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rock music news welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town...with Nick Timms, Olivia Kadir & Lucy Smith

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GRANT MCCULLOCH FROM THE SIREN TOWER the main thing I took from being reared on this era of music is the importance of the song – a great vocal line and a solid structure. It’s definitely put me in the “three chords and the truth” school of songwriters. Inspirations Chuck Berry was probably the 2. guy who lit the rock’n’roll fuse for

Growing Up My mum immersed me in the greats from a very young age. Roy Orbison, The Everly Brothers, Chuck Berry, Leslie Gore, Patsy Cline, Del

Shannon… She also force-fed me ABBA which I loathed at the time, but as an adult I’m in awe of their pop smarts and glad it’s now fused somewhere deep in my DNA. I think

me, but when I went out to discover contemporary music as a tween it was AC/DC and Guns N’ Roses that drew me in first. The strongest and most influential period for me was grunge. Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots were the soundtrack for my teenage years and remain some of my favourite acts of all time. A few of my favourite albums include Ænima by Tool, Jeff Buckley’s Grace, Vs. by Pearl Jam, Strange Tourist by Gareth Liddiard and any of the Rage Against The Machine stuff. Your Band We all cut our teeth on heavy 3. stuff, loud guitars, big amps. I guess

DRENGE

EDITOR: Chris Martin chris@thebrag.com 02 9212 4322 ARTS EDITOR: Lisa Omagari lisa@thebrag.com 02 9212 4322 STAFF WRITERS: Alasdair Duncan, Jody Macgregor, Krissi Weiss NEWS: Chris Honnery, Lucy Smith, Olivia Kadir, Mina Kitsos, Nick Timms ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant GRAPHIC DESIGN: Alan Parry SNAP PHOTOGRAPHERS: Karl Braasch, Katrina Clarke, Amath Magnan, Ashley Mar, David Rouse ADVERTISING: Bianca Lockley - 0412 581 669 / (02) 9212 4322 bianca@thebrag.com ADVERTISING: Les White - 0405 581 125 / (02) 9212 4322 les@thebrag.com PUBLISHER: Rob Furst MANAGING DIRECTOR, FURST MEDIA: Patrick Carr patrick@furstmedia.com.au, (03) 9428 3600, 0402 821 122 DIGITAL DIRECTOR/ADVERTISING: Kris Furst kris@furstmedia.com.au (03) 9428 3600 GIG & CLUB GUIDE CO-ORDINATORS: Olivia Kadir, Nick Timms, Mina Kitsos, Victoria Shehadie, James Dunlop - gigguide@thebrag.com (rock); clubguide@thebrag.com (dance, hip hop & parties)

Amongst the acts playing headline sideshow dates on the back of February’s Laneway Festival are Brit brothers Drenge, following the release of their debut self-titled album in August this year. Having already played at Glastonbury and the Reading and Leeds Festivals, Drenge’s Sydney date will be their first solo show in Australia. They’ll appear with special guests The Creases at Goodgod Small Club on Tuesday February 4.

MELBOURNE SKA ORCHESTRA

The Melbourne Ska Orchestra show at The Factory Theatre on Saturday November 9 is selling fast. They’ve announced their supports for the show, with locals Foreigndub Sound System alongside guest vocalist MC Kye. Also playing on the night will be DJ Kilmarnock Steve from Melbourne, spinning old school vinyls the way they’re meant to be heard.

NEWTOWN FESTIVAL

Newtown Festival, one of Sydney’s largest community events, is turning 35 this November and plans to celebrate in a big way. The festival, which showcases the diversity of the Newtown area, will play host to various musicians, art exhibits, readings from prominent authors, countless food stalls and even a pedal-powered

this is us mellowing a bit… A little bit. We love the folk and roots stuff but our rock background has imbued The Siren Tower’s music with a very strong backbone that lends everything an extra weight. Combined with the very strong and focused spirit of Australiana that we build our music on, the end result is something we hope is very unique. We didn’t set out to reconnect with the long-latent Oz rock sound but it seems to be an association people are making, which is cool. The Music You Make Stylistically we get thrown 4. in the ring with artists like Chisel, Midnight Oil, Something For Kate, Paul Kelly and the like; and again, we’re thrilled to be uttered in the same sentence as those names. Something that we do share with that golden era of Oz rock is the importance we place on the live show. Ultimately we’re a rock band and we aim to leave everything on the stage. If people like the record we want to make sure they never

smoothie maker. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The musicians on show will span a huge array of genres and include some of Sydney’s finest talent, including Dappled Cities, The Snowdroppers and TUKA. Joining the party is New Zealand’s Home Brew.

London all-girl four-piece Savages have announced a Sydney show, with support from Kirin J Callinan. Following their well-received debut album Silence Yourself, released in May, the post-punkers made a splash at SXSW and were nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize. Savages’ all-ages show is set down for the Metro Theatre on Wednesday February 5.

Please send mail NOT ACCOUNTS direct to this NEW address 100 Albion Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010 ph - (02) 9212 4322 fax - (02) 9319 2227

Where: The Great Northern, Newcastle / Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills When: Thursday October 31 / Friday November 1

Abbe May

ABBE MAY

It’s been a mammoth year for Perth’s Abbe May. From the release of her critically acclaimed album Kiss My Apocalypse, to her popular cover of Ginuwine’s ‘Pony’ for triple j’s Like A Version, May’s 2013 is coming to a close with a nomination for Best Female at the upcoming ARIA Awards. And even better – she’s hitting the road again. The tour marks the release of fourth single ‘Total Control’ on a double A-side with fan fave ‘Perth Girls’. Marking May’s departure from her earlier hard rock leanings to a more melodic solo delivery, it’s a fitting bookend to the Kiss My Apocalypse project. You can catch the lovely lady with special guest Mathas at The Standard on Saturday November 30.

THE NEW CHRISTS

Three-decade-old rock collaboration The New Christs are set to showcase their newest sounds at Hermann’s Bar this Saturday November 2. Led by ex-Radio Birdman frontman Rob Younger and featuring former members of The Celibate Rifles, The Passengers and The Dead Set, the latest lineup of this long-running band will have you on your feet. Joining them for this rare performance are ’80s rockers Mushroom Planet and four-piece Bruce. Plus, DJ Doctor Rock will be spinning a rare collection of vinyl on the night.

EDITORIAL POLICY: The views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher, editors or staff of The BRAG. ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE: Luke Forrester: accounts@furstmedia.com.au ph - (03) 9428 3600 fax - (03) 9428 3611 Furst Media, 3 Newton Street Richmond Victoria 3121 DEADLINES: Editorial: Wednesday 12pm (no extensions) Artwork/ad bookings: Thursday 12pm (no extensions). Ad cancellations: Tuesday 4pm Published by Furst Media P/L ACN 1112480045. All content copyrighted to Cartrage P/L/ Furst Media P/L 2003-2013

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if you can wade through the overproduced cookie cutter stuff and the trendy fashionista shit, there’s great music to be found. For us, the hard part has always been just getting a foot in the door… we’re not what you would call a ‘hip’ band, no synths or banjos as yet, and radio is always hesitant to back something that doesn’t reflect the tastemakers of the day, so every tour happens when we work enough to save the money to do it. Every town we get to is a trip we’ve paid to make, but it’s worth it to us to take our music to the people that have found something in it; something that is of use to them.

SAVAGES

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Music, Right Here, Right Now The music scene’s the same 5. as it’s always been for the most part;

For the first time, the festival will include the Live Art Hub, which will allow local artists to show off their work for the community. There will also be the Writer’s Tent, where festivalgoers can listen to author readings, panels and discussion groups. If you’re more of a wanderer, not to worry. The festival will boast over 280 stalls consisting of vintage fashion, local art and fair trade products, and food stalls that will satisfy every taste imaginable. And the best part is, you can participate in all of this for a gold coin donation. The Newtown Festival will be held at the Camperdown Memorial Rest Park on Sunday November 10.

AWESOME INTERNS: Mina Kitsos, Olivia Kadir, James Dunlop, Nick Timms, Helen Vienne, Lucy Smith, Rebecca Whitman, Victoria Shehadie

DISTRIBUTION: Wanna get The BRAG? Email distribution@ furstmedia.com.au or phone 03 9428 3600.

forget the live show.

Jagwar Ma

JAGWAR MA

In the last 12 months Jagwar Ma have delivered on the considerable hype that surrounded the release of their accomplished debut, Howlin’. After wowing the masses at Glastonbury, Bestival and Creamfields, the band played their debut sold-out shows in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles this month, and will be back at the Metro Theatre on Friday January 17.

PHILLY JS VS FEELINGS

Philadelphia Grand Jury are back, teaming up for a tour with frontman Berkfinger’s solo project, Feelings. It seems Berkfinger has decided with MC Bad Genius and Dan W Sweat that it’s about time the Philly Jays got back together – as Feelings, he’s been playing the songs onstage anyway – and so Philadelphia Grand Jury vs Feelings are heading on a run down the east coast. They’ll hit Newcastle’s Small Ballroom on Friday December 6, and The Standard in Surry Hills on Saturday December 7. thebrag.com

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rock music news

free stuff

welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town...with Nick Timms, Olivia Kadir, Lucy Smith

visit: thebrag.com/freeshit

speed date WITH

NICK FRANKLIN FROM THE FABERGETTES

launched it at FBi Radio’s Spring Prom which was a blast. We recently supported Bloods on the NSW leg of their tour, which was radical and those guys are amazing and tons of fun. We’re headed to Perth for a show next month, and getting a clip together for ‘Big Bruiser’. Everyone in this band plays in other bands (The Knits, Palms, Catcall, Atom Bombs) so even when Fabergettes has a little downtime, everyone is flat out. Best Gig Ever Possibly strangest gig ever 3. was an all-ages show at the

What Do You Look For in a Band? 1. We are The Fabergettes: Two good-looking ones, two averagelooking ones, you do the maths. We play something between punk, doo-wop and garage with a healthy dose of summer vibes, so the ideal Fabergettes fan would probably sport a mohican

and a prom dress while sipping a cocktail with a small umbrella in it.

Keeping Busy We’ve just released our second 7” EP, Big Bruiser, on some gorgeous green/pink wax, so we’ve been playing a few shows in support of that. We

The Julie Ruin

Factory with DZ Deathrays and Bleeding Knees Club. Hundreds of teenragers doing their best to mosh and crowd-surf to our notso-moshable pop tunes was funny to watch. Had a few kids onstage, a few kids jumping off. One young man offered me a swig on his white wine, which he had stolen from behind the bar! Current Playlist I’ve been spinning a lot of 4. local bands of late – Unity Floors, Palms and Day Ravies to name a few. Also pretty keen on Toronto band Greys’ new EP. I think Brendan and Bec have been on a bit of a Hunx & His Punx and King

Tuff trip, but they’re way more up on new music than me so they’ve probably got something new. Nat listens mostly to Katy Perry, John Mayer and Paramore, which I think you can really hear come through on our new EP… Your Ultimate Rider Contrary to popular belief 5. you don’t actually get to specify what’s in your rider most of the time! However I did get a haircut at Sailor Jerry’s Hotel Street show a few weeks ago. Given the choice, I’d be pretty keen for some Cruskits and Vegemite, and a range of Schweppes’ flavoured mineral waters. Brendan once took upwards of 15 minutes to choose a drink from a service station while we were on the road, so he wouldn’t be allowed to pick anything for the rider. I think we’d all agree on a 20 pack of McDonald’s chicken nuggies though. What: Lady Killers: The All-Girl Halloween Spectacular With: She Rex, The Dark Hawks, Lily So & The Bellows Where: The Standard When: Thursday October 31

Blessthefall

Bluejuice

BLUEJUICE

Here’s something nice and juicy for you… Sydney’s very own party-starters and selfappointed ‘Douchebusters’, Bluejuice, are back to rid the world of douchebags one by one. The boys are spreading the juiciness with their new single, ‘S.O.S’, produced by Blue May and Alex Burnett – who also worked on previous single ‘Act Yr Age’. The band is set to lift the Metro Theatre roof on Friday November 8, and we’re giving you the chance to enjoy it with one of three double passes. Head to thebrag.com/ freeshit and tell us which of Australia’s douches you want busted.

LITTLE SCOUT

It’s finally time for Little Scout to embark on their very own headline tour. Off the back of their long list of support shows for the likes of Cloud Control, Hungry Kids Of Hungary, School Of Seven Bells and more, the Brisbane act is set to showcase their album Are You Life. Mixed by Lars Stalfors (Cold War Kids, The Mars Volta) and mastered by Joe LaPorta at Sterling Sound in New York, the album is a stunner. You can catch Little Scout, supported by singer-songwriter Bree Tranter, on Friday November 1 at Brighton Up Bar. For your chance to win one of two double passes, visit thebrag. com/freeshit and tell us a pledge you’d swear on scout’s honour.

BOYS OF SUMMER 2014

The 11-date Boys Of Summer 2014 tour of Oz has definitely got something for all you rockers out there. Headlining the tour are metalcore icons Blessthefall, famous for a decade of rocking the stage and shutting down venues due to the fervour of their fans. Also on board are Like Moths To Flames, who have wowed crowds with their unique metal sounds and stomping choruses. Adding some hardcore to the lineup, The Color Morale will have you head-banging until you can’t bang heads anymore. Get your dose when they take over The Annandale on Saturday January 11 and Sunday January 12. Or head north and join in the fun at Newcastle Panthers on Friday February 10.

THE STANDARD THE JULIE RUIN

The Julie Ruin will be hitting our shores for the first time this coming January. Led by Riot Grrrl pioneer Katheen Hanna, the all-star band provides a tight musical backbone to Hanna’s iconic vocal style. With her fierce expression and whipsmart wit, she is a celebrated, outspoken figure of feminist punk – get ’em, gurl. The energetic dance-punk whirlwind is set to deliver a powerful punch of dancepunk to Sydney audiences. You can catch The Julie Ruin at the Factory Theatre on Friday January 17.

METRIC

New wave synth maestros Metric are headed Down Under in December for a string of dates around the country. Since releasing their fifth studio album Synthetica in 2012, the Torontobased quartet has been bringing the party with tracks like ‘Youth Without Youth’, ‘Breathing Underwater’ and ‘Lost Kittens’. Metric’s national support, Glass Towers, will join the tour fresh from dates across Europe and Japan. They play the Enmore Theatre on Thursday December 12. Tickets on sale 10am Wednesday October 30 via livenation.com.au.

KING KRULE

King Krule, AKA Archy Marshall, has added a Sydney sideshow to his Laneway dates in February. The 19-year-old Brit has one of those remarkable voices that turns heads and captures ears. His debut, 6 Feet Beneath The Moon, combines elements from across the musical spectrum – jazz, dubstep, hip hop and anything else. The Guardian called him “a romantic punk poet” – high praise indeed. King Krule’s sideshow goes down at the Oxford Art Factory on Tuesday February 4. 8 :: BRAG :: 536 :: 28:10:13

The Standard is killin’ it this weekend. Lady Killers – The All-Girl Halloween Spectacular will be kicking things off with four female-fronted bands on Thursday October 31. Get spooky with She Rex, The Fabergettes, The Dark Hawks and Lily So & The Bellows. Turn the calendar with I Am Apollo’s single launch on Friday November 1, where you can also view the first instalment of their collaborative surf film The Metropolitan Blues Bus. Finally, King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard will be bringing their brand of warped psychedelic punk to the stage in their biggest tour to date. You can catch them on Saturday November 2 – the perfect end to your three-day bender right? For all ticket and event information visit wearethestandard. com.au.

Daughter

JEREMY NEALE

He’s toured support slots next to The Preatures, Surfer Blood and Ball Park Music – but this is the big one! It’s Jeremy Neale’s headline national tour in celebration of the release of long awaited EP In Stranger Times. The disc is a neat dappling of ’60s girl group and garage pop influences – with a cheeky appearance from Brisbane darlings Go Violets. Neale will be taking all your favourite current and future hits on the road, with support from pals Major Leagues. See the selfconfessed “David Guetta spokesperson” in all his indie pop glory at Goodgod Small Club on Thursday October 31 and The Small Ballroom, Newcastle on Saturday November 2.

FRIGHTENED RABBIT

Frightened Rabbit are backing up their recent national tour with more headline shows Down Under, this time alongside their Laneway Festival dates. Australia is proving a home away from home for the Scots, who’ve previously appeared at Woodford Folk Festival, Pyramid Rock, Peats Ridge and Splendour In The Grass. This time they hit the Metro Theatre on Thursday February 6.

DAUGHTER

London trio Daughter have announced an intimate Sydney sideshow alongside their appearances at Laneway next February. The atmospheric indie rockers have signed on for the Heavenly Sounds concept, and are set to play St Stephen’s Uniting Church on Macquarie Street on Tuesday February 4. It’ll be a marked change from their sets at this year’s Glastonbury Festival and Splendour In The Grass. Tickets will go fast: the all-ages show is on sale via Ticketek this Thursday October 31.

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Industrial Strength Music Industry News with Christie Eliezer

THINGS WE HEAR * Sony Music is suing United Airlines, alleging that it is duplicating the sound of works by Britney Spears, Carrie Underwood, Justin Timberlake and Michael Jackson and playing them during flights. Apart from alleging copyright infringement, Sony claimed the in-flight music system is â&#x20AC;&#x153;interactive, on-demand,â&#x20AC;? which is not covered by a royalty collection outfit like SoundExchange. Sony wants a share of the airlineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s profits. * After her final Auckland gig, Beyonce was set to race offstage and to the airport to fly in a private jet to Australia. But waiting in the wings was her opening act Stan Walker who

performed a haka (Maori war dance) in her honour. Blue Ivyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mum was tearful (presumably, Walker didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stomp on her feet during the dance) and tried to do a haka herself. Maori fashion designer Kiri Nathan gave her a korowai (cloak) sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d made herself. * The former writer of the troubled Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark musical, Glen Berger, has a book coming on the saga. Song Of Spider-Man: The Inside Story Of The Most Controversial Musical In Broadway History says problems were exacerbated by Bonoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s slow writing of songs and former director Julie Taymorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s out-of-control spending. * Morrissey rushed out a statement to say that when he talked about a two-year

TRIPLE J TAKES OVER DIG MUSIC Dig Music has been taken over by triple j management, aiming at the over-30s market. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll focus on new music from Australia and overseas, but will also play songs and artists that shaped the lives of its audience (read: classic triple j tunes). For the next six months theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be listening to their audience to find out exactly what they want from the station, in terms of playlist selection and how they want it presented. After this six months of audience engagement and industry consultation, Dig Music will officially launch in April 2014.

SOUND SUMMIT UNVEILS CONFERENCE PROGRAM Sound Summit on Friday November 8 will include panels on the rebirth of contemporary indie electronic music culture, how the law can help your creativity, how to push your music to the public, how to remain independent, the reality of radio, unravelling the red tape of arts funding, and

relationship with a man called Jake Owen Walters in his book Autobiography, he didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t necessarily mean it was a homosexual one. Rather, Walters was one of the few human beings he got along with. * Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not just Silverchair drummer Ben Gillies whose wife (psychic Jackie) landed a TV role (in Real Housewives Of Melbourne). Parkway Drive guitarist Jeff Lingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s writer and model partner Nina Hill is now a TV presenter. * Coldplay singer Chris Martinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wife Gwyneth Paltrow is dreading the publication of a story by Vanity Fair which is digging up dirt on her relationship with handsome Miami billionaire Jeff Soffer. She asked friends not to speak to the magazine.

a 2SER conversation with Markus Popp of Oval. See soundsummit.com.au for the full list of speakers. After many years of collaboration in Sound Summitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s original home in Newcastle, Electrofringe comes in as a partner. Electrofringe will work with a number of Sydney artists and electronic art collectives and provide Sound Summit with visuals such as light sculptures, projections, interactive and new media artworks.

ABC1 TO LAUNCH BAND SERIES â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;EXHUMEDâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

ABC1 premieres its five-part series Exhumed on Thursday November 14 at 8pm. It looks at bands who never made it, but continue playing for the love of music. Over 1400 entries flooded in from around the country from amateur bands that are unsigned, unrecorded and unrecognised. The series will be hosted by musician and radio presenter James Valentine with judges Julia Zemiro, Tim Rogers and Clare Bowditch. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll choose the winner at the live Grand Final on Thursday December 12 at Rooty Hill RSL.

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Earthless (USA) & The Shrine (USA) Sat 4 Jan

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Bodyjar

Spit Syndicate

Fri 1 Nov

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Big Sean (USA) Fri 15 Nov

Black Rebel Motor Cycle Club (USA) Sat 16 Nov: All Ages

Hits & Pits 2.0 feat Black Flag (USA )

Insane Clown Posse (USA)

Deerhunter (USA)

Kylesa (USA)

Looptroop Rockers (SWE) & Sage Francis (USA)

Melvins (USA) & Helmet (USA)

The Brian Jonestown Massacre (USA) Thu 19 Dec

Thu 12 Dec

Sun 17 Nov

Tue 10 Dec

Sat 7 Dec: All Ages

Sun 15 Dec

Fri 13 Dec

Wehrmacht (USA) Grave (SWE) Primate (USA)

Kerser

Rotting Christ (GRE)

Dark Tranquillity (SWE)

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Sat 11 Jan

Waka Flocka Flame (USA)

Crystal Fighters Thu 9 Jan

Fri 20 Dec

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Fri 17 Jan

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* The December tour by marvellous American singer Iris DeMent, who last year released her first album of original music in 16 years, called Sing The Delta, has sold out. Promoters Square One & Laing Entertainment have added Catherine Britt as support act. * The plan to have late rapper The Notorious B.I.G. honoured with his own walkway in Brooklyn has its critics. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re asking why he should be considered a role model when he started selling drugs at 12, dropped out of school at 17, and was arrested for various drugs, weapons and assault charges. Less than three miles away, Brooklynâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Palmetto Playground was recently renamed Adam Yauch Park to honour the late Beastie Boy who breathed his last in 2012.

CALVIN HARRIS ENTERS UNDER 30 RICH LIST DJ Calvin Harris is a new entry to the annual list of the richest British celebrities under the age of 30, compiled by Heat magazine. He made an estimated ÂŁ22.20m (A$37.31m) in the past 12 months. The list was topped by One Direction who had combined earnings of ÂŁ59.33m ($99.25m). The boy band toppled Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe who topped the list since it began in 2010: he made ÂŁ56.19m ($94m) during the same period. In the top five were Robert Pattinson at ÂŁ44.16m ($73.87m), Keira Knightley at ÂŁ37.28m ($62.36m) and Emma Watson at ÂŁ27.93m ($46.72m). Other new entries were Jessie J (ÂŁ5.68m), model/actress Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (ÂŁ5.63m), The Amazing Spider-Man star Andrew Garfield (ÂŁ5m) and boy band JLS (ÂŁ4.87m). The biggest gain was The Great Gatsbyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Carey Mulligan.

MDNA ON ITS WAY mDNA is a new project which, through a web and smart phone application, will allow music fans to boost the exposure of independent and emerging artists and show in real time the top trending tracks. Musician Nick Arnold, founder of indie music platform Holding Pattern, is launching a campaign via crowdfunding site Indiegogo to raise $60,000 to get mDNAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s technology up and running. He says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;mDNA will allow users to connect with each other and allow music to become our currency to communicate. Identify yourself through the music you love with one simple application. mDNA.â&#x20AC;? To donate, igg. me/p/562242/x/5103146.

JACKSON TOPS DEAD CELEB EARNINGS Michael Jackson, who died in 2009, has reclaimed his crown in Forbes magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s highest earning dead celebrity. He earned US$160 million over the past 12 months, mostly from two Cirque Du Soleil shows. He was followed by Elvis Presley ($55m), Charlie Brown/Snoopy cartoonist Charles Schulz ($37m), Elizabeth Taylor ($25m) after her estate earned $210m from the auction of her art, jewels and clothes, Bob Marley ($18m) as his label reintroduced him to a young audience, with other lucky stiffs including theoretical physicist Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, John Lennon and Steve McQueen.

M-PHAZES CO-PRODUCES EMINEM TRACK Australiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s M-Phazes co-produced â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Bad Guyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, the first track on Eminemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s MMLP2 album, with Grammy winning producer S1. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Being a long time fan of Eminem, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a real honour to co-produce the opening track of his next album, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s incredible to know that both Rick Rubin and Dr. Dre have given my work their seal of approval!â&#x20AC;? M-Phazes said. M-Phazes and long time collaborator Illy just finished working on Illyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fourth album, Cinematic.

HARD ROCK CAFE TO GO NATIONWIDE The Hard Rock Cafe chain has two outlets in Australia (in Darling Harbour and Surfers Paradise). Franchisee Jeffrey Beaumont (also director of private equity group Tandem Capital) told the Australian Financial Review of expansion plans. A second Sydney outlet is mooted for Bondi (with Beaumont already registering the name HRC Bondi), with negotiations begun for Melbourne, Perth and Darwin.

BAMBOOS SIGN NEW OVERSEAS DEALS

The Bamboosâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; new album Fever In The Road will get a global release through various labels. In Australia and New Zealand, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s out on Friday November 8 through band leader Lance Fergusonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pacific Theatre label, distributed by Inertia. In early 2014, Sony will issue it in Europe and the UK. Nettwerk, home to Angus & Julia Stone and Boy & Bear, will take care of it in the US, Canada and Mexico. Holiday Revolution, also home to Flume, will release it in Japan this year.

GAGA SETTLES THIS WAY Apparently Lady Gaga and her former assistant settled their legal differences out of court, and avoided the glare of publicity before the trial was due to start on Monday November 4. This was revealed when a court dismissed the suit filed by Jennifer Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Neill that she was underpaid. She claimed she was on call 24 hours a day and seven days a week, had to look after her 20 bags of luggage, and was expected to sleep on Gagaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bed on tour rather than have her own room â&#x20AC;&#x201C; so she could tend to Gagaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s needs through the night. Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Neill, a roommate of Gagaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s back when she was a nobody, was paid $50,000 for the first year and then $75,000. Gaga earned an estimated $80m in the first six months of 2013.

METALLICA TO GIVE AWAY LEFTOVER RIFFS? Lars Ulrich has revealed that Metallica have discussed giving away their riffs left unused after each album. The idea is to put it up on an eBay-style website where others can choose. Ulrich said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have more riffs than we know what to do with. Some of them are actually quite decent, but we wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be able to use all of them.â&#x20AC;? Britainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Classic Rock magazine stated that earlier this year, Queenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Brian May and Black Sabbathâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Tony Iommi came up with a similar idea. May told the magazine that Iommi has a lot of unused riffs. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I thought it would be great to make a compilation out of them,â&#x20AC;? said the Queen guitarist. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The idea was to put all these riffs out in some form so people could build their own songs of them. You could make your own music with Tony Iommi on guitar.â&#x20AC;?

Lifelines Ill: Lorde suffered food poisoning in Brisbane but went ahead with her show. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I literally hurled walking offstage,â&#x20AC;? she posted. Engaged: Kanye West proposed to Kim Kardashian by booking out a stadium in San Francisco and getting a 50-piece orchestra to play Lana Del Reyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Young And Beautifulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Married: Kelly Clarkson to music manager Brandon Blackstock at a farm in Tennessee after a two-year relationship. Ill: MĂśtley CrĂźe drummer Tommy Lee revealed a reason for the bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision to do a farewell tour was that guitarist Mick Marsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; spinal disease, which is slowly fusing his vertebrae together, is progressively getting worse. In Court: The court date for Varg Vikernes of Norway black metal band Burzum â&#x20AC;&#x201C; for â&#x20AC;&#x153;inciting racial hatred and glorifying war crimesâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201C; has been deferred to June 2014. In Court: CeeLo Green is charged with furnishing a controlled substance after a woman claimed he slipped ecstasy into her drink, and that she later woke up naked in the singerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bed. He faces up to four yearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; jail. But prosecutors have declined to charge him with rape because the two were dating. In Court: Robb â&#x20AC;&#x153;TaLLLLLâ&#x20AC;? University, frontman for LA hard rock band Lights Over Paris, was jailed for seven years for loan fraud. He applied for $11 million in loans ($6.2 million of which he received) to fund his music career by claiming he already had $8 million when he had just $10,000. Died: singer/actor Noel Harrison, 79, who won an Oscar for â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The Windmills Of Your Mindâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; from The Thomas Crown Affair. His father was actor Rex Harrison.

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WORLD’S END PRESS

hys Richards and John Parkinson of World’s End Press met in high school and bonded over a shared love of music. Of course, Rhys never imagined, when John gave him a burned copy of Massive Attack’s Blue Lines, that they would one day be making music together in Massive Attack’s very own studio in Bristol. “We’d often skip class to go back to my house and make music,” Richards says of those early days. “The day we finished high school we went right to my bedroom, with some recording gear that we borrowed from John’s sister’s ex-boyfriend or someone like that, with the aim of recording an album in three weeks. That didn’t quite work out, but our main aim was always to play in a band together, and now here we are.”

World’s End Press have supported some huge names over the last few years, touring with the likes of Hot Chip and Bloc Party, and these live shows helped them hone their own signature style. “It’s really beneficial to see how bands with more resources than you, big bands, how they operate,” Richards says. “When we played with Hot Chip, we snuck around the stage and had a stickybeak at the gear they were using, to see how a big band like that manages to operate. It’s been a great opportunity to see how other bands put on a great show. I mean, headline bands have lasers and strobes and things like that, a really big set-up, and when you play with them you have to work around that stuff; you’re stuck in a small space somewhere on the stage, so it makes you work to put on the best show you can.”

12 :: BRAG :: 536 :: 28:10:13

ACTING ON IMPULSE • BY ALASDAIR DUNCAN

The recording process began at the legendary Rockfield Studios in Wales, a residential studio with a great deal of history – everyone from Queen to Black Sabbath recorded there in the ’70s, while in the ’90s, The Stone Roses lived in for a period of some months while working on their second album. Rockfield is set in the Welsh countryside, and the isolation forced World’s End Press to work. “We didn’t really leave the studio until we were done with the record,” Richards says. “The town of Monmouth was about a two-mile walk, so we’d occasionally clop down for a beer on a Saturday night. We’d go out and have some drinks with the locals. There wasn’t a lot to do other than make music, though.” The studio itself proved inspiring for the music – as did Goldsworthy’s legendary collection of gear. “We arrived at the farm a day before Tim,” says Richards, “and we were standing out in the courtyard when a big truck rolled up full of vintage synths and organs and all kinds of odds and ends. That was a big part of the sound of the record, using a lot of those instruments.” The band

arrived at the studio with their songs fully written, but Goldsworthy encouraged them to break the music down and reimagine it from scratch. “Tim wanted us to play together as a group, rather than each taking turns and recording our parts separately. The studio was designed with that approach in mind, and so we worked very hard to get it sounding perfect. The studio really did shape the album in that sense.” One of the album’s finest tracks is its closer, ‘Out’ – a sprawling, psychedelic ten-minute track, it was recorded spontaneously on the band’s last night in the studio. “We were working on ‘Natural Curiosity’, and after we’d done a take, we left it rolling, and John and I were playing around on an organ and piano when we looked up and saw Tim waving at us through the window saying, ‘Don’t stop!’” Everyone began jumping in, taking up synths and drum machines, and they made music together until three-thirty in the morning. “We just made a cacophonous noise as we drank tequila. Even Tim and his assistant were playing. It’s a very happy memory because it was a very impulsive thing – just a party

“THE TOWN OF MONMOUTH WAS ABOUT A TWO-MILE WALK, SO WE’D OCCASIONALLY CLOP DOWN FOR A BEER ... THERE WASN’T A LOT TO DO OTHER THAN MAKE MUSIC”.

After the initial recording in Wales, World’s End Press decamped to the English city of Bristol. “We were definitely craving a bit of social interaction after the farm,” Richards says, “and we were lucky in that we got to go to Bristol, where suddenly we were a lot less isolated. We’d go to Massive Attack’s studio to work each day, but we had evenings and weekends free.” The band spent much of the free time soaking up the sounds and culture of the city. “It’s an amazing place to be doing something creative. It has a very strange creative heritage – there are things we wouldn’t say we necessarily have an affinity with, like trip hop and drum’n’bass and street art, but when you’re there soaking it all up, it definitely has an influence.” Now back in Australia with the album under their belts, World’s End Press will soon be setting off on a national tour. It has dawned on them, however, that touring with synths in tow can be a very tricky business. “When we started we used all this amazing old equipment, but there comes a point when touring when you realise that unless you can afford to have three backups of everything, you need more modern gear. It’s a shame, because it does stop you touring with some of the more old-fashioned gear, which is fun to play around with. The last month or so, we’ve been really busy travelling, and one of my favourite keyboards fell apart, then the backup died. It can be a bit of a nightmare … you just have to keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best.” As for the future, after this tour wraps up World’s End Press will be playing summer festivals – and then they have their sights set on overseas. “Hopefully by the end of the summer we’ll be going to the US or the UK. We have so much momentum right now, we just want to keep that going.” What: World’s End Press out now through Liberation Where: Goodgod Small Club When: Thursday November 14

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xxxx

The eagerly anticipated self-titled debut album from World’s End Press arrived earlier this month. It’s packed with the band’s signature glassy-eyed house bangers and indie dance excursions, and was produced by none other than legendary beatmaker Tim Goldsworthy. “Tim is somebody whose work we’d always really admired,” Richards says. “We love everything from DFA – The Rapture’s Echoes, which he worked on, was a big influence on us, and we love his work with Massive Attack. We sent him a [sample] of stuff, which he liked, and then we had a meeting, and from there we very quickly ended up working together. We found ourselves working with Tim, and we were pinching ourselves thinking about how we got there.”

on our last night in the studio. You can hear people having a good time.”

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Cut Copy Mind Games By Rachel Eddie

“We’ve kind of always maintained ... that if you’re honest with what you’re doing then there’ll be an audience for it, so you just have to keep reminding yourself that.” didn’t want to stretch the friendship – to ask Skarsgard to feature. “So we had to move the show within a week from Australia to LA – ’cause he only had two days free between fi lm projects to really make a clip – and so it was a huge day. It was like a 17-hour shoot and he did it purely for the love as well, and just ’cause he was a fan and a friend. It was just really amazing to see him work … Before every scene he’d be like, ‘OK, so what was happening in the scene before, what should I be feeling walking into this room?’ It was amazing that he was able to fi nd the time and make the time to do it.”

ut Copy guitarist and sampler Tim Hoey is feeling positive about their upcoming release, Free Your Mind. “I actually feel really good. I don’t feel anxious at all this time. But maybe ask me at the end of the week.” If you’ve ever danced – like, ever – then you probably know and love Cut Copy. The Melbourne act is born of a time that saw themselves, The Presets and Midnight Juggernauts unexpectedly take to the charts when dirty rock – with The Vines and Jet – seemed to own the airwaves. By the time 2008’s In Ghost Colours dropped with lead single ‘Hearts On Fire’, a change in the wind had secured Cut Copy a place in the mainstream.

But sitting at Universal HQ overlooking Sydney Harbour, Hoey seems gracefully unaffected by his band’s popularity. In the lead-up to the release of Free Your Mind, Cut Copy’s fourth studio album, Hoey is drinking what must be one of many coffees today, and remaining nonchalant about working under

the spotlight. “It’s funny, now’s the time to kind of enjoy it,” he says. “I guess you work so hard for like a year – or a year and a half – on a record, and now other people finally get to hear it. So this is the good time. I think it would be a lie for me to say that you don’t get anxious at times, but I think there’s no way we’d ever put something out that we didn’t believe in one hundred per cent ourselves. We’ve kind of always maintained … that if you’re honest with what you’re doing then there’ll be an audience for it, so you just have to keep reminding yourself that.” Later mixed by Dave Fridmann (MGMT, Tame Impala, Flaming Lips), the making of Free Your Mind was unlike any previous Cut Copy record, inspiring frontman Dan Whitford towards a new approach to songwriting. “The process that we did for this record was completely different to the last one,” says Hoey. “Like, just writing a lot of music and not thinking about themes too early on. The idea was to never second-guess anything. The

process started out with a song a day or an idea a day, and once the day finished [we’d] start with something completely new and not overthink it. And then when we went into the studio to start really shaping these ideas into songs, we applied the same principle of never over-working it or second-guessing it. The first time you do something is generally the best, we found.” And it looks like they’re right: “Every song is very much uplifting and it kind of goes for the jugular a bit more in every track.” For psychedelic synth title track ‘Free Your Mind’, the foursome had celebrity mate Alexander Skarsgard (True Blood, The East, Melancholia) star in the video. While unwinding after a gig in Rio, Hoey and the others were told by the promoter that Skarsgard is a big fan and would love to meet them. They all ended up hanging out for the night and shared brekkie the next morning. Two years on, ‘Free Your Mind’ fi lm clip director Chris Hill pushed the boys – who

But having a film star on board isn’t all that’s landed Hoey, Whitford, Ben Browning and Mitchell Scott a little extra attention. After unveiling single ‘Let Me Show You Love’ at Pitchfork Music Festival by cutting it to vinyl in real time, Cut Copy came back to release Free Your Mind in another unconventional way, placing huge billboards in six specific and remote locations across the globe (the Californian desert, Chile, Western Australia, Mexico City, Wales and Detroit). With the help of a laptop or smartphone, dedicated fans would be the first in the world to hear the track. “We wanted to create real world events for releasing music,” says Hoey. “We didn’t want to just put a song up on the internet – we just feel like that’s such an anti-climax for releasing music. So we liked this idea that the song only existed in this place where you had to be and interact with it to listen to it. It was always going to go up on the internet a few hours after, but we liked that for this short amount of time it just existed for the people that were there to experience it. And they could take that away and that would be something they could kind of have forever … it’s just this really romantic idea and a bit more exciting.” What: Free Your Mind out Friday November 1 through Modular Recordings

Victor Martinez Where The Heart Is By Jose Cruz

uitar virtuoso Victor Martinez has had an eventful career both in Chile and Australia. His guitar has taken him across South America, Asia and given him the ability to settle in Australia. Whilst living in Pinochet’s Chile he enjoyed high levels of notoriety which kept him in the upper echelons of the Chilean musical scene. His ultimate decision to leave Chile for Australia would dramatically change his life and expand his career to places never imagined. Could you perhaps tell us a little about your musical upbringing? I began my guitar studies in Chile with an evangelist guitarist and he mentored me to proceed with my talent. This led me to undertake further studies in Uruguay and at the Conservatorium of Music at the Universidad Catolica de Chile. Whilst at the Universidad Catolica I became a teacher and started to amass more experience so I could become a concert guitarist. I performed a lot of free concerts and through this I made it to radio. National airtime increased my notoriety and everything took off from there. How was your career affected by the military coup in 1973? My family was never involved in anything related to the coup, but the whole country was affected directly or indirectly in various ways. No-one really knew the levels of danger that surrounded the country. Chileans just did whatever they needed to do to survive. Artists suffered because many schools were closed 14 :: BRAG :: 536 :: 28:10:13

following the government change. I was still able to compose, but my compositions reflected the state of the country. To be honest, I was lucky to have lived in that era because it really forced me to work harder and see the bigger picture in life. I was fortunate that I was still able to continue playing. I received continual support from a leading newspaper, La Tercera, which meant I was always employed. Was the situation in Chile one of the primary reasons you decided to migrate to Australia? Yes, absolutely. My wife was a teacher in one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Santiago. She saw too much misery, high unemployment and mothers that had to eat grass because they didn’t have enough money to buy food. This was in complete contrast to what I saw every day. I had a residency at the Crown Plaza Hotel where international travellers, government officials and people with money relaxed and played. Even though I was exposed to the Chilean upper class, going home was always an adventure. I had to run home from where the taxi dropped me off so I wouldn’t be mugged or killed. Eventually, I said to my wife, “Enough – we are leaving, I don’t want to do this anymore.”

but when I looked in my rear-view mirror there they were. The officer told me to leave my car parked on the side of the street. I thought, was that it? Nothing happened. I felt this was paradise. I have never done and will never do that again, but I just felt blessed that I could live in a country where the police would not kill you for any random reason.

There was one particular incident that highlighted how fortunate I was living in Australia … I drove a car without a licence and the police [were] stopping cars. I took a turn to avoid them and thought I lost them,

Clave Contra Clave enters its third year in 2013, what has motivated you to be involved as a judge this year? Clave Contra Clave is by far one of the most important events in the Australian

Latin music calendar. Every Latin musician wants to be involved and when I was approached to judge at the Sydney event I took up the opportunity with both hands. I am very excited about being involved on the night. What: Clave Contra Clave With: Grupo Niche, SalSalvador All Stars and more Where: Enmore Theatre When: Thursday October 31

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A Long Way To Falls By Augustus Welby

ince coming into public view in late 2012, England’s Tom Odell has generated a swell of hyperbolic polarity from the music press. Off the back of his debut EP Songs From Another Love, the 22 year-old Odell won the Critics’ Choice at this year’s mainstream-centric BRIT Awards; however when his LP Long Way Down landed in June the characteristically flippant NME rated it 0/10. Nevertheless, the album reached number one in his home country, thus defying the magazine’s taste-dictating powers. Being subjected to such wayward appraisal could easily cause Odell some artistic anxiety but he stresses that these ups and downs won’t skew his essential compositional motives. “The most important thing for me is to write songs for myself because really that’s the only listener that you can please,” Odell says. “I think your instincts are one of the most important things, and not to think about what people are going to like and what they’re not going to like. That just ends in an awful head-fuck situation. The most important thing is that I write something that moves me.” Being able to abstract oneself from the impositions of circumstance is a hugely advantageous skill for anyone creatively inclined. Odell’s current listening habits reveal that rather than focusing on what’s hot right now, he gathers inspiration from broad tiers of the music spectrum. “I’ve really gotten into Nina Simone. I’m obsessed with Nina Simone. I’ve been listening to a lot of Etta James, a lot of Son House. There’s this guy called Cass McCombs; my friend got me into him, there’s albums of his I love. I’ve been listening to that band Girls who split up about two years ago – really into them at the moment.” The likes of Nina Simone and Girls might appear to be disparate influences, but both artists share an emotionally driven core and Odell admits to a strong affection for music that vibrates with feeling. “I think I’m just drawn to music that moves. I’ve never been particularly interested in acid house or anything. I like stuff that moves you emotionally and you can connect with it. The raw soul.” Odell’s debut album Long Way Down wears a smorgasbord of influences on its sleeve, owing debt to such exemplars of commercial poprock as Arcade Fire, Elton John and Coldplay. Odell says that rather than relying on a habitual songwriting method, he’s learned that it’s crucial to actively pursue creative challenges. “I very easily write piano ballads, because I’m a piano player. Instead of [Long Way Down] being just an album of piano ballads, it was important to me not to do that. I had to push myself to write a song like ‘Hold Me’; it’s not a song that naturally came. [Songwriting] is about not thinking too much but also just opening up a bit. There was a point where all my songs started with a piano riff, but you break out of those things.” Long Way Down’s international chart success subsequently threw Odell a lengthy global touring schedule, including a massive sell-out tour of the UK this month. Odell explains that his thebrag.com

“[Songwriting] is about not thinking too much but also just opening up a bit. There was a point where all my songs started with a piano riff, but you break out of those things.”

ORQUESTA TIPICA FERNANDEZ FIERRO 18 JANUARY

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KURT VILE & THE VIOLATORS

GEORGIA ANNE MULDROW & DUDLEY PERKINS

experiences living the lifestyle of a full-time musician will inevitably have an influence on the next album. “We’re touring the world at the moment and you learn a lot from that – the bits you don’t have to play, don’t have to sing. It will definitely have an effect, unconscious or consciously. I’ve learnt more about music in the past year than I ever have in my entire life. Playing live informs your songwriting, far more than I ever thought. It’s what it’s all about.” Odell’s world tour continues into Australia this December for the Falls Festivals and a sideshow at the Metro Theatre. The same group of musicians that played on the record join Odell onstage, and he’s emphatic the live show isn’t a generic singer-songwriter display. “A big part of it is about the band and how the songs work with the band and I. I think people would come to the shows and be quite surprised, actually, about how energetic and live it is.” As for 2014, following up a successful debut record is always a daunting prospect – but Odell doesn’t feel too anxious about starting work on album number two. “I don’t feel any pressure. If it takes me five years to make an album it doesn’t really bother me. It’d be awful to make an album just because you’ve got to make one. No-one has to make one.” Despite this reasoned response Odell seems intent on following up Long Way Down as soon as possible. “Right now my theory is the best thing to do is create, create, create and not have too much of a cap on it; just create and then criticise. I’ve been writing quite a bit and I’m already talking to a few producers about working with them. I’ve learnt so much about recording and songwriting that I’m excited to get into it.” What: Long Way Down out now through Sony Music Australia With: Melody Pool Where: Metro Theatre When: Thursday January 2 And: Also appearing with London Grammar, !!! (Chk Chk Chk), Johnny Marr, The Cat Empire, Vampire Weekend and more at The Falls Music & Arts Festival, Byron Bay, Marion Bay and Lorne, Saturday December 28 – Friday January 3

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10 Years Minus The Label By Jody Macgregor

n 2006, 10 Years came to Australia for the first time as part of a massive tour where they played alongside Korn, Disturbed and Hatebreed. Their singer Jesse Hasek still has fond memories of that trip. “Growing up, one of the main things I wanted to accomplish in life was travel, and through this job we’re allowed to do that. Once we got in Australia we were completely blown away at just how nice and hospitable everyone was and how beautiful it was. We were able to have a couple days off here and there so we took the ferryboat ride over to one of the zoos in Sydney, we went by the Opera House on the waterfront, so we were able to be tourists for a minute. But the crowds and the way you guys support rock music is what was really impressive.” Hasek didn’t always want to be in a globetrotting rock band. He says when he was a kid he was “a bit of an introvert” who was more interested in art and wanted to be a sculptor or painter, but he spent most of his teenage years just skateboarding. When his skating buddies needed a singer for their band they roped him in, but he was so shy he performed at their first few gigs with his back to the crowd. “It took a long time for me to develop and grow into the shoes of being a frontman in a rock’n’roll band,” he says. It wasn’t until they

started recording songs that he really began to enjoy being in that band. “That creative process is what got me hooked. That’s when I knew that’s what I want to do. Creating the music is by far my favourite [part].” 10 Years formed in the college town of Knoxville, Tennessee, which may not be a hub of culture but it has a music scene that was vital in helping the band out in its early days. Hasek describes a scene where the dozen or so local bands all played together and pooled their fans until they started pulling surprising crowd numbers. “It started off with a hundred people, a couple hundred, and by the end of it we’d have a thousand people showing up to see this local band. We ended up getting ‘Wasteland’ [the single from 2005’s The Autumn Effect] number one in Knoxville for 18 weeks straight, unsigned, and all these labels are like, ‘Why are national acts not beating this local band on the national radio station?’ So Knoxville really lifted us up.” When the labels did start paying attention, 10 Years signed to Universal. Having the support of a major label behind them worked in their favour at first, but after their 2010 album Feeding The Wolves the label began pressuring them to work with outside writers to create a

hit, which they weren’t interested in doing. “We just agreed to disagree and parted ways. They were nice enough to let us out of our contract with really no trouble, but we were not really willing to go into the whole co-write world where other people wrote our songs for us. We just couldn’t do it.” Their 2012 album Minus The Machine was released independently, and recorded in a

studio they built in their guitarist/ drummer Brian Vodinh’s house. That had the advantage of letting them record at their own pace, stretching it out for six months rather than hurrying to finish before a deadline. “I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a little scary because we have done four of our albums in nice studios and used label budgets, but our very first record that we did that was an independent record we did by

ourselves, and we recorded pretty much by ourselves. We went back to that mentality.” What: Soundwave Festival 2014 With: Green Day, Avenged Sevenfold, Alice In Chains, Placebo, AFI, Korn, Newsted and more Where: Sydney Olympic Park When: Sunday February 23

Little Scout Tickle Me Scout By Krissi Weiss life on the road. “I think about it all the time and some days you think, ‘You know, if I got paid a third of what I do now to do what I love, I’d jump at doing it full time’ – but by the same token, I don’t know. Without having experienced it it’s really hard to say. I’ve seen people who’ve made the jump and it’s either not turned out to be what they thought it’d be or they totally lost balance. I think it’s probably always safest to assume – in our case anyway – that job number two will always be there. I reckon it keeps your head in check, too.” Looking down the barrel of an upcoming album tour makes for exciting times in the Little Scout ranks. “It gives us something to really look forward to, and that’s the best part of having a weird, split life,” Elliott says. “We have this full-time hobby that we get to look forward to, keeping us sane during a long day so we don’t just feel like we only have one fire going.”

hile the Brisbane music scene has always remained tight-knit, it has suffered from a tendency to be infl uenced from the inside out. Bands share houses, members and an overall

vibe that has kept the river city’s amps buzzing and yet also led bands like Little Scout to search for a more diverse sound. The group began its recording career in 2008 with a debut EP, The Dead Loss.

“I never really like the connotation attached to a band that has ‘matured’, because sometimes it implies that they’ve become a bit boring – but I think if anything we’ve become more confident.” 16 :: BRAG :: 536 :: 28:10:13

The debut album, Take Your Light, emerged in 2011 to enthusiastic reviews, and then Little Scout reached that treacherous chasm – the challenge of following up the initial hype. Admittedly, the buzz they’d enjoyed was borne out of their own hard work and organic word of mouth, and it’s all been for the best: Are You Life is everything Little Scout wanted it to be and more. A lawyer by day and multiinstrumentalist by night, Patrick Elliott is taking a break from work and pondering whether he would ever be willing to shake off the shackles of the nine-to-fi ve for a

Elliott is happy with the album without ever coming across like he’s selling a product. Recorded in relaxed surroundings in and around Brisbane and then fi nished off by some industry heavyweights (mixed by Lars Stalfors of Cold War Kids, Deap Vally and The Mars Volta fame and engineered by Joe LaPorta), the album is a step forward for Little Scout without being a move out of their comfort zone. “I think for the most part, the impression that I’ve gotten is that people can see that we’ve worked pretty hard to try and make a step up. I never really like the connotation attached to a band that has ‘matured’, because sometimes it implies that they’ve become a bit boring – but I think if anything we’ve become more confi dent. I think the maturity lies in the fact we’re playing to our strengths a lot more. With the first album – and I think this happens a lot – people kinda went, ‘Oh well, we knew they were OK and they put out this album and it’s pretty good for a first album.’ So this being our second record, you can’t hide behind any of that unknown stuff. People seem to be picking up on the stuff we

wanted them to pick up on this album as well.” Stalfors’ and LaPorta’s involvement in the project is testament to the band’s growing reputation. “That was all a happy mixture of luck and the right connections,” says Elliott. “Lars heard one of our songs online and approached us first. Given his background we totally thought it was a hoax email. That relationship formed really easily and nicely and he had a big infl uence on the fi nal product. Given the artists that he’s worked with, we were really happy to take cues from someone like him and have him give us what was really great guidance. From there, he works a lot with Joe anyway, so that’s how that came about – it was a no-brainer to make that happen.” “It was done fairly piecemeal,” Elliott adds. “Our drummer does some sound engineering work so we had access to a studio that we did a lot of the drums and vocals at. It was piecemeal in the sense that we didn’t have an allotted time to do everything in; we had access to a good space when we needed it and then a lot of the other bits and pieces were built around that. On paper it sounded quite disorganised but it really worked out well and I’d do it that way again in a heartbeat.” The laidback recording atmosphere provided Elliott with a space to overcome the dreaded ‘red buttonitis’ – a condition that renders an otherwise extremely talented musician unable to play their instrument once the recording light is on. “I suffer from that terribly, to the point that I’m the one in the band that needs 30 takes to play two notes. I’m an anxious person. Mel [Tickle, vocals/guitar] walks in, cuts this amazing part and walks out while it takes me the rest of the day to get my bit done. It’s an internal pressure, I think.” With: Bree Tranter Where: Brighton Up Bar When: Friday November 1 And: Are You Life out now through MGM thebrag.com

Darren Middleton Lost In Translation By Jody Macgregor hen Powderfinger broke up, guitarist Darren Middleton drifted for a while. After taking a European holiday with his family he returned home and immediately packed up again, this time to move from Brisbane to Melbourne. “I landed in a city that I loved and I had good intentions,” he says – but even with the best of intentions, transitioning out of being part of one of Australia’s best-loved bands into whatever came next wasn’t going to be easy.

– but he started shaping songs a little differently, he would loop something and just loop it for ages, which is not how I would usually construct anything. And so he introduced these new flavours to the record. He puts drums in different places to what I would have imagined. So essentially we’ve got this record that I feel is kind of old school and new school I suppose. It’s got this organic band-y kind of sense but also a more modern, electronic element to it.”

“Unexpectedly, I found myself lost for probably about a year, untangling the threads of my previous existence and essentially needing to work out who I was and what I really wanted to do with my life. Although towards the end of our time in Powderfinger we might not have been the best of mates, we still had a purpose, I suppose. Or at least we were on the same road musically. Departing from that existence, I’m suddenly faced with a four-way intersection – excuse all the metaphors. It took me a while to find out what I wanted to do.”

Before I let him go, I have to ask Middleton the question: Is there any chance of Powderfinger re-forming? “Certainly not yet,” he says. “No, I can’t really imagine it happening, but who knows? Bands have split up under way more heinous circumstances than we split up under and somehow reformed and gotten on with it. Water under the bridge and a period of time, I don’t know. It’s not on the cards but you never know what the future will bring.”

What he did at first was produce, working with bands like Geppetto and July Days as well as some solo artists, co-writing and helping to usher other people’s creative projects into the light. His own projects never seemed to take off, however, with songs started but never finished. He calls it “wallowing in this emotional wasteland”, but fortunately he didn’t wallow forever. “I suddenly stopped about a year ago now, looked back and went, ‘Actually, there’s a lot of good stuff there [that] just needs to be finished.’ There’s a lyrical thread that runs through the whole thing, it’s all very personal, so I think there’s a real reason for these songs to exist. I really needed to feel like there was a reason to make a record, not to just satisfy a contractual agreement or because I should put one out. I needed to feel like whatever I did I could stand behind, tell the stories of the songs. I really needed to have splinters of myself in these songs for them to exist. Then I looked back and went, ‘Well, there kind of is.’ That’s way more focused than I’ve been in the past, any Powderfinger stuff or even Drag records.”

What: Translations out Friday November 1 through MGM Where: The Vanguard When: Friday November 22

“Towards the end of our time in Powderfinger we might not have been the best of mates [but] we still had a purpose … Departing from that existence, I’m suddenly faced with a four-way intersection.” Drag was Middleton’s side project during the Powderfinger years, who released an EP called Gas Food Lodging in 2003 during the hiatus before Powderfinger recorded Vulture Street. Drag provided an outlet for Middleton’s songwriting when he needed it, but the new songs he’s written will be released under his own name on the album out this week, Translations. “I think the solo thing is what I’m gonna be doing [from now on],” he says. “One of the reasons I didn’t get Drag together for this project is the songs have a real pointed focus and they’re all kind of personal, not as universally themed and full of obscure metaphors that don’t really mean anything, which is what I really did with Drag. There wasn’t really any focus in that project. I’ve decided to run under my own name in the future.” Even after deciding that, he wasn’t quite confident enough to go alone. “I ended up asking a whole bunch of friends to get involved because I just didn’t think I could really carry off ‘lead singer’,” Middleton admits. The album features guests including Powderfinger mate Bernard Fanning, Clare Bowditch, Nic Cester from Jet and Something For Kate’s Paul Dempsey. Though they were all eager to lend a hand, they ended up helping him in a different way than he expected. “Nic Cester and Paul Dempsey both got in the studio and went, ‘It sounds better when you do it. Just step up and bloody sing it. You can do it, so do it.’ They were both just slapping me. There’s a song that Nic sings on that’s kind of a rock song and it sounded really rockin’ and bluesy, but we still both listened back to it and went, ‘It’s just not right.’ Which is crazy – I could have had Nic Cester singing lead vocals on a song!” Some of the songs that ended up on the album were partly written before Powderfinger split up, and were resurrected and re-tweaked with help from co-producer Simon Walbrook. Although Middleton’s happy producing for others on his own, with his own work he wanted a second opinion. “[Simon] took the ideas – and then the songwriting at that point had kind of been done thebrag.com

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arts frontline

free stuff visit: thebrag.com/freeshit

arts news... what's goin' on around town...with Mina Kitsos and Lily White

five minutes WITH

JESSE WILLESEE New York would put on a huge haunted house in a local park and everyone would line up for hours to get in. It was this huge maze full of college kids scaring people. I wanted to recreate something similar in Australia because I haven’t seen anything like it. What kind of interactive experiences can we expect on the night? It’s a maze over multiple levels. There’s a haunted mental asylum on one level, another whole level is like going to hell, but with a bar. We have a haunted rave with some of the DJs from Motorik. There’s lots of gore. Look away if you don’t like dead babies.

hotographer, socialite, party thrower – meet Jesse Willesee, the dude behind King Cross Hotel’s upcoming Halloween shenanigans. He’ll be transforming the venue’s multiple levels into a walkthrough haunted house complete with themed rooms, lots of gore and scene kids

aplenty. We caught fi ve with Willesee to get the low-down on what to expect. How did you conceive the walk-through haunted house? I spent some of my childhood – the really good Halloween trick or treating years, between eight and 12 years old – in America. The local high school in Rye,

Jasper Knight, Neon Sign

How is the haunted house different to one of your art shows? Kings Cross Hotel has given me reign over the venue on Halloween night to basically throw a massive party and get weird! So it’s more me hosting a party than one of my art shows. Having said that, the haunted installations will be full of stylish kids, looking sexy and scary at

the same damn time. It’s the second Halloween I’ve done at Kings Cross Hotel, and in 2012 we had well over 500 kids up in there going crazy. What’s your favourite Halloween costume and what would you ideally like to see punters dressed as? My favourite two costumes would be Miley Cyrus or a dead unicorn. I want to see people dressed in the custom 666 jerseys I’ve designed that I’m selling on the night. Exciting future projects we should know about? I have a sequel to my 22 Girls Smoking Weed show coming up. It’s going to upset some people. I don’t think I can get arrested for it, but to be fair I haven’t checked. What: Haunted Hotel Where: Kings Cross Hotel When: Thursday October 31, 8-10pm More: jessewillesee.com

Catherine Cloran, To Float In A Strange Sky, 2013

DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS! TIX! WIN!

Up for a bit of a Broadway musical hit? Well, you’re in luck for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is currently presenting at Theatre Royal. Story goes: two con men on the French Riviera, Lawrence Jameson and Freddy Benson, buddy up to pull the shady over the small French town of Beaumont sur Mer. But apparently it’s not big enough for the pair, so Freddy threatens to expose Lawrence’s operation. What unfolds thereafter is a cheeky, funfilled expose into the lives of these two small town crims. Directed by Roger Hodgman and staring Tony Sheldon and Matt Hetherington, the musical brings A-class talent to the fore. We’ve two double passes to the Tuesday November 12 performance of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels to give away. To win, head to thebrag.com/freeshit and tells us what your con man/woman name would be and why.

LOST IN PLACE

Lost In Place, running from November 5-9 at Damien Minton Gallery, is an exhibition centred on the experiences of ten photographers and their personal connections with, and perceptions of, place. Photographers Catherine Cloran, Digby Duncan, Helen Grace, Caroline McLean-Foldes, Sally McInery, Ian Provest, Suellen Symons, Chris Round, Lynn Smith and Niobe Syme explore intent and intuition, translating their findings into fragmented close-ups, panoramas, meditative districts and industrial areas, transcending global borders on the way. Judy Annear, Senior Curator of Photographs at the Art Gallery of NSW, says: “A photograph of a place, because of its apparent lack of human subjects, can perhaps more easily reflect the thoughts, ideas and feelings of both the photographer and the viewer precisely because there is no obvious mediator.” Head to damienmintongallery.com.au for more information.

BATHYSPHERE AT CHALK HORSE

BELL SHAKESPEARE 2014 SEASON

Bell Shakespeare is pealing out a new season of exquisite theatre, and has a blue chip cast of actors lined up to represent. Acclaimed director John Bell’s The Winter’s Tale will boast an impressive cast comprising the likes of Myles Pollard, Helen Thomson and Rory Potter, Damien Ryan’s Henry V is set to star Michael Sheasby, and Peter Evans’ production of Tartuffe will be a revelry of Leon Ford, Geraldine Hakewill, Tom Hobbs and Kate Mulvany. Bookending the season will be Evans’ The Dream, a 90-minute take on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with Richard Piper leading the 18 :: BRAG :: 536 :: 28:10:13

troupe. Bell Shakespeare will also continue their nationwide learning program, which has already had a positive impact on over one million school children, including refugee and migrant students, and youth involved in juvenile justice programs. For further information, dates and tickets, visit bellshakespeare.com.au

REALISE YOUR DREAM AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED

The Realise Your Dream awards had the crème de la crop of Australia’s young creatives hankering after the title and the chance to move to the UK in pursuit of their career aspirations. Royal Charter charity The British Council worked alongside a panel of industry leaders to give five artists from 750 applicants the opportunity to work under the wings of Britain’s best artists and arts organisations. The five winners – Anna Lise De Lorenzo, Tristan Meecham, Aimee Smith, Lara Torr and The Honeytrap (comprising five female artists) – have passions spanning dance, sustainability, performance art and visual art. In addition to a return flight to the UK and a cash prize of $5000, each winner will work in consultation with the British Council to shape a professional development trip that is tailored to the artists’ ultimate creative vision. To learn more about the Realise Your Dream Award winners, head to britishcouncil.org.au

A WALK IN THE DARK

A Walk In The Dark is a soaring voyage of movement, rediscovery of youth and the rebirth of the universe split into two separate full-length shows, A Walk and In The Dark. Six emerging artists – Sarah

Aghazarmian, Chris Dunstan, Nicola Frew & Verity Mackey (N&V), Emma McManus and Carly Young – have developed a series of independent and collaborative works designed to shock audiences into reimaging the world at large. With the season split into two parts with each show presenting on alternate nights, audiences have the chance to feast on the creative outpourings developed by the trailblazing group as part of Shopfront Contemporary Arts and Performance’s Civic Life program. The realisation process has included mentorship from national industry professionals, comprising ABC screenwriters and awardwinning performance artists – in other words, expect to be enlightened. A Walk In The Dark launches on Wednesday November 6 and runs through Sunday November 10 at Shopfront Contemporary Arts Centre in Carlton, Sydney. To book, hit up awalkinthedark.eventbrite.com

JEWISH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Say Shalom, ’cause the Jewish International Film Festival is right around the corner. Eyal Boers’ enchanting documentary Live Or Die In Entebbe will have its Australian premiere, with Tel-Aviv based Boers seated front row for it. The cinematic extraordinaire has been responsible for communicating tales of heroism, his last film Classmates Of Anne Frank mapping out iconic historical events – a legacy continued in his latest effort, which documents the 1976 hijacking of an Air France flight by German and Palestinian terrorists. After the flight is diverted to Uganda’s Entebbe Airport, the terrorists threaten to execute all Israeli and Jewish passengers on the flight, and so ensues one of the most remarkable (and nail-biting!) rescue operations in military history. The Festival opens on Wednesday October 30, at Bondi’s Event Cinemas and will be screening until Sunday November 17. Visit jiff.com.au for the full program and tickets.

MALTESERS MOONLIGHT CINEMAS

Let’s face it – watching cinema under the stars is pretty damn romantic. And with Maltesers, you’re sure to have even more of a ball. Maltesers Moonlight Cinemas is ready for another season of star-crossed cinema across the country, transforming iconic parks and gardens into filmic battlegrounds, armed with advance previews, recent releases, classics and our fave cult classics. Think The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (finally!), Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts’ golden effort in the dark comedy, August: Osange County, and Disney’s Frozen, featuring Kristen Bell’s vocal chords. Oh, and then there are classics Top Gun, The Castle, Life Of Brian, Dirty Dancing and Breakfast At Tiffany’s. Get your hands on Gold Grass tickets for premium reserved seating, or pack a rug, a picnic basket and a date, tissue box and chocolates. Pen Thursday December 12 into your diaries because that’s when the silver screen will take to the outdoors at Centennial Park’s Belvedere Theatre. Keep your eyes on moonlight. com.au for further updates.

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The contemporary art purveyors at Chalk Horse are saddling up for Bathysphere, a collaboration of local emerging artists transcending various mediums to unravel the “object” in contemporary art. By focusing on sculptural concerns, the series will include fine ceramic works, popping neon palettes, photographic images of absurdist theatre with props and makeup, and delicately crafted installations. The exhibition’s thematic threads span the real and fantastical, the evolution of relationships and industry, and childhood imagination. Artists James Kerr, Jasper Knight, Kate Mitchell, Sanne Mestrom and Addison Marshall will all represent. Bathysphere launches on Thursday November 14 at 8 Lacey St, Surry Hills. Visit chalkhorse.com.au for further information.

AMERICA: PAINTING A NATION A Nation Finds Its Voice By Alasdair Duncan

Edward Hopper, House At Dusk, 1935

The exhibition concludes in the 1960s, but rather than show abstract impressionist works by Pollock and Rothko – the likes of which Australians can already see in bigger collections – America: Painting A Nation ends by returning to the poetry of the American experience. “We end with some paintings that I think are really interesting,” McAuliffe says. “There’s one by a remarkable abstract painter named Stuart Davis. He did a lot of incredible paintings of neon lights and street signs and petrol stations. He said that once you’ve seen a neon light, you’re never going to think of colour in the same way again, and he just nailed the way that everyday life constantly brings you up against these remarkable shifts in perception, and you have to come to grips with them. “The last piece in the show is a really minimalist work by installation artist Robert Irwin,” McAuliffe says. “It’s a white disc hovering in front of the wall, and it goes back to this idea of American landscape painters reflecting on stillness and quiet. It’s interesting to end with paintings that are about those classic American qualities, moments of stillness in the landscape, but to see those qualities through the prism of city life. The

he Art Gallery of NSW’s upcoming show America: Painting A Nation is a true landmark event. Art historian Dr Chris McAuliffe, who acted as a consultant for the exhibition, says that it’s nothing less than the first major retrospective of American art to be presented in this country. The show covers a breadth of American art, from the prerevolutionary era all the way through to the 20th century. The show collates pieces from art institutions all across America and spans works from more than two centuries – the earliest comes from 1750, the latest from 1966. Viewed together as a collection, the works tell a story of a nation discovering its unique identity and character.

Revolutionary leader John Adams said, at the time, that it was important for American painters to shift away from an English sense of pomp and ceremony towards more American qualities like integrity and honesty, diligence and hard work; by the early 19th century, these ideals could truly be seen. “In the 1820s and 1830s, a very distinctive American romantic landscape started to emerge,” McAuliffe says of some of the works that can be seen in America: Painting A Nation. “The artists were curious about the distinctive scenes that could be found in the American landscape, and the works they produced were quite spiritual – almost religious, you might say.”

The earliest works in the show are portraits of society figures from the 18th century. “At that point in American history, Philadelphia was the fourthlargest city in the British Empire,” says McAuliffe. “Wealthy people and the Atlantic Coast still had very strong connections to England, so the art that came out of that period was portraits of people with high social standing, commemorating occasions like marriages and graduations, and just showing off their social standing.” The funny thing about these early portraits, McAuliffe says, is that even though they are painted in an English style, the figures in them just look unmistakably American, in the forthrightness of their posture, and the confidence of their poses.

One interesting characteristic of American landscape painting, McAuliffe says, is this said religious spirituality. “American landscape painters were interested in the idea of God as the maker of the landscape,” he says. “They would ask, ‘If I meditate on this landscape, will that bring me closer to God?’” Artists would see the divine in vistas like the Grand Canyon, an attempt to articulate creation through their works. This particular trait is what made the American landscape painting of the period so unique among the colonies. “When it comes to American landscape painters, those moments of stillness and isolation are really fulfilling – they’re contemplative and reflective.”

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show could have ended with some big, macho works by the abstract expressionists, but instead, it ends by returning to that idea of the poetic American experience – highways, neon lights…” My own favourite American artist is Edward Hopper, and McAuliffe tells me that the show includes one of his works. “We have a beautiful Hopper from the early 1930s, borrowed from Virginia,” he says. “It’s a painting of an apartment building with a lonely woman visible through the window, and it has that classic Hopper sense of being lonely and contained. It’s funny,” he continues, “because I was sniffing around and the National Gallery has one Hopper, a print from the 1920s. I realised, when I was researching for this exhibition, that a lot of Australian galleries have incredible collections of post-war American art, but hardly anything prior to World War II. It will be a really good chance for people to see this work.” What: America: Painting A Nation for Sydney International Art Series Where: Art Gallery of NSW When: November 9 – February 9 More: artgallery.nsw.gov.au

By the late 19th century, American art had begun to explore and examine everyday life, and some of McAuliffe’s favourite works in the show come from this period. “There’s a beautiful painting of two young boys, one of whom has his carpentry tools out and is mending a toy boat for the other. Looking at it, you really get a sense of class relations – this is how a tradesman will engage with a businessman.” Although they might appear to depict the mundane, McAuliffe says that many works from this period are complex morality plays. “I fi nd it very interesting the way that Americans debate values in their art,” he says. “Many pieces are reminders of how civic society can and should work.” By the early 20th century as the First World War approached, American artists had begun turning their gaze towards Europe. “We have a painting in the exhibition by Max Weber, who had a studio in the same building as Pablo Picasso,” McAuliffe says. “There’s another artist Marsden Hartley who exhibited with Kandinsky in the Blue Rider group. The interesting difference with Americans is that they really self-consciously tried to build an avant-garde culture at that time, making connections with Europeans, having exhibitions, making their own magazines ... They were conscious of their own modernity.”

Stuart Davis, Something On The Eight Ball, 1953-1954

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Sculpture By The Sea

Qian Sihua, Bubble No.5,

[PUBLIC ART] Sculpting The Creative Landscape By Adam Norris he 17-year-old Sculpture By The Sea is now old enough to sneak into most pubs. Adam Norris talks with founder David Handley about how the show has evolved and how likely he is to take the money and run.

Sculpture By The Sea photo by Clyde Yee

Though not without detractors – mostly locals unimpressed with the sudden crowds, or more likely, those who are simply frightened by statuary – the exhibition has become the largest annual sculpture event in the world. Maintaining the public and critical expectations of the show is something that Handley and his team are aware of.

Back in 1997, Handley had the idea to showcase Sydney in a new light. At 31 years old he possessed the ideal blend of naivety and ambition to think capturing the world’s attention on a $400 marketing budget was a reasonable endeavour, and so, Art By The Sea was born. It died a tidy death a moment later as Handley realised the practicalities of exposing canvas to the elements, and so, Sculpture By The Sea took its place. Almost two decades later the show goes on, with around 500,000 visitors to the Bondi site over the three weeks the event runs. Handley, a friendly, softly-spoken fellow, is suitably demure about such success. “Holy hellfire shit, Batman!” he exclaims, “I always wanted it to be this big, but I had no idea what that would actually entail. I had this wonderful illusion that I could do Sculpture By The Sea as something parttime. When we finally did launch, I didn’t look up from it again for seven years.”

“I just wanted to create an event that excited Sydney,” he says, “but back when we approached our tenth year I said to our staff, ‘This is the year when the critics come out’. You can’t just keep getting a great public response without some kind of backlash, and sure enough it happened. But I think it’s great that there are critical reviews, that there is an expectation of what audiences will expect to see. They want to see something new, something surprising. It makes things a challenge.”

is that we can only provide very limited funding to the artists,” David explains. “We’re trying to improve that, and this year we’ve done so in one very substantial way in that each non-Sydney Australian artist is having their freight covered. It might not sound like it, but that’s a huge step forward for our artists.”

One such artwork is that of Danish artist Niels Astrup, who will be showcasing his piece on the actual ocean. Kinetic works by Japan’s Hiroyuki Kita and New Zealand’s Phil Price are other notable additions, as is the Chinese artist Qian Sihua’s giant bubblegum-blowing head. Though these are by no means the only show-stopping inclusions, the reality of submitting work to Sculpture By The Sea is something many people will overlook. “What most people don’t realise

To that end, the show has received a huge boon this year in the shape of a $60,000 prize offered by the Macquarie Group. This becomes the most generous sculpture prize in NSW, and the second largest in Australia. Its significance can’t really be overstated. “For many artists, receiving $60,000 grants years of freedom. Freedom to work, to create, to travel. It also elevates the artist to the list of those who have received major art awards around the world.”

When asked if he has plans to casually award himself the prize and skip the country, Handley becomes thoughtful. “I tell you, one year we were really doing it tough, when suddenly this big cheque shows up for a public artwork. The same day we were waiting on news from a champagne sponsor, who in the end decided they wouldn’t sponsor cash, only champagne. Between this really substantial cheque and the champagne I thought, ‘Right. Who’s up for Rio?’” He sighs. “It would have been such a spectacular fall from grace.” What: Sculpture By The Sea Where: Bondi to Tamarama Costal Walk When: Until November 10 More: sculpturebythesea.com

Gordon Richards, Slippery When Wet II, 2013

Anaconda [THEATRE] Facing Monsters By Natalie Amat ll of my plays have been about things that people don’t want to face or are challenging – things that get brushed under the carpet. I’ve always been attracted to writing things like that.”

“A

situation for another thing I was writing, but then it became so big and so fascinating that my thoughts were, ‘Yeah, who would want to watch a play like this because it’s so full on,’ but then I just thought well, everyone.”

Writer-director Sarah Doyle is not one to shy away from serious conversation starters. Her play Anaconda uses the 2000 Trinity Grammar sexual abuse scandal as contextual framework to explore questions of morality, the nature of responsibility and the damage guilt can cause when the past is buried. A “massive fan” of Harold Pinter and Edward Albee, she is fascinated by what is unacknowledged and the residual impact of trying to ignore the past – a quality Doyle describes as “this sort of very real feel but really fucked up shit happens. Like nice, lavish living room – uh oh! What aren’t they talking about?”

After talking with various parties, she began to pull everything together. “Once I had more information I created four characters and just started to write, and wondered, ‘If it did come out, how would it come out? What would it be like to face your monster, your Frankenstein?’” But while there’s some real inspiration, Doyle’s adamant that the play is just a story. “These characters are all fictional. The situation they came from is what’s true. The culture surrounding it is what I drew from the truth and the backstory.”

Graduating from Meridan, the sister school of Trinity, two years before the scandal broke, meant it was something Doyle was always aware of. It wasn’t, however, until she was in the US at the time the Penn State child sex abuse scandal was in the news that she began to look into it. Still, the situation is not necessarily something that immediately jumps out as a great idea for a play. “The Penn State scandal was in the papers in the States while I was there … I knew a lot of people who went to Trinity, so around that time in January last year I started to research it. Every time I found out more about it, it confounded me more. At first I was thinking about using that

Anaconda doesn’t shy away from big questions of morality either, there’s the character of the bystander’s wife played by Leeanna Walsman, who Doyle says “has to get her head out of the sand and face the truth, because they have this complicity in their lie too. They never talk about why he left the school, they don’t want to go there. It’s easier to just stay silent about it.” The play, which was nominated for Best International Show at the Hollywood Fringe last year, will be returning home for it’s Australian debut next month. Anaconda’s run at Rock Surfers Theatre Company gave Doyle the opportunity to expand the play from the stripped bare Black Box version that ran overseas to something more large scale, design-wise. With assistance from former Cyndi Lauper tourmate Max Sharam, who has brought a pop-opera aesthetic to the production, the key is non-literal with Doyle pulling influences from Bauhaus, which allows for deeper exploration of the play’s psychological undertones. “It’s quite confronting to be honest, but that’s the point.” And Doyle is committed to moving past the stigma that’s often attached to discussion (or lack thereof) of abuse. “It’s all about creating a dialogue. A dialogue about abuse, about the aftermath, about what can be done to improve as a community. I think we’ve come leaps and bounds, but there’s further to go.”

Anaconda 20 :: BRAG :: 536 :: 28:10:13

What: Anaconda by Sarah Doyle Where: The Bondi Pavilion Theatre When: November 1-23 More: rocksurfers.org

Slippery When Wet [VISUAL ARTS] On The Move By Louise Jeckells

ictorian chef-cum-painter Gordon Richards’ latest artworks depict movement in the still space. The artworks were developed after Richards’ partner had an unfortunate ice-skating accident, which gave life to the name of the exhibition, Slippery When Wet. “Last Christmas I was right behind my partner when she had an accident. She flew, quite gracefully, into the air, and landed very awkwardly on the ice.” This sparked the initial sketches of the artwork, which later became the paintings you’ll see currently on display. Richards’ new show at Richard Martin Art in Woollahra demonstrates how prevailing movement can be in a still space. Universally, the wheel or circle refers to a constant state of motion. And here, he uses the unconstrained human form to contrast with the mechanised bike frames and wheels. Richards is an exuberant lover of simplicity. His life as a chef was hectic and unstoppable, but his now 20-year career as a painter has brought nothing but elation and personal freedom. The words ‘personal freedom’ follow Richards throughout his painting career as the transition between pieces and exhibitions are very indicative of his relaxed lifestyle. “Things in our everyday life always affect me. I don’t question what contributes to pieces. My work can be a bit nostalgic and this exhibition is no different.” The women who appear in several of the artist’s past exhibitions, are again featured in Slippery When Wet. The women are usually a mix between his partner and daughter. “I don’t think about what or whom I am drawing at the time and then when

I am done, I can see that person.” Richards once painted a whole series of women drinking around a table. In the initial stages of his current body of work, it was tough for Richards. Despite the initial idea being formed, he painted over everything he originally drew. “Painting for me requires a lot of thinking and a lot of downtime where I am not physically creating anything. But there’s a long process before I am completely happy with the finished piece. I usually draw everything and then I try and work fairly quickly to get it out and painted. The next painting is always better than the last. The next show is only as good as the final painting.” Richards sees this as a wonderful way of self-evaluation. This mode of thinking reflects Richards’ past life as a chef – their craft is only as good as their last dish, right? Richards talks about Slippery When Wet as though the paintings were always going to come to fruition. “My partner painted so that’s how I started. It became addictive and I’d get an adrenaline rush … I found it very similar to cooking, which was wonderful.” Richards notes the similarities between food and painting, “both are dependent on colour and texture and you must have a good eye for both of these things.” What: Slippery When Wet by Gordon Richards Where: Richard Martin Art When: November 2-20 More: richardmartinart.com.au thebrag.com

Film & Theatre Reviews

See www.thebrag.com for more arts reviews

Hits and misses on the silver screen and bareboards around town

■ Theatre

Arts Exposed

Lea Seydoux in Sister

HAMLET Until December 1

Bodytorque.Techique photo by Georges Antoni

Hamlet is perhaps the most famous play in English literature and is one of the most quoted Shakespeare works. Simon Stone is the wunderkind of the Sydney theatre scene, thrilling theatregoers with his reinventions of classic theatre pieces including Death Of A Salesman and The Wild Duck. Belvoir Theatre Company’s current production of Hamlet presents a unique opportunity to see the distinctive worlds of Shakespeare and Stone collide. Boldly cutting the fourhour script by half and consequently consolidating some of the play’s most famous lines, Stone makes the work more accessible to a modern audience. However this is a slippery slope and in some instances the production is the worse for it. Toby Schmitz’s Hamlet is insane from the moment he steps on stage. There is no indication that he’s merely acting mad in the pursuit of justice for his murdered father. As such, Schmitz leaves himself little room to move in terms of building audience sympathy. The play’s final crescendo

is also somewhat muted. The gripping snowball effect of death after death, deception after deception, betrayal after betrayal is summarised in a way that those unfamiliar with the text may miss the intricacies of this explosive scene. Nonetheless Schmitz’s performance is passionate and precise while the remainder of the cast are exceptional. Greg Stone’s Polonius is the standout and, although he may have the most famous lines, he presents the saturated Shakespearian language in a delightfully contemporary manner. Stone’s distinctively minimalist staging is also one of the production’s strong points. The black and white colour scheme with highlights of red adds to the drama. So too the musical accompaniment of sparse piano and vocal solos further emphasise the play’s austerity. Although Stone’s effort is not without its shortcomings, he remains a pioneer on the edges of a new theatrical frontier and I can’t wait to see what he does next. Lee Hutchison

What's in our diary...

Bodytorque.Technique Sydney Theatre October 31 – November 3

■ Film

SISTER In cinemas October 31 The audience is introduced to 12-year-old Simon (Kacey Mottet Klein) as we follow him, face obscured by ski gear, through his daily routine at an opulent ski resort in the Swiss Alps. Wading unnoticed through the crowds of wealthy tourists, he brazenly swipes skis, goggles, backpacks and anything else of worth that he can sell to make a living for himself and his listless older sister, Louise (Lea Seydoux). Their reality, living in a public housing block at the base of the mountain, is in stark contrast to the lives of the tourists from which Simon pilfers. With no parents in sight and his sister’s propensity to disappear for days at a time Simon’s loneliness and desire for a family is palpable. This is epitomised through his chance interaction with a wealthy English tourist played by Gillian Anderson of X Files fame. When she, unlike the other holidaymakers, actually acknowledges Simon’s existence, he desperately tries

to gain her love the only way he knows how – through money.

Brett Chynoweth and Karen Nanasca in Bodytorque. Techique

Simon’s resulting rejection leads him to grow spiteful of his sister who he blames for his dismal family environment. Consequently, he maliciously reveals the true nature of their relationship to her current boyfriend. This causes a divide between the siblings while also revealing the captivating events that have resulted in their current circumstances. This is the second feature from French-Swiss screenwriter, actress and director Ursula Meier. With mesmerising performances from both leads and tantalising cinematography, Sister was awarded the Silver Bear by the Mike Leigh led jury at the 2012 Berlin Film Festival. It’s not the easiest film to watch, but remains an intriguing and powerful tale of two people trying to find their place in an often unjust world. Lee Hutchison

The Australian Ballet’s 2013 Bodytorque season centres on technique. Bodytorque.Technique allows the company’s dancers to try out new ideas and new skills to let loose and experiment; classical forms will be fused with the contemporary, new movement vocabularies with the next generation of emerging choreographers. The lineup includes Polymorphia (Benjamin Stuart-Carberry), In-Finite (Joshua Consandine), Mode.L (Halaina Hills), Finding The Calm (Richard House), Tinted Windows (Alice Topp) and The Art Of War (Ty King-Wall). Add to this a free Meet The Choreographers Q&A with Artistic Director David McAllister, and you’ve got yourself on helluva program. Head to sydneytheatre.org.au for more information and tickets.

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Our City In Lights By Stephanie Yip

here are a number of things Festival Director Lieven Bertels learned from coordinating Sydney Festival 2013 in January. The first was that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s possible to attend 42 events over 23 days of festivities. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And you want to,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The secret is careful planning and rushing from one venue to another.â&#x20AC;? The second was learning how to make the most of a festival, while on a budget.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;A big difference is the introduction of the Festival Village. This is going to be triple [the size of 2013â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s] Festival Garden in Hyde Park,â&#x20AC;? says Bertels. This â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;circus in the parkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; will include two performance tents â&#x20AC;&#x201C; The Spiegeltent and the Circus Ronaldo Tent â&#x20AC;&#x201C; whose acts, including Amanda Palmer and Sydney Festival returnees Scotch and Soda, will

run alternately to allow for continual evening-long entertainment. What was the inspiration behind this circus/village concept? â&#x20AC;&#x153;I come from a country of circus. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m originally from Belgium,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We were looking at the acts performing, like Circus Ronaldo Brothers, who are six generations of circus travellers, and thought, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Well, this space [Hyde Park] is awesome for a lot of things, not just the circus but for music, family and cabaret.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x153;So we asked ourselves, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;What if we see it as a real village?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Where the pathways are streets? We made a map of Hyde Park and drew in food tents, like Messino Gelato.â&#x20AC;? Bertels stops here. This is a guilty pleasure heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s included in the festival. But itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not the only one. Open day and night, the Festival Village will also play host to Turner prize-winning artist, Jeremy Dellerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sacrilege, a to-scale inflatable jumping castle of Stonehenge. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Kids, parents, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s even wheelchair access,â&#x20AC;? he says, proving that no-one will be excluded from this much fun. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The only condition is: you must take off your shoes.â&#x20AC;?

Shipping a jumping castle from across the pond is a tough task, but not the most difficult Bertels was faced with. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The most challenging part of my job is the opening concert at The Domain,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This year weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re excited to feature Chaka Khan. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always a very last minute and interesting puzzle to find that headliner, because the date is fixed and you need an artist that appeals to a crowd. We give this concert for free, which is pretty unique in the world â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a big star in a big park. And to give it away for free?â&#x20AC;? Amazing. If previous years are anything to go by, 60,000 punters are expected to turn up for that night alone. But if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re unable to secure your spot, there are plenty other festivities to attend. For example, Paradiso at Town Hall. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a beautiful venue,â&#x20AC;? says Bertels. â&#x20AC;&#x153;One of my personal highlights, and one of the most surprising acts is, Orquesta Tipica Fernandez Fierro. They are these crazy, young, tango kids from Buenos Aires. There are 12 of them. So itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a big tango orchestra.

A dark horse according to Bertels is La Voix Humaine. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s played in Dutch with subtitles, so that might deter people,â&#x20AC;? he says. Based on Jean Cocteauâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s self-destructive play of the same name, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an unassuming and beautiful â&#x20AC;&#x153;suicide monologue, with one woman on the stage in her apartment. The audience watches her through a window. We see her calling her ex-lover and trying to repair the relationship. Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s surprising is you never hear the voice on the other side. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s really special.â&#x20AC;? Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no doubt diversity is synonymous with the Sydney Festival. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interesting to see how we all come from somewhere and how that defines us. Sydney Festival is across most continents,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got [acts from] Latin America, Africa, with a beautiful act from Mali (Amadou & Mariam), and Asia (including Lao Qiang from Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Shaanxi Province). â&#x20AC;&#x153;[From the US] Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m really excited about concert, Big Starâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Third. Big Star was a cult band, who was quoted by many important American bands, including REM. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only one surviving member, who will team up with members of REM and people like

Kurt Vile to recreate that famous third album, augmented with strings and a horn section. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going to be exciting to hear that album live,â&#x20AC;? says Bertel. Finally, if Bertel could pinpoint one show punters shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t miss, what would it be? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s impossible,â&#x20AC;? he says, shocked. Although months away, the Festival Directorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s already got a game plan to see as many acts as possible. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Bring it on!â&#x20AC;? But if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not as organised, he does have a standout. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m really proud of Dido & Aeneas. It has beautiful live music, amazing singing, beautiful costumes... Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s this amazing opening scene where 7.5 tonnes of water is wheeled onstage in a giant aquarium and dancers jump in to perform a whole underwater choreography. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s completely crazy, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a beautiful image.â&#x20AC;? Well, that, or Florentijn Hofmanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Giant Rubber Duck that will be swimming alongside live ducks on Parramatta River in Parramatta Park during the Festival. Whatever floats your boat. What: Sydney Festival 2014 Where: Sydney, various When: January 9-26 More: Full program available at sydneyfestival.org.au

Taking applications for 2014 up until November 1. aftrs.edu.au/awardcourses 7RS Âż OP VFKRRO LQ WKH ZRUOG*

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AUSTRALIAN FILM TELEVISION AND RADIO SCHOOL 22 :: BRAG :: 536 :: 28:10:13

thebrag.com

Rubber Duck and Sydney Festival crowd photos by Prudence Upton

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The funding reality is that the NSW Government perhaps isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t as cashed up as some of its neighbours,â&#x20AC;? says Bertels. But for the Sydney Festival 2014 program, which has just launched, Bertels and his team have devised a means to overcome this hurdle. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Rather than aiming for one big opening party, where you get this â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;cannonballâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; out on the first day, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve decided to shift more attention to having lots of free events, and a big party every day of the festival.

And theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be space for dancing as well.â&#x20AC;?

Sacrilege photo courtesy of Mayor of London

Sacrilege

Rubber Duck

bread&thread Food & Fashion News...with Mina Kitsos and Lily White

ROMANCE WAS BORN LAUNCHES ‘FASHTRONICS’ RANGE

DION LEE STORE TO OPEN

Australian fashion powerhouse Romance Was Born has launched a line of smartphone accessories to celebrate the launch of new ‘fashtronics’ store, Move. The store, located on level one of Westfi eld Bondi Junction, sells fashion-inspired accessories, computers and mobile devices to punters who want to jazz up their beloved ‘lifelines’. Visit movestore.com.au for the full range of products.

CLUBHOUSE

Sydney’s hospitality bigwigs are packing their best china and heading to new digs at the Clubhouse for the venue’s official launch on Monday October 28. General Manager Julian Damjano has an impressive 16 years of experience behind the bar, while Barrio Chino’s Rafael Tonon will bang about the pans as the head honcho in the kitchen, working alongside former Hugo’s head chef Nick Stone. Think beached-themed cuisine; swordfi sh tacos, prosciutto wrapped in quail and fresh kale salads. Head down to 798 Botany Rd, Rosebery.

TIME TO GET TROLLEY’D

“I’d like a single plum fl oating in perfume served in a man’s hat.” The Simpsons got it right. Sure, it sounds lavish, but isn’t that the novelty of cocktails? Trolley’d has cottoned on and having spent over a decade charming the food industry, have wheeled into Darlo with a mobile bar service.

Using the freshest ingredients sourced from local farms combined with native Australian produce, Trolley’d is pushing for sustainability in all its creations, specialising in organic and native ingredient cocktails. You can even make a booking for your next event – the cocktail cart will come to you. Head to facebook. com/trolleyd for further details.

SPRING AT THE COTTAGE

Remember sitting in grandma’s farmhouse, sipping on good wine to wash down the homemade pizza? No? Well, The Cottage Bar & Kitchen (342 Darling St, Balmain) is here to create all those memories for you. With antiquarian furnishings and a homely spring menu, the venue’s ready to host you and the family in the summer sun. Dine alfresco on dishes of baby corn and micro coriander, pea and haloumi, scallops and fresh fruit vinaigrette, pork ribs with guava BBQ sauce and jicama salad all designed by head chef Ellen Young. And cheese platters with the fi nest range, selected from UK, France, Spain and Italy. And with an extensive wine list, cocktails galore and craft beers to choose from, you’ll want to schedule a lunch date, or several, quite soon. Visit thecottagebalmain. com.au for more information.

A NOMAD IN SURRY HILLS

Cheese, charcuterie, Australian wine, share plates – welcome to Surry Hills’ newest kid on the culinary block, Nomad. Hospo power couple Alan Yazbek (of Toko fame) and partner Rebecca Littlemore deliver the goods in an impressive converted warehouse space complete with concrete and steel furnishings and copper brick feature walls. Chef Nathan Sasi’s Mediterranean-inspired menu sports the likes of fl amed mackerel, smoked pork empanada, Jersey Milk haloumi and chermoulabraised lamb neck. Yeah, we thought so too. Best get down to 16 Foster St, Surry Hills quick smart. And yes, that is next door to Tio’s.

Fashion connoisseur Dion Lee has launched a new website including an e-store, which carries a full selection of both Mainline and Line II collections. You can get your hands on styles from ‘Windmap’ southern Hemisphere Spring 13, shown at Australian Fashion Week, alongside a selection of styles from ‘Oil + Water’ Resort 13, which will continue to drop throughout November. Prefer an IRL experience rather than virtual? SITE 01, Lee’s first stand-alone retail concept store will open in December at the Strand Arcade. “I am extremely excited to communicate the product through our own channels. It has been a dream to create an environment which elevates the collections and I have loved developing a physical space and a digital platform in parallel,” says Lee. Head to dionlee.com to drop some coin.

LITTLE JOE WOMAN POP-UP

The fresh faces of elegance, Gail Elliot and the Little Joe Woman brand, are setting up shop in the MLC Centre. The pop-up store will flaunt timeless collections, surrounded by a luxe interior of lacquered walls and chic photography. The latest Resort 13 Collection features glitzy magnolia print and a traditional Baltik print, and patrons can even book in a styling session with creative director Elliot. Opening night falls on Thursday October 31, and if you spend over $100, Lancôme will spoil you with a gift. National make-up artist Lara Srokowsk will also be attending the exclusive launch, offering up expert makeup advice. You have until Tuesday December 31 to get your shop on.

HOUSE OF CRABS

Drink N Dine’s latest venture, House of Crabs above The

CHIMMI’S RUM CANTINA LEVEL 2, THE EASTERN, 500 OXFORD ST, BONDI JUNCTION TUESDAY – SATURDAY 5PM-LATE

thebrag.com

fun to offer punters an authentic experience centred on the enjoyment of good food, rum, cigars and dancing. Lest we forget the $1 taco Wednesdays!

bar profile

Who’s the cook/bartender? Chef Matt Fitzgerald earned his stripes at Bathers’ Pavilion in 2003. Since then, Fitzgerald has worked at Oxo Tower and Fig Bistro in London followed by the then Bentley Restaurant and Bar in Surry Hills. And beloved bar manager Todd Miller has had years of experience calling the shots and creating delectable cocktails behind many a Merivale bar. Eye-candy: Interior designer, Kelly Ross is responsible for everything you find inside The Eastern. While sitting amongst the retro furniture and kitsch décor expect to be immersed in a sense of nostalgia. Think black and white murals of scantily-clad women, carnival flare and South American street-style vibes.

The basics: Meet Chimmi. He’s opened up his ’70s-style South American flat for us all to enjoy. Chimmi’s Rum Cantina riffs on colour, movement and

Norfolk Hotel, is set to launch on Friday November 1. It’s a seafood eatery encouraging bibs and eating with your hands, American crab joint style. Hells yeah. What’s the deal? Choose your seafood, choose your sauce and nom away straight from the bag. There’s crab, prawn, clam with Cajun, oriental, Mexican or lemon pepper sauces. Then there’s the other numbers like smoked ocki taco, crabs on acid, buffalo cucumber, lobster fries, Creole corn or the classic lobster roll. Prefer a big slab of meat? House of Crabs has you sorted with a plate of fried chicken or steak with salsa Creola. Drinks wise, the joint tunes into New Orleans cocktail classics with hurricanes, peach cobblers and blackberry mint juleps all on the bill. For a feed and to sink a few, head down to Level 1, The Norfolk Hotel from Tuesday – Sat 6pm-late or between 12-3pm on Friday for a sizeable lunch.

Flavours: Fitzgerald’s street food-inspired menu never fails to deliver. Ceviche, spicy jalapenos, tacos and empanadas are all on offer, served on retro Coca Cola crates. The mouth watering braised beef, bean and chilli empanada ($5) and the charred watermelon, achiote cactus and jalapeno taco ($5) are both house favourites. Care for a drink? Rum – all of the rum. Over 100 types to be

exact. The rum is sourced from South and Central America, the Caribbean and Jamaica to deliver cocktails such as Chimmi’s house special, the Salty Donkey ($14). The 12 strong cocktail makes it easy for any cocktail drinker to find something that suits. For those wanting a cocktail that tastes like summer, the Banana Colada ($19) is served in a pineapple and is a must-have. Make us drool. With cheap eats and unique cocktails Chimmi’s is your new summer oasis for the forthcoming months. Everything about the place is distinctive and loveable – even the bar staff. Get acquainted, friends. theeastern.com.au/chimmis

BRAG :: 536 :: 28:10:13 :: 23

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

ALBUM OF THE WEEK THE GRAND RAPIDS Great Shakes Psyche Ward

Xxxx The Grand Rapids are on another plain, and it’s good for your soul.

Everyone knows someone who’s travelled through Asia and discovered Eastern religion. Sometimes – usually, it must be said – it’s a good thing, and the person in question has embraced a sense of emotional tranquillity. And then there’s the person who takes it too far – changes their name, erects a shrine of a deity in their bedroom and spouts rambling pop-philosophical rhetoric in annoyingly measured tones that, sadly, only induces annoyance in conversational partners. To such people, I say – just get into some droning psychedelia: it’s better for the soul, and eschews the pretension that some other cause might otherwise

MELVINS

ESKIMO JOE

Tres Cabrones Ipecac Recordings

Melvins are an enigma – not just because Buzz Osborne, with his frizzed hair, stumpy figure and weird-guy-atschool demeanour looks as much a photogenic rock star as Alan Jones is a candidate to join a Ramones cover band. It’s because Melvins are a cartoon version of a heavy rock band. It’s because they take the piss out of themselves and anyone who likes them, while thrashing the buggery out of their instruments and their fans’ ears. And it’s because Melvins are still with us, despite the transition of fashion, popular trends and industry whims. Melvins’ latest album is Tres Cabrones. The immediate salient institutional element of the record is the presence of original drummer, Mike Dillard; beyond that, it’s another crazy step in Melvins’ already weird and wonderful journey. You can group the tracks on the album into four rough categories: firstly, the dumb and ugly grunge-metal tracks (‘Doctor Mule’, ‘City Dump’, ‘American Cow’, ‘Stump Farmer’), thumping bursts of psychotic punk energy that fuck with your brain and brutally violate your cognitive capacity. Secondly, the fuzzypsychotic shit that’s more an excuse for Melvins to conjure up deranged sonic images (‘Dogs And Cattle Prods’, ‘Psychodelic Haze’, ‘I Told You I Was Crazy’). Thirdly, the Ramones-esque amphetamine punk statements (‘Walter’s Lips’, ‘Stick’em Bitch’) that confirm the Christian Right’s every fear about the social dangers of rock’n’roll. Finally, there’s those odd interludes of comic book humour (‘Tie My Pecker To A Tree’, ‘99 Bottles Of Beer’, ‘In The Army Now’) that confirm that despite the passage of time, and the semblance of maturity with which Melvins carry themselves, they’re just a bunch of potty-mouthed kids who’ll never grow up – and why the fuck should they? Patrick Emery

Electro Joe? EDM Joe? I know there’s a joke there, but it feels lazy. And it’s lazy to call this a dance record. Make no mistake, this is still the Eskies. If you’re a long-time fan, you’ll find your beloved intricate guitar work on opener ‘Running Out Of Needs’. And you’ll get plenty of Kav’s unique vocals; from his long-missing falsetto showcased on single ‘Got What You Need’, to his sombre baritone on ‘Disgrace’. The album was made possible thanks to crowdfunding by fans, and it seems designed for those fans to have a good time listening to it. But more importantly, it sounds like Eskimo Joe were having a great time recording it. And upbeat tracks such as the neo-disco ‘What You Want’ running headlong into the calypso groove of ‘How Was I To Know’ leave no doubt that this is a party record. If you’re familiar with the band’s early work, you won’t be surprised at the giddy energy. In fact, parts of the album share DNA with 2001’s Girl. But if you’re mostly aware of their late ’00s output, this will take some getting used to. Wastelands is everything you always liked about the Eskies, it’s just dressed differently. Instead of ‘Black Fingernails’, it’s animal onesies. Instead of ‘Red Wine’, it’s vodka mixers. Eskimo Joe have finally made an album as fun as their name. Cameron James

Ranaldo still has the same problem with his lyrics that he had on Between The Times, and now he’s decided his songs don’t need a melody. Each song features the same speak-singing style, with no hooks to distinguish them. When Ranaldo stops singing, the band creates the type of jam that makes all lyrical cheese acceptable. Unfortunately, most of the time the jams are squandered by Ranaldo’s vocals, when you just want him to be quiet for a little while. He lets the jams breathe on only three songs. ‘Key/Hole’ has a great start-stop rhythm, and from its feedbacking intro to the snare rolls at the end, it’s arranged perfectly. ‘The Rising Tide’ is a tense, slow build that explodes into visceral noise explorations at unexpected points, and has the only catchy chorus on the entire album. Finally, album closer ‘Blackt Out’ allows the band to go on the extended jam it’s been threatening to do all album, and it is glorious. All 11 minutes of it. Those three tracks add up to 27 minutes of quality guitar worship. If that’s not your thing, the other six songs aren’t quite strong enough to be worth your time.

After Philadelphia Grand Jury split up in early 2011, main man Simon Berckelman (AKA Berkfinger) relocated to Berlin for a few years and remained silent. However, late last year he dropped Feelings’ lead single ‘One In A Million’ – a concise falsetto-led pop number bolstered by his Ariel Pink-like eccentricity and direct roomy production. The gimmicky second single ‘Intercourse’ has less redeeming features, sounding more 2D with each repeat of the misfired “I like you too and so hard / I feel every part in intercourse” refrain. His recent radio release, the familiarly catchy ‘New York Summer’, was slightly more promising but the simplistic melodies and lazy day self-deprecation don’t build to a truly penetrating conclusion. All three songs appear on the Be Kind, Unwind LP and the record continues with similar inconsistency. Album opener, the aptly titled ‘Square’, is a dorky blues song that couples ‘Lady Madonna’-esque major scale riffs with ‘I’m an uncomfortable dude’ lyrics, but again the song lacks much to warrant showing your friends. A little later in the album comes ‘Loosen Up’, another boisterous anything-goes style rocker, however it leans a little too far into Spiderbait territory, rather than achieving the quirky charm of, say, Regurgitator or Custard. The album’s best tracks are less obvious and more experimental. ‘Good Juju In My Medicine’ sounds like Berkfinger has placed an ’80s cassette tape filter over Eels, and allows him to show off his lower register. ‘Homework’ and ‘City Hall’ are also effective, mid-tempo numbers rooted in well-crafted melodies and lyrical ambiguity.

However, any Crazy Horse or Grateful Dead enthusiasts should definitely check this record out, as it’s obvious that Ranaldo is one himself.

Be Kind, Unwind is dorky, melodic and often off-the-cuff, which should please fans of Philadelphia Grand Jury. However, other than some occasional moments of ironicyet-earnest pop success, it feels somewhat underdone.

Leonardo Silvestrini

Augustus Welby

INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK MAJOR TOM & THE ATOMS Heroes, Villains, Boom Boom Boom! Independent

If Major Tom & The Atoms’ debut album proves one thing, it is this: there has been some good to come out of Little Red’s demise. Tom Hartney, the keyboardist and vocalist in Little Red, dons the moniker of Major Tom and leads his Atoms with a voice as dark as tarmac and twice as rough. He will immediately be recognised by anyone who has heard him before.

24 :: BRAG :: 536 :: 28:10:13

Patrick Emery

THE HEAD AND THE HEART

Be Kind, Unwind Create/Control

Last Night On Earth Matador/Remote Control

Many who caught Lee Ranaldo and his band The Dust playing in support of his previous album Between The Times And The Tides were surprised by the power the band had live, as it wasn’t captured on the album. That power is on full display on Last Night On Earth. The only problem this time is that Ranaldo forgot to supply the songs.

‘Julia’ is a beautiful pop song that deserves its own hour-long dedicated examination; ‘Read On’ takes your hand and leads you through the darkness and into the light of hope and enlightenment. Finally, you’ve got the Velvet Underground-meets-Warlocks drone of ‘Sailor From The Sky’: if you can open your mind, you’ll be in a better place.

FEELINGS

LEE RANALDO AND THE DUST

Wastelands Dirt Diamonds/Inertia

It’s been a while since we’ve heard tunes this bright and bouncy from the WA trio, maybe since 1998’s ‘Sweater’. But the gulf between their debut single and this release is wide, deep, and filled to the brim with 808 drum beats, sawtooth synth waves and dreamy melodies. Yes, Eskimo Joe have gone electronic.

attract. And why not start with The Grand Rapids, and their debut album Great Shakes? Start with the opening track, ‘Dronemachine’, with its rumbling backbeat and barbed wire, Brian Jonestown Massacre guitar lick. Move on to ‘Headless Riders’, and its marriage of post-punk feedback and lumbering beats – just close your eyes, and immerse yourself in the mesmerising simplicity of the moment. ‘Brian’s Got A Rubber Soul’ is more than a subtle musical pun: it’s an existential lament for solitude in a world plagued with narcissism and obsession. The title track hangs there for a moment, waiting, like Allen Ginsberg tantalising a crowd of acid-freak Hells Angels; and when it breaks, the psychedelic tide brings with it a musicometeorological change that takes you to a warm and comforting place.

Hartney tears open the album with ‘Bloodhound’, a track so thick with the blues you could swim in them. The racing beat of ‘Boom Boom Boom’ and bouncing organ and bass line of ‘Confusion’ keep the album moving along and buzzing to its own pulse.

everyday grind by becoming rich and famous, labelling it more of a delusion: “Life on the stage might look like a rage / But when the curtain’s drawn you must return to your cage / Life in a band might look very grand / But when the show is over you’re alone with your hand.”

The album is also full of social satire, with lyrics that deal with the dreams of grandeur and making it big, like in ‘Chasing Rainbows’: “Back in the factory where dreams are made and sold / Some folks are cashing in their happiness for gold / Trading tomorrow for the here and now”.

A musical safari of howling blues, psychedelic comic book soundtrack and bone-crunching rock, Heroes, Villains, Boom Boom Boom! is an accomplished debut, filled with skilled musicianship and the growling vocals of Major Tom.

Let’s Be Still Sup Pop/Inertia

The Head And The Heart know their sound. But while they may have conquered it, whether or not they have exhausted it is debatable. On their sophomore effort, Let’s Be Still, the Seattle sixpiece once again play upon their penchant for making feel-good, dreamy Americana, proving they are still firm believers in sticking to what they know rather than exploring their creative boundaries. Over the span of 13 tracks, they take their listeners on a journey through delicate harmonies, elegant violins and poignant piano, all topped off by Charity Thielen’s goddess-like vocals. The singer/violinist is arguably the strongest reason why the band has set itself apart from a seemingly endless roster of emerging indiefolk Americana outfits, with her ethereal vocals haunting tracks like ‘Summertime’ and ‘These Days Are Numbered’. Ballads ‘Cruel’ and ‘10,000 Weight In Gold’ are near-perfect illustrations of songwriters Jonathan Russell and Josiah Johnson’s abilities to craft stirring tales of despair which are intensified by powerful harmonies. That’s not to say that more upbeat tracks such as ‘Homecoming Heroes’ and ‘Shake’ can’t stand their ground, but they come across as remarkably similar to the majority of the band’s debut self-titled album. Let’s Be Still is a charming follow-up record that will undoubtedly keep the band’s devotees happy. They may have stuck to the tried and true, but these up-and-comers have succeeded in constructing a coherent collection of delightful indie folk. Lauren Gill

OFFICE MIXTAPE And here are the albums that have helped BRAG HQ get through the week... TLC - FanMail JANELLE MONAE - The Electric Lady ARCADE FIRE - Refl ektor

SASKWATCH - Leave It All Behind VELOCIRAPTOR - Velociraptor

Daniel Prior

The album closer ‘Every Little Monkey’ delves into the fantasy of escaping the

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CODY CHESNUTT, NGAIIRE Metro Theatre Saturday October 19

When it comes to his output, Cody ChesnuTT doesn’t like to look back. Yet, playing tracks almost exclusively from his 2012 album Landing On A Hundred, ChesnuTT managed to rewind the clock 40 years. From the average sound quality to the fact that the star was signing merchandise by the time we’d reached the exit, this was about as close to a ’70s soul revue as you can get before being forced to use the word ‘tribute’. Wearing a lion on each shoulder and a large bow in her hair, Sydney soul singer Ngaiire, in support, had turned the African up to 11. Inviting sartorial comparisons to Erykah Badu seemed dangerous but aurally she is closer to Little Dragon’s Yukimi Nagano. A sweet voice and the spacey soul of ‘Dirty Hercules’ certainly deems debut LP Lamentations worthy of closer inspection. Cody ChesnuTT’s besuited fourpiece band warmed the crowd with the

Blaxploitation funk of ‘That’s Still Mama’, and the Atlanta-born star − sporting a bushy beard and his now-standard military helmet − provided a glimpse of his vocal ability on the smooth ‘Til I Met Thee’. A slow a capella intro of “I used to smoke crack back in the day / I used to gamble rent money and lose” began a lengthy version of ‘Everybody’s Brother’ and repeated crowd choruses of “No turning back”. Unusually, it was a love song that ignited the party. Performing ‘Love Is More Than A Wedding Day’, ChesnuTT found his groove. He told how the lyrics came to him when his 12-year marriage hit a rocky patch; part singing, part preaching. All at once he evoked Marvin (voice), Otis (energy) and Al Green (delivery).

PHOTOGRAPHER : ASHLEY MAR

Notable in its absence from the encore was ChesnuTT’s only proper hit, ‘The Seed’, but the sweetness with which he explained why he couldn’t perform it was refreshing, as he ad-libbed “Thank you for allowing me to grow as an artist”. ChesnuTT’s perspective on life may have changed but he remains an eccentrically captivating talent. David Wild

LORDE, OLIVER TANK

Metro Theatre Thursday October 17 Standing centre stage, the porcelain-skinned wunderkind flips her dark mane over her shoulders and croons out the opening lines to ‘Bravado’, the audience immediately hushed in reverence and awe as Lorde’s immaculate husky tones sweep the room.

PHOTOGRAPHER : ASHLEY MAR

Beforehand, and proving a delectable entree to the night’s sonic banquet, Sydney production wizard Oliver Tank thrusts the crowd into a synth-padded jumping castle, with each surface beaming out ambient dreamscapes. Having already scored support slots with Lana Del Rey and James Blake, Tank’s minimal electronica soundscapes and crisp vocal musings are mesmerising. Serving up his Dreams EP, Tank also gives us a taste of his impending release, Slow Motion Music, cranking out lead single ‘A Different Speed’. And what great set is complete without a Snoop Dogg cover? ‘Beautiful’ – and it is. Flanked by a band of two sharing synth and percussion duties, Ella Yelich O’Connor, aptly owning her moniker Lorde, plus a legion of worshippers, glides onto a smoky stage, grabs her mic and glares smoulderingly ahead. She dips into her The Love Club EP, before tackling her chart-crushing debut album, Pure Heroine.

MICKEY AVALON, KID MAC, THE PHAT CONTROLLER, SLIPPERY Metro Theatre Sunday October 20

My Sundays don’t usually end up with strippers, heavy doses of crowd participation and a sweaty mosh pit – but by God, this one did. After a few small encounters with mostly naked lead singers, I’m not sure next week’s confession is going to forgive the sins I witnessed at the Metro Theatre. Garbed in a fishing hat and a white wifebeater, Slippery paced up and down the stage with a style he picked up in LA. In his hyper Australian accent he dedicated his next song “to the ladies and the players”, and so began a lyrical whirlwind of spliffs, BBQs and surfing. As hard rock three-piece The Phat Controller performed to an imaginary stadium, the lead guitarist and DJ were drowned out by the frontman’s stage antics. Commanding the audience to get naked, the frontman was already way ahead of the crowd. Grinding the floor and leading a group chant of “suck me off”, it is safe to say: ‘Well, that escalated quickly.’ The “I <3 big booty bitches” t-shirt should have been enough of a warning sign. thebrag.com

Bare spotlights from left and right are joined by blinding beams, momentarily turning Lorde into an ethereal silhouette and illuminating the erratic pulses of her body as she physically slips into each track. Naturally, her devotees are prompted to do the same, and bouts of hell-awkward dancing are noted through the crowd. A fan (of the electric species) frames her hair around her face like a crown, and joined by hypnotising beats, it all seems surreal. Until Lorde pauses and apologetically confesses, “I tend to sweat like a freak onstage”. She then charms with ‘Ribs’, continuing to possess her lower vocal register with impressive control and credence, and mastering the higher parts too. As expected, ‘Royals’ happens, with finger clicks across the Metro and defiant sing-along participation about ten notches louder than the rest of the set. A cover of Kanye’s ‘Hold My Liquor’ and The Replacements’ ‘Swingin’ Party’ pierce the evening, and everyone is so frozen in the moment that our golden girl has to remind us to “fucking dance, please!” Then a laconic, “Here’s the deal. I don’t do encores. I hate them”, followed by rapturous applause and a compromised pseudoencore of ‘A World Alone’. And we all happily sing along, “People are talking, people are talking”. And they will. Mina Kitsos

At a gig where you leave your morals at home, Kid Mac’s dancefloor beats and smooth vocals brought the only conventional segment to the whole night. However, as soon as he announced getting some “Bangarang up in this bitch”, we were back to the bizarre, and the second instalment of crowd participation commenced as a sea of middle fingers rose up to all the haters. The infamous Hollywood hip hop party boy stepped onstage to Toni Basil’s ‘Mickey’. Mickey Avalon must hate that joke by now, but the crowd loved it. Touring his recent EP, I Get Even, each new track savoured every bit of Avalon’s history of excessive behavior. Playing all the favorites from his self-titled 2006 album, ‘Waiting To Die’ was followed by ‘Mr. Right’, ‘So Rich, So Pretty’ and ‘Fuckin’ ‘Em All’. Avalon was joined by a dancer who had a different coordinated outfit for each song she appeared in – she spent most of her time onstage taking her clothes off. ‘Jane Fonda’ was always going to be a set highlight, and although bringing Kid Mac onstage for ‘She Goes Off’ fell a bit flat, the crowd was happy shooting imaginary guns. With Avalon returning for an encore of ‘My Dick’, the exhausted crowd gave everything they had to a song we have all played too loud in a public place.

PHOTOGRAPHER : ASHLEY MAR

Tanydd Jaquet

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18:10:13 :: Allphones Arena :: Edwin Flack Ave Sydney Olympic Park 8765 4321

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Jackson 5’s ‘I Want You Back’. Fusing together their unique Polynesian sounds with pop-rock and R&B, Common Kings Big Top, Luna Park kept the energy high and the crowd Friday October 18 singing, combining covers of Top 40 tunes with originals including ‘Waste Stepping through the gates at Sydney’s My Time’ and ‘Fall In Love’. They closed Luna Park was like stepping across the with a reggae-style cover of Bruno Mars’ ocean and landing in New Zealand – six‘Young, Wild9550 And 3666 Free’, before introducing 03:10:13 foot tattooed and dreadlocked :: Maoris Metro Theatre :: 624 George St Sydney the legendary Aotearoa roots-reggae reggae lovers filled the arena; chants of group, Katchafire. “chur bro” and “choice” echoed from the bar. It appeared as though every Kiwi this On tour for their Best So Far album, the side of the Tasman had come to Sydney iconic Kiwi band had the crowd smiling to see the legendary roots reggae band and singing the whole night through. As Katchafire and get their skank on at the a compilation of 16 of the best songs Big Top. from their four studio albums to date, the recent album made for the perfect live Sydney-based, Auckland-born singer setlist, giving fans a little bit of everything Sammielz opened the gig to a small crowd from ‘Colour Me Life’ and ‘Love Letter’ with his mellow, soulful tunes including to the crowd staple sing-along classic, ‘Addicted’ and ‘Ain’t No Rush’. ‘Sweet As’. After a short interlude with DJ Peter Gunz throwing down some beats, the floor had A little funk, a little soul and still a filled and Common Kings took the stage. whole lot of reggae, a defining feature of Katchafire is their ability to send out Returning for their second visit to those feel-good vibes while looking just Australian shores, the four-piece group as stoked to be there as the fans. from Orange Country, California kicked off their set with an energetic mash-up Julienne Gilet of Michael Jackson’s ‘Billy Jean’ and The

EVERY TIME I DIE, I EXIST, HELLIONS Manning Bar Saturday October 19 There are bands that need to be seen live to truly capture everything they represent, to tap into the visceral ethos lying at a group’s core that simply can’t be adequately communicated with studio recordings. New York metalcore quintet Every Time I Die are such a band, and what they represent is a kind of beautiful chaos that requires it be witnessed first hand to be understood. Local hardcore crew Hellions kick off proceedings as punters trickle in. Formed out of the ashes of defunct outfit The Bride, they still appear to be finding their feet, but mesh together well and show promise. Sludgy Canberran riff merchants I Exist do a better job connecting with the growing audience, inciting mass head-banging with their trademark brand of boozy, doominfluenced punk. Every Time I Die take the stage in typically cavalier manner before launching into ‘Underwater Bimbos From Outer Space’, the lead single from latest album Ex Lives. The crowd response is immediate and wild. Notably, Manning Bar’s oft-reviled crowd control barrier is gone (“We got here and they had a barrier set up! We were like, 26 :: BRAG :: 536 :: 28:10:13

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the amity affliction

20:10:13 :: Big Top Sydney :: Luna Park 1 Olympic Drive Milsons Point 9033 7600

‘No fucking way’!”, tells frontman Keith Buckley) and security is refreshingly a little more lax than usual. The end result is a ballistic frenzy of limbs, as Buckley and co. incite all manner of stage-diving, crowd-surfing antics. With about 15 years’ worth of touring under their belts, Every Time I Die have garnered a hell of a reputation for intense live performances and tonight is no different, as the Buffalo act rips through a generous selection of gems from throughout their back catalogue, including fan favourites like ‘We’rewolf’, ‘The New Black’ and ‘Wanderlust’. Hyperactively tearing through track after track with cathartic gusto, it’s a masterclass in how to deliver a set dripping with energy and charisma. Closing the night with the manic ‘Kill The Music’, the band urges a full-scale stage invasion – a request to which sweat-soaked patrons happily comply. It’s a symbol of the sheer collective effervescence that’s consumed the room. “We don’t have any fireworks, we don’t even have a fucking banner,” says Buckley. “We’re just a band that play music.” For tonight, the impact of this bare bones performance is infinitely more powerful than any elaborate set-up could be. Blake Gallagher

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KATCHAFIRE, COMMON KINGS, SAMMIELZ

18:10:13 :: Annandale Hotel :: 17 Paramatta Rd Annandale 9550 1078 SE

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18:10:13 :: Manning Bar :: Manning Rd Camperdown 9563 6000

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18:10:13 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford St Darlinghurst 9332 3711

18:10:13 :: Brighton Up Bar :: Level 1/77 Oxford St Darlinghurst 9572 6322 SE

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g g guide g send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com

British India

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 1 Metro Theatre

British India + She Rex + Hollow Everdaze 8:30pm. $33.70. MONDAY OCTOBER 28 ACOUSTIC/ COUNTRY/BLUES/ FOLK

Songs On Stage - feat: John Chesher + Chris Brookes + Massimo Presti + Rick Taylor & Matt Van Herten Kelly’s On King, Newtown. 7pm. free.

JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Happy Monday Venue 505, Surry Hills. 8:30pm. free. Motown Mondays - feat: Soulgroove The White Horse, Surry Hills. 8pm. free. Reggae Monday Civic Underground, Sydney. 10pm. free.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Frankie’s World Famous 28 :: BRAG :: 536 : 28:10:13

House Band Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 9pm. free. King Tide + Ocean Alley Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach. 8pm. free. Steve Tonge Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 8:30pm. free. The Breeders + Screamfeeder Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 7pm. $69.50.

TUESDAY OCTOBER 29 ACOUSTIC/ COUNTRY/BLUES/ FOLK

Rune Tonsgaard Sørenson With Dreamer’s Circus + Annaliese Szota Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 8pm. $25.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Rob Henry Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 8:30pm. free.

JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Big Band Tuesdays - feat: Sirens Big Band The Basement, Circular Quay. 8pm. $5. Old School Funk And Groove Night - feat: DJ Elchino + DJ Jon Venue 505, Surry Hills. 8:30pm. free.

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 30 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Eric Vloeiman’s Gatecrash Foundry616, Ultimo. 8:30pm. $27.50. Firthy’s Four + James Muller Venue 505, Surry Hills. 8:30pm. $15.

ACOUSTIC/ COUNTRY/BLUES/ FOLK Django Bar - feat: Chris Assaad

Andy Mammers Duo Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney. 9pm. free. Chris Stretton Stamford Grand, North Ryde. 5:45pm. free. City Slickers Band Comp. Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 7pm. $15. Dave Hole + Charlie A’Court Brass Monkey, Cronulla. 7pm. $30. Lunchbreak - feat: Belle & The Bone People FBi Social, Kings Cross. 1pm. free. Mark Oats Duo O’Malleys Hotel, Kings Cross. 9:15pm. free. Matt Price Coogee Bay Hotel, Coogee. 9pm. free. Sarah Paton Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 8:30pm. free. Television + Ed Kuepper Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 8pm. $79.60. Uni Bar100 Bar100, The Rocks. 9pm. free. Veronica Falls + Go Violets + Mope City Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 8pm. $26. Victoria Avenue Hillside Hotel, Castle Hill. 7:30pm. free.

THURSDAY OCTOBER 31 ACOUSTIC/ COUNTRY/BLUES/ FOLK

Live Music Thursdays Bar100, The Rocks. 5pm. free. Paul Greene + Ashley Mannix Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 8pm. $20. Songs On Stage - feat: Peach Montgomery & Johnny Freud Forest Lodge Hotel, Forest Lodge. 7:30pm. free. Songs On Stage - feat: Chris Raicevich + Adriano Cimilio + Oliver Goss + The Runaway Houses + Maisie Raver Ruby L’otel, Rozelle. 7:30pm. free.

JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Cellar Jazz Jam - feat: Phil Stack & Guests The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 10pm. free. Cole Soul And Emotion feat: Lionel Cole The White Horse, Surry Hills. 8pm. free. Groupo Niche + SalSalvador All Stars + Clave Contra Clave (Sydney Heat) Enmore Theatre, Newtown.

5pm. $89. Voodoo Music Festival feat: Pat Capocci + The Two Timing Playboys + Pocketful Of Soul The Bourbon, Potts Point. 6pm. free.

Rhythms Of The Ancestors The Lair, Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $20.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

Bands On Stage Concert - feat: Tiger & The Rogues + Sundown Shamans + Lil Smoke Ruby L’otel, Rozelle. 8pm. free. Buffalo Tales And Sam Buckingham Venue 505, Surry Hills. 8:30pm. $12. Daniel Allars The Gaelic Club, Sydney. 8:30pm. $10. Live Music Fridays Bar100, The Rocks. 5pm. free.

AC Presents Lady KillersThe All Girl Halloween Spectacular - feat: She Rex + The Fabergettes + The Dark Hawks + Lily So & The Bellows The Standard, Surry Hills. 8pm. $18.50. Alex Cannings Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 8:30pm. free. Alex Hopkins Open Mic Night Northies Cronulla Hotel, Cronulla. 7:30pm. free. Andy Mammers Australian Hotel And Brewery, Rouse Hill. 10pm. free. Beyoncé - The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour + Stan Walker Allphones Arena, Sydney Olympic Park. 8pm. $99.90. Bodyjar + The Sinking Teeth The Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle West. 8pm. $28.40. Cletus Kasady + Burnside Lewisham Hotel, Lewisham. 8pm. $12. Dave Hole + Charlie A’Court Bridge Hotel, Rozelle. 7pm. free. David Agius Hillside Hotel, Castle Hill. 8:30pm. free. Declan Kelly + Callum Wylie + The Bondi Beats 34 Degrees South, Bondi Beach. 8:30pm. free. Ed Kuepper Brass Monkey, Cronulla. 7pm. $30. Greg Agar Duo Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney. 9:30pm. free. Greg Byrne Dee Why Hotel, Dee Why. 7pm. free. Gus G’s Firewind Manning Bar, Camperdown. 8pm. $59. Hipster Halloween - feat: Nightbug + Woodland + Collision Kings + Paper Crane Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 7pm. $10. Jay Birds Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney. 10:15pm. free. Jeremy Neale + Major Leagues + Richard Cuthbert + Okin Osan Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 8pm. $12. Joey Cape + Brian Wahlstrom + Isaac Graham + Alex Party Cat The Annandale Hotel, Annandale. 7:30pm. $28.60. Paul Greene Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 7pm. $22.70. Sarah Paton Duo O’malleys Hotel, Kings Cross. 9:30pm. free. Sons Of The East Hotel Steyne, Manly. 9pm. free. Wednesday 13 Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7:30pm. $52.

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 1 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Marty Simpson Customs House Bar, Sydney. 7pm. free.

ACOUSTIC/ COUNTRY/BLUES/ FOLK

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

5ive - Greatest Hits Tour Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 7pm. $65.60. Adam Gorecki Parramatta RSL Club, Parramatta. 5pm. free. Angelo Pash Australian Hotel And Brewery, Rouse Hill. 9pm. free. Beyoncé - The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour + Stan Walker Allphones Arena, Sydney Olympic Park. 8pm. $99.90. Big Way Out Hillside Hotel, Castle Hill. 8pm. free. Bodyjar + The Sinking Teeth The Hi-Fi, Moore Park. 7:30pm. $30.50. Bounce Crows Nest Hotel, Crows Nest. 10:30pm. free. British India + She Rex + Hollow Everdaze Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8:30pm. $33.70. Dave White Trio Kirribilli Hotel, Milsons Point. 8pm. free. David Agius Northies Cronulla Hotel, Cronulla. 9pm. free. Def FX + Super Massive The Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle West. 8pm. $33.70. Gemma Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 10:30pm. free. Geoff Rana Harbord Beach Hotel, Freshwater. 8pm. free. Heath Burdell Clovelly Hotel, Clovelly. 8pm. free. Hue Williams The Oasis On Beamish, Campsie. 8:30pm. free. I Am Apollo The Standard, Surry Hills. 8pm. $15.40. Ian Moss + Bec Sandridge Brass Monkey, Cronulla. 7pm. $35. Infinity Broke + Ted Danson With Wolves + Trent Marden Ich Blackwire Records, Annandale. 7pm. $12. Jess Dunbar Novotel, Darling Harbour. 5:30pm. free. Joe Echo Cronulla RSL, Cronulla. 7:30pm. free. Live Music At The Royal The Royal, Leichhardt. 9:30pm. free. Luke Dixon Mona Vale Hotel, Mona Vale. 9pm. free. Michael McGlynn Crows Nest Hotel, Crows Nest. 7pm. free. Natasha Kavanagh Mona Vale Hotel, Mona Vale. 5:30pm. free. OAF’s Halloween 6th Birthday Party! - feat: The Trouble With Templeton +

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pick of the week

Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 6pm. $15. Pulp Kitchen And Folk Club - feat: Live Rotating Folk Bands Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 5pm. free. Songs On Stage - feat: Angelene Harris & Brendan Doyle Collector Hotel, Parramatta. 7pm. free. Songs On Stage - feat: Peach Montgomery & Guests Sackville Hotel, Rozelle. 7:30pm. free. Songs On Stage - feat: Helmut Uhlmann The Loft (UTS Loft), Ultimo. 6pm. free.

g g guide gig g send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com

Beyonce

Joe Echo PJ Gallagher’s, Moore Park. 7:30pm. free. King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard The Standard, Surry Hills. 8pm. $23.60. Leon Fallon Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 8:30pm. free. Michael McGlynn Kirribilli Hotel, Milsons Point. 8pm. free. Steve Tonge Duo Northies Cronulla Hotel, Cronulla. 9pm. free. The Clean Skins Botany View Hotel, Newtown. 7pm. free. The Starliners Souths Juniors, Kingsford. 8:30pm. free.

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 3

mon

28 Oct

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 ACOUSTIC/ COUNTRY/BLUES/ FOLK Georgos Mazonakis + Maximos Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 9:15pm. $69. Live Music Saturdays Bar100, The Rocks. 4pm. free. Paul Hayward & Friends Town & Country Hotel, St Peters. 4pm. free.

JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC

Edwina Blush & Bobby Gebert Venue 505, Surry Hills. 8:30pm. $20. Yuki Kumagai & John Mackie Well Co. Cafe And Wine Bar, Leichhardt. 11am. free.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS A Band Named Trevor

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Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills. 9:30pm. free. Achtung Baby Duo PJ Gallagher’s, Leichhardt. 9pm. free. Alex Hopkins Stacks Taverna, Sydney. 6pm. free. Antoine Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 9:30pm. free. Beyoncé - The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour + Stan Walker Allphones Arena, Sydney Olympic Park. 8pm. $99.90. Black Diamond Hearts Golden Sheaf Hotel, Sydney. 9pm. free. Buzz Club #4 - feat: The New Christs + Mushroom Planet + Bruce + DJ Doctor Rock Hermann’s Bar, Darlington. 8pm. $20. Call The Shots + The Reprize + Day Break The Lair, Metro Theatre, Sydney. 5pm. $20. Carl Fidler Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 4:30pm. free. Cath & Him Crown Hotel, Sydney. 9:30pm. free. David Agius Band Crows Nest Hotel, Crows Nest. 10:30pm. free. Def FX + Graveyard Rockstars Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $30. Don Walker + Roy Payne Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 7:30pm. $30. Electric Anthems Trio Paragon Hotel, Sydney. 9:30pm. free. Enslaved + Rise Of Avernus Manning Bar, Camperdown. 8pm. $61.20. Geoff Rana Duo Hillside Hotel, Castle Hill. 7pm. free. Got It Covered Carousel Inn Hotel, Rooty Hill. 8pm. free. Harbour Masters Engadine Tavern, Engadine. 9:30pm. free. Ian Moss + Dylan Wright Brass Monkey, Cronulla. 7pm. $35. J. Smith & The Kids + Bears With Guns + The Vanns + Revier FBi Social, Kings Cross. 8pm. $10. James Englund Australian Hotel And Brewery, Rouse Hill. 10pm. free. Jamie Lindsay Harbord Beach Hotel, Freshwater. 8pm. free. Jess Dunbar Crows Nest Hotel, Crows Nest. 7pm. free.

Intimate Sessions Paragon Hotel, Sydney. 6pm. free. Live Music Sundays Bar100, The Rocks. 1pm. free. Sunday Blues And Roots The White Horse, Surry Hills. 5pm. free. The Spooky Men’s Chorale Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 7:30pm. $25.

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ACOUSTIC/ COUNTRY/BLUES/ FOLK Cabins + Oxblvd + Blind Valley + Los Tones + Junk + Kilter + Kanyon + Triforce + Moonbase Commander + Meare + This Mess + Papertoy Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 7pm. free. Reels On Fire PJ Gallagher’s, Leichhardt. 9pm. free. Retro Rocks Moorebank Sports Club, Hammondville. 9pm. free. Rob Henry Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 8:30pm. free. Slick 46 + Standard Union + Rust + Eager 13 Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 7pm. $10. Take It Up Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills. 10pm. free. The Lazys + Stellar Addiction + Normal Day Tattersalls Hotel, Penrith. 8:30pm. free. Tommy Pickett The Eastern, Bondi Junction. 8pm. free. Twin Beasts The Commons, Newcastle. 7pm. $5. Will Teague Chatswood RSL, Chatswood. 5:30pm. free. Zoltn Pittwater RSL, Mona Vale. 7pm. free.

tue

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

sun

sat

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(9:30PM - 12:30AM)

(8:30PM - 12:00AM)

JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC

Benjalu Hotel Steyne, Manly. 7pm. free.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

Satellite V Play Marrickville Bowls Club, Marrickville. 4:30pm. free. Beyoncé - The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour + Stan Walker Allphones Arena, Sydney Olympic Park. 8pm. $99.90. Bones Atlas + Milkmaids + Muddy Lamb Brass Monkey, Cronulla. 7pm. $12. Elevation U2 Acoustic Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 4:30pm. free. Jess Dunbar Mill Hill Hotel, Bondi Junction. 3pm. free. Matt Jones Harbord Beach Hotel, Freshwater. 9pm. free. Moonfield + Anchors Of Tortugas + Gypsy + John Edwards Trio + Mangrove Jack Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 5pm. $10. Rob Henry Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 8pm. free. The Chosen Few Northies Cronulla Hotel, Cronulla. 9pm. free. The Ramalamas + Demon Drink Botany View Hotel, Newtown. 7pm. free. Three Wise Men Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 4pm. free. Tori Darke Duo Woolloomooloo Bay Hotel, Woolloomooloo. 3pm. free. Twin Beasts Grand Junction Hotel, Maitland. 8pm. free. Valve - feat: Sylvain + Nekrology + Our Past Days + Amber Trace + Carbon Vlack + Atlantis Of The Sky + Vendetta Of The Fallen Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 12pm. $10.

BRAG :: 536 :: 28:10:13 :: 29

gig picks up all night out all week...

Veronica Falls

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 1 Rhythms Of The Ancestors The Lair, Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $20. 5ive - Greatest Hits Tour Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 7pm. $65.60. Bodyjar + The Sinking Teeth The Hi-Fi, Moore Park. 7:30pm. $30.50. British India + She Rex + Hollow Everdaze Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8:30pm. $33.70.

MONDAY OCTOBER 28 The Breeders + Screamfeeder Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 7pm. $69.50.

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 30 Television + Ed Kuepper Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 8pm. $79.60. Veronica Falls + Go Violets + Mope City Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 8pm. $26.

THURSDAY OCTOBER 31 AC Presents Lady Killers- The All Girl Halloween Spectacular -

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feat: She Rex + The Fabergettes + The Dark Hawks + Lily So & The Bellows The Standard, Surry Hills. 8pm. $18.50. Beyoncé - The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour + Stan Walker Allphones Arena, Sydney Olympic Park. 8pm. $99.90. Declan Kelly + Callum Wylie + The Bondi Beats 34 Degrees South, Bondi Beach. 8:30pm. Free. Gus G’s Firewind Manning Bar, Camperdown. 8pm. $59. Jeremy Neale + Major Leagues + Richard Cuthbert + Okin Osan Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 8pm. $12. Joey Cape + Brian Wahlstrom + Isaac Graham + Alex Party Cat The Annandale Hotel, Annandale. 7:30pm. $28.60. Wednesday 13 Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7:30pm. $52.

I Am Apollo The Standard, Surry Hills. 8pm. $15.40. Ian Moss + Bec Sandridge Brass Monkey, Cronulla. 7pm. $35. Infinity Broke + Ted Danson With Wolves + Trent Marden Ich Blackwire Records, Annandale. 7pm. $12. OAF’s Halloween 6th Birthday Party! - Feat: The Trouble With Templeton + Cabins + Oxblvd + Blind Valley + Los Tones + Junk + Kilter + Kanyon + Triforce + Moonbase Commander + Meare + This Mess + Papertoy Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 7pm. Free.

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 Georgos Mazonakis + Maximos Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 9:15pm. $69. Call The Shots + The Reprize + Day Break The Lair, Metro Theatre, Sydney. 5pm. $20. Def FX + Graveyard Rockstars Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $30. Enslaved + Rise Of Avernus Manning Bar, Camperdown. 8pm. $61.20. King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard The Standard, Surry Hills. 8pm. $23.60.

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 3 Valve - Feat: Sylvain + Nekrology + Our Past Days + Amber Trace + Carbon Vlack + Atlantis Of The Sky + Vendetta Of The Fallen Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 12pm. $10.

King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard

Joey Cape

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

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

five things WITH

Eminem

Kendrick Lamar

KRISTIAN BEYER FROM ÂME

THE RAPTURE

The Rapture hip hop festival will descend on Sydney’s ANZ Stadium on February 22 with a lineup featuring monoliths Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and J Cole. Skipping the proverbial ‘Slim Shady’ reference, there’s no disputing Eminem’s iconic stature in pop culture. The 13-time Grammy winner has sold over 80 million albums worldwide, and was dubbed the “king of hip hop” by Rolling Stone magazine in an inspired display of journalism. Lamar is coming off a stellar 2012, in which he released his excellent album good kid, m.A.A.d city while J Cole enjoyed one of the biggest album releases of this year with Born Sinner, which was only thwarted from debuting atop the U.S. Charts by Kanye West’s Yeezus. Presale tickets for the festival go on sale at midday this Thursday October 31.

LUCIANO FOR FMF 2014

Renowned Chilean DJ Luciano has been added to the bourgeoning lineup for next year’s Future Music Festival. The Cadenza record label main man has a celebrated CV, having remixed the likes of Loco Dice, Recloose and Minilogue and released his own album Tribute To The Sun along with mixes such as Vagabundos 2012 and his (far superior) Sci. Fi.Hi.Fi compilation. Luciano will join Sven Väth, Dubfire and Maya Jane Coles who’ll all play the Cocoon stage. FMF tickets are available online.

Growing Up My parents are definitely not from a musical background, but I can remember that sometimes my father listened to a Wagner or a Verdi opera. I don’t think that my childhood affected my life at all as a musician. I was a real indie kid when I was a teenager, so my first real musical experiences came through that. I adored the Pixies a lot and after all these years I finally came back to them. Inspirations Brian Eno is definitely the most 2. important figure in my life when it comes to inspiration. He is still a very versatile man and somebody who I would call a true artist. Another Green World was the album which opened my eyes and it is still my all-time favourite album. Like every human being I am inspired by everything which surrounds me, like nature, family, work and everyday life. Your Crew I do music together with Frank 3. Wiedemann as Âme, and together with him and Dixon we run the label Innervisions. Basically, this is my core family – Henrik

SYDNEY FESTIVAL DANCE HIGHLIGHTS

The recently announced program for Sydney Festival 2014 in January offers plenty of alluring options for electronic music lovers. Detroit auteur Juan Atkins will perform on Friday January 17, ahead of Jacques Renault the following week, before iconic Londoner Andrew Weatherall headlines The Spiegeltent on Sunday January 26. Atkins produced a host of seminal cuts throughout the ’80s and early ’90s, including the much-sampled ‘Clear’ and ‘Cosmic Cars’ while working under his Cybotron and Model 500 monikers, the former a project 32 :: BRAG :: 536 :: 28:10:13

Schwarz (from Tiefschwarz) is also a part of it, although he is not directly involved in the label work, but we have a studio together and share a lot of other passions. The Music You Make I don’t do charts or give away my 4. five tracks on high rotation as this always changes. What I play depends on the situation I am in, and as I am not a fortune teller I can’t predict which tracks the situation will require. Normally I would play something that sits between driving house and techno. Music, Right Here, Right Now I think the electronic music scene that 5. I am in is in a very good state, especially over here in Europe. I live in Berlin which is considered as one of the centres of this movement, so I am blessed to be here and have the opportunity to play almost monthly in Berghain, which is one of the very best clubs in the world. With: Circoloco Halloween Where: The Greenwood Hotel When: Saturday November 2

with Rick Davies. Meanwhile, Renault is a New York purveyor of underground disco who broke through with the release of the anthem ‘Brooklyn Club Jam’ – which Renault made with his friend Marcos Cabral under the pair’s Runaway moniker – that was released on both DFA Records and Radio Slave’s Rekids label. Last but certainly not least, Weatherall is known for his work as Sabres of Paradise and Two Lone Swordsman, and has been involved in producing some of the more revered acts of the past 20 years across disparate genres of music, including My Bloody Valentine and Primal Scream. Head to sydneyfestival.org.au/2014 for the full program and tickets.

ON SAFARI FT FRANCESCA LOMBARDO

Francesca Lombardo will play a DJ set at the On Safari party at Tatler this Friday November 1 ahead of her Circoloco performance the following day. Beginning her music career as a pianist and opera singer, Lombardo has established herself as a member of Damian Lazarus’ Crosstown Rebels clique, releasing her What To Do EP on the label, which comprised remixes from Infinity Ink, Matrixxman, and Luca C. “The track [‘What To Do’] is talking about a night out, in a club when it is dark and people get lost by following friends in the club rather then doing their own thing,” Lombardo explained. She’ll be supported by a local duo who are anything but melancholic, the irrepressible Franchi Brothers, along with J Lee. The revelry commences at 10pm.

SHORE THING LINEUP ADDITIONS

Fuzzy have fleshed out the lineup for their annual New Year’s Eve romp at Bondi Pavilion. Previously we only knew that EDM posterboy Skrillex would be headlining. We can now confirm that Flume/Emoh duo, What So Not, will also be throwing down along with Alvin Risk who recently collaborated with Skrillex on the track ‘Try It Out’. What So Not released their Quack EP through the Sweat It Out label earlier this year, which featured collaborations with Action Bronson, beatmaker Blood Diamonds and D Mac, and was self-described as “a stomper with character”. If you want to stomp along to Shore Thing to ring in the New Year, grab your presale tickets online at shorething.com.au.

DJ NATURE HEADLINES SOFT & SLOW

Milo Johnson, who has been making music as DJ Nature over the past few years, will headline Soft & Slow at the Spice Cellar this Friday November 1. While DJ Nature is a relatively recent moniker for Johnson, the man is no newcomer to production – in fact, he’s been making records since the ’80s when he started out with Bristol’s celebrated hip hop and reggae collective, The Wild Bunch (alongside members who would subsequently form Massive Attack). Johnson then cemented his reputation through his work as DJ Milo and Nature Boy after relocating to New York. Following a break from the club scene after the birth of his child in 1993, Johnson re-emerged as DJ Nature in 2010 and has reacquainted himself with dancers via his EPs on Golf Channel and Japanese label Jazzy Sport. Andy Webb, Pink Lloyd and Dreamcatcher will spin in support of the veteran headliner, with doors opening at 10pm.

Skrillex

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free stuff

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

email: freestuff@thebrag.com

five things WITH

ALEX SMOKE techno that threw me in new directions. Inspirations So many. From Tavener 2. and Tallis to Laurent Garnier, Aphex Twin, UR and Nas to Jonny Greenwood and Autechre. Singing Mozart’s Requiem at 11 has stayed with me as much as hearing Garnier for the first time on Radio 1 or chancing on Nas’ Illmatic as a blind purchase. Your Crew Nae crew. I like it solo. But I 3. have been aided and supported by my pal Jim and my friends along the way. I love to work with visual artists such as Florence To, Vokoi (who did my Wraetlic visuals) and Konx-om-Pax.

Growing Up I grew up immersed in music as both my parents are musicians and passionate about music above all else. Purely classical, it must be said. I sang full-time

in a cathedral choir from the age of nine so that is probably the biggest single musical influence in my life, although I also played the cello for 14 years. After that it was discovering hip hop and

MOUNT KIMBIE LANEWAY SIDESHOW

UK bass duo Mount Kimbie will play a Laneway Festival sideshow at the Metro Theatre on Wednesday January 29. With a sound that has been described as “postdubstep”, the London-based pair made their mark with EPs on Scuba’s Hotflush Recordings prior to dropping their debut LP Crooks & Lovers. Mount Kimbie released their second album Cold Spring Fault Less Youth earlier this year on Warp Records, traversing hip hop, jazz, techno, ambient and post-rock influences in a release featuring two collaborations with Rinsesigned crooner King Krule. Mount Kimbie’s live show has continued to grow in recent times with the addition of a drummer, and they have been showcased at venues such as Berlin’s fabled nightspot Berghain.

ANDY RILEY HEADLINES CIVIC UNDERGROUND

House music luminary Andy Riley, a respected DJ, producer and label owner who is celebrated for his output as Inland Knights alongside

The Music You Make There are different styles 4. for different occasions. Classical composition for some and singing and electronic experimentation for others. In Sydney I’m DJing and playing live. Both will be based on

techno and house but I prefer not to pigeonhole things too much as there is a lot of room for movement. I’ll be singing a wee bit too. Music, Right Here, Right Now 5. It is a very fertile time for new music as so many people now have the ability to make it but the negative is that the scene is obsessed with novelty. That makes it harder and harder to make a long-term career in music, which is damaging to the scene in the long run. The best artists in my opinion are the ones who continue to develop and push things on. A good example is James Holden, whose last album is fantastic. What: The Box & Strange Fruit present Alex Smoke With: Mike Callander, D&D, Marcotix, Defined By Rhythm, Jordan Deck, Jay Smalls, Hamish Radford Where: The Abercrombie When: Saturday November 2

Laurence Ritchie, will headline The Civic Underground on Saturday November 23 courtesy of the Parkside crew. Together with Ritchie, Riley launched the Drop Music label in the late ’90s, and has remixed the likes of Crazy P(enis), Faithless and Gene Farris over the years. Sydney’s own house music luminary, Mad Racket resident Simon Caldwell, and Parkside DJs will throw down in support.

CHOPSTICK & JOHNJON

Keen for some booty-shaking fun? International DJ collaboration Chopstick & Johnjon have got you covered. Germanborn John B. Muder, AKA Johnjon, and Vietnamese/Canadian Chi-Thien Nguyen, AKA Chopstick, are set to have you tearing up the dancefloor with what they like to call ‘harmony rave’ – a mixture of techno, electro and house. The boys will be taking over SASH at The Abercrombie on Sunday November 3. With beers in hand, a sunny Sunday afternoon and a nine-hour session of great music, what more could you want? We’re giving you the chance to win one of two double passes – and each comes with a $50 bar tab to keep you going. For your chance to win, head to thebrag.com/ freeshit and tell us what you’d call yourself if you were a DJ superstar.

DAVE SEAMAN

Veteran producer and progressive don Dave Seaman returns to Sydney to play Chinese Laundry on Saturday November 9. While Seaman is well remembered by clubbers for his popular Global Underground and Renaissance compilations, he has also worked on productions for Kylie Minogue and Take That, and remixed everyone from U2 and Michael Jackson to David Bowie and New Order.

DJ SPEN

Baltimore house producer DJ Spen will headline Goldfish on Friday November 16. Initially inspired by hip hop, Spen launched his career through his partnership with Teddy Douglas and Jay Steinhour as The Basement Boys in the ’90s, with the trio fusing gospel, jazz, disco and house influences. Spen subsequently formed Jasper Street Company and launched his own Code Red record label, which is closing in on its 50th release. Through Code Red, Spen has worked with the likes of Ultra Nate, Marc Evans and Knee Deep, while he has also released club anthems such as ‘Gabryelle’ and a collaboration with Karizma, ‘4 The Love’.

Seaman remains relevant to the present club milieu via his independent label Audio Therapy, which boasts a roster featuring Popof, Timo Maas, Pig & Dan, Tiger Stripes and Robert Babicz. As with all Laundry gigs, the usual advice applies for this one – entry is cheaper before 10pm, and early arrival is also a good way of avoiding the queue.

Deep Impressions Dance And Electronica with Chris Honnery

“I

remember the very first time I was introduced to techno. Those hypnotic dissonances, alienated soundscapes, 909s and 808s had got me going, ‘this is the future, techno music is the future. I want to be a part of it.’” We’ve come in on Singaporean techno virtuoso Xhin reflecting on his passion for techno, which he will display for everyone who attends his DJ set this Saturday November 2 at The Burdekin. (For anyone reading this column aloud in bed to impress the gorgeous creature beside you, please take note that Xhin is pronounced ‘sheen’.) Initially making his mark as a proponent of purist techno, Xhin has established himself as one of the key members of the Stroboscopic Artefacts crew that is headed by label owner Lucy. However, Xhin shunned conventional techno structures and delved into more experimental and ambient soundscapes on his most recent album, 2011’s Sword, which was lauded by critics for its ability to “shock, awe, and impress” whether through a “lullaby or jackhammering your skull.” (Evocative image, that one, isn’t it?) “I decided to go back to my experimental and harder side after the release of the [2008] album Greyscale,” Xhin said, pinpointing the decision to do so as a turning point in his career. Xhin hasn’t completely abandoned more conventional techno soundscapes, as the release of his

EP Dark Tiled Landscape earlier this year confirmed. Expect the Singaporean to showcase the different facets of his sonic palette when he plays his three-hour DJ set this weekend. Xhin will be supported by DJs Stu-Har, Kate Doherty and Methodix. Eshowe-born producer Culolethu Zulu, who makes music under the guise of Culoe De Song, has just released his new album, Exodus. Five years ago, Culolethu was an 18-year-old who had never travelled outside of his home country. After being scouted by the Red Bull Music Academy, Culolethu ventured to RBMA HQ in Barcelona, blew the field away with his melodic fusion of deep house and Afrobeat influences and was quickly signed to Dixon’s Innervisions label. The debut Culoe De Song EP The Bright Forest dropped soon thereafter, and it remains one of the standout releases in an Innervisions discography littered with gems. Culoe De Song subsequently released albums A Giant Leap and Elevation, and he has now unveiled his third LP, Exodus. A selfproduced effort, Culoe highlights a dichotomy underlying Exodus, saying there are two sides to the album: “there is the Afro appealing music, with a commercial accent and then there is the other side, which is deeper electro.” Culoe has revealed that Exodus was inspired by the

way people consume music in South Africa, proclaiming that “people will receive [Louie] Vega well and at the same time they can receive people like Richie Hawtin just as well.” Dutch DJ, producer and promoter Darko Esser will headline the fourth Trench party – touted as a “party made by techno heads for techno heads” – at an as-yet-to-be disclosed warehouse location this Saturday November 2. Esser has built up a strong reputation over the past decade, releasing cuts such as ‘Catatonic’ on Josh Wink’s Ovum imprint and ‘The Return’ on his own Wolfskuil imprint (which released the first record from the now well-established Dutch producer Joris Voorn). In addition to a discography of over 30 releases that includes his 2009 debut album Balans and his work under the moniker Tripeo, Esser has also remixed tracks from the likes of Davide Squillace, Anthony Pappa and King Roc, and been remixed by Claro Intelecto, Peter Van Hoesen and Sandwell District. Esser will be making full use of a Turbo Sound System when he throws down, with the warehouse featuring two arenas across which the likes of Sebastian Bayne, James Walsh, Martin Stace and Gabe will also play. Presale tickets are currently available online.

LOOKING DEEPER SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 Alex Smoke The Abercrombie Xhin The Burdekin Darko Esser Warehouse venue TBA

FRIDAY DECEMBER 6

Amir Alexander, Marcus Meinhardt, Philip Bader and more Subsonic Music Festival

Amir Alexander

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

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Lemaitre Musical Science By Tom Kitson

Danny Brown Something Old, Something New By Lachlan Kanoniuk

011 saw the breakthrough release of XXX, a fully realised concept album, put out for free online by firebrand Detroit rapper Danny Brown. Not only was it a starmaking record, but its distinct and druggy style went on to reverberate as an influential force throughout broader pop music. Following on from the long-time-coming ascendency to fame, Brown has stepped things up yet again for Old, a sprawling and dichotomous insight into the psyche of one of modern rap’s most compelling minds.

I knew what I wanted to do from a young age, so I just stuck to that.” After the phenomenal response to XXX, Brown’s next move was a hotly anticipated one. The two sides of Old could very well make for satisfying standalone releases, an indication of the MC’s resolve to provide a comprehensive package. “I just took my time, to be honest. Everyone was like, ‘Are you gonna do some tapes?’, so I made it with that in mind – like a tape or a vinyl.”

You might expect Brown to be in the midst of a whirlwind of activity in the wake of Old’s release, but it’s apparent this isn’t the case as he answers the phone. “I’m in my home, man, in Michigan. Just chillin’, haven’t been doing too much.”

As for the lasting influence of the molly-drenched XXX, Brown hasn’t exactly measured its cultural reach. “I dunno, I haven’t listened to it in a long time. It was where I was at in my life at that time. That’s what I do, I just write about what I’m going through, and that’s it. So XXX, it’s just me in 2011, you know?”

Brown’s emergence onto the world stage happened as he entered his 30s, sparking some literature about whether rap is no longer just a young person’s game. Whether that’s true or not, Brown says the title Old isn’t a self-descriptor. “I don’t feel old at all. The name of my album has nothing to do with age or anything like that. Rap music gave me the chance to never grow up.

Old features a variety of guests from a range of genres, with artists from all across the globe. “I was pretty much just working with my friends, to be honest. I play them something and they say, ‘Lemme help out on that’, or something like that. Like Charli XCX and Purity Ring, y’know, I had the songs and really wanted them to be a part of it. It was fun,

but they take music really seriously, I take music really seriously, so it was great working with them.” After a series of Australian club shows in mid-2012 – “I remember having a good time, but I don’t remember much else” – Brown will return for a run of Laneway Festival dates in 2014. The festival environment, as Brown explains, is the most conducive one for his live show. “I didn’t make [the songs] for the club, I made them to perform at festivals, if anything.” As for what the future holds, Brown is philosophical. “I’ve been doing this since I was in kindergarten, so as long as I’m able to breathe and talk I’ll be rapping. I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing.” What: St Jerome’s Laneway Festival 2014 With: Haim, Lorde, Chvrches, Jamie xx, Savages, Jagwar Ma, Earl Sweatshirt and more Where: Sydney College of the Arts, Rozelle When: Sunday February 2 And: Old out now through Fool’s Gold/Warner

ulti-instrumental Norweigan duo Lemaitre have snuck their name onto the bill for Stereosonic this summer, bringing their ideal mix of disco-infused sounds from their Relativity EP series. Sharing an interest in houseinfluenced production, Ketil Jansen and Ulrik Denizou Lund got together straight after high school to start the Lemaitre project, named after Belgian physics professor Georges Lemaitre.

As many musicians do today, they found a following early on through social media. “We just put our music out there from the start,” explains Lund. “We had a Soundcloud page and a Facebook page to feature our music. Pretty soon we got picked up by blogs, with a lot of help from the videos that our friend Joe [Johannes Greve Muskat] makes for us, and eventually we went to number one on iTunes.”

In four years, they have released as many EPs, with songs like this year’s ‘Continuum’ earning considerable online attention and radio airplay. The feel-good nature of their music fits perfectly within a summer setting, as does their relaxed attitude despite swiftly making a global name for themselves.

Speaking about their career as if they just fell into it, it seems the duo best expresses themselves through the music they create together. Both sing and share duties on the various instruments, and on the electronic side of things as well.

“We were influenced originally by Daft Punk and Justice,” says Jansen. “Now we like to think we’ve become our own little niche in a way … We didn’t have many expectations to begin with, but we were really confident in the music we wanted to make and are really proud of it so far.” “We’ve always made the music we wanted to make,” Lund adds. “We just find grooves and really don’t think too much about it.” The chilled vibe of the band shows they have the utmost confidence in their music and are simply doing what they love, bouncing off influences from music they enjoy and coming out with a disco-pop sound that appeals to music fans in general. Lemaitre’s formation came from the pair’s decision to commit to music for at least a year together to see where it went, and this early focus and drive has reaped rewards. “We decided to take a year off to do music,” Lund says. “It just went uphill from there and continued, so here we are.”

Choosing their name also came easily to them, since they like to reference science in their music and videos. “Georges Lemaitre came up with the Big Bang Theory,” Jansen says. “So from that, science has been a recurring theme in our music and visuals.” They will aim to produce an album in 2014 – or as soon as they have time to do so, what with hectic touring schedules and travel meaning they must balance playing shows and making new music. “Hopefully we can make an album next year, but we will need quite some time,” Lund says. “We are working [on] some stuff now which will be finished in time for Stereosonic, so we’ll see – we might premiere a few new tracks.” What: Stereosonic With: David Guetta, Calvin Harris, Armin van Buuren, Empire Of The Sun, Afrojack and more Where: Sydney Showground When: Saturday November 30, Sunday December 1

Andre Crom The Gatekeeper By RK busy preparing the 5 Years OFF Tour that will take place in the first quarter of 2014 – and of course, for his upcoming Australian dates. Crom’s sound still bears, to some extent, the influence of the dance culture that first took hold of him in the ’90s. “This all started, really, when I was coming up; I was massively into ’90s house and still like it today. With time passing and my taste evolving, nowadays my inspirations are more diverse.” These days, he describes his sound as carrying more of a tool-based and modern tech-house vibe, akin to alternative electronic pop music like SBTRKT and the xx.

s an up and coming producer, Andre Crom began experimenting with Ableton software and pretty quickly garnered a name for himself in the industry as a stellar DJ and producer. Being picked up by labels like Liebe*Detail, Leftroom, Sender and BPitch didn’t hurt either.

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And so the softly spoken and unassuming Crom can hardly contain his excitement as he chimes down the line from his hotel room in Amsterdam, where he is staying for the Amsterdam Dance Event festivities. “I’m pretty busy preparing for our label night; we’re really excited about that,” he says. On an even bigger scale, he adds that he’s

His studio work, too, is keeping him busy – as he proudly describes a recent collaboration with newbie Chi Thanh. “His name may be new, but he is a very experienced producer and songwriter who has finally started his solo project,” Crom explains. “Together we’ve just remixed the number one UK charting band, The 1975s, as well as having a few more projects in the works.” Indeed, he suggests the project is designed to showcase a more melodic and musical approach to club music than people might recognise him for presently.

Importantly, it affords him the luxury of steering clear of the commercial mediocrity oft associated with electronic music. His words of wisdom to this end are profound. “Commercial music; those songs are designed to catch the biggest possible audience within the first second – and they do this pretty well for many people – but the price is that the music is superfi cial and mostly cheesy. Underground dance music works differently; you need to take time to get into it and let yourself fall into it, but the reward is that it can touch you on a deeper level and arouse more refi ned emotions. That’s what I love about it.” And that opinion is commonly shared by many of Crom’s colleagues based in his native Berlin. “The scene there is exciting and we are all working hard to do good things. The extremely liberal laws and general attitude in the city allow for things that are impossible in other places – like parties that last the whole

weekend, for example. And the low living costs and great number of artists, labels and clubs in Berlin make it very attractive for DJs and producers. “It helps to create diversity and balance,” Crom continues. “I really do consider myself a diverse DJ. Sometimes I ask myself if I am too diverse, but I can’t help it – I just get bored if I listen to the same music all night long. I love playing a mix of deep, tech, and more ‘wasted’ house music, depending on the time, location and crowd. If I play a three-hour set, I usually mix in a lot of infl uences and styles to tell a real story. That’s what I want to do Down Under. It is my first time in Australia so I’m really excited about it. I have heard nothing but good things about the crowds there, and all the Aussies I’ve ever met were really great people.” What: The Spice Cellar When: Saturday November 2 thebrag.com

Foxes Breaking Out By Nick Mason

ow sweet an era it must be for Louisa Rose Allen, AKA Foxes – an exciting young artist swept up in a whirlwind of firsts. The electro-pop performer only recently became acquainted with life on the road. “We actually just finished touring. It’s been insane, I’ve never toured the UK before so it was a real dream come true,” she says excitedly. “It’s the first time I’ve had actual fans buying tickets and coming to shows. It’s been really great.”

Foxes photo by Luka McGhie

Allen’s origin story would be familiar to most young artists. The 24-yearold is blessed with fond memories of a musical household. “I lived with my mum and my sister and they had brilliant taste in music. They loved really strong, female artists like Nina Simone, Bjork, Patti Smith… I think I was definitely brought up with an incredible, musical background. [My family] weren’t necessarily musical but I really was. For some reason, as soon as I could talk, I was singing – constantly. I think I annoyed a lot of my family members by being that kind of child!” Nevertheless, Allen was encouraged to dream big. “My mum allowed me to have the belief that you could achieve anything you wanted to, if you worked hard at it or wanted to live your dream. I had a free kind of childhood which I think [was] really key to me doing music now and believing that I can do it, which I’m really thankful for.” Inspired, Allen followed her sister from Southampton to the big smoke, studying music in London. However, faced with a stifling environment, Allen looked to other options. “I studied for about a year. I think I felt like you couldn’t really learn music in a class. For me, it wasn’t the right thing to be doing, so I ended up dropping out. I wanted to run off and

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be free and write about what was going on in my life and experience life a bit. I knew in myself that once I did that, I would find a way somehow to get there. I just kind of got on with life, I think. I had some pretty rubbish jobs but then met the right people in music, did some collaborations and signed my record deal.” Allen has already collaborated with the likes of Fall Out Boy and Russian-German electronic producer Zedd, making her mark as a feature artist. “It’s been very exciting, working with all these incredible, massive artists. I feel very blessed to be working with such talented people. I did a lot of TV shows like Jimmy Fallon and Letterman… they were quite overwhelming but incredible experiences at the same time.” Yet through it all, Allen has kept a level head, with a one-track mind for the music. “I’m not someone who wants the fame. I’d be quite happy just doing music and not having that side of it. I definitely think that fame is something that comes with music and I understand that it does, but it’s not necessarily something that I’d put first. The music for me is the most important thing.” In fact, Allen holds authenticity in high regard. In spite of an enormously successful two years, she remains as focused as ever. “I really feel like I’ve stuck true to what my music was a year ago and what it is now. It’s very personal and comes from the heart. I feel like it won’t ever change in that respect. [But] I might experiment with stuff and find different sounds and that kind of thing.” For now, though, the focus remains upon Allen’s forthcoming LP. “The best way to describe it is that it’s definitely the album I’ve always wanted to make. It’s got a really

good mix of important album tracks that aren’t the big singles. They’re personal and cinematic and have a soundtrack vibe to them – but I love good pop music, so I think there are tracks that are definitely more anthemic and upbeat and have that kind of feeling. It’s going to be [released] very early next year, either end of January or end of February. I don’t know when it’s going to be released in Australia, though. I think it’s the same time. I’m very excited to be able to share it with the world.” When it comes to making music, it’s the exercise of sharing that perhaps matters most to Allen. “I definitely write to give myself strength and hopefully inspire other people to feel hope and feel stronger, because

that’s what I’ve always gotten out of other people’s music. To give that to other people is really important to me. It’s definitely like a form of therapy. It’s all really personal and from the heart. I get a lot out of my writing and I think it’s kind of what gets me through life.” Australia won’t have to wait too long for a taste of Foxes’ album, with live dates in November announced recently. “I’m so excited. It feels so overwhelming that I’m going to be going around the world performing to people. I feel so blessed,” says a decidedly bubbly Allen. “I’ve always wanted to go to Australia, so the fact that my music’s taking me there is just a real dream of mine. Honestly, I’m counting down the seconds!”

“I’m not someone who wants the fame. I’d be quite happy just doing music and not having that side of it.” With: Cosmo’s Midnight, Stoney Roads DJs Where: Oxford Art Factory When: Thursday November 14

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

Alex Smoke

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 HIP HOP & R&B

L-Fresh The Lion Spectrum, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $10. Spit Syndicate + Joyride The Annandale Hotel, Annandale. 8pm. $22.40.

CLUB NIGHTS

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 The Abercrombie

Alex Smoke + Mike Callandar + D&D + Marcotix + Defined By Rhythm + Jordan Deck + Jay Smalls + Hamish Radford 3pm. $20.

After Dark - feat: Resident DJs Whaat Club, Kings Cross. 8pm. $15. Argyle Saturdays - feat: Resident DJs The Argyle, The Rocks. 5pm. free. The Box & Strange Fruit Present: Alex Smoke - feat: Mike Callandar + D&D + Marcotix + Defined By Rhythm + Jordan Deck + Jay Smalls + Hamish Radford The Abercrombie, Broadway. 3pm. $20. Circoloco Halloween - feat: Matthias Tanzmann + Ame Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney. 12pm. $49. FBi Hands Up! - feat: DJ Clockwerk + Special Friends With Benefits FBi Social, Kings Cross. 11:30pm. free. Halloween 2013 - feat:

Amodus + Domino + Acid Nymph + Coredea + New Alias Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10. Homemade Saturdays feat: Resident DJs Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 9pm. $25. Jacksons Saturdays - feat: Resident DJs Jacksons On George, Sydney. 9pm. free. Masif Saturdays Space, Sydney. 10pm. Pelvis Halloween - feat: Zanzibar Chanel + Four Door + Retiree Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 9pm. $15. Skybar Saturdays - feat: Resident DJ The Watershed Hotel, Sydney. 9:30pm. $20. Smoke & Mirrors - feat: Nocturnal + House Bear + Vinnie Ward Whaat Club, Kings Cross. 9pm. $10. Soda Saturdays - feat: Resident DJs Playing Disco And Funk Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 5pm. free. Spice 02.11 Off Recordings Label Night - feat: Andrew Crome + Murat Kilic + Morgan + Mike Witcombe + Space Junk + Robbie Lowe The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 10pm. $25. The Suite - feat: Resident DJs Sapphire Lounge, Potts Point. 8pm. free. UFO Club’s Halloween Party - feat: Scope + Goosebumps + Frequenseed + Silicon Slave + Daysnatcha Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 9pm.

TUESDAY OCTOBER 29 CLUB NIGHTS

MØ Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 8pm. $15.

COMEDY

Chris ‘The Bloke’ Franklin + Lilyanne Slade + MC Mikey Robins Harold Park Hotel, Glebe. 7:30pm. free. Enmore Comedy Club feat: Shane Mauss Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 8pm. $15.

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 30 HIP HOP & R&B

The Wall - feat: Resident DJs World Bar, Kings Cross. 8pm. $5.

CLUB NIGHTS

The Supper Club - feat: Resident DJs

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THURSDAY OCTOBER 31 CLUB NIGHTS

Jesse Willesse’s Haunted Hotel & Horror Rave - feat: Motorik DJs FBi Social, Kings Cross. 8pm. $10. Loopy - feat: Drty Csh + Daschwood + Generous Greed + Guest DJs The Backroom, Sydney. 9pm. $10. Matt Nukewood - feat: Emoh Instead Australian Hotel And Brewery, Rouse Hill. 9pm. free.

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 1 CLUB NIGHTS

Argyle Fridays - feat:

Resident DJs The Argyle, The Rocks. 6pm. free. Bounce Crows Nest Hotel, Crows Nest. 10pm. free. Dusk - feat: Bronx + Aaron + Sang + Them Again Whaat Club, Kings Cross. 9pm. $10. El’Circo - feat: Resident Circus Act Performers Slide Lounge, Darlinghurst. 7pm. $109. Factory Fridays - feat: Resident DJs Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 5pm. free. HTRK 10” Release Party + Spiral Sounds + Gareth Psalis Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 8pm. $22. Mashed Fridays - feat: DJ Ric C Oatley Hotel, Oatley. 8pm. free. Soft&Slow 01.11 - feat: DJ Nature + Andy Webb + Pink Lloyd (Softwar) + Dreamcatcher (Slow Blow) The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 10pm. $10. Str8 From Da Hood - feat: Nter + DJ Neri + Cloud 8 + Pity Lane + Jaytwo + Korza + Herbavore + 316 + HFM + Promisques + Fortay At

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 3 CLUB NIGHTS

Beresford Sundays - feat: Resident DJs Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills. 3pm. free. Easy Sundays - feat: Resident DJs Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross. 10pm. free. Exit 03.11 - feat: Aerea Negrot + Miguel Toro + Seymour Butz + Ben Fester The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 9pm. $20. S.A.S.H Sundays - feat: Chopstick & JohnJon + Cassette + Pharley + Sam Arellano + Harry Manetti + Matt Weir + Kerry Wallace + Mo’Funk The Abercrombie, Broadway. 2pm. $10. Soup Kitchen - feat: The Soup Kitchen DJs World Bar, Kings Cross. 7pm. free. Spice After Hours - feat: Steven Sullivan + Murat Kilic And Guests The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 4am. $20. Sunday @ Gay Bar - feat: Resident DJ The Gay Bar, Darlinghurst. 3pm. free. Sunday Sessions - feat: DJ Tone Oatley Hotel, Oatley. 7pm. free.

p send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com

TUESDAY OCTOBER 29 MØ Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 8pm. $15. Chris ‘The Bloke’ Franklin + Lilyanne Slade + MC Mikey Robins Harold Park Hotel, Glebe. 7:30pm. Free.

THURSDAY OCTOBER 31 Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross. 10pm. free. Whip It Halloween Special feat: Matt Ferreira + SMS + Sherlock Bones Whaat Club, Kings Cross. 9pm. free.

free. Xhin + Methodix + Kate Doherty + Stu-Har Burdekin Hotel, 10pm. $20.

Jesse Willesse’s Haunted Hotel & Horror Rave - Feat: Motorik Djs FBi Social, Kings Cross. 8pm. $10.

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 1 Htrk 10” Release Party + Spiral Sounds + Gareth Psalis Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 8pm. $22. Soft&Slow 01.11 - Feat: DJ Nature + Andy Webb + Pink Lloyd (Softwar) + Dreamcatcher (Slow Blow) The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 10pm. $10. Str8 From Da Hood - Feat: Nter + DJ Neri + Cloud 8 + Pity Lane + Jaytwo + Korza + Herbavore + 316 + HFM + Promisques + Fortay At Large + More Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 9pm. $15. Yalloween Halloween Party - Feat: Roger Sanchez Marquee At The Star, Pyrmont. 10pm. $20.

Tanzmann + Ame Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney. 12pm. $49. L-Fresh The Lion Spectrum, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $10. Spit Syndicate + Joyride The Annandale Hotel, Annandale. 8pm. $22.40. Pelvis Halloween - Feat: Zanzibar Chanel + Four Door + Retiree Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 9pm. $15. Spice 02.11 Off Recordings Label Night - Feat: Andrew Crome + Murat Kilic + Morgan + Mike Witcombe + Space Junk + Robbie Lowe The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 10pm. $25. Xhin + Methodix + Kate Doherty + StuHar Burdekin Hotel, 10pm. $20.

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 3 Exit 03.11 - Feat: Aerea Negrot + Miguel Toro + Seymour Butz + Ben Fester The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 9pm. $20. S.A.S.H Sundays - Feat: Chopstick & Johnjon + Cassette + Pharley + Sam Arellano + Harry Manetti + Matt Weir + Kerry Wallace + Mo’Funk The Abercrombie, Broadway. 2pm. $10.

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 The Box & Strange Fruit Present: Alex Smoke - Feat: Mike Callandar + D&D + Marcotix + Defined By Rhythm + Jordan Deck + Jay Smalls + Hamish Radford The Abercrombie, Broadway. 3pm. $20. Circoloco Halloween - Feat: Matthias

MØ

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Xxx

club pick of the week

Large + More Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 9pm. $15. Yalloween Halloween Party - feat: Roger Sanchez Marquee At The Star, Pyrmont. 10pm. $20.

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19:10:13 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex St Sydney 8295 9999

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17:10:13 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford St Darlinghurst 9332 3711

20:10:13 :: The Abercrombie Hotel :: 100 Broadway Ultimo 9211 3486 NAN :: ASHLEY MAR :: S :: KARL BRAASCH :: AMATH MAG

OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER

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DAVID ROUSE

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18:10:13 :: The Standard :: 3/383 Bourke St Darlinghurst 9331 3100

19:10:13 :: Goodgod Small Club :: 53-55 Liverpool St Chinatown 8084 0587

BRAG :: 536 :: 28:10:13 :: 37

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18:10:13 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex St Sydney 8295 9999

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19:10:13 :: Brighton Up Bar :: Level 1/77 Oxford St Darlinghurst 9572 6322

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sosueme: the swiss

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19:10:13 :: Marquee :: Star City Pyrmont 9657 7737

16:10:13 :: The Beach Road Hotel :: 71 Beach Rd Bondi Beach 9130 7247 S :: KARL BRAASCH OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER

:: AMATH MAGNAN :: ASHLEY MAR

:: DAVID ROUSE

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WA N T E D

SONGWRITERS & AMATEUR film makers. We need your help to make an action sports video with a music soundtrack which shows that you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need to get smashed to have a great time! If you have an original song or 30 seconds of amateur sports footage which has a positive feel, send it to us - your submissions may be used to create this action packed music video. The winning songwriter will win a Macbook Pro, their song will be professionally recorded and they will receive mentorship from music industry experts. The 10 winning amateur action sports footage entrants will each receive a handheld action camera and their footage will be edited together and set to the winning song.

entries now open.

For full details and to enter visit: tacklebingedrinking.gov.au/thebeproject