Rip It Up 366

FREE I S S U E . 366

SOC IAL S I NC E 77’

Bill Murray OCTOBER - ‘14 BILL BAILEY, BRAD PITT, THE DATSUNS, JAKOB, SOLA ROSA, STREETS OF LAREDO, KRISTINE CRABB, NZ ON AIR FUNDING, KATY MAUDLIN, THIS MONTH IN CLUBLAND

S ’ G O D R E D N U THE RDOG. E D N U

W IN NZ O H S O I D FAST RA K A E R B O TENED T TH MOST LIS E 13 H T G N I C U INTROD

MATT HEATH, LAURA MCGOLDRICK & JEREMY WELLS WEEKDAYS 6AM - 9AM

Auckland 99.0FM, Blenheim 94.5FM, Christchurch 106.5FM & Sumner 89.3FM, Dunedin 106.2FM, Gisborne 105.3FM, Hamilton 96.2FM, Invercargill 93.2FM, Napier 99.9FM, Nelson 90.4FM, New Plymouth 90.8FM, Palmerston North 105.8FM, Rotorua 94.3FM, Taupo 92.8FM, Tauranga 91.0FM, Wellington 93.3FM, Whangarei & Far North 93.2FM

*TNS New Zealand Commercial National Survey 1/2014 Station Share, All 10+ (Mon-Fri 6am-9am)

CREDITS Creators Murray Cammick Alistair Dougal Publisher Grant Hislop Editorial Manager Tyler Hislop - tyler@harkentertainment.com Designer Greta Gotlieb - greta@harkentertainment.com Sub-Editor Louise Adams Sales Grant Hislop - grant@harkentertainment.com Distribution Jamie Hislop - jamie@harkentertainment.com Accounts accounts@harkentertainment.com Contributors Alexander Bisley, Andrew Johnstone, Tim Gruar, James Manning, Laura Weaser, Gary Steel, Sarah Thomson, Nick Collings

Rip It Up Magazine is published by Hark Entertainment Ltd

Postal PO Box 6032 Wellesley Street, Auckland 1141, New Zealand Website ripitup.co.nz Printers Webstar | Blue Star Group Limited | Shit Hot Printers Rip It Up is subject to copyright in its entirety. The contents may not be reproduced in any form, either in whole or in part, without written permission of the publisher. All rights reserved in material accepted for publication, unless initially specified otherwise. All letters and other material forwarded to the magazine will be assumed intended for publication unless clearly labeled “NOT FOR PUBLICATION�.

Opinions express in the magazine are not necessarily those of Hark Entertainment Limited. No responsibility is accepted for unsolicited material.

ISSN 0114-0876

CONTENTS

27.

10.

14.

36.

32.

34.

8. What Goes On/What’s on the Rip It Up Stereo, 10. Bill Murray, 12. So What…/Tweet Talk, 14. The Datsuns, 16. Who’s Next?, 18. This Month In Clubland, 20. Style Like Jessie J, 21. Style Like Justin Timberlake, 22. Gadgets, 23. Streets of Laredo, 24. Artist Q&A – Katy Maudlin/Style File – Kristine Crabb, 26. Film Reviews, 27. Sola Rosa, 28. Album Reviews, 29. NZ On Air Funding Results, 30. Album Reviews, 31. On The Record – Rachel Dawick, 32. Brad Pitt, 34. Jakob, 36. Bill Bailey, 38. #WINNING

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

|

5

Check the Classification

www.foxmovies.co.nz

#GONEGIRL

I AM STUDYING A BACHELOR OF ARTS I AM A CRITICAL THINKER

APPLY NOW

Claim your place in the new New Zealand with a BA degree from Massey. Today’s employers are looking for the new thinkers, the communicators, the inquisitive. All the skills at the core of a BA degree from Massey. Makes you think!

TRACTA52901-RUI-CT

Call 0800 MASSEY or visit engine.ac.nz/ba

WHAT GOES ON JOHNNY MARR

THE KOOKS

Johnny Marr will play Auckland in February next year. A founding member of cultural institution The Smiths and performer alongside the likes of Modest Mouse, Beck, Talking Heads, The The and Oasis, Marr was already rock royalty before releasing his Top 10 debut solo album The Messenger in February 2013.

The Kooks will be returning to Australasia for their most monstrous tour of the antipodes to date. First stop is Auckland on Thursday 15th January at Vector Arena, before the tour then heads over to Australia for four dates. Joining The Kooks for the Auckland show are special guests and NZ natives Die! Die! Die!.

SEE HIM LIVE: JOHNNY MARR

TRUE DETECTIVE’S APPOINTED

SAT 07 FEB AUCKLAND THE

After much speculation HBO have announced Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn to star in season two of True Detective. Justin Lin (Fast & Furious, Scorpion) will direct the first two of the eight-episode season, centring on two police officers and a career criminal who must navigate a web of conspiracy in the aftermath of a homicide. Farrell will play Ray Velcoro, a compromised detective whose allegiances are torn.

Vaughn is set as Frank Semyon, a career criminal in danger of losing his empire.

TICKETS ON SALE: 12PM, TUE 07 OCT

POWERSTATION, AUCKLAND

TICKETMASTER.CO.NZ

THE WAR ON DRUGS The War On Drugs play their first ever show in New Zealand at The Powerstation, Auckland on Thursday 18 December.

Immediate ticket purchase is strongly advised to avoid disappointment. The War On Drugs are a real rock n roll band, a heart and soul band, exactly the kind of the band we need, exactly the kind of band we want.

This will be your first and last chance to see them in an intimate club environment. For now they’re yours, next year they’ll be everyone’s.

SEE THEM LIVE: THE KOOKS THU 15 JAN VECTOR ARENA, AUCKLAND TICKETS ON SALE: 9AM, FRI 03 OCT TICKETMASTER.CO.NZ

SEE THEM LIVE: THE WAR ON DRUGS THU 18 DEC THE POWERSTATION, AUCKLAND TICKETS ON SALE: 9AM, THU 02 OCT TICKETMASTER.CO.NZ

ON THE RIP IT UP STEREO

RYAN ADAMS – RYAN ADAMS (2014)

THE GREENHORNES – SEWED SOLES (2005)

P.P. ARNOLD – ‘THE FIRST CUT IS THE DEEPEST’ (1967)

SAM SMITH – ‘STAY WITH ME’ (2014)

PERFUME GENIUS – TOO BRIGHTS (2014) EB & SPARROW – EB & SPARROW (2014) JUNGLE – JUNGLE (2014)

8

|

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

MGMT – ORACULAR SPECTACULAR (2007) FLEETWOOD MAC – RUMOURS (1977) STROMAE – ‘FORMIDABLE’ (2013)

bum l A New ale on S er ! b m e 7 Nov

NOVEMBER: 8 - DUNEDIN, 9 - INVERCARGILL, 10 - ALEXANDRA, 11 - WANAKA, 13 - ASHBURTON, 15 - CHRISTCHURCH, 21 - PALMY NTH, 22 - NEW PLYMOUTH, 23 - TAUPO, 25 - NAPIER, 27 - TAURANGA, 28 - AUCKLAND, 30 - KERIKERI. DECEMBER: 5 & 6 - WELLINGTON ALL TICKET AND VENUE INFO: WWW.UKULELE.CO.NZ

Be Mine Tonight www.ukulele.co.nz

ALEXANDER BISLEY

BILL MURR AY

10

|

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

EXCLUSIVE & ILLUSIVE BILL MURRAY IS across the table from me, giving Naomi Watts these sly, very funny, sideways glances. (For all his hilarity, Murray doesn’t suffer fools, Watts warns. A hack finds this out later when she asks Murray what makes him not a saint? “What a dumb fucking question.”) Dressed in a blue shirt, the great comic leans over and gives me a welcoming handshake, sincerely asking me how I am. The star of Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, Lost in Translation and all those Wes Anderson and Jim Jarmusch films suggests the likeability and vulnerability that has made his films so successful.

He’s sipping a green smoothie: “This is how I survive, I can’t get steak and eggs.” He no longer has a manager or publicist etc, doing things Murray-style: “It just gets in the way.” Next year sees Murray movies with Cameron Crowe and Barry Levinson. In St. Vincent he plays a Brooklyn curmudgeon, hanging out with a Russian prostitute (Watts), whose charm is uncovered when babysitting young Oliver (Jaeden Lieberher). There are some hilarious scenes. “You’re getting sushi for dinner,” Vincent tells Oliver, giving him the end of a dubious, aged tin of sardines.

“I certainly feel like I got hit with a lucky stick,” Bridesmaids’ Melissa McCarthy, who plays Oliver’s mother, tells me. “I feel like it’s my Willy Wonka. I feel like I got the factory.” She says Murray is unique. “Because he’s like molten lava. He’s got a real lust for life.”

It was “wild” first meeting Murray on set, she recalls. “I was like, ‘don’t say anything funny’... I was spinning myself at such a pace that I literally was in like a flop sweat. My eyes looked like two huge crazy cat eyes,” she breathes heavily. “I think he probably knew that I was in there having a heart attack cause he’s an icon and I’ve got him up on a pedestal.”

I begin by telling Murray I really enjoyed Vincent’s Irish Catholic’s qualities, and asking: How does your own Irish Catholic background inform the role?

Bill Murray: Well, all my ancestors are Irish and they’re all Catholics. I didn’t even visit the North of Ireland for many years.

I’m familiar with the Republic.

I’ve got a sister who’s a nun. All my upbringing, I went to Catholic grade school, Catholic high school, Catholic college. That’s what’s wrong. I have a whole lot of it in me and I’m able to see what they mistakenly call Catholic guilt.

Or whatever those obligations are, those rules, that order. That informs who I am. That is who I am. That’s where I come from. So that goes into everything I do and it’s sort of my code. Maybe I don’t live by it but I try and I know, I’m aware of it. I don’t know how else to answer that.

Alexander Bisley: On stage yesterday, Robert Duvall said you and Jimmy Caan were the two funniest people on Earth.

How do you feel about Toronto International Film Festival declaring Bill Murray Day – people in sweaty Ghostbusters costumes in the heat?

BM: Probably that I’m getting close to dying. Why am I getting a day, I’m not sick! I think they did it just to make sure I showed up. I think it was nothing more than that really. It was kind of fun, it was funny, I think people probably laughed at it like the way I laugh at it, like “yeah, Bill Murray Day, every day’s Bill Murray Day in my house!”

AB: That’s what Chris Rock said.

BM: Yeah, every day’s Chris Rock Day in his house.

AB: No, Bill Murray Day. BM: Oh, really? He’s a funny fellow. It was kind of a joyous thing and they showed some of my movies and I got to do

questions and answers over there with a large group of people and the director of some of those films. You just get to interact and that was an unusual day, you got to have a real conversation with a lot of people. And if I was able to actually make it a conversation, it’s kind of a challenging thing, to really make hundreds of people have a conversation.

AB: I really liked the unleashing of Bob Dylan’s ‘Shelter From the Storm’ at the end of St. Vincent. Comedy shelters us from life’s storm?

BM: Life is hard for all of us. I think it’s hard for all of us; life is hard enough so anything we can do to make it easier and lighter is going to help not just ourselves but everyone else in the whole situation. It is a pebble in a pond and if you can make it easier, we all have a little better chance.

AB: Talk about changes in the film industry, your career arc?

decade or so of doing these what I call “tragic art films”, where you work for no money. I’ve worked like thirteen years now without getting paid. You get paid something but you don’t get paid like what you’re supposed to get paid. Because it’s an art movie.

But the difference is that the way they make movies, there isn’t that amount of largesse that there once was and because the movies I find interesting are these sort of low budget, arty movies. Even Lost in Translation was a 28-day movie.

We’re making all these movies for no money. You do ‘em because you like ‘em. If they work, they work and if they don’t, they don’t.

I’m not on the track of the super high money movies. I don’t seek those out particularly. Though I wouldn’t say I wouldn’t do it if they were fun, I just do the ones I like. Then there are these ones which they didn’t use to make all these kinds of movies back then.

AB: How do the movies find you?

BM: I’ve been very lucky. I’ve been able to make the choice.

I got lucky, I had success early on because I was following and dragged along by people that were ahead of me in the canal.

My brother and John Belushi, these people sort of pulled me along and I got through the reef, so to speak, into the calm water. And I had success in early movies which meant that I got to be a little more choosey about it. It just sort of kept coming.

And then I made a decision that I wasn’t going to go search for movies and that’s really paid off.

That’s really paid off, I don’t look for movies at all, they find me.

So I’m kind of like a bass in a stream, I just sit there waiting for something to come down the river. Bass don’t swim, they can if they have to but I just sit there in a comfortable spot. So it’s been that way. The difference is that the production of the movies is a little bit different. But I keep learning more about it. I went through a period this last

BM: It’s unfortunate for my friends. I have one friend, he probably gets 30 calls a week about jobs so I have to every once in a while buy him a piece of luggage or something. Just to calm down his wife. “Oh, hi, do you guys want to be my guest?”

So it’s like that, but it’s their [script senders’] problem, it’s not my problem and now it’s my friends’ problem. Maybe it’ll be my problem soon enough when people like Naomi start reacting.

She doesn’t react to anything.

She’s like an ice cooler...

I have friends and I have family.

Sometimes when I feel alone, I feel like I just want to hear someone talk to me, really to me, I call my sister, my brother and they’re talking only to me, they’re not talking to whatever kind of persona or character, movie actor, clown, I can be.

They’re talking to Billy.

ST. VINCENT IN CINEMAS THU 30 OCT

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

|

11

SO WHAT...

One Direction find touring lonely. The group spend months away from their families and friends because of their busy touring schedule and particularly hate being alone in their hotel rooms. Louis Tomlinson told Britain’s OK! magazine: “The tour bus is a little escape, that little back lounge we sit in.

Hotel rooms can often be lonely. It’s just an easier way to deal with it all. I can’t really do ‘on my own’ time, I have to have someone’s attention.” Liam Payne added: “Being away from home is a huge downside of touring.

You miss your family and friends.”

Jason Orange has announced he has quit Take That. The 44-year-old singer has revealed that he informed his bandmates - Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen - of his decision last week and they are now planning to continue as a trio. In a lengthy statement on the group’s official website), Jason said: “I want to start by saying how proud I am of what we have achieved together over the years. However, at a band meeting last week I confirmed to Mark, Gary and Howard that I do not wish to commit to recording and promoting a new album.”

U2 think it has been “amazing” to get their music to a new audience. The band caused a stir earlier this month when their new album Songs of Innocence was made available to iTunes users for free and they enjoyed experimenting with a new way of releasing records. Frontman Bono said: “You know this thing called the Internet, it’s kind of turning music on its head and you have to experiment, see what we’re gonna do, and it’s not... you

T WEET TALK “What did the house wear to the party?

Address. #ClassicJokeFriday” Ellen Degeneres @Theellenshow

“I’ve been playing ‘Destiny’ for the last couple of days to detoxify my mind. First person shooters are my meditation. Great game!”

Kim Dotcom @KimDotcom

“When my wife takes a nap, it’s ‘desperately needed rest.’ When I do, it’s ‘lazy chauvinist partytime.’”

Andy Richter @AndyRichter

“The thing about elevator ride conversationspeople are not being rude. You want to start a conversation but there’s just not enough time.”

Julia Stone @JuliaStoneMusic

12

|

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

know with Apple’s gift, it’s important to say, not ours, they paid for it. They paid Universal for it. We gave them our permission. “ Nicki Minaj thinks her voice is “very important” to the world. The rapper has taken a two-year hiatus from making music and says her time away made her realise just how important it is for her to continue to strive to be a “mogul”. She said: “I realised that my voice is very important to pop culture. It’s very important to hip hop culture. It’s just... very important. I can’t stop, I have to complete this mission. When I came into the game, i said I wanted to be a mogul and a lot of my fans want to see that come to fruition.”

ANDREW JOHNSTONE

THE DATSUNS Deep Sleep is The Datsuns’ sixth and was recorded at Auckland’s Roundhead studios over eight frenetic days last summer. It is an audacious rock ‘n’ roll album played at a blistering pace and demonstrating loudly and clearly that the band still very much at the top of their game.

“We did it ‘70s style,” recounts Livingstone.

“In the ‘70s bands would tour for a year and then go quickly into the studio for a week and knock out a record. We took that approach right down to the actual recording techniques.

When people record drums these days they can use up to 15-20 microphones but in the ‘70s they put three microphones around the drums and recorded the whole thing straight to tape which is what we did.”

CHRISTIAN LIVINGSTONE IT WAS 1998 and I was busking on the main street of my hometown of Cambridge when a group of young high school boys ambled up and we chatted for while about my guitar style, music and bands. Not long after, Trinket, as they were then known, went on to win the local round of the influential Smokefree Rock Quest. Four years later I was still busking for coins and their debut album was riding high on the British charts. By this time they had changed their name to The Datsuns and were the band of the moment.

Their second album Outta Sight/Outta Mind was produced by Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones and was a commercial and critical disappointment. Despite failing commercial fortunes, they have plugged on with a heavy touring schedule and regular album releases, continuing to do things as they have always done, in their own way by their own terms and 14 years later they are still committed to rock ‘n’ roll and to each other. In October the band hits the road again to support the new album Deep Sleep. I spoke with guitarist Christian Livingstone about the new album, growing up in the Waikato and the art of making music.

“I am just a guy who grew up in a very small town and listened to rock music because there was nothing better to do. I spent most of my teenage years locked away in my bedroom listening to records and teaching myself guitar.”

Locked away in his bedroom, Livingstone immersed himself in classic rock music, becoming obsessed with bands and records. He cites Ritchie Blackmore, David Gilmour and

14

|

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

Brian May among his influences, but it’s Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page who has affected his playing style the most.

Livingstone reflected on the past 14 years with the band. “It’s been a pretty wild trip. We started up a band just for fun and then it turned into something else altogether. We spent a decade as professional musicians touring the world and visiting all these countries I never thought I’d get to go to. There have been plenty of ups and a few downs but it’s been an interesting ride.”

We also discussed the band’s creative process and how it has changed over the years.

“We spent a lot of time together as a band, living together on the road and off the road so writing songs was an immediate thing because we were always in the same room, but now because we live scattered across the globe we really have to make sure it counts when we get together because we have limited time, so we have stripped away all the excess in the creative process and have gotten down to the bare knuckles of what makes The Datsuns work.”

Like its predecessor Death Rattle Boogie, Deep Sleep sees The Datsuns’ sound continuing to evolve. While certain influences are obvious, Hendrix, Sabbath, The Blue Oyster Cult and course Zeppelin, The Datsuns have something particular of their own going. Bassist and front-man de Borst’s vocal gymnastics lead the way, supported by a razor-sharp band whose raw punk energy never lets up for a minute, and while songs are mature and sharply arranged, in the final analysis this is pure head-banging rock ‘n’ roll that makes the blood pump and the face flush. It is exciting, powerful stuff that marks The Datsuns as one of the world’s great rock outfits.

The band are looking forward to their new tour, starting in late October and reaching NZ in December. Said Livingstone, “we are playing Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Masterton in that order. We have got a European and Australian tour beforehand so we should be red-hot by the time we reach NZ.” LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW AT: SOUNDCLOUD.COM/IN-DEEP-CONVERSATIONS/ IN-CONVERSATION-WITH-LIVINGSTONE-FROM-THE-

The ever-changing music industry, families and distance mean the guys can’t make a living from the band and these days they all have day jobs. Livingstone works out of his “laboratory” in South London designing and making effects pedals for guitars, a hobby that has quietly turned into a profitable sideline.

Called Magnetic Effects, he sells his product online and via retail outlets in the greater London area.

DATSUNS

SEE THEM LIVE: THE DATSUNS THU 18 DEC THE KINGS ARMS, AUCKLAND FRI 19 DEC SAN FRAN, WELLINGTON SAT 20 DEC BEDFORD @ CPSA, CHRISTCHURCH SUN 21 DEC KING STREET LIVE, MASTERTON NEW ALBUM: DEEP SLEEP OUT FRI 03 OCT

BEE & THE SOUND PRESENT

HUNTERS & COLLECTORS

& ++++++++++++++++++++++++

FRI 21 NOVEMBER POWERSTATION

ON TOUR 13TH SEP

JUICE BAR – 144 PARNELL ROAD. W/SCARED OF GIRLS ANDY RICHARDS

AUCKLAND

20TH SEP

BIDDY MULLIGANS – 742 VICTORIA STREET. W/LOOKING FOR ALASKA

HAMILTON

4TH OCT

BLEND BAR - 118 - 120 WAKEFIELD STREET W/BLIND VENETIANS

WELLINGTON

++++++++++++++++++++++++

ON SALE MONDAY 25 AUGUST

/TheWindsor CastlePar nell

/Ratsmagic

/B lin dJu dg e

AUTHOR

WHO’S NEXT? WHO’S NEXT IS WHERE WE DELVE INTO THE NEW ZEALAND MUSIC SCENE AND FIND SOME FRESH MEAT FOR YOUR READING AND LISTENING PLEASURE. DIG IN.

MAYA PAYNE SOUNDCLOUD.COM/MAYA-PAYNE

LTTLE PHNX

have clicked.

LTTLEPHNX.BANDCAMP.COM

When and why did you start making music?

I started learning piano around the age of 10 when I wanted to learn how to play the songs that accompanied my passion then, which was ballet. Music and dance have always taken turns being in the foreground of my life.

What was your original intention for recent sophomore EP Pyrexia?

Sonically it was to allow myself to explore composition without focusing on particular sounds or styles. I thought with my last release I had focused too much on a specific aesthetic and I was afraid of limiting myself to one idea ‘Ethiopian Opal’ is a highlight – can you explain recording process?

I had completed three songs and I felt I needed one more to make the EP cohesive. It was in the reject pile and I just picked it up again. I made all the instrumentals on Ableton and I borrowed a friend’s professional mic to record the vocals in my bedroom/studio. I didn’t even have lyrics or a melody for that song, I guess something must

16

|

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

Your lyrical delivery enhances the lush atmosphere of the music. How much importance do you put on lyrics when making music?

It isn’t necessarily about the content but more about melodic structures and voice texture as layering. Some of them come from blips of narrative arc, but mostly it’s words that make me think of the way the song sounds or the sounds of words that fit in with it.

You supported Gary Numan earlier this year – how was that?

It was interesting to see how much Gary Numan has changed musically over the years. I had no idea that he was doing more “rock” type music and I thought I was going to playing alongside a new wave band.

Future plans?

As soon as I finish my contract job I’m going to take time off and try to create another full length album. I really like the idea of a journey through an entire album, but on the other hand I keep telling myself I want to make a covers album. So we’ll see what happens.

When did you start making music?

I started singing when I was six years old and wrote my first song at age eleven. Through school I’d perform in talent quests and at school fairs.

I understand you are working towards your debut EP – how is this coming along?

It’s going really well, I just spent ten days in Auckland at Golden Age Studios with Josh Fountain from Kidz In Space. I’m also working with MCHNCL, a Christchurch producer currently studying in Otago, and we got two tracks completely finished with the help of two Making Tracks grants from NZ On Air. Your debut track ‘Fragile’ has been remixed by Someones Enemy and featured on BBC UK Radio...

Yeah! This was really out of the blue and such a cool surprise. I never thought I would be making music that would spread to places other than NZ. Grammy award-winning Producer Dru Castro, whose production credits include music by Usher, Jamie Foxx and Keri Hilson, worked with you on ‘Fragile’?

Yeah, he was here in

Christchurch on a holiday and my singing teacher got us in touch. Somehow we ended up working on a track together, he was really cool to work with. We actually recorded the vocals in a garage at the house where Dru was staying, haha.

Any significance behind the lyrics of ‘Fragile’?

‘Fragile’ is based on anxiety and lacking confidence in yourself.

I wrote it around the time of the Christchurch earthquakes, which inspired the song a lot.

What were the most important things you learned recording at Golden Age Studios?

I’ve learned that music is kind of like my own piece of art. I want to make something I love and that I think sounds cool, not what I think will get on the radio.

What music are you listening to at the moment?

BANKS, Chet Faker, Flume, Ellie Goulding, Chvrches, Daughter, Bon Iver, Matt Corby, Birdy, Lucy Rose, BROODS...

And future plans?

I’d love to make a career from music and travel the world. I want to get people dancing and connecting to my music, and I’d like to inspire people.

LAS TETAS SOUNDCLOUD.COM/LAS-TETAS

BLACK CITY LIGHTS BLACKCITYLIGHTS.BANDCAMP.COM

Debut album Another Life was released last year and has since been very well-received.

Has there been a particular highlight surrounding the album’s success?

When we were in San Francisco we had our first experience of fans in real life that weren’t our friends. It wasn’t until that point that it really hit – all these people were out there listening to this music we had created and were having an emotional response to it. That beats every review or blog or website mention.

You’ve recently supported The Naked & Famous on a European tour. Can you share some highlights?

We played in a castle in Ferrara, an old prison in Graz, on a boat in Budapest. They were the biggest crowds we’ve ever played to and every show felt better and better. Everyone in the band and all of their crew were so accommodating and hard working and super inspirational.

What were you most hoping to achieve with latest single ‘Not Enough (For Us)’?

I’d (Julia, vocals) been listening to a lot more R ‘n’ B and the ‘80s sound wasn’t quite working

for us, but we really wanted to keep that dark, brooding, almost gothy vibe that has always been a theme in our music. We wanted to experiment with a more modern sound without taking it too far from our other material.

The video was made with the help of film students. How did this come about?

Amanda, the director, emailed us asking to use one of our songs in a short film that she had made for film school. She was London-based and when we decided to head to the UK on tour we thought it’d be a great opportunity to shoot a video.

If you had the opportunity to collaborate with any artist or producer (living or dead), who would it be?

I’d love to work with James Blake. And if Aaliyah could rise and write all of my lyrics for me and then I’ll be super sexy, that would be great, thanks. Calum says he’d love to work with Ben Khan, Jai Paul and Kate Bush.

What does the future hold for Black City Lights?

You can expect lots of new music. We’ve been writing new material for an album release next year but we want to make sure that every track is perfect, no cutting corners.

When did Las Tetas start making music?

We started in 2011 while we were all in separate bands, but had played music together for years.

At that time we all got into punk rock and started Las Tetas so we could play it.

Recent single ‘The Plain’ is such a rad track, can you share the recording process?

We opened for Unknown Mortal Orchestra at the start of 2013 and the bassist Jacob Portrait liked us and recorded us. We recorded with him three times, and each time we had one day to get as much done as we could so the tracks were done live, which is the way we like it.

The accompanying video has this brilliant no-frills DIY vibe, who came up with the idea?

The video was made up of ideas between Lucy, Charlotte and our director Orlando Stewart.

Charlotte was keen on the lowbudget look, Lucy had the idea of the green screen with images in the background as she felt it reflected the theme of the song.

The house, the people and what they’re doing were Orlando’s idea.

How are the song-writing duties shared between the three members?

The way it has always gone down

is one of us will write a song, show it to the others at practice and if we all like it we work on it and everyone puts in their own parts and sensibilities.

Your song ‘Betrayal’ is a highlight – any significance to the lyrics?

Lucy: It’s about the horrifying thing of making an important life decision and the fear of whether it’s the right one to make, and the only way of finding out is by living it. It’s a scary idea. Nearly all the songs I write as a way to help me make sense of anything I struggle with.

Who are some of your key influences in New Zealand music?

The Clean, The Coolies, Look Blue Go Purple, The Bats, The 3Ds, The Gordons, Chris Knox...

Rumour has it you have your sights set on a U.S. tour?

We are planning to go over to the US next year, hopefully March or somewhere around then. We are about to do an NZ tour and either at the end of this year/start of next year we’re also going to Australia.

If you are or know of a rad band and want to get your name out there, flick us an email – editor@ripitup.co.nz.

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

|

17

NICK COLLINGS

THIS MONTH IN CLUBL AND FOR EXTENDED INTERVIEWS CHECK OUT RIPITUP.CO.NZ/CLUBLAND

SCRATCHING THE SURFACE: DAVE WINNEL Playing 210 songs in just 18 minutes and making fellow DJs cry, bundling Dave Winnel into a rabble of DJs and producers would be an insult. Seizing a unique applause of his own, this Sydney-based artist relies on his own beat. With a will to rewrite the masses of electronic music, the Dave Winnel sound strides on strong melodies with tough EDM drops.

Clubland scratches the surface on Dave Winnel.

Coming up in electronic music, who was your DJ/producer hero?

It’s always been Deadmau5, there is something really unique about him that’s always grabbed me.

But before that, around 2004, it was Tiesto for sure.

What aspect of making music excites you the most right now?

Being able to make something on my computer and then playing it that night to a crowd and seeing them react to it is priceless. I’m really excited by blending several genres into my sound, from house to trance and even dubstep. I think right now with so much “bad” music out there it’s so easy to be different and creative like this.

18

|

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

What track of yours do you recommend to people who have never heard your music before?

Go check out ‘The Great Valley’.

It’s a journey. Listen from start to finish and don’t skip through.

What projects are you currently working on?

I’ve just finished a follow up to ‘The Great Valley’ called ‘Dawn Of Man’, it’s another Epic Journey-style track and it will be out in November. Also Soapbox and I are putting together a tour for the end of the year with one of my new singles.

Are there any DJ/producers you have met that are nothing like how you thought they would be?

Would have to say Zedd. I was really drunk and held him up for ages talking crap. He didn’t tell me to go away or try to bail. The night before I gave him a USB with my tunes on it. It was still in his jeans’ pocket the next night.

He’s such a superstar but still a genuine dude.

Most memorable DJ moment to date?

Giving someone having a seizure with my strobe light that I brought along to a underage dance party. Oops. The girl ended up okay though.

2013 was the year of deep house. 2014 will be the year of... what musical genre?

Isn’t 2014 the year of deep house? I’d say trap is pretty damn popular.

And the fact that radio is playing EDM is great. Fuck the Haters!!!

What are your thoughts on the current commercialism of EDM in the world right now?

It’s a good thing. And I wish everyone would stop complaining about it. No one is forcing people to go to the main stages to listen to the same 20 songs on repeat all day. Go to whichever stage/club/ festival suits your music taste.

Do you think Paternity Insurance is an essential item on the road?

Um... haha. Yeah. It costs $10 from your local chemist and there’s ten to a box and they usually come in different colours.

TURNING THE TABLES WITH… DATSIK

7. Uses a combination of Logic, Abelton and a Novation Launch Pad for his production and DJ sets.

1. Born Troy Beetles, June 9 1988 in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada.

2. His stage name Datsik was taken from his Xbox Live gamertag.

3. Was heavily influenced by hip-hop artists such as Snoop Dogg, Wu-tang Clan and Dr. Dre growing up.

What’s the musical equivalent of the G-Spot?

Ibiza.

SEE HIM DJ: DAVE WINNEL (AU) FRI 31 OCT CLUB KONG, AUCKLAND

8. He sights Krome & Time – ‘License’ (Doctor P Remix) as one of his favourite dubstep tunes.

9. Has made official remixes for Coldplay, Lana Del Ray, Diplo, MGMT, Steve Aoki, Lil Wayne, Kaskade and Skrillex.

4. Started his own label, Firepower Records, in 2012.

10. Is a self-confessed adrenaline junkie and loves skydiving, snowboarding or riding in NASCARs.

5. Released his debut album Vitamin D on Dim Mak Records in 2012.

SEE HIM DJ: DATSIK (CAN) WED 08 OCT BAR 101, AUCKLAND THU 09 OCT BACK BAR, HAMILTON

6. His guilty pleasure is buying caps and shoes.

3 MOMENTS THAT MADE PAUL GLAZBY A HARD HOUSE LEGEND

KEISER SOSE ‘SOMNIUM’ (2000) The original bootleg white label remake of Quench ‘Dreams’ was the defining moment that

SASHA Born Alexander Paul Coe, Sasha is one of the legendary figures in electronic music. He began DJing acid house in the late ‘80s at iconic nightspots such as Shelley’s and most notably Renaissance.

Due to his increased popularity, in 1991 he received his first magazine cover for Mixmag with the tagline “Sasha Mania: The first DJ pin-up?”

He began dabbling in production in 1990, with his first original single ‘Appolonia’, under the name BM:Ex (the name is short for “The Barry Manilow Experience”, a joke in reference to Sasha’s love of the piano), with producer Tom Frederikse on Union City Recordings.

It was at Renaissance, around 1993, that he made a formidable partnership with influential house/progressive DJ John Digweed. It was during this time that the two become superpowers in electronica, namely through a series of DJ mixes beginning with Renaissance: The Mix Collection (1994) and then the Ministry of Sound released Northern Exposure Volume 1 in 1996 and Northern Exposure Volume 2 in 1997.

May. They teamed up to release the anthemic Xpander EP (1999) and the Sasha album Airdrawndagger (2002). He further cemented his knowledge for producing big records in 2000 with collaboration Scorchio alongside Darren Emerson, which enabled Sasha to grace the turntables of every super-club worth mentioning across the UK and Ibiza from then onwards.

As a mentor he has helped nurture the talents of BT and James Zabiela. As a producer he was one of the first real superstars to crossover with underground remixes for pop stars including Madonna, Pet Shop Boys and Seal.

He has spent most of his time from the mid ‘00s-onwards buried deep in touring the globe, popping up every few years for album concepts such as Involver (2004), Invol2ver (2008) and Invol<3r (2013), being nominated for a Grammy Award in 2005 and receiving the 2008 best Progressive DJ at the ‘DJ Awards’ in Ibiza.

Sasha is a global superstar of the highest accord.

SEE HIM DJ: SASHA (UK) FRI 31 OCT STUDIO, AUCKLAND

In 1999 he formed a new production alliance in Charlie

PAUL GLAZBY – ‘KICK IT/ROUGH N’ TOUGH’ (2000) The very first release on Glazby’s own Vicious Circle Recordings, not only did this become a popular track amongst DJs but it set

PAUL GLAZBY – ‘HOSTILE’ (2003) Undoubtedly the biggest hard house track of 2003, ‘Hostile’ took Glazby’s love for hard guitar music fusing it with a hammering hoover and memorable samples courtesy of the Pantera Live album 101 Proof. “And all I’ve been saying for fuckin’ years to all these stupid fuckin’ experts, hey, you know what the experts are telling you? That heavy music

launched Paul Glazby into the league of heavyweight Hard Dance producers. VC Recordings signed it officially on their Miss Shiva ‘Dreams’ package in 2001.

the label up to go on to sign and deliver some of the greatest music moments in Hard House history.

Artists signed included RR Fierce, Eufex, Mark Gray, Ian M, Base Graffiti and current Vicious Circle head honcho Ben Stevens.

is dead ‘n’ gone, well, y’all do me a favor, y’all do me a favor, y’all turn around and look at each other right now, y’all turn around and look at these motherfuckin’ people here, and obviously somebody’s wantin’ to hear something that fuckin experts are tellin’ you that you ain’t supposed to be hearing. Alright well, check this out.”

SEE HIM DJ: PAUL GLAZBY (UK) SAT 18 OCT BODEGA, WELLINGTON

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

|

19

ST YLE LIKE JESSIE J

10Ct Yellow Gold 60Mm Hoop Earrings, $429, michaelhill.co.nz . Precision Liquid Eyeliner, $19.95, thinlizzy.co.nz Brilliance 91 Blue Black, $15.99, lifepharmacy.co.nz, Sweet Talker, by Jessie J, $21.99 itunes.apple.com/nz . Village Dungarees, $289, lonelyheartslabel.com Minnie Mouse Ears Headband, $17.95 USD, disneystore.com . Inniu Vanda, $89.90, wildpair.co.nz . Oh My Love Leopard High Neck Top, $21, asos.com Super Eyewear, by People Francis, $329, superette.co.nz . Velvetine - Pink Velvet, by Lime Crime, $29, cosmicnz.co.nz

20

|

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

ST YLE LIKE JUSTIN TIMBERL AKE

Bad Boy, $96, prohibitionhats.co.nz . 2 Minute Instant Noodles Multi Pack Chicken 360g 5pk, by Maggi, $3.29, countdown.co.nz Chapstick Lipbalm, from $5.99, lifepharmacy.co.nz . Aviator - Matte Gold Crystal Brown Mirror Orange 58, by Ray-ban, $270, superette.co.nz Fudge Hair Gum, $21, hairproductsonline.co.nz . Colorado Windbreaker, $110, adidas.co.nz . Menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Denim Blazer, $68 USD, aliexpress.com Sterling Silver 55cm Curb Chain, $319, michaelhill.co.nz . Directions Hair Lightening Kit - 30 Vol (9%), $34.95, cosmicnz.co.nz 0.15 Carat Tw Diamond Stud Earrings, $649, michaelhill.co.nz . No Strings Attached, by â&#x20AC;&#x2122;N Sync, $17.99, itunes.apple.com/nz

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

|

21

GADGETS

iPhone 6, 4.7-inch from $999 -iPhone 6 Plus, 5.5-inch from $1,149 - Watch,Available in 2015, store.apple.com/nz . DriveClub Special Edition, $118, ebgames.co.nz . Wacom Bamboo Stylus (Orange) $44.99 mightyape.co.nz . Disney Infinity 2.0 Venom, from$22, shop.jbhifi.co.nz . Cath Kidston Mini Bus Earphones and Pouch, NZD$ 51.81, asos.com . Leica X2 A La Carte, $3,295, photowarehouse.co.nz . Micro Hi-Fi System, $ 149.95, sony.co.nz

22

|

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

STREETS OF L AREDO The biggest mistake you’ve made is...

I’ve made quite a few and probably shouldn’t go into them here.

The biggest success you’ve had is...

Getting to make music with my brother, wife and best friends... you can’t get better than that.

New Zealand music needs more...

Time maybe... and what I mean is it seems to me that different scenes change so quickly in NZ that no band really gets a chance to get good in that particular genre – need a bit more time yo.

New Zealand film needs more...

Humour.

New Zealand television needs more...

Matt Heath.

DAVE GIBSON What are you working on right now?

I am sitting in our manager’s office talking about our plans for Halloween – Halloween is quite a big deal here... people plan for it months in advance.

Who was an inspiration or idol to you growing up?

Paul Simon and Cat Stevens.

When you were a kid what was your dream job?

I wanted to be an architect for the longest time.

What’s your favourite venue in New Zealand?

The Kings Arms, closely followed by the Powerstation.

Where was the last place you went out for dinner?

Roberta’s in Bushwick. It’s the quintessential pizza joint in Bushwick, although not traditional NYC pizza; it’s a must-see if you’re in Brooklyn, but be prepared for a lot of attitude from the staff.

Where’s the best place to get Eggs Benedict?

Nowhere in the USA, that is for sure. Back home I’d have to go with Santos on Ponsonby Road, but I’m a bit out of the loop on current café culture in NZ. What has been the best show you’ve attended this year? Why? We got to see The Strokes’ warm-up show for Governors Ball. The show was in an amazing

theatre in upstate New York called The Capitol Theatre. By all accounts it was one of their best shows ever, and we would have to agree.

What show are you most anticipating this year? Why? Delta Spirit at the Bowery Ballroom. We’re playing support and are quietly excited about it.

What’s your guilty pleasure?

Conspiracy documentaries and shows about building big things.

Is Tall Poppy Syndrome a thing?

Yes. But I have been away from NZ a while so maybe things have changed.

New Zealand theatre needs more...

Vagina monologues.

New Zealand audiences are...

Similar to most audiences.

Name five things surrounding you right now.

A Ryan Gentles, an Orchid Flower, a TimeOut New York publication, one dollar and 43 cents in change, and a Dan Gibson.

Do a self-portrait in under five minutes for us.

I did a portrait of Dan – I don’t know what I look like.

DEBUT ALBUM: VOLUME I & II

What do you most respect about your friends?

Their humour, generosity and skills to pay the bills.

OUT FRI 03 OCT

WIN

A usual Saturday night for you is...

A few PBR beers at our Varet Street apartment to get started, a barbeque at Tyson Kennedy and Tim Youngson’s apartment in Williamsburg – they like to cook ribs slowly and over a long period of time. Some hipster fishing from the balcony – this is when we put either $1 or a Mac Demarco record to the end of a fishing line and go fishing off Tyson’s balcony.

A usual Wednesday night for you is...

Probably band practice... we mainly rehearse at night.

One piece of advice you’ve never forgotten?

Be confident. Chicks dig confidence.

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

|

23

STYLE FILE

KRISTINE CRABB MISS CRABB What’s the ethos of your store/ clothing line/business?

We want to encourage a sense of singularity and freedom.

Which historical figure had some wicked style?

Yves Saint Laurent.

What muso/celebrity has style up the wazoo?

Brooke Candy – in the best possible way – love her.

|

What are the essentials for a man’s wardrobe?

A good masculine attitude.

What are the essentials for a lady’s wardrobe?

A sense of self.

Everyone should own at least one good…

A smile/frown.

Hyphenate three words to describe your style: Dreams-top-rock.

Society’s biggest fashion fauxpas?

In NZ – skirts over pants – but we’ll probably wearing that again soon, haha.

MISS CRABB

What’s the must-have look this season?

A new Miss Crabb dress.

MISSCRABB.COM

Colours/patterns big this season?

Strips and grids, on a mathematical muted yacht rock tip.

24

ARTIST Q&A

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

41 PONSONBY RD, PONSONBY, AUCKLAND

KATY MAUDLIN DIRECTOR Who’s in the dead supergroup for your dream hologram show?

Lou Reed, Sam Cooke and Bobby Womack.

What’s an upcoming film you’re jazzed about?

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. Where can your stalkers find you during the weekend?

Either dog walking in Grey Lynn Park or rehearsing in the Dojo.

What happens when you mix Coca Cola with Pepsi?

Diabetes.

MON - SAT: 10AM – 6PM SUN: 11AM – 4PM

Your fantasy spirit animal is…

A hedgehog cuddling a brontosaurus.

FACEBOOK.COM/MISSCRABB

Your signature “I’m an amazing cook” dish is…

Raw macadamia “cheese” cake.

The best place for a date night is…

Fed Street Deli – Bloody Marys and pickles.

You’d get arrested if the police knew that you… are a midnight flower thief.

People say you look like…

A cross between Joan Cusack and Drew Barrymore.

Five celebs on your f**klist?

John Key, Tony Abbott, Sarah Palin, Paul Henry and Gina Rinehart – fuck all of them.

Kittens or puppies?

Puppies.

What generic current affair has your blood boiled?

The election results.

UNCLE MINOTAUR SAT 04 OCT – SAT 18 OCT BASEMENT THEATRE, AUCKLAND

The best TV show around at the moment is…

Rick and Morty.

FILM REVIEWS

LAURA WEASER

*****

DIRECTED BY FRANK MILLER, ROBERT RODRIGUEZ STARRING MICKEY ROURKE, JESSICA ALBA, JOSH BROLIN

SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR Based on three of Frank Miller’s graphic novels (Just Another Saturday Night, The Long Bad Night and Nancy’s Last Dance), the seedy inhabitants of Basin City (Sin City) find demons coming back to haunt them and old flames that just won’t die.

Much like our weary anti-hero Dwight, there’s

something tired about this Sin City sequel, as if it’s begging to be retired from active duty.

The visual techniques that were once groundbreaking when Sin City burst off the pages onto screen in 2005 no longer pack the same punch as they did almost ten years ago, and sections seem to hold back from utilising the style’s full potential. It’s still exciting, but it doesn’t fill you

*****

with the same sense of amazement as the original.

The same can be said of the story – while the first seamlessly weaved several storylines together, flitting between them with ease and without confusion, the pace of A Dame to Kill For lags as too much time is spent on the titular narrative chain between Ava Lord and Dwight’s twisted romance. Oh, and Eva Green’s breasts.

That’s, like, 90% of the film.

Once again boasting an all-star cast (minus a number of return cast members due to scheduling conflicts), there’s no faulting the acting as everyone seems to fit the bill. Rosario Dawson is a repeat favourite as hardened prostitute Gail, and Jessica Alba has grown into her role well as Nancy, a stripper with a heart of gold who is tormented by the death of police officer Hartigan (Bruce Willis). Even Eva Green, breasts and all, steals the show with her femme fatale traits. Hats off to Joseph GordonLevitt who continues to grow as an actor – he’s come a long way from 3rd Rock From the Sun… Die-hard fans can find its merits, but ultimately the film may leave you feeling unfulfilled.

DIRECTED BY ROBERT STROMBERG

*****

STARING ANGELINA JOLIE, ELLE FANNING, SHARLTO COPLEY

DIRECTED BY JONATHAN LIEBESMAN TARRING MEGAN FOX, WILL ARNETT, WILLIAM FICHTNER

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES He’s taking a seat in the producer’s chair, no doubt tucking into a pepperoni pizza or two, but that hasn’t stopped Michael Bay from putting his greasy fingerprints all over his latest 1980s reboot project. While there’s notably less panning shots and dramatic slow-motion sunsets, explosions, lens flares and heavy CGI action sequences take the forefront over plot – a simple good versus evil narrative.

Beneath New York city, four turtles who has been mutated by genetic experimentation, train in the ninja ways with their master Splinter. Warned to stay hidden from sight, the boys disobey and end up becoming unlikely saviours of the city against the evil Foot Clan.

Unlike the last Transformers installment, a faithful adaptation

26

|

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

of the turtles themselves drives this fairly basic narrative and their tongue-in-cheek humour will keep your mind off any glaring plot holes or lulls in the flow.

Yes, the turtles look far too much like actual turtles, giving them a slightly disturbing appearance (let’s be honest, they look like green penises), but their lovable personalities will win you over.

Now that she’s a mother, Bay seemed to think it’s no longer okay to ogle over Megan Fox in the same way as Transformers fans previously had, and the gratuitous ass shots are limited.

That said, she’s in no way credible as April O’Neill, a hard-hitting reporter looking for a scoop.

Instead, she spends most of her time getting into trouble, needing to be saved and fainting.

Take it for what it is – a lighthearted piece of action-comedy – and you won’t be disappointed.

MALEFICENT (DVD) Fairytales – once the harbourers of doom for young women to stay on the right path, avoid premarital sex and wait for your prince to come – are getting the reboot with a good kick up the ass. While the feminist message in Maleficent is, at times, so obvious you can almost hear Queen Bey’s ‘Single Ladies’ echoing throughout the kingdom, this re-imagining of Sleeping Beauty is as captivating as it is thought-provoking.

Pegged as the villainess, an evil sorceress who curses Princess Aurora to prick her finger and fall into a coma on her sixteenth birthday, Maleficent has a bad rap in the original Sleeping Beauty tale. But where did her rage come from? Go “behind the scenes” so to speak, of Maleficent’s origins and discover the other side of the story.

Be you Team Ange or Team

Jen, it’s hard to fault Angelina on her acting abilities. Playing Maleficent with the right balance of compassion and bitterness, she’s truly remarkable. The brief moment with her reallife daughter as baby Aurora will make your heart melt. Her counterpart, Elle Fanning, is soft and sweet, and perfect for the naïve princess. And while women run the world, District 9’s Sharlto Copley is a surprising addition as a romantic lead (Stefan), who lets greed get the better of him.

The pro-feminism message runs thick throughout Maleficent, but it’s dealt with delicately, and really, is it such a bad thing to educate the next Disney generation that you don’t need a man to save you? I challenge original Sleeping Beauty fans not to find this re-imagining a touching and compelling reboot.

TIM GRUAR

SOL A ROSA WIN

“I would need like a whole book of lyrics, hone them for months on end. They were so spontaneous. Quite often they hadn’t even heard the tracks, they wrote on the spot.”

“Noah Lee – I heard about through social media, I was thrashing his EP for ages – I was quite surprised it wasn’t as prevalent as it was – as the next big Kiwi sensation – yet!”

“Oliver Daysoul’s on there, too. He was on the last album. He’s one of my favourite modern soul singers. We’re stoked to have him back on. Tawiah was an amazing vocalist – I heard about her through Giles Peterson.”

ANDREW SPRAGGON TWO YEARS IN the making, digitally mixed in Queenstown, analogue mastered in New York, featuring stunning retro-cool art work by artist Dan Stiles (who makes posters for Artic Monkeys and Thievery Corporation), and a stunning line-up of new and familiar collaborators, you’d think that Sola Rosa’s new album Magnetics is another big star production.

Not so, says main man Andrew Spraggon. This is probably the third time in his 15-year-long career that we’ve chatted, and over that time his musical approach has changed vastly from the bedroom beats of 2001’s Solarized.

“Yeah, I’m still truckin’ along. I just had to count that out in my head, doin’ an interview on the radio. When did I start? 1999?.” Two albums, daycare and school enrolments later, that proposition is not so scary. Spraggon tell me he’s still very much the producer/ composer but his work ethic is quite different from his humble beginnings. The last album, The Low and Behold featured a vast range of collaborators and producers. This time round the sentiment was to keep it local.

“Well I never leave the home, basically. The studio’s here. The band comes in and we’re underway.” In the past Spraggon had written most of the material himself and “farmed” it out to others to provide input, especially the vocals. “For this new album I was listening to a lot of nu-soul and hip hop again. It’s always obvious on each album what I was listening to at the time.” Listening to samples of the new album it became clear that it was the perfect meld of live musicians and computer wizardry.

“This was the first time the band – bassist Matt Short (Opensouls, Tyra & The Tornados), jazz guitarist Ben White, vocalist/producer Cherie Matheison (collaborator with Mark de Clive Lowe, the Bamboos and Sola) – has played a huge part. They wrote it. In the past it’s been predominantly me coming up with the original idea. Sometimes Matt would alter the bass lines or Ben would add riffs but mostly me (Spraggon provides the beats and keys on most tracks). This time it was all of us. We got together on a weekly basis and worked on it.

“Before (with the last album – Low and Behold, High and Beyond) it all got a bit too large, bloated. So many studios and outside musicians, engineers, etc. And for this one we just wanted to keep it with the band, in our own studio.

Keep it simple as far as the writing process and musicianship went. It’s been the same core band for a while, working with different vocalists – it’s the nature of the beast.”

This time they include Kevin Mark Trail, vocalist with The Streets. “He was recommended to us by our previous manager.

He was like ‘Kevin’s coming over, you should team up.’ And we did that.”

“I didn’t know much about him. I thought that The Streets was just the ‘rapper-dude’. I went on YouTube and there’s Kevin jumpin’ around.

He was there from the start. So he came over to the (Avondale-based) studio, and we hit it off and I just got off on his vibe.”

“Another singer, Jordan Rakei – I just found out he was a Kiwi. We made the track remotely, but in all his emails he never once said he was a Kiwi! He was recommended by a friend. He was a big Freddy’s fan and emailed us on the back of that. Since then his career’s gone and blown up! He’s doing well. It’s the most fun I have making a record for a long time. Everything’s worked in sync, for good.”

The album might have been recorded down home but Spraggon still reached out to Queenstown based Josh Thorne, aka DJ Alias, to mix it all up. “Josh just has good ears.

Basically, when you’re finished the album, you’re done. So it’s good to give it over to another who’s not so close. He’s just got better ears for mixing. Josh’s mixes always came back, and they were way better than mine. And a better price, too.” The last album, which had American mixology input, was an expensive exercise in engineering.

Of course, nothing beats the live mix. “We’ve been playing ‘Can We Get It together’, ‘Never Too Far’, ‘Till the Sun’ and ‘To the Ocean’ for a while, with Kevin gigging with us for about six months but we’re looking forward to trying out the other ones.” National shows in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland are about to kicked off in September. “Kevin will be supporting us, too. Just him – with guitar, keyboards and beats. He’s promoting his new album The Knight. It’s worth checking out.”

SEE THEM LIVE: SOLA ROSA FRI 24 OCT DUX LIVE, CHRISTCHURCH FRI 31 OCT SAN FRAN, WELLINGTON

“And the same for the Noah Lee collaboration experience. They just wrote the lyrics on the spot. I was certainly impressed with that. They were just doing that.”

SAT 01 NOV THE TUNING FORK, AUCKLAND NEW ALBUM: MAGENTICS OUT NOW

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

|

27

ALBUM REVIEWS KERRETTA PIROHIA

*****

GOLDEN ANTENNA

There’s a long tradition in NZ of more-or-less instrumental rock bands. While Bailter Space use vocals for textural gravity, HDU and Jakob found that music could spew its molten message fully formed without the intrusion of glottal ululus. Kerretta extend that tradition, and Pirohia is an accomplished third long player that catches the trio at its most powerful and fecund. Recorded at Abbey Road studios, Pirohia is a sonic killer deserving of a

28

|

*** *

*** *

decent sound system. Its main components involve the stark contrast between guitar rhythm architecture seemingly carved out of The Cure’s Seventeen Seconds (with a bit of early U2 on the side), and the kind of huge, hulking, scary riffs that Robert Fripp specialised in on his 1970s work with King Crimson. Yes, there’s a pronounced progressive rock influence at work here, but we’re talking shredding dissonance and orchestral overtones, and scary, dramatic lead lines that can’t fail to impress.

GARY STEEL

*****

***** PERE UBU CARNIVAL OF SOULS

GOAT COMMUNE

(FIRE RECORDS

ROCKET RECORDINGS

LYTTELTON

PAX AM/SONY

The Modern Dance was a colossal achievement: one of those rare occasions when a band stretches, twists and reshapes the boundaries of rock, but without disappearing up its own ass in the process. It’s kind of great that the group who made such a pungent musical corollary to David Lynch’s bizarre surrealistindustrial film Eraserhead refused to stand still, but too often over the years Pere Ubu became the vehicle for vocalist/ lyricist David Thomas’s eccentric incoherence. And that’s why Carnival Of Souls is important.

Despite its origins as a musical interpretation of the cult 1960s film it takes its name from, this is as close as Pere Ubu has come to reanimating the strange and compelling outsider rock of their earliest releases. What to expect? Delightfully unhinged singing, queasy noise from antique synthesisers, creepy and threatening chord progressions, and even a bit of punk aggression.

Oh, and clarinets.

Swedish psych-rockers Goat may not journey onto particularly new ground with their sophomore effort, but they certainly maintain some heady incantations and a persuasive Afro-beat stomp over their occupied territories. A choice condensation of psychedelic musical influences meshes with able-bodied musicianship to create a solid, compelling record which easily doubles as a simple ol’ fuzz-ridden good time. Nods to Sabbath and female vocal invocations (which sound as if recorded or chanted from opposite ends of a cave) flirt with Turkish folk melodies and Kuti percussion across Commune. The earnest spiritual schemata within Goat’s output is perhaps the only uneasy element: an element without which psych often palls but one that also seems at odds with the very performative Insane Clown Posse (yes, anonymity and masks) theatricality of Goat’s public persona. But y’know what? Fuck it and enjoy the groove.

Everything recorded at The Sitting Room studios seems to have something enigmatic about it, and that charismatic quality extends to this debut by Auckland songwriter Will Wood, who also happens to day-job for a variety of alt-country acts. But to call Broken Man alt-country doesn’t quite hit the button: utilising a charming lineup of instrumentation including brass, banjo, mandolin, violin, lap steel and upright bass, the music is characterised by an old-timey, good-natured swing zing that feels easy and fresh, as though a bunch of corn-fed rural folk had got together for a hootenanny, and while they were at it, churned out a bunch of this chap’s idiosyncratic, eccentric narratives. And that’s where it gets interesting, because you’ve got this conservative musical framework holding up songs that talk about Karangahape Road ladyboys and all manner of odd stuff. A minor diversion perhaps, but intriguing, nevertheless.

He of the prodigious output and vintage comic collecting, Adams’s 14th studio album stands as a bitter-sweet, somewhat stoned distillation of his past output of confessional altcountry. One that engenders neither pleasant epiphany nor overt disappointment. While more consistent than recent efforts, there’s a strange aloofness blooming in his catalogue of love and loss. Perhaps its basis lies in the growing disconnect between the projection of Adams as Gram Parsons troubadour and the reality of Adams himself: a Hüsker Dü-obsessed metalcore nerd. Who often publicly derides the very genre that pays his bills and provokes his fans’ communion and thrall. Tossing out tuneful AOR that could easily masquerade as classic-era Petty or Springsteen is undoubtedly a skill. But for a man that compares song-writing styles to costumes, it’s a little infuriating to settle for polyester when you know there’s silk in the closet.

GARY STEEL

SARAH THOMSON

GARY STEEL

SARAH THOMSON

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

WILL WOOD BROKEN MAN

RYAN ADAMS RYAN ADAMS

THREE LOVES, THREE LIES, ONE LAST CHANCE

NZ ON AIR FUNDING

THREE LOVES, THREE LIES, ONE LAST CHANCE

AN ALASTAIR RIDDELL FILM

AN ALASTAIR RIDDELL FILM

IN CINEMAS FROM OCTOBER 16

IN CINEMAS FROM OCTOBER 16

NZ ON AIR September funding has been announced. 130 applicants submitted their songs this round.

This month’s round of Making Tracks has been decided. Each of the 130 applications were listened to by six independent panelists. September’s panel consisted of David Ridler [Radio Hauraki; Auckland], Jason Mac [The Rock; Auckland], Leonie Hayden [Mana (Magazine); Auckland], Nick Atkinson [Radio NZ (National); Auckland], Pennie Blair [95bFM; Auckland] and Tania Dean [NZ On Air Music; Auckland].

Congratulations to the following artists!

Making Tracks Funded Projects September 2014 Video Only Anthonie Tonnon – ‘Railway Lines’

Fire At Will – ‘Bloody Arcade’ Ha the Unclear – ‘Growing Mould’ Las Tetas – ‘Two Marriages’ Mulholland – ‘Sleep Forever’ NameUL – ‘Only16’ Randa – ‘Rangers’ Silence the City – ‘The Chase’ Spycc – ‘Run It’ Suren Unka – ‘Weather Science’ Three Houses Down – ‘On My Heart’ Recording & video Benny Tipene – ‘Good Man’ Dictaphone Blues – ‘Cryptic Lipstick’ Eden Mulholland – ‘Thoroughbred’ Fazerdaze – ‘Little Uneasy’ Gala – ‘Serendipity’ Jason Kerrison – ‘You Want Me As Me’ LAKES – ‘Daydream’ Lontalius – ‘All I Wanna Say’ Racing – ‘Stereo Fields’ Ruby Frost – ‘Comeback Queen’ Titanium – ‘Parade’ Yumi Zouma – ‘Alena’

apo.co.nz

NEW ZEALAND HERALD PREMIER SERIES

Concert for Horns 8pm, Thursday 9 October Auckland Town Hall The APO horn section performs Schumann’s Konzertstück for 4 Horns.

Book at ticketmaster.co.nz (Booking and Service fees apply)

ALBUM REVIEWS TY SEGALL MANIPULATOR

*****

DRAG CITY

In between the chugging Stooge drums that open Manipulator and the Bolan vocal affectations of the album’s closer, Ty Segall tries on almost every seminal archetype of Western garage, psych and glam rock present on either fuzzy side of 1970. Just how he gets away with proceedings not sounding like 17 tracks of competent costumed rehash seems beyond sane reasoning. But here it is: Segall’s longest album to date, the greatest attempted confluence of his musical loves (in particular, a sizable debt owed here to Rex’s

*****

30

|

** **

*****

Tyrannosaurus and T). And still, somewhat gallingly, an album very much his own. If there’s an argument to be made with regards to the dispassionate aping of a genre or group’s technicalities versus the impassioned, proud wearing of an artist’s influences upon their grubby little sleeve, then Segall is probably the latter camp’s case, point and glitterspangled king.

SARAH THOMSON

** **

SBTRKT WONDER WHERE WE LAND

ROBERT PLANT LULLABY AND… THE CEASELESS ROAD

PERFUME GENIUS TOO BRIGHT

ALT-J THIS IS ALL YOURS

MATADOR

INFECTIOUS/LIBERATOR

YOUNG TURKS

NONESUCH

SBTRKT started life as a dubstep project, but his second album bears only skeletal traces of that close to atrophied genre, going instead for something ambitious and impressively divergent. And that’s both the strength and weakness of Wonder Where We Land. Cropping up regularly is the mellow, postRadiohead crooning of Sampha, but also on board are rappers A$AP Ferg and Raury, members of the group Warpaint, and Vampire Weekend singer Ezra Koenig, a WTF roll-call that adds umami and a modicum of spice. At his best, SBTRKT subverts convention by manipulating voices, and achieving a kind of virtual reality splicing of organic and synthetic elements, but the brief instrumental interludes that outshine the main items aren’t given the chance to develop beyond mere sketches. this album ducks and dives on the wrong side of the dividing line between subtlety and politeness.

I love it that Robert Plant refuses to let himself be defined exclusively by Led Zeppelin, and has scorned the lucrative lure of trading on past glories.

I respect him for that. But since the demise of Zep, Plant’s solo discography has stretched to ten albums, all of which are flawed or compromised in ways that make them less than sensational.

Lullaby… sounds like the demo draft for a new album, with its lo-res, seemingly sampled loops and its horrible miscegenation of blues, Celtic folk and “world” influences. That voice is way back in the mix, and seldom asserts itself, just the husk of the vocal powerhouse of his youth. There are numerous low points, but let’s take ‘Rainbow’ as our exemplar: here, he sounds like a poor man’s mid-period U2 featuring a poor man’s Jeff Buckley vocal impression.

Just sad.

Mike Hadreas’s (a.k.a. Perfume Genius) compositions hit hardest when exploring the various juxtapositions of personal identity with no little amount of sass. Single ‘Queen’ is a thrumming march of gender fluidity iced with synth finger twirls, killer lines (“no family is safe/when I sashay”) and a chorus metronome that sounds like the oh-so-masculine bodily impact of hulking quarterbacks.

Lessen the amount of knowing “play” present in Hadreas’ work on Too Bright and you’re left with a capable, pleasant amalgam of Wainwright and Antony. But it’s tracks like ‘My Body’ and ‘I’m A Mother’, where flesh and garbage, desire and decay, confused darkness and the torch songs that Hadreas is so capable of all interplay, that hint at Perfume Genius being an artist dually tethered to fine tradition and possessing the ability to transcend it altogether.

Post Mercury Prize lustre, alt-J return with an album of folktronica preoccupied with cross-gartered Britannia whimsy frolics and song cycles about Japanese deer parks. Sound a little tiresome? Well, yes. Purported attempts to “tease” with song structure stretch too thin as few tracks manage to float above a wishy-washy sea. This Is All Yours does deviate from the party line upon occasion and the resulting cuts range from delightful to disastrous. On ‘Every Other Freckle’, a darker build-up with lurking construction and creepsex lyricism (You want to “turn [me] inside out and lick [me] like a crisp packet”? Alright then.) provides welcome album respite before being almost completely negated by an ill-advised Black Keys sounding number (‘Left Hand Free’). If, as the title suggests, this album is “all ours” – it’s a little tempting to politely give two thirds of it back.

GARY STEEL

GARY STEEL

SARAH THOMSON

SARAH THOMSON

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

THE TATTOOED HEART

ON THE RECORD

RACHEL DAWICK SONGWRITER/ MUSICIAN Favourite ‘90s TV show?

Absolutely Fabulous – hilarious.

Dream job as a kid?

Well I always wanted to be an explorer in the Antarctic or a mime artist.

First album?

Spike Milligan’s Bad Jelly the Witch and Other Goodies when I was five years old but then I didn’t buy it so that would have to be ABBA Super Trouper and Michael Jackson Off the Wall when I was 11 years old.

If you weren’t a musician, what would you be?

Well I have already been many things – a high school teacher, an arts manager, an education officer for an international development agency, an aerobics instructor… but now if not a musician then I’d probably work at some type of creative agency that worked with the arts and the environment or ideally just living off the land and doing creative work with as many people as possible.

and the at times the social type.

How do you discover new music?

I usually come across it on my travels either seeing it first-hand or hearing about something from someone.

Worst job you’ve had?

Sorting out fleeces as a holiday job as a kid in Palmerston North.

Biggest fear?

Snapping my Achilles tendon.

Again it’s not something I think I can go through again right now.

First gig in attendance?

That would be Dire Straits in my first year at uni in Auckland – I grew up on theatre productions because my parents were into drama and not music – I would probably still prefer to go to the theatre than see a band live…I guess I like the whole thing – the lights, the costumes, the set, the music, the acting…but I have seen some great intimate live music gigs that I have loved when I have been really moved into another world….

SEE HER LIVE: RACHEL DAWICK THU 02 OCT THE VIC THEATRE,

Who would play you in a film?

Kate Winslet because she plays the quirky, the serious, the awkward, the theatrical, the loner

DEVONPORT NEW ALBUM: THE BOUNDARY RIDERS OUT NOW

- NZ’S FINEST 202 K ROAD/AUCKLAND WWW.THETATTOOEDHEART.CO.NZ 09 379 2662

Your best source for new release vinyl ....

Now buying and selling second hand vinyl

RECORDS

southbound.co.nz/shop

69 Mt Eden Road, Mt Eden www.southbound.co.nz/shop Ph: 09 302 0769

BR AD PITT

32

|

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

APRIL, 1945. AS the Allies make their final push in the European Theatre, a battlehardened army sergeant named Wardaddy (Brad Pitt) commands a Sherman tank and her five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. Outnumbered and outgunned, and with a rookie soldier thrust into their platoon, Wardaddy and his men face overwhelming odds in their heroic attempts to strike at the heart of Nazi Germany.

Why did you want to make this movie?

I am first a fan of David Ayer, from Harsh Times to End of Watch. In his films I recognize a knowing that is beyond mine.

I knew I could learn something from this man, and that for me is everything. Dave has lived an extraordinary life, including time spent on a nuclear sub. His extensive knowledge and his respect for the military drew me in. It drew us all in. I knew upon the first read that there was something very special and truthful here; I didn’t know or recognize how deep it ran until we all started working together and came out on the other side.

It was truly a unique experience for us all.

What insights can you give into your character, Wardaddy?

The Wardaddy character is the Tank Commander so his responsibilities are first to his crew, to make sure that their morale is up and that they are operating as a machine. A tank crew has to operate as a machine.

If one cog fails, they are not going home. The TC also has to simultaneously have his eyes on the playing field, monitoring any and all potential threats – because war comes at you fast and ferociously. One late call means no one’s going home.

He seems a very tough man…

He is strict and he is stern. He has to be because you need clarity in battle. But in his quiet moments, he is also a man

carrying a profound loss, the proverbial hole in the heart, a loss which we never quite explain but certainly has taken its toll; and it’s the accumulative trauma which has formed this dent in his psyche. But back to your question – our crew is one of the few crews who’ve managed to stay together for the bulk of the war and survived. Understand, our tanks were inferior to the German tanks. So we threw numbers at them. The odds of survival were grim. At the start of the film we’ve lost our fifth crew-member and a new kid is thrown into the mix and into our family. If you can imagine, a tank is a very tight and intimate place; we eat, sleep, piss, fight all within this confined metal box.

It’s our home. We’re crammed together but we each have our comfort spots and our own way of working and our own language. And then suddenly this new kid is thrown in. It’s not just that he’s new, but he has had no tank experience, which was often the case towards the end of the war. Because he’s had no tank experience, he is actually a threat to our survival. This paradox becomes Wardaddy’s responsibility: to beat this out of him and prepare him for the horror that is war. He needs to get him to act, not think. So, how do you raise a child in a day?

was a profound education on leadership. If we were ordered to do push-ups, I was first on the ground. When in class, I studied hard. I never whined, bitched or complained unless it was an exercise to bind us. They had to know I was working at least as hard, if not harder, than they were. It was my responsibility to set the tone. This was true whether the camera was rolling or not. And as you can imagine, we got really, really tight on this thing. I am not the most talkative by nature but here we were, five guys stuck in a tin can and I’m the senior of the bunch, and I felt this responsibility to be direct and open with my guys, some of whom are just getting a handle on this thing and what they want to do with it.

You compared the tank crew to a family…

Yes, there is bickering, irritations, laughter, smells, proximity, closeness…being tuned to each other’s moods and knowing each other’s next move. And being the patriarch of the family, Wardaddy needs to rule with authority but never abuse their trust, so there’s a give and take, emboldening them or crushing them depending on the need of the moment. He is in charge of maintaining the morale of the family: this big fat dysfunctional family.

Is that the journey Wardaddy goes through in the film?

Yeah, part of his journey is raising a son in one day and that relationship is sometimes very painful. It is difficult for a father to have to punish his child.

Sometimes it is even harder on the parent. It is a negotiation, an exchange. In the film we see this trade off. We see a very hard and capable character versus the innocence of this kid and… somewhere along the way… they inform each other.

Apparently, the director put you through some tough training before principal photography began?

We want that. We want to be pushed to the places we haven’t been. We come in with an idea but because we have been ruminating on it so long that can become stagnant. So you want to keep things loose and you want to get some punches thrown at you so you can throw some punches back.

Did you personally feel responsibility on set to act as a leader?

Sure, the whole experience

How did the time you spent with WWII veterans influence your performance?

I’ve seen the hellish photos from

the time and I’ve read the books.

So sitting in the presence of these extraordinary men, who have lived and survived war, and were willing to share their experiences with the five of us was quite moving. They set a tone for us, and I can’t quite describe the immense respect and reverence we walked away with from our meeting. My hope is that they will recognize some of that in this film.

Was this a film set that your family could visit?

My oldest son knows about every tank – so much so that when we first started, I was asking him for info. He has an extensive knowledge developed on his own since he was younger. I brought my five-year-old on set and he was awed by the tank, and even though he had no concept of war or a tank’s purpose he was immediately drawn to it. I think it’s that inexplicable fascination man has for machine.

Did you ever consider joining the military when you were younger?

No, I was too reckless… rudderless. I never considered it in my younger days. I was too much on the drift and it was more about exploring for me. Now, with what we’ve learned and what we’ve been through on this film, I have so much respect for what we ask these young men and women to do on our behalf. I have so much admiration for them.

Are there many other filmmakers you would still like to work with?

Sure, there are many strong directors working today I would love to collaborate with.

I appreciate directors who have an authentic voice, challenge the medium, and have a very, very precise point of view. At the end of the day, we are in their hands.

IN CINEMAS THU 23 OCT

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

|

33

ANDREW JOHNSTONE

JAKOB way about it,” said Boyle.

WIN

The new album Sines was recorded over the course of the last couple of years at Roundhead in Auckland and Sister Lung in Napier. Gear breakdowns meant the recording process was sporadic and just when they were on the cusp of finishing up, bassist Maurice Beckett broke his hand. The further delays meant the band ran out of money and they had to beg and borrow to find the resources to complete the project.

“Solace was really successful for us and we could have easily done a ‘Solace 2’ but we wanted to progress and push the boundaries and I think we achieved that. We worked really hard on it and put as much as we could into it and were pretty proud of it,” says Boyle.

JEFF BOYLE POST-ROCK IS a sub-genre of rock. The sound incorporates characteristics from a variety of musical forms including post-punk, progressive rock, space rock, ambient, dub, electronica, experimental and jazz. Since their formation in 1998, Napier band Jakob have emerged as leading proponents of the genre.

Their 2006 album Solace bought them to the attention of an influential international audience but a series of unfortunate events halted their progress.

I spoke with guitarist Jeff Boyle about the trials and tribulations of being Jakob.

Boyle grew up in a musical household and started playing guitar at the age of six. “Guitar was huge to me as a kid and I always had aspirations to be a guitar player.” His father’s eclectic musical tastes instilled in him a desire to find something new in music rather than rehashing what came before. “For me music was not about being famous and selling lots of records, it was about making progressive, emotive music that ‘moved’ people.”

In 1998 Boyle and bassist Maurice Beckett were watching a movie called Jacob’s Ladder, a film about a Vietnam veteran haunted by hallucinations. Inspired by the events in the film, the guys decided to called their new band Jakob. An EP and a vinyl single followed and in 2001 the band released their debut album, Subset of Sets followed by Cale:Drew in 2003. After a period of intensive international touring which included a performance at the highly regarded South by Southwest Festival in Austin Texas in 2005 the band released Solace

34

|

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

in 2006. It was an important album for them, garnering much critical praise. It raised their profile exponentially and opened many new doors of opportunity.

More touring followed but before the band could get back into the studio to record a follow up album things began to take a turn for the worse.

“A couple of years after the release of Solace we were touring Europe with a band called Isis. It was a really successful tour for us and we signed up with a label called Conspiracy Records. We came back home to record an album for them but I tore a wrist ligament which meant I had to have surgery. That put me out of action for a year and all that momentum we had built up completely subsided and we had to start again,” explains Boyle.

It was while touring with Isis again in 2010 that they met Adam Jones, the guitarist from Tool.

“We were playing at a venue called the Troubadour in LA, and Adam walked into the green room and said he was a big fan and asked us if we would support Tool on their upcoming US tour?” With the band’s Visas about to expire, that wasn’t going to happen.

After eight years of delays and bad luck the band is raring to go. A short tour to promote the new album starts on October 23th in Napier and progresses through to Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, Port Chalmers, Auckland and Leigh with a few gigs in Australia to follow in November.

With a worldwide distribution deal through American label The Mylene Sheath (Pelican, If These Trees Could Talk, Caspian) secured, things are finally looking up for Jakob. I finished the interview by asking Jeff where he would like to be in five years’ time?

“I’d love to be playing music more often, touring and making a living from it. All the money is in live performance and merchandising these days and it’s doable.”

LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW: SOUNDCLOUD.COM/IN-DEEP-CONVERSATIONS/JACOBFULL-INTERVIEW

THU 23 OCT THE CABANA, NAPIER FRI 24 OCT SAN FRAN, WELLINGTON FRI 07 NOV CHURCHILLS TAVERN, CHRISTCHURCH SAT 08 NOV CHICKS HOTEL, PORT CHALMERS FRI 14 NOV GALATOS, AUCKLAND

“Things have been getting in the way periodically. We would have had a new album out way sooner than this had we had our own

M

Y

CM

MY

With jobs to juggle and families to support, it’s hard for the guys to get away but local fans can be assured that a much more extensive NZ tour is planned for next year just before the band flies out for a series of highly anticipated gigs in Europe and America.

SEE THEM LIVE: JAKOB

Misfortune continued to dog the band and in 2013, a 29 date tour of Europe had to be cancelled after drummer Jason Johnson lacerated his hand.

C

SAT 15 NOV LEIGH SAWMILL CAFE, LEIGH NEW ALBUM: SINES OUT FRI 17 OCT

CY

CMY

K

www.kiwifm.co.nz A K L

1 0 2 . 2

|

W G T

1 0 2 . 1

|

C H C

1 0 2 . 5

TIM GRUAR

BILL BAILEY

36

|

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

COMEDIAN BILL BAILEY has to take his phone calls from his office because the racket from his ever-growing menagerie of exotic creatures is too much of a distraction. “It’s always the same. As soon as the phone goes the dingoes start howling.

They feel that their territory is being threatened by some kind of telephonic being, perhaps.

And then the parrots all start up, squawkin’ and carrying on. It tends to be a bit distracting, so it’s quieter in the office. It’s like we’ve about run out of room in our West London house for all these animals! Doctor Dolittle will need to sail to darkest Peru, I fear, in search of escape.”

Hang on, wait a minute. Did you say dingoes? “Ah, yes,” replies Bailey in his measured, faintly Cockney accent. “But not the baby-worrying kind. These are Indonesian dingoes. They are a lot smaller, more slender than the Aussie version – They’re a cousin, same DNA. They probably trotted over a land bridge one day, dropped down and became marooned on the Indonesian archipelago.”

He tells me that these were dogs rescued from the pound while Bailey was in Indonesia filming.

Sneaking them through customs must have been a mission?

“Yeah. Told them to stay very quiet (laughs). The law here has become much more expedient... not the six month quarantine that you used to have...it’s down to a few days, if you have the right paperwork.”

This all came about from a recent trip in search of the real “Origin of Species”. “Yes, between the last time I was in New Zealand and now (he plans to be back in November) I spent

a large part of that time working on a documentary about Alfred Russell Wallace, who was a Victorian botanist, explorer, biologist and evolutionary originator. He was a younger contemporary of Darwin. He travelled through Indonesia, Malaysia and what was Borneo and wrote in a wide variety of scientific journals. He came up with a scientific theory of evolution, independent of Charles Darwin.” Bailey’s referring to Bailey’s Jungle Hero – a two-part documentary about naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace that was part doco, part mad Englishman-travelogue.

All very incredible but surely we’d know that Darwin didn’t develop his theories in isolation? “All this I found out in a bird-watching guide called The Birds of Wallacia (the arrogant English name for parts of Indonesia). That started me down the path of years of research: of obsession. All culminating in this TV show (Bill Bailey’s Jungle Hero), unveiling his portrait in the Natural History Museum and getting a bronze statue of him erected in the Darwin gardens outside.”

“What’s interesting about Darwin’s release of the theory was not so much offending the church or his (devoutly religious) wife... it’s more interesting than that...he was worried about getting his facts right and also there wasn’t really a universal outcry. People were hungry for a bit of change. The opposition from the church was only one faction. The church had been in charge for so long, people were sick of it. As early as 1816 there was a comedy review that suggested that we might be evolved from orangutans...the

“It’s a place of transition, between the truth and reality.”

“It’s always the same. As soon as the phone goes the dingoes start howling.”

idea had been around for a long time and they were sort of ready for it.”

Of course all the modernist crazies and colonists ended up in Aotearoa – escaping the Old World. “Yes, (adopting a Python-esque colonial voice) let’s high-tail it to our beautiful Utopia in the south.” Which dovetails nicely with Bailey’s new show: Limboland. “It’s a place of transition, between the truth and reality. It came about because I realised that a lot of stories in the show started to coerce around this central theme of things not quite being what they seem. Things we once revered to be stolid and impeachable are now revealed to be flawed and fickle. What can we believe? Who can we trust? I think it’s also a sense of reflection, looking at what we thought in childhood and how things turned out. It’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s a state of weakness, as we get older.”

Bailey is well-known for his musical content, being a gifted performer. But sadly, he won’t be bringing his seven-headed guitar Down Under this time around.

“I’d never get it on the plane.” He will however be bringing some other instruments, including a six-string made for him out of a real bible. Fittingly, evolution, religion and travel in the name of history versus comedy all seem to drive Bailey on. Here’s hoping he doesn’t try to adopt any native birds while he’s down here – he’s rather partial to Keas, apparently.

“I just want to see a parrot eat a car. What a brilliant bird – beautiful plumage!”

SEE HIM PERFORM: BILL BAILEY SAT 01 NOV MICHAEL FOWLER CENTRE, WELLINGTON SUN 02 NOV MICHAEL FOWLER CENTRE, WELLINGTON MON 03 NOV CBS ARENA, CHRISTCHURCH WED 05 NOV ASB THEATRE, AUCKLAND THU 06 NOV ASB THEATRE, AUCKLAND

Comedy, even to the youngest can only work if a number of rules and assumptions are accepted. Mr. Bean, for example, works because every idea and theme is pretty much based around universal concepts such as Christmas. Bailey does this too. Particularly with music, where he reworks well-known tunes for comedic effect. “In the show I, for instance, rewrite ‘Happy Birthday’, the most familiar song on the planet.

I made it more, shall we say, “downbeat” – gave it lower expectations. It came about when I talked to a music lawyer and it’s still under copyright. If you sing it live, you should pay royalties.

So I was motivated to write my own, to gift to the world, to use without recourse to pay performance rights.”

FRI 07 NOV FOUNDERS THEATRE, HAMILTON SUN 09 NOV TSB THEATRE, NEW PLYMOUTH

#WINNING VISIT RIPITUP.CO.NZ FOR MORE INFO AND TO ENTER THE DRAW TO WIN PRIZES

GONE GIRL JAKOB

IN CINEMAS THU 02 OCT 5 X DOUBLE PASSES

1 X COPY OF SINES 1 X DOUBLE PASS TO THE AUCKLAND SHOW FRI 14 NOV GALATOS, AUCKLAND

WIN STREETS OF LAREDO 3 X COPIES OF VOLUME I & II

38

|

SOLA ROSA

THE DATSUNS

REVENGE

3 X COPIES OF MAGENTICS

4 X COPIES OF DEEP SLEEP

3 X COPIES OF SEASON 3 ON DVD

RIPITUP.CO.NZ