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ISSN 0114-0876
CONTENTS
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36 23
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27 8. What Goes On/On The Rip It Up Stereo, 10. Guardians of the Galaxy, 12. So What.../Tweet Talk, 14. This Month in Metaland, 16. Who’s Next?, 18. This Month in Clubland, 20. Style Like FKA Twigs, 21. Style Like Kid Ink, 22. Gadgets, 23. Ian Jorgensen A.K.A. Blink, 24. Geeks, 25. American Authors, 26. Film Reviews, 27. Florian Habicht, 28. Album Reviews, 30. Kimbra, 31. Chelsea McEwan Millar, 32. Jenny Lewis, 34. Elbow, 36. I Am Giant, 37. #WINNING
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FVEY PRODUCED BY JAZ COLEMAN FOR VARIOUS ARTISTS MANAGEMENT.
THE BRAND NEW ALBUM FEATURING THINK YOUˇRE SO FREE CD / VINYL / ONLINE IN-STORES 8 AUGUST
WHAT GOES ON ELBOW
CHELSEA HANDLER
Elbow will showcase their live performance when they return to New Zealand in November to perform at The Powerstation in Auckland. The tour follows the release of their latest album, The Take Off and Landing of Everything. Elbow produce live shows as brilliantly as they do albums. Revered for their emotive tunes, they craft melodies simultaneously rousing and melancholy; rich layers of orchestration skillfully intertwined with beautifully eloquent, sentimental lyrics, highlighted by Guy Garvey’s almost angelic, unmistakably Mancunian vocals.
US comedian, author and talk show host, Chelsea Handler, is heading to New Zealand in November for the first time for an exclusive one-night only performance of her live comedy show, Uganda Be Kidding Me. Handler is perhaps best known as the outspoken host of her late night talk show, Chelsea Lately where she remains the only female in the male-heavy late night arena. Known for her fearless honesty and tonguein-cheek commentary, Handler will be touring the live show in support of her fifth book Uganda Be Kidding Me, which was released earlier this year.
NEIL FINN
BOX SET: SOUND+VISION
One of New Zealand’s favourite performers and songwriters Neil Finn has announced his highly anticipated tour. Neil will be accompanied by his latest sixpiece ensemble. The new band (including wife Sharon, Aistair Deverick of the Ruby Suns, Jessee Sheehan, Andrew Everding, Lisa Tomlins of Rhombus and Finn) will perform new material from Finn’s latest album Dizzy Heights as well as a swag of songs from his vast retrospective catalogue. Including Crowded House, Split Enz, Finn Brothers and his own solo works. Joining Neil, as his special guest, opening these special shows will be Bic Runga.
OUT FRI 19 SEP
SEE TOURS AND EVENTS FOR DATES
DAVID BOWIE SOUND+VISION The Sound+Vision 4 CD boxset covers David Bowie’s career from 1969 to 1994. Sound+Vision is a collection spanning four decades, covering the 21 albums from Space Oddity through to The Buddha Of Suburbia. It’s a rich survey of David Bowie’s many musical lives offering a generous helping of hits, an intriguing dip into archives, classic album tracks and long lost B-sides, explosive live recordings, soundtrack recordings and remixes.
SEE THEM LIVE: ELBOW SAT 01 NOV THE POWERSTATION, AUCKLAND TICKETS ON SALE NOW
SEE HER PERFORM: CHELSEA HANDLER SAT 29 NOV ASB THEATRE, AUCKLAND
ON THE RIP IT UP STEREO
COURTNEY BARNETT – ‘AVANT GARDENER’ (2013) THE PUSSYCLUB – ‘THE FUNERAL’ (2014) DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979 – TRAINWRECK 1979 (2014) MASTODON – ONCE MORE ’ROUND THE SUN (2014) LEE FIELDS – EMMA JEAN (2014)
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GRIMES – ‘GO’ (2014) ELBOW – DEAD IN THE BOOT MARLON WILLIAMS – ‘PRETTY LITTLE END’ (MELODY POOL) (2014) SCHOOLBOY Q – ‘BLESSED’ JENNY LEWIS – ‘JUST ONE OF THE GUYS’ (2014)
LAURA WEASER
GUARDIANS OF THE GAL A XY
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ACTRESS ZOE SALDANA is a people-pleaser. This may not seem like a significant statement, but coming from someone who famously said, “I don’t care what people think of me”, it’s a big deal. While she isn’t afraid to speak her mind on ex-boyfriends, reveal her favourite sexual positions or open up about the strong women in her family, when it came to appeasing Marvel fans, she’s more than happy to take a back seat to their demands. “When you go into a film like Guardians of the Galaxy, you have your moment of thinking, ‘Oh God, am I doing the right thing? Will people like what I do?’ But in order for people to like what I do, I just have to give it 100% and it doesn’t matter if I make my own choices, just whatever I decide I have to give it my all and hope for the best.” Speaking to Groove Guide from Los Angeles, the 36-year-old breathes a sigh of relief when I tell her how well-received the 17-minute “fan screening” was earlier in the week, adding it’s that kind of reaction that “gets me a little emotional” – particularly when she has diehard fans within her family to impress. “I was lucky enough that I had an 11-year-old nephew who I got to question a great deal [about the role], who is devout Marvel fan. He was the one who walked me through the whole universe of Guardians.” In the highly-anticipated Marvel comic adaptation of the same name, Saldana stars as Gamora – a young women who was raised and trained
as an assassin, earning her the nickname, “The deadliest woman in the galaxy”. Winding up in a space prison, she bands together with a rag-tag team of thieves and criminals who become the Guardians of the Galaxy. “To be part of a Marvel movie, and to work with [director] James Gunn, was really appealing to me,” she says of what attracted her to the role. “He felt like a really strong filmmaker who knew what he was going to do and that is always a good feeling for me. James knew exactly what he wanted and was determined, and that gives you confidence because you know you are in good hands and that you’re going to be taken seriously.” Initially spending her childhood in Queens, New York, the Star Trek star was later raised by her Puerto Rican mother in her home country after Saldana’s father died in a car accident when she was nine years old. After studying dance for a number of years, she turned to acting with a local theatre group when her family returned to Brooklyn after her second year in high school. Her big screen debut came with the Britney Spears star vehicle, Crossroads, in 2002, before she showed her gutsy spirit in a minor role in Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl as Anamaria. Since then, she has paved her way through Hollywood as a strong female lead, notably in the Star Trek reboots, Avatar, The Losers, Colombiana and Takers. Often holding her own against an all-male ensemble, Saldana knows how important it is for
“Every day, by the time we got to set and we started to work, it just felt great to be doing what we were doing.”
“I hope I can empower young women to want to be physical, because it gives you a form of independence.” women to be taken seriously in film and hopes her roles can inspire female audience members to take charge. “I hope I can empower young women to want to be physical, because it gives you a form of independence. You feel very free and confident because all of a sudden you proved you can do things that normally you’re told are not made for girls. You defy the feminine gravity, which is a great feeling.” As one of only two female leads in Guardians – the other is Scottish actress Karen Gillian, who plays mercenary Nebula – Saldana took her training seriously to hold her own against the guys and learned how to wield Gamora’s weapon of choice.
to get the right green, but also for the make-up to spread as much as it could it wasn’t like, “Oh we’ll just put a green on you.” No, you had to neutralise the skin tone and put on like a primer, then another layer of something, then you put on green, then freckles and the rest of it. “In theory it was a lot, physically it was, but at the end of the day, the reward was great,” she adds. “Every day, by the time we got to set and we started to work, it just felt great to be doing what we were doing. It was tonnes of fun.” IN CINEMAS THU 07 AUG
“[Karen] are I had lots of fight sequences and I wanted it to look super fierce. We knew that everyone would be looking forward to seeing two women go at it and give it our all, which is what we did and it looked cool. “The training was a combination of lots of kicks, lots of sword fighting, but I also studied bullfighting because I wanted Gamora to have a graceful approach when it came to the way she uses her sword.” Part of her physical transformation also required the actress to go green, from head to toe. While this was one of the aspects that initially attracted her to the role, the actuality of getting the make-up applied was a lot less appealing. “It was four to five hours every day,” Zoe recalls. “Usually I would get up at 4am or 3:45am. It was layers and layers in order
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SO WHAT... Kylie Minogue is annoyed that her 1994 movie Street Fighter is to be resurrected. The film which was loosely based on the popular video game of the same name - is being shown at the Prince Charles Cinema in central London this month, much to the annoyance of Kylie, 46. An insider told the Daily Mirror newspaper: “Kylie is mortified and her people looked into whether there was any way to get it taken off the bill there wasn’t.” One potential reason for Kylie’s embarrassment is that she had a fling with costar Jean-Claude Van Damme, who revealed in 2012 that they had enjoyed a “sweet kiss”.
Calvin Harris is giving songs he wrote for former girlfriend Rita Ora to Alexis Jordan. Although Harris was working on Rita’s upcoming album while they were together, he has reportedly offered tunes he wrote for her to the 22-year-old singer who is hoping to relaunch her career three years after her debut single ‘Happiness’. A source told the Daily Mirror newspaper: “Alexis has an amazing voice that works really well with house music, she’s a fan of the genre and hoping to put new material out soon.”
Ice T doesn’t want to make hip-hop music any more. The 56-year-old musician is releasing a new rock album with his thrash metal band Body Count and says this is the kind of music he prefers now as hip hop has lost its way. He said: “Hip-hop’s gone in a different direction it’s club music, no content, just, ‘I got money, cars, girls’. Underground hip-hop’s still prolific, but the stuff on the radio sucks. Ice T has always been about hardcore, aggressive music. With Body Count, it’s art, it’s over the top, it’s hypersexual. I roll with the people who get it. The people who don’t, I throw them a Barry Manilow album.”
T WEET TALK “Stupid move by Key to attack Cunliffe for keeping an open mind about #InternetMANA. Cunliffe isn’t the one handing electorates to his mates.” Kim Dotcom @kimdotcom
“There’s drunk, and then there’s using a slice of pizza as a pillow drunk. Bravo” Johnny Knoxville @realjknoxville
“Going to start saying “hubba hubba” again” James Acaster @JamesAcaster
“If you looked this good, you’d take selfies too! The Lord getting his preworkout fitness on with…“ Scott Disick @ScottDisick
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Jason Segel was embarrassed when he had to strip off naked for his role in Sex Tape. The 34-year-old actor stars alongside Cameron Diaz in the comedy movie admits he wasn’t entirely comfortable de-robing in front of the male crew for several scenes. Speaking on ‘The David Letterman Show’, he said: “It’s the worst part of the whole thing. It’s the other men in the room - because you can’t come out there naked so they make you stuff yourself into a pantyhose-looking thing.”
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THIS MONTH IN METAL AND BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE METAL BAR. MONDAY’S 10PM JUICE TV SKY CHANNEL 112 NEWS Ozzy Osbourne will release Memoirs of a Madman on Tuesday 07 October in the U.S. It’ll feature a CD and DVD revisiting both Ozzy’s audio and video history. The CD will contain 17 of Osbourne’s greatest hit singles and it will be released in single-CD, two-LP and two-LP picture disc formats. The DVD will be two discs of music videos, unreleased and out-of-print live performances and interviews from his solo career.
CORROSION OF CONFORMITY THE KINGS ARMS, AUCKLAND SUN 20 JUL
COC seemed doomed to never make it back to New Zealand. The original financial backers pulled out and it seemed as if that was that but the situation was salvaged. Then-drummer and founder Reed Mullin damaged his shoulder and couldn’t play, but the determination for the Australasian tour prevailed and Kylesa drummer Eric Hernandez was thrown into the mix on the back of three jam sessions. The result? Unadulterated stoner/ doom heaven. On their one and only previous visit to New Zealand in 2001 as support for Pantera the band was a different beast. Pepper Keenan was fronting the band and there was a strong Southern USA feel to their sound – think Sabbath meets Skynyrd with some Black Flag thrown in for good measure. Now, however, Keenan is focused on Down so the three original members from the band’s inception in 1982 are back together, recording and touring.
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Industrial-thrash titans Prong are coming to our shores for the first time ever! The guys that delivered tracks like ‘Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck’, ‘Broken Peace’ and ‘Rude Awakening’ will be at the Powerstation Sunday 23 November. Tickets are available now through Ticketmaster and Event Ticketing. Indonesia is run by a metal head – it’s official! The country’s new president is Joko Widodo. He won the latest election by more than six per cent of the vote. The 53-year-old has publicly proclaimed his love of metal citing his favourite bands as Lamb Of God, Napalm Death and Metallica.
Mike Dean’s vocals and the absence of Keenan from writing duties mean a lot of the Southern influence is gone and while the doom-laden riffs echo Sabbath there’s something harder and harsher underneath. The old school hardcore sound last heard on Animosity is bubbling under the surface, creating an unnerving dynamic that sits in the groove and jumps out to slap you in the face when you least expect it. The set delivered drew predominantly from earlier albums Animosity and Technocracy and their more recent self-titled effort. ‘Rat City’ opened proceedings and was followed by ‘The Moneychangers’, ‘Loss for Words’, Technocracy and ‘Holier’. ‘Deliverance’ offered something from the Keenan era but was delivered in Dean’s trademark tortured wail. Special mention has to go to Eric Hernandez, the fill-in drummer, who nailed the set. His playing with Dean sounded like it was a partnership years old and Woody Weatherman’s guitar tone was something to behold.
OVERKILL WHITE DEVIL ARMOURY White Devil Armoury is the seventeenth album from New Jersey’s thrash veterans Overkill. It’s all you’d expect from an old school thrash band – it’s fast, it’s loud, guitars are to the fore and there’s a shred at every turn. Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth has been a mainstay of the band and his higher pitch staccato gives you a feel for what it might be like to hear AC/DC’s Brian Johnson fronting something a little more violent. Overkill stick with what they know and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) influence is still very much on show. Where contemporaries like Anthrax, Metallica and Testament have evolved their sound over the years, Overkill just keep delivering classic thrash. The energy is relentless and every track is immediately imprinted on your cerebral cortex – chuck this in your car, put your foot down and the volume way the fuck up.
SEPULTURA ARISE Given that Sepultura are hitting K’ Road’s Studio on Wednesday 01 October I thought it’d be a good idea to revisit one of the key albums that made them so vital to metal. From the outset this record was different – 28 seconds of mechanical breathing struggling for air, it set the scene for the post-apocalyptic soundscape your ears were about to be assaulted with. The wall of guitars backed by stark tribal beats provided a platform for the kind of political commentary metal bands tended to avoid. It wasn’t just anger at the world but a dissection of what was wrong and it was delivered brutally and beautifully in bursts of bile that made you take notice. ‘Dead Embroyonic Cells’, ‘Altered State’, ‘Desperate Cry’ and the title track were instant staples of any young band worth their salt and with lines like “Land of anger, I didn’t ask to be born” it didn’t take long for the metal masses to take up the cry and embrace the boys from Brazil.
THE METAL GIG GUIDE PSYCROPTIC (AU) WITH TAINTED, DAWN OF AZAZEL & BULLETBELT THU 14 AUG CHURCHILLS, CHRISTCHURCH FRI 15 AUG VALHALLA, WELLINGTON SAT 16 AUG THE KINGS ARMS, AUCKLAND
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PRONG (US) SUN 23 NOV THE POWERSTATION, AUCKLAND
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DRAX PROJECT TEAM DYNAMITE This year you released Shepherd’s Delight – where did the name come from? We thought about what all the tracks had in common, and what it meant to us personally. One day it just came – “shepherd’s delight”, from the saying about red skies at night; this project is our red sky and we’re hoping for a brighter tomorrow. What was the writing process like? Too easy. We’d pretty much written it all by the time we were ready to go. How about recording, where and who with? Onehunga with Dan ‘Exile’ Mawby. There are some great appearances, how did these collaborations come about? Lui Silk we wanted because of the fire he had. We wanted to showcase his skill and he’s a homie, so why not. We also wanted Hone Be Good but the timing was wrong. Che (Fu) was just pure luck. We met him a couple of times and when Lucky asked if he was keen to do a song he said yes! Lui Silk’s track is ‘Very On’ and you’ve got a video for it too?
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It was produced by B Haru and the video was directed and produced by Eddy Fifield. For track eight, ‘Coconut Lime (feat. Che Fu)’, did you manage to secure NZ On Air funding? Yeah. We shot the video the other weekend with Eddy. You guys have got some sweet gigs coming up, including your first New Year’s gig, Rhythm and Alps. This was actually one of our goals, playing a New Year’s gig, so we’re pretty stoked. Lots of cool things are happening, we’re looking forward to what lies ahead. And before that, a tour with Ladi6. What does sharing a stage with Ladi6 and Parks mean to you? *Horse noise!* Ladi6, Parks, B Haru and Julien Dyne… it’s huge! Sharing the stage with Ladi6 means a lot to us. Which tracks are you most looking forward to playing? ‘Very On’, and ‘Do It Slow’ because we might be able to perform it with B Haru. Any surprises in store? There’s always a surprise at every show we play. TEAMDYNAMITE.BANDCAMP.COM
How did you guys start making music as Drax Project? We started out busking with Matt Beachen on drums and Shaan Singh on sax. Sam Thomson joined a few months later on bass. We wanted to start making original music and felt like we needed someone else, so we asked Ben O’Leary (guitar) to join us.
Was the inspiration for ‘City Lights’ literal? Yeah. We live on a hill in Brooklyn so we see that Wellington view every day. Shaan was walking down the hill and started singing a melody and came up with some lyrics. Matt had been working on some stuff which happened to fit well and the rest came together after jamming.
What’s your songwriting process like? Every song we’ve written has come together differently. When we play live things often change again; something might happen that we like so we’ll take it back to the practice room.
What is ‘Watching’ about? It’s a track about our everdecreasing privacy within society. This track also gave us the chance to work with other artists and we love what Name UL and Ants Ransley contributed.
What were the motivations behind your just-released Drax Project EP? It was an exploration, an opportunity for us to see what we could make together.
Do any of the tracks have special significance lyrically? All the tracks have lyrics we personally connect with, but ‘See In Colour’ is one we all contributed to. It’s about perception and how people can go through their lives without seeing anything other than what’s right in front of them. To “see in colour” is to see beyond face value.
The track ‘Real’ won you the theaudience.co.nz Wildcard Funding. What has that meant for you? It’s not just the opportunity to make a video and fund recordings, but a lot of publicity too. It’s pretty awesome for putting all the years of jamming into perspective. Now we have an opportunity to grow as artists and present our art in a really polished way.
What’s next? We’re working on our video at the moment and writing new material. Hopefully we’ll play more shows too. FACEBOOK.COM/DRAXPROJECT
SAMUEL TRUTH How did you start making music as Samuel Truth? I started producing in 2012 after studying at MAINZ in 2010/2011. Where did your name come from? When I started producing some friends were calling me “the truth”, which I adopted and added my last name. It adds another element every time I make something, trying to stay honest with my sound. Is there anything else that’s really important in your music? Texture is definitely something I put a lot of thought into, but melody is probably the most important. How did your Rise EP come to life? The EP is a lot busier than some of my previous stuff, especially the tracks on my last EP, After Ours. I tried to be a bit more ambitious with some of the drum work too. As the title track, does ‘Rise’ have any special significance? I was messing around with some brass sounds and I really liked the chords, so I laid them down. I also had these weird African drum samples I’d been
waiting to use for a long time. The track sums up the kind of sound I wanted for the EP so it was appropriate to give it the same name. ‘Velvet’ seems to combine almost every genre you could think of, what was the inspiration there? It was the last track I made for the EP so it’s a mix of elements from the other tracks. I wanted to go all out for the last piece. ‘Mercury’ slows things down a bit. What motivated you to change it up? I really wanted to do those vocal chops that Skrillex does… I don’t listen to his music much but his sound design is crazy. The main idea came from chopping up vocal acapellas and spreading them out on the keyboard, then trying different melodies and working the chords in. You’ve also got a track on the recent Darker Than Wax compilation, Feelings In Colour, which is pretty awesome. Yeah. I’ll be playing at the Feelings In Colour launch in Singapore, which I’m really looking forward to! SOUNDCLOUD.COM/SAMUELTRUTH
LITTLE BARK How did you start making music? I’ve been writing since I was at primary but suffered from really bad stage fright. In my 20s I decided to try again, so quit my job and started practicing guitar and synthesizer eight hours a day. I learned to record on Pro-tools and took some papers at Vic so I could do it all myself… and eventually got over my stage fright. How would you describe the sound of USB, your new album? It’s very synthy, with tracks that are both danceable and brooding. It’s dark and heavy. What about your process in crafting the songs? It’s like a soundtrack, with both instrumentals and songs. I hadn’t had much experience writing instrumentals, so that was really challenging but ultimately greatly rewarding. I also spent a lot of time learning how to create cool drum sounds and patterns, which is where many of the songs started from. Does ‘Arpreggiator’ have some interesting stories behind it? It was the first song I wrote after coming out of a tough relationship. Stef Animal (my producer and collaborator) and
I worked really hard on it. I used a vocal harmonizer in the demos, which is where the ‘male’ voice comes from... yip, that’s actually me! ‘Crystal Ball’ is such a nice closer, what was the inspiration for it? It’s based on the crystal ball scene from The Labyrinth movie. I originally wrote it at double the speed. Stef emailed and asked to have a play, then sent it back at half speed. I was like, “Hell yes!” What was the recording process like? I recorded the demos at home, then Stef and I recorded the album in Wellington and Auckland. We’d locate an empty room, chuck the laptop and monitor speakers (with our 2 channel recording device and instruments) and off we’d go. I like grit and noise, so the album isn’t crystal clean and lifeless. What was the biggest challenge in getting USB out? Having to try every possibility…I had to explore every single avenue, throw ideas away, create new things, give away control and take it back. LITTLEBARK.BANDCAMP.COM
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NICK COLLINGS
THIS MONTH IN CLUBL AND FOR EXTENDED INTERVIEWS CHECK OUT RIPITUP.CO.NZ/CLUBLAND Do you write more standard electronic music under any other aliases? Yeah, I just started this super ace little project under the name Deadmau5 and its going really well, I’m hoping at some point Deadmau5 will catch up with DJ Detweiler.
DJ DETWEILER MASTER OF THE FLUTEDROP You have become quite the Internet star for your recorder renditions of such hits as Miley Cyrus’ ‘Wrecking Ball’, The Prodigy’s ‘Smack My Bitch Up’, DJ Snake and Lil Jon’s ‘Turn Down For What’ with several million hits collectively. You have labelled the genre as “flutedrop.” How did you create flutedrop? Yes, I am actually super-famous, much more famous than a lot of people. The idea came originally when I was sleeping, I was dreaming that I was at a huge rave, you know how dreams work. We’re talking a HUUUGE RAVE, with massive speakers half way into the sky, like they have in the UK. Then in my dream the DJ played that Prodigy track, and when it came to the drop it was this crazy flute sound and everyone was loving it. For me at least, in my dream and now in my music, that one drop rewrote all my rules for music. But it was perfect, it just worked. Then when I woke up I wrote it all down, I’ve got a copy of the original notes I made
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music arm of Vice, wrote a huge article full of fake rubbish rumours about me, that was pretty weird to read. Apart from the a rumour that I was Diplo, but that isn’t a rumour. Finally...what does you mother call you? She calls me MAYBE.
What is the best rumour you have heard about yourself? Well, German “Thump”, the
SOUNDCLOUD.COM/D-J-DETWEILER
TURNING THE TABLES WITH… SIGMA
6. Sigma won Best Newcomer DJ at the 2009 Drum and Bass Arena Awards.
1. Sigma was initially a drum and bass collective made up of three members. Cameron Edwards, Joe Lenzie, and formerly, Ben Mauerhoff. Based out of the UK.
7. In 2009 they set up their own record label, Life Recordings, as an outlet to release their own music without any boundaries.
somewhere, then that afternoon I uploaded the first four or five #flutedrop tracks. A week later it had 30,000 hits. That was just the beginning… Do you have any musical training or qualifications? I’ve always played instruments, and music was always in the house when I was growing up. So I guess strictly speaking I don’t have so many “qualifications”, rather music is a part of me and my life. There is a large amount of comedic appeal in your music and general online persona. There has been talk that DJ Detweiler is the mystery alias of a more well-known producer, set about to poke fun at and tackle the more serious failings of the music industry. What are you thoughts on the state and business practices of the current music industry? I’ll only say that YouTube and SoundCloud are doing it totally wrong, if they want to sell their asses to the majors, they will kill themselves. The internet is big and artists will change to other platforms.
2. Sigma’s first release was ‘Masai’ and ‘Livewire’ in 2006 on Mampi Swift’s label Charge Recordings. 3. Sigma have remixed Eric Prydz, Duck Sauce, Re-Con & Squad-E, Stanton Warriors, Route 94, Roni Size & DJ Die, State Of Mind and Danny Byrd to name a few. 4. Joe Lenzie aka DJ Wooz won the 2002 DMC DJ finals as part of the team Flaredycats.
8. Cameron writes house music as a side project. 9. Sigma hold a monthly residency on popular UK radio station Kiss FM. 10. Their track ‘Nobody To Love’ (a rework of Kanye West’s ‘Bound 2’) went to number one in the UK, Scotland and New Zealand pop charts. TAMMY WOODROFF
SEE THEM DJ: SIGMA (UK) WED 13 AUG STUDIO, AUCKLAND
5. Cameron is often told he looks like movie star Owen Wilson.
SCRATCHING THE SURFACE DILLYTEK
NICKY NIGHT TIME For many years now Australian producer/singer/guitarist Nicholas Routledge has ruled dance floors of many shapes and sizes under well known names such as Van She Tech, Van She, Nicky Van She and now Nicky Night Time. Where did that music bug come from all those years ago and what got you into electronic music? I had always loved that NYC sound of house especially being a kid in the ‘90s. House music has been in my blood from early on in high school where I used to play jazz. So I guess my taste in house used to be on the jazzier side of things, but the way I see it is it all comes from jazz anyway. What got me into music? I guess it was the thought of my grandfather being a jazz musician in his time and whenever I played the guitar or keys it felt like a bit of a channelling experience. Also records like Alcatraz - Give Me Luv and Armand Van Helden’s records were always in there. What is the concept behind your new alias Nicky Night Time and what made you want to establish a fresh moniker? Well I guess it was definitely always on the cards to jump into a solo thing, it was just a matter of timing and the opportunity
with Onelove came up to put out some music and I jumped on it. The concept is just me making music I wanted to hear in a club or out. Mikey (Touch Sensitive) gave me some good advice when I was thinking about doing NNT which was “if you wouldn’t DJ it, don’t make it” ha ha… so that’s what I am doing. Your first Nicky Night Time release ‘Everybody Together’ has been #1 on the ARIA Club Charts for several weeks. What were you trying to achieve with your debut single? The vibe we have got from ‘Everybody Together’ is that it brings to the table the perfect mix of elements old and new, a record that can pretty much be played anywhere. What’s coming up next for you musically? I just finished a remix of Sunshine’s track ‘The Only One’ and one for Nervo too which has a Duane Harden’s vocal on it, which is awesome. Also I am just finishing off a couple of new NNT tracks which will be coming out through Onelove. ‘EVERYBODY TOGETHER’ IS OUT NOW ON ONELOVE INTERVIEW USED WITH PERMISSION FROM ONELOVE
Dillytek are Australia’s hardstyle dynamic duo. They are tasting great success, recently having their tracks signed to Frontliner’s legendary Dutch powerhouse label Keep It Up Music. Both mates since their school days, they formed in 2010 and have released a small arsenal of hits such as ‘Feeling’, ‘Salvation’, ‘Abandoned’ and ‘Alive’. Coming up in electronic music, who was your DJ/ producer hero? We always looked up to guys like Frontliner, Noisecontrollers and Wildstylez. And still do to this day. These guys are always so creative and original with their music. And the quality of production never disappoints. What aspect of making music excites you the most right now? We’ve been really excited about working with different vocalists lately, which we feel is a huge step towards expanding our sound and gives you so much freedom with the direction you take. What track of yours do you recommend to people who have never heard your music before? We would have to go with our newest release called ‘Feeling’. It has that typical hardstyle energy in the mid-intro, upbeat female vocals and a huge driving melody in the middle. In our minds, this track covers all the kinds of hardstyle we are about!
What projects are you currently working on? We’re currently working on a couple collaborations with artists from Europe! Most memorable DJ moment to date? Wow, such a hard question to name the most memorable moment. Any performance at Defqon. One is extremely memorable. But I think the most special DJ moment we’ve had would have been during the Frontliner tour in Australia when we went up on stage to perform our track together called ‘Elevate’. Being up on stage with one of our idols was really special! 2013 was the year of “Deep House”. 2014 will be the year of…? To us, 2013 was the year of hardstyle and 2014 will be the year of hardstyle! In all seriousness, we think the sub-ground type of sound is starting to become more popular, especially with some of the bigger house acts at the moment. What’s the musical equivalent of the G-Spot? Would have to say the equivalent is the main climax! (Pun intended). The part of the track where everything you’ve worked towards in the build up all comes together in a huge main drop! SEE THEM DJ: DEFQON1 DJ BATTLE GROUNDS FT DILLYTEK (AU) FRI 08 AUG TOTOS, AUCKLAND
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JAMES MANNING
IAN JORGENSEN A.K.A. BLINK has been the most challenging and why? Definitely the A Low Hum tours in 2006. I can’t for the life of me work out how I managed to tour 3-4 bands a month around the country whilst editing a magazine and compiling two CDs every month, organising the following month’s tours, and during all of it, putting together the first Camp, ridiculous. It was the hardest I’ve ever worked, but also the most rewarding year of my life.
THE PROBLEM WITH Music In New Zealand and How To Fix It & Why I Started and Ran Puppies is a collection of essays that, as the title suggests, offers solutions to many problems in NZ music. Ian Jorgensen, aka Blink, self-released the book a few weeks back, drawing on his extensive experience in music publishing and tour management. Catching up with the man behind Camp A Low Hum and Wellington bar Puppies, Blink shares ideas on how to provoke change in the national music industry. All ages gigs are stressed as being very important throughout your book. Could you explain why indoctrinating kids into local scenes is vital for national music growth? From a “commercial” point of view, it’s a huge untapped market of people who often have discretionary income and no dependents or responsibilities, but more importantly, it’s about making people aware of creative industries at a young age. It’s not only music I would love to see more effort at bringing to younger people, but also visual arts, literature, theatre etc. Actually taking artists who might inspire young people to them, rather than having these creative industries be taught through stale and boring curriculums to students who don’t see the potential or get excited about it. You outline many issues with NZ music; what do you think is the worst thing about being a musician in NZ? It all comes down to the fact that we live in a country with both a small population and one which is spread out. We’re the only English-speaking musical market in such a
predicament. We struggle to reach the current potential audience because it is costly to do so, and even when we maximise that reach, it doesn’t do that much for us because it’s tiny. Enlarging that potential audience is the only way we can make things work better. Currently, bands look to do this by venturing offshore. My book argues ways in which we can do that in New Zealand and make expanding to overseas markets a bonus, not the only option. I like the idea of taking music into other environments from alcohol-focused bars. Any thoughts on how to disentangle the music and alcohol industries? Definitely not an easy fix and it is not just up to the music industry. The whole perception of alcohol and how it is associated with anything in this country needs to be looked at. We take it for granted that alcohol goes hand in hand with sport AND music. Jim Beam naming Homegrown and Becks being the official corporate sponsor for New Zealand music month are massive issues, but the problem runs so deep that nobody even questions this sketchy relationship. Turning down alcohol money is tough. Barely any musicians in this country make more than minimum wage by being involved in music, so when a company throws money at you, you don’t say no. I don’t blame them and I’ve relied on money from the alcohol industry to earn an income too. I’ve tried to distance myself as much as possible recently and create events which aren’t focused on booze consumption and avoid the main breweries but it’s tough.
Wellington’s Puppies was run as a way to prove a point to yourself, to the music industry, to clear some debts and have some fun. What do you miss most about it? The great parties, a regular income. Being able to put on kick ass shows for bands who didn’t really play anywhere else. Like all my projects, Puppies was an art project and having a space where if I was sitting at home bored on a Monday night, I could go unlock and open up, turn the PA right up, turn on smoke machines, lasers and then just play a stupid set of banging techno or whatever I felt like for hours till 3am in the morning to any poor soul who happened to pop their head in to see what the ruckus was about. I’m gonna miss that most of all. What advice would you give to yourself starting out on the A Low Hum tours? Not to do it. Build infrastructure and create systems which anyone can use, not expend so much energy on touring. Though, I had an amazing couple of years and have the best memories, so if some jaded old bearded dude travelled back in time and told me to just work on establishing some DIY venues in smaller towns and not to spend three years touring with my favourite bands, well, I woulda told that jerk where to shove it. THE PROBLEM WITH MUSIC IN NEW ZEALAND AND HOW TO FIX IT & WHY I STARTED AND RAN PUPPIES OUT NOW ALOWHUM.COM
The A Low Hum entity has covered CDs, DVDs, tours, festivals and a magazine. Which
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GEEKS
DESTINY: HANDS-ON PS4 As we march closer to the release date for Destiny (due Tuesday 09 September) the excitement is building. Having already played and loved the alpha release, I was dying to get my hands on the beta and in terms of gameplay not much has changed; it’s still a first person shooter with online co-op multiplayer. The main changes between the alpha and the beta are atmospheric. The sound is much better, for example. Gunshots in close quarters now echo down the corridors, Peter Dinklage’s voice work is much improved, and the environment sounds, well, like an actual environment. Each stage now starts with an intro scene which gives the story a bit more flesh. It’s not just Earth that you fight on, but the terraformed moons of Mars, Venus and Mercury. This is where the battlegrounds are inside the PVP area called The Crucible. Throughout the Tower (the communal area), are clans you can sign up to and gain banners
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from. Each banner, symbol and special armour and weapons give you bonuses. Special weapons can also have unlockable attributes, the more you use it, the quicker these unlock (for example “damage bonus after a headshot”). The thing I really like about Destiny is that the difficulty is scalable. As a Level 3 player I encountered Level 3 bad guys, as a Level 8, I got Level 8 bad guys in the same area. The matchmaking in the Crucible was similarly excellent (though my prowess at PVP matches hasn’t increased sadly). There are special events too, that only run for a short time inside the Crucible. So far all of the Crucible matches seem to be team-based rather than deathmatch, one-on-one style, which is kind of cool. I also still love how the multiplayer works; you can either get friends joining your official Fireteam or you can just be in the same level with other players. Of course sometimes you’re forced into a team like in the Crucible, or in a Strike. To play in these areas you need to
have a Playstation Plus account (I assume there will be a similar requirement for Xbox users). The Strikes, and some of the missions, now have restricted respawns. Playing an earlier level mission I saw my companion disappear as I entered the final stage, I had to finish it on my own. In the Strikes restricted re-spawns mean you have to rely on your teammates so much more. If all your teammates die the game starts from the last checkpoint, but while you can re-spawn it takes a lot longer, like 30 seconds. It makes certain levels… challenging. The main thing I got from the Beta experience (which has seen been closed to the public) was that there is a lot of story to come
and that the world within Destiny is going to be huge. Bungie have dangled the Moon in front of players too, it’s right there on the map but you can’t get to it. The promise of more to come is what makes Destiny so damn exciting right now. In the stores around the tower you can see weapons, armour and symbols for level 20 characters. Things that look tantalisingly cool that we can’t get at just yet. One of the criticisms of Destiny is that it’s the same as other games, and I can see why. But for me this is what I love about it. It’s the best bits of a number of games without being revolutionary beyond the amazing visuals. That September release date can’t come soon enough.
BLOCKBUSTER EA TITLES DELAYED UNTIL 2015
innovation, single-player story depth and stability. “We are doing all of this for one reason. Because we want Battlefield Hardline to be the best game it can be, and so that we can create the best environment for a smooth launch for our players,” said Troedsson. Dragon Age: Inquisition, meanwhile, has been delayed fromThursday 09 October until Friday 21 November, to focus on “polishing the experience.” According to BioWare’s Mark Durrah, this will include “ensuring that our open spaces are as engaging as possible. Strengthening the emotional impact of the hero’s choices. And ensuring the experience you get is the best it can be in the platform you choose to play on.”
EA has announced today that two of its most anticipated games for this year, Battlefield Hardline and Dragon Age: Inquisition, have been delayed. Battlefield Hardline was originally due for release on October 24th, but has been pushed back until early 2015. “We decided that the right thing to do was to take more time to ensure Hardline is the best, most innovative Battlefield experience we can give to you, our fans,” said Karl-Magnus Troedsson, vice president and general manager of DICE in a post on EA’s blog. The extra time will allow Visceral Games to focus on multi-player
GEEKS
ROB ZOMBIE AND ASSASSIN’S CREED UNCHARTED HEADING TO CINEMAS A movie adaptation of Naughty Dogs hit series, Uncharted, has been pencilled in for release on June 10, 2016, a date formerly occupied by The Amazing Spider-Man 3. Sony Pictures originally had the next Marc Webb-directed SpiderMan film set for that date, but it has been pushed back to 2018 to make space for The Sinister Six, a villain-focused spin-off that’s due for release in November 2016. The Uncharted film, being directed by
Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses), was then moved into the June 10, 2016 spot. “June 10 is a great date for Uncharted,” said Doug Belgrad, president of Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group. “It’s just the right place for this exciting action-adventure film.” Uncharted is currently in preproduction, with the latest draft of the screenplay being written by David Guggenheim (Safe House, Stolen). The cast is yet to be revealed, but filming is due to begin early next year.
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The Walking Dead co-creator Tony Moore and musician/ filmmaker Rob Zombie will reveal an animated short inspired by Assassin’s Creed Unity at the recent San Diego Comic-Con. The short film will be shown during an Assassin’s Creed Unity demo and Q&A panel on Friday, July 25. The session will also introduce the game’s protagonist Arno, as well as revealing new details about Unity and the Assassin’s Creed franchise as a whole.
Tony Moore is best known as the artist for the first six issues of The Walking Dead comic series, written by Robert Kirkman, and has also worked on the likes of Fear Agent and The Exterminators. Rob Zombie, meanwhile, was one of the founding members of the heavy metal band White Zombie, before pursuing a solo music career and, most recently, filmmaking. He directed the 2007 remake of Halloween and its 2009 sequel, and has also voice acted for a number of cartoons, including Spider-Man: The New Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited.
FILM REVIEWS
LAURA WEASER
DIRECTED BY JAMES NAPIER ROBERTSON STARRING CLIFF CURTIS, JAMES ROLLESTON, MIRIAMA MCDOWELL
THE DARK HORSE
****
He’s known for playing either an Arab or a Mexican in every Hollywood blockbuster, but Cliff Curtis shows a whole new side of himself in this Kiwi drama. Barely recognisable,
having gained a considerable amount of weight for the role of Genesis Potini, Curtis excels as the chess champion who battles with his own mental health struggles. On its surface, The Dark Horse is a sports
DIRECTED BY CLINT EASTWOOD
DIRECTED BY JAKE KASDAN
STARRING JOHN LLOYD YOUNG, ERICH BERGEN, MICHAEL LOMENDA
JERSEY BOYS
*****
Based on the Broadway musical of the same, name, based on the real-life story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Clint Eastwood. lifts the drama from stage to screen with great success. Tracking the boys youth from the wrong side of the tracks, through to their multi-award-winning career as the 1960s pop group, it’s a roller coaster of emotional highs and lows. Although based on a musical, don’t expect any extended breaks in the plots for sing-a-longs. There is, naturally, songs to be sung at poignant moments, but Eastwood cleverly weaves this around the story as either a backing track or as the boys’ stage performances. With a background in Westerns and dramatic, crime-based directorial projects, Eastwood
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plays to his strengths and excels at creating a seedy underworld beneath the boys’ rise to fame. However, in keeping with theatrical conventions, the film at times feels disjointed as we skim over what seem to be important emotional climaxes in favour of time keeping. Stellar cast performances really carry this through, with Eastwood recruiting a number of relative unknowns who bring that Jersey edge along with softness in their singing performances. Christopher Walken is a pure delight, doing what he does best in Walken-style tones and even busts out a dance move or two. Jersey Boys follows a narrative arc so common with musical biopics – the success, the height of fame, the crumbling downfall – but strikes a chord with its familiar and catchy pop tunes and talented leads.
film – a small community chess team, attended mostly by children of gang members, takes a shot at the big leagues in Auckland, led by former chess star Genesis. But dig deeper and the film layers on the drama as Genesis battles with bi-polar disorder and his teenage nephew’s gang ties take the forefront. Curtis delivers what could arguably described as the performance of his career, harking back to his Once Were Warriors days. His delicate portrayal of this real-life character is both heart-breaking and heart-warming. Young star James Rolleston (from Boy, and most recently the Vodafone ads) takes “Cliff notes”, following suit with an incredible performance as a boy caught between get initiated into his father’s gang and wanting a new life for himself. But it’s not just our leads that make this film, and it’s a sum of its parts with a whole host of young stars tugging on your heartstrings as the wayward youth of the chess club. There’s a lot of heart and soul in this project, and it’s hard to keep your eyes dry throughout.
STARRING JASON SEGEL, CAMERON DIAZ, ROB CORDDRY
SEX TAPE
*****
Looking to spice up their formerly hot and heavy love life, married couple Annie (Cameron Diaz) and Jay (Jason Segel) have one too many shots of tequila and decided to record a sex tape, recreating all positions from 1970s manual The Joy of Sex in a three-hour sex-a-thon. But, what’s meant to be for their eyes only gets shared among family and friends when a technical failure sees it synced to the Cloud. It’s a race against time to recover the evidence. Slapped with an R16 rating, the subject matter is far more PG-13 than you’d expect. If a tantalising thrill is what you are after, be prepared to be disappointed: a few heavy panting shots, coupled with a bit of nipple (from both parties) and ageless Cameron D’s incredible back/butt is all you can
hope for. And that’s the core of this film’s downfall. Caught between being an all-out R-rated comedy and a steady relationship drama, rehashing the same mantra that marriage ruins your life, Sex Tape over-promises and under-delivers. Diaz starts off (as most females in Hollywood comedies do), as the cool girlfriend before morphing into a nagging monster as soon as the couples have said their “I dos”. The 180-degree switch seems contrived for the story when the focus becomes on Annie and Jay’s marital issues and less about recovering the tape. Segel’s fate is not much better, becoming the cliché “slacker” who just can’t get it right. A few moments of laugh-outloud comedy shine through, notably with a cameo from Jack Black and a small role for Rob Lowe.
JAMES MANNING
PULP: A FILM ABOUT LIFE, DEATH AND SUPERMARKETS has a cell phone, but it felt like people weren’t used to that new technology. When you go to some pub in Sheffield, you don’t see people texting on their phones, they’re more likely to be playing an instrument and jamming, drinking beer and sitting in a circle, a bit more old school.”
NEW ZEALAND FILMMAKER Florian Habicht’s latest documentary Pulp: A Film About Life, Death and Supermarkets is an intimate portrait of 90’s underdog brit-rock act Pulp and their hometown Sheffield, as the band return to perform in late 2012. Screeningat this year’s New Zealand International Film Festival, Pulp builds on Habicht’s previous work by further exploring the comic and emotional possibilities of the on-street interview. Weaved through footage of the two-hour concert are Sheffield citizens voicing their thoughts of Pulp and bandmembers reminiscing over their careers. Like 2011’s award winning Love Story, Pulp’s charm lies in capturing real life moments of real life strangers and is something Habicht feels strongly about. “I like making connections with complete strangers. In life it’s normal not to talk to strangers on the street, that’s the society we’re brought up in. If you start talking to somebody at a bus stop most of the time people might think you’re crazy. But I believe it’s normal to talk to strangers and
interact because we’re all in this thing together, on this planet.” Habicht emailed the enigmatic Jarvis Cocker when Love Story made it into the London Film Festival, inviting one of his favourite bands to the screening and planting the idea of collaboration. Habicht felt the role played by everyday people in the film would resonate with the ‘Common People’ rockers. “With Love Story, it’s the real people on the streets of New York that are the stars of the film. They sort of take the limelight and I just thought Pulp would get that. I mean, there’s no such thing as a common person but the common people, the real people on that kind of level – I thought that would come through in the film.” Calling from Berlin, the award winning director is affable and excited hopping from one topic to another. In the film Jarvis philosophises, “life is a random process but you can add a narrative to it”, and I suggest music could replace “life” or “narrative”. “Oh, that’s great!” he exclaims. “Jarvis liked that line, I’ll tell ya something funny...”
and begins reciting a humorous incident on a flight from Sydney to London. Florian describes himself and his work ethic as spontaneous. “I’ll spend a year trying to write a script, and then I’ll get frustrated by the process or impatient, and I’ll just pick up a camera and start making a film. I’d rather be spontaneous on the street than do research and all that.” Sheffield was a shock at first glance (“oh my God, I’m in Hamilton”), and the people a far cry from the personality of New York. “In New York you’ll put a camera on a street, and like a magnet you’ll have people lining up to be in front of it. In Sheffield a camera makes people run away.” With notes scribbled and sections underlined, Cocker armed Habicht with his book Mother, Brother, Lover to guide the New Zealander through Sheffield. But the awkward and sexuallycharged observations of the young “Different Class” poet was not what Habicht encountered.
Pulp already has a starstudded fan base. Flight of the Conchords have tweeted about it (“wonderful documentary about the band Pulp”), and Wes Anderson enjoyed it too (“he watched a rough cut and gave us some feedback, so that was pretty cool”), but the film belongs to Sheffield, through and through. “I had people shaking my hands and not letting go,” recalling the city’s premiere. “We did a Q and A with the band afterwards as an event that was broadcast to about twenty cinemas throughout the U.K. and Ireland, so there were people everywhere [watching] the premiere like a live stream. I got Jarvis to do the Haka, in case any Kiwis were watching,” he laughs. The Haka was “short and sweet, as you can imagine.” I ask his thoughts on what makes the on-street interview so popular with audiences, and he pauses briefly, and resumes. “Most of the time I’m too shy to talk to strangers on the street. I love to, but having a camera gives me an excuse. I met most of [the people] while the camera was rolling, when audiences watch the film, they feel like they’ve met all these people as well.” PULP: A FILM ABOUT LIFE, DEATH & SUPERMARKETS SCREENING AS A PART OF NZIFF 2014 CHECK NZIFF.CO.NZ FOR SESSION
“For me it was like going back in time. Of course everybody
TIMES IN YOUR REGION
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ALBUM REVIEWS DEVILSKIN WE RISE
*****
RHYTHMETHOD
No surprise that Devilskin are having their evil way with the charts, really. I’m tempted to write that there’s something quintessentially Hamilton about this band: its unfettered love of metal, its disinterest in trend, its barely contained desire to wig out. And there’s something in that, but really, they’re just a group doing what they do really well. Oh, and did I mention that Jennie Skulander has one heck of a voice? She sings with wondrous
THE ACID LIMINAL
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GARY STEEL
KING BUZZO ***** THIS MACHINE KILLS ARTISTS
GEORGE EZRA ***** WANTED ON VOYAGE
GUERRE EXNIHILO
SONY
YES PLEASE
Here’s how to make something new and surprising: cross a sensitive singer-songwriter with a superstar DJ and a tech-spec’d producer, instruct them to set about pleasing only themselves, and see how it sets. The music is draped loosely around the postThom Yorke singing and songs of Australian Ry X, but given equal weight are two other elements via Adam Freeland and Steve Nalepa. First, there are the sparingly applied (and all the more effective for it) electronic bass and beat moves, all rumbling lows and sizzling highs, which use a palette established by dubstep without mimicking the genre. Then there are the so-called “field recordings” – backgrounds that add a ghostly, unsettling atmosphere to nearly every track. There’s so much texture here that Liminal demands to be played on a high definition sound system to bring out its audio subtleties. It’s both an intimate snapshot and a lesson in astonishing sound design.
IPECAC
He’s got this deep, rich voice that makes you think no way, those dulcet tones can’t be coming from that innocent-looking lad, it’s just not right! The songs are self-written and perfectly adequate to get across that voice and so steeped in pastiche from pop’s past (skiffle, folk, ‘50s rock and roll, early ‘60s balladry) that it’s a sound fans will probably find as comfortable as a second skin. I’m sure Ezra will have a bright future, but there’s just nothing at all spine-tingling here; no sense that he’s reaching for anything, or that he has anything to prove. Every now and then there’s a hint of darkness, or intrigue, as on ‘Did You Hear The Rain?’, which starts as an a cappella lament, and then introduces a moody backing not unlike Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds, had they been auditioning for a TV talent quest.
Apparently, Exnihilo is Latin for “out of nothing”, and it’s the first extended player from the young Australian. It sounds like he’s spent months tinkering endlessly with these tracks, which are full of the kind of tiny details rarely found in what amounts to a kind of mutant electronic dance music. The beats are mostly of the 4/4 variety, and the soulful quality could see it categorised as house, but that would be altogether too easy. Guerre (pronounced Gair) has clearly listened to his share of Burial: his heavily processed vocals and the sometimes claustrophobic sound design both echo the work of the influential dubstep producer. Guerre’s sound revolves around tuned, polyrhythmic percussion, which makes it a dancefloor cert, despite the underlying unease. There’s an old Sabres Of Paradise album called Haunted Dancehall, and that’s exactly the image Exnihilo conjures, as good grooves compete with ghostly SFX, making for a disquieting but strangely moving experience.
GARY STEEL
GARY STEEL
*****
LIBERATOR
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authority and strength, and she’s got several octaves-worth of power to spare. Which is perfect, because if anything, Devilskin is a metal-influenced pop band with power choruses, rather than a heavy metal band per se, and it takes a special singer to carry that power anthem thing to the heights. I don’t know if they evolved from harder beginnings, but the death metal flourishes sound almost like afterthoughts, or maybe just the afterbirth of a previous incarnation.
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I can see why the Melvins vocalist/writer King Buzzo might want to lash out and do his own thing, presenting a bunch of songs free of ornamentation. But Melvins don’t do ornamentation. Instead, they fart and barf over his songs, resulting in a uniquely excremental brew – a malevolent, unpredictable goo that you can almost smell. King Buzzo says that he has “no interest in sounding like a crappy version of James Taylor” on these more-orless acoustic, guitar-and-voice songs, and no one would accuse him of being quite that flaccid. His guitar stylings are raw and scratchy, a kind of half-strummed, half-picked in between zone that displays a remarkable facility for memorable riffs, but gets a bit monotonous over the long haul. That problem is compounded by processed vocals which inevitably create something of a disconnect. This Machine Kills Artists is one for dedicated fans looking for an insight into Buzzo’s songwriting.
GARY STEEL
GARY STEEL
*****
ALBUM REVIEWS SIA ***** 1000 FORMS OF FEAR MONKEY PUZZLE/RCA
Sia Furler’s sixth studio album, 1000 Forms of Fear, is a welcome return for the Australian singer-songwriter after selfimposed seclusion resulting from the pressures of fame. Sia has channelled and refined her experience into a record much darker than 2010’s We Are Born. Her vocal delivery carries the album, moves between a lazy mumble, well-rounded power and coarse Annette Peacock static in
MORRISSEY *** * WORLD PEACE IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS
BLOOD ORANGE PALO ALTO – *** * ORIGINAL FILM SCORE
HARVEST/CAPITOL
DOMINO/EMI
Ten records into a solo career, Morrissey’s albums have most often sunk or swum dependant upon hitting a rarified sweetspot between his forthright, causefilled, desire-fuelled lyricism/ delivery and the sparse vs. luxe qualities of the music/ production that accompanies him. Boz Boorer’s still here, sharing co-Mozwriting duties with Jesse Tobias and Gustavo Manzur, but production is now entrusted to Joe Chiccarelli (The Strokes/The Shins) rather than longtime collaborators Jerry Finn and/or Tony Visconti. Whether Chiccarelli’s influence or not, WPINoYB is one of the most consistently pleasant Morrissey albums to listen to musically. Not innovative, sure, and a weeny bit ‘continental’ in parts, but a near-perfect accompaniment to temper and hoist Morrissey’s storytelling from the potential mires of Wildean floridity and PETA hammer.
Devonté Hynes (a.k.a. Blood Orange, formerly Lightspeed Champion) has written and produced some of this decade’s grandest earworms (for Solange Knowles, Sky Ferreira etc.) and whose latest album Cupid Deluxe was/is a pleasureload of bittersweet drag-ball pop otherness. Gia Coppola’s Palo Alto, a coming-of-age film based upon the short stories of James Franco, has wisely hitched itself to Hynes’ skill at both poignancy and explored artifice, a particular proficiency that seems crashingly coming-of-age itself (think: M83’s wonderfully plastic/emotive Saturdays = Youth). Creating an original score has allowed Hynes to mediate on motifs and musical phrases more than he may upon straight label releases, and it’s a change to be welcomed. Current collaborator Samantha Urbani features on vocals, as well as Hynes, although these are sparse among the agreeable arrangements. Already a fan?
Wilder’s better-known musical project is the jubilant pop-psych of Brooklyn’s Yeasayer. Wilder and collaborator Kardon began groundwork for what would later become Break Line - a concept album based around star-crossed lovers within the worker strikes of a Pennsylvania coal mining town as once mythologized in ‘50s Quaker folksong. …Phew. Still reading? An attempt at nudging the canon containing Tommy, Ziggy and Yoshimi seems apt from Wilder, considering the experimentation he and his friends (feat. on this album: members of Chairlift, Dirty Projectors, MGMT, Man Man et al.) are known to embrace. Then why do proceedings on Break Line sound so dull? The freakiest flags flown here are akin to a milquetoast Matt Bellamy performing a ‘Sympathy For the Devil’/‘Macavity: The Mystery Cat’ mash-up. A strange missed opportunity from many pairs of capable hands.
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ANAND WILDER & MAXWELL KARDON BREAK LINE THE MUSICAL ***** CREATE-CONTROL/MUTE
her upper range, adeptly backed by multi-instrumentalist Greg Kurstin. The gloomier thematic bent is more appropriate for a dingy tobacconist’s than a polkadot heavy stationary store, the opposite holds for the music—it’s polished, it’s epic and it’s highly crafted. It’s pop music as we know it. Whether this helps or hinders the tone of the record is difficult to unpick, it shields the songs from a deeper reading, but that’s probably folly anyway. SAM WIECK
JUNGLE JUNGLE
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Funk has a difficult history often ridiculed for its tendency toward the sensual and corporeal effect, which made the more tragic figures such as Messrs Mayfield & Stone all the more beguiling. Jungle’s self-titled debut makes backward-looking nods to both sides of the sequin-panted coin. For the most part Jungle eschew the grit and unevenness of live instrumentation in place of the tone colours of laptop orchestration, crafted electronic grooves, plucky synthesisers and soft pads. The strongest take on the record, ‘Platoon’, has much more in common with the grimace of Superfly than a smirking Ohio Players doubleentendre. Unfortunately the glossy production of the whole record is perhaps consistent to a fault, cuts that appear darker don’t go deeper. Contrast is the element most lacking on Jungle, but it would be rash to dismiss the utility of grey. SAM WIECK
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“Let’s just throw this massive distorted sound into the middle of the song,” think of it like travelling the world when you make music and you make melodies.” Kimbra is grounded and keeps connected with her young self as much as possible. It shines when recounting how Matthew Bellamy, a teenage inspiration of hers, happened onto recent single ‘90s Music’. “Rick was like, “man, I really wanna give this to Matt” – and I was like, “oh my gosh, Matt Bellamy?!” – and he was like , “yeah I might ask him to play something” – and I was like, “he won’t play on it, it’s Matt Bellamy!” He sends it to him and literally the next day Matt sends back this guitar noise playing along with the riff and it sounded rad.”
“I SPENT MOST of my year living on a farm not far from Hollywood. It has sheep and a bunch of chicken that live outside the kitchen. Tree trunk, cooking grill, you know. It’s a real trip.” Grammy award-winning Kimbra describes with scenic imagery the place she brainstormed sophomore album The Golden Echo. After the success of debut album Vows and collaboration with Gotye on ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’, “stillness” was a vital ingredient to the 24-year-old’s vision for the album. “A lot of the decisions were made in the time of solitude, thinking about it at home and being where there was a lot of stillness. It was more about deciding in my head what sort of movie [I was] going to make and how to cast different characters, working out how they were going to bring a colour to the palette,” she explains. The Golden Echo will be released in August and over twelve songs features an envious list of international talent. Muse’s Mathew Bellamy, Dirty Projectors’ Dave Longstreth, The Mars Volta’s Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Queens of the Stone Age’s Michael Shurman, John Legend and Thundercat all make their subtle mark. Iconic producer Rich Costey helped with the technical side of things, she says over the phone from L.A. “I could get so locked in the excitement of different sounds and need people there to help me tame that a bit. It was amazing to let me
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explore that process but he [would] jump in and connect with me [through] these incredible skills in the studio, so I was very grateful for that.” As Kimbra’s voice ricochets all distorted and layered, vibrant ‘80s psych-pop hooks meet sparse hip-hop beats and soul tones blend with jazzy numbers. The Golden Echo is an exciting experimental pop record. Written in London, standout track ‘Goldmine’ is very special to the young New Zealander. “The lyrics I had lying around for ages, almost like a little poem or mantra, something I say to myself when things are hard or weighing heavy. I like the idea of gold having to be put through the fire and refined and textured before it really becomes valued.” Kimbra was drawn to classical composers, Pakistan music, Connan Mockasin and Kanye West through the making of the album. Yeezus in particular struck a chord: “I heard that and it got me really inspired to take some more risks. Let’s just throw this massive distorted sound into the middle of the song,” she chuckles. She appreciates the spiritual nature of music and found a similar likeness with Brainfeeder bass player Thundercat, who features on other highlights ‘Madhouse’ and ‘Everlovin’ Ya’. “We both approach music like little kids and everything is so free with him. That’s the way I liked to produce this album, just try get the music to travel into the beyond. We really
About fifty songs were written during the recording sessions, including one with beat architect Flying Lotus, but many were left off as she wanted to make “a body of work that was focused.” Much of this focus was poured into two contrasting themes flowing through the album. The Greek myth Narcissus, which focuses on obsession with self-image and a daffodil named Narcissus Golden Echo reaching towards the sun. Kimbra sought to explore these two energies – “one very wrapped up in self-reflection and the other moving outward and being connected again.” Ever-ambitious, Kimbra plans to match visual art with her music in gallery exhibitions during the album’s release in LA. “I’m really fascinated by the idea of mixing mediums. We listen to music now for five seconds and we switch off, but how can we find ways to get people to engage deeper with it?” While her career will continue to develop and her mediums expand, the values started out with will remain the same. “The music can change a hundred times over but the spirit from where it’s written – to me, that’s what it’s all about. That’s where your fans will follow you and that’s how they’ll grow with you.” NEW ALBUM: THE GOLDEN ECHO OUT FRI 15 AUG
ARTIST Q&A
CHELSEA MCEWAN MILLAR ACTRESS Who’s in the dead supergroup for your dream hologram show? Kurt Cobain, Johnny Cash, Jeff Buckley, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon... but they can only play songs from the soundtrack to ‘80s cartoon Jem (Kurt is Jem)... and they’re really unhappy about it. What’s an upcoming film you’re jazzed about? Jumanji re-released in 3D... I don’t know if that’s actually a thing but consider this my note in the suggestion box of whoever could make it a thing. Where can your stalkers find you during the weekend? Friday night I’m at the Basement to see my friends being hilarious in Snort, which is a weekly improv show at 10pm. The rest of the weekend, provided I can avoid getting out of bed, my house! I’d give you the address but I think stalkers have it too easy these days with Facebook and all, I think a return to form is in order. What happens when you mix Coca Cola with Pepsi? The same as when you put two negatives ends of a battery together. Or two positive ends. But in this case negative.
Your signature “I’m an amazing cookâ€? dish is‌ Spaghetti. From a can. On toast. From a bag. Sometimes I throw some sundried tomatoes in there to make myself feel like a gourmet chef.
Auckland +HYI` :[ Âś VɈ 8\LLU :[ Newmarket ( 2LU[ :[ Hamilton .YL` :[ Palmerston North ;OL :X\HYL Wellington =P]PHU :[ Napier +HS[VU :[ Christchurch ;OL ;HUULY` >VVSZ[VU
The best TV show around at the moment is‌ Silicon Valley.
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The best place for a date night is‌ Wrapped up in a blanket with a bottle of red, pizza and chocolate, watching old Robin Williams and/or Jim Carrey films. Preferably with another person. You’d get arrested if the police knew that you‌ Is this how entrapment works? Are you entrapping me? People say you look like‌ I’ve just been eating spaghetti. C
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Five celebs on your fucklist? Same as the dead supergroup... but they’re still holograms... and everybody’s really unhappy about it.
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Kittens or puppies? Don’t you “Sophie’s Choice� me! SEE HER PEFORM: CHELSEA MCEWAN MILLAR IN WINE LIPS TUE 26 AUG – SAT 30 AUG THE BASEMENT, AUCKLAND
Your fantasy spirit animal is‌ A Heffalump.
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IT WAS THE death of her father and one of the most difficult periods of her life that led to Jenny Lewis’s first solo album in six years. The Voyager was written in the middle of an intense and troubling time for the former Rilo Kiley frontwoman. Her father – estranged for most of her life – passed away and together with a bout of insomnia, Lewis got close to breaking point. I’m with the striking redhead backstage at New York’s Governors Ball and it’s clear it has been painful for her. “Writing this album has been my therapy,” she tells me in a hushed voice. “I didn’t know my father very well. We’d been estranged practically my whole life. But I got to know him in the last few years, which was very intense. I started to hang out with my six half-brothers and sister that I didn’t really know and as my father’s life came to the end – we were all in a room for the first time ever.” The Voyager is Lewis’s third solo album and her most personal record to date. It’s an album which sees her work with Ryan Adams, Beck and boyfriend Johnathan Rice. We meet as Lewis comes off stage and the festival show celebrates her comeback. Dressed in the turquoise, green and cream starry suit that also features on the cover of new album, she’s not only one of the high points of the weekend but also the most stylish performer at the Randall’s Island festival. And afterward, while sitting in a golf buggy, the only quiet place away from the well wishers who are gathered outside her dressing room, Lewis says: “Playing a show like that makes everything worthwhile. All the pain I’ve
been through to get a reaction like that means the world.” Lewis started work on The Voyager after 2008’s Acid Tongue. But she needed a break and touring with The Postal Service in 2013 was a release for her. “I guess six years is a long time but I did so many things which I needed to do. I made a record with Jonathan (as Jenny and Johnny), scored two movies, toured with The Postal Service – loads of stuff but I didn’t feel I had a collection of songs which were quite good enough for a solo record.” Lewis’s insomnia led to her meltdown which today she says was one of the most painful experiences she has ever gone through. She says: “I should never have admitted it as it’s out there now but I had a meltdown – it’s true. I couldn’t speak and after two days lost my mind through sleep deprivation and then I spiralled out. “It was hard. I wasn’t myself. I was pacing on the mountain near our house, I was talking to doctors on the phone. I was hypnotised as sleeping pills had the opposite effect on me and kept me awake at night. And I had counselling but I didn’t want any drugs – now I’m older I believe you have to deal with things, not take pills. ‘Head Underwater’ is the song where I’m talking about this. It’s for any people who go through the same struggle with sleep.” As if this wasn’t enough, Lewis admits that writing a solo record puts more pressure on an artist than any collaboration. “You don’t have the luxury of a partner making a solo album,” she says. “Like with Jenny and Johnny, if I don’t want to finish the last verse of a song, then that’s an option – that’s why you collaborate with people so you don’t have to do
all the work, but on your own you want to make sure you are pleased with every aspect of a solo record.” Lewis says her time in the studio with Ryan Adams and Beck helped shape her sound for The Voyager. “Ryan and I had hung out a little and jammed a bit at my house with Johnny while I was on tour with The Postal Service,” she explains. “Then the day after Lollapalooza, I DM’d him on Twitter and asked him if we could record one song and he said, ‘Yeah come on down’ and we put together a band. And so the record is all as live because by the end of the day he asked if I wanted to recut my whole record at his studio. I found his energy so inspiring. He was really focused on my music and we had it out many times in the studio. I yelled at him and I don’t usually do that unless it’s Blake (Lewis’s former boyfriend Blake Sennett, whom she fronted Rilo Kiley with). That’s the only other person I’ve ever yelled at a studio but Ryan was vocal about the songs he liked and didn’t like. I stood my ground with him. He told me I needed to write a song like ‘Wonderwall’ (the Oasis hit Adams famously covered) and so I went home and wrote ‘The Voyager’, a song inspired by a motel that burnt down. I saw the story on the local news.” And Beck? “I’ve known Beck for while. I opened a show for him a bunch of years ago and I know his wife Marissa, through living in LA. I sent him a bunch of my demos as I really wanted to work with someone out of my circle who I have worked with on my records. So I reached out and one day I went out to his place in Malibu where he has a studio.”
number that portrays a woman worried about her ticking biological clock. Lewis says: “It’s important for me to have women in my band. I didn’t for the first ten years, it was just me and a bunch of dudes. But since working with The Watson twins, having that camaraderie is really important. Female relationships are so important.” A child actress, Jenny Lewis started off her music career in Rilo Kiley, the band she fronted with Sennett. The band officially split in 2011 after nearly 15 years together and for Lewis it took some time to come to terms with the band’s demise. “We had been inactive for some time but when people started asking me about it it became real. Before that it was just floating in and out whether I still loved my band or not. But when it was over, I found it hard. I felt I’d lost my identity in ways. “Some relationships just run their course. It’s intense spending so much time with some people – especially your ex boyfriend – that’s why you split up so you don’t have to see each other. The band couldn’t really continue like that.” However, Lewis states that her relationship, both working and personal, with Rice is as strong as ever. “He’s my rock. He’s also my best friend and we know when we can work together and when we need to be apart. Two songs of ours made The Voyager and a third one didn’t. As an artist you have to have perspective.” NEW ALBUM: THE VOYAGER OUT NOW
The result is first single ‘Just One Of The Guys’, a lush confessional
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ELBOW “There is plenty to be proud of in the UK but there’s also plenty to be ashamed and fearful of and coming home has at times been a bittersweet experience.” lakes to complete her quest. The light in the films is particularly spectacular. “Not as wonderful as New Zealand,” Potter notes, “but pretty awesome.”
T’WAS THE NIGHT before Wednesday and all through the night it rained cats and dogs, w’out relief in sight. A fair winter’s chill had befallen July and n’er this even’ I remain dry. So t’was whilst purchasing bread and milk in the shop that the phone did ring and it made me cause to stop. On the line from Manchester, where it was a sunny, balmy day, Elbow’s guitarist Mark Potter had just rushed in from a hard day’s fly fishing to call me up. So whilst I ran for the car in the freezing rain, he’s reminding me of the band’s last trip to New Zealand. “It was brilliant. We rented a boat to go fishing – my idea. I convinced my sceptical lot that it would be fun. We had a brilliant day out from the Auckland coast, catching snapper and drinking beer.” Speaking of which, the band, who’ve just released their ninth album The Take Off and Landing Of Everything have just become brewers. “Yep. Somehow it got around that we like a drop and this little brewery, Marston’s (in Burton-upon-Trent) made us an offer.” The result was a craft brew made like the spicy American steam beers, fermented at a higher temperature than the norm to release a fruitier aroma and sweeter finish, “but still retains the class of a traditional British real ale”, claim the tasting notes. The name, ‘Charge’ is taken from one of the tracks on the new album. “We went down to a whole afternoon’s tasting. It was brilliant, learning how it’s made, tweaking
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the flavours.” Alas, their final product, a summer release, is unavailable this far south of the equator but perhaps there may be some on sale at the band’s next tour down under. Their most recent performance will take some beating. “We played at the Eden Sessions, Cornwall, which has a series of “biosphere” stages. These are great big domes with individual eco-systems. One is Mediterranean, one’s tropical and so on. The environment really suited our music.” That music is the result of the slightest of transitions from the moody, contemplative brooding of their first big effort A Cast Of Thousands to their epic proportions in The Seldom Seen Kid, Build A Rocket Boys and their latest The Take Off and Landing of Everything. The new album brings on board yet more innovations and collaborations, including old friends and “Manchester’s oldest band” The Hallè Orchestra and longtime friends and movie makers the Soup Collective. “They’ve been on board since they filmed our recording sessions for Build A Rocket…” Their latest contribution is the achingly beautiful video for ‘Real Life (Angel)’ which juxtaposes singer Garvey’s contemplative lyrics with a short documentary about a woman who sets out to swim 200 lakes. The video has a subtitles running under images of a swimmer who treks to remote Highland
Once again, The Take Off is a soaring collection, with critics noting the mellowing of anxieties and a maturing in the songs. “I’m reaching the age where decisions are made,” noted Garvey in ‘Lunette/Flyboy Blue’, recently, “on the life and the liver.” Potter noted that some of these songs were not as collaborative as in the past. “On the whole we tend to all write up the music together, with Guy adding his own lyrics from a (vast collection) of notebooks. But this time with ‘Flyboy Blue’ me and Pete (Turner, bass) were in the studio by ourselves, creating something to present to the others. This was a riff we’d had since the early days and we wanted to use it.” Some of the album was a Skype interchange with Garvey spending half his time in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and the remainder in Manchester. Poignantly, he’s noted “There is plenty to be proud of in the UK but there’s also plenty to be ashamed and fearful of and coming home has at times been a bittersweet experience.” Distance amplified his experiences, as can be seen on the album’s closing track ‘The Blanket of the Night’, a love song of illegal immigrants trying to arrive on the shores of a better land. The blanket metaphor is a kind of fitting end to our interview, too. As the operator intervenes, Potter wishes me well and promises to catch up when they are back down this way. Hopefully the impending fog now enveloping the car won’t be around when they return either, I note as I head home in the murk – for a long winter’s nap! SEE THEM LIVE: ELBOW SAT 01 NOV THE POWERSTATION, AUCKLAND
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SEBASTIAN MACKAY
I AM GIANT “We’re stoked that people give a fuck.” That said, he isn’t humourless about it either: “If anything this album is less commercially viable, it’s written in different time signatures and there are a few radio friendly songs. [But] we didn’t sit down and say ‘we have to write them’ but they’re there and that’s great. We didn’t sit down and consciously say ‘we need to make money’ none of us are millionaires.”
“WE’RE STOKED THAT people give a fuck. We’re stoked to be getting interviewed. It’s very humbling. All we can do is thank people.” The words belong to Shelton Woolright, I Am Giant’s drummer, and he says them with a modesty and a touch of awe, as though the success of I Am Giant is very slowly sinking in. He’s nothing if not proud, perhaps a little overwhelmed, definitely humble and incredibly excited to have new album Science And Survival hitting stores across Europe, Asia, Australia and, of course, right here at home.
As Kiwis (brace yourself for a filthy but not untrue generalisation) we seem to be harder on New Zealand music that’s found success overseas then locally based bands. Woolright’s cautious about his next words but he reveals that living in London hasn’t been all the glam and glamour of a Mötely Crüe lifestyle. “People think that because you’re in a band, you’re on TV, you have an album or you’re doing an interview in a magazine that we’re millionaires.” They’re not. They’re not complaining either.
He talks at a million miles an hour - it’s truly incredible - as he runs into the tried and true statement of, “this is the better of the two albums,” he checks himself and pauses a moment, “I know that everyone says that but I truly believe that is.” Woolright’s conviction can’t be quantified and neither can just how genuinely he places this above the Horrifying Truth (which, he points out, he loves and adores). He and the band are driven by a “one song away, one Spotify play away, one gig away, from something life changing,” mentality (‘City Limits’ from the debut has over 81,000 plays on Spotify) and it’s pushed them into the creating the monstrous (as in rip your face off not awful) Science and Survival. “It’s about the science of surviving,” Woolright says without missing a beat, “which I think we’ve had to do. It’s everything that we’ve gone through and our life experiences and trying to survive as a band.”
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But there is a pause in the conversation. It’s one of those silences you’re never sure if you should break or if you should let be. “This is a hard question to answer,” Woolright says while the hamster in my brain runs faster, “and a hard one to talk about.” We’re talking about the crossover between art and business, something Woolright thinks should stay out of the public eye. “When you say ‘yes, to a certain degree [we’re commercial]’ people will say ‘you’re a fucking sell out’ but I haven’t sold out. I’m not working for the man. But at the same time it’s like, ‘what do you want me to do?’ I Am Giant are a commercial band. That’s just the way it worked out with Ed’s [Martin] vocals, we’re accessible.”
Science and Survival is heavier than the Horrifying Truth (and by that I mean I kick your teeth in heavy) it also comes with a light disclaimer: “When I say heavier,” says Woolright, “a lot of people think that I mean breakbeats and screaming but that’s not us.” Yup, they haven’t gone metalcore, or, as he points out, dubstep or dance. “We had really positive feedback,” Woolright continues, “from the people that were around us and they said we should go heavier and we agreed with them. It was natural…” “We’re definitely trying to stay fresh…” he continues, acknowledging something previously unsaid: that they’d be a Lorde cover band if they wanted to be rich. “We don’t want to be stagnant and releasing the same records over and over. ‘Here’s the next I Am Giant record, it sounds like the others’, we’ve made a conscious effort to push ourselves.” Part of pushing themselves to be heavier also meant pushing themselves with the lyrics, and, naturally, pouring more into their songs than they have before. “Yes, a little bit.” He’s moved on talking about the vulnerability of putting their lives on display. “It’s not necessarily good or bad, depending on how you look at it. There are some songs that mean a lot to us on the album or there are parts [of songs]. Some people will get that and will listen to it and try to figure out what it means.” Science and Survival. The title sums it up perfectly. SEE THEM LIVE: I AM GIANT THU 17 JUL - SAT 02 AUG NATIONWIDE
He sounds a little riled, and rightly so, it’s akin being asked: What do you prefer, the rock or hard place?
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AMERICAN AUTHORS “Not authors of a book, authors of our destiny.” adverts on telly back here. While happy with the success, he’s not overwhelmed. Barnett refers to the band as “adventurers and laid-back dudes”, with the band title being “the idea of a group telling their own stories. We’re writing our own way. Not authors of a book, authors of our destiny. Also James is from Florida, we have people from Texas and NYC so we’re American, all over. We create music from what we’ve already done in our lives, what we hope, feel, love. Every day’s different, our emotions change according to the highs and lows of the day, challenges, triumphs. We’re not afraid to be goofy, or a bit serious – true to ourselves, sharing our stories for as long you all want to listen.”
IT’S A MAJOR milestone when your hit single is covered on an episode of Glee. “Yeah, totally, man,” acknowledges Zac Barnett, vocalist with Brooklyn-based alt-rockers American Authors, on the phone from his Bushwick home. “We’re just ridin’ the wave on that.” Their super-selling mega single ‘Best Day of My Life’ features prominently in an episode of Glee, following the main character on a sojourn to New York, to, appropriately enough, follow dreams to make it big in music and the arts. Seven years ago, four guys who’d met as students at Berklee College of Music, had a similar dream. “I was the President of the Songwriters Club and James (Adam Shelley, guitar/banjo) came along to my first day seminar. In fact I was the first person he met at school. We hung out and started writing and playing together. Later, Dave (Rublin, bass) Facebooked me and we also eventually hooked up. Matt (Sanchez drums) joined up later.” It wasn’t long after playing as a group that the foursome dropped out and tuned in, moving to the Big Apple to work as a band seriously. It was while playing a show in the central city that the band caught the eye of indie music producers Shep Goodman and Aaron Accetta,
who signed them up to their production outfit Dirty Canvas. Predictably, Barnett quips about this: “Oh, yeah, man. Dreams really can come true. We were totally happy when this came through.” Their song ‘Believer’ was the embodiment of that concept. It was, Barnett suggests, “the first one (song) to show off their signature sound.” And it did pretty well, too. In December 2012, tastemaker Sirius XM’s Alt Nation radio embraced the song and pushed it up their Alt 18 Countdown, leading a huge spike in social media and music sales support, and a minitour with fellow alt-rock bands A Silent Film, GoldFields, and Carousel. “That was pretty good and a great way to build as a band. We were writing and performing on the road, kinda painting each canvas as it landed on the desk and then moving on to the next with no idea what’s next. Total adventure!” Not long after, ‘Best Day of My Life’ gained international breakthrough status and appeared in car adverts, home improvement store commercials, Superbowl breaks, and trailers for films like Delivery Man and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Plus Telecom
Sharing stories was the mitigating factor behind the new release Oh, What A Life, and optimistic, enthusiastic collection of a debut. It’s already hit number three on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums Chart. “We were really happy with that, yeah. We went into the studio and wrote and recorded, pretty much live, in a matter of days. Yes, usually record companies want to control what you do. They have categories and (demographics) to sell to... But they were really cool and happy for us to cross genres…because it was about song craftsmanship, so it doesn’t really matter what the genre is if it’s good.” American Authors will be heading down this way, returning to Australia and visiting us for the first time in September, to promote their new album. So what will Barnett get up to? “Do you have bungee-jumping? Yeah, you do. You say you can jump off a tower (the Sky Tower, Auckland). Crazy, yeah – I’m gonna do that! I’ll be into that. We try to do some adventuring when we’re on tour. I rented a bike in Paris, did a wild life tour in Australia, sky diving in Chicago. Aren’t you (New Zealand) the sky-diving capital of the world? We’ll find somewhere in New Zealand to do that. Are you gonna come along too?” …Um, I might pass, vertigo issues and all that. But have fun, boys. See you in September. SEE THEM LIVE: AMERICAN AUTHORS WED 24 SEP THE POWERSTATION, AUCKLAND
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