THE HOT ISSUE 2015 issue 15 ● april/may 2015 ● free
starring IGGY AZALEA PHOEBE TONKIN BAILEY CHASE DIE ANTWOORD MARIANA KLAVENO LEONARDO DICAPRIO MARK RONSON MITCHELL JOHNSON VIN DIESEL ASH WALSH NENEH CHERRY IVA DAVIES
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AFL'S SEASON KICKOFF SAFARI IN EAST AFRICA AN EIGHTIES REVIVAL HIGH THERE: THE NEW ELECTRONIC JOINT
EDITOR’S LETTER
I
’m sitting on the terrace of a cool apartment overlooking picturesque Kings Park, mellowing out with friends the morning after a big night before. Everyone is in that delicate-but-loving-it chillout state. Along with interesting conversation, I think it’s the sun that’s keeping us up and alive and feeling all warm and fuzzy; chatting about this subject and that; kicking back to a miscellaneous soundtrack by our own in-house DJ.
The mix-meister is showing us a neat party trick where he pours alcohol over the inside groove of a 12-inch single, sets it alight and puts the needle on the record, only to watch it spin ’round in flames while also getting his audience in a bit of a spin. DJs setting their records, literally, on fire? That’s pretty hot. Vinyl is pretty hot right now – just ask any hipster who’s gotten hold of a 50-buck turntable from Big W recently and is now advertising for Unwanted Retro Records on Gumtree (see our article on the return of the good plastic stuff, page 45). Also in this issue we feature profiles on people, places and products that we reckon are fairly hot right now. You’ll spot some familiar faces – mostly from the worlds of sports and entertainment – but there is a host of fresh starlets, too. Suffice to say, each and every one is worthy of high/ hot status. The weather might be cooling down, but (yep, I’ll go there just once) it’s getting hot in here…
PUBLISHED BY CANDY CUSTOM MEDIA PTY LTD 15 Vera Street Cottesloe WA 6011 www.candycustommedia.com.au www.rockcandymagazine.com.au ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES sales@candymedia.com.au EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES editor@candymedia.com.au GENERAL ENQUIRIES info@candymedia.com.au MANAGING DIRECTOR Cornelius Curtin conny@candymedia.com.au EDITOR Antonino Tati antonino@candymedia.com.au CREATIVE DESIGN Barbara Bertoli design@candymedia.com.au
Antonino Tati Editor
CONTRIBUTORS Lisa Andrews, Nadja Cachiakokov, Ben Cope, Marco Fraschetti, Jay Harrison, Andrea Manno, Michael Mastess, Jean-Baptiste Mondino, Fifi Robinson, Louis van Senden, Udo Spreitzenbarth. Rock Candy is published in Western Australia by Candy Custom Media Pty Ltd and distributed free of charge to resource industry workers at various locations around Western Australia. All rights reserved. No material published in Rock Candy may be reproduced in whole or in part without prior written authority. Views expressed in Rock Candy are not necessarily the views of the editor or publisher. Rock Candy takes no responsibility for the accuracy of information included, or for submitted content. Submissions grant the publisher the right to publish editorial in full or in part. © 2015 Candy Custom Media.
THE COVER: Iggy Azalea heads up our Hot Issue 2015. The Australian-born rapper has been causing a right fuss on the music scene and the Twitter-sphere with her comments on body image, bullying and tabloid bull.
Read it online!!! www.rockcandymagazine.com.au
with interactive contents
4 | April-May 2015
CONTENTS - ISSUE 15 – THE HOT ISSUE 2015 22
44
28
62
64
76
76
48 54
26
REGULARS 8. COMPETITIONS Win 24-packs of Matso’s beer varieties, and action television series Turn and Babylon both on DVD.
15. GALLERY The Art Gallery of WA showcases the works of Year 12 students, revealing a daring and darker side to our youth.
82. MINING YOUR OWN BUSINESS A new regular column that could help get your finances in order.
11. THE BITS UP THE FRONT Hotel theft is on the rise (yep, someone’s counting all them mini soaps going missin’). AFL kicks off, shining the light shone on punters. And a recent survey says Aussie women’s greatest fantasy subject is their yoga instructor.
THE HOT LIST 2015 22. IGGY AZALEA 24. PHOEBE TONKIN 26. LESS IS MORE 28. MARIANA KLAVENO 32. BAILEY CHASE 34. LEONARDO DICAPRIO + ZOOLANDER 2
12. HOMEGROWN TALENT Quick Q&As with local musos.
36. MARK RONSON 38. TOTAL GIOVANNI 40. DALI FAZON SPEAKERS + THE E-NJOINT 41. THE RETURN OF VINYL 42. FLYBALL GOV’NOR 43. DEAD LEGACY STREETWEAR 44. DIE ANTWOORD 46. PELÉ 48. VIN DIESEL 52. ASH WALSH 54. MITCHELL JOHNSON 56. JEFF LINDSAY 59. AN EIGHTIES REVIVAL 60. NENEH CHERRY
64. IVA DAVIES / ICEHOUSE 68. THE COURTYARD BY MARRIOTT, SEMINYAK 71. NOOSA INTERNATIONAL FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL 72. THE NEW ‘NIBBLIES’ FOOD TREND
FEATURES 74. LITTLE AUSSIE BATTLER Salmon fishing – no, not in Quebec – but off the WA coast… and it can be somewhat of a sport!
76. GAME PLAN Rock Candy treks to East Africa on a safari of regional Kenya and Tanzania… Sees stacks. Comes home feeling blessed.
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Competitions
Matso’s Broome Brewery is the only brewery located in the North West of WA, making it the most remote brewery in the country. Matso’s Brewery is also a fully operating restaurant, open for breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week and serving unique handcrafted products. These include their delicious Mango Beer, alcoholic Ginger Beer, as well as a Pearler’s Pale Ale, Smokey Bishop Dark Lager, Chilli Beer, new Session Ale 3.5% Pale Ale, and even Lychee Beer (yum!). The brand has rapidly expanded over the years to be sold across Australia in all major and independent bottle shops, and is also available on tap in select bars and restaurants.
WIN! ONE OF 4 X 4 X 6-PACKS OF MATSO'S ‘BROOME IN A BOX’
Courtesy of Matso’s, Rock Candy has 4 x 4 of their fab 6-packs – collectively known as ‘Broome In A Box’ – to give away. Each of the 6-packs include: 1 x New Session Ale 3.5%, 1 x Mango Beer, 1 x Ginger Beer, 1 x Pearler’s Pale Ale, 1 x Lychee Beer, and 1 x Smokey Bishop, adding up to 24 bottles per prize pack! To try winning one of 4 x 4 x 6-packs, you must tell us why beer is worth living for! Email your response with the Subject heading ‘Matsos’ to: competitions@candymedia.com.au by 5pm AWST, Friday 1st May. Please note, winners may need to collect their prize directly from Rock Candy’s offices in Cottesloe or from their nearest stockist of Matso’s products.
London’s police force – the oldest in the world – is in need of a public image revamp – and Chief Constable Richard Miller (James Nesbitt, The Hobbit) has found just the woman to do it! Introducing Liz Garvey (Brit Marling, Arbitrage) – an American visionary from the world of new media parachuted in to revolutionise the force’s PR department. In an age of rolling news, smart phones and an informationhungry public, Liz preaches transparency and honesty. But as an outbreak of violence erupts across London – and internal backbiting begins, led by overlooked colleague Finn – Liz’s vision for the future of the world’s oldest police service faces its greatest test… Fast-paced and razor-sharp, Babylon takes a wry look at the people and politics in the command rooms and on the frontlines of a modern police force, as it attempts to uphold the peace under constant scrutiny in one of the world’s busiest capital cities.
WIN! ONE OF 5 COPIES OF BRIT CRIME SERIES BABYLON ON DVD
In Turn , an action-packed, political, spy thriller based on Alexander Rose’s critically acclaimed novel Washington’s Spies, Abe (Jamie Bell, Billy Elliot) is a farmer who unites with a group of friends to become unlikely agents that help turn the tide in America’s fight for independence. Every daring act, every vicious betrayal and every fatal mistake resonates in the world around them and creates history. Abe’s personal fight for independence and the daring decisions he’s forced to make pulls him into the fight against his will and sets him on a treacherous journey. He changes from someone living in a world that controls him, to living in a world that he controls. Ultimately, this epic drama is about one man at war with himself, torn between his ideals and his desires.
WIN! ONE OF 5 COPIES OF ACTION THRILLER TURN ON DVD
‘Babylon’ is available on DVD and Digital May 27 through eOne Home Entertainment. Rock Candy has 5 copies of ‘Babylon’ on DVD to give away. To try winning one, simply email your name, address and the Subject heading ‘Babylon’ to competitions@candymedia.com. au by 5pm AWST, Friday 1st May. 8 | April-May 2015
‘Turn’ is available on DVD and Digital May 27 through eOne Home Entertainment. Rock Candy has 5 copies of ‘Turn’ on DVD to give away. To try winning one, simply email your name, address and the Subject heading ‘Turn’ to competitions@candymedia.com. au by 5pm AWST, Friday 1st May.
WEST LEEDERVILLE STUDIO 27b Northwood Street West Leederville, 6007 contact: Leigh Whitehead 0402 095 979
SCARBOROUGH BEACH STUDIO 10 Scarborough Beach Road Scarborough, 6019 contact: Tom Denton 0450 368 579
1/11 Townsend Street Malaga,6090 contact: Mel Martin 0423 562 377
MALAGA STUDIO
bits up the front The
‘REAL FOLK’ LEAD AFL’S KICK-OFF CAMPAIGN
A cast of genuine footy fans are the real stars of the Australian Football League’s latest advertising campaign. The new commercials, created by Cummins&Partners, are a celebration of the most important element of the game – the people. Says AFL General Manager, Dorothy Hisgrove, “The AFL has made important decisions this year, listening and acting on issues the fans care about, with the ads celebrating the fact that our game doesn’t exist without the passion and support of the fans.” Most of the ‘stars’ of the campaign were recruited through official club fan squads, including the four generations of Tigers fans, pictured. Michael Mastess
There was a time when sexual fantasies for women would hone in on authority figures such as doctors and policemen. Well, okay, the occasional fireman or postman was thrown in for good studly measure, so let’s just say uniforms were often involved. Nowadays, it seems ‘softer’ figures feature prominently in Aussie women’s fantasies. A recent survey by dating website Victoria Milan revealed most Australian women who cheated – or at least deigned to cheat – had regular fantasies about their yoga teacher, with 20% of votes going to He Who Is Darn Good At Downward Dog. The survey found colleagues at work – including superiors – came a close second with 18% voting these people as a turn-on, while neighbours came in third – dreamt about by 13% of randy Aussie females. Friends of partners and exes came fourth and fifth, respectively. Founder and CEO of Victoria Milan, Sigurd Vedal, said the results were fascinating but insisted it was “healthy and normal to explore these thoughts so long as we also consider the consequences if we decide to act on them”. In all, the survey found 85% of Australian women have “a fanciful imagination about sex”, with the bottom end of the top ten fantasies including affairs with a brother-in-law (7%), physiotherapist (6%), bartender (5% - very Aussie, that one) and doctor, the latter sitting humbly at number 10 (2% of votes). Victoria Milan is unabashedly one of the world's leading social networks for discrete extramarital relations, recently surpassing the 5-million member mark. Antonino Tati Note: Survey based on responses from 4,156 Australian females who used the Victoria Milan dating site. To view the site visit victoriamilan.com.
YOGA TEACHER NUMBER ONE ON AUSSIE WOMEN’S FANTASY LIST
There was a clever ad for a travel portal a few years back with a slogan that went along the line of “Book your next trip faster than it takes to steal the hotel mini soaps”. I thought it was funny because it highlighted something we all do but rarely admit to: steal trivial things from hotel rooms that would otherwise cost us next-to-nothing to buy anyway. Perhaps we see them as souvenirs of our stays in exotic places? Or, indeed, we just want to get our money’s worth, assuming we could nick enough toiletries to add up to the $200+ bill per night’s stay. Suffice to say, it is a fact that hotel theft is on the rise, with a recent study by European travel portal Travel24. com revealing some remarkable findings. Extrapolating on the survey results of 5.800 holiday makers, calculations have put the total damage from stolen hotel items throughout Europe at a minimum of approximately 37 million Euros! Of course not all of this figure reflects toiletries stolen, although a whopping 69% of persons admitting to stealing from hotels have taken such items. Stationery accounts for 34% of their contraband; towels 28%; shoes (including slippers) 16%; and mini bar accessories such as bottle openers and glassware a surprisingly lower 12%. Despite hotel patrons thinking they have every right to take home items like notepad covers and hotel decorations, these are not meant to be taken away, conversely provided as items “on loan” to the hotel guest during their stay. Ditto towels and bathrobes. Believe it or not, though, even televisions get nicked, with an estimated 46,000 TV sets said to get snuck out of hotel rooms every year. Interestingly, the survey reveals academics and high-school graduates are the biggest thieves, and that 4-star hotels are particularly affected, possibly having something to do with the fact that amenities found in 2- and 3-star hotels are fairly crap, and that rich folk don’t have much need for such incidentals. That said, I know a few affluent folk who admit they too are partial to a little hotel theft. After all, when an establishment like Hemingways in Nairobi presents its Damana neroli orange toiletries so impressively on its bathroom shelving, who wouldn’t want to call up room service to ask for more pretending they’ve “just run out”? AT
HOTEL ROOM THEFT ON THE RISE
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Homegrown Talent
Singer, guitarist
CHRIS ROWE
What’s on your playlist? Ásgeir and The Rolling Stones (after seeing them!). Jake Bugg has been good to listen to lately as well. How would you describe your personality? Mostly relaxed but I can get passionate when inspired. I also get passionately angry but I’m usually over it pretty quickly. How would you describe your fashion style? I dress nice for gigs and when I have to, but on any given day thongs, shorts and shirt are the go. If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing? Although I’m not a mechanic I would probably spend more time tinkering with cars or building websites… if I had to be creative.
Chris Rowe’s new self-titled EP is available through iTunes. Vocalist/growler, Statues
JAYME VAN KEULEN
What’s on your playlist? Every Time I Die, Touche Amore, Drake, City And Colour, RL Grime, Nails, MeWithoutYou, James Blake. How would you describe your personality? Introverted, introspective, honest, loyal. How would you describe your fashion style? Gentlemanly. Dapper? Ha ha! If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing? Being in, on or around the ocean.
Statues’ new album ‘Together We’re Alone’ is out through Highland / Firestarter available from JB Hi-Fi, 24 Hundred, Nerve Gas, and through iTunes. Singer-songwriter + multi-instrumentalist, Timothy Nelson & The Infidels What’s currently on your playlist? I’ve been streaming the new Spoon album and some Oasis. Oh, and Gen Y ‘fuck-the-world’ music. How would you describe the music you make? Poorly… I’m a musician. Could you sum up your personality in a sentence? Possibly, but I wouldn’t sentence anyone to sitting through that. And how would you describe your fashion style? Willetton-chic. If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing? Sitting in a pub answering Q&As, apparently. Can I finish my pint now?
TIMOTHY NELSON
Timothy Nelson & The Infidels’ new album ‘Terror Terror, Hide It Hide It’ is available through iTunes and direct from the band’s website tninfidels.com. 12 | April-May 2015
R E V E T S 3 R I X F C E O T H W N I T E M AY! O N O -Z D L M O L T O O A ERE! Z MAZDA W
IS H NEROO AN
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PRINDIVIL
PH: 9403 9777
wanneroomazda.com.au
WHITFOR
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GALLERY
Alice Fox / Perth College / Trevor 2014 / mixed media / 90.5 x 90 x 13 cm
FRESH PERSPECTIVES
An annual barometer of up-and-coming talent in the visual arts arena, Year 12 Perspectives - hosted by the Art Gallery of Western Australia – appears to grow bigger and bolder each year. This year, 65 students from across the state were selected by a judging panel comprising of AGWA curator Robert Cook, famed West Australian artist Teelah George, and Department of Education representative Kate Grayson. The works, which span a gamut of media – from painting, drawing and sculpture to photography, video and textiles – also vary immensely in theme, much of this being fairly, well, bleak. Says Director of AGWA, Stefano Carboni, “This year’s exhibition features a rich assortment of subjects that reflect the personal and socio-political concerns of the selected students. Portraits, the body and identity are always popular subjects, but also evident is a lively engagement with issues such as the environment, nature, animal welfare and urban life.” Enjoy but a fragment of those awe-inspiring themes in this here gallery. Antonino Tati ‘Year 12 Perspectives’ is on at the Art Gallery of Western Australia until June 1. Entry is free.
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GALLERY
Jan de Waal Hale School An ill-conceived rite of passage 2014 oil on masonite two parts: 91.5 x 122 cm; 91.5 x 95 cm
Liam Strickland Hale School Portrait of the Artist as a Year 12 2014 oil and acrylic on canvas 153 x 121.5 cm
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GALLERY
Dana Bastholm John Septimus Roe Trophy room (vanitas) 2014 oil on canvas 76 x 61 cm
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GALLERY Tiani Abbott Prendiville Catholic College Eaten away 2014 ceramic with glaze six parts: one at 60 x 30 x 30 cm (mounted); five at 47 x 45 x 10 cm (unmounted)
Joshua Nairn Perth Modern School Man eater 2014 acrylic and gouache on canvas 45.5 x 61 cm
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MUSIC
HOT RAPPER CAUSING A RIGHT FUSS
T
here was bound to be trouble from the get-go with her name alone. Did she call herself that purely for the rock-cred associations? Could Iggy Pop sue the little brat for pilfering his “may as well have been patented” first name? Would David Bowie note the clever planting of the letter ‘Z’ in the surname, just to make things even more subliminally iconic? And just how much shit would hit the fan once 22 | April-May 2015
rapper Azealia Banks discovered her rival’s moniker cropping up in Google whenever her own name was keyed in too quickly? What’s in a name, huh? A hell of a lot when that name is Iggy Azalea. The 24-year-old Australian rapper left her roots in humble Mullumbimby, New South Wales, wide-eyed and bushy-tailed, calling Miami, USA her new home by the time she was 16. Moving from state to state – that is from Florida to Texas to Georgia and eventually settling in California – Iggy first pricked
the ears up of music industry execs when her clip for a song called Pu$$y went viral on YouTube. In September 2011, she released a debut mixtape of sorts called Ignorant Art and subsequently got signed to rapper T.I.’s label, Grand Hustle. By then, Iggy, who’d actually changed her name from Amethyst Amelia Kelly (and you thought it couldn’t get kookier!) was also signed to Wilhelmina Models and being bandied about as “the new face of Levi’s”. Between hectic fashion schedules and
MUSIC
FACTOID! For her stage moniker, Iggy Azalea combined her dog’s name and the street she grew up in. Her mother still lives in their Azalea Street home!
record company conf licts, there was a rush-release of her debut album The New Classic mid-last year. And the execs at Virgin and Def Jam Recordings have had no reason to look back. So ardent was Azalea’s attack on the American charts at the tail-end of 2014, she ended up with not one, but two nominations, at this year’s Grammys. The first was for her song Fancy, which featured fledgling rap star Charli XCX on vocals, the second for Problem, in which she duetted with another new big deal, Ariana Grande. Because of their shared Gen Y experiences, Iggy and her cohorts have often found
themselves caught in the crossfires of internet bitching. The latest escapades include Iggy fighting with black rapper Azealia Banks – the latter insisting that the former has no place in the ranks of rap royalty. Then there's the goss about Iggy's affairs with L.A. Laker Nick Young, and the fuss that ensued upon circulation of a clip for her song D.R.U.G.S in which no-one has any idea what she’s rattling on about (seemingly, she’s on some laced shit herself). Then there were those incessant Twitter rants – ironically concluding with the remark that “the internet is the ugliest reflection of mankind there is”. Upon dishing out that last line, the rapper swiftly handed her social media accounts over to her management because the negativity of online sparring
was said to be making her someone she didn’t wish to be. In one of her last tweets she said, “I feel the hatred and pettiness online at all times is making me an angry person and I cannot be that. My management will tweet/run my accounts from today onwards with updates etcetera, unless any message is signed – IA.” It’s probably best she saves her sharp lyrics for the songs, anyway. ▪ Antonino Tati Iggy Azalea’s debut album ‘The New Classic’ is out through Virgin EMI / Def Jam Recordings.
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FILM / TELEVISION
HOT NEXT BIG THING IN HOLLYWOOD Y
ou’d assume her mother was a massive fan of classic English literature to have named her daughter Phoebe Jane Elizabeth Tonkin, but the girl from suburban Sydney boasts an acting CV that steers clear of stuffy period dramas and sticks to Fantastical OTT Dramatics. So far known for her roles as a free-spirited witch in The Secret Circle, a werewolf protagonist in The Vampire Diaries and its spin-off series The Originals, and a no-hope camper in Tomorrow, When The War Began, Tonkin is peppering her resume with a motley crew of characters in preparation for her major assault on Hollywood. Indeed, fantasy filmmakers would be crazy not to notice her cunning turns in a couple of the aforementioned series at least. That’s not to say she couldn’t play the classical part if the offer came up. When Phoebe was four, she attended dance courses in classical ballet, and at 12 she began courses at the Australian Theatre for Young People - housed in Sydney’s rustic Wharf Theatre. We’ll try to forget her representation of a mermaid in the rather shallow H20: Just Add Water (which followed the lives of three teenage girls who turn into mermaids – enough said), only to add that when we saw this girl go through certain growing pains in Packed To The Rafters and Home And Away, we just knew she’d be destined for big things on the world stage. See for yourself when Phoebe appears in three key titles this year: The Ever After in which she trudges through more rites of passage opposite Rosario Dawson; a new-school influence in Stalker alongside über-cool Mariana Klaveno; and a rebellious rich kid whose school is taken over by criminals in Take Down. It looks like those Jane Austin fantasies might be a while away yet, Mum. ▪ Antonino Tati
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FILM / TELEVISION
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FASHION
Y
HOT LESS IS MORE es, we’re fully aware Summer is officially over, but to the good folk of Western Australia there are still several hot days ahead – right through to the end of April, in fact, with meteorologists claiming it will be our warmest Autumn yet. And what better way to make the most of those last rays of sunshine than to don less and less fabric? Hitting the beach or the local pools is a favourite past-time of many an Aussie, so keeping our bods in taut shape is imperative. With clubwear and casualwear getting skimpier and more revealing than ever, it appears only natural that swimwear would do the same, even if it’s already the item that exposes us the most in the public arena. Showing more skin has been a significant trend spanning generations – albeit one that pushes on and then pulls back like pro/anti-feminist tug-o-war. It kicked off in the ’60s when mini-skirts rose to thigh-length, got fiery in the ’70s when feminists burned their bras, followed by a more concealing approach in the better part of the Photography fifismodelacademy.com.au Models Kira Shontae Alice Niculescu & Mile Furey Swimwear Kerrilee Swimwear
’80s (complete with shoulder pads), and a contrived-tolook-natural-ripped-post-punk look of the naughty ’90s. Lest we forget, though, balancing the aesthetics of that last decade were Pamela Anderson and her juggernauts bouncing as she jogged in slow-mo along the beach in reruns of Baywatch. Nowadays, bikinis are becoming smaller and new designs barely seem to cover the essential bits. There are strapless two-pieces, slimmer side panels to reveal ‘side-boob’, even bottom halves that purposely perpetrate camel-toe (horror of horrors!). The likes of Miley Cyrus, Paris Hilton, Vanessa Hudgens, Rihanna and Katie Holmes have no trouble in keeping their bikini on while still showing so much more than before. Call it part and parcel of The New Trash Culture, you all know it’s sexy but. ▪ Andrea Manno
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FASHION
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TELEVISION
YOU’D RECOGNISE MARIANA KLAVENO FROM HER ROLE AS BILL COMPTON’S MAKER IN 'TRUE BLOOD'. AFTER PLAYING A SERIES OF DOMINATING (AND, YES, RATHER CRUEL) CHARACTERS, THE ACTRESS TELLS ROCK CANDY HOW PLAYING A GOOD GAL SUDDENLY FEELS REAL NICE… Interview by Andrea Manno - Photography by Udo Spreitzenbarth
HOT TWISTED VILLAIN TURNED COOL-HEADED BABE
B
orn October 25, 35-year-old actress Mariana Klaveno is typical Scorpio. Well, perhaps not always in real life but definitely regularly on-screen where a lot of her characters possess a sharp wit and a vengeance that stings like poison. To begin with there’s her incorrigible vampire, Lorena Ball – she who turned True Blood ’s leading man Bill Compton into a bloodsucker for life. While it was a delight to play a dominatrix vampire of sorts, Marina says this particular character also had a painfully raw side that not many people got to realise. “I just thought that she was so broken,” says the actress, “so beautifully tragic and broken because she loved this man who would never love her back. It drew her mad, but I think she was probably mad before that.” A scene within the episode It Hurts Me Too in Season Three of True Blood earned Klaveno and her co-star Stephen Moyer a ‘Holy Shit – Scene of the Year’ nod at the Spike Scream Awards. In it, Lorena and Bill engage in rough sex during which the latter twists the former’s head around a full 360 degrees. “Ah yes, that infamous scene!” recalls Marina, perhaps not-so-fondly. “That was horrifying for different reasons. First of all, it was a loooong day – I think we shot for eight hours, just doing that portion – and secondly, it was tough acting. I had to throw myself on the bed and act like I was having sex, and then act like my throat was being squeezed, and then like my head was twisting around –all without Stephen because they needed space for the CGI...” Still, it’s all in a day’s work for the actress,
who will star next in the CBS crime series Stalker as well-heeled detective Janice Lawrence. Here, Marina chats with Rock Candy about playing psychotic personalities, finally getting to wear the ‘good gal’ badge, and why some hard-core critics should just get a grip. Before playing one of the good guys in Stalker, you played a host of dominating, if not psychotic, personalities. How did those roles initially make you feel? I try not to look into it too psychologically; like, what does it say about me that I tend to be drawn to these dark, devious characters? I think it’s just that I have a lot of fun with them, and I’m not like that at all in my own life so it’s fun to dive in and play a shadow self, for lack of a better term. I love playing deceptive characters; I just think there’s so much fun when you’re playing characters that can’t easily be summed up. Was it a thrill to play the dominatrix vampire, Lorena Ball, in True Blood? Dominatrix? [Laughs] I’ve never really thought of it that way. She never had a whip! I just always thought that when you play a character, you see them differently than everyone else does and I just had such a soft spot for Lorena that no one else did. Her human life must have been so painful for the way she went on to interact with the world as a vampire. I loved [working on] True Blood; it was such a gift for an actor to be able to play such a stylised, broad character and to work with those actors and to appear on HBO. Lorena was a dream role, really. Was the head-spinning-360-degrees scene a difficult one to nail?
Yes! We worked so long on it because they weren’t sure which way of shooting would work best, or whether it was going to be CGI, or a puppet. It was one of the hardest days I’ve had as an actor, actually. They did a life-cast of me and had to be put in this weird special effects cement stuff. Still, the puppet looked exactly like me! I mean, they painted it and she was identical. Then there was all the acting and flailing about without Stephen because they needed him to be gone in case they needed [to incorporate] CGI. I don’t really understand all the technical aspects of it, but man, if you don’t feel like an idiot doing a sex scene by yourself in a room full of people! I tell ya, it’s humbling… Do you think playing characters with raging tendencies has provided a legitimate outlet for attributes that you wouldn’t usually express as a person in real life? Absolutely! It’s a healthy expression of whatever emotions – whether they be rage or anger or any kind of ugliness – from the normal actions of a living person in this world. I think, as actors, that’s kind of what we do. We work out the demonic side of things in this world. I don’t mean demons in the literal sense, but in that emotional sense. For me, it’s therapeutic and fun and also healthy to let it manifest in my work and my art as opposed to letting those things creep into my own life. Is the role of a detective in new series Stalker a refreshing one for you? Definitely. It’s nice to finally be playing the good guy! I like changing it up. I never want to feel like I’m stuck in one sort of character
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TELEVISION
“I try not to look too much into it psychologically; like what does it say about me that I tend to be drawn to these dark, devious characters?”
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TELEVISION so I’m really enjoying playing a different, confident character. And she has, you know, real confidence; not fake. Peri on Devious Maids was full of herself but it wasn’t true confidence. Janice on Stalker is kind of the coolest girl I know, so much cooler than I am in real life. And it’s really fun and liberating to play someone like that, who knows who she is, knows what she wants, and is unapologetic about that. She’s good at what she does: straightforward and brazen. It’s a very different side of me that hopefully people get to see. And there’s humour. It’s such a big part of my own life, but I haven’t gotten to play a really funny character. There’s been some flashes here and there with some of my characters, but Janice gets to be the real comic release on the show and that’s been a blast for me. Critic Maureen Ryan of the Huffington Post described the show as “exploitative, misogynist trash”. How do you react to that comment? With all due respect to the Huffington Post – which I enjoy [reading] every day – I feel if you’re going to make an accusation about a show being exploitative and violent… well, you could say that about every primetime drama on television. You know, if it’s an argument about too much violence on TV, then that’s different, but to specifically pick out this show to be the whipping boy for that? It did seem over-the-top so far as a review of the show as a whole goes. If the people who just watched the pilot were to keep watching the show, I don’t think they would feel the same way. I mean, it’s not that violent, actually. It’s scary, and there are elements of violence – because it’s a crime show, a ten o’clock show, and meant to entertain that way – but we certainly don’t strive to be gratuitous or over-the-top with the violence. At the end of the day, it’s not going to be a show for everyone. No show is. What about the misogynist part of that critique? I think we actually inform audiences about how to prevent this and what not to do. The show actually presents really strong female characters that are kicking ass so it’s hard to hear that we supposedly hate women and that it’s misogynistic. To start with, the lead character is a woman and she’s damn good at what she does. I feel we’re breaking a lot of stereotypes, delivering roles that a lot of female cops on TV don’t always get to be. They sometimes slide into the stereotype of ‘tough chic’. But Kevin [Williamson, the show’s executive producer] has written the women in this show to be formidable and intelligent and good at what they do, remembering that we’re still women and we still like to get to dress up and act and sound like women. There’s some comments on your Facebook page from fans hoping to see you and co-character Jack [Dylan McDermott] get together. Would you like their relationship to head further in that direction? Well, that’s up to the writers. As for now, Jack and Janice are kind of enjoying this interesting flirtation but they’re just good friends [albeit, friends with benefits – Ed]. I was afraid that when the sex scene happened, the aftermath would be that Janice would have a huge crush on him, and that she would be desperate for him and that he would have to push her away. But that’s not what happened at all and I was so excited about that. In reality, Janice was like, “Why are you being weird man? There’s nothing to be weird about”. And then the more she looked at him she realised, “Woah, you’re really messed up; so let’s just be friends”. ▪ ‘Stalker’ airs soon on Channel Ten.
30 | April-May 2015
TELEVISION
“It’s pretty ironic for a kid who used to get into a lot of trouble to play a law enforcement officer but, you know, it eventually makes sense.”
32 | April-May 2015
TELEVISION
HOT GOOD COP, BAD COP Words by Andrea Manno - Photography by Ben Cope
He’s the cool, sickeningly handsome, boy-next-door type that female TV viewers would love to take home to meet the folks… Except that he has a wife, Amy, and a pooch called Blue in the mix. Hollywood actor Bailey Chase tells Rock Candy how being a bad boy led to " forced discipline and study" that brought him to where he is today.
F
orty-three-year-old actor, Bailey Chase, who looks like he's stuck in his 30s, began his career as a vampire hunter on Buffy The Vampire Slayer which he describes as “the job that kept me in the game”. The beginning of “the game” saw Chase leaving Hollywood for London to enrol in some old-school acting training. Of course this meant studying lots of Shakespeare with one of the first productions he appeared in being The Comedy Of Errors. Says a fairly active Chase, “My background was more in sports than theatre; I played a lot of football in college. There’s just something about being in front of a live audience; whether it’s a hundred people in a theatre or a hundred thousand people in a football stadium – there’s something electric about it.” Moving on to his current role in the US TV series Longmire, as Deputy Sheriff Branch Connally, a man with passion and political aspirations, Chase reveals his previously clean-cut character is taking a different road in the series’ third season. “Everything changes for Branch, not just his lifestyle, but his appearance and his mind.” When asked to explain, Chase goes into rather fine detail: “This white warrior steals my small counting coup…” Please explain. “It was a real thing the Native Americans did, like when the settlers arrived and they were at war. They would go into their camps and basically play mind tricks and do this thing called ‘counting coup’. So this white warrior has done this to me in modern-day Wyoming. He shoots me and steals my soul and it’s very similar to having a post-traumatic stress disorder, so you’ll see this interesting downward spiral with Branch next season.”
Based on the novel series, The Walt Longmire Mysteries by Craig Johnson, the show’s lead character, Sheriff Walt Longmire, who is played by Australian actor Robert Taylor ( Home & Away, The Matrix) has an aversion to technology and likes to solve cases the old way – ‘by the book’, if you will. Armed with continual tensions between Branch and Walt, fuelled by Branch’s liaisons with Walt’s daughter, Cady (played by Cassidy Freeman of Smallville fame), Bailey admits that playing a cop is paradoxical given his own past. A bad boy on the wrong side of the law in his teens, he says: “It’s pretty ironic for a kid who used to get into a lot of trouble to play a law enforcement officer but, you know, it eventually makes sense. “As far as TV goes, there’s a lot of cops out there, and doctors, and lawyers. I’ve played a few bad guys before, but the cool thing about playing one of the law enforcement guys is that I get to run round and chase the bad guys now. Oh, and I’m not just in a hospital or a courtroom.” With a chuckle, Bailey adds “we can get out there and flex our muscles for a bit; be real men.” So we’ve gotta ask, what trouble did Bailey get up to as a kid? “I fought a lot. I don’t know why, but yeah, I had problems with authority. I got shipped off to a boarding school to learn a little discipline. Mom was like, ‘You’re outta here!’ and, yep, I went to jail a few times. Nothing too serious but it did happen at a really early age; 14, 15 years old. So I got the boot from home.” Later, having earned a Bachelor Degree in Psychology from university in North Carolina, where he studied on a football scholarship, Bailey admits “it was a real wake-up call for me”.
“When I went to high school, I was much stronger, mentally and academically. I kinda got my shit together at an early age… It wouldn’t have happened without sports, and it was all thanks to a scholarship at this fancy private school.” Asked if he feels the degree in psychology has helped in identifying with and portraying characters for television and film work, Bailey says “absolutely”. “I always loved people-watching, even before I was an actor, and I was fascinated to learn more about what makes people tick and why people are the way they are. I approach my acting in the same way. As soon as I get a role or if I’m reading for something, I immediately try to get into that character’s head and, particularly for a bad guy, I justify their opinions or actions and try to understand what would make them be that way… Not just make judgments on their character but get into their mindset.” Although an online review of Longmire by some dude named Phil Dyess-Nugent said the show’s second season “lost some of its element of surprise” Bailey insists that the show has “progressively moved more and more away from the procedural aspects and become better serialised. The majority of season three is like that, and you really need to watch every episode in order to understand and appreciate what’s happening with all the characters. I think the show is a lot more dynamic this season, and much more rewarding for the audience who have been there since season one.” Having snuck in a few episodes ourselves, we can’t help but agree. ▪ Bailey Chase appears in ‘Longmire’ on Gem and this year also appears in ‘Chicago P.D.’ on Foxtel. His forthcoming movies include ‘Tao Of Surfing’, ‘Sex, Death And Bowling’ and ‘No Beast So Fierce’.
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FILM
HOT MULTIPLE PERSONALITY IN ORDER
The sign of a good actor is that they can play a variety of roles. Far from being typecast, the likes of Meryl Streep, Daniel Day Lewis, and even Bradley Cooper of late, prove they’re brilliant at their craft whenever they deliver a role not tackled previously, and as far from their real-life selves as can be. For an actor to play a character with multiple personality, then, well – that’s a dream job. And it’s a job Leonardo DiCaprio recently landed. The Oscar-nominated actor will star as Billy Milligan in the forthcoming feature The Crowded Room, a biopic about a guy with 24 (count 'em!) different personalities – and the first person to successfully use multiple personality disorder as a defence in court. In the 1970s, Milligan pleaded not guilty to several accounts of rape and robbery by reason of insanity and was subsequently laid free of said charges. A best-selling book about his life was published in 1981, and it is this version of events the film is mostly based on. Already critics are saying 2015 could be the year DiCaprio who has also landed the lead role in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s The Revenant - will walk away with an Oscar. ▪ Antonino Tati ‘The Crowded Room’ will be in cinemas by year’s end.
HOT AND REALLY, REALLY RIDICULOUSLY GOOD-LOOKING SEQUEL Yep, you assumed right. The 'Blue Steel' is back. Supermodels and diehard fashion bros Derek Zoolander and Hansel McDonald made a special appearance at the Valentino show in Paris last month to confirm that – yes – the pending release of Zoolander 2 is indeed a reality. The actors/slash/models walked their separate ways down the runway, strutting like there’s no tomorrow, giving duckface better than Victoria Beckham and Kim Kardashian on speed, and so full of their own fabulous selves, we’re surprised they didn’t stop to take selfies (oh, that’s right, Derek did). In the sequel, which co-stars Will Ferrell and Penélope Cruz, our headlining models have to contend with an opposing company who is attempting to take them out of the fashion business. Promoting the film way ahead of schedule, the boys even managed to rub shoulders with Vogue editor Anna Wintour. And that, in our books, is a really, really ridiculously goodlooking thing to do. ▪ AT ‘Zoolander 2’ is scheduled for release February 12, 2016.
34 | April-May 2015
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MUSIC
M
HOT ALL-ROUND MUSICAL GENIUS ark Ronson is one major go-to producer. Since hitting the music scene he has delivered three solo LPs, created soundtracks for ad campaigns (including one for Tooheys beer), recorded a theme for the London Olympic Games, and has worked with practically every other artist in the top 40. Check the tracklisting of his LPs and half the songs will have the ubiquitous ‘featuring’ beside their titles. Antonino Tati chats with Ronson about working with music veterans such as Amy Winehouse while having a knack for spotting new talent, recording in the studio versus playing live, and lending his production skills to the ad world. Does it matter where you are when you’re producing records and soundtracks? Usually I like to be in my studio in New York; it’s quite comfortable there. Since having had huge success with Amy Winehouse’s album all those years ago, has there been pressure to live up to that LP? That record seemed to capture a moment really well. With Amy, we really had a bond over music so we just said, ‘Let’s make it sound like stuff that we like’... But all I can keep on doing is make music that I like, and hopefully someone else will share the same opinion. You have a knack of picking up and exposing hot new talent and marrying this with quality veteran ar tists on your albums... Maybe I just have a certain taste, or maybe that’s a terrible insult; that my taste is so regular, so the common denominator; that I like the same things that other people like… Oh well, on one of my previous albums [Record Collection] it was really important not to go with the people banging down my door, like Robbie Williams and Amy Winehouse, when she was with us. Instead I opened the door for the next round of artists. I really enjoy working with young talent. There’s just an excitement and energy that comes with recording when someone is doing it for the first time. But you did worked with Duran Duran on their last album... I did. And I think it sounded like Duran Duran in a very good way. It’s not like we were rehashing anything. I love Duran Duran… Do you meet these musicians at parties and liaise with them directly, or is it all done of f icially through record companies? It’s never really about the record companies; it’s always through a friend. Lily [Allen], for example, I met one night when I was DJ’ing at a hip-hop club in London and she was there at the end of the night and we just started talking. Amy, we met through a friend of a friend way back when. Do you think that’s what keeps the music sounding so organic on your records? That casual attachment to other artists? I’m not sure if it contributes directly but it is all part and parcel in a way. The same way I meet people organically, we also play organically live. Everybody I work with enjoys music naturally and loves making music for music’s sake. When I think about people who’ve been hooked up through record companies, they’re usually young pop stars who come into the studio and [the situation] is just blank. I’m not good at that; I don’t work well in that environment and that’s not how I like to create. The people I have worked with from their early days - like Daniel Merriweather or Amy Winehouse they had a really strong vision of their own when they wrote, so all I had to do was be a great producer. Santigold was another artist you’ve worked with sans major record company interruption. True. I met Santi before she blew up big. I used to drop my dogs off at her apartment in Brooklyn on the way to the airport and she’d walk my dogs for a week. What you just said actually sounds like a snippet from a Santigold record. So that is you having a conversation with her on the Diplo remix album? Yep. John Taylor from Duran Duran actually asked ‘Are you offended?’ and I was like, ‘That’s my voice, moron’. I find it quite ironic that John Taylor doesn’t drink anymore, yet the pair of you were pushing a beer campaign with a Tooheys ad you created some time ago. Basically the contact was to create a band and take them to New York and write. So one day I recorded with John, one day it was Santi and so on, and the best song – the one that we thought was the most appropriate and most awesome and exciting – was the one with John in it. He really loved it, he contributed the change and the bassline and three days later we recorded it. The song also featured Sean Lennon. Who on earth was footing the bill there? Tooheys, I think. But really everyone was doing it for the love of beer. Except for John, perhaps. Do you find a common link to the artists you work with, or is it the diversity that makes an interesting project, be it an album or an ad soundtrack? I think it’s the diversity. The thing I love most about treating first recordings as demos with artists is that you get the most out of each session. When you’re touring, are you twiddling knobs on electronic gadgets or playing real instruments onstage? The guitar is pretty much the only thing I would stand on stage and play in public. ▪ Mark Ronson’s new album ‘Up town Special’ is out now through Columbia Records / Sony Music.
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MUSIC
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MUSIC
HOT NEW PSYCHEDELIC TRIPPERS T
otal Giovanni is a name that should be melting on your tongue. The quintet going by this odd moniker is Melbourne-based, so their location might give you a hint at the multicultural aesthetic of the band. But don’t go expecting tarantellas and Zorba dances from these guys; rather Total Giovanni concoct the coolest blend of electronica and chill, with just enough psychedelia for the listener to escape from everyday mundanity. Behind the tunes are Vincent D (a.k.a. Frankie Topaz), Spike Punch, Shattered Guru (a.k.a. Il Jingle Bello), Shidi Amin (a.k.a. Credenza Ford) and Cavallo Nero. Yes, it will take some time to get used to all those names, so Total Giovanni will have to do for now. The boys’ latest single Can’t Control My Love is a perfect example of their typical music delivery, which, like their first single Human Animal ought to melt the hearts and minds critics and punters alike. At first the lyrics appear deep-and-meaningful – possibly even daring to drudge into adult contemporary radio territory – but then suddently there’s a line or just one word that makes you realise tongues are firmly planted in cheek here. The video for Can’t Control My Love opens with an old analogue television set being smashed, then erupts into a scene of kids fighting, following on with their insistent teen antics. Suddenly, one of the teens breaks out into a kooky dance move that captivates his peers. A simple scene that seems to want to say, music can conquer war. Says the video’s director, Sherwin Akbarzadeh, “The first thing that attracted me to the concept was how an oppressive social environment like a destructive pack of teenage boys would feel up against a joyous anthem like Can’t Control My Love.” In its own way, then, the single stands as an anti-bullying anthem. Total Giovanni are set to play a host of gigs across the country. Check them out online, and hit them up on their Facebook page for info of where they’re at near you. Then head on down and enjoy their trippy tunes. ▪ Andrea Manno Total Giovanni’s new single ‘Paradise’ is available on iTunes through Remote Control.
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TECHNOLOGY
HOT WIRED FOR SOUND A Dali Fazon F5 Anniversary Editions, RRP $9,995 per pair, available through Dali Distribution. Visit dali.com.au or telephone (02) 9561 0799.
rt and music collide beautifully with the creation of these awesome speakers by Dali Fazon. These f loor-standing beauties boast unique airbrushed designs, each created by hand by leading tattoo artists House of Ink in Denmark. Available in Australia are 'Lion', 'Gorilla' and 'Tattoo Pin-Up Girl' designs, each one handpainted on top of the speakers’ original black, red or white lacquer. Forgetting how fabulous these speakers look just for a moment, they also deliver high quality audio. In fact, Fazons are famous for sounding immensely musical, full-bodied and fluid. Not your average speakers, to say the least. ▪ Lisa Andrews
HOT LEGAL HIGH I t was bound to hit eventually. Dutch company E-njoint recently unveiled a new vaping product akin to e-cigarettes, but with the full flavour and smell of genuine cannabis. Dubbed the E-njoint, the marijuana-flavoured stick is 100 percent legal and provides a mild high to smokers who aren’t otherwise allowed to enjoy cannabis where they live. When the world’s first electronic joint was launched in 2014, it contained only natural fruit flavours, but over the past 12 months the company has been developing a unique, authentic “cannabis experience” in secret, working with leading research labs in Europe and the United States. Through its research, the company learned that the organic compounds that give cannabis its aroma and flavour – known as terpenes – also help augment the different highs associated with various strains of cannabis. With this recently launched new formulation it expects to cause “a small revolution in the smoking scene, and ought to wake up puritan governments and authorities”, according to a recent press release. Because the E-njoint contains no THC, CBD, nicotine, tar or toxins, it’s completely legal and – best of all – safe. Say ‘hi’ to a new kind of high. ▪ Antonino Tati The E-njoint is available in various guises including ‘Sensual’, ‘Relief’, ‘Focus’, ‘Drowsy’, ‘Daydream’ and ‘Canna-Booster’. For orders visit e-njoint.com.
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MUSIC
HOT OL’ WAX & COOL SOUNDTRACKS H
ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS & SCORES PRESSED TO VINYL ▸ ▸ ▸ ▸ ▸ ▸ ▸ ▸ ▸ ▸ ▸ ▸ ▸ ▸ ▸ ▸ ▸ ▸ ▸ ▸ ▸ ▸ ▸ Animal House Beetlejuice Boogie Nights Car Wash Clueless Do The Right Thing E.T. Friday Night Lights Good Will Hunting Jaws Juice Little Shop Of Horrors O Brother, Where Art Thou? Pulp Fiction Rocky Romeo + Juliet School Daze Silence Of The Lambs The Godfather The Mack Trouble Man Willie Dynamite
ide your iPod in the bottom drawer this season. It seems vinyl is the genuine medium to enjoy music on, judging by the avalanche of albums being released on good old-fashioned LP format. In April, Cold Chisel unleash a limited edition vinyl box set including all of their studio albums along with rarities and never-before-released material. The special collection includes all seven of Cold Chisel’s legendary studio albums, two of which (The Last Wave Of Summer and No Plans) have not been released on vinyl previously. More good news for old-school audiophiles is Universal Music’s announcement that it will release 26 popular film soundtracks direct to vinyl for the very first time. There are soundtracks packed with readymade hits (egs: Boogie Nights, Clueless, Pulp Fiction) and those of the more serious ‘scored-original-style-for-the-movie-itself style (E.T., Jaws, Silence Of The Lambs). If you haven’t got a turntable already, there are stacks to choose from, ranging from $50 models available in stores like Big W, to your top-of-the-range Stantons and Technics, available from professional audio outlets. ▪ Antonino Tati
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MUSIC
HOT ’ELLO ’ELLO, WHAT DO WE ’AVE ’ERE THEN? R ecently, Rock Candy’s intrepid music review team (well, our art director-come-photographer, Babs, and yours truly) ventured into a quaint little joint called Jimmy’s Den – possibly the most tasteful venue in all of James Street, Northbridge (the rest being comparatively atrocious). The theme on this particular evening was ‘The Heartbreak Ball’ and performing live were four ultra-cool acts including one very awesome foursome going by the kooky moniker of Flyball Gov’nor. Within minutes – nay, seconds – we were hooked. Flyball possess a kind of fabulousness that might best be described as ‘Shirley Bassey crashing a B-52s party, soon cornered by Beth Ditto and Karen O to be told how to really belt out a tune ’. Singer Melanie Anastas has heard at least one-quarter of that metaphor before. “The best punter-quipped description was ‘B-52s on mescaline’,” tells Melanie, pictured second from the left. “We don't have rules about which genres we use – our writing approach has been different for every number. We just like to get out of [each song’s] way and let it be what it needs to be. So it ends up like a fruity cocktail.” That ‘cocktail’ is shaken up on occasion, with musical ingredients as diverse as ska, ’60 surf pop, jazz, and psychedelic rock - the latter with particular thanks to one stunning drummer in Jayga McMullen – who might easily give up her night job to become a model by day. Of course, all four members of Flyball Gov’nor do have real jobs throughout the week, but it is the regular weekend gigs that keep the momentum and that joie de vive alive and well.
When asked if she could see herself doing something else outside of music, says Melanie, “I’d have to be making things, so I’d probably be making videos or delivering written word stuff. I'd go postal without a creative outlet or two! “The best thing about making music though,” she says on more serious reflection, “is that you get to do it with amazing people, and for the sheer joy of it. In saying that, nothing could replace music for me, really.” Good. Because we want more of that good miscellanous musical stuff. ▪ Antonino Tati Fly-ball Gov’nor have a four-track EP out soon. They play The Great Steampunk Wartime Gala at the Astor Lounge on April 25; the Astor Lounge again on May 1; The Civic Hotel on May 16; and Wayday: Free The Funk at Velvet Lounge on May 31. For updates visit flyballgovnor.com.
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FASHION
HOT TEES F ashion in this day and age is definitely more eclectic than ever and, within an increasingly global network, labels are crossing borders as quickly as they traverse styles. Darkwood Apparel is the latest agent bringing global fashion to Australian shores, delivering its priority label Dead Legacy direct from the UK. With their new distribution business, Andy Keogh, of Perth Glory fame, and his wife Natalie, are set to promote the label via a virile social media campaign, seeing the Dead Legacy name saturate Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest – any platform that’ll lead to peak interest. They’ve certainly scored ours already. The tees are classic in style, simple in slogan, and easy on the eye in design. That their models and muses are pretty spunky, helps, too. Stocked in over 250 stores worldwide and sported by celebrities as diverse as veteran boxer Mike Tyson and One Direction’s style-conscious Zayn Malik, you’re bound to be hearing more about this dead-set hip label. Just remember where you read about them first. ▪ Andrea Manno
Dead Legacy tees retail at $54.99, available in various outlets or to purchase direct from deadlegacy.com. Rock Candy has a variety of Dead Legacy tees to give away. To try winning one simply send your name, address and t-shirt size to competitions@ candymedia.com.au by 5pm, Friday 1st May. Sizes range from Small to X-Large and fit true to size. Please note we will get selected sizes of tees out to each winner, although the style will be a random selection. Suffice to say, it’s sure to be hot! www.rockcandymagazine.com.au | 43
MUSIC
T
HOT F%*&ED UP $OUTH AFRICAN EXPORT heir name is Afrikaans for ‘The Answer’. No-one’s quite sure what the question is, though if it were “What is the most twisted export to come from South Africa?” the answer would definitely be Die Antwoord. Pronounced ‘dee-ant-voord’ (as you would in a Dutch-comeSouth-African accent) this trio of troublemakers, fronted by the irrepressible Yolandi Visser (pictured, her name often stylised as Vi$$er) and her mad lover, Ninja, have enjoyed huge success in their homeland since 2008. It’s only recently that they’ve landed the attention of rap'n'rave music fans abroad, mainly a cult following in the US that includes Marilyn Manson, Cara Delevingne, Dita von Teese and Jack Black – fabulous somebodies who each feature in the clip for Die Antwoord’s recent single Ugly Boy. The song itself incorporates a lengthy sample of Aphex Twin’s incessant Ageispolis, while the ugly boy in question is said to be a Cape Town gangster who Yolandi started seeing after she split (temporarily) from Ninja (NB: they’re now back together). Says Ninja about the song in the sleeve notes of the band’s new album Donker Mag (misspelt word for misspelt word): “Dis song was a bit of a mindfuck 2 make… me and Y had been broken up 4 a while… but dis was da 1st time dat Y got in2 a kinda serios relationship wif sum1else, who happnd 2 be an activ gangster from da cape flats… who runs wif a gang called da Ugly Americans… or da Ugly Boys.” If you’ve not seen the clip already, you’ve got to Google it. Peppered with bloody punch-ups, kids with broken teeth, naff gold lamé suits and a black-face actor wearing a tee emblazoned with ‘My name is God’, insane is not the word. Always ones to make an impression on celluloid, both Ninja and Yolandi currently star in the sci-fi movie Chappie from director Neill Blomkamp who brought us such fucked-up epics as District 9 and Elysium. Chappie is set in the near future, where crime is patrolled by an oppressive, mechanised police force. The weary civilians, however, are fighting back, and who better to lead the revolution than the likes of Ninja and Yolandi! Die Antwoord are well aware some critics will consider their creative output a joke or a hoax. But when asked if he was playing ‘a character’, the band’s front-man recently told one magazine, “Ninja is, how can I say, like Superman is to Clark Kent. The only difference is I don’t take off this fokken Superman suit.” On the band’s shock tactics, Ninja continues: “People are unconscious, and you have to use your art as a shock machine to wake them up. Some people are too far gone. And you have to be futuristic to carry on. You gotta be a good guide to help people get away from that dull experience.” Mission most definitely accomplished. ▪ Antonino Tati ‘Donker Mag’ is out now through iTunes. Note, this might be Die Antwoord’s final album as Ninja has revealed that from now on, he and his band will release individual tracks only, accompanied with video clips – each acting as an artefact in its own right. Watch. This. Space.
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MUSIC
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SOCCER
46 | April-May 2015
SOCCER
HOT SPOKESPERSON ON ALL THINGS SOCCER M ention the single moniker Pelé, and only one figure springs to mind – that man considered the greatest soccer player in the world, perhaps of all time. Indeed, so cool is Pelé, he has Tori Amos naming records after him (her Boys For Pelé LP remains one of our favourites), is the only person in the world to own three Jules Rimet trophies, and still holds the record of scoring the most goals in the history of the great game (1283 goals over 1366 matches is nothing to be sneezed at). But the lad didn’t always go by that cool-as name. Born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, in Bauru, Brazil in 1940, a young Pelé learned the tricks of the trade playing football with his career-kickstarting father, João Ramos do Nascimento, a.k.a. Dondinho. Although his Dad’s days as a professional player were numbered thanks to an injury, at 10 years of age, Pelé is recorded in his memoir Why Soccer Matters, co-written by Brian Winter, as having said “Don’t worry, Dad, one day I promise I’ll win the World Cup for you.” The pair of them were listening to the 1950 World Cup when Brazil had just lost to Uruguay at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Eight years later, before Pelé turned 18, he fulfilled his promise to his father, making him the youngest player to win a World Cup. He backed this up with wins in 1962 and 1970, cementing his name as a global football phenomenon. All but retired from football, in 2012, Pelé founded the Legends 10 company, which now looks over all his branding tactics, including talks he gives around the globe and events he hosts in the name of charity. One such event was recently held in Australia, in honour of Les
Murray, the former host of The World Game on SBS, which generated funds for Football United, a charity that creates sporting opportunities for disadvantaged youth. Named by TIME magazine as one of the Top 20 Most Important People of the 20th Century, who better to pass on the skills of football than this man? ▪ Andrea Manno For updates visit pelelive.com.au.
www.rockcandymagazine.com.au | 47
INTERVIEW
HOT LUCKY NUMBER 7 It’s been almost 15 years since this team first took to the streets of L.A. Now here you are, bigger, faster, and stronger. How do you wrap your head around this long ride that you’ve been on? The first thing I do is think how blessed I am to be a part of something that has reached the kind of success that none of us ever really anticipated. And so much has happened to me in my personal life; I’ve become a father and I’d like to think that I matured a little bit. I can’t stress enough how much of an impossible task this might have felt like 15 years ago. Each time, you’ve upped the ante: more cars, bigger, better action, but the heart and the emotion have certainly been pumped in Fast & Furious 7. How important is that balance? My approach to filmmaking is always one of integrity, regardless of whether it’s a drama piece or if it lives in the world of action. The idea that we could even attempt to one-up the stunts and the action sequences is fun, and it’s a rich challenge. But, increasing the emotional stakes is what will set this saga apart from any other movie. The emotional heartbeat of the movie is something everyone we know can relate to, everyone we know is invested in. The idea that the films are finally in sequential order, the way that you intended them to be, how does that feel? Miraculous. The fact that the audience has allowed us to jump around in the chronology of Fast and has been willing to take that ride, and has stayed with us, is a feat in itself. After all the team has been through, all the places they’ve travelled, the things they’ve done, both good and maybe not above the law, is it all catching up with them now? All the events from the previous movies and even some that the audience has never seen before, but they know are in the mythology of Fast & Furious will come together in this movie. Questions are answered and new thoughts are proposed. And you’ll see when you watch the film, that themes that have been initiated or planted in previous movies all come full circle in this one. At the end of Fast & Furious 6, we met your new foe in a dramatic way. Dom has faced serious opponents before. How dangerous is Deckard Shaw? It was imperative to introduce the next villain in a way that automatically affected you emotionally. For you to feel as though a villain is being introduced at the same time he is taking away someone that you’ve already grown comfortable with, creates an emotional response to the villain that you can’t anticipate. Not only has Shaw killed Han, he tries to kill Dom and his family, and blows up the Toretto home, destroys the place we’ve known for years. When you first discussed that idea, was there a little tug at your heart? You can’t help but to feel moved by that, but it was by design. We wanted to very quickly tell you that our heroes are going
SO FAR AS PIVOTAL CHARACTERS IN FILM FRANCHISES GO, MOST WOULD AGREE VIN DIESEL’S DOMINIC TORETTO IS FAST & FURIOUS. BUT, HE AS TELLS ROCK CANDY, THE GIRLS GET ALMOST AS MUCH AIR-TIME, IF NOT MORE, IN INSTALMENT NUMBER 7. to be faced with somebody equally committed to destroying them. And what better way than by blowing up the Toretto house? Why do you think Jason Statham was right for the role of the villain? Jason is one of those actors who keep it cool and consistent. He’s a wonderful talent to watch, period. Actually, we needed a character that represented the location we’d just lived in for two hours, which is London. Jason Statham did that. Did you enjoy the scenes with him, and the extreme physicality of them? I very much did. For the more physical face-offs, we had started training a month early, and before we went back down to Atlanta, we were actually training here in California. The scenes where we are intense with one another were not the most enjoyable scenes on the set, because there was a tension that was present. Thank God we’re friends and we’re rooting for each other in real life because the intensity that we had to build against one another was so deadly. So Shaw attacks Dom’s family and home. The Dom that we know is not going to take it lying down. Never. He’s going to go after this guy. And that’s where Kurt Russell’s character comes in? That’s right. There is a device called God’s Eye, which as Dom says in the movie, is a glorified tracking device, but on steroids. Kurt Russell was one of those guys in the ’70s and ’80s that we enjoyed going to see in
48 | April-May 2015
INTERVIEW
www.rockcandymagazine.com.au | 49
it. In my mind, he’s become the new face of horror and what’s exciting about him is that he wants to do more. He was very excited about coming into this and trying to do something that’s memorable in all the right ways. In some ways, this [film] is the new frontier, so for all of us involved, we’re finally at a place where we don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. It is the unknown road ahead that is exciting, and I think that James has taken scenes and shot them differently, with a certain kind of tension that he’s mastered in his horror world. Do you have an outline for future films? I think what Fast & Furious has done as a saga has proved that there is a new way to approach sequels and sagas. The way that they used to do it in the 1980s and 1990s was to make a movie and, if it was really successful, they would use the brand and market it again and again and expect diminishing returns. The secret to counter that is to have a long view of what your story looks like over multiple pictures and, with Universal, I wouldn’t have been interested in just doing 7 if they didn’t have an idea or feel comfortable with what the new trilogy would look like, of how 7, 8 and 9 would roll out and how they would connect to one another. One of the things that I’m most proud about in the last three films is how much each film speaks to the another and how connected they all are. What’s going to happen to Dom and Letty? I will tell you that it’s an intense ride. I remember when we did the first test screening for 6, my agent’s son, who is 15, went to the test screening and he came out of the movie going, ‘I love it, I love it even more than 5.’ I asked him, ‘What did you love?’ and he said ‘I love the Dom and Letty relationship.’ This is a 15-year-old boy, who is supposed to love all the guns and crashes. And then he says, ‘I just have one question; does Letty ever get her memory back?’ When a 15-year-old boy is going to a giant action movie and walking out of there asking you if Letty is ever going to get her memory back, you’re on to something; you’ve tapped into something. Fast & Furious 6 was the first time we released a Fast movie that the women audience was larger than the male audience, just by a couple of points. The female role models in this are very powerful, beautiful, intelligent, independent and strong, and I think women enjoy seeing that. This isn’t a movie where the women are damsels in distress; they’re right alongside you, sometimes they’re cooler than you, and yet they still maintain this beautiful femininity. I think it’s going to be one of those movies where we’re going to see more of a female audience than even Fast 6. ▪ ‘Fast & Furious 7’ is in cinemas April 2.
movies, and we thought was a real badass at that time. The irony is Kurt was chosen not necessarily to service Fast 7, but to service FAST 8. And the design was to have him introduced here, as we start going into a new shadowlike world of higher stakes, one that was designed to play out and pay off in the eighth film. The way that Kurt plays this role, he’s the coolest guy in the room. And he’s playing this guy dealing with life and death stakes with a twinkle in his eye. It’s so much fun. The chemistry with Kurt was so gratifying. Right from the beginning, you could tell that this was something he was excited about, that there was a pride that he had about being a part of the Fast saga. And there was something precious to him about creating a character that would have such a deep relationship with Dom Toretto. We spent many a night and weekend talking about character, talking about the direction, and refining and retuning. I love having somebody that’s willing to look for that little extra nuance, look for that little extra magic. We’ve been to some pretty incredible places with you through this franchise,
but Abu Dhabi – the location for Fast 7 – is pretty special. Very special. The audience now has grown to somewhat expect these new locations, and they enjoy traveling with the characters they know so well. They still wanted to come home in 7, but as a characteristic of the saga over the years, fans have enjoyed traveling with the characters. When we travel and visit these other countries and cultures, it only strengthens the idea that we are all citizens of the world. I notice it’s first time we get to see our heroes dressed to the max – Dom in a tuxedo, Letty in a stunning red gown. Did you all have fun doing that? Oh, we had a blast dressing up. And I have to give James Wan credit for wanting to go into that rarefied Bond air, and doing it unabashedly. When audiences see this movie they will see a new director’s approach to it. James Wan is a much more refined kind of director than we’ve had in the past. As a producer, presumably you had a hand in picking the director. Why James? James Wan is somebody who has conquered a genre; he has proven you can take a horror genre and be extremely successful with
50 | April-May 2015
SAME
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MOTORSPORT
IN THE HOT SEAT A
t just twenty-seven years of age, Ash Walsh might be a bit of a rookie on the V8 Supercar track but he’s no amateur in the fast lane. Walsh kicked off his career in 1999, kicking up dust in a Trulli Kart around his hometown of Ipswich, Queensland. At the local Kart Club is where you’ll have found this kid on most days, so passionate was he about the sport that he was honoured the title of Australian Karting Champion in 2003. Four years later, Ash participated in the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport’s Rising Stars as well as named runner-up in the Australian Formula Ford Championships, 2007. Keeping his racing to a minimum between then and 2010, it was in that latter year that Ash finished fourth in the Australian Formula Ford Championship. Says Ash on this bit on his impressive racing CV, “From memory we had our second race cancelled and I just missed the podium in race one. It’s an awesome track, though, and I can’t wait to get back this year for the Erebus Mercedes AMG E63.” The V8 Supercar rookie says the timing is now "just right", recently telling dedicated website v8supercars.com.au, “If I went in last year, I would have maybe questioned myself a little, and whether I was ready to make the step up, because I hadn’t had that year of growing as a driver.” Indeed, Walsh’s 2014 Dunlop Series and Pirtek Enduro Cup campaigns both carried certain stings of unfinished business for the guy. While demonstrating flashes of awesomeness in both, there were a few errors that probably could have been avoided. Still, these experiences have given him time to prepare for the next Erebus Motorsport. Ash might drive a Lancer as his ‘persona’ car but he seems to mould into the seat of the Mercedes-Benz lE63 V8 Supercar most comfortably. Let’s hope he doesn’t get too comfortable, though. There’s a major race to be run, boy! ▪ Andrea Manno look out for ash racing in his erebus motorsports e63 in the next round of the v8 supercars championship - the perth supersprint - at barbagallo raceway from may 1-3, 2015. Tickets are available from ticketek.com.au.
52 | April-May 2015
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54 | April-May 2015
CRICKET
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HOT ON THE PITCH itchell Johnson has definitely made a name for himself as the ferocious left-arm bowler for the Australian cricket team. Ironically, Johnson was actually set to smash his way through a tennis scholarship, given his talent at the game as a right-handed junior player, until former Australian cricket sensation Dennis Lillee snapped him up into the good ol’ sport of cricket. Born in Townsville, Queensland, the fast bowler moved from his native state team, the Queensland Bulls, westward to play with the Western Warriors in 2008. Making his debut in Australian Test cricket in 2007, just before the move to Western shores, Johnson exemplified the potential that Lillee had seen in him – and his career has skyrocketed since. According to Cricket Australia, the 33-year-old’s test wickets currently stand at 283, only 72 behind his mentor Lillee, who at the time of his retirement had 355 test wickets behind him, an achievement that saw him become then-world record holder. However, it’s not all been highlights and glory for Johnson whose enthusiasm has occasionally waivered on the pitch, most notably throughout the 2010 season. Following toe surgery and rehabilitation in 2011, Johnson launched himself back, and the balls came flying again, earning him the 2014 Allan Border Medal and being named the ICC’s Test Cricketer of the Year (his second win in a row). With his stats currently sitting at 64 test matches and 1,868 runs it’s no wonder Johnson was dubbed The West Australian Sports Star of the Year recently. This year, there’s only one name to watch on the pitch. And that’s Mitch. ▪ Andrea Manno As the Australian cricket season comes to a finish in April, it only gets going in England and continues running right through to September.
www.rockcandymagazine.com.au | 55
LITERATURE
HOT NEW THRILL OF A READ
Write what you know. That’s what author Jeff Lindsay suggests to budding novelists. Speaking candidly with the man responsible for the Dexter series, you’d assume the subjects of dysfunction and serial killing were actually – ordinarily – far from his mind. He is a family man, after all, who lives in Cape Coral, Florida (a two-and-a-half hour drive from Miami where the Dexter stories are set), keener to chat about making blueberry pancakes than the effects his fucked-up characters are having on old-fashioned family values. Still, Rock Candy scored some interesting feedback from the man about fan fiction versus real life… Interview by Antonino Tati Hey there Jeff. Have you always lived in Cape Coral? Most of my life. I moved around after college and did 12 years in Hollywood, but I keep coming back to Florida. What is it that keeps drawing you back to Florida? The weather and the water. There’s just something about this place that gets into your blood I guess. I like the sunsets, sitting on the porch, sipping a beer and watching thunderstorms come in across the bay. So Florida’s rather temperamental, like your main protagonist, Dexter? Yeah, you could say that. People always ask me "Can you imagine Dexter in some other city?" and I say to them "Oh yes, he could absolutely be in Perth". But I guess I can’t imagine him being anywhere else. Honestly. It’s funny you should say that. I’ve been to Miami a few times and it reminds me a lot of Perth, actually. You’ve visited most of Australia's capital cities, yes? Yes, I’ve been to w r iters’ fest iva ls i n Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Sydney and Perth. I was booked for one first, then Hachette [his Australian publishing house] took me around to a few more cities; to get their nickel’s worth. Going back to Dexter’s home town, Miami – and yours – it seems the perfect setting for his dark shenanigans. Would you agree Miami stands for all the superficiality of the western world and yet, not far beneath it, lurks this certain darkness? Yeah, I’d say so. There’s just something about the beautiful scenery and the palm trees and the pastel colours in the sky – all of that – as the background for a headless corpse or two. It just makes it so much more interesting. Have you always been a fan of thrillers, of noir and the macabre? No, not at all. In fact if I weren’t writing Dexter, I wouldn’t be reading it. I really prefer historical fiction; biography. When I was a kid, I read some Agatha Christie, but nowadays I love historical fiction and biography. Speaking of historical and biographical, do you research the lives of real serial killers in preparation for the Dexter novels? Yeah, I do a lot of research. I read books by FBI profilers. I talk to psychologists and psychiatrists and find everything I can on the internet. Then, at a certain point, I guess I’d have to say that instinct just takes over. Which really ought to worry you a little… Yo u me a n yo u s t a r t to h ave it i n you, naturally? I think we all do. Not the serial killer thing, but the hunter aspect, certainly. We l l , w h a t ’ s t h e b i g g e s t c r i m e you’ve committed? Well I drive too fast an awful lot. Other than that, I always return my library books on time. When I was a teenager and in my rebellious period I did some things that I probably shouldn’t have, but nothing major... I’ve thrown laundry detergent in someone’s swimming pool, though I never got caught. Still, I felt so guilty I just stopped doing it.
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LITERATURE
Are some of the characters in the Dexter series based on people you’ve known in real life, or did you dream them all up? Some of them I’ve based on people I I’ve known but I wouldn’t say they look much like them. Like, for example, one of the people who helped me tremendously in writing the first book and starting the series was this Miami homicide sergeant, and she was really the inspiration for Deborah. There’s even a joke that Deborah tells in there about her nickname that came from my friend sergeant, Alison. I asked her one time, “Do cops have nicknames like they do on TV?” And she goes, “Yeah, they do”. And so I asked “Do you have a nickname?” And she said “Yeah, they call me Einstein”. And I said, “Oh Einstein, is that because you’re smart and you solve all the murders?” and she said “No, it’s because if my tits were brains, I’d be Einstein”. So that had to go in. How do you feel about the way your novels have been translated for television? Well it’s been one of my favourite TV shows, and I must admit, I kind of get a little thrill every time I see my name up there. It’s like if you’re watching your favourite TV show and your name pops up in the opening credits, there’s this moment of disconnection then reconnection, where you go “Oh yeah that’s right, I wrote a lot of that, yeah”. So it’s quite a surreal moment when you see your credit? Yeah. But you know the story lines are very different from mine, though it’s still recognisable – my characters, my world – and it’s done at a really high level. As I said, I worked in Hollywood for 12 years, so I know what usually happens where writers’ works are completely changed, and that didn’t happen to me; and I’ll always be grateful because the producers have done a wonderful job. Has the show influenced you in adjusting plot lines for consequential books? No, there’s no cross-pollination at all except that occasionally they couldn’t resist taking one of my good lines, and I usually figure that out by watching the show. I’ll be laughing and say that’s a great line and my wife will smack me and say, “Idiot, that’s your line”. What about cross-pollination of everyday current affairs or pop cultural themes? To a certain extent everything you write is going to have an element of news, pop culture or current affairs to it, because if you’re any good at all and trying to be honest about a subject, you’re going to research the here and now.
Why do you think our society is so infatuated with dark themes in television today, to the point of enjoying seeing so many dysfunctional characters, from Family Guy to Fargo? Well I blame the Republican Party, but that may just be me [coughing exaggeratingly]. I don’t think I’ve heard so many coughs after the word ‘Republican’ before. I do have a thing [a cold] so it’s not merely politics that’s making me cough. I really don’t know, I think it’s just a general fact that we’ve always been fascinated by dysfunction. Do you think these fictional characters have an influence on society at large? No. I mean its entertainment. I can’t imagine that this has any real effect on anybody. Yeah, the nuclear family is being chipped away at, but the pressures are more economic than anything else. It’s become necessary to have two salaries for the average home and that’s a whole lot more significant than watching some TV show or reading a book. You must agree that watching today’s dysfunction on television kind of steers us away from the goody-goody ethos of old shows like The Waltons and The Brady Bunch. The Waltons and The Brady Bunch and were no more real than The Mentalist. Hollywood is always presenting alternatives to reality. That’s why we watch it. Even the so-called reality shows; they’re no more real than Gilligan’s Island. It’s something we watch to take our minds off reality. Ultimately, Hollywood does what the numbers tell them to, and to some extent so does publishing, which is what I’m in, after all. It’s what people want to see, so the networks make more of it… And I get paid more to write books about it! ▪ ‘Dexter Is Dead’ by Jeff Lindsay will be published by Hachette Australia on April 14, 2015, RRP $29.99 and on eBook, RRP $16.99 through Orion. www.rockcandymagazine.com.au | 57
It wasn’t supposed to end this way. In a flash of steel, a flurry of gunshots, a chorus of strangled moans, blending with the wails of sirens, certainly. A properly dramatic ending, with a good body count, a dash of treachery, absolutely. But not with Dexter, serial killer and forensic blood spatter analyst, horribly wronged and unjustly accused of the wrong murder, languishing inside the Guilford Knight Correctional Centre, bound and restrained, getting one hour’s exercise a day. Can you correct a prolific serial killer? Would anyone want a monster rehabilitated? Is this really how it will end for Dexter…?
DEXTER IS DEAD : THE BLURB ON THE BACK OF THE BOOK JACKET
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HOT RETRO REVIVAL
POP CULTURE
I
f the ’70s were the decade that taste forgot, the ’80s saw it turn positively senile. However, even we admit amid the slushpile of trashy ra-ra skirts, excessive shoulder pads and butt-ugly bumbags, there were a couple of key looks worthy of a revival. “Contemporary fashion in the ’80s was quite eccentric and adopted a lot of vibrant colours,” says Perth streetwear designer Zachery Relph, agreeing that on the other hand "subcultural fashion of the ’80s was pretty simple”. It is this minimalist aesthetic that Relph has turned to for inspiration in his new casual t-shirt line called 1984. Relph says that as well as “the George Orwell references” he likes the name 1984 because it was a great year for music, particularly for Australian acts like INXS and Midnight Oil who were just starting to do big things overseas. The designer’s t-shirts also bring to mind those slogan tees once worn by the likes of Frankie Goes To Hollywood and
Wham! – albeit less risqué than Frankie’s and a little more ironic than Wham!’s. Away from the obvious, the 1980s are seeping subtly into fashion, too. According to Vogue Australia’s March edition, midi skirts and brogues are in, giving Gen Y girls an excuse to finally dress like their mothers used to. In a recent article online, the fashion title also listed “nine items of clothing that look better with age” – highlighting the longterm benefits of keeping denim jackets, leather pants, Doc Martens and chambray shirts in your wardrobe for a rainy day. On the beauty front, makeup brands are going all-out on the pastel colour theme, Estée Lauder leading the charge with its Courrèges Collection consisting of pop colours including lip visors in ‘coral’ and ‘ultra pink’ and eyeshadows in aqua and black-silver. Music is looking positively retro when a label as credible as Ministry of Sound introduces an 80s Mix to its long line of compilation ablums, albeit across four CDs!
On an even brighter – nay, neon – note, is Reebok’s unabashed revival of vivid running shoes in the form of its ‘Z-Pump Fusion’ range. Even the brightly hued shoes’ shiny outsoles are hyped to have been inspired by “high performance Z-rated tires”, sounding all very Back To The Future. And on that note, those self-tying power-lace Nikes worn by Marty McFly in the 1989 sequel Back To The Future II are being sold (for real!) by year’s end. So go on, take those coins out of your Rubik’s Cube money box and go out and buy a bunch of badges – preferably ones emblazoned with members of Duran Duran (One Direction are so lame in comparison), then get set for an ’80s comeback with extra flair… and a little less hair. ▪ Antonino Tati REFERENCES: 1984clothingperth.com esteelauder.com.au nike.com reebok.com.au www.rockcandymagazine.com.au | 59
MUSIC
HOT MAMA MAKES A COMEBACK ROCK CANDY CATCHES UP WITH MUSIC ICON NENEH CHERRY TO CHAT ABOUT BEING A TOUGH WOMAN IN A MAN'S MAN'S WORLD. Story by Antonino Tati - Photography by Jean-Baptiste Mondino
60 | April-May 2015
MUSIC
N
eneh Cherry answers the telephone at her London home with a casual ‘Hi, this is Neneh’. I had expected to be calling the number of her record company who might then patch me through to the artist’s private line. What’s more surprisingly casual is Neneh’s ‘Hi darling’ of a greeting. But it’s that very down-home ethos that has kept Cherry in music journos’ good books for the better part of two-and-a-half decades. That, and a unique vocal talent that easily traverses genres. You name it: soul (Inna City Mama), pop (Heart), rock (Trout with REM’s Michael Stipe), rap (Buffalo Stance), neo-jazz (I Got You Under My Skin), even spoken word, Neneh Cherry has done it all. While she may not be the most prolific deliverer of music – only four albums in 25 years, nonetheless each Cherry record is a unique work of art. Her latest LP, Blank Project, is a collaboration with synth-drum duo Rocket Number Nine, and was defined by Rolling Stone magazine as “music that beats its own path, brilliantly”. Sparse in its actual musicality, but carefully structured in its vocal sonics, Blank Project has an eerie vibe about it, to the point that even Neneh admits it’s a fairly odd album. “It’s definitely a leftfield record,” admits the artist, “but people, especially critics, just seem to get it. Even I think it’s not the easiest record in the world to get your head around.” Indeed there’s a certain darkness to a lot of the tracks, which admittedly stems from Neneh coming to terms with the passing of her mother. “I had got ten to t he point where I started to feel this longing, craving, itchy feeling” she says of the desire to record darker material. “There’s a consciousness that you’re making something that you want to share with people. Where I am now in my life, I feel I need to be making music that has a bit of playfulness to it, for sure, but also to make songs that have a certain sense of urgency.” You can practically hear the italics in her delivery of that last word. “Put it this way, you might need to listen to this record more than once to digest it.” Going against the grain is nothing new for Neneh Cherry. She was one of only a handful of women on the hip-hop / triphop scenes of the late 1980s, and had to put up with a lot of machismo bullshit, perhaps not so much from her peers, but certainly from suited executive types.
Of her presence in a male-heavy industry, says Neneh: “I think the women that were on the scene, like Queen Latifah and MC Lyte and Roxanne Shante, I just think they were just the coolest chicks. I looked up to them so much. But I’ve also had a lot of male friends. “As a female, I think I’ve been able to hold my own and to feel unfazed by the guys around me. And as I woman, I’ve always felt I could hold these guys down; this was not a problem.” Neneh says even dressing like one of the boys – remember this is the gal who made the ‘buffalo’ look popular – provided “a certain feeling of empowerment”. “We used to go out dancing and DJ-ing and one thing that used to make us feel strong was simply wearing hats and trainers. I think it was us taking on things that were perceived as being quite boyish and using them to our benefit. “A lot of my male friends – the guys in Massive Attack and other musicians I know in London – they’re all good blokes. Really nice guys coming from really good places. A lot of that sexist guy shit, you know that was never really the kind of guys they were.” If not from her colleagues, Neneh did cop flak from the heterosexist press, one of the more bizarre triggers being that she performed pregnant on Brit music program Top Of The Pops. “It was not something you were supposed to do. Even now people get [given] shit when they sit down and breastfeed in a public place… as if they were doing something shameful. “At the end of the day, with all the crazy fucking hype around tits – in both men’s and women’s magazines – I mean, breasts are great but they are meant to feed our kids first and foremost [laughs].” After the conservative media backlash, d id she regret appea r i ng on stage pregnant? “I was never not going to go on Top Of The Pops. Nor would I do something silly like have myself filmed from just above the belly. I was really proud of the fact that I was pregnant. In a weird sort of way, I thought it was kind of important for me to bring that along. “But it ended up being this big thing; I didn’t plan for that, nor did I get what the big fucking deal was, but it felt important to carry that with me.” That’s the thing about Neneh Cherry. She’s deep and defiant in attitude but she doesn’t get too caught up with fighting convention physically. She’d rather do it through her songs.
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“Isn’t that what lyrics are for? I love the magic of words – the different ways of saying things. You can slightly alter them and they’ll cut just the right way. Of course the words need to fit in with what I’m trying to say. “For example, when I was writing a song for this record Spit Three Times I was initially thinking about throwing salt over my shoulder but it sounded ridiculous trying to sing that, so I changed it to spit three times. Spit just fit pretty good.” And on the subject of superstitions, she says: “I just find them fascinating – you know, like you’re not supposed to put your hat on the table, or you’re not supposed to put your shoes on the bed. It’s funny because if certain superstitions are not a part of your culture and you don’t know about them… [here she trails off with that trademark cackle].” I tell Neneh about how whenever I hear ambulance sirens, I feel compelled to do signs of the cross, not once but eight times. “Wow, I didn’t know that one, but it’s just as well or I’d be doing just-as-crazy things. Here [in the UK], we have this thing where if you see a magpie, it’s bad luck. But if you see two magpies, it’s okay; it’s lucky. So I’m always, like, walking down the street and trying to spot and salute these friggin’ magpies…” There’s a dark, spooky song in there somewhere, I’m sure. ▪ ‘Blank Project’ is out through Smalltown Supersound. A double deluxe CD of the album is also available featuring remixes by Ricardo Villalobos, Joe Goddard, Cooly G and more.
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HOT ICONIC AUSSIE MUSOS Interview by Antonino Tati - Photography by Tony Mott Hi Iva. Let’s go back to the beginning when you and the band were known as The Flowers. You had a huge hit with the single We Can Get Together. Why, after such huge success, was there a change in the band’s name? Was there a particular legality there? It was fairly simple, really. We released The Flowers’ album in Australia and New Zealand without difficulty, but the success of it produced a lot of interest from international record companies. Ultimately we signed a deal with Chrysalis Records for the rest of the world, and the first thing they did was do a search on our trading name. Being a young band, we never thought of a band name being like a trademark, but in fact that’s exactly what it is. Unfortunately we discovered two other artists were trading using the name Flowers. One of them was a famous session bass-player called Herbie Flowers, and you’d know his work. He’s the man who created the bassline to Lou Reed’s Walk On The Wild Side. So the name was simply not available anymore. It’s not the first time it happened to an Australian band. It happened to Sherbert, and the Angels before they got their ultimate names. It’s a pity we didn’t have the internet then to do a simple Google search. Absolutely. Anyway, the name of our first album was Icehouse so, by default and overnight we became known as Icehouse. Under that name, the band really began to gain momentum, delivering hit after hit, not only in Australia but in Europe and the US. In fact, your songs provided a soundtrack to much of the Eighties and Nineties. How does it feel to know your music has been a soundscape for so m a n y A u s t r a l i a n s ? Well, looking back at over 30 years of work is very interesting because at the time it was like running on a treadmill that was going faster than I was. The process of writing and recording and touring kept us incredibly busy so the last thought I had in mind was how long these songs were going to last. Our vision at the time was fairly short-term; each album only took care of about a year or 18 months’ worth of our existence. I basically tried to do things that wouldn’t date but, really, one of the least considerations in my mind was whether these songs were going to be listened to in 30 years’ time. Generally speaking, it would be fair to describe most of the popular music of that period, and other periods, as being fairly disposable. Well let’s take a classic example: Great Southern Land. That song has gone from pop status to practically becoming Australia’s second national anthem. It seems to have become that… The process of writing that particular song is a lot clearer in my mind than writing some of the other songs because I knew at the time it would be a dangerous thing to get wrong. Having said that, it was the first of 12 or so songs that I was virtually commissioned to write for our second album – which was an obvious
So far as Aussie music icons go, Icehouse are practically an institution. The band, who formed in 1977 amid a thriving Sydney rock scene, quickly evolved from ‘pub rock’ style to more of a ‘new wave’ flavour, making them stand out as a sophisticated lot amongst the rougher likes of The Angels and AC/DC. Four decades on, and Icehouse is still going strong. “Half our band are in Melbourne; half are in Sydney,” tells lead singer Iva Davies, “which means when we do get together to play live, it’s a novelty, and that leads to a positive energy in the performances.” Suffice to say, 38 years of successful recording and touring, eight Top 10 albums, 20 Top 40 singles, and countless YouTube hits of classic clips all suggest this band deserves an entire hall of fame to themselves. Oh, and Iva's just released a range of super-cool sneakers. As if making great music weren't enough. priority. Great Southern Land happened to be the first song I wrote when we got back from our first international tour and with hindsight it’s fair to say part of the reason I took on that subject was because, for the first time ever, I had gone a very big overseas trip and become incredibly homesick. I had a renewed kind of respect for Australia when I came back! I read somewhere recently that you were told by your record company to be ambiguous with your treatment of the song, so that it didn’t come across as too patriotic. I understand you were told to say in interview responses that the song wasn’t really about Australia… Well I was specifically instructed by my managers not to admit that the song was about Australia – which was quite an absurd directive, really. So it was very difficult for me to answer direct questions like, ‘Is this song about Australia?’ I never denied it flatly, and I never told a lie, but I did a lot of fancy political-type side-stepping of the question. The motivation of that instruction from my managers was quite simple: and that was that they wanted us to be perceived as an international band and not be locked into an Australian identity. At the time it might have made logical sense to them, but it made my life very difficult. It brings me to a question about the here and now. Are you fascinated by how broadly embraced Australian music is today by the rest of the world?
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rs e g a n a ym m y b d e s t a c u w r t d s n n a i lly rn L a e c h i t f u i d o c r e S u t p s s a b e s a r a n G w a “I ite that u t i q s cy m a n d a w a f o f h t c o i t t h o o l n a d a–w i i l d a I r , t s .” s s n u e o l i A e t t s h t u e e o u on ab eq N h . t y f l l o a g e n r , pi directive l-type side-step politica www.rockcandymagazine.com.au | 65
MUSIC Electric Blue (and Red): Iva Davies and Icehouse prove again and again they've got the goods to perform tight live sets, most recently witnessed at Oz Rock, Busselton.
It’s an interesting thing. I was recently having a conversation with someone about the very early Australian music exports – bands like The Easybeats and The Masters Apprentices – and how difficult it would have been for them to land in London and attempt to compete with the likes of The Beatles, The Who, and so on. The fact of the matter is that Australia is still a very long way away from what it is perceived to be by the rest of the world but, because of the internet, things are becoming quite a different prospect so far as actually being able to launch music. I think Australia has always been incredibly strong with music, particularly our live scene. I remember first arriving in London and being incredibly disappointed. It was perceived to have been the mecca of music but there wasn’t the same kind of pub culture that we had in Australia whereby on any given night – if you were in Adelaide or Sydney or Perth or Melbourne – you could go out and see 50 fantastic bands. How do you mix things up when you’re playing live, so that audiences are hearing and seeing something fresh each time? Well, for Oz Rock Busselton we introduced a kind of acoustic break in the middle of the show, which was something we hadn’t done before. Having three guitarists gave
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us the opportunity to strip the band down and try something new. And that gives us a springboard to kind of gear up again as well. Part of what we introduced into the set with that acoustic moment was the opportunity for me to be able to tell the story of how some of the songs were written and to give away some of the more personal information about the songs than you might get from just sitting down and listening to a CD. And there are many stories attached to a lot of these songs! I’m sure there are. You’re quite a champion of seeing new talent take on classic work. You released the Meltdown album over a decade ago where you gave DJs of the day carte blanche to do what they wanted to your music. And more recently you and the current lineup of the band delivered reggae-tinged versions of Icehouse songs on the DubHOUSE album. My philosophy on letting people loose to reinterpret my songs is quite simple, and that is that the originals exist – and some of them have existed for more than 30 years – and they’ll always be there in terms of their original structure, but [to hand them over to new artists] means I’m not threatened by the prospect of having other people reinterpret them. My brief to all of the artists involved in Meltdown was that they should have absolutely no fear in recreating and rerecording these songs in their own way. I gave them absolute license and at no point was I involved. I simply sat back and waited to hear the very interesting things they came up with. I think it was very important not to meddle with their work. And I still have that appreciation. For example, Missy Higgins recently brought out an album called Oz which features cover versions of Australian songs, and one of mine is among those. I get real joy in hearing the way in which another artist will interpret a song; I find it endlessly fascinating. Icehouse has always stood out on the
Australian music landscape, not only for your great music, but for your ambig u it y. Ever y thing about the ba nd appeared to go against the grain of the traditional Aussie ‘ocker’ mentality… Heck, you even featured drag queens in your music videos! A lot of that was influenced by the fact that I had quite a strange beginning in music myself, in terms of musical background. I didn’t advertise it at the time but as I was growing up I had a stringent classical training. By the age of 16 I was playing the oboe with classical ensembles and [on the side] I was playing guitar in the band. So I had these parallel lives happening at the same time. I guess that meant I was never going to fit into the stereotype of a conventional rock’n’roll person. From the very beginning, Flowers were an anomaly and to some degree the reason we chose that name was because it was in direct defiance of what would be expected of a pub rock band. We were at the time a peculiar hybrid of pub band, rock band, and synthesiser technicians. For us to actually go into a pub dressed the way we did, with the name we had, could have got us into a lot of trouble. But luckily we survived it! One final question, Iva. Where is the strangest place you’ve heard an Icehouse song being played? I get caught out every time I go to my local supermarket. I’ll walk in there and hear myself quietly being beamed around the aisles. It’s quite a surreal experience to be collecting my groceries and hearing Baby You’re So Strange in the background. ▪ Icehouse recently released a live LP called ‘DubHOUSE’ featuring bluebeat-infused versions of their biggest hits mashed with renowned reggae songs, available through iTunes. Iva Davies has also kept busy co-designing cool sneakers for the Nookiee footwear label. Visit nookiee. com to view the full range.
ROCK CANDY’S 13 FAVOURITE ICEHOUSE TUNES 01. Great Southern Land (it would be sacrilegious not to place this at number one)
02. We Can Get Together (officially catalogued as a Flowers track but we consider it classic Icehouse)
03. Can’t Help Myself (US Club Mix – look, the more we hear those ripper riffs, the better)
04. Love In Motion (revised rendition 05. Hey Little Girl 06. Baby You’re So Strange
featuring Chrissy Amphlett, although the original is just as awesome)
07. Lay Your Hands On Me (dance 08. 09.
mix by Speed Of Light as it appears on the Meltdown album) Walls (live version as it appears on the DubHOUSE album) Satellite (Iva really gets his Lou/Iggy/Bowie glam on here)
10.Nothing Too Serious (seriously, this rocks)
11. Electric Blue (Dub Mix as it appears on The Extended Mixes Volume 2)
12. Crazy (remix as it appears on the Meltdown album, especially the scratchy bits that sample Great Southern Land ) Mix – a relatively unknown track, but really very good)
13. Big Wheel (General Dynamics
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ACCOMMODATION
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ACCOMMODATION
HOT NEW SEMINYAK MUST-STAY W hether you're in Indonesia for business or for pleasure, the new five-star Courtyard by Marriott Bali Seminyak is a great place to check into. Though the hotel is situated at the heart of Seminyak, it feels as though you’re miles away from the hustle and bustle. Situated on the popular Dhyana Pura strip, just down the road from infamous Gado Gado Restaurant and a stone’s throw away from the beach, street markets, boutique stores, and bars and clubs, the Marriott group’s newest establishment certainly scores points on location. Courtyard by Marriott offers everything you need to make the most of your stay in Bali, starting with generously-sized guest rooms equipped with all the mod cons including 42-inch flatscreen TV, iPod docking station and free Wi-Fi. The bathroom is... well, roomy, complete with rain shower, cosy bathrobes and quality Nirvae toiletries. The hotel is designed so that all rooms have easy access to the pool area, while the pool itself is unofficially divided into ‘predominantly adult’ on the one end and ‘kid-friendly’ on the other. Basically, if you don’t mind hearing children shout excitedly as they splash about, you could spend time in the family area, otherwise you’d likely prefer the adults area. That said, there is a quality crèche with carers at hand to give young mums and dads some much-desired time-out. Dining is an event in itself at Courtyard by Marriott with their casual and stylish Seminyak Kitchen serving up a multicultural array of quality cuisine. Classic dishes include Tempura Soft Shell Crab, Ikan Bakar
(oven-roasted catch of the day served with sambal and kafir lime), and a glorious Coconut Panna Cotta. Or for something decadently trending, try a Bloody Mary Burger – yes, it’s as messy and delicious as it sounds. Guests have the option to dine poolside by day, or to simply indulge in cocktail after cocktail at the pool bar. Those feeling especially active can make the most of a newly added fitness centre, or classes in yoga, fitball or pilates, while treatments await more decadent guests at Zanti: The Retreat, the hotel’s in-house spa. Zanti’s extensive menu includes the deliciously sounding Coconut & Vanilla Scrub and equally as scrummy-sounding Chocolate Exotic Body Wrap. If something less sweet is what you’re after, you might like to consider a Boreh Body Wrap – where traditional spices are blended and rubbed in to improve circulation, relax the mind, and release muscle tension. White-collar folk should note that as the Marriott is renowned for its business amenities in its more ‘traditional’ hotels, the group’s knack for getting the set-up just right has seeped into the Courtyard by Marriott’s agenda, too. The hotel boasts one of the newest meeting facilities in Seminyak, with almost 310 square metres of modern meeting spaces including a poolside breakout as pre-function foyer. Once again, be it for work or leisure, Courtyard by Marriott Bali Seminyak is where it’s at – and at excellently competitive rates, starting at around AUD$140 per night. ▪ Antonino Tati Court yard Bali Seminyak is situated on Jalan C a mp lung Ta nd uk , N o 103 SP, D h ya n a P ur a , Seminyak Bali. For bookings and information visit www.courtyardseminyak.com
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Positive Cash Flow From Day One Since it’s inception after the Reserve Bank Reforms in March 2009 ATM ownership continues to hit all the right keys. Owning a fleet of ATMs has become a well known business opportunity since Own Your Own ATM launched in March, 2009. Many of our clients have diversified their portfolio and are now enjoying a minimum of 20% p.a. returns that an ATM business can provide for the life of the agreement. It is possible to use your ATM income to subsidise a large investment portfolio and not hit the serviceability wall, allowing you to make further investments in the future. Unlike a term deposit, where you are liable for tax at the first dollar of interest earned, ATMs being plant and equipment, can be depreciated to offset the transaction income earned. These private ATMs are placed in a variety of convenient locations throughout Australia. You own the Automated Teller Machines and experienced national ATM deployers place the machine in the site and manage it. ATM income is directly deposited into the account of your choice. Legal agreements state the deployer must cover all costs for parts and maintenance, insurance and payment processing for the life of the agreement. ATM owners are paid a minimum 20% p.a.* or $0.30 per transaction, whichever is higher, paid monthly. In times of market volatility, a portfolio of ATMs can provide a steady income stream and potentially solve your cash flow issues.
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FOOD
HOT FOODIE AFFAIR T
he Noosa International Food & Wine Festival started out as a humble row of food stalls stationed beneath the one marquee, albeit without the ‘international’ bit but amid picture-perfect Lions Park on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. That was in 2003. Today the event has evolved to become one of the finest culinary celebrations of its kind in the southern hemisphere, thanks in part to its splendid geographic positioning. Noosa’s primary sector delivers some of the country’s highest quality produce: tasty vegetables, tender meats, succulent seafood, and an array of herbs and spices – from organic to hydro – all readily harvested, farmed and/or caught around these quarters. Noosa’s scenic beauty is also a major drawcard for fussy foodie types. The crème de la crème of the Australian food and beverage industries visit annually, and this year’s roll call includes celeb chef Ryan Clift of the UK, Shane Watson of Print Hall in Perth, Frank Camorra of MoVida fame, Paul Baker of South Australia’s Botanic Gardens Restaurant, Ben Batterbury of Rees Hotel in Queenstown,
New Zealand, and Shane Bailey of Noosa Boathouse. The itinerary for this year’s festival is bigger, bolder and brighter than before, with plenty of events on offer, both massive and intimate, for locals and tourists to take part in. On the grander end of the scale are productions such as the Grand Opening Party, Audi Asian Food Trails (which include farm tours followed by an Asian banquet), DeBrett Seafood Trails along Mooloolaba Wharfs, various Hinterland Trails, and a huge BBQ Lunch on Noosa Beach. On the more intimate side of things will be champagne breakfasts, workshops, decadent luncheons, and finely-crafted degustation dinners – hosted by some of the nation’s better-known chefs, even the occasional comedienne and radio jock. There are also master classes, cheese and wine tastings, cooking demonstrations and competitions galore, as well as a host of star presenters and entertainers ranging from jazz musicians to pop starlets. So what are you waiting for? Book thee a ticket to Noosa ASAP. ▪ Antonino Tati The Noosa International Food & Wine Festival is on May 14-17. For the full program of events and information on special travel packages visit noosafoodandwine.com.au. Pictured: smoked kingfish salad with fingerlime and horseradish.
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HOT FOOD TREND T
apas, antipasto, aperitivo, yum cha, grazing plates… no matter what any given nationality might call it, we’re dubbing it quickand-easy finger food. In each culture, dining on such morsels – which simply burst with richness and flavour – used to be a mere subsidiary action to the main event of drinking (tapas were literally dishes used to cover Spanish pub-goers’ drinks; dim sum were simply accompaniment to Chinese high tea), nowadays the food itself takes centre-stage. Small bars in Perth are being bombarded with customers ordering “a little bit of this, a little bit of that” off the menu, demanding two plates of everything “so we can all just, you know, share”. Highgate’s Enrique’s School For To Bullfighting (we’re still loving that twisted name) is famous for its tapas-style degustation menu. El Publico across the road goes one further and insists you drink a specific tequila to match each rustic mini dish. New rooftop bar, The Sherry, proffers small selections of charcuterie, putting the rustic back into antipasti on its ‘Bar Bites’ menu. Indeed on our last visit, we enjoyed obscurely-named but succulent serves of ‘jamon and smoked cheddar popcorn’ and ‘pork bits and bobs’. There was no need to ask what the bits or bobs were, suffice to say they were delicious. We could blame Melbourne for the trend. Tapas-style share-dining has been big in the Victorian capital for the better part of the past couple of years, with must-hang venues such as Kong, Ms Collins, Portello Rosso, and Jardin Tan all famous for their ‘small selections’ share menus. And, yes, the restaurant that started it all – MoVida – is still hot enough to frequent. Whether this revival of hors d’oeuvre-style dining is related to a recent fascination of everything multicultural in the kitchen, or an addendum to the ‘a little of everything is okay, too much of one thing is not’ philosophy, one thing is for sure – we’re loving the variety. Antonino Tati & Lisa Andrews Pictured above, Empanadas de Picadillo with mission fig mole, a favourite at Ms Collins in Melbourne, which is popular for its rotating tapas menus.
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OUR FAVOURITE BITE-SIZE ESTABLISHMENTS IN PERTH Rooftop, The Flour Factory, 16 Queen Street, Perth 484 Beaufort Street, Highgate 511 Beaufort Street, Highgate 1/356 Charles Street, North Perth Claremont Quarter, Shop 117, 1 Bayview Terrace, Claremont
THE SHERRY
ENRIQUE’S SCHOOL FOR TO BULLFIGHTING EL PUBLICO
THE CLASSROOM LUCIOLI
…AND OUR FAVOURITES IN MELBOURNE, WHERE IT ALL BEGAN 599 Church Street, Cremorne Royal Botanic Gardens, Birdwood Avenue, South Yarra 425 Collins Street, Melbourne 4 Cecil Place, Prahran 15 Warburton Lane, Melbourne
KONG
JARDIN TAN
MS COLLINS DAVID’S
PORTELLO ROSSO
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FISHING
This unsuspecting salmon was probably expecting a release, but today was not it’s lucky day.
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FISHING
LITTLE AUSSIE BATTLER Words by Louis van Senden - Photography by Marco Fraschetti
M
other-in-law fish, old boot, cat food and crab bait are among a few of the common names given to Australian salmon. Frequently confused with the totally unrelated Atlantic salmon, an unsuspecting angler might be bitterly disappointed when their premonition of a rich pink flesh becomes the vision of a dull off-white fillet with very thick blood lining. This ‘Little Aussie Battler’ has been discounted by anglers for many years, disliked for its strong flavour and tough flesh. After years of throwing them back, the time came to give them another chance on the plate and see if they could finally win me over… The first task of catching Aussie salmon was more a matter of time and place than carefully-prepared baits or purpose-made flies. They are ravenous eaters and once they get going, they aren’t likely to stop. While travelling out for a late arvo session off Perth, we came across a massive congregation of salmon that spanned the length of a football field. It was one of several schools feeding in the shallow inshore waters – and the sheer number of fish was incredible. Salmon feeding from the surface will smash just about any lure that is dragged past it, especially poppers, plastics and slices. We had some soft plastics ready to roll so it was a matter of ‘the closest option would do’. Flick went the rod, splash went the lure, and smash went the salmon, like clockwork. We could have thrown just about anything out and they would have attempted to eat it. Although salmon may not be respected as a table fish, their fight when hooked is notorious. The same thick blood lining that affects their edibility gives them more stamina and strength when they are swimming. On a light rod with 2kg line, the mighty Aussie salmon took us for a ride. After a solid battle, the first salmon reached the boat’s side
and was probably expecting to go free again, but today was not its day. Straight into the Chilla bag and onto the ice, this fish was headed on a one-way trip to the dinner table. We pulled in another nice fish around the 3kg mark for comparison and then headed off in search of the regular five-star fish. Once home, the challenge began. I needed to find a good way to cook the fish. In the land of the long white cloud, they love their salmon or kahawai (as they are known to the Kiwi fisherman). I searched a couple of reputable looking NZ sites for a decent recipe and came up with some interesting options. Kahawai potato salad, kahawai ceviche, smoked kahawai and kahawai filo parcels to name a few. The winner was baked kahawai served with Mediterranean salad as baking the fish whole saved me the effort of filleting after a big day on the water. After a good stint in the oven with regular inspection, the fish smelt strong, but judgment was reserved until the flesh was on the plate. After digging out the blood lining, the flesh pulled away nicely from the skeleton and the nuggets were dished up onto the plate with a healthy dose of salad and a pinch of apprehension. All manner of superlatives came to mind, but the standout was... average. Nothing to write home about, but better than a poke in the eye with a blunt stick. I would certainly prefer to eat Aussie salmon than to go hungry or worse, go vegetarian! The results of our mission were somewhat expected but our perspective had shifted. Aussie Salmon are great fun to catch and if you have some not-so-discerning fish eaters to impress a fresh salmon will do the trick. Bake them, smoke them, do what you want to them, but don’t expect them to go in the oven salmon and come out like dhufish. ▪
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GAME PLAN Story and photography by Antonino Tati
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A SAFARI IN EAST AFRICA IS EVERYTHING YOU COULD IMAGINE IT TO BE – AND THEN SOME. ROCK CANDY PACKS LIGHT, TREKS FAR, WITNESSES PLENTY OF AWESOME, AND RETURNS HOME FEELING BLESSED…
nyone who says they’ve been to Africa yet hasn’t been on a safari is, quite frankly, missing out on the real Africa. A trip to the hot continent would not be complete without a visit to a game reserve (or four), and one of the most reputable companies to book your safari through is without a doubt &Beyond. A word of warning, though: often getting there is not as fantastic an adventure as actually being there, for it can take a good number of small flights to get from, say, the Kenyan capital of Nairobi to the heart of the Masai Mara, which is where we were headed for the start of our travels. Located in the northwest of the Masai area, Kichwa Tembo is a tented camp perfectly stationed where forest and savannah meet on a private concession officially leased from Masai landlords. It took us around four hours to get here from Nairobi airport, only because we had to board six different small planes,
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TRAVEL - INTERNATIONAL making no less than 10 stops. This stopstart nature of small-craft flying doesn’t happen in vain, mind you. It exists for the sake of fuel economy – that is, getting as many travellers off to various campsites while filling up planes as effectively as possible and comfortably (just). Naturally, this means much criss-crossing from camp to camp – somewhat tiresome even for the most seasoned traveller, especially one who might suffer from a bit of claustrophobia… There is, of course, the option to drive to any given inland camp all the way from Nairobi airport, but then you could argue about the long hours there, too. Mind you, it might have been nice to see much of the bushveld (that’s bush-laden landscape to the uninitiated) via a decent road trip. Really, it is all worth it in the end, when you are greeted at Kichwa Tembo landing strip by a couple of locals who are part of &Beyond crew, there to hand you a Tusker beer with a smile, while Masai singers put on a welcome song. The Masai’s costumes are an amazing array of colours and patterns – red and purple checks, block colours of bright greens and royal blues – and the sounds of their melodically layered voices are enough to put you in a trance-like state. These, and the sweeping vistas of the Masai around you, are so surreal you’ll feel like you’ve landed on another planet or been transported to another era. At the time of the year we were visiting Kenya – early December – the Great Migration of wildebeest (and we’re talking hundreds of thousands of them) has already passed through and would now be making its way across the Kenyan/Tanzanian border, but you can almost taste the dust kicked up by the beest, still sifting through the air. That said, once the sun goes down in this quarter of Africa, there’s no purer and more picturesque a sight. The air gets cooler. The sky shifts from a burnt red to a cobalt blue and then pitch black. And millions of stars fill up the sky like you’ve never seen back in the big smoke. By the time the sun officially set, we had arrived at Kichwa Tembo camp: to more singing; more smiling; more drinking; more of everything. Unlike average threeor four-star campsites, everything is a lot grander at Kichwa. The tented suites are huge. The smorgasbord of food is lavishly laid-out. The space between residences is massive. And the vistas from every angle seem endless… GAME DRIVING: THE BIG REASON YOU’RE HERE Kichwa Tembo provides professionally executed, top-tier game drives, led by only the best rangers in the business. Most drives are conducted in semi-open 4WD vehicles with a maximum of six people per truck, and while it’s not wise to have your limbs sticking out of one of these Jeeps, it’s good to know there’s plenty of room to move. On our first morning, I met with my travelling guest – a journo from The West Australian – for our first game drive of the week. Only a couple of hundred metres away from the campsite and already we were spotting herds of elephants, prides of lions, armies of warthogs, and families of towering giraffes. To think... this was only day one and already the wildlife was running rife. Our guide, the gorgeous Lucy, spotted a lone baby antelope that looked lost, so we followed it alongside the veld until it encontered a dazzle of zebra to temporarily call its ‘family’. Sure enough, the mother zebra began licking the antelope down and treating it like one of her own. So touching a scene, I’m sure it would have triggered a tear or two even in David Attenborough. Now, if you’re a safari first-timer – here’s a tip: if you’re wanting to take photographs of your adventure (which I’m sure you would) be sure to bring along a digital camera, not
an old-school SLR. While the results with an SLR might be all rustic and arty, the hardware will certainly weigh you down. You want something simple you can point and shoot with. Even a Panasonic Lumix – a steal at around $300 – does a brilliant job at taking wildlife action pics. And don’t get too caught up with capturing that ‘perfect shot’. Just snap away when you’ve got decent enough framing and composition, and take care of the editing later. Don't waste your experience staring for the full time at animals through the lens of a camera. It’s. Just. Not. The. Same. You want to see the wildlife close up and in the flesh; not through a lens for the entire trip. OH, THE THINGS YOU’LL LEARN! Kichwa Tembo, like most lodges, offers twice-daily game drives, the first at dawn (up at 4.30am for coffee at 5am, followed by a four-hour morning drive); the second at dusk (afternoon tea at 5pm followed by awesome creature-spotting as the sun sets).
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TRAVEL - INTERNATIONAL In the mornings, most of the mammals are only just getting it together themselves. To see a group of six or seven giraffes (or a ‘journey’ of giraffes, as they’re biologically referred to) poking their heads out of a clump of trees and munching on a breakfast of acacia leaves is a stunning sight... To then see their babies dawdling out from under said trees, occasionally looking for a mother’s leg to lean on, is an absolutely awe-inspiring one. By about lunchtime and in the afternoons, it seems the animals get a lot cheekier, depending of course on their population per region. In Kenya and Tanzania, for example, the hyena tend to travel in pairs and do a lot of lazing about in water holes. In South Africa, closer to the border of Botswana, you might otherwise find packs of painted dogs causing more chaos than a gang of lions. Once, on a ga me d r ive of fered by &Beyond near the Botswana/South Africa border, I found myself in a semi-open vehicle surrounded by a pack of 15 painted dogs who’d just pulled apart an impala (another relative of the antelope) and were busy ripping pieces out of venison out of one other’s mouths, all the while whirling around and around. Creating a kind of vortex around us, and delivering half-yelping sounds with their mouths half-full, they actually sounded in culmination like a flock of screeching birds (and indeed looked like one as their whirling picked up speed). If our ranger hadn’t told us these were “easy-going creatures that don’t harm humans” I’d have thought I was in the scene of one very scary Cujo-like movie – with a bit of Roadrunner/Coyote animation thrown in for good measure. The great thing about having a fulltime ranger with you is that he or she is so full of National Geographic-type titbits of information, you’ll wonder why they aren’t editing said magazines. If it wasn’t for these amazing game drives, I don’t think I’d ever have discovered, for example, that zebras congregate regularly so that their combined stripes dazzle and confuse their predators (or in fact that a group of zebras is actually referred to as a ‘dazzle’); that giraffes sleep only two hours per night, the least of any mammal; that lions often refuse to eat an entire kill, preferring to let it be finished off by other predators like hyenas and vultures; and that elephants spend up to 16 hours a day eating. Discovering this kind of information while seeing a lot of the action take place is an experience you’ll treasure forever. Photographs in geography books and narration on documentary programs only tell you the half of it. Being in the thick of it, in the heart of the jungle – now that’s the real thing.
LUXURY CAMPING IS DEFINITELY WHERE IT’S AT The wildlife sightings on any safari are enough to satisfy even the most ardent traveller. After two game drives a day, you’re usually so tired that even a flat rock would seem like a comfortable option for a bed. But if you’d prefer to experience the most luxurious level there is in camping, look no further than Bateleur Camp, the sister site to Kichwa Tembo. Yep, she is the more paired-back, stylish, posher big sister. Set among the forests on the edge of the Masai Mara, each elegant tent at Bateleur replicates the style and glamour of a vintage Africa. A palette of hardwood floors, polished silver and sparkling crystal is juxtaposed against the romance of the open Mara plains with their abundant herds of wildlife. Bateleur – whose name comes from the broad-shouldered African bird who serves as &Beyond’s logo – is exclusive and intimate, providing the ultimate in personalised service. Your own butler will see that everything is taken care of, from your dining preferences to your laundry services, game drive itineraries to tips of where best to pick up Wi-Fi. By about midday, it’s only fair to treat yourself to an in-room massage with the lodge’s in-house therapist using only natural oils to sooth muscles after a busy morning of safari-ing. You’ll feel revved up and ready to jump on the vehicle for another game drive come afternoon, for sure. While breakfast, lunch and dinner in any &Beyond establishment sees guests dining like kings, Bateleur places a particularly fussy focus on quality cuisine. Breakfast alone is an array of cold continental options
THE BIG FIVE & COUNTLESS LITTLE CRITTERS East Africa has a rich biodiversity of mammals, including ‘The Big Five’. These are the African Lion, African Elephant, Cape Buffalo, African Leopard, and White or Black Rhinoceros. Kenya and Tanzania are also excellent for bird-watching with over 570 species of birds sighted in the Masai Mara area alone, including of course the majestic Bateleur, the bird that lends itself to &Beyond’s logo.
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WHAT TO PACK FOR THE BEST SAFARI EXPERIENCE Light cotton trousers Cotton shorts Light cotton shirts (long and short sleeved) Comfortable walking shoes Sandals Waterproof rain jacket / windbreaker Sunhat Fleece jacket (it can get cold at night) Gloves, beanie and scarf (for winter only) Bathing suit Insect repellent (one that is particularly high in DEET) Suntan lotion (one high in SPF) Camera (digital preferred so that you’re not fussing about) Binoculars Sunglasses And, go on, a pit helmet if you must… acknowledgements: antonino would like to thank the following people for an amazing safari experience - maggie at kichwa/bateleur, joshua + francis in the garden at kichwa, james the chef, stephen our trusty barman, our guide lucy, chefs elia + joachim at serengeti under canvas, chef jonesta at grumeti, nosim for the marvellous massage, our host donald, our guide waseri, and all the fantastic butlers. asante sana!
and delectable a la carte. If you’re lucky, while indulging in your big brekkie, you’ll spot baby bucks just only metres away under the trees. The exceptional food at Bateleur, along with the culinary delights of Kichwa, are expertly prepared by chefs who literally operate from paddock to plate. Just behind the Kichwa camp, in fact, is a massive garden where everything from stone fruit to root vegetables are harvested. If you ask nicely, you might be given a tour of the garden and get to meet the talented folk behind the glorious cuisine. Oh, and you’ve got to try at least one bush breakfast for the real deal in safari dining. SE R ENGET I U N DE R CA N VA S: A MOV I NG E X PER I ENCE , QU I T E LITERALLY Back in the old days, rich white folk who would visit Africa regularly went on ‘mobile safari’ – effectively making it possible to follow the Great Migration. That is, they would literally move from camp to camp, having their tents, beds and the rest of their belongings lifted and carried by strong African locals. Today, the moving experience is a little easier, thanks to trucks with wheels in place of heat-inflected camels, but the excitement of being a part of a camp that’s forever ‘on the move’ still exists. During this trip, we had the pleasure of experiencing Serengeti Under Canvas, a luxurious semi-permanent tented camp that literally moves around the Serengeti, bringing guests within closer range of the massive herds. Ju s t a shor t f l ig ht f rom Kenya to Tanzania, it’s like landing some place far
further than it actually is. Indeed the vast Serengeti plains are very different in landscape to the more fertile Masai plains. And the experience is as different to traditional tented camping as can get – including dining under the stars, his and hers hot showers where buckets of boiled water are used in place of plumbing, and very, very big pop-up tents decorated with practical furnishing and the odd bit of excessive decor (I had a chandelier in mine!). While we missed out on seeing the Great Migration, our Under Canvas experience nonetheless provided a cool change of environment. Suffice to say, our nights were filled with excellent conversation around a campfire, and some the best bush tucker we’ve eaten.
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TRAVEL - INTERNATIONAL THE GLAMOUR OF GRUMETI Moving back to more traditional luxury camping again, we spent our last nights in Tanzania at the very glamorous Grumeti Serengeti Tented Camp – home to exceptional year-round resident wildlife. The design of the accommodation here pays the greatest homage we’ve seen yet to an Africa of yesteryear, with each tented suite decked out in furnishings of natural, locally-sourced material. Each suite features a lounge quarter, massive double bed, his and her wardrobes (complete with pairs of Welly boots), twin-basins, vanity mirror, flush-toilet, and outdoor shower. The look of the tented suites is one of authentic rusticity, right down to the detail. Woven copper screens serve well to keep out the occasional mozzie, while even the door knobs play practically with traditional African motifs: carvings of shield shapes that literally act as locks; comfy cushions with hippo patchwork paying homage to the laughing hippo in the lake just metres away. They say that a certain ‘soulfulness’ can be sensed when visiting such rural regions of Africa as Grumeti, and the definitive sense of security and positive energy that breezes through this particular lodge is testament to this. Fancying myself a bit of a scribe, when planning for travel I tend to not do much research before visiting a particularly exotic area, preferring instead to be surprised and to enjoy my discovering there and then on said terra. And I must say, laying on a deckchair, sipping black tea, while flicking through the pages of a comprehensive book on ornithology while dozens of brightly-hued birds are chirping away in front of you is an utterly magical experience: beautiful enough to tempt you to take up bird-watching as a fulltime job. Suffice to say: if you haven’t been on a safari yet, don’t wait till you reach the ‘bucket list’ age, for you could be too old to take in all the excitement then. Get onto it now. And be sure to make either side of the Masai Mara / Serengeti border your first stop! ▪ &BEYOND IS ONE OF THE WORLD’S LEADING LUXURY ECOTOURISM COMPANIES, PROVIDING FIRSTCLASS EXPERIENCES FOR TRAVELLERS INCLUDING ALL-INCLUSIVE SAFARIS. THEY OWN AND OPERATE MORE THAN 50 LODGES AND CAMPS IN BREATHTAKING PARTS OF AFRICA AND INDIA INCLUDING THOSE REFERENCED IN THIS STORY. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THEIR VARIOUS SAFARI PACKAGES VISIT ANDBEYOND.COM, EMAIL SAFARIS@ANDBEYOND.COM OR PHONE +27 (0) 11 809 4441.
FIVE MUST-DOS IN THE MASAI MARA & SERENGETI 01. Game driving (of course!). 02. Bush walking along the Mara River or the Oloololo Escarpment. 03. Early morning hot air ballooning; seeing the balloon cross the Kenyan-Tanzanian border. 04. Catching sight of the Great Migration. 05. Visiting a local village or primary school and learning about their progress; perhaps even shopping at the local markets.
GETTING THERE Air Mauritius flies to Nairobi, Kenya via Mauritius. For package deals, including overnight stays in Mauritius on your way to East Africa, visit airmauritius.com. facebook.com/andBeyondSafaris twitter.com/andBeyondSafari youtube.com/AndBeyondAfrica instagram.com/andBeyond Safari
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ONE NIGHT IN NAIROBI… A fter an adventurous safari, it’s a good idea to break up your trip home with an overnight stay in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. This will help you ‘ween’ off that jungle buzz – Nairobi being a kind of urban jungle in itself – while offering some vital relaxation or recreation. On the ride from the airport to the innercity, it’s not surprising to witness cattle ‘hanging out’ on the side of the freeway – cows minding their own business, probably having just strayed from country to city – the rural areas of Kenya not being too far from the capital. You might even find the occasional giraffe poking its head into your hotel window – that is if you check yourself into the Giraffe Manor. Here, after you’ve been welcomed by staff, you’ll be entertained by a giraffe or three who’ll casually pass by your window to see that you’re settling in alright. They might even steal a bit of your bacon at breakfast! aesthetic – you can’t go past Hemingways in the heart of the famed suburb of Karen. The suburb itself was named after Karen von Blixen, the Danish author who was famous for her memoir of travels in Kenya Out Of Africa (later made into a movie starring Meryl Streep as Karen). The suburb is superbly kempt with spectacular gardens and impressive colonial architecture. Hemingways sits in the heart of Karen, between Nairobi National Park and the foot of the Ngong Hills. There’s a definite tranquillity when you step foot in this magical place, whose name borrows the moniker of another famous author, Ernest Hemingway, and, in keeping with the literature theme, whose rooms are each named after a famous writer. If I recall correctly, I stayed in the F. Scott Fitzgerald suite which, like all 45 rooms here, faces the amazing gardens. Speaking of gorgeous gardens, if you’ve got a bit of time, you could take a tour of Karen von Blixen’s house around the corner, which has been turned into a museum and is well worth a visit. Or take an exhilarating trip to Nairobi National Park to see buffalo, giraffe, lion, leopard, baboon, zebra, wildebeest, rhino and cheetah – just in case you haven’t had enough impressive sightings on your recent safari.
one of the biggest bathrooms I’ve been in. There are his and her vanities, a standalone shower, standalone bathtub (with claws like in the good ole days), and a wardrobe that has its own his and her shoe drawers. The smallest room at Hemingways is 80 square metres, so you know the space is generous here. The rooms are plush and boast a rustic-meets-postmodern design. A huge mural of ‘touristy’ Kenya greets you upon entering your suite, and there are classic touches with a contemporary twist – such as a huge plasma screen TV that pops out of a vintage Louis Vuittonstyle trunk.
The hotel – a converted manor house from the 1930s – is quaint in style; in fact it looks like a hunting lodge of yesteryear, all brownstone and big windows. Giraffe Manor is so quaint, there are no televisions in the rooms and, since it’s further from the city than most transit hotels, guests get an opportunity to get to know other guests and swap safari stories, should they be so inclined.
For a transit hotel on the other end of the star-scale – one with an entirely grander
We visited the Nairobi Nursery, set up by the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, where rescued orphaned elephants are raised and well looked after. The nursery offers a secure base for the bubbas and invites visitors to ‘adopt’ a baby elephant of their own. I adopted a real cutie named Dupotto and was given a certificate and photograph to keep, as well as the option to re-adopt Dupotto annually. After our afternoon with Dupotto and Co, we set off to a shopping plaza in town to stock up on Masai blankets. I think I came home with about 20 – half of which I intended to keep myself (suffice to say, my house is now very colourful). Upon return to Hemingways, it was great to just lounge in the suite after a shower in
I did find the hardwood floors here a bit slippery, mind, so just be sure to take your socks off when chilling out in your room. After some R&R and freshening up, I met up with the hotel’s manager Mark Wheeler for dinner – a genuinely charming guy and excellent conversationalist. The hotel restaurant’s menu is extensive but I’d heard the sirloin from their specially fitted Josper oven is a must-try and so had to try it while I was here. Even the décor of the main restaurant at Hemingways has tongue firmly planted in cheek, with a bright yellow mural emblazoned with famous quotes relevant to East Africa, and a giant statue of an Academy Award posited right next to a poster of the film Out Of Africa. One thing is for sure: you know you are definitely in one of the finest quarters of Africa when staying at such a beautiful hotel as Hemingways. ▪ Antonino Tati Hemingways is situated 146 Mbagathi Ridge, Karen, Nairobi. For bookings and enquiries visit hemingways-nairobi.com. For information on how to adopt an elephant via the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust visit sheldrickwildlifetrust.org. air mauritius flies to nairobi via mauritius. for package deals visit airmauritius.com. www.rockcandymagazine.com.au | 81
Money Matters
MINING YOUR OWN BUSINESS
W
elcome to the very first finance column in Rock Candy. I’m Jay Harrison, and each issue I’ll be presenting you with the latest news and wisest moves in finance. I know this might mean getting your hands dirty with numbers, but I promise I’ll try and make it as exciting as I can for you! My fulltime job is as Managing Director of FIFO Finance Group (FFG), a finance broking firm that erupted from the diesel and dust with a mission to help out those seeking finance, but are too busy caught in the daily mining hustle to want to deal with banks and their annoying rigmarole. After four years of working in both an exploration and production environment, purchasing my own investment properties, finding tenants, moving homes, buying cars, and so on, I can fairly say I know a lot about finances and broking. Indeed, the topic of my first article is why you should use a broker. With literally hundreds of different 82 | April-May 2015
loan products available, it can be difficult to know which product is the best for your needs without walking into each different bank and listening to them preach about their products. That’s where brokers come in. We shop around for a loan that’s right for you and your circumstances. You could be looking to re-finance, buying your first home, building your investments, or looking for a commercial finance product. As brokers we have access to over 1,350 different loan products including bad credit, and we stay up-to-date with the forever-changing market. Think inductions are bad? Wait until you see the paperwork we have to deal with… Your process begins with a quick phone call to your broker, followed by a few questions about your financial situation, what you need out of this loan product, and when you need it. It’s from here that you might have to provide us with a few supporting documents such as 100 points of identification, bank statements, loan statements,
pay slips etc. It’s always good to be prepared with these before you fly out to site. Once we present you with a few suitable products, you choose which one best suits you and we apply for the loan. Brokers will walk you through the process, get a couple of autographs from you, congratulate you when you’re approved, and sometimes even show up on your doorstep with a few congratulatory beers at your new house. In my next column, you’ll find out why it’s a great time to re-finance your current mortgages, learn about some of the best products on the market, and how you can end up with more money in your pocket at the end of each month. If you’d like to learn about it sooner, get in touch! ▪
Jay Harrison Managing Director FFG P: 1800 776 849 E: contact@fifofinancegroup.com.au