Brag#661

ISSUE NO. 661 MAY 4, 2016

FREE Now picked up at over 1,600 places across Sydney and surrounds. thebrag.com

MUSIC, FILM, THEATRE + MORE

THIS GANG'S GOT THE GROOVE Plus

T W IN PE A K S

BOB MOSE S

IMOGEN CL A R K

CHOPPER

They've been down in heaven, and now they're aiming even higher.

Dance music that's about quality production, not bird noises.

Nashville was the source of inspiration for this Blue Mountains upstart.

Treading the line between fact, fiction and comedy.

C A MP C OPE A L L INDI A B A KCHOD M AT H A S BL A CK C A B MICK WA L L A ND MUCH MOR E

FRONTIER TOURING & NOVA PRESENT

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TS WITH SPECIAL GUES

(UK) E N N Y L GANDI PHOENIX JESS TH AND

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BRAG :: 661 :: 04:05:16 :: 3

rock music news

the BRAG presents

welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... with Gloria Brancatisano and James Di Fabrizio

OLD MAN LUEDECKE The Gaelic Club Wednesday May 11

five things WITH

Growing Up I can’t speak for the 1. other band members, but I got interested in playing music when a small group of friends played guitars at school and my friend’s mother, a music teacher, showed me how to finger-pick ‘Freight Train’ and gave me a book of traditional blues songs.

2.

Inspirations We’ve all been inspired by different influences spanning

MELBOURNE SKA ORCHESTRA

JANE BEAVER FROM STILLHOUSE UNION

three or more decades. I came to bluegrass and old-timey Americana through the music featured on the soundtrack to Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?, which led eventually to my association with the Bluegrass and Traditional Country Music Society of Australia (BTCMSA).

Your Band The current members of 3.

Stillhouse Union all met through the BTCMSA monthly gatherings

in Sydney, which enables musicians from rank beginners to the fabulously talented to play and learn from each other, often during the raucous jam sessions that can go well into the wee hours. Megan Legg is our vocalist and mandolin player.

Ben Thomas, also our vocalist, plays banjo three-finger style as well as clawhammer, and is the composer of most of our original material. Ben Seeto is on dobro and acoustic lead guitars, Peter Black on the U-bass, and I sing harmony and play fingerpicking rhythm guitar and have also started writing. We had the pleasure of being featured on the 2015 Best Of JMC Academy CD recording, but with lots of original material now, we hope to get into the recording studio again in the near future.

4.

The Music You Make The music we’re playing now features close harmonies

Manning Bar Friday May 13

telling tales of the road and rail, unrequited love, vengeance, redemption, hope and happiness in a collection of original songs inspired by classic bluegrass, modern Americana and the old-time traditional Appalachian sound.

PETER BJORN AND JOHN Metro Theatre Wednesday July 20

THE 1975 Sydney Olympic Park Saturday July 23

Music, Right Here, Right Now 5.

Sydney’s grassroots music

AT THE DRIVE-IN

scene seems to be overflowing at the moment with places such as Gasoline Pony, Petersham Bowling Club, Coogee Diggers and despite some iconic pubs closing, there’s still the Union Hotel, Songwriters Live at various venues around the city, and lots of small cafés and bars such as Yulli’s giving new and old artists the opportunity to share their talents.

Enmore Theatre Sunday July 24

JAKE BUGG State Theatre Tuesday July 26

SAD GRRRLS FEST Feat: Le Pie, Coda Conduct, Twin Caverns + more Factory Floor Saturday October 8

Where: The Gasoline Pony When: Thursday May 5

Deströyer 666 photo by Ester Segarra

The Cure

MANAGING EDITOR: Chris Martin chris@thebrag.com 02 9212 4322 ONLINE EDITOR: James Di Fabrizio SUB-EDITOR: Sam Caldwell STAFF WRITERS: Joseph Earp, Adam Norris, Augustus Welby NEWS: Gloria Brancatisano, James Di Fabrizio, Keiren Jolly, Amy Henderson, Zanda Wilson

Tegan & Sara

ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant COVER PHOTO: Ian Laidlaw PHOTOGRAPHERS: Katrina Clarke, Ashley Mar

BACK IN YOUR LAND

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, Zanda Wilson, Keiren Jolly, Amy Henderson REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Nat Amat, Prudence Clark, Tom Clift, Anita Connors, 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 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

CLOSE TO THE CURE

Five years since their last Australian appearance, The Cure will make their long-awaited return with an arena show as part of a jaunt Down Under for Splendour In The Grass.

Robert Smith and co. are currently in rehearsals for the tour, which will see them dip into a discography that stretches back over 37 years – including both deep cuts and hits. Catch their Sydney sideshow at Quodos Bank Arena – formerly Allphones Arena – on Monday July 25.

BRANDY’S BEGGIN’

Grammy-winning performer Brandy will be hitting Sydney on her first-ever Australian tour, after releasing a new track ‘Beggin & Pleadin’ in January.

Her 1994 debut self-titled album is considered a classic to this day, and the five that followed – Never Say Never, Full Moon, Afrodisiac, Human and Two Eleven – have seen her work with the likes of Frank Ocean and Kanye West. The sister of Ray J and cousin of Snoop Dogg, Brandy and her brand of pop music has touched on everything from R&B to gospel, soul and hip hop.

See her play the Enmore Theatre on Monday June 20.

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THE BRAG

4 :: BRAG :: 661 :: 04:05:16

Ladyhawke AKA Pip Brown has announced a return to Australian shores for her first tour in three years. It comes in support of her forthcoming album, Wild Things, slated for a Friday June 3 release. The first single lifted from the album is ‘A Love Song’, which has been turning heads since it dropped in March.

Wild Things is Brown’s first full-length release since her 2012 sophomore Anxiety. Catch her at Oxford Art Factory on Friday July 15.

Brandy

REID MY LIPS

Sydney rock’n’rollers Reidemeister are gearing up to launch their newest single this Saturday May 7 at Frankie’s Pizza. The four-piece have doing the local rounds of late, recently killing it at The Hideaway Bar’s monthly event, Slam!

‘Ride On’ is the new single from Reidemeister, and it’ll be launched with an early show supported by Bad Moon Born and Kvlts Of Vice.

NOT USED UP YET

Utah rockers The Used have locked in two special Sydney shows, performing two of their classic albums over two nights. The first gig on Friday December 2 will see the iconic group perform their 2002 self-titled debut album in full, followed by the performance of it’s followup, 2004’s In Love And Death, on Saturday December 3. The shows have been billed as a “once-in-a-lifetime” chance for fans wanting a night of sweet Used nostalgia. See it all go down at the Enmore Theatre.

THE RŸCHE TIME

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LADYHAWKE LOVE SONG

As the Splendour sideshows continue to roll out, seminal Canadian duo Tegan & Sara have locked in a headline Sydney show. Performing tracks from their forthcoming album Love You To Death, the band will also be drawing from their widely loved previous records. Love You To Death marks the sisters’ eighth studio album, and once again saw them working with producer Greg Kurstin (Adele, Sia, Beck, Ellie Goulding). They’ll play the Metro Theatre on Tuesday July 26.

US heavy metal legends Queensrÿche have announced their return to Australia for the first time in nearly a decade, this time with a new frontman in full stead. Todd La Torre has taken on vocal duties for the group since the June 2012 sacking of original singer Geoff Tate.

Having sold over 30 million albums around the world over the course of their storied career, Queensrÿche’s revitalised lineup has continued with widespread touring to much acclaim. They’ll play Saturday October 15 at Manning Bar.

Deströyer 666

HELL’S SATANS

Black thrash metal outfit Deströyer 666 have announced their return to Australia for a run of national shows this November. The Melbourneborn, Europe-based four-piece have unleashed five LPs and two EPs across their 22-year career, cementing a strong reputation within the metal community. Their most recent release, Wildfire, dropped in February this year to widespread acclaim. Deströyer 666 take over Manning Bar on Saturday November 5.

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BRAG :: 661 :: 04:05:16 :: 5

live & local

free stuff

welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... with Chris Martin, Keiren Jolly and Gloria Brancatisano

head to: thebrag.com/freeshit

songwriters’ secrets WITH

OLD MAN LUEDECKE

same town a few years before. I’m still with the girl but we live in Nova Scotia now. I revisited it for this album because it hasn’t been on a record you could have until now, but is a popular tune at gigs.

The First Song I Wrote The first song I wrote was 1. about stealing a duck from the Public Gardens in Halifax for Christmas dinner. I can still play it, but wouldn’t. ‘Yodelady’, the first cut on my latest record Domestic Eccentric, is one of my oldest songs and the first songwriting eureka moment. I stayed home sick from work to write it in Dawson City, Yukon. I wrote it about the yodel that escaped from my sexual chakra when I fell in love in the

written yet and are unique in lyric.

People are better and smarter than our songwriting culture would have us write to. My stuff is my own life made a little grander and more universal, though this makes me a weirdo and non-conformist somehow.

The Song That Makes Me Proud 4.

My favourite song has almost the least lyrics. ‘Wait A While’ from Domestic Eccentric is not my biggest hit – I don’t have those particularly – but it does tap into the river of the music I love in a new way. I play it on a fretless gourd banjo and I loved the live recording of it with swampy African-sounding guitar and West

African percussion when we made it in the snowy woods in Nova Scotia. It was a great groove to hang out in.

KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD

King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard are back. As if they’d ever really gone. Nonagon Infinity is, quite incredibly, the fourth album in 18 months and the eighth full-length release in the band’s four-year history. Stu Mackenzie and co. span musical styles from psych rock to artful experimentalism and freaky beats, and the new nine-song collection has been crafted as an “infinitely looping” record – that is, each track flows seamlessly into the next, and the final track connects back to the start of the opener.

Hell, you could have this one on the stereo permanently… at least until their next album, anyway.

5.

The Song That Changed My Life ‘Closing Time’ by Leonard Cohen has been a good friend for a long time. Since I was in high school.

Great lyrics and melody. It is the kinda song that values intelligence but it also has dumb jokes in it. It is witty and sexy and spiritual and has the dangerous nightlife that attracted me to the music of the night in the first place.

Where: Domestic Eccentric out now through True North/ Planet Where: The Gaelic Club When: Wednesday May 11

xx

2.

The Last Song I Released My latest song is called ‘The Early Days’ from the same record.

I recorded it at home in a cabin in the woods behind my house that I built by hand. It’s about how fast the insane time when you have babies goes. It’s funny and sad. We had identical twin girls and a year and a half later another girl, so the last five years are a blur. The album is really about this special time and being someone who is forever coming and going. The song took longer than most to write but has a singable chorus and a lot of vignettes of the baby days.

Songwriting Secrets I’m just always trying to 3. write songs that haven’t been

Nonagon Infinity is out now through Flightless/Remote Control, and we’ve got three CD copies to give away. Enter the draw at thebrag.com/freeshit. xx

Hinds

The Tambourine Girls

HEY, MISTER TAMBOURINE GIRL

If you’ve seen The Preatures or Megan Washington in recent years, you may have also witnessed support sets from former Deep Sea Arcade member Simon Relf’s new project, The Tambourine Girls. Now, the band has announced its first official show of 2016 to accompany the release of new single ‘Police’. The track offers a snapshot of the band’s upcoming album, with the Friday May 13 launch show at Oxford Circus serving as a warm-up for a future touring schedule.

REACHING THEIR PEAKS Le Pie

Having previously announced their debut national tour, Twin Peaks are back at it with new music and some hand-picked supports for their forthcoming shows. Their latest single, ‘Butterfly’, arrives as the second offering from their third

THE SMALLEST POP-UP BAR

Bondi’s famous Beach Road Hotel has announced a collection of gigs and events for this May, including the opening of a tiny pop-up bar. If you’re lucky enough to get a foot in the door, Monkey Shoulder Whiskey has set up ‘The World’s Smallest Bar’ – a wooden installation housing drinks and cocktails, including Monkey Shoulder’s Jungle Juice and the Monkey Shoulder Old Fashioned. With a maximum capacity of ten people at a time, the custom-built bar kicks off Wednesday May 4 and remains open each Wednesday, Friday and Saturday throughout May. This Wednesday will also see Hinds fly over from Spain to perform a free gig with Wild Honey and Baytek. GG Magree will fill your Saturday May 7 party needs from 6pm, with Friday May 6 and Sunday May 8 hosting the regular Friday Party Syd and See You Sundays events, respectively. And it’s free entry to all.

album and follows on from the groove-fronted ‘Walk To The One You Love’. The album itself was made by a murky lake in western Massachusetts, where the band members could experiment and record on their own terms in the warm living room of a good friend’s house. It was recorded

Surry Hills Festival

SAD GRRRLS CLUB

Australia’s largest female-fronted music festival, Sad Grrrls Club, is bringing the joy to Sydney this year. The event is the brainchild of Rachel Maria Cox, a Sydney artist who identifies as genderqueer, and says: “Sad Grrrls Fest is as much about the audience as it is the people up onstage. Music needs to be safe and inclusive for people of all genders, sexual orientations, races, religions and socio-economic status if we want to really make meaningful change to representation by the numbers.” Cox’s vision will be reflected by a mighty fine lineup at the Factory Floor on Saturday October 8, featuring Le Pie, Coda Conduct, Twin Caverns, Missing Children, Julia Why?, DJ Claire Knight, Bad Bitch Choir and many more.

BE THE NEXT BIG THING

A former leading venue on the Sydney live music scene, Paddo RSL, is relaunching its program of entertainment with the NSW Battle Of The Bands beginning next month. The beloved Paddo RSL, which once hosted gigs by Australian rock legends INXS and Hunters And Collectors, has provided a boost to the local music scene by announcing its return in a climate otherwise dominated by venue closures. And to prove its grassroots credentials, Paddo RSL is inviting up-and-coming stars to perform on its revamped program. Band competition prizes include $5,000 cash, a recording and production package, a $1,000 equipment voucher, support slots with major acts and more. The finals series heats and the state final will be held inside the venue’s famous showroom. Meanwhile, the heats will cover regions around the state. First round entries are closing soon, with the finals series to begin on Sunday May 22. Visit sydneybattleofthebands. com.au for more info.

I’LL HAVE WHAT SHIHAD

A SURRY SIGHT TO SEE

Surry Hills Festival, the annual celebration of all the things to love about the coolest suburb on the inner city’s doorstep, has confirmed its 2016 return. 50,000 people are expected to take part in the big day at locations around Surry Hills, from Ward Park to Shannon Reserve and Crown Street to Hill Street. The festival includes not only live music, but also family-friendly events spanning art, fine food and local business. Applications are open now until Friday June 3 for performers and local businesses to be involved. Surry Hills Festival 2016 will take place on Saturday September 24. For more information on participating, visit surryhillsfestival.org.

For the first time since their 2014 tour, Shihad will take to stages around the country this June and July. This year is extra special for the Kiwi rockers, celebrating the 20th anniversary of their self-titled album, a record now affectionately known as ‘The Fish Album’. Expect to hear tracks from it, as well as the rest of their whopping 28-year back catalogue, when Shihad will take over the Factory Theatre on Friday July 15 with Grenadiers. They also play Pigsty In July in the Hunter Valley on Saturday July 2. thebrag.com

xxx

6 :: BRAG :: 661 :: 04:05:16

on reel-to-reel with the band learning studio tricks on the fly. In support of their new album, Down In Heaven, Twin Peaks will be playing a raucous Sydney show joined by Wax Witches and Wild Honey. Catch them at Oxford Art Factory on Tuesday May 10.

GUARANTEED TO BLOW YOUR MIND! SYDNEY LYRIC THEATRE NOW PLAYING

Book at wewillrockyou.com.au thebrag.com

BRAG :: 661 :: 04:05:16 :: 7

Industrial Strength Music Industry News with Christie Eliezer

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THINGS WE HEAR • Which prominent music mogul ended up in hospital after a fall at his home – and was sternly told not to turn his bed into a working table? • Which nightclub operator’s pet macaw caused consternation when she escaped again and had to be rescued by a good Samaritan? • Which celebs are saying they “turned downâ€? the roles of judges for a reality TV series – but weren’t actually asked? • In a look at the Top 50 Most Influential People in Australian radio, triple j’s national content director Chris Scaddan was ranked at number 16, up from number 36 last year. • Tinie Tempah, La Roux and Foxes have cameos in Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, due midyear. • Weezer say they’ll be here in January 2017. • Century Venues, owner of the Enmore, Metro, Vanguard, Comedy Store, Factory and Fusebox, is restoring Newcastle’s Victoria Theatre – which it bought last year – into a 1,200-capacity contemporary music, dance and comedy venue. • In other venues news: the East Village in Darlinghurst is now owned by Locky Paech and James Bodel of Goodtime Hospitality, and will reopen next spring after a renovation ‌ GPT Group has put up the

NINE AUSSIE LABELS ATTENDING INDIE WEEK IN NYC The Australian Independent Record Labels Association (AIR), Sounds Australia and the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA) have teamed up again to lead a delegation at the American Association of Independent Music’s Indie Week in New York from Monday June 13 – Friday June 17. Attending are ABC Music, Barely Dressed Records, Bedlam Records, Chugg Music, Cooking Vinyl Australia, Hillsong Music Australia, HopeStreet Recordings, Onelove Recordings Australia, Rice Is Nice Records, Solitaire Recordings, The A&R Dept. and Zero Through Nine. Last year, 850 indie label execs from 15 countries and 24 states attended.

EMBASSY MUSIC APPOINTS DENISE SHARP

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Music publishing licensing professional Denise Sharp has joined Embassy Music Publishing/Music Sales Australia as creative director. Sharp started her career at Dirty Pool Agency (Cold Chisel, The Angels, Icehouse) before going on to spend the last two decades managing the licensing department of MCA Music Publishing, which became Universal Music Publishing. Rob Scott has left the company to focus on his own music publishing business, Source Music.

CITY OF SYDNEY WANTS YOUNGER MUSIC/ARTS FANS The City Of Sydney is investigating a “theatre passport� scheme where unsold seats at music, theatre and dance performances can be filled with school students for as little as $10 to give them access to culture.

It is seeking proposals that draw on new or emerging technologies to bring venues, ticketing agencies and young audiences together while keeping ticket prices down.

Two proposals will be chosen, and one will get seed funding to get its idea into the market by 2017. Proposals are due by Tuesday May 17 – see www.tenderlink. com/cityofsydney.

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OPTUS DATA DEAL FOR MUSIC STREAMERS From this week, Optus will no longer count data from streaming music services like iHeartRadio, Spotify, Google Play Music, Pandora and Guvera against its prepaid customersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; data cap. Not all services are covered, with the exceptions notably including Apple Music. The change is part of Optusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; further move into music, which includes partnerships with Universal Music and iHeartRadio.

BALANCE YOUR CREATIVE AND PERSONAL LIVES Well known music and events publicist Viv Fantin has launched a new coaching business for people in the creative industries.

Having received her coach registration, sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s working with individuals and small groups of performers and arts workers on areas like goal-setting, stress management, productivity, time management and work/life

site of Wollongongâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s jazz-supporting Humber Bar for sale. However, the Crown Street club will continue, with operators allowed to lease it until January 2022 with a five-year option â&#x20AC;Ś The Terminus Hotel in Pyrmont, closed since 1984, changed hands for $5 million. â&#x20AC;˘ Going viral is the angry emergency call

by Kid Rock for an ambulance after his PA was found dead from a car accident on his property. â&#x20AC;˘ Jimmy Pageâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Black Beauty guitar, stolen at an airport in April 1970, has been returned to its owner. Meanwhile Led Zeppelin have been told they can settle the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Stairway To Heavenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; lawsuit for $1 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and a co-writing credit for Spiritâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Randy California. â&#x20AC;˘ North Byron Parklands, home of Splendour In The Grass, can now stage more regular small events of up to 2,000 people for school and community organisations. â&#x20AC;˘ Australian documentary Punks For West Papua is up for its fourth US gong, last week selected for the LA Independent Film Festival Awards. â&#x20AC;˘ A Deezer survey of 1,000 Britons under 25 found they were more likely to identify Justin Bieberâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lyrics than famous Shakespearean lines such as â&#x20AC;&#x153;To be, or not to beâ&#x20AC;?. â&#x20AC;˘ A request by Splendour In The Grass on its website not to bring Wicked Campers to its site due to the sexually explicit slogans on the vehicles has barrelled into a campaign balance, all through her company Next Act Coaching. Fantin tells the BRAG that sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s worked a number of gigs in her 25 years in the business, and hence knows how to tackle issues so creatives can work happily and productively. Visit nextactcoaching.com.au for details. Fantin will continue with her Fantin Comes Alive publicity firm in a reduced capacity, working with clients like APRA and North Byron Parklands.

NEW SIGNINGS #1: CHECKED LABEL & KOBALT New South Wales-based Checked Label Services (CLS) owners Drew Doran and Will Osland have signed a worldwide administrative publishing agreement with indie powerhouse Kobalt Music Publishing (KMP). The deal covers the works of artists and writers signed to CLS Publishing globally.

CLS, CLS Publishing and WJO Australia have grown in the eight years to now oversee 15,000 works from genres including pop, country, K-pop and Christian. They expect this number to double in 2016/17 as they expand staffing into other territories and finalise data management agreements with new labels globally.

NEW SIGNINGS #2: BE LIKE CHILDREN & SIMONE GIERTZ Sydney-based management group Be Like Children has signed social media hero, Swedish inventor and robotics enthusiast Simone Giertz to global management. BLC director Luke Girgis says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Simone is a brilliant inventor and hilarious on-screen and off-screen talent, I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wait to announce the big projects we have coming.â&#x20AC;?

NEW SIGNINGS #3: ELEFANT TRAKS & OKENYO The mysterious Okenyo has signed with Elefant Traks, releasing new single â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;10 Feet Tallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, produced with Badcop, and a video with Josh Harris. Okenyo, described in the UK as â&#x20AC;&#x153;equal parts Frank Ocean, Grace Jones and M.I.A.â&#x20AC;?, bowed last year with single â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Just A Storyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and this year issued the triple j and community radio fave â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Second Heartbeatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; with labelmate Urthboy and Sampa The Great.

NEW SIGNINGS #4: 123 & EVANGELINE 123 Agency has added Melbourne dark electropop purveyor Evangeline â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a triple j face with tracks like â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Chemicvlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;My Kingdomâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, which have had 2.5 million streams. She has a free show on Friday June 17 at The World Bar.

NEW SIGNINGS #5: ALEX CAMERON & SECRETLY CANADIAN On the eve of an 18-date UK/European tour that starts in London on Thursday May 5, Sydney electropop muso Alex Cameron has joined the roster of Indiana-based label Secretly Canadian. It is home to Ben Abraham, Anohni and The War On Drugs.

Cameron is part of a duo with his business partner, sax player Roy Molloy, and released a new track â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

by others to have them banned in two shires, and now the state of NSW (although Premier Mike Baird has refused to do so). â&#x20AC;˘ It looks like pill testing at music festivals will take place this summer, but not in NSW. Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation president Alex Wodak and Canberra physician David Caldicott, who initiated the idea and moved it forward with crowdsourced funding, ran into a wall with the NSW Premier and police. However, Caldicott told the Sydney Morning Herald that talks have begun with other states, where the police and governments are â&#x20AC;&#x153;sympatheticâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;interestedâ&#x20AC;?, and that ecstasy will be the drug to be tested at sites this year. â&#x20AC;˘ The Australian Road Crew Association (ARCA) held its second Melbourne reunion with 180 guests flying in from all around the country. ARCA provided each one with a list of contacts for all its members in case they had a need for a late-night talk. Interestingly, such was their status that all the road crew members from the â&#x20AC;&#x2122;60s sat at their own table and no-one dared approach them! â&#x20AC;˘ Onstage collaborations at Groovin The Mooâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s South Australian stop were Remi and heavy rockers In Hearts Wake, then Remi and electronic duo The Meeting Tree with The Rubens. Later Safia and Alison Wonderland hooked up for â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Take It To Realityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. â&#x20AC;˘ Apple Music now has 13 million users, less than a year after it launched.

NEW SIGNINGS #6: NICHE & BUOY Sydney electronic act Buoy is now repped for bookings by Niche Entertainment. Buoy has gained airplay in Australia, UK and the US, and her live shows use her jazz pianist training to create piano, vocals, synths and percussion builds. Her forthcoming Break EP was preceded by the single â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Clouds & Rainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

NEW SIGNINGS #7: DRO CAREY & SOOTHSAYER Perth-born and Sydney-based house, grime and electronica producer Dro Carey (Eugene Ward) is the second signing to new Mushroom imprint Soothsayer, after Roland Tings. His Dark Zoo EP is out on Friday May 20. Lead single â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Queensberry Rulesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; features Perthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s KuÄ?ka.

Lifelines Divorcing: US record producer Phil Spector, currently serving 19 years to life for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson, is divorcing his wife of ten years Rachelle.

In Court: an attendee of Groovin The Moo in Canberra faced the ACT Magistrates Court on charges he assaulted a security guard who asked him to leave the site.

In Court: a drunk who bit flesh off a bouncer who was trying to throw him out at Adelaideâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Casablabla nightclub, and did the same to another patron who helped, was spared jail on condition he obeyed his mother for the next 18 months.

Sued: Las Vegas metal band Five Finger Death Punch by their record label Prospect Park for starting work on a new album.

The label says the band is â&#x20AC;&#x153;shamelessly attempting to cash in before the anticipated downfall of their addicted bandmateâ&#x20AC;?.

Died: influential Congolese soukous rock singer Papa Wemba, after collapsing onstage at 66. He inspired the Sapeurs, whose members were young males who spent a huge amount of money on designer clothes.

Died: US soul singer Billy Paul, best known for 1972 number one single â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Me And Mrs. Jonesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, aged 81. He was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Died: US cinematographer Donald E. Thorin, 81, whose work on Princeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Purple Rain drew great acclaim. He also worked on such films as An Officer And A Gentleman and Scent Of A Woman.

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MELBOURNE SKA ORCHESTRA A WHOLE CHUNK OF FUNK

BY ADAM NORRIS

N

icky Bomba is a man cut from unique cloth.

He has toured the world for decades under various guises, and his passion for performance (not to mention his unrestrained enthusiasm in conversation) quite honestly has to be seen to be believed; the guy is a powder keg. Yet as captain of the Melbourne Ska Orchestra, Bomba shares the stage with anywhere from 14 to 35 other sharply dressed players, and he couldn’t be happier. Following their self-titled debut in 2013, the stars have at last aligned, and the MSO are back with Sierra-Kilo-Alpha.

“You’ve hit the nail on the head.

Ska is about community, it’s about hope, danger, and fun. It’s all those things,” says Bomba.

“With ska, you have to take a bit of a risk. It was born of the independence of Jamaica in 1962, and that was an incredible time.

Finally they were going to be self-sufficient, it was an exciting time, and ska was synonymous with that. The Skatalites were the main band then. They played interesting solos, interesting chord formations. There was a lot of fantastic complexity.

“I was already playing reggae and dancehall and rocksteady anyway, so embracing ska was embracing the roots of everything I knew. So from a songwriting perspective in the band, this album opened things up even more. Everything was on the table, every idea.

[We agreed,] ‘Let’s try and make everything work.’ I think as the

Should you have been fortunate enough to have caught one of the band’s live shows over the last few years, Bomba’s words will come as no surprise. Rarely will you fi nd such packed crowds on their feet, dancing with benign energy.

Melbourne Ska Orchestra have found accolades both at home and abroad (Pauline Black, singer of ska revival band The Selecter, praised them in our interview last year), and their momentum seems certain to keep the dream alive.

After the uncertainty of launching such a cumbersome act – multiple musicians, numerous instruments – it must seem a relief to know that the band has found some stability.

“I don’t think relief is the word. I think more… amazement,” Bomba laughs. “It’s not like we were trying to achieve any commercial success. Any songwriter would love to have a hit record that is played for everybody and ensures an audience. A lot of bands have one hit song and try and build a career on just that. If one of our songs became a hit, our profi le would grow a lot more, sure – we’d be able to do more performances at a better fee, so we just wouldn’t need to worry too much about

all those fi nancial concerns.

That’d be a beautiful thing. But underneath it all is a love of music. The band couldn’t be what it is without that.

“The first album was really a collection of that whole time together, having a lot of time to work on the songs and tour them around. It was a refl ection of what our world was then, and sneaking in covers that had our own twist.

This new album is, ‘OK, we’ve made a footprint here – now we can just do more of the same, or we can take it a step further.’ A lot of famous bands make their own sound by not copying style, not just looking at the charts to see what One Direction are doing.

We’d never do that. But you do want to be able to be heard on the same playing fi eld. So we spent more time mixing and mastering, we spent more time making sure that the ideas translated a lot stronger. It wasn’t just a ska lovers’ album. It would be an album that has a wider appeal. “‘Funkchunk!’ is a perfect example of that. Going through that whole process – well, we love all these songs, but it’s hard to see the forest for the trees. So we put ‘Funkchunk!’ out there for feedback, and it was incredible!

That, if you like, is an exercise in playing the commercial game. You want your work to be appreciated and reach as many people as possible.”

It has been a long but thrilling road for Bomba and co. Sierra-KiloAlpha is the work of a band firing

“GO BACK TO THE EARLIEST ROOTS OF MUSIC AND IT’S ABOUT CELEBRATING A MARRIAGE OR A BIRTH, OR SOMEONE IS RETURNING FROM A HUNT. MUSIC IS CELEBRATION AND COMMUNITY.” 10 :: BRAG :: 661 :: 04:05:16

at its collective creative peak, but that isn’t to imply Melbourne Ska Orchestra have nowhere to go but down. There is always another mountain to climb, another ocean of sound this gregarious captain and his larger-than-life crew might sail.

“2003 was when the band started, but it was only as a celebration of ska,” says Bomba. “That year was the 40th anniversary of when Millie Small came out with ‘My Boy Lollipop’, which put ska on the map.

The six or seven years after that, nothing really happened with the band. It was really just a tribute band that would come together once a year, but in 2009 I managed to find a festival spot in Queenscliff, and we changed tactics there.

We started putting a better show together, and on that show, we actually got offered a recording contract to do ska covers, and I said, ‘No – we’re writing original songs, and that’ll be the album.’ In the end, we released it on the 50th anniversary of ska in 2013.

“I pinch myself, but also give a gentle pat on the back for everyone in the band. We all knew there was something interesting there, there was potential, and we all committed to seeing where it would go. The more we play, the more we get together, we realise with the musical talent in this band, we could go anywhere. I’m excited about the next five years. Who knows the things we might do?”

What: Sierra-Kilo-Alpha out now through ABC With: Hot Potato Band Where: Manning Bar When: Friday May 13 And: Also appearing at The Grand Arch, Jenolan Caves on Saturday May 14

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Melbourne Ska Orchestra photo by Ian Laidlaw

“I think there’s a beautiful core, this great scene,” he says refl ectively. “This new album is a great example of how we wanted to experiment with the ska form and really dig deep. It’s just a matter of having planted a lot of seeds, and now we need to nurture them as we sow more.

It doesn’t happen without any planning. The shows have to be good, your new songs have to be something different to what you’ve done before. It will always evolve. Any musician who is in it for longer than ten or 15 years, bands will develop, members will come and go, styles morph into something else, but that’s part of the joy as well. It’s not a static thing, and I fi nd that incredibly exciting.”

Their latest single, the splendidly titled ‘Funkchunk!’, fi nds the band in epic, theatrical form, yet the first single from Sierra-Kilo-Alpha, ‘Satellite’, resonates most strongly with the soul of the Melbourne Ska Orchestra. With an outfi t so large, it is no simple task to ensure that each member can feel they are contributing equally. But as ‘Satellite’ – and indeed, the album overall – demonstrates, this is a beast with many faces.

captain, if you like, seeing that sense of family and feeling that love is really what the band is all about – it’s what music is all about! Go back to the earliest roots of music and it’s about celebrating a marriage or a birth, or someone is returning from a hunt. Music is celebration and community.”

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BRAG :: 661 :: 04:05:16 :: 11

Twin Peaks River Deep, Mountain High By Matthew Galea music the band releases has been entirely created and conceptualised by the members themselves, or at the very least, with the support of a trusted producer. Anything less than co-producing an album was never an option.

“The way that your record sounds is the most important thing – it’s like a work of art,” says James.

“I’ve always been into the sonic aesthetic of a record and perfection has always been a big deal for me, so it’d be very tough for us to give it up to someone else, even if they’re qualified. If you haven’t worked with someone before and they just blindly go into producing your record, that is a scary thing, so we’ve always wanted to keep control of it.”

“W

e’re just doing our thing, rocking and rolling,” says Twin Peaks singer/ guitarist Cadien Lake James as the band makes its way to Paris. With two critically acclaimed albums under their belt and an impressive tour history (including festival appearances at SXSW, Pitchfork and Lollapalooza), the boys have evolved from the high school students who formed the band back in 2009. Now on the verge of releasing their third record, Twin Peaks have given an ode to where they’ve come from and where they’re going with the paradoxical title of their upcoming album, Down In Heaven.

“We made the record when we were in a good position in our

lives,” says James. “We were travelling the world, breaking even finally and in a really blessed position for dudes who started at 18 and wanted to be in a band. So being able to get there, you could say, is like being in heaven – but we’re still having to deal with a lot of the same issues, and shit still gets you down, and life can still be a bitch, so it’s kind of a duality of it, and ‘Down In Heaven’ is a cheeky, sarcastic way to put it.”

Remaining true to the Chicago DIY scene from which the band emerged, the latest album was entirely written and recorded by the boys themselves, and co-produced with their friend and long-time collaborator R. Andrew Humphrey in his living room.

“The recording process was really relaxing,” James says. “We were living it up at our friend’s plush estate, in a nice big house on the lake. It was like, instead of clocking in at a studio, you’d wake up late in the day and when you’re not recording, you could go for a hike, write or just hang out, and just come in and play your parts when you need to. It was a much more organic and natural way to be recording and writing stuff. It was 20 times better than any way we’ve been able to record and make music before.”

In their eight years together, Twin Peaks have always been adamant about having a firm hand in the musical process from start to finish.

Fans can rest assured that any

Citing legends like The Beatles, The Stooges and The Rolling Stones as their inspirations, the vintage feel of Twin Peaks’ music is an intentional throwback to their rock forefathers.

“I hope we inspire people, especially younger fans, to go back and dig through some records that might have influenced these ones,” James says. “It’s funny because I’m influenced by a lot of classic rock shit nowadays, like being a Stones fan, but I didn’t really start listening to them until two or three years ago – I didn’t necessarily grow up with them. So I hope it gets people into older stuff and really, I hope people enjoy it.”

For a group of friends who started young and traded studying for the stage, the boys exhibit wisdom beyond their years and a work ethic to be applauded. But what do they credit as the key to their

success? Camaraderie. One that is rooted in their passion for and commitment to what they do.

“It’s sort of a musicians’ record, and I think a large part of that is that it’s been at least two years since we recorded the last record, and we’ve just played so much since then and got so much tighter as a band, and we’re a lot more aware of everyone’s strengths and our roles as musicians, so it feels a little bit more intentional and cohesive.

“I mean, here we are still doing it happily together and making it work,” James adds. “But you know, the road can be trying and people have this vision of it as like a very glamorous, wild lifestyle while on tour, but it takes a lot of energy mentally and physically. But we get along well because some of the guys have known each other their whole lives. We’re very used to each other and we know each other’s boundaries well. It’s a marriage.”

Twin Peaks are hitting Aussie shores for the first time in May, coinciding with their album release, and as a country, our reputation precedes us.

“Most bands I’ve talked to that have been to Australia have said that it’s the coolest place, so we’re super excited to see what it’s like!” says James. “We hope that we have really good shows and get to soak up some of the culture.”

What: Down In Heaven out Friday May 13 through Communion/Caroline Where: Oxford Art Factory When: Tuesday May 10

Imogen Clark Coming Home By Anita Connors

R

ising star Imogen Clark’s debut album Love & Lovely Lies doesn’t completely fi t in one genre or another.

Infl uenced by the likes of Joni Mitchell, Ryan Adams and Paul Kelly, Clark says the record “sway[s] a little bit from side to side” when it comes to style.

“I think the great thing about those artists is that they can kind of explore different genres within their work,” she says. “But it’s all still very authentic and it’s really true to them, and that’s kind of what I’m trying to do with this record.”

One part alt-country and one part Americana, it also has a healthy dose of indie and folkpop thrown in the mix. Crucial to Clark’s process of exploration and crafting of her sound were recent trips to Nashville.

“I would actually say going to Nashville was possibly the most infl uential thing on my music that I’ve ever done. I went over there for the first time in 2014 – I kind of was a bit lost, I knew that I loved to write songs but I never knew how to describe them to people … and I was just very confused about it all. ‘It’s not country, it’s not rock, it’s not pop, it’s not folk – what is it?’ And then once I went to America, particularly Nashville, it was for the Americana Festival and I was playing with Sounds of Australia there, and I just remember thinking, ‘This is my lane, this is where I fi t, these are my people.’ And it just felt like coming home.”

12 :: BRAG :: 661 :: 04:05:16

my guitar and sing for like three hours.”

This much is evident on ‘You’ll Only Break My Heart’, the second single and Clark’s favourite song from the record. She says, “[It is a] song about not wanting to give your heart to somebody because you’re guarded and you don’t quite trust them. It’s sort of about falling for someone you don’t quite trust. So that is the core of the album, and that’s why I like it the best.”

Having been bitten by the songwriting bug, Clark increasingly began messing around on the guitar. She would eventually record a number of EPs, and following the release of 2013’s Stories From A Porcelain City, she was shortlisted for APRA’s esteemed Vanda And Young Songwriting Competition, and later received an honourable mention in the Nashville-based International Songwriting Competition. This was a period of time in Clark’s life that was “the real start of feeling like I was being recognised for my writing”, she says.

Recording the album over one rather intense week with musicians Harry and Jack Hookey in Victoria, Clark actually began work on Love & Lovely Lies about a year ago. She laughs, “It’s amazing how the recording can be so short and all the stuff surrounding it can be so long! It feels like ages. It’s a long time coming, so it’s very exciting for it to be so close [to release]. It’s great.”

Back in her teenage years, Clark got her first break performing at the Blue Tongue Café in the Blue Mountains – “Pretty much every week or at least once every couple of weeks,” she says. “[I’d] just sit in the corner, no amps or anything, just completely acoustic.

Just sit there and bash away on

It was also at the café that she first performed her own original material. “I remember a friend saying to me, ‘Oh, you should play that song you wrote.’ And I’m going, ‘Oh, I’m too shy, I’m too shy.’ And then once I did it I was so happy because it got a great response, and I just couldn’t stop after that. That was it for me, I was gone.”

“It really felt wonderful to feel like you were kind of among this really great community of writers who were giving you the stamp of approval and saying, ‘You could write a great song,’ and that your song was affecting a lot of people.

That really meant a lot to me.”

Her writing process has evolved since then. “I used to always start the same way … I’d start with a guitar in my hand, and then I’d sort of throw some melody on top of it and then throw lyrics on top of that.” Now Clark’s approach is more akin to writing poetry – penning lyrics first, and often

without an instrument. This is perhaps because she is most creative when she is away. “[When] I’m out on tour … I’m meeting new people, seeing new places, driving through towns. All that sort of stuff really tends to make me want to write,” she says.

“It’s also when I have the least

amount of time to write, you know, when I’ve got songs coming out of my ears and [am] trying to write them all down as I’m driving from one place to the other.”

What: Love & Lovely Lies out Friday May 6 through Lost Highway/Universal xxx

Clark has been performing and writing music since the age of 13, so it is perhaps unsurprising

that Love & Lovely Lies is a selfaware collection of songs. “I know that country is a very heartbreak territory kind of a place, but I didn’t just want to make this record about only heartbreak,” she says. “There are some heartbreak songs on there, but ultimately it kind of looks at love from a bunch of different angles, and analyses the good, the bad and the ugly.

And it kind of just celebrates it and dances with it and all of these different things.”

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MARRICKVILLE SMALL BAR & LIVE MUSIC VENUE

Thursdaay 5 May (7pm) Sttillhouse Union + Special Guests Friday 6 May ( p ) Andy (7pm) y Millessâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Nig ght on the Prawns + Bleeding g Gums Murphy Saturdayy 7 M ay (3pm) The Squares (7pm) Geo orge Washingmachine & Feel the Manouch he + Mathew Rob berts Saturday 14 May (7pm) Brian Campeau + Stellar Addiction

115 Marrickville Road, Marrickville Tue-Sat till 11.30pm, Sun to 9.30m.

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BRAG :: 661 :: 04:05:16 :: 13

Richard In Your Mind An Empty Vessel By George Nott The change of location has meant the recording process for this as-yet-untitled album has been different to the band’s usual modus operandi. Rather than extended and meandering studio sessions, the new songs are being well rehearsed as a band and laid down live.

“I know that seems not a revolutionary idea,” he says, “in fact the opposite. But we’ve never done it that way. We wanted to do it this way – let’s not spend half the day setting up the drums ourselves, let’s just walk in and focus on playing. This is the most common experience, but for us it’s new.”

Where Ponderosa was something of a wild ride stylistically, featuring sitars, synths and samples, the follow-up looks set to be more cohesive, focused around a traditional guitar band set-up. “We are trying to keep it based around that idea, but we’re always trying to make it still seem glistening and still have some swirling to it. It’s been a bit different this time.

It’s not just a guitar band album but that’s kind of a core idea we’re working from.” ichard In Your Mind. But what’s in Richard’s? Nothing. Nada. Zilch. At least a few times a week. When he’s not the frontman of Sydney’s adored spirit-altering, brain-bending psychedelic pop band, Richard Cartwright is a practising meditator.

R

“I don’t think I’m just Richard 1,702 but I’m some kind of recombination of matter,” he continues. “I like exploring the mind and the nature of reality.

Just for fun, or… I don’t know to what end or purpose. If that’s a hippy thing to do, then colour me tie-dye!”

“Meditation is a constant war with an everchanging flow of thoughts,” he says. “You just look at what your mind does. ‘Why am I thinking? I didn’t choose to think but I am thinking.’ You try and quiet it down and find the central core of where thoughts come from, and is that the self? I don’t know if it’s about getting answers or if it just feels good. It’s just a weird thing, having a mind.

What do you do with it?”

More recently his brain has been focused on the band’s next release, its seventh, which it is in the middle of recording. “We’re deep inside. We’re deep in its guts. I find it the best time. It’s a bit of a ‘no rules’ time.”

SOLD OUT!

The Red Rattler 6 Faversham St Marrickville

The Return Of Rock By Joseph Earp

“...great music... with dance, poetry, hip-hop... the packed tent wasn’t going anywhere” BMA Magazine

“I

’ve always heard that people who don’t talk in an interview are the worst,” Lindsay Osborne laughs, “so I must be doing good.” He’s right. He is doing good, not only because he proves very willing to talk about the Paddo RSL – an iconic venue that he is in the process of revitalising as its event organiser – but because he does so with boundless enthusiasm. For Osborne, this isn’t just a casual refurbishment of some old venue – this is a full-blown passion project.

“In ’94 [the RSL] lost their licence for rock bands,” he explains. “They had a paragraph attached to their contract that [stipulated] ‘no rock bands’. They said rock bands were anything with a drum set and a guitar.” He laughs. “So y’know, that could have been a bloody waltz band.”

Acts as varied as Henry Rollins, The Celibate Rifles and INXS have all strutted the Paddo’s stage at some point in their career, making the loss of the venue’s live rock capabilities a huge blow. Luckily, as soon as the oddly Flashdance-esque ‘no rock music’ contract expired, Osborne was on the case.

“They got [permission] back two years ago,” he explains. “It’s just been sitting there since then. I just thought, ‘Someone should do something with this,’ so I did some background research on the possibility of [getting music back]. And then I approached the club early this year with a plan, and we got to an agreement and a signed contract.”

It’s not just live music that Osborne has set in his sights either. “Because the club was an iconic venue in the past,” he says, “we decided what we should do [is] open it up to all areas of culture. We’re looking at doing not just music, but comedy, theatre and short film – anything cultural we can support.”

In addition to booking as many acts as he can, Osborne is also organising a Battle Of The Bands competition, one with a massive prize pool. Incentives include a $5,000 cash prize, rehearsal vouchers, free digital marketing training and more. Osborne says such a generous set of rewards is his way of bringing allure back to a too-often trivialised form of entertainment.

“A lot of the prestige has been lost over the years with band competitions,” he says.

“And we wanted to restore that. The aim is to support everyone who is in there … We wanted to relaunch with emerging artists in a situation that benefits them really well, gets the exposure out there, and over the period we will also be able to identify really hot bands that deserve to be playing live. And then we can use them in the venue and put them on support with major bands.”

Osborne argues that any opportunity for bands to practise the fine art of performing live should be actively supported. In this way, the Battle Of The Bands competition isn’t just a slight diversion – it’s a genuinely important chance for up-and-comers to test their mettle in front of an attentive audience.

“Back in the day we were all cutting our teeth, we were doing 200 to 250 shows a year,” Osborne says. “If you’re doing something five or six times a week, to do it is not a big deal. It’s just something you do.” He laughs. “If it’s not in your blood then you’d be crazy to do it. And anything that makes it easier to [perform], y’know, that has to be something that the whole community should support.”

What: NSW Battle Of The Bands Where: Paddo RSL And: Entries close soon at nswbattleofthebands.com.au xxx

14 :: BRAG :: 661 :: 04:05:16

Paddo RSL

E L L A Y O R CANDY ALS Wales Arts Review

This show is not for the conservatives or the faint hearted. It’s for the radical, the open, the skeptics and the dancers. It’s for the lovers, the dreamers and the people who want to see what happens when rock and roll, funk, hip hop, burlesque, the political and the emotional meet on one stage.

What: Newtown Social Club Band Room 2nd Birthday With: Secret Headliner, Australia, Slumberhaze, Mario Speedwagon and The Spectacles Where: Newtown Social Club When: Sunday June 5

ventbrite.com

“…energetic, assured and startling…”

Friday May13

“It’s really one of the best things, going round playing tunes with your friends and hanging out with the cool people at shows,” says Cartwright.

“To our fans: just general love vibes, y’know?”

tix through e

C I D A R D E E R + THE F

EY SHOW FINAL SYDN

Set for release sometime around summer, the new record will be followed by a tour. In the meantime, Richard In Your Mind are playing a clutch of shows, including the second birthday of Newtown Social Club’s band room.

While Richard In Your Mind’s last record, 2014’s Ponderosa, was recorded at their Super Love Brain studio in the Blue Mountains, this one is being put together at the iconic REC Studios in Sydney, which have been graced by the likes of David Bowie, Stevie Wonder and Elton John, to name but a few. “When you go up there, though, it’s Savage Garden,” Cartwright says. “There’s all this Savage Garden memorabilia. It’s kind of a shrine.”

When there’s not nothing going on between Cartwright’s ears, there’s a lot. He speaks enthusiastically, spontaneously, leaping from discussing the soundtrack to Disney’s Robin Hood to the meaning of the universe. You might call him a quick-witted modern hippy.

ckets Early bird ti

But this is still a Richard In Your Mind album, don’t forget. “If it’s time to turn left, it’s time to turn left,” Cartwright says. “The band records it but we’re still putting stuff on top, so it’s still got magic juice.

There’ll always be experimenting.”

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Camp Cope Humour And Hope By Joseph Earp

S

pend enough time interviewing musicians and you’ll find yourself at risk of falling into a rut. You start asking the same questions, getting the same answers in return. You even begin following a formula when it comes to writing the stories up; starting each piece with a pithy hook, moving through a description of the recording process and/or recent tour, and ending with a casual statement disguised as a significant one.

But every now and then, a musician comes along who forces you to break the mould.

Georgia Maq, the lead singer and songwriter of Camp Cope, is one of those musicians.

“Siri used to be really funny,” Maq says early in our conversation, sighing. “Now if you ask her, ‘Siri, where’s the best place to bury a dead body?’ she doesn’t show you abandoned mines anymore. It’s like, ‘Siri, what happened?’”

Though Maq is ostensibly here to talk about Camp Cope’s brilliantly pained and painful debut LP, the interview touches on a staggering array of topics. The American political race is discussed (“My ideal situation is Bernie Sanders … I just think he’s so beautiful. He’s for the people”), along with Americans in general (“They’re all afraid of each other”), guns (“I wish all guns were put in a pit and burnt”), and the art of performing live (“It didn’t really come naturally. It scared me a lot to perform in front of people”).

The all-encompassing scope of Maq’s conversation is reflected throughout Camp Cope, a record that makes the mundane mythic and vice versa. It’s also an LP full of deep, impossible-to-shake sadness – tragedy so significant it settles in your bones.

“As you probably gathered, I’m not a very uplifting person,” Maq laughs. “I do have a lot of sadness. I am one of the many people in the world living with depression and mental illness. All my songs are kind of sad ’cause they’re about my personal experiences.”

Indeed, one of the most striking lines on the record is also one of the darkest. “It all comes down to the knowledge that we’re gonna die / Find comfort in that or be scared for the rest of your life,” Maq laments on ‘West Side Story’.

She barks out a laugh when the lines are read back to her. “That’s such an emo song!

Whenever someone says my lyrics back to me I get so embarrassed. But singing them is totally different … [It’s] an outlet. It helps. It helps trying to get everything out.

You have all these things buzzing around inside your head and to come to terms with them and fi nd peace with them, you’ve got to get them out and do something constructive with them. I fi nd I do that with my songwriting. It’s cathartic.”

She laughs gently. But the question remains: does she take comfort in the idea of death, or is she scared? “I don’t know.

We’re all scared of death,” she says. “I have experienced a lot of death. I feel like my whole life has been laced with deaths.

Really sad, unfortunate deaths. You know the more you do something the more you get used to it? Not that I’m used to people dying and used to deaths. But it’s only talking to people after an experience like that you realise death is a part of life. You learn to appreciate and make use of the life you’re living now. You might as well just do it. If you don’t throw yourself into things, you’ll never know and you might regret it.

One day you might die all of a sudden.”

A tragic passing served as the inspiration for Camp Cope’s fi nal track, ‘Song For Charlie’ – a song soaked in heartache, full of lines like, “When I asked what closure felt like / No-one could give me a solid answer,” and transformed into something altogether epic by the rust-and-honey timbre in Maq’s voice. “In 2014 my mum’s partner made the decision to end his life,” Maq says, “and that song’s about that.”

But despite the pain that rattles across the record like a stick against a chain-

link fence, it’s not without its beauty, or optimism. “I don’t like ending things on a sad note,” Maq agrees. “I always like putting a bit of humour and hope in there … If you can’t fi nd humour in things, why bother?

“There is a comfort in the fact we’re going to die. Our generation probably won’t have to deal with how fucked global warming is going to get. It’s bad but, like, I’m not going to have to live through 50-degree days. So that’s nice … Also, leaving your mark behind in the form of art I think is really beautiful and important. You don’t remember businessmen … but you always remember artists and their art. Maybe [art]

is just me wanting to live forever.” She laughs again.

“I like the life cycle. I garden a lot, and things grow … and you have a beautiful [fl ower] and then it dies and it enriches the soil beneath it, and then more things grow from that.”

What: Camp Cope out now through Poison City With: Ouch My Face, Hannahband Where: Black Wire Records When: Friday May 20

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1 9 9 E N M O R E R OA D, E N M O R E thebrag.com

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Lemmy: The Definitive Biography Mick Wall And The Master By Joseph Earp

Mick Wall

soul-soaked renegade best known as the lead singer of Motörhead. But if there’s one thing that Mick Wall’s masterful Lemmy: The Defi nitive Biography proves, it’s that the real man was much more complicated than the one-dimensional caricature paraded out by certain sects of the mainstream press.

Second World War, and he was a man of manners. He was extremely well read. He knew the difference between the good stuff and the bad.

He knew the difference between bullshitters and genuine folk. And there were no airs and graces. At the end of the day, he was a very intelligent guy.”

Not that Lemmy ever tried to deliberately disguise his true self, as Wall knows better than most. “Of all the books I’ve written, this was definitely one of the ‘easiest’,” says the celebrated British rock journalist.

“Lemmy was a man [who] didn’t really have that many secrets. A lot of people you write about, their private lives are very secretive. They don’t like you to know who they really are.

They [have a] person they want to present to the world.

In one of the many telling moments in the biography, a journalist gets shown around one of Lemmy’s temporary squats, only to notice a P.G. Wodehouse novel on the rock’n’roll demon’s bedside table. Wall laughs when the episode is recounted. “He had lots of things like that,” he says.

“It’s like Stacia [Blake, dancer in Hawkwind] says. On the tour bus with Hawkwind, Lemmy was always at the back reading a book. Whenever I went to visit him, his place would always be full of books.”

“Lemmy was the person he presented to the world. It’s like he says in the book: it wasn’t a costume.

That really was how he dressed, and who he really was. He was a man of many opinions. Instead of pussying around and trying to be all things to all people, you either took Lemmy or you fucked off.”

Lemmy follows the rocker from his childhood in North Wales all the way through his time as a member of psych-rock mind-melters Hawkwind and the years spent at Motörhead’s helm, coming to rest with his sad passing at the end of last year.

Though the book features all the excess and debauchery one would expect from a biography about the man who wrote ‘White Line Fever’, it also investigates Lemmy’s sensitive, supremely intelligent side.

W

hen you reach a certain level of fame, suddenly everybody on Planet Earth assumes

they know you intimately. Certainly that’s how it went for Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister, the swaggering, spit-and-

“He was an old-fashioned gentleman,” Wall says. “Lemmy was born right at the end of the

More than anything else, Lemmy is incredibly tender. Wall and Motörhead’s mastermind were friends for over 30 years, and every page bursts with affection and camaraderie. It’s not a book about a myth, or a monster, or even a martyr – it’s about a real human being, and for that reason, it’s not afraid to shy away from the more complicated side of his character.

“I think like all musicians – like all of us, actually, but it’s a particular weakness of famous musicians – [there is] the tendency to blame other people for your career mistakes. [Lemmy] was very bitter in the latter years about his manager, Doug Smith. He could be a bit… what’s the word I’m looking for?” Wall takes a moment. “Lemmy was a wonderful, wonderful guy. He could also be a complete fucking arsehole sometimes. Like all of us.”

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The affection evidently went both ways. Lemmy once described Wall as “one of the few rock writers in the world who can actually write”, and it’s that mutual respect that makes the book’s finale so genuinely moving.

Lemmy’s spirit stayed strong even as his health dramatically started to fail.

He kept going. He kept playing gigs.

Maybe it was because he didn’t want to stop. Maybe it was because he couldn’t.

“He was one of these guys who became like a Charles Bukowski, or a Peter Cook, or a Dylan Thomas or a Hunter S. Thompson,” Wall says. “He reached that kind of level of exalted craziness, where there was a brilliant intelligence, but at the same time, a defiance – to rage against the dying of the light. It’s just a fantastic story … He defied all the rules, broke all the rules, made up new rules, and kind of put us all to shame in that respect.

“He was a one-off,” Wall adds. “He really was. Long after I had given up staying up all night and running around chasing crazy women, and wanting to be on tour all the time … Lemmy was still doing it. Lemmy played his last show about two or three weeks before he died. There’s no fucking way I would want to live like that.

“I’m not as old as he was, but I got off the road 20 years ago. And for good reason. There’s only one road, and you can only go around it so many times. But Lemmy was always out there.” He laughs. “You always knew when it was 4am, at least Lemmy would be up.”

What: Lemmy: The Defi nitive Biography by Mick Wall out now through Hachette Australia

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thebrag.com

BRAG’s guide to film, theatre, comedy and art about town

arts in focus

The Taming Of The Shrew photo by Marnya Rothe

the taming of the shrew

a question of inequality also inside:

ARTS NEWS / REVIEWS / GIVEAWAY / GAME ON / THE BRAG BRAG’’ S GUIDE TO SYDNEY COMEDY FESTIVAL PART 4 thebrag.com

BRAG :: 661 :: 04:05:16 :: 17

arts in focus

free stuff head to: thebrag.com/freeshit

arts news...what's goin' on around town... with Amy Henderson, Keiren Jolly and Zanda Wilson

education profile WITH

ACADEMY OF FILM, THEATRE & TELEVISION

Courses on offer: Advanced Diplomas in Acting for Stage and Screen; Music Theatre; Screenwriting, Directing and Producing; Cinematography; and Stage Management.

What makes us different: No other acting or film school provides more opportunities for graduates. This industry only cares about two things: your portfolio (what have you done?) and your networks (who do you know, or better yet, who knows you?).

AFTT Film students create and own five fully funded films – no other school does that. AFTT Performance students are involved in four major productions within the two years and these

stands well and truly above the rest. Acting and Music Theatre courses all start with an audition.

We are the only school that holds auditions throughout the year. Likewise, film students need to come for an interview. This is a chance for us to get to know you and understand your passions and motivations. It’s also the best opportunity for applicants to look around the campus and ask questions. If you can’t make an interview or audition we also can organise a phone or Skype interview/audition.

Who are the teachers?

The list of tutor achievements and experiences and backgrounds goes on and on – this is because they are the industry. All our tutors are contracted industry professionals; this is one of our strongest advantages, as this ensures that AFTT students are experiencing industry on a daily basis.

Enrolment dates: Our next intake is July 2016 and we have audition dates set and are currently running interviews, so contact us now if you want to start in July as places are filling up fast. We are also accepting February 2017 applications, but get in as soon as possible.

What else you need to know: Courses most definitely fill up quickly!

Once people actually do their research and understand what it is that industry actually wants from graduates, they soon realise that AFTT

WHITELEY FUNDRAISER

A fundraiser event has been announced to help support an upcoming production about Brett Whiteley’s life and art. Two of Australia’s leading theatre companies, Legs On The Wall and Theatre Of Image, have announced a new project on which they’ll collaborate, bringing the life of Whiteley to the stage in a new production called Brett And Wendy – A Love Story Bound By Art. The artworks of 20 artists including Brett Whiteley, Arthur Boyd and Del Kathryn Barton have been donated for the fundraising auction, alongside luxury accommodation packages, tickets to Belvoir St Theatre, signed art books and more. The fundraiser will be held on Wednesday May 11 in The Treasury Room at the InterContinental Sydney.

Open Day: Saturday May 14 Address: 41 Holt St, Surry Hills Phone: (02) 9281 2400 Website: aftt.edu.au

Green Room

GREEN ROOM

The world of punk rock and music promotion can be a shady place. Green Room, a new horror-thriller film, proves just that. The film stars Patrick Stewart as a Machiavellian club owner named Darcy Banker, who hosts a down-and-out yet resilient punk band called The Ain’t Rights at his venue. Soon enough they realise something ain’t right, witnessing a shocking act of violence, but they’re trapped backstage before they can reveal the secrets of Banker’s business to the outside world. The only problem for Banker and his henchmen is, these punk rockers don’t prove as easy to dispose of as he’d expected.

Green Room is playing exclusively at Dendy Newtown from Thursday May 12.

We’ve got five in-season double passes to give away – enter the fray at thebrag.com/ freeshit.

All My Sons photo by James Green

All My Sons

productions are produced and showcased at industry renowned theatres such as Belvoir St Theatre and the Bondi Pavilion. Along with these productions, our performance students have massive opportunities to audition for and land roles in our film students’ films. AFTT Stage Management students receive hands-on learning and experience, not only through our numerous productions we put on every year and community events, but also through our threemonth work placement scheme.

A Man With Five Children

ME AND ALL MY SONS

The Arthur Miller-written play All My Sons will premiere in Sydney this June. Featuring a who’s who of stage talent, Sydney Theatre Company will run a month-long season for All My Sons this June and July. Set after the end of World War II, the play features legendary television and theatre actor John Howard alongside co-star Robyn Nevin. The plot follows the Keller family’s turmoil as they await their son’s unlikely return from the war, while their surviving son falls in love with his brother’s fi ancée. All My Sons will play from Saturday June 4 – Saturday July 9.

Carriageworks is set to host the work of world renowned Italian artist Francesco Clemente in an exhibition to fulfi l all your blanket fort dreams. Encampment will see the old factory go through a metamorphosis; the 30,000 square feet of exhibition space within the Eveleigh-based multi-arts precinct turned into an opulent tented village.

Collaborating with a community of artisans in Rajasthan, India, Clemente has created a collection of tents showcasing his visionary artistic pursuit. Byzantine angels, jewel-hewn self-portraits and arcane symbols adorn the tents. Encampment will show for free from Saturday July 30 – Sunday October 9.

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Decoy by Pio Abad

PIO ABAD DEBUTS

Filipino artist Pio Abad will have his work showcased at the 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, beginning this month. The London-based, Manila-born artist has had his creations exhibited around the glove, from London to Singapore and Hong Kong. Now, for the first time, his unique methods of appropriation and replication will be on show in Australia. In an exhibition titled 1975-2015, Abad has used inexpensive reproduction techniques that contrast with the origins of the objects he has replicated as a means of questioning the function of the domestic object in political action.

His work refl ects political and historical confl icts from Saigon in the 1970s through to the Balkans confl ict of the 1990s. The exhibition will be open Saturday May 14 – Saturday July 9.

Nick Enright’s final play will be on show at the Eternity Playhouse this June. Inspired by the documentary 7-Up, A Man With Five Children follows the lives of five diverse Australians who become celebrities on reality television. The plot explores their lives in the public eye from childhood through to adulthood. Written in 1999, Enright’s play was first premiered in 2002, going on to be shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Play Award in 2003. With the advent and massive popularity of shows like Big Brother and MasterChef since its release, A Man With Five Children was ahead of its time, preempting today’s ongoing discussion on reality television and manufactured celebrity. It will show from Friday June 3 – Sunday June 26.

YOU SAY YOU WANT A RE-VOLITION

Hailing from a land whose environments, cultural values and experiences differ signifi cantly to Sydney’s, Mongolian artist Ganbold Gawaa Lundaa has created a body of work navigating identity, understanding, tension and confusion. Lundaa has sought to explore the complex cultural polarisations and tensions he’s faced since immersing himself in Sydney’s hive of a metropolis.

Through his art, Lundaa muses on Gen Y’s dependence and adoration for technology.

Lundaa has created a vulnerable and bold look at cultural meaning and getting beneath the noise: it’s a pop-art-infused discourse on navigating through the fog, or rather, the Cloud, to search for the heart that is beating beneath it all. Lundaa’s upcoming exhibition, Re-volition, is at Chrissie Cotter Gallery in

Camperdown, Thursday May 5 – Sunday May 15.

HEAD FIRST INTO HEAD ON

Featuring professional and rising photographers from around the world, the Head On Photo Festival is a showcase of the profound visual and technical skills of those capturing fleeting moments with their lenses – and it’s all under way now. Head On, having grown to a 150-eventstrong festival claiming accolades from around the globe, is providing Sydney a glimpse of some of the most moving photographs to come out of 2015. For this year’s Sydney event, over 50 featured exhibitions have been nominated as highlights. As well as exhibitions, the festival’s workshops and talks will allow for audience engagement and collaboration. Head On continues until Sunday May 22, and full details are available at headon.com.au. thebrag.com

A Man With Five Children photo by Helen White

CLEMENTE AT CARRIAGEWORKS

HE’S A FAMILY MAN

The Taming Of The Shrew [THEATRE] A Voice In The Darkness By Tegan Jones

T

he Taming Of The Shrew is arguably William Shakespeare’s most controversial play. Rife with overt sexism and misogyny, it can be difficult to perform to modern audiences who bear such seemingly different values to those of the Elizabethan era. But has that much actually changed? It’s possible the emotions and opinions that Shrew invokes are more relevant than a cursory study reveals. Sport For Jove refuses to shy away from this contentious piece, and will be reviving its production after a successful run in 2012.

“It’s quite a controversial play and it was so warmly received,” says Danielle King, who plays the protagonist, Kate. “It was good to know you can still do controversial plays and get people to have an entertained evening and still be able to have a conversation about issues that are just as relevant now as they were 400 years ago.”

The Taming Of The Shrew is certainly an ideal vessel for a discussion about contemporary relevance and capacity to offend, given its horrific treatment of the female characters and Kate’s eventual subservience.

“There are opinions, lines and ideas and actions in the play that are incredibly offensive,” King agrees. “But whilst women are still married off for financial reasons or status within their families, it’s relevant. Whilst women are still shamed for speaking out, having an opinion and demanding equal pay, it’s relevant.”

The fact of the matter is that Sport For Jove’s Shrew isn’t a celebration or acceptance of inequality, but a purposeful social commentary on it. “I don’t think it’s the job of theatre or any art form to make it easy,” says King.

thebrag.com

“I don’t think we need to wrap it up in a bow and solve all of these issues.

That’s the point of theatre, to get the conversation going and have an open forum where issues are raised and you empathise with one side and hopefully get to see another point of view.”

Although the production hasn’t been placed in a completely modern setting, it is close enough to home to highlight the gender issues that society is yet to solve.

“Our production has hopefully put it in a context where people can understand it,” King explains. “It is set on a 1920s silent film set. Bianca, who is Kate’s younger sister, is the star, so her value to her father is very much in terms of how much money she can make, and she will be married off to the highest bidder. Kate is an aviatrix who is like Amelia Earhart, because in the 1920s you had all these women taking to the skies. They were doing all of these things that men could do.

Kate represents that freedom, but then she’s grounded by her dad and she has to marry Petruchio.”

As awful as the plot is to its female characters, this production does take a more grey approach to the narrative, and particularly the relationship between Kate and Petruchio.

“In our production, we wanted to explore what it would be like if rather than being the torturous, overbearing, awful male that takes her away, Petruchio is someone equally broken and looking for a human connection, just as Kate is,” says King. “He can see Kate’s pain through her anger and he just wants to take her away from this awful life. But she is so angry.

“I’ve been in that situation,” King adds. “‘Life is just so awful, so why would

you look for the good?’ You need someone to come along and say, ‘This is good. If you just stop shouting at the world you may be able to take a step towards feeling better about life and humanity.’ In our production, that’s certainly what Kate and Petruchio are trying to do. That’s not saying that he doesn’t torture her. He withholds food and doesn’t let her sleep. It’s brutal and we certainly don’t shy away from it – we call it. We absolutely say that this is bad and barbaric and don’t neaten it up.”

Considering how passionate the production seems to be about emphasising the negative elements of the play in the name of debate and reflection, one wonders about the

decision to make Petruchio a more sympathetic character.

“There’s a lot of terminology in the play about a falcon and a falconer,” King replies. “We have looked at how a falconer breaks the wild hunting bird to trust him or her. It’s pretty barbaric, and eventually the first time they release the bird off the leash there’s always a chance it will take off and say, ‘No, fuck you. I’m not coming back.’ But there’s also a very real chance that at the end when Petruchio says, ‘Go on, Kate. You haven’t been allowed a voice during the whole play, what do you want to say to people?’ she might turn around and hit him, scream at him or set fire to the dining table. He had to have as

much faith that he’s earnt her respect and given her freedom from the pain to go and figure out how to be a man and wife together.

“That being said, it’s a hard speech and a lot of the lines stick in my throat as a 21st century woman, but I don’t think that’s a reason not to try to find a sense in there.”

What: The Taming Of The Shrew Where: Seymour Centre When: Thursday May 19 – Saturday May 28 And: Also playing at Riverside Theatres, Thursday May 5 – Saturday May 7

BRAG :: 661 :: 04:05:16 :: 19

Theatre & Comedy Reviews Hits and misses on the bareboards around town

■ Comedy

FELICITY WARD Reviewed at Giant Dwarf on Sunday April 24 as part of Sydney Comedy Festival 2016 While there has never been anything inherently bad about the stand-up of Felicity Ward, it’s safe to say she is a thousand times the comic she was even five years ago.

Broader strokes and intentionally hammed-up stories have been refined and worked into material that is at once all too real and all too funny on account of the former.

■ Theatre

LAKE DISAPPOINTMENT Reviewed at Carriageworks on Thursday April 21 The cathedral-like halls of Redfern’s Carriageworks are a blessing and a curse to prospective narrative theatremakers.

How could you possibly create an intimate experience in so enormous a space without criminally underusing it?

If you’re struggling with that question, you may want to ask the team behind Lake Disappointment, as they have what may well be the defi nitive answer.

A body double’s career exactly mirrors that of their counterpart, and Hollywood actor Kane is hitting it big at last.

His double waits for him at Lake Disappointment, the location for a small-budget thriller, and as the star’s arrival becomes increasingly uncertain, the line between their identities begins to shift.

Writer Lachlan Philpott teamed up with performer Luke Mullins to craft the script for this play, and it shows in the fl ow and candour of the text. It’s as if the language of the character was embedded in Mullins’ frame, and Philpott has simply tapped it and let it spill onto the stage. Our body double is a rather captivating narcissist, beautifully poised and preened but with deeply ugly views on the ‘lesser’ beings that inhabit his world. But who is he, really, to judge?

Mullins is an eminent performer with a grace that makes him a natural for this character, a model who is always performing.

A one-man show can be a make-or-break proposition, but Mullins has little to fret with the strength of the production team.

Director Janice Muller has the same respect for “the most beautiful cavern in Sydney” that Philpott does, and a remarkable patience that sees her revelations teased out until they seem impossible. The story constantly invokes the artifi ce of cinema, and with an eye for detail that would impress Bergman, Muller actualises the cinematic on the stage while emphasising the dramatic possibility of the live space.

Lake Disappointment itself is described like an Australian Twin Peaks; a space where anything is possible and Mullins’ disintegrating sense of self is intertwined with the landscape in thrilling fashion. To say more would be to say too much, but attention must be drawn to the pitch-perfect contribution of sound designer and composer James Brown. Just when you think that musical swell is becoming a bit dramatic, don’t worry – the creators do, too.

Finding the exact midpoint between theatre and cinema, Lake Disappointment fails in only one regard, and that’s in living up to its title.

David Molloy

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Ward is sharp, consummate and all-encompassing as she takes a packed-out Giant Dwarf through the ins and outs of her life – although, perhaps ups and downs is a better directional pursuit when it comes to dissecting her latest hour. For every positive that enters her life – her fiancée, for one, as well as her niece (who scores some of the biggest laughs of the evening vicariously through Ward’s storytelling) – Ward encounters an obstacle due to her mental health and bouts of anxiety.

Understandably, bringing up either of these issues (not to mention Ward’s IBD, which completes what she calls her “triple threat”)

is murky territory for the average comedy-goer – it’s not something that’s discussed all that often, and it has all the potential to fall into pure discomfort. Even so, Ward is fearless in her addressing and dissemination of these topics – to her, it’s a chance to not only reclaim something that can often be used cruelly against those who live with these illnesses, but to find laughter in normally negative spaces.

It’s here that Ward thrives, showing just how far she has come as a performer, writer and entertainer.

Whether it’s going to particularly silly measures to soften the blow of a self-harm story or pelting toilet paper across the stage in

an extremely funny display of her Muppet-inspired physical comedy, Ward proves there is so much more to mental illness than sitting around and feeling sorry for yourself – and even when that comes up, there’s a side to it that allows one to laugh with rather than at.

That’s the joy that comes with What If There Is No Toilet?, and makes it her finest show by a considerable margin. It takes what is often seen as a life of tragedy and provides a guiding light into triumph, both on a creative and personal level. God loves his children, but right now he is especially proud of this creation.

David James Young

■ Comedy

KYLE KINANE Reviewed at The Comedy Store on Thursday April 21 as part of Sydney Comedy Festival 2016 He may be one of the most respected and hardest-working American comics active today, but Kyle Kinane is a realist – some would say a harsh one at that – about his place in the world. You might know him as the voice of Comedy Central (“Up next, an all-new Workaholics!”) or as an exceptional storyteller (as we are treated to several times tonight), but Kinane simply views himself as a 39-year-old manchild with nothing to show for his life apart from a few jokes and a case of gout.

This, among a variety of other scattered ideas, makes up the bulk of Kinane’s Sydney debut.

It’s not quite a linear story or a singular concept, but that’s never been Kinane’s forte. He’s steeped in reality, jumping between stories with quick-burst punchline pay-off and more drawn-out tales. These appear to be put together in an offthe-cuff manner, as Kinane checks his watch several times toward the end to see which tales he can fit into his hour.

On that note, there is a degree of inconsistency purely because of Terrestrial Woes’ unrehearsed, scattered nature. There is plenty to enjoy, including particularly hilarious stories about fish and doctor’s visits that draw some of the biggest laughs of the evening. Just when he gets the laughs going, however, he’ll draw back and wander (quite literally) about until he’s found his way into the next story. It’s certainly authentic, but it also halts any momentum that has been built up.

When Kinane is ‘on’, he has the entire crowd in the palm of his hand. There are several moments, however, where he has to work at getting back up to that level after

a significant, noticeable dropoff. What keeps Terrestrial Woes going – and, eventually, what wins you over – is Kinane’s wry, selfdeprecating and entirely likeable personality. However uncertain he may appear to be about his own abilities and worth, he is a formidable entertainer.

Kinane hasn’t created a definitive hour of comedy with Terrestrial Woes, but at the very least he’s put together something that will make you want to shout him a cider and maybe give him an empathetic hug, too.

David James Young

thebrag.com

game on Gaming news and reviews with Adam Guetti

2016

Super Smash Bros. Tournament

Want to do a little good for the community? Well as luck would have it, with Starlight Week kicking off on May 1, EB Games and World Square are hoping to raise at least $1,000 for sick kids.

To aid that noble goal, The Nerd Cave will be hosting a Super Smash Bros. Wii U Tournament on Friday May 6 from 6-9pm.

All combatants must register for the event, which includes a $5 donation to the Starlight foundation. It’s an all-ages event, The Nerd Cave so invite your friends, bring your 3DS for some StreetPassing goodness and get ready to fight for a good cause. For more details, visit thenerdcave.com.au.

Special Delivery

Back In Black

If you’re anything like us, waiting for Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End can be a painful ordeal. Yet while the game isn’t scheduled to land on our shores until Tuesday May 10, there are some fans who are claiming to be lucky enough to already have it in their hot little hands. You’ll need to head to the UK if you want to try your luck, however, as reports have circulated that at least one person there picked up a copy from their local retailer weeks early, while others have taken to Twitter claiming that Amazon has also dispatched the PS4 exclusive before its allowed street date. Moral of the story: if you’re a massive Uncharted fan, tread lightly on the internet for a little while to avoid any nasty spoilers.

Two of the founders behind id Software (the studio responsible for Wolfenstien, Doom and Quake), John Romero and Adrian Carmack, have suspended the Kickstarter attempt to fund their brand new FPS, Blackroom. Expected to launch around summer 2018 on PC and Mac, the developers describe it as a “visceral, varied and violent shooter that harkens back to classic FPS play with a mixture of exploration, speed, and intense, weaponised combat”. They also claim that the finished game will have a single player campaign and dedicated multiplayer nodes.

The campaign had achieved US$131,052 of its $700,000 goal. Romero informed backers the Kickstarter would return when a full gameplay demo was ready.

NEWS

MAY

What's On

On The Floor At Vivid Taking place as a part of this year’s Vivid celebrations is an intellectual look at the video games industry with On The Floor Presents: Cultivating Creativity In Australia, The Future Of Video Games. Led by IGN Australia’s Lucy O’Brien, the event rounds up some of the local scene’s finest to explore why our interactive entertainment sector is lagging, despite gaming reaching a wider audience than it ever has before. Taking part in the discussion are Senator Scott Ludlam, game developer Nic Watt, and one of the people behind PAX Australia and Oz ComicCon, Guy ‘Yug’ Blomberg. It all takes place on Tuesday June 7, so make sure you jump onto vividsydney.com to buy tickets before they sell out.

Review: Dark Souls III (PS4, XBO, PC) Yet while the sequel does borrow much from its predecessors, it’s also learnt a thing or two from its action-focused spinoff, Bloodborne. As a result, enemies and characters possess a greater amount of speed, so mastering dodges and parries is vital. That said, hiding behind a sturdy shield remains a viable combat option, should you be that way inclined.

W

hen most people play video games, they do so to escape the hustle and bustle of life. To enter a foreign world and do things they’d only ever dreamt of. Most of all, they play to have fun and put a smile on their face.

Dark Souls fans do not share the same sentiments. They enjoy constant failure, incredibly challenging mechanics and a constant feeling of dread that permeates through every level and hides around every corner. The good news is that Dark Souls III encompasses all these elements and then some. It refuses to rest on its laurels and crushes the hopes and dreams of whoever dares to play it, but that’s a great thing.

It should come as no surprise that Dark Souls III feels incredibly familiar – filled with ruined castles, dragons and creatures designed to murder you senseless.

Similarly, the story won’t break new ground either. You take control over one of several Unkindled, an undead hero who is cursed to wander the land of Lothric.

Considering the world is ready to fall into full apocalypse mode, your only solution to end the darkness is to “link the fire” by hunting down and taking out all the heroes who have linked said fire in the past.

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But just because things are faster doesn’t mean they’re easier. Dark Souls has always been known for its challenge, and round three doesn’t shy away from that. In fact, persist for long enough and you’ll encounter some of the hardest opponents so far, and they will likely bring you to tears. Recognising their patterns is simple, but memorising them well enough to perfect the opportune time to strike is another matter entirely – and one that, when successful, will create a sense of elation no other game can replicate.

And that’s what will keep you coming back to Dark Souls III – satisfaction. It’s a game that is not at all designed for everybody to enjoy, or even play, but it’s also a game that knows its purpose and nails it with great skill.

Adam Guetti

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BRAG’S

SYDNEY COMEDY FESTIVAL 2016

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GUIDE TO

This Week At Sydney Comedy Festival

By Joanne Brookfi eld

Ash Williams has a confession to make. More than one, in fact.

I’ve Done Some Bad Things is the name of his forthcoming show at Sydney Comedy Festival, and it marks his first solo stand-up tour on the Australian festival circuit.

So what bad things will he be sharing onstage this week? “‘Bad’, as a word, is quite open to interpretation,” he hints.

Williams will already be familiar to sports fans, having recently hosted the online 7Tennis show as part of Channel 7’s coverage of the Australian Open. He’s also appeared on programs like Peter Helliar’s It’s A Date, Adam Hills In Gordon Street Tonight, The Daily Edition, The Project, Studio 10 and Dirty Laundry Live.

However, it was in commercial radio with Hughesy & Kate where Williams was earning his keep until he decided to pack up his life in Australia a few years ago and head to LA in pursuit of a career in

stand-up and acting. There, he achieved what he describes as a “modicum of success”, scoring guest roles in Anger Management, The Exes and You’re The Worst while also gigging regularly.

Now, about those confessions.

Williams says in LA he managed to get himself banned from Motel 6 (“It’s called that because that’s its score out of 100”), blacklisted from Budget (“I can’t hire a car from Budget in Australia”), and has spent the last four months living in a hotel (“One month turned into four”), having broken up with his girlfriend. “I’m in a custody battle over a NutriBullet at the moment,” he jokes.

Despite calling America his new home, Williams has returned to Australia every December for hour-long stand-up shows, making I’ve Done Some Bad Things his fourth in total – but 2016 is his year of festival debuts.

“I’ve got some stories and then I’ve got a song – I play a bit of piano, I bring the whole thing together like a Thermomix of goodness, but it’s in a song,”

ALL INDIA BAKCHOD Subcontinental Stand-Up

By Adam Norris Wil Anderson. Judith Lucy.

Barry Humphries. Ask anyone to name their favourite Aussie comedians, and you’re likely looking at a substantial list. And sure, we all know a slew of US and UK comics; from Seinfeld to Are You Being Served?, we grew up with them. But from the outside, Indian comedy is largely uncharted territory.

Thanks to the viral success of All India Bakchod, however, this is all set to change in ridiculous fashion (‘bakchod’ does, after all, translate as a

kind of nonsense-speak). As the funny foursome’s core member Ashish Shakya explains, the comedy culture of India is about to explode.

“To give you a broader picture, comedy – and stand-up in particular – has been around for years, but is mostly a kind of satire and poetry,” he explains in a colourful rush. “All of this has been happening for generations, especially the poetry. English language stand-up as an urban phenomenon has picked up over the last, say, six years or so. It’s gone from a handful of people doing stand-up to people writing films, writing TV shows and

ASH WILLIAMS

he explains. “And worst case scenario, you might take away some life tips. I’ve got some stuff in there about how you don’t need to pay credit cards,

so I’ve got a theory about credit card management. I mean, I can’t get credit cards anymore, but look, I know how to deal with them…”

WHERE: Enmore Theatre WHEN: Thursday May 5 – Sunday May 8

performing all over the world, doing venues that are increasing in size each time. It’s really very extraordinary. We were the first guys in this generation who are doing English language standup, and it’s still a very niche art form in a sense.”

As Indian stand-up has found its feet, so too have its local audiences begun to adapt to a more contemporary style.

While heckling is extremely rare – crowds still being quite accustomed to sitting through performances without negative disruption – Shakya feels that as identifi cation with the troupe grows, so too its audience’s engagement might evolve.

“There are some jokes that despite being hacky, people are laughing. At the same time, because we’re such a complicated country, you open the newspaper and there are ten headlines that are all potential joke material; there’s a lot to talk about. If you go up onstage and you talk about stuff like religion, politics, you talk about the big institutions through comedy, and you do it well, people are always going to respond, because it’s the kind of commentary they’re not used to seeing. They’re used to seeing big shots at Fox, like Jon Stewart, who have that kind of bite, that kind of

mainstream television. So when comedians do that onstage, it can be hard-hitting. People see someone who looks like them, speaks like them, thinks like them, talking about institutions and people that are very relevant to them. A comedian here could do a joke about Trump, but it’s not as funny as a politician who is actually here.”

Shakya has no fears that Australian audiences will struggle to connect with AIB’s material – one needs only check their YouTube videos to see evidence of their international appeal. Their profile is certain to soar, and if they’re not swamped in the street just yet, give it time.

“The comedy scene in India was very nascent – we just happened to be at the right place at the right time, and a couple of videos we did took off really well and have been seen by people all around the world.

Our YouTube channels are known across the country, but not to the point where we have to wear sunglasses and put on a hat to leave the house, sadly!

One day, one day. That sort of thing is more for Bollywood stars. But it’s nice now, because more and more people are watching it, especially online.

That’s how a lot of people enter it. It’s all been strangely natural.”

WHERE: Enmore Theatre WHEN: Sunday May 8 22 :: BRAG :: 661 :: 04:05:16

best of the fest

PART 4

MONDAY APRIL 18 – SUNDAY MAY 15 I’ve Done Some Bad Things

For the duration of Sydney Comedy Festival 2016, we’re bringing you a weekly roundup of the hottest tickets in town. Zanda Wilson reports.

THE BRAG’S GUIDE TO SYDNEY COMEDY FESTIVAL 2016 BROUGHT TO YOU BY COOPERS

Harley Breen: Smell The Penguins Enmore Theatre, Thursday May 5 – Sunday May 8 Harley Breen’s latest effort is a show full of advice, tips and tricks. The only problem is that none of it is anything that even resembles any semblance of useful or helpful in any way. But that’s why it’s fun – and as his bio suggests, buying a ticket will be “the closest thing you’ll find to a unicorn farting a rainbow”. Hard to argue with that.

Emily Tresidder: Crazy Is Enmore Theatre, Tuesday May 10 – Saturday May 14 Emily Tresidder aims to get you thinking existentially in her show Crazy Is by posing the question, “What does it really mean to be human?” Flipping the typical response on its head, Tresidder instead contends that it is in fact the ability to act outside the normal, habitual, accepted ways of being and thinking.

It’s all covered in this exploration of how we define what crazy is and what it means to be crazy, in a way that’s so funny it’s crazy.

Tahir Bilgic: Bogans, Wogs, Asians And Other Aussie Citizens Factory Theatre, Tuesday May 10 – Saturday May 14 Given that Tahir Bilgic rose to prominence in the role of Habib on cult SBS classic Fat Pizza, it’s not hard to imagine what his stand-up comedy show will contain. Prepare yourself for a hilarious evening of stereotypes and some ‘fully sick’ jokes about Centrelink in Bogans, Wogs, Asians And Other Aussie Citizens.

Peter Helliar: One Hot Mess Giant Dwarf, Thursday May 5 – Friday May 6 and The Concourse, Saturday May 7 Former radio host, Rove Live cast member and current panellist on Ten’s The Project, Peter Helliar has been around the block when it comes to comedy in Australia. His latest show One Hot Mess is a side-splitting topical discussion about family, sex, pilates, all three of those combined, and much more.

Ciel: #Hangover Enmore Theatre, Thursday May 5 – Saturday May 7 “I’m never drinking again.” It’s the hungover promise we’ve all heard at least once in our lives, and yet, as soon as the next weekend rolls around, all bets are off. Now, Ciel is back with an encore season of her show dedicated to all those who’ve woken up with a sore head and no memory of where they left the car keys.

Even better, it’s running across the weekend at the Enmore – so we’ll see you at the bar afterwards. thebrag.com

Republic Of Anzakistan

By Adam Norris

O

nce upon a time I found myself selling tickets and stamping wrists at a metal gig in Melbourne, where the pay was happily outrageous and the cider flowed freely. It was all fairly standard until an earless figure appeared before me, asking questions in a nasal drawl mostly drowned out by the music behind – but even without context, Chopper Read presented a uniquely heavy presence. Cut to Heath Franklin, who for ten years has been impersonating the peculiarly iconic criminal to hilarious ends. The trick now is to find the performer within the character.

“To be honest, after ten years of Chopper, what I’m working on the most is me, which is a little weird,” Franklin laughs. “When you’re Chopper you can always be Chopper pretending to be somebody else, but that gets hard. Whereas when you’re me, you can just switch into all sorts of ridiculous characters.

I have to admit that after such a long time, switching it on is pretty easy. I don’t know how long I could go. If it was some kind of Guinness World Record charity thing I reckon I could probably go for a week, and after that it would be a matter of needing an exorcism. There are times when after gigs I’ll stick around to chat with punters, since when I go to a gig I always like that opportunity. So

CHOPPER

I try and stay in character for those moments as well. The funny thing is, after a show, everyone who’s there – be it my producer or tour manager, your audience afterwards, even the staff of the venue – they all get a little bit more Chopper. A few more F-bombs tend to sneak in, everyone gets a little bit more bogan and a bit more of a nasal twang.”

The real-life Mark Brandon ‘Chopper’ Read has long been something of an underworld legend, but with his death in 2013 the unrepentant (if colourful) murderer at last passed into myth. Australia has an idiosyncratic love of the outlaw – Ben Hall, Ned Kelly – and while Franklin’s portrayal has its tongue firmly in cheek, the potential for outrage will always exist for those who ignore the caricature and set their cross hairs on the glamourisation of a killer.

“Occasionally I get that kind of scrutiny, but it’s usually from people who aren’t actually all that familiar with what I do,” says Franklin.

“The more I found out about the real Chopper, the more I found it kind of depressing. Even his early background, there was some pretty unpleasant stuff that happened to him that I’m sure shaped his character. I mean, the idea of him stabbing someone in prison as a punchline is pretty funny, but when you read on about it, and you add

things like people begging for their life, it becomes a whole lot darker.

“I try and portray the fun, notalienating version. And people are allowed to be manipulated by really horrible things in drama. Some of the character arcs in Game Of Thrones are nothing but misery and torture.

And there’s a little part of me that thinks, ‘Now, if drama is allowed to manipulate you with all of these things, then why shouldn’t comedy?’ I think there’s a strange misconception that just because something is being mentioned in comedy, it’s being made fun of. I used to do a show every ANZAC Day. I wasn’t making fun of veterans or troops, anything like that. But everyone was like, ‘How dare you?’ And I thought, ‘Well, all the supermarkets get to have ANZACbranded milk and whatever, and nobody gets upset at that.’ There’s a level of exploitation that people seem happy with, and when it gets transferred to comedy everyone thinks we’re just taking down sacred cows.”

Franklin’s creation – and it very much is a creation, a heavily fictionalised lampooning – is cheerfully despicable, as his masses of firm fans would attest. Sure, he may have a body in the trunk, but when he’s teaching an L-plater how to drive he’s doing it with a heart of

gold. The character has evolved over a decade’s journeying, but while the content may be updated, the snickering career crim beneath is here to stay.

“There’s such a fine line between fact and fiction in everything he did,” Franklin says. “I’ve found that these days, a lot of my material is becoming more urbane. It’s less about footy and more about the internet and all that comes with it.

It’s ridiculous in some ways, but the show now is about a reformed career criminal who’s decided to get a little Gaddafi and take over the country. In some ways I’ve tried to avoid making it a banana republic, and make it interesting to think if we actually did have a total scumbag like Chopper start to make sense on all the political and social issues. It’s like, ‘Well, if a guy who stabs people for a living can figure it out, then why can’t the people we’re paying to lead the country?’

“I’m not trying to be shocking,” Franklin laughs. “I think when you get people on edge, the release from the punchline is much greater.

If the stakes are high, when you provide levity it’s a bigger reaction.

Bad things happen, but if you can find a way to have a bit of a giggle about it, it might not seem quite so bad.”

WHERE: Factory Theatre WHEN: Thursday May 5 – Sunday May 8

THE BRAG’S GUIDE TO SYDNEY COMEDY FESTIVAL 2016 BROUGHT TO YOU BY COOPERS

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BRAG :: 661 :: 04:05:16 :: 23

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

ALBUM OF THE WEEK KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD Nonagon Infi nity Flightless/Remote Control

We can usually find them freaking out in Northern California alongside Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall, but new synths, soaring Moogs and recurring motifs tell us King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard have travelled to late 1960s England for a ritualistic slaughter with Hawkwind on their new LP, Nonagon Infi nity.

An album on infinite loop from Australia’s most prolific journeymen.

On opener ‘Robot Stop’, Stu Mackenzie sings punk (“Loosen up / Fuck shit up”), until turning psychedelic on ‘Big Fig Wasp’ (“Insects grow /

In my bones”), making it unclear if one is to pull the clenched fist out from the other side of the bedroom wall or drain the skull of the melted brain inside it.

Like Hawkwind, Gizz have created an unearthly landscape. If I’m In Your Mind Fuzz was the gothic fortress, Nonagon Infi nity is the wasteland that surrounds it. Dehydration leads to delusion, and the T. Rex-esque ‘Mr. Beat’ gets you dancing to prove it. The flute, light drumming and fingerpicked guitar of ‘Invisible Face’ bring a moment of tranquillity before it’s fucking destroyed by a screech of feedback, and the opening guitar/ synth riff returns to remind you where you started.

Elias Kwiet

CATE LE BON

PITY SEX

ANOHNI

JAYE BARTELL

MOTEZ

Crab Day isn’t an album. It’s a cathedral, at once intensely solid and yet utterly without weight – a stone hand reaching up to God. It also happens to be the most perfectly articulated record Cate Le Bon has yet turned in, a sterling work that comes replete with its own fully internalised logic.

Pity Sex is as pity sex does, and the band’s second record is exactly the kind of limp, regrettable affair that its moniker hints at. It’s the perfect example of first world problems writ large, all set to the kind of lo-fi guitar buzz a litany of bands perfected almost four decades ago.

Maybe you’ve heard of Anohni, or maybe you’re more familiar with Antony and The Johnsons – either way, you’re still listening to the intense vocal stylings of Antony Hegarty. Hopelessness is the latest project from Hegarty, and the first to be released under her new moniker.

If relocation was the reason behind the intricately woven maze of musical poetry coming from Jaye Bartell’s third record, Light Enough, then I definitely want to move house.

Adelaide’s master of the pitcheddown bassline and 4/4 party vibes, Motez, has dropped his new fourtrack EP, appropriately named The Vibe, and it comes stacked with some of his biggest local and international collaborations to date.

Crab Day Drag City/Caroline

Better still, nothing about it is obvious or obnoxious. Though the common thread throughout the record is Le Bon – her creative voice is so distinct that it now feels justifiable to use ‘Le Bon-esque’ as a quantifier – she blows out her thematic material so as to make it universal. ‘I’m A Dirty Attic’ might boast some of the strangest lyrics around, but somehow you understand the song even when you don’t really understand it. “I wanna make sense with you,” Le Bon spits, cheekily underscoring her own absurdity.

It’s safe to say the record is weird, then, albeit in a way that calls to mind Pee-Wee Herman more than David Lynch. ‘We Might Revolve’ and ‘How Do You Know?’ are like jokes written by children – touching and unreservedly odd tracks that come with their punchlines cut off.

White Hot Moon Run For Cover/Cooking Vinyl

There is, after all, a difference between homage and straight rip-off, and tracks like ‘A Satisfactory World For Reasonable People’ and ‘White Hot Moon’ come across like the work of a Dinosaur Jr. cover band that has forgotten J Mascis’ lyrics and has substituted in its own whiny efforts.

Elsewhere, uninspired references to Royal Trux rule the day, and the male/female verse swaps on ‘Nothing Rips Through Me’ are so humdrum they might have been more effective if sung by the one person occasionally supping on helium. Worse still, ‘Burden You’ confuses the self-effacing with the self-aggrandising, turning the track into an anthem for the kind of person who posts “If you don’t love me at my worst, you don’t deserve me at my best” nine times on their Facebook feed.

Crab Day is all hard edges and raw, nervous choruses, and through its utter refusal to conform it takes on true punky significance.

White Hot Moon is the album pop-lovers have always imagined we musical hipsters enjoy: a dull collection of choruses dressed up in difficulty simply for the sake of it.

Joseph Earp

Joseph Earp

Hopelessness Rough Trade/Remote Control

Hegarty’s vocals are the kind that seem to come from another place entirely, and this album does well to convey the idea of “a voice separated from a body” – Hegarty’s vision when producing the album. If you’re confused about what this might sound like, think along the lines of James Blake or Tom Snowdon.

This release is somewhat different to Hegarty’s previous efforts – it is more of an experimental electronic record, and the co-production between Anohni, Oneohtrix Point Never and Hudson Mohawke has resulted in an interesting new sound. Album highlights include opening song and latest single ‘Drone Bomb Me’, which makes heavy use of synthesizers, making for an interesting, almost dance track.

Hopelessness is worth a listen, even for those who aren’t familiar with Hegarty, just to experience the pure emotion it conveys.

Tegan Reeves

INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK

LUCA BRASI

If This Is All We’re Going To Be Poison City

24 :: BRAG :: 661 :: 04:05:16

Tassie four-piece Luca Brasi have found the formula on their third LP, If This Is All We’re Going To Be, cementing the sound they have been working on for years on stages across Australia.

‘The Cascade Blues’ is a ballad, letting noodling guitar lines fi ll in the verses. Closing track ‘Count Me Out’ is another highlight, with Camp Cope’s Georgia Maq lending her voice to the song.

The album doesn’t let up, with ten fi st-in-the-air anthems that feature all the cornerstones of their sound. The solid production only serves to make sure that the drums are as big as they have ever been, and the choruses are even bigger.

Lyrically, Luca Brasi are crafting their strongest songs yet, channelling the mantra of Frank Turner with lines like “Let’s never tell each other that we can’t live forever / Too stubborn to die, too bad to surrender” – we are defeated, but we sure as hell ain’t giving up.

The two singles released before the album do an accurate job of representing the sonic spectrum of the album. ‘Aeroplane’ opens with massive power chords, while in comparison, the first half of

Light Enough Sinderlyn/Remote Control

Coming together in Bartell’s Brooklyn bedroom, the relatively sparse production, melancholic melodies and Leonard Cohen-esque voice give this album a unique and spellbinding edge. Having taken heavy influence from the works of Spalding Gray and Eileen Myles, Bartell writes a seemingly autobiographical recount of his life up to now, mixing sad tales with catchy guitar melodies and selfdeprecating lyrics. Although Light Enough comes across as a relatively simply produced album, the songs, as well as his beautifully deep, resonant voice, still make it ring with intense clarity and precision.

With standout tracks such as ‘The Ceiling’, ‘Ferrier’ and the wistful ‘Tuesdays’, Bartell offers an insight into the process of his move to Brooklyn in 2013 and his subsequent mobile lifestyle. He is a master at bringing to the forefront the mundanity of everyday life and the heartbreak of failed relationships, all through his haunting voice and eloquent lyrics.

Listening to Light Enough gently reminds you that although everything can be dark at times, lightness always prevails.

Prudence Clark

The Vibe Sweat It Out

Leading the charge is first single ‘Down Like This’, with fellow Adelaidean and future rap superstar Tkay Maidza providing the vocal swagger over rumbling sub bass. Elsewhere, the EP’s eponymous track pairs a Drake sample with grime MC Scrufizzer’s skitter style, and a collab with LA-based Sydney expatriate Wax Motif on ‘Like You’ delivers more bottom-heavy neo-deep-house vibes.

Motez never really switches up his style, but why would you when you’ve got the market cornered for dancefloor-ready house burners?

It’s a solid representation of what you can expect on the dancefloor when Mo tours the EP around Australia and New Zealand throughout May (before taking his sound back to North America for his second tour of the continent this year).

What’s The Vibe about? It’s all peak hour, party-time house music with A-grade jacking basslines. And there’s no shame in that.

Sarah Little

OFFICE MIXTAPE And here are the albums that have helped BRAG HQ get through the week...

VARIOUS - Down Under By Law BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB - A Different Kind Of Fix RADIOHEAD - Amnesiac

YEAH YEAH YEAHS - It’s Blitz!

HUSKY - Forever So

Luca Brasi have come through with one of the better Australian punk albums of the year.

Spencer Scott thebrag.com

live reviews

snap sn ap up all night out all week . . .

skunkhour

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ms mr

28:04:16 :: Metro Theatre :: 624 George St Sydney 9550 3666

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What we've been out to see...

30:04:16 :: Metro Theatre :: 624 George St Sydney 9550 3666

BLACK SABBATH, RIVAL SONS Qudos Bank Arena Saturday April 23

It was a fitting Friday the 13th of February, 1970, when first we sighted these four beasts. And we heard a voice in the midst of them, and we looked and beheld: a pale horse. And his name that sat on him was Ozzy Osbourne, the Prince of Fucking Darkness. And Hell followed with him.

As did Rival Sons, a classic rock band in the vein of Mötley Crüe for whom this was clearly the first time playing not just to Australians, but to an arena full of them. While singer Jay Buchanan has impressive vocal chops that, at their best, evoke Robert Plant, it was otherwise hard to tell why this group is so beloved by the likes of Sabbath.

Rival Sons showed little originality save for the cutting and pasting of their ’70s influences, and were entirely lacking in presence on the massive stage of the Qudos Bank Arena.

groovin the moo

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The fact that Ozzy could outshine a frontman half his age from aura alone was clear from the moment he lurched out and lifted his arms to the unholy mass before him. After a hilariously shoddy CGI intro featuring a firebreathing demon raining chaos on the world, it was Black Sabbath’s turn to rain down chaos on our unworthy ears for the last time.

They announced themselves with the titular track that heralded their arrival 46 years ago, and followed with a set that never once drifted into the Dio years or their later releases. The older crowd

got exactly what it came for – every one of Sabbath’s anthems, and Paranoid nearly in entirety.

Our fears for Ozzy’s capabilities were not baseless, but certainly overwrought – yes, this drug-fucked, wizened elder may have been reading from an autocue and moving a tad slowly, but as a video flashback to the band’s glory days proved, little has changed in his stagecraft or the power of his voice.

“God bless you all,” he said after every track, grinning like a child, falling to his knees and worshipping us along with the dark lords to whom the band supposedly owes its gifts.

Ozzy should have turned to Tony Iommi, the man to whom he truly owes it all.

Truly, we witnessed a god in full flight, a musician whose potency remains at peak. Geezer Butler’s fingers flew across the bass, laying out psychedelic riff after riff, and an inhuman drum solo from 36-year-old Tommy Clufetos showed us that the company Sabbath keep has remained as talented as ever.

The fans seemed sedate for such a momentous occasion, only surging as ‘Children Of The Grave’ thundered among them. It was not until ‘Paranoid’, the last song Black Sabbath would ever perform in this city, that they finally came to life in praise of the artists who brought so much blissful darkness into our lives.

The End was timely, but Black Sabbath leave this earth having laid all before them to waste. May the horns be forever held high.

David Molloy

ratatat

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24:04:16 :: University Of Canberra :: University Dr Bruce

27:04:16 :: Metro Theatre :: 624 George St Sydney 9550 3666

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

OF MONSTERS AND MEN Sydney Opera House Sunday May 1

At one point during their Sydney Opera House show, Of Monsters And Men featured 11 people up there onstage.

Four guitarists. Three drummers. For a band renowned for the theatricality of its art, these guys sure weren’t cutting any corners. It also doesn’t hurt that each and every one of them looks like they’ve been enlisted from totally disparate acts. From co-lead Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir’s somehow stylised but fluid movements, to oddly undercut bassist Kristján Páll Kristjánsson, to the metal-god-in-waiting Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson, to my new musical crush Ragnhildur Gunnarsdóttir, they are like an Icelandic Avengers.

Having interviewed Hilmarsdóttir for this very publication, I walked into the gig knowing that the darkness and isolation of Scandinavian winters was a vital influence, and while none of the band’s catalogue is especially grim, there is certainly a splinter of darkness that is never far from reach. By opening with ‘Thousand Eyes’ and its refrain of “Undo this storm and wait”, Of Monsters And Men’s seemingly short set got off to a somewhat subdued and contemplative start. It has been the standard opener this entire tour, though there at Bennelong Point it was perhaps most appropriate. As the band noted throughout the show, the Opera House

conjures a quiet crowd, and although there were many songs that had the room on its feet, the moment the last note faded, the crowd sank back to its seats, quietly expectant. A symptom of the venue rather than the band.

The set overall was a colourful beast, with a bustling mix of songs from their two albums plus the rare inclusion of ‘Silhouettes’ from the Hunger Games soundtrack. It was of course the breakout songs that soared, with ‘King And Lionheart’ an early favourite; later in the set saw ‘Dirty Paws’ and ‘Little Talks’ rounding out the commercial hits. For my money ‘Lakehouse’ should be added to that list, but what was most striking about their earlier songs was that none of the band seemed particularly fatigued to still be performing them. ‘Little Talks’ was delivered with as much gusto as you could hope for.

That said, recent songs like ‘Crystal Eyes’ and ‘Wolves Without Teeth’ didn’t quite hit that same electric engagement; fine songs (notably the former) that somehow passed by unremarkably.

But their stagecraft was exceptional. From Hilmarsdóttir and Gunnarsdóttir’s tom battle, to Hilmarsson proving the most wonderfully bizarre drummer you can imagine, to Ragnar Þórhallsson’s mostly indecipherable good cheer, Of Monsters And Men bring a hell of a show.

Adam Norris

PHOTOGRAPHER :: ASHLEY MAR

Plan B Small Club Saturday April 30

It’s been a massive year for dark ’n’ dreamy indie-pop darlings Methyl Ethel.

September saw the release of their debut album Oh Inhuman Spectacle; the Western Australians also joined the triple j rotation; and, most recently, they announced that they’d signed to independent record label 4AD, home to the likes of Beirut, Daughter and The National. This was obviously rather huge news, so why wouldn’t the trio want to celebrate with a national tour?

Opening the show was Melbourne fourpiece Jaala. Led by the candid and charismatic Cosima Jaala and armed with jangly, proggy art-pop from their first record Hard Hold, they launched straight into ‘Salt Shaker’, an unadulterated exploration of what it means to want to leave the town you grew up in, particularly if your hometown is a seaside village filled with “happy-holy-heinous houses” and “fuckheads” with “large hard hands holding half-empty cans while driving”. Their wonderfully clamorous and fast-paced performance was only (hilariously) interrupted once, when they

KRISTIN HERSH

Newtown Social Club Sunday April 24 The hippies and the new-agers are right: the eyes are the window to the soul. Or at least, they’re the window to something.

As Kristin Hersh bellowed out song after song, moving around the mic like a snake warbling before its strike, her eyes seemed to be the true source of her music, providing the weight behind each and every punch.

Not that it was a flawless gig – not by quite a margin. Despite the fact she was ostensibly on tour to promote her new novel, Don’t Suck, Don’t Die – a poetic non-fiction account centred on the life and sad passing of her friend Vic Chesnutt – Hersh peppered the set with readings from all of her books. Though her memoir Rat Girl is very good – it’s an extraordinarily tender account of a breakdown, full of heart and hurt – the extracts chosen were hard to follow, and the audience seemed more worried about whether or not they should clap at the end of each reading than the

had to confer over which song to play next; such are the minor pitfalls of not having a setlist.

Methyl Ethel kicked off with ‘Shadowboxing’. And from the almost androgynous vocals of frontman Jake Webb to the dusky rhythms of bassist Thom Stewart and the commanding beats of drummer Chris Wright, the threepiece was immediately broodingly and reverberatingly hypnotic. Things were taken down a notch with the self-effacing ‘Rogues’. But by the end of that, Webb was well and truly loose, asking the crowd, “Does anyone know the meaning of ‘crepuscular’? I’ve forgotten.” (It means resembling or relating to twilight, if you were wondering. So obviously germane.)

In the live setting, ‘Also Gesellschaft’ transformed from a demurely rattling number to an all-enveloping dreamscape.

Other high points of the gig included the slowly unfurling ‘Sweet Waste’, and the groove-inducing, saxophone-guided gem ‘Twilight Driving’. There was no encore, not that it was needed. Methyl Ethel had already more than amply charmed and captivated the sold-out crowd by then.

VANCE JOY, HOLY HOLY Sydney Opera House Sunday April 24

In the breathtaking, cavernous cathedral to music that is the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House, it is always a little perplexing to see a contemporary act perform live. Decorum dictates that punters file in neatly and in orderly fashion before taking their allocated seats. With no mosh pit, no sticky beer-stained floor, and no real room to move about and groove, it is a mannered and civilised sequence of events. However, a truly great performer knows how to bask in the magnificence of the iconic venue, all the while shrugging off the stiltedness and crafting an atmosphere of intimacy with the audience. Melbournebased Vance Joy managed just that.

Hirsute minstrels Holy Holy were on first, opening with a lush working of ‘Sentimental And Monday’, the first track from last year’s debut album. Their relaxed, dreamy melodies easily charmed the crowd, as did their closing number, dedicated to “such a tower in music”, Prince. And while their cover of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ had more in common with the Sinéad O’Connor version than the original, it was

nonetheless a beautifully heartfelt rendition.

Dressed all in black, man of the hour Vance Joy, née James Keogh, took to the stage to the sounds of a slow building version of ‘Mess Is Mine’. It was a rousing prelude that received a deafening response from the crowd. Clearly this muso has come a long way since his first open mic night back in 2009. And revealing an ease with the limelight, Joy relished bantering with the audience between songs and making fun of himself, even admitting that in a failed display of manliness he had attempted to rescue a giant huntsman earlier that day, releasing it outside, only for it to be swooped down upon by a myna bird.

His 2013 triple j Hottest 100 winner ‘Riptide’ had fans jumping out of their seat, as did his ukulele-led cover of Paul Simon’s ‘You Can Call Me Al’. Proving his star-pulling power, Joy called Emma Louise onstage for a pared-back cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘Lay Lady Lay’, before being joined by Paul Kelly for another duet. Start to finish, this was a people-pleaser of a set attesting that Joy is very much part of the Australian rock establishment.

Anita Connors

Anita Connors

crises Hersh encounters in the book.

That said, the gig gained momentum when Hersh stuck to singing. Time has gotten to her voice in a way that proved tremendously beautiful – like wood warped by water, it bent off into strange new directions, and each line trembled with a power that silenced even those rude enough to chat away through the book readings.

It was 20 minutes too long, and sometimes it was boring, and sometimes it lost sight of itself. But through such imperfection, the real Hersh emerged. As she pointed out, her music is about “dead rabbits and blow jobs” rather than more commercial subjects, and her attitude is real – as rusted and dangerous as a split tin can.

Anything polished would have seemed dishonest, and dishonesty is none of Hersh’s business. Anyway, when it all came down to it, the set lived in her eyes – flashing, searching, looking for absolution but coming to rest on the next best thing.

Us. Joseph Earp

live @ the sly

PICS :: DC

METHYL ETHEL, JAALA

28:04:16 :: Slyfox :: 199 Enmore Rd Enmore 9557 2917 26 :: BRAG :: 661 :: 04:05:16

thebrag.com

g g guide gig g send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com

pick of the week Iron Maiden

FRIDAY MAY 6 Qudos Bank Arena

Iron Maiden + The Raven Age 7:30pm. $66.60.

WEDNESDAY MAY 4

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK

Dr Taos Medicine Show - feat: Various Artists Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 7pm.

Free.

Matt Corby + Kita Alexander Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 8:15pm. $69.

May The 4th Be With You - feat: Billy Puntton + Rachel Maria Cox + Alex Sepansky + Ess-Em + Antonia Susan Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10.

Muso’s Club Jam Night Ruby L’otel, Rozelle.

7:30pm. Free.

The Ramblers House Band Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt.

Jackie Bristow + Suzy Connolly + Paula Punch The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 7pm. $7.

Manouche Wednesday - feat: Gadjo Guitars Mr Falcon’s, Glebe.

7pm. Free.

JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Hammerhead Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 8pm.

Free.

Kenta Hayashi Play Bar, Surry Hills.

7pm. Free.

8pm. Free.

The Temper Trap Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7:30pm. $61.37.

THURSDAY MAY 5 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Malo Malo Foundry616, Ultimo.

8:30pm. $11.50.

ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK Claude Hay Brass Monkey, Cronulla. 7pm. $16.

Ginger’s Jam - feat: Various Bands Oxford Hotel, Darlinghurst.

7:30pm. Free.

Harbourview Hullabaloo - feat: Zack Martin + Kenneth D’Aran + Phil Marino + Elements Of Soul Harbourview Hotel, The Rocks. 7pm.

Free.

Live & Original @ The Merc - feat: Ben Camden + Jas Wilson + When Saturday Comes The Mercantile Hotel, The Rocks.

7:30pm. Free.

Shane Flew Trio feat: Katie Brianna The Vanguard, Newtown. 8pm. $18.80.

Stillhouse Union + Welcome Stranger + Jason Baines The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 8pm. $5.

The Snakemen Mr Falcon’s, Glebe.

8:30pm. Free.

INDIE, ROCK,

POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Black Diamond Hearts The Sheaf, Double Bay. 9pm. Free.

Coheed And Cambria Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7:30pm. $70.80.

Dreamer’s Crime + Nowhere Else + Aureus + Migratn Shop Boys Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10.

Hinds Newtown Social Club, Newtown.

7pm. $29.

Live At The Sly feat: La Tarantella + Sloom + Trips Slyfox, Enmore.

7:30pm. Free.

Muso’s Club Jam Night - feat: Various Carousel Inn Hotel, Rooty Hill. 8pm.

Free.

Roadhouse Rockabilly Night Miss Peaches Soul Food Kitchen, Newtown. 7pm. Free.

The Vanns Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 8pm. Free.

FRIDAY MAY 6 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Johnny G & The E Types The Basement, Circular Quay.

7:30pm. $25.

Shaun Kirk The Vanguard, Newtown. 7:30pm. $51.20.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS At The Dakota + High Street Fluke + Lume Etiquette Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt.

8pm. Free.

Ball Park Music Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm.

$35.

Darling James + Machine Age Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $12.

Disintegrator + Staunch + Disparo + Pizza Gut Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10.

Happy Mag Issue 2 Launch - feat: Bloods + Le Pie + Bec Sandridge + Tees Union Hotel, Newtown. 8pm. Free.

Iron Maiden + The Raven Age Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney Olympic Park. 7:30pm. $66.60.

Jenny Broke The Window Newtown Social Club, Newtown.

8:30pm. $20.

Little May Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7:30pm. $31.61.

Stone Empire Hermann’s Bar, Darlington. 8pm. $26.50.

Wrong Way Festival - feat: Black Rheno + Gutter Tactic + Narla + Rackett + Rigasaurus + Caveman + Keystone + Halcyon Reign + Hammer Switch + Amber Lies + The Fossicks Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt.

4pm. Free.

ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK Andy’s Night On The Prawns + Bleeding Gums Murphy The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 7pm. $7.

Claude Hay Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 8pm.

Free.

Flamin’ Beauties Crown Hotel, Sydney.

8pm. Free.

Oliver Thorpe Mr Falcon’s, Glebe.

9pm. Free.

Sal Kimber & The Rollin’ Wheel + John Flanagan Django Bar @ Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 7:30pm. $22.70.

SATURDAY MAY 7 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK Claude Hay + Lachlan Bryan And The Wildes Stag And Hunter, Newcastle. 8pm.

Free.

Darren Percival - Mother’s Day Concert By Candlelight The Basement, Circular Quay.

7:30pm. $40.

JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Breizers + Thunder Fox + Nelipot Record Crate, Glebe.

8pm. $5.

George Washingmachine & Feel The Manouche The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 7pm. $10.

Soulmaker Sound System Red Rattler, Marrickville. 8pm. $20.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Clever Little Secretaries Rock Lily, Pyrmont.

9:30pm. Free.

Cuntwave 2016 feat: Dreamkillers + Thug + Rust + Headbutt + Crapulous Gee Gaw + Beefweek + Pawn Logic + Skinpin Brown + Paper Bag Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 5pm.

Free.

Flowertruck + Major Leagues + Julia Why? Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $13.

Laceration Mantra Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt.

8pm. $16.90.

Narrow Lands + Whitney Houston’s Crypt + Burlap +

Sleepy Black Wire Records, Annandale. 7pm. $10.

Reidemeister + Bad Moon Born + Kvlts Of Ice Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 7pm. Free.

The Maladies + Wifey + Reverend Jemima Union Hotel, Newtown. 8pm. Free.

The Revel The Sheaf, Double Bay. 9pm. Free.

The Sinking Teeth + Maids + Ebolagoldfish + The Great Awake Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $9.50.

The Squares The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 5pm.

Free.

The Vanns + Blonde Band Moonshine Bar, Manly. 9pm. Free.

The Wonder Years + Knuckle Puck + Our Past Days UTS Underground, Ultimo. 7pm. $51.55.

Untaymable - Make The Cut - feat: Various Artists Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $15.

SUNDAY MAY 8 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC John & Yuki Jazz Band Illawarra Master Builders Club, Wollongong. 2:30pm.

Free.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Crepes + King Colour + Noire Newtown Social Club, Newtown.

6:30pm. $11.

Fuchsia Django Bar @ Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 7:30pm. $15.

Gypsy - feat: Special Guests

five things WITH

JUSTIN DORIN FROM STONE EMPIRE

played on Foxtel and Triple M. We recorded our album Octorabbitsquidskull with one of the world’s leading producers, David Nicholas, who is now a great mate.

The Music You Make 4.

Our style is like a blend of Tool, Metallica, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden Growing Up Inspirations 1.

My key childhood music memory is being 2.

Chris Cornell, Kurt Cobain, Eddie around four years old and slowly turning up Vedder, Angus Young, Corey Taylor, Dave the volume knob and immersing myself in the build-up to the intro for Dire Straits’ ‘Money For Nothing’, then rewinding and doing it over and over again. I grew up with only my mother who suffered severe depression, often unable to cope with life, leaving her with long stints in hospitals et cetera that saw me shipped around here and there and music was my escape and sanity. I witnessed many horrible things in my childhood that gave me great understanding, compassion and resilience – a lot of my songwriting comes from that place. thebrag.com

Grohl – musicians that are real.

Your Band Stone Empire originated around three 3. years ago when I was dealing with some very hard times supporting someone close to me and again found myself writing music to keep my head focused. Since I formed the band we have accomplished many things, like our single ‘Cage’ placing number one on triple J Unearthed’s rock chart on New Year’s Day this year to now being

and AC/DC, but in a way that really works.

In 2014 we had three songs land on triple j Unearthed’s top 100 chart from a demo CD. ‘Cage’ is now available via iTunes along with our album Octorabbitsquidskull, which will also be available in stores from May 6. We also fi lmed our ‘Cage’ music video complete with an eight-by-eight-metre cage fi ghting ring built by us and fi lmed by Aerios Productions.

5.

Music, Right Here, Right Now Don’t get me started… disappointing.

No more BDO, no more Soundwave, lockout laws, venues wanting DJs over bands – I

live in Newcastle, which once had the proud title of being a great rock city, but not anymore. We want to put a new wave of rock music back on the podium where it belongs and I’m really passionate about that. I do know people are craving good rock music again that isn’t generic and overly polished, and hasn’t been created by a TV show. We’ve done it the hard way, working full-time jobs then pushing the band after hours, travelling, outlaying our own funds… but we now have so many funny stories and memories to take with us, and that’s what music should be – fun! It’s time musicians are again recognised for their creative skills and dedication to our art and craft.

What: Octorabbitsquidskull out Friday May 6 independently Where: Hermann’s Bar When: Friday May 6

BRAG :: 661 :: 04:05:16 :: 27

g g guide gig g

gig picks

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 12pm. $10.

The Return Of Lazy Sundays - feat: Various Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 5pm.

Free.

The Villebillies The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 5pm. $7.

Wil Wagner + Pinch Hitter + Meridian Black Wire Records, Annandale. 3pm. $10.

Young Black And Deadly Fundraiser - feat: The Black Turtles + Leah Flanagan Marrickville Bowling

Club, Marrickville.

4:30pm. Free.

ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK Amali Ward The Sheaf, Double Bay. 9pm. Free.

Bluesonstage - feat: Andrew Denniston + Steve Lojewski + Guests Red Lion Hotel, Rozelle. 4pm. Free.

Claude Hay Towradgi Beach Hotel, Towradgi. 3pm.

Free.

Miss Peaches

Hootenanny Bluegrass Sundays Miss Peaches Soul Food Kitchen, Newtown. 8pm. Free.

Nat James Mr Falcon’s, Glebe.

8pm. Free.

MONDAY MAY 9 INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Live & Original @ The Corridor - feat:

Duncan Woods + Mitch Power + Constance Fairlight Corridor Bar, Newtown. 7pm. Free.

Swerve Society - feat: Plasmon Resonance Band + The Vacationists Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 7:30pm.

Free.

feat: Russel Neal + Chris Brookes + Kenneth D’ Aran Kelly’s On King, Newtown. 7:30pm.

Free.

ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK

ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK

John Maddox Duo Mr Falcon’s, Glebe.

7pm. Free.

Songsonstage -

TUESDAY MAY 10

Ingrid Mae Gladstone Hotel, Dulwich Hill. 7:30pm.

Free.

Open Mic The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 7pm.

Free.

Songsonstage feat: Stuart Jammin + Guests Kelly’s On King, Newtown. 8pm. Free.

Tyler Rivers Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt.

7pm. Free.

JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Ines The Sheaf, Double Bay. 9pm. Free.

The Jackie Orszaczky Music Lecture And Concert - feat: Tina Harrod + Darren Percival + Dave Symes + Hamish Stuart + James Greening And More The Basement, Circular Quay. 7pm. $25.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Bandsonstage Ruby Tuesday feat: Russel Neal + Guests Ruby L’otel, Rozelle.

7:30pm. Free.

Live & Original @ Mr Falcon’s - feat: Georgia Mulligan + Hester Fraser + Ash Morse Mr Falcon’s, Glebe.

7:30pm. Free.

Live Rock & Roll Karaoke Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 4pm. Free.

Twin Peaks Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $33.

WEDNESDAY MAY 4

SATURDAY MAY 7

May The 4th Be With You Feat: Billy Puntton + Rachel Maria Cox + Alex Sepansky + Ess-Em + Antonia Susan Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10.

Flowertruck + Major Leagues + Julia Why? Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $13.

The Temper Trap Metro Theatre, Sydney.

7:30pm. $61.37.

THURSDAY MAY 5 Coheed And Cambria Metro Theatre, Sydney.

7:30pm. $70.80.

Hinds Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 7pm. $29.

Live At The Sly - Feat: La Tarantella + Sloom + Trips Slyfox, Enmore. 7:30pm. Free.

The Vanns Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 8pm.

Free.

FRIDAY MAY 6 Ball Park Music Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $35.

Darling James + Machine Age Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst.

8pm. $12.

Jenny Broke The Window Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8:30pm. $20.

Little May Metro Theatre, Sydney.

7:30pm. $31.61.

George Washingmachine & Feel The Manouche The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 7pm. $10.

Reidemeister + Bad Moon Born + Kvlts Of Ice Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 7pm.

Free.

The Maladies + Wifey + Reverend Jemima Union Hotel, Newtown. 8pm.

Free.

The Sinking Teeth + Maids + Ebolagoldfish + The Great Awake Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst.

8pm. $9.50.

The Squares The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 5pm. Free.

The Vanns + Blonde Band Moonshine Bar, Manly. 9pm.

Free.

The Wonder Years + Knuckle Puck + Our Past Days UTS Underground, Ultimo.

7pm. $51.55.

SUNDAY MAY 8 Crepes + King Colour + Noire Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 6:30pm. $11.

Fuchsia Django Bar @ Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 7:30pm. $15.

Sal Kimber & The Rollin’ Wheel + John Flanagan Django Bar @ Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 7:30pm. $22.70.

Wil Wagner + Pinch Hitter + Meridian Black Wire Records, Annandale. 3pm. $10.

Shaun Kirk The Vanguard, Newtown.

7:30pm. $51.20.

TUESDAY MAY 10

Stone Empire Hermann’s Bar, Darlington.

8pm. $26.50.

Twin Peaks Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $33.

Little May

speed date WITH Your Profile We play bluesy surf rock with a blend of 1. your grandmother’s mixtape. We like getting grizzled, throwing shukas, and playing golf. We are looking for the loosest dude or dudettee giving off the chilliest vibes and frothing out – someone we can have a beer with.

2.

Keeping Busy We’ve just been playing shows here and there while writing and prepping for a new EP. We’ve also recorded and released ‘I’m Not The One’ with a film clip, which is what we are currently touring. On our time off, Tom just went to Bali to brew himself an ice cold batch of wisdom, Lachie kicks a bag or suffers horrendous injuries playing AFL, and Jimmy has been sitting in his little room working

28 :: BRAG :: 661 :: 04:05:16

THE VANNS

on something good, really good. We will be releasing a new EP later in the year, playing some more hectic shows with some more hectic bands, and hopefully heading overseas in the very near future.

Best Gig Ever Our first Melbourne show, which 3. sold out. We brought a heap of mates from Wollongong to play with us and just made it a big party. Having it sell out was a huge bonus.

The stage turned into a huge mosh pit – it was just a real great thing to have that vibe at an interstate show.

Current Playlist Right now we are listening to Gang Of 4.

Youths. We saw a sick gig the other week – it

was Gang Of Youths. Some amazing sounds that are coming out of Australia? Gang Of Youths.

Your Ultimate Rider Jim Jefferies, a personal masseuse, 5. air hockey table, pinball machine and three Neapolitan Mastiff puppies. Our current rider has peanut M&Ms and “something smooth”.

We’re pretty happy if we get either of those items.

Where: Frankie’s Pizza / Moonshine Bar, Hotel Steyne When: Thursday May 5 / Saturday May 7 And: Also appearing at UniBar, Wollongong University on Friday May 6

thebrag.com

brag beats

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

dance music news club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Chris Martin, Tom Parker and Zanda Wilson

on the record WITH

Flight Facilities

NATTALI RIZE

The First Record I Bought 1.

The first record I remember buying was a Janis Joplin CD, Pearl. I listened to it my entire childhood in my mother’s vinyl collection.

Janis’ music, soul and raw energy inspired me greatly in my early years as a musician and artist.

The Last Record I Bought 2.

Anderson .Paak – the album Malibu. A friend of mine in Jamaica was playing some of his songs one night and I was taken with the freshness of the sound and strength of musicianship, production and singing. I listen to and appreciate a broad mix of musical expression, Malibu is one I recommend for you too.

FLIGHT FACILITIES GO JUMBO

Aussie dance legends Flight Facilities will perform a special outdoor show with the 50-piece Sydney Symphony Orchestra this September. Following Flight Facilities’ collaboration with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at the 2015 Melbourne Festival, Australia’s favourite dancefloor aviators will bring their hits to 15,000 fans in The Domain.

The show will be the headline attraction of the recently announced Red Bull Music Academy Weekender, a four-day festival of dance, music and culture spanning 12 events from 40 artists. FFxSSO takes place in The Domain on Saturday September 10.

The First Thing I Recorded 3.

I started my recording journey as a percussionist. I come from a street performance background, where me and my number one musical collaborator Carlo played drums on the streets around the world before starting Blue King Brown. Everything is part of the journey, from the streets to the stage and maybe back to the streets again. I follow my heart, my intuition and my life purpose to bring a sound, a frequency that helps uplift the consciousness of the people on this planet. Freedom.

4.

The Last Thing I Recorded One of the most recent songs I recorded is a collaboration with the son of Bob Marley, Julian Marley. The track, ‘Natty Rides Again’, has just been released with a video we

filmed in Jamaica including at Bob’s house in Kingston.

We recorded it at the legendary Tuff Gong Studios and it was a great, easy vibe, and greater to be able to work at Bob’s places with one of his amazingly talented sons.

The Record That Changed My Life 5.

There are a few in this list but the first that comes to mind is Survival by Bob Marley. It includes my all-time favourite track ‘Natty Dread’ as well as some real rebel, conscious music. I remember going to get dreadlocks for the first time when I was 11 years old

and asking the lady to make them thick like Bob Marley.

I didn’t realise till later in life how much Jamaican culture and music has inspired me growing up, resonating with me all the way in a little suburb in Australia. My Jamaican band I’m currently touring with and I are manifestations of those early childhood affinities with the great Bob Marley, and more accurately, the great genre of reggae. See you out there, music-lovers!

Where: The Rhythm Hut, Gosford When: Sunday May 8

THE COAST IS CRYSTAL CLEAR

Detroit Swindle

DIRECT FROM DETROIT

The finest duo in all of the Netherlands, Detroit Swindle (don’t let the name fool you), are lining up for an Australian tour this month. Lars Dales and Maarten Smeets – former colleagues on the Amsterdam nightclub scene, until Dales had to fire Smeets for playing too much underground music – bonded over their appreciation for Motown, hip hop and OG house.

After uniting in 2011, Detroit Swindle have gone from strength to strength, and launched their own label in Heist Recordings. They’re now leading lights on the Amsterdam house scene and host The Great Escape club night, but they’ll be on our doorstep to play Chinese Laundry on Saturday May 28.

thebrag.com

Electronic six-piece Crystal Fighters are returning to Sydney for a headline show to accompany their appearance at this year’s Splendour In The Grass.

They took Australia by storm during their hugely successful 2014 tour, showcasing their sophomore masterpiece Cave Rave at the Falls and Southbound festivals.

Their eagerly anticipated return Down Under comes with the news that their third studio album is on the way, and after mesmerising crowds during Coachella, they’re priming Aussie fans for an onstage explosion of energy and good vibes.

Witness some crystal magic when Crystal Fighters take to Oxford Art Factory on Sunday July 24.

PARTY FOR A PURPOSE

party for a great cause this month. Come Saturday May 21, the Pedestrian Help event will celebrate Australia’s emerging musical talent, as well as raise money for Youth Off The Streets. The lineup Låpsley

includes young electronic acts like Amateur Dance, Polographia and Bad Deep DJs, but also some live entertainment from Australia, MC Gill Bates, Sophie Lowe and more. Head to the Metro Theatre to get involved.

CINCO DE ARGYLE

This Thursday May 5 is a big day of celebration for our friends in Mexico: Cinco de

Mayo, the commemoration of the Mexican army’s victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. In recent years the festivities have spread internationally, and The Argyle is getting in on the action with a party this Friday May 6. This Seis de Mayo event is sure to deliver tequila and fiesta, but also dancefloor favourites delivered by DJs John Course and Glover. Viva México!

Andrey Pushkarev

LAPPING IT UP

Coinciding with her appearance at this year’s Splendour In The Grass festival, British songwriter and producer Låpsley has revealed she is coming to Sydney for a headline show.

Since graduating from her studies, she has parted ways with a burgeoning science career to focus on her music, and has recently signed with XL Recordings alongside Jamie xx, Adele and Radiohead. She’s been described as one of 2016’s most formidable talents, having clocked up a million views on her hit ‘Operator’.

Låpsley will bring her evocative brand of electronica to Oxford Art Factory on Wednesday July 27.

WHEN PUSH(KAREV) COMES TO SHOVE

Civic Underground is set to host a massive bash at the end of May with Andrey Pushkarev and Mantra Collective. Russian mixmaster and vinyl dude Pushkarev will come to C.U Saturday on Saturday May 28 to spin some records, bringing with him a post-holiday Mantra Collective. The Mantra boys have returned after adventuring around Bali and Tokyo, adding friends Persian Rug and Mike Watts to their arsenal for support duties. It’s going to be a big night out.

The kind people over at Pedestrian are throwing a BRAG :: 661 :: 04:05:16 :: 29

Black Cab A Uniform Approach By Augustus Welby capture that on record – make sure that’s an important part of the recorded sound as well.”

While Games Of The XXI Olympiad was a distinct departure from the washy psych rock of the band’s earlier work, Black Cab sounded completely at home playing steely electronica with pop-inclined melodies.

Nevertheless, they didn’t want to sacrifi ce their onstage liveliness.

“It’s really important to keep the sound that we’re doing kind of fresh and keep away from pure electronic,” Coates says. “Not that we don’t like pure electronic, it’s just not necessarily what you get from us live. So we want to try to keep that live vibe going, where we’ve got electronics with live drums. We like that; it seems to work. We’ve been honing that for the last couple of years live, so now it’s a great opportunity to start writing from scratch with that as the foundation.”

Black Cab will soon head out on a mini-tour to launch ‘Uniforms’, and they’re planning to premiere a whole bunch of new tracks – another contrast to their former compositional approach.

F

or musicians to achieve enduring appeal, it’s essential they maintain creative curiosity and fi nd artistic ways to explore that curiosity.

There are plenty of bands that do some really great work, then spend years churning out recycled ideas. That’s exactly what Melbourne’s Black Cab didn’t want to do. After three records of guitar-centric psych rock, their 2014 release, Games Of The XXI Olympiad, revolved around industrial electronic production and synthpop hooks. Released in March, Black Cab’s latest single ‘Uniforms’ upholds the aesthetic

qualities of that album. However, they’ve recently overhauled their songwriting approach.

However, Holland wasn’t a fully fl edged band member for much of the album’s construction.

“We’ve kind of started from scratch,” says vocalist Andrew Coates. “Now that we’ve got Wes [Holland] on drums, we’re actually writing with the same bunch of folks who have been playing these songs live for the last couple of years. That’s been really good.”

“He came in late on a few tracks, but he wasn’t there at the start for a lot of those tracks that have been in play for quite some time,” Coates explains. “‘Sexy Polizei’ was released in 2009, and ‘Combat Boots’ came out 2011. He was playing live on those tracks and he tracked a few drum lines on some of the later stuff on Games, but this is really a good reset. We really like the rock energy that he brings to the live sound, so we want to try to

This mightn’t seem like a drastic shift considering Holland does appear on Games Of The XXI Olympiad alongside Coates and Black Cab co-leader James Lee.

“One of the things we’ve also really enjoyed doing is quickly performing [songs] to get a sense of whether they’re working or not,” Coates says. “So all the 25-odd minutes of new stuff is now in the set. It’s been really good to go, ‘Let’s write a song and perform it before we record it.’ Old Cab, we would agonise over a song for a long time and then try to perform, and then you’d go, ‘You know what, it’s not much chop.’ This is exactly the opposite – we quickly pull together a rough arrangement and we perform it. We see how it feels and then you come away going, ‘It needed more of this or less of that.’ “‘Uniforms’ is a really good example of that. It didn’t start

in its current format at all. Last year, when we started playing it, it had very different vocals and we didn’t have some of the guest electronics that Mikey Young did.

They really transformed the track as well.”

Young, who is best known for playing in Total Control and Eddy Current Suppression Ring, helmed a remix of the Games Of The XXI Olympiad track ‘Victorious’, which paved the way for his guest appearance on ‘Uniforms’.

Interestingly, despite hailing from the same city and sharing a similar musical outlook, this union wasn’t the result of personal friendship.

“We didn’t know Mikey at all. I still haven’t met Mikey,” Coates says. “It’s all been through the interwebs. But Wes is totally comfortable to reach out to anyone at any time to ask them to do something. He’s got no inhibitions whatsoever, so he’s happy to reach out to someone like Mikey or he’ll reach over the other side of the world to a DJ remixer guy like Timothy Fairplay [who remixed ‘Polizei’] or the Forces guys [who remixed ‘Ender’].

“So he did that for Mikey, just reached out to him and said, ‘Do you want to do a remix?’ And Mikey did that amazing remix and we thought, ‘Holy shit. Let’s get more Mikey on stuff.’ So we sent him a rough demo of ‘Uniforms’ and said, ‘Just go nuts on it.’

So he just tracked some crazy Mikey stuff, and nearly all of it’s got some component of odd genius. When it came back we just went, ‘Holy shit, this makes perfect sense.’ A lot of what he did features in the track. He made something that was a bit greyscale into this technicolour thing.”

With: Mezko, Buzz Kull (DJ set) Where: Newtown Social Club When: Saturday May 14

Mathas Feeding The Trolls By Augustus Welby

T

he lyrics of Mathas’ latest single ‘Bravo Troll’ are a loose adaptation of the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff. The original Norwegian fairy tale speaks of three goats looking to cross a bridge in order to find new grass to feed on, but underneath that bridge lives a nasty troll that’s liable to eat them.

Now the Western Australian hip hop artist has taken elements of this story and reapplied them to the phenomenon of online trolling – an increasingly prevalent, faceless form of bullying that can be devastating to its victims.

“It’s referring to that troll from storybooks and why that word popped up in current internet culture,” Mathas says. “It’s trying to draw a connection between the two. The reason I started writing about it is more watching what happens to a lot of the people I know and a lot of friends – it doesn’t really happen to me so much, at least not yet. But you watch it every day, and women in particular cop it a lot. It’s talking about [the idea that] maybe that character hasn’t changed too much from the storybook.”

“[In] some of the lyrics I’m actually talking about creative output,” he explains. “Artists will spend a long time working on something that’s their brainchild and is their main outlet for their creativity, and then once it gets put onto the internet it’s there for public scrutinising. The use of ‘We’re trying to eat here,’ I suppose that’s more in reference to the artists trying to 30 :: BRAG :: 661 :: 04:05:16

put media out into the world, and then that’s being picked to pieces in a very vocal way these days. Maybe that kind of criticism only came from reviewers once upon a time, and now it’s free rein for everybody.

“But that line is also in reference to the Three Billy Goats Gruff as well. You know, ‘Can’t you see we’re trying to eat here?’ because what they’re trying to do is get to the other side of the bridge to get to the greener grass.

And the troll keeps popping up and stopping them.”

‘Bravo Troll’ came out in late March, just six months after the Mathas’ second LP,

Armwrestling Atlas. It was a surprise to hear new music from Mathas so soon, considering Armwrestling Atlas came a long six years after his debut LP, 10lb Hairless Sasquatch. Once the album was finally completed, however, he felt a surge of creative freedom.

“It had been a really intense process for a long time for me. So once that was done I basically just set my studio back up, and my aim is to sit in the studio for a while and try to make new stuff, because I hadn’t really written a new song in about two years while I was trying to finish Armwrestling Atlas. I’m not a particularly great multitasker. So I’ve

actually been making new songs like crazy, which has been awesome.”

This jolt of inspiration means there’s a new Mathas EP on the cards for later in 2016.

“I’ve already named the EP, and that’s going to hopefully come out before the end of the year. I’m moving pretty steadily towards it and I’m not giving myself the 12-, 13-track goal of an album. That’s going to be called Gripes With The Human Mind, and that’s going to come out a little later in the year.”

Where: Newtown Social Club When: Thursday May 12 thebrag.com

Black Cab photo by Ian Laidlaw

In typical Mathas fashion, the song paints a dark picture, depicting trolling as a kind of horrible bloodlust. However, it takes on an ambivalent tone towards the end with the repetition of the lines: “I suppose that’s just the way we eat here / Can’t you see we’re trying to eat here?”

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BRAG :: 661 :: 04:05:16 :: 31

Bob Moses Hazy Days By Matt Petherbridge

C

ombining classic song structures with Pink Floyd-esque production is a rarity in electronic dance music today, where the prevailing trend is to replace choruses with bird noises. Canada’s Jimmy Vallance and Tom Howie, known together as Bob Moses, have created in Days Gone By a personable and immersive record that refl ects no end and no beginning to the creative process.

“I love that you say bird noises – we say that all the time! ‘Dude, have we got any bird noises?’” laughs Vallance. “We call them ‘spicy noises’. We are fans of songs and equally fans of really cool-sounding instrumental productions. Marrying the two together made sense.”

Howie adds: “It’s kind of hard to relate to bird noises on a personal level. When there’s a story in a song, there’s more to grab onto, more to relate to. Bird noises are cool and they are OK when you are at the forefront pushing forward. After a while, it gets old – ‘How do you make the coolest bird noise?’”

Bob Moses’ storytelling, inspired in part

by Tom Petty on the track ‘Tearing Me Up’ (which the duo recently performed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show), touches on a classic trope: pining for a girl on a night out.

The song is not entirely autobiographical, but written from “experience and extrapolation”.

“We prefer to take the initial spark of the situation and try to tell a universal story,” says Howie. “A lot of times, when you are writing, you start in one place and you don’t know where it’s coming from, then it takes on a life of its own. You go with it. The lyrics ‘If you’re a joker then I’m a fool’ came out, then we wrote to clarify those images – we sung the verse in a cool, almost spoken Tom Petty vibe. At the end of the song, we couldn’t decide whether or not we wanted to leave the story open-ended. You know, maybe you’re not supposed to get to the end and fi nd out what happens.”

Vallance and Howie’s simple goal ahead of Days Gone By was “to write really great songs” and “[try] to find our own unique voice” – an achievement that can be tough in the super competitive world of underground dance music.

“Our production and writing is so tied together, it’s hard to delineate,” says Howie.

“All these ideas percolate and come to the surface as they call to be worked out. Maybe if a jolt of inspiration comes up, you run with it, but because you’ve gone through the experience of writing that, you look back on what you’d done previously and it informs the creative process.”

One of the album’s strandout cuts, ‘Keeping Me Alive’, actually had its genesis back in 2014, but Bob Moses’ signing to the Domino label both hampered and informed the creative process moving forward – something Vallance is happy to discuss.

“It was one of the last songs to get finished.

It’s really funny, we started it and then finished that song in the same studio almost a year later. We hadn’t worked on it in all that time. Signing was really daunting. [We wondered,] ‘How indie should our record be? How much do we focus on songs or production?’ The opportunity created insecurity; we had to adjust to the situation.

It took us writing a lot of other songs to see that song in a different light – and how well it would work.”

Domino remained a stoic supporter of the band during the making of Days Gone By, and Vallance and Howie couldn’t be happier with the freedom they were given.

“They were chill, they let us do our thing,” says Vallance. “We didn’t show them any music for seven months. I can’t imagine how they were feeling. I’m glad we waited, though.

We knew we’d have these insecure feelings, offering caveats and explanations and excuses – that’s always annoying to have to do that. It’s better to show them 90 per cent of the picture rather than 40 per cent.”

Bob Moses recently triumphed at Coachella, and Howie says being onstage at the festival is “the best view in the world. It’s the greatest office ever!” There was even a chance meeting with Radiohead production luminary Nigel Godrich, as Vallance recalls.

“We had this little bonding moment at the bar after waiting forever to get a drink – meanwhile, I was trying not to freak out that that guy had produced some of my favourite records of all time.”

At Coachella, the duo surprised audiences by rocking up with a drummer for the live set.

The extra member won’t accompany Bob Moses on their forthcoming Australian tour, but a ten-second moment of panic onstage at the festival gave the boys a great spark of inspiration for the future.

“On the second Coachella weekend, second-last song, there’s this big build-up,”

Off The Record F

Oooooh baby. A regular staple of the impervious Mood Hut family, Jack J, is coming back our way. Also one half of the duo Pender Street Steppers, the Canadian house cat has been lighting up dancefloors worldwide ever since 2013, with his 2015 cut ‘Thirstin’ on Future Times coming in as the number two track of the year over on electronic bible Resident Advisor. Simmering the dancefloor on the night will be Adi Toohey, Kali and Valerie Yum on Saturday May 21 at Jam Gallery. Beat the incoming winter cold, this is gonna be a hot one.

Some deep Russian vibes coming at’cha: Andrey Pushkarev has locked in an Australian tour. Now entering his third decade in the game, the Moscow-based house veteran has played at pretty much every club in the world and earned almost every accolade in the book, most recently storming dancefloors with releases on Endless, Tehnofonika and Circus Company. Get in the mood by spinning his recent mix for XLR8R – it’s goddamn deeper than the Mariana Trench. It’s going down on Saturday May 28 at Civic Underground, and support will come from Mantra Collective, Persian Rug and Mike Watts.

Andrey Pushkarev

What: Days Gone By out now through Domino/EMI Where: Greenwood Hotel When: Sunday May 15 And: Also supporting RÜFÜS at the Hordern Pavilion on Wednesday May 4 and Thursday May 5

RECOMMENDED Tiger Stripes

Dance and Electronica with Tyson Wray

urther highlighting just how goddamn out of touch it is, DJ Mag has celebrated its 25th anniversary with an issue dedicated to 25 pioneers of dance music – all of them men. Uhhhh?

Apparently every innovator of dance music is a straight white rich guy? Get fucked.

Sadly, I suppose we shouldn’t expect much more from a magazine that lists David Guetta, Avicii and Hardwell in its top ten DJs on the planet. Head to thebrag.com to read a takedown of the issue by Rebecca Florence, alongside an honour list of gamechanging females in the dance world, such as Annie Nightingale, Mary Anne Hobbs and Fatima Al Qadiri.

Howie explains. “The way we rehearsed it, one of us came in one bar early, which meant we had to play an extra chorus – and doing the last chorus as just guitar and vocal, it created this super amazing end to the set, which wouldn’t have happened just between the two of us. It challenges you as a musician and it was really fun. Now even when it’s just me and Jimmy playing together, the distinction [between live and electronic] is starting to blur. It’s all just tools and instruments – it feels natural to us.”

Tour rumours: expect a visit from the UK’s Marquis Hawkes later this month. I’ve also got money on Andhim returning in June.

Best releases this week: the new Max D record Boost (on Future Times) is really hitting the spot right now. Otherwise I can’t stop spinning Horsepower Productions’ Crooks, Crimes & Corruption (Tempa), Beatrice Dillon & Rupert Clervaux’s Two Changes (Paralaxe Editions) and Morah’s Anarchy (Berceuse Heroique). There’s loads of good lookin’ shit on the horizon too, including newies from Huerco S., Rupert Clervaux & Beatrice Dillon, Willie Burns and Raime.

Boris

SATURDAY MAY 7 FRIDAY MAY 27 Those champs over at The House of Mince are turning five and they’re set to celebrate with none other than Boris (no, not the Japanese avant-garde metal band, that’d be a little weird). A man who’s witnessed the evolution of electronic music like few others after spending the ’90s in New York cutting rugs at the infamous house and disco parties at Paradise Garage, the German DJ returned to Berlin just as the techno explosion changed the nation’s musical landscape. Since then his impeccable taste has seen him a resident at Berghain since day one, all while producing regular releases for the seminal Ostgut Ton imprint. Says it all, really, doesn’t it? Don’t miss this one – it’s happening from 2pm on Sunday May 29 at Cruise Bar.

Anthony Parasole Burdekin Hotel

Locked Groove TBA

SATURDAY MAY 14

SATURDAY MAY 28

Edit Select Burdekin Hotel

SUNDAY MAY 15

Bob Moses Greenwood Hotel

SATURDAY MAY 21 Tiger Stripes Burdekin Hotel Jack J Jam Gallery

Detroit Swindle Chinese Laundry

Andrey Pushkarev Civic Underground

SUNDAY MAY 29 Boris Cruise Bar

SATURDAY JUNE 25

DJ Pierre Civic Underground

Got any tip-offs, hate mail, praise or cat photos? Email hey@tysonwray.com or contact me via carrier pigeon.

32 :: BRAG :: 661 :: 04:05:16

thebrag.com

club guide g

club picks p up all night out all week...

send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com

club pick of the week SUNDAY MAY 8

Rudimental

Hordern Pavilion

Rudimental + Jess Glynne + Thandi Phoenix

6:30pm. $81.46.

WEDNESDAY MAY 4

THURSDAY MAY 5

CLUB NIGHTS

CLUB NIGHTS

Birdcage - feat: Various DJs Slyfox, Enmore.

9pm. Free.

Rihanna ‘Work’ Dance Classes With Amrita Plan B Small Club, Sydney. 6pm. $20.

RÜFÜS + Bob Moses + Tora Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park.

7:30pm. $64.33.

Salsa Wednesdays - feat: DJ Miro + Special Guests The Argyle, The Rocks. 8:30pm.

Free.

SBW - feat: Jonski Babysham + Resident DJs Side Bar, Sydney.

8pm. Free.

Sosueme - feat: Hinds + Wild Honey + Baytek Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach. 8pm.

Free.

Sven Marquardt Exhibition Opening Night Party Ambush Gallery, Chippendale. 6pm.

Free.

The Wall The World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm.

Free.

Femme Fetale The Argyle, The Rocks. 6pm. Free.

House Keeping - feat: DJ Conor Boylan + Guests Side Bar, Sydney.

8pm. Free.

The Goods - feat: Guest DJ Plan B Small Club, Sydney. 9pm. Free.

RÜFÜS + Bob Moses + Tora Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park.

7:30pm. $64.33.

thebrag.com

FRIDAY MAY 6 HIP HOP & R&B Phat Play Friday feat: Dewis + Diola + Benny Hinn Play Bar, Surry Hills.

4pm. Free.

The Shufflers The Sheaf, Double Bay. 9pm. Free.

CLUB NIGHTS Acid Tannins Dance - feat: Mike Who + Anno Cake Wines Cellardoor, Redfern.

5pm. Free.

Argyle Fridays The Argyle, The Rocks. 6pm. Free.

Auralization Presents Prespective - feat: Various Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 9pm. $10.

Bassic - feat: Spenda C + Squeef + Leviathan + Svsik + Wa-Heavy + Arcade Theory + Delfi k + Goreway Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 9pm. $22.90.

Club Night #4 feat: Kato + Statue + Alltvlk + Body Promise Eleven Nightclub, Paddington. 9pm. $10.

Dillinja + Slice + Foreign Dub + Sariss B2B Xion + The Bassix Miind Nightclub, Darlinghurst. 9pm. $30.

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 + Guests Side Bar, Sydney.

8pm. Free.

Fridays At Zeta Zeta Bar, Sydney.

9pm. Free.

G-Wizard Marquee, Pyrmont.

10pm. $13.70.

Hans Down 003 - feat: Mike Witcombe + Jamie Blanco + Dreamcatcher + Holding Hands + Keace + Marc Jarvin Slyfox, Enmore.

8pm. Free.

Harbour Club Fridays 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.

Murray Lake Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly. 8pm. Free.

Priviledge Fridays: Justin Bieber Appreciation Night Mr B’s, Sydney.

5:30pm. Free.

Scubar Fridays - feat: DJs On Rotation Scubar, Sydney.

8pm. Free.

Sidechains - feat: Anatole + Siniq Plan B Small Club, Sydney. 9pm. $10.

Under The C feat: Jay Bhana + Fiktion + Kara + Hoten + Bass Candy + Kartello + Nine One + Mastown Civic Underground, Sydney. 9pm. $16.67.

Welove - feat: Various DJs Burdekin Hotel, Darlinghurst. 10pm.

Free.

SATURDAY MAY 7 CLUB NIGHTS Argyle Saturdays - feat: Tass + TapTap + Minx + Crazy Caz The Argyle, The Rocks. 6pm. Free.

Barrio Nights feat: No Regular Play + Murat Killic Barrio Cellar, Sydney. 9pm. $22.10.

El Loco Later - feat: DJs On Rotation Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills. 9pm.

Free.

Foxlife - feat: Jimmy 2 Sox B2B Kerry Wallace + Jimmy Brus + Rabbit Taxi Slyfox, Enmore.

10pm. $10.

Frat Saturdays feat: Danny Simms + Jayowens Side Bar, Sydney.

8pm. Free.

Gesaffelstein Metro Theatre, Sydney. 9pm. $65.20.

Halfway Crooks Drake Dedication Party - feat: Levins + Franco + Flexi Mami Plan B Small Club, Sydney. 9pm. $15.

Lndry - feat: Benson + Human Movement + A-Tonez + Friendless + Marley Sherman

+ Stovie + Royal Pineapple + Winny Clayton + DJ Just 1 + Dollar Bear + DJ Eko Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 9pm. $22.90.

Motez Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 9pm. $20.

My Place Saturdays - feat: DJs On Rotation Bar100, The Rocks.

8pm. Free.

Pacha Sydney feat: Yolanda Be Cool + D-Cup Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney. 6:30pm. $38.

Reset - feat: Jez Sands + Friday Records + Seher + Summit DJs + Jay Doyle + Vouki Tao Lounge, Sydney. 9pm. $33.

Scubar Saturdays - feat: DJs On Rotation Scubar, Sydney.

8:30pm. Free.

Soda Saturdays Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 6pm. Free.

Something Else - feat: Anthony Parasole + Jac Frier + Methodix + Baron Castle + Grande Jette + U-Khan + Dave Stuart Burdekin Hotel, Darlinghurst. 10pm. $16.50.

Stuey B + Brenny B Sides Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly. 6pm. Free.

The Sweet Escape - feat: Stereogamous Imperial Hotel, Erskineville. 9pm.

Free.

Underground Jack + Richie Haynes + Mark Simonds + DJ Nycks Burdekin Hotel, Darlinghurst. 10pm. $20.

Will Sparks Marquee, Pyrmont.

10pm. $13.70.

Yours - feat: GG Magree Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach. 6pm.

Free.

RÜFÜS

WEDNESDAY MAY 4 RÜFÜS + Bob Moses + Tora Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park.

7:30pm. $64.33.

FRIDAY MAY 6 Bassic - Feat: Spenda C + Squeef + Leviathan + Svsik + Wa-Heavy + Arcade Theory + Delfik + Goreway Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 9pm. $22.90.

Club Night #4 - Feat: Kato + Statue + Alltvlk + Body Promise Eleven Nightclub, Paddington.

9pm. $10.

Hans Down 003 - Feat: Mike Witcombe + Jamie Blanco + Dreamcatcher + Holding Hands + Keace + Marc Jarvin Slyfox, Enmore. 8pm. Free.

Under The C - Feat: Jay Bhana + Fiktion + Kara + Hoten + Bass Candy + Kartello + Nine One + Mastown Civic Underground, Sydney.

9pm. $16.67.

Barrio Cellar, Sydney. 9pm. $22.10.

Foxlife - Feat: Jimmy 2 Sox B2B Kerry Wallace + Jimmy Brus + Rabbit Taxi Slyfox, Enmore. 10pm. $10.

Halfway Crooks Drake Dedication Party - Feat: Levins + Franco + Flexi Mami Plan B Small Club, Sydney.

9pm. $15.

Lndry - Feat: Benson + Human Movement + A-Tonez + Friendless + Marley Sherman + Stovie + Royal Pineapple + Winny Clayton + DJ Just 1 + Dollar Bear + DJ Eko Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 9pm. $22.90.

Motez Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 9pm. $20.

Pacha Sydney - Feat: Yolanda Be Cool + D-Cup Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney.

6:30pm. $38.

Will Sparks Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $13.70.

SUNDAY MAY 8 SATURDAY MAY 7 73 Til’ Infinity - Feat: Beat Spacek + Mike Who + Edseven + Benny Hinn Play Bar, Surry Hills. 6pm.

Free.

Argyle Saturdays - Feat: Tass + Tap-Tap + Minx + Crazy Caz The Argyle, The Rocks. 6pm.

Free.

Barrio Nights - Feat: No Regular Play + Murat Killic

S.A.S.H By Day - Feat: Phil Smart + Stungewollah + Pip Dalton + Linda Jenssen Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney. 2pm. $15.

S.A.S.H By Night - Feat: Secret Guest + Ant J Steep + Jac Frier + Dan Zina + Doug Masters + Simon Brayford + Andy Donaldson + Tony Garcia + Deep Seeded + Matt Weir + Kerry Wallace Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 9pm. $15.

Will Sparks

HIP HOP & R&B 73 Til’ Infi nity feat: Beat Spacek + Mike Who + Edseven + Benny Hinn Play Bar, Surry Hills.

6pm. Free.

R&B DJs By The Greens Marrickville Bowling Club, Marrickville.

4pm. Free.

Xs.If Mr Falcon’s, Glebe.

9:30pm. Free.

SUNDAY MAY 8 CLUB NIGHTS Beresford Sundays - feat: DJs On Rotation Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills. 3pm.

Free.

Picnic Social Tatler, Darlinghurst.

4pm. Free.

Rudimental + Jess Glynne + Thandi Phoenix

Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park. 6:30pm. $81.46.

S.A.S.H By Day Feat: Phil Smart + Stungewollah + Pip Dalton + Linda Jenssen Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney. 2pm. $15.

S.A.S.H By Night Feat: Secret Guest + Ant J Steep + Jac Frier + Dan Zina + Doug Masters + Simon Brayford + Andy Donaldson + Tony Garcia + Deep Seeded + Matt Weir + Kerry Wallace Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour.

9pm. $15.

Sin Sundays

The Argyle, The Rocks. 7pm. Free.

Somatic + Alex Mac Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly. 4pm. Free.

Yo Preston Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 1pm. $35.

MONDAY MAY 9

HIP HOP & R&B Common + Talib

TUESDAY MAY 10 CLUB NIGHTS

CLUB NIGHTS I Love Mondays Side Bar, Sydney.

9pm. Free.

Kweli Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 7:30pm. $98.28.

Coyote Tuesdays The World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. $10.

Side Bar Tuesdays - feat: Black Diamond Hearts Side Bar, Sydney.

9pm. Free.

Terrible Tuesdays Slyfox, Enmore.

5pm. Free.

BRAG :: 661 :: 04:05:16 :: 33

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VIEW FULL GALLERIES AT

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up all night out all week . . .

out & about Queer(ish) matters with Lucy Watson

Last week, the editor of Bangladesh’s first queer publication was literally hacked to death.

It’s brutal, sad, and makes me feel incredibly lucky to be living in Australia.

Life isn’t always great for queers here, but we don’t risk death just by existing.

I edit a queer publication, and I can do that here without too much concern.

It also makes me wonder about how safe it is to travel as part of a queer couple.

Of course, this really depends on where you’re going, and there’s a lot of other important cultural differences to think about, and respect, while travelling (you might expect to be able to kiss your partner, gay or straight, in New York, for example, but the rules might be a little different in, say, Marrakesh).

In most parts of Sydney, I walk arm in arm with my partner. I’m cautious about it late at night in the city, or in the suburbs (but let’s be honest, how often do I venture into the suburbs?).

s.a.s.h by day

PICS :: AM

Travelling adds a whole other layer of risk, though. Particularly around accommodation. I think this is particularly tricky for gay couples.

Because of a little thing called lesbian invisibility, two women travelling together can be read as two friends.

And two female friends sharing a bed isn’t as culturally strange (particularly in the West). But two men sharing a bed?

The idea that they’re ‘just friends’ seems less likely.

01:05:16 :: Greenwood Hotel :: 36 Blue Street North Sydney 9964 9477

Two friends of mine travelling once arrived at their hotel only to fi nd the ‘helpful’ concierge had ‘upgraded’ their double room to a twin.

There are websites devoted to LGBT travel to help you out, and the UK just released a warning to LGBT people travelling to certain US states that have just passed anti-gay and anti-trans laws.

But these websites don’t help protect you from microaggressions like my friends’ room ‘upgrade’.

this week…

I worry about travelling to a lot of countries that aren’t in the West – not just because I’m queer, and a woman, but also because of some of the colonialist implications of going to some of these countries and “finding yourself” (Eat, Pray, Love, anyone?), or the ‘voluntourism’ aspects of some of these holidays, which some have touted as New Colonialism.

White people need to respect the cultures of the countries they’re visiting, and beware of cultural difference being exploited for touristic gain.

It’s complicated. I defi nitely don’t condone homophobia (or brutal hackings) anywhere in the world, but I also don’t expect certain cultures to fl at out accept me holding hands with my girlfriend while I visit their sites of historical or cultural signifi cance. That, however, I can avoid. But how much of our lives do we put aside out of respect for cultures that might borderline on homophobia? Should we stay in separate rooms? Bring men to travel with us? At what point are we putting up with too much?

I haven’t worked out the answer to that yet. That’s why we’re going to Paris, Amsterdam and Berlin. We’ll be fi ne.

Cunningpants

On Wednesday May 4, Birdcage turns four!

Come celebrate at Slyfox with Unknown Associates, NatNoiz, Cunningpants, Domme, Astrix and Felicity Frockaccino.

Get in early because it’s sure to fill up.

Then on Thursday May 5, head to Knox St Bar to check out the Bad Bitch Choir in action. If you’re more into sports than choirs, on Saturday May 7, head to Sydney Boys High for round two of the Sydney Roller Derby League’s 2016 season. There’ll be a junior bout up first, so get in early to see the next league legends.

34 :: BRAG :: 661 :: 04:05:16

NatNoiz

thebrag.com

Photo courtesy Arda/Flickr

My partner and I are going to Europe in June. We’re really only visiting big cities that are notably LGBT-friendly, so I assume we’ll be fi ne. We’ve booked a lot of Airbnb accommodation. Airbnb as a corporation is notoriously queerfriendly, with fl oats at Mardi Gras, ads for Pride, and even the slogan “Host With Pride” to celebrate queer events around the world. Though Airbnb can’t vouch for every host on its site, just as hotels can’t vouch for every concierge they employ (until, of course, a host or a

concierge fucks up), there are measures in place to protect queer couples (not least anti-discrimination legislation).

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