the present day. With that in mind, we
“What keeps me inspired to write lyrics is when I see young cats that don’t fall into the basic trends of the music industry and they try to be brave lyricists,” he says. “Artists like Joell Ortiz, Logic, Saigon, Kendrick Lamar. People I hear that haven’t fallen into what is trending. These guys are trying to be great lyricists and that’s inspirational to me. It makes you still wanna do what you do.”
“I really just wanna get over there to perform, for the most part,” he says. “On Twitter and Instagram I’ve had so many people asking when I was going to be that way. I am just really looking forward to perform. I am going to dabble with some new stuff and even drop some surprise songs from my back catalogue that people wouldn’t expect to see performed onstage. “I’ve been looking forward to it for the longest time. So many things have held everything up and I’m happy everything has finally worked out and that I can make it out to Australia. I want to have a good time and I especially want everyone in the crowd to have a good time. We’re going to do the best we can!” Where: Oxford Art Factory When: Sunday December 13
Okay, that’s hard to imagine? But being gay, lesbian, bi, trans or intersex is no different to being born left handed, it’s just who you are. So stop and think because the things we say are likely to cause depression and anxiety. And that really is pretty crap.
GO TO LEFTHAND.ORG.AU TO WATCH THE VIDEO BEING
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LEFT
H A N D E D.
STOP t THINK t RESPECT
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Big Daddy Kane photo by Jonathan Minnion
B
ig Daddy Kane, the Sultan of Swag, is on a quest to the land of Oz. His goal? To experience a Vegemite sandwich in all its glory… and maybe headline Meredith Music Festival while he’s at it. In the meantime, the dulcet tones of a deep, warm voice slide through the intermittent crackle of an international phone line as Kane looks forward to his forthcoming Australian tour.
“Well, I think that for one I have a decent catalogue that people still want to hear. These songs still get played on radio stations, on satellite radio, in film, music channels and television. I have a catalogue that still plays,” he says. “And as we perform, we still try to give great shows and make it entertaining. We try and make it so that people don’t feel like it’s the same old thing. I try to make sure people are entertained and make sure the live show is a lot deeper than just playing the album. I try to give what I give and I get a lot of love. My fans, they give a lot of love, and in return, I try to give my all.”
SAT 5 DECEMBER SPECIAL GUESTS
YOKOO JORDAN DECK MARK CRAVEN BRENDAN CLAY
1 0 P M T I L L L AT E
$10 BEFORE 12AM / $15 AFTER 1 9 9 E N M O R E R O A D W W W . S LY F O X . S Y D N E Y
BY DAY
BY NIGHT
Sunday 6th December TERRACE
TERRACE
dOP (live) Mo'Funk Illya Katia Avorodis
Clive Henry
Beau Sebastian Kerry Wallace
THE DEN Matt Crowe Just G Matt Weir
MAZE DJ Soup Not Quite Disco
THE BOX Hosted by WeLove
GREENWOOD HOTEL 1pm to 9pm - $15
HOME NIGHTCLUB 8pm to 4am - $15 till 10pm / $20 after $15 all night with SASH by day stamp
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BRAG :: 641 :: 02:12:15 :: 35
club guide g
club picks p up all night out all week...
send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com
club pick of the week Margaret Dygas
The Arthouse, Sydney. 9pm. $49.50. Scubar Saturdays - feat: DJs On Rotation Scubar, Sydney. 8:30pm. Free. Something Else Vs Refuge Recordings - Feat: Shivers* + Sook Yen + Anya + Ace Basik & Paul Scott + Nuendo + Supermini + Hamish Velvet + Adamwah + Peekay Burdekin Hotel, Darlinghurst. 9pm. $16.50.
Matoma
Katt Nial
Luke Million
HIP HOP & R&B
Boathouse Saturdays - feat: Resident DJs The Watershed Hotel, Sydney. 9pm. $20. Coolhand Luke’s Shakedown - feat: Coolhand Luke + Shan Frenzie + Benny Hinn Play Bar, Surry Hills. 6pm. Free. R&B DJs By The Greens Marrickville Bowling Club, Marrickville. 4pm. Free.
SATURDAY D EC E M B E R 5
SUNDAY DECEMBER 6
Xxx
Civic Underground
C.U Saturday
Margaret Dygas + Murat Kilic + Ant J Steep + Mike Witcombe 8pm. $20. WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 2
Darlinghurst. 8pm. $10.
FRIDAY DECEMBER 4
CLUB NIGHTS
Bamboo Boogie feat: Harry Sounds + Daniel Lupica + Karim Middle Bar, Darlinghurst. 5pm. Free. Salsa Wednesdays - feat: DJ Miro + Special Guests The Argyle, The Rocks. 8:30pm. Free. Sasslife Weekly Secret Garden Bar, Enmore. 7pm. Free. The Wall The World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. Free. X-Mess Party Newtown Hotel, Newtown. 7pm. Free.
THURSDAY DECEMBER 3 Kicks The World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. Free. Matoma Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 8pm. $17. Wax Wars - Feat: Total Eclipse Jred + Ask + Broke + Mark N + Perplex + Kuya + Samrai Oxford Hotel,
Downtown Funk Feat: Russ Dewbury + Trevor ‘El Chino’ Parkee + DJ Jon McCulloch Play Bar, Surry Hills. 4pm. Free.
CLUB NIGHTS
Murray Lake Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly. 8pm. Free. Bassic - feat: Jauz + Just A Gent + Ember + Kyro + Deckhead + Whyse + Blue Grass + Yng Bldz + Offtapia Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 9pm. $43.10. Black Vanilla Quarterly #2 - feat: Gussy + Del + Lorna Clarkson Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 10pm. $12. El Loco Later - feat: DJs On Rotation Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills. 9pm. Free. Father Sydney Vol. IV - feat: 8er$ + Ozzie + Charlie Traplin Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 9pm. $39.70.
36 :: BRAG :: 641 :: 02:12:15
SATURDAY DECEMBER 5 CLUB NIGHTS
C.U Saturday - feat: Margaret Dygas + Murat Kilic + Ant J Steep + Mike Witcombe Civic Underground, Sydney. 8pm. $20. El Loco Later - feat: DJs On Rotation Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills. 9pm. Free.
Frat Saturdays - feat: DJ Jonski Side Bar, Sydney. 7:30pm. Free. Golden Rules Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 12am. Free. Katt Niall + Lucille Croft Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $23.70. Lndry - feat: Dense & Pika + Lo’99 + Mike Metro + Goonz + Sarkdzy + Ludovic + Marley Sherman + Jac Frier + DJ Just 1 + Fingers + King Lee Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 9pm. $22.60. Masif Saturdays Space, Sydney. 10pm. $25. Murray Lake Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly. 6pm. Free. My Place Saturdays - feat: DJs On Rotation Bar100, The Rocks. 8pm. Free. Pacha Sydney - feat: Zac Waters + Glover + Jaysounds + Kormak + Fear Of Dawn & Friends + Coda + Nanna Does + Jade Le Flay + Fingers + Troy T + King Lee + Heres Trouble + Trent Rackus + Dollar Bear + David Le + Rocco + Pete Deraz Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney. 6:30pm. $38. Sam Paganini + Pig&Dan + Trena + Rouss + Louis Coste
DJ Somatik + Alex Mac Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly. 4pm. Free. Luke Million + Samrai + Acaddamy + More Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach. 8pm. Free. Marco Polo - feat: Yolanda Be Cool Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney. 1pm. $12.40. S.A.S.H By Day feat: dOP + Mo’Funk + Illya + Katia Avorodis Greenwood Hotel, Sydney North. 1pm. $15. S.A.S.H By Night feat: Clive Henry + Beau Sebastian + Kerry Wallace + Matt Crowe + Just G + Matt Weir + DJ Soup + Not Quite Disco Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 8pm. $15. Straight Up Sundays - feat: Cool Hand Luke Middle Bar, Darlinghurst. 5pm. Free.
MONDAY DECEMBER 7 CLUB NIGHTS
Matoma Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 8pm. $17.
FRIDAY DECEMBER 4 Bassic - Feat: Jauz + Just A Gent + Ember + Kyro + Deckhead + Whyse + Blue Grass + Yng Bldz + Offtapia Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 9pm. $43.10. Black Vanilla Quarterly #2 Feat: Gussy + Del + Lorna Clarkson Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 10pm. $12. Father Sydney Vol. IV Feat: 8er$ + Ozzie + Charlie Traplin Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 9pm. $39.70.
SATURDAY DECEMBER 5 Katt Niall + Lucille Croft Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $23.70. Lndry - Feat: Dense & Pika + Lo’99 + Mike Metro + Goonz + Sarkdzy + Ludovic + Marley Sherman + Jac Frier + DJ Just 1 + Fingers + King Lee Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 9pm. $22.60. Pacha Sydney - Feat: Zac Waters + Glover + Jaysounds + Kormak + Fear Of Dawn & Friends +
Coda + Nanna Does + Jade Le Flay + Fingers + Troy T + King Lee + Heres Trouble + Trent Rackus + Dollar Bear + David Le + Rocco + Pete Deraz Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney. 6:30pm. $38. Sam Paganini + Pig&Dan + Trena + Rouss + Louis Coste The Arthouse, Sydney. 9pm. $49.50. Something Else Vs Refuge Recordings - Feat: Shivers* + Sook Yen + Anya + Ace Basik & Paul Scott + Nuendo + Supermini + Hamish Velvet + Adamwah + Peekay Burdekin Hotel, Darlinghurst. 9pm. $16.50.
SUNDAY DECEMBER 6 Luke Million + Samrai + Acaddamy + More Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach. 8pm. Free. Marco Polo - Feat: Yolanda Be Cool Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney. 1pm. $12.40. S.A.S.H By Day - Feat: DOP + Mo’Funk + Illya + Katia Avorodis Greenwood Hotel, Sydney North. 1pm. $15. S.A.S.H By Night - Feat: Clive Henry + Beau Sebastian + Kerry Wallace + Matt Crowe + Just G + Matt Weir + DJ Soup + Not Quite Disco Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 8pm. $15.
Yolanda Be Cool
Mashup Monday feat: Resident DJs + DJ Thieves + Recess + OTG + Chivalry + More Side Bar, Sydney. 8pm. Free.
Luke Million photo by Sven Kovac
CLUB NIGHTS
HIP HOP & R&B
Feel Good Fridays Bar100, The Rocks. 5pm. Free. Friday Frothers feat: DJ Babysham + DJ Jesse Sewell Side Bar, Sydney. 9pm. Free. Friday Lite - feat: Victoria Kim Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 10pm. Free. Harbour Club - feat: Resident DJs The Watershed Hotel, Sydney. 6pm. Free. Jam Fridays Jam Gallery, Bondi Junction. 9:30pm. Free. Loco Friday - feat: DJs On Rotation The Slip Inn, Sydney. 5pm. Free. Scubar Fridays - feat: DJs On Rotation Scubar, Sydney. 8pm. Free.
CLUB NIGHTS
THURSDAY DECEMBER 3
TUESDAY DECEMBER 8 CLUB NIGHTS
Coyote Tuesdays The World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. $10.
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BRAG :: 641 :: 02:12:15 :: 37
snap
Off The Record
VIEW FULL GALLERIES AT
up all night out all week . . .
Dance and Electronica with Tyson Wray
rhythm & bowls party profile
Machinedrum
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It’s called: Rhythm & Bowls It sounds like: Old-school funk and soul Acts: Johnny G and The E Types Sell it to us: To salute the long, hot summer evenings of the Inner West, the Marrickville Bowlo will kindly play host to some of Sydney’s favourite musicians playing good grooving music outsid e by the immaculate greens. Weekly, you can enjoy great music, a game of bowls and drink bowlopriced beers, or you can sit back, enjoy great music and drink bowlo-priced beers. Either way, it’s a top way to spend your Thursday summer evenings in Marrickville. The bit we’ll remember in the AM: The relaxe d atmosphere of an authentic old-school bowlo, and to get in early next week for a table. Crowd specs: Everyone’s welcome, including the kiddies. Wallet damage: Music is free. Drinks and meals are at Bowlo prices. Where: Marrickville Bowling Club, 91 Syden ham Rd, Marrickville When: Every Thursday from 5:30pm
T
he North Carolina-born artist Travis Stewart AKA Machinedrum has locked in a Sydney headline show. Since his first independent release in 1999, Stewart has produced over a dozen albums under various aliases, collaborated with the likes of Sepalcure, Jets and Dream Continuu, and produced for Jamie Liddell, Jesse Boykins and, err, Azealia Banks. He’ll be joined by Melbourne’s Planete and local legend Preacha on Saturday January 2 at Goodgod Small Club. The legends over at Astral People are next week bringing to town one of the finest producers to come out of Bristol, Kowton. Ever since bursting onto the scene in 2012 with his groundbreaking mix for FACT Magazine, his dark brand of techno, house and heavy dub-influenced bass has seen him go on to work with Julio Bashmore and score countless coveted Boiler Room spots. Alongside Peverelist and Asusu, he also formed the highly regarded Livity Sound imprint. He’ll be supported by Cliques and EK Collective when he takes on Goodgod Small Club on Friday December 11. What are you doing this weekend? I’ll tell you what you’re doing; you’re going to see goddamn Dense & Pika at Chinese Laundry. Made up of Chris Spero (know to some as Glimpse) and Hypecolour co-founder (together with Jamie Russell) Alex Jones, together the duo make some of the hardesthitting warehouse techno around, and are regulars on the seminal Hotfl ush
Recordings label. They’ll be fl anked by Lo’99 and Mike Metro this Saturday December 5. Some really good reading material: electronic music bible Resident Advisor has just launched its new ‘opinion’ series and the first instalment is damn good. Citing incidents such as Ten Walls’ homophobic Facebook comments and Berceuse Heroique founder Gizmo’s now-deleted misogynistic tweet that read “following a girl for 3 hours around London cause she has the best ass EVER is not a crime”, in the piece Angus Finlayson argues that the outrage that follows certain social media posts can be used as a positive force for change. Highly recommended. Tour rumour: we’ll be seeing the return of Seth Troxler over the NYE break. The announcement should be dropping any day now. Best releases this week: ahead of his tour this month, I highly recommend giving a spin to Floating Points’ Essential Mix for BBC Radio 1, which is streaming for free on the BBC website. As for official releases, I’m digging Leif’s (not to be confused with the rapper Le1f) Taraxacum (on UntilMyHeartStops), alongside Petre Inspirescu’s beatless new album Vin Ploile (Mule Musiq). Oh, and DJ Dodger Stadium have done the unthinkable and made Adele’s ubiquitous ‘Hello’ dancefl oor-friendly with a fire (and free) remix up now on their website.
RECOMMENDED THURSDAY DECEMBER 3
SATURDAY DECEMBER 12
FRIDAY DECEMBER 4 – SUNDAY DECEMBER 6
Will Saul, Jay Haze Burdekin Hotel
Finnebassen, Lovebirds, Bjorn Wilke + more Café del Mar
SHXCXCHCXSH Bridge Hotel
SATURDAY JANUARY 2
Subsonic Music Festival: KiNK, Dop, Rick Wade, Roman Flügel + more Riverwood Downs Mountain Valley Resort, Barrington Tops Margaret Dygas Civic Underground Dense & Pika Chinese Laundry
FRIDAY DECEMBER 11 Kowton Goodgod Small Club
SUNDAY DECEMBER 13 Wolf + Lamb Café del Mar
SATURDAY DECEMBER 19 Floating Points Oxford Art Factory Petar Dundov Burdekin Hotel Worthy, Ardalan Chinese Laundry
tINI Café del Mar
FRIDAY JANUARY 1
Machinedrum Goodgod Small Club
SUNDAY JANUARY 3 Mala Civic Underground Seven Davis Jr Chippendale Hotel
TUESDAY MARCH 15 St Germain Enmore Theatre
Machinedrum photo by Andrew DeFrancesco
SATURDAY DECEMBER 5
Optimo Chippendale Hotel
cl18 closing party ft. dj yella PICS :: AM
Gilles Peterson Oxford Art Factory
29:11:15 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex St Sydney (02) 8295 9999
Got any tip-offs, hate mail, praise or cat photos? Email hey@tysonwray.com or contact me via carrier pigeon. 38 :: BRAG :: 641 :: 02:12:15
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