Music Feeds Issue 20

mUSIc Feeds

SUPPORTING THE INDEPENDENT MUSIC / ARTS SCENE OF SYDNEY AND BEYOND WWW.MUSICFEEDS.COM.AU

ISSUE 20 APRIL 27 - may 11

e! e r F

tighter than a nun's schedule

FUJI COLLECTIVE EAGLES OF DEATH METAL THE CHURCH MCKISKO CUT CHEMIST THE FUMES MARK PRITCHARD QUAN

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mckisko

T E L ED

By cameron tan

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ometimes, being left to your own devices is the best thing that can happen to you. It’s when things get interesting (or hilarious). Take for example, Miss Helen Franzmann AKA McKisko: self-confessed lover, not fighter.

When her band Redbreas t disbanded shor tly af ter reloc ating to London, she moved to Dublin where she hunkered down in an at tic and s tar ted work on her debut, Glorio. The record received glowing reviews, which her parent s show of f like a s traight-A school repor t c ard.

So with that in mind, I bus ted in on some of her alone time for a chat.

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You may have noticed there’s a bit of blood spattered on this page. I could invent some cock and bull story about it representing all the blood sweat and tears that goes into making this magazine, but that would be a lie. The truth is your mother was over recently and things got a bit out of hand. Suffice to say after a trip to the emergency room, everything was stitched back up, but the experience did leave a few scars in the office, more psychological that physical though. That intern will never be the same.

observation to play a gig at The Vanguard this Thursday the 30th of April. Also resident red head Amelia Schmidt caught up with Jesse ‘Boots Electric’ Hughes from Eagles Of Death Metal to discuss his love of Olivia Newton John. While new man in the ranks Jesse Hayward gets molested by The Church, I catch up with Cut Chemist in his lab for a quick chat and Dan Clarke gets woozy from The Fumes.

As usual in meeting your voyeuristic needs we’ve got some great snaps from the High & Dry Fundraiser as well as shots from the Easy But, office-bound depravity aside, allow me to welcome you once again to your fortnightly dose Star All Stars and The School of Seven Bells of poor taste, bad humour and music journalism, shows. if you can call it that.

We also catch up with Brisbane songstress McKisko, purveyors of twisted electro It’s our 20th Birthday this issue, that’s right Mark Pritchard and Monk Fly, Perth outfit we made it to the big 20! Take that economic Streetlight and many more indie musos. downturn, you rat bastard! It being our 20th can only mean one thing, our 21st is around the corner so if the next issue comes out I have nothing left to say so I’ll leave you here, and tell your mother to leave the acrylics at with a picture of me making out with a fire home next time, we can’t afford the clean up extinguisher on the cover don’t be alarmed, again. we’ve just been shitfaced for two weeks and thought it was a good idea. Let’s not get ahead of Mikey ourselves though, this issue first.

We have Fuji Collective on the cover this fortnight, as they are soon to be released from

EDITOR Mikey Carr michael.carr@musicfeeds.com.au ART DIRECTOR Dan Clarke dan@musicfeeds.com.au WEBMASTER Toby Smith toby.smith@musicfeeds.com.au

Music Feeds, It’s Spanish For Awesome.

SUB EDITORS Rochelle Fernandez, Janet King, Clare Molesworth, Jesse Hayward CONTRIBUTORS Thomas Mitchell, James Paker, Amelia Schmidt, Kurt Davies, Corinne O'Keefe, Matt Lausch, Zarina Varley & Pep's Mum.

With a voice that has been described as ‘sounding like an angel singing while walking over crushed glas s’, I was eager to find out how she coped with the s tres s and ner ve wracking tension of releasing a solo debut.

“By having low ex pec tations”, she laughs.

“I was so happy to finish the album af ter t wo year s that to release it was enough for me. Any positive feedback since then has been great. I released an EP before with Redbreas t and it didn't reach many ear s so I half ex pec ted that to happen again. People seem to be hearing this more which is nice.”

It ’s on this kind of modes t y that the album hangs. It doesn’t blas t it s guns or get in your face. It ’s a beautiful, minimal af fair that surely but unex pec tedly pulls you in and under, with a sonic richnes s that she at tributes to her Redbreas t pas t. “(Being a par t of Redbreas t) helped me communic ate bet ter with other musicians so when I write a song I hear additional sounds and ins trument s immediately. It helped me when thinking about rhy thm and space within a song. “ That said, as anyone who at tended one of her recent album launches will at tes t, her songs translate into the live space jus t as well. Judging from the per formances, playing live unsur prisingly c ame naturally, but not without teething problems.

“The band broke up and I had done a few solo shows so it was a natural progression. Solo performances made me cry with nerves early on. It was something I wanted to be better at.

Gradually I've become more comfortable with it and now I'm slowly bringing other people into the act again.”

The album has polish and refinement. McKisko has a few tricks up her sleeve that will allow her to get the same effect live.

“I hunt down supreme live sound engineers.

I wouldn't say our live show is refined and polished but it's an impression of the songs on the album. It's always a little different.

And there are other songs thrown in to keep it interesting for both the audience and us. I use a loop pedal in a few songs to fill things out. I play a variety of instruments so there are different sounds coming through all the time.”

It is the strength of these live shows that have gotten her support shows for Bon Iver and Jose Gonzalez.

“Justin, Jose and their bands were all good, friendly folk”, she revealed. “Bon Iver was the first big support I had done and I was very conscious that the audience was waiting for them. Their show was so impressive. It was exciting to see an artist expand on the album songs. He played a live set that sounded very different to his album. He was overwhelmed by the response in Australia. Jose Gonzales and his band were all pretty relaxed and unaffected by their success.”

“I've been a fan of his music for a long time and was really excited to be playing with him.

We drank cups of tea and ate apricots after the show. I guess they both impacted me in that they weren't self-obsessed egomaniacs.

They're just doing their thing and the chaos surrounding them has little to do with pursuing that. They're all making good music and are committed to making more good music. It was what I hoped it would be like.”

Questions answered, I slowly back out of the room, leaving only footsteps, and taking only memories. Though she may seem like an angel, she is a mere mortal, and here’s proof: just like the rest of us, she loves frosty fruits.

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eagles of death metal By amelia schmidt

C

onsidering the crotch-grabbing-facemelting album he’s taking around the world on a hot tour, Eagles of Death Metal front man Jesse Hughes is unsurprisingly cocky. Speaking from his accommodation somewhere near Coachella (“Kickin’ it, in the desert, baby, about four blocks from Coachella”), his moustache bristles into my pants through the phone lines.

Jesse candidly tells me about his night last night: “Josh and I hung out, and then we went to the new firehouse, and then I chased the devil until about four in the morning, and then I came home and tried to learn ‘Hot Child in the City’.”

His tone implies that this is what he does ever y night, only with different locations and song names. He then pointedly asks me about my night, even though I’m the one who’s supposed to be asking the questions. It’s obvious that Jesse is as ballsy as his music.

Reportedly created by imagining what it might be like if The Eagles played death metal, The Eagles of Death Metal will shortly be gracing our fine shores for some shows. Jesse raves about Sydney and how much he’s looking for ward to it.

“Yes ma’am, fuck yeah I'm lookin for ward to it, are you kidding?” he coos. “The reason we even booked it like we booked it is that we’ve scheduled it like a vacation. I love Australia man, I really do. I have an affinity for the countr y beyond it just being a great place to visit. I only use Australian guitars, I only use Australian microphones, I think the ute is the greatest fucking car ever made…”

“THE PHOTOGRAPHY WAS AMAZING BUT CUTTING OUT THAT POOR WOMAN’S HEART TOOK FOREVER.” He talks about cars for a minute and I don’t really have any idea what he’s saying (even though his affection for Oz is endearing) so I tr y to bring him back to the topic of gigs.

Luna Park’s big top will be hosting the EODM for their Sydney shows. The last band I saw there was similarly overdone-rock outfit The Darkness, complete with skintight flared spangly jumpsuits and keytars.

“Sometimes The Darkness are a little too… something that I don’t get. But they have fun and they fucking shred. That’s the thing about the British. They don’t normally shred at anything.

And their idea of a prison colony is one of the greatest countries in the world, if you know what I mean.”

It’s kinda hard talking to this guy. He keeps asking me questions and making bad jokes. So I up the ante and ask how his moustache is going, and he replies, “It’s lonesome right now but it’s got a twenty percent chance of rain. I have no idea what that means but I’ve always wanted to say it.” See? “Any chance to do what I do is amazing,” says Jesse, when I ask what we can expect from his Australian shows. “You can expect that within the first thirty minutes of the show, global warming will go down ten degrees.”

“Nah, I’m just kidding. You can expect the essence… I’ll tell you what you can expect. You can expect Chopper Read to show up.”

Really? “No. I can do whatever you tell me to do.

This is what I love about your countr y too. There was a time when the biggest selling comedy act was Chopper fucking Read.”

Ever yone loves a criminal on a motorcycle. It’s clear that this guy knows his Australian cultural clichés and I start to believe in his affinity for our great southern land (because he’s the kind of guy who you have to assume is bullshitting you in order to get into your pants.)

But really, I mean seriously, in all real seriousness, seriously, can we expect any big surprises? “During the encore I’m going to come on stage dressed as Mel Gibson from Gallipoli.

As long as I can walk off that stage without feeling like the girl I want to have sex with thinks of me like a brother, then I’m OK.” The artwork for the album features a bleeding heart in the grips of a feminine red-nailed hand which is both confronting and awesome, so I ask how it was to shoot.

“The photography was amazing but cutting out that poor woman’s heart took forEVER. We wanted something that kinda reflected our

desire to make the best record we could make.

And you know, it really didn’t start out being called ‘Heart On’ with an innuendo towards a boner, it really didn’t. It was that I write from my heart, Joshua always says, so it was ‘Heart on your sleeve’ and it was two days later when I was like ‘Heart On, Heart On, Hard On…oh shit.’”

“The cover is based on the idea that hearts of men are always in the clutches of beautiful women. And the other innuendo is ‘Don’t fuck with me.’ Just kidding. I just wanted to be provocative.”

Yep. Can see that. “This photographer, he’s a friend of ours, he kept wanting to get me naked on a bearskin rug,” Jesse says. It’s got the point where I don’t know what’s true and what’s an elaborate joke.

“Look, I really love doing what I do - having someone take photos of me? Wow, that sucks,” he quips sarcastically. I mention that not ever yone loves to be in front of the lens and he says, “They just act like they hate it. It’s an absolute sense of entitlement and arrogance, and I hate that. I think when people walk around with a sense of entitlement they ruin ever ything.”

After this we talk about how great Olivia Newton John is in ‘Physical’. He says he’s recording a cover of it. I tell him the poster from the record is on my wall. He says that he’s dressed as her, right now. I tell him that I am her. “She’s so fucking hot.” Let me hear your body talk or let me hear your guitars blow all my clothes off with awesomeness. Either/or.

'Heart On' is out now through Inertia.

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7

THE CHURCH

By JESSE HAYWARD

S

teve Kilbey is always busy doing something.

Looking over The Church's previous releases you can see he's been very goddamned busy.

“There's a load of stuff all coming out in a short space of time.” The Church have been solid Oz Rock mainstays for decades, what keeps them coming back?

“I couldn't get a job doing anything else. Most old rockers eventually get absorbed into some other industry but I wasn't fit for any other industry so I just had to keep rocking and rolling, waiting for some career opportunity to come along. A few friends of mine who are in bands and stuff, they teach music at TAFE. I asked them for a job and they said no. They said I couldn't do it, I'd be hopeless, so that's it, I'm stuck rocking and rolling forever.”

Poor Steve Kilbey, stuck in a rut. He and the rest of The Church have rocked so hard they've worn

grooves into the Oz Rock floor. The guys have released over twenty albums in almost thirty years, and you simply can't do that without some variation.

Birthed in the shallow seas of the 80s, the horrible decade of last century we all wish we could just forget.

“I think The Church was a reaction against the times.

I don't think any of us had conceived of having a reaction against the times until we'd gotten together.

Up until that point in 1980 I was recording music at home on a domestic four track and I was doing all kinds of things. I was doing some electro-pop, psychedelia, prog-rock and folk music, whatever I could think of.”

“People didn't realise it at the time, just like fish in an ocean. They couldn't see how fucking terrible it was.

We had a manager from America who came over to sign us up and he said 'well, what are you guys going to wear? You should get an image.' We said 'this is our image' and he said 'the kids in America won't like that image.' He took some of the members of The Church out and one of them came back in pink pants.”

“When we got together we just sort of reacted against the stuff that was around in 1980, guys with plastic pants and skinny ties. I guess it galvanized us into wanting to be more organic. From the moment we got together we've been de-evolving all the time, trying to get more organic all the time, with some stupid detours I guess, but most of the time we're trying to get back to that sound: the prog-rock, psychedelic, space rock ethic, which is anything goes.”

Steve displays savoir-faire over Capitol's decision to drop The Church's second release. “What idiots.

What morons. But nothing affects my writing.

Nothing like that. If I got dropped by a record label it wouldn't affect my writing. It's a different world.

There's the inner world of the band and its music and then there's this outer world of these various mechanisms that release and distribute our music.

Occasionally that has come in and completely ruined the music. The Church always had this incredibly fierce self-belief that got us through bad times and also kept our egos relatively smallish during the good times. Capitol dropped us and all we thought was that they were fucking idiots.”

Staying strong in the face of commercial opposition is an obvious credit to the band's will.

“That's what you've got to do. I mean, Van Gogh sold one painting in his lifetime. Imagine that. Imagine being that man, knowing you're a fucking genius painting this stuff. Any fool looking at that stuff will go 'Jesus Christ, the paintings are vibrating' and yet in his day the ninnies and the turkeys that were around couldn't fucking see it. Maybe you or I wouldn't see it either. It's very hard to recognise something that's brilliant in your very midst. The Church, being a very specialist band and in some ways a subtle band, I don't expect that we're going to be the biggest and most popular thing on the planet.

“I MEAN, VAN GOGH SOLD ONE PAINTING

IN HIS LIFETIME. IMAGINE THAT. IMAGINE BEING THAT MAN, KNOWING YOU'RE A FUCKING GENIUS PAINTING THIS STUFF.”

We've already limited ourselves by the nature of what we do. I haven't been too disappointed by all the ups and downs, I've just sort of taken it as it comes.”

The Church's earlier albums were primarily written

by Steve, but these days he relinquishes some control.

“I'm at the helm but instead of me concocting it all

on my own we get together and jam, muck around on instruments until we pick up on something. When that instrumental piece is finished then I usually take that away on my own and put vocals on it. I think writing together is easy. In some ways the other people cramp your style and in other ways they're there to pick up the slack when you don't make it. “I like collaborating, I don't mind doing things on my own either.”

The days of old, when bands became megastars and were put up in five-star hotel rooms to trash as they please, are long passed. The indie label is the new black and the freedom to explore new musical realms is there, despite the lack of overwhelming luxury.

“The really great bands achieved success through freedom. The Beatles were the epitome of that. If they just kept on knocking out I Wanna Hold Your Hand, people would have given up on them. When The Beatles started experimenting with recording, no one had even thought there was really any experimenting to be done. The whole idea of the album went down the tube, but that was only an artificial thing determined by how long a piece of vinyl was.”

cover is. “They're on my iPod, I play them all the time but I've never seen the record itself.”

His nine year old twins hadn't even seen a vinyl record before the other week. The age of large plastic music-containing product is well and truly over. “The things you can do in a home studio would have been impossible in the best studios in the world fifteen years ago. But is anyone making any better music because of that freedom? That's the question.

I think a good musician should be able to produce something good with the most basic stuff as well. I prefer to keep concentrating on the music and the words.”

We pine for the days of vinyl records, inner sleeves and album artwork. “That's disappeared.”

Steve confides that he's listened to “a million records” and he has no idea what the artwork or

The Church's new album, Untitled 23, is out now.

Check it out to see the fantastic gems musical freedom can create.

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WITH SPECIAL GUESTS: THE CROOKED FIDDLE BAND CAPTAIN KICKARSE AND THE AWESOMES BRACKETS TICKETS THRU MOSHTIX WWW.TRIPLEJUNEARTHED.COM/DAYOFTHEMEERKAT MYSPACE.COM/DAYOFTHEMEERKAT

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CUT CHEMIST W By mikey carr

ho’s the badass mother who can use 4 turntables at once? Who’s the slick cat who’s worked with ever yone from DJ Shadow to Blackalicious? Who’s the street-smar t beat ar tist who star ted Jurassic 5 and Ozomatli at the same time? No, it’s not John Shaft, it’s Cut Chemist and with his upcoming Australian tour in suppor t of De La Soul just around the corner Music Feeds paid a visit to the famous beat maker to sift through his thoughts with a sieve.

Upon entering the laborator y of Lucas MacFadden AKA Cut Chemist I quickly realise his alias is more than just a witty name. Spotting me at the door, he tells me to take a seat and to star t the inter view as he’s in the middle of an experiment and needs to continue.

Average height with ruf fled hair: if you pointed him out to me in the street, I’d finger him as a science teacher rather than one of the most influential figures in hip hop in the last decade. But as we chat over his bubbling beaker it’s instantly obvious this man has a passion for music, a passion of which he is not entirely in control.

We star t discussing the topic of his workaholism and he’s quick to dismiss my assumption. “If only you could be a bug on the wall you wouldn’t say that,” he laughs. “I’d say I’m more schizophrenic than anything. I get bored real easy so when I work on something for a while I have to do something else. It keeps me interested in music cos it can get boring ver y fast for me.”

Just looking around the lab littered with half finished prototypes and beakers covered in dust it’s easy to see he doesn’t have the longest attention span. It’s unsurprising then that in his early 20s he was playing in multiple bands as well as DJing and studying.

“At that time I was in Ozomatli, Jurassic 5 and doing Cut Chemist stuf f and I was used to that. Now that I’ve left Ozomatli and I’ve left J5 and it’s just kind of me floating around in space all by myself it’s kind of tough to keep motivated and interested, because I don’t have those other groups to keep things fresh,” he confides.

“I think that what was so special about that time was that I never even thought these groups would go on to be as successful as they were. They were cer tainly a lot of fun to play in though and that’s why I did it. They were pretty much star ted at the same time, J5 formed in 94 and Ozomatli in 95. One weekend I’d be doing shows with Ozomatli, driving up and down California and the next week I’d be with J5 at a talent show or something. It was all ver y crazy, I mean I also had a residency DJing at some club and I was going to school, I look back at it and I’m like, how did I do all that stuf f?”

While he was undoubtedly busy juggling his many projects it turns out that leaving them proved harder than expected for the chemically inclined vinyl-wizard. “I went through a whole bunch of strange mental breakdowns because I’d never had to work by myself before, I’d always had all these dif ferent people to bounce of f. It was nice to

have a break, but I definitely prefer working with other people.”

He star ts to elaborate but one of the test tubes he’s been heating cracks and purple fluid leaks out over the table. I hand him a towel and he star ts wiping up the mess, simultaneously checking all the other tubes and beakers and making adjustments to the Bunsen burners as we continue to discuss his love of collaborating.

“Nu Mark and Shadow are really good people to par tner up with,” he exclaims, lighting up at my mention of the two.

“They’re really good at what they do and it forces me to be better. With both of those teams we build of f each other and kind of outdo each other, you know like friendly competition. I’ll drop something and Shadow’ll be like ‘oh man that scratch solo was dope let me see if I can outdo that’ and then he does so I have to top that and then before you know it we’re on the top of this mountain just looking down.”

A timer goes of f and he hurriedly runs over to inspect a jar which barely contains a bubbling mixture of dif ferent brown sludges. Lending him a hand, I star t to ask him about the battle between underground and mainstream hip hop for the prize of capture ing up-and-coming audiences.

“I don’t know,” he sighs, “I think the underground versus mainstream thing is sor t of dissipating, the lines are kinda being blurred with the internet and downloads.”

He seems taken with this line of thought as he grabs a test-tube full of black fluid and dumps it into the beaker of brown sludge. “I see hip hop kind of blending itself with all the other genres at the moment,” he tells me as he stirs in another test-tube, this time pink. “It’s just kinda becoming a texture for all these other genres. I mean it will always be its own genre but I just think it’s permeating into all music.

I think that’s a good thing because it will be harder to kill that way, it’s like a chameleon, it’ll adapt itself to whatever environment it finds itself in.”

He’s mixed in three more test tubes by this point and the beaker has turned into a chunky grey soup. Walking over to what looks like a blender he dumps the soup in the top and holds down the lid as he leans towards me.

“You can really see that in the indie rock movement, there’s more hip hop appeal in it now than there was say ten years ago,” he screams over the noise, the soup now all bubbles, its colour in a constant state of flux.

“Besides when you’re in the clubs you see the rock kids are dancing to hip hop records and hip hop kids are getting down to rock records,” he says as he pours the now clear fluid into a teapot and pours us both a glass.

“It’s all just sor t of blending into one.”

Cut Chemist will be playing with De La Soul at the Metro on May 4th, but with the first show having sold out already, you’ll want to get in quick.

10

S

teve Merry, axe man for blues duo The Fumes is talking to me through our new-fangled Skype phone system.

“You sound like you're in a fish tank.

You're not in a fish tank are ya?”

Turns out we still have a few bugs to sort out, but I assure him that, to my knowledge, I'm nowhere near a fish tank.

With his concerns allayed, I ask about the bands new album Sundancer.

Recorded over two weeks in November last year, it's been a work in progress

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“ALL OF MY FAVOURITE RECORDINGS HAVE GOT A COUPLE OF LITTLE GLITCHES, IMPERFECTIONS IN THEM THAT MAKE THEM SOUND GOOD.” for a couple of years. Steve tells me that they shipped famed producer Jim Diamond out from Detroit to record the tracks at Megaphon studios in Sydney.

“About a month later we went back over to Detroit with him and spent about ten or eleven days mixing it. It was minus

ten degrees in the dead of winter in downtown Detroit.”

True to their blues heritage, the album was recorded directly to reel to reel analogue tape. Steve feels there are advantages to using the older technology.

“I think there's definitely something to it. You can definitely tell the difference between digital and analogue recordings.”

“All of my favourite recordings have got a couple of little glitches, imperfections in them that make them sound good.”

“You can actually hear in this recording, in the piano songs, you can hear Jim's furnace clicking on and off.”

The band had written around twenty two songs for the album, but some were inevitably culled before being recorded.

Steve explains that a few of the songs “get to a point and then you can't get them any further so you forget about them, come back to them at a later date.”

That being said, the extra songs haven't been forgotten entirely. Steve assures me some of them will be played on their upcoming tour.

“Definitely. You've gotta have a few more songs than what you actually have recorded on the album. We might get to them later. It definitely helps to have a few up your sleeve.”

Beginning in late May, The Fumes will be taking their raw, dirty blues around the countr y on a national tour.

The rigours of the road do take their toll on the pair. “It can get pretty tense,” Steve says, “I've got a little daughter and it sucks being away from home that much but I guess that's how it goes huh?”

Before then, it seems Steve has

important things to take care of. Things aren't always easy being independent.

With two tours of the United States in the past year, the pressure of self-funded albums and travel have had an effect.

“I just went and registered for unemployment benefits so I'm looking for a bit of work. We spent a fair bit of money doing this album and going over to the States twice. There was a bit of money involved in getting over there but it was all definitely worthwhile.”

Steve remains optimistic though.

“It's not too bad. I'm a carpenter and

I've got a bit of work up in the valley just behind where I live, should start up in a week or two. That will be fine, live like a normal person for a while.”

Living like a normal person, it seems, involves working with a sixty eight year old Japanese carpenter, who reminds Steve of “Mr Miyagi.”

At least things are still interesting, even when he's not rocking out.

The Fumes are touring nationally with The Protectors in May and June.

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13

I

cloud control

t’s rare to hear music infused with sweetness and light that is neither sappy lovelorn fauxlyricism nor crappy mainstream pop, but somehow Cloud Control manage to stay on the lighter side without falling all the way into the pink fluffy pit. With an album coming out in April, Alister Wright is hard at work in the beautiful Megalong Valley, capturing rich mountain air and pumping it into the Clouds.

Alister is basking in the soft mist that plays through his open window. “We’re still writing some songs for the album. The valley is an isolated place, nice to work in. There’s no town nearby, just properties, it can be inspirational. The weather’s been pretty hot but we had some rain today which was nice.”

With such magnificent surrounds we lesser mortals might be distracted from our work but Alister and the band are on track for the new album release, despite forays into the wider world.

by jesse hayward

“We went on the Josh Pyke tour recently and that kind of pushed things back a bit. We’re still working on it though and it should be pretty close to the scheduled release date.”

Such selflessness, to bless Australian crowds with a tour, at a time when work on the album might seem more important. “The tour was great. They (Josh Pyke’s crew) are all really nice guys, we hung out with them quite a bit.

Also Josh is quite popular so the gigs were always selling out which is great, especially for us.”

The original Cloud Control EP was all analog recording which gave each track a natural feel, harking back to golden ages of music. “Yeah we really like that sound. We found that the more digital stuff we put in the less happy we were with the outcome. We’ll probably be recording most of the new album live and any overdubs that need doing will go in later.”

As John Morley said, “Evolution is not a force, but a process; not a cause, but a law”. Cloud Control are implicitly aware of this, as their live sets prove: “As we write new songs we incorporate them into the set and chuck old stuff out. We get a lot of feedback from the audience too, so the songs on the album have evolved over time from being played live. Though the thing with playing as a support act is that you tend to play your more crowd-pleasing stuff, the more rocky stuff, so there’ll be tracks on the album that no-one’s ever heard before.”

Rumours abound that the members of Cloud Control met backstage at a Pirates of Penzance show, but as Alister says: “That’s not true.” Short and to the point is our Alister.

A light was shone on the band by Triple J’s Unearthed program, enhancing their brilliance and bringing them attention on a national level.

“Triple J have been pretty important for us. When

you get airplay on Triple J you start to get taken more seriously by bookers and promoters etc, which obviously means more exposure, so yeah, they’ve been great. We’re actually playing at a Triple J-sponsored stage at the Royal Easter Show.

Who knows what the crowd’s going to be like, but we’ll be there!”

Last year Cloud Control won the Best New Artist prize at the Sydney Music, Arts and Culture Awards. “We didn’t expect to win at all! In fact the night of the awards I almost didn’t want to go, I didn’t think we really had a chance, but yeah, we won… Pretty humbling.”

So, despite the obvious admiration of the greater music world, Alister retains his humility.

Cloud Control’s next posted gig is Come Together @ The Luna Park Big Top, June 6th so be sure to get down there for some sweet mountain sounds – and no pirates.

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15

plants & animals by thomas mitchell. Photo by Caroline desilets.

C

anada gave us Michael Buble but we can forgive and forget. While Buble crooned his way into elderly underwear everywhere, three musicians were actually working on something decent.

Plants and Animals are a three-piece straight outta Montreal. Which is less impressive then Compton, but upon hearing their music geography becomes unimportant.

It’s atmospheric, empty, exciting, but you don’t know why, kind of like Canada itself. As we listen to the album I find myself infected by the chaotic variations and begin to lose my mind, slowly, deliciously. Matt whispers in my ear the secrets to the music he makes.

“The core of the sound on the record is always us three playing music, we just choose to take the production in different directions sometimes.

When we're working in the studio we can go as big as we want and as small as we want. We did both on Parc Avenue.”

Parc Avenue is the debut from Plants and Animals, an epic album, derived from three years of tears, tantrums and probably some jamming too?

“It was jamming and preparation. A bit of both.

I usually have some kind of chord sequence and melody going and then we put it together.

But there is some stuff on Parc Avenue that we stumbled upon during jams. For example the end of Mercy came out of a jam, and Guru was a jam.

But mostly we have solid ideas before we get into the studio” says Matt

monk fly by tynan curry

P

erhaps he is a born multitasker. The talented Chris Hancock is the Monk Fly and also runs the Headroom night at the Brighton Up Bar. On top of that, he has a show on 2SER radio and is the man behind record label The Frequency Lab. He’s been a prominent figure in the underground for quite some time now, producing his first album of five, Signore Baffone, in 2002. His sixth album of glitchy beats is due out in May. It’s been a slow progression for Monk Fly over the last few years. He gives us a new layout and informal tune that is not reflective of the current musical zeitgeist and is thus keeping itself on the low down. Only a few punters know about Headroom and what happens there but the small crowd it draws is all they need. With genre-bending antics, cultural visuals and an electric atmosphere, it’s amazing to be a part of a small scene grooving to its own ethic.

It's exciting to hear about such an underground event taking place.

As the Monk Fly explains, this genre of music

developed a strong following in abandoned warehouses. The councils didn't like the way this free spirit was expressing itself and began to bring out entertainment and club licences to stem the rise of what they saw as illegal gatherings.

Since the involvement of Headroom and the birth of The Frequency Lab, the pressure on acceptance of the scene has lifted. The punters have better access to happenings in the scene and the electro beat sets out, charting a course from the underground world. His abstract, picture-based rhythms map the future and set sail for musical waters unknown.

This is dubstep without so much dub. The beats take a standard path and the glitch provides a foundation for the structure of melody. His Streetisms Vol 1 is due out this May as a digital release and we here at MusicFeeds know you will love it.

Get down to the Civic Underground on the 8th of May to hear him bust out his new work. Also catch Jonny Faith, Know-U, El Gusto (Hermitude), Suburban Dark & Harmonic 313.

music feeds tv coming soon

It is at this point that one of Angelina Jolie’s kids wanders in. They’re fucking everywhere. Or is this just a delusion brought on by the soft music of Parc Acenue? “What does your music sound like mister?” the genetically perfect child asks. Matt doesn’t miss a beat, doing his best to explain.

“We play rock and roll music, like a cross

between the cookie monster and Elvis.” The kid leaves, probably hoping to hop on a plane to the homeland, or perhaps to invade the fantasies of some other poor fool.

Unlike most good things in this world Plants and Animals were created because of money. While commerce may rape nations of their culture, plunge us all into collective debt and poison the human condition, it does give bands the opportunity to do some cool shit.

“P&A came together at first to work on a weird instrumental album I had received funding to create. After that we were a band. Things from there just kinda grew very naturally. It took several years before I started to sing, and then more time for us to start writing songs.”

Wary of sounding a little vague, Matt clears things up.

“Look it’s hard to say what inspired us to take the music in this direction. It simply went there. It’s all about letting things happen.”

I nod, but the last time I just let things happen I ended up with a restraining order. Fortunately the creation of Plants and Animals avoided any nastiness and Parc Avenue was released to critical acclaim.

“The album was recorded over a couple of years.

We were growing and changing the whole time.

I think during that time we started to understand the kind of record we wanted to make. We didn’t know at first but we kinda let ourselves get taken into the flow and a lot of nice stuff came out of it.”

Growing and changing is an awkward time for us all, but Plants and Animals have come out the other end unscathed, with a batch of songs that’ll make you think twice about saying, “Canada?

Yeah right!”

Plants and Animals’ ‘Parc Avenue’ is out now on Pod through Inertia.

F

uji Collective. They're in a bad way. Having been conspicuously absent from Sydney stages recently, we thought they were all set to end their musical exile with a show at The Vanguard on April 30th. Mikey and I went to visit them at the AFRII (Australian Funk Related Insanity Institute) where they are being held for observation. Be warned, the following scenes may shock and disturb some readers.

We are ushered down beige hallways by a man wearing a full-length white smock. Through an open doorway we see afroed men having fits as nurses play violins. I catch Mikey's eye. We keep our eyes on the floor after that. The nurse opens a door and, as we are shown into the padded room, we both gasp in horror. The Fuji Collective line the far wall, connected at the head by what looks like electric shower caps.

They sit with their hands on their knees, their eyes staring straight ahead and wide open as if in a trance. A small wrinkled figure sits in front of them with a pen and paper.

"What... what have you done to them?" Mikey sounds like a child who just found Santa dead in the snow.

"We're trying a new therapy. Group therapy. Their minds are linked together. As they're all so close we thought we'd see if they could help themselves." The nurse looks and sounds a little uncertain. I'm more than a little uncertain.

Pointing at the thing that looks like a cross between a foetus and an old man I ask "Forget the shower caps, what the hell is that thing?" The nurse looks at me for a moment then suddenly hurries out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Mikey takes the initiative. "Uh...

Hi guys?"

"Hello Hey How are ya Hello Hello Hi Yo" is written onto the pad by the gnome. Mikey looks at me. "I don't know man, let’s just ask them the questions and get the hell out of here." Mikey nods. We ignore the fear creeping up our spines and

get straight to it, with Mikey asking how the band has changed in the years since their debut.

"Mainly through evolution, there is no sign of intelligence or design whatsoever. We're all different people than we were at the end of high school, for example I used to be a cat. In our time here we've all been able to develop our personalities on a more individual level and thus have new experiences to bring to the band."

Individual level. Right.

How could this have come to pass?

They certainly make the music crazy, perhaps the music has made them crazy?

At this discordant groans arise from the band. As they're motionless, it's impossible to tell who is making which sound. It's like a fucking zombie symphony. The little man-thing keeps scribbling away.

"Fuuuunk. Music always affects our mental conditions, that’s the point and that’s why we're all here.

Nooo, funk is meant to heal. Bucca bucca bow bowwm." Fucking weird.

“We fell to the power of funk when we began trying to play funk. We don’t play funk, it just flours our cakes and fertilises our garden.

Feeeel good like I knew that I woooould.”

This is creepy. We have to lean over to read the text on the page as it is being written and the gnome thing smells vaguely of nutmeg.

The guys are still totally motionless.

Drool is slipping out the side of Ty’s mouth. We hear an inhuman scream from the corridor outside.

Something scratches at the door.

Shambling footsteps wander out of hearing. Mikey finally asks them directly, what caused them to be institutionalised like this?

“It was wholly down to the power of our music. We started playing on the street near a pub with outdoor seating. People grabbed pub barriers to BLOCK OFF THE STREET so they could dance uninterrupted by traffic. In the end when the cops rocked up to shut it down there were perhaps 100 funksters groovin out. We woke up here, in happy place of friends.”

Given that they currently look like extras out of an overproduced Romero remake, can they possibly be ready for the Vanguard gig on the 30th?

“So ready! This has been our longest break in our 5 years of playing together! There’s a lot of energy ready to go out into the universe. We've all had time to improve individually as musicians and, luckily, with our history of performing we know our stuff, so put those together and it is going to be better than ever!“ Mikey and I have definitely had enough. We turn to go, but Mikey turns back. As I try to drag him out the door he asks them if they think the funk is dangerous. Look at them, I think, of course it is!

Suddenly their mouths open and out comes a dry laugh lacking all

humour: synchronised, machinelike. “Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha.” The little gnome emits a highpitched keening noise and begins writing furiously.

“It’s dangerous to just take the funk into your bunk and think you can get something happening without knowing what’s going on with that energy. Its dangerous cos you can fast end up unfunky, and when you've got something unfunky being called funky you've got a case of de-evolution on your hands. ” “It’s a music that comes out of an uprising against oppression and that is relevant to all of us, white or black, because we've a got a massculture blandness being rammed down the throat of our generation and all we've gotta do is turn our back and assert our own thing righteously. Funk is just one of many paths to this end.”

They have their third album in the works, though Lucifer knows when they have time to work on it. You can sometimes catch them on day release from the Institute, jamming the streets of Newtown into a funk frenzy, but if youre unlucky enough to have missed them they'll be infecting your cerebellum with funk-laden bacteria at The Vanguard on April 30th.

16

armen firman

I

by ruby dubrowski

t's a brisk night in Melbourne. A visceral shock after a year in Sydney. But tonight, tonight I am home for a brief sojourn and wearing a scarf for the first time since 2007.

I am not the only one feeling the cold. Striding to the beer garden table, two glasses of vodka and orange juice in hand, looking far warmer than I, behatted in a beanie bedecked with flaps is my pseudo-date, Armen Firman frontman Tom Whitty.

"They didn't have banana milkshakes," he says setting the drinks on the table, "But this does have fruit in it."

All I can think as I take my first sip is, "Well there goes my objectivity." Shocked at how it got bought so cheaply.

"Aside from tonight, have you had any rock star moments?"

"Not really...Once I was trying on some jeans at a shop when our music came on. I think someone working there just bought our EP and was sharing it with the customers, which was nice. It freaked me out a bit, because I assumed they must have known I was in their shop. I wasn't sure who was responsible so I put my trousers back on and left.

Does that count?"

"You were just looking for an excuse to give me a mental picture of you with your pants off weren't you?"

"Maybe."

"What about highlights involving you keeping your clothes on?"

kandy apples T by kate dunlop

he Kandy Apples we see before us have been a work in progress for the last three years. With half a new line up, 2009 is the year for them to unleash themselves on the wider music scene.

The challenge is not yet over for the new members who “still have a few initiations to go, but have both done well in the early rounds and still have a shred of dignity.”

The shiny new Kandy Apples line up is made up of Meaghan Blake (vocals and guitar), Casey Casey (bass and vocals), and newbies Steve Farrell (lead guitar) and Laura Nolan (keyboard and backing vocals).

Meaghan is optimistic about where the band is at these days, with the new members strengthening the band’s already more than capable music, especially in the live shows.

“Steve’s textured guitar playing adds a whole new dimension and sense of melody while Laura’s backing vocals and keyboard playing allows the band more possibilities when writing songs,” she gushes. “Plus she bangs that tambourine like a Beatle.”

When asked about the state of the Sydney music scene now compared to 2006, Meaghan feels that it’s much bigger, but this perception could well be an illusion due to the fact that the Kandy Apples are so much more involved now than they have ever been.

When Meaghan first started several years ago, she admits, “I first arrived with absolutely no clue about gigging (or even playing for that matter!)

I just knew I wanted to get out there and form a band, but I had no idea how!” This just goes to show that anyone with the passion and drive for music can make things happen.

They have had ordeals with sleazy promoters and cheating bookers.

One agent in particular will now be able to put their kids through college thanks to taking advantage of the band! But, despite the obstacles, the band has had success with competitions such as ‘Uncharted’ and late last year was pegged as FBI Radio’s Unsigned Artist of the Week. The guys are gradually emerging from the throng and starting to stand out from the crowd.

Their style has been described as “almost like a meeting point between the work of PJ Harvey and early-era Courtney Love – it’s one part riot grrrl, one part soul/blues”. However, when asked to describe their style in non-musical terms, Meaghan gives us the analogy of “an orgy on a roller coaster” - you gotta admit, that does sound like fun!

So what’s the Kandy Apples’ song writing process? A ritualistic-sounding scenario seems to get their juices flowing – “It starts with a Ouija board, a bottle of absinthe, a few cubes of sugar, then the song writing flames start to billow.”

As for inspiration, Meaghan and the rest of the band all reside in the inner west and love the cross section of interesting people (and the fact that they can get a free feed from the Hare Krishnas in Newtown on a Wednesday night) – so their colourful local community provides “ample fodder for the Kandy Apples’ song writing cannon”.

It is an exciting time for the Kandy Apples as their debut EP is almost complete. It is produced

by Ian Pritchett and Gene Mitchell of Noisegate Studios, a studio that has produced critically acclaimed albums for both The Beautiful Girls and Angus and Julia Stone.

So if you want the true experience of an orgy on a roller coaster, check out one of their many upcoming shows around Sydney – hit www. myspace.com/thekandyapples for details.

"It's just been cool playing music with my best friends for the last five years. Aside from that, it was cool supporting Jebediah last year. My friends and I used to get drunk listening to their music when we were 15, so it was cool to meet them. It was even cooler to discover they were such lovely people. Kevin Mitchell let me borrow his distortion pedal when mine broke which was cool of him."

"I am suitably impressed on both counts. So back to you – Melbourne band, coming to Sydney – what are you guys going to do to knock the audience's socks off?"

This time around it is all about the product. We're promoting our debut EP, Your Name In My Skin which is out through Creative Vibes. We are desperate to play outside of Melbourne. As great as it is to have Melbourne as our base, you can only play to the same people so many times, you know?

"Sydney people are just so into their indie music and such a warm fresh audience for us, so we really dig playing up there. Plus we dig being able to go to the beach the next day! As for what Sydney can expect from our show... I don't know. We don't plan our shows too much. We just get up and work with what we've got to put on what we consider a cool gig."

"How do you guys prepare in order to ensure cool gigness is achieved?"

"It's funny, everyone prepares differently.

Personally I find it tough to eat too close to our set time, so I try to eat early and then have a few drinks and talk shit with anyone nice enough to have come seen us. The other guys are big fans of listening to music before a gig. Just before we go on, we try to spend some time together to get a positive vibe going, just so, you know, we enjoy the gig together and remember why we play music.

For us, it's about having fun with your best friends while sharing music that you've put your heart and soul into, with complete strangers."

"Alright, so what if say, for example, I saw you back in 2007, why would I bother going again?"

"Fuck, that's a bit harsh isn't it, I thought this interview was supposed to convince people to come see us?"

"I am playing devil's advocate, giving you a chance to spruik. Answer the question," "Our sound has evolved a lot in the last 12 months.

It's definitely 'matured', I guess." He pensively stirs the ice in his glass, "That is a horrible word to use, but you know what I mean. We've become better songwriters and arrangers and I think now we are just starting to see the results of learning to write music after 10 years of practice, you know?

Hopefully you'll see five guys playing music that melts your heart and blows your brain, without actually killing you."

"That wasn't that hard was it?"

"Well, we've played in Sydney a few times before.

The last time was part of Bertie Blackman's tour for her last album, which was in 2007. We didn't have any of our own music out then, so we were just playing shows and making friends really.

"No," he says with a smile creeping over his gritted teeth, "But that's your last vodka."

Armen Firman play Club 77 Friday, May 1st.

SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS THE GAELIC CLUB THURSDAY 23RD APRIL PHOTOS BY DONNY SEMKEN REVIEW BY MIKEY CARR.

To be honest for a moment, I really have no idea who School Of Seven Bells are, I was dragged to this gig against my will, but sweet lubed-up Jesus am I glad I came.

Arriving at 8:30pm to see Sherlock’s Daughter, the reason we had come, my friends and I were confronted with a $40 cover charge. After a few hushed conversations with a tour manager who my friend’s girlfriend’s sister had slept with, we were in for free, at this point only intending to stick around to see Sherlock’s Daughter.

As usual Sherlock’s Daughter delivered a per formance so good you could dress it in drag and have your way with it. The enchanting presence that is lead singer and multi instrumentalist Tanya Horo had the audience under her sensual spell as soon as the first lyrics came flowing for th from her golden vocal chords. It’s dif ficult to describe their sound without falling back on the crutch of ‘ambient pop’ but if you could imagine the sor t of music you’d hear in an Icelandic day care center for music prodigies, you’re halfway there.

What really sets this band apar t is the way each member uses minimalism to construct something greater than the sum of its par ts. Drummer Will Russell delivers quirky drum lines that occasionally end in controlled explosions of vir tuosity while guitarist Graeme,

keyboard and synth wizard Jonti Animal and bassist Liam Flanagan make brilliant use of ef fects, wading through the shiny swamps of reverb and delay to unear th weighty sonic gems.

The next band was Firekites, and I was quite impressed. Their songs are a pleasant mixture of folk, pop and gypsy music, all covered in a healthy coat of post-rock as they distor t and delay their acoustic guitars.

However, despite having a bunch of good songs, their set was a little repetitive and we left to go outside for a ciggy.

Re-entering just as the sonic onslaught of School Of Seven Bells was about to begin, it only dawned on us then that we were in for something special as The Gaelic was packed to bursting, and getting a good spot was surprisingly dif ficult. With only two guitarists and a synth player onstage SOSB opened up their set dousing the tiny venue in their shoegazing glor y.

They sound like the music you hear when you’re having a really weird dream. The conventional sound of Ben Cur tis’s guitar is bent and distor ted into something altogether wonder ful and the vocals float over all the exquisite racket the way the sound of your clock radio going of f does when your body just won’t wake up.

Twin sisters Alejandra and Claudia Dehaza (vocals, synth, guitar, I’m not sure who plays what) work together like, well, twins. I can’t remember being this impressed by a band I knew nothing about in a long time.

Find their music and get it.

18

19

QUAN By mikey carr

“H

ong Kong is lovely, it's the easiest place I've ever lived in my life, ever ything is so easy here, I don't know why, it’s really strange.”

Sitting in a street side noodle bar with Quan Yeomans, as the thriving hordes of Hong Kong residents stream past us, this statement comes as quite a surprise. However, having moved to Hong Kong a few years back, Quan does seem quite at home, in spite of how over whelming I find the city.

“Have you been dr unk the whole time or something?” he asks me midway through my second beer.

“Ease up on the drinking, things will make a lot more sense.”

Having formed Regurgitator in Brisbane in the early 90s Quan has been a prolific member of the Australian music scene since The Gurge first released Tu Plang back in 96. With six Regurgitator albums under his belt, as well as working with side projects such as Blox with Spod and Happyland with his former par tner Janet English of Spiderbait, you might expect Quan to have taken a break now that he’s living overseas.

You’d be wrong.

He has instead chosen to under take the often dif ficult task of star ting a solo project, releasing his debut The Amateur late last year. Writing under the name Quan (no points for originality), the new project sees him tackle electronica and hip hop, while still keeping that kinetic energy synonymous with Regurgitator, as well as Quan’s trademark postmodern lyricism and sceptical cynicism.

“Its all computer recorded, there’s no live dr ums, it’s all programmed.

There’s no loop samples or anything, its all intricate programming and it’s bit laboured cos I spent so much time working on it. It’s ver y lyrically based which I only realised when we played the first show at the Big Day Out. I realised how much the audience has to deal with my lyrical bombardment.”

Regurgitator have long held a reputation as an explosive live act, and Quan hasn’t calmed down when it comes to per formance.

However, having to climb a quivering mountain of ner vous energy, excitement and anxiety ever y night before a show isn’t child’s play, so to make things easier Quan has developed a few pre-show techniques to rouse the blood. “I usually get my dr ummer to slap me a few times before I go on, and we have waterfights as well, which helps.”

If you’ve ever seen Quan on-stage it will come as no surprise that he would need a bit of a Texas kiss before bouncing out before an audience like a man possessed. In terms of writing though, Quan needs no slap and tickle to get his creative juices flowing, if anything he needs help stopping.

“I have a lot of time on my hands and I tend to use it to express myself, whatever I'm thinking. I spend a lot of time alone, a lot of time in front of the computer working on my own making music I like, it must because of some compulsive behaviour trait that I have, and I think that’s really reflected in the type of music that I make. It’s probably not ver y good for me. At one point in my life I'd like to give up computers, I'd like to take at least 5 or 6 years of f looking at screens. It's an addiction, it's cer tainly an addiction.” Well at least he’s not smoking crack.

The conversation shifts to touring and we begin discussing what it was like to play in mainland China.

“We were told that there would be people in the crowd watching and monitoring us but we never had any issues at all. These people are more concerned with what is said about the government, not about sex or dr ugs or rock and roll. They are concerned if you have an opinion on the way they r un their countr y.

“I think a lot of people assume that China doesn’t have much of a music scene but cities like Beijing in particular have a long histor y of punk music, and there's a band scene there that's quite thriving. Hong Kong on the other hand has one of the most naïve scenes in the world. It’s a city that’s so financially oriented that it has no need for a subculture. There’s an indie kid crowd but they don't really have any understanding of music or culture in general and it’s a really strange place because it’s quite a sophisticated city in many other ways.”

We’ve finished our food by this point and Quan tells me he has to head home. Frightened, confused and still wanting to ask a few questions I beg him to help me find the right bus to get back to my hotel, and seeing the look of dismay and animal fear in my eyes he graciously agrees to guide me to the bus stop.

As I follow him through the bustling crowd I ask him about the possibility of a new Regurgitator album, and I check my wallet for the fifth time since leaving the noodle house.

“I think we can definitely expect another album, but when, I have no idea. Ben (Ely, bass) needs to take some time of f and find himself again because he's been having a bit of a hectic year. I think he’s going to do some travelling and I won't see him ver y much this year at all but I think we'll be getting back together towards the end of the year and talk about what we're going to do at the beginning of 2010.”

We arrive at the bus stop, Quan looks a little per turbed for the first time, more than likely due to how completely useless I am. He goes to leave and throwing good taste and cour tesy aside I decide to fire of f one last question. I ask if he is considering moving back to Australia anytime soon, and turning around with a look of resigned annoyance on his face he answers me: “I was actually thinking about moving back there in March this year,” he says a hint of venom in his voice. “I went back, but when I came back here, I was so much happier.

I'm addicted to this city, the vibe is completely dif ferent here in Asia and something about the architecture here just gives me satisfaction about living in the city, I don't know what it is, it's really strange, but I won’t be moving soon.”

Hell, with arsehole Aussies like me bugging him on ever y corner of his homeland you can understand why.

Be sure to catch Quan when he plays with Ratatat at The Manning Bar on the 8th of May or when he plays the Come Together Festival in June.

The Amateur is out now on Valve Recordings through MGM.

High & Dry Fundraiser PHOTOS BY STEWART RIMES. WORDS BY STEWART RIMES & IONA UZELL

T

his week we had a word with Chris from Repressed records, a record store that supports independent music in a big way. It can be hard keeping your financial head above deep debt water in times like this, when the only people still buying records en masse tend to be mindless pre-teens shilling out for Pink's latest re-issue, but Chris is sticking to his indie guns.

“I'd have thought the top 40 fans would be the ones downloading the one song they like and the serious dudes would be after the albums. Either way, yep, it's a bit of a grind sometimes, but I reckon we have a good shop that's relevant and has something to offer. As long as my son's getting fed and I can pay the mortgage, I'm happy to keep going. I'm not stupid enough to think the Angry Samoans on vinyl is going to make me rich, but I'd rather struggle a bit and stock that than be forced to stock Pink.”

The music industry has been slow to adapt to the changes wrought by the internet.

CD sales are down and besides efforts to monetise individual tracks through online vendors, the only response from the industry has been the RIAA suing grandmothers for having unsecured wireless networks. One wonders what the industry could do to keep the physical product financially viable.

“I'd like to see cheaper CDs and vinyl, or at least more imaginative packaging to give people value for money. How much longer can you sell a piece of plastic and a disc for $30? If distros would sell to indie retailers at the same price they sell to chains we might use them more. The mark-ups on new CDs and vinyl are woeful too.. You need good turnover which makes it hard to sell weirder stuff. “ Last weekend The Straight Arrows played in the store, bringing a nice crowd and a good deal of exposure for the indie group.

“I think we're well placed to put on shows and promote them well and do the right thing by the bands and the venues. This was our first show though but it's something we're excited about.

“Loads of indie bands and labels are out there in Sydney giving up their time and money to ensure we're not drowning in money-hungry swine, putting on interesting shows and releasing interesting music.

Bands like Naked On The Vague, Summonus, Deathcage; and labels Dualplover, RIP Society and Grindhead come to mind instantly. “ Despite the tempting call from major labels, there is definitely a thriving indie scene still out there, and Repressed Records do their damndest to delve deep into that diversity.

“Recently, I've liked King Khan and BBQ Show, Electric Wizard, Fucked Up and Bill Callaghan. Eddy Current Suppression Ring from Melbourne and Extortion from Perth are world class too. Some of my favourite local bands are The Bed Wettin Bad Boys, Holy Soul, Straight Arrows, Royal Headache, Deathcage, Repo Man, Taipan and Circle Pit.” A plethora of acts, all out and about, playing to fans and newcomers alike. This is what music is all about, isn't it? We've moved on from chants around the primitive campfire, but we can still sit around the global music flames, warming our hands to original tunes.

It's just a pity that talentless trailer trash makes it so big, but then mediocrity always seems gain you the largest slice of the pie.

“I sometimes feel sorry for someone like Britney Spears, but then I think 'you've got nothing to say and get paid loads of money to trivialise what music is about,' so drug addiction and lunacy are a small price to pay.

I wish Zac Effron was a singer, cos I hate him too. I really don't understand why people buy music over and over again that they will get over in a month.

“Given the power of omnipotence I would make Celine Dion stand front row at an Extortion gig until she cries. Punk bands would stay under 23 years old forever.

Richard Pryor and Bill Hicks would come back to life to do a stand-up double header in Repressed Records and my son would be playing soccer for either Liverpool or Barcelona and the Socceroos, or would be Australia's first world class rapper. “ Repressed Records are essentially performing a community service. Music is like that, it's our culture and we deserve access to it. RR provide that access while mainstream stores capitalise on the big names with big egos.

“We do more punk, experimental, metal, alternative. Whatever ain't boring and gets people excited. It's not for part timers. It's for lifers in any genre. We're totally DIY and have a huge range of interesting stuff, without a financial backer. We made our own racks, painted our own walls, do our own accounts. The guys that work here love music more than anything. Nic is in 3 bands and has his own label. Ravi lost loads of money doing his own distro for a band that no one has ever heard of and will never hear of. We have bands in-store, put on shows and stock stuff you can't find anywhere else. We think music can change your world and want to share that with people.”

Repressed Records. Harnessing the power of music to change the world for the better. You can find them at 356 King St, Newtown or at www.repressedrecords.com

Back at the end of 2007 there was a group of work weary go getters that, repulsed by the over commercialism of New Years Eve in the cities, decided to venture forth into the relaxing path of natures own Glen Worth Valley – But alas with the season of fest, so came the rains…

(Queue the thunder) With no time to make alternative plans, that group was left high and dry…

Then from out of the muddy plains came a group above all groups – a co-operative that rose to the challenge and produced an alternative venue, a festival, a legend…

That co-operative was Figureight and Rejenr8. That location was the beautiful Camp Wollomi and that legend was the High & Dry Festival. After pulling together such a celebration in less than two weeks, friends, family and fans alike were eager to experience what delectable delights the independent events crew could produce given several weeks. On Thursday the 9th of April this punter was lucky enough to witness just such an event.

H&D

Bring on the High & Dry Launch Night 2009 – Half fundraiser, half teaser and a whole lotta fun. Set in the darkened underground lair of the Oxford Arts Factory we seemed a world away from the industrial, gritty backdrop that has previously been synonymous with events put on by the Figureight clan. Yet, even though the fluoro ridden seediness of our surrounds threatened to put a strangle hold on the evening, once down the wide staircase my posse and I were immediately engulfed by the sheer impressiveness of what lay in front of us.

We arrived just in time to catch Brackets kicking off in the main room. Playing to an arriving audience is never fun, but a few songs into the set Brackets managed to use their on stage presence and obvious band dynamic to draw in quite an assembly of listeners and create an intimate feel in an initially dispersed and sparse crowd.

The multi-sensual experience was then introduced as the crowd was entertained by performance troupe B-erth. Spectators were presented with larger than life insect like creatures, lab technicians, glass cages and incredibly long and complicated calculations were also thrown into the mix. In a clever move to ensure audience interaction and awesomeness maximisation, the beings of the live art presentation eventually escaped and were joined by others to rove around the venue for the rest of the evening.

Next up was Unkle Ho from Elefant Traks who gave an absolutely rockin’ performance filled with great samples and fun beats, accompanied by trumpet, theremin and an assortment of other equally obtuse instruments. Amazingly this crowd favourite brushed off the praise as only just excusable due to jet lag. If those fantastic beats were a reaction to sleep deprivation, I say wash down a handful of No Doze with Red Bull and keep it coming.

Wandering between rooms, we were intrigued by James Nichols & The Dub Table Tactile Experiment. This amazing feat of engineering and imagination lets the operator control prerecorded Dub loops by placing, sliding and rotating handheld controllers across the table surface. With people swarming the table it was hard to get a good grasp on the ingenious contraption, however, even more fascinating was watching the captivation and amazement on other people’s faces as they interacted with the device and created their own music. If you are ever lucky enough to be in the same place at the same time as this table of dubly goodness I strongly suggest you have a fiddle.

Tearing ourselves away from the Dub Table we caught The Phonies. These guys started out strong and only got better. Their sound, a fusion of Hip-hip, Dub and Jazz was delivered to perfection by the band and engaging front man Joel Rappaport. The Phonies have really developed a big following over the last few years and it is easy to see why. They have an amazing energy on stage with a tonguein-cheek attitude that the kids go crazy for.

The last band of the night was Juke Baritone and the Swamp Dogs. These guys ROCK, in a surprisingly difficult way to describe! Perhaps their sound could be likened to a strange aural concoction of a gypsy influenced Tom Waits doing cabaret from a swamp location? Maybe, but not exactly, either way we’re definitely getting warm.

Throughout the evening there was definitely an unspoken warmth and sense of community – a great mixture of people all enjoying a brilliantly put together night filled with solid performances. This is a testament to the focus of the organisers and indeed a reflection of their very dogma. Bring on High & Dry V.2 I say, we are certainly intrigued.

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madder lake by jesse hayward

M

adder Lake is a band from the past, hurtling through the present to the uncertain future, like something out of a psychedelic lost world. Don't mistake them for dinosaurs however, this band has always looked to the future.

Hopefully we will soon see the release of Brave New World, a concept album based on Huxley's book, lost in the eddies of time and currently being searched for in the dark jungles of someone's music archive.

“At the start of the youth generation from, I suppose, 1963-4 onwards, fashions reflected the change in attitude as did the music. In Australia the thought of original music was far from most musicians minds, it was more a case of replicating the music that was imported into the country."

The Lost World of music is a dark, forbidding place, not suitable for the naïve.

“My eyes were opened wide when I began at Art School in 1968. It was there that I met the members of San Sebastian which evolved into Madder Lake. What a time we had!

Imagination central, I still regard it as one of the most influential periods of my life which has determined my creative direction to this day.”

Fighting off velociraptors can be hard work.

Surely some chemical stimulation was required to survive.

“We have been writing and recording for a long while and it shows. We know that what we do is special, unfortunately for the fans we do not play live as much as we would like but when we do the magic is still there minus the drugs. We are creative people and the music comes naturally, stimulants may have assisted in the past but now we like to know what we are doing and where we are!”

The music industry is definitely a lumbering dinosaur and, like the brontosaurus, has become virtually extinct (MusicFeeds believe in Nessie) and evolved into smaller, more versatile lifeforms.

“The nature of the industry now appears to rely on strong individual efforts through small circles that grow. In the sense that massive success is reliant on public acceptance through various forms of media, nothing has altered. It is the media that has changed the most.”

by jesse hayward

The flitting butterflies of pop have been around since antedeluvial times. Pretty, flimsy things with short life spans.

“We are not so much into pop music today, as we weren’t into it all those years ago. I suppose that has helped with the longevity of the band. The sum total is that good music is good music, be it any of the myriad forms that exist today. We have lived through so many changes that when we hear something outstanding we share it. With the advent of the current technology the transfer of tunes is so much easier.”

The Wheel of Time is ever turning and now the time has come for Madder Lake to take the next steps on their long road towards the light.

“At present we are writing new material and working through unreleased material for a third album. It is a slow process. Already we are seeing results. We headlined at the Queenscliff Festival last November and did a couple of new songs that went down a treat. We have shows coming up in Victoria over the coming months and a large tour at the end of the year. Hopefully the album will be completed soon and the wheel will keep on turning.”

'Stillpoint' and 'Buttterfly and Farm' have been rereleased on Aztec music with many more sounds, old and new, to follow.

I the mischief

W

by thomas mitchell

hen I meet Lachie from The Mischief for a mid morning snack I get quite a shock. His onstage personality is like a bearded freight train, coming at you nonstop with violent thrusts and soaring solos, but tucking into his muesli and sipping on his soy decaf latte w/ two brown sugars, he looks far more peaceful.

We’re on a tight schedule; so there is no awkward small talk or unnecessary pleasantries. I want to know how The Mischief came to be, and I want to know now.

“Matt and James were friends with my sister. I was playing in a high school band writing a lot of songs, and James the other writer in the band, came up one day to my bedroom, picked up the guitar and started playing Green Day songs.”

I’m aghast that Billy Joe provided the inspiration, but I choose not to pursue the conversation. Between sweet sips of soy, Lachie continues, “Then we all started writing songs together at his house on Crown St. The first song we wrote together was Gentlemen, and after that I thought we might be on to something.”

They were onto something alright, the Darlinghurst Boiz, a geographical reference, not a gang name, packed away for nine months, then shocked the world at their first gig. Well, not the world, but over 200 people.

“We wanted to make the first gig tight and really big. We ended up landing Spectrum on a Wednesday night, and we set a record, there were over 200 people there.”

That was the first legendary show in The Mischief’s short history, but it wasn’t the last. The band has played over eighty shows, and in that precious swag of memories there are a few that shine like diamonds.

“World Bar on Halloween, everyone was pissed, we were packed into the corner. Musically we’ve never done a worse show. I broke the bass, you couldn’t hear the vocals, Matt kicked a beer glass into the crowd, but people loved it.”

No argument here, I was in attendance and I know it must’ve been awesome because I can barely remember anything from the night, except a suspicious tattoo that reads ‘Forever Yours, Geoff.’

Anyway, next best gig?

The band already had quite the reputation around Sydney town, but it wasn’t until a last minute entry into MTV Kickstart that The Mischief started to appear on everyone’s lips. Mr. McQueen was moonlighting as a pizza deliveryman when he heard the splendid news.

“Matt called me to tell me we’d been selected in a band comp. I was like ‘oh great another comp,’ but when he said it was MTV, it was sweet. We’d been chosen out of 1000 bands nationally, to play in a state final at Oxford Arts” says Lachie, smiling proudly. I take it from his childish grin that it was quite a good night?

“Each band got to play two songs, we came on third and rocked out. Ruby Rose was emceeing and when she announced we’d won, I actually fell over, just amazed.

Next half hour was just pure unadulterated joy. It was getting validation from an industry that is all to keen to kick you down.”

The victory at Oxford Arts meant The Mischief were headed to the final where they got some free shit.

“We got free water, which impressed us. But seriously, weirdest day of my life, it was like the door to the big time opened up a crack and we got to peak inside.”

Lachie tells me the band was required to “turn it on straight away.” One song, one chance to impress, and despite a rollicking performance The Mischief left MTV Kickstart without the winners medal, AKA money and recording gear.

Despite the loss, Mr. McQueen insists the competition did wonders for the band’s profile, and he isn’t wrong.

We here at MusicFeeds gave the band a great CD review.

“Mate it was a big boost. Supported Rocket Science at the Annandale, we did our own headline shows, supported Little Red at Manning, played with Cloud Control, went on national TV, it kicked us along.”

The waitress arrives and asks Lachie if she can get him anything.

“A record deal, booking agent and manager, Thanks” he quips. We both laugh and she leaves probably thinking we’re wankers. Lachie admits that not having those things is holding the band back from making a follow up to the Sixpenny Scrapbook EP.

“Next up would be Peats Ridge. It was awesome, best four days of my life. We played at 11:15 in the morning, which worried us because we thought everyone would be asleep. But it was so fucking hot you just couldn’t stay in the tent. So people were awake.”

“Yeah we’re at a bit of a crossroads. Despite the success of last year we still haven’t cracked through to the next level. We’d love to do an album, but it comes down to money.”

Climate change does something good for once and as people peeled themselves out of their tents, The Mischief rocked out to an appreciative, albeit sitting down, crowd.

I hope the band can fulfill all their hopes and dreams!

Because despite his shit taste in coffee and the bit of muesli stuck to his chin, Lachie hails from one of the most exciting bands around, and don’t we all love that?

“We were on the third biggest stage, it was covered so it wasn’t too hot, people kinda sought refuge from the heat there. Everyone was sitting down which changed the vibe, the tent was nearly full.”

Check out www.myspace.com/themischiefmusic The Mischief play Thai Fishermans Pants on April 30th at The Burdekin.

n the MusicFeeds offices Mark Pritchard is known as Fingerpie – the man with his hands in a thousand pies. It would be impossible to list his many releases, or even the labels on which they were released. So prolific is this man that talking to him about his own music is a bewildering exercise: names of labels and albums and singles are thrown about with the abandon of a child in a pit full of lollies.

Mark’s last release was When Machines Exceed Human Intelligence, an album with an old school, arcade feel. The sound harks back to the early days of Detroit techno, using minimally engineered sounds on basic loops which contribute an overall analog vibe. The sound could be from almost any era of electronic music.

“I’ve been working on a lot of stuff over the last three to four years. Getting a lot of stuff done but not completely done. I have periods where I’m focused on finishing things, so things tend to come out whenever they do. It’s all starting to surface now with a steady stream of music. We’ve got a really jampacked year ahead of us.”

Though Mark is a busy beaver he lacks the architectural focus to put the pieces of the dam up in order. “I don’t think about just one thing when I’m working. What comes out, comes out, I never try to force anything. You know, I could think “maybe I should do another single” or “maybe I should do some new material” but I find things just happen randomly. You go and do what you want to do, within reason, and things tend to happen naturally. When I’m writing I try to make what I want to make and not think about when and where and what for.”

Mark’s next release will be Africa Hi-Tech, a collaborative project with Steve Spaceks. Mark says the sound will have elements of grime and dancehall, probably sounding more textured than his previous release. “We started writing a certain sound which is very different to what we’ve done before, hopefully moving things forward quite a bit. We’ve been getting good reactions from crowds so we’re happy with it. The single is coming out on Hyperdub, the album should be out on the 12th" Since dubstep entered the greater dance public’s mind circa 2005-2007 there have been many interesting innovations and many more uninteresting imitations. At times it seems as if the genre may be going the way of punk and house – that is, mainstream and boring.

“The scene has solidified a bit, it’s definitely in danger of having that problem. The press really got onto it and it started getting much more hype and when that happens people start getting into

it for the wrong reasons. People hear DJs playing dubstep then start making stuff that sounds like what they hear, whereas the producers who made that music originally would have been into a variety of stuff. So originals evolve but often new players will imitate. When you’re making music that sounds like another person’s music sometimes it’s ok but usually it’s not.

“Also when the sound blew up DJs started playing at larger venues and they’d start to feel they have to play the more pop, mainstream, more obvious stuff. When that starts happening it becomes about the big tunes and not about forward movement.

DJs want to smash the dancefloor you know, and people hear that and think that’s what the scene’s all about when it’s probably a bit more subtle than that.

DJs. They're all just dizzy from staring at the decks. “Luckily there’s a lot of people who aren’t like that and who are sticking to their guns, making innovative and interesting stuff. Inevitably the scene is going to go mainstream and standard but even then there should be innovators around.

You’ll just have to look harder to find them.

“Nights like FWD>> (Soho, London) have been in the scene for a long time. It was on Friday night but they moved it to Sunday to get rid of people.

Too many people were coming and it was turning into a huge night. The real crowd wanted actual dubstep not just a big party night so they moved it to Sunday and lost money, but they did it for the longevity of the scene, for dubstep itself, not just for the money and the dancefloor smash.

“There are people who are trying to push it forward, that’s why when the hype dies off and people get bored of it the music will stick around.

I like banging dubstep but you have to ration it or it loses the impact. Move the set around with different vibes you know. One smash after the other makes the crowd go wild but it’s a bit cheap.

You play too much of that and it gets boring. Some DJs want that, to look good and rock the crowd but it’s not about that, it’s about the music.”

Mark talks the talk, but does he walk the walk?

Yes. He's still laying down the tracks on which we step, and providing a showcase for our local talent: CDR. "CDR is definitely still happening, we should be back on course in a few months or so.

We should have some great local tunes coming your way: the guys from Elephant Traks should be coming in and the DNBBQ crew will be supplying the BBQ." A good night will be had by all.

CDR should be returning to our club schedule in the next few months with guest DJs too secret to be announced here. We’ll keep you posted.

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Streetlight By thomas mitchell

A

lot of bands form in high school, wide eyed with enthusiasm, only to break up later when the members realize they’re talentless, unattractive and boring. This was not the case for Streetlight.

The Perth boys rose from the ashes of a few different high school bands, like a wonderful musical phoenix, to flame ever further into the sky.

Ben the Bassist talked me through the predicament.

“The drummer and I went to high school together, we’ve been playing together since we were 13. After high school we formed a band and started

playing locally, then we met the singer who was in another band, their band broke up and our band broke up, then we just got together.”

After facing pressure in the industr y to be slim, Streetlight cut their numbers from six to four, making songwriting and fitting on stages easy. Looking svelte as a foursome, the band then focused on their debut album, Wolf Notes.

They began rehearsing and jamming in a room under neath a guitar shop, it was here that the majority of Wolf Notes was written. Recently the band have taken on a more exciting headquar ters.

“We’ve started renting out an old house to play in, it’s actually next to a strip club which is interesting.”

Ben says this as if it is a coincidence but I have my doubts. While the band has probably spent a lot of time introducing themselves to their new

neighbors, they’ve also been doing some writing and recording.

“The last two or three weeks have been pretty intense, been working on some new home recordings, tr ying to get a demo out there, recording and mixing stuff has been taking up time.”

“WE’VE STARTED RENTING OUT AN OLD HOUSE TO PLAY IN, IT’S ACTUALLY NEXT TO A STRIP CLUB WHICH IS INTERESTING.”

Like any band with new songs Ben is apprehensive about the reaction they’ll get. Streetlight will be touring soon and the band will be unveiling the songs, hopefully to thunderous applause.

they are loved. The small music scene in Per th has been the per fect cocoon for Streetlight, but Ben admits it is time to spread their wings and become a beautiful butter fly.

The band is jetting into Sydney and playing the best of venues: Oxford Arts, Seventy Seven and World Bar. I can almost hear the thousands of teenagers sigh collectively, imagining the weekends ahead.

“We haven’t played most of those songs live yet. So this tour will be testing these out. It’s quite a bit dif ferent from Wolf Notes, but we’ll have to see how people react. But when you’re expecting a cer tain reaction to a song and you don’t get it, you begin to question the song.”

“It’s a suppor tive scene but it isn’t a ver y big scene. You hit a cer tain point and then you’re forced to go elsewhere. The oppor tunities and the industr y are mostly over East.

It’s good to go and explore, your goal can’t be to play in Per th your whole life.”

Ben tells me their live show is always their main focus, so be prepared!

I agree, nothing like a crowd of haters to bring down one’s self esteem. But the band can always return to hometown Per th, where

I‘m shocked. Surely Ben is of fending the tens of music fans in Per th. He doesn’t seem concerned so we move on.

“We’ve always been a pretty fullon live band, we believe in the live aspect as being the most impor tant par t.”

Hitting the East coast means Streetlight raise their exposure, and out of the woodwork come the dreaded agents, managers and label reps. They’re all smooth suits and

glowing teeth but for tunately Ben is less pessimistic then me.

“There are always bites and interest but you need to take all that with a grain of salt. We haven’t had management for a while, and we’ve had bites for that too but you develop a thick skin, and nothing is set in concrete till you put pen to paper.

We’d love to find a label, be it major or independent, as long as we’re allowed to do what we do.”

Amen to that!

Catch Streetlight at Oxofrd Arts on 29th April, 77 on 30th April and World Bar on 1st May.

The Abercrombie HOTEL’s

Thursday

Block party Cnr of Broadway and Abercrombie St

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THis week featuring djs m.i.t. and ben lucid

EASY STAR ALL STARS MANNING BAR, SYDNEY UNI THURSDAY 16TH APRIL PHOTOS AND REVIEW BY ANTHONY HESS. It’s a Thursday night at Sydney Uni. The Manning Bar is quickly filling up for a night of reggae/dub filled covers. Namely, we are all here to see Easy Star All Stars.

They're in Australia to support the release of their latest album, Easy Star’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band.

The crowd is buzzing with excitement and the show is nearly sold-out. As we sit through an opening act that lacks any real energy and hook to it, the tension begins building as we near the starting time of Easy Star All Stars.

The band have no hesitation in going straight into their catalogue of reggae tributes to classic albums, starting off with tracks from Dub Side of the Moon, their debut masterpiece. With a solid reggae beat and a band that love what they are doing, it's damn near impossible not to bounce and dance along with them.

The whole crowd is up and moving and at certain points, up in smoke.

Covering everyones favorite tracks from Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, Time and Karma Police, we get a taste of everything from soulful dub to upbeat, jamming reggae. Easy Star All Stars shine a new light on the albums we all love and bring it to us in kicking live show.

Finding it impossible to resist the beat, I put down my notes and camera and joined in with the rest of the crowd. Looking around, I failed to find a single disappointed face as everyone there was having a great time.

It isn’t your run of the mill live band there to push their name. Easy Star All Stars are here to bring on the party and some quality live music in the way that is natural to them. Despite the more mellow tracks, the bar stayed pumping.

All in all, Easy Star All Stars get you to experience something new through something old. It's something exciting to be a part of.

$10. FREE ENTRY BEFORE 10pm or WITH A VALID STUDENT ID

Happy Hour 9pm - 11pm: $3 champagnes and $10 jugs. $10 teapots all night. Doors 9pm.

SATURDAY 9th MAY JOY DIVISION & NEW ORDER

special

WWW.BRITPOP.COM.AU DJ

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JOHNNY DARKO faux nun EL MARIACHI MISC.DISC DJS

THE ABERCROMBIE HOTEL 3 mins walk from Central Station, opposite UTS

ISH 100% BRIT DIE EXPECT TO HEAR: OVER 90 mins of Joy Division & New Order 100% IN plus...

Pulp, Kaiser Chiefs, Oasis, Libertines, Foals, David Bowie, The Cure, Supergrass, The Wombats, The Smiths, Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party, The Beatles, Stone Roses, Blur, Radiohead, The Who, Sex Pistols, The Fratellis....