The Brag #419 by The Brag

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rock music news welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... with Nathan Jolly and Steph Harmon

five things WITH

AIDAN ROBERTS FROM BELLES WILL RING Growing Up The biggest influence on my decision to 1. make music was music in the cinema. So

The Music You Make This is the question we all dread to 4. answer. But in the interests of nut-shelling,

everything I’ve done since then, and most pertinently this new Belles record, is highly cinematic in nature. Plus, Liam Judson and I grew up as mates listening to stuff like Bacharach and John Barry or whatever our brothers were into - like old school hip hop or the Smiths - instead of whatever all the other kids in high school were into, grunge and Bungle etc. There was always this instilled nostalgia for things distant in my growing up...

we make a kind of rock ‘n’ roll that takes you out of the present, and plays on the imagination. We aim for beauty in the melodies and tension in the arrangements. Electric guitars, harmonies, flutes, hard rhythms and the occasional unsettling noise. The first record made a lot of people dance and sway; this one takes people on a mindtrip of sorts.

Inspirations I’m particularly thrilled by great lyricists and conceptual songwriting; people who always challenge the norm to create great works of art. Tom Waits, Neil Young and Stephen Sondheim are major long-term inspirations. Right now I’m really into simplicity and long-lost 1970s talents, like Dave Evans, Linda Perhacs, Willis Alan Ramsey.

Your Crew Belles Will Ring are a family. We have all 3. known each other forever and love each other. The music is the glue that binds our friendships together. We’ve all got so much going on individually, but the band is the one constant.

FBI SOCIAL BECOMES PERMANENT, SYDNEY REJOICES

PUBLISHERS: Adam Zammit & Rob Furst EDITOR IN CHIEF: Adam Zammit 9552 6333 adam@peergroupmedia.com EDITOR: Steph Harmon steph@thebrag.com 9552 6333 ARTS EDITOR & ASSOCIATE: Dee Jefferson dee@thebrag.com 9552 6333 STAFF WRITERS: Jonno Seidler, Caitlin Welsh NEWS: Nathan Jolly, Chris Honnery ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant GRAPHIC DESIGN: Dara Gill SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER: Tim Levy SNAP PHOTOGRAPHERS: Katrina Clarke, Cai Griffin, Luke Latty, Ashley Mar, Daniel Munns, Thomas Peachy COVER PHOTOGRAPHY: Ken Leanfore COVER DESIGN: Sarah Bryant ADVERTISING: Matthew Cowley - 0431 917 359 / (02) 9552 6333 matthew@thebrag.com ADVERTISING: Les White - 0405 581 125 / (02) 9552 6333 les@thebrag.com ADVERTISING: Meaghan Meredith - 0423 655 091 / (02) 9552 6333 meaghan@thebrag.com GIG & CLUB GUIDE CO-ORDINATOR: Matt Banham - gigguide@thebrag.com (rock) clubguide@thebrag.com (dance & parties) INTERNS: Sigourney Berndt, Louisa Bathgate, Jemma Cole

After kicking an inordinate amount of arse over the past 12 weeks, FBi Social has announced it is here to stay (although they were hasty to point out that nothing is permanent, everything must pass, and we are all mere vessels for light and love to travel through. I think that was implied, anyway…) It’s housed at Kings Cross Hotel Thursday through Saturday, although they’re currently planning to conquer the rest of the week with FBi awesomeness… This Thursday July 7, head down to watch The Winter People do their thing, before the epic beats-oriented ‘Party & Bullshit’ takes over all four levels on Saturday July 9, as the second half of the Sydney Sounds Like series. Huge.

A TEAGUE OF HIS OWN

Marcus Teague is Single Twin, which is confusing enough until you realise that his album is called Marcus Teague. So is it self titled or not? I need to know for my laboriously complicated cataloguing system that may or may not involve numbers being spelt out as letters, and all Americanised spelling corrected... The Teagster will be launching his record on August 4 at Low 302, by which point you will all own a copy because it is out exactly now.

When: Saturday July 16

Songs

NEXT NEXT

LAUGHING OUTLAW’S WINTER BALL

Laughing Outlaw Records, the great little label who released that first Starky record (before

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE: Stephen Forde : accounts@furstmedia.com.au ph - (03) 9428 3600 fax - (03) 9428 3611 Furst Media, 3 Newton Street Richmond Victoria 3121

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Where: GoodGod Small Club

You know that time you and your friend got high and turned on three vacuum cleaners and a blender, recorded it then reversed it, and called it experimental music? Well Serial Space are hosting the inaugural Next Next Festival, a mini festival (indoors, no portaloos) of sound and exploratory music that runs from Thursday July 7 til the Saturday. It includes performances by Splinter Orchestra and some of Sydney’s most recognised audio practitioners, as well as the latest installment of Serial Space’s brilliant Great Debate series: ‘Is Experimental Music Boring?’

EDITORIAL POLICY: The views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Publisher, Editor or Staff of The Brag.

Win a giveaway? Mail us a stamped and addressed envelope, and we’ll send your prize on over...

What: Crystal Theatre album launch

Black Label (the band, not the spirit), the bikie-est band this side of ZZ Top, are back on the live scene, having supported The Angels (the band, not the spirit) last week at The Annandale. They’re playing South Hurtsville RSL on July 16, Penrith High Bar on July 22, then headlining The Basement on July 30 with T.H.U.G and Lucy Desoto & The Handsome Devils.

Please send mail NOT ACCOUNTS direct to this address 8a Marlborough Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010 ph - (02) 9552 6333 fax - (02) 9319 2227

DISTRIBUTION: Wanna get The Brag? Email distribution@furstmedia. com.au or phone 03 9428 3600. PRINTED BY SPOTPRESS: www.spotpress.com.au 24 – 26 Lilian Fowler Place, Marrickville NSW 2204

whatever the hell we want - and if it’s good you’ll find an audience for it. The local live scene is suffering from the demise of so many of our favourite Sydney venues - but on the other hand, the quality of the records that people are making in our midst is getting better and better. It’s an exciting time to be a musician in Australia.

BLACK LABEL

REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Simon Binns, Joshua Blackman, Liz Brown, Oliver Downes, Alasdair Duncan, Max Easton, Tony Edwards, Christie Eliezer, Murray Engleheart, Max Easton, Mike Gee, Chris Honnery, Nathan Jolly, Alex Lindsay Jones, Peter Neathway, Hugh Robertson, Romi Scodellaro, Rach Seneviratne, Luke Telford, Rick Warner

DEADLINES: Editorial Wednesday 12pm (no extensions) Art Work, Ad Bookings Thursday 12pm (no extensions) Ad Cancellations Tuesday 4pm Published by Cartrage P/L ACN 104026388 All content copyrighted to Cartrage 2003

Music, Right Here, Right Now In this hyper-connected world, we’re 5. all very lucky to be in a position to make

Arctic Monkeys

FALLS FESTIVAL LINEUP ANNOUNCED

We all know you’re one of those irritating people that like to plan New Years Eve at least six months in advance, but Falls Festival have only just announced, and if you’d planned to do anything else, you should probably reconsider. Arctic Monkeys, Arj Barker (for laffs!), Easy Star All Stars (performing Dub Side Of The Moon, on regular rotation around BRAG HQ), Fleet Foxes, The Jezabels and Tim Finn. This is just their first name-drop, too – plenty more on the way! Falls is held from December 28–January 1 in Lorne, Victoria, and from December 29–January 1 in Marion Bay, Tasmania – and the best way to score tix is by joining the ballot online; head to 2011.fallsfestival.com

POPFRENZY SESSIONS Popfrenzy, the insanely good Aussie label with the best artwork in the world, have just announced the Popfrenzy Sessions, which will feature Times New Viking, Songs, Tiger Choir, Marnie Stern and more playing over three consecutive Thursdays from August 25 at Tone. We are so excited about this – could it hark back to those old Popfrenzy nights? – and will be going to all three shows. Happily, combo tickets are available (three tix for the price of two!) at popfrenzy.com.au.

they tripped over 1985 and hit a million synths on the way down), are presenting their Winter Ball on July 9 at the Petersham Bowling Club. Piers Twomey, Jason Walker, Barry Adamson (The Devoted Few), The Marines, Mindy Sotiri, Mark Lucas And The Dead Setters, Miss Little, Jamie Hutchings, Bryan Estepa, Sam Shinazzi, Grun and Hailer will be providing music from midday to midnight (not at the same time, they’ll take turns), entry is free, it doubles as a fundraiser for the PBC, food and drinks are available all day and you can ride your bike on the bowling greens (do not ride your bike on the bowling greens).

BONJAH!

I used to wear a ring on my finger, and all I needed to do was rub it, yell “Go Go Chaos!”, and drink 750ml of Vodka before a magical world of chaos involving fights and infidelities and police sirens would open up. Melbourne band Bonjah must have heard about this, because they’ve named their album Go Go Chaos (out July 15) and are touring the crap out of it, arriving at Oxford Art Factory (the one that wouldn’t let you in that time you were covered in mud) on September 3.

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rock music news

welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... with Nathan Jolly and Steph Harmon

free stuff

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

he said she said WITH THE LOCKWOODS another layer of musical interaction is evolving between us. Our music is a natural reaction to everything that we see and feel around us. We are a three-piece and the sound we create could be called rock, but takes more from the sounds of post-punk, blues and folk. We’re excited to have just released our debut EP, which was produced with our friend Alex Murray from Bon Chat, Bon Rat.

one of our parents were musicians, but we were all lucky enough to have parents with great musical tastes. Gareth grew up singing along to his dad’s Birthday Party records, Mark grew up with a lot of Radio Birdman, Pixies and Midnight Oil and Duncan was surrounded by the music of greats like Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and The Beatles. The inspiration for our music ranges from great literature, art and music to anything else the world throws at us. It’s not really the genre or medium that defines us; it’s

more whatever falls to us naturally and grabs our attention. In terms of the music we love, it’s anyone who skips the bullshit and gives maximum heart. The sorts of musicians we respect most include people like Nick Cave, Townes Van Zandt, Gareth Liddiard, Kurt Cobain and 2Pac. We all went to school together and were friends throughout. Music became a natural step for us, and we enjoyed exploring this medium together while playing way too loud. Now we’re spending more time discovering the finesse of the recording process, so

The Sydney music scene has its ups and downs. Too many venues and promoters are out there for the dollar and not the music, which means a whole lot of uninspiring wish-wash. Organisations like Major Raiser really help, pushing emerging artists they believe in while doing something more wholesome for the community. Good venues helping emerging artists include Tone, GoodGod Small Club and Oxford Art Factory, but it’s also good to see more independent nights starting up in more unlikely spaces. What: Below Is The Beginning EP is available for free at thelockwoods.tumblr.com With: Parades, Bon Chat Bon Rat, Rufus & more Where: Major Raiser @ The Gaelic Club, Surry Hills When: Saturday July 16, $28 entry / all proceeds go towards Australian Youth Against Cancer

SINGING SKIES

The Singing Skies - what lovely imagery. That’s all. No joke, no witty aside, no sarcasm, no Gilmore Girls reference; sometimes things are just nice. It’s the moniker of singer songwriter Kell Derrig-Hall, whose lovely, country-tinged album Routine & War made our highly coveted ‘Indie Album of the Week’ spot last week. He’ll be performing a number of tracks from the record at Petersham Bowling Club on Friday July 8, which is what we in the print industry refer to as ‘this Friday’. It’s free entry and it’s a bowling club. They have the best snacks.

BUSBY MAROU

Who’s got four legs, a guitar, a ukulele and some of the best folk-pop you’ve ever heard? Busby Marou, that’s who! (I’m sorry, that rhyming wasn’t necessary…) After hanging out with Pete Murray and appearing on The Finn Brothers’ tribute album with a cover song that cemented their place in our hearts, Busby Marou are back with a new album and a new tour. The ‘Biding My Time’ tour will head to 34B, Q bar on Saturday July 23 - and if you’d like a double pass to see these Rockhampton boys in action, send us an email with the name of that cover we’re banging on about…

FELIX RIEBL

Remember The Cat Empire? Trick question; of course you do. Remember seeing the singer Felix Riebl and thinking, “He’s so tall and talented and charismatic, I wish he’d release his own album – maybe something that goes a little deeper than these party starters... Something with emotion and intensity... Also I wish he’d tour with Ben Salter.”? Another trick question; you thought it, and they’re doing it. Felix and Ben are going to be at Oxford Art Factory on Friday August 5, and if you’d like a double pass to see if they’re just as good looking in person, email us with the name of Felix’s brand new solo album.

July 8, along with The Walk On By and the delightful girl garage of The Fabergettes. (You might stroll upstairs after your set, too, to catch The Walking Who and Sweet Teeth before you order a pizza from the bar and warm up by the fireplace. ...Did we mention how much World Bar is ruling at the moment?)

Brous

MUM

King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard. That’s your band name. You guys dabble in surf punk with LA-fuzziness and Elliot Smith-esque vocals, and are so proud of how you named your band that you’re going to party about it on a stage at Mum @ World Bar this Friday

Sparkadia

ALEX + MARY 4EVA

Sparkadia were a band but now they are one person, called Alex Burnett. Confusingly, this person is touring with a band under the name Sparkadia for the ‘Mary’ tour - and if you haven’t yet heard the single ‘Mary,’ off his latest album The Great Impression, it’s the best slice of gospel this side of the Deep South. The tour will be hitting the Metro Theatre on September 8; tickets go on sale this Friday July 8.

ALPINE VILLAGE

Our sister magazine (assuming all magazines are female) Beat in Melbourne described Alpine’s lovely EP Villages as containing “twinkling compositions of dreamy indie pop simply performed magnificently.” We’ll leave it up to you to go along to their Thursday July 14 Oxford Art Factory gig (support by Boy In A Box), and see if this description is apt.

SEA LEGS @ LAST NIGHT

We imagine that Sea Legs are named thusly because as soon as audiences hear their rock stylings, they swoon and fall to the ground. Or projectile vomit, I can’t remember. Anyways, I will be starboard when they launch their forthcoming EP at the Gaelic Club on Friday July 15, as part of Purple Sneakers’ Last Night night. Night.

GREAT SOUTHERN BANDS

Great Southern Blues Festival artist lineup, GO!!! John Butler Trio - Pete Murray - Kasey Chambers & Band - Blue King Brown Booker T. Jones - Kenny Neal Band - Blues Caravan ‘Girls With Guitars’ - Renee Geyer Bomba - Backsliders - Jeff Lang - Bondi Cigars - Chris Wilson - Graveyard Train - Shane Nicholson & Band - Sweethearts Collard Greens & Gravy - The Detonators - Ali Penney & Her West Coast Money Makers - Brothers Grim - Mama Kin - St Peters Blues Band ...with more acts to be announced. It’s set for September 30 – October 2 over the Labour Day long weekend at Bateman’s Bay, and tickets are on sale now. Bring a harmonica!

DamnDogs

DAMN, DAWG!

There’s a new band called DamnDogs and at first we were all, “Oh my god, check out the two guys trying to look like Jet. Who do they think they are, Jet? Or possibly some side-project sprung from Jet? Featuring Chris Cester and Mark Wilson? Who dabble in sleazy disco?” Then we realised that is exactly what they are, and that they are playing Thursday July 21 at Oxford Art Factory. With Wolf & Cub, too! Most excellent. Wear your Travolta Pants.

SIAMESE

This Thursday July 7 marks the first of the Siamese trilogy, a new venture designed to bring together some of Australia’s most interesting artists to collaborate live, courtesy of Siberia Records and Chocolate Jesus Industries. It’ll be taking over Goodgod Small Club for the next three Thursdays, and they’re kicking it off with a killer lineup; the hilarious disco god Donny Benét, the incredible brand-spanking-newster Brous with her psych-tinged swoon pop, Laurenz Pike (the gun behind the kit of PVT), Kirin J. Callinan and Omen.

“In the wilds of Borneo and the vineyards of Bordeaux Eskimo, Arapaho move their body to and fro ”- SEX & DRUGS & ROCK & ROLLL 10 :: BRAG :: 419 :: 04:07:11

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The Music Network

themusicnetwork.com

Industry Music News with Christie Eleizer

Lifelines Born: Daughter Cassie, to Repertoire/POD Artist Services publicist and Gossling manager Laura Wallbridge, and her husband Anthony. Dating: Madonna has supposedly rekindled her romance with French dancer Brahim Zaibat. The two were spotted hanging out in Paris. Split: Courtney Love was dumped by aristocratic art dealer Henry Allsopp. She moved into his London apartment a month after meeting him in November, and his family was concerned she was a gold-digger angling for a title. Ill: Adele is suffering from acute laryngitis and has been told not to sing for a month. She had to cancel a US tour and the chance to sing with Beyonce at Glastonbury. Sued: Lady Gaga for $3 million, by a Michigan law firm which claimed that not all the proceeds from her white and red ‘We Pray For Japan’ wristbands had gone to Japan, and that fans were overcharged postal costs. Gaga’s people called the suit “misguided” and “without merit.” Suing: Bagdasarian Prods, who own the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise, take a $1 million trademark infringement action against the producers of an “artistically inferior knockoff” Chipmunks tribute album. Died: 1970s music entrepreneur Rod deGruchy, 63, from cancer. He was GM of Havoc Records which signed Billy Thorpe, managed Coloured Balls and was involved in the Hard Rock Café and the Jump Club. His brother Wayne deGruchy managed John Paul Young.

FAKER HIT LAUNCESTON… AND LAUNCESTON HITS BACK Faker played a Channel [V] Guerilla Gig in Launceston when they gatecrashed Brisbane Street Mall and did a free acoustic set, which included ‘Dangerous’, ‘Heart To Break’ and ‘This Heart Attack’. But things turned nasty after a gig at the Hotel New York. Singer Nathan Hudson said he was king-hit by a homophobe after an onstage comment about gay marriage. The venue insists Hudson left and was drunk when he returned some hours later, and not let in. Hudson sees “a number of discrepancies” in the two versions but is reluctant to turn the incident into a public argument.

KATY TO EQUAL JACKO’S CHART RECORD? Katy Perry will equal Michael Jackson’s US chart record if her latest single ‘Last

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Friday Night (T.G.I.F)’ goes to #1 there. It would be the fifth chart topping single for the 26-year old from her Teenage Dream album. Jackson did that with his 1987 album, Bad. If Perry swings it, she becomes the only female performer in the 52-year history of the Billboard chart to do so.

ARIA, PPCA, MIPI, EMI MOVE… ARIA, PPCA and MIPI are moving from Pyrmont to a new office space – Level 4, 11 Buckingham St, Surry Hills NSW 2010. As a result, the Pyrmont offices will be closed from 12pm on Friday July 8; they reopen for business in Surry Hills at 9am on Monday July 11. EMI Music Australia has moved from Cremorne to 18 Hutchinson St, Surry Hills too.

HOW MUCH IS ‘SPIDER-MAN’ COSTING? The U2-scored Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark managed to eat through US $75 million - twice as much as any show in Broadway history. Financial statements from co-promoter Michael Cohl say $9 million went on sets and costumes. Also, while most shows rent a theatre months in advance, Spider-Man began renting Foxwood Theatre two years ago for $4 million, and it cost them an extra $8 million to renovate. $6 million went to stagehands, $1 million in lawyers’ fees and each week Spidey costs $1.2 million to operate. At full price, it should be bringing in $1.9 million a week but they’re discounting tickets, and generating just $1.3 million a week. In other words, Spidey will have to run for seven years for investors to recoup.

NEW EDITORS FOR J MAG, BEAT Jaymz Clements is the new editor of triple j magazine. He was editor of Melbourne street weekly Beat. Melanie Lewis has been promoted from within publisher Furst Media to the editor’s chair.

FBI SOCIAL BECOMES PERMANENT Following a successful 12-week trial period, FBi Radio announced that FBi Social will become a permanent fixture on level 2 of the Kings Cross Hotel. FBi’s GM Evan Kaldor said, “The trial has far exceeded our expectations – we’ve had over 6,000 punters attending 40 gigs played by 80 bands from across Sydney and Australia.” It will continue to program Thursday through Saturday nights, but is looking to expand to Sundays from August.

SKY’HIGH STARTS GRINDIN’ Sydney hip hopper Sky’High, who has been bubbling under through YouTube, internet forums and mixtapes, has signed with Grindin’. She grew up in the housing commissions of Maroubra and Ultimo in an environment of alcohol, drugs and domestic violence. At the age of nine she discovered hip hop through Left Eye on TLC’s debut Ooh On The TLC Tip, and at 15 she started on her own rhymes.

PETTY PISSED AT BACHMANN Another US politician is in hot water for using a rock song without permission. This time it’s the Republicans’ new show pony Michele Bachmann, who used Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ 1977 hit ‘American Girl’ - the next sound you heard was Petty’s

lawyer sending her a cease-and-desist letter. You’d think the pollies would learn... David Byrne sued former Florida governor Charlie Crist for $1 million for using ‘Road To Nowhere’. Others got in trouble for using, among others, Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Born In The USA’, Don Henley’s ‘The Boys Of Summer’ and Boston’s ‘More Than A Feeling’.

NEW BONDI WAVE COURSES Bondi Wave has two more courses for the year. Damian Baker does a four-day workshop on rock photography (between July 21 to August 6) with a focus on style, digital images, CD covers and live concerts. Brendan Gallagher, Tania Bowra and Jason Rooke are hosting a two-day workshop (July 16, 23) on songwriting and developing ideas. For more info or to book, call the Bondi Pavilion on 8362 3400.

VALE JD SPRINGBETT JD Springbett, Senior Director of A&R for Sony Records Australia, passed away last Thursday, aged 36. Born in the north of England, the son of a vicar, in his teens he toured Europe as a drum 'n' bass MC. He later became a manager, looking after Big Brovaz, Artful Dodger and Jamelia. He moved to Australia in 2004 after meeting Sony chairman and CEO Denis Handlin. He worked with the likes of Rogue Traders, Jessica Mauboy, Karnivool, Stan Walker and Cassie Davis. He also served as a judge on Australian Idol but his serious

THINGS WE HEAR * Buzz viral video of the week: Rhianna falls over onstage in Edmonton but the audio track keeps going! * Phrase revealed to triple j that he made no money from his 2008 hit ‘Clockwork’. He sampled Dusty Springfield’s ‘The Window Of Your Mind’ without permission, and her publisher demanded 100% of royalties! * So News Corp bought MySpace for $580 million in 2005, hoped to sell it for $100 million, but sold it last week for $35 million. And you thought News buying Michael Gudinski’s Mushroom Records way back for an unconfirmed $40 million without its lucrative publishing arm was dumb… * After watching his wife Beyonce blitz the Glastonbury Festival in the UK, Jay-Z met up with Adele over lunch to talk about collaborating together. Adele was very chatty, and Jay-Z was chuckling throughout. * A row has broken out in New Zealand, where ads for synthetic cannabis Kronic

analysis of talent was at odds with TV’s demands for controversy. He is survived by his fiancée and two young daughters.

HELPMANN NOMINATIONS The nominations for the 41 categories at the Helpmann Awards will be announced concurrently in Melbourne and Sydney on Monday July 4 at 6pm. The event in Sydney is at the Capitol Theatre hosted by political satirist Jonathan Biggins; the one in Melbourne at Her Majesty’s Theatre, hosted by broadcaster Todd McKenney. The winner of the Brian Stacey Award for Emerging Australian Conductors will be presented with a prize of $7,000.

WANNA WORK AT CBAA? The Community Broadcasting Association of Australia needs a Membership & Development Manager. Key roles are to develop resource materials for members, engage with policy and strategic development issues, and develop its annual conference. Go to cbaa.org.au; deadline is Monday July 7.

AWME WANT SUGGESTIONS The Australasian World Music Expo is accepting proposals from industry associates who would like to present relevant topics and speakers for consideration for the 2011 Conference Program. They are also opening up suggestions for interesting and innovative material for the Film Program. Deadline is Monday July 18; go to the Expo’s website.

were aired on mainstream youth-orientated radio stations The Edge and Mai FM. Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne damned owners MediaWorks: “Their ethics are nonexistent or close to those of the street-corner dealer.” Mediaworks argued, “It is for the Government to make the legal position clear rather than question our ethics.” * After Johnny Depp played guitar at an Alice Cooper show in London (introduced as “Johnny D, a blues guitarist from Kentucky”), the Coop wants him to play with him again, saying he was “as good” as Slash and Brian May. * The black and red leather jacket with winged shoulders worn by Michael Jackson on his ‘Thriller’ video went for US$1.8 million at auction. The new owner is gold trader Milton Verret, who will tour the jacket to raise money for children’s hospitals worldwide. * Tim Freedman continues his battle with Byron Shire Council over a building he owns in Pavilions Estate at Broken Head, reports the Lismore Northern

Star. The place is used for social gatherings, but The Whitlams' frontman applied to host 35 functions a year, like weddings. Acoustic music will stop by 8.30pm and events at 10pm, but neighbours complained, and council repeatedly told him to stop using the place for gatherings. Freedman took the matter to the Land and Environment Court. The case is adjourned until a decision is reached on the development application, the Star said. * Melbourne venue the Ding Dong Lounge will be closed for some time to repair damage caused when its neighbouring German restaurant caught fire. * Eminem has been branded “evil” by Mothers Against Violence in England for his ‘Space Bound’ video, in which he fantasies about killing a cheating girlfriend before shooting himself in the head. * The days of watching rock concerts and footie matches in the freezing cold at Canberra Stadium could be over. The ACT government is considering putting up a clear roof as part of a redevelopment of the venue.

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Jinja Safari

Words by Krissi Weiss

inja Safari’s rise through the indie music ranks happened so suddenly that even Marcus Azon, the band’s co-frontman, was surprised. “Anyone who’s played in a band knows how much work goes into it,” he says. “There’s so many bands that slog away in the underground scene in Sydney that don’t get the recognition that triple j has given us, and I’m not so sure why...” After their triple j Unearthed competition win last year secured them a slot at Splendour In The Grass, Jinja Safari embarked on what’s seemed like a near-constant schedule of touring and recording. Supporting bands as diverse as Art vs Science and Boy & Bear, their music has been called everything from tribal dance to afro-pop - they are purveyors of dancing music, as opposed to dance music. The band revolves around Azon and long time friend Cameron ‘Pepa’ Knight, who share songwriting duties in the band and played the bulk of instruments on their two EPs – last year’s Jinja Safari (with the radioflogged ‘Peter Pan’) and the one they’ve just unleashed, Mermaids & Other Sirens. But live, Jinja Safari have grown to an ensemble of five, with Joe Citizen (bass/vocals), Alister Roach (percussion/vocals) and Jacob Borg (drums) now permanent members. With a strong focus on harmonies, Azon tells me that the new lineup has brought some depth to their energy and vocal presence. “It’s not so much about me, which is what I love,” he explains. “It’s about all of us together, and not one of us is trying to be a show off. If you’re going to have a band, that’s the only way it can work. It’s been a big jump for me. I’ve been writing songs in private but I gave up on the idea of music for about five years, and last year I met Pepa again and started writing with him and it all came to a head. All of a sudden we were on stage all around Australia, and I had to figure out how to be a musician again, and how to connect with the audience.”

Jungle Drums

Jinja Safari have decided to take a unique approach to the delivery of Mermaids & Other Sirens. Releasing one track a month as a free download, available from sites like Frankie Magazine and the triple j website, the band have drip-fed their music to their fans. “We just want to write the music and give it straight to our audience,” Azon explains. “The plan was to release track by track, month by month, until August - it was a way of cutting out the middleman. There’s a lot of jumping through hoops that goes on with marketing and promoting a release, and we just thought it would be good to break down that financial barrier between us and the audience, and to show them the tracks we’ve been working on. “We decided it would be better that people can get it for free,” he continues. “We’re not taking away the importance of CD sales, and it’s very important for the record labels, but I think you have to be more creative with how you get your music out there now. You’ve got so many different forms of technology. How do you get people to listen to your songs when they could easily get distracted by another free form of entertainment?” Azon began learning piano at a young age, his natural musicality encouraged by a church setting. “Both my parents were preachers so I grew up playing piano in the church,” he explains. He played classical piano until he was 17. “I played in a couple of bands and was always too shy to sing - just writing little guitar parts, nothing groundbreaking or earth shattering at all. I told Pepa that I would play

guitar and he would play drums and we would have a band. [But] I moved to Tasmania and it didn’t end up happening.” The story of Azon and Knight’s reunion has spread like Chinese whispers, developing into a romantic tale of a chance beachside meeting in the jungles of the eastern Australian coastline. But the legend often fails to mention that they’ve known each other from a very early age... “Somehow the story travels down the line and it gets more creepy and Jungle Book-y every time,” Azon laughs. “We’d started writing and recording and I’d shown him some of the songs. He just happened to be passing through Sydney when he was travelling around busking, and he jumped out of the van and came and slept on my bedroom floor. Then we won the triple j competition and it opened up doors for more gigs, so he just stayed in Sydney.” Having come from a religious background myself, I’m curious as to whether Azon followed in his parent’s spiritual path... “I think spirituality is such a strange thing to talk about and to express - it’s such a personal thing,” he says. “I certainly don’t subscribe to any one organised religion, but it’s something that we are all going to be on a journey towards for our whole life. Anyone who thinks it’s not a journey and anyone who thinks they have the answers, or wants to convince everyone that their answer is right – that’s where it gets strange.” Jinja Safari’s first ever gig happened in the forest of NSW amongst friends who were encouraged to dress up as animals, and

Photo by Ken Leanfore

“Me and my housemate invented something called ‘ugly dancing’, where you dance as bizarrely as you can at house parties. Not to be a knob, but to let it all go.” the band have maintained that early energy, making each live experience both enchanting and unusual; watching them hurriedly set up a stage with fake ferns and bamboo shoots minutes before their set is not uncommon. The idea is to liberate the audience organically, and make them dance - refreshing in a culture where dancing on a night out usually goes hand in hand with drugs. “Me and my housemate invented something called ‘ugly dancing’,” Azon says, “where you dance as bizarrely as you can at cool house parties and stuff. Not to be a knob, but to let it all go. I swore off drugs and alcohol about three years ago and it’s shown me that I can design whatever life I want. I felt trapped by that party scene and I wasn’t achieving what I wanted to achieve or doing what I wanted to be doing. I realised I had to stop it, and focus on what I wanted,” he explains. “Which is what I’ve now managed to do.”

With bands around the world trying out different models for music distribution (Radiohead with King Of Limbs and Kaiser Chiefs with The Future Is Medieval),

What: Mermaids & Other Sirens is out through Other Tongues, or at jinjasafari.tumblr.com With: Husky & Pear Shape Where: Oxford Art Factory When: Saturday July 16

“Sex and drugs and rock and roll Is all my brain and body need”- SEX & DRUGS & ROCK & ROLL 14 :: BRAG :: 419 :: 04:07:11

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The Laurels The Long Drive By Caitlin Welsh

n a January interview with the The AU Review, Australia’s reigning rock goddess Adalita Srsen declared The Laurels to be her “favourite band right now”. Not her favourite Sydney band or even her favourite Australian band – her favourite band. His Majesty Richard Kingsmill muses on their Unearthed page, “I’ve heard this stuff a million times before – so why aren’t I sick of it?” Their tar-black, towering psych-shoegaze sounds like a dozen bands you already love, from My Bloody Valentine to The Black Angels and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. But shoegaze is the pizza of guitar rock – even when it’s mediocre it’s still pretty good, and when it’s done well, it’s fucking transcendent. The Laurels – frontmen Piers Cornelius and Luke O’Farrell, bassist Conor Hannan and drummer Kate Wilson – have been in no rush to get their debut full-length into the oven. After winning the Sydney Uni Band Comp in 2007, they’ve spent the intervening time building a following – with support slots for international acts like Low, A Place To Bury Strangers and (by the time you read this) The Black Angels, as well as acclaimed locals like Tame Impala and Love of Diagrams – and releasing, well, nothing really. A 7” saw the light of day in 2009, and they’re finally bestowing a proper EP upon the adoring masses this week. Over a schooner and a rollie out the back of The Annandale, Conor and Piers explain that Mesozoic will act as a full-stop on, and a document of, this particular chapter of the band’s life, before they head in to record their debut full-length. The album, to be recorded around September/ October this year, will reflect how the Laurels’ sound has become both heavier and more subtle and nuanced in the last couple of years.

Piers admits to there being “maybe 20, 25” different pedals on stage at any one time for the live show – “and everyone’s trying to play louder than everyone else!” But the album will see them exploring some slightly different dynamics. “There will be a few slow, Blur-esque, country sorta ones on there as well,” Piers says. “But I think it’ll be a lot more rhythmic than our other stuff. We’ve become big fans of music for long drives, and Krautrock sort of stuff. Stuff with a beat... I think it will flow together, rather than us just trying to destroy your ears.” “It’s been a long road, but we all think that’s a positive thing,” explains Conor of the band’s slow-and-steady approach. “We’re so much more comfortable now. And if we’d recorded an album three years ago it wouldn’t be nearly as good as what we’re recording now.” “And there are so many bands that have such a complete change in style after they put out their first album,” Piers adds. “So we’re glad that we’ve been able to work towards what we want to sound like.” The Mesozoic EP is also an attempt to clear what he refers to as a “backlog” of songs. “It’s not like we’re saving the best ones – we purposely used a couple of our best ones... And we’re not going to re-record them for the album. We’re just getting them down to document that period of the band. “Luckily the period before that wasn’t documented,” Piers adds with a grin. “It was a bit of a pastiche-y, happy-go-lucky... youngsters trying to play Oasis. Some pretty long guitar solos in there.” What: Mesozoic EP is out now on Other Tongues Where: The Lansdowne Hotel When: Friday July 8

Busby Marou Biding Their Time By Lee Hutchison

he two halves of Queensland duo Busby Marou, Jeremy Marou and Thomas Busby, are undeniably talented musicians. But you’d have to be in order to launch a successful music career in a place that, according to Jeremy, has no music venues. “You have to sing your Khe Sanhs for people to listen to your original stuff,” he says. It’s not just talent but also some good fortune that’s helped get these boys to where they are today. Jeremy explains that it was partly some Aussie music star-power that got the band’s first EP, The Blue Road, off the ground. “Tom had some connections to Pete Murray; a couple of his brothers went to school with Pete. We were fortunate to have him and his producer work on our EP, and obviously Pete’s career took off and we were lucky to have him lend us a hand. He still calls to see how we’re going, to make sure we haven’t thrown it in or anything silly.” But the boys’ good fortune doesn’t stop there. In 2010 they featured alongside a host of well-known Aussie acts on the second Finn Brothers tribute album, He Will Have His Way, with their unique version of ‘Better Be Home Soon’. So how’d they manage to become the only unsigned act on the compilation? “Bruce Elder gave us a four out of five star review in the Sydney Morning Herald and when we heard, we didn’t know high-up music industry people would read that sort of stuff – but the next day we get a message saying we’ve got to go into the studio and record a song.” At the end of the day, though, lucky breaks can

only get you so far; according to Jeremy, music played an important role in his upbringing. “I grew up sharing a room with ten other boys, my four brothers and a couple of my cousins from the Torres Strait Islands. It was always a competition to see who was better on the guitar or drums, so we learnt pretty quickly. My brothers were always better than me but I got them in the end… on the guitar anyway,” he laughs. Jeremy also acknowledges the influence of his Torres Strait Island roots within the music of Busby Marou. “We grew up with a very cultural background. Dad would teach us the cultural songs and dances, and when you listen to the album you can hear that influence.” The album Jeremy’s referring to is Busby Marou’s recently-released self-titled debut; they’re hitting the road this month to show it off, on the ‘Biding My Time’ tour. With two years between their EP and this release, has the band’s sound changed much since they began making music? “[On the EP] we didn’t actually know what we were doing, in terms of knowing what style or genre we were,” he answers. “But this time, we’ve gone down the alt-country, acoustic, bluegrass route, so this album has seen us find our niche. And that’s the exciting part of doing this second album – actually finding where we fit.” What: Busby Marou is out now on Warner Music With: Avalanche City, Jackson McLaren Where: Q Bar, 34 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst When: Saturday July 23

Noah & The Whale Life Goes On By Liz Brown

he devastation, the spilt tears, the long nights spent aimlessly reloading your ex’s Facebook page; even the frontman of British band Noah & The Whale, is not immune to a broken heart. There is, however, a notable difference between Charlie Fink’s breakup and those that befall the rest of us. Most don’t write a best selling album about it, and most can’t take solace in the fact that the relationship which ended was with a Mercury Award-winning British songstress. When I speak to him, Fink sounds remarkably upbeat, despite the fact that he and his band are sleep-deprived and lost “somewhere in America”, with a broken-down bus and a tour schedule set to last for over a year. Bursting with the same optimism that permeates their latest release Last Night On Earth, it’s impossible not to wonder what happened to the dejected Fink whose previous release, The First Days Of Spring, had spawned lines like, “I didn’t marry the girl I loved / I saw my world cave in, felt like giving up.” (‘My Broken Heart’). Fink tells me that the first time he heard that 2009 album in full, he broke down and cried – and I ask him if the media is mistaken in the story they’ve been ascribed it. “Obviously, I understand the importance of a story to some journalists. I get it,” he offers diplomatically, without confirming or denying that the album is about Laura Marling, his ex-girlfriend and -bandmate. “But for me, I think the album has more value anonymously.”

“I was naively optimistic about what people would assume about the record,” he continues. “I thought people would take it as a story and not read so much into it. But obviously they did. I try as hard as I can to distance myself; it’s much more important that people can relate to it themselves, because it’s obviously an experience that pretty much everyone has been through.” Two years on from the release of The First Days Of Spring, and it seems as though a lot has changed for Fink; his excitement about the new album is palpable. Laden with bouncier tracks that have names like ‘L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.’ and ‘Tonight’s The Kind Of Night’, Fink explains that he wanted the tone of this record to be completely different. The possibility of the night time and the potential of youth is delivered with upbeat melodies, radiofriendly sing-a-longs and an overwhelming sense of movement, progression and optimism. So does time really does heal all wounds? “I think it’s more about seeing yourself through other peoples eyes,” Fink considers. “The key to writing a character, I’ve realised, is not to situate yourself too heavily in the situation. There is still as much of you in the song as before – it’s just a different method of expressing yourself and telling a story.” A natural storyteller, Fink tells me tales throughout most of the interview – including one about the time the band’s van was stolen outside a club in Manchester. “With all the gear

in it! It was a bit of an eye opener,” he laughs. “It turned up unbelievably in a barn in Lincoln. I have no idea how it managed to make its way there…” Nowadays, Noah And The Whale have very little time to lose a whole van full of equipment; their tour schedule is full for over a year, including a brief stint in Australia for Splendour In The Grass. So brief, in fact, that Fink doubts that the band’s Australian-born drummer Michael Petulla will have time to go home to country NSW, for a quick visit with mum and dad. “We’re pretty much touring for

the next year and just trying to focus on the shows,” he says. “I just want to connect with people as best I can.” What: Last Night On Earth is out through Shock Where: The Factory Theatre, Enmore When: Tuesday August 2 More: Also joining Kanye West, Coldplay, The Hives, Regina Spektor and more at Splendour In The Grass in Woodfordia, Queesland from July 29-31.

“White face, black shirt, white socks, black shoes, black hair, white strat bled white, died black”- SEX & DRUGS & ROCK & ROLL 16 :: BRAG :: 419 :: 04:07:11

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Fatty Gets A Stylist Miller-Heidke Gets A Sideproject By Leigh Salter

ate Miller-Heidke and Keir Nuttall are taking tea on a rare sunny June day at a South Melbourne café, discussing the finer points of what constitutes taking a risk in music these days. Both agree that calling a band Fatty Gets A Stylist earns a big tick, but the most intriguing development in the risk department is that the brand new release, a co-write with husband/longtime collaborator Keir, is Kate giving a big middle finger to the sound that made her a star. The selftitled album – which claims XTC, Goldfrapp and Kraftwerk as reference points – started life on tour as a between-shows muck-around project for the couple, before blossoming into a throbbing multilayered extravaganza. Fatty Gets A Stylist takes the listener through trash-spiritualism, cartoontheme-song terrain and post-punk without a hint of Heidke’s sober pop artistry to be found. It’s as if Kate is flexing some newly developed muscle, and snuffing out her ‘fluffy balladeer’ label in the process.

The project’s name, Keir explains, is not so much about the ‘make-over myth’ as may be expected. “The idea was to use a name that tells a story; a la Frankie Goes To Hollywood, who got their name from a newspaper headline. But then I guess it is crudely in line with current reality TV obsessions with weight and appearance...” While Frankie suggested we all should relax, Fatty Gets A Stylist go one further, with references to Zen Buddhism and prereligious spirituality. Kate picks up the thread: “Even though some of the songs are very silly, I guess there’s also some obvious spiritual references like on ‘The Tiger Inside Will Eat The Child’, which had to do with the Buddhist belief that you only really grow through completely letting go of your past systems.”

“I think we shocked ourselves a lot of the time making this album,” Kate begins. “But you know, it started out as a passion project, just us two, and the thought of anyone else hearing it didn’t really cross our minds… I was singing a lot in the shower and getting comfortable with a lower range to what I’m used to, which is why I don’t really sound like ‘me’ on the record,” she laughs, “and I said to Keir, ‘What do you think of my funny voice?’ and that kind of got us thinking about having this album be a completely anonymous thing, without our names attached to it at all.”

In Wiccan lore, it’s taught that people possess power animals which they have to get to grips with - the intention being, it makes you awesome. Keir shares some concerns over what his animal might be. “I dream about dogs a lot, but not cool ones like wolves or dingos, its always garden variety spaniels.” Kate, cracking up, adds, “Maybe you’ll graduate to a poodle!” While Keir contemplates his K9 dilemma, Kate maintains that the dream animal concept in songs has become an indie band staple - and is therefore best avoided. “I’ve got a natural resistance to this dream-strength-animal-thing, but I do relate to the inner child as a way of helping me creatively. You have to get to that place in your head which is unaffected by day-to-day crap, and allow yourself to be playful and fearless.”

“I was singing a lot in the shower and I said to Keir, ‘What do you think of my funny voice?’, and that kind of got us thinking...”

Although much of Fatty Gets A Stylist was written on a laptop while Kate and Keir were on tour, its liner notes boast a long, impressive list of session players. The album was still in its demo form when, while supporting Ben Folds, Kate played it to him. Ben persuaded her to record it with a full band and release it – and with his tick of approval, all that was left was to find the right artists for the job. “Ben Folds called it ‘lower chakra music’, which basically meant it was more rhythmic, or more animal, so we wanted players who came from that side

of the spectrum,” Kier explains. “We ended up going with Pete McNeal [ex-Cake drummer], who plays in a band called Z-Trip, who have this strong, crazy improv style. Then you have Justin Meldal-Johnsen, who played bass with Beck, Air and Nine Inch Nails, bringing this really huge range of experience. I think those guys are what Ben was talking about when he said ‘lower chakra’ music.” Kate simplifies: “It’s about listening with your hips and not your head.” When Heidke’s solo albums, Curiouser and Little Eve, established her as a spirited and clearly gifted singer/songwriter, she was probably seen as a safe bet in the industry especially once the awards began rolling in. So to drop the psychedelic bubblegum pop of Fatty Gets A Stylist close on the heels of such plaudits, surely a few men in grey towers were pulling out their hair…? “Our management were really supportive of us putting it out, but there

is a slight scary element to how fans will react to me doing something so different, for sure,” Kate says. “We went into this with no fear and I accept that not everyone is going to get into it, or see why I’m doing this now - but as I get older, I feel I’m gradually taking more and more control creatively of what I want to do.” “The reaction has been really interesting so far,” Keir adds. “Before anyone knew we were doing this, I played some of the songs to our band [Transport], and they didn’t spot it was Kate – I just told them it was this new band I’d met in London,” he laughs. As Kate recalls, “I said, ‘What do you think of her voice?’ and one of them said, ‘Oh she’s nowhere near as good a singer as you.’ So after that, I didn’t want to let anyone know it was me!” What: Fatty Gets A Stylist is out now on Sony

Patrick Wolf A Little Less Lonely By Caitlin Welsh in love and celebrating love and it just worked so well,” says Wolf, who stumbled upon Lupercalia while researching Valentine’s Day. Evidently, Wolf analyses and thinks out the aesthetic and contextual aspects of his records as carefully as he does the musical ones; his mother is a painter, he explains, and taught him about the effects and significance of colour from an early age. For example, every new release brings a new haircut and hue that fits perfectly against the “skin” he creates for the record. “It’s the totem of each album,” he says of his headsuit, which is currently a subtly unnatural auburn that’s several shades darker than his The Magic Position-era playful red. “Ginger hair is about love, red hair is about love, but it’s a dark red, a dark umber red; for me [it’s] a more confident and complex and darker kind of love,” he explains hesitantly, before bursting into sheepish laughter. “Do you know what I mean?”

t’s easy to forget how long Patrick Wolf has been at this. With his ageless art-school prettiness and album-to-album reinventions, from laptop-punk upstart to Goth-folk ingénue to Technicolour toy-store pop prince and back again, it can seem as though Wolf is perennially starting over. Even with his fifth studio album in eight years, Lupercalia, he’s made a rather large about-face - going from making a record titled The Bachelor with money raised almost entirely from fan contributions, to signing with Mercury Records and making an album about his blissful relationship with his now-fiancé. Most of the songs on Lupercalia actually emerged from the same sessions as the darkedged The Bachelor – originally conceived as a double album called Battle, the more joyous second half was to be called The Conqueror. But in the intervening time Wolf fell in love,

and the half-formed album developed into a distinct celebration of love and happiness, with a vibe all its own that demanded a proprietary title. And Wolf is very particular about his titles. “There’s been talk of this album taking a while to actually be finished, or released,” he acknowledges, “and I do feel like a lot of that came from not feeling like it had a skin yet – like, it didn’t have an identity. I knew the songs that I wanted to be on it, but it didn’t have that extra thing, a name, the artwork. That all came out of the Lupercalia festival.” Lupercalia, for those readers unfamiliar with ancient pastoral festivals and/or Wikipedia, is the festival of health, fertility and love that was eventually subsumed by St Valentine’s Day; sharp-eyed dead-language geeks will also note its etymological connection to wolves. “I was searching for a word that basically summed up three years of Patrick Wolf falling

While darkness isn’t as meaningful a presence on Lupercalia as on his previous albums, confidence certainly is. While this album saw Wolf writing and producing the album on his own for the first time, he was more open to collaboration with arrangers and engineers than ever before. “I think it’s that security, becoming more secure and you know your voice better, so you don’t get so scared when somebody comes along and wants to help you out, and kind of helps you realise your dream a bit more,” he muses. “On other albums I was a little bit insecure, so I was kind of protective and private, I was terrified – if anyone would come near I’d get out a dagger, you know what I mean? Like, ‘Stay away from my work!’” Before these sessions, Wolf – a multiinstrumentalist with a particular speciality in viola and violin – recorded most of the layered string arrangements with little more than himself, a mic and sometimes a couple of other violinists. For Lupercalia, however, he worked with a string octet and woodwind ensemble, as well as a small choir. “Working really closely with an arranger, saying, ‘I wanna do it in one take, with this huge ensemble’ –

“On my first and second records I was like, ‘Why have I not made any friends?’ ... I’m still proud to be the odd kid in the corner.” that was a huge progression. And I’m really glad I got to do it at this point in my life, with these songs,” he says. Some recording was done at AIR Studios in Hampstead where, Wolf soon discovered, Tim Burton was overseeing a film score... “He was actually in the studios when we were recording all the string sections, so I was a little bit starstruck when I went to get my lunch,” Wolf says. “We had Tim Burton in one studio and George Michael in the other and I was in the medium-sized one for smaller string sections and stuff, so that was a really interesting lunch experience where you’d have George Michael ordering a glass of wine and Tim Burton sitting there eating a pizza.” Despite such highbrow run-ins, and even after working with legends like Patti Smith and Marianne Faithfull, Wolf says it’s only recently that he’s begun to feel accepted into the musical community. “It’s really only been in the last couple of years – it’s been really nice to meet other solo artists and musicians... It’s been a little less lonely,” he admits. “I remember on my first and second records I was like, ‘Why have I not made any friends?’ I think I was quite a scary proposition to people and so I didn’t really make many friends back then... I’m always just the one in the corner, slightly uncool and slightly threatening.” But the 6’4” queer pop star with the chameleonic locks has no plans to try and fit in any time soon. “I’m still proud to be the odd kid in the corner, trust me!” What: Lupercalia is out now on Speak N Spell, through Inertia

“You come awake in a horny morning mood and we’ll have a proper wriggle in the naughty naked nude”- SEX & DRUGS & ROCK & ROLLL 18 :: BRAG :: 419 :: 04:07:11

BRAG :: 419 :: 04:07:11 :: 19

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WITH TASIA Tasia’s bringing her mix of beautiful and badass to this Saturday’s 34B Americana show – a brash and bold burlesque homage to the fast cars, movie stars and swimmin’ pools of the U S of A – alongside world pole-dancing champion Jamilla De Ville, Kira Hula-la, Jade Twist, Lucille Spielfuchs, Cherry Lush, MC Renny Kodgers and DJ Goldfoot. We took five with Tasia to get the skinny… What are your signature routines? One of my favourites is LuminoSINty – a peep show of light and flesh performed in the dark with a glass-cased pulsing light, to the tune of Peaches’ ‘The Inch’. I’m also fond of Tigerwoman, performed in a steel tiger cage; the cage may house the tiger, but it can’t keep in the woman! Where do you usually draw inspiration from? My main costume and routine inspirations come from music. It paints the picture in my mind and the costume and routine grows from that.

nyone remotely familiar with Sydney’s New Burlesque scene knows this petite pin-up, who has been strutting her stuff around Sydney for the last six-or-so years, first as part of the infamous Belladonnas de Lux troupe, and then in solo mode at many a Sugartime, Absinthe Club and Tenderloins night – and of course 34B Burlesque, where she made her first appearance five years ago.

12X12

aMBUSH gallery and We Are The Image Makers’ annual 12X12 exhibition brings together 12 Australian artists to display 12 artworks, each on 12x12 inch canvases – a format that’s just small enough to fit on the loo wall, but large enough to impress your friends. This year’s edition features a mix of fresh and familiar faces: Daek, Drewfunk, Ears, Edward Woodley, Gary Seaman, Gimiks Born, Mark Alsweiler, Rone, Sean Morris, Shannon Crees, Shida and Troy Arche. 12X12 opens Friday July 22 at aMBUSH (4a James St, Waterloo) and the works will also be available to purchase from an online catalogue launching midday Saturday July 23 at watim.com/12x12

John Waters

Who are the performers who inspire you? The fabulous ladies of burlesque past, such as Tempest Storm, Satan’s Angel, Candy Caramel, April March and many more. Last year I had the pleasure of meeting these ladies in Vegas and even saw some of them perform! It was the most inspiring thing I have witnessed. I love watching performers that have a true passion for entertaining.

FOR THE LULZ

Somedays and Paper Mill curator Sandra Di Palma has rustled up a show themed around the idea of internet memes. For The Lulz brings together six local artists who were commissioned to create works using the same processes by which memes operate: remixing, replication, reconfiguration and translation. Applying themselves to the challenge are cheeky textual artist Tom Polo, video prankster Andrew Moran, sculptor and serial ARI instigator Christopher Hanrahan (db gallery), installation artist Ella Barclay, graphic designer and video artist Giselle Stanborough, and polymathic visual and performance artist Michael Moran. For The Lulz runs from July 15 – August 6 at Tin Sheds Gallery (158 City Road, Camperdown). tinsheds.wordpress.com

STORIES ABOUT MY FAMILY

Late Night Library brings cheese, wine and good-story-timez to the Surry Hills Library (that place on Crown Street that looks like you’ve walked into a commercial for carpet, or ‘serenity’) every Thursday night. This Thursday July 7, Des ‘Blue Collar Man’ Miller (Magnetic Heads) will share his crooning skills, from 8.30pm. As easy on the eyes as the ears, if you know what we’re saying. The following Thursday, July 13, Toby Schmitz, Claudia O’Doherty, Zoe Norton Lodge and sundry others will read stories about their families, with a garnish of live music by Caitlin Park. It’s FREE, but you need to book ahead by calling (02) 8374 6230.

How did you get into burlesque originally? The amazing Lulu and Tulsa encouraged me to join them on the burlesque train about six years ago and together we became Belladonnas de Lux. My first show was for a friend’s birthday party. I loved it! From then on I was hooked. What are you bringing for 34B’s Americana show? I’m performing two tributes to the American woman: firstly, the story of a lovesick diner waitress working hard for the money; then a tribute to the glitz and glamour of the American showgirl, with my classic fan dance, Glory Be A Woman. What are your personal experiences of America? Growing up watching Hollywood movies and musicals of the ‘30s, ‘40s ‘50s and ‘60s, I have a strong love of American culture from those periods. New York – the Art Deco mecca – is by far my favourite place to visit, and I have been fortunate enough to have performed there, as well as the Burlesque Hall of Fame Pageant in Las Vegas. Everything seems larger than life in the U.S.A. and it never fails to excite me! What: 34B Burlesque – AMERICANA! When: Saturday July 9, from 8pm Where: 34B – 44 Oxford St Darlinghurst Tickets: Pre-sale $20 GA / $30 for a reserved table (min. 3 ppl) moshtix.com.au

ART @THE WALL

After huge weeks from the likes of Helen Mycroft, Bams & Ted, Social Snappers and Jane Elmgreen, World Bar’s weekly arts affair, The Wall, is ready to start booking artists for the upcoming months: designers, illustrators, fashion, film, graf and graphic designers – anything goes. Contact matt@theworldbar. com to get involved. In the meantime, head along this Wednesday July 6 at 7.30pm for photographer Michael Berman’s solo show Incendia, which captures the raw intensity and playful chaos of late night parties and fire play in a series of luscious, luminescent image. On July 13, soak up a dose of summer courtesy of Matt Neto, whose sketches and photos evoke lazy days in the sunshine, camera and moleskin in hand… artonthewall.tumblr.com

HAHA-HARBOUR

Darling Harbour’s Cargo Bar are now doing comedy every Tuesday night, with a nice mix of local and international talent on their July slate: this Tuesday July 5 sees Tim Ross (of Merrick & Rosso fame) take the stage, alongside Tommy Dean (USA) and MC Lindsay Webb (Good News Week); the following Tuesday, July 12 will see Spicks n Specks favourites Michael

We’re pleased as punch and rubbing our little paws together in anticipation of Underbelly Arts Festival Day – which this year, thanks to divine providence, is on Cockatoo Island. It’s pretty much a day of adventures, with punters set loose on the island’s industrial precinct, which by that point will have been transformed into a winter wonderland of wind-dancers, robots, obstacle courses and installations; social experiments, demon-songs, strange sounds, and polyphonic sprees; clandestine meetings, lizard-people, and pervasive gaming… Top of our list are Justin Shoulder’s audiovisual extravaganza V (pictured), Applespiel’s Awful Literature Is Still Literature I Guess, a new work from Whale Chorus (whose 2008 Underbelly show was pretty much the weirdest thing we saw that year), and the on-site improvisations of 35-piece experimental supergroup The Splinter Orchestra. Adventures will be had. New friends will be made. Beers will be consumed. Best of all, attendance necessitates a ferry ride. The Underbelly Arts Festival takes place Saturday July 16 from midday on Cockatoo Island. Presale tix are $15/$10 (+BF), or you can do $20/$15 (+BF) on the ‘door’. OR you can tell us one act on the lineup that you’re looking forward to (not mentioned above) and we might give you a double pass… underbellyarts.com.au

Chamberlin and Gary Eck doing comic duties, MCd by Rich Brophy. Kick-ass comedy with a kick-ass view? No complaints here. Doors open at 6pm each Tuesday, with the show kicking off at 7.30pm. All the details – and upcoming lineups – at cargobar.com.au

WHAT’S NEXT NEXT

Serial Space are currently hosting their inaugural mini-festival of sound and exploratory music: Next Next. This week’s events will see the culmination of 35-piece supergroup Splinter Orchestra’s Serial Space residency, which means they’ll be performing this Thursday July 7 from 7pm. You should go. And then the next night, Friday July 8, you’ll be able to contribute/heckle for the 5th instalment of Serial Space’s cheeky Great Debate series: That Experimental Music is Boring. The debate kicks off 6.30pm with Tom Ellard, Daniel Green (former Sound Summit director) and Eliza Sarlos (Music NSW/FBi Radio) in the affirmative, and Ben Byrne, Gail Priest (RealTime) and Jim Denley in the negative – with Dorkbot overlord and Serial Space Director Pia Van Gelder moderating. The last day of the festival is Saturday July 9 – for all the deets see serialspace.org

KINO #47

JOHN WATERS

The Pope Of Trash will once again take the stage at Sydney Opera House, from October 21-23, presenting a series of double features in extremely bad taste. Over three nights, John Waters will present four different double feature sessions, covering four themes: Shock (AntiChrist + Irreversible), Terror (United 93 + his own Cecil B. Demented) Goddess (Boom! + Fuego) and Sex (Zoo + his own A Dirty Shame) – with all sessions hosted by the man himself (who proved himself to be a razor sharp and devilishly funny raconteur in his 2010 Mardi Gras show, This Filthy World). Waters describes the lineup as “radically intelligent and disturbing movies that will push [audiences] closer to the edge of cinema insanity.” Tickets on sale NOW. Sydneyoperahouse.com

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July’s Kino event is fast approaching, and we’re crossing our fingers that everyone’s opting to take up the short film challenge for this instalment, and make a nature mockumentary. For the rest of us lazycats, that would mean we could just head along to their Marrickville shindig on Monday July 18 and enjoy ourselves. So… fingers crossed. If you fall within the ‘I have filmmaking skills/aspirations’ camp, then you might want to get cracking on that film. It doesn’t have to be a nature mockumentary – it can be anything as long as it’s five minutes or under, and made specifically for Kino #47. kinosydney.com

STORY CLUB

Sydney Uni’s Project 52 present a special Story Club episode this Wednesday July 6, in celebration of that most sincere form of flattery: imitation. A lineup of local talent will read specially prepared stories written in the style of their favourite authors. We can’t imagine a better way to spend our evening. Dom from The Chaser may or may not emulate JK Rowling, Simon Greiner will take on Dr Seuss, Zoe Norton Lodge/Jane Austen, Eddie Sharp/ Kurt Vonnegut (win!) and Pip Smith will do James Joyce. Tickets are just $10 (or $5 for Sydney Uni kids), and it kicks off from 7.30pm at Hermanns on City Road.

Love me!

135 ORANGUTANS

There are only so many emails with the subject header ‘Orangutan Survival’ that you can receive, before you’re forced to confront the situation. Which is how we came to be writing this passionate 100 words about the Borneo Orangutan Survival fundraiser at Name This Bar on Oxford Street, hosted by triple j’s Tom Ballard, and featuring local artists (including Deb, Amuse, Bridge Stehli and Jess Cook) in a live art battle to create the best ‘Please Release Me’ artwork. The resulting works will be auctioned on the night, to the tunez of DJs Gabriel Clouston and Damien Goundrie. $40 gets you entry, canapés, cocktails etc – and the release of 135 orangutans back into their natural habitat (Borneo). Wednesday July 13 from 7-9.30pm at Name This Bar (197 Oxford Street) orangutans.com.au

Meek’s Cutoff The Western Gets A Makeover By Gerard Elson

ypically, the vast, arid vistas of Westerns are the exclusive province of men-with-a-capital‘M’. Between all the long-barrelled six-shooters, ripple-haunched stallions and, frankly, often quite ludicrous beards, any feminine presence is usually stifled—or totally choked—by a thick, soupy fug of testosterone.

That such a popular genre could still be guilty of such explicit gender bias clearly irked Kelly Reichardt and Jon Raymond. So for their third collaboration as director and writer respectively – following Old Joy (2006) and Wendy And Lucy (2008), two true indie gems of the postmillennial American cinema – the pair chose to saddle up, take the Western by the reins and address this glaring imbalance. The result is the superior Meek’s Cutoff, one of the best films to have reached Australian screens so far this year, which orients its audience with a group of women (Michelle Williams, Shirley Henderson and Zoey Kazan) traversing the sunparched Oregon desert circa 1845. Along with their husbands (Will Patton, Neal Huff and Paul Dano), they’re lost and in dire need of water, thanks to their putative guide – a puffed up cowboy named Meek (Bruce Greenwood), whose logorrhoeic behaviour makes it impossible to discern any truth from the copious ox shit he spouts, day in, day out, from sunrise to sunset. “Is he ignorant, or just plain evil?” Williams’ hardy frontierswoman wonders at one point. No clear answer ever really comes. “I think for both of us there were real political interests in the genre,” Raymond explains of what prompted he and Reichardt to tackle a western in the first place. “It’s such a cornerstone of American identity – it was exciting to test that out from a different angle and see what

L-R: Shirley Henderson, Zoe Kazan and Michelle Williams happened. It was exciting to talk back to that history in some way.” Aside from privileging a female perspective—which in itself would have made Meek’s Cutoff intriguing enough—the film quite openly functions as an allegory for modern America’s shift between the Bush and Obama administrations. But its focus is more macroscopic too: the introduction of a captive Nez Perce

man (Rod Rondeaux) who remains un-subtitled throughout, along with the company’s fraught dependence on their natural surrounds, nudges the metaphor onto the geopolitical stage. But don’t expect didacticism from the film. “The concept of this did rise out of the end of the Bush era moment,” says Raymond. “[But] I don’t think either of us are interested in doing

WHO IS KELLY REICHARDT?

WIN!

A W AY

• Grew up in Dade County, Miami (Florida), in a family of police officers • Studied at School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts • Known for experimental, small-scale 16mm films with a strong socio-political conscience, that focus on protagonists livings at society’s fringes. • Debuted in 1994 with the feature Rivers Of Grass, set in her hometown, and starring indie horror filmmaker Larry Fessenden (Habit). It was lauded by many American film critics as one of the best films released in 1995. • Broke into the indie consciousness with Old Joy (2006), a tale of two college buddies who try to reconnect over a weekend camping in Oregon’s Cascade Ranges, starring Will Oldham (aka Bonny ‘Prince’ Billy). • Most popular film to date has been Wendy & Lucy (2008), starring Michelle Williams pictured left with Lucy) as a down-on-her-luck drifter passing through the Northwest on her way to work in an Alaskan cannery.

‘issue-based’ political work. What’s fun about this story is that it is such an issue of survival and of group decision-making and paranoia – very human scale problems. I could really put aside the political stuff once the plot issues were hashed out and just allow the politics to be this very wide frame for what, hopefully, is pressing human drama between people.” To imbue the film with the desired air of authenticity and naturalism, both Raymond and Reichardt studied journals kept by female pioneers who made the same passage through the Oregon Trail as the characters do in the film. “The records are always pretty mundane,” explains Raymond. “There’s not a lot in them besides just the day to day drudgery and the sense of what incredible pain thresholds all those people had.” This sense of endurance and banal routine is strikingly captured by Reichardt, who exhibits a healthy curiosity for period procedure throughout Meek’s Cutoff. Raymond

admits the depiction of labour is itself laborious work for a writer and is perhaps best left to filmmakers. “I think [the depiction of] work in fiction is a really important thing. [But] it would have taken so much research for me to write it properly as a story. Whereas Kelly could just turn a camera on it – all in a day’s work.” But back to that political allegory. Raymond, who is a novelist and author of short fiction as well as scriptwriter, never worries that a politically charged subtext will stamp a work with a limited shelf life. “Sadly, I think the idea of people being led by someone who might not know where they’re going will not be topical for only a particular time. It’s a perennial issue. So that’s the sad hope: that something like this is always going to be relevant in some way.” Meek’s Cutoff, Dir. Kelly Reichardt Now playing at Dendy Newtown More: meekscutoff.com

sex & drugs & rock & roll

ever let the truth get in the way of a good story. So proclaims Ian Dury (channelled via the brilliant Andy Serkis) in the first minutes of Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, setting the wonky framework for what follows; and even though this biopic of the Blockheads frontman plays fast and loose with the rules, it captures the psychotropic, fractured feel of Dury’s life and work in a way that a conventional biopic or documentary wouldn’t. Dury’s impact on the punk scene cannot be understated. His first two albums, with Kilburn & the High Roads, paved the way for the debut albums of The Clash and The Sex Pistols in 1977, by which time Dury had put together The Blockheads, recorded the groundbreaking album New Boots and Panties!! and released his hit single ‘Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll’. The rest, as they say, is… in this film! We have FIVE copies of the Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll DVD up for grabs; to get your hands on one, email freestuff@thebrag.com with your postal addy and one of Serkis’ past roles...

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SPLENDOUR IN THE ARTS: JULY 29-31 While most festivals pay perfunctory lip service to the arts, Splendour In The Grass presents a genuinely integrated program of sculpture, installation, performance and visual arts that are created specifically for its audience, atmosphere, and scenic location in Woodford, Queensland. It’s an inspiring example of what can happen when you devote funding, energy and creativity to curating the arts. One of the key forces behind Splendour's superb arts program is Brisbane artist Craig Walsh, who is known in the local and international visual arts community for his provocative (and visually stunning) projection-based interventions into public space – most notably his Humanature series, in which large-scale projections of human faces transform the living canvasses of trees at festivals like Womadelaide, Fuji Rock and Woodford Folk Festival; and his Incursion series, for which shopfronts in cities as diverse as Toronto, Tokyo, and Townsville are ostensibly transformed into aquariums, to the wonder of passers-by. Suffice to say, Walsh is a pro at producing site-specific works in unusual places – from rivers and train lines to theatres and architectural contexts. “I see the potential for art to intervene in most contexts and most environments,” he says simply. A Fine Arts graduate from Griffith University, Walsh fell into the music festival scene while living in a sharehouse in Brisbane’s bohemian Fortitude Valley in the early ‘90s, where he met Peter Walsh – the founder of the infamous Livid Festivals. Under Walsh’s guidance over the last seven years, Splendour’s arts program has expanded into a separate incubation program called Splendid, which is driven by Lismore Regional Gallery and NORPA (Northern Rivers Performing Arts). The Splendid program mentors young artists in the creation of public art interventions, particularly those suited to festival environments. Two of the works below – Jordana Maisie’s Close Encounters and the Curious Creatures of Jimmy McGilchrist and Darryn Van Someren – are from Splendid. For more on the Splendid program, see splendid.org.au; for the full Splendour arts program, see splendourinthegrass.com

Cream

“Splendour is a festival of live performance, and so having artists creating their work amongst the punters makes a lot of sense to me,” says Kohn. “It removes the barriers between audience and art, in an environment that is highly social and open to different kinds of conversations and interactions.” Kohn discovered both Diss and Oliver’s works

no exception: a playful interactive sculpture shaped like a UFO, raised 3m from the ground, and measuring approximately 6.5m in diameter, Close Encounters will recreate the sensation that aliens have landed amongst the festival punters – right down to the fact that at night, a bright shaft of light will beat downwards on the ground from the ship's 'portal'. Most importantly, festival-goers can communicate with the alien life-forms on board, via the power of SMS, with the unfolding conversations broadcast back to rest of the crowd via an LED screen embedded in the rim of the craft.

hile she’s a familiar name in the local arts scene, Sydney-born new media and installation artist Jordana Maisie is still a work in progress; a 27-yearold COFA grad with a BA in Photography and Masters in Digital Media, her body of work has so far ranged from the traditional documentary photography of her Modern Ritual series (2006) to screen-based video installations, and high tech, interactive audiovisual installations like the kaleidoscopic tunnel of The Real Thing (Black & Blue, 2008) and her most recent Sydney show, Potential Energy (Firstdraft, 2010). What unites Maisie’s diverse work and makes it so special is the playful way in which she uses new technology to throw the focus back on human behaviour – specifically by involving her audiences with her art (and often each other) and making these interactions integral to the final ‘product’.

hen Splendour made the move from Byron Bay to Woodford in Queensland, it was forced to rethink its arts program. “Because it’s in a valley, we don’t have as much ground area as we did in Byron,” explains Splendour's arts curator, Craig Walsh, “so that influences the scale of works we can present. … We’re starting to recognise that space is becoming quite a premium at the festival.” This year’s Cream program is a response to the festival’s space issue. Curated by Annemarie Kohn – who is a member of the Splendid curatorium, and the programs officer for Carclew Youth Arts in Adelaide – Cream brings together three artists who are known for creating interesting artworks in the streets. In the same way that street artists respond to the available space in any given city, these artists will create their works in response to the festival environment: Melbourne-born Berlin-based graffiti artist Buff Diss will be creating his trademark ‘masking tape graffiti’; Berlin-based artist Oliver van der Lugt (aka Oliver Of The Sky) will be using available waste to create large-scale sculptures of crushed drink cans, urban artefacts and his popular dead bird cardboard creations; and critically acclaimed Mexican video artist Fernando Llanos will be roaming the festival with his inflatable projections blimp.

Close Encounters

Her latest project (for which Maisie has returned from her current Berlin residence) is

Andy Forbes in the Tent Of Miracles, 2010

It was a similar story with Oliver Of The Sky: “A friend took a photo of one of Oliver’s giant cardboard birds on her way to work in Melbourne, and the image really stuck with me. The dead bird was placed in the city amongst buildings, and seemed like a really poetic comment about nature and fragility. For Cream, Oliver will be creating cardboard sculptures throughout the festival and just leaving them around the place. It will be interesting to see what the crowds will do with the works, it’s an environment where you can’t ultimately be too precious about the art.” – Dee Jefferson

freakshow fun – presided over since 2004 by Andy Forbes. As a director, performance and installation artist, video maker and musician, Forbes has been creating performance installations for festivals like Woodford and Adelaide Fringe since the early ‘90s, including his cult-hit clown show Wacko & Blotto. This year, Forbes is giving audiences the chance to don a nude bodysuit, get down and dirty on a giant revolving bed, and make their own iPorn with a mock crew – courtesy of Studio 69. “Each year we look for something the audience will enjoy and laugh with,” he tells me. “Pornography is such a hilarious thing that is so saturated throughout the community. It will be funny to parody it and make it public.” Forbes is no stranger to lewd humour, with a body of work in which boundaries are pushed and satire is used to parody popular culture. Last year’s TOM show, Fraudeville, was termed as a “diabolical degustation” and featured cross-dressing midgets, Muslims dancing the ‘Bus Stop’, contortionists, sadomasochistic altar boys, jump-roping devil girls, and Hitler singing Adel Vice. In 2008 Forbes and his frequent collaborator John Lord presented a carnival of militant religious freaks dubbed The Church of Two Hands

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“I wanted to engage the audience, to inject some supernatural mystique into the space whilst creating a physical meeting place and hub for conversation and sharing. The mirrored surfaces fold the natural environment – sky and trees – back into the insular and commercial festival environment, allowing people to see what’s all around them (including other festival punters!). The intention is to make the space more conscious, revealing a little more about who the Splendour audience are and why they are there.” – Dee Jefferson

by chance: in the case of Diss, a friend sent her images of his freehand masking-tape ‘drawings’, and she fell in love at first sight. “The simplicity of his line-making, usually just using masking tape to draw onto existing structures, has a really magnetic quality. I think it is because it looks so simple, and yet at the same time you know there is no way anyone else could even come close to replicating what he does. So his work kind of magically appears in front of you, and then just as magically disappears [as the elements erode the tape].”

Curious Creatures

ike Jordana Maisie’s Close Encounters, Curious Creatures comes out of Splendour’s arts development program, Splendid, which mentored New Media artist Jimmy McGilchrist and programmer Darryn Van Someren (co-founders of brand-new South Australian-based interactive media company rezon8) through the development of this

The Tent Of Miracles Presents: Studio 69 s any regular Splendour-goer knows, The Tent Of Miracles is the festival’s annual home for sideshow silliness and

Although Maisie ultimately hopes to take her UFO to next year's Burning Man festival, in Nevada, the original inspiration came from her involvement in the 2010 Splendid program – and primarily through her experience at last year’s festival, during which she was able to immerse herself in Splendour’s natural environment and social dynamics. A large consideration for Maisie was making a work that was conducive to the ‘Splendour experience’, which she describes as “a fourday journey into the magic of music, dance and collective experience.”

and a Chicken, performing a host of rituals including exorcisms, faith healings, Mexican wrestling, contortionists, whippings and confessions.... Whatever Forbes is doing, audiences can’t seem to get enough – and the feeling is mutual. He describes the Splendour crowd as open, fun, and up for anything – with about one percent of people finding the shows inappropriate or disturbing. “Once we had one of the characters talking about pornography and a woman in the audience thought it was disgusting, so she ran onto stage with mud she picked up off the ground, and tried to push it down his mouth,” he says, laughing. “Our work is love or hate, but at least people don’t walk by without noticing it. We definitely get a reaction – although, it’s getting harder to shock people. The more cheeky, abusive and outrageous I am, the more people like it.” Forbes will also shoot a Studio 69 making-of documentary that will go on YouTube – which means for those too tame to be a part of the frivolities, there’s still the chance to be voyeurs from the comfort of the living room. – Emma Salkild

interactive audiovisual installation. Essentially, a giant screen will be erected along the festival grounds, onto which sensor-activated digital shadows will be projected – as if large creatures were present on just the other side of the fence. “There’s an array of infrared sensors, looking out at the audience and analyzing the real world environment,” McGilchrist explains. “They see where people are and what they are doing and then feed this information back to the computers, which then manipulate the graphics of the creatures. [So] the audience will generate the narrative, like a documentary.” There will be five Curious Creatures, each with very different personalities. “There’s a dominant alpha male who is more aggressive towards audience members. We’ve also got a mother and a baby: the mother is quite doting on the baby; the baby is quite shy and will only interact with people who are more passive and crouch down to it.” As part of Splendid, McGilchrist did a reconnaissance mission at last year’s Splendour, where he ran an analysis of the space and crowd. “What we found is the people at Splendour are after primitive, emotional experiences. Everything there is massive and all the musicians are highly skilled and tunedin to manipulating emotion and providing heightened experiences. People want to just be in the moment and forget about everything else. Audiences will be in an altered state of mind already and Curious Creatures will push that a lot further along towards a surreal experience.” To heighten the immersiveness of the project, a soundtrack of creature cries and noises will be heard throughout the day as well as at night. “We’re hoping to really scare and shock, and make people laugh. Hopefully over the three days people can come back and get new and unexpected experiences each time.” – Emma Salkild

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Arts Snap

Film & Theatre Reviews

At the heart of the arts Where you went last week.

Hits and misses on the silver screen and the bareboards around town.

The Trip

■ Film

THE TRIP

by way of the green line bus

PICS :: DM

Released June 30

mick rock - exposed

PICS :: TL

22:06:11 :: The Wall :: The World Bar, 34 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700

festival of awesome improv 23:06:11 :: The Roxbury Hotel :: 182 St John’s Road Glebe 96920822

Arts Exposed What's on our calendar...

ESJAY + TOBY & PETE: PRETTY UGLY Opens Thursday July 7 from 6pm LO-FI (Lvl 3, 383 Bourke St, Taylor Sq) We’re heading along this week to see what the fellas at local creative agency Toby & Pete do in their spare time – from the sneak peek we copped last week, it looked pretty good. Toby & Pete started with design partners-incrime Toby Pike and Piotr Stopniak, and has grown into an eight-strong design house that includes local heroes Simon ‘Esjay’ James, James Jirat Patradoon, Gemma O’Brien and Lukasz Karluk, among others. Pretty Ugly is a collaborative exhibition of new paintings, prints, sculptures and installations by Esjay and the T&P gang, exploring the notion of beauty within the grotesque, and the appeal of something horrible… Expect guns made out of glitter, skulls in gold ribbon (as per Pete's work, right), and good ole graf and stencil work… See you there. prettyuglylofi.tumblr.com / tobyandpete.com

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PICS :: AM

23:06:11 :: Blender Gallery :: 16 Elizabeth Street Paddington 93807080

Steve Coogan and director Michael Winterbottom have collaborated several times before – on 24 Hour Party People, and again several years later on a raucous adaptation of Tristram Shandy – and each time, they seem to bring out the best in each other. The pair’s latest project is, thankfully, up to their usual, impeccably-high standard. The Trip started out as a six-part BBC series before being edited down to movie length – I’ll preface this by saying I haven’t actually seen the series yet, but the movie, taken on its own terms, is very good. The premise is that Coogan, playing himself, is commissioned by The Observer to review a series of high-end restaurants in the north of England; when his girlfriend pulls out of the trip, he invites his friend, comedian Rob Brydon, to come along instead. The film, in loose and improvised style, documents their six-day ramble through posh eateries and gorgeous northern countryside.

Law, Colin Kinchela and Bjorn Stewart under the directorial eye of Melbourne import Andrew James, the Stew is a collection of images and reflections on what it means to be an Aboriginal male in the 21st century. The early stages of the play keep the performers’ tongues well and truly in their cheeks, following in the same vein as the race card. Whether it’s dancing to a pumping beat, or doing an Old Spice ad parody about the perfect Aboriginal man, the mood is kept light and it feels like we’re in for a night of fun and games. However, this soon breaks and reality starkly enters with personal stories of absent fathers and role models lost too young. The three very different performers bring their various strengths to the show: Dallas Law is born to perform, and laps up every moment of audience interaction; Kinchela is stunningly real and his storytelling is beautiful; and Stewart’s striking physical presence and comedic timing are a complete standout.

From a set-up that involves little more than two guys bantering and eating gourmet food, Winterbottom assembles a rich and multi-layered film. Partly, The Trip is about Coogan’s friendship with Brydon – two comedians of a certain age riffing on oneanother’s insecurities, debating the meaning of ABBA songs and competing to see who can do the best Michael Caine impression. Partly, it’s about Coogan’s own career, as he laments the fact that his career has never really taken him from art house movies like Winterbottom’s to the big American roles he desperately covets. Partly, of course, it’s a travelogue, as the pair travel to real locations throughout the north, trekking through breathtakingly beautiful countryside and sampling real restaurant menus.

The show is beautifully underscored by Melissa Hunt’s sound design, which adds poise to every moment, and Clytie Smith’s lighting design is perfectly measured throughout.

The film retains a TV series-like structure, with each day of Coogan and Winterbottom’s trip a discrete chunk of about 20 minutes. The days have a pleasing rhythm about them – Coogan will wake up, occasionally with a strange woman in his bed, talk Brydon through the exact route he plans to take on that day’s trip, eat a meal, then slip into a sombre reflection on the state of his life. Winterbottom shoots the whole thing véritéstyle, and as a result, The Trip takes on an intimate feel – it’s a rare look into the psyche of the enigmatic Coogan, and, in some ways, is the best comedy about comedy since Funny People. If you don’t care to analyse it that much, though, and you just want to see a film where two very talented improvisers riff off one-another, The Trip is still excellent.

THIRTY THREE

Alasdair Duncan ■ Theatre

BULLY BEEF STEW Reviewed at the June 29 preview Runs until July 9 / PACT Theatre

The show feels disjointed at times, with some of the stories and images not quite flowing together easily, but the sense of three young men grappling with complexities of their identity is tangible and it all comes together in one of the most beautiful endings to a show you will ever see. 7/5 (with Race Card discount) Henry Florence ■ Theatre

Until July 17 / TAP Gallery Cathode Ray Tube theatre company’s latest offering, Thirty Three, is a taut urban drama that is sure to please those fortunate enough to have seen the troupe’s impressive debut production, That Old Chestnut. Much like its predecessor, this no-holds-barred indie production is intimate, confronting, and benefits from strong dialogue and clearly defined characters. Set in Newtown, the play unfolds in the home of Saskia (Emily Stewart) as she hosts a small group of her closest friends for an intimate birthday celebration. Saskia is determined to see in her 33rd birthday in style, but the party is soon turned on its head by the surprise appearance of her estranged brother, Josh (played by the play's co-writer, Alistair Powning). Through the course of the nights debauched revelry, Saskia and her younger brother, along with the other guests, turn what was meant to be a low-key night of festivity into a tell-all night of shocking revelations and painful realisations.

I love a pre-show gimmick and Bully Beef Stew, PACT’s first professional commission, has a good one. Upon collecting your tickets from PACT’s friendly box office staff, you are presented with a “race card” which entitles you to a 50% discount off your criticism at any Indigenous production. This witty self-awareness sets you up perfectly for a show that is determined to both wrestle with stereotypes and break them down.

The tightly-scripted scenario, co-written by Powning and Michael Booth, is wonderfully evocative, and for the most part, captivating. And while some people may find the subject matter lightweight, there’s something classical rather than trite about Thirty Three. It's a slice of emotional realism designed for audiences who like true-to-life drama.

Created and performed by Sonny Dallas

Barlow Redfearn

See www.thebrag.com for more arts reviews

BRAG EATS

News Bites HARD ROCK SYDNEY

Step back in time to your childhood, when Sydney had a Hard Rock Café and all of the steaks, French fries and mounted guitars that implies… History repeats this month, with the relaunch of the Sydney Hard

Rock Café after a decade or so hiatus. The new improved joint will feature a live music venue and memorabilia from Hard Rock’s iconic collection, including John Lennon, Madonna and Elvis – and more recently, P!nk, Black Eyed Peas, Green Day and Taylor Swift. Level 2, Harbourside, Darling Harbour / hardrockcafe.com/sydney

BRAG'S WEEKLY GUIDE TO FOOD

Our favourite bakers are slowly taking over the world with their deadly combination of spelt and Ethiopian blend… Their latest joint opened recently in Alexandria and, quite frankly, it’s massive. If a space ship, a boutique deli and a wine bar mated with a Sonoma bakery, you’d get something like the Sonoma HQ at 32-44 Birmingham Street, Alexandria – with, yes, its own liquor license. Yay! sonoma.com.au Sydney Hard Rock Café

▼

COFFEE TEA & ME

SONOMA ALEXANDRIA

Sydney Hard Rock Café

free stuff

La Rosa Pizza Golden Cobra, and scalp-tingling homemade cordial and creaming soda combos (although personally we’re veering towards the $5 Tsingtao cans). If only all living rooms were like this… Check it out from 10am-11pm, Monday – Saturday / 304 Palmer Street. darlielaundromatic.com

DARLIE LAUNDROMATIC

Darlie Laundromatic Bar & Cafe opened its Darlinghurst doors on the weekend, courtesy of local DJ hero Noel Boogie. The vibe is living room comfort, with prices to match. Olives and spiced nuts sit alongside share-platters of homemade dips, and mini hotdogs of the American, Danish and ‘House’ varieties; steak sandwiches will face off against mushroom sandwiches, and a veritable army of vegetarian, vegan and glutenfree options. In the stimulants section, they’re proudly serving up coffee by local boutique roasters

LA ROSA BAR & PIZZA

La Rosa Bar & Pizza is the newest venture from Nino Zoccali, the restauranteur and olive oil connoisseur behind the one-hat Italian restaurant Pendolino – and its located on the same upper level of the Strand Arcade. The bar, less pricey than Pendolino but just as perfect for a fancy date night, is all about the Italian wines, traditional, stone-baked and Southern Italian-style artisan pizzas, and one of the only comprehensive collections of authentic Italian liqueurs in Australia. Drool, yeah? larosabarandpizza.com.au

his nook recently opened up on Redfern Street, and instantly became one of our favourite new café’s – a cute and friendly hole-in-the-wall spot serving up incredible Campos coffee, premade sandwiches and bagels, and all kinds of delicious treats (along with some of the most adorable furnishings around.) Their specialty, outside of the coffee, is the Mediterranean bagel – and because the people behind the café are as lovely as they look, they’re offering up three bagel & coffee combos to BRAG readers. All you gotta do is tell us how much you want it… You can find Coffee Tea & Me at 93B Redfern Street – if it wasn’t always so packed outside, you could easily blink and miss it.

FRIDAY AUGUST 12 Manning Bar TICKETS ON SALE NOW Tickets via: Oztix - www.oztix.com.au - 1300 762 545 - Oztix outlets

BRAG :: 419 :: 04:07:11 :: 25

C o r ri dor Fr esh New Bar.

digi kaf

F RE S H C OCKTA ILS. S P I RI TS. WINE. I M PO RTE D & LOCA L BEER S, LE AF Y DECK. LI V E M USIC. C O MF Y C OUCHES. LUS C I O US FOOD.

digi kaf

Eathouse Diner

REDFERN EATS

GOOD FOOD. S ENOUGH SAID.

The 'Fern Forays Into Food By Harry Wynter

ydney’s best small bar is on Redfern Street, and there’s no doubt about it. Hidden in the majestic Pron Prohm Thai Restaurant, this nameless little tiki bar seats six and is so exclusive and mysterious that sometimes the bartender isn’t even there; prices vary day to day, and a Bacardi and red cordial can cost anywhere between three and nine dollars. But as the food-craze of east Redfern finally catches on, a wave of new bars and cafes have opened to challenge Pron Prohm’s 40-year dominance.

L AI D B A C K

174 st johns road glebe 9660-3509 www.digikaf.com.au info@digikaf.com.au

st a y c l a s s y DINNER 7 NIGHTS corridorbar.com.au. 1 5 3 A K i n g st. N e wto wn

Popular favourites include Baffi & Mo, one of the first to open in the area, although standards seem to have slipped under new management. The sparkling service that made the place popular has dried up, and the menu has been simplified. The interior is still pleasing and the coffee is fine, so it’s unlikely this institution is going anywhere, though it might need to check its attitude if it wants to compete. Directly opposite Baffi’s is Coffee, Tea and Me, a cupboard-sized operation that stocks Campos coffee and T2 tea. There’s a sizable queue for caffeine in the morning and the business is predominantly takeaway, with a very convincing coffee and bagel for $6. The awkward bicycle seats out the front effectively discourage patrons from sitting down, although there are comfortable tables on the footpath for a lucky few. It’s been open for just eight weeks but it already looks perfectly dilapidated, and the pretty young things milling around with their cigarettes are likely to tell you they’ve been coming here for years. Just around the corner on Pitt St is Quirk’s, a deli-style cafe that’s been open since 1999, making it Redfern’s oldest. The hefty sandwiches are only $7, and my rare beef and chutney is simply perfect. The risotto balls are irresistible at a mere $4, although the coffee is not quite up to scratch. A recent change of management is sure to change that, and the cafe has been liaising with Alchemy in Marrickville. After 11 years serving Illy’s, Quirk’s has finally bought a new machine and is switching to an exclusive blend from Bill’s Beans. I ask the friendly barista if she’s worried about losing customers, but she welcomes the new competition: “All these places have just opened up and nobody knows what will happen, they’re just going for it. The whole area is growing and I think there’s room for all of us.”

Gluten free sweets, gluten free lasagna, quiche, moussaka and more, all made right here using locally sourced ingredients ♦

Great coffee from Bills Beans ♦

Yummy breakfast menu and delicious lunches ♦

Award winning, house made jams and chutneys ♦

We stock brasserie bread daily , and stock Deeks gluten free bread by order ESTABLISHED 11 YEARS PH: 9690 1166 26 :: BRAG :: 419 :: 04:07:11

74 PITT ST REDFERN

Further up Pitt Street is The Fern, a sandstone terrace bar/restaurant/cafe named after the local nickname for the suburb. The front courtyard is bright and the decor is funky and mismatched, with menus pasted to vinyl records. With new chef Ariel Coplan (formerly of Michelin star restaurants in Manhattan and Edinburgh) the kitchen is open breakfast, lunch and dinner, offering modern Australian cuisine at its finest. Although lunch is a bit pricey, the kingfish sashimi with watermelon on the dinner menu ($14) sounds too good to pass up. Chatting to co-owner Mark WiIey, I get the distinct impression that this is a couple of long-serving bartenders finally living the dream - and I’ll be sure to pop in for a cocktail at a more appropriate hour. Back on Redfern Street, two neighbouring bars have opened opposite the infamously hip Eathouse Diner. The first is Tapeo, allegedly a Moroccan and Spanish tapas bar, although the menu is mostly standard cafe fare. The charming owner Lior explains that he is waiting for his liquor license. “The word tapas comes from tap, like a beer tap. Traditionally you have a beer, and you put a piece of bread over the top to keep the flies out of it, with something very strong on it, some anchovies, or olives... So no beer, no tapas.” His rigor is impressive and reflected

throughout the bar: all the cakes and pastry are baked on site, and he makes all the coffee himself. While concentrating on day trade for the moment, he’s hoping to serve traditional tapas, beer and all, sometime this spring. Just a few doors up is the Dry Land Bar & Diner, a bar so new you can still smell the paint drying. With an eclectic wine list and a slight nautical theme, this candlelit diner is sure to see its share of swanky first dates. I’m too early for the kitchen but I’m keen to return for an artichoke and fennel tart ($17), and in lieu of a cocktail list the bartender knocks together a Clover Club, using strawberry puree instead of fresh raspberry. It’s not a bad mix, and the wall of premium spirits and basket of eggs on the counter is an encouraging sign of old-school cocktails to come. Whether all the recent hype is deserved or not, there is definitely something interesting happening in east Redfern. As Lior from Tapeo put it: “There’s a lot of cool people walking around. It’s a bit rough, but that’s good... There are students and office workers and junkies, and everyone is respectful. It’s a real community.” I’m just glad to have somewhere to go when they refuse me service at Pron Prohms.

WELCOME TO RADFERN The Fern

Hosts: Owners Julian Serna and Mark Wiley (ex-Merivale) and chef Ariel Coplan (formerly Felix) Speciality: Japanese-infused modern Australian menu Address: 4 Pitt Street, Redfern Web: thefern.com.au Contact: 83990070

Pron Prohm Thai Restaurant Speciality: Thai and tiki bar Address: 133a Redfern St Bookings: 9698 1581

Baffi & Mo Hosts: Owners Regina (Baffi) & Roy (Mo) Speciality: Brunch – try the potato hash stack Address: 94 Redfern St Bookings: 8065 3294

Coffee, Tea and Me Speciality: Bagels and quirky chairs Address: 93b Redfern Street Contact: 9008 7121

Quirk’s Hosts: Chef Nicola Salter (formerly Trippas White) Speciality: Sandwiches, gluten-free treats and homemade jams Address: 74 Pitt Street Bookings: 9690 1166

Tapeo Hosts: Owner Lior Manheim and chef Michel Alkobi Speciality: House-made pastries and cakes, tapas Address: 82 Redfern Street Bookings: 8084 7237

Dry Land Bar & Diner Hosts: Owner Roy Leibowitz and chef Marc Cartwright (formerly Longrain and Quay) Speciality: The bar snacks – especially scotched eggs! Address: 92 Redfern Street Bookings: 9000 0000

Main photo courtesy of eathousediner.com.au

BRAG EATS

BRAG EATS THIRSTY?

food review

Digi Kaf [GLEBE]

SEÑOR PAPA THE FERN 4 PITT STREET, REDFERN Ingredients: 45ml Gin 15ml Maraschino Liqueur 50ml Freshly squeezed white grapefruit juice. Method: Build in a wine glass. Salt the rim making sure to discard any salt on the inner rim. Pour all ingredients into your glass. Add ice, and stir... Presto. Delicious.

Hark! And hasten back to the early '90s, when a certain reviewer’s clumsy delving into the world of sophistication to impress the ladies (lack of muscle, musical ability and a near pant-wetting fear of substances were all notable hindrances) led instead to the sophistry of oh so much time spent over chicken schnitzel foccacias in cafes, cappuccino sipped but not supped, Moby Dick merely skimmed for the rude bits. Café culture and I seemed to disembark, hand in hand, from the flight towards adulthood together, neither with bearings or guidebook or a particularly developed palate. It was a lot of wedges and nachos and (always, always) foccacia, and for a brief time actually saying “café latte”, and it slowly developed into a mish-mash of sundried tomatoes and olives and spring rolls and sweet chilli sauce – if not a boiling pot of multi-culturalism, then at least a tasting plate of room-temperature antipasto. And so, long before Sydney latched onto the suckling teat of Real Down South Tex Mex Style Pulled Pork with Jalapeno Cream and Pineapple salsa, cafes were actually trying to do stuff with food. We were our own pig, snuffling through the undergrowth, just a few years shy of sprouting truffles. Established in 1996, just that little bit further back from Glebe Point Road, Digi Kaf erupted I’m sure in a blaze of earth tones and wall art (as in actual paintings hung on walls, not

just remnants of dock yards dangling from architraves), a haven for early laptop users (the café offers its own PC network) and those who wanted more than a bacon and egg roll. Digi Kaf still stocks a bacon and egg roll, but it also runs the gamut of any other breakfast staple you may look for. Try corn fritters ($13.90) with a jumble of bacon and rocket, sat by a ramekin of tomato salsa – the fritters are creamy and cloudlike in texture, filling but not heavy, herbed and just fine with a dash of pepper. The owner Pete proclaims to like nothing more than the pea and ham soup ($10.90) of spoon-battling sturdiness, a comfortable treat to find in these months. The seasonal menu wind-sprints from the beaten track towards quesadillas, kofta and nasi-goreng, but for this early morning meal we stuck to the basics. A potato pancake calls out for a return visit – and then scoffs under its breath at whatever “hash stack” the SMH

Best drunk with: no one but you during: a late afternoon session while wearing: your pirate gear and listening to: Vanilla Ice, of course

Brand new menu and experienced chef.

Relax by day in our leafy courtyard. Swing by to sample some of our contemporary cocktails and delicious food.

Live music, Beer Garden, Sports Room and Gaming Room

(02) 9310 4314 90 PITT ST REDFERN

53 Erskineville Road Erskineville NSW 2043 (02) 9550 5511 One of Sydney’s only Israeli café’s offering up traditional and contemporary breakfast, lunch, drinks and desserts. Relax outside with our al fresco dining, or stay warm inside with a cup of our expertly siphoned coffee.

Come get warm this winter in this cosy cottage style pub.

Tudor Hall Hotel

With solid coffees, net access, great food and intimidating portions, Digi Kaf has a lot to offer. Nostalgia for a simpler Sunday brunch may not be written on the menu, but it can be found there none the less. – Matt Roden Where: 174 St John’s Road, Glebe Hours: Mon-Fri, 7am-4pm; Sat, 8am-4pm; Sun, 9am-3pm Contact: 9660 3509 Web: digikaf.com.au

Shenkin

Café Offering up pub favourites as well as traditional Thai food.

has assigned to the palate of the city’s youth. The two egg omm.com ($14.90) (an hilariouslytitled omelette; a remnant from days pre-iRony) comes fluffy and delicious, with masonry slabs of wheat toast. Order it with mushrooms and spinach; the wilted greens will nurse the earthy buttons as you and the cutlery play cat’s cradle with the generous amounts of cheese within.

4 PITT STREET REDFERN NSW 2016 (02) 8399 0070 OPEN: TUES-SUN 8AM-3PM THURS-SAT 6PM-10PM

MEALS $10 Mexican Mondays Meat or fish add 3.00/4.00

$10 Pasta Tuesdays For all our pastas excluding seafood $10 Burger Wednesdays Any of our burgers with chips $10 Chicken Schnitzel Thursdays With salad and chips or mash $10 Fish & Chip Fridays With salad and tartare 268 Oxford St Paddington

Family owned and open 7 days a week from 6am-5pm.

ph: (02) 9361 5157

OPEN IL 8AM UNT MIDNIGHT 7 DAYS

All meals exclude additions, only available on the days listed and cannot be used in conjunction with other promotions or offers. May exclude weekly Specials, Subject to change or cancellation without prior notice.

BRAG :: 419 :: 04:07:11 :: 27

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

ALBUM OF THE WEEK GILLIAN WELCH The Harrow And The Harvest Acony / Shock

It might not be your usual thing, but this record is executed so perfectly it soon will be. Play it in a quiet moment, and prepare to fall in love.

Gillian Welch may not be the most high profile artist in the world, but those who know her tend to get a little bit crazy when talking to the uninitiated. For ten years now, Welch and her husband Dave Rawlings have been revitalising American folk and roots, breathing life into a musical language that had completely disappeared from the mainstream. They were both involved in the soundtrack of O Brother, Where Art Thou?, played a major part in Ryan Adams’ stunning crossover Heartbreaker, worked with the likes of Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss and The Decemberists, and have released six albums of beautiful music. It’s hard to imagine bands like Fleet Foxes or Mumford & Sons having the same impact were they not following trails blazed by this remarkable duo.

MONA

LONDON ELEKTRICITY

Mona Island/Universal Mona first turned heads in late-2010, making the shortlist of the BBC’s ‘Sound Of 2011’ poll thanks to a handful of excellent gigs and ‘Listen To Your Love’, the first single from this album. And it’s easy to see why. ‘Listen’ is full of that uniquely American, small-town desperation to be free - to pull outta here and win. Like Kings of Leon circa Because Of The Times, the track combines stadium-sized sound with a swagger and a yearning that can’t be faked. Sure it’s sugary, but you can’t help yourself. Sadly, the rest of the album is nowhere near as good as the single – save ‘Teenager’, which rattles along with furious energy and could well be the highlight of their upcoming Splendour set. The enormous space behind their sound too often seems empty and contrived, and although Nick Brown has an amazing voice it seems disingenuous when coupled with such flabby production. ‘Say You Will’ could be a U2 song, but even they can’t get away with this anymore. And the less said about ‘Shooting The Moon’ the better – suffice to say that it sounds more like a parody than an actual rock song. There are signs that Mona could do something worthwhile, but if they do, it won’t be like this. This album sounds as though every record executive in the world, concerned about the low sales of KoL’s latest, cast their net high and wide to find the most instantly radio-friendly, generic stadium rock possible in order to recoup their losses. And you can’t make music like that. There are good raw ingredients here, but the final product is so processed it’s barely even music anymore. McNuggets are great and all, but not when real chicken is at hand. Hugh Robertson

Yikes! Hospital Records / Central Station Having cut his teeth as an acid jazz musician in the 80s, Tony Colman, aka London Elektricity, has never really been one to adhere strictly to the blueprint of club drum 'n’ bass. Despite his acumen as the co-founder of one of the genre’s most influential labels, Hospital Records, he has always differed from the label’s major artists, preferring to sample a session drummer instead of cutting up that tired old Amen break, and cramming as much live instrumentation into his productions as possible instead of relying on soft synths and plug-ins. Intentionally avoiding songs destined for the dance floor, Yikes! is an album where the skeletal plaster cast of the DnB sound has been used as a guide only. Shunning dark, dirty club life and industrial strength P.As, Colman instead embraces classical piano melodies and the haunting vocals of Elsa Esmeralda. And while the album is not without its up-tempo numbers, like lead single ‘Meteorites’ and title track ‘Yikes!’, the LP’s main attraction remains the restrained beauty and elegance that the rest of the album conveys. Whether through the sparse album opener ‘Electricity Will Keep Us Warm’, the psychedelic guitar pop of ‘Round The World In A Day’ (featuring the drumwork of Pendulum’s Kevin Sawka) or the hypnotising trip hop-inspired ‘Fault Lines’, there is a variance to Yikes! that will hold your attention from start to finish; a common fail point in many electronic LPs. Like all good albums, the listener is rewarded for sticking it out until the end, and finisher ‘Invisible Worlds’ shimmers through four minutes of beatless atmospherics and vocals, before unleashing a frenetic symphonic wave to close.

The Harrow And The Harvest sits on the more traditional, minimalist side of the Welch/Rawlings oeuvre, complete with banjo and hand-slapping percussion. But as always, it is the exquisite attention to detail that will take your breath away. Welch and Rawlings are responsible for every sound on this album, and the intimacy of their relationship is mirrored in the delicate, intricate intertwining of fingerplucked guitars and honest, clear voices. Hers is always the main focus, and with good reason, but when he joins in on ‘Hard Times’, softly singing a weary harmony, it will take your breath away. Like the best country/folk music, the stories in these songs are full of damaged characters desperately longing for relief – whether through escape, revenge or death. And as Welch sings their stories she becomes their joy, their misery, their victories and defeats, her voice bursting and breaking along with her protagonists. Hugh Robertson

PATRICK WOLF

TEX PERKINS & THE DARK HORSES

Lupercalia Speak’n’Spell / Inertia After splitting from Universal after The Magic Position and releasing a fanfunded follow-up, The Bachelor, in 2008, Wolf is back in the system with this release, on UK icon Mercury Records. To go with his cleanly tailored, dove-white outfit in the album art, Wolf pushes few boundaries in this gleaming testament to the simple joys of nature and love. With Lady Gaga singing his praises (not literally, yet) and more significant label resources at his disposal, Wolf is finally poised to try and break the mainstream. But this album is still strange enough to befuddle many of the Little Monsters - although it will satisfy the camp-cravings of the Wolf Pack. Opener ‘The City’ is, in true Wolf form, a showstopper packed to the brim with handclaps, grand declarations and exuberant, over-full phrasing. ‘Slow Motion’ begins in a heartbreaking fashion, curtains rising on a sad young Wolf wallowing in his own uselessness: “Before you I was living / in my silver fish kitchen / fruit fly clouds breathing / no hope, no religion”. It builds predictably yet not obnoxiously, Wolf confessing his simple and relatable gratitude - until the mood is dispelled by a Middle Eastern ululation, the One-Woman Wail vocal they use at crucially dramatic moments in sword & sandal epic films. It’s heavy-handed and lends an air of unearned grandeur to a song expressing essentially humble feelings. Elsewhere there are Brian May guitars with Muse-ish doom (‘Together’), and the kind of genuinely affecting almostdisco Kate Bush made her own; but little of it quite hits home, and all the raw edges feel buried in production.

S/T Dark Horse Records Tex Perkins ain’t what he used to be. The guttural whiskey-from-the-bottle roar that led the Beasts Of Bourbon through the early '80s has long lain dormant, moving in gradually calmer steps through The Cruel Sea and collaborations with Don Walker and Tim Rogers, to find him in his current throne at the front of The Dark Horses. Here he plays the brooding romantic, trading the gritty blues of his past for a swooping wall of sound and his unforgettable baritone. From the heartbroken sentiment straining through its opening tome (“I’ve changed everything about me that you didn’t like…so what do you want now?”) to the wistful ‘So Much Older’, Perkins roots his poetry in the lost and confused. Nothing is ever settled throughout the album’s sprawl, its subjects at the knife’s edge of heartbreak; either seeing it coming (“you always like the silence, I could never see it through, so I wait for words to come”) or considering its passing (“didn’t have to change much with the lack of your noise, but it’s easier without you.”) It’s these unsettled moments of romance that Perkins paints so uniquely, only ever resting with the album’s reflective coda; “as my thoughts wash over me, the past is easier to see, and things don’t seem so bad after all.” Tex Perkins has long been one of the country’s most consistent and acknowledged songwriters, but it’s this album which conclusively proves the mettle of his age-worn evolution from brawler to bawler.

With his third full-length, London Elektricity has created that elusive “album” of electronic music.

Wolf is well on his way to making the sleekest, wisest Euro-pop there is, but it’s terribly bloodless next to the elemental precocity of his first few albums.

With the Dark Horses his guide, Perkins has released one of this year’s most uniquely serene records, a highlight not just within his discography, but within 2011’s increasingly impressive body of Australian music.

Rick Warner

Caitlin Welsh

Max Easton

INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK DADS Man Of Leisure independent

Dads is Tom Iansek, the guitar-andvox half of stupendous Melbourne duo Big Scary. Iansek’s voice and guitar style are a captivating mix of unearthly and relatable, fingerpicked delicacy and fuzz pedals, and Man Of Leisure shifts around accordingly, melding bedroompop breathiness and moody grunge like the love child of Grace and For Emma, Forever Ago.

28 :: BRAG :: 419 :: 04:07:11

Most of the album runs on a thrumming heartbeat of acoustic guitar, keys, sparse drums and subtly layered background noises, from children playing to rain on the roof. Iansek wisely stacks the loudest moments together in the middle: ‘Song For Two (Sung By One)’ is grungy around the edges, with terse, multi-tracked acoustic verses and knotty, distorted interludes. It leads straight into ‘So Long’, whose moody jangles are straight out of the Jeff Buckley playbook, as is the impassioned delivery of lines like “I only want you more because I cannot have you”. While that might be an all-too-common sentiment, the way he trails off at the end of it makes it sound as though he’s well aware of the cliché and all the more pissed off at himself for living it.

Man Of Leisure feels clammily intimate and gently bracing by turns, like hiding under the doona in a dark fog of breath and skin, and then emerging to feel cold air on your face. While some tracks are hard to differentiate from Big Scary’s softer moments at first, a pattern does emerge: without Jo Syme’s precise, animated presence on drums, Iansek’s songs stretch out and settle in, like a partner left to sleep in when the other’s left for the day. It’s not that it’s better being alone, but sometimes it’s nice to have the whole bed to yourself. Wrap your ears and your arms around this – it’s a little treasure. Caitlin Welsh

BLACK LIPS Arabia Mountain Vice The horns might be muted, but as Black Lips' latest album opener ‘Family Tree’ rears up, its production stamp is brazenly clear: Mark Ronson, the very same gent behind Amy Winehouse’s good bits and the giddy aura of 1960s revivalism. While admittedly I fancy Black Lips’ earlier work more, a cursory listen to Arabia Mountain reveals that Ronson hasn’t messed with any points of their appeal. Simple and tappable melodies with occasional forays into garage mischief-making are still hustling the engine room, and the singalong vocals, employed as a stylistic feature through the band's back catalogue, still enjoy a fun dominance through the record. But has Ronson added anything to the band’s sound? He’s shown admirable restraint in embracing points of similarity without taking over their established sound, yet it’s impossible to dismiss the fact that there are sixteen tracks here - and some of them are fairly middling. The track lengths have been chopped, but the tail-end still begins to wear out, with the constant sweet whistles and references to “fresh maggots on my teeth”. Deerhunter’s Lockett Pundt has produced two tracks in the middle of the album, and it pays off in a moment of forceless control during the second half of ‘Go Out And Get It’. Pundt stacks the guitars so that they threaten to overwhelm the whole sound, and the band feels poised to descend into the same kind of anarchic anal-gazing as on 2004's We Did Not Know The Forest Spirit Made The Flowers Grow. But then, just as the tension peaks, the guitars begin to fade-out, with Pundt allowing the band one briefly indulgent yet welcome final jam. Don’t stress – Ronson hasn’t let them go too shmancy. Arabia Mountain is dirty, tight fun with just a touch of maturity. Benjamin Cooper

OFFICE MIXTAPE And here are the albums that have helped BRAG HQ get through the week...

THE VINES - Highly Evolved GRANDADDY - The Sophtware Slump CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH - S/T

FRIENDLY FIRES - Pala DUNGEN - Tio Bitar

BRAG :: 419 :: 04:07:11 :: 29

live reviews What we've been to see...

LIVE ON THE LANES: RUBY ROSE Strike Bowling, King St Wharf Thursday June 23 As venues for a club night go, you could do a lot worse than a bowling alley. Personally, in my more pubescent days, bowling alleys were the precursor to going clubbing, because they served the same purpose in so many ways; a dimly lit venue blasting repetitive yet familiar music, providing muchneeded opportunities to interact with the opposite sex under the guise of ‘having fun with your mates’ before your mum texted you to say she was waiting outside in the car and did you want to go via the Macca’s drivethrough as a treat on your way home…

club / live music night called Live On The Lanes; they launched in May with a set from Bag Raiders. “It’s all about making it more like a club, where there just happens to be bowling available,” I’m assured by the venue’s marketing rep, ‘H’. Among the DJ roster for tonight’s entertainment is music personality Ruby Rose, who could be seen sinking gutterballs and enjoying pizza before her set. And as the alley morphed into a heaving dancefloor, I knew one thing: this was a far cry from my memories of bowling alleys... This was something very new. And very fun.

Tom Hoare

Strike Bowling have capitalised on their venues’ status as after-work entertainment, and launched a new

: ASH LEY MAR R OUR LOV ELY PHOTOG RAP HER

THE GRATES, GUINEAFOWL Oxford Art Factory Friday June 24

: TIM LEV Y OUR LOV ELY PHOTOG RAP HER

happy, fun part of the show on his enormous shoulders.

KATCHAFIRE The Enmore Theatre Friday June 24 This band just keeps on getting bigger. Every time I turn up to see them, the good word has spread further, and more and more friends have jumped on board the Katchafire train; the band that began as a Bob Marley tribute band in Hamilton, NZ, has now matured into one of the most cherished original reggae bands in the world. This tour was in honour of their fourth record, On The Road Again, and across all four LPs, Katchafire have recorded some of the finest modern reggae being produced at the moment.

This gig was better than the Toots & The Maytals show for me, and I’m a huge Toots fan. The artists are generations apart, but the Katchafire show was more relevant, less gimmicky, the sound was bigger, and the crowd brought mountains of love with them. It was one of those special Enmore gigs, punctuated by clouds of thick white smoke, where the vibe was spot on.

Tony Two Tone

The big thing that’s changed about the band since they first toured in '03/'04 is their stage presence and confidence. The Enmore was pretty full this particular Friday night - not Fat Freddys full, but it was a coup for Katchafire – and the confidence the turnout instilled in the band was palpable. Two standouts in my mind were the colossal tracks ‘Get Away’ and ‘Collie Herb Man’, from debut record Revival; some of Katchafire's earliest work still stands out as some of their finest. But we did hear from the new record as well, which has been growing on me day by day, and there’s some future hits to come from this justreleased LP for sure. The best thing about Katchafire for me is the three accomplished male vocalists fronting the band; it’s what separates them from their peers. It helps that none are small in stature so their harmonies make for a big sound - no doubt one of the reasons their recordings have proved so popular as well. It is, after all, exactly how Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer wrote and played together for a long, long time – and we know how successful that partnership was. And so with Katchafire comes a certain authenticity of approach, that reggae and Marley fans by default latch on to. A special mention goes out Haani Totorewa, on keys, vocals and horns no less, who carries a big,

: KAT RINA CLA RK OUR LOV ELY PHOTOG RAP HER

30 :: BRAG :: 419 :: 04:07:11

It’s been a long time since The Grates played a gig in Sydney, but a capacity crowd at OAF shows that their absence has only made our hearts grow fonder. The place was packed from the start of Guineafowl’s set, and although it seemed evenly split between those who got here especially and those who just wanted a good spot for the main event, all present were rewarded with a really strong opening set. My spies report that the band have been recording their debut album in recent weeks, and it did seem as though frontman Sam Yeldham was a little weary, but his worn-out vocals added something to the songs. Following the release of their EP, the strike against them was that they had been polished and produced to within an inch of their lives - but with Yeldham subdued it was possible to get past the shiny facade to the heart of songs that have always been darker than they seem. And after months of endless gigging, the Sydney six-piece seem to be really hitting their stride live. If they are able to put a little more of themselves into their upcoming LP, it could well be a sight to see. Or hear. Whatever.

BIG VILLAGE PRESENTS: DJ MIGZ, LOOSE CHANGE, TUKA, DAILY MEDS, TRUE VIBENATION, ELLESQUIRE Tone, Surry Hills Saturday June 25 To launch their Big Things Volume One compilation, the Big Village crew don’t throw just any kind of party. Hosted by Thundamental’s Jeswon, they throw the kind of party that puts Tone’s dancefloor through its paces and has everyone in the room moving to some of the finest hip hop talent in Sydney at the moment. DJ Migz kicks off the proceedings, laying down a selection of hip hop beats and grooves to warm everything up. Loose Change make no hesitation getting into the swing of things, and by the time ‘Murder the Track’ is dropped, Big Things are underway indeed. Tuka (from Thundamentals) is next in the roll call of the Big Village family, and proves exactly why he’s the person on everyone’s lips right now, combining whip smart freestyles with a healthy amount of swagger. “You all look very handsome tonight,” he smirks to the room, before informing us that we all came to get the

Before The Grates began, my greatest fear was that the assuredness of the new material might make the first two albums seem weak and underdone – still great fun, of course, but clearly the work of a younger, less confident band. Happily though, the extra snarl of Secret Rituals has filtered through the back catalogue, and all that red cordial energy has been harnessed and channelled into kicking ass. The new live setup can take much of the credit for this, with Ben Marshall a more aggressive presence on drums and Miranda Deutsch adding that missing bit of muscle on bass and keys. ‘Feels Like Pain’ perfectly exhibited the extra grunt, delivered with ‘Teen Spirit’-esque sound and fury. As always, Patience Hodgson was the perfect combination of frontwoman sexiness and barely-repressed energy; stage-diving, smiling and making everyone believe her when she said that every time she played a gig in Sydney, she felt like she should applaud the audience. And for the finale she came on stage wearing a gigantic jumper with a monster on it, whose mouth unzipped to unleash flurries of confetti. What more could you want?

Hugh Robertson

fuck down. And get the fuck down we all do; ‘Boom Kat’ and ‘Work’ threaten to cave the place in altogether. Local hip hop heroes Daily Meds remind us all why we’re here; their infectious live energy filters down to the crowd, and tunes like ‘Daylight’ and ‘SBS and ABC’ are still some of the best party-inspiring beats around, with P Smurf’s and MC Mikeon’s frenetically-paced freestyles offset by Billie Rose’s vocals, which add that extra something to keep the floor moving. True Vibenation bring the funk for the evening, with Verbaleyes and Native Wit bringing a slightly different flavoured style of hip hop to a mix that moves between soul and funk influences – ‘We Are’ shows these boys know how to mix a smooth flow with inspired, original beats. Ellesquire rolls out, throwing down the cleverly-penned, bombastic tunes he’s known for, before being joined by fellow Loose Change vocalist Rapaport for newest single ‘Secrets’. Finally, the entire Big Village family storm the stage, performing the all-in collaboration track ‘Be My Guest’. Make no mistake: there are huge things on the horizon for locally produced hip hop if tonight’s showcase is anything to go by.

Marissa Demetriou

THE HORRORS “IT SHOULD BECOME A LIFE-TIME ALBUM.”

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BRAG :: 419 :: 04:07:11 :: 31

Remedy

More than The Cure since 1989 with Murray Engleheart

(USA) + JACK LADDER + DONNY BENET

Off!

OZ GETS OFF!

December will bring us a tour by old-school hardcore superduper group Off!, the new project for Keith Morris (ex-Black Flag/ Circle Jerks), which also features the Godheadness of Steve McDonald from Redd Kross.

(US (USA)

NEVERMIND

Nirvanaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Nevermind, the album that opened the major-label floodgates for any band with a distortion pedal, long greasy hair and a pair of dirty jeans, gets a 20th birthday makeover in September, in a huge deluxe package that includes four discs plus a DVD with rarities and out-takes and an album of live stuff that has never seen the light of day. Us? We still canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get over the fact that Dave Grohl has gone from the bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dorky-looking drummer to the coolest rock man on the planet. But thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just us.

JACK WHITE

If there was any lingering doubt that Jack White is the one-man show of nearly the past two decades, NME have effectively canned all further debate with a new iPad app on the former White Striper. Further, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve done a one-shot mag â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a medium which is usually the exclusive domain of established heavyweights like The Stones, The Beatles, Zeppelin, The Clash and The Who â&#x20AC;&#x201C; on his career.

LOU REED

Lou Reed has another live DVD out in August called Lollapalooza Live, taken from his appearance at the Chicago festival last August. The best part for us is that beanied guitarist Steve Hunter (from the Berlin and glorious Rock â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Roll Animal albums) is involved.

THE 100 CLUB

Alice Cooper played Londonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tiny one-time punk hole The 100 Club last week, in what must have been the smallest venue heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s performed in since the late â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;60s. The setlist was as much of a surprise as the gig itself, with songs like The Yardbirdsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Train Kept A Rollinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, The Stonesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Brown Sugarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, The Beatlesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Back in The USSRâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, The Kinksâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;You Really Got Meâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and Hendrixâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Fireâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x201C; all betraying ACâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s big love for the era â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in amongst lesser known Alice classics such as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Under My Wheelsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Muscle Of Loveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. In October, The Coop will be back in the UK for a run of dates with The New York Dolls.

COLD CHISEL

That Cold Chisel are reissuing an archival release on July 22 is pretty damn cool, and just fine with us. Sure, we know, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s yet another reissue of their back catalogue (which still sells at near record numbers each year), but each one comes with a DVD. Good enough. The real meat is the digital release of 56 songs, which is largely late-â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;70s stuff from when they were the finest blues rock outfit in the country, firing before yet-to-be-packed houses and blowing off international tourists like Foreigner. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a triple j Live At The Wireless from March 1977, a show from St Leonards Park in North Sydney in May 1978 (where they were on the same bill as The Angels), The 1977 Demo Tape, a 13-track collection punningly called Never Before (as in previously unreleased) and the just as sharply titled Besides â&#x20AC;&#x201C; B-sides/Bonus Tracks/Rarities. Amongst the DVD footage are nine songs filmed at the Manly Vale Hotel the week the East album was released, their infamous smash it up appearance at the 1980 Countdown Awards and an 11-song ABC show from the 1978 Breakfast At Sweethearts era.

FAIR GO FOR OZZY

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been most uncomfortable for some time that far too many people laugh at Ozzy Osbourne rather than with him â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the difference is crucial â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and that the great man is generally portrayed as a fool instead of the elder statesman he is and should be. And weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not the only ones; ask people like John Lydon. But rather than pull back from that positioning it seems heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s being encouraged to keep the circus in town for as long as possible. Exhibit A: a coming book called Trust Me, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m Doctor Ozzy. Doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t sound one hundredeth as smart and cool as that effort on Mr Richards called What Would Keith Do?, does it?

ON THE TURNTABLE On the Remedy turntable is the new Fucked Up effort, David Comes To Life â&#x20AC;&#x201C; which is really something. While the raves that led up to its release were all about the high brow â&#x20AC;&#x153;rock operaâ&#x20AC;? thing (this column included), the fact is that this is as raw as almost anything Poison Idea or The Bronx ever did, but with a greater sweep of trad rock influences from The Beatles to The Byrds even if theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re only fleeting glimpses. Mighty impressive stuff. A nod to the past, a nod to their roots and a pink eye to the future without compromising a single thing.

TOUR AND INDUSTRY NEWS Bed Wettinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Bad Boys and The Woollen Kits are doing a double 7â&#x20AC;? launch with Marf Loth on July 8 at the Roxbury Hotel, Glebe.

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Yep, Bostonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ultra crunchers, Doomriders, will be here in July with special guests I Exist â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and the support slots have now been announced: on July 23 at the Annandale theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be joined by Lo; on July 24 at the Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle, by Safe Hands; and on July 25 at the ANU Bar, Canberra, by 4 Dead.

Lost Animal are in store at Brother Chris Sammutâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Repressed Records at Newtown, at 6pm on Saturday July 9. The Laurels

The Laurels, Panel Of Judges and

Send stuff to remedy@ozemail.com.au by 6pm Wednesdays. Pics to art@thebrag.com www.facebook.com/remedy4rock

RES EATEST PLEASU O OF LIFE’S GR MARRYING TW

ND MUSIC GREAT FOOD A Y

Calling ts all artisand e iv L r fo Locals! Contact: es. ott events@liz com.au

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WWW. LIZOT TES.COM.AU BRAG :: 419 :: 04:07:11 :: 33

snap sn ap up all night out all week . . .

mum party profile

It’s called: MUM It sounds like: An out of control house party celebrating damn fine rock and rhyme. Who’s playing? King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard, March Of The Real Fly, The Walk On By, The Fabergettes, The Walking Who, Sweet Teeth and MUM DJs Sell it to us: Five bars in five rooms, plus a huge terrace, taken over by raging party animals, including seven bands and millions of DJs and now extra heating for winter - including a fireplace in the main bar. The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Rediscovering how awesome the World Bar teapots are. Crowd specs: Tattooed and party savvy, with an appreciation for blended party tunes, whether it be a crazy band or a mind-blowing bedroom producer, and DJs that might throw any thing your way from Womack & Womack to Wu Lyf, Beastie Boys to Best Coast, Cut Copy to Curtis Mayfield. Wallet damage: $15 / free for students before 10pm / $10 after Where: The World Bar / 24 Bayswater Rd, Kings Cross

apra awards red carpet

PICS :: KC

When: Friday July 8 / 8pm ‘til the break of day

papa vs pretty

PICS :: KC

hot damn

PICS :: AM

21:06:11 :: Carrigeworks :: 245 Wilson Street Eveleigh 8571 9099

23:06:11 :: Q-Bar :: 34-44 Oxford st Darlinghurst, Sydney 9331 2956

26:06:11 :: Q-Bar :: 34-44 Oxford st Darlinghurst, Sydney 9331 2956 :: CAI GRIFFIN:: ASHLEY MAR :: S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER :: SON VEN STE ICK PATR :: RKE DANIEL MUNNS :: KATRINA CLA

34 :: BRAG :: 419: 04:07:11

nowhere feat. kisschassy 25:06:11 :: The Gaelic Theatre :: 64 Devonshire St Surry Hills 92111687

PICS :: CG

pash

PICS :: AM

24:06:11 :: Annandale Hotel :: 17 Paramatta Rd Annandale 95501078

snap

up all night out all week . . .

THE NOMAD

tim rogers

PICS :: AM

& RAYJAH + BENJALU + BENTLEY + DJ ABILITY

mum

THURSDAY 8PM

JULY 7TH

PICS :: TP

23:06:11 :: Annandale Hotel :: 17 Paramatta Rd Annandale 95501078

24:06:11 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700

siamese

party profile

It’s called: SIAMESE It sounds like: Well - it sounds like the bands I guess, they’re listed below. Who’s playing? Donny Benet, Brous, Kirin J. Callinan, Circle Pit, Dead China Doll, Domeyko/Gonzalez, FLRL, Forces, Jon Hunter, Marf Loth, Erik Omen, Panel Of Judges, Chris Petro, Laurenz Pike, Qua The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Christ, I’d imagine you’ll be lucky to remember anything if you drink like we do, but I guess seeing some of the country's most interesting and engaging emerging performers collaborating live on the night might stick in your mind, assuming there’s anything left of it the next day. Crowd specs: Sick c***s. I mean, you’re going to be there, aren’t you? Wallet damage: $10 Where: GoodGod Small Club When: July 7, 14 & 21 / check the Siamese Facebook group for each lineup

:: CAI GRIFFIN:: ASHLEY MAR :: S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) MAS PEACHY OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER THO :: SON VEN STE RKE :: PATRICK DANIEL MUNNS :: KATRINA CLA

BRAG :: 419 :: 04:07:11 :: 35

g g guide gig g

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com

pick of the week

Ernie Garland The Hive Bar, Erskineville free 6:30pm Pat O’Grady, Monii, Chris Brookes, Massimo Presti, Nathan McKenna, Russell Neal Kellys On King free 7pm

TUESDAY JULY 5 ROCK & POP

Adam Pringle Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Elle Kennard The Vanguard, Newtown $8 (+ bf)–$12 (at door) 6:30pm Embrace Tokio Hotel, Darling Harbour free 8:30pm Mash Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills free 10pm Matt Jones The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8:30pm Steve Tonge O’Malley’s Hotel, Darlinghurst free 9:30pm Terry Serio, Ministry of Truth The Basement, Circular Quay $15 (+ bf)–$63.80 (dinner & show) 8pm The Listening Room Vault 146, Windsor free 7pm They Call Me Bruce Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 9:30pm Third Watch Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 10pm

JAZZ

Davood Tabrizi & the Far Seas Eastside Arts, Paddington $22 (member)–$28 8pm Mark Gordon The Manhattan Lounge, Sydney free 6:30pm Marty Weiczorek, Jess Green’s Bright Sparks 505 Club, Surry Hills $8 (member)–$10 8:30pm Peter Head Harbour View Hotel, The Rocks

FRIDAY JULY 8

The Panics

Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst

The Panics,

Split Seconds, Grace Woodroofe $25 (+ bf) 8pm

MONDAY JULY 4 ROCK & POP

Bernie The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8:30pm Mandi Jarry Opera Bar, Sydney Opera House free 8:30pm

Michael Feinstein (USA) Sydney Opera House $99.90 (+ bf)–$139.90 (+ bf) 8pm O’Malley’s Got Talent O’Malley’s Hotel, Darlinghurst free 8pm Stephanie Jansen Coogee Bay Hotel, Beach Bar free 9pm The Rocks Choir The Merchant’s House, Sydney free 6pm

The Thing Os Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm

JAZZ

Bernie McGann Quartet 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 8:30pm

ACOUSTIC/FOLK

Chris Turner, Peter MillerRobinson, Bright Lights,

Open Mic Night Coach and Horses Hotel, Randwick free 8pm Open Mic Night Down Under Bar & Bistro, Kings Cross free 7:30pm Paul Jackson The Basement, Circular Quay $50 (+ bf)–$98.80 (dinner & show) 8pm Peabody, The Holy Soul, Royal Chant Rock Lily, Pyrmont free 8pm Philip Ricketson Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Steve Kilbey, Ricky Maymi (USA), Meow Kapow Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach 8pm The Hoo Haas Sandringham Hotel free 8pm

JAZZ

Peter Head Harbour View Hotel, The Rocks 8pm Tom O’Halloran Trio 505 Club, Surry Hills $10–$15 8:30pm

COUNTRY

James Blundell, Catherine Britt Brass Monkey, Cronulla $29.60 (presale) 7pm

THURSDAY JULY 7 ROCK & POP

031 Rockshow Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 10pm Chatswood Musical Society Gillian Moore Centre for Performing Arts, Pymble Ladies’ College $23 (child)– $33 7:30pm Chris Connolly Guildford Leagues Club free 10pm Craig Thommo, Craig Thommo Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 8:30pm Delorean Tide, Lower Coast Skies, Mad Charlie Annandale Hotel $10 8pm

ACOUSTIC/FOLK

Ken Mclean, Russell Neal Coach & Horses Hotel free 7pm

WEDNESDAY JULY 6 ROCK & POP

Andy Mammers Duo Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 9:30pm Chatswood Musical Society Gillian Moore Centre for Performing Arts, Pymble Ladies’ College $23 (child)– $33 7:30pm Cilla Jane The Vanguard, Newtown $10 (+ bf)–$45 (dinner & show) 6:30pm Dave White Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 11pm Elizabeth Rose, Pom Pom, Jugu, Tim Fitz Tone $8 7:30pm Embrace Tokio Hotel, Darling Harbour free 8:30pm Goodnight Dynamite O’Malley’s Hotel, Darlinghurst free 9:30pm Mike Bennett The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 9:30pm Musos Jam Night Live at the Wall, Leichhardt free 6pm

The Holy Soul

“Boil an egg, have a cuddle, cut your toe-nails, make the bed”- SEX & DRUGS & ROCK & ROLL 36 :: BRAG :: 419 : 04:07:11

Siamese: Donny Benet, Kirin J. Callinan, Brous, Omen, Laurenz Pike Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $10 8pm Go With Colours, Alice Terry, Slow Waves Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills 8pm Jimmy Webb (USA) Sutherland Entertainment Centre $54 (conc)–$59 8pm Johnathon Devoy Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Musos Club Jam Night Carousel Hotel, Rooty Hill free 8pm New Manic Spree, Joel Myles & the Jetpack Academy The Gaff, Darlinghurst free 8pm Old Man River, Gabrielle & Cameron (Dead Letter Chorus), Patrick James Brass Monkey, Cronulla $17 (+ bf)–$22 (at door) 8pm Our Monk, Hey Big Aki, Tales In Space, Sid Air Landsdowne Hotel, Darlington free 8pm Snout Casette, Xanthopan, Anima, NewLover, The Pigeon Hole Project, Carnival Of Electric Dreams Oxford Art Factory 8pm Soul Nights Tokio Hotel, Darling Harbour free 9pm Steve Edmonds Band Empire Hotel, Annandale free 7:30 Steve Kilbey, Ricky Maymi (USA), Jill & Alsy, Richard Lane Notes Live, Enmore $28.60– $53.05 (dinner & show) 7pm The Broderick, Fixtures Spectrum, Darlinghurst $12 (guestlist)–$15 8pm Tony Mazell & The Four Tunes, Paradise Greek Band South Sydney Juniors, Kingsford free 8pm

JAZZ

Andy Glitre The Basement, Circular Quay free 5pm Christa Hughes 505 Club, Surry Hills $20–$30 Peter Head Trio Harbour View Hotel, The Rocks 8pm

g g guide g

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Sally Street, Gerard Masters, James Muller, Alex Hewetson, Evan Mannell Slide, Darlinghurst $20–$60 (dinner & show) 7pm

ACOUSTIC/FOLK Constant Project Valve Bar 7pm

COUNTRY

James Blundell, Catherine Britt The Basement, Circular Quay $30 (+ bf)–$78.80 (dinner & show) 8pm

FRIDAY JULY 8 ROCK & POP

Alibrandi, Cave Of The Swallows Live at the Wall, Leichhardt 8pm Art vs Science, Strange Talk Enmore Theatre $42–$62 (incl CD) 7pm Bang Shang A Lang Club Cronulla free 8:30pm Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys, Woollen Kits, Marf Loth The Roxbury, Glebe $10 8pm Blackbird Hum, TonkSGreen, Ange Murphy The Eastern Lounge, Chatswood $14 - $16 7pm Chartbusters Rooty Hill RSL Club free 8pm Chatswood Musical Society Gillian Moore Centre for Performing Arts, Pymble Ladies’ College $23 (child)– $33 7:30pm Dragon Brass Monkey, Cronulla $44.90 (presale) 7pm

wed

Jenny Marie Lang Guildford Leagues Club free 10pm Kitchen Knife Wife, Lunch Tapes, The Filthy Steppers DJs Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $15 8pm Lawrence Baker Hawkesbury Hotel, Windsor free 7:45pm Light My Fire The Basement, Circular Quay $25 (+ bf)–$73.80 (dinner & show) 9pm Mental Elf The Hero of Waterloo Hotel, Millers Point free 7pm Night Owl Down Under Bar & Bistro, Kings Cross free 8pm OMG Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 10pm Over the Edge Club Five Dock, Five Dock RSL free 8pm Panorama Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 10:30pm Powderfinger Show Penrith Hotel free 10pm Rapture Club Rivers, Riverwood free 8:30pm Sarah McLeod Vault 146, Windsor $25 (presale) 8pm Satellite V Rose of Australia Hotel, Erskineville 9pm Seeker Lover Keeper, Toby Martin The Factory Theatre, Enmore $40 (+ bf)–$50 (incl CD) 7:30pm Soul Nights, Radio City Cats, Mr Fabulous Tokio Hotel, Darling Harbour free 8pm

ACOUSTIC/FOLK

Ty Segall

A Commoner’s Revolt, Ducks in the Mud, The Lurkers Jura Books, Petersham 7pm Susan Hurley & The Hurricanes, Iron Bar Hotel, Buck & Deanne The Vanguard, Newtown $20 (+ bf)–$55 (dinner & show) 6:30pm

SATURDAY JULY 9 ROCK & POP

St. Abbey, Jugu The Whitehouse Hotel, Petersham free 7pm Stars of Addiction, Mechanics of Creation, The Pastics Annandale Hotel $8 7:30pm Steve Edmonds Band Pyrmont Bridge Hotel free 9pm Swinging Sixties Unity Hall Hotel, Balmain free 9:30pm Tall Pop Syndrome South Sydney Juniors, Kingsford free 8:30pm Tessa & The Typecast, Pear Shape Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm The Dead Love Fitzroy Hotel, Windsor free 8:30pm The Former Love Pirates, The Deer Republic, Solkyri,

Brendan MacLean Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $10 8pm The Groove Academy Water Bar, Woolloomooloo free 6pm The Laurels, Sounds Like Sunset, Kills City Creeps and Ghastly Spats Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free 8pm The Mercy Beat, Steppin’ Razor, Dividers Town Hall Hotel, Newtown 8pm The Panics, Split Seconds, Grace Woodroofe Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $25 (+ bf) 8pm Toucan Kurnell Recreation Club free 8pm The Singing Skies, Transcriptions Of Organ Music, Saskia Sansom

Petersham Bowling Club 8pm Two Minds Customs House Bar, Sydney free 7pm Two Tribe Matraville Hotel free 7:30pm Ty Segall (USA) Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $26 (+ bf) 8pm Wolverines Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $29 7pm

JAZZ

Declan Kelly 505 Club, Surry Hills $15 8:30pm Hannah James Group, James Sherlock The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Chippendale $10 (member)–$20 8:30pm

STATE OF ORIGIN GAME 3

July

Wednesdays Riot House Comedy

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

thu

07 July

45% *5,9

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

fri

08 July

(5:00PM - 8:00PM)

(9:15PM - 1:00AM)

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

sat

09 July

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

10 July

SUNDAY NIGHT (8:30PM - 12:00AM)

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

ROCK-STEIN TRIVIA

STRIP!

THE STUDY PRESENT

DAVID JOHNSTONE

4(5 *5,9

GO WITH COLOURS

&2)

*5,9

3!4

&2%%9 %.42

TUESDAYS

7%$ *5,9

sun

SATURDAY NIGHT

1927 Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $43–$98 (dinner & show) 7pm 2 Of Hearts Brighton RSL Club, BrightonLe-Sands free 8pm Chatswood Musical Society Gillian Moore Centre for Performing Arts, Pymble Ladies’ College $23 (child)– $33 2pm, 7:30pm Australian Pink Show, Katy Perry Show Blacktown RSL Club free Autodidakt Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst 9pm Brackets, Jackie Onnasis, Spangled Mistress, The Rubens Annandale Hotel $10 6pm Brian Gillette Guildford Leagues Club free Calling Mayda, Dragon Old Manly Boatshed 7pm Chartbusters Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills free 9:30pm Dear Orphans, Karl Broadie Mars Hill Cafe, Parramatta $15 8:30pm

&2%%9 %.42

THE FIRE TREE + SPECIAL GUEST

SLOW WAVES + ALICE TERRY PURPLE SNEAKERS PRESENT LAST NIGHT

KITCHEN KNIFE WIFE

LUNCH TAPES + THE FILTHY STEPPERS

OUROBOROS

*5,9 A MILLION DEAD BIRDS LAUGHING MYTILE VEY LORTH

PLUS YOUR FAV PURPLE SNEAKERS DJ’S

SYDNEY ROLLER DERBY LEAGUE OFFICIAL AFTERPARTY

12/07 ROCKSTEIN TRIVIA + STRIP 13/07 DANIEL ALLARS + RIOT HOUSE 16/07 MAJOR RAISER 21/07 CROSSROADS LAUNCH NIGHT 23/07 NOWHERE/BODYJAR 28/07 FOSTER THE PEOPLE 30/07 VTRIBE + BUD SPELLS 31/07 LOS SKELETONE BLUES

COMING SOON

BRAG :: 419 :: 04:07:11 :: 37

g g guide gig g We has internets!

Extra bits and moving bits without the inky ﬁngers.

www.thebrag.com

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Ebony & Ivory Penrith Hotel free 9pm Elevate Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 10pm Endless Summer Beach Party Club Cronulla free 8:30pm Gentle Ben & His Sensitive Side, Kira Puru & The Bruise, Made For Chickens By Robots The Vanguard, Newtown $16 (+ bf)–$35 (dinner & show) 6:30pm Greenthief Landsdowne Hotel, Darlington free 8pm Highway To Hell Fitzroy Hotel, Windsor free 8:30pm Ignition, Mark De Costa Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 10:30pm Kaleidoscope Cronulla RSL free 7pm King Gizzard & The Wizard Lizard Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm Old Man River, Owl Eyes, Gabrielle & Cameron Notes Live, Enmore $19.90– $44.40 (dinner & show) 7pm Ourobos, A Million Dead Birds Laughing, Mytile Vey Lorth, Alice Through The Windshield Glass Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $15 (+ bf) 7pm Pat Capocci Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre $9 (conc)–$19.50 (adult) 4:30pm Red Fire Red, Young Romantics, Strike The Blonde, Bedlam in Belgium, The Good God Damned, The Eve Schroder Band, Samba Ninja Live at the Wall, Leichhardt

Old Man River $15 7pm Rex Goh, Chris E Thomas, Bernie Segedin, Louise Perryman, Floyd Vincent, Clare O’Meara, Tim Wedde, Steve Bull, Lloyd Gyi State Theatre, Sydney $89 (B Res)–$119 (premium) 8pm Seeker Lover Keeper, Toby Martin The Factory Theatre, Enmore $40 (+ bf)–$50 (incl CD) 7:30pm Shy Guys Unity Hall Hotel, Balmain free 9:30pm

Stormcellar Pendle Hill Inn free 8pm Tales in Space, Sniffer Dogs, Paris Club, Red Slim, Bandintexas, Howler, Bonney Read, Sam Joole, Lemongrass, Artifical International, Drover Man, Mushu, Friends of Man, Thieves, Syd McRitchie Band, Sam Jones, Skan De Ville, The Chris Rose Band Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach The Australian Pink Show Celebrity Room, Blacktown RSL Club free 10pm

WEDNESDAY 6TH JULY

THURSDAY 7TH JULY Thur 21/07 Tiny Ruins (NZ) Fri 22/07 The Strides + Uncle Jed

SATURDAY 9TH JULY

Sat 23/07 The Sins Single Launch + The Glamma Rays + The Pork Collective Fri 29/07 Last Waltz Revival

WEDNESDAY 13TH JULY

FRIDAY 15TH JULY

Sat 30/07 Sarah McLeod Thurs 4/08 Wouter Kellerman (South Africa) Sat 6/08 Café Of The Gate Of Salvation With guest Paul Capsis Tue 16/08 Kevin ‘Bloody’ Wilson Fri 19/08 Songlines

SATURDAY 16TH JULY

Thur 25/08 After The Goldrush Tribute Fri 26/08 Jeff Martin & Terapai Richmond Wed 31/08 The Amazing Rhythm Aces (US) Fri 9/09 Otis Redding 70th Birthday Celebration w/ Johnny G & The E Types

38 :: BRAG :: 419 : 04:07:11

JAMES BLUNDELL

& CATHERINE BRITT THURSDAY 7TH JULY

OLD MAN RIVER

+ Gabrielle & Cameron (Dead Letter Chorus) + Patrick James

FRIDAY 8TH JULY

DRAGON

SATURDAY 9TH JULY A TRIBUTE TO

JOHNNY CASH:

FEATURING: STUART FRENCH AND DANIEL THOMPSON TUESDAY 12TH JULY

LITTLE JOHNNY THE MOVIE

Feature length animation based on Little Johnny jokes

THURSDAY 14TH JULY

MARTINEZ AKUSTICA

+ Imogen Harper (Guineafowl) + The Firetree

Friday 15 July Dan Sultan & Alexander Gow Saturday 16 July The Paper Scissors Sunday 17 July Mark Seymour Friday 22 July Bob Marley Tribute Saturday 23 July Stevie Ray Vaughan Celebration Tuesday 26 July Ninth Pillar Thursday 28 July Sarah McLeod Friday 29 July Bachelor Girl Saturday 30 July The Last Waltz Revival Sunday 31 July Bones Atlas Thursday 4 August Diesel Friday 5 August Kira Puru Saturday 6 August Mr Percival Sunday 7 August Bones Atlas Wednesday 10 August Panda Band Thursday 11 August Matt Corby Friday 12 August Ray Beadle Saturday 13 August James Taylor Tribute Sunday 14 August The Louds Tuesday 16 August Boats Of Berlin Wednesday 17 August Bob Log III Thursday 18 August Wendy Matthews Friday 19 August Rock Box Saturday 20 August FisherKing Sunday 21 August Jace Everett Wednesday 24 August Alvin Youngblood Hart Thursday 25 August Craig Woodward Friday 26 August King Tide Saturday 27 August Andy Bull Wednesday 31 August Jeff Martin Thursday 1 September Jeff Martin Friday 2 September Owl Eyes Saturday 3 September A Tribute to Bob Dylan Sunday 4 September Bonjah Friday 9 September Ian Moss Saturday 10 September Ian Moss Thursday 15 September The Trews Saturday 17 September Johnny G & The E Types Saturday 24 September Classic Rock Show

g g guide gig g

25 years experience in the industry working with Australia’s premier musicians.

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com The Bandits South Sydney Juniors, Kingsford free 8pm The Buddys Campbelltown RSL free 8:30pm The Laurels Repressed Records, Newtown free 6pm The Revellers, Fire to the Haystack, Crows Feet Coogee Diggers $10 (at door) 8pm The Rumjacks, Topnovil, Rock Steady Dub Militia, The Handsome Young Strangers, Sweat & Shame, Billy Demos The Red Rattler Theatre, Marrickville $15 4pm The Shuffle Boys Club Five Dock, Five Dock RSL free 8pm Thousand Needles in Red, Floating Me, Electric Horse, Stone Parade, Red Remedy The Lair, Metro Theatre, Sydney $22 7pm Tice & Evans, Kaki Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 4pm Xtra Hot Engadine RSL & Citizens Club free 8pm

JAZZ

Kafe Kool Supper Club Fairfield RSL Club free 7pm Old Time Band The Hero of Waterloo Hotel, Millers Point free 2pm Paul Sun, Matt Lamb, Monique Lysiak Riverside Girls High School, Gladesville free 9:30am Pear & the Awkward Orchestra 505 Club, Surry Hills $15–$20 8:30pm Peter Head Harbour View Hotel, The Rocks 5pm

The Catholics The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Chippendale $20 (member)–$25 8:30pm

ACOUSTIC/FOLK

Afro Moses, Ebb N Flo The Basement, Circular Quay $20 (+ bf)–$68.80 (dinner & show) 8pm Nova Tone The Belvedere Hotel free 9pm

COUNTRY

Stuart French, Daniel Thompson Brass Monkey, Cronulla $23.50 (presale) 8pm

SUNDAY JULY 10 ROCK & POP

8 Ball Aitken Marrickville Bowling and Recreation Club 4:30pm Ace Brighton RSL Club, Brighton-LeSands free 7pm Double Agent Club Five Dock, Five Dock RSL free 4pm Elevation U2 Acoustic The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 4:30pm Exit Strategy The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 8:30pm Holy Balm, Model Citizen Tone $5 7pm Kell Taylor, Bradley Cork & The Folklore Mantra Annandale Hotel $8 3pm Kelly Hope Vault 146, Windsor free 2:30pm Matchbox 20 Tribute Show

Stone Parade Fitzroy Hotel, Windsor free 6pm Paul Jackson Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $56 7pm Peter Northcote Bridge Hotel, Rozelle $10 3pm Project Mayhem The Valve, Tempe 8pm Tessa & The Typecast, Royal Chant Town Hall Hotel, Newtown free 8pm The Slowdowns Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free Triple Imagen South Sydney Juniors, Kingsford free 8pm Twin Set Campbelltown RSL free 5pm

JAZZ

Freddie Mack Cronulla RSL free 12:30pm Josh McIvor The Belvedere Hotel free 5pm Mark Hopper Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 3pm

Old Time Band The Hero of Waterloo Hotel, Millers Point free 2pm Peter Head Trio Harbour View Hotel, The Rocks 3:30pm Sean Coffin Quartet Cafe Sydney free 12pm Unity Hall Jazz Band Unity Hall Hotel, Balmain free 4pm

ACOUSTIC/FOLK

Green Jam The Hero of Waterloo Hotel, Millers Point free 7pm Shane MacKenzie Cohibar free 5pm

COUNTRY

Doug McIntyre Cat & Fiddle Hotel, Balmain free 3pm The Slowdowns Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 4pm

‘our recordings cut through the noise’ Offering: • In-house mastering suite including analog chain • CD Manufacturing & Duplication • Analog to digital transfers & remasters • Record, Mix, Master Package deals • State of the art analog & digital including 2˝ tape & pro tools • Highly experienced in-house engineers

02 9331 0666 bookings@damiengerard.net www.damiengerard.net STUDIO:

174 Mullens St Balmain OFFICE:

230 Crown St Darlinghurst

COOGE E SAT JULY 9

TRIPLE SHOT OF ORIGINAL ROCK

3 LOCAL ORIGINAL BANDS FOR $10 @ DOOR

THE REVELLERS + FIRE TO THE HAYSTACK + CROWS FEAT FRI JULY 15

VARIETY BASH FUND RAISER FEATURING:

SOPHIE KATINIS & PLANET GROOVE & NATHAN FOLEY Tix & info at www.planetgroove.biz/band-faq/charity-fundraiser.html SAT JULY 16

SARAH MCLEOD SAT JULY 30

THE SNOWDROPPERS MON AUG 1

‘LITTLE JOHNNY’

ADVANCED FILM SCREENING WITH LIVE INTRODUCTION BY KEVIN ‘BLOODY’ WILSON

Band Bookings

info@codeone.net.au - www.codeone.net.au

Tickets & info from www.coogeediggers.com.au

COOGEE DIGGERS 9665 4466 CORNER BYRON & CARR STREETS

USE ME.

BRAG :: 419 :: 04:07:11 :: 39

gig picks

up all night out all week...

TUE 5 JUL FREE

THU 7 JUL $10

FRI 8 JUL $12(DOOR)

BUY THE BAND A BEER FEATURING: WARM WATERS (FRONT BAR)

THACKER BEAT RUIN GLORIA + CAVE OF THE SWALLOWS + ALIBRANDI + HARD AS NAILS

SAT 9 JUL $15(DOOR)

24 FESTIVAL FEATURING: RED FIRE RED + BEDLAM IN BELGIUM + STRIKE THE BLONDE + MORE

DOMINO - BIG JOE RUMBLE – DIRTY LITTLE IMMIGRANTS – ARCADIA – PEGAZUS - FORBIDDEN Art vs Science

WEDNESDAY JULY 6 Steve Kilbey, Ricky Maym, Meow Kapow Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach 8pm

THURSDAY JULY 7 Siamese: Donny Benet, Kirin J. Callinan, Brous, Omen, Laurenz Pike Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $10 8pm

FRIDAY JULY 8 Art vs Science, Strange Talk Enmore Theatre $42–$62 (incl CD) 7pm Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys, Woollen Kits, Marf Loth The Roxbury, Glebe $10 8pm Seeker Lover Keeper

40 :: BRAG :: 419 : 04:07:11

The Laurels, Sounds Like Sunset, Kills City Creeps and Ghastly Spats Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free 8pm

Thousand Needles in Red, Floating Me, Electric Horse, Stone Parade, Red Remedy The Lair, Metro Theatre, Sydney $22 7pm

The Singing Skies, Transcriptions Of Organ Music, Saskia Sansom Petersham Bowling Club 8pm

SUNDAY JULY 10

Ty Segall (USA) Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $26 (+ bf) 8pm

SATURDAY JULY 9 Old Man River, Owl Eyes, Gabrielle & Cameron Notes Live, Enmore $19.90–$44.40 (dinner & show) 7pm Seeker Lover Keeper, Toby Martin The Factory Theatre, Enmore $40 (+ bf)–$50 (incl CD) 7:30pm

Holy Balm, Model Citizen Tone, Surry Hills $5 7pm

Holy Balm

brag beats

BRAG’s guide to dance, hip hop and club culture

dance music news club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Chris Honnery

he said she said WITH TEVO

HOWARD (USA) finished a new album for Dutch label Rush Hour with DJ Toma Sumo, and for that record we mainly used a TR808, SH101 and a Nord Lead. I was very lucky to work with Tracey Thorn from Everything But The Girl on ‘Without Me’ for Rebirth Records - she was the only person that could have sung it. I also work with my father on my music; he does vocal takes for me and kills it every time.

started to DJ in 1987, when I was about thirteen or fourteen years old. That same year I had a pretty bad knee injury in a skateboard accident (I wiped out), and I found myself bored at home a lot. Pretty much the only things I was interested in were skateboarding and music, and with skateboarding not really an option I started messing around with the turntables that

sat in the room my brothers and I all shared. Skip forward a few years to 2008 and I’ve now set up my own label, Beautiful Granville Records, which is distributed around the world… and here I am today. New wave was a huge source of musical inspiration for me, probably the first music that really got me into electronic

sounds. An early favourite was a band from the UK called Vicious Pink. Some more recent acts that keep me inspired are Kate Simko, Melvin Oliphant and Jamal Moss. My music is probably best described as techno, with a definite Chicago House feel. I use a lot of analogue gear; my favourites are my Juno 106, 303, 707 and 909 - though I’ve just

I’m pretty excited about coming to Australia for the first time. I’ve been based in Berlin, Germany for a few weeks now, and I’d really like to keep learning new languages - I’ve always wanted to be fluent in Spanish, though that will likely take some time. For the music I’m making, I’ve been getting some really nice support from my hometown of Chicago and a few other American cities as well, but it does really feel like my European audiences most appreciate the music I’m making. With: Carlos Zapate, James Fazzolari & Future Classic DJs Where: Adult Disco @ Civic Underground When: Saturday July 9

SEEKAE TOUR

Gemini

After a string of sold-out Australian shows over summer and a successful UK tour, Seekae are back to play a series of hometown shows. The Sydney three-piece have a sound that ranges from post-dubstep to experimental ambiance, and has received rave reviews from a variety of publications including The Independent, who featured them in their March article ‘Most blogged artists: TV on the Radio, Seekae, The National’, and UK website Inverted Audio, which described Seekae’s sophomore LP +Dome, released earlier this year, as depicting “a far more ambitious vision of the future than any other Australian act has ever attempted”. +Dome was a release on which Seekae tapped into a much wider sonic palette than they had previously attempted, traversing house, jazz, techno and the after-effects of garage and dubstep; it’s no surprise that friends of mine were left smarting outside of Tone when the venue reached capacity for one Seekae’s previous performances. The lesson? Grab your presale ticket in advance to guarantee your entry. Seekae will perform at The Metro on Saturday August 20, and their highly recommended album +Dome is out now on Rice is Nice.

RADIO SOULWAX

OPIUO

Originally from New Zealand but now residing in Melbourne, the peculiar Opiuo will perform his first ever headline show in Sydney at Oxford Art Factory on Friday July 29 en route to launching his new EP, Squiggle. Opiuo experiments with jazz, reggae, funk, rock and psychedelic influences, and has performed alongside the likes of MC Hammer, Bassnectar, FreQ Nasty and Tipper. His recent full length album, Slurp And Giggle, has been nominated for Best Dance / Electronic Release at the Australian Independent Music Awards, and can be procured through Addictech Records. Opiuo will be supported by Melbourne’s JPS, and presales are currently available online.

“2ManyDJs’ labour of love is almost ready,” proclaimed Tiga through Facebook. “Just be happy you are alive to experience this.” The Turbo Recordings main man was referring to ‘Radio Soulwax’, a pioneering online/appdriven radio station conceived by 2ManyDJs that launches/ed globally on Monday July 4. “We had been asked many times to make another 2ManyDJs compilation and to be honest we didn’t see the point,” Dave Dewaele of 2ManyDJs revealed. “People’s ways of finding out about music and listening to music has changed so dramatically in the last 10 years that we didn’t really care for putting out another CD with the shelf life of a few months and the limitations of how much we could physically fit onto it... So we applied for an internet radio license, which gives us the freedom to play and stream whatever we want

Cassian

WHAM!

This Saturday at the World Bar, WHAM! brings the party – as it does every frigging Saturday. As the press release divulges, “When you’ve got five rooms to fill with party from 8pm to 7am, and a crowd that just won’t put up with average music, you don’t have much choice but to enlist the man Modular describes as a ‘Zulu synth warrior’ Cassian (Sweat It Out) and his army”. The aforementioned ‘army’ comprises James Taylor, Pablo Calarmari, Illya, Mattt, Boonie, Mike Who, Daigo, Bentley, Pipemix, 14th Minute and My Lord Chiari. But that of course is just the tip of the iceberg – if we named every DJ playing at WHAM!, we wouldn’t have room on the page to cover other vital items of interest; to get the full experience you’ll have saunter down to World Bar on Saturday. Entry is free before 8pm, $15 till 11pm, $20 after, and the later you go the longer the line grows, until it becomes what certain punters have described as the ‘Bayswater Anaconda’.

without having to clear any of it, as long as we make it free, which was more important to us than making money on it.” The result as it stands is a growing collection of 24 one hourlong mixes – described as “more like musical films based on the record sleeves with visuals” – that are available online for free, and the concept will surely evolve over time. In addition to the live online feed, Radio Soulwax will be available to stream and download via a fully interactive iPhone/iPad/Android application. Hit radiosoulwax.com to check it out.

WU-TANG 2ND SHOW

With their first show unsurprisingly a sell-out, a second and final Wu-Tang Clan Sydney show has been announced for Thursday August 4 at Enmore Theatre, with tickets on sale now. The clan will be at near full strength, with Wu-Tang mainstays Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, GZA, U-God, Masta Killa, DJ Allah Mathematics, DJ Street Life and the son of the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Young Dirty, all heading Down Under to represent. Supporting the Wu-Tang Clan on their Sydney leg is Phaze One, the duo of Australia’s M-Phazes and Emilio Rojas, whose self-titled LP is out at the end of the month.

“They’ve got womanly breasts under pale mauve vests, shoes like dead pigs’ noses”- SEX & DRUGS & ROCK & ROLL BRAG :: 419 :: 04:07:11 :: 41

dance music news

free stuff

club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Chris Honnery

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

five things WITH Growing Up My father wasn’t very musical, except for 1. late night renditions of Bette Midler and Elton John in his little office in front of the computer. My mum, on the other hand, was a big Herb

KATO

Alpert fan, so I guess that’s where I got a love for Latin music and funk. I also came across a mad tape from a cousin, of early U2, Van Halen and other assorted ‘80s radio hits. In my teens I was a lead singer in a punk band called Jizz Mopper - but I quit to go record shopping. Inspirations The Beastie Boys pretty much taught me 2. everything. Before the internet, I would just read interviews with them and their magazine Grand Royal, and order literally anything they namechecked from the only indie record store in Newcastle. This actually worked pretty well, turning me on to the likes of Goldie, Chemical Brothers, A Tribe Called Quest, Minor Threat etc. Your Crew I’ve been a solo man most of the years, 3. but along the way I’ve had a great support network including Dan Aux, Dan De Caires and the bandits crew, Anna Lunoe, The United Colours Crew, Q45, Levins, Toni Toni Lee, Jono Ma and Adam Bozzetto, who I’m currently working with on a new project called wordlife – we’ll be releasing some stuff on Bang Gang 12 Inches soon, so that’s an exciting new chapter for me.

TORTURED FT BARBARA TUCKER & QUENTIN HARRIS

Tortured Events presents a warehouse party at Sun Studios in Alexandria on Saturday September 10, featuring two icons of the NYC house scene, Barbara Tucker and Quentin Harris. As the co-founder of The Underground Network, the longest running club night in NYC’s history, Tucker is a celebrated house diva who has collaborated with the likes of Louie Vega, Lil Louis, Danny Tenaglia and The Pet Shop Boys over the course of an epic career that stretches back to the early cretaceous period and spawned such anthems as ‘Most Precious Love’. Harris meanwhile released his second album, Sacrifice, last year, which featured collaborations with the likes of Inaya Day and David Morales, and showcased sounds that ranged from upbeat house to a slightly harder-edged electro funk, a sound that fellow New York stalwart Danny Tenaglia

KATALYST

has dubbed “hard and soul.” But Harris’ finest moment as a producer remains the Thievery Corporation-sampling ‘Let’s Be Young’, an absolute house gem that still holds up today. Presale tickets are available online, including a VIP option that offers access to the VIP garden, with artists and table service.

The Music You Make Ok, the wordlife sound exists in a 4. futuristic UK house realm, where broken ghetto beats and attitude sit alongside 4/4 grooves – Jamie xx, classic house music, Hudson Mohawke, Ramadanman, Untold, Sound Pellegrino, Bugz In The Attic and Baltimore Club are all influences. I play all different kinds of stuff (hip hop, R&B, house, techno, dubstep, booty, rock, funk) as long as I like it, but if I don’t like it there’s no way I’ll play it. It’s more important to keep my soul intact.

Music, Right Here, Right Now Lately I’ve been really inspired by warehouse parties, Jackmaster’s Fabriclive mix, Mount Kimbie live at the Future Classic party, GoodGod Small Club, Plastician at Void, Doc Daneeka at the last Rude? party, FACT mixes, the MOTORIK crew, Azari & III at the Vivid festival and playing forward-thinking nights - like Movement at the Beach Road Hotel.

With: Kato, Victim, Huwston, Mason & Bennett (Paper Plane Project), Preacha + special guests Where: Movement @ Beach Road Hotel When: Each Friday, 8pm-midnight

Sydney-based producer Katalyst is getting pumped to play his first show after a severalyear hiatus, and you can bet he’ll be serving up a bunch of new beats and tunes that he’s been cooking up in the down time. The return of the man behind the ubertalented Space Invadas will be happening on Saturday July 9 at Sydney’s newest venue that comes courtesy of Mr. Justin Hemmes: Upstairs @ The Beresford. Katalyst will be joined by Steve Spacek, Hau, Mr Clean, Leeroy Brown & Don Data. The hip hop head and beatsmith will also be performing his new single ‘Ready To Drop,’ featuring Kween G from KillaQueenz – who’s also making it down on the night. There are two double passes up for grabs - just tell us Katalyst’s real name…

DANCE CLUB @ FAKE CLUB Sydneysiders have been subjected to an influx of trendy small bars that have been trading quality dance floors for a ridiculous amount of spray-painted milk crates to inhibit our overwhelming urge to get down… Jerks, AMIRIGHT? But never fear - Sydney’s most promising one night stand, Dance Club, is here to help you channel all of that built-up dancing energy with some of the world’s hottest DJs. This Friday July 8 at Fake Club (2a Roslyn Street, Kings Cross), the UK’s renowned DJ and producer Boy 8-Bit is headlining, supported by STARFUCKERS DJS, Anna Lunoe, Gus Da Hoodrat and Kato. We’ve got two cheeky double passes to the event – email us the name of the secret killer move you’ll be busting out on the night...

Alphamama

MODESELEKTOR

Berlin duo Modeselektor have announced details of their long-awaited new album. Simply titled Monkeytown after their record label, the LP will consist of ten new tracks, and as is the Modeseleketor album tradition, it will feature a slew of guests. Already confirmed for Monkeytown are two songs featuring Radiohead’s Thom Yorke – a huge fan of Modseleketor – and appearances from Australian trio PVT, rapper Busdriver, AntiPop Consortium and Miss Plantnum. The album follows the pair’s collaborative project with Apparat under the name Moderat, who released an acclaimed album back in 2009. But that wasn’t the first time the three had collaborated; they actually worked together on a lone EP as Moderat before the bulk of their recorded careers got underway. Monkeytown’s release is penciled in for September 30 in Germany, with the UK to follow on October 3 and the US on October 4. Where Australia fits into that I’m not sure, but it’s safe to say we’ll get it sometime in early October.

PARKLIFE TICKETS ON SALE Richard Durand

GODSKITCHEN: A TRANCE ODYSSEY

“Trance … the final frontier,” the latest Godskitchen press release begins. The renowned trance brand returns on Sunday October 2 (the October long weekend) with a quartet of international headliners; Dutch export Marco V, his compatriot Richard Durand, Englishmen John Askew – responsible for the albums Lower The Tone and Z List Uber Star – and Ben Gold, the son of Graham Gold, with local support still to be announced. The party will feature the usual premium quality production that Godskitchen events have come to be renowned for, including “mindbending cosmic lasers, astronomical AV shows and crystal clear sound”. The trance odyssey lifts off at 10pm at the Hordern Pavilion, with tickets on sale 9am Wednesday July 13 through Ticketek.

A timely reminder that Parklife tickets are now on sale through www.parklife.com.au. In addition to ‘Standard’ tickets, you have the option of purchasing the aptly named ‘More Expensive Tickets’ to embellish your Parklife experience with ‘leisurely little touches’. The more expensive tickets provide access to the exclusive Garden Bar which features a cocktail bar, a viewing platform, VIP toilets, undercover areas, a concierge with phone charging, canapés, massages and more... And to recap, the lineup itself comprises The Gossip, Lykke Li, Santigold, the reformed Death From Above 1979, Duck Sauce, Digitalism, The Streets, Simian Mobile Disco, Magnetic Man, SebastiAn, Diplo, Mstrkrft, Sebastien Tellier, Little Dragon, Mylo – where the fu*k did he disappear to for the past seven years? – Wolfgang Gartner, Tensnake and plenty more.

JACQUES RENAULT

Jacques Renault, a man widely recognised around New York as a leading purveyor of underground disco and a key figure in the resurgence of the genre over the past few years, returns to Australia to play a set for Future Classic at Adult Disco, at the Civic Underground on Saturday August 27. First catching the eye through his output on the Wurst Edits and RVNG of the Nerd imprints, it was the release of the anthemic ‘Brooklyn

ALPHAMAMA EP LAUNCH

With a culturally diverse heritage drawing on her Indonesian and South African roots, Alphamama launches her debut EP at Tone on Wednesday July 13. Co-produced by West Labz, the self-titled release encapsulates the broad sonic palette of Alphamama via a collection of eclectic cuts; the funk-infused ‘If Ya Gon’ Lie’, the reggae-inspired ‘Bad Appel’ and the soulful ‘Dawning’. Alphamama’s performance will feature special guests Danny G Felix, Milan, Ngaiire, Mirrah, West Labz and Kween G, along with an all-girl horn section (which sounds delectable, right?). The show starts at 7.30pm, while the EP is available through Creative Vibes (and there will undoubtedly be copies available on the night).

Club Jam’ – which Renault made with his friend Marcos Cabral under the pair’s Runaway moniker – on both DFA and Radioslave’s Rekids label that propelled Renault to that next level of fame; we’re talkin’ coke, money, sex and glamour (maybe). He has since remixed the likes of Moby, LCD Soundsystem, Holy Ghost!, Chairlift and Sydney’s own Lost Valentinos, and released on Permanent Vacation, Italians Do It Better and Cosmo Vitelli’s Im A Cliché imprint. And for all of you wanting to talk excitedly about this gig, please keep in mind that Jacques Renault is pronounced ‘Jaark Ren-oh’. Got that? Smashing!

JOELISTICS TOUR

Fresh from supporting the likes of The Herd and Lowrider, TZU frontman Joelistics will embark on his own headline tour in support of his solo debut album, Voyager, which was released on May 20 through Elefant Traks. Self-produced and written in France, Mongolia, China and Australia, the album explored themes of travel, modern world paranoia and growing older; as Rave asserted, though it “may be clichéd to call an album a journey… it’s too blatantly true of Voyager to avoid”. Joelistics will be joined by special guests ISHU and Daily Meds at the Sandringham Hotel in Newtown on Saturday August 6.

“I’m partial to your abracadabra, the unforeseen erogenous zones”- SEX & DRUGS & ROCK & ROLL 42 :: BRAG :: 419 :: 04:07:11

BRAG :: 419 :: 04:07:11 :: 43

Donny Benét Never Stop Searching For Love By Mikey Carr

aised by seminal Italian disco accordionist Antonio Giacomelli Benét, Donny Benét is an artist in whom the bloodline of disco runs deep. Yet as is so often the case with music industry families like this, there is as much pain as joy in the story of how Donny came to be the artist he is today.

“Listening to all that music when I was young, it was sort of ingrained into me,” Donny tells me, as we sit by the vegetable patch in the back garden of his family’s Hurstville compound. Lined with white-washed concrete walls, with a smattering of statuettes in various states of disrepair dotting the freshly mown grass, Donny seems at home here, sitting at a wrought iron patio table in a matching chair of impossibly uncomfortable design. “I’ve been playing music a long time,” he continues. “My father used to do a lot of weddings and birthday parties, all that kind of thing, and he used to let me sit in with the wedding band on the modern music set. He taught me a lot about slap bass and accordion I guess - ” he trails off, with a touch of regret. Because while at first his father saw Donny as a remarkable prodigy and the heir to his own disco throne, Donny turned away from the accordion to embrace the pitch-bending Moog synthesiser – and Antonio felt betrayed. To see his son turn away from the accordion, the instrument to which he had dedicated his life, proved too much, and he hasn’t attended one of Donny’s shows since. “The last time he saw me play

“My father was always poking his head in and giving me advice. ‘You’re not going to make it unless you put an accordion solo in’ stuff like that.”

was at the Roselands Westfield,” he tells me. “I was performing as part of a talent show there, and that was the day I decided to stop playing accordion. After that he said he could never come and see me perform again. “There was a lot of friction after that. I told him, ‘Look, the accordion just doesn’t work anymore, it doesn’t appeal to the people, it’s just not sexy enough,’” Donny explains, caught up in the telling. “You see, with the Moog synthesiser you can actually pitch-bend notes and time that in with different body movements. I tried to tell him that, but he thought it was too sexual, to tell you the truth. He thought I was being disrespectful to the art of disco, but I couldn’t be held back.” Torn up inside by the rift between him and his father, Donny decided to do what so many artists before him have done. He went to Vegas. “That was a bit of a favour from my father’s old manager, Frank Fiorelli,” he tells me. “He had a lot of contacts in Vegas and told me to go over because it was a really good place to cut your teeth. He got me this gig at the Las Vegas Airport Hilton, playing covers between the breaks of this Tom Jones tribute show they had running, so it was a real tough gig trying to keep the punters from leaving. I kind of had to sexualise his songs a lot more to keep them all interested, make them a little bit more risqué, and I think that carried over to my own songs.” Growing in fame and reputation, and going on to take over the coveted lead billing at the airport Hilton Ballroom (this time playing disco classics), still nothing could dull the longing for love left in Donny’s heart after being shunned by his father. “I’m always seeking out love, and maybe the problems with my father and how I feel about that are to blame. That has definitely made it through to the songs. There are a lot of songs about me trying to find love with women, and having trouble. I had a lot of that in Las Vegas actually, to tell you the truth.” Fed up with the loveless life of Las Vegas and playing other people’s music, despite his success, Donny finally found the love of his

life, now known simply as Mrs Benét. “Well to all my female fans, I should probably keep Mrs Benét a bit quiet, but she is a family friend, a good honest Mediterranean girl, and she really helps keep things in perspective,” he gushes. “We do a lot of gardening together and fruit picking and long walks on the beach, it’s a good wholesome relationship.” With the love of a good woman, and a newfound belief in himself, Donny returned to Australia with one aim in mind: to never hold back. Burying the hatchet with his father, Donny and Mrs Benét moved back into the family home, Antonio proving to be a big influence on the album (even though he still hasn’t fully accepted Donny’s move away from the accordion). “He was always poking his head in and giving me advice – when he wasn’t yelling at me about something,” Donny tells me. “You know, stuff like, ‘You’re not going to make it unless you put an accordion solo in’ – stuff like that.”

With the album Don’t Hold Back set for release in early July, Donny is preparing to embark on a tour of the Japanese Country and Golf Club circuit (“There is a big disco following in that crowd,” he tells me) before supporting Warpaint on their upcoming Australian tour. Donny Benét will never be held back; yet still, with all of the hype surrounding him – and tour offers coming in from everywhere from Crete to Malta – Donny wants to make sure that people don’t lose the message of music. What message, you ask? As Donny puts it, “That you should never stop searching for love.” What: Don’t Hold Back is out July 8 through Rice Is Nice Where: SIAMESE @ Goodgod Small Club With: Donny Benét, Kirin J. Callinan, Laurenz Pike, Brous, FLRL and more When: Thursday July 7

Hermitude Bring It Back By Andrew ‘Hazard’ Hickey

usic starts at home for Luke Dubber, who works under the equally-impressive name ‘Luke Dubs’, of Hermitude. The seeds were planted by his jazz musician father, who would keep him up at night blasting vintage records from his stereo. Moving to metropolitan Sydney from the scenic Blue Mountains with Elgusto (aka Angus Stuart, the other half of the group), the duo’s instrumental hip hop earned acclaim in Asia, Europe and Australia. After three Hermitude albums and numerous production credits, the team parted ways to pursue solo endeavours through 2010 - but now it’s back to home sweet home, as they reform for a new album. In their time away from Hermitude, both members stayed prolific. Elgusto helped produced Urthboy’s lauded Spitshine album, while Dubs toured with Paul Mac and became part of the travelling Tom Tom Crew, joining founder and allround kick-ass drummer Ben Walsh and beatboxing champion Tom Thum. In what may sound like a rather strange brew, the renowned theatre show combines hip hop and acrobatics in one explosive presentation. Dubs helmed the sampler and keyboard as some of Australia’s finest performers wowed audiences with breathtaking gymnastics. “It’s a different kind of show, playing in theatres. We went through Europe for a few months, going to the Netherlands and France and everywhere in between. It’s a much different vibe to Hermitude, but it was a lot of fun. It was inspiring.” Even with his obvious enthusiasm, it’s easy to hear that his heart lies with his old friend and their group. “It’s been great returning to [Hermitude],” he admits. The last time Luke and ‘Gusto hit the studio was for 2008’s well-received Threads. Their next effort, Luke confirms, will be entirely instrumental. “We’re back, back to write a new record,” he says emphatically. “It’s really exciting - we haven’t been in the studio for a couple of years. It’s really good to get in there to write new music. We’re deep in the studio zone.” Fresh from their performance at the annual

“We’re back, back to write a new record. It’s really exciting - we haven’t been in the studio for a couple of years. We’re deep in the zone.”

Winter Magic Festival in their hometown of the Blue Mountains, Hermitude will be returning to the road, starting the action with a bit of Party & Bullshit. The show, the second half of the ‘Sydney Sounds Like’ fundraiser organised by the lovable hooligans at FBi Radio, will see them headlining a night at FBi Social this Saturday. “Australia’s always a bit more rowdy,” he says, when I ask him to compare us to the other crowds. “I guess people know us the most over here; we get a really great response. Especially lately, I don’t know if it’s just me or if people are getting crazier.” While Japan and China have proven strong markets as well, he says the audiences there make them work for it. “Japan’s a bit more reserved, but they come out of themselves by the end. We’ve done really quiet shows in Japan and then we’ve done big ones. It’s quite a contrast between the first time we went over and the last times. It picks up a lot when there’s a big crowd; when some of them are excited they’re all excited. Japan’s

got a fascinating culture. We love what’s going on over there. We want get back there as soon as possible,” he says. “Malaysia was interesting, they’re really cool but they were definitely harder to get through to and to get moving. I think by the end of the set we had them - once the tempo lifted up a little bit and became more dancefloor friendly.” The disconnect between a song’s genesis in the studio and its translation to a live medium is always tough for an artist, but Dubs believes that Hermitude have it easier. “Because we’re instrumental, we can pretty much go anywhere. We usually have a pretty good idea of which songs go down well and which ones don’t.” This keen artistic sense didn’t come overnight though. “When you first do an album it’s quite interesting, because you only have a few songs that you think will go off. A few gigs into our first tour we really figured out which ones worked and which ones didn’t.”

Having grown up with Stuart, as friends and as performers, Dubs believes the dynamic between them has changed a lot. “We completely had no idea about performing when we first started. When you start out doing your music, you’re not really thinking that far ahead, you’re just enjoying the process of writing some songs. It’s been an awesome ride over the years, making records and seeing where they take us. They’ve taken us to some pretty crazy places,” he chuckles. There was certainly no expectation of international love when the two ventured from the Blue Mountains, as teens… “I guess it’s like any band: you just kind of start out doing it for fun, hanging out, and then all of a sudden you’re gaining a bit of popularity, and then you have all these opportunities present themselves,” Dubs says humbly. “We’ve been really lucky, you know, to get the opportunity to go to all these places, and play music in front of all these people.” What: Sydney Sounds Like – Party & Bullshit With: Dase Team 500, Thundamentals, Bingethinkers, Kato, Anna Lunoe, Moriarty, 104 Collective, Disco Punx, Monk Fly, Stephen Ferris, Toni Toni Lee and loads more Where: Across four levels @ Kings Cross Hotel When: Saturday July 9

“I could be a lawyer with stratagems and ruses. I could be a doctor with poultices and bruises”- SEX & DRUGS & ROCK & ROLL 44 :: BRAG :: 419 :: 04:07:10

Soul Sedation

Deep Impressions Underground Dance and Electronica with Chris Honnery

Soul, Dub, Hip Hop & Bottom-heavy Beats with Tony Edwards

Soul Sedation goes live every Wednesday night on Bondi FM (88.0 or bondifm.com.au). Tune in 10pm 'til midnight to hear a deep and soulful selection of the tunes covered here, and plenty more that I don't have room for.

his column is still on a high from the Katchafire gig at the Enmore Theatre last week. The Kiwi collective put on an impressive performance, and the fans (who are growing every gig) turned out in force. There was a lot of love going round the venue that night. The show was in honour of the new Katchafire album, On The Road Again, which is out now. It’s a great recording, their production and arrangements are getting slicker, but it’s the same old sound you know and love. Flick to the live review section of this issue for the full run-down of the show.

Four Tet

hile it’s inevitable that I'd devote column space to the announcement of a new Fabric compilation, I’m willing to bow to predictability when news comes to hand that Kieran Hebden, aka Four Tet, will be compiling a new Fabric mix. The veteran electronic producer, who performed a standout set at this year’s Playground Weekender Festival and recently dropped a collaborative 12 inch release with Burial and Thom Yorke, will helm mix number 59 in the longrunning FabricLive series, which is set to be released on September 19. From Four Tet’s recent Twitter posts, it would seem the mix will feature a lot of garage – something that makes sense given the amount of old 2step he’s played in his recent DJ sets – as well as material from David Borden, Funky House Apple, Mike Millrain, Big Bird and Jess Jackson. Most excitingly, Hebden tweeted, “There are going to be new Four Tet tracks on it.” He also revealed, “[I've] got some crazy tracks cleared for the mix too... rare UK underground white label type stuff.” In addition to the compilation for Fabric, Four Tet has divulged that he’ll be releasing some new original productions on his Text label before the end of the year. “There’s going to be another 12” this year, because I’ve made some new tracks for this Fabric mix and I’m going to do a 12” with a couple of them on it,” he affirmed. And in an interview with fellow UK producer James Holden, he asserted that vinyl is still his preferred way of listening to music: “It’s just the way I like it, whatever’s going on with digital stuff or not.” Spanish DJ and producer Henry Saiz has mixed the Balance 19 compilation, which is out now. Saiz’s addition to the Balance canon comprises two contrasting discs; the first is seemingly all about lofi, for which he used analogue formats only, while the second disc appears more dancefloor oriented, traversing tracks from Border Community’s Ricardo Tobar, Eelke Kleijn, Simon Garcia and Okain. The release offers an array of new and exclusive cuts, with Saiz collaborating with Marc Marzenit, Dosem and Pional for tracks that were produced exclusively for the compilation. Additionally, Henry’s new moniker ‘Hal Incandenza’ is unveiled for the first time via the production's ‘Little Mountains’ and ‘Mystical Tree’. As is tradition with all of the Balance compilations, the mix’s release will be accompanied by a DJ tour, and Saiz will take to the decks at Chinese Laundry on Saturday July 23 to showcase an assortment of tracks from the mix, along with plenty of tunes from his personal collection too. Argentinean producer Barem has just released his highly anticipated debut artist album, After The Storm, on Richie Hawtin’s Minus imprint. Barem has been a producer of note ever since he was first signed to Minus, and released his breakthrough EP Kolimar a fair few years ago, which displayed a sound that captured an infectious rolling groove and offered a counterpoint to many of his label mates. Having released a series of EPs and remixes since then, and cemented himself as one of the

LOOKING DEEPER SATURDAY JULY 9 Tevo Howard Civic Underground

Vibrating Balance Label Party Inner-city warehouse

SATURDAY JULY 23 Henry Saiz Chinese Laundry

SATURDAY JULY 30 Picnic ft Simon Caldwell Warehouse venue TBC

leading DJs on the techno scene with memorable sets at the Miami Music Conference, Barem has now finally made the transition into the long player format. The album features ten tracks which, when read continuously, spell out the full sentence ‘There Is Nothing Better Than A Clear Blue Sky After The Storm’, which if nothing else emphasises the superfluous nature of track titles in techno these days; it really is more about distinguishing the tracks from one another, rather than capturing and reflecting the specific mood. Don’t let that perfunctory titling put you off though – After The Storm is not just a selection of club bangers, and if you have a penchant for percussive dancefloor grooves then this LP is a must. It was officially released on June 24, but you’re probably best off ordering Barem’s album online or purchasing it digitally, as I doubt many local CD stores would stock it… though I’d be happy if I was wrong on that one.

Index ft. Rockwell Tone

SATURDAY JULY 9 Katalyst Beresford

WEDNESDAY JULY 13 Alphamama EP launch Tone

FRIDAY JULY 15 The Nextmen Oxford Art Factory Emalkay Fakeclub

FRIDAY JULY 22

The high-bar-setting DJ Kicks series rolls on with a contribution from the Motor City Drum Ensemble; expect deep, jazzy, hypnotic electronica of that ever-so-affected-but-stylish European persuasion. Soul Sedation is intrigued about how this will turn out, and our charming friend Mr Honnery Esq. across the page may well weigh in on this release as well.

DJ Shadow Hordern Pavilion

The UK’s original bad boys, the Stereo MCs, are back with a new record, Emperor’s Nightingale. Lead single ‘Boy’ is a slow, pianoriff-driven ballad-type recording and, typical of any “maturing” outfit, they’re in songwriting mode rather than killer-party-monster mode. We’ll have to wait see what the rest of the album brings – these guys are never an act to write off. First Word Records have released a new full-length from Brighton-based duo Ye Mighty, one of whom you might know from the Dirty Diggers, an act with output on the Zebra Traffic label. Ye Mighty is some deep material, and it’s been dubbed “Ethio-jazz fused with hip hop and breaks”. Anyone who dragged themselves along to the Dereb the Ambassador show at GoodGod last week (gutted I couldn’t make that one) will want to know about it.

Those of you who made the Bass Drop showcase earlier this month may well have plans to hit Tone this Friday. There’s yet more sounds from the Shogun Records family due to pass through, as Rockwell – one of Mixmag’s 2010 players of the year – joins

Deep Impressions: electronica manifesto and occasional club brand. Contact through deep.impressions@yahoo.com.

FRIDAY JULY 8

After a loooong delay that fuelled much speculation and rumour-milling, Upstairs at the Beresford is officially open for business. The Elefant Traks family kicked off proceedings there over the weekend with Urthboy’s appearance, and there’s more high quality hip hop coming, with a Katalyst live show scheduled for this Saturday night. He’ll be previewing tracks from his forthcoming third full-length album, and you can expect Steve Spacek, Kween G, Hau, Mr Clean, and Sleeping Monk to make contributions on the night as well. This will be a massive gig; you can expect all arms of Sydney’s multifarious hip hop community to unite around this show!

Mixed reviews have surfaced around Wiley’s new record, 100% Publishing. Having said that, this column can say categorically that his new track ‘Numbers In Action’ is sick. It’s a massive return to badass form from the British emcee that brought you the truly naff, money-grab recording, ‘Wearing My Rolex'.

Barem

ON THE ROAD

Tokimonsta, Nosaj Thing Oxford Art Factory

SUNDAY JULY 24 Del The Funky Homosapien Oxford Art Factory

THURSDAY JULY 28 James Blake Factory Theatre

FRIDAY JULY 29 Opiou, JPS Oxford Art Factory

SATURDAY JULY 30 AUGUST 4 & 5 Wu-Tang Clan Enmore Theatre

SATURDAY AUGUST 27 Big Boi Enmore Theatre

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17 The Herd + Sietta Metro Theatre

us from the UK. It’s alleged the man will be pushing the sounds of future bass and experimental rhythms, and he’ll probably inject some some trusty old DnB into the mix. The Void fraternity are responsible for all the loud noise, which is happening under their Index banner. ALF, The Abyss, Semper Fi and Void DJs have all been tasked with support duties. The new Thievery Corporation record has hit the Soul Sedation desk. Stop back next week for the down-low on the Washington duo’s latest creation, Culture Of Fear. And I’ll also have a report ready on CO-OP's 2nd Birthday; exactly what Glaswegian headliner Harri brought to the table will be under the microscope. And on that very same disco/ house tip: you’re going to want to know about the release of the Horse Meat Disco III compilation. The London collective of four DJs dig deep into the rare disco, re-edits and new hits, putting together some very tasteful, string-tastic selections. This release in particular has really made my adventures on State Transit’s various services all the more bearable lately.

Thievery Corporation

Send stuff for this column to tonyedwards001@gmail.com by 6pm Wednesdays. All pics to art@thebrag.com BRAG :: 419 :: 04:07:11 :: 45

club guide send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com

club pick of the week

SATURDAY JULY 9

Tevo Howard

Civic Underground, Sydney

Adult Disco

Tevo Howard [USA], Carlos Zapate, James Fazzolari, Future Classic DJs $15 (+ bf) 9pm MONDAY JULY 4 Club 77, Kings Cross Sideways Fridays 10pm World Bar, Kings Cross Mondays at World Bar 16 Tacos, Pipemix free 8pm

TUESDAY JULY 5 The Gaff, Darlinghurst Coyote Tuesday Kid Finley, Johnny B free 9pm The Valve, Tempe Underground Tables Myme, Ato, Gee Wiz, Benji, BC, One Am, Allstars 6pm World Bar, Kings Cross Pop Panic free 8pm

WEDNESDAY JULY 6 Bank Hotel, Newtown Girl’s Night DJ Du Jour 9pm Marlborough Hotel, Newtown DJ Moussa 11pm The Hive Bar, Erskineville Vinyl Club 8pm The Ranch, Sydney DJ Nino Brown, G-Wizard, Troy T, Sax On Legz 9pm World Bar, Kings Cross The Wall free 8pm

THURSDAY JULY 7 Australian Hotel & Brewery, Rouse Hill Glove Cats free 9pm Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach The Nomad, Rayjah 8pm Home The Venue, Sydney I Love Unipackers Steve Frank, John Young $5 8pm Jacksons On George Ultimate Party Venue Resident DJ’s free Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Zeropoint Snout Cassette (live), Xanthopan (live), TOTGU (live), Unknown Function (live), The Pigeonhole Project (live), Carnival of Electric Dreams DJs, VJ Sustenance 7pm The Gaff, Darlinghurst The College Party 9pm The White Horse, Surry Hills Let Loose 7pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Propaganda Propaganda DJs free (student)–$5 (at door) 9pm Tone, Surry Hills Octan, DLR, Wowk, Paul Dred, Whitey, Dauntless $15 9am

FRIDAY JULY 8 Bank Hotel, Newtown Friendly Fridays DJ Murray Hood & Jeremy Kirschner 9pm Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach Movement Kato, Victim, DJ Huwston, Mason & Bennett, Preacha free 8pm Blue Hotel, Woolloomooloo Friday Shines Jazz Nouveau (live) free 6pm Candy’s Apartment Liquid Sky 8pm Cargo Bar, Darling Harbour Ember, Roger’s Room, Bangers N Mash, Kid Crookes, Docey Doe 5pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Breaks & Dubstep Anthems Q45, Dr Werewolf, Def Tonez, Riggers, A-Tonez, Mike Big fx $15–$20 8pm Cohibar DJ Shamus, DJ Jeddy Rowland & DJ Anders Hitchcock free Cronulla RSL DJ Michael Stewart free 8pm FakeClub Dance Club Boy 8-Bit, Starfucker Djs, Anna Lunoe, Gus Da Hoodrat, Kato, Three Fingers, MattRaD, Awkward Boys, Sideways Djs, Joker, Symphony Youth, Roof, Geoffrey James, Jedi Jay, Pages $25 9pm

Goldfish, Darlinghurst Funktank Mike OConnor, Fabz, Drop Dead Ed 9pm Gypsy Nightclub Genisis Scott Richardson, Lyndsay Le Strange, Nick Arbor, toby Matrix, Thomas Knight $22 9pm Home The Venue, Sydney Digital Therapy Adam Byrne, Big J, Likewise DJs $10 9pm Jacksons on George Ultimate Party Venue DJ Michael Stewart free 9pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Falcona Fridays Furnace, The Fundamentals, Alison Wodnerland, Hobophonics, Starjumps, DJ Hansom, Devola, FRIENDS DJs $10– $15 8pm Le Panic Social Network 8pm Oatley Hotel We Love Oatley Hotel Fridays DJ Tone free 9pm Settlement Bar, Sydney Spoilt Mesan DJs free 6pm Supper Club Fairfield RSL Club Intimate Lounge Music 7pm The Red Rattler Theatre, Marrickville Motherland Shiv-R, Pom Pom, Danjerr, Requi3m, Noveaux, Noit Notoir, Chris Wheeler $12 (presale)–$15 (at door) 8pm Tone, Surry Hills Index Rockwell $23 9pm Tonic, Sydney Chicana Djs Amazon Liberty, Mason $10 9pm Watershed Hotel, Darling Harbour Bring on the Weekend! DJ Matty Roberts free 9pm

SATURDAY JULY 9 Bank Hotel, Newtown Slynk, Busta DJs Alex Almeida & Marc Us 9pm Blue Hotel, Woolloomooloo Saturday Night Deluxe DJ Damien Goundrie 8pm Bungalow 8, Darling Harbour Bungalow Nights free 9pm Cargo Bar, Darling Harbour The Institute of Music 9pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Jaytech, Dexter, Ajax, Mattt, Athson, Dos Bangers, Mike Hyper, King Lee, Sushi 8pm Civic Underground, Sydney Tevo Howard, Carlos Zapate, James Fazzolari, Future Classic DJs $20 (presale) 9pm Coach and Horses Hotel, Randwick Retro Night free 8pm Cohibar DJ Brynstar & DJ Anders Hitchcock free Dee Why Hotel Kiss & Fly Ben Morris, Kaiser, Olsen 8pm Eleven Nightclub, Paddington Funt Case, Sinphony Funt Case, Sinphony 8pm Empire Hotel, Darlinghurst Empire Saturdays Empire DJs free 9pm Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills The Horny Rollers, The D’viants, Beauty School Drop Outs 11pm GoodGod SmallClub Funk Inc Mr Glass, Robin Knight, Frenzie, Silvio Mysterio, James Locksmith, Del Larkin $10 10pm Hotel Chambers, Sydney Red Room Trey, Naiki, C-Major, Troy T 8pm Ivy, Sydney Pure Ivy Ember, Cadell, Minx, Liam Sampras $20 6pm Jacksons On George, Sydney Resident DJ’s free 9pm

The Swiss Kings Cross Hotel, Darlinghurst Sydney Sounds Like Hermitude, Prince V, Kato, Anna Lunoe, Moriaty, Bad Ezzy, Slow Blow, Disco Punx, 104 Collective, Flight Recorder, Paul Fraser, Westernsynthetics, Prize, Max Gosford, Monkfly, Stephen Ferris, Toni Toni Lee, Kali, Boonie, James Locksmith, Ron Dayview, Thundamentals, Bingethinkers $10 (member)–$15 (at door) 9pm Le Panic Blow 8pm Manning Bar Downlink 9pm Phoenix Bar, Exchange Hotel, Darlinghurst Phoenix Rising Dan Murphy, Johan Khoury, Mark Alsop $15 5am Q Bar, Darlinghurst Whatever Ben Lucid $10 10pm Sandringham Hotel, Newtown Kobra Kai, Swarnmy, Leanne Russo, Mailer Daemon $12 8pm Selina’s, Coogee Bay Hotel Black Magic Brazillian Costume Party 9pm The Arthouse Funtcase $33 8pm The Beresford Hotel, Surry Hills Katalyst, Kween G, Steve Spacek, Hau, Mr Clean, Leeroy Brown, Don Data 10pm The Forbes Hotel, Sydney We Love Indie $10 9pm The Gaff, Darlinghurst Johnny B 9pm The Polo Lounge and Supper Club, Darlinghurst Robopop $10 10pm The Red Rattler Musica de Fuego The Rumjacks, Top Novil, Rocksteady Dub Militia, Handsome Young Strangers, Sweet & Shame, Billy Demos, Nick Waters $15 4pm The Woodport Inn Havana Brown $15 8pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Wham! 9pm

Valve Bar DelSanto, Thian S Boy (Qld), Fisherking, Big Bozza Band, The Underground Architect, Jack Nash, Lower Coast Skies, The Great Awake, Chasing Chesterfield, Paul Salisbury 2pm Viper Lounge Sync Rodskeez, Radar, Sullo, Christian Verlaan $10 Watershed Hoted The Watershed Presents... Skybar Winter Music Hotel, Double Bay Winter Music The Swiss, Mtizi, SoftWar, SlowBlow, Anna Lunoe & Bad Ezzy, Prince of Thieves, Simon Caldwell, Kato, Gus Gruze (Bang Gang), Mesan, Nic Scali, Weby, Matt Cowley, Jamie Lloyd, Teans Gubbay 12pm

SUNDAY JULY 10 Bank Hotel, Newtown DJ Justin Scott free 4pm Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Picnic Sundays DJ Jamin 6pm Cargo Bar, Darling Harbour Mo Hat Mo Play DJ’s free 5pm Fake Club, Kings Cross Spice Robbie Lowe, James Taylor, Nic Scali $20 4am Jacksons on George Aphrodisiac Industry Night free 8pm Oatley Hotel Sunday Session DJ Tone free 7pm Sweeney’s Rooftop Sundaes Hanna Gibb, Ty $10 12pm The Hive Bar, Erskineville Revolve Records DJs free 5pm The Tea Gardens Hotel, Bondi Junction Anthony K, Demolition, Gee, Gary Honor free 4pm Watershed Hotel, Darling Harbour DJ Matty Roberts free World Bar, Kings Cross Disco Punx free 6pm

“I could be a lawyer with stratagems and ruses. I could be a doctor with poultices and bruises”- SEX & DRUGS & ROCK & ROLL 46 :: BRAG :: 419 :: 04:07:11

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club picks

up all night out all week . . .

propaganda

Hermitude

The Flinders, Surry Hills Hip Hop Wednesday feat. Kato Free 8pm

THURSDAY JULY 7 Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Zeropoint Snout Cassette (live), Xanthopan (live), TOTGU (live), Unknown Function (live), The Pigeonhole Project (live), Carnival of Electric Dreams DJs, VJ Sustenance 7pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Propaganda Propaganda DJs free (student)–$5 9pm Ajax

FRIDAY JULY 8 FakeClub Dance Club Boy 8-Bit, Starfucker Djs, Anna Lunoe, Gus Da Hoodrat, Kato, Three Fingers, MattRaD, Awkward Boys, Sideways Djs, Joker, Symphony Youth, Roof, Geoffrey James, Jedi Jay, Pages $25 (+ bf) 9pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Falcona Fridays Furnace, The Fundamentals, Alison Wodnerland, Hobophonics, Starjumps, DJ Hansom, Devola,

FRIENDS DJs $10–$15 8pm

23:06:11 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700

Tone, Surry Hills Index Rockwell $23 9pm

SATURDAY JULY 9 Chinese Laundry, Sydney Jaytech, Dexter, Ajax, Mattt, Athson, Dos Bangers, Mike Hyper, King Lee, Sushi 8pm Kings Cross Hotel, Darlinghurst Sydney Sounds Like Hermitude, Prince V, Kato, Anna Lunoe, Moriaty, Bad Ezzy, Slow Blow, Disco Punx, 104 Collective, Flight Recorder, Paul Fraser, Westernsynthetics, Prize, Max Gosford, Monkfly, Stephen Ferris, Toni Toni Lee, Kali, Boonie, James Locksmith, Ron Dayview, Thundamentals, Bingethinkers $10 (member)–$15 (at door) 9pm

falcona fridays

PICS :: LL

WEDNESDAY JULY 6

Tone, Surry Hills Octan, DLR, Wowk, Paul Dred, Whitey, Dauntless $15 9pm

PICS :: DM

up all night out all week...

24:06:11 :: Kit & Kaboodle Supper Club :: 35 Darlinghurst Rd Kings Cross 9368 0300

Winter Music Hotel Winter Music The Swiss, Mtizi, SoftWar, SlowBlow, Anna Lunoe & Bad Ezzy, Prince of Thieves, Simon Caldwell, Kato, Gus Gruze (Bang Gang), Mesan, Nic Scali, Weby, Matt Cowley, Jamie Lloyd, Teans Gubbay from 12pm, Sat & Sun

SUNDAY JULY 10 Fake Club, Kings Cross Spice Robbie Lowe, James Taylor, Nic Scali $20 4am

country grammar

PICS :: CG

F.R.I.E.N.D.S. DJs

24:06:11 :: Tone :: 16 Wentworth St, Surry Hills 9267 6440

:: CAI GRIFFIN:: LUKE LATTY S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER MAS PEACHY :: THO :: RKE CLA INA KATR :: NS ASHLEY MAR :: DANIEL MUN

BRAG :: 419 :: 04:07:11 :: 47

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25:02:11 :: Goodgod Small Club :: 55 Liverpool St, Chinatown 9267 3787

wham!

PICS :: DM

goodgod

PICS :: CG

upall allnight nightout outall allweek week...... up

25:06:11 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700

last night

It’s called: BenLucid Presents... BALLS! It sounds like: The screams of joy you would have made if you could mix your childhood enthusiasm with your adult alcoh olism. Who’s playing? M.I.T, Girls Gone Wrong, Nat Noiz, &Dimes DJs, Lonewolf, Cunningpants and BenLucid. Sell it to us: THERE WILL BE A FREAKING BALL PIT IN THE CLUB!!! Along with sumo suits, ping pong, and a whole raft of ball-related shenanigans. This is an oppor tunity to have fun for the sake of fun. No pretentious bullshit, just smile-inducing ridicu lousness. The bit we’ll remember in the AM: A sea of spherical mayhem. Crowd specs: Spherical Scenesters, Bulbo us Boys, Bouncing Babes, Rounded Rockers, Elliptical Egotists... you know. .. people. Wallet damage: $12 / $8 Where: QBar / 44 Oxford St, Darlinghurst When: Friday July 8

PICS :: CG

party profile

balls

PICS :: AM

glovecats

strike bowling

24:06:11 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex Street Sydney 82959958 48 :: BRAG :: 419: 04:07:11

PICS :: AM

24:06:11 :: The Gaelic Theatre :: 64 Devonshire St Surry Hills 92111687

25:06:11 :: Strike Bowling :: 122 Lang Road Moore Park 1300 787 453

:: KATRINA CLARKE :: CAI S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) PEACHY OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER MAS THO :: NS MUN IEL DAN :: MAR GRIFFIN:: LUKE LATTY :: ASHLEY

BUY A DRINK… BOWL FOR FREE $6 MINIMUM SPEND. CONDITIONS APPLY. PLEASE SEE WEBSITE FOR DETAILS.

ALL DAY SUNDAYS AT STRIKE KING STREET WHARF, DARLING HARBOUR MONDAYS FROM 5PM AT STRIKE CHATSWOOD MONDAYS FROM 5PM AT STRIKE ENTERTAINMENT QUARTER, MOORE PARK FIND US ON

BRAG :: 419 :: 04:07:11 :: 49

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paddle emporium

PICS :: TL

up all night out all week . . .

chinese laundry

PICS :: AM

PICS :: TT

24:06:11 :: Lo-Fi :: Floor 3, 383 Bourke St Surry Hills

americana burlesque

bingethinkers

It’s called: 34B’s AMERICANA Burlesque It sounds like: A brash and bold burlesque homage to fast cars, movie stars and swimmin’ pools!

Who’s performing? Tasia, Jamilla De Ville, Kira Lucille Spielfuchs, Cherry Lush – with MC RennyHula-la, Jade Twist, Kodgers and DJ Goldfoot Sell it to us: Think of Darryl Hannah burnin g up bitchin star-spangled Mustang in Kill Bill. Think the highway in a of pouring champagne on Evel Knievel after jumpi the trophy girls ng on a motorbike. Think of the Follies of the burles the Grand Canyon que nightclubs of New York and the showgirls of Vegas. Think of the Vargus pin up portraits. Think Captain America, Think Dolly and Kenny - this is AMERICANA! The bit we’ll remember in the AM: From the unbelievable pole stunts of Jamilla De Ville to the hula magic of Kira, from the sweet and seductive showgirl Tasia to Cherry, Lucille , Renny – the whole crew – you mightn’t be able to sleep much afterw ard! . Crowd specs: Truck-stop cuties, 1950s greas ers, LA glamsters, wellsuited 60’s Madmen, movie stars, stuntmen, highway patrol and TV show icons – whatever your image of Amer icana bring it along! Wallet damage: $20 general admission pre-sa le / $25 on the night / reserved tables $30pp (min. 3 people) throug h moshtix.com.au Where: 34B Burlesque / 44 Oxford St Darlin ghurst When: Saturday July 9 / 8.30pm

PICS :: TL

party profile

04:02:11 25:06:11 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex Street Sydney 82959958

PICS :: TT

oaf gallery bar

PICS :: CG

bungalow 8 25:06:11 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford st, Darlinghurst 93323711 50 :: BRAG :: 419: 04:07:11

PICS :: AM

24:06:11 :: FBi Social :: Kings Cross Hotel 248 William St Darlinghurst 9331 9900

25:06:11 :: Bungalow 8 :: 8 The Promenade Kings Street Wharf 92994440 :: KATRINA CLARKE :: CAI S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) PEACHY OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER MAS THO :: NS MUN IEL DAN :: MAR GRIFFIN:: LUKE LATTY :: ASHLEY