Splendour Weekender 2022

A PROGRAM FOR ARTISTS BY ARTISTS

Wow. Here we are. You, me and 50,000 other beautiful people at Splendour in the Grass 2022. Can you believe it? We’re here. We survived the pandemic and we’re all here in the North Byron Parklands, together, holding hands, forming a giant circle and singing that song hippies used to sing. On a scale of one to ten, you must be stoked to the power of infinity. Thank God, we made it. Thank Vishnu! Thank Allah, Buddha, Poseidon, Athena, Hermes, Johnny Marr, and Zeus. We made it. And The Strokes made it! As did Tyler, The Creator, Liam Gallagher, DMA’s, Genesis Owusu, Amyl and The Sniffers, The Chats, Gorillaz, Glass Animals, Sax Pest, Orville Peck, Parquet Courts, Yungblud, Slayer, The Velvet Underground, Beethoven, KISS, Lord Buckley, Lenny Bruce, Van Halen, The Shirelles, Lead Belly, Peter Sarstedt, Chaka Khan, Billy Peach & The Magic Boys, Radiohead, Alice Coltrane, Trish Picnic, Carl Vanderdonk’s Eczema Circus, Speedway Johnson, Skinny Puppy, War Bong, Those Pathetic Crabs, Madonna, W.A.S.P., and The Purdue All-American Marching Band. They’re all here. Some in spirit, but mostly in physical form.

The most important entity to make it Splendour in the Grass 2022, though, is you. And after all you’ve been through these last couple of years—you deserve it. On behalf of Monster Children and Splendour in the Grass, I hope you have one of the best weekends of your gosh-darn life.

Crom

SITG Road Map

BY JESS HOLT

Oh, hey stranger. There was definitely a hot second where it felt like getting back to a festival filled with delicious sweaty bodies was an impossible mission. But we’re back, baby. So, unless you peaked in high school, this is your time. You big winner. #SITG2022 is set to be the biggest yet. Yeah, that’s a big call, but hear us out. This year Splendour turns 20 (HBD, old friend), and after a twoyear absence, the energy is high, the people are wild, and the line-up feels like waking up from a psychedelic fever dream. You can choose to plan your way around the next three days or just wing it. But, in our not so humble opinion: you gotta plan this shit. There are so many amazing bands to catch, and here’s our two cents on the acts you just can’t miss. Alright, Friday. First up, get around The Buoys. They’ll get you into that mosh early and give you the adrenaline you need to carry on right through the festival. Then you’ve gotta check out Wet Leg . It’s their first time playing in AUS, and they’re about to put you into a kaleidoscopic spin. You can keep right on that wave if you stick around for Still Woozy, which is highly recommended, obviously. Then, scurry across to the Amphitheatre and weave your way through a sea of Jungle and DMA’s fans to get a prime position for The Avalanches and Gorillaz . Absolute madness. But then brace yourself for Saturday. Depending how you pull up, there’s always a trusty old faithful kebab—but there’s also PUP, and they’re gonna make for a really good start to what is going to be an epic day ahead. Catch Methyl Ethel and be thankful your covid-home-haircut has finally grown out. Glass Animals are gonna play ‘Heat Waves’ and it’s really gonna be an ‘I was there’ moment to tell your mates back home, the poor suckers. Let’s cut to the chase though. It’s all about The Strokes. Holy shit, The Strokes. And before you can blink, it’s Sunday. Muster up the reserved energy stores you didn’t know you had and use them up on King Stingray at the GW McLennan tent. They’re the perfect kick-start for your final day at Splendour. There’s also sets from Genesis Owusu Tierra Whack and Shannon & The Clams to keep you going. And finally, it’s a choose-your-own-adventure end to the festival. For us, it’s gonna be the Amyl & The Sniffers show. Renowned for their ball-tearing performances, this might be the set to end all sets. Check out Mura Masa and then sail into Tyler, The Creator, to close out your Splendour. Stay hydrated kids. It’s important. You’ll need it out there.

Masthead

EDITOR IN CHIEF JASON CROMBIE DEPUTY EDITOR MONIQUE PENNING CREATIVE DIRECTOR CAMPBELL MILLIGAN CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER RACHEL BLACKLEY

COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR JAMIE BREWER SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER JESS HOLT DESIGNER JYE KWONG CONTENT PRODUCER BRESCIA GIBSON DISTRIBUTION CORY ROBERTS

ACCOUNTS GEORGIA SHENTON

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS SAM HETHERINGTON, NAZ KAWAKAMI, NOLAN GAWRON, JESS DUCROU, ZAC BAYLY, CHLOE BORICH, SAM BRUMBY, ISABELLE WEBSTER, SALLY QUADE, JESS HOLT

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS MACLAY HERIOT, DOUGAL GORMAN, SAM BRUMBY, CODY SMYTH, NICK ZINNER, CHARLIE HARDY, THOMAS ROBINSON, BEC PARSONS, JESS BAUMUNG

CONTRIBUTING ARTIST ADAM LENG

SPECIAL THANKS JESS DUCROU, PAUL PITICCO, JADE SKELLY, GABE CRAMB, MONIQUE MCINNES, GERRY BULL, STEPHEN DALLIMORE, LAYLA CARROLL, MARC GRIMWADE, KRISTY ROSSER, AIMEE STEWART, ZOE WENDLAND, DALE ROBINSON

Photo: Charlie Hardy

The Strokes

INTERVIEW: NAZ KAWAKAMI

PHOTOS BY: CODY SMYTH

Questions

If you are reading this, you are likely about to see The Strokes, live in fucking concert. Incredible. Exciting. You aren’t worthy. Who are you? Have you got any idea what you’re in for? The band that defined New York City in the new millennium; the band that made messy hair, vintage shirts, and Converse hi-tops cool again; the band that made you and your mates buy guitars in the 9th grade, are about to (or have very recently) play the Splendour stage and you are here to bear witness. Lucky you.

By some very last-minute stroke (I’m sorry for this pun) of luck, we were able to secure a quick chat with Strokes guitarist, perpetual trendsetter, and wine seltzer connoisseur, Albert Hammond Jr., during his journey home from a brief tour in Europe, to discuss the looks, the laughs, and The Body.

Albert Hammond Jr.: From a Shirt Thief

Albert Hammond Jr.

I know you’re a little short on time so I’ve got a few questions organised for you. First of all, you left a shirt at a photo shoot a couple years ago and now it’s hanging in my closet, so thanks for that. I did? What shirt?

It’s a collared long sleeve shirt with blue and gray stripes, and now it’s my date night shirt.

Oh, no way! I don’t remember it but that’s great to hear. We are running photos for this article from back in the day, shot by Cody Smyth. When you see these early photos of you and the band, what comes to mind first?

Ah, man. He took those photos when we were still playing to, like, 20 people. A lot of different emotions. I guess the beginning photos are fun to see, I remember those times fondly. It’s funny to look back at those, seeing how we had no idea what would happen, and seeing where we are now and how the dream has sort of worked out. It’s funny because it still feels like that, at its core. We are kind of the same as then. I mean, of course we’ve changed, things have changed, but when we hang out now, there’s something in it that feels the same as when we first met.

I saw you at Irving Plaza last year. That was a great show, maybe 700 people in the room. How do those smaller, closer shows compare to stadiums and festivals? Do you have a preference? There’s a wide range in there. My preference is always to play our own shows. I wouldn’t say that I prefer small shows; a variety is fun. I like making a big room feel smaller and the performance style in that. Of course, it’s always fun to be in a sweaty club kind of thing. I like them all for different reasons, I wouldn’t take one without the other. You like the small ones because you play the big ones.

John Mulaney was your surprise opener at that show. I was on mushrooms and I thought I had gone to the wrong show.

Ha-ha! That is so good! Julian is friendly with him, and I think that was right after we did SNL. We were just trying to make a show for people. Something more than just us. A little surprise. He was doing a show later that night, too! Only comedians can do that. Come in, do a quick 10 or 15-minute set, then leave and go do a whole show.

Throughout your career, The Strokes have done a lot with comedians and you tell jokes on stage. Can you talk about comedy in the band?

Sure, yeah. I know what you’re saying. A while back we had that one Apollo show and David Cross was there, which he probably still regrets because of how crazy the audience got. As a band we watch a lot of comedy, and as a band I think we are funnier than people expect. I think people believe we are really serious people, and we can be, but we mostly make fun of things and each other and situations.

Here are some questions from people that you know:

1. What is the worst trouble you got into as a kid?

I don’t think I really got into trouble. I think I got given enough freedom to where I didn’t find it necessary to disrupt what I already had. I drank, smoked pot, cigarettes, but I never pushed the boundaries or did it while driving or anything. It seemed easier not to get in trouble. I did like arguing, but only if I was defending a point or something. Like if something happened at school, my parents would hear me out and have my back. I wasn’t mischievous like that.

2. The song ‘Automatic Stop’ was originally called ‘The Raga’. What does that mean and how did you come up with that?

We didn’t really come up with it, I think it was just a working title because of the Raga line, you know, the upbeat guitar strums. Like reggae.

Why?

Hmm… usually when people ask a question like that, they don’t have a follow up so I don’t really have a ‘why’ ready to go. They’re both good, there are just a lot of phrases in Tommy Boy that I still use in my life. There’s something about it that sticks.

4. Are there any tracks that didn’t get released that you wish had?

From stuff we worked on?

Yeah, I watched a video of a Strokes set from like 2001 and there were tracks that I didn’t recognize.

Oh, not any of those, but there were songs that never got worked on or worked out. As a band, the songs that are most exciting to you get the most attention, and before you know it, the record is done. Or the song got beaten to death and you wish it went a different way. That’s what happens constantly as a band when you collaborate, and in some ways, that’s why you keep going—because you feel like you haven’t done what you’re trying to achieve yet.

3. Tommy Boy or Wayne’s World?

Tommy Boy.

‘As a band, the songs that are most exciting to you get the most attention, and before you know it, the record is done. Or the song got beaten to death and you wish it went a different way.’

Albert Hammond Jr.

You are a very well-designed band. I’m really interested in your flyers when you were first starting out, all of the visual imagery that accompanies the music. Can you talk about how you design, and how you’d describe the visual component of The Strokes?

I wouldn’t know how to describe it, and I wouldn’t really want to. What’s awesome about it is the feeling that you get. A picture is a thousand words, you know what I mean? We’ve always had a strong aesthetic, Julian kind of knew what he wanted. I remember really going to town on the booklet for First Impressions of Earth. We probably worked harder on those early flyers than anyone else from that time. For us, the visual element went hand in hand with the music. It doesn’t feel like something separate. Every aspect of those records and flyers were very thought out by us. Outside of music and work related things, what are you up to? Are you a gardener? Do you have other hobbies?

Am I a gardener? I like that, but no. Do I have any hobbies? I’m sure I do. Let me think here. Do I care about anything? Yeah, I’m a human being who does other things, right? I think things excite me at different times depending on where you catch me. There’s always got to be something else going on other than music that helps you to maintain balance, regain energy and excitement for what you’re doing or working on. I like to stay active.

You’re active? Like you’re jogging up mountains?

I mean, that’s a very specific form of activity, but sure, I run. Being active takes many forms for me so I’ll just say that. We don’t need to get into every little thing, I just like to be athletic.

I don’t know what this means, but someone asked me to ask you how many pull-ups you can do at Juice Bar.

Oh yeah, they had a bar there. I don’t like exercise in a competitive form. Whether you do three or 30, it’s about your own journey and what you’re gaining from pushing yourself. I don’t get when someone’s like, ‘I can lift this much weight.’ Like, cool. I do not care.

Here’s a question I ask a lot of Splendour artists: what have you been listening to lately?

I’ve been listening to this book on tape, but that’s probably not what you were searching for.

No, it totally can be! What is it?

It’s called The Body by Bill Bryson, and it just goes over the human body. It’s pretty incredible. Music wise, I listen to a sort of big variety. I listen to a lot of classical which is also probably not exciting. You don’t have to excite me, man.

I just know from past interviews, I’ll give an answer and they’ll be like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, but what about that song on the radio?’ Well, then, just fill in the blank yourself.

Hey if you’re listening to The Body, I wanna know.

Yeah that, but also Philip Glass’ string quartet… This Thin Lizzy song called ‘A Song for While I’m Away’, and Phil Lynott’s song, ‘Old Town’—those are the three songs that are on the top of my ‘Liked Songs’ on Spotify, so I’ve been listening to those a lot. They get played a lot in my universe.

We just hit time, so I’ll let you go. Thanks for talking to me today, let me know if you want your shirt back.

I don’t know exactly which shirt it is so it’s hard to say if I want it back. I don’t feel like I’m missing it but maybe it’s my favourite thing and I don’t realise it. If you’re wearing it on dates though, that’s cool too. I wouldn’t want to take away a shirt that’s been working.

I guess the beginning photos are fun to see. I remember those times fondly. It’s funny to look back at those, seeing how we had no idea what would happen, and seeing where we are now and how the dream has sort of worked out.

'The Strokes: The First Ten Years' Exhibition by Cody Smyth 28 July – 1st August Verona Rooftop Gallery, 17 Oxford Street, Paddington, NSW, 2021.

Amyl & The Sniffers

Amy Taylor

Amyl and The Sniffers are a raucous and formidable presence that moved swiftly from the local pub scene in Melbourne to international sell-out stages, festivals and acclaim.

The recent lockdowns saw the band move in together and come out the other side with Comfort To Me, a new album with more sentimental lyricism than their eponymous debut, but with the same pent-up, live-life-to-the-fullest energy and punk attitude the Sniffers are known for. Monster Children spoke with lead singer Amy Taylor in the lead-up to this year’s Splendour in the Grass.

INTERVIEW: SAM HETHERINGTON

Photo: Dougal Gorman

Being such a quintessential Australian band, are you surprised at how much the international crowds have embraced Amyl and The Sniffers?

I think that’s why they like us to be honest. We sound foreign and sure some countries wouldn’t get what some of our stuff means but it still gets the message across. Even though it’s got the twang and stuff it’s still similar in terms of universal feelings or whatnot.

And what about all the swearing, I mean for Australia it’s the norm, but how has the rest of the world taken to it?

I think it’s weirder with UK crew, they come up and go, ‘Are you right?’ as in ‘Good morning, how are you doing?’ or whatever, but in Australia, obviously when you say ‘You right?’ it’s like, ‘You want to have a go?’ That’s a funny one, differences like that. But pretty much everyone knows swearing comes with Amyl and The Sniffers. Our favourite word starts with ‘C’.

Are women taken more seriously in the punk scene these days?

Yes and no. I think I still cop a lot of misogynistic stuff and there’s still a lot of things that aren’t really fair. I don’t know what it was like to play in the 70s, 80s or 90s but it’s probably getting better, because surely there are more females and people speaking up about stuff. I also think who gives a fuck? Because it’s going to happen everywhere; it’s happened my whole life, being surrounded by misogynistic people, including in the punk scene. There are still lots of assholes in the punk scene.

Is the punk scene a supportive place?

I guess it’s kind of nuanced. Some people aren’t very nice because that’s their whole façade. Just macho assholes like there are in any kind of scene. But there’s a rally with the good ones too.

Have you copped Australia’s tall poppy syndrome?

Yeah, sometimes. I try not to blanket it as tall poppy even though it is defi

nitely a thing. But, yeah, I try not to blanket it as that too much because sometimes people just don’t like us for an actual reason and not just because we’ve moved past playing to 10 people. It’s also important not to use that to cop out because sometimes it’s good to listen and see how maybe we could do something better here or there. But I’ve come to terms that people will be jealous and I kinda don’t give a fuck because I’m really proud of what we’ve done. I’m really proud of the boys and myself. I’m having the best time, so it’s kinda like who fucking cares? People will always poke at that but who cares, because I’m having a fucking sick one.

You recently had artist Aretha Brown open up your London show to teach Brits some First Nations history, huge respect for bringing her up. Why did you do that and how did you find her?

Yeah, she came on stage with us. I read one of her articles about Gary Foley when he came up on stage with The Clash and kind of talked about black history and Australia’s fucked up past; bit of colonisation talk and stuff. So, I knew she was in London and was going to come to the show anyway, and we talked about if she wanted to come up and talk as well. So, she came up on stage before the song ‘Capital’ and kinda gave a little spiel and was like you know Amyl and the Sniffers are from Australia but Australia has a dark past. It was really dope. It was Jubilee weekend, too, so she was like fuck the Queen (laughs). And the crowd absolutely loved it. That’s super important, you know, cause that’s the thing, across the globe—we’re being recognised as an Australian band, but it’s important for them to know what that means, and what that means to Indigenous people. Australia isn’t just a white mismatch of barbeques and beers. That’s a part of our culture, sure, but that’s not all there is to it.

Would you say you’re a very political person?

Nah, that’s pretty new. I wouldn’t even say political, but I suppose just more educated on things. As the band has gotten bigger, I realise there’s a bigger responsibility. I learnt a lot of it myself. I’m political because I care, but not necessarily because I’m intellectual or articulate. It’s more just common knowledge that I’m trying to figure out and learn, because I feel like it’s my duty in the position I am in now. It’s not necessarily something I was preloaded with. I am very much still just learning everything and trying to listen to crew, but I think that is political in itself. I also think just existing is political, whether you do anything or you do nothing, both are political moves. I honestly don’t know the ins and outs of Australian politics; I barely know even how to vote but it’s something I care about so I’m going to have to learn.

With UK crew, they come up and go, ‘Are you right?’ as in ‘Good morning— how are you doing?’ or whatever, but in Australia, obviously when you say ‘You right?’ it’s like, ‘You want to have a go?’

Photo: Maclay Heriot

Amy Taylor

Do you see yourself as someone that can bring about some change with the band and the following that you’ve gathered?

Yes and no. I am pretty nihilistic. I don’t believe in Utopia. But there’s power in music and power in lyrics that’s inspiring and encouraging and can change someone’s mind. But I’m not delusional about that fact the me singing about my points of view is going to be the catalyst for fucking capitalism to come down or anything. But I do know that a lot of our fan base is super-varied. We’ve got the political activists from Melbourne and the hipsters from Brisbane and truck drivers from Perth. When a truck driver listens to something like ‘Knifey’, they might go, ‘Oh true, maybe that’s how a lady feels, sometimes that would be hard,’ you know? We can kind of reach a variety of people. Some American shared a video on Father’s Day of their dad playing the guitar to us and the caption said, ‘I showed my right-wing, gun-loving, Trump-voting dad Amyl and The Sniffers and he actually liked it.’ Behind the tough exterior of the band, there are heartful lyrics on Comfort To Me that speak to climate change, mental health, sexism, and it’s all a whole lot more vulnerable. Was that a conscious shift from your previous album? Do you think that introspection during lockdowns motivated that?

There was a lot of change in the last couple of years. I think I grew up a lot and understood myself a bit better. I went through some really hard times.

Before, I think I was just kind of blanket angry at everything, like, fuck, fuck, fuck, but now it’s a bit more pointed like fuck this, fuck that, fuck yeah. On the spectrum of punk, where do Amyl and The Sniffers sit?

When we first started, we never really called ourselves ‘punk’. We thought we were just a garage pub rock band. But when we started going international that category kind of came about with the press. I think even punk can be quite limiting and restraining, though. I have ideologies and attitudes of punk. I’m punk but I don’t have to do a real job and I’m really pumped on that but at the same time if I wasn’t doing this, I would happily be a manager at a Coles supermarket, you know what I mean? It’s complicated. I am from a working family and I would do anything for a job essentially. So, I guess Pub punk? (Laughs) pub punk feels right to me. What is the most punk thing you’ve witnessed from your audience?

I have seen some crazy shit. I won’t say what because I don’t know if it’s offensive, but Manchester fucking went off. That’s all I’ll say. Is there something you want to achieve with Amyl and The Sniffers?

I think to just keep going. I am really excited by it. With all the tall poppy stuff and all the judgement and all the hard stuff we gotta do to be here, I just want to see what can happen and how far we can go. I really like writing songs. I like playing the small stages. I like playing the big stages. I like playing music. I like trying to figure out myself a bit, figure out people, get a bit more empathetic, which happens when I write music. I just want to see how much we can do.

What do you do outside of Amyl and The Sniffers that gets you hyped on life?

I love books so much, to be honest. I never read books before lockdown and now I’m fucking hooked on them. It’s taught me empathy and stuff, which I don’t think I had a lot of before. Watching a movie with my boyfriend and having a cup of Earl Grey tea—that’s living to the fullest. I’m a simple gal.

Alright last one: who cuts your hair?

Well, I haven’t had a haircut in a little while actually. I was just looking at it then when I got out of the shower. I bought scissors at the chemist yesterday, so I might get Declan: [Martens, guitarist] to give me a trim. Now that I’m getting a bit boujee, I go to a hairdresser. Our tour manager gives us haircuts when we need them (laughs) but usually just Declan. I don’t actually know if he’s any good but he’s got thinning scissors, so I figured he must be alright. Anything else to sign off?

Umm, I just wanna say, yeah the girls and my non-binary friends.

CATCH AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS AT10PM

SUNDAY AT THE GW MCLENNAN TENT.

I bought scissors at the chemist yesterday, so I might get Declan to give me a trim.

But now that I’m getting a bit boujee, I go to a hairdresser

Photo: Dougal Gorman

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

INTERVIEW: NAZ KAWAKAMI

Nick Zinner, the iconic guitarist/keyboardist of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, is the guy all the cool indie kids grew up trying to emulate. With a music career that began with an impossibly good debut album (2003’s Fever To Tell) and a diverse creative output so well-executed that thousands of thin guitarists around the world felt compelled to mess up their hair and pick up a film camera, Mr. Zinner’s importance and influence as an artist cannot be overstated. Sadly, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs had to cancel their tour of Australia at the last minute, but we wanted to share this interview with Nick anyway. Though a man of few words, he kindly spared 30 minutes to speak to us at length about nothing all that important.

Where abouts in the world are you now?

I am in my apartment in New York, in the East Village. How was Europe?

It was wonderful. I haven’t left the country in three years, so it’s been a very long time. It was amazing just to be out of America and able to perform again. How were the gigs?

They’ve been going over extraordinarily well, so we are very happy. Is it strange being back into the touring thing?

I think we were all in a place for two years where the band and I weren’t really sure if it was ever going to happen again, so it was pretty emotional to return. I was very thankful, like, to a level that I had never experienced. It was weird in the sense that we had to be in this Covid bubble and couldn’t see anyone, but on the other hand, it felt very normal and right. Like, my body knows the responses to touring. It felt natural.

Can you speak a little to these photos of yours?

It’s a pretty wide range. It covers, like, a 25-year period. It’s cool that they all sit together in one way or another. I’m in the process of re-examining my archive and trying to put together a ‘20 years of Yeah Yeah Yeahs.’ It’ll probably be more than 20 by the time I finish it. Looking through it, I don’t see a huge discrepancy between what I used to be into versus now. I feel like the instinct is relatively the same, so it’s cool that I’m still into pictures from 25 years ago and that work together.

You’ve been pretty consistent creatively throughout your career, evolving but maintaining a certain unifying taste. How would you define it?

I mean, I just do what I know how to do. If I had to define it, I’d say that with photography it’s strictly documentary. I don’t know anything about lighting or setting things up. It’s all sort of spontaneous. I shoot whatever is around me and then try to catalogue it later and see what works.

I’ve been a fan of yours for a few years. I’ve read a lot of your interviews. Do you ever get tired of people like me asking you to do interviews to ask why you take the photos you take?

I mean, I don’t do it enough to get over it. I also don’t think about this stuff very often. I think it’d be a dick move for me to be like, ‘Oh, I’m so tired of talking about all of my creative stuff, I don’t want to do it anymore.’

Preparing for this interview, I had a hard time thinking of a question about your music and photography that you haven’t probably already been asked, so I’m going to go way off-topic.

Alright.

Are you aware that you are, in many circles, a fashion icon?

That is not true at all.

It’s true, man. Get on Pinterest. There are mood boards devoted to you. Have you been to Japan? You’re big in Japan.

I don’t know. I can’t really wrap my head around that. I do love Japan. It’s my favourite place to buy clothes because everything fits me. Whenever I go there, I buy a wardrobe for the next five years or whatever. I don’t know if I believe you on that.

Is that something that you even care about? Are you a fashion guy?

I mean, I do care about style, but I feel like I’m just a weirdo, so I’m drawn to certain things… I have a very narrow kind of window of things that will work for me. 90% of things look ridiculous on me, so there’s only a 10% chance that I’ll be comfortable in something or that it will fit me well. I have decided that in a few years, in the twilight years of my life, my goal is just to wear suits.

Very Nick Cave of you.

Yeah, all those guys look great. I want to be like that. That’s aspirational.

If not fashion, what do you do outside of music and photography?

That’s pretty much everything that I do. Hmm. I really like animals.

Are you allowed to say where your favourite place is to tour? Or will you piss Norway off when you say it isn’t them?

I don’t even know the answer. Japan is one of my favourite places to play—not only for the shopping.

Really? They’re pretty tame, though, those crowds. They do a lot of synchronised clapping and stuff.

Yeah! I love that thing they do in Japan where a song will end, and there will be all this applause and then just silence. Dead silence. I love that. I think it’s so beautiful. I don’t know. Everywhere is my favourite place to play.

So, wait, what do you do outside of music and photography?

Oh right. This might be the most boring answer possible, but for the first year of the pandemic, I couldn’t really focus on anything. I didn’t make any music; I was trying and trying. It was a little terrifying—like I’d never be able to do this again.

I don’t know why, if it was a block or pandemic fatigue, even though there was nothing else to do. Anyway, I got into gardening. On a very 101 level, but there was something deeply satisfying about it.

You’re the third artist this week I’ve talked to that’s gotten into gardening.

Super-satisfying, long-term, tangible. I’ve been growing mostly succulents and some herbs, a little lettuce, nothing super crazy.

Are you up at the farmers’ market with this stuff? I’d buy a Zinner succulent.

I’ve got a lemon tree in my house, but I’m not selling lemonade on the corner. Let’s see how this next year goes.

Oh yeah! It’s been almost 20 years since your debut—what’s on the horizon?

We are just playing shows, and we’ve got a new record coming out. I’m working on a film score in August. I also did this project called 41 Strings which was this large-scale orchestral piece that we played a few times, but the recording of that is finally coming out on vinyl this Friday, which I’m excited about.

How do you maintain a healthy collaborative relationship with your band members after all this time?

Good question. I think it comes down to two things, maybe three. The first and most important thing is to not take criticism personally, which is something I had a hard time with when I was younger. When someone doesn’t like an idea, they’re not saying they don’t like you. It sounds obvious, but for some musicians, it’s a hurdle. Two would be, accepting a certain amount of compromise, because a lot of the time it turns out to be a better thing than your original vision. I guess the third thing would be to try to be as open as possible in the beginning stages of an idea because you never know where an idea will go. When we were working on new songs for this last record, I had made 80 little two-minute sketches to use as starting points— 80?!

Something like that, yeah. It’s a lot, but it’s easy and fun for me to start things. It doesn’t mean that they’re great, but it’s irrelevant in a way because it opens you up to the process. There was one thing that I was excited about, and there was a six-second loop that Karen focused on that came in way later in the track, and we ended up taking that and speeding it up, and that became the basis for a whole other song. It was worth it to be open to seeing what happens and not being tied to anything.

Last question from my friend Miya: What was your favourite childhood pretend game?

Okay, when I was six or seven, my family lived in Belgium for a few years, and I was really into The Smurfs. They were called Les Schtroumpfs over there. I used to have, like, 30 of those little figurines and a little Smurf house, so I would just play with those all day. That›s the best I got, is that okay?

Nick Zinner Folio.

I don’t know anything about lighting or setting things up. It’s all sort of spontaneous. I shoot whatever is around me

Parquet Courts

COURTS BY NAZ KAWAKAMI

A CHILL LIL’ Q&A WITH PARQUET

Parquet Courts are a band that have once again brought their specific kind of music–the kind of music you’d hear late at night in a subterranean room with low ceilings, stuck in the swampy mess of a crowd shoving and sloshing within itself–to the Australian continent; more specifically, the humble Splendour stage. Andrew Savage, Sean Yeaton, Max Savage, and Austin Brown as Parquet Courts boast an impressively long and well developed catalogue, vivid and ever-clever lyrical themes, and a diverse array of guitar-driven, genre-challenging tracks that consistently make you feel like maybe you’re off somewhere a bit cooler than wherever you are, walking at a downtown pace, determined to find the night. We emailed Parquet guitarist/singer Andrew Savage to ask a couple hardball (but mostly softball) questions.

What’s it like out on the festival touring circuit now that Covid is semi/maybe over with?

It’s amazing how quickly everything just went away really. We haven’t done too many festivals yet, but we’ve done Primavera and that was just like before. People seem more gracious and appreciative. And horny.

You are a very well-designed band in a visual sense (album art, show flyers, etc.) and you’ve become very well known for the visuals that accompany the music. How do you go about translating the music into a visual medium, and can you explain that connection?

How important is it to you to represent yourselves authentically visually as well as musically?

Thanks for saying that, I do all the visuals in the band, and it’s one of my favorite things about being in Parquet Courts. I view the process as sort of like language translation. How do I put these sounds into images? How do I convince someone they need to hear this? How do I alchemize sound into light? These are questions every musician should ask when they decide to represent themselves visually. Sometimes I wonder if our visuals are really that good, or if we’re just putting in slightly more effort than everybody else because record sleeves today, in general, aren’t that great. I guess the difference is most people designing them envision them as a thumbnail on someone’s phone, but I see them on the wall of a record shop, and somebody walking in and seeing that record, and without hearing it, know that they need to have it.

I saw you at Brooklyn Steel in April and you implored the crowd to take it upon themselves to open a DIY venue, saying that you

Is Sean Yeaton the best bassist alive?

For the true believers it’s not even a question. Definitely one of the most underrated, that’s for damn sure. One day people are going to see him as a virtuoso and talk about him with the same reverence they do Thundercat. He can bounce around a song like a little rubber ball, or float through it like a balloon. It’s sort of like knowing him as a friend. Sometimes he’s the life of the party, telling hilarious stories with the cadence of a seasoned auctioneer. At the present moment, he’s quietly dreaming out of the window of a tour van. To all the Yeaton-heads out there, keep the faith.

What advice would you give to a band in the Splendour crowd who wants to be you?

Just be yourself, and try to write as many songs as you can.

Being a New York artist means survival in the face of forces that are constantly against you. It means you have to constantly be on the next thing.

HINDS

INTERVIEW: ZAC BAYLY

HINDS is a Spanish indie rock quartet renowned for their high-energy performances, chaotic and colourful music videos and, of course, their three acclaimed albums: Leave Me Alone (2016), I Don’t Run (2018) and The Prettiest Curse (2020). NME described their latest as ‘a break-neck 30 minutes of glorious chaos’, which is a pretty good way to sum them up generally. I had the pleasure of interrupting vocalist and guitarist Carlotta Cosials’ weekend away in Portugal for a rapid-fire 10-minute Zoom call in which I felt like the tortoise trying to keep up with the hare.

Hello Carlotta! Where are you?

I’m in Portugal at the moment! All the HINDS girls are off doing things this weekend—one went to Majorca with their boyfriend, the other went to whatever with their boyfriend—so everyone went on vacation and this weekend was the only weekend I could escape because I’m doing another job in Madrid, so I had to get away too.

So, you’re on holiday?

Well... I hope so, but not really. I am doing the Skype with you right now and then another Skype in the evening and... I like it here because you can work. I really like that I can do both, rest and work. I came here on my own and the days are definitely longer when you’re alone. But it’s not just a vacation, don’t you worry.

Do you go away to write?

Actually, I would love to write while I’m here. We have a lot to... ‘Manage band’ is one of the things that always has to be done, but one of my goals of these five days is also to write a little bit. I was feeling the need, so that’s why also I came to a place outside of distractions. Too many friends in Madrid!

Do you often write alone or as a band?

I actually prefer to write all together, to be honest, but lately it has been very busy and we are a little bit overwhelmed. So, I’ve always been the one that doesn’t get stressed. I like to be the one who anti-stresses the other ones. So, I come here and I do a plan and make some little ideas so that it can make the rest of the band feel like, ‘Oh, it’s not so difficult—we wouldn’t be so far from making an album’ or something like that.

You’re holding it all together!

I’ll try!

I remember reading a quote from Ana saying ‘When everyone else is exhausted, Carlotta is the energy in the band.’

That’s so beautiful!

A lot of reviews describe you guys as super energetic on stage too. Where does that energy come from, 50 coffees a day?

No, I think it’s an attitude. And to be honest, I cannot avoid it. The other day I was telling the girls that my brother got married and I was so happy—like, so, so happy—and I was telling the girls everything we did at the wedding. I was telling them it’s one of those days where I feel like I’m so happy I could explode. Sometimes alcohol, I need it to chill me down! That’s why I will never in my life do cocaine.

You probably don’t need it!

If I eat sugar, I’m like a kid. I get too crazy!

No red cordial for you!

Cordial? What is that?

Flavouring that you add to water! The red one you don’t give to kids—I don’t know why!

I should do the same precautions with myself.

How do you get energised before you go on stage? Maybe you don’t need to get energised before you go on stage!

No, I do! I do! I need to be focused. I like to have some quiet time. I like to focus, to know where I am, to know what kind of audience we’re going to have, things I would love to say or remember or comment about on the mic. We warm up the vocal, the voice... And we for sure give ourselves a huge hug and we say, ‘We are the best! We are the best! We can do it!’ It’s like going into a game of soccer or something. You need to be focused and energised and ready to do good team work.

How do you feel afterwards?

I love it. It’s like I made it to the top, and I’m chillin’, but I feel like a boss. The sweat is not wet anymore but the hair is different... The energy after a show is very special and to me, very sexy. I find it very difficult to compare it to anything else. It’s not only working out like jogging or rehearsing even... It’s unique. It’s very unique. And you only can get it by playing a good show. It’s an exchange of energy with the crowd—everyone screaming and communicating in one room.

What’s a bad show like?

Now, when we’re playing festivals you can really tell if people don’t know us so well... Sometimes it can be colder so we have to transform the way we do the show. You definitely become more of an entertainer. I’m here to entertain you, instead of feeling like a rock star with fans. You know people know you if they came to your show rather than seeing you at a festival, but if you think nobody knows you, it’s a humbling thing. It’s like going back to your roots, and you

have to convince people that may not know you that they made the right choice watching your performance.

Is this your first time in Australia?

No! We’ve been there before, many years ago. I loved it. LOVED it! We played Melbourne, Sydney, Manly, and we did Perth. It was so nice. We spent some days in between in Sydney. We loved it. We love the people. I was so excited — I’ve always loved the stars and the constellations — and I was so excited to see a different sky to the one I see here. The last day was in Sydney and we went to the beach with friends and we drink there on the beach, on the sand and the rocks with a little speaker and I was completely hypnotised by the stars. Stars are so cool, man!

Were these friends from Spain? I feel like so many people live in Spain from Australia and vice versa.

Really? I don’t know any! Why?

I don’t know! I guess they’re both sunny and Spain is so close to the rest of Europe but it’s still cheap, right?

So cheap! It’s so cheap. The more I travel to Paris, London, New York, I become poor! In London I lose so much money. I want to buy a beer in New York: 10 dollars! It’s so expensive. We make so many jokes about it. Whenever I go back to Madrid and it’s €1.50 at a café... Soy milk latte? €1.50. I don’t want to pay more in those other cities. I love instant coffee though. That saves me so much money.

I do too. Who are you excited to see at Splendour?

The Strokes! It’s gonna be fun. Gorillaz! I’ve never seen Gorillaz. I’m so excited. Nice, nice, nice! And Wet Leg! They’re two girls from London. Wet Leg. Like a leg that is wet. If you like HINDS, you’re going to love them.

What’s something you can’t live without on tour?

Okay. One thing I cannot live without when I’m on tour... The passport! Things like that. And coffee. And apples! I love apples. They wake up your face. So, coffee and apples. Wait, no—beer! Beer is more important.

One thing I cannot live without when I’m on tour... The passport! Coffee and apples. Wait, no—beer! Beer is more important.

Genesis Owusu

INTERVIEW: ZAC BAYLY

Genesis Owusu is—wait, where have you been and why do I need to tell you who Genesis Owusu is? He has too many well-known accomplishments to list, so I’m not even gonna try. Don’t ask me. I won’t do it. I’m not going to tell you, for example, that his debut album Smiling With No Teeth won him, like, one million ARIAs (and a bunch of other awards) that same year, or that he was included in sexy Mr President Obama’s music picks for 2021, and I definitely don’t need to remind you that the audience at one of his gigs earlier this year danced so hard that they actually caved in the floor of Sydney’s Enmore Theatre. I’m not going to tell you that or all the other things he’s achieved so quit badgering me. Anyway, seriously, how is he doing so well? Has he, like, done a deal with the devil or is he just super insanely talented? I don’t remember doing any deals with him, so...

Mr Genesis! How are you?

I’m not bad, how are you?

I’m good! Do you know who this is?

Yes, it’s Zac! It’s been a while. You wrote the first real article about me.

I actually completely forgot about that! God, you’re a nice guy. But unfortunately, things have not been going too well for you since then.

[Laughs] Yeah, it’s tough.

It’s difficult to see you struggling so much.

Yeah, you know, you gotta get by...

Did you just get back from Europe yesterday?

I think like two days ago maybe... Time is like a void right now. I have no idea how long I’ve been awake or when I should sleep. Jet lag is brutal.

When I got back I couldn’t work out where jet lag started and long covid finished. Have you had it yet?

I have, I have, in December. It was actually like a much-needed break. I take what I can get!

Well, seeing all the things you did last year, I’m guessing you haven’t had too many holidays.

Nah, but life is a holiday. It’s a dream!

Do you like being busy?

It’s like half-half. I feel like I’m naturally a person who can do nothing for an insane amount of time. I just do nothing for however long. But at the same time, I know that it’s really good to be busy. It’s a great thing. And it means that great things are happening and are yet to happen. So, I’m trying to grab all the cool opportunities I can and make the best out of it, but yeah, sometimes it can be a lot, for sure. You’re pretty famous right now!

I can walk into places without getting recognised.

I’m cherishing that!

Are you still living in Canberra?

Yeah, I’m in Canberra.

Surely you can go somewhere else now?

[Laughs] Yeah, I guess I can... I live here officially but I think I’ve been out of Canberra for a lot longer than I’ve been in Canberra this year, just with travelling. As far as the government knows I live here!

Is there a really distinct music scene in Canberra or are you an anomaly or... Do you know what I mean?

I know what you mean. I feel like in Canberra there’s a lot of very talented artists but I wouldn’t go as far as to call it a ‘scene’. It definitely lacks industry. But I feel like that’s one of its strengths. All the really talented artists here are really doing their own thing.

They’re not being shaped by a scene, you mean?

Yeah, exactly. Everyone’s just doing their own thing. It’s not like Perth with that scene having a distinct sound. There’s not an expectation of how you’d sound.

Yeah, exactly, exactly. Like Perth you can really hear that sound or Western Sydney you can hear that sound but in Canberra it just sounds like that individual’s music.

Maybe there’ll be a lot of young ‘you’s coming out of Canberra one day!

[Laughs] Well imitation is the highest form of flattery. I feel like you’d be a hard one to imitate— it’s hard to pin down your sound. If someone asked me to write what your music is like I’d find it very hard.

Yeah, I feel that. A lot of people have tried to pin down the sound. I like reading people’s articles about where they think this or that sound comes from and-

You like watching them struggle.

Yeah! [Laughs] No, no... Sometimes they’re pinning major influences on me that I’ve never heard of in my life. It’s really fun, because then I get to go and listen to those people and be like, ‘Oh yeah, I can see why they mentioned this one.’ It’s cool. But it’s something that’s not meant for definition.

Are you consciously trying to create something that feels like you haven’t heard it before—is that the goal?

I’m just creating stuff that feels true to me. And for the listener I guess I want to create an experience they haven’t heard before. I don’t try to impose any kind of... Like, when I make music I don’t make it necessarily to make the audience feel this one specific way generally, but if a person listens to my music and feels confused then I’m like ‘Yeah, I’ve done my job.’ Confused, scared, out of their element... That’s really cool to me. And then for them to slowly ease into it. That’s how you know you’re creating something original, right?

Yeah. Yeah. I think so.

I did love—there was one interview I read where someone asked your music influences and you said Jet Set Radio Future—the video game from 2002—which I completely forgot existed.

You know about it?

Yeah, I played it when I was a kid! Same, same. Yeah, that’s 100% my biggest influence.

I’m trying to remember the music in it and thinking about that game I’m not like, ‘Oh yeah, Genesis Owusu...’

[Laughs] I think that’s the coolest part about it. When

I think about that game and the music in it, it feels very undefined and kind of, er... I don’t want to say ‘random’ but it’s all over the place in the best kind of way.

Are you a big video game person?

Uh, yeah! I stopped playing games for a long time but I’ve gotten back into it. Xbox sent me an Xbox with my face on it.

What! Are you joking?

[Laughing] No, well, they sent me an Xbox with the album cover on it, but the album cover’s my face, so I’ve just got this Xbox with my face on it. It’s so ridiculous and great! I’ve been playing a lot of Xbox. It reminds me of this time I went to a very famous musician’s house for an interview and they just had gilded gold framed glamour pictures of themselves around the house. That’s amazing. I gotta get on that level. Starting with the Xbox.

With Smiling With No Teeth going so insane last year... Did you kind of expect it was going to go gangbusters? Like I’m guessing you have to have a certain amount of confidence in a record to put it out there, but were you thinking, ‘This is going to change the game.’

Yeah, um... I knew that it was good, by my standards. I had no idea whether it would be accepted in Australia. I think me and the whole band during the creation were very well aware that this could go nowhere, because I personally haven’t seen an album like that get validated, in the Australian music scene especially. I did think that if this got out of Australia it would find some people that it resonated with, but I hadn’t been out of Australia yet, so it was a gamble. I was very conscious of the fact that this could fall flat on its face. But creating the music to me felt so good that regardless, I wanted to put it out. Yeah, when I think about what I expect to go well in Australia, it’s like four-piece white boys making nice indie rock music, you know?

Yeah, I know what you mean. But to be able to have it validated on the level that it was validated... I didn’t expect that. I didn’t expect that kind of fanfare. So, it’s been cool. It was shocking in the best way.

What was the most insane moment or reaction or thing that happened? If you google your name there’s so many random crazy accomplishments, like ‘Obama’s playlist’ or ‘played this and this late-night show... ’ It’s just generally been the compounding of all these things in such a short space of time that’s crazy.

I think it was literally two weeks ago I performed in a Lithuanian prison, and so many of the people were screaming the lyrics of my songs back at me, and I was thinking, ‘What the fuck am I doing here?

Why do they even know who I am?’ I mean, even the Obama thing, I still to this day don’t know who showed him my music... And no one warns you before hand—I just saw it on Instagram like everyone else. I woke up to my phone being crazy. It’s still weird that people are really fucking with what I’m doing.

So, what are some day-to-day perks of this type of success that someone like me wouldn’t know about?

[Laughs] Um... Hmm. Like everyday life things?

Yeah. Like, ‘Yeah, I get a free subscription to the Financial Times’ or something.

I’m not sure if... People probably know this, but it’s weird—I haven’t really bought anything in the last year.

They’re just sending stuff.

I’ve just been living off gifts. Like this Xbox, for example. I was picking out an outfit the other day and I realised I hadn’t chosen any of it. Someone sent you this jacket, someone sent you these pants...

Yeah, yeah. I didn’t really realise that my wardrobe was involuntary. I don’t know what else...

Have you been at a restaurant and someone’s sent you a bottle of wine?

Actually, one of the first dates with my girlfriend, we went to a restaurant and we sat down, and the waiter handed us these menus and said, ‘Mr Genesis it’s a pleasure to serve you.’

[Laughing] That’s a bit flirty!

It was one of the best things that can happen on a first date. [Laughs] That was a good moment. This interview is for Monster Children’s Splendour Paper. Do you remember your first Splendour experience?

I do because it was my only Splendour in the Grass experience. We played this set in a tent to what I think was the most people I’d seen in my life. It was insane. It was fun. We stayed in the Red Bull house and they were doing crazy courses for musicians— crazy courses like for breath control and they’d have swimmers come in to teach you how to hold your breath properly.

So, in one of those action movies where the bad guys are firing into the lake and the hero’s holding their breath under the water for a crazy amount of time, you can do that now if you need to.

Yes. I’m classically trained in holding my breath.

So, what are your tips for the people reading this, who are potentially currently at the festival?

I’m not gonna lie to you — I am the worst person to ask that question. Because in regard to festival experiences, I am so spoilt. The first five festivals I went to ever was as an artist, so my perception of festivals when I first went as a punter was so skewed. Like, ‘Damn, this is awful.’ [Laughs] It’s hot, stinky, I have to pay for my drinks... Where’s the shade and the drinks and where’s the free massages and... Like, they give you massages backstage. There’s your perk! So, your advice is ‘bring your own masseuse’. My advice is: make some great music and get on the line up. Come back as an artist!

If a person listens to my music and feels confused then I’m like ‘Yeah, I’ve done my job.’ Confused, scared, out of their element...

Photo: Bec Parsons

The Best Art To See At Splendour 2022

BY CHLOE BORICH

Believe it or not, there’s more to this festival than meets the eye. Yes, the main draw might be getting a few beers in with your mates and watching live music back-to-back for three days straight until you can’t feel your feet and start laughing and crying at the same time–but it is also about immersing yourself in some pretty amazing artworks by some pretty serious artists. And this year’s line-up doesn’t disappoint.

HIROMI TANGO, HIROMI HOTEL: HEARTBEAT

If there’s one artist in the world who has a true affinity with rainbows, it would have to be Hiromi Tango. You’ll understand why as soon as you enter Hiromi Hotel, a vibrant, interactive work that acts as the pulsing heartbeat of Splendour. Encouraging visitors to step away from their screens and digital devices, people are instead invited to engage in sensory artmaking centred around conversation and connection. Using colour, texture and movement in her immersive sculptures, the Japanese-Australian artist shifts our perception of our surrounding environment and challenges how we relate to each other. Workshops will take place every day at Hiromi Hotel, where you can add to the heart of the artwork throughout the weekend. So, drop by and get crafty during your festival experience.

SAM SONGAILO, GATEWAY LEGACY

As night falls, there’s no missing Sam Songailo’s Gateway Legacy. The installation acts as a portal to another world, grounded in the digital. Co-opting motifs from technology and electronic music, Songailo’s work merges algorithms and sonic references with the modernist grid in an entertaining amalgamation of light, form and sound. For Gateway Legacy, the artist reveals a mesmerising display, as well as a narrative. The work tells the story of the son of a virtual world designer, who goes looking for his father and ends up inside the digital world that his father designed. Instead, he meets his father’s corrupted creation and a unique ally who was born inside the digital world. In Songailo’s own words, it’s a ‘big, beautiful, expensive train-wreck that really is something of an apex in glossy, vapid art-making…’ Sounds a bit wild, doesn’t it? Do yourself a favour and have a beer or two before getting involved in this highly immersive work.

IKONIX, PHAROS

‘Beam me up, Scotty’ is something you might be tempted to utter as you stumble upon the spectacle that is Ikonix’s PHAROS. The monumental light sculpture is a gigantic column loaded with beams of light projected hundreds of metres into the air that will delight viewers with a range of dazzling effects and animations. Positioned in the Mix-Up Oval, be drawn into a series of otherworldly forms that meld with the festive surroundings of Splendour night-life, bringing you along for the ride. Designed by Ikonix, Australian-based bespoke content and creative environment creators, this is an experience you don’t want to miss.

ANDY FORBES, THE TOWNSHIP

Get drawing at Andy Forbes’ The Township, a giant cartoon storyboard. Hand-painted and crafted by the artist who has been contributing to Splendour Arts since 2001, the scene depicts a fictional village that you rowdy punters can enter for yourselves. Grab some chalk and stick your head in a hole (in the wall), like in those old English seaside attractions that chafe your chin, to become a part of the #splendourtownship.

LUCY DYSON, SPLENDOUR ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

You’ll instantly recognise the work of Lucy Dyson, who’s been Splendour’s Artist in Residence for not one, not two, but three years thanks to our global sweetheart, Covid-19. Drawing on retro references and intergalactic motifs from resources including vintage magazines, photographs and children’s books, Dysondreams up time-bending scenarios that are a pure delight to the eye. Having originally created the official artwork for the 2020 SITG poster, video and other pretty things, Dyson has also put her talents to a large-scale mural that will finally welcome back festivalgoers as they enter the tunnel to funtown.

Fazerdaze (known to friends, family and the New Zealand government as Amelia Murray) has been putting out high-quality dream and bedroom pop for close to a decade, exploring the higher octaves and more optimistic tones of the genres, and providing the music with a more glimmering, misty aesthetic. Fazerdaze has been on hiatus for a couple of years now, but with new music soon to be released, Splendour in the Grass will mark a welcome return. Thanks to that return (and my choosing a nosy profession), I got to ask my celebrity crush what she’s been up to, what she does in her spare time, and bother her about music production.

Fazerdaze

INTERVIEW: NAZ KAWAKAMI

There’s new music! How are you feeling about it?

I am excited to put it out because I haven’t released anything in a really long time. I’m excited but also very peaceful and ready to let go of all the music I’ve been writing. Yeah, it’s been a while, where you been?

It’s honestly hard to answer that question because it’s really very personal—a lot of personal things I’ve gone through in the last couple of years that I don’t really want to put in the press yet.

Most people would have made something up, so thank you for a sincere answer. I’m glad you’re back with new music. I’ve heard a little of it, and it’s definitely a stylistic development for you. What were you listening to that influenced the new stuff?

I think more so things I listened to in the past had influenced this new stuff. A bit of Nirvana, maybe. Pixies, probably. At the time of writing this new stuff I was thrashing the new Clairo album, though, I don’t know if those all really line up.

What do you do that isn’t music?

I’m really into yoga, anything to balance out the mindfuck that is music, so I just like to go running and kick a ball around, pretty much anything physical.

How do you mean?

Well, I guess, in my head, music is super self-indulgent. I’m sitting in a room by myself writing these songs, trying to refine it, crying because something’s not working, I don’t know. It’s just me on my own working for long periods of time, hunched over a guitar or a keyboard or something. It’s quite enclosed, which I find is good for creativity, but I need to move and stretch and get outside.

This’ll sound more aggressive than it’s meant to be: why are you doing this? Why are you back?

Playing the show? Well, I’ve got this new stuff coming out and it coincides perfectly with Splendour in the Grass, but I also just want to play again and put this music out there.

Would you say that playing live is fun or important for you as a musician?

Yeah, totally. It’s been a while, so I’m pretty nervous. The first show back is always a lot, so I’m nervous to see how it goes. I like it a lot more when I’m in the rhythm of playing a lot, and I’ve played enough shows now to know that even the shows that weren’t as great for me, I am able to find a joy and appreciation for being on stage and being able to share my music with people. It’s such a privilege and I am always grateful for it.

What’s it like being an artist in Aotearoa? Is there a solid music scene?

Sometimes it can be a bubble in the sense that the music will stay here and not make it overseas. In my career, I’ve actively tried to branch out and push my music to other countries. We have a lot of funding there which has been how I’ve been able to make music videos and travel—there’s a lot of government funding for artists which I think has helped keep the scene alive. There’s something quite cool about young artists making stuff in a smaller country, maybe because the art is untainted by the industry and ambition, whatever.

Very unpolluted.

Yeah! Sometimes I’ll go to a show and you can tell that the musician has no ambition beyond playing these good songs at the local venue, and there’s something quite in the moment and pure about that.

You’ve got a bit of that yourself, though, I think. You’re fairly low key as an artist. Even your Instagram is private.

Well, putting my social media on private was my way of shutting the project down for a little while, but still allowing new fans to come into that world if they wanted to, I could let them in. It was cute to wake up in the morning and see new friend requests and be like, ‘Yes!’ It was a way for me to put the project on hold while still being able to very directly—but also very quietly—engage with fans, but I’ll probably make everything public again as new music comes out.

You seem a very quiet tranquil person, is it weird having fans?

Hmm... I mean, I love that I’ve got people that I can give my music to, I’m very grateful for that privilege. I’m lucky that my fans are—from what I can gather—really nice people. The few times that I’ve been recognised or whatever, it feels more like a friend is saying hello, and I say hey back. I don’t think I’m very much of a celebrity, fans feel like equals to me, like friends who are interested in whatever I’m doing which has been really nice.

You’re returning from a hiatus with your performance at Splendour, what can your fans expect?

A whole new era of Fazerdaze. So many new songs, new sounds. I’m in a new era of my life and I want to bring that onto the stage.

A whole new era of Fazerdaze.

So many new songs, new sounds.

I’m in a new era of my life and I want to bring that onto the stage.

Is Methyl Ethel Haunted?

INTERVIEW: SAM HETHERINGTON

When I call Jake Webb, frontman of Methyl Ethel, he is in his studio in Perth swatting away midges. We talk about Western Australia for a bit. How it’s a hard place to describe and how that’s a good thing because it means there’s more to it than can be put into words. Funnily enough, this is the exact way I would describe Jake. Clearly very talented musically, but also calculated while being vulnerable, and consciously considered without being pretentious. Methyl Ethyl’s new album Are You Haunted?, released earlier this year, has been rated as the most serious album to date while still being experimental and, of course, something we can all dance to. It’s also an album that asks a lot of questions, so I figured I’d jump right in with some questions of my own.

Are you haunted Jake Webb?

Am I? Yes.

Straight to it.

Good question. No one has asked me that. What haunts you?

Oh, no, you only get the one-word answer.

Oh, that’s it?

Listen to the record and that’s the rest of the answer.

Fair enough. ‘A Minute Sublime’ stands out as a particularly haunted song for its take on grief. It references losing your dear friend and producer Brian Mitra, does writing about death help?

It is cathartic in the Hollywood sense of it but saying it’s cathartic is too easy a thing to say. For me all of the songs that I’ve ever made put a picture in my head so each song takes me back to a place that is personal to me in the same way that all the songs do for different reasons.

It’s nice that you have a song specific about someone though that you can play and it brings you back to that person and moment.

You’re right, it is cathartic in that way. Maybe because it sounds corny to say that but in fact yes, it is exactly that. It takes me back to Brian and all of the time we spent together.

Throughout this album, certain tracks have quite sombre lyrics, but you’ve created this tension and release that makes it something you can dance to. Is that an intentional creative decision?

Yep. 100%. I’m too serious usually when it comes to writing because I read a lot of serious books—not in a snobby way. (Laughs) Redact that.

Like your song ‘Castigat Redendo Mores’? That translates to ‘one corrects customs by laughing at them’ or ‘he corrects customs by ridicule’ in Latin.

Exactly. When I am not trying to be too serious, I always try to inject a personal joke or some kind of satire in there to dissolute it.

What about ‘Kids on Holiday,’ is that one about climate anxiety?

That’s the easy answer. All my songs are too complex to describe their meaning in a couple of simple words. Every perspective from the lyrics is observational, pulling in a lot of things from different directions and metaphors. I just present the ideas and then you take them and go wherever you want.

In ‘Kids on Holiday’, the idea is that the kids are taking control back. It’s about the political landscape of the time, the patriarchy and the uprising of the next generation as seen through the lens of a kid in the backseat of a car kicking the back of the parent’s seat. Climate anxiety is a part of it though, yes.

I guess that’s with any music, you make your own meaning out of it, even if it’s completely different from what the artist intended. If I do my job correctly, the things that go into your head, I should have controlled. Otherwise, it’s too easy to say oh make up your own mind about it. That’s the bullshit answer.

I watched an interview with you, and you said that the Are You Haunted? concept name of your album is about not just ghosts of deceased people, but also how decisions of the past haunt us today. Can you explain that one and how that helped to create the themes within the album?

The easiest way to explain it is to bring it back down to a personal level. If you were to think about it as yourself, as we continue to talk and as time passes on, you’re always haunted even just by your past self a second ago, or a minute ago or 10 minutes ago. Constantly. In five minutes’ time you could feel regret or embarrassment for something that you’ve said. The decisions we’re making all the time- that’s what I’m meaning. It’s anything in the past because it can be that small, but it can also be as big as the decisions of our generation’s past like climate change and social change. What we are doing today constantly, is dealing with the things we’ve chosen to do in the past. Your past self is always right there and present with you. That’s a lot of the philosophy behind the album.

Now I’m just always going to be thinking about what I’ve done wrong. Yeah, you’ll go crazy thinking about it now (laughs).

Talking about thinking too much… We’ve obviously all just resurfaced from the pandemic with some time to reflect on our lives and the wider landscape of the world. Do you think that without the pandemic your album would still be as politically charged? Is that the direction you saw yourself going in?

I do think that it would’ve been as politically charged. I was just ready to write more outward facing about what I’m seeing. Not that I think I take a particular stance on it politically.

No, you sort of use your lyrics to pose questions.

Exactly. So, I think the content would be the same yes. But on the other hand, it seems really big and dramatic, but it did just crate this schism. There was this total change of direction which was all-encompassing. The biggest thing for me was the appreciation for playing music to people. Small groups or large groups and just the enjoyment of it. I just love it.

Was that not something you were aware of before?

I always loved playing music to people but I guess I didn’t realise how much. The tour I just got back from was the first time I was back speaking to people, being around people. The pandemic made me realise just how much I missed that. That connection is just something I really do value very highly and is a very important part.

Are you always trying to say something with your lyrics?

Yes and no. You have to keep in mind when I listen to music, I often don’t pay attention to the lyrics myself. There are songs that I’ve been listening to my whole life and only until recently have been like, ‘Oh, that’s what they mean.’

So, I understand it from a listener’s perspective the lyrics are sometimes the last thing they pay attention to in a song.

Good that everyone can dance to your music then.

Yeah, well sometimes lyrics don’t have to make sense.

Yeah, I still don’t really understand why you’d go and cut your hair either. Are you still excited to play old songs?

I spend a lot of time building the arc of the show so that by the time we get to a certain song, it feels right to play. It just feels good to play in general. I understand ‘Ubu’ is sometimes the only song people know of mine which is totally fine and I want to give that experience to people because that’s how I can connect with them. So yes, I am always still excited to play all the songs. Finally, you probably get this one a lot but what’s in the water over there that is making so many multi-instrumental visionaries like yourself?

There are no underground secret music societies if that’s what you’re asking no. It’s all an illusion. There’s less of us over here doing it. It’s good water though. Keep hydrated kids.

Oh, no, you only get the one-word answer.

Don’t Be A Campsite Gronk

BY SANDRA PLIMSOLL

Welcome to North Byron Parklands, a place of such beauty and wonder, it’ll leave you wondering why you don’t live here all the time instead of just this one weekend in July. Wonder, wonder, wonder you wonder. And here’s why you don’t live here year-round: you can’t. It’s not yours. However, you’re free to be here this weekend, provided you don’t conduct yourself like a turbo-gronk and ruin it for everyone. Don’t be a gronk. Don’t be a pig. Make it nice for everyone. Here are some camping tips.

Be Friendly and Polite

‘Hello, how are you? My name is Adolf. I am your neighbour. Hello.’ This is an example of something you might say to your closest neighbouring camper. You don’t have to be their best friend, but if you’re camping right next to them, you should have said hello before you started erecting—grow up—your tent. Be friendly and polite. You’d be surprised how different your weekend (and life) will be if you are friendly, polite and charitable to everyone, especially the people that can hear you snore.

Shut Up After Midnight

When the clock strikes 12, shut the fuck up. There’s nothing worse than being on your feet all day, getting back to your tent, crawling into your sleeping bag, and then some gronk starts playing music really loud or talking or laughing or generally being an inconsiderate tit. Respect the people trying to sleep. Why is your story about that time you saw a shark more important than everyone in a 50-metre radius getting some shuteye? Be quiet, you silly gronk.

Don’t Walk Through Your Fellow Camper’s Campsite

The only reason you should be walking through a fellow camper’s campsite is if you are a medical practitioner racing to save someone’s life. If you are not a medical practitioner racing to save someone’s life, you are just a massive gronk. Go around, you rude gronk bastard. You wouldn’t walk through a stranger’s living room to get to the fish ‘n’ chip shop quicker, so don’t cut through a stranger’s campsite.

Don’t Even Think About Littering

Yes, littering is hilarious and fun and cool, but guess what? Someone else has to pick it up. And if they don’t pick it up, guess what then? It kills a baby duck to death. Don’t litter. I mean, do we even have to tell you not to be litterbug? Not littering should come as second nature. Imagine actually throwing a bottle in the grass and walking away. Who does that? Weirdos, that’s who. And gronks.

Don’t Play The Same Song/Album Over and Over

Listen, I like Peter Sarstedt’s ‘Where Do You Go to My Lovely’ as much as the next guy, but you can’t play it on repeat when you’re camping in such close proximity to people who very well might not like Peter Sarstedt’s ‘Where Do You Go to My Lovely’, despite it being one of the greatest songs ever written. I reckon you could get away with playing Peter Sarstedt’s ‘Where Do You Go to My Lovely’ twice in a row, but the third time your neighbours hear Peter Sarstedt’s ‘Where Do You Go to My Lovely’ they might get annoyed and wish you would stop playing Peter Sarstedt’s ‘Where Do You Go to My Lovely’.

Don’t Be An Uptight Ass-Pain

Some people are super-uptight. Their parents did a number on them and now they’re inflexible, judgemental, mean-spirited, my-way-or-the-highway, bum-outs. Don’t be like that while you’re here. Leave your hang-ups at the gate and be chill and nice and let everyone have fun. So what if the guy in the tent next to yours is playing Peter Sarstedt’s ‘Where Do You Go to My Lovely’ again. Go for a walk or something. Jeez.

Don’t Piss Everywhere

North Byron Bay Parklands is a stunningly beautiful, bucolic setting, so, naturally, you want to urinate all over it. Don’t. And don’t lay any cable in the bushes either. That’s gronk behaviour. Yes, the port-a-loos are a bit of trek, but no one wants to walk in your piss, Dr. Gronkenstein. Also, for any non-Australians who happen to be reading this, urine attracts snakes. So, if you want a major snake situation on your hands, be our guest—piss everywhere. Otherwise, use the loo. Look Out For Your Fellow Campers

Lastly, but certainly not leastly, look out for your fellow campers. If you see someone freaking out, getting harassed, crying on a stump, or singing Peter Sarstedt’s ‘Where Do You Go to My Lovely’ while being attacked by snakes—do something. Get involved. We’re all in this together, man, and we gotta look out for each other.

King Stingray

INTERVIEW: SAM BRUMBY

Photo: Sam Brumby

Roy Kellaway

North Byron Parklands are a long way from Yirrkala, North-East Arnhem land. According to the internet, we’re 3,846kms away. Jesus. That’s a bloody long way. Fortunately, lead guitarist and King Stingray founder Roy Kellaway pulled up stumps and moved to Lennox Head—45kms from the SITG site. You see, he actually already knew the band would play this festival. A clairvoyant once read his tea leaves beneath the shade of a jacaranda in the Kimberly Basin, informing him he was destined for greatness. That last part never happened, but we can all agree 30 minutes of driving sounds better than 60 hours. I recently had a yarn with the former Territorian about the big upcoming show.

Yo wäwa! Nhamirri nhe? You’re off to Splendour for the first time as an artist, that’s bloody unreal. Congratulations! As someone I know personally, and who has come up through the music industry their entire life, this must be quite the milestone for you and the lads. It is the biggest festival in the country after all. What were your initial feelings when the news first sunk in?

Manymak marrkapmirri! Yeah initial feelings were mega + super + bathala excitement. I have so many great memories being a punter at Splendour: camping with mates, camp hangs, seeing rad bands. What a time! I always wanted to play there! And now it’s happening!

Tell ya what, if you blokes were a stock option 18 months ago, you would have been a golden ticket. You’ve just announced your self-titled debut album but only released five songs, and now you’re playing the GW McLennan Tent at 12:30 on Sunday. How does this well-deserved and quick rise to prominence feel?

Yeah, we’re on pretty early, and on the last day of the fest so hopefully people aren’t too rinsed out to rock out with us so early in the day. But yeah, it’s pretty amazing, it’s been a wild 12 months or so for us, and it’s just filled with so many good times. The ‘rise to prominence’ (laughs), yeah, it’s funny because it’s a very different pace to what we’re used to in the NT, and the slower pace that comes with coastal life up here, I guess. So yeah, it’s been a bit to adjust, but we’re absolutely loving every moment of it.

Splendour’s firepit in the AAA area is famous for late night D&Ms fuelled by a few Gold Bar cocktails. If you could have a yarn over a cold beverage backstage with anyone at the festival, whose brain would you love to pick?

Ahhh, yeah, I can see it now. You paint the picture well. To be honest, I’d love to chew the fat with a bunch of people. Particularly enjoy yarning up a storm with your good self, Mr Brumby. That’s always a time. I’ll have to just see what happens. I’ll have to control my fanboy instincts but it’ll be hard with so many epic artists around!

Yol ŋ u Matha is the collection of languages of NE Arnhem Land, the area where you grew up and where Dima (rhythm guitar) and Yipsy (lead singer) lay their bloodlines. For those that don’t know, this is a huge part of the band and really lays the foundations for your sound and lyrics. Obviously, not many balanda mob can say they understand the dialect. So, to help the punters in the front row singing their guts out, do you think you could help out with a few of the song titles and chorus lines sung in language?

Sure!

Let’s start with hit single ‘Milkumana’. What’s the basic translation behind these repeated phrases? ‘Milkumana! Wangany’thirri!’

Milkumana means ‘showing,’ like showing the way for the future generation. Yolngu matha has many layers of meaning and understanding.

‘Wangany’thirri’ is saying ‘We’re all one’—what we’re saying in the chorus is essentially about us being all one, one human race, sailing in the same boat together, and we have to have good leadership for this boat to sail sustainably. It’s about showing the ways and the pathways for the new generation!

Manymak! How about one of my favourite tunes, ‘Lupa’. I know this one is not a direct translation but more of a descriptive term for a way of living. Any insight on this song title?

‘Lupa’ means ‘broke.’ This song is about the adoration of the Lupa lifestyle, which is being broke in terms of having no money but being rich in culture and friends.

Alright, to finish off, rather than a translation I’m chasing an explanation for all those big city dwellers out there with their designer dogs who only get fed caviar and Moet. What exactly is a ‘Camp Dog’?

Camp dogs are community dogs. We love them for their larger-than-life character. Some of their day-to-day activities include—but are not limited to—chillin’, relaxin' kickin’ back, patrolling the street, guarding their corner, being the boss of the town, rolling on dead cane toads, licking cane toads, chasing buffalos, barking at crocs, chasing birds, chasing cars, biting car tyres, biting bike tyres, eating turtle and fish scraps, sucking on a fish spine… The list is endless! But we love animals and grew up with pet dogs, and this song is about those stories!

GLOSSARY

I’ll have to control my fanboy instincts but it’ll be hard with so many epic artists around!

Babe Rainbow

INTERVIEW: ZAC BAYLY

Formed in 2015 in Rainbow Bay, Babe Rainbow is a hunky Australian band that started out as a 60s psych and 70s French surf pop-influenced group, and added splashes of disco and dance to their repertoire as they went on. They’ve released three very awesome and well-received albums in as many years now, with number four, Changing Colours, about to surface, you lucky listeners. They’re touring the US in October this year, but first they’re here at Splendour in the Grass to knock your unwashed socks off. I had the unique pleasure of a lovely little phone chat with the band’s macadamia farmer-turned-macadamia farmer-slash-guitarist Elliot ‘Dr. Love Wisdom’ O’Reilly. I generously typed it out so that you can read it, and here it is. Adieu!

How are you going?

Yeah good. It’s a beautiful day and I’m just up at the lookout at Byron. That must be tough.

It is. It really is.

Although, in all seriousness, I can’t imagine being a macadamia farmer in Byron has been much fun lately?

Oh, it’s been terrible the last couple of months. I pretty much just gave up on it. Is this your macadamia farm?

Me and my folks sort of halve it. They were pretty keen when we bought it but now they just let me run it. They’ve moved into cattle; bought a big farm out at Nimbin not too long ago. Gives me a bit more peace and quiet!

So, you live alone on the property now? Party central!

Yeah, except I have a baby now. [Laughs]

Not much sleep either way!

No! Nah, it’s all good though.

Do you know about Tom Selleck’s avocado farm? I read this old profile in People where he bought an avocado farm, realised he hated avocados, and then the vibe was like, ‘I shouldn’t have bought this fucking avocado farm but someone’s gotta run it...’

[Laughs] I’ve got avos as well—fucking love eating them—but they always say there’s no point in growing something you don’t love eating. Mine’s organic which makes it way harder but the price stays steady. You don’t get those mad fluctuations. There’s not that many.

How do you balance the band with farming? Does the farm run itself when you’re touring?

Well, I set up a few little things, like some cows that eat the grass which generally saves on mowing. And then the fruit you only pick once a year, so I try to not tour at that time. Other than that, the garden comes in cycles; haven’t been doing too much lately with all the weather. I don’t have that 24/7 heavy ag approach to farming. It’s the Byron style!

An article online said that you guys are ‘almost pro surfers’. Well, we do love it. We all grew up surfing. We’re not pros but we give it a go. We’re into longboarding and 70s surfing, but the pros stick to their short boards. So, you have the band, you’re a macadamia farmer, and you’re all good surfers—it kind of sounds like an AI came up with a dreamboat. Well, if you saw one of the other guys in the band—the girls love him. He came out of a computer almost.

Your nickname is ‘Dr Love Wisdom’. Why is that?

It’s not because I was getting heaps of lovin’; it was just a funny thing back when we were into LSD and magic mushrooms. We all came up with funny old-school nicknames. We were living on a farm in the country, living in this 60s-70s vibe bubble. It consumed us for a while! We’re a bit more mature now.

So, you don’t have any amazing love wisdom to impart to the readers of this publication.

Look, you know, just try your best. [Laughs] That’s it.

So, I know it’s such a cliché to ask a band about their band name, but I was reading something online that said the ‘Babe Rainbow’ comes from Rainbow Bay, right?

Yeah, that was just a weird coincidence that we were living there. We were probably too high to realise that connection. [Laughs] I think someone mentioned that afterwards and we were like ‘Oh, that makes sense...’

I took it to mean that maybe the guys in your band somehow represented the spectrum of babes, like the Spice Girls having their different categories. If you guys had spice names, who would be who?

Well, I’ve got red hair, so I’d probably be Red Babe.

You mean ‘Ginger’!

Exactly. I don’t know... There’s definitely a Greeny Babe. He’s the one all the babes like. Bearded, handsome... We’ve definitely got a Pink. We should dress up as our colours... It’s not a bad vibe.

So, this interview is for the Splendour paper that Monster Children is putting out. When did you first go to Splendour?

First time I went was probably grade 10... So about 2006 or something? I’m pretty sure it was Wolfmother playing. And the Shins?

Your manager mentioned you’re playing new music at Splendour as well.

Yeah, we’ve got heaps of new stuff coming out soon. New album. Done a few collabs with some fellas around here. Some bigger beats on some of the new songs which will be interesting to see how that goes down.

Is there some dancey vibes?

I think so. It’s a bit more up tempo, some bigger beats, less folky. It is pretty fresh for us.

Are you guys entering your party phase?

Yes, just as we’re having our babies! You know, I’m always keen for a good party. It just comes in waves. You get excited and want to dance, then you have chiller moments... We all collaborate on songs, so one of us is feeling chill, the other’s pumped up, so it always ends up being a mixed vibe that comes together somehow. There’s still heaps of nice chilled acoustic stuff in the album; it’s not all big moments. We’ll see how it floats as well.

Is that nerve-wracking, playing something with a new vibe? Do you test songs out on people first?

That’s a great way to do it. I wish we did that more!

Has anyone played you their music before it came out?

Once a well-known musician played me their album in person before it came out and I was thinking, like, ‘I guess this is awesome but it’s also fucking awkward just nodding my head to it in your loungeroom.’

[Laughs] It’s always weird when people play you their new stuff, especially when it’s intimate. You feel like... You know, you can’t truly listen to it when someone’s looking at you! That’s always weird... It’s happened to us a few times and they’re playing you their music really intimately and you’re, like, ‘Yep...’ But we play the songs live, sneak them into a set, and it’s a good way to gauge. It’s always weird to play the song live; it’s always way different to how we recorded it. It’s always a good indicator of a song if it’s easy to play live. It’s fun and easy and you don’t have to worry about heaps of bits, you have a dance on stage, there’s no awkward bits.

Oh man, I can’t imagine what it’s like to feel awkward playing a song to a crowd.

It’s the worst. It’s horrible. You’re standing up there playing your new song thinking, ‘Oh no... I’m about to release this and do a bunch of interviews around it...

Oh god...’

‘I knew we shouldn’t have gotten into polka music!’

[Laughs] Exactly. All those thoughts go through your head on stage. Time to go to the bar!

What was the first album you connected with? Mine was Celine Dion

Falling Into You

Nice one! Mine was probably Neil Young—Tonight’s The Night. Good old favourite of my mum’s that I remember falling in love with when I was young. Pretty much from that era.

Across the ages, who would be your dream collab?

Tyler, The Creator? He’s coming to Byron! If he reads this, tell him to come have an avo and I’ll play him my new stuff. [Laughs]

Brian Taranto

INTERVIEW: SALLY QUADE

After sweeping floors at the merch company he now owns, Brian Taranto became an icon in the Australian music business. He began his career in 1985, making merch for touring bands. Ten years later, he was organising tours for all the bands he loved. Brian is the head honcho of the much-adored indie festivals Out On The Weekend and Boogie, and curates his own stage at Splendour in the Grass (Brian has taken care of the SITG merch since the festival’s inception). And if that isn’t enough, he also owns the record label Love Police Records & Tapes, aaaand he publishes books. So what. We gave him 10 of our best to get to know him a bit better.

Talk us through the longest negotiation period before you booked a band?

Touring the incredible artist Gillian Welch requires patience, vision, patience, Nashville trips, personal texts, patience, Nashville visits, 11 years, and patience… but it’s all worth it.

Fan out moment. We all have had one or two—talk us through the time(s) you met your musical heroes?

I’ve met Neil Young and Cold Chisel. I sort of met The Stones too, but I was tripping. It did actually happen, but no words were spoken. They saw me, I saw them. It was a small room; it was comfortable and strange, but it happened. Mick, Keith, Ron, Charlie, and me and my mate. No one else. The fucking Stones within five feet! I spoke to Neil Young with others at a dinner at his ranch many years ago. Surreal, amazing, insightful, normal. Well, as normal as it can be with Brian Wilson playing piano in the lounge room and Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, Death Cab For Cutie, Trent Reznor, and Devendra Barnardt at the same dinner. Cold Chisel were my teenage idols. One of my first tours in the biz was with Jimmy Barnes. Later, Chisel reformed, and they chose me to handle their merch, and I’ve since developed friendship or at least knowing relationships with all members. Still kinda blows my mind.

Favourite airplane music: what do you listen to on long hauls?

Anything before 1973, normally. Or country music and Big Thief.

You get to see things at the side of the stage before acts head out to play—what’s the most interesting ritual you’ve been privy to?

Hmmm. Not sure. It is special when they give a shit and team-bond before a show, though.

Headphones or earpods?

Headphones or the sound of nature.

Three tips for upcoming performers to stay great and make money. Plan for cost-effective touring.

Think about backline and production requirements and riders. Do you need it all?

Is it cost-effective to travel?

Do we all fit in one or two vans?

Learn to drive and develop regional markets.

Treat merch income as a bonus and don’t overthink it.

What you and your friends think is cool is generally not what the fan wants to buy.

Worst cancellation moment by a band.

Arriving in Austin, Texas with a full well of good times planned for a SXSW years ago. Having first tequila shot, receiving an email that the Black Keys were cancelling a sold out, Bluesfest-headlining tour that was starting in two weeks due to an injury to Pat the drummer. No good times on that trip.

You are a very stylish man. Talk us through your favourite thing to wear to a gig?

Indoors: western shirt, cowboy boots, appropriate accoutrement. Outdoors: shorts, tie dye, sneakers, appropriate accoutrement.

You’ve been to a lot of bars around the world. If you could go to three right now, what would they be?

Robert’s, Nashville Nashville Palace, Nashville

Any excellent tapas bar in Spain.

Name three records that you couldn’t live without.

Gene Clark– No Other

Cold Chisel– Circus Animals

Neil Young–Time Fades Away

Photo: Maclay Heriot

I’ve met Neil Young and Cold Chisel. I sort of met The Stones too, but I was tripping.

Splendour Forum

BY SAM HETHERINGTON

The best thing about Splendour is that it’s a goody bag that you just can’t get to the bottom of. There are so many extras that you probably didn’t even know about—like Splendour Forum, for instance. Splendour Forum brings you some of Australia’s brightest thinkers, activists, experts, and professional talkers. Plus, they even give you a chair to sit on! Oh boy, isn’t it nice to rest your legs after walking up that hill for the seven hundredth time? Phew. Let’s take a look.

FRIDAY JULY 22

NOT ON YOUR RIDER: Music Trivia Quiz

10-11.30am

Have you ever listened to a song? What a stupid question. Of course you have (unless you are deaf, in which case you’ve felt a song). That’s why you’re here. That is also the only prerequisite you need to come along to this trivia show. Featuring regular host Aimon Clark of The Creases, Patience Hodgson of The Grates and Ian ‘Dicko’ Dickson from Aussie Idol with a rotating panel of guests from across the entertainment industry, like comedian Gen Fricker and drummer BC Michaels of Dune Rats.

APRA AMCOS Presents: MUSIC X TECH

12.30-1.30pm

Are you still unsure what NFT stands for? Is the metaverse somewhere where Splendour will be hosted next year? Are some crypto coins made of chocolate? These questions and more will be answered at MUSIC X TECH with host musician Sally Co leman, founder of UNIFIED Music Group Jaddan Comerford, Australia Council Head of Music Kirsty Rivers, digital artist /musician Made By Tsuki, and Tik Tok Director of Music Ollie Wards.

THE TIPPING POINT: Australia on the Brink of Great Change

2.30-3:30pm

Hosted by one half of the brains trust behind The Daily Aus, Zara Seidler will talk you through some of Australia’s most important topics in easy-to-understand language (no matter how many bevvies you’ve consumed. Join anti-violence activist Tarang Chawla, Holly Rankin (aka, Jack River), artist and Uluru Statement activist Sally Scales, Independent MP Dr Sophie Scamps, teen climate activist Anjali Sharma and former Australian of the Year Grace Tame to get inspired to do better, together.

SATURDAY JULY 23

BETTER OFF SAID: Eulogies for the Living and Dead 10-11.30am

BYO feels to this spoken-word banquet and get all those things you wish you had said, said. Emilie Zoey Baker and Marieke Hardy from Women of Letters will host a technicolour arrangement of guests, including TV presenter and plant nerd Costa Georgiadis, academic Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert, Phil Jamieson of Grinspoon, artist and Uluru Statement activist Sally Scales, Australian Green Senator Peter Whish-Wilson and two professional funny people Jordan Raskopoulos and Jenny Tian.

Great Moments in Science with DR KARL KRUSZELNICKI

11.45am-1pm

Why do some farts smell while others don’t? How do I cure a hangover? Can I buy chocolate with crypto? Dr Karl Kruszelnicki has the answers to many of life’s mysteries tucked away inside his shiny, bald head, and he’s here in the flesh to answer whatever questions are mulling in that brain of yours.

WHO’S GONNA SAVE US? …from a climate catastrophe?

11.30am-12.30pm

We’re up shit creek when it comes to climate change but luckily some people are really good with a paddle. Join some of Australia’s top climate change thinkers, including founder of Centre for Social Change Amanda Cahill, award winning climate-adaption scientist Dr Johanna Nalau, teen climate activist Anjali Sharma, and in Heart’s Wake lead singer Jake Taylor, hosted by Triple’s J dedicated climate change reporter Jo Launder.

WAR IN THE MODERN AGE

1.30-2.45pm

It’s crazy to think a war is happening worlds away from ours. Understand what’s happening on the ground in our today’s most defining conflict in Ukraine from a panel of experts in defence, anti-corruption, cybersecurity and debating (just for good measure), including Oksana Nesterenko, Assoc Prof Toby Murray, Dr Suelette Dreyfus and Adam Spencer respectively.

A RATIONAL FEAR

3-4pm

Finish the weekend with some good ol’ pee’d pants thanks to Australia’s best comedy podcast hosts, Dan Ilic and Lewis Hobba. There’s comedians Scout Boxall, Paul Mcdermott and Jenny Tian and they are definitely funnier than you.w

2:30pm-4pm

Bringing punters, pollies and pundits together to thrash out the hot issues of the day. Hosted by award winning broadcaster Hamish Macdonald, this year’s Q+A will bring on Shadow Minister for Youth and Early Childhood Angie Bell, lawyer and activist Tarang Chawla, the new Federal Green MP Max Chandler-Mather, and North Sydney Independent MP Kylea Tink to talk shop on all things democracy.

SUNDAY JULY 24

Documentary Film: GREEN IS THE NEW BLACK

10-11.30am

In Hearts Wake, Australia’s leading heavy metal band, are on a mission to produce the world’s first carbon offset album. Watch as the band record, release and perform music in a radically new and sustainable way in this documentary, through conversation with Damon Gameau, Greens Member for Parliament Tamara Smith, United Nations Young Leader AY Young, Splendour founder Jess Ducrou, artist turned activist Heidi Lennfer and frontrunner of UNFD Records, Luke Logemann.

Q+A with Hamish Macdonald

Six Sexy Sustainable Splendour Tips

BY SAM HETHERINGTON

Do you know what’s worse than Splendour being over? Leaving your tent behind when it is. I get it, you’d rather be horizontal and consuming potato chips with The Strokes on repeat come Monday, but that is no excuse to leave your shit behind for someone else to clean up. Because guess what, honey? That goes into the bin, and then that goes into the earth. Not cool. Having a good time shouldn’t cost the earth, so pick up your shit when it’s time to go and read these hot tips for how to do Splendour more sustainably and sexier.

Invest in a portable ashtray

If you’re inclined to be smoking ciggies this Splendour weekend, get yourself a portable ashtray and make sure all those butts stay outta the earth. They’re designed to be able to fit into your pocket so that you can hold onto your butts until they can be disposed of in a bin properly, without missing a set. Mumm butts.

Take advantage of the buses

Not only will this be the safer option but it’s the more sustainable one. Duh. Transport to and from the festival is the most emission-intensive part of the whole shebang, so where possible, organise your mates and get home together. If you’re driving, make sure you fill your car to its maximum capacity to redeem cash for carpooling with four or more people.

Be mindful of plastic use

All plastic sucks, but especially the plastic glitter kind that shows up in your underwear twelve weeks after Splendour is over. Luckily, if you want to look like someone has rubbed the Milky Way onto your face, you still can without even hurting the planet. Cue biodegradable glitter. Made from plants, not plastic. Also, because we hate all kinds of plastic make sure to take advantage of the reusable cup systems at the bars and refill your water bottles at the water taps all around the festival.

Thank a cleaner

If you see someone picking up rubbish off the ground offer them a beer as thanks. Actually, don’t do that, they’re on shift and that’s probably not allowed. But figuratively offer them a beer and say a big thank you for doing the Earth (and you) a big favour. Why not make their job easier by putting your own rubbish in the bin too!

Green Offset your ticket

Were you one of those nice people that clicked yes to the $3 Green Offset? Good on you. Here I am patting you on the back through a newspaper. Doesn’t that feel nice? That $3 is going towards solar projects in collaboration with the Arakwal mob to help the local area transition to renewable energy. Previous year’s offsetting helped fund Australia’s first social benefit solar garden in Byron Bay. How good is the sun?

Be respectful of the land

You are now standing on and enjoying the lands of the Minjungbal people of the Greater Bundjalung Nation. The original and traditional custodians of this land regained their Native Title back in 2019. One of the totems of the Bundjalung People is the Kabul (Carpet Snake), because they start small and get bigger, just as we learn. We have a lot to learn from our First Nations people, but respecting the land as they do is a small place to start.

ARCTIC MONKEYS - LIL NAS X - PEGGY GOU

CHVRCHES - JAMIE XX - AMINÉ

CAMELPHAT - OCEAN ALLEY - SPACEY JANE

DMA’S - G FLIP - PINKPANTHERESS

RICO NASTY - AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS

MALL GRAB - BEN BÖHMER (LIVE)

DJ SEINFELD - GENESIS OWUSU - TSHA

CC:DISCO! - YOUNG FRANCO - ANNA LUNOE

LUUDE - LASTLINGS - MAY- A - CHOOMBA

THE VANNS - KING STINGRAY - PEACH PRC

BEDDY RAYS - JEAN DAWSON - TELENOVA

BISCITS - BARRY CAN’T SWIM - ELKKA

FLOODLIGHTS - WONGO - YNG MARTYR

1300 - MOKTAR - MAGDALENA BAY

DAMEEEELA - EBONY BOADU - RONA.

ELSY WAMEYO - JUNO MAMBA + MANY MORE

AND SPECIAL GUESTS - THE OG WIGGLES

It is historically difficult to be a punk band, a pop punk band, a hardcore band. Even more difficult: being whatever PUP is. Somewhere in that nerdy categorical fray, PUP has found a niche within which they have been able to flourish into an engaging, high-energy act. Their songs are often a flurry, weaving a classic three-chord structure with complimentary bass and drum lines (across four albums and one name change), all highlighted by the clever, often snide lyrics of singer/guitarist Stefan Babcock. We called up that cheeky devil to talk about comedy in the lyrics, mental health and all that good stuff you’d expect from a Splendour Weekender.

PUP

INTERVIEW: NAZ KAWAKAMI

An obligatory question: how do you like playing in Australia?

I love it. Guitar rock is still alive and well there, people are a little bit unhinged, the shows are crazy for us. I love it.

Can you talk about the themes in this newest album as opposed to the previous two?

I think every album is a sort of snapshot of whatever was happening in my brain in the last six months. In The Dream Is Over (2016) we were touring a lot, so that’s what turned up in the lyrics. In Morbid Stuff (2019), I was dealing with a lot of mental health things. Both of those elements are present in this new album, especially considering that mental health issues aren’t something that just go away, and I’ve come to terms with that. That being said, this album is me reconciling with the fact that being in a band isn’t a hobby anymore, it’s a career, and I’m essentially monetising the shittiest parts of my personality. I talk about being a little bit of a piece of shit at times, as we all are, and the idea of making money off of that can be a little bit of a mind fuck.

You’re tackling these very difficult things, but it’s also very funny.

For sure, yeah. Humour is such a big part of this band for all four of us. We all take the music seriously, but not ourselves. The biggest thing for me is that I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that it’s fun and that I love it. Even if I have to deal with dark elements in a song, it’s supposed to make me feel better and be fun. I get to travel with my three best friends and play stupid songs, and it’s awesome! It’s important for me to remember when I’m writing that it’s not about finding the darkness, it’s about finding the light in the darkness.

Your band sounds similar to things I know, but I can’t really categorise you. How did you find your genre? What did you listen to when you were younger that influenced you?

We never had a conversation about what kind of band we were. I was just writing songs and the guys were taking them and making them their own. I believe that a good song is good regardless of its genre, as long as the foundation is there, so the genre bending with our stuff comes from the other guys being great musicians and coming at it with their own tool kits and influences. When I was a teenager, I was listening to a lot of scrappy indie, a lot of Built to Spill and Bomb the Music Industry! When I heard Built to Spill, I thought, ‘You can sound like this and be good?’ I could hear the mistakes and the harshness and the realness and it made me think that it was something I could do. Weren’t you in a ska band?

Yeah, we sucked. We were terrible—as most ska bands are—but it was a fun thing to be in and a great introduction to light touring and song writing. It was also great because when I met the guys in PUP, they had been playing together so long and had a great musical chemistry, but they and I were pulling from such different influences that it made for a really interesting sound. Nestor (bass) and Zack (drums) were really into metal, Steve is classically trained—he has a degree in jazz guitar; he is just incredible—we all brought our own things into PUP. Every time I bring one of my very simple, underdeveloped songs and they make it amazing, I’m like, ‘Thank god I met these guys.’

Your song ‘Sleep in the Heat’ is about the loss of your pet chameleon, and it continues to make audiences cry. Are you aware of that? How are you able to write these small but significant songs that connect so well with your audience?

I am somewhat aware of the impact that that song has, I do get people sending me photos of their pet. I hope that that song helps in some way or at least lets people feel that it’s okay to be torn up by the loss of a pet, ‘cause sometimes it feels silly. Sometimes I’m like, it’s a chameleon, man; but it isn’t about how small the thing is or silly or whatever, it’s about how you feel and how affected you are. I also think I feel emotions very strongly—more strongly than others might feel—and I translate those feelings into songs when I can. I don’t know the formula for those songs but I’m grateful that people are connecting with this stuff.

I love it. Guitar rock is still alive and well there, people are a little bit unhinged, the shows are crazy for us. I love it.

Photo: Jess Baumung

20 Years of Splendour

BY: JESSICA DUCROU

20 years of Splendour in the Grass. What a trip. Some of you readers weren’t even alive 20 years ago. You didn’t exist. You were not real. Where were you? Perhaps you were someone or something else. A frog perhaps. You know who was alive and real twenty years ago, though? Splendour co-founder Jessica Ducrou. Stop reading right now and look around. See all this stuff? That’s because of Jess. There’s a bunch of other people who help make Splendour happen (not least of all her business-founding partner Paul Piticco), but Jess has a huge hand in it since the beginning—and that’s why we hit her up for her Splendour highlights from the last two decades. 20 years of Splendour in the Grass. What a trip. Take it away, Jess.

My fave photo ever.

Above. Childish Gambino. Photo Charlie Hardy

Top Right. Job satisfaction.

Bottom Right. We will always love you.

Above. Pure fucking joy.

Bottom Left. That day Chance cancelled and the Hoods stepped in.

Right. Queen Amy.

All images courtesy of Splendour in the Grass.

Working in the music industry—even in the far periphery as a music journalist shoved into the freak corner with the roadies and vinyl collectors—you’ll soon discover that almost everyone is a bit of a dick. Because of this, when you meet someone genuinely delightful, it’s a happy surprise. Hester from the UK’s Wet Leg is truly and distinctly delightful. Since becoming the most talked about band in guitar music, Hester Chambers and the other half of Wet Leg, Rhian Teasdale, have been performing, touring, speaking, singing, playing, and videoing non-fucking-stop for the last year-plus-change. I woke up a little bit early for this interview to accommodate a time difference, and despite a scratchy voice and presumed exhaustion at the end of another exceedingly taxing day, Hester had the nerve to apologise to me for my inconvenience. The gall! How dare she be so kind. An absolute delight. Anyway, if you don’t know Wet Leg by now, you’re probably not a music fan, you shouldn’t be at this festival and you probably aren’t reading this. If you are a music fan, here’s an interview with Hester Chambers of Wet Leg. You’re welcome.

First question: How are you handling your meteoric rise to stardom?

That sentence is a little bit funny to me and everyone else in the band. From our side, we don’t feel that we’ve risen to anything at all. We are just all of a sudden busier than we ever have been, taking it day by day as it comes, because my heart is already beating faster thinking about it, so I just have a cup of tea and do a bit of crochet and that’ll help me to feel that everything is nice and normal. That’s what I mean, are you alright? It’s not a very easy thing to cope with. Has it changed how you function creatively?

INTERVIEW: NAZ KAWAKAMI

Yes, definitely, but we are so busy that we don’t even have time in a room with drums set up and whatever else to be creative in that way. I think we’ll get time eventually—maybe at Christmas—to be more creative.

We’ll move away from the anxiety-inducing questions: what do you do outside of music?

Hmm….

What’ve you been doing recently?

I mean, I used to do a lot. We recently got to spend some time at home, the longest time at home in six months, and it was really nice. We were just catching up with friends and family - a lot of washing clothes, trying to cook some meals because it isn’t easy to be nourished on the road, that sort of thing. That reminds me! I was asked by another Splendour artist, Fazerdaze, to ask you these two questions: What snacks are on your rider, and how do you arrive at creative decisions or deal with disagreements?

Something that we enjoyed a lot was not feeling like there were any rules and we could go wherever the wind takes us. When we first started writing, we were in a room together just jamming, finding the groove and smiling at each other when something sounds good. Encouraging each other. It was a really soupy thing that tastes delicious. When lockdown happened, we were in different cities, so we ended up demoing songs separately in GarageBand and sending them to each other. By the time we got together, there was this whole Dropbox of songs written in this period where we weren’t together. When we wrote ‘Chaise Longue’, we were at Joshua’s house and it was really late in the evening and we just decided to write a really fun, dumb song to pass the time and be silly. I think not having rules makes it easier to not have many creative disagreements.

And what snacks are on your rider?

Oh, yes! We’ve got some, like, prawn cocktail flavoured crisps, and we couldn’t find them in the US and it freaked me out because it’s one of the best flavours. Is that like shrimp chips?

No, not at all. They don’t taste fishy. More like paprika, salt, and they’re just really good. What else... we have some cucumber? And hummus? Salsa... Things you can make a little sandwich with. Some salad, we try to stay nutritious which is difficult on tour.

Usually the first thing people say is beer.

That goes without saying. Lots of beer, tequila, but also salad to even it out. The yin and the yang. The beer and the cucumber.

Do you think that you’re quite anxious as performers?

Yes, I feel that I am an anxious performer and it freaks me out when people are like, ‘You looked so good up there, so confident!’ because I’m literally shitting myself the whole time. It has gotten easier over time but it is still so scary. I think it’s just being in front of all of those people, I wouldn’t want to do that in any other scenario, but you sort of have to with music. Then again, it depends on the day you had. Maybe you had a bad day, or a bad dream and it sticks with you and makes you feel off all day and that makes it hard to perform, but then we in the band give each other a lot of comfort and support. We are all in it together. How can a fan support you up there?

I think just to enjoy the music… if they wish to do so. Just listening and enjoying is the best thing you can do for us and yourself. I know I should be saying go to wetleg.com and buy some merch or buy a ticket to something, but I think the most earnest thing you could do is listen and feel good when you do. That is where the relationship comes between an artist and a fan—that’s the most important thing.

Something that we enjoyed a lot was not feeling like there were any rules and we could go wherever the wind takes us.

Shannon and the Clams

Maybe it’s lead guitarist Cody Blanchard’s pencil moustache and/or Shannon Shaw’s dazzling platinum blonde quiff, but there’s something about Shannon and the Clams that makes me think John Waters accidently imagined them into existence. If you told me they did the soundtrack for Cry-Baby, I would probably believe you. Shannon and the Clams are tremendously difficult to categorise, but if I had to, I’d say they’re sort of a… nouveau-retro garage/surf/psych rock band. If you haven’t heard their stuff, they sound like Motown moved to Santa Barbara via a 90s movie ‘vintage store’ dress-up montage. How’s that for a messy picture in your head? TLDR: It’s the kind of music you don’t have to know every word to in order to enjoy. Perfect festival music, if you ask me. I caught up with Cody in the leadup to SITG to chat meat pies, haunted hotels, Kath, and, of course, Kim.

What’s better—festivals or concert venues?

Festivals are easier because the organisers have more money [but] it’s also more complicated and disorienting, because when you get there, someone just picks you up and drives you around in a little golf cart… and there’s less time for soundcheck and stuff, it can be chaos. But you get to see cool bands. Still, there’s nothing quite like the energy of a sold-out tour.

This is your second visit to Australia, right?

No, third! I love Australia, I’d happily move there. Is it your first big trip since the lockdowns and travel bans?

Yeah. We’ve got a tour in Canada coming up, so that’s international travel, and I’m breaking up the flight [to Australia] with a stop in Hawaii. I love Hawaii. What should I watch on the plane? Anything Australian you’d recommend? I’ve been watching Kath & Kim and it’s really funny. You have to be paying attention, but the jokes are good. I watched Puberty Blues, too.

I doubt they’ll have it on the plane, but if you get Kath & Kim, you’ll have to see The Castle. Have you had Covid yet?

Yeah, I got Covid on the last tour—we had to cancel three shows, but they were the last three shows of the leg. I feel relieved I got it out of the way, I’m confident to travel now. Yeah, I guess it was good timing to travel then. Is there anything you’re looking forward to in Australia?

One of those meat pies. I live [near] Proud Mary’s here in Portland and they have them sometimes, but they always sell out before I get there. I also like to hike, so I’ll pack my hiking boots. When we were in Sydney before I walked through that big park you have there?

Centennial Park ?

Yeah, with all the fruit bats. I love them. I walked around there for hours.

Speaking of Australian animals, Shannon is an infamous arachnophobe, which makes the title of your latest album ( Year of the Spider) a little ironic. How does she feel about visiting the Spider Capital of the World?

Ah, yeah, really, she just doesn’t talk about it. We just don’t talk about it. But we were in Perth a few years ago and I went for a bike ride around the island and there were just spiders everywhere. It was totally trippy. Do y’all have any pre-show rituals?

No. We get asked this all the time, I need to talk to the band about making one. Not making one up, like coming up with a ritual. And then doing it.

Or I could just ask more original questions. I’m sorry. Where has the best catering? Coachella so far, for sure. Looking forward to seeing how Splendour compares. Australia has a better quality of food in general, I think.

What’s the worst hotel experience you’ve ever had?

There was a hotel next to a freeway in New Jersey, when trucks went by there was like this strange acoustic phenomenon. The walls were so thin, it would sound like a demon moaning, like, this satanic noise. None of us got any sleep.

Best location or venue?

Golden Plains.

Ah, you really do like the great outdoors. Any gossip to wrap things up?

We’ve had a few different drummers since Covid, and so rather than fly someone out we’re getting an Aussie: Eric Moore. He used to play in King Gizz. He’ll join us, so we’ll fly in for a few days of rehearsal and he’ll play with us in Australia.

I went for a bike ride around the island and there were just spiders everywhere. It was totally trippy.

INTERVIEW: ISABELLE WEBSTER

Still Woozy

BY NOLAN GAWRON

Oakland-based recording artist Sven Gamsky—aka Still Woozy—made his way onto the scene back in 2017 with an eclectic sound that blended and bent genres. Ultimately offering up dreamy, funky soul songs, Gamsky’s easy breezy vibe is produced with primarily electronic instrumentation and relatable lyrics of universal struggles delivered calmly, melodically, and whimsically to soften the blow. Soul, funk, R&B, hip-hop, bedroom pop, chillwave—Still Woozy’s music is a lot of things, but most would agree, math rock is not one of them. But that’s exactly the sound and songwriting style that preceded Gamsky’s solo career.

As a guitarist in Feed Me Jack, Sven and company conquered the UC Santa Cruz house party scene, but with so many different interests and trajectories within the band, it wasn’t long before they broke up to pursue other creative interests. Just about six months after the band’s last show, Gamsky had already laid the foundation for Still Woozy.

‘I just wanted to make music that I wanted to listen to that I hadn’t heard before,’ says Gamsky. ‘I didn’t want to compromise anymore. It was so freeing to be out of the band and have full control. Anytime I had an idea or feeling I could just follow it to the end, and I wouldn’t have to run it by all these people. The self-exploration process of it all was very fun. It was a freeing experience, and I experimented a lot. That’s what led me to Still Woozy—it’s me being myself.’

Through a patient and calculated release schedule, Gansky began self-releasing his work, somewhat unorthodoxly—one standalone single at a time. ‘It was strategic,’ says Gamsky. ‘When our old band would put out an album, I realized that the first couple of songs got the most plays and the songs we worked on equally as hard down the list; people weren’t really aware of them. It didn’t make sense to release a whole body of work for people that aren’t familiar with the music. Am I doing all this work just for this one moment to come and go? One of the things I made sure of when I set out to do Still Woozy was not falling into the pitfalls of previous projects.’

After eight successful singles, a five-song EP—and, oh yeah, a global shutdown—Gamsky began reconsidering his trajectory. The demand from his audience was undeniable, and with the added time on his hands, the opportunity was ripe for Gamsky to expand his vision and begin working on his first proper LP. If This Isn’t Nice, I Don’t Know What Is was released on Still Woozy Productions/Interscope in August 2021. ‘It was during the pandemic,’ says Gamsky. ‘I had all this time to record music and realised that I couldn’t just keep putting singles out forever. You know, it’s exhausting, and after a while, I’m kind of chasing my tail. I was gonna burn the candles down if I kept going. Before the pandemic, I was on the road, off the road, back and forth, and so ungrounded that I couldn’t put my attention into something as long as an album. That space allowed me to really go for it. and showed that there was still more room to grow sonically.’

Comprised of 13 tracks, four of which were singles that preceded the release. Still, Woozy continued to exhibit his musical prowess, playing all of the instruments on the album, even expanding his sound to include softer and more sensitive songs. ‘I think the only thing different [about the LP] is that I could give a voice to sides of my musical tastes that I wouldn’t normally—like the acoustic, almost folky stuff—like on ‘These Days.’ It’s not necessarily the single, but I still love it, and it’s still a part of me. Songs like that were allowed to be given their day and their time on the album.’

Early in his career, Gamsky swore never to tour without a fanbase. In fact, he considered never touring at all. But these days, he’s found enjoyment in taking his songs out on the road and sharing the energy with his audience. After a few tour cancellations due to Covid restrictions, Still Woozy hit the road in January 2022, playing more than 50 shows to sold-out audiences across the United States, including prestigious stops at Coachella, Governor’s Ball and Bonnaroo. Operating as a three-piece, Still Woozy’s live performances are known to add a new dynamic to his signature laidback sound. This is Still Woozy’s first tour of Australia.

I didn’t want to compromise anymore. It was so freeing to be out of the band and have full control

Jungle

WORDS BY ZAC BAYLY

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii new friend! You’re reading the Splendour Weekender. Well... what’s the future like? You’re holding the newspaper I’m presently writing for (I say ‘presently’, but for you it’s the past!!!). I’m real keen to know what the newspaper looks like. You’re so lucky you get to see it. I’m guessing A4, very thick, maybe seven, eight kilos, hopefully a gold foil effect on the logo; maybe it’s got Bananarama or someone cool on the cover. Monster Children have allowed ME the honourable pleasure of interviewing Josh Lloyd-Watson of the incredible British electronic music duo JUNGLE. They’re so famous Down Under, I didn’t even have to introduce them. You know them, you know their songs — you know it’s kind of a big deal.

You’ve got nice hair!

Thank you, bro—I spend a lot of time on it. [Laughs] No, I don’t do anything to it. My favourite cousin is called Josh and he has long nice hair too — I was always really jealous as a kid.

I remember seeing someone in a park who had long hair, and he was a skater, when I was about 14.

That’s why you decided to do it?

Aha.

I tried that when I was the same age but my hair’s very curly, so I just got long ringlets in my eyes.

I bet that was quite nice though.

Well, you know what, now that I’m losing it, I wish I could grow it.

[Laughs] Yes!

You’re coming to Australia.

Say it again?

You’re coming to Australia for Splendour in the Grass.

Yeah! Splendour in the Grass. Expensive Australia. That’s where we’re coming to.

It is expensive isn’t it... Wait, no, I was just in London and it was so bloody expensive!

Yeah, but I mean bands coming to Australia — we’re losing money. It’s a love for the Aussies, a love for the Kiwis.

Is it worth it?

They say you’ve got to build Australia. You’ve got to keep... If you don’t, it’s never going to become a thing for you there. We just got a big band, a big touring party, and they just changed all the deals with the airlines. Flights were so expensive.

They’re crazy right now!

Yeah. They’ve just chopped all the routes and all that, so it’s a bit complicated! To fly our gear over it’s £40,000. Just to fly the equipment. Like, 80,000 Aussie dollars. And we can’t freight it. We can’t put it on a boat because we have so many festivals either side. It’s like, we fly back from Australia into a show in Ireland. [Laughs]

You love Australia so it’s worth it, right?

[Laughs] Exactly! There’s good banter down there. Especially young Aussies.

What is the most Australian thing you have seen or done while in Australia?

Oh wow... Er... I feel like we’ve done some bits... I have to go backwards and backwards to think...

Have you fed a koala to a crocodile?

Yeah, something like that. We’ve had a coffee...

The coffee is good here.

We went to Bondi Beach...

That’s pretty Australian!

That’s pretty obvious. It’s just generally quite nice and fun and the weather’s always pretty decent. It’s generally good times. We’re in and out pretty quick this time. Last time we had like four days in Sydney between shows which was nice to take a chill for a second.

Just long enough to enjoy the jet lag!

Yeah, we’ll see what happens with this jet lag stuff...

Okay, if you fly in, you have jet lag, but then you fly back before you’ve gotten over the jet lag, does the jet lag go away?

[Laughs] So for every hour time zone difference, it takes a day to recover from that... So, there’s about 10 hours of time difference, so if you go and you only spend five days in Australia... Look, I think it’s going to fuck you up whatever happens. With touring, is it fun to put things on your rider?

Er, yeah... Everything’s a dream until you get it every day. It’s a bit like, 'Okay someone’s been shopping for us.' You pay for the rider as well. I think people assume it’s free the whole time. You’re paying for it. People are like, 'Wow, you get all this stuff.' And it’s like, 'Yeah, we bought it.'

That’s a real bummer.

If you want to feel like you have a rider, just do your groceries then lay it out on a table. You’ve just released your new singles ‘GOOD TIMES’ and ‘PROBLEMZ’.

Yes!

Why did you release them together?

Because they come together. They’re a little pack, aren’t they? They were made at the same time. You know, one’s the answer to the other. One’s a bit more full on, and the other’s a bit more laid back. There’s like a yin yang. And now we’re in this space where if you make something and finish it, get it out. Get it out. Because the longer you sit on it, the quicker you change, and then you look back on it and think, ‘Oooh maybe I can tweak it...’ And then stuff gets overworked quite quickly. Over a period of time. So, we’re trying something different where we’re making an album—well, we might be making an album—but we’re trying to release songs as we go. Over the period of making an album you start to go on a journey,

and because you haven’t released those tracks as you’re making them, they’re like paintings that are drying, and you have to have discipline to not get in there and paint over and make the colours all dirty. So, we would change and our tastes would change over the year or two or more that you’re making an album, and during that time you might have tweaked those songs beyond recognition. And all of sudden the track’s not as pure, it’s not as ‘off the cuff’, it doesn’t have that feeling.

You overcook it, you mean?

Potentially, yeah. What else are you going to do? And that’s one of the biggest problems with music today. We lost that ability to go into the studio like Motown days, cut the track, and get the hell out. You’re not sitting with the vocal and remixing it and... Music’s just lost a lot of its soul because of that. Because A&Rs get involved and say, ‘Can we do the vocal again? Can we try to make it even more this?’ And it shouldn’t really be like that. A lot of those old tracks you’ve either got it or you ain’t, do you know what I mean? So, if you’ve got it, cool, let’s go, cut the track. Maybe the tambourine’s way too high but... That’s the beauty of it, the inconsistencies. But if you spend too much time to think about it, you level everything out to make it safe. It’s very important you don’t overcook art. I’m in the process of doing that right now; I’m working on a J Lloyd [Josh’s solo project] record and I’m sort of researching the idea of ‘finishing’. Using the process to get my head around it and release music. There’s so many people in the world that are probably making amazing music that are just missing that last bit. And the last bit is the hardest. It’s very easy to start — I’ve got thousands of beats saved. But it’s a process. And the end of it is a big process, finding that second wave of inspiration. It’s easy to get stuck at second base. And if something’s not at least 50% done, you’re probably not coming back to it because you haven’t formed an attachment to it.

How do you finish something?

You have to do a little thing that starts the chain reaction of ‘doing it’, you know? It’s like a ‘yes’ thing as well. Don’t doubt yourself. You can’t overthink it too much. If you’re deliberating too much, you’re not making progress. I break it down into a list of the parts that go into it — and then you just do the things.

That is excellent advice! What’s next for you? Australia! We’re looking forward to it.

You can’t overthink it too much.

If you’re deliberating too much you’re not making progress.

Splendour Food Guide

BY ISABELLE WEBSTER

Food is great. It’s the best. And for some weird reason, it tastes so much better deep fried and on a stick. Or straight out of the box while standing up. Or while listening to live music. With over a hundred food options available at this year’s Splendour in the Grass—from the food halls, pop-up stalls and food trucks—you’re likely to get overwhelmed by choice. So, in the interest of you getting ahead of your hunger and being capable of making a decision, we’ve compiled a mouth-watering rundown of some of what’s on offer at this year’s Splendour.

The Morning (After)

Let’s Do Yum Cha—not a suggestion, just a fact. Nothing heals like the power of yum cha, and the best thing about a festival over multiple days is that you can go back for anything you missed on the first pass.

If you’ve given up on the idea of owning a house or can’t bear a weekend without avocado, get on down to The Avocado Hut for all things green and smashed.

Snackish

If you’re a bit peckish through-out the day, a gozleme from Emmy’s is a good snack. So is that festival classic, the German snag—brought to you by Wurst Merister or The Kransky Sisters. Authentic! There are samosas and if you need a Mex fix there’s Senoritas and El Corazon Cantina.

Late Night / Great Night

As is pretty normal for a festival, there are lots of stalls specialising in ‘things on chips’: loaded fries and nachos. There’s also Beatbox Kitchen slinging classic burgers, (very legit, confirmed) and Birdman will be serving up Korean fried chicken. If you’re more of a woodfired pizza person, check out Sons of Napoli and their 1947 Dodge Fargo.

Samurai Kitchen claims to make the best karaage chicken in the world which seems like a big call to make, so why not get some from Come On Mate! too, and do a side by side comparison. If you like a side of pun with your dinner, head over to Smokin’ Butts and Racks for ribs and slow cooked meat, BBQ style.

If you’re inclined to dine on a slippery little sucker, there are options, my friend. Poke bowls and fish ‘n’ chips from Fish & Lemonade, and colourful paella from the aptly named Paella Man. If you’re more of a noodle dude, May’s Malaysian Hawker is a must-try. Something Japanese? Swing past the good folk at Raijin Japanese Cuisine for udon, gyoza and more.

Vegetarian / Vegan / Gluten Free

Dietary requirements? No worries! Make sure you hit up Yulli’s for some of the best modern food that-also-happens-to-be-vegan. Say g’day to the veggie legends at Govinda’s for all things kofta and the best goddamn glorious chai tea you’ve ever had. Piante Pizza will be tossing Neapolitan pizza with dairy-free cheese, and there’s mushrooms every which way courtesy of The FunGuys (ha-ha).

Sweet Treats

Whatever your sweet-heart desires—waffles or doughnuts or even a civilised crepe—there’s a sugary option to perk you up. Billy Van Creamy is also worth a mention, if you want a sundae on Sunday. If nature’s sugar is more your speed, Melon Fiesta has watermelon every which way (including filled with melon flavoured soft serve).

VIP

Lucky enough to have nabbed VIP tickets this year? You’ll be able to get your hands on VIP Mary’s famous burgers AND their Detroit style pizza (a tried-and-true hangover cure), and line the stomach with 'unauthentic Australian Indian' from Byron Bay institution Daughter in Law, who’ll be serving up the tastiest curries, samosas and of course, butter chicken, on offer in the Northern Rivers.

Start eating!

John from Redfern Electrical

INTERVIEW: BRUNO PENIS

You lucky, lucky, lucky little bastards. John from Redfern Electrical is performing this year, and he is easily one of the funniest humans this country has ever produced. He’s also a working electrician with a license to pop shit open and fiddle with the wires. So, if anything goes pear-shaped during his set—the lights short out, say, or his mic takes a crap—John can fix it in a jiff and keep the show on the road. We had a quick chat with John the big weapon before his Splendour gig.

John, what was the first music festival you ever went to and who was playing?

For the interview’s sake, it was Splendour in the Grass in 2006 with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs headlining. Fascinating to see how far I’ve come as a person.

What was the real first festival?

For the truth and shame’s sake, it was Blues & Roots in 2004. At the time, if I could’ve had dinner with any three people living or dead it would’ve been the John Butler Trio.

What was the highlight of that festival?

Meeting a guy called Craig Peavey who lived in the forest near Byron. He claimed to be a former Australian boxing champion and to have received considerable compensation for head injuries sustained while representing his country. He had a cheque for $500,000 which I saw but he couldn’t cash it because he didn’t have any ID to open a bank account. Life can be so unjust.

Do you like festivals?

Well in 2018, I was in Amsterdam with some friends and they were going to a Dutch grime music festival and I really didn’t want to go. The Dutch language is already kinda pretty staccato and I didn’t think it would transition well into lyrics. But I reluctantly went and while I was there, someone asked me if I wanted a pill, which I didn’t, but they showed me the pill and it was the size of a fuckin’ magnesium tablet and had the Audi symbol on it, and I was like, yeah, I’ll take that. Everything turned into a Van Gogh painting visually after that, and I have the best memories of watching Ray Fuego playing ‘Flexosaurus’ with a hot crew. I like festivals after that.

What band at what festival do you wish you had seen? For example, I wish I could’ve seen Jimi Hendrix play the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. Galaxie 500 at Glastonbury, 1990.

If you could cobble together a super-group featuring anyone—living or dead— who would they be, why, and what would the band be called?

Easy. Display Homes. RIP Bobby. Love you.

What artist are you most stoked to see at Splendour this year?

Tyler, The Creator. We skated Waterloo mini ramp together in 2012, and I’m not trying to call anyone a liar about their name, but he was destroying it! Where are you sleeping while you’re here?

Please, I deserve some peace.

Do you have any advice for the people at this festival who might not have been to a festival before?

No.

What can punters expect from your comedy show at Splendour this year?

I’ll probably be trying out a bit about how I called a locksmith and they came and had dreadlocks. We all hate our job mate.

Do you get the nervous squirts before doing a show?

Never. I live for the laughs.

Everything turned into a Van Gogh painting... I like festivals after that.

Photo: Thomas 'Lobster' Robinson

Crossword

Use your remaining two brain cells to complete this Splendour-flavoured quiz!

Name:

Splendour in the Grass 2022 Crossword

Created using

the Crossword Maker on TheTeachersCorner.net

Across

3. Young male skilled in pastry making.

5. A small body of still water.

3. Young male skilled in pastry making.

9. Rolling Blackouts get sick with it.

5. A small body of still water.

11. Call him if you get lost.

9. Rolling Blackouts get sick with it.

11. Call him if you get lost.

12. Song that won Glass Animals the Hottest 100 #1.

14. A moistened limb.

12. Song that won Glass Animals the Hottest 100 #1.

Down

1. A liquid drug that shares its name with a Splendour act.

1. A liquid drug that shares its name with a Splendour act.

2. British dessert pie made from bananas, cream a caramel sauce.

2. British dessert pie made from bananas, cream and caramel sauce.

4. Shannon Shaw’s favourite seafood.

4. Shannon Shaw’s favourite seafood.

17. Keyboard command the DMA’s don’t want you to use.

14. A moistened limb.

17. Keyboard command the DMA’s don’t want you to use.

18. A work break immortalised by The Chats.

18. A work break immortalised by The Chats.

19. What the Yeah Yeah Yeahs like to do at the edge of the world.

19. What the Yeah Yeah Yeahs like to do at the edge of the world.

6. Act that shares their name with a decorative flooring effect.

6. Act that shares their name with a decorative flooring effect.

7. Music collective co-founded by Tyler, The Creator.

7. Music collective co-founded by Tyler, The Creator.

8. Gorillaz track that shares a name with an old Hollywood star.

8. Gorillaz track that shares a name with an old Hollywood star.

10. Splendour musician who has never shown his face publicly.

13. Liam Gallagher’s former band.

10. Splendour musician who has never shown his face publicly.

13. Liam Gallagher’s former band.

15. Sports team immortalised in a track from The Strokes.

15. Sports team immortalised in a track from The Strokes.

16. Genesis Owusu doesn’t need these to smile.

16. Genesis Owusu doesn’t need these to smile.

20. A young dog.

20. A young dog.

Across Down

New Splendour Bars

WORDS: ISABELLE WEBSTER

The Temperance Bar

Off the sauce? This year’s brand-new Temperance Bar specialises in all things yum, hold the booze. So, if you want to pace yourself, you’re taking a break while preganté, you’re a full-time teetotaller, or just taking a booze-break (it’s still Dry July for some, after all) this is the bar for you. Inclusivity is the name of the game at Splendour, and as more and more people jump onto the hypothetical wagon, it’s timely, and lovely, to have a unique space for those who enjoy their memories sharp and their festivals sober.

The Temperance Bar is set up with a courtyard complete with comfy seating, because how good is sitting down on a properly soft seat at a festival? Rest your weary behind, kick up your heels and pair a delicious and aesthetically pleasing mocktail with some sunshine and watch the world go by. Marc Romanin and co. will be shaking and stirring a list of fancy 0ABV drink options, or you can even ask them to whip something special up, just for you.

Marc has spent over a decade dreaming up cocktail lists for restaurants and bars Australia wide, as well as international music festivals, so you can be sure that he has mastered the art of a good drink, alcoholic or not (it’s all about balance.) Plus, with more and more solid non-alcoholic options on the market, there’s more than just soda or iced tea to satiate you. You’re in for a properly good time at the Temperance Bar, whether you prefer one of the classics, perhaps made with Lyre’s range of 0% ‘spirits’, or something fancy and fruity with an edible garnish to make you feel like a tropical princess. Our go-to is the virgin piña colada in case you were wondering. Cheers!

The Rainbow Bar

Attention: the shes, the theys and the gays! This year marks the launch of Splendour’s first ever LGBTQIA+ bar. Specialising in all thing’s tea, shade, and pink lemonade, The Rainbow Bar is here to inject a little bit more fabulousness into your SITG experience. The Disco Ball will be supplied, but BYO fan, and please make sure your glitter is biodegradable. Featuring DJs from Canned Fruit (Thursday) and GiRLTHING (Friday) plus all things Drag care of Poof Doof (Saturday & Sunday), we have it on good authority that all surfaces have been built to withstand Drag Queens, wig and heels and all.

First in line, category is ‘putting the camp in camping’. Canned Fruit have been throwing parties in Sydney’s inner west for several years now, with an emphasis on keeping the queer scene open, weird, inclusive and safe. Come through from 4pm on Thursday to catch not-from-concentrate DJs Alex Dugan and Sparkle Is Back on the decks, bringing their signature juicy tunes to start your weekend off right.

Next up, best known for their underground warehouse parties, skate comps and club nights, the institution known as GiRLTHING will take the reins on Friday for a full day of music and dancing, with the DJ stylings of Jacqui Cunningham—known for their ability to fill a room with rhythmic beats and gyrating hips, Mowgli May—an eclectic genre-bending and blending good-time-girl, and Louella Deville – whose vibe will bring back sweaty memories of pre 2014 nightclub dance floors.

Then, Saturday and Sunday there will be free-range Drag Queens roaming the festival, plus a full Rainbow Bar take over from the late-night legends, iconiqué roof raisers and party starters, Poof Doof. Performing from 12pm to 12am, there’ll be even more DJs, and more Queens than you can poke a high heel at. Please have a pink drink and remember, if you can’t love yourself, how in the hell are you going to love somebody else? Amen.

FOR SALE

MAGIC LUTE

Yay, I have one magic lute for sale this day. Strum upont and it will tell you secrets. What secrets? Lo, you shall have to purchase the lute to find out, you prick. 0406-650-430

I WILL LICK CLEAN YOUR RECYCLING

Why waste precious tap water rinsing your recyclables when I could come over to your house at, say, midnight and lick it all clean? Seems crazy not to let me come over and do that for free. 0406-650-430

FOX SHIT

I’ve been collecting fox shit for 20 years and my wife is going to leave me. I have over 300 garbage bags filled to bursting point with fox shit, and it all has to go if I want to save my marriage. Price on application 0406-650-430

LOST: MAGIC LUTE

Hey nonny-nonny, someone nicked my magic lute. I was napping by a stream when it happened, and now my lute and its many secrets are gone. Have you seen it? Offering $15,000 or a one-on-one Pilates class as reward. 0406-650-430

LOST: 2 HOURS & 39 MINUTES

I went to the cinema the other day and lost 2 hours and 39 minutes. The cinema was on Oxford Street and the movie was called Elvis. Call me if you happen to find those 2 hours and 39 minutes. 0406-650-430

FOUND: MAGIC LUTE

I found a magic lute. When you play it, it tells you boring stuff about WW2. I want it out of my house. 0406-650-430

happen to YOU at MY HOUSE! Come on.

FOX SHIT

If anyone has any fox shit for sale, please contact Ron on 0406-650-430. I’m trying to get out of my marriage and need as much fox shit as I can get. Will pay top dollar.

0406-650-430

POUCH

Looking for a heaps mint drawstring pouch. Must be made from purple suede with gold drawstring. Also, it must have my name spelled out in little plastic jewels. What’s my name? Ah-ha! That’s the rub, my friend. Offering $12 to whosoever comes'th forth with the correct’th pouch’th.

0406-650-430

DOG BITE

I’d like to be hospitalised by a dog so I can get out of attending my brother’s birthday party. He’s a complete fucker and I’d rather be mauled than sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to him. Give me a buzz if your dog is a bastard.

0406-650-430

Having dreams and you don’t know what they mean?

Waking up confused about a dream you just had?

Feeling like you’ve been having some dreams that don’t make sense or something?

Let me tell you what your dreams mean!

Hi, I’m Judy Tube, Professional Dream Interpreter and IBS Sufferer.

Perhaps you’ve had a dream you don’t understand. Maybe your grandma was in the dream. Maybe your grandma was playing a saxophone in the dream and you woke up and thought, ‘What does that mean?’ I can tell you what that means—it means you are going to die!

Not happy with that prognosis? By all means, seek a second opinion, but they’ll tell you the same thing, jerk-off.

Send $1 for FREE stickers!

COUSIN BLOCKER

Don’t let your cousin take photos of you in the shower again—get a Cousin Blocker Shower Screen™! Traditional shower curtains are not enough—you need the confidence that comes from knowing you’re using a genuine Cousin Blocker Shower Screen™ made by the Cousin Blocker Shower Screen™ Company. How else are you going to stop your cousin from taking photos of you in the shower?

The Cousin Blocker Shower Screen™. Blocking cousins with cameras since 1842.

www.lookoutherecomesyoursexpestcousin.com

Fake News

JULIAN CASABLANCAS CLAIMS WINNING SCRATCH-IT

Julian Casablancas is $50,000 richer after picking up an Instant Scratch-It from a Byron Bay convenience store last night. Casablancas (43) is currently celebrating in his room at the Arts Factory Lodge, and plans to use his riches to pay off his home mortgage back in the U.S. The Strokes frontman told Splendour Weekender that he rarely plays the scratchies and felt like fate had put him in the right place at the right time. ‘I can’t believe me luck!’ said Casablancas. ‘I’d just smashed a parmy at the Great Northern and was heading back to the hostel for a wank, when I thought, “Fuck it,” and I ducked into The NightOwl to buy a Cornetto. As I was about to

leave the shop, I thought, “Fuck it. I might buy a scratchie ticket, too.” And fuck-me-drunk, I’m glad I did!’ At first, Casablancas couldn’t believe his eyes. In fact, he claims he still can’t. ‘It still hasn’t quite sunk in, but when I see the money in my account, I think it will really hit home.’ NightOwl store owner Bruno Penis said it was the first big win from a scratchie ticket his store had sold.

‘I think I was just as shocked as Julian,’ he said. ‘At first, I thought maybe he was trying to pull a swifty on me again, but when I looked closer, I realised he’d really won $50,000! It’s fantastic for Julian and we’re so excited for him.’

SHANNON AND THE CLAMS IN FOOD POISONING DIARRHOEA HORROR

Oakland-based indie rockers Shannon and The Clams have been forced to cancel their Australian tour amid a band-wide food poisoning outbreak. Shannon and her clams arrived in Sydney on Thursday morning and immediately stopped at Periwinkle Cove, an unpopular seafood restaurant at Kingsford Smith International Airport. ‘We were a little peckish after the flight,’ said clam guitarist Cody Blanchard, ‘so we thought we’d grab a quick bite before clearing customs.’ After a round of fisherman’s baskets and several jugs of ouzo and coke, Shannon and her clams paid the bill and began making their way toward the airport exit. It was then, accord -

ing to Blanchard, that all hell broke loose. ‘At that point, all hell broke loose,’ he said. ‘I dropped what I thought was a small, penny-sized fart, but then, to my utter horror, I followed through and loaded my britches.’ Seconds later, clam drummer Chris Icasiano also filled his pants. ‘It was horrible,’ continued Blanchard, ‘and before I knew it, we’d all loaded our pants with red-hot diarrhoea and had no choice but to waddle back to the plane and fly home.’ A spokesperson for Periwinkle Cove said the incident was regrettable but might have been rectified had the band just returned to the restaurant for a quick hose down out the back.

LIAM GALLAGHER ATTACKED BY TIP FOX

Liam Gallagher has been taken to hospital after being attacked by a fox outside Sydney’s Intercontinental Hotel on Friday. It is understood Gallagher (49) was tying his shoelace shortly before 3pm when he was viciously attacked by the carnivorous mammal. The ex-Oasis frontman’s injuries are not life-threatening, but a St John’s ambulance worker on the scene confirmed that Gallagher was not at all happy. ‘Yeah, he wasn’t happy. We took him in the ambulance, and the whole way he was like, “Fuck this country! Fuckin’ woodland creatures runnin’ around biting rock stars! It’s ridiculous, man! Sort it out!”’ Gallagher was taken to St John of God Hospital in Burwood where he remains in a

stable condition. The fox is still at large and believed to be covered in shit and with an old Aldi bag around its neck. Police investigating the incident have confirmed that the animal was almost definitely a tip fox.

‘Based on the description given by Mr Gallagher and witnesses, the offending animal was almost definitely a fox that came in from the tip,' said a policeman. The attack comes only two days after police shot a fox 37 times to stop it mauling Tyler, The Creator, who was swimming laps at Sydney’s Park Hyatt. The Creator was also rushed to St John of God Hospital in Burwood and is now sharing a room with Gallagher. Their album, Night of The Tip Fox, is scheduled for later this year.

Catch Byron Bay Brewery Bar at Splendour, stocked with chilled Byron Bay Premium Lager, delicious food by Light Years and a stacked lineup of musician mates.

THURSDAY 21ST JULY THE GATLING GUN 4:00 - 5:0O PM

22ND JULY

SATURDAY 23RD JULY

SUNDAY 24TH JULY

ELIZA AND THE DELUSIONALS

MEMBERS BADGE DRAW

DRAWN DAILY 3:00-4:00 PM

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