ISSUE NO. 698 FEBRUARY 1, 2017
FREE Now picked up at over 1,600 places across Sydney and surrounds. thebrag.com
MUSIC, FILM, COMEDY + MORE
INSIDE This Week
M A R T H A WA IN W R IGH T
Making her way to Twilight At Taronga this March.
OPE T H
Branching out from the aggression of their earlier work.
X AV IER RUDD
Joining The Cat Empire on the road less travelled.
T HE F U T UR E OF F OOD
How eating bugs could save the world.
Plus
T HE MEN Z INGER S OCE A N GROV E E A R T H F R E Q UE NC Y NEIL H A MBURGER A ND MUCH MOR E
SAMPHA
AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND TOUR 2017
TUESDAY 4TH APRIL ENMORE THEATRE, SYDNEY Tickets and information available at alterbridge.com | mjrpresents.com
New album The Last Hero out now!
My Queer Career
A Winter’s Colour
THU 23 FEB 6:30PM EVENT CINEMAS GEORGE ST Queer Screen’s My Queer Career is Australia’s largest LGBTIQ film prize. At this year’s festival ten fantastic films compete for a prize pool of over $12,000 in cash and support.
MON 20 FEB 7:00PM EVENT CINEMAS GEORGE ST Arty, Argentinian teen Lucía is struggling to find herself and happiness in a seemingly straight world. It’s not until her dreamy romance with Olivia begins that her emotional journey comes to completion.
The Nest
Girl on Girl
FRI 24 FEB 9:00PM EVENT CINEMAS GEORGE ST This TV series begins as the search for an estranged brother, but quickly becomes an exploration of a young man’s queer identity thanks to his new friends, a group of queer punks.
THU 2 MAR 7:00PM EVENT CINEMAS GEORGE ST After decades of being the mainstay of mainstream porn, but feeling invisible in both LGBTIQ and straight spaces, feminine lesbians finally get the spotlight and tell their stories in Jodi Savitz’s documentary.
Real Boy
One Night Two Days
TUE 28 FEB 7:30PM EVENT CINEMAS GEORGE ST Bennett’s transition to become a man coincides with his entrance to adulthood. While he grows in confidence, his family must accept his burgeoning identity and ideals, whether they agree or not.
TUE 21 FEB 8:30PM EVENT CINEMAS GEORGE ST This moving trilogy from Korean director premieres in Australia. Each film explores the challenges gay men face in conservative South Korea from different angles, but all with lyrical beauty and poignancy.
FEB 15 – MAR 2 2017
Full program out now queerscreen.org.au
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the BRAG presents
welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... with Nathan Jolly, Tyler Jenke and Joseph Earp
TURIN BRAKES Newtown Social Club Monday April 10
speed date WITH
TREVOR HALL
Keeping Busy We’re always on 2. the move around the
place, getting to see more and more of our great country every week. Work has begun on Dallas Crane album number six.
3.
auto cruising through rock’n’roll’s parsecs looking for like-minded
life companions to swipe right.
MILES ELECTRIC BAND
Coltrane – Ballads, Aerosmith – Toys In The Attic, to name a few.
Enmore Theatre Thursday April 13
Your Ultimate Rider 5. We used to have a
CORINNE BAILEY RAE
pretty stupid ‘taking the piss’ rider to see who’d actually go out and fi nd it. It had everything on there from cotton socks and a gram of pot to ridiculously hard-tofi nd bottles of vintagespecifi c wine. We were never too fussed as long as we didn’t go thirsty before or after the show.
Current Playlist Right now, Tame Impala – Currents, Maxayn – Maxayn, John
4.
Metro Theatre Sunday April 16
NIKKI HILL
Newtown Social Club Monday April 17
THE STRUMBELLAS Oxford Art Factory Monday April 17
With: Draught Dodgers (feat. Tim Rogers) Where: Captain Cook Hotel When: Saturday February 11
ST PAUL AND THE BROKEN BONES Metro Theatre Wednesday April 19
The Shires
All Time Low
PRINT & DIGITAL EDITOR: Chris Martin chris.martin@seventhstreet.media SUB-EDITOR: Joseph Earp STAFF WRITERS: Nathan Jolly, Adam Norris, Augustus Welby NEWS: Harriet Flitcroft, Tyler Jenke, Brandon John, Nathan Jolly, Ben Rochlin ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant COVER PHOTO: Jamie-James Medina PHOTOGRAPHER: Ashley Mar ADVERTISING: Tony Pecotic - 0425 237 974 tony.pecotic@seventhstreet.media PUBLISHER: Seventh Street Media CEO, SEVENTH STREET MEDIA: Luke Girgis - luke.girgis@seventhstreet.media MANAGING EDITOR: Poppy Reid poppy.reid@seventhstreet.media GIG GUIDE: gigguide@thebrag.com AWESOME INTERNS: Anna Wilson, Harriet Flitcroft, David Burley, Ben Rochlin REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Nat Amat, Arca Bayburt, Chelsea Deeley, Christie Eliezer, Matthew Galea, Emily Gibb, Jennifer Hoddinett, Sarah Little, Emily Meller, David Molloy, Annie Murney, Adam Norris, George Nott, Daniel Prior, Tegan Reeves, Natalie Rogers, Erin Rooney, Spencer Scott, Natalie Salvo, Leonardo Silvestrini, Jade Smith, Aaron Streatfeild, Jessica Westcott, Rod Whitfi eld, Anna Wilson, Stephanie Yip, David James Young Please send mail NOT ACCOUNTS direct to this NEW address Level 2, 9-13 Bibby St, Chiswick NSW 2046 EDITORIAL POLICY: The views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher, editors or staff of the BRAG. ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE: Carrie Huang - accounts@seventhstreet.vc (02) 9713 9269 Level 2, 9-13 Bibby St, Chiswick NSW 2046 DEADLINES: Editorial: Friday 12pm (no extensions) Ad bookings: Friday 5pm (no extensions) Fishished art: No later than 2pm Monday Ad cancellations: Friday 4pm Deadlines are strictly adhered to. Published by Seventh Street Media Pty Ltd All content copyrighted to Seventh Street Media 2017 DISTRIBUTION: Wanna get the BRAG? Email george.sleiman@ seventhstreet.media PRINTED BY SPOTPRESS: spotpress.com.au 24 – 26 Lilian Fowler Place, Marrickville NSW 2204 follow us:
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A LOW BLOW DON’T CALL ME SHIRE-LY
Though they might not be household names in Australia, The Shires are a certified big deal over in the UK, thanks largely to their incredibly well received single ‘My Universe’. Now the group – a two-piece made up of musicians Ben Earle and Crissie Rhodes – are heading our way, bringing with them two poppy albums’ worth of material and an admirable work ethic. They’re playing The Basement on Tuesday March 28, so make sure you don’t miss ’em.
LOVING THE MAIL-IEN
David Bowie will become the first individual cultural figure to receive his own series of Royal Mail stamps, with news that a series of ten featuring the Thin White Duke will be available soon. Six of the stamps honour his eclectic musical output, featuring the album covers of Hunky Dory, Aladdin Sane, Heroes, Let’s Dance, Earthling and Blackstar. The other four focus on crucial tours: 1973’s Ziggy Stardust Tour, 1978’s Stage Tour, 1983’s Serious Moonlight Tour, and 2004’s A Reality Tour. The only other musicians with British stamps are Pink Floyd and The Beatles.
GRUNGE ON GRUNGE
We got news back in December that Pearl Jam were going to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame this year, but we’ve now discovered how big that induction is going to
WE’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER TOUR
All Time Low were a constant staple on Soundwave stages for years, so with the demise of the festival, fans were wondering when they would see the band again. But they need not fear any longer, for All Time Low are coming back to Australia year. Taking to Facebook, the group announced “Hey Australia… it’s been too long. Let’s fix that; see you in May,” much to the delight of their innumerable followers. Sweetening the deal for fans, they’ve announced Welsh rockers Neck Deep and US alternative band The Maine as their supports, with both acts appearing in Australia for the first time in two years. Together they hit the Hordern Pavilion on Saturday May 13.
be. Alongside other musical visionaries such as Journey, Yes, ELO, Joan Baez, and Tupac Shakur, Pearl Jam are one of the most publicised names set to be welcomed into the Hall Of Fame this April. Progressive rock heroes Rush are set to induct their English contemporaries Yes, Jackson Browne has been tapped to induct folk hero Baez, and now living legend Neil Young has been asked to induct friends and collaborators, Pearl Jam.
THE CHAINS ARE ON
Alice In Chains are working on a new album, bassist Mike Inez has confirmed. During an otherwise uninteresting interview for guitar makers Framus & Warwick, Inez revealed that the band began to record a sixth studio album last month. “Today is actually our first day [recording] and I’m already late, ’cause
I’m here talking to you, so it shows you how professional we still are,” he said. Prepare thyselves – sounds like this one is gonna be a winner.
A QUEEN RETURNS
This March and April will see the Australian return of former Queens of the Stone Age and Kyuss bassist, and now frontman of Mondo Generator, Nick Oliveri. Making his way to Australia as part of Brisbane’s Mojo Burning Festival on Saturday March 25, the divisive figure will also be making his way across the country for a seven-date Death Acoustic solo tour in support of his new chunk of vinyl, N.O Hits At All, Vol. 1. Whether he’ll keep his clothes on for this one and behave himself is anyone’s guess, but if you want to catch him in action, check out his Frankie’s Pizza show on Thursday March 23.
Amy Shark
You’ve got to hand it to Amy Shark: she sure knows when to drop a tour announcement. Shortly after hitting the Hottest 100’s number two spot with her anthemic banger ‘Adore’, Shark announced a nationwide run of shows. It’s safe to describe the young performer as a star in the making: a mere year ago she was an unknown quantity, and now she’s topping charts and garnering awards. Check her out when she hits the sadly set to close Newtown Social Club on Saturday March 18.
THE BRAG
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The Strumbellas photo by Josh Goldman
Best Gig Ever It’s hard to isolate one, but being the band that played just before the Dirty Three’s famous ‘lightning set’ at Meredith Music Festival was pretty special. Worst gig ever goes back a fair way but is generally defi ned by more staff than punters being in the audience! Your Profi le We are a well 1. built column shift
Newtown Social Club Wednesday April 12
DAVE LARKIN FROM DALLAS CRANE
St Paul and The Broken Bones photo by David McClister
music news
THU 2 - LEPERS & CROOKS + SWEET JELLY ROLLS
FRI 3 - CHASE CITY + RAINDROP
SUN 5 - CARIBBEAN SOUL
LEVEL 2, 75 THE CORSO, MANLY WWW.HOTELSTEYNE.COM.AU | FACEBOOK/HOTELSTEYNEMANLY | @MOONSHINEBARMANLY
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BRAG :: 698 :: 01:02:17 :: 5
live & local
free stuff
welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... with Brandon John, Nathan Jolly and Joseph Earp
WITH
xxx
speed date
head to: thebrag.com/freeshit
GEORGE George
ROSIE FITZGERALD FROM I KNOW LEOPARD
1.
Your Profile I Know Leopard. Just here to make friends. Keeping Busy We’ve just come off two weeks of recording for our album at Joyluck Studio in Melbourne. An interest in photography has recently sparked in me, which has been keeping the serotonin flowing. Todd has been DJing heavy metal at Frankie’s and juggling his multiple businesses.
2.
Jenny is constantly making appearances on high-profile friends’ projects and is singlehandedly keeping Sydney open with her astonishing attendance record at nearly every show put on in this damn city. Luke has been diving deep into writing while I annoy him with my questioning on the purpose of existing.
3.
Best Gig Ever Bigsound 2015. The stars
IT TAKES ONE
Camp Cope have extended their campaign against abuse and assault at gigs a little further, officially teaming up with Laneway Festival to promote safer spaces for music-goers. The festival has now set up a dedicated phone line to help anyone feeling unsafe, or anyone who witnesses something that may be making others feel unsafe – all you need to do is dial 1800 LANEWAY for assistance. Laneway hits Sydney College of the Arts this Saturday February 4.
TATTOO REMOVAL
35 years ago, it was not uncommon to be able to see three of Australia’s best live bands in one venue, often for less than the price of a beer. Although things have changed wildly since 1982, Rose Tattoo’s blistering live set from that era remains a visceral experience, so much so that the band has remastered a show from back then and will be releasing it as a live album, available from this Friday February 3 through Golden Robot Records. The 14-track album can be purchased at their upcoming support slot with Guns N’ Roses at ANZ Stadium on Friday February 10 and Saturday February 11.
WHAT DID THE FOX SAY?
Indie music event company Mikado has programmed its last lineup at the Newtown
aligned. We were in the middle of a tour with Gang Of Youths and the band was well-oiled and in the tone zone. The legend Karl Cash made our front of house mix sound like a sweet silk and butter blend. It was a juicy crowd too. All factors contributed to us feeling like the freshest of bois and girls and carrying out a virtually blemish-free show. We were all high as kites from joy. Current Playlist I’ve been loving Beyoncé, 4. Noname, Mild High Club, Buoy,
Amok and Childish Gambino’s new one. Todd’s loving Marching Church’s ‘Telling It Like It Is’ and Jenny has been tapping into Caribou’s catalogue. Luke has been loving Serge Gainsbourg and The Alan Parsons Project. As for gigs, we recently had a band
THUNDER DOWN UNDER
excursion to see Angel Olsen at the Opera House. It was the most exquisite set we had all seen in a long time. Beautifully restrained and dynamic at the same time. Your Ultimate Rider Our ultimate rider would 5. include a bunch of chill animals –
kittens, puppies, a wombat and a couple of rainbow lorikeets thrown in for good measure. Personal foot spas would be sick too. Do they still make them? Luke loves a pre-show chardy or a pinot gris which makes him a perky boi. I love me a whisky. Jen loves a burger or three. Toddy loves a VB and blasting some Cannibal Corpse to shake out the nerves. Where: Hudson Ballroom When: Friday February 10
Iconic Australian indie rockers George have come back in their 21st birthday year to play a show at Taronga Zoo as part of the Twilight At Taronga series. Forming in Brisbane in 1996, Katie and Tyron Noonan and their bandmates have a double platinum album under their belts, and won an ARIA for Best Breakthrough Artist in 2002. Their set at Taronga will be supported by the frontman of The Cat Empire, Felix Riebl, and Jack Carty’s acoustic beauty. For the chance to win one of two double passes to the show on Friday February 17, pop on over to thebrag.com/freeshit.
Thunder
London hard-rock five-piece Thunder are set to play their first Australian dates in their 28-year career this March. Beginning in 1989, Thunder have been a solid heavy metal attraction in their homeland, securing a respected reputation among fans. After breakups and reformations, Thunder are finally bringing the storm to the Factory Theatre on Tuesday March 7. Strap yourself in, folks: there is some heavy weather on the horizon.
institution Slyfox. The final Live At The Sly has been announced after two years of the venue hosting some of the finest bills in town. The send-off party will feature groovy Inner West six-piece Midnight Tea Party, Portuguese-born indie-pop talent Inês, and the eclectic, hard-todefine La Tarantella. Rounding out the list are Fat Yahoozah, who combine Balkan, ska and Afrobeat in their songs. The evening is made even better with a zero-dollar price tag on entry. Artists who have been featured in past Live At The Sly gigs include Phantastic Ferniture, Sampa The Great, Wallace and Project Collective Ska. Live At The Sly says goodbye on Thursday February 16, and the party starts at 8pm.
GO FOR GOMA
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever
Japanese artist/musician/didgeridoo player Goma has announced a one-night-only Sydney show this February. Goma (real name Hiroki Morimoto) discovered his love of the didge in 1994, and it helped him recover from a near-fatal car accident in 2009. As a result of that accident, he suffered amnesia, and to recover, he used art and the didgeridoo as a form of therapy. Goma will perform at the Australian Institute of Music’s John Painter Hall on Saturday February 25. Entry is free.
OFNER FAMILY HONOURED
It’s been a tragic week in Australian music following the death of professional stuntman Johann Ofner on the set of a Bliss N Eso music video, but it’s heartening to see an outpouring of support from the community in an effort to aid the family he leaves behind. At the time of writing, two separate crowdfunding campaigns have raised over $60,000, a mammoth effort from those shaken by the untimely passing. The precise cause of death is still unknown, but was related to the discharging of a firearm loaded with blanks on the set of the video. One campaign amassed over $35,000 of its $50,000 goal in a single day, with the money to be placed in a trust for Ofner’s daughter Kyarna. Visit gofundme.com to help.
BLACKOUT FOR THE CLUB
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Thunder photo by Jason Joyce
Newtown Social Club might be shutting its doors, but it’s not going to do so without first lining up some truly incredible Australian gigs. Case in point: Melbourne legends Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever have announced they will take to the NSC stage to promote their brand new EP. The celebrated lo-fi louts have forged themselves a sturdy reputation over the last little while, serving as the support for a host of international acts and releasing titanic single after titanic single. They play Sydney on Saturday April 22.
Industrial Strength Music Industry News with Christie Eliezer
Lifelines Dating: Iggy Azalea and music producer LJay Currie, after being spotted on vacation in Mexico. Injured: KISS’ Paul Stanley suffered a concussion while skiing. Charged: Soulja Boy with felony weapons violations stemming from a police search of his home last month that found an assault weapon and a stolen police handgun. He pleaded not guilty. In Court: sexual harassment claims against Robbie Williams and wife Ayda Field were thrown out of court. Field’s former PA claimed she made unwanted advances against him. He had been fired three months into his job. Arrested: Chief Keef, reportedly for the alleged robbery and assault of music producer Ramsay Tha Great, after the latter claimed the rapper and a friend invaded his home and stole money, a ring and a Rolex. In Court: ‘Blurred Lines’ singer Robin Thicke has been ordered to stay away from his ex-wife, actress Paula Patton, after she claimed that over the course of their married life he emotionally abused her, kicked her, played around and had a substance abuse problem. In Court: Chicago man Edward Majerczyk, 29, was jailed for nine months for hacking the electronic accounts of 30 celebrities and stealing private information, including nude videos and photos. Sued: Apple for using Jamie xx’s song ‘I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)’ for a TV ad for the iPhone 6. The suit was filed by a member of ’70s soul band The Persuasions, whose song ‘Good Times’ was sampled on the Jamie xx song. Died: Allman Brothers Band drummer Butch Trucks, 69, who shot himself in front of his wife at his home in Florida, allegedly over money problems. Died: Pete Overend Watts, 69, of British band Mott The Hoople. Died: Jaki Liebezeit, drummer with pioneering German prog rock band Can, in his sleep “from sudden pneumonia”. Died: Ronald Mundy, 76, of ’60s US doo wop band The Marcels, from pneumonia. After hits with ‘Blue Moon’, ‘Summertime’ and ‘Heartaches’, he left to become a bus driver.
THINGS WE HEAR • Following a study that found dogs are partial to reggae, soft pop and Motown, will Australian kennels start piping in poochfriendly music, as has happened in the UK? • Have Jamiroquai bypassed Australia on their upcoming world tour? • Is the Northern Territory Government still planning to
introduce lockout laws in Darwin? • After Madonna’s comment at the Women’s March on Washington before 500,000 that she had thought “an awful lot about blowing up the White House”, a Republican politician wanted her arrested while radio station HITS 105 in Texarkana, Texas banned her music “indefinitely”. • In the same week that Jimmy Barnes got an Order of Australia, he received his first theatrical award, winning Best Cabaret Production in
ten included Deezer, Rhapsody, Xbox Music, Amazon, Tidal and Telecom Italia. At the same time, another study, The Brand Keys’ 2017 Customer Loyalty Engagement Index, showed Apple delivered the best customer experience in the 16-65 age group in every single category, including streaming. The survey took in 49,168 consumers.
DEADLINE FOR ART MUSIC FUND
The deadline to apply for the APRA AMCOS Art Music Fund is Tuesday February 21. The fund offers grants totalling $10,000 for Australian and New Zealand composers to create new commissioned works, with a view to garnering them international audiences. Launching last year, the first round favoured new and established talent, with 45% of funding awarded to women. Erkki Veltheim’s funded work The Ganzfeld Experiment premieres in Finland this month. Apply at apraamcos.com. au/artmusicfund.
U2 TOUR SELLS 1.1M TICKETS IN 24 HOURS
U2 have sold a staggering 1.1 million tickets in 24 hours for their 30th anniversary global tour of The Joshua Tree. The trek kicks off on Friday May 12 in Vancouver before hitting the US and Europe, and features openers Mumford & Sons, OneRepublic and The Lumineers in North America and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds in Europe. The ticket seating plan is shaped in the pattern of a Joshua tree.
UK RESELLER SITE TWICKETS COMING TO AUSTRALIA
UK reseller site Twickets is setting up in Australia, with an office in Melbourne set to open in autumn. The company is sending out one of its British executives, Danny Hannaford, to run the Australian and New Zealand operations. Twickets is an official reseller site that ensures the resale happens at the right price and without fraud. 50 people were recently turned away from a UB40 show in Fremantle when they arrived with tickets bought from unauthorised resale sites.
MATTY WOO JOINS MACRO MUSIC Artist and event manager and promoter Matty
the Sydney Theatre Awards for Working Class Boy: An Evening Of Stories + Songs. • Over half a million George Michael records were sold in the month after his death. • A man has died at Victoria’s Rainbow Serpent festival, while of the 9,600 who attended the nine-hour Electric Gardens in Centennial Park, 140 got nabbed for drugs. • The Queensland Government has struck a deal with its venues: there will be no introduction of the 1am lockout
Woo has joined Ross Macpherson and Rowan Robinson’s Macro Music. He’s brought over his roster of managed acts, including Dune Rats, Gooch Palms, Kid Mac and Mookhi. Macro’s preexisting roster includes Ceres, Dead Letter Circus, Drapht, Seth Sentry and Xavier Rudd. “We reached out to Matty because he and his artists share the same values and ambitions that we do,” Macro said.
INERTIA MUSIC BOUGHT BY EUROPE’S [PIAS]
Sydney-based music sales, distribution and label services company Inertia Music has been acquired by European indie music company [PIAS]. Its 19 staff will remain, CEO Colin Daniels will maintain his role, and Inertia founders Ashley Sellers and Justin Cosby, who set it up in 2000 and turned it into a reported $15-million-a-year business, remain involved. [PIAS] CEO Kenny Gates said, “The combined offering of the [PIAS] network and Inertia’s expertise and experience will make a true difference for the independent community in Australia and New Zealand.”
PANDORA LEADS STREAMING WARS
Pandora’s stocks might be on a slide, but research company MusicWatch estimates that through 2016, it was the most-streamed service, boasting a 28% share of music listening. It was followed by YouTube at 27%. Spotify, the world’s biggest service with 40 million subscribers and 100 million active users, only made it to third with 17%. Apple Music boasted 4%. In terms of overall music listening, consumers seem to now prefer streaming from music and music video services (28%), with AM/FM radio at 24% while CDs, vinyl and digital downloads dropped to 23%.
NICHE SIGNS WINSTON SURFSHIRT
Niche Productions has signed the eclectic Winston Surfshirt, from Sydney’s Northern Beaches, to its artist roster. Fresh from a regional national tour with RÜFÜS, Winston Surfshirt are set to launch their new single ‘Be About You’ with an intimate one-off show at Newtown Social Club on Saturday March 25. The six-piece was originally the solo project
on Wednesday February 1 if they install mandatory ID scanners by mid-2017. • The Harold Park Hotel in Glebe had to scrap its six-yearold Sunday acoustic sessions in its courtyard after a single complaint by someone who moved in two weeks earlier, owner William Ryan said. • While Perth’s Saviour drove 3,500 kilometres to play the Unify festival in Victoria, Tassie band Saxon had a mere 20-minute drive for their set at Party In The Paddock.
of singer/producer/rapper Winston Surfshirt and gradually evolved into a musical collective, adopting artists and producers from across the country.
SYDNEY VINYL FACTORY OPENING IN JUNE
Sydney is set to get a new vinyl factory in June, the city’s first. Based in Marrickville, it will have the capacity to press three million records a year. Details are still sketchy until closer to launch date, though the manager is confirmed to be Vincent Chen, who worked in Germany as a mechanical engineer at hi-tech machinery manufacturers. Chen points out that Australian acts getting their products pressed locally will mean lower costs and smaller turnaround times. Other Australian vinyl plants include Paul Rigby’s Melbourne-based Zenith (which in 2013 moved to new specially built facilities in East Brunswick due to the demand and presses 450,000 a year) and Colin Forster’s Roundabout, which opened in Adelaide last year.
GABRIELLA COHEN LANDS US DEAL
Gabriella Cohen has signed to the Brooklynbased Captured Tracks. The deal is a global one, excluding Australia and New Zealand where she will remain on Dot Dash/Remote Control Records. Captured Tracks will this March reissue her debut album Full Closure And No Details, initially released early last year. This comes at a time when Cohen heads out for a set of international dates, including performances at South By Southwest in Texas and the Vida Festival in Spain, with more festival and club dates to be announced.
DESKS FOR EMERGING ARTIST MANAGERS
To help emerging independent artist managers, MusicNSW has introduced a new grants program for those with less than two years’ fulltime experience. It has been divided into two six-month rounds, to provide subsidised desk space. For eligibility criteria, go to musicnsw. com. MusicNSW says independent artist managers often work in isolation and with very little financial stability, takings risks and investing time and money at their own expense.
Newtown Social Club
Died: Lee ‘Q’ O’Denat, 43, founder of the WorldStarHipHop website, which posted videos, mixtapes and videos, and led to a lengthy copyright infringement battle with 50 Cent.
REPORT: APPLE MUSIC PAYS MORE ROYALTIES THAN SPOTIFY
According to media analyst Midia, global music streaming hit the 100.4 million subscriber mark last year, overtaking TV and movie’s biggest streamer, Netflix (which pulls 87.8 million subscribers). Spotify and Apple together account for 64% of subscribers, ranking 43 million and 20.9 million respectively. Deezer sits at 6.9 million, Napster at 4.5 million and Tidal at just over 1 million. According to artist rights blog The Trichordist, which sampled 115 million streams across ten services, Apple Music’s royalty rate to labels was the highest in 2016, with the service paying out an average of $0.00735 per song stream. It was almost double that of Spotify’s $0.00437 per stream figure. In third and fourth place were Google Play Music (with a rate of $0.00676 per stream) and YouTube (with a rate of $0.00069). The top ten streaming services account for 97.82% of all streams, and generate 99% of revenue. Other services listed in the
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NEWTOWN SOCIAL CLUB IS CLOSING
After three years of operation, Newtown Social Club on King Street will close its doors on Sunday April 23. Its operators said, “Whilst the live music part of the business was a resounding success, the current regulatory climate in Sydney and the inherent challenges therein have made it unsustainable. We look forward to exploring new opportunities in the future.” They’re going out with a bang, showing off a lineup of great acts – see newtownsocialclub.com for details.
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COVER STORY
SAMPHA
THE CREATIVE PROCESS BY DAVID JA MES YOUNG
A
fter several years of building up his profile, British neo-soul star Sampha Sisay – known mononymously as Sampha – is edging ever closer to releasing his debut LP. Entitled Process, it’s an album of neo-soul, late-night R&B and earnest vocal pop. Fans have been anticipating a full-length release from Sisay following a couple of EPs and some A-list guest features, which means it’s been a long time coming. And though it’s often said you get a lifetime to write
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your debut album, Sisay wanted Process to be a reflection on the man he is today, not who he once was. “It’s a documentation of probably the last couple of years of my life,” he begins, holding court at a back table in a busy Surry Hills cafe while on a whirlwind promo visit to Australia. “It’s my debut album, but I didn’t want to completely raid the vault and pull out songs from when I was 14 or whatever – not even
from when I was 21. I wanted to make sure it was mostly fresh ideas. When I’m writing, I’m really just trying to just pull whatever’s going on in my head up the well. It can be quite weighty, but it’s a much greater release and is so much more rewarding than just trying to keep it down. “I don’t necessarily write in the most traditional sense – I feel like I’ve always kind of been forced to write. I never really thought I was a wordy type of person, but something seems to
happen when I let myself go, just freestyling in that environment. You can really surprise yourself.” One such surprise came with ‘Blood On Me’, the album’s lead single, which was released back in August. Although originally written from a primarily fictional place – a dystopia of sorts – there are key lyrics from the song (“Grey hoodies / They cover their heads”; “I hear them coming for me”) that have hit a little too close
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‘Sinnerman’ – more than it ever was in regards to a social or political commentary. It’s definitely very interesting to see how the song has taken a life of its own.” He smirks, laughing to himself as he adds: “I can definitely see how the parallels were drawn – I mean, I could have just as easily said, ‘Yeah, that was all me…’” If you haven’t heard ‘Blood On Me’, there’s still a good chance you will have come across Sisay’s voice on some other key tracks from 2016. That’s him laying down the hook on Solange’s authoritative ‘Don’t Touch My Hair’, for instance, while he also turned up on Frank Ocean’s Endless cut ‘Alabama’, as well as Kanye West’s ‘Saint Pablo’. Throw in the likes of Drake, SBTRKT and Jessie Ware for good measure and you’ve got yourself one of the hottest collaborators in contemporary music. It begs the question as to what makes a great collaboration for Sisay – and the answer, he says, is not always so clear-cut. “For me, it’s interesting because it means I get to make music that I wouldn’t have made otherwise,” he says. “It’s a natural thing for me. As a vocalist, there’s always people wanting to work with you – other artists, session musos, everyone. Sometimes it’s quite refreshing when someone has a really different take on something. Other times, it can be a little frustrating – I remember working with this one producer whose style was really different to mine. His approach was really minimalist, and at the time I was trying to make songs with a really maximal approach. I was like, ‘Why isn’t there more stuff going on in this song?’ It’s all up in the air, really – it’s always a risk. You can have two really different people create something really complementary to one another, just as much as you can write with someone who is really similar and have nothing fruitful come of it. It’s all about perspective – a great collaborator will know how to alter yours and create something that’s challenging.” On the subject of collaborations, conversation turns to some of Sisay’s television appearances. In 2013, he sang and played piano on Drake’s emotional live performance of ‘Too Much’ on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, a song that itself is based on a Sampha original. Last year also saw Sisay appear alongside Solange on Saturday Night Live to perform the aforementioned ‘Don’t Touch My Hair’. When asked about the experience of performing on such notable shows in such grand company, Sisay’s response is surprisingly calm and muted.
“I REMEMBER WHEN THE DATES WERE BEING BOOKED, I SAW IT ON THE ITINERARY AND I COULDN’T BELIEVE IT – I MEAN, THE SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE? ‘THAT CAN’T BE RIGHT,’ I WAS SAYING.”
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“There’s a bit of nerves going into performances like that – I suppose it’s because you’re a lot more aware of what’s going on. At the same time, though, it feels kind of...” There’s a beat, as Sisay looks around the room; as if someone else in the cafe will know the word he’s searching for. He continues: “It’s weird. I guess it feels kind of fake – not least of all because you’re very aware of it being a TV set while you’re actually on it. They’re made to look a lot more grandiose than they actually are. It certainly doesn’t feel as though you’re standing in Wembley Stadium or anything like that. It takes a bit of the edge off when you see it up close – it feels a lot less spectacular, if that makes any sense. It’s a bit more of a mindfuck, if I’m honest. It’s like it’s playing tricks on you, y’know what I mean?” With Process finally set for release this week, Sisay has also booked in a national tour in support. In late May, Sisay and his five-piece band will be playing some hotly anticipated headlining shows – his first in Australia. Of particular interest is the Sydney Opera House, where he will take to the stage of the venue’s iconic Drama Theatre for two very special – and, naturally, very sold-out – performances.
to home in regards to the police shootings of unarmed black men in the US.
“I haven’t had a chance to properly go down there and take a look at it for myself,” he says of the world-famous landmark. “I do remember being here with SBTRKT in about 2012, and I saw it from where we were staying. So I’ve had a glimpse from afar, but I can’t wait to get down there and have a proper look around. I remember when the dates were being booked, I saw it on the itinerary and I couldn’t believe it – I mean, the Sydney Opera House? ‘That can’t be right,’ I was saying. We’ll be in one of the smaller rooms there, but it’s still mind-blowing to say I’m playing there.”
“If I’m being honest, the politics of that song are very coincidental,” says Sisay. “I wrote that song from a personal place, but in an entirely fictional world. It was more so gathered thoughts about things you’ve done wrong, written from the perspective of someone regretting their actions. It was inspired by Nina Simone – a song like
What: Process out Friday February 3 through Young Turks/Remote Control Where: Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House When: Saturday May 27 and Sunday May 28
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Ocean Grove Uncharted Waters By Genevieve Gao
I
t’s early evening in Gympie, and Ocean Grove frontman Luke Holmes chuckles, “I didn’t think I’d ever be here.” It’s the hometown stop on tour for The Amity Affliction, with Holmes and his bandmates joining Sydney hardcore outfit Hellions on the bill. “I think that it’s inspiring to have bands to look up to in the heavy music scene that have toured the world and are able to stay so dedicated,” says Holmes. “The best part is that both bands are very different in their sounds, yet they can play together and it just works. “Obviously we’re quite young as people, and seeing the way they conduct themselves as professionals and how they approach touring… it’s awesome to be able to watch them every night. We can sit back and make mental notes on how it’s done, and bring that into what we’re doing going forward. So I think it’s a great opportunity.” Ocean Grove themselves burst onto the scene with their EPs Outsider and Black Label, and are making steady waves on the live stage, recently playing Unify Gathering for the second time running. “The first year we just went as punters, so to play it twice is a dream come true,” Holmes says. “It’s defi nitely got a great community sense to it, and it’s great that we live in a country that has a camping festival just dedicated to heavy bands.
“I remember going to Soundwave back in 2009, and Dale [Tanner, bass] and I actually worked there at the bar. You get there so early and leave late, and there’s nowhere to chill out. Unify has this BYO boutique feel. It’s really unique in terms of festivals, let alone what opportunities have been there for heavy music in punk and rock with Violent Soho and Luca Brasi.” Conversation turns to the group’s impending debut album The Rhapsody Tapes, which Holmes admits he’s only shown to “my girlfriend and a couple others”. It’s a layered sonic experience, and the singer contemplates how its key idea of searching for something through a hyperreality applies to his own life. “We’re honestly a self-referential band, and we’ve been friends longer than the band’s been around,” he says. “There have been a lot of things that have happened from Black Label to now, and I think we’ve been in search for something and weren’t sure what it was. ‘When You’re This High You Can Say What You Like’ is about that. So it’s touching on the fact that the last EP was a really unknown time for us as people, in terms of going through university and into this world of being an adult. While it’s a bit dark at times, the record has quite an emotive and relatable side, which keeps it pretty fresh.” The album was recorded in multitalented drummer Sam Bassal’s
bedroom, but Holmes admits to having had second thoughts over the home recording. “I think we’ve found our way to write, but the record pretty much started as these 30-second snippets from [producer and musician] Running Touch. They were done with samples and it was almost a dance record, and to take that to Sam and be in his bedroom, which is 50 kilometres west of Melbourne… but we weren’t paying by the hour or day, so there was no limit in what we could do. Sam’s great, and he’s come leaps and bounds. It’s something we maybe take for granted, but it’s so amazing that we can have so much creative control over our record. “We’re really a DIY band,” Holmes continues. “We travel around with a little camera and get these photos from all different people and places … Then editing, directing and producing the music video [for ‘Intimate Alien’], doing our own merch designs – we always have creative control and that’s great, but it is time-consuming, and sometimes we end up staying up all night.” As for ‘Intimate Alien’ itself, the story behind the song is an amusing one. “When you get to the point of listening to it, it’s a completely different thing to what it’s been during the process,” says Holmes. “When we were recording it, I was so not sold on my performance on it, and I was like, ‘We’ll put it there for now but it’s not going to stay.’ Now when I listen back, I like it and it’s got good drive to it, but it’s just
“WHILE IT’S A BIT DARK AT TIMES, THE RECORD HAS QUITE AN EMOTIVE AND RELATABLE SIDE, WHICH KEEPS IT PRETTY FRESH.”
so funny to think that at the time I was so uncertain. But it’s a good soundtrack to whatever you want to do.” Ocean Grove are slated for amazing things this year, with The Rhapsody Tapes already picked as a triple j
feature album. “It opens up a world of people who haven’t heard of us before,” says Holmes. “We’re no longer seen as a local band, but somehow being played on national radio. It’s been a tumultuous time in the past year, because we’ve had meetings with record labels,
Xavier Rudd Friends In Familiar Places By Anna Wilson
“I HAVE REALLY GREAT PEOPLE WHO COME – GOOD, CONSCIOUS, HONEST PEOPLE OF ALL AGES WHO WANT TO CELEBRATE CHANGE IN OUR WORLD.”
T
he Cat Empire and Xavier Rudd are two of the country’s most successful live exports. They’ve successfully tapped into grassroots on a global level and garnered a very particular worldwide following of travellers, who are drawn to the organic nature of their music and ready to take their songs home with them in their backpacks. Rudd and The Cat Empire have known each other professionally and personally for almost the entirety of their careers, but somehow they’ve never taken the opportunity to share a stage before now. In keeping with their respective free-spirited ways, the two artists are teaming up for a six-show tour, taking place in non-traditional outdoor settings around Australia. The Cat Empire’s infectious tunes and tight brass section are bound to marry well with the vivid tones and hypnotic rhythms of Rudd. Taking some well-earned time out in Byron Bay ahead of the tour, Rudd looks forward to the venture. “We’re doing some big shows [together], it’s gonna be awesome,” he says. “It all kicks off with a benefit show for domestic violence against women and all the proceeds are going to a place in Hervey Bay. “I think it will be electric, pumping – we both have a bright energy about us in our shows and I think it’ll be a hot vibration, a celebration. I think everyone will be dancing and be pretty buggered by the end of that.” Though they’ve crossed paths many times, the fact The Cat Empire and Rudd are finally getting together for a double bill is as exciting for the musicians as it’s sure to be for their fans. “It’s something that was
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A Brief History Of Punks Vs Nazis Out Of The Green Room By David Molloy
O
n Friday January 20, alt-right evangelist and all-round nice guy Richard Spencer copped a well-deserved fist to the face during a televised interview, instantly spawning a viral meme and provoking fierce social media debate over the justification of violent action. For some, it’s been a reason to reiterate the importance of peaceful, non-violent protest; for others, a vindication of the kind of direct, aggressive confrontation favoured by antifa (international anti-fascist movements). And it’s proved a rallying cry to members of the alt-right, who regularly espouse the value of genocide, to protect themselves from further violence. It has also spawned significant reminiscence from members of the punk and hardcore scenes in the ’80s and ’90s, with one particularly impassioned Twitter thread from user @puckett101 noting the direct conflict that played out at punk gigs between antifa, skinheads and apolitical punk fans caught in the middle.
and had to do different things to assemble this team and try to get representatives in America and Europe. “All the hard work and things that went into this record – that was a turning point for us where we just
discussed years ago,” says Rudd. “The idea was thrown around, then 15 years flew by pretty quick. We both started out around the same time doing Byron Bay Bluesfest, and I hardly saw the guys at all – we crossed paths on tours across the world, [sharing] different crews and venues across the way. They’re such a great band. They were tight 15 years ago, so I can’t imagine what they’ll be like now. “They’re a great bunch of dudes. Meeting them, they’re always positive and cool and they’ve stuck it out together, the same lineup touring a lot of places for a lot of years, so they have my respect for sure.”
Ocean Grove photo by Thomas Elliott
Since his formative years in the late ’90s, Rudd has encouraged a communal atmosphere at his shows both at home and abroad. Recently, he sold out a 14,000-capacity show in the Netherlands, and these overwhelmingly positive experiences are what keep him going. “I love playing Europe,” he says. “These days my work is all overseas. I had a number one song in Poland last year, and that was I guess a bit of a push to get there more because things have picked up. I’ve always done the States and Canada – it’s sort of what I do – then come home to Oz and chill out. I love the diversity of cultures in music.” It’s evident Rudd adores his European following, but Australian fans should rest assured that he doesn’t play favourites. “There’s always cultural differences, but energetically people are very similar. I’m really lucky at my shows all over the world. I have really
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said, ‘OK, we’re going to do this band, let’s be serious about it and give it our all.’ It’s exciting to think of where we’ll be in 12 months’ time.” What: The Rhapsody Tapes out Friday February 3 through UNFD
great people who come – good, conscious, honest people of all ages who want to celebrate change in our world. It’s a nice vibration and it doesn’t really matter where we are.” Critics often describe Rudd as a multi-instrumentalist, and indeed, the ease with which he seems to adapt to different instruments and incorporate those into his music is an enviable talent. However, Rudd doesn’t see the label as entirely accurate.
Puckett states that there was “a good chunk of my life when I think everyone I knew had put hands on a Nazi”, and that “old punks are some of the only folks in America to have dealt with actual Nazis on a regular basis”. Core to the thread is the recounting of an incident at a Propagandhi gig where invading skinheads squared off against firedup fans. Talk to any punk of the time and they’re likely to reference the quasi-anthem for the punk antifa, Dead Kennedys’ ‘Nazi Punks Fuck Off’. Interestingly, taking a directly anti-Nazi stance was not frontman Jello Biafra’s intention in writing the song – in a 2012 interview for the LA Times, he explained the original target in the lyrics was “people who were really violent on the dancefloor”, and equating them with Nazis was simple shorthand. He wasn’t the first to do so, either – punk’s pioneers often had an unusual association with the icons of fascism. Siouxsie Sioux and Sid Vicious habitually donned swastikas as anti-establishment symbols to piss people off, not to evoke antiSemitic sentiment. Biafra notes
“MUSIC CULTURE IS, AS ALWAYS, THE CULTURAL THERMOMETER, AND THE HEAT IS RISING.” that punk has “always attracted different kinds of extremes”, and so the impulse that led ‘Nazi Punks Fuck Off’ to become anthemic for antifa similarly led to bands like Skrewdriver adopting the same aesthetics sans irony. Dead Kennedys (and their fans) quickly found themselves the recipients of growing ire, their conflagratory track coinciding with the rise of the National Front in England (the contemporary, albeit more toothless, equivalent would be Nigel Farage’s UKIP). The NF used punk and hardcore music as recruiters for youths in revolt; these ‘skinheads’ would start rocking up to punk gigs, and skirmishes became the expected norm. Over time, the musical response from the left became harder and more aggressive, if not pro-violence; Fugazi, Black Flag, Refused and Aus-Rotten can be counted among the leaders of the charge. This conflict still rages in the present day, as our political left-right binary becomes increasingly concrete and people harden their ideological stances. It is as much apparent in Spencer’s rise to notoriety as it is in his assault; as much in the divisive words of President Donald Trump as in Dennis Lyxzén’s passionate calls for unity during Refused’s Sydney gig last month. Music culture is, as always, the cultural thermometer, and the heat is rising. Take one of last year’s greatest films, the brutal Green Room, which pits the late Anton Yelchin’s scrappy punk band The Ain’t Rights against a vicious skinhead gang led by Patrick Stewart. The inciting incident – you guessed it – comes when the band decides to cover ‘Nazi Punks’ as their opener. After the musicians are unwittingly made witnesses to a violent crime, the conversation is over. For these punks, it’s do or die. Exaggerated as the comparison may be, we’d be foolish to ignore the local history of this dialectical struggle here in Australia, best captured in Geoffrey Wright’s
classic film Romper Stomper and (again, ironically) the real ‘Rock Against Communism’ bands that appropriated the film’s soundtrack. In all likelihood, the same frustrations those “nazi-punks” seethed over run through the veins of One Nation’s most militant supporters. It’s simplistic and easy to treat the conflict as a binary good/evil proposition, especially in terms of music culture phenomenon. Filmmaker Shane Meadows (This Is England) speaks to a diversity of views even among skinheads: “It’s clear the fascist element has always been fairly vocal in skinhead culture,” he says. “The sad bit is that the more enlightened, antifascist aspects have not better promoted themselves.” But when public figures like Spencer can call for “peaceful ethnic cleansing”, and his colleague Colin Liddell can feel comfortable asking, “Is black genocide right?”, is it not our moral imperative as their ideological opposition to feel that all they need is a punch in the face? So, as progressives, punks and people, we have two choices ahead of us. Do we adopt the ideology of The Ain’t Rights, the punks of old like Puckett, and the black bloc – those who “don’t think dialogue is the solution”? Those who believe, like legendary civil rights activist Stokely Carmichael, that “in order for non-violence to work, your opponent must have a conscience”? Or do we embrace the accidental antifa prophet Biafra, who believes “the best way to fight hate speech is with more and better speech, and better education”? Better still, what is the middle ground between aggressive action and non-violent protest, and how can the ideological rift between punks across the political spectrum be repaired? Ultimately, we may never have a real answer. Siouxsie and The Banshees
“I play a lot of instruments, but I don’t even know what that [term] means. All my instruments are handmade wooden acoustic instruments. My grandfather made me some of my instruments and I make some myself. I love the tones of wood. I guess I like trying different things and playing different things.” Rudd’s manipulation of musical tools is quite the display of gymnastics, creating immense diversity of timbre and honing the instruments’ capabilities to create a wonderfully varied series of tones. One wonders at the logistics involved in mastering such a horde of sounds, but Rudd has made sense of it all. “I mean, it’s just what I do. It gets pretty unorthodox sometimes when I play solo, but when I started out, I wanted to make as much sound as I could. Most of the time I record live in order to capture it, and not a lot of thought goes into it, to be honest – it’s just what I do. Is it confusing? Nah, not at all.” With: The Cat Empire, Harts, Ocean Alley, Sahara Beck Where: Stuart Park, Wollongong When: Sunday February 12
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Opeth Crushing Convention By Anna Wilson
I
t’s the calm before the storm. Opeth’s Fredrik Åkesson answers the phone from his home in Sweden, in the midst of a day of press ahead of the next leg of the metal monoliths’ Sorceress World Tour. “I’m just sitting here playing a bit of guitar,” Åkesson says coolly. “Just practising a few songs before the tour – refreshing the old memory, so to speak.” Åkesson must indeed have a long memory, because since the band’s formation in 1989, Opeth have been the defi nition of invention over appropriation. Along the way, they’ve spectacularly transformed 12 game-changing studio albums into live performances of powerful command. It’s no wonder their upcoming Sydney show in support of latest album Sorceress sold out in record time. As part of an innovative concept of performances at three historic global venues, the genre giants will play the Sydney Opera House this month, giving their loyal fans a back catalogue of classic Opeth alongside the new release.
So Much For The City By David James Young
T
he dual life of being both a singer and a songwriter has intertwined so much through the history of popular music that its hyphenated combination has practically become a style of music in itself. Of course, such a format can become tiresome and formulaic if you’ve been doing it for an extensive period of time. Martha Wainwright has been in the trade for over 20 years now, and decided to change things up for her fi fth solo album, asking other close musician friends to write songs specifi cally with her in mind. As a result, an allstar cast stands out among the writing credits for Goodnight City, including The Frames’ Glen Hansard, Tune-Yards’ Merrill Garbus, Beth Orton and, of course, Martha’s brother Rufus. “Everyone had their own approach – and some probably took it a little more seriously than others,” Wainwright begins. “I think Rufus probably wrote the most Rufus song he could, yet somehow still made it sound like me. That’s him playing piano and me singing that song, which is all about my life – it’s the closest we’ve ever worked together on something. With someone like Merrill, she came in with demos that sounded very much like her – vocal layers and drum machines, things like that. It was definitely in my interest to make sure the link and the trace to her identity was kept in there – I mean, it’s Merrill. No one makes music like her. As for Glen, I think it was just luck that he happened to be working on new songs and new lyrics when I approached him – he just kind of took what he’d been writing and recalibrated it with me in mind.” Having frequently recorded covers and appeared at tributes in the past – honouring everyone from Leonard Cohen to Pink Floyd – Wainwright knows a thing or two about singing other people’s songs. It was a unique experience for her, however, to be singing songs that people had written with
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the sole intent of being her songs. As someone who is meticulous with the craft of songwriting – her last solo LP, Come Home To Mama, came out four years prior to Goodnight City – she was very open to and excited by the idea of sharing the workload. “It definitely took the pressure off writing 12 to 16 songs all by myself,” she says. “As long as I’ve been making music, I’ve been singing other people’s songs as much as I have my own. The album that I did before this was an album with Lucy [Wainwright Roche, Martha’s half-sister], called Songs In The Dark. That was all other people’s songs – and, of course, I’ve done an Edith Piaf record. I see myself as an interpreter of sorts – I take what’s given to me and I try to not only take in the perspective of the song’s character, but also how I see myself in it. It can be kind of voyeuristic, but it’s something that has always been a big part of my music, so it made sense to continue in that vein on this record.” While perusing the tracklist for Goodnight City, one may well note the very similarly named songs that appear at the start and the end of the sequence. Despite being only one letter apart, ‘Franci’ and ‘Francis’ are two separate songs – the former by Wainwright herself, the latter by the aforementioned Rufus, an accomplished performer in his own right. Both are about Wainwright’s second child, Francis Valentine Wainwright, who will turn three next month. “It was actually funny when Rufus brought in his song about Francis – at the same time, I was writing and working on ‘Franci’, which I was really fond of,” Wainwright says. “We decided it made sense to have them bookend the album. There’s a real sense of family on that song – there’s Rufus over at the piano, I’m singing, and the words I’m singing are about my son – words that Rufus wrote.
“I TAKE WHAT’S GIVEN TO ME AND I TRY TO NOT ONLY TAKE IN THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE SONG’S CHARACTER, BUT ALSO HOW I SEE MYSELF IN IT.” “I think my eldest son [Arcangelo] kind of got a little jealous, though, because I was listening to mixes of the record over and over at home and all he’d be hearing were these two songs about his little brother. That kind of sparked me to write ‘Window’ – I’d be playing guitar in the living room, he’d be over playing at his toy drum kit, and I remember telling him, ‘This is your song! This song’s about you!’” Wainwright and her threepiece backing band will return to Australia in March for an extensive tour through most capital cities and select regional centres. “I’ve been treated so well by your country so many times,” she enthuses. “It’s so wonderful to be able to come back time and time again and be treated so kindly. No matter what time of year that I’ve come, the weather has always been wonderful. I’ve explored your beautiful cities, your beautiful towns, seen all your wonderful animals… I get to do that all again, and I can’t begin to tell you how happy that makes me.”
What: Goodnight City out now through Cadence With: Oh Pep! Where: Taronga Zoo When: Saturday March 11
The diversity of Opeth’s catalogue bestrides conventional metal. Their continual evolution and commitment to growing their fan base have seen the band redefi ne the parameters of the genre. Sorceress is still a heavy record, but evidently Opeth have been prompted to move away from the more aggressive tones that defi ned their earlier albums, for the sole reason of achieving something new. “I think we felt the band had taken it to its limit in a while,” says Åkesson. “On Watershed, [the heaviness is] still there, and when it comes to a live situation, it’s still something we enjoy to play. It’s not that we’re trying to shy away from it, it’s just we’re trying to do something different. “At the point we did Heritage, [frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt] had a few songs already written that had come the same way as Watershed and he said we should do something different. He threw those things away and then they came together on Heritage. The defi nition of heavy, it can mean heavy in different ways.” Indeed, the creative direction of Sorceress in some ways not only refl ects Opeth’s approach to songwriting, but when compared to its predecessor Pale Communion, the album combines a warmer sound with a more intricate core. “When we talked about it before, we
“WE’RE ONE OF THOSE BANDS THAT’S IN A WAY DIFFICULT TO CATEGORISE BECAUSE WE BRANCH OUT A LOT.”
The Menzingers Life Of The Party By Anna Wilson
A
lright, so we know that international rock bands love playing Australia – we know that the hype is real and acts always mention how excited they are to play here – so why is The Menzingers’ enthusiasm any different?
Well for one thing, the Philadelphia punk rockers have been on the scene for quite some time: 11 years to be exact, establishing themselves as clever songwriters with fi stpumping numbers. It comes as some surprise that up until now, they’ve only ever be been booked for supporting slots or festival appearances on our shores. However, The Menzingers are now embarking on their first headlining tour Down Under. “We’re just really excited to come down and play shows,” says singer/guitarist Greg Barnett. “It’s an honour for us, it’s one of those things we don’t get to do too often. I’m excited to hang out in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney – they’re three of our favourite cities and the whole trip will be a very welcome release from winter!” The Melbourne show has already sold out, but this comes as news to Barnett. “It’s really so exciting,” he says. “I had no idea. We have been to Australia a couple of times on two support tours, Soundwave and now our own headline tour – man, it’s a cool experience for us to be in a punk club and do what we do best.”
Since their formation as teenagers in 2006, touring has played an important role for The Menzingers. They’ve grown up with it, and their shows in the US, Europe and Australia in support of each of their first four albums were always well-received. Barnett himself retains the wideeyed enthusiasm of a younger artist, and his thoughts on touring and promoting are infectious. “It’s like an addiction,” he says. “It’s my life, our life’s work, and we’re constantly trying to work to protect that, to sustain or push it to the next level. We’ve never been a band to compromise to get places faster. We started in our parents’ basement and created this thing organically. The travel does get stressful, but anybody in any career path can talk about stress and overworking – but at the end of the day it’s what we love to do.” Without such a positive attitude towards their music, The Menzingers would perhaps not have achieved quite so much. Last year saw them working for six months straight on the production of their upcoming album, After The Party, set for release this week on the eve of their Australian tour. After that, they’ll travel back to the US and on to Europe, with headline shows booked in the UK. “It was the most time we’ve ever dedicated to writing a record,” Barnett explains, and that long gestation period inspired
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Martha Wainwright photo by Carl Lessard
Martha Wainwright
“We don’t have time to pick a song from every album because there’s so many of them,” says Åkesson. “But there’s quite a lot of heavy stuff in this set, a good balance of the older albums. We’ll defi nitely play stuff we’ve never played before, especially in Australia – the Damnation and Deliverance albums. It’s a different set, we’ve swapped some songs out for others. It’s a good, dynamite set, defi nitely a lot
for the heavy heads as well.”
talked about wanting bigger drums, meatier drums this time, making everything sound a bit more compressed – a more ’70s approach than the previous two albums, but still keeping it a late’70’s/early-’80s type of production vibe. “It’s supposed be a very doom-y album, but I think in the end, it came out really cool. Every song is very different. There are some songs that are very different from the back catalogue – ‘Chrysalis’ has a shuffle beat and we’ve never used a shuffle beat before. Overall the album has some strong melodies, but what sticks in your mind is the more intricate stuff.” Åkesson identifi es the 1979 Jethro Tull album Stormwatch as one of the touchstones for Sorceress, with the song ‘Dun Ringill’ serving as inspiration for the ethereal harmonies of single ‘Will O The Wisp’. By contrast, the album’s title track is haunting, uncertain and inquisitive, though Åkesson makes it clear this isn’t a concept album. “It is a story of the sorceress,” he explains. “The very first song is about Persephone – it’s from mythology, she was with Hades nine months of the year and lived on the Earth the rest – that kind of thing inspired the song but it doesn’t go through the album. It’s not a concept album – it’s the lyrics, they’re more personal maybe.” After 28 years, a dozen records and countless tours and festivals, Opeth have succeeded in wielding a place for themselves in global metal. Still, their assessment of their position in the overall fi eld of heavy music is a hesitant
one at best. “I don’t know,” says Åkesson. “Music-wise it seems we have a pretty good audience, but it’s probably down to all the guys, ladies and kids. We wander through all the generations, and that’s of course very nice for us.
“We’re one of those bands that’s in a way difficult to categorise because we branch out a lot, and some oldschool fans might be disgruntled because we have changed since day one. Every album has something of its own, quite different
from each other from the start of the catalogue. It’s difficult to describe what we are now because we focus on the performance and doing the best we can do, and then it’s really up to the fans to judge us. We just wanna rock.”
What: Sorceress out now through Moderbolaget/Nuclear Blast Where: Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House When: Monday February 6
“WE’VE NEVER BEEN A BAND TO COMPROMISE TO GET PLACES FASTER. WE STARTED IN OUR PARENTS’ BASEMENT AND CREATED THIS THING ORGANICALLY.” maturing rocker to continue being young at heart. “What I love is the biggest focus on [the album] was the storytelling aspect of it,” Barnett says. “Telling intimate personal stories of the shit in our lives – it’s almost like a statement of our lives. I think mostly what we’re drawing on is reaching the crossroads of getting to 30, spending an entire decade travelling and touring, constantly being away from family and friends, giving up a lot of personal things for the greater good of the band – for us, it’s not negative, it’s a celebration. “We get to tell the rest of the world, ‘Fuck you, we got to live this way – and you know what? It’s the coolest thing in the world!’” some signifi cant differences between After The Party and its predecessors. “It’s such a natural development from things we’ve done in the past,” he says. “It’s our most realised version of
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songwriting, and this is us at our best capacity of doing that.” After The Party follows a clear storyline, conveying to its listeners the message that even though
real life comes on so quickly, that doesn’t mean the party has to stop. Opening track ‘Tellin’ Lies’, with its chanted refrain, “Where are we gonna go when our 20s are over?”, establishes a narrative
that long-term fans will especially relate to. The record is designed to be reminiscent yet edgy, offering a middle finger in the face of maturity while acting as both an accolade to youth and a permission slip to the
What: After The Party out Friday February 3 through Epitaph With: Oslow Where: Oxford Art Factory When: Sunday February 12
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arts in focus
free stuff head to: thebrag.com/freeshit
arts news...what's goin' on around town... with Harriet Flitcroft, Ben Rochlin and Chris Martin
five minutes WITH KATE
hat’s the story behind your new play, Losing You (Twice)? Losing You (Twice) tells the journey my family and I took from July 2011 when my brother Daniel disappeared up until his remains were found in March 2016. I speak about how I felt at the time he went missing and how my family and I coped through the long years of not knowing what had happened to him. I talk of the hope and the despair.
What compelled you to share such a personal story with the world? I needed to do something with my grief. I wanted to express myself and mark this experience somehow. I’ve found it hard to talk about my loss in daily life because so much of our day-to-day interactions are superficial. I needed to talk about it but felt I could really only do that in therapy or one-on-one conversations with close friends. I think this is because there is still a stigma attached to mental illness and suicide. Up until it became a gruelling reality for me, suicide had been an abstract idea, a list of statistics. It’s something I never expected would touch my family. I wasn’t aware of just how awful the statistics are for young men in Australia. People need to know
about this – we need to be aware of the signs and pay careful attention to our young men. How serious are the issues of missing persons and support networks in Australia? Very serious. Missingness was a concept I had never considered before. I had no idea that so many Australians (100) are reported missing every day. There are currently 1,600 long-term missing Australians. It is said that 12 people are directly affected when one person disappears. That adds up to a lot of people who experience this ambiguous loss. There was basically no (practical or emotional) support available for us when Dan went missing. The police did very little because it wasn’t suspicious, so we were left to deal with our predicament
alone. There was no manual or guide anywhere of what to do. My sister Loren Googled “What to do when someone goes missing” and was met with academic papers. That’s why she felt she had to write the Missing Persons Guide and create MPAN (the Missing Persons Advocacy Network). What’s one simple thing we can do to prevent losing people? I think we need to start having open and honest conversations about mental health, so people feel more comfortable about speaking up. Especially men. It’s an illness, like any other illness. It shouldn’t be taboo. What: Losing You (Twice) Where: King Street Theatre When: Tuesday February 7 – Saturday February 11
Chimerica, a play written by Lucy Kirkwood and surrounding the famous Tiananmen Sqaure ‘Tank Man’, makes its way to Sydney this year. Chimerica premiered at London’s Almeida Theatre in 2013 and has since received positive reviews from The Guardian and The Telegraph. In his first piece as Sydney Theatre Company artistic director, Kip Williams will oversee the play set over two decades in Beijing and New York. It features Jason Chong from Netflix’s Marco Polo and Geraldine Hakewill from Channel 7’s Wanted. Chimerica will run from Monday February 20 – Saturday April 1 at the Roslyn Packer Theatre.
IF I WERE YOU The Judas Kiss
Cries For Attention
Jake Hurwitz and Amir Blumenfeld of web comedy series Jake & Amir have announced their If I Were You: Live tour of Australia. The former College Humor writers will touch down in Oz for two dates including Sydney’s Metro Theatre on Saturday March 18. Jake & Amir has won several awards including 2010’s Webby’s People Voice for Best Web Series. In
MEMBER
It’s a part of Sydney’s history that no one talks about. In the 1980s and 1990s, hate crime towards the gay community was rife. A new blood sport was founded: the hunting down and beating of young gay men, many of whom were stabbed or thrown off cliffs. This is our dark and haunting past, and it must be remembered – and so Fairly Lucid Productions has developed a one-man show, Member, with the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Ben Noble has used court transcripts and witness materials to create a show that presents a dark Australian history lesson. It plays the Blue Moon Theatre in Kings Cross, Tuesday February 21 – Saturday March 4. We have two double passes to give away for the preview of Member on Thursday February 21. Head over to thebrag.com/ freeshit to enter. 2013, the duo debuted the If I Were You comedy advice podcast.
QUEER SCREEN’S ASIAN FLAVOUR
Queer Screen’s Mardi Gras Film Festival 2017 will feature a distinctly Asian flavour, hosting delegates from the Asia Pacific Queer Film Festival Alliance (APQFFA) and screening films from the region. The APQFFA is made up of members from 17 Asian Pacific queer film festivals, and Queer Screen’s Spotlight on Asia section will include titles like Angry Indian Goddesses, Our Love Story, Out Run, The Wedding Banquet, Irrawaddy Mon Amour, The Priestess Walks Alone and One Night And Two Days. The 2017 festival plays across Sydney, Canberra and regional New South Wales from Wednesday February 15 – Thursday March 2.
Chimerica photo by James Green
THE TANK MAN COMETH
Chimerica
Member
Member photo by Luke Cadden
W
O’KEEFFE, WRITER AND PERFORMER OF LOSING YOU (TWICE)
SHORT AND SWEET AUSSIES
The fourth week of the 2017 Short+Sweet theatre festival, running all this week, celebrates Australian work. Short+Sweet is billed as “the biggest little theatre festival in the world”, with a total of 120 ten-minute works presented at the Depot Theatre in Marrickville. The Aussie program includes short plays by former Short+Sweet festival directors Alex Broun (Diary Of A Breakup/ Breakdown) and Pete Malicki (The Story Of Darling Brown). See the full program and book at shortandsweet.org/sydney.
Meat And Potatoes
OSCAR WILDE BETRAYED
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ACHTUNG BABY
Cries For Attention is the latest exhibit from established Sydney artist Guy James Whitworth, and coincides with the 2017 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and Sydney Art Month. On display at Surry Hills’ M2 Gallery, Whitworth’s new collection focuses around his thought process and rebellion. Whitworth describes himself as a “queer creative immigrant” with a unique and fascinating view on modern Australian culture. His work is known for discussing various social causes, including LGBTQI rights and animal rights. Cries For Attention runs from Wednesday February 22 – Tuesday March 7.
TROPFEST TURNS 25
This year’s Tropfest is almost upon us, and the finalists have now been revealed. The 16 finalists were chosen from a selection of several hundred entries, and will have their films shown at the gala event on Saturday February 11. The return edition of Tropfest will be held at its new location of Parramatta Park. The finalists are Accomplice, Another Olga, The Beekeepers, The Birth, Can’t I Sh#t In Peace?, Diary Of A Youtuber, Everyting Criss, Going Vego, Love, Steve, Meat And Potatoes, The Mother Situation, Mutonia Burnout, Passenger, Talc, The Wall and Wibble Wobble.
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The Judas Kiss photo by John Marmaras
The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras has teamed up with Red Line Productions to develop a four-week run of David Hare’s The Judas Kiss. The scene is set: 1895 London, and Oscar Wilde is the toast of the town after The Importance Of Being Earnest blew away the West End. Hare’s play takes us through the mind of Wilde as he is facing prosecution for gross indencency. The kicker? It is his lover’s father who’s desperate to see him behind bars. The play strikes chords of discrimination, deceit and desperation. Directed by Iain Sinclair, it stars Josh Quong Tart as Wilde, with an incredible supporting cast. The Judas Kiss will play the Old Fitz Theatre, Wednesday February 15 – Saturday March 11.
arts in focus
inside jokes
FEATURE
Comedy, Life and Bullshit with Cameron James Hannibal Buress
L
ast year, one of my favourite American comedians, Hannibal Buress, toured his stand-up to Australia, and at 1am on a Friday night in Sydney he tweeted, “Hey Sydney, who did this? This shit sucks.”
I’ve never met Hannibal, but I was embarrassed. It felt like when you take a friend to a restaurant you picked, and the food sucks. And then the restaurant owner kicks you both out without letting you look at the dessert menu, and builds a casino on top of your car. I wanted Hannibal to love Sydney, because I love Sydney. I love Sydney, because I grew up in Newcastle, and to us Novocastrians (or ‘Children of Silverchair’), living in Sydney was the dream. But since making the great Pacific Highway migration in 2011, Sydney’s reputation for being a party-free zone has grown. I’m gigging in Melbourne this week, and let me tell you, in the great Victoria vs NSW war, the Melburnians (or ‘Children of Jet’) know they just nuked us. At this point it’s hard to tell what hurt more – Baird’s lockouts, or that Jayden Rodrigues’ “cool night out in Sydney” video included two arcades, an empty cinema and seeing Aladdin The Musical. Look, Sydney’s nightlife may be dead, but there are still plenty of ways to party in the city of dreams. The following is a guide to making your own fun in the city that banned it.
1. Do the Drive Thru loop
Neil Hamburger [COMEDY] Raw Meat By Joseph Earp
O
n at least a surface level, it seems counterintuitive to claim that celebrated stand-up Gregg Turkington is on the cutting edge of anything. After all, his primary comedic creation – a sweaty, snivelling lout named Neil Hamburger – is deliberately retrograde. The joy of a Hamburger set stems from how distinctly out of fashion Turkington’s brand of comedy is – how awkward, difficult and discombobulated. And yet it is precisely in that impracticality that Turkington’s comedy can be seen as truly revolutionary. Turkington has not only avoided following the crowd, he has spent the majority of his career determinedly walking in the other direction, starring in strange, blackly comic films and fashioning his own belch-heavy, brutal brand of stand-up. For example, while other comics spend a good portion of their set trying to warm the audience up, Turkington works hard to keep things as cold as three-day-old leftovers. He freewheels, poking fun at his crowd and improvising great swathes of his set. “At this point, it’s all intuition gleaned from years on the stage,” he says of his formless style. “I do like to have my preferred music playing over the club PA prior to taking the stage. It puts me in the right frame of mind.” Of course, relying on audience reaction as he does, Turkington is always at risk of encountering that member of the crowd unwilling to play along. But that, he stresses, is all part of the fun. “I just roll the dice. Sometimes I get someone who is sour and surly and needs a reminder that they are free to leave, other times it’s someone fresh-faced and enthusiastic who looks like they might be willing to play along with a gag.” Has he ever had someone take umbrage with being thrown into the spotlight, though? “Oh geez,
“SOMETIMES I GET SOMEONE WHO IS SOUR AND SURLY AND NEEDS A REMINDER THAT THEY ARE FREE TO LEAVE.” thebrag.com
it’s happened at least as often as I’ve had a bartender make me a drink with flat tonic water.” Turkington, who is set to tour Australia this month, has strong ties to our fair land – not least of all because this was his first home. Though raised in Arizona, he was born in Darwin, and maintains a healthy relationship with the country thanks to his strong working relationship with a number of Australian bands, chief amongst them Frenzal Rhomb, a group he has opened for a number of times. “Those guys and their managers Chris and Dianne actually hunted me down and brought me out to Australia to tour with them in 1999. They knew the records … At this point they are some of my oldest friends in the business and it is always a thrill to spend some time together.” Aside from garnering a reputation as an anticomedy hero, Turkington is also well-known for showing off his talents on screen. To date, he has starred in two films directed by Rick Alverson, an odd indie auteur with whom he shares the same off-centre sense of humour. The most recent, Entertainment, centres entirely around the offstage life of Turkington’s Hamburger character, and in its own louty, amusingly unfunny way, it reaches great heights of lo-fi genius.
Eat an entire McDonald’s meal by ordering one item at a time and looping through the Drive Thru for your next item. Start with the fries as an entree, then move up through the burgers, drinks and desserts. If you pick a busy Maccas, like Stanmore, you could have up to two hours of fun in ‘the loop’, and trust me, you’ll be lovin’ it.
2. Scroll through Stan looking for “the right movie”
Plumb the depths of each category. Get right to the bottom of the ‘action adventure’ section – when you hit Steven Seagal sequels and Korean dance-fighting movies,
you’ll know you’re only halfway there. Then after two hours of this, decide it’s too late to start a movie, and just put on Seinfeld again.
3. Look through an ex’s Instagram feed
It’s not stalking. You’re just checking they’re not doing better than you. I recently got followed by an ex, Emma, and wasted a good hour looking at pics of her and her new boyfriend, Ben. This wasn’t a very healthy experience for me. Then I dove in and scrolled Ben’s feed for a while. He has a very large collection of bongs. This felt better.
4. Own a dog
The most fun thing you can do is to buy a dog,
Comedyish, Giant Dwarf, Wednesday February 1. A great lineup of comedians from TV and radio doing allnew material. Powerbomb Comedy, Staves Brewery, Friday February 3. This brand new room has a very fun, playful vibe. Plus it’s at a brewery, so, beers.
and just play with your dog. My landlords won’t let me have one, so instead I just watch dog videos. Sometimes I bundle all my unwashed clothes together and pretend it’s a Staffie named Lemon. This is a very healthy experience.
5. Get into an argument your parents
Shoot Mum a text asking why she threw out your Year 12 Drama assignment. You don’t actually want it, but she doesn’t know that. A few well timed passiveaggressive texts could kick off a fight that, if you play it right, will take the rest of the night. If none of this helps, move to Newcastle.
what’s funny this week?
Phuklub, The Chippo Hotel, Sunday February 5. One time in this room I saw a comedian covered in tomato sauce set fire to a laptop.
“I created the character and was on screen almost every second of the movie,” Turkington says. “The actual dialogue was ad-libbed based on long discussions [Alverson and] me had beforehand, and I had complete and total trust in Rick’s instincts. “He never panders or compromises his vision. Which, if it was a shitty vision, would be a problem! But in fact it aligns with my own very perfectly. And he’s a very sweet guy with a complicated sense of humour.” Jayden Rodrigues’ “cool night out in Sydney” With: Dr El Suavo, Orbis Tertius Where: Manning Bar When: Wednesday February 8
Cameron James is a stand-up comedian. You can follow him on Twitter at @iamcameronjames, or in the streets. BRAG :: 698 :: 01:02:17 :: 15
arts in focus “THERE WAS A FAIRGROUND IN MONTREAL AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY, WITH A BIG MUSCLE GUY, BEARDED LADY, STUFF LIKE THAT, AND WE DECIDED TO KEEP THAT, THE ROOTS.”
FEATURES
Barbu
[CIRCUS] A Family Affair By Anna Wilson
T
he circus is truly a timeless industry, with generation after generation delighting in the skill and showmanship of acrobats, clowns, animals and dancers. There’s no sign of interest in the big top waning in the 21st century, and we’re seeing only more and more troupes emerge to deliver excitement en masse, incorporating new music and techniques with traditional aesthetics. Cirque Alfonse is one such troupe. Last seen in Sydney in 2013 with Timber!, the Quebec pioneers are returning to the Sydney Opera House with Barbu, a new production that explores the intersection of circus, cabaret and music. The French word ‘barbu’ translates to ‘bearded’ – an homage to the bearded ladies of circus acts gone by and a cheeky nod to the traditional roots of the show – and Cirque Alfonse co-founder Antoine Carabinier-Lépine explains the show’s origins. “We created the show two-and-a-half years ago, taking three months to create the basic story of the show,” he says. “There was a fairground in Montreal at the turn of the century, with a big muscle guy, bearded lady, stuff like that, and we decided to keep that, the roots. The first part of the show is acrobats, the second part is clowns – kinky, funny and weird.” 16 :: BRAG :: 698 :: 01:02:17
If you’ve ever been to the circus, you’ll know that it’s fun for all the family, and that family spirit has been essential to Cirque Alfonse all along. “Cirque Alfonse ten years ago started for the birthday of my father,” CarabinierLépine explains. “We put together a show, my sister and father, and three years ago did a show in Parramatta. “My father is not in Barbu as he’s starting to be old now – my girlfriend and brother-in-law are in it and it’s the same musicians in the show as the beginning of the company. The music is traditional folk music from Quebec mixed with electronic music. The influence of traditional folk music comes mainly from Celtic and Britannia – fiddle, guitar, and we mix it with electro vibes, and our fiddler is kind of a DJ at the same time, a DJ who pushes all those buttons while he’s paying violin.” Cirque Alfonse is clearly built from a gene pool of ceaseless talent. Laughing, Carabinier-Lépine agrees they’re a talented bunch, and have married into even more talent. “My sister isn’t in Barbu because she was pregnant when we put the show together, but my girlfriend and I, we do a roller-skating act and she’s doing acrobatics. My brother-in-law [and I] are doing circus almost 20 years together, since the National
Circus School of Montreal – one of the biggest schools in the world. “My sister is here with us travelling with her two children and there’s four more on tour. We’re gonna do a new creation in the spring and my nephew will probably be in it. It’s always weird – no, not weird, but you need to be careful with [children in shows]. We don’t want to push them too much [in case] they don’t want to do it, but they really enjoy it at the moment and we’ll see how it goes. They like to get involved, otherwise they’re just backstage waiting and that’s just boring. It’s fun for us to play onstage with our family and kids.” Indeed, the whole mantra of Cirque Alfonse is to have fun, not just as a performer but for the audience as well. But how does the circus migrate such a performance to a venue like the Opera House? It’s no big top, certainly, though Carabinier-Lépine is certain that Barbu will still be sure to dazzle. “Not much will change because we’re used to playing in big tops and stuff like that, and the space at the Opera House is quite similar – not exactly the same, but we have a small space, central, with the audience all around us and a catwalk, so it’s not too complicated for us to set up the space in that place. We are used to
organising ourselves and switch little things, things that don’t matter too much in the show when we’re performing.” Barbu is all beards, bellies and beer, with a sexy soundtrack accompanying the juggling, skating and hula hoops, plus a liberal dash of nudity in what promises to be a show like no other – even by Sydney Opera House standards. “We had the news we’d perform there and we were all surprised. It’s an iconic place in the world, and we are from a small village – we never thought when we created Cirque Alfonse ten years ago, we never thought we would perform in such a place. It’s really special for us to perform in such a great space. “Be open-minded and come to the show without any expectations,” he finishes. “The show is really to have fun after the working day and to forget about life, enjoy yourself, have a drink, have fun.” What: Barbu Where: Studio, Sydney Opera House When: Wednesday February 8 – Saturday March 4
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arts in focus
arts reviews
out & about
■ Comedy
CELIA PACQUOLA: THE LOOKING GLASS Reviewed at the Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent on Tuesday January 17 as part of Sydney Festival 2017 Celia Pacquola has made a name for herself on shows like Utopia as an effortlessly likeable presence. Her Sydney Festival show in the Spiegeltent provides further evidence: it’s amiable and amusing, though it provokes more smiles of recognition than real belly laughs. Pacquola began her stage career in 2006, and that experience shows in The Looking Glass, a slick package in which the comic weaves autobiographical anecdotes about dating misadventures with a charming analysis of her own performance and a disquisition on the similarity between children and vibrators – once you’re in your 30s, nobody can believe you don’t have one. Pacquola showed herself to be a gifted dramatic actress on the ABC’s The Beautiful Lie in 2015, but any inner darkness is kept well and truly at bay throughout this bile-free set, which bubbles along good-naturedly without ever really working up to much of a crescendo. Opening night is packed with older punters, perhaps lured by the chance to see the star
Queer(ish) matters with Arca Bayburt
On Terminal Love: Tragic Lesbians In Sad Movies Carol
of Rosehaven in the flesh, and no doubt they leave as charmed as ever. The set’s best moment, however, is when Pacquola skewers the conservatism of their expectations by revealing she has met a man and it’s going really well. The audience members coo contentedly before realising they’ve been had, though nobody seems to mind. Bring on Rosehaven season two. Harry Windsor
■ Comedy
FELICITY WARD: 50% MORE LIKELY TO DIE
N
Reviewed at the Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent on Friday January 20 as part of Sydney Festival 2017 Felicity Ward may be the only comedian on the planet to be geographically billed as ‘London via Woy Woy’. By extension, it also kind of helps in describing her comedic approach to anyone unfamiliar with her. Ward’s humour is well travelled, it’s educated and it’s sharp as a tack, but it’s also bred from a small coastal town and never once shies away from that fact. As Ward accustoms herself to performing at the senior-friendly time of 5:30pm, she blends in the general gist of her story – a potential tragedy that comes to (spoiler alert) a happy ending – with exceptional timing and as much energy as one can muster at this unconventional comedy hour. Simultaneously, she also pays homage to her roots by retelling a classic gag from her repertoire by way of her dear old dad, who is in the audience with several other family members. A proud mental health advocate, Ward has been known to openly discuss her struggles and issues in her comedy – particularly in her last festival show, 2016’s What If There Is No Toilet?, which might quite literally be her finest hour. Here, health factors into the harrowing title of the show in an unexpected way – a testament to both Ward’s abilities as a performer and as an engrossing storyteller. The fact it lands somewhere
between the logistics of passive-aggressive body movement and envisioning Rihanna as a chicken (don’t ask) is a further testament to this – whatever you’d like to call 50% More Likely To Die as a comedy show, it’s certainly not dull or short on ideas. Admittedly, the stakes are not as high as they have been in Ward’s previous hours, and as such there’s not as much momentum when the landing is stuck. Still, these are ultimately minor quarrels when one is witnessing one of the most genuinely funny comics this country has produced this century. You could truthfully watch Ward discuss more or less anything and get your money’s worth. This certainly includes her making chicken noises to the tune of famous classic pop songs (seriously, don’t ask), but it could even extend to her bantering with her extended family from afar. Whatever comes next, Ward just keeps you coming back. National treasure might be too strong a term, but she’s well on her way. David James Young
■ Film
SILENCE In cinemas Thursday February 16 The great Martin Scorsese’s first feature since The Wolf Of Wall Street could not be more of a departure, except in its comparably intimidating length. But the director fails to stick to his titular focus in a disappointing denouement that makes the preceding hours feel laboured and dogmatic.
Celia Pacquola and Felicity Ward photos by Jamie Williams
Two Portuguese priests, Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Garrpe (Adam Driver), are sent to Japan to propagate Catholicism after receiving a rumour of their mentor’s apostasy. They arrive to find Catholicism being weeded out by the ruling daimyos, and the nation’s minority Catholics being subjected to torture. Scorsese’s choice to film in and around Taiwan has paid off handsomely, as has his investment in seasoned cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto. Silence’s evocation of Edo period Japan is misty, mythic and masterful, recalling the framing of Akira Kurosawa in its finest moments. Everything is slate – cold, stark and blue-grey, right down to Garrpe’s disposition. Oddly, as the colour palette begins to warm, the film starts to shed its lustre. We are intrigued by the unknown fate of Ferreira (Liam Neeson), introduced in the film’s vicious opening sequence, and drawn to the conflict between Rodrigues and Garrpe, the latter being distinctly more doctrinaire. Garfield’s beleaguered priest begins to take on the familiar shades of Scorsese’s moral greyscale as a tale of religious persecution gradually becomes a treatise on both the tenets of faith and the arrogance of martyrdom: that one would dare compare the importance of their own suffering to that of Christ. thebrag.com
The cost of this is twofold – both Driver and Neeson are underused, and the director’s need to attest to the articles of his faith robs the film of its grounding and pain. If true suffering is the pain of other people, and the silence from the heavens the greatest test of faith, is the prolonged torture of so many innocents really worth the veracity of Rodrigues’ belief? It provides too easy and insipid a resolution for such a deeply conflicted character. One moment in particular, when a painting of Christ’s face is superimposed over Garfield’s own, is laughably obtuse, to the point of aping last year’s sanctimonious Hacksaw Ridge, and the finale’s narration is insultingly superfluous. It is only the film’s last 40 minutes (of its 160-minute total) that succumb to this Gibsonesque sermonising. For a film with so much negative space, its first two hours don’t drag – that Japanese filmcraft is seeping osmotically into Scorsese’s practice through the production. The majority Japanese cast is also impressive, with Issei Ogata’s sly old daimyo proving a genuine delight. For the faithful, Silence may strike as a masterpiece, and it is indeed masterfully painted. But for the cinemagoer tired of evangelism, wholly embracing the title of his film would have served Scorsese better.
ews that inspires optimism has been hard to come by of late. The state of politics, though usually abysmal, has become, for me, a quagmire of fatigue and alternative facts. Donald Trump has launched his reign of terror with an anti-abortion executive order, casting darkness and uncertainty across the entire world, while here at home, Mike Baird has unceremoniously fucked off into the sunset after taking a righteous, watery shit on New South Wales. Naturally I’ve turned to queer films to comfort me. I always feel slightly better about the world when I watch something gay and romantic. I find myself a little emotionally eroded by too much exposure to hetero stories – I can’t really find myself in them, so I need to do a lot of real-time translating. It gets a bit tiring. Sometimes I just want to see people like me having a good time.
After so many years of consuming a media diet that left me spiritually malnourished, I’m glad we have much more nutritious fare to choose from nowadays. I used to have a list of films I’d watch that weren’t necessarily queer, but had massive amounts of subtext, or a gay moment, or something; anything queer-ish that could be my go-to in times of need. Now I’ve got a list of movies with actual gay characters in them. I also realise how bad most of them are. So, so bad it hurts. I can understand the queer being a tragic figure in a movie made as late as the ’90s even, but aren’t
this week… On Friday February 3, Head over to the Giant Dwarf in Redfern to listen to Queerstories: a diverse lineup of queers telling stories about their lives, hosted by Maeve Marsden. Speakers include Benjamin Law, Simon Hunt (AKA Pauline Pantsdown), Sveta Gilerman (DJ Sveta), Jax Jacki Brown and Liz
we tired of lesbians killing themselves out of shame or depression? Aren’t we tired of being martyred like that, of having our romances be insta-doomed as soon as they begin? I’m looking at you, Carol. It’s well known that lesbian cinema has been a relentless cavalcade of death and misery. Sure, you get your three minutes of sexual/spiritual and romantic bliss, but the penalty is DEATH. I really want to watch a movie about lesbians that doesn’t leave me feeling like somebody has been kickboxing my soul. With that in mind, I dug through an embarrassing number of lesbian-centric films to find ones that didn’t have the following in them: • Lesbian character is a psycho killer • Lesbian character is only vacationing in homo-land and returns to hetero-ville at the end • Lesbian character is murdered • Lesbian character commits suicide • Lesbian lovers commit suicide together • Femme character has an Alternative Lifestyle haircut makeover (bonus: dramatic transition to lumberjack outfit) There’s a documentary called The Celluloid Closet which examines homosexuality throughout 20th century cinema. It includes a montage of lesbian deaths. So many lesbians have died in movies, they had enough material to make a montage. There are plenty of stupid, fun movies that don’t have these depressing
Duck-Chong. Tickets are available now. On Saturday February 4, The Bearded Tit is presenting Shanghai Sheba’s Speakeasy. The bar will be transformed into a 1920s speakeasy, where Shanghai Sheba’s famously interactive show will have plenty of crowd participation and prizes for best costume. Tickets at the door.
tropes. The problem is that fun, happy gay stories don’t seem to have much mainstream pull – it seems we still look at the queer character as something a little bit sad. Speaking of ‘serious’ cinema, most people cite either Blue Is The Warmest Color or Carol as the be-all, end-all of mainstream lesbian cinema. The former has the queer community divided in that some argue it’s voyeuristic garbage and others delight in its raw, unapologetic sexuality. The latter is taken more seriously as a love story. However, Carol just didn’t cut it for me. I felt like that chemistry between Cate Blanchett’s character and her love interest was nonexistent. Both actresses also did that bizarre thing straight women do when they have to kiss each other while pretending to be lesbians – their kisses come across as hesitant and prudish – and I don’t think it helped that the love story was utterly nonsensical to me. I wasn’t moved by the frustration and despair of their love, I was distracted by how passionless it seemed. I’m not a snob – occasionally I don’t want to bother with thematic coherence and just want to watch a whole lotta cheese. Something like But I’m A Cheerleader or The Incredibly True Adventures Of Two Girls In Love. They’re filled with cheesy gay love, and sometimes that’s perfectly satisfying. But I’m still waiting for a lesbian blockbuster that defies convention and gives everyone a happy ending. We’ll see.
And for the diary, on Thursday February 23 get down to The Red Rattler in Marrickville to celebrate butch identity and culture at Butch/Stud. The night will feature local and international queer artists, singers, drag kings, diesel dyke poets, and butch and butch-loving performers telling stories of butch/dyke visibility and pride. All are welcome, and tickets are available now.
David Molloy BRAG :: 698 :: 01:02:17 :: 17
BARS BRAG
B R A G ’ S G U I D E T O S Y D N E Y ’ S B E S T WAT E R I N G H O L E S
A Work In Progres King St, Sydney CBD (02) 9240 3000 Mon – Fri noon-2am; Sat 5pm-2am The ArtHouse 275 Pitt St, Sydney CBD (02) 9284 1200
TH
EK
ADDRESS: 1/391 ENMORE RD, MARRICKVILLE 2204 PHONE NUMBER: (02) 9550 5742 WEBSITE: THEGRIFTER.COM.AU OPENING HOURS: WED – THU 4-9PM; FRI – SAT NOON-9PM; SUN NOON-7PM
OF
THE GRIFTER BREWING bar COMPANY bar E E W
199 George St, Sydney CBD (02) 9250 3118 Mon – Sun noon-midnight
PS40 40 King St, Sydney CBD Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight
Ash St Cellar 1 Ash St, Sydney CBD (02) 9240 3000 Mon – Fri 8.30am-11pm
Grandma’s Basement 275 Clarence St, Sydney CBD (02) 9264 3004 Mon – Fri 3pm-midnight; Sat 5pm-1am
Ramblin’ Rascal Tavern 199 Elizabeth St, Sydney CBD Mon – Fri noon-midnight
Assembly 488 Kent St, Sydney CBD (02) 9283 8808 Mon noon-midnight; Tue 5pm-midnight; Wed – Sat noon-midnight
The Fox Hole 68A Erskine St, Sydney CBD (02) 9279 4369 Mon 7am-3pm; Tue – Fri 7am-late
The Australian Heritage Hotel 100 Cumberland St, The Rocks (02) 9247 2229 Mon – Sun 11am-midnight
The Grasshopper 1 Temperance Ln, Sydney CBD (02) 9947 9025 Mon – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri noon-1am; Sat 4pm-midnight
Mon noon-midnight; Tue – Wed 10am-midnight; Thu 10am-1.30am; Fri 10am-3am; Sat noon1.30am
Bar Eleven Lvl 11, 161 Sussex St, Sydney CBD (02) 9290 4000 Mon – Thu 4-9pm; Fri – Sat 4-11pm The Barber Shop 89 York St, Sydney CBD (02) 9299 9699 Mon – Wed 4pm-midnight; Thu – Fri 3pm-midnight; Sat 4pm-midnight
bar
Barrio Cellar Basement Level, 58 Elizabeth St, Sydney (02) 9232 7380 Mon – Sun noon-late Basement Bar Basement, 27-33 Goulburn St, Sydney CBD (02) 8970 5813 Mon – Thu 5pm-10pm; Fri – Sat 5pm-midnight The Baxter Inn Basement 152-156 Clarence St, Sydney CBD (02) 9221 5580 Mon – Sat 4pm-1am Beta Bar First Floor, 238 Castlereagh St, CBD (02) 8599 8970 Wed – Thu 5pm-midnight; Fri midday-midnight; Sat 5pm-midnight
Tell us about your bar: We are a brewery and tasting bar based on Enmore Road in Marrickville. We’ve been producing our beers out of this site for about 18 months now and the bar has been operating for just over a year. We only serve what we produce here on-site so it’s only beer in two sizes, middy (285ml) or pony (200ml). What’s on the menu? We have eight taps pouring some of the freshest beer in town! Our menu is always changing but some of the crowd favourites at the moment are the Watermelon
Pilsner or our collaboration beer with Mary’s, Brainstorm Session IPA. Care for a drink? Grifter Pale is the first beer we took into production and is kind of like our ‘house’ ale. It’s all Australian Pale Ale. Sounds: A whole range of styles, but to name a few favourites, Goat’s latest album gets played a bit on brew days, as well as Dead Meadow, to the all-Aussie playlist which is getting high rotation at the moment – Ed Kuepper is an
old favourite, The Go-Betweens of course. Head brewer Glenn has got a pretty bangin’ hip hop playlist too. Highlights: A relaxed, kid-friendly, dogfriendly, BYO food (we’ll be adding food trucks in here soon) and spacious warehouse bar (we have a cooling system too so it’s nice and breezy). An ever-changing tap lineup made no less than 20 metres away. The bill comes to: $5 or $6 a middy. Snacks behind the bar too.
Bulletin Place First Floor, 10-14 Bulletin Place, Circular Quay Mon – Wed 4pm-midnight; Thurs – Sat 4pm-1am; Sun 4-10pm Burrow Bar De Mestre Place, Sydney 0450 466 674 Tue – Sun 4pm-midnight The Captain’s Balcony 46 Erskine St, Sydney CBD (02) 9299 3526 Mon – Fri noon-midnight; Sat 5pm-midnight deVine 32 Market St, Sydney CBD (02) 9262 6906 Mon – Fri noon-11.30pm; Sat 5.30-11.30pm Easy Eight 152-156 Clarence St, Sydney (02) 9299 3769 Tue – Sat 4pm-midnight El Camino Cantina 18 Argyle St, The Rocks (02) 9259 5668 Mon – Sun noon-midnight Frankie’s Pizza 50 Hunter St, Sydney CBD Sun – Thu 4pm-3am; Fri noon-3am Gilt Lounge 2/49 Market St, Sydney CBD (02) 8262 0000 Wed – Friday 5pm-midnight; Sat 6pm-midnight The Glenmore 96 Cumberland St, The Rocks (02) 9247 4794 Mon – Thu, Sun 11am-midnight; Fri – Sat 11am-1am Grain Bar
18 :: BRAG :: 698 :: 01:02:17
Hacienda Sydney 61 Macquarie St, Sydney CBD (02) 9256 4000 Sun – Thu noon-10.30pm; Fri – Sat noon-midnight Harpoon Harry 40-44 Wentworth Ave, Sydney CBD (02) 8262 8800 Mon – Sat 11.30am-3am; Sun 11am-midnight Hudson Ballroom 53-55 Liverpool St, Sydney CBD Wed – Thu 5pm-11pm; Fri 5pm-3am; Sat 6pm-3am Kittyhawk 16 Phillip Ln, Sydney CBD Mon – Thu 3pm-midnight; Fri – Sat 3pm-2am The Lobo Plantation Basement Lot 1, 209 Clarence St, Sydney CBD 0415 554 908 Mon – Thu, Sat 4pm-midnight; Fri 2pm-midnight The Local Bar 161 Castlereagh St, Sydney CBD (02) 9953 0027 Mon – Wed 7.30am-10pm; Thu – Fri 7.30am-11pm The Loft (UTS) 15 Broadway, Sydney (behind 2SER) (02) 9514 1149 Mon – Thu 2-10pm; Fri 2-11pm Mojo Record Bar Basement 73 York St, Sydney CBD (02) 9262 4999 Mon – Wed 4pm-midnight; Thu 4pm-1am; Fri – Sat 4pm-1am The Morrison 225 George St, Sydney CBD (02) 9247 6744 Mon – Wed 7.30am-11pm; Thu 7.30am-midnight; Fri 7.30am-2am; Sat 11.30am-2am Mr Tipply’s 347 Kent St, Sydney CBD (02) 9299 4877 Mon – Thu 11.30am-10pm; Fri 11.30am-midnight; Sat 10pm-4am The Palisade 35 Bettington St, Millers Point 9018 0123 Mon – Fri noon-midnight; Sat – Sun 11am-midnight Palmer & Co. Abercrombie Ln, Sydney CBD (02) 9240 3000 Sun – Weds 5pm-3am; Thu – Fri 3pm-3am; Sat 4pm-3am Papa Gede’s Bar Laneway at the end of 348 Kent St, Sydney CBD (02) 9299 5671 Mon – Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat 5pm-midnight Peg Leg Pyrmont 11a Pyrmont Bridge Rd, Pyrmont Mon – Thu 3pm-midnight; Fri – Sun 11am-midnight
Rockpool Bar & Grill 66 Hunter St, Sydney CBD (02) 8078 1900 Mon – Fri noon-3pm, 6-11pm; Sun 5.30-10pm The Rook Level 7, 56-58 York St, Sydney CBD (02) 9262 2505 Mon, Sat 4pm-midnight; Tue – Fri noon-midnight The SG 32 York St, Sydney CBD Tue – Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat 6pm-midnight Shirt Bar 7 Sussex Ln, Sydney CBD (02) 8068 8222 Mon – Fri 8am-10pm Since I Left You 338 Kent St, Sydney CBD (02) 9262 4986 Mon – Tue 4.3010pm; Wed – Fri 4.30pm-midnight; Sat 6pm-midnight Small Bar 48 Erskine St, Sydney CBD (02) 9279 0782 Mon – Fri noon-midnight; Sat 5pm-midnight The Smoking Panda 5-7 Park St, Sydney CBD (02) 9264 4618 Mon – Sat 4pm-late Stitch Bar 61 York St, Sydney CBD (02) 9279 0380 Mon – Tue 4pm-midnight; Wed – Sat 4pm-2am The Swinging Cat 44 King St, Sydney CBD (02) 9262 3696 Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight Tapa Vino 6 Bulletin Place, Circular Quay (02) 9247 3221 Mon – Fri noon-11.30pm; Sat 5-11.30pm Tuxedo Bar 195 Gloucester St, The Rocks Tue – Wed 3-9pm; Thu – Sat 3-10pm Uncle Ming’s 55 York St, Sydney CBD Mon – Fri noon-midnight; Sat 4pm-midnight York Lane 56 Clarence St, Sydney CBD (02) 9299 1676 Mon – Wed 6.30am-10pm; Thu – Fri 6am-midnight; Sat 6pm-midnight
121BC 4/50 Holt St, Surry Hills (02) 9699 1582 Tue – Sat 5pm-midnight Absinthe Salon 87 Albion St, Surry Hills (02) 9211 6632 Wed – Sat 4-10pm Arcadia Liquors 7 Cope St, Redfern (02) 8068 4470 Mon – Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat 3pm-midnight; Sun 3-10pm Bar Cleveland Cnr Bourke & Cleveland St, Redfern (02) 9698 1908 Mon – Thu 10am-2am; Fri – Sat 10am-4am Bar H 80 Campbell St, Surry Hills (02) 9280 1980 Mon – Sat 6pm-11.30 Bellini Lounge thebrag.com
2 Kellett St, Potts Point (02) 9331 0058 Thu – Sun 6pm-late
The Bells Hotel 1 Bourke St, Woolloomooloo (02) 9357 3765 Mon – Sun 10am-1am The Beresford 354 Bourke St, Surry Hills (02) 8313 5000 Mon – Sun noon-1am Big Poppa’s 96 Oxford St, Darlinghurst Mon – Sun 5pm-3am Black Penny 648 Bourke St, Surry Hills (02) 9319 5061 Mon – Fri 3pm-midnight; Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm Button Bar 65 Foveaux St, Surry Hills (02) 9211 1544 Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight Café Lounge 277 Goulburn St, Surry Hills (02) 9016 3951 Mon – Thu 5pm-midnight; Fri – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sunday 4-10pm Casoni Italian Bar & Eatery 371-373 Bourke St, Darlinghurst Tue – Thu 5pm-11pm; Fri – Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun 5pm-10pm Central Tavern 42-50 Chalmers St, Surry Hills (02) 9212 3814 Mon – Sat 10am-2am; Sun 10am-10pm Ching-a-Lings 1/133 Oxford St, Darlinghurst (02) 9360 3333 Wed 6-11pm; Thu – Sat 6pm-1am; Sun 5-10pm The Cliff Dive 16-18 Oxford Square, Darlinghurst Fri – Sat 8pm-3am The Commons 32 Burton St, Darlinghurst (02) 9358 1487 Tue – Wed 6pm-midnight; Fri noon-1am; Sat 8.30am-1am; Sun 8.30am-11pm Darlo Bar 306 Liverpool St, Darlinghurst (02) 9331 3672 Mon – Sun 10am-midnight Darlo Country Club Level 1, 235 Victoria St, Darlinghurst (02) 9380 4279 Wed – Thu 5pm-midnight; Fri – Sat 5pm-2am Dead Ringer 413 Bourke St, Surry Hills (02) 9331 3560 Mon – Fri 5pm-midnight; Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-midnight Della Hyde 34 Oxford St, Darlinghurst Thu – Sat 5pm-late Eau-De-Vie 229 Darlinghurst Rd, Darlinghurst 0422 263 226 Sun – Fri 6pm-1am; Sat 6pm-midnight The Exchange 34 Oxford St, Darlinghurst (02) 9358 2311 Mon – Sun noon-late Fonzarelli’s 65-67 Foveaux St, Surry Hills 0402 874 511 Wed – Sun 5pm-midnight The Forresters 336 Riley St, Surry Hills (02) 9212 3035 Mon – Wed noonmidnight; Thu – Sat noon1am; Sun noon-10pm Gardel’s Bar 358 Cleveland St, Surry Hills thebrag.com
(02) 8399 1440 Tue – Sat 6pm-midnight
Gazebo 2 Elizabeth Bay Rd, Elizabeth Bay (02) 8070 2424 Tue – Sun noon-midnight Golden Age Cinema & Bar 80 Commonwealth St, Surry Hills (02) 9211 1556 Wed – Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat – Sun 2:30pm-midnight Goros 84-86 Mary St, Surry Hills (02) 9212 0214 Mon – Wed 11:30am-midnight; Thu 11:30am-1am: Fri 11:30am-3am; Sat 4pm-3am Hinky Dinks 185 Darlinghurst Rd, Darlinghurst (02) 8084 6379 Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun 2-11pm Hollywood Hotel 2 Foster St, Surry Hills (02) 9281 2765 Mon – Wed 10am-midnight; Thu – Sat 10am-3am The Horse 381 Crown St, Surry Hills 1300 976 683 Mon – Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm Jangling Jack’s Bar & Grill 175 Victoria St, Potts Point Tue – Wed 4-11pm, Thu – Sat 4-1am, Sun noon-11pm Hustle & Flow Bar 3/105 Regent St, Redfern (02) 8964 93932 Tue – Thu 6pm-midnight; Fri – Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun 2pm-midnight Li’l Darlin Darlinghurst 235 Victoria St, Darlinghurst (02) 8084 6100 Mon – Sun 4pm-midnight Li’l Darlin Surry Hills 420 Elizabeth St, Surry Hills (02) 9698 5488 Mon – Fri noon-11pm; Sat 4pm-midnight LL Wine and Dine 42 Llankelly Place Potts Point (02) 9356 8393 Mon – Thu 5pm-11pm; Fri – Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun 11am-10pm The Local Taphouse 122 Flinders St, Darlinghurst (02) 9360 0088 Mon – Wed noonmidnight; Thu – Sat noon1am; Sun noon-11pm The Long Goodbye 1/83 Stanley Street, Darlinghurst (02) 8957 7674 Tue 5-11pm; Wed – Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun 5-10pm Love, Tilly Devine 91 Crown Ln, Darlinghurst (02) 9326 9297 Mon – Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun 5-10pm Low 302 302 Crown St, Surry Hills (02) 9368 1548 Mon – Sun 6pm-2am Mr Fox 557 Crown St, Surry Hills 0410 470 250 Tue – Wed 4pm-midnight; Thu – Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat 3pm-midnight; Sun 10am-10pm Moya’s Juniper Lounge 101 Regent St, Redfern 0431 113 394 Tue – Sat 4pm-11pm; Sun
2-10pm
The Noble Hops 125 Redfern St, Redfern 0431 113 394 Mon – Fri 4pm -midnight; Sat 3pm-midnight; Sun 3pm-10pm The Norfolk 305 Cleveland St, Surry Hills (02) 9699 3177 Mon – Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm Old Growler 218 William St, Woolloomooloo 0458 627 266 Tue – Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun 4-10pm The Oxford Circus 231 Oxford St, Darlinghurst 0457 353 384 Wed – Sat 6pm-3am The Owl House 97 Crown St, Darlinghurst 0401 273 080 Mon – Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat 6pm-midnight; Sun 6-10pm Peekaboo 120 Bourke St, Woolloomooloo 0403 747 788 Tue – Thu 4pm-10pm; Fri – Sat 4pm-midnight
This Must Be The Place 239 Oxford St, Darlinghurst (02) 9331 8063 Mon – Sun 3pm-midnight The Tilbury Hotel 12-18 Nicholson St, Woolloomooloo (02) 9368 1955 Mon 9am-10pm; Tue – Fri 9am-midnight; Sat 10am-midnight; Sun 10am-10pm Tio’s Cerveceria 4-14 Foster St, Surry Hills (02) 9368 1955 Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight Tipple Bar 28 Chalmers St, Surry Hills (02) 9212 0006 Mon midday-10pm; Tue – Sat midday-midnight Vasco 421 Cleveland St, Redfern 0406 775 436 Mon – Sat 5pm-midnight The Village Inn 9-11 Glenmore Rd, Paddington (02) 9331 0911 Mon – Sun noon-late The Wild Rover 75 Campbell St, Surry Hills (02) 9280 2235 Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight
Play Bar 72 Campbell St, Surry Hills (02) 9280 0885 Tue – Thu 5pm-midnight; Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat 5pm-midnight
The Winery 285A Crown St, Surry Hills (02) 9331 0833 Mon – Sun noon-midnight
Pocket Bar 13 Burton St, Darlinghurst (02) 9380 7002 Mon – Sun 4pm-midnight
Anchor Bar 8 Campbell Pde, Bondi (02) 8084 3145 Mon – Fri 5pm-late; Sat – Sun 12.30pm-late
The Powder Keg 7 Kellett St, Potts Point (02) 8354 0980 Wed – Thu 5pm-midnight; Fri – Sat 4:30pm-midnight; Sun 5pm-midnight The Print Room 11 Glenmore Rd, Paddington (02) 9331 0911 Thu – Fri noon-midnight; Sun – Wed noon-10pm Queenie’s Upstairs 336 Riley St, Surry Hills (02) 9212 3035 Tue – Thu 6pm-late, Fri noon-3pm & 6pm-late; Sat 6pm-late Riley St Garage 55 Riley St, Woolloomooloo (02) 9326 9055 Mon – Sat noon-midnight Roosevelt 32 Orwell St, Potts Point (02) 8696 1787 Tue – Fri 5pm-midnight; Sat noon-midnight; Sun 3-10pm Rosie Campbell’s 320 Crown St, Surry Hills (02) 9356 4653 Mon – Thu 5pm-midnight; Fri – Sun 11am-midnight Shady Pines Saloon Shop 4, 256 Crown St, Darlinghurst Mon – Sun 4pm-midnight The Soda Factory 16 Wentworth Ave, Surry Hills (02) 8096 9120 Mon – Wed 5pm-midnight; Thu – Fri 5pm-3am; Sat – Sun 6pm-3am Surly’s 182 Campbell St, Surry Hills (02) 9331 3705 Mon – Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm Sweethearts Rooftop 33/37 Darlinghurst Rd, Potts Point (02) 9368 7333 Mon – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri – Sun noon-midnight
Bat Country 32 St Pauls St, Randwick (@ The Spot) (02) 9398 6694 Mon – Sat 7am-midnight; Sun 7am-10pm Beach Road Hotel 71 Beach Rd, Bondi Beach (02) 9130 7247 Mon – Fri 11am-1am; Sat 10am-1am; Sun 10am-10pm Bondi Hardware 39 Hall St, Bondi (02) 9365 7176 Mon – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri noon-midnight; Sat 9am-midnight; Sun 9am-10pm The Bucket List Shop 1, Bondi Pavilion, Queen Elizabeth Drive (02) 9365 4122 Mon – Sun 11am-midnight The Corner House 281 Bondi Rd, Bondi (02) 8020 6698 Mon – Fri 5pm-midnight; Sat 9am-midnight; Sun 9am-10pm Fat Ruperts 249 Bondi Rd, Bondi (02) 9130 1033 Tue – Fri 4-11pm; Sat – Sun 2-11pm Jam Gallery 195 Oxford St, Bondi Junction (02) 9389 2485 Wed – Sat 7pm-3am The Phoenix Hotel 1 Moncur St, Woollahra (02) 9363 2608 Mon – Wed 4-11pm; Thu – Fri noon-11pm; Sat – Sun 8am-11pm The Robin Hood Hotel 203 Bronte Rd, Waverley (02) 9389 3477 Mon-Sat 10am-3am; Sun 10am-10pm Selina’s at Coogee Bay Hotel 253 Coogee Bay Rd, Coogee (02) 9665 0000 Selina’s Thu 8pm-midnight;
Coogee Bay Hotel Mon – Thu 7am-3am, Fri – Sat 7am-6am; Sun 7am-midnight
Speakeasy 83 Curlewis St, Bondi (02) 9130 2020 Mon – Sat 5-11pm; Sun 4-10pm Spring Street Social 110 Spring St, Bondi Junction (02) 9389 2485 Tue – Sat 5pm-3am Stuffed Beaver 271 Bondi Rd, Bondi (02) 9130 3002 Mon – Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm
Bar-racuda 105 Enmore Rd, Newtown (02) 9519 1121 Mon – Sat 6pm-midnight Batch Brewing Company 44 Sydenham Rd, Marrickville (02) 9550 5432 Mon – Sun 10am-8pm
Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight
noon-10pm
Forest Lodge Hotel 117 Arundel St, Forest Lodge (02) 9660 1872 Mon – Sat 11am-midnight; Sun noon-10pm
Lord Raglan 12 Henderson Rd, Alexandria (02) 9699 4767 Mon – Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon10pm
Freda’s 109 Regent St, Chippendale (02) 8971 7336 Tue – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun 4pm-10pm
The Record Crate 34 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 9660 1075 Mon – Thu 5pm-midnight; Sat noon-midnight; Sun 3-10pm
The Gasoline Pony 115 Marrickville Rd, Marrickville 0401 002 333 Tue – Thu 5-11.30pm; Fri – Sat 3-11.30pm; Sun 3-9.30pm
The Royal 156 Norton St, Leichhardt (02) 9569 2638 Mon – Thu 10am-1am; Fri – Sat 10am-3am; Sun 10am-midnight
The Grifter Brewing Co. 1/391-397 Enmore Rd, Marrickville (02) 9550 5742 Thu 4-9pm; Fri – Sat noon-9pm; Sun noon-7pm The Hideaway Bar 156 Enmore Rd, Enmore (02) 8021 8451 Tue– Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri – Sat 4pm-1am
Bauhaus West 163 Enmore Rd, Enmore (02) 8068 9917 Fri – Sat 4pm-midnight
Hive Bar 93 Erskineville Rd, Erskineville (02) 9519 1376 Mon – Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm
The Bearded Tit 183 Regent St, Redfern (02) 8283 4082 Mon – Fri 4-11pm; Sat 2-11pm; Sun 2-10pm
Kelly’s On King 285 King St, Newtown (02) 9565 2288 Mon – Sat 10am-11pm; Sun 11pm-midnight
B.E.D. 36 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 9660 0678 Tue – Sat 2pm-midnight; Sun 2-10pm
Kingston Public Bar & Kitchen 62-64 King St, Newtown (02) 8084 4140 Mon – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri – Sun 2pm-midnight
Blacksheep 256 King St, Newtown (02) 8033 3455 Mon – Fri 4pm-11pm; Sat 2pm-11pm; Sun 2pm-10pm Bloodwood 416 King St, Newtown (02) 9557 7699 Mon – Fri 5pm-midnight; Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm Calaveras 324 King St, Newtown 0451 541 712 Tue – Wed 6-10pm; Thu 5-11pm; Fri – Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun 5.3010pm Cornerstone Bar & Food 245 Wilson St, Eveleigh (02) 8571 9004 Sun – Wed 10am-5pm; Thu – Sat 10am-midnight Corridor 153A King St, Newtown 0405 671 002 Mon 5pm-midnight; Tue – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri – Sun 3pm-midnight Cottage Bar & Kitchen 342 Darling St, Balmain (02) 8084 8185 Mon – Wed 5pm-midnight; Thu – Sat noon-midnight Deus Sydney Bar + Kitchen 98-104 Parramatta Rd, Camperdown (02) 9519 0849 Mon-Tue 8am-3pm; WedSun 8am-11pm Different Drummer 185 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 9552 3406 Mon 4.30-11pm; Tue – Wed 4.30pm-1am; Thu – Sat 4.30pm-2am; Sun 4.30am-midnight Doris & Beryl’s Bridge Club and Tea House 530 King St, Newtown Mon – Fri 5pm-midnight; Sat – Sun 3.30pm-midnight Earl’s Juke Joint King St, Newtown
Secret Garden Bar 134a Enmore Rd, Enmore 0403 621 585 Mon – Tue 7am-5pm; Wed – Fri 7am-11pm; Sat 7am-10pm; Sun 7am-11pm Staves Brewery 4-8 Grose Street, Glebe (02) 9280 4555 Thu 4-10pm; Fri – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun 4-10pm Temperance Society 122 Smith St, Summer Hill (02) 8068 5680 Mon – Thu 4pm-11pm; Fri – Sat 3pm-midnight; Sun 3-10pm Thievery 91 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 8283 1329 Mon – Thu 6pm-11pm; Fri 6pm-midnight; Sat noon3pm & 6pm-midnight The Thirsty Wolf 127 King St, Newtown (02) 9517 2081 Tue – Sat 6pm-midnight; Sun 6-10pm
Knox Street Bar Cnr Knox & Shepherd St, Chippendale (02) 8970 6443 Tue – Thu 4-10pm; Fri – Sat 4pm-midnight
Timbah 375 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 9571 7005 Tue – Thu 4-10pm; Fri 4-11pm; Sat 3pm-11pm; Sun 4pm-8pm
Kuleto’s 157 King St, Newtown (02) 9519 6369 Tue – Sat 4pm-3am; Sun 4pm-midnight
Vernon’s Bar L2. One Penny Red, 2 Moonbie St. Summer Hill (02) 9797 8118 Mon 4-10pm; Tue – Thu 4-11pm; Fri – Sat 4-midnight; Sun 4-10pm
Leadbelly 42 King St, Newtown (02) 9557 9409 Sun – Thur 4pm-midnight; Fri-Sat 4pm-1am The Little Guy 87 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 8084 0758 Mon – Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat 1pm-midnight; Sun 3pm-10pm Mary’s 6 Mary St, Newtown (02) 4995 9550 Mon – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri – Sat noon-midnight The Midnight Special 44 Enmore Road, Newtown (02) 9516 2345 Tue – Fri 5pm-noon; Sat 1pm-midnight Miss Peaches 201 Missenden Rd, Newtown (02) 9557 7280 Wed – Sun 5pm-midnight Mr Falcon’s 92 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 9029 6626 Mon – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri 3pm-midnight; Sat noon-midnight; Sun 4pm-10pm Newtown Social Club 387 King St, Newtown (02) 9550 3974 Mon – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri – Sat noon-2am; Sun noon-10pm The Oxford Tavern 1 New Canterbury Rd, Petersham (02) 8019 9351 Mon – Thu noon-midnight; Fri – Sat noon-3am; Sun
Wayward Brewing Co. 1 Gehrig Ln, Annandale (02) 7903 2445 Thu – Fri 2-10pm; Sat noon-10pm; Sun noon8pm Websters Bar 323 King St, Newtown (02) 9519 1511 Mon – Sat 10am-4am; Sun 10am-midnight Wilhelmina’s 332 Darling St, Balmain (02) 8068 8762 Wed – Fri 5-11pm; Sat 8-11pm; Sun 8am-10pm The Workers Lvl 1, 292 Darling St, Balmain (02) 9555 8410 Fri – Sat 5pm-3am; Sun 2pm-midnight Young Henrys D & E, 76 Wilford St, Newtown (02) 9519 0048 Mon – Fri noon-7pm; Sat 10am-7pm; Sun 11am-7pm Zigi’s Wine And Cheese Bar 86 Abercrombie St, Chippendale (02) 9699 4222 Tue 4pm-10pm; Wed 4pm-midnight; Thu – Sat 3pm-midnight
Crooked Tailor 250 Old Northern Road, Castle Hill (02) 9899 3167 Mon – Sun 4pm-midnight
Your bar’s not here? Email: chris@thebrag.com
Daniel San 55 North Steyne, Manly (02) 9977 6963 Mon – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri – Sun 11am-2am Firefly 24 Young St, Neutral Bay (02) 9909 0193 Mon – Wed 5-11pm; Thu 5-11.30pm; Fri noon11.30pm; Sat noon-11pm; Sun noon-10pm The Foxtrot 28 Falcon St, Crows Nest Tue – Wed 5pm-midnight; Thu 5pm-1am; Fri 4pm-2am; Sat 5pm-2am; Sun 4-10pm The Hayberry Bar & Diner 97 Willoughby Road, Crows Nest (02) 8084 0816 Tue – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri & Sat noon-midnight Sun noon-10pm Hemingway’s 48 North Steyne, Manly (02) 9976 3030 Mon – Sat 8am-midnight; Sun 8am-10pm The Hold Shop 4, Sydney Rd Plaza, Manly (02) 9977 2009 Tue – Fri 5pm-midnight; Sat 3pm-midnight; Sun 3-10pm Honey Rider 230 Military Rd, Neutral Bay (02) 9953 8880 Tue – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun 4pm-10pm InSitu 1/18 Sydney Rd, Manly (02) 9977 0669 Tue – Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat 9am-midnight; Sun 9am-10pm The Hunter 5 Myahgah Rd, Mosman 0409 100 339 Mon – Tue 5pm-midnight; Wed – Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon- 10pm Jah Bar Shop 9, 9-15 Central Ave, Manly (02) 9977 4449 Tue 5pm-midnight; Wed-Fri noon-midnight; Sat 8am-midnight; Sun 9am-10pm Manly Wine 8-13 South Steyne, Manly (02) 8966 9000 Mon – Sun 7am-11pm Miami Cuba 47 North Steyne, Manly 0487 713 350 Mon – Sun 8am-4pm Moonshine Lvl 2, Hotel Steyne, 75 The Corso, Manly (02) 9977 4977 Mon – Thu 9am-3pm; Fri – Sat 9am-2am; Sun 9am-midnight The Pickled Possum 254 Military Rd, Neutral Bay (02) 9909 2091 Thu – Sat 9pm-1am SoCal 1 Young St, Neutral Bay (02) 9904 5691 Mon – Wed 5pm-midnight; Thu 5pm-1am; Sat noon-2am; Sun noon-midnight The Stoned Crow 39 Willoughby Rd, Crows Nest (02) 9439 5477 Mon – Sat noon-late; Sun 11.30am-10pm The Treehouse Hotel 60 Miller St, North Sydney (02) 8458 8980 Mon – Fri 7am-midnight; Sat 2pm-midnight BRAG :: 698 :: 01:02:17 :: 19
FOOD + DRINK
REVIEW FEATURE
How Eating Bugs Could Save The World The Case For The Insect Diet BY JOSEPH EARP
S
lap bang in the middle of Naomi Klein’s startling book about the climate crisis, This Changes Everything, sits a clean break disguised as a threat. “I am convinced that climate change represents a historic opportunity,” Klein writes. “Yes, there will be things we will lose, whole industries that will disappear … [but] the thing about a crisis this big, this all-encompassing, is that it changes everything.” For many, Klein’s use of the word ‘everything’ brings to mind the big stuff: the land we live on and the stability of our economy. She certainly does mean that – climate change has the ability to uproot communities and send the market fluttering about into tiny, hewn-up pieces – but she also means the minutiae of our daily lives. She means the clothes we wear, and what we teach our children, and, perhaps most pressingly of all, the food on our plate. Because here’s the thing: our current agricultural model is unsustainable. Our meat-heavy diet not only leads to the enacting of untold ‘minor’ cruelties, but also helps tip the planet’s temperature towards the inhospitable levels predicted by even the most coolheaded of scientists. For one thing, the beef industry’s expansion relies on deforestation. But more than that, the ever-expanding cattle population has sent the
The cricket: our next source of food? levels of climate-threatening methane gas soaring. Over the course of its lifetime, a single cow produces as much greenhouse gas as a car, and when one realises there are a staggering 1.4 billion of the creatures swamping the Earth, the threat begins to take shape. It would be funny if it weren’t so horrifying, but cow farts are killing us. Yet despite these grim figures, there is a solution. Only, as with so many other issues that contribute to the growing threat of an ecological apocalypse, it currently seems hard to stomach. The answer relies not on eliminating meat, but rather shifting the source. Simply put, if we want to save the world, we should abandon the beef in our burgers and replace it with bugs. Disgusting? Perhaps it seems that way for the moment. But shifting to an insect diet would have profound effects on the
natural world, and on our production of carbon. Bugs have only a minimal negative impact on their habitat – if we moved our dietary focus onto crickets, say, gone would be the days of chopping down an area of forest the size of India every quartercentury in order to provide room for cattle – but more than that, insects represent a much more energy-effective food source than traditional options like beef or chicken. If a cow is a banged-up old car, then a cricket is a bicycle; clean, cost-effective and efficient. While a mere ten per cent of a side of beef consumed gets turned into energy, 44 per cent of the matter ingested from a cockroach will become human body matter. Crickets are high in protein; silkworms are high in amino acids. And best of all, they breed fast, all of them: in a space of a month, a cricket can lay up to 1,500 eggs. Herein lies the opportunity Klein speaks of; the way that a proper, all-encompassing revolution designed to halt the worst effects of climate change could become the gateway to a purer form of living. Not only would bug farming stave off the sudden collapse of humanity’s food, but it would feed more, and it would feed better. Truly global insect production wouldn’t only save the world, it would fundamentally make it a better place. All we need to do is make a minor change in order to help offset a much more permanent one.
Garçon @ Tramsheds BY JESSICA WESTCOTT $$
F
orest Lodge in Sydney is the perfect testing ground for new cafes. A blend of young, vibrant families, students and white-collar workers provides a thorough demographic for food hubs to experiment with new flavours and embellish old favourites. It bears little surprise, then, that the Tramsheds at Harold Park has done exceptionally well since opening in 2016. The former Rozelle Tram Depot, which operated from 1904 to 1958, has been completely refurbished into a modern, Instagram-friendly, European-style food hall. The Tramsheds offers a unique style of dining – one which will no doubt be adopted by other aspiring warehouse renovators in the future. The pristine premises have flower beds in bicycles at every corner, huge beams supporting a corrugated skyroof, and a melange of smells from every cuisine under the sun. This food hall-esque eating adventure has been seen in other capital cities before now – Canberra boasts The Hamlet, a seemingly hastily designed plaza made out of repurposed caravans and pimped-out food trucks – but the Tramsheds echoes both the style and the popularity of this space, and for casual dining, you are spoilt for choice. Tucked in between Gelato Messina and beneath the huge entryway sign lies an eatery with an enticing open-faced proscenium. Garçon, the brainchild of the Little Marionette coffee team, has enticed customers since opening at the Tramsheds six months ago, with a solid brunch menu and an ever-changing specials board. Dubbing itself as a “coffee-centric espresso and wine bar”, Garçon offers a laid-back vibe reminiscent of its French-Australian fusion. It seems to look on you favourably whether you choose a latte or a lager with your breakfast. The owner Phil greets everyone with an infectious smile, and despite the packed
PRICE PER MAIN
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nature of the cafe, is cool as a cucumber. For what it’s worth, the coffee here is excellent. Your correspondent found it comforting to know that a nutty, rich, gently made cappuccino could exist west of Surry Hills. The specials page taps ingredients such as salmon nicoise and oxheart tomatoes, plus a salad of jamón, feta and fig that is as delicate and refreshing as it is packed with flavour. The crushed almonds are the real highlight of the dish, bringing together the almost pickle-sweetness of the figs and the bite of the feta with little to-do. The menu’s sweet fusion of FrancoAustralian cuisine is heavy on the cheese and charcuterie. Diners can enjoy a cut of Jamón Serrano Duroc – a deliciously salty slice from the Duroc pig – or opt for something quite different like the chorizo and mojo verde bao. The name Garçon stems from the wealthy Frenchman’s call to the waiter: “Garçon! [Boy!]”. At Garçon the restaurant, no yelling is required; all the servers are quick and exceptionally polite. Coffees were brought out before I’d even finished my order, and plates cleared at the final bite. The broad and well-stocked array of liquor is tempting (even at midday on a Sunday) and the drinks menu, featuring a tiramisu cocktail and a blend of French and South Australian vintages, is ripe for the traditionalist and the after-dinner enthusiast. Garçon at the Tramsheds promises to be “the premier coffee venue at Tramsheds” and “an institution in Sydney”. Granted, this is a high bar, but very reasonable for an establishment that blends the atmosphere of a casual Sunday morning brunch and a sophisticated pre-dinner drink. Where: Tramsheds Harold Park, 1 Dalgal Way, Forest Lodge More: tramshedsharoldpark.com.au
Cricket and insect food stall photos courtesy Wikimedia Commons
An insect food stall in Bangkok
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Album Reviews What's been crossing our ears this week...
ALBUM OF THE WEEK FRANK CARTER AND THE RATTLESNAKES Modern Ruin Kobalt
Gathering his serpent minions to his court, Frank Carter – the former frontman of English groups Gallows and Pure Love – has drawn upon his alternative rock and hardcore history to bring us a scalding record of character-defining musicianship that makes no apology for its politically powerful core – and nor should it.
AFI AFI Caroline Never a band for going easy on the theatrics, AFI have pretty much made a name for themselves with their flamboyance and drama, both in appearance and in their music. They’ve twisted and reformed rock’n’roll for over two decades now, and ‘The Blood Album’ sees the former emo punks throwing themselves way back in time to channel some heavy New Romantic influences. It’s the old meeting the new – a 21st century band as a vessel for the likes of Joy Division and The Cure. ‘Dark Snow’ retains those classic AFI goth chorus melodies, but with the overlaying synth and voices, you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a mash-up of those classic ’80s bands, not original work. The saving graces, though, are ‘Still A Stranger’ and ‘Hidden Knives’, which lean on the emo-punk sound that so many fell in love with over the years. Drum lines, high-pitched guitar parts and simple lyrics make these the standout numbers on the album – and it doesn’t hurt that their sound actually fits this decade. AFI have made a brave effort to create something new inside their genre, but a couple of tracks aside, there’s not much to be found here but throwback pop.
Though there’s some uncertainty in Carter’s vocals on the first few tracks of Modern Ruin, it’s rather endearing, and suits the purposely underdone
‘Wild Flowers’ contains some quintessentially British indie undertones, with elements of fast and bobby mania. It’s also the first real significant moment of variation in the album, setting the pace for more sonic thumping – ‘God Is My Friend’ standing out in particular. Whether or not you’re convinced that the marriage between Carter’s earlier performance styles is a good one or not, Modern Ruin is Carter’s voice and songwriting at the best we’ve ever heard it. Anna Wilson
HALESTORM
AS IT IS
CHERRY GLAZERR
BLACK STAR RIDERS
ReAniMate 3: The Covers EP Atlantic/Warner
Okay Fearless/Caroline
Apocalipstick Secretly Canadian/Inertia
Heavy Fire Nuclear Blast
Lzzy Hale is Pennsylvania’s answer to Janis Joplin. The Halestorm singer’s voice has a power like you’ve never heard; raspy, crooning and mighty. She belts out music in such a compelling way that her sound can make you quiver. Make no mistake, this is a once-in-a-lifetime talent.
If you’re a fan of pop-punk, then chances are As It Is’ new album Okay will hit the spot. It’s the UK five-piece’s second full-length record after their debut in 2015 and they’ve pulled no punches when it comes to opening up in their lyrics this time around.
It’s pretty telling that Cherry Glazerr are carefully rising from the depths of the LA underground garage punk scene to float somewhere more around the belly of the beast. With Apocalipstick, you can tell the band is trying to show a little more development in sound and production – only it’s probably best to ignore the lyrics and just appreciate the music.
The swagger breaks free as Black Star Riders present a blissfully classic vibe on their new album, Heavy Fire. The album’s title track groans with the promise of feelgood rock and flashy guitar licks, while ‘Dancing With The Wrong Girl’ epitomises that roof-downdrive-at-sunset feeling – think a reincarnation of the Eagles.
For their sophomore release, Cherry Glazerr have drawn on some more worldly themes rather than the adolescent (and sometimes immature) content found on their first album. ‘Only Kid On The Block’ sees singer Clementine Creevy retain a naivety in her narrative, but it’s all told through a zealously punk voice, with the edge of a young woman still experimenting with her youth and her songwriting.
Then all is lost. Is that it? Only two good songs? Not what you expect from a band heralded as creating compelling hard rock, and whose members populate the legendary Thin Lizzy in their spare time.
Her presence on the band’s latest release is all the evidence you need. ReAniMate – Halestorm’s third EP of covers – is bold and ballsy, looking to influences like Joan Jett and The Blackhearts, Twenty One Pilots, Soundgarden and Metallica, yet taking the opportunity to put their own spin on another great batch of classic songs. The only downside is that these interpretations don’t present as much of the Halestorm sound as you might be hoping for. Hale projects the souls of the bands that have come before her with an enterprising energy, but that talent of hers seems only to be riffing on existing formulae, not bringing anything fresh to the table. At worst, it’s Halestorm karaoke. So, next time they’re going to pay tribute to the greats, Halestorm would be best placed to find a new angle. Anna Wilson
Anna Wilson
To the inattentive ear, it may seem like just another generic pop-punk record, but there are some real hidden gems to be found here – and it’s mainly down to the band’s honesty. Okay is raw and real, but still such a blast. Singer Patty Walters has described breaking down during the writing process and channelling it into the album, with the title track a picture of some of the most painful struggles with his mental state. Okay also features a heartfelt, poignant apology to Walters’ older sister and a promise to make amends in ‘Dear Rachel’. It’s pretty textbook – just add fast and fun guitars, mix with angsty lyrics and sprinkle liberally with nostalgia – but why fix what ain’t broke? My Chem, Simple Plan, All Time Low and Yellowcard have done it before, mastering the art of using clichés to connect with restless teenagers, and As It Is look to be heading in the same direction.
Some albums demand your attention. Refl ection quietly requests it, drawing you into a fully realised aural world with no physical counterpart. Brian Eno’s focus here isn’t on world-building, but augmenting reality, crafting a hypnotic, dreamlike soundtrack to an unseen film where the listener is director. The music comprises a single 54-minute track, recalling 1985’s Thursday Afternoon, but in Eno’s 26-album catalogue, it remains an outstanding achievement. Refl ection Warp/Inertia
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Refl ection’s ability to enthral lies in Eno’s mastery of atypical rhythm. The pacing of discovery, of revealing and emphasising elements delicately plucked from the void, is captivating. He makes a voyage into uncertainty,
Really, that’s what the whole album is: an experimentation in character, direction and voice. Cherry Glazerr still feel like they’re having an identity crisis, but perhaps that just comes down to youth and inexperience. Regardless, Apocalipstick is musically superb. ‘Trash People’, ‘Sip O’ Poison’ and ‘Lucid Dreams’ all explore tales of grimy sex, mindaltering concoctions, and are pretty schizophrenic in nature.
They’ve certainly come a long way since Never Happy, Ever After.
The intent is good, but the way is blocked with uncertainty – best they live a little and get back to us.
Ariana Norton
Anna Wilson
INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK
BRIAN ENO
xxx
A regular ‘fuck you’ from a Watford boy who’s showing us how it’s done.
aesthetic of the album. ‘Lullaby’ is the furthest thing from one, but it’s easy to fall in love with, while ‘Snake Eyes’ demonstrates a razor-sharp belt that’s both sad and candid at the same time.
and even as it loops in on itself, the hour-long experience becomes infinite. This is the kind of record that begs for good quality headphones, quiet environs and the space and time for introspection. Refl ection is equally able to render a walk through the cityscape as a serene, even holy experience. Minimalist and spacious, the gaps in Reflection are its true source of pleasure. Like the album equivalent of the (certainly Enoinspired) video game No Man’s Sky, its boundless planes offer endless possibilities.
‘True Blue Kid’ is bog-standard, clumsily exacting clean guitar solos in an altogether unremarkable way. In fact, there’s nothing that’s going to make you sit up in your seat anywhere beyond the record’s first 15 minutes. There is really no other word for Heavy Fire other than ‘nice’ – nice vocals, nice melodies, nice production, but it all leaves you expecting more. You almost find yourself leaning forward in a bid to urge the music on. Heavy Fire is the sound of driving down a nondescript road with eyes on a destination that’s forever out of reach: a mirage in the desert. Anna Wilson
OFFICE MIXTAPE And here are the albums that have helped BRAG HQ get through the week... GORILLAZ - Plastic Beach KIMBRA - The Golden Echo RADIOHEAD - The King Of Limbs
OK GO - Hungry Ghosts COLDPLAY - Parachutes
David Molloy
BRAG :: 698 :: 01:02:17 :: 21
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up all night out all week . . .
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live reviews What we’ve been out to see...
PHOTOGRAPHER :: ASHLEY MAR
GLASS ANIMALS, POLOGRAPHIA Enmore Theatre Wednesday January 25
Sydney locals Polographia kicked things off for the night with their blend of ’90s nostalgia and synth. If you haven’t heard of them yet this summer, now is the time to jump on the bandwagon. Seeing ‘Feels Alright’ alone was worth the price of entry. They had no problem mesmerising an almost-full Enmore Theatre, and no doubt they’ll be back as headliners soon enough. The backdrop onstage looked simple enough at first; a banner with the words ‘Glass Animals’ written in strange Nintendolike graphics. As the show progressed, it started to morph rapidly with the lights – one minute it was a normal poster, the next a flashing blue sign. In other words, it had many dimensions. It was a fitting motif for the tour behind Glass Animals’ latest album, How To Be A Human Being. During the writing process, they decided to embody 11 different fictional characters, whom they hired actors to play on the album cover and in corresponding video clips. This was an even more ambitious effort than on their debut, Zaba – Dave Bayley seems to understand that in being specific, his lyrics can be universal, and that has led to one of the best fulllength releases of its era.
PUSCIFER, LUCHAFER Darling Harbour Theatre Wednesday January 25
It may not have been open for long, but the International Convention Centre’s Darling Harbour Theatre has now hosted the strangest gig it may ever witness.
written about Keenan’s blessed pipes; more need be said of Carina Round, his multi-instrumentalist counterpart. Striking sharp poses and singing like a goddess, she proved powerfully magnetic, especially in her sultry rendition of Puscifer classic ‘Rev 22:20’.
Puscifer, the side project of Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan, are an outside bet at the best of times, but sirens must have gone off for organisers when they announced their support act as Luchafer – not a band, but a brightly costumed, five-strong lucha libre wrestling troupe.
Keenan, bearing a mask falling somewhere between Luchafer and Slipknot, kept to the darkness at first, but surprisingly emerged to banter between tracks and set up a mechanical cockfight (not kidding). “Stay in your allotted seating area, by all means,” he crowed. “Let the 52-year-old do all the dancing, sure.”
And so the steady stream of gothedup, piercing-ridden Tool fans arriving at Sydney’s newest, most expensive venue found themselves greeted by five lycraclad fighters theatrically beating the crap out of each other.
Behind him, the rhythm section of Paul Barker (ex-Ministry) and Jeff Friedl kept it tight and grooving, while Mahsa Zargaran provided sumptuous backing vox and Mat Mitchell shredded heaven and Earth with his guitar virtuosity.
Once Maynard and his cohort took to the stage, the strange did not let up. Projections divided the gig into four acts, between which Luchafer returned to punch on again as the band sat and watched. Meanwhile, video projections brought a wide range of Keenan’s characters to the space, completely incomprehensible to all but the most dedicated Puscifer fans.
It was Act Four that really got the crowd moving, with ‘Conditions Of My Parole’ and ‘Man Overboard’ bringing everyone to their feet. As Round ran like a lunatic around stage, arms flailing, it became clear that taking Puscifer seriously has never been something they encouraged.
Puscifer may be a bizarre stream-ofconsciousness outlet for Keenan, but their musical prowess elevates them to a whole new level. Enough has been
Their abstractions are forced, even naff, and they know it. Automatic thought shouldn’t make sense, and Puscifer sure as hell don’t, but sense has never been a prerequisite for rock. David Molloy
Of course, it helps to have a lead like Bayley, who happily leapt, spun and fell to his knees from the first note to the last. Joe Seaward, Drew MacFarlane and Edmund Irwin-Singer also maintained an infectious enthusiasm that the crowd threw right back at them from the front row to the seats at the back. Then there were the strange details – the kick drum painted as a watermelon and the pineapple sitting onstage – that were reminders of the inherent weirdness of Glass Animals’ brand of hip-hop-saturated indie rock. Codeine Coca-Cola in a song about a freckled boy living with his mum? These are strange pineapple-y times indeed. The set struck a great balance between old and new material. Songs like ‘Black Mambo’ and ‘Pools’ still feel current over two years later. But their new material was the highlight of the evening, with ‘Life Itself’ and ‘Youth’ inspiring the crowd to jump, stamp the ground and sing along. Bayley introduced ‘Agnes’ as his favourite track, and it was easy to see why: live, the melancholic keys intro played as the venue was soaked in blue light, giving it an otherworldly feel. It was the perfect embodiment of where Glass Animals have taken their sound: simple, specific yet still strange. Emily Meller
YANN TIERSEN
Sydney Opera House Tuesday January 24 A solo piano performance in the relative intimacy of the Sydney Opera House’s Concert Hall is always going to be a source of some excitement, especially when it’s that of French composer and musician Yann Tiersen. 20-odd years into a storied career, his most recent solo album Eusa presented fragile piano compositions thematically and musically centered on his home of Ushant, a barely inhabited island off Brittany on France’s western coast. And it was to this windswept setting that we would return throughout the show. Simply dressed in tee and jeans, Tiersen entered with orange lanterns lightly bathing his minimal mise en scène of instruments. The disarming warmth of a simple “good evening” was to start the show, and a vintage reel-to-reel recorder to be his only accompaniment for the evening. Perhaps coloured in part by his Amélie and Good Bye Lenin! film scores being firmly etched into the popular conscience, there was a characteristically cinematic quality to Tiersen’s performance. Throughout the evening, he drifted between piano, violin and the nostalgic, toy-piano-like tinkle and tonk of two compact harpsichords. Despite missing the multi-layered instrumental interplay of much of his recorded work, this drifting came to resemble its own series of
22 :: BRAG :: 698 :: 01:02:17
soundtracks and musical portraits, a fitting showcase of Tiersen’s Romantic bent and ear for melody. Over the course of a long and varied career, Tiersen has refined an admirable quality in making a melody seem familiar, a quality that revealed itself quite beautifully in the Concert Hall. Pensive and poignant, his performance evoked feelings of seasonal change, of the time between seasons – whether in the jagged motif of Amélie’s ‘Sur Le Fil’ and its deranged violin arpeggio and tremolo, bow drawn steady before the storm; or as in the twinkling trickle and tremble of recent piano composition ‘Porz Goret’, in which we imagined ourselves perched on the craggy headland of his beloved Ushant island, softly rebuffed by the coastal winds of the Celtic Sea. Underscored by the soft background drone of field recordings that filled the aural space between, much was in the lightness of Tiersen’s touch; fingers that gently glided and casually rested over keys and string, persistently pulling and tugging at emotion, yet never prone to bloated melodrama. So much so that his limited engagement with the audience was barely noticeable. Returning to the stage for the latter of two short encores, Tiersen struck a slightly sheepish figure. It only served to highlight his casual charm, with rapturous applause suggesting others were just as wooed. Alex Chetverikov
THE BATS
Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent Sunday January 29 “This is serious!” smirked the chief songwriter for The Bats, Robert Scott, early into the band’s Sydney Festival set. It was a telling moment: a declaration of sincerity delivered in the most insincere way possible has long been the modus operandi for these Flying Nun legends, and a rubbery, artfully odd sense of the heartfelt has remained the key to their sound for the four decades they’ve been gigging about the place. That longevity might go a long way to explaining how tight they sounded – Paul Kean’s wiretaut basslines have not aged a day, proving the driving force of the proceedings, while Kaye Woodward’s vocals remain uncracked – but it doesn’t explain how strangely of-themoment their songs still are. Despite first being released decades ago, a tune like ‘Treason’ appears astoundingly fresh, and its boppy, melancholia-drenched chorus had the Spiegeltent crowd bobbing along. The majority of the 90-minute showing was dominated by the group’s new record, The Deep Set, an eminently loveable slice of Dunedin pop and one of the most Bats-esque albums they’ve yet dropped. Bolstered by a small string section, the band meandered its way through the work in its distinctly unhurried way, stopping to chat to the receptive audience every now and then and smiling politely at called-out requests. Yet the show wasn’t all fun and games, no matter how light and airy the songs unveiled proved to be. Indeed, there was an air of the epilogue about the proceedings, and despite the fact The Deep Set arrived only last week, one couldn’t shake the strange sense of an ending that seemed to haunt the band. All the quiet tragedy of a song like ‘Antlers’ felt hardened, and the bitter in bittersweet soon began to take centre stage. That sense of finality was given a voice when Scott warned that it might well be the last time The Bats would be playing some of their older songs, particularly the cuts from their celebrated debut Daddy’s Highway. “It’s bad times we live in,” he said jokingly. “Sorry, nothing we can do.” But he was right. These are bad times. And perhaps that’s why a song like ‘Block Of Wood’ feels the way it does now – rigid and powerful, but somewhat alien. The Bats’ catalogue has not dated, but it has changed, flinching away from cynicism and metamorphosing into something oddly foreign. Three decades ago, a pop song could feel good; now such optimism seems to reflect a world that no longer exists. The Bats might not have changed. But the world has. Joseph Earp
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You’ve got to hand it to Tigertown – they’re pretty heckin’ adorable. They play happy-go-lucky electropop with the bombast of your Grouploves or even your St. Lucias, with all the sugar rush of playing M83’s ‘Midnight City’ at full volume on repeat. The already packed crowd goes with their every movement, from dutifully bouncing in time with the pounding 4/4 rhythm to clapping along when they seamlessly transition into Michael Jackson’s ‘Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.” They even have a C-shaped balloon onstage to celebrate singer Charlie Collins’ birthday. To paraphrase a line from The Beatles, they’ve been going in and out of style, but they’re guaranteed to raise a smile. The concern it does raise, however, is just how long the party can last for this Sydney outfi t. Bubblegum is bound to lose fl avour on the bedpost overnight, to be replaced with something fresher and snappier. Still, one can put aside such thoughts for the moment and spend a little longer going through the gold-paved streets of Tigertown.
PHOTOGRAPHER :: ASHLEY MAR
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When Panic! arrive, the opener is the ‘Rock Lobster’-sampling ‘Don’t Threaten Me With A Good Time’ from last year’s Death Of A Bachelor LP – an album that, amazingly, gets a far bigger response than early cuts like ‘Time To Dance’ and ‘Nine In The Afternoon’. Who’d have ever picked these punctuation-heavy pop-rockers as crossgenerational? While many of the band’s mid-2000s peers have either imploded or perished, Panic! At The Disco have adapted and survived. Tonight is a living, screaming testament to that – and, full credit to Urie and his cohorts, it’s a very impressive pop show. With streamers, confetti, steam rockets and even a backflip for good measure, it’s a feast for the senses and an all-ages entertainment spectacle.
aurora
26:01:17 :: Metro Theatre :: 624 George St Sydney 9550 3666
David James Young
twilight at taronga ft. peter garrett & the alter egos PICS :: AM
Hordern Pavilion Friday January 27
A word of warning to anyone who might have considered heading along to see Panic! At The Disco on grounds of nostalgia: you and figurehead Brendon Urie have gotten older, but their fans have very much stayed the same age. The venue is packed wallto-wall with screaming teenagers, crushing up against the barrier to the point where the stage manager has to get the entire audience to take two steps back before the band has even played a note.
PICS :: AM
PANIC! AT THE DISCO, TIGERTOWN
up all night out all week . . .
27:01:17 :: Taronga Zoo :: Bradley’s Head Mosman BRAG :: 698 :: 01:02:17 :: 23
g g guide gig g send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com
Bruce Springsteen
ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK
Harbourview Hulabaloo - feat: Zack Martin + Blake Gomersall + Guests Harbourview Hotel, The Rocks. 7pm. Free. Mark N The Blues Mr Falcon’s, Glebe. 8:30pm. Free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 7 Qudos Bank Arena
Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band 7:30pm. $100.85. WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 1 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC
Nao Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $42. Wailing Wednesdays Rosie Campbell’s,
Surry Hills. 6pm. Free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
Michael Fryar The Bourbon, Potts Point. 5:30pm. Free. The April Family + Mark Moldre + Matt Lyons The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 7pm. $7. White Lung +
Julia Jacklin
Horror My Friend Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $25.
ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK
Manouche Wednesdays - feat: The Squeezebox Trio Mr Falcon’s, Glebe. 7pm. Free. Michael Dimarco
Sappho Books, Cafe And Bar, Sydney. 7pm. Free.
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 2 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Live Jazz And Blues Killing Heidi
Annie Z Pittwater RSL, Mona Vale. 7pm. Free. Bucket Lounge Presents Live & Original - feat: Charli Rainford + Syracuse + Rosanna Mendez Lewisham Hotel, Lewisham. 7:30pm. Free. Dying Adolescences + Greta Now + Jermango Dreaming Freda’s, Chippendale. 8pm. $5. Garage Punk Show - feat: Big Rat Stu + Durry + Legal Aliens + Bright + Feedbach Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10. Lepers And Crooks + The Sweet Jelly Rolls Hotel Steyne, Manly. 7pm. Free. Steve Crocker The Bourbon, Potts Point. 5:30pm. Free. Twilight At Taronga - feat: The Rubens + Bec Sandridge Taronga Zoo, Mosman. 6pm. $74.95. Whitney + Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $39.90.
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES &
FOLK
Sound Of Koko Mr Falcon’s, Glebe. 8:30pm. Free. Sunset Sessions feat: Morgan Bain + Aleisha Mcdonald Hornsby Mall, Hornsby. 5pm. Free.
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC
John Maddox Sappho Books, Cafe And Bar, Sydney. 7pm. Free. Lea Salonga + Sydney Symphony Orchestra Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 8pm. $61. Tony Burky’s Hot Club + John & Yuki Well Co. Cafe And Wine Bar, Glebe. 8pm. Free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
Baby Animals + Palace Of The Kings Rooty Hill RSL Club, Rooty Hill. 7:30pm. $40. Big Way Out Penrith RSL, Penrith. 9pm. Free. Chase City + Raindrop Hotel Steyne, Manly. 7pm. Free. Cover Me Crazy Towradgi Beach Hotel, Towradgi. 9:30pm. Free. Glenn Esmond The Bourbon, Potts Point. 5:30pm. Free. Hands Like Houses Factory Theatre, Marrickville. 8pm. $25. Jack Horner Heritage Hotel, Bulli. 7:30pm. Free. Jed Zarb Hawkesbury Hotel, Windsor. 8pm. Free. Jimmy Bear The Oriental Hotel, Springwood. 8pm. Free. One Hit Wonders Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8:30pm. Free. Original Sin INXS Show Colonial Hotel, Werrington. 9pm. Free. Periphery Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. Free. Rita B Sappho Books, Cafe And Bar, Sydney.
7pm. Free. Stephanie Lea Quakers Inn, Quakers Hill. 8pm. Free. Steve Tonge Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 7:30pm. Free. The McClymonts + Imogen Clark The Juniors, Kingsford. 8pm. $40. They Call Me Bruce Coolibah Hotel, Merrylands. 8:30pm. Free. Trophy Eyes Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $23.10. Twilight At Taronga - feat: The Rubens + Bec Sandridge Taronga Zoo, Mosman. 6pm. $74.95. Woodlock + The Franklin Electric + Hollow Coves Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $22.99.
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 4 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK
Songsonstage feat: Russell Neal + Guests Orange Grove Hotel, Lilyfield. 7pm. Free.
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC
Lea Salonga + Sydney Symphony Orchestra Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 2pm. $61. Lea Salonga + Sydney Symphony Orchestra Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 8pm. $61. Mick Reid + John Maclie Well Co. Cafe And Wine Bar, Glebe. 6pm. Free. Mike Nock & Laurence Pike + Alon Ilsar & Sandy Evans The Sound Lounge, Chippendale. 8pm. $25. Soul Messengers The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 3pm. $7.
24 :: BRAG :: 698 :: 01:02:17
thebrag.com
Julia Jacklin photo by Shervin Iainez
Acoustic Grooves Twin Willows Hotel, Bass Hill. 7:30pm. Free. Adrian Joseph Crossways Hotel, 8pm. Free. As It Is The Lair @ Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7pm. $28. Baby Animals + Dallas Crane + Palace Of The King Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $50. Ben Kidson + James Mckendry Mr Falcon’s, Glebe. 8:30pm. Free. Benj Axwel
Killing Heidi photo by Wilk
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
Clovelly Hotel, Clovelly. 5pm. Free. Black Label South Hurstville RSL Club, South Hurstville. 8:30pm. Free. Blake Wiggins Duo Gregory Hills Hotel, Sydney. 7:30pm. Free. Cath & Him Dee Why RSL, Dee Why. 9pm. Free. Dean Michael Smith Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 8pm. Free. Endangered Species Vineyard Hotel, Vineyard. 9pm. Free. Evie Dean Ettamogah Hotel, Rouse Hill. 9:30pm. Free. Floyd Vincent And The Temple Dogs + The Green Hand Band Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 8:30pm. $15. Glenn Esmond Clovelly Hotel, Clovelly. 4:30pm. Free. Glenn Esmond Fortune Of War, The Rocks. 3pm. Free. James Brennan Peachtree Hotel, Penrith. 6:30pm. Free. Jared Baca Rocks Brewing Co, Alexandria. 2pm. Free. JP Project Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. Free. Michael Fryar Chatswood RSL, Chatswood. 5pm. Free. Mid Life Crisis Carousel Inn Hotel, Rooty Hill. 8pm. Free. Peter Gabrielides Panania Hotel, Panania. 8pm. Free. Robber Dogs Penrith RSL, Penrith. 2pm. Free. Rose Carleo Plough & Harrow, Camden. 8pm. Free. Ryan Enright Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 7:30pm. Free. St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival 2017 - feat: A.B. Original + Aurora + Bob Moses + Camp Cope + Car Seat Headrest + Clams Casino + Fascinator + Floating Points + Gang Of Youths + GL + Glass Animals + Jagwar Ma + Jess Kent + Julia Jacklin + Koi Child + Luca Brasi + Mick Jenkins + Mr. Carmack + Nao + Nicholas Allbrook + Nick Murphy + Roland Tings + Sampa The Great + Tame Impala + Tash Sultana + The Julie Ruin + Tourist + Tycho + White Lung + Whitney + More Sydney College Of The Arts, Rozelle. 11am. $169.50. Stephen Kiely The Push Bar, The Rocks. 7:30pm. Free. Sunnyboys + Flaming Hands + Shy Impostors Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 7:45pm.
Bruce Springsteen photo by Brandon Todd
pick of the week
The Long Goodbye, Darlinghurst. 5pm. Free.
g g guide gig g
gig picks
send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com
The Rubens photo by Cybele Malinowski
$78.95. Ted Nash Fortune Of War, The Rocks. 8pm. Free. The Cassettes The Bourbon, Potts Point. 6pm. Free. The Kamis Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8:30pm. Free. The McClymonts + Imogen Clark Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8pm. $40. Twilight At Taronga - feat: Killing Heidi + Abbe May Taronga Zoo, Mosman. 6pm. $74.95. Vanessa Heinitz Buckley’s Bar, Circular Quay. 4pm. Free. Vanessa Heinitz Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 4:30pm. Free. Vanessa Heinitz Trio Selina’s @ Coogee Bay Hotel, Coogee. 11:55am. Free.
3:30pm. Free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
Cell Block 69 Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $28.70. Clive Hay Jamison Hotel, Penrith. 1pm. Free. Geoff Davies The Push Bar, The Rocks. 7:30pm. Free. James Heathwood The Belvedere Hotel, Sydney. 7:30pm. Free. Jimmy Bear Colonial Hotel, Werrington. 4pm. Free. LJ St George Masonic Club, Mortdale. 7pm. Free. Okean Elzy Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $118.70. Peta Mai Coolibah Hotel, Merrylands. 1pm. Free. Stephanie Lea Northies Cronulla Hotel, Sydney. 1pm. Free.
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 5 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC
Steve Edmonds Towradgi Beach Hotel, Towradgi.
Caribbean Soul Hotel Steyne, Manly. 5pm. Free.
Sunday Collective Secret Garden Bar, Enmore. 5pm. Free.
MONDAY FEBRUARY 6 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK
John Maddox Duo Mr Falcon’s, Glebe. 7pm. Free. Songsonstage feat: Russell Neal + Adam Anderson + Kenneth D’Aran + Peter Gee +Paul Ward Kelly’s On King, Newtown. 7:30pm. Free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
Frankie’s World Famous House Band Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 9pm. Free. My Leonard Cohen - feat: Stewart D’Arrietta And His Band Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 7:30pm. $84. The Monday Jam The Basement, Circular Quay. 8:30pm. $6.
up all night out all week...
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 7
Nao
ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK
Songsonstage - feat: Russell Neal + Colin Pasfield + Charli + Chris Brookes + Pauline Sparkle Gladstone Hotel, Dulwich Hill. 7:30pm. Free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney Olympic Park. 7:30pm. $100.85. Bucket Lounge Presents (Live & Original) - feat: Bonnie Vargas + Arsenic & Old Lace + Zane Thompson Mr Falcon’s, Glebe. 7:30pm. Free. My Leonard Cohen - feat: Stewart D’Arrietta And His Band Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 7:30pm. $84. The Beach Boys + The Temptations The Star Event Centre, Pyrmont. 7pm. $99.
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 1 Nao Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $42. White Lung + Horror My Friend Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $25.
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 2 Lepers And Crooks + The Sweet Jelly Rolls Hotel Steyne, Manly. 7pm. Free. Twilight At Taronga - Feat: The Rubens + Bec Sandridge Taronga Zoo, Mosman. 6pm. $74.95.
wed
thu
01
02
Feb
(9:00PM - 12:00AM)
Feb
(9:00PM - 12:00AM)
Whitney + Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $39.90.
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3
fri
03 Feb
Hands Like Houses Factory Theatre, Marrickville. 8pm. $25.
(10:00PM - 1:40AM)
SATURDAY AFTERNOON
SUNDAY AFTERNOON
Periphery
Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. Free. Trophy Eyes Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $23.10. Woodlock + The Franklin Electric + Hollow Coves Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $22.99.
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 4 As It Is The Lair @ Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7pm. $28. Baby Animals + Dallas Crane + Palace Of The King Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $50. Mike Nock & Laurence Pike + Alon Ilsar & Sandy Evans The Sound Lounge, Chippendale. 8pm. $25. St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival 2017 - Feat: A.B. Original + Aurora + Bob Moses + Camp Cope + Car Seat Headrest + Clams Casino + Fascinator + Floating Points + Gang Of Youths + GL + Glass Animals + Jagwar Ma + Jess
Kent + Julia Jacklin + Koi Child + Luca Brasi + Mick Jenkins + Mr. Carmack + Nao + Nicholas Allbrook + Nick Murphy + Roland Tings + Sampa The Great + Tame Impala + Tash Sultana + The Julie Ruin + Tourist + Tycho + White Lung + Whitney + More Sydney College Of The Arts, Rozelle. 11am. $169.50. Sunnyboys + Flaming Hands + Shy Impostors Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 7:45pm. $78.95. Twilight At Taronga Feat: Killing Heidi + Abbe May Taronga Zoo, Mosman. 6pm. $74.95.
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 5 Okean Elzy Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $118.70.
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 7 The Beach Boys + The Temptations The Star Event Centre, Pyrmont. 7pm. $99.
The Rubens
sat
5:45PM 8:45PM
04 Feb
sun
05
3:30PM 6:30PM
Feb
(8:30PM - 11:30PM)
(10:00PM - 1:15AM)
EVERY SATURDAY NIGHT
Party DJs in the
Marine bar
JAY
in the M
sat
04 Feb
11:30PM 3:00AM
thebrag.com
mon
06 Feb
in the Atrium
Steve Zappa
10:00PM 2:00AM
(8:30PM - 11:30PM)
tue
07 Feb
(8:30PM -12:00AM)
BRAG :: 698 :: 01:02:17 :: 25
brag beats
BRAG’s guide to dance, hip hop and club culture
on the pulse club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Chris Martin
five things
JSTJR
MIKE CHAMPION
WITH
Dave Seaman
SEAMAN ON DECK
Production legend Dave Seaman is making a special appearance on Sydney’s shores this month. He may not be a household name, but his music certainly is: he’s been behind tunes by Kylie Minogue and The Pet Shop Boys, and handled remixes on behalf of David Bowie, Michael Jackson and New Order. Outside the studio, he’s found a home in the booth, lending his mentorship to a generation of DJ greats like Sasha, John Digweed, Danny Tenaglia and Groove Armada’s Andy Cato. Seaman’s work truly breaks down barriers between decades, so dancers can expect to go on a journey at Café Del Mar on Sunday February 12.
BACK 2 THE FUTURE
Growing Up My key 1. childhood memory of
music was definitely coming home from primary school at three in the afternoon to shows like Rage on the ABC playing fresh R&B, hip hop and new jack swing out of the States. I remember TV shows like The Fresh Prince and Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper aired so freely on Australian TV. It definitely helped shape my outlook towards the music I make today. My folks raised me on classic soul and R&B like The Stylistics, Earth, Wind & Fire, The Temptations, Kool and The Gang, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and quite a bit of Simply Red as well. My family has always been very passionate about soul music and very musically inclined.
Inspirations I’m heavily 2. into R&B, neo-soul
music and old-school hip hop and funk. Artists like Maxwell, Dwele, Little Brother, Anderson .Paak, Anthony Hamilton and Tuxedo I feel complement my live
style. I’m not biased to the new school, though – when I need to turn up (like on a Social Sunday) you’ll definitely catch me knowing all the words to some Drizzy or Kendrick-type hip hop. I’m just really inspired by artists that set the trend rather than follow it. Your Crew I rock the live 3. tip with my band
Mike Champion and The Cool feat one of the illest producers to come out of Oz, Sergio Selim. You can also find me regularly party rockin’ the mic alongside Sydney’s most sought-after DJs, Moto, Def Rok, Helena Ellis, Lavida, Cadell, Yoji, Sefu, Recess, Fingaz, K-Note and the list goes on. Music and me have a love connection so she is my full-time gig.
The Music You Make And Play 4. R&B, hip hop, oldschool, neo-soul, funk. I currently have an album out on iTunes entitled Young Boy Old Soul with a new LP Experience scheduled for release this year. The first
26 :: BRAG :: 698 :: 01:02:17
single ‘PSSY & Wine’ will be released in the coming week.
Another month, another nostalgia tour. But this time it’s the ’90s, so you know the tunes are gonna be rad. 2 Unlimited (‘No Limit’), Technotronic (‘Pump Up The Jam’), Real McCoy (‘Another Night’) and Dr. Alban (‘Sing Hallelujah’) are
A GRAND GESTURE
Label-resistant US producer JSTJR (pronounced ‘Gesture’) is bringing his global sound to Australia for the first time this month. Sydney will be the very first stop on his journey, with a Friday February 3 set at Chinese Laundry primed to introduce JSTJR’s talent to local audiences. He takes influence from Buraka Som Sistema, and has been given the seal of approval by the likes of Skrillex, A-Trak, and Diplo, even working on Major Lazer’s Peace Is The Mission in 2015. He’s a star on the rise, and well worth your time this weekend.
joining forces for a super sized run of capital city shows under the banner of Mega ’90s, including at the Big Top Sydney on Saturday March 25. Seriously, dude, is there anything more ’90s than getting down to some Euro dance classics at Luna Park? Tazos, maybe, but that’s about it.
SO CLOSE YOU CAN TOUCH IT
A low-end and trap festival called Touch Bass will tour the country on a whirlwind Easter long weekend fl ing. The lineup draws on electronic talent from Australia and overseas, led by Jauz, the LA upstart and Icon Collective graduate also known as Sam Vogel. Other US acts making the trip include Snails and Slushii, while Sydney’s own LDRU and Luude rep the local scene. Touch Bass takes over the Hordern Pavilion on Sunday April 16.
HAPPY WHAT SO NOT DAY
Northern Beaches super producer What So Not is set to throw an epic birthday bash in his own backyard. Or make that the Mona Vale Hotel, What So Not’s local venue, where he’ll be celebrating a massive 12 months of releases, collaborations and festival appearances. Expect a career-spanning set, taking in everything from Emoh Instead to his Divide & Conquer EP. What So Not’s birthday party goes down on Saturday February 18.
TWO WORLDS BECOME ONE
One of the stars of world music is bringing his synthesis of electronic and handmade sounds to Australia next month. Mercan Dede, of Istanbul via Montreal, fuses trance production with traditional instruments including the wooden fl ute (ney), the kanun (zither), clarinet, darbuka (hand drum) and voice. He’s also performed as DJ Arkin Allen at events across the world, and has been a constant on the world music stage for some 20 years now. Experience Mercan Dede at Oxford Art Factory on Thursday March 16.
Thundamentals
Music, Right Here, Right 5. Now
I think the cover music scene is vibrant and thriving. We definitely have to overcome the transition into getting the same attention playing original music. For me it definitely comes down to how we as musicians deliver it to the people. Our local scene is definitely filled with underground international musicians, DJs and entertainers who deliver music with passion. It’s great to be able to be inspired by the talent we have locally. It shows a clear reason as to why they love us so much overseas. Shouts to all the fellow musicians, DJs and promoters keeping the scene in check and coming correct! What: Sunday Social With: Helena Ellis, Lavida and friends Where: The Argyle When: Sunday February 5
THUNDAMENTALS: THE EXHIBITION
Ahead of the release of their new album Everyone We Know, Blue Mountains hip hop group Thundamentals are touring the country with an art exhibition. In collaboration with Sydney artist and designer April77 Creative (AKA Ben Funnell), whose work fans will recognise from the So We Can Remember and Everyone We Know album covers, the Everyone We Know: Exhibition Tour will feature a 16-piece graphic art collection inspired by each of the album tracks. The exhibition shows at the Lord Gladstone Hotel on Thursday February 9, with Thundamentals to play a DJ set after the official proceedings. Everyone We Know comes out Friday February 10.
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BRAG :: 698 :: 01:02:17 :: 27
FEATURE
Earth Frequency Festival (above) photo by Boaz
Earth Frequency Festival The Community Spirit By Adam Norris
N
owadays, the appeal of any music festival depends just as much on the ethos and environment of the event as it does on the actual lineup. That, and the ability to evolve year by year without compromising any of the elements that enticed people to attend in the first place. Queensland’s Earth Frequency Festival has changed quite a lot over the years, and as it prepares to celebrate its 13th birthday, festival director Paul Abad reflects on the communal spirit that has ensured the four-day event continues to draw folk from all walks of life. “The festival itself began as a community event,” Abad explains. “It started as a 300-person, one-night landcare event. So I think those community values, and that sense of wanting to do something that went beyond just entertainment, has always been at the forefront. But over the last 12 years that has really developed. We’re sitting somewhere between four and 5,000 people now. But we’ve kept a lot of that ethos up front, really wanting that sense of community, to not be a festival where it’s more commercial and consumerist.
“THOSE COMMUNITY VALUES, AND THAT SENSE OF WANTING TO DO SOMETHING THAT WENT BEYOND JUST ENTERTAINMENT, HAS ALWAYS BEEN AT THE FOREFRONT.” 28 :: BRAG :: 698 :: 01:02:17
While there are enough art and workshops to keep people engrossed for the entirety of the festival – from fire shows and spontaneous theatre to spirituality workshops, nature walks and addresses from international keynote speakers – the music bill is a true triumph. The Herd, Beardyman, Triforce, Dakini; the real problem is deciding how you are going to split your time. “In the early years we were limited by size, so really you’d describe it as more of a doof,” says Abad. “As the event has developed, I’ve always
Just a short drive from Brisbane, the setting for Earth Frequency Festival couldn’t be more appropriate. Nestled in the foothills of Flinders Peak and Mount Perry Conservation Park, it’s a festival that looks set to be an early highlight of the year. “Ivory’s Rock is a really unique spot,” Abad says. “It’s an outdoor concert centre that backs on to some areas of state forest and protected space for the Queensland Trust for Nature. It’s quite beautiful forest, lots of gum trees. It’s got 100 hot showers, 150 flushing toilets, and those are all throughout the camping ground, not just in some VIP spot. The water treatment is done on-site, and irrigation water is the output, so we’re able to pretty much eliminate the need for chemical portaloos. About a third of the campground is powered as well, so we sell that as an add-on option. I guess it’s a meeting of a few creature comforts, but in this really nice outdoor venue. It’s nice and green, there’s usually nice weather. It’s looking good!” What: Earth Frequency Festival 2017 With: Beardyman, The Herd, Ace Ventura, Opiuo and many more Where: Ivory’s Rock, Queensland When: Friday February 17 – Monday February 20 thebrag.com
Earth Frequency Festival (left) photo by Liam Hardy
“We want to be a good space of connection, whether that’s some of the external projects we’re getting involved in, or having a strong focus on art and workshops – just giving people good knowledge and tools to walk away with. That’s the kind of festival experience we’re hoping for.”
been a big fan of live music, and other genres outside of the normal EDM range. I work for a couple of other festivals around here and was really inspired to try and mix it up a little more, make a more holistic experience. I think that makes it something that more people can connect to from different walks of life. So close to a third of our music now is live bands, or acoustic stuff. We cover everything from hip hop to folk music to reggae and world music. [Plus] there’s a big upsurge of bass music and broken beats that’s really taking off in Australia, so we’re trying to make things really diverse.”
club guide g
club picks p up all night out all week...
send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com
club pick of the week Tycho
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 2
Pony Club + Hubert Clarke Jnr B2B Kato + Special Guests Secret Location, Sydney. 10pm. $16.50. Resident DJ: Kali Harpoon Harry, Surry Hills. 6pm. Free. Sutra Vs Spektrum - feat: DJ Ruby + Dr Afterhours & Damo + Lmk + Sticklife + Norti Vikings DJs + Jakob B2B Pmg + Hoten Vs Eden + Simon Mellor + Nicholas George Burdekin Hotel, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $11.
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 5
Sampology
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 2 Live At The Sly - Feat: MMG + Triceratops + Lyre Byrdland Slyfox, Enmore. 8pm. Free. Mick Jenkins The Basement, Circular Quay. 8pm. $49.90.
CLUB NIGHTS
Metro Theatre
Tycho + Nitemoves 8pm. $55.50. WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 1 CLUB NIGHTS
After Party - feat: Leila El Rayes + DJ Sezzo Snot Freda’s, Chippendale. 8pm. Free. SBW Side Bar, Sydney. 8pm. Free. Wet Wednesdays Scary Canary, Sydney. 9:30pm. Free.
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 2 HIP HOP & R&B
Live At The Sly - feat: MMG + Triceratops + Lyre Byrdland Slyfox, Enmore. 8pm. Free. Mick Jenkins The Basement, Circular Quay. 8pm. $49.90.
CLUB NIGHTS
House Keeping Side Bar, Sydney. 8pm. Free. Island Getaway 4.0 - feat: Secret International Guest + Local Laneway Artists TBA King St Wharf (Wharf 9), Sydney. 6:15pm. $48.82. Tycho + Nitemoves Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $55.50.
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3 thebrag.com
HIP HOP & R&B
Changeroom Fridays - feat: DJs On Rotation Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney. 9pm. Free. Fatback Hudson Ballroom, Sydney. 9pm. Free. WCB + Dan Pearl Knox Street Bar, Chippendale. 8pm. $5.
CLUB NIGHTS
Behind The Green Door - feat: Playdate + Mark Cameron + Loane Lord Roberts Hotel, Darlinghurst. 5pm. Free. Ben Morris Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly. 7pm. Free. Buoy Seymour Centre, Chippendale. 6pm. Free. El Loco Later - feat: DJs On Rotation Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills. 9pm. Free. Fire Up Fridays feat: Cool Jerk DJs Rosie Campbell’s, Surry Hills. 5pm. Free. Foregndub Presents Wat A Ting #2 - feat: Radikal Guru + Rpk Crew + Dunj Crew Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $15. Friday Frothers Side Bar, Sydney. 8pm. Free. Nightime Drama Sydney Launch feat: Baron Castle + Magda Bytnerowicz + Matt Lush + Dave Stuart + Trinity Tokyo Sing Song, Newtown. 9pm. Free. Peoples Club
Weekly - feat: Andy Hart + Garry Todd + Nick Walsh + Tom Gray + Trim B + Ed Macky Goodbar, Paddington. 8pm. $15. Resident DJ: Kali Harpoon Harry, Surry Hills. 6pm. Free. Spice X Rainbow Disco Japan - feat: Andras + Simon Caldwell + Robbie Lowe + Allan Marshall Civic Underground, Sydney. 9pm. $16.50. Taxx - feat: Prequel + Hubert Clarke Jr + Luen Freda’s, Chippendale. 7pm. $10. Upon Access 003 - feat: Daniel Verhagen + Made In Paris + Somersault + Alex Ludlow The Bunker, Coogee. 9:30pm. $11.
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 4 CLUB NIGHTS Brenny B Sides And Graham M Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly. 6pm. Free. Cosmo’s Midnight + Yolanda Be Cool + Roland Tings (DJ Set) Mona Vale Hotel, Mona Vale. 2pm. $20. Dirty & Flirty Tokyo Takeover - feat: Venus Guy Trap + Jennifer Jennifer + Geco + Mu-Tache Tokyo Sing Song, Newtown. 10pm. Free. DJ Ivan Drago
Rooty Hill RSL Club, Rooty Hill. 8:30pm. Free. El Loco Later - feat: DJs On Rotation Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills. 9pm. Free. Frat Saturdays Side Bar, Sydney. 8pm. Free. If?? Records And .Darkroom Presents - feat: Adriana Lopez + Annabelle Gaspar + Trinity + Kali + Qu-Zen Anya + Loveless + Katia + Deh Attina Zoo Project, Potts Point. 10pm. $22. Jex Opolis + Heavenly + Rimbombo Freda’s, Chippendale. 6pm. $10. Norti Vikings Sea Raid - feat: DJ Ruby + Sticklife + Norti + Lmk + Jansen Brown + Fredirco Puentes + Jimmy Brus + Le Chef Sydney Harbour, Sydney. 1pm. $50. Official Laneway Afterparty - feat: Roland Tings (DJ Set) + These New South Whales + White Lung DJs + Julia Jacklin (DJ Set) + Siberia Records DJs + Laneway DJs + More Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 9pm. $23.10. Parallel Launch feat: Marc Jarvin + Garry Todd + Robbie Lowe + Andy Bird Secret Location, Sydney. 10pm. $33. Postcards From The Edge - feat: Dreems B2B Ben Fester + Sydney
Basement Jaxx + Kate Monroe + Johnny Gleeson + Paul Wheeler + Cadell + Rodd Riches Café del Mar, Darling Harbour. 12pm. $89. Beresford Sundays - feat: DJs On Rotation The Beresford Hotel, Surry Hills. 12pm. Free. Cam Adams + Oh? Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly. 4pm. Free. Marco Polo Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney. 1pm. $22.90. Postside Sundays feat: Mark Jarvin + Guest DJs The Port, Darling Harbour. 3pm. Free. Sunday Social - feat: K-Time + Helena Ellis + Lavida + Melkior The Argyle, The Rocks. 9pm. Free. Sunday Sounds - feat: Graham Mandroules The Deck, Sydney. 4pm. Free. Sunday Sundown feat: Sampology + Noah Slee Coogee Pavilion, Coogee. 12pm. Free. Sunshine Sunday Sound System feat: Bossdog + Cool Jerk DJs Rosie Campbell’s, Surry Hills. 12pm. Free.
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3 Buoy Seymour Centre, Chippendale. 6pm. Free. Nightime Drama Sydney Launch - Feat: Baron Castle + Magda Bytnerowicz + Matt Lush + Dave Stuart + Trinity Tokyo Sing Song, Newtown. 9pm. Free. Spice X Rainbow Disco Japan - Feat: Andras + Simon Caldwell + Robbie Lowe + Allan Marshall Civic Underground, Sydney. 9pm. $16.50.
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 4 Cosmo’s Midnight + Yolanda Be Cool + Roland Tings (DJ Set) Mona Vale Hotel, Mona Vale. 2pm. $20. Official Laneway Afterparty - Feat: Roland Tings (DJ Set) + These New South Whales + White Lung DJs + Julia Jacklin (DJ Set) + Siberia Records DJs + Laneway DJs + More Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 9pm. $23.10. Postcards From The Edge - Feat: Dreems B2B Ben Fester + Sydney Pony Club + Hubert Clarke Jnr B2B Kato + Special Guests Secret Location, Sydney. 10pm. $16.50.
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 5 Basement Jaxx + Kate Monroe + Johnny Gleeson + Paul Wheeler + Cadell + Rodd Riches Café del Mar, Darling Harbour. 12pm. $89. Sunday Social - Feat: K-Time + Helena Ellis + Lavida + Melkior The Argyle, The Rocks. 9pm. Free. Sunday Sundown - Feat: Sampology + Noah Slee Coogee Pavilion, Coogee. 12pm. Free. Roland Tings
MONDAY FEBRUARY 6 CLUB NIGHTS I Love Mondays Side Bar, Sydney. 9pm. Free.
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 7 CLUB NIGHTS Coyote Tuesdays The World Bar, Kings Cross. 8pm. Free. Propaganda Tuesday Scary Canary, Sydney. 9:30pm. Free. Side Bar Tuesdays Side Bar, Sydney. 9pm. Free.
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Dance and Electronica with Alex Chetverikov
W
omen are sorely underrepresented in electronic music. Of that there is no doubt, and unsurprisingly it’s been a topic of considerable recent interest. If boiled down to percentages, estimates of female DJs appearing on festival bills range anywhere from three to ten per cent, and let’s bear in mind that festivals are generally able to accommodate a much larger scope and wider variety of genre. In light of the recent extraordinary efforts and participation of those in support of women, whether in the collective solidarity of global marches, in creative expression, or in proactive or reactive protest, I thought it as good a time as any to recognise and reflect on the largely marginalised and ignored contributions that women have made to the history of electronic music, both locally and internationally. Women’s contributions to electronic music are just as important, just as pioneering, and just as varied – if not more so. Often obfuscated in sight and sound or rendered inconspicuous, it’s only in recent years that we have seen a more concerted effort to recognise the efforts of women throughout electronic music’s history, thanks in part to the extraordinary success and rise in popularity of The Black Madonna and Nina Kraviz, among others.
Aside from being an outstanding DJ, producer, label manager and creative director, The Black Madonna in particular is a refreshingly overt and pronounced modern voice for women in music (along with queer culture). Have a listen to any of her mixes or interviews and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to get a better appreciation of what I mean. Musically, she blends house, disco, soul, techno, gospel, and everything in between, and she has about as much fun mixing it as you do dancing, that’s for sure. That in mind, recognition and equality should not be burdened to the few, whether the individual or collective. It is as much a matter of unity and of grassroots support, where awareness and action invigorates and drives the issue. It has a follow-on effect: where the majority of role models are men due to their overwhelming saturation and representation within the culture, we now have more women to aspire to, to recognise and to respect. It would be a significant injustice to keep this to but one very short overview, so look out for more parts to this series, including pieces with local female artists and DJs from past and present (and future, if that makes sense).
THIS WEEK’S PLAYLIST New Music For Electronic And Recorded Media: Women In Electronic Music, a compilation of electronic/avant-garde compositions featuring early work from Laurie Anderson and deep listening pioneer Pauline Oliveros. Also check out The Black Madonna’s LWE (Little White Earbuds) Podcast 156 for tasty house and gospel grooves, and the soulful funk of The Edge Of Daybreak’s Eyes Of Love LP, reissued by Numero Group with their typically loving, attentive care. The Black Madonna
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PICS :: AM
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Goodbar
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 11
Mark De CliveLowe Cake Wines Cellar Door
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 17
Ron Costa, Front Left Home Nightclub
FRIDAY
FEBRUARY 24
DJ Stingray 313 Secret Location TBA
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 25
Lazare Hoche Civic Underground
28:01:17 :: Centennial Parklands, Sydney 30 :: BRAG :: 698 :: 01:02:17
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The Black Madonna photo by Aldo Paredes
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 4
TICKETS
ON SALE
NOW!
FINAL LINE-UP ANNOUNCED 30/70 AUSTRALIA • 9Bach WALES • Aaron Thomas AUSTRALIA • Ana Tijoux CHILE • Archie Roach AUSTRALIA • Aurelio HONDURAS • Aziza Brahim WESTERN SAHARA/SPAIN • BaBa ZuLa TURKEY • Bamba Wassoulou Groove MALI • Bebel Gilberto BRAZIL • Bokanté USA/GUADELOUPE • Brushy One String JAMAICA • Caiti Baker AUSTRALIA • Carabosse FRANCE • Dancenorth & Lucy Guerin Inc AUSTRALIA • D.D Dumbo AUSTRALIA • Dope Lemon AUSTRALIA • The East Pointers CANADA • Electric Fields AUSTRALIA • EkosDance Company “Cry Jailolo” INDONESIA • Emir Kusturica & the No Smoking Orchestra SERBIA • Fuel Fandango SPAIN • Gawurra AUSTRALIA • A Guy Called Gerald UK • Hanoi Masters VIETNAM • Hot 8 Brass Band USA • Inna Modja MALI • Jesse Davidson AUSTRALIA • Kelly Menhennett AUSTRALIA • Kiasmos ICELAND • La Mambanegra COLOMBIA • Lamine Sonko & the African Intelligence SENEGAL/AUSTRALIA • L-FRESH The LION AUSTRALIA • MANE AUSTRALIA • The Manganiyar Classroom INDIA • Mercedes Peón SPAIN • Montaigne AUSTRALIA • Nattali Rize JAMAICA/AUSTRALIA • Nhatty Man & Gara ETHIOPIA/AUSTRALIA • Oki Dub Ainu Band JAPAN • Orquesta Tipica Fernandez Fierro ARGENTINA • Oumou Sangare MALI • Parov Stelar AUSTRIA • Philip Glass Ensemble “KOYAANISQATSI” Live USA • The Piyut Ensemble ISRAEL • Rahaan USA • Rich Medina USA • Senyawa INDONESIA • Sinkane SUDAN/USA • Skratch Bastid CANADA • The Soil SOUTH AFRICA • The Specials UK • Sudha Ragunathan INDIA • TAGO SOUTH KOREA • Tangents AUSTRALIA • Toni Childs USA/AUSTRALIA • Uncle Jack Charles AUSTRALIA • The Waifs AUSTRALIA • Warsaw Village Band POLAND • William Crighton AUSTRALIA • Xylouris White GREECE/AUSTRALIA Plus: Taste the World, The Planet Talks, Global Village, KidZone, visual arts, street theatre and more.
10–13 MARCH 2017 BOTANIC PARK ADELAIDE WOMADELAIDE.COM.AU