The Brag #433

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

He Said She Said WITH

ABBE MAY

I

grew up in a coastal country town where if you were male, you were either a surfer, a skater or a musician. If you were female, your boyfriend was a surfer, skater or a musician. I was too pale to go to the beach, too uncoordinated to skate and too awkward to get a boyfriend... So I played guitar in the band room at lunchtime and after school.

I really like Howlin’ Wolf. He preceded Tom Waits in that whole gruff, dirty blues world.

Check out his version of ‘Spoonful’. I also draw a lot of influence from Patti Smith and Fleetwood Mac. Prince is another one who’s huge for me – I’ve never heard anything sexier than the track ‘Cream’. In regards to recent music, I’ve been really getting into Caribou and LCD Soundsystem.

I work really closely with Sam Ford. He produced my last record and I’ve just started working on my next album with him. He also plays bass in my band, and has an amazing understanding of tone. My brother KT Rumble is my guitarist, and we’ve been collaborating for about 15 years. He taught me the art of songwriting, and showed me how to play lead guitar. My drummer Al Board is a relatively new friend. We’ve only been playing together for three months, but I’m sure we’ll have a long association – he makes me laugh with his perfect impersonations of Gob and

PJ Harvey

PUBLISHERS: Adam Zammit & Rob Furst EDITOR IN CHIEF: Adam Zammit 9552 6333 adam@peergroupmedia.com

Please send mail NOT ACCOUNTS direct to this address 8a Marlborough Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010 ph - (02) 9552 6333 fax - (02) 9319 2227 EDITORIAL POLICY: The views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Publisher, Editor or Staff of The Brag.

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE: Stephen Forde : accounts@furstmedia.com.au ph - (03) 9428 3600 fax - (03) 9428 3611 Furst Media, 3 Newton Street Richmond Victoria 3121 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 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 Win a giveaway? Mail us a stamped and addressed envelope, and we’ll send your prize on over...

12 :: BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11

The music scene usually thrives off pretty good stuff. Australians have such a low threshold for bullshit, so whatever manages to stick around has to be pretty authentic.

What: Abbe May has been nominated for Best Independent Artist and Best Independent Album at the Jägermeister Independent Music Awards Where: Winners announced Wednesday October 12 @ Revolt, Melbourne More: ausindies.com/id-2011-awards.html

about the BRAG team’s habit of going to malls and telling kids there is no Santa. Turns out the band have a brand new album Pearl, which comes with a free copy of Ruby. They launch it on October 28 at Petersham Bowling Club, the only venue that lets you wear golf-spikes on their bowling green (not true, don’t try it).

You may know her as the founding member, songwriter and vocalist for that seven-piece punk/garage/swing act The Snake Oil Merchants, but Mojo Juju is heading off on her own for the next few weeks. She’ll be playing October 30 at Lizotte’s in Dee Why, November 2 at Brass Monkey in Cronulla, and a bunch of other close-to-Sydney shows throughout (see: Kincumber, Katoomba, Thirroul, Newcastle). But we suggest you try to catch her three-week Tuesday residency, which starts on October 25 at Gardel’s Bar, the incredible cocktail lounge above Porteño in Surry Hills. Try the meat.

ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant GRAPHIC DESIGN: Alan Parry SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER: Tim Levy SNAP PHOTOGRAPHERS: Katrina Clarke, Jay Collier, Cai Griffin, Ashley Mar, Daniel Munns, Thomas Peachy, George Popov, Sam Whiteside COVER PHOTO: Daniel Boud www.boudist.com

REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Simon Binns, Michael Brown, Liz Brown, Bridie Connell, Bridie Connellan, Ben Cooper, Oliver Downes, Alasdair Duncan, Max Easton, Tony Edwards, Christie Eliezer, Murray Engleheart, Henry Florence, Mike Gee, Chris Honnery, Nathan Jolly, Alex Lindsay Jones, Robbie Miles, Peter Neathway, Hugh Robertson, Matt Roden, Emma Salkild, Romi Scodellaro, Rach Seneviratne, Luke Telford, Rick Warner

We make dirty, slow-groove, sex-music – it’s camp and it’s heavy. We recorded our album Design Desire with Sam Ford at Blackbird and Tone City studios in Perth.

There’s a lot more control in a studio, whereas when you perform live, the music is a little more unhinged; sometimes I’m not sure which I prefer. I think they both have their advantages and disadvantages. I like the amount of control you have in a studio, because it allows you the chance to really develop a song in its entirety. That said, I also love performing live – I find it really cathartic.

SOLO MOJO JUJU

EDITOR: Steph Harmon steph@thebrag.com 02 9698 9645 ARTS & ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Dee Jefferson dee@thebrag.com 02 9690 2731 STAFF WRITERS: Jonno Seidler, Caitlin Welsh NEWS: Nathan Jolly, Chris Honnery

ADVERTISING: Matthew Cowley - 0431 917 359 / (02) 8394 9492 matthew@thebrag.com ADVERTISING: Les White - 0405 581 125 / (02) 8394 9027 les@thebrag.com ADVERTISING: Meaghan Meredith - 0423 655 091 / (02) 8394 9168 meaghan@thebrag.com GIG & CLUB GUIDE CO-ORDINATOR: Conrad Richters - gigguide@thebrag.com (rock) clubguide@thebrag.com (dance & parties) INTERNS: Sigourney Berndt, Greg Clennar, Julian de Lorenzo

Buster from Arrested Development… He’s also a brilliant drummer.

PJ FOR SYDNEY

PJ Harvey, the only artist to ever win two Mercury Prizes, has announced she’ll be coming out to play next year’s Sydney Festival. This is especially good news because she’s touring off the back of her latest opus, Let England Shake – one of the finest releases in recent memory (assuming you aren’t one of those people with super-memory that sporadically appears on shows hosted by TV’s Dean Cain.) She’s been booked to play two shows at the State Theatre on January 18 and 19. It’ll creep up on you (time makes fools of us all), so get your tickets quick-ish.

MUM AND WOMBATS

Outside of the usual selection of a ridiculously long list of ridiculously good bands (this week it’s Let Me Down Jungleman, Drunk Mums, Howler, Sex In Columbia and Tokyo Spares), MUM at The World Bar is hosting something a little special this Friday October 14: the official after party for The Wombats. It’s free with your ticket stub (they’re playing that night at The Hordern), and we’ll bet you a cool $4.90 that at least one DJ will play a Joy Division track.

ADAM COUSENS

The Adam Cousens Band are packing the car full of instruments, amps and those big family bags filled with a variety of crisps, and heading out on the road this month in support of new single ‘This Road Ahead’. They will arrive in Sydney this Wednesday October 12 with only chicken-flavour left. Make them feel welcome by attending their show that night at Low 302 – and if you like it, Cousens is touring solo in December too. (So much legroom on that tour, he can’t wait!)

LVL 4 LIVE

The King’s Cross Hotel is getting steadily better, what with the multi-floored re-furb, FBi Social, and that weird but awesome dive bar right down the bottom where we keep finding ourselves playing drunk pool at 2am. They’ve just announced they’re upping the ante this October and November, when Russian Standard presents LVL 4 Live – a free weekly Friday night showcasing the best of Aussie live music. This Friday, King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard are playing with Chicks Who

Zach Condon of Beirut

Love Guns, Reckless Vagina and DJ Vivienne Kingswood. On October 21 they’ve got Belles Will Ring, October 28 it’s Fire! Santa Rosa Fire!, and November 4, Sietta. Head to kingscrosshotel.com for more.

STANDARD UPSKIRTS

Been to the Standard yet? It’s on the third floor of Kinselas, right in the heart of Taylor Square.

Instead of me describing how cool the mezzanine level is, or how you can see the stage from everywhere, or banging on about the amazing sound system, why don’t you get along yourself, to see Upskirts, Tsars, No Art, and the Finn-ishly named Pineapple Head play there on Saturday October 15. Door are at 8pm, it’s open ‘til 3am (at which point the Matchbox 20 song of the same name will blast on repeat until you leave), and there is ping-pong. Ping-Pong!

THE KOOKS

The Kooks’ debut album was absolutely killer, but before they got to their third, they had to suffer through a little slump I’d like to coin a term for: let’s call it “sophomore syndrome”. They’ve fixed all that with the recent Junk Of The Heart, an incredible return to form which the UK lads are celebrating by playing the Hordern on January 6. Get yourself to a Ticketek – these guys are amazing live.

ODE TO JOY

The Killjoys’ 1990 album Ruby was a high watermark for lush Australian indie pop, but that was 20 years ago – so when I received an email titled ‘The Killjoys,’ I assumed it was

BEIRUT TOUR

Beirut, the band who (along with Gotye) are exposing the Australian public for the uncouth, bad-at-fancyname-pronouncin’ people that we are, are coming down under to play tracks from their amazing new album The Rip Tide – and have booked the Opera House to live out their childhood dreams in stereo. It happens on January 5, and we think it will sell out.

GIG OF THE WEEK SAT 15th OCT 11.30PM $12

FRI 14TH OCT 9PM $10

P*A*S*H Spectrum

Q Bar + Phoenix Vegas + Spectrum

THE GHOSTS JOHNNY ROCKS & THE LIMITS RANGEWR SPACEY ARCHIBOLDS FARE EVADER OCEAN ALLEY

THURS 13TH OCT 8PM $15/$12

SAT 15TH OCT 9PM $!0

THE ALTERNATIVE Featuring

Buried in Verona In Hearts Wake The Statics Capulet

FRI 14TH OCT 9PM $10

Various Artists presents

Chocolate Jesus Industries & Zaire Present

UPSIDE/DOWN

From 11.30pm!

DJ Goldfoot DJ Knife

FRI 14TH OCT 8PM $10

The Tormentor Noveaux Nacht Guest DJ

Voodoo

Toucan Elizabeth Rose Valar SAT 15TH OCT 8PM $12 The Spit Press & Rabbit Hole present

20,000 Leagues An Undersea Party

Archers Sures Claire & Dj’s

SAT 15TH OCT 5AM $15 SUN 16TH OCT 5AM $15

PHOENIX

DOUBLE RISING DRAGON IV High Energy House, Vocal, Uplifting

Regular John, Mother & Son, Kira Puru & The Bruise, Kill City Creeps, Old Men of Moss Mountain, Sick Python, Big Dumb Kid, Disco Club (SunSun Solo set,) Albatross, Tombstone, Moon Holiday + space by Bou & Visuals by Joel Burrows

SAT 15TH OCT 10PM $15

GIRLTHING

DJ’S Dan Murphy Johan Khoury Mark Alsop Rado

Hocus Poke-Her! With DJ’s Ben Lucid Cunningpants Nat Noiz Tigerlilly (Debut Set) Special Guests

Monday M d -F Friday id 10am - Late Saturday - Sunday 9am - 6am Sunday Recovery 9am – late Happy Hour 5-7 every day

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rock music news

free stuff

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

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

five things WITH

LUKE FROM LYYAR

Electric Empire Pat at a party none of them were invited to when we were all about seventeen. Nick and I started getting Lyyar together while Henry and Pat were travelling and doing a bit of this and that. When they got back, we all got together and started getting the band off the ground.

The Music You Make The music we make is loud, layered, and 4. mostly minor. We’ve been lucky enough to have Speak N Spell Records take us under their wing and help us get this EP together.

It’s called Outside, Elsewhere and we recorded it with Anthony The. It’ll be available both physically and on iTunes next week.

5.

Growing Up I never really started listening to guitar 1. music until I was about sixteen, when Nick sent me a video of At The Drive-In playing on Letterman, and it blew my mind. I guess since then I’ve had a fascination with bands not necessarily attributed to founding a movement, but more so those who have influenced the bands who are. According to mum, when I was four or five I told her that Vivaldi “makes my heart hurt”, and that I didn’t

know why I cried to John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’.

Inspirations The bands we have common taste in 2. aren’t really caught up in anything temporary.

Some of our favourites would be Galaxie 500, Decoder Ring, Nirvana and The Warlocks, just to get things started.

3.

Your Crew Nick, Henry and I met in school. They met

Music, Right Here, Right Now I think it’s equally important to find influence close to home as it is abroad; otherwise, it’s easy to become pocketed into the same sound and scene created by the band next door. With that said, Sydney has some great music coming from bands who put their own stamp on some broader genres and ideas. Dead China Doll, The Laurels and Talons (R.I.P.) all really do it for us.

What: Outside, Elsewhere EP launch With: Sounds Like Sunset, Unity Floors Where: GoodGod Small Club When: Thursday October 20

KILL CITY CREEPS

Kill City Creeps are the latest concoction from Daniel Darling, the driving force behind Sydney psych-geniuses Dolly Rocker Movement, and they are currently pummelling ol’ Sydney town with a five song demo (produced by Sneeze/ Lemonheads/Half A Cow maestro Nic Dalton) and a residency at the Beresford Hotel, every Saturday throughout November. Sounds like the kind of place you’ll meet the love of your life, doesn’t it?

ROPE’S END @ FBI SOCIAL

This Thursday October 13, FBi Social is offering up the next ‘Roped End’ event, hosted by underground music blog A Story Never Told.

This week it’s all about surf rock, headlined

ELECTRIC EMPIRE

Remember dancing around your bedroom to Kaylan’s infectious pop hit ‘Rock Me All Night’? ...No? Maybe that was just us.

Anyway. We’re pretty super happy that half of Kaylan, Dennis Dowlut, made it through some tough times to become one third of Electric Empire. A bit funk, a bit jazz, these boys will have you dancing like you’re at a school disco in no time. They’re launching their single ‘Yes I Will’ at Upstairs Beresford on Thursday October 13. If you want to get your hands on a double pass, just send us an email with the name of one other member of the group.

LONELY KIDS CLUB

So it’s probably time to put away your trenchcoats and beanies and bust out your wayfarers, right? If fatman Hawaiian shirts aren’t really your thing, the guys at boutique T-shirt label Lonely Kids Club have your summer wardrobe covered. To celebrate the launch of their 2011/2012 Summer catalogue, they’re throwing a party at Oxford Art Factory on Sunday October 16, with a fashion show plus live performances from artists like Fishing, Albatross and RÜFÜS. Entry is free, so a ticket giveaway would be futile – but the lovely people at Lonely Kids Club have a free Tee up for grabs, that you can pick out from their range at lonelykidsclub.com. You want? Just tell us your favourite thing about summer.

by Brisvegas surf punks Dune Rats, who are celebrating the release of their second EP Social Atoms. In support are Betty Airs, The Rubens and The Villianaires. It’s just $10 on the door – and all those stairs are good for you.

BDO ON SALE THIS WEDS

We covered this last week, but a little reminder that this Wednesday October 12 could be your only chance to grab a ticket to a festival that’ll be bringing you Kanye West, Soundgarden, Kasabian, My Chemical Romance, The Living End, Hilltop Hoods, Battles, Odd Future, Girl Talk, Parkway Drive, Röyksopp, Foster The People, The Jezabels, Best Coast, Tony Hawk (playing all his hits) and a bunch more on January 26 at Sydney Showgrounds. Get ye to an internet.

Slipknot

Fishing

LONELY KIDS CLUB’S SUMMER RANGE

Remember when you were ten and your mum helped you make that cubby house in your backyard using a piece of string, an old rubber tire and your other Transformers bedspread?

These days, Lonely Kids Club means something far less heartbreaking; a local boutique T-shirt label who are launching their Summer range at Oxford Art Factory this Sunday October 16. Head along to catch sets from RÜFÜS, Fishing, Albatross, Collarbones DJs and a bunch more, along with a special fashion show, a pop-up store and a few surprises…

GRIM STUFF

Brothers Grimm were responsible for scaring the shit out of generations of children about to drift into slumberland with their horrorfilled fairy-tales, the results of which directly contributed to the decaying wreck of futile hope that we like to call modern society. The band Brothers Grim are far nicer though, and there will be nothing to be frightened of at their October 21 show at Oxford Art Factory… although they will be supported by Graveyard Train. Hold me!

PIGEON

You know what they say about pigeons (and to a lesser-extent the Brisbane live electronic act Pigeon): If you love them, set them free, and if they are of the homing variety they will find their way back home, beating the

hare and saving nine-pence, while painting tin roofs with their excrement... Well that old adage has proven apt, with the band playing three gigs within your reach: October 20 at the marvellously-titled Yours and Owls in Wollongong, October 21 at Beach Road, Bondi and October 22 at Newcastle’s Fat As Butter festival.

TVOTR SIDESHOW

TV On The Radio are one of only a handful of experimental rock bands in which the experiment can be deemed both a critical and commercial success. They are heading to Australia to laugh at your meagre guitar-pedal collection, and might even fit in a Harvest Festival sideshow on November 15 at The Metro. It’s all-ages, too, although if you are under 18, you should really just be listening to ‘Champion’ by Grinspoon over and over…

SOUNDWAVE 2012 LINEUP. YES IT IS HUGE.

So at about 3.30pm on Friday, Soundwave went ahead and announced pretty much the biggest lineup in the history of the world. System Of A Down, Slipknot, Limp Bizkit, Marilyn Manson, Hole, A Day To Remember, Machine Head, Lamb Of God, Trivium, Lostprophets, Angels & Airwaves, Cobra Starship, The Used, You Me At Six, Unwritten Law, Dashboard Confessional, Thursday, Dillinger Escape Plan, Mastodon, Steel Panther, The Sisters Of Mercy, Hatebreed and Reliant K are just some of the list that’s made good on Soundwave’s promise to make up for their cancelled Revolution. It’s set for Sunday February 26 at Sydney Showground; general tix on sale at 9am on October 20.

“We got a thousand points of light For the homeless man We got a kinder, gentler, machine gun hand”- NEIL YOUNG 14 :: BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11

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BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11 :: 15

The Music Network

themusicnetwork.com

Industry Music News with Christie Eleizer

AIR AND ARIA AWARDS CLASH

Lifelines Dating: Aussie expat pop singer Peter Andre and backing dancer Kristina Macmillan.

promoter Barrington Burton in July, and was in illegal possession of a firearm.

Engaged: Producer Jack “son of Ozzy” Osbourne and model/ actress Lisa Stelly, after a four month romance.

Suing: Lady Gaga has taken action against Nevada-based Excite Worldwide LLC for marketing cosmetics and jewellery under her name without permission.

Split: Aussie model/actress Nicky Whelan and Guns N’Roses’ DJ Ashba, after a ten-month romance.

A constant visitor to these shores, Ashba talked of buying a home in Melbourne for them, and later adopted a pig to symbolise their love...

Ill: Adele had to scrap a ten-date US tour due to continual voice problems; the 23-year-old has been most recently diagnosed with a hemorrhage on her vocal cord.

In Court: Pete Doherty avoided a possible five-year jail term for breaking into a record store in the Bavarian city of Regensburg and stealing CDs and a guitar.

Prosecutors decided he was too drunk to know what he was doing.

In Court: A South Australia man, 31, was charged with manufacturing and selling 50 VIP passes for the Stereophonic festival which is being held at Bonython Park on December 3. SA police say he had already sold 40 of the passes at $40 each. He was bailed, and will later appear at Christies Beach Magistrates Court.

Charged: Jamaican police charged dancehall artist Vybz Kartel, with murder. They allege he conspired with others to kill 27-year-old music

TRIPLE J UNEARTHED LAUNCHES NEW DIGI STATION

Last Wednesday morning, triple j launched triple j Unearthed – a new radio station devoted entirely to unsigned and independent Australian artists sourced from the strong triplejunearthed.com online community of over 30,000 artists and 250,000 users. Strange Talk, Gold Fields, Big Scary, Snakadaktal and Loon Lake were among those played, along with The Jezabels and the initial demo Missy Higgins submitted to triple j Unearthed back in 2001. Higgins and Phil Jamieson from Grinspoon came on air to talk about how they were discovered by Unearthed; also interviewed were Big Scary and the newly unearthed Elizabeth Rose, Nantes and Bleeding Knees Club.

QUEEN’S ‘CHAMPION’ IS CATCHIEST SONG EVER

Queen’s ‘We Are The Champions’ is the easiest song to sing along to, according to new scientific research from Goldsmiths University in England. Thousands of volunteers sang a selected list of tracks. Researchers discovered that the catchiest tunes have four elements — long and detailed musical phrases, multiple pitch changes in a song’s hook, male vocalists,

16 :: BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11

Attacked: Oli Sykes, singer for British hardcore outfit Bring Me The Horizon, was attacked on stage during a gig in Salt Lake City by audience members after calling for bottle throwers in the crowd to show themselves or go home. Sykes’ band members protected him by swinging their guitars.

Died: Sylvia Robinson, co-founder of Sugar Hill Records with husband Joe, and godmother of hip hop, aged 75.

Died: Leonard Dillon, leader of the pioneering reggae group The Ethiopians (‘Train to Skaville’, Everything Crash’), 68, of lung and prostate cancer.

Died: British folk singer/guitarist and Pentangle member, Bert Jansch, 67, of cancer. He was one of the most influential musicians of our time, inspiring Jimmy Page, Johnny Marr, Nick Drake, Graham Coxon, Donovan, Neil Young, Bernard Butler and Paul Simon.

Died: Marv Tarplin, inspirational and inventive guitarist with Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, 60. He co-wrote The Miracles’ ‘Tracks Of My Tears’ and featured on hits by The Supremes and Four Tops.

and higher male voices making a noticeable vocal effort. The second most sing-along-able toe-tapper was The Village People’s ‘YMCA’, followed by Sum 41’s ‘Fat Lip’, Europe’s ‘The Final Countdown’ and The Automatic’s ‘Monster’.

SCREEN MUSIC AWARDS BACK IN SYDNEY

The 2011 Screen Music Awards return to Sydney after being in Melbourne last year. Now in its 10th year (in the current format), it will be held by APRA (Australasian Performing Right Association) and AGSC (Australian Guild of Screen Composers) at City Recital Hall in Angel Place on Monday November 14. It will be hosted by Noni Hazlehurst. “Music is the life blood for any screen project, and the Screen Music Awards honours the blood, sweat and tears spent by all composers bringing a project to life. The past year has been a rich year for screen music, reflecting the creative talent across many crafts in the Australian screen industry,” said AGSC president Clive Harrison. The 12 categories include compositions for documentaries, short films, mini-series, children’s television and feature film scores.

The folks at AIR fired off a ‘please explain’ to ARIA, after ARIA announced that it was holding its nominations event in Sydney on the morning of Wednesday October 12. That night, AIR holds its Jagermeister Independent Music Awards in Melbourne, and thinks that the ARIA event will dilute media coverage and possibly cost it the attendance of some Sydney executives. The ARIA event is more than just a nominees announcement; it also unveils the winners of the Artisan and Fine Arts categories. The first covers art, video, engineer, producer and music DVD. The latter covers classical, jazz, world and soundtracks.

It is expected that the ARIA event will also announce its broadcasting partner that morning. This clash of dates must be déjà vu for ARIA; years ago at its nominees event, its execs were spitting chips when Mushroom Records announced that it was being sold to the Murdochs, grabbing the media spotlight.

BON CHAT, BON RAT, GOOD CHEER GET ‘CAPTURED’

Electronica trio Bon Chat, Bon Rat won the inaugural music video competition Captured.

The comp paired six Sydney filmmakers with musicians/bands to create a music video (or short film/performance piece) suitable for screening at festivals around the world and online. It was curated by Larry Heath, digital arts curator of the Sydney Fringe. Thousands voted via social media and the initiative’s site, and chose the video for ‘Cerberus’ by Bon Chat, Bon Rat, who were paired with director Jake Terrey. A filmmaker award went to Stefan Hunt and Campbell Brown of Good Cheer, who were paired with Chicks Who Love Guns. Their film – the only short film which resulted out of the project – was voted for by a group of industry judges, with Cameras’ clip for ‘Defeatist’ coming a close second. The winners were announced at a packed out Oxford Art Factory Gallery Bar, at which Cameras and Chicks Who Love Guns played. Winning clips can be found at www.capturedsydney.com

AUSSIES CELEBRATE WITH JACK

Australia celebrated the 161st birthday of Jack Daniels whisky with two JD Sets in Sydney and Melbourne, where Art vs Science did a set of Icehouse songs. They were joined by Icehouse leader Iva Davies for the encore at each event. (Check footage out on www.facebook.com/jackdanielsaustralia).

In November, the JD Sets are headlined by Good Charlotte performing the first Weezer record in its entirety, along with their own hits.

They’ll be joined by Amy Meredith whose band member Christian says, “We grew up listening to this Weezer record, and can’t wait to hear what Good Charlotte do with it!” The event is being held at Selinas in Sydney, on Friday November 11.

COCA-COLA'S GLOBAL CAMPAIGN

Coca-Cola unveiled its global London 2012 Olympics campaign ‘Move To The Beat’, in which producer Mark Ronson created an anthem featuring singer Katy B. He traveled to five countries, recording sounds of young athletes to provide its beat. The song will be used in Coca-Cola TV ads, mobile and digital platforms, and at Coke events during the games. A 60-minute making-of doco follows Ronson’s journey across the world to record the sounds.

THINGS WE HEAR

* A familiar face will be playing drums when Hilltop Hoods go on the Eminem and Big Day Out tours. It is hip hop producer Plutonic Lab, of Muph & Plutonic. The duo will continue to make music together, but their forthcoming WA and QLD dates will be their last live shows for a while. * Fred Durst tweeted that Limp Bizkit will be here in February. * Angus Stone and girlfriend Isabel Lucas have joined greenie activists on a one-month 260-mile voyage from Santa Barbara to the USAMexico border. TransparentSea, led

by Byron Bay professional surfer Dave Rastovich, will make 20 stops, highlighting local coastal issues and the plight of marine mammals. * Laughing Outlaw’s shop and record label are moving premises this week; new contacts will be announced soon. * 250,000 tickets have now been sold for the Cold Chisel tour, reports the Daily Telegraph. 10,640 fans voted for their five favourite tracks off the new best-of CD, All Of You. The Telegraph said that ‘Flame Trees’ was #1 with 52% of voters, with ‘Khe Sanh’ making 51% of their list, ‘When The War Is Over’ at 32%, ‘Bow River’ at 31% and ‘Cheap Wine’ at 28%. * Hot on the heels of their six-hour track ‘Found A Star On The Ground’ comes a 24-hour track from The Flaming Lips. * Much to the delight of the crowd at the Bellingen Global Carnival, John Butler made a surprise appearance during the set by Mama Kin, fronted of course by his missus Danielle Caruana. * Kate Miller-Heidke’s ‘Are You Ready?’, from her Fatty Gets A Stylist side project, is being used in a TV ad in the US for the New York Lottery. * Rihanna might have ticked off a Bangalore farmer for shooting a topless sequence on his land for her next video, but during the filming, the singer is said to have found her new boyfriend in one of the extras: hunky former British Olympic boxing hopeful and model Dudley O’Shaughnessy. * Bloc Party’s management are denying any split in the band’s ranks, despite comments from various members that they planned to audition a new singer while Kele was working on another solo record. * Scotland’s Dananananaykroyd are breaking up. * While The National Party will meet next week to discuss Rose Tattoo’s Angry Anderson’s offer to stand for the seat of Throsby in Wollongong (“I’m a disenchanted Labor supporter”), Elvis impersonator Dean Vegas will run again for mayor of the Gold Coast. * Primal Scream are furious that Britain’s Conservative Party used ‘Rocks’ during its conference, as they’re “totally opposed to the Coalition Government”. * A former Los Angeles police detective claims he has proof that moguls Suge Knight and P. Diddy ordered the killings of Tupac and Biggie.

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t’s hard to believe that it’s been five whole years since Black Cherry’s first party, a cultalternative DJ night held at the hallowed Mandarin Club basement (R.I.P.). They’re celebrating the milestone with a massive blowout at Factory Theatre this weekend (ahead of their debaucherous New Year’s Eve bash), which will feature five bands, eight burlesque/ circus shows, plus rock’n’roll karaoke and DJs across three rooms, celebrating every gritty, bluesy and sexy corner of good ol’ rock’n’roll.

It was 1999 when Danielle and Carla Hatton started the night, inspired by a frustration at the lack of decent punk-rock-rockabilly clubs in the city. “We were bored, and thought we could deliver better events,” Danielle says. “We thought it could work to combine different rock genres and crowds – and it does work for us.”

It helped that the Hattons weren’t freshmen to promoting; Danielle had been running events since her stint at the huge multi-floor gothindustrial night Vortex, back in 1999. “Being my little sister, Carla used to get roped into helping me in various ways, until eventually becoming a second promoter – it worked, even though she was never that into goth.” These days, their disparate tastes work together perfectly: “Bringing Danielle’s gothy background and new-found interest in rockabilly and psychobilly together with my punk-alternative roots worked really well,” Carla says. “And we even manage to work in our love of glam rock and ‘80s hits – god bless big hair!”

The night has brought a few favourite moments for the pair, like the first time they laid their eyes on a packed house at the Factory Theatre in May 2010, or when they hosted Carla’s favourite band The Meanies for their Christmas party, or when the Black Cherry DJs got to support Joan Jett in January. And between full-time jobs, the Black Cherry ladies even managed to launch their own event promotion and management company, Black Cherry Presents. “Running Black Cherry is so much more work than anyone would realise,” Danielle says. “Definitely a full time job for both of us.” The biggest challenge so far? “Not killing each other!” Carla laughs. “Which is pretty hard when you work with your sister and your partner [Nathan Dee, Black Cherry DJ and stage manager]… But Sydney needs more original events out there.”

(From L–R) Joel McDonald (Jungle Rump), Lillian Starr, MC Lauren La Rouge, Kolonel Klink (Jungle Rump), India Rose (The Go-Go Haunters), Bob Log III, Pat Capocci , Tim Kent (Los Capitanes), Carla Hatton aka DJ Ruby Riot, Jordan McDonald (The Art, Jungle Rump).

Johnny McKelvey from

What can we expect from your set?

A handful of new songs that we’ve written for the upcoming new record. Apart from that, the usual favourite sing-a-longs and good times.

Tell us about your band?

We’re a five-piece punk rock band with strong influences from various different folk styles, ska/reggae and street punk – and it will actually be our 3rd birthday not long after Black Cherry’s 5th. We’ve been fortunate to play right across Australia and support some amazing international bands, like GBH, Gogol Bordello, UK Subs, Aggrolites and many more.

How did you celebrate your 5th birthday?

I Remember it well! Had a big ol’ party at McDonald’s... Even got a tour of the kitchen!

Photography by Daniel Boud - www.boudist.com Hair by Guys & Dolls Hair - guysandollshairbytommyj.blogspot.com / 0405 331 286 Make Up by Maree Spagnol - www.mareespagnol.com

What song will get you up to the mic for Jungle Rump’s rock’n’roll karaoke?

If they have ‘Rain’ by Dragon, just try and stop me.

What’s your favourite Black Cherry memory?

The last one – a great night, and it’s always fun to play with our mates The Snowdroppers.

What else are you up to for the rest of 2011?

We’re just finishing our tour, so after the Black Cherry party we’re honoured to be playing with Dropkick Murphys in Newcastle, on October 21; then the next night we’re supporting The Snowdroppers at the Hotel Gearin in Katoomba.

What’s your favourite Black Cherry memory?

Witnessing the incredible growth of the night over the last five years! And of course the time, many a Cherry ago, when the (hot) promoters personalised our dressing room with low carb beers and protein bars. We knew we were home.

What can we expect from your set?

A gloriously energetic live show with heaps of skin, heaps of fun, Kolonel Klink’s one-liners from the dark side, and my brother Joel’s axe work (it’s gotta be seen to be believed). With everything from Elvis to Megadeth, and a new singer for each song, expect an entertainment overload!

Jordan McDonald from Tell us about Jungle Rump’s Rock‘n’Roll Karaoke?

Jungle Rump are led by MC Kolonel Klink.

We have the coolest job in the world, shredding through classic tracks and giving the audience the unique experience of

getting involved too. Brave thrillseekers and stage-hungry talents pick a track, wait for Klink’s call, take the stage and feel the charge of fronting our awesome motherfuckin’ band.

How did you celebrate your 5th birthday?

It being 1989, we cranked some Cher, played hide-and-seek, drank heaps of Fanta, and I finally lost my virginity.

Who are you hoping will get up and sing with you guys?

FINK DADDY! This dude is elusive, charismatic, incredibly well-dressed and never fails to defy gravity with some of the sickest hairdos mine eyes hath seen. From his first run with the Rump, Fink Daddy tore Faith No More’s ‘Epic’ a new a-hole – and has since had our audiences eating out of his hands. Other notable mentions/repeat offenders include ‘Liberace’, Lee, Eli and ‘GT’. But mostly, we wanna hear YOU. What else are you up to for the rest of 2011?

After our two sets at Black Cherry’s birthday bash, we’ll be galavanting around the country – then bringing in the New Year with the biggest, baddest motherfuckin’ NYE bash known to Sydney, ‘Rump style!

India Rose from Tell us about the Go-Go Haunters! Biggest bunch of social misfits you could ever meet.

How did you celebrate your 5th birthday?

McDonald’s (I was a sucker for those icecream cakes).

What’s your favourite Black Cherry memory? Those lovely absinthe drinks…

What can we expect from your set? The scene out of Mars Attacks when everyone’s heads explode...

What song will get you up to the mic for Jungle Rump’s rock’n’roll karaoke?

‘Welcome To The Jungle’ by Guns N’ Roses.

What else are you up to for the rest of 2011? After Black Cherry’s B’day, we’ll be at The Great Northern in Newcastle on Oct 16.

“I see bloody fountains, and ten million dune buggies comin’ down the mountains”- NEIL YOUNG 18 :: BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11

This local lass is bringing one of her most popular routines back for Black Cherry’s birthday bash: “Here’s a clue: I’m going to take the crowd down the highway to the dangerzone!”

Signature routine: Black Ballet – it starts off serious and sombre and then breaks into an upbeat sexy striptease!

Special skills: Trained ballet dancer and aerialist.

Costume inspirations: Old films like Gone With the Wind, Calamity Jane and Singin’ in the Rain This Black Cherry regular – and all-round star of Sydney’s burlesque scene – is taking on MC duties (or as she says, “sass patrol”) for Black Cherry’s 5th Birthday bash – “which involves drinking, yelling abuse at the crowd as I attempt to whip them into a frenzy, and generally causing some merry mayhem. This is also only five days after my birthday, so I’ll most likely still be drunk.”

Can’t live without: My nipple tassels, of course!

I love a bit of champagne before and after the show too.

Popping her Black Cherry: It was their 2009 Christmas party; I remember one of my fans had a fairy-light skirt, just like my costume – it’s like a big Christmas tree underneath, which I reveal to the audience with all the lights flashing! It was great to see the crowd getting into the Black Cherry spirit!

Signature routines: My carousel routine, where I dress-up as a carousel horse and dance around in a latex horse head to Ginuwine’s ‘Pony’ and Tom Waits’ ‘Get Behind the Mule’; and the one where I perform in a giant beer mug to INXS. (Two bogan strongmen pour beer over me as the finale).

Special skills: Singing, electric/acoustic ukulele.

Costume inspirations: I’m a big fan of classic glamour, and 1950s sirens such as Marilyn Monroe play a big part in inspiring my attire. I like to dress “classy” so I can talk cheap!

This pocket rocket will be bringing a touch of vaudevillian charm to the proceedings. All we know is that her routine will involve fire, hula hoops and possibly rollerskates…

Special skills: Rollerskating, trapeze, hula hoops, dance.

Popping her Black Cherry: At Black Cherry’s Christmas party last year I performed my banana routine, my lycra-clad hula hoops piece, and a bit of trapeze – all in my signature tonguein-cheek fashion. It was a blast – and there were some fantastic bands!

Inspirations: Grace Jones, Wau Wau Sisters, Josephine Baker, Dolly Parton, Gene Kelly, Etta James…

How did you celebrate your 5th birthday?

I got a kitten and she got lost immediately. I was very upset and yes, probably had a tanty! She was found a week later stuck in the chimney – luckily it was summer.

This southern belle is bringing sinful themes and smouldering seduction (not to mention killer tatts!) to the party. Expect dazzling costumes and epic music...

Special skills: Alternative pin-up modelling – and a mean hula dance!

Costume inspirations: I have a background in costume design for stage, so I design and make all my own costumes. I take inspiration from everywhere – old Hollywood, film noir, exotica, old theatre and circus costumes, etc.

Can’t live without: Lipstick.

An injection of playful attitude, Frankie’s ‘80s-inspired routine will take a page from her own personal history: “a transition from a selfconscious teen with big dreams to pelvisthrusting, seam-ripping burlesque babe.”

Signature routine: ‘An Introduction to Frankie Faux’ – it begins with Dr. Frankenstein introducing his latest and greatest creation: ‘Frankie Model No. 13, the perfect woman for every man’. Frankie then breaks from the constraints of the stereotype and attacks her maker!

Costume inspirations? David Bowie, Nina Hagen, etc. I try to take classic 1940s silhouettes and give them a modern, grunge twist.

Can’t live without: Glitter and heels (the higher the better).

Popping her Black Cherry: A friend made me apply for Black Cherry’s Burlesque Knockout competition (which I ended up winning in July) with my ‘French Maid’ routine, for which I lathered myself in soap and water. It was an amazing experience and I knew from that moment that burlesque was something I wanted to do.

Black Cherry’s 5th Birthday: Bands: The Beards, The Rumjacks, The Go-Go Haunters, The Hollywood Hombres, Jungle Rump Rock’n’Roll Karaoke; Burlesque: Anna ‘Pocket Rocket’ Lumb, Lux St Sin, Briana Bluebell, Frankie Faux & MC Lauren La Rouge; plus DJs and more Where: The Factory Theatre When: Saturday October 15

Black Cherry’s NYE: Bands: Bob Log III (USA), The Art, Pat Capocci Combo, Ezra Lee, Gay Paris, Los Capitanes (ACT), Virginia Killstyxx, Jungle Rump Rock’n’Roll Karaoke; Burlesque: Gypsy Wood, Lillian Starr, Kelly Ann Doll; plus DJs and more Where: The Factory Theatre When: New Years Eve / December 31 More: blackcherrypresents.com.au

BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11 :: 19

Ben Folds The Retrospective By Caitlin Welsh

B

en Folds hates writing songs, and he’ll tell you that for free.

“I was thumbing through a book – I can’t read a whole book about songwriting, but it was a Christmas present – about Jimmy Webb, who’s great,” he says. “And one of the first things I saw when I opened it up was, ‘If songwriting is not living hell on earth, then you’re not doing it right’. That’s his opinion. And Randy Newman, who I met and had dinner with recently – which was a highlight that I’m going to brag about – he just said, ‘Do you like songwriting?’ and I said, ‘No, I fucking hate it.’

And he said, ‘Good.’”

It’s odd to hear him say it. Pretty much the only thing that stays constant with Ben Folds is that he always looks like he’s having the time of his life – whether he’s making albums with William Shatner or Nick Hornby, becoming the patron saint of a capella groups across America, inviting strangers on stage at the Sydney Opera House to play hackysack, recording and leaking an entire fake album just to mess with downloaders, locking himself in a studio with two musicians and a fantasy author to write eight songs in as many hours, going on ChatRoulette live on stage and

improvising songs about bemused naked dudes, or playing shows where fans write their requests on paper aeroplanes and hurl them at him... Courtney Taylor-Taylor of the Dandy Warhols once infamously declared, “I sneeze and hits come out!”, but Folds makes writing music look easier than breathing, tossing off witty couplets and warm little melodies at whim. But then there are also songs like ‘Rockin’ The Suburbs’ and ‘One Down’, which insist that it’s actually a hard and thankless slog at best – and hack work at the worst.

“It’s funny – the way it works is that it’s either absolutely effortless, or it is excruciating work,” Folds says of his creative process. “Most of the time it’s closer to the excruciating work part, but it’s all a state of mind. And the real reason why I think I do things like 8in8, and ChatRoulette, and the fake album, is that it’s a long-term raging against really wanting to work something over, and get it right.”

8in8 was the charity-driven songwriting lockdown project Folds took part in earlier this year, joining forces with Amanda Palmer, her author husband Neil Gaiman and OK Go’s Damian Kulash: six songs were written, recorded and released online in the space of just a few hours. Charitable intentions aside, Folds seems to need the positive vibes. “I work with people who always high five after doing something, like Amanda and Neil, and The Bens,” he muses, referring to his trio with Ben Kweller and Ben Lee. “Everyone I’ve ever worked with seems to finish a song and go, ‘That’s the shit!

Yeah!’ And I’ve never been able to do that; I always walk away thinking it’s terrible.”

“Randy Newman said, ‘Do you like songwriting?’ and I said, ‘No, I fucking hate it.’ And he said, ‘Good.’ ... It’s either absolutely effortless, or it is excruciating work.”

His solution, then, is to throw everything at the wall, whether it sticks or not. “I think songwriters and artists get hung up on what’s going to outlast them, when really, everything is going to die. The whole thing is going to die,” he shrugs. “So the thing to do is to be as expressive as you can at that moment, and not worry too much about a legacy, or what people think about you at the moment.”

Folds has been thinking about his legacy at least a little, though – at the time we met, he was kneedeep in it. The three-disc retrospective compilation The Best Imitation Of Myself, which came out last Friday, was at that point still being narrowed down from more than thirty years of Ben Folds recordings – including demos from when he was just ten, although he quickly dismisses the possibility that his pre-pubescent compositions will sneak onto the set. “Those are interesting, but not really worth releasing,” he explains. “They’re not bad, but they’re not something you listen to again.”

What is making the cut, he says, is “Loads of unreleased stuff. Loads. I had no idea, but the people I work with have all been such archiving nerds that it’s all there.” Other times, he was just lucky – like when he called up a studio to ask after a whole session’s worth of recordings that Ben Folds Five did for an album that was never released. “Some of the stuff I’ve been going through includes the first day we rehearsed, where we put some stuff on a four-track. And we made an album that we didn’t release that we can choose from,” he says. “Sometimes I’m hearing songs that I don’t even remember writing. They’re demos, but they’re really, really good… I don’t want to say it like this, but I really think it’s one of the best retrospective albums that anyone could make – but only because we’ve got such a wealth of shit to choose from. I’m really excited about it, because I can remember some of this as seeming like wasted time. But now that I’m listening, I realise it wasn’t wasted time – it’s actually pretty good stuff!”

Folds is a talker, and between discussing his role as a judge on The Sing Off (think Idol, for glee clubs – Folds was invited to be on the panel after producing an album for charity of his songs being covered by college a capella groups) and musing on why he hasn’t collaborated with any American authors yet (“Kurt Vonnegut would have been great. I’d write an album with Kurt.”), there’s no time to press him on a Ben Folds Five reunion. But it emerges just a few days later that a new record from the band is slated for next year – so despite what he says in interviews, he’s probably enjoying himself at least a little bit…

What: The Best Imitation Of Myself (1995-2011), a triple disc Ben Folds retrospective, is out now through Sony Music 20 :: BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11

BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11 :: 21

Oh Mercy Whipped Into Shape By Alasdair Duncan

O

n a chilly Sunday afternoon in July, in a festival tent at Splendour In The Grass, young Aussie band The Middle East played their last ever show. Nobody knew except the band themselves, who announced in the middle of their set that they were officially no more. A murmur of shock and surprise ran through the crowd, and for the members of Oh Mercy, who had played on the same spot just moments before, and were standing to the side of the stage watching, it was a poignant moment. “It was pretty intense,” singer Alexander Gow tells me of the experience. “It was funny, because just before they went on, they needed to borrow one of our guitars. We’d had the in-between-sets pleasantries and all that stuff, and given them a guitar. They seemed a bit funny – I figured they just had their minds on the job, which I guess they did. I can’t imagine how it must have felt to be up there, for the last time you play in a band with your friends – or however they consider themselves.

I felt lucky, as did a lot of the people watching, I imagine, to see their last show.”

The Middle East’s break-up was all the more surprising given that they had released a

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lauded debut album just months before, and seemed like a young band with a good deal of potential and promise. Given that Oh Mercy are a similarly-lauded Australian outfit, and about to start work on their second album, I ask Gow just what it is that keeps his band together. “Well, we have been through a few lineup changes over the years,” he admits, “and all of the past members have been talented, awesome people, but it’s gotten to the point now where I’m surrounded by some of my best friends. I respect them as musicians, and I enjoy their company.

“That’s just how I’ve set this thing up,” he continues. “I’ve surrounded myself with friends who, luckily, happen to be very talented. That’s not to say The Middle East didn’t have the same set-up. I mean, there were a lot more of them, so there was greater potential for conflict, I guess! I really don’t have any idea what was going on there, so I can’t really comment. On the other side of things, we’re all just really excited to be making music – we don’t take anything for granted. Playing on that stage at Splendour was a real honour, and we’re going to be playing with The Triffids soon, who are one of our favourite groups. We’re really just pinching ourselves.”

Oh Mercy’s second album, a sublime, paredback collection of love songs called Great Barrier Grief, was released earlier this year to great acclaim – even veteran song writer Paul Kelly chimed in to say that the young band are one of his biggest current inspirations. The group have played numerous live shows around the country over the last few years, and Gow credits this experience with turning them into a better and more confident band. “Touring has definitely helped me as a singer,” he says. “It’s all very well for me to have written and recorded in my bedroom and used my bedroom voice, but to go out to Bunbury in Western Australia and play to twelve assholes that hate you whips you into shape vocally and as a band!”

“It’s all very well for me to have written and recorded in my bedroom and used my bedroom voice, but to go out to Bunbury in Western Australia and play to twelve assholes that hate you whips you into shape vocally and as a band!”

So playing a number of support slots turned out to be beneficial for Oh Mercy? “Yeah, that’s part of the deal,” Gow says, “and to be honest, I quite enjoy it. There might be some more sensitive people who have a different outlook on their songs or their place as performers, who might not enjoy it as much, but I just kind of deal with it. In the band, we have a pretty good sense of humour about things like that.”

So what else has the experience of playing to hostile crowds taught the band? “Well, I’ve learned to project a bit better, and not mince my words as a lyricist,” Gow says. “Also in terms of arranging songs, I’ve learned to trim the fat a bit. I’ve really enjoyed that. The audience dictates your approach sometimes. You would hope that, if you have enough self-respect, your integrity as a writer shows through no matter what. I’ve also had a lot of fun with my friends on the road, I’ve met a lot of new people, and seen a lot of the country – we play outside of Melbourne more than we play in Melbourne.”

Oh Mercy are set to play their final Sydney show of the year at the Oxford Art Factory later this month, with hand-picked support bands Brous and Step-Panther – and then after that, it’s off to work on album number two. “There’s a handful of new songs that I’ve been working on with the band – we’re going to be working a few more of them into our Melbourne and Sydney shows. It would be great if we could start recording them at some point soon; I’d really like to have a new album out by mid-to-late next year, because it will have been a bit more than a year since the last. That would be the aim – we’ll see what gets in the way!”

With: Step-Panther, Brous Where: Oxford Art Factory When: Friday October 14

DVD and Blu Ray Available in Stores Now! *While stocks Last BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11 :: 23

The Bats Dunedin Strikes Back By Sean Gleeson

L

egend has it that back one summer in the late ‘70s, some plucky young Kiwi returned to the sleepy university town of Dunedin after a long sojourn in the mother country, walking through customs with a crate of the latest records under each arm.

Why is this important? At the time, Dunedin had only two TV channels and three radio stations, all inwardly-focused and completely indifferent to international events. The country was in the middle of the long, tedious Prime Ministership of Robert Muldoon, whose antagonistic attitude to any other nation besides his own was best summed up when he claimed that New Zealanders who emigrated to Australia raised the IQ of both countries. Suffice it to say, if one were to start circulating, say, a copy of Never Mind The Bollocks or Unknown Pleasures in such a vacuum-sealed environment, the city’s more discerning youth would have a collective fit. And so it was, kindled by a visceral reaction against South Island-isolation, stoked by an aural crash course in punk’s “just pick up a fucking instrument and play” ethos, that the Dunedin Sound was born.

Documented by Christchurch’s Flying Nun Records, championed by the local uni’s Radio Otago, and later name-dropped by genre gods

from Stephen Malkmus to Chan Marshall, this tiny little blip of a town in the most remote part of the Pacific wound up producing some of the world’s best post-punk and indie-pop bands.

The Bats are the most prolific, still going strong on the eve of their 30th anniversary and gearing up for an international tour of their eighth studio album, Free All The Monsters. In contrast to the frenzied workload of the band’s earlier career, when they put something out every year between ’84 and ’93, Monsters is one of their best records yet, evidence of the measured approach The Bats have been taking since 2005’s At The National Grid.

“We recorded Monsters in December last year, in an out of the way place north of where I live,” says frontman and guitarist Robert Scott, from his Dunedin home. “An ex-mental asylum, actually! It was an impressive place, surrounded by trees and lovely birds and all that stuff. We had our gear set up in the old stables out the back, surrounded by horses.

It was a very lovely place to record, and we were all keen to work… Before, we’d recorded albums after having locked in most of the material live,” Scott continues. “[But] with the last few albums, we haven’t been playing as much, and I’d been playing more on my own a lot more. I suppose we’d all gone off on a

bit of a tangent. Sometimes it’s hard to know what direction you’ll head off in when you start writing, and I think with all the time apart between us, it was harder to know what would come out the other end. You kind of find out in the process what other people in the band will make of it. [But] there’s continuity in terms of the way we play; it’s still recognisably us.”

In between Monsters and 2008’s The Guilty Office, Scott has recorded and toured his second solo album, Ends Run Together, and played bass in a long-overdue tour with his long-time collaborators in fellow Flying Nun alumni The Clean, including an unforgettable performance at the 2011 Golden Plains. “To tour with them again was great,” he says. “Mistletone [Records] were instrumental in setting up Golden Plains, and

to play that kind of show in Australia again was really good for us.” After 30 years onstage, what sort of crowd does one of the most influential bands in New Zealand pull these days? “I’d like to think that wherever we play, we’re definitely attracting some new people,” Scott answers.

“People who, like us, are keen for nothing more than to hook up and share music with each other. I mean, I’d hope we’re still appealing to a new generation, because if we’re still playing to people of our age, we’d have half the audience in wheelchairs!”

What: Free All The Monsters is out now on Mistletone Records Where: Notes, Newtown When: Saturday October 15

Regular John Turn It Up And Play By Greg Clennar

I

t’s been over two years since Brisbane punk-rockers Regular John released their debut record, and they’ve been spending the downtime jamming out with new sounds and expanding their sonic pallette. They’re about to head into a studio lock-down to record their new “spacewalks” with long-time collaborator Tim Powles, from The Church. Before then, though, they’ll be headlining the huge fourth party in the Double Dragon series; we checked in with bassist Caleb Goman about where the band’s been, and where they’ll go next.

To quote from your peculiar bio: “On stage, Regular John makes tangible the mystery that sustains their existence.” How exactly does one achieve this?

Though we have sometimes employed various means of organic chemical gnosis or tantric rites, I have found the easiest way is to get onstage, plug a guitar into an amp, turn it up and play. (Otherwise known as ‘kicking out the jams’.)

What was growing up like for you guys?

Ryan (guitar/vocals) and I grew up in a town called Manilla in NSW. There’s less than a thousand people, and not much to do except swim in the river, listen to music and smoke grass. At some point we hit on the idea that we could start a band; neither of us could play, but at the time it seemed like the obvious choice for life. I find it very amusing that it worked out.

We try and stick to the same spirit that we had then: playing music with the emphasis on ‘play’, the same way kids get together and play. Once you lose that, you might as well give up.

Your music has been compared to just about every punk band of the last 20 years.

Where do you guys look to for inspiration?

A lot of our early stuff was punk simply because we were young, pissed off and could hardly play our instruments. Bad Brains I still

dig a lot – I’m a big fan of their ethics and the dynamics in their music. Lately I’ve been digging a lot of the stuff I listened to in high school again: Sabbath, Floyd, Zeppelin, King Crimson. Inspiration can and should come from all over the place, though The Wizard remains a notable and profitable source for all matters related to The Riff.

You guys have been around for ages; how do you think Sydney’s music scene has changed over the last five years?

A lot of the bands we used to play with have broken up, so I’m grateful that we are still together and that new bands are carrying the torch. A lot of the venues have closed down too, but new ones are popping up as well. It’s the circle of life, and it all balances out in the end.

So long as you remain true to The Wizard, you will survive.

It’s a little harder for punk bands to flourish these days, in a scene that’s rife with overproduction and Garageband. Where do you see music going in the next few years?

If society makes it hard for a certain type of music to flourish, then you can be certain it will flourish soon enough in a big, pissed off way.

It just takes a few years for the underground to bubble up and spit something out that will wipe what’s popular away. Punk did it to prog and grunge did it to hair metal. I don’t know what the hell is going on with rock these days, but I suspect it is alive and well, hiding out and biding it’s time. We’ll do our best to wake it up in the meantime.

With: Mother & Son, Kira Puru & The Bruise, Big Dumb Kid, Kill City Creeps and loads more Where: Double Dragon IV @ Q-Bar, Sydney When: Friday October 14

Dropkick Murphys Controlled Chaos By Robbie Miles

“K

nock on wood, it’s always gone alright.

We’ve broken a couple of stages, but in general no-one’s ever gotten hurt. It’s controlled chaos.” Speaking from his home in Boston, Al Barr – lead singer of Dropkick Murphys – is referring to their traditional manner of closing a show. First, while they play the drinking anthem ‘Kiss Me, I’m Shitfaced’, every girl in the audience (or at least those in the know) jumps up on stage.

They’re soon followed by anyone else who can make it over the barrier, usually with the cheerful assistance of security, for the encore.

There are plenty of bands who love their fans, but not quite as many who tour between nine and eleven months of the year just to see them – and precious fewer who make annual trips to Australia. “We love it down under; we try and get there as often as we can.”

Their latest album, Going Out In Style, is Dropkick Murphys’ most mature work yet. The fist-pumping drinking songs are still present, but they are in service of a larger narrative: the story of a fictional character, Cornelius Larkin.

Bassist and vocalist Ken Casey has described the album as a retrospective of Cornelius, who was “one of those guys who immigrated to America at 16, got drafted into the Korean War, married young, had nine kids, worked hard, and lived a full life rife with different characters, ups and downs, and trials and tribulations. Some of the stories are fictional, but most are odes to our grandparents, friends, and loved ones.”

Going Out In Style was produced by Ted Hutt, who most recently worked with fellow Celtrockers Flogging Molly on Speed Of Darkness.

“We decided that for the first time in ten years we were gonna work with an actual producer,” Barr explains – DKM had been self-producing for a decade. “It was a big leap, but we clicked

right from the word go. He knows his shit; it was a treat to work with him.” Barr is incredibly enthusiastic about both the recording process and the new album. “I’m loving playing the new tracks on stage, ‘Sunday Hardcore Matinee’ especially. We have a pretty big catalogue, so we try and keep the set list fresh; we don’t wanna bore the audience, or ourselves.”

In 2006, their song ‘I’m Shipping Up To Boston’ was featured in the Oscar-winning film The Departed, which led to a far more mainstream awareness of the band. “Our music is not the sort where you can be a passive fan,” Barr explains, “so even if you’re just coming to see us for that song, you’ve gotta come see us at a club – and if you aren’t into this music, it’s not going to be somewhere you’ve been before...

I think we had a good following before, and growing slowly is the way to do it for us.” Of course it helps that DKM’s fanbase is incredibly loyal – almost tribal. “You can connect with the fans so they understand where the band is coming from and what it’s all about, so it doesn’t become something that gets away from us. A band that can’t explain its success is gonna lose it as quick as it comes.”

The Irish folk tradition is keenly felt throughout all their work, but Dropkick Murphys’ universal appeal comes down to something else. “I think the subjects we’re covering are so universal; family is important to us, friendship and loyalty.

They definitely transgress it being just an Irish thing – it’s more of a human thing.”

What: Going Out In Style is out now through Dew Process Where: The Enmore Theatre When: Thursday October 20

“I’ve seen the needle and the damage done. A little part of it in everyone. But every junkie’s like a settin’ sun. ”- NEIL YOUNG 24 :: BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11

M83 No Rules By Caitlin Welsh

EXCLUSIVE

TO

R E L I A R T R YOU + YOUR FRIENDS

= YOUR CHANCE TO M

83’s 2008 album Saturdays = Youth was one of the best records released that year; its fey ‘80s melancholy and crisp, spiralling synths collected a combination of critical accolades and indiekid devotion at levels normally reserved for new Wes Anderson films. For listeners of a certain disposition, it encapsulates the grating, delicious contrasts of adolescence – bright hope and total despair, towering ambition and toe-scuffing reticence, sparkling energy and crushing ennui – and jacks it all up to 11, so at times it feels like you’re living the record rather than listening to it. But the French electro-pop outfit’s frontman and maestro, Anthony Gonzalez, thinks it was far from his best work. Speaking from his home in the south of France, a month out from the release of his sixth record, he explains that his last didn’t come from a good place.

“I just felt like I could have done better,â€? he says, quite earnestly but still with that peculiarly French audible shrug. “And it’s tricky, because this is my most successful album. It’s kind of scary to me, because I wanted to go in another direction with [new record] Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, but I didn’t want to disappoint people. I didn’t want people to expect Saturdays = Youth 2‌ I was a bit depressed when I composed [Saturdays], and I wasn’t feeling very good about myself.â€? After touring Saturdays for eighteen months, Gonzalez upped stumps to California. While you wouldn’t think that relocating from the south of France to Los Angeles would be the most inspiring move, it was the best thing he could have done for himself. “I was feeling so at peace with myself [in L.A.], I composed the entire album there,â€? he says, “and I was feeling inspired.

I was enjoying myself in the studio, and I was excited to make music again – probably because it was a new environment. I was going out to live shows, to museums, going to the movies a lot‌�

Inspiration struck quickly and struck hard – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is an epic achievement. It gleams and pulses with emotional authenticity, richness, wonder, jaw-droppingly huge reverb; sonic references that reach beyond Gallic dream-pop and teenage soundtracks into layered vocals that recall Animal Collective’s culty shimmer, Peter Gabriel easy-listening grooves, and wall-of-sound post-rock fanfares. Working seamlessly with M83 hallmarks – glassy synths, spoken-word interludes in French and English, that third-act-love-montage-ina-Sofia-Coppola-film vibe – it’s also a double album that somehow feels leaner and more necessary than many a single-disc effort. It’s the sound of Gonzales not second-guessing himself any more. “That was the good thing about Saturdays,â€? he muses. “I wasn’t proud of the album, but we toured it for a year and a half, and touring for so long gives you a lot of confidence. I was touring and playing tonnes of shows, and I couldn’t wait to start recording my new album. I felt ready for it, and I feel like this is the feeling you can feel when you listen to Hurry Up‌ – something very confident, and strong.â€?

“Every time I’m done with the mixing, I smoke a big joint and listen...The first time I listened to this album, I was crying. I feel like I’ve done everything I could to make it sound like this, and it’s exactly what I had in mind.�

The double album structure, which he’s said variously reflects his love for Smashing Pumpkins’ Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness and also a brother/sister dichotomy, also served the simple purpose of letting him say yes to more of his own ideas. “There’s no rules in music, and I feel like there’s no rules on this album,� he says. “I tried so much stuff, and I improvised a lot. Sometimes I would spend days and days on one sound, just to craft this album as much as I could.�

A self-confessed perfectionist, Gonzalez tells me he didn’t realise how happy he was with the album until he’d completed his end-ofrecording ritual... “Every time I’m done with the mixing, I smoke a big joint and listen to the album with a good pair of headphones,� he begins, “and every time it’s very scary, because the album is done, and there’s nothing else you can do on it. And the first time I listened to this album I was crying, honestly – I’m not going to lie to you. I was crying because I was proud, not because I think it’s a great album – although I really feel like it’s a good album,� he adds, not a little self-consciously. “I just feel like I’ve done everything I could to make it sound like this, and it’s exactly what I had in mind. And it was a feeling of pride, because it was a long journey. I’ve been working on this for almost a year and a half... It was almost like a love story that ends. It was kind of mixed feelings – something very sad because it was over, and something very happy because I had something that I was proud of.�

In a way, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming was both the cause and the document of a sort of coming-of-age realisation for Gonzalez. “When I started to compose this album I turned 30, and told myself to enjoy the album, and not worry about what other people thought,� he admits. “This album is almost a gift to myself, almost. I felt like if I was doing music for myself first, if I was feeling emotion and was moved by making it, then maybe some people will feel the same way.�

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BRAG :: 432 :: 03:10:11 :: 25

Blink-182 This Is Growing Up By Steph Harmon

“M

y parents knew it was theatre of the absurd, they knew it was all a joke. They just rolled their eyes, and let it go.” Being responsible for a band that brought the world lyrics like “I’ll never talk to you again / Unless your dad will suck me off” would not have been easy… But if your son was Mark Hoppus, and his band broke as fast and hard as Blink-182 did, it’s likely you’d just deal with it.

When they tore through the ‘90s with ‘Dammit’, ‘All The Small Things’ and ‘What’s My Age Again?’, Blink-182 were bored suburban kids writing anthems for bored suburban kids – get drunk, go skating, fuck up and (try to) get laid; your parents don’t get you anyway. The headiest emotions were coupled with puerile pranks and potty humour, they had great songs with better hooks and faces for television, and they broke just in time for the heyday of MTV. On 1999’s Enema Of The State, Blink could make a mockery of polished pop stars while topping the charts themselves, and called themselves a punk band while selling four million copies for a major label. They influenced a whole generation of pop-punk bands, like Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco, but there’s been no-one since who’s so successfully coupled dick jokes

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RED STATE AN UNLIKELY FILM FROM THAT KEVIN SMITH JOHN GOODMAN MELISSA LEO MICHAEL PARKS

Strong violence, sexual references and frequent coarse language

26 :: BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11

IN SELECTED CINEMAS OCTOBER 13 WWW.REDSTATE.COM.AU

with sincerity. And they did all of it looking like they were having more fun than anyone. “We didn’t have a problem with being on a major label, we didn’t have a problem being on the radio, we didn’t have a problem with people buying our albums or our t-shirts. We wanted it,” says Hoppus, bassist and lead singer. “The only thing we cared about was not pandering to what people thought we should do… We were like, ‘We’re just having fun and doing what we like. Stop! Leave us alone!’”

I’m speaking to Hoppus on the Australian release date of Neighborhoods, Blink-182’s first album in eight years. Their infamous break-up may have been only six years ago, but there’s been births, deaths and middle age since then. Immaturity has always been at the heart of Blink’s identity, so what happens now that the band have grown up? “I don’t know – being immature at 17 and being immature at almost 40, like we are now, it’s the same thing,” Hoppus says. “I don’t think it’s a numbers thing; I think it’s an outlook on life thing.” Each member of Blink-182 is a father now, too – what will their kids say when they crawl under the bed to find a copy of Dude Ranch with the prank videos and porn mags of Blink’s wonder years? “I’m going to have a lot of explaining to do, that’s for sure,” he laughs. “I don’t know exactly how I’m gonna own up to this.”

“It was definitely an ugly experience for all of us – the breaking apart of Blink and the loss of identity and the acrimony ... We’re a lot smarter with one another now.”

Blink’s 2005 split came as a huge surprise to fans, as shocked by the finality as they were by the public hostility that surrounded it. Singer/ guitarist Tom DeLonge had taken a step back from touring to spend time with his family, but it was his manager who finally called the band to tell them it was over. Drummer Travis Barker wouldn’t speak to Tom for nearly four years – until just before midnight on September 18 2008, when a Learjet 60 crashed during takeoff in South Carolina. Of the six on board, only two survived: Adam Goldstein aka DJ AM, and his close friend Travis. “Tom reached out to Travis after that, just to say, ‘Man, I hope you’re okay, I’m sorry to hear what happened, if there’s anything I can do,’” Hoppus explains.

(Travis won’t fly anymore, making that rumoured Australian tour a little tricky: “It’d have to be a boat situation…”) “But I think even before the crash – I mean for me at least, I was already ready to move past all the nonsense, and at least start talking again as friends. I didn’t think that Blink would ever necessarily re-form, but I didn’t want to have that negative energy hanging over.”

Just a month before the crash, Blink-182’s longtime producer and friend Jerry Finn died of a cerebral haemorrhage, and in August the following year DJ AM died of an overdose in his New York apartment – so it’s not surprising to find themes of mortality, fatalism, loss and ghosts lending a much darker tone to the self-produced record. “Something’s swimming in my blood / something’s rotting in my brain,” Hoppus sings on ‘Fighting The Gravity’, before the track distorts into a minor chord mess over sinister drums and hypnotic bass, skittering to an abrupt end. Those hooks are still undeniable, that energy is still indefatigable – and if you look past the dick jokes, Blink-182 have always been sentimentalists – but on Neighborhoods, the teen breakups and that fear of adulthood have been replaced by something much harder to define. “It’s definitely a different Blink than it ever has been before,” Hoppus explains. “That being said, when we go out on stage, we’re still just three idiots having a great time, making stupid jokes and running around… That still feels the same.”

So with hindsight, does Hoppus regret all the mess? The four years of silence? The public insults? That bitter song he and Travis recorded about the break-up, with their side-project +44 (‘No It Isn’t’)? …The one which mysteriously leaked on Tom’s birthday? “I don’t regret anything that happened,” he says adamantly. “It was definitely an ugly experience for all of us – the breaking apart of Blink and the loss of identity and the acrimony and everything else. But I think that it really showed us exactly what each of us brings to Blink… We’re a lot smarter with one another now.” Are there still clashes? “Oh, absolutely. But that clash is exactly what makes Blink [work]… We all wanted very different things out of this record, so we were all pulling it in different directions – and I think that, ultimately, is what makes Neighborhoods sound like it does.”

What: Neighborhoods is out now on Geffen/ Interscope, through Universal

BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11 :: 27

arts frontline

free stuff email: freestuff@thebrag.com

arts, theatre and film news... what's goin' on around town and more...

five minutes AUSTIN

What is your background/training? I don’t have any formal training but I've taught myself how to use a camera after years of live music and social photography. Standing in the photographers' pit at Big Day Outs in front of 40,000 people is a major highlight.

How do you make ends meet? Apart from working a few days a week in a cafe I’m spending most of my time photographing guys' portraits for my blog ‘The Shady Beau’, which is starting to get heaps of views worldwide.

How did you first come up with the idea for 68 portraits? Two years ago I decided that it would be really interesting to see how people would react to being photographed looking like themselves, as I had spent so much time shooting the kids being fake as hell out in bars and clubs.

Self portrait by the artist

L

ocal social and fashion photographer Luke Austin is exploring new territory with his upcoming show How Do You Want Me? – a series of portraits where the

WISH YOU WERE HERE

Dear ‘The Wall’: thank you so much for your postcard, it really brightened what was, let’s be honest, a hectic week with too much rain. But then, you’re always vomiting artsy sunshine out of your corner of the World Bar (we still haven’t forgotten that magic night of role-play – you were Steve Zissou, and we were Max Fischer). Anyway – enough about us. We’ll see you at the next show!

(P.S. awesome idea – get rad photographers to send you a holiday snap, and get rad writers to use the images to inspire imaginary postcards? Amazeballs. We suggest Cybele Malinowski, Pat Stevenson, Maja Baska, and Will Reichelt, and maybe get Sam Twyford Moore, Zoe Norton Lodge, and Lee Tram Lam…) Wednesday October 26 from 7.30pm at The Wall (World Bar, Kings Cross). artonthewall.tumblr.com

TEN MORE GIRLS

Since 2008, the graduates of the Design Centre Enmore’s Jewellery and Object Design department have been holding annual exhibitions under the collective banner Ten More Girls – with each show being a neat snapshot of fresh talent, across a range of styles and mediums. This year, the ten 2011 graduates have chosen the theme ‘colour’ – with each designer taking up a different tone.

10 Girls/10 Colours features the work of A Mi Kim, Andrea Iglesias, Bernadette Trainor, Carol Faulkner, Danielle Butters, Jo Piper, Majella Beck, Nikki Majajas, Radka Passianova and Tenille Evans – and all pieces will be available for purchase! Opens Tues October 18 and runs til November 6, at Salerno Gallery (70 Glebe Point Road). tenmoregirls.com

LANE FOUR

There’s a new laneway arts project in town: Lane Four, hosted by The Galeries boutique hub (you know, the shiny happy home of Incu, Kinokuniya and Mecca Cosmetica). The first instalment, curated by aMBUSH gallery, will

Who are your subjects? I put it out there on friends’ Facebook pages initially and then it spread out to friends of friends, etc. So some portraits are of very close friends, and some are of complete strangers. see three large panels suspended from the Lane Four ceilings, with each one representing a pairing of two Sydney artists: Beastman vs Phibs; Max Berry vs Mark Alsweiler; and Jumbo vs Numskull. As with most laneway arts projects, Lane Four harms absolutely no-one (unless you are extremely tall), costs nothing, and is vast improvement on bare walls. See for yourself between October 12 – November 11, at The Galeries (500 George Street, CBD). lanefour.com.au

SYDNEY CYCLES

Unless you slept all week, you’re picking this up on Sunday or Monday – which means you’re still at the front end of Sydney Rides Week, a celebration of cycling, encompassing street fairs, 'ride crawls', art – and the Bicycle Film Festival, which this year is spreading its screenings across two venues: Sydney Opera House’s Playhouse (Fri October 14 from 6.30-10.30pm and Sat October 15 from 6.3010.30pm ); and the Seagull Room of Bondi Pavilion (Sun October 16, from 4.40-12.30pm). The films range from web virals to short fiction and docos, with highlights including the fascinating doco Bill Cunningham New York, about the eccentric New York Times fashion reporter, and Spike Jonze’s Mark On Allen. bicyclefilmfestival.com/sydney

JOHN WATERS

The Pope Of Trash will once take the stage at Sydney Opera House next weekend, presenting a series of double features in extremely bad taste. Over three nights, John

Why did you decide on these particular rules for the shoot? I wanted to shoot people as their truest self, so naked and in their bedroom was the ideal place. Most didn’t go the full nude, so I allowed towels and hands to cover. I shot really quickly to try and capture the nervous energy. They were nervous, I was nervous, and I’m hoping the audience feels a bit strange viewing them. Even though the subjects are bare, I hope that the viewer can get a sense of that person by looking into their bedroom and their personal object.

What was the biggest challenge? No-one likes what they actually look like so I found it hard shooting people like this. Not many were happy with the outcome, and I’m used to creating a hyper-reality when I shoot people, so it was hard for all involved. But It was more of a challenge for those being photographed. Apart from feeling exposed and uncomfortable, a lot of the subjects struggled with not being able to pose or smile. For me, being left alone in a stranger's bedroom while they shower was pretty friggin’ weird.

What: How Do You Want Me? Where: Fraser Studios 10 & 12 (10 Kensington St, Chippendale – opposite UTS) When: Saturday October 15 from 4-8pm More: theshadybeau.blogspot.com

ONE X ONE X ONE

If you like skateboards and street art, boy do we have an offer for you: ONE X ONE X ONE is a new travelling exhibition of 55 skate decks transformed into eye-treats by a lineup of top Australian street- and low-brow artists – including Yok, Bennet, James Jirat Patradoon, Mia Taninaka, and Tim Andrew.

It’s the brainchild of Three Sixty Project, a global youth outreach program that invites artists to decorate decks, which are then sold on a ‘one-for-one’ basis: “for every skateboard we sell we send one overseas (or within Australia) in support of Skate Programs developed to work with youth in that specific area.” ONE x ONE x ONE opens October 13 from 7pm at LO-FI Collective (Lvl 3/383 Bourke Street). wearelofi.com. au/collective

MICHAEL WORKMAN

This month, The Standard hosts the triumphant return from Edinburgh Fringe of Melbourne Comedy Festival Best Newcomer Michael Workman, and his award-winning alternative philoso-comedy Humans are Beautiful. If we had to summarise it in 16 words: a man walks through a warzone with a talking dog and a grave-digging arts student. We have ONE DOUBLE PASS to see Michael at The Standard on Saturday October 22 – to get your hands on it, email us with the country that Edinburgh is in…

RED STATE

Never one to embrace convention, writerdirector Kevin Smith (Clerks) has made the leap to the horror genre, with a snappy slice of action centring around three teenage boys after a bit of nookie, who are instead taken prisoner by a right-wing Christian cult.

Starring Academy Award-winner Melissa Leo (The Fighter) and John Goodman, Red State is a fine return to form from an indie film legend. Red State opens in selected cinemas on October 13. We have FIVE IN-SEASON DOUBLE PASSES up for grabs; to get your hands on one, email us with the name of one film Smith made (other than the two listed above!)

MCA 2012: REINVENTED

In case you’ve been snoozing, the Museum Of Contemporary Art has been undergoing a $53 million revamp for the past howevalong; but at their 2012 season launch last week, they revealed that the Museum will reopen on Saturday March 31, with a celebratory week-long festival of events, talks, and public programs; for $53 million, we’re anticipating some seriously sexy art-type stuff, not to mention the new ‘rooftop venues’. The first exhibitions off the 2012 rank are Marking Time, which features 11 international artists working in different media to visualise time and its passing; and Volume One, a selection of highlights from MCA’s Australian collection. mca.com.au

Left: Deck by Mia Taninaka

FRESHLY SQUEEZED 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.” October 21-23 – tickets from Sydneyoperahouse.com

Cure your Crack Theatre Festival and/or Sydney Fringe withdrawals with a dose of Freshly Squeezed – a showcase of emerging performers presented by Sydney collective Stagejuice. Formed by UWS Performance graduate Katy Green, Stagejuice encompasses a diverse range of practises – including theatre, dance, sound art, music, visual arts, media, film and installation.

Freshly Squeezed will include works by Scott Sandwich (winner of the FBi Radio Poetry Competition), video-artist/sculptor Suzan Liu, and Shy Magsalin’s Earthcrosser Company – among many others. October 20-22 at PACT centre (107 Railway Pde, Erskineville). stagejuice.com.au/freshlysqueezed

SHOOT THE CHEF

Last week the winners of the annual Shoot The Chef photography competition were unveiled – Henry Bois de Chesne (Student Winner) for his photograph of the chef and restaurant owner, Hassan M’Souli, and Christopher Ireland (Professional Winner) for his portrait of cookery teacher Luciana Sampogna (wearing pasta on her head). But we were quite fond of this one (pictured)

by Shane Rozario, which made us both a) smile, and b) dream of committing serious food-crimes. To see all the 22 finalist photos, head to Chifley Plaza in the CBD until October 28 – or view them online at ozharvest.org/stc

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Self portrait by the artist, Luke Austin

subjects have been photographed straight from the shower, without any clothing, hair styling, or make-up; each are shot standing in front of their bed, and holding one item that is dear to them. Shot over two years, the 68 portraits (which include some familiar faces) will be presented for one evening only…

Shoot The Chef - Crimes Of Passion by Shane Rozario

WITH LUKE

A D R I A N B O H M P R E S E N TS

A N EV E N I N G W I T H

E M M Y AWA R D -W I N N I N G CO M E D I A N A N D STA R O F ‘ MY L I F E O N T H E D - L I ST ’

29 & 30 NOVEMBER SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE BOOK AT SOH BOX OFFICE 9250 7777 SYDNEYOPERAHOUSE.COM OR TICKETMASTER 136 100 TICKETMASTER.COM.AU

due to ming overwhel demand

PHOTO: MIKE RUIZ

2nd shoew on sal now A B P R E S E N TS .CO M . AU K AT H YG R I F F I N . N E T

AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF DRAMATIC ART Bachelor of Performance Unique Education for the Actor / Creator / Producer

AUDITION NOW FOR 2012 Apply Online: www.aada.edu.au

INFORMATION EVENING

Cricos Code 00665C

Tuesday 8 November, 6:30pm – 8:30pm Pilgrim Theatre, 262 Pitt Street, Sydney (02) 9219 5444 enquiries@aada.edu.au

The Australian Academy of Dramatic Art is a department of the Australian Institute of Music

AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF DRAMATIC ART

BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11 :: 29

RED STATE Melissa Leo on the Kevin Smith Experience

By Alasdair Duncan

The crazy mob descend, in Red State.

W

hen you interview actors, you get used to hearing a lot of platitudes – glibly-rehearsed lines about what a pleasure it was to work with this or that director, what an honour it was just to be nominated. Melissa Leo is no fan of platitudes. A working actress for three decades, she has starred in such acclaimed TV series as Homicide: Life On The Street and Treme, and earlier this year, was awarded with a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her work in David O. Russell’s The Fighter. In person, Leo is wry and worldly, speaking about herself and her career with an openness that cuts right through the usual bullshit.

“I was approached to play the character of Sara,” Leo says, of her involvement with Red State. “Kevin paid me a very high compliment, saying that my accepting the role and being a part of the film would show everyone he was making a serious movie. I felt that denoted an understanding of my acting and a respect of it, and I was very happy to come on board.”

When arriving on set, Leo clarifies, she is very conscious that she is there to make the filmmaker’s film – “there’s a distance between the words that are written on the page and the film that is eventually made,” she says. “That’s the filmmaker’s vision and I’m there to help realise that.” While praising Smith for his “grace and beauty” as a person, Leo says that his singular directing style was sometimes a challenge, and

that in many ways, working with him felt like working with a first-time director.

“There are many successful filmmakers of about Kevin’s age who are one-man-bands,” she says. “They do really interesting things with the medium of film, but they restrict themselves because of their limited knowledge about what the collective of filmmakers has discovered [before them]. Kevin knows film from watching film. Somebody like Todd Haynes, who directed me in Mildred Pierce, knows film from being on film sets. He knows what all the players are doing, he’s in control.” Smith’s style is anarchic, and for Leo, who is more used to directors who are in complete control of their sets, working with him was a culture shock. “There are lots of these one-man-band filmmakers who have made funny, successful movies,” she continues, “but there’s a casual element to the way they play around in what I would consider to be a high, holy church.”

For Leo, one of the pleasures of working on Red State was reuniting with actors she’d worked with in the past – the aforementioned trailer scene being on example of this. “That was a joy, because of those three boys and their energy and enthusiasm,” she says. “One of them, Michael Angarano, had played my son in a previous film, so it was very funny for us actors, with all our various relationships and the way we play, to find our characters together. To have

Theatres Coming to 12 & DVD 20

A

fter Dark Films – America’s most prolific purveyor of horror – is teaming up with local distributors Paramount Home Entertainment and Transmission to release AFTER DARK ORIGINALS: A New Brand Of Fear – eight fresh new slices of horror, encompassing everything from the paranormal and sci-fi to murderous psychopaths and the undead.

To celebrate, we have a special prize pack that includes seven of the DVDs, plus an After Dark tee-shirt & poster (and a signed poster for ten runners-up).

To get your claws on all this swag, email freestuff@thebrag.com with the name of one famous horror director...

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those three beautiful boys making sexy advances my way for a couple of afternoons was a laughand-a-half. They’re delightful, the three of them.”

John Goodman, who played Leo’s husband in the first season of Treme, also shows up as a police officer. “He’s a friend for life,” Leo says of him. “If ever I was having a difficult day on set, and there were a few of those, I could lighten the mood by saying ‘just you wait ‘til my husband gets here!’”

In spite of the fact that her style didn’t always mesh with Smith’s, Leo said that she is proud to have been involved in Red State. Her biggest achievement in recent times, though, is undoubtedly her Oscar win for her pitiless portrayal of Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg’s mother in The Fighter. When asked if the win has changed things for her, she tells me that the biggest difference it’s made is in terms of selfrespect. “I’m really grateful to be recognised as a peer in my field,” she says. “That makes me feel better about myself than I ever imagined I could, and it’s given me new strength and courage to go forward to the next phase of my career.”

What: Red State, Dir. Kevin Smith When: Released October 13 Where: Chauvel, Hoyts EQ & Broadway, Event Cinemas Macquarie, Dendy Newtown, Reading Cinemas (Auburn)

TAXI PREMIERE: AFTER WIN! POPCORN SECONDS APART DARK: A NEW BRAND OF FEAR

G IV EA W AY S

Take the story of how she was fired from her job on ‘90s police drama Homicide as an example. Her character, Sgt Kay Howard, wore mismatched men’s suits, let her hair out, and frequently appeared without makeup – all ideas that were Leo’s own. “I’d worked for years with men who went in front of the camera without makeup, so when I saw an opportunity to do the same, I just had to take it,” she tells me with a laugh. “The network hated the hair, they hated the lack of makeup, and most of all, they hated the neckties!” Leo was eventually let go, but she is proud of sticking to her guns, and indeed, sees Kay Howard as opening the door for less conventional TV policewomen.

All of this brings us, in a roundabout way, to Red State, the newest film from indie auteur Kevin Smith. Smith is better known for foul-mouthed comedies of the Clerks and Mallrats variety, and Red State represents his first foray into horror.

The film tells the story of a group of religious fundamentalists – based loosely on the infamous Westboro Baptist Church – who murder ‘perverts’ they find on the internet. Leo plays Sara, a cult member who lures the film’s three young protagonists to her trailer with the promise of sex. She is a flawed-but-interesting character in a flawed-but-interesting film, something Leo is willing to discuss with surprising openness.

To celebrate the DVD launch of AFTER DARK ORIGINALS: A New Brand Of Fear, After Dark founder Courtney Solomon is coming Down Under – including a stop at Popcorn Taxi, where he’ll present the Australian Premiere of Seconds Apart, a chilling tale of murderous telekinetic twins.

We have ten double passes to this special screening event, which takes place Tuesday October 18 at Chauvel Cinema.

To get your hands on one, email freestuff@thebrag.com with the name of another screening event Popcorn Taxi are holding this month. popcorntaxi.com.au

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David Page and Rhimi Johnson in rehearsal for Bloodland

What is Soil Erosion?

[COMEDY] Claudia O’Doherty Dishes Dirt By Peter Neathway

Bloodland [THEATRE] Tales From The North. By Simon Binns

As Page explains it, Bloodland is a tale of forbidden love: “it’s a bit of a Romeo and Juliet,” he laughs. “You don’t want to give anyone a false take on it, but there’s two families and they’re fighting over money – and right in the middle there’s this love story.” Within this love story many issues are housed, including intra-community violence and youth suicide. “The story is really simple,” says Page, “but it has that traditional injection of a remote community.”

An exciting aspect of this production is the inclusion of Aboriginal languages. For the mostly-urban cast, learning the words has been one of the challenges of the process, but it’s something that Page has relished. “The magic of telling the story through language is really cool,” he smiles. “Most of us urban black fellas have been repressed into not speaking our language, and some people don’t understand that.” It’s perhaps not surprising that Page, who works as a composer and originally came to fame as a child singer, has found learning the language almost like learning music. “It’s got that melody to it,” he explains, “so you’ve got to find the song.”

The most exciting thing for Page, however, is sinking his teeth into a different kind of character.

“When Stephen first asked me to be in the play he wanted me to play the role of Gulami, which means bullshit artist,” laughs Page, “and I said ‘I’m sick of playing all these good-time Charlie roles.’”

Page instead set his sights on the role of Bapi, which means snake. “He’s cunning, conniving and a bit of a bastard,” he says with a cheeky grin.

Besides being the local drug dealer, Bapi is a corrupt magic man who only thinks about money.

Needless to say, Page is having the time of his life. “I love it. I get to have hair,” he says excitedly, stroking his shaved scalp, “I’ve got this great wig and I’m thinking about wearing it out.”

Part of the process involved the large cast (12 actors in all) and the creative team heading to Arnhem Land to see where the stories that are being told have come from. “For those who had never been, it was a real eye-opener,” recalls Page, “they were just expecting an Aboriginal community like they see on the news, but it’s full on.”

The communities at the heart of Bloodland are at the forefront of Australia’s current economic boom.

“Nhulunbuy is a mining town. And it’s slowly being swamped by all these southern White Australians who go up there to make their riches,” Page explains. “It’s the same basic structure as the gold rush days – people just go where there’s money.”

Page himself is a regular visitor to the area, and he says far from improving, the situation’s getting worse. “To see that town be engulfed in this addiction, not just the white people but the black people too, it’s very self-destructive… That’s what this show is about.”

What: Bloodland by Kathy Balngayngu Marika, Stephen Page and Wayne Blair Where: Wharf 1, Sydney Theatre Company When: Until November 13 More: sydneytheatre.com.au/bloodland

I

f you were not one of the 200 or so people privy to the debut season of What is Soil Erosion? at Imperial Panda Festival in March, don’t worry: Claudia O’Doherty is back this month at Downstairs Belvoir, with all the facts on rill erosion, moon cycles, sediment migration, or tillage. You don’t have to be into dirt. Your host isn’t.

“Soil erosion is very boring. I thought it’d be a funny thing to try to make a comedy show about,” says O’Doherty. Ostensibly the distillation of the first series of a TV show about erosion that no one will let her make, the show is a hilarious series of diversions from the core topic, as O’Doherty’s painfully awkward presenter struggles with technical cues, denounces television executives, attempts magic, and introduces baked goods, among other things.

“It’s just a lot of stupid jokes, you know. It’s me wearing an unflattering outfit and doing embarrassing things, and trying to be funny,” says O'Doherty.

Last at Belvoir in 2010, with her debut solo show Monster of the Deep 3D (which won the Best Newcomer Award at Melbourne Comedy Festival and Brisbane Comedy Festival) O’Doherty has clearly made the daunting leap from ensemble work (most notably alongside Nick Coyle and Charlie Garber in the trio Pig Island) to solo work.

“I just decided to start doing stuff on my own, which was really beyond terrifying. Um, but then it started to work, and turns out it’s really fun,” says Claudia. “And you get triple the money cause you don’t have to share it with anyone.”

With that hard-earned box office dollar, O’Doherty took Monster to Edinburgh Fringe in 2010; this year she returned there with Soil Erosion, also adding a season at London’s Soho Theatre. “It all went a lot better than I could have hoped,” says Claudia. “People came, which always feels like a sort of Christmas miracle when you’re overseas, cause you’re like ‘I don’t know any of you – who are you? where did you come from?’. I felt like I’d won a competition and it was my prize, doing the show.”

According to O’Doherty, the show is all the better for its back-to-back seasons. “I think it’s probably, like, 30% better,” she jests. “If you’ve done the show fifty times, you start to be like ‘no, statistically, this is definitely funny. This section is funny, so if you guys don’t like it, that’s fine.’”

So Claudia is confident in the show, but not so confident as to be a jerk, or anything like that.

“I always come off as a jerk [in interviews],” she jokes. “I did an interview like two years ago, and I don’t remember saying it, but it was published that I’d said, ‘I can’t wait to get to Melbourne and do my thing’, and I don’t think I would ever say that,” she says. “Please don’t make me sound like I think I’m awesome, because I don’t,” says Claudia with the self-consciousness of the solo comedian.

What: What Is Soil Erosion?

Where: Downstairs Belvoir When: Tues October 18 – Sun October 30 Tues-Sat at 8.45pm, Sun at 7.45pm More: Tickets from $24 at belvoir.com.au or 02 9699 3444

This Year’s Ashes [THEATRE] A reluctant romantic comedy By Pierce Wilcox Choinière’s psychedelic Bliss (Belvoir Downstairs, 2009), Mark O’Rowe’s Crestfall (Griffin, 2010) and the confronting devisedperformance work Trapture (Old Fitz, 2011), Murphy’s body of work has dealt with the darker end of the spectrum of human experience and emotion.

“I’m not ever going to go for the light comedy, Murphy admits. “I do enjoy exploring the darker areas of life... I like reaching into the depths but also making it humorous. … [Also], I like things I find challenging.”

This Year’s Ashes, written by British expat Jane Bodie, fits the bill, examining a young woman who uses sex to deal with loss – with nasty repercussions. “What I love about [this play] is that it takes the myth of females and how they behave in relationships, and turns it on its head,” Murphy explains. “Ellen behaves in a way that maybe conservative society would not consider acceptable,” says Murphy, “and she’s using her grief as an excuse. It’s something that I think people do. Grief can become something that you can use to deflect how you’re treating people.”

Shannon Murphy in rehearsals for This Year's Ashes

T

his Year’s Ashes, the final play in this year’s Griffin main-stage season, is described as a ‘reluctant romantic comedy’, but you’d be forgiven for thinking that

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romance is the last thing on director Shannon Murphy’s mind. From her breakthrough, critically-acclaimed production of My Name Is Rachel Corrie (Belvoir, 2008) to Olivier

It’s a behaviour pattern Murphy has seen herself. “I do know people who have been through, you know, partners dying, and have gone through a very similar journey.

Everybody deals with grief so differently and so personally.” Further than that, Murphy sees

the connection between death and sex as inherent to human nature. “And you hear all the time about, you know, people go to funerals, and they suddenly have desires to be sexually active.”

This Year’s Ashes counterbalances the drama with an edge of observational comedy. It’s Sydney from an outsider’s perspective, packed with what Murphy calls “hilarious things you don’t think of when you’ve been here for a long time. Like the fact the water tastes like the bottom of a swimming pool, or everything’s so fucking shiny, you know, and like – what the hell are frappes?” Murphy pauses, then deadpans, “There’s also an...element of cricket to the piece.”

I confess I know nothing about cricket. “I didn’t either,” Murphy reassures me, “until doing this play. In the last year I’ve gone to a live cricket match with my cast, which was amazing.” She insists you don’t need to be a sports-minded person to enjoy the motif, just remember the sound of a test match on your parents’ radio.

“Cricket is the soundtrack of summer for Australia; it really holds an important place in many people’s hearts.”

What: This Year's Ashes by Jane Bodie; Dir. Shannon Murphy When: October 13 – November 19 More: griffintheatre.com.au

This Year's Ashes – photo by Brett Boardman / Bloodland – photo by Danielle Lyonne / What Is Soil Erosion? – photo by Mikey Pozarik

B

loodland stands alone in Sydney Theatre Company's 2011 season; in a Eurocentric program, flush with classics from great German writers and new productions from exciting Irish companies, here stands a bold new Indigenous Australian work. Beginning with a concept from Bangarra Dance Theatre's artistic director, Stephen Page, and expanding into a collaboration with actor-director Wayne Blair and Bangarra artistin-residence and cultural consultant Kathy Balngayngu Marika, Bloodland has emerged as a vibrant work that crosses both human and theatrical languages, bringing together traditional Yolngu storytellers and established urban actors. One of those established actors is David Page, Stephen’s brother and long-time collaborator.

presents

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Thu 20, Fri 21 & Sat 22 Oct at 8pm . PACT centre for emerging artists 107 Railway Pde, Erskineville . Tickets $10 . Bookings stagejuice.iwannaticket.com.au artist logging b

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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.

■ Theatre

UNIT 4 Until October 15 / Seymour Centre Look at your walls. Look at your floor, your ceiling. They’ll probably live longer than you.

They may already be older than you. It’s hard to remember sometimes, but in every place you’ve slept, worked or loved, other people lived their own lives there first. It’s a quietly beautiful fact to be reminded of, and it’s a terrific foundation for a show. Despite the palpable talents of the performers, though, Unit 4 never lives up to its promise.

benah: pale ryder

PICS :: TL

Unit 4 begins on the edge of forgetting, with a demolition crew preparing to destroy an apartment block. Before the wrecking ball comes down, the Dislocate company use a combination of dance, theatre and circus abilities to tell the stories of the titular unit’s disparate inhabitants, showing us fragments of their lives and eventual deaths.

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The choreography is skilful, often clever and sometimes quite sweet. Unit 4’s weakness is that the individual narrative arcs don’t display any particular insight or originality, making it difficult to stay interested, even when there’s an intriguing idea buried inside. Even the most brilliant movement sequences don’t evoke an emotional connection between the performers or with the ideas the piece could be engaging with. All this is compounded by the use of overlong and broadly comic interludes to mask set changes (the performers ‘redecorate’ between each scene), and a recorded soundtrack that ranges from bland to outright tawdry.

Unit 4 would make an endearing Fringe piece, but it’s far from enough to fill the cold space of the Reginald. To avoid disappointment, it might be best to take the longer view: think on the shows that have occupied this space before, and the more satisfying shows that may still be to come.

Pierce Wilcox ■ Theatre

MONEY SHOTS Until October 15 / Wharf 2, STC

gorelesque

PICS :: GP

Sydney Theatre Company’s 2011 Next Stage season has absolutely delivered on its promise to present top-notch emerging artists. It began with Christabel Sved’s exciting take on Before/After, followed by new works from local performance collectives post and My Darling Patricia; it closes with this bouquet of new talent.

01:10:11 :: The Vanguard :: 42 King St 95503666

Arts Exposed What's in our diary...

Queen Street Studio presents

PEEPSHOW AR: LAUNCH WEEKEND

Comprised of five new 15-minute plays focused on the idea of money, Money Shots features Angus Cerini, Tahli Corin, Duncan Graham, Rita Kalnejais and deviser Zoe Pepper, who were all given a chance to develop a new short work with the assistance of STC’s acting ensemble The Residents and director Sarah Giles.

The plays come at the central theme from a variety of angles. For some, money is at the centre of everything; for others it’s merely a starting point for a tangential story.

The scripts are strong, and do well with the short form. Highlights for me were Pepper’s hilarious story of family turmoil, Corin’s tale of teenage affections – equal parts adorable and heartbreaking – and Cerini’s high-tension tale of surgery gone wrong.

Giles has done a good job of bringing the disparate pieces together for a fairly seamless show.

Money Shots also serves as a reminder of The Residents' talents. Cameron Goodall does particularly well out of the evening, displaying his versatility across everything from stand-and-deliver tragedy to out-andout comedy. Zindzi Okenyo and Tahki Saul also share some particularly tender moments as the teenage lovers, performing the roles without a hint of parody.

Delivering a season of new work is always a balancing act but STC have stuck the landing.

Henry Florence ■ Theatre

SUMMER OF THE SEVENTEETH DOLL Until November 13 / Belvoir Written by a 34-year-old Ray Lawler in 1953, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll has since taken on epic – almost mythic – proportions in Australia’s dramatic canon.

Everyone’s heard of it, even though most have no idea what it’s about; as director Neil Armfield says in his program note, it’s our country’s greatest theatre classic. In that sense, it’s well worth your time to see this well-heeled production, which combines the triple threat of a top-notch cast, Ralph Meyers’ immersive, naturalistic set-design, and Armfield’s confident direction.

Set in the working-class suburbs of 1950s Melbourne, all the action of The Doll takes place in the living room of Emma (played here by Robyn Nevin) and her middle-aged ‘barmaid’ daughter, Olive (Susie Porter); it opens with them preparing for the ‘lay-off’ – the five month holiday in which cane-cutters head south to their families and friends.

Olive and Emma have been observing this ritual for 17 summers – ever since Barney and Roo first walked through their door, posing as prospective lodgers. But this summer is different: Olive’s best friend Nancy (Barney’s sweetheart) has gotten married, throwing the group’s cheerful equilibrium off balance. To fill the gap, Olive has asked fellow barmaid Pearl, a widower and single mother, to spend the summer at the house.

When Barney and Roo return, however, it quickly becomes apparent that things will never be the same again.

This production takes full advantage of The Doll’s humour and energy with a comically gifted cast that includes Helen Thomson, Dan Wyllie, and Yael Stone. Nevertheless it’s a profoundly sad play, ultimately; after 17 years, this is a bitter harvest. There’s a touch of Sirkian melodrama in Armfield’s final act that you either dig or don’t.

Performance-wise, most of the cast seem to be playing to type (Stone once again channels a nervy, hyperactive, big-hearted kid, Wyllie and Steve Le Marquand play blokes’ blokes) – which is no problem at all, unless these actors usually annoy you.

Personally, I could watch Thomson’s special blend of pathos and ridiculous (as per God of Carnage and In the Next Room: the Vibrator Play) any time. She’s one of the best things in this play. The most compelling, for me, was Nevin, whose performance was the most effortless. Overall, I wish there had been more of that effortlessness across the production. It’s not overly subtle – but on the flipside, it keeps you riveted for the almostthree-hour duration.

Dee Jefferson

Queen Street Studio are launching their brand-new app PeepShowAR this weekend, which uses Augmented Reality (AR) technologyto provide a 'virtual tour' of the 2010 postcode – from galleries and graffiti walls you never knew were there, to the stories behind the local icons.

To celebrate, many of the ARIs and shops are throwing open their doors, and there will be a special ‘treasure hunt’ of clues and goodies that leads you to the Sunday-night party, at a secret location! Special PeepShow tours leave on the hour, every hour between 11am–5pm from Heffron Hall (cnr Burton & Palmer Streets). For more info, hit up queenstreetstudio.com/PeepShowAR 36 :: BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11

Zindzi Okenyo and Tahki Saul share a moment in Money Shots

See www.thebrag.com for more arts reviews

Money Shots – photo by Brett Boardman

October 15–16 / Surry Hills & Darlinghurst

DVD Reviews Why so serious?

THOR

CAMELOT

Paramount Home Ent. Released October 6 The latest Avengers reboots had a pretty high bar set

by Jon Favreau’s sly, slick Iron Man. Despite spot-on casting, uniformly gorgeous production design, and smart modernisation, most of the subsequent films (Iron Man 2 included) have been good rather than great.

But Kenneth Branagh’s Thor has the most definable flaws of all the films so far – the scenes in the entirely-CG, spectacularlyimagined world of Asgard, home of the gods and of endless shiny gold surfaces, are far more believable and emotionally resonant than those on normal old Earth. Anthony Hopkins as the judicious, battle-scarred king Odin, Tom Hiddleston as the wonderfully complex Loki – even the absurdly-armoured cast of battle chums and noble servants of the realm seem imbued with a commonality of purpose and depth of character that mooks and sidekicks are almost never allowed. And Chris Hemsworth plays the brilliant, bull-headed heir to the throne of Asgard with more subtlety than anyone could possibly have expected from the pretty-boy ‘Summer Bay’ alum – wry and direct, his performance has an easy charm that helps elide plot holes like Thor’s breezy acceptance of his sudden mortality.

In fact Hemsworth alone manages to salvage the oddly-paced and hackneyed Earth scenes.

Natalie Portman’s two-dimensional ‘beautiful astrophysicist’ character is as pointless as her tacked-on romance with the fallen god, and Kat Dennings and Stellan Skarsgård are both wasted as her snarky assistant and mentor respectively.

Earthlings aside, Thor is a Technicolour rush of well-staged action set-pieces and unexpected pathos, fitting Branagh’s theatrical style. If you didn’t see it in the cinema, though, find the biggest TV you can – a laptop screen does the absurdly beautiful fantasy visuals no justice.

Caitlin Welsh

Hopscotch Entertainment Released October 6 If, like me, you thought Eva Green gave Daniel Craig a run for his money in Casino Royale, indulged in the guilty pleasure of The Tudors for more than a few episodes, spent too much time reading as a child, and saw John Boorman’s shlocktastic Excalibur several years before you ought to have, then you may just overlook the flaws in this new tele-series, and find yourself procrastinating from life with just one more episode. Yes the performances are totally OTT – and the anachronistic ‘fuck that’s and ‘piss off’s are as embarrassing as your mum’s tweets… But it’s such a great story…

Camelot (presumably titled so to cement its link to the modern-day nation-building mythology of JFK – and to reinforce the central premise that, as Merlin says, a king is primarily an idea) is the brainchild of prolific writer/executive-producer Michael Hirst (Elizabeth, The Tudors), among others – and the simplest way to summarise it is to say it does for Malory’s Morte D’Arthur what The Tudors did for…the Tudors (but with less nudity, sex and quality acting). It even has Jonathan Rhys Meyer's doppelganger Jamie Campbell Bower, who has the same feline sex appeal and rock star glower, but less depth. Joseph Fiennes, who seems doomed to period remakes, plays Merlin – a ruthless political player who literally made a king, through rape and sorcery, and will stop at almost nothing for his cause.

The best bit (as in all previous versions, for my money) is the complicated Morgan, Arthur’s scheming half-sister, whose bitchfrom-hell routine is belied by moments of empathy and even vulnerability. Green has great, campy fun with the part – but also her eyes are magic lasers that demand loyalty.

Dee Jefferson

Street Level With Daniel Csutkai

D

aniel is the youngest member of the Factory Space theatre company, for whom he’s currently appearing in Terrence McNally’s Pulitzer-nominated A Perfect Ganesh – straight off the back of a short run of Girl’s Backstage Choices at Newtown Theatre for Sydney Fringe.

What is your background/training in performance? I studied psychology at uni, acting at Actors Centre Australia (in Surry Hills) and am currently training at the Actors College of Theatre & Television, in an alternate method of acting known as the Morris system – a sort of contemporary to the mainstream Stanislavsky method.

Have your psychology studies bled into your theatre work? Definitely – it’s taught me a lot about how to look at people, and how to disseminate characters. Sometimes when looking at the more extreme senses of character – psychopathy, narcissists, sexual deviants etc. – psychology is invaluable as the sense of character is defined; but when looking at the more subtle character nuances such as emotion and personality, personal experience and self-knowledge is invaluable.

How does performance/theatre intersect with the rest of your life? Until recently I have been balancing full time work with acting; it’s difficult because acting itself is a full time job – auditions, rehearsals, casting, film shoots etc. usually come last minute and always run over time, so it’s hard to schedule that around your regular job.

How hard is it to break in to acting in Sydney? The arts scene is a very niche place – you quickly start to recognise everyone around every corner. It’s not particularly hard to get in, but staying in can be a challenge. As an actor you have to show your quality and ability early on, so that recommendations flow thick and fast and people start to remember you from different performances. Television is more difficult because the stakes are higher, the roles fewer and the competition fiercer.

What have been the highlights so far? I have had the opportunity to work with actors

from around the world in various productions, and with some very experienced and talented directors. I have learnt stagecraft, how to convey a character and emotion across a theatre, how to disseminate a text and apply meaning in it in a real theatre context.

What drew you to your role in A Perfect Ganesh? I play Walter, the dead son of one of the protagonists; he’s a complex character – within himself and within his relationships to others – with very human problems; you could say he’s a cocktail of internal emotional strife.

It’s definitely one of my most challenging roles.

What else are you up to this year? I’ve been cast in an indie crime drama called Forced Hand, being filmed and produced in Sydney. I’m also involved in two pilot productions – a sitcom, and an original drama series called Wandering Rocks, for which filming will start in the next couple of weeks.

2012 will see me throw my hand into Short & Sweet in a directing role.

What: A Perfect Ganesh by Terrence McNally When: Until October 15 / Thurs-Sun at 7pm; Sun at 3pm Where: Star of the Sea Theatre / Cnr Collingwood St & Iluka Ave., Manly More: factoryspace.org BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11 :: 37

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

ALBUM OF THE WEEK THE VASCO ERA The Vasco Era Era Records/Inertia

The Vasco Era were already terrific, and they're only getting better... And if you haven’t yet seen the band live, you're missing out.

It’s a mystery as to why The Vasco Era aren’t superstars. Unquestionably one of the country’s greatest live acts, their first album was a scorching, bluesy monster, barely pausing to draw breath while assaulting your brain. Their second, Lucille, got occasionally bogged down in its attempts at an over-arching narrative, but demonstrated that the band was capable of writing catchy ‘pop’ songs without sacrificing their ferocity. Sadly, neither was able to make much commercial impact – but rather than admitting defeat, The Vasco Era have found a way to be both heavier and catchier on album number three.

FEIST

CSS

On Leslie Feist’s first offering in four years, the Canadian songwriter takes a darker, but no less euphoric turn than that on her acclaimed breakthrough record The Reminder, weaving the beautiful with the sinister and proving once again that she has a lot more to offer than radio-friendly jingles.

Jettisoned from Sub Pop after their sophomore album Donkey failed to create nothing but a disappointing ripple in 2008, São Paulo’s Cansei de ser Sexy have found a new home on V2 Records and a new lease on life with their latest offering, La Liberacion.

Metals Universal

You can feel the drums from the opening track, ‘The Bad In Each Other’, reverberate in your chest long after the song has finished.

It’s a moving, stripped-down ode to love gone wrong, with a verse like thunder and a chorus that sounds like sun piercing the clouds. As the raw and heartfelt album progresses, it builds upon these foundations; Feist expertly meshes the dark with the light and the euphoria with the melancholy, while her voice lies engulfed in it all, but not for a second swallowed up. Whether she’s projecting softly over strings or shouting gang-vocals atop a river of drums and guitars, Feist makes it all sound so effortless and stunning.

‘Comfort Me’ is a shining example of this, which weaves the humming and the clanging and the gang vocals with her gentle voice, guitar and strings, exhibiting the kind of raw talent that doesn’t come around too often.

The record drifts between songs, tempos, instruments and themes without ever hitting a snag. From dramatic numbers like ‘A Commotion’, to the relaxed Sunday-afternoon tunes like ‘The Circle Married The Line’, every song complements the next in a fluid, natural succession.

Feist could undoubtedly have penned another record like The Reminder, filled with happy-golucky soft pop music. Lucky for us, then, that Metals is such a resounding slice of chaotic beauty.

Oliver Pelling

Main songwriter Adriano Cintra continues his love affair with instrumental experimentation and the 1980s. ‘Echo Of Love’ is a nod towards Paul Simon-esque Afro-beat, lead single ‘Hits Me Like a Rock’ (with vocal help from Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie) grooves its way into calypso pop heaven, and the title track sees the band get a bit punk, with great results. Unfortunately, though, for every good cut on the album, there’s an average song acting as a counterbalance. ‘Partners In Crime’ is a mismatched, cumbersome guitar and piano number, and album closer ‘Fuck Everything’ sounds like an outtake that they forgot to leave on the studio floor.

With Lovefoxx singing about beer and bad breath, it’s really just a glorified B-Side.

CSS are having fun again, trying to recapture that carefree, don’tgive-a-fuck attitude from their 2006 debut. And they might as well ride the wave to the shore, because the swell isn’t going to last much longer.

Rick Warner

The wall of guitar ambience on ‘Not Everybody Is From New York City’ is textbook shoegaze, and allows the song room to breathe; it becomes

GROUPLOVE

La Liberacion V2 Records

Still hinging their fortunes on themes of self-gratification and pleasure seeking, there’s a familiar sense of fun on La Liberacion that went missing on Donkey. Precocious lead singer Lovefoxx still bashes on about pashing boys and causing mischief, but the bitterness that crept into her lyrics in the previous album has vanished – although I still remain sceptical whether her forthrightness is heart-onsleeve sincerity or merely a veneer for the whole CSS aesthetic.

Singer and songwriter Sid O’Neill has always been a chameleon, letting his characters and his settings occupy centre stage – but this time around it seems as though he's saved some of the spotlight for himself. The extra feeling and effort in his vocals may be entirely imagined, but there’s no doubting that the song is working more closely with the singer than it ever has before. And there are guitar tones here that we've never heard from them, broadening the Melbourne band’s sonic palette beyond anything from their first two records.

Kicking off with lead single ‘Itchin On A Photograph’, easily one of the best sing-a-long choruses of the year, Christian Zucconi’s shrieking vocals lend the track an anguished urgency.

But that caterwauling vocal style creeps into most of the songs here, eventually losing its tormented appeal – and becoming downright grating.

‘Tongue Tied’ features Hannah Hooper sharing vocal duties with Zucconi, and is one of the record’s strongest points, a snappy ditty that wouldn’t be out of place on a Passion Pit record. ‘Naked Kids’ is a crooning ode to summers past – their vivid lyrical style means you can almost smell the salty air coming in through the window – and ‘Colours’ is the perfect fusion of art rock imagery and indie sensibilities. But the downfall lies in the latter half of the record, which for the most part feels like an afterthought. Tracks like ‘Cruel And Beautiful World’ are meandering, warbling indie power ballads that have none of the flirty spark of the first half.

Never Trust A Happy Song has plenty of songs to trust in, but the same-same vibe that eventually takes it over can’t be ignored.

Luckily for Grouplove, this is only the beginning of what they’ve got to show us.

Marissa Demetriou

Milk Annual Broken Stone Records Prior to hearing the accomplished, fully-formed Milk Annual, Sydney’s Caitlin Park existed in my universe only as a name in the credits of Holly Throsby’s Team, an album on which she supplied backing vocals. And while the same lilting vocal styling and folksy qualities adorn this record, Milk Annual is far and away its own beast.

Opener ‘How’s Your Wife’ is barely a song; a vaguely Eastern guitar motif, backwards sound effects, a handful of samples and a wordless repeating vocal

38 :: BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11

opens what might be the first truly great psychedelic album of the year. Vocal samples, strange, sepia-tinged loops and found sounds are scattered throughout the entire record, and by the time you reach ‘Cauliflower Jack’, the hypnotically ambling six-minute centerpiece of the album (with the aforementioned Throsby on vocal duties), the game is won.

Lyrically, Park seems quite removed from her subject matter – this is not a heart-on-sleeve record by any stretch – but the emotion is conveyed perfectly through the music. ‘With No Strength To Defend, Be A Ghost’ is unspecifically heartbreaking, ‘Warriors With Wild Hearts’ sounds triumphant yet thoroughly

CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH

Self Help For Beginners Bad Life/!K7/Fuse So if I mentioned Manchester heroes Peter Hook (Joy Division, New Order), Andrew Innes (Primal Scream) and uber-producer Jagz Kooner were all collaborating on an album, you’d be mildly interested, right? Having broken away from Kitsuné Records to set-up their own label, autoKratz have recruited the aforementioned musos for their latest LP. The album sees them venture back to their electronic roots, putting a darker slant on their previous indieelectro recordings with Kitsuné; “Black souls don’t really fit on a label that puts out Two Door Cinema Club,” explained singer David Cox. autoKratz's love of Manchester and UK New Wave deeply influences the album. Cox borrows heavily from Bernard Sumner with his vocal phrasing, and every track featuring his vocals is lathered with minor chords and melancholy melodies.

The unmistakably Peter Hook-driven ‘Become The Wraith’ and the jittery upbeat synth-pop ‘Fireflies’ are an homage to New Order, and are some of the finer moments in the first half.

When they put the mics aside and focus on their club aspirations, autoKratz show us why they were such a hot commodity on Kitsuné.

‘Skin Machine’ is an abrasive slice of German-inspired electro-house that would make the International DeeJay Gigolos constabulary proud and send David Guetta and Deadmau5 running, while the joyous ‘R.I.S.E.’ nods towards early Underworld and 808 State.

When asked about the LP title, the guys reflected that it was about “starting again and helping yourself for the first time.” With this album, it seems they’ve helped themselves to their new romantic back-catalogue, and offered up a modern techno reimagining.

Hysterical etc etc/Universal It has been a slow, steady retreat for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah since their much-lauded self-titled debut, and third album Hysterical comes after a four-year hiatus from the band. I defended their sophomore album Some Loud Thunder on its 2007 release – sure it was uneven, but it had a handful of great songs and a disarmingly adventurous streak.

The general consensus, however, was that it lacked the lovability of their debut.

Hysterical most definitely sounds like the product of this lukewarm reaction, boasting a streamlined arsenal of pop songs that have been produced to within an inch of their life. The power-pop of opener ‘Same Mistake’ self-consciously punches a fist in the air – but this is not the same mistake, just a different one. All of the wrinkles have been ironed out to the point where the band’s ramshackle allure has been completely lost; even Alec Ounsworth’s divisive vocals get swallowed up in the buffed-up blandness.

Bombastic songs like ‘Hysterical’, ‘Idiot’ and ‘Maniac’ have a frantic pace and a full sound, but they never lift off.

Some of the slower songs are more successful – ‘Into Your Alien Arms’ revels in its joyful ‘Just Like Heaven’ riffs – but there are no real stand-outs here. Instead, the album dutifully runs its course, leaving you feeling a little empty by the end of protracted closer ‘Adam’s Plane’.

Fans of The Killers who have never heard of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah might find something to like here. But the rest of us are left wondering what we were doing with them in the first place.

Chris Girdler

Rick Warner

INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK CAITLIN PARK

Hugh Robertson

AUTOKRATZ

Never Trust A Happy Song Canvasback/Warner Californian indie rocksters Grouplove have been snapped up like a longneck by a hipster of late. It’s easy to see why, too, what with their sun-drenched riffs and harmonies, songs interspersed with handclaps, and the abundant nostalgic summer-loving imagery coming just in time for spring – but Never Trust A Happy Song falls disappointingly short of what it could have been.

a gorgeous, sad lament for a relationship’s final days. This sort of subtlety isn’t completely new to The Vasco Era, but it is certainly developed here. Ultimately, it makes the emotional range of the album that much greater, and we ride the highs and lows more closely.

defeated (built on beds of rhythm and a vaguely Washington-esque vocal melody, it was the obvious first choice of single), and ‘A Boat!’ sounds like… well, a boat!

It’s this mixture of earthy folk and digital manipulation, with samples beamed in from all corners of the globe, that makes the record so striking. It’s not often that a debut covers so much musical ground without veering into experimental mess, but Park and producer Liam Judson manage to anchor their sonic wanderings with an earthy acoustic sound and Park’s own gift for melody.

Milk Annual is a warm hug of a record that deserves every accolade coming its way.

Nathan Jolly

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

SYSTEM OF A DOWN - Steal This Album!

DAN MANGAN - Oh Fortune GANG GANG DANCE - God's Money

HOLLY THROSBY - Team TWIN SISTER - In Heaven

7 9 , : , 5 ; :

9 6 6 ; : 9 , . . ( , : 6 < 3 + < ) , = , 9 @ ; / < 9 : + ( @ 7 4

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36 20 +1 ()030;@ 4(? .6:-69+

6*;6),9 ;/

NICHE PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS

A N EVENING OF DISCO// AN HOUSE, H OUSE, D DUBSTEP, U B S T E P, HIP HOP, HOP P, L E F TFIELD LEF D E ELECTRONICA L E C T RONICA & F UTURE SOULL FUTURE

ALBATROSS 14 OCT ALL LIVE EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT 8PM TIL MIDNIGHT

BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11 :: 39

The Minor Chord

The all-ages rant brought to you by Indent.net.au and Janette Chan

Illy

ALL-AGES GIG PICKS GENERATIONEXT

Bands, solo performers, and DJs under the age of 18: lend me your ears! In case you weren’t aware, there’s an opportunity for you to perform for some of Sydney’s coolest kids, at the Museum of Contemporary Art’s generationext – undisputedly the best regular art and music event for under-18s. Having started off at the MCA, generationext has branched out to explore the creative crannies of our city, with their last event held at FraserStudios in Chippendale.

Young and restless wanderers willing to venture further should put the November 13 event in their diary – this one's being held at Casula Powerhouse. If you’d like a performance slot at one of the generationext events, head to our Indent site for all the details.

FOREST INN BAND COMP

Head to the Forest Inn Hotel in Bexley to check out some young up-andcomers. This Thursday night they’ll be hosting another heat in their all-ages band competition, so swing on by for a surprise local lineup. Who knows what contagious chorus you might end up carrying home?

ILLY & FRIENDS

Aussie hip hop artist Illy is on the road again, and this time he’s bringing some of the nation’s finest hip hop acts along for the ride. Since dropping his sophomore release The Chase last year, Illy has had his fair share of airplay, including a coveted triple j feature album slot – and his latest single, ‘Cigarettes’, will no doubt be a crowd-pleaser. So clear your end-of-week plans and head along to the Factory Theatre on Friday October 14 to catch Illy, supported by Sydney’s own ARIA-nominated Spit Syndicate, Sietta (Elefant Traks), and special host M-Phazes.

THURSDAY OCTOBER 13

SCREAM All-Ages Band Comp Forest Inn Hotel, Bexley

FRIDAY OCTOBER 14 Illy, Spit Synidcate, Sietta, M-Phazes Factory Theatre

The Wrecking Room, Liza Rose, Hey Big Aki The Lair @ Metro Theatre

SPIT SYNDICATE

Speaking of Spit Syndicate: Sydney’s princes of hip hop may be still bouncing off the success of their Exile release last year, but for those already spitting for something fresh from the duo, rest assured that your demands have been met: last month they released a brand new mix-tape, including a track that takes to Kanye West’s ‘Power’ with a sizzling Spit Syndicate branding iron. Best Intentions: Part One was let loose on the world wild web no more than two weeks ago, and is available as a free download from the Spit Syndicate website. Mixing electronic beats with smooth, soulful vocals, this Darwin duo could be the match that ignites a whole new trail in Australian hip hop/electronica.

THE WRECKING ROOM

If Friday night rolls around and you’d rather be swaying and hand-holding than hip hop hand-waving, The Wrecking Room are playing The Lair; a small performance space inside the Metro Theatre. Taking pointers from the likes of Arcade Fire and Sufjan Stevens, this Sydney seven-piece will be launching their debut EP at this all-ages affair. A free copy is promised to those who come ($10 tickets/$12 on the door), complete with original cover art done by each of the band members. Supporting them are Hey Big Aki, bringing with them their penchant for lush arrangements, and songs from their recently released, self-titled debut EP. It was a project they had a little help in production from Jordy Lane (Richard In Your Mind and Shady Lane) and Tim Powles (The Church).

The result is five sweet pop songs with a slight folk slant, eased along by delightful ukulele harmonies and the tinkling presence of a glockenspiel. Also on support is Liza Rose, who recently released their The Case EP. These Sydneysiders will make you smile with their piano melodies and sweet, breathy vocals.

PSSST…

Send all ages listings & info to theminorchordradio@gmail.com 40 :: BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11

xxxx

Spit Syndicate

Heard about our not-so-secret cure for the mid-week slump? It’s another dose of The Minor Chord: tune into FBi 94.5 at 5pm on Wednesdays. Doctor’s orders.

Remedy

More than The Cure since 1989 with Murray Engleheart

R.E.M. SPLIT

So R.E.M. have split, eh? About bloody time â&#x20AC;&#x201C; theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been treading water for two decades now. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been largely downhill since original drummer Bill Berry moved on in the mid-â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;90s, although the rot was eating away at them before that... For us, they never really made the transformation from ethereal college Americana act to stadiums. They were never meant to make that move, and naturally something big got lost in the translation. They seemed to become a rock band almost by external force, whether they liked it or not â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and it just didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t work. We much preferred when Stipe was painfully shy, enigmatic and utterly indecipherable. But that was long, long ago in a time far, far away.

C.J. ON METALLICA

answer to Howlinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Wolf, and feedtime are the missing link between Blind Willie McTell, early Rose Tattoo and X, who were acknowledged several times through the night with the inclusion of a couple of Rilen/Lucas/Krahe and Cafeiro classics.

MYBLOODYLONGWAIT

Remedyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s watch on the re-release of My Blood Valentineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s masterpiece Loveless as a twin-disc deluxe package continues. And guess what? Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been put back, yet again.

TAKING A MOMENT

Back in 1975 we were in an old pawnshop in Parramatta, when to our amazement, in amongst the old 20 Dynamic Hits-type compilations, we found a German copy of The MC5â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Kick Out The Jams. This was back when the only way to read or hear about these guys was in the pages of RAM or in Radio Birdman interviews. Actually getting such records was a complete impossibility; the later French issues had yet to be, you know, reissued. So of course we were stunned by our random acquisition.

But we got it home to find the record was in fact The 5â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Back In The USA â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a US copy.

Still, not bad. Anyway, recently we made a similar find in Mojo Music, when we came across original Australian copies of The Stoogesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Funhouse and Raw Power. It was like discovering the Dead Sea Scrolls for punk, but they were of course deep sleepers on release, almost unanimously ignored and very quickly deleted. But it was a moment, we tells ya.

(USA)

+ THE STRAIGHT ARROWS + BOVINES (HAMISH & BRAD FROM THE VINES) + FAIT ACCOMPLI + BLOODY LOVELY AUDREY + THE SALVAGERS

THE ZEP: MARK 2

C.J. Ramone C.J. Ramone, the poor bugger who had to try and be Dee Dee, has revealed that he was twice offered the bass gig in Metallica after Jason Newsted left.

Johnny Ramoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s friendship with Kirk Hammett opened the door for him, but his priorities lay â&#x20AC;&#x201C; unsurprisingly â&#x20AC;&#x201C; with the wellbeing of his autistic son. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was honoured that they asked me,â&#x20AC;? he told thegreatsouthernbrainfart.com, â&#x20AC;&#x153;but there was just no way I could do it. I have no regrets. [But] It wouldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been great to play with Metallica after being in the Ramones.

Jesus, that would be just like a too perfect life.â&#x20AC;? Indeed.

FEEDTIME: FYI

If you saw feedtimeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (local) reformation show at the Sandringham, this was a blessing and you were privileged to bear witness. We reckon you were also part of the biggest crowd in the bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history.

The trioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s set was like a steamrolling lateafternoon summer storm. It certainly felt like the middle of January; the windows fogged up from the heat. Miles Davis once described John Lee Hooker as sounding as if he was singing from under several tonnes of mud. Rick feedtime comes over much the same way â&#x20AC;&#x201C; except heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a grizzly bear trying to be heard from the earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s core. The man is Oz rockâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

A 64-year-old gent from Missouri has changed his name to Led Zeppelin II. Not only does he have taste â&#x20AC;&#x201C; only a nut would name themselves after such a shithouse record as Led Zeppelin III â&#x20AC;&#x201C; but heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rightly treated as a (rock) god everywhere he goes.

EARTH SPEAKS

Pitchfork recently asked Earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Dylan Carlson to list a few albums that made him the musical man he is today, and he came up with interesting choices (that werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the first four Sabbath slabs): Lynyrd Skynydâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Free Bird, The Eaglesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Desperado, Sabbathâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Born Again, Slayerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Reign in Blood (â&#x20AC;&#x153;Reign in Blood, South of Heaven, and Seasons in the Abyss are the perfect trilogy to me,â&#x20AC;? he said), Spacemen 3â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Playing With Fire, Massive Attackâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mezzanine, Waylon Jenningsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Waylon Live, and The Gateway Trioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s self-titled effort.

WORKHORSE

Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been slugging it out with the reformed Screaming Tribesmen and getting all loud with a couple of Hitmen shows, but last week ex-Radio Birdman guitarist Chris â&#x20AC;&#x153;Klondikeâ&#x20AC;? Masuak launched his second solo band album, Workhorse, at the Sando in Newtown. It was also the first night of the I-94 Bar Club, the Sunday night series themed on Aussie website i94bar.com, the home of record label I-94 Bar Records.

+

ON THE TURNTABLE On the Remedy turntable is Mogwaiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mr Beast, which has been copping a major seeing-to. These guys canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t, and seemingly donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t, make bad records, and while this seems to us to be closer than usual to a movie soundtrack, we found ourselves as drawn to their wallop and noise as their melodies â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in amongst the wallop and noise.

Interesting. Also getting some serious spinning is Gradyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s newie, Y.U. So Shady. Never heard of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;em? Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re led by legendary guitarist Gordie Johnson, the best rockâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;roll item to ever come from Canada, who did some major garage-blues-rock-raunch in Big Sugar, and is now doing it just as loud and large with Grady. Y.U. So Shady is all killer and no filler, and does nothing to reduce Johnsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s considerable standing in our world.

(USA)

+ TOPNOVIL + THE RUMJACKS

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Pics to art@thebrag.com www.facebook.com/remedy4rock

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name, great book) and Rituals of the Oak. Head to facebook.com/DoomsdayFestival

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Doomsday Festival sideshows have been announced: on October 16, the Sando has US heavyweights Cough with Boonhorse, Arrowhead, Adrift for Days, Birdmouth and Lomera; on October 19, The Patch in Wollongong will take a battering with Cough, Looking Glass and Stone Ox; and on October 20, The Basement, Canberra, is hosting Cough with Pod People, I Exist and Looking Glass. The festival proper is on October 15 at the Sando with Cough, Clagg, Pod People, Summonus, Looking Glass, Daredevil, Mother Mars, The Devil Rides Out (great

BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11 :: 41

snap sn ap

mum 30:09:11

PICS :: TP

up all night out all week . . .

:: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd, Kings Cross 93577700

party profile

It’s called: LVL 4 LIVE It sounds like: A series of five free gigs spanning more than as many genres, from some of Australia’s current prominent acts, supported by local up-and-comers!

Who’s playing? King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard (Oct 14), Belles Will Ring (Oct 21), Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire! (Oct 28) and Sietta (Nov 4)

jack ladder 01:10:11

PICS :: GP

lvl 4 live :: Manning Bar :: Sydney Uni :: City Rd, Chippendale 95636107

Sell it to us: King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are coming up from Melbourne this Friday to launch their new EP with support from Chicks Who Love Guns, Reckless Vagina and DJ Vivienne Kingswood on the turntables – and it’s free!

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: We all heart Kings Cross…but she don’t look so hot in the morning.

Crowd specs: Revellers, dancers, standers, sippers, chuggers, flirts, clappers, wolf-whistlers, shy types, nodders, swayers, licorice allsorts.

Wallet damage: Free entry and some vodka shooters to boot!

Where: Level 4, Kings Cross Hotel / opposite the (heritage-listed!?) Coke sign.

falcona showcase 30:09:11

PICS :: KC

akron/family :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford St, Darlinghurst 93323711

42 :: BRAG :: 433: 10:10:11

PICS :: GP

When: Every Friday from 8pm (only four weeks left!)

01:10:11 :: Annandale Hotel :: 17 Paramatta Rd, Annandale 95501078 :: KATRINA CLARKE S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER LEY MAR :: DANIEL MUNNS :: THOMAS PEACHY :: GEORGE JAY COLLIER :: CAI GRIFFIN :: ASH POPOV :: SAM WHITESIDE ::

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the trip

PICS :: AM

up all night out all week . . .

simple plan

:: Enmore Theatre :: 118-132 Enmore Road, Newtown 9550 3666.

ernest ellis 29:09:11

PICS :: CG

30:09:11

PICS :: AM

30:09:11 :: Upstairs Beresford :: 354 Bourke St, Surry Hills 92111687

:: The Gaelic Theatre :: 64 Devonshire St, Surry Hills 92111687

alice cooper 26:09:11

PICS :: JC

party profile

adam cousens band

:: Enmore Theatre :: 118-132 Enmore Road, Newtown 9550 3666

It’s called: Adam Cousens Band – ‘This Road Ahead’ single launch It sounds like: a vamped fusion of Johnny Cash and Jack Johnson travelling up the coast road towards your house party! Rootsy rock and pop Who’s playing? Adam Cousens Band, Lange Theory Sell it to us: Want to get high? Dance, dance, dance; sing, sing, sing; laugh, clap and scream! Swing your pants above your head and feel happy.

There’s no bullshit, just positive vibes.

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: The songs, the costume changes – and you’ll feel unusually happy!

Crowd specs: Colourful, smiley, happy people!

Wallet damage: No damage! It’s a free show! Booyah! (Buy us a drink?)

Where: Low Bar 302 / 302 Crown Street, Darlinghurst When: Wednesday October 12, 8pm

:: KATRINA CLARKE S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER LEY MAR :: DANIEL MUNNS :: THOMAS PEACHY :: GEORGE JAY COLLIER :: CAI GRIFFIN :: ASH POPOV :: SAM WHITESIDE ::

BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11 :: 43

g g guide gig g

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com

pick of the week

FRIDAY OCTOBER 14

Kimya Dawson and Aesop Rock

Manning Bar, Sydney University, Camperdown

Aesop Rock (USA),

Kimya Dawson (USA),

Rob Sonic, DJ Big Wiz $38 (+ bf)–$45 (+ bf) 8pm

9.30pm Ben Finn Duo Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill free 6pm Cosmo Jarvis (UK), Lime Cordial Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $22 (+ bf) 8pm Dean Wareham (Galaxie 500), The Sand Pebbles Annandale Hotel $40 (+ bf) 8.30pm Even Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $15 (presale)–$20 8pm Ghostwood, Pineapple Head, Bachelor Pad Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 8pm Goodnight Dynamite O’Malley’s Hotel, Darlinghurst free 9.30pm Helpful Kitchen Gods, Cheese Dream, Particles, Call To Colour Valve Bar, Tempe 7pm In Pieces The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 9pm Jamie Lindsay Northies, Cronulla free 7.30pm Last Night: The Cairos, The Shiny Brights, Radio Start, Randall Stagg, Indian Summer Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $15 7pm Meat Loaf (USA), Thirsty Merc Sydney Entertainment Centre, Darling Harbour $99.95– $394.50 7pm Mike Bennett The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 9.30pm Musos Club Jam Night Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt free 8pm Shane Flew Dee Why RSL Club free 6.30pm Tangled Up In Bob The Basement, Circular Quay $25 9pm Toot Toot Toots, Cash Savage, The Last Drinks The Vanguard, Newtown 8pm Wendy Matthews, Glenn Shorrock The Basement, Circular Quay $40 (+ bf) 9pm Whispering Jack 25 Years: John Farnham State Theatre, Sydney $99– $149 8pm

JAZZ

MONDAY OCTOBER 10 ROCK & POP

Big Ben Trio The Three Wise Monkeys, Sydney free 10pm Cambo O’Malley’s Hotel, Darlinghurst free 9.30pm Krishna Jones Coogee Bay Hotel, Beach Bar free 9pm Matt Jones The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm

JAZZ

James Muller Trio 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 8pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Russell Neal Kelly’s On King, Newtown free 7pm

TUESDAY OCTOBER 11 ROCK & POP

Adam Pringle and Friends Sandringham Hotel, Newtown

free 8pm All Star Trio Bankstown Sports Club free 6pm The Listening Room - Open Mic The Vault, Windsor free 7pm OMG Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 10pm Rob Henry The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm Shannon Noll Brass Monkey, Cronulla $35 (+ bf) 8pm Songs on Stage - Performers Competition Dee Why RSL Club free 6.30pm Steve Tonge O’Malley’s Hotel, Darlinghurst free 9.30pm The Temptations, Nate Evans The Basement, Circular Quay $40 (+ bf) 9pm They Call Me Bruce Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 8.30pm Tuesday Night Live: The Joe Kings, Lapis Sky, Dan Crestani Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 8pm Whispering Jack 25 Years: John Farnham State Theatre, Sydney $99– $149 8pm sold out

JAZZ

Jazzgroove: The Drip Hards, The End 505 Club, Surry Hills $8 (conc)–$10 8pm Peter Head The Harbour View Hotel free 8pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

James Donelly, Tavoi, Carolyn Crysdale Kogarah Hotel free 7pm Men With Day Jobs, Nathan Cole, Ashton Tremain, Lauren Elyse, Tabi Magnan, Jess McAlister, Dan Southward, Aussie Boy, Pilgrim, Lucas Combes, Russell Neal Dee Why RSL free 6.30pm

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 12 ROCK & POP

3 Way Split Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 11pm Adam Cousens Low 302, Darlinghurst 8pm Andy Gollege Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Andy Mammers Duo Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free

Hammerhead 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 (conc)–$15 8pm Peter Head The Harbour View Hotel free 8pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Anna Forbes, Carolyn Woodorth Blaxland Tavern free 6.30pm Carolyn Crysdale Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7pm Dan Southward, Daniel Hopkins Taren Point Hotel free 7pm Gavin Fitzgerald" , Paul McGowan, TAOS Coach & Horses Hotel, Randwick free 7pm Live and Local Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $15 6pm Renate Nguyen, Ben William, Disco Bill, Russell Neal Cat and Fiddle Hotel, Randwick free 6.30pm

THURSDAY OCTOBER 13 ROCK & POP

Adam Brand Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $43–$85 (dinner & show) 8pm

Andy Mammers Duo The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 9pm Angel Awake, Kump’nee, The Final Fall Valve Bar, Tempe 7pm Big Way Out Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 10pm Boy Outside The Vanguard, Newtown 8pm Cambo O’Malleys Hotel, Kings Cross 9.30pm Camden Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm Charge Group, Cuba Is Japan, Singing Skies Goodgod Small Club, Sydney 8pm David Agius Dee Why Hotel 8pm DM3 (Dom Mariani 3) The Basement, Circular Quay $27 9.30pm Electric Empire, The Danny G Felix Project Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills $20 (+ bf) 8pm Greg Byrne Toxteth Hotel, Glebe free 8pm Indie Warhol: The Ivys, Sophie Hanlon & The Falling Empire, DJ Skar Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free Inneke, DS Gibson Excelsior Hotel, Glebe free 7.30pm Jagermeister Presents: Shot at Sunrise, The Night, Berkeley, General Dissaray, Electric Flu The Annandale Hotel $8 7.30pm Jodi Martin, Robyn Martin Notes Live, Enmore 8pm L-Fresh The Lion, Two Tone, Madmen Prophets Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $12 8pm The Living Chair Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills free 9.30pm Liza Rose, Panama, The Nectars Hermanns Bar, University of Sydney, Darlington free 5pm Lj Edinburgh Castle Hotel, Sydney free 8pm Los Sundowners, Through The Forest Door, Caleb Goman The Union Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Luke Dixon Northies-Cronulla Hotel – Sports Bar 9.15pm Michael McGlynn Greengate Hotel, Killara 8pm Musos Club Jam Night Carousel Hotel, Rooty Hill free 8pm The Raids, 6 Pound, The My Tys The Gaelic Club, Surry Hills $7 (+ bf) 8pm Sam and Jamie Trio Maloneys Hotel, Sydney 9.30pm Speakeasy The Whitehouse Hotel, Petersham 8pm Steve Tonge Harbord Beach Hotel, Harbord The Subterraneans Macquarie Hotel, Sydney free 9pm Taylor Dayne Selina’s, Coogee Bay Hotel $55 (+ bf) 8pm The Temptations Burwood RSL Club $35 8.30pm Tex Perkins and the Dark Horses, Band of Gold The Factory Theatre, Enmore $50 (+ bf) 8pm Tony Williams Pioneer Tavern 12pm The Trews (Canada) Brass Monkey, Cronulla $19.90 8pm Zac Slater Observer Hotel, The Rocks 9.30pm

Meat Loaf Zoltan O’DonoghiesIrish Pub, Emu Plains 7.30pm

JAZZ

Eastside Radio Live @ 505: The Vampires 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 (conc)–$15 8pm Peter Head The Harbour View Hotel free 8pm SIMA Fundraiser: Steve Clisby, Jo Fabro, John Pochee, Jackson Harrison The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Chippendale $75 7pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Dan Southward, Russell Neal Red Lion Hotel, Rozelle free 7.30pm David Sattout Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7pm Matt Toms The Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 8.30pm

FRIDAY OCTOBER 14 ROCK & POP

3 Wise Monkeys Excelsior Hotel, Glebe free 7.30pm Aesop Rock (USA), Kimya Dawson (USA), Rob Sonic, Big Wiz Manning Bar, Sydney University, Camperdown $38 (+ bf)–$45 (+ bf) 8pm After Party Band Mounties, Mount Pritchard free 10pm Ate His Rock Engadine Tavern free 9.30pm Big Ben The Belvedere Hotel free 7pm Big Scary Paddington Uniting Church 8pm Billy Hughes Tribute: Grand Fatal, Thug, Arcane, The Turps, Blitz Babiez & Eric Grothe Jnr Sandringham Hotel, Newtown 8pm The Black Paintings, Andy Golledge, Bec, Sandridge Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm Booty Call Terrace Bar, Mounties free 9pm Club Love Monkey: Collarbones, Absolute Boys, Levins, Wedding Ring Fingers, Harry Cotton Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $10 9pm Darren Jack & Ray Beadle The Vanguard, Newtown 8pm Double Dragon: Regular John, Kira Puru & The Bruise, Mother & Son, Big Dumb Kid, Sick Python, Kill City Creeps, Nakagin, Disco Club, Grams, Kokomo Duo, M.I.T, Pages, Balls Deep, Ben Lucid, Strip Club DJs Q Bar, Darlinghurst $10 8pm

“Stick around while the clown who is sick does the trick of disaster”- NEIL YOUNG 44 :: BRAG :: 433 : 10:10:11

g g guide gig g New York Dolls by Anna Victoria Best

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Drive: Peter Northcote Bridge Hotel, Rozelle $15 3.30pm Fallon Bros, Dave Stevens Observer Hotel, The Rocks 8.30pm Gemma Great Southern Hotel, Sydney free 9.30pm Geoff Rana Macquarie Hotel, Liverpool 4.30pm Heath Burdell Northies-Cronulla Hotel – Sports Bar 9pm Hue Williams Elanora Hotel free 9pm Jagged Stone Mars Hill Cafe, Parramatta $10 8.30pm Jeff Martin (Canada), Colin Moore Coogee Diggers $51 8pm Jess Dunbar Grand Hotel, Rockdale 5.30pm Jim Conway’s Big Wheel, Dr Don’s Double Dose Empire Hotel, Annandale $20 Johnny Rock & The Limits Spectrum, Darlinghurst 8pm Jon Elms Trio Kro Bar, East Leagues Club The Jury St Marys Band Club 9pm Keith Armitage Harbord Beach Hotel 8pm Killer: Super Best Friends, Fare Evader, Surprise Wasp, Doc Hollywood Takes The Shotgun!

St James Hotel, Sydney $10$12 9pm King B-Fine, Blacka/Mystic, Admiral Kilosh, DJ Altafari, ForeignDub DJs The Gaelic Club, Surry Hills $20 (+ bf) 10pm King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Chicks Who Love Guns, Reckless Vagina, DJ Vivienne Kingswood Kings Cross Hotel free 8pm

Kitch Chatswood RSL free 5pm Knight Hammer, Activate Jetpack, Toxicmen, Flat Earth Confederacy Valve Bar, Tempe 7pm S.B.F.F. Gold Sprint: La Mancha Negra, Spookyland The Standard, Surry Hills 8pm Luke Robinson Novotel – Brewery Bar, Olympic Park 5pm Mad Season Wentworthville Leagues free Mark Travers Castle Hill RSL 9.30pm Matt Price Mill Hill Hotel, Bondi Junction 7.30pm Matt Sztyk, Phebe Starr, Softwar Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills 5pm Michael Bennett Guildford Leagues Club free 8pm Mish, Meniscus, Nobody Knew They Were Robots, Sicaria Annandale Hotel 8pm The Monkey Smokers, Transcaal Diamond Syndicate, Thieves, Guest DJ Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale MUM – Official Wombats Afterparty: Let Me Down Jungleman, Drunk Mums, Howler, Sex In Columbia, Tokyo Spares, MUM DJs, Cries Wolf DJs The World Bar, Kings Cross $10-$15 8pm Oh Mercy, Brous Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $18 (+ bf) 8pm Original Sin, Swingshift Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills 10pm The P!nk Show Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 10.30pm

Pete Hunt Chatswood RSL Club free 8pm Pete Murray, Busby Marou, M. Jack Bee Metro Theatre, Sydney $49.90 (+ bf) 8pm sold out Replika Duo Vineyard Hotel free 9pm The Sally Marett Band Manly Fisho’s 8pm Sam and Jamie Trio Kirribilli Hotel 8pm Secret Jam Guest, Matt Sztyk, Phebe Starr, Software Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills Shannon Noll, Tim Chaisson (Canada) The Basement, Circular Quay $35 (+ bf) 8pm Skyz The Limit Kingswood Sports Club free Speedster, Dacvid Agius Duo Crows Nest Hotel free 10.30pm Spurs for Jesus Rose of Australia Hotel, Erskineville 9pm Steve Tonge Duo Hillside Hotel, Castle Hill 8pm Stray Roots Richmond Inn free 8pm Superheavyweights Brass Monkey, Cronulla 8pm Talk It Up The Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free10.30pm Taylor and the Makers, Luke Escombe, Fiona Leigh-Jones The Eastern Lounge, Chatswood $15 (presale)–$18 8pm Tom and Dave Show Mean Fiddler Hotel, Rouse Hill 9pm Tom T Customs House Bar, Circular Quay free 7pm The Trews (Canada) Old Manly Boatshed $18.40 (presale) 8pm Trilogy, Gary Johns Orient Hotel, The Rocks $5 5pm

Van the Man Penrith Hotel free 8pm Virginia Killstyxx Notes Live, Enmore 8pm The Wrecking Room, Hey Big Aki, Liza Rose The Lair, Metro Theatre, Sydney $10 (+ bf) 7pm all ages Whispering Jack 25 Years: John Farnham State Theatre, Sydney $99– $149 8pm The Wombats (UK), Faker, Owl Eyes Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park $79.90 8pm Ziggy, Jeff Duff, Steve Balbi, Paul Capsis, Christa Hughes Enmore Theatre 8pm Zoltan Ingleburn RSL 9pm

JAZZ

Briana Cowlishaw 505 Club, Surry Hills $15 (conc)–$20 8pm Chuck Yates & The Motherchuckas The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Chippendale $10-$20 Yuki Kumagai, John Mackie Well Connected Café, Glebe free 8pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK Aaron Welsh Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7pm

SATURDAY OCTOBER 15 ROCK & POP

3 Way Split Kro Bar, East Leagues Club free 8.30pm Abbalanche North Sydney Leagues Club,

New York Dolls

Cammeray $20 8pm Alter Ego Granville RSL free 8pm Amaya Laucirica, Melody Nelson, The Singing Skies FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel, Darlinghurst $10 8pm Bang Shang a Lang Unity Hall Hotel, Balmain free 9pm The Bats (NZ), Loene Carmen, The Reservations Notes Live, Enmore 8pm Black Cherry’s 5th Birthday: The Beards, The Rumjacks, The Go Go Haunters, Hollywood Hombres, Jungle Rump Rock N Roll Karaoke, Jane Gazzo, Frazer, Rockabilly Rhino, Wolfman Dan & the Rockabilly Rhino, Black Cherry DJs The Factory Theatre, Enmore $20 8pm The Bonettes, Mikelangelo & St Clare, The Handlebars The Vanguard, Newtown 8pm The Boroughs: New York Dolls (USA), Straight Arrows, Bonvines, Fait Accompli, The Salvagers, Bloody Lovely

Audrey Manning Bar, Sydney University, Camperdown $55 (+ bf) 8pm BUDDY the Concert: Scott Cameron Campbelltown RSL $40 7.30pm Carlotta Burwood RSL Club $20 8.30pm Cash - A Tribute to Johnny: Stuart French and Daniel Thompson The Vault, Windsor free 9pm Chartbusters Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL free 9pm Cherribomb Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 10.30pm The Chicago Soul Collective, Kate & Max The Basement, Circular Quay $40 (+ bf)–$88.80 (dinner & show) 8pm Cover Notes Duo Riverwood Inn free 8pm Danielle Spencer, Steve Balbi Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $43 8pm

wed

12 Oct

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

thu

13 Oct

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

fri

14 Oct (5:00PM - 8:00PM)

(9:30PM - 1:30AM))

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

sat

15 Oct

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

SATURDAY NIGHT

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

sun

16 Oct

SUNDAY NIGHT

(8:30PM - 12:00AM)

BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11 :: 45

g g guide gig g send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com The Dirty Grotto, Itchy Moose, Scott Gibson, Ghostgun Valve Bar, Tempe 1pm Doomsday Festival 2011: Cough, Clagg, Pod People, Looking Glass, Dusk, Hydromedusa, Mother Mars, Space Bong, The Devil Rides Out, Summonus Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $30 (+ bf) 4pm Drawn From Bees, Tin Sparrow, Solkyri Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm El Duende Excelsior Hotel free 7.30pm Finn Sandringham Hotel, Newtown 4pm Finn Pendle Inn 9pm FloatingMe Annandale Hotel $15 (+ bf) 8pm Hendrix & Heroes Tribute: Steve Edmonds Band Brass Monkey, Cronulla $25.50 (+ bf) 7pm The Holidays Rock Lily, Pyrmont free 8pm Ignition Beach Palace Hotel, Coogee free 10.30pm John Vella Hollywood Bar, Broadway free 6pm Kirk Burgess Picton Hotel free 8pm Los Skeletone Blues The Palm Beach Golf Club free 8pm Marlow, Minus House, Neo Tokyo, Ramshackle Live at the Wall, Leichhardt 8pm Martin Doherty, Leigh Birkett, Simon Watts Empire Hotel, Annandale $15 8pm

Meow Kapow, We Go Bang Bang!, The Faults, F.R.I.E.N.D.S. DJs Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills 6pm Millennium Bug Rooty Hill RSL Club free 8pm Next Best Thing Caringbah Bizzo’s free 7pm One Hit Wonders The Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 10.30pm The Quixotics, Kooyeh, Enter The Ninja, Guest DJ The Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free Replika Rock Trio Carousel Inn, Rooty Hill free 9pm Retro Groove Engadine RSL & Citizens Club free 8pm Rock A Tack Guildford Leagues Club free 8pm Singled Out, Greg Byrne Orient Hotel, The Rocks free$5 4.30pm Skyscraper Kingswood Sports Club free 8.30pm Stormcellar Bathurst RSL 8pm Taylor Dayne, Andrew Lawson Penrith Panthers, Evans Theatre $58 7.30pm Thompson Gunners Engadine Tavern free 9.30pm The Trews (Canada) Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $16 (+ bf) 8pm Upskirts, The Tsars, No Art, Pineapple Head The Standard, Surry Hills $10 8pm Whispering Jack 25 Years: John Farnham State Theatre, Sydney $99– $149 8pm

Drawn From Bees

JAZZ

Blue Moon Quartet Fairfield RSL free 7pm Kafe Kool Supper Club, Fairfield RSL Club free 7pm Peter Head The Harbour View Hotel free 5pm Virna Sanzone Band The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Chippendale $10-$20 8pm Yeshe 505 Club, Surry Hills $15 (conc)–$20 8pm

Craig Thommo The Belvedere Hotel free 9pm Dan Southward, Aussie Boy, Carolyn Crysdale Terrey Hills Tavern free 8.45pm Peter Eliot & Wayland Montgomery, Linda Read, Russell Neal Belrose Bowling Club free 7pm Soul Tones Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7pm

COUNTRY

The Baylor Brothers Marrickville Bowling and Recreation Club $15 7pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK Balmain Bush Dance Sydney Secondary College Rozelle Campus $8 (student)–$17 8pm Chant Fest-Spring Immersion: The Mayapuris, Sri Prahlada Manly Youth Centre $40 (presale)–$50 7pm all ages

SUNDAY OCTOBER 16 ROCK & POP

The Baddies Botany View Hotel, Newtown free 7pm

Blues Sunday: Mark Hopper Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7.30pm Cash Savage & the Last Drinks, The Toot Toot Toots Coogee Diggers 8pm The Cracks, The Dead Heads, Whiskey Indian November Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills 7pm Cupid Against Venus, Verusive, Fifth Fiction, Mind At Large Caringbah Bizzo’s 8pm Diesel Rock Lily, Pyrmont free 8pm Eye Of The Tiger Riverstone Sports Hotel free 2pm FloatingMe Annandale Hotel $15 (+ bf) 8pm Gary Johns, Mojo Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 4.30pm Glenn Whitehall Kro Bar, East Leagues Club free 6pm Jane Walker, Gareth Hudson & The Arc Angels The Vanguard, Newtown $17 6.30pm Jezebel Kro Bar, Bondi Junction free 8pm Lonely Kids Club: Rufus, Fishing, Albatross, Collarbones DJs, Nakagin, Black Vanilla, Fox DJs, Two Man Wolf Hack Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst 8pm Next Best Thing Mounties free 6pm Rose Carleo The Vault, Windsor free 2.30pm Ross Ward Great Southern Hotel, Sydney free 9.30pm

Screaming Sunday Annandale Hotel 12pm Stormcellar Oberon RSL 5.30pm Ted Nash Peachtree Hotel, Penrith 1pm The Temptations, Nate Evans North Sydney Leagues Club, Cammeray 8pm Valve Bar, Tempe Low Gear, Mick Quinn, Dirty Sweet, Jekyll and Hyde, Kim Griffin, Broken Hands 2pm

JAZZ

Jimmy Shaw & Shaw’n’Uff Big Band, Peter Power, Paige Delancey Randwick Labour Club $8 (conc)–$10 3pm The Peter Head Trio The Harbour View Hotel free 4pm Yuki Kumagai, John Mackie, Tony Burkys, Paul Furniss, Alan Gilbert Cronulla RSL Club free 12.30pm

ACOUSTIC FOLK

Balkan Celebration: Lupco Stojcevski Ensemble Riverside Theatres, Parramatta $22 (member)–$28 3.30pm Helmut Uhlmann Hotel William, Darlinghurst free 6pm Lawrence Baker Duo The Belvedere Hotel free 5pm Russell Neal Palm Court Hotel, Corrimal free 2pm Shane MacKenzie Cohibar free 2pm

COUNTRY

The Slowdowns Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 4pm

L2 Kings Cross Hotel

www.fbisocial.com

October Thursday 13

October Friday 14

October Saturday 15

A Story Never Told presents

Potluck presents

Amaya Laucirica

Rope’s End

6pm FREE

8pm 15.30 Oztix

8pm $10 door

Penguin Plays Rough + a live set from The Vasco Era

Melodie Nelson + The Singing Skies

Dune Rats (Bris) + Betty Airs + The Rubens + The Villainares

46 :: BRAG :: 433 : 10:10:11

Late Night DJs Midnight - 3am FREE Charlie Chux + R+R + Frames

gig picks up all night out all week...

Black Cherry's Danielle and Carla Hatton

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

NE LIZOTTE’S SYD 3 9933 84 99 84 98 99 2 99 02

Lizotte’s presents 12 Live & Local OCT

Intropic photo by Daniel Boud

OCT 13 Adam Brand e Balbi OCT lle Spencer & Stev ie an D 5 1 presents OCT Lizotte’s 19 Live & Local

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 12

The Bats (NZ), Loene Carmen, The Reservations Notes Live, Enmore 8pm

Cosmo Jarvis (UK), Lime Cordial Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $22 (+ bf) 8pm

Black Cherry’s 5th Birthday: The Beards, The Rumjacks, The Go Go Haunters, Hollywood Hombres, Jungle Rump Rock'N'Roll Karaoke, Jane Gazzo, Frazer, Rockabilly Rhino, Wolfman Dan, Black Cherry DJs The Factory Theatre, Enmore $20 8pm

Dean Wareham (Galaxie 500), The Sand Pebbles Annandale Hotel $40 (+ bf) 8pm

FRIDAY OCTOBER 14 Double Dragon IV: Regular John, Kira Puru & The Bruise, Mother & Son, Big Dumb Kid, Sick Python, Kill City Creeps, Nakagin, Disco Club, Grams, Kokomo Duo, M.I.T, Pages, Balls Deep, Ben Lucid, Strip Club DJs Q Bar, Darlinghurst $10 8pm The Wombats (UK), Faker, Owl Eyes Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park sold out 8pm

Brous photo by Wilk Photography

OCT mieson 21 Phil Ja

MUM – Official Wombats Afterparty: Let Me Down Jungleman, Drunk Mums, Howler, Sex In Columbia, Tokyo Spares, MUM DJs, Cries Wolf DJs The World Bar, Kings Cross $10-$15 8pm Oh Mercy, Brous Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $18 (+ bf) 8pm

SATURDAY OCTOBER 15 Amaya Laucirica, Melody Nelson, The Singing Skies FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel, Darlinghurst $10 8pm

The Boroughs: New York Dolls (USA), Straight Arrows, Bonvines, Fait Accompli, The Salvagers, Bloody Lovely Audrey Manning Bar, Sydney University, Camperdown $55 (+ bf) 8pm Drawn From Bees, Tin Sparrow, Solkyri Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm Upskirts, The Tsars, No Art, Pineapple Head The Standard, Surry Hills $10 8pm Brous

OCT ering Jack Show 22 The Whisp nday Lunch OCT Lazy Su Lo 23 with nnie Lee

OAST C L A R T N E C ’S E LIZOTT 02 4368 2017 Lizotte’s presents 12 Live & Local OCT

es 15 Deni Hin OCT

ieson 19 Phil Jam OCT

arthy 20 Mike McC OCT

kinson 21 Mark Wil OCT

Danielle Spencer 22 & Steve Balbi Lazy Sunday Lunych OCT 23 with Gina Jeffre s OCT

02 4956 2066

TLE S A C W E N ’S E T T LIZO Horses rkins & The Dark SEP Tex Pe 12 Album Launch

SEP d 13 Parris McLeo SEP cksliders 14 The Ba SEP wtell 16 Lyn Bo SEP Lizotte’s presents 19 Live and Local SEP

Bob Corbett

ch

un 20 & The Roo Grass Band CD La SEP spering Jack Show 21 The Whi SEP es 22 Deni Hin SEP Request Tour 23 Lior – By

The Bats

Lizotte’s Sydney 629 Pittwater Rd Dee Why

Lizotte’s Central Coast Lot 3 Avoca Dr Kincumber

Lizotte’s Newcastle 31 Morehead St Lambton

WWW. LIZOT TES.COM.AU BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11 :: 47

48 :: BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11

BRAGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s guide to dance, hip hop and club culture

brag beats inside

ghostpoet

ben klock

aloe blacc

aesop rock

plus:

spreading the word

+ club guide + club snaps + columns

BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11 :: 49

dance music news

free stuff

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

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

he said she said WITH

DODGE & FUSKI we rebelled at an early age and started messing around with circuitbent kids’ toys (we were experts at soldering by the age of six).

Our favourite artists at the moment have probably got to be Nero and Skrillex on the dubstep front, but we’re really into ‘80s music, which has formed a big influence in some of the music we’re currently working on. The first music we owned came via the medium of a wind-up gramophone which we had to share with eight other children, and contained a collection of 14 classic public domain Estonian folk ballads. We actually sampled it in ‘Minus One’ on our last EP.

Dodge & Fuski

W

e grew up on a commune in Norfolk, UK. All children were forced to learn music from a young age – we drew instruments out

Phrase

of a bag (literally) and by the age of seven were expected to be part of the Norfolk District Youth Orchestra. Despite being made to play acoustic instruments,

There’s generally a mix of both of us in everything we release.

We used to work for a crap wage for Fuski’s uncle’s deep-sea fishing company, but thankfully we’re out of that now and can focus fully on music. We try and get a slice of our former lives in our music – see if you can spot the aquatic samples in ‘Adrenaline’…

HILLTOP HOODS RECRUIT PLUTONIC

Plutonic Lab, one half of Muph & Plutonic and a chap who is generally regarded as one of Australia’s leading hip hop producers, has been ‘hand-picked’ to join Hilltop Hoods as their live drummer. Plutonic’s first official shows begin in December, when the Hoods are supporting none other than Slim Shady himself, Eminem, on a national tour, before again turning up at the Big Day Out. Currently on tour with Drapht, Muph & Plutonic have assured fans they will continue as a duo, however their forthcoming WA & QLD dates will be their last live shows for a while. Tickets for the Eminem, Li’l Wayne and Hilltop Hoods extravaganza at the Sydney Football Stadium on Saturday December 3 are currently on sale.

We’ve firmly cemented ourselves in the jump-up dubstep scene, which is definitely an exciting area to be involved in at the moment. We tend to play a lot of tracks that reflect what we like, so music from people like Doctor P, Skism, Flux Pavilion, Skrillex and Zomboy get a lot of play from us.

The music and more specifically dubstep scene at the moment is booming. There’s always talk of the death of the music industry, but that’s a very one-sided opinion from large major labels with collapsing market shares. In terms of our local scene (Bristol), there’s a lot going on. We’ve got people like Koan Sound, Calvertron and Cutline nearby, who are all doing serious damage at the moment.

In terms of the independent musician/DJ, it’s a great time to be in music!

With: Pablo Calamari, Heke, Deckhead, Tigerlily, Darkhorse Where: The Wall @ World Bar When: Wednesday October 19

PHRASE

BRAG has a lot of love for Aussie hip hop, which is why we weren’t sure how to feel about Phrase’s new album, Babylon. The man himself says it’s less a hip hop album than an album with rap on it... Cryptic, right? Hip hop, rap, ukulele solo; we trust Phrase to do us proud no matter how he does it. We’ll give you one of three double passes to check out what Phrase is up to at Oxford Art Factory on Saturday October 15, if you let us know the name of one of the many and varied artists who feature on the new record he’s launching.

CARL CRAIG + OCTAVE ONE

The Golden Cage club night celebrates its second birthday on Saturday December 17 at The Metro Theatre with a gargantuan international triple bill comprised of dual Detroit techno pioneers, Carl Craig and Octave One, along with one of the more promising house producers to emerge in recent times, John Roberts. Both Craig and Octave One were in Australia last summer, with the former delivering a rollicking closing set to a packed Forum crowd at the D25 party, while Octave One performed at the Beck’s Festival Bar for Mad Racket. As the man behind the Planet E Records, who has remixed the likes of LCD Soundsystem and Australia’s Cut Copy in recent years and produced for artists such as Etienne Jaumet (Zombie Zombie), Craig’s sonic pedigree is well known in clubbing circles, as is that of Octave One. And though clubbers don’t bandy Roberts’ name about with the same fervour and zest that they express for his touring partners, the American artist is highly regarded by those in the know for crafting intelligent dance music. Roberts has been featured on Dial compilations alongside the likes of Efdemin and Lawrence, and released his debut LP Glass Eights last year on the same label – an album which ultimately ended up on many year-end best-of lists.

Throw in a side-room of local acts, and this ought to be quite a birthday celebration. Presale tickets go on sale this Wednesday.

IMPRESSIONABLE KATALYST

Gaslamp Killer

GASLAMP KILLER

An intense and rambunctious character who has been described as “a maniac among maniacs of several different categories”, Los Angeles producer/DJ Gaslamp Killer (aka William Benjamin Bensussen) returns to Sydney with his ‘uncategorisable show’, which traverses ‘60s psychedelia, Turkish- and Hungarianflavoured rock, southern crunk, dubstep and space-age jazz oddities amongst other genres. Originally zoning in on underground rap, Gaslamp Killer has well and truly broadened his horizons since, a transformation evident on his Death Gate EP, which was released late last year on Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder label and came across more like the work of a library music maestro than a hip hop producer. Gaslamp Killer headlines Oxford Art Factory on Friday December 2 with support from Levins and Prize alongside Melbourne producer DJ JPS. Presale tickets are available for purchase via the interweb.

To celebrate the release of Katalyst’s new album Deep Impressions [no relation to the eponymous techno manifesto located a few pages deeper in the magazine...], Invada Records and Red Bull are throwing an inviteonly party on Thursday October 27 at the Red Bull Half Moon II Bar. The fiesta will feature Katalyst and his band performing with special guests such as America’s Coin Locker Kid, in his only Sydney show, Steve Spacek, Kween G, Jane Doe, Mr Clean, Hau (Koolism), Xela and Don Data, along with Katalyst’s hand-picked DJ lineup, Sandro, Frenzie and Leeroy Brown.

For your chance to secure your name on the guestlist, tweet ‘@RealKatalyst’ with the hash tag ‘#KatalystLive’ or enter the competition at katalystmusic.com.au/landing.html

Carl Craig

DAEDELUS TOUR

Los Angeles beatmaker, producer, instrumentalist and Ninja Tune artist Alfred Darlington, better known as Daedelus, will headline GoodGod Small Club on Friday November 25. The experimental producer holds a reputation for being a bit of a dandy, as well as for putting on an innovative live show that ‘flies close to the sun’ and involves a monome, a button-grid controller that has had a significant impact on electronic music (apparently being used by Flying Lotus and Nine Inch Nails). Daedelus’ most recent album, Bespoke, was released in April on Ninja Tune, and he’ll be supported by Collarbones and fellow monome adventurer Galapagoose – whom Daedelus recently signed to his Magical Properties label.

VYBZ KARTEL ARRESTED FOR MURDER

Arguably Jamaica’s most popular dancehall artist, controversial impresario Vybz Kartel (born Adidja Palmer), has been charged with

murder, conspiracy to murder, and illegal possession of a firearm following a lengthy interrogation by Jamaica’s Major Investigation Taskforce. Palmer is one among a group of men suspected of conspiring to kill 27-year-old business man and promoter Barrington Burton, who was found dead in July just outside of

Kingston. Palmer has often been criticised in the past for the poor example he sets for the island’s youth, through bleached skin and explicit song lyrics, though he has also been commended for the entrepreneurial spirit he has brought to dancehall... Let’s go with innocent until proven guilty on this one, folks.

“Blood turns wine when it leak for police / like “that’s not a riot it’s a feast, let’s eat!” - AESOP ROCK 50 :: BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11

ON SALE NOW

BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11 :: 51

dance music news

free stuff

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

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

five things WITH

SAMPOLOGY Inspirations When I was 14 or 15 I 2. heard The Avalanches’ album Since I Left You; everything changed for me from that point.

At the same time as wanting to play the album to all my friends, I also wanted to try and work out how they made it – it’s definitely still a source of inspiration.

Your Group I’m a DJ/ Producer/AVDJ. 3.

I mix audio and visual using turntables; there are absolutely no rules when it comes to where I get my video content from or how I use it. You will hear and see iconic scenes and visuals from movies, TV shows, the internet and beyond. I aim to put it all together to make you dance as well as laugh and cheer. There are cameras on the turntables, so you know exactly how I’m making the show.

Growing Up My old man was, and still 1. is, a double bass player, so I have memories of being brought

along to concerts when I was barely walking. The first track I ever made was actually with him.

The Music You Make I play all tempos of music 4. and styles, from hip hop to

house, dub/reggae, garage funk and beyond – there are no rules, except no psy-trance...

A lot of the soundtrack comes from the video itself.

Music, Right Here, Right Now 5.

From my perspective as a Brisbane punter, I see the Sydney scene as really exciting – there are lots of creative people doing their own thing, which is great. The crowds I’ve had lately in Sydney for my shows have been really diverse too, which is awesome. Recently I went to the Redbull 3styles comp, and every single Sydney DJ who played on the night was on point!

Who: Sampology (AV/DJ Set) With: Architecture In Helsinki (live), Yacht Club DJs, French Horn Rebellion (USA), SOSUEME DJs and more Where: NYE On The Harbour @ Cargo Bar, King Street Wharf When: Saturday December 31

ASTON SHUFFLE TOUR

Past winners of the national In The Mix DJ poll, Canberra DJ/production troupe The Aston Shuffle have announced a national live tour to coincide with their new single release ‘Won’t Get Lost’. The single follows the release of the pair’s debut long-player Seventeen Past Midnight earlier in the year, an LP that featured ‘Your Love’, which was hailed

by Rolling Stone as “the best dance single to come out of Australia in a decade.” The Shuffle will be showcasing their new live show at The Beach Road Hotel in Bondi on Friday November 4, with presale tickets currently available online.

The Funkoars

DEETRON BALANCE

Swiss melodic techno producer Sam Geiser, aka Deetron, who is Australia-bound to play the Stereosonic Festival in November

Rakaa

RAKAA

Do you know what’s happening at The Gaelic Theatre on Saturday October 29? Don’t be silly, of course you do – it’s in your diary and everything. It’s Rakka’s show, remember? One of the guys from the legendary Dilated Peoples? You bought his new album Crown Of The Thorns, and said it was some of the dopest hip hop around – banging on about how much you loved that it could be so personal and so political at the same time. And remember how we said we’d give you a double pass to the show if you could tell us the year Dilated Peoples formed… Well you do now – so hop to it! (and hopefully also a sideshow), will mix the next installment in the renowned Balance compilation series, Balance 020. The subtext to the compilation is that it pits analogue against digital; Disc 1 was mixed digitally, with additional production and editing in Cubase and Wavelab, while Disc 2 was recorded with three turntables and an Allen & Heath mixer. The tracklist purportedly reflects the choice of medium; Disc 1 begins with classic Autechre before traversing cuts from the likes of DJ Koze, Ricardo Villalobos and Move D, while the second ‘vinyl’ disc comprises material from I:Cube, Mathew Jonson, Radio Slave and an unreleased track from Deetron himself, ‘Croque’. “This compilation is a celebration of the gorgeous format that is vinyl, and a praise for the endless possibilities the digital world has to offer,” Deetron said. Balance 020 will be released in early November through Balance Music, via EMI. SBTRKT

FUNKOARS ALBUM TOUR

The Funkoars have just released their fourth album The Quickening through Golden Era Records, and it debuted at the #1 slot on the Urban Charts, and also came in at #11 on the national ARIA charts. The Quickening features guest performances from Hilltop Hoods, Vents, Ad-Fu, and K21, with production from Large Professor, Dazastah, Simplex and Debate. Displaying a true sense of occasion, The Funkoars are embarking on an extensive national tour to coincide with the album’s release, and will perform at the newly revamped/‘Merivaled’ Beresford Hotel (Upstairs @ Beresford) on Thursday October 20. Joining Funkoars on the road nationally is Golden Era labelmate Vents, Ciecmate and Adelaide newcomers Mase & Mattic.

FRITZ KALKBRENNER

Popular German vocalist-cum-producer Fritz Kalkbrenner will headline Chinese Laundry on Saturday December 17. Kalkbrenner is perhaps best known for laying down the vocals of his brother Paul Kalkbrenner’s hit track ‘Sky and Sand’ from the Berlin Calling soundtrack, and has also collaborated with the likes of Sascha Funke, Alexander Kowalski and Chopstick & Johnjon over the years. His debut solo album, Here Today Gone Tomorrow, was released at the end of last year, and highlighted his considerable abilities as a producer in his own right by exploring the common threads that run between techno and soul. Here Today Gone Tomorrow spawned the single ‘Right In The Dark’, a catchy pop-infused number that was remixed by Henrik Schwarz and Robag Wruhme. Acclaimed Kompakt producer Tobias Thomas praised Fritz’s ability to sing the way he does “without dumbing down for the charts and without rushing into the next

studio to cut a maxi single with David Guetta.

It’s almost inconceivable that a man with this voice isn’t sewn into a chequered neo-soul cap, probably turned around backwards, or doesn’t at least sing in one of those abominable and subsequently enormously successful a cappella groups. No, this guy just does techno… with godlike vocals.”

PLAYER HATERS BALL

On Saturday October 15, GoodGod Small Club plays host to the ‘Player Haters Ball’, an event that will feature DJs Levins, Joyride and Shantan Wantan Ichiban spinning “everything from Marvin Gaye to Jigga”. Joyride will also be performing two live sets with his band The Accidents through the course of the night; the first, at midnight, will include a mix of originals and some covers of new and classic soul, and later on we’re promised a second set of R. Kelly covers (!). The revelry commences from 11pm, with entry $10 on the door.

MÚSICA /TUMBALONG UPDATE

Electronic musician Wil Wiesenfeld, aka Baths, has cancelled his scheduled performance at the upcoming música /TUMBALONG event, which will take place at Tumbalong Park in Darling Harbour on Saturday October 22. The LA resident said in a statement, “[I’m] so sad about this. I was looking forward to these shows so much; I’ve never been to Japan, Australia, New Zealand or Hawaii… I had to cancel because of some serious stomach issues. They’re being resolved, but these issues have affected me enough that I cannot travel or perform for a while.” Every cloud has a silver lining etc, and three additions to the música lineup have been announced; Future Classic’s latest signing New Navy, Gloves and the winner of FBi Radio’s band competition, Guerre. They join Italy’s Tiger & Woods, UK acts SBTRKT and Ghostpoet, Electric Wire Hustle and Australian outfits Bon Chat, Bon Rat, Mitzi and DJ Simon Caldwell plus more, for some daytime/early nighttime fun.

Tickets are available through musicaevents.com

“And I will rejoice in your fall from grace / with a cane to the sky like “none shall pass” - AESOP ROCK 52 :: BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11

Aloe Blacc A Man With A Message By Ryan Winter

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y his own admission, ‘I Need A Dollar’ was an anomaly in Aloe Blacc’s career. A fringe artist to his native US market, the success of the single came not without irony; despite critical recognition as both a solo artist and with his long-term project Emanon, Blacc had never before entered the charts. “I guess in regard to my career, the US is still kind of a grind, like being a starving artist trying to make it,” he says from a Rome hotel. “I definitely feel more at home in Europe, because they’ve taken me up so well here. But the US market is bigger and so is the barrier of entry, so I can understand it.”

While this one song garnered international recognition, Good Things, the album from which it was taken, was largely discounted.

In truth, ‘I Need A Dollar’ was the most accessible single for the mainstream – and for many that’s where their journey with Blacc will conclude. But for those who look further, Good Things is a truly powerful body of work; a strong reflection of political and philosophical ideologies which Blacc discusses in intricate depth. “I think the social messages come from more of a personal place,” he replies, when questioned whether he still believes that pop music can sway public opinion. “I’m really interested in the dynamics of power, and at the same time I’m really interested in physics.

The concepts that are in physics I can kind of attribute to social phenomenon. I’m always thinking about these things, and have been since I was young – too young to know what I was doing when I was actually exercising my hypothesis. Since, I’ve always been looking at the world through this framework; who has power and how is it being distributed?

How do people get power and how do they exercise it? This is why in my music I’m always talking about interpersonal development, also corporations, politicians and government; all of these things, and how they work together.”

Aloe Blacc will be heading down under for Falls Festival, before performing subsequent headline shows around the country. Perhaps understanding Blacc’s motives will be a big part of his appeal; if music is a convoluted commodity at best and mindless entertainment at worst, that makes his strong artistic manifesto all the more important to his songs. Whether you agree with him or not, Aloe Blacc serves as a reminder that music once possessed an artistic culture of curiosity and activism. “I feel like I’m so well prepared now for the industry; I’ve spent enough time learning how to do everything myself, so no one can really tell me who I am. I know who I am – unlike some other artists, who come into the game and just get manhandled. I really appreciate that. If only one song becomes a hit, you know, when I had the chance, I did it – and was successful.”

Where: The Enmore Theatre When: Wednesday January 4 More: Also appearing at Falls Festival, from December 28 – January 1 in Lorne, Victoria, and from December 29 – January 1 in Marion Bay, Tasmania.

“For the most part, I just feel that capitalism has really done a number on the art world, and maybe I can convince other artists to stand for more than just fiddling around with words and sounds to make a buck.”

It seems natural that a European audience would be more receptive towards this sort of progressive mindset. Blacc agrees that the US idea of nationalism – where patriotism advocates ubiquitous pride in the US state, regardless of the performance of individual politicians – is very different to European ideals; Blacc admires the willingness of citizens who demonstrate against societal ills until the political sphere is affected.

“I have a feeling that patriotism is a romantic concept; we’re in love with the idea of being in love with our country, but our culture is so watered down by capitalism that we don’t share the same sense of national pride as, say, the French. Just a couple of months ago in France, high school students went on strike because the gas price had got so high that truckers had stopped driving, so food and other things weren’t being distributed properly and the market wasn’t working. You see high school students taking things into their own hands. I think in the US we can take a lesson from the nobility of the Europeans populace. It’s something that hasn’t really happened in mass form in the US in any effective way – but I think there is also a lot of power that people don’t realise they have.”

These ideas feed back into how he feels about the success of ‘I Need A Dollar’. “I think music can still be a really effective vehicle for transferring political viewpoints. Even in the current climate, you just have to break through – there’s no way that I could have imagined that a song like ‘I Need A Dollar’ could hit pop radio amongst all those synthesised artists.

But it did, and if I could figure out how to do it again with another song that has an underlying message, which is relevant to humanity, I would. I think that what I’m able to do on stage with my music definitely stands against the norm, but I don’t feel like there’s going to be a whole lot of backlash per se... For the most part, I just feel that capitalism has really done a number on the art world, and maybe I can convince other artists to stand for something more than just fiddling around with words and sounds to make a buck.”

BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11 :: 53

Ben Klock Like Klockwork By Alasdair Duncan

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erlin’s Ben Klock is one of techno’s leading lights – as a resident DJ at the iconic Berghain club, he’s known for his deep, heavy and hypnotic sets, while behind the production desk he has remixed everyone from Martyn to Depeche Mode. He’ll be spinning at Chinese Laundry with Berghain’s Marcel Dettman for a huge Garden Party this weekend – and if you’re one of those people who like to go up for a chat, make sure you don’t request any of that minimal stuff….

You’ve been known to play very long sets – sometimes up to eight or nine hours. How do you prepare for something like that?

I play for up to 11 or 12 hours sometimes, but I only do this at Berghain, where I have my residency once a month. I don’t do it anywhere else in the world. My preparation is just going through old and new records and obviously putting many more in the bag than for a normal two-hour set. Other than that, I only know the first track I want to start with, and then I go with the flow.

What is your mental state like towards the end of one of those epic sets – do you find yourself entering the zone?

I always look for the zone, if you want to call it like that; I always try to put some magic in the air, no matter the length of the set. Of course the longer you have, the deeper you can get, and the more versatile you can be – the experience for the crowd and the DJ is more intense and personal in a longer set.

Some of your tracks, especially ‘Red Alert’, have a vibe that reminds me a bit of Green Velvet – is he an inspiration on you at all?

Interesting – I didn’t see this connection, but yes, his older stuff used to be very inspirational for me. I really love many of his tracks.

a new album coming on Ostgut Ton soon, and I’m playing a lot of those tracks in my sets too.

You’ve seen so many trends come and go – what kind of shape would you say techno music is in at the moment?

Techno is very popular at the moment, but I hope there will be some fresh ideas soon.

I don’t want techno to get stuck in the same trap that we saw with that music called ‘minimal’, where you would hear the same idea coming out a million times, over and over again, until the music just became a copy of a copy of a copy... I definitely feel a lack of soul in many productions at the moment.

Are you excited to come down to Australia again?

I’m looking forward to this tour without knowing what to expect this time – and I like that state of mind.

What’s your favourite record for listening to at home at the moment?

I’m going crazy for Nina Kraviz’s album, which will be released early next year!

What about the records you play in your sets in the clubs – are there any new releases or old classics that are getting you excited at the moment?

I’ve had some great, magic moments over the last few months with Robert Hood’s remix of Tommy Four Seven, as with many of Hood’s new and old tracks. When I’m out, I also love to play stuff from DVS1 – we will have his next release on my label Klockworks coming out in a month. Luke Slater as Planetary Assault Systems have

Aesop Rock The Nerdiest Death Match By Nils Hay

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t’s been just over four years since New York hip hop artist and producer Ian Bavitz (aka Aesop Rock) released his last album, None Shall Pass. As I catch up with him, he’s in the midst of penning lyrics for the follow-up; a record that was placed on the backburner while he worked on a bunch of side-projects, including a release for Hail Mary Mallon (with long-time collaborators Rob Sonic and DJ Big Wiz), as well as the new Kimya Dawson album and a collaboration with Dawson herself.

In what was initially planned as a solo tour, the four of them – Aesop, Dawson, Rob Sonic and DJ Big Wiz – have ended up on the road together, playing across the various projects.

“Originally, it was just going to be me – I usually tour Aesop Rock with Rob and Wiz, and we didn’t know we were going to have the Hail Mary Mallon stuff when we were booking the tour,” he reveals. “Then we managed to get it all done, and after that we were like, ‘OK, let’s just perform half the set as Hail Mary Mallon songs.’

Then Kimya was like, ‘Well, I want to come on tour.’ And I was like, ‘Alright, you can come, but I don’t know what you’re going to do…’”

What: Marcel Dettman and Ben Klock Where: Garden Party @ Chinese Laundry When: Saturday October 15, from 3pm

Although he had connected briefly with Dawson several years earlier, it wasn’t until he invited her to contribute to his website, 900bats, that Bavitz discovered that his respect for her music was mutual. “I just figured that I’d reach out.

She asked me to do some work on her record at that point, and that was that.” Much like his new solo record, the Aesop & Kimya album is nearing completion – and despite an arguably large genre gap between the two artists, it turns out they both approach their music in a very similar way. “I don’t think either of us is concerned with fitting the songs that we’re making together into any sort of structure like a pop song. If it ends up with six minutes worth of lyrics, then fuck it, that’s just how it is.” (In an

interview in last week’s BRAG, Kimya Dawson referred to herself, Aesop Rock and Rob Sonic as “the wordiest people I know”.)

I’m also given an insight into the studio processes. “A lot of it is ‘Oh, let me hear what you wrote’ and then someone will demo it up, and then I’ll kind of retreat to my hole and try to outdo what she did, or match it – and vice versa, back and forth, until we figure out what the song’s going to be.” When asked about the one-upmanship, he tells me, jokingly: “I see it as fully fierce, unfriendly competition; a no-holds barred death match.” He backs down fast though, when I ask if he’s winning. “She’s got some really awesome shit, both on her new record and the stuff we’re doing together, so I’m trying to keep up. But we’ll see.”

They’ve played several dozen shows in the States ahead of their Sydney show next week, and Bavitz outlines the night they’ve got in store for us. “We keep the acoustic stuff within the first half of the set, and stuff with beats for the second half,” he tells me. “Me and Kimya do some stuff together acoustically, then she plays a full acoustic set, then me and Hail Mary Mallon do a full set together and then Kimya will come back and do some singing with the beats at the end.” The only thing missing is new Aesop Rock solo material, which – for now – is being kept close to the chest. “I haven’t really played any of my new stuff yet,” he admits. “I’m somewhat keeping it under wraps until I get the whole record finished.” Until then, fortunately, there is plenty to keep us occupied.

Who: Kimya Dawson, Aesop Rock, Rob Sonic and DJ Big Wiz Where: ‘A Night With Aesop Rock and Kimya Dawson’ @ Manning Bar, Sydney University When: Friday October 14

Ghostpoet Peanut Butter Blues By Benjamin Cooper

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baro Ejimiwe does not fake his drawl.

The artist better known as Ghostpoet’s late and lazy pronunciation of lyrics has gathered him many fans, and it runs consistent with his conversational tone when we speak, on the eve of an Australian tour that will see him playing at the boutique musica / Tumbalong festival later this month. Constantly expressing how “amazing it’s been”, the man’s stylistic nonchalance belies a rabid enthusiasm for his recent success.

First guesting on friend Micachu’s Filthy Friends Mixtape in 2007, Ghostpoet’s break came when his impressive solo EP The Sound Of Strangers (2010) caught the ear of BBC1 DJ Gilles Peterson. Once he had signed to Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings label, Ejimiwe uprooted himself from Coventry and made the move to London to record his debut record, this year’s Mercury Prize-nominated Peanut Butter Blues And Melancholy Jam. “It was a lot of fun, man. We spent maybe six months putting it all together, looking at some of my old stuff I’d recorded in my bedroom... then all the guys, like Gilles and stuff, just threw in their ideas.”

When asked what it was like having a prominent figure like Peterson contribute to the recordings, Ejimiwe says it wasn’t too big a deal. “They never pressured me,” he says. “Sometimes they might say ‘We like this stuff’, but there wasn’t much ‘We don’t like that’. It was fun!” But surely there must 54 :: BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11

have been some pressure, being one of the few acts selected to be developed by the British tastemaker? “Quite definitely [Peterson] doesn’t have any pretences,” Ejimiwe assures down the line. In March last year, for instance, Peterson was in Australia performing with the Afrobalas Afrobeat Orchestra. “That’s it,” Ejimiwe asserts. “The man’s really very much a purist.”

Ghostpoet’s debut was nominated for this year’s Mercury Prize, which PJ Harvey won – Polly Jean was the first female to win a Mercury in 2001, and with this year’s Let England Shake, she was the first artist to ever win twice. Any hard feelings? “Not at all. I think it was meant to be. For me personally, it’s not about a win as such; that’s just the wrong attitude to take into [the competition]… It’s PJ, isn’t it: you can’t fault her, she’s brilliant.”

Peanut Butter Blues And Melancholy Jam has released vastly different singles.

‘Cash And Carry Me Home’ is a scratchy, dubsteppy number, imploring in its refrain and the temporality of the words. Just as the background beats hook you, Ejimiwe seems to swallow syllables as his characters remain just beyond reach. New single ‘Liiines’ couldn’t be more different, with its catchy hook held under a sure-fire winner with the British public: a piano ballad. Or, at least, as close as Ghostpoet can get to mainstream balladeer, with the maudlin post-rock guitars kept on hold as the jilted narrative of the bewildered hero plays out.

Ghostpoet seems surprised by his shift from bedroom sound tinkerer to world-tourer, admitting that his new schedule has taken some time to adjust to. “It’s weird. I mean I’ve got an office in London now, which is pretty clever,” he says, “but at the moment it’s so busy that I’ve just been writing bits and pieces with my laptop, sneaking off to the toilets when I can...”

With: Electric Wire Hustle, LUNICE, Mitzi, SBTRKT, Tiger & Woods, Bon Chat Bon Rat, Simon Caldwell and more Where: musica /Tumbalong @ Tumbalong Park When: Saturday October 22

Deep Impressions Underground Dance And Electronica with Chris Honnery

Soul Sedation 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.

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eginning with new European sounds: German deep funk outfit The Mighty Mocambos – perhaps best known for their work with British vocalist Gizelle Smith – have finished their second longplayer. The Future Is Here features vocal contributions from no less than Afrika Bambaataa and Charlie Funk, French songstress Caroline Lacaze, and German rare groove queen Su Kramer. In its entirety, this is a record full of genuinely good voices backed by genuinely good players. Fans of the The Bamboos, Sharon Jones, and Randa & The Soul Kingdom should get on board. That one’s due out in mid-October.

Fabrizio Maurizi

T

he international double-bill of Italy’s Fabrizio Maurizi and Cadenza’s Ernesto Ferreyra will headline the forthcoming Spring Music ‘lawn themed’ party at Moore Park’s Entertainment Quarter on Saturday November 12. Now part of Richie Hawtin’s Minus brethren, Maurizi broke through on the back of his single ‘Hasta La Baldoria Siempre’ (on his own Memento label) and has established a reputation for crafting “understated peak time cuts” via releases such as his Chronicles EP (on Minus) and remixes for the likes of Ellen Allien. Ferreyra meanwhile was responsible for the best release on the Cadenza label in some time, with his excellent debut LP from last year, El Paraiso De Las Tortugas. Praised

by Resident Advisor for “its rustling and bustling infectious natural energy”, El Paraiso De Las Tortugas is suitable for both sun-kissed Balearic clubbing and serious late-night revelry. Indeed, the fact that ‘DJ’s DJ’ Tobi Neumann opened his Resident Advisor Podcast mix with Ferreyra’s ‘Los Domingos Vuelo a Casa’ is a testament to the Argentinean’s considerable studio prowess. Spring Music will be a daytime affair that runs from midday through till 10pm, with adept support provided by local talent YokoO and Nic Scali; presale tickets are currently available online.

Berlin-based DJ/producer Phonique has compiled a selection of some of the finer offerings from Marc Romboy’s Systematic label over the past two years: Systematic Colours Volume Three. The serene, underrated Gorge dub rework of Chelonis R. Jones’ ‘Pompadour’ features early on, and is followed by productions from Audio Soul Project, Rodriguez Jr (who has himself just released his debut album Bittersweet on the Mobilee label), Gui Boratto and, as expected, a couple of Marc Romboy vs. Stephan Bodzin

Phonique

LOOKING DEEPER SATURDAY OCTOBER 15

Marcel Dettmann, Ben Klock Chinese Laundry

SATURDAY OCTOBER 29 Phillip Bader Subsonic Boat Cruise

Mad Racket ft Recloose Marrickville Bowling Club

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 12

Fabrizio Maurizi, Ernesto Ferreyra Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park collaborations. Focusing on heavy-on-thebass house replete with evocative melodies and thumping kicks, Systematic Colours Volume Three should please those after a digital fix of peak-time clubbing… … Speaking of which, this Saturday, Chinese Laundry’s Garden Party plays host to the imposing duo of Berlin producers Marcel Dettmann and Ben Klock, who are performing a five-hour back-to-back DJ set of ‘proper’ techno.

Klock and Dettmann have been playing back-to-back sets as a pairing for over five years, and are notorious for pushing their industrial techno sounds in the confines of Berlin superclub Berghain. While Klock is renowned for releases on Ostgut Ton and his Klockworks imprint, he’s also renowned (and begrudged) by your humble author for dating gorgeous Russian deep house vixen Nina Kraviz [...throwing into question the plug Klock gave her on p.54 - ed.], who is herself among the finest DJs in the underground milieu. As with all of Chinese Laundry’s Garden Parties, this will be an early start, with doors opening at 3pm before the headliners take to the decks from 5pm. The support cast of DJs comprises Matttt, Defined By Rhythm and Ben Dunlop, all of whom are worth pushing through the gates early for. And if you’re still going later in the night, check out the newly-opened Spice Cellar, where it’s an all gal DJ lineup headed by the always excellent Annabelle Gaspar.

Speaking of great voices, Zara McFarlane is a relatively new emergence from the UK, coming from a shared trad jazz musical sensibility as well as being bundled up with the electronic neo-soul movement. Gilles Peterson has snapped up the 28-year-old for his Brownswood label, and McFarlane’s debut record Until Tomorrow, that’s just been released, is very much down the straight jazz line; her vocals are really incredible, full of strength and beauty. Soul Sedation will be very interested in the remixes that are sure to emerge from other Brownswood artists, as well as Zara’s future collaborations with the more futuristic of the new wave of British producers. And on that same tip: Brownswood Bubblers 7 is out this week, featuring music from Jon Phonics, Obenewa, Ratcliffe, Tall Black Guy, Ntjam Rosie, The Park and The Stepkids.

Scuba (aka Paul Rose), the brains behind the Hotflush label, is now also behind a forthcoming DJ Kicks mix. It’s rumoured to be a fusion of bass music and European techno, and includes new Hotflush material from Addison Groove and Boddika.

‘Streets So Warm’, Toddla T’s fourth single off his incredible album Watch Me Dance, has been remixed by Zed Bias, Ross Orton & Pipes, and the Serial Killaz.

Toddla T is back in the UK now after taking his record around North America with Roska; we hope for a visit down under soon enough.

To a curious new release: Kinshasa One Two is the product of five days spent recording in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with Congolese musicians. Eleven producers are involved including Actress, Dan The Automator, Jneiro Jarel, Kwes, Damon Albarn, T-E-E-D, Richard Russell, Remi Kabaka and Rodaidh McDonald.

All profits will go to aid Oxfam’s work in the DRC, and you can pick that one up through Warp Records.

The Gaslamp Killer is set to join us again once summer is fully underway. He really is an entertainer, this man, and anyone into beats, hip hop and the new bass movement will want to come and catch the LA native’s highly original take. He’ll be supported on the night by Levins, JPS and Prize. It all

ON THE ROAD THURSDAY OCTOBER 6 Booker T. Jones Metro Theatre

THURSDAY OCTOBER 13 Electric Empire Upstairs Beresford

SATURDAY OCTOBER 22 Musica /Tumbalong Tumbalong Park

Liberators, Afro Nomad The Basement

SATURDAY OCTOBER 29 Silkie, Jon Convex Oxford Art Factory London Elektricity Arthouse

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 3 Onra Oxford Art Factory

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 5 Shapeshifter Metro Theatre

FRIDAY DECEMBER 2 Mulatu Astatke Factory Theatre

FRIDAY DECEMBER 9 Hermitude The Standard

goes down December 2 at the Oxford Art Factory.

This Thursday night, Melbourne-based three-piece Electric Empire will appear at one of the inner city’s newest live music venues, Upstairs @ The Beresford, showcasing the new single ‘Yes I Will’. Fans of gospel, soul, jazz and funk will get into this groove, and will also get into the Danny G Felix Project who’s on support duty.

That’s this Thursday October 13.

And the following night, Friday October 14, Void’s new weekly party kicks off at The Cellar, the brand new venue on the corner of Harris Street and Broadway. Simply called Weekly Bass Music, you’ll be able to catch the best in dubstep, DnB, techno, electronica and grime – plus all the bits that join those dots together. There’s a good chance Soul Sedation will see you down there!

Hermitude

Frenchman Marc Antona recently released his debut full-length, Rules Of Madness, which is available either on three vinyl cuts or as a mixed CD through his label Dissonant. Antona has been releasing his stuff on imprints such as Mobilee, Highgrade, Freak N' Chic or Micro Fiber for years, and also plays an influential – and often unheralded – role behind the scenes at Cadenza. Rules Of Madness is described by Antona as an album about “creating musical trips … and making [people] enjoy the changes of moods: from happiness to melancholy, from energypumping moments to relaxing deep waves.”

Antona may even be heading down under at some stage over the summer – but more on that once it’s official.

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

Send stuff for this column to tonyedwards001@gmail.com by 6pm Wednesdays. All pics to art@thebrag.com BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11 :: 55

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

club pick of the week Ben Klock

SATURDAY OCTOBER 15

K-Note free 8pm Ivy, Sydney Ivy Live 5pm Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale Indie Warhol DJ Skar, The Ivys, Sophie Hanlon & The Falling Empire free Q Bar, Darlinghurst Hot Damn $12-$15 8pm Roundhouse, UNSW, Kensington Flight Facilities 8pm sold out Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross Flaunt 9pm Scubar, Sydney $5 Everything Thursdays DJs The Sly Fox Hotel, Enmore Inhale Bass Black Sun Empire, Foreigndub, Andrew Wowk, Sam The Chemist $18 9pm Star Bar, Sydney Thirsty Thursdays 8pm Theloft, Sydney Thursdays at Theloft Nad, Stu Turner, Mr Belvedere Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills Electric Empire, Danny G Felix Project $23.60 8pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Propaganda Tom Ballard, Urby free (student)-$5 9pm

FRIDAY OCTOBER 14

Chinese Laundry, Sydney

Garden Party Ben Klock (GER) Marcel Dettman (GER) Matttt, Defined By Rhythm, Ben Dunlop Special K $25-$35 (+ bf) 3pm MONDAY OCTOBER 10 Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale Monday Jam Danny G Felix, Djay Kohina free 9pm Scubar. Sydney Crab Racing 7pm

TUESDAY OCTOBER 11 Establishment, Sydney Rumba Motel DJ Willie Sabor 6pm Scubar, Sydney Backpacker Karaoke 8pm The Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross Coyote Tuesdays free 8pm Vault Nightclub, Scruffy Murphys Frat House DJs free 11pm

The World Bar, Kings Cross Pop Panic DJ Smithers, Chappers free 8pm

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 12 Beach Palace Hotel, Coogee Uni Night DJs free 9pm Cargo Lounge, Sydney Menage a Trois 5pm Home The Venue, Sydney Embrace Wednesdays Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale Frat House Friend DJ free The Marlborough Hotel, Newtown Student Nights DJ Moussa free The Ranch, Marsfield Hump DJs 9pm Scubar, Sydney Schoonerversity 3pm

Shelbourne Hotel, Sydney Sincopa free 7pm Theloft, Sydney Piano Man 6pm The World Bar, Kings Cross The Wall Pablo Calamari, Sushi, T-Bo, P1rate (NZ), Bruxism, Zeus, Jackd’Up, Vito free 7.30pm

THURSDAY OCTOBER 13 Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Drop Sietta, Max Gosford, Mike Who, Loki free 8pm Cargo Lounge, Sydney Thursday’s I’m In Love! $5 5pm The Cool Room, Australian Hotel and Brewery, Rouse Hill Nick Skitz 9pm Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney Tenzin, Cadell, Zannon, DJ

ARQ Sydney DJs free 9pm Arthouse Hotel, Sydney RnB Superclub $20 9.30pm The Bank Nightclub, Kings Cross Addiction 9pm Beach Palace Hotel, Coogee Aqua Friday 6pm Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Movement Albatross free 8pm The Burdekin, Darlinghurst DJs 9pm Candys Apartment, Kings Cross Liquid Sky Kyro & Bomber, Sherlock Bones, 2busy 2kiss, Minor Delay, Chickflick $10$15 8pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Doctor Werewolf, Spenda C, Empress Yoy, Pops, Chong, Amsen, Tigerlily $15-$20 10pm Cohibar DJ Jeddy Rowlands, DJ Anders Hitchcock free Factory Theatre, E nmore Illy, Spit Syndicate, Sietta, M-Phrazes $27.50 (+ bf) 6.30pm all ages Forbes Hotel, Sydney Haus Nights Dave Parks (UK), Elektron, Jaspa, Yenga, Shaolin free-$10 9pm The Gaelic Club, Surry Hills King B-Fine, Blacka/Mystic, Admiral Kilosh, DJ Altafari, ForeignDub DJs $20 (+ bf) 10pm Goodgod Front Bar, Sydney Yo Grito! Yo Grito DJs free 9pm Goodgod Small Club, Sydney Club Love Monkey Collarbones, Absolute Boys, Levins, Wedding Ring Fingers, Harry Cotton $10 9pm Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney DJ Cadell 5pm Gypsey Lounge, Darlinghurst Warp Speed Various DJs 9pm Home The Venue, Sydney Sublime DJs Jacksons On George, Sydney Ultimate Party Venue Resident DJs free Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Falcona Fridays M-Phazes,

Joyride, DJ Hansom, Hobophonics, Bernie Dingo free–$10 8pm Kong’s Jungle Lounge Wild Live Javi Sampol, Franchi Bross, YokoO, Likewise DJs $10 9pm The Marlborough Hotel, Newtown Residents DJs free Oatley Hotel We Love Oatley Hotel Fridays DJ Tone free 9pm Sapphire Lounge Club Onyx free-$15 9pm Scubar, Sydney Jagermeister Fridays DJs 7pm Shark Bar, Sydney Puls8 Jono, Guest DJs free Shelbourne Hotel, Sydney Mixtape free 6pm Space, Sydney ZAIA Savvy, Edo, D’Kutz, Em-Tee, Ming, Ace, Flipz, DJ Sefu, MC Suga Shane, Arbee, Suae, Pulsar, Askitz, Jinkang vs Tezzr vs Rhe3, MC D 9.45pm Star Bar, Sydney Just Dance free 10pm Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross Eve 9pm Vault Nightclub, Scruffy Murphys DJs free 11pm The Watershed Hotel Bring On The Weekend! DJ Matty Roberts free The World Bar, Kings Cross MUM – Official Wombats Afterparty Let Me Down Jungleman, Drunk Mums, Howler, Sex In Columbia, Tokyo Spares, MUM DJs, Cries Wolf DJs $10-$15 8pm

SATURDAY OCTOBER 15 ARQ Sydney Dance Dance Dance $15$25 9pm The Burdekin, Darlinghurst DJs 9pm Candys Apartment, Kings Cross Big Guns Disco Volante, Zomg! Kittens, D.U.I., Dirty Cutlery, Anodique, Blanco Negro, Flckr, Random Knights $15-$20 8pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Garden Party Ben Klock (Germany), Marcel Dettman (Germany), Matttt, Defined By Rhythm, Ben Dunlop $25-$35 (+ bf) 3pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Sam La More, Jeff Drake, King Lee, Sushi, Matttt, Tom Yum, Marky Mark, Mike Hyper, Boots $15-$25 10pm The Civic Underground, Sydney Progression Project 3rd Birthday Matt Rowan, Pato De Gomah, Rossco, Nathan Cryptic, Beatzmasterz (Zac

Slade & Nick Watts) $15-$20 9pm Cohibar Yellow Sox Indie Night DJ Brynstar, Mudrockets free Dee Why Hotel Kiss & Fly 8.30pm Establishment, Sydney Sienna G-Wizard, Troy-T, DJ Def Rok, Eko, Lilo 9pm Goldfish Musik Matters Goodgod Small Club, Sydney Player Haters Ball Joyride & The Accidents, Shantan Wantan Ichiban, Levins $10 11pm Home The Venue, Sydney Homemade Saturdays Ivy Pool, Sydney Pool Club Saturday Nights 6pm Jacksons On George, Sydney Ultimate Party Venue Resident DJs free Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Kitty Kitty Bang Bang Miss T, Gabby, Cassette, Alison Wonderland 8pm Man ‘O’ War Steps (Opera House), Sydney Harbour Mother Funka’s Go Hard Or Go Home Boat Party Venuto, Monty, Bilman UK, Gemellini, John Alexander, Mark Haider, L.A.M., Lenden Kuris, Thieves, Johnny B $45 12pm The Marlborough Hotel, Newtown Residents DJs free Metro Theatre, Sydney Bloc Party (DJ Set) $49.70 9pm Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Phrase, The Preachers, Highlands, DJ Flagrant $15 (+ bf) 8pm Sapphire Lounge The Suite free-$20 8pm Shark Bar, Sydney Puls8 Jono Soho, Sydney The Usual Suspects Hook N Sling, John Glover, Nukewood, Lights Out, Recon DJs $15 9pm Space, Sydney MASIF Saturdays Toneshifterz, Bloweapon, Steve Hill, Suae, Pulsar, Nik Fish, Amber Savage, Arbee, Hardforze, Peewee, Matrix, Xdream, Cadell, Charlie Brown, Tony Shock, VLN, Mike Hyper, Tezzr, Joey V 10pm The Spice Cellar, Sydney Spice Girls Annabelle Gaspar, Kali, Claire Morgan $20 11pm Star Bar, Sydney Situation free 10pm St James Hotel, Sydney SFX 9pm Valve Bar, Tempe Perspectical Party Franko, Nerrax, Shaegameister, Forrest, Drachemann,

“Oh my god, Journalists across the globe / are officially critiquing my first eight bars” - AESOP ROCK 56 :: BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11

M-Phazes

club guide send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com Poseidon, Symbosis, Ahavamour, Yang, Hazmatt, 2 Pounds Of Tar, Ryanosauros 6pm Verge Bar, Arthouse Hotel, Sydney After Dark DJs free The Watershed Hotel Watershed Presents…

Skybar The World Bar, Kings Cross Wham! Light Year, Raye Antonelli, Pablo Calamari, Hannah Gibbs, Boonie, YokoO, Kerry Wallace, Matt Weir, T-Bo, Harry Cotton,

Mehow, Mike Who, Pipemix, Temnein $15-$20 8pm

SUNDAY OCTOBER 16 Cargo Lounge, Sydney Stick It In 3pm Goldfish, Darlinghurst Martini Club, Tom Kelly, DJ Heidi free 6pm Hugo’s Lounge, Kings Cross Sneaky Sundays Resident and Guest DJs 8pm Shantan Wantan Ichiban

Jacksons On George, Sydney Aphrodisiac Resident DJs free Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Easy Sundays Stu Turner, Mr Belvedere, Murray Lake, Pat Ward 6pm Kudu Lounge, Darlinghurst Timeless Sundays Dan Copping, Ravi Ravs, Thomas Waldeier free 2pm Oatley Hotel Sunday Sessions DJ Tone free 7pm Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Lonely Kids Club Rufus, Fishing, Albatross, Collarbones DJs, Nakagin, Black Vanilla, Fox DJs, Two Man Wolf Hack 8pm Sapphire Lounge Sapphire Sundays free-$10 8pm Scubar, Sydney Sundays at Scubar 3pm The Spice Cellar, Sydney Spice Miss Gabby, Murat Kilic $20 4am Star Bar, Sydney Sundays 7pm The Watershed Hotel Afternoon DJs DJ Brynstar free The World Bar, Kings Cross Dust James Taylor, Alley Oop free 7pm

club picks up all night out all week...

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 12

Sietta

The World Bar, Kings Cross The Wall Pablo Calamari, Sushi, T-Bo, P1rate (NZ), Bruxism, Zeus, Jackd’Up, Vito free 7.30pm

THURSDAY OCTOBER 13 Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Drop Sietta, Max Gosford, Mike Who, Loki free 8pm The Sly Fox Hotel, Enmore Inhale Bass Black Sun Empire, Foreigndub, Andrew Wowk, Sam The Chemist $18 9pm

FRIDAY OCTOBER 14 Factory Theatre, Enmore Illy, Spit Syndicate, Sietta, M-Phazes $27.50 (+ bf)

6.30pm all ages GoodGod Small Club, Club Love Monkey Collarbones, Absolute Boys, Levins, Wedding Ring Fingers, Harry Cotton $10 9pm Kong’s Jungle Lounge, Bondi Junction Wild Live Javi Sampol, Franchi Bross, YokoO, Likewise DJs $10 9pm

SATURDAY OCTOBER 15 Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Phrase, The Preachers, Highlands, DJ Flagrant $15 (+ bf) 8pm The Eastern Hotel, Bondi Junction It's All About The Music shOOter, Scrubby, Sushi, Aron Chiarella, Foundation, Raissa $17 8pm The Spice Cellar, Sydney Spice Girls Annabelle Gaspar, Kali, Claire Morgan $20 11pm

SUNDAY OCTOBER 16 Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Lonely Kids Club Rufus, Fishing, Albatross, Collarbones DJs, Nakagin, Black Vanilla, Fox DJs, Two Man Wolf Hack free 8pm

Phrase

The Spice Cellar, Sydney Spice Miss Gabby, Murat Kilic $20 4am

BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11 :: 57

snap sn ap

PICS :: DM

propaganda

congorock

PICS :: AM

up all night out all week . . .

01:10:11 :: Soho Bar :: 171 Victoria St, Potts Point, 9358 6511

gappy ranks

PICS :: KC

29:09:11 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd, Kings Cross 93577700

jody wisternoff

PICS :: AM

30:09:11 :: GoodGod :: 55 Liverpool St, Sydney 9267 3787

hot damn

PICS :: SW

01:10:11 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex Street, Sydney 82959958

27:09:11 :: Spectrum :: 34 Oxford St Darlinghurst 93316245

party profile

electric empire

the coolroom 29:09:11 :: The Australian Brewery :: 350 Annangrove Rd, Rouse Hill 96794555 58 :: BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11

It’s called: Electric Empire – ‘Yes I Will’ single launch It sounds like: The sweetest soul music you've ever heard – for fans of Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye.

Who’s playing? Meem (DJ set), Danny G Felix Project, Electric Empire Sell it to us: Electric Empire return to Sydne y for their last show before heading overseas again, where they will be playing alongside soul greats Beverly Knight, Omar and Gwen Macrae. With their super sweet threepart harmonies and cracking playing, these guys are in a league of their own. They’ll be launching their brand new single ‘Yes I Will', which also comes out on the day!

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Dancing your ass off!

Crowd specs: Lovers of soul music of all ages, and fans of incredible musicianship.

Wallet damage: $20 Where: Upstairs Beresford / 354 Bourke St, Surry Hills When: Thursday October 13

:: KATRINA CLARKE S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER CHY :: GEORGE POPOV :: PEA MAS THO :: NS :: DANIEL MUN :: CAI GRIFFIN :: ASHLEY MAR SAM WHITESIDE ::

BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11 :: 59

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spice cellar

PICS :: AM

up all night out all week . . .

party profile

garden party It’s called: Garden Party feat. Marcel Dettm ann & Ben Klock It sounds like: The finest techno you're likely to hear in Sydney this year.

Who’s spinning? Marcel Dettmann & Ben Klock (GER), Matttt, Defined

By Rhythm, Ben Dunlop

wham!

PICS :: DM

02:10:11 :: The Spice Cellar :: Basement Level, 58 Elizabeth St, Sydney

01:10:11 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd, Kings Cross 93577700

Sell it to us: Regulars of Berlin techno mecc a Berghain, Marcel Dettmann & Ben Klock (GER) will be perfor ming a five-hour back-to-back set, supported by three of Sydney’s finest. Besid es great music, you’ve got a great crowd, great venue (including outdo ors!) – not to mention value for money. What more can you ask for?

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: That you enjoyed yet another epic Garden Party.

Crowd specs: Anyone is welcome!

Wallet damage: $35+bf from moshtix or reside ntadvisor.net Where: Chinese Laundry / Cnr King & Susse x Streets

PICS :KC

tensnake

godskitchen

PICS :: AM

When: Saturday October 15, 3-10pm

02:10:11 :: Hordern Pavilion :: 1 Driver Ave, Moore Park 93834000

strike

PICS :: AM

02:10:11 :: The Civic Hotel :: 388 Pitt St City 80807000

goodgod

PICS :KC

01:10:11 :: Strike Bowling Bar :: 22 The Promenade, King St Wharf 1300787453

02:10:11 :: GoodGod :: 55 Liverpool St, Sydney 9267 3787 60 :: BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11

:: KATRINA CLARKE S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER CHY :: GEORGE POPOV :: PEA MAS THO :: NS :: DANIEL MUN :: CAI GRIFFIN :: ASHLEY MAR SAM WHITESIDE ::

SEASON 2 STARTS OCTOBER 25

TEAM SHIRTS GIVEAWAYS & CASH PRIZES DRINK SPECIALS AT STRIKEBOWLINGBAR.COM.AU/SOCIAL-LEAGUE

FIND US ON

BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11 :: 61

snap sn ap

up all night out all week . . .

Kippax Lake, Moore Park Sunday October 2 The line-up for today’s unseasonal spectacular was of a certain indie-electro ‘vintage’, unconsciously reflecting that Parklife, and its punters, seem to be growing up. There are less throwaways and more mainstays; Simian Mobile Disco, Sebastien Tellier, MSTRKRFT and Diplo have been doing this for years. Send your gurners to Stereosonic, it shouts against the howling gales, and leave us with the purists. But of course underneath the blankets of dubstep, nobody can hear a thing.

live review

PARKLIFE

There are lots of people who deliberately choose to hit a festival at least two hours after it opens. Those people missed some of the best acts of the day while waiting in queues – like Kimbra, who is settling comfortably into her role as Australia’s most beloved female star since Washington bailed to The States. Playing the same stage and slot that Washo did last year, Kimbra (who also won the same Vanda and Young songwriting competition that Washo did last year) works her crowd like only a former child performer knows how. And they respond in kind, hollering the words to ‘Cameo Lover’ and ‘Two Way Street’ with joy in their hearts and borrowed cigarettes in their mouths. Her cover of Prince’s ‘I Wanna Be Your Lover’ is stellar, helping everyone forget that they didn’t bring a raincoat.

After dancing like maniacs to the mixtape marauding of Geelong’s Girl Talk, Yacht Club DJs, I head to the other end of the field to catch the most hotly tipped act of the festival, SebastiAn. Elevated six feet above the crowd on a solid black podium, the last horse out of the Ed Banger stable doesn’t try to catch up to his team (Justice, Busy P and other Parklife veterans), but rather veers a sharp left and gallops out of the track altogether.

SebastiAn’s shtick is dystopic totalitarianism, both in sound and in visuals, and he gets it so right that it’s impossible not to feel like I’m at a recreated Third Reich rally. With perfectly synced images of war and corruption spliced up with some of the most brutally satisfying French house I’ve ever heard, SebastiAn doesn’t drop out of character for one minute, pausing only to lift his hands up dictator style or to light another Parliament and flick his match casually into the crowd. When the banners unfurl during a particularly heavy section and he raises his fists, I know I’m watching something rare and amazing.

The screen flashes behind him in red lettering: ‘DO NOT THINK. LISTEN. BELIEVE. I LOVE YOU.’ He didn’t have to tell us twice.

Crystal Fighters are having the time of their lives in their little hippie paradise of the Atoll stage, and the crowd love them for it. A rhythmic, writhing pop act who incorporate intelligent dance elements into their sound, this is what MGMT could sound like if they weren’t so obsessed with themselves. Sebastien Tellier takes to the stage in characteristically ridiculous garb and gyrating like a man a third of his age, capturing his audience with the slow-burning cuts from Sexuality and crystal clear synths. He’s backed up by Midnight Juggernauts drummer Daniel Stricker, called in to provide some muscle at the last minute. It gets a bit same-y after a while, but it’s nothing if not entertaining.

0

If entertainment had a name and that name was shorthand for a dinosaur, it would have to be Diplo. A Fuzzy favourite (and it’s not hard to see why), Wes Pentz has been bringing the party to Sydney for years, both in his own capacity and with Major Lazer.

Tonight he’s in solo mode and he takes the opportunity to play to his strengths; dubstep, tropical, house and hip hop all blended together with cheeky grins and banter. He manages to sneak in a remix of Gotye’s ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’, an AC/DC lick or two and some stellar Major Lazer reworks, proving he’s a DJ who knows his audience. It’s only a shame the set isn’t more diverse – Diplo’s Mad Decent podcasts have shown him exploring more interesting world music, but most of tonight’s set is fourto-the-floor bangers.

I catch the end of Nero’s ear-crushing set, which sees him playing the world’s longest rendition of his crossover hit, ‘Promises’. The kids are going mad for it but he seems pretty non-plussed, which is generally how I’m starting to feel about dubstep anyway…

He clears the stage for the majesty of Simian Mobile Disco, possibly the most musically sensitive and intelligent DJs on the planet. Against the spectacular backdrop of their hive-shaped light installation, and standing at a round table so as to maximise communication, James Ford and co. craft a set that doesn’t just create songs, but sensations. The beats are drawn out and stretched and contracted and reworked into something new, and by the time I recognise a hit, I don’t even remember how they got there.

This was one of the strongest Parklife lineups and executions that I’ve seen in the last five years. If they lose the fad groups, they could well be on the way to the top tier of Aussie music festivals. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to retrieve my hearing.

Jonno Seidler

: :: GEORGE POPOV

OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER

62 :: BRAG :: 433 :: 10:10:11