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rock music news welcome to the frontline: the latest touring and music news...with Chris Martin

on the record WITH

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THE BRAG

Kasabian

DARREN MIDDLETON

The First Record I Bought The Last Thing I Recorded Well the first record I bought with my My last recording was my album, 1.

4. own money was 1982 With A Bullet… I know Translations, released last year. I recorded what you’re thinking, but at the time, I’m 12 years old, no older brother to light the way to good music – compilations were big and I thought I was getting bang for buck with all these artists on the one vinyl. I still rate it as a pleasant memory.

it at a few studios in Melbourne with a few high-profi le friends. People have responded on the level on which I wrote it – personally.

The recording is sparse and beautiful but live I wanted it to retranslate it into a more energetic beast.

The Last Record I Bought The Record That Changed My Life Sia – ‘Chandelier’. It’s just a single but AC/DC – T.N.T. My uncle gave me 2.

5.

I’ve always liked what she does with this this record and it changed everything. I kind of produced female pop songwriting.

I always fi nd she lends a real honesty and slight darkness in her lyrics to an otherwise bland, repetitive format. I really like her and this song was my latest purchase.

The First Thing I Recorded My first recording was during high school, 3. with one of my first bands, Sonic Tapestry. We were heavy in our own minds, though in reality, just a rock band. We recorded to cassette and it didn’t sound very good, though in our minds it was amazing.

connected with the energy; the raw, simple, undiluted exuberance of a rock band. They kept it simple – no tricks, just attitude. Over the years they didn’t reinvent themselves to line with fashion – very smart – and when I listen to them today, I know exactly why I fell in love with them back in 1986.

Where: Translations out now through MGM Where: Rock Lily, The Star / The Bunker, Coogee Diggers When: Thursday May 8 / Saturday May 10

KASABIAN

MANAGING EDITOR: Chris Martin chris@thebrag.com 02 9212 4322 ONLINE EDITOR: Tyson Wray ONLINE COORDINATOR: Emily Meller SUB-EDITOR: Georgia Booth STAFF WRITERS: Alasdair Duncan, Jody Macgregor, Krissi Weiss, Augustus Welby NEWS: Sarah Corridon, Chris Honnery, Ed Kirkwood ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant COVER PHOTO: Kane Hibberd PHOTOGRAPHERS: James Ambrose, Katrina Clarke, Mark Boado, Ashley Mar 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: Ed Kirkwood, Emily Meller - gigguide@thebrag.com (rock); clubguide@thebrag.com (dance, hip hop & parties) AWESOME INTERNS: Sarah Corridon, Ed Kirkwood, Erin Rooney 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, Leonardo Silvestrini, David Wild, Harry Windsor, Stephanie Yip, David James Young

The Head And The Heart

SPLENDOUR SIDESHOWS ROUNDUP

Missed out on tickets to Splendour In The Grass this year? Fear not, because as per usual, plenty of big names are making their way to town for a run of sideshows. London Grammar are amongst those, playing the Hordern Pavilion on Thursday July 24. Foster The People will play the Enmore Theatre on Tuesday July 29. Meanwhile, your friends at the BRAG are presenting our own favourites from the Splendour bill. Hotly tipped young Irishmen The Strypes will play Newtown Social Club on Wednesday July 23, while Goodgod Small Club hosts The Acid the same night. Seattle six-piece The Head And The Heart have announced a two-date tour that will land them at Oxford Art Factory on Saturday July 26, while US countrymen The Wild Feathers play a Saturday show at Newtown Social Club. The Acid’s Australian producer Ry X will play his own solo date at Oxford Art Factory on Tuesday July 29 while Circa Waves do Newtown Social Club; The 1975 headline the Metro Theatre on Wednesday July 30 and Ben Howard hits the Enmore Theatre on Thursday July 31. And that’s not all – for the full sideshow roundup, including the likes of Metronomy, Sky Ferreira, Grouplove and many more, head to thebrag.com. Tickets to all sideshows announced thus far go on sale 9am Friday May 9.

GOODGOD IS TAKING OVER THE HOUSE

Everyone’s favourite Chinatown destination, Goodgod Small Club, will transform the Sydney Opera House into Goodgod Tin Pan Alley for one night as part of this year’s Vivid LIVE. The “all-star revue” will feature the likes of Shogun

(the one and only Royal Headache frontman, performing solo for the first time), Bart Willoughby (No Fixed Address), Montero and Donny Benét, who join the already announced South African performer Penny Penny.

Goodgod Tin Pan Alley takes over the Joan Sutherland Theatre at the Sydney Opera House on Friday May 30.

BOHICAN RHAPSODY

EDITORIAL POLICY: The views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher, editors or staff of the BRAG.

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6 :: BRAG :: 561 :: 07:05:14

CHERRYROCK014

There’s still time to snare a ticket to CherryRock014, the debut Sydney festival by Melbourne’s live music institution Cherry Bar, set for Saturday May 31 at the Factory Theatre. Headlining the main stage will be US underground favourites Meat Puppets, whom Nirvana fans will remember from their cameo at the famous MTV Unplugged performance in 1993. It’s a booming lineup overall, with Brant Bjork on board along with Redcoats, the mighty Gay Paris, Kiwis Beastwars, Drunk Mums, Chris Russell’s Chicken Walk, King Of The North and more. And remember, head to thebrag.com/ freeshit for your chance to win tickets and meet the Meat Puppets fellas themselves.

Rock’n’roll is getting back to its roots, and don’t we love it? It’s all about black leather jackets, scowling from the stage, turning the guitars up to 12 and putting on a show, dammit. And it’s no better personified than in The Bohicas, the British rockers set to make their Australian debut in June.

Their explosive early singles ‘XXX’ and ‘Swarm’ didn’t so much turn heads as wrench them in the appropriate direction, and they’ve been hotly tipped by the usual run of tastemakers: Zane Lowe, Huw Stevens and triple j. The foursome will play Oxford Art Factory on Wednesday June 18 as part of a two-date Australian tour – tickets go on sale 10am Wednesday May 14 through Moshtix, but a Frontier Members presale begins Monday May 12. Oh, and what does ‘The Bohicans’ mean anyway? Well, ‘bohica’ is American military slang for “bend over, here it comes again”. Yeah, think on that one.

thebrag.com

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The Bohicans

Meat Puppets

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

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 2003-2014

When it comes to British attitude, it’s hard to go past Kasabian. Ten years ago, they were an arrogant and ambitious young band powered by Tom Meighan’s nasal choruses and Serge Pizzorno’s glam guitar. Well, they’ve swaggered their way through four albums and are set to release a fifth, 48:13, on Friday June 13. What’s more, they’ve announced an Australian tour that’ll reach the Hordern Pavilion on Sunday August 10. Tickets go on sale 9am Thursday May 15. You’ll want to get along, and you’ll want to dance. If you don’t, Meighan has a habit of swearing at you from the stage. No, seriously.

BRAG :: 561 :: 07:05:14 :: 7

live & local

free stuff

welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town...with Chris Martin and Ed Kirkwood

head to: thebrag.com/freeshit

speed date WITH

The Perch Creek Family Jugband

MICHAEL GALILEE FROM THE ZOO CITY LADS Keeping Busy Current Playlist For the past three months On heavy rotation at 2.

4. we have emerged from the dark the moment is anything from

Your Profile Ripped leather, whisky 1. and cigarette smoke. Dirty rock’n’roll dipped in a healthy dose of gutter sludge. This is the type of music we love and

what we play. We basically just make music that will sound good live and something that we would all love to go see ourselves and drink booze, get loose and jump around to.

alleys and back streets of the abyss in an alcohol-induced haze, invigorated and motivated to deliver our souls to rock’n’roll.

So we have been rehearsing our arses off, playing the odd gig and writing new songs. We have been promoting the first single, ‘Throw It Away’, from our debut EP which is out now and we are looking to head back into the studio soon.

Queens of the Stone Age. I saw them when they were out here with Nine Inch Nails and they are as good as it gets.

Not much else gets through at the moment. I am just on the search for any bands that deliver some danger in their music. A lot of it now is all posturing and pre-fabricated garbage, which is what good music rebels against.

3.

Your Ultimate Rider My ultimate rider would be to have Jesus backstage whispering words of encouragement in one ear and have the devil in the other ear telling me what a low down filthy beast I am. Get the internal struggle going before hitting the stage.

Best Gig Ever The best gig we’ve played is always the last one and the next one. The last one we played was at the Oxford Art Factory with Little Odessa and a bunch of other up-and-coming bands. This was our first gig with our new bass player who has come in and made us the formidable beast we are today, so this was a special one for us. Obviously we killed it thanks to a great crowd and it was a good warm-up for what will no doubt be the greatest gig we’ve ever played coming up on May 10 at The Bald Faced Stag.

5.

What: The Zoo City Lads out now With: Boson Higgs, Er Among The Ether, The Dirty Reeds Where: The Bald Faced Stag When: Saturday May 10

ALL IN THE FAMILY

At last, Newtown Social Club’s band room is ready to go. And who has the honour of christening its stage with their psychedelic new tunes? The Perch Creek Family Jugband, that’s who. They’re back with a second studio album, Jumping On The Highwire, which they’ve released recently and are launching on a national tour. The new record takes the Family into a fresh, “psychedelic jug band” direction, full of highvelocity roots energy and all sorts of spirited instrumentation. They’ll play Newtown Social on Monday May 12 with support from The Woohoo Revue, and we’ve got two double passes up for grabs. To enter, head to thebrag.com/freeshit and tell us why you’re looking forward to seeing Newtown Social Club in action. xxx

Jess Dunbar

Chela

The Casualties

NEWTOWN IS GETTING SOCIAL

The long-awaited Newtown Social Club is gearing up for its opening gigs next week, finally returning live music to a spiritual home on King Street that we once knew and loved as the Sando. Opening proceedings on Monday May 12 will be The Perch Creek Family Jugband, while the debut international appearance will be that of street punk legends The Casualties, playing their Hits & Pits festival sideshow next Tuesday May 13. Jorge Herrera has been leading the foursome since 1990, through nine studio albums including 2012’s Resistance. But punk isn’t about studio recordings, is it? So get up close and sweaty with the band at the new NSC, where they’ll have Boston’s Big D & The Kids Table in support.

A MAN CALLED STU

Robbie Miller

MILLER’S POINT

On the back of taking out triple j Unearthed’s National Indigenous Music Awards, singer-songwriter Robbie Miller is readying himself for an Oxford Art Factory gig this Thursday May 8.

Playing in the Gallery Bar, Miller will be backed up by Jack R Reilly and Dominic Youdan, sure to deliver an intimate fixture full of delicate falsetto and natural charm.

HOLLY BUCHANAN

The BRAG’s love of local music isn’t all about Sydney, y’know. Off the back of her debut EP, the Central Coast’s Holly Buchanan has just released her latest single, the title track ‘I’ve Found You’. With husky vocals, catchy guitar lines and relaxed percussion, it comfortably sets the tone of the EP and captures Buchanan’s talent all in one. Like any good Coastie, Buchanan is more than excited to announce the launch of her EP in her own backyard – next

In an effort to amp up Sydney’s live music scene, World Square will hold its Friday Beats throughout May. Having kicked off last week, it showcases some of Australia and Japan’s best new musicians, with a variety of buskers, triple j Unearthed acts and local DJs. Precinct manager for World Square, Ben Davis, said, “Live music has been seriously lacking around Sydney of late – we want to amp up the square and provide an atmosphere where people can enjoy a drink while listening to some of the best buskers around Sydney.” Couldn’t agree more. Fridays in May see artists playing from 12-2pm in the afternoon, and DJs from 5-7pm in the evening.

This Friday’s lunchtime performer is Jess Dunbar, while DJ James plays the evening slot.

Friday May 16 at Quattro Café Erina. She’ll be joined onstage by a band specially formed for the launch, as well as with support from March To May and Kiersten Nyman.

LOS TONES

The famous Sabbath Sessions at Frankie’s Pizza this Sunday May 11 features a bumper triple bill of Frankie’s regulars Los Tones, Melbourne’s La Bastard and Velveteen.

Garage rockers Los Tones are pushing their ‘Buchanan Hammer’/‘Gone Away’ seven-inch, while surf/rockabilly act La Bastard have a new single to show off themselves, ‘Promise Me’.

Promise us you’ll be there, OK? OK.

ALL THE BONDI ACTION

The number one destination for hot bods at Bondi – Beach Road Hotel, of course – has a packed schedule ahead. Tonight, Wendesday May 7, sees eclectic artist Chela headline Sosueme, with support from Hitting Trees and Tink. Chela kicked off her national tour last month in Melbourne, launching her Zero EP, and now it’s Sydney’s turn. Meanwhile, the Morse Gang collective top the Friday May 9 bill, bringing fi ve MCs and a melodic vocalist to deliver the musical goods.

And this Saturday May 10 will feature Midnight Pool Party, who offer all the funky guitar goodness you’d expect from their name with none of the getting-soaked-in-yourgood-shoes. xx

8 :: BRAG :: 561 :: 07:05:14

The former frontman of Zombie Ghost Train, Stu Arkoff, has begun making music under a different name and released a killer new single – fittingly called ‘My Dark Past’. A Man Called Stu heralds the return for Arkoff, whose darkly charismatic ‘swampy-tonk’ sound saw his previous band develop a strong cult following.

It’s been a long time coming for Arkoff, who, following the split of Zombie Ghost Train, took an extended break from music. Last year signalled his return with his new, current band, and was rewarded with a sold-out debut show in Sydney. A Man Called Stu plays at The Basement on Friday May 9 alongside The Morrisons, Blackbear and Cash Sister DJs.

FRIDAY BEATS

thebrag.com

SECRET SOUNDS PRESENT

BEN HOWARD WITH SPECIAL GUEST

THU 31 JUL ENMORE THEATRE TICKETEK.COM.AU

TICKETS ON SALE FRI 9 MAY SECRET-SOUNDS.COM.AU | BENHOWARDMUSIC.CO.UK BRAG :: 561 :: 07:05:14 :: 9

Industrial Strength Music Industry News with Christie Eliezer

THINGS WE HEAR * Kirin J Callinanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pozible campaign offers his own brand of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Chardonnay Seanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, his long-lost 2008 solo record Am I A Woman Yet?, a hot date, a gym workout, signed hubcaps and bungee jumping as rewards. He and Sophia Brous cut a duet of k.d. langâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Constant Cravingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; as a wedding present for mutual friends. * Flumeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s remix of Lordeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Tennis Courtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; hit one million views in its first 48 hours and quickly climbed to 1.5 million. He was a highlight of Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Coachella festival and is overseas for more dates in the US, UK and Europe. * Already plagued by accusations that Kylie Minogue mimed during her appearance, The Logiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; audience declined for the fifth year. Its metro viewing

audience was 962,000, compared to 1.093 million last year. * With a five-year management deal for Australian Blues Music Festival up for review by Goulburn Council, current promoter Geoff Bell confirmed heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s put his hand up to run it for another five years. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was involved in the festival from the very start with the original promoters; I love the music, I love the festivalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vibe, I live in the town and I want to give something back to it,â&#x20AC;? he told us. * Record Store Day sales saw 12â&#x20AC;? vinyl up 3,100% over the previous week. * On the 20th anniversary of Kurt Cobainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s death, a suicide note found on his body attacked wife Courtney Love. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Do you

Kurt Cobain take Courtney Michelle Love to be your lawful shredded wife,â&#x20AC;? the note says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;even when sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a bitch with zits and siphoning all yr money for doping and whoring.â&#x20AC;? On the evening of his death, Love read out another note to his fans, in which he called her a â&#x20AC;&#x153;goddess â&#x20AC;Ś who sweats ambition and empathy.â&#x20AC;? * Beyonce sent 90 roses to the family of 15-yearold Chelsea James, who died after a long battle with cancer. In 2009, the singer brought the girl onstage in Sydney and serenaded her, and last year invited her backstage. * Aussie certifications: Jessica Mauboyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s single â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Never Be The Sameâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; went platinum, while John Butler Trioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Flesh And Blood album has gone gold.

Emma Swift handling country and roots on Revelator, The Bamboosâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Lance Ferguson covering indie, hip hop, soul and pop on Sky High, and a two-hour Artist In Residence on Sunday afternoon. The folks running Double J are Meagen Loader (content director), Channel [V]â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s former music programmer Dorothy Markek (assistant music director) and Dan Condon (music editor).

MAJOR CHANGES AT SONY MUSIC Sony Music Entertainment Australia and New Zealand has announced some major changes. Tim Kelly, GM Marketing at Universal Music, returns to Sony as General Manager Marketing Asia Pacific on June 2.

John Parker, GM of Marketing & Promotions, now oversees the Artists Touring division.

Wayne Ringrow returns to Sony as Senior Director, Australian Artist Marketing, based in Sydney. Jess Mitchell from RCA in New York joins as Marketing Manager. Alex Chavez, from Latium Entertainment Los Angeles, is Manager of Australian Artist Development.

Gary English is promoted to Manager, Promotions & Publicity, Commercial Music Group. Aaron Neylan becomes Senior Manager, Queensland Operations. New lawyers are Rachael Brown from Banki Haddock Fiora and Shannon Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Heir from Red Bull and EMI.

REBECCA BATTIES AT FOXTEL

COMMUNITY RADIO CAMPAIGN AGAINST FUNDING CUTS?

SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS SELLS OUT

The Community Broadcasting Association of Australia could be forced into another public campaign. The Federal Governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s National Commission of Audit recommended cuts of $17.5 million to community radio. The NCOA says public broadcasters ABC and SBS are already provided $1 billion (altogether $22 billion is spent on 500 grant programs) and there was a â&#x20AC;&#x153;limited rationaleâ&#x20AC;? in continuing funding for 150 community radio stations. The CBAA is talking with the Communication Ministerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office before deciding this week whether or not to go ahead with the campaign. The report also recommended budget cuts for Screen Australia, Tourism Australia and assistance for smaller businesses to market themselves overseas.

Splendour In The Grass was an instant sellout but not without drama. Due to a possible hacker, Moshtix admitted that some customers were offered reduced priced tickets and additional credit card fees up to $4,000. They emphasised, â&#x20AC;&#x153;No credit card information has been compromised during the technical issues.â&#x20AC;?

Former MTV General Manager Rebecca Batties is new General Manager â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Foxtel Music Channels and Head of Digital. She will run its music channels Channel [V], [V] Hits, MAX, smooth and CMC, together with audio service Foxtel Tunes. She will manage all digital operations for Foxtel Networks across music, movies, lifestyle, factual and general entertainment.

DOUBLE J LAUNCHED

KATE DUNDAS LEAVING ABC

The ABCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rebranded station for the over-30s, Double J, launched last week with a live broadcast at Melbourneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Kelvin Club featuring Paul Dempsey and Kate Miller-Heidke.

The presenters are a mix of broadcasters and artists, including Myf Warhurst, Caz Tran and Karen Leng, with singer-songwriter

Kate Dundas, ABCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s director of radio, is leaving in July after five years. During her time, the ABC audience grew from 3.8 million to 4.7 million. She always felt five years was the right amount of time in the role.

FITZSIMMONS EXITS SHOCK Shockâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Head of Promotions, Belinda Fitzsimmons, has left. Send promotion requests to Jacqui Wilson at jacqui.wilson@ shock.com.au and Mick Tarbuk at mick. tarbuk@shock.com.au.

E HIFI 1300 THO M.AU

THEHIFI.C

Just Announced

This Week

Wed 23 Jul

Fri 9 May

Sat 10 May

Children of Bodom

Jonny Craig (USA)

Kelis

Coming Soon

Fri 16 May

Fri 30 May

Sat 31 May

Fri 20 Jun

Misery Signals (USA)

Kingswood

Cubanizate

Band of Skulls (USA)

WILMOT RETURNS TO MUSHROOM Sandra Wilmot has returned to the Mushroom Group as National Publicity & Promotions Manager in a part-time capacity, working Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

KIM CHURCHILL SIGNS TO WARNER

Sat 28 Jun

Sat 5 Jul

The Crimson ProjeKCt

First Soundz feat.

DJ Maveriq, Sequel, URKii + More

Bell X1

Sat 27 Sep

Sat 22 Nov

Tankard (GER)

Rebel Souljahz (USA)

Toxic Holocaust & Iron Reagan

Promoters of Wollongong boutique festival Farmer & The Owl have set up a new record label called F//O. The first release is a 16-track compilation called Beached Friends to be launched Thursday May 29 at UOW Unibar.

WOLLONGONG TOWN HALL TO DRAW MORE LIVE ACTS The 800-capacity Wollongong Town Hall has undergone a management change. Merrigong Theatre Company will take over from Sydneybased Pegasus Venue Management on June 1.

Its CEO Simon Hinton says it will actively attract more local and touring acts. Merrigong also operates Illawarra Performing Arts Centre and will work with the local community on events.

Lifelines Expecting: Robbie Williams and Ayda Field, their second.

Dating (reportedly): Katy Perry and DJ Diplo.

Injured: 47 fans during a crush at a One Direction concert in Peru.

Ill: doctors told The Angelsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Doc Neeson he may have three to six months to live, after a MRI scan in February showed that his brain tumour has returned. This was revealed on ABC TVâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Australian Story last week.

Hospitalised: British guitarist Wilko Johnson, diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, has had treatment after a tumour was found to be slow growing. It has been removed along with his pancreas, spleen and part of his stomach.

In Court: Litchfield Bears rugby player Kieran Ketchell admitted in Darwin Magistrates Court he stole musician Max Fredericksâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; $4,000 Gretsch Duo in February from the stage of Monsoons nightclub. He and friends had been celebrating heavily on his 18th birthday. He was put on a 12-month bond.

In Court: lighting designer Steve Wickham settled out of court with asbestos manufacturer James Hardie, CX Media reports. His exposure to fibro in 1994 caused a serious lung condition from which he is now recovering.

Jailed: Scorpions drummer James Kottak for a month in Dubai for â&#x20AC;&#x153;insulting Islam.â&#x20AC;? Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d had five glasses of wine on a flight from Russia. At the airport, he swore, yelled about â&#x20AC;&#x153;uneducated Muslimsâ&#x20AC;? and pulled his pants down.

TROPHY EYES SIGN TO USAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S HOPELESS

Jailed: Peter Wayne Graham Scott, who once ran B Sharp Productions producing music videos for Sydney bands, for seven years after abusing underage boys when he later became a teacher.

Newcastle pop-punkers Trophy Eyes have signed to US label Hopeless Records.

Their debut album, recorded in June, is out late 2014. The Everything Goes Away EP got global attention. They won the triple j Unearthed Soundwave competition in February. Manager Eddie Deal said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;After months of discussing options, we have found Hopeless Records to be the label that aligned with our vision perfectly and they have been like family to us.â&#x20AC;?

Nominations are open until Friday June 20 for the National Indigenous Music Awards, held on August 15 at Darwin Amphitheatre.

Dan Sultan is headlining, and Jimblah and Briggs are part of a hip hop tribute to indigenous music. The awards cover best artist, album, song, new talent, film clip and cover art among others.

BONDI WAVE CONFERENCE RETURNS

Fri 11 Jul

FARMER & THE OWL LAUNCH LABEL

Blues and folk singer-songwriter and guitarist Kim Churchill has signed to Warner Music Australia. His third album, Silence/Win, is out on Friday May 23. It was recorded in Vancouver with Warne Livesey (Midnight Oil, Matthew Good). Churchill is doing a 16-date national tour during May and June.

NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR INDIGENOUS AWARDS

Fri 27 Jun

Bondi Beach Pavilion. RSVP to bondipav@ waverley.nsw.gov.au.

The free Bondi Wave Music Industry Conference gives an insight to how the music industry works. Curated by Lindy Morrison, speakers include Natalie Dodds (Secret Service), Rob Glass (Media Arts Lawyers), Nicole Riches (The Music Network) and Ian James (Mushroom Publishing). It is on Friday May 16 at the

Died: Chicago footwork/juke pioneer DJ Rashad, 34, was found dead in his apartment.

Died: US hip hop pioneer DJ E-Z Rock, 46, from diabetes complications. He and Rob Base produced the much-sampled song â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;It Takes Twoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in the â&#x20AC;&#x2122;90s.

Died: Sydney production guru Gerry Caulfield, 64, heart attack.

He worked at 2SM, Triple M, triple j and Foxtelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Country Music Channel.

Died: Paul Goddard, 68, founding member and bassist with Atlanta Rhythm Section, after a brief and sudden illness.

Died: Roger Swifte, 68, a volunteer with the production crew of the Port Fairy Folk Festival, in a car crash.

Died: Hilario â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Larryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Ramos, of US soft pop band The Association (â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Never My Love,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Windy,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Cherishâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;), 72, from a metastatic melanoma.

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CLOSURE IN MOSCOW T

he history of art could be described as a beautiful succession and augmentation of ideas. For millennia artists have taken cues from pre-existing artworks to render contemporary creations with lasting substance. Pink Lemonade, the second album from Melbourne’s Closure In Moscow, comes out this week – and vocalist Chris de Cinque gives credit where it’s due for the record’s title.

“Those two words sounded really cool to me and I thought, ‘That would be a really cool album name. I don’t know what it means yet,’” he explains.

“Then my dad was watching TV and happened to flick over to The Sound Of Music. There’s a scene where the von Trapp kids are singing to the chick that their dad’s about to marry – the evil bitch that isn’t going to be a great mother for them – and she offers Mr. von Trapp pink lemonade. It just felt really ominous.”

The title’s benign origins (and the nature of the signified noun) suggest the record will be a fizzy, poppier release than its predecessor, First Temple. However, as de Cinque adds, Pink Lemonade’s thematic concerns are far from light and springy.

Prior to First Temple’s mid-2009 release, Closure In Moscow snagged

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a deal with accomplished punk label Equal Vision Records and relocated to the US. It’s easy to project images of superstardom onto any Australian band that makes a decent impact overseas, but it’s also hard to ignore that it’s been five years since Closure In Moscow’s last record. So, why did it take so long – did the band get lost in America?

“We had a fair stint there, over 11 months,” de Cinque explains. “We actually had to cut the last tour short because I had a bit of a nervous breakdown and was completely burnt out and fried. It was almost the death of the band. I got jaded and freaked out by the whole experience. When you’re in the insular bubble of a band it’s very easy to slip into that Spinal Tap, the-entire-universe-is-the-band mentality. All the while I’m digging myself a very deep and absurd mental hole, to the point where I was living in a backyard in a tent just thinking, ‘I can’t eat the food, it’s unfit for consumption, it’s poison.’”

free market filter,” de Cinque says.

“Even creative endeavours become about, ‘Well, what’s going to make this profitable?’ The long game is to be a fucking shit hot band, but of course the long game is going to leave you floundering in the water without cashflow. So what’s the short game that works easier and quicker?

Fucking hustle that hype and hustle that merch.”

De Cinque’s words underline a dilemma that’s disturbed curious creative types ever since the advent of recording technology. Meanwhile, the troubled music industry has undergone vast change since Closure In Moscow last released music. Downloading was already dominant back in ’09, but the climate has taken another complicated turn with the rise of unlimited streaming platforms like Spotify.

No matter how sincere your artistic aims are, America’s hyper-consumerist drive can be overwhelming. The States offer great opportunities to meet influential industry figures and exhibit in front of a broader listening market, but when it all boils down the essential goal is to sell something.

“Music is a really good industry to look at as far as the way digitisation and automation is making things not work with the current economic model,” de Cinque says. “You can make music zeros and ones now that you can copy quite easily. That should be a liberating, great thing because that’s an advancement in technology, but unfortunately it’s working within a really antiquated, rigid economic framework.”

“It’s a massive problem when you’re filtering everything through that

Nevertheless, Closure In Moscow’s composite pieces are in functional

alignment and ready to launch Pink Lemonade to the world. The band (completed by guitarists Mansur Zennelli and Michael Barrett, as well as new additions, bass player Duncan Millar and Salvatore Aidone on drums) didn’t have a comprehensive game plan for its sophomore effort, but there were some nuclear objectives to satisfy.

“We’re just trying to write good songs now,” de Cinque says. “I think there is something that threads between all great songs, that defines a song as a good song. It’s a subtle thing that you can’t quite articulate wholly, but there is that thread.

“I think music is a really great tool to subversively change things by presenting ideas or presenting allegorical messages in lyrics that will hopefully penetrate and will make people discover something they might not have thought about.”

So the eccentric alt-prog five-piece is clearly not interested in making a modest re-entrance – but what about the state of de Cinque’s susceptible psyche? Well, even though almost every sentence uttered during our interview becomes a despairing evaluation of contemporary perversity, he’s gathered some constructive perspective too.

“If you pull back far enough, everything on this planet is a messy ejaculation of chaos and it’s going

“IF YOU PULL BACK FAR ENOUGH, EVERYTHING ON THIS PLANET IS A MESSY EJACULATION OF CHAOS AND IT’S GOING TO BE WHAT IT’S GOING TO BE. YOU CAN EITHER GET HUNG UP AND BUMMED OUT ON IT OR JUST TAKE IT AS IT COMES”.

On that unexpected note of positivity, it’s onwards and upwards for Closure In Moscow. The record’s first single ‘The Church Of The Technochrist’ showed up late last year to remind listeners of the band’s skills in dual execution of smartsy instrumentation and a bodily thrust. Unsurprisingly, piecing the record together wasn’t exactly easygoing.

“There were a lot of birthing pains [while] rediscovering things,” de Cinque admits. “That America experience was such a massive changing experience for all of us.

We were only 22, 23 then. We’re 27, 28 now and brains go through a lot of morphing in that time. We went, ‘Alright, let’s see what we’re working with now. Let’s do what we think is something we’ll enjoy and has some kind of lasting quality to it as an album experience.’

“We finally fucking did it, and when I can remove myself from the arduous process of it and just look at what we did, I’m happy with it and I’m glad we’re back on the horse. It’s churn and burn time.”

Where: Pink Lemonade out Friday May 9 through Sabretusk/MGM Where: Spectrum When: Friday May 9 And: Also appearing at Collector Hotel, Parramatta on Saturday May 24 and The Small Ballroom, Newcastle on Wednesday May 28

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Closure In Moscow photo by Kane Hibberd

“She’s offering Mr. von Trapp the lemonade and she goes, ‘Not too sweet, not too sour.’ I was thinking, ‘Oh, maybe there’s a metaphor in that.’ There’s a lot of disillusion and confusion in modern Western civilisation because we’re getting bombarded with so much horse shit. At the surface everything’s really happy and ‘everything’s really exciting!’ Underneath there’s this pit of despair that’s like a cavern widening.

But, you know, keep the blinders on – everything is just hunky-dory.”

WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS • BY AUGUSTUS WELBY

to be what it’s going to be. You can either get hung up and bummed out on it or just take it as it comes and laugh at some of the shit. You’ve just got to deal with the daily hand of cards that gets dealt and make what you will of it. You can’t try to take on a system of chaos that’s outside of any one human’s control. You just have to Bill & Ted that shit and be excellent to each other.”

The Paper Kites Changing States By Adam Norris he history of paper kites is an interesting area of study. They have evolved from humble beginnings, where it is thought they were first used as a way of measuring distance. From there they drifted to everyday entertainment, and have even found a home in competitive fighting, where kite strings laced with broken glass and razors slash their aerial rivals to ribbons. I figure Melbourne band The Paper Kites must have taken their name in homage to this ancient art, and intend on following a similar career trajectory. It is surely just a matter of time, then, before the quintet starts attacking its audience between songs. Singer Sam Bentley seems intrigued.

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things you listen to. I watch a lot of film, and at the risk of sounding really wanky, try to get stuck in to as many obscure things as I can. My brother gave me this 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time book for Christmas, and I’ve been trying to make my way through it all. I mean, it’s overwhelming, there’s just so much music out there. I don’t think you’re doing your job as a songwriter if you’re not interested in what the great works of the past have been, or listening to artists who have been influential enough to make it onto that kind of a list. You need to work out what makes them such great records, and then I guess from that you take all the things that you like and try and apply it yourself.”

“Gosh. That would be amazing,” he says. “To be honest, I haven’t given actual paper kites much research, but knowing now that’s how intense it gets, we’ll have to look into it. But our audiences are usually pretty lovely. I remember one of our first times in Byron, in what I guess you’d call the hippy hub of the country. I was kind of expecting people to be standing there with their arms crossed, listening really intently. But man, that show!” he laughs. “I remember looking out at one point – you know that flailing arm thing that you see certain people do when they’re on something? Everyone in the room was doing it. It was very strange; no-one ever really dances like that to our stuff because it’s pretty chilled. I don’t know what the people of Byron were on that night. Good vibes, I’m guessing.”

He laughs again. “I’ll be interested to see what my writing is like after jamming my head with all of this music.”

With: Phebe Starr, Airling Where: Enmore Theatre When: Friday May 30 And: Also appearing at the Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle on Thursday May 29 More: States out now through Wonderlick/Sony

One of the enduring stories from The Paper Kites’ early days is the limited release of their first EP, for which only 500 copies were pressed given the tedium of burning and packaging each CD. The transition from emerging band to touring artist, where venue booking and distribution becomes the responsibility of somebody else, includes a significant leap of faith. For a band to find the right people to surround itself with, especially in the beginning, it can be an unexpected struggle.

“I don’t think there’s any point where you notice the shift to being a larger band.You’re always hoping that people are going to come to your shows, no matter how big you are.”

“It’s a strange transition,” agrees Bentley. “Most people would say that they’re just in it to play music, and that’s great, so they should. The main focus is still to write great songs and put them out there, but there is a whole business side to it that you have to be versed in. We had a list of things, like needing a booking agent, needing someone to manage us, stuff like that. It’s very overwhelming at first, booking a tour and promoting your show, getting to understand the networking side of things – recognising that there’s a lot more to it than just playing music. If you can surround yourself with a team of people who believe in what you’re doing, you’re on your way. A lot of people don’t have that, and it’s hard to find when you’re just starting out.

But if your music’s good, and you’re trying to find the right kind of people, that can really take you through the small steps until you reach a point where others can help you get to the next big step.”

The band has recently wrapped up a US tour supporting City And Colour, and I wonder how that shift from local stages to playing before massive American audiences now seems – was there a moment when Bentley realised they’d actually started taking those bigger steps?

“I don’t think there’s any point where you notice the shift to being a larger band. You’re always hoping that people are going to come to your shows, no matter how big you are. We’ve always tried to push each tour to be bigger and bigger than the last, and then you suddenly realise when you’re playing venues that you’ve always wanted to play that, ‘Huh. I guess we’re doing OK.’ I don’t think you ever really realise it at the time; you never stop to think where you are. You’re always looking to the next big thing.

You forget that once you were only ever dreaming about these shows. I’d always wanted to play at the Forum in Melbourne, and we finally did that at the end of last year. It all keeps gradually progressing, which is really exciting to see.”

Progressing from venue to venue is one thing, but the impact this has on the development of the band’s sound is something else altogether.

Everybody wants to grow, to uncover new inspirations and find some measure of success. As The Paper Kites have evolved, I ask if Bentley is at all conscious of the impact this might have on his writing.

“I think…” he pauses. “You’re kind of appropriating what you observe in the people you watch, the thebrag.com

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The Cairos Lads Making Ready By Jody Macgregor

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ack in 2012, Brisbane band The Cairos put out a well-received EP called Colours Like Features, but they took their time following it up with an album. The band’s frontman Alistar Richardson says they wrote over 100 songs before settling on the ten that would make the final cut for that album, Dream Of Reason. Even after recording it, they’re still writing new ones. “There’s probably been 100 now since the album’s been written as well,” he says. “It’s constant, we just always write music.”

Dream Of Reason’s producer Nick DiDia, who has worked with Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam and Rage Against The Machine, had plenty of work sifting through those songs to help them decide which were their best. “It was very good of him,” Richardson says. “He listened to all the demos, which would have been a very daunting prospect for someone to do. So he also came up with his idea of what he thought our best sound was, and how we could come up with an album that really flowed. Luckily his ideas were really similar to ours. I think we all wanted an album that sounded a bit more mature and a bit more – I guess ‘dark’. Not necessarily dark as in ‘evil’ dark, but just a bit more mature.”

They’ve succeeded there. Where in the past their sound stayed firmly within the bounds of catchy, upbeat indie pop-rock, Dream Of Reason includes songs like ‘Insane’, a yearning piano ballad worthy of Eels, ‘Fear Of Madness’, which continues the theme of fragile mental health, and a conclusion called ‘Perspective’ that’s a tale of heartbreak more downtempo and bleak than anything else they’ve done.

“All of us love melancholy music, we always have,” says Richardson. “We love pop music as well, but I think there’s something really powerful in melancholy music that a lot of people really relate to. A lot of our favourite albums are those albums you can listen to, not

just in a car driving along, but you can listen to in your headphones in bed, you can really take it in. Having something like that where you can really listen to it, go through the whole thing and feel a little bit more involved with the lyrics, was definitely one of the ideas.”

Those melancholy cuts are contrasted with tracks like ‘Good Day’, a song cheerful enough to do Ice Cube proud – all stress-free adventure and enjoyment. “‘Good Day’ is kind of meant to be, ‘We’re still here, we’re gonna keep doing this.’ And ‘Good Day’ is more of a ‘we as a band’ song, an encouragement.

Everything’s all right, we’ll keep on doing it. I guess it is a bit of a journey, just not intentionally one we were writing.”

Although ‘Good Day’ slots easily into The Cairos’ live show, the more downbeat new songs will be a trickier fit. “We haven’t done ‘Perspective’ or ‘Insane’ yet, maybe for club shows they weren’t too appropriate, but we’ll nut them out on the album tour,” Richardson says.

Touring with pop-soul band The Holidays recently wasn’t the ideal environment for testing an acoustic ballad about tragedy. Like the album, The Cairos’ new shows will have to find a way to mature. “If you’re in a club environment, if you start to play the acoustic really quiet and there’s two verses of quiet, and if you can just hear people talking and yelling and stuff, it’s not really gonna work. It’s got to be your own show where people are watching, I think, for us to pull that off.”

What: Dream Of Reason out Friday May 9 through Island/Universal With: Jordan Leser Where: Goodgod Small Club When: Saturday June 21

Jonny Craig The Slave Trade By Augustus Welby

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nyone following the emo/post-hardcore scene’s major controversies in the past decade will recognise American vocalist Jonny Craig as a Charlie Sheen-like menace. Aside from fronting Dance Gavin Dance, Emarosa and Isles & Glaciers, Craig has notoriously struggled with a narcotics habit that’s caused public animosity with former bandmates, tour cancellations and saw him embroiled in an internet fraud controversy. However, Craig’s been clean for the past couple of years and he’s certainly keeping busy. He’ll soon hit our shores in support of last year’s solo EP Find What You Love And Let It Kill You, and the debut LP from his latest project, Slaves, is also ready to go.

“We had a pretty big order to fill on this album because we were all coming from different bands that weren’t really working out,” Craig says of the new band, which features members of Hearts & Hands and Four Letter Die. “I’ve been in a few bands that I’ve been bouncing back and forth between for a while.

But the moment we finished recording it we were pretty confident that this album was everything that we wanted it to be.”

Listeners turned on by the promising relaunch of Craig’s solo career last year can rest assured that although Slaves is the chief priority for now, the solo work won’t get entirely neglected.

“Obviously I’ve got a little bit of hype right now with my newest solo CD, Find What You Love And Let It Kill You. I was talking about it with Alex [Lyman], who is the other writer [in Slaves]. My solo stuff is like my own little personal outlet and he understands that.”

The fan-funded solo EP finds Craig wholeheartedly embracing the R&B style hinted at on his 2009 record A Dream Is A Question You Don’t Know How To Answer. It also marks the first time he’s deviated from a rock band setup.

“I want to separate it from me just being in another band, so I try to make sure that it actually is a solo album where the main focus is my vocals,” he says. “I wanted it to be more sensual, more soulful. Not straight R&B, but definitely have that dark R&B vibe.”

When Craig comes back to Australia this month he’ll be assisted in bringing the EP to life by a small-scale ensemble, including regular collaborator, rapper Kyle Lucas. Now, it’s easy to speculate about the touring lifestyle pushing Craig back towards his wayward habits, but after a stint in rehab he’s revised his priorities.

“My main thing on the road [is] I try to make sure that I eat properly. Your body gets kind of rundown if you’re not really eating well.

Me and my crew, we like to go out and have dinners together at more than just fast food restaurants. Back in the day it was all party, party, party. Right now I still like to do a little bit of drinking here and there, but it’s mainly just making sure I’m taking care of myself.

I’m getting up there: 28. I’m not 18 anymore, I can’t rage all night.”

The good news is that taking heed of his personal limits puts Craig in a position to better exercise his vocal talents.

“Taking care of myself is going to help me have the best stage show possible. Being more in shape and not being as drunk or as messed up as I used to be, I think it’s definitely made a huge difference.”

What: Find What You Love And Let It Kill You out now through Jonny Craig Music With: Kyle Lucas, This Wild Life, Redbeard Where: The Hi-Fi When: Saturday May 10 And: Also appearing at The Small Ballroom, Newcastle on Sunday May 11

Mustered Courage Eyes On America By Augustus Welby

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luegrass isn’t the sort of genre you just venture into on a whim. The country offshoot hardly beckons as a cool new look or a way to impress the ladies. No, it’s more likely that bluegrass players have been passionately interested since childhood or are drawn in by a spiritual affinity. Melbourne four-piece Mustered Courage have quickly become one of the country’s most talked-about bluegrass acts in recent years, yet guitarist Jules Abrahams was only superfi cially aware of the genre when the band started in 2011.

“I actually knew nothing about country music, to be perfectly honest,” he admits. “I was playing a bit of mandolin and that got me interested. I was just writing some songs on the mandolin.”

Prior to Mustered Courage’s inception, Abrahams and vocalist Nick Keeling played in the funk/ hip hop outfi t Casual Projects.

Transitioning from hip hop to this boisterous branch of Americana is a decent leap, but there are some unifying characteristics.

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“[Casual Projects] was pretty heavily influenced by jazz,” Abrahams says. “I was playing lots of jazz licks on guitar and there were solos. It was like a party hip hop jam band. Bluegrass is really improvisation-based and [there’s] all the solos that are going on.

Nick and I have always been into crazy solos and we both like metal as well. So bluegrass is kind of the metal of country music – the faster, the better; the more notes, the better.”

Mustered Courage will soon bring their showy ways to Sydney, and it could be the last chance to see them for a while. The four-piece popped over to Nashville to perform at the Americana Music Festival late last year, and they were scooped up by US management group Sterling Artist Management.

In July they’ll head back to the States for an extended tour, which will really test the strength of their Americana homage.

“We’re going to be over there for about two-and-a-half months,” Abrahams says. “I don’t think there’s any way you can avoid

getting on the ground and just playing shows and getting that face-to-face interaction with a crowd. So we really have to get that ball rolling in America and show them what Mustered Courage is all about.”

One might speculate that bluegrass looked like a worthy genre experiment because of the potential to build a large American following. But Abrahams says entering the world’s biggest music vortex was really only an afterthought.

“It just snowballed so quickly.

We never had any thoughts of getting American management or going to America to do this music.

We pretty much wanted to be a pub band and play some gigs in Melbourne and get a following around town and just have a bit of fun. It’s just been more and more serious every day, but more enjoyable as well.”

The group’s growing fortunes at home and the budding overseas prospects indicate that, even though it was unknown territory at

first, they’re actually quite suited to bluegrass. Mustered Courage’s second LP, last year’s Powerlines, verified them as bluegrass maestros and it’s no surprise to hear they studied up on the genre before entering the studio.

“We kind of immersed ourselves in the style and really learnt what the tradition is and really understand what that means now,” Abrahams says. “From that I’m going backwards even further

and listening to traditional country music and honky-tonk and really getting into the vibe of the whole thing. I never thought I’d be a country musician but I’m starting to really love it.”

What: Powerlines out now independently With: The Green Mohair Suits Where: The Vanguard When: Friday May 16

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The English Beat Probably History By Jody Macgregor

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walk to the bus stop in yet more rain. “‘And you, Mr. Wakeling, have got in for free and you dry,’” Wakeling recounts. “And I never threw up after that.”

At another of their early concerts, playing songs that would go on to be hits like ‘Mirror In The Bathroom’, they met British radio icon John Peel. The gig was part of a roadshow in which Peel travelled around the country DJing with local bands as his supports. The Beat were one such support, and they managed to impress him with their 45-minute set. “John Peel came out and said we were the best band he’d heard since The Undertones and that he was embarrassed because he was getting 300 quid for spinning records and we were only getting 100 quid for playing all these lovely songs. He wanted us to come back out in an hour’s time and do the set again and he wanted to exchange cheques, and he did. So we got to do the set again.”

The English Beat were always a compromise between English sounds and foreign ones – in particular, Jamaican. In the original lineup, Wakeling shared vocals with the toasting of Ranking Roger, while their saxophone player, known as Saxa, was a veteran 30 years older than the rest of the band and had played with reggae stars like Desmond Dekker. Saxa had a lot of advice for his younger bandmates when they were starting out in the late 1970s, even curing Wakeling of the stage fright that had him vomiting before every gig. Before a show at London’s Electric Ballroom, he took Wakeling over to a window and pointed to people lining up in the rain to get in, who’d inevitably leave the show later that night to

That repeat performance was a turning point for Wakeling, letting him tap into the bravado he normally only felt while staring at the mirror in the bathroom but which faded away by the time he was standing in front of an audience.

“We did the set again and there was a definite sense of, ‘Alright, we’re onto something here,’” he says. “I can be as confident as I might feel in my most private, arrogant moments. Well,

The English Beat photo by Bryan Kremkau

egendary 1980s ska-punk band The Beat had to be renamed in America because they’d been beaten to the moniker by a power-pop act, and that’s how they came to be called The English Beat.

There’s no bad blood between the two bands, however – they eventually performed together on a tour with the excellent name Two Beats Hearting As One in 2012. But The English Beat’s frontman, Dave Wakeling, born in Birmingham, has lived in California for over 20 years now and is less English than ever. The morning we speak he’s enjoyed a session of “hot yoga”, which is the most Californiansounding thing I’ve heard of, although really it’s just ordinary yoga in a steam room.

I’m a lot better than Bono and Sting put together really, aren’t I? Lyrically – come on, be fair!”

Peel seems to have thought so, joining them for dinner at a curry house after the show.

Wakeling recalls “showing off to our friends, not letting them speak to him because we’re with John Peel, and then bang! This drunk came round the corner in his car and slammed into the band’s van. John Peel goes,

‘There goes your cheque then. Maybe I can give you a radio session to make it up to you,’ and he did and from that we got a record deal with Arista Records and the rest is history.

Well, probably history, but I don’t remember much of it.”

With: The OzSkas, RatRace SkaClub DJs Where: Metro Theatre When: Saturday May 17

David Ryan Harris Home Away From Home By Augustus Welby

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inger-songwriter and producer David Ryan Harris isn’t quite a household name, but he’s certainly not a fledgling artist. Since forming funk-metal outfit Follow For Now in the late ’80s, the Atlanta-bred, LA-based musician has spent the majority of his time either onstage or in the studio. In recent years he’s primarily manoeuvred behind the scenes, co-writing a string of hits with Guy Sebastian and teaming up with the likes of John Mayer and India.Arie. Harris is now ready to bring attention back to himself, with a new solo album Light Years due later in the year.

Jackson McLaren Songs To Greet The Dawn By Augustus Welby

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t’s a dilemma many creative individuals face: even if there’s a stock of ideas ready to take shape, how do you lure those ideas to the surface and make them come alive? Some songwriters approach the process as a nine-to-fi ve engagement, but compartmentalising your time like this presumably requires an understanding of how the songwriting propensity functions, which only comes after years of experience.

Jackson McLaren released his debut LP Songs To Greet The Dawn last week, and the rising Australian songwriter is familiar with this struggle to tame the ideas within.

“I’m slowly starting to realise when I can feel that creative impulse coming on,” he says. “You can feel something sort of swelling inside your head and you’ve just got to get it out. It usually comes at the most inconvenient times – when you have to run off to your part-time job or you have to get a train or you have to go to have coffee with your friend. It’s like, ‘Oh shit, I can feel a song coming on and I’ve got to write it down.’”

In his case, explains McLaren, “I carry a song journal/notebook around with me pretty much everywhere I go. I write a lot of songs when I’m on the train or going somewhere.

Then [I start] paring it down and picking out the best bits and putting it into songs.”

McLaren’s debut record is characterised by patience and clarity, which belies the fact it was patched together from fragmentary ideas conceived in transit. After the initial onset of inspiration, he actually employs a rather considered approach to songcraft.

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McLaren didn’t simply pile together the first crop of songs available. Three EPs preceded the album, and one track from each EP shows up on the LP. “It was written over quite a long period of time so there was an abundance of stuff to choose from,” he says. “I really wanted to have it as a big cohesive picture, to have the first album as one initial impression of that period of time. I could have quite easily released an album with 20 songs, but I just wanted to pick ten really good songs that worked together really well.”

There are a couple of key ingredients that help to tie the collection together. McLaren’s trusty sidemen The Triple Threat and producer John Castle have been with him since 2011’s Mirrors & Strings EP, and the group’s coordination is integral for realising each song’s potential.

Harris’ career output covers wide stylistic territory. Following the demise of Follow For Now he dipped into soulful pop-rock with Brand New Immortals, and his solo work encompasses everything from soloheavy classic rock to acoustic balladry. This exploratory tendency stems from his rich musical upbringing.

“My mum really loved Chicago blues, my dad was really into jazz and bebop, then when we were driving around in our car we’d listen to classic AM radio – and that would be anything from The Doobie Brothers to Wings. I lived in an all-black neighbourhood so I got ParliamentFunkadelic and Rick James and early RunD.M.C., but I went to an all-white high school so I got Zeppelin and I got Hendrix and Cream.”

With such a broad backlog of influences to draw from, what can be expected from the

“I wanted to be able to have a record that if I wanted to go out and play it solo-acoustic, I could,” he explains. “I don’t ever try to be eclectic necessarily, but I do try not to repeat myself. As much as I love Neil Young or solo acoustic stuff, I don’t think that I could personally listen to 11 songs of a guy just playing solo acoustic. Some of it is to keep myself entertained, because I don’t want a record that’s all vanilla. I honestly love Queens of the Stone Age as much as I love Neil Young as much as I love Bad Brains as much as I love Hank Williams, Sr.” Harris’ co-writing and producing work over the last couple of decades also provides a point of reference. “When I’m working with a band I’m constantly taking notes on how to approach my stuff as an artist. I feel like the production and writing stuff makes me a better artist and the artist stuff makes me a better writer and producer.”

Harris was in Australia last year supporting Guy Sebastian on the massive Get Along tour and he’s back this month for a couple of headline dates. He’s perceptibly eager to return to his home away from home.

“I never really set out to have this huge love affair with Australia, but since I was a kid – I saw INXS on their first two tours to the States – I just always loved it. The people have been amazing and it’s just sort of grown and grown and grown.”

Where: The Basement When: Wednesday May 14

“I think it’s really important, when you’ve got other people in the same room as you and you’re all in a project together, to collaborate a little bit and throw ideas around. I’m always very open to what the band would like to do.

John Castle’s ideas and recommendations are usually quite clever, so I’m always open to trying out things and exploring different avenues.

David Ryan Harris photo by Steven Taylor

It’s why the oft-heard claim, ‘I like the old stuff better than the new stuff,’ does perhaps have some valid roots. See, the ‘old’ stuff generally comes together before songwriting becomes an artist’s exclusive focus and the magic evaporates.

“I’ve got hundreds of notebooks in my bedroom, and if you look through them you can see how an idea will start a bit rambley and eventually you perfect it over a series of rewriting and coming up with different ideas and putting in new things.”

“I really want to try to push this one,” he says.

“The last record, Bittersweet, was eight years ago. [Since then] there’s been a lot of stuff that’s gone on for me; a lot of different projects, a lot of different travelling under different people’s umbrellas. I feel like now is the time.

I’m really, really proud of the record.”

forthcoming record? Well, Light Years is a more conventional singer-songwriter release, but Harris didn’t impose strict limitations on himself.

“I see myself more as a songwriter rather than a musician,” McLaren adds. “I can play the guitar and dabble around on a few instruments, but I’m not particularly good at them. So it’s kind of the songwriting which is the huge focus for me.”

What: Songs To Greet The Dawn out now through Wonderlick/Sony thebrag.com

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THE ZOO CITY LADS W

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BOSON HIGGS - ER AMONG THE ETHER THE DIRTY REEDS

THIS SAT 10th MAY The Bald Faced Stag (doors open 8pm)

facebook.com/thezoocitylads EP out now on itunes and other digital music stores tickets $10 @ www.gobookem.com $15 on the door

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arts frontline

free stuff

arts news...what's goin' on around town...with Sarah Corridon and Chris Martin

head to: thebrag.com/freeshit

five minutes WITH Gary Eck

GARY ECK

When I was at uni in Canberra, I answered an ad in the paper that said something to the effect of, ‘Copywriter required for fast-growing and dynamic company. Must be funny and creative. $80 an hour.’ This was over 20 years ago and 80 bucks an hour seemed lot of money to pay a copywriter. I thought, ‘There’s got to be a catch.’ And there was.

As I stepped into the foyer of this fast-growing and dynamic business, all I could see were adult movie posters plastered on the walls. The job required watching soon-to-be-released pornos and writing the back cover review for them.

L

ife might have been very different for stand-up comedian and filmmaker Gary Eck. I Could Have Been A Porn Star is the title of his Sydney Comedy Festival show, and we took five with Eck to find out all about it.

What’s the story behind I Could Have Been A Porn Star?

The Young Tycoons

Not many young men or women dream of growing up to be an adult film star – or do they? Were you one of them?

To be honest, when I was younger, no. But as I get older… hmmm. I think more people would be encouraged to get into pornos if it wasn’t so frowned upon. Most porn films are actually quite tame. It’s just the odd Eastern European one that makes you go, ‘What the?’ and gives porn a bad name. Maybe more young people would be encouraged to get into this industry if porn education was added to the school curriculum – Maths, Double Chemistry, Advanced Fake Orgasm, How To Eyeball The Camera, Fluffing For Beginners.

You did end up working in film, of course – you worked with George Miller on Happy Feet Two. It must be a proud achievement – what was it like at the time?

Epic. Every moment was epic. It was a shame I wasn’t making the movie Epic. I worked on Happy Feet Two for nearly four years. Longest gig I’ve ever had, which in this industry to work continuously for that amount of time is quite something. I learnt so much from George and from so many others while working on the project, so I’m really fortunate.

What opportunities has Happy Feet Two opened up for you?

After Happy Feet I decided to write my own screenplay, thinking it would take about three months. Which it did, plus another 15 months of rewrites. It’s in a good place now and thanks to people I’ve met on Happy Feet I was able to get it to some important moviemaking people. With any luck I’ll get to make it next year and if that fails I really will become a porn star.

What: I Could Have Been A Porn Star Where: Happy Endings Comedy Club, Kings Cross When: Tuesday May 13 – Saturday May 17

THE YOUNG TYCOONS

You can’t blame us for our obsession with the secret lives of media tycoons – after all, you only need look at James Packer’s recent punch-up with his former best friend to know what happens to people when money gets in the way.

In a timely coincidence, Darlinghurst Theatre Company has resurrected its hit The Young Tycoons production, which takes a wickedly funny and scathing look at Australia’s rich and ruthless. Its lead characters Kim and Trevor have just been handed the keys to mighty media empires, and the ensuing action brings squabbles over share prices and sex alike.

The new Young Tycoons season opens Wednesday May 21 and runs until Sunday June 15, and we’ve got two double passes up for grabs to the preview performance on Saturday May 17. To enter, head to thebrag.com/freeshit and tell us what you’d do with your first $100 million of inheritance.

Surry Hills Festival photo by Mike Salon

M.Rock's M.Rock 's Valerie Bader

Christie Whelan-Browne in Britney Spears: The Cabaret

Surry Hills Festival

SURRY HILLS FESTIVAL IS BACK

BRITNEY SPEARS: THE CABARET

LONG RIDE TO FREEDOM

The Freedom Ride is a powerful and innovative theatre production in which seven members of the audience are invited to be a part of the cast. The play is set in 1960s Australia amongst a backdrop of racism, exploring the social revolution started by a small group of Sydney University students who travelled the country to raise awareness for indigenous rights. The Kinetic Energy Theatre group have adapted this pivotal period of Australian history and created something moving and entirely original. See The Freedom Ride at St Luke’s Hall in Enmore from Friday May 16 – Sunday May 18 and Friday May 23 – Sunday May 25.

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OF OBJECTS OR SOUND

During their residency at a leading non-profit studio in New York, artists Gabriella and Silvana Mangano created an exhibition of video work called Of Objects Or Sound. It explores un-choreographed performance and incorporates found materials and repetitive sounds. The exhibition, showing in Sydney from the end of the month, explores the relationship between the human body, time, space and its physical environment. See Of Objects or Sound at Anna Schwartz Gallery in the Carriageworks precinct between Saturday May 31 and Friday July 18.

THE CURTAIN BREATHED DEEPLY

YOUTUBE FANFEST

YouTube FanFest is coming to Sydney for one exclusive show only. The live event will unite rising and established YouTube stars with their Aussie fans. FanFest has already taken Singapore and Mumbai by storm, with thousands of subscribers turning up to see their online idols in the fl esh. And now it’s our turn – the all-star YouTube lineup will include Jenna Marbles, Ryan Higa, Bethany Mota, Vsauce and plenty more. Luna Park will host the big event on Saturday May 31.

LOST IN BERLIN

M.Rock, the new play by Lachlan Philpott, will premiere at the Sydney Theatre Company in June. The joint production between STC and the Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) follows 18-year-old Tracy (Clementine Mills) on a backpacking trip after high school. She’s drawn into the famous Berlin club scene – like oh so many backpackers before her – where she ends up penniless and misses her flight home. Tracy’s grandmother Mabel (Valerie Bader) arrives in search of her, but soon discovers a new scene of her own.

M.Rock will feature DJ Johnny Seymour (who performs alongside Paul Mac as Stereogamous) spinning tunes onstage throughout the play.

It runs from Thursday June 12 – Saturday June 28.

The Curtain Breathed Deeply

The work of Justene Williams will take over Artspace during winter, with The Curtain Breathed Deeply set to meld references from art history with everyday pop culture. Expect to see a series of installations combining Picasso and Milli Vanilli (and you thought they’d had their time in the sun).

The Curtain Breathed Deeply will be Williams’ largest artistic undertaking to date, with a range of sets and performative videos promising to wow visitors. The exhibition runs from Thursday June 26 – Sunday August 10.

thebrag.com

M.Rock photo by Michele Aboud

This is not your average cabaret – but then again, Britney Spears is not your average pop star. Britney Spears: The Cabaret is a satirical look at how fame and instant celebrity can be the most perilous undertaking of them all. Award-winning duo Dean Bryant and Mathew Frank have woven Britney’s biggest hits into a musical comedy that’s both hysterical and, believe it or not, moving. Garnering plenty of praise and attention at the Adelaide and Melbourne Cabaret Festivals, the show is now on tour for a limited season. See Britney Spears: The Cabaret at Hayes Theatre Co from Wednesday August 18 – Sunday September 7 and at Riverside Theatres, Parramatta on Sunday September 21.

Save the date: the Surry Hills Festival will return for 2014 on Saturday September 27.

Crown Street, Ward Park, Shannon Reserve and every other public space and building in Surry Hills will be oozing with the spirit of fiesta. The theme this year is ‘Surry Hills, Stories, Love and Tales’. Local residents and Surry Hills enthusiasts are being asked to participate in the creation of mass-scale public art projects by bringing old photos and stories of their experiences from this eclectic suburb. All funds raised on the day will go directly back to the Surry Hills Neighbourhood Centre. If you’re interested in contributing, you’re invited to attend the Welcome and Info Night on Monday May 19 from 6.30pm at the Surry Hills Neighbourhood Centre.

DAVE HUGHES

arts feature

Pointless • By Liza Dezfouli

C

onnecting with Dave Hughes took a bit of doing: we had to catch him en route from Adelaide to Sydney for the chance to talk.

Comedy’s favourite Great Aussie Bloke says he likes being busy. “I’ve been busy for years. I was doing radio in the morning and television at night, for years every day was bookended like that,” he says.

Now Hughesy is back into delivering straight stand-up after a gap of 12 years, performing every night, and he just loves the freedom to say whatever he wants since quitting radio and TV last December. “On television you’re restricted in what you can and can’t say; onstage I can say what I think’s funny. It’s an absolute joy.”

There’s no danger of Hughes running out of stuff to talk about.

“I’m onstage every night with different material,” he says. In answer to the question of whether or not he will ever run dry, he says he’s only onstage for an hour so it isn’t a problem. More than a decade of ad-libbing on breakfast radio means he’s able to find a laugh in anything, usually himself. For most of us, thinking of things to say in public for a minute, let alone an hour, would be a form of torture.

But when Hughes says he feels “so comfortable” onstage, you have no trouble believing him.

Hughes is one of those comics who simply presents himself before an audience and talks about everyday things. As a performer, he’s a relaxed and approachable Aussie everyman getting riled up about the mundane. His particular comic gift is his idiosyncratic mixture of ire and good humour – his anger at the ordinary is always inclusive

“Life is ultimately pointless. Very few of us are going to be remembered 200 years after we die, and even fewer 500 years after we die … We rush around taking life so seriously and that’s what is ridiculous.”

and draws people in through shared experiences. Fans feel like they know him personally; he’s everyone’s mate, delivering observations on life in his distinctive Aussie drawl.

Pointless, Hughes’ new show for the Sydney Comedy Festival, sees him talk about his own world: raising three kids under six alongside his wife, Holly. “I’m ranting on about my life as a minor celebrity and a father of three. That’s the crux of it …

My comedy is mostly funny stories about things that have happened to me, and I try to embellish it for comic effect.”

The stories in Pointless, alongside domestic yarns about fridges, washing machines, the family dog and the weird stuff kids say,

include his former life interviewing celebrities for Channel Ten’s The Project, co-hosting footy show Before The Game, and of course the years he worked on Melbourne’s Nova with Kate Langbroek.

There’s also a mention of being a spokesperson for SPC Baked Beans and an insight into his no-fail jaffle recipe.

The secret to stand-up success, says Hughesy, is no more mysterious than accepting that life is finite and we’re all going to die – the key idea he explores in Pointless. “It’s about seeing the fun in life,” he says. “Life is ridiculous.

Life will always be funny. Living is a silly thing to do.”

The pointlessness of life might not strike you as essentially

hilarious, but Hughes reckons this awareness is all that you need to be a comedian. So why don’t more people do it? “I think everyone could do it,” he says. “As long as you can see that life is silly … Life is ultimately pointless. Very few of us are going to be remembered 200 years after we die, and even fewer 500 years after we die. So there’s nothing to worry about. We rush around taking life so seriously and that’s what is ridiculous. You and everyone you know will be gone. It’s a good thing to be aware of.”

Hughes’ advice for new talent looking to break into comedy is simple: perform. “Make a lot of mistakes,” he says. “There’s no training for it, you train on the job. Do the comedy rooms, and remember that if you’re not getting a

laugh then that will be very funny to many other people.”

It mightn’t be a comforting thought for some of us but it’s worked for him. Hughes adds that getting “in the face” of bookers of comedy events and venues is the way to go.

“Annoy the organisers – well, not annoy them but get in their face, prove you’re willing to work. Turn up even if you’re not booked and say, ‘I’m here and happy to go up.’

Horse’s mouth, people.”

What: Pointless Where: Factory Theatre When: Until Saturday May 17 And: Also appearing at The Concourse, Chatswood on Saturday May 10

Have you heard?

thebrag.com Extra bits and moving bits without the papercuts thebrag.com

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Head On Photo Festival

Clubsingularity [THEATRE] Universal Concerns By Kate Robertson Clubsingularity

[PHOTOGRAPHY] In Focus By Harriet McInerney Collie’s work will appear in a twofold exhibition, Light Hearts + Dark Arts, which will take its place on the walls of Redfern’s Fern Cafe.

Collie’s dual focus on lightness and darkness seems to exemplify the diversity of the festival. “Here we have the ‘light hearts’, performers bringing us uplifting moments, and ‘dark arts’, with its reference to magic – whether that is the sleight of hand of the magician, witchcraft, or the magic of the darkroom,” he explains.

Light Hearts includes images of various local and international performers, including the likes of Ursula Yovich and David Bowie.

While Collie’s portraits are known for their revealing and at times quirky nature, he looks at the process differently. “I’m not so sure I get someone to reveal him or herself, but rather let them reveal themselves,” he says. Indeed, Collie seems entirely comfortable working with big personalities. “I’ve never found big egos a problem …

Once it’s clear you’re on the same team, making something good is never an issue.”

Photo by Peter Collie

H

ead On Photo Festival is the largest photography festival in Australia and the second largest in the world. This year the lineup will feature 900 artists, 150 events and 100 venues. In its fifth year the festival continues to venture outside traditional settings, finding its stage in public spaces, libraries, cafes and bars, as well as more conventional gallery spaces. The spirit of expansion seems to provide an apt context for the diverse range of creativity on show, with both emerging and established artists, as well as local and international photographers to be found in the mix. Featured photography is drawn everywhere from photojournalism and reportage to commercial and fine art.

The breadth and inventiveness offered in Head On, says Collie, “helps focus us on the other aspects [of photography]. This can be the emotional and political aspects of reportage and recording of events as they happen, or images wilfully created the way one would make a painting to represent something, or provoke a reaction in the viewer – not merely to say ‘this was here’ or occurred.”

More broadly, Head On incorporates and embraces changing photographic technology and exhibits multimedia and mobile phone photography. When Collie thinks about the future of photography and technology, he finds a useful analogy in music.

“Recording came and changed the dominance of live performances, computers came and changed the dominance of instruments and their players, the internet came and opened everything to everyone – but we are still listening. The issue isn’t the art but who and how one makes a living from it.

“As I watch the generation coming up it is assumed movies, music, photography should all be free. If this is some new communal utopia they will have to convince the supermarkets and real estate agents to play too.”

What: Head On Photo Festival Where: Multiple venues across Sydney When: Monday May 12 – Sunday June 8 And: Peter Collie’s Light Hearts + Dark Arts is showing at Fern Cafe, Redfern, Monday May 19 – Sunday June 8

Raymond Crowe

“When Theatre Kantanka makes a show, what it does is it chooses a topic and then we kind of immerse ourselves in research, and so Clubsingularity is the product of research into the origins of the universe, astronomy and lonely hearts clubs,” explains Molino. “I think that cosmology and astronomy have become sciences that have come to the forefront of the [minds of the] ordinary, non-scientific person – stars and planets and our own small existence in an ever-expanding universe – and I think that melds really easily in the human mind with ideas of romance and ideas of searching for someone else, whether it be other life in the galaxy or a partner to share your life with. And so, although one subject is enormous and the other is small and intimate, they complement each other really well”.

Theatre Kantanka has an interesting and fundamentally collaborative way of developing productions, with Clubsingularity a cooperative undertaking. “You really have ownership of the piece,” Molino says. “Each of us has a forte – there is a group of performers and there is a composer and lighting and production people, but everyone is involved from the beginning in this research part of the work. So when we come together, even though we have a director, Carlos Gomes, we all make the work. We write it and we make scenes and we suggest costumes – in fact, we make the costumes – and Carlos has been busy making meteorites.”

“Kantanka shows are very visual shows,” Molino adds. “Carlos has a really great theatrical eye and can make really splendid visuals from very small amounts of elements.”

Given Clubsingularity’s subject matter is so adventurous, Molino is particularly enthusiastic when sharing what especially interesting facts she discovered during research. “When we started researching, a little bit after that, Professor Brian Schmidt won the Nobel Prize for science for proving that not only is the universe expanding, but the rate of expansion is accelerating,” says Molino. “That’s a big deal when you think about it, isn’t it? It kind of means that we’re getting lonelier and lonelier, because all the galaxies are moving away from each other at an increasing rate.

“The other amazing thing related to the same point is that it’s not as if the expansion of the universe is from one central point; what’s actually happening is that the space between the galaxies – all of them – is expanding evenly. It’s not the planets moving away from each other, but the space between them getting larger.”

In Clubsingularity, science provides a framework for thinking about life, loneliness and the sometimes seemingly impossible pursuit of love. “It’s funny and sad at the same time,” muses Molino. “Maybe it’s also that’s what humans are good at – relating everything to themselves, even if it’s about cold objects in space.”

What: PSpace Social: Clubsingularity Where: Cell Block Theatre, National Art School When: Wednesday May 21 – Saturday May 24

Raymond Crowe in The Unusualist

[PERFORMANCE] The Unusualist By Tegan Jones

C

oming off the back of 50 sold-out shows for The Illusionists 2.0, entertainment extraordinaire Raymond Crowe has turned his creative eye to another new project.

He is about to hit the stage at the Sydney Opera House as part of the Sydney Comedy Festival for his new show, The Unusualist. It’s an appropriate title for a performer who’s taken it upon himself to master far more than a single art. Well-versed in the realms of magic, mime, ventriloquism, shadow puppetry and comedy, Crowe will undoubtedly offer another incredible experience this time around.

“I just did a show called The Illusionists 2.0 in January,” he says. “When we were doing that at the Opera House they said, ‘What about doing your own show?’ The Illusionists was such a hightech show; this is more like the acoustic set. It’s cheaper and smaller, but with a lot more heart, I hope.”

Considering the responses to the show in country NSW and Victoria thus far, it clearly is full of heart and resonates with a myriad of different people.

“We call it an adult show that children like,” says Crowe. “We get people from the age of seven years old, and even one guy who was 92 came up to say g’day afterwards.” The universal appeal 20 :: BRAG :: 561 :: 07:05:14

seems to stem from the fact almost everyone enjoys a performance involving both magic and simple, yet elegant talents. “The form is quite an innocent one,” Crowe explains. “Most people say that the show’s ‘charming’, and I think that’s a great description for what I do.”

One of the most striking things about Crowe is how talented he is in multiple areas of discipline, something he has worked hard to achieve. “I’ve been doing it for so long and have been fortunate enough to keep developing. A lot of people specialise, but I think I’m a specialist at what I do.

Everything I do is my own work.”

Crowe has had this drive since he was young, and attributes his initial interest in performance to various factors. “When I was a child I liked physical comedy, such as Charlie Chaplin, so over the years I thought, ‘Maybe I could try and do that.’” When it comes to the hand shadows that have made him a YouTube and television hit, Crowe explains, “I have an old book [on hand shadows] that was given to me by an old magician back in 1986. It was written way back in 1902 and he ended up leaving it in a pigeonhole for me. I just wanted to see if I could do them. I also wondered whether you could do them for adults.” Considering the immense

popularity of his hand shadow performance to Louis Armstrong’s ‘What A Wonderful World’ during last year’s Australia’s Got Talent, the overwhelming response to that question is ‘yes’.

Although he doesn’t want to give too much away, Crowe does divulge a few details about the new show. “We have a contract with a world-famous performing flea, Maurice. He will be performing nightly.”

“I sort of use ventriloquism, but I don’t use dolls,” he adds. “I use people and objects, which

I think is a lot more fun.” Animals will also make an appearance in the show. “We catch live goldfish in the audience, but we look after them very well. We toured with seven goldfish for a month and I’m so proud that by the end, despite the rigorous driving everyday from town to town, every goldfish survived and ended up much bigger than before we started.”

What: The Unusualist Where: Playhouse, Sydney Opera House When: Tuesday May 13 – Sunday May 18 thebrag.com

Clubsingularity photo by Heidrun Löhr

On show this year is the work of photographer Peter Collie. Over the duration of his career, Collie has worked as a photographer for major brands, musicians and fashion labels across the globe. For Collie, the festival opens up new aspects of photography to those who “take for granted its utilitarian form as a method of recording events, people and objects.”

The Dark Arts side of things is a collaboration between Collie and make-up artist Julie Bégin.

It is a series of dark-textured glossy images, which speak on multiple levels of the position of women in society; something Collie considers a “constant dialogue”.

T

he unlikely parallels between cosmology and love are the subject of Theatre Kantanka’s new experimental production, Clubsingularity. “Kantanka is interested in delving into things that are around us but perhaps worlds that are little microcosms unto themselves,” says theatremaker Katia Molino.

Discussing her multi-faceted role in the production, she reveals that this “unusual cabaret” is a mix of humour, sadness, dancing, singing and, of course, science.

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five minutes WITH

STEPHANIE GAL FROM SYDNEY FILM SCHOOL completing semester one, students have the opportunity to explore further aspects of filmmaking with longer specialist workshops.

The Advanced Diploma of Screen & Media is a one-year intensive course designed to arm graduates with the creative, technical and business skills required to make a mark in a global film industry.

Applications are now open for both the Diploma and Advanced Diploma courses’ July intake. Please check out the SFS website for more details on how to apply. If you’re not quite ready to start your course now, we have an intake for a February 2015 start.

How did the Sydney Film School come to be?

In 2004 a team of award-winning filmmakers and teachers left the University of Sydney’s UBS Film School, where they had been working together for ten years. With a board of leading industry representatives and international professionals the team established the Sydney Film School. It’s now Sydney’s fastest growing filmmaking community made up of current students, graduates and teachers, all working together towards common goals: to learn, to grow, to make good films to be seen by audiences worldwide.

What courses are on offer?

SFS offers two years of nationally recognised training, both eligible for VET-FEE Help (government loan to cover course fees): Diploma of Screen and Media in year one and then Advanced Diploma of Screen and Media in year two. In the first year of the program you will learn about all departments in film production. All our classes teach the essential aspects of filmmaking. After

What career paths can graduates expect to follow after their time at SFS? So many options! For starters, you could be an editor, sound designer, production designer, cinematographer, director, producer, writer, first assistant director and everything in between. The career paths are quite varied – there is so much to the film industry, you’ll find your specialisation during your course.

Let your passion lead you!

It’s your Open Day this Saturday May 10 – what should visitors expect?

We will be having teachers from each discipline introduce their course and be available for questions, then have afternoon tea before seeing a selection of students’ films and the filmmakers will be on hand to answer questions. Then the prospective students will have a chance to see the school in action – with a working set, students demonstrating the effects of lighting on a shot, camera placement and more. See editing suites in full swing – both Steenbeck machines, cutting film and digital editing with all the latest software, and see our specialist sound studio. Come and get a feel for the school and see what being a student at Sydney Film School could be for you.

What: Open Day When: Saturday May 10 Where: Sydney Film School, Waterloo

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Film Reviews Hits and misses on the silver screen around town

■ Film

■ Film

CHILD’S POSE

THE DOUBLE

In cinemas May 15

In cinemas May 8

The Romanian drama Child’s Pose – winner of the top prize at 2013’s Berlin Film Festival – has a juicy premise for a melodrama. 30-something Barbu (Bogdan Dumitrache) hits and instantly kills a 14-year-old boy while driving his car late at night, and in the aftermath, his neurotic single mother Cornelia (Luminita Gheorghiu) – nicknamed “Controllia” early in the fi lm by her ex-husband – stops at nothing to prove her son’s innocence.

In the follow-up to his debut movie, the offbeat coming-of-age story of Submarine, Richard Ayoade delves into darker themes with The Double. Based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novella, The Double is a dystopian noir thriller that fails to deliver the same entertainment value, despite the self-aware gags and wisecracks.

At one point in history, this could easily have been made as a lurid Hollywood B-movie starring Shelley Winters.

However, if you’ve seen any of the fi lms from the recent so-called Romanian New Wave (Cristian Mungiu’s Canneswinning 4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days and Beyond The Hills being the most widely seen), you have a better idea of the brand of realism to expect; little in the way of theatrics or overt dramatic signifi ers, handheld camerawork, an absence of non-diegetic music, and a general air of po-faced austerity, albeit one that’s often undercut with a degree of bone-dry comedy.

Cristi Puiu’s The Death Of Mr. Lazarescu (2005) was perhaps the breakthrough fi lm for the Romanian New Wave, and also featured Gheorghiu in a major role, giving a master class in understated acting as a benevolent nurse helping a titular, ailing man as he’s neglected over the course of a night in a busy Bucharest hospital. In Child’s Pose – which writer/director Ca˘lin Peter Netzer has crafted with an unforced mordant comic streak – she’s initially the exact opposite, and for a while holds our attention with a certain train-wreck fascination. Indeed, the film’s (awkwardly translated) title hints at both the central theme of composure, as well as Cornelia’s own figurative regression in her desperate attempt to retain it.

But the fi lm challenges our initial impressions of her, and ends with a genuine, earned scene of catharsis that’s wrenching and morally ambiguous, in which neither party – each from either end of the class spectrum – emerges a victor. Visual negligibility keeps Child’s Pose short of being truly great cinema (inexplicable stretches of nauseainducing, tripod-averse camerawork nullify the drama rather than ‘laying it bare’), but great drama that happens to be playing in a cinema ain’t a bad look either.

Ian Barr

VO

OD O

O.T IK I.NE W ORL E A N

S

Jesse Eisenberg plays Simon James, a meek, desk-bound office worker whose existence for the past seven years has revolved around a Communist Bloc-era industrial factory, full of misfits and bizarre contraptions. From the outset, when Simon gives up his seat to a fellow commuter on an empty train, his passive nature is cause for consternation and humour.

Unrecognised by all (the scenes with the factory security guard are a real treat) unless when condescended towards by an overbearing boss, Simon mumbles and jitters through each day – pining for his dream girl, Hannah (Mia Wasikowska), who treats him with mocking disinterest.

The protagonist’s sedentary life takes a dramatic turn when his doppelganger, James Simon, begins work. Though a mirror image of Simon, James is everything Simon isn’t: charismatic, playful and a manipulative sociopath. As James charms the girls and factory management, Simon becomes increasingly ostracised by his colleagues, despite doing most of James’ work. The final straw for Simon is when James starts messing with his love interest.

Eisenberg also excels as the brattish scoundrel, constantly exploiting his twin as the whole factory responds to his every word (cue a hilariously bad Chinese takeaway joke). Ayoade has a knack for inserting these charmingly naff moments, and they help lighten the mood. Cameos from Australia’s Noah Taylor and The IT Crowd’s Chris O’Dowd provide a nice counterpoint to the film’s attempt to replicate the warped nightmarish worlds of David Lynch (the soundtrack is pure Eraserhead) and Terry Gilliam’s Brazil.

What stops this film from being memorable is the disappointing confrontation and climax. Clocking in at a compact 93 minutes, the conclusion feels forced and rushed and will most likely evoke shrugs from audiences. For those who are sold on Ayoade’s quirky humour and noir aesthetic, it’s likely they’ll find The Double refreshing, but for most it’s something to watch at 11:30pm on a Saturday night – interesting, but it definitely won’t be the highlight of your night.

Larry Lai

See www.thebrag.com for more arts reviews

Arts Exposed What's in our diary...

Arthur’s Place F UNK . S O UL . RE G G A E T, K EN T S T CBD M O N -S A

Arthur's Place

Tap Gallery Theatre Wednesday May 7 – Sunday May 11 You’d best be careful stepping into Arthur’s Place. It’s a drugand alcohol-fuelled share house in Sydney’s inner west, and we all know what goes on there. But reclusive Lance doesn’t, and as the subject of Ben Eadie’s new play, he steps into Arthur’s Place to discover friendship, fear and fresh experiences. The production features young local talent in the shape of Aaron Nilan, Dominic Witkop, Matt Jacobsen, Steve Vincent and more. xxx

Tickets are available for $20 at trybooking.com, or $25 on the door.

Laneway 348 Kent St drink@papagedes.com www.papagedes.com 22 :: BRAG :: 561 :: 07:05:14

thebrag.com

BRAG :: 561 :: 07:05:14 :: 23

THE BRAG’S GUIDE TO It’s a special time of year for the mums out there. With some luck, Sydney will turn on the weather for Mother’s Day this Sunday May 11, which means you’ll need to treat Mum to a great day out to match. Here’s the BRAG’s picks for some of the best mum-friendly spots around Sydney, sure to keep her smiling. We love you, mums!

S U N D A Y M A Y 11

1.

3.

2.

4.

1. theloft

2. Toxteth Hotel

3. The Vic

4. The Workers

It’s called: Mother’s Day High Tea with a twist

It’s called: Mother’s Day at the Toxteth

It’s called: Mother’s Day Banquet at The Vic

It’s called: Mother’s Day High Tea

What to see and do: Enjoy a gorgeous high tea overlooking the spectacular harbour while sipping on a glass of Perrier-Jouët champagne with Mum. What’s the vibe: It’s all about Mum! Waterfront views with a serene and elegant vibe.

What’s the fuel: Three-tiered high tea including scones, finger sandwiches and delectable treats along with a glass of bubbles.

The bit Mum will love: A special gift to take home (or enjoy in the venue) from French pastry chef Vincent Gadan.

Cost: $60 Where: 3 Lime St, Darling Harbour When: Bookings are being taken for High Tea from 12pm-5pm.

8070 2424 or info@theloftsydney. com

What to see and do: Thank Mum for being awesome with a three-course set menu lunch at the Toxteth with menu design from head chef Mark Neilson.

What’s the vibe: Relaxed in-house tunes followed by acoustic acts in the Yard bar from 5pm.

What’s the fuel: Delicious three-course set menu with a glass of Prosecco for each person booked in. The menu as follows...

Entrée: Grilled haloumi with baby spinach, asparagus, beetroot and macadamia nuts.

Main: Pan-fried barramundi with tomato, artichoke and bocconcini. Served with roasted kipflers and a watercress and avocado salad.

Dessert: White wine poached pears and rhubarb crumble with vanilla bean ice cream.

The bit Mum will love: That rhubarb crumble! And relaxing in our beautiful Yard.

Cost: $50 Where: 345 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe When: From midday, bookings essential – scarlett@toxtethhotel.com. au or 9660 2370.

24 :: BRAG :: 561 :: 07:05:14

What to see and do: We will have low-key, live blues music in the car park, a smorgasbord unrivalled by anything in the inner west, and the Throttle Roll exhibition will still be on display for all those bad mothers out there who want to get their photo taken with a tow-wheeled beast.

What’s the vibe: Pretty relaxed, we want to create a high-quality style of dining in the concrete playground that is our car park and back deck.

The bit Mum will love: The food!

Check the menu, it’s fully mental.

The music, the bike display still being up, it’s a collaborative effort that will challenge Mum’s mind and create a buzzy yet smooth atmosphere.

Cost: $65 gets you the threecourse feed and comes with a complimentary glass of Mumm, any tap beer (wild selection) or house wine.

Where: 2 Addison Rd, Enmore When: Open at 10am, kick off at 12pm.

What to see and do: We’re having a High Tea! Think scones, think finger sandwiches, bubbles and maybe a sly cocktail or two.

What’s the vibe: Our Sunday afternoon sessions are super chill!

For Mother’s Day we’ll be rolling with a delightful garden party vibe complete with rooftop terrace and a sneaky game of ping-pong or two to keep the kids occupied.

The music will be loungey and funky, perfect for Mum to relax.

What’s the fuel: We’re doing finger sandwiches, we’re doing macarons and we’re doing cupcakes; our chef is making her grandmother’s famous Irish scones and we’re washing it down with gallons of tea.

The bit Mum will love: Every booking will get a lovely wee treat just for Mum. Cost: $35 for food and tea – any other drinks additional.

Where: L1, 292 Darling St, Balmain When: Open 12pm to 10pm – bookings essential and must be made by Friday May 9. thebrag.com

THE COLLECTIVE PRESENTS

UNITED COLOURS OF DRUM & BASS HOMEGROWN EDITION FEATURING —

GREG PACKER (WA) RIKOCHET (VIC) FICTION (SA)

KRANKY (QLD) DJ TIDY (ACT) KYPHOSIS (NSW) COLLECTIVE DJS

Hermann’s Bar Cnr City Rd & Butlin Ave Sydney University +

Homegrown Edition 24 May 2014 8:00pm until 3:00am +

$10 After 9PM www.hermannsbar.com

Tickets On The Door

TACTICAL ASPECT (NSW)

BRAG :: 561 :: 07:05:14 :: 25

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

ALBUM OF THE WEEK DZ DEATHRAYS

band without losing a single ounce of its youthful energy.

Black Rat I Oh You

DZ’s sound still feels like it Xxxx wants to tear down a house, but this time it just feels like they’ll do it in a more methodical way.

What’s interesting about this second album is how much DZ Deathrays have honed their art. Where their debut album Bloodstreams was bombastic and out of control, Black Rat feels controlled and focused. There’s a new layer of maturity to the

It’s impressive how the duo manages to maintain a consistent level of controlled energy throughout the album. The band’s musicianship and songwriting skills are clear for all. Black Rat is, quite simply, a powerful and totally impressive second release from the Brisbane thrash-pop outfit. More please.

xxx photo by xxxnlee

Black Rat opens by punching you in the face.

The amount of energy and noise that pours out of this album from the word ‘go’ is incredible, but of course, after getting kicked off a Texan rock festival for playing too loud, DZ Deathrays do have a reputation to maintain.

After the title track hits you on the chin, the rest of the album works over the rest of your body. I have no doubt that if ‘Gina Works At Hearts’ were a light show, we would all be suffering seizures, while ‘Reflective Skull’ possesses a beat and bass that could break bones.

Daniel Prior

ASTRONOMY CLASS

WYE OAK

BRODY DALLE

SHONEN KNIFE

THE MENZINGERS

Mekong Delta Sunrise Elefant Traks

Shriek Merge/Inertia

Diploid Love Caroline/Universal

Overdrive Valve/MGM

Rented World Epitaph

Mekong Delta Sunrise may be the most un-Australian album to be released in local hip hop this year.

This has nothing to do with some kind of Today Tonight set of values – here, the term is applied literally.

For their first album in five years, the Astronomy Class collective took to Cambodia, cratedigging and immersing themselves in the local culture. In their travels, they came across vocalist Srey Channthy, who – in case you couldn’t tell by the album’s cover – is the centrepiece of the new record, narrating stories of lonely city nights and national conflict in her native tongue.

It never seems fair to judge an album for anything other than its own merits, but this one begs for it. This is the Wye Oak album “with no guitars”, the instrument that helped make 2011’s Civilian one of that year’s best albums.

Brody Dalle has had seven different surnames since birth.

Similarly, she has never had a set identity in the world of music – she’s leapt from guttural punk to brisk, melodic rock and back again. Her debut solo record throws her even further out into the musical spectrum, incorporating elements of post-punk, electronica, darkwave and no-wave. Ironically enough, it might also be the definitive album of her career – Diploid Love exudes a confidence that can only come with decades of experience and a willingness to explore territory that might be deemed risky or even kitsch.

Overdrive finds Japanese all-woman trio Shonen Knife shooting for ’70s hard rock glory. As the title forewarns, the guitars are loud and the amps are most certainly Marshalls. There’s Thin Lizzy guitar harmonies, Sabbathmeets-Aerosmith riffing and vocalist Naoko unfurling a bunch of amusing and considerably goofy lyrics.

When I saw the PR blurb spruiking The Menzingers’ new album Rented World with terms like ‘emo’ and ‘grunge’, I was a little concerned.

Their last effort, On The Impossible Past, was quietly one of the best punk rock albums of 2012, brimming with grittiness and working-class sincerity. So has the band swapped its Lawrence Arms t-shirts for mascara, or maybe some other clichéd article of grunge-associated clothing? Well, thankfully, Rented World is far from ‘emo’ and ‘grunge’ (…and some marketing intern really needs to be fired).

The beats stem from Khmer music, creating a distinct and lush atmosphere for Channthy and frontman Ozi Batla to share their respective sides of the same coin. This is particularly effective in songs like ‘Woman Wants To Drink’ and ‘Father’ – although most listeners may not be fluent in the language themselves, they will find it easy to be drawn into the narrative.

It’s an old hip hop adage that it’s not where you’re from, it’s where you’re at. Mekong Delta Sunrise attempts to strike a balance between the two – and, for the most part, it succeeds.

David James Young

This dramatic shakeup in the band’s approach has left the music on Shriek sounding like a poor man’s Beach House; all mid-tempo drum beats and repetitive synth patterns.

Unfortunately, Wye Oak haven’t changed how they arrange their songs, which means the spaces previously filled with a memorable guitar line are now just empty spaces. That’s not to discredit all the material found here – ‘Glory’, with its fantastic bassline and outof-nowhere pitch-shift solo, hints at what a synth-driven Wye Oak album should have sounded like.

The title track also has such an enthralling melody that nothing else is needed to make it the standout.

Shriek is by no means a disaster.

Jenn Wasner’s voice is still dependable and the production is crystal clear. But there’s too much of this type of music out now, making it all seem vaguely like a cash grab.

They’ve taken what made them unique and worthwhile, thrown it away and decided they want to be a small fish in a big pond.

Dozens of acts come to mind across the album’s nine tracks – The Pretenders, Garbage, Hole, Le Tigre and PJ Harvey being just a few. This definitely isn’t the kind of record that’s defined by its influences, however – rather, it’s Dalle’s personality and attitude that make Diploid Love what it is. She has evolved into a bold, versatile musician, and there has been no better time to fully appreciate that than now.

Those holding their breath for The Distillers Mach II will have turned blue by now. For the rest of you, see where Diploid Love takes you – it will probably be quite the surprise.

With songs such as ‘Green Tea’, ‘Fortune Cookie’ and ‘Ramen Rock’, it appears Shonen Knife are willingly playing to a Japanese stereotype.

And given they’re paying tribute to a subculture built on stereotypes (glamorous party animals/drug addicts, busty pinup girls/misogyny), it’s most apt they’ve incorporated their own clichéd interests.

It’s interesting to note Shonen Knife have been churning out albums since the early ’80s, and this marks a departure from their usual vintage pop-punk shtick. The genre tribute and lyrical humour nominates it as a Japanese Spinal Tap spinoff.

Yet, while Spinal Tap’s tunes are listenable for the comedic kicks, not many stand up as enduring rock songs. Overdrive, on the other hand, deposits genuine excitement.

It’s gag-filled and lacking any emotional depth, but since when was that a worry? Overdrive deserves to played damn loud with green tea soft serve smeared all over your head-banging face.

However, the album does offer more than a nod to the mid-’90s. Whether it was a conscious decision by the band or a direction that studio engineer Jon Low (The National, Kurt Vile) guided it towards, Rented World is clean, bombastic and, well… produced. But it ain’t all a bad thing. This is an album with texture. Opener ‘I Don’t Wanna Be An Asshole Anymore’ sets a fast pace, but the LP soon settles into a solid mid-tempo. The catchy ‘Bad Things’ is a prime example of the new songwriting direction: a song with multiple sections, exploring the boundaries of structure, yet somehow avoiding indulgence.

The Menzingers are a band looking to break the confines of punk rock. Rented World is the transition piece.

David James Young Leonardo Silvestrini

Augustus Welby

INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK Much will be made of the sum of the parts that make up Killer Be Killed. With a pedigree that boasts bands like Soulfly, Mastodon and The Dillinger Escape Plan, it results in a beast with blood on its teeth, spitting out the tattered remains of a chew toy and the neighbour’s cat.

KILLER BE KILLED Killer Be Killed Nuclear Blast

26 :: BRAG :: 561 :: 07:05:14

Killer Be Killed, as a result, is kind of a big deal. Rather than come across as some bizarre Gregg Gillis mashup experiment, the day job of each band member is blended into something fresh and new. It’s ferociously confident in its approach and confidently ferocious in its execution, leaping from clenched-fist choruses (‘Wings Of Feather And Wax’, ‘Melting Of My Marrow’) to drilling riffs that

require so much head-banging it would leave Willow Smith in a neck brace.

There is barely a moment of reflection, or even a chance to catch your breath. Then again, listeners needing either of those things probably wouldn’t be interested in this album to begin with.

A world away from the usual kind of supergroup indulgence, Killer Be Killed feels like the start of something truly promising. It’s a world where there’s only one rule: don’t you dare listen at any volume below maximum.

Rick Warner

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

DARLIA - Candyman SILVERCHAIR - Neon Ballroom EAST BRUNSWICK ALL GIRLS CHOIR - 7 Drummers

GORILLAZ - D-Sides JAMIE T - Panic Prevention

David James Young thebrag.com

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live reviews

See the full galleries at thebrag.com

What we've been out to see...

JOHN NEWMAN, SASKWATCH The Hi-Fi Thursday May 1

PHOTOGRAPHER :: ASHLEY MAR

Sydney Opera House Monday April 28 The past few years have seen the iconic white sails on Sydney Harbour transformed into an indie haven, with internationals like Bon Iver and Grizzly Bear taking to the stage and charming the patterned socks off audiences who are more accustomed to music venues that reek of gin and tobacco. So when everyone’s favourite bandcomp-winners-turned-globalexports lock in two shows at the Opera House, it’s a celebration of sorts, and a chance to cry away to The Jezabels’ melancholic musings with a little more class than with a beer in each hand at Laneway (Wait.

You did that too, right?).

From small bars to colossal arenas, The Jezabels have carved out a reputation for maximising the aural capacity of any given space. So it’s no surprise when a single spotlight illuminates keys player Heather Shannon, who prefaces the show

seated high above the stage at the Concert Hall’s Grand Organ.

Performing an immaculately crafted original composition, Shannon propels concertgoers into a wide-eyed trance, only broken when Hayley Mary’s fiery voice pierces the room. One song in, however, and it becomes evident that something just doesn’t… feel quite right.

“Tony Abbott hasn’t made it illegal to stand up in the Opera House just yet,” Mary reminds us, tauntingly. Her words are met with deafening applause and the entire room is immediately on foot, leaning in for the next gut-wrenching melodic hook.

Drummer Nik Kaloper offers up a percussive assault as the Byron Bay natives take us through the best of their discography, spanning old favourites from their trilogy of EPs to their latest album, The Brink. Kaloper’s rhythmic prose is softened only by Shannon’s textured synth waves and guitarist Sam Lockwood’s crisp riffs. All eyes are fixed on our leading lady, though, who glides across the stage in her

black sequined jacket, whipping out pelvic thrusts and weaving between a flawless vibrato and her signature falsetto. After belting out the feminist anthem ‘Mace Spray’, Mary fights back tears as she recounts her childhood friendship with Shannon and what it means for the classically trained musician to be performing at the Opera House. R.I.P. any dry eyes that are left.

With a four-piece band, two backup singers and the kind of self-confi dence you’d usually attribute to someone with the dancing chops of Justin Timberlake, Newman’s unique and very polished vocal performance was too often eclipsed by attempts at spectacle.

On quieter numbers, like the poignant ‘Out Of My Head’ and particularly the ballad ‘Down The Line’, we saw what Newman’s show should have been; a simple

As far as modesty goes, Newman could do well to take a leaf out of support act Saskwatch’s book. The Melbourne nine-piece, touring on the back of its second studio album, was humbly brilliant. Kudos to the sound engineer who managed to make even a four-strong horn section sound crisp and punchy. Some of those horns wouldn’t have gone astray on Rudimental’s ‘Not Giving In’, part of an inspired Newman encore. That encore was too long in the making, after Newman and his band left the stage for what seemed like an inordinate amount of time and cheers started and petered out.

Much of it might be down to inexperience. ‘Tribute’ was released only seven months ago and suddenly, halfway across the world, Newman is expected to be the consummate professional. He is not, at least not yet, but will be a fascinating act to watch as his live performance catches up with his ambition.

David Seidler

While the newer, more silverlined material is received with unbridled singalong, it is the older cuts like ‘Hurt Me’ and ‘City Girl’ that have the entire audience on tiptoe, waving arms wildly in the air and reaching ambitiously for those high notes. You think you’ve seen it all, right until the ’Bels return for their encore, complete with a giggle-inducing lap dance from Mary (“as promised”) to a female audience member. Who knows how these former Sydney Uni kids pulled it all off – a pop crusade through one of the country’s finest venues? But they did.

Mina Kitsos

ed sheeran PHOTOGRAPHER :: ASHLEY MAR

29:04:14 :: Paddington Town Hall :: 249 Oxford St, Paddington 9265 9189 OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER

28 :: BRAG :: 561 :: 07:05:14

PICS :: AM

THE JEZABELS

If tonight’s show at The Hi-Fi proved anything, it was the value of modesty. John Newman, 23 years old and already a worldbeater before his solo career ever began thanks to some handy work with Rudimental, brought everything he had and it was too much. In a white suit, gold chain and sporting his telltale quiff, Newman opened with ‘Tribute’, a thank you note of sorts to the artists that preceded and infl uenced him, from Motown to Michael Jackson and beyond. What was immediately apparent, as he stomped across the stage, sometimes trailing his microphone stand, other times in an energetic (but often uncoordinated) dance routine full of spins, was that Newman was trying too hard to channel his idols.

piano-and-vox combination almost always trumped more trumped-up moments. When the ostentatious was familiar – as on singles ‘Cheating’ and encore closer ‘Love Me Again’ – a crowd reared on the fl ashy soul Newman was aping was very much along for the ride.

But elsewhere, especially where his bravado exceeded audience knowledge or enthusiasm, the results fell fl at.

:: ASHLEY MAR ::

thebrag.com

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

ERNEST ELLIS ALBUM LAUNCH

SAT ST. STEPHENS MAY 17

NEWTOWN W/

SHINING BIRD

TINY RUINS ALBUM LAUNCH

WED N.S.C NEWTOWN SOCIAL CLUB JULY 2

W/

SPECIAL GUESTS

ALSO PLAYING THU 3 JULY ANITA’S THIRROUL

EMMA RUSSACK YOU CHANGED ME

ALBUM LAUNCH

SAT JUNE 21

BRIGHTON UP BAR

ALSO PLAYING THU 19 JUNE RAD, W’GONG

WAGONS ALBUM LAUNCH

SAT JUNE 14

FACTORY SYDNEY

ALSO PLAYING FRI 13 JUNE RAD, W’GONG

LPS available from spunk.com.au

PICS :: AM

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cults

PICS :: AM

04:05:14 :: Frankie's Pizza :: 50 Hunter St Sydney

29:04:14 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford St Darlinghurst 9332 3711 thebrag.com

BRAG :: 561 :: 07:05:14 :: 29

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

pick of the week TUESDAY MAY 13

The Naked And Famous

Metro Theatre

The Naked And Famous + Vancouver Sleep Clinic 8pm. $50.90.

WEDNESDAY MAY 7 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK

Kim Churchill Grand Junction, Maitland.

7pm. free.

Musos Club Jam Night Feat: Jim Finn Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt. 8pm. free.

Pulp Kitchen And Folk Club - Feat: Live Rotating Folk Bands Soda Factory, Surry Hills.

5pm. free.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

City Slickers Band Competition Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 7pm. free.

Concert On The Park - Feat: Angela Ayers Campsie RSL, Campsie. 1pm. free.

Die Roten Punkte Factory Theatre, Marrickville.

7:15pm. $32.

Fat Bubba’s Chicken

30 :: BRAG :: 561 :: 07:05:14

Wednesdays Soda Factory, Surry Hills.

5pm. free.

Holy Fuck Goodgod Small Club, Sydney.

8pm. $46.

Lunch Break - Feat: Shining Bird FBi Social, Kings Cross. 1pm. free.

Man Of Constant Sorrow (A Tribute To The Music Of O Brother Where Art Thou) - Feat: The Morrisons + Ngaiire + Tommy Dean + Elana Stone + Brian Campeau + All Our Exes Live In Texas + Lucky Luke The Vanguard, Newtown.

6:30pm. $28.20.

Tall Hearts + Letters To Lions + Colour Therapy Brass Monkey, Cronulla. 7pm. $12.

Tatler Sydney (Live Til Midnight) Tatler, Darlinghurst. 8pm. free.

Night - Feat: Mark Da Costa Spring Street Social, Bondi.

9pm. free.

Greg Coffin Trio Venue 505, Surry Hills. 6pm. $15.

Lionel Cole Imperial Hotel, Paddington.

8pm. free.

Supafly Jam Night (Open Mic) - Feat: Gang Of Brothers Vintage Night Club, Sydney.

8pm. free.

The Blues Night The Commons, Hamilton.

6pm. free.

JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC

Live Music Thursdays Bar100, The Rocks. 5pm. free.

Musos Club Jam Night Carousel Inn Hotel, Rooty Hill.

6:30pm. free.

Robbie Miller - Feat: Jack R Reilly + Dominic Youdan Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $2.

Tommy Novak + Stevie Pounder

Greg Coffin Trio Venue 505, Surry Hills. 6pm. $16.

Blow Foundry 616, Ultimo. 8:30pm. $21.50.

Gang Of Brothers Jam

THURSDAY MAY 8 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK

The Newsagency, Marrickville.

8pm. $10.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

A Team Duo Crows Nest Hotel, Crows Nest. 9pm. free.

Aamazing Entertainment Karaoke Royal Hotel, Bondi. 8pm. free.

Anthems Orient Hotel, The Rocks.

9:30pm. free.

Balmain Blitz Band Competition Heat 6 Bridge Hotel, Rozelle. 7pm. $15.

Cambo Observer Hotel, The Rocks.

8:30pm. free.

Cut Copy + Touch Sensitive + Nile Delta Metro Theatre, Sydney.

7:30pm. $40.

Darren Middleton Rock Lily, Pyrmont. 9pm. free.

Dave Agius Hillside Hotel, Castle Hill.

7:30pm. free.

Dave White Duo Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney.

9:30pm. free.

Far Away Stables + Sound Of Seasons Exchange Hotel, Darlinghurst.

8pm. free.

Greg Agar Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney. 7:30pm. free.

Made In Japan Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $10.

Man Of Constant Sorrow (A Tribute To The Music Of O Brother Where Art Thou) - Feat: The Morrisons + Ngaiire + Tommy Dean + Elana Stone + Brian Campeau + All Our Exes Live In Texas + Lucky Luke The Vanguard, Newtown.

6:30pm. $28.20.

Metal For The Brain - Metal And Trivia Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt. 6:30pm. $5.

Rohan Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney.

10pm. free.

Sons Of Sun - The Sam Phillips Story Brass Monkey, Cronulla. 7pm. $20.

The Beards Studio Six, Sutherland. 8pm. $25.

The Folk Informal - Feat: Ulia Jacklin + Matt BoylanSmith + Fleur Wiber + Rosie Catalano FBi Social, Kings Cross. 8pm. $10.

The Late Night Soda Social Soda Factory, Surry Hills.

5pm. free.

JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC The Songbirds + Martha Marlow Venue 505, Surry Hills. 6pm. $21.

A Night At The Crossroads - A Tribute To Robert Johnson The Basement, Circular Quay.

7:30pm. $29.20.

Cole Soul And Emotion Feat: Lionel Cole The White Horse, Surry Hills.

8pm. free.

Live Latin Sessions - Feat: Reyes De La Onda Jam Gallery, Bondi Junction.

9pm. $5.

Pat Capocci + Bad Feeling Woman Moonshine Cider & Rum Bar, Manly. 9pm. free.

Sandy Evans Trio + Bobby Singh + Steve Elphic Foundry 616, Ultimo. 8:30pm. $21.50.

The Blues Night The Commons, Hamilton.

6pm. free.

FRIDAY MAY 9 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Jazz Hip-Hop Freestyle Sessions Foundry 616, Ultimo.

11:30pm. free.

Krishna Jones Garry Owen Hotel, Rozelle.

4:30pm. free.

Mike Nock Quartet Foundry 616, Ultimo.

8:30pm. $21.50.

Panorama Duo Courthouse Hotel, Darlinghurst. 10pm. free.

Rock Solid Duo Club Windang, Windang.

7:30pm. free.

Sky Lounja + Black Bird Hum + DJ Coco Varma Jam Gallery, Bondi Junction.

7:30pm. $15.

Skyscraper Crown Hotel, Camden. 8pm. free.

The Blues Night The Commons, Hamilton.

6pm. free.

Trilogy Captain Cook Hotel, Paddington. 8pm. free.

Yuki Kumagai - Feat: John Mackie Well Co. Cafe And Wine Bar, Leichhardt. 8pm. free.

ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK Live Music Fridays Bar100, The Rocks. 5pm. free.

Stormcellar Town Hall Hotel, Balmain.

9pm. free.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

A Man Called Stu + The Morrisons + Blackbear + Cash Sister DJs The Basement, Circular Quay. 7:30pm. $15.

Andy Mammers Cyren Restaurant, Darling Harbour. 6pm. free.

Backlash Penrith Gaels, Kingswood.

8pm. free.

Black Diamond Hearts Crows Nest Hotel, Crows Nest. 10:30pm. free.

Bowie Unzipped - Feat: Jeff Duff + Jak Housden Brass Monkey, Cronulla.

7pm. $20.

Brad Johns Observer Hotel, The Rocks.

6pm. free.

Cam Nacson Mona Vale Hotel, Mona Vale.

5:30pm. free.

Children Of Bodom + Eye Of Enemy The Hi-Fi, Moore Park.

7:30pm. $65.

Closure In Moscow Spectrum, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $23.50.

Daina Demillo + The Greeks + Bow Campbell + Jeremy Craib The Vanguard, Newtown.

7pm. $13.80.

David Agius Ingleburn RSL, Ingleburn.

9pm. free.

Dennis Locorriere - Dr Hook & Beyond Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8pm. $55.

Double Jeopardy Duo North Sydney Leagues Club, Cammeray. 9:30pm. free.

Fun House Ramsgate RSL, Sans Souci.

8pm. free.

Hayden Calnin + Eliza Hull Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 8pm. $15.

Heath Burdell Mona Vale Hotel, Mona Vale.

9pm. free.

High-Tails + Snowy Nasdaq + Klaus Kinski Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $10.

Hooray For Everything Seven Hills Toongabbie RSL Club, Seven Hills. 8:30pm. free.

Irish Hooley PJ Gallagher’s, Leichhardt.

9pm. free.

James Englund Kings Cross Hotel, Kings Cross. 10:30pm. free.

Jamie Lindsay Stacks Taverna, Sydney.

5pm. free.

Jess Dunbar Novotel, Darling Harbour.

5:30pm. free.

Leon Fallon The Grand Hotel, Rockdale.

5:30pm. free.

Let’s Groove Tonight Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8:30pm. free.

Live Music At The Royal The Royal, Leichhardt.

9:30pm. free.

Mandi Jarry Crows Nest Hotel, Crows Nest. 7pm. free.

Marty Stewart Ettalong Bowling Club, Ettalong. 7:30pm. free.

Matt Lyon Quakers Inn, Quakers Hill.

8pm. free.

Matt Price Parramatta RSL, Parramatta.

5pm. free.

Muddy Feet Kurnell Recreation Club, Kurnell. 7:30pm. free.

Nicky Kurta Harbord Beach Hotel, Harbord. 7pm. free.

Origin + King Parrot + Amdbl + Eternal Rest + Bastardizer Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt. 8pm. $39.

Paul Greene And The Other Colours Venue 505, Surry Hills. 7pm. $20.

Paul Winn Wentworthville Leagues Club, Wentworthville. 9pm. free.

Rapture Sutherland United Services Club, Sutherland. 7:30pm. free.

Sons Of Mercury Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills. 10pm. free.

Steve Crocker Chatswood RSL, Chatswood.

5pm. free.

Swanee Lizotte’s, Dee Why. 7:30pm. $40.

Temples + Deep Sea Arcade Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $41.30.

The Beards Tattersalls Hotel, Penrith.

8:30pm. free.

The Mondays Kirribilli Hotel, Milsons Point.

8pm. free.

The Seaport And The Airport The Square, Haymarket.

7pm. free.

Tori Darke Time & Tide Hotel, Dee Why. 7:30pm. free.

Victoria Avenue Hillside Hotel, Castle Hill.

8pm. free.

Zoltan Castle Hill RSL, Castle Hill.

9:30pm. free.

SATURDAY MAY 10 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK

Cyril B Bunter Collector Hotel, Parramatta.

8pm. $20.

Paul Hayward And Friends Town & Country Hotel, St thebrag.com

g g guide gig g send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Peters. 4pm. free.

Stormcellar Shady Pines, Darlinghurst.

6pm. free.

JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC

Armchair Travellers Duo Coogee Legion Ex-service Club, 8pm. free.

Buble And The Legends Of Swing Blacktown Workers Club, Blacktown. 10pm. free.

Glenn Esmond Fortune Of War, The Rocks.

8pm. free.

Jellybean Jam Ramsgate RSL, Sans Souci.

8pm. free.

Jonah & The Wailers The Basement, Circular Quay. 7:30pm. $27.20.

Klay Cookie’s Lounge Bar, Strathfield North. 8pm. free.

Marty Stewart Panthers, Penrith. 7pm. free.

Outlier Penrith RSL, Penrith. 9pm. free.

Tango Paradiso Foundry 616, Ultimo.

8:30pm. $21.50.

The Blues Night The Commons, Hamilton.

6pm. free.

The Kamis Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8:30pm. free.

VR Productions Present Feat: Samba Roots + DJs Jam Gallery, Bondi Junction.

7:30pm. $15.

Xxx

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

Mr Percival Venue 505, Surry Hills. 6pm. $21.

Andy Mammers Panthers, Penrith. 7:30pm. free.

Bang Shang A Lang Cronulla RSL, Cronulla.

8pm. free.

Ben Finn Trio The Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill. 9pm. free.

Black Diamond Hearts Marble Bar, Sydney. 10pm. free.

Blake Tailor Castle Hill RSL, Castle Hill.

9pm. free.

Cara Kavanagh And Mark Oats Duo PJ Gallagher’s, Leichhardt.

9pm. free.

Carl Fidler Observer Hotel, The Rocks.

4pm. free.

Christie Lamb Duo Ettamogah Hotel, Kelly Ridge. 7pm. free.

Dave White Duo Woolloomooloo Bay Hotel, Woolloomooloo. 9pm. free.

David Agius Duo The Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill. 6pm. free.

Dennis Loccorriere - Dr Hook And Beyond Mounties, Mount Pritchard.

7pm. $55.

Dirty Deeds - The AC/DC Show Oatley Hotel, Oatley. 8pm. free.

DJ Marty Wentworthville Leagues Club, Wentworthville. 9pm. free.

Drum’N’Bass Free Party Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. free.

Evie Dean Sir Joseph Banks Hotel, Botany. 7pm. free.

Face Command + Jxckxlz + Black Island + Plight Of The Mystical Dugongs Town Hall Hotel, Balmain.

8pm. free.

Fallon Bros Brewhouse Marayong, Kings Park. 8pm. free.

Get The Party Started -

thebrag.com

The Pink Show Wentworthville Leagues Club, Wentworthville. 10pm. free.

Glab + Dubious Company + Death Sleds + Daniel Host Brass Monkey, Cronulla.

7pm. $20.

Greg Agar Kirribilli Hotel, Milsons Point.

8pm. free.

Happy Hippies East Leagues Club, Bondi Junction. 8:30pm. free.

Harrison Craig Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8pm. $55.

James Englund New Brighton Hotel, Manly.

10pm. free.

Jamie Lindsay PJ Gallagher’s, Moore Park.

7:30pm. free.

Jonny Craig + Kyle Lucas + This Wild Life + Redbeard The Hi-Fi, Moore Park. 6pm. $39.60.

King Of The North + Dead Love Spectrum, Darlinghurst.

8pm. $11.73.

Luke Dixon Greystanes Inn, Greystanes Inn. 8pm. free.

Luke Dolanhenty Duo Coogee Bay Hotel, Coogee.

9pm. free.

Macson Seven Hills Toongabbie RSL Club, Seven Hills. 8:30pm. free.

Matt Jones Crows Nest Hotel, Crows Nest. 7pm. free.

Mesa Groove Castle Hill RSL, Castle Hill.

10:30pm. free.

Mike Horbacz Australian Hotel And Brewery, Rouse Hill. 10pm. free.

Mirella’s Inferno + Albert Salt FBi Social, Kings Cross.

8pm. $10.

Panorama Duo Wentworthville Leagues Club, Wentworthville. 10pm. free.

Party Central Orient Hotel, The Rocks.

9:30pm. free.

Rapture North Sydney Leagues Club, Cammeray. 9:30pm. free.

Renae Stone Time & Tide Hotel, Dee Why. 7:30pm. free.

Rob Henry Observer Hotel, The Rocks.

5:30pm. free.

Robyn Hitchcock + Steve Kilbey Metro Theatre, Sydney.

8:30pm. $59.90.

Rosenthorne The Belvedere Hotel, Sydney. 8:30pm. free.

Soundproofed Bayview Tavern, Gladesville.

10pm. free.

Spank Campbelltown Catholic Club, Campbelltown. 9:30pm. free.

Stellar Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills. 9:30pm. free.

Swagger Safari Tour Oxford Hotel, Darlinghurst.

8pm. $10.

Tea For The Tillerman - A Tribute To Cat Stevens Brass Monkey, Cronulla.

7pm. $20.

The Anthill Mobb R.G. McGees, Richmond.

9pm. free.

The Beards Collector Hotel, Parramatta.

8pm. $10.

The Beatels Manly Leagues Club, Brookvale. 8pm. free.

The Lonely Boys The Mercantile Hotel, The Rocks. 8:30pm. free.

The Zoo City Lads + Boson Higgs + Er Among The Ether + The Dirty

Reeds The Bald Faced Stag, Leichardt. 8pm. $10.

Three Rams Penrith Gaels, Kingswood.

7pm. free.

Tourism Easy Tiger, 8pm. free.

Track City Band Crows Nest Hotel, Crows Nest. 10:30pm. free.

Zoltan Ingleburn RSL, Ingleburn.

9pm. free.

SUNDAY MAY 11 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Oltay - Feat: Redilocks + The Bear The Vanguard, Newtown.

8pm. $18.80.

Sunday Sessions At The Bull And Bush - Feat: Four Kings + Three Wise Men + Jimbo + PJ And Chappo + Keepin It Real Duo Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills. 3pm. free.

ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK

Chill Out Sundays Scubar, Sydney. 7:30pm. free.

Intimate Sessions Paragon Hotel, Sydney. 6pm. free.

Live Music Sundays Bar100, The Rocks. 1pm. free.

Satellite V Marrickville Bowling Club, Marrickville. 4:30pm. free.

Sunday Blues And Roots The White Horse, Surry Hills.

5pm. free.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

A-Team Duo Orient Hotel, The Rocks.

8:30pm. free.

Ange Waverley Bowling Club, Waverley. 2pm. free.

Bellaire Botany View Hotel, Newtown.

7pm. free.

Dave Bernoth Ramsgate RSL, Sans Souci.

2pm. free.

David Agius Harbord Beach Hotel, Harbord. 6pm. free.

Hits And Pits - Feat: Strung Out + Unwritten Law + Face To Face + The Casualties + Ten Foot Pole + Death By Stereo + Big D And The Kids Table + Masked Intruder + Heartsounds + Implants UNSW Roundhouse, Kensington. 3pm. $86.

Keith Armitage Greystanes Inn, Greystanes Inn. 12pm. free.

Klay Western Suburbs Leagues Club, Leumeah. 12pm. free.

Kotaki Groove Time & Tide Hotel, Dee Why. 7:30pm. free.

Los Tones + La Bastard Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney.

6pm. free.

Luke Dolanhenty Mill Hill Hotel, Bondi Junction. 3pm. free.

Mark Travers Ettamogah Hotel, Kelly Ridge. 1pm. free.

Matt Jones Brewhouse Marayong, Kings Park. 1pm. free.

Mini Mobile Farm O’Donoghues Irish Pub, Emu Plains. 12pm. free.

Pop Fiction Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8:30pm. free.

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08

May

May

(9:30PM - 12:30AM)

(9:30PM - 12:30AM)

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09 may

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

(9:30PM - 1:30AM)

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

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sun

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

May

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

11 May

(8:30PM - 12:00AM)

(9:30PM - 1:15PM)

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tue

12 May

13 May (9:00PM - 12:00AM)

(9:30PM - 12:30AM)

BRAG :: 561 :: 07:05:14 :: 31

g g guide gig g send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Rob Henry Observer Hotel, The Rocks.

8pm. free.

Tezza & The Twistops Penrith RSL, Penrith. 2pm. free.

The Mondays Trio The Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill.

1:30pm. free.

Three Wise Men Observer Hotel, The Rocks.

4pm. free.

Toby Martin + Cameron Emerson Elliott + Carl Manwarring The Welcome Hotel, Rozelle.

4pm. free.

MONDAY MAY 12 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK Scott Russo + Phil Jamieson Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 7pm. $43.

JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC

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.

32 :: BRAG :: 561 :: 07:05:14

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

gig picks up all night out all week...

The Hi-Fi, Moore Park. 6pm. $39.60.

Die Roten Punkte

Robyn Hitchcock + Steve Kilbey Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8:30pm. $59.90.

Bernie Observer Hotel, The Rocks.

8:30pm. free.

Frankie’s World Famous House Band Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 9pm. free.

The Perch Creek Family Jugband + The Woohoo Revue Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 7pm. $23.

The Zoo City Lads + Boson Higgs + Er Among The Ether + The Dirty Reeds The Bald Faced Stag, Leichhardt.

8pm. $10.

SUNDAY MAY 11

TUESDAY MAY 13 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC

Old School Funk And Groove Venue 505, Surry Hills. 6pm. free.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

Declan Kelly + Robin Wagle + Adam Fisher + TaelorJane Hanley Bar 34 Bondi, Bondi Beach.

8pm. free.

Steve Tonge Observer Hotel, The Rocks.

8:30pm. free.

The Casualties + Big D & The Kids Table Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 7pm. $47.

The Naked And Famous + Vancouver Sleep Clinic Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $50.90.

WEDNESDAY MAY 7 Die Roten Punkte Factory Theatre, Marrickville. 7:15pm. $32.

Holy Fuck Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 8pm. $46.

THURSDAY MAY 8 Cut Copy + Touch Sensitive + Nile Delta Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7:30pm. $40.

Darren Middleton Rock Lily, Pyrmont. 9pm. Free.

Made In Japan Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst.

8pm. $10.

FRIDAY MAY 9

Hits And Pits - Feat: Strung Out + Unwritten Law + Face To Face + The Casualties + Ten Foot Pole + Death By Stereo + Big D And The Kids Table + Masked Intruder + Heartsounds + Implants UNSW Roundhouse, Kensington.

3pm. $86.

Children Of Bodom + Eye Of Enemy The Hi-Fi, Moore Park. 7:30pm. $65.

Los Tones + La Bastard Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 6pm. Free.

Closure In Moscow Spectrum, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $23.50.

MONDAY MAY 12

Hayden Calnin + Eliza Hull Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 8pm. $15.

Paul Greene And The Other Colours Venue 505, Surry Hills. 7pm. $20.

Temples + Deep Sea Arcade Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $41.30.

SATURDAY MAY 10 Jonny Craig + Kyle Lucas + This Wild Life + Redbeard

Scott Russo + Phil Jamieson Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst.

7pm. $43.

The Perch Creek Family Jugband + The Woohoo Revue Newtown Social Club, Newtown.

7pm. $23.

TUESDAY MAY 13 The Casualties + Big D & The Kids Table Newtown Social Club, Newtown.

7pm. $47.

thebrag.com

brag beats

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

free stuff

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

head to: thebrag.com/freeshit

DIRTY SOUTH

Melbourne’s Dirty South (AKA Dragan Roganovic) returns to Sydney for a headline slot at Marquee on Saturday May 24. Originally born in Belgrade, Roganovic relocated to Melbourne as a teenager and began experimenting with electronic production, which – fast-forwarding the usual trials and tribulations – ultimately led to the first Dirty South release back in ’04. Roganovic has since rapidly established himself as one of Australia’s most recognisable dance exports, releasing a string of charting singles and remixing the likes of U2, Snoop Dogg, Tracey Thorn, Depeche Mode, David Guetta and Josh Wink.

Remi

SPEAKEASY

Charades and EK are launching a new night, Speakeasy, on Saturday May 17 at the Imperial Hotel in Erskineville. Headline honours go to The Carter Bros of the Tsuba record label, with HVCK, Hamish Radford, EK, Pharley and U-Khan also set to DJ. The party has been conceived to provide punters with a late-night option free of the restrictions imposed upon inner city venues by the lockout laws. In the promoters’ own words: “Each month we’ll be showcasing what we feel are the most ratable house and techno acts both locally and from abroad, and come 3am, we keep the party going and going.” And going, presumably.

RETURN TO RIO REUNION REMI

Melbourne lyricist Remi is embarking on a national tour in support of his forthcoming album Raw X Infinity, including a show at Oxford Art Factory on Saturday June 28.

Remi introduced himself to listeners via the release of two EPs, Childish and Five Beats I Love, prior to completing his first album Regular People Shit in 2012. He continued the momentum with his track ‘Sangria’ and a cover of the Avalanches’ ‘Since I Left You’ for triple j’s popular Like A Version segment, garnering plenty of positive feedback. His latest single, ‘Tyson’, is out now, with Raw X Infinity set for release in early June.

4OUR FT ANNABELLE GASPAR

The crews behind the Return To Rio festival are coming together for a reunion rave at Flyover Bar this Saturday May 10. The DJ lineup will sprawl across two indoor and outdoor sections, with the Mad Racket duo of Simon Caldwell and Ken Cloud topping a bill that also comprises the Monkey Tennis DJs, Ben Ashton, Shammus, Mike Who and Gabby.

Tickets can be snaffled online for $20.

PACHA FT TJR

US DJ TJ Rozdilsky, AKA TJR, headlines Pacha at Ivy on Saturday May 31. Signed by Chris Lake to the Rising Music stable, TJR has two Beatport chart-toppers to his name, firstly with ‘Funky Vodka’ in 2012 and then again last

DJ Katch

SOUL OF SYDNEY FT KATCH

The ever-popular Soul Of Sydney Block Party is back this month with a special birthday edition – and the party people have invited DJ Katch to join them. The legendary Brisbane crate-digger, producer and selector has been in the game for over 20 years and is a key member of Resin Dogs, having worked with the likes of Dave Atkins (who would go on to join Wolfmother), Koolism and triple j’s Hau Latukefu, 1200 Techniques’ N’Fa Jones and basically anyone else who’s who. Resin Dogs came together in 1996 and continued releasing into the ’00s, with 2008’s More Or Less their most recent full-length.

At the Secret Funk Oasis on Sunday May 18, Katch will be joined by the likes of Mo Funk, Frenzie, Phil Toke, DJ Libre, MK1, DJ Adverse and Shirene D’Silva. Tickets always go fast, but we can help you out – for your chance to win one of two double passes, head to thebrag.com/freeshit and tell us your favourite thing about Brisvegas.

year with ‘What’s Up Suckaz’. A lengthy lineup of local DJs will also be spinning, including Ember, Mo’Funk and Trent Rackus. Tickets begin at $30, with the beats set to commence at 6:30pm.

Annabelle Gaspar will headline the next 4our party at the Imperial Hotel in Erskineville on Saturday May 24. Gaspar was a founder and resident of the legendary Bad Dog parties – if you have to ask, you’ll never know – and has been an avid record collector since the ’80s. Flanked by fellow techno femmes Kate Doherty, Trinity and Magda Bytnerowicz, Gaspar will delve into her extensive record collection that spans everything from house and techno to hip hop, electro and disco.

SEANY B

Koreless

FUTURE CLASSIC X VIVID

Future Classic will host a Vivid LIVE takeover of the Sydney Opera House Studio on Saturday May 31.

The event will feature performances from Koreless, Paris’ Stwo and Sydney’s own electronic prodigy, Basenji. Debuting with last year’s Yugen EP, Koreless’ stocks have risen dramatically over a short period of time, with the 22-year-old’s productions seeing him compared to everyone from John Carpenter to Philip Glass and attracting support from tastemaker Gilles Peterson.

21-year-old Frenchman Stwo also enjoyed a breakout year in 2013, complementing his remixes of The Weekend, Cashmere Cat, Ciara and R. Kelly with the release of an EP on the LA-based HW&W imprint. Presale tickets are available via vividlive. sydneyoperahouse.com.

thebrag.com

Basking in the success of his collaboration with Joel Fletcher, ‘Loco’, Seany B will hit the road this month for a run of east coast shows that includes a performance at the Oxford Art Factory on Saturday May 17. Seany B is best known for laying down the vocals on TV Rock’s ‘Flaunt It’, and he has also worked with prominent outfits such as The Stafford Brothers and Hoxton Whores. Last year, he teamed up with Adelaide’s Dirt Cheap on the club anthem ‘Kill The Robots’.

HAPPY ENDINGS FT MAGDA BYTNEROWICZ

The free monthly Sunday party Happy Endings rolls on at Freda’s on Sunday May 18. Magda Bytnerowicz will headline proceedings, with her brief to “explore the lineage of house music and its many cousins”. Given her experience curating parties such as 4our and supporting international heavyweights like Eric Cloutier and Steff, Magda certainly has the sonic arsenal for the occasion. Happy Endings residents James Walsh and Josh Leenaars will also be playing some tunes, with proceedings commencing at 4pm.

APOLLO BROWN

Direct from Detroit, Apollo Brown will play Oxford Art Factory on Saturday May 24.

Brown has just released his new instrumental project, Thirty Eight, a concept album that bridges the gap between ’70s Blaxploitation soundtracks and the hip hop records that sampled them. The album traverses funk, soul, jazz, blues and hip hop influences.

Rebekah

S.A.S.H FT REBEKAH

UK techno proponent Rebekah will headline S.A.S.H at Flyover Bar on Sunday May 25. Rebekah’s prominent standing in the techno world was cemented when Chris Liebing invited her to record a mix for his renowned CLR Podcast series. Her strong techno credentials are also based upon her releases on respected record labels like CLR, [Naked Lunch] and Cult Figures and sets at some of the foremost clubs in the world, including Berghain, Tresor, Fabric and Cocoon, to cherry-pick a few. The beats commence at 2pm and run ’til late.

BRAG :: 561 :: 07:05:14 :: 33

Touch Sensitive At His Own Pace By Tom Kitson

A

s the bassist for Van She for over a decade and now the synthesizer-loving electronic producer known as Touch Sensitive, Michael Di Francesco has forged a unique career path.

Taking this interview as he attempts to complete a four-year overdue tax return, Di Francesco is not your typical contemporary musician. Not feeling the pressure to release tracks as often as possible has helped him focus on doing it just for the love of music, which is perhaps one of the reasons for his longevity and versatility in the business.

“I’d been doing electronic stuff at home and with Van She lead singer Nick Routledge for a while – that [music] wasn’t suited for the band,” Di Francesco says. “I knew the guys at Future Classic and we were talking about doing some new jams, so Anna Lunoe and I were able to put out ‘Real Talk’.”

HTRK Going Clubbing By Augustus Welby

S

ometimes it feels like we’re saturated with bundles of pop culture content every day.

The way people hurry to feast on the freshest online stimulus suggests content itself has superseded substance. Meanwhile, Melbourne/Sydney duo HTRK defiantly uphold patience as a virtue. Jonnine Standish (vocals) and Nigel Yang (guitar/electronics) make music that exhibits extensive compositional deliberation and encourages a distraction-free listening experience.

“Me and Nigel like to sit with our music for maybe longer than most people,” Standish says.

“It’s amazing what happens after several months. The song that was your favourite can soon start to grate on your nerves, or the song that you weren’t sure where to take it, several months later you realise it’s perfect exactly how it is. We’re not in a rush to play the industry game of releasing and pushing forward into the game, so having that extra time to reflect on music is kind of a freedom.”

HTRK formed as a trio in Melbourne in 2003 and the band’s moody noise experiments quickly became a talking point in underground circles. Then in 2009 the Rowland S. Howard-produced debut Marry Me Tonight brought the group major recognition. Early last month HTRK unveiled their third LP, Psychic 9-5 Club. The album is the first to be constructed without founding bass player Sean Stewart, who tragically committed suicide while they were based in London in 2010. Psychic 9-5 Club isn’t a drastic departure from its 2011 predecessor – the hypnotic and sometimes industrial Work (Work, Work) – but many of the tracks possess a warmth and immediacy they didn’t previously emphasise.

“The direction Psychic 9-5 Club has gone is probably how we were wanting Work to go,” says Standish. “The production of Work (Work, Work) was really infiltrated by what we had at our disposal.

It was really important that Sean played on the album. We were three-quarters of the way through when he died and we were left with a lot of demos, a lot of mp3s, so the whole album became quite murky and lo-fi.

34 :: BRAG :: 561 :: 07:05:14

“The idea for that album was that it was going to have more clarity.

We were looking at the producer of [Roxy Music’s] Avalon and the engineers for albums like that; [albums] that had leaner qualities and higher production values and a pop radio aesthetic.”

In 2012 Standish and Yang travelled to New Mexico to work with Nathan Corbin of New York experimental noise outfit Excepter.

The plan was to record an EP, but the constructive synergy established with Corbin meant that producing an entire album soon became imperative.

“I think me and Nigel took over five demos,” Standish remembers.

“Then, when we were with Nathan, we’d just be talking and the next minute Nathan would put down a synth line and then we’d all start working on top of it and we had some new songs. He’s just got a really intuitive and amazing way with sounds. He’s really precise and warm and clean.

“There’s something about the energy of three people compared to two,” Standish adds. “It’s kind of magical with three. It’s hard to fit in with me and Nigel because we’ve got ten years of making music in a bubble together. It’s really hard for someone else to enter that space.

Nathan’s perfect because he’s like a spiritual cat. You know how cats know when to approach you or when to back off a bit? He’s a bit like that.”

Given that HTRK have successfully stood apart from prevalent contemporary trends since day one, it’s rather surprising to hear Standish note a pop influence. Rest assured there’s no commercial agenda behind Psychic 9-5 Club, but it does sound altogether brighter.

“Once you realise that there’s no career in music and that that’s all a mirage, it’s so fantastic because you can really just get on with the pleasure in music. Every band’s got all the same stories of tragedy and near misses and near fame, and it’s so fantastic when you can actually just step back from that and make music at your own pace. That can be really fast or it can be really slow – it just doesn’t matter.”

“Once you realise there’s no career in music and that’s all a mirage, you can really just get on with the pleasure.”

A solo career was never a goal for Di Francesco, despite dabbling in electronic sounds for years and being well connected with the likes of Future Classic, who put out Touch Sensitive’s best-known tune, ‘Pizza Guy’, last year. “The fallout from ‘Pizza Guy’ was a bit unexpected but it hasn’t changed my life – I’m still wearing the same shoes,” he says. “I used mostly computer- and softwarebased sounds on that record, but I felt bad because I had all this beautiful, old gear just sitting there.

“I tend to use those softwarebased elements because when I walk into the studio, I instantly know that I prefer working at home as that’s where I’m most comfortable.”

An impulsive and expansive record collector, Di Francesco has a solid plan in place to ensure he

can never lose songs on forgotten hard drives or USBs. “I always buy vinyl instead of MP3 singles, because otherwise I’ll just lose the track and forget I had it. That means if I forget I bought the song, I can go record shopping through my own collection and be able to rediscover it later.”

Coming through on Touch Sensitive’s music are distinct disco and house infl uences inspired by the genres’ different incarnations from the ’80s to the early ’00s. It’s a feeling particularly prominent on his latest work, ‘Slowments’. “I really like Change, Paul Johnson and Italo-disco,” he says. “I’m also a fan of the late ’90s and early ’00s house, and jazz fusion as well.”

As he turns his attention to performing alongside Cut Copy this month, as well as making his way to Byron Bay for this year’s Splendour In The Grass, Di Francesco explains his method behind his aim of putting together a timeless and notable mix.

“Making the mix for the Solé Fixtape series for example [in 2013], I didn’t want to do only new or old songs because that dates it straight away,” he says. “If you can make it ambiguous as to when the mix was made, that’s the key.”

What: Splendour In The Grass 2014 With: Outkast, Two Door Cinema Club, Childish Gambino, London Grammar, Buraka Som Sistema, Nina Las Vegas, Sable and many more Where: North Byron Parklands, Byron Bay When: Friday July 25 – Sunday July 27 And: Also supporting Cut Copy at the Metro Theatre, Thursday May 8

HTRK are clearly determined to make sure all of their output has an enduring quality. And despite how insular it may sound, they also pay close attention to audience reactions.

“It’s very important that our music has a longevity to it,” Standish says. “I think that might be our overly romantic side – wanting people to revisit our music at different times in their lives.

It’s certainly something we’re interested in. We’re conscious of our fans listening to our music and what effect it will have on them.”

Refraining from making hasty decisions certainly yields creative rewards on Psychic 9-5 Club.

It’s not quite a buoyant record, but it makes for a meditative and imaginative listening experience.

This aligns with the album title’s conceptual basis.

“Towards the end of the album we had this space in mind, the kind of club that this music would exist or be played [in]. We were talking about great new dance music scenes [that] come out of new street drugs and that hasn’t happened for a while. We envisioned a place that, if there wasn’t any drugs but you could get to a higher consciousness, what music would be in that club?” We can only enter Psychic 9-5 Club to find out.

What: Psychic 9-5 Club out now through Ghostly International With: Alba & Guerre, DJ Spiral Sounds Where: Civic Underground When: Saturday May 10

thebrag.com

Deep Impressions Dance And Electronica with Chris Honnery

Prosumer photo by Michael Mann

Prosumer

P

anorama Bar resident Prosumer, who hails from Saarbrücken in south-west Germany, will DJ at The Spice Cellar on Saturday May 31.

Achim Brandenburg drew the Prosumer pseudonym from Alvin Toffler’s novel The Third Wave (you’re across that, right?) and has established himself as one of the most knowledgeable DJs on the club circuit, earning a regular spot at Panorama Bar. Drawing on the soulful sensibility of early Detroit and Chicago records, Prosumer has released on revered labels such as Running Back, Playhouse and Ostgut Ton, collaborated with Tamo Sumo, and put out his debut album Serenity – a joint work with producer Murat Tepeli – in 2008. Prosumer’s Panorama Bar 03 compilation was released a few years back to widespread critical acclaim (not least on this hallowed page), collating gems from Morgan Geist, Jeff Mills, Uwe Schmidt, Theo Parrish and showcasing the discerning club eclecticism that dancers can expect from him in a few weeks at Spice Cellar. A man of taste and integrity (close cousins, it must be said), Prosumer went on the record as saying he “would love to see everything being less about hype and more about passion for music … I wish there to be more people not looking at the media to tell them what is hot but to go out there and experience and fi nd out themselves.” Though in this case, it’s a good thing you’re looking to the media for guidance as I can direct you towards Prosumer’s forthcoming show. Be careful of biting the hand that feeds, Mr. Brandenburg.

courtesy of his iconic series of Black Cock edits that were pressed throughout the ’80s and ’90s, his marathon DJ sets at his Sarcastic Disco warehouse gigs and his studio work as Locussolus. Harvey has also remixed LCD Soundsystem, Lindstrøm, Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr’s criminally underrated Electronic outfi t. His Wildest Dreams album was originally recorded a few years back in a mere week, drawing its inspiration from the LA skyline, which we all know looks better with some razzmatazz under your belt. The album is apparently laden with guitars, drums and Harvey’s own vocals. You can wrap your ears around it when it drops in late July.

DJ Harvey has an album in the works for Smalltown Supersound under the name Wildest Dreams. Harvey is a venerated fi gure in the club sphere,

Wolfgang Voigt, a co-founder of the canonical Cologne label Kompakt, is set to release a new album called Rückverzauberung 9: Musik Für Kulturinstitutionen. Following on from last year’s Die Zauberhafte Welt Der Anderen that he co-produced with his brother Reinhard, Wolfgang’s forthcoming release is an experimental, ambient affair, recorded as part of his sound installation at an exhibition at the Berlin’s Haus der Kulturen (oh come on, you don’t need me to translate that do you?). Voigt buffs should be aware that the album’s release will be limited to a run of 500 and will be available on Voigt’s Profan label from Monday July 7, which is a date to mark d own in your techno diary if you want to ensure you’re one of the lucky ones.

DJ Harvey

Berlin-based producer Phonique has just released a 23-track ‘best of’ compilation on Steve Bug’s Dessous label, entitled – wait for it – Best Of Phonique. Phonique has been crafting quality deep house for 17 years and has notched up over 100 releases, establishing himself as a club producer of note with his surfeit of EPs while exploring soundscapes more suited for home listening/lounge lazing throughout his three artist albums. Both sides of Phonique’s sonic persona are represented on this anthology, with two collaborations with Norwegian Erlend Øye from The Whitest Boy Alive and songs such as ‘Trouble’ showcasing more downtempo and at times jazzinfused motifs. These tracks are counterbalanced with club-oriented cuts such as the Gui Boratto co-produced ‘Blindfolded’ and a Tiefschwarz remix.

Arthur’s Place

SE U O H S HI ULES HIS R

by Ben Eadie directed by ruth fingret Featuring Aaron Nilan, Dominic Witkop, Matt Jacobsen, Steve Vincent, Timothy Parsons, Jamie Merendino and Cait Burley

Tap Gallery Theatre 278 palmer st, darlinghurst May 7TH - 1oth @ 7pm may 11th @ 3pm

TIX $25 ON THE DOOR | $20 PRE BOOKING | www.trybooking.com/ERXL

LOOKING DEEPER SATURDAY MAY 10 HTRK Civic Underground

FRIDAY MAY 23 DJ Sotofett Goodgod Small Club

SATURDAY MAY 31 Prosumer The Spice Cellar

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

BRAG :: 561 :: 07:05:14 :: 35

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

SATURDAY MAY 10

Prok & Fitch

Marquee

Prok & Fitch 10pm. $28.60.

WEDNESDAY MAY 7 CLUB NIGHTS

DJ Tom Kelly Goldfish, Kings Cross. 11pm. free.

Justwax - feat: Ben Ashton The Spice Cellar, Sydney.

9pm. 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: Various Local And International Acts World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. $5.

Whip It Wednesdays - feat: Various DJs Whaat Club, Kings Cross.

9pm. free. xxx

THURSDAY MAY 8

CLUB NIGHTS

$5 Everything Scubar, Sydney. 5pm. free.

Goldfish And Friends - feat: Regular Rotating Residents Goldfish, Kings Cross. 10pm. free.

Kicks World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. free.

Lights Out Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney. 8pm. free.

Loopy - feat: Drty Csh + Daschwood + Generous Greed + Guest DJs The Backroom, Kings Cross.

10pm. $12.

Octavian Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10.

Physical Education - feat: Various DJs Flinders Hotel, Surry Hills.

10pm. free.

Pool Club Thursdays - feat: 36 :: BRAG :: 561 : 07:05:14

Resident DJs Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney. 5pm. free.

Red Bull Music Academy feat: Egyptian Lover Goodgod Small Club, Sydney.

8pm. free.

Solarium - feat: Solarium DJs And Live Acts Goodgod Small Club, Sydney.

9pm. free.

Spice Thursdays The Spice Cellar, Sydney.

10pm. free.

The World Bar Thursdays World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. free.

FRIDAY MAY 9 CLUB NIGHTS

Argyle Fridays - feat: Resident DJs The Argyle, The Rocks. 6pm. free.

Chaingun Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10.

DJ Marty Wentworthville Leagues Club, Wentworthville. 9pm. free.

Eyemaze Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $15.

Factory Fridays - feat: Resident DJs Soda Factory, Surry Hills.

5pm. free.

Fred V & Grafix - feat: Royalston + A-Tonez + Bassix + Linken + Axe + Struz + Ncrypt Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $25.

Fridays - feat: DJ Morphingaz + Grant Lewers + Pistolshrimp + Bernie Dingo + Stacie Todo + Kit Lennon + Toby Neal + Sam Wall + Benny B Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly.

8pm. free.

Frisky Fridays Scubar, Sydney. 5pm. free.

K-Note Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $18.40.

Koné Express Venue 505, Surry Hills. 6pm.

$21.

Loco Friday - feat: Various Live Bands And DJs The Slip Inn, Sydney. 5pm. free.

Max Amini’s Official Before Party - feat: DJ Kazillion + DJ Efm Metro Theatre, Sydney. 10pm. $23.

Moonshine Fridays Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney. 7pm. free.

Mum - feat: Fait Accompli + De’Kcuf + Makeout Kids + Claire And The Cops + March Of The Real Fly DJs World Bar, Kings Cross. 8pm. $10.

Nick Thayer Chinese Laundry, Sydney.

9pm. free.

Soft & Slow - feat: Junglesnake The Spice Cellar, Sydney.

10pm. free.

The Empire Strips Back (A Star Wars Burlesque Parody) Enmore Theatre, Newtown.

9:30pm. $59.

Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney.

7:30pm. $32.80.

Picnic One Night Stand feat: Tornado Wallace Imperial Hotel, Erskineville.

8pm. $15.

Plastic Nightclub - feat: Burn Antares + Cull + Los Tones + Miners + Dead Brian + Live Painting From Jack Irvin Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $13.30.

Sienna Saturdays - feat: Resident DJs The Establishment, Sydney.

9pm. free.

Soda Saturdays - feat: Resident DJs Playing Disco And Funk Soda Factory, Surry Hills.

5pm. free.

Video DJ Shayne Alsop AKA Sloppy Mounties, Mount Pritchard.

8pm. free.

Wildcatz PJ’s Irish Pub, Parramatta.

9pm. free.

SUNDAY MAY 11

AG Civic Underground, Sydney.

8pm. $40.

Morse Gang Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach. 8pm. free.

MONDAY MAY 12 CLUB NIGHTS

Crab Racing Scubar, Sydney. 7pm. free.

DJ Mattia Goldfish, Kings Cross. 11pm. free.

TUESDAY MAY 13

CLUB NIGHTS

Clash - feat: DJs Harper + Dave Kirby Candy’s Apartment, Potts Point. 10pm. free.

La Fiesta - feat: Samantha Fox + Agee Ortiz + Av El Cubano + Resident DJ Willie Sabor The Establishment, Sydney.

CLUB NIGHTS

Chu World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. free.

DJ Robin Goldfish, Kings Cross. 11pm. free.

p send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com

FRIDAY MAY 9

Tornado Wallace

Fred V & Grafix - feat: Royalston + A-Tonez + Bassix + Linken + Axe + Struz + Ncrypt Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $25.

K-Note Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $18.40.

Max Amini’s Official Before Party - feat: DJ Kazillion + DJ Efm Metro Theatre, Sydney. 10pm. $23.

Nick Thayer Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 9pm. Free.

Soft & Slow - feat: Junglesnake The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 10pm. Free.

SATURDAY MAY 10

AG Civic Underground, Sydney. 8pm. $40 AG

HIP HOP & R&B

8pm. free.

Martini Club And Friends feat: Ocky + Tom Kelly Goldfish, Kings Cross. 10pm. free.

S.A.S.H Sundays - feat: Inxec + Mike Callandar + Owen Howells + Matt Weir + Kerry Wallace Flyover Bar, Sydney. 2pm. $10.

Sundays In The City - feat: Various DJs The Slip Inn, Sydney. 12pm. free.

U-Khan + Murat Kilic The Spice Cellar, Sydney.

9pm. free.

Prime Suspect Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm.

Free.

John Devecchis The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 7pm. Free.

Klub Kids Does The Laundry - feat: Kid Kenobi + Audiobotz + Ramske + Slappin Plastic + U-Khan + Raulll + Hannah Gibbs + Ed Wells + DJ C-Bu + DJ Eko Kato Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 9pm. $24.60.

SATURDAY MAY 10

Picnic One Night Stand - feat: Tornado Wallace Imperial Hotel, Erskineville. 8pm. $15.

HIP HOP & R&B

Plastic Nightclub - feat: Burn Antares + Cull + Los Tones + Miners + Dead Brian + Live Painting From Jack Irvin Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $13.30.

DNA Carousel Inn Hotel, Rooty Hill.

8pm. free.

Prime Suspect Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. free.

CLUB NIGHTS

Cakes - feat: 4 Rooms Of Live Music + DJs And International Guests.

World Bar, Kings Cross. 8pm. $10.

El’ Circo - feat: Resident

SUNDAY MAY 11 S.A.S.H Sundays - feat: Inxec + Mike Callandar + Owen Howells + Matt Weir + Kerry Wallace Flyover Bar, Sydney. 2pm. $10.

thebrag.com

Xxx

club pick of the week

Circus Act Performers Slide Lounge, Darlinghurst.

7pm. $109.

Endless Summer Beach Party Epping Hotel, Epping. 10pm. free.

FBi Hands Up! - feat: DJ Clockwerk + Special Friends With Benefits FBi Social, Kings Cross.

11:30pm. free.

Hazmat Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 10pm. $5.

Infamous Saturdays - feat: Live DJs Scubar, Sydney. 7pm. free.

John Devecchis The Spice Cellar, Sydney.

7pm. free.

Klub Kids Does The Laundry - feat: Kid Kenobi + Audiobotz + Ramske + Slappin Plastic + U-Khan + Raulll + Hannah Gibbs + Ed Wells + DJ C-Bu + DJ Eko Kato Chinese Laundry, Sydney.

9pm. $24.60.

Marquee Saturdays - Prok N Fitch Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $28.60.

Masif Saturdays Space, Sydney. 10pm. $25.

Midnight Pool Party - feat: Jordan F Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach. 8pm. free.

Muddy Feet Overlander Hotel, Cambridge Park. 7pm. free.

My Place Saturdays Bar100, The Rocks. 8pm. free.

Pacha (Sydney)

snap

state of mind

PICS :: AM

up all night out all week . . .

chance waters

PICS :: AM

02:05:14 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex St Sydney 8295 9999

30:04:14 :: Beach Road Hotel :: 71 Beach Rd Bondi Beach 9130 7247 OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER

thebrag.com

BOA S :: JAMES AMBROSE :: MARK

DO :: ASHLEY MAR ::

BRAG :: 561 :: 07:05:14 :: 37

snap

collusion: dj premier + pete rock

PICS :: AM

up all night out all week . . .

cinco de mayo pre-party

PICS :: MB

03:05:14 :: The Hi-Fi :: 122 Lang Rd Moore Park 1300THEHIFI

04:05:14 :: Flyover Bar :: 275 Kent St Sydney 9262 1988 38 :: BRAG :: 561 :: 07:05:14

tom piper

PICS :: AM

s.a.s.h sundays

PICS :: AM

02:04:14 :: Marquee :: The Star Sydney Pyrmont 9657 7737

04:04:14 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex St Sydney 8295 9999 OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER

BOA S :: JAMES AMBROSE :: MARK

DO :: ASHLEY MAR ::

thebrag.com

DON’T MISS THESE STARS OF THE SYDNEY COMEDY FESTIVAL!

GREG FLEET THE GAMES MASTER ★★★★★ THE SCOTSMAN “TALES THAT PULL THE AUDIENCE TO

THE EDGE OF THEIR SEATS ONLY TO BREAK THAT TENSION WITH PUNCH LINES THAT CAN CAUSE SNORTING” SNORTING”

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PETERBERNER N SEEN O T O N AS

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‘HANDS DOWN HILARIOUS’ SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

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Critics Pick Tues 29 April– –Sat 3, Tues 6– –Sat 10 M May ay • 9:45 9:45pm Harold Park Hotel

JOOAN RIVERRS

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Rock

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ENMORE THEATRE • FRIDAY 9 MAY 7:15PM NO SHOWS SUNDAYS OR MONDAYS sydneycomedyfest.com.au 02 9020 6966