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BRAG :: 555 :: 26:03:14 :: 3

rock music news welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town...with Emily Meller, Andy Huang and Ed Kirkwood

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on the record WITH

ELLA HOOPER The First Record The First Thing I Recorded I Bought I think I started taping 1. 3. It was either Veruca Salt’s myself making little radio shows

The Record That Changed My Life 5. I go back to PJ Harvey’s Rid Of

American Thighs (amazing) or That Dog’s Totally Crushed Out! (equally amazing, underrated ’90s classic). I was right into angsty female-fronted rock bands, but I’m a total sucker for melody so these bands were my go-to. The Last Record I Bought Mick Turner’s latest record, Don’t Tell The Driver, on vinyl at the gig. Vinyl is my weakness after a good gig. It used to be merch – now I gotta have the vinyl. It’s an amazing record from a beautiful musician. Pretty great painter too.

Me. A lot. She reminds me of the artist I want to be, and what you can be and do if you play your natural game. Experimental, but mostly rooted in classic blues, rock and even pop elements.

2.

WHO’LL BE DISCOVERED?

EDITOR: Chris Martin chris@thebrag.com 02 9212 4322 ARTS + ONLINE EDITOR: Hannah Warren hannah@thebrag.com 02 9212 4322 STAFF WRITERS: Alasdair Duncan, Jody Macgregor, Krissi Weiss, Augustus Welby NEWS: Sarah Corridon, Chris Honnery, Emily Meller, Andy Huang, Ed Kirkwood ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant COVER PHOTOGRAPH: Lauren Dukoff PHOTOGRAPHERS: James Ambrose, Katrina Clarke, Ashley Mar, Wesley Nel, Prundence Upton ADVERTISING: Georgina Pengelly - 0416 972 081 / (02) 9212 4322 georgina@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 COORDINATORS: Sarah Corridon, Andy Huang, Ed Kirkwood, Emily Meller - gigguide@thebrag.com (rock); clubguide@ thebrag.com (dance, hip hop & parties) AWESOME INTERNS: Andy Huang, Sarah Corridon, Emily Meller, Ed Kirkwood, Naz Jacobs REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Nat Amat, Ian Barr, Keiron Costello, Marissa Demetriou, Rachel Eddie, Christie Eliezer, Blake Gallagher, Chris Honnery, Cameron James, Tegan Jones, Lachlan Kanoniuk, Pamela Lee, Alicia Malone, Adam Norris, Daniel Prior, Kate Robertson, Amy Theodore, Raf Seneviratne, Leonardo Silvestrini, David Wild, Harry Windsor, Stephanie Yip, David James Young 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 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: Thursday 12pm (no extensions) Artwork/ad bookings: Friday 5pm (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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4 :: BRAG :: 555 :: 26:03:14

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Though the album I’ve probably listened to most in my life is Siamese Dream. My teenage obsession.

What: In Tongues out Friday June 28 With: Jack Colwell & The Owls, Gena Rose Bruce Where: The Vanguard When: Saturday March 29

James Vincent McMorrow

APLIN IN THE FLESH

Singer-songwriter Gabrielle Aplin will be bringing her powerful pipes and melancholic pop ballads to our fine shores. All you need to do is bring yourself and maybe a packet of Kleenex. We first came to know the English darling as the YouTube youngster who made acoustic covers of Paramore and You Me At Six. It didn’t take long for record companies to take notice, and she was quickly signed by Parlophone. Off to the studio she went, recording debut album English Rain which features exquisite tracks ‘Power Of Love’, ‘Please Don’t Say You Love Me’ and ‘Panic Cord’. Since then, Aplin’s toured with the likes of Gotye, Ed Sheeran and Passenger. Now, she’s coming our way to headline at Oxford Art Factory on Sunday June 1.

CARNIVALE SPIRIT

The masquerade-themed King’s Carnivale will hit Newtown again this year on Thursday April 10, with Australian Institute of Music students combining to curate the event at the Town Hall Hotel. Drawing on Sydney’s rich creative culture, they’ve lined up an eclectic group of performances and activities. The night is not only in support of Sydney’s arts and its LGBT community, but all proceeds from the night are going to Art In Tanzania – an organisation providing education, welfare and medical assistance for HIV/AIDS victims throughout Tanzania, Finland, Zanzibar and Ehtiopia. Playing on the night are Fourtunate, Lepers and Crooks, Little Sea and many more.

VIVID LIVE ANNOUNCES NEW ACTS

The second Vivid LIVE lineup has landed, with a fresh batch of artists and performers announced to join the likes of Pixies, Giorgio Moroder and the Australian Chamber Orchestra with The Presets at the 18-day festival beginning in late May. Lauryn Hill will make her first solo appearances in Australia, while the likes of St. Vincent, Anna Calvi and the effervescent James Vincent McMorrow will make their Sydney Opera House debuts. Jonti is set to pay tribute to The Avalanches’ iconic Since I Left You record, while Goodgod Small Club will host South Africa’s Penny Penny. For the full Vivid schedule and ticket information, visit vividsydney.com or sydneyoperahouse.com/vividlive.

The Perch Creek Family Jugband

NEWTOWN SOCIAL CLUB

Bringing a slice of Melbourne to Sydney’s nightlife, Newtown Social Club is opening its much anticipated, newly renovated band room with a suite of exciting live shows to celebrate. The sister venue to Melbourne’s Northcote Social Club, Newtown seems the only logical location for our own NSC. The band room needed a little extra TLC before it was ready to go into action – but the time has come for live music to grace this shiny new space. Highlights include Nai Palm (of Hiatus Kaiyote) on Thursday June 5, Citizen Kay and Tkay Maidza’s joint tour on Saturday May 31, Robyn Hitchcock performing his entire 1984 album I Often Dream Of Trains on Friday June 6 and The Perch Creek Family Jugband on Monday May 12. Also catch Daniel Champagne on Wednesday June 4, Ed Kuepper on Friday May 23 and Kim Churchill on Friday May 30.

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The last five acts in the Discovered at Marble Bar competition will play the grand finale at the famous CBD venue tonight, Wednesday March 26. They are Natalie Colavito, The Mary Cowell Duo, The Spark, Nova & The Experience and Moncrieff (with Nathan Allgood and Rhys Fuller Henry). Jason ‘Jabba’ Davis will MC the event, with judges including Mahalia Barnes and Rod Yates to select the winner of a twomonth residency, valued at $10,000.

on a crusty old boom box from the shed (which is funny as I really do host a radio show now), and I used to sing my own songs between segments. A one-woman show! They were ridiculously naive… but someone must’ve said a kind word about them ’cause I kept going. The Last Thing I Recorded My first solo record, In Tongues! It’s been a long, exciting and challenging process but I’m so glad that I’ve done it. I’m loving sharing this new sound and material with my audience – it’s slightly darker and more intense than my musical output in the past, and so far the reaction has been excellent. It’s my coming-ofage record (I’m a late bloomer).

BRAG :: 555 :: 26:03:14 :: 5

rock music news

free stuff

welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town...with Emily Meller, Andy Huang and Ed Kirkwood

on the record WITH

JEFF BECK

TROY CASSAR-DALEY

The First Record I Bought Slim Dusty, Live At Wagga Wagga. I 1. saved my money for this record and wanted it so bad – an uncle of mine had it the week it came out and when I heard Slim and Joy singing I had to have it. I loved the feel of the songs being live, I felt as though I was actually in the audience.

amazing bunch of players/friends and we had a ball in the studio. Adam and I thought we had done a really self-indulgent album and said, “Well, at least our families will buy it!” It’s what we all grew up with [and] it went on to sell nearly 70,000 albums so far. That totally blew us away, and to do it with a good mate was even more special. The Record That Changed My Life There are two: Merle Haggard, Let Me Tell You About A Song, and Goanna, Spirit Of Place. Merle was like my adopted father who would look after me when times got tough… as soon as the needle hit the record I would feel safe and relieved to hear his voice. Spirit Of Place gave a young kid, who didn’t know where he fitted in, a home. Goanna sang about indigenous issues and related to me so much I wore that record out. I still visit both these albums time to time – they are still a well of inspiration for me.

The Last Record I Bought I was getting a new phone at JB Hi-Fi 2. 5. and I heard the new Norah Jones and Billie Joe Armstrong album playing, Foreverly – an album covering the Everly Brothers tunes – and I loved the way it sounded; it sounded like a ’50s recording and I’m a sucker for retro! The First Thing I Recorded My first recordings my mum helped pay for were in Nimbin at a studio called Bush Tracks. Dave and Ruth were there then, and it was a magical experience for me as I was very young – 16 or 17. I haven’t heard the songs for a long time and have no plans to dig them out, for very good reason! The Last Thing I Recorded The last thing I recorded was The Great Country Song Book with my mate Adam Harvey. It was recorded with an

3.

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head to: thebrag.com/freeshit

What: The Great Country Song Book out now through Liberation/Sony With: Adam Harvey Where: Sydney Opera House Concert Hall When: Friday March 28

When Jeff Beck comes to town, you know the fans are sure to follow. The legendary guitarist and songwriter is returning to our parts for Bluesfest’s 25th anniversary festival, and playing a sideshow at the Sydney Opera House on Monday April 21 with support from Beth Hart. Beck’s an enduring presence on the rock’n’roll scene, and yet he’s not so taken with the modern ways – in a recent interview with the BRAG, he told us he can make all the noise he needs with just an amp and a guitar. “I don’t want to hear about new gizmos … Can you imagine Django Reinhardt playing with a wah-wah pedal?” We’ve got three double passes to see Beck and band at the Opera House – to be in the running, head to thebrag.com/freeshit and tell us how you first discovered rock’n’roll.

CHRISTOPHER COLEMAN COLLECTIVE

You might not have heard of the Christopher Coleman Collective yet, but you should have. This down-to-earth group, led by Coleman himself, serves up folk music with lyrics that delve into poetic storytelling. On Saturday March 29 they come up from Tasmania to launch their self-titled debut album at The Newsagency in Marrickville. We’re offering two lucky winners double passes to the show and a signed copy of the new album – to be in the running, visit thebrag.com/ freeshit and let us know your favourite childhood story.

FIVE SECONDS OF FAME These guys may be your answer to eternal youth. That is, pop-punk done well is pop-punk that never gets old – so goodbye Good Charlotte, and hello 5 Seconds Of Summer. Since they released single ‘She Looks So Perfect’ in February, which debuted at number three on the ARIA charts, the track has gained more than six million hits on YouTube and is currently the eighth most played song on Australian radio. Now, the band has just dropped its She Looks So Perfect EP, which has already reached number one on iTunes, and will head on the road for the national There’s No Place Like Home tour in May. You better snap ’em up fast because 5 Seconds of Summer are known to sell out (in a good way, right?) and crash ticket sites – their UK and US tours were all sold out within five minutes. 5 Seconds of Summer will play an allages show at the Enmore Theatre on Monday May 5. Tickets go on sale 9am this Friday March 28.

5 Seconds Of Summer

PUNK FUNDRAISER IS A GO-GO

Organisers of a proposed punk rock festival to remember the life of music fan Nicholas SoferSchreiber are in talks with some of Australia’s premier punk rock acts. The event is expected to go ahead towards the end of the year, but requires extra fundraising. Saturday April 26 marks the date for Dansonfest – happening at the Basement in Canberra – a fundraising gig to help establish the commemorative festival. It’ll feature artists such as Chris Duke and the Royals, Epic Flagon, Lamexcuse, Revellers, Yoko Oh No and heaps more. Sofer-Schreiber was orphaned and legally blind, and when he was tragically murdered earlier this year, tributes came from all over the world to celebrate his life of adversity. And if that’s not what punk rock is about, nothing is.

GREENE WITH ENVY

After the ARIA-nominated record of 2012, Paul Greene and The Other Colours are returning with their new record One Lap Of The Sun. We’ll get to hear the album on Friday March 28, and by all reports, it’s a different sound to Greene’s older stuff. After mourning the loss of a band member, and wrecked from over 13 years of touring, Greene slowed down and spent some time in an old sandstone church on the South Coast, where he recorded the new material. Greene will be taking the record on tour all over NSW, starting with a launch date at The Fig in Manly on Friday March 28. He’ll be back in town at Lizotte’s Dee Why on Thursday May 1, Venue 505 on Friday May 9, Lizotte’s Newcastle on Thursday May 22, The Junkyard in Maitland on Friday May 23, Lizotte’s Central Coast on Sunday June 1 and The Brass Monkey on Thursday June 5. 6 :: BRAG :: 555 :: 26:03:14

MAMMA MIA

Mia Dyson’s newest single ‘When We’re Older’ doesn’t stray too far from her ARIA-nominated album The Moment. The single is just a teaser from her latest album, slated for release in June this year. Dyson has launched a PledgeMusic campaign, allowing her fans first and behind-thescenes access to her album release. In addition, Dyson will play a preview show at the Factory Floor on Thursday April 3.

tour. The Dandys have recently reached their 20th anniversary as a band, and will return for a five-date tour of Australia, including a date at the

Enmore Theatre. Catch them there on Friday August 29. Tickets on sale 9am this Thursday March 27.

Kevin Mark Trail

DANIEL DAWES

Daniel Dawes has spent four long years tucked away in his studio working on his new album. He’s finally back with Battle Lines, the follow-up to his debut album Strange Things. Dawes received some pretty mint reviews for Strange Things, including an indie album of the week award from triple j. Battle Lines is ready to go and set to garner just as much attention. Dawes will launch it at Lizotte’s Dee Why on Thursday April 3.

DIVIDE & CONQUER

Sydney ‘popcore’ outfit Divide & Conquer will release their debut EP on Tuesday April 1. Titled Long Story Short, the mini-album was originally going to feature five tracks, but the group was so inspired while they were writing they decided to include two more. The EP has been a solid two years in the making, but the band believes this is their biggest achievement to date. The lads will also embark on a comprehensive east coast tour, including one Sydney show on Thursday April 24 at Hot Damn.

ALL FINE AND DANDY

What do you mean we ‘used’ to be friends, Dandy Warhols? We still are. And that’s why we’re welcoming you back for another Australian

OFF THE STREETS

Best known as co-vocalist for The Streets, Kevin Mark Trail is hitting Australian shores on a solo tour this June, and bringing his reggae-inspired electronic jams with him. With his last album Hope Star (2012) traversing geography and genre, Trail’s sound manages to be both distinctive and familiar. His show is set to be a melting pot of reggae, electronica, smooth vocals and, of course, that voice. Sydney fans will be pleased to find out that they may even get to hear the track ‘Coogee Beach’ while sitting at the Coogee Diggers – divine intervention or the work of a clever agent? Catch Kevin Mark Trail at the Coogee Diggers Club on Saturday June 14, presented by the BRAG.

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Industrial Strength Music Industry News with Christie Eliezer

THINGS WE HEAR * Box office reports from the Perth Arena and Brisbane Entertainment Centre show that Bruno Mars, playing to a combined 26,340 fans, grossed $3 million. Shows at the two venues by Queens of the Stone Age and Nine Inch Nails as part of their nine shows in Australia and NZ grossed $1.6 million. * The drought-hit WA town of Carinda (population: 40) had its moment of glory 30 years ago when David Bowie shot much of his ‘Let’s Dance’ video there at the Carinda Hotel and Warrumbungle National Park. Now the new owners of the hotel tell the BBC they want to capitalise on the Bowie link to attract tourists. These include ‘Bowie Tours’ of the hotel’s pub and of Warrumbungle National Park, both featured in the video, and a Bowie festival. * Refunds for the cancelled NYE festival at Wet’n’Wild that left 9,000 fuming are

almost finished this month, NSW Fair Trading told the Blacktown Advocate. * After its success in the Sydney ratings, will The Kyle & Jackie O Show be syndicated to Melbourne next year? * Why was Paul Mario Day of Newcastle band Defaced asked to join UK glam rockers Sweet onstage for a number when they played the Civic Theatre? Because Day was their singer in the mid’80s for a year. * Passenger’s ‘Let Her Go’ has sold over 3.5 million units in America. * Ash Grunwald will headline a free Saturday April 5 and Sunday April 6 gig in the Pilliga Forests to celebrate “the power of community action�. It is organised by Aussies Against Fracking and The Wilderness Society Party to recognise numerous protests against Santos’ plans for a $2 billion coal seam gas operation.

MUSIC STREAMING HITS $1 BILLION BARRIER Digital formats account for 39% of all music sales worldwide, or nearly US$9.8 billion out of $24.7 billion. This is partly due to the 51.3% rise of global revenues from streaming and subscriptions to US$1 billion in past year as listeners turned to services such as Spotify, Deezer, iTunes Radio, Google Play and Beats Music. Global revenue from these now account for 27% of digital revenues, up from 14% in 2011. There are 450 music rental services around the

* Kasey Chambers will start recording her ninth album in Byron in the first week of April and will preview some of it at Bluesfest. She tested ‘Not Pretty Enough’ there and realised from the crowd reaction it was hit material. Meantime, Bluesfest has announced its final additions: Troy CassarDaley, John Williamson, Coronet Blue, Zane Carney, The Mastersons, Phil Manning, Round Mountain Girls, Claire Anne Taylor, Byron Bay High Schools, Glenn Skuthorpe, Chris Tamwoy, Jannawi Dancers and ACPA Dancers. * Iggy Pop doubts the future of The Stooges following Scott Asheton’s death. * Aussie metal band Lord has split with drummer Damo Costas. * AC/DC’s Brian Johnson appeared at Billy Joel’s Madison Square Garden show and sang ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’.

world, and the number of paying subscribers rose from eight million to 28 million, according to the 2014 digital music report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) last week. Consumers like streaming because it’s cheap, legal, easily accessible from smartphones and tablets, and it allows them to check out new music without having to buy a download or CD. Subscription services are now a third of all digital sales. Downloads are slipping slightly, and are already second to streaming in Sweden, France and Italy. Despite digital’s rise, the global recorded

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Coming Soon

Just Announced This Week

D.R.I Fri 2 May

Kylesa (USA) Thu 3 Apr

Melb Ska Orchestra

Dark Tranquillity (SWE)

Fri 28 Mar

Sat 29 Mar

Darkside Wed 02 Apr

Monster Magnet (USA)

Flying Circus feat.

Diva Fever feat. Deborah Cox

Fri 4 Apr

Thu 17 Apr

Sat 19 Apr

music industry fell by 3.9%. This was due to Japan’s massive drop of 16.7%. Take Japan out of the equation, and the recorded music would have been flat. North America and Europe had slight growths (0.5% to $4.89 billion, and 0.6% to $5.38 billion, respectively). Australia showed a small dip, but of more concern is that Aussie acts make up a small percentage (in the 20s) of total sales. The IFPI also said that One Direction were the biggest selling artists last year, with four million physical and digital sales for their Midnight Memories album. Katy Perry’s Prism was the best selling album by a female artist, in sixth place behind Eminem, Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars and Daft Punk.

DJ STARS GO DOUBLE DUTCH Being home to such top DJs as Armin van Buuren, TiĂŤsto, Afrojack, Nicky Romero and Hardwell boosts the value of the Dutch dance music business to $816 million per year, according to a report commissioned by Buma Cultuur. The biggest market for Dutch DJs is America, which has ten of the top 15 global clubs that book them. Over the past four years, Dutch dance music exports to the US have accounted for $129 million, or 71% of the total export value of $182 million. Over the last 17 years, more than half of the DJ Mag Top 100 editions have been won by Dutch DJs. Hardwell and van Buuren have five wins and TiĂŤsto three.

ALEXOPOULOS LAUNCHES SUPER DUPER Former Shock publicist Genna Alexopoulos has launched her own PR firm, Super Duper. It’s currently working with EMI Australia (Papa vs Pretty), Island Australia (Chance Waters, The Cairos), Ten To Two Records (Chuck Ragan) and UK band Beaty Heart (unsigned in Oz, managed by Verdigris Management). They’re at super-duper.com.au, and on Facebook and Twitter.

THE HUB RETURNING “Is there room in Newtown for another live music venue, so close to the Enmore and Factory?� Newtown’s mayor asked some years ago. Now The Hub is set to return as a 1500-capacity live venue after being idle for 20 years. Owners Chris and Dimitri Vlattas have done $500,000 of renovation and plan to open it within three months. It’s had an illustrious past since opening in 1913, hosting vaudeville and movies and being run as a porn cinema until 1996.

FBI PRESENTER TRAINING COURSE FBi is seeking a new generation of radio heroes with a presenter training course. They want folk who have great taste in music, or are fanatical about Sydney art and culture. Their website has the details, but remember the deadline for applications to training@ fbiradio.com is Monday March 31.

AT LEAST THE STONES’ WINE SELLS The Rolling Stones’ tour postponement obviously left a lot of folk out of pocket (Billboard reckons $10 million in lost revenue, equipment storage, etc. – although most will be covered by insurance). But Dan Murphy’s reckons it’s already sold over half its stocks of the $15.70 Rolling Stones’ 50th Anniversary McLaren Vale Shiraz, and it’s more successful than AC/DC’s. Maybe moaning Stones fans are drinking to forget? In the meantime, the Canberra Times revealed the ACT Government plans to approach Frontier Touring about including Canberra in the revised October/November dates. The move is spearheaded by ACT Tourism Minister Andrew Barr to draw tourists to the city – although the fact Barr is a massive Stones fan has a lot to do with it. The ACT has to guarantee a 20,000 capacity venue, which means Federation Mall or Canberra Stadium. The South Australian government were to pay the Stones $450,000 to open the revamped Adelaide Oval.

KLP TAKES OVER HOUSE PARTY Toxic Holocaust & Skeletonwitch

Skid Row & Ugly Kid Joe

Sat 26 Apr

Sun 27 Apr

Children of Bodom

Misery Signals (USA)

Band of Skulls (USA)

Tankard (GER)

Fri 16 May

Fri 20 Jun

Fri 11 Jul

John Newman Thu 1 May

DJ Premier & Pete Rock (USA) Sat 3 May

AMBASSADORS FOR RECORD STORE DAY

Fri 9 May

Jonny Craig (USA)

Kingswood

Sat 10 May: All Ages

Fri 30 May

Sydney DJ, producer and vocalist Kristy Lee Peters, AKA KLP, is the new host of triple j’s Saturday night House Party. Nina Las Vegas has stepped down after five and a half years to concentrate on an expanded role on Mix Up Exclusives. KLP said, “triple j was always my ‘go to’ radio station.�

The Crimson ProjeKCt

Rebel Souljahz (USA)

Fri 27 Jun

Sat 27 Sep

Three ambassadors for Record Store Day Australia are Dan Sultan, tour manager Tim Dalton (Costello, Faith No More) and Mott singer Ian Hunter. Record Store Day, organised by The Australian Music Retailers

Association, aims to remind fans of the important role that music stores play in finding and selecting new music. See recordstoreday. com.au for updates.

WANNA BE A PRESENTER AT ACCESSIBLE ARTS CONFERENCE? Accessible Arts is calling for proposals for papers, performances or workshops that address the 2014 conference theme, Creative Connections. Hopefuls can choose any topic related to people with disability and art, but it must be presented in ways that encourage interaction. Full info at aarts.net.au. All proposals in text, audio or video formats must be submitted through Smartygrants by 5pm Monday April 28 at aarts.smartygrants.com. au/con14presentation.

WANNA BE A PRESENTER ON ABC3? ABC3 is looking for new presenters. “Whether you’re a budding rock star, have the hottest moves on the dance floor, can build a robot blind-folded or have a natural ability to make kids laugh,� it says. See abc.net.au/ abc3/3factor for full details. Deadline is Friday March 28.

NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR NSW CREATIVE AWARDS The NSW Government has announced the inaugural NSW Creative Laureate and NSW Emerging Creative Talent Awards. These are for an individual, team or organisation that lifts NSW creatives to global profile. The second award includes future development with a cash prize of $15,000. Details are at nswciawards. com.au. Nominations close Sunday March 30.

Lifelines Born: a son, his first child, to Regurgitator’s Quan Yeomans. Engaged: singer Reece Mastin and actress Rhiannon Fish after two years. Married: Tasmania’s MONA FOMA co-creator David Walsh and partner Kirsha. He has two girls, Grace, six, and Jamie, 19, from previous relationships. Injured: Lorde had to take on a physical therapist during her US dates after she hurt her hand (she didn’t say how). In Court: Jamaican dancehall singer Vybz Kartel, with three others, found guilty of murdering associate Clive Lizard Williams, in a row over a gun. In Court: Kanye West has been sentenced to anger management sessions and 250 hours of community service for assaulting a photographer. In Court: John Mayer is suing a watch dealer who sold him $5 million worth of expensive timepieces, of which seven were designated counterfeit by Rolex. In Court: Former Outlawz member Stormey Coleman, jailed for six days by Melbourne Magistrates Court for assaulting his then-girlfriend and causing temporary hearing loss. He’d already spent six days in custody after he was arrested. Died: influential ’90s Brisbane DJ and promoter Edwin Morrow, AKA DJ Edwin, of heart failure through liver problems. The onetime drummer was also one half of Sexing The Cherry, whose 1994 single ‘Steppin’ On’ made the charts. His Adrenalin dance parties created an excitement that was a catalyst for the Brisbane rave scene. Tributes on social media from dance producers and DJs remember how Edwin, when working at the Central Station Records, turned them on to new music and inspired them. Died: Joe Lala of US band Blues Image (‘Ride Captain Ride’ was a Top 5 hit in 1970) and a wellknown session player, at 66, from lung cancer.

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MICHAEL FRANTI

& SPEARHEAD

“YOU CAN GO OUT THERE AND RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, BUT THERE’S ALSO WAYS THAT MUSIC WORKS WITH THE HEART. YOU SEE MORE PROGRESS MOVING PEOPLE’S HEARTS THAN YOU DO MOVING VOTES AND PARLIAMENT OR CONGRESS.” same amp – and it sounded like it. But we had a really great time and I remember seeing the first three or four kids get up to dance to our music and I was like, ‘I could get used to this. This is fun.’ Ever since that time I’ve always tried to remember that same feeling that I had – not only with that band, but as I’ve toured later with other bands. I try and remember the early shows that we had and the first people that came to your shows. I always want to grow with the music and I want the music to change, but you always want the first people who came to your shows to still like it. You think back, ‘Would the first 50 people at our concert like this record?’”

OF HEARTS AND MINDS BY JODY MACGREGOR

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Michael Franti concert doesn’t start with the curtains rising and him striding out from backstage to rapturous applause. He usually gets to the stage from the other direction – walking through the crowd, stopping to say hi and maybe hug a few friendly people before he climbs up to the microphone. It’s a bonding thing, a way of knocking down the wall between the performer and the audience that he learned in one of his earliest bands, The Beatnigs, who travelled across America playing in every punk rock club that would have them. Although his music is much more mellow now, he’s kept that one element of the punk spirit alive.

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Franti’s not the only one who gets up close and personal with the audience. Spearhead’s guitarist, bassist and even the drummer get out there, thanks to portable hand drums, but the keyboard player, says Franti, “sadly is hampered by the size of that instrument.” This reminds Franti of an anecdote from his time in the group he formed after The Beatnigs: hip hop rabblerousers The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy. “We did this tour opening up for U2,” he says. “It was the Zoo TV tour, and it was the first tour with all these huge video screens and flying cars and all this really amazing visual stuff. One day I talked to Bono and I was like, ‘Man, this show looks fucking amazing.’ And he’s like…” – you’ll have to imagine Michael Franti’s Bono impersonation, but it’s pretty great – “‘I know, Michael, we spent $70 million on the production and I’ll never get to see it!’” Like U2, Franti’s music has changed a lot over the years. The Public Enemy-style hip hop of The Disposable Heroes gave way to Spearhead’s acoustic jams vibe, soul and roots, but his activist

When he finally did get to play that show at California’s Folsom Prison in 2005, he says, “All these guys in the prison were like, ‘We don’t want to hear songs about how the prison system sucks. We want to hear songs about how much we miss our girlfriends. We want to hear songs about forgetting these concrete walls that we’re behind.’ I started realising that music works in different ways. Yeah, you can go out there and – to borrow a phrase from my buddy Zack [de la Rocha] – rage against the machine, but there’s also ways that music works with the heart. Sometimes – usually, in fact – you see more progress moving people’s hearts than you do moving votes and Parliament or Congress. That’s how I’ve changed over the years.” Franti had a similar experience when he travelled to the Middle East, a trip that was documented in his documentary I Know I’m Not Alone. In Iraq, audiences reacted when he sang anti-war anthems. “‘You come from America. You’re bombing our country. How dare you have the gall to sit here and sing a song against war when you’re from the country that’s bombing us?’ They were like, ‘Sing us songs that make us cry, laugh, dance, forget about the situation that we’re in.’ It’s not to say that I don’t still [write political songs], I’ve got songs

on this new record like ‘11:59’ or ‘Earth From Outer Space’. I directly address things; social issues, environmental issues, political issues. But I think that music is best when it reaches the emotions rather than just the thoughts and ideas.”

Franti has come a long way since The Casual Tees (“I think our fl yers were better than our music,” he says) and this year he’ll be marking 20 years with Spearhead. But they’ll be celebrating in a lowkey way.

Franti has started an organisation called the Do It For The Love Foundation to share those emotional connections with the people who most need it – helping children with severe disabilities, injured veterans and people suffering from life-threatening illnesses to attend live concerts and have backstage meet-and-greets with their favourite musicians.

“Me and the guys in the band will probably have a beer, sit down and say, ‘Hey, that was cool! It’s been 20 years, let’s go onstage and play tonight.’”

“People turn up at the show and are like, ‘I’ve got a short time left to live but I’m here with my family and we’re having this amazing experience. We’re crying together, we’re laughing, we’re dancing and it might be the last time we ever go to a concert.’ I’d rather create that experience than just be going onstage every night telling the system to ‘fuck off’.” That’s a laudable thing, but perhaps embracing positivity in his music might alienate the fans the Franti picked up as an angry young man in California, railing against injustices. Franti hopes not, and he tells a story about his very first concert, with a high school band called The Casual Tees, to explain why. “We played out in the quad on the school campus and we had one amplifier and we put everything through it. We put the bass and the guitar and the vocals through the

Franti only realised how long his current band has been together when Carl Young, who plays bass, pointed it out. “While we were sitting on the bus the other night Carl mentioned, ‘It’s my birthday and I remember I joined the band right when my birthday was, so it’s been 19 years now that we’ve been on the road.’ We both looked at each other and had a bit of an emotional moment and then I said, ‘You know what? When I think back on it, this time that we’re having right now is the most fun that we’ve ever had.’”

What: All People out now through EMI With: Sheppard Where: Metro Theatre When: Tuesday April 15 And: Also appearing alongside John Mayer, Dave Matthews Band, Devendra Banhart, India. Arie, Joss Stone, Jake Bugg, Passenger and many more at Byron Bay Bluesfest, Thursday April 17 – Monday April 21 xxx

“The stage and the audience, there was no barrier there,” Franti recalls. “Myself and a lot of other artists in punk rock bands at the time would jump into the crowd, we’d sing songs from the crowd, and I always loved that feeling. I still carry that DIY spirit, that there should be no division between the stage and the audience. These days I have a headset microphone and my guitar and I play songs on the top balcony. Sometimes I start the show in the lobby. We put little boxes out in the audience in different places so I can get up and play on top of little boxes

in some of the venues. I love being out in the crowd. It’s also kind of cool to look back at the stage and hear and see my band [Spearhead], what they look like from the audience.”

streak remained in songs like ‘Crime To Be Broke In America’ from 1994’s Home. An indictment of the US prison system, the song inspired someone to ask Franti if he’d ever played a concert in prison, like Johnny Cash. He hadn’t, but the idea stuck with him.

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DMA’s Your New Favourite Band By Augustus Welby appeal is due to its studious creative preparation. “We were writing for a few years before we released anything or played a gig,” Took says. “Two years ago I had a goal that I didn’t want to play any gigs and just wanted to focus on the tunes and keep writing music. I wanted to have over 100 songs and I wanted to do all the… not the ‘hard work’, because you never stop writing, but to give yourself a bit of a leg-up.” Took is joined in DMA’s by vocalist Tommy O’Dell and guitarist Matt Mason, all of whom have been active in the local music scene for the past half-decade. Took and O’Dell first came together (playing bass and drums, respectively) in Sydney foursome Underlights, which is where the seed for the songwriting collaboration was planted.

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rock’n’roll band’s growing up process typically involves getting well acquainted with the live stage and subsequently piquing people’s interest, while gradually developing the songcraft. Early last month, buzz about Sydney three-piece DMA’s started to spread online. But this was all before the trio had ever set foot on one of the city’s dimly lit stages.

“We’ve been in bands before and we’ve slogged it out playing the early morning World Bars and all those kinds of little gigs around Sydney, and we just didn’t want to do that anymore,” guitarist/producer Johnny Took explains. “We thought that most of our energy should be focused on the songs. The way I think about it, it all revolves around the tunes. If there aren’t good

songs coming out, then there’s nothing really.” Thanks to the heart-on-your-sleeve melodic appeal of their first single, ‘Delete’, a fair chunk of hype has quickly hit DMA’s. In fact, even before the band’s public launch, the track was enough to seal a deal with selective indie label I Oh You. Perhaps the group’s immediate

“The first time I realised Tommy could sing was when we were in an Underlights rehearsal. Tommy was asking about the drum part and he was like, ‘Oh you know in the chorus where it goes…’ He started singing the part and I was just standing there in the rehearsal room going, ‘Fuck, this guy’s voice is crazy.’ “About three years ago now, when I moved into my place in Newtown, I used to spend lots of my Friday nights [getting] pissed and just record something. [Tommy] had written some lyrics and he was like,

‘Man, can I put some vocals down for this track?’ He put a vocal down and he’d never heard his voice back before. He was like, ‘Wow, I actually sound like that?’ It kind of flourished from there.” The self-titled DMA’s EP, released this week, doesn’t stick to the sparse acoustic quality of ‘Delete’. ‘Feels Like 37’ takes cues from early Britpop and shoegaze, while ‘Your Low’ gives the mod revival some LSD. This conflation of sounds makes sense when you consider the band’s leading influences. “We’re all pretty big Beatles fans,” says Took. “Tommy’s a big Stone Roses fan, Mason’s really into Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. I listen to lots of country music. I like listening to real deep bluegrass, like Bill Monroe. I grew up listening to lots of Dylan and Neil Young.” Despite the stylistic diversity, Took emphasises what’s tying it all together. “You take away all the noisy guitars and take away all the production aspects and they’re still good songs. They still connect with people – that’s the main thing for me. If you can’t do that with a song, you’re kind of missing the point.” What: DMA’s out Friday March 28 through I Oh You Where: Goodgod Small Club When: Thursday May 22 xxx

Band Of Skulls On The Ascent By Keiron Costello

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“It’s a funny thing, because you make your first record and it’s a very exciting time, your life completely changes and you start travelling and gigging every night, and then there’s all this pressure that seems to come on the second record,” says Hayward.

“We finished touring the first one and went straight in and made the second one, so there was a lot of nervousness and a tenseness to that record. And this time round we feel much more comfortable in what we do, and can be a bit more objective in looking at what we’ve done previously and taking the things we feel are the best parts of those two records to make this third one.” Alongside this newfound comfort, the trio has been able to take stock of its increasing popularity and develop its sound accordingly. Band Of Skulls’ aims are right there in the album title, and although the term ‘Himalayan’ is an in-joke for the group, Hayward also admits: “Perhaps it is a metaphor for bigger things to come.” Singles ‘Asleep At The Wheel’ and ‘Nightmares’ might be at

“There’s no smoke or mirrors, it’s just drums, bass and guitar and two vocals. It’s about how we can convert that sound into a bigger stage as our shows start to get bigger.” 12 :: BRAG :: 555 :: 26:03:14

opposite ends of the band’s musical spectrum, but in between them Himalayan is jam-packed with certain crowd-pleasers, from the monster riffs of ‘I Feel Like Ten Men, Nine Dead And One Dying’ to the playful quiet/loud dynamics of ‘I Guess I Know You Fairly Well’. According to Hayward, the biggest development in their sound has been a growing confidence as each of the trio improves musically, and the vocal harmonies of guitarist Russell Marsden and bassist Emma Richardson get better as they adapt to a growing audience. “I think Russell and Emma singing every night and learning what works on a bigger stage and how that translates to a bigger audience, that translates to your writing because you visualise where you might be playing these songs in the future,” says Hayward. “There’s no smoke or mirrors, it’s just drums, bass and guitar and two vocals. It’s about how we can convert that sound into a bigger stage as our shows start to get bigger.” Band Of Skulls’ shows are indeed growing quickly, and after supporting some of the world’s biggest bands in Muse and Red Hot Chili Peppers, Hayward believes they’ve had the

best possible preparation for their upcoming headline shows. “Every support tour we do, it’s a massive learning curve for us to see how a band further down the line go about their business,” he says. In particular, a recent support spot for Queens of the Stone Age gave Band Of Skulls the template they want to emulate. “They were the sweetest people, and so kind to us… there’s no bullshit to them, they just play the greatest rock show every night.” Just about to start a massive world tour in support of Himalayan that will take them across three continents in as many months, the English rockers will soon get to test out the lessons they’ve learnt. Their schedule is so hectic that they barely have a day off from now until after their Australian shows in June, an endeavour that Hayward describes as “daunting”. “We haven’t been touring heavily for quite some time, so to look at it in front of you is a bit unnerving. But then [you get] one day in and it’s like you live in this weird bubble and just take it as it is. I don’t want to think about it,” he laughs. “Everyone’s in very high spirits right now, but you never know, give it a few weeks.”

But even if the band’s Australian dates will come at the end of the long schedule, Hayward and the rest of the group can’t wait to return to our shores. Having visited in 2010 and again in 2012 to play Splendour in the Grass and a handful of sideshows, this will be their first visit without the support of a festival slot. “Going to Australia is one of the greatest experiences we’ve had as a band. To be pretty much as far away from your hometown as you can possibly be – even since we went out there the first time for the first record, there’s been the nicest response, like no other place really, and it’s only got better since we’ve been back again. “I can’t speak more highly of our experiences in Australia, we’ve just had a great time out there. The nice thing is people are so loyal to bands they believe in out there. A lot of the bullshit doesn’t really exist. If they like a band they stick with them, they’re very supportive of what you do.” What: Himalayan out Friday March 28 through Electric Blues Recordings/[PIAS] Where: The Hi-Fi When: Friday June 20

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hree albums in and Band Of Skulls are ready to let the world know they’re aiming high. After bursting out of the blocks with 2009’s Baby Darling Doll Face Honey and avoiding the second album slump with the excellent Sweet Sour, the Southampton three-piece will release a new record this week. Himalayan builds on their wellestablished hallmark of pounding drums, catchy hooks and vocal harmonies, and according to drummer Matt Hayward, the album is a reflection of the good space the band is in at the moment.

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Ed Kuepper Saints And Sinners By Adam Norris

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hen I speak to Ed Kuepper, it is after a confusing exchange of rescheduled interview slots to take into account the time difference between Sydney and Brisbane. Having fi nally been given a time, I call him as he is fi nishing breakfast and not at all expecting any bumbling journalist to interrupt his morning. Though friendly, his voice suggests a weary reluctance to have to talk up his projects one more time. Since 1976, Kuepper has released almost a record a year, either with The Saints, Laughing Clowns, or as a solo artist backed by a number of touring bands whose names are the stuff of strange legend: The Yard Goes On Forever, Oxley Creek Playboys, The Institute Of Nude Wrestling, The Exploding Universe. My first question has to be about the signifi cance behind these spectacular names.

When Mick Harvey left The Bad Seeds in 2009, Kuepper took over as their touring guitarist. Given he was already instrumental in the founding of several classic bands, I ask how it felt to become part of a well-established act that was not his own. “Well, I kind of agreed to do it on the basis that I wasn’t replacing Mick,” he explains. “I wasn’t going to be Mick Harvey number two. He does what he does, and does it well. But they struck me as being a good band, so I didn’t have any real hesitation about playing with them. But I was quite strict about the fact that I wasn’t going to do it as a straight session man, and that was all cool, so it worked.” Having found early and immediate success with Aussie punk icons The Saints, I’m curious if Kuepper can recall what his expectations were of his music in those early days; if the drive to write and perform was something that he had always aspired towards in some way or another. “It was just something that has been with me from early on. I never wanted to be a fireman or anything like that; I always just wanted to somehow be in a band.

Whether I had any realistic expectations of where that would take me, I don’t know. Looking back, I would think probably not. It was just what I wanted to do, and I stayed focused on that even when teachers and parents were advising that it was great as a hobby, but I should probably start looking at accountancy soon, get

some job in a bank. If you had’ve asked me when I was 16 or 17 if I’d still be doing this all these years later, I’d probably wouldn’t have even really considered myself as being able to say alive ’til that stage. But you persevere. Life’s too short. I don’t know whether I knew that at the time, but I sure do now.”

What: The Gum Ball Festival 2014 With: Hoodoo Gurus, King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard, The Septembers, Melody Pool and more Where: Belford, Hunter Valley When: Friday April 11 – Saturday April 12

While it’s clear the space within Banhart as an individual changed considerably before and during the recording of Mala, he feels the physical space where he recorded actually had less of an impact on the overall sound of the record.

“One of my favourite things about composing music is exploring other music and listening to music. I like finding things that inspire me.”

Devendra Banhart An Artist’s Hand By Krissi Weiss

“Every space I’ve recorded in has been so very different from the others,” he says. “The last one [in rural northern California, where he recorded 2009’s What Will We Be], wasn’t any bigger than this one, but the personnel was a lot smaller and maybe that did help to create an environment where I was a lot more relaxed and less concerned. But that implies that when I’m around a bunch of other people I start to care about how I sing, and that’s not entirely the case. I do know how to play music and I do know how to sing, but it’s been almost a by-product of loving music and wanting to compose music that I’ve developed these skills.” While Banhart can be humble about his musicianship, his output has been fairly prolific. Mala is his eighth studio album, while his visual art has been displayed everywhere from San Francisco to Brussels. He’s forever creating, which is often a thankless pursuit, and I ask whether time away from music provides him with inspiration to write again.

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enezuelan-American singersongwriter and visual artist Devendra Banhart carries the torch of a true artist well. While Banhart’s shaky yet skilled hands commonly manipulate both sight and sound, many of his fans are familiar with only one side of his creative output. His visual art has garnered him a cult-like following, but riding the freak-folk wave of the early ’00s amassed him a large mainstream fan base. Banhart’s latest album, Mala, recorded with longtime collaborator Noah Georgeson, is an album stripped bare in many ways. It was recorded in what Banhart has referred to as his “tiny, tiny home”, with most instruments played by Banhart and Georgeson after being collected from pawnshops 14 :: BRAG :: 555 :: 26:03:14

and old studios. While these things are tactile, it’s Banhart’s approach to the songs that seems the most exposed. From the very first track there’s a rawness to his vocal timbre that is ultimately captivating. “Well, if it does seem like I’m using my voice differently…” Banhart begins, trailing off to think for a moment. “I mean, voices change and it does have to do with microphones, distance to the microphone and that sort of thing, but really, for me, I had decided to stop trying to sing. I feel like at one point in making records I really wanted to make it clear that I knew how to sing – whatever that meant – and that I was good.” How does one stop trying to sing when they’re, well, a singer? “I’m

not a singer really,” Banhart says. “I want to tell a story, so my main concern becomes: ‘What sort of music do I need to put to these words?’ I sing it, I enjoy it, but I don’t have this idea that I’m a professional singer or anything. I abandoned that on this record and I’m singing without putting tremendous effort into it, and by just focusing on the architecture of the song and getting the lyrics across in a nice way. It became about the character of the song – often these songs are about the character – and so I put myself in a particular mindset of who I imagined singing the song. Very often the ‘me’ in my songs are not actually me; they’re not autobiographical. I’ve been to the setting but the drama has been created.”

“I’ve been making visual work since I’ve been making music and I balance both constantly,” he says. “Right now I’m working on a book and so that’s taking up a heap of time. In a weird way, one of my favourite things about composing music is exploring other music and listening to music. I like finding things that inspire me in certain genres throughout the world and throughout time, and then thinking about how I could do something in that style in some other time. “My composition time is taken up by the conception stage of a song – what would I like a song to sound like? What would I like it to be about? Then there’s a small percentage that’s cathartic, when I think about what I’m going to express; that I’m

going to get a particular thing out that I don’t know how to talk about. I think part of why we make art is to express that part of ourselves that exists when we’re alone – well, a slim portion of why.” I wonder if there’s a medium in which Banhart feels the most confident, or a space where he feels the least amount of self-doubt. “The least amount of self-doubt? I have zero confidence in all of them. It’s just varying degrees of self-doubt, and then a fucking shitload of self-doubt and then an abyss of self-doubt. Then it just goes out into oceans – plural – of self-doubt out into the cosmos. These are celestial bodies of selfdoubt that orbit around me.” So what enables Banhart to cross that terrifying threshold of doubt and allow us to enjoy what he creates, while most people just hide away in privacy? “Oh, well, that’s easy,” he says. “I don’t let failure get in the way of failing.” What: Mala out now through Nonesuch/Warner With: Yon Yonson Where: Factory Theatre When: Wednesday April 16 And: Also appearing alongside John Mayer, Dave Matthews Band, Michael Franti & Spearhead, India. Arie, Joss Stone, Jake Bugg, Passenger and many more at Byron Bay Bluesfest, Thursday April 17 – Monday April 21 thebrag.com

xxx

“I didn’t want the kind of thing – like some musicians do – where they’ll have a kind of a brand name that they put out, and it doesn’t matter who becomes involved in it, it’s all just one brand. There are quite a few like that now. So that was what was behind it. The picking of the names themselves…” he chuckles. “Well, that was just to make them as memorable as could be. That said, they weren’t accidental. Each of those tours had a significantly

different sonic aspect to it, so [the names weren’t] just some affectation. They all had some significance.”

Cloud Nothings Middle Of Nowhere By David James Young

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I was writing the guitar parts, just figuring out how to make one guitar fill as much of the void as possible.”

f it sounds like there is an urgency on Here And Nowhere Else, the fourth studio album from noisy Cleveland natives Cloud Nothings, it’s because that’s exactly how it was created. Apart from the track ‘No Thoughts’, which began its life around the start of 2013, everything you hear on the album was essentially the band flying by the seat of its pants – the musical equivalent of scribbling your homework at the back of the bus.

Lead guitarist Joe Boyer left the band in 2013 after legal trouble made it impossible for him to tour. Rather than replace him, the band – completed by bassist TJ Duke and drummer Jayson Gerycz – has shifted into being a trio. This meant twice as much work for Baldi as a guitarist – and it was a challenge that influenced the album’s direction.

“It actually helped me get better at guitar, which I think is always good,” he says. “I like it when there’s a lot going on within the chords and what have you, and that’s difficult to pull off with just one person. I’d like to think I pulled it off, in a way, but it was still very challenging. I’ve occasionally thrown in one or two of Joe’s parts when we’ve been playing live, but I’ve been working on developing the parts that I was playing in the first place. It

doesn’t sound like the record, but it definitely sounds like us.” Baldi also adds that listening to a lot of old jazz records was, strangely enough, an influence on his songwriting. “I’d be listening to these jazz trios,” he explains, “and paying close attention to the way that the piano players would fill the space in the songs. It was something that I thought about a lot when

Now that the album has arrived, the band is set to tour extensively in support of it – and, yes, a return visit to Australia is on the cards. “It’s your summer – for me, it’s winter,” Baldi says. “Like, in December – you say that’s summer, right? Even though it’s winter? Man, that’s crazy. But we’ll be there… in the Australian summer.” What: Here And Nowhere Else out Friday March 28 through Stop Start

Bloods Get A Pizza This By Blake Gallagher

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hey say you can judge a band by how much it collectively savours a good, greasy slice of pizza. They do say that, right? Probably. They should, at any length. If they did, they’d find Sydney punks (and cheese’n’pepperoni pie devotees) Bloods of immaculate character. It also helps that the trio’s debut EP, last year’s Golden Fang, is an impossibly infectious burst of short, sweet, bratty garage pop filled with girl group harmonies, influenced by the likes of SleaterKinney and The Stooges, and practically purpose-crafted for screaming into a hairbrush microphone. “We’d released a few singles, but the EP felt like we were actually putting out a body of work we were happy with,” says vocalist and guitarist MC, who ranks releasing Golden Fang as last year’s highlight for the band – along with getting signed to Shock Records, sharing stages with the likes of Dum Dum Girls and Jeff The Brotherhood, and touring throughout the country in support of the EP (“Playing to crowds instead of three people, that was nice”). Initially hiring out a house in the secluded Hunter Valley, time constraints forced Bloods to record the majority of the EP in one day at a warehouse in Marrickville. “We were an independent band at the time and we didn’t have any money, so we had to do it as quickly as we could,” MC says. “We put down four tracks in one day which, really, is pretty nuts, when you think about it. It was kind of hilarious – we hadn’t really accounted for the fact that Marrickville is a high air traffic zone. As soon as we went to record vocals, when you need some kind of silence, was exactly when the really heavy flight traffic would start. We had to time vocal takes between aeroplanes flying past.” That sense of urgency comes through strongly in both the energy and immediacy found all over Golden Fang, as the band negotiates bubblegum pop aesthetics with exuberant, garage-punk effervescence.

Not ones to rest on their laurels – and dying to make 2014 as productive as possible after taking some time off – Bloods are currently preparing to head back into the studio to record what will likely be their debut album. “We’re really excited about it, we’ve been wanting to put an album out for ages. We’re going to be playing a few shows between now and the recording where we try out new material. Hopefully by April we’ll have enough songs that we think will make a cohesive album. We’re hoping it’ll show some progression from Golden Fang and still have the same vibe people seem to be digging.” Regardless of how the band progresses in the immediate term, MC is adamant a few things will remain vital to the Bloods formula. Chief among these is the do-it-yourself attitude she says is the essence of the band. From designing the bulk of their posters and merch themselves, editing their music videos, and drawing on a small group of friends for assistance with things like photography and shooting clips, having creative control is “a big part” of who Bloods are. “We determine what gets put out, and that’s something that’s not going to change. I think we’re one of those bands where all of our output has to feel right to us – we’re not really comfortable with people making decisions for us in that creative sense. We’re lucky that Shock was so great in that regard; they just kind of said, ‘Do what you like, give it to us and we’ll release it.’ We’re putting out who we are, and that’s really important to us.” Another aspect MC says is likely to stick around is the trio’s unanimous affinity for a certain ovenbaked Italian dish. “We’re pretty obsessed,” she laughs. “When we get dinner there’s never any question, and it’s always pepperoni, mushroom and olives. That’s just our jam.” What: Golden Fang out now through Shock Where: Frankie’s Pizza When: Sunday March 30

Glass Animals Goo Fighters By Adam Norris

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avid Bayley is a softly spoken man, almost delicately so. There is a certain level of poetic justice to this, given he is the frontman of Oxfordshire outfit Glass Animals, whose music somehow conjures a vibrant, fragile space populated by deft lyrics and catchy-as-hell hooks. Their press material empathises the band’s interest in the convergence of music and art, and when watching their music videos – ‘Psylla’ or ‘Gooey’, for instance – it is easy to see how this fascination takes shape. “I think music and art already have a lot of similarities,” Bayley says in a near-whisper. “When I listen to music I tend to like sounds that take me somewhere, or make me feel as though I’m in a different world, a different land. Something that’s transportational. I think I tend towards liking art like that, and combining these two things can be a powerful expression.” Visually, there are some striking images – ‘Psylla’ features foliage sprouting from open wounds and a transient face appearing in the earth, while ‘Gooey’ is akin to walking through an art gallery that has suddenly, grotesquely sprung to life. The band clearly enjoys a level of creative control that many other rising acts would find enviable, and this is due mostly to the level of trust their label has for the guys. “I think we were pretty lucky to be signed to a label that want us to do whatever we want to do, you know?” Bayley says. “I think they signed us for that exact reason. We’re a band who knew what we wanted in terms of sound, and they were able to be quite hands off and just let it happen. I think we’re pretty lucky in being able to do what we want creatively. There’d been a couple of other offers from other labels on the table, and a really important consideration for us was simply that we’d be allowed to do what we wanted to do.” Glass Animals do seem to have been blessed with a rather rich vein of luck since the beginning. Having written songs together at college, no-one had any idea how to actually

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promote their music in any way. Bayley, for instance, was studying medicine at the time. I wonder if this could work its way into recordings? Maybe play an album backwards and hear instructions on household surgery? “It’s already there,” he laughs. “The whole album is actually about the anatomy of the brain. I shouldn’t say that. That sounds like it would be the most boring album ever.” Eventually, the newly formed band simply uploaded some songs online and left them alone. The response took them totally by surprise. “We didn’t have any expectations at all. We had no idea what we were doing, didn’t know anyone in the music industry, didn’t even know anyone in any other bands. We just put some tracks online, and people got in touch. I don’t know how in the hell they found them. It just kind of happened without us putting too much thought into it. We kind of like ducking down and working on our music and not chatting about what we’d had for breakfast on Twitter. The main thing is; just don’t think about it, it’s definitely not at the forefront of my mind. There are other things I should be thinking about.” Given their first Australian tour is nearing, Bayley mentions in passing his interest in petting a koala, and how they seem like such nice little balls of fur. I tell him that’s just what the koalas want you to think; once they get you close, it’s nothing but claws, jaws, and straight to the jugular. He is both aghast and impressed. “Killer koalas? What a nightmare. Oh man. Just… how would… wow. I’d like to see a koala kill me; I think that would be the most interesting way to die. I mean, how would it do it? They look so cuddly. What could it possibly… Yes. Death by koala. Definitely.” What: Zaba out Friday June 6 through Wolf Tone/Caroline Where: Oxford Art Factory When: Thursday April 3 BRAG :: 555 :: 26:03:14 :: 15

Cloud Nothings photo by Pooneh Ghana

“I stopped writing songs until about a month before we went into the studio,” says Dylan Baldi, the band’s vocalist, guitarist and chief songwriter. “I guess I got bored or lazy or something. A lot of the album came together last minute, as is usually the case with us. I kind of like it that way. Some of the songs were so new that we were more or less learning them as we went along. You can hear that learning process on the album, which I think is pretty cool.”

The album, despite having the exact same amount of tracks as 2012’s Attack On Memory, feels significantly more concise in its approach. Despite Cloud Nothings often jamming onstage – particularly during their best song, ‘Wasted Days’ – Baldi points to being on the receiving end of such jams as the reason why the album is just a bit tighter this time around. “I started seeing a lot of bands jamming live, and a lot of it really bored me,” he confesses. “It’s fun for them and it’s fun for us, but on the record it can get boring really fast if you’re not doing it right. I left it at being simple, quick songs this time around.”

arts frontline

free stuff head to: thebrag.com/freeshit

arts news...what's goin' on around town...with Hannah Warren and Andy Huang

five minutes WITH

WADE DOOLAN

Wade Doolan from Stitching

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ade Doolan is a founding member of Little Spoon Theatre Company and one half of the cast of Stitching, opening at TAP Gallery this month. He took five minutes out of rehearsals to talk about the play, getting banned in Europe and his reallife relationship with his onstage girlfriend.

Machete Kills

Tell us about Stitching. Stitching is a play about couple, Abby and Stu, who are struggling to deal with the consequences of an unplanned pregnancy. But really it’s a play about grief and loss. About the searing, inescapable pain of loss, the grief that follows, and the many ways in which we attempt to heal our wounds. People can and

will do terrible things to each other and themselves in order to survive the trauma of personal tragedy. Is it true that Stitching was banned in Europe? It was banned in Malta, on the grounds that the play “exalted perversion as if it was acceptable behaviour.” Malta is clearly a much more conservative and inherently religious society, so themes of blasphemy and sexual deviancy, taken out of context, are going to ruffle some Maltese feathers.But I think they miss the point of the play. This play doesn’t glorify ANY of the things that the Maltese court deemed offensive, Neilson may want to shock us out of our passivity, but you get the sense that he wishes the world was all peaches and cream, but he knows that it isn’t, and it grieves him. He isn’t afraid to explore those areas of life that most of us would prefer kept behind closed doors. It remains banned in Malta, despite the case being taken to the European Court of Human Rights.

What’s it like acting a relationship with your real life partner? I am playing opposite my real life partner Lara in this play. I thought that it would be easier than creating the illusion of a relationship with a stranger. However, I’ve found it to be much tougher to reveal the truth of a real intimate relationship in front of strangers. We’re not creating an imaginary couple, we’re allowing an audience of strangers to eavesdrop on something very real, something very personal that has always been private until now. This is a challenging play for the actors and the audience, but I think that if people are willing to see beyond the initial shock, they will see a play of true beauty about two people coming to terms with a tragic loss, that will move and disturb them in equal measure.

DVD PACKS! OUT OF CONTROL! WIN!

Robert Rodriguez is back with Machete Kills, the sequel to Machete, and this time the titular character has been enlisted by the President of the USA for a deadly mission. In true Rodriguez style, Machete Kills is ludicrous and out of control. Speaking of out of control, The End (Fin in Spanish) is an apocalyptic film in which a group of friends reunite for a weekend in a remote cabin in the mountains and emerge to find a new natural order. Yikes. Here at BRAG HQ, we have five DVD packs of one copy each of Machete Kills and The End to give away. If you fancy getting your hands on some pretty intense films, just head to thebrag.com/freeshit and tell us what you’re going to do when the apocalypse comes.

What: You Are Here When: Wednesday March 26 @ The Wayside Chapel, Friday March 28 @ Newtown Neighbourhood Centre Web: milkcratetheatre.com

COKE AND SYMPATHY

Newcastle, home to beautiful beaches, and little-known cultural hub will once again host the Newcastle Writers Festival. With contemporary crime, Aussie rock’n’roll history, poetry, blogging, sex addiction, World War I and more, there’s something for everyone. Talents lined up for this year’s program include serial slashie (broadcaster slash author slash humourist... you get the idea) Wendy Harmer; The Daily Life’s Clementine Ford, Kirstie Clements (former editor of Vogue Australia), and more. Newcastle Writers Festival will be held from Friday April 4 to Sunday April 6 across various venues in Newcastle. Check out newcastlewritersfestival. org.au for more info about the event.

Rock and roll cabaret is set to make an astonishing return to the fore with the Coke and Sympathy. Touted as a show of ‘minor keys and major sleeze’, it tell the outrageously debaucherous (true) story – riddled with sex, drugs and scandal – of groupie Wild Delilah, who falls in love with a charming but flawed rock guitarist, desperate for fame and glory. The show reworks some timeless hits of the classic rock era from artists including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac and Led Zeppelin. Coke and Sympathy is playing at the Slide Lounge in Darlinghurst on Thursday April 10 from 7pm. Tickets are from $30.

Drawn By Design

FILM FESTIVAL TICKET PACKAGES

A strictly limited number of special ticket packages with massive savings to Sydney Film Festival 2014 (June 4-15) are available until April 1 or until sold out. Designed to appeal to the avid festivalgoer, these six ticket packages give you freedom to see more fi lms for less dollas. Package options are Daytime GA Subscription, Daytime Reserved Subscription, Evening Stalls (Reserved) Subscription, Evening Mezzanine (Reserved) Subscription, Flexipass 30 and Flexipass 20. Investigate your options at sff. org.au.

CHERRY DOLLFACE

Cherry Dollface, the international vintage sensation has seamlessly merged the worlds of vintage pin-up status with YouTube, attracting over 225,000 subscribers to follow her every move. Dollface has packed all her panache into one antique road show titled Catfi ght Collections. The tour will kick off at the Kurri Kurri Nostalgia Festival on March 29 and 30, and you can also see Cherry Dollface at Charlestown Square on April 3 and 5 or the Cambridge Hotel on April 5.

TIME IS A TRAVELLER

Arts news_coke and sympathy_courtesy Heather Vousden.jpg

NEWCASTLE WRITERS FESTIVAL

Australia’s own Billy Elliot, David Harris, is set to take to the stage in Time Is A Traveller, a very personal musical, this April. Born to a father who worked as a coal miner and a mother who was a secretary, Harris was once a typical country boy. This show details his move to the stage, featuring a heavily autobiographical musical journey that tells of how he became one of Australia’s leading men. Grab tickets to a limited 3-show run at the Hayes Theatre from Sunday April 13 to Sunday May 4 online.

Mythbusters Adam Savage & Jamie Hyneman

WHAT IS NORMAL? DRAWN BY DESIGN

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FOURTEENTH ANNUAL HELPMANN AWARD

Australia’s live performance scene has to be one of, if not the most, exhilarating and dynamic industries in the country. To celebrate this, Sydney’s Capitol Theatre will be hosting the fourteenth annual Helpmann Awards on Monday August 18. Categories spanning from musical theatre to comedy to opera and everything in between will be represented at the awards. Chief Executive Evelyn Richardson said: “The Helpmann Awards are the pinnacle ‘night of nights’ event for our industry.”

BUST THIS

MythBusters, everyone’s favourite, erm, myth busting show, is heading to Australia with their new live show, MythBusters: Behind The Myths. Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage will kick off in Melbourne on August 16, and will be in Sydney for two shows at the Qantas Credit Union Arena on Saturday August 23. MythBusters: Behind The Myths will comprise on-stage experiments, audience participation, video footage and behind-the-scenes stories. If you’re keen on seeing some shit blown up, head to mythbusterstour.com.

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Mythbusters photo by Robert Fujioka Studios Inc

Art Atrium will host its bi-annual exhibition Drawn By Design – The Art Of Architecture focusing on drawings and paintings by prominent Australian architects. Architects participating in this exhibition include Rex Addison, Roger Barrett, Chris Johnson, Virginia Kerridge, Ian McGilvray, Fiona Mitchell, Danielle Pinet, Tone Wheeler, Ken Woolley and many more. Art Atrium director and architect Simon Chan said: “Drawing and sketching for a lot of architects are an integral part of their design process. A simple sketch or drawing can form the basis of a design concept that will be further developed and refined. A sketchbook in the hands of an architect is also the equivalent of a camera for a photographer or a journal for a writer.” The exhibition is open from Wednesday March 25 until Saturday April 19 at Art Atrium, Old South Head Road, Bondi Junction. The full catalogue is available at artatrium. com.au.

The Sydney premiere of Broadway smash-hit rock musical Next To Normal is opening next month in the freshly refurbished Rockdale Town Hall. The Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway show hit tells the story of Diana who struggles with mental illness and the impact of this journey on those around her as she tries desperately to hold her family and her sanity together. This is the first time this show, which has been called "raw, frustrating and heartbreaking", will be shown in Sydney, after a professional production was cancelled in 2012. Next To Normal has limited shows from April 4 to April 12 and tickets are available from rockdalemusicalsociety. com.

Strictly Ballroom The Musical [MUSICAL] Strictly Business By Adam Norris

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omposer Elliot Wheeler has worked with Baz Luhrmann on several prior projects including The Great Gatsby, and they’ve teamed up again for the soon-to-be-unleashed musical version of Strictly Ballroom. We chat about the nature of musicals, and the challenge of facing an audience so familiar with the story. Sydney is not shy about staging musical adaptations of notable screen gems. Strictly Ballroom may be the production on everyone’s tongue at the moment, but it follows on the heels of An Officer & A Gentleman, Legally Blonde, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. The latter two are of particular note; both comedies that were critically acclaimed but of which only Legally Blonde found success on stage. I wonder if Elliot is concerned when the temperature of musical audiences is now so very difficult to anticipate.

I have to ask about his ongoing collaborations with Luhrmann – if there is some kind of blackmail material that Elliot has stumbled upon that fuels their relationship. “Ha, it’s true,” he confirms. “I worked out the secret to the elixir that gives him all his power. Honestly, I can’t speak for what it is that Baz finds enjoyable, but for me it’s that he has so much energy and takes you on such a journey. He’s constantly searching for new ways of doing things, pushing ideas, everything is examined and stretched in new ways, and you come up

with something that you could not have conceived on your own. It’s an incredibly rare thing.” Given this is a story that the majority of its audience will already know inside-out, I wonder if he was ever concerned he would find his compositions stymied into a certain style or sound. “We’re very aware of the history of the show, and there was so much amazing music in the original soundtrack. Our whole team has been very conscious of people wanting to hear those flavours. We’re hoping that everything you loved is still there, but there’s also a whole bucketful of new surprises. Those flavours we know are in the film are like a resource, something to dip into when we need it, to use them to develop into something else. Of course you do your research, you see how other musicals are structured. But you try not to limit yourself by looking at only what’s been working in a similar field. You try to have a comprehensive exposure to musicals that didn’t quite work, to went to unconventional places. But I guarantee there’s so much wonderful new material. We didn’t want to just give people the film on stage.”

Elliot Wheeler What: Strictly Ballroom The Musical When: From Friday April 11 Where: Sydney Lyric Theatre, The Star More: strictlyballroomthemusical.com Xxx

“All you can really do is try and concentrate on making sure you’ve got a compelling story, which I think is one of the grand things about Strictly Ballroom,” he says. Elliot has an infectiously affable manner, and though you sense he has certain go-to responses, his conversation is easygoing. “Coming into this process we all knew that it was something that audiences have really

responded to, that pulls people along, really takes you through some emotional journey. I think it’s impossible to anticipate the vagaries of what an audience will think. You should be just pouring your energy into creating the best product that you can, and we’re acutely aware of what it means for a couple or a family to give up that time and money to come and see the show in the first place. So we’re trying to create something that really gives people an experience that’s out of the ordinary, something that takes them out of their everyday lives. And I think that’s what theatre can do, give you a real sense of magic for a night.”

All About Women

Ann Mossop

[EVENT] Ladies Room By Tegan Jones

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unday March 30 will see the second annual All About Women festival hit the Sydney Opera House. Speakers from Australia and around the world will gather to share their stories and debate important issues surrounding women on a national and global scale. As well as talks and panels, the day will entail film screenings and even a large-scale clothes swap.

Despite focus of the festival being on the modern Australian woman, that is not the limit of its relevance. “Lots of women are also thinking about women in other parts of the world where the issues are completely different,” says Mossop. “You may well be thinking about your job and what you want to do, but you’re also thinking about some of the

One of the most exciting events of the day will undoubtedly be Pictures of You: Women in Media and Pop Culture, in which panellists Jane Caro, Alison Bechdel and Mona Eltahawy ask, how do media shape our views of women in the online age, and how can we change the way women appear in media? When it comes to this issue, Caro believes that things are beginning to change. “It’s still not perfect by any means, but it’s a lot better than what it was. We are seeing women in the public eye prepared to be much bolshier, much more uncompromising. We are seeing a handful of older women appearing in the media, particularly on publicly owned media, and we are seeing more women who clearly have been promoted for their job skills, not their fuckability.”

courtesy

All About Women is a festival that’s imperative in a society where people are trying to treat feminism as a brand that can, ironically, be made sexier and more appealing. “It’s important to hear about issues that concern women in a way that is broader than just whatever the current fashion about feminism is,” says Mossop. Caro adds, “Feminism isn’t a product that you need to sell, it’s a revolutionary movement. It is meant to disturb and it is meant to make people uncomfortable. That’s its job; to change the status quo.”

things that we read about women in Pakistan, women in Afghanistan; where the issues are incredibly serious and people feel very strongly about them. So what we try and do with the All About Women program is really get some of that breadth and diversity.” One talk that will certainly explore this diversity will be Mona Eltahawy’s Egypt, the Arab World & the War on Women.

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The festival was born of the Opera House’s Ideas at the House series. Despite the immense popularity of the program, it was distinctly lacking in female scholarly voices. Head of public programs and curator of All About Women, Ann Mossop, reveals how this resulted in a program titled The F Word: Feminism in the 21st Century. “There was such an amazing response to that, that we thought we should look at providing something a bit bigger and more diverse for that audience who are really hungry for those kind of conversations.” Media guru, author and all around bad arse Jane Caro agrees that the festival is a necessity. “As long as women are 51% of the population, as long as women are number one is the OECD ... yes we will continue to need conferences

and all sorts of things that are about women, just as we do for any other marginalised group. But the point about women is, unlike any other marginalised group, they are the majority of the population.”

What: All About Women When: March 30 Where: Sydney Opera House More: sydneyoperahouse.com of T

Love-Song-Circus [CIRCUS] Badass Ladies by Stephanie Yip every one, pulling together the best to write the third piece in the show. “I’d finished this amazing tour of the Cascades Female Factory in Hobart and I drove to Mount Wellington,” she recalls. “I went to the top and wrote the melody to Leaden Hearts up there in the freezing cold.”

Katie Noonan and Circa’s Love-Song-Circus

Tokens like: When this you see remember me/ though many miles we distant be and I’ll love ‘til death shall stop my breath stole Noonan’s voice and became the lyrics to the only song in the production not dedicated to a specific woman. “While reading the tokens, the themes of love, longing, loneliness, but mainly loss and strength, captured my imagination. I thought, ‘Oh, I want to find out about these people’.”

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or almost four years, mother of two and opera singer Katie Noonan has been doing it tough. Between performing in Sydney Dance Company’s Les Illuminations and recording her latest record, Fierce Hearts, she’s been doing stints in women’s prisons, writing of estranged love in the freezing cold, and waxing lyrical about the badass women she’s encountered. All this for the production of Love-Song-Circus – a collaborative work comprising a 16-piece

song cycle by Noonan and circus-acrobatics by Circa that celebrates the lives and stories of Australia’s female convicts. Or “seriously badass powerful women” as Noonan likes to call them. The idea for the work was conceived by Noonan after visiting the National Museum’s convict token collection. “It’s the largest convict love token collection in the world,” she says. “There were all these beautiful words inscribed on them.” And Noonan pored over each and

History buffs will be familiar with some of the stories. “For example Mary Reibey, who’s on our $20 note,” says Noonan. “She was a widowed working mother of seven who started the Bank of NSW and the Sydney Grammar School. She pretty much owned the entire suburb of Annandale.” Then there’s Ellen Scott, who led the first ever female flash mob. “She was a pretty wild limerick,” says Noonan, who gets so caught up in Ellen’s song in performances that her voice waxes “a bit harsher, feistier” than fans are accustomed to. “You can’t really sing Ellen with a pretty, soft voice,” she reasons. “Ellen was at Cascades. The whole time the priest there was pontificating from the bible he was molesting the women. Ellen got so mad she led a flash mob. In the middle of his sermon they mooned him!” We laugh now, but it was

a stand she paid for dearly. “For that, she got 30-days solitary confinement in a 6x4 cell with no seats.” Admirable? “Full on. She was a fabulous woman.” There are some lesser-known, though no less badass ladies in Love-Song-Circus too. The song Janet refers to Janet Housten, a Cascades girl punished for falling pregnant while there. “She was sent to the crime class and forced to leave her child all weekend. If she played her cards right and kept her head down she could see her for maybe one, two hours on Sunday,” says Noonan. “After three the child was sent to an orphanage, while Ellen was forced to stay at the factory.” It wasn’t til much later they were reunited. “Those kinds of stories are very inspiring.” They’ve captured audiences in Brisbane and Adelaide (Love-Song-Circus won the Fringe Awards for best music), and will play Sydney in April. So, what’s Noonan looking forward to when they do? “At every show we’ve had a descendant of one of the women there,” she glows. “Someone’s come up and gone, ‘I’m Esther’s great, great … grandson. So I’m excited to bring it to Sydney as many of these women were based here and helped form the city.” What: Katie Noonan and Circa’s LoveSong-Circus Where: Angel Place Recital Hall When: Wednesday April 2 and Thursday April 3

BRAG :: 555 :: 26:03:14 :: 17

Film & Theatre Reviews Hits and misses on the silver screen and bareboards around town

The Drowsy Chaperone

Thandi Newton and Ejiofor Chiwetel

■ Theatre

■ Film

THE DROWSY CHAPERONE

HALF OF A YELLOW SUN

Until April 6 at Hayes Theatre The Drowsy Chaperone, nudged a few degrees, could be a kind of socialrealist downer. A middle-aged man, in an oversized cardigan and slippers, sits alone in his New York apartment. He plays his old show tune records on a loop, and dryly critiques them. His all-time favourite show, 1928’s The Drowsy Chaperone, materialises in his living room, and we’re afforded a ringside seat.

Based on Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s 2006 novel of the same name, Half Of A Yellow Sun is constructed around Nigeria’s Biafran War. Lasting from 1967 to 1970, this ethnic and political conflict involved attempts by Nigeria’s southeastern provinces to establish their own independent state resulting in the deaths of over one million civilians. Olanna (Thandie Newton) and Kainene (Anika Noni Rose), twins from a wealthy family, return to newly independent 1960s Nigeria after completing university in England. Going their separate ways, Olanna moves to the dusty college town of Nsukka where she lives with her lover, the revolutionary professor Odenigbo (Chiwetel Ejiofor). Meanwhile Kainene takes over the family’s business interests at the other end of the country and surprises herself by falling in love with English writer Richard (Joseph Mawle). Although romantic entanglements initially loom large, the impending civil war sees these personal dramas fade as survival becomes the priority. While the Orange Prize-winning book has received glowing reviews worldwide, this screenplay does a poor job of translating this success. The director and screenwriter, prolific UK-based, Nigerian writer Biyi Bandele, fails to build the tension so key to the book, giving away important plot points far too early.

Harry Windsor

Lee Hutchison

Further, while the book filters the events through the eyes of the four main characters, Bandele tells a linear story purely from Olanna’s point of view. As such, most of the characters lack substance and sympathy and although their lifestyles are courageously progressive for the time, the characters still come across as pompous and out of touch. While there is no doubt this film has a lot to say, it’s arguable whether it manages to say much at all and makes for a somewhat shallow cinema experience.

■ Opera

MADAMA BUTTERFLY Until April 13 at Fleet Steps Good opera is an experience rather than just a show, and none more so than Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour’s surreal and magical Madama Butterfly. From the moment you enter the outdoor theatre in the Domain through traditional red Japanese gates the stage is set. Wander through the garden dining area lit by lanterns, take your seat with the incredible view – to one side the skyscrapers of downtown Sydney and to the other the Opera House and Harbour Bridge – and watch the moon rise over

the wedding of Madama Butterfly. The subtitles below the stage translate the songs: a Japanese girl is sold as a wife to an American officer, falls deeply in love with him and is rejected by her family. He leaves shortly after the wedding and she waits faithfully for three years. When he finally returns, he is accompanied by his American wife and they want to take Butterfly’s son and raise him in America. The opera was originally written in 1904 by Giacomo Puccini but it feels classic rather than dated, thanks to contemporary costuming and translation, and sits well with today’s audience – after all, love stories are pretty timeless.

The set is inspired; characters arrive on stage by boat or taxi, a sun rises out of the harbour and a whole house is actually constructed onstage during the intermission. To celebrate the wedding, they even have fireworks explode from behind the bamboo grove. If I must be honest, the intermission was a little long (I suppose they did have to build a house) and the second half drags slightly as Madama Butterfly waits for her husband, but it’s easy enough to lose track of time and let the incredible voices, stunning design and classic music sweep you away to Nagasaki where a beautiful, fragile Butterfly dies of a broken heart. Hannah Warren

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S AY W EA IV G

Created in the late '90s and premiering on Broadway in 2006, The Drowsy Chaperone is an affectionate parody both of the musical as a form and of its devotees. The musical that springs to life within it is pure screwball. A Broadway star is getting hitched to a young suitor. They met on a cruise, and he charmed her with ‘stories of my father’s oil interests’. Around them revolve a constellation of familiar types: the Latin lothario, the over-the-hill star with a drinking problem, the long-suffering butler and his mistress, and the large, boomingvoiced impresario who’s desperate to keep his star away from matrimony and in front of the footlights. This production at Hayes Theatre, directed by Jay James-Moody, reconceives ‘Man in Chair’ as a younger man, but nothing is lost. Equal parts enraptured and tart, he’s a great character, an embodiment of the gimlet-eyed but riotous mood this show captures expertly.

Hyeseoung Kwon as Madama Butterfly

20 FEET FROM STARDOM! DVD! SOUNDTRACK! WIN!

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Arts Exposed What's in our diary...

1984 Riverside Theatre, Paramatta Tuesday April 1 and Wednesday April 2, 11am and 7:30pm This week we’re getting literary with Queensland’s shake & stir theatre company and heading to Riverside Theatre to freak ourselves out with George Orwell’s dystopian classic 1984. Directed by Michael Futcher, 1984 is set against a wall of plasma screens depicting the streets of Orwell’s Oceania, a nation perpetually at war where cameras follow every move.

I

1984

The play follows Winston, an editor at the ‘Ministry of Truth’ employed to re-write history and align the past with the radical political agenda of the ruling party and its leader, ‘Big Brother’. Winston has a love affair with a mysterious woman but the pair are violently separated, detained and prepared for conversion by the government. Yikes. If you haven’t read the book, consider this the grownup version of watching the film of whatever you were meant to read for English class.

n award winning documentary, 20 Feet From Stardom, director Morgan Neville shines a long overdue spotlight on the backup singers behind some of the biggest stars of the 21st century. The names Jo Lawry, Merry Clayton, Darlene Love, Lisa Fischer, and Judith Hill may not sound familiar, but the world knows their voices, and in this film they finally get a chance to tell their personal stories. 20 Feet From Stardom won a Grammy for best documentary this year, and was also officially selected for Sundance, Sydney and Melbourne International Film Festivals in 2013.

The BRAG has five 20 Feet From Stardom packs, including one copy of the movie on DVD and one copy of the official soundtrack, to give away! To get your very own pack, just head over to thebrag. com/freeshit and tell us about your own personal brush with fame.

Grab tickets from riversideparramatta.com.au. 18 :: BRAG :: 555 :: 26:03:14

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Madama Butterfly photo by James Morgan

Our host’s devotion to this show is at the expense of human society. He unplugs the phone because it interrupts a solo. A handsome electrician turns up to reset his wires – alas, no euphemism – and confesses that he, too, loves a good musical. At this point in the musical within the play, no less than three couples have gotten engaged. So we prime ourselves for a final jab of meta overlap, in which our solitary narrator gets hitched as well. Instead, he summarily slams the door in the man’s face, returns to his armchair and glass of scotch, and cues up the finale.

In cinemas March 27

bread&thread Food & Fashion News...with Hannah Warren

Luigi and Danny

Gabriel Lee’s S/S collection

SPAKKA-NAPOLI BRINGS NAPLES TO NEUTRAL BAY

A new wood fire pizza and tapas bar Spakka-Napoli – named for the famous road that runs through Naples – has opened up in Neutral Bay. Spakka is owned and run by Italian childhood friends Danny Sibillo and Luigi Peluso who met in Naples, but have been in the food industry in Sydney for years now; Luigi’s pizza was once awarded the SMH Good Food Guides ‘Top Ten Pizzas In Sydney’ and Danny was responsible for Gusto Bar And Kitchen. Spakka is currently offering pizza and Peroni for $20pp on Monday to Wednesday, three tapas and a cocktail for $30pp on Monday and Tuesday, and free BYO Sundays. Full menu at spakkanapoli.com.au.

SURRY HILLS POP UP SHOP

Until April 17, blank_space gallery in Surry Hills is hosting Elements Of Fall an independent designer pop up shop selling fashion, jewellery, textiles and homewares. Designers include Tanya Coelho, Eva Cassis, Janet Rockliffe and Lucy De Angelis, plus many more. Go have a gander at 374 Crown Street, Surry Hills.

FREE ICECREAM

Now that we have your attention… Ben & Jerry’s are giving away free ice cream on Tuesday April 8, to celebrate their anniversary with Free Cone Day! We will certainly be down at our local Ben & Jerry’s to get our free cone, so to find your nearest participating store, and find out the story behind Free Cone Day, head to benandjerry.com.au.

GRAFFITI RISTORANTE

ArtHouse Hotel’s new venue Graffiti Ristorante (no, you aren’t allowed to draw on the walls, we tried) will be open for dinner every Monday to Saturday. Our pick for autumn is the pizza plus two glasses of wine for $25 deal, which sounds like exactly what we need as the weather gets colder. Check the menu and make a booking at thearthousehotel.com.au.

MERCEDES-BENZ FASHION WEEK IS BACK

There are five absolutely jam packed days of fashion goodness coming at you next month from April 6 to April 10. The week kicks off with Mercedes-Benz Presents Carla Zampatti, followed by the Spring Summer 2014/15 collections from Desert Designs, Romance Was Born, Ginger & Smart and many, many more. For the New Generation show, which has introduced many Australian designers to the international stage, you’ll see designs from up and comers Anna Quan, Rukshani, Daniel K and more. Australia’s leading fashion programs – Raffles and Fashion Design Studio – will rule the runway with collections from their most talented graduates. Swim Show will showcase Australia’s swimwear industry, with designs from Bondi Bather, Tallow and more. The Clean Cut show will include collections from sustainable designers from here and abroad and celebrate their sustainability and social practices. The Woolmark Company will be hosting a special event to announce the Australia Region Nominees for the 2014/15 International Woolmark Prize, and to premiere the IWP Docomentary inside the studios of five of the world’s best designers. Phew! Carriageworks anticipates more than 27,000 guests over the course of this event, which you can follow at australia.mbfashionweek.com.

CALLING ME CHICKEN?

The Soda Factory are launching Fat Bubba’s Chicken Wednesdays – an inexpensive way to celebrate Hump Day every week from 5pm. The celebrated Fat Bubba will be producing $1 hot buffalo wings and $10 buckets of fried chicken for you to chow down on while enjoying live retro music from The Soda Factory’s resident bands. If chicken doesn’t do it for you, they’re throwing The Late Night Soda Social every Thursday with diner food and drinks, retro tunes and no cover charge. And you can keep doo-wopping til 2am, to kick your weekend off early. To chick (haha) out the menu, head to sodafactory. com.au.

DOVE & OLIVE TURN TWO

Surry Hill’s own Dove & Olive will be celebrating their second birthday on Friday April 4, and will be taking the opportunity to launch their new motto ‘Drink Good Beer’ (we have the same one here at BRAG HQ). To really make a point, Young Henry’s will be taking over the taps, including their new, as yet unnamed, 500th brew. There’ll be craft beer samples and cheeky finger food making the rounds from 6pm, entertainment courtesy of local lads Lawn Bowls DJs from 7:30, and the chance to ‘Get Made Or Get Whacked’ (you’ll have to show up to find out!). Everyone is welcome and entry is free all night. 156 Devonshire Street, Surry Hills.

EASY, TIGER

Sydney’s small bar and music scene has welcomed a new addition with the launch of Easy Tiger in the basement of 106 Oxford Street, Paddington. Easy Tiger is a nod to 1970s Americana with vintage interiors, bar snacks, retro cocktails and roller-skating waitresses. Open five nights a week, the hot new venue will play host to a number of regular weekly events with a big focus on great music and a chilled out vibe. Monday night is True Weekend, with special offers and BYO vinyl; at Walkie-talkie Wednesdays patrons can set up a bar tab, order drinks on 1970s walkie talkies and get them delivered to the table by roller-skating waitresses; and live music night, Meow, is on Thursdays with upcoming bands. There are classic cocktails, from the signature Easy Tiger to A Marvin Gayetime, Oh No, Yoko! and The Bloody Carrie, and the food menu is in keeping with 1970s Americana; bacon fat popcorn, chilli cheese fries and soft pretzel with fondue, Breville classico toastie, Hick burger and 1970s share plates that includes the nostalgic vol-au-vents, kiev bites and devilled eggs.

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

ALBUM OF THE WEEK LA DISPUTE

relationships that have disintegrated in between its walls as the album progresses.

Rooms Of The House Better Living/Resist It’s the detail that hits you first – no corner of the titular House is left unexplored by vocalist Jordan Dreyer on his band’s third album. Lyrically, he has an uncanny ability to draw extraordinary aspects and ideas out of seemingly ordinary objects – everything in its place has its own story, its own history.

Xxxx Rooms Of The House is a true breakthrough.

Whether it’s a whisper or a shout, each line is delivered with the utmost clarity and an insurmountable weight of conviction. A concept record of sorts, we learn of the house’s inhabitants, the ghosts of its past and the

Sonically, Rooms Of The House is the quietest La Dispute record to date, which adds both a poignancy to tracks like the two-part ‘Woman (In Mirror)’ and ‘Woman (Reading)’, and a powerfully striking contrast to when the louder dynamics emerge, such as on album highlight ‘For Mayor In Splitsville’. There was a time when La Dispute were arguably the best-kept secret in the world of post-hardcore. On Rooms Of The House, the quality of what’s on offer is so undeniable that you will be unable to keep it to yourself. David James Young

BAND OF SKULLS

JOAN AS POLICE WOMAN

PHARRELL WILLIAMS

WE ARE SCIENTISTS

7’6

Himalayan Electric Blues/[PIAS]

The Classic [PIAS]

GIRL Sony

TV En Français Dine Alone/Cooking Vinyl

Organic Synthesis Stronghorn

Three albums in, and Southampton trio Band Of Skulls are clearly very happy keeping to what they know. With almost no flourishes beyond the essential guitar, bass, drums and vocals, they trade in punchy, stomping tracks that owe a debt to the classic rock of the ’70s as much as to modern rock titans Jack White and Dave Grohl.

For the bulk of her career, Joan Wasser – AKA Joan As Police Woman – has been cool by association. Whether it’s been her work with Antony and the Johnsons, Rufus Wainwright or even The Dambuilders back in the day, people seem to really love working with Wasser. It’s not hard to see why – she’s an efficient player and a wonderful singer with a dynamic range.

Life begins at 40 – or so Pharrell Williams will have you believe. The entrepreneurial vampire made 2013 his bitch, sticking his fingers in the proverbial pies of not one, not two, but three of the year’s biggest hits. Detractors could argue he was simply in the right place at the right time; a pawn in a trio of 2013’s phenomena (Daft Punk, Robin Thicke and Despicable Me 2). Then again, G I R L goes right ahead and disproves that instantly.

It’s been four years since we’ve had an album from We Are Scientists but it appears not much has changed in that time. Much like 2010’s Barbara, TV En Français is a collection of punchy, pop-leaning indie rock songs that clocks in at just over half an hour. We Are Scientists are nothing if not happy to stick to their template, yet you can’t help but think that a little variety would do them a world of good.

7’6 is a producer with an affinity for beats apropos of the new-school R&B/hip hop portmanteau that consummates a touch of slower brass and bass lines with the more ethereal, synthy rhythm of the LA beats scene. And by the looks of his album promo he’s got a kickarse studio set-up, too.

On Himalayan they are clearly aiming big, crafting songs intended to reach the bleachers and fill arenas. And to their credit, they mostly stick the landing. What elevates Band Of Skulls above the masses is their knack for writing big, hook-filled earworms and the excellent vocal interplay of guitarist Russell Marsden and bassist Emma Richardson. While never straying too far from their classic rock roots, Band Of Skulls are pleasingly versatile on Himalayan as they veer from the heavy riffing of (the brilliantly-titled) ‘I Feel Like Ten Men, Nine Dead And One Dying’ to the much moodier, Richardson-fronted ‘Cold Sweat’. In between these extremes, highlights like the playful ‘I Guess I Know You Fairly Well’ and ‘Nightmares’ are bound to be crowd favourites. In a musical landscape where being a traditional, no-frills rock band is almost taboo, Himalayan is a refreshing slab of big and unashamedly bold rock songs.

When it comes to her solo work, however, the friendship begins to stretch a little bit. Across four albums, the material has ranged from momentary lapses into pure bliss to cringe-inducing syrup. It’s no different on her fifth album, her first in three years. The more things change in the world around her, the more things stay the same for her blend of indie rock, light jazz and chamber pop. It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly where The Classic goes off the mark – some tracks have lush, layered arrangements but are let down by hollow lyrics, while other songs paint beautiful imagery with their words but are marred by a beige musical backdrop. There are some nice enough moments on here – including a sweet cameo from Comedy Bang! Bang! star Reggie Watts – but the forgettable far outweighs the memorable.

It’s the year’s first blockbuster pop album; a record on which every song could be a potential single – and probably will be. The stellar production work backs a set of confident, amorous pop that draws from icons like Prince (‘It Girl’) and Bootsy Collins (‘Hunter’) without becoming a revue. The little black book is pulled out for some notable star power – Justin Timberlake challenges Williams to a falsetto-off in the fantastic ‘Brand New’, while Daft Punk keep the dream team alive with the groovy ‘Gust Of Wind’. G I R L carries the distinctive flair that Williams has established for himself through Neptunes productions, albums with N.E.R.D and his previously sporadic solo work, yet this never feels like a rehash. Rather, it’s a new lease on life. David James Young

Although the album is still a pleasant enough listening experience, there’s nothing particularly memorable about it. It basically goes in one ear and straight out the other, with only occasional flashes of something special. ‘Make It Easy’ stands above the pack with a blistering guitar solo and the only chorus that gets stuck in your head, while ‘Courage’ builds nicely from a down-tempo start to a furious crescendo before an abrupt ending leaves you wanting more. And that’s basically the album in a nutshell: you’re left wanting something more, something to break the formula of three-and-ahalf-minute-long upbeat indie rock tracks. While sure to excite existing fans of We Are Scientists, there’s no variety here and not much ground the band hasn’t already covered.

Organic Synthesis is 7’6’s debut album, and shows off collaborations with his many talented peers as well as a couple of straight instrumentals. After a wee violin-heavy overture, ‘Sandbox Hoodlum Pt 1 & 2’ does some film noir audio sampling that I’m not too sold on, but could vibe on the menacing bass and drum breakdown. From here he flexes the panty-dropping vocal talents of Jace Excell in ‘My Religion’ and then references his Dilla love through Plutonic Lab’s drumming on ‘Launch’. N’fa Jones comes through with the notable bars on ‘Comic Books’, but the oriental string plucking marks ‘Boulder’ as the crest of Organic Synthesis’ sine wave; the album’s best work. Organic Synthesis is commendably polished for a debut piece and speaks of the type of producer who’s done more than a bit of work for other artists before having a bit of ‘me time’ for himself. Edgar Ivan

Keiron Costello Keiron Costello

David James Young

INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK Two things of note happened to Luca Brasi in 2013, both of which ended up setting the scene for their second album. The first was that they lost two long-time members in guitarist Mitchell “Dobby” Dobson and drummer Saxon Hall. The second was when, shortly after that, the band undertook a national tour with Australian pop-punk veterans Bodyjar.

LUCA BRASI By A Thread Poison City

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By A Thread, consequentially, is fresh in both its lineup and its approach. Although the tripleguitar attack is gone, the dual efforts of Tom Busby and Patrick Marshall more than make up for the absence of the extra six strings. New drummer Danny Flood, too, oozes technical

profi ciency and drives the songs with confi dence. That’s where the Bodyjar matter comes in – the brisk pacing, clenched-fi st choruses and the endearing spirit that is prevalent throughout Like A Thread provide an easy parallel to draw with, say, No Touch Red or How It Works. Although some of the edges of their previous work have been scuffed out here in favour of richer melodic hooks, it’s by no means a deterrent – it indicates a progression for the band, and one that will certainly strengthen Luca Brasi’s foundations.

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

DAVID BOWIE - Hunky Dory TEGAN AND SARA - Everything Is Awesome ELVIS - Elvis Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis

WITHERED HAND - New Gods JAY-Z - The Blueprint 3

David James Young thebrag.com

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

SEBADOH, BED WETTIN’ BAD BOYS The Factory Floor Saturday March 22 This afternoon show could be described in many ways, but “endlessly quotable” is one that springs to mind first. “This one’s for everyone under 18 and over 40,” offered bassist/vocalist Nic Warnock, before adding: “Which is pretty much everyone here except us.” After a lazy afternoon of late-lunch beers and record crate sifting, Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys could not have been more relaxed leading up to their set. Hell, their drummer looked as though he was set to head off to a barbie as soon as they were done, decked out in a VB singlet and stubbies. Theirs is an interesting sonic balance – it’s choppy garage rock that’s low on fanfare, but there’s also an underlying aggression and abrasive texture to the vocals and the extended guitar breaks. Comparisons to The Clean and The Scientists are inevitable, but a more contemporary reference point might be Parquet Courts, with whom they played a matter of months ago. An effortlessly impressive set by a band seemingly always on the up and up. Another great line: “I am slowly drowning in my own lungs.” This was provided by the

NEIL FINN Sydney Opera House Tuesday March 18 All other over-50s performers with innumerable hits take note: Neil Finn delivered what should be used as a reference for how to balance delivering new material and appeasing fans of old at his first of three nights at the Opera House. It should go without saying that it was absolutely fantastic. If he wanted to, Finn could have turned the concert into an entirely psychedelic experience focusing on his strong new album Dizzy Heights. His new band (with his wife Sharon anchoring the proceedings on bass) translates the dense studio productions for a live setting exceptionally well (‘Pony Ride’, in particular, was an extraordinary encore and should become a new staple). A simple yet extremely effective backdrop of model spirals that changed colour depending on the lights helped the audience get lost in the immersive new set of songs. But when he played the Crowded House hit ‘Distant Sun’ as early as third in the setlist, it was clear that Finn wasn’t just there to plug the new stuff – and judging from the cheer that met the song’s first few chords, the

BILLY BRAGG, COURTNEY BARNETT Sydney Opera House Sunday March 16 The last time Courtney Barnett was at the Opera House, she was hiding up the back of the stage behind the drum kit, flubbing her way through a classmate’s recital. Now, at the ripe old age of 26, she stands alone at the centre of the stage, performing – as she puts it – her own songs in her own voice. It’s a distinctive voice, and one that is garnering more and more attention on a wider scale. Although her demographic is not quite in the room, which is occupied predominantly by suited boomers and babysitter-payers, they still applaud and titter at some of her more clever lines. Her charm lures people in, but it’s the pure talent in the songwriting that keeps people hooked. If tonight’s headliner is the Bard of Barking, perhaps Barnett can take the role of the Bard of Thornbury? It’s got a ring to it.

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man of the hour, Sebadoh’s Lou Barlow, who found himself constantly spluttering and clearing his throat throughout the evening. With that said, if he hadn’t told us of his travel sickness, there was no way you could have picked up on it during the actual performance. Barlow was in fine form, delivering his brand of sharp, brisk indie rock in considerable style. His right-hand man, Jason Loewenstein, also kept spirits high, joking constantly and interacting with various audience members and the odd heckler. Amazingly, despite being a crowd almost exclusively of day-drunk dads with day passes and babysitters, the audience was up for any direction the show took. “Do you mind if we play some new stuff?” Not at all. “How about we do something really crazy?” Let’s hear it. Whatever the band pulled out from their two-decades-plus discography, it was received rapturously. As soon as the last note rung out, Barlow was back behind the merch desk, while Loewenstein was chatting up fans at the bus stop and thanking them for coming. Sebadoh is still very much a DIY operation after all these years – a labour of love; playing shows to an audience that gets exactly as much as it gives. David James Young

crowd was grateful. Because as good as the new album is, everyone in attendance was there to hear some hits, and Finn was more than happy to deliver them. There are many things that make it so satisfying seeing Neil Finn live; his down-to-earth manner, be it warning of (and delivering) a potential flub in ‘I Feel Possessed’, or accepting the odd offering of Freddo Frogs from an eager fan in the front row (don’t worry Neil, we didn’t get it either). Or his incredibly accomplished guitar playing, which never gets enough praise (or chances to shine in the studio, for that matter). And how much his voice soars when he’s alone onstage, delivering show highlights like ‘Message To My Girl’ on piano and ‘Private Universe’ on guitar. The most satisfying thing about seeing Finn live, however, is how much warmth and happiness he displays while playing his material – all of his material. He’s not ashamed of a past hit. On the contrary, it seems the bigger the reaction, the happier he is. With so many years in the business under his belt, it’s a joy to see, and the major reason why having a good time at a Neil Finn concert is as close to a sure thing as you can get. Leonardo Silvestrini

Roughly six months since his previous visit, Billy Bragg is back in Australia. He’s not alone, however – for the first time in years, Bragg has brought out his band to flesh out his storytelling, his balladry and his occasional state-of-the-union address. They complement him beautifully throughout the performance – three-part harmonies are added to ‘You Woke Up My Neighbourhood’ and ‘Way Over Yonder In The Minor Key’, while some beautiful slide guitar work is woven throughout by CJ Hillman, the band’s youngest member. Bragg himself is in high spirits following the afternoon’s March in March, at which he performed. It influences the direction of both the song choices – ‘There Will Be A Reckoning’, ‘All You Fascists Bound To Lose’, et al. – as well as his infamous banter, which touches on everything from Thatcher to Rinehart and back again. There is an air of excitement that buzzes both on and off the stage, a sense that the power can be taken back from a divisive, oppressive government. Maybe we won’t be waiting for the great leap forwards for much longer. Bragg provides hope for this. David James Young

BRAG :: 555 :: 26:03:14 :: 21

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live reviews

up all night out all week . . .

What we've been out to see...

you could hear them without microphones (presumably addressing these observations to their deaf-mute dates) and one particularly exuberant individual repeatedly addressing to the indifferent ceiling that he was from Brazil.

times on this tour alone), and I feel the only way the night might have been improved was if he started shooting lasers from his eyes and granting wishes.

GLEN HANSARD Sydney Opera House Thursday March 20 You could travel far and not see a performance as remarkable, nor a performer so appealing. I have raved of Glen Hansard in the past, but this was the first time I had the fortune of catching him headline his own show (one couple here had seen Hansard five

Oxford Art Factory Tuesday March 18 If you’ve never heard of Sky Ferreira, you’re obviously not as much of a cyberstalker as the 500-ish megafans who turned out to see the internet’s favourite alt-pop sensation take the stage at Oxford Art Factory. The ultimate musical pixie dream girl has amassed a cult following online since making tunes as a teenager in the MySpace age. These days, she’s touring with Miley Cyrus and fronting ad campaigns for major brands, yet is somehow still relatively unknown in the mainstream. It’s only a matter of time, right? Anticipation was in the air as local DJ LUEN warmed up the waiting crowd with a soulful mix of hip hop classics and fresh R&B beats. Shyly stepping onto the stage, our main act arrived in a baggy jumper and a pair of sunglasses, which she explained were to help her cope with “stage fright”. With a bizarre sense of sympathy, it’s hard not to immediately feel for a girl standing before us with absolutely no pretense or bravado. Despite her sheepish persona, Ferreira is no shrinking violet. The tight band, including a borrowed drummer from Melbourne, launched into a strong set of tracks from her

critically acclaimed debut album Night Time, My Time.

For the most part the audience was captivated, but – as with every live show you’re ever going to see – there are inevitable moments when the behaviour of your fellow man seems entirely incomprehensible. When the band first joined Hansard to stand at the front of stage and perform an unamplified song, their performance was punctuated with multiple people loudly commenting on how amazing it was that

Towards the end of the evening the invitation was extended for a member of the audience to join Hansard onstage – and as luck would have it, watching from the front row was the incredibly talented April Smallwood. They performed the Oscar-winning duet, ‘Falling Slowly’, and man, can that girl sing. It was a touching moment, as was so much of the night. A particular highlight was the storytelling that preceded many songs, in particular the history of the achingly beautiful ‘McCormack’s Wall (On Black River)’. Played solo by Hansard on piano, it was so moving you could have heard a tear drop. However – wherever – you can see Hansard, go out of your way to be there. His is a performance you will not forget in a hurry. I doubt strongly you will forget it at all. Adam Norris E UPTON PHOTOGRAPHER :: PRUDENC

VIEW FULL GALLERY AT

With adorably childish lines like, “Cross my heart and hope to thebrag.com die / Stick a needle in my eye,” delivered with a distinct punk rock attitude, we’re reminded that Ferreira is just a 21-yearold girl singing honestly and openly about boys and life… and boys. Her ingenuity is as endearing+ and infectious as her music; heart-warming pop with a gritty, raw edge. Having circumnavigated the globe over the last few weeks, she admitted that she’d had a rough trot. Falling off the stage in California and gashing her leg open, losing her voice in London and being overwhelmed by homesickness is just a month in the life of this unassuming rock star. 60 stitches, two sleepless weeks and thousands of kilometres later, here she was in Australia, mocking herself by joke-complaining that “life is hard” and dropping Chris Lilley sound bites to an audience that “finally gets it”. Forging on despite extreme exhaustion and a weary voice (“It’s sore, but it’s alright”), she powered through meaty tracks like ‘I Blame Myself’ and ‘Heavy Metal Heart’. She finished off the low-key night with Dev Hynes collab ‘Everything Is Embarrassing’, before profusely thanking her Australian fans and disappearing into the magical pixie dreamland from which she came. Claire Knight

lost picnic

PICS :: AM

SKY FERREIRA, LUEN

From the moment he took the stage, performing an unamplified version of ‘Say It To Me Now’, to the closing a capella duet of ‘The Parting Glass’ with surprise guest Damien Dempsey (though for the best version of that song, check out The Wailin’ Jennys), there was not a moment that Hansard did not deliver some of the most electrifying vocals you’re likely to see this or any other year. Vocals of such intensity; songs that make you feel, however briefly, that the world has fresh potential.

23:03:14 :: Centennial Park :: Loch Ave Entrance, Moore Park PHOTOGRAPHER :: ASHLEY MAR

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EY MAR :: WESLEY

ROSE :: KATRINA CLARKE :: ASHL

S :: JAMES AMB OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER NEL :: PRUNDENCE UPTON

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dead heads

PICS :: KC

up all night out all week . . .

messrs

PICS :: KC

21:03:14 :: The Captain Cook Hotel :: 162 Flinders St Paddington 9360 4327

caitlin park

PICS :: KC

21:03:14 :: The Beresford Hotel :: 354 Bourke St Surry Hills 8313 5000

21:03:14 :: Brighton Up Bar :: 1/77 Oxford St Darlinghurst 9361 3379 thebrag.com

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

pick of the week Thirty Seconds To Mars

FBi Social, Kings Cross. 8pm. $10. 10 O’Clock Rock Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 10pm. free. 80s & 90s Live Music Nag’s Head Hotel, Glebe. 8:15pm. free. A Night At The Crossroads - A Tribute To Robert Johnson Lizotte’s, Dee Why. 8:30pm. $33. Five Mile Town + Leura Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. free. Klay The Mercantile Hotel, Sydney. 7:45pm. free. MC Filth Wizard + Angry Beige + Candid Death Stairs + Stay Closed Minded Agincourt Hotel, Sydney. 8pm. $10. The Pierce Brothers Brass Monkey, Cronulla. 8pm. free. Without Parachutes + Service Bells + Thomas Covenant Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $10.

FRIDAY MARCH 28 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC

SATURDAY MARCH 29 Qantas Credit Union Arena

Thirty Seconds To Mars + White Lies 7:15pm. $80.70. WEDNESDAY MARCH 26 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK

Pulp Kitchen And Folk Club - feat: Live Rotating Folk Bands Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 5pm. free.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

Cloud Control + Brett Winterford + Eleanor Dunlop The Basement, Circular Quay. 6:30pm. $30. Deep Creek Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 8pm. free. Stars And Stripes + Stanley Knife + Disintegrator + Eye Gauge + Unknown To God Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 7pm. $15. Tatler Sydney (Live Til

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Midnight) Tatler, Darlinghurst. 8pm. free. The Good Stuff Three Wise Monkeys, Sydney. 10pm. free.

JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC

Adrian Cunningham Quartet Album Launch Venue 505, Surry Hills. 8:30pm. $15. Judy Bailey’s Jazz Connection Foundry616, Ultimo. 8:30pm. $21.50. Lionel Cole Imperial Hotel, Paddington. 8pm. free. Supafly Jam Night (Open Mic) - feat: Gang Of Brothers Vintage Night Club, Sydney. 8pm. free.

THURSDAY MARCH 27 ACOUSTIC,

COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK

Gordi The Vanguard, Newtown. 6:30pm. $13.80. Live Music Thursdays Bar100, The Rocks. 5pm. free.

Jazz Hip-Hop Freestyle Sessions Foundry616, Ultimo. 11:30pm. free. Kriola Collective - feat: DJ Elchino Venue 505, Surry Hills. 8:30pm. $21. Mister Ott Foundry616, Ultimo. 8:30pm. $21.50. The Dilworths - feat: Jamie Oehlers The Sound Lounge, Sydney. 8:30pm. $20.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Armchair Travellers Duo North Sydney Leagues Club, Cammeray. 9:30pm. free. Baby Animals Rooty Hill RSL Club, Rooty Hill. 8pm. $40. Balmain Blitz Band Competition Heat 3 Bridge Hotel, Rozelle. 7pm. $15. Christopher Coleman Collective Royal Exchange, Newcastle. 7pm. $10. Courtyard Sessions - feat: Little May Seymour Centre, Chippendale. 6pm. free. Dirty Deeds - The AC/DC Show Towradgi Beach Hotel,

Jungle Giants

Towradgi. 8:30pm. free. DJ Marty Wentworthville Leagues Club, Wentworthville. 9pm. free. Five Mile Town + July Days + Lee And Suzi + DJs Hobo & Hansom Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills. 6pm. free. Jungle Giants + Millions + Shortstraw Metro Theatre, Sydney. 6:30pm. $33.65. Live Music At The Royal The Royal, Leichhardt. 9:30pm. free. Marty Stewart General Gordon Hotel, Sydenham. 4pm. free. Metallica Show Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills. 10pm. free. Muddy Feet East Hills Hotel, East Hills. 7:15pm. free. Panorama Trio Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9:30pm. free. Rapture Pittwater RSL, Mona Vale. 8pm. free. Raw (Sydney Mosaic) - feat: Super Massive + Letter To Lions + Chux Montano Manning Bar, Camperdown. 7:30pm. $15. Temtris + Amora + Hazmat + Omniscienta + Fenrir Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10. The Lazys + Wendy Icon + A Girl’s A Gun + Wolfie Tattersalls Hotel Penrith, Penrith. 8:30pm. free. The Remixes Penrith Gaels, Kingswood. 7pm. free. The Scientists Factory Theatre, Marrickville. 8pm. $40. The Woohoo Revue The Vanguard, Newtown. 6:30pm. $21.80. Two Minds Padstow RSL Club, Sydney. 7:30pm. free.

ACOUSTIC/ COUNTRY/BLUES/ FOLK

A Night At The Crossroads - A Tribute To Robert Johnson

Lewisham Hotel, Lewisham. 8:30pm. $25. Bandsonstage - feat: Hiddenace + Rusty Peach + Flybywire Ruby L’otel, Rozelle. 8pm. Bondi Cigars Jam Gallery, Bondi Junction. 7:30pm. $23.70. Claude Hay And The Gentle Enemies + El Moth Old Manly Boatshed, Manly. 8:30pm. $10. Live Music Fridays Bar100, The Rocks. 5pm. free. The Exes Collingwood Hotel, Liverpool. 5:30pm. free. Troy Cassar-Daley & Adam Harvey Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 8pm. $99.

SATURDAY MARCH 29 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK

Brent Murphy Collingwood Hotel, Liverpool. 6pm. free. Claude Hay And The Gentle Enemies + Honeystompers Katoomba RSL, Katoomba. 8pm. free. Paul Hayward And Friends Town & Country Hotel, St Peters. 4pm. free.

JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Bondi Carnivale - feat: The Woohoo Review + Pena Flamenca + Waiting For Guinness Jam Gallery, Bondi Junction. 7:30pm. $23.70. Jamie Oehlers The Sound Lounge, Sydney. 8:30pm. $25. Miriam Lieberman Venue 505, Surry Hills. 8:30pm. $21. Tina Harrod Foundry616, Ultimo. 8:30pm. $27.50.

Cloud Control

JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Cole Soul And Emotion feat: Lionel Cole The White Horse, Surry Hills. 8pm. free. Leah Flanagan Venue 505, Surry Hills. 8:30pm. $17.50. Live Latin Sessions - feat: Los Pibes Jam Gallery, Bondi Junction. 7:30pm. $7. Sandy Evans Quartet Foundry616, Ultimo. 8:30pm. $21.50.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Little Earthquake + We Are The Brave

thebrag.com

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

Ella Hooper

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

AM 2 PM Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham. 8pm. free. Baby Animals Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8pm. $40. Big Way Out Macarthur Tavern, Campbelltown. 9pm. free. Christopher Coleman Collective The Newsagency, Marrickville. 8pm. $11.50. Craig Thommo Hotel Pennant Hills, Pennant Hills. 10pm. free. DJ Marty Wentworthville Leagues Club, Wentworthville. 9pm. free. Drain Babys + Flying Fists Of Fury + Psyrens + Mammoth + Defaced + VP Tattersalls Hotel Penrith, Penrith. 8:30pm. free. Ella Hooper + Jack Colwell & The Owls The Vanguard, Newtown. 7:30pm. $24. GTS Sutherland United Services Club, Sutherland. 7:30pm. free. Hooray For Everything North Sydney Leagues Club, Cammeray. 9:30pm. free. Martys Place The Belvedere Hotel, Sydney. 8:45pm. free. Muddy Feet Panania Diggers, Panania. 8pm. free. Panorama Duo Wentworthville Leagues Club, Wentworthville. 10pm. free. Rapture Rosehill Bowling Club, Rosehill. 5:30pm. free. Steppin Out

Penrith Gaels, Kingswood. 7pm. free. Surprise Party Seven Hills Toongabbie RSL Club, Seven Hills. 8:30pm. free. Tales In Space + Yeo + Pier Brothers + DJ Bobby Gray Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills. 6pm. free. The Archaic Revival + Looking Glass + Los Hombres Del Diablo Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10. The Good Ship + The Harry Heart Chrysalis + Lacey Cole And The Lazy Colts FBi Social, Kings Cross. 8pm. $10. The Lonely Boys The Mercantile Hotel, The Rocks. 8:30pm. free. The Pierce Brothers The Beresford Hotel, Surry Hills. 8pm. free. Thirty Seconds To Mars + White Lies Qantas Credit Union Arena, Darling Harbour. 7:15pm. $80.70. Two Minds Courthouse Hotel, Darlinghurst. 10pm. free.

SUNDAY MARCH 30 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC

Fender Benders - feat: Huey Williams + Seppy Martin Bayview Tavern, Gladesville. 3pm. free.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Shitripper + Quinnipiac + Atomic Death Squad + Disintegrator Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 5pm. $10. Craig Woodward Duo Huskisson Hotel, Huskisson. 4pm. free. Greg Lines Western Suburbs Leagues Club, Leumeah. 12pm. free.

ACOUSTIC/ COUNTRY/BLUES/ FOLK

A Night At The Crossroads - A Tribute To Robert Johnson The Beaches, Thirroul. 5:30pm. free. Chill Out Sundays Scubar, Sydney. 7:30pm. free. Intimate Sessions Paragon Hotel, Sydney. 6pm. free. Live Music Sundays Bar100, The Rocks. 1pm.

free. Marty Stewart Waverley Bowling Club, Waverley. 3pm. free. Sunday Blues And Roots The White Horse, Surry Hills. 5pm. free.

MONDAY MARCH 31 INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Frankie’s World Famous House Band Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 9pm. free.

JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC

Big Swing Band Tattersalls Hotel Penrith, Penrith. 7:30pm. free. Happy Monday Games Night Venue 505, Surry Hills. 8:30pm. free. Latin & Jazz Jam Open Mic Night World Bar, Kings Cross. 7pm. free. Mambo Mondays Bar100, The Rocks. 5:30pm. free. Motown Mondays - feat: Soulgroove The White Horse, Surry Hills. 8pm. free. Reggae Monday Civic Underground, Sydney. 10pm. free.

TUESDAY APRIL 1 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC

Rumba Motel Salsa - feat: DJ Willie Sabor + Friends The Establishment, Sydney. 6pm. free.

ACOUSTIC/ COUNTRY/BLUES/ FOLK Ray Beadle & The Silver Dollars Spring Street Social, Bondi Junction. 7:30pm. $10.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS My Generation - 50 Years Of The Who - feat: Ciaran Gribbin + Steve Balbi + Simon Meli Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 8:30pm. $69.

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Panorama Trio

28 Mar (4:30PM - 7:30PM)

(9:30PM - 1:30AM)

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

The Good Ship

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(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

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30 Mar

(8:30PM - 12:00AM)

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31 Mar

01 Apr (9:00PM - 12:00AM)

thebrag.com

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

(9:30PM - 12:30AM)

BRAG :: 555 :: 26:03:14 :: 25

gig picks up all night out all week...

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Christopher Coleman Collective

LIFE IS NOISE PRESENTS

Christopher Coleman photo by Kishka Jensen

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WEDNESDAY MARCH 26

Claude Hay And The Gentle Enemies + El Moth Old Manly Boatshed, Manly. 8:30pm. $10.

Cloud Control + Brett Winterford + Eleanor Dunlop The Basement, Circular Quay. 6:30pm. $30.

Troy Cassar-Daley & Adam Harvey Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 8pm. $99.

THURSDAY MARCH 27 Little Earthquake + We Are The Brave FBi Social, Kings Cross. 8pm. $10. A Night At The Crossroads - A Tribute To Robert Johnson Lizotte’s, Dee Why. 8:30pm. $33.

FRIDAY MARCH 28 Jungle Giants + Millions + Shortstraw Metro Theatre, Sydney. 6:30pm. $33.65. Raw (Sydney Mosaic) - feat: Super Massive + Letter To Lions + Chux Montano Manning Bar, Camperdown. 7:30pm. $15. The Scientists Factory Theatre, Marrickville. 8pm. $40.

SATURDAY MARCH 29 Bondi Carnivale - feat: The Woohoo Review + Pena Flamenca + Waiting For Guinness Jam Gallery, Bondi Junction. 7:30pm. $23.70. Christopher Coleman Collective The Newsagency, Marrickville. 8pm. $11.50. Ella Hooper + Jack Colwell & The Owls The Vanguard, Newtown. 7:30pm. $24. Tales In Space + Yeo + Pier Brothers + DJ Bobby Gray Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills. 6pm. Free. The Good Ship + The Harry Heart Chrysalis + Lacey Cole And The Lazy Colts FBi Social, Kings Cross. 8pm. $10. The Scientists

AUSTRALIAN TOUR 2014 The Scientists photo by Candy Goldsmith

with special guests

SATURDAY MAY 3 MANNING BAR Tickets from lifeisnoise.com, oztix and the venue.

sargenthouse.com / russiancirclesband.com

26 :: BRAG :: 555 : 26:03:14

thebrag.com

brag beats

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

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

five things WITH

The Aston Shuffle

EDU IMBERNON

EASTER MUSIC

Cargo Bar will host an Easter Sunday romp, kicking off at 5pm on Sunday April 20. The event will feature a lengthy lineup of DJs, headlined by Canberra duo Vance Musgrove and Mikah Freeman, collectively The Aston Shuffle DJs. The Aston Shuffle have established themselves at the forefront of Australia’s club scene since releasing their debut LP, Seventeen Past Midnight, in 2011. Last year’s single ‘Tear It Down’ was hailed by the cutting-edge dance music authority that is Rolling Stone as “the best dance single to come out of Australia in a decade,” and will feature on The Aston Shuffle’s new album Photographs, which drops this Friday March 28. Easter Music will also feature DJ sets from Fingers, Devola, Six Fingers, Murray Lake, Slo Clo, Jon De Beer, John Glover and the Sosueme DJs. The party will run late, and entry is free before 10pm.

JOAKIM

Xxx

Alex Niggeman

Growing Up My father plays piano 1. and I grew up with this instrument in my life. At the age of nine, I got my first drum kit. Both elements are essential for my productions nowadays. Inspirations When I first started 2. listening to electronic music I was influenced by Hernan Cattaneo and John Digweed. A few years later when I got into DJing, my main influence was Gregor Tresher. My inspirations today are more based on my surroundings (family, friends, travels, gigs). Crew I have a great team 3. Your

JEROME SYDENHAM

working with me; my main guys are Murray Gray (my manager) and Leo Corella (my label manager), then we have agents, social media team, a lawyer – that forms a lovely family! As for a DJ crew, I’m very close to Los Suruba, Coyu, Henry Saiz… we collaborate often and they are great guys to also hang out with. The Music You Make I consider my music 4. special, I’m a musical person, but also I like to keep the dancefloor happy, so I guess it’s a combo of both. I’ll say the main thing is the energy and the feeling that I like to transmit with my productions.

Nigerian-born DJ producer Jerome Sydenham, renowned for dancefloor favourites ‘Sandcastles’ and ‘Timbuktu’ that he co-produced with Dennis Ferrer, will headline The Burdekin Hotel on Saturday April 19. Sydenham oversees the Ibadan label, and has accumulated a lustrous discography since entering the club fray at the turn of the millennium, notching up releases on labels such as Drumcode and Planet E

Music, Right Here, Right Now 5. The music scene is in a very strong place, with a lot of crossover appeal within genres, which I take on board when writing. It’s always a pleasure to play in your hometown and I’m lucky enough to host my own event called Fayer in Valencia. I’m constantly inspired within music as a whole and I hope to be collaborating with a whole heap of new talent in 2014. With: Jono Fernandez, Dave Winnel, A-Tonez, Tigerstyle, Luke Brotherton, Ed Wells Where: Chinese Laundry When: Saturday March 29

along with remixes of Carl Craig and Planetary Assault Systems alongside Function. Sydenham is on the record as stating that his DJ sets have “evolved in the last few years so it’s like a fusion of house and techno or just techno. Depending on what city of the world or what club.” No prizes for guessing what direction he’ll go at The Burdekin – you can guarantee your attendance by procuring a $20 presale ticket via the interweb.

French producer/DJ Joakim will release a cover of Neil Young’s ‘On The Beach’ this week. The man behind the Tigersushi label, Joakim comes from a classical music and jazz background, influences that pervaded his debut LP, which was released in the early ’00s. Since then, Joakim has established himself as one of the more quirky and eclectic producers in the electronic scene, though a listen to any of his albums affirms the futility of trying to pigeonhole him as a dance/electronic artist. Joakim’s eclecticism is reflected in his remixography, which comprises reworks of JJ Cale, Annie, Antena, Röyksopp, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Tiga. Joakim’s On The Beach EP features remixes from CFCF, Principles Of Geometry, and Joakim himself, and is a harbinger for Joakim’s forthcoming Tropics Of Love LP, which will land in late May.

FLYING CIRCUS

Global party brand Flying Circus, which gained exposure with international techno nomads through its Ibiza summer residency at Sankey’s last year, will arrive in Australia for the first time at Easter on Thursday April 17 at The Hi-Fi. The DJ lineup has the blockbuster factor one would expect from an internationally renowned club promoter’s first entry into the Australian club market, with Basti Schwarz of Tiefschwarz fame throwing down alongside of Luca Saporito from Audiofly and German producer Alex Niggemann. The Schwarz brothers have been crowd favourites in Australia for many years now, regularly showcasing their penchant for classic house, electro and minimal sounds. As producers, the pair has remixed everyone from Roxy Music to Goldfrapp, and released a number of accomplished LPs such as Eat Books and Chocolate. Tiefschwarz have also amassed an impressive catalogue of commercial mixes, having helmed the Misch Masch, Timewarp Compilation 06 and Watergate 09 compilations. Turning to the rest of the lineup, Saporito has released cuts on such labels as Get Physical as half of Audiofly, while Niggeman is a German producer who runs the Soulfooled & AEON label. The Flying Circus Easter bash will kick off at 8pm and run ’til 2am, with presale tickets available online for $45.

BRAG :: 555 :: 26:03:14 :: 27

dance music news

free stuff

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

head to: thebrag.com/freeshit

five things WITH

MAU POWER

of Seaman Dan. He used to play at the local venues entertaining crowds of people who loved his performances. Being a language of emotions, I was instantly attracted to the way music made people feel and react. Culturally speaking, growing up, music played a huge part in my life. In the Torres Strait Islands, music is an important art form – it is a way of documenting knowledge and telling stories that are passed down from generation to generation. Inspirations I don’t have one favourite musician or 2. band. I have many in all musical genres. I grew up on a steady diet of soul, blues, reggae and hip hop. Tupac Shakur’s music played an important part in my adolescence, as did De La Soul, Public Enemy and all the great poets of that era. They were telling stories about their realities, their trials and tribulations; all of which I could relate to. I was magnetised by hip hop and it became my way of life. I was enriched and inspired by its freedom of expression. Your Crew I just fell into music and performing. I first 3. pursued it as a passion and later a career. My

1.

Growing Up My most vivid memories of music were of watching my grandfather perform when I was seven years old. He is an ARIA Awardwinning jazz and blues musician by the name

first crew was the Poverty Ass Production Crew. I was introduced to a guy named Chris Rada, who later became a good friend of my cousin Jess Lee. Along with three other members we formed a crew and that’s when I got into recording music as a career. Today I work with

JAMES CURD Joelistics

Denzal Park

Jackin’ house exponent James Curd, best known to dancers for his output as part of the quirky pop troupe The Greenskeepers, will play a headline set at Goldfish on Saturday April 12. Curd cut his teeth as a DJ in Chicago in the ’90s and was holding down residencies alongside the likes of Derrick Carter while still a teenager. He’s since gone on to reach a broad listening public through his work with the The Greenskeepers, whose Silence Of The Lambs-referencing single ‘Lotion’ became a sleeper radio hit in the mid-’00s. Beyond his Greenskeepers output, Curd has built up an accomplished discography as a solo producer. His house jam ‘We Just Won’t Stop’ was signed to James Murphy’s DFA Records, while he has also released on esteemed labels such as Permanent Vacation and remixed the likes of Flight Facilities, Poolside and Kim Ann Foxman of Hercules and Love Affair fame. Supporting Curd on the night will be DJs

Mike Justice of Meridian Nights. We forged a partnership with my label, One Blood Hidden Image Entertainment Group, to deliver music for like-minded people. We also mentor younger artists in order to help them fulfill their musical dreams. The Music You Make The music I make is a blend of hip hop, 4. soul and reggae with the indigenous Torres Strait culture. Our first single release is called ‘Island Home’. This is a hip hop remake of ‘My Island Home’, first sung by the Warumpi Band and made famous by Christine Anu. Our live performances blend indigenous Torres Strait and hip hop culture. The fusion of the two cultures adds a theatrical element to the performance that speaks of our story and journey. Music, Right Here, Right Now 5. The music scene at present is difficult to navigate. Music is so accessible; that makes it easy for anyone to create a song and put it out to the world. Although this can give the unheard a voice, it can also, in my opinion, have an effect on the quality of music being put out. We pride ourselves on the quality of our projects for our fans, listeners and music lovers of all genres to appreciate and enjoy. What: ‘Island Home’ out now through digital distributors

Matt Cahill, Husky and Illya, with the revelry commencing at 8pm and entry $10 on the door.

SOUL OF SYDNEY

Soul of Sydney will host its Block Party at a secret location on Sunday April 6, with headline duties falling to Latin funk powerhouse Watussi, who will be performing live as an eight-piece troupe. Watussi’s performance will be a farewell show before they head off to this year’s Byron Bay Bluesfest to play alongside the likes of Ozomatli, Erykah Badu and Dave Matthews. Aside from the headliners, the Block Party will also feature performances across soul, funk, disco and hip hop soundscapes, with DJs Phil Toke, DJ Cman, Meem, Michael Zac, Soul of Sydney DJs and Eadie Ramia all set to spin. A limited amount of $10 presales are available for those who are willing to sniff them out.

DENZAL PARK

EDM duo Denzal Park are back in Sydney doing what they do best – running their killer rhythms through the biggest clubs in town. No night out is complete without their electro house beats resounding in your ears long after you leave. Wanna get your groove on and score two double passes to hear them live at Marquee on Saturday April 5? Just head on over to thebrag.com/freeshit and tell us the worst pickup line you have ever heard (or used). C’mon, smooth talker… show us what you’ve got.

BIG VILLAGE PRESENTS RAPAPORT + MC SILVERTONGUE

Big Village is hosting a show at Brighton Up Bar this Saturday March 29 featuring co-headliner and Big Village grime boss Rapaport and Scottish MC Silvertongue. Rapaport has recently been working with Sydney hip hop crew Loose Change on their album Listening Party, while Silvertongue has two albums to his name in Chronsoon Season and The Gatsby Tape. Silvertongue built up a strong underground following in the UK hip hop scene before recently relocating to Perth, where he has spoken out against the deplorable shark cull, which flagrantly violates international law and the Australian Constitution. Will the issue get a mention in his MCing? You’ll have to attend to find out… Doors open at 8pm, and you can obtain entry by parting with a lobster on the door.

Darkside

JOELISTICS IN THE MORNING TOUR

Melbourne-based MC Joelistics will embark on a headline tour of the country in May in support of his new single ‘In The Morning’. Having made his mark with his solo debut record Voyager and his work with Tzu, Joelistics’ latest single is touted as being “more than a leftfield indie rap anthem,” drawing on influences from ’80s-era English post-punk and ’90s grunge through to hip hop. ‘In The Morning’ is the lead-off single from Joelistics’ forthcoming album Blue Volume, which is set for release on hip hop emporium Elefant Traks in June. Joelistics will launch ‘In The Morning’ in Sydney during a co-headline performance with Dialectrix on Friday May 23 at The Roller Den.

After hours institution Spice rolls on early this Sunday March 30, kicking off at 5am when the nanny state lockout laws cease to apply. Headlining Spice After Hours is Michelle Owen, who has returned Down Under after an extended period living and DJing in Berlin. Owen is an accomplished producer, who has remixed Kruse & Nuernberg and released on Sasse’s Moodmusic label. While abroad, Owen boosted her DJ CV, spinning at fabled clubs such as Berlin’s Panorama Bar and Watergate, in addition to Austria’s Snowbombing bash. 28 :: BRAG :: 555 :: 26:03:14

DARKSIDE

The much-hyped Darkside, made up of guitarist Dave Harrington and American-Chilean wunderkind Nicolas Jaar, will bring their live show to The Hi-Fi on Wednesday April 2. Darkside toured Australia at the start of last year, but plenty has happened in their world – and our world of course – since then. First, the pair remixed Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories album (better than the original? Discuss amongst yourselves), before they released their debut full-length album Psychic on Jaar’s label Other People. An eight-track collection of slow-burning cinematic grooves that traversed a wide spectrum of influences spanning blues, rock and electronica, Psychic deservedly appeared on many critics’ 2013 year-end ‘best of’ lists. Presale tickets to see Darkside in Sydney are currently available online for $66.

Darkside photo by Jed DeMoss

SPICE AFTER HOURS FT MICHELLE OWEN

12th April Mad Decent Jersey Club night 5th April JOZIF (UK) 3hr set MOSCA (UK) U-Khan Visual Lies DJ Just 1 Fingers King Lee White Cat Connell

19th April Easter Saturday FAR TOO LOUD (Never Say Die/UK) KID KENOBI (Klub Kids) NatNoiz Andrew Wowk U-Khan Daniel Farley Thomas Lisse’ Fingers Ra Bazaar DJ Just 1

DJ SLIINK (Mad Decent/US) DIRTY SOUTH JOE (Mad Decent/US) Oskillator Luny P A-Tonez Matt Ferriera Jace Disgrace Fingers King Lee DJ Just 1 Disco’s Over

26th April J-TRICK

A-tonez Oakes and Lennox Hitterswitch Kerry Wallace James Taylor Raulll Dj Skoob Fingers DJ Just 1 FT Mode www.chineselaundryclub.com.au BRAG :: 555 :: 26:03:14 :: 29

Bam Bam Bags Packed And Ready By Augustus Welby

C

ollaboration has long been an integral component of hip hop music and culture. This is certainly true of Australia’s flourishing hip hop scene. Melbourne’s Bam Bam – AKA Joel Chamaa – is yet another young MC quickly generating a national audience, thanks to the singles ‘Bags Packed’ (featuring Melbourne rapper Allday) and ‘Feel Like I’m Alive’ (featuring Adelaide nu-R&B singer Tigerilla). “Rappers tend to stick together,” says Chamaa. “We’re still a new kind of thing to the mainstream market of Australia so we all need to help each other out. In the rock scene, or any other genre, I don’t know if people tend to work together as much as rappers like to work together.” These two radio-pervading singles appear on Bam Bam’s debut EP The Good Life, which sees release this week. Bam Bam first made a stir in early 2013 with the mixtapes Straight Outta Bedrock and Miwk Hawk, before ‘Bags Packed’ surfaced online last June. The Good Life has evidently been in construction for some time, and Chamaa says he had specific goals for how to present himself on his first EP. “The writing part is the easy part for me. [The hard part’s] been trying to find the right beats. Because it is my first release I wanted to get it right and really sum me up as an artist. To do that you need to find the right music that accompanies what you want to do lyrically. For me it was trying to find the right producers to work with and locking down the right beats. I know what I’m looking for, but I just have to find it. So you just go from producer to producer until you find what it is exactly that you’re looking for.” The six-track EP features another special guest: fellow Melburnian rapper 360, who shows up on ‘Day By Day’. Melbourne is widely recognised for its history of churning out great rock bands, but this hasn’t

prevented the emergence of a strong rap community. “Melbourne has a lot of awesome hip hop artists,” Chamaa says, “so it’s good to all feed off each other. Not all the time, but a lot of the time everyone wants to help each other out because we’re trying to achieve the same goal here. It’s a good scene to be a part of.” The frequent collaboration between local rappers could potentially have a homogenising effect on the music that’s produced. However, the fact the Aussie hip hop scene continues to thrive is due to the diversity of its output. When readying The Good Life, Chamaa wasn’t daunted by the task of differentiating himself from his peers. “If every artist does what they do it’s going to be unique anyway,” he says. “I’m not trying to copy any other artist or do what other artists are doing. I tried to create something that I was really happy with and I felt translated me as an artist to the listener. I didn’t aim to create anything in particular, I just worked on it until I was like, ‘This is the ‘me’ that I want people to hear and this is what I want people’s first impression of me to be.’” So now, with the EP hitting shelves at last, can Chamaa safely say he met the criteria he explicitly set out to satisfy? “I’m totally stoked with it. This is by far the best stuff that I’ve ever done and it definitely represents me as an artist more accurately than anything I’ve ever released before. I actually just can’t wait for people to hear it.” What: The Good Life out Friday March 28 through Ten To Two Where: Supporting Seth Sentry at Manning Bar When: Thursday April 3 And: Headlining the Happy Club at the Small Ballroom, Newcastle on Wednesday April 2

Jono Fernandez Looking Forward By David Wild

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erseverance pays off. That’s the mantra that Jono Fernandez, who for over a decade has been putting in the hard yards to establish himself as one of Australia’s fi nest big-room DJs, really buys into. And why shouldn’t he? He’s just coming to the end of a successful national tour, was crowned Budweiser Producer/DJ of the Year at the 2013 Australian Independent Music Awards in November and is preparing to release an album of his own new material. Yet Fernandez has always been an artist who looks to the future. “When the concept of taking a laptop into a club − and bridging the gap between the club and the studio − became possible, I jumped at the opportunity and was one of the earliest adopters in Australia,” says Fernandez, chatting to the BRAG between tour dates. “Early on I got frowned upon. People would snarl, ‘Are you gonna play any records tonight, mate?’ Often I’d clear the fl oor at the start of my set before winning the crowd back again, because what ultimately mattered was what was coming out of the speakers.” That same technology, namely Ableton Live and some nifty controllers and effects units, is at the heart of his club set-up today. Check out Fernandez’s mini-mix on his YouTube channel, or even head down to Chinese Laundry on Saturday March 29 to see the man do his thing in the fl esh. It’s a long way from a couple of 1210s and a crossfader. “At any one time I might have six or seven tracks running, which would be impossible to do with CDJs. I improvise in every one of my sets and sometimes people would come and ask the name of the remix I’d just played. It’s great to be able to respond that I just did it on the fl y and I probably wouldn’t even be

able to recreate it! It’s something that I have a lot of fun doing.” A little creative freedom is something that Fernandez finds important. “It’s really nice when you get a crowd that understands and lets the DJ push them a bit,” he says. “I see myself as someone who is there to entertain, but also to educate as well. You know, play some new music, be someone who is forward-thinking, forward-moving, and I really like the opportunity to do that.” That creativity is something that the Canberra native certainly satisfies in working on his own productions and remixes for other artists, including dance music giants such as Groove Armada, Cedric Gervais and Morgan Page. The production side of things was perhaps even more likely an outcome than the club appearances for the young Jono Fernandez. Taking his typical approach – looking at what exciting developments were around the corner – Fernandez upgraded from a classical musical education (he plays guitar, piano, bass, violin and flute) to forming rock bands (he also sings) to sneaking into his older brother’s home studio. The endless possibilities fascinated him as a 15-year-old. “I realised that the boundaries with computer music were much broader. There’s only so much you can do with a guitar, drums and vocals as opposed to electronic music, when you can turn almost any sound into an instrument.” After hounding his local nightclub Heaven for a DJ gig, Fernandez moved to Melbourne, worked for a number of record stores and labels and eventually saw his first record released on Zero Tolerance in the early years of the new millennium. Yet it seems as though the artist is only now, 12 years later, realising his potential. The last 12 months have seen releases on Chris Lake’s Rising Music, Mark Brown’s CR2 Records and local dance institution OneLove. Tracks like ‘Hear Me’

charted well in Australia, paving the way for ‘Let It Out’ to make waves in the UK and the Kaz James collaboration ‘Stars’ to hit the Beatport charts. Next up, there’s the small matter of completing and releasing a fulllength album. Fernandez is clearly relishing being in the studio and following his own musical path. “I do have more freedom with my productions. I’m able to flex some different creative muscles … I’m able to be free, because I don’t necessarily have to consider how the dancefloor is going to respond. I can be free to go wherever my imagination takes me. “I would say 90 per cent of the album is brand new stuff. I’m trying to incorporate not just electronic music but classical and rock instruments. There’s going to be a lot more guitars and live drums. It’s an electronic album, but it’s not just going to be full of club bangers.” There’s much to be excited about, but Fernandez is always looking to the next opportunity. Thanks to the prize accompanying his Producer/ DJ of the Year title, his next excursion is a potentially lucrative tour to the fertile plains of the USA − playing in top venues in New York and Las Vegas − smack-bang in the middle of an EDM boom, no less. Does he wish this break and the recognition came earlier? “Not at all. I’m a firm believer in success being a lot about persistence. It is really nice to be recognised in this way, even though it has been a long, hard slog for me. I’m not going to lie – I’ve been doing this for a very long time and it’s still very rewarding. The US element of the prize is really going to help.” Where: Chinese Laundry With: Edu Imbernon, Dave Winnel, A-Tonez, Tigerstyle, Luke Brotherton, Ed Wells When: Saturday March 29

“Often I’d clear the fl oor before winning the crowd back again, because what ultimately mattered was what was coming out of the speakers.” 30 :: BRAG :: 555 :: 26:03:14

thebrag.com

Deep Impressions Dance And Electronica with Chris Honnery

Legowelt

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rolific Dutch producer Danny Wolfers, known to most for his sonic exploits as Legowelt, will headline Club 77 this Saturday March 29. He’ll have support from Gardland, one of the most interesting electronic acts to emerge from Australia in recent years. A technological whiz who likes to “program software on obsolete computers,” Wolfers dropped his first EP back around the time Sachin Tendulkar was savaging Shane Warne on Australia’s tour of India in 1998. Since then he has forged his formidable reputation as a producer through his lo-fi house and techno concoctions, which he has released largely through Dutch labels like Bunker, Clone and Crème Organization. As Legowelt, Wolfers has remixed the likes of Henry Saiz, Cosmin TRG and Vakula, while releasing a consistent stream of albums – in fact, his Sydney show coincides with the release of his tenth album Crystal Cult 2080, which was recorded in various corners of the world, including Detroit, Gran Canaria and Shibuya. “You get everything from energetic kung fu techno, to sensual fairytale flute trips, to the ancient magic scales of notorious alchemists,” Wolfers said of the album’s sonic purview. “I like it when the music sounds futuristic and different, like it comes from another planet.” While Legowelt is undoubtedly the main event, Gardland – comprised of Alex Murray and Mark Smith – are also a compelling reason to attend Saturday’s event. Gardland will showcase their selfdescribed “elegantly wasted” sound by performing a live set drawing on material lifted off their debut album Syndrome Syndrome, which dropped last year on the RVNG Intl imprint.

SATURDAY MARCH 29

Legowelt & Gardland Club 77

SATURDAY APRIL 5 Hunee Goodgod Small Club

THURSDAY APRIL 17 Morphosis The Imperial Hotel, Erskineville

SATURDAY APRIL 26 Fred P Marrickville Bowling Club

Points Of Light ought to increase Trinity & Beyond’s stature in both the global and local club realms – and hopefully, it will also inspire more local producers to back themselves, and take on the challenge of making albums and putting themselves ‘out there’. Following on from 2012’s iSH EP, which included a remix from luminary AtomTM, Tokyo producer Kyoka has released her first full-length album Is (Is Superpowered) through German techno conglomerate Raster-Noton. Kyoka is the first solo female artist on the RasterNoton roster, and aside from being very kawaii, she is known for a rough and robust sound that incorporates broken pop-beat and experimental rhythms that also keep (at least) one eye on their dancefloor. (Let’s assume experimental electronic music has optical capability so that metaphor holds up.) Kyoka’s maiden LP features her own vocals throughout, melding industrial techno and glitchy soundscapes that are bolstered by guest appearances from To Rococo Rot’s Robert Lippok and Frank Bretscheider of Komet to create a daring but also more club-friendly release than one would typically expect from the quite ‘out there’ sounds of the Raster-Noton stable. Purists fear not – Is (Is Superpowered) is hardly a ‘safe’ release, but Kyoka’s ambition and ingenuity ensures it is an engaging and immersive listen. Kyoka

Xxx

Sydney duo Trinity & Beyond, comprised of DJ Trinity and John Tzineris, have just released (this Monday March 24 just gone) their debut album Blinded By 1000 Points Of Light on Cinematique Recordings. Trinity is best known to Sydneysiders for her DJ sets and work behind renowned local nights such as Loose Kaboose and 4our, though over the past few years her focus has shifted towards production and live sets. As the Svengali figure of the duo, Tzineris comes from a background in classical music composition that he acquired during his time at Sydney’s Conservatorium of Music. Since working together, Trinity & Beyond’s global stocks have continued to rise, with their productions attracting the attention of some international heavyweights, including dub techno producer XDB, who recently reworked their track ‘Reign’. This followed the release of the pair’s remix of German duo Klartraum alongside reworks from the likes of Vince Watson and Ian Pooley on Klartraum’s Secret Moon Remixed album, and Alexkid’s remix of Trinity & Beyond’s cut ‘This Dream’ on Sasse’s Moodmusic label in 2012. These releases form the backstory to Blinded By 1000 Points Of Light, an album that is a culmination of the many years’ hard work that Trinity and Tzineris have invested towards refining their sound and gradually establishing themselves as one of Australia’s preeminent techno outfits. The album was recorded live, and comprises nine tracks of atmospheric melodies and deep chords that traverse techno, progressive and minimal influences. Blinded By 1000

LOOKING DEEPER

Direct all Deep Impressions related feedback, praise, vitriol and other proposals to Deep.impressions@yahoo.com. thebrag.com

THE NAKED AND FAMOUS IN ROLLING LIVE NATION, BY ARRANGEMENT WITH ARTIST VOICE, PRESENT

WAVES TOUR

WITH SPECIAL GUEST

VANCOUVER SLEEP CLINIC

TUESDAY 13 TH MAY METRO THEATRE TICKETEK.COM.AU 132 849 For more information go to livenation.com.au

BRAG :: 555 :: 29:03:14 :: 31

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

Edu Imbernon

SATURDAY MARCH 29 CLUB NIGHTS

Cakes - feat: 4 Rooms Of Live Music + DJs And International Guests World Bar, Kings Cross. 8pm. $10. Edu Imbernon + Jono Fernandez + Dave Winnel + More Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 9pm. $20. El’ Circo - feat: Resident Circus Act Performers Slide Lounge, Darlinghurst. 7pm. $109. FBi Hands Up! - feat: DJ Clockwerk + Special Friends With Benefits FBi Social, Kings Cross. 11:30pm. free. Goodwill Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $28.60. My Place Saturdays Bar100, The Rocks. 8pm. free.

SATURDAY MARCH 29

Sienna Saturdays - feat: Resident DJs The Establishment, Sydney. 9pm. free. Silvertongue Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $10. Soda Saturdays - feat: Resident DJs Playing Disco And Funk Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 5pm. free. Spice Troopers - feat: Gabby + Morgan + Le Brond The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 10pm. $20. Still Life 001 - feat: Dean Dixon + Liz + Mobius + Loft + Swampy + Nuck Fames + Venn Q + Hagbard Celine Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10.

SUNDAY MARCH 30 CLUB NIGHTS

La Fiesta - feat: Samantha Fox + Agee Ortiz + Av El Cubano + Resident DJ Willie Sabor Establishment, Sydney. 8pm. free. Martini Club And Friends feat: Ocky + Tom Kelly Goldfish, Kings Cross. 10pm. free.

S.A.S.H Sundays - feat: Funk D’Void + YokoO + Brohn + Gemma Van D + Hamish Radford + Kerry Wallace + Morgan Flyover Bar, Sydney. 2pm. $10. Sundays In The City - feat: Various DJs The Slip Inn, Sydney. 12pm. free. Sunday Spice - feat: Murat Kilic The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 9pm. $20.

MONDAY MARCH 31 CLUB NIGHTS

Crab Racing Scubar, Sydney. 7pm. free. DJ Mattia Goldfish, Kings Cross. 11pm. free.

TUESDAY APRIL 1 CLUB NIGHTS

Chu World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. free. DJ Robin Goldfish, Kings Cross. 11pm. free.

send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com

Chinese Laundry

THURSDAY MARCH 27

Edu Imbernon

Clone Of Sketch Kombat - Round 3 feat: Sketch The Rhyme + MC Jeswon (Thundamentals) + Silvertongue + Joe New + P-Smurf The Basement, Circular Quay. 8pm. $18.

+ Jono Fernandez + Dave Winnel + A- Tonez + more 9pm. $20. WEDNESDAY MARCH 26 CLUB NIGHTS

DJ Tom Kelly Goldfish, Kings Cross. 11pm. free. House Party Scubar, Sydney. 8pm. free. Snapback - feat: Various Artists Newtown Hotel, Newtown. 7:30pm. free. The Supper Club - feat: Resident DJs Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross. 10pm. free. The Wall - feat: Joyride + Hatch World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. $5. Whip It Wednesdays - feat: Various DJs Whaat Club, Kings Cross. 9pm. free. xxx

THURSDAY MARCH 27

HIP HOP & R&B

Clone Of Sketch Kombat - Round 3 - feat: Sketch The Rhyme + MC Jeswon (Thundamentals) + Silvertongue + Joe New + P-Smurf

32 :: BRAG :: 555 : 26:03:14

The Basement, Circular Quay. 8pm. $18.

CLUB NIGHTS

$5 Everything Scubar, Sydney. 5pm. free. Airspace The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 9pm. free. Goldfish And Friends - feat: Regular Rotating Residents Goldfish, Kings Cross. 10pm. free. Kicks World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. free. Kid Massive Australian Hotel And Brewery, Rouse Hill. 9pm. $10. Loopy - feat: Drty Csh + Daschwood + Generous Greed + Guest DJs The Backroom, Sydney. 10pm. $12. Physical Education - feat: Various DJs Flinders Hotel, Surry Hills. 10pm. free. Pool Club Thursdays - feat: Resident DJs Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney. 5pm. free. Solarium - feat: Solarium DJs And Live Acts Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 9pm. free. The World Bar Thursdays World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. free.

Funk D’Void

FRIDAY MARCH 28 Astral People + Pink Lloyd + Steven Sullivan The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 10pm. $10. Boom Box Friday (Old Skool Night) Feat: K-Note Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $18.40.

FRIDAY MARCH 28

Boss Bass - feat: Hydraulix + Hatch Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 9pm. $20. Thief + Nicole Millar Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 7pm. $12.

CLUB NIGHTS

Argyle Fridays - feat: Resident DJs The Argyle, The Rocks. 6pm. free. Astral People + Pink Lloyd + Steven Sullivan The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 10pm. $10. Boom Box Friday (Old Skool Night) - feat: K-Note Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $18.40. Boss Bass - feat: Hydraulix + Hatch Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 9pm. $20. Factory Fridays - feat: Resident DJs Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 5pm. free. Frisky Fridays Scubar, Sydney. 5pm. free. Infamous Saturdays - feat: Live DJs Scubar, Sydney. 7pm. free. Loco Friday - feat: Various Live Bands And DJs The Slip Inn, Sydney. 5pm. free. Sydney Pony Club Quarterly 02 - feat: featuring Kato + DJ Junglesnake + Antoine Vice + Mattrad + Maximus Nice Guy + Blow Out DJs + Serfo

SATURDAY MARCH 29 Goodwill Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $28.60. Spice Troopers - feat: Gabby + Morgan + Le Brond The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 10pm. $20.

SUNDAY MARCH 30 S.A.S.H Sundays - feat: Funk D’Void + Yokoo + Brohn + Gemma Van D + Hamish Radford + Kerry Wallace + Morgan Flyover Bar, Sydney. 2pm. $10. Astral People

thebrag.com

Xxx

club pick of the week

FBi Social, Kings Cross. 9pm. $10. The Only + Jono Fernandez Australian Hotel And Brewery, Rouse Hill. 9pm. $10. Thief + Nicole Millar Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 7pm. $12.

snap

djuro

PICS :: AM

up all night out all week . . .

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PICS :: AM

22:03:14 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex St Sydney 8295 9999

18:03:14 :: Enmore Theatre :: 118-132 Enmore Rd Newtown 9550 3666 OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER

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S :: KATRINA CLARKE :: MARK

BOADO :: ASHLEY MAR ::

BRAG :: 555 :: 26:03:14 :: 33

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dj butcher 19:03:14 :: Beach Road Hotel :: 71 Beach Rd Bondi Beach 9130 7247 34 :: BRAG :: 555 :: 26:03:14

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21:03:14 :: The Spice Cellar :: 58 Elizabeth St Sydney 9223 5585

21:03:13 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex St Sydney 8295 9999 OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER

S :: JAMES AMBROSE :: KATRINA

CLARKE :: ASHLEY MAR ::

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5 DAYS ONLY MARCH 27- 31

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