The Brag #508

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

five things WITH

WINTERCOATS music in the house now I think of it.

I always wanted to learn the guitar when I was a kid, but my hands were way too small to even wrap around my mother’s guitar so I started with piano and then just kept changing instruments throughout my childhood.

Inspirations Kate Bush, Swans, Eartha 2.

Kitt, Jonathan Richman, Nils Frahm, Lee Hazlewood. There are so many people that have shaped the way I look at music. I mean not just in terms of the kind of music I want to make, but the way things should unfold, moments that last a fraction of a second. I mean every time I listen to ‘More’ by Nils Frahm I’m moved just as much as I was the first time I listened to it.

Your Band Well, Wintercoats is only me 3.

(James Wallace). I feel like I’m

Up I grew up listening to a lot of 1. Growing

Fleetwood Mac, The Carpenters, Paul Kelly and pretty much

JOAN BAEZ!

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everything that was on Countdown.

I guess there was always a lot of

I’ve always felt sorry for Joan Baez because my main exposure to her has been through Bob Dylan’s Don’t Look Back documentary, in which she is clearly so desperately in love with him, always trying to get his attention as he cold-shoulders her and yells at guys from Time magazine and the like. It’s heartbreaking, and even though she has since released a string of amazing folk records, played Woodstock, marched on the front lines during the civil rights movement, and partied with Nelson Mandela on his 90th birthday (it’s nice he’s gone straight now) we still really want to set her up with Donovan or someone to make Bobby jealous. The reason we are talking unrequited love ’65 style, is because Joan Baez is coming to Sydney Opera House on August 20, playing her wistful folk tunes, showering us with her amazingly pure voice and probably convincing us to storm Parliament House or something (I haven’t brushed up on her new material, but I’m sure that’s what she wants us to do). Tickets on sale now from that pointy weird-looking building near the harbour.

GIG & CLUB GUIDE CO-ORDINATOR: Conrad Richters - gigguide@thebrag.com (rock) clubguide@thebrag.com (dance, hip hop & parties) ONLINE & SOCIAL MEDIA: Tanydd Jaquet FUCKIN’ RAD INTERNS: Natalie Amat, Katie Davern, Tanydd Jaquet, Mina Kitsos

duping people by making it a plural, but just ‘Wintercoat’ sounds like shit. Other than mastering records, it’s still just me, both live and on record although I should probably get people to mix the records in the future. I have the slowest work rate.

HARDCORE

If you are looking to borrow a double-kick pedal on the weekend of July 13 and 14, you’ll be out of luck, and every drummer in the country that uses one will be playing at Hardcore 2013: Resist Records and Trial and Error’s annual hardcore festival, which is happening again at the Hi-Fi. Legendary New York hardcore band Youth Of Today heads the lineup, with Toe To Toe, Warbrain, Vigilante, Boneless, Higher Power, Youth Of Today, 50 Lions, Relentless, Survival, Shackles, Outsiders Code, The Weight, Outright, Crisis Alert and Rain Dogs. Tickets on sale now.

Lorde

ANZAC SPIRITS

CHVRCHES

V DAY

Even though we know that Scottish electro-pop trio CHVRCHES’ savvy replacement of that ugly, bucket-looking vowel with the sexy, Scrabble-winning, arrow-like ‘v’ doesn’t change the pronunciation of their name, we are secretly looking forward to them being on The Project and watching Carrie Bickmore or someone introduce them in a phonetic clumsy manner. It could happen, especially considering the praise chorus that currently rains upon their every move, and the fact they will be in Australia later this year, playing an Oxford Art Factory show on August 2. Tickets go on sale April 17. And for future advertising campaigns, we present the following pithy pull quote: “CHVRCHES will turn you into a believer.”

Your brother’s mate Ian’s garage no longer hosts the biggest baddest game of 2 Up in the Inner West now that The Vic in Enmore will be hosting their first ever ANZAC Day celebration (April 25) with live music from Spurs For Jesus and Handsome Young Strangers, rotisserie meats (yup!), Anzac biscuits, and a massive game of 2 Up, hosted by Dan and Matt Rule of The Annandale Hotel fame. Also there will be beer. So much beer. So much responsibly-imbibed beer. Daytime beer is a lazier, most stoned experience, too, which is nice. It all kicks off at 10am. Ian’s garage still has the biggest Carmen Electra poster in the Inner West though. That title is solid.

CHVRCHES photo by Christina Kernohan

10 :: BRAG :: 508 :: 15:04:13

What: Heartful EP is released on April 17

New Zealand’s Lorde is on the rise, and thanks to the entertainment laws that allow us to claim Russell Crowe, Keith Urban and the Finn brothers (or Neil if we can only take one) she is heading to Australia to unleash her swooning, glitchy electro-pop.

She’s garnered praise from the likes of Diplo and Grimes, and if you find yourself liking everything those two recommend to you, you should see her at Goodgod Small Club on Saturday May 18, because she’ll be playing bigger venues before long and hanging out in jacuzzis with Kimbra and the little-drums-one from Evermore.

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to be doing something different.

It’s really inspiring to take in so many different things from Guerre, to Montero, to Grand Salvo. It’s amazing. I think the main thing that’s needed is to preserve the venues that allow this music to be shared. I’m really going to miss going up to Sydney and going to, or playing at The Gate. Thank you Joe Hardy.

LORDY LORDE

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Music, Right Here, Right Now There’s just so much creativity 5. going round. Everyone seems

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rather than my own. It’s just stuff I’ve recorded in my bedroom. I mean sometimes it’s self-sample based, so in other words, a lot of orchestral recordings done on the fl y pieced together. Other times I’ll sit down and record a song in one sitting. Heartful (EP) is defi nitely a mix of both. The track is a mix of orchestral dream pop mixed with a lot of choral and classical ideas.

Vaudeville Smash is our new favourite band name of all time (Sorry Sixpence None The Richer, you had a solid run) and to celebrate this amazing honour, the Melbourne disco-chic band are playing June 21, UTS Glasshouse Bar. Our sister magazine Beat said of their live show, “if you don’t love them, you’re an idiot”, which is a bit more forceful then we’d be about these things, but that’s sisters for ya.

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The Music You Make I don’t know. It feels easier 4. to analyse other people’s works

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rock music news

free stuff

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

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

five things WITH

WE ALL WANT TO

KING TUFF Musicians are almost always hilarious in some way. I’m inspired by humour and absurdity, but also plants and electricity.

Your Band My band has changed a lot during the 3. past couple of years. The members have ranged from tall and skinny to small and creepy. My favourite musicians to play with are the ones who have their own slightly warped style and the ones who can bring to the music by playing things that I wouldn’t have thought of. That’s when it’s most rewarding.

Music You Make I make rock’n’roll.

4. The Music, Right Here, Right Now There are many beautiful things 5. happening in music right now – people are

Growing Up My parents bought me a toy drumset 1. when I was a few years old. They’re the best

Inspirations Most of my favourite musicians are the 2. ones I’ve become good friends with over

parents in the world. I also vividly remember getting my first record player on Christmas and I think there’s a photo of me with it and my hair is standing up like I’m being electrocuted by the thought of listening to records. I was a spazzy kid who always made up songs and bad jokes.

Nothing’s really changed.

the years like Ruth Garbus, Chris Weisman, Kurt Weisman, Asa Irons, Gabe Fulvimar of Gap Dream, Bobby Harlow, White Fang and Natural Child. If I know a musician personally, it usually makes their music much more amazing and unbelievable to me because then I can smile when I think about their personalities.

Martha Wainright

inspired and writing good songs. You can’t make money from selling records anymore and touring costs a shitload because of gas, but people still do it because music is the best thing on the planet and it can’t be stopped. I think it’s a beautiful thing that people write songs and sing them. We’re like a bunch of cute little singing fleas in a scuzzy little flea circus.

With: Palms, Straight Arrow DJs Where: Goodgod Small Club When: Wednesday April 24

Calling all Doc Marten wearing, brass loving ska-heads: Melbourne Ska Orchestra are hitting the road. The latest in a storied line that includes The Maytals and The Specials through to Reel Big Fish and yes, even occasionally No Doubt, the 26-piece will be showcasing tracks from their new self-titled album at the Metro Theatre on Friday May 3, and if the past ten years of sell-out gigs are anything to go by, punters are in for a jive-tastic, footstomping set. We’ve got two doubles up for grabs, to nab one send us your deets and tell us your favourite MSO track.

You Am I

HI FI DAILY DOUBLE

There’s a song on the first You Am I album called ‘Off The Field’ written by the old drummer which is a bowlful of dicks, but aside from this hiccup, the first three You Am I albums are flawless in that deeply flawed way that all great records are, which is why we are excited beyond belief that these records – Sound As Ever, Hi Fi Way and Hourly Daily – are being pulled out of the vault, polished, buffed and remastered, with a slew of bonus tracks, demos, alternative studio version and all the usual photos and ephemera that make reissues so great. They are also playing Hourly Daily (secretly the better of the two) and Hi Fi Way in full on July 19 at the Enmore Theatre. Tickets go on sale this Tuesday and will sell out this Tuesday, too, we imagine.

TOBY AND KNIEVEL

When genius producer Wayne Connolly isn’t helming classic Australian records from bands such as You Am I, Custard, Underground Lovers, Died Pretty and the like, he is fronting Sydney’s best noisy pop band Knievel. They released the excellent Emerald City last year, and because bands need to tour in order to make playing music a fi scal possibility, they are embarking on a run of dates with Youth Group’s Toby Martin, who also released a record last year, Love’s Shadow. Catch them both May 11 at Brighton Up Bar.

TALKIN’ TED

Blackchords

When you make moody, brooding music like Melbourne’s Blackchords, it’s only a matter of time before the creators of TV’s Cougar Town are going to want to use one of your tunes on their dense, richly-layered program. This happened last month while the band were over in the States, which was a nice lead-up to the release of their second record A Thin Line, which they will be launching in style at the Brighton Up Bar on April 26. Also, there’s an American version of Shameless with William H Macy now for some ridiculous reason, and Blackchords’ music was on that show, too. Americans should just watch the UK versions of shows.

If you’ve never watched a TED talk online and are in a bit of a rut, beware. You’ll probably get through about ten minutes of watching one before you decide to assert yourself more in the workplace arena, quit your job, break up your relationship, start making lists for every aspect of your life, move to Chicago, and spend twenty minutes a day goal-envisioning.

They are pretty powerful things, which is why if you must get along to the TEDxSydney annual ideas festival on May 4, catch the live acts (John Butler, Jeff Lang, Kate MillerHeidke, master percussionist Greg Sheehan, composer Joseph Tawadros, improvisation violin genius Veren Grigorov, singer/ songwriter iOTA and a handful more) and stay away from those pesky inspirational talks, or you’ll get all motivated and healthy and never

catch up on Breaking Bad in time for the new season.

GRIM STUFF

The Beatles, Small Faces and The Kinks all used to record around thirty minutes worth of songs and call it an album, whereas bluesy rock lads Brothers Grim knock that much music out in three days, shrug and call it a mere EP. They have self-branded their sound as ‘SexVoodoo-Delta-Blues-A-Billy’ which kinda makes us want to take a toaster into the bathtub, but we’ll excuse it, because we listened to the EP, and they’re kinda correct and it’s better than those bands who talk about how there’s no one influence on their sound, then belt out a DietPearl-Jam-sounding mess. Catch them at the Annandale (although it’s for sale right now, so we’ll see) May 10.

NEW PYKE

“Hi, you’ve called Josh Pyke. I’m not in right now, as I’m putting the finishing touches on my brand new album, The Beginning And The End Of Everything, which is out July 5 and available at all good record bars. You may be able to get me on the mobile, although I usually keep it off in the studio; even the vibrate setting picks up on the acoustic mics. Crazy, right? If that fails, maybe catch me on May 11 at my intimate acoustic show at Camelot Lounge. You’ll need to preorder my record through JB Hi-Fi though; it’s the only way to get tickets, you see. Leave your message after the beep.”

xxx

12 :: BRAG :: 508 :: 15:04:13

SKA ORCHESTRA

MARTHA, MY DEAR

There’s a song by Loudon Wainwright III called ‘Hitting You’ which details one time in traffic where he turned around to smack a naughty backseat Martha but struck her outer thigh way too hard.

He explains the mix of emotions he saw in her little face and how he’d planted a seed where she would no longer feel safe around him. It’s a truly sad song, especially the part where he sings: “these days things are awful between me and you.” Martha turned out welladjusted enough though, although she did later write a song called ‘Bloody Motherfucking Asshole’ about her dad, so maybe they’re still working things out. Regardless, she’s coming back to Sydney to play songs from her latest record, the emotional and stunning Come Home To Mama. June 6 at the Opera House, tickets on sale now, carve a picture of Martha on your desk so you’ll remember.

BLACKCHORDS

There you are, shamelessly clutching your Forrest Gump soundtrack to your chest, bopping your pom-pom haired head along to the catchy guitar riffs while you struggle to sway along in your uncomfortably-fabulous white platform kicks. Yes, we all want in on the ‘90s, and this is where We All Want To work their magic. The Brisbanites have proved one of Australia’s pop wonders, sashaying through charts with fi erce melodies and proving themselves the enticingly tangy lemons in the otherwise bland water that is modern pop. They bring their “yeah, yeah, yeah” immaculately crafted and infectious harmonies to Goodgod Small Club on Friday April 26, playing tracks from their latest album Come Up Invisible. We have two double passes – just tell us your favourite ’90s-era soundtrack.

w ho ss ge la al

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AN AWESOME WAVE album out now feat. ‘Breezeblocks’ BRAG :: 508 :: 15:04:13 :: 13

The Music Network

themusicnetwork.com

Music Industry News with Christie Eliezer

THINGS WE HEAR

* Look out for the official announcement of a deal between Chinese songwriter and producer Li Jie’s Oriental Music and Sydney’s MGM to develop industry trade between China and Australia. * After a year’s break, Big Day Out will be staged again in New Zealand in 2014. * Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora has stepped out of their current US tour, officially to go into rehab, but some sources claim he was pushed out because Jon BJ thought he and his girlfriends were partying too hard on tour. * After the first two episodes of Channel 9’s The Voice enjoyed lower ratings than the same time last year, the show has made a comeback. On its third night it punched through the 2 million mark, attracting 2.85 million viewers. * Not a good week for Delta Goodrem and Seal. Woman’s Day claimed they were having an affair (denied). Then came Delta’s comment that a black contestant would work well with Seal. She immediately explained it was because they were both soul singers, but she got slammed as “racist.” * Also hauled over the coals was John Lydon over his comments to Carrie Bickmore on Ten’s The Project. This

CHANGES AT THE BRAG

This issue of The Brag sees some significant changes at Sydney’s best music magazine. After four years at the shop, editor Dee Jefferson has left the building.

“I’m going on to a similar role in the arts and culture sphere,” she told us. Taking over music editorial are Nick Jarvis (nick@ thebrag.com) and Lisa Maree Omagari (lisa@thebrag.com) handling arts and culture editorial. Jarvis was an editor at 3D World for five years, followed by a stint at Time Out Beirut and most recently Marketing and Sponsorship Manager at The Festivalists. Omagari comes from a background in arts editorial and online content management, most recently from Concrete Playground Sydney. She has

columnist has been on the receiving end of Johnny’s ire when provoked through the years and certainly doesn’t condone his statements (although it seems he was just winding up The Project crew). * And speaking of a wind-up, what of Daft Punk’s claims their new album Random Access Memories will make its world premiere next month in the littleknown NSW town of Wee Waa, a town so small (population 1,973) that it shares its postcode with eight others. Sony Music is refusing to comment on whether the album will be streamed from Wee Waa, but inthemix confirmed that Sony bought the www.daftpunkweewaa.com domain name last week. * Mix 106.5 Sydney’s new station promo uses an audio of rival Kyle Sandiland’s attack on them, “What’s worse than Mix? Nothing. Nothing’s worse, it’s always been terrible, for 15 years that station’s been the worst thing in Australian radio” (without a shred of irony). * Sydney electro shape-shifters Canyons head to the US for DJ dates at the end of this month. It’s their first US visit since 2011’s Keep Your Dreams. * Clubfeet took to the Twittersphere to accuse Japanese band Champagne of ripping off their ‘Everything You Wanted’ vid for their ‘Forever Young’ clip. a great interest in the commercial and institutional gallery circuit, performing arts, film, and event-based initiatives.

MARRICKVILLE TO VOTE ON PARRAMATTA RD PRECINCT

Marrickville Council will vote this week on working with Leichhardt Council and the City of Sydney to investigate setting up Sydney’s first live music cultural precinct on Parramatta Road. Councillor Jo Haylen put forward the motion that a cultural hub could “rejuvenate an urban wasteland through the introduction of a vibrant late night economy.” Marrickville Council has long supported live music. It set up a Live Music Taskforce in the late ‘90s and funded events in parks for 10 years including The Break

Stage at Marrickville Festival. Council’s Manager of Culture and Recreation Josephine Bennett also wants “further research to understand why alternative music venues such as Dirty Shirlows and Median (both located in the industrial parts of Marrickville) were not able to meet the requirements to make the venues legal and permissible.”

‘GOOGLE PLAY MUSIC’ ARRIVES IN OZ

Google finally rolled out its Google Play Music Service in Australia. Apart from its download service, users can access a free cloud-based ‘music locker’ to sync their songs across devices and add 20,000 tunes to their collection.

The Artist Hub section is for unsigned Australian acts to put their work up for a fee and sell directly to fans at a price of their choosing. DJ Havana Brown, Delta Goodrem and Lisa Mitchell are among those spotlighted for the Oz launch.

APRA UNVEILS ITS TOP 30

APRA unveiled its Top 30 shortlist for its Song of the Year category at the APRA awards, and a diverse list it was.

It ranged from toe-tappers by Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson, Guy Sebastian, Missy Higgins, The Presets, Tame Impala and Gotye to young turks Saskwatch, The Rubens, The Bamboos and Courtney Barnett. See the APRA website for the full list.

NEW SIGNING #1: THE FADERS AT PARKER + MR FRENCH

Sydney DJ duo The Faders has joined management company Parker & Mr French. It also looks after Danny Clayton, Bluejuice, Gypsy + the Cat, The Vines, Evermore and Jagwar Ma. The Faders, AKA Milly Mattegno and Suhanna Lye, opened for N*E*R*D in London at the Olympics, played the MTV awards after-party in Frankfurt, released their debut compilation album F.U.N. through Universal, and got signed to Grant Smillie’s 360 Agency.

NEW SIGNING #2: WORDLIFE, EGO, JOIN MODULAR AGENCY

Modular Agency expanded its roster with two signings. Sydney futuristic house-techno beardies wordlife (AKA DJ/producers Kato and Bozzetto) are about to drop a new release on Modular Recordings’ new imprint, Club Mod. Ego is a DJ/videographer whose live shows are audio-visual events.

E HIFI 1300 THO M.AU

IFPI REPORT: RECORDING INDUSTRY ON THE UP

THEHIFI.C

Just Announced This Week

Birds of Tokyo

Blue Oyster Cult (USA)

Thu 23 May

Sat 20 Apr

28 Days

Otep (USA)

Wed 24 Apr

Thu 25 Apr

Frightened Rabbit (UK)

Norma Jean (USA)

SE LL IN G

FA ST

HTC & Speaker TV Presents

Coming Soon

Example (UK)

Enhanced (UK)

Fri 26 Apr

Sat 27 Apr

Fri 3 May

Tue 30 Apr

Bilal (USA)

Opiuo + Spoonbill

Cradle of Filth (UK)

Born Of Osiris (USA)

Sat 4 May

Fri 10 May

Sat 11 May

Sat 18 May

Moved from Roudnhouse

The global music industry grew 0.2% to US$16.5 billion in 2012, said the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). The growth was attributed to music subscription services, income from broadcasting and sync deals, and emerging markets like India, Brazil and Mexico. Of the 49 markets analysed 22 had growth; one was Australia, which grew 6.8% to US$507 million and grabbed back the world’s #6 spot from Canada.

Sun 16 Jun

Cannabis Corpse & King Parrot Fri 28 Jun

(USA)

Hardcore 2013 Feat.

Youth of Today (USA) + More Sat 13 Jul 18+ | Sun 14 Jul All Ages

ENTERTAINMENT QUARTER, BUILDING 220, 122 LANG RD, MOORE PARK, SYDNEY

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SYDNEY’S FIRST YOUTH MUSIC INDENT TEAM

The City of Sydney has its first Youth Music Indent team to create and organise live allages, drug and alcohol free music events for youth. More info at facebook.com/ sydneyyouthmusic.

CHANGES AT THE BASEMENT

The Basement’s new owner, restaurateur David Wallace, has brought in his own staff to the iconic Circular Quay venue.

Joey Caruana is the new venue manager, and Nathan Farrell (ex-The Macquarie) its booker.

REYNE, ROGERS, BECOME TV HOSTS

James Reyne is a new host at pay TV channel MAX alongside Jane Gazzo and Chit Chat. James Reyne’s Legends Poll sees viewers vote for their fave musicians and musical moments. The first, premiering Sunday May 19 at midday, will find the Greatest Front Man of All Time (see maxtv. com.au). Meantime, Tim Rogers will front Foxtel’s arts channel Studio’s At The Memo, six episodes of cabaret, music and burlesque. It is one of the new shows to be launched on May 1 as part of the channel’s rebrand.

Lifelines Not Dating: Taylor Swift’s peeps denied a report in Grazia that she’s dating Australian-Hawaiian pro surfer John John Florence.

They met in Oz last November, apparently, and are planning a second date this month, which, umm, averages out so far to a date every six months.

Engaged: US hit writer Linda Perry and CBS’s The Talk co-host Sara Gilbert. Perry invited her to a quiet lunch in a park where other picnickers pulled instruments from under their rugs to flash-mob serenade them.

Engaged: The Saturdays’ singer Frankie Sandford and footballer Wayne Bridge.

Ill: Sydney duo Jagwar Ma cancelled dates due to ill health (unspecified).

In Court: Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac filed for legal separation from Lynn Frankel.

They married 17 years ago and have twin daughters, 11.

Sued: Kanye West, by the family of the late David Pryor, for “millions of dollars” for a 13-second sample on West’s 2005 hit ‘Gold Digger’, which was taken from the 1974 song ‘Bumpin’ Bus Stop’ by Thunder & Lightning.

Global digital revenues were up 8% to $5.8 billion. These now account for 35% of income for record companies, while CDs still hold on with 57% of revenue.

Performance rights revenues (from broadcasts and public performance) were the fastest growing sector, up 9.4% to US$943 million, and now account for 6% of record company revenues. Income from synchronisation deals – music used in TV adverts, films and brand partnerships – were also up, by 2.1% to $337 million.

Died: British producer Andy Johns, 61, apparently from liver problems. He began as a tape operator at London’s Olympic Studios, helping Eddie Kramer on sessions for the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Jethro Tull and Humble Pie, and then went on to produce classic albums by Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Van Halen and many others.

SWANS USE URTHBOY THEME

Died: legendary Jamaican producer Harry Johnson, 67. He produced the first reggae single ‘No More Heartaches’ by The Beltones. His Harry J Studios is where Bob Marley, Heptones, Toots and the Maytals, etc. cut their first tracks.

AFL team the Sydney Swans is using MC Urthboy’s ‘Ready To Go’ on their new TV ad. “The track has a lot of energy, a lot of spirit, and a lot of urgency, just like the Swans,” said Urthboy, who became the club’s ambassador last year. Urthboy’s a long time club supporter for their “mongrel” attitude,

SPRINGSTEEN RAISES $37,000 TO FEED SYDNEY’S HUNGRY

Municipal Waste (USA)

donations from the crowd as they arrived and left.

Bruce Springsteen helped raise $37,000 for Foodbank NSW, which amounts to 17,000 meals for Sydney’s hungry. The Boss donated for auction two VIP tickets to each of his three shows at Allphones Arena, spruiked the organisation onstage, and helped Foodbank NSW collect

Died: Slawomir “Mortifer” Kusterka, bassist for Polish death metal band Hate, in his sleep during a German tour.

Died: Bev Daniel, long time committee member and past president of the Tamworth Songwriters’ Association, from Motor Neurone Disease.

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BRAG :: 508 :: 15:04:13 :: 15

Super Wild Horses More Power

By Benjamin Cooper

“I

was hoping I’d make it home before you called. Whatever. Let’s just do this on the side of the road.” Super Wild Horses’ Hayley McKee is just days shy of releasing her band’s second album, and it’s clear that the rough and ready spirit that characterised their early years is still there – even in phone interviews.

Super Wild Horses emerged in 2008, and by their own admission at the time were far from fully formed. McKee and Amy Franz had been friends for years, after first meeting as high school students at St Brigid’s College in the quiet Perth suburb of Lesmurdie. Franz moved to Melbourne in 2001, with McKee – sister of Snowman guitarist and solo artist Joe – doing the same in 2005. Constant mixing in musical circles led to them accidentally forming a band.

“One day we ended up pulling together all the equipment we could find,” McKee says. “Anything that was lying around was pulled out. We borrowed some gear off friends, and just started playing around.”

With the encouragement of their friends they kept plugging away, earning respect for their scrappy and brief garage tunes. Word started to spread around town about their no-nonsense, instrument-swapping live shows in warehouses and established venues like The Tote, and in 2009 they released a self-titled six-song EP on Eddy Current Suppression Ring’s Aarght!

Records.

“We never had a whole lot of intent back then,” McKee says. “We had just as much fun, but we weren’t really pushing ourselves, or pushing the ideas of the songs.”

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The duo reunited with the EP’s producer, ECSR frontman and garage impresario Mikey Young, to record their 2010 debut album Fifteen. It honed their pop leanings, with sweet harmonising slotting in nicely on songs like ‘Degrassi’ and ‘Fifteen’ – the latter a rollicking ode to the age they first met.

The success of the album took them by surprise. The little garage duo that could were suddenly everywhere from TV commercials to hearty endorsements from Pitchfork and Rolling Stone. They toured the US and picked up a swag of high profile supports at home, including Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Best Coast.

A highlight was supporting Foo Fighters at their one-off show in 2011 at Manning Bar. “That was very strange,” McKee says. “We were only given 48 hours’ notice that it was happening.

Apparently Dave Grohl always selects the support band. We just got this phone call saying ‘Dave wants you.’ I felt like I was twelve years old.”

“Then we get up to Sydney for the show,” she goes on, “and get told that there’s this tradition where support bands get bottles thrown at them by the audience. Apparently at the previous show the support band had just walked off.

But we got up there, did our thing. People seemed to dig it. Obviously what we do is kind of different to the Foo Fighters, but it was a lot of fun anyway.” And what of the nicest man in rock? “Well, he was super nice! The whole band was lovely.”

The Horses’ appearance with the Foos was a rare treat for fans in recent years. “We actually took a good year off, to be honest,” McKee says. “In some ways it’s easier to run a band when we’re just a two-piece. There’s a lot more sharing that goes on, but there’s less people to cloud things up. All of that bullshit that can get in the way with more people is completely absent.”

“We’ve really pushed ourselves with everything we do this time.

I’d say we had a bit more balls.”

The band’s recent lack of visibility is due, at least in part, to their knuckling down to work on sophomore Crosswords. The album was recorded in an abandoned butter factory in Melbourne with Jack Farley (Beaches, Twerps, St Helens). “We really put a lot of effort into what we do,” McKee says. “This album’s reminded us how much is involved in doing this kind of work. We’ve really pushed ourselves with everything we do this time.

I’d say we had a bit more balls: it wasn’t about just playing guitar, but about writing something and then asking the other person what direction they thought it could go. We pushed things melodically and production wise to get everything out of the sounds.”

The push was supported by a number of friends who came to visit the butter factory.

“Liam Kenny [from Bitch Prefect] sang vocals on ‘West Coast’”, Franz says. “Jack [Farley] is a really good friend of ours, so it was great to have him in the studio. We see all our friends out at shows and stuff, so there’s something nice about keeping it all in the family. There’s something about having everyone support each other so much – it’s just really lovely.”

The new songs see the duo push far beyond their homespun beginnings. Early single ‘Alligator’ recalls stomping surf rock, while ‘Memphis’ combines a pounding bass line – previously an unexplored dynamic – over washes of bleeding guitar noise.

“We just know more now,” McKee says. “We can do more stuff, so it made sense for us to push ourselves as far as possible. But also keep it fun, of course. I think some of the songs are a bit different to what we’ve done

before, so in that way the album’s a bit of a different deal.”

Despite the perceived changes to the sound, the band has no intention of going too far out. “We like to be loud – that’s never going to change,” Franz says. “I think the quickest response we’ve ever given to a gig request was when we were asked to play an acoustic show. They asked, there was a pause, and then we said ‘Ah, no.

Not going to happen.’ I cannot figure out how we could translate what we do without power.”

Are there any other paths that the band will not explore? “I think you can categorically rule out rapping,” Franz muses. “And probably funk; although I do love funk. I think funk got a bad rap. Too many people fear funk. ESG [’80s New York act Emerald, Sapphire and Gold] were a massive influence on me. But Hayley used to have a big fear of funk. Sometimes I would try to add some funk into my playing, and I knew she hated it because she’d go silent. Thankfully she had her spiritual funk awakening last year at a Prince concert. Since then she seems to have seen the light, so you never know – Super Wild Horses could get funky in the future. We’ll have to wait and see.”

With: Day Ravies, Family Where: Goodgod Small Club When: Friday May 10 What: Crosswords is out now through Dot Dash/Remote Control Also: playing as part of Dig It Up! The Hoodoo Gurus Invitational, Sunday April 21 across the Enmore Theatre, the Sly Fox, Green Room Lounge and The Midnight Special.

Super Wild Horses photo by Daniel Boud - boudist.com

“Since we were really young music has been a big deal. Being able to watch live music as we grew up – and being surrounded by so many great bands – has changed things. It was never a goal for either of us to be what you might call a professional musician,” Franz says. “Especially when we first started out. This might sound a bit cliché, but we just wanted to figure out how to play enough to be musically content with what we could do.”

“We weren’t necessarily thinking too much about what we were doing, that’s for sure,” Franz adds later, over the phone. “We were more just doing whatever came next.”

WITH SPECIAL GUESTS

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Big Scary Take A Look At Them Now By Lachlan Kanoniuk

I

t was a pent-up, volcanic build towards Vacation, the debut album from affable Melbourne duo Big Scary. The lead-up to the full-length featured a bevy of EP-oriented material, most notably the stellar compilation of their Four Seasons EPs. After an intensely prolific initial burst, Tom Iansek and Jo Syme have established a relatively measured approach for their keenly anticipated second LP proper, Not Art. Ahead of their album-prefacing Australian tour (replete with the debut of a supplementary third touring member), Iansek rationalises the band’s steady evolution.

“I guess now as the band has grown and we’ve taken more things on, and we have more elaborate promo and marketing – plus longterm things overseas happening – I guess all that starts to weigh in on it. Plus there is less opportunity to be writing all the time. I guess that’s how we started out with all the EPs, and that time isn’t there as much anymore,” Iansek explains.

The first taste of Not Art came in the form of the sedate track ‘Phil Collins’, which was followed soon after with the notably different ‘Luck Now’. As Iansek explains, the selection

“POETIC, UNPREDICTABLE, AND UTTERLY ADDICTIVE”

–

NME

of tracks was classic misdirection. “That was totally the plan. We released ‘Phil Collins’ first, knowing that it wasn’t a single at all. It’s kind of moody, there’s no real catchy chorus. I guess we just thought it was more of a mood-setter for the album. Bands tend to put the catchiest, poppiest [songs] out first as the single, then everyone is expecting a bright, catchy album to follow it. A lot of the time that isn’t the case.

We wanted to suggest that it would be a darker record, and we definitely tried to keep people guessing a bit.”

‘Luck Now’ sees Iansek boldly push his production chops, employing sonic elements found in dubstep and hip hop. “Well, that one was a completely new thing, and it was a song that dictated how we approached it, due to circumstances. We did a lot of touring early in the year last year, then Jo went overseas travelling,” Iansek recalls. “I was at home and had to make loops and beats on the computer, as opposed to live percussion. That’s what started the track off, these electronic loops. It was more meant to be a demo, and we later tried to do acoustic versions of those dubsteptype beats, but it just didn’t quite have the same vibe. In the end we just went with it and laid things over the top. It was very much the opposite of how we did things in the past.”

As is the case with most two-piece bands, the sonic evolution in the studio has resulted in the decision to expand the live outfit with a supplementary member. As Iansek explains, Big Scary were never precious about retaining the duo formation on the stage. “We never ruled it out, really. It was just a matter of finding the right person and the right way to involve them.

Definitely with these new songs, even with Vacation, we couldn’t really replicate it live with just the two of us. We had to adapt the songs and almost do different versions of them. It just means that there is more scope for possibility when touring. But it’s still a challenge, because we’re probably still one person short,” he admits.

“You could always use another pair of hands, but we’re nutting it all out.”

The tail end of 2012 saw the Melbourne duo wrap up their Vacation touring stint with an extensive US tour, which was then followed into a voyage performing around India. “In the States there is that interest in Aussie music; they know who the Aussie bands are. Even in India, it’s still young students who find music on the internet and become fans like anyone else,” says Iansek. “The venues aren’t that different than what you find here or in the States – I think we even played at a Hard Rock Café. It was a cool experience. I guess the reactions are a bit different, because metal is the big thing in India. We toured with Karnivool and they played to thousands of people at the festival we played at. It’s pretty crazy.”

“We’re no Flume or Gotye or any kind of ‘breakthrough’ artist – we’re still hammering away like everyone else.”

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WEDNESDAY 15 MAY METRO THEATRE

“We very much still feel like we’re up-andcoming, we don’t feel like we’ve made it in that sense. I guess what we do have over a lot of bands playing in local pubs is experience.

There’s a lot of myths out there that you hold to be true when you’re a young band. We’re no Flume or Gotye or any kind of ‘breakthrough’ artist – we’re still hammering away like everyone else.”

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NEW ALBUM HUMMINGBIRD OUT NOW

With: Caitlin Park When: Wednesday April 24 Where: Goodgod Small Club And: Not Art will be released June 28 through Pieater/Inertia

Big Scary photo by Andrzej Liguz - moreimages.net

The Big Scary that are about to release Not Art have come a long way from the Big Scary that emerged with a wealth of EPs, but as Iansek reasons, the band have been adaptive in their approach. “The truth is that we’re always evolving, we both still have to work and have lives outside of the band,” Iansek says. “It’s become trickier as the band has evolved. We have less playing time together, we don’t have those whole weeks where we can play. We do have to be more focused. We’re doing longer tours, plus heading overseas, so a lot of our time is about getting ready for that, when it used to be about writing, finding something new.

The Hillbilly Killers Porridge And Tabasco By Simon Topper

R

ight now, it seems that Tim Rogers loves nothing more than unexpected combinations. No sooner has the man who encapsulated Australian rock’n’roll for the past 20 years finished a tour with soul and funk group The Bamboos, that he’s embarking on another, this time as part of the country outfit The Hillbilly Killers.

Even odder, though, is the breakfast he’s currently munching on. “I’m eating porridge and Tabasco sauce, so it’s a regular Tuesday,” he says. “Any day I have porridge and Tabasco sauce around I consider myself a lucky guy. It’s the little things. It’s a curiously life-affirming condiment. I was out drinking with the You Am I guys in Sydney a couple of weeks ago, and we were just talking about old tours … and Rusty [recalled] when all I carried around was a briefcase, and what it had in it was a notebook, a novel, a big thing of Tabasco and a little jar of eucalyptus oil. I wonder if you could get through an airport now with that package.”

Rock’n’roll reminiscences like this just make the combination of the Hillbilly Killers even more unexpected. In addition to Rogers, the group comprises two members of the Australian country music canon, albeit from distinct generations. Catherine Britt, at 28, has been recording for just over a decade, and has taken home the CMAA Golden Guitar Female Artist of the Year award. Bill Chambers, at 62 years young, is in the Australian Country Music Hall Of Fame for his family group the Dead Ringer Band, which also featured his children, Nash and Kasey Chambers.

Rogers confirms that recently, he’s been enjoying collaborating over solo songwriting. On top of the Bamboos, he’s currently writing with electronica favourite Muscles, and says that the next You Am I album will, for the first time, be primarily songs written by the rest of the band. “I just got a bit sick of my own shit.

What I write about is very narrow-minded and tends to be more about personal relationships with other people, or myself,” he says.

This lean towards collaborative projects was kicked off when the Hillbilly Killers came together about two years ago. “Bill called me one day and said ‘Tim, do you like Hank Williams?’ I said, ‘Yeah man’.

‘And do you like Jimmie Rodgers?’ ‘Yeah’. And he said ‘Well, I want to get a band together.’ I thought he was calling me to ask for someone’s number, you know? But he said ‘No, I want to get you and my friend Catherine together’. So they came down to Melbourne and we went out drinking, and at the end of the night we just got a case of beer and went back to Bill’s hotel room, and … we started writing then. This song was called ‘Calamity Anatomy’ which Catherine was starting to write. It was like ‘I woke up in the morning with a broken lung / Been out all night having too much fun / I rubbed my back with alcohol just to cure my cough / Broke my back trying to lick it off.’ Whoa!

I thought here we go! The three of us sitting in a room together writing – that was just so thrilling.”

“I’m not thinking I’m going to crack into the country circuit. I’m just thinking I’m going to play with people who I really love, respect and wanna make great records.”

'R \RX XVH GUXJV ZKHQ \RX·UH RXW"

Rogers says that he’s enjoying the challenge that writing plain and simple country songs presents.

“It’s trying to lay everything pretty bare and not filled with double entendre. Well, double entendres for sure, but about a singular event or an emotion or an experience you want to convey, and not just throwing similar bullshit everywhere and expecting it to make some kind of sense,” he says. “Bill will often dust me up with ‘What the bloody hell does that mean, Tim?’ and I want to write for the Killers in a way that Bill knows exactly what I’m talking about, because he’s such a good friend of mine and a real hero of mine and I want to impress him.”

The Hillbilly Killers made their public debut at 2012’s Tamworth Music Festival, a country music institution that took veteran Rogers back to newcomer status. He loved it, playing around 15 shows with friends when he was only booked for two. “I had one of the best weeks of my life,” he says. “I haven’t done a lot of that, playing to people who are a strictly country audience. I don’t expect people to know who I am. I guess my expectations were to go and have a good time, but also to learn how to play in this band. I drove out of there just completely spent, but also with a head full of ideas, and they were all just about songs. I’m not thinking I’m going to crack into the country circuit. I’m just thinking I’m going to play with people who I really love, respect and wanna make great records with.”

“I got a bit of ‘What the fuck are you doing here?’ to which my response was ‘Well, I’m going to try to make off with your wife or your husband’. What do you want me to say? I contributed more to the local economy than I took out, and I had me an exceptionally good time.”

Researchers from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre would like to speak to people who use drugs when they are out. Face to face interviews will be conducted between April and May. The interview takes around one hour and is held at a convenient location for you. Interviews are anonymous and confidential.

You will be reimbursed $40 for your time.

Contact Joe on (02) 9385 0301, email nswedrs@unsw.edu.au or SMS details to 0405 142 787 (you do not have to use your real name).

Where: The Basement / Rooty Hill RSL When: Wednesday April 24 / Friday April 26 Also: Playing at the Gum Ball, Saturday April 27 @ Belford, NSW BRAG :: 508 :: 15:04:13 :: 19

They Might Be Giants Dial A Song By Patrick Emery

partner in They Might Be Giants, John Linnell.

“John was a year older than me, and he was really cool, in that way when you’re 12 that you can think that of a 13-year-old as cooler,” Flansburgh laughs. “John and his best friend Dan were a radical cultural presence in the school – they had long hair, and they did these mimeographed underground comics.”

I

n 1977, a young John Flansburgh travelled across the Atlantic to London to see what was happening in the English punk scene. “That visit had a very direct impact on me – I probably wouldn’t have learnt how to play guitar if I hadn’t gone there,” Flansburgh recalls. “I hadn’t gone to England by accident – there was a bit of a punk scene in Boston, and also New York, and I was very conscious of punk bands at that time.

And in England a lot of bands were having a difficult time doing shows outside of clubs. I got to see Elvis Costello’s first performance, and he seemed really happy to get the applause.

When I saw him six months later in the US, he’d completely changed into the Elvis Costello that everybody knew.”

Flansburgh had already met his eventual musical

Earlier this year They Might Be Giants released its latest record, Nanobots. The album includes a song that pays tribute to Nikola Tesla, the physicist, inventor and pivotal figure in the development of electricity. “He’s a really fascinating figure,” Flansburgh says. “The song started a few years ago when we were doing songs for kids, but the song didn’t really fit with kids, so we left it off that record. He was an inspired inventor, and also a troubled figure who

Over a 30-year career, They Might Be Giants have established a reputation for innovation and iconoclasm, both in the band’s blend of quirky music and insightful lyrics, and its willingness to explore lateral approaches to distributing its music. In the mid-’80s, the band came up with the truly innovative Dial-A-Song scheme, in which fans would ring a number and listen to the band’s new songs on an answering machine.

“We haven’t had a lot of other mechanisms behind the band to get our music out there,” Flansburgh says. “When we did Dial-A-Song, we didn’t have a record deal. So in a lot of respects, it was as pitiful as it was calculated – you could actually see it as desperation.”

And in the early years of the 21st century, They Might Be Giants bucked the industry trend of opposition to online music by establishing their own website, through which fans could download new music. “If the music speaks for itself, then if people have access to it, then hopefully they’ll like it,” Flansburgh says. “All of our applications are just ways of getting music out there.”

Where: The Metro Theatre / Upstairs Beresford When: April 24 / April 25 And: Also playing Groovin’ The Moo Maitland (April 27) and Canberra (April 28)

They Might Be Giants photo by Dominic Neitz

The name Flansburgh and Linnell took for the band they formed in 1982 was taken from a 1971 film starring George C. Scott – which had borrowed the line from a passage in Don Quixote. With the duo’s evolution as a band, and gradual development of its cult following, the name has taken on a certain prophetic resonance – though Flansburgh is careful to avoid making too much of it. “I probably have the worst perspective on the name!” Flansburgh laughs. “We initially thought of it as pessimistic, but others have interpreted it as really positive.

I think the good thing about the name is that it makes people think – I suppose it’s turned out remarkably well.”

always had visions. He could’ve been thrown in the loony bin – he makes Einstein seem normal!”

Flansburgh laughs.

Ben Lee Tuning In By Nathan Jolly

B

Lepers And Crooks A Bit Of A Trip By Benjamin Cooper

S

ydney act Lepers And Crooks have taken a while to arrive. The five-piece band was forged in the fires of boarding school, bonding over a shared love of classic acts like The Doors and Pink Floyd. “When I first met these guys I thought the Foo Fighters were the only band in the world,” co-vocalist Sam Baker says. “It didn’t take too long for them to convince me otherwise.”

“I think we all went through a bit of a rap phase,” says co-vocalist and guitarist Pat Reuter-Town.

“Rock music was the first thing to really grab my attention, but I’d be lying to you if I said we didn’t get down for the rap music. Everyone loved Eminem, for a bit.”

The band’s songs have a touch of the epic, and the more bombastic ones run for more than six minutes. They’re quick to point out, however, that the songs tend to take on a life of their own when they are writing. “It’s a pretty organic process,” Reuter-Town says. “We don’t really think about the time because we just play until a song feels finished.”

“We want people to lose themselves in the tunes,” Reuter-Town says. “We try to build it up, with a start that’s quite calm and then end up with everyone covered in sweat. It’s good to make it a bit of trip, something a bit theatrical in some ways. It’s cool to take people on a journey.”

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“Alex [Court, guitarist] had a lot of fun in the studio,” Reuter-Brown says. “He really went nuts creating a dreamscape kind of sound. The album is really just the beginning for us. It feels great to finally have something that we can show people, after years of people coming up to us at live shows and asking where they can get our music.”

The band is satisfied that the scope of their vision has been realised on the debut. “One thing that really inspired us was listening to a lot of old rock and blues albums,” Baker says. “Those albums are really such big, connecting works.

There’s a deeper experience to what’s going on, so we saved up and achieved what we believe in.

“There’s a diversity to the songs; some of them are more out and singles and others are three song sagas,” he says. “We were able to do that is because we had such a unity of communication when we were in the studio. Maybe the best part about it is the album also shows people that we’re not just a live band. But the connection to people at a live show is still pretty special.”

What: She Rex When: Friday April 19 Where: Spectrum @ Exchange Hotel

“That for me was such a no-brainer, knowing about this album,” Lee explains.

“A lot of people are hearing about The Voice before they’re hearing about the record, so I get that they’re like, ‘Oh, Ben Lee’s doing another mainstream thing’.

I think once they see it in the context of the record I’ve made, they’ll realise my avenues for the promotion of this album are quite limited.”

Lee is also aware that the record’s subject matter could be cause for controversy, and by appearing so blatantly in the public eye – often in front of the impressionable or the easily-offended – he is opening himself up to a barrage of criticism. Apparently, though, he welcomes the dialogue.

“I’m aware that I’m discussing something provocative,” he begins slowly, “and it’s in a taboo area of society, but I also feel it’s part of the stock and trade of being an artist: being okay with playing something out that possibly people may be uncomfortable with. At the same time, I’m also aware it does require sensitive handling, and me being willing to talk about it, and stand behind it. While I don’t mind people having a response, I don’t want to be misunderstood, so I like having the chance to talk about it.”

And of course any mention of drugs means that many will jump to assumptions regarding his intent. “I have dealt with my

family and friends, just lightly questioning me: ‘What’s all this about? Have you lost your mind?’ People have this big, bad word ‘drugs’, which is spread across anything illegal. It’s like a fear word, and so I’m aware and I’m ready to talk about it.”

And while Lee is open to the discussion, he also seems rather tickled by the parallel paths along which he is travelling at the moment – and the odd cross-promotional opportunities they afford.

“Dude, basically Channel 9 are supporting the spread of information about ayahuasca,” he laughs. “This is an amazing moment! I got on the Today show yesterday, Richard Wilkins interviewing me. This is a beautiful thing.

“There’s a bit of cynicism in that,” he admits, “but there’s another level where at the end of the day, on The Voice, I’m not a singing coach. I’m not Delta Goodrem, but I can tell them about being authentic, and about fi nding the truth of the song, about not pandering, and being themselves. So I think that even within that, there is some good work to be done, and I’m open to doing it.”

What: Ayahuasca: Welcome To The Work is out April 23.

Ben Lee photo by Ken Leanfore

“A lot of it comes from our experiences going out to clubs,” Baker continues. “Those environments create this sense of community; you’re entranced in the room, and that’s something we try to bring out in our live show.

We’ve always said we want to make rock music people can dance to. We’re happy if that means we’re making songs that develop and grow, rather than just being short and sweet.”

The next step on the journey is their debut record This Must Be Make Believe, which dropped in March. The album has been a while coming because of the band’s commitment to generating a quality product. “We wanted to make something that would stand the test of time. The records that we really love are exactly like that: there’s something permanent about them. We want to go hi-fi because there’s a lot of overdubbing and wicked drumming on there,” Baker says. “We’re really happy with the engineering and clarity of the sound.”

en Lee is in a singular position at the moment. As a mentor on the second season of The Voice, he is about to be routinely watched by over two million viewers a night, an audience wider than any in his 20-year career. Such a show can do wonders for an artist’s career; the fortunes of Seal, Joel Madden and Keith Urban skyrocketed after being involved in the first season. This, however, won’t be the case for Lee, who is readying the release of Ayahuasca: Welcome To The Work – his ninth solo album and by far his least commercially-minded to date, focusing exclusively on his experiences with ayahuasca, the South American psychoactive brew. Far from being a bunch of pop tunes cheekily peppered with drug references, Welcome To The Work is a gentle, textured album: many tracks are instrumentals, others hang upon mantras, and frequent interjections from co-conspirator Jessica Chapnik Kahn add a dreamlike quality. It’s safe to say this record won’t be troubling the charts any time soon – pwhich is recisely why Lee opted to take on such a counter-intuitive television project.

Frightened Rabbit Tiny Dancers By Hugh Robertson

That being said, Hutchison does feel as though this US tour is building on the success of their previous ones, rather than merely trying to maintain a base level of support. “A lot of the venues we’re playing this time we have played before,” he says. “But when we played them before they didn’t sell out, and now they are …

You can see the reaction the [new] songs are getting … and yeah, now they are going down really well over here because people have had six weeks with the record.”

That album, Pedestrian Verse, is their fourth, and marks a significant moment in the evolution of the band. It’s their first with a major label, after signing with Atlantic in 2010; it’s the first time the band have written and honed new songs while on tour, rather than writing songs immediately prior to recording them; and it’s the first time that Scott Hutchison has opened up the songwriting process to the rest of the band, rather than doing it all himself.

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“I think he was starting to notice patterns, or habits, that he was relying on, or falling back on in his songwriting, and he’d become so familiar with the way that he wrote his songs,” says Grant. “He basically felt like he had figured out how it worked, and that wasn’t something that we wanted to do, or something that he wanted to do on this record. He felt you should always be trying to better yourself from record to record, and he felt the way to do that this time was to open it up, and to allow new voices to have an impact on the way the record sounded.

Of course, this doesn’t make for the swiftest writing and recording process, and Grant admits that the more democratic system didn’t do anything to hasten the arrival of Pedestrian Verse.

“We all had to find our feet a little bit, to figure out what our actual role was within the songwriting process, because we hadn’t done that before. So yeah, it took a while. But once we got started

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“You can see the reaction the [new] songs are getting … now they are going down really well over here because people have had six weeks with the record.”

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You can’t even get a sense of whether the festival has been a good one for your band anymore, says Hutchison. “I think maybe that’s something that used to happen, years ago when there were less bands, less people, less brands hustling for space and attention,” he says. “That might have been the case that you can see a band growing, or becoming more noticed over the course of the week. But now there’s just so much going on that you can’t quite take stock of what’s going on. And even then it can be quite difficult to gauge it, just because there’s so much that comes out of it.

And you’re dealing with a lot of people.”

What: Groovin’ The Moo with The Kooks, Tegan & Sara, Tame Impala, They Might Be Giants, Regurgitator, Flume and heaps more Where: Maitland Showground When: Saturday April 27 (sold out) And: Pedestrian Verse out now through Warner

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“The Guardian just mentioned us in passing in an article,” says Hutchison. “They just mentioned that we were playing, and that was enough for me to go, ‘Oh yeah, that’s quite good’. They didn’t say whether it was good or bad. That’s about as much as you can really hope for during the week.

Unless you’re Prince, or Justin Timberlake.”

“It’s nice to know that even after disappearing for three years, people there are still interested,” says Grant. “It’s not always the case – these days bands are forgotten as quickly as people start listening to them. So we really appreciate our Australian fans making the effort.”

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It’s been a hard slog. The band played at SXSW right at the start of their American leg, jammed in with nearly every other band in the universe scrapping for every press mention they could get. And despite playing a show with the Flaming Lips, Alt-J and the Joy Formidable that was damn-near the hottest ticket in town that night, Frightened Rabbit still couldn’t get much of a look-in with the media.

By the time Frightened Rabbit reach Australia, the new album will have been out for nearly three months, giving local fans plenty of time to become familiar with the new material. But there’s obviously a lot of love for the band based on past trips Down Under, as they’ve already sold out shows in Sydney and Melbourne.

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Frightened Rabbit were three weeks into a sixweek US tour when I spoke to drummer Grant Hutchison – just about at the moment where the relentless mundanity of touring has really started to crush your spirit, and a few days before the inevitable upswing as you head towards the endpoint. Instead of a van, they’re in a bus; it’s 12 guys, not just a handful; and they just had to cancel their first-ever show in Louisville, Kentucky because Grant’s brother, frontman Scott, has lost his voice from exhaustion.

and we hit our stride it didn’t take long for the songs to come out. It was a weird experience for everyone, but I think the record benefited from it immensely.”

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here’s a certain freewheelin’ romanticism to the idea of being in a band on tour, spending weeks driving from gig to gig in a shitty old van, singing along to ‘Tiny Dancer’ and hurling good-natured abuse back and forth. But eventually you realise that you’re essentially confining a handful of people to the same room – all day, every day for weeks, sometimes months, at a time – at which point the idea begins to lose its appeal.

CUT-PRICE PREVIEW APRIL 23 & UNDER 30 $69*

YORK THEATRE SEYMOUR CENTRE 2 WEEKS ONLY FROM APRIL 23 SEYMOURCENTRE.COM 9351 7940 TICKETMASTER.COM.AU 136 100 ACLOCKWORKORANGE.COM.AU *Transaction fees may apply BRAG :: 507 :: 08:04:13 :: 21

Put It On Wax By Caitlin Welsh

BRAG Repressed Records 413 King St Newtown / Daily from 10am-7pm / repressedrecords.com The team: Chris owns it and has grey hairs to prove it, RIP Society Nic and Peter the Scientists man the till.

What’s playing? Magic Circle, Dick Diver, Dead Moon, UV Race.

What’s happening on April 20? Kim Salmon in-store at 4pm, plus we are giving away a double pass to the Hoodoo Gurus Dig It Up Festival.

What were the last three records you bought? Dick Diver – Calendar Days; The Urinals’ 100 Flowers; Iceage – You’re Nothing.

What was the FIRST record you bought? 1980, the Summer – AC/DC’s You Shook Me All Night Long and Modern Girl by James Freud.

What’s selling like hotcakes at the moment? Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys, Dick Diver, The Drones.

3.30pm .......................

FRIDAY APRIL 19

SATURDAY APRIL 20

Red Eye are hosting a RSD party at Goodgod featuring Good Heavens, Unity Floors and more! $12.

Slacker-popper Bored Nothing heads to Red Eye on York Street for a bit of a strum.

7.30pm ........................

3pm ............................

Tiny Ruins

The gorgeous sounds of Tiny Ruins will come to TITLE on Crown Street – see our store profile on left for more!

4pm ............................

Kim Salmon (Scientists, Beasts Of Bourbon, Surrealists) plays an instore at Repressed, 413 King St, Newtown. Repressed are also giving away a Dig It Up! pass and will have a big pile of special RSD releases.

8pm ............................

The Record Crate in Glebe (which sells records AND beer!) is screening Last Shop Standing, a lovely, sad little doco on the decline of the indie record store. Tix from Moshtix.

TITLE 501 MusicFilmBooks 501 Crown St Surry Hills / Daily from 10am-6pm / titlespace.com The team: Scott (manager) and Jonathan.

What’s playing? Bombino – Nomad What’s happening on April 20? There’s a Tiny Ruins in-store performance, a CD sale, vinyl special re-issues and sale, TITLE DJs spinning their fave vinyl, a book sale, balloons, lollies – fun fun fun!

What were the last three records you bought? James Blake – Overgrown; Sound City – Reel To Reel (on vinyl); Norman Jay MBE Presents – Good Times 30th Anniversary.

What was the first record you bought? John Farnham – Whispering Jack.

What’s selling like hotcakes at the moment? Tomasz Stanko – Wislawa, Bombino – Nomad, Searching For Sugarman – OST.

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Johnny Marr in Last Shop Standing

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arts frontline

free stuff email: freestuff@thebrag.com

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

five minutes WITH

FERRY GOUW

Your work’s currently on show at Blacklisted. What’s the story behind your work?

The series of illustrations on display tell the backstory of the new Major Lazer universe.

The series looks many years into the future, after Major Lazer has successfully brought peace on Earth. However, civilisation is once again threatened by former superior and commander General Rubbish and his new weapon, Terror Lazor.

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nyone who knows Major Lazer’s album covers knows they’re pretty epic. Ever thought about the artist behind them?

Well we did and we want you to meet Ferry Gouw – he’s the illustrator, designer and video artist responsible for the character narratives and artwork for Diplo and his crew. Gouw’s work is currently on show at small bar Black Penny’s gallery space Blacklisted so we took five with him to get the low down on what the show has to offer.

POWERHOUSE ANNOUNCES LATE NIGHT LOUNGE

Powerhouse Museum has announced their inaugural Late Night Lounge: Eat the Collection to take place on Thursday May 30.

The after hours program, designed to explore digital fabrication technologies, will see ten industry professionals design new objects. The catch? The designs will be printed in 3D. In chocolate. Participating creatives include design studio Frost Design, artist Damien Butler, industrial designer Adam Goodrum, architect Chris Bosse, interior designer Vicki Berglinden and Kink Studio among others. Book online at powerhousemuseum.com

MCA ON THE ROCKS

Interested in opening a dialogue about our love hate relationship with the suburbs? If your answer was yes, MCA on The Rocks – Ideas Shaken and Stirred is for you. The talk show-inspired series aims to create an informal environment for the creative community to discuss art and ideas in new ways. On Thursday April 18, host Fenella Kernebone will be joined by artist Ben Quilty, writer Tara Moss and architect Anthony Burke as they draw on the stories and poetry of their everyday

You’ve worked on creating character narratives and album covers for Major Lazer before. What’s it like to work with those guys?

I have to say it’s the best job I’ve ever had.

They are the most fun, crazy, bunch of people I know. Also, the project is always challenging and ever expanding. I always try and come up with new ways of representing the Major Lazer world. I hope when people see the new bunch of artwork, videos, merchandise and visuals they can see that we are continuously growing and becoming more refined.

How does music influence the art you create?

I started a new band called Celestial Bodies a while ago as an outlet to do music and videos and artwork without having to wait for a commission to do them. These mediums are an outlet for experimentation, but I’ve been a fan of the culture of music since forever – I love the artwork, videos, photos

and posters. I remember getting excited reading the NME or when opening up the CD. So maybe the influence comes more from that fandom than as a practising musician.

You’re an illustrator, designer and video artist. How do you keep all these wheels spinning at once and what inspires you artistically?

I do have to juggle a bunch of projects simultaneously more often than not. I just have lots of coffee and just keep at it. In my free time I read comics, go to galleries, stay interested in what’s going on around me, so when I do new work I have ideas on tap. This way I stay excited and inspired to do work, you know?

Steve Coogan in The Look Of Love

FLEXIPASS! FILMS! WIN! Sydney Film Festival is back from June 5-16 with another mammoth selection of the finest undiscovered cinematic gems from around the world – if you haven’t checked out their teaser of the first 27 films to be announced, we recommend hitting up sff.org.au ASAP. They’ve just launched sales of their Flexipasses, which get you discounted tickets for all general film sessions – if you and your friends/family are planning on seeing a lot of films they make good economic sense; buy a $140 Flexipass 10 and get up to four tickets for each film session for an affordable $14 a ticket. Alternatively, you could score the Flexipass that SFF have kindly given us – for a chance to win, you’ll have to do some research and tell us which film adaptation of a Salman Rushdie novel is premiering at this year’s festival.

What’s the next artistic project we’ll see from you?

Major Lazer is working on a cartoon so hopefully I’ll be knee deep in that pretty soon. I’m working with James Blake on his and Dan Foat’s label 1-800-Dinosaur and I’m handling the designs and visuals for a couple of up-and-coming acts, and I just did some t-shirt designs for Stussy. It’s going to be an exciting year I think.

What: Ferry Gouw When: Until April 29 Where: Blacklisted @ Black Penny, 648 Bourke Street, Surry Hills More: blackpenny.com.au/art

lives to discuss how this shapes a regional sense of place. See mca.com.au for more details.

X88

Chippendale newbie X88 Gallery is in its first week of operation at 88 Abercrombie Street.

The space is run by photographic technician Nadish Naoroji and is dedicated to showcasing contemporary photography. The gallery, a collaboration between FujiFilm Australia and Pixel Perfect Pro Lab is currently showcasing BEAMS Festival highlights for its inaugural exhibition until April 26.

THE AMAZE FACTOR

The State Library has unveiled its new AMAZE gallery space. And no, we’re not speaking in hipster tongue with that abbrev. The new space has premiered with a collection of 60 quirky objects from the Library’s Sir William Dixson collection and will continue to encourage audience engagement with a changing display of letters, diaries, artworks, maps, relics and the like. Current highlights include an original Ned Kelly ‘Wanted’ poster, James Cook’s hand-drawn charts of New Zealand and First Fleet Journals. sl.nsw.gov.au

Ekaterina Vilkova, Yana Buiko and Olga Smirnova in Hipsters

Lisa Tomasetti, Cygnets, digital pigment print

AUSTRALIAN BALLET HITS THE STREETS

Photographer Lisa Tomasetti’s latest exhibition Australian Ballet on the International Stage has opened at Salerno Gallery in Glebe (70 Glebe Point Road). Tomasetti’s photographs capture the theatricality and poise of her subjects’ movements as they take to the streets of Tokyo, Paris and New York in all their pirouetting and leaping glory. Gritty urban cityscapes become the backdrop for balletic performance, in turn foregrounding the intense athleticism carried by each dancer. Salerno Gallery promotes progressive work by emerging and mid-career artists. More details at salernogallery.com

TUCKER RETURNS

The Russian Resurrection Film Festival has announced it will return for its tenth year in July. The festival aims to attract lovers of Russian culture, community and film by traversing Australia with a high profile group of Russian directors and actors to promote cultural exchange. Special guests at the festival’s tenth anniversary will include well-known Russian director Valery Todorovsky (Hipsters, Country Of The Deaf, The Lover) among others. And of course any good film festival needs a decent opening party and we all know the Ruskis don’t disappoint. Watch this space. Check russianresurrection.com for forthcoming details.

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ISEA2013 ANNOUNCES SECOND PROGRAM th

The 19 International Symposium on Electronic Art (June 7-16) has announced its exhibition program. The work of over 150 local and international artists will be showcased at MCA, CoFA, UNSW, Carriageworks, Performance Space, Artspace, Customs

House and the Seymour Centre. Our picks include Alex Davies’ interactive cinema installation Very Near Future at Carriageworks and Media Facade at Customs House that will showcase six seminal media facades through large light posters and moving images. Full program details available at isea2013.org

AGATHA GOTHE-SNAPE

Conceptual sculptress Agatha Gothe-Snape works across many mediums. Her practice has been likened to improvisational performance wherein she creates sculptures, pedestrian performances, PowerPoint slideshows, workshops, diagrams and visual scores to explore relationships between people, art and art contexts. Gothe-Snape’s latest works, a major outdoor sculpture and latest addition in her Powerpoint series, will be showcased in new exhibition Late Sculpture opening at The Commercial on Thursday April 18. The Commercial fosters contemporary experimental art and writing. thecommercialgallery.com

Russian Resurrection photo by Милена Ботова

A RUSSIAN RESURRECTION

Rush Hour god, funny man Chris Tucker, has confirmed a second and final Sydney show for his first ever tour Down Under. Tucker has recently returned to the moveis in Oscar-winning Silver Linings Playbook in his first big screen role in six years. He's hardly been resting on his laurels, however. Fans should get ready to catch the Def Comedy Jam legend on his justannounced, second show on Wednesday June 19 at The Star Event Centre. Best be quick folks, because tix won't last long. Tickets on sale April 23 from ticketek.com.au

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he Sydney Comedy Festival is upon us again, and we see you trembling with scheduling anxiety, your pen hovering above your diary as you try to choose between four different world-class comedians, a sketch comedy night and two of your mates who are the actual funniest people on earth. We hope our SCF special – chock-a-block with interviews with favourites old and new, plus our mini-guide to some things that are more off the beaten (laugh) track. Whether you’re a fan of Margaret Cho’s transgressive, fuck-your-face-with-funny style or the friendly patter of lunatic-next-door Ross Noble, there’s something for everyone here. For the full lineup, see sydneycomedyfest.com.au Words by Chris Martin, Alasdair Duncan, Joanne Brookfield and Peter Neathway

MARGARET CHO (USA) WHAT: Mother I WHERE: Enmore Theatre I

WHEN: Friday April 26

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people are really good at creating families wherever we can, wherever we find the possibility,” she says. “That’s something that’s happened in the past, and that continues. A big part of my show is about that. I was lucky in that my own mother was very progressive, and taught me all about gay people. In the queer community, parenting doesn’t always come from the traditional family structure – I think that, in the queer community, the older generation have a responsibility to act as parents to younger ones, even if that doesn’t mean traditional parenting.”

omedian Margaret Cho was born and raised in San Francisco, and from childhood, was exposed to the queer culture of the city. As a grown woman, she still grapples with questions of identity – as an individual, as a member of a community – and her new show draws directly on these thoughts. Entitled Mother, it sees Cho grappling with the idea of parenthood as it relates to queer culture. “Essentially, the show is about the fact that I’m old enough to be somebody’s mother, but I act just like a terrible child,” Cho tells me with a laugh. “I’m getting more and more out of control the older I get. I’m regressing into childhood.”

Queer people have become more visible on TV in recent years, especially in shows like Modern Family, which presents a set of same-sex parents as a relatively mundane occurrence. Cho loves the show, and feels like its exploration of different kinds of families is a step in the right direction, even if we haven’t gone quite far enough just yet. “I think from here, it would be great to see more bisexuality on TV, or to see more transgender people,” she says. “A big part of my show is me attempting

Behind the self-deprecating jokes, Cho is asking some tough questions of herself. The show, she tells me, represents an attempt to define an identity in a culture that, for the most part, keeps queer people out of sight. “When you grow up as a queer person, and you’re not getting married or having kids or doing the things that straight people do, how do you know what age you are?” she says. “How do you identify the milestones?

There are no societal cues, there are no defined life goals as such, and there’s a weird feeling of invisibility that comes with that.”

“Essentially, the show is about the fact that I’m old enough to be somebody’s mother, but I act just like a terrible child.” to rectify those things. I always try to speak to that queer identity, to that idea that we can all feel kind of isolated or invisible wherever we are.”

Cho has worked extensively in TV, but one of her most memorable roles saw her crossing gender lines to play Kim Jong Il on 30 Rock.

“People don’t know what he sounds like, so I had to come up with my own version of that from scratch,” she says. Getting the look right, however, was a breeze: “Oh my god, it took no time at all,” she laughs. “I could come in and I’d be ready to go within five minutes.

It’s funny, it takes way more effort for me to look like Margaret Cho in the morning than it does for me to look like Kim Jong Il!” AD

In many cases, Cho says, the families we create for ourselves are just as important as the ones we’re born into.

“I think that queer

ARJ BARKER (USA) WHAT: Go Time I WHERE: Enmore Theatre I WHEN: May 3-5

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enerally speaking, comedians come from the ranks of nerds and losers, developing their sense of humour as a protective shell against the horrors of high school. Arj Barker, however, was a snowboarder growing up – making him that rarest of things: a jock turned comedian.

“I mean, yeah, I was athletic growing up – but I was also a bit of nerd,” he demurs.

“I wasn’t one of the super popular kids or anything so I can definitely relate.”

While he may identify with the nerds in the comedy ranks, there is one significant thing that sets Arj Barker apart. Many in the stand-up set use their comedy as a form of therapy, laying their pain bare, along with their many faults and failings. Barker, however, has never been particularly prone to this – his comedy comes from a far more laid-back, observational place.

“I like to try to have a positive message in my comedy, rather than just be depressive or negative,” he says. “I guess that maybe I just write jokes, I don’t go for selfexamination, and I’m not too worried about

going deep. It’s about the jokes first and foremost.”

Barker’s humour may be laid-back, but his performance is quite energetic and expansive. He throws himself full-body into the jokes, and performing for an hour takes a lot of energy and focus. “I’m careful to hold on to my voice through the day, and to not go out too late or too often,” he says. “As weird as this might sound coming from a comedian, I take the shows pretty seriously.

I really want to do a good show. I don’t want to just show up – I want to make sure I’m top notch. It does take a bit.”

These days, Barker has taken to working with a vocal coach to make sure his voice remains in the best possible condition. “It’s a bit unusual,” he says, “but I like learning new things, so I’ve really been enjoying it.”

Sydney Comedy Festival sees Barker performing his new show, Go Time. The theme of the evening is pretty loose – there’s no concept, he says, no hook to bring everything together. It will just be a guy on stage telling jokes for an hour.

“I don’t go for selfexamination, and I’m not too worried about going deep.

It’s about the jokes first and foremost.”

“All I can really say about the show is that it flows really well,” he says. “It’s got some big laughs and some good messages, and I’m really happy with it. I guess you could say it touches on various subjects, and there are some running gags. The biggest thing, for me, is that there’s a musical element this time – there’s not a whole lot of music, but I’m not much of a singer or dancer, so that part is particularly challenging and fun.”

In fact, if Barker ever gets out of the standup game, then ‘Badass MC’ is the next thing on his list of possible career choices. “I’ve made a couple of rap songs already, so I think I’d like to try making more,” he says.

“I like Eminem, his raps are humorous but also very deep. I’m going to work with some good musicians one of these days and make some tracks like that.” AD

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STEPHEN K AMOS (UK) WHAT: The Spokesman WHERE: Enmore Theatre WHEN: May 9-11

WHAT: Romance And Adventure WHERE: Yalumba Wine Bar @ Enmore Theatre WHEN: Friday 3 and Saturday 4 May

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Stephen K. Amos photo by James Penlidis

MEL BUTTLE

tephen K Amos might well be the classiest gentleman in comedy, but that doesn’t mean he’ll shy away from a naughty punch line when it’s there. In fact, the best thing about a night with Amos is witnessing the obvious fun he derives from teasing out the cheekiest angles of an anecdote. The grin on his face says it all: Amos is aware he’s flirting with danger, but better still, he knows he’ll get away with it.

Amos is somehow innately in tune with the mood of his audience. He’ll pick on someone in the crowd if they’re asking for it, but only in the way that a border collie nibbles lovingly at its playmate. Other comics set up to deliver haymakers – jokes that come around suddenly and knock an audience to the floor with laughter and gasping in equal measures. Amos starts by eliciting a smile, then a chuckle, then the payoff; somehow it feels more organic, just a nice fella whom you can’t help but like, telling a few stories you can’t help but enjoy. Sure, he’s got a background from which to draw some easy material – his race, his homosexuality, his Britishness – but making comedy flow is the hard part, and at that Amos is unbeatable. CM

JOSIE LONG WHAT: Romance And Adventure WHERE: Yalumba Wine Bar @ Enmore Theatre WHEN: April 25 - 27

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osie Long has just turned 30, which means like many people her age she’s been let down by expectations of a sudden dawn of post-twenties enlightenment. Now, life is as complex as ever: the concerns over social justice that developed in Long’s young adulthood have been soured by experience and the frustration that nothing changes, yet deep down the entertainer-cum-activist knows she must keep going with the cause.

It doesn’t sound like the ideal material for a tight festival set, yet this is exactly what Long has come up with. By synthesising the contradictions of youth and maturity into a

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t’s a relief to see Mel Buttle out under a spotlight of her own. Over the last year or two, she’s popped up as a some-time sidekick to Tom and Alex on the triple j breakfast program and as a podcast co-host to the overenthusiastic Patience Hodgson of The Grates. And yet Buttle is regularly the standout talent in all of her collaborations.

Her awkward and self-pitying style of humour hits a familiar note, sure, but it’s how well she does it that makes her special.

Buttle builds her act around the ideal downtrodden comedy character; the cute and naïve loner whose struggles to keep her life under control engender a simultaneous empathy and disbelief in her audience. We all know someone like this – an only-child redhead whose best friend is a cat – but Buttle is the one prepared to put it all on show. All that’s to be done in return is chuckle along with her and hope that her reality isn’t all this bad. In the meantime, her comedy star is rising fast. Down in Melbourne, How Embarrassment has won outstanding reviews, and all going well, she’ll soon be one of our most popular international exports. CM

one-hour performance, Josie somehow makes a little more sense of it. As a teller of jokes, she’s irresistible: that Kent accent instils an automatic air of ridicule over whatever political dinosaur rises in her crosshairs, but doubles as a point of self-mockery when she’s spinning an anecdote about her own successes and failures. Occasionally, Long’s rhythm is derailed by her pure outrage at a given political figure or corporate behemoth, and this comedy show becomes a chargedup rally cry – but overall, her combination of thoughtfulness and enthusiasm means she stands out above the majority of her young(ish) peers. CM

JIM JEFFERIES WHERE: Enmore Theatre WHEN: May 10-13

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n audience with Jim Jefferies is not for the faint of heart. In fact, tickets to his show should probably come with pre-prepared letters of complaint – just sign there and initial here – such is Jefferies’ fondness for expletive-laden rants about sex, drugs and societal taboos. But if you can stand all that, the expat Aussie comic pays dividends: he’s something like a real-life version of Heath Franklin’s ‘Chopper’ character, downright beloved by the Brits and catapulted to fame in 2007 when an outraged Manchester customer invaded the stage to punch him in the face.

Unpredictable as a Jefferies set may be, he’s sure to hit a few favourite notes: expect a colourful story about binging on cocaine and prostitutes in a penthouse hotel, for one – and then there’ll be the inevitable exchange with a (hopefully non-violent) heckler as well. A warning: don’t be the guy that Jefferies goes after, because you’ll lose. And for all the swearing, aggression and sick-to-your-stomach material through which Jefferies charges like some ravenous ape, he’s actually a genius storyteller. You just have to accept the likelihood that you’ll be shockingly offended at least once in the hour, because short odds say you’ll laugh yourself to tears as well. CM

DANIEL SLOSS (SCOT)

ROSS NOBLE (UK)

WHAT: The Show WHERE: The Factory Theatre Container WHEN: Thursday April 25

WHAT: Mindblender WHERE: Sydney Entertainment Centre WHEN: Saturday April 20

22

ntil the infuriating arrival of Geordie Shore on our television screens, Ross Noble was everyone’s sole point of reference for buffoons from Newcastle in England’s north east. And how we liked it that way: Noble, like perhaps no other stand-up on the international circuit, is completely in on his own joke. If you haven’t seen the man live before, you should know that his show usually starts with one rambling story, then descends into another and another, inspired by whatever flies his way. If you have seen his show before, you’re probably still waiting for the conclusions to half of those stories. For Noble is the great wandering nomad of the stage, frolicking around – physically and figuratively – on absurdist tangents from which there is often no return.

-year-old Scotsman Daniel Sloss might have the blonde locks, blue eyes and bony, androgynous features of a Scandinavian pop star – but he is, in fact, one hilarious young man. Sloss has only just moved out of his parents’ home, but already for his sins he’s been slapped with the dreaded ‘Next Big Thing’ label. And he’s responded in the best way possible: by getting out there, everywhere, and proving he’s worth it. For five years running, Sloss has been to the Edinburgh Fringe, taking away with him all manner of breathless reviews, and this year marks his third visit to the Sydney Comedy Festival since 2010.

It’s via this insatiable appetite for hard work and performance that Sloss has fashioned himself into a master of comedy execution – he delivers his gags with an expertise that other artists take many more years to realise.

Jerry Seinfeld has spoken at length about how changing a single word in a joke can affect its delivery entirely, and Sloss’ act is the proof. His one-and two-liners are smart, swift and utterly funny. If you’re going to take a chance on something this Festival, make it this. CM

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Sure, it can be frustrating; but only if you’re looking for a point. Noble thinks in the way the rest of us dream – the joy is in watching him make those connections that no-one else can perceive until they’ve happened. And by golly, he’s sharp. Once Noble has had his way, you’ll walk out exhausted – if not from hysterical laughter, certainly from the effort of just trying to keep up. CM

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CAMERON JAMES WHAT: Nite Zoo WHERE: Factory Floor @The Factory Theatre WHEN: May 4 & 11 at 10.15pm

C

amperdown’s new comedian on the block embarks on his maiden voyage this month, with his Sydney Comedy Festival debut Nite Zoo, which promises both ‘variety’ and ‘friendship’. It’s been a busy 12 months for Cameron James, scoring the 2012 Melbourne Comedy Festival RAW Comedy runner-up gong, playing at Harvest Festival and Late Night Library, and now presenting his own brand of unplanned madness…

JON BENNETT WHAT: Pretending Things Are A Cock WHERE: Factory Floor @The Factory Theatre WHEN: April 24-26

M

elbourne performer Jon Bennett believes in the power of the phallus like no other. As the star of his show, Pretending Things Are A Cock, it’s taken him around the world from the Amazon to the Edinburgh Fringe – all the while pursuing the simple concept of, well, snapping photos of imaginary penises. “Anything can be a pretend cock,” Bennett says, “as long as you believe.”

Bennett’s success shouldn’t be a surprise – humanity’s obsession with stylised cock is as obvious in the columns of Ancient Rome as it is in any high school graffiti – but the man himself is at a loss to explain. “Every time I get picked up by another festival I have to go into my brain [and think], I’m doing this show called Pretending Things Are A Cock … I can’t believe that something so silly is what I’m known for.”

The gag – find a phallus-shaped object, building or animal; stand astride it, pull a proud face of empowerment and let it protrude from your groin – started out in humble surrounds. “I grew up in a small community in South Australia with lots of rough, bogan-type men, and I was kind of making fun of them.” A popular internet page became a book, then a live show at Urban Cow Studio in Adelaide. “I dressed in a tux and I would take people for tours

of the gallery,” says Bennett. “I was trying to point out the artistic merit of some of the cocks.”

Of course, you (probably) can’t write an internationally celebrated comedy show on the basis of one juvenile idea. Bennett considers himself a storyteller, not a comedian; he talks about using the penis as a vehicle for a coming-of-age – and not as literally as you might expect. “I meet all these people from around the world through the cocks,” he deadpans. “[It’s] become this really nice thing that helps me meet and talk to people. [In the show] I talk about my travels throughout the States and South America and Africa – it’s a bit of a family backstory followed by the developmental process of me travelling around the world doing something as stupid as this.”

Bennett – whose father is a Christian minister – is pleased to report that his audiences are rarely embarrassed by the subject matter.

“People get very enthused – lots of audiences after the show want to go out and pretend things are a cock, or get me to do it with them … See, this is the whole thing. People don’t know what to expect from this show; some people think it’s going to be this really bawdy, base humour, and then people get shocked when they realise actually it’s quite nice.

There’s nothing disgusting about it.” CM

What’s the show about? Nite Zoo isn’t really “about” anything, but it definitely has a specific vibe. Very open, and loose, and absurd. When it’s firing, and the audience and performers are all open, the feeling in the room can be like a ’60s “happening”. No-one’s really sure what’s going on, but everyone’s laughing, and next thing you know, your pants are missing and you’re living in a commune in the hills. How did I get here?

What was the inspiration? I think on some level, it’s part of my lifelong desire to be Dylan Lewis from ABC’s Recovery. I watched that show religiously as a kid, and Dylan was my first introduction to “alternative”. Similarly, I’ve always loved the sort of variety shows that were popular in the ’50s and ’60s, hosted by Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra – everyone’s smoking cigarettes and screwing their lines up, making each other laugh. I wanted to capture that energy.

So we get the vibe that anything might happen, but really? Yeah, I mean, I don’t want to give too much away, but I will say that it’s late night for a reason. My pitch to you is: imagine if Tom Waits hosted a late night show, directed by David Lynch, and the show wasn’t on any particular channel, but recorded straight to VHS tape and left at train terminals around the city.

That’s Nite Zoo. There will be surprises.

in bands forever. Mostly punk or alternative pop groups. For a long time, I wanted to be a musician professionally, but now it’s just something I love, and do for fun. After the band split, I dared myself to try open mic, and a week later did my first gig. My true loves are Bowie, Patti Smith, Tom Waits, The Shins, Radiohead, Fiona Apple and Pavement.

Who are you crushing on, comedicallyspeaking, at the moment? There’s plenty of local guys I’ll always laugh at. Jared Jekyll is doing his debut solo show at MICF this year, and is someone I work with a lot. We occasionally crash each other’s sets, and do weird stunts in comedy rooms. He’s my bandleader for Nite Zoo, so we’ll be having fun onstage during the show.

What are the last three great shows you saw?

1) Iggy and The Stooges at the Hordern. I was right on the barrier, battered, bruised and sweaty. Amazing.

2) Mike Birbiglia’s My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend at the Opera House.

One of the best storyteller comics around.

3) Radiohead at Sydney Entertainment Centre. Because, c’mon, it’s fucking Radiohead. PN

You used to be in a band – PLEASE EXPLAIN: I played

‘Simply the best comedian I have ever seen and the most difficult to describe.’ THE AGE

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‘Incomprehensibly funny.’ CHORTLE

‘Absurd, hilarious and endearing’

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RONNY CHIENG

WHAT: Can You Do This? No You Can’t WHERE: Factory Floor @The Factory Theatre WHEN: Tuesday April 30 – Saturday May 4 onny Chieng’s new show is called Can You Do This? No You Can’t. It seems like a direct challenge to the audience, but the young stand-up assures me it works on two levels. “In one sense, the name is me making a direct challenge to the audience – it’s about the things that they can do that I can do better. In a broader sense, though, the title really refers to me, because I ask myself that question every day.”

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Chieng is a worrier at heart, and is constantly asking himself whether he has what it takes to succeed, both in terms of the ability required, and the sacrifices that need to be made. “If there was a theme to the show, then that would be it,” he says, “although I’m quite hesitant to say that there’s a theme. I’m not really a fan of narrativedriven shows – I prefer pure stand-up comedy, so that’s really what I’ll be doing.”

Many comedians start young, making fun of their families and teachers, and in that sense, Chieng

was a late bloomer. His interest in comedy only took hold when he arrived at university. “I did do a bit of comedy performing, but everyone I went to university with was funny,” he tells me. “They all had a sense of humour, they all made jokes.

I wouldn’t say I was the funniest. I only started doing stand-up comedy officially about four years ago.”

These days, Chieng is something of a comedy nerd. He obsesses over his favourite comedians, tracking down all their recordings and albums and studying them tirelessly. Todd Barry is a particular favourite, and Chieng likens his style to jazz. “The way he talks is just so easy to listen to,” he says. “There’ll be high points in the set, but he never lets it dip – hour after hour, he just keeps it on the level. It’s amazing.”

Every comic worries about where their next great bit is coming from, and the ever-anxious Chieng is no exception. “As a comedian, you’ll look at any situation and wonder if and how you can

MARY

TOBIN

turn it into something funny,” he says with a laugh.

“When I started out, I was pretty anxious about the need to find humour in everything – lately, I’ve learned to deal with it a bit better, to relax a bit more. I figure that things will come in their own time, so I can stress out or not, and it will still take the same amount of time to write the jokes.”

Chieng has already enjoyed great success at home and abroad, though as for the next stage of his career, he’s just trying not to worry. “For me, when I just concentrate on making my next show a good one, future opportunities tend to open up. If you’re doing good work in the present, people offer you good work in the future. That’s how I like to do it. I struggle with that outlook – it doesn’t come easy, because I’m very much a worrier and a plan-for-the-future type guy – but still, I plan to keep making people laugh until somebody says stop.” AD And: Best Newcomers Show at The Concourse (Chatswood) on Friday May 3, 9pm

PRESENTS

It’s not exactly comedy as you know it – these things serve up the LOLs in curious ways and places…

Comedy Edition

is

THE SPOKESMAN “ slick and accomplished…His material is impeccably crafted, his comic timing skilful…intelligent wit and down-anddirty, idiotic naughtiness”

★★★★

HERALD SUN (APRIL 2013)

Tuesday April 16 / Australian Museum For the final instalment of their Summer Season, the Lounge will be crashed by the Lounge’s pals from the Sydney Comedy Festival, including Canadian comic Ian Bagg, Mickey D and Sticky Feet, plus pin-up burlesque, live tunes from Richie1250 & The Brides of Christ and a DJ set by Jenny Broke The Window.

Tickets $14.

@ FBi Social Wednesday April 17 / Kings Cross Hotel Merrick Watts leads FBi’s semi-regular LOL night, The Laugh Stand, with a long lineup including Dave Eastgate, Michele Betts, Steve Hoskins, Zoe Pelbart, Jono Lee, Arnie Pie and Ray Cashman. Tickets $20 or $15 for FBi supporters.

13 Daze Un-Dug In Sydney 1962

April 10-May 4 / Bondi Pavilion Theatre Checklist: watch Bob Fosse’s 1974 biopic Lenny, starring Dustin Hoffman as the acerbic ’60s comedian Lenny Bruce; realise how fascinating he is; get along to this theatrical reimagining of Bruce’s infamously disastrous 1962 trip Down Under – expect sex, booze, profanity and inappropriate adventures. $21 (previews and cheap Tuesday), $35/$25 concession

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Tuesday May 7 Simon O’Toole and UNSW Professor of Evolution Rob Brooks tickle your synapses with science facts, comedy dudes like Dan Ilic and Alice Fraser will fire up your funny bone with comedy words.

It’s got science, it’s got comedy, we’re pretty sure it will do just what it says on the tin.

Early bird tickets from rom $20.

Dan Ilic

“A BLISTERING ASSAULT OF COMEDY BRILLIANCE.” TIME OUT (UK) “JEFFERIES IS CURRENTLY STAND-UP COMEDY’S MOST IRRESISTIBLE FORCE.” HERALD (UK) “SICK AND REPELLENT” CHRISTIAN VOICE “HARD HITTING, UNRELENTING GAGS, CHRISTIAN VOICE CERTAINLY KNOW A GOOD COMEDIAN WHEN THEY PERSECUTE ONE!” THE SCOTSMAN

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“As always, Fleet is a captivating storyteller: smart, articulate and honest”★★★★ HERALD SUN

APRIL 23-27

JOEL CREASEY “HEARTBREAKING & HILARIOUS”

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TOM BALLARD WHAT: My Ego Is Better Than Your Ego WHERE: The Comedy Store WHEN: Friday May 3 & Saturday May 4

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om Ballard’s new stand-up show is called My Ego Is Better Than Your Ego, and you may not be all that surprised to learn that the inspiration came from somewhere extremely personal. “Last year, people got angry about something I said on the radio,” Ballard says. “They were furious, and they made a lot of complaints, and it made me wonder why I do this, and how I got to that point.” The show, he explains, is about being a performer – it’s about the reasons we so desperately want people to like us, and about the lengths we will go to in order to make that happen.

The incident that sparked it all was a holocaust joke that Ballard made on the triple j breakfast show last year.

He found himself in the midst of a storm of outrage – it was as if he’d gone viral, but rather than people laughing at a video of him hitting his nuts on a trampoline, they were really, really angry at him. “It was a very weird time,” he says. “It made me realise the impact you can have when you’re speaking to a national audience. People were really pissed to hear something they felt was inappropriate on a national broadcaster.”

Ballard apologised straight away, and embarked on a round of interviews that

analysed and agonised over his mistake from all angles. “There are times where people are legitimately outraged and offended, and then there are times when people are a bit bored and looking for a hashtag on Twitter,” he says. “The show’s about that, and about the importance of offensive comedy. I felt I needed an hour to talk through all those things. Some people might come and think I’m just as much of a dickhead as before, some might come and find it an enlightening experience.”

While Ballard’s apology was thoughtful and genuine, he has not allowed the incident to blunt him as a comedian. Taking a leaf from Louis CK’s book, he maintains that offensive comedy, when thoughtfully done, has its place. “There are a lot of very dark jokes in the show,” he says.

“I guess the thing is that it’s all about context.

It’s a stand-up show in front of adults, in front of an audience of people who have paid to be there, and I think I can say a whole lot more to those people than I can on breakfast radio on the ABC. That’s the way it should be, to be honest. If those two worlds met, there’d be a lot of problems.” AD

JACQUES BARRETT WHAT: The Contrarian WHERE: Harold Park Hotel / 70A Ross Street, Glebe WHEN: May 2-4 Queensland-born, Sydney-based Barrett began his stand-up career at 23. “Since then it has been an addiction, an affliction and it’s been pretty much the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do since I started doing it,” he says. “Which brings me to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, where I am here to lose money, gallantly, on the field of battle with many comrades.”

He’s speaking on the phone from the backyard of a fellow comedian’s house – where he’s staying on a blow-up mattress, in a tent.

Barrett’s first foray into the MICF world was back in 2008, as part of the festivalproduced showcase of new talent, The Comedy Zone. He didn’t return again until 2011, where he debuted his first solo show, and has been back every year since. This new stand up show, The Contrarian, will feature the type of material he couldn’t do in regular spots.

A

re you a good person? Or an evil one?

Jacques Barrett has asked these questions of himself. He’s a good person, he believes, but it’s just that he’s got that voice in his head. “I think a lot of people have that evil voice in the back of their head and a lot of people feel really horrible guilt about it,” he says. “A lot of people aren’t sure if they’re a good person or not. What I’m trying to say to a crowd of people is ‘Yeah, you are good people as long as you try and identify that voice’. It’s not you, it’s just your shitty self that lives in the back of your head and you’ve got to control it. But you’ve got to let it out as well.”

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“I have this deep-seated suspicion of anything mainstream,” he explains. “I’ve always been on the outside, because I’m an only child, I’ve always been an outsider observing what people do – that’s what comedians pretty much are. … I attack things that everyone accepts as being pure and nice and normal and I look for the good points of awful things. I defend smoking; I attack marriage, I just wipe the floor with it; I attack the idea of people having more than one child or any children at all. I attempt to find joy or some comedy in the darkest corners of society’s ills.”

Such as? “Domestic violence, recreational drug use, religion. Basically, a lot of the normal stuff that comedians go at but I go directly against them by defending things that are awful and attacking things that are ‘why would you bother attacking that?

That’s obviously correct’. For contrarian Barrett, “it’s just a fun way to see the world in a complete opposite direction than everyone sees it”. JB

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A Clockwork Orange [THEATRE] Empathising With Masculine Ultraviolence By Jenny Noyes

A

lexandra Spencer-Jones first came across A Clockwork Orange at the tender age of 15 (the same age as the novel’s not-sotender protagonist Alex DeLarge), when the book was handed to her “on the quiet” by a teacher who “told us to make sure not to tell our parents,” she recalls. It was the beginning of an obsession; years later when she was old enough to handle the graphic violence, rape and sex scenes, Spencer-Jones watched Stanley Kubrick’s cult

film adaptation and fell in love with that as well.

“It’s been a lifelong love affair,” she says.

Now a theatre director with her own company, Action To The Word, Spencer-Jones is in Sydney this month with her acclaimed all-male adaptation of Burgess’ tale. Her collaborator, the production’s aqua-eyed leading man Martin McCreadie, admits that, like many of us, he saw the film before reading the book. “When I knew I Martin McCreadie in A Clockwork Orange

was going to be doing the role a few years ago, I had no idea it had a literary background, so I checked out the novel and caned it in two days flat,” he tells me. “I loved it.”

Although Spencer-Jones and McCreadie are both fans of Kubrick’s iconic film version, they’ve avoided it for years and didn’t want it to influence them at all in the creation of this production. “At the time it was incredibly revolutionary, exciting and über modern, but it’s got a dated feel to it now,” says Spencer-Jones. Their production, which follows Burgess’ novel, “shares no aesthetic with it”.

And the differences are more than just aesthetic.

Kubrick’s film was adapted from the American version of the novel – a novel that Burgess had

Punching The Clown

Burgess’ novel on the other hand did “something quite regenerative and quite shocking, more shocking than having him just go back to being bad,” Spencer-Jones argues. When I asked if the shock factor that caused Burgess’ novel and Kubrick’s film to be banned, censored and withdrawn from distribution in various places is still as poignant today, I got a unified “Yes!” from both Spencer-Jones and McCreadie. “It’s the fact that you’re in his shoes,” says Spencer-Jones, “the power of the novel and the play draws you to him, and you’re in love with him. You understand him and you’re petrified by that.” Despite Alex’s horrific behaviour “he is an everyman,” she insists, “his fabric as a human, his mind, is explosive. And there’s an empathy with him.”

What: Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange Where: York Theatre @ Seymour Centre, Darlington When: Tuesday April 23 – Sunday May 5

A Clockwork Orange photo by Simon Kane

McCreadie was playing Shakespeare’s Romeo in an Action To The Word production when Spencer-Jones first started drawing parallels between his Romeo and Burgess’ anti-hero, Alex. As a young woman directing Shakespearean productions dominated by male characters, Spencer-Jones had developed a fascination with masculine adolescence and decided to employ an all-male cast for A Clockwork Orange. Her production shines a spotlight on masculinity and the role played by male-dominated social institutions (such as church and state), which is often ignored by critics seeking to draw generalised messages about humanity’s innate propensity for evil.

serious reservations about because it omitted the final chapter in which angst-filled Alex defeats his violent tendencies and finds moral redemption. Ideologically, Kubrick’s film is miles from Burgess’ tale of morality and free will.

Kubrick’s Alex, played by Malcolm McDowell, is a true psychopath. He has no empathy for his victims and no guilt. Violence remains at the core of Alex’s identity and we assume he will return to his diabolical ways.

Henry Phillips in Punching The Clown

[COMEDY] Comedy Is Often Misunderstood By Benjamin Cooper

H

enry Phillips has the funniest material you’ve never heard. In fact, it’s quite likely you’ve never even seen the American comic’s name before, much less heard his twisted and hilarious songs. But the New Jersey native is relatively okay with the slow burn of his career thus far. “I’m doing fine right now,” he says. “I mean, I’m kind of frustrated to hear about what’s going to happen next, but that’s all part of it. You can never get the answers you want fast enough.”

The Gregori Viens (The Loner, Island of Roses) directed film had its premiere in 2009 at the Slamdance Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award. After playing in limited release, it’s gone on to become a minor cult hit, with endorsements from entertainment heavyweights like comedian Sarah Silverman and, strangely enough, pop musician Moby.

Phillips explains that Silverman’s support has been particularly signifi cant. “Sarah has

The interest has spread to the extent where American cable is now interested in the comic. “I’ve actually got a development deal with the Showtime Network,” he says. “What we’ve done is cut up the first half hour of the fi lm, and cut it very differently to pick the best elements to create a first episode.

We’ve shown it to them, and they’ve asked me for a second episode script. So now I’m just waiting to hear from them.”

Phillips attributes the fi lm’s lack of mainstream success to certain unavoidable tropes of Hollywood. “Distributors are probably reluctant to step in with us because there aren’t any famous people in the fi lm,” he says. “Everyone I’ve talked to that’s seen the fi lm has really liked it, but there’s still an element of us not being very good at ‘doing’ Hollywood.”

Phillips has just returned from a European tour with comic Doug Stanhope, and is engaging with any and all performance opportunities. Over the last eighteen months he’s been uploading cooking

videos to YouTube that are a satire of the traditional presentation of the genre. “It started because every time I tried to cook something I’d go on YouTube and look up how to do it. There are these videos of a guy in his attic teaching people how to make chilli, and I thought the really interesting thing here is not what he’s making, but what’s this guy’s story? What drives him to do that? So I made the videos of me making something basic like French toast, and messing it up, and playing really over the top and depressing music,” he says.

We has internets!

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The videos feature sporadic moments of temper where Phillips’ character begins to swear, and is swiftly edited out. “Swearing can be extremely funny if you just drop it in there in the middle of something plain against the flow of what’s being presented,” he says. “The other side of that is I get a lot of people who don’t realise what I’m doing is satire. And every once in a while my friends tell me their kids have been watching my videos and trying to learn how to cook. That must be confusing.”

What: Punching the Clown out now on DVD

Punching The Clown © 2009 Viens Films LLC

The What Comes Next mentality is a result of the slow-burn success of Phillips’ film Punching The Clown. The semiautobiographical story follows the comic and singer as he moves to Los Angeles, experiences an accidentally stratospheric amount of success and is slowly eaten alive by the City of Angels.

a lot of clout in LA, and anywhere, really,” he says. “Over the years a lot of comedians have shown clips of my performances to other comedians, and then you get them re-tweeting links to my stuff. All of that circulation is pretty helpful.”

Film & Theatre Reviews

At the heart of the arts Where you went last week... Photos by Tim Levy

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

■ Film

WARM BODIES In cinemas now The zombie bubble must surely be close to bursting – along with BBC series In The Flesh, Warm Bodies might be the flagship film for the zombierehabilitation trope. R (Nicholas Hoult), a zombie who used to be a very handsome twenty-something, spends his days shuffling around an airport exchanging grunts with a ‘friend’ (Rob Corddry) and occasionally shuffling out in packs in search of delicious brains.

His inner monologue is smart and selfaware, however when he spends some time with the beautiful human Julie (Teresa Palmer) – whom he rescued from an attack on her scavenging group by his own undead buddies – his language skills start to improve.

As a result, the sense of humour and kindness he shows in the few syllables he can manage challenge the assumptions the human survivors have been making about the zombies for the eight years since they took over.

The fi lm’s origins as a novel are apparent in the heavy reliance on R’s voiceover – but monosyllabic grunting isn’t the most efficient way of getting exposition out of the way, of course. Hoult gives the narration a rueful, deadpan quality that’s hugely endearing and speaks to the smart,

Arts Snap

thoughtful person he must have been pre-apocalypse. It’s an odd line to walk, as we’re supposed to sympathise with R and see his humanity, but are repeatedly reminded that he is dead, other, and possessed of some genuinely disturbing impulses. The treatment of brain-eating is particularly powerful, turning a cartoonish zombie trope into the fi lm’s most visceral, emotional scene.

There are some tense moments, but Warm Bodies is not a scary film – how can it be, when we’re told to view the zombies themselves as essentially human from the first scene? (The true villain role is occupied by the Boneys – skeletal second-stage zombies, who are fairly well done on a clearly limited FX budget – and also by John Malkovich, as Julie’s father and leader of the human enclave.) In fact, there’s a sly, sweet wit – not as outrageous as, for example, Shaun Of The Dead, but sharing that film’s ability to find silly, human moments in the chaos of apocalypse. Director Jonathan Levine, who adapted the screenplay from Isaac Marion’s novel, filtered R’s character through the mindset of an awkward, self-conscious teenager, and the result is a character who just wants to be understood and loved in spite of how weird and closed-off he is. And is there anything more human than that?

jesse willesee's flash/mob 04:04:13 :: Beach Road Hotel :: 71 Beach Rd, Bondi Beach

Caitlin Welsh Warm Bodies

■ Theatre

GIRL IN TAN BOOTS

real refuse

Until April 20 / SBW Stables If you catch a train in this city, chances are on those off days when you forgot pick up a copy of your favourite street press (ahem) you might find yourself reading the light entertainment that is MX. And if you read MX even casually, chances are that at some point you’ve peaked into the ‘Here’s Looking At You’ section, where commuters post messages of love (and more often lust) to strangers, for either a laugh or in the strange hope that someone thinks you’re a babe and decided to e-mail a newspaper to say so.

Tahli Corin’s new play Girl In Tan Boots was inspired by this strange method of communication, turning what most see as a joke into the starting point for a horror story – the disappearance of a young woman. Hannah the wallflower is nowhere to be found and it seems the commuter paper might hold the answer to her whereabouts. As Detective Carapetis (Linden Wilkinson) investigates, the clues begin to thin and Carapetis herself becomes the woman under the bulb rather than the one shining the searchlight.

Corin’s script is tight, funny and thought provoking but is unfortunately not brought to its full potential in this

05:04:13 :: Tap Gallery :: 278 Palmer St, Darlinghurst

Arts Exposed production. It feels as if all the elements are present, but don’t come together to have the full impact possible. The magic tricks are a perfect example, seeming disjointed from the action rather than building it.

Wilkinson seems in control when she’s playing the hard-working cop, but struggles with some of the complexities in Corin’s script. Sara Zwangobani is the most impressive, exuding utter confidence as the regular contributor to the ‘Loco-emotion’, whilst Hannah’s ‘friends’, played with a mix of contempt and joy by Madeleine Jones, Zindzi Okenyo and Francesca Savige, lift the energy whenever they’re on stage.

It seems only a matter of time before Corin cracks the main stages and this entertaining adventure is a sign of why.

Simon Binns

See www.thebrag.com for more arts reviews

What's in our diary...

The Rocks Windmill April 12 – May 12 / Weekdays from 9-5pm Rocks Square, The Rocks

Carbon Arts

Fancy sitting in a colonial era windmill to watch some theatre? Well now you can.

The Rocks Windmill is a large-scale pop-up installation designed to showcase the area’s rich cultural heritage and explore activities engaged by early Sydney settlement. An initiative of Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, the windmill is the cornerstone of a month-long season of visual arts, screenings, interactive installations, tours and seminars that explore themes of The Rocks’ historical identity, urban sustainability and the natural environment. Program highlights include Bell Shakespeare’s presentation of key scenes from Henry IV, Penguin Plays Rough’s night of Rocks-themed storytelling, sound artist Jane Ulman’s site-specific audio works and Carbon Arts’ seminar investigating future energy use. For the full program of events, see therockswindmill.com BRAG :: 508 :: 15:04:13 :: 35

bread&thread Food & Fashion News

LONDON FIELDS

Salt and pepper-encrusted squid from The Botanist

A SPICED UP BOTANIST

Kirribilli’s botanically themed eatery The Botanist (17 Willoughby Street) is mixing things up with a new share plate and cocktail menu.

Head chef Justin Walshe’s new menu includes dishes like salt and pepper-encrusted squid; it’s also in

LE CREUSET HAS ARRIVED

Good design is not just reserved for fashion and pretty objects. Cooking can be beautiful too and with the opening of Le Creuset’s first stand-alone store (106 King Street) we reckon you’ll start to believe us. Chefs and bona fide cooking enthusiasts can now get their hands on these porcelain-enamelled cast iron cooking pots that originated in France in the ’20s. They’re darn expensive and heavy to lift, but hey maybe it’s time to give your biceps the lovin’ they deserve.

tune with the food world’s current obsession with Mexi-fare, with soft shell tacos and quesadillas also on the bill. The cocktail list is bursting with flower and spice-infused new additions like Grandma’s Vase – a refreshing combo of Tanqueray, Aperol, pink grapefruit juice, lime and lemonade. thebotanist.com. au

BAKERMAN GETS BOOZY

Erskineville’s café-tapas barrestaurant extraordinaire, Bakerman, has upped the ante and is now selling booze. It’s not exactly the place you’ll want to spend a dedicated night on the turps, but if European beer’s your thang you might have just hit the jackpot. Night manager Peter Weeks, known fondly as the Beerman, is delivering a lineup including Duvel, Chimay and Kwak, and Stiegl on tap.

The joint’s got a courtyard too.

We’re in. See facebook.com/ BakermanPatisserie for more details.

Can’t afford much from any of Paddo’s William Street designer boutiques? Well us neither, but we’ve just the solution if talking in loose change dollar amounts.

Pinball machines. The explanation? The London Hotel (Cnr William and Underwood Streets) is undergoing a facelift, has added said pinball machines to its repertoire and is in its first week of operating a new upstairs wine bar and eatery called London Fields.

Owner Ben May and business partner Andrew Stanway will land you in wine and rustic grazing plate heaven with dinner running Tuesday through Saturday. And daylight boozehounds rejoice, because London Fields is also open for lunch on weekends.

Yes, we all like to dart around our Mondays; the first day of the working week is the one we generally want to avoid the most. But fear not, because we’ve found a solution: Norfolk Darts Club.

Landing on Monday April 15, The Norfolk is picking up their game with $4 mini burgers and Rio Bravos and of course, rounds of darts! Starting at 7pm every Monday punters can compete in weekly knockouts with prizes for game winners, bullseyes and sharpshooters. thenorfolk.co

NORTHERN LIGHTS

Attention all emerging designers: pendant light designs wanted! designEX, Australia’s major interiors, design and architecture event, has made best buds with Scandinavian design house &Tradition and Australian collector of Scandinavian furniture Great Dane to help youngsters (must be under 35 years old to enter) get their work in front of an international audience. The winner will be whisked over to &Tradition’s Denmark studio and have their light produced for real. We reckon it’s time for that light bulb moment. See designex.info for more information.

THE MIGHTY BOUCHE

Just like Vince Noir and Howard Moon did during their zooNabootique-keeping days, the folks over at Claude’s are getting all experimental on us. Woollahra’s fine dining stalwart is bringing back The Mighty Bouche – a series of dinners trialling new ideas and unique flavour combinations – and they’re here to stay. Every Tuesday punters can indulge in a four-course meal for $75 or $120 with matching cocktails, beer and wine. The best part? Rumour has it these dinners will pull in friends and collaborators for celebrity appearances; the last series of Bouche dinners brought us Andrew Levins from Goodgod’s The Dip, so we recommend you watch this space. Bookings essential. See claudes.com.au for more details.

FORRESTERS TURNS ONE

It’s not often we’re encouraged to drink at a one-year-old’s birthday do. But listen up yo, because now you are – The Hills’ favourite hipster breeding ground, The Forresters is turning one! Kicking off at 6pm on Thursday April 18, the joint’s throwing a pizza disco with DJs and drinks specials. And dare we say it, but there’s also going to be The World’s Greatest Pizza Eating Contest. Entrants to email locky@ forresters.com.au

CLINQ DE SEPT

It’s autumn, mornings are getting dewy and evenings nippy so we reckon BRAG’s not the only one in need of an alibi to warm things up. It’s about time you met our latest accomplice – champagne.

Between the bewitching hours of 5-7pm until the end of May Ananas Bar & Brasserie (18 Argyle Street) in The Rocks is offering glasses of the bubbly stuff, selected cocktails and a range of appetisers for 15 bucks a pop. Joie de vivre and all that jazz, right? And fellas, don’t forget to at least sight the joint’s female mouth-shaped pissoirs.

Interesting to say the least.

NELSON NGHE WINS YOUNG DESIGNER OF THE YEAR

25-year-old Nelson Nghe has been crowned Peroni Young Designer of the Year at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week 2013. Nghe’s winning garment is an Italian-inspired cocktail dress designed to be worn on a night out after a warm day under the sun. The designer used a muted colour palette comprising beige and white and styled his dress with sunglasses and a tote. This youngster takes home not only his first claim to fame, but also a sweet $10,000 to develop his career as a designer.

NORFOLK DARTS CLUB

Claude’s

THE WILD ROVER

bar profile

75 CAMPBELL STREET, SURRY HILLS MON – SAT FROM 4PM – 12AM; SUN FROM 12 – 10PM

them! A few of their superstar bartenders are Mike Tomasic, John Carr, Mikey Lowe and sommelier Adam Hadad.

The basics: We first heard about The Wild Rover in August 2012 and have been waiting ever since. After defeating some serious alcohol licensing red tape the boys have finally done it. All about the good craic, Rover offers specialty whiskeys, cocktails, wine and boutique brews in a cosy booze den-like environment.

Flavours: TWR is primarily a bar, but their food offerings include house-made sausage rolls and freshly shucked oysters.

The team: TWR is managed by Kim McDiarmid with a rockstar team who have over 100 years hospitality experience between

Care for a drink? “Our drinks focus on flavour – loads of boutique beers, wines and cocktails that are to the point. We’re about clean, direct flavours and fun. A Sam Smith Old Brewery Pale Ale with a side of 14-year-old Balvenie roasted malt would be a great start.

Alternatively, the Weeski cocktail is banging.”

Make us drool: TWR is all about unpretentious fun, no bullshit. Just come in and have a foot stomping, swashbuckling, whaling good time.

TWR is all about the ‘craic’. Good times with friends and family – just great hospitality.

Website? thewildrover.com.au

The Wild Rover Xxxx

36 :: BRAG :: 508 :: 15:04:13

Eye-candy: James Bradey from 8 Hospitality is responsible for TWR’s interior. James has a design background in London working for Shaun Clarkson ID on dozens of bars, restaurants and clubs. TWR is all about trying to create a warm and inviting place that encourages people to settle in for the night, with a slightly colourful, playful touch.

FEATURING SPECIAL GUEST

WEDNESDAY APRil 17th UTS GLASSHOUSE

SYDNEY (LIC/AA) TICKETS AVAILABLE AT PEZ. OZTIX.COM.AU www.pezmusic.com.au BRAG :: 508 :: 15:04:13 :: 37

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

ALBUM OF THE WEEK XXX JAMES BLAKE Cosmogramma

“Suddenly I’m hit / Is this the darkness of the dawn? ... Ignore everybody else / We’re alone now”. Here and on every other track, each musical element is precisely where it should be to elicit the maximum emotional response from the listener.

Overgrown Warp Universal x

Xxxx Just as he set out to do, Blake has scored a direct hit to the heart, in the most sonically arresting way.

Overgrown is outstanding.

As impressive as James Blake’s self-titled debut album was, the 24-year-old Londoner has taken a massive leap forward with his follow-up. It inhabits the same aurally cavernous space, but Overgrown builds on its predecessor in its lyrical and emotional directness – it’s better because Blake learned how to write songs, and fell in love. He’s clearly grown in confidence too, behind both the studio desk and the microphone.

On exquisite lead single ‘Retrograde’, Blake’s falsetto stands proudly out front with just a snare and a piano for company. A buzzing siren, rather than distorting and perhaps distracting as it might have done on Blake’s debut, gravitates around the intensity of the vocal:

SHOUT OUT LOUDS

KURT VILE

From the first chords of opening track ‘Sugar’, it is clear that Shout Out Louds are in a different place than 2010’s Work – gone is the angry angst of the past couple of albums.

Optica is a whole new sonic world for the band, where lush strings blend with hollow percussion, but the lyrics still lean towards melancholy. The sense of disappointment is still there – it’s just bubbling beneath ethereal keys and honeyed harmonies.

For their fourth album, the Swedish five-piece went the co-production route with Johannes Berglund (The Knife, The Radio Dept.), and, rather than writing in the studio, they wrote their own parts individually over the last two years. The result has been described as a “celebration of colour and light” and there is brevity to their brighter sound. The time taken and shift in process has given the band a freshness that carries through the 12 tracks.

Optica is an interplay of shadow and light; from the sparkling glossy fun of ‘Illusions’ to the melancholic echoes of ‘Destroy’, the album’s shadows bring the brighter moments to the fore. ‘Blue Ice’ is indeed almost glacial; gentle strings wash over wistful lyrics and ‘14th Of July’ is a marriage of playfully mocking lyrics (“Is there a special bond? / Is she a natural blonde?”) and layers of percussion. The sprawling ‘Glasgow’ is spectacular in its scope – it begins as a rich recount of a tailspin, all warmth and cooing vocals, before tapering off into a synth-driven interlude.

Optica is a great breezy pop record. The lyrics give it enough depth to keep it tied to earth, without dragging it down to the land of over-ambitious. It’s fun, if not a revelation.

Natalie Amat

Kurt Vile has never sounded so refined. Wakin On a Pretty Daze isn’t just the cleanest-sounding material he’s recorded, it’s also the most carefully written and considered.

Gone is the snarling enigma hiding behind the passive-aggressive folk and single-note psych freakouts of his relative youth. This is basically a classic rock album, for better or worse.

Depending on how you feel about Kurt Vile’s past work – and whether or not you like guitar rock generally – this could possibly be a bad thing. I mean, who likes gritty, uncompromising songwriters who homogenise into familiar blandness late in their career?

Despite its newfound sparkle and generic palatability, Wakin still brims with Vile’s signature slacker nonsequiturs and quiet insights – they just happen to be laced with signifiers that smack of your parents’ fave FM stations; duelling guitars and stomping ’70s FM drums (‘KV Crimes’); supine Fleetwood Mac-nabbing fingerstyle guitar ballads (‘Too Hard’), or bewildering but fascinating left-turn ’90s alt-drone-athons (‘Air Bud’).

The most welcome development is the length of the songs. The ones he wrote as a younger man may have felt more potent for their brevity, but Wakin’s pieces spool out to six, eight, even ten minutes in length, giving the singer room to eke the full heft out of his affable slackerisms.

The album’s bookended by two extended ruminations, rife with stoned equivocation, that speak volumes for their playing time. On paper, the lyrics are infuriatingly vague, but Vile’s drawling burr twists them to balance intimacy and disdain beautifully, somehow conveying the full weight of his melancholic ruminations.

David Wild

TELEKINESIS

THE FLAMING LIPS

Wakin On A Pretty Daze Matador / Remote Control

Optica Merge/Inertia

While Blake has become a more rounded singersongwriter, his continued love of forward-thinking dance music – despite his success, Blake still runs a club night at renowned venue Plastic People – is still evident.

‘Digital Lion’, the collaboration with ambient innovator Brian Eno, is a tribal banger that Leftfield will wish they made. ‘Voyeur’ is pure peak-time techno (complete with synth cowbell) that somehow manages to be as moving as any of the album’s ballads, particularly when Blake sings: “Cause I am flawed / At times unsure / I should do whatever will make you feel secure”.

The Terror Warner

Wayne Coyne described The Terror to this publication as “dissonant, even amongst itself”, which seemed like an exciting prospect from a band as reckless in the studio as The Flaming Lips. Unfortunately, although dissonance certainly features largely on their 13th studio album, The Terror also repeats itself often in a way that, despite numerous past trips into dreaded concept album territory, none of the band’s records have done so before. This is a problem.

Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots is routinely trotted out as a rare example of a concept album that doesn’t eat itself; but this is largely due to hefty themes such as ‘love’ and ‘death’ being vaguely wrapped around orchestrated music that does all the heavy lifting.

Likewise, 1997’s Zaireeka, designed to be played simultaneously on four separate stereos, was sonically startling, if forever stifled by its inherently clunky ‘concept’. Whereas on past albums the band would glide gracefully through genres, here they mine similar sonic terrain throughout, to the record’s eternal detriment; the prettier moments are anchored to the unsettling angular moments by virtue of being driven by keyboard sounds, studio manipulation, and not much else.

The Terror is a long album, but a frustratingly slight one. The tiresome 13-minute centerpiece ‘You Lust’ is hypnotic and heavenly, but won’t reward more than one listen – making it representative of the album as a whole. Although it sounds revolutionary on paper, there is very little in the way of actual exploration. It all seems very muted and careful, as if while experimenting with sonic washes and dissonant soundscapes, they forgot to insert the unguarded abandon that’s central to all their greatest music.

Kurt Vile is still good company – he just prefers long walks to freak trains, these days.

Coyne tells us The Terror is untamed; we feel it never got the chance to run wild.

Luke Telford

Nathan Jolly

It’s easy to forget that Telekinesis (primarily the work of Michael Benjamin Lerner) is still a relatively young project. For the third album Lerner originally intended to record it alone, but ended up working with Jim Eno – drummer of Spoon, and owner of Austin studio Public Hi-Fi located on the titular Dormarion Lane. The resulting tracks are a fusion of the shiny production of debut Telekinesis! and acoustic balladry of the second album, but are bigger and more expansive in their scale.

It makes for a very logical third album – almost a direct progression of the Telekinesis sound thus far.

Where 12 Desperate Straight Lines was a breakup record, Dormarion is a more varied beast. Opening track ‘Power Lines’ is a microcosm of the album’s sound, really, beginning as an acoustic ballad before exploding into a noisy rocker.

‘Lean On Me’ is a jangly musing on love that is perfect for a road trip mixtape and ‘Dark To Light’ is a short, sharp burst of scuzzy guitar pop. On ‘Ever True’ the New Orderesque synth and drum pads kick in for a bit of variety, before fading back to the piano-driven ‘Island #4’ which swells to a fuzzed-out wall of sound that wraps things up nicely.

So next track ‘Laissez-faire’ is an odd choice and a jarring change of tone; and at less than two minutes it may have been better to drop it altogether and have closer ‘You Take It Slowly’ as a hidden track instead.

There are some killer pop songs on Dormarion, but taken as a whole it lacks flow and cohesion.

Natalie Amat

INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK KIERAN RYAN Kieran Ryan Spunk Records

Kieran Ryan was the guitar and vocals half of Taree via Melbourne band Kid Sam. You probably remember them: two cousins making scratchy, melodic post-industrial songs that got stuck in your head.

Their 2009 self-titled debut album was preoccupied with the elegance of life’s minutiae, and a whole lot of death and creeping darkness. It was so achingly beautiful it was recognised with a nomination for the Australian Music Prize.

38 :: BRAG :: 508 :: 15:04:13

Kieran recorded this batch of tunes over the autumn and summer of 2011-2012, alongside The Panics’ drummer Myles Wootton with Matt Voight (Cat Power, Geoffrey O’Connor) engineering the affair.

There are many guests across the album, including Oh Mercy’s Annabel Grigg and Skipping Girl Vinegar’s Kelly Lane. The subtlest contribution comes from Jessica Venables (Jessica Says) who forgoes her usual vocal duties on opener ‘Out of Africa’ with some gentle cello strings.

The centrepiece of the album is the gothic build of ‘The Stage’. Dave Henry’s trumpet calls out throughout the twin tales of a seven-year-old child preacher and the death of Meredith Hunter at The Rolling Stones’ 1969 Altamont concert.

Very few people can get away with lines like “Still kicking it like Jagger here for Jesus”, yet somewhere between the pounding bass and mess of droning guitars Ryan nails it.

Album closer ‘The World Is Ending’ is particularly circumspect, with the artist matter of factly describing a river that cannot be stopped, singing “Soon for me there will be/No joy and no pain”.

There’s openness to Ryan’s voice across the record that Kid Sam never had. He’s lost the keening desire to affect drama; this is him at his most reflective, but also his most effortless.

Benjamin Cooper

THE KNIFE

Dormarion Merge/Inertia

Shaking The Habitual Inertia

“Brilliant,” thought the befuddled music critic, “the long-awaited and largely incomprehensible fourth album from Swedish brother/sister duo The Knife comes with an accompanying manifesto. This’ll help me make sense of it all.” Alas! Reading it only added to the confusion. The title of the manifesto will give you a clue as to its entirely batshit content: Some Feeling In The Bellies Of The Tankers Who Pass Us Making Sad Manic Bongs Like Drums.

The suspicions that getting through Shaking The Habitual will be a bit of a slog are present before you even press play: the album takes its title from a quote by social theorist Michel Foucault and clocks in at just shy of 100 minutes.

OK, so Olof Dreijer and Karin DreijerAndersson have always leaned towards the weird, as anyone who saw Karin’s alter ego Fever Ray in concert will attest to. On 2006 classic Silent Shout, the duo distilled this oddness into an album full of dark, absorbing electro gems – and similar moments do exist here. The oriental percussion and instrumentation on ‘Without You My Life Would Be Boring’ is compelling; the distorted drums of single ‘Full Of Fire’ will get you nodding, if not for the full nine minutes of its duration.

But then there’s a track which lasts for 19 minutes. Entitled ‘Old Dreams Waiting To Be Realized’, it’s essentially a warped single note – it drones on for approximately 18 minutes and 30 seconds too long.

And ‘Fracking Fluid Injection’ sounds like a whale with a mechanical voice box having a drunken conversation with a handsaw.

It’s bold, perhaps brave. But, mainly, Shaking The Habitual is utterly bonkers.

David Wild

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

LORDE - The Love Club EP THE BRONX - Bronx iV AUTRE NE VEUT - Anxiety

GUCCI MANE - Trap God 2 ALICE COOPER - School's Out

snap sn ap

the xx

PICS :: AM

up all night out all week . . .

hungry kids of hungary

PICS :: TL

21:03:13 :: Horden Pavilion :: 1 Driver Ave Moore Park 9921 5333

pink dove III

PICS :: TL

05:04:13 :: The Hi-Fi :: Entertainment Quarter 122 Lang Rd Moore Park 8683 2301

05:03:13 :: The Standard :: 3/383 Bourke St Darlinghurst 9331 3100 INA CLARKE :: KATE

:: KATR S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER CE UPTON DEN PRU :: MAR LEY ASH :: IS LEW

BRAG :: 508 :: 15:04:13 :: 39

snap sn ap

the seabellies

PICS :: KC

up all night out all week . . .

deap vally

PICS :: TL

04:04:13 :: Brighton Up Bar :: 1/77 Oxford St Darlinghurst 9572 6322

05:04:13 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford St, Darlinghurst 9332 3711

the laurels

It’s called: Twist and Shout: ’60s Dance Party It sounds like: A Quentin Tarantino/Wes Ander son co-production set in an end of the world dance party on New Year’s Eve, 1969.

Who’s playing: DJ Soup and DJ Dylabolical Sell it to us: Sydney’s favourite ’60s dance party We’ll be spinning classic vintage pop, rock and is back after a lengthy break. soul at The Brighton Up Bar on the third Friday of every month (til late!).

The bits we’ll remember in the AM: Twisti ng the night away, dancing in the streets and shaking your tail feathers.

Crowd specs: It doesn’t matter what you wear, just as long as you’re there!

Wallet damage: $5 Where: Brighton Up Bar, corner Oxford and Riley Streets, Darlinghurst When: Friday April 19, 11pm

PICS :: KC

03:04:13 :: Sydney Opera House :: Bennelong Point Sydney 9250 7111

party profile

wilco

PICS :: PU

twist and shout

03:04:13 :: Goodgod Small Club :: 53-55 Liverpool St Chinatown 8084 0587 INA CLARKE :: KATE

:: KATR S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER CE UPTON DEN PRU :: MAR LEY ASH :: IS LEW

40 :: BRAG :: 508 :: 15:04:13

dz deathrays

PICS :: KL

katy steele

PICS :: AM

06:04:13 :: The Standard :: 3/383 Bourke St Darlinghurst 9331 3100

06:04:13 :: Goodgod Small Club :: 53-55 Liverpool St Chinatown 8084 0587

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

It’s called: Fools Gold It sounds like: The Stone Roses song of the same name; lots of classic Indie and Britpop anthems.

Who’s playing? DJs Amy, Urby and El Maria chi will keep you on your toes all night.

Sell it to us: Who doesn’t like The Strokes, Blur, The Kinks and Arcade Fire?

Well, that with a whole bunch of other great stuff gets played.

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: When you tell yourself Fools Gold is your new favourite club night ‘cause you had so much fun!

Crowd specs: A few token hipsters, some Englis h geezers and a whole lot of sexy laydeez.

Wallet damage: $10 on the door, the drinks are reasonably priced too.

Where: The Brighton Up Bar / 77 Oxford Street .

When: Saturday April 20, 10.30pm start (after the bands).

gimme shelter

PICS :: PX

party profile

fools gold

passenger

PICS :: KL

04:04:13 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford St, Darlinghurst 9332 3711

07:04:13 :: The Hi-Fi :: Entertainment Quarter 122 Lang Rd Moore Park 8683 2301 INA CLARKE :: KATE

:: KATR S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER CE UPTON DEN PRU :: MAR LEY ASH :: IS LEW

BRAG :: 508 :: 15:04:13 :: 41

g g guide g

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com

SATURDAY APRIL 20

Midnight Juggernauts

Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst

Midnight Juggernauts, YesYou, Four Door $25 (+ bf) 8pm MONDAY APRIL 15

Enmore free 8pm The Goon Squad Scruffy Murphy’s, Haymarket free 10pm

ROCK & POP

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Liverpool Idol: Raw Idiocy, To Engineer An Exorcist, Angel Awake, Another Avenue Collingwood Hotel, Liverpool $10 7pm Rock For Doc: The Angels, Jimmy Barnes and Don Walker, Rose Tattoo, Dragon, Diesel, Jon Stevens, Baby Animals, Steve Balbi, Rob Hirst and Jim Moginie, Mi-Sex, Diva Demolition Enmore Theatre $89 5.30pm

JAZZ

Latin Jazz Open Mic The World Bar, Kings Cross free 7pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Helmut Uhlmann, Michael Brock, Chris Brookes, Massimo Presti Kellys On King, Newtown free 7pm Raw Idiocy, To Engineer An Exorcist, Angel Awake, Another Avenue Collingwood Hotel, Liverpool 7pm $10

TUESDAY APRIL 16 ROCK & POP

42 :: BRAG :: 508 : 15:04:13

WEDNESDAY APRIL 17 ROCK & POP

The Cupcake Conspiracy, Spaceticket, Rockethead, The Mool King Device Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst $5 8pm Elle Harris Duo Rock Lily, The Star, Pyrmont free 7pm Eymaze, The Hot Teas, The Nest, Raseth, Paper Crane, The Catalyst, Larger Then Lions, Mangrove Jack Valve Bar, Tempe 7pm Hein, Dan Twining, Jacob Pearson Brass Monkey, Cronulla $12.25

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Angelene Harris Cat and Fiddle Hotel, Balmain free 7pm Brad Meyers Avalon Beach RSL Club, Avalon free 7pm Helmut Uhlmann, Chich, Frankie Francis, Patrick Arnold, Sundown Shamans, Groove Sharp, Revella UTS Loft, Ultimo free 6pm TAOS, John Chesher, Gavin Fitzgerald, Ross Bruzzese, Blonde Baggage Coach & Horses Hotel, Randwick free 7pm

Ainslie Wills, Elana Stone feat. Zebra Zap, PJ Wolf FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel $14 8pm Anthems Of Oz Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 9pm Band Breakers – Industry Showcase: Horrorwood Mannequins, Delorean Tide, Smokin’ Mirrors, One Night In Paris The Wall @ Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt $10 7.30pm Caravana Sun, Declan Kelly & The Rising Sun, Dubarray The Standard, Surry Hills $12 (+ bf) 8pm Damien Dempsey (IRE), Mick McHugh The Factory Theatre, Marrickville $50 (+ bf) 7pm Gay Paris The Bull ‘n’ Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills 7pm Hang The DJ: Beard With Guns, Capitol, Ghosts Of York, The Ivory Drips Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 8pm Hot Damn! Block Party: Wish For Wings, Hearts Like Wolves, Absolution, Asura, Arteries, Hot Damn! DJs The Exchange Hotel, Darlinghurst $15-$20 8pm Lawson (UK), Sinead Burgess Metro Theatre, Sydney $36.90 6.45pm all-ages Lily So & The Bellows, Briscoe, Camden Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst $10 8pm Love Parade, Sleepy The Green Room Lounge, Enmore free 8.30pm Mark Seymour, Little May Brass Monkey, Cronulla $34.70 7pm Mid Semester Party: The Trouble With Templeton, Sures, Maples, Beat The System DJs Hermann’s Bar, The University Of Sydney, Darlington free 5pm Miss Pia & Her Lonesome Playboys Rock Lily, The Star, Pyrmont free 7pm Muddy Waters Tribute: Ian Collard, Dom Turner, Kevin Bennett, Jeremy Edwards, Don Hopkins, Johnny Cass The Basement, Circular Quay $30 (+ bf) 7.30pm Musos Club Jam Night Carousel Hotel, Rooty Hills free 8pm Psyrens, The Dirty Earth, Australian, Gentleman’s Agreement Valve Bar, Tempe 7pm Small Plastic Songs 7” Release: Skullsquadron, The Aerotrope Guild, Ya Aha, Restless Leg The Square, Haymarket $10 8pm Staff Picks: The Vale Of Ah, Raindrop Annandale Hotel $5 7.30pm Steve Tonge Beach Bar, Coogee Bay Hotel free 10pm Taking Berlin, English Avenue, The Tropics, Huckleberry Hastings Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $10 (+ bf) 8pm Tex Perkins & Charlie Owen, Glowing Embers Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $57 7.30pm Uncovered Scruffy Murphy’s, Haymarket free 10pm Vance Joy, The Falls The Vanguard, Newtown sold out 7.30pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Country Roads: The Steamgrass Boys, Mustered Courage, 200k, Luke Escombe Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $10 6pm Crooked Fiddle Band Moonshine, Hotel Steyne, Manly free 9pm Daniel Hopkins, Warren Munce Olympic Hotel, Paddington free 7.30pm Gavin Leach, Brad Myers Palm Beach RSL Club free 7pm Harbour Master Sackville Hotel, Rozelle free 7pm Peach Montgomery, Wally Byrne, Michael Kerr, Lily Fisher Forest Lodge Hotel, Glebe free 7.30pm

FRIDAY APRIL 19 ROCK & POP

3 Way Split Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 9.30pm Aimee Francis, A Girl’s A Gun, Love Like Hate The Town Hall Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Altitude Scruffy Murphy’s, Haymarket free 10pm Ange, The Lonely Boys Beach Bar, Coogee Bay Hotel free 7.30pm Blues Banquet: Liza Ohlback, Gail Page, Eric Rasmussen Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $25 7.30pm Bryan Adams (CAN), Amy MacDonald (UK) Sydney Entertaiment Centre, Darling Harbour $99.95$141.40 7.30pm Bryan Estepa, Charlie Horse, Ash Hansen FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel $10 8pm Buckcherry (USA), Richie Ramone (USA), The Art The Standard, Surry Hills $50 8pm Chase The Sun, Backwood Creatures, Eddie Boyd & The Phatapillars The Vanguard, Newtown $23.80 7.30pm Distorted – Documentary Premiere: All Star Sydney Punk Band The Wall @ Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt $10 8pm Duelling Pianos Rock Lily, The Star, Pyrmont free 7pm Dying Fetus (USA), Putrid Pile, Festering Drippage The Factory Theatre, Marrickville $48 (+ bf) 8pm Epica (NL) Metro Theatre, Sydney $64 7.30pm all-ages Flamin’ Beauties Mortdale Hotel free 9.30pm Fraudsters, Frieda’s Boss, General Pants And The Privates The Square, Haymarket $10 8pm

Gang Of Youths, Beat Club, Kyle Taylor, Kristy Lee Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills free 6pm The Growl, Gooch Palms Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst $10 8pm Guy Sebastian, David Ryan Harris (USA) Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park sold out 7.30pm Hotel California – A Tribute To The Eagles: Rex Goh The Basement, Circular Quay $28 (+ bf) 7.30pm Hue Williams Tea Gardens Hotel free 8.30pm Kim Salmon & Spencer P Jones, The Holy Soul, Joseph Liddy Annandale Hotel $15 8pm Lepers & Crooks, She Rex Spectrum, Darlinghurst $13.50 8pm Mad Season MB20 Show Bull And Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills free 10pm Manalion, DJ Secret Weapon Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 8pm Mark Seymour, Little May Brass Monkey, Cronulla $34.70 7pm Mick Vawdon Customs House Bar, Circular Quay free 7pm MUM: Corpus, Horror My Friend, Oslow, Thom, Ra Bazzaar, Lady White, Gnome The World Bar, Kings Cross $10-$15 8pm Partisan Code, The Naddiks, The Gunn Show, Bloody Lovely Audrey, Pleasure Overload Valve Bar, Tempe 7pm Ramps, Life & Limb, Chroma, Avoid Island Blackwire Records, Annandale $10 7pm all-ages Red Eye Records Night: Good Heavens, Unity Floors, Community Radio, Red Eye DJs Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $12 7.30pm Self Is A Seed, The Dead Love, Teal The Factory Floor, The Factory Theatre, Marrickville $15 (+ bf) 8pm Silverstein (CAN), Sienna Skies, Caulfield, Ghosts On Broadway Manning Bar, University Of Sydney, Camperdown $31 (+ bf) 8pm Teen Rush: At Sunset, Titanium (NZ), Kristina, DJ Lavrax Metro Theatre, Sydney $37.50 (+ bf) 4.30pm all-ages Texas Tea, The Green Mohair Suits, Night Owl Lamps @ Hibernian House, Surry Hills $15 7pm Tin Shed Spots #2: Alexander Rishaug (NOR), Pimmon, Broken Chip, James Nichols Tin Sheds Gallery, Darlington free 7pm Vydamo, Pluto Jonze, Mammals Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $15 (+ bf) 8pm Warchief, Little Napier, Miss Elm Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm The World In Cinematic, Waking Giants, I Escape, To Engineer An Exorcist Sydney Livehouse @ Lewisham Hotel $15 8pm allages

Pluto Jonze

JAZZ

The Catholics The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Chippendale $15-$25 8.30pm

Xxx

Damon & Naomi (USA), Day Ravies The Vanguard, Newtown $37.80 7.30pm Five & Dimers: Karl Broadie & Friends The Green Room Lounge,

Angelene Harris, Dave Wheeler, Ryan McClenahan, Dawn Tamariki, Sarah Wilkins, Toni Martelli, Skip Coble Tea Gardens Hotel, Bondi Junction free 7pm Darren Bennett George IV Inn, Picton free 7.30pm Greg Sita, Paul B Wilde Five Dock Hotel free 7.30pm Jonathan Devoy Botany View Hotel, Newtown free 7.30pm Lissy Noelle, Phil Cook, Nick Latta Trio, Cameron Mckee Dee Why Hotel free 7pm Peach Montgomery, Lily Fisher Newington Inn, Petersham free 7pm

7pm James Kenyon The Green Room Lounge, Enmore free 8.30pm Knox, Aaron Martin, Alex Gibson Trio Blue Beat, Double Bay $20 (+ bf) 7.30pm Krishna Jones Beach Bar, Coogee Bay Hotel free 9pm Library Siesta, The Bubble Solution, Love Like Hate, King Tears Mortuary Sly Fox, Enmore free 7pm Live & Local: Jake Edgley, Alana Lee, Overpass, Tom Stephens Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $10 7.30pm Lonely Boys Scruffy Murphy’s, Haymarket free 10pm Melodie Nelson Front Bar, Goodgod Small Club, Sydney free 8pm Musos Club Jam Night Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt free 8pm New Navy, Swirls, Gang Of Youths, Ratbag DJs Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $12 (+ bf) 8pm

ROCK & POP

Sonic Mayhem Orchestra Play Bob Marley Blue Beat, Double Bay $20 (+ bf) 7pm

Xxx

pick of the week

THURSDAY APRIL 18

g g guide gig g

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com

JAZZ

Alister Spence Trio with Louise Curham The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Chippendale $10-$20 8.30pm Gisele Scales, Emma Kirk, Carlotta Centanni, Abby Smith, Sally Street Blue Beat, Double Bay $20 (+ bf) 7pm Yuki Kumagai, John Mackie, Richard Booth Well Co. Cafe/Wine Bar, Glebe free 8pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

The Crooked Fiddle Band, The Main Guy & The Other Guy The Red Rattler, Marrickville $20 7pm Penelope Swales, David Sattout, Thomas Stefoulis, Collin Gosper, Pete Scully Mars Hill Café, Parramatta $15 8pm

SATURDAY APRIL 20 ROCK & POP

Bang! Bang! Rock 'n Roll, Horror My Friend, Bloody Lovely Audrey, Crass Creatures FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel $10 8pm Black Diamond Hearts Rock Lily, The Star, Pyrmont free 7pm Blue Oyster Cult (USA) The Hi-Fi Sydney, Moore Park $65.50 8pm Bounce Scruffy Murphy’s, Haymarket free 10pm

Coheed And Cambria (USA) Metro Theatre, Sydney sold out 7pm all-ages Cold World (USA), Civil War The Wall @ Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt $30 8pm Creo, Bones Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $15 (+ bf) 8pm The Cyril B Bunter Band, Jumphouse The Basement, Circular Quay $25 (+ bf) 7.30pm Deep Heat, The Fighting League, No Art, Yes I’m Leaving, Low Life Blackwire Records, Annandale $10 8pm all-ages Doc Holliday Takes The Shotgun, Van Hoorn, The Dead Heads, The Shooters Party The Standard, Surry Hills $10 (+ bf) 8pm Exekute, Roadside Burial, Festering Drippage, Burial Chamber, Abacination, Infested Entrails, Dead Life Valve Bar, Tempe 6pm Fitz Fest #2: Mad Nanna, Cliques, Angel Eyes, Day Ravies, Oscar Key Sung, Horse Macgyver, Love Chants, Muura, Mob, Snotty Babies, Ghastly Spats, Destiny 3000, Your Intestines, Exotic Dog, Jon Wilton, Simon Barker The Old Fitzroy Hotel, Woolloomooloo $15 2pm Flamin’ Beauties Raby Tavern free 8pm Frank Sultana And The Sinister Kids The Vanguard, Newtown $18.80 7.30pm Guy Sebastian, David Ryan Harris (USA) Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park sold out 7.30pm Keeda, Lord Phoenix, Adrien Andre

Sydney Livehouse @ Lewisham Hotel $15-$20 2pm all-ages Kim Salmon Repressed Records, Newtown free 4pm Kittens: Triforce, The Bright Young Things, Prints Spectrum, Darlinghurst $10 9pm Lime Cordiale, Tales In Space, Thieves, Bernie Dingo Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills free 6pm Midge Ure (UK) The Factory Theatre, Marrickville $62.20 7.30pm Midnight Juggernauts, YesYou, Four Door Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $25 (+ bf) 8pm My Mars Riot: The Chitticks, Virgo Rising, The Owls, God K, Bec and Ben, Black Zeros, The Jones Rival, The Vernons, The Dark Hawkes, High Tails, Dead Bear, The Rumours, The Troubled Romantics Annandale Hotel $12 5pm Next Best Thing Sutherland United Services Club free 7.30pm Oxford & Co., Tom Stephens Brass Monkey, Cronulla $14.30 7pm Rule Of Thirds, Raw Prawn, Glory Hole, Oily Boys The Square, Haymarket $10 8pm Russell Nelson, The Deep Beach Bar, Coogee Bay Hotel free 7.30pm Soul Vibes: Radical Son, Dilla Cypher, Moa, DJ Jonah, DJ Triptrix Blue Beat, Double Bay $20 (+ bf) 8pm Stone Music Festival 2013: Van Halen (USA), Aerosmith (USA), Jimmy Barnes, Kings

Of Chaos (USA/UK), The Living End, Noiseworks, Buckcherry (USA), Richie Ramone (USA), Ian Moss, The Superjesus, Choirboys, The Art, My So Called Life, The Dead Love, Atlantis Awaits, My Secret Circus, Ten Thousand, Kris Petersen, Born Lion ANZ Stadium, Sydney Olympic Park, Homebush Bay $129 (single day)-$219 (both days) 10am Sunset Riot, Mad Charlie, Rattlesnake, Bitter Sweethearts Hermann’s Bar, University Of Sydney, Darlington $10 8pm Sydney Jam Band Sessions Sydney Livehouse @ Lewisham Hotel $13 8pm Teen Rush: At Sunset, Titanium (NZ), Kristina, DJ Lavrax Metro Theatre, Sydney $37.50 (+ bf) 4.30pm all-ages Tiny Ruins, TITLE DJs Title, Surry Hills free 3pm The Upskirts, The Ruminaters Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm

JAZZ

Yuki Kumagai, John Mackie Well Co.Cafe/ Wine Bar, Leichhardt free 7.15pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Daniel Hopkins, South Creek, Taylor Hamilton, The Pug North Manly Bowling & Recreation Club, North Manly free 7pm Hooray For Everything The Belvedere Hotel, Sydney free 9pm Jordan Millar, Jack Carty,

Elle May Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst $12 8pm

SUNDAY APRIL 21 ROCK & POP

Armchair Travellers Beach Bar, Coogee Bay Hotel free 7.30pm The Coconut Ruffs Brass Monkey, Cronulla 7pm Cold World (USA), Civil War The Wall @ Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt $30 2pm all-ages Deep Heat, King Tears Mortuary, Beef Jerk Hotel Hollywood, Surry Hills free 7pm Dig It Up! The Hoodoo Gurus, Blue Oyster Cult (USA), The Flamin’ Groovies (USA), Buzzcocks (UK), Peter Case (USA), The Stems, Lime Spiders, The Crusaders, The Laurels, Mother & Son, Bloods, Tumbleweed, Salmon & Cowie, The Frowning Clouds, The Fighting League, Super Wild Horses, Darren Cross, Deniz Tek, Blackie, Yo Grito! DJs, Stephen Ferris, Jack Shit, Clyde Bramley Enmore Theatre / The Sly Fox / The Green Room Lounge / The Midnight Special, Enmore $117.70-$167.70 1pm The Dilla Cypher feat. C Major & Alphamama Rock Lily, The Star, Pyrmont free 7pm East Side Ride: DIG (Directions In Groove), King Tide, Lily Dior

Centennial Park, Loch Avenue South Area free 9am all-ages Finn Bull And Bush Hotel, Balkham Hills free 3pm Hue Williams Bayview Hotel free 3.30pm Leslie Speaker, Letters To Lions, Six White Horses, Uplifting Bell End Valve Bar, Tempe 4pm Oscar Key Sung, Thomas William, Scissor Lock Miss Julie, Marrickville $5 5.30pm all-ages Stone Music Festival 2013: Billy Joel (USA), Icehouse, Guy Sebastian, Lifehouse (USA), Diesel, Mark Seymour, Shannon Noll, Illumination Road, Dallas Frasca, Mark Moroney, London Cries, Stone Parade, Gypsies and Gentlemen, New Empire, The Hiding, Chase The Sun, Tori Darke, Braden Evans, King Farook ANZ Stadium, Sydney Olympic Park, Homebush Bay $129 (single day)-$219 (both days) 10am The Turps, Dirty Slutz, Falling Down Stairs Botany View Hotel, Newtown free 5.30pm Watussi Moonshine, Hotel Steyne, Manly free 5pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Kristina Olsen (USA) with Anatoli Torjinski, The Volatinsky Trio Blue Beat, Double Bay $30 (+ bf) 6pm Peach Montgomery, Penelope Swales, Lily Fisher, Rob Morten Salisbury Hotel, Stanmore free 2pm

tue

16 Apr

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

wed

thu

17

18

Apr

Apr

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

fri

19 Apr

(9:30PM - 1:30AM)

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

SATURDAY AFTERNOON (4:30PM - 7:30PM)

sat

20

SATURDAY NIGHT

Apr

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

sun

21 Apr

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

SUNDAY NIGHT

(8:30PM - 12:00AM)

BRAG :: 508 :: 15:04:13 :: 43

gig picks

up all night out all week...

TUESDAY APRIL 16 Damon & Naomi (USA), Day Ravies The Vanguard, Newtown $37.80 7.30pm

Small Plastic Songs 7” Release: Skullsquadron, The Aerotrope Guild, Ya Aha, Restless Leg The Square, Haymarket $10 8pm Vance Joy, The Falls The Vanguard, Newtown sold out 7.30pm

WEDNESDAY APRIL 17

FRIDAY APRIL 19

The Cupcake Conspiracy, Spaceticket, Rockethead, The Mool King Device Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst $5 8pm

Bryan Estepa, Charlie Horse, Ash Hansen FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel $10 8pm

New Navy, Swirls, Gang Of Youths, Ratbag DJs Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $12 (+ bf) 8pm

THURSDAY APRIL 18 Ainslie Wills, Elana Stone feat.

Zebra Zap, PJ Wolf FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel $14 8pm Country Roads: The Steamgrass Boys, Mustered Courage, 200k, Luke Escombe Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $10 6pm Lawson (UK), Sinead Burgess Metro Theatre, Sydney $36.90 6.45pm all-ages Mid Semester Party: The Trouble With Templeton, Sures, Maples, Beat The System DJs Hermann’s Bar, The University Of Sydney, Darlington free 5pm

44 :: BRAG :: 508 : 15:04:13

Buckcherry (USA), Richie Ramone (USA), The Art The Standard, Surry Hills $50 8pm The Growl, Gooch Palms Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst $10 8pm Kim Salmon & Spencer P Jones, The Holy Soul, Joseph Liddy Annandale Hotel $15 8pm Lepers & Crooks, She Rex Spectrum, Darlinghurst $13.50 8pm MUM: Corpus, Horror My Friend, Oslow, Thom, Ra Bazzaar, Lady White, Gnome The World Bar, Kings Cross $10$15 8pm Red Eye Records Night: Good Heavens, Unity Floors, Community Radio, Red Eye DJs Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $12 7.30pm Vydamo, Pluto Jonze, Mammals Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $15 (+ bf) 8pm

SATURDAY APRIL 20 Bang! Bang! Rock 'n Roll, Horror My Friend, Bloody Lovely Audrey, Crass Creatures FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel $10 8pm Blue Oyster Cult (USA) The Hi-Fi Sydney, Moore Park $65.50 8pm Deep Heat, The Fighting League, No Art, Yes I’m Leaving, Low Life Blackwire Records, Annandale $10 8pm all-ages Doc Holliday Takes The Shotgun, Van Hoorn, The Dead Heads, The Shooters Party The Standard, Surry Hills $10 (+ bf) 8pm Kim Salmon Repressed Records, Newtown free 4pm Lime Cordiale, Tales In Space, Thieves, Bernie Dingo Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills free 6pm Midge Ure (UK) The Factory Theatre, Marrickville $62.20 7:30pm My Mars Riot: The Chitticks, Virgo Rising, The Owls, God K, Bec and Ben, Black Zeros, The Jones Rival, The Vernons, The Dark Hawkes, High Tails, Dead Bear, The Rumours, The Troubled Romantics Annandale Hotel $12 5pm Stone Music Festival 2013: Van Halen (USA), Aerosmith (USA),

Tiny Ruins Jimmy Barnes, Kings Of Chaos (USA/UK), The Living End, Noiseworks, Buckcherry (USA), Richie Ramone (USA), Ian Moss, The Superjesus, Choirboys, The Art, My So Called Life, The Dead Love, Atlantis Awaits, My Secret Circus, Ten Thousand, Kris Petersen, Born Lion ANZ Stadium, Sydney Olympic Park, Homebush Bay $129 (single day)-$219 (both days) 10am Tiny Ruins, TITLE DJs TITLE, Surry Hills free 3pm Jordan Millar, Jack Carty, Elle May Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst $12 8pm

SUNDAY APRIL 21 Dig It Up! The Hoodoo Gurus, Blue Oyster Cult (USA), The Flamin’ Groovies (USA), Buzzcocks (UK), Peter Case

(USA), The Stems, Lime Spiders, The Crusaders, The Laurels, Mother & Son, Bloods, Tumbleweed, Salmon & Cowie, The Frowning Clouds, The Fighting League, Super Wild Horses, Darren Cross, Deniz Tek, Blackie, Yo Grito! DJs, Stephen Ferris, Jack Shit, Clyde Bramley Enmore Theatre / The Sly Fox / The Green Room Lounge / The Midnight Special, Enmore $117.70$167.70 1pm Stone Music Festival 2013: Billy Joel (USA), Icehouse, Guy Sebastian, Lifehouse (USA), Diesel, Mark Seymour, Shannon Noll, Illumination Road, Dallas Frasca, Mark Moroney, London Cries, Stone Parade, Gypsies and Gentlemen, New Empire, The Hiding, Chase The Sun, Tori Darke, Braden Evans, King Farook ANZ Stadium, Sydney Olympic Park, Homebush Bay $129 (single day)-$219 (both days) 10am

brag beats

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

dance music news club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Alasdair Duncan

on the record WITH

The First Record I Bought: ‘Stars’ by Simply Red is the first record 1.

I remember sitting and listening to as a

Atoms For Peace as well. Thom Yorke can do no wrong.

By’ and is free off SoundCloud right now.

Check it out.

kid reading all the lyrics, but my parents purchased that. There was a record store near my house called Sound Garden. I used to go in there every week and buy an album from the second hand section purely off the front cover. Many of the bands I love today came from that random process. I think VAST was the first.

The First Thing I Recorded I think everybody cringes at their 3. beginnings. My first band Days Like Stars

The Record That Changed My Life: I’m greedy so I’m going name a few!

5.

‘Try Whistling This’ by Neil Finn, ‘Gala

recorded a live album in our singer’s garage to about ten people. I challenge anyone to find something more cringe worthy. That’s why I still love it to this day.

Mill’ by The Drones, ‘Beautiful Sharks’ by Something For Kate and anything ever written by The Chemical Brothers. They are the reason I’m a DJ today.

2.

The Last Record I Bought: The new Simian Mobile Disco live album.

I don’t think anyone has cleaner and more precise production than those two – a brilliant representation of a brilliant body of work.

TOMMY TRASH

Ministry of Sound’s international electro superstar Tommy Trash returns to Australia for a headline tour this June. Trash was recently voted the ‘Most Influential Person In Australian Dance Music’ by inthemix – an accolade not to be sniffed at. The mop-topped one has played huge clubs and festivals the world over, and has collaborated with and remixed the likes of Swedish House Mafia, Steve Aoki, Tiësto, Sebastian Ingrosso, A-Trak, Digitalism and deadmau5. He recently scored a residency

Daft Punk

xxx photo by xx

DEVOLA

The Last Thing I Recorded I pump out numerous mashups as 4.

Devola on a regular basis (all my stuff is free off my SoundCloud), but my new project is a duo with a dear friend entitled Leaderboy. Our first single is called ‘By &

in Las Vegas, but to celebrate the official launch of his single ‘Reload’, he’ll be coming to Australia for a string of dates - you can see him at Pacha in Sydney on Saturday June 8.

MOVEMENT FESTIVAL

Due to some unfortunate and unforeseen circumstances, the organisers of the upcoming Movement Festival have just announced various line-up and venue changes. First, the good news – Sydney’s show has not been moved and remains at the Hordern Pavilion

MOSCA

Known to his parents and teachers as Tom Reid, DJ Mosca is one of the most exciting figures in the UK dubstep scene. His Square One EP, released on Night Slugs, confounded expectations, taking the dubstep framework and stretching it in directions as varied as deep house, techno, dancehall and grime.

His follow-up EP, Eva Mendes, featured a track that paid tribute to the beautiful actress…just because, I guess. He’s taking time out from hosting BBC Radio 1 club music show ‘In New DJs We Trust’ to make his way to Australia for a series of dates later this month. Whether he’s pitting Angolan kuduro against 2-step, or combining Wu-Tang with slow house, Mosca’s sets are always something to behold. Catch him at The Abercrombie on Thursday April 25.

With: Hermitude, Alison Wonderland, Sosueme DJs and more Where: Sosueme 6th Birthday @ Beach Road Hotel When: Wednesday April 17

on Friday April 26. Now, the bad – several key artists have dropped out. Thanks to ongoing Visa eligibility issues, 2 Chainz will no longer be performing at the event. Similarly, Angel Haze has withdrawn from the festival due to recording commitments with “a certain high profile producer.” It’s probably David Guetta or something. The silver lining to all this is the announcement of two new acts – foul-mouthed hip hop prodigy Iggy Azalea and Melbourne duo Diafrix join the likes of Nas, Bliss N Eso, Chiddy Bang and Joey Bada$$ on the bill.

Mosca

DAFT PUNK

By now, you’ve probably heard the news that French electronic titans Daft Punk have chosen to launch their new album in the somewhat obscure NSW country town of Wee Waa. The town, known for cotton production, is 571km northwest of Sydney, and the whispers are that Daft Punk were attracted to it for its collection of CSIRO satellites and telescopes. Daft Punk will launch Random Access Memories during the Wee Waa Show on May 17 – they won’t be playing a live show, but it will be the first time the record is played in full. There are 4000 tickets to the event, and if you manage to nab one, you’ll need to pick it up in person on Thursday May 16 or Friday May 17 from the Crossing Theatre in nearby Narrabri. We repeat, the pair WON’T be playing a show there, but will reportedly be hosting the event. So there you go.

BRAG :: 508 :: 15:04:13 :: 45

dance music news

free stuff

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

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

CHARLI XCX

five things WITH

CRAIG RYAN FROM CLOCKWERK Growing Up ‘Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables’ by 1.

Dead Kennedys. I won a competition in high

The Music You Make ‘Smooth Surroundings Mix’. It’s a mix 4.

I did a while back that I’m extremely proud

school and received a $20 gift voucher for a CD of my choice. At the time I was listening to a lot of punk/hardcore and had never heard of the DKs before so I thought I’d risk it. It’s still my favourite album to this day!

of. I think it represents me best as a DJ because of the fact it’s 47:10 minutes of tunes I would never play at a club gig! I made it as more of a ‘going to and from work’ mix. I don’t like to just consider myself as the token hip hop DJ or turntablist. I think variety is indeed the true spice of life and that musically, it’s a great time to be alive!

Inspirations Dub Phizix feat. Skittles – ‘I’m A Creator’.

2.

DnB plus jungle has always had a huge influence on me since. The thing I love about this release from the Manchester RudeBwoy is that he has cemented his own deep, dark, minimalist-style of jungle in the music world that, in my opinion, is instantly recognisable.

Your Group When I was eight, I acquired a three-in-one 3. cassette/radio/karaoke machine from my older sister who used it twice and palmed it off to me.

I tinkered with the recording functions on it and was soon making my very own mixtapes. Then my other sister always supplied me with blank tapes to make her and her friends everything from Smashing Pumpkin tapes and Silverchair mixes. I look back on them now and think, “Wow! I was a DJ even before I started DJing!”

Music, Right Here, Right Now This is such an easy one to answer 5.

– ‘Fat Of The Land’ by The Prodigy. This record is honest to god the true meaning of artistic genius! From tracks like ‘Mindfields’ to ‘Diesel Power’ and ‘Smack My Bitch Up’ it truly changed the way I perceived music in general and captures the crazy side in every single human being that has ever walked the earth.

What: Clockwerk and friends Where: Hands Up! @ FBi Social When: Wednesday April 17

Amidst the alphabet soup of bands gracing our shores (The xx, XXYYXX etc.), there is one feisty crouton that stands out. Charli XCX (not to be confused with Charli from Hi-5) will have you on your toes as though a little purple critter named Jup Jup has just stolen your copy of Icona Pop’s chartcrusher ‘I Love It’. Coincidentally, Miss XCX penned that triple-Platinum track, and has roped together a killer new album with the same cool cats that have collaborated with Usher, Major Lazer, Solange, Lana del Rey and Robyn. Dancing between dark pop beats and euphoric synth soundscapes, True Romance is out on April 19. For the chance to win a copy, just tell us your postal address and your idea of ‘True Romance’...

XoXo.

DERRICK MAY

Fancy scoring yourself a double pass to see a bona fide techno legend in action this Saturday night? Derrick May doesn’t just play Detroit Techno (or Hi-Tek Soul, as he dubs his sound) – he invented the damn genre in the ’80s with Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson, melding the emotion of soul and R&B with the crisp robotic sounds of analogue synths and drum machines.

Find out what’s tickling May’s ears these days (and hope he drops all-time classic ‘Strings Of Life’) at Goldfish this Saturday April 20 – for a chance to win, just tell us the moniker by which May, Atkins and Saunderson were known.

NICE7 M4CEMA

Black-lunged rapper M4-CEMA is making his Australian debut at the mysterious music festival Smokescreen. While the rapper has had little exposure in the Antipodes, highly regarded hip hop blog Def Stix described his flow as “a little bit Weezy – a natural successor to the throne of heavy smokers.” Visit our Facebook page for more on the festival.

M4-CEMA

Italy’s rising tech-house stars NiCe7 won a Beatport Award for Best Tech House Track last year – live, you’ll find they range from techy beats to darker stuff with elements of funk.

Catch them with Kashii, at The Abercrombie on Saturday April 20.

Radioslave

THE HATED

Following their highly-acclaimed single ‘Lord’s Life’, released earlier this year, Byron Bay hip-hop group The Hated have just released a brand new free EP and are celebrating with a national tour. Leeze, Griffin Brain and Vitals each bring a distinctive sound and voice to the mix, telling tales of life in Byron. The fi ve-track EP, produced

by C1, is available for free from the group’s Bandcamp Page, but if you’re hankering for a hard copy, they’ll be available at the band’s shows in the coming months - catch them at Sabotage @ The Forbes Hotel on Friday May 17.

LA FAMIGLIA

The folks behind EDM parties Significant Others, Church Of Techno, Shrug and Secret Society are combining forces for a new Saturday night shindig each week in May, taking over the Burdekin’s ground floor with house and filling the basement with techno.

Free before midnight, $15 after, more at Facebook.com/pages/lafamiglia

RADIOSLAVE

A man known for his ability to instill emotion into dance music, the past few months have not been easy for English producer Radioslave – he had a minor operation that went badly wrong, broke up with his girlfriend, and had a “huge” fight with a best friend.

Fortunately for us, he’s channeled all the feels into his latest mix for Balance (023), with one disc aimed at the dancefloor and one at the after party. He’ll be bringing his latest finds to Chinese Laundry on Saturday May 18, where you can hear a preview of the mix (out May 25 through Balance/EMI).

Andhim

BEACH ROAD

The very lovely party people at Beach Road are set for another cracking month of party acts and DJs all through Saturdays in April and May. Head to Bondi to catch a stellar line-up of local acts that includes The Aston Shuffle, Van She Tech, Leah Mencel, Furnace & The Fundamentals, Watussi and all of Falcona’s finest and shiniest DJs. That’s not even the

best of it – this Saturday April 20, the Purple Sneakers DJs return to bring the ruckus.

Over the past couple of years, the duo have worked hard to earn a reputation as Australia’s foremost indie dance troublemakers, showcasing their skills on a pair of We Mix You Dance compilations. Doors open at 8pm, entry is free and support comes from Ria, Silver Age and Ryan Saez.

TRENTEMØLLER

Germany’s andhim have created their own genre - ‘super house’ – an organic sound with an emphasis on fine details and influences from hip hop as much as house. The pair has impressive turntable credentials – Simon spent his teens scratching with various jazz musicians throughout Europe, while Tobias was part of the Noisy Stylus crew, winners of various ITF and DMC championships. You can catch andhim at the Spice Cellar on Saturday April 20, with support from Murat Kilic, Robbie Lowe, Carlos Zarate and YokoO. Tickets are $20 on the door.

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Trentemøller photo by Nina Mouritzen

ANDHIM

Danish producer Trentemøller recently announced that he and his live band will be supporting the legendary Depeche Mode on their upcoming European tour.

That announcement isn’t so exciting for those of us stuck down here in Australia, but it comes packaged with word of brand new music from Trentemøller himself! A new single, featuring Johnny Pierce from The Drums, is due out next month, with a full-length album to follow in September. His last record, the spaced-out, cinematic Into The Great Wide Yonder, featured an array of live instrumentation – however, he’s said that this new one drifts back towards the more hazy electronic territory of his first.

Watch this space for more.

Charli XCX

Sosueme

New Romantic By Caitlin Welsh

C

harlotte Aitchison, AKA Charli XCX, is trudging home in the cold, taking interviews on her mobile between studio sessions; it’s 10:30 at night, and London is freezing. Much of Britain is suffering an unseasonably cold spring – head-high snowdrifts, dead puffins washing up on beaches, etc. “It’s kinda like Ice Age over here,” Aitchison laughs. She’s hoping it’s not actually a sign of impending apocalypse. “It would be such a shame if the world ended the day before my album came out and no one ever heard it.”

Fans have been waiting a while for a debut from Charli XCX – after releasing two rave-clash-pop singles in the late ’00s, she emerged back onto the scene in mid-2011 with the stormy, yearning single ‘Stay Away’ (co-written with Diplo’s pop partner in crime, Ariel Rechtshaid), which scored a Best New Track tag from Pitchfork and reignited the hype. She’s spent the nearly two years since teasing new tracks on short mixtapes – her starry-eyed goth-pop melodies sung over production from Gold Panda and Blood Diamonds, with dialogue from ’90s movies like The Craft and Cruel Intentions punctuating the space between tracks. Most of those songs and other new ones – including a collab with rapper/stripper Brooke Candy – appear on her first full-length, True Romance, which is out this week.

“I’ve never been pregnant, but I imagine that this is kinda what it feels like – just with a lot

more pain,” says Aitchison with a laugh. “I really feel like it’s a coming-of-age record for me, like I’m grown-up. Obviously there’s still a massive child-like element to me, but I just feel like this record is a turning point for me. Kinda like my whole romantic experience has been compiled into one album, so it’s still raw for me.”

The Charli XCX aesthetic occupies a similar ’90s-teen-girl-via-Tumblr space as Grimes’ pink hair and platforms, with maybe a bit less art-school and a little more Gothic girl group.

Anyone born in 1992 doesn’t really know a world without the Spice Girls, and the selfconfessed Spice tragic makes no secret of her pop leanings. “I always wanted to write a pop record – not a hipster bullshit record, I just wanted to write a record full of pop songs. And maybe they’re not Top 40 pop songs, but they’re still pop songs, y’know?” she says. “I don’t want to write throwaway pop music – I think that’s a waste of time. I want to write credible pop music, and that’s what I think I’ve been doing.”

Of course, Aitchison’s already had a taste of chart success – sort of. She co-wrote, and is featured on, Swedish duo Icona Pop’s hedonistic shout-along smash ‘I Love It’.

“Everyone knew that song was going to be a hit, and my vocals were on it, so I wanted to be a feature on it so that I could, y’know, get some fans from that, I guess, that I maybe wouldn’t have had I not done it,” she explains. “I didn’t want to take the track as my own, because my album doesn’t sound like that song. I’ve never wanted to make an album that sounds like that song – that crazy electro-clash riot thing. Which I think is amazing, and Icona Pop do that so well. They took that song to a place that I never could have. They own it.”

In fact, one eye on the top of the charts and one on her own, less commercial aspirations is exactly how Aitchison wants to run things. “That song has opened a lot of doors for me as a writer, so I’ll be able to write Top 40-friendly songs for them, and at the same time make music that I want to write as an artist,” she says brightly. “So it’s worked out well for me.”

What: True Romance is out through Warner on April 19.

Six Years of Shenanigans By Dijana Kumurdian

B

ack when you’d rather rip out your own eyelashes than hear another song

by The Kooks, and when you could catch a train without being subjected to shitty dubstep blasting out of an iPhone, a group of friends felt there was a gap in Sydney’s club scene. It was 2007, and booker Chris Murray (AKA Muz) and a couple of his DJ mates decided to start Sosueme: a night that favoured party jams and emerging local acts over the heavily-disseminated NME buzz bands of the time.

“We were into decent indie music and there were a lot of great bands coming through at that stage. So we thought, let’s just chuck it on and have a bit more fun with it, and then it started to snowball,” says Muz. “It’s stuck around for six years, which I think is the longest-standing club night in Sydney.”

The weekly event, along with its stable of Sosueme DJs (like residents Hobophonics and DJ Hansom), has been hosted on different nights and in various venues over the years, from its beginnings at Fringe Bar on Oxford St, to Fridays at QBar, and its current home on Wednesdays at the Beach Road Hotel in Bondi. “It’s moved around a bit. The whole idea was that if it doesn’t suit the venue, or if it outgrows the venue, then it moves on,” says Muz. “For us, it’s always been about the party, not the act … And that’s what I think people want. You don’t just want to go to a show and then go home, you want to stick around for a whole night and get a little bit loose and have weird, random shit happening in different corners – which is what we’ve always tried to do.”

Since its beginnings, Sosueme has billed itself as “99% genre free”, a quality DJ Hansom attributes to the night’s longevity.

“Some nights will market themselves as

being a specific sort of night, but then they’ve only got a certain lifespan, because that music won’t be big and popular for such a long time, so they’re seen as tired. … We put a lot of time into what we play. We won’t just play tracks straight up, we take those tracks and make them our own – mashing them up, or creating an edit.”

“It’s like a house party,” says Hobophonics. “[People] enjoy all types of music, as long as they can party to it,” adds Muz. “So whether it’s hip hop or nu-disco or trap or rock, as long as it’s fun, most people are into it.

People’s tastes are so broad these days, and also the genres are all kind of moving into each other.”

So what are Sosueme’s tips for a good party?

“Alcohol, women… illuminated jackets…” says DJ Hansom. “I find that it’s being the loosest person in the room, then everyone’s got a precedent,” adds Hobophonics, laughing.

“They’ve got a goal to reach ‘cause they’re like, ‘Fuck, that guy’s going the hardest’. I ruined this entire suit the first day I wore it.”

“The birthdays are always the best parties of the year,” says Muz. “[We’ve] got Hermitude playing … and these lads [the DJs], and Alison Wonderland. ... It’s meant to be full of surprises, but expect the same sort of tomfoolery you have every year. So there’ll be babes handing out free fairy floss and popcorn, and party poppers, and hats, and jelly shots, and there’ll be kissing booths and animals will be flying around. … There’s a ridiculous amount of freebies, and there’s four massive rooms, so lots of fun.”

What: Sosueme 6th Birthday Where: Beach Road Hotel, Bondi When: Wednesday April 17

Major Lazer Free At Last By Hugh Robertson

A

Usher’s ‘Climax’ and the best song on Justin Bieber’s last album, as well as tracks for Korean boy-band rappers GD & Top.

side from the ubiquitous ‘Gangnam Style’, there was no more unlikely hit single in 2012 than Major Lazer’s ‘Get Free’.

Featuring the unique voice of Dirty Projectors’ Amber Coffman, and built around a strange little earworm of a hook, part of its success must surely have been that it was unlike anything else released in a year where enormous electro beats dominated almost every radio station. Somehow, though, it was a huge hit both here and overseas – which must be a little embarrassing for Interscope, who had dropped Major Lazer from the label.

“What’s really cool about the Korean stuff is that there’s no sense of authenticity, which everyone seems to care about so much,” says Pentz. “But they don’t care – they just like the way things sound, and they do it. There’s no reason, or history, or culture for it, and that’s the future for me, y’know? Where you don’t have this argument about where you’re from, or what you do, or who you represent, or what genre you are, or who your audience is. That doesn’t matter. All that matters is that the music is exciting.”

“The reason the whole album [new LP Free The Universe] was delayed was that we came out with ‘Get Free’, and our label dropped us because they wanted EDM,” says Thomas Wesley Pentz, better known as Diplo, the creative force behind Major Lazer. “But it all worked out for the best – the album came out later and we could make it a little stronger.” “[Interscope] wanted to invest all their stuff in EDM, and I was like ‘That stuff comes and goes.’

And it actually has no fans, in reality. The music’s great, but there’s no artistry to it, there’s no connection with fans. And Major Lazer is bigger than that. But they didn’t understand that. So fuck them. They’re corny anyway.”

It seems strange for one of the best DJs in the world to be so disparaging of the label that has brought electronic music back to the centre of pop, but Pentz says that EDM has been great for Major Lazer because it’s so limited. “[EDM] is why so many people like Major Lazer,” he

explains. “They get into dance music, then they find us, and we’re dance music plus more.

We give them dance music, but we also give them real records. So we’re lucky that it kinda happened.”

It shouldn’t be so surprising that Pentz doesn’t see himself as part of the ‘big dumb fun’ crowd.

He is something of a poster boy for good times – check out all the girls expressing themselves to Pentz via his Twitter – but there’s a much deeper, iconoclastic attitude to much of the music he makes. He’s worked with M.I.A. and Santigold – both noted appropriators of various styles – and just in the past year was responsible for the “Radiohead quietstorm” of

Pentz also has enormous love for his latest collaborator, the man now known as the L-IO-N – he’s produced the entirety of the new Snoop reggae album. “I feel like nobody could even make pop and reggae like he could. He’s Snoop, like a brand, and if he wants to do reggae then we’re going to help him do it. But I think he really doesn’t give a shit. He smokes weed, and he’s like, ‘Yo, I’m me. I’m cooler than anybody. I’m Snoop Dogg.’ And I think that confidence goes a long way, because there’s a lot of energy and negativity against his music, which is crazy to me. But I’m so proud of the music, and all that matters is that the music is great.”

What: Free The Universe is out now through Secretly Canadian/Warner Music Australia

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

club pick of the week SATURDAY APRIL 20

Derrick May

THURSDAY APRIL 18 The Cool Room, The Australian Brewery, Rouse Hill The Brewery’s 000 Party DJ Nino Brown, Nukewood, Troy T, DJ Koffee, Big Will free-$10 8pm Exchange Hotel, Darlinghurst Hot Damn Hot Damn DJs $15-$20 8pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Resident DJs 10pm Newtown Hotel Young Henry’s (DJ Set), Shantan Wantan Ichiban, PhDJ free 6pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross Rewind Resident DJs 8pm Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross TakeOver Thursdays Resident DJs $10 9pm Whaat Club, Potts Point Chakra Robust, Brizz free 9.30pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Propaganda DJ Moody (UK), Gillex, Dan Bombings, Becci Hearts free (student)-$5 8pm

FRIDAY APRIL 19

Goldfish, Kings Cross

Derrick May (USA), Dave Stuart, Eoin Brosnan, Matt Cahill, Johnny Gleeson $25 9pm MONDAY APRIL 15 Scruffy Murphy’s, Haymarket Mother Of A Monday DJ Smokin’ Joe free 7pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Latin Jazz Resident DJ free 7pm

TUESDAY APRIL 16 Establishment, Sydney Rumba Motel Salsa DJ Willie Sabor free 8pm Scruffy Murphy’s, Haymarket 48 :: BRAG :: 508 :: 15:04:13

I Love Goon Resident DJs free 7pm Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross Coyote Tuesday - Mojosurf Beach Party Johnny B, Danny Simms, Jarrad Pearse 9pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Chu Andy & Mike, Dollar Bear & Rees Hellmers, Kaiser Waldon free 8pm

WEDNESDAY APRIL 17 Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Hermitude free 8pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross

KIT Wednesdays Resident DJs 10pm The Lewisham Hotel Garbage 90s Nights Resident DJs free 7pm The Ranch Hotel, Epping Hump Wednesdays Resident DJs 8pm UTS Glasshouse, Broadway, Ultimo Pez, Purpose, electric Elements, Crash Hot, Sleepwalkers $10-$20 8pm all-ages Whaat Club, Potts Point Whip It Wednesdays Veritgo DJs free 9pm The World Bar, Kings Cross The Wall Redial, Hydraulix, Kilter, Genie, Kemikoll, Taylor Wolf, Fingers, Laprats, Here’s Trouble, Brothers Grimm 8pm

Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst Twist And Shout DJ Soup, DJ Dylabolical $5 11pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Boss Bass DC Breaks (UK), Royalston, Hydraulix, Autoclaws, Bassriot, Bruxism, Phaseone $15-$25 10pm Cohibar, Darling Harbour Gimme Five Shamus, DJ Mike Silver, Cadell free 5pm The Den, Ivy, Sydney Inseam Launch Party Alex Dimitriades, Jay Squad $20 8pm Goodgod Front Bar, Sydney Yo Grito! Yo Grito! DJs free 9pm The Green Room Lounge, Enmore Ready Steady Fro! Bexy J, Key-Star, Del Piero, Goldfoot free 8pm Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour The Guestlist Resident DJs 9pm Jacksons On George, Sydney $5 @ 5 On Fridays Resident DJs free 5pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Fridays Resident DJs 10pm Oatley Hotel We Luv Oatley Hotel Fridays Resident DJ free 8pm Omega Lounge, City Tattersalls Club, Sydney Unwind Fridays DJ Greg Summerfield free 5.30pm Q Bar, Darlinghurst Teen Spirit: House Party At The Bank’s Mansion Teen Spirit DJs $10 9pm The Ranch Hotel, Epping Retro Fridays Resident DJs 9.30pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross MILF – Man I Love Fridays!

Resident DJs 8pm The Sly Fox, Enmore Wild Thing Cherry 2000, Dirty Youth, Show Pony free 9pm The Soda Factory, Surry Hills Golden Era Parachute Pants, Nick Bennet, Mase Boogie, 40 Love, Moriarty, Hypercolour free 9.30pm The Spice Cellar, Sydney Soft & Slow Canyons (DJ set), Pink Lloyd, Dreamcatcher $10 11.59pm Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross Grind Big Bee, Teknix, DJ

Slavv, Micky Vee, Billy B 9pm The Vic On The Park Hotel, Marrickville Conrad Greenleaf free 11.59pm The Watershed Hotel, Darling Harbour Bring On The Weekend! DJ Matt Roberts free 6pm Whaat Club, Potts Point Think Fridays Discobusy, Peeping Tom, Mattty Whells $10-$15 8pm The World Bar, Kings Cross MUM Corpus, Horror My Friend, Oslow, Thom, Ra Bazzaar, Lady White, Gnome $10-$15 8pm

SATURDAY APRIL 20

SUNDAY JUNE 24

Abercrombie Hotel, Broadway Mantra Collective Nice7 (ITL), Kashii (UK), Parkside, Manrta DJs $20-$25 3pm The Belvedere Hotel, Sydney Into Deep Robbie Lowe, John McGowan, Hamish Radford, RCNT $10-$15 4pm Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst Fools Gold Fools Gold DJs $10 11pm Burdekin Hotel, Darlinghurst Transcience Matt Dawson, Tonto, Pato De Gomah, Scotty G, Man Lie $10-$20 8pm Candy’s Apartment, Kings Cross Big Guns Sherlock Bones, Stalker, Tova, HS Rat, Double Dunk Disco, Main Street, Priest, Neven $20 8pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Plump DJs (UK), Wordlife, A-Tonez, U-Khan, Fingers, E-Cats, Mike Hyper, Sydney Be Heard DJs, Raulll, Magic Bird $15-$25 9pm Civic Underground, Sydney House Your Soul Ian Friday (USA), Mike Kon, George Kristopher, Mr-X $30 9pm Club 77, Darlinghurst Starfuckers Starfuckers DJs 10pm Cohibar, Darling Harbour Strange Clouds Murat Kilic, Jaded & James, Setmo, Mars Monero, Brenden Fing, Reno $10-$15 2pm Cohibar, Darling Harbour Yellow Sox Cadell, Toby Neal free 11pm FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel Hands Up! Clockwerk free 11.30pm Goldfish, Kings Cross Derrick May (USA), Dave Stuart, Eoin Brosnan, Matt Cahill, Johnny Gleeson $25 9pm Goodgod Small Club, Sydney HAHA Industries 8th Birthday Party Optimo (UK), D&D $35 (+ bf) 11pm The Green Room Lounge, Enmore Supersnazz Rock ‘n’ Roll Explosion DJ Vu free 8pm Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour Homemade Saturdays Resident DJs $20-$25 9pm Inner City Venue, Sydney Glitterbug (GER), Ronni Shendar (IL), Felix Warmuth, James Newman, Love’s Disciple, Rene Gade $15-$20 7pm Ivy, Sydney Pacha Nari & Milano, The Only, Ben Morris, Baby Gee, Devola, Fingers, Pat Ward, Pablo Calamari, Magic Happens, Trent Rackus, Heke, Kaiser, Polina, Kristy Lee, Deckhead, Gmod, Lola Siren $40 6.30pm Jacksons On George, Sydney Resident DJs free 9pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross

Kitty Kitty Bang Bang Resident DJs 10pm The Roxy Hotel, Parramatta Nano Jamz Presents Cecile (Jamaica), Basslines, DJ Kilow, DJ Iah Haj, Teddy $35 9pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross The Suite Resident DJs 8pm Secret Location, Sydney As If. Edition 2 Hank Scorpio, Zoe, Mr. Belvedere, Diseris, Jeremiah, Ian Erik $20 8pm Soho, Potts Point The Usual Suspects Reece Low, Djuro 9pm The Spice Cellar, Sydney Spice Andhim (GER), Murat Kilic, Robbie Lowe, Carlos Zarate, YokoO $20 10pm The Swiss Grand - Deck Bar, Bondi Start:Cue presents Illusion Recordings James Cotterill, Garry Todd, Tom Craven, Adam Proctor, Alister Hearnshaw, Dyson, Tommy Rutherford, Rickstar, Ross, Bravo Ashman 1pm Sydney International Dragway, Eastern Creek IQON 2013 Headhunterz (NL), Noisecontrollers (NL), Zatox (ITL), Brennan Heart (NL), Frontliner (NL), The Prophet (NL), Coone (BE), Isaac (NL), Tonshifterz, Code Black, Stana (SWE), MC Villan ( NL) $150 (+ bf) 11am Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross Trademark Saturdays - Allure Fashion Show Cadell, Troy T, Nacho Pop, Jason K, Kaz, MC Rafa 9pm UNSW Roundhouse, Kensington Roller Disco: Tiki Party Catlyf, Dee, Mr Dobalina, Rich People $10-$28 7pm The Watershed Hotel, Darling Harbour Skybar Saturdays Resident DJ $20 9.30pm Whaat Club, Potts Point After Dark Camo, Sampy, Mavros $10-$15 8pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Cakes Danny T, Tigerlily, Pablo Calamari, E-Cats, Hannah Gibbs, Mike Hyper, Brown Bear, Bounce Crew DJs, Deckhead, Thomas Lisse, Snillum $15-$20 8pm

SUNDAY APRIL 21 Abercrombie Hotel, Broadway S.A.S.H – Balance Presents Jozif, YokoO, Alley Oop, Vlada, Thomas Lisse, Matt Weir, Kerry Wallace $10 2pm Bar100, The Rocks Soulstice Madam Parker, Michael Duchesne, Nick Toth, Walter, Trey, JC $30 6pm The Beresford Hotel, Surry Hills Beresford Sundays Resident DJs free 3pm Jacksons On George, Sydney Aphrodisiac Industry Night Resident DJ free 9pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Easy Sundays Resident DJs free 10pm Oatley Hotel Sunday Sessions DJ Tone free 7pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross Sapphire Sundays Resident DJs 8pm The Spice Cellar, Sydney Spice After Hours Murat Kilic, Robbie Lowe $20 4am The Watershed Hotel, Darling Harbour DJ Matt Roberts free 2pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Soup Kitchen Cotolette, Spacie, Soup Kitchen DJs free 7pm

snap

club picks

up all night out all week . . .

up all night out all week...

WEDNESDAY APRIL 17

Pez

Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Hermitude free 8pm UTS Glasshouse, Broadway, Ultimo Pez, Purpose, Electric Elements, Crash Hot, Sleepwalkers $10-$20 8pm all-ages The World Bar, Kings Cross The Wall Redial, Hydraulix, Kilter, Genie, Kemikoll, Taylor Wolf, Fingers, Laprats, Here’s Trouble, Brothers Grimm 8pm

THURSDAY APRIL 18

The Soda Factory, Surry Hills Golden Era Parachute Pants, Nick Bennet, Mase Boogie, 40 Love, Moriarty, Hypercolour free 9.30pm The Spice Cellar, Sydney Soft & Slow Canyons (DJ set), Pink Lloyd, Dreamcatcher $10 11.59pm

SATURDAY APRIL 20 Abercrombie Hotel, Broadway Mantra Collective NiCe7 (ITL), Kashii

Civic Underground, Sydney House Your Soul Ian Friday (USA), Mike Kon, George Kristopher, Mr-X $30 9pm Goodgod Small Club, Sydney HAHA Industries 8th Birthday Party Optimo (UK), D&D $35 (+ bf) 11pm The Spice Cellar, Sydney Spice Andhim (GER), Murat Kilic, Robbie Lowe, Carlos Zarate, YokoO $20 10pm

SUNDAY APRIL 21 Abercrombie Hotel, Broadway S.A.S.H – Balance Presents Jozif, YokoO, Alley Oop, Vlada, Thomas Lisse, Matt Weir, Kerry Wallace $10 2pm

jamie xx

15:02:13 :: Metro Theatre :: 624 George St Sydney 9550 3666

goldfish It’s called: Goldfish, The Mile High Club & Paul

Strange present Derrick May It sounds like: A smooth selection of every thing from Deep House and Detroit Techno to Chicago House and more…

Who’s playing? Derrick May, Matt Cahill, Eion Brosnen, Dave Stuar t, Johnny Gleeson, Ben Ashston, About Jack and more…

numbers feat jackmaster

Three songs you’ll hear on the night: DJ Gregory – ‘Attend One’; Rober to Capuano – ‘Vertigo (Original Mix)’; Derrick May – ‘String s Of Life’.

And one you definitely won’t: Anything by Swedish House Mafia!

Sell it to us: Detroit House and Techno legen d Derrick May returns to Sydney to perform an exclusive and intimate performanc e at Goldfish. This is one event not to miss on the Sydney clubbing calendar.

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: With the official launch of our Ibiza Style Sunday mornings 'The Breakfast Club', we’ll be going all the way through, so you can still be here in the morning.

Wallet damage: $25 pre-sale tickets available online now at Dashtickets and Moshtix.

More at the door.

Where: Goldfish / 111 Darlinghurst Rd, Kings Cross When: Saturday April 20 / doors open at 6pm,

DJs from 10pm

jingle jangle 4th bday

06:02:13 :: Goodgod Small Club :: 53-55 Liverpool St Chinatown 8084 0587 xxx

PICS :: AM

Chinese Laundry, Sydney Boss Bass DC Breaks (UK), Royalston, Hydraulix, Autoclaws, Bassriot, Bruxism, Phaseone $15-$25 10pm

PICS :: KL

Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst Twist & Shout DJ Soup, DJ Dylabolical $5 11pm

Chinese Laundry, Sydney Plump DJs (UK), Wordlife, A-Tonez, U-Khan, Fingers, E-Cats, Mike Hyper, Sydney Be Heard DJs, Raulll, Magic Bird $15-$25 9pm

PICS :: AM

FRIDAY APRIL 19

(UK), Parkside, Mantra DJs $20-$25 3pm

party profile

The World Bar, Kings Cross Propaganda DJ Moody (UK), Gillex, Dan Bombings, Becci Hearts free (student)-$5 8pm

INA CLARKE :: KATE

:: KATR S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER CE UPTON DEN PRU :: MAR LEY ASH :: IS LEW

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snap up all night out all week . . .

It’s called: Death Strobe It sounds like: Going to the zoo on acid.

Who’s playing: Angelo Cruzman (Motorik!, Flinders, The Finger Prince), Andy Webb (Disco Delicious, Picnic) and Guns ‘n’ Mose s (Tunnel Signs, Kickons at your folks place).

Three songs you’ll hear on the night: Sasch ienne’s ‘Grand Cru’ (Pachanga Boys Glam Drive), Hot Chip’s ‘How Do You Do’ (Todd Terje remix) and ‘Your Face’ by The Finger Prince.

And one you definitely won’t: ‘The Secret To Attracting Wealth’ by Kelly Howell Sell it to us: It’s in an abandoned gay discot heque that’s about to be renovated in May. It’s on William Street and hasn’t seen a party since the summer of love in ’88.

We asked the lighting guy to make the rig ‘CC’ (cheesy and cheap). Think smoke machines, strobes and lazers. We also plan to bring out a giant techno-inspired ouija board to channel the vibe of past ravers who have long since retired to boring jobs in finance.

The bits we’ll remember in the AM: Our doorm an talking your ear off about CSS and web development when all you wanted to do was dance.

Crowd specs: Strobers Wallet damage: $5 ya cheapskate Where: 133-115 William Street, Darlinghurs t When: Saturday April 27

bang gang

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party profile

death strobe

s.a.s.h

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05:04:13 :: Club77 :: 77 William St Sydney

halfway crooks

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07:04:13 :: The Abercrombie Hotel :: 100 Broadway Ultimo 9211 3486

trap bombs

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sinden & brenmar 05:04:13 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex St Sydney 8295 9999 50 :: BRAG :: 508 :: 15:04:13

PICS :: AM

06:04:13 :: Phoenix Bar :: 34-44 Oxford st Darlinghurst Sydney 9331 3100

06:04:13 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex St Sydney 8295 9999 INA CLARKE :: KATE

:: KATR S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER CE UPTON DEN PRU :: MAR LEY ASH :: IS LEW

zombies need LovE TOO

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