ISSUE NO. 654 MARCH 16, 2016
FREE Now picked up at over 1,600 places across Sydney and surrounds. thebrag.com
MUSIC, FILM, THEATRE + MORE
INSIDE This Week
T HE N AT ION A L On their way to Australia for a single show at Bluesfest.
MEL IS S A E T HER IDGE Music is more important than ever to this US rock veteran.
COLD WA R KIDS And no, they didn't name their band after a Billy Joel lyric.
K A M A SI WA SHING T ON Bringing jazz back to the masses with an Australian tour.
Plus
F IDDL ER ON T HE ROOF K EI T H R ICH A R D S : A L IF E IN PIC T UR E S
TAKING THE THRONE
NEW ALBUM
OUT NOW
1 olympic drive, milsons point
DR BRIAN GREENE
TYGA
90’S MANIA
SOLD OUT! fri 18 march
sat 19 march
sat 9 april
AMPLIFY LIVE
five finger death punch
o rappa
Tue 12 april
fri 22 april
fri 20 may
EDWARD SNOWDEN
STEEL PANTHER
Northlane & iN hearts wake
sat 28 may
fri 17 jun
sat 18 jun
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu
RuPaul’s drag race
fun lovin’ CRIMINALS
fri 24 june
sat 2 july
fri 30 sep
for more info and tickets visit bigtopsydney.com or contact our box office - 1300 big top // luna park
facebook.com/bigtopsydney
FIRST AUSTRALIAN TOUR WITH SPECIAL GUESTS
ADAM ECKERSLEY BAND “A joyous rude-boy revue from an act as slick and brash as their shiny silver suits” NOTTINGHAM ROCK CITY WITH SPECIAL GUESTS
THE MASTERSONS
NEXT WEEK !
WITH SPECIAL GUEST
WED MAR
TOMORROW !
PROJECT COLLECTIVE SKA
23
FACTORY THEATRE
NEXT WEEK ! WED MAR
23
“A reminder of what Southern Rock is, and what it should be” ZAC BROWN
THE BASEMENT
“He’s a cat that can do an Otis Redding.” KEITH RICHARDS WITH SPECIAL GUEST
ALICE TERRY
“Lord Huron’s music is so impressionistic; it sometimes sounds like it emanates from a dream.” BOSTON GLOBE
FIRST AUST. TOUR
THU MAR
17 METRO THEATRE
NEXT WEEK ! WED MAR
RILEY PEARCE
ART 23 OXFORD FACTORY
GRAMMY
“It was clear the first time I heard her… that Rhiannon is next in a long line of singers that include Marian Anderson, Odetta, Mahalia Jackson, Rosetta Tharpe, Nina Simone. We need that person in our culture. She is, in fact, that person in our culture.” T BONE BURNETT
ACADEMY AWARD
EXPERIMENTAL AVANT-GARDE ICONS PRESENT SHADOWLANDS
WINNER
NEXT WEEK !
23 24
WITH SPECIAL GUEST
IRISH MYTHEN
SOLD ENMORE OUT! THEATRE LIMITED ENMORE TICKETS THEATRE
THU MAR
24
FACTORY THEATRE
SIDESHOWS FIRST AUSTRALIAN TOUR
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS
VICTOR MARTINEZ
WOODLOCK
MON MAR
28
NEWTOWN SOCIAL CLUB
NEXT WEEK !
THIS MONDAY !
21 FACTORY THEATRE
THU MAR
24 METRO THEATRE
ON SALE NOW!
TICKETS: BLUESFESTTOURING.COM.AU 02 6685 8310 & THE VENUES MORE INFO FROM BLUESFESTTOURING.COM.AU
GRAMMY AWARD WINNING
ANN VRIEND
NEXT WEEK !
21 METRO THEATRE
WITH GUEST
WITH SPECIAL GUEST
“Funky, southern rock played with such originality and soul will knock you out.” BONNIE RAITT
MON MAR
WHO MAGAZINE
MON MAR
BLUESFEST
THIS MONDAY ! “a voice you don’t forget in a hurry, a big, booming thing with a Janis Joplin-esque rasp”
NEXT WEEK !
AND
WED MAR THU MAR
GRAMMY AWARD WINNING SINGER FROM CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS
WITH SPECIAL GUEST
FIRST TOUR IN OVER 20 YEARS
TWO-TIME GRAMMY AWARD WINNER
“A master of the guitar” THE NEW YORKER
WITH SPECIAL GUEST
BLIND BOY PAXTON
“No sooner does he jump on the stage than he’s wailing away, singing his heart out and ain’t afraid to be the showman to boot, jumping into the crowd, sitting among ‘em, and playing his brains out”
TOURING SOLO FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OVER 20 YEARS
“a swampy four-on-thefloor romp” MASS LIVE
THU MAR
31
SOLD OUT!
1
LIZOTTES NEWC.
FRI FACTORY APR THEATRE
ACOUSTIC MUSIC
“The crowd became a sea of smiling faces and dancing feet” THE BRAG
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS WITH SPECIAL GUEST
MIKE LOVE
WED MAR
30
METRO THEATRE
“Musical magic.” LA.COM “A wall of talent on stage.” DENVER WESTWORD
THIS TUESDAY ! TUE MAR
22
“Easily one of the best nights of live music.” LAS VEGAS INFORMER
ENMORE THEATRE
THE LACHY DOLEY GROUP
“Part living history, part concert, all uplifting experience.”
THIS TUESDAY ! TUE MAR
22
THE BASEMENT
THE WASHINGTON POST
WITH SPECIAL GUEST
EAGLE & THE WOLF
2
SAT FACTORY APR THEATRE
ALLEN STONE BRIAN WILSON D’ANGELO THE DECEMBERISTS JACKSON BROWNE THE MICK FLEETWOOD BLUES BAND feat RICK VITO NATHANIEL RATELIFF & THE NIGHT SWEATS SHAKEY GRAVES SONGHOY BLUES VINTAGE TROUBLE THE WAILERS thebrag.com
BRAG :: 654 :: 16:03:16 :: 3
ROOTY HILL RSL & BLUESFEST TOURING PRESENTS
STEVE EARLE AND THE DUKES
WED
16MAR $69
TIVOLI SHOWROOM | 8:00PM
THE WAILERS TIVOLI SHOWROOM | 8:00PM FIND US ON
4 :: BRAG :: 654 :: 16:03:16
/RootyHillRSL
/rootyhillrsl
rootyhillrsl.com.au
WED
23MAR
$59
(02) 9677 4916
thebrag.com
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BRAG :: 654 :: 16:03:16 :: 5
rock music news
the BRAG presents LUCKY PETERSON The Basement Tuesday March 22
five things WITH
dancer; when she moved to Australia dancing was her income. I was at all her shows soaking up the Polynesian vibes. I remember music blaring so loud whenever Mum did the housework, cooked or when we were just sitting around. She would also sing and play the ukulele.
2.
Inspirations The first time I went to a music store by myself, I was in the Queensland team for athletics competing at nationals in Perth.
I went to the Fremantle markets and bought three albums: Bob Marley – Catch A Fire, Metallica – …And Justice For All and Michael Jackson – Thriller. At the time I had no idea I would be a musician. Those albums still inspire me.
3.
Your Band The Palm Royale. We started out as friends. I played drums in many bands around south-east QLD before I started my own, and I met this crew as time went by. I really enjoy touring with them because we strive to keep it fun, and remain
grateful that we get to travel and play original music. Everyone in the band has jobs on the road. They call me ‘Bossy Alu’. Paulie B (guitar) is the trolley whisperer and funnyman. He scopes out free trolleys at all the airports – when you travel with 10-15 pieces of luggage, four trolleys at four bucks a pop can make the difference. Richie (drums) is the tour doctor. Being a vet, he keeps us animals in check. Hua (vocals) is the personal trainer and NZ tour guide. Stu Barry (bass) in in charge of activities and he drives.
4.
The Music You Make We play ‘hammock music’. There is no doubt that our music and the hammock go hand in hand. There are many ingredients that combine to create this feel. Polynesian, soul, Afrobeat and reggae flavours can all be heard. Rather than focus on the traditional aspects of a particular style, we use our knowledge and
LORD HURON Oxford Art Factory Wednesday March 23
experience of each to convey feelings. Music, Right Here, Right Now 5. Music will always have a place.
ELLE KING
Critics say live music is under siege with lockout laws, broken festivals and a demising live culture. I feel there is real strength and importance in recorded music. Everyone in the Western world holds a device in their pocket that gives them access to their favourite songs. For me, live music will always have a place and it’s a sacred practice that has been going for generations.
Metro Theatre Thursday March 24
NATIONAL FOLK FESTIVAL Exhibition Park, Canberra Thursday March 24 – Monday March 28
Who: Bobby Alu and The Palm Royale What: One Space Presents Island Sessions With: Declan Kelly Where: Factory Floor When: Saturday March 19
SHAKEY GRAVES The Basement Thursday March 31
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, Anita Connors, James Di Fabrizio, Joseph Earp, Zanda Wilson ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant PHOTOGRAPHERS: Katrina Clarke, Ashley Mar, D.A. Carter ADVERTISING: Les White - 0405 581 125 / (02) 9212 4322 les@thebrag.com Tony Pecotic - (02) 9212 4322 tony@thebrag.com PUBLISHER: Furst Media MANAGING DIRECTOR, FURST MEDIA: Patrick Carr - patrick@furstmedia.com.au, (03) 9428 3600 / 0402 821 122 DIGITAL DIRECTOR/ADVERTISING: Kris Furst kris@furstmedia.com.au, (03) 9428 3600 GIG & CLUB GUIDE COORDINATOR: Sarah Bryant - gigguide@thebrag.com (rock); clubguide@thebrag.com (dance, hip hop & parties) AWESOME INTERNS: Elias Kwiet, Joseph Earp, Anita Connors, Zanda Wilson REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Nat Amat, Prudence Clark, Tom Clift, James Di Fabrizio, Christie Eliezer, Emily Gibb, Tegan Jones, Lachlan Kanoniuk, Emily Meller, David Molloy, Annie Murney, Adam Norris, George Nott, Daniel Prior, Tegan Reeves, 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
Big Daddy Wilson will head to Australia for the very first time for a run of east coast shows this March and April. The US-born, Germanbased bluesman will be here to support his latest album, Time. The record is his first studio full-length since 2011’s Thumb A Ride, and was produced by blues legend Eric Bibb. Wilson will play Camelot Lounge on Thursday March 31 and The Brass Monkey on Saturday April 2.
xx
BIG DADDY TIME
The Temper Trap
IT’S A TRAP
After three long years away from Aussie stages, Oz rockers The Temper Trap have confirmed their return home for a run of intimate concerts in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. It’s been over four years since the band released its platinum-certified eponymous sophomore album, which featured singles ‘Trembling Hands’ and ‘Need Your Love’. Now The Temper Trap are finally ready for something new – dropping their latest single ‘Thick As Thieves’ from their forthcoming album at the end of last month – and rumour has it the shows Down Under will give audiences an even tastier slice of the new work. See the gang when they pass through Sydney’s Metro Theatre on Wednesday May 4.
SENDING SIGNALS
Making waves with her debut release, Olympia has locked in a Sydney show. Her latest effort, Self Talk, was recorded with Burke Reid (Courtney Barnett, Jack Ladder, The Drones) and marks the artist’s first full-length release, helmed by the single ‘Smoke Signals’. She’ll play Newtown Social Club on Thursday May 26.
ALL HAIL
Hailmary have announced a new EP, and will be touring around the country in support of it this April. The announcement follows their return from a run of shows across the UK where they supported hard rock legends Ugly Kid Joe. The four-piece won Best Heavy Rock Release at the West Australian Music Awards for their debut EP Lottery Of Life, and have since released a slew of EPs and an album. The new EP, titled Evolve/ Dissolve, will see the band play eight national shows, stopping everywhere from Melbourne to Alice Springs and Perth to Cairns. Hailmary will be at Frankie’s Pizza on Sunday April 10 with Desecrator and Harlott.
THE VANNS HIT THE ROAD
The Vanns have announced they will be hitting the road for another national tour – stretching through April, May and June – in support of their next single. The track, titled ‘I’m Not The One’, will be the follow-up to last year’s single ‘Sunday To Sunday’, and has again seen the band head into the studio with rising producer Nathan Sheehy. Since 2014, The Vanns have released a steady stream of singles and EPs that have earned them national airplay and support slots with the likes of British India, Tired
Lion and Sticky Fingers. The Vanns will take over Frankie’s Pizza on Thursday May 5.
Courtney Barnett
Phil Wiggins and Dom Turner
Please send mail NOT ACCOUNTS direct to this NEW address 100 Albion Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010 ph - (02) 9212 4322 fax - (02) 9319 2227 EDITORIAL POLICY: The views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher, editors or staff of the BRAG. ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE: Luke Forrester: accounts@furstmedia.com.au ph - (03) 9428 3600 fax - (03) 9428 3611 Furst Media, 3 Newton Street Richmond Victoria 3121 DEADLINES: Editorial: Friday 12pm (no extensions) Ad bookings: Friday 5pm (no extensions) Fishished art: No later than 2pm Monday Ad cancellations: Friday 4pm Deadlines are strictly adhered to. Published by Furst Media P/L ACN 1112480045 All content copyrighted to Cartrage P/L / Furst Media P/L 2003-2014 DISTRIBUTION: Wanna get the BRAG? Email distribution@ furstmedia.com.au or phone 03 9428 3600 PRINTED BY SPOTPRESS: spotpress.com.au 24 – 26 Lilian Fowler Place, Marrickville NSW 2204 follow us:
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THE BRAG
6 :: BRAG :: 654 :: 16:03:16
STILL SITTING, STILL WINNING
WIGGING OUT
Shakey Graves photo by Jarred Gastriech
Growing Up For me, music was a part 1. of life. My mother is a Samoan
BOBBY ALU
Lucky Peterson photo © JM Lubrano
welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... with Gloria Brancatisano and Joseph Earp
The boys are back in town, all ready to blow audiences away with their moody tunes. Phil Wiggins and Dom Turner, a trans-Pacific acoustic blues duo with a difference, have just announced the date for their 2016 Sydney show. The pair are legends of the blues and Americana genres, with Wiggins in particular being praised as one of the finest harmonica players around. Given the duo will be bringing their show to The Vanguard, a venue well known for its intimate vibe, audiences can expect a show unlike many others – a heartfelt, humane series of songs concerned with the very nature of love itself. See it go down on Wednesday March 23.
Sometimes she sits and thinks, sometimes she just cleans up at awards ceremonies. Courtney Barnett has won the 11th Australian Music Prize for her album Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit. The $30,000 award is one of many Barnett has won for the album, and represents another notch in a very decorated belt. It all comes smack-bang in the middle of the tour Barnett and her Milk! Records chums are conducting around the country.
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GRAYS & THE STIN
E ...AND MOR
TS! SAM JOOLE DS OF BOA A O L D N A MUSIC FREE LIVE
celebrating weekend of a l, a iv st e F Boat rkshops, lia, with wo nd Wooden a ra st ic u ss A la d C n e u Th from all aro set against classic boats ainment. All rt te n e e iv L vintage and sium and ons, Sympo arbour. demonstrati of Sydney H p ro kd c a b the riday and inment on F a rt te n e e e ar with fr Waterside b ight. Enjoy Yots Saturday N
v.au/cwbf o .g m m n .a at www Full program
m.gov.au m n a I 4 2 6 3 Ph 02 9298
vanessa heinitz
less of a man acoustic tour with special guests
m arch/ ap r il 201 6 18.03. Coffs Harbour, Element Bar 19.03. Gold Coast, The Loft 20.03. Brisbane, The Milk Factory 26.03. Sydney, The Rocks Brewing Company 08.04. Tahmoor, Tahmoor Inn 14.04. Newcastle, Lass O’Gowrie 16.04. Penrith, The Tattersalls available march 15th on itunes, & triple j unearthed | www.vanessaheinitz.com thebrag.com
BRAG :: 654 :: 16:03:16 :: 7
live & local
free stuff
welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... with Anita Connors, Joseph Earp and Rochelle Bevis
speed date WITH
KIDGEERIDGE MUSIC FESTIVAL
MEGHAN DEA FROM MIRELLA’S INFERNO Your Profile Our band is neo-electropop/grunge, 1. where our musical style plays with the delicate sounds of deep luscious electronica over a sweet, rich, organic base. We formed in 2013 and basically found each other through Gumtree! Sudeep our guitarist and I sifted through the various talents on Gumtree before we found our very talented keyboardist and all-round tech boy, Xan Müller, and super cool drummer Rachel Florence. We are definitely a band that people need to experience live because of the dynamic nature of our music and it’s great to see our audience react to it!
from Sydney. The audience was vibing in a super chilled way and everyone was so supportive of the music – we couldn’t get off stage even after two encores! And as for worst gig… a lacklustre afternoon market gig in Marrickville, the system overheated and crashed. I had to keep singing a capella – an indie singer’s nightmare! Current Playlist We’re always loving The Jezabels, 4. as they are one of the greatest modern Australian bands. Enjoying the electronic tunes of Apparat and Little Dragon, and currently drowning in Lykke Li’s latest heartbreaking album, I Never Learn.
Keeping Busy We’ve been busy the last few months, 2. Your Ultimate Rider taking a step back and writing new material Bottled water? But seriously, a good 5. for our second EP, set for release in May. sound guy who can handle the band’s We’ve been experimenting with different sounds and even travelling to create experiences for our music that will make this EP very different from our debut. Keep an eye on this space! Best Gig Ever FBi Social 2014 – we played with Albert 3. Salt from Melbourne and Clulow Forester
Sarah Belkner
BRIGHTON UP BELKNER
head to: thebrag.com/freeshit
dynamic sounds, foldback speakers that actually work, and lastly loads of reverb! What: Surveillance Party Radar With: No Illuminati, Haptic, Wonky, Xan Müller and more Where: Oxford Art Factory When: Saturday March 26
Kidgeeridge is back for 2016. A music festival with a conscience, it operates to benefit its local community, having donated over $200,000 to local charities and community groups over the past ten years. Held in the historic Milton Showground, three hours south of Sydney, the weekend-long Kidgeeridge kicks off on Saturday April 22 and ends Sunday April 23. This year’s lineup is massive, including Dan Sultan, Kingswood and The Black Sorrows. We have two weekend double passes to Kidgeeridge Music Festival up for grabs, so head to thebrag.com/freeshit to be in the running.
BLACKBERRY SMOKE
American Southern rock/country phenomenons Blackberry Smoke are heading Down Under for the very first time as part of the lineup at this year’s Bluesfest. With fiddle, heavy percussion and three-part harmonies in tow, as well as four albums’ worth of tunes, the band is also gearing up to headline a gig at The Basement on Wednesday March 23. We have one double pass to give away to the Sydney sideshow. To enter the draw, visit thebrag.com/ freeshit.
Kill Dirty Youth
The exceptionally talented singer, songwriter, composer and arranger Sarah Belkner is heading to Brighton Up Bar for a very special show. Joined by a full band, Belkner will be showcasing the electronic pop sounds of her latest EP Humans, as well as providing fans with a sneak peek of her forthcoming debut album. Having supported the likes of Chet Faker, Sarah Blasko and Sufjan Stevens, Belkner herself will be joined on the night by Central Coast singersongwriter Sammi Constantine and dance wave/pop two-piece Greenwave Beth, the side project of Flowertruck’s Charles Rushforth and Will Blackburn. Belkner plays Sydney on Thursday March 31.
PLAYING WITH FIRE
Sydney locals Twin Fires have announced their first run of headlining shows, dropping by their hometown along the way. Having received support from the likes of Rolling Stone and triple j since the release of their debut single ‘Two Hands’, which was
recorded by Tony Buchen (The Preatures, Andy Bull), the trio of multi-instrumentalists will be hitting the east coast with their 2016 tour. Their EP, This Time I’m Fine, is due mid this year. Twin Fires will hit Waywards on Friday April 8, complete with free entry.
DIRTY YOUTH KILLAH
It’s nice to have some young blood around the place, right? Melbourne-based alternative rock outfit Kill Dirty Youth have just unveiled the date for their 2016 Sydney show. The Triple M darlings have been moving from strength to strength of late, recently dropping their brand new single ‘Lunatic’ – a dirty, anthemic little number that will be sure to dazzle when it comes time to see them live. Given Frankie’s Pizza has been selected as the venue for their little sojourn up our way, fans of the band can rest assured that the gig will be as intimate as it will be raucous. Prepare thyselves. Kill Dirty Youth hit town on Sunday April 3.
Gypsys Of Pangea
SOUND AND COLOUR (AND VISION)
I’M ON A BOAT
WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY?
Our favourite foxes have just unveiled the full lineup for their next event, adding more credence to the idea that they are some of the savviest, furriest friends about. Gypsys Of Pangea, the three-piece, flute-flaunting jazz-rock group, have been announced as the headline act for the next Live At The Sly. The band will be ostensibly there to promote new album Ron Hubble and to blow a few minds along the way. Also on the bill are acid-flashback rockers Aether Beach and irrepressible psych-pop outfit Mount Zamia, making Live At The Sly a very significant proposition indeed. As always. The next edition goes down this Thursday March 17 at Slyfox.
8 :: BRAG :: 654 :: 16:03:16
Note to potential visitors: this isn’t a dress-up event, so it will be frowned upon if you rock up wearing an eyepatch and with a parrot perched on your shoulder. The Australian National Maritime Museum has announced it will host the Classic And Wooden Boat Festival this year, providing those interested with an incredible opportunity to see over 100 beautiful boats up close. Better still, the festival will also include a series of talks, focusing on historical vessels and featuring a lecture from internationally renowned sailing extraordinaire Lin Pardey. There’ll be live music too, with established reggae and roots artist Declan Kelly and The Rising Sun headlining the event, supported by Stu Tyrrell and Bill Hunt. Landlubbers need not apply: this
Madame Wu & Elise Graham
WU ARE YOU?
Sydney spoken-word/hip hop duo Madame Wu & Elise Graham have locked in a gig at Brighton Up Bar to to celebrate the release of their second album Time Waits For No Woman. The two-piece will be performing a collision of poetry, lyricism and dulcet tones, along with their latest single, ‘Reclaim The Night’. Wu and Graham perform on Thursday March 24.
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Madame Wu & Elise Graham photo by Snappatronik
Glebe’s Coloursound Festival is set to arrive this Easter weekend, and a number of unique venues have started to reveal their live music lineups as part of the three-day event. 13 spaces will be made available to art and music at Coloursound, including locations that don’t ordinarily host live music, making the festival a special proposition. One of the venues involved is Flying Fajita Sisters, the Mexican kitchen on Glebe Point Road. Chef Joe Slakey’s restaurant, which has operated since 2007, will play host to four nights’ worth of performers. Highlights include Camden Manor (Thursday March 24), Trips (Friday March 25), Yeevs (Saturday March 26) and Hello Bones (Sunday March 27).
one’s especially for seafaring folk. The Classic And Wooden Boat Festival runs from Friday April 15 through Sunday April 17.
Industrial Strength Music Industry News with Christie Eliezer
THINGS WE HEAR • Which airline is about to announce a major new initiative with Australian music acts? • Is Airbourne’s Joel O’Keeffe in the lead to replace Brian Johnson in AC/DC? Original singer Dave Evans said he’d be up for it but agrees he won’t be getting a call in the near future from Angus and co. Johnson’s growing deafness was not a sudden diagnosis: there were rumblings about it during AC/DC’s Oz tour last year. • Live Performance Australia, which represents the live music industry, will hold the 16th Helpmann Awards on Monday July 25 at the Sydney Lyric Theatre. • Spotify Australia/New Zealand has appointed Hayley Treasure (ex-Nine Entertainment) as account manager, and Matt Bryant (from digital agency F Sharp) as client creative lead. • Reports say Sony Music Entertainment Australia’s regular refreshing of its roster saw the exit of Nathaniel Willemse and Reigan Derry, both from The X Factor.
MUSIC ROUNDTABLE GETS $30K After the success of last year’s inaugural National Contemporary Music Roundtable in Sydney, organiser Music Australia has upped the ante in 2016, courtesy of a $30,000 sponsorship from the City of Sydney as part of its Live Music and Performance Action Plan. The Roundtable will bring together federal, state and local policymakers to discuss strategies for government support of the music
Lifelines Divorcing: Don McLean’s wife is filing for divorce, citing adultery and “cruel and abusive treatment�, after a January domestic abuse incident in their home saw him arrested, and the postponement of this month’s Australian tour until 2017. Ill: former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman with prostate cancer. Caught in its early stages, he’s expected to make a full recovery. In Court: Paramore’s former bassist Jeremy Davis, who acrimoniously left last year, is suing for a share of the band’s income, saying he and singer Hayley Williams formed the band before current member Taylor York joined. In Court: former Hatebreed drummer Nicholas ‘Nickel P’ Papantoniou faces up to 90 years in jail when sentenced in May, after being found guilty of murder, first degree burglary and criminal possession of a firearm in Connecticut. Died: British keyboard virtuoso Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake & Palmer and The Nice fame, 71, at his home in Santa Monica. In the early ’70s he was known for merging jazz, rock and classical, and his showbiz routine of throwing knives into his keyboards. Died: former Eagles bassist Randy Meisner’s wife Lana Rae was accidentally shot by a rifle while she was moving it at their home in LA. Two hours earlier, the LAPD was called to the house to deal with an alleged domestic abuse incident. Died: Andrew Loomis, drummer with Oregon punk band Dead Moon, 54, after spending many of his final months battling lymphoma. Died: Bruce Geduldig, visual artist and filmmaker with US art rock groups Tuxedo Moon and The Weathermen, 63, after battles with liver issues. Died: Louis Meyers, one of the four founders of SXSW 30 years ago. He was its prime booker until he left in 1994.
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• At which point is doing work for free “building up your portfolioâ€?, and when is it exploitation? It’s a constant debate in the biz, and one reignited when reports emerged that Warner Bros, the producer of reality TV show The Bachelor, approached students at the Australian Institute of Music on social media to work for free. • Split city: World’s End Press have disbanded after great live gigs and radiosupported singles here and abroad. Meanwhile, a six-hour metal show is being held in the NSW town of Casino this week to farewell Seabound after five years, with singer Jayden Ridley now in Brisbane’s Stepson, who are also playing the gig. • Greek extreme metal band Rotting Christ will tour South Africa as ΧΞΣ after a religious backlash. • The Cat Empire had their second number one debut with their seventh album Rising With The Sun, 11 years after their second album Two Shoes did it in April 2005. The album is the fifth Aussie album to hit number one this year out of the eight to do so. • Last month, Richmond Valley Council got
industry. This year’s partners include ARIA, APRA AMCOS, Association of Artist Managers, AIR, Live Music Office, Australian Music Industry Network, AMPAL, Sounds Australia, Live Performance Australia and others. The meet will draw 100 delegates from every major association (up from 40 last year) to discuss music policy, industry development, venues, export, music education and research. Last year’s National Music Business Plan will be developed by June. Music Australia CEO Chris Bowen said, “The Roundtable is set to become Australia’s major music policy and industry development forum – a national brains trust for innovation and development in contemporary music.�
NEW WEBSITE TO TRACE RECORDINGS A new website is being set up to identify nearly 20 million sound recordings, making it easier for recording artists, managers, rights owners and music services to trace where the recordings were used and also to make data reporting more accurate. The ISRC Search Site is a collaboration by IFPI, the London-based international trade body for the recording industry, and the world’s biggest digital collective management organisation, SoundExchange. Visit isrc.soundexchange. com or the IFPI site, isrcsearch.ifpi.org.
GOVERNMENT SPOOKED BY LOCKOUT PROTESTS Despite its tough talk about lockouts, the New South Wales Government seems to have been spooked by campaigns from rally groups – so much so that it’s invited Keep Sydney Open to join roundtable discussions on Sydney’s night-time economy and reigniting the oncethriving entertainment precincts. These are due to be held Thursday March 31, Thursday April 28 and Thursday May 19 and are to be included in retired High Court Justice Ian Callinan’s review of the lockouts, due in August. “Everyone wants a safe and vibrant night-time Sydney economy. This is an exciting chance to work together,� said Deputy Premier and Minister for Justice and Police, Troy Grant. But the Greens’ Newtown MP Jenny Leong argued that the invitation means the antilockout activities are working: “Minister Grant seems to be singing a very different tune. [We] have said from the start that it’s essential that local communities are involved.� Obviously, thousands of hours’ volunteer time in campaigning and the 15,000 who bothered to brave rain to walk in protest at KSO’s rally have made a difference to the city’s live music scene. Hopefully a long-term benefit of these discussions will not only to drop the lockouts but will see what sort of compensation should be offered to venue owners. In Queensland there are discussions about launching legal action against the State Government there on the basis of lesser trading hours resulting in less revenue, and casino exemptions creating a non-level playing field.
HANNA, ENGLISH FAREWELLED Daddy Cool’s guitar rock and reggae legend Ross Hannaford was farewelled with an honour guard of family and friends in a beautiful valley in Blackwood in the Macedon Ranges outside Melbourne. The soundtrack was chosen by Hanna himself: the 32-minute ‘The Creator Has A Master Plan’ from Pharoah Sanders’ 1969 album Karma (the vinyl version, of course).
a local landowner fined $36,000 for allowing illegal doof parties on two of his properties in May 2014 and July 2015. • To mark the 375th anniversary of Montreal, Pink Floyd’s The Wall will be staged as an opera by Opera de Montreal next March. Roger Waters has been recruited as its librettist. Part of the album was inspired after a 1977 incident at a Floyd show in Montreal when Waters spat on a fan. • Thieves broke into Newcastle singersongwriter Tim Rossington’s garage and made off with $9,000 worth of gear. A benefit is being held this week and a GoFundMe campaign has launched. • The old Terminus Hotel in Pyrmont is for sale for $5 million, while Newcastle’s Seven Seas, which also showcases live music, has a $2.5 million price tag. • Both the Eagles and Crosby, Stills & Nash, who’ve toured here of late, have announced the end of their roads. The Eagles are splitting after Glenn Frey’s death, and CSN because Graham Nash and David Crosby are pissed off with each other.
In the wake of Jon English’s passing, his two-CD 2011 set Six Ribbons – The Ultimate Collection on Ambition Entertainment returned to the ARIA chart at number 23, after a day’s collation of sales. While his success story has been recounted extensively in other media outlets following his death, what was not noted was that top US band Tower Of Power asked him to become their singer in the ’70s.
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Courtney Barnett is using her $30,000 prizemoney from the 11th Australian Music Prize to build a studio/space to write, paint and record. “I’ve never had a novelty cheque before – I’m a bit nervous to hold it,� she told the gathering at The Basement. “One thing I like about this award: it’s judged on the art and the music and it’s not on sales or other boring shit like that, so thanks.� Barnett was handed the cheque by Henry Rollins, who was the event’s Q&A guest. While Barnett tours in Australia, her UK team at Marathon Artists is nominated in the Artist Marketing Campaign category of the Music Week Awards. Marathon is up against Virgin EMI (James Bay), RCA (Bring Me The Horizon), Parlophone (Coldplay), Atlantic (Jess Glynne), Syco (Little Mix) and Polydor (Years & Years).
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“What a drag it is getting old,� sang The Rolling Stones. “Hope I die before I get old,� exclaimed The Who. Pulp’s ‘Help The Aged’ asked fans to give the elderly hope and comfort “cause they’re running out of time�. “Will you still need me?� The Beatles asked in ‘When I’m Sixty-Four’. Pop music sets a bad example by portraying old folks negatively, focusing on them as dying or in physical decline, says a study by the UK’s Anglia Ruskin University published in the Journal Of Advanced Nursing. 55 of 76 songs studied were guilty of this. However, the study found John Lennon (“Now I am older, ah hah / The future is brighter�) and Dusty Springfield (“Growing old is no sin�) provided a positive option.
STRONG START FOR NE OBLIVISCARIS CAMPAIGN Melbourne prog metal band Ne Obliviscaris’ ambitious campaign on Patreon to get fans to pay the six of them an annual regular wage so they can devote their time to music has had a strong start. Within the first seven days, fans promised $105,000 a year on patreon.com/neobliviscaris, well on the way to the target of $12,000 a month. Used for years by sporting clubs, this crowdfunding model paves the way for other music acts to financially survive without help from record labels, publishers or corporate sponsorship – although in NeO’s case, they already had a huge global following through touring, and their 2014 raising of $86,000 via Pozible remains one of the highest-netting music campaigns in the world.
INTERSECTION, FOSTERED MERGE Shae Constantine’s management company Intersection has merged with Kate Edwards’ visual artists management firm Fostered. The resultant company – operating under the Fostered name – will expand opportunities for clients with brands. Intersection manages acts such as iOTA, EDM producer GRMM and US singer Father Dude.
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ELLE KING LOVE AND OTHER STUFF
BY ADAM NORRIS
“Music and songwriting have been pretty powerful for me since I first started really writing … It’s been a powerful thing for me as a person to have that outlet, but that’s the only thing that I have.” You can draw a rather shaky line between Of Monsters And Men and Modest Mouse, but throw folk like Ed Sheeran, Dropkick Murphys and James Bay into the mix and you’ve got yourself an eclectic CV. “I’ve been very lucky to have been brought on all the tours I’ve been on, and I’ve also been lucky to not be pigeonholed,” she says. “Because my music changes so much and I can play so many different styles, it’s given me the opportunity to open for so many different types of music. For rock, country, for pop. Every tour is different, and I do like to watch and see how they work – I like to see how the headliners perform, how they react to the audience. I got to sing and spend the day and play guitar with Wanda Jackson while she sang – that was really special to me. “For me, a lot of it is the travel. I never expected to travel to most of the places that I’ve been to, let alone get to sing there. That’s something that’s very special to me. I was recently told that I will meet my match, that someone will outdrink me in Australia.” I assure King the prospect is not impossible, though by her own admission she has been learning the hard way that all drunken revelries must eventually stare down the harsh morning light. By the sounds of it, her life is one of constant engagement and excitement, but that can easily turn into a yoke about your neck. Momentum is a remarkable thing, right up to the moment you crash. “Well, I’ve been learning that drinking is not good,” she chuckles, “so I’ve been trying to stick with just writing music while I’m sad. Music and songwriting have been pretty powerful for me since I first started really writing. It was a very cathartic, therapeutic way for me to find my voice and try and figure things out. It’s been a powerful thing for me as a person to have that outlet, but that’s the only thing that I have. I’m not really good at anything else.” With appearances at Bluesfest and scattered sideshows, King is keen to experience the colour of Australian audiences, although she’s terrified of the flight. Though she may well find herself inspired by her time here – or at least, find a stalwart drinking buddy – the chances of sitting down to get some writing done are fairly slim. That’s in part due to her writing process, but the expectations of what the future holds can also cast a creative shadow. “I try to not take a step back and look at everything, because it can be a little overwhelming,” she says. “I haven’t had much time, either. I rarely get even a day off, so I just try and stay focused and think about whatever show I have to play that night. It can be overwhelming, and I hate thinking, I hate emotions. I try to stay away from that and avoid those as much as possible.
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ead enough interviews with musicians, and you’ll inevitably start finding patterns. Every emerging artist seems to enjoy a meteoric rise to fame; every new single is either haunting, anthemic, or in the very least, highly anticipated. Sometimes, it’s even true. Take Elle King for example. She has burst onto the scene in a big way – with Grammy nominations for Best Rock Performance and Best Song – but has been building towards this moment her entire life. Her debut, Love Stuff, dropped a little over a year ago, and since then the Californian performer has been touring to beat the devil, but only now will she finally find her way to Australia. As often as she performs, however, this whole carousel still strikes her as surreal. “It boggles my brain a little,” King says. She talks rapidly and with great colour, as though we are catching up after downing a couple of afternoon shots. “This is my first album, and my first single. I don’t have a computer and I don’t Google myself or anything, but people kept sending
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me links to Grammy predictions, and I started thinking, ‘Wait a minute. Could this happen? Did I get nominated for a freakin’ Grammy?’ So you expect nothing and hope for the best, and then I got two nominations, which was the craziest thing ever. I’ve been joking, saying that it’s like being a doctor. For the rest of my life I’ll be ‘Grammy nominee Elle King’. But that won’t ever get tiring. It’s the highest accolade you can get as a musician, and for me to get it for my first single, my first album, is insane. So if that gives me some bragging rights, I’ll take them.” That single, ‘Ex’s & Oh’s’, went on to platinum sales both in the US and here in Australia, and though she missed out on the Grammys, she lost to Alabama Shakes, which makes the loss seem more manageable somehow. More recently she has dropped her third single, ‘America’s Sweetheart’, and it’s pretty damned catchy. It draws out the rough-rock, smokedvocal blues that are starting to become King’s signature sound, and while she is proud to wear her influences on her sleeve, she would rather
break away from any pattern that might be emerging. “You know, when I was younger, 15 or so, there were three female singers I listened to. They were Wanda Jackson, Aretha Franklin and Dolly Parton. I’d hope that someone can hear what an impact those three women had on me as a singer. Writing and learning to sing, I didn’t have a vocal coach, I had those women. I’d sing along with them, and try to sing like them until my voice matured and I settled into how I sang. So I hope I haven’t been locked down to one genre. I’m happy to be in the rock category, because I love rock’n’roll, but what’s beautiful about rock’n’roll is that it can take so many different forms. Look at Elvis. I mean, look at the fucking Beatles! The Beatles are rock’n’roll, but there’s so many different levels of music, so many different styles they played. I’m pretty happy not having to choose one sound.” A genuine testament to this can be found in the various acts King has supported in the past.
“It’s hard, because I’ve been so focused on working and touring this album. It took so long – three years. And I’m so proud of it, but I haven’t really put much thought into writing. Now when you sit down to write and it’s like, ‘OK! Is this for album two?’ and it takes away from why I write music. And so that weird shift happens in my brain, and I have to work on retraining myself on writing. It’s also a very personal thing for me, and I don’t get a lot of time by myself on the road. After this very large amount of touring, I’m hoping to get some time to reflect on everything that’s happened over the past couple of years. For me, it’s heavily about vibe, about what I’m feeling in the moment. You can’t turn it on or off. It just comes.” 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 Metro Theatre on Thursday March 24 More: Love Stuff out now through RCA/Sony
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THE DEBUT ALBUM FEATURING ‘EX’S & OH’S’ AND ‘AMERICA’S SWEETHEART’
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Cold War Kids Ready To Receive By Adam Norris
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old War Kids are hard to kill. Or at least, that’s what Billy Joel would have us believe, and who could bring themselves to naysay the Piano Man? Such was his claim on the song ‘Leningrad’, which I assumed was the unofficial anthem for Cold War Kids and their rallying call each time they’re about to step onstage. Turns out, Nathan Willett and the boys are less soft rock, and more DJs and hard booze. Prior to their return to Australia, Willett ponders the nature of their music, and why maintaining a layer of mystery isn’t as easy as it sounds.
some months earlier and proved to be a bellwether track for how the band had been developing since Dear Miss Lonelyhearts the year before. Critics hailed it as a sign the Californian indie rockers were at the top of their game, but when the next single, ‘First’, made it to the number one spot on Billboard’s alternative chart, even the band was surprised. Now Willett is focused on putting the lessons learned in that time into perspective, and hoping there will be new material ready to showcase in Australia.
Cold War Kids released their last album, Hold My Home, back at the end of 2014. The lead single, ‘All This Could Be Yours’, had dropped
“I think sometimes ambiguity can be powerful. I don’t know, I think very often people are reading their personal lives into our lyrics, and we’re a band that’s managed to lay low enough where nobody really knows that much about us. And that really is the best thing, because you let the song speak for itself. I think I’ve learned that this is what we do well, and let’s try to hone in on that.”
“There’s a small chance we’ll have a couple of new songs ready in time,” he says. “I really “Billy Joel? I like it. I’ll propose it to the others,” hope that we can, because the new stuff we’re Willett laughs. “We sort of have this unspoken working on is really strong. I think I have a ritual now of hanging out before, listening to vision for what we’re doing like never before. I some old Rolling Stones. Somebody will be the think the success of ‘First’ taught me a lot about DJ while the rest of us just hang out and get how to keep all these artistic elements. Even the ready. We’re pretty mellow that way. We’ll just lyrics to that song are a little bit messy; they’re ease into the whole walk-out. So a good DJ and not straightforward, not linear, though the song whatever you can drink, that’s nice.” itself is quite straightforward, it’s a pop song.
“I find the creative process just full of highs and lows … You don’t just get to do what you want all the time. Part of it is waiting for it to come to you.” Willett’s lyrics have long been the stuff of intense discussion among fans, and that’s exactly the way that he prefers these songs be received; the artist distanced, the song left to fend for itself. It’s a sentiment shared by many writers, yet it also speaks of a dying breed of artist. The world today allows little opportunity for art to flourish without being chained to endless self-promotion. “It’s hard to think of an example contrary to that,” Willett says. “I mean, look at Kafka. He died before anyone read a story of him, and he’s one of the masters of world literature. But we demand so much exposure from our artists now. It’s such an interesting question, but I think you have to be able to play with it. You have to be able to take advantage of it. Like, I love Kanye. I think that he does that, he takes advantage of exposure, but you have to have that kind of personality. If you’re a little more reclusive, much like I am, it’s a question you keep thinking about.” Willett’s literary musings are oddly timed. Just prior to our interview, I read a quote from Jorge Luis Borges: “Don’t talk unless you can improve the silence.” Does Willett still feel he has something of substance to say to the world? Is filling that silence what keeps him creating, or would the obsession exist without an audience? “Such a big question. I find the creative process just full of highs and lows. You hit those moments where you’re able to do something that you’ve been dying to do, and you’re happy. And then you step away from that and suddenly you’re asking, ‘Who am I? What do I have to say?’ It’s weird. You don’t just get to do what you want all the time. Part of it is waiting for it to come to you, to be the best receiver that you can. And whatever that means – whether you have to walk around, drink all night, whatever – you have to put yourself in that place where good ideas can come to you. “And I think that’s the hardest part of the creative process. Sometimes stuff just pops in – you’ll wake up in the middle of the night with all of these ideas. Other times you have to kind of just wait, and that’s the brutal part. That side when you’re searching for that muse, you couldn’t feel more empty. I think anybody who is a lover of art, from the highbrow to the lowbrow, I think should be working towards having a voice which is both your own, and something you’re receiving. It’s all very strange, and I think it really is something that you just have to suffer through.” Where: Metro Theatre When: Saturday March 26 And: Also appearing at Bluesfest 2016, Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm, Thursday March 24 – Monday March 28 12 :: BRAG :: 654 :: 16:03:16
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The National Begin Again By David James Young
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ummer camp is over for Ohio’s most celebrated purveyors of solemn, suitedup gloom, The National. Since wrapping up touring in support of 2013’s acclaimed Trouble Will Find Me, which took them around the better part of the world and saw them perform some of the biggest headlining shows of their career, The National’s five members have busied themselves with family life and a handful of musical projects. Guitarist Aaron Dessner, for instance, focused on production work for artists such as Frightened Rabbit and Little May, while his twin brother Bryce curated a music festival and honed in on his noted work as a composer. Elsewhere, frontman Matt Berninger formed a new side project, El Vy, alongside former Menomena multiinstrumentalist Brent Knopf. The duo’s left-of-centre indie-pop, a fascinating contrast to the sepia sadness often associated with The National, resulted in an album, Return To The Moon, released last November. “It looks like the El Vy stuff is going to keep on going,” says Berninger. “We’re actually going to be playing three songs at the TED conference in Vancouver – I’m heading over there tomorrow. We’ve got a handful of things in the pipeline, too. Putting out the album and touring in support of it was such a blast. We got to play these really intimate rooms – places that I haven’t had the chance to play in years. When you’re seeing The National these days, most of the places that we play have the big security barriers and a big moat
between you and the audience. I had missed that intimacy – that’s actually a part of why I started going out into the crowd during our shows. It was great to have people right up against the stage again. We enjoyed it so much that we’re already starting work on the next record.” If that wasn’t enough, The National themselves are back in session, hard at work on their seventh LP. When Berninger touches base to give a status update, nothing is yet set in stone regarding the album – no title, no tentative release date and not even the tracklist has begun to take formation. The singer is, however, incredibly excited about the potential of what’s to come. He sees the album as a chance to explore what it is The National are capable of, and maybe even challenge their comfort zone. “We’re pretty deep into making this record right now,” he says. “We had a big batch of about 30 songs that we played around with in the studio when we were starting out. Now, Aaron and Bryce are sending me even more new stuff to work with. Sometimes, they’ll just send over a loop, I’ll put it into GarageBand and if I find myself drawn to it, I listen to it over and over. It’s weird – sometimes they’ll send over these beautiful little sketches of songs and I will have absolutely no idea where my place is in it. You never know what it’s going to feel like. “We’re exploring and experimenting right now, and there’s about ten songs that are really starting to take over my focus. They’re songs
that I feel are just dying to be written. I’ve never been this excited and motivated to try new things on record. The things that are coming out of this process, a lot of it is different to what we’ve done in the past. We’re trying to push the boundaries on our own terms.” 2016 will primarily see Berninger and The National focusing on completing – and hopefully releasing – their seventh album. Before that mountain is climbed, however, the band will be back in the Southern Hemisphere for a whirlwind visit. The National are booked as festival exclusives for Byron Bay’s Bluesfest with the likes of D’Angelo, Kendrick Lamar, Modest Mouse and Tom Jones, as well as Auckland City Limits in New Zealand, where they will be joined by Girl Talk and Action Bronson. Despite considerable demand, they will not be playing any other sets – a position that Berninger could never have anticipated he would find himself in. “If you’d have told me ten years ago that this band would be at a point where we could fly halfway across the world, play two shows and then go back again, I’d have never believed you,” he says with a laugh. “Especially if those two shows were in Byron Bay and Auckland, of all places. We’re looking forward to the break from the studio. As much as we want to keep making the record, it’s good to shake the vibe of it and shake up your chemistry a little bit. It’s invigorating. We might even play one or two songs we’ve been working on, just to see how people respond to it.
“Besides everything else, we get to see each other again. Everyone has this idea of bands just hanging out together all the time – we honestly don’t get to do it all that much! We all have kids, apart from Bryce, and we’re still trying to balance out our work and family life as much as possible. I mean, you’re telling me we get a break from being husbands and dads for a week to go hang out
in Byron Bay and be rock stars? We live very fortunate lives.”
“It’s funny. My friend wants to be a midwife, and so then I kind of wanted to be a midwife. For a while, actually, I was convinced I was going to make prosthetic limbs as a side job. It was like a scene from Flashdance, except I was making limbs. But it’s like a two-year program that costs 90 grand a year and my mum convinced me maybe not to. But I had this vision of me standing there in a tool belt, making prosthetic limbs. I think it came from a period where I decided that I just wanted to fix appliances, and that could be the side career. I sort of fell into the creative stuff. I was pretty into the sciences for a long time, and my mum is a physiotherapist. She pulled herself out of poverty by having this practical career, though she had a really artistic side that she couldn’t really pursue after having kids at a young age. So there was always this idea of, ‘Don’t be broke, have a career.’ We couldn’t really conceive of how you would make a living as an artist then.”
on people for imitating, but that’s how we absorb a style and then make it new. I think in my years as a singer, there have been so many singers I’ve listened to and studied, and they will all influence your sound to a degree. I’ve definitely heard people who can sound like anybody without really having their own thing. I think you need to be able to absorb, and then mix it inside you and put it out as something new.”
What: Bluesfest 2016 With: Kendrick Lamar, Tom Jones, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Modest Mouse and many more Where: Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm When: Thursday March 24 – Monday March 28
Frazey Ford Oceans Apart By Adam Norris
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itting down to listen to Frazey Ford’s second album, Indian Ocean, is like experiencing an early Christmas. Her voice is spine-tingling, and her Americana/ soul tunes are likely to keep listeners company for a long time to come. She is returning to Australia this month for Bluesfest, having visited before both solo and as a founding member of The Be Good Tanyas, yet Ford very nearly followed a different career path altogether. “I think anyone who decides that they want to honour music as
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something that they’re going to pursue, it’s highly unrealistic,” she laughs. “It’s one of the hardest paths, really. I used to do music for a while, and then I’d go back to school and do sciences, look at completely different careers, and then decide to take another year to write. I didn’t really know that you could make a living doing [music], so it was never really thought of as a plan. Every time I was doing it more out of wanting to, out of enjoyment. I think that’s good though, because I didn’t have any expectations. So I’d go back and forth, thinking about some
professional career that was going to sustain me. So when the music did take off, it was a real surprise.” After hearing some of Ford’s recordings, like her cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘One More Cup Of Coffee’, the implication that there is some divergent timeline out there where she decided not to keep pursuing music is too ghastly to dwell on. Between the band and her solo output, there are six albums now to get lost within – though as a choice of alternate careers go, Ford had hit upon a rather surreal approach.
The world of prosthetic limbs has no doubt lost one of its luminaries (though apparently there are entire abandoned wartime warehouses in the Australian outback full of replacement limbs, so no shortage there). While Ford talks, her conversation becomes interrupted as her children return from school for the day. The impact of her family seems to sit at the forefront of her art; the encouragement of her own mother and children regularly dots her observations. “I think it’s funny for me, because no matter what I do, I’m going to have a certain amount of my mum in my voice. Her side of the family are really into country. I had a soul band, but when I started writing songs, they all came out sounding country no matter what I said. I think it’s malleable though. People are down
Even though her approach to music was somewhat circuitous, Ford’s passion for song has deep roots. She is proud of the lineage of artists who have influenced her own development, and adamant there are likely many more inspirations yet to come. “I don’t know of any music that isn’t a link in the chain. We imitate each other so much. My mum comes from a strong lineage of music. I used to sing with her from a very early age, and she’s had a huge influence on my sound. But I also grew up listening to soul music, so I think whatever you’re paying attention to and thinking about, that stuff comes through you later on. You’re carrying forward that sound in a certain way. And I think that happens back and forth, even across countries. Like how the British really responded to soul music, and reflected back their version of rock’n’roll. It’s part of a chain all across the world.” What: Indian Ocean out now through Nettwerk Where: Newtown Social Club When: Wednesday March 23 And: Also appearing at Blue Mountains Music Festival, Friday March 18 – Sunday March 20; and Bluesfest 2016, Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm, Thursday March 24 – Monday March 28
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Northlane Marcus Bridge In Profile By Aaron Streatfield
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osing your frontman is a predicament that no band wants to face, especially when you are on the verge of becoming one of the biggest acts in your home country. Sydney metalcore giants Northlane found themselves in this situation 18 months ago when vocalist Adrian Fitipaldes announced his immediate departure from the band due to health reasons. Many groups find it almost impossible to recover from these situations, yet Northlane managed to not only find a replacement for Fitipaldes, but they exploded back onto the scene with their latest release Node, which topped the ARIA charts upon release. We chat with the newest member of Northlane, Marcus Bridge, to learn more about the man who seamlessly slotted straight into Australia’s number one metalcore band.
What influenced you in those early years? One of the first albums I really got into was Defi ne The Great Line by Underoath. It was just one of those albums. It came with a ‘making of’ DVD, and pushed me to want to play music. I used to play drums as well and I loved watching videos of Aaron Gillespie, the band’s drummer. I used to watch videos of him drumming all the time. What inspires you lyrically? I listen to a lot of different music. Josh [Smith, guitar] and I collaborated with the vocals on Northlane’s last album, Node. Josh in particular played a big part in the lyric writing. I grew up listening to a lot of pop-punk. Panic! At The Disco is one of my favorite bands. They have a lot of weird lyrics, and that had a big influence on me. Lyrically, the stuff I write is very personal. It’s usually a bit sappy [laughs].
What are the best and worst parts of touring? The best thing is being able to travel the world with four or sometimes more of your best friends. Visiting crazy parts of the world where people are singing the songs you’ve written; it’s pretty insane. We were in Japan about a month ago and that was an insane experience. It is so different
What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen onstage? We played a show a few weeks ago in Perth, as part of a regional tour. The show started out pretty tame. The crowd was calm for the first couple of bands, but when we came on it got out of hand. People were so drunk and there wasn’t a stage barrier. People were onstage, rolling over our equipment and spilling their drinks everywhere. One guy vomited on the front of the stage. Jon [Deiley, guitar] kept having the power to his pedal board disconnected from the crowd trampling all over it. We even had to cut a song because we were worried all our stuff would get broken. It was a lot of fun. Do you have any pre-show rituals? Not really. I spend about half an hour warming up. Usually I just eat Doritos. What have you been listening to lately? I have been listening to that new Kendrick Lamar album Untitled Unmastered, which is sick. The new Architects song is pretty mad also. I’ve been spinning the latest EP from Sydney band Polaris a heap. I have a sneaky guest appearance on a song, but I promise that’s not why I listen to it [laughs], it is just a great EP. What’s your favourite thing to wear onstage? Converse was kind enough to give me these tight new white and grey Chuck Taylors. They are heaps comfy, and they have a bit more of a sole than the older style – they really help my flat feet [laughs]. Quick fire questions: Creativity is… Everything? Performing is… Breathtaking. My favourite person is… Oh, man. That’s hard. I’m going to say [UFC fighter] Conor McGregor, just because I have been watching videos of him. He’s mad! Even though he lost he is still like, “I’m going to keep doing my shit.” Favourite food… Burgers. Grill’d in particular. My dance jam is… Anything by Michael Jackson. In 2016 I’ll be… This, hopefully. What: Node out now through UNFD With: In Hearts Wake Where: Big Top, Luna Park When: Saturday June 18
Converse has taken its creative game to the next level with the release of the latest incarnation of the Chuck Taylor All Star II. Marcus Bridge wears Chuck Taylor All Star II Refl ective Camo sneakers, $130. converse.com.au
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Marcus Bridge photo by James J Robinson @ Aevoe
How do you approach the vocals when writing a Northlane song? Josh worked closely alongside our producer Will Putney on the vocals for Northlane’s last album, Node. Those guys would grind through my lyric ideas and pick up little things, and I would chuck my two cents in here and there. Once we had the foundation of a song, Will and I would mess around with different melodies and experiment with different vocal textures.
What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen backstage? When we toured with Volumes, they did a lot of strange things all the time. The best way to describe the members of that band is they are just like a reality TV show, but in real life. They are awesome, but very intense sometimes. They’re just very Los Angeles.
Lucky Peterson photo ©JM Lubrano
How and when did you start singing? I started singing when I was in year ten. I hadn’t really done too much before but a friend of mine was doing a music performance and they needed someone to sing it, and I was in the right place at the right time so they asked me. After experiencing that feeling of singing with a band and making music I started doing a lot more of it. It progressed from there. I tried to get better, and here we are.
there compared to anywhere in the world. On the downside, being on the road all the time is exhausting. Being away from home all the time is hard. I miss hanging out and relaxing with friends during that time. But you know, we’re lucky to do what we do and it is a lot easier than most jobs, that’s for sure. I can’t really complain [laughs].
Rhiannon Giddens
Steve Balbi
Tomorrow Comes Today By Tegan Reeves
Chasing Rainbows By Adam Norris
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teve Balbi is, by his own admission, a bit of a chameleon. From Rose Tattoo to Noiseworks, Mi-Sex to Ziggy Stardust, Balbi has been playing a remarkably varied game for decades. His solo output includes the lauded album Black Rainbow, and as a testament to his mercurial craftsmanship, he is about to re-release a much more surreal version, Rainbow Black. On top of this, there is Moon, a new act including Balbi, Mark Ward, and 13-year-old drumming prodigy Jagger. We told you he was a hard man to catalogue. “I feel really fortunate,” Balbi admits. “I think I have an ability to be a chameleon. There’s a part of me that just loves rock, and there’s a part of me that hates rock. I can go and make my music in a more storytelling persona, and then move it even further away and do a Ziggy show at the Opera House and put my make-up on and prance around in a mirrorball suit. I think people see me as someone you can’t really pigeonhole. I’d hate to be stuck in that mould of, ‘Oh, you’re the guy who sings that song.’ I have so many peers who basically have to sing the same songs all the same. I’ve forged a career that is able to do different things, even as a producer and songwriter – being able to venture
down different sonic paths. Some friends criticise me, telling me to focus on the one thing. But why should I?” Moon also benefit from one of the greatest press descriptions in recent memory – they’re said to treat “a rock band like an orchestra with its balls out”. Despite there only being three band members, it’s an apt description. The tracks on Moon’s album The Orbitor have an epic quality to them, a classic rock vibe that still manages to seem expansive. With sections that are entirely instrumental, it is Balbi’s hope that listeners can have an almost DIY listening experience. “We’d intended Moon to be totally instrumental, the whole thing. We went into the studio with Jagger, [who’s] this really proactive guy but had never recorded before. Mark [Ward] and I started writing, and after two lots of five-day sessions we’d come up with this album. During that process, we thought it was only going to be instrumental, but there were parts that needed something. So there are a couple of songs there where only one line will come in. I didn’t want it to be where I was out the front singing, I didn’t want the focus here. I wanted it to be a band sound. And there is a freedom there. There’s an empty gap when you have no lyrics, a void that you get to fill with your imagination.” Somehow, Balbi has also found the time and energy to reinvent an entire earlier album. Rainbow Black is the surrealist answer to an artist already committed to making music way outside the everyday.
Rhiannon Giddens photo by Dan Winters
“It’s been so much fun deconstructing this material, and not giving it any limits. People really love the record, and I’m giving them the opportunity to hate it now. ‘Here, have another crack at it! Let’s see if you like this version!’” he laughs. “I think it’s part of that need for me to never be pinned down, to reshuffle it and celebrate the fact that really, anything is doable. If you know the material, you’ll expect it some way, but now you’ll hear it from without. It’s a total remake, but still using some original elements. I wanted it to be unfamiliar and familiar at the same time.” What: Rainbow Black out now through Golden Robot With: Nick Barker, Justin Garner Where: Studio, Sydney Opera House When: Friday May 13 And: The Orbitor is also out now through Golden Robot
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he birth of a solo career is often a matter of chance, as was the case with Rhiannon Giddens, who since 2005 has stood front and centre of the North Carolina old-time string band Carolina Chocolate Drops. In 2013, Giddens – the band’s singer, violinist and banjo player – was invited to take part in the Another Day, Another Time concert in New York, a celebration of the Coen Brothers’ film Inside Llewyn Davis, alongside Patti Smith, Gillian Welch, Marcus Mumford and a slew of other notable musicians. Being in the right place at the right time certainly paid off for Giddens’ solo career, as it was at this concert where she met seminal producer T Bone Burnett (Roy Orbison, Elton John, Elvis Costello). “T Bone Burnett offered to do a solo record for me after we did the Another Day, Another Time concert together in New York,” Giddens explains. “A lot of things happened there – I guess I made a big splash, and T Bone decided that I had been in a band for long enough and it was time to do something on my own. “I’m the kind of person that just does what’s in front of me, and I was there to do some songs and get in and get out, and I didn’t expect that performance to lead to what it did. It was such a fairy tale story.” Apart from her Coen Brothers tribute, Giddens has featured on a number of compilation albums, adding her vocal stylings to the musical creations of those who have come before her. This has given Giddens the chance to
work with some of the biggest names in music, including Tom Jones, with whom she recorded tracks for 2014’s The Wexford Carols – a compilation of traditional Irish Christmas carols. “I love collaborations in general,” Giddens says. “Whenever I get the chance to work with other people who are in it for the same reasons that I am, which is for the music and the heart and the spirit… One of my favourites was definitely the Bob Dylan compilation we did for Amnesty International, Chimes Of Freedom. We did the recording to tape and it was a really memorable day.” Giddens’ debut solo album includes a number of songs penned by prominent female musicians such as Dolly Parton and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. The selection came
“Being a woman musician, you’re in the minority, even though that is changing slowly. You see yourself surrounded by men all the time, not just as performers.”
easily to Giddens – it was simply a matter of including the tracks that didn’t quite fit the sound of Carolina Chocolate Drops. “It really came out of my experiences and an urge to pay homage to the women who had come before me. Being a woman musician, you’re in the minority, even though that is changing slowly. You see yourself surrounded by men all the time, not just as performers. There are loads of female performers, but where you start to really notice the divide is when you get into management and producing and labels – that can make it feel very, very isolating.” What: Tomorrow Is My Turn out now through Nonesuch/ Warner Where: Factory Theatre When: Monday March 21 And: Also appearing at Blue Mountains Music Festival, Friday March 18 – Sunday March 20; and Bluesfest 2016, Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm, Thursday March 24 – Monday March 28
Keith Richards: A Life In Pictures The Immortal Soul By Bel Ryan
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Keith Richards photo © Terry O’Neill
he Rolling Stones are no doubt an iconic fixture in contemporary music, with guitarist Keith Richards thought of almost universally as the epitome of rock’n’roll. ‘The Human Riff’, ‘Mr. Unhealth’, ‘Keef Riffhard’ and ‘The Cat With Five Strings’ are just some of the many monikers by which Richards has become known. Omnibus Press has recently published a stellar collection of rare photographs that chronicle Richard’s legendary rise to fame, aptly titled Keith Richards: A Life In Pictures. The BRAG catches up with contributing author and celebrated music journalist Andy Neill. “I came on board towards the end of the project,” Neill explains. “I was brought in to write the introduction and because of my extensive Stones knowledge, accurately caption the images and provide relevant quotes where necessary.” Neill is no stranger to writing about rock stars, having been in the journalism business since the ’90s. Regarded as an industry expert, he has been called upon in the past for his knowledge on other
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influential acts such as The Who and The Beatles. A Life In Pictures presents an incredibly in-depth exploration of Richards’ career and personal life. However, this wasn’t something Neill struggled with when it came to his research. “Keith has lived his life out in public to such a great extent,” says Neill. “Much of what is in the book is out there and in his own words. Richards’ life has been pretty much an open book.” Richards has experienced as many highs as he has absolute lows, and the images by photographers like Terry O’Neill, Michael Cooper, Ken Regan and Gered Mankowitz investigate all of the above. A Life In Pictures spans from as early as the Stones’ formation in 1962, right through to the Zip Code Tour of 2015. In Neill’s introduction, he writes: “No matter how low the gutter, Keith was always slightly above it.” This is followed by a quote from Richards, who has said: “I’d rather be a legend than a dead legend.” A particularly confronting spread of images shows Richards during one of his battles with substance abuse.
The section, entitled ‘Pretty Beat Up’, showcases a series of portraits from 1977, when in addition to heroin possession, Richards was also looking down the barrel of a potential seven-year sentence for trafficking. The photographs depict a broken man, accompanied by a quote from Richards talking about this dark chapter: “I was asleep when I got busted … I had been at rehearsal, got back to the hotel and passed out. My next memory is being dragged around by these two very big people who were slapping me awake … The shit hit the fan big time.” It is amazing to consider that Richards managed to scrape himself together, going on to continue playing with the Stones for another 40 years and counting. For Neill, it is another time from Richards’ life that holds particular significance. “I like the pictures from 1968-69 time. Brian Jones, who rivalled Jagger as the most photogenic Stone, was fast fading, and Keith was starting to get the demonic ‘Keef’ look together. Or as I put it in the book, Keith was becoming Keef. Previously he had been quite shy and in the background, even though he was
very much the drive behind the Stones’ music.” Richards’ life has been as varied as it has been fascinating, with the book touching on his appearances in the film franchise Pirates Of The Caribbean, and even a brief stint as the face of high-end fashion label Louis Vuitton, which created a signature guitar case in his honour. A Life In Pictures presents an unrivalled collection, exploring the inner workings of a man who
has conquered the pitfalls of a lifestyle few people will ever experience. As Richards himself is quoted: “Somebody has got to find out how far you can take this thing, and I guess it might just as well be me.” What: Keith Richards: A Life In Pictures out now, published by Omnibus Press Where: Available in all good bookshops
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Melissa Etheridge From Me To You By Adam Norris
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lright, be honest; who out there hasn’t imagined that fateful moment when the envelope is opened, your name is called, and you bound onstage to accept your Oscar? Be you teacher, tradie, or two-time Grammy Awardwinning artist, it’s a fun fantasy, and for most of us that’s where the dream ends. But with the dust from this year’s Academy Awards still settling, Melissa Etheridge remains amazed at her 2007 win for Best Original Song. As her This Is M.E. tour unfolds across the country, she ponders the shape of her blues rock past. “When I was growing up in Kansas, I always watched the Academy Awards. They were it, the epitome of awards. I’d have these dreams of standing there, thanking the Academy, that beautiful, iconic moment. I knew that they only had the one original song category, and boy, did I want to win that. I’ve always wanted to connect my work with film and television, but there just weren’t that many opportunities. So when Al Gore asked me to do [‘I Need To Wake Up’, from An Inconvenient Truth], he just said if I could write a song for his ‘slide
“Music is more important than ever. Music defines people – they seek music as the soundtrack to their life and as an identity. And I think that’s wonderful.”
show’. I was really only expecting it would be shown in high schools and that would be it. So when I realised it was becoming this very large thing, it was amazing to have this experience of getting nominated, to then sitting there having John Travolta say your name. And there it is! Getting up you just think, ‘Holy cow. There’s Robert De Niro, there’s Meryl Streep. There they are, and here I am, and this is crazy!’” It was an unexpected accolade for the respected musician, but then, that is really what fuels her fire – following unfamiliar paths, and always searching for new means of expression. Etheridge has worked across various benefit organisations, is a famous proponent of gay rights and environmental issues, and in 2002 released her autobiography, though by her own admission a second volume is now warranted – since then Etheridge has survived a serious breast cancer diagnosis, married her partner Linda Wallem, had children, and released nine more albums. “Well, that is the key. To keep that energy going. Success is not about reaching some place, because then it’s game over and there’s nothing left to do but die. Success to me is to keep evolving, to keep creating, keeping thinking differently, keep questioning. Keep reaching for something that makes you better or different. There’s also nothing like children to completely spin your world around. I mean, I was a gay rock star! Back when I was much younger, it wasn’t a possibility really. In that world I just couldn’t comprehend a gay family, or gay marriage, back then in my 20s. Then
as my life progressed and I saw that I was able to have this, it totally changes. I learned more about myself by having children, and I’m so grateful for that. It’s the moving forward that makes the music interesting.” Etheridge cut her teeth in the music world early. After picking up a guitar at eight, her teenage years were spent playing in country music groups, before the bar circuits of first Boston and then LA beckoned. Though it would take until 1983 to find mainstream success, her seminal years playing to rowdy audiences and slowly developing a fan base are never far from her thoughts these decades later. “Especially when I do my solo show. I’ll sometimes sit down at my piano and it always makes me feel like I’m back in a piano bar again. But if it wasn’t for those club days, I wouldn’t be the kind of performer I am now; I wouldn’t feel so comfortable doing it. I’m so grateful for that. But you know, I’m also grateful that there aren’t people smashing pool cues over each other’s head in the crowd now, too. You could always look straight out and see everybody there. But I still absolutely think about those days, and what they were like.” At 54, Etheridge is today a widely respected figure in the music industry. As her recent audiences have attested, the people drawn to her concerts are from every walk of life; from those who grew up with her music fresh in their ears, to those who have discovered her as a voice of strength from the past. She has inspired countless artists, and
while the musical landscape that encourages emerging musicians has changed drastically in the last decade, Etheridge still has faith in the power of song. “I would never say [a music career] is easy, because it’s not, and it takes a lot of tenacity and willpower to be heard,” she says. “I think the thing that does make me happy is that music is more important than ever. Music defines people – they seek music as the soundtrack to their life and as an identity. And I think that’s wonderful. The great thing about this new generation is that everything is at their fingertips, and they’re not just searching for whatever is popular right now.
They go and look for music. I have young people at my shows who have found me, turned others onto me, and that’s pretty cool. That they regard music that might not be contemporary as something that still moves them – that’s why I think it’s a good time in the music industry.” With: Irish Mythen Where: Enmore Theatre When: Wednesday March 23 and Thursday March 24 And: Also appearing at Bluesfest 2016, Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm, Thursday March 24 – Monday March 28
Kamasi Washington Epic Proportions By David James Young that immediate bubble,” he says. “I mean, you go back and you look at that early bebop stuff, that’s all just show tunes that have been done up in this new style. [John] Coltrane always wanted to see what was going on in all sorts of music. That’s definitely been a part of my life – I mean, before I properly got into jazz as a teenager, I was super into gangsta rap. I had no idea that kind of attitude could be expressed through playing jazz as well. “I’ve always been a curious person – it’s inherent to my nature. When I hear music that’s unfamiliar, it doesn’t scare me. It entices me. I study a lot of different approaches to music and I’ve studied a lot of psychology behind them. You have to always be on a quest for something new.”
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ound the trumpets: the jazz world has a new kid in town, here to subvert all kinds of convention and venture forth in his quest of exposing a new generation to the endless potential of this stillvibrant musical movement. Alright, so the kid in question might be in his 30s. Still, in jazz years Kamasi Washington might as well still be a toddler – which is fittingly ironic, given a love of music was instilled in the LA native from around that very age.
my dad played jazz saxophone and my mum played flute and played a lot of gospel music. I can remember getting a drum kit when I was three years old – I thought I was pretty good, too! That eventually led to learning piano when I was about seven or eight, and by the time I was 13, I had moved onto saxophone. I’m in my 30s now, and it feels like there has never been a time in my life where I wasn’t actively playing music.”
“I don’t think that there was ever any question that I’d find my way into playing music,” he begins. “It was almost as if it was inherited. Both my parents are musicians –
In a considerably short period of wider exposure, Washington has risen to prominence as one of the most notable jazz musicians of the modern era, thanks in no small part
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to the vast array of artists he has come to collaborate with. These famously include Kendrick Lamar – who featured Washington on last year’s Grammy-winning instant classic To Pimp A Butterfl y – as well as Lauryn Hill, Flying Lotus and even Snoop Dogg, to name but a few. It’s put to Washington that his acceptance and willingness to participate within any genre is something that reflects in the music he makes under his own name. He agrees, but is quick to emphasise that this is not something exclusive to him. “I think it’s in the nature of every jazz musician to explore outside of
Washington’s most recent album is entitled The Epic, and the likelihood of you finding a 2015 LP with a more fitting name is slim to none. Not only does the entire triple album run for a jaw-dropping 173 minutes, it also details the deeply layered concept of a dojo, a guardian of a mythical city and a battle of warriors that bleeds between reality and fantasy. It’s a lot to take in – especially considering it’s an instrumental record. Washington insists, however, that the medium is the message when it comes to his music – as he testifies, it will guide you every step of the way. “Music communicates on a deeper level than just words,” he says. “Lyrics can say one thing, but the music can convey [its] own message. Say, for instance, you hear a song in a language you don’t speak. You might not be able to understand a single thing they’re saying, but you can ascertain as to what the song is about due to the
nature of its composition. In a lot of ways, it’s a language unto itself. When you’re playing from the heart, it gives listeners a glimpse into who it is you truly are. I don’t necessarily have to try and put a message into the music – the message is already there. It’s an extension of who I am. It’s where I’m at. It’s where I’ve been. It’s where I’m going.” Washington is set to appear as part of the exhaustive Bluesfest lineup across the Easter long weekend, which will feature some of the biggest names to have ever appeared on the festival bill. He will also do two headlining dates in Sydney and Melbourne, all of which will mark the first time he has ever performed in Australia. Washington’s excitement for visiting and playing to Australian audiences is palpable – especially when he lays out what people will get out of coming to see him and his band perform. “We play songs from The Epic and we play some new compositions I’ve been working on,” he explains. “That said, that’s just song titles on a piece of paper – we always play these songs differently. Even I have no idea where we might end up with them. For us, it’s about reading the crowd and playing to their energy, seeing what they respond to. Whoever comes to see me and the band play are going to get an experience entirely unique to them.” What: The Epic out now through Brainfeeder Where: Metro Theatre When: Wednesday March 23 And: Also appearing at Bluesfest 2016, Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm, Thursday March 24 – Monday March 28
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BRAGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s guide to film, theatre, comedy and art about town
arts in focus
fiddler on the roof
Xxx
a timeless tale returns to town
also inside:
THE DAUGHTER / BROWN COUNCIL / ARTS NEWS / ARTS REVIEWS / ARTS GIVEAWAY / GAME ON thebrag.com
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arts in focus
free stuff head to: thebrag.com/freeshit
arts news...what's goin' on around town... with Joseph Earp, Anita Connors and Zanda Wilson
five minutes WITH WILLS
BURKE FROM AWAY
connection to the Vietnam War, only a couple of generations ago? My family were all fortunate concerning the draft, but there is a terrifying modernity to the Vietnam War which personalises it for me.
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ou’re appearing in Lane Cove Theatre Company’s production of Away. What’s the play about? My character, Tom, is a young man with a terminal illness chasing his last chance to experience love. Rowena McNicol plays a bereaved mother on the edge of sanity. Katherine
Stewart is a survivor of the Great Depression who will go any lengths to fend off poverty. These characters converge on a sunny Australian beach for their summer holiday, where the very spirits of Fate will conspire to test their resolve. Do you have any personal
How well does Michael Gow’s text capture a moment in Australian history? The play is like a postcard from another time. Perhaps the reason it encapsulates the period so brilliantly is that Gow was drawing on the rich and somewhat romantic memories of his youth. What attracts you to community theatre? Unfortunately, when it comes to acting, enthusiasm is not all it takes. Somewhere underneath the games of make-believe
As a young actor, how vibrant do you find the Sydney theatre scene to be? There is definitely more to Sydney theatre than what’s going on at Circular Quay. Culture happens down in the cracks and crevices of a big city. People say the theatre is like a mirror. I think the best kind of mirror is one that you can stand nice and close to. What: Away Where: The Performance Space, St Aidan’s, Longueville When: Friday March 18 – Saturday April 9
THE WITCH
Black magic, possession and eerie children: Robert Eggers’ debut film The Witch has been terrifying audiences since winning last year’s Directing Award at Sundance Film Festival. Hailed as a film that reinvents horror, it tells the tale of a Puritan family, who after being exiled from a God-fearing, New England plantation move to the edge of a large forest to begin a new life. After they don’t get the ‘stay away from large forests’ memo, peculiar and disturbing things start to happen, including the disappearance of one of the family’s five children. The clan descends into suspicion and paranoia, and the eldest daughter Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy) is accused of witchcraft. What ensues is as chilling and shocking as it is ground-breaking. We have ten in-season double passes to give away to The Witch, which opens in cinemas this Thursday March 17. Head to thebrag.com/freeshit to be in the running. Disgraced photo by James Grenn
Antigone
is a real art and a real skill. At an established theatre like Lane Cove you can learn from experienced and superbly talented actors whose only focus is perfecting and enjoying their craft.
SYDNEY WRITERS’ FESTIVAL Gloria Steinem, the revolutionary American thinker, journalist and feminist, has been announced as the headline author for the 2016 Sydney Writers’ Festival. A striking mind who has travelled the world, helping to stoke the fires of social activism along the way, Steinem is a truly significant figure in modern feminist discourse. It’s also Steinem’s first time in our country for almost 40 years, making this event a very special one indeed. She will appear at Sydney Town Hall on Friday May 20. Keep an eye on swf.org.au for the full program, which will span Monday May 16 – Sunday May 22.
Pam Ann
GOING, GOING, ANTIGONE
Ninefold and the PACT Centre For Emerging Artists will present a new theatrical production in April. Coming to the PACT Theatre in Erskineville, The Tragedy Of Antigone promises a unique take on an ancient story of morality, based on an adaptation of Sophocles’ Antigone by Eamon Flack. It follows the story of Antigone, the sister of a deceased war traitor who makes continuous attempts to bury her brother despite being forbidden to do so by the king. The Tragedy Of Antigone will play from Wednesday April 20 – Saturday April 30.
IRISH EYES ARE SMILING
The second edition of Sydney’s Irish Film Festival will run across four huge days and nights at the Chauvel Cinema in Paddington. Providing a window into contemporary Irish culture, the 2016 Irish Film Festival will play host to eight films in April. Starting with the Opening Gala on Thursday April 7, the festival shines light on contemporary Ireland, and the films featured include the landmark documentary 1916: The Irish Rebellion narrated by Liam Neeson. On Saturday April 9 there will be wrapup celebrations in the form of a festival party at The Gaelic Club in Surry Hills featuring Irish comedian and musician Aindrias de Staic. The Irish Film Festival will run until Sunday April 10. See the full program at irishfilmfestival.com. au.
ALL SET FOR DISAPPOINTMENT
PAM ANN FLIES TO SYDNEY THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
Ira Glass will take on the Sydney Opera House with his latest threepart passion project Three Acts, Two Dancers, One Radio Host in July. Together with Monica Bill Barnes and Anna Bass, the creator of This American Life is coming Down Under with what may be his most explorative creation to date. The three-part performance includes radio interviews reimagined as dance pieces, cut with stories from the lives of Glass and his co-performers. The show takes over the Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House on Sunday July 17 and Monday July 18.
Disgraced
IT’S A DISGRACE
Ayad Akhtar’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Disgraced premieres next month at Sydney Theatre Company. Directed by STC resident director Sarah Goodes, the sociopolitical drama explores notions of selfidentity, politics and religion in modern America. Disgraced recently finished a sold-out run on Broadway and across America where it was described by The New York Times as “terrific, turbulent drama”. It plays at the Wharf 1 Theatre from Saturday April 16 – Saturday June 4.
She has owned the skies for 20 years, and now Australia’s very own Pam Ann will be travelling the country to celebrate, with her Touch Trolley Run To Galley 20th Anniversary Tour landing this September. Pam, the alter ego of Australian comedianwriter-producer Caroline Reid, has developed cult status both here and overseas with her portrayal of a brash hot mess of an Australian hostie. There’s not much Pam hasn’t seen or done – from crewing Elton John’s private jet at his express request, sharing a stadium stage on a tour of the UK with Cher, and counting Madonna in her legion of devoted fans worldwide. In 20 years Reid has taken Pam all over the world, and she will land at the State Theatre on Friday September 9.
“Would it spoil some vast eternal plan if I were a wealthy man?” 18 :: BRAG :: 654 :: 16:03:16
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Ira Glass photo by Jesse Michener
Lake Disappointment, a new play exploring the odd life of a Hollywood body double, is set to premiere at Carriageworks over the course of a limited four-night run. The work aims to tackle themes such as celebrity, brotherly love, and the elusive nature of success, but in a way that stops them from seeming as dry and academic as that list makes them sound. The production will be helmed by director in residence Janice Muller, making the combination of talents on display a very exciting mix. Prepare not to be disappointed. Lake Disappointment runs from Wednesday April 20 – Saturday April 23.
Ira Glass
Brown Council [PERFORMANCE ART] History In The Making By Joseph Earp
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t’s oddly comforting when even a ‘simple’ question is difficult for an artist to answer. When Kate Blackmore, one of the founding members of feminist art collective Brown Council, is asked what her upcoming performance piece Making History is about, she hesitates. “It’s kind of complicated, actually,” Blackmore laughs. “It’s not a kind of one sentence, ‘This is what the work is about.’ It’s hard to know which angle to start from.” That’s not just Blackmore giving a deliberately vague non-answer, either. The stunning tangle of ideas and themes that underpins Making History makes it difficult to discuss the work without shooting off on a dozen tangents. Part performance art, part work of theatre, part audience interaction, Making History is shaping up to be a stunning critique of the way we remember and alter collective memory. “[We’re performing in] an old gallery,” Blackmore says. “Well, it’s not being used as a gallery at the moment. It’s just a big kind of open, neutral space and we’re installing a set, almost like a theatre set inside there. And when the Biennale starts we will be performing inside the space and asking other artists to perform with us as well.” Collaborating with other artists has
been a habit Brown Council has developed over the years. Indeed, in many ways Making History is a distinctly Brown Council-esque work, in that it concerns itself with themes the collective has been exploring for almost half a decade. “Basically the concept of the work is about history, about how history is told, and it’s about trying to rethink how we tell history in a performative way,” Blackmore says. She chews over every word, considering each one. “We’re critiquing the way history leaves out some people … And the people who are left out are usually women. [Also] performance art isn’t often historicised. We’re critiquing that too. “History is often written by men, and often white men at that, and so I think those narratives tend to leave out people who don’t tend to fit into that category. And performance art is a medium that is an ephemeral medium. It exists for a moment and then it’s gone. It’s difficult to insert into history in that sense. But that doesn’t mean you can’t.” In this way, Making History ties into the work the group has done exploring the forgotten art of Barbara Cleveland, a mythic feminist performance artist who Brown Council first discovered almost six years ago, and has been
obsessed with re-inserting into the historical narrative ever since.
one perspective. There’s a lot of interesting stuff going on right now.”
“With Barbara Cleveland, some of her work was documented and some of it wasn’t. But in our minds we’re unearthing her memory through her work,” Blackmore says. “We’re not the only ones talking about this either. There are a lot of artists out there who are talking and critiquing the way history is written. I think a lot of artists are trying to pull the narrative away from
Blackmore is right. The slow move towards truly representational art – a cause Brown Council has found itself right in the thick of – is exciting indeed. “We’re a collective of four women and we work together very collaboratively,” says Blackmore. “We have a sort of idea that history should be polyvocal. In order for it to be really a representation of the community
as a whole, we need to have lots of voices, rather than just one perspective.” What: Making History as part of Biennale of Sydney 2016 Where: 86 George Street, Redfern When: Saturdays March 26; April 9 and 23; May 7, 14 and 21; and June 4 More: biennaleofsydney.com.au
The Daughter [FILM] A Troubled Past By Adam Norris ashamed of, although it can be sexy,” he laughs. “But it involves a wound of some kind. I don’t want to wound or hurt my audience. I am interested in catharsis, I’m interested in moments of release. And sometimes that involves being led down a path of the consultation of the unpleasant realities in life. And the ultimate aim is a celebration of life, and the opportunity to recognise those unpleasant moments in life as they actually are, with honesty. I see a lot of fi lms about awful events where there’s a kind of almost pornographic cynicism in the way that they’re made, where the fi lmmaker is clearly enjoying the idea that things are going terribly. I don’t enjoy it. It’s not pleasant for me to tell a story like this, but it’s necessary, and you are full of regret while you’re shooting because it isn’t nice.”
E
very artist – musician, director, performer, sculptor – is serious about their work. How their respective art might be received by the public is largely out of their hands, but the intent behind each creation arrives after sincere and sometimes exhaustive effort. As such, it is no surprise that Simon Stone is passionate about his debut feature film, The Daughter, based on Henrik Ibsen’s The Wild Duck. What is somewhat surprising – and inspiring – is the depth of his passion for this story, in which no character (or audience) escapes unscathed. “I suppose I’m hoping for the audience to walk away with the
movie in their heads, lodged in their chest and their imagination, to pore over it in the subsequent days, and hoping that there’s a reflection of those who have gone through traumatic events or crises, of the mess and confusion and regret that they experience when those things happen. And also the very melancholy way you remember the delightful moments that led up to the tragic one. For those who haven’t experienced something like that, to maybe [gain] an insight into that experience,” says Stone. The Daughter certainly has its share of delightful and despairing moments. It is by any reckoning
a powerful fi lm, aided by some grand performances from Paul Schneider, Ewen Leslie, Geoffrey Rush, Sam Neill, Miranda Otto, and notably Odessa Young in the titular role. It also has a particularly arresting fi nale, one that is likely to fulfi l Stone’s wish for audiences to retain the fi lm long after leaving the cinema. Pier Paolo Pasolini once spoke of scarring his audience, and although the story of The Daughter is at times troubling, Stone’s vision is not quite so severe. “I wouldn’t say that of myself necessarily, because a scar is something you can’t get rid of and is often something you’re
Though to be clear, the unpleasant aspects of The Daughter total a small percentage of the story. There are moments of great revelry and familiar humour – indeed, it is one of Stone’s strengths in adapting the script that we can quite easily insert ourselves into the lives of these companionable characters. This also forms part of the fi lm’s premise, however – that while all may seem idyllic on the surface, there are hard personal truths always threatening to erupt. Perhaps the most confl icted and complex character – whose actions may, at first, appear quite ignoble – is Schneider’s Christian. “I think he’s a wounded character, and a wounded animal lashes out pre-emptively to save themselves,” says Stone. “They can be incredibly dangerous because they feel so scared. I thank God that I’ve never been in the position where I’ve had the childhood of someone like Christian. I think all of us who have been saved that kind of trauma should appreciate we’re
not him, and I think that there’s a fundamental level of respect that you have to have for someone who went through the events he did, who is still damaging his own life because he feels so damaged. That’s the paradox of his existence. He felt that the world gave up on him a long time ago, and he keeps being convinced that the world will be nice to him again, and he keeps destroying that hope through some kind of sense of inevitability that the world will keep screwing him over.” It is perhaps the fact that we do fi nd ourselves so enamoured by this tremendous cast (and eased into the world so vividly thanks to cinematographer Andrew Commis) that the unravelling of these lives moves us so deeply; that the selfi sh blend of lie and truth we are all capable of can have such repercussions. “[Christian] is a weak, vulnerable person who needs someone to turn around and say, ‘If you want to be happy, you can be happy,’” says Stone. “I’m sure every single reader of this article has a friend who has had a deeply troubled childhood. The problem is, he’s dealing with a whole heap of other people who aren’t aware of how messed up he is, and they’re also not aware of how messed up they themselves are. How deeply insensitive they all are to the fact they’re living a lie. Nobody gets let off the hook. They’re all lovable, amazing human beings, but they’re all selfi sh. But we all are. So I wouldn’t turn to the person who has the most reasons for being the way he is and judge him worse than others.” What: The Daughter (dir. Simon Stone) Where: In cinemas Thursday March 17
“Matchmaker, matchmaker, I’ll bring the veil. You bring the groom, slender and pale.” thebrag.com
BRAG :: 654 :: 16:03:16 :: 19
Game On Gaming news and reviews with Adam Guetti
Been looking forward to the Easter long weekend but found yourself nothing to do? Well then, grab a group of friends and head on over to this year’s EYECON Roleplaying and Gaming Convention. Taking place at St Scholastica’s College in Glebe from Friday March 25 – Monday March 28, EYECON is your best opportunity to take part in pre-prepared games from helpful volunteer game masters. From regular tabletop titles, free-forms (like live action games or LARPs), card games and more, you can choose to rely on old
favourites or even try your hand at something new. Tickets are only $6 for threehour sessions.
B1G Day In Get excited, because local gaming favourite, The Nerd Cave, is gearing up to host its tenth B1G Day In. For the unacquainted, this is the best day of the month to visit the pop culture mecca, where game lovers can pay a measly $15 and play absolutely everything on offer for the entire day. Even better, the event is 18+, meaning BYO is welcomed in the upstairs area. You join in on the action from 12pm on
Saturday March 19.
ELEAGUE.gg Autumn BYOPC LAN
If you think you’ve got what it takes to enter the local competitive scene, why not try your luck at the first ever ELEAGUE.gg Bring Your Own PC (BYOPC) LAN party. Kicking off at the Australian Technology Park, for $40 you can enjoy a blistering 1000/1000 internet connection and compete for over $5,000 in prize money. It all takes place from 10am on Saturday March 19, so start training now.
hen the original Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare was announced, people weren’t entirely sure how to react. Here was an incredibly popular tower defence series going to be reworked as… a multiplayer third-person shooter? Yet although many critics were incredibly surprised by the announcement, they were even more surprised by the fact that the final product was so well thought out and, in many ways, a highly enjoyable romp. Two years later and PopCap Games has now cultivated its success into Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2.
W
[THEATRE] Lior Takes The Lead By Liza Dezfouli
I
sraeli-born singer-songwriter Lior Attar has embarked on a career in musical theatre. The artist usually known as Lior is about to take the Sydney stage to play Motel in what might be the world’s best-loved musical, Fiddler On The Roof. As it happens, he was headhunted for the role. “The invitation came out of nowhere,” he says. “I hadn’t grown up in music theatre. But Fiddler On The Roof is the one musical I knew well – it’s timeless and universal and it’s a real theatre piece. I’ve seen the movie, seen several live productions. I have a cultural link to the story – my mum’s side of the family came from the shtetls [small Jewish villages in eastern Europe]. They were like these people. So in a way, it’s very familiar.” Being asked to play Motel came at a good time for Lior, arriving at the end of a decadelong professional cycle. “I’ve released five albums,” he says. “And so I decided to challenge myself with a different art form, and see how I go.” Lior appears in the production alongside Anthony Warlow, Sigrid Thornton and Mark Mitchell – impressive company for someone who isn’t a trained actor. However, singing someone else’s songs and taking direction isn’t too difficult, Lior reckons; there’s been plenty of room for him to find his character.
Lior offers a few observations about Motel in particular. “He goes on a real journey. He’s a gentle, subservient character to begin with and he becomes strong and centred. He’s torn between respect for tradition but he opens the gates to bigger increments of change. “I’ve learnt I can be less inhibited and a bit braver than I would have given myself credit for before,” he continues. “I’ve been stepping outside my comfort zone, far from my own comfortable life as a singer-songwriter. You’re stepping into another art form, where
The musical also calls for Lior to sing one piece solo: ‘Miracles Of Miracles’. The songs from Fiddler On The Roof are possibly the most famous show tunes ever – it’s hard to imagine that anyone anywhere might not have heard ‘If I Were A Rich Man’ – and Lior talks about them being “stand-alone” compositions. Their simplicity matches that of his own music, and Lior reveals that he would definitely take up the opportunity to be a lyricist if the right musical presented itself. “I never thought about writing musicals, but now I could become a lyricist if I had the opportunity to write songs for a story as beautifully told as this one is,” he says. “They are really beautiful songs. The simplicity and beauty of them is so powerful – they’re inspiring. My lyric writing has a similar simplicity. I can see myself writing lyrics like that. These songs contain the real power of simple lyrics; they have a universal, simple lyrical power.” Indeed, this production of Fiddler On The Roof focuses on being low-key, rather than attempting the big Broadway-style extravaganza. For a start, the music is performed by a klezmer ensemble instead of an orchestra. “They are more contemporary arrangements,” Lior explains. “It’s really beautiful, that bittersweetness of klezmer.” While audiences in Melbourne have already responded well to Fiddler On The Roof, it is in Japan where it holds the honour of being the country’s most popular Western musical – something that might be hard to believe at first, given the story is so specifically Jewish. “It shows how universal it is,” says Lior. “It’s one of the most popular musicals ever. This story exists in so many cultures, amongst so many different nationalities – it connects with other cultures. People in Japan have said, ‘It’s written about us.’ They totally relate to this story. It speaks to Japan’s own history of change versus tradition and progress. It’s popular in Korea too. It’s popular far and wide; it has universal appeal.” What: Fiddler On The Roof Where: Capitol Theatre When: From Thursday March 24
The most immediate change that fans of the original will notice is the Backyard Battleground – a single map that not only houses both bases for the two factions, but also acts as a complete 3D hub. It gives you a decent amount of ground to cover as you can either run about firing at enemies, take part in mini-games or gain access to the game’s other core features, like customisation and multiplayer matchmaking. Also helping keep things fresh is the inclusion of six brand new classes on both sides of the battle. Team Zombies, for example, now has an unassumingly small zombie imp who is capable of summoning a devastating mech on the battlefield, while the Plants have employed the help of a rose who, via her magic wand, can turn the undead into goats. Thankfully, there’s a lot more to do with all these newbies now, PopCap answering the pleas of fans for more single player content. Acting as a pseudo-campaign, a wealth of solo missions generally take the form of glorified multiplayer matches, but they’re enjoyable nonetheless – especially with often ridiculous and dramatic closing acts. On the opposite end of the spectrum, multiplayer remains as fast and positively insane as the original. Most of the basic modes carry over from the last iteration and although none are trying to reinvent the wheel, it’s always fast, fluid and (thankfully) rarely poses annoying connection issues. PopCap is constantly trying to work on rebalancing issues, but it does mean that some matches can skew wildly in one camp’s favour depending on the prominence of particular classes. As a whole, though, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 will never outdo Battlefi eld, or Call Of Duty, but it never intended to in the first place. This is pure light-hearted entertainment that never takes itself too seriously, making it both comparatively easy to pick up and play, as well as ideal family entertainment. Sure it might be a title that gamers never really asked for, but who really cares, if it can be this much fun?
Firewatch (PS4, PC)
REVIEW
“Roger Hodgman is a brilliant director. He lets you find your way. He’s not didactic. It’s challenging; I’m exploring new processes. Roger had faith in my potential. He could see the direction I needed to go in and let me discover and learn a lot, not deliver by rote. With my character he said, ‘Bring the Yiddish inflections into it. Do all the Jewish trills; decorate it in a way that you see fit.’ I much prefer to find my own way. This is an actordriven show, which is a big part of the reason I wanted to do it. There’s an authenticity in the actual play. It’s more than just musical theatre. The songs in Fiddler lead from the dialogue into other songs, they’re not just reiterating what’s been said.”
you’re not the man, not leading or directing. You have to become vulnerable and a little bit brave as well. It’s a great learning curve. You can’t do that without the risk of failure. Although it’s not a dance-heavy piece, I did have one moment where I thought to myself, ‘What are you doing?’ I am so full of admiration for people who have to sing and dance at the same time and who do it well.”
REVIEW
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 (PS4, XBO, PC)
Fiddler On The Roof
WHAT’S ON
EYECON 2016
From afar, Firewatch probably looks like an incredibly bland, uninspiring and downright boring indie title. In reality, however, it’s so much more. You play as Henry, a man who takes a job as a fire ranger in Wyoming to both run from his marriage and be alone with his thoughts. The thing is, he ends up spending a great deal of his time chatting with his boss – an early 40s woman named Delilah. Over the days and months that quickly follow, the two develop a rapport – until strange things start occurring nearby. To say much more would be a disservice to the four-hour journey, but rest assured, it’s a journey you’ll almost certainly want to go on. Exploration plays a large role in developer Campo Santo’s adventure, but it’s even more focused on the conversations that accompany you there and the characterisation that pushes you onward. Proceedings do unfortunately take a relatively sharp turn with a rather disappointing and limp ending, but it’s not a deal-breaker by any stretch – despite threatening to derail all of the good that came before it. Get past that, though, and you’ll have one of 2016’s best indie games yet.
“All day long I’d biddy biddy bum if I were a wealthy man.” 20 :: BRAG :: 654 :: 16:03:16
thebrag.com
out & about Queer(ish) matters with Lucy Watson
L
ast weekend, you might have seen or heard about a small parade on Oxford Street. Reports differed, but there were apparently anywhere between 200,000 and 400,000 people, watching 12,500 marchers adorned in 230-460kg of glitter (depending on who you read on Sunday morning).
I marched in the Mardi Gras parade for the fourth time. It was, as it usually is, a rush. People literally scream for you, and you as you really are (albeit covered in glitter). I will now forever have Ariana Grande’s ‘Break Free’ stuck in my head. I learnt the dance moves without being a dancer. We successfully found a cab home without too much drama. I’m still finding diamantes in my sheets, on the soles of my feet, behind my ears. And finally, I’m now the proud owner of a sign that screams enthusiastically, “I’m coming!” All in all, a successful night. In the days after the parade, the media was obsessed with the altercation between Rainbow Labor and No Pride In Detention. “Why can’t we all just get along?” everyone cried. At Mardi Gras, our community is at its most visible. And because of this, we’re expected to be our most sanitised. Put on a happy face, smile, and set our grievances aside. Mardi Gras is (now) a celebration of who we are, and how far we’ve come. But if celebrating who we are means censoring some of us, I want no part. Sure, the NPID float may have been “threatening”, but quite frankly, Mardi Gras should have separated the two floats weeks ago, and all of this would have been avoided. But the NPID versus Rainbow Labor debate has been raging for a while now, and all the worthwhile opinions have been aired. The whole issue, though, did highlight something else we hide and sanitise at the very parade it’s supposed to be celebrating: our sexuality. Yes, there are plenty of buff men in underwear kissing. There are couples, families, motorbikes, all proudly displaying LGBT sexualities and genders. There are even our leather and fetish friends. But they’re up the back, thrust at the end and forgotten about, while ANZ takes pride of place in the early slot.
this week…
In making ourselves acceptable for corporations, and for our 200-400,000 fans, we sanitise our community. We pretend we’re all gym buffs who don’t fight, who love each other all the time (monogamously), who just want to get married and live happily ever after, just like you. I know all the things wrong with the parade, but I can’t help but love it. It’s because I fit in with the 12,500 people that march. I like glitter, minimal clothing, and I have just the one girlfriend who I can kiss, while you all cheer. I’m white, I’m able-bodied, I’m cisgender. I’m privileged enough to be able to be visible on the biggest night of the year. But not all of us are. And that’s worth remembering on parade night. It’s also worth remembering that our government is actively putting LGBT people in danger by forcing their settlement in countries where homosexuality is illegal. I managed to forget that briefly on parade night. I swept it under the rug so I could dance and have fun. But next year, if things haven’t changed, I won’t forget. Our community, like every community, is fractured. We believe different things. We’re different people. Some of us are queer, or activists. Some of us are trans. Some are poly. Some want to get married. Some are able. The parade puts our community on view, but with only a few faces. It’s worth remembering the faces we aren’t showing, and the facets we’re sanitising. I have a T-shirt, named after a great magazine, that says “Dirty Queer” across the chest, shaped by fornicating cartoon characters. I often feel like I can’t wear this in public, like I have to censor myself. I get to turn my dirty queer off, hide it. But spare a thought for the rest of the dirty queers who Mardi Gras, and the rest of our society, tries to clean up and scourge off.
(02) 9552 6522
Mr. Ties
Mardi Gras photo by Katrina Clarke
Homosocial returns to Secret Garden Bar this Friday March 18, and now it’s weekly! This week, we’ve got Cunningpants, Gaff E, and Freestone. Starts early, ends early, so don’t be late. Your late-night fun on Friday March 18 can be found at the Oxford Tavern, where Old Mate DJ, Mansion Lane and Ollie Henderson are taking over so you can work on your dance technique.
thebrag.com
, Glebe 65 Glebe Point Roadm.au tas.co flyingfajitasis Mr. Ties is back in town at the Imperial Hotel this Saturday March 19. If you like dicks dressed up with angel wings, don’t miss him.
CALL ME! BRAG :: 654 :: 16:03:16 :: 21
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 – Fri noon-midnight; Sat 4pm-midnight BAR100 100 George St, The Rocks (02) 8070 9311 Mon – Thu noon-late; Fri – Sat noon-3am; Sun noon-10pm Bar Eleven Lvl 11, 161 Sussex St, Sydney CBD (02) 9290 4000 Mon – Thu 4-9pm; Fri – Sat
4-11pm The Barber Shop 89 York St, Sydney CBD (02) 9299 9699 Mon – Wed 4pm-midnight; Thu – Fri 3pm-midnight; Sat 4pm-midnight Basement 33 Basement, 27-33 Goulburn St, Sydney CBD (02) 8970 5813 Mon – Thu 5pm-midnight The Baxter Inn Basement 152-156 Clarence St, Sydney CBD Mon – Sat 4pm-1am Bulletin Place First Floor, 10-14 Bulletin Place, Circular Quay Mon – Wed 4pm-midnight; Thurs – Sat 4pm-1am
Burrow Bar De Mestre Place, Sydney 0450 466 674 Mon – Sun 4pm-midnight deVine 32 Market St, Sydney CBD (02) 9262 6906 Mon – Fri 11.30am-11.30pm; Sat 5.30-11.30pm Easy Eight 152 - 156 Clarence St, Sydney CBD (02) 9299 3769 Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight Frankie’s Pizza 50 Hunter St, Sydney CBD Mon – Fri noon-3am; Sat – Sun 4pm-3am Gilt Lounge 49 Market St, Sydney CBD (02) 8262 0000
STAVES BREWERY
bar
OF
ADDRESS: 4-8 GROSE STREET, GLEBE PHONE NUMBER: (02) 9280 4555 OPENING HOURS: THU 4-10PM; FRI – SAT 4PM-MIDNIGHT; SUN 4-10PM
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
Wed – Sat 5pm-late The Glenmore 96 Cumberland St, The Rocks (02) 9247 4794 Mon – Thu, Sun 11am-midnight; Fri – Sat 11am-1am Grain Bar 199 George St, Sydney CBD (02) 9250 3118 Mon – Sun noon-1am Grandma’s Basement 275 Clarence St, Sydney CBD (02) 9264 3004 Mon – Fri 3pm-midnight; Sat 5pm-late The Fox Hole 68A Erskine St, Sydney CBD (02) 9279 4369 Mon 7am-3pm; Tue – Fri 7am-lste 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
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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 1149 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 4pm-1am; Fri 3pm-1am; Sat 4pm-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 The Palisade 35 Bettington St, Millers Point 9018 0123 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 (02) 9299 5671 Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight Plan B Small Club 53-55 Liverpool St, Sydney CBD
Tell us about your bar: We’re a craft beer bar and soon to be independent brewery when brewing commences right behind our bar. We’re relaxed and friendly, support local craft breweries and take huge pride in the fantastic array of beers we put on the constantly changing taps. Located down a laneway off Broadway, we have something for new craft beer converts to true beer hunters alike.
We currently have on tap: pilsner, Helles Bavarian lager, American pale ale, hoppy red ale infused with coffee, India pale lager, American India pale ale, Red India pale ale, brown ale, and gose (made with sea salt and melon!).
playlists – mostly garage, pysch, rock and punky reggae, with an Australian sensibility. Live music is really kicking off this Easter with Glebe’s inaugural arts and craft beer Coloursound festival.
For the peckish we serve cheese and meat boards and the occasional food truck… at least until the pizza kitchen is ready.
What’s on the menu? Great beer, cider, wine and spirits.
Sounds: Nige the barman has awesome
Highlights: Surely the urban oasis of a beer garden full of German beer hall tables, and a water bowl for your dog.
22 :: BRAG :: 654 :: 16:03:16
Website: stavesbrewery.com
Wed 5pm-11pm; Thu 5pm-1am; Fri 5pm-3am; Sat 6pm-3am 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 noon-3pm, 6-11pm 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 Mon – 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-11.30; Sun 11am-3pm Bellini Lounge 2 Kellett St, Potts Point (02) 9331 0058 Thu – Sun 6pm-late The Bells Hotel 1 Bourke St, Woolloomooloo (02) 9357 3765 Mon – Sun 10am-1am 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 Busby 55 Riley St, Woolloomooloo (02) 9326 9055 Wed – Sat 3pm-midnight 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 Tavern 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 Fri – Sat 6pm-late The Commons 32 Burton St, Darlinghurst (02) 9358 1487 Tue – Wed 6pm-late; Thu – Fri 12pm-late; Sat – Sun 8:30am-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 (02) 9380 4279 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 Thu – Sun 4pm-late 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 noon-midnight; Thu – Sat noon-1am; 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) 8070 2424 Mon – Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat – Sun noon-midnight Golden Age Cinema & Bar 80 Commonwealth St, Surry Hills (02) 9211 1556 Mon - Sun 3pm-midnight 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 6pm-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 Jangling Jack’s Bar & Grill Bar & Grill 175 Victoria St, Potts Point Tue – Wed 4-11pm, Thu – Sat 4-1am, Sun noon-11pm Hustle & Flow Bar 105 Regent St, Redfern (02) 9310 5593 Tue – Sat 5pm-midnight Li’l Darlin Darlinghurst 235 Victoria St, Darlinghurst (02) 8084 6100 Mon – Sun 5pm-late thebrag.com
COCKTAIL OF THE WEEK
Pour it in your mouth-hole... (responsibly).
HAIRY BASIL @ THE SHIFT BAR, 85-91 OXFORD STREET, DARLINGHURST Ingredients: â&#x20AC;˘ One shot of Hendrickâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gin â&#x20AC;˘ One shot of peach schnapps â&#x20AC;˘ Half shot of Lemon juice Method: Shaken and served over ice and garnished with a cucumber wheel and basil leaf. Glass: Tumbler Garnish: Cucumber and basil leaf More: themidnightshift. com.au or Midnight Shift on Facebook
Liâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;l Darlin Surry Hills 420 Elizabeth St, Surry Hills (02) 9698 5488 Mon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Fri noon-late; Sat 4pm-late LL Wine and Dine 42 Llankelly Place Potts Point (02) 9356 8393 Mon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Thu 5pm-11pm; Fri â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sat noon-late; Sun 11am-10pm The Local Taphouse 122 Flinders St, Darlinghurst (02) 9360 0088 Mon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Wed noon-midnight; Thu â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-11pm Love, Tilly Devine 91 Crown Ln, Darlinghurst (02) 9326 9297 Mon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun 4-10pm Low 302 302 Crown St, Surry Hills (02) 9368 1548 Mon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sun 6pm-2am Mr Fox 557 Crown St, Surry Hills 0410 470 250 Tue â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Wed 5pm-late; Sat 10am-midnight; Sun 10am-10pm The Norfolk 305 Cleveland St, Surry Hills (02) 9699 3177 Mon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm Old Growler thebrag.com
Origins: A mixed drink that attempts to embody the spark of summer with citrus fruit added to a gin loverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s favourite (Hendrickâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s). Best drunk with: The Shiftâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s head chef Tanyaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tasty polenta chips. During: Hot summer afternoons. While wearing: A summery dress, high weave, platform heels, and a light (read: heavy) touch of make-up. And listening to: Flume â&#x20AC;&#x201C; â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Never Be Like Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; (feat. Kai), to reflect on those lost relationships whilst tasting the future.
218 William St, Woolloomooloo 0422 911 650 Tue â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sat 5pm - midnight The Passage 231A Victoria St, Darlinghurst (02) 9358 6116 Mon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sat 5pm-late Peekaboo 120 Bourke St, Woolloomooloo 0403 747 788 Mon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Thu 4pm-10pm; Fri â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sat 4pm â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 12am Play Bar 72 Campbell St, Surry Hills (02) 9280 0885 Tues â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sat 5pm-midnight Pocket Bar 13 Burton St, Darlinghurst (02) 9380 7002 Mon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sun 4pm-midnight The Powder Keg 7 Kellett St, Potts Point (02) 8354 0980 Wed â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Thu 6pm-late; Fri 1pm-2.30am; Sat â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sun 6pm-late The Print Room 11 Glenmore Rd, Paddington (02) 9331 0911 Thu â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Fri 5pm-late; Sat â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sun noon-late Queenieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Upstairs 336 Riley St, Surry Hills (02) 9212 3035 Tue â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sat 6pm-late & Fri noon-3pm Roosevelt 32 Orwell St, Potts Point
(02) 8696 1787 Tue â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Fri 5pm-midnight; Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm Rosie Campbellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 320 Crown St, Surry Hills (02) 8356 9120 Mon 5pm-midnight: Tue â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sun 4pm-midnight Shady Pines Saloon Shop 4, 256 Crown St, Darlinghurst Mon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sun 4pm-midnight The Soda Factory 16 Wentworth Ave, Surry Hills (02) 8096 9120 Mon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Thu 5pm-late; Fri 5pm-3am; Sat â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sun 6pm-3am Surlyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 182 Campbell St, Surry Hills (02) 9331 3705 Tue â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sun noon-midnight Sweethearts Rooftop 33/37 Darlinghurst Rd, Potts Point (02) 9368 7333 Mon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Thu 4-11.30pm; Fri â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sun noon-11.30pm This Must Be The Place 239 Oxford St, Darlinghurst (02) 9331 8063 Mon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sun 3pm-midnight The Tilbury Hotel 12-18 Nicholson St, Woolloomooloo (02) 9368 1955 Mon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Fri 9am-midnight; Sat 10am-midnight; Sun
10am-10pm Tioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cerveceria 12-18 Nicholson St, Woolloomooloo (02) 9368 1955 Mon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun 2-10pm Vasco 421 Cleveland St, Redfern 0406 775 436 Tue â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sat 5pm-midnight The Village Inn 9-11 Glenmore Rd, Paddington (02) 9331 0911 Mon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sun 12pm-late The White Horse Hotel 381-385 Crown Street, Surry Hills 1300 976 683 Mon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm The Wild Rover 75 Campbell St, Surry Hills (02) 9280 2235 Mon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun noon-10pm The Winery 285A Crown St, Surry Hills (02) 9331 0833 Mon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sun noon-midnight
Anchor Bar 8 Campbell Pde, Bondi (02) 8084 3145 Tue â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Fri 4.30pm-late; Sat â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sun 12.30pm-late Bat Country 32 St Pauls St, Randwick (@ The Spot) (02) 9398 6694 Mon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sat 7am-midnight; Sun 7am-10pm Beach Road Hotel 71 Beach Rd, Bondi Beach (02) 9130 7247 Mon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sat noon-1am; Sun 11am-10pm Bondi Hardware 39 Hall St, Bondi (02) 9365 7176 Mon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Wed 4pm-late; Fri noon-midnight; Sat 9am-midnight; Sun 9am-10pm The Bucket List Shop 1, Bondi Pavilion, Queen Elizabeth Drive (02) 9365 4122 Mon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Tue 11am-5pm; Wed â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sun 11am-late The Corner House 281 Bondi Rd, Bondi (02) 8020 6698 Tue â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun 3pm-10pm Fat Ruperts 249 Bondi Rd, Bondi (02) 9130 1033 Tue â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Fri 6pm-late; Sat â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sun 2pm-late The Hill Bar/Eatery Cnr Campbell Pde & Hastings Pde, North Bondi (02)9130 2200 BAR Mon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Fri 4pm-late, Sat â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sun 12pm till late Mr Moustache 75-79 Hall St, Bondi Beach (02) 9300 8892 Mon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Fri 5pm-11pm; Sat noon-11pm; Sun noon10pm The Phoenix Hotel 1 Moncur St, Woollahra 0413 688 546 Wed â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Thu 4pm-11pm; Fri â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 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 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sat 5pm-11pm; Sat â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sun 4pm-10pm
The Shakespeare is one of the last authentic pubs left in Surry Hills, serving up some of the cheapest pub food in Sydney. >055,9 Âş),:; 7<) Âť ;PTL 6\[ 4HNHaPUL Â&#x2039; >055,9 Âş),:; =(3<, -66+ Âť .VVK 7\I -VVK .\PKL
DAILY SPECIALS: MONDAY: $10 Burgers & Trivia TUESDAY: $10 Steaks WEDNESDAY: $10 Chicken Schnitzels & Badge Draw THURSDAY: $10 Fish & Chips
Happy Hour MON â&#x20AC;&#x201C; FRI from 4pm-6pm - $4 House Beer =) 9LZJOLZ *HYS[VU *VVWLYZ /V\ZL ^PUL /V\ZL :WPYP[Z 200 Devonshire Street SURRY HILLS NSW 2010 Ph: 02 9319 6883 www.shakespearehotel.com.au https://www.facebook.com/shakespearehotelsydney/ Instagram: shakespearehotel BRAG :: 654 :: 16:03:16 :: 23
Your bar’s not here? Email: chris@thebrag. com Spring Street Social (and Jam Gallery) Underground 195 Oxford St, Bondi Junction (02) 9389 2485 Tue 5pm-midnight; Wed – Sat 5pm-3am Stuffed Beaver 271 Bondi Rd, Bondi (02) 9130 3002 Mon – Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm
4 - 8 Grose St, Glebe OPENING HOURS Thu: 4:00 pm - 10:00 pm Fri-Sat: 4:00 pm - 12:00 am Sun: 4:00 pm - 10:00 pm
24 :: BRAG :: 654 :: 16:03:16
The Angry Pirate 125 Redfern St Redfern (02) 9698 9140 Tue – Thur 5pm-midnight; Fri – Sat 3pm-midnight Arco 3 Little Queen Street, Chippendale (02) 9318 0815 Tue – Sat 5pm-9.30pm 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 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 noon-10pm Different Drummer 185 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 9552 3406 Mon – Sat 4.30pm-1am 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 Forest Lodge Hotel 117 Arundel St, Forest Lodge (02) 9660 1872 Mon – Sat 11am-midnight; Sun noon-10pm
Freda’s 109 Regent St, Chippendale (02) 8971 7336 Tues – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun 4pm-10pm The Gasoline Pony 115 Marrickville Rd, Marrickville 0401 002 333 Tue – Thu 5-11.30pm; Fri – Sat 3-11.30pm; Sun 3-9.30pm The Hideaway Bar 156 Enmore Rd, Enmore (02) 8021 8451 Tue– Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri – Sat noon-1am 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 Mr Falcon’s 92 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 9029 6626 Mon – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri 3pm-midnight; Sat noon-midnight; Sun 4pm-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 noonmidnight; Fri – Sat noon3pm; Sun noon-10pm Lord Raglan 12 Henderson Rd, Alexandria (02) 9699 4767 Mon – Sun noon-3pm, 5pm-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 – Tue 7am-5pm; Wed – Sun 7am-11pm Soho In Balmain 358 Darling St, Balmain 0407 525 208 Tue – Sun 5pm-11pm Staves Brewery 4-8 Grose Street, Glebe (02) 9280 4555 Thu 4-10pm; Fri – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun 4-10pm 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 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 Crooked Tailor 250 Old Northern Road, Castle Hill (02) 9899 3167 Tue – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri – Sat 11am-midnight; Sun 11am-10pm Daniel San Manly 55 North Steyne, Manly (02) 9977 6963 Mon – Thu 4pm-midnight; Friday – Saturday noon–2am; Sunday noon-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-midnight; Fri & Sat noon-midnight Sun noon-10pm Hemingway’s 48 North Steyne, Manly (02) 9976 3030 Mon – Sat 8am-midnight; Sun 8am-10pm The Hold Shop 4, 9-15 Central Ave (02) 9977 2009 Tue – Sun 4pm-midnight 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 noon-late; Sat – Sun 8am-late 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 – Fri noon-midnight; Sat 8am-midnight Miami Cuba 47 North Steyne, Manly 0487 713 350 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 THE DRONES
Feelin’ Kinda Free Tropical Fuck Storm/MGM
The Drones strike out through virgin territory to deliver the best kind of bad time.
VIOLENT SOHO Waco I Oh You
Possible reactions to the news Violent Soho have named their new album after a Texas town famous for a religious cult siege may include: (a) Oh FFS, they’re going for the American market; (b) Please don’t let them turn into U2; or simply (c) Hell fuck yeah, a new Violent Soho album. Thankfully, a first listen reveals the band to be the same Mansfield scruffs they have always been, and most certainly not prepared to switch from XXXX to Budweiser just yet. After the all-conquering success of 2013’s Hungry Ghost, the quartet must have wondered whether sticking with the tried-and-trusted alt-rock formula or trying something different was the right move, and it’s the former policy that has won out here. Shout-along anthems (‘Viceroy’, ‘Like Soda’, ‘Holy Cave’), drug references (‘How To Taste’) and huge grungy riffs (just about everything else) are the ingredients long-term fans know and love, while there are changes of pace in slow-burning closer ‘Low’. It took eight months for singer-guitarist Luke Boerdam to write the 11 tracks here, and he has kept his subject matter as close to home as always: boredom, drinking and smoking with friends.
This new direction is best heard in the guitar treatment. Gareth Liddiard and Dan Luscombe, perhaps bored with blues guitar, went all Mengele on their instruments and came up with a sound that’s ill and infected. The flawless first half includes the national anti-anthem ‘Taman
The record’s second half is even weirder in a host of subtle ways. ‘Tailwind’ and ‘Sometimes’ halve the tempo and triple the tension, while ‘Boredom’ makes good on the band’s pre-release murmuring that it’s a “bad trip you can dance to”. ‘Shutdown SETI’ features Liddiard’s best ever anti-melody and one of his best lyrics (“High-tech don’t mean higher moral standing / That’s kinda racist”), before finishing the album by declaring
TONIGHT ALIVE
THE WEEPING WILLOWS
MILWAUKEE BANKS
Limitless Sony
Darkness Comes A-Callin’ Independent
Deep Into The Night Dot Dash/Remote Control
With Young Blindness, The Murlocs waste no time on formalities, combining a steady smear of reverb licks with ’50s-style R&B riffs and sultry blues melodies. The record alternates between raw textures and choruses that sit just on the right side of sloppy, and the band seems to gain great pleasure from staying within its own sonic spectrum, albeit while occasionally playing with convention along the way.
Proving that you can write three-tofour-minute pop-rock tunes and still remain vital, varied and interesting, Sydney band Tonight Alive blow all competition out of the water with their third album, Limitless.
Things have gotten a whole lot darker and more measured for Melbourne alt-country duo The Weeping Willows since the release of their debut album Till The North Wind Blows. Not that they have ditched their rolling harmonies, twangy banjo or crafty storytelling. On the contrary, all these elements are wildly present on the self-produced Darkness Comes A-Callin’. However, it’s the undercurrent of bluegrass and gothic Americana that has changed. Once a gentle presence, their intensity has been kicked up a notch, making the pair’s second record a brooding, tortured look into life, love and loss.
The debut record from Milwaukee Banks, Deep Into The Night is a mixture of subtle electronic tweaks, clever synth work and often punching, throbbing beats. The production on the album has some absolutely mind-melting moments. ‘Faded’ sets a progressive rhythm against cascading synths, while ‘Mona Lisa’ contains a desperate, brilliant bridge. It’s all pulled to a close with ‘Grace’, a number full of fascinating electric guitar. Nonetheless, the album leaves a lot to be desired on the lyrical front. What could have been an intricate amalgamation of perceptions merely becomes an ever so slightly manipulated rip-off of themes such as self-worth, the nature of persistence required when one plays ‘the game’, and girls.
For the most part, fuzzy remnants of guitar rule the day, but there are occasionally tinges of wailing harmonica and a hefty, drunken drawl; touches that evoke the shadowy sing-song flair of the early Stones. Three tracks in, ‘Adolescence’ reflects on the standard qualms one faces in their early-to-mid-20s, while the scuzzy riffs build up to a percussive blowout in ‘Wolf Creep’. Instant foot-stomp generator ‘Unknown Disease’ is blissfully juxtaposed by the mild measure of ‘Rolling On’ and ‘Let Me Down Lightly’. Though it sits towards the end of the record, ‘Think Out Loud’ is a notable highpoint and closes out proceedings in the best possible way.
The first thing that hits you as you accept the band’s invitation to embark on this journey is the sheer diversity from track to track. Naturally, there are some snappy, up-tempo numbers to get you a-movin’ and a-groovin’ (‘To Be Free’); some rather beautifully executed ballads (‘Oxygen’); and more emotional, expansive tracks (the magnificent, deeply tender ‘Human Interaction’). And that’s the ground covered merely by the first three tracks. In fact, Limitless is a highly appropriate title for this record. Tonight Alive have obviously made the decision to place no boundaries on their songwriting, and every track has a definite identity and has clearly had the group’s heart and soul poured into it. At the same time, every song is ultra-catchy in its own right, and will appeal to the band’s massive teen and young adult following. Limitless is a superbly crafted poprock record that should lift these Sydneysiders into the mainstream stratosphere, where they fully deserve to be.
Paul McBride
Kiera Thanos
Rod Whitfi eld
INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK How’s this to end your summer: a secretly recorded Iggy Pop album produced with two Queens of the Stone Age (Josh Homme and Dean Fertita) and one Arctic Monkey (Matt Helders)? Pop’s first album in four years sees him continually diversify and play, albeit with a greater cynicism and a more barbarous air than previously seen. It’s worth making this record 2016’s worst-kept secret.
thebrag.com
Leonardo Silvestrini
Young Blindness Flightless/Remote Control
Young Blindness might not necessarily feel like it’s breaking any new ground per se, but the ground it is treading, it’s treading pretty damn well.
Post Pop Depression Loma Vista/Caroline
Feelin’ Kinda Free doesn’t sound like any other band. It doesn’t even really sound like The Drones.
THE MURLOCS
It’s been a long road for Violent Soho to get where they are today, but if Hungry Ghost was their breakthrough, Waco will be the album that cements their place as one of Australia’s best rock bands.
IGGY POP
humanity worthless over a symphony of guitars that would make Kevin Shields proud.
The QOTSA imprint is palpable, pulsing through the dirty Southern grooves of ‘American Valhalla’ and ‘Break Into Your Heart’. It’s all shimmering guitars and Beck vibes for lead single ‘Gardenia’, with Helders showing great restraint throughout. ‘Sunday’ surprises by opening into
lush orchestration, but it’s hardly a standout: the whole album is finely tuned. It’s the lyrical and vocal performance that truly shines – this is, after all, Iggy Pop’s record. The surly repetition of “I’ve nothing but my name” in ‘American Valhalla’ cements the album’s themes of legacy and aging, things that Pop doesn’t feel all too happy about. Scatological and self-deprecating, Pop’s malice peaks in the closer ‘Paraguay’, where he unloads in a three-minute rant maligning the state of the world, the industry, and you – “Yeah, I’m talking to you!”
The Weeping Willows is the project of couple Andy Wrigglesworth and Laura Coates, and they took three years to write Darkness Comes A-Callin’, adding a real sense of life lived to the record. This isn’t just some polished assemblage of radiofriendly choruses and neutered guitar work – this is an album of grit and violence, one that seizes listeners by the scruff of the neck and doesn’t let go. The standout track is the Robert Johnson-esque opener ‘Devil’s Road’, co-written with alt-blues songsmith Lachlan Bryan. Indeed, the piece is sprinkled with veteran session players and guest vocalists, adding a very significant layer of technical skill.
These are themes that we’re all too familiar with, thanks in large part to mainstream hip hop, and it makes one sigh at the thought of Milwaukee Banks treading the same subject matter as Drake and Fetty Wap. Do we really care that the band’s budding interaction with a young female is “burning up like hot chicken”? No. Rather, we’re left wondering why Milwaukee Banks would let themselves get so hungry that chicken is feeding their similes.
Such talent, all in all, helps to create what is a portentously atmospheric but polished record.
That said, though it’s definitely not perfect, Deep Into The Night has enough going for it to make this debut well worth a listen.
Anita Connors
Chelsea Deeley
OFFICE MIXTAPE And here are the albums that have helped BRAG HQ get through the week... MANGELWURZEL - Gary MATT CORBY - Telluric OASIS - Defi nitely Maybe
BEN FOLDS - Way To Normal AC/DC - Back In Black
17 albums deep, and Iggy Pop still ain’t lettin’ up. David Molloy BRAG :: 654 :: 16:03:16 :: 25
DIIV photo by Sandy Kim
After making the Drones album to end all Drones albums – 2013’s masterwork I See Seaweed – Australia’s best live export has decided to radically alter its approach, producing eight slabs of warped cyberpunk.
Shud’ and the bitter, heart-rending ballad ‘To Think That I Once Loved You’. Album opener ‘Private Execution’ showcases all of the band’s new tricks, with heavy doses of synth paranoia while Liddiard provides a laundry list of reasons for losing hope, and ‘Then They Came For Me’ likens the current immigration/refugee situation to Nazi propaganda.
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up all night out all week . . .
PHOTOGRAPHER :: ASHLEY MAR
PHOTOGRAPHER :: ASHLEY MAR
BUZZCOCKS, HITS!, WHITE DOG Factory Theatre Friday March 11 Hardcore punks White Dog provide a fast and furious start to the night, all primitive drums, breakneck guitar and screamed vocals. They’re a bundle of feral energy and vitriol, with sharp, minute-long bursts of coiled up anger and lyrics of personal enmities and dangerous boredom. A follow-up to their rage-fuelled, Black-Flag-inspired EP 452A remains eagerly awaited. Five-piece Hits! offer a very different brand of punk, harking back to the likes of X and The Gun Club in their expansive, occasionally unhinged approach. Very much local legends in their native Brisbane, Hits! demonstrate their power but also a confessional approach to songwriting that makes for some unexpectedly poignant moments. The yell-along passion of ‘Take Your Pills’ is the highlight. Buzzcocks are celebrating 40 years since their first release, though most of their legacy rests on an astonishing threeyear burst of creativity at the start of their career. In that first three-album run, they absolutely perfected a brand of lovelorn, biting punk-pop, and all these years later, the likes of ‘I Don’t Mind’, ‘Something’s
Gone Wrong Again’ and ‘What Do I Get?’ still sound crisp and vital. They’re lapped up by a full house, many of whom would have been teenagers when these songs provided the beating heart of the burgeoning punk movement. There are a couple of ventures into songs from their second incarnation, like ‘Sick City Sometimes’ and ‘People Are Strange Machines’, combining paranoia with sprightly melodies. Similarly, ‘Boredom’ and ‘Noise Annoys’ make the point that Buzzcocks were always more than a one-idea band, and that krautrock and more experimental sounds were a part of their palette as much as angst and melodic hooks. The two remaining members from their late ’70s halcyon, Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle, make for an amusing contrast throughout the show, with Diggle’s guitar windmills and cheesy showmanship a foil for the wry and subdued Shelley. They lose Diggle’s guitar amp along the way, giving fans an unwanted glimpse of what deathless classics ‘Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)’ and ‘Orgasm Addict’ sound like without that signature buzzsaw guitar. Even in stripped-down form, however, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that nobody has ever done this stuff better than Buzzcocks. Daniel Herborn
LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO Taronga Zoo Saturday March 12 This far from the savannah plains of Africa, there can’t be a more appropriate venue than Sydney’s Taronga Zoo to experience the hypnotic harmonies of the world’s most successful world music act, Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Assisted by the Indian summer and the beautiful setting overlooking Sydney Harbour, the group guided us through a Disney-like tour of South African culture via traditional song, fun choreography and charming storytelling. Not a regular Saturday night out, but an enchanting evening nonetheless. Joseph Shabalala’s group – now in its 56th year and celebrating 30 years since reaching worldwide fame as the backing singers on Paul Simon’s Graceland – began by stating its raison d’être: to spread love, peace and harmony by singing about hope and the past, present and future.
live at the sly
PICS :: DC
As kids chased each other through the sea of picnic blankets and wind rustled through up-lit trees, we were introduced to the Isicathamiya vocal style. The eight males – including four of Shabalala’s sons and the only other original member,
Albert Mazibuko – each took turns to lead. The voices together provided percussion and melody and created a harmonious whole, occasionally punctuated by Zulu clicks and animal calls. The crowd applauded the late Nelson Mandela and 21 years of South African democracy throughout ‘Long Walk To Freedom’, while tip-toeing and booty-shaking, impossible high kicks and easier-to-copy hand movements accompanied the repeated refrain of “Let us walk and work together / Long walk to freedom”. A short, almost apologetic, version of ‘Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes’ and a solid rendition of ‘Homeless’ sated the Simon fans. The traditional songs, more firmly rooted in the KwaZulu-Natal homelands of the group, were the ones that really awoke you to the raw power of music, however. The bass harmonies, sometimes reduced to the merest whisper, eventually found their target and before you knew it you were swaying along with everyone else. It was tribal, natural and effortless. Long may these messengers of their culture continue to tour and delight audiences across the world. David Wild
PHOTOGRAPHER :: D.A. CARTER
10:03:16 :: Slyfox :: 199 Enmore Rd Enmore 9557 2917
on the record WITH HOWQUA The First Record I Bought I’d just gotten back from a family trip to 1. Singapore to visit my cousins, and Mum and Dad had bought me a Walkman. I rolled on back into Australia and I remember asking if I could buy a Green Day cassette. It was Insomniac. I’m not quite sure if it inspired my music but it certainly gave me all sorts of feels. The Last Record I Bought As I’m answering these questions I’m 2. also listening to the debut album from Hayden Calnin, Cut Love, Pt. 1, released a couple of days ago. In true Hayden style it’s absolutely stunning. I worked on my debut EP with Hayden and I adore what he does as an artist. Besides the fact that I think he is a beautiful man, his talent creating a soundscape and a feel is something special. It’s such an honest and touching piece of art.
Hill. I had heard his stuff online and made the mission back from a soul-searching trip in WA to work on my debut EP with him. We spent many months bringing the songs together and I’m stoked with what was built at that stage of my musical journey. I suppose I’ve learnt in more recent years that there is no point cringing at what you have created in the past but instead embracing where you were musically at that point. Growth is exciting but if I continue to look at my past work I find it hard to focus on what I want to create next. The Last Thing I Recorded My only release is the Naked EP, which 4. I did as my debut. I’m incredibly excited to move into the next chapter of making tunes. I have a bunch of songs which I plan on recording this year. Exactly when that is I’m not sure, but honestly I can’t wait.
The First Thing I Recorded The Record That Changed My Life The first recording I did under Howqua I was working at a bar in the Eastern 3. 5. was actually in Hayden Calnin’s studio in Red Suburbs of Melbourne and a musician rocked 26 :: BRAG :: 654 :: 16:03:16
up to play a set at the bar; his name was Ben Smith. He has moved over from the UK and was playing a bunch of tunes that night, including some of his original songs. It felt so real and I could feel this guy telling his story. After the set I went and introduced myself and Ben gave me a copy of his Acoustic album. Later that night I went home and hung out with a close mate of mine. We laid on the floor of my lounge room and listened to the album from start to finish. This moment inspired me to keep writing and to write from the heart. I will always remember the influence that Ben Smith and this album had on my life, and shall forever be grateful for what it did to me that night. What: Courtyard Sessions 2016 Where: Seymour Centre When: Friday March 18 And: Naked out now independently
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TOILETS
NORTH TO K BRUNSWIC HEADS, S, AD TWEED HE T, GOLD COAS ROAD
N AVE UE
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PACIFIC HIGHWAY
U B A C KH O E R
ADMIN
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ENTRY/EXIT NORTH FESTIVAL
TICKETS & GUEST TICKET PICK UP
ENTRY/EXIT SOUTH FESTIVAL
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JAMBALAYA
THE WAILERS PRESENT EXODUS 60 min THE WORD 90 min JANIVA MAGNESS 60 min LUKAS NELSON & PROMISE OF THE REAL 90 min THE BROS. LANDRETH 60 min
DELTA
SONGHOY BLUES 60 min RHIANNON GIDDENS 60 min EMMA DONOVAN & THE PUTBACKS 60 min KALEO 60 min LORD HURON 45 min DIGGING ROOTS 45 min
JUKE JOINT
LUCKY PETERSON 90 min EUGENE 'HIDEAWAY' BRIDGES 60 min CHAIN 45 min STEVE SMYTH 45 min BLIND BOY PAXTON 45 min MARSHALL OKELL 45 min
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START TIME
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STAGED EVACUATION ASSEMBLY AREA
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JAMBALAYA
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SATURDAY 26TH
MOJO
START TIME
THE NATIONAL 90 min CITY AND COLOUR 90 min NAHKO & MEDICINE FOR THE PEOPLE 90 min GRACE POTTER 60 min ELLE KING 60 min LORD HURON 60 min KALEO 45 min ARAKWAL OPENING CEREMONY 30 min
CROSSROADS
22.00 20.15 18.15 16.30 15.00 13.30 12.00 START TIME
THE MICK FLEETWOOD BLUES BAND 90 min ST. PAUL & THE BROKEN BONES 75 min TWEEDY 75 min GRAHAM NASH 60 min ARCHIE ROACH 60 min EAST JOURNEY 60 min
JAMBALAYA
22.00 20.00 18.15 16.45 15.00 13.30 12.00 START TIME
THE WAILERS PRESENT UPRISING 60 min PLAYING FOR CHANGE BAND 60 min STEVE EARLE & THE DUKES 60 min BLACKBERRY SMOKE 60 min THE WORD 60 min SONGHOY BLUES 60 min LUKAS NELSON & PROMISE OF THE REAL 60 min
DELTA
23.00 21.00 19.30 18.00 16.30 15.00 13.30 12.00 START TIME
22.30 21.00 19.30 18.00 16.30 15.00 13.30 12.00
TEX PERKINS & THE APE 90 min CON BRIO 60 min RHIANNON GIDDENS 60 min SHOOGLENIFTY 60 min THE BROS. LANDRETH 60 min FRAZEY FORD 60 min EUGENE 'HIDEAWAY' BRIDGES 60 min DUSTIN THOMAS 60 min
START TIME
JUKE JOINT
22.30 20.30 19.00 17.30 16.00 14.30 13.15 12.00 START TIME
23.00 CHAIN 60 min 21.00 LUCKY PETERSON 90 min 19.30 BLIND BOY PAXTON 60 min 18.30 BROTHERHOOD OF THE BLUES 30 min 16.00 ABC GOLD COAST FM NATIONAL BROADCAST 120 min 14.30 MOJO JUJU 60 min 13.15 DIGGING ROOTS 45 min 12.00 HUSSY HICKS 45 min
22.20 20.50 19.00 17.30 16.30 15.00 13.30 12.00
ENTRY/EXIT SOUTH FESTIVAL
FOR BUSES, TAXIS & PARK F-G-H-I
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21.45 20.00 18.15 16.45 15.15 13.45
CROSSROADS
CAMPERS CAFE
VIP
CAMPING ENQUIRIES & ACCREDITATION
CAMPERS ROAD
NOBLE WAY
CROSSROADS
TEDESCHI TRUCKS BAND 120 min COLD WAR KIDS 60 min TWEEDY 75 min CON BRIO 60 min HARTS 45 min
IPIS
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PARKING / CAMPGROUND 10
UNDARY
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MAP 2016
22.30 20.30 18.30 17.00 15.30 14.00 12.45 12.00
MASSAGE MOJO DINING
CAMPGROUND 6
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KENDRICK LAMAR 75 min D'ANGELO 90 min KAMASI WASHINGTON 75 min HIATUS KAIYOTE 60 min FANTASTIC NEGRITO 60 min WELCOME TO COUNTRY 10 min
MOJO
TENT CITY
TICKETS, BUS TICKETS, GUEST TICKET PICK UP
BUSES
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JUKE JOINT
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CLOAKROOM
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TAXIS & DROP OFF
THURSDAY 24TH
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CHARITY STALL
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CAMPGROUND 2
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GATE NORTH ENTRY
SOUTH TO BYRON BAY, LENNOX HEAD, BALLINA
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DISABLED ACCESS
ATM MACHINE
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DISABLED PARKING
PARKING D
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22.45 20.45 19.00 17.30 16.00 15.50
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INFORMATION
MOJO
D'ANGELO 120 min HIATUS KAIYOTE 70 min KAMASI WASHINGTON 90 min THE DECEMBERISTS 75 min EAGLES OF DEATH METAL 60 min CON BRIO 60 min HARTS 60 min
CROSSROADS
JOE BONAMASSA 120 min TEDESCHI TRUCKS BAND 90 min THE MICK FLEETWOOD BLUES BAND 75 min VINTAGE TROUBLE 60 min ST. PAUL & THE BROKEN BONES 75 min ALLEN STONE 60 min THE MASTERSONS 60 min
JAMBALAYA
THE WAILERS PRESENT SURVIVAL 60 min NAHKO & MEDICINE FOR THE PEOPLE 90 min PLAYING FOR CHANGE BAND 60 min STEVE EARLE & THE DUKES 60 min GRACE POTTER 60 min BLACKBERRY SMOKE 60 min JANIVA MAGNESS 60 min EMMA DONOVAN & THE PUTBACKS 60 min
DELTA
THE WORD 90 min LUKAS NELSON & PROMISE OF THE REAL 90 min ELLE KING 60 min MIKE LOVE 60 min FANTASTIC NEGRITO 60 min KALEO 60 min THE BROS. LANDRETH 45 min IRISH MYTHEN 60 min
JUKE JOINT
LUCKY PETERSON 90 min JEFF MARTIN (THE TEA PARTY) 60 min THE RESIDENTS PRESENT SHADOWLAND 80 min FRAZEY FORD 60 min BROTHERHOOD OF THE BLUES 30 min PIERCE BROTHERS 60 min STEVE SMYTH 60 min RAW EARTH 60 min
MONDAY 28TH
SUNDAY 27TH START TIME
22.30 20.45 18.45 17.15 15.45 14.15 12.45 START TIME
21.45 19.45 17.45 16.15 14.45 13.15
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22.45 20.55 18.45 17.15 15.45 14.30 13.15 12.00 START TIME
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NOEL GALLAGHER'S HIGH FLYING BIRDS 90 min THE DECEMBERISTS 75 min THE CAT EMPIRE 90 min MODEST MOUSE 60 min BLACKBERRY SMOKE 60 min HOUNDMOUTH 60 min JEFF MARTIN (THE TEA PARTY) 60 min
CROSSROADS
UB40 FEAT. ALI CAMPBELL, ASTRO & MICKEY VIRTUE 120 min MELISSA ETHERIDGE 90 min JACKSON BROWNE 90 min THE BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA 60 min GRAHAM NASH 60 min THE BROS. LANDRETH 60 min
JAMBALAYA
NATHANIEL RATELIFF & THE NIGHT SWEATS 75 min THE SELECTER 80 min THE WAILERS PRESENT LEGEND 100 min TAJ MAHAL 60 min SHAKEY GRAVES 60 min ASH GRUNWALD 45 min KIM CHURCHILL 45 min SAHARA BECK 45 min
DELTA
23.00 21.00 19.30 18.00 16.30 15.00 13.30 12.00
ALLEN STONE 60 min JANIVA MAGNESS 90 min FANTASTIC NEGRITO 60 min LUKAS NELSON & PROMISE OF THE REAL 60 min SHOOGLENIFTY 60 min THE WORD 60 min CON BRIO 60 min HUSSY HICKS 60 min
START TIME
JUKE JOINT
22.50 21.00 19.30 17.45 16.15 14.45 13.15 12.00
RAW EARTH 70 min THE RESIDENTS PRESENT SHADOWLAND 80 min MOJO JUJU 60 min MIKE LOVE 75 min BLIND BOY PAXTON 60 min WARDS XPRESS 60 min DUSTIN THOMAS 60 min GRIZZLEE TRAIN 2015 BUSKING COMP. WINNER 45 min
START TIME
MOJO
20.45 18.45 17.00 15.30 14.00 12.30
TOM JONES 90 min BRIAN WILSON PERFORMING PET SOUNDS 90 min THE BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA 75 min RUSSELL MORRIS 60 min RICHARD CLAPTON 60 min KIM CHURCHILL 60 min
START TIME
CROSSROADS
22.30 20.30 19.00 17.30 16.00 14.30 13.15 12.00
THE ORIGINAL BLUES BROTHERS BAND 80 min JOE BONAMASSA 90 min VINTAGE TROUBLE 60 min PLAYING FOR CHANGE BAND 60 min TAJ MAHAL 60 min IRISH MYTHEN 60 min ASH GRUNWALD 45 min PIERCE BROTHERS 45 min
START TIME
JAMBALAYA
22.30 21.00 19.15 17.30 16.00 14.30 13.15 12.00 START TIME
JASON ISBELL 90 min SHAKEY GRAVES 60 min NATHANIEL RATELIFF & THE NIGHT SWEATS 75 min ST. PAUL & THE BROKEN BONES 75 min ALLEN STONE 60 min LUKAS NELSON & PROMISE OF THE REAL 60 min MARSHALL OKELL 45 min TENZIN CHOEGYAL 45 min
DELTA
BLACKBERRY SMOKE 90 min FANTASTIC NEGRITO 60 min BACKSLIDERS 60 min MIKE LOVE 60 min STEVE SMYTH 60 min WARDS XPRESS 60 min
21.00 19.30 18.00 16.30 15.00 13.30 12.00
2016 BUSKING COMPETITION WINNER 60 min
START TIME
JUKE JOINT
22.35 21.05 19.15 17.45 16.15 14.45 13.30 12.00
THE SELECTER 80 min JANIVA MAGNESS 60 min THE RESIDENTS PRESENT SHADOWLAND 80 min KALEO 60 min SHOOGLENIFTY 60 min BLIND BOY PAXTON 60 min SAHARA BECK 45 min LOCAL AREA HIGH SCHOOL SHOWCASE 60 min
CORRECT AT TIME OF PRINTING - SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE
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live reviews What we've been out to see...
SOMETHING FOR KATE, ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER Big Top, The Domain Saturday March 12
PHOTOGRAPHER :: ASHLEY MAR
The Melbourne natives’ brand of selfdescribed “tough pop” might have a pinch of Go-Betweens brightness to it, but the quintet sleep on solid song structure and a discernible hook. It says a lot that no-one comes away from watching the band play with a greater appreciation for its still-blossoming original material, but rather a rekindled flame for the choice of cover – Split Enz’s ‘Six Months In A Leaky Boat’.
PICS :: KC
ibeyi
Yet again, one finds oneself asking the age-old question: what’s in a name? Tonight’s headliners, after all, pulled theirs from a post-it note reminder on the fridge. There’s something both clumsy and clunky, however, about a name like Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever. It’s a recent name change from merely Rolling Blackouts, but the new name inadvertently suits them better: it doesn’t quite roll off the tongue, it doesn’t quite make sense and it’s not particularly memorable.
08:03:16 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford St Darlinghurst 9332 3711
As the Spectrum Now festival-of-sorts concludes, it’s all too apparent that it’s been less Spectrum Now and more Spectrum ‘When Was That Again?’ as far as crowds are concerned. Tonight, alas, is no exception, with thinly spread attendees just barely covering the Big Top’s diameter. Still, this is Something For Kate we’re talking about here. Even in the face of a dodgy sound system and a disappointing turnout, they’ll still put on a thoroughly entertaining show. With no new record, the trio are free to pick and choose from their discography as they see fit. This leads to surprise entries (‘You Only Hide’), underrated cuts (‘Beautiful Sharks’) and a fistful of beloved staples (‘Monsters’, ‘Déjà Vu’, ‘Three Dimensions’). The set is arranged smartly, with slower and quieter moments of introspection building to more highly emotive numbers. Hell, this is a band that more or less wrote the book on both, as far as contemporary Australian music is concerned – if anyone can pull it off, it’s Something For Kate.
PICS :: KC
good for you
The night ends with two completely unexpected covers – Hazel’s ‘Truly’ and R.E.M.’s ‘The One I Love’ – as well as what many consider to be the band’s finest six minutes, ‘Pinstripe’. It’s a hell of a way to send the crowd packing, and definitively answers yet another age-old question: if a tree falls in the middle of The Domain and no-one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? David James Young
12:03:16 :: Vic On The Park :: 2 Addison Rd Marrickville 9557 1448
five things WITH JARON Growing Up Contrary to the popular belief that I 1. was raised by wolves, I actually grew up
Your Band The glorious yahooligans in The 3. Opposite Of Everything come from all walks
with my mother in Canada’s rural northwest, a few hours’ drive from Alaska. Highlights included fi nding my fi ddle hidden in the compost pile for my seventh birthday. Every summer we would pile into our camper van and tour through the northern music festivals, which is where I first fell in love with freaky folk music and inebriated fire juggling.
of life. Our drummer Steven was the child of German new-wave rock stars, who now spends most of his time playing garage rock arrangements of Shostakovich string quartets at impossibly hip underground warehouses in Brooklyn. Our bassist Alan was a disenchanted jazz school virtuoso who spends most of his time in Stockholm, learning Norwegian tunes on the mouth harp. Our clarinettist Sam has his roots in classical music and Klezmer, and now produces electronic music and gives Richard Dawkins electric saxophone lessons (true story!). On the accordion and shawarmasized synthesiser we have Kelsey, who plays in a Dixieland New Orleans band, and writes surf-rock Christmas-themed horror movie soundtracks in her spare time.
Inspirations When I was 14, I became an 2. apprentice of a great seven-foot-tall Canadian, mohawk-bearing “off-road fi ddler”, Oliver Schroer, who taught me the dark arts of the violin. He introduced me to all kinds of of amazing music, from Tuvan throat singing, to obscure Frank Zappa recordings, to south Indian Carnatic violin virtuosos.
28 :: BRAG :: 654 :: 16:03:16
FREEMAN-FOX
Music You Make We’ve been told we sound like The 4. The
Punch Brothers on acid, or like Arcade Fire on welfare. We’ll have a special advance preview version of our new album for this Australian tour, titled Hoop Snakes Sneak Peeks! Music, Right Here, Right Now I think the biggest obstacles 5. musicians need to overcome is the pressure to turn their art into a career too soon. It’s important to encourage artists to keep working on their craft for the sake of the music itself. Who: Jaron Freeman-Fox and The Opposite Of Everything With: Edema Ruh, The Jerry Cans Where: Factory Floor When: Thursday March 24 And: Also appearing at Blue Mountains Music Festival, Friday March 18 – Sunday March 20
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MOONSHINE HOTEL STEYNE MANLY
THURS MARCH 17TH
CASTLECOMER
+ GLADES + SUNS OF THE UNIVERSE FRI MARCH 18TH
THE LULU RAES + THE DOLPHIN SHOW SAT MARCH 19TH
TASH SULTANA (MELB) + BILLY FOX SUN MARCH 20TH
THE HIGH GRADES
LEVEL 2, 75 THE CORSO, MANLY WWW.HOTELSTEYNE.COM.AU || FACEBOOK.COM/HOTELSTEYNEMANLY || @HOTELSTEYNE
CENTENARY SQUARE COMES TO LIFE WITH COLOUR AND LIVE ART AS AUSTRALIA’S LEADING STREET ARTISTS TRANSFORM THE SQUARE INTO AN OPEN-AIR STUDIO.
LIVE
AT THE
5
$
SLY
FIREBALL WHISKEYS + SLY FOX BEERS 7.30 - 9.30PM
5
$
TINNIES ALL NIGHT
Thurs 17 mar
GYPSYS OF PANGEA AETHER BEACH MOUNT ZAMIA
Monday 14 March - James Jirat Patradoon Tuesday 15 March - Sid Tapia Wednesday 16 March - Georgia Hill Thursday 17 March - Anthony Lister Friday 18 March - Aidan “Sprinkles” McKenzie Monday 21 March - Anya Brock Tuesday 22 March - Phibs Wednesday 23 March - Guido Van Helten Thursday 24 March - Nico & Jumbo
parracity.nsw.gov.au/livewalls #LIVEWALLS @livewallsproject
1 9 9 E N M O R E R OA D, E N M O R E thebrag.com
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live reviews What we've been out to see...
BUILT TO SPILL, BEN SALTER
GODSPEED THE CHARLATANS YOU! BLACK EMPEROR, Max Watt’s WHITE XYLOURIS
Manning Bar Thursday March 10 Built To Spill made a welcome return to Sydney last Thursday night. One of the last worthwhile vestiges of classic ’90s indie, their evocative, nuanced guitar workouts are a thing to behold. Sure, they might be toeing the nostalgia line, but there’s still enough verve there to enable moments of enlightenment. Early in his support set, Ben Salter remarked, “If I wasn’t opening the show, I’d be in amongst the audience.” From his very first BTS-indebted notes, it was clear he wasn’t just brown-nosing. Salter played a selection from his solo releases, and his countryinflected indie tunes – matched with his cynical, sharp wit – suited the night so well, it was as if they were made to complement a set from the headliners. Opening with a slower, dreamier ‘Randy Described Eternity’ than on the timeless Perfect From Now On, Built To Spill’s Doug Martsch and co. performed a trick on the crowd that they replicated for the next two hours. The songs lull you into their sound, before you lose consciousness of your surroundings, leaving you either in a stupor or wondering just how three guitars can make the sound of 50. The set jumped around the band’s 25-plus-year career, with highlights being a focus on 1999’s Keep It Like A Secret (and a reminder that the pure, weightless ‘Else’ might be their best song) and a twisting, behemoth version of ‘Goin’ Against Your Mind’. The material from last year’s Untethered Moon had the added benefit of the band still visibly excited to find out where the songs can go live. The climactic ‘So’ and the perfect pop of ‘Never Be The Same’ held up to any song from Built To Spill’s so-called ‘classic’ period. The encore also offered a taste of the group’s lighter side, with their legit cover of ‘Don’t Fear The Reaper’ (complete with Clint Hyndman of Salter’s band and Something For Kate on requisite cowbell) and The Smiths’ ‘How Soon Is Now?’, with the twin guitar siren of Brett Netson and Jim Roth capturing its alien grace better than both Morrissey and Johnny Marr do in concerts now. Built To Spill came to Manning, did what they do best, then bid adieu. Long may they continue to do so. Leonardo Silvestrini
MANGELWURZEL, MAKING, KIRKIS Newtown Social Club Saturday March 12 How do you know Kirkis has lived through an apocalypse? He recorded the whole thing on a tape machine and now plays it in reverse at music venues around the country. During his early set, some leave by foot and others by alternative means. Making bring with them glitches and untraceable time signatures, but the loudness and tone of a doom band make them an unmissable second support act. The
THE CHARLATANS Max Watt’s Friday March 11
Friday 11 Big Top,March The Domain Tuesday March 8 Now well into the third decade of their career, The Charlatans managed to nine outlast pretty much I couldn’t helphave but wonder what Canadian every act who onceplay seen as a contemporary, both in epics anarchists lyricless, sonically confronting terms of 20 longevity and recorded output. by spanning minutes in length would thinkBuoyed upon visiting their 12th album, last year’s stunning anti-fascist Modern Nature, Sydney in 2016. The anti-government, tinge band’s visit to Sydney is a clear sign that it’s tothe their musicthird is, at times, kept open to interpretation, notit’s done yet bynoa secret long shot. but certainly either. Would Godspeed You! Black Emperor appreciate the irony of playing music Lead singer Tim Burgess cuts a striking figure,isolation, what motivated by feelings of frustration and political with his bleach-blonde bowel cut and seemingly slathered in jarringly contrasting sentiments of ecstasy eternal youthful appearance. Hismiddle voice sounds as its and despair, in a city that’s in the of arguably gooddevastating as ever, being ableneutering to move from high history? falsettos most cultural in recent on ‘So Oh’ toMaybe more lackadaisical readings such as enter Who knows? they had no idea you couldn’t Stories’ and here ‘Talking Tones’ a‘Tellin’ pub after 1:30am andInwent on. to be unpleasantly surprised later on in the night. Regardless, without Watching TheatCharlies live,offered you see just how saying a word all, GY!BE a nearly two-hour versatile and tight the musicianship of were guitarist breath of fresh air from all of that. They prefaced Collins, bassist Martinlute Blunt, Tony byMark Xylouris White, a drum, andkeys vocalplayer duo who Rogers and drummer Pete Salisbury (ex-The were incredibly reminiscent of a medieval King Verve) Khan & actually is. in Even they would haveJim played oldof BBQ Show theirthough stage set-up. But with White fan favourites like ‘Weirdo’ andcould ‘Just see When Dirty Three behind the kit, you theYou’re angle from Thinkin’ Things if not thousands which their musicOver’ was hundreds coming. Despite not being of able they feel cumbersome. totimes hear before, the snare orhardly toms particularly well, the outfit was fantastic to watch and a wise choice to open the night. Certainly for a lot of the crowd, big portions of the night are about the nostalgia trips the older GY!BE proceeded tovarious file out one by one, building on a numbers thembyon, but and it’s some ofand the eventually Modern fuzzy dronetake started bass guitars Nature tracks that really stand out as highlights. embellished with violin, their renowned projection In certain ways, ‘Trouble Understanding’ , installation andthe twoanthemic drum kits. The crowd was surprised jubilant ‘Let The Times Never tothe witness thedisco bandofopen withGood ‘Storm’ in its Be entirety rousing Home Baby’ already –Ending’ a choiceand cutthe from 2000’s‘Come Lift Your Skinny Fists Like seem likeToclassics band’s canon. crowd Antennas Heavenin–the seemingly added The to the set reaction magnify this thought further. specifi callydefi fornitely this Australian tour. GY!BE’s music is crafted and performed in such a way that even amid the It is, however, the band’s big anthems that harrowing noise and ambient suites, they stillbring manage night’s most climaxes riotous scenes. Only One I tothe reach dizzying – they ‘The played their newest Know’Asunder, sees theSweet roadieAn swiftly andDistress comically record d Other in remove its entirety, would-be stage-diver before theThe poor fellow’s toaoverwhelmingly cathartic effect. crowd waseven able to get his feet on the stage. The closing oneplunged into to seratonin-sapping misery and brought right two up of ‘Then’ things to aa back again and with‘Sproston little to noGreen’ effort –brings like witnessing euphoric, car accidentsweaty and a close. child being born at the same time. On only their second trip to Australia ever, I’m confident The Charlatans have experienced lot of ups and GY!BE left the fans feeling like they’da witnessed downs throughout the in years. definitely something truly special a cityRight that now, mightitotherwise seems they’re riding high and loving it. Long may have hadlike them desperately seeking release. it continue. Nicholas Johnson Michael Hartt
Now well into the third decade of their career, The Charlatans have managed to outlast pretty much every act once seen as a contemporary, both in terms of longevity and recorded output. Buoyed by their 12th album, last year’s stunning Modern Nature, the band’s third visit to Sydney is a clear sign that it’s not done yet by a long shot. Lead singer Tim Burgess cuts a striking figure, what with his bleach-blonde bowel cut and seemingly eternal youthful appearance. His voice sounds as good as ever, being able to move from high falsettos on ‘So Oh’ to more lackadaisical readings such as ‘Tellin’ Stories’ and ‘Talking In Tones’. Watching The Charlies live, you see just how versatile and tight the musicianship of guitarist Mark Collins, bassist Martin Blunt, keys player Tony Rogers and drummer Pete Salisbury (ex-The Verve) actually is. Even though they would have played old fan favourites like ‘Weirdo’ and ‘Just When You’re Thinkin’ Things Over’ hundreds if not thousands of times before, they hardly feel cumbersome. Certainly for a lot of the crowd, big portions of the night are about the various nostalgia trips the older numbers take them on, but it’s some of the Modern Nature tracks that really stand out as highlights. In certain ways, the anthemic ‘Trouble Understanding’, the jubilant disco of ‘Let The Good Times Be Never Ending’ and the rousing ‘Come Home Baby’ already seem like classics in the band’s canon. The crowd reaction definitely magnifies this thought further. It is, however, the band’s big anthems that bring the night’s most riotous scenes. ‘The Only One I Know’ sees the roadie swiftly and comically remove a would-be stage-diver before the poor fellow’s even able to get to his feet on the stage. The closing one-two of ‘Then’ and ‘Sproston Green’ brings things to a euphoric, sweaty close. The Charlatans have experienced a lot of ups and downs throughout the years. Right now, it definitely seems like they’re riding high and loving it. Long may it continue. Michael Hartt
Sydney locals recently played with Battles and The Mark Of Cain, and fortunately their homage to brutality and primordial music is being recognised by bigger names.
requesting for us to “bum the duzza”. It’s punk as fuck, as these spectacles then merge seamlessly into songs about ketamine and “tears [that] make the garden grow”.
The recent debut LP from Melbourne’s Mangelwurzel, Gary, makes the brain take unexpected hairpin turns. Live, it makes the body take unexpected hairpin turns. Frank Zappa is a good reference point but doesn’t go far enough.
Closer ‘Gary’ ensures the set ends as chaotically, sexily and chaotically sexy as possible. The centre-stage presence of Jaala and the horn section may distract from the complexity of the music, but it’s some of the most rhythmically, melodically, harmonically and structurally challenging and engaging rock music being played right now.
The seven-piece play most of the new album, with ‘Fishy Fry’, ‘Hawaii’, ‘My House’ and (from 2014’s Dead Pets EP) ‘Bye Big Baby’ all electrifying. Halfway through, Cosima Jaala lights and throws out every cigarette in her deck,
Elias Kwiet
five things WITH MICHAEL
GALILEE FROM THE ZOO CITY LADS
From then on everything else took a back seat and I spent most of my time listening to music and going to see bands. Inspirations 2. As a band we are all inspired by different things, which gives us a good range of styles across our songs. For me though I was blown away by Queens of the Stone Age and The Brian Jonestown Massacre more than any other music in recent times. Both bands still put out albums better than anything else out there, and if I only had all their albums to listen to for the rest of my life I’d be happy(ish). Your Band 3. Kane McBride (guitar), Warren Bridges (drums), Tommy Spillane (bass). I
and dirty vibe that gets you off your arse and makes you wanna howl at the moon. We love playing live and have a bunch of new songs to try out at our upcoming shows before we hit the studio to record our debut album. Music, Right Here, Right Now I miss the danger in music and I don’t 5. think that radio takes risks on guitar bands anymore. The songs that are spoon-fed to the masses are very music by numbers and rock’n’roll barely gets a look-in. There is a hell of a lot of good music out there, but not much of it makes it to the mainstream, which is a shame. Give me like-minded people with a hunger in their hearts and an instrument in their hands bashing out songs for the sheer joy of it and I’ll listen to whatever you got.
would follow them into the mists of Avalon.
1.
Growing Up I learnt from a pretty young age that life is short and to not sweat the small stuff,
so music was always an escape growing up. Seeing Metallica as a 14-year-old was my initiation into the world of rock’n’roll.
4.
The Music You Make We love to play rock’n’roll with a dark
Where: Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory When: Friday March 18
“Life has a way of confusing us, blessing and bruising us. Drink, l’chaim, to life!” 30 :: BRAG :: 654 :: 16:03:16
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g g guide gig g send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com
pick of the week Ball Park Music
SATURDAY MARCH 19
Pittwater Park
Party In The Park Ball Park Music + The Jungle Giants + The Beautiful Girls + Dune Rats + More 1pm. $87.90. WEDNESDAY MARCH 16 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Divergence Jazz Orchestra
Foundry616, Ultimo. 8pm. $21.50. Yuki And John Bondi Pavilion Theatre, Bondi Beach. 1:30pm. Free.
ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK Digging Roots
Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 7pm. $23. Late Night Library (Sydney Songs) - feat: Brendan Maclean + Alison Avron + Maxine Kauter + Sepora Kings Cross Library, Kings Cross. 8pm. Free. Liam Gerner
Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham. 8pm. $13.30. Manouche Wednesday - feat: The Squeezebox Trio Mr Falcon’s, Glebe. 7pm. Free. Steve Earle & The Dukes Rooty Hill RSL Club, Rooty Hill. 8pm. $69.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Anna Murphy Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt. 8pm. $28. Fox Company + The Dark Hawks + The Last Cavalry Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 6pm. Free. Francis Rodr + Balko + Bubble Boy + Daughter’s Agenda Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 7pm. $10. John Grant Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7pm. $76.36. Live Music @ Manning Manning Bar, Camperdown. 3pm. Free. Mark Travers Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. Free. Seniors Concert - feat: Kel-Anne Brandt Belmont 16s, Belmont. 7pm. Free. The Crow Janes + Don Draper’s Sofa The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 7pm. $7.
THURSDAY MARCH 17 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Moxie + The Rambling Boys The Basement, Circular Quay. 7pm. $55. St Patrick’s Day feat: Irish Music The Merton Hotel, Rozelle. 12pm. Free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Chaos + Stuckas + Bassik Extc + The Faggots + Charger Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10. Dee Donavan + Grooveworks + Joey Fimmano + Kerryn Grant Revesby Workers
Club, Revesby. 12pm. Free. Dublin Up Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 7pm. Free. Ed Kuepper Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 7pm. $35.70. Heebeegeebees The Record Crate, Glebe. 6pm. Free. Highly Suspect Factory Floor, Marrickville. 8pm. $39.90. Juan Gonzalez The Bells Hotel, Woolloomooloo. 7pm. Free. Kingdom Of Jones + John F Kennedy The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 7pm. $7. Live At The Sly feat: Gypsys Of Pangea + Aether Beach + Mount Zamia Slyfox, Enmore. 7:30pm. Free. Live Music @ Manning Manning Bar, Camperdown. 3pm. Free. Lonesome Train Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 10am. Free. Missing Link + The Flipped Out Kicks Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham. 8:30pm. $10. Moonshines Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 4:30pm. Free. No Dice Paradise Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $10. Rattle & Hum - U2 Show Rooty Hill RSL Club, Rooty Hill. 7:30pm. Free. St Patrick’s Day feat: Murphy’s Law The Bells Hotel, Woolloomooloo. 7pm. Free. The Blarney Boys Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 10am. Free. The Flipped Out Kicks + Missing Link Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham. 8pm. Free. The Laurels + Holy Soul Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 7pm. $13. The Protesters Spring Street Social, Bondi. 8:30pm. Free.
Digging Roots
U2 Show - feat: U2 Elevation Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 1:30pm. Free. Walken + Muddy Chanter + Meat Cake + Wasters + Fields Of Mars Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt. 8pm. $6.70.
FRIDAY MARCH 18 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC
ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK AJ Dyce The Push Bar, The Rocks. 7pm. Free. Emad Younan Mr Falcon’s, Glebe. 8:30pm. Free. Glenn Esmond Fortune Of War, The Rocks. 6pm. Free. Gordie Tentrees Coogee Diggers, Coogee. 8pm. Free. Marshall Okell Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 10pm. Free. Michael Gorham Crown Hotel, Sydney. 5pm. Free. Sounds On The Terrace - feat: Aleisha McDonald Museum Of Contemporary Art, The Rocks. 6:30pm. Free. Steve Earle & The Dukes + The Mastersons Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7:30pm. $86.35. Sunset Sessions feat: Benny Vibes + Krysitie Erickson The Bristol Arms Hotel, Sydney. 6pm. Free.
Alturas Foundry616, Ultimo. 8:30pm. $27.50. Ben Winkelman Trio The Sound Lounge, Sydney. 8:30pm. Free. Greg Poppleton And The Bakelite Broadcasters Slide Lounge, Darlinghurst. 6:45pm. $99. Los Chicos + Leadfinger + 300 St. Claire Marrickville Bowling Club, Marrickville. 8pm. $15. Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro The Basement, Circular Quay. 8pm. $34.50.
ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK Alfredo Malabello The Push Bar, The Rocks. 7:30pm. Free. Benn Gunn Figtree Hotel, Sydney. 8:30pm. Free. John Vella Duo Crown Hotel, Sydney. 8pm. Free. Michael Kopp 99 On York, Sydney. 5:30pm. Free. Rob Eastwood Castle Hill RSL,
speed date WITH
THOMAS KEATING FROM GOOD COUNSEL Your Profi le We like to create music that we feel 1. is interesting and has something to say lyrically. We like to play our guitars really loud and put a song through many different stages and shapes before we fi nally decide on the direction we are going for. Keeping Busy The last three months we have been 2. working on a new record we plan to put out later this year. In January we spent a month up on the Central Coast doing preproduction and then in February we went into Everland Studios in Five Dock to track and mix. Now we are getting ready to tour these songs! Best Gig Ever Best gig so far would have to be our 3. album launch at the Newtown Social Club last year. The support shown to us by our
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fans, friends and family was amazing. Current Playlist Right now I am listening to Living In 4. The 70’s by Skyhooks. I recently discovered Spookyland and I really enjoy the stuff they have put out so far. And I am really excited about The Drones’ new album; the latest singles they put out have blown me away.
Your Ultimate Rider Our usual rider is made up of ginger 5. beer, pale ale and whisky; sometimes we drink tea if we’re feeling cool enough. If our rider contains these four things we are generally pretty stoked. With: The Metal Babies, Smaal Cats Where: The Vanguard When: Thursday March 24
BRAG :: 654 :: 16:03:16 :: 31
g g guide gig g send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com
thufri Mark Travers 16 10 18 9.00PM 12.00AM Mar Mar Mar
wed
THURSDAY 17 MARCH
St Patrick’s Day
sat
Party Central 1.15AM SUNDAY10.00PM AFTERNOON
The Blarney Boys
sun
U2 Show featuring U2 Elevation
Chris Cooke Duo 8.30PM 12.00AM
1.30PM 4.00PM
Moonshiners
Castle Hill. 6pm. Free. Ruby Boots Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 7pm. $15. Sunset Sessions feat: Benny Vibes + Krystie Erickson The Bristol Arms Hotel, Sydney. 6pm. Free. Ted Nash Manly Leagues Club, Brookvale. 9:30pm. Free. Vintage Valves Lord Raglan Hotel, Sydney. 7pm. Free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK &
Anton
21 Mar
mon
(8:30PM - 12:00AM)
Mar
9.00PM 12.00AM
mon21
7.00PM 9.45PM 10.00PM 12.00AM
SUNDAY AFTERNOON
20 U2 Elevation Mar (4:30PM sun 4.30PM -7:30PM) 7.30PM 13 Mar
10.00AM 1.00PM
Lonesome Train
SATURDAY AFTERNOON 5.45PM 8.45PM (9:00PM - 12:00AM)
DOORS OPENAFTERNOON 10AM SATURDAY
Dublin Up
10.00PM 1.40AM
19 sat 19 Mar Mar Jimmy Bear
Festival
4.30PM 6.30PM
Reckless
tue tue
tue15 22 Mar 22 Mar Mar
COVERS Chris Ah Gee Belmont 16s, Belmont. 7pm. Free. Bootleg Rascal Manning Bar, Camperdown. 8pm. $15. Bryan Adams Allphones Arena, Sydney Olympic Park. 8pm. $100.47. Buckcherry Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $73.30. Cath & Him St George Leagues Club, Kogarah. 9pm. Free. Courtyard Sessions - Howqua Seymour Centre, Chippendale. 6pm.
Kye Brown
9.00PM 12.00AM
(9:00PM - 12:00AM)
Free. Dragon The Juniors, Kingsford. 8pm. Free. Eager 13 + Smitty & B. Goode + Alex Party Cat Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt. 7pm. Free. Elvis & Priscilla In Concert - feat: Bill Cherry + Kay Shannon Penrith Panthers, Penrith. 7:30pm. $55. Georgia White Zest Grill House, Rooty Hill. 5:30pm. Free. James Norbert Ivanyi + I Built The Sky
Factory Floor, Marrickville. 8pm. $14. Magnus + Shake Your Blood + Hello Bones Captain Cook Hotel, Paddington. 8pm. Free. Mark Lucas & The Dead Setters The Merton Hotel, Rozelle. 8pm. Free. Necrostalgia + Before Ciada + Diminish The Gods + Blood Sweat & Fear + The Chaotic Borderline + Grill Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10. Passerine The World Bar, Kings
Cross. 9:30pm. Free. Peppermint Jam Penrith RSL, Penrith. 9pm. Free. Rackett + Renetta Joy + Maroota Joe Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt. 8pm. $9.80. Rave On Belmont 16s, Belmont. 7pm. Free. Reckless Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 10pm. Free. Stephanie Lea Heritage Hotel, Wilberforce. 7:30pm. Free. Suite Az + DJ Troy T The Arthouse, Sydney. 5pm. Free. The Frocks Colonial Hotel, Werrington. 9pm. Free. The Ruckus Mr Falcon’s, Glebe. 9pm. Free. Tired Lion + Goons Of Doom + Bleach Girls + Latham’s Grip Studio Six, Sutherland. 8pm. $18.90. Uptown Funk Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8:30pm. Free. White Bros Quakers Inn, Quakers Hill. 8pm. Free. Whoretopsy + Tortured + Hollow World + Infested Entrails + Headspace + Zeolite + Honest Crooks + Totalitarian Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $15.
SATURDAY MARCH 19 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK Bonnie Kay And The Bonafides + Nick Luke The Merton Hotel, Rozelle. 8pm. Free. Chich & The Soul Messengers The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 3pm. $5. Dave Debs
Vineyard Hotel, Vineyard. 9:30pm. Free. Geoff Davies The Push Bar, The Rocks. 7:30pm. Free. Glenn Esmond Fortune Of War, The Rocks. 8pm. Free. Glenn Esmond Trio Oatley Hotel, Oatley. 8:45pm. Free. Loco Carousel Inn Hotel, Rooty Hill. 8pm. Free. Marshall Okell And The Pride Fitzroy Hotel, Windsor. 9pm. Free. Michael Gorham Rocks Brewing Co, Alexandria. 2pm. Free. Rob Eastwood St George Masonic Club, Mortdale. 7pm. Free. Spit Roasting Bibbers The Belvedere Hotel, Sydney. 7:30pm. Free. Ted Nash The Bells Hotel, Woolloomooloo. 7:30pm. Free.
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Anna Salleh Foundry616, Ultimo. 8:30pm. $27.50. Bobby Alu And The Palm Royale Factory Floor, Marrickville. 7pm. $30. Koi Child Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $18. Mutiny Music The Sound Lounge, Sydney. 8:30pm. $15.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Loko Belmont 16s, Belmont. 7pm. Free. At Sunset The Lair @ Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7pm. $20. Bird Yard Big Band Penrith RSL, Penrith. 2pm. Free. Blake Tailor Wallacia Hotel, Wallacia. 8pm. Free.
Chris O’Dear Mr Falcon’s, Glebe. 9:30pm. Free. Dragon Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8pm. $30. Elevate Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 10pm. Free. Epica Max Watt’s, Moore Park. 8:30pm. $71.30. Everyday People Band Penrith RSL, Penrith. 9pm. Free. Evie Dean Novotel, Rooty Hill. 6:30pm. Free. Madonna Allphones Arena, Sydney Olympic Park. 8pm. $99.90. One Hit Wonders Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8:30pm. Free. Palms Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $17.90. Party In The Park - feat: Ball Park Music + The Jungle Giants + The Beautiful Girls + Dune Rats + Nina Las Vegas + Touch Sensitive + Kilter + Young Franco + Lime Cordiale + Sons Of The East Pittwater Park, Warriewood. 1pm. $87.90. Pete Hunt Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 5:45pm. Free. Rock Crusher + The Fossicks Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt. 7pm. $10. Sevendust Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $69.22. Soundproofed St Marys Rugby Leagues Club, St Marys. 7pm. Free. Steve Hart & The All Stars Bayview Tavern, Gladesville. 10pm. Free. Swanee Club Liverpool, Liverpool. 9pm. Free. Tequila Mockingbird The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 7pm. $7. The Persuaders + Urban Guerrillas Brass Monkey, Cronulla. 7pm.
$14.30. Venom Clubnight - feat: Aeternus Dominion + Head In A Jar + Pizza Gut Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $15. Werombi Rain Plough & Harrow, Camden. 8pm. Free.
SUNDAY MARCH 20 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Jazz & Shiraz Sundays Northies Cronulla Hotel, Sydney. 1pm. Free. The Edge Band + Yama Buddha Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7pm. $37.10.
ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK Blake Wiggins Macarthur Tavern, Campbelltown. 2pm. Free. Glenn Esmond Fortune Of War, The Rocks. 6pm. Free. John Dixon Ingleburn Hotel, Ingleburn. 1pm. Free. Live Music Sundays - feat: Sydney Blues Society Botany View Hotel, Newtown. 7pm. Free. Matt Toms Rocks Brewing Co, Alexandria. 2pm. Free. Michael Gorham Royal Motor Yacht Club, Newport. 2:15pm. Free. Michael Kopp Panania Diggers, Panania. 12pm. Free. Ricardo Steyer Mr Falcon’s, Glebe. 7pm. Free. Sunday Live At The Bowlo Marrickville Bowling Club, Marrickville. 4:30pm. Free. Ted Nash Oatley Hotel, Oatley. 2pm. Free. The JP Project The Rivo Hotel, Riverstone. 4pm.
speed date WITH
KILL DIRTY YOUTH
Your Profile Alternative punk rockers 1. – fuzzy, loud and heavy, like a rhinestone cowboy. Keeping Busy Yeah dude! Since the release 2. of our debut album Music Is For
Losers last September, we’ve been constantly on the road up and down the east coast and gigging locally. We’re hitting the road again from March 12 to April 9 for our No Sleep Til’ Bulah tour! We’ll be heading back into the studio within the next two months to start recording our next EP as well.
Best Gig Ever Ironically, it was doing our 3. first hometown show in two years, at a local pub ‘The Recky’ – our good friends Los Scallywags organised a ripper show. Our 32 :: BRAG :: 654 :: 16:03:16
bassist J-Rock glassed himself first song, the set got cut short cause us and the crowd were too rowdy, and it ended up in blood, sweat, crowdsurfing and security guard abuse – all in the name of liberty! Current Playlist Currently we’ve been rockin’ 4. to Pantera, Metz, Ho99o9, Yuck, Virgin Prunes, Murderdolls and whatever fuckin’ rocks (there’s a mixed bag of goodies). We caught Metz at the Corner last month and they totally slayed. Ultimate Rider Pussy, blow and beer! 5. Your What: Music Is For Losers out now independently Where: Frankie’s Pizza When: Sunday April 3
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g g guide gig g
g g picks gig p
send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Free. The Western Distributors The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 5pm. $5.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Blake Tailor Northies Cronulla Hotel, Sydney. 6pm. Free. Ceremony Red Rattler, Marrickville. 6pm. $36.75. Columbus Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 4pm. Free. Jed Zarb Jamison Hotel, Penrith. 1pm. Free. Lonesome Train Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 4:30pm. Free. Madonna Allphones Arena, Sydney Olympic Park. 8pm. $99.90. Mccauley Raiders Penrith RSL, Penrith. 2pm. Free. Nathan Roche Midnight Special, Newtown. 7pm. Free. Nick Nuisance & The Delinquents Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 5pm. $10. Peter Byrne Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 8:30pm. Free. Stephanie Lea Oxford Hotel, Drummoyne. 3pm. Free. Stephen R. Cheney Belmont 16s, Belmont. 7pm. Free. The Stray Dogs The Merton Hotel, Rozelle. 6pm. Free.
MONDAY MARCH 21 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK John Maddox Duo Mr Falcon’s, Glebe. 7pm. Free.
Rhiannon Giddens Factory Theatre, Marrickville. 6:30pm. $51.59.
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC D’Angelo Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 8pm. $99. Latin & Jazz Open Mic Night The World Bar, Kings Cross. 7pm. Free. Paul Mbenna & The Okapi Guitar Band Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham. 5pm. Free. Phillip Johnston’s Greasy Chicken Orchestra Foundry616, Ultimo. 7:30pm. $6.50. Reggae Mondays - feat: Eric Renaud And Caribbean Soul Civic Underground, Sydney. 10pm. Free. St. Paul & The Broken Bones Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7pm. $44.96. The Monday Jam The Basement, Circular Quay. 8pm. $5.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Anton Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. Free. I Exalt Red Rattler, Marrickville. 6:30pm. $14.30. Live Music @ Manning Manning Bar, Camperdown. 3pm. Free. Modest Mouse Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 8pm. $78.90. The Monday Jam The Beresford Hotel, Surry Hills. 6pm. Free. Tom Jones The Star Event Centre, Pyrmont. 7:30pm. $79.90.
up all night out all week...
TUESDAY MARCH 22 INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
WEDNESDAY MARCH 16 Digging Roots Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 7pm. $23. Fox Company + The Dark Hawks + The Last Cavalry Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 6pm. Free.
Kye Brown Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. Free. Live Music @ Manning Manning Bar, Camperdown. 3pm. Free. Live Rock & Roll Karaoke Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 4pm. Free. Tom Jones The Star Event Centre, Pyrmont. 7:30pm. $99.90. Tweedy + Those Pretty Wrongs Factory Theatre, Marrickville. 7:30pm. $77.
John Grant Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7pm. $76.36.
ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK Bucket Lounge Presents – Live & Originals Mr Falcon’s, Glebe. 7pm. Free. Lucky Peterson The Basement, Circular Quay. 7:30pm. $60.10. Tedeschi Trucks Band Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 6pm. $100.83.
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Andrew Dickeson Quartet Foundry616, Ultimo. 8pm. $11.50. Jackal Or Tiger Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt. 7pm. Free. Songhoy Blues City Recital Hall, Sydney. 7:30pm. $59. Sunset Jazz Hermann’s Bar, Darlington. 6pm. Free.
Palms
THURSDAY MARCH 17 Ed Kuepper Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 7pm. $35.70. Highly Suspect Factory Floor, Marrickville. 8pm. $39.90.
Palms Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $17.90.
Live At The Sly - Feat: Gypsys Of Pangea + Aether Beach + Mount Zamia Slyfox, Enmore. 7:30pm. Free.
Sevendust Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $69.22.
The Laurels + Holy Soul Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 7pm. $13.
SUNDAY MARCH 20
Marshall Okell Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 10pm. Free.
Ceremony Red Rattler, Marrickville. 6pm. $36.75.
Steve Earle & The Dukes + The Mastersons Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7:30pm. $86.35.
Columbus Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 4pm. Free.
FRIDAY MARCH 18
Nathan Roche Midnight Special, Newtown. 7pm. Free.
Bootleg Rascal Manning Bar, Camperdown. 8pm. $15.
MONDAY MARCH 21
Ruby Boots Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 7pm. $15.
D’Angelo Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 8pm. $99.
Bryan Adams Allphones Arena, Sydney Olympic Park. 8pm. $100.47.
Modest Mouse Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 8pm. $78.90.
Buckcherry Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $73.30.
Rhiannon Giddens Factory Theatre, Marrickville. 6:30pm. $51.59.
Courtyard Sessions - Howqua Seymour Centre, Chippendale. 6pm. Free.
St. Paul & The Broken Bones Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7pm. $44.96.
SATURDAY MARCH 19
TUESDAY MARCH 22
At Sunset The Lair @ Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7pm. $20.
Lucky Peterson The Basement, Circular Quay. 7:30pm. $60.10.
Bobby Alu And The Palm Royale Factory Floor, Marrickville. 7pm. $30.
Tedeschi Trucks Band Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 6pm. $100.83.
Koi Child Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $18.
Tom Jones The Star Event Centre, Pyrmont. 7:30pm. $99.90.
Madonna Allphones Arena, Sydney Olympic Park. 8pm. $99.90.
Tweedy + Those Pretty Wrongs Factory Theatre, Marrickville. 7:30pm. $77.
five things WITH
OWEN MANCELL FROM THE HOLLERIN SLUGGERS performances that excites and inspires me to write. Your Band Myself on guitar/vocals; Tim Cramer 3. (bass); Andy Thor (drums/harmonica). Andy and myself work together and an opportunity came up to do a charity gig for BWSL sensation Ben Wilkinson, so we did it as a duo with one rehearsal playing blues and some original tunes – the energy on the night was amazing and we just clicked so we decided to do an album. Tim joined us and we all just clicked like the universe just brought us together or something crazy like that. Our diverse musical tastes and influences makes writing songs really exciting – we jam on a riff and away we go. We have been writing some ripper tunes for the next album we plan to do later in the year. The Music You Make 4. We try all styles of blues/rock and also rockabilly; we’ve even been writing some
1.
Growing Up Dad had guitars in the house, so it was my destiny to play. He was a huge influence on my musical tastes everything from The Beatles to Led Zeppelin.
2.
Inspirations All blues legends: Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Gary Clark, Jr., Seasick Steve, Atomic Bitchwax, Earthless. There’s something about the looseness in their live
country delta blues lately. Diversity is the key for us. Our music has a flavour that you will know, like Zeppelin, Hendrix, Seasick Steve, Gary Clark, Jr. and ZZ Top, et cetera, but it’s not a blatant rip-off – it’s gonna have those influences for sure but it oozes our
original touches as well. The Promised Land was recorded at Damien Gerard Studios and mixed by the legendary Russell Piling. Our live shows are high-energy; if your feet don’t start moving and your hips don’t start swaying, you’re probably dead. Music, Right Here, Right Now Getting original music noticed is 5. challenging. The return of the local scene is a step in that direction, a direction our management Tony Shepherd of Shepherd Entertainment Group believes in. Playing with bands like the Chico Seeds, The Desert Sea, Zach Odgers and The East Coast Low and Driftwood inspire us to push harder – the bar gets raised a few notches every time we hear each other play. It’s a great for all of us and rids us of complacency. The best venues in Sydney are the ones giving original acts a stage to perform on despite their welldocumented obstacles with licensing and lockout laws. What: The Promised Land out now independently Where: Narrabeen Sands Hotel / The Record Crate When: Thursday March 24 / Friday April 8 xxx
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BRAG :: 654 :: 16:03:16 :: 33
brag beats dance music news club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Chris Martin, James Di Fabrizio and Joseph Earp
five things WITH ANDY
Remi
MURPHY Growing Up I’m told my father sang and 1. played guitar to me a lot while I was in the womb. He taught me my first instrument, guitar. My mother used to take me into reverberant spaces and ask me to sing, and then shower me with praise. Reflecting on it now, it’s strange to think that I thought I chose my own life path – maybe I was just responding to praise and certain stimuli. Inspirations My childhood was musically 2. omnivorous in a middle-of-the-road
REMI’S BACK FOR GOOD
Growing Up Whilst I’m not 1. from a super musical family, I remember my mum showing me a turntable whilst very young and this stuck with me. In my later years at school I rediscovered the turntable and a love of dance music, and in particular, mixing. Inspirations In the early 2. 2000s I remember hearing Daft Punk for the first time and was blown away by the French sound of ‘sampling’. This led to, and helped me, establish my love for all types of electronic music but in particular house music. Right now, I’m loving artists like Major Lazer, Boys Noize, Zhu and Format:B. Crew My first break 3. Your
as a DJ was playing alongside some of Australia’s best at the infamous Onelove nights in Melbourne and Sydney and touring following my mix of their compilation CD. It’s from here that I got into production, which pushed me to where I am now. I’m currently releasing music with Vicious Bitch but I have a couple of new music projects on the way including one with one of my favourite Aussie producers, Ivan Gough.
4.
The Music You Make And Play I don’t really like sticking to one genre and I tend to mix it up depending on where I am playing at the time. I consider myself quite a versatile DJ. That said, I have a strong love for house music. I love playing
my own tracks and often sneak in some of my upcoming productions. Music, Right Here, Right 5. Now The music scene in Australia is amazing with some of the best music in the world. Right now I’m loving stuff from RÜFÜS, Yolanda Be Cool, Motez and Peking Duk. It’s just unfortunate that our clubs and nightlife are going through some tough times, particularly in Sydney. I’m fortunate enough to play a lot in Melbourne where there is always something open and house music has again begun to thrive. Where: The Argyle When: Saturday March 19
introvert’s career; you have to give your life to frequencies. But my crew
A BIRTHDAY PICNIC
Rockwell
SHOW US YOUR GUNS
Shogun Audio will be dropping its 100th release this month, and to celebrate, it’s bringing a trio of heavyweights to our shores for a national tour. The touring bill, made up of London’s Rockwell, dance duo Technimatic, and up-and-comer Joe Ford, will play shows in all major cities before heading over to New Zealand. From March to June, Shogun will be spinning out four-track EPs from the artists on its label roster. The Shogun 100 tour will stop in at Manning Bar on Saturday March 26.
ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK SAFIA’S SECRET SHOWS
Back with their latest offering, ‘Make Them Wheels Roll’, the Safia crew have returned with a string of secret shows. The M.T.W.R. Tour will see Safia performing at non-traditional venues, offering fans a unique and intimate experience. These will be one-off shows in each city with no additional dates added. Selling out every one of their headline shows at the back end of 2015, they have supported Lorde and Disclosure, and played coveted slots at The Great Escape, Primavera Festival, SXSW, Falls Festival and Splendour In The Grass. They’ll be at a mystery location in Sydney on Friday May 27.
34 :: BRAG :: 654 :: 16:03:16
Your Crew I mix audio for film and 3. television during the day. It’s an
Hot Dub Time Machine is back with a one-night-only Sydney show. Coupling old-school scratching techniques, vinyl turntables and enormous customised visuals, Hot Dub Time Machine spins everything from ‘Rock Around The Clock’ to Nirvana and House Of Pain. Travelling the musical history books over the space of a single set, Tom Loud has played the likes of Splendour In The Grass, Falls Festival, Stereosonic, Groovin The Moo, Coachella and more. Loud and friends will be at the Enmore Theatre on Friday July 1.
Happy birthday to Picnic, happy birthday to you! One of the funkiest touring and events agencies around, Picnic, has announced a special gig to celebrate its eighth birthday. The event will be headlined by Japanese mastermind Soichi Terada, the man behind the Far East Recording label and a veritable legend in the house and dance scene. Rounding out the night will be talents like Adi Toohey, Andy Webb, Ben Fester and Kali, transforming the evening into a bumper night of festivities and unbeatable tunes. Picnic’s eighth birthday bash will hit the Jam Gallery in Bondi on Saturday March 19.
A FINAL SUMMER DANCE
Future Classic and the Museum of Contemporary Art have partnered up in order to announce their final Summer Dance of 2016, the FC Allstars Edition. The event will serve as the finale for their exceptional run of gigs this year, a summer series
PACING AROUND BEACH ROAD
of shows that has seen the likes of Sampa The Great and Roland Tings perform to sold-out crowds on the MCA rooftop. The event’s musical acts are yet to be announced, but given Future Classic’s exceptional roster, one can be sure that the evening will be one only a philistine would miss out on. The FC Allstars Edition hits the MCA rooftop on Sunday April 10.
GET DOWN WITH GIACOMOTTO
International DJ and charting producer Olivier Giacomotto is set to hit Sydney. Giacomotto is a proven player on the electronic music scene: during 2010, he scored eight top ten hit productions, moving up to become a notoriously in-demand producer and co-writer. Between the hits, the Frenchman has composed several tracks for internationally renowned artists, as well as regularly selling soundtracks for video games and Hollywood box office movies. Catch him at the Bridge Hotel on Saturday March 26.
Paces Courtney Act and Conchita Wurst photo by Jeffrey Feng Photography
Courtney Act and Conchita Wurst photo by Jeffrey Feng Photography
Safia
Melbourne rap wunderkind Remi and his collaborator Sensible J are back – and this time it’s for good. ‘For Good’, in fact, is the name of Remi’s new single, and it draws on both the success of his 2014 Australian Music Prize-winning record, Raw X Infinity, and a tangible Dilla influence. Remi has been guesting everywhere recently, but fans will be glad to have him back for themselves, with a show lined up at Newtown Social Club on Friday May 20. Man Made Mountain will play in support. Remi’s new album, Divas And Demons, will be out later in 2016.
type way, devouring my parents’ tastes – Paul Simon, Pink Floyd, K.D. Lang, Sting, popular stuff. Then into adolescence and a love of industrial, grunge and progressive rock, a relentless fascination with Trent Reznor and Maynard, and finally into adulthood with an enduring obsession with all the career phases of Röyksopp.
It’s another action-packed week ahead at the Beach Road Hotel, and the Bondi party people are sure to keep the surprises coming. Last week saw the Workaholics cast show up for some fun times, so who knows who’ll turn up next. As it happens, this Saturday March 19 sees the venue host a secret lineup for its Yours party, and we’re not game to guess who that might involve. In the meantime, triple j hitmaker Paces will headline Sosueme this Wednesday March 16 with support from Spenda C, while Bozo takes over Night Lyfe on Friday March 18.
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BRAG’s guide to dance, hip hop and club culture
five things WITH HAPTIC is the Surveillance Party. They are a mad bunch and seem to be intensifying and growing in number by the day. I am unspeakably proud of the peaceful, social, vibrant people we have with us now. I want 100 per cent self-expression for every one of them. The Music You Make And Play 4. As a vocalist I work mostly with European tech house labels like Sincopat, Suara and Stil Vor Talent. At live events I improvise experimental drum and bass using an open source instrument I built/ programmed/twisted over the course of five years, commonly known as a reactable. Music, Right Here, Right Now 5. Well, he is a labelmate but Xan Müller is a constant source of inspiration to me. I have him play on a lot of my DnB tracks and I don’t release anything without showing it to him first. He is very much my main ally
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and (lovingly) rival. Of course I’m also clearly admitting my bias here, but my favourite band in Sydney right now is No Illuminati. The first Surveillance Party they played at, I found the singer Cat frantically trying to learn her lyrics backstage before her set, and I thought, “Well this will be interesting.” Then mid-set they casually tore out out a cover of ‘99 Red Balloons’ in German (she doesn’t speak German). She’d gotten bored and
decided to switch languages on impulse. The crowd was just mesmerised, and the poor security guard lost his mind he was so besotted. What: Surveillance Party Radar With: No Illuminati, Mirella’s Inferno, Wonky, Xan Müller and more Where: Oxford Art Factory When: Saturday March 26
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club guide g
club picks p up all night out all week...
send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com
club pick of the week Soichi Terada
SATURDAY MARCH 19 Jam Gallery J
Xxx
Picnic 8th Birthday Soichi Terada + Adi Toohey + Andy Webb + More 9pm. $33. WEDNESDAY MARCH 16 CLUB NIGHTS Salsa Wednesdays - feat: DJ Miro + Special Guests The Argyle, The Rocks. 8:30pm. Free. Snapback - feat: Various Artists Newtown Hotel, Newtown. 8pm. Free. The Wall The World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. Free.
THURSDAY MARCH 17 CLUB NIGHTS
CLUB NIGHTS Argyle Fridays The Argyle, The Rocks. 6pm. Free. Bass Sessions - feat: Ohmage & Monako + Andosound + Loveless Bridge Hotel, Rozelle. 9pm. Free. Blvd Fridays - feat: L.A.M Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $13.40. Bondax & Friends feat: Bondax + Tcts Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 9pm. $39.70. Cult - feat: Maxxxyt + Laurence Vector + Xs.If + Special Guests Different Drummer, Glebe. 7pm. Free. El Loco Later - feat: DJs On Rotation Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills. 9pm. Free. 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 Plan B Small Club, Sydney. 10pm. Free. Fridays At Zeta Zeta Bar, Sydney. 9pm. Free. Guilty Pleasures - feat: DJ Sean Rowley Ivy Bar/Lounge,
36 :: BRAG :: 654 :: 16:03:16
SATURDAY MARCH 19 HIP HOP & R&B
Boathouse Saturdays - feat: Resident DJs The Watershed Hotel, Sydney. 9pm. $20. Grindin’ Presents A Tribute To The
90s - feat: Frenzie + Naiki + Krystel Diola + DJ Say Whut?! + Benny Hinn Play Bar, Surry Hills. 5pm. Free. Jordan F + At0lla + Nick Pes & Acid Stag + DJ Ardie Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 9:30pm. $10. R&B DJs By The Greens Marrickville Bowling Club, Marrickville. 4pm. Free.
CLUB NIGHTS 90s Mania - feat: Snap! + Corona + Culture Beat + C&C Music Factory + DJ Nick Skitz Big Top Sydney, Milsons Point. 7:30pm. $90.50. Argyle Saturdays - feat: Tass + TapTap + Minx + Crazy Caz The Argyle, The Rocks. 6pm. Free. Brenny B + Raye Antonelli + Brenny B + Raye Antonelli Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly. 6pm. Free. C.U Saturday - feat: Michelle Owen + Charles + Philip Kanis + Jac Frier + Kaiser Waldon Civic Underground, Sydney. 9pm. $15. El Loco Later - feat: DJs On Rotation Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills. 9pm. Free. Elysian + Vision Four 5 + Jumping Jack + Reaver + Mark Dynamix + Nik Fish + Eden +
SUNDAY MARCH 20 CLUB NIGHTS
90s Mania - feat: Snap! + Corona + C&C Music Factory
THURSDAY MARCH 17 Atolla + Rennan + Tashka Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $10.
FRIDAY MARCH 18 Bondax & Friends - Feat: Bondax + Tcts Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 9pm. $39.70. Guilty Pleasures - Feat: DJ Sean Rowley Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney. 9pm. $20. Moonsign + Lonelyspeck + No Stars + Gussy + Marcus Whale Red Rattler, Marrickville. 7pm. Free. The City Knock Off - Feat: DJ Just1 + King Lee + Samrai Taylor’s Social, Sydney. 5pm. Free.
SATURDAY MARCH 19 C.U Saturday - Feat: Michelle Owen + Charles + Philip Kanis + Jac Frier + Kaiser Waldon Civic Underground, Sydney. 9pm. $15. Elysian + Vision Four 5 + Jumping Jack + Reaver + Mark Dynamix + Nik Fish + Eden + Shade Manning Bar, Camperdown. 8pm. $29. Jordan F + At0lla + Nick Pes & Acid Stag + DJ Ardie Oxford Art Factory,
Darlinghurst. 9:30pm. $10. Lndry - Feat: Adana Twins + Benson + Groove Terminator + Friendless + Ludovic + Persian Rug + Offtapia + Cd Inc + Nes + DJ Just 1 + King Lee Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 9pm. $28. Scndl + Martin Garrix + Chuckie + Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike + Thomas Gold + Tom Swoon Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $15. Something Else - Feat: Pepperpot + Donald Leicester + James Petrou + Eliot Mireylees + Curtis & Dan + Bodywork + Bronx + Elijah Scadden + Harry Sanger Burdekin Hotel, Darlinghurst. 10pm. $16.50. The House Of Mince - Feat: Mr Ties + Tom Of England + Ben Drayton + Annabelle Gaspar + Noise In My Head Imperial Hotel, Erskineville. 9pm. $27.50.
SUNDAY MARCH 20 S.A.S.H By Day - Feat: Mike Witcombe + Kerry Wallace + Brendan Clay + Jackson Winter Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney. 2pm. $15. S.A.S.H By Night - Feat: Thomas Schumacher + Matt Aubusson + Robbie Cordukes + James Fazzolari + Carlos Zarate + Sam Roberts + Jaykay Unicorn + Rodean Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 9pm. $15. Pepperpot
Rooty Hill RSL Club, Rooty Hill. 8pm. $69. Beresford Sundays - feat: DJs On Rotation Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills. 3pm. Free. Escape Sundays Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach. 2pm. Free. S.A.S.H By Day - feat: Mike Witcombe + Kerry Wallace + Brendan Clay + Jackson Winter Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney. 2pm. $15. S.A.S.H By Night - feat: Thomas Schumacher + Matt Aubusson + Robbie Cordukes + James Fazzolari + Carlos Zarate
+ Sam Roberts + JayKay Unicorn + Rodean Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 9pm. $15. Shady Sundays Imperial Hotel, Erskineville. 5pm. Free. Sin Sundays The Argyle, The Rocks. 7pm. Free. Sunday Sundown - feat: Mansionair + Yuma X + CC:Disco The Newport, Newport. 3:30pm. Free. Sunday Sundowners - feat: Jimmi Walker + Mike O’Connor Daniel San, Manly. 3pm. Free. Tim Boffa + Minx + Ketami Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly. 4pm. Free.
MONDAY MARCH 21 CLUB NIGHTS Mashup Monday - feat: Resident DJs + DJ Thieves + Recess + OTG + Chivalry + More Side Bar, Sydney. 8pm. Free.
TUESDAY MARCH 22 CLUB NIGHTS
Coyote Tuesdays The World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. $10. Terrible Tuesdays Slyfox, Enmore. 6pm. Free.
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Xxx
Atolla + Rennan + Tashka Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $10. Discotheque 71 - feat: Pedrecal + Astronafrika + Tom Studdy + Walking Fish Zoo Project, Potts Point. 9pm. $5. Femme Fetale The Argyle, The Rocks. 6pm. Free. Mixed Tape - feat: DJs Hermann’s Bar, Darlington. 4pm. Free. The Thursday Jive - feat: Nukewood + And Friends Taylor’s Social, Sydney. 5pm. Free. XO Thursdays Mona Vale Hotel, Mona Vale. 9pm. Free.
FRIDAY MARCH 18
Sydney. 9pm. $20. 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. Marti Smith Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly. 8pm. Free. Moonsign + Lonelyspeck + No Stars + Gussy + Marcus Whale Red Rattler, Marrickville. 7pm. Free. Scubar Fridays - feat: DJs On Rotation Scubar, Sydney. 8pm. Free. Student DJs Hermann’s Bar, Darlington. 5pm. Free. The City Knock Off - feat: DJ Just1 + King Lee + Samrai Taylor’s Social, Sydney. 5pm. Free.
Shade Manning Bar, Camperdown. 8pm. $29. Foxlife - feat: Rabbit Taxi + Mesan Slyfox, Enmore. 10pm. $10. Frat Saturdays feat: DJ Jonski Side Bar, Sydney. 7:30pm. Free. Lndry - feat: Adana Twins + Benson + Groove Terminator + Friendless + Ludovic + Persian Rug + Offtapia + Cd Inc + Nes + DJ Just 1 + King Lee Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 9pm. $28. Masif Saturdays Space, Sydney. 10pm. $25. Mona Saturdays feat: Local DJs Mona Vale Hotel, Mona Vale. 9pm. Free. My Place Saturdays - feat: DJs On Rotation Bar100, The Rocks. 8pm. Free. Pacha - feat: Zac Waters Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney. 6:30pm. $32.80. Picnic 8th Birthday - feat: Soichi Terada + Adi Toohey + Andy Webb + Disco Delicious + Ben Fester + Hubert Clarke Jr + Jon Watts + Kali Jam Gallery, Bondi Junction. 9pm. $33. San Saturday Nights - feat: Jimmi Walker + Mike O’Connor Daniel San, Manly. 9pm. Free. Scndl + Martin Garrix + Chuckie + Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike + Thomas Gold + Tom Swoon Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $15. Scubar Saturdays - feat: DJs On Rotation Scubar, Sydney. 8:30pm. Free. Soda Saturdays Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 6pm. Free. Something Else feat: Pepperpot + Donald Leicester + James Petrou + Eliot Mireylees + Curtis & Dan + Bodywork + Bronx + Elijah Scadden + Harry Sanger Burdekin Hotel, Darlinghurst. 10pm. $16.50. The Beat Kitchen feat: Junya Kudo + Walking Fish + Xs.If Different Drummer, Glebe. 8:30pm. Free. The House Of Mince - feat: Mr Ties + Tom Of England + Ben Drayton + Annabelle Gaspar + Noise In My Head Imperial Hotel, Erskineville. 9pm. $27.50.
DRINK SPECIAL
10 COCKTAILS $
10PM -12AM FRI & SAT NIGHTS 199 ENMORE ROAD
BY DAY
W W W. S LY F O X . S Y D N E Y
BY NIGHT
Sunday 20th March Mike Witcombe Kerry Wallace (Birthday set)
Brendan Clay
Thomas Schumacher Matt Aubusson Robbie Cordukes James Fazzolari Carlos Zarate Sam Roberts JayKay Unicorn Rodean + more TBA
Jackson Winter
GREENWOOD HOTEL
HOME NIGHTCLUB 9pm to 4am
2pm to 10pm
www.sash.net.au thebrag.com
BRAG :: 654 :: 16:03:16 :: 37
snap
Off The Record
up all night out all week . . .
Dance and Electronica with Tyson Wray
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OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER
Aeroplane
VIEW FULL GALLERIES AT
:: ASHLEY MAR
RECOMMENDED FRIDAY MARCH 18 THURSDAY Bondax MARCH 24 Oxford Art Factory
Dennis Ferrer Civic Underground
SATURDAY MARCH 19
SATURDAY MARCH 26
Michelle Owen Civic Underground
Aeroplane Cargo Bar
Soichi Terada Jam Gallery
Mr. Ties, Tom Of England Imperial Hotel, Erskinville Pepperpot Burdekin Hotel
Vril Burdekin Hotel
FRIDAY APRIL 1 Lee Gamble Slyfox
SATURDAY APRIL 2 Francis Inferno Orchestra Burdekin Hotel
U
p for a nostalgia kick? Take a trip back to the late noughties when Aeroplane returns to Sydney later this month. Back then, the Belgian duo of Stephen Fasano and Vito De Luca were at the highest of heights (geddit?) in the nu-disco movement alongside the likes of Classixx, The Swiss and Grum. Since then, De Luca has been flying solo (geddit?!), having recently remixed the likes of Justin Timberlake’s ‘Suit And Tie’, Mystery Skulls’ ‘Paralyzed’ and Charli XCX’s ‘Boom Clap’. Enjoy your journey on Saturday March 26 at Cargo Bar. Check in, have your ticket ready, please do not bring any unnecessary baggage. Your co-pilots for the evening will be Set Mo, The Backhanderz, Kormak, Kara, Mash Posse and All Friends Crew. It’s been over six bloody years since Dennis Ferrer performed in Sydney, but thankfully the New York stalwart has locked in an intimate club show taking place next week. The Grammy-nominated producer has one of the deepest knowledge banks in the game when it comes to house music, and has been released on the likes of Defected, Toolroom, Strictly Rhythm and Get Physical. Don’t wait another six years to see the don; he’s currently in high demand for the biggest clubs and festivals around the globe. Catch him on Thursday March 24 at Civic Underground, supported by Kato, Persian Rug, Tyson Bruun, Lachie Simpson, Elijah Scadden, Harry Sanger, CD INC, Bronx, Tailor and Jackson Winter. OK. I’m not going to go into too much detail again because I gush in this column every time the Berlin-via-Melbourne DJ and producer finds time to swing into Sydney, but just so you know, Francis Inferno Orchestra will return on Saturday April 2 at the Burdekin Hotel. Support comes from Dreems, Dave Stuart,
Francis Inferno Orchestra Charades, Oscillate Darkly, Sheeeen and Josh Verdi. He’s about to jet back overseas so this’ll probably be your last chance to see him this year. Highly recommended homegrown talent. Some other killer local talent – one of our finest names Michelle Owen will play a headline show this weekend. Counting the likes of luminaries Chez Damier, Graeme Park, Ashley Beedle, Ian Pooley, Sasse and DJ T in her fan base, Owen has released on the likes of Moodmusic, Exploited and Dirt Crew, and has performed around the globe at Panorama Bar, Snowbombing Festival and 360 Bar alongside hosting her own quarterly event at Watergate in Berlin. She’ll come flanked by Charles, Philip Kanis, Jac Frier and Kaiser Waldon on Saturday March 19 at Civic Underground. Tour rumour: Canadian duo Bob Moses just made their Essential Mix debut; don’t be surprised to see a visit from them soon. Best releases this week: alright, we finally have our first guaranteed top ten fulllength of the year in Dorisburg’s Irrbloss (on Hivern Discs). It is, quite simply, phenomenal cosmic techno. I can’t turn the closer ‘Cirkla’ off repeat. Other highlights include Wolfey & Project Pablo’s Jervis Pump Station (Church) and Inhalants’ Deep Florida (L.I.E.S. 070). Also, if you’re in need of some warm-up inspiration for his gig this week, Soichi Terada has just released a killer podcast over on Resident Advisor.
Got any tip-offs, hate mail, praise or cat photos? Email hey@tysonwray.com or contact me via carrier pigeon. 38 :: BRAG :: 654 :: 16:03:16
s.a.s.h by day ft. san proper + vakula
PICS :: AM
xxxx
Dennis Ferrer
13:03:16 :: Greenwood Hotel :: 36 Blue Street North Sydney 9964 9477 thebrag.com
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$1499 $1499 $699 $699 $699
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PEAVEY CLASSIC 50 4X10 COMBO GUITAR AMP PEAVEY 430B 412 STRAIGHT CABINET PEAVEY 430A 412 SLANT CABINET PEAVEY VB 115 BASS CABINET PEAVEY TOUR700 BASS HEAD PEAVEY TOUR TKO 115 400W BASS COMBO PEAVEY AT-200 GUITAR CAR PEAVEY AT-200 GUITAR BLK PEAVEY ECOUSTIC 110 100W COMBO PEAVEY MILLENNIUM 4 TGE PE P PE PEAVEY HEADLINER 600W HEAD PEAVEY VALVEKING 412 SLANT CABINET PE PEAVEY BANDIT 112 100W COMBO PE PEAVEY VYPYR VIP 3 100W COMBO PE PEAVEY MAX112 200W BASS COMBO V2 PE PEAVEY MAX110 100W BASS AMP V2 PE PEAVEY SANPERA II FOOT CONTROLLER BLK PE PEAVEY ECOUSTIC E110 FOOT CONTROLLER PE PEAVEY RAGE 258 25W COMBO PE PEAVEY SANPERA I FOOT CONTROLLER BLK PE PEAVEY RAGE 158 15W COMBO PE
$2399 $1999 $1999 $1599 $1299 $1229 $1199 $1199 $999 $924 $799 $799 $759 $729 $669 $569 $499 $329 $319 $259 $249
$1899 $999 $999 $799 $999 $959 $599 $599 $799 $599 $449 $599 $599 $799 $519 $439 $389 $259 $239 $199 $179
21% OFF 50% OFF 50% OFF 50% OFF 23% OFF 22% OFF 50% OFF 50% OFF 20% OFF 35% OFF 44% OFF 25% OFF 21% OFF 32% OFF 22% OFF 23% OFF 22% OFF 21% OFF 25% OFF 23% OFF 28% OFF
ANNANDALE 55 Parramatta Rd 9517 1901 Parram www.gallinsmps.com.au
UNTIL SO LD OUT! !
The RRP is the recommended retail price as set by the Australian distributor of the product. While stocks last. Products pictured are for illustration purpose only.