Reverb Magazine - Issue 58

central coast|hunter|north coast

FREE #058 May ’11

music, arts & culture monthly

Jebediah Reach new heights J Mascis Shows his lighter side architecture in helsinki Bring It back home

BLUe king brown

The many colours of Natalie Pa’apa’a

Al so inside: e lbow + propagandhi + new york doll s + Qu e e n + a ston sh u ffle

BRAND NEW SHOW A-LIST ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS

Plus Special Guest Joel Ozborn

“At points the capacity audience could have been excused for crying with laughter” ADVERTISER

AKMAL’S FIRST BOOK OUT NOW IN ALL GOOD BOOKSTORES For more information visit www.randomhouse.com.au

BALLINA RSL CLUB Friday 29th April – 8pm Bookings PH: 6686 2544 www.ballinarsl.com.au

GLASSHOUSE ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE CEX COFFS Friday 6th May – 8pm Wednesday 4th May – 8pm Bookings PH: 6581 8888 Bookings PH: 6652 3888 www.glasshouse.org.au www.cex.com.au

LISMORE CITY HALL CLUB TAREE Saturday 30th April – 8pm Thursday 5th May – 8pm Bookings PH: 1300 066 772 Bookings PH: 6539 4000 www.norpa.org.au www.tareerslandgolf.com.au

NAMBUCCA HEADS RSL CLUB Saturday 7th May – 8pm Bookings PH: 6568 6288 www.nambuccarsl.com.au

No. 58

Reverb Magazine is locally owned & published by The Lockup Garage.

Printed by Spotpress, Marrickville: sales@spotpress.com.au

index

contents

News 8-14 Queen 15 Jebediah 16 Suicidal Tendencies 17 Elbow 17 Architecture In Helsinki 18 Aston Shuffle 19 Blue King Brown 20-21 Album reviews 22-23 Gig guide 24-26 Shane Nicholson 27 Propagandhi 27 Gary Numan 28 New York Dolls 28 Joe Bonamassa 29 RawFM dance news 30 J Mascis 31 Mick Harvey 31 House Of Pain 32 Cavalera Conspiracy 32 Gaming – Yakuza 4 33 Fashion 34-35 Motoring – Fiat 500 Abarth SS 36 Horoscopes 37 Cartoon 37 Travel – Hunter Valley 38 Live reviews 39 Bluesfest review 40-41 Film reviews 42 Clark Gregg – Thor 42 DVD reviews 43 Socials 44

Imogen Heap

editor’s letter

Credits

Well the Bluesfest experience is over for another year, and it was lovely to catch up with all the usual photographers. A big thank you to all the helpers who escorted the 60-plus photographers in and out of the pit. The professionalism shown under such trying conditions was amazing.

Thanks also to Skydive Australia who threw myself and our North Coast manager, Steve Bocking, out of a plane at 14,000 feet. The 60-second freefall was serene and hard to put into words. Even though you felt the air rushing by, there was nothing to really give you a sense of the speed we were falling at. It was as if you were floating above the Bluesfest site.

Need to do this again real soon.

Much love guys, Kevin

Editor

Film reviewer

Paul Foley

Ash Grey

Editorial

Kevin Bull

Mark Snelson

Jim Graham

Nick Mackay

kevin@reverbstreetpress.com or 0410 295 360

Ashlee Kellehear

Jamie Nelson

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magazine issue #058 — May 2011

Contacts

Sub-Editor

DVD Reviewer

Mark McIntosh

Simon Nicolas

Sales, Newcastle & Central Coast

Kate Hamilton

Sallie Maree Pritchard

Madeline Smith

Amelia Parrott

kevin@reverbstreetpress.com or 0410 295 360

Darren Pauli

art director

Motoring writer

Writers

Sasha Petrova

Sales, North Coast

Cam Bennett

Peter Douglas

Amanda Bevan

Max Quinn

stephen@reverbstreetpress.com or 0458 559 938

Georgina Bible

Jess Saxton

North Coast Mgr

Games Reviewer

Stephen Bissett

Madeline Smith

Gig guide

Stephen Bocking

Hugh Milligan

Kevin Bull

Michael Sykes

gigguide@reverbstreetpress.com.au

Josh Clemments

Roger Thornhill

Senior Writers

Cartoonist

Mick Daley

Lee Tobin

Production

Nick Milligan

Tony Jenkins

Cameron Edney

Kristyne Weiss

cam@reverbstreetpress.com.au

Sean Frazer

Rod Whitfield

Photographers

Adelaide French

Mel Woodward

Postal address

Tim Boehm

Paul Frost

Marija Zeko

PO Box 843, Woy Woy NSW 2256

Kevin Bull

Matthew Glen

Matt Petherbridge

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Giveaways just email editorial@reverbstreetpress.com.au First come, first served

5 copies

Five copies of Triple J One Night Stand on DVD.

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Five copies of Sweet Little Bird (a collection of songs from the finest female storytellers) on CD.

5 copies

Five copies of RAW FM 2011 on CD.

10 copies Ten copies of Ministry of Sound Session Eight on CD.

10 double passes Win one of ten double passes to Greater Union cinemas: Newcastle, Glendale or Tuggerah (conditions apply).

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magazine issue #058 — May 2011

BE THE OFFICIAL boy & BEAR REVIEWER

A reader of Reverb will get the chance for an exclusive money-can’t-buy experience to not only meet and greet Boy & Bear, but also be the official reviewer of the show and have it published in Reverb. Email competition@ secret-service.com.au with a 25 word or less blurb about why you are a capable reviewer for Reverb. Please ensure “Reverb” is the subject line, and please also include your name, contact phone number and email.

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FRONT END LOADER TOUR BEHIND RITARDANDO

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Five copies of RnB Superclub Vol 2 on CD.

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3 double passes

Win one of 3 double passes to see Pegz (that’s 1 x double pass per gig): Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle, Friday May 27; Coolangatta Hotel, Thursday June 2; Great Northern Hotel, Byron Bay, Saturday June 4.

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Front End Loader are back with a new slab of rockin’ tunes engineered perfectly for modern day living. Ritardando will be released on May 6. Front End Loader’s anthemic approach with this album has provided songs that wouldn’t sound out of place either at a football Grand Final, yet they still manage to maintain the melodic sensibilities that will have the cast from Glee drooling into their Cherry Colas. Front End Loader perform at the Great Northern Hotel, Byron Bay on Sunday May 22; Grand Junction Hotel, Maitland on Saturday May 28; Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle on Sunday May 29.

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Shane Nicholson and Kasey Chambers

KASEY AND SHANE TOGETHER ON TOUR

The multi award-winning duo are heading out on tour to present their respective solo albums, Kasey Chambers’s Little Bird and Shane Nicholson’s Bad Machines. Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson’s double header live shows will feature Chambers’s hits and of course songs from her awardwinning Little Bird while Nicholson will perform songs from Bad Machines, along with tracks from his critically acclaimed back catalogue; It’s a Movie, Faith & Science and Familiar Ghosts. Kasey and Shane will also perform a few favourites from their multi award-winning Rattlin’ Bones album of 2008. Chambers and Nicholson will be joined on the road with special guests, the legendary Bill Chambers and Tamworth’s first lady of fiddle, Ashleigh Dallas. Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson will be performing at the Lismore Workers Club on Wednesday May 4, and Twin Towns, Tweed Heads, on Friday May 6.

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NEWCASTLE PANTHERS

BOTANICS RELEASE AND TOUR THE FABRIC

Over the past six years, Botanics have developed into a one-of-a-kind act in the Australian hip hop scene. Hailing from Sydney, Botanics have certainly been busy.

In 2010, they churned out two releases and two national tours, receiving radio play Australia-wide, prime-time TV slots, and smashing reviews. 2011 sees Botanics ready to release their highly-anticipated sophomore LP, The Fabric — a culmination of ideas put together over the last few years, as well as releasing the title track as the album’s lead single. To coincide with the release, Botanics will be embarking on another national tour. Botanics perform at the Grand Junction Hotel, Maitland, on Friday May 27, and the Beach Hotel, Byron Bay, on May 28.

tiki taane

TIX

SATURDAY 14 MAY

TIKI TAANE IN THE LIGHT

Tiki Taane is considered a pioneer in the NZ music scene, with a career spanning nearly 15 years. Rising to prominence as a member of leading New Zealand band Salmonella Dub, Taane progressed from sound engineer to fully fledged front man, penning some of the band’s biggest hits, including ‘Love Your Ways’ and ‘For the Love of It’ amongst others. In January 2007, Tiki left Salmonella Dub to pursue a solo career, resulting in the release of his debut album, Past, Present, Future, and his most recent release In The Word Of Light. Tiki Taane will be performing at the Great Northern Hotel, Byron Bay, on Thursday May 19, and the Coolangatta Hotel on Friday May 20.

BLUE KING BROWN

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botanics

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PARKWAY DRIVE

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The New Christs

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MAZSTOCK 2011 FULL LINE-UP

A few years ago, Maz Schofield booked a little venue in Lismore called the Winsome Hotel for her birthday party. Every dirty punk and garage band in town ended up on t he b i l l a n d a l l k i n d s o f m ay h e m ensued — they drunk the place dry and ripped the north end of Lismore a new arsehole. A few years down the track and the Winsome has now closed its iconic doors, but the spirit of Mazstock lives on. This year sees the triumphant return of Lismore’s adopted sons, Rob Younger and The New Christs, as well as Six Ft Hick, and if that’s not enough, Kim Salmon has been dragged out of hiding and will be doing a set of Scientists material with ex-Scientists drummer Leanne Chock. Mazstock 2011 is 18 bands on three stages over 10 hours at the Italo Club, Lismore, on Saturday May 21. The full lineup includes Kim Salmon & Leanne Chock (The Scientists), The New Christs, Six Ft Hick, The Re-Mains, Screamin’ Stevie’s Australia, Leadfinger, Hits, Den Hanrahan, The Black Stars, The Sunrose, Black Ghost Party, Brut 66, Stone Mountain, The Dunhill Blues, The Antibodies, The Claymores, Slug, Dead Sun.

EAST COAST CARNAGE

The ‘East Coast Carnage Tour’ slams Abandon All Hope on the road for a sprint of destruction alongside the likes of Melbourne’s Trainwreck and passionate newcomers from Sydney, Endless Heights, before knuckling down for a winter’s release.

Abandon All Hope, Trainwreck and Endless Heights perform at Flynn’s Surf Club, Port Macquarie [AA] on Saturday May 28.

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Bliss N Eso

BLISS N ESO TO PLAY COFFS SHOWGROUND

It’s been speculated about for months, and now its official – Bliss N Eso are taking their explosive live show on the road for their biggest ever Australian tour. Off the back of their Facebook competition to decide their route through regional towns, they’ll be setting up makeshift venues to cater for demand in several regional locations, including Coffs Harbour, which was voted in to host a show on the tour. The show will take place at Coffs Harbour Showgrounds, which is generally only used for festivals.

Special guests performing on the tour will include Sydney’s soaring Horrorshow and the USA’s Big B, who will be making his way over from Las Vegas for the tour. Bliss n Eso, true to their support of local music, have also handpicked local guns Beats Working and Ebb n Flo to perform at the event. Bliss N Eso will be performing at the Coffs Harbour Showgrounds on Sunday June 12.

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Jeff Martin 777

Jebediah

JEBEDIAH CLIMB KOSCIUSZKO

JEFF MARTIN 777

2011… a new band (Jeff Martin 777)… a new album (The Ground Cries Out)… while former Tea Party front man Jeff Martin spent the majority of 2010 touring, in between shows, Martin, J Cortez (The Sleepy Jackson/The Armada) and long-time friend Malcolm Clarke (The Sleepy Jackson/The Basement Birds) would come together to knock out songs at Clarke’s Yo-Yo Studio in Perth. The end result sees this super-tight trio come up trumps with their debut studio album, The Ground Cries Out. A fusion of Martin’s love of dark blues and middle-eastern rock, the album also showcases another side to the artist, delving into a rootsier direction which is sure to surprise fans and critics alike. “If I’m going to commit to listening to a record by an artist, especially in rock’n’roll, I don’t want to hear 10 or 11 songs that are in the same vein or are of the same sound,” says Martin. “My favourite albums are all over the map. Where you can tell it’s the same band, but it’s a band that’s stretching its wings and are not afraid to walk to the edge of the precipice and look over and perhaps fall. That’s what I want this band to be.” Jeff Martin 777 performs at the Great Northern Hotel, Byron Bay, on Wednesday May 4.

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magazine issue #058 — May 2011

Pegz

PEGZ AND THE DRAMA

Australian hip hop MC Pegz returns to the solo live scene with his first national tour in three years. Celebrating the release of his new album, Drama, Pegz will hit the road this May for a 16-date trek that will see him hit regional towns and cities across the country. Dialectrix will be supporting on all dates promoting his recent release Audio Projectile.

Joining Pegz on stage will be Melbourne MC Eloquor on hype duties and DJ 2buck behind the decks. Drama is the first album from Pegz since 2007’s acclaimed Burn City that launched a successful national tour of its own. After breaking a self-imposed recording hiatus with the release of his collaborative Gully Platoon project, one of Australia’s most commanding MCs returns to the solo spotlight. Pegz will be performing at the Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle, on Friday May 27; Coolangatta Hotel on Thursday June 2; Great Northern Hotel on Saturday June 4.

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Jebediah are currently bunkered down at base camp, ready to scale their Kosciuszko album tour. The soaring new single ‘She’s Like A Comet’ is climbing its way into every playlist across the country. It’s just the foot of the mountain for Jebediah who are now ready and raring to bring their electric live show to the many corners of Australia. On stage, Jebediah is a beast to be reckoned with as is the roaring audience that comes with it. If any of the band’s recent shows are to go by, fans will be besieging this tour, frantic to hear what new sounds have been cultivated behind closed doors. Jebediah will be performing at the Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle, on Saturday May 28.

PROPAGANDHI LEAKS

Secret internal cables released early Monday morning by controversial whistle-blower website Wikileaks, have provoked an unprecedented 694-day debate in the Australian Parliament. The cables suggest, contrary to public pronouncements from the Gillard government, that the unbelievably good looking Canadian hard rock band Propagandhi have no time-line for withdrawal from their extremely unpopular

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mission in Australia. Quoted in the heavilyredacted documents is Propagandhi’s Minister of Agriculture, Jordan D Samolesky, who states that “Propagandhi will not abandon Australia. Propagandhi will not allow Australia to become a haven for terrorists.

Propagandhi will remain engaged in Australia until everyone is either dead, maimed or incarcerated. Only then can democracy and freedom prevail. Now let us blaze!”

Propagandhi will be performing at the Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle, on Wednesday May 25, and the Coolangatta Hotel on Saturday May 28.

GRANEY LIVES FOR ROCK’N’ROLL

Living and working out of Melbourne, Dave Graney and drummer Clare Moore have performed with The Moodists, White Buffaloes, Coral Snakes, and most recently The Lurid Yellow Mist. To celebrate, Rock ’n Roll Is Where I Hide has been released, a collection of electric rock’n’roll re-recordings of a dozen Graney classics. Graney describes it as “our third debut album”. “I mean your debut album is the one where the band knows the material inside out and just lays it down in the studio without even thinking.

They know it so well. The songs on this record are songs that we’ve been playing, on and off, for a very long time. Sometimes, we went for a decade without touching them, then we came back to them from a different direction.” Dave Graney and the Lurid Yellow Mist perform at Lizotte’s Kincumber, on Friday May 27; Lizotte’s Lambton on Saturday May 28; Gollan Hotel, Lismore, on Thursday June 2; Great Northern Hotel, Byron Bay, on Sunday June 5.

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IT’S EUPHORIA AT BALLINA HOTEL

gypsy and the cat

GYPSY AND THE CAT’S FIRST NATIONAL TOUR

As 2010 closed, Gypsy And The Cat released their debut album Gilgamesh which in a short few months became one of the most regarded and talked about albums of the year. The debut album, from the Melbourneborn duo, peaked in the top 15 on the national ARIA charts, and climbed to #2 on itunes. Gilgamesh’s release has been followed by a summer of hugely-attended festival appearances including national berths on both the Big Day Out and Future Music Festival, where the band was a standout for many. With the album fast-approaching gold sales, Gypsy And The Cat are now pleased to announce their first national tour in support of their debut album and current single ‘Jona Vark’. Gypsy And The Cat perform at the Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle, on Saturday May 21.

The massive resurgence of quality venues on the north coast has continued with the re-opening of the immense back room at the Ballina Hotel and its christening as “Euphoria”. And to celebrate the beautiful thing that is a big bad bouncing room, the new management of the Ballina Hotel have installed DJ Jimmy D as their resident. DJ Jimmy D has been smashing some of the hottest high energy rooms in the country since 1998, including DCMs, Arq and the Soho bar in Sydney as well as more locally on his recent tour of the east coast rooms like Coccos in Byron Bay. But if that isn’t enough to whet your appetite, DJ Jimmy D will also be regularly bringing with him some of the hottest DJ talent anywhere in the land. According to DJ Jimmy D, Ballina won’t know what has hit it. “We’re bringing something very different and a whole raft of talented guys from right around Australian and the world”. By the sounds of it the Ballina Hotel has thrown down the DJ gauntlet to some of the more established rooms in Byron Bay and Lismore, and has upped the musical stakes for all to follow. I’ll see you on the floor.

mind over matter

MIND OVER MATTER RELEASE FIREWORKS

THE MIDDLE EAST MAKE US HAPPY

Townsville band The Middle East have released their long-anticipated debut album, Want That You Are Always Happy — it’s dark, melancholy, thick with melody and eventually instilled with hope. The band may have taken their time with it, but Townsville time is slower than your average city clock.

Recorded between tours at the band’s’ Townsville studio in late 2009, the band then shifted to Midlake’s Denton studio in March 2010 after their performances at the South by South West festival. Upon returning from their international travels, The Middle East put the finishing touches on the album at a makeshift Cairns-based studio.

The band will take their new album out on the road for an album launch tour, performing at the Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle, on Sunday June 19.

OVER-REACTOR LOSES IT

Melbourne death-hop pioneers, Over-Reactor (Ezekiel Ox — Mammal, Cory Blight — Dukes of Windsor), are celebrating the release of their brand new album, Lose Your Delusion, with a string of shows along the east coast. The album is a compilation of the best tracks from their debut releases, Lose Your Delusion I and Lose Your Delusion Too, as chosen by their fans through an online poll that was posted on the band’s Facebook page. The previous two limited-edition albums, (with hand-folded covers), will no longer be available for sale on the band’s store, making them collector items, with only 200 copies of each having been pressed. The Lose Your Delusion Tour will see the band perform at the Port Macquarie Hotel on Thursday May 5; Bar On The Hill, Newcastle Uni, on Thursday May 19; Northern Star Hotel, Newcastle, on Friday May 20.

Having just launched their sophomore album, Just Like Fireworks, Sydney’s Mind Over Matter have announced a national tour to introduce the release to the nation. With almost two albums worth of tracks on the 17-song release, MCs Willow and Smiles have put together a generous offering. This generosity extends to the stage, with Mind Over Matter tearing up the east coast at The Brewery, Byron Bay, on Friday May 6; Hoey Moey, Coffs Harbour, on Saturday May 14; Beach Hotel, Merewether, on Friday May 20.

JOHN BUTLER TRIO TO PLAY PORT Macquarie

taylor and the makers

TAYLOR AND THE MAKERS RELEASE DEBUT

Having toured solidly for the past year, Taylor and the Makers are on the verge of releasing their debut self-titled EP. Based out of Australia and North America, with a firm foot placed here on the central coast, Taylor and the Makers play a passionate mix of blues, roots and reggae, and will be launching their debut EP at Kantara House, Green Point, on Saturday May 21, with Jacob Pearson and Ellen Mara in support.

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Revered for their brilliant live performances and superb musicianship, the John Butler Trio, one of Australia’s most esteemed bands, will bring their live show to Port Macquarie for the first time in ten years.

Fans will experience an awe-inspiring two hour plus show as the John Butler Trio captivate the audience with tracks such as ‘Revolution’, ‘One Way Road’ and ‘Close To You’ from their latest album, April Uprising, as well as a good dose of all time crowd favourites from the JBT’s vast catalogue.

The John Butler Trio, with Husky in support, will be performing at Port Macquarie Panthers on Thursday May 12.

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laneway

LANEWAY ON THE HIGHWAY

It’s a year since Louise O’Reilly and Paul Hannan, two parts of Laneway, made the move from Melbourne to the natural bridge in south-east Queensland, taking their child and their folk/alt-country sound into the forest. With their brand new single, ‘The Turbine’ tucked firmly under their belts, Laneway hit the highway with Adelaide’s alt-country roots outfit, the Yearlings, for a 20-show tour. Laneway and The Yearling perform at the Sphinx Rock Cafe, Mt Burrell, on Friday May 13; Old Drill Hall Theatre, Mullumbimby, on Friday May 20; Grand Junction Hotel, Maitland, on Sunday May 22; Lizotte’s Kincumber on Thursday May 26.

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nick and liesl

trip kicks

TRIP KICKS: THE INDOOR FESTIVAL

Trip Kicks take you for a journey like no other. As a gift to the music gods they will be sacrificing a plethora of outstanding artists — this is to be Byron Bay’s biggest party.

This long-running musically-mixed cultural event will generate intense perceptual distortion by igniting all of your senses, altering your state of mind and setting your imagination alight with an uplifting array of psybient electro, nu disco, deep house and dubstep. Performing will be Thomas J, Oshi One, G Funk, LT80, Kendall James, V Man & Cruz, Daniel Webber, Deegs, Captain Kaine, Buzz. Trip Kicks will be at The Backroom, Byron Bay, on Saturday May 14.

NICK AND LIESL RELEASE FEATHER

After spending months cooped up in their home studio on the NSW central coast, completing their album only days before hitting the road on their fourth adventurefilled European tour, Nick and Liesl are very excited to be bringing it home with their long-awaited debut album, Feather. The 13-track album was recorded mostly in the modest settings of Nick and Liesl’s home studio. Even so, after sharing demos with some of Australia’s top musicians, the duo quickly had the likes of drummer Pete Luscombe (Paul Kelly, Rockwiz), bass player Jeff McCormack (Kasey Chambers) and guitarist extraordinaire Glen Hannah (Felicity Urquhart, Kasey Chambers) on board. The result is a collection of stunning songs given a royal yet tasteful treatment. Nick and Liesl perform at the Rhythm Hut, Gosford, on Saturday May 14; Lizotte’s Newcastle on Wednesday May 18; Rails, Byron Bay, on Wednesday May 25; Nimbin Hotel on Thursday May 26.

trial kennedy

TRIAL KENNEDY DELIVERs SECOND ALBUM

On May 13, Trial Kennedy is to release its long-awaited second album, Living Undesigned. To celebrate, the band is taking their show on the road for a string of album tour dates around the country, in May. The first two singles from the album, ‘Strange Behaviour’ and ‘Best Of Tomorrow’ have given punters and critics a taste of what Trial Kennedy is about to deliver and already the nation is lapping it up. What’s more, the band is revelling in the newfound liberation of being independent again. “This time around, every decision — from the single, to the artwork and the arrangements — has been completely ours,� says vocalist Tim Morrison. Trial Kennedy, with Numbers Radio in support, will be performing at the Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle, on Wednesday May 20.

joan as police woman

THE ARRESTING JOAN AS POLICE WOMAN

The wonderful musician, singer and songwriter Joan Wasser — aka Joan As Police Woman, is coming to Australia in June.

These much-anticipated shows come hot on the heels of her fourth solo album release, The Deep Field. The record begins with the words “I want you to fall in love with me,� and continues to unfurl an unashamed lust for life. It’s unquestionably her most significant album yet — in Joan’s own words, “my most open, joyous record.� A rocking, soulful journey, The Deep Field is Joan’s most personal, and her most universal album to date.

Flying only just under the radar of mainstream audiences, this tour could easily be one of the richest and most satisfying musical highlights of the year. Joan As Police Woman will be performing at Lizotte’s, Newcastle, on Friday June 3, and Byron Bay Community Centre on Sunday June 5.

10-12 June

(June long weekend)

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reverb magazine issue #058 — May 2011   13

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CHUCK WOOD TAKES REVENGE

International comedy star David Strassman returns to Australia with his brand new show, Chuck’s Revenge! Chuck Wood’s sharp-tongued, caustic and sarcastic humour has been cracking up audiences for years. Considered by many to be one of the best ventriloquists in the world, his shows are hilariously funny and razor sharp, featuring full stage production complete with dazzling sets and state-of-the-art theatrical effects. His shows involve multiple characters and high-tech puppetronics (robotics) that bring his characters to life, even when he has left the stage. David Strassman will be performing at the Newcastle Civic Theatre between Tuesday May 10 and Sunday May 15; Cessnock Performing Arts Centre on Thursday May 19; Maitland City Bowling Club on Friday May 20; Club Forster on Saturday May 21; Wyong Leagues Club on Sunday May 22; Laycock Street Theatre, Gosford, on Tuesday May 24 and Wednesday May 25; Glasshouse, Port Macquarie, on Thursday May 26; Coffs Harbour Ex Services Club on Saturday May 28; Lismore Workers Club on Sunday May 29.

HELMET IN LIVING COLOUR

Seminal hard rock band Helmet released their seventh full-length album, Seeing Eye Dog, in September last year, their first since 2006’s critically acclaimed Monochrome.

Produced by band leader Page Hamilton, it is one of the band’s most uncompromising and ambitious releases. “It’s so important to have great musicians in the band,” explains Hamilton. “I can’t stand the sound and anti-human feel of edited rock music. People

tion

c u d o r p d n a c i s n imagine a c u more mu o y n a h t courses

have always commented that we sound like our albums live. This has a lot to do with it.”

Helmet will perform at the Coolangatta Hotel on Wednesday June 22, and Newcastle Leagues Club on Saturday July 2.

MEGA: LONGING TO BE KNOTTED TOGETHER

French artist Mega is one of the leading voices of the new artist’s generation. Masked warriors, savage girls, iconic objects, swarming insects and other wild creatures emerge straight from the jungle of Mega’s imagination. From Nike to Volkswagen to Complex magazine, his images are found across all media. The exhibition will be featured in some of the most prestigious galleries around the Asia/Pacific and Europe (from Singapore to Indonesia to France) With a very limited edition of 100 prints of every artwork displayed across the world. Thanks to Renew Newcastle, the very first stop on this amazing tour will be none other than Newcastle’s very own artist-run gallery ARThive, running until Saturday May 7.

LIVE AND LOCAL AT LIZOTTE’S

There’s plenty of local music to be had at Lizotte’s this month. Lambton Lizotte’s: Wednesday May 18, Nick & Leisl album launch + Jade Gannon + Jacob Pearson + Hunter & King; Wednesday June 1, Thomas Lawson + Racz n Waters + Sarah McLennan + The Widowbirds. Kincumber Lizotte’s: Wednesday May 4, Smokey Den + Ashley Knight + Chris Wallace + Candice Miller; Wednesday May 11, Amy Vee + Renny Field + Sass + Rocwater; Wednesday May 25, Rebecca Henry + Jaime Pearson + David Craig + Bonic; Wednesday June 1, Missing Children + Niksta + DecembeR.

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88 Church Street, Maitland 02 4933 5242 / MySpace / Facebook Byron Bay Bluesfest sensation

Hank Green’s Blues THE NEW CHRISTS

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THE BLACKWATER FEVER

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PLUS: SUN 1 GUM BALL RECOVERY PART Y WITH EAGLE AND THE WORM, THE FIREMEN AND SPECIAL SECRET GUESTS THUR 5 JEZ MEAD SUN 8 8-BALL AITKEN AND BAND THUR 12 NGARIKI SUN 15 CATFISH SOUP SUN 22 THE YEARLINGS PLUS L ANEWAY SAT 28 FRONT END LOA DER (RETA R DA N D O A LBUM L AUNCH) PLUS SUPPORT SUN 29 A FRENCH BUTLER CALLED SMITH Download Issue

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queen

LIVE MUSIC L I V E S P O R T, G R E AT F O O D

MAY 6

FRI

TO KILL A SUNRISE

ALL IN A YEAR

MAY 12

THU

The Royal Birth Queen are celebrating their 40th anniversary with the re-master and re-issue of their first five albums. Guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor reveal the stories behind these landmark releases.

Let’s talk about the first album, Queen, which you recorded at Trident and mainly recorded at night time? brian may The owners of the studio, in a sense, owned us. They were our managers but they didn’t want to spend any money, so basically if someone was in here like David Bowie and he finished a session at three o’clock, we would get a phone call and they’d say, ‘come in boys, we’ve got some downtime, come in and do some work’. So although we had great technology around us, we didn’t really have much freedom to use it. roger taylor We were being pushed slightly towards the fashionable sound with the drums etc - too dry for us. This famous Trident drum sound it was called.

There was a booth that was over there - we used to put the drums in there and tape up everything so it was dead and that was the fashionable sound. David Bowie had used it. I think that album [Queen] suffers for that but it has a lot of good stuff on it.

So, Brian, Queen II made it to #5 in the UK and also hit the Top 50 in the US. But things really took off for you with the third album, Sheer Heart Attack, which hit #2 in the UK and #12 in the US on the back of an American tour which took its toll on your health.

BM Yes, I was very sick. We’d done our first American tour and I got hepatitis but that wasn’t the real problem. I collapsed on a consultant’s floor at one point and he said you’ve had no nutrition going into you for months, it’s a wonder you’re still alive because your stomach is completely blocked. Without going into too many details, I went in and had this operation.

They don’t do this operation anymore, they just give you this cocktail of antibiotics and you’re cured. But I was probably one of the last people to have this major operation to take pieces of your stomach away and re-engineer the plumbing down there.

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Sheer Heart Attack still sounds like a special record.

RT I think by that time, we’d got the sounds that we wanted. We were much happier with the studio and we didn’t have people trying to steer us anywhere or tell us what to do and I think we had a mixture of the extravagance of the second album but with a more commercial and accessible sound. I think it’s a very good album, there’s no time wasted on it.

You became huge in the United States but around the time of The Works, your career there went into decline. Do you have a view on what happened there?

BM To cut a very long story short, I think three things contributed to us losing America.

One of them was the video for ‘I Want To Break Free’, which was regarded as something completely impossible and something that rock stars do not do - dress up in women’s clothes. Over here [England] people got the joke, we were spoofing Coronation Street.

They didn’t get that in America.

Second thing was we unwittingly got involved in all sorts of scandalous stuff which was going on between record companies and radio stations. Basically we’re talking about bribery, and our record company that we just signed to, Capitol Records, made a big stand against the whole system and refused to pay for any promoting and therefore nothing got promoted.

The third thing that happened, in my opinion, is down to one man. We had this guy who looked after Freddie, who was called Paul Prenter, and he got a little too big for his boots, I think. This guy in the course of one tour told every radio station to fuck off - not just fuck off but ‘Freddie says fuck off’, and so we sort of lost our relationship with the media at a stroke and it’s a very sad thing. I remember Freddie saying ‘I’ll probably have to fucking die before America wants us back again’.

Queen, Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack, A Night Of The Opera, and A Day At The Races have been re-mastered and re-issued.

The Deep Cuts, Volume One compilation has also been released, all through Universal.

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reverb magazine issue #058 — May 2011 15

Jebediah

The great thing about Kosciuszko is that it doesn’t sound like a standard rock record at all. What inspired the band to experiment with the Jebediah sound?

I don’t think you’re supposed to take yourself too seriously when you’re making a rock album. It’s supposed to be fun.

Maybe we’ve been a little bit guilty of doing that in the past. But yeah, this record was all about messing around, doing things we’d previously thought we shouldn’t or weren’t allowed to do.

Climbing Kosciuszko Kids of the 90s, rejoice! Western Australian alt-rockers Jebediah are back from a seven-year hiatus with their latest album, Kosciuszko. But they’re not exactly the same band you remember. Front man Kevin Mitchell (who you may also know as Bob Evans), speaks to MATT PETHERBRIDGE about the revitalisation of the band.

How satisfying is it for you to release another Jebediah album?

In so many ways, it feels like more of an accomplishment than any other record we’ve made. When we were signed to Murmur (an imprint of Sony Music), it was easy. They pretty much took care of everything and we had no responsibilities. With Kosciuszko, we did it ourselves. We produced it at Blackbird Studios with Dave Parkin (Karnivool, Sugar Army): it was a team production effort. We’re at a stage in our career where people wouldn’t have expected us to do anything more.

What inspired you to name the record Kosciuszko?

The original idea came from a book about The Beatles, where they had planned to call their 1968 album, The Beatles (The White Album), Everest. During the making of this record, I thought this one could be Everest!

But it seemed too impersonal to call it that.

I started thinking about Kosciuszko, the tallest mountain in Australia as opposed to the tallest mountain in the world. It’s a cool name and it was about claiming the title for ourselves.

Did it feel liberating to cast away the shackles of sonic expectation?

Yeah absolutely, it was what drove this whole album — that attitude of throwing out the rulebook, which is a dodgy cliché but it’s pretty much what we talked about doing.

That rulebook is full of rules that we’d written for ourselves without even realising it. There are so many examples of things, as a band, we thought we had to do [in] a certain way. It was baggage and getting rid of all that baggage was how we came up with this record.

You’ve worked with Bob Evans and with Basement Birds over the past couple of years. How have these experiences helped you to grow as an artist?

I [realised] I got a lot out of those other experiences when making Kosciuszko. Bob Evans, in particular, offered me all kinds of opportunities, that I wouldn’t have had with Jebediah, in terms of the types of gigs I’ve played, people I’ve recorded with. It’s a very easy thing to keep relying on the same old tricks, especially when you get to 30. I’ve been playing music since I was a teenager and I think it’s really important that you keep challenging yourself, keep

pushing yourself to learn new things, and I think working with different people is one of the best ways — they throw you out of your comfort zone from time to time.

Speaking of collaboration, you recently recorded, with Newcastle country artist Kirsty Akers, a duet cover of John Prine’s ‘In Spite of Ourselves’. How did this collaboration come about?

I think the story goes — she was at a local shopping mall and she heard a Bob Evans song ‘Hand Me Downs’, over the speakers and obviously she liked it! She just called me up said she’d like to do a duet with me, ‘In Spite of Ourselves’ — that was the clincher for it, I love that song! We played it four times in the space of two days at both of our gigs in Tamworth this year.

What can fans expect from your show at The Cambridge Hotel?

We’re looking at bringing in some samplers and stuff to trigger some of the effects that are on Kosciuszko. We’ve got to strike a balance. I think it’s important that we retain the essence of what we’ve always done live but we’re going to have to expand to make these new songs come alive. It’s also about rediscovering our audiences... I think we know who our audience is, but reconnecting with them again will be nice. The hardcore Jebediah fans were always waiting for the next record because we’d always given them every indication there was going to be another one.

Jebediah will be performing at the Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle, on Saturday May 28, and Bateau Bay Hotel on Sunday July 10. Kosciuszko is out now through Dew Process/UMA.

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suicidal tendencies — elbow

Living Through Pain Without expectations, I am bowled over by how amiable, unpretentious and frank Mike Muir is. He’s still that funk/rap metal skater dude from Venice, California, who’s excited about touring and producing records even after 25 plus years in the business. The last time he was in Australia with his band Suicidal Tendencies was for Soundwave 2008 — their first show after a series of back problems. “That was the first show I did after my last back surgery… it was one of those cases, if your heart’s into it then your body is. It was a lot of fun and I kept getting more offers and it rolled from there.”

Suicidal Tendencies won’t be a part of Soundwave this time around, but will visit our shores with their own tour in May, coinciding with the release of No Mercy Fool!/The Suicidal Family. “It’s a record that’s got a lot of re-recordings from the Join the Army album and from the No Mercy band, that our guitarist Mike Clarke was in,” says Muir. “So we re-recorded songs that we didn’t put out and a lot of old songs we haven’t played in 20 to 25 years. It’s been great fun and I really like playing those songs.”

Though in good spirits today, Muir has been plagued by back problems that have threatened his ability to walk again, let alone play. “To make a long story short, I was in Europe in ’83 and we were doing some tour and I had some communication

You may know Elbow from such bestselling anthems as ‘One Day Like This’ – the melody that won the respected Ivor Novello award for best song. It was the song that sound-tracked Channel Nine’s coverage of the NRL as well as the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. It’s one of those goose-bumpy, spine-tingling tunes that give the lead singer a break, during a live performance, when the opening piano/ guitar chords get the thousands in the crowd to raise their hands and passionately yell out every word.

But it took a long time for the band to elbow their way to success. They’ve played together since 1990 and although their first album, Asleep In The Back was nominated for the Mercury, Elbow were still relegated to a niche following. That is, until Seldom.

“A lot of things happened with Seldom Seen Kid that were completely beyond our control,” says Turner. “The album just kept selling really well. I don’t really think any of us would expect to have that luck again.”

‘Luck’ may not be the right word, considering the brilliance of the album, but its true that its predecessors were no less fantastic. However Turner denies Seldom was written to appeal to the masses. “The thing that I’m really proud of with Seldom is that it was written in the same way that all our other albums were written. It wasn’t written deliberately so it would do well in the mainstream. It was just picked up on.”

The same goes for Elbow’s fifth album Build A Rocket Boys!. “It would have been easy to write hands-in-the-air stadium filler songs,” says Turner. “But we didn’t want to go completely left field and alienate half the people who have always liked the band.” But what the success of Seldom did bring the band, was freedom. “The three Find us on Facebook

I t ’s a n o t h e r s t i c k y d a y i n Sy d n e y a s s h o p p e r s s c r a m b l e a r o u n d m a k i n g l a s t - m i n u t e C h r i s t m a s purchases. I sit in a cafe, obser v ing all of this as I speak to singer Mik e Mu ir who sheds some light on another madness — a band know n as Su icida l Ten dencies. By M a r i ja Zej ko. problems. I went to see a chiropractor and ended up with a German tour manager in France, and people translating and trying to understand languages. It ended up where this guy just slammed my leg and honestly, it was the worst day of my life. We flew home, did a MRI and was told, ‘You gotta have surgery tomorrow otherwise you won’t walk anymore.’ So I had the surgery and had a little complication and then had another one. We did two shows and the day before we did the second show,

I just woke up and discovered I couldn’t walk.

I did the show and then saw the neurosurgeon.”

And so goes the never-ending back pain turmoil that has occupied a good part of Muir’s life. “Everyday, whether I’m playing or not, I get up and do all these stretches. I go to the gym — I live my life according to a way where I won’t have pain and problems.” Living his life in a practical and conscientious way has served Muir well.

Despite success, he doesn’t hold it in high esteem. “It’s all about definitions. Some

Build A Rocket and Fly Elbow’s fourth album, The Seldom Seen Kid, was massive, winning the Mercury Prize for album of the year, in 2008, after which they were named Best British Band at the 2009 BRITs. Sasha Petrova had a chat to bassist Pete Turner about Elbow’s sudden success and new album, Build A Rocket Boys! previous albums to Seldom Seen Kid, we’d managed to have a good living and we managed to tour and we had a decent

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amount of people buying our albums, but then Seldom happened and literally the number of people that were listening to our

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people say you’re born into a wealthy family and that’s privileged. I think that’s a terrible life. Where I grew up was on the north side of town and at that time there was a big divide. So how do you become what you don’t want to be? Don’t do the things that others are. It’s a simple way of looking at it for me.”

Suicidal Tendencies perform at the Coolangatta Hotel on Thursday May 12, and Metro Theatre, Sydney on Saturday May 14.

music, you could times it by six or seven.”

With such an increase in fans, they were guaranteed an audience for their next album. “There’s been a lot of interviews over the last few weeks and everyone was assuming that the pressure was on, but no, the pressure was off, really. With every other album there have been problems.

With Asleep In The Back, we had to record it twice before it saw the light of day. With Cast of Thousands we came off touring from Asleep and just didn’t know where to start and so Cast was written under a lot of pressure. Leaders Of The Free World was written when our record label were just losing money and Seldom was written when we didn’t have a deal. This time it was a lot more relaxed because we have a record company behind us that works really hard and just leaves us to it, which is fantastic.”

The name Build a Rocket Boys! was taken out of the single ‘Lippy Kids’, in which lead singer Guy Garvey urges the young to strive for their dreams, asking: “Don’t they know those days are golden? Build a rocket, boys”. The whole album is suffused with memories from Garvey’s childhood.

But Turner denies this is a sore point for any of the band’s other four members. “Not really, because a lot of the period that Guy’s talking about is when we first started hanging out with each other – like ‘Jesus Is A Rochdale Girl’ is about an ex-girlfriend of Guy’s who we were all best friends with.

Even if it didn’t [relate to us], it wouldn’t worry us. We always say that Guy’s lyrics are 50 per cent of what makes our music the way it is.”

Build A Rocket Boys! is out now through Universal Music. reverb magazine issu e #058 — May 2011 17

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mag azine issue #058 — May 2011

No Place Like Home After making 2007’s Places Like This in New York, Architecture in Helsinki returned to their home studio to spend the next two years on their follow-up album. Nick Mackay spoke to vocalist Cameron Bird about the recording of the band’s new release, Moment Bends, and their upcoming Groovin The Moo appearances.

really great at giving us feedback and helping us realise our ideas, which was cool because it’s something that we had never really done before. We’ve always been very protective of our ideas and it was really nice to let go of that.

Why the big gap in time between your last record, Places Like This, and the new album, Moment Bends?

We really wanted to take a break from touring and enjoy being back in Melbourne, and… spend our time making a record that we were proud of and one that we wanted to release into the world.

So it was liberating in a way?

Yeah, for sure. And in that sense, I think we made something way stronger than we could on our own because we were able to let go of our inhibitions, in a way.

What was the reasoning behind recording Moment Bends in your own studio in Melbourne?

With the last record we wanted to try the experience of working with someone else in a studio environment that was foreign to us. That was an interesting experience and we probably weren’t that into that experience to be honest. It didn’t really allow the songs to develop in the way that we like them to, so it made sense for us to go into our own space and make the record on our own time and let the songs do their thing.

Making a record that way, on your own terms, do you feel like that is an easier or more effective creative process for you guys?

It’s just different. The last record was like, four weeks to record ten songs and you’ve got a really tight deadline and it’s just a different energy. This way means you’re not freaking out trying to get things done on time. We took two years making the album and that meant that each song got the attention it needed and all the parts were recorded properly and we were really happy with all the performances. This way we got to try different arrangements and different instruments and try things from different approaches, and I feel that we made

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a way stronger record because of that.

I really like the synth line that runs through ‘Contact High’. Have you guys had things like that lying around for a while or was it a matter of coming up with it all in the studio?

We always write in the studio. We never really write while we’re on tour or in the rehearsal room. Usually we’ll be having a jam on an idea for a song or there will be a vocal we can run with. For example, the synth line in that song was just a random occurrence one day when we were playing around with something and we kind of made the song out of that.

Listening to the album, it sounds like there’s a lot of 80s pop sensibility running through it — it has a very sunny sound. Were there any artists you were listening to while you were recording the album that had that kind of feel or that kind of influence?

The way we work and with our influences, we never really pick out one person or one song. It’s more like our experience of pop music that we loved growing up, or now, or whenever. It’s our experience of the music we love filtered through all of our ideas.

Hopefully the songs are more like a reflection of our collective pop experience and there are little bits of everything that we love in everything we do. That’s our formula, really.

What was the role of producer Francois Tetaz?

We kind of co-produced it with him. We would be working on something for a couple weeks and Frank would come in and say, “No, that sucks”, or “Yeah, that’s really good”. He’s

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Modular seem to be putting a lot of support behind this album. Can you talk about signing with them and how that relationship came about?

We have a lot of friends in other bands on that label and it just made sense for us.

They have a lot of great ideas and so it was an easy decision (to work with them).

We’ve always been a really hands-on band, and in a way we still are. We like to make decisions in regards to all the art for the record and the videos — that’s just a result of our coming from a DIY background and we’re never going to let go of that. Saying that, it’s really great to be able to work with people who understand what you are trying to do and where you’re trying to take things.

Are you looking forward to the Groovin The Moo shows?

Yeah, we’re super excited. We played the festival a couple of years ago and we’re looking forward to seeing some old friends on tour again and enjoying that atmosphere. It’s always good to see our mates like Cut Copy play, but there are a bunch of bands we’re looking forward to seeing.

Architecture in Helsinki will play at Groovin The Moo, Saturday May 7. Moment Bends is out April 8 through Modular.

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CENTRE STAGE The Aston Shuffle’s meta­morphosis from Canberra club/DJ outfit to electronic music producers has been spectacular. Vance Musgrove and Mikah Freeman swapped spinning vinyl for synthesisers last year, last month releasing their highly-anticipated debut album, Seventeen Past Midnight, to rave reviews. Georgina Bible caught up with Musgrove as the group made their way around the country to promote the album.

After years of doing time in the darkened depths of DJ booths around Australia, The Aston Shuffle caught the attention of label powerhouse Ministry of Sound, which signed them and set them loose on an assortment of remixes that included Pnau’s ‘Baby’ and Terry Poison’s ‘24 Hours’. Their ability to whip dance crowds to fever pitch was apparent on joining the festival circuit, earning them the title of Australia’s top DJs in the 2010 inthemix50 poll. However, it was their pairing with The Bloody Beetroots under the DESTROY alliance that sealed their credibility. Nonetheless, mixing and spinning the tunes of other artists was not enough for Musgrove and Freeman. The release of Seventeen Past Midnight, with tracks like ‘Wanna See You’, ‘Start Again’ and ‘Your Love,’ identified the pair as accomplished songwriters, with many critics welcoming them to the ranks of fellow Australian electronica wizards, Pnau, Cut Copy and Bag Raiders.

How did you make the jump from spinning records to recording music?

Mikah and I had been working together as DJs for a couple of years but we had both been mucking about producing our own music separately for some time before that.

So we had already cut our teeth as musicians on our own before we decided to write and record together. Luckily, we have pretty much the same taste in music so the songwriting process was not a struggle.

Your debut album Seventeen Past Midnight was released last month to critical acclaim. What is it like to see it out there in the shops?

It is great to see it out there, finally. It was a long process and it was an incredible relief to be done with it. There was a long incubation period with some of those tracks - some of them took a long time to ‘cook’ so to speak. It’s great that people have responded to it so well.

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Who or what would you count as your influences as songwriters?

We take a lot of inspiration from different places, not just from the electronic realm.

We both have similar tastes in music that cast a wide net. We are both hip hop fans as well as being fans of indie groups like Interpol. I was so excited when their last album came out. I’m a huge Interpol fan.

You have sampled the iconic Australian single ‘Streets Of Your Town’ by The Go-Betweens through the track ‘Round and Round’. How did that come about?

We are fans basically and as you said, it is an iconic Australian song. We wanted to sample something and we could not go past ‘Streets Of Your Town’ with it’s opening guitar loop. We are proud of what we have done with it.

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Groups like Cut Copy and The Presets are heroes to us. They have heralded a golden age of dance music in this country. I also like the Midnight Juggernauts.

You launched your live music show on New Year’s Eve at the Shore Thing party on Bondi Beach. Were you nervous?

I was terrified to tell you the truth — the sheer terror, nerves and anxiety was overwhelming. But the response we got from the crowd was amazing. Afterwards, I kept asking people, “Are you sure it was okay?” and everyone said we killed it. I know the nerves will dissolve as time goes by. Hopefully they will have dissolved by the time the next album comes out.

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The Aston Shuffle will be performing at Groovin The Moo, Maitland Showground, on Saturday May 7.

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reverb magazine issue #058 — May 2011 19

Making the move from their hometown of Byron Bay to the busy artistic streets of Melbourne in order to follow their hearts and pursue their dreams has paid off big time for Blue King Brown. SEAN FRAZER chats to Natalie Pa’apa’a about taking the band’s unique style of urban roots to the world.

You were overseas earlier this year and you played a few festivals, SXSW and the Canadian music week to name a few.

How was the response for you guys on the other side of the world?

It was really great. The tour we did was basically a showcase tour. We performed at industry showcase events in Toronto, Texas, and even made our way to France.

It’s always great to perform in front of a whole heap of people from other countries and spreading the word of Blue King Brown. We were away for three weeks, so it was quite short. We covered a lot of ground and got a lot done. We had a really great response and an awesome

20 reverb

mag azine issue #058 — May 2011

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experience.

I just watched the video of you guys collaborating with Gurrumul. How was it working with him?

It was great. I loved working with Gurrumul. He is such an incredible artist — he’s one of those unique talents.

He’s the kind of singer that you hear just once and fall in love with his sound and his art. We had performed that song [‘Gathu Mawula Revisited’] together at numerous festivals. Gurrumul loves playing with a big band and we’re all a part of the same kind of community. He wanted to play a song with us which was

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blue king brown

Blue King Brown perform at Newcastle Panthers on Saturday May 14; Bellingen Memorial Hall on Sunday May 15; Beach Hotel, Byron Bay, on Thursday May 19; Coolangatta Hotel on Saturday May 21.

PUTTING DOWN ROOTS so wicked! So we learnt one of his songs, then we jammed it and thought we should get him up. It was a great success so we decided it would be best if we headed into the studio with him and got the song recorded and made our own version of it.

It took you nearly two years to record and produce Worldwize. Do you feel the patience paid off?

The album was created over a two-year period. It was a real journey writing and recording the album because we sort of came into it saying to ourselves we’d just record 10 or 12 tracks, get it all finished and that would be it. As the first couple of weeks started to progress, we realised that

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it wasn’t going to happen. We threw out our timelines and restrictions and made a really clear decision to just keep working on it until it was ready. In between all the touring we had at the time too, it tossed us around… and threw a release date out of the picture for a bit. I really do not regret taking that long to record it, we were patient and I believe it paid off.

Blue King Brown has such a unique sound.

Who are you influenced by?

There is just so many. I guess the big ones would be Bob Marley, Santana, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and The Doors. The list could go on forever. We have a broad range of influences but I guess I was really

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appreciative of that era of music.

In the early days of the band, you guys moved from Byron Bay to Melbourne to pursue your musical careers. It’s such a big leap for a band – yet it obviously paid off for you. What is your advice for bands coming through nowadays to reach the goals you guys have?

You have to really believe. You have to think ‘where would be the best place to go to make my dreams possible?’. For us, Byron Bay had a great music scene and a great music community, but it’s only so big.

We needed to head to a city full of artists and get amongst the atmosphere of a larger base of creative people. A lot of

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bands can make it far just staying in their hometowns, and I don’t doubt that, but for us [moving] was the best thing to do.

What can fans expect to see on the upcoming May tour?

This is something that we are really excited about. It’s our first tour in about 18 months.

Sure, we’ve done tours here and there, all around the place but this is our first headline tour in so long. This is also the album launch for Worldwize, basically fans will get to hear a lot of the new songs from the album but we will have plenty of oldies in there as well. It’s a new energy, a new feeling and it’s a Worldwize party so everyone should get down!

reverb magazine issu e #058 — May 2011 21

album Reviews Feature albums

Floatingme

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3.5/5

3/5

Floatingme

The self-titled debut album from brand new Australian supergroup Floatingme is an astonishing example progressive rock. With Scarymother’s guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist, Cog’s drummer, and Karnivool’s bassist, this band is certainly not short of experience or talent. The first single, ‘Sugar,’ has a very similar style to Tool’s ‘Vicarious,’ with dark, ambient guitar manipulation and strong, low-pitched vocals creating a bleak but engaging atmosphere, only to be inverted by the track ‘The Beautiful Fall,’ which implements acoustics rather than distortion to create a softer mood and an added musical depth, making this album one of the most exceptional debut sounds of the year.

For fans of: Tool, Karnivool, Dead Letter Circus, Cog. ~Josh Clements

cage the elephant

Thank You, Happy Birthday sony

4/5

There is something Pixie-esque about Cage the Elephant’s second LP. It’s a rebellious album with no real theme (unlike their first self-titled album, which was much more white and driven), which gives it a bad-ass effect, perfect for listening to on shuffle. From the scary-rock ‘Indy Kidz’ to the screaming mess of other songs, the record ends gently, with the softer ‘Flow’ providing the bare minimum of balance. Thank You, Happy Birthday is basically, a fun, grungy collection of overbearing crescendos with not much of a story. Good psych-up music. ~Jamie Nelson

Joe Bonamassa Dust Bowl

J & R Adventures

4.5/5

As a listener with a penchant for heavier and fastersounding music, listening to Joe Bonamassa’s latest offering was refreshing. Kicking off with the rockin’ blues track ‘Slow Train’, I was instantly won over. Not only do Bonamassa’s vocals shine through but his guitar work is in the league of greats such as BB King and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Dust Bowl is an album for any mood, featuring guests such as Anton Fig who is best known for drumming on Kiss’s most successful Australian releases Dynasty and Unmasked, the album also features Ex-Black Sabbath/Deep Purple vocalist Glenn Hughes, drummer Chad Cromwell and country singer/songwriter Vince Gill, to name just a few. Stand-out tracks include ‘You Better Watch Yourself’, ‘Black Lung Heartache’ and ‘Heartbreaker’. Produced by Kevin Shirley, who has worked with Aerosmith, Iron Maiden, Journey, Cold Chisel and The Screaming Jets, Dust Bowl is certainly Bonamassa’s finest work to date. ~Cameron Edney

22 reverb

magazine issue #058 — May 2011

Bad Machines

On Bad Machines, Shane Nicholson dives headfirst into the modern country waters that he tested on previous releases, Rattlin’ Bones and Familiar Ghosts, both of which flirted with a country aesthetic. This album could be considered his confirmation: Nicholson sounding unashamedly country, while retaining enough of his rock and roll pedigree to avoid being lumped in a bracket with singers such as Lee Kernaghan. Nicholson shares more with overseas contemporaries Zac Brown and Scott Avett, navigating both tender ballads (‘Whistling Cannonballs’) and tempestuous rockers (‘Music Is Dead’) with a deft touch. ~Max Quinn

No Color

Bowen and the Lucky Dutchmen

Hailing from San Francisco, upcoming indie-folk group Dodos have always struggled to project themselves out of the ‘supporting act’ category and ascend into a headlining position, with four good, but not quite amazing albums. No Color is their latest release and their best recording to date.

From the affluently named and incredibly catchy track ‘Good’, to the Celtic-inspired ‘Sleep,’ Dodos have managed to combine a musical atmosphere commonly linked to pure folk music into a more alternative form appropriate to the current trend of indie pop. While this album isn’t one that will launch them into the spotlight, it might recruit a few fans here and there. For fans of: Local Natives, Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes. ~Josh Clements

IndependentI

Tim & Jean

Like A Queen 4/5

Hailing from the Hunter Valley, Bowen and the Lucky Dutchmen have crafted an impressive debut EP, Like a Queen.

Opening track ‘You’re Under Fire’, evokes the ’60s in the first 20 seconds, with bluesy riffing that unfolds into funky grooves and front man Alex Bowen’s chorus screams, “You’ve got the face of a cold woman.”

Drummer Thomas Green cuts a rhythmic swathe across the EP, contributing Hammond organ and alto sax as Tom ‘Red’ Atkinson plays up smart bass lines, slapping and popping on the unpredictable fan favourite ‘Sea of Shepherds’. The EP highlight is the funky ‘The Come Down’, featuring a brass section headed by Simon McCabe from Newcastle funk band Funkwit, swinging in true Stevie Wonder style. The great thing about Bowen and the Lucky Dutchmen is that their songs don’t stick to conventional, metronomic drum beats, guitar parts don’t sound mapped out

by MIDI and the vocals are forceful and heartfelt. Like a Queen is unpredictable on the first listen and captivating on repeat. ~Matt Petherbridge

Deerhoof

Deerhoof Vs Evil Polyvinyl

2/5

Think organs and glockenspiels, add LP scratching and electric guitar and coat with a fine layer of delicate vocals: that about sums up Deerhoof vs. Evil, the latest offering from Californian art-pop group, Deerhoof. It’s a light and summery album, with jangly and clashing melodies that give the collection a carefree feel. The song lyrics are disjointed and repetitive, shaped around phonetic sounds rather than the meaning of the words. A mixture of genre influences can be identified throughout the album, as well as within each song. The tracks jump between time signatures, volume levels and intensity with sporadic outbursts of thrash metal within a soundtrack of intricate Spanish guitar and soft vocals. It’s definitely art-rock, it’s definitely Deerhoof.

For fans of Spiderbait, Menomena. ~Jess Saxton

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Like What

Mercury/Universal

4/5

Since Tim & Jean’s impressive performance at last year’s Fat As Butter festival, their debut release has been highly anticipated. Like What does not disappoint, with its youthful and summery electronically-warped pop, which manages to feel futuristic and nostalgic at the same time. ‘I Can Show You’ gives off a euphoric vibe with its kaleidoscopic keyboard awesomeness, and the somewhat saccharine lyrics are perfect sing along material. You won’t be disappointed in this album if you feel like a dance, or just a touch of disco-esque optimism to brighten your day. ~Jamie Nelson

Guineafowl Hello Anxiety

Due Process/Universal

4/5

Guineafowl, originally the solo, bedroom recording project of Sydneysider Sam Yeldman, has blossomed exponentially into a six-piece indie ensemble with one of the freshest and most invigorating sounds of the year.

Guineafowl’s debut release Hello Anxiety earmarks them as one of the greatest new bands to hit the scene. Each of the five tracks on the EP are infused with the dream-pop styling of Cloud Control or Beach House, with dark, husky vocals reminiscent of Tunde Adebimpe, lead singer of TV On The Radio. The reverberated distortion is soothing and, at the same time, uplifting, beneath the pulsating percussion-based beats.

Hello Anxiety is easily accessible for all audiences and paves a positive path for the musical talent encapsulated in Guineafowl. For fans of: Cloud Control, Beach House, Jinja Safari, Local Natives. ~Josh Clements

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Six organs of admittance Asleep On The Floodplains Drag City

4/5

Six Organs of Admittance, the solo project of psych rocker Ben Chasny, has returned with its first album in two years and it has been totally worth the wait. If anyone has any claim to the musical workaholic tag enjoyed for so long

by Guided by Voices front man Robert Pollard, it’s Ben Chasny. From SOOA, to projects like Comets on Fire and Rangda, Chasny’s output has been substantial. The question is: is any of it any good? Well, if Asleep on the Floodplain is anything to go by, the answer is a resounding ‘yes’. This album is all about atmosphere. From Bert Jansch-esque finger-picking, to minimalist arrangements that have feedback and sparse piano lines creeping in and out of your consciousness, it almost feels as if Chasny is in the room with you. The dense 12-minute epic ‘S/word and Leviathan’ is a hugely absorbing aural experience and lends a cerebral quality to the album. For those who are familiar with SOOA, this may very well be the most cohesive and complete album since 2007’s Shelter of the Ash. For those that aren’t, Asleep on the Floodplain is the perfect place to start. ~Stephen Bissett

Smith Westerns Dye It Blonde Spunk/EMI

3.5/5

Rocking a sound that is well before their time, it’s difficult to believe the four Chicago-based lads that make up Smith Westerns are barely out of their teens. Dye it Blonde, the young band’s sophomore release, takes a step back in time — blending glam and garage rock with Brit and power pop. The result is a meticulouslycrafted album, rich in killer harmonies, upbeat tempos, light, dreamy vocals and an overall clean and polished vibe. Beginning joyously with the youthful ‘Weekend’, the record immediately establishes itself as a great summer soundtrack. Latter tracks ‘Fallen in Love’ and ‘Smile’ are equally uplifting, especially in their use of glimmering, fuzzed-up guitar. While not as endearing as their messy self-titled debut, all up Dye it Blonde makes for chilled, easy listening.

Toe-tapping, perhaps even head-nodding, will ensue. For fans of: David Bowie, T. Rex, Teenage Fanclub, Suede. ~Lee Tobin

Morning After Girls Alone

Xemu Recordings

4/5

This tranquil, almost meditative music entices feelings of lust, infatuation and the nervous excitement of falling in love, while taking the listener on a soothing journey of peace and relaxation. What could be described as passionately sombre film music, Alone shows off The Morning After Girls as talented songwriters and performers. Best heard in a dark room with scented candles. ~Ash Gray

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album Reviews album of the month

Jamie Hutchings

Unwritten Law

Patrick Wolf

Laughing Outlaw

Suburban Noize/Shock

Speak N Spell/Inertia

The Ground Cries Out

4/5

3/5

4.5/5

Riverland Music/MGM

Avalon Cassettes

Avalon Cassettes is the third solo album from Bluebottle Kiss front man Jamie Hutchings. Bluebottle Kiss began somewhere back in the 90s and released a swag of albums and EPs across two decades. Throughout that period Hutchings meticulously carved out a signature sound with his unique voice and guitar tones, making musical comparisons superfluous. This album stands up as a masterpiece amongst his sprawling catalogue. Australiana themes abound — ‘Slack Magic’ set in Taylor Square, the history of an Oz icon in ‘Smoky Dawson’, ‘Ned Kelly Indoors’ infused with Bacharach-style backing vocals, or the husband and wife argumentative banter on the duet ‘When It’ll Blow’. Percussion rattles alongside field recordings of thunder and birdsong; bass lines and piano snake their way through the light and darkness of 10 perfectly crafted songs. ~Roger Thornhill

Dropkick Murphys Going Out In Style Dew Process/Universal

3.5/5

While their adept songwriting is intact, Dropkick Murphys seem somewhat less sincere this time around. Perhaps it’s because this album, the band’s seventh, is a work of fiction.

Going Out In Style is a concept album which tells the tale of Cornelius Larkin, figment of the band’s collective imagination, conceived from Irish folklore.

For all its creative merit — the album is engaging and full of solid hooks — the experience feels more distant than some of their stellar prior albums due to its cumbersome approach to storytelling. The gems merit a listen, especially the Poguesinspired ‘Broken Hymns’, not to mention guest appearances by a cast of big names from Fat Mike to Bruce Springsteen. But this isn’t quite the Murphys’ best work. ~Michael Sykes

Panic! at the Disco Vices and Virtues Warner

4/5

Panic! At the Disco have found a compromise between their early scene-pop and the heavilyorchestrated baroque twist of their second album Pretty Odd, with their latest release, Vices & Virtues. But not without some experimental meanderings. Lyrical stumblings notwithstanding, departing band members Ryan Ross and Jon Walker aren’t missed.

Songwriter Brendan Urie proves more than capable of constructing heady, hooky songs, from the phenomenal lead single ‘The Ballad of Mona Lisa’ to the New Wave-tinged ‘Ready to Go (Get Me Out of My Mind)’.

The album covers much ground, and is all the better for it — a veritable menagerie of instruments cameo on the album, fitted perfectly by the near faultless production work of John Feldmann and Butch Walker who prove themselves well aware of the dynamics needed to consummate a great album. ~Michael Sykes

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Swan

The boys from Poway, California are back with their latest release Swan. It’s been six years since these guys have pressed some punk rock on to a CD and it’s the first time drummer Dylan Howard gets a decent turn to showcase his style to UL fans. It’s still the expected Scott Russo lyrics - singing about women, talking alcohol and battling his addictions for the next cheap thrill. With only the slightest change in direction since the band’s early days, former fans should approve. It may sound a little overproduced for a well matured punk band but the usage of added effects in songs like ‘Nevermind’, go to show the ever changing swing in the punk era these days. Track ‘Dark Dayz’ packs an early day punch for the early day listeners. ~Sean Frazer

Rise Against Endgame

DGC Records / Universal Music

3/5

Endgame is a solid album, sticking to Rise Against’s usual formula of big choruses, breakdowns, and politically-charged lyrics, dulled somewhat by the repetitive nature of the music. While some songs are undeniably catchy, singer Tim McIlrath’s vocals rarely step out of his hard-edged style, and apart from a few cool riffs, the band sticks to bland punk structures.

Single ‘Help is on the Way’ is a standout, but overall the album’s positive message is diluted by the unoriginal music accompanying it. ~Matt Glen

peter Bjorn and John Gimme Some Cooking Vinyl/Shock

3/5

After experimenting with an edgier, darker sound on their last record Living Thing, Peter Bjorn and John are back to doing what they do best — writing catchy pop songs.

The band’s latest offering, Gimme Some, harks back to what fans were first introduced to on their breakthrough album Writer’s Block, with pulsating beats, distorted riffs and distinctly melancholy vocals. The album opens strong with ‘Tomorrow Has To Wait’ — relentless drumming, reminiscent of a marching band, giving way to a chorus of lush melodic vocals. The stand-out track and first single from the album, ‘Second Chance’, features an unbelievably catchy hook and infectious cow-bell percussion. After this however, the album loses momentum and, apart from a brief recovery with the short and snappy ‘Breaker Breaker’, doesn’t pick up again until the second-last track. The result is a record with memorable pop songs and lacklustre material in equal parts. For an album that takes off with such a bang, I was left feeling slightly underwhelmed. ~Amelia Parrott

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Lupercalia

This is the second half of Wolf’s double album, begun with 2009’s The Bachelor.

Lupercalia means ‘a festival of love’, and Wolf tackles the theme successfully, preventing the album from descending into standard pop with his oddball charm and impressive musicality. Wolf’s deep voice soars, beautifully aligned with the positive feel of the music, and in contrast to his previous album’s darker bent.

The album starts upbeat with ‘The City’, setting the tone for the rest of the album. But after four songs Wolf wisely takes the love-thang down a notch, slowing things down with the beautiful ‘Armistice’. ‘Together’ is a standout, with its glorious finale recalling Muse’s ‘Exogenesis’ symphony. Perhaps the only weak point is closing track ‘The Foundry’, which returns to the upbeat tempo of the start of the album, but lacks the potency of the preceding track, ‘Together’. This does not deter from the fact that this is Wolf’s most complete album yet, and is even more impressive when listened to with its twin. A very accomplished work. ~Matt Glen

The Mountain Goats All Eternals Deck Merge/Remote Control

3.5/5

The resolutely lo-fi Mountain Goats bring to mind another prolific, ironic, American outfit — They Might Be Giants. Also indie darlings and poets of the bespectacled Mac-book proletariat, the Giants’ sardonic ballads were predestined to adorn the soundtracks of hip TV sitcoms (Doogie Howser and Scrubs). Darnielle, a prodigious poet, elevates the lives of his indie-peers in this bright, long, indie-opus, with exhortations to the sleepy middle class: “Rise if you’re sleeping, stay awake — we are young supernovas and the heat’s about to break”, amid self-conscious prevarications (“sometimes a great wave of forgetfulness rises up and blesses me”) and the same robust declamatory as The Hold Steady. ~Mick Daley

Low

C’Mon

jeff martin 777

4/5

This is the sound of a man who has learnt to embrace his past and look ahead with refreshing sentiment. It’s also the story of how Jeff Martin got his groove back. The Ground Cries Out is a stomping return to form from the former Tea Party front man, and from the opening title track it’s clear that Martin is letting his influences shine – that mix of middle eastern instrumentation and Led Zeppelin-ish bluesy swagger dominates throughout, aided by dashes of rootsy shamanism. Tracks like ‘The Cobra’ are reminiscent of his old band circa The Edges Of Twilight – its rhythm augmented by an orchestral groove and that rich, burning baritone that Martin is well recognised for. Whether engaging us with the gorgeous instrumentals of ‘The Mekong’ or the pleading alt-rock sounds of closer, ‘The Pyre’, Martin continues to weave a musical mythology that should satisfy old fans and entice new ones. ~Paul Frost

Colin Hay

Gathering Mercury Lazy Eye/Compass

4/5

Former Men at Work front man Colin Hay has released his eleventh solo album Gathering Mercury.

Enjoying a career renaissance off the back of his guest appearances on TV comedy series Scrubs, Hay is much more focused on gentler vocal melodies these days.

However, his quirky lyrical tendencies shine brightly on the jazzy ‘Family Man’, the reflective sway of ‘Invisible’ and the organ-flashed reggae-pop of ‘Far From Home’. Gathering Mercury is predominantly acoustic based, but you can hear remnants of Men At Work guitar in the finger-picking delicacy of ‘Dear Father’.

Highlights include the opening track ‘Send Somebody’, the laid-back groovy croon of ‘Half a Million Angels’ and the gentle rhythm chug in ‘A Simple Song’. Hay cements his status as a great songwriter with this album. While Gathering Mercury may not have mass commercial appeal, it is definitely an interesting listen. If you’re a fan, don’t deny yourself the pleasure. ~Matt petherbridge

duran duran

Sub Pop/Inertia

All You Need is Now

3.5/5

S-Curve Records/Shock

Few bands have made a career of crafting dense, thoughtful tunes better than Low and their latest release does nothing to tamper with their signature shoe-gazing sound. ‘Nothing but Heart’ is a frantic, eight-minute Crazy Horse tribute, while closer ‘Something’s Turning Over’ borders on the folksy best of The Jayhawks.

But it’s the third cut, ‘Witches’, that really got the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. From the searing guitar/vocal harmony of the opening refrain to the most scathing tongue-in-cheek line Low has ever put to record, “All you guys out there trying to act like Al Green/ you’re all weak”, the song is a flawless example of how comfortable Low is in their own skin. ~Nick Mackay

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2.5/5

As one of the most successful and notable bands of the 1980s, Duran Duran have certainly had their fair share of hits. Unfortunately, with the hits come a few misses. And new album All You Need Is Now is an all round miss. The tracks ‘Return To Now’ and ‘Leave A Light On’ are the highlights of the album, offering a more acoustic and atmospheric approach to their sound. Although some may enjoy the cheesy 80s sound, the time and place for it has well and truly passed. ~Josh Clements

reverb magazine issue #058 — May 2011 23

NEWCASTLE Don’t forget — Live & Local every Wednesday night 1 May 4 May 5-6 May 7 May

Tony Joe White Eric Bibb James Reyne The Brewster Brothers play Dylan 8 May Mother’s Day lunch w/ Katie Noonan & Karen Schaupp 11 May Jeff Martin 13 May Tim Finn 15 May Absolute 80s 20 May Tour de Force tribute show 21-22May Richard Clapton 24 May The Sowers Group 25 May State of Origin, live on the biggest screen in Newcastle 27 May The Idea of North 28 May Dave Graney with The Lurid Yellow Mist 29 May The Flood w/ special guests, The Pardoners 2 Jun Adalita 3 Jun Joan As Police Woman 4 Jun Bondi Cigars 5 Jun My Friend the Chocolate Cake 10 Jun Diesel 11 Jun The Grigoryan Brothers 12 Jun Mark Seymour 14 Jun Kinky Friedman and Van Dyke Parks 15 Jun Finbar Furey & Brendan Grace (Ire) 16 Jun The Radiators 17 Jun Grace Knight 18 Jun The Black Sorrows 23 Jun Benjalu 24 Jun Big Biz Comedy Night w/ Darren Carr 25 Jun Lisa Edwards 26 Jun Amber Lawrence & Paul Costa 29 Jun Clare Bowditch

For bookings and information, phone (02) 4956 2066 or visit lizottes.com.au

gig Guide Newcastle Sun, May 1

Great Northern Hotel, Newc

Grand Junction Hotel, MaitLAND

King Street Hotel, Newcastle

Gum Ball Recovery Party w/ Eagle and the Worm + The Firemen

Lass O’Gowrie Hotel, Newcastle The Adventure Spirit + Amy vee

Lizotte’s, Kincumber David Ross Macdonald + Heath Cullen

Lizotte’s, Lambton Sydney Opera House

Lizotte’s, Lambton

DJ Minx

Lizotte’s, Kincumber James Reyne + Jess Chalker The Brewster Brothers play Dylan

Maitland Showground

Mon, May 2 Sydney Opera House

Civic Theatre, Newcastle

Wickham Park Hotel, Islington

David Strassman - Chuck’s Revenge

Tues, May 3 Lizotte’s, Kincumber

Andrew Clermont’s BluGuru

Grand Junction Hotel, MaitLAND Ngariki

Hamilton Station Hotel

The Holidays + Long Island Sound +

Silver Lizard + Prevailing Disorder +

Eric Bibb + Blackbirds

Wed, May 4

Pawnmagz

Karuah

Playtapes + Sampology + UNKLE +

Karuah River of Music w/ Birdbath +

Washington + The Wombats

Seven Seas Hotel, Carrington

The Eastern + BeeGeesus

Lizotte’s, Kincumber

Hank Green’s Blues

Jont

Stag & Hunter Hotel, Mayfield Josh Callaway

Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle

Fri, May 13 Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle

Hugh Cornwell + The Dark Shadows

British India + Boy In A Box + City Riots

Great Northern Hotel, Newc

Civic Theatre, Newcastle

Merewether Fats

David Strassman - Chuck’s Revenge

Lizotte’s, Kincumber

Enmore Theatre, Sydney

Smokey Den + Ashley Knight +

Gary Numan + Severed heads

Hamilton Station Hotel

Chris Wallace + Candice Miller

Lizotte’s, Lambton Eric Bibb + Blackbirds

Metro Theatre, Sydney The Go! Team + Purple Sneaker DJs +

Ignite The Ibex + Osmium Grid +

Against Me!

Sun, May 8

Daemon Foetal Harvest + The Seer

Karuah

Thur, May 5 Gallipoli Legion Club, Hamilton The Lawnmowers + Andrew Clermont’s BluGuru

Grand Junction Hotel, MaitLAND Jez Mead

Bluegrass Band + Dear Orphan +

Against Me! + Off With Their Heads +

Stockton City Ramblers +

Like Alaska

Gleny Rae & Her Tamworth Playboys +

Catherine Hill Bay Hotel

The Do Riders + Perch Creek +

Peter Healey’s Phat Magpie

Josh Bennet & Parvyn Singh +

Grand Junction Hotel, Maitland

Pucko & Wal + The Lawnmower + Fat Wombat + The Goat Trio

8 Ball Aitken

Kantara House, Green Point

King Street Hotel, Newcastle

Lulo Reinhardt

Lizotte’s, Kincumber The Brewster Brothers play Dylan

Lizotte’s, Lambton James Reyne + Jess Chalker

Oxford Art Factory, Sydney Datarock

Lizotte’s, Kincumber

Wax Motif

Lizotte’s, Lambton

James Reyne + Jess Chalker

Lizotte’s, Lambton

Tim Finn + Steve Parkin

Newcastle Entertainment Cent

Katie Noonan + Karen Schaupp

Patonga Hotel

Katy Perry

Stag & Hunter Hotel, Mayfield

Peter Healey’s Phat Magpie

Fri, May 6

Mon, May 9

Acer Arena, Sydney

Enmore Theatre, Sydney

Maroon 5

Shawn O’Friel

State Theatre, Sydney Ben Folds + Kate Miller-Heidke

Swiss Musiq Hank Green’s Blues

Great Northern Hotel, Newc The Little Stevies + Gossling

Hamilton Station Hotel To Kill A Sunrise + All In A Year

Jack’s Bar, Erina

Sydney Opera House

Bar on the Hill, Newcastle Uni

The Graveyard Train

Sat, May 14 Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle Betty Airs + Funkwit

DJ Project X

Swallow Your Pride

The Graveyard Train

Karuah

Metro Theatre, Sydney

Karuah River of Music w/ The Eastern + Hardrive Bluegrass Band + Gleny Rae +

Darwin Deez

The Lawnmowers + Dear Orphan +

Wed, May 11

Sat, May 7

Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle

Big Top, Luna Park, Sydney

Civic Theatre, Newcastle

Bob Corbett & The Roo Grass Band + Slickville Pickers + The Stomp Kats + Burnt Creek Deviation + The Newcastle Ukestra

Centre Section

Kyuss Lives! + Tumbleweed

Caledonia Hotel, Cessnock 8 Ball Aitken

David Strassman - Chuck’s Revenge

Great Northern Hotel, Newc

Lizotte’s, Kincumber Jeff Martin

James Reyne + Jess Chalker

Civic Theatre, Newcastle

Civic Theatre, Newcastle David Strassman - Chuck’s Revenge

Lizotte’s, Lambton

King Street Hotel, Newcastle

David Strassman - Chuck’s Revenge

Great Northern Hotel, Newc

Grant Smillie

Lizotte’s, Kincumber

The Hatty Fatners

Download Page

Scott Carne (Kids In The Kitchen) Timmy Trumpett + Tenzin

Wickham Park Hotel, Islington Steve Edmonds

Mon, May 16 State Theatre, Sydney James Blunt

Tues, May 17 State Theatre, Sydney James Blunt

Wed, May 18 Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle Dali’s Angels

Hunter & King

Tues, May 10

Bowen and the Lucky Dutchmen +

Grace Knight

Dale Ryder (Boom Crash Opera) +

Jade Gannon + Jacob Pearson +

Machine + The Phat Controller +

Lizotte’s, Kincumber

Brian Mannix (Uncanny X-Men) +

Nick and Liesl album launch +

Unkle

Shane Hutter & The Daydream

Storyline

Casey Donovan

Lizotte’s, Lambton

Red Spencer + Rockets

DJ Dexi + DJ Scott Beker + Dj Perko +

Laycock Street Theatre, Gosf

Catfish Soup

Lizotte’s, Kincumber

Lizotte’s, Lambton

Enviktas + Jupiter Menace +

King Street Hotel, Newcastle

David Strassman - Chuck’s Revenge

Grand Junction Hotel, MaitLAND

Joe Bonamassa

Metro Theatre, Sydney

Hunter TAFE Band Comp w/

Jellyfish

Civic Theatre, Newcastle

Great Northern Hotel, Newc

The Drums

Grand Junction Hotel, MaitLAND

Sun, May 15

Civic Theatre, Newcastle

The Wombats + Tortoiseshell

Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle

Afro Moses

King Street Hotel, Newcastle

Karuah River of Music w/ Hardrive

Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle

Fishing

Afro Moses

Hardrive Bluegrass Band +

Drapht + Dr Don Don + The Drums +

Nina Las Vegas + The Jezabels +

Ben Folds + Kate Miller-Heidke

Gallipoli Legion Club, Hamilton

House Of Pain + Horrorshow +

Herbie Hancock

Paul Nickerson

State Theatre, Sydney

The Aston Shuffle + Beats Working +

The Go! Team + Gotye + Gyroscope +

Nick and Liesl + Sarah Humpreys

Thur, May 12

Groovin The Moo w/ Art Vs Science +

Cut Copy + Darwin Deez + Datarock +

Blue King Brown + Diafrix

Stag & Hunter Hotel, Mayfield

Jeff Martin

Lizotte’s, Lambton

Newcastle Panthers Rhythm Hut, Gosford

Rocwater

Birds of Tokyo + Blades + Bliss n Eso +

Herbie Hancock

Amy Vee

mag azine issue #058 — May 2011

Amy Vee + Renny Field + Sass +

AC Slater + Architecture In Helsinki +

Tony Joe White

Stag & Hunter Hotel, Mayfield

24 reverb

Lizotte’s, Kincumber

Mark Olsen

Download Issue

Tim Finn + Steve Parkin

King Street Hotel, Newcastle Borgore Sound of Dubstep

Thur, May 19 Bar on the Hill, Newcastle Uni Over-Reator

Cessnock Performing Arts Cent David Strassman - Chuck’s Revenge

Lizotte’s, Kincumber Katrina Burgoyne

Fri, May 20 Beach Hotel, Merewether Mind Over Matter

Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle Trial Kennedy + Numbers Radio

Grand Junction Hotel, MaitLAND The New Christs

Great Northern Hotel, Newc The Good Ship + The Early Birds + Gay Paris Follow us on Twitter

gig Guide North Hamilton Station Hotel Chambers Of Insanity + Hazmat + War Faction + The Paradox Unseen

King Street Hotel, Newcastle

Sun, May 1

Laycock Street Theatre, Gosf David Strassman - Chuck’s Revenge

Lizotte’s, Kincumber

Richard Clapton

Lizotte’s, Lambton Tour De Force

Maitland City Bowling Club David Strassman - Chuck’s Revenge

Northern Star Hotel, Hamilton

Coolangatta Hotel Hoey Moey, Coffs Harbour

Gee Whiz, Blush Nightclub, Gosf

Lalaland, Byron Bay

The Vanguard, Sydney John Grant

Neverland Bar, Coolangatta

Amy Meredith + Tonight Live

Grand Junction Hotel, Maitland Great Northern Hotel, Newc Nova & the Experience + Lime Cordiale

The Fig, Port Macquarie

Hamilton Station Hotel

The Family Clam + Maxine Kauter

Lizotte’s, Lambton

Goddomination + Sabretung

The Idea of North

Kantara House, Green Point Taylor and the Makers Dennis Boys Band

RnB Superclub

Lizotte’s, Kincumber Tour De Force

Lizotte’s, Lambton Richard Clapton

Newcastle Panthers Bleeding Through + Confession + The Wonder Years

Stag & Hunter Hotel, Mayfield Bob Corbett

April Maze

Tired Minds

Lizotte’s, Kincumber The Idea of North

Lizotte’s, Lambton

Grand Junction Hotel, Maitland The Yearlings + Laneway

Lizotte’s, Kincumber Brian Cadd + Russell Morris

Lizotte’s, Lambton Richard Clapton

Wyong Leagues Club

Simone Smith

LaLaLand, Byron bay Rhys Bynon + Miles Jr.

Lennox Point Hotel The Re-Mains

Port Macquarie Hotel

The Radiators

Fri, May 6

Laycock Street Theatre, Gosf

Australian Hotel, Ballina

Propagandhi

Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle The Delta Lions

Great Northern Hotel, Newc

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22 Jun

Kinky Friedman and Van Dyke Parks

30 Jun

Clare Bowditch

2 Jul

Jeff Lang

Mick McHugh

Tattersalls Hotel, Lismore

Bec Laughton + DJ Slinky

For bookings and information, phone (02) 4368 2017 or visit lizottes.com.au

Kathryn Hartnett

Lismore Workers Club The McClymonts + McCalister Kemp

Sawtell RSL

Mind Over Matter

Dave Mitchell + Rowland Stones

The McClymonts + McCalister Kemp

Heartbreak Club

16-17 Jun The Black Sorrows

Discrow + Daniel Webber

Zebyah

Cex, Coffs Harbour

Boy and Bear

Diesel – solo & incredible

Lennox Point Hotel

Bonny Hills Hotel

Bar on the Hill, Newcastle Uni

12 Jun

Lisa Edwards

Matt Southon

Downstairs Mixup

Brewery, Byron Bay

10-11 Jun Mark Seymour

26 Jun

LaLaLand, Byron bay

Beach Hotel, Byron Bay

Tues, May 31

The Grigoryan Brothers

The Flood

Brewery, Byron Bay

Barrel House

Boy and Bear

Bar on the Hill, Newcastle Uni

9 Jun

24 Jun

Rowland & Shekinah Moye

Glenn Massey

Ballina RSL

Wed, May 25

Adalita

Sawtell RSL

Beach Hotel, Byron Bay

Occarock

The Sowers Group

5 Jun

Gershwinesque

Ballina RSL

Tues, May 24 Lizotte’s, Lambton

Bondi Cigars

23 Jun

Sun, May 8

Tacking Point Hotel

David Strassman - Chuck’s Revenge

3 Jun

John White

Troupador

David Strassman - Chuck’s Revenge

Abby Dobson

Younger Dryas

Slipway Hotel, Ballina

The Flood + The Pardoners

29 May

Yamba Bowling Blub

CBD Dub Project

Abby Dobson

The Idea of North

Greenthief

Slipway Hotel, Ballina

SCU Unibar

Lizotte’s, Lambton

Nambucca Heads RSL Nimbin Hotel

The McClymonts + McCalister Kemp

Steve Edmonds

28 May

Akmal

Port Macquarie Panthers

Lizotte’s, Kincumber

the Lurid Yellow Mist

Great Northern Hotel, Byron

Greg Kew

Ben Martin

Front End Loader + The Momos

Dave Graney &

Vaudeville Smash

Hoey Moey, Coffs Harbour

Over-Reactor + One Eyed Kings +

Kent Hotel, Hamilton

27 May

Australian Hotel, Ballina

Beach Hotel, Byron Bay

Matt Southon

Great Northern Hotel, Newc

Russell Morris

Tres Hombres

Pacific Hotel, Yamba

A French Butler Called Smith

Sat, May 7

Henry Rous Hotel, Ballina

Eric Bibb + Blackbirds

Grand Junction Hotel, MaitLAND

Brian Cadd &

Thur, May 5

Memorial Hall, Bellingen

The Dandy Warhols

22 May

Beach Hotel, Byron Bay

The Claymores + Slug

Enmore Theatre, Sydney

Sun, May 22

Lismore Workers Club

GollaN Hotel, Lismore

Sun, May 29

Tour de Force

Robert Keith

Akmal

Paul Nickerson

21 May

Well Hungarians

Club Taree

Dave Graney & the Lurid Yellow Mist

Richard Clapton

Ballina RSL

Kindread

Stag & Hunter Hotel, Mayfield

The Yearlings

Jeff Martin 777

Bill Chambers + Ashleigh Dalla

Safe Hands + Statues + Caverns +

20 May

Bill Chambers + Ashleigh Dalla

Kasey Chambers + Shane Nicholson +

Hamilton Station Hotel

No Frills Dubstep

Katrina Burgoyne

Kasey Chambers + Shane Nicholson +

Elyjah McLeod

Jackson Firebird + Homeless Yellow +

Woodport Inn, Erina

19 May

Greenthief

Italo Club, Lismore

Great Northern Hotel, Newc

Casey Donovan

Coast Road

Kyuss Lives! + Fort

Front End Loader

15 May

Little Big Fish

Great Northern Hotel, Byron

Grand Junction Hotel, Maitland

Tim Finn

Slipway Hotel, Ballina

The McClymonts + McCalister Kemp

Young Revelry

James Reyne

Jont

Seaview Tavern, Woolgoolga

Akmal

Jebediah + Violent Soho +

Parkway Drive + You Me At Six +

Mother’s Day night with

14 May

Twin Towns, Tweed Heads

Coolangatta Hotel

8 May

12 May

Cex, Coffs Harbour

Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle

James Reyne

Jeff Martin

Tattersalls Hotel, Lismore

Club Forster

7 May

10 May

Wed, May 4

Sat, May 28

Grace Knight

Handsome Young Strangers

Drunken Monks

Hugh Cornwell

Woodport Inn, Erina

6 May

Kira Puru and the Bruise +

SCU Unibar

Sawtell RSL

Shawn O’Friel

Lass O’Gowrie Hotel, Newcastle

Port Macquarie Hotel

Secret Squirrel

Andy Burke

Stag & Hunter Hotel, Mayfield

Altowave

sawtell hotel

Beach Hotel, Byron Bay

Dave Graney & the Lurid Yellow Mist

Sagacity + Reign of Terror +

Matt Southon

Tues, May 3

Lizotte’s, Kincumber

play Dylan

Designer Drugs

Carly O’Rourke + Rowland Stones

Great Northern Hotel, Newc

Blackwater Fever

The Brewster Brothers

Neverland Bar, Coolangatta

Clay Blyth

Botanics

5 May

Stiff Gins + Ilona Harker + Garrett Kato

Sawtell RSL

Pegz + Dialectrix + Dutch

Eric Bibb

Mullumbimby Civic Hall

NT89

Pacific Hotel, Yamba

Grand Junction Hotel, Maitland

Gypsy and the Cat

And Oh! + Ryan Rushton

Lennox Point Hotel

Holly Throsby

Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle

Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle

LaLaLand, Byron bay

Memorial Hall, Bellingen

Fri, May 27

Sat, May 21

Polaroid Frame

Jiri The Bouncin’ Czeck

Jon Lajoie + Beached Az

3 May

Great Northern Hotel, Byron

Discrow + Daniel Webber

Newcastle Leagues Club

Matt Purcell

Akmal

Lennox Point Hotel

The Yearlings + Laneway

Geoff Turnbull

Glasshouse, Port Macquarie

Simone Smith

Heartbreak Club

every Wednesday night

Heath Cullen + David Ross McDonald

Thur, May 26 Lizotte’s, Kincumber

Don’t forget — Live & Local

Courthouse Hotel, Mullum Federal Hotel, Bellingen

Hugh Cornwell

Lizotte’s, Lambton

Over-Reator

Stag & Hunter Hotel, Mayfield

Headaches

Fyna Walk + DJ Captain Kaine

David Craig + Bonic

Starfuckers

Lizotte’s, Kincumber

Frenzal Rhomb + The Quickening +

Beach Hotel, Byron Bay

Rebecca Henry + Jaime Pearson +

CENTRAL COAST

Coolangatta Hotel

The Fig, Port Macquarie Graham Cain

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reverb magazine issue #058 — May 2011 25

gig Guide North (cont.)

reverb

MAY AT THE AUSSIE

Wed, May 11 Panthers, Port macquarie

SATURDAY 7 WELL HUNGARIANS 7:30 PM

V Man & Cruz + Daniel Webber + Deegs + Captain Kaine + Buzz

SATURDAY 14 BO JENKINS DUO 7:30 PM

Beach Hotel, Byron Bay

Beach Hotel, Byron Bay

Bellingen Memorial Hall

Jack and the Giant Killers

Coolangatta Hotel Suicidal Tendencies

Nimbin Hotel

SATURDAY 21 THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS 7:30 PM

SATURDAY 28 SIDESHOW & AL FISK 7:30 PM

Port Macquarie Hotel April Maze + The Havelocks + Andrew Cousins John Butler Trio + Husky

SCU Unibar Rochelle Lees + DJ Maxim

Slipway Hotel, Ballina Matt Buggy

Hearts + Rargo

Sawtell RSL Peter Powers

SCU Unibar Mr Speaker

Seaview Tavern, Woolgoolga King Street

Slipway Hotel, Ballina

Late For Woodstock

Kamikazi Thunderkats + Bats Vs Snakes

Sat, May 21

Coolangatta Hotel

Australian Hotel, Ballina

A Day To Remember + Underoath

Wed, May 18 Brothers Grim + Graveyard Train

Ballina RSL

Phil Mayer

Tattersalls Hotel, Lismore

Tues, May 17

Panthers, Port macquarie

The Living Daylights

Club Forster David Strassman - Chuck’s Revenge

Coolangatta Hotel Blue King Brown + Diafrix

Coorabell Hall A French Butler Called Smith + Colourfide

Battle of the Bands Heat Two w/ Purple Sheep + Hands of Ruin +

Henry Rous Hotel, Ballina

Suspended In Disbelief

The Hard Word

Beach Hotel, Byron Bay Tin Can Radio

Rails, Byron Bay

Due Wave

Hoey Moey, Coffs Harbour

Matt Southon

Cockatoo

SCU Unibar

Little Fish

Italo Club, Lismore

University of Errors + Girl With Cake

Cabarita Beach Sports Club Bluesville Station

Great Northern Hotel, Byron Husky + M Jack Bee

Hoey Moey, Coffs Harbour Matty Effin Morrison + Beggars Orchestra + Local Resident Failure

Lennox Point Hotel

Mazstock 2011 w/ Kim Salmon & Leanne Chock (The Scientists) +

Thur, May 19

The New Christs + Six Ft Hick + Hits + The Re-Mains + Den Hanrahan +

Beach Hotel, Byron Bay

Screamin Stevie’s Australia + Brut 66 + Leadfinger + Black Ghost Party +

Blue King Brown + Diafrix

Byron Bay High School

The Black Stars + The Sunrose +

Parkway Drive + You Me At Six +

Stone Mountain + The Dunhill Blues +

Bleeding Through + Confession +

The Antibodies + The Claymores + Slug + Dead Sun

The Wonder Years

DJ Kendall James

Port Macquarie Hotel The Strides

GollaN Hotel, Lismore

Lennox Point Hotel

The Dunhill Blues

Sawtell Hotel

Great Northern Hotel, Byron

Geoff Turnbull

Mumbo Jumbo

Sawtell RSL

Tiki Taane

SCU Unibar

Tony Harvey

Lismore City Hall

Headphone Symphony Shy Baby

Slipway Hotel, Ballina Tattersalls Hotel, Lismore

Port Macquarie Hotel Beth and Rob

Hammers

David Campbell Inside Outlaw

Slipway Hotel, Ballina

Australian Hotel, Ballina

Treehouse, Byron Bay

Bo Jenkins

Richie Williams Matt Southon

Phil and Gaz

Federal Hotel, Bellingen Slim Jim and the Boney Hard Men

Henry Rous Hotel, Ballina

Sun, May 22 Beach Hotel, Byron Bay Late For Woodstock

Great Northern Hotel, Byron Front End Loader

Hoey Moey, Coffs Harbour Ben Francis

Fri, May 20

Lennox Point Hotel

Australian Hotel, Ballina

Sawtell RSL

Dan Grace

One Two Many

Ballina RSL Rochelle Lees

Beach Hotel, Byron Bay

Trip Kicks

Tattersalls Hotel, Lismore Devolved + Widow The Sea +

Sat, May 14 Ballina RSL

Borgs and Reidy

Rubix Cuba + Heartbreak Club +

SCU Unibar

In-Cyde

Slipway Hotel, Ballina

My Friend the Chocolate Cake

Sawtell RSL

Chris Aronsten

Great Northern Hotel, Byron

Leigh James + Cheap Fakes

Rebecca Hayes + Rowland Stones

Wed, May 25 Rails, Byron Bay

Brewery, Byron Bay

Rob Saric

Hoey Moey, Coffs Harbour Mind Over Matter + Coptic Soldier + Johnny Utah

Cornerstone Roots

8 Ball Aitken + Mark Easton

One Bar Nightclub, Lismore RnB Superclub

Nick and Liesl

Panthers, Port macquarie

Burringbar Sports Club Matt Southon

Lennox Point Hotel

Cabarita Beach bar Mason Rack

Cex, Coffs Harbour

Battle of the Bands Grand Final

Thur, May 26 Ballina RSL

Rick Price

Sawtell RSL

The Big Gig w/ S Sorrenson

Coolangatta Hotel

Dave Strauss

mag azine issue #058 — May 2011

Jamie Robbie Reyne and the Broken

Dex De Rosa + Rowland Stones

Australian Hotel, Ballina

Beach Hotel, Byron Bay

Tiki Taane

Slipway Hotel, Ballina Slim Pickins

Andrea Soler

Federal Hotel, Bellingen

Diggers tavern, Bellingen

DJ Bisho

Tattersalls Hotel, Lismore Tin Can Radio

The Yearlings + Laneway

Port Macquarie Hotel

Sawtell RSL

Beach Hotel, Byron Bay

Daevid Allen & the University of Errors

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Vanessa Lea + Road Train

Fri, May 13

GollaN Hotel, Lismore

103 River Street, Ballina Ph 02 6686 2015 www.theaussiehotel.com

Blue King Brown + Diafrix

Mullumbimby Drill Hall

Hoey Moey, Coffs Harbour

Matt Southon

Seaview Tavern, Woolgoolga

FRIDAY 27 ADAM BROWN & THE DIRTY CHANNEL 8 PM

Lisa Hunt + DJ Longtime

Altowave

Lennox Point Hotel

Matt Southon

Bonny Hills Hotel

FRIDAY 20 ONE TWO MANY BAND 8 PM

Sun, May 15

Thur, May 12

Port Macquarie Panthers

FRIDAY 13 LATE FOR WOODSTOCK 8PM

G Funk + LT80 + Kendall James +

Battle of the Bands Heat One w/

Ciarn Gallagher

Lennox Point Hotel

Trip Kicks w/ Thomas J + Oshi One +

Josephine March + Internal Decent + Vandals Gone Vagabond +

FRIDAY 6 OCCAROCK 8 PM

The Backroom, Byron Bay

8 Ball Aitken

Great Northern Hotel, Byron

Glasshouse, Port Macquarie

Black Stars

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Nimbin Hotel Nick and Liesl

Port Macquarie Hotel Rockethead + Angie Swannell + Bel Woods

SCU Unibar Sista Ray + M-Phonic + Balance + Lucious Deed + Thundacat MC

Fri, May 27 Australian Hotel, Ballina Adam Brown & the Dirty Channel

Beach Hotel, Byron Bay Round Mountain Girls

Bonny Hills Hotel Glenn Heath & the Deep Blue Sea

Great Northern Hotel, Byron Hungry Kids of Hungary + The Chemist + Andy Bull

Hoey Moey, Coffs Harbour Jon Lajoie + Beached Az

Lennox Point Hotel DJ Penny Drops + Kendall James

Port Macquarie Hotel Matt Collyer and the Company

Seaview Tavern, Woolgoolga 8 Ball Aitken

Tattersalls Hotel, Lismore Jamhog + Atorado + Arrowhead + Van

Sat, May 28 Australian Hotel, Ballina Sideshow + Al Fisk

Attic Nightclub, Taree RnB Superclub

Beach Hotel, Byron Bay Botanics

Cex, Coffs Harbour David Strassman - Chuck’s Revenge

Coolangatta Hotel Propagandhi

Flynns Surf Club, Port Macq Abandon All Hope + Trainwreck + Endless Heights

Lennox Point Hotel Broadfoot

Mullumbimby Civic Hall Vince Jones

Sawtell RSL 8 Ball Aitken

Slipway Hotel, Ballina Toke

Tattersalls Hotel, Lismore The Delta Riggs

Yamba Bowling Club Little Big Fish

Sun, May 29 Glasshouse, Port Macquarie The Bar at Buena Vista

Great Northern Hotel, Byron The Delta Riggs

Hoey Moey, Coffs Harbour Vanessa Lea + Road Train

Lennox Point Hotel Luke Yeaman

Lismore Workers Club David Strassman - Chuck’s Revenge

Port Macquarie Ent Centre Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow

Sawtell RSL Brett Thomas

The Fig, Port Macquarie Matt Collyer

Mon, May 30 Port Macquarie Ent Centre Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow

David Strassman - Chuck’s Revenge

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Shane Nichol son — Propagandhi

Was it important for you to change the recording process from the way you did things on Familiar Ghosts?

I find that every project I undertake is a reaction to the previous one. Familiar Ghosts was an album that I recorded entirely by myself, with set rules about the number of takes I could attempt and the number of days I had to record. So for this record, I got all of my friends to come and play with me over four days in my home studio. It was all about trying to foster a whole bunch of outside influences and emotion, so it sounded like there was less Shane. Bad Machines was almost antiproduced in a way, because I sat in with the band and recorded and played it all live.

Looks like I’ve caught you at the beginning of a pretty busy time. What will the next couple of months have in store for you?

Probably a lot more of the same. We’re doing a lot more touring, getting out and about and trying to cover as much ground as we can, in the time we have.

After Rattlin Bones, you toured on Familiar Ghosts, and in between I think you’ve been doing some studio work producing for other artists. Is that right?

I have been doing quite a lot of studio work between tours. Touring is still a priority for me — it’s my bread and butter. I really enjoy working in the studio, but it’s not a priority for me. I do it as a hobby within the music realm that gives me real pleasure outside of touring. I love writing songs and making records, and then touring on the records that I have — that’s the cycle, and I’m really looking forward to getting back to it.

Do you think that having your head in other people’s music as a producer lends vitality to your own writing?

In a roundabout way it definitely does. It gets me out of my own headspace. It’s very easy, as an artist, to be consumed by your own thoughts and your own work — it’s the nature of the beast. Working on other projects, I get to enjoy the creative process without the added pressure of it being all about me. I think you’re probably right.

Being an outsider in someone else’s creative process does give you some objectivity when you come back to your own material.

I guess that leads us to the new album. Tell me a little bit about it.

Kicking Against the Machines Shane Nicholson is one of the foremost singer-songwriters in the Australian music industry. His studio albums have been lauded with critical praise, earning him numerous Golden Guitar awards and an ARIA, with wife Kasey Chambers, for 2007’s Rattlin Bones. Nicholson spoke with Max Quinn on the eve of a national tour in support of his new LP, Bad Machines.

This is probably my most ‘country’ record in some ways. I think that since Rattlin’ Bones, people have thought that I’ve been moving into country music [for the first time]. [But] my first three records, which are certainly more mainstream-sounding rock records, actually have hallmarks of country music all over them. I’ve flirted with country music for a long while

because I grew up listening to it, so I don’t think it’s as big a shift for me as people would have you believe. At home, we listen to bluegrass and country and Kings of Leon and don’t think twice about it. We’re very anti-label people in that way, and that’s why I don’t think about whether or not I’m making a ‘country’ album when I’m writing.

I understand you stashed yourself away in a cabin in the Hunter Valley to write the majority of Bad Machines. Why did you decide to do that?

I decided to book a little house in the Hunter Valley and write to a deadline, which I’d never done before. I didn’t finish many songs on that trip; the point was to attain the essence of every other song on the record. I sat by myself near an open fire with some wine until I found the essence of each song – the illusive, special moment where the light bulb comes on. I like to set new challenges to send my writing into uncharted territory. Luckily, I feel like it worked this time.

Shane Nicholson, along with Kasey Chambers, Bill Chambers and Ashleigh Dalla will be performing at the Lismore Workers Club on Wednesday May 4, and Twin Towns, Tweed Heads on Friday May 6.

to corporate sponsorship.

Have you given much thought to how filesharing will affect the music industry?

Sharing music is how you heard about bands in the 80s. When we grew up, you would buy a CD, tape it, and give it to your friend. The 90s were skewed in how bands perceived their success. Record labels were making money hand-over-fist and they are now getting what they deserve – they are essentially being eviscerated and they should have thought about this when they were selling CDs for hyper-inflated prices.

A band like ours has never sold a ton of records, but fans will always find a way to support us – if they download the music, they’ll either buy a shirt, or go to a show.

We should celebrate it.

It has been three years since you came down under — what brings you back?

We had such a good time last year that we couldn’t say no. We have a lot of good friends from back in the 90s that we would love to see if we can. A chance to come to Australia just seemed like a no-brainer.

You were once voted the worst Canadian in history.

I was voted second-worst. A prestigious history magazine was conducting a poll to see who was the worst Canadian in history.

People were sending in names of tyrants and serial killers, so I mobilised our fan base to vote for me. I was beaten by former prime minister Pierre Trudeau. He’s dead, so I’m the worst living Canadian.

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SUPPORTING THE CAUSE Propagandhi is one of the bastions of the radical punk movement. For almost 30 years, the Canadian four-piece outfit has fought political corruption and social injustice both on and off the stage. And next month, they will return to preach to their antipodean flock. DARREN PAULI finds out if the fire still burns within front man Chris Hannah.

Between the homogenised Hollywoodborne bands dubbed ‘punk’, and others who have cut their radical roots, do you think the power has been stripped from the punk movement?

A lot of the Californian punk seemed to be involved in the transition of what punk meant to us in the 80s, to what it meant in

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the 90s which was a lot different. It seemed to become about consumerism, clothing and skateboards. At the time I thought it was some sort of injustice to call what was happening punk rock. But now I see so much of it as engaging and compelling music. Yet I think it’s art in general that has sold-out — it is more and more indentured

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The band dedicated nine months to create Supporting Caste, and it has a heavier sound to it than your previous work.

When we were kids in the 80s, it was mostly speed metal that we would listen to.

We thought we would be a cross-over band as it was called, half metal, half punk. It was just me and the drummer [Jord Samolesky] neither of us could sing like Tom Araya from Slayer — we were pathetic. Then we veered to sound more like Bad Religion’s Suffer record which came out around that time. The metallic elements became more confident and maybe more compelling than they used to be once we got better at singing and better instruments.

Propagandhi will play at Bar on the Hill, Newcastle Uni, on Wednesday May 25, and Coolangatta Hotel on Saturday May 28.

reverb magazine issu e #058 — May 2011 27

gary numan — new york dolls

Machine Man Long before Daft Punk narrated the challenges of living life as an android, Gary Numan asked the world ‘Are Friends Electric?’ way back in 1979.

Numan is widely credited as the pioneer of the electronica genre with his use of synthesisers, fed through guitar effect pedals, creating his trademark metallic sound. To celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of his groundbreaking release, The Pleasure Principle, Numan will return to Australia this month to play the album in its entirety. Gary Numan caught up with GEORGINA BIBLE on the eve of his visit.

Gary Numan’s fascination with dystopian science fiction, exploring themes of depersonalisation and alienation, made him an instant hit when tracks like ‘Cars’, ‘Metal’ and ‘Are Friends Electric?’ first hit the airwaves in the late 70s and early 80s.

Numan’s exploration into the world of Minimoog synthesisers and Polymoog keyboards would pave the way for the synth-pop acts that were to follow, such as Depeche Mode and The Human League.

However, his synth anthems still serve as an inspiration to a multitude of rock n’ roll royalty today, with names like Dave Grohl, Beck and Trent Reznor citing Numan as a major influence. Numan’s back catalogue is impressive with more than 20 albums under his belt. But it’s his earlier offerings, including The Pleasure Principle, which define a moment in music history.

You have a loyal legion of ‘Numanoids’ here in Australia who are elated at the prospect of hearing The Pleasure Principal in its entirety. How has the tour been

is laziness to stop work before midnight.

I have read Reznor wants to record with you. Is there anything in the pipeline?

Not as yet. Trent has been busy with several projects over the past year or so, including the soundtrack to The Social Network. But right now, my wife and I are trying to sort out our green card applications. It’s more likely to happen with Reznor if we are living near LA.

received so far?

It was only ever going to be one show, so for it to become this life-consuming adventure is just brilliant. We did a big tour of the USA and Mexico late last year and the response was fantastic.

Have you and your wife thought about moving to Australia?

Yes (laughs), but the States is better work-wise.

We had an amazing time the last time we toured Australia in 2009. That tour would have to be in my top three. The crowds were fantastic. I came away thinking that Australians are so positive. Somehow, I had this belief that Australians did not like English people.

What has it been like introducing your music to a new generation?

I think we might have picked up a few new fans along the way. There has been an even mix of ages at the shows — people that were around when the album was first released as well as younger people who might have first heard of us from working with people like Trent Reznor.

Can fans expect to hear other tracks aside from those on The Pleasure Principle on this tour of Australia?

Yes they can. There will be a few surprises in there, and not just tracks off Replicas and Telekon. But I’m not going to tell you what they are. People will have to come along to one of the concerts and see.

It’s icons like Trent Reznor and Dave Grohl who said your music has been a major influence. How do you feel about being held in high esteem by such music legends?

It is rather flattering really. But one of the best outcomes is that I got to perform with Nine Inch Nails. Trent Reznor is an inspiration as a musician, he is so driven. He thinks it

Gary Numan will be performing at the Enmore Theatre, Sydney, on Friday May 13.

How did Dancing Backward in High Heels come about? david Johansen Well, first can I say this is positively Orwellian… We got a phone call from our management and they said ‘you guys have to make a record now’. So then we busily got to work, at least Syl did.

And then came up with some really beautiful melodies and arrangements.

Then we went into the studio in Newcastle, England, and started recording them. After

magic that way. You’re just going to re-create your demo.

SS On our past record we did it kind of live. This particular record started off from the demos, and that was like our track number one, and everything else was sort of layered on top of it. We really made magic that way. We had an incredible producer (Jason Hill) who really understood what was to be. He could sort of hear the tracks finished in his head.

DJ We made the drums sound like cardboard boxes, which is the sound I like.

[Syl starts cracking up] SS We tweak the piano until it starts sounding like a guitar, then we know we’re ready.

DJ Get the saxophone sounding like an automobile.

SS Exactly. Like David said, cardboard boxes was the inspiration for this album.

There are few bands that have influenced a whole era of musicians, but the New York Dolls are one of them. Founding members David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain talk about their just-released fifth album, Dancing Backward in High Heels, their third since reuniting in 2004.

Dolls in High Heels three weeks of intensive, creative working, we came out with this masterpiece.

easy — when it’s easy, it’s fun, not premeditated.

Has the songwriting process remained the same throughout your career? Or did it change at all for the new record?

Sylvain Sylvain We don’t hold ourselves to any particular way to do it — it’s always open. And creativeness is just a flowing thing. We’re not trying to put borders on ourselves. What gives us a headache, we kind of put aside. We like

Obviously you guys write songs together, what’s that process like? Do you throw ideas back and forth?

SS Yeah, you know we really don’t have a set pattern, we do the creative thing; we try to stay clean to any sort of premeditated thing, set by the audience or ourselves. We just kind of keep the creative process open and we usually don’t have anything ready

28 reverb

mag azine issue #058 — May 2011

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until we go to the studio. We tell our managers and record companies ‘oh man, we are so ready’, but we’re usually not. It’s so much better this way, you just create and it’s not like ‘show me the demos’, you know?

So, sometimes it pays to not be ready?

DJ The studio is like another element that takes you with it, so whatever’s happening you start following that, and if you don’t follow that, and you stick to what you planned out, you’re never going to find

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Who are some of the artists that inspired you when you first started?

DJ When we were kids we liked soul music like Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding, and we liked girl group music and doo-wop music, and we liked British invasion music…

SS [interjects] …rockabilly... We threw it all together, and that was when it was all about stadium rock, and rock songs twenty minutes long. We thought the industry was really mundane at that time, and said, ‘Hey! Let’s put on a show [pause]… but where are we going to get a curtain? Well, I think my mum has one…

DJ But where are we going to get a dress?

Wait… I think your mum has that, too.

Dancing Backward in High Heels is out now through Universal Music.

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joe bonamassa

LIVE AT THE STAG FRIDAYS 06 MAY 13 MAY 20 MAY 27 MAY 03 JUN 10 JUN 17 JUN 01 JUL 08 JUL

Modern Guitar Hero After mesmerising audiences at last year’s Bluesfest with his electrifying take on blues-rock, Joe Bonamassa is returning to blow us away all over again.

Nick Milligan speaks to the guitar-master about his new record, Dust Bowl.

Blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa was born into a family of musicians and grew up with a guitar in his hand. But the man widely considered a modern master of the instrument denies his destiny was pre-ordained. “I definitely had a leg up because my parents were very supportive of music and my dad ran a guitar shop, and I come from a musical family,” says Bonamassa, who is in Michigan on tour. “But I don’t think it was pre-ordained in any sense of the word. Truth be told, I was handed a good opportunity [but] I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t love it. You can grow up in the guitar business and hate guitars. I eat, breathe and sleep guitars. I love them. It’s my whole life. It defines who I am.”

A 30-year veteran of the art, Bonamassa, now 33, denies he was a child prodigy. “I did have to practise very hard. It’s 90 per cent work ethic and 10 per cent natural ability,” he says.

Following on the success of his first Australian tour last year, during which he performed at the Byron Bay Bluesfest, the New York native is returning to Australia in May to support Dust Bowl, his 12th release since his 2000 debut record, A New Day Yesterday. “Peter Noble is a cool guy,” says Bonamassa, of the Bluefest organiser.

“He puts on a nice festival. We did two or three headline gigs [in Australia] and then we did our gigs at the festival. We were really happy with it. There is definitely a market [for what we do]. I think we made some new fans, but I think we also discovered that we had some fans [there] to begin with. It was a really nice way to get acquainted with Australia.”

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As a young guitarist, it didn’t take Bonamassa long to gain a profile. He first supported BB King at the age of 12 but his blistering approach to blues-rock is influenced more by British legends than his American compatriots. He lists Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, John Mayall and Irishman Rory Gallagher as formative influences. After his tour of Australia, Bonamassa is off to England to perform with Cream’s Jack Bruce. “I’m really excited,” he says. “He invited me to play with his band. It’s a 50th anniversary of British blues that they’re doing. That’s wicked.”

After three decades of writing music for the guitar, Bonamassa is still evolving.

“Going back to my earlier work, I found I was eager to impress,” admits Bonamassa.

“I was beating you over the head with the guitar. There’s a certain charm to that, but there’s not a lot of musical depth in [it]. As I age and accept my place in the world, I’ve found I’m less eager to play bigger notes.”

Dust Bowl is a dark, eclectic record that traverses blues, country and hard rock.

Lyrically, Bonamassa weaves stories into his epic arrangements. “I’m trying to be deeper. Trying to really get deeper and more into the whole art of saying something with words, rather than bellyaching about past relationships,” explains Bonamassa. “I’m getting tired of listening to myself bellyache, so other people must be tired of it.”

Joe Bonamassa performs at Newcastle’s Civic Theatre on Wednesday, May 18.

Tickets are available through Ticketek.

Dust Bowl is out now.

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FROM 7.00PM

AMY VEE SHAWN O’FRIEL MATT PURCELL SHAWN O’FRIEL MATT PURCELL ADAM MILLER AMY VEE NICK SAXON AMY VEE

SATURDAYS 07 MAY JOSH CALLAWAY 14 MAY PAUL NICKERSON 21 MAY BOB CORBETT 28 MAY PAUL NICKERSON 04 JUN BOB CORBETT 11 JUN DANIEL MARCH 18 JUN ADAM MILLER 24 JUN DANIEL MARCH 02 JUL JOSH CALLAWAY 09 JUL MATT PURCELL SUNDAYS 25 JUN

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187 MAITLAND ROAD, MAYFIELD PH 02 4968 1205 WWW.THESTAG.COM.AU Download Issue

reverb magazine issue #058 — May 2011 29

dance NewsDANCE NEWS VIVID LIVE

Curated by Steve Pavlović, Sydney’s upcoming Vivid Live festival will feature Cut Copy, Bag Raiders, The Swiss and The Avalanches (who will do a DJ set). It’s no coincidence that ten of the acts named are from Pavlović’s label, Modular. That hasn’t made for some happy times for Pavlović in the press. designer drugs

DESIGNER DRUGS

US electro wiz kids, Designer Drugs, remixing for the likes of Little Boots, Treasure Fingers and Flo Rida, are set to release their debut album, Hardcore/Softcore on Downright through Ministry of Sound later this year. They will be here in May for two weeks of hectic club shows.

MUSTARD PIMP ARRIVE

The Dim Mak-inspired hard-edge electro duo, Mustard Pimp, will be touring Australia through May. Most major cities will be graced with their presence, save for Darwin and Hobart. Releasing on Steve Aoki’s banger-factory, their debut will be out soon.

CREAMFIELDS BRINGS THEM IN DROVES

You may not be able to make it to the festival but Creamfields is bringing Deadmau5, Skrillex, Gabriel & Dresden and Martin Solveig to the stage, along with techno masterclasses from Kevin Saunderson and D e r r i c k M ay. Fi n g e r s c r o s s e d f o r sideshows!

Sae InStItUte BYron BaY oPen DaY MaY 28 11aM-3PM

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bag raiders

BAG RAIDERS REMIXED

While they have been etching out a name for themselves on the Australian circuit, it would seem Bag Raiders have made an impression across the seas as well. This month ‘Sunlight’, the latest single from their debut will be released and the 12-inch is full of remixes. Armand Van Helden is just one of those who have put up their hands to add some colour to the singles Bag Raiders are releasing.

JULY Intake enroLLIng now

R.I.P. DJ MEGATRON

Following on from last months loss of Nate Dogg, hip hop is copping it on the casualty front with DJ Megatron shot and killed on Staten Island. He was a DJ, producer and rapper as well as radio personality. Two men have been charged in conjunction with the shooting.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK

e InFo For Moonbray.sae.edu

No, not the abhorrent 80s group, rather literally Perth 4-piece Scenic have been the latest announcement on Future Classic’s roster of artists. French disco pioneer Joakim released their first single, ‘This Can’t Be’, on his Tigersushi label. ‘Another Sky’ is the next single they are working on and is set to be released around June.

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6000 Call: 6639

HENRY SAIZ

Following on from Balance 018 put together

by Nick Warren, Henry Saiz from Spain is set to mix it up with Balance 019. Remixes are blended with some originals and he has brought along friends in the form of Jesse Somfay, Marc Marzenit, Dosen and Spada to join him on his house-driven quest. The release is set for June.

PAUL KALKBRENNER RETURNS

European dance music star Paul Kalkbrenner proved his worth in Australia with a run of shows in Sydney and Melbourne, garnering a massive audience along the way. With this latest tour in aid of his Berlin Calling soundtrack, Kalkbrenner is pleased to announce he has another release set to drop shortly. Icke Wider looks set to be released in June.

RnB SUPERCLUB volume II

Known throughout the southern hemisphere as the biggest R&B club event, RnB Superclub has attracted a legion of loyal and dedicated disciples across the country through its live events. Mixed by DJ G-Wizard and DJ Def Rok, RnB Superclub Volume II has just been released, and the Superclub embarks on their sixteenth national tour, playing One Bar Nightclub, Lismore, on Saturday May 14; Woodport Inn, Erina, on Friday May 27; Attic Nightclub, Taree, on Saturday May 28; Fannys, Newcastle, on Saturday June 11.

RAW 2011 RELEASE AND TOUR

Everyone’s favourite dance floor radio station, Raw FM, is celebrating the release of its brand new mix compilation Raw 2011, and they are getting ready to bring you the massive official launch party and live broadcast event. Direct from Sydney, Raw’s own musical maestro and top shelf DJ/remixer Chris Fraser is jetting in to smash the CDJs with a super charged set of big room bangers and deadly electro. The Raw 2011 launch parties will be held at the Woodport Inn, Erina, on Friday May 20; Fanny’s, Newcastle, on Saturday May 21; Altitude, Port Macquarie, on Friday May 27.

RAW FM’S HOTTEST TRACKS OF THE MONTH

David Guetta Ft. Nicki Minaj & Flo Rida ‘Where Dem Girls At’; LMFAO - ‘Party Rock Anthem (Audiobot Remix)’; Pitbull Feat.

Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer - ‘Give Me Everything (Tonight)’; The Immigrant - ‘Summer Of Love (She Said) (Angger Dimas Remix)’; Foo Fighters - ‘Rope (Deadmau5 Remix)’; John Dahlback, Tommy Trash & Sam Obernik - ‘Come Undone’; PNC - ‘That Kinda Guy’; Britney Spears - ‘Till The World Ends (Bloody Beetroots Extended Remix)’; Drop The Lime - ‘Hot As Hell (Mensah Remix)’; Kelly Rowland ft. Lil Wayne - ‘Motivation (Diplo Remix)’

CRICOS: 00312F (NSW) 02047B (VIC) 02431E (WA) Please contact relevant campuses for further information regarding open days, tours, course programs and FEE HELP options.

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mag azine issue #058 — May 2011

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j mascis — mick harvey

Lighter Shade of J J M a scis, front man of legendar y 9 0s gr unge rockers Dinosaur Jr, is famed for his louder -than-loud g uitar distor tion and r ippling feedback . However, Mascis’s latest a lbum and first or igina l solo effor t , Several Shades of W hy, sees him ascend to the ran ks of the acoustic gods . Georgina Bibl e caught up w ith Mascis to discover the cause of his conversion .

There is no doubt that J Mascis is a guitar genius. However, his wizardry has been defined as much by the volume of its delivery as his ability for rip-the-roof-off rhythm and melody. Legendary guitar makers Fender rewarded his dedication to the craft in 2007 by releasing the J Mascis Signature Jazzmaster, complete with specific modifications requested by Mascis himself.

This is why the release of Mascis’s first original solo effort has created such a stir.

The album features ten tracks that mark a sharp departure from the monolithic riffs and convulsive power of most Dinosaur Jr offerings. Several Shades of Why is an acoustic masterpiece, dappled with shades of English folk and echoes of west coast melody. Mascis’s ability to switch genres not only serves to reiterate his supernatural gift for the guitar but opens up his genius to a wider audience.

I had been planning to record an acoustic album for a while. Things had been quiet with Dinosaur for some time, which gave me the time to focus on the album.

It’s been 15 years since your last acoustic effort, Martin + Me, which was largely reworkings of Dinosaur Jr classics with the occasional cover. Why an original solo album now?

What is apparent on listening to Several Shades of Why is the folk influences, particularly English folk. Nick Drake comes to mind on listening to the title track. Are you a fan?

Yes, I’m a fan. I got into Nick Drake a long time ago after a friend suggested I check him out. He’s got so popular now after the Volkswagen ad here in the States (which features the track ‘Pink Moon’). It’s sad that he didn’t get the recognition while he was alive.

You have been touring to rave reviews around the US, though some critics have commented on your apparent discomfort performing as a solo artist. Do you enjoy taking to the stage alone?

It is pretty hard, in a way. There is a lot of pressure involved when you are entertaining people.

You have worked with some interesting names to create Several Shades of Why, including Kevin Drew from Broken Social Scene and Ben Bridwell from Band of Horses. How did this come about?

I asked a whole bunch of people if they wanted to play on the album and most of them said ‘yes’. People recorded me a bunch of stuff and I picked out what I liked.

One reviewer commented that you hardly said a word between songs.

Yeah, I’m not so good at small talk. I would like to be better at small talk because it can get a bit awkward if there is too much silence between songs. I think I will have to work on it.

How do you think collaborating with a variety of musicians affected the album?

I think working with other musicians has helped to create different atmospheres throughout the album. This can be difficult to achieve when you are working alone.

Can Australia expect to see you soon, either as a solo act or with Dinosaur Jr? I’m not sure either way. I have heard rumblings of a tour but nothing is definite.

The next album will probably be a Dinosaur Jr effort but we have not started recording.

Several Shades of Why out now through Inertia.

Bad Seed Bears Fruit Resigning from Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds was always going to be a calculated risk, but for Mick Harvey, Cave’s right hand man and the architect of much of the band’s success, it has been an irresistible opportunity. Releasing his first album of original material, Sketches From The Book Of The Dead, and coproducing an album with PJ Harvey, Let England Shake, have been the first fruits of his life, post-Bad Seeds. Mick Harvey tells Mick Daley why leaving the band to record his own album was such a good idea.

“It was definitely a positive thing for me,” says Mick Harvey, on his 2009 split from the Bad Seeds after a 36-year collaboration with Nick Cave. “It’s freed up my mental state… and the Bad Seeds should never have felt like an encumbrance. In an odd way the Bad Seeds is still the band that I started playing with at school, which is probably hard for Nick to fathom, because he would have felt that it had changed a lot. But for me it was still effectively the same band.”

The cessation of such a crucial chapter of his life is reflected in the album, a meditation on death — and how it reaches in to life. All 11 songs tell of deaths that have had a profound effect on Harvey, including that of Roland S Howard, the subject of ‘October Boy’, who, ‘born a little pointed’, was a seminal member of the Birthday Party and helped create the scene that Nick Cave came to dominate.

“It’s not about grief,” observes Harvey. “The album’s about the more long-term aspects of death. The age I’m at, you’re more aware of people going, the inevitability of certain things. It’s more about what you continue living with long after the fact.”

While writing these stories in the shadows of PJ Harvey and Cave may have

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been daunting, Harvey found the rest of the process easy. “I didn’t struggle with this album at all — it seemed quite obvious how to sing the songs. I suppose I needed to be careful about trying not to be stagy. With the subject matter the emotion comes naturally. For me the lyrical component of the song is really the fundamental thing that you can work the music around. I’m afraid working with Nick Cave for so long and working with Polly Harvey, it’s impossible to ignore the words. They’re just too strong.”

The stories evolved organically, through family connections and such objects as a collection of leather-bound books that came to Harvey from a soldier who had died in action at Passchendale. “A lot of the songs I was able to write with scraps of information, bits and pieces of memories.

Being inside them didn’t require an explanatory story. Where they are specific, the memories and feelings that I have about those people wouldn’t make sense unless I told the stories.”

Based in Melbourne, Harvey tours through Europe and beyond for around three months a year. He is also revelling in his new

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freedom to spend more time at home. “I do stay pretty busy but I also like not being busy. I’ve gotten better at saying no. But time off doesn’t make me feel uncomfortable.”

As for the future, Harvey is content not to speculate. “I don’t really plan too far ahead.

I’ll think about what I’m going to do next year and whether I can be bothered — I usually [can be].” Meanwhile Harvey will launch his album at venues in Melbourne and Sydney

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in May, with a national tour later in the year.

And wherever it leads him, he will certainly be following his uncannily successful creative instincts. “If the balance doesn’t feel right in a creative endeavour then it’s time to move on,” he says. “Making music is the important thing.”

Sketches From The Book Of The Dead is out now through EMI

reverb magazine issue #058 — May 2011 31

hous e of pain — C avale r a Cons pir ac y

Jump Around with House of Pain

Other than Anthrax and Public Enemy’s collaboration ‘Bring The Noise’, House of Pain has one of the most seminal rap-rock songs ever made, in the Butch Vig remix of ‘Shamrocks and Shenanigans’. I don’t think we’d need to do one again. I think the raprock movement spawned about five good bands and 600 bad ones! [laughs].

I understand you had a heart attack when you were younger. What happened exactly?

I didn’t technically have a heart attack — I had a heart valve transplant, because my heart valve was torn. It wasn’t a wake-up call or anything, I just had a birth defect that finally caught up with me. I was lucky enough to have the right surgeons in place to help me at the right time. People that have had the exact same thing are dead. I was a little bit worried for a while. I almost died and I’m lucky to be alive.

Seminal rap-rock band House of Pain are back together and heading down under as part of the Groovin The Moo festival in May. Matt Petherbridge spoke to front man Everlast about the band’s reformation, their influence on the rap-rock era and his nearfatal heart valve transplant.

How does it feel to be together as House of Pain after all these years?

Well, Danny Boy (House of Pain hype man), DJ Lethal and I have been working together for the past five years in (side project) La Coka Nostra. People would see us together in La Coka Nostra and ask, “Hey, would you guys do a House of Pain show?” It’s interesting now, because we’ve got the full band together.

Do you feel the shows become more dynamic with the band?

Oh absolutely. When DJing, you can’t put emphasis on different sections of songs Since the release of the first Soulfly album back in 1998 (and not including his illustrious history with seminal Brazilian metal band Sepultura), Cavalera has released no less than 10 albums, all quality stuff. The man must be a bottomless pit of riffs, grooves and vocal lines.

Cavalera reunited with his brother Igor in 2007, after an approximately decade-long

with a fader, [on] a record that’s already mixed. The good thing about having a band is that we mix it up. We can do anything we want up there.

Would you ever play the hits ‘What It’s Like’ or ‘Put Your Lights On’ from your solo career?

I’ve already dropped both of those songs on a couple of nights of this American tour.

If it’s fun and the energy is flowing in the crowd and it’s called for, it’s totally cool. If I feel the desire to play the song, then I play the song. I don’t feel pressured to do anything.

‘Jump Around’ is one of the biggest party sports jams ever, but what was your reaction

to seeing it in movies such as Mrs Doubtfire and Happy Gilmore?

My reaction was… that was a really big cheque! [laughs]. I don’t have a problem with someone writing me a cheque to use my music. Mrs Doubtfire alone made every five-year-old in America listen to that song.

For us, that was the greatest thing since sliced bread. The movie perpetuates the song, everybody’s seen Mrs Doubtfire and 20 years later, it’s still a good song.

House of Pain collaborated with the band Helmet on the soundtrack to Judgement Night. Are you interested in mixing rap and rock again in the future?

You’re playing Groovin The Moo in Maitland, right near my home town. It’s going to be insane!

We’re looking forward to it; it’s been like 15 years since we’ve been in Australia. We’re gonna bring the good shit — that hip-hop country punk-rock blues.

Will DJ Lethal be joining you in Australia?

At the moment, he’s finishing up the new Limp Bizkit record. He’s going to pop up at a few shows whenever he’s free — not sure about Australia though. We’re getting ready to make a new House of Pain record and DJ Lethal’s involved. Technically speaking, it hasn’t really gotten underway though.

House of Pain are playing Groovin the Moo at Maitland Showgrounds on Saturday May 7.

favourite tunes on the album. “I love how the album comes on, and kicks in. And I think ‘Torture’, being one of the fast ones, it’s a ‘Raining Blood’ kind of song. Which is one of the ideas we had when we first started making the album — we wanted to make a bunch of fast songs. So we wrote ‘Target’, ‘Torture’, ‘Thrasher’, ‘Blunt Force Trauma’, ‘Burn Waco’, a bunch of fast shit. We just

Brute force

Brazilian metal maestro Max Cavalera is a man on a mission. The man who founded Sepultura, with brother Igor, in the early 80s, turned 40 in 2009 and is showing no sign of slowing down. Indeed, the man is a veritable frenzy of musical activity. Rod Whitfield spoke with Cavalera about Blunt Force Trauma, the new release from his latest project, Cavalera Conspiracy. estrangement following the demise of Sepultura, and the two formed the Cavalera Conspiracy, releasing their blistering debut album, Inflikted, the following year. Blunt Force Trauma is the band’s second release and Max himself is justifiably proud of the finished product.

“I’m really pleased with it man,” he begins.

“It took a while to get this one done. We spent more time with Blunt Force Trauma than we did with Inflikted, and I think it shows in the music. You can tell that it’s a band that’s been playing together for a while. It’s more connected. And I really like the fact that we took everything one step further than Inflikted. The album is more brutal, more aggressive, bigger sounding.

There’s more groove songs and more fast songs, so I’m really proud of this one, I can’t wait for people to hear it.”

“Right now it’d be ‘Warlord’, the opening track,” says Cavalera when asked to name his

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magazine issue #058 — May 2011

came out flying, going a thousand miles an hour, and it felt really good, really explosive.”

“But then, the album needs something,” he goes on, “that’s why we started writing ‘Killing Inside’ and ‘I Speak Hate’ and ‘Genghis Khan’, more mid-tempo, a Max and Igor groove that people like, that we had in Sepultura. So I think, in the end, you’ve got the best of both worlds. You’ve got the fast stuff, the thrash stuff, and you’ve got the groove.”

After a somewhat experimental phase in Cavalera’s career, beginning about a decade ago, where he played around with different musical forms in the context of his heavy style, both Soulfly and Cavalera Conspiracy have returned to more all-out brutal terrain in the last few years, a progression which Max finds a little hard to explain. “Yeah man, that’s something that just happened, I don’t [have] an explanation for that. I get older I get more psycho! I have no idea what’s causing that, I think it’s got to be the music itself!”

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While Soufly has deliberately retained a touch of its latin/Brazilian-oriented experimentation amid its brutality, the Conspiracy has a different philosophy and intention. “With Cavalera [Conspiracy] the idea was to bring the brothers back to playing metal again,” explains Cavalera.

“Especially the metal that was created in the 80s and 90s by Sepultura, stuff like Arise, Chaos AD and (Max’s short-lived 90s industrial side-project) Nailbomb; the stuff that me and Igor did that really captured people’s hearts. I think the metal community was surprised when they first heard me and Igor playing together — two Brazilian brothers throwing down riffs and drumming,.

“So the idea when I made Cavalera Conspiracy was to have this spirit of the thrash feeling coming back,” he says. “The groove also made us popular in Sepultura, so [why not] have both? So we had Cavalera be a ‘racist’ kind of band, racist

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against other kinds of music,” he laughs.

“You know, reggae, DJ, hip hop, none of this shit is allowed in the Cavalera world.

It’s pretty straight-up, in-your-face metal. It’s what I want to play with Igor. It’s the energy of the brothers playing metal. ” Now, after a 10-year feud between Max and Igor, the brothers are together again, hanging out, enjoying each other’s company and doing what they do best. “Yeah man, [we’re] doing really good,” says Cavalera with warmth in his voice. “We’re really enjoying our friendship now, and our families, and being brothers again. And we’re looking forward to spending some time together in the back of the bus, talking Portuguese together, like we did as kids. And then just sharing the stage with him every night, which is amazing, it’s a really great feeling.”

Blunt Force Trauma is out now through Roadrunner Records.

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Gaming

r e vi e wed

Yakuza 4 (PS3) r e vi e wed by

Hugh Milligan R ATED

8.5/10

Keep It Gangster Like any other part of Japanese culture, Japan’s criminal element maintains a sense of elegance and decorum that you just won’t find in the west. Forget Liberty City, with its grubby crack dealers, sexually ambiguous steroid junkies and loudmouthed Irish mobsters — you can’t fault the yakuza for style. Whether they’re hosting a tea ceremony or a gangland coup, they’re polite, impeccably dressed and always ready to settle their differences by half-naked, stunningly choreographed single combat on a rooftop at midnight.

They bow (quite literally) to their superiors. They assassinate each other.

They sing karaoke.

This combination of brutality and impeccable etiquette sets the tone throughout Yakuza 4, the latest addition to Sega’s slick, cinematic action-RPG series.

We return once more to the fictional Tokyo district of Kamurocho, where it’s business as usual — the clan leaders, their lieutenants and most of the city’s police force all conspiring to betray each other and make a grab for power. In fact, there are so many villains in play that it’s not until later, when they’re eventually picked off one by one,

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that the plot starts coming into focus. At times the narrative also weighs heavily on details from previous Yakuza titles, but thankfully the game includes a series of optional cut-scenes that briefly recount the entire storyline of the series. And the cutscenes are absolutely incredible. They’re gorgeous — authentically voiced in Japanese with English subtitles, and often quite moving. With some as long as 10 minutes in length, it often feels as though you’re watching an interactive film, and it’s easy to get carried away by the grand honour and tradition the game champions.

Unlike previous games, however, Yakuza 4 opens up the cast of playable characters.

Kazuma Kiryu is back, of course — the famed martial artist who went from running Tokyo’s largest yakuza clan to running a sunny beachside orphanage for adorable children — but this time he’s joined by three other protagonists: an eccentric money lender, Shun Akiyama, a hulking death-row inmate, Taiga Saejima, and perhaps the only honest police officer in Tokyo, Masayoshi Tanimura.

Each has a noticeably different fighting style, which you’ll upgrade and expand upon by levelling up and unlocking new moves.

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The game’s combat is both challenging and satisfying; you can pretty much toss weaker enemies around like flotsam, while more advanced opponents will require some blocking, dodging and parrying before their weaknesses are exposed. Chain together enough combos and you can execute a delightfully gruesome HEAT move that usually involves breaking someone’s arm, jumping on their face or throwing a large motorcycle at them. Some lazy camera work aside, it all works quite well.

The biggest problem with Yakuza 4’s combat system is the fact that it’s completely detached from the rest of the game-play.

While the various side quests and challenges encourage you to explore Kamurocho, this is not a sandbox title — you can’t whip out your bitchin’ moves just anywhere. It works, oddly enough, more like a Pokémon game. The city is sprinkled with random goons standing about on street corners, just waiting to make eye contact with you, stop you with a pithy remark and challenge you to a punch-up. The game enters combat mode with some cinematic panning, and a crowd of excited onlookers form a human shield around you so you can’t

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“They a ssassina te each oth er.

They sin g karao ke.” leave the area while fighting. The approach is distinctly RPG-ish and a little contrived, and it slows the pace of the game-play rather than enhancing it.

There are actually a number of action sequences that are handled far more fluidly: one in particular sees Kiryu fighting his way past hundreds of henchman to the top of a half-constructed skyscraper. They’re truly grand experiences, and it’s a shame that the developer didn’t intersperse them more frequently, rather than forcing you to beat up street urchins for petty cash.

Nevertheless, there’s an enormous amount of replay value beyond the main storyline (which itself will take a good 20 to 30 hours to play through, depending on the difficulty).

You can try your hand at everything from fishing, arcade games and ping pong to training fighters for coliseum matches (or entering the ring yourself) or even training hostesses — scouting for pretty girls, giving them fashion and flirtation tips and watching them work the clients. Kamurocho’s one helluva town, I tell ya.

reverb magazine issu e #058 — May 2011 33

fa s hion — photog r aphy by nick su llivan

skirt, TUK shoes, Sara wears Lucky 13 tee, Route 66 from Tres Noir. s Hell Bunny jacket, and sunglasse

Brigid wears Hardcore logo tee, Too Fast shorts, and Prints Hosiery fishnets.

Sara and Michelle wear tops and shorts by Too Fast, Prints Hosiery fishnets.

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mag azine issue #058 — May 2011

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fa s hion — photog r aphy by nick su llivan

Photography by Nick Sullivan Hair by Erin Edman Make-up by Emily Jayne and Abbie Rayfield Clothing available from Catfight Collections, Islington. Ph (02) 4962 5000.

sunglasses, and TUK shoes.

Morgan wears dress by Bettie Page , Profile glo ves.

Beau wears Route 66 shi rt.

Riley wears Bettie Page dress, Tres Noir

Riley wears Heartbreaker top, Bett ie Page pants, and TUK shoes. Mor gan wears Hell Bunny top, Bettie Page pants, and Tres Noir sung lasses. Beau wears Sourpuss tee, Rou te 66 pants, TUK shoes, with sunglasses by Tres Noir.

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reverb magazine issu e #058 — May 2011 35

general motoring

“ It’s great for honking hard but rough roads will grind you down, give you a headache and jiggle your jubblies to jelly”

Sting In The Tail Drive around London and there are so many Fiat 500s they look like a plague of mice all driven by pretty young things and their well-coifed partners. They are the ‘wheels du jour’ of swanky European cities — the right size, look, economy, price, desired level of cuteness and more. But here, Fiat 500s are a rarity for the same reasons — small size, tallboy styling that has fallen from favour, not many dealers, okay performance and possibly the main issue — price. You can get a lot more car for the price of a Fiat 500. That hasn’t stopped Fiat from introducing a range-topping 500 Abarth (pronounced Ay-bart) Esseesse (SS) model at a snip under $35 grand.

That money buys a range of vehicles, including possibly the 500 Abarth’s main rival, Volkswagen’s Polo Gti at nearly eight grand less — $27,790. The Polo is a slightly larger car, has more power and torque and a seven-speed double clutch DSG gearbox as well as other goodies. It’s also half a second quicker 0-100kmh and is arguably better to look at. But this isn’t a leg-up story for the Polo hot-rod, it’s about a car that offers discerning punters something completely different and nearly unique in this country — a tiddler size Fiat 500 with arse-kicking performance and dynamics.

Abarth was started half a century ago by an Austrian with petrol in his veins called Carlo Abarth, who was a performance modification specialist, and came up with a swag of quick Fiats. These included the silly-looking but giant-killing 500 Bambino, responsible for introducing

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numerous big names to motor-sport back in the day. The Abarth name has recently been absorbed into the Fiat conglomerate but is trotted out for specially-built vehicles such as the 500 Esseesse.

It starts life as a run-of-the-mill model out of Fiat’s Poland car plant, is taken to Fiat’s motor-sport and performance division in Italy and virtually rebuilt into a hand-made track-day car, complete with high quality engine internals such as pistons and rods as well as sports suspension, a body aero kit and other goodies.

The engine is a 1.4-litre turbo twin cam with 118kW/230Nm output. It is interesting that Fiat didn’t see fit to use its groundbreaking Multi-Air 1.4 in this vehicle.

Multi-Air engines don’t have an inlet cam, instead four oil pressure-operated solenoids give infinitely variable cam timing. Weird, huh? Fiat struggled to get the engine into the Esseesse engine bay which required serious modification and the use of twin intercoolers to fit. An IHI turbo of Japanese origin compresses inlet air.

It drives the front wheels through a close ratio five-speed manual with what Fiat calls ‘torque transfer control’ to stop torque steer and to aid cornering turn-in. It is like an electronic limited slip differential.

Thankfully, the boffins at Fiat motor-sport and performance didn’t go over the top with the Esseesse stability control system, setting a high threshold before the action is cut.

The Esseesse is well equipped with goodies like Bluetooth and Me media connectivity for audio and phone, seven air

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bags, 17-inch alloys, climate control, hill holder, and shift indicator (to help save fuel).

There are sports seats, metal pedals and a multi-function wheel. But the essence of this 1,035kg car is to go fast at the race track or on some deserted winding road on a Sunday morning, to help restore your equilibrium.

It’s a scorcher of a car, not super fast in the Nissan GT-R sense but just as much fun (if not more) to whip through the corners. The tricky traction control system works a treat giving a feel similar to Mini’s John Cooper Works model, but not quite as connected as the Ford Focus RS or Renault Megane RS — possibly the two best-steering front wheel drives on the planet. Still, they cost a lot more than this nasty little roller skate and it’s just as much fun ripping up to a hairpin at warp speed, late braking, apexing early and getting on the gas too soon. The Esseesse simply hooks up, bites and rockets out the other side with a boisterous cackle from the twin-outlet exhaust.

We couldn’t get enough of this on the test drive — got into a bit of strife with the law as a result. Talked our way out of it, gave the cops a drive. They loved it and sent us on our way with a flea in our ear. Phew and only four points left…

But, driving the Esseesse every day would be a pain in the neck (literally), as no concession has been made to ride comfort.

It’s rock hard — great for honking hard but rough roads will grind you down, give you a head ache and jiggle your jubblies to jelly.

You find yourself tensing your abs running

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Fiat 500 Abarth SS r e vi e wed by

Peter Douglas up to rough roads. But that’s the price you pay for something as sharp as this in the go-fast department.

All dynamics are up to the task including the large brakes and steering with variable ratio. We had a bit of an problem with the clutch and brake pedals which are slightly offset to the left and too close, sometimes causing both pedals to be pressed at the same time — oops. There’s plenty of room inside and rear seat access is relatively easy. The boot is small and we couldn’t find a spare. It may have a re-inflation kit — goo and a pump or maybe run flats. Whatever, we no likey.

Surprising as it seems, the Esseesse and indeed all Fiat 500s have a five-star crash rating and this particular car consumes as little as 6.5-litres/100km of 98 octane fuel.

Amazing isn’t it, especially as it would probably hose a Commodore SS using up to 20 litres/100km on a winding road fang.

Petrol last week was up around the $1.50 a litre mark — ouch. We are in two minds about this car. It’s excellent to drive fast in its home environment, looks evil wicked mean and nasty, communicates beautifully with the driver and looks okay, although the white is too conservative. But it costs too much and is too unforgiving in the ride department; it needs a two-mode switch — normal and sport. But in these days of environmental concern, perhaps the Abarth 500 Esseesse is the way to go, instead of the big, heavy turbo six or V8 — just as much fun, less than half the running costs.

Beep beep.

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the Stars

T h e S ta r s — To e n a i l C l i p p i n g s

fortunes TAURUS — After discovering that you taste more like pork than beef you start to doubt astronomy.

LEO — Disappointingly for Leos world-wide, your star sign isn’t named after Leo the Lion, but after a guy named Leo who briefly appeared in a 70s porn flick

Steve Burrito’s crunchy fortunes

SCORPIO: Some people are born without an arse. Nobody really knows why, but you’ve gone suspiciously quiet

AQUARIUS — You’ll be surprised to find out that you have been made the President of an outlaw motorcycle club called Satan’s Areola. It’s a small club but when you push its members they get hard

GEMINI — Bastards like you created South Australia. Stop it!

VIRGO – You are not!

SAGITTARIUS — Some confusion between myths has left you with hairy eye balls

PISCES – Your stalker has complained that you’re boring, and has started doing Sudoku while waiting for you to do something

CANCER — All too late you realise how thoughtless it was to buy a fish cake to celebrate your goldfish’s birthday. No wonder he’s not talking to you

LIBRA — Today you’ll think you’ve travelled 15 years back in time. Relax, you’ve just woken up in Queensland

CAPRICORN – Honestly, take a look at yourself. What are you? Part horse, part prawn?

ARIES — You do know that we can all see what you’re doing don’t you? That’s got to hurt after a while.

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reverb magazine issu e #058 — May 2011 37

H u nte r Valle y

Morpeth Wine Cellar and Moonshine Distillery

adina produce

e at

Miss Lily’s Lollies

Drink

Morpeth Sourdough

tranquil vale accommodation

Discover the Hunter Over the past summer, the Hunter Valley has played host to a number of concerts that have drawn massive crowds to the region. But, rather than compact your concert experience into a single day of travel and music, Reverb looks at what can be achieved by staying overnight and experiencing what the Hunter has to offer. kevin bull reports. s tay

visit

Tranquil Vale 325 Pywells Road, Luskintyre Nestled in a bend of the Hunter River, this working vineyard offers three twobedroom self-contained cottages with magical valley views complete with vines and cattle. The cottages have a large living area with wood fireplace, and full kitchen with all the expected appliances.

Swim in the pool, play tennis or work out in the gym, or better still enjoy the complimentary bottle of wine on the verandah. For weekends, minimum stay is two nights (Fri/Sat) at $325 per night.

Maitland Gaol 6-18 John Street, East Maitland My first thought when I was told that the tour would take an hour and a half was ‘you’re kidding, it’s just a bunch of cells and bars’, but how wrong I was. After receiving our headsets, we quickly found ourselves in A-Wing, one of the oldest parts of the gaol dating back to the mid 1800s, which was still being used 1998, a barbaric thought. While standing in the shower block, we heard how in 1977, Raymond Denning escaped through an exhaust vent, and even more chilling, while standing outside cell four of the maximum security 5-Wing, we hear this is where convicted drug dealer George Savvas hung himself. It should also be noted that this is where backpacker murderer Ivan Milat was incarcerated before being moved to Goulburn. A fascinating visit.

Adina Vineyard 492 Lovedale Road, Lovedale With three, brand new architect-designed lodges overlooking the vines, you could not wish for anything more perfect for the Hunter Valley. Each lodge has three bedrooms, sleeping six people comfortably, a dining area, gas log fire and full kitchen with all the mod cons.

With the cellar door and Olive Mill café at your back door, there is really no need to leave Adina. For weekends, minimum stay is two nights (Fri/Sat) at $350 per night for two people, and they throw in the Sunday night free of charge.

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Kevin Bull was the guest of Maitland Tourism and paid part of his way.

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Morpeth Wine Cellar and Moonshine Distillery 173 Swan Street, Morpeth This is the home of Morpeth Moonshine, a spirit made from wine via two copper pot stills, in the traditional method used for making brandy and cognac. I found the butterscotch, aniseed and lemon flavours to be the most exciting. Also available at the cellar are selections from Rosebrook Estate and Morpeth Wines, with two bottles of Morpeth Wine’s Velour Cream (think Baileys with a touch of chocolate, $13.50) making their way home.

Tranquil Vale 325 Pywells Road, Luskintyre Specialising in semillon, chardonnay and shiraz, it was the 2007 Luskintyre White (chardonnay semillon blend, un-oaked with a fruity chill-and-drink-now appeal, $16) and Old Luskie (dessert wine with honey and pear character, $21) that left with us.

Man, that Old Luskie, you could pour it over ice cream.

Macquariedale Organic Wines 170 Sweetwater Road, Rothdale Passionate about growing their grape biodynamically, we tasted these wines accompanied with some wonderful cheeses.

Our favourite was the 2009 cabernet sauvignon (oak-matured for 22 months, full-bodied with a beautiful blackcurrant bouquet, $25), which would work wonders with beef and aged cheeses.

Adina Vineyard 492 Lovedale Road, Lovedale The buildings may look new, but the vineyard is not. Vines have been grown on the property since the 1860s, with the modern vineyard mostly planted in the 1980s.

Varieties grown include the Hunter classics — semillon, chardonnay and shiraz, as well as different varieties of cabernet. The wine that piqued my tastebuds and ultimately made it to the back seat of the car was an Italian variety, the 2008 Estate Pinot Grigio (clean, intense flavours of apples, citrus and almonds, $22), which will be perfect for our next seafood meal.

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Christopher’s at Maddies 35 Paterson Road, Bolwarra The menu is innovative and contemporary, using techniques honed in chef Chris Lloyd’s extensive gourmet food range of oils, dukkah, relish and mayonnaise. Personally, I could not go past the pan-seared scallops served on dahl and topped with cashew and cumin butter ($20), and the hazelnut and bush tomato crusted salmon on potato mash with fresh asparagus and tomato and chive buerre blanc ($35).

Morpeth Wood Fired Pizza 173 Swan Street, Morpeth With the open pizza oven situated so you can watch your meal cooking, this is a unique dining experience. There’s plenty of variety to get you excited, with our choice being the Sicilian (merlot tomato sauce, semi-dried tomatoes, Spanish onions, mushrooms, roasted capsicums, olives, salami and spicy meatballs, $20). Situated behind the Morpeth Wine cellar, the perfect red is at hand.

Morpeth Sourdough 148 Swan Street, Morpeth Forget about all those ‘so-called’ sourdoughs, this is the real deal. Baker Stephen Arnott, the great, great, great grandson of William Arnott, the founder of Arnott’s Biscuits, produces traditional, authentic sourdough using the same recipe and techniques used by his ancestor in colonial times. Pick of the day was ciabatta ($5.40), a slipper-shaped Italian bread with a bubbly centre and a light chewy crust.

Adina Vineyard 492 Lovedale Road, Lovedale With over 2,000 olive trees, some up to 16 years old, Adina has a wide variety of olives at their disposal. The flavours that have been infused into their table olives during the 12 months of curing have made them very more-ish.

The tapenades are equally as impressive.

To go with our sourdough (above), we picked a jar of lemon, chilli and garlic table olives ($8.50), and chilli tapenade ($9). I also made the mistake of dipping some bread into the caramelised balsamic vinegar — I had to have it.

Miss Lily’s Lollies 2 Green Street, Morpeth Walking in to Miss Lily’s is stepping back in time: hundreds of glass jars filled with a multitude of sweetness lining the walls. But it is the glass cabinet full of fudge blocks that is most irresistible. Made on the premises, this is how fudge should taste. Into the hamper went caramel macadamia and chocolate mud at $4.95 for 100g.

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live Reviews gig of the month

Sparkadia

high-octane performance. Headliners The Owls eased into their set with front man Josh Bailey taking to the stage alone to play the melodic introduction to ‘Weather the Storm’, before being joined by the rest of the band. New material filled the first half of the set. The new songs hinted at a move away from the indie-pop sound of tracks like ‘Go, Go Let it Go’ toward a more mature southern-rock vibe. However, this did not detract from the energy of the set.

‘Sugarcane’ was the high point of the night, with its driving, distorted guitars and wailing vocals getting the whole crowd dancing. The night drew to a close with tracks from the band’s self-titled EP released last year. Fans should keep an ear out for more new material from The Owls appearing in the coming months. ~Amelie Parrott

Coolangatta Hotel Thursday, April 7

Sparkadia ©Madeline Smith

Opening with darkness and the delicate harmonic sounds of The Verve’s ‘Bittersweet Symphony’, we waited mere minutes for Alex Burnett and the touring members of Sparkadia to grace the stage. It isn’t any surprise that tickets for Sparkadia’s 2011 tour are selling very fast, if not already sold out. Burnett stars in this one-man-band, with guest artists contributing to the live performances. His vocal ability is pure, smooth and flawless: a born entertainer, expressing his love for his songs. Sparkadia have returned, after three years in the dark, to delight audiences with their The Great Impression album showcasing the new but already well-known songs ‘Talking Like I’m Falling Down Stairs’ and ‘China’. Dancing and singing along to every song, the audience screamed and yelled “Dancing like Fred Astaire, walking like a young John Wayne, talking like I’m falling down stairs”.

The traditional guitar distortion haunts the songs as the soft and nonchalant vocals create a hypnotic tone. Sparkadia are slowly but surely recreating the hype that surrounded them around the Postcards release in 2008. Even with a fairly quiet crowd in Coolangatta on a rainy Thursday night, Sparkadia lived up to the crowd’s expectations. Sparkadia deserve far more recognition then they receive. ~Madeline Smith

the owls Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle Friday, April 15

The Owls ©Tim Boehm

Newcastle’s up and coming indie-rockers were out in full force at the Cambridge Hotel, to celebrate the launch of The Owls new single ‘Sugarcane’. The support acts set the scene for what would be a night of energetic and melodic performances, with slam rock band The Evening Son hyping up the crowd with a particularly

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oh mercy Northern Star Hotel, Hamilton Saturday, March 26

ZZ TOP ©Jim graham

ZZ Top Newcastle Entertainment Centre Wednesday, April 20

ZZ Top: they’ve been around for 40 years, and this alone was not enough to fill the Newcastle Entertainment Centre.

Even worse was the empty seats that were on the floor in front of the band, where instead there should’ve been a s**tload of boogie going on (This didn’t stop many people however). Main support was Rose Tattoo, who are definitely veterans of the road in their own right. They seemed plagued by sound problems however, and Angry Anderson lived up to his namesake and ranted about this (and several other irrelevant subjects) that this reviewer had a hard time listening to. Any worries about the gig were instantly dashed the moment ZZ Top hit the stage with ‘Got

Crystal Cove Oh Mercy ©Mark McIntosh

Opening Oh Mercy’s Northern Star gig, and joining the throngs of quirky indie-pop songstresses, was newcomer Helen Croome aka Gossling. Despite her beauty and musicality, Gossling’s Julia-Stone-onhelium vocals (no, I’m not joking) were not to everyone’s taste and felt false at times.

Indeed, there were occasions during Croome’s set when she delivered genuinely beautiful notes and mutterings of “oh, she really can sing” could be heard throughout the crowd.

Oh Mercy, however, were surely the belles of this ball. With their unique blend of Australiana storytelling and lovesick crooning (courtesy of front man Alexander Gow), the youthful quartet showcased a good mix of tunes from their latest album Great Barrier Grief, and its predecessor Privileged Woes, including ‘Stay Please Stay’, ‘Keith St’, ‘Get You Back’, ‘Seemed Like a Good Idea’ and crowd-pleaser, ‘Lay Everything on Me’. With their trademark jangly pop songs, about hearts won and lost, Oh Mercy proved themselves deserving of the attention that has been heaped on them of late, from no less than Paul Kelly who said they inspire him to write. Gow admitted to the crowd he finds it difficult to write songs that “aren’t about chicky-babes”. The highlight of the evening, however, belonged to the closer, a cover of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Memories’.

Watching them turn Cohen’s little-known 70s track, about trying to woo popular girls in high school (‘please, please won’t you let me see your naked body?’), into an eightminute jam session, was worth the price of admission alone. ~Amanda Bevan

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Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle Friday, April 8

Me Under Pressure’. Front man Billy Gibbons really knows how to play guitar, and every song contained an extended guitar solo which had this reviewer salivating. Gibbons charmed the pants off the crowd and was a charismatic presence on-stage. A few scantily-clad ladies brought out Gibbons’s “blues hat” for a few old school blues covers, and the band even covered ‘Hey Joe’ for kicks.

The band wrapped things up with their biggest hits, and by this point the majority of the venue was on their feet.

After ‘La Grange’ and ‘Tush’ were belted out, a well-deserved standing ovation was given to the band that is undoubtedly the best in the business. As Gibbons said himself: “40 years, the same three guys, the same three chords.

We must be doing something right”. ~Matt Glen when the mix struggled to keep up. With luck, the band’s blight of misfortune has passed — now that the universe has seen what they’re capable of, it would do best to leave them be. ~Michael Sykes

City and Colour Enmore Theatre, Sydney Tuesday, April 5

Crystal Cove ©Paul Foley/Lightmoods

The members of Crystal Cove seemed sure that some intangible force was working against them as they moved toward the release of their new self-titled EP, but as things moved along without a hitch at their Great Northern EP launch, I began to suspect that the spectre’s car broke down on the way to the gig. Sydney pop-rockers The Initiation (who some might remember as My Name for Your Name) opened the night with a precise set consisting of last year’s ‘Tumbling in Turbulence’ EP, singer Davey’s strong vocals capturing the crowd’s attention. The Cove then took the stage, their nine-song set organised in chronological order — a strange choice, but one that showcased the band’s maturation in light speed. Highlights included the hooky ‘This Ain’t L.A.X.’, the heartfelt ‘If You Leave’ and three impressive post-EP tunes that suggested the Crystal Cove boys may prove quite prolific in time. The quartet’s performance was tight and energetic. Imposing front man Sean Degan engaged the crowd with banter so free you’d think he had his legs up on your coffee table, and Cove’s passion showed through even

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With their first Sydney show selling out in minutes — requiring a second show the following night — there’s no doubt Australian audiences were keen to see the folk boys from Canada, City and Colour. Dallas Green and the band made their way on stage with an aura of calm, despite the roar that greeted them from a packed-out Enmore Theatre.

The range of Green’s voice is as rounded as it is smooth. His songs aren’t as uplifting as some, but his ability to engage such deep emotion during a live performance is a thing most never achieve. Before strumming ‘Body in a Box’, Green pleads for the crowd to turn off all mobile phones, cameras and audio equipment, explaining “Youtube doesn’t need another damn version of this song!”. All of his hits are showcased; ‘Waiting’, ‘Sleeping Sickness’ and ‘Constant Knot’. After the first half of hit song ‘The Girl’, a punter literally begs for the rest, which Green explains won’t happen due to legal restrictions, having been deemed too like a song created by another artist — a disappointment to the crowd. But all in all, a great set by one of the best up-and-coming folk bands of our time.

It wouldn’t surprise anyone if the boys from City and Colour decided to come back down under in the near future after their successful debut headline tour. ~Sean Frazer

reverb magazine issue #058 — May 2011 39

bluesfest Review

Tim Robbins

bluesfest

Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm April 21-26

Funky Meters

As the sun shone on Byron, Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm opened its gates and welcomed the hordes to the 22nd annual Bluesfest. Recognised as “Australian Event of the Year,” this year promised a spectacular line-up with a number of old legends gracing the stage.

At 85 years old, BB King, a man who has been known as “The King of Blues” for longer than my lifetime, proved to thousands why he is regarded as one of the greatest and most respected musicians around.

Playing only acoustic guitars, dynamic duo Rodrigo y Gabriela combined flamenco with metal influences to produce a unique fusion of finger picking and rhythm.

Michael Franti’s set had it all; a birthday cake, giant balloons and an on-stage marriage proposal. The high energy show saw Kim Churchill join Franti to perform ‘The Sound of Sunshine’ in what was one of his best performances.

Kate Miller-Heidke had the audience laughing along with her new track dedicated to Southern Cross tattoos and Big Day Out tickets. With a shout out to “Awesome Dan,” the volunteer who told her she didn’t look famous, Kate shocked the crowd with her candid nature.

Admittedly, we decided to see Trombone Shorty because singer and trombonist Troy Andrews is attractive, but their high energy “supafunkrock” ensured that they were a well talked about festival favourite.

Renowned for being controversial, the highly anticipated Bob Dylan was somewhat of a letdown, as the main screens were turned off and many fans were left unable to see. Whilst there is no question that the man is a music icon, his interaction with the crowd was non-existent.

And so my recommendations for next year are: to bring gumboots, no matter how sunny it is, and grab a Byron Bay organic doughnut (they are worth a whole year of waiting). ~Mel Woodward

John Legend

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reverb magazine issue #058 — May 2011 41

Film Reviews

Return to the Source r e vi e wed

Source Code r e vi e wed by

Mark Snelson r ated

4/5 stars Duncan Jones first caught the movie world’s attention with his excellent low budget feature Moon a couple of years ago. Now he is back with a bigger budget and a bigger star but thankfully has lost none of his innovation with the mindbender that is Source Code.

Source Code is an experimental antiterrorism military program that allows access to the final eight minutes of a dead person’s memory. They are able to insert one of their own personnel into these eight minutes to search for clues that can help prevent further terrorist attacks. In this case, helicopter pilot Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes up in the body of a man who died on a train explosion earlier in the day. He is on the train opposite a pretty girl who appears to know him but he has no idea who she is. Before Colter knows what is going on, the train explodes and he is zapped back to reality where he finds himself in a capsule,

with a woman named Goodwin on a screen, interrogating him about what he just saw.

She orders him to go back onto the train in this alternate realm over and over again until he finds the bomb and the person responsible for planting it on the train.

While Jones obviously has a lot more dollars on his plate for his second feature, he has avoided the lure of flashy special effects and an overuse of CGI. He instead relies on smart pacing, an intricate plot and stellar performances. Gyllenhaal is marvellous and utterly convincing in his role as the confused, frustrated and determined Stevens.

There are elements of Inception, The Matrix and Memento evident in Source Code with a dash of Groundhog Day thrown in for good measure. It is definitely one that demands more brainpower from its audience than most popcorn thrillers and is a thoroughly entertaining and thought-provoking ride.

UNWANTED VISITOR The pairing of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost has previously been a sure-fire winner, with TV’s Spaced and the hilarious films Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Unfortunately, with the somewhat average Paul, the magic seems to be disappearing.

Graeme (Pegg) and Clive (Frost) are two 30-something science fiction fans who have come to the States to attend the mega geek fest Comic-Con, after which they decide to go on a road trip in an RV that takes in various alien encounter conspiracy theory sites such as Area 51. In the middle of the desert one night a car veers off the road and crashes. From the wreckage they rescue an odd little alien by the name of Paul (voiced

by Seth Rogen) who has escaped from a secret military facility where he has been assisting the government for many years.

Much to their surprise, Paul is not the mystical being that they would have expected from such an encounter but he is more of a stoner dude who is rude, annoying and somewhat crass. Paul also has some shadowy figures on his tail including the FBI, making Graeme and Clive’s adventure a little more hair-raising then they expected.

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Paul

r e vi e wed by

Mark Snelson r ated

2/5 stars This is the first time Pegg and Frost have worked without director/writer Edgar Wright, who obviously ‘got’ their brand of humour. Director Greg Mottola seems more interested in the gross-out comedy style that Rogen is famous for, rather than the typically British style of humour that made Pegg and Frost so good in the past.

There are definitely some funny moments in Paul but they are not as constant as they should have been. On the bright side, the effects used to animate Paul are really well done and there are also some impressive action sequences.

I have no doubt some people will love Paul however it is by no means a Pegg/ Frost classic but more of a vehicle for Rogen’s brand of humour. Think Ben from Knocked Up trapped in the body of ET.

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Marvel(lous) Clark Gregg has access all areas on one of the most exciting projects in contemporary cinema. Gregg plays Agent Phil Coulson, a central figure in the Marvel universe. And the man who has brought him to life so vividly in the two hugely successful Iron Man films, couldn’t be happier. Thor is already in the bag and soon he’ll be playing the SHIELD agent for a fourth time in The Avengers, which will feature an all-star line up of super-heroes, including The Hulk, The Black Widow, Iron Man, Captain America and Thor. Gregg sheds some light on his experience of being immersed in all things Marvel.

We were not permitted to display the interview with Clark Gregg online.

To read the interview, you will need to pick up the physical copy of Reverb, or download this page via the “Download Page” button below Download Issue

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DVD Reviews

DVD Marathon

I SEE RED

Capers, Anyone?

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Red

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Sallie Pritchard r ated

4.5/5 Red: a colour symbolising blood, fire and passion. Red: A slang term used as a derogatory name for communists. RED: an acronym that stands for Retired, Extremely Dangerous. It’s to director Robert Schwentke’s credit that this film encompasses all three interpretations of the film’s title. Avid readers of this page may recall that I declared this film one of the best comic book films of 2010 and nothing has changed in those interminable months between theatrical and DVD release to change my stance. Not only one of the best comic book movies of last year but one of the most fun films of 2010.

Frank Moses is a retired CIA covert-ops agent living a relatively subdued existence. The highlight of his day is talking to Sarah Ross, a call centre operator at the government pension office. Romance is clearly blossoming but becomes infinitely more complicated when Frank is almost murdered and has to go on the run, collecting Sarah and his former colleagues along the way. RED is not only

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an incredibly entertaining crime caper, it sets the standard for the action blockbuster.

This film has exactly what a great action film needs: exciting action sequences, engaging characters, the right balance of violence, romance, suspense, and humour, and awesome explosions. Oh, and an immaculate Dame Helen Mirren with a machine gun.

RED’s use of veteran action and thriller stars like Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and John Malkovich is a similar device to that used by The Expendables. But unlike

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Wild Target r e vi e wed by

Sallie Pritchard r ated

4/5 The French and the British have long been rivals and it seems that when the French made delightful crime caper Cible Émouvante, the British thought, ‘well, we won’t bloody stand for this!’ and decided to beat those ruddy French at their own game. French films are often impervious to English re-makes, charm being so horribly tiresome and largely impossible to replicate. But Wild Target has managed to be incredibly charming by making this quintessentially French film utterly British. Wild Target is

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the story of Victor Maynard, a lonely yet conscientious hired gun who swiftly falls in love with Rose, his intended target. Victor must now salvage his reputation and keep his enemies, and most importantly his mother, at bay. The cast comprises Britain’s finest and most well-known actors: Bill Nighy, Rupert Everett, Martin Freeman, Emily Blunt, and Rupert Grint. While no lords or dames are present (although Nighy, at least, ruddy well should be), you will allow this is a quintessentially British

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The Expendables, which featured veteran action stars who mostly lived up to the film’s title, Willis, Mirren, Malkovich, and Freeman are perfectly cast as the Retired, Extremely Dangerous killers. They’re class acts both in this genre and in cinema in general. MaryLouise Parker is flawless as the love interest, Sarah, who gets more adventure than she bargained for. Brian Cox is perfect as a Russian spy deeply in love with Mirren’s terribly British assassin, Victoria. He’s equal parts lovable and cartoonish. RED: a film that is awesome!

cast, and an entirely wonderful one at that.

London and its surrounding countryside becomes as big a character in the film as the main cast, entertaining wild chases and tense surveillance, lending the film its sense of place and time. It also allows for some fun high-speed chases through big cities in an almost absurdly small car.

Nighy and Blunt are particularly good as the fastidious assassin and the nearuncontrollable thief, respectively. Freeman, Everett and Grint provide excellent support, comic relief and cues for suspense. Nighy is magnificent as Victor Maynard, the character originally inhabited by the superb Jean Rochefort. He’s a man dedicated to his work, who takes pains to be average but is striking nonetheless. Blunt’s thief and Grint’s apprentice recognise his marvellous nature and welcome his presence in their lives, as does the audience.

Unfortunately the ending is a little weak, a little too deus ex machina perhaps. But one weak point in an overall delicious film isn’t so bad is it, old sport?

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Whether it’s whimsical, actionpacked or politically-charged, the crime caper is a genre dedicated to location, conflict and movement. This month’s picks are wildly different but what ties them together is each film’s commitment to these foundational conventions. London provides the backdrop for characters unable to stop moving physically, nor emotionally, in Wild Target. Victor and Rose are at their most vulnerable when they are in one place for too long. And in RED, the swamps of Florida, New York’s sprawling metropolis and Chicago’s old world class set the scene for Frank and Sarah, two lonely people craving more adventure in their lives and finding it in each other. John Ford’s 1939 film Stagecoach is arguably the first ever crime caper. It featured all of the conflicts portrayed in the above films; the conflict between the city and the country, wilderness and civilisation, men and women, stasis and movement. It seems these conflicts are unlikely to be settled any time soon.

North by Northwest Alfred Hitchcock, 1959 An ad man from New York has a case of mistaken identity, leading him to flee across America. The film features car chases, a crop duster chasing a man, sexy train travel, and a breathtaking climax in which Cary Grant’s ad man is pursued by the bad guys across the faces (and noses) on Mount Rushmore. The most Hitchcockian of Hitchcock’s films.

The Italian Job Peter Collinson, 1969 This film is so British the whole thing has a cockney accent. It wrote the book on small cars racing through big cities, with the iconic Mini Coopers negotiating, among other things, London’s underground rail system, the Tube. No doubt the cars had to stop somewhere to fill up their Oyster card, otherwise they might never have gotten out.

Forgettable crime capers The Italian Job F. Gary Gray, 2003 Ed Norton was very public about the fact he was contractually obligated to star in this useless remake.

Luckily, the film-going public isn’t contractually obligated to watch it.

The Tourist Florian Henckel von Donnersmark, 2010 This remake of the French film Anthony Zimmer features Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Venice, those lovely trains, Paris… and is so very yawn-inducing. Another Hollywood film toppled by the impenetrable charm of the French.

reverb magazine issu e #058 — May 2011 43

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mag azine issue #058 — May 2011

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