Brag#716 by The Brag Magazine

K I R I N J CALLINAN EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED

AN ORAL HISTORY OF PURPLE SNEAKERS

PALLBEARER BRING THE DOOM DOWN UNDER

ALSO INSIDE: TORA, SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL, THE CULT OF CELEBRITY CHEFS, SIX8, HOUNDS OF LOVE AND MORE!

Still Brazy out now through Def Jam. Playing Big Top Sydney, Luna Park on Monday June 12 and Thursday June 15.

in this issue what you’ll find inside…

The Frontline

4-5

Back To Business

6-7

Kirin J Callinan has taken his sound in a strange new direction – but would you expect anything less?

Tora are the internet’s favourite band, and they’re ready to live up to the hype onstage

10-11 An Oral History Of Purple Sneakers

6-7

Six8

Pallbearer are bringing the doom to Oz this June and July

14-15 Seven Of The Best Modern Film Soundtracks Made By Famous Bands 16

The Forest Of Lost Souls

“There were some great parties and some great nights, but I try not to dwell on the past all that much.” (10-11)

“I don’t think we were good enough yet, previously, to write an album like this ... We always wanted to have these expansive compositions.” (12-13) 17

Chauka, Please Tell Us The Time

Hounds Of Love

Arts reviews, Hotel Coolgardie giveaway

20-21 Saké Jr, El Camino Cantina, the cult of celebrity chefs 22

Album reviews, First Drafts

Out & About, Off The Record

20-21

24-28 Live reviews, She’s The Driver, Belle Haven, Christian Mulls… The Sydney 2000 Olympics 29

Test your knowledge: how many artists can you name?

Gig guide

the frontline with Chris Martin, Nathan Jolly, Tyler Jenke and David Molloy ISSUE 716: Wednesday June 7, 2017 PRINT & DIGITAL EDITOR: Chris Martin chris.martin@seventhstreet.media SUB-EDITOR: David Molloy STAFF WRITERS: Joseph Earp, Nathan Jolly, Adam Norris NEWS: Nathan Jolly, Tyler Jenke, Brandon John ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant PHOTOGRAPHER: Ashley Mar ADVERTISING: Josh Burrows - 0411 025 674 josh.burrows@seventhstreet.media PUBLISHER: Seventh Street Media CEO, SEVENTH STREET MEDIA: Luke Girgis - luke.girgis@seventhstreet.media MANAGING EDITOR: Poppy Reid poppy.reid@seventhstreet.media THE GODFATHER: BnJ GIG GUIDE COORDINATOR: Anna Wilson gigguide@seventhstreet.media REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Nat Amat, Arca Bayburt, Lars Brandle, Tanja Brinks Toubro, Chelsea Deeley, Matthew Galea, Emily Gibb, Jennifer Hoddinett, Emily Meller, David Molloy, Annie Murney, Adam Norris, George Nott, Daniel Prior, Natalie Rogers, Erin Rooney, Anna Rose, Spencer Scott, Natalie Salvo, Leonardo Silvestrini, Jade Smith, Aaron Streatfeild, Augustus Welby, Jessica Westcott, Zanda 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@seventhstreet.vc PRINTED BY SPOTPRESS: spotpress.com.au 24 – 26 Lilian Fowler Place, Marrickville NSW 2204

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STAVES BREWS UP SOME TUNES The popular Staves Brewery in Glebe has announced it will begin hosting regular live music every weekend, starting this month. Staves has tapped Mark Lucas to handle its bookings for weekly Saturday night gigs, starting with Sydney roots band Out Of Nowhere on Saturday June 17. The pokie-free venue, located just metres from Broadway Shopping Centre, will offer an intimate option for local musicians and touring acts, with the added bonus of fantastic craft beer on tap. Mark Lucas can be contacted via Songsmith Management.

SEVEN MORE FILMS IN THE CANNES Sydney Film Festival has bolstered its already impressive lineup of films, adding seven films straight outta Cannes, including The Square, which won the biggest (non-Oscar) film prize in the world, the Palme d’Or. Among the offerings are Good Time, a crime thriller starring Robert Pattinson, which is being touted as a career-best performance, and Blade Of The Immortal, which marks the 100th film by Japanese master Takashi Miike. Other films added to the SFF lineup include the aforementioned satire of the art world, The Square, starring Elisabeth Moss; Tehran Taboo, an animation about the sex lives of young Iranians; Jupiter’s Moon, in which a Syrian refugee discovers he has a superpower; A Man Of Integrity, about a goldfish farmer thwarted by an evil corporation; and I Am Not A Witch, about a young Zambian woman sent to a witch camp. Sydney Film Festival kicks off on Wednesday June 7.

TWITTER SPILLS EVERYTHING NOW Arcade Fire recently announced the release of their long-awaited fifth album, Everything Now. It’s set to be released in a couple of months, and apart from a promotional single, not much else is known about the contents. But it seems like a Twitter account may have spilled the beans about the record’s tracklisting. As Pitchfork reports, a Twitter account named after the band’s new record (which was also named in a press release from the group), started sending out anagrams of track titles on the record. Pitchfork also note that these anagrams happen to line up with a rumoured track list that was shared by a user on Reddit recently as well. The account started this

can think of, and Ford will drop them into his set, with Three Doors Down and The Calling rubbing up against Aaron Carter’s finest work in an explosion of tacky taste and ironic dancing. This isn’t just a dude with an iPod either: there are lights, glow sticks, balloons, video projections and more. The whole thing happens at OAF on Saturday June 10.

Chris Hemsworth

STARS ALIGN FOR SUPANOVA This year’s edition of the Supanova Comic Con & Gaming expo has put together one of its biggest guest lineups yet – and it just got even bigger. The three-day event at Sydney Showground (Friday June 16 – Sunday June 18) will now feature the Aussie taking Hollywood by storm, Chris Hemsworth, plus Desperate Housewives’ Teri Hatcher joining her Lois & Clark: The Adventures Of Superman co-star Dean Cain, and American Gods star Ricky Whittle, who join the likes of Back to the Future’s Christopher Lloyd and many more. The 2017 edition of Supanova is also aiming to break the Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of people dressed as Star Wars characters, so if you’re struggling for dress-up ideas, you know where to begin. See the full lineup at thebrag.com.

supposed ‘leak’ of titled with a message that simply said “The @arcadefire asked us not to reveal the #EverythingNow track list, but they didn’t say we couldn’t do ANAGRAMS! So here we go.” Soon after, they started sending out a number of Tweets that contained anagrams of the supposed titles. Read the full story at thebrag.com.

CRAP MUSIC RAVE WILL WAKE YOU UP INSIDE Self-proclaimed “DJ idiot” Tomás Ford is bringing his Crap Music Rave Party to Sydney this weekend, taking over Oxford Art Factory. If you haven’t been to one of Ford’s rave parties before, the rules… well, the rule is very simple: no good music is allowed. Simply request the worst songs you

MINISTRY OF SOUND BRAVES THE LOCKOUTS Ministry Of Sound is bringing its legendary club night to Sydney, with Ministry of Sound Club Australia set to launch at the Ivy (where else?) on Saturday June 10. Ministry of Sound has a long and storied history, being the UK’s first superclub solely dedicated to dance music upon its launch in late 1991. The guiding rule of the nights are “the music comes first”, and that tradition is set to continue with both Peking Duk and US house legend Sandy Rivera playing at the launch night. “We’re very excited at the opening of a Ministry of Sound club in Sydney,” said CEO Jonathan Bevan.

BIRDMAN KICK(FLIPP) ED OUT OF KCH One step forward, two steps back. In another blow to the Sydney live music scene, noise complaints at the Kings Cross Hotel last Thursday night led to the abrupt shutting down of a gig before 9:30pm. The intervention came only four songs into an official Vivid Sydney performance by Birdman Or The Unexpected Virtue Of A Tony Hawk Pro Skater Cover Band – a local act that plays high-energy covers of songs from the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater soundtracks. Speaking with the BRAG, Kings Cross Hotel entertainment manager Adam Lewis said: “We received a number of unexpected noise complaints and tried to resolve them with our mix, volume, et cetera, but eventually it became clear that we had no further options but to end the show ... It’s really important to us that we continue to support music and arts in the space, with the support of our community and neighbours.” The Vivid KX program will continue as planned at the Kings Cross Hotel and nearby venues.

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Back To Business Music Industry News powered by The Industry Observer

breaking biz No longer in its infancy and now a major publishing competitor on a global scale, BMG Australia and New Zealand has restructured its sync team to better accommodate its growing roster. The Industry Observer exclusively announced last week the elevation of Allegra Caldwell and Cameron Elliott and the hire of former Universal Publishing Production Music AU/NZ staffer Kaitlyn Pearce. Caldwell and Elliott are now the co-heads of sync, moving up from senior creative manager and senior clearance manager, respectively. Prior to joining BMG in January, Elliott spent five years at Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) working with Wolfmother, Jet, The Living End, Wave Racer and Peking Duk – all of which had previously moved over to BMG over the course of the last 12 months.

UMG MAKE GRANDE GESTURE Universal Music Group provided the bulk of the talent at the One Love Manchester benefit show on June 4, which has (so far) raised over US$9 million for the victims of last fortnight’s terrorist attack. And Universal has taken its philanthropy further still, announcing it will donate another $500,000 to the victims. Ariana Grande is signed to a branch of UMG. “The Universal Music Group global family is proud to stand with Ariana Grande and its other performing artists in their support for the victims and families affected by the Manchester attack with a combined donation of $500,000 to the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund,” the label said in a statement.

SHEERAN CROWD DIVIDED

Elswewhere, the APRA and AMCOS boards have announced that longstanding CEO Brett Cottle will step down from the role in June 2018. APRA chair Jenny Morris said of the move: “After 27 years leading the organisation we quite understand why Brett has reached the point where he is keen to pursue other priorities in life. He will nevertheless be missed enormously by the boards, management, staff and membership of APRA AMCOS.

BOT N’ COLD

Morris explains that Cottle’s replacement will have large boots to fill. “We are determined to undertake the best and most thorough search to find the right candidate to fill this incredibly important job in the Australasian music industry, to ensure that the interests of Australia’s and New Zealand’s songwriters, composers and publishers continue to be represented in the ablest and most effective manner.”

On the surface of it, Perry’s total following puts her comfortably above the likes of Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift, but when her number of artificial fans gets taken into account, she takes a serious drop in the rankings. While none of these figures can be officially confirmed, the algorithm behind twitteraudit.com places Swift’s real flesh-and-blood fans at 88% of her 84.3 million, leaving her well ahead of her often bitter rival with 74.2 million compared to Perry’s 31.7 million.

Project Wickenby itself resulted in 46 convictions, 76 charges, and $2.3 billion in tax liabilities being recouped.

RISING STORM Harrison Storm, the Melbourne-based craftsman behind delicate new single ‘Change It All’, has inked a global deal with Canada-based Nettwerk Records. Storm joins fellow Australians Gossling, Hermitude, Boy & Bear, The Paper Kites and Xavier Rudd on the roster, along with international players including Passenger, Milo Greene and Angel Snow. Storm cut his teeth in the industry by starting his own acoustic night in his hometown on the Mornington Peninsula a couple of years back. In 2015 he released his debut EP Sense Of Home, which was produced by fellow Melbourne artist Hayden Calnin.

The Western Australian Government will downsize the capacity for Ed Sheeran’s tour openers at Perth Stadium in a decision that reportedly came as a surprise to Michael Gudinski’s Frontier Touring Company. What should be a glorious start is said to be major frustration for the concert promoter after it was revealed the venue will be capped at 38,000 tickets due to public transport concerns, well below the expected capacity of 55,000, according to The West Australian.

CARPOOL DROPS OFF CORDEN

AVOID THIS

Instead, Carpool Karaoke: The Series will feature rotating guest hosts, with Corden only appearing in two sketches. So far they have confirmed a number of big names, including Miley Cyrus and the entire Cyrus family, Will Smith, Maisie Williams, John Legend, Alicia Keys, LeBron James and more.

The tax accountant who allegedly set up a $300 million network of tax avoidance schemes – one of which resulted in the incarceration of concert promoter Glenn Wheatley – has reportedly been arrested in Italy. According to Adelaide’s The Advertiser, the Jersey-born and UK-based Philip Egglishaw was detained on May 3 following the discoveries of Project Wickenby, Australia’s largest investigation into tax evasion. Promoter Wheatley was jailed for 15 months in 2007 for failing to declare income from two events, a John Farnham concert and a boxing match.

James Corden’s segment Carpool Karaoke will be spun off into a weekly show, to be hosted on Apple Music from August 8. Apple promises “many of today’s biggest names in music, television, film, sports and pop culture buckling up and belting out their favorite songs” across 16 episodes, but those who rely on Corden’s wit and warmth to steer the entire thing may be dismayed to find he won’t be hosting.

DIGITAL SKRILLA Just a matter of weeks after upgrading its royalty portal Score to offer songwriters instant, transparent data on their royalties, Sony/ATV Music Publishing is going the whole hog by incorporating a virtual

In Hearts Wake

It’s a well-established fact that Katy Perry is Twitter’s most followed star, but as it turns out that enormous following might be, well, not all that impressive. According to DigitalSpy and analytics tool twitteraudit.com, 68% of her 99.2 million followers aren’t actually real people, and are instead just automated bots.

ATM into the platform which, it promises, will allow uses to request advances “in less than a minute”. Lyric Financial, the financial services/technology firm, provides the vATM technology through a new partnership which Sony/ATV’s US writers and publishing clients can tap into. It’s unclear when the music publishing giant’s “new and improved” royalty application will be available to users in Australia and New Zealand.

SPOTIFY HEADS EAST With rumours swirling that Spotify is planning to go public, news has broken that the streaming service is making a new push into Asia, with Vietnam and Thailand the first markets targeted. As TechCrunch reports, two sources have told the publication that Spotify is planning to launch in both countries – to a total population of 160 million – with an expansion into the massive Indian market being examined for 2018. While Spotify declined to comment, it is currently hiring for a music editor position for both Vietnam and Thailand, jobs that will be based at the Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore.

WINDOWS OPEN FOR SOUNDCLOUD Microsoft’s Windows Store seems like a fairly obvious place for a music streaming platform like SoundCloud to appear, but for years now it’s been nowhere to be seen on the digital storefront. That’s finally changed, with Microsoft announcing that SoundCloud’s Windows app is available now, not only for Windows 10 PCs, but also for users of the Xbox One video game console.

AFR OUTS GUVERA Gold Coast-based streaming service Guvera, which admitted defeat three weeks ago with both co-founder Claes Loberg and major backer Steve Porch

IN ED’S WAKE

The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band re-entered the top five off the back of the deluxe 50-year anniversary reissue. Another strong debut came from Frenzal Rhomb’s ninth studio album – and first in six years – Hi-Vis High Tea, which came in at number nine.

4 :: BRAG :: 715 :: 31:05:17

exiting, is being dragged through the media mud once more. After nine years of operations, during which it raised $185 million from private investors, was rejected for an IPO and was spending $6.6 million a year, Guvera has further maddened investors with the release of a new report by the Australian Financial Review. According to AFR, Guvera cofounder and CEO Darren Herft was on a salary of $264,000, while his founding partner Claes Loberg was on $300,000 – handsome salaries for a company operating in the red.

AUSSIES AT THE TOP OF POWERFUL EXECS LIST Mushroom Group chairman Michael Gudinski and Sony Music Australasia’s chairman/CEO Denis Handlin head up the Australian contingent in a newly published roll-call of the most powerful music executives outside the United States. Billboard shines a light on the 53 executives who are “driving industry success” in its International Power Players survey, which this year is led by XL Recordings owner Richard Russell, the man who signed Adele. Joining Gudinski and Handlin on the list are Charles Caldas, the Australian-born CEO of Merlin, the independent music community’s digital rights agency, and George Ash, the Sydney-based New Zealander who serves as president of Universal Music Asia Pacific.

UNISOUNDS DEADLINE EXTENDED The deadlines for the Unisounds national band comp have been extended until August 11, to allow mid-year intake students to quickly bond with others, form a band, kick out the guitarist (’cause he keeps shredding over your chillwave songs), practise loads, then get a set together. The finals will take place at Oxford Art Factory, which is an actual gig at an actual venue, so start practising and get entering. The comp is up at unisounds.com.au.

A.B. ORIGINAL GET AIR A.B. Original, the collaborative project between NIMA Award winner Briggs and ARIA Award-winning producer Trials, dominate the AIR Awards nominee list with five nods. Meanwhile, D.D Dumbo, Flume and Alex Lahey are up for four awards each, including Best Independent Artist and Best Independent Album or EP. It’s girls to the front in the Breakthrough Independent Artist category with Lahey, Camp Cope and Julia Jacklin all nominated. And long-time collaborators Nick Murphy and Flume will go headto-head for the Best Independent Dance, Electronica or Club gong. Head to theindustryobserver.com.au for the full list of nominees.

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In Hearts Wake photo by Ellie Mitchell

Two Aussie acts from quite different ends of the musical spectrum fell short against Ed Sheeran for number one on this week’s ARIA Albums chart: Byron Bay metalcore band In Hearts Wake, whose fourth studio album Ark debuted one spot lower than their 2015 number two album Skydancer; and Bernard Fanning, who is no stranger to the top end of the ARIA charts, and landed at number two.

Katy Perry

ENTER: thebrag.com/freeshit

free stuff

win KILTER One of Australia’s most buzzed-about production talents, Kilter, is ready to make a big statement with his debut album Through The Distortion out this Friday June 9. The record features a revolving door of special guests, including South African rapper Espacio Dios and local talents Lanks, Yew Faso and Woodes. Kilter is also hitting the road for an album launch tour, which includes a Max Watt’s Sydney show on Saturday July 8. To celebrate, we’re giving away a Kilter prize bundle, including a signed copy of Through The Distortion, a Kilter T-shirt and a unique Polaroid photo snapped by Kilter himself. Enter the prize draw at thebrag.com/freeshit.

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COVER STORY

KIRIN J CALLINAN

S.A.D. Songs

“If an idea was shit, it would eventu

BY JOSEPH EARP

f you had told his fans three years ago that Kirin J Callinan would one day release a glittery, oversaturated EDM record… well, they probably would have believed you, actually. And not because the one-time Mercy Arms guitarist is predictable – in fact, rather the opposite.

Callinan is the kind of artist who clearly does whatever the bloody hell he wants, and his output is defined by its volatility. The Sydneysider could announce tomorrow that his next record is a series of K-pop songs covered in Mariachi band style and no-one would really be that surprised.

Indeed, that Callinan has hopped from the brooding guitar work that defined his first solo record Embracism to the MDMA-infused, joyous electropop of his new album Bravado isn’t some kind of about-face – it’s just him leaning into the ecstatic oddness that makes his songs what they are. And anyway, as different as the two records might seem on the surface, Callinan argues they are both reaching for the same thing. “With Bravado I was trying to explore a lot of the same ideas that I did on Embracism, just in a little more of an ambitious sense,” Callinan says over the phone from the States, where he is drumming up anticipation for the new record. “I was moving towards the same end goal, but just taking leaps and bounds instead of little baby steps. “Where the Embracism songs were dark electronica and moody ballads, I wanted this record to be full of inclusive, joyous electronica and open-hearted, sentimental ballads. It was about exploring my own identity and my own sense of humour.” That inclusivity is particularly evident on lead single ‘S.A.D.’, a giddy ballad dedicated to chemical dependence on which Callinan rhymes the words ‘plastic’ and ‘fantastic’ and generally sounds like he is having the time of his life. And there’s a reason for that joy, too – Callinan describes the album’s production period as one of the most creatively fruitful periods of his life. “Aaron [Cupples, producer] and I were working on Bravado seven days a week, and living together as well, so we would get up, have some breakfast, and then we’d ride over to the studio, spend the day there, ride back to his place when we were done and then do it all again together the very next day. Not once did we argue. It was a very happy time. And I think it has brought us that much closer.” The bulk of the record was already written before Callinan took it to the studio, but that’s not to say the recording process

was simply about laying the record down to tape. Some of the songs transformed completely with Cupples’ help, and the longer the pair worked on it, the more Bravado began to reveal itself to them. “Being in the studio totally changes the songs,” Callinan explains. “Particularly on this record – Aaron was as committed to the songs as I was. He would help me tweak songs in a whole bunch of different ways, so the songs really evolved. So with something like ‘S.A.D.’, the finished version is barely recognisable when compared to what it started off as. It was initially this abstract kind of modulated guitar piece that somehow became this EDM-indebted hip hop thing.” He laughs. “I don’t really know how that happened.” By their very nature, such brutal rewriting processes require musicians to almost totally disengage their egos. You can’t be too precious about a song that you know will be gutted during a recording session, and often you have to actively tear your baby apart yourself, completely restructuring something that you might have once thought was a done deal. “You have to let go completely,” Callinan agrees. “There has to be no judgement at all in the studio. If something is bad or I don’t like it, that’s normal. The only way to deal with that is just to keep going down the rabbit hole. And that’s how it works – the bad stuff just falls away and the good stuff will stick. Especially if there was a disagreement – if Aaron and I disagreed on something, or even if I was conflicted within myself, I’d really have to learn not to try to control it all. If an idea was shit, it would eventually not make the cut.” Bravado also boasts a stunning roll call of guest vocalists. Everyone from ‘Contort Yourself’ singer James Chance to Jimmy Barnes (yeah, that Jimmy Barnes) makes an appearance, and at times the record feels like a sweaty, angel-dust-coated karaoke session at a dive bar. Everyone just sounds like they’re having so much goddamn fun; as though they all left their inhibitions by the door in a nice little pile next to most of their clothes. “There are so many other characters involved, which makes it such a richer world,” says Callinan. “It wasn’t so much that we made it up as we went along, but we made sure that it was never forced. [The guests] were my friends – people that I was hanging out with, or was on tour with, or even in some cases living with. So because they were in my world, it felt very natural that they should be on the record. “Much of the core of the record is to me the community feeling. Everyone on the record knows each other – everyone was playing the same festivals, and touring

“These new songs constantly, hanging out in the same places. It just made it feel like all these people from Australia and Europe and the States all kind of coexisted in this pretty small international community. So having all these people on the one record – all

these people both old and new – that became a cool part of the statement.” Of course, the nature of such a guestheavy record will undoubtedly present interesting problems when Callinan

“It was about exploring my own identity and my own sense of humour.” 6 :: BRAG :: 716 :: 07:06:17

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COVER STORY

“It was initially this abstract kind of modulated guitar piece that somehow became this EDM-indebted hip hop thing. I don’t really know how that happened.”

ally not make the cut.”

are really hard to play, especially with a three-piece band, let alone solo.” tours it around Australia – unless he brings Barnes for a ride around the country with him, he’s going to have to fi nd a fi ll-in. But that’s not the only problem. Simply put, Bravado is generally becoming a bit of a pain in the arse now it’s time for its creator to mash it into a manageable, tourable shape.

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“These new songs are really hard to play, especially with a three-piece band, let alone solo. At the same time, I remember it being really challenging learning how to do the Embracism songs as well. Both records were intentionally made with me not thinking about how I was going to perform them live. I didn’t want that to restrict or inhibit what I was making. I was like,

‘Well, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.’ “The structure of the songs also makes them very hard for someone else to learn them. For me, when I’m writing the songs they just feel right. Those songs are the way they are because that seems like the obvious thing to do.”

Callinan laughs, perhaps struck by sudden self-awareness. “To be honest, getting the songs ready to play live always makes it clear what a weird decision it was to write them that way.” What: Bravado out Friday June 9 through Siberia/EMI Where: Oxford Art Factory When: Saturday June 10

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FEATURE

“We wanted to make the album sound organic – a lot more vocals, guitar and drums in there, and sounds from the garden, sampling washing machines and kitchen utensils.”

“There’s a lot of media focus on all of the bad things at the moment. My outlook on it all is quite positive.”

Tora Finding The Middle Ground By Lee Coleman

yron Bay isn’t often associated with electronic music. But local lads Tora are bucking the trend, trading the beachside surf rock status quo for chillwave beats and bass. Since 2013, the four-piece have racked up over 20 million online streams – courtesy of singles ‘Poly Amor’ and ‘Twice’, as well as EPs Eat The Sun and the eponymous Tora. After touring extensively, appearing at esteemed UK festivals Glastonbury and The Great Escape, and premier German festivals Fusion and Reeperbahn, the boys from Byron have clocked up over 70 festival slots worldwide. And all this before a single album has dropped. Now, after four years, their longawaited debut full-length, Take A Rest, is out this week – and Jo Loewenthal, the band’s vocalist, is ecstatic to finally get it over the line. “It’s been such a long time coming,” says Loewenthal. “There’s been so much anticipation for the last four or five years working towards our first fulllength album – I think it’s going to feel amazing. It’s been almost an internal battle, wanting to share the ideas and songs with the world but having to control those urges and be patient.” Fans will be happy to hear that the band hasn’t strayed too far from its

previous sound. As writers, producers and mixers of the album, Tora control every aspect of their music – the key, according to Loewenthal, to keeping things distinctly Tora. “I think that’s why this record has a familiar sound to previous music we’ve put out,” he says. “That said, we’ve definitely made a conscious effort to bring new elements to the table and keep it fresh and interesting. “I feel like this time around we’ve put a bit more effort into everything. There’s been more energy put into the lyrics, the storytelling and the melodies that we work with.” Loewenthal points out that Tora’s heightened focus on the writing itself aims to create music that people can relate to on a “simple, instinctual level”, citing a mix of their previous two EPs as a combining force for their current sound. “The first EP was more focused on songwriting, and the second EP was more focused on production – I think this one is a good middle ground.” The title of Take A Rest followed a period in which Tora stepped away from the stage to work at a more comfortable pace. After intensive touring in 2014/15, 2016 was the

year Tora could finally “knuckle down and create”. From the listener’s perspective, Loewenthal adds, the name is simply a reflection of the album’s chilled-out state, a place where fans can “take a rest from everything else that’s going on in life”. It’s a far cry from ‘Evil Dolphin Laser Party’, one of Tora’s many “ridiculous ideas” for potential album names during a four-month deliberation period. Their debut album might have been in the making since 2013, but Tora’s history actually stretches back even further. Back in 2006 at the Shearwater Steiner School in Mullumbimby, New South Wales, good mates Loewenthal, Toby Tunis (drums) and Shaun Johnston (bass) formed an indie rock band called Alice Blu, with a sound akin to The Kooks and Arctic Monkeys. In 2010, the trio left school early in pursuit of a career in music. “The teacher just saw that I didn’t want to be there and thought I’d be better off doing a diploma in music – doing stuff that I’m passionate about instead of upsetting every teacher in every class,” Loewenthal remembers. Loewenthal and Johnston spent 12 months in Melbourne – and with Tunis departing for Greece for a short while – but soon found themselves back

in Byron. After recruiting Jai Piccone (vocals and guitar) – a former music student of Loewenthal’s and five years his junior – the foursome began a transition towards the sound they have today. “We were really inspired by James Blake, Alt-J and Little Dragon at that time,” says Loewenthal. “That was when we started producing, trying to actually make music at the computer. “So with Take A Rest it was just another step in that direction. At the same time, we wanted to make the album sound organic – a lot more vocals, guitar and drums in there, and sounds from the garden, sampling washing machines and kitchen utensils. Just weird stuff to make it sound like the environment that we were recording and producing in.” According to Loewenthal, the album is more “dance-y” than previous Tora output, having been influenced by touring Europe and spending a lot of time in Germany – particularly the world capital of techno, Berlin. However, the band comprises a broad spectrum of individual tastes – from club bangers to mellow songwriting – and the resultant album is, as Loewenthal puts it, a “fusion of all our tastes mashed into one”. But how much of the Tora sound – and by extension the writing process – is influenced by the wider world? In what many would consider dangerous and uncertain times, Loewenthal is resolutely defiant. “There’s a lot of media focus on all of the bad things at the moment. My outlook on it all is quite positive. I think it’s easy to get caught up in negative things. Although there’s some daunting things happening, there are also so many technological advancements and colourful things happening. “With that said, the stuff that’s going on in the world does obviously impact my personal mood. I have to admit I’ve been tempted to write songs that wake people up to some of the stuff that’s going on.” What: Take A Rest out Friday June 9 through Lustre With: Mookhi, Chymes Where: Oxford Art Factory When: Saturday June 24

“It’s been almost an internal battle, wanting to share the ideas and songs with the world but having to control those urges.” 8 :: BRAG :: 716 :: 07:06:17

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Submit short environmentally-themed films before 31 July for your chance to be selected to screen at the Footprints Ecofestival on Sunday 27 August

E N T R I E S C L O S E 3 1 J U LY 2 0 1 7 More information at footprints@innerwest.nsw.gov.au or call (02) 9367 9381 www.innerwest.nsw.gov.au/footprints-films thebrag.com

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FEATURE

“There were some great parties and some great nights, but I try not to dwell on the past all that much.”

An Oral History Of Purple Sneakers 24 Hour Party People By David James Young

omewhere back in the midst of the mid-2000s, Martin Novosel had a vision – if the Beastie Boys had fought for his right to party, then it was his responsibility to ensure the party went on. Purple Sneakers was born – and 11 years on, its legacy is still intact as it holds down the fort of its big-picture empire. Ahead of Purple Sneakers’ massive birthday celebrations, Novosel gives us a brief history of how this night of dirty indie dancefloors came to define his being.

The inspiration “I was working in London at Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. I was in publishing as the assistant editor, which was not exciting at all. I was running parties the entire time I was working there, though. My inspiration was this guy called Erol Alkan – a lot of people don’t know him, but he was the whole reason I wanted to get into parties. I went to his club, Trash, pretty much every week. So I was

“There’d be nights where you’d spin around the room and see Dave from Dappled Cities, Alex from Red Riders, Jake from Bluejuice, Alex from Sparkadia and Sarah from theredsunband.” 10 :: BRAG :: 716 :: 07:06:17

going out, I was running parties and I was working as well. “I remember one Thursday, I called up to say I was going to be in late – they said, ‘Don’t bother coming in at all,’ and they fired me. I rang back because my contract allowed me to get paid out for the month’s work – and they offered to let me finish up. I decided against it so I could continue pursuing what I was doing. It was the first time that I had really backed myself.”

Failed beginnings “I got my visa on a student extension. I was supposed to be studying, but I was just throwing parties. I wanted to start a label over there, and I went to register it. I got a letter back from the government telling me that I couldn’t start a business because I wasn’t on the right visa – and also that my visa had expired [laughs]. So I just said, ‘Fuck it,’ and I came back to Australia.

When I got back, I tried working at some places… it wasn’t for me. There were bands that I was seeing in Chippendale, and I remember saying to one of them, ‘I’m gonna sign your band!’ They were like, ‘What? You don’t have any money!’ I told them I was going to start throwing parties in Sydney, make money off them and then put money towards their album. The label didn’t do so well, but the parties did.”

Kicking off the party “Purple Sneakers literally started because I wanted to fund a label – Boundary Sounds. That ended up being a managerial company. One of the artists I had on the label then was Sparkadia, and I still manage Alex Burnett to this day as a songwriter. We threw parties in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra every week up until about 2012, when the club market sort of downturned. thebrag.com

FEATURE

Keeping Sydney going “I feel like what we’re doing today is a lot more vital and important than ever. Musically, where we are as a country is so much more on point musically and culturally than ten years ago. Australian artists are popping off internationally – and they’re so much more relevant. I don’t want to compare apples and oranges, but I feel it’s more exciting now. “With the venue issues and stuff like that, I really feel like we’re out of the worst of it – more venues are stepping up and making space for music to happen, and that’s really exciting.”

Up until that point, though, we had something really special and we got to champion all of this great music. “We were behind Disclosure’s first Australian shows. We got behind The Rubens early on. We put on Flume’s first three shows in Melbourne; same with Alison Wonderland and What So Not. For me, it was all about the platform that we had to share new music with people.”

Purple Sneakers photos by Ashley Mar

The naughty aughties “I get that Purple Sneakers was really a time and a place for a lot of people. We were running a club where people that were what you’d call peak triple j artists were coming in, week in and week out. There’d be nights where you’d spin around the room and see Dave from Dappled Cities, Alex from Red Riders, Jake from Bluejuice, Alex from Sparkadia and Sarah from theredsunband. Later on, it’d be bands like Tame Impala. Kings Of Leon would come hang out after their shows if they were in thebrag.com

town. Bands would play on the rooftop. There were some great parties and some great nights, but I try not to dwell on the past all that much.”

“There were bands that I was seeing in Chippendale, and I remember saying to one of them, ‘I’m gonna sign your band!’ They were like, ‘What? You don’t have any money!’”

What: Purple Sneakers 11th Birthday With: Bad Deep, Caitlin & Hannah, Kali, Mowgli May, Purple Sneakers DJs and more Where: The Lord Gladstone When: Saturday June 17

Expanding out “Purple Sneakers is the name we use for the parties and for DJ sets. It was in 2010 that we started up the blog to go along with it. The vision that I had was we had this great community, so I wanted to turn it into an online community so that we could connect in between Friday and Saturday nights. “Boundary Sounds is still a management company – we take care of Nicole Millar, Moonbase, Little May and Oliver Tank, among others. We’ve had a lot of great people in the industry come through our ranks – people like Nick Findlay and Gerry Bull, who work at triple j, as well as people like Johann [Ponniah] from I Oh You and Alistair [Green] from Maker Agency. The whole thing has kind of been us making it up as we went along.” BRAG :: 716 :: 07:06:17 :: 11

FEATURE

Introducing Six8, The Online Community That Lets You Book Live Bands For Your Own Events A Better Way By Adam Norris

ou hear a lot of horror stories about the state of Sydney’s music scene, but sad as it is to see a venue finally kill the stage lights and lock the doors, there are plenty of other developments scattered throughout the Harbour City. One of the most recent contenders to step forward is Six8, which bills itself as a kind of Uber for live music (but without, you know, the gender discrimination). Want a band to appear at your birthday at short notice? Having a barbecue in the park and need an acoustic act to entertain guests? Jump on Six8 and choose your artist. We speak with managing director Keith Sue during a Six8 Live Music Night at Redfern’s Arcadia Liquors, along with some special guests. “I guess at its heart, we’re wanting to break down barriers for both sides,” Sue explains. “A lot of artists we’ve spoken to, and also those we know through friendships, have been finding it hard to find gigs and find some way to get their music out there. “And then we have our hosts, which are just regular people like you and me who like experiencing live music, and being able to do that in ways they haven’t tried before. We can come to a venue like Arcadia and be able to see some bands, but there are so many other ways that live music can happen. It can be in your living room

“From a larger perspective, it’s about getting people invested in live music. That’s how you drive change.”

for a cocktail party, it can be down at the beach, wherever. So we’re really trying to open up those experiences.” In truth, it’s an interesting idea. Sign up as either artist or host, and in short order you have your very own gig. For those who have zero contact with the music industry and rely on a turkeyshoot of dredging Facebook to book a band, they get to target exactly the kind of music they want to hear. In turn, artists get the booking and find themselves with a built-in crowd of potential fans, and better still, an hourly rate. “We stumbled upon the idea from both sides,” says Sue. “My business

“There are so many other ways that live music can happen. It can be in your living room for a cocktail party, it can be down at the beach, wherever.” partner was really keen to get a band around to his place one afternoon just to hear some tunes, and it turned out to be ridiculous, trying to just reach out there and find a band. “There was an awesome saxophonist from New Orleans who was playing with us. He was brilliant, really killing it, but couldn’t get a gig because he didn’t know anyone in the industry and was finding it hard to break into. So it’s about building a community. People are interested in the idea, it’s just finding a way of allowing it to happen. “We’re really keen to see how innovative people get, since they can really just let their imagination go wild.” On the night of our interview, Arcadia Liquors is packed out. Punters had heard of the night through word of mouth (or been enticed from outside by the fairy lights, it turns out), and the majority stick around for the entirety of the show. One person from the crowd, Emily, thinks it’s a great way to learn of new live music.

“I walked past, and I love fairy lights, that always gets me. But I love live music, I’m always drawn to it. I like checking out new artists. There’s more underground places to see now, I think. The fact that everyone is on board with checking out live music – you know, there’s some good artists out there now, you just need to find them. Mainly [through] word of mouth. It’s not so much advertisements. It’s honest opinions from people you know.” One of the evening’s performers, Sam Newton, agrees that the growth in underground and non-traditional venues is a great boon to Sydney musicians these days. Across showcase nights such as these, as well as Six8’s format of audience exposure, there are strong avenues for both emerging and established acts. “It’s pretty difficult. If you look at Facebook, it’s a whitewash of a million different events, and there’s so much paid advertising already there. How do you get someone to choose your event? There’s lots on now.

“The Six8 model is going to make it easier, and now it’ll be interesting to see how people use that; how people narrow it down to work out you’re the band they want.” 12 :: BRAG :: 716 :: 07:06:17

“Before this small bar thing trickled up from Melbourne, getting gigs was hard. Without them I reckon there’d be half of what there is. Sydney isn’t very good at going out to see live music all that often. They take it for granted, the fact that they live in this hybrid, vibrant area. Especially around the Inner West. I’m a very optimistic person, and I think it’s doable. I think the Six8 model is going to make it easier, and now it’ll be interesting to see how people use that; how people narrow it down to work out you’re the band they want.” “It’s about creating new spaces for music,” Sue suggests, and right on cue his voice is nearly drowned out by cheering from downstairs. “If I can get on an acoustic guitarist at somebody’s place on a Sunday afternoon, that’s great. From a larger perspective, it’s about getting people invested in live music. That’s how you drive change. If people give a shit about it, then policy will change, you’ll see politicians start to move on [lockout laws]. “If I can use Six8 to get people invested in live music and understand who the artists are by talking to them in their own lounge room, some of those difficulties are going to start to evaporate.” Six8 is Australia’s new platform for musicians to connect with event hosts. Find out more at six8.com.au.

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FEATURE

“It’s the culmination of years of honing our skills and working together on our art.”

Pallbearer Heart And Soul By Anna Rose

rkansas four-piece Pallbearer are coming Down Under, and bassist Joseph D. Rowland is looking forward to it – even if it’s hard to hear the animation in his voice.

“We’re thrilled about [Heartless],” Rowland says. “It’s sort of the album that we always wanted to make. It’s the culmination of years of honing our skills and working together on our art.

“End of June, first week of July, we’re gonna be down there,” he says simply.

“It’s exciting that we’ve been playing it across the world so far – we just got back from a European tour, and then we’re headed out in a few days for a full US run. So we’re defi nitely amped up about getting to play this material live. It’s [some] of the most fun to play music that we’ve written – I dunno, we also enjoy touring quite a bit; it’s exciting.”

As well as hitting venues across Australia, Pallbearer will be presenting their serpentine brand of doom metal to fans in New Zealand for the very first time. When the announcement landed, it was met with a tsunami of positive support from fans in that country.

Pallbearer photo by Diana Lee Zadlo

“It seems like people are excited about it,” says Rowland. “I know in the past … a few years ago on tour in Europe, we played with a band who said that a lot of people, they definitely want us to come play there, so it’s gonna be a good time. I’m definitely really excited about it.” Pallbearer’s impending visit to southern shores follows the release of their third studio album Heartless, a monstrosity of metal that’s ridden a wave of positive feedback right across the community. One can only expect that positivity to rub off on Rowland and company in their shows, especially as Pallbearer intend on touring for the remainder of the year.

This might be the album Pallbearer always wanted to make, but it’s also a refl ection on their career thus far – which might be why their signature release has taken almost ten years to come together. “I don’t think we were good enough yet, previously, to write an album like this,” says Rowland with a dry chuckle. “All of our ideas over the years have sort of… I mean, this is like stuff we’ve basically been talking about for all of eight years. “We’ve been – quite a bit for the last six years now – touring constantly. It’s really supplanted that. We all really have that musical language amongst ourselves – I mean, we play music together 280 days a year. We’ve developed

this rapport amongst ourselves, about how we want to write music together, and even though the past few years have integrated how we wanted to do all these things, it’s sort of typical modern metal, I guess. “I don’t know if we would have been able to execute any of those ideas the way we’ve been [able] to now, just because of the amount of time we’ve been spending perfecting the playing together.” But if Heartless is the defi nitive Pallbearer album – written not just to inform their live performance but designed around it – then where can they go on their next studio release? “It’s definitely exciting,” says Rowland. “I don’t know – we aren’t really putting that together yet. We’ve already been pushing for one of the directions we have been lamenting on. We always want to continue to challenge ourselves, kind of expand what we sort of feel like. I suppose that’s the definition of what Pallbearer is. I know that we’re gonna be trying to build on some of the ideas we tried to quantify at the beginning.” One word that often gets tossed around when it comes to critical discussion of Pallbearer is ‘colossal’. It’s true their music is

“I don’t think we were good enough yet, previously, to write an album like this.” a heavy beast, but it’s still got a fi nesse to it – and Rowland thrives in such creative freedom. “We’ve always, I think, over the years… we’ve had our share of heavy music, but also music that’s very expansive. [It] doesn’t necessarily mean that just because something’s heavy or hugesounding, it may not be metal at all. There’s a lot of different ways that can be processed. Experience, a visual thing, sonically – we are emotionally heavy. That’s sort of the franchising we’ve always had. “We always wanted to have these expansive compositions, and if people say it’s ‘colossal’, well I guess that’s good.”

What: Heartless out now through Nuclear Blast Where: Manning Bar When: Tuesday July 4

“We always wanted to have these expansive compositions, and if people say it’s ‘colossal’, well I guess that’s good.” thebrag.com

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FEATURE JONNY GREENWOOD – THERE WILL BE BLOOD In 2007, the phrase “I drink your milkshake” somehow managed to enter the general lexicon. While some were confused, others recognised it as a quote from the Paul Thomas Anderson film There Will Be Blood, a stark tale about Daniel Plainview and his quest for wealth during the American oil boom of the 18th and 19th centuries.

ARCADE FIRE – HER Her is the story of a man who develops feelings for, and then falls in love with, a female operating system on his computer. If you think that concept is pretty far-fetched, you might be just as shocked to learn that Joaquin Phoenix was given the leading role for this film, and that he actually did a pretty decent job.

Of course, with a topic this outlandish and quirky, you need something to anchor the film and make sure at least the music side of things is accessible, right? Well, that’s exactly what director Spike Jonze attempted to do by recruiting Will Butler of Arcade Fire and Owen Pallett (who has also performed and toured with the group). The end

result was a beautifully ambient and dreamy collection of music that delightfully underscored the kooky plot line. In addition to the music performed by Arcade Fire and Pallett, Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs also contributed a song to the finished product: a track titled ‘The Moon Song’, which also saw pretty decent success as a single.

Prior to the film’s production, Anderson had heard some of the music that Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood composed for the documentary Bodysong. Enamoured with his work, the director asked Greenwood to compose the film soundtrack – and it’s a good thing he did, because the resulting compositions were as grand and brilliant as you’d expect. The soundtrack received some pretty hefty praise, including a nomination for a Grammy, but was sadly not considered for an Academy Award since it happened to sample some pre-existing music, which, according to the Academy, is a big no-no.

Seven Of The Best Modern Film Soundtracks Made By Famous Bands When it comes to a blockbuster movie, the soundtrack can either make or break it. Plenty of film scores have gone on to become famous in their own right – for instance, who can listen to Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells without instantly thinking of The Exorcist? And what about all those composers, such as Danny Elfman or John Williams, who have gone on to be best known for their film music?

By Tyler Jenke

Sometimes, however, the artist in charge of a film’s music isn’t your run-of-the-mill composer, but a well-established touring musician. No, we’re not talking about the time when members of U2 were asked to create the theme to Mission: Impossible – we’re talking about the times when famous musicians have created soundtracks for films that not only serve as wonderful backings for the events in the movie, but also manage to moonlight as wonderful art pieces in their own right.

DECODER RING – SOMERSAULT If you were to remember just one thing about Australian popular culture from 2004 (other than Missy Higgins dominating the charts), it would have to be how successful the film Somersault was. The movie itself is about a 16-year-old girl and her relationship with the son of a local farmer, and was so well-received that it not only gained recognition at the Cannes Film Festival,

but also won so many categories at the 2004 AFI Awards that those in charge might as well have called the awards ‘The Saultys’ from then on. However, the backbone of the film is arguably the phenomenal soundtrack performed by the Sydney group Decoder Ring. Both the musicians and the soundtrack were instrumental in

launching the career of lead singer Lenka Kripac, but before that happened, the eponymous song ‘Somersault’ took the Aussie music world by storm. The delicate vocals from Kripac, in stark contrast to the electronic and ambient influences within the music, gained such great recognition that even the soundtrack won big at the AFIs.

NICK CAVE AND WARREN EL The Aussie band Dick Nasty once released a song titled ‘I’m More Australian Than A Book Full Of Bush Poetry By Russell Crowe’. However, we must disagree and say that the only thing more Australian than that would have to be a movie written by Nick Cave, starring Guy Pearce and David Gulpilil, and with music by Cave and Warren Ellis, leader of The Dirty Three and one of Cave’s Bad Seeds for more than 20 years. While the film itself deals with the harsh reality of the events following the rape and murder 14 :: BRAG :: 716 :: 07:06:17

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FEATURE

AIR – THE VIRGIN SUICIDES This one might be cheating a little bit, because depending on how you look at it, The Virgin Suicides has two soundtracks. One is the more commercial, compilation-type record featuring a number of acts from the ’70s, while the film’s original score was composed by French act Air. Director Sofia Coppola was inclined to get Air to compose the soundtrack after hearing their previous record Moon Safari. The resulting compositions are less loungestyled jazzy trip hop cuts, and more of something that sounds like a waking daydream. The final score for The Virgin Suicides sees Air venture into some pretty nifty downtempo, ambient and psychedelic territories, using the soundtrack as an outlet to explore some of the sounds they wanted to use with previous records, but didn’t really get the chance to. The film’s soundtrack has proved highly influential, and even spawned a single, the classic ‘Playground Love’.

EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY – FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS Friday Night Lights is one of the most overlooked films of the early 21st century. While you might remember the hugely successful TV show that it spawned, Friday Night Lights the movie is quite a bit different to the TV show. The producers of the film decided to ask Texan post-rock group Explosions In The Sky to write the soundtrack. After laying down some phenomenal tracks, including ‘Your Hand In Mine’, ‘From West Texas’ and ‘A Slow Dance’, the band suddenly sounded as if its whole existence was leading to the sole purpose of soundtracking this film. While Friday Night Lights would soon be overlooked in favour of the TV spin-off, Explosions In The Sky went on to become one of the most well-known and beloved groups in post-rock music.

TRENT REZNOR AND ATTICUS ROSS – THE SOCIAL NETWORK Let’s be fair, if you’re going to make a movie about rich white kids forming their own billion-dollar company and the trials, tribulations and backstabbing that occurred during that company’s inception, Trent Reznor probably doesn’t sound like the kind of guy to do the soundtrack. Well, at least on paper, anyway. But as it turned

out, Reznor and musical partner Atticus Ross basically created one of the greatest film soundtracks in recent memory. Reznor’s soundtrack to David Fincher’s 2010 film doesn’t exactly feature any of the drug addiction referencing or nightmarish imagery that your standard

’90s Nine Inch Nails song would include. Instead, it focuses on dark and brooding soundscapes that sound like they might as well have been leftovers from Nine Inch Nails’ Ghosts project in the previous years. It’s emotional, atmospheric, and one of the greatest pieces of work that Reznor has ever put his name to.

LIS – THE PROPOSITION of the Hopkins family by a gang of bushrangers, the film’s soundtrack is far more uplifting, yet still just as ominous. While Cave and The Dirty Three had previously collaborated, this was arguably the biggest project that Cave and Ellis had worked on outside The Bad Seeds. The brilliant violin work of Ellis manages to accompany Cave’s ambient soundscapes in such a way that audiences might well have gone to see the movie just to hear the soundtrack. thebrag.com

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COVER FEATURE

THE BRAG’S GUIDE TO:

“It is strange for me was designed to be more like a poem or a painting than anything else. “When you first hear a poem, the feeling you get depends on your verbal knowledge, political knowledge, historical knowledge and your artistic knowledge. All those kinds of knowledge allow you to go through further layers of that poem, so you can explore the metaphors. We wanted the fi lm to work the same way.”

PART 2

CHAUKA, PLEASE TELL US THE TIME Telling Truth To Power By Joseph Earp

ehrouz Boochani’s story is not unusual – and that’s precisely what makes it so tragic. The Iranian journalist and hero of Arash Sarvestani’s new documentary Chauka, Please Tell Us The Time has been imprisoned at Manus Island for almost half a decade, and the story of how he got there is full of the kind of violence, tragedy and heartbreak that unites the tales of so many of those held at the internment centre. “[Boochani] was a journalist in Iran and worked for some newspapers like Kasbokar and Werya,” Sarvestani explains. “The Iranian Sepah agency – in English, people call them the Revolutionary Guards – arrested some of his friends from Werya

because they were promoting Kurdish language and culture, and he had to leave Iran because he was in danger. “He left Iran in May 2013 and went to Indonesia. He was there for about four months. Behrouz did not feel safe there because there was the constant danger that the police could arrest him and deport him to Iran. He tried to reach Australia twice. The first time the boat sank, and he survived only because he could reach a piece of wood from the boat. A fi shing boat rescued him from the water, but he was taken back to Indonesia where the police put him in jail. “Behrouz managed to escape from the jail, and after two

weeks tried to go to Australia by boat again. That time their boat got lost on the ocean for a week before a British ship saved them. He arrived in Australia on the 23rd of July 2013, which is his birthday. Behrouz was on Christmas Island for about a month before they exiled him to Manus Island. He’s been there ever since.” Chauka is comprised entirely of footage that Boochani shot himself on his mobile phone, and he is credited as the fi lm’s co-director. “The movie went through more than 30 edits and I showed all of them to Behrouz,” Sarvestani explains. “I would upload the edits in a private link for him to watch, which took time because of

WH E RE: EVENT CINEM AS G EO RG E STREET W H E N : S U N DAY J U N E 11 / T H U R S DAY J U N E 15

the really low internet speed in the camp. Then [Boochani] would pass back ideas about the edit. We would talk more about the story and I would send another version of the edit to him, and again he could see how the story could be developed. So, step by step the story developed, and step by step I became a detainee in that jail as well, and step by step Behrouz became a great fi lmmaker.” For Sarvestani and Boochani, it soon became apparent that the fi lm was not going to work like other documentaries. Nor did they want it to – with its strange, blurry cell phone footage, tragic narrative and strange, muted sense of hope, Chauka

Nonetheless, despite all that Sarvestani has learnt while making Chauka, one question remains unanswered: he has no idea why Australians seem so numbed to the horror stories emerging from the offshore prison their government uses tax dollars to maintain. “Maybe I should ask you,” he says. “You better know your own society. It is strange for me that all these things are happening in a democratic country like Australia.”

“Step by step I became a detainee in that jail as well, and step by step Behrouz became a great filmmaker.”

“The movie is full of farce, hypocrisy and social criticism.”

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FULL PROGRAM AVAILABLE AT SFF.ORG.AU ▼

that all these things are happening in a democratic country like Australia.”

THE FOREST OF LOST SOULS Artistic Suicide By Joseph Earp

he Forest Of Lost Souls is your typical guy-meetsgirl story. Only, Carolina (Daniela Love), the girl, is a trendy, death-obsessed teenager and Ricardo (Jorge Mota), the guy, is a family man in his late ’50s. Oh, and the pair first cross paths in a forest, both moments away from committing suicide. And yeah, just to complicate things, one of them may or may not be a serial killer. Evidently, The Forest Of Lost Souls is less conventional than your usual romantic drama fare. Like a version of Beyond Sunrise directed by Lucio Fulci, the fi lm is both a taut, well-written character piece and a thrilling slasher fi lm; a melancholy, black-and-white mediation on death, loss and the difficulty of letting go. Basically, it’s the kind of thing that could have been a tonally confused mess in the hands of a less talented fi lmmaker, but first time writer-director José Pedro Lopes handles the proceedings with dark humour and aplomb. “The movie is full of farce, hypocrisy and social criticism,” Lopes explains. “Carolina’s character does have some qualities that are totally of our day and age: she is disconnected, she fakes

interests, she uses cell phones to terrorize people and social [media] to create alibis. Balancing that with the fi lm’s ‘angel of darkness’ narrative was complicated. The blackand-white cinematography and the very present and heavy soundtrack kept the tone of the fi lm [consistent] even as it moved from horror to comedy, from drama to farce.” Although The Forest is nothing if not grim, particularly in its second half, Lopes drew inspiration from a range of varied sources, and he worked hard to ensure that the film didn’t just come across as one note. “I took references from Andrei Tarkovsky’s use of bucolic landscapes and very wide shots. Also I really like modern day black-and-white films such as Frances Ha – that was [used] as reference for the relaxed look of Carolina and Ricardo’s friendship – and Miss Zombie, an excellent Japanese horror film from a couple of years ago. The cinematographer Francisco Lobo has worked with me in a lot of projects and we speak the same language, so he easily understood that the movie had to have a very lonely look to it.” Certainly it’s true that as bloody as the film gets, The Forest is always grounded in the

melancholy of its two central leads – in their failed hopes, wasted wants and impossibleto-achieve dreams. Even when the narrative takes a dramatic, blood-curdling turn at its almost exact midpoint, Lopes never loses sight of why we the audience should care about Carolina and Ricardo. Yet despite how accomplished and powerful the finished thing is, it almost got lost in the hustle and bustle of festival season, and could so easily have been just

another brilliant lost gem; an underseen, under-recognized classic. “When we finished the film, we were aiming for a fall festival premiere. But the two festivals we were betting on turned down the film. “At that point, I was thinking that maybe the fi lm would go nowhere. Portugal has a very tiny market, especially for nonHollywood fi lms. And our fi lm is a tough sell given it is low budget, arthouse, has no stars

and isn’t very linear and easy to sum up. Then [Portuguese fi lm festival] Fantasporto wanted to host its world premiere, and in less than a month or two we were being booked at festivals all around the world. So I guess that, unlike the sad message the fi lm delivers through its story, I could say the experience [taught] me to stick to your work and keep pushing. ‘If you book them, they will come,’ Jim Morrison said.”

W HERE : E V E N T C I N E M AS G E O RG E ST R E E T / D E N DY N E WTOWN WH EN : M ON DAY J U N E 12 / SATU R DAY J U N E 17 thebrag.com

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arts in focus FEATURE

“It’s so disgusting and unthinkable that this happens, but it happens. That’s the saddest part of it.”

Hounds Of Love Australian Psycho By Adam Norris

atrick Bateman, Hannibal Lecter, Errol Childress from True Detective; monsters all, but we find them monstrous because of the everyday mask they wear. They horrify not due to their fangs or eldritch appendages, but because they could so easily be someone you walk past on the street. Could be your neighbour, perhaps. Following that tradition, Hounds Of Love is one of the most unnerving films to appear on Australian screens in many years, propelled by a main cast delivering some of the finest performances of their careers. Better known for his larrikin comedic charm, as the remorseless serial killer John White, Stephen Curry is a man transformed. “Charm. That’s an interesting word,” Curry says reflectively. “I don’t think it’s that different in terms of characterisation, oddly enough, than doing comedy. What set this role apart for me was the fact that every other character I’ve played that might be considered charming was a person that, well, actually had charm. As a character, they were somehow charming. The difference in this role, this is a human being who doesn’t possess natural charm, natural empathy or love. All the things that psychopaths are devoid of.

“What he’s doing is actually just acting. He’s spent his entire life acting. He’s affecting charm, he’s affecting empathy to keep his wife on side. He is a great manipulator, and the way you manipulate well is to affect all of these emotions. There’s a scene where he’s having a shave and looking at himself in the mirror, and we wanted that to be complete and utter joy he has at looking at himself. The victory that he sees when he sees himself, the only person that matters.” Though worlds apart, we haven’t seen such a harrowing and uncomfortable feature since Wolf Creek. Yet while Wolf Creek is at heart a slasher (and an effective one, at that), Hounds Of Love taps into a different vein of horror. After sneaking out of home, schoolgirl Vicki (Ashleigh Cummings) is abducted one warm Perth night by the deceptively friendly couple, John and Evelyn White (Emma Booth). One poor decision leads to another, and in short, awful order she is gagged and chained to a bed that has seen numerous other girls abused and murdered. It is by no means a pleasant film, and yet it is never a gratuitous one. Its subject matter may be quite distressing,

“This is a human being who doesn’t possess natural charm, natural empathy or love. All the things that psychopaths are devoid of.”

but its contents are depicted in solemn, affecting fashion. For Curry, the role presented a challenge like no other, and one which he was only able to face with the great trust and talents of the film’s exceptional female cast. “It was very hard. Very hard. It’s not hard to get in, it’s hard to get out,” he says. “You mentioned the trust between Emma and Ashleigh, and you’re spot on. You have to have trust and respect for each other, have respect for the material first and foremost. [Director] Ben Young set this tone from the top. We need to respect the difficulty of this story. Those are two of the most compelling and heartbreaking performances from those women. They are mind-boggling strong performances, and that’s why it’s hard to get out. You see the heartbreak in both their eyes. “From my character’s perspective I suppose, I was more effected by Ashleigh, because this is stuff that I was doing to her. You’d have to be heartless not to be. People genuinely go through this sort of stuff, and it’s evident in Ashleigh’s eyes, and you can’t sell that short. You can’t treat that lightly. I often find it easy to break out of other characters because you stop and can just go about being your normal self. Then you get to work and do it again. Not this one. And it’s because of these amazing women going through this torment, and I want to be there for them, be 100 per cent committed for the entirety of the piece, because that’s what they’re doing.” The film can be almost unbearably tense, where moment to moment it is difficult to tell what is about to unfold. Curry refers to the film as a psychological study of co-dependence, and his own character as the study of a psychopath – which says a great deal about the emotional weight his on-screen wife must carry. Perth has itself seen murderous couples in the past – the Moorhouse Murders of 1986 are a loose inspiration – and the psychological insights it offers are grim; sadly, they’re not far removed from reality. “When he has as little power in the real world, is treated by the real world as he is – as a nothing – it informs his intrinsic need to take a stranglehold on the power in his own house,” says Curry. “It’s like his own sad little cave. The more power he can elicit in there, the better he feels. Hounds Of Love: it’s about the master and pet relationship. He scolds her when she’s bad. He rewards her when she behaves. And it’s so disgusting and unthinkable that this happens, but it happens. That’s the saddest part of it. Which is why we wanted to tell this story with such truth. “There are myriad women who have been in emotionally abusive relationships who might identify with this. And the moment you have someone who identifies with that power struggle, who suddenly looks at it and thinks the performances aren’t respectful of the reality of the situation, then you’re letting people down.” What: Hounds Of Love (dir. Ben Young) Where: In cinemas now

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arts reviews ■ Theatre

Mr Burns, The Play About The Simpsons, Is A Must-See Mash-Up Of Pop Culture And High Art By David Molloy ad as it sounds, it is genuinely astonishing to see a show with contemporary relevance to a young Australian audience on a Sydney main stage. Mr Burns may be an American tale, but in its joyous appropriation of pop culture and celebration of mythology, it resonates with young and old alike.

In the near future, America has been brought low by catastrophic nuclear power plant failures, which have devastated the national grid. In the post-electric world, a group of survivors gather around a campfire and tell the only story they can collectively remember – the ‘Cape Feare’ episode of The Simpsons. While Mr Burns does bear some of the more cliched tropes of post-apocalyptic storytelling, this play is not about addressing humanity’s end or how far people will go to survive. Ruined America is simply the backdrop to the halfremembered Simpsons episode’s canonisation as myth, proving that our need for story is as vital as our need for food, shelter and each other.

It opens simply, carried purely on the charisma of the cast as they huddle around a glowing fire. Brent Hill distinguishes himself as a storyteller here, his gaps in memory so genuine that it’s hard not to interject with the quote he’s struggling to find. But then, the whole cast is exceptional. The show feels custom-built for our generation – this story is already in our blood, and this fine cast’s commitment highlights the qualities that made The Simpsons a cultural landmark. When the story stops, the new world intrudes, and it’s no longer a kind place. Both the actors and designers do a fine job of crafting a sense of danger, leaving spaces where things are better left unsaid. By the second act, our band of battlers has formed a theatre troupe (complete with the ever-outstanding Paula Arundell) and Simpsons quotes have become the new currency. Cultural capital is now literal. Director Imara Savage indulges in indie aesthetics, creating an epic production (complete

“You’ve never seen anything like this.”

with period-appropriate ads) with the means at hand. The song mash-ups may as well be by Girl Talk, for how effectively they work in conjunction. The less said about the frequently surprising third act, the better, save that it would utterly fail as theatrical form had the preceding hour not warmed you into it. It

soars, it sinks, and it genuinely choked up this reviewer as it addressed the decline of our favourite family – “Love never dies in memory,” opines Bart in a powerful moment. You’ve never seen anything like this. It’s a magnificent blend of contemporary art forms that elevates The Simpsons to the realm of Shakespeare, Aesop or (hehe) Homer.

■ Theatre

Best Festival Ever Is A Catastrophe Turned Into Great Fun By David Molloy

Mr Burns photo by Brett Boardman

It’s best to approach Best Festival Ever as a co-operative board game, rather than a show. You and your fellow punters are now the organisers of a start-up music festival. Its staging ground: a long felt strip with a winding river, complete with model cows and a tiny main stage. Over the next hour, you build the festival as a team, and then struggle to keep it afloat as disaster strikes. The show is presented by three members of Sydney’s thebrag.com

win

(Esther Hannaford) while singing Gilbert and Sullivan. Mr Burns is a work of singular beauty that allows as much wild abandon as it does cultural relevance. To miss it would be to miss the birth of a legend. Mr Burns is playing at Belvoir St Theatre until Sunday June 25.

arts giveaway Tix to Hotel Coolgardie

Following a packed-out screening at last year’s Sydney Film Festival, the shocking observational documentary Hotel Coolgardie garnered national headlines for its depiction of the disturbing experience of two Finnish backpackers who found themselves the latest batch of “fresh meat” sent to work as barmaids at the only pub in a remote Australian mining town.

he Seymour Centre’s iteration of Best Festival Ever has the air of a homecoming – it’s been performed in various forms across the world, and for the first time, it’s finally landed in Sydney to test, amuse and inspire audiences with a thrillingly curated game experience. You’re sitting at the back of a bus, filthy and tired from another gruelling music festival. You have a lot to complain about. You’re almost certain you could organise a better show. Your mate says he knows a farmer with some land he’s willing to loan. Time to put your money where your mouth is.

Mr Burns is startling because it stands up as strongly under academic rigour as it does as a piece of pure entertainment. You can wax lyrical about memetic reproduction or the function of pastiche and simulacra in myth-building, or you can just switch off and savour the joy of a high-camp half-squid Mr Burns (Mitchell Butell) sword fighting Bart Simpson

Hotel Coolgardie hits screens on Thursday June 15, and we’ve got ten in-season double passes to give away. To enter the draw, visit thebrag.com/freeshit.

Applespiel (full disclosure: peers and friends of this critic), who have cultivated a remarkably comfortable atmosphere for such a high-stakes game. Unlike many audience participation experiences, nothing here puts you as a viewer on edge by forcing you into the spotlight. The whole encounter is just serious enough, just silly enough. You’re all in this together, and the consequences are no further reaching than the doors of the theatre. Each mini-game is structured to test the players while avoiding

too many arguments. You rarely have time to sweat the details. In 30 seconds, we had a headline act – Sia “from the band Sia”. These games rarely strike as unfair; be prepared, though, for a few quicktime events that will test your reaction speed. The strength of the show is its gamification of complex system theory, which is explained clearly and engagingly wherever it arises. Boho Interactive complete the experience by inviting a guest speaker in (attendance is optional) to clarify the game’s focus, and this night’s speaker –

complex adaptive systems researcher Dr. Michael Harré – opened new doors for connecting with both the show and the world outside. The festival itself may well be calamitous, but with its endearing indie aesthetic, careful construction and light-hearted demeanour, Best Festival Ever is doubtless the best board game you’ll play on a Sydney stage.

Best Festival Ever was reviewed at the Seymour Centre on Wednesday May 31.

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FOOD + DRINK

FEATURE

The Cult Of The Celebrity Chef

“What celebrity chefs do, and do well, is tell a story.” Fanny Cradock

Famous For Food BY JOSEPH E ARP

uy Fieri is no chef. Sure, the blondehaired, Steve Harwell-looking 49-year-old might be best known for filling his face on a variety of television shows – the most famous being the immensely popular Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives (Triple D, for those in the know). But saying that Fieri’s appeal lies solely in what he bakes and binges on would be rather like claiming it’s only worth checking out the statue of David cause the dude’s got a pretty good six-pack. Fieri’s appeal goes beyond the food he has spent years introducing his viewers to; his fans’ love is deeper than that. And so it goes for a whole range of chefs, from Gordon Ramsay to Julia Child to Marco Pierre White. These figures have an almost cultish following around them; a kind of aura that attracts fine diners and gustatory philistines alike. But why? Why should we care what some random in a TV kitchen cooks up? Why should we tune in to watch some English tosser with a couple of Michelin Stars under his belt scream at a roomful of nervous trainees? Where’s the fun in that? It’s not like this is a particularly new phenomenon, either. The cult of the celebrity chef may be more pervasive now than ever before in history, but that doesn’t mean it’s a modern invention. History is littered with celebrity chefs, most notably Bartolomeo Scappi, a 17th century foodologist who provided the

world with the first known picture of a fork, not to mention a bevy of cheese recipes (parmesan was his favourite; he called it the best cheese on Earth, which, like, probably.) Of course, celebrity chefs underwent a massive transformation with the advent of television. As soon as they could be seen, the skill no longer lay solely in their recipes, or the extent of their knowledge. The key, suddenly, was being personable; smiling broadly for the cameras, and connecting with each and every one of the people tuning in to watch. It wasn’t enough to cook up exotic dishes, or impart handy know-hows: you had to have panache. Which, to their credit, a lot of the modern era’s celebrity chefs had in buckets. Julia Child, famous for her very first cookbook, Mastering The Art Of French Cooking, was a stunningly hypnotic onscreen presence: kind yet commanding, she earned the respect of households across the US with 1963’s The French Chef, one of the nation’s very first cooking programs. And that’s not to mention the UK’s Fanny Cradock, who, though steelier than Child, had a magnetism to her, too. That is, she did, until she trashed her own career by brutally dressing down a homecooked meal prepared by housewife Gwen Troake in an incident of

“Why should we tune in to watch some English tosser with a couple of Michelin Stars under his belt scream at a roomful of nervous trainees?”

televised viciousness so unsettling one critic described it as a meeting between “Bambi and Cruella DeVille.” In some ways, Cradock was actually a trailblazer. She might never have worked in television again after she pretended to gag while chowing down on a dessert made by the world’s sweetest housewife, but her style of unforgiving, oddly enthralling arrogance has been endlessly copied and co-opted. After all, Gordon Ramsay might be the first name you think of when you picture a ranting, sweaty chef, but he ripped off most of what he knows from both Cradock and Marco Pierre White, the one-time youngest ever recipient of Michelin Stars and a foul-mouth figure of fury who would famously storm out of the kitchen and ask restaurant guests to leave if they dared send anything back for recooking. Some have memorably softened that harshness: Anthony Bourdain, perhaps one of the most interesting television chefs still onscreen, is certainly brusque, but he’s not cruel or confrontational. As he travels the world in his show A Cook’s Tour, frequently throwing himself into harsh, unforgiving cities suspicious of his camera, he tries to peek deeper into the societies he finds himself mired in – albeit with the kind of resolve and remove that might have made Craddock proud. And that’s the thing. Every one of our contemporary chefs has their precedents. Folks like Jamie Oliver might want to seem as though they are reshaping the mould, or throwing viewers down a new and exciting rabbit hole, but all culinary shows follow a very strict formula. Which is what makes them so damn comforting. What celebrity chefs do, and do well, is tell a story. A cooking show is framed by a narrative the same way that anything else on your television is, from advertisements to beloved dramas. Just because cooking shows lay claim to reality, it doesn’t mean we should treat them any differently to a new episode of Game Of Thrones or House Of Cards. In all cases, the aim is entertainment, and in all cases, cults of personality are utilised to achieve that goal. You’re meant to care about Bourdain and Oliver and Pierre White the same way you are meant to care for Sansa Stark, and for the same reason: because these are complicated human beings reduced to trackable, traceable, sympathetic motives. And that won’t change even as the medium does. While YouTubers like TheReportOfTheWeek and Sean Evans of Hot Ones might seem like they are changing the game, they are merely parts of a greater machine; prophets espousing a story we just keep eating up.

Gordon Ramsay

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“All culinary shows follow a very strict formula. Which is what makes them so damn comforting.” thebrag.com

FOOD + DRINK

FEATURE

Welcome to Vivid! Sydney is ablaze with the hundreds of installations that make up this enlightening festival every year. A feast of live music, theatre, street performers, incredible light displays and more are making this year’s festival positively glowing – but, in JESSICA WESTCOTT’s hungry opinion, the true star of Vivid is the food. Every year, well-known and brand new restaurants alike come out in full force to feed the masses. There are food trucks on every corner, and street vendors on every road. You can pretty much taste the world on a trip to Vivid – and this week we’re bringing you just a couple of the standout places to kick off your night of lights.

Saké Jr

TWO OF THE BEST PLACES TO EAT ON YOUR WAY TO

VIVID SYDNEY El Camino Cantina

Saké Jr: Vivid Lights & Japanese Bites

El Camino Cantina: Say ‘Hola’ To Tex-Mex By The Best

The baby venture of the world-famous Saké Restaurant in The Rocks, Neil Perry’s Saké Jr has seen him turn this corner of Grosvenor Place into a make-your-ownpoke-bowl experience (for the uninformed, a poke bowl is wildly different to a Poké Ball – something I had to tentatively explain to my boyfriend, as his eyes fell).

Stepping up to what looks like a fancy sandwich counter, we try a bowl with brown rice (you can also choose sushi rice), roasted brussel sprouts, miso pork, bamboo shoots and kimchi. It’s a melting pot of Japanese and Korean flavours, and the trick is to try it all at once and wash it down with a bullet of Sapporo.

El Camino Cantina is celebrating one year of Tex-Mex at The Rocks, cosily tucked in next to The Argyle. The idea that you can line your stomach with beans and booze before you take on a night of dancing is just so appealing, and for these guys, bigger is better: starting with a 24-ounce margarita in a glass so big it’s a two-handed event. Lathered in a sugary syrup that makes everything that touches it a sticky fiasco, it’s not the best margarita I’ve ever had, but it does the job. It’s quite strong, so fighting your way through one is a battle in itself. But the flavours are fun. We try a jalapeño and lychee version, plus a strawberry, a mango, and a classic.

or healthy, quick, guilt-free and delicious food, the only cuisine that really ticks all the boxes is Japanese. The explosion of sushi restaurants some ten years ago proved that there was a place in Sydney for this convenience-meets-health concept. However, with the Americanisation of many Japanese takeaway places, it seems that plenty of foodies have been tuning out in favour of more authentic, hearty, inspired meals that aren’t dripping in salt and aioli. Here’s where Saké Jr comes in.

There are seemingly endless combinations that we don’t have time to taste, including a protein selection including tuna poke, ocean trout, stir fried grass-fed beef and poached chicken. They’ve really aimed to nail the hearty/healthy combo, and for winter, there are enough warm, spicy options to keep you satiated. The shining star of Saké Jr, and a favourite with the thousands of office workers nearby, is the build-your-own ramen. It’s a blessing on a winter’s night, and so the folks at Saké Jr are bringing their hot, steamy, meaty soup to Vivid in a bite-sized morsel. You’ll be able to find the folks from Saké Jr in Westfield Sydney or at The Rocks Markets selling cups of hot ramen. Oh, a quick note on the fried chicken – or JFC, as it’s lovingly dubbed (I always thought that stood for Jesus Fucking Christ. Happy to be wrong). It’s spicy, crunchy and delicious, and pairs perfectly with the beer. Saké Jr is a great place to start your evening at Vivid. It’s centrally located – super close to Circular Quay and Martin Place – and therefore it’s not a far walk to see some of the best lights of the night. Plus, Vivid is way more fun when you’re filled with ramen and beer. Take it from me. Where: Grosvenor Place Courtyard, Sydney / Westfield Sydney / The Rocks Markets More: sakejr.com.au

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It’s a melting pot of Japanese and Korean flavours, and the trick is to try it all at once and wash it down with a bullet of Sapporo.

acos. Tacos tacos tacos. I could fill this whole review with that word and you’d probably be like, “Yeah, alright, she makes some good points!” Tacos are the world’s most perfect food. But there’s more to delicious Mexican than tiny morsels of spicy goodness – loathe as I am to admit it.

We are brought out a bowl of corn chips with two different salsas, which are definitely moreish but only really serve to stave off the hunger as the first plate of real food takes its sweet time to reach our table. By the time the deep fried zucchini flowers arrive, we are ravenous, but they prove delicious. Filled with jalapeño and stuffed with cheese, they’re a heart attack waiting to happen, but are paired quite nicely with a chipotle dipping sauce. My personal favourite of the taco spread is the tuna ceviche tacos on a hard shell, which offer a delightful burst of freshness in the mouth that wonderfully undercut the spice of the whole meal. The other options range from grilled free range chicken to black bean hummus, pulled barbecue lamb, slow roasted pork, grilled steak and roasted barramundi. It’s a great selection, all with fantastic complementary toppings that stop them all melding into one ‘generic taco’ taste in my mouth. By the end of it, my brave comrade and I are decidedly pleased with ourselves. The music is a mixtape/love letter to the ’80s and ’90s, with Blur’s ‘Song 2’ following ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’. The vibe is incredibly laid-back, with groups of tourists mingling across from 19-yearolds prepping for a big night. But it’s loud. Surprisingly so, actually, as the dining room itself is cavernous. The Texan cowboys and Indians theme errs on the side of tacky, but helps give a family-friendly feel to the whole place. If you’re looking for authentic Mexican food, this may not be your flavour, but for a huge, boozy feed before a night out at Vivid, El Camino is the way to go. Where: 18 Argyle Street, The Rocks More: elcaminocantina.com.au

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Album Reviews What's been crossing our ears this week...

ALBUM OF THE WEEK SUFJAN STEVENS, BRYCE DESSNER, NICO MUHLY & JAMES MCALISTER Planetarium 4AD/Remote Control For some, Vangelis’ Blade Runner soundtrack is the ultimate in futuristic soundscapes. And while that classic score is stark, sweeping and flows easily from one track to the next, Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly and James McAlister’s collaboration Planetarium is a complex compilation of baroque rock songs and retro 8-bit sounds that manages to tap into the soul of the cosmos, giving each planet, black hole and comet its own unique feel and presence in the galaxy.

The opening track ‘Neptune’ is unassuming – gentle piano keys offer a sense of floating in the vast expanse of space. There’s nothing hurried about it and it’s a fantastic opener for the galactic journey. ‘Jupiter’, named after the grittier and sassier sister planet, is anything but, with its percussive beats and 8-bit sound samples reminiscent of arcade favorites like Space Invaders. The track’s distorted vocals and repetition of the words “Jupiter is the loneliest planet” does well in reinforcing the isolation of space. ‘Mars’ taps into more of a scifi X-Files narrative with talk of prophesies and so much vocal distortion that it’s hard not to imagine the dialogue coming from aliens seeking to reassure Earth of a non-violent future. ‘Saturn’ contradicts this with

“A complex compilation of baroque rock songs and retro 8-bit sounds that manages to tap into the soul of the cosmos.” its grating Auto-Tune talk of “invisible people” and “vampire creatures’’, moving away from the gentle opener to a cacophony of evil thoughts. Planetarium is a rich journey into space that’s perfect for late-night drives and staring out into the evening sky. Nena Serafi m

INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK KILTER Through The Distortion Etcetc Sydney producer Kilter has been a staple of the Aussie live music scene for some time now. His background as a drummer has helped propel him to become one of the forerunners of producers performing in a very live sense, and he remains one of a small minority of local producers who has – and likely always will – perform without the aid of a laptop. To be sure, having nailed down captivating live performances is no mean feat, but putting together a full-length album is a different beast entirely. Kilter has released a steady stream of fun and poppy remixes and originals over the years, but, as he showed with his 2014 EP Shades, there was always a sense that he wanted to put together a more diverse project encompassing all his stylistic influences.

Through The Distortion delivers on what Kilter has hinted at for years: a desire to show off the many sides of his creative identity. Bringing together an enviable list of collaborators including Lanks, Woodes, Yates, Gill Bates and Yaw Faso, Through The Distortion boasts plenty of radio-friendly material across a massive 13 tracks.

“Through The Distortion delivers on what Kilter has hinted at for years.”

There is undoubtedly plenty to sink your teeth into on this record, if you’ll simply look through the distortion. Zanda Wilson

FIRST DRAFTS Unearthed demos and unfinished hits, as heard by Nathan Jolly The Smiths – ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’

he Smiths enjoyed such a tight, short, successful career that basically every song they committed to tape was released on an album, a single, or on one of the many compilations that were released: “Double-pack with a photograph, extra track and a tacky badge”, as Morrissey dismissed such releases in ‘Paint A Vulgar Picture’.

recorded demos, too, which is why these early takes of the band’s most-loved songs provide the best insight we are able to glean outside of interviews about the band’s writing process; which aren’t really plentiful, given Morissey’s reluctance to discuss the past and Marr’s anecdotes often resembling someone scrabbling to place the face of a girl he went to high school with.

While the scraps from each album’s recording period provide clues into the famously insular band’s creative process, there aren’t the reams of outtakes to pore over that most bands allow to pile up. The Smiths rarely

Which is all to say: The Smiths released four albums within three-and-a-half years, the last one came out 30 years ago, and sometimes it’s hard to remember which cabinet head or effects pedal you were using when inspiration struck. Or which James Dean fi lm you may have been referencing, as is the case with this song, which takes more than a few story cues from Rebel Without A Cause.

Take one of what would become the band’s most well-known songs: ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’ contains all the gravity of the fi nished version, balanced by a more deft vocal touch by Morrissey. His delivery is marvellous, and it’s hard to understand why they felt the need to record further takes – it’s a little less dramatic than the fi nished version, and a lot less theatrical. The mix is a lot more pleasant, too, with the sweeping synth violins – which Morrissey originally hated before being talked around by Marr – lower in the mix, allowing Morrissey’s voice to take centre stage where it belongs. With gladiola in back pocket, no doubt.

But we do have the early takes, which have leaked out through various Smiths and Morrissey bootleg trading sites over the

The real reason to listen to this version (and perhaps for the vocal re-take) is at the apex, when Morrissey sings “There

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is a light in your eyes and it never goes out ” – a small lyrical change which shifts the meaning of the song to something less ambiguous, more traditionally romantic, and ultimately less satisfying. Nobody wants Morrissey to be smitten without

the anguish – all the other bands were doing that. The Smiths ran their own weird race, and the pleasure, the privilege, was ours. Listen to the fi rst take of ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’ at thebrag.com. xxx

“Nobody wants Morrissey to be smitten without the anguish – all the other bands were doing that.”

years, with unofficial vinyl releases and forums dedicated to collecting and dissecting these alternative versions.

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out & about Queer(ish) matters with Arca Bayburt

Does Google Have Your Back?

’ve always been wary of large companies’ hollow support for queer issues. There’s no shortage of corporate campaigns that are merely acts of tokenism performed so the company is perceived as aligned with the social and cultural climate of progressivism; but that’s where the problem lies. How can we tell, through many layers of opaque bilge, that a corporate body or large business has any vested interest in the queer community that is purely philanthropic in its intention or execution? Many companies like to position themselves as benevolent forces for good whilst exploiting the everliving shit out of the people they appear to support and protect. This isn’t new. The argument that even the most basic representation of queer rights as championed by one of these companies is a win is one that I think has validity. I’m aware that there is an exploitative undercurrent that is quite substantial in the practices of these businesses, especially ones that have little to show for their humanitarian efforts.

There are murmurs of “get over it” that are at risk of becoming louder if we become complacent in addressing the many real and painful issues that are ice-picked into the poor skulls of queer folk across the country. We’re still bashed and discriminated against, and stared at, and treated as second class citizens. Homosexual Australian citizens are still not allowed to marry each other.

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One of the restricted videos was of a lesbian wedding.

YouTube recognised that its system needed work and issued an apology. It’s nice to see that the pressure from the media did some good. It remains to be seen how YouTube will tweak its content filtering systems; Google likes to think of itself as the proto-transparent tech company that cares about humanity. While it’s great that it’s addressed the queer community directly after being embarrassingly called out for their YouTube-censors-the-gays debacle, it’s also important not to allow these seemingly heartfelt addresses to make us lazy.

If a company tries to slip itself into the Mardi Gras parade without providing adequate care to its queer employees – I’m not naming any names – then something is acutely fucked. However, in my view, it remains true that any positive visibility, regardless of substance, is better than being crushed into nothingness beneath the heel of an uncaring public that has moved on.

On Thursday June 8, head over to The Shift Club on Oxford Street for Bingay – Tribute to Boy George. With dancers and DJs and games all night, The Shift salutes the one and only Boy George for his long and illustrious career. Tickets are on sale now and tend to go fast, so grab them while you can.

YouTube got into a bit of trouble recently when it was discovered that its filtering system automatically labelled any LGBTQ material as restricted content. We’re not talking about lesbians 69ing on a coffee table here – we’re talking about vloggers who are discussing things like mental health for queer kids, music videos about as risqué as Play School and general queer-themed content that would not offend sensibilities if it were heterosexual.

“ANY POSITIVE VISIBILITY, REGARDLESS OF SUBSTANCE, IS BETTER THAN BEING CRUSHED INTO NOTHINGNESS BENEATH THE HEEL OF AN UNCARING PUBLIC THAT HAS MOVED ON.”

YouTuber Hannah Hart

this week…

Things like marriage are not cute decorative bows on our lives that we can live without; these are psychological cudgels we get smacked with everywhere we go, all the time, in perpetuity. Until something gives.

In what appears to be a step in the right direction, YouTube is announcing a new campaign called #sharesomegood, which aims to drown out hate speech online “by developing and sharing content that promotes respect, tolerance, diversity and inclusion”. While the addition of the word ‘tolerance’ makes me roll my eyes, it’s an ambitious and necessary initiative for the online world. I’m interested to see how it plays out; there is a creator’s guide available for download on the site and it’s a nice push for activism that requires one to genuinely act. It’s unclear whether these companies are using the LGBTQ rights issues as a means to an end, disrespecting our humanity while profiteering from our frustratingly slow rights processes – all while appearing to be the good guy, thereby immunising themselves against any critique that perhaps they might not be doing what they say they’re doing. What’s clear is that the zeitgeist is tipped in our favour right now and our social power is increasing, so let’s keep it going and let’s keep companies accountable for their skulduggery.

On Friday June 9, it’s a Queen’s Birthday weekend miracle; Priscilla returns to the Imperial Hotel in Erskineville for one night only with Felicity Frockaccino, Farren Heit, April John Fools and Kalin Eade, plus DJ JD on the decks afterwards. You can’t miss this show, and entry is free. On Saturday June 10, get on down to The Bunk3r on Oxford

Street for Something Gay with Seymour Butz (Kooky), a musical gathering where folks from all walks of life are welcome to party with the best Queer DJ talent Sydney has to offer in the world of House and techno music. Alongside Seymour Butz will be Luke O’Connor, Wonky Disko Orchestra and Eliot Mireylees. Tickets are available now.

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Off The Record Dance and Electronica with Alex Chetverikov

It’s Time To Rethink How We Listen To Music The manner in which we experience music has fundamentally changed. Don’t let that sink in; it’s likely so bleedingly obvious that it’s already left your brain by this point. What I’m getting at here – and this applies as much to nightclubs, urban spaces, homes, festivals and any other space within which we experience electronic music – is that a sense of nuance has been lost somewhere along the way, in hearing the music. Of course, feeling the music and dancing remains – it’s one of life’s most wonderful pleasures, as a sort of listening actively. Silent discos, to their credit, have gone some small way in restoring the experience of actively listening, but to the detriment of the lovely visceral noise that fills the space between us. Besides their obvious and very positive benefits, silent discos place us as an individual amongst individuals. Take the headphones off and you’re left with

dull and goofy sounds of shuffling, and an altogether sense of it being a bit pointless. An alternative exists in vinyl listening sessions, these in some stark contrast to the advent of silent disco. The music is presented in glorious hi-fi, a deliberate return to the experience of listening without distraction or interruption. Some might well snigger at the thought of such an event “for purists”. And yet ultimately this is an environment without expectation. The great beauty of the vinyl listening session is in its restorative nature, its attention to nuance and artist detail. While I find the tagline “presented how the artist intended it to be” a little problematic (different albums and formats will necessarily denote totally different contexts), it goes a long way to refreshing our faith in the album format, and the idiosyncratic details present within.

“BESIDES THEIR OBVIOUS AND VERY POSITIVE BENEFITS, SILENT DISCOS PLACE US AS AN INDIVIDUAL AMONGST INDIVIDUALS.” Sydney’s Classic Album Sundays, hosted by the very lovely and wellseasoned DJs/travellers Jean-Philippe Ducharne and Jim Poe, is one such example. A recent write-up in The Guardian has given them some welcome exposure and promotion, and for good reason; their passion extends beyond simply sharing some of their favourite (and canonical) albums, and further into a personal reflection and history of the album of choice. Find out more at theworldbar.com.

THIS WEEK’S PLAYLIST Pete La Roca

We’re talkin’ all that jazz this week: Pete La Roca’s Basra is one of the great lesser-knowns of the Blue Note and jazz worlds; every member of this ensemble is absolutely on point – Joe Henderson shines alongside drummer La Roca (whose candle burnt very short but very bright), displaying an incredible range of Eastern and Latin style.

Also, check out Ahmad Jamal’s But Not For Me: Ahmad Jamal Trio At The Pershing, a 30-minute burst of melodic, playful piano from Jamal. Plus Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers’ Ugetsu; one of the Messengers’ most stunning live outings, with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard (whose title track solo is one of his finest moments) and tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter (soon to be snapped up by Miles Davis) in blistering form. Cedar Walton and Curtis Fuller provide outstanding backing.

RECOMMENDED SATURDAY JUNE 10 Native Takeover Club 77

SUNDAY JUNE 11

Berlin Underground – Long Weekend Special Civic Underground

FRIDAY JUNE 16

SUNDAY JUNE 18

Djebali + Lamache Burdekin Hotel

SATURDAY JULY 22

Vakula Goodbar

Maurice Fulton Club 77

Bonobo Hordern Pavilion

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live reviews & snaps What we’ve been out to see...

Dappled Cities Performed A CareerDefining Set At Vivid Sydney By Sam Caldwell On a cold night in 2007, a bunch of hip Sydney music fans lined up outside the Metro Theatre to see a double headline show by local indie royalty – the Ivy League-signed Dappled Cities and Red Riders. Ten years on and that same crowd was back, only this time the sticky floors of the Metro had been traded in for the wide seats of Angel Place, the leather jackets for shirts and sweaters, and the cigarettes for cute but restless children. “This is fucking weird for us,” remarked Red Riders frontman Alex Grigg. And for a bunch of old rockers playing to a seated audience, it was. Despite the fact they’d been inactive for more than five years – and allegedly hadn’t even rehearsed before this show – Red Riders were exceptionally tight. In a hark back to the glory days of the mid-noughties, they were joined for several songs by Brad Heald of The Vines on guitar. The set finished up with a trio of oldies – ‘Slide In Next To Me’, ‘My Love Is Stronger Than Your Love’ and ‘Ordinary’ – but it was a shame to hear that Red Riders won’t be returning to the live arena again. Dappled Cities took the stage in front of a silent but buzzing audience in the darkened room. While apparently the all-seated venue was an accident (Tim Derricourt explained

they didn’t realise when they booked it), City Recital Hall was the perfect place for this visually appealing Vivid show. The lighting, in particular, was amazing, with five floor-to-ceiling light panels set up to match the five white stripes of the album artwork for ||||| (Five). There were also projections of old band footage, as well as art from underground Californian artist Paul Juno. The visuals complemented Dave Rennick’s powerful falsetto and the band’s dreamy sound wonderfully. Little May’s Mark Harding (also a very talented solo artist) joined on keys for the whole set, with Collarbones’ Marcus Whale (sax) and Belles Will Ring’s Lauren Crew (vox) sitting in for parts too. Dappled Cities have always attracted a highly dedicated audience, and this occasion was no different. Cries of “we love you!” echoed through the room at several points between songs, and the announcement of Alex Moore’s departure from the band just before the encore was enough to bring chunks of the audience to its feet for the first time. This was the first real taste of Dappled Cities’ groovy, late-’70s-vibing new album, and the material matched well with the band’s older tunes, particularly those from the classic Granddance. It’s been 20 years since Dappled Cities Fly formed in Sydney’s Northern Suburbs, and the best part of a decade since the glory days of Sydney’s indie rock scene. But this enduring band and its enthusiastic audience – complete with full-time jobs, kids and concerts that end at 10pm – is far from dead. It’s just middle-aged. Dappled Cities played City Recital Hall on Sunday June 4.

“The lighting, in particular, was amazing, with five floor-to-ceiling light panels set up to match the five white stripes of the album artwork for IIIII.”

PHOTOGRAPHER :: ASHLEY MAR

Nick Murphy Isn’t Quite Ready To Leave Chet Faker Behind, If His Vivid Performances Are Anything To Go By By Tanja Brinks Toubro Nicholas James Murphy has never been toothless; even the sensual, soul-soaked universe of Chet Faker’s debut album from 2014 has an adventurous edge to it. But it’s safe to say that the release of ‘Fear Less’ in September last year, with which Murphy announced he would rid himself of the Faker alias, headed in a completely different, more heavily produced and electropoppy direction. But many of his fans aren’t yet ready to let go completely of Chet Faker, and Nick

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Murphy’s show at the Sydney Opera House for Vivid LIVE suggested there might be room for both identities in this new form.

that we would see return several times during the evening. Mostly it worked very well, but there were also times where the sentiment became a bit repetitive.

Murphy got off to a strong start with oldies ‘Gold’ and ‘1998’ making it hard to sit still in the soft Concert Hall seats. To everyone’s enjoyment, Murphy revisited the Chet Faker catalogue again with ‘Cigarettes & Loneliness’ and his massive hit ‘Talk Is Cheap’. He was joined onstage by British producer Marcus Marr for the incredibly funky ‘The Trouble With Us’, the groovy but more clubby ‘Birthday Card’, and the downtempo and jazzy ‘Killing Jar’ – all from their 2015 EP Work.

But just when you thought you knew where the night was going, Murphy dropped ‘Driving Too Fast’ – a new, unreleased tune that saw him at the piano, emphasising his vocals, and mostly just backed by an acoustic guitar. These were the moments that truly stood out – when Murphy took sharp left turns, and made sure that no one settled too well in the audience.

The first Nick Murphy track to be unleashed on the Concert Hall was the eclectic ‘Weak Education’, exploding in wailing keys, groovy bass and percussion at the end – a harmonious cacophony

The Kaytranada-produced ‘Your Time’ had the Concert Hall vibrating, but still left room for the vocals to shine, while for the impeccable closer ‘Stop Me (Stop You)’, Murphy demanded everyone stand up and dance before he left us in awe at the stripped-back, soul-exposing ending.

“These were the moments that truly stood out – when Murphy took sharp left turns, and made sure that no one settled too well in the audience.” Whether he was pounding manically on the keyboard, rocking the electric guitar, grooving to the bass or pouring his heart out at the piano, Murphy was comfortable in every context. And while he’s a new artist by name, welcoming Murphy doesn’t mean a definitive goodbye to Chet Faker. Nick Murphy was reviewed at the Sydney Opera House on Thursday June 1.

PHOTOGRAPHER :: ASHLEY MAR

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The Necks’ Hypnotic Music Was A Real Treat For Vivid LIVE By David James Young 2017 marks 30 years of Chris Abrahams, Tony Buck and Lloyd Swanton – known collectively as The Necks – pushing the greater boundaries of their instruments and forming a fascinating hive mind that is able to build up empirical soundscapes from scratch. Anyone who has had the pleasure of watching the trio in the live environment – from the corners of smoky jazz cafes right up to the illustrious theatres such as the one they inhabit this very afternoon – knows that no two Necks performances are ever even nearly the same. Coincidentally, it’s today when that is more pertinent a point than ever – the Drama Theatre is hosting the band for two back-to-back sets, with a further two scheduled for later in the evening.

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As the lights dim and lead The Necks to their respective stations across the stage, one feels as though they’re getting in on the ground floor by attending the early performance – everything is fresh, in the moment and new, and it’s difficult not to see that as an exciting prospect considering the calibre of company this audience has found itself in. The first set begins with Abrahams gently picking out piano notes, leading Buck to tend to a unique backdrop – not the drum kit, but a series of bells and chimes at his feet. Once Swanton creaks in with scarce, picked-out bass notes, the voyage is well and truly under way. Buck’s percussive drive adds a shimmering, shaky freeness to the performance’s exterior, while Abrahams slowly but surely builds up his playing to a grander and more intense scale. Their collective honing in on a single key is hypnotic – at times, it genuinely gets to the point of fading in and out of consciousness as the drone of the instrumentation flutters and groans.

02:06:17 :: Enmore Theatre :: 118-132 Enmore Rd Newtown 9550 3666

After a brief intermission, it’s Swanton who begins set number two. This one appears to rely slightly more on jazz in a less avant-garde medium, but that in no way makes it any lesser to its predecessor. The scratch of Buck’s brushes against the snare adds a flutter to Swanton’s down-tuned double bass playing, which ranges from bellowing low notes to pitched harmonics chirping from the top end.

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With a floor tom roll and a piano descent into burbling cacophony from Abrahams, the afternoon draws to a close. Ever humble, Swanton says only one thing: “Thank you very much.” The Necks played the Sydney Opera House on Sunday June 4.

01:06:17 :: Sydney Opera House :: Bennelong Point Sydney 9250 7111

five things WITH

SEAN MILJOEN FROM SHE’S THE DRIVER Symphony Orchestra. All could have been lost until I found a Rolling Stones single at a fete and then discovered the Sex Pistols.

Inspirations My early favourite musicians were John Lydon and Suzi Quatro, for their attitude and the rawness of their music, and later on it was acts like Swervedriver and Sonic Youth that inspired me to explore more with songwriting.

3. 1.

Growing Up My grandfather was a guitar player/bandleader and my aunty was a guitar

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teacher who gave me my first guitar at age five. This was a juxtaposition to home life, where my mother

played Nana Mouskouri albums and brief visits from my father yielded gifts like albums from the Melbourne

Your Band She’s The Driver were originally a fuzz rock twopiece, with myself and Steve (drums) having previously played in Melbourne band Violetine. We released three albums as a two-piece, until friend and bassist Joe Golotta thought we needed

to expand the sound and joined us in 2015 to record our last two albums with us. We’ve worked with some great producers along the way like Greg Wales, Paul McKercher, Wayne Connolly and Woody Annison.

The Music You Make We recorded our debut album on the Hawkesbury River with good friends Cal Orr and Wayne Connolly and mixed in Melbourne with Greg Wales. Following this, we’ve completed four albums at our studio in South Melbourne, Black Garage Records, and have enlisted various producers to mix. As a live act, we’re a bit rougher round the edges than our recordings; sometimes you have to compensate polish for energy!

Music, Right Here, Right Now I’m not too sure of how the music scene is anywhere at the moment, as we seem to operate outside of it, just getting gigs with friends and through our label Laneway Music. Any spare time is spent selfishly in our own little bubble writing music and working with young bands. The best bands I’ve seen lately are ones that I’ve worked with like Mallards or Buzz and The Pickups, but like a lot of good music, maybe no one will ever hear of them! What: The Gone Club out now through Laneway With: Anatomy Class Where: Waywards When: Friday June 9

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live reviews & snaps What we’ve been out to see...

“The addition of a drummer who looked (and acted) like he was more used to playing in punk bands was genius.”

Air Brought Their Nonchalant Genius To The Sydney Opera House By Julian Ramundi Air fill a weird gap in music. Not entirely owning the downbeat genre they were purported to help shape in the ’90s, they’ve miraculously managed to take French ’60s pop and reference muzak and somehow elevate it into futuristic psychedelia. Touring as one of the main attractions for this year’s Vivid LIVE festival, Air are also circling the globe as part of their 20th anniversary tour. The Sydney set covered a broad scope of their two-decade career, opening with Talkie Walkie’s ‘Venus’ and ‘Cherry Blossom Girl’, and squeezing 10 000 Hz Legend’s ‘Don’t Be Light’ in between. The band of four musicians were all dressed in white (who does laundry while on tour? Do they travel with 30 pairs of white pants?), with a simple but effective light show draping them in either darkness or light throughout. The addition of video was welcome, but the graphics left a little to be desired; with such rich and sophisticated sounds, you’d hope for visuals to match, but this looked more like looped graphics bought from iStock mixed in with the Air band logo at various intervals. All in all, the Frenchmen proved their world-class ability to use minimalism to create a grand soundscape, with the four performers recreating everything live. The addition of a drummer who looked (and acted) like he was more used to playing in punk bands was genius, giving the whole set a huge boost and taking the sound up a few notches for the live arena.

PHOTOGRAPHER :: ASHLEY MAR

By David James Young Eveleigh’s Carriageworks is a fascinating and underutilised arts hub. With several outer rooms and vast areas, it’s puzzling as to why it’s not put to use more often. Seeing one of its main halls converted into the atmosphere of a warehouse rave for a special performance from English electro veterans Goldfrapp, one quickly takes note of both its strengths and weaknesses as a live music venue. This also plays into the dynamics of Goldfrapp as a live entity; impacting on what works and what doesn’t.

Air might inhabit an odd space culturally (is it nostalgic or just meant to be inoffensive, or is it high art?), but they do it with a nonchalance only the French can pull off. Air don’t care if you think they’re boring, and if you engage with it, you’ll find they’re anything but.

By Joseph Earp Here’s the thing: whenever you set out to talk about Bill Callahan, you only ever really end up talking about yourself. Sure, that might sound a little bit academic, particularly given this is a man whose artistic highs are textural, encapsulated in lines about strung-out men doing push-ups while blasting a bootleg copy of Highway To Hell. But it’s hard to otherwise explain what a dud exercise it is writing about this artist.

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Again, the venue choice factors in here, as the expanses of such a big hall means the subtleties of such songs are all but wisps in the wind to inane chatter from the back. That all changes, however, when the churn of the bass-synth signals the arrival of one of the band’s most infectious singles, ‘Anymore’. The vibe immediately shifts: bodies in motion, sound system booming and the energy onstage stepping up to another level. It’s in this context that Goldfrapp thrive – ‘Train’ keeps the momentum up, as does the spaced-out twist of ‘Everything Is Never Enough’. Alison is every bit the theatrical frontwoman, throwing herself into every lyric and enforcing the overarching themes of passion and desire. Being that it’s a performance for Vivid, it’s also

worth noting that the light show really enhances the mood of each song, turning the musicians into shadowy figures during the darker moments and bathing them in strobe when the time arrives to rave unto the joy fantastic. By the time the encore rolls around, we’re down to business with some of the band’s signature songs – ‘Black Cherry’, ‘Lock And Load’, ‘Ooh La La’ and, of course, ‘Strict Machine’. At this stage, any and all shortcomings – either from the curation of the setlist or from the venue itself – are flung out the window as the party rolls on. It’s easy to love a Goldfrapp show, really – all you have to do is dance. Goldfrapp played Carriageworks on Friday June 2.

“It’s easy to love a Goldfrapp show, really – all you have to do is dance.”

Air played the Sydney Opera House on Tuesday May 30.

Bill Callahan’s Sydney Opera House Show Didn’t Make Much Sense, But That Wasn’t The Point

Admittedly, opening with two slower, quieter numbers doesn’t instil a great deal of hope for how the rest of the show will unfurl. Not because either song – ‘Utopia’ and ‘Lovely Head’ – is inherently bad. But in the context of what is, for all intents and purposes, a dance show, they bring down the excitable vibe that only just hit when Alison Goldfrapp entered from stage left.

Goldfrapp Had A Slow Start To Their Sydney Show, But Made Up For It With The Democracy Of Dance

Take, for example, his get-up at his Sydney Opera House show. Rather than the white suit he donned last time he took to the famous venue’s boards back in 2015, Callahan was dressed down, giving the whole night an intimate vibe only strengthened by his uncharacteristic onstage banter. “I don’t eat sugar,” he said after a punter offered to bring him a cake to celebrate his birthday the following day, breaking a perfectly timed comedic straight face with a slow smile.

and B) it would be a stretch to describe his songs as confessional. The setting might have been low-key, but Callahan was still in mythic storyteller mode, cycling through maximal tales like ‘Drover’ and ‘Too Many Birds’.

“Whenever you set out to talk about Bill Callahan, you only ever really end up talking about yourself.”

But the show wasn’t some warts-and-all, searingly honest look at the man behind the music. Mostly because, A) he was lying about that sugar thing (“I do eat it,” he said after finishing the next song, eyes twinkling);

The show didn’t even happen as advertised. Despite press in the leadup to the gig describing it as a chance to hear songs “from Smog to Bill Callahan”, only two tunes released under Callahan’s old moniker made an appearance – the powerful ‘Rock Bottom Riser’ and the semi-spoken word stinger ‘I’m New Here’. And nothing made more sense towards the set’s tail end either. Nothing suddenly

slipped into focus – it was just as impossible to say what kind of show was unfolding, or to explain why none of the punters could look away, not even for a second. Was the beautiful strangeness of the songs to blame; the magic of those tunes that hold the audience to a feeling and then nail them there? Or was it just the slow-motion spectacle of it all; the weird dance of a performer flirting with an audience he never once revealed himself to? Who knows. Certainly not Bill Callahan, the stranger at the centre of it all, who ended the night with a song, a nod, a vote of thanks, and then went to go, the premature house lights groggily flicking on and throwing his long shadow across the audience like a tossed bouquet. Bill Callahan played the Sydney Opera House on Friday June 2.

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COLUMN

Christian Mulls… The Sydney 2000 Olympics Opening Ceremony With Christian Hull

’ve got a confession to make.

I know every single word to ‘Under The Southern Skies’ by Nikki Webster from the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. I could write them out right now, and nail every line. The question worth asking is, why? Why and how do I know every word to that song? Well, it happens to be a song I think should be our new national anthem. If you are unfamiliar with it, that’s OK, you can fi nd it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rYxilXaMrk

The highlights of the ceremony included:

(Side note: I know all the dance moves too.) A girl I work with let it slip the other day that she was in the opening ceremony, performing alongside Nikki Webster. When I found this out, I demanded we sit down for an extensive chat about her experience. Don’t forget, this was 17 years ago – she was nowhere near as thrilled about this as I was. I needed to know every little detail about it. I was so let down by her account – it was brief, and she only knew part of the song. How was it that I knew more about ‘Under The Southern Skies’ than one of the performers who was in the opening ceremony? She went to countless rehearsals and performed the song over and over, and here she was just casually fobbing it off! I was 11 when the Olympics were on, and remember the opening ceremony going for about seven days. It was so long, and most of it was boring. Five hours dedicated to all those stupid Olympians walking out. No! I wanted to see more singing and dancing – you guys had two full weeks of being on TV; this ceremony was not about you, it was about my enjoyment.

“I was 11 when the Olympics were on, and remember the opening ceremony going for about seven days.”

• Nikki Webster being hoisted into the air via cables • The giant tin structure with all the people tapping and using angle grinders • John from Play School being the big booming voice introducing everything • The indigenous performances/music • James Morrison on the trumpet • TINA FUCKING ARENA Once the ceremony was done, the official album was released to the public and Mum bought it. We literally played it on repeat for the next three years. Dad wasn’t so thrilled, but I was in heaven. Listening back to ‘Under The Southern Skies’ now, I still bloody love it. I froth on it. It is just so goddamn catchy and emotional and meaningful. I really believe that it should be our national anthem. For me, that entire album is just amazing. I nerded out over it so much I wrote to one of the composers, Elena Kats-Chernin, and we had a talk about how she composed the music. I actually did that! That’s how much of a fan of this album I was, and still am. My only regret in life is not being Nikki Webster. ■

Christian Hull is a YouTuber who spends most of his time on Grindr and hates human interaction. Find him at youtube.com/artsider.

five things WITH

CHRIS VERNON FROM BELLE HAVEN melancholic and I loved that vibe. I started listening to most of these bands around 2006-2008, and before that I think I was mostly listening to radio stuff like Rihanna and Coldplay.

Your Band My band Belle Haven consists of my brother David, longtime friends Thomas Mitchell and Daniel ‘Mara’ Marinakis and somewhat newer friend Jake Zammit. Tom was a mutual friend of our old guitarist Mitchell; Mara was one of Belle Haven’s original hardcore fans that became one of my best friends because of that. Jake is also a long-time fan that backed us passionately. Right now, there is this big difference in taste regarding Paramore’s new record After Laughter. Jake and I are #TeamHardPass and the rest are #TeamHardTimes.

Growing Up I have this horrid memory of when I was about 11. I had written a song about a girl and she was invited to my party. I

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tried to play this song in front of this girl as well as my friends and they all left within the first 30 seconds. My parents were both very musical and I’m honestly

not sure if I would be doing music if it wasn’t for them.

Inspirations I loved Fall Out Boy, Senses Fail and Darkest

Hour growing up. They always made me feel things compared to most other music. Senses Fail, especially, as their Still Searching record was very

The Music You Make The style of Belle Haven’s sophomore record You, Me And Everything In Between is basically just 2000s post-hardcore with modern production. Our

last record was a bit more chaotic and experimental as there was this weird divide about what sound direction we wanted to go in, so we just did a bit of everything. I much prefer our new release, which we recorded with our dear friend Matthew Goldman in Atlanta, GA.

Music, Right Here, Right Now I’m kind of weird on the concept of ‘music scene’. While there is obviously a local music scene, I prefer to just like artists because I like them and go to their shows because I want to go. I would hope people don’t come to Belle Haven shows if they don’t like us just because they think they owe it to us because of the ‘scene’ or something weird. My favourite Melbourne bands right now are Stuck Out, Set The Score and Aburden. What: You, Me And Everything In Between out Friday June 16 through Greyscale With: Ambleside, Deadlights Where: Factory Floor When: Saturday June 10

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live reviews & snaps What we’ve been out to see...

Ice-T’s Body Count Went Out All Guns Blazing On Their Long-Awaited Return To Sydney By David James Young

The Preatures Previewed Their New Album In Full At The Sydney Opera House By David Wild A first listen to The Preatures’ new album in the intimate setting of the Opera House’s Drama Theatre felt like an old fashioned rock’n’roll treat, but, with the exception of an exploding monitor speaker, it featured few sonic surprises. An attractive addition to the already outstanding Vivid LIVE music program, the Sydney rockers debuted music from their follow-up to 2014’s Blue Planet Eyes, Girlhood, to a room of music execs and paying punters. Singer Izzi Manfredi strutted in black PVC flares, her stunning features framed by a mane of jet black hair. She was the striking embodiment of the late-’70s mid-tempo rock and guitar-and-organ ballads that

her band’s new sound owes a lot to. Comparisons to Divinyls, The Pretenders and Fleetwood Mac are obvious, and not just for the musical similarities; Manfredi is a confident female owning her shit and relegating her male colleagues to supporting roles. After indigenous actor/writer/musician Richard Green opened the show in poetic, humorous and mildly political fashion (“I don’t need your treaty and I don’t need your permission, but I thank you for what you’ve done for our mob”), The Preatures opened with their album title track and current single ‘Girlhood’. Of the new songs, that’s probably as fast and energetic as it got. If their sound has deviated from the new wave of the first album at all, it’s either a step towards the slightly older wave or half a stride to the tad more modern. ‘Yanada’ featured the Alexandria Park School Girls’ Choir and brought to mind the overblown, polished songs of Mutt Lange – and not in a bad way. That

familiar double-time strum underpinned ‘Cherry Ripe’, and you wouldn’t have been surprised had Goose and Maverick shown up to play volleyball to accompany the disco rock and hackneyed sentiment of ‘I Like You’. The highlight was ‘Mess It Up’, a meaty, retro, down-tempo song built on Tom Champion’s slick R&B bassline and an alternating refrain of “I don’t know what to do with you … I’ve been stuck with you on my mind”. It was a blessing and a curse to close with ‘Is This How You Feel?’, dedicated to former bandmate Gideon Bensen in the audience. It was a reminder that The Preatures are capable of writing a belting indie rock anthem, but that there probably isn’t a comparable tune on LP two. Nevertheless, it was a solid live preview of an album that is sure to please fans. The Preatures played the Sydney Opera House on Thursday June 1.

“The highlight was ‘Mess It Up’, a meaty, retro, down-tempo song built on Tom Champion’s slick R&B bassline.”

D PHOTOGRAPHER :: DANIEL BOU

Nai Palm’s Solo Vivid LIVE Set Was A Gutsy Statement In Songwriting By Kiera Thanos Hiatus or otherwise, the performer known as Nai Palm – real name Naomi Saalfield – isn’t one for convention. The Hiatus Kaiyote frontwoman is an enigma of sorts; a nomad with an attitude and an eternal embodiment all of her own making. Straddling the border of neo-soul, R&B and ’70s funk, Palm’s vocals are bold and guttural, hesitant when they need to be. She flits between raspy croons and operatic trills, possessing assured control and awareness of her own limitations. Enunciating every syllable as she stretches each note, she has no need whatsoever to hide behind heavy production. Her voice is an instrument enough.

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Palm walked onstage unfazed by the sold-out crowd. The performance, which took place within the cosy confines of the Sydney Opera House’s Drama Theatre, was the artist’s solo debut here as curated by this year’s Vivid LIVE. Adorned in a silver crop wig and metallic platforms channelling David Bowie, visually, Palm made a ballsy statement with her entrance alone. The two-hour stint saw Palm navigate between a healthy dose of her latest offerings and covers, right through to Haitus Kaiyote’s more familiar catalogue. The first taste of external material arrived in the form of Portishead’s ‘Strangers’, in which Palm’s falsetto, soft and throaty, intersected the supple melodies of her three backing vocalists. Stripped-back versions of ‘Breathing Underwater’ and Chaka Khan’s ‘I Know You, I Live You’ carried a surprising emotional punch in her vocal runs, all the more effective against a backdrop of balanced harmonies. A Jimi Hendrix cover was met with generous applause,

“Straddling the border of neo-soul, R&B and ’70s funk, Palm’s vocals are bold and guttural, hesitant when they need to be.” followed by a self-penned haiku that sounded like it was smeared with Palm’s own tears. Closing with ‘Nakamarra’, the set’s arrangements were methodical and winsome, though at times lacking a little more. And though Palm’s solo setup made a conscious decision to go without percussion, the audience would have enjoyed the additional complexity. Still, what a talent we have on our hands. Nai Palm played the Sydney Opera House on Monday May 29.

Thank God for the internet. Twitter may be a garbage fire of MAGA trolls and One Nation voters from time to time, but it brought together Ice-T and Briggs – and that makes up for all the other bullshit, doesn’t it? Having the righteous fury of A.B. Original leading into tonight’s headliner is a no-brainer on paper, but in the flesh it works even better. Although a lot of the cross-armed metalheads keeping watch toward the back are wary of a straight hip hop duo taking to the stage, it’s not long before they’ve found the connection and are getting their hands up with the rest of us. ‘2 Black 2 Strong’ and ‘Report To The Mist’ are both powerful and biting in their delivery – especially from MC Trials – while a surprise run-through of Briggs’ solo cut ‘Bad Apples’ drives home the fact that we’re dealing with some of the most vital hip hop to emerge from this country in years. Finale ‘January 26’, which features the sadly absent Dan Sultan on the hook, sees two flags go waving up in the air – an Aboriginal one, and an A.B. Original one. Both are entirely worthy of a full salute. 22 years. That’s how long it’s been since Body Count were last in Australia, performing as part of the now-legendary Alternative Nation festival. As police sirens wail and the band emerges to the familiar strains of Slayer’s ‘Raining Blood’, those years go by in a flash. “Show me some fucking action!” barks Ice-T at a crowd that doesn’t need a second invitation. At a time when Sydney is aglow with the lights of Vivid festivities, it’s a stark contrast to be in a dark room of black-clad punters screaming along to songs like ‘No Lives Matter’ and ‘KKK Bitch’. This is art by means of catharsis – a cacophony of ramming guitars and punishing drums with manifestos on institutionalised racism and corporate greed riding atop. Classics from Body Count’s arsenal, such as their title track and ‘Cop Killer’, go well alongside Bloodlust cuts ‘The Ski Mask Way’ and ‘Black Hoodie’, emphasising that while some things change, some shit never does. Ice admits towards the end we may never see Body Count again – “I’m an old motherfucker,” he deadpans. If this is it, let the record show they went out the exact same way they came in: all guns blazing. Body Count played the Big Top Sydney, Luna Park on Saturday June 3.

“This is art by means of catharsis – a cacophony of ramming guitars and punishing drums.” thebrag.com

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Goodgod Super Club’s DJ Harvey Marathon Proved There’s Still Fun To Be Had On A Night Out In Sydney

the parts themselves; in the effortless way they fitted together to form an all-encompassing whole regardless of their genre. Seamless transitions from Danish chill-out house through Italo- and diva-disco had energy levels at constant peak. This was a trancelike course for mind, body and soul refreshment.

By Alex Chetverikov

Harvey’s performance was effortless in outcome and experience, to be sure, but hardly effortless in selection and delivery; this a mortal man who’s entirely free to exercise his own character, the decades of graft underlined by happily hedonistic practice, and that broad, infectious grin was in full effect all night long.

Harvey is famous for his hallowed residencies at Ministry of Sound and his idiosyncratic Sarcastic Disco parties as much his brilliant touch for the remix and edit, but I hesitate to characterise him in any particular light. He’s so slippery in his character and expression, such that painting him in any specific colour never quite captures the magic of the man. Harvey’s greatest appeal is in his unknown quantity: in other words, expect the unexpected, but come prepared for an experience. Where Harvey’s Vivid set transcended other DJs and performers was not only in constructing a journey from the sum of parts, but in the beauty of

Much praise must go to the Goodgod Super Club team for assembling the perfect space and staff. They reminded us of how much fun can still be had in this city of ours. Though the Studio itself lacked obvious spectacle – free of obvious decoration aside a coloured light perched above the booth – this was a refreshing limitation. The bordering bare-bone metal girders gave a receptive audience the freedom to groove and flex, and ensured the music was the focus front and centre. As the glorious strings and resonant, thumping basslines of Ashford & Simpson’s ‘Bourgie Bourgie’ swirled you up into all their majesty, there was little care for much else. DJ Harvey played the Sydney Opera House for Goodgod Super Club on Friday June 2.

richie hawtin

PICS :: AM

Curated by the Goodgod Super Club team, one of dance music’s most enigmatic figures turned up to this year’s Vivid LIVE showcase in DJ Harvey. The British maestro is renowned for his ability to pull together marathon sets, and he conducted yet another flawless performance in the intimate cavern of the Sydney Opera House’s Studio space.

03:06:17 :: Sydney Opera House :: Bennelong Point Sydney 9250 7111

name the artists How many musical legends can you find in this picture?

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pick of the week Laura Marling

Bad//Dreems

MONDAY JUNE 12

Bad//Dreems + The Creases Metro Theatre, Sydney. Friday June 9. 8pm. $25.50 As they continue to move from strength to strength, the Adelaide rockers bring their well-received new record Gutful to Sydney for a night of raw noise.

Sydney Opera House Killing Heidi

Laura Marling 9pm. $70. WEDNESDAY JUNE 7 Sarah Blasko + Cameron Avery City Recital Hall, Sydney. 7:30pm. $40 Hannah Brontë Freda’s, Chippendale. 6pm. $5 Waves feat. Gold Fields + Commandeur + Hazlett + MOZA + Peta and The Wolves Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $18 White Tree Band (#Vivid) Leadbelly, Newtown. 6pm. FREE

THURSDAY JUNE 8 Colourblast Full Moon Party feat. Burn November + Social Hooliganz + Tenzin + more Bungalow 8, King St Wharf. 8pm. $25 Gaika + Kojey Radical Hudson Ballroom, Sydney. 8pm. $40

I Am Woman feat. Andy Newman + Carrie Phillis + Lizzie Mack + many more (#Vivid) Leadbelly, Newtown. 6pm. $22 Nadia Piave Foundry616, Ultimo. 8:30pm. $21 Punk Vacation V feat. Big Rat Stu and more Valve Bar, Ultimo. 8pm. $5 Tom Stephens + Luke Brennan (#Vivid) Golden Age Cinema, Surry Hills. 9pm. FREE

FRIDAY JUNE 9 107 Presents: Rooftop Music Sessions feat. The NOW now 107 Projects, Redfern. 5pm. $10 Apia Good Times Tour 2017 feat. Colin Hay + Mental As Anything + Deborah Conway + The Black Sorrows with Vika + more Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 8pm. $95.55

The Crooked Fiddle Band + Cannibal Spiders (#Vivid) Leadbelly, Newtown. 6pm. $20 Ears Have Ears Soundtrack feat. Andrew McLellan & Angela Goh + Austin Buckett + many more 107 Projects, Redfern. 5pm. $10 George Michael Relived Foundry616, Ultimo. 8:30pm. $32 I Love The ’90s feat. Coolio + Salt n Pepa + Vanilla Ice + many more Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney Olympic Park. 6pm. $112.15 The Iron Horses + I Am Apollo + The Night Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 7:30pm. $20 Jordan Ireland with Purple Orchestra 107 Projects, Redfern. 7pm. $10 Lolo Lovina (#Vivid) Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 7pm. $22

Dustin Tebbutt

Lisa Mitchell

Dustin Tebbutt + Lisa Mitchell + Alex The Astronaut Factory Theatre, Marrickville. Saturday June 10. 8pm. $37 Two of Australia’s finest young songwriters team up for an intimate night of heartbreak at the Factory.

Mahalia Barnes & The Soul Mates Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 7pm. $22 Remi x Sampa Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $35 Xenocidal Warpath – Aversions Crown + Boris The Blade Factory Theatre, Marrickville. 8pm. $20

SATURDAY JUNE 10 107 Presents: For Folk Sake 107 Projects, Redfern. 7pm. $10 Alan Cummings Sings Sappy Songs Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 7:30pm. $79.90 Belle Haven + Ambleside + Deadlights Factory Floor, Marrickville. 8pm. $10 Chris Gudu & Afro Pamoja Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 7pm. $20 Greta Now (#Vivid)

Killing Heidi + Iluka + Eliza and The Delusionals Metro Theatre, Sydney. Thursday June 8. 8pm. $50.90 Forget the one-hit wonders over at I Love The ’90s – get your neon dreads on and come kick it with everyone’s favourite noughties pub rockers.

Golden Age Cinema, Surry Hills. 9pm. FREE

of Music, Sydney. 6:30pm. $44.90

The Joan, Penrith. 5pm. $55

The Hard Aches + Muncie Girls + The Football Club The Lair @ Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $21

Burning Rose feat. Marcus Whale + Makeda + Cold Patrol + Morgan Wright Freda’s, Chippendale. 8pm. FREE

Stone Deaf Sundays feat. Metak + Cosmic Art + Vulturous Valve Bar, Ultimo. 5pm. $10

Kirin J Callinan Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $27.80

Clowns + Night Birds Imperial Hotel, Erskineville. 8pm. $25

The Radiators + Eightball Junkies (#Vivid) Leadbelly, Newtown. 6pm. $27 Sloom + Wawawow + SCK CHX Town Hall Hotel, Newtown. 10pm. FREE VulgarGrad Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 7pm. $20

SUNDAY JUNE 11 107 Presents: Pretty Gritty 107 Projects, Redfern. 7pm. $10 Bic Runga Sydney Conservatorium

Curve Ball feat. Client Liaison + Safia + Tkay Maidza + Confidence Man + many more Carriageworks, Eveleigh. 3pm. $80 Forever Ends Here + Young Lions The Lair @ Metro Theatre, Sydney. 4pm. $21 Pretty City Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $10 Sheppard + Reece Mastin + No Frills Twins Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7:30pm. $31.75 Songs Of The Latin Skies feat. Katie Noonan + Karin Schaupp

Thomas Oliver Leadbelly, Newtown. 8pm. $18

MONDAY JUNE 12 Mountain – An Australian Chamber Orchestra Collaboration Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 3pm. $51

TUESDAY JUNE 13 Adam Pringle and Friends B.E.D. Bar, Potts Point. 7:30pm. FREE Beth Orton Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 9pm. $60 Terry Serio’s Half Truths + Charlie Owen + Oh Reach (#Vivid) Leadbelly, Newtown. 6pm. $17 xxx

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S AT 1 0/6 OXFORD ARTS SYDNEY NEW ALBUM ‘BRAVADO’ OUT JUNE 9TH