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www.themusic.com.au
Kings Cross Ink is a decadent high end tattoo and body piercing parlour that will give you an experience like no other. From the rock and roll vibe, to the plush furnishings, ornate ceilings and luxurious settings - coupled with the creativity and professionalism of Australia's most talented tattoo artists and leading piercing experts - the service you will receive here is unparalleled. All nestled within the glitz and glamour of Sydney's most vibrant suburb... Kings Cross. Open 10 am till 2 am Private VIP tattoo room available TV Show starts filming in two weeks Charity tattoo day coming soon Studio available for photo shoots 63 Darlinghurst Road Kings Cross NSW 2010 T +61.(0)2.9332 1110 info@kingscrossinktattoo.com.au www.facebook.com/KingsCrossInk
THE DRUM MEDIA • 3
th f e or ha m rperl hoy te
l
900 PRINCES HIGHWAY, TEMPE PH: 9559 6300 www.valvebar.com.au WED 12TH 7PM
THURS 14TH 7PM FRI 15TH 7PM SAT 16TH 12PM
SAT 16TH 7PM
SIGNACION MUSIC PRESENTS
2FIVE
HIP HOP SHOW WITH SUPPORT FROM SOUL SOLUTION, LEX, LUKE PICKLER, ANDREI BOYD, Q BAL, DJ DA-V
SNUFFMUSIC PRESENTS
HORRORCORE/GRIME WITH PHILEC
WITH SUPPORT FROM THA INSANE JESTA, SERIAL SADIST, HOMICIDE FEAT HYPE MAN, TOM E GUNZ, GROUP PERFORMANCE BY KMF
“DARK C3LL”
INDUSTRIAL SHOW WITH SUPPORT FROM: “CELEBRITY MORGUE” , “MODERN MURDER” , DJ ZOTTY SHUDDER - X
“WAKE THE GIANTS”
CORE SHOW WITH SUPPORT FROM: “PAST IS PRACTICE” , “HIVEMIND” , “TENPENNY TOWERS” , “EMERGENCY SYNDROME” , “ADVERSARY”
METAL THRASHING PRESENTS
“AVARIN”
METAL SHOW WITH SUPPORT FROM “SABERTUNG” , “ATOMESQUAD” , “FENRIR”
SUN 17TH 5PM
“THE BIG MISCHIEF”
ROCK SHOW WITH SUPPORT FROM “DAMAGE INC” , “MIRRORS IN ICELAND” , “ANGELS OF THE TATTOOED GENERATION”
COMING UP:
Tue 19 June - Homeground Heroes Band Competition; Wed 20 June: Hip Hop Show with Ronikal and many more ; Thu 21 June: Rock Show with: “Colonel Bizzarre” and many more ; Fri 22 June: Rock Show with: “Upside Down Miss Jane” , “Here Is The Milfs” , “Lab 64” , “Hounds Of Hiroshima” ; Sat 23 June: Grindhead Records present: Death/Grind Show with: “Whoretopsy” , “Festering Drippage” , “Roadside Burial” , “New Blood” , “Exekute” , “Daemon Foetal Harvest” ; Sun 24 June: 12pm: School Of Rock showcase; 4pm: Rock Show feat: “Outsane” , “Lycanthrope” and many more
For band bookings please email valvebar@gmail.com
Bistro open Lunch and Dinner !! 4 • THE DRUM MEDIA
CERTIFICATE, DIPLOMA & DEGREE COURSES IN:
Film Production Audio Production Electronic Music Production FINAL PLACES AVAILABLE FOR JUNE INTAKE – APPLY NOW
O F N I E R O FOR M w.sae.edu.au VISIT: ww
DU
SAE E 0 0 8 1 : L L CA
THE DRUM MEDIA • 5
LIVE
EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT IN THE POLO LOUNGE Friday 15th June Jacinta Gulisano with Darren Mapes on Piano 8pm to 10pm 10pm DJ David Smith Friday 22nd June Hugh Munroe with Sigourney on Piano 8pm to 10pm 10pm DJ David Smith Friday 29th June Mary Kiani 8pm to 10pm 10pm DJ David Smith
FREE ENTRY
134 OXFORD STREET DARLINGHURST 2011
Monday 11th June
WED 13/06
Tues Wed
TRIVIA WITH KEVIN $500 PRIZE POOL
Weekly Jackpot 7.30pm
Open Mic Night 7.30pm
BYO Instruments (PA Provided) Rock up to play
Thurs 7 June
OPEN MIC NIGHT
Fri 15 June
THE ROCK BROTHERS + JASON ANDRISKE
7pm FREE 7.30pm FREE
Ultimo TAFE Showcase THUR 14/06
Eora TAFE Showcase
FRI 15/06
Sat 16 June For Bookings
+ LEICHHARDT INTERNATIONAL UKESTRA + ZED BLUNT
+ Leek & The War Wick Tragedy
Sun 24/06 Spooky Men’s Chorale EP launch + Kate Rowe Sat 30/06 Sunset Riot Fri 6/07 Simone Felice + Josh Ritter Sat 7/07 Cafe Of The Gate Of Salvation with some members of Dig (Directions in Groove) The Fumes Sat 14/07 The Heavies Sat 21/07 Dave Graney & The mistly
SAT 16/06
7.30pm FREE
james@thelaunchsquad.com.au | www.thelaunchsquad.com.au
Steve Edmonds Hendrix & Heroes
FRI 22/06
Barry Morgan
6 • THE DRUM MEDIA
Sat 23/06 Sydney French Choir & C’est Si Bon
Hugo Race & The True Spirit Fri 13/7
+ MICK RAVEN
BORIS DRIVER
Coming Soon
themusic.com.au
Fri 10/08 Fred Smith Sat 11/08 The Foreday Riders ‘45th Anniversary’, with Ray Beadle, Lez Karski, John Power, Andrew Reid, Phil B. Colson, & Bridie King
JACKSON FIREBIRD + RIVER OF SNAKES Wednesday 13th June
(CANADA) HARRY MANX + YESHE Thursday 14th June
PENNY & THE MYSTICS + ALLOWAY + KIRRAKAMERE Friday 15th June
THE STRIDES + DECLAN KELLY Wednesday 20th June
GIMME SHELTER AN EVENING WITH SAM CUTLER
(ROAD MANAGER OF THE ROLLING STONE & THE GRATEFUL DEAD)
Friday 22 June Carus Saturday 23 June Ray Beadle Sunday 24 June Bon Chat, Bon Rat Tuesday 26 June The Audreys Duo Wednesday 27 June Valley Floor Saturday 30 June A Tribute to Dylan Sunday 1 July New Empire Saturday 7 July Hotel California Sunday 8 July Holland Thursday 12 July The Fumes
Sunday 15 July Jason & the Lyrebird Thursday 19 July Sarah McLeod Saturday 21 July Emma Pask Saturday 27 July Peter Northcote Wednesday 1 August Bryce Cohen Thursday 2 August Bones Atlas Saturday 4 August Classic Rock Show Sunday 5 August Holland Friday 10 August King Tide
KITCHEN OPEN LATE FRIS AND SATS DELICIOUS LATE NIGHT TAPAS 16 CROSS ST, DOUBLE BAY BOOKINGS - 9328 4411 WWW.BLUEBEAT.COM.AU
OPEN UNTIL 3AM FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS THE DRUM MEDIA • 7
mondays
thursdays
fridays
ope open pen m mic icc night nig gh ht
Mark Ma Mark kC Ca Cashin ashin ashi hin h n
from 8pm from 8pm m | free free entry entryy
from m 9pm 9pm m | free fr fr ree ee entry een ntry ntryy
everyy thursday every thursda thursdayy in n june ju jun ne
llate ate at te night niigh n htt llounge oung ge e dj’s d j’ss & mc’s mc’ss
saturdays
sundays
monday–friday
late night lounge dj’s & mc’s
salsa party & class
from 9pm
subscribe to receive the latest hrc sydney news & events
8 • THE DRUM MEDIA
& The Th hee Lil’Hussys Lil’H Li ’Hussys Husssys
from 8.30pm | free entry
fr from rom om 9pm 9ppm m
happy hour
2 for 1 cocktails, wine & beer 5-7pm
harbourside, darling harbour • +61-2-9280-0077 hardrock.com/sydney • find us on • follow us on
may2012
register r egister early early to o play play g gs@ @h ha ardro ockca afe.co om m.au gigs@hardrockcafe.com.au
THE DRUM MEDIA • 9
TUESDAY 12 8.00PM FREE ENTRY!
SONGWRITERS ASSOCIATION:
WEDNESDAY 13 7.00PM FREE ENTRY!
STATE OF ORIGIN II: GIANT SCREEN + FREE HOTDOGS
THURSDAY 14 7.00PM $15.00 (PRESOLD) $18.00 (DOOR)
FRIDAY 15 7.30PM $10.00 (DOOR)
SATURDAY 16 8.00PM $15.00 (DOOR)
OPEN MIC
+ LIVE BLUES JAM IN THE FRONT BAR!
OVER REACTOR
(EZEKIEL OX & CORY BLIGHT) + SHINOBI + BEGGARS ORCHESTRA
CORPUS + CHALK EATERS + ALL MY ALIEN SEX FRIENDS + CODY MUNRO MOORE (LET ME DOWN, JUNGLEMAN)
NE OBLIVISCARIS (ALBUM LAUNCH)
+ GODS OF EDEN (EP LAUNCH) + PARADIGM + KATABASIS
COMING SOON: KUNVUK MACABRE (USA) BASEMENT (UK)
‘GOBOOKEM.COM’
CNR OF GEORGE + SWANSON ST
ERSKINEVILLE 3 DOORS FROM THE RAILWAY STATION
P 9565 1441 ROSEOFAUST@BIGPOND.COM
FRI 15TH JUNE
STATE OF
ORIGIN
MATCHES
9PM
SATELLITE V
Satellite V is a five-piece band that plays Rockabilly, Hillbilly and Jump Blues. They have been playing their special brand of Rockabilly combining their original music with the authentic sounds of the 50s to creat a unique hybrid of Rock n’ Roll. If yo like the infectious rhythms of Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Johnny Burnette or Roy Hall, then Satellite V, will satisfy your need for dancing and rock n’ rhythms. The boys have released 3 CD’s, ‘Hail Bop’, ‘Satellite Boogie’, and ‘Hillbilly Safari’.
10 • THE DRUM MEDIA
SCHOONERS AT MIDDY PRICES UNTIL FIRST TRY FREE PIZZA AT HALF TIME NOW TUESDAY TO SATURDAY
$10 - $15
STEAK &FROM RIBS 6PM
LEVEL 1 RESTAURANT ONLY
COOGEE SUN JULY 29
Jeff Lang PLAYING 2 SETS “He’s one of Australia’s most gifted musicians…” (John Butler)
TRIPLE SHOTS OF ORIGINAL ROCK SAT JUNE 16
Monte + The Sahara Sound + The Adaptors SAT JULY 14
Crows Feat + Release the Hounds + Overpass SAT AUGUST 18
Crows Feat + Karmic Dirt + Paris Club Tickets & info from www.coogeediggers.com.au
COOGEE DIGGERS 9665 4466 CORNER BYRON & CARR STREETS
USE ME.
Y B R E D R E L L O R LEAGUE
SYDNEY
2SER AND DRUM M
EDIA PRESENTS:
BEAUTY SCHOO L VS TEAM UNKICNOORCKOUTS AND SAS VS D’V N IANTS
JUNE 23 WITH SPECIAL GU ESTS THE
JORDAN C THOM AS BAND
SYDNEY OLYMPIC PARK SPORTS CENTRE
TICKETS AVAILABLE
FROM TICKETDIRECT.COM.AU
FOR MORE INFO: WWW.SYDNEYROLLERDERBY.COM FOLLOW US ON WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/SYDNEYROLLERDERBYLEAGUE PROUDLY SPONSORED BY:
8 0 P Y R M O N T S T, P Y R M O N T N S W 2 0 0 9 ;OL :[HY 7[` 3PTP[LK ()5 ;OPUR (IV\[ `V\Y JOVPJLZ *HSS .HTISPUN /LSW ^^^ NHTISPUNOLSW UZ^ NV] H\ ;OL :[HY WYHJ[PZLZ [OL YLZWVUZPISL ZLY]PJL VM HSJVOVS .\LZ[Z T\Z[ IL HNLK `LHYZ VY V]LY [V LU[LY [OL JHZPUV
12 • THE DRUM MEDIA
BELINDA JONES AND CO. SYDNEY DERBY SKATES AUDIO TECHNICA
F JU RI N 15 E
AT THE BREWHOUSE SYDNEY’S NEWEST LIVE MUSIC VENUE
PRESENTING FAMOUS AND UP AND COMING ARTISTS IN A STYLISH AND COMFOTABLE ENVIRONMENT
The Ocean Master Tour Direct from the USA
WWW.LIVEATTHEBREWHOUSE.COM.AU
Tickets $15 + bkg free liveatthebrewhouse.com.au or 1300 783 118
22 The Promenade, King Street Wharf, Sydney NSW
My name is Alfredo Malabello and I am the director of a new live venue called “Live At The Brewhouse”. The venue is based in the lower level area of a very large brewhouse/pub ‘The King St Brewhouse’ on the boardwalk directly in front of “wharf 4” - King St Wharf. The Brewhouse attracts over 6000 people per week. The live venue, Live At The Brewhouse, has a capacity of 350 people standing OR 150 people for dinner & show with an extra 100 standing. It is a great sounding room with a great feel and a great tech crew. We are situated 7 mins walk from Wynyard train station and 50 mteres from King St Wharf/Darling Harbour Ferry. Apart from our website, Facebook, and database...One of the main things that we offer you is ‘In House’ promotion of your gig every 10 minutes 14 hours per day on 8 large screen TVs to 6000 people per week. With a 6 week run-up, that means your event will be heavily promoted to approx 36,000 people. We will be presenting well established artists, up and coming artists, jazz and blues artists, stylish and eclectic alternative bands, world music artists - all are welcome here. We offer a great deal for every artist and we also offer quality stereo and multitrack recording - perfect for recording a live album. Please email - info@liveatthebrewhouse.com.au
M A 9 NE E L JU A S 4 ONHU 1 T
WINNER
Sydney’s Best Comedian, Time Out 2011
WINNER
Bulmers People’s Choice Award, Melbourne Comedy Festival 2010, 2011 & 2012
WINNER
Helpmann Award for Comedy 2010
“a man in black on a bare stage spinning every thought he has into comedy gold”
Herald Sun 2012
SYDNEY COMEDY STORE, FROM 30 AUGUST comedystore.com.au, ticketek.com.au or 9357 1419 THE DRUM MEDIA • 13
GIVEAWAYS
30
THE SANDRINGHAM HOTEL 387 KING STREET NEWTOWN / 9557 1254 S YEAR WWW.SANDO.COM.AU BOOKINGSCONTACT SANDO@ATOMICDROP.COM.AU WWW.MYSPACE.COM/THESANDRINGHAMHOTEL
WED 13 JUNE
MAUX FAUX
THE DOTCOMS GET CUTE
$10
+ LINES OF CHARLIE + BLINK 182 TRIBUTE WITH THE MIKE, CAM AND ALEX SHOW + TEN THOUSAND FREE MEN & THEIR FAMILIES FREE STREET LEVEL BAR:
OLD MAN CROW
WITCH FIGHT + SNAKETIDE + ANATTA + DOING IT FOR THE MONEY + DJS TILL LATE
THU 14 JUNE
Melbourne three-piece Dotcoms have a debut EP, Janie Got Super Cute, and they are so keen to share it with the rest of the nation that, for starters, they’re heading up the Hume to showcase it in person Saturday at Spectrum. We have two double passes to the show to give away.
$10
RAGE TURNS 25
No one imagined, 25 years ago when it began, that ABCTV’s rage would make it to its Silver Jubilee but here it is. To celebrate, ABC Music/Universal Music have got together a 2CD/DVD selection, rage Silver Jubilee: 25 Years, covering, on CD, 37 tracks, while the DVD gives a snapshot across 36 tracks. We have five copies to give away, the winners to collect them from the Drum office.
MENISCUS
+ SCREENS + ALITHIA + SOLKYR STREET LEVEL BAR:
SAT 16 JUNE
FREE
T H E D R U M M E D I A I S S U E 1 1 1 4 T U E S D AY 1 2 J U N E 2 0 1 2
$10
FREE
VIDEO JUKE BOX “OUTSPOKEN PRESENTS”
"SISTA SOLIDARITY"
$12
(FUNDRAISER FOR SISTERS INSIDE)
NAOMI WENITONG WITH LADY ZEBRAKEYZ
+ SKY HIGH + ALPHAMAMA + SHE-REX + POETIC TRANSITION + MADAME WU + LOMAS + SARAH CONNOR + VERITY COX + DAWN LAIRD + EXEKREYE ***DOORS OPEN 7:00PM***
STREET LEVEL BAR:
SUN 17 JUNE
FREE
DAVE TICE AND MARK EVANS 4PM - 7PM DJ KAKI 8PM-LATE “1-94 BAR PRESENTS”
$10
TERRY SERIO & THE MINISTRY OF TRUTH + THE NATURE STRIP + COUSIN BETTY (EX-LIME SPIDERS)
FREE
STREET LEVEL BAR: LUCY DESOTO AND THE HANDSOME DEVILS
EVERY MONDAY STREET LEVEL BAR:
EVERY TUESDAY
“SANDO SKETCH CLUB”
FREE
UNHERD OPEN MIC “THE SONGWRITER SESSIONS”
FREE
STREET LEVEL BAR: ADAM PRINGLE AND FRIENDS - FUNKY AS F#CK + TOOHEYS $6 NEW JUGS (7-8PM)
COMING SOON FRI 22 JUN ---
KRISS HADES
+ TRIBUTE TO BLACK SABBATH + ART SHOW
*** WWW.MOSHTIX.COM.AU ***
FRI 29 JUN ---
EDDIE SPAGHETTI
(THE SUPERSUCKERS) (USA)
*** WWW.MOSHTIX.COM.AU ***
SAT 30 JUN --FRI 6 JUL --SAT 7 JUL --SAT 4 AUG ---
DESERT SESSIONS 2012
*** WWW.ZOMBIEDOGENTERTAINMENT.COM ***
GOATWHORE (USA)
*** WWW.MOSHTIX.COM.AU ***
"SANDO CALLING" A TRIBUTE TO THE CLASH
TIM BARRY (AVAIL) (USA)
*** WWW.MOSHTIX.COM.AU ***
----------------DJ’S BISTRO-----------------
OPEN 7 DAYS SERVING GREAT PUB FOOD ALL NIGHT 14 • THE DRUM MEDIA
Unearthed back in 1999 by triple j, singer-songwriter Amber Cashel has been busy writing, recording and touring the country, averaging 110 shows a year, and it’s there, on stage, that her latest album, Tape Decks & All These Pleasures, really comes alive, as she’ll prove Saturday at Ryan’s in Thirroul and Sunday at The Oakes in Albion Park. We have four copies of that album to give away, winners to collect their CDs from the Drum office.
FOR MORE GIVEAWAYS THIS WEEK HEAD TO FACEBOOK.COM/DRUMMEDIA AND CLICK ON THE GIVEAWAYS TAB
STREET LEVEL BAR: JONATHAN DEVOY + SPECIAL GUESTS
FRI 15 JUNE
AMBER TAKES THE ‘GONG
DRUM MEDIA
Giveaways – Check it out for free stuff and head to Facebook for more! 14 The Front Line hits hard with industry fact and conjecture, plus Backlash and Frontlash. 16 Foreword Line – the latest news on tours, releases and more. 18 The Bamboos don’t want to be genre-driven, they just want to be the band that they are. 24 Trial Kennedy reflect on the past ten years as they hand in their boots. 26 “It’s finally clear to us where we are at,” say The Black Seeds. 28 Graveyard Train embrace death, mortality and human frailty. 29 Silverstein embrace their inner cover band. 30 Ned Collette of Ned Collette & The Wirewalkers moved out of his comfort zone for his new LP. 30 Hugo Race’s new album is not just about silly love songs, as he explains. 32 Michael Kiwanuka chats about touring with Adele and working with Communion. 32 “I’ll admit it, I really hate the name Buried In Verona,” laughs bandmember Richie Newman. 34 Bambino Koresh use their experiences of immigration as inspiration. 34 Even chat about making musical friends. 34 Nadia Ackerman gives advice to those thinking about moving to New York. 34 On The Record reviews new release albums and singles from Metric, Tallest Man On Earth and more. 36 Chris Maric gets local with hard rock and metal in The Heavy Shit. 38 Sarah Petchell brings us local and international punk news in Wake The Dead. 38 The electronica’s a little leftfield and the soul’s futuristic with Huwston giving us Bebop & Rocksteady. 39 PUBLISHER Street Press Australia Pty Ltd GROUP MANAGING EDITOR Andrew Mast EDITOR Mark Neilsen ASSOCIATE EDITORS Michael Smith, Scott Fitzsimons FRONT ROW EDITOR Cassandra Fumi frontrow@drummedia.com.au CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Adam Curley EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Celline Narinli CONTRIBUTORS Aarom Wilson, Adam Wilding, Alex Hardy, Amber McCormick, Anita Connors, Anthony Carew, Bethany Small, Brendan Crabb, Brent Balinski, Bryget Chrisfield, Celline Narinli, Chris Familton, Chris Maric, Craig Pearce, Cyclone, Dan Condon, Danielle O’Donohue, Dave Drayton, Fiona Cameron, Gloria Lewis, Guy Davis, Helen Lear, Huwston, Ian Barr, Jake Millar, Jamelle Wells, James d’Apice, James Dawson, James McGalliard, Jessie Hunt, Katie Benson, Kris Swales, Liz Galinovic, Liz Giuffre, Lucia Osborne-Crowley, Mark Hebblewhite, Paul Smith, Paz, Pedro Manoy, Rip Nicholson, Rob Townsend, Robbie Lowe, Ross Clelland, Sarah Petchell, Sebastian Skeet, Sevana Ohandjanian, Shane O’Donohue, Steve Bell, Stuart Evans, Tim Finney, Tom Hawking, Troy Mutton PHOTOGRAPHERS Angela Padovan, Carine Thevenau, Chaz Webb, Cybele Malinowski, Josh Groom, Justin Malinowski, Kane Hibberd, Linda Heller-Salvador, Luke Eaton, Tony Mott
themusic.com.au
James McGalliard gives us tales from the mother country in London Fields. Viktor Krum asks you to Get It Together with the latest in hip hop. Dave Drayton gets Young & Restless with all ages goings on. Adam Curley muses on all things pop culture The Breakdown. Cyclone gives you urban and r’n’b news in OG Flavas. Michael Smith delivers some Blow with jazz and world music news. Go south as you enter Pedro Manoy’s Swamp Shack. Dan Condon features the world of blues and roots with Roots Down.
39 40 40 40 40 41 41 41
FRONT ROW
Check out what’s happening This Week in Arts. Paul Andrew meets the Joker and Prometheus is reviewed before we have SFF-inspired Cultural Cringe. 42 Sam Hobson chats to Michael Spiccia about SFF film, YardBird before Dave Drayton chats to Tom Wrights about The Histrionic, opening at STC this week. Back by popular demand os SFF column CineBarr. 43 Cabin in the Woods is reviewed, Dave Drayton chats to Anthea Williams about Old Man, and Ian Barr finds out about the art behind Movie Trailers, a forum at the SFF festival Hub. 44
LIVE
It’s all here: gig reviews, tour guide, what’s happening this week, gig guide, random shit and more. 45 Backstage and BTL – your guide to studios, recording, gear, courses and more. 54 The Classies – need a singer/bassist/drummer/any other service/product you can think of? Your answer is here. And on iflog.com.au. 57 ADVERTISING DEPT sales@drummedia.com.au Brett Dayman, James Seeney, Andrew Lilley iflog.com.au
CLASSIFIEDS
ART DEPT artwork@drummedia.com.au Dave Harvey, Matt Davis COVER DESIGN Dave Harvey ACCOUNTS DEPT accounts@streetpress.com.au GIVEAWAYS/GIG GUIDE Justine Lynch THE DRIVERS Grant, David, Julian, Ray, Paul, Al, Mark PRINTING Rural Press (02) 4570 4444 DISTRIBUTION distro@drummedia.com.au SUBSCRIPTIONS Subscriptions are $2.20 per week (Minimum of 12 weeks) – Send your details with payment to Subscriptions Dept, The Drum Media, PO Box 2440 Strawberry Hills NSW 2012 (cheques/money orders to be made payable to Dharma Media Pty Ltd) ADDRESS Postal: PO Box 2440 Strawberry Hills NSW 2012 Street: Level 1/142 Chalmers St Surry Hills NSW 2010 Phone (02) 9331 7077 Fax (02) 9331 2633 Email info@drummedia.com.au www.themusic.com.au The Drum Media is also available on iPad via the iTunes App Store
LEVEL 1, 354 BOURKE ST. SURRY HILLS ST PLEASURES
LIFE’S GREATE
AND MUSIC GREAT FOOD LIZOTTE’S SYDNEY O OF MARRYING TW
BUY NOW AT THUR 21 JUNE
02 9984 9933 AWARDED BEST ENTERTAINMENT RESTAURANT IN SYDNEY
14 & 15 JUNE 16 JUNE 17 JUNE 20 JUNE
21 JUNE 22 & 23 JUNE 24 JUNE
Harry Manx Mental As Anything Nadia Ackerman Drum Media & Lizotte’s presents Live and Local Juzzie Smith Diesel W O N Carus Thompson N PE
SELECT 7TH B'DAY
FEATURING SELECT MUSIC ARTISTS CHARITY FUNDRAISER FOR BEYONDBLUE DOORS OPEN 6PM. FREE ENTRY ALL NIGHT. PANAMA
DEMONS TO DIAMONDS, OLLIE BROWN DJ: KRISTY LEE RAPIDS
02 4368 2017 14 JUNE
15 JUNE 16 JUNE 17 JUNE
20 JUNE
21 JUNE 22 JUNE 23 JUNE
Busby Marou – SOLD OUT! Mental As Anything James Blundell Brian’s Famous Jazz & Chilli Crab Lunch Lizotte’s presents Live and Local Rose Carleo Juzzie Smith Carus Thompson
I KNOW LEOPARD, FEEDING EDGAR DJ: BERT & BERNIE ART OF SLEEPING
ALL THE COLOURS, ANABELLE KAY DJ: PHDJ
GREY GHOST
15 JUNE 16 JUNE 20 JUNE
22 JUNE 23 JUNE 24 JUNE
Calling all artists for Live and Locals! Contact events@lizottes.com.au Lizotte’s Sydney 629 Pittwater Rd Dee Why
Lizotte’s Central Coast Lot 3 Avoca Dr Kincumber
Lizotte’s Newcastle 31 Morehead St Lambton
w w w . l i z o t t e s . c o m . a u
SAT 23 JUNE
GREY GHOST
IRON BAR HOTEL, 1929INDIAN
DJ: F.R.I.E.N.D/S
RED INK
14 JUNE
FRI 22 JUNE
ART OF SLEEPING
02 4956 2066 AWARDED BEST ENTERTAINMENT RESTAURANT IN AUSTRALIA
Celtic Divas Think Rock ‘n’ Food Trivia James Blundell Abbasback Wednesday Night Big Band Mental As Anything Juzzie Smith Menopause The Musical
SAT 16 JUNE
RAPIDS
LIZOTTE’S NEWCASTLE
13 JUNE
FRI 15 JUNE
PANAMA
O
LIZOTTE’S CENTRAL COAST
JAM PRESENTS
FRI 29 JUNE
RED INK
9PM DOORS DJ: KRISTY LEE
COMING UP THE CRACKS, SEA LEGS, PHEBE STARR, DANCING HEALS, HOLLAND, HEY GERONIMO, THE DEER REPUBLIC, GHOSTS OF YORK, TESSA AND THE TYPECAST, I AM APOLLO
UPSTAIRSBERESFORD.COM.AU OR 8313 5050 FOR GIG INFO HAPPY HOUR BEFORE 8PM FRI & SAT. DINNER & SNACKS AVAILABLE
PRIVATE BOOTH & VENUE BOOKINGS 8313 5000 THE DRUM MEDIA • 15
THE
FRONT LINE
URTHBOY
FRESHLY INKED Tim Levinson – aka Urthboy – has signed a worldwide publishing deal with Albert’s. Levinson had previously managed his own rights and brings his whole back catalogue and all future works to the publishing house. That includes his three solo albums and five albums with veteran hip hop collective The Herd, of which he is a founding member and primary songwriter. Levinson is currently working towardsthe release of his fourth solo album, due in October through Elefant Traks, which he co-founded in 1998, and recently released the album’s first single, Naive Bravado, featuring Daniel Merriweather. The news comes barely a week after Albert’s signed Josh Pyke on a publishing deal. Meanwhile, Oh Mercy have called their new album, Deep Heat, and will release it Friday 24 August. The Melbourne-based outfit, who have been recording the album in Portland, Oregon, have also announced they’ve inked a deal with Ameri-
GRINSPOON REVEAL ALBUM DETAILS FROM LA
Grinspoon’s frontman Phil Jamieson revealed details of the band’s seventh studio album to theMusic.com. au last week. The record will be called Black Rabbits and is slated for a September release. Hardcore fans might have guessed the name given it’s the title of guitarist Pat Davern’s blog, which they are updating during the recording. Currently recording in Los Angeles studio The Bank with producer Dave Schiffman, in something of a postcard, the frontman said: “Hello buddies. Grinspoon are currently bunkered down in Los Angeles recording album 7. We are recording with Dave Schiffman (the Bronx, Weezer, BRMC) in a studio called The Bank. We are going to track 14 songs after an exhaustive 2 year writing process when over 60 songs were composed. Those poor rejected songs all by themselves make me feel sad. Kristian is enjoying Korean taco stands. I am enjoying Olde English 800. Joe is enjoying the hockey (go Kings) and Pabst Blue Ribbon, Pat is enjoying whole foods, Trader Joes and hiking. Some of the crazy song titles so far include Just A Sound Beaujolais Carnies Make The Best Friends. That last one isn’t actually a song title, I just thought of it then. It would probably make an excellent tune though. We will be back around September annoying y’all with album 7. Till then, Philip. P.S. The album is called ‘Black Rabbits’. x”
LABEL CONFUSION OVER CALEXICO ALBUM RELEASE
Confusion has surrounded details of the Australian release for Americana folk outfit Calexico’s new album – and their first in four years – Algiers. A press releases from record label Epitaph’s Australian office was circulated announcing that the band had signed to Anti-, who are distributed by Epitaph and therefore Warner in Australia – and that the album would be released Friday 14 September. However the next day a press release from Spunk Records was sent out that claimed that they will be releasing the album Friday 7 September. The presser was essentially the same as Epitaph’s, but with different letterheads and Spunk’s made no mention of the Anti- signing. After contacting both labels, theMusic. com.au confirmed that Anti- have signed the band, but Spunk Records have the license to release the album in Australia and New Zealand. Spunk’s distribution is handled by Cooperative, who utilise Universal’s channels.
THE AUDREYS RALLY AGAINST LIVE EXPORTS
Taasha Coates and Tristan Goodall, the core of Australian adult-alternative ensemble The Audreys, have come out
INDUSTRY NEWS WITH SCOTT FITZSIMONS frontline@streetpress.com.au
can indie label Bad Cop Bad Cop after meeting at this year’s South By Southwest showcase. Bad Cop Bad Cop’s Michael Nieves said, “We couldn’t possibly be more excited to welcome Oh Mercy to the Bad Cop Bad Cop family. We have long admired their fantastic music and Alexander and the band have written and recorded their strongest and most infectious songs to date. Oh Mercy is a career artist and we are thrilled to be partnering with them on the release of Deep Heat.” Also, Brisbane’s Millions have signed to Stop Start, with the indie label – distributed through EMI – set to release their debut EP, Nine Lives, Six Degrees, Friday 22 June. The band has been around for less than 18 months, but in that time they’ve been Unearthed by triple j, played Splendour In The Grass, Big Day Out and enjoyed a number of support slots. The band has risen on the back of three singles, Those Girls, Guru and Slow Burner, all of which will appear on their upcoming EP. Stop Start’s head Andy Bryan said, “It’s really exciting to be working with Millions and I couldn’t be happier that they are joining our local roster. I love the songs they’ve delivered thus far; this debut EP is just a taste of what is to come. There is an aesthetic and energy about the music and it just feels like they are a band of the future both in Australia and overseas.” Furthermore, Saskwatch have signed with Melbourne indie label Northside Records with their album to be released in August. The band’s Liam McGorry said, “We’re incredibly excited to be signing with Chris [Gill] and Northside Records. Not only are they our favourite record store, but have been a supporter of local music in Melbourne for over ten years. It’s also a privilege to be the first release on their label.” in their opposition against Australia’s live export of sheep and cattle. The two musicians have appeared in a video for People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) where they discuss their issues with the treatment of animals once they have been shipped out of Australia. They’ve also appeared in a new advertisement for PETA, appearing with a lamb with the caption “Do It For Her. Ban Live Export.” “I’m afraid that if we wait for the government or the industry to implement reforms that will alleviate the suffering of millions of sheep who are exported alive, we’ll wait forever,” Coates said in a statement. Last month the group announced they were partnering with PETA for their Cool, Calm And Collected tour, which they’re undertaking in support of their new Collected compilation.
WILL.I.AM: ‘CODING IS THE NEW RAP’
Will.i.am, global pop superstar with his band The Black Eyed Peas, Intel’s Director of Creative Innovation and “technology activist”, has claimed that computer coding is the way of the future. At an invite-only panel for Vivid Ideas at the Museum Of Contemporary Art on Thursday 7 June, the musician went as far as to compare the art of coding to rap and said that the spread of recognition will spread as rap spread out of America. Using a tagline “Code is dope”, he said, “Code hasn’t spread around the world yet, it’s the new thing. But it needs discipline.” He added, “When I see a coder it’s like pirates finding the Caribbean, it’s like a whole new thing.”
EMMA LOUISE’S EP GOES GOLD WITH 35,000 SALES
Brisbane songstress Emma Louise is enjoying a very nice welcome home present following her recent overseas travels – her debut EP, Full Heart And Empty Rooms, has officially gone Gold according to theMusic.com.au. The Gold certification means the EP, which features her breakout single, Jungle, and was released last year, has scanned 35,000 units.
SHOCK RECORDS LAUNCH NEW HARDCORE PUNK LABEL
Shock Records have launched a new label imprint, Halfcut Records, which will focus on punk and hardcore artists. Shock, which has released records from The Bronx and Bring Me The Horizon in the past, will use Halfcut as a home for their priority heavy releases. The label launched with three signings, the new-look UK outfit Gallows, Sydney pop-punk crew Heroes For Hire and emerging outfit (also from the UK) While She Sleeps. The new label will be helmed by Shock’s General Manager
of Music Leigh Gruppetta, long-time Shock staffer Stu Harvey (although he had a brief stint with UNFD, before returning last year) with publicity from Genna Alexopoulos. Gruppetta said, “The punk and heavy music genres are certainly an area we have excelled of late so we believe the time is right to give these bands their own home. “Halfcut is the brainchild of Stu Harvey and under his watchful eye the Shock Records team will be pulling out all stops to continue this success. Stu is the best in his field, bar none, so we couldn’t be more excited about the long-term future of Halfcut for the business.” Meanwhile Shock’s parent company Regency Entertainment last week launched Regency Film Distribution, a “dedicated and fully resourced” division that will service independent films to cinemas around Australia and New Zealand.
LITTLE KNOWN ARTIST THE VOICE OF TOURISM AUS CAMPAIGN
Little known Tasmania singer songwriter Dewayne Everettsmith is the voice of Tourism Australia’s latest advertising campaign, which was launched in China by Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson. Part of the There’s Nothing Like Australia campaign, Everettsmith follows in the footsteps of Lara Bingle but with a TV ad that has a very different focus – this time they’ve gone high-end class over bikini-clad babes at beaches. The ad features the track, It’s Like Love, which was co-written by Everettsmith and American viola player Jasmine Beams, who collaborated through a Tourism Australia campaign. Although Everettsmith has a limited profile outside of the Tasmanian and Indigenous industries, the Skinnyfish Music-signed artist has supported Gurrumul, John Farnham and Archie Roach, performed for Oprah hanger-on Gayle King and is the national ambassador for the Save The Tasmanian Devil appeal. “The ads are beautiful, with very high-quality production, and to have co-written and be singing the soundtrack is awesome,” said Everettsmith, who is still working on his debut album. “What’s really special for me is the idea that here am I – a guy from just about the bottom of the planet, still to get my first album out – and my voice has just gone out there, around the world, singing to people about my country. I like that!” The self-branded pop/soul songwriter will head into the studio later this year to record his debut album, which will likely include a reworked version of It’s Like Love.
RED BULL COMP ANNOUNCES FIRST FINAL
The Red Bull Bedroom Jam’s first final, dubbed Red Bull Backyard Jam, has been announced. The event will be taking place over at Masketta Fall’s backyard on Saturday 7 July in the Southern suburbs of Melbourne. Masketta Fall, along with the other finalists Let’s Not Pretend, Your Ticket Home, Go Mason Go and Break A Leg will be rocking out on stage before headliners Stonefield wrap up the festivities for the afternoon. The winner will be decided by a panel of expert judges on the day and will win studio time to work on their next release. Entries for Round Two are now open.
BILLY CORGAN SIGNS DEAL FOR PRO WRESTLING REALITY TV SHOW Billy Corgan, the founding member and frontman of Smashing Pumpkins, is also the Creative Director of a
FLEETWOOD MAC GUITARIST FOUND DEAD
Bob Welch, who was guitarist in the mid-period preNicks/Buckingham incarnation of enormously successful rock group Fleetwood Mac, as well as a highly successful solo artist, has been found dead in his home with a shotgun wound to his chest. The 66 year old Welch was found by his wife Wendy in his Nashville home on Thursday 7 June, local time. A note was also found at the scene. Speaking to Reuters, Fleetwood Mac founding member and Welch’s former manager Mick Fleetwood called Welch’s death “shocking” and acknowledged what an enormous role he played in the band’s development. “He was a very, very profoundly intelligent human being and always in good humour, which is why this is so unbelievably shockin. He was a huge part of our history which sometimes gets forgotten... mostly his legacy would be his songwriting abilities that he brought to Fleetwood Mac, which will survive all of us,” Fleetwood told the news service. “If you look into our musical history, you’ll see a huge period that was completely ensconced in Bob’s work.” Welch joined Fleetwood Mac after Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer left the band in 1971 and stayed with the band until 1975, a year before they found their greatest commercial success. Though Welch enjoyed success of his own, with his 1977 album, French Kiss, achieving platinum sales status in the US. It’s reported Welch had been suffering from medical problems, information on which is not being divulged. Crisis counselling is available for those who seek help. Call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
SIMPLE PLAN FANS CRY AT CANCELLED GIG
Simple Plan fans were in tears at Sydney’s The Standard on Tuesday 5 June after a planned promotional gig for the Take 40 Live Lounge was cancelled at the last minute. The band claimed doctor’s orders meant that frontman Pierre Bouvier couldn’t perform. But while the intimate show for 300 punters, who had bought tickets through Debit MasterCard, didn’t take place, four fifths of the band showed up to mingle with the crowd, sign autographs and have a Q&A with the audience. During the Q&A the band said that Bouvier was in fact masturbating back at the hotel, much to the appreciation of the audience.
FRONTLASH
BACKLASH
The past week has seen announcements of new albums coming from the likes of The xx, Grizzly Bear, The Amity Affliction, Oh Mercy, Calexico, Jens Lekman and more. Looks like we’ll have quite the summer soundtrack lined up – and we’re still in the depths of winter!
Rolf Harris, Kylie, Gurrumul, an Aboriginal dance troupe, NSW Mounted Police precision drill… what, no Nick Cave, that other committed expat representative of contemporary Australian culture? Maybe QEII needs a copy of his latest novel to get what he’s really about. Knighthood?
GUEST APPEARANCES
MR TROLOLO
While The Black Keys have announced a second show in Sydney, let’s hope they’re working away in the background at getting as good a big name guest to perform with them as Johnny Depp, who performed alongside them at the MTV Movie Awards. And sorry guys, having Delta pop up like Train had just won’t cut it.
Internet legend Eduard Khil, also known as Mr. Trololo, passed away last week at age 77. A very unhappy day for Internet memes. That makes us a very sad Keanu.
NEW ALBUMS
music 16 • THE DRUM MEDIA
smallish wrestling promotion company out of Chicago called Resistance Pro. Having held a couple of events recently Corgan – who has a management role, rather than an inside-the-ring role – is now in talks for a reality program based around the running of a wrestling company. According to Prowrestling.net (via Stereogum) Corgan revealed that he’s been having talks with producers during an interview on MLW Radio. “I’m doing a lot of behind the scenes stuff,” he said. “We’re trying to get a reality show made. We just signed a deal with a big reality show producer. A guy with an incredible track record. We’re in good hands. We believe that wrestling is fascinating on many, many levels. Socially, politically, even economically. The struggles independent wrestlers go through to try to find work. Those are real struggles that anybody can identify with. We want to show what goes on in a wrestling company behind the scenes.”
themusic.com.au
JUBILEE REPS
THE DRUM MEDIA • 17
FOREWORD LINE
NEWS FROM THE FRONT
TOUR NEWS HYPNOTIC BRASS ENSEMBLE THE CAIROS
GET HYPNOTIC
STRAIGHT OUTTA EGYPT THE BLACK KEYS The Black Keys have added a second Sydney Entertainment Centre show Tuesday 23 October, their first show there Monday 22 having sold out. There are still tickets available for their Sunday 21 Newcastle Entertainment Centre show. The xx, who are releasing their new album, Coexist, Friday 7 September, have completely sold out their Friday 20 July Metro Theatre show. No additional show has been announced.
They’ve been touring non-stop around Australia since the release of their EP, Colours Like Features, and now Brisbane-based band The Cairos have announced a brand new batch of East Coast shows! They’ve really honed their live skill having supported some great bands including Bluejuice and Mute Math. They’ll be heading to The Patch in Wollongong on Wednesday 4 July, The Great Northern in Newcastle on Friday 6 and GoodGod Small Club on Saturday 7.
Steel Panther sold out their Friday 3 October Big Top Luna Park show in double quick time, so a second show there has been announced for Saturday 6. Joining Silverstein and their guests Skyway Wednesday night at the sold-out Bar 32 gig in Canberra are The London Town Fire, while it’s Divide And Conquer Thursday at Hot Damn, and Lycanthrope, We Built Atlantis and None But The Brave at the Entrance Leagues Friday night. Fresh out of Cleveland, Bee Mask, AKA Chris Madak, will be joined on his debut Australian tour by Pimmon, Secret Birds, Stitched Vision and Nigel Lee-Yang, when he takes to the Serial Space stage Friday night. Grammy legends and American country music heavyweights Kenny Rogers and Glen Campbell are heading our way sharing the headline billing, playing the State Theatre Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 August, and Newcastle Entertainment Centre Friday 24. Local four-piece The Rubens are hotter than hot right now and have sold out their Thursday 19 July Oxford Art Factory show so have announced a second show there the night before, Wednesday 18.
TUMBLEWEED
The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble will be returning to our shores, following up their first visit last year for the Harvest festival. Comprised of eight brothers from Chicago’s infamous South Side, the band will unleash their unique live show at the Oxford Art Factory on Sunday 29 July. Saskwatch will be supporting.
HOLY ROCKERS
Back in the ‘80s, Aussie pub-rockers, Heaven, have had some great runs, supporting international acts such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motorhead and many more both here and in the US. Reuniting after several years apart, the five-piece, sporting on this tour UK guitarist Rowan Robertson, will be bringing their hard-hitting rock-solid sound to the Byron Bay Brewery on Thursday 14 June, the Annandale Hotel on Friday 29 and Saturday 30, and Waves Nightclub in Wollongong on Sunday 1 July.
LOON LAKE
CHERRY-FLAVOURED GEM
triple j Next Crop artists Loon Lake have been busy writing and recording, and have now announced the release of their next single, Cherry Lips – a handclapping pop gem. The single gets released today and is available via iTunes. And of course, to celebrate, the five-piece will be heading out on the road and be visiting The Patch in Wollongong on Thursday 23 August, GoodGod Small Club in Sydney on Friday 24 and Cambridge Hotel in Newcastle on Saturday 25.
ACID LOOPS
FOR AULD LANG SYNE
Last week we announced that The Annandale Hotel would be holding a big old celebration for their 12th Anniversary, and they’ve now released ticket details. More artists have been added to the already fabulous lineup with the Auld Lang Syne festival featuring Tumbleweed, Front End Louder, 78 Saab, Smudge and Raise The Crazy, who all now join the party Friday 14 July. First release tickets are $30 plus booking fee and will go on sale on The Annandale’s website as of this Wednesday 13 June at 9am. Tickets are limited and will most probably sell out, but a second and third release of tickets will follow. Beef Jerk will be joining the already announced Sticky Fingers, The Medics, Underlights and Rapids Friday 6, whilst Kill City Creeps and Regular John join The Mess Hall’s only 2012 show Friday 13. Ticket information for each show is available on the Annandale website.
In Australia for the Splendour In The Grass festival, French electronic artist Yuksek has announced sideshows across Australia. Real name Pierre AlexanderBasson, his latest album, 2011’s Living On The Edge Of Time, was inspired by the numbness of life on the road, solitude and the constant need for creative exploration. He’ll be throwing acid loops and energised house beats your way at Oxford Art Factory on Thursday 28 July.
PLANET OF APES
Perth clubbing juggernaut, Big Ape, will be celebrating its first anniversary with a national tour. Big Ape has accumulated a bunch of artists to create a roster which he believes represents the origins of dubstep. Each artist will be bringing something new to the table, with an eclectic mix from roots to grime to garage and hip hop. The tour will feature Skream, Joker and Plastician, who will be collectively hitting up The Metro on Saturday 21 July for the birthday celebrations.
INGRID MICHAELSON
FEELING HUMAN
New York native and quirky vocalist Ingrid Michaelson returns to our shores for her second Australian tour this September. She’ll be bringing along her heartfelt lyrics and pristine vocals, and is ready to wow Australian audiences once more. Since her last visit, she has been working on her new record, Human Again, produced by David Kahne. Get wooed by Ms Michaelson at the Metro on Friday 14 September (all ages).
Travelling with Hugo Race as his support band with a couple of members also guesting with him, Melbourne’s Leek & The War Wick Tragedy will be putting on one headline show in their own right Sunday 17 June at Mars Hill Café. That one-man party machine that goes by the name Muscles delivers his second album, Road To Manhood, this Friday, but he’ll deliver it and more in person Saturday 23 June in the Cargo Bar and Saturday 7 July in Woodport Inn, Erina, on the Central Coast. Friday 29 June Sugar Army bring their Hooks For Hands tour to FBi Social in the Kings Cross Hotel, joined by Tom Ugly, Newcastle’s 1929Indian, Melbourne’s Udays Tiger and Ballarat’s Dark Ages. Nantes, who are hitting the road to big up their Unsatisfy remix EP, will finish that tour off at GoodGod Small Club Saturday 30 June with a little help from Tokyo Denmark Sweden, Danger Dannys and a DJ set from Tunnel Signs. Kiwi reggae trio House Of Shem are making their first trip across the Tasman to tour their latest album, Island Vibration, playing the Cambridge in Newcastle Thursday 26 July and The Standard Friday 27. Joining Children Collide when they hit the road in August on their Monument Tour are main supports, Brisbane’s Dune Rats, and opening act, Adelaide’s Bad Dreems, and you’ll catch them Friday 17 in The Standard, Thursday 30 at The Entrance Leagues, Friday 31 at the Fitzroy in Windsor, Saturday 1 September in the Wollongong Uni Bar and Sunday 2 at Zierholz in Canberra Uni. STEEL PANTHER
GEORGIA FAIR
FAIR AND SWEET
ILLY
Sydney duo Georgia Fair have released a new single, Blind, which they will be taking out on the road in July. The single is taken from the band’s debut album, All Through Winter, which features Band Of Horses’ Tyler Ramsay on piano. The album was recorded in the snow-covered mountains of Ashville, North Carolina. They will be launching the single at The Standard Friday 8 July with guests Dirt Farmer and Jack Carty.
MISSING BONES
Sydney electronic masters, Collarbones, are back with the sinister and heart-wrenching Missing. The track is taken from their forthcoming second album, due for release later this year via Two Bright Lakes/ Remote Control. The two-piece have had a busy year since their debut album, Iconography, was released, supporting the likes of Neon Indian and Daedelus and touring with labelmates Oscar + Martin, Ghoul (RIP) and many more. They’ll be launching Missing at The Gate (at Pablo’s) Saturday 23 June in Epping, all ages and with Swimwear, The Brass Monkey in Cronulla Sunday 24 with Bon Chat, Bon Rat and Letters To Lions, Terrace Bar in Newcastle Thursday 28, again with Bon Chat, Bon Rat at FBi Social in Sydney Thursday 5 July with Bon Chat, Bon Rat and Mr Maps.
GETTING OUT OF HARM’S WAY
Chicago’s Harms Way, who have been described as a “rewarding journey through the hardest of sonic assaults,” will be jumping on a tour with Sydney’s Phantoms this July/August in what will be a momentous hardcore package with two of the world’s heaviest outfits. They will be plundering their way along the East Coast for this very rare co-headline tour, so get yourself to the Tuggeranong Youth Centre in Canberra on Tuesday 31 July (all ages), The Cambridge Hotel in Newcastle on Wednesday 1 August, the Bald Faced Stag in Sydney Saturday 4 and Oasis Youth Centre in Wyong Sunday 5 (all ages). 18 • THE DRUM MEDIA
VAN SHE
TROPICAL DEATH
Notorious party lads, Van She, announced an Australian tour in support of their upcoming album, Idea Of Happiness, the band’s second, which is to be released Friday 6 July. The title track has been reintroducing punters to the band on radio (and on the interwebs) and the band are now dropping their second single from the record, Jamaica. With this announcement, the band said the track drops them into their “tropical deaths”. They’ll be visiting Zierholz at UC in Canberra on Saturday 7 July, the Cambridge Hotel in Newcastle on Sunday 8, Byron Bay Brewery on Wednesday 11 and The Metro in Sydney on Saturday 14.
THE FUMES
PLAYING DRESS UPS
The Fumes, the two-piece comprising of Steve Merry and Jacob Mann, who love a good old dirty, blues riff, have spent a bit of time in the studio to pen their new EP, Franky, due for release in August. But the duo have already given us a taste of what’s to come with their brand new single, Dance In Costume. They’ll be launching the single with a bunch of tour dates that sees them play The Brass Monkey in Cronulla on Thursday 12 July, Notes in Sydney on Friday 13 and The Heritage Hotel in Wollongong on Saturday 14.
themusic.com.au
BRINGING IT BACK
Off the back of his new single, Heard It All, emcee Illy has announced a huge national tour throughout August/September and has announced that his new album, Bring It Back will be released later this year via Obese Records! Illy will be diving into the Cambridge Hotel in Newcastle on Thursday 16 August, Bathurst CSU Uni Bar on Friday 17, The Roxy in Parramatta on Saturday 18, Zierholz at UC in Canberra on Friday 24 and The Standard on Saturday 25.
THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE?
Rumours have been floating around that yes, the zombie apocalypse is upon us. To celebrate this… invasion… The Vanguard will be holding a week of music dubbed Zombie Week. It all kicks off Tuesday 31 July with a screeing of Peter Jackson’s Braindead, presented by Vanguard Cinema. Wednesday 1 and Thursday 2 August, Mojo Juju’s Voodoo Hoodoo Show takes over the venue, and on Friday 3, The Heavy Rocking Zombie Pimps present Gay Paris. It all wraps up on the weekend with Zombie Prom Saturday 4 and a show by burlesque crew Jaded Vanities in Jaded Zombies Sunday 5.
NIGHT TERROR
Dark-synth heavyweights, The Night Terrors, have emerged from the depths of the studio and are ready to launch their brand new double A-side, Monster/ Lasers For Eyes, via OSCL Records. Since the release of debut LP, Back To Zero, in 2009, the Melbourne outfit have taken their theremin-fueled synthscapes across the world supporting the likes of Goblin, Hawkwind, Lou Reed and many more. Forces will take on main support duties for the tour, along with Null Object and Kirin J Callinan putting in a DJ set. They’ll be hitting FBi Social at the Kings Cross Hotel Friday 6 July.
THE DRUM MEDIA • 19
FOREWORD LINE
NEWS FROM THE FRONT
THREE SECOND MEMORY
Jamie Hutchings’ band, The Goldfish Memories, will be making a rare live appearance over a small run of shows across NSW and Victoria before jetting off to France to support the likes of Ty Seagull, Kid Congo Powers and more. They’ll be running through their old and new material, including music from their critically acclaimed album, Avalon Cassettes. Though this may seem merely a farewell string of shows, it’s also the celebration of the digital re-release of Hutchings’ entire back catalogue both with Bluebottle Kiss and as a soloist. Head along to The Phoenix in Canberra on Thursday 21 June with Waterford for a free show, and The Sandringham Hotel on Thursday 5 July.
JAMIE HUTCHINGS
FRIENDS
JOHN 00 FLEMING
J00F EDITIONS
Following a hugely successful 2011, John 00 Fleming is returning to Australia with his J00F Editions brand in September this year. Fleming is one of few artists that has maintained underground respect whilst enjoying commercial success during a career that has spanned almost a quarter of a century and has sold over 10 million records. With J00F Editions, Fleming plans to “return clubs to the clubber” in what becomes an era of guest DJ culture, true music and new talent. JOOF will be hitting The Academy in Canberra on Friday 31 August and Chinese Laundry in Sydney on Saturday 1 September.
20 • THE DRUM MEDIA
It’s 22 years since they released …ISH, a record still considered by many to be one of the great Australian debut albums of all time, 1927, seeing as the band has become a bit more of an ongoing concern in recent years, have decided this is a milestone worth celebrating and they’re bringing some friends from overseas to help them do just that. The Rembrandts will forever be known as the band who wrote and performed I’ll Be There For You, the theme song from Friends, and why not? It’s catchy as hell and, without being rude, we imagine it has earned them a pretty penny over the past 15 years or so. They have a whole heap of other songs too, you know, and they’ll be out here playing a fine selection of them in support of the aforementioned Aussies. Catch these two ‘90s wonders at Waves in Wollongong on Saturday 25 August and Enmore Theatre in Sydney on Friday 31.
COLLECTION OF LOVE
The Lovetones will be playing a very special show to launch the release of their collected works record, Provenance – Collected Works, which features 17 songs and a live DVD compiled from their five studio albums from
2002-2012. They’ll be playing your favourites and theirs at the Annandale Hotel in Sydney on Friday 22 June.
ACHTUNG!
Eclectic outfit, Bears With Guns, are set to launch their debut EP, Taken For A Fool. The record is produced by ARIA Award-winning producer Wayne Connolly (The Vines, Josh Pyke, You Am I) and features a colourful mix of instruments. To celebrate its release, the Bears will take to the stage at The Vanguard on Wednesday 4 July. The band will also be embarking on an East Coast tour of Australia in July/ August with tour dates to be announced shortly.
GOOD VIBRATIONS
Vibrations at The Valve will be hosting a band competition from Sunday 1 July through Sunday 21 October. The first prize winner will receive a feature interview in Australian Guitar magazine plus a support gig with Steve Flack’s Guitar Heroes, featuring our own Associate Editor Michael Smith on bass. All grand finalists will receive a high-res DVD copy of their stage performance. Entries are now open.
themusic.com.au
IN BRIEF Thursday sees the release of the new album, Keep Your Chin Up, from Melbourne’s Tim Willis & The End, while just out is the new album, Let’s Ride, from DJ and turntablist Krafty Kuts, while Monday 18 June sees the release of the debut EP, Play Hard, from Chicago’s Krewella. The Daimon Brinton Quintet release their new album, Wah Sa, Thursday 28 June. Hunting Grounds release their album, In Hindsight, Friday 6 July. Sydney four-piece The Laurels will release their debut album, Plains, Friday 13 July. Friday 20 July, Old Crow Medicine Show release their new and fourth album, Carry Me Back. Youth Group singer/songwriter Toby Martin steps out for his first solo album, Love’s Shadows, out Friday 27 July, on which day you’ll also see the soundtrack to the feature film version of The Sapphires, and The Soul Sessions Volume 2 from Joss Stone. Sydney three-piece Circle Make Music release their new album, The Middle, Wednesday 1 August, while Antony & The Johnsons release their first live album, Cut The World, Friday 3. Veteran Southern rockers Lynyrd Skynrd release their appropriately titled new album, Last Of A Dying Breed, Friday 17 August, on which day Yeasayer also release their new album, Fragrant World, Ricki-Lee releases her new album, Fear And Freedom, as do The Darkness their third album, Hot Cakes. America’s veteran rock’n’roll survivors Aerosmith release their new album, Music From Another Dimension, Friday 24 August, the same day Oh Mercy release their third album, Deep Heat. Alanis Morissette releases her new album, Havoc And Bright Lights, Friday 31 August.
THE DRUM MEDIA • 21
FOREWORD LINE
NEWS FROM THE FRONT
be touring in support of their new single, 547, off their EP, Enter The Motivational Sasquatch. They’ll be hitting up Newcastle’s Great Northern on Friday 15 June, Port Macquarie Hotel on Thursday 5 July, The Armidale Club on Friday 6, The Glasshouse at UTS in Sydney on Thursday 19, The Pacific Hotel in Yamba on Friday 10 August, Byron Bay Brewery on Saturday 11, Dicey Riley’s in Wollongong on Friday 17, PJ O’Reilly’s in Canberra on Saturday 18, The Townie in Newtown on Friday 24, The Old Manly Boat Shed on Saturday 26 and University of Lismore on Friday 31.
MILLIONS
ADOPTING MILLIONS
TRIPLE TIERED CAKE
EMI imprint label Stop Start Sign have adopted Brisbane band, Millions, into their family. The four-piece have also unleashed a brand new EP, Nine Lives, Six Degrees, which will drop on Friday 22 June, and they’ll be heading out on the road to celebrate these many successes, visiting Yours & Owls in Wollongong on Thursday 12 July, GoodGod Small Club in Sydney on Friday 13 and Transit Bar in Canberra on Saturday 14.
Go on a blind date with three of buzz acts, Jinja Safari, Opossom and White Arrows, who have collectively just released The Blind Date Tour EP - available for free download with every ticket purchase. It includes one song from each band including Jinja Safari’s Toothless Grin, Opossom’s Blue Meanies and White Arrow’s Roll Forever. Spoil yourself with a triple bill that hits ANU Bar in Canberra on Wednesday 15 August, Bar On The Hill in Newcastle on Thursday 16 and The Metro on Friday 17.
DJ CHIMES
ROCKABILLY QUEEN
UK producer, remixer and DJ Russ Chimes is coming to Australia for his first ever national club tour, and will bring his unique brand of electrifying pop/disco/ house to our shores for the first time since 2010. Russ has been remixing for artists like Mark Ronson, Booka Shade, Kelis and Marina & The Diamonds, and has established himself as a young star in the UK music scene. He’ll be playing at Soho Bar in Sydney on Saturday 14 July. Tickets will be available on the door.
RICE PARTY
Indie label Rice Is Nice are throwing a party! The Laurels, Straight Arrows, SPOD, Donny Benet, Richard In Your Mind, Shady Lane, the Seekae DJs and more will be partying out on Sunday 1 July at The Annandale Hotel. Plus, to entice you further, there will be a surprise set from a secret new Rice Is Nice signing! Doors open at 3pm with bands from 4pm. Presale tix are $10, otherwise it’s $13 on the door! Sweet deal.
OF MONSTERS & MEN
ICELANDIC BEASTS
Icelandic indie-folk outfit, Of Monsters & Men, will be making their first trip to Australia this year in July. The six-piece’s debut album, My Head Is An Animals, was released in April this year and went straight to number one on the US iTunes Alternative Chart. They’ve already generated a huge buzz in North America and Europe, so it’s our turn. Of Monsters And Men will be playing at Oxford Art Factory on Sunday 22 July.
FIASCO TOUR
Having just completed a successful seven-date tour, The Side-Tracked Fiasco have announced another string of East Coast shows. The funkcore band will
There’s no stopping Lanie Lane, already getting back on the road for her On My Own Track tour. Her debut offering, 2011’s To The Horses, is, as you should know by now, a collection of 11 songs that have a touch of early rock’n’roll, blues and rockabilly, and she’ll be busting them out on the tour, which will visit Lizotte’s Newcastle on Thursday 6 September, the Clarendon Guesthouse in Katoomba on Friday 7, the Heritage Hotel in Wollongong on Saturday 8, the Brass Monkey on Sunday 9 and Canberra Street Theatre Saturday 15. Tickets go on sale Friday 15 June at 9am.
THERE’S A GHOST IN HERE
Melbourne emcee, Grey Ghost, has added a couple more shows to his tour, in celebration of his latest offering, Ghost In The Machine Mixtape, a collection of bangers that you can download for free. Just head to www.greyghost.com.au. The emcee’s debut self-titled EP is also out now. Catch him at the following dates and venues: The Great Northern Hotel in Newcastle on Friday 22 June, Upstairs Beresford in Sydney on Saturday 23, and The Gallery Bar at Oxford Art Factory on Saturday 28 July.
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22 • THE DRUM MEDIA
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FUNK? SOUL? BROTHER…
GREAT ASIDES
The Bamboos have provided some great guest spots on Medicine Man and this also gave us a great excuse to re-live some of the best guests to date. Tim Rogers, Megan Washington and Daniel Merriweather are just the beginning. KLF feat. Tammy Wynette – Justified And Ancient Who else remembers having their little minds blown watching Saturday morning rage in the last decade of the twentieth century? Wynette was divine with the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu and, we still have no idea what it means, but damn it’s catchy. We’re still all bound and driving ice cream vans.
The Bamboos are a backing band of choice for voices of a generation and a band of first choice for those who simply love funk/soul with a contemporary flavour. However, as frontman Lance Ferguson confirms, there’s more the band than genre rules. By Liz Giuffre. Melbourne band The Bamboos regularly get rave live reviews and increasingly high profile screen soundtrack gigs with films like Crazy Stupid Love, and TV shows Grey’s Anatomy, One Tree Hill, Ugly Betty and local fave Underbelly. But their niche is one that they don’t necessarily sit in happily. “The Bamboos’ music is what it is and, I’m not an idiot, when you put on the record you can hear a soul side, but I think there’s a different intention behind it, too,” begins Bamboos bandleader (and ringleader) Lance Ferguson. “The soul kind of funk thing, as a label, as a pigeonhole, it seems like the hardest to escape from. Of course you can say someone’s a death metal band or whatever, but to me some of the great bands out there, my favourite bands, they don’t get those genre labels anymore, it’s just ‘That’s Foo Fighters’ or ‘That’s Radiohead’, or whatever. Now of course these are huge bands and I’m not saying we’re as big and as known as them, but I think it’s always good to aspire to whatever the best stuff is and the best standard is and to me, I aspire to having people just say, ‘That sounds like a Bamboos record’. I don’t want the band to be so genre driven; I just want us to be the band. I think this album [newbie, Medicine Man], as much as it’s got all these soul tracks on it, I think there’re a whole lot of other influences on it as well.”
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Ferguson doesn’t want to pay disrespect to the soul/ funk set (and indeed, he acknowledges how that scene has done him and his roster of Bamboos, well over the last five albums and decade), he is clear that it’s not all that he listens to. “When I write I don’t listen to funk and soul, I try to listen to other genres to get a different sound and while writing this time I was listening to a lot of psychedelic stuff, as well as just some ‘80s pop as well,” he says, conjuring up a curious idea for an iTunes playlist. “It’s not the genre so much, but more that the purists of soul and funk music are – and many of them are my friends so I feel I can say this – but they have a really strong set of criteria for what makes something good or bad or not and I guess I’m not interested in that criteria anymore. I really used to be, but now I just want the band to be what that is.” If you haven’t come across The Bamboos until now, it might be because they have recently got their indie Aussie Rock Pig on. Most notably, their gigs with the likes of Megan Washington and Tim Rogers as guest vocalists have gotten them out of the soul/funk ‘hood, but also helped provide their fantastic guests with a chance to rock out without needing to worry about their own words. “Megan’s been with us twice… We did a track on which was a cover version – a cover of James Blake’s Wilhelm Scream – and it’s obviously a gospel-ly, soul
take on the tune. But I didn’t want to have the same type of vocal on it, the soul diva type thing. I didn’t think at first that Meg would be available because she was moving overseas, but it worked out. Then I also had another song – all the music, a melody, some lyrics and some chords there – and then Megan came in like a whirlwind, as she does, with John Castle who also produced the album with me. She showed up in a whirlwind two days before she went to New York and did the cover and then she also said, ‘What else have you got?’ And so we worked on this other song that became Eliza, also on Medicine Man. And it’s a fantastic way to work because it’s really quick. It’s like, ‘Let’s write lyrics write here on the mixing desk’.” As for getting The Bamboos down with Tim Rogers, Ferguson also led with a relatively organic, but speedy, approach. “I went to Tim with the song but kept the creative book open, saying, ‘Look, if you want to change any of this, feel free. It is a song, but it’s a starting point’. Because Tim is a legend, he’s a living legend of Aussie music, I’d been hanging out with him a bit, especially when we were touring with Megan with the Big Day Out and stuff and he’s a lovely, charming guy. And I feel a bit a weird to go to him and say, ‘Here’s my song, just do that’. I didn’t want to come off as arrogant, I really wanted his input. But he thought it was great and said it really suited the headspace he was in at the time and so he of course, as you say, ‘Tim Rogered it’. We’d recorded it before he came into the studio and I’d demoed it up in a falsetto and I didn’t know how he’d do it, but it sounded best for him to put
“
Not counting indie rock vocalists on loan (as well as other guest vocalists on the album including Daniel Merriweather, Aloe Blacc, Bobby Flynn and Kylie Auldist), The Bamboos are currently a nine-piece touring troupe. It makes for a huge stage presence (and a logistical pain, no doubt). But it’s a size and sound that Ferguson continues to be excited about. “It is pretty massive. And that’s probably why we haven’t toured as much as we’d like to date, but hopefully with this record that will happen,” says Ferguson. “Having a horn section is the thing; that’s what blows the budget out. And we have an extra vocalist in the band now too – Ella Thompson – and I’ve recorded with her before and I think she covers the side of vocals that Megan does and she’s great; a really nice person to have in the band on a personal level as well. If nothing else, it’s great to have another girl in the band. Kylie [Auldist, regularly guest vocalist] is there as well, but she’s tougher than some of the blokes, so two girls on the stage, it’s great,” Ferguson says, bravely. Indeed, The Bamboos are becoming their own law, however they do remain a united front with a clear leader. It’s a role Ferguson takes purposefully and practically, but also one he does for the good of the collective. “The Bamboos as a band have tried writing a song together in a studio and that sort of thing can work and can be done, particularly if you have a four-piece. But with numbers like ours, it can get pretty weird being pulled eight or nine ways. It’s not that it’s my way or the highway, but I think that if someone has a clear vision then at least we have a place to start and work from there.” The “from
I ASPIRE TO HAVING PEOPLE JUST SAY, ‘THAT SOUNDS LIKE A BAMBOOS RECORD’. I DON’T WANT THE BAND TO BE SO GENRE DRIVEN; I JUST WANT US TO BE THE BAND.”
it in falsetto too and there’s something so special about his voice. People don’t always know it’s him, but it’s great, he is a soul man, really. And he really owned.” The process of being “Rogered”, as Ferguson puts it, is a key part to The Bamboos stretch beyond the bounds of genre, but again, one based on a broad musical love. In addition, like many of the music loving public who have also, musically (metaphorically of course) been Rogered, it was a thoroughly satisfying experience. Ferguson says it was validating having Rogers record the song. “I must admit I’ve been trying to develop my songwriting over these years and these albums and it defiantly was like having a stamp of approval, to have him record it as he did.”
there” is Ferguson’s want to keep it fresh. “It would be the easiest thing in the world for this album to just rehash what we’ve done in the past and do festivals and have that be it, but I feel like every album has to be a progression and I feel like I have to get in and be excited by the music. That sounds obvious, but I think the music has to keep advancing and I guess that’s it – we keep advancing it.” WHO: The Bamboos WHAT: Medicine Man (Inertia) WHEN & WHERE: Friday 22 June, Metro Theatre
U2 feat. Johnny Cash – The Wanderer The last track on the album that lots think saw the Irish super group jump the shark, this is the song that is worth reconsidering. At the time Cash was also in the relative between gig wasteland, pre-Rick Rubin’s American albums awesome, but post his own country music glory. It’s a strange exploration into borderline electronica for all involved, but a worthy one indeed. David Bowie feat. John Lennon – Fame There are so many reasons this is great, least of all because of the creepy sexy film clip. You know that these boys really knew what they were doing as they sang – and it’s the restraint in it that makes it so fantastic. Eminem feat. Dido – Stan The song that hit – and was hit back on. And of course, when Marshall Mathers was accused of hating on the gays, Elton John came to the rescue to take Dido’s place live and prove that all musicians are created equal. Forgive both of them their overexposure since and Dido’s breathy tone (you know you love it, secretly). This was chalk and cheese that worked a treat. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds feat. Kylie Minogue – Where The Wild Roses Grow A murder ballad where the prince of darkness met the princess of plastic. Word is that Michael Hutchence helped make it happen (yet another reason to love him) and the disc from where it came, Murder Ballads, also featured the gorgeous erotic goodness of Cave and PJ Harvey getting all Henry Lee in matching dark suits. Divine. Rufus Wainwright feat. Antony Hegarty – Old Whore’s Diet Epic and hilarious, this is a couple of boys seeing how far they can get before the listener loses it. And this track, which goes for nearly ten minutes, is both overblown and over the top, but also truly divine. Seek it out (but beware that Googling it while at work may get you some unwanted and potentially incriminating results).
$U5P ,FO0R 0GRA0BS VISIT WWW.WAGGA.NSW.GOV.AU
THE DRUM MEDIA • 25
DESIGN FOR LIFE Trial Kennedy are hanging up the boots, and guitarist Stacey Gray looks back at the last ten years with Danielle O’Donohue.
C
hristmas Eve 2006 young Melbourne four-piece Trial Kennedy took to the stage of Brunswick’s Evelyn Hotel. Earlier in the year the band had released a split EP The Birds And The Bees with fellow Melburnians Horsell Common and with two popular EPs already behind them, Present For A Day and Picture Frame, the band was on the rise. But Trial Kennedy didn’t just nail this headlining gig, they blew the crowd away. This was the moment the band went from being a first choice support band for top-notch local acts to owning a stage themselves. Their sound was bigger, their performances more assured and their confidence just rolled off the stage. Trial Kennedy had grown up. There have been a lot of miles covered in tour vans and on airplanes since then. In 2008 the band finally, after almost ten years of being together, released their debut album New Manic Art. After that album cycle bassist Aaron Malcolmson left the band and long-time friends and remaining band members Tim Morrison (vocals), Stacey Gray (guitar) and Shaun Gionis (drums) enlisted Richie Buxton and got ready to do it all again. In 2011 Living Undesigned hit the shelves and after touring the album on and off over the last 12 months the band have decided to hang up their boots. To make sure they’re going out in style Trial Kennedy have kicked off one last tour. While Gray says the time is definitely right to be bowing out, it feels like the band are doing it on their own terms. “It’s going to be a good little final tour,” Gray says. “It’s good to do it like that with all your friends and be surrounded by great people and not just go, ‘We’re breaking up’ and not play again. We’re stoked with what we’ve had and the people we’ve met and all we’ve achieved. There’s no unfinished business.” The band have sacrificed a lot in their ten years on the road. Gray remembers an early gig, one of the first times they’d ventured out of Melbourne; the band played an opening slot on a bill, got paid $100 and spent $600 on getting to the show.
“For everyone in our life it’s been number one,” Gray explains. “You put it ahead of everything you do for ten years. It’s like you’re giving away the thing that’s been most important in your life, but we’re all still best mates which is the most important thing. And it’s exciting as well. That door closes and a thousand more open.” For Gray it’s the people that he’s met along the way that have made being in Trial Kennedy such an important experience; the bands they’ve played with and the people they run into time and time again all around the country when they’re out on tour. “There’s no one thing that I think, ‘That was the pinnacle of our career’ but I think there’s heaps of things. It’s enriched my life tenfold. To be able to travel Australia and see everything and see a little bit of America and still be great friends with everyone in my band. Too many bands fall apart and then don’t talk. I think to be friends after everything we’ve been through – severe downs and severe ups. I think that’s a real testament.” But don’t be fooled by Gray’s insistence that the band are breaking up as friends. In ten years it hasn’t always been happy sing-alongs on the tour bus. “We’ve had some great barnies over the years,” Gray admits with a chuckle. “We’ve had some absolute crackers. Some alcohol-induced. Some just because we’re very passionate people. It’s healthy. If you kept everything inside, there’s no fire. You wouldn’t get to kiss and make up.
He didn’t speak to us for a week. It’s intensified. It’s like any environment - creative people especially. Creative people are very passionate because they’re very opinionated. You can’t expect everyone to think the same thing. If everyone agreed it would be boring.
“You get frustrated with people. It doesn’t matter who they are but you spend six weeks in a van with someone and the smallest little thing... I remember reading a thing on the Edge and he goes, ‘U2 will never break up over money or songwriting disputes or whatever, I definitely feel we’ll break up over who used my toothpaste tube on tour’. It’s the little things.”
“Trial Kennedy, without trying to sound cliché, we’re like brothers. We all tried to serve certain roles in our band. Shaun’s like the ideal child. If you had a child you’d want him to be Shaun Gionis. And then you’ve got Slick [Tim] and Richie who are obviously off in their own little world. They’re like your younger brothers who do stuff and you think, “Oh god.” And I play more like a mother and father role. I shepherd them.”
Though Gray has always been Trial Kennedy’s most laidback member, he’s more than happy to dish the dirt now. “I remember having an argument with Aaron [Malcolmson] over Caesar salad and he said it’s the fattiest thing you can eat and we said, ‘No, it’s not’.
Having had some experience as a tour manager, Gray says he can’t imagine looking after a band with ten or 15 members and says making sure everyone is where they need to be at the right time is the hardest about being
the band organiser. But it hasn’t all been early morning wake-up calls and endless stretches of highways. Trial Kennedy have had their rock star moments too, not that the humble Gray would ever own up to being a rock star. “We’ve had some crazy experiences. There’s heaps of really weird moments, stuff that you look back and go, ‘What the hell?’ We once played a gig at Parliament House on Australia Day. We are just four regular guys from Melbourne and you’re standing next to Kevin Rudd and Glenn McGrath and Natalie Bassingthwaighte. They’re the A-Listers. We’re just four bogans that are going, ‘Wa-hey, how ya goin’?’” WHO: Trial Kennedy WHEN & WHERE: Friday 15 June, Oxford Art Factory; Saturday 16, Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle
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Serenade of Silence, 10 Mile Stereo, Limo Wreck, Something Frank, Another Minute Past Midnight (AMPM), with special guests Sarah and Chris
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26 • THE DRUM MEDIA
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THE DRUM MEDIA • 27
FLAG IN THE SAND NZ reggae/funk/soul supergroup The Black Seeds have continually swept the world with their organic grooves. But as Barnaby Weir explains to Brendan Telford, it’s taken getting closer to home to really hit their stride.
T
he Black Seeds spend much of their time gracing festival stages and sweaty bar corners the world over, feeding off the energy of the audience. But everyone needs their downtime. For lead singer Barnaby Weir, it’s enjoying the last vestiges of sunshine before the New Zealand winter sets in. “Yeah it’s not bad, quite still,” he muses. “We’ve been able to make the most of it lately. Working from home is the new way forward!” Work, rest and play often mean the same thing for the workaholic six-piece. Such notions hold extra resonance now as they have fulfilled a life-long dream and acquired their own studio (Production Village in Mt Cook). The new environment has led to much
more ownership of their music, thus the creation of fifth studio album Dust And Dirt differs greatly from their previous endeavours. “Having our own space has been instrumental as far as the evolution of our sound,” Weir agrees. “It’s been some time since [2008’s Solid Ground] – we have released a live album, a remix album, some of the guys have had babies – and we felt it high time that we found our own space, to have a studio that is ours one hundred percent, where we can work how we want and jam. We even have mics in the kitchen – it’s a relaxed set-up that is the kind of upgrade we all really wanted. We took an extra year out from recording just to find the perfect spot. We’re really glad we did.” Much has been made of Production Village and Weir asserts that the environment perfectly matches the band’s personality whilst creating an atmosphere for them to breathe new life into their craft. “It’s certainly a humble little place and it’s nice to have a truly fresh start. We have a beautiful view out the window and it helps to add that feeling that we are progressing. But what it really means, the beauty of having this place, is that everything is set up. We can play and jam and record at absolutely any time. We can come across a chord, jam it out and press record with relative ease. Before, we had all this pressure to finish an album in a month. This style of recording doesn’t allow for reflection – you can’t do another take on a song, you can’t mull on things, you have to rush it and get things through. That has never really been the optimal way of doing things for us, so we now have the luxury of having more time to record, can do it at the drop of a hat and we can work on creating a more crispy, raw sound that doesn’t sound like it’s come from a studio. Our albums can now sound a little more live.”
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The Black Seeds have always been revered as a live beast; a band that revels in the electricity and unpredictability of the stage. It’s intriguing to think that Weir feels that it has taken over a decade to perfect when putting it all down on record. Having so much extra time to engineer Dust And Dirt, one would expect the production values to spiral in the other direction, hammering away and improving the art until the jagged edges of a live take have been buffed smooth. “Actually, you’d be surprised,” Weir laughs. “In this way we have been able to record all the rhythm section all at once – bass, drums, keyboards – then layer the other pieces over time. We still do overdubs and the like, but the house studio takes away some of that deadness that a normal studio room seems to leave on the record. I think that doing it on our own terms and in our own space has leant life to this record that may have otherwise been missing.” This level of possession leant itself to the production stage of the album too, as the band looked inward for quality control. “Mike [Fabulous, guitarist] took over the main duties and it was incredibly exciting,” Weir enthuses. “He has done recordings in the past, so we had faith that he was the right guy for this. Having it ‘in band’ also means you have more time to think, ‘No, that drum mic isn’t quite right, it needs to be moved here’ and you can play around with that. We experimented so much, with different sounds, mics, rooms and with so much time on our hands, we could just really go for it. No more halfguesses, or crossing the fingers – we could do things until we all agreed that it was the sound we were looking for.” This level of control could potentially kill one of the most organic factors of The Black Seeds dynamic – improvisation. Weir is quick to deflect such thoughts. “We started out as a jam-orientated band, but we have been together for some time now and have built up this huge collection of songs where we have too many to choose from for any one set. But we always allow the freedom for flow. In fact we have started to morph songs together into a kind of medley, which has presented us with another way of presenting our music. We will always work hard at the structure of a song, but we will never be afraid to move on from that. In fact, I feel we have to. We are part of the songs and vice versa.” Such a personal endeavour has helped the band to grow an even tighter bond, one that emanates throughout Dust And Dirt and spills out into their current live shows. “These songs have had more time to evolve, so we feel it represents us in a much more realistic way. It’s not strictly reggae – we have never sold ourselves as a strictly reggae band, ever – we have always held a mixture of styles and genres and we feel now that we can throw it all together and make a statement. It’s taken all this time to feel confident that we have an original sound and I think now we finally do. Looking back over the past years, we’ve gotten bigger, we’ve played more shows, we’ve certainly gotten better – it’s evolution, sure, but it’s finally clear for us where we are at. It’s time to put our flag in the sand.” WHO: The Black Seeds WHAT: Dust And Dirt (Remote Control) WHEN & WHERE: Saturday 16 June, Metro Theatre; Sunday 17, Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle
28 • THE DRUM MEDIA
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TIL DEATH DO US PART Melbourne’s morbid country exponents Graveyard Train haven’t turned their back on horror for new album Hollow, they’ve just worked out that everyday human frailties are every bit as scary as zombies or monsters. Frontman Nick Finch tells Steve Bell about embracing death and mortality.
A
nybody with even a vague eye on the Australian music scene would by now be conscious of Melbourne dark country overlords Graveyard Train, even if they’re just peripherally aware of them as that band with the strange instruments – plenty of bands have used washboards in the past, but who hits a hammer with a chain? – and football terrace gang vocals, singing depraved songs about things that go bump (and worse) in the night. They’ve become a prominent force on the live scene with their creepy aesthetic and gang mentality, but until now – despite having two solid albums under their collective belts – they haven’t really transferred this success into the recorded realm. That’s all about to change, however, with the release of their third album, Hollow. It’s a marked change for the band, denser and heavier on a sonic level and lyrically less reliant on the monsters and ghouls that plagued their previous work and more focussed on the aspects of day-to-day life that are the most frightening: primarily death, mortality and the incumbent fears of just being alive. So it’s still very much a Graveyard Train record, just one that strikes a little bit closer to home. “It’s a lot different to our earlier stuff – we’ve changed a bit I think, just for this record,” affable guitarist, vocalist and chief songwriter Nick Finch concedes. “We didn’t rationalise anything beforehand. We’ve been playing with a drummer since the last record [2010’s The Drink, The Devil And The Dance] came out – when that came out we didn’t have a drummer and we’ve had drums since then, so that’s changed our sound a bit. And we’ve been playing live so much and we get so fucking into it when we’re live that it made us feel like we needed to put more steroids into the songs or something. So it’s just like a natural progression. Josh (Crawley) the banjo player got a bit bored with his banjo so he’s been toying around with the electric guitar over the last year, so that came into it a fair bit as well. It was just where we’re all at at the moment and it just came out a bit more stompy and heavy than the last one. Less strings and trumpets and more telecaster.”
and the human condition. Songs about not having a soul and doomsday cults, we’ve gone less for the monster type of horror and more just the fucking horror inherent in the fact that everybody’s going to die – your life will end. Which is far more scary than a zombie or a vampire I think – it’s a bit more subtle and a bit more grown up for Graveyard Train, but in the end it’s far scarier than all of the older stuff.” WHO: Graveyard Train WHAT: Hollow (Spooky Records/MGM) WHEN & WHERE: Thursday 14 June, Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle; Friday 15, Metro Theatre; Saturday 16, Wollongong Town Hall; Sunday 17, Clarendon Guesthouse, Katoomba
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The band’s relentless touring ethic meant that they hadn’t had much chance to work on new material leading into the recording session. But once they had the date in their diaries, those creative juices began to flow again and in a more collaborative way than in the past.
There’s more to this story on the iPad “In a songwriting sense I went through a bit of a drought maybe a year-and-a-half ago, because we were just touring so much and when you get home from a big tour, the last thing you want to do is pick up a big guitar, you just want to fuckin’ curl up on the couch and cry and wish I was in an office job,” Finch laughs. “But we decided that it was time to put out an album, so we set a date and took all of these little niggling ideas we had into a rehearsal room and turned them into songs and finished them all off. A bunch of the songs on the album were written in the last six months, knowing that there’s an album to record. It’s just the way we work; it’s definitely the way I work. I work better with a deadline or I just get lazy and want to watch TV. “I didn’t [bring as many completed songs to the table] this time – that happened a fair bit more in the early days. A lot of them we really just jammed out in a rehearsal room, which we hadn’t done much before – because we tour so much we never really get to rehearse, we just sort of rehearse on the stage, so because we actually took three months off touring and made sure that we got into the rehearsal room twice a week, we just had fun developing the songs together. So there’s a bit more band input on this album as opposed to the other ones, which is probably why it’s so heavy and weird, but also why it’s so simple – it’s quite a simple live-sounding album. We didn’t worry about heaps of overdubs and strings and all that sort of stuff because we just wanted it to be a representation of where the band is now, playing live. Just us.” Bands with a renowned stage presence often find it hard to capture this camaraderie on tape in the studio, but Finch claims that Graveyard Train had no such concerns when it came to record the songs for Hollow. “It’s pretty fun. In the studio we set up to do it as live as possible – we kind of feed off each other’s energy – so we don’t really do much of that overdubby U2 thing. We set up as much as we can in the studio to be like we are onstage, just so we can get good takes with a lot of energy in there. And I guess booze helps to get a bit of vibe in there,” he guffaws. “But it was fun: with the camaraderie, this album we spent seven days in the studio and we were kind of locked in there and did nothing else for seven days, just hung out together and we all went a bit crazy, but we really remained mates and we all had a really good time doing it. I think beforehand we were all a bit worried, because we’ve toured so much and when you spend so much time with guys there’s always obviously ups and downs and stuff. It’s like a permanent Christmas lunch situation – it’s fun and everyone looks forward to it, but everyone gets a bit drunk and narky. But we all had a really great time as friends in the studio, which made it a lot more fun than hating each other and trying to stomp on each other’s heads. “Beau [Skowron – vocals/dobro] and myself are always trying to get a bit more Phil Spector-y and trying to get a bit more production stuff going on – we love strings and trumpets and getting all that crazy stuff on there. But I think going into this recording, we as a band wanted to try and just make it ‘us’, make it raw and Graveyard Train-y – all the overdubs and keyboards we’ll do ourselves – so going into recording an album knowing that, everyone was on the same page and we all did it... The next one’s going to be full of strings, harps, pianos, children’s choirs – I’m going to go fucking bananas I reckon.” The lyrics throughout Hollow are still perversely dark and macabre, but there are less of your typical horror tropes and more reflections on the sort of dark realities that people try and deflect attention from in their everyday lives. “Yeah, definitely,” Finch concurs. “Part of it is that we ran out of all those typical horror monsters and stuff, but also I’ve kind of been thinking a lot – not that I should – but I’ve been thinking a lot about death and I guess part of this album is about the horror of being human
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THE DRUM MEDIA • 29
SHORT AND SWEET It took several years, but Canada’s Silverstein have finally embraced their inner cover band. Brendan Crabb keeps it short and sweet with vocalist Shane Told ahead of their return to our shores.
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s much as many artists claim that they make music primarily for themselves, whether they admit it or not, there is usually at least some degree of consideration given to how fans will react to their new creation. Shane Told, frontman of Canadian melodic hardcore/punk crew Silverstein, confirms that such a notion always enters their thinking to some extent, whether intentional or not. “With all the records, there’s always an element of writing a song where we’re always mindful that this is for our audience,” he says, taking time out from shifting boxes while moving house to talk. “It’s like, ‘What will our fans think?’” However, this outlook changed with new disc Short Songs, which is mostly comprised of tunes under the 90-second mark and released less than a year after previous record Rescue. Half the record is original material, while the other half features covers of the likes of Dead Kennedys, Descendents, NOFX, Green Day, Gob and Gorilla Biscuits. A slew of high-profile guest musicians also appear. “With Short Songs we didn’t care, we 100 percent didn’t care,” Told enthuses. “It really allowed us a lot of freedom, but it’s great that people still like it. The NOFX cover (It’s My Job To Keep Punk Rock Elite) was a lot of fun. We did one with the original lyrics and another as a retort to the website punknews.org; they’re pretty brutal with their shit-talking. So we changed the lyrics and had some fun recording that; we called it It’s Your Job To Keep Punk News Elite. All up, it was cool to emulate the original tracks, but also put our own spin on them. I like recording cover songs. It was a record we did for ourselves – it wasn’t for the fans or the media. We just did it for fun and it’s been so well-received. It’s cool to do something for yourselves but have other people like it as well.” While he admits to being well-versed in playing covers after performing in punk bands prior to Silverstein, Told explains that it took them quite some time to be able to tackle the concept of reinterpreting other acts’ material.
“We never did in the past,” he explains. “When we started the band in 2000, we never did any cover songs at all. In 2005, they were doing a tribute to Lifetime. We had a blast doing that, but the album never happened and instead the song was a bonus track on our Discovering The Waterfront album. That’s when we realised, ‘Shit, doing cover songs is fun’. The thing a lot of people don’t know is, when we started Silverstein… I know now there’s a lot of bands who sound like us. But when we started Silverstein, it was completely different from everything else. Punk was huge, ska was big around here and there were hardcore bands around. No-one, especially where we were from, was doing what we were doing, which was combining all of them. “When we started out, it was about combining all of those together into its own thing, and not just being one of those things. We could have just been a hardcore band, but we may not have been around much longer, maybe a few more years. We were just always trying to write the best songs possible. We never bought into the trends really - we just played music we loved. The influences that we had we tried to stay away from (directly) when we were writing songs. People were like, ‘What does Silverstein know about American Nightmare?’ [after they covered one of their songs]. Well, plenty. But we were just trying to do something different. It’s really not so out of left-field for us to do that. It made perfect sense for us to do that.” Did they have any covers planned that didn’t end up making it on to Short Songs? “Yeah, we wanted to do Her Majesty, which is the last song on The Beatles’ Abbey Road, it’s only like thirty seconds long. I wanted to do it and Bill (Hamilton, bass/vocals) did too. But for some reason we just forgot about it and then realised later on that we had,” he laughs. “There were a few we wanted to do. If we do Short Songs II, we’ll knock them out.” He’s asked if that’s a possibility in the near future. “I was half kidding when I said it just now, but we could do it. We had a blast doing this one.”
Before that happens though the band plans to record another album of original material, which they hope to begin hashing out upon returning home from their imminent Australian trek. They hope to record it before the end of 2012 and release it next year. When not waxing lyrical about his love for Australia (“Australia is the best – what’s not to like?” he offers when the subject is first raised), Told says they plan to incorporate some of their freshly-recorded covers during the shows Down Under, their first performances in these parts since last year’s Soundwave juggernaut. Australian audiences were given their first taste of Silverstein in 2005 with a whirlwind tour of five cities in as many days and they’ve maintained the demanding pace, returning several times since to continue building on their loyal Aussie fanbase. “We’ll play some covers live for sure,” he says instantly. “It depends which covers they are and where we are though. Sometimes we play our American Nightmare cover and the place just goes mental, and sometimes people look around like
they don’t know what to do. It can really depend on a lot of things as to how it goes down live. “But every time we come there, people are so excited about us being there. Everyone’s so excited and it’s great, but at the same time it’s really laidback. We have been there a lot, but not since we released Rescue and Short Songs, so a lot of people haven’t heard those songs live. We’re doing a lot of these club shows, and those are always a different vibe. It’s kinda like a party vibe; it’s just everyone having a good time. Short Songs is something that just came out great and a project that we really enjoyed writing and recording, but it’s going to be a lot of fun to go down there and play some of those songs live.” WHO: Silverstein WHAT: Short Songs (Hopeless/UNFD) WHEN & WHERE: Wednesday 13 June, Bar 32, Canberra; Thursday 14, Hot Damn; Friday 15, Entrance Leagues Club, Bateau Bay
CHANGING CITIES Removing himself from his domestic comfort zone, Ned Collette has made the most intriguing record of his curious career. The (obvious) main man behind Ned Collette & Wirewalker talks to Benny Doyle about the choices and voices that shape his new LP.
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elbourne born and blooded, songwriter Ned Collette is currently plying his trade in the creative bohemian expanse that is post-wall Berlin. His move to the German capital a few years ago made perfect sense for the 32-year-old; he could get a freelancer’s visa easily, people were making music that interested him, and most importantly, there was an ever-pressing desire to live in Germany. Collette admits that he could predict the next ten years if his life was to remain in the Victorian capital. In Berlin, he now has no idea what’s around the corner, and he loves that. This is perhaps why he’s so enamoured with the new Ned Collette & Wirewalker record, 2. Nothing was planned leading up to the making of the album, least of all regular member Ben Bourke not being a part of the process. While the bassist chose to remain in Melbourne and focus time on his young family, Collette wrote new music, and with the help of percussionist Joe Talia ,crafted an album as a duo. However, it still remains under the familiar banner. “Nothing was really planned in a sense,” he admits. We were [still] going to try and make a Wirewalker record with Ben, we had plans to try and make that work, and meanwhile I was working on a bunch of demos and solo stuff here. Then Joe came over last year to do a couple of his own gigs and just hang out and do some work on recording, and we ended up having a discussion and it went from there. It just sort of turned into a Wirewalker record because it still felt like a Wirewalker record, just without Ben on this particular one,” he reasons. “But the thing is, these songs started off as solo stuff, then Joe contributed to it, so it was just easier to put it under the Wirewalker banner.”
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But far from forgetting their friend back at home, both Collette and Talia longed for the doting dad in Victoria. These pining emotions were only encouraged further by a trip back home during the recording process. “We’d 30 • THE DRUM MEDIA
speak to Ben and say that we’d miss him, and we wished he was playing bass on that stuff,” he recalls. “But Ben’s a unique character and we don’t get caught up in that ego stuff. We’re all sad that’s he’s not on the record, because when we did one gig back in Melbourne last year when I was mixing the record and when Ben played on all this stuff live, it was just unmistakably him. The thing is, when I played bass on these recordings, I just tried to think what he would have done.” Pieced together from songs old and new, 2 is an album that reflects Collette’s current European existence. Dark, pensive and personal, it encapsulates late nights, city lights, and offers some of the troubadour’s most unique songwriting; no more apparent than on the foreboding, kraut-influenced lead single Ill Futuro Fantastico. “I think we opened with [Ill Futuro...] when we played this one show in Melbourne six months ago,” he recalls. “It was actually Harvey [Saward] from our label in Australia who originally encouraged us to go with it, because it sounded really different to what we had done before and it sounded really impressive as an opener. That was fine by me; if they tell me they think that should be the lead single, then they’re the label, so that’s great. But I’m really happy they chose that because I really like that song.
don’t really lead a crazy life here, it’s all rather quiet,” he remarks. “I mean, I hang out with people late, but the decline after the party is more a metaphor for reaping what you’ve sowed if you go too far in any direction. You could say that currently America is suffering through a decline after the party.”
“It’s basically a fantasy of what might occur if everything that certain people in the world are telling us will happen,” he continues, divulging information of the song’s thematic origins. “I mean, basically, I was living with a guy who was obsessed with collapse theory and how the Western civilisation is going to collapse far quicker than what anyone else thinks, and how in twenty or thirty years we’re all going to be fighting for food; but not in any sort of religious sense, in purely a natural way in terms of natural resources. So I just extrapolated on that and used it as a songwriting jumpoff point for a tune about what that might be like.”
The record covers a lot of territory, from experimental stuff scattered through the album – strange and haunting moments spearheaded by Talia – to Collette’s more recognisable ballads and folk numbers. It’s a diverse collection of songs that walks between an earnestly pure nature and a sonically adventurous trip; fresh adventures mingling with the stripped-back acoustics that have helped establish Collette both domestically and now abroad. But it’s not simply a two-pronged attack found on 2. Joining Collette and Talia on the recording are a plethora of different female voices. Ranging from husky to ethereal, their tones add a depth in personality and character to the album.
While this opening track of the album talks about the possibility of taking arms against your neighbours, other songs play out like dissonant allegories, tackling mortality, losing contact and regret, but not in the hedonistic ways a Berlin base would suggest. “I
“In the end they all did their jobs perfectly, otherwise the songs wouldn’t be on the album,” he states. “It was really good fortune with all of them that it just worked, and every time that it occurred that we needed a second vocal within a particular track, the right person was
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just around. Gemma [Ray], for example, sings on a pop ballad [The Decision]; that was something that I lined up, so we tracked her down and got her into the studio one afternoon and she was happy to do it. Then with Laura Jean and Biddy Connor [Sailor Days], that was just something that happened in Melbourne when we needed it. I just thought that it would be nice to have some other voices on How To Change A City and they just happened to be coming into the studio then anyway, so we played it to them and away it went. It was really just a bit of luck here and a bit of planning there. “There was really no stress involved [with the recording] because there were no studios and no time constraints,” he finishes. “It felt well paced and organic, and we’re both really happy with it – I think it’s the best work we’ve done. But that’s a cliché,” he lets out a light chuckle, “everyone says that.” WHO: Ned Collette & Wirewalker WHAT: 2 (Dot Dash/Remote Control) WHEN & WHERE: Friday 15 June, King’s Cross Hotel; Thursday 21, The Front, Canberra
Maggie Gerrand presents
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NOT JUST SILLY LOVE SONGS An unexpected delay in recording the album he’d intended gave Hugo Race the chance to explore his favourite love songs, he tells Michael Smith.
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nitially I was going down to Catania, Sicily, to record with the musicians from The True Spirit that live in Berlin.” Hugo Race, perhaps Australia’s most widely travelled – as well as prolific – independent artist, is explaining how he came to record No But It’s True, an eclectic collection of covers of some of his favourite love songs; biult from just a voice, a guitar and the core melody. “One of them had some kind of crisis. I don’t remember right now, but it was something very dramatic that no one could have foreseen, but it scuppered all the plans. I knew about two weeks in advance, so I had two weeks to either cancel the whole thing or to come up with a slightly different idea as to what I was going to do in the studio.
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“I can’t quite remember how it came together, but it came together quite quickly – this idea of doing a record of cover versions, but not just doing random songs that I happen to like personally; I wanted to do something with a conceptual theme around it. Not like a concept album, just something that linked all the songs together. I talked to a few people about this whole conundrum that I was in – with a studio and no album to record – and from our conversations, that’s what came out. I also kicked around the track selection with a number of people – with Cesare [Basile] who produced it with me and with Alannah Hill, who did the cover – and basically the three of us selected the songs that are on the record.” Race started out gigging around Melbourne in the late ‘70s with a band called Plays With Marionettes and met Nick Cave when his band supported The Birthday Party on its last Australian tour. Cave was already looking at life post-The Birthday Party and he and Race eventually started working on what became the From Her To Eternity album, the first Bad Seeds album, and Race found himself a member of that lauded group. Far too independent in spirit, he soon moved on, set up The Wreckery and The True Spirit, recorded, toured the
world and added more and more recording and musical projects as he went along, which is how he met Basile. “Cesare and I first met in Berlin back in 1991. He had his first kind of punk rock band and then came up from Sicily, and they were squatting down the road. They had set up a rehearsal studio, and The True Spirit didn’t have anywhere to rehearse at that point, so that’s where we got to know each other a little bit. When I started hanging out in Sicily, or semi-living there, he wanted to do his first solo record, so I produced it with him and we got to know each other very well. And then we’d occasionally do collaborations on some of his other records, ‘cause he’s made about seven or eight records on his own.” While the overarching connecting tissue for No But It’s True might be this crazy little thing called love, the 11 songs that made the final cut couldn’t be more diverse. It ranges from the jazz classic Cry Me A River, originally a hit for Julie London in the mid ‘50s, through to Bruce Springsteen’s I’m On Fire and Leonard Cohen’s A Thousand Kisses Deep to the 13th Floor Elevators’ She Lives (In A Time Of Her Own) and, would you believe, Silent Night? “A couple of the songs I did as requests for friends of mine, and actually Alannah’s specific request was Silent Night. Because of the songs on the record – they also talk about very traumatic loves and some very fucked-up loves – I think that having that song last is a kind of epilogue to the record where you could read to be spiritual love, but it’s also a little bit like love is in everything, which,” Race laughs, “is a further twist.” Race though has played quite a few cover versions over the years. “I’ve covered Captain Beefheart for example before, and I’ve covered Daniel Johnston and I’ve covered a lot of old blues – Lightnin’ Hopkins and John Lee Hooker and Robert Johnson and lot of that kind of material which, harmonically and melodically, is quite brutal. Some of the songs that I tried out for this record, I don’t know, they come more from pop or from jazz maybe, and a lot of those songs didn’t really allow themselves to be broken down into something that you could perform alone, ‘cause that was the
criterion – they had to be something that you could just pick up a guitar or a piano and play immediately without having to think too much about it.” Race learnt about forty songs for the record and recorded about sixteen. “So about twenty of them didn’t really work out and of the sixteen, about three of them didn’t make it past the mix – they weren’t moving enough, they didn’t capture the essence of the song – so we had to abandon a few things,” Race outlines. “And Cesare has a very good bullshit detector. We needed an excellent bullshit detector for No But It’s True because if the renditions of the songs. If they weren’t quite right, it would be a little disastrous because we’d be wandering into something that was truly kitsch. So one of Cesare’s main functions with this record was, after I’d done a take, he’d just say something devastating, like, ‘That was as corny as hell,’ or something like that,” he laughs. “Because we’re old friends, I’d accept that of course, and we’d all have a bit of a laugh about it. And I think that was quite important
because recording these songs wasn’t always that easy. Doing a track like, for example, Never, Never Gonna Give Ya Up, by Barry White, it was very important to get the right spin on that because it’s one of those very, very famous songs that have got a lot of, kind of, how can I say... slightly negative associations for some people. They don’t for me, but this is the interesting thing about these very famous love songs – a lot of people either love them or hate them – and that was also a point of interest to me, why I wanted to have a go at those songs. As I say, there were some songs that didn’t make it in the end, so it was always on a bit of a knife edge if we could pull things off or not.” WHO: Hugo Race WHAT: No But It’s True (Rough Velvet/MGM) WHEN & WHERE: Friday 15 June, Notes; Saturday 16, Yours And Owls, Wollongong; Wednesday 20, Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle
DOING HIS OWN THING Suss on Lana Del Rey? Michael Kiwanuka is an authentic new artist with grit. The cardigan-wearing Brit has Adele’s soulfulness, Ed Sheeran’s folksiness, and a love of vintage – but his story is his own, as Cyclone discovers.
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ichael Kiwanuka, bound for Splendour In The Grass, recently unveiled his debut, Home Again, with inflections of soul, folk, country, gospel, and R&B when it stood for ‘rhythm and blues’. The singer/songwriter won the BBC Sound Of 2012 poll (he pipped Frank Ocean). But Kiwanuka has performed his acoustica on London’s live circuit for a spell, aligning himself with the grassroots Communion Records, which is fronted by Mumford & Sons’ Ben Lovett. Communion originated in 2006 as a live music night in Notting Hill, the record label launched later. Many a cred nu-folk act has an association, from Noah And The Whale to Laura Marling to The Vaccines’ Justin Young (AKA Jay Jay Pistolet). Even Anna Calvi was down briefly. Today Communion is also home to Marcus Foster and Kiwanuka’s Australian tour buddy Ben Howard. “There’s a great sense of camaraderie,” the softly spoken Kiwanuka affirms. Admittedly, these days the Communion acts are “pretty busy” with their individual careers, none more so than Lovett. “But, when we’re together, it’s great. We love hanging out,” she says. During SXSW Kiwanuka and some Communion affiliates – including Lovett – recorded a cover of John Martyn’s Over The Hill, which he’s posted online. “We love making music together, too – when we can.” Kiwanuka was born in London, the second son of refugees from Idi Amin’s Uganda. Raised in the middleclass surrounds of Muswell Hill, he developed an interest in music – indie, grunge and Brit-pop – and learnt guitar, gigging in bands. Yet Kiwanuka had a real epiphany in his mid-teens, blown away by a raw version of Otis Redding’s (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay on a 2001 Mojo magazine covermount CD, Soul Riot. He’d hanker after rootsy music – and discover Bob Dylan’s back catalogue. It sounded “fresh”. Kiwanuka studied jazz but, feeling ill at ease, dropped out. He next enrolled in the Commercial Music Performance course at the University Of Westminster, only to skip classes. For one thing, Kiwanuka had to juggle day jobs – but he’s also practical. “If you wanna get into being an artist or a musician, it’s probably best just to go and do it,” he affirms. 32 • THE DRUM MEDIA
Along the way, Kiwanuka worked as a session guitarist for grime playas, among them (reputedly) Labrinth. What tracks did he play on? “There’s an artist in London called Bashy,” Kiwanuka responds. “He’s got an album called Catch Me If You Can – I mean, it wasn’t a big album. I think the song called Living My Dream was on there – there’s a guitar on that.” Today Kiwanuka refers to his excursion into grime as “just a passing thing.” However, the D’Angelo fan wasn’t necessarily antagonistic to the music, as is often implied in interviews. He has friends active in the scene. “It was a different style, and it wasn’t something I knew I’d be doing for a long time at all, but at the time it wasn’t like it was annoying or forced. Though it did highlight that it’d be good to start working on my own music.” Kiwanuka, initially reluctant to sing due to shyness, presented his first EP, Tell Me A Tale, via Communion in mid-2011, The Bees’ frontman Paul Butler offering to produce. The multi-instrumentalist similarly helmed Home Again. Kiwanuka settled into Butler’s incensefilled studio in Ventnor on the Isle Of Wight. “It was great! I enjoyed every minute. The first few times we worked together I was pretty nervous and didn’t really know what I was doing in the studio, so I had to pick up a lot of things. We got some stuff done but nothing, like, earth-shattering. But, once I found confidence in the studio – through Paul, really, he put me at ease – we really hit it off. He’s a great musician as well. I just love the sound he gets in the studio. He’s always got interesting ideas – kinda slightly left-of-centre to everything – which I got into. I liked the idea that he plays a few instruments, so I tried to challenge myself to play a few more, too. The rapport was great. I really loved working with him from the start, and I hope to do something more in the future.” Possibly Butler’s biggest influence on the retro-nuevo Home Again lies in its lavish arrangements. The pair favoured exotic instrumentation, Kiwanuka curious to hear the sitar in his music. He even has synths. Indeed, Kiwanuka is no rigid old-schooler; he’ll use a computer. Still, he was sometimes intrigued, if not perplexed, by Butler’s suggestions. “There was no point where I was like, ‘This is ridiculous.’ But when I looked at the
instruments at first, I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t know how that’s gonna work.’ But they all seemed to work!” Kiwanuka’s music has been compared to everyone from Bill Withers to Van Morrison to, randomly, Randy Newman – and mention of the latter prompts a gentle laugh from the muso. “The Randy Newman one’s quite weird, ‘cause I don’t have one Randy Newman album. I just know his Toy Story songs. But I know he’s a good songwriter.” Kiwanuka is chuffed to be likened to Withers and Morrison, both true ‘soul’ singers. “A good voice and a good song always wins me over. That was what drew me to start writing my own songs.” The psy-jazz Tell... – which, ironically, appeared on Mojo’s Communion: A New Generation Of Songwriters CD – is redolent of Morrison’s Astral Weeks. Kiwanuka confessed to Q that he’s never “fully” been in love, and so Home Again has no ‘relationship’ songs. Instead, the introspective material deals more with the aftermath of diaspora – and the quest for identity. And, while the album is uplifting, there’s a pervasive darkness towards the end with songs like Worry Walks Beside Me; something that Kiwanuka acknowledges, even if he can’t explain it. Writing has always helped him express latent anxieties. “It’s a way to maybe get rid of it or kind of heal it a bit – you write a song to get something out,” he says. “I think there will always be a hint of that in my music.” Kiwanuka was introduced to Adele’s audience long before Home Again. He toured with 2008’s BBC Sound
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Of... winner last year. “It was great,” he enthuses, noting that Adele’s fans appreciate “songs and singers”. Kiwanuka deemed the support “a good test” for his music. “It seemed to go down well when we were doing it, so I really enjoyed it.” Nevertheless, with his organic soul-folk, Kiwanuka is unsure where he belongs in contemporary music culture. “I don’t really see myself in any place – other than on my own path,” he ponders. “It seems to be like maybe that’s the best way. I’m not sure; I’ve only just started, I’ll find out if that’s good or bad. But it seems to be that’s the way to end up keeping doing things that are interesting and fresh, ‘cause you’re not looking around at what’s new, you’re looking at what you’re really influenced by and where you’re going in your own mind. That keeps your music different and slightly left-of-centre, which I think is a good thing. So I don’t see myself in any place in the industry – other than just [being] another singer and another songwriter. It helps being part of Communion – I definitely affiliate with them – but they’re kinda doing their own thing, which is what I like.” WHO: Michael Kiwanuka WHAT: Home Again (Universal) WHEN & WHERE: Tuesday 24 July, Factory Theatre; Friday 27, Splendour In The Grass, Belongil Fields, Byron Bay
FOLK, ROOTS AND BLUES
AT THE EMPIRE HOTEL, ANNANDALE 8pm $12
KETTY ELLEN & MATT RAINSHADOW Cruisey and sublime tunes from new folk duo
RUSTY PEACH FOLK ROCK Eaglesesque folk rock with distinct rusty vocals
"..compelling and beautiful ll d emotive tunes with hab f l voice..." Richard Cartwright Platinum Entertainment.
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THE DRUM MEDIA â&#x20AC;˘ 33
NOTORIOUS B.I.V.
IMMIGRATION SONGS
Sydney’s Buried In Verona have a brand spanking new record and a desire to get in the van. Mark Hebblewhite tracked down guitarist Richie Newman to discuss everything from unfortunate monikers right through to the plight of rural youth.
Bambino Koresh’s Leticia Nischang takes Chris Familton through the inspirations for their songs and the excitement of releasing a debut album.
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and regional centres as diverse as Orange, Cairns, Ballarat and Wyndham. In Newman’s mind it’s not only a rite of passage but the also the right thing to do. “It’s so important that bands make an effort to play to kids who don’t get the chance to see much live music, especially kids who are into hardcore and metal. That’s why we make sure we can get out and play for those kids.
So is the moniker Buried In Verona actually hurting the group, or at the very least sending out the wrong message about what the band is about? “There are all those bands out there with ‘wings’, ‘buried’ or ‘skulls’ in their names and we’re nothing like that at all,” Newman suggests. “So yeah I think it does send the wrong message about who we are. Really all of us are fun-loving guys just skating, surfing and hanging at the beach – and the name Buried In Verona suggests something completely different.
“Every time we play somewhere like Orange or Bendigo, the kids are so amped to see us that the energy is just incredible. We get more amped because they’re so enthusiastic and the gigs just go off. Besides, that’s why we’re doing this – we want to play as many shows as possible, meet as many people as possible and get out there with our music.”
’ll admit it, I really hate the name Buried In Verona,” laughs Buried In Verona guitarist Richie Newman. “A couple of guys who are no longer in the band came up with it, and I think they were going for that Romeo & Juliet vibe – personally I think it’s far too emo: but we’re too far gone now to do anything about it.”
“But in the end a name’s just a name and I hope our music speaks for itself.” In Newman’s mind the band’s new LP, Notorious, with its distinctive moniker and artwork (a neck-to-waist shot of a fully-inked friend of the band) goes some way to redressing the problem. “The name Notorious sums us up – it’s who we are and what we want to do. The artwork is also important. The guy pictured in the image is our friend Scotty and the dude is the living embodiment of just not giving a fuck. It’s a statement about our scene, our generation and the lifestyle we’re living.” Notorious isn’t just notable for its cover. Sonically speaking the album speaking sounds incredible. “We travelled over to Gothenburg to record with Fredrick Nordstrom at Studio Fredman. We recorded our last album there as well so we knew that Fredrick understood the band and understood the sound we wanted. The album is in your face and sounds massive - we couldn’t be happier.” Once Notorious drops, Buried In Verona plan to undertake an unprecedented national tour, one that will go far beyond the well-beaten trail of capital cities to hit rural
So with their strongest album to date completed will be the band now look to crack the elusive overseas market? “Like every band we’d love to crack Europe or the States like Parkway Drive or Miles Away have done to some extent,” says Newman. “But we’re realistic about it because it is hard being an Australian hardcore or metal band. The guys who have done well haven’t just worked their arses off, they’ve also had some luck. But what’s really important to us is that we do it together as a group of friends. “We all love doing this and really it’s the experiences along the way rather than any far off goal that are most important to every member of the band.” WHO: Buried In Verona WHAT: Notorious (UNFD) WHEN & WHERE: Sunday 17 June, The Hi-Fi; Tuesday 19, Oasis Youth Centre, Wyong; Wednesday 20, Lanyon Youth Centre, Canberra; Friday 6 July, Manly Youth Centre; Saturday 7, Unanderra Community Centre, Wollongong
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ake one third Spanish/Argentinian, a Smudge and ex-Lemonhead and a drummer who lives 600km away and you have Bambino Koresh, the musical vision of singer and guitarist Leticia Nischang. With her husband Tom Morgan on bass and drummer Sarah McEwan they recently released their debut album Up And Left to glowing reviews. A mix of ‘90s indie-rock, classic rock and power pop influences from Neil Young and Led Zeppelin to Teenage Fanclub, the album has been a labour of love for the trio that culminated in joy and expletives for Nischang when she first held the finished product in her hands. “Oh, I felt so excited; there was a great sense of pride and accomplishment. The first copies arrived the last week of January and I first saw them alone with our label boss because I was just about to travel to Argentina the next day. I had a crazy day at work and drove straight to Sydney to pick up the CDs so I could take some to my family. I was stoked, and immediately called Tom who couldn’t wait to see them. I felt my perseverance and passion had finally materialised. I kept it cool at the label but once I got outside I screamed ‘Fuck yeah!’ and jumped up and down like a little girl.”
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on the iPad
One of the first things that tweak curiosity about the band is the name Bambino Koresh. It rolls off the tongue yet its meaning isn’t immediately obvious. Nischang explains the origins of both their name and the album title. “We first thought of the name back in 2002, while we were touring in Spain with our band Sneeze. It has to do with David Koresh only because it was a story that shocked us. I didn’t know too much about it until I met Tom who later showed me docos and info about it. I just couldn’t believe how a government can turn against their own people and kill them because they don’t share the same views. “The word Bambino is a soft, rounded word and Koresh is harsh, plus they sound good together. Up
TWO OF A KIND
“It was last Christmas,” Kempton says. “I’m pretty sure that the first time Even and The Fauves have shared a stage together outside of a Push gig or a Freeza gig was last Christmas at a Christmas Even show.” In the small scene that is the Melbourne music world, though, Kempton has certainly known his new touring buddies a lot longer than that. “It happened over twenty years ago when I was just into the world of music, as were they. I really loved a demo of theirs that I heard because I was a booking agent for a company before anything else. I went and saw them and thought, ‘Fuck. You guys are great.’ “And I was booking The Tote so they played there a lot. I’ve got a close working relationship and friendship with The Fauves and [Even members] Ash [Naylor] and Matt [Cotter] were saying the reason they were a bit confused was their first band The Swarm played with the Fauves back in the ‘80s. That’s how long we’ve all known each other.” This year is Even’s 18th birthday and they’re touring their sixth album, In Another Time. While a lot of bands spend an eternity recording, Even have refined the recording experience to suit its members’ busy lives. “The way the current record was done, it’s because everyone had lives to lead,” Kempton explains. “Ash 34 • THE DRUM MEDIA
Playing primarily US influenced indie-rock and singing in English prompts the question of what role Nischang’s Argentinian and Spanish origins play in her music and how her cross-cultural life manifests itself creatively. “It plays a part in everything I do, I can’t help it. I was born in Argentina but I moved to Spain when I was seven years old. I’m extremely close to my family there and I talk to them almost daily. “I love reflecting on how languages and culture make people think differently and I consider myself pretty lucky to have a foot on each side. I do have songs in Spanish but I’m keeping them for the next records.” WHO: Bambino Koresh WHAT: Up And Left (Laughing Outlaw/Inertia) WHEN & WHERE: Friday 15 June, Annandale Hotel; Friday 13 July, Green Room Lounge; Friday 24 August, Lansdowne Hotel
A divine voice and an ability to write great songs without really trying has put Australian in New York Nadia Ackerman in a great place, though it didn’t happen overnight, as Michael Smith discovers.
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Fast forward to 2012 and the two bands are teaming for a much-anticipated tour. Ask Wally Kempton, Even’s gregarious bass player, when the bands first played together and his answer is a surprising one.
The songs that make up the album come from different periods yet there are some themes that Nischang feels thread through the tracks. As well as conjuring up the spirit of indie guitar rock from two decades ago she also identifies the nostalgia of separation from one’s homeland as an inspiration for some of her songwriting. “Well the main thing is these songs were written since I got together with Tom and moved to Australia so I’m guessing love and immigration are always present there. Australia is really the furthest point from my home and that can be very hard at times so there are feelings of nostalgia and homesickness and the feeling of isolation I get being here. My songs are not all about me though, some were written after movies I’ve seen or things I’ve watched on TV or stories I make up in my head.”
HEADING OUT FRONT
It’s been a long time coming but Even and The Fauves are teaming up for a tour. Even’s Wally Kempton talks to Danielle O’Donohue about making musical friends. he year is 1996, the city is Melbourne. An alternative rock band called The Fauves and the indie power-pop band Even have both released career defining albums. Both bands can be seen on every stage across the city. While Less Is More is Even’s debut, The Fauves are onto their third long-player Future Spa, an album that boasts two songs in the higher end of that year’s Hottest 100, Self Abuser and Dogs Are The Best People.
and Left sound like directions, but also like a ‘Dear John’ letter. The idea of ‘she just took off’. I really liked it because that’s kind of what I did when I moved here. Later our friend Evan [Dando] also said it’s where your heart is – up and left. I love that too.”
I would go, ‘Hey Matt, what are you doing? Have you got a couple of days free next week? Let’s go into a studio’. And Ash would say, ‘This is how the song goes and this is the feel I want’ and ‘Sticks’ Cotter, ‘One Take’ Matt would do it. It would take less time to do the drum tracks than it would to set the fucking drum kit up. Then Ash would take the drum tracks home and do everything else then he’d ring me. “I’d go round to his place and sit in his spare room and he’d play the song over and over and I’d go, ‘Fuck man, that’s awesome’. Three hours later we’d have a bass track down. Then when there were enough tracks together we’d book time in a studio because I’ve always had this inability to feel comfortable singing my guts out in Ash’s spare room while the rest of the family are watching Family Guy in the next room.” With the band’s 20th year fast approaching, surely it’s time for a big Even party? Kempton’s renowned in Melbourne for throwing legendary rock’n’roll parties, and a 20th birthday party for his band has the potential to be huge. “Well, we had a big 16th party so we can’t really have an 16th, an 18th and a 20th. A 21st would be fun. The Meanies [Kempton’s other band] had a 21st. That was a lot of fun.” For now though, Even are just going to be celebrating heading out on the road with one of their favourite bands. It’s a tour almost 20 years in the making – don’t miss it. WHO: Even WHEN & WHERE: Saturday 16 June, Annandale Hotel
n April this year, Nadia Ackerman, born in Melbourne but raised in Sydney’s Allambie Heights, joined Sting, James Taylor, Elton John and many more at Carnegie Hall for the Bi-Annual Rainforest Concert. As it happens, she often performs with many of these artists as a backing singer, as well as featuring on several high profile ads on American TV. She’s returning to Australia to launch her second solo album, The Ocean Master, which features her regular drummer, Steve Holly, ex-Paul McCartney & Wings. It’s a pretty impressive CV, but it took a lot of hard work. “I’ve been here fourteen years,” Ackerman, on the line from her home in New York, readily admits, her Australian accent just as strong as ever. “I mean anyone who’s thinking about moving to New York is not going to want to hear this, but it takes a long time to really get entrenched in the city and in the scene and there are many, many levels and layers of singers and musicians in different pools. Iit’s taken me fourteen years basically to get where I’m, like, I’m blowing my own trumpet, but I’m in there with the top singers – I’m one of the ones that gets called, you know? But it’s taken me that long to get here.” Not only has Ackerman had to overcome being an outsider to the most cosmopolitan city in the world already bursting at the seams with brilliant musicians, but she’s also had to fight a few of her own personal demons to get there, all of which makes her achievements that much more remarkable. This includes the fact that, though she only really started songwriting in 2006, her songs are not only perfectly crafted pop but also seem to come almost effortlessly. “It still cracks me up. Every time I write a song and ten minutes later it’s done I still sort of laugh at myself. You know, it’s just this weird thing where I don’t even consider myself a songwriter, but I am,” Ackerman laughs dismissively. “I absolutely am. It’s so weird.”
themusic.com.au
One listen to The Ocean Master and it’s obvious wherever these songs are coming from, as there’s a consummate crafting underpinning them. And you’d never pick it was all recorded at home in Ackerman’s bedroom. “It happened with the first record [2010’s The Circus Is Back In Town] of originals that I did, but I never realise that I’m making a record. I’m writing and recording what I call demos and every song on this record started out as demos. The vocals were not re-recorded and we just built on top of the demos because of the energy that was caught at the time. So what happened was I was writing and some songs started to stick together and, by about the fifth song, it was like, ‘Oh, I’m making a record.’ And literally [last track] The Salesman was the last song I wrote for the record and when I wrote it I knew that it was done – I’d finished.” Ackerman isn’t a strictly personal or confessional songwriter, preferring to weave elements of stories she’s heard or seen unfold among her friends, but she also doesn’t shy away from her demons, delivering them in the sweetest of melodies. “Live Again is about depression – and that is about me – but it’s about being depressed and actually coming out the other side and that there is joy and having a chance to live again. Underground, again, is about depression and is actually the first song I wrote for this record, and that’s when I realised I needed to go back to therapy!” WHO: Nadia Ackerman WHAT: The Ocean Master (Spectra) WHEN & WHERE: Thursday 14 June, Blue Beat; Friday 15, The Brewhouse; Sunday 17, Lizotte’s Dee Why
QANTM COLLEGE
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CRICOS Codes - 03204G (QLD) 00312F (NSW) 02047B (VIC) 02431E (WA) THE DRUM MEDIA • 35
SINGLES/EPS WITH ROSS CLELLAND
ON THE RECORD
The description of what represents the Australian voice is a lot of things. Not sure that should include a New Zealander making music and living in Nashville, but best of luck to you and Nicole. Conversely, there is no more truly Australian voice than Gurrumul. That 30,000-or-so years he’s got backing it up being a pretty persuasive argument. Whatever the language, you can hear the longing in Bayini (Skinnyfish). Adding Sarah Blasko’s lilt to it may add to its wider appeal.
Holland, belying their name, are from Brisbane. But take that name from an old Beach Boys album. Although their approach on their No Control EP (3000/Sony) is a lot more moody and woody than sun-kissed endless Summer harmonies. The soft parade of songs like Open Your Eyes may owe more to commercial enterprises like Elbow, although some of Powderfinger producer Nick DiDia suggests that maybe the corporation might be after a Coldplay support band. They’re worth more than that. There’s a few Tigertowns in this nation I’ve inhabited. But this one is not from Balmain or Richmond. There is a rusticness which might hint at Tasmania’s, but they’re actually a family concern from rural NSW, and they make a layered, harmonised, but surprisingly light-of-touch music. Although the first offering of their second EP, Lions And Witches (Independent), is helped by the noninclusion of the wardrobe, as there may just be too much going on already. The boy/girl harmonies have true affection, but the Arcade Fire comparisons they seem to be after might be somewhat of a long bow. Putting Husky’s Tidal Wave (Liberation) here is no accident. For they are also of that kinda folkie, but not quite, fashion. They’ve just got a bit of a headstart. They are in America as you read this, where they may well find an audience.
Since Kristian Matsson arrived – a troubadour with acoustic guitar in hand and a slightly strangled voice that brought apt comparisons to another peddling folk tunes where an earnestness of delivery omitted the need for pitch-perfect vocals (Bob Dylan) – he has turned out consistently good releases at a casually rapid pace. With this, his third album and fifth release in six years, his progression continues; the voice a little more assured but no less affecting, the production values crawling at a snail’s pace, still on the rawer side of things, charmingly lo-fi but a little cleaner with each release. Some slide guitar on Bright Lanterns and Wind And Walls, and lingering piano on title track (and crooning, introspective mid-point of the album) There’s No Leaving Now, mark such baby steps. Once again recorded by Matsson in his home studio in Dalarna, Sweden, there is a familiarity and closeness in the sounds of There’s No Leaving Now. It still sounds as though each string is launching up, stretching to be heard above the others and just as quickly being drowned out by one either side of it as Matsson’s energetic and exuberant twanging pluck of the strings once again lays the bed for his vocal musings. Both guitar and voice are heavy with character, with a distinctive personality; this is without doubt A Tallest Man On Earth album, and in no way is that a bad thing. It is a pleasure to witness the steady, gradual incline of his songwriting. Dave Drayton
Stop Start/EMI
Having a reputation for making hipster indie-electro, the quality of Muscles’ songwriting is often overlooked for his carefully crafted aesthetic, both musically and visually. Five years since the release of his debut, and after some quite public spats with his record label Modular, the follow up Manhood has actually arrived. There’s no surprises really, it’s the same up-tempo, dancefloor-friendly electronic pop, with almost bizarre down-pitched vocals and lots of happy-sounding squelchy synth sounds.
TRST is the debut album from Robert Alfons and Maya Postepski, otherwise known as Toronto‘s Trust.LIVE Postepski is also a member of Austra and the music she creates here isn’t a million miles from the gothic electronic pop of that band.
He’s clearly spent the time since the last record polishing the songs themselves rather than focusing on going into new territory production-wise, and right from the opening track Kiss Hello this is apparent. When he gets into club mode, for the most part it’s still really interesting. Heatwave and 1823 have what you can really best describe as house beats while maintaining the same energy and melodic hooks that make the whole record palatable.
TRST
Just Breathe and Brain Freeze use a happy sounding electro-tech backdrop for his songs to rest on, and even the overuse of lyrical cliches on Just Breathe seems deliberate and well thought out. It’s certainly not the only time he takes the piss out of both himself and the whole musical movement he is at both times lampooning and celebrating – more evidence of this on the excellent first single Girl Crazy Go. It’s the follow up he had to make, whether five years was too long to keep the momentum going is yet to be seen. Also, it would be interesting to hear where he would have progressed to already with a more prolific output, but at least he hasn’t derailed his unique sound or over-thought what needed to be done. Chris Yates
METRIC Synthetica
MMI/Create/Control
Even though here he’s stepped out from his band pseudonyms such as Sly Hats and his slightly better known work with Crayon Fields, you’re still not sure which or what is the real Geoffrey O’Connor. Offering an EP of remixes of Proud (Chapter Music), the emotion seems to vary from track to track while the song (mostly) remains intact. The electronics that centre his work can either overwhelm or fall away, the mood seems to shift from resignation to muted triumph as a relationship goes to hell, albeit thoughtfully. Some very wonderful, some fairly empty burps and farts. Whether this speaks to the strength of the song, or just a confusion to what he’s actually after, may well be up to you.
First track Artificial Nocturne builds slowly yet powerfully as singer Emily Haines’ serene voice sings “I’m just as fucked up as they say” over edgy synths before the drums kick in. What sounds like synths however are in fact a 1960’s organ played through a homemade pedal, which is also used in tracks Dreams So Real and Nothing But Time to great effect.
36 • THE DRUM MEDIA
Modular/Universal
Metric has always been a band that pushes the boundaries, starting their own independent label, and being the first band in musical history to enter the top 20 charts with a single that wasn’t backed by a mainstream label. Their fifth studio album, Synthetica, was started the day after the band finished touring previous output Fantasies at the end of 2010, and it’s a mixture of all things from indie to pop and electronica, causing a bit of confusion as to what their signature style really is.
Youth Without Youth, the first single to be released from the album, and following track Speed The Collapse pick up the pace moving into more traditional anthemic indie and taking cues from Placebo and Muse, reflecting on the well-trodden topic of the fraying social state of the world. Moving into a more pop-led style, Breathing Underwater brings memories of U2’s With Or Without You, and in another swift side step Haines’ voice moves from steady alto to frail, girlie falsetto accompanied by tinkling glockenspiel in Lost Kitten, which sounds like it could be coming from another band altogether. The title track is the strongest on the album and displays what the band does best – solid indie rock. Metric do this style of music so well it’s a hard to understand why the try to play so many different styles at once.
The key difference lies in the vocals of Alfons, who resembles a vampiric, ghostly figure intoning soulless vocals over the album’s neon synth pulse. From Alfons’ voice to the bizarre cover artwork featuring a sad and wasted goth there is a sense of artifice about the album, D Vbut as the songs bite into your memory cells Trust’s digital sleaze begins to make more sense. Musically this is well-worn synth territory that bands like Depeche Mode and Real Life pioneered but mixed with a Euro trance and dark rave aesthetic that sets it aside from the grand electronic gestures of bands like Zola Jesus and Light Asylum. Candy Walls is the closest Trust come to the early electro innocence of a band like Depeche Mode and amid the bleeps and migraine synth wobbles it stands out as their most mature and rewarding moment.
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Dead Oceans/Inertia
Helen Lear
TRUST
Manhood
There’s No Leaving Now
Casting somewhat further afield for crosscultural pollination, Appleonia is the working name for Jessica Chapnik and former Gelbison songwriter Nadav Kahn. Providing the soundtrack for Jennifer Lynch’s new movie, the ‘Bollywood odyssey’ of Despite The Gods, they take an Indian movie standard from the 1950s, add some squeaky synths and programming to make My Wanderer (Independent) an interesting mix of ancient, modern, kitsch and art. May work even better with the pictures.
The eponymous lead gent of Major Tom & The Atoms is Tom Hartney, he who famously bailed from Little Red after they went off to attempt to conquer the world. Under his own banner on the Shake It Til You Break It EP (Independent) he takes the retro flavours of his previous combo to an even purer place. It’s shouty old-world R’n’B, honking sax, and Bo Diddley rhythms. Not sure those who pledged their fandom previously will jump on this, but it seems to be made with real heart.
MUSCLES
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If it were down to me – and damnit, it should be – Australian music should have some space to it, and maybe some of heat-haze reflecting off the bitumen, whether that’s on a desert highway or a Surry Hills alley you’re weaved down at 100 o’clock a hundred times. Or a Postcard From Surfers (Ivy League), as in the first offering from Toby Martin post-Youth Group. His voice remains distinctive, and freed from the band’s constrictions – even if those were pretty good ones – he storytells and chats, the tangents and little stops it takes gives it just a touch of The Go-Betweens’ obtuse sense of rhythm, and perhaps just a bit of unease on the drive home. One of those ones you find more with each listen. As is Knievel’s patiently awaited return, although its spirit of place is certainly somewhere in the inner-west or inner-east, and The Time I Found My Feet (Independent) was probably spent in rundown share houses, living on cheese on toast, and listening to those aforementioned Go-B’s records. It’s nostalgic, but not mawkishly so. And could refer to any time from 1978 to 2020. It’s just excellent music, well constructed and well played.
THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH
VD
There’s many who would claim Barnesy’s screeching burr in front of Cold Chisel at full throttle is the true spirit of Australia. No Plans (Warner) even gets the attitude right: durrie in hand, leaning against a wall, and a ‘get fucked’ for asking. Absolutely rattles along, old-school, before Mossy unreels a guitar solo, which against Jim’s yelling makes it sound a bit like a couple of Kawasakis lapping Phillip Island.
For the most part Trust sound like the dark side of Pet Shop Boys or a psycho-sexual Erasure with only Alfons’ voice taking the music to a different and unsettling place. The erotic industrial disco of This Ready Flesh sounds like Max Headroom getting hot under his pixels while Chrissy E is pure camp dancefloor glitter and pomp. At 50 minutes the premise of TRST is stretched way too thin, but there are many moments where the strength of songwriting matches their ambition and art and their dour dance becomes an enticing guilty pleasure. Chris Familton
MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK
PATTI SMITH
Go
Sony
Epitaph/Warner
Age shall not weary them, and Patti Smith is anything but weary. Opener Amerigo is recognisable but contemporary, the type of thing PJ Harvey will no doubt be furiously adding to her inspiration notebook. This Is The Girl, Smith’s tribute to Amy Winehouse is particularly brilliant – an old-school ‘50s-like waltz complete with a creeping organ accompaniment that goes from near pop to almost country-like darkness. It’s one thing when Smith sings, “This is the girl for whom all tears fall/This is the girl who’s having a ball”, but when she repeats it slowly, directly, spoken, it’s chillingly beautiful (and a fitting tribute to a girl who herself knew exactly where and how to walk the pop/schmaltz line). The title track is rousing and un-harmonious, not quite as calamitous as the old-school Smith, but certainly on the same page (and you can’t beat the line “shit it out in a golden commode” to prove she’s still got her ‘tude), while for a gear change, try sultry ballad Maria.
Dubbed ‘Scrabble rock’ by the band themselves, Motion City Soundtrack’s brand of pop-punk takes less from the Blink 182s and Green Days of the world and more from the spiky keyboards of The Get Up Kids. With Justin Pierre’s complex, heart-on-sleeve lyrics leading the charge (hence the Scrabble rock), Go is much of the same from the Minnesotans. But it’s a grownup MCS this time around and as a result these songs aren’t quite as immediate and sugary as some of their previous singles. Instead there are darker undertones and a pervasive angst at play. And though these songs may take longer to seep into your consciousness, seep they shall. Infectious melodies are a MCS trademark almost as much as the tongue-twister lyrics and while they’ve toned down the sugary, they certainly haven’t given it up entirely. As for Pierre’s lyrics, there aren’t too many songwriters who would confidently name-check Jonathan Safran Foer and Star Trek’s Captain Picard in the same sentence. Even in their darker moments MCS have always had a lyrical dexterity that is playful and often thrilling. Now that they’ve wrapped the lyrics in music that takes a bit of unlocking the really great moments feel even more like hidden gems. Though pop-punk is a genre rooted in teen angst and all that is associated with – young love, first heartbreak, moving out of your parents’ basement – bands like MCS that have managed to grow up both emotionally and musically push the genre well past those first few adult years and Go proves that pop-punk is just as capable of soundtracking the confusion and uncertainty of life once you’ve left your 20s behind. Danielle O’Donohue
themusic.com.au
Banga
The real kicker is Constantine’s Dream, a track tucked away towards the end of the album with an acoustic guitar accompaniment and the odd, well placed gong (seriously), creating a medieval mythic serenade. An unrecognisable male voice speaking in tongues (or at least, in something other than English) comes in to support, again as Smith launches into a half-spoken/half-sung second half, and here an accordion is added just because she could. Epic but still reserved, and beautifully crafted, Smith remains an interesting and provocative force who refuses to rest on past glories. Liz Giuffre
FEAR FACTORY
JOEY RAMONE
LIL’ BAND O’ GOLD
GRAVEYARD TRAIN
Riot!
Liberator
Dust Devil/EMI
Spooky/MGM
If Ridley Scott decides to make a Blade Runner sequel after he’s revisited Alien territory, there’s a ready-made heavy metal soundtrack in The Industrialist. As the famed director is rediscovering his roots, Fear Factory does much the same, delving further into the sci-fi genesis of 1995’s monumental landmark Demanufacture.
The second posthumous release from Joey Ramone sees his legacy live on, despite the initial difficulties between Joey’s brother Mickey Leigh and producer Daniel Rey who played on a lot of the original recordings of these tracks.
Lil’ Band O’ Gold don’t really have any excuse to put out a bad record; they’re made up of some of the finest musicians Louisiana has ever produced, they’re not a particularly serious ongoing concern (eliminating pressure) and, on a record like Play Fats, they have amazing material to work with. That doesn’t make it any less thrilling to hear just how goddamn good this is. The songs are what they are – 13 Fats Domino classics that’d sound good as duets by Kim Beazley and Gary from Masterchef– but the spirit in the recordings is what’s truly special.
First impressions of a band whose percussion section contains a hammer and chains would suggest that this an outfit dripping with shtick. However that’s just not the case here, and Graveyard Train’s third album Hollow should put any naysayers to rest.
The Industrialist
...Ya Know?
This concept album again explores the man-versusmachine idea. However, while past records have been from the human’s perspective, this takes cues from the automaton, a robot. Musically, the new platter sits firmly between Demanufacture and 1998’s Obsolete.
Plays Fats
The songs have been completely re-built around the original vocal tracks, some dating back to the late ‘80s. Unfortunately the anthemic Rock And Roll Is The Answer is marred by a metal finger-tapping guitar solo that seems unbelievable out of context, even taking into account the pledge to rock’n’roll that the song (repeatedly) makes. It’s amazing that the love song to New York City never made it onto a Ramones album. It’s a classic mid-late era Ramones fist-pumper helped out by the E-Street Band’s Steven Van Zandt.
Hollow
I Couldn’t Sleep pays ode to the ‘60s pop Joey Ramone loved so much, as does Party Line which has been dressed up with a production that echoes the Phil Spector production he often chased in the studio. Apparently originally intended as a duet with Debbie Harry, Holly Beth Vincent takes on the challenge nicely. There’s a real ‘50s influence on the very different version of Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight), one of the only tracks that has appeared in a different form previously.
Vocalist/drummer Warren Storm lays waste with opener Blue Monday, before Steve Riley’s accordion gets centre stage with It Keeps Raining. Guitarist CC Adcock’s long, drawling Lie To Me hurts when you listen to it; he’s put so much into the performance. I’m In Love Again and 4 Winds Blow are the kind of songs that, if you’re not smiling five seconds in, there’s a chance you need psychological evaluation and here the band nail them to the ground. Aussies Jimmy Barnes and Tim Rogers put in decent performances, but their inclusion, along with stars like Ani DiFranco, Robert Plant and Lucinda Williams, just add to the sense of fun that pumps through these songs. It’s just a bunch of musos getting together and smashing through some songs that mean something to them.
In the ‘90s, critics dubbed Fear Factory “futuristic metal” or “cyber-metal”. More than a decade on, one supposes now they’re merely “metal”. Regardless, this is a satisfying, if not overly challenging listen.
Not having the same amount of input from Joey Ramone as on the album he worked on up until his death, Don’t Worry Bout Me, it’s hard to know how he would really feel about this collection. But as a gift to the diehard Ramones fans, it’s surely something he would have wanted.
There aren’t many playing Louisianan swamp pop and, while some of the members of this band might not be able to continue for all that many more years, one would hope they’re turning some younger cats onto the style so the genre can live on.
Brendan Crabb
Chris Yates
It doesn’t offer many new elements, but packs adequate aggression, hooks and ominous Rhys Fulber-assisted soundscapes to elude being a mere retread of past glories. The opening title track sets a bruising, mechanical tone, while Recharger, Difference Engine and New Messiah feature trademark Burton C. Bell soaring choruses. Axeman Dino Cazares has only ever had a handful of staccato riffs in his arsenal – but what riffs they are – and devises interesting new phrasings and reinterpretations. Unfortunately it ends flatly; bloated nine-minute closer Human Augmentation, a cacophony of industrial clanking, is less appealing. If it’s an answer to Demanufacture’s A Therapy For Pain it sounds like halfway through the band forgot the question.
Dan Condon
Right from the get go this album is making headway from their previous releases, opening tracks Get The Gold and I’m Gone integrating a gritty southern country sound with the group’s Australian roots. The resonant chorus of The Sermon lulls you into a dark place where death is nigh and the afterlife non-existent. Diehard fans will be pleased that the group’s trademark monster motif is still present and The Priest offers it up in spades. But their new tracks show amazing progression in their songwriting; it’s still macabre and haunting but in a much more literal way than anything they’ve done before. The chorus of Hollow Wind is positively captivating, reminiscent of a woeful dirge sung for something lost. Later One Foot On The Grave offers an unexpected delight, seamlessly incorporating the group’s brawny chorus with a little bit of rebellion; where their other tracks lure you in this one jumps out and grabs you. It’s near impossible to pick standout tracks from this album, with such full-bodied vocals each track envelops you leaving you eagerly anticipating the next. This is an outfit going from strength to strength, it’s true musical mastery to take something morbid and frightening and make it so easy on the ears from start to finish. Graveyard Train coaxes you down to the depths of hell and you’ll be begging to stay. Katherine Edmonds
Supported by
Trouble’s Door album Tour Special guest fingers malone Thu 21 June The Patch, Wollongong tickets at oztix.com.au
Fri 22 June Level One, Newcastle Tickets at bigtix.com.au
Sat 23 June The Metro, Sydney Tickets at ticketek.com.au www.ashgrunwald.com
New album, Trouble’s Door out 11 May themusic.com.au
THE DRUM MEDIA • 37
SYDNEY SUPPORTS FOR UNDERGROUND
Support acts have been announced for Underground Legions’ Australian Tour, featuring Goatwhore, Impeity and Ruins. Hailing from uptight suburbia of North Sydney, savage thrashers Anno Domini will be warming up the stage for Sydney’s leg of the tour on Friday 6 July at The Sandringham Hotel. The five-piece metal outfit is fresh from supporting Switzerland’s Sybreed on their Australian Tour earlier this year.
BE’LAKOR’S BLOOD, BREATH & BONE
Be’lakor have recently uncaged their new album, Of Breath And Bone, the third offering from the dark masters. In support of the release, Australia can expect a screaming national tour, kicking off in June. The melodic death machines will then be jetting off to perform a string of shows in Europe, starting off with the Summer Breeze festival in Germany and Brutal Assault festival in August. Before they head off, catch them perform at The Basement in Canberra on Friday 22 June and The Bald Faced Stag in Sydney on Saturday 23. You can also listen to the new track, Remnants, taken from the new album at www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPHjycgRLN8.
BYE BYE ROB
Swedish doom metal band Candlemass issued a statement notifying bands that lead singer Robert Lowe would no longer be in the band. They wrote: “We are sorry to inform you that Robert Lowe is no longer the singer for Candlemass. It has been a very difficult decision for the band and has mainly to do with the quality of the live performances.” Awkward. They further explain the situation and point out that Mats Leven (Yngqie Malmsteen, Therion, Treat, Adagio and more) who is a long time friend of theirs will be replacing Lowe. This concludes Lowe’s fiveyear run with Candlemass, who he joined in 2007. He performed on King Of The Grey Islands, Death Magic Doom and Psalms For The Dead.
SWORD OFFERINGS
The Sword will be hitting the studio towards the end of June to work on their next album, titled Apocryphon. It will be produced by J. Robbins (Clutch), and this will be the first album released on their new label Razor & Tie. This will come after their appearance at Metallica’s Orion Music & More Festival which is happening overseas!
HALF MORE THAN BEFORE
Shock Records have announced a brand new imprint label, Halfcut Records, which will be the new home to punk, hardcore and heavy music in Australia and worldwide. Shock Records have enlisted a number of heavy bands over the years including Bring Me The Horizon, Alexisonfire, The Bronx, The Devil Wears Prada and many more, and now have seen it as the perfect time to unleash the imprint label that prioritises music of this genre. The second half of 2012 will see Halfcut coming out in full force with its first releases from a couple of newly signed acts. After losing their frontman, English hardcore-punk heavy weights Gallows have rebuilt themselves with new lead, Wade MacNeil (ex-Alexisonfire), and aren’t slowing down anytime soon. The band will spend the winter playing at some of Europe’s most prestigious music festivals and are currently working on their as of yet untitled album due for release via Halfcut in late-2012. Sydney locals Heroes For Hire have established themselves as one of Australia’s most hard working pop-punk bands. They’ve just finished recording their third album and the first single will hit radio in the coming weeks, with the album due to drop in September. While She Sleeps exploded onto the UK metal scene, with their impressive raw passion and energy. They’ll be releasing a full-length to be titled, This Is The Six, which will be out via Halfcut on Friday 3 August.
$1.2 MILLION LATER…
The Economist Magazine has looked into Amanda Palmer’s (The Dresden Dolls) success with the crowdfunding project via Kickstarter, which managed to raise more than $1.2 million through donations, surpassing her $100,000 goal. The money is going towards the production costs of Palmer’s latest album, which was recorded in Melbourne earlier this year, as well as an associated tour, Theatre Is Evil by Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra. Nearly 25,000 individuals contributed to the project, with most giving $125 or less. Palmer also offered a download of the album for anything above $1. Finally, there were also 34 pledges of $5,000, enough to secure a private house party with her in the next 18 months, some of those, which she will fulfil while on tour. She has also blogged the exact breakdown of where the money will be going on her blog and also reassuring fans that the money won’t get blown on partying: “In no fucking case scenario do I get a check for $1,000,000 and laugh my way to the band then book a private jet to Ibiza where a limo filled with hookers and blow will be waiting to escort me to a slamming nightclub called La Uno Percento where I then spend my time contemplating my handsome nose job in the darkened mirrored bathrooms (probably weeping).” 38 • THE DRUM MEDIA
THE HEAVY SHIT “They said that the world was coming to an end. Well… it ended and it was caused by our own hand. The world just kept on turning.” These typically apocalyptic words open the brand new, kick ass Fear Factory record, The Industrialist, which hit the shelves yesterday! It’s a brilliant return to form and slots right between Demanufacture and Obsolete in terms of sound and feel. I guess you would just call Dino and Burton ‘metal’ now right? The ‘future metal’ tag is a tad obsolete since it was given to them over 20 years ago. Still, it’s scary reading the lyrics and seeing just how much of the world has gone down that rabbit hole. No, I will not be taking my tin foil hat off anytime soon! Until the world ends, go fill your head with a barrage of staccato riffs and kicks courtesy of this monster album! Speaking of monster albums, me being in the know and all, hehehe, have been privy to the brand new Testament album, Dark Roots Of The Earth and holeeeey shiiit, what a record. The metal gods have smiled big time upon the guys to deliver a punch to the face that hasn’t been more welcomed in years. Everyone is on fire. Chuck Billy sounds as pissed off as ever, the riffs are enormous, the solos fly all over the place and with Gene Hoglan up the back, well, you can just imagine. If there was a Big 5 (hell, a Big 8 with Exodus, Overkill and Death Angel) then based on everyone’s most recent effort, this could easily have them sitting on top of the tree this time round. Dark Roots... comes out Friday 27 July. Another week, another tour. Just as I put last week’s Heavy Shit to bed, Soundwave sent out a press release for the Cancer Bats tour making me look well behind the times as you read it here now. Fuck it. In case you spent the week offline or not talking to your friends, I’m here to inform you that the more rock’n’roll than ever Cancer Bats will be playing at The Metro on Sunday 15 July to an all ages crowd. Grab their newie, Dead Set On Living, and hear a band not afraid to move into crushing riff territory without fear of upsetting the djenters. I love me some experimental stuff sometimes and Russian Circles are one of the leaders of that charge. “Heaviest album to date” can mean so many things these days so just put the fucker on (said fucker being new album Empros) and find out what kind of heaviness it is for yourself. Or check it out in a live setting at The ANU on Thursday 4 October or at The Hi-Fi at Fox
METAL AND HARD ROCK WITH CHRIS MARIC
Sabretung following on. Local veterans, Atomesquad bring their thrash/trad to the table before the huge progressive tones of Avarin take over everyone and everything.
NE OBLIVISCARIS Studios on Saturday 6 October. Eagle Twin featuring ex-Iceburn visionary Gentry Densley are heading along as the Circles’ special guests. A heads up regarding the upcoming Heaven shows. Due to touring commitments with Lita Ford, Mitch Perry is unable to join a reunited Heaven on their forthcoming Twelve Twelve tour, so English guitarist Rowan Robertson, Dio’s guitarist on his final solo album, has stepped into the breach, the band roll into the Annandale for two shows on Friday 29 and Saturday 30 June before heading to Waves in Wollongong on Sunday 1 July.
FRIDAY If you’ve managed to pick up this magazine and find yourself in Orange on this cold winter’s night, then head in to the Ophir Tavern where Melbourne nutters Frankenbok will probably be scaring the Fosters out of the locals.
Meanwhile across town at The Stag, the band who went through hell (via France) to keep themselves together and their album on track, Ne Obliviscaris are finally ready to unleash their masterpiece upon the public. Portal Of I is a massive effort, produced by Jens Bogren for that Scando/epic flavour. Joining the guys are a couple of bands who fit the bill perfectly, Gods Of Eden, who are launching their EP and making their live debut (my ears think that they give a huge nod to Emperor too). Paradigm and Katabasis round things out. Back up the road a way at Venom, Resonance are playing with Queensland’s Darkc3ll who are back down for a visit. I don’t know what adjectives to associate with them – industrial, electro, dark, goth – a mixed bag? Either way, they’re pretty farken good. Continuing their assault on the country folk, Frankenbok terrorize the people of Wagga’s Home Tavern tonight. I don’t think Flynn’s Beach Surf Club in Port Macquarie has ever featured in here before, but hey, the more venues the better! For the locals up there, We Built Atlantis, By Design, Abel Tasman, Letterbomb and John Lithgoat are putting on some entertainment to go with your surf and turf. Enjoy. It starts early, at 5.30pm and will cost you 12 bucks to watch.
SUNDAY
Wow, tough call tonight with three rather epic events taking place.
Those fellas in Buried In Verona have done a good job of getting their album plastered everywhere in the last few weeks, so much so they are going to be headlining the No Way Out Festival at The Hi Fi which is a big leap forward. Joining them on this all ages bill are, Northlane, The Plot In You (from Amerika), Resist The Thought, In Heart’s Wake, Silent Screams – no, unfortunately not a Slayer cover band, Stories, Aftermath, The Turning Tide and Hallower. Doors at 3pm.
Metal Thrashing Productions is hosting its debut show at the Tempe Thunderdome (aka The Valve) starting at 7pm and costing just $10. Power/thrash/viking/battle dudes, Fenrir, start things off with Newcastle thrashers
heavy@drummedia.com.au
City bound, there is a bit of experimental, art, prog, whatever, happening over at The Sando with Meniscus, Alithia and Solkyri doing their best to pretend they aren’t trying to one up each other ;-)
SATURDAY
WAKE THE DEAD
Also pulling Sunday duty are My City Screams who I heard tore SFX a new one last weekend. They are at Yours & Owls in Wollongong this evening.
PUNK AND HARDCORE WITH SARAH PETCHELL
CANCER BATS This week has been a busy one for the world of punk and hardcore, with a couple of tour announcements and quite a few new releases being announced. To start off with, one of the most exciting hardcore tours of the year will be kicking off this July and August seeing a well-loved Australian band teaming up with a relatively new and exciting US band for a co-headline, east coast tour that is going to rule! For those that don’t know, Chicago’s Harms Way are notorious for an intense live show and writing the hardest of hard hardcore. Their most recent release, Isolation, was described as a fusion of heavy hardcore and Entombedstyle distortion, adding yet another player to the heavy hardcore game. As for Phantoms, you’ve heard me rave about them time and again, but this time they will be heading on the road in support of a brand new release – a new 7-inch titled S.O.S. to be released this July through Broken Hive Records. As for the dates, you can catch the tour in Canberra on Tuesday 31 July at Tuggeranong Youth Centre for an all ages show; at the Side Bar at the Cambridge Hotel in Newcastle for an 18+ show on Wednesday 1 August; at the Bald Faced Stag in Sydney for an 18+ show on Saturday 4 and then on Sunday 5 at Oasis Youth Centre in Wyong for an all ages show. The Canberra show will also go under the alternative name of the Hatfest 6 and I’m pretty excited because not only will it have the normal duo that will be headlining the tour, but also some of the best of Sydney and Canberra’s hardcore scenes, including Relentless, Snakepit and Frail. If you’re looking for something to do on a Tuesday night and are willing to travel, definitely head on down there. I can’t wait for you all to see the poster for this particular show as well. Another tour announcement that will have fans of hardcore and even metal moshing for joy is the news that everyone’s favourite Canadians, Cancer Bats, will be heading back to Australia this July for a round of shows in support of their newest album Dead Set On Living. This album sees the band at their most ferocious and has earned them rave reviews from all corners of the music media. It is without a doubt that their live shows will rage harder than their album, so these are shows that are definitely not to be missed, especially since they are only playing three east coast shows and that’s it. You can catch the dudes in Sydney on Sunday 15 July at The Metro for a licensed all ages show. And
while they might only be playing three shows this time, I have it on good authority that there will be a more extensive tour in the not too distant future.
to learn new words like “efuckidate”, which Falkous planned to do to the reviewer “in an easy-to-understand fuck-by-point manner”.
Well the cat got let out of the bag the other night when a prominent producer jumped the gun on a Sydney band who were set to announce that they were entering the studio. The band is Sydney hardcore powerhouse, Relentless, who are in the final stages of pre-production before heading into the studio with Nick Jett (Terror, Piece By Piece, S.O.S.) later this month. Jett is heading out to Australia especially to record the band’s follow up to their 2010 debut Set In Stone. I’ve been told to expect big things from this record, and that Relentless have stepped things up another level. Coupling that with Jett’s extensive production experience (for example Darker Half by Backtrack and the Under The Shadow EP by Take Offense) and this should be one of the releases to keep an eye out for in the latter half of 2012.
The connection between Sacramento punk-hardcore act Trash Talk and the infamous Odd Future hip hop group is pretty well known (especially if you follow vocalist Lee Spielman on Tumblr). It looks like the connection has been cemented in ink with the announcement last week that the band will be releasing their third album through Odd Future Records, in conjunction with their own Trash Talk Collective label. Odd Future is the fledgling label founded by rapper/producer Tyler The Creator and there is a pretty hilarious press release floating around the web to announce the union between the two. The new album from Trash Talk will be called 119 and is set for release later this year. Stay tuned for more information!
The Plot Against Common Sense is the newest release from Welsh post-hardcore noise act Future Of The Left. If you don’t know about them already, Future Of The Left formed from the ashes of the brilliant McLusky and this will be the band’s third full-length. The album is out now and it is set to make a lot of people’s Top 10 of 2012 lists. But maybe not the list of a Pitchfork writer who bore the brunt of frontman Andy Falkous’ wrath for giving and error ridden, negative review of the album to which Falkous responded with a glorious rant on the band’s blog. It’s definitely worth the read, simply
themusic.com.au
Last up this week, it’s my favourite time of the year where we’re heading into the American summer and the labels start posting free samplers of the artists that are on their labels. It’s a good way to find that new favourite band that may have slipped through the cracks of your late night internet music trawling. First up of these is the annual compilation put together by Deathwish Inc. This year’s compilation features tracks from bands like Give Up The Ghost (aka American Nightmare), Rise And Fall, Touche Amore and Cursed. If you head on over to the Deathwish website, you can find a number of links to download the mix. wakethedead@drummedia.com.au
LONDON FIELDS
TALES FROM THE MOTHERLAND WITH JAMES MCGALLIARD
If the expression ‘as wet as a long weekend’ doesn’t yet exist, it should do. While the Queen’s Birthday doesn’t rate as an excuse for a bank (public) holiday in the UK, the commemoration of 60 years since Queen Elizabeth II came to power was the reason this year’s late spring bank holiday was bumped forward a week – to create a four day long weekend in celebration. The atrocious weather throughout allowed journalists to exhaust all puns involving plays on rain and reign, leading to such delights as reigning cats and dogs. In spite of the weather street parties were held up and down the land, and this was held up as an illustration of plucky British spirit. As Ratty opined in the opening of Wind In The Willows, “there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” And so, on the Sunday, nearly a million people endured wind, rain and security checks to assemble on the banks of The Thames to witness the largest flotilla in over 300 years make its way down the river towards Tower Bridge. Perhaps it wasn’t as much fun to watch as The Queen’s Jubillegal (a parody event on the preceding day, which saw the hoi polloi take to Regent’s Canal in dinghies or anything that floated), but that may have been because the TV coverage of the event was nearly as poor as the weather. Maybe it’s just me but if you put Jubilee, boat and Thames into the same sentence, I think of the Sex Pistols infamous exploits on the river in June 1977, which led to arrests, and God Save The Queen failing to be a number one record, despite reportedly selling more than any other single in that week. If music ended up being a key part of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in an unofficial capacity, 60 years on the throne was marked by a huge official concert outside Buckingham Palace put together by Take That’s Gary Barlow. It was hard to work out for whom the line-up was supposed to appeal (although it must have been right for some as the accompanying album Sing debuted at number one that week). Like a seasoned gig-goer, the monarch herself wisely avoided the first 90 minutes of the concert. Her face on arrival seemed to bear a look of disdain; was she thinking “One is missing the season finale of Game Of Thrones for this?” It was much more likely she was concerned for her husband, who had been admitted to hospital earlier in the day (and her minions had probably already downloaded GoT for her anyway). It all seemed to go well enough, with Kylie dressed as a swinging ‘60s Carnaby Street version of a Pearly Queen, Madness playing Our House from the roof, Grace Jones hula-hooping through Slave To The Rhythm and Elton
QUEEN ELIZABETH II MISSING THE GAME OF THRONES FINALE John wisely avoiding playing Candle In The Wind. When Rolf Harris included punk in his list of the types of music that had featured so far, he was sadly mistaken. For the only punk to be seen over the weekend was as part of BBC Four’s Punk Britannia season, which featured a three-part documentary, as well as new films about John Cooper Clarke and TV Smith. The Palace concert’s finale saw Paul McCartney doing a warm-up for his Olympics gigs but who knows why the Palace was lit like a reverse version of the French tricolour. While sellers of bunting will certainly have done well, outside the crammed confines of central London the celebrations all felt a little muted. Although Sunday’s riverbanks were crammed, more people took to the streets on Saturday 13 February 2003 to protest the UK’s actions in Iraq than attended this free spectacle. With Scotland hoping for a referendum on independence before the next general election and the Queen now aged 86, there are definitely going to be some interesting times ahead for the institution. While there’s no doubting this nation’s love of Her Majesty (and that the British people have definitely re-warmed to the Royal Family as a whole over the past decade) in many ways the celebrations seemed less universal than they were for last year’s royal wedding. Any republican demonstrators over the weekend just appeared partypoopers, but there were certainly fewer flags flying from cars and windows than when England plays a major football tournament. Some of the Union Flags I saw were hung upside down; was this lèse-majesté, plain ignorance or as a signal of distress? londonfieldscolumn.blogspot.com
BEBOP & ROCKSTEADY Widows is a new act consisting of Jimmy Jams (aka Jams Kennedy) and Bobby Evans, whose debut self-titled EP is out now on Earnest Endeavours. Whilst previous efforts from the label were worthy, this is the first release that really stands out and grabs your attention by way of hand in crotchal region. Appearances can be deceiving: these guys don’t look like their music suggests they might – with a straight looking and possibly Asian guy dwarfed by a tall, large bearded ginger white dude – but people said similar things when they saw Spank Rock and Danny Brown rocking tight jeans; what matters is the music. Clanging percussive elements are somehow made sexy by clever wordplay and simple synth bass lines in a rather minimal display of very club friendly rap. It’s a little bit of Anti Pop and a dabble of Neptunes but at the same time incredibly original. Seek out instantly. Tall Black Guy’s Tempo Dreams looks set to resurrect the chill out compilation game in one fall swoop when it drops mid-June on Bastard Jazz. Not something we’d normally go for anymore in this column, the genre has well and truly stagnated due to over saturation even when, at one point, it was the only thing holding up music shops across the Northern Beaches. Fortunately people like Bonobo have kept things edgy enough to keep downbeat music cool and this compilation introduces the next crop of artists from around the globe, including our own Ta-Ku and Jeriko Jones in the mix! It’s blunted but sparkly, smooth but with enough gravel and grit to keep fans of instrumental hip hop happy too, and is definitely nudging front and back with Kutmah’s Worldwide Family Vol 2 effort for compilation of the year. You can’t keep Kieran Hebden down for long, can you? He’s a deft hand at folktronica and jazz but he’s seemingly most comfortable making brilliant house music as Four Tet at the moment and the freshly released Jupiter/Ocoras on Text is a wicked late night bumper, only looking set to be trumped by another new release, which has just previewed on his Soundcloud called 128 Harps. Much like his cohort Caribou, whose new spate of remixes under the Daphni pseudonym are highly enjoyable, Four Tet has an amazing way of making disparate influences like spiritual jazz and Detroit techno work in a club or album environment. First prize!
themusic.com.au
WIDOWS Madlib’s little brother Oh No has a new album out called Ohnomite. A lot of people prefer the younger Jackson sibling’s output because it’s often a lot harder and with such space between releases, you have time to miss him. Ohnomite is made exclusively from samples of Rudy Ray Moore’s Blaxploitation film Dolomite, and it’s this sort of source where Oh No really shines. His Ethiopium album was near perfect but hearing how he’s worked with guests like Jose James and Phife Dawg, Eric Sermon and Guilty, Simpson, MED and more and conducted this sort of project, he really ought to be congratulated. It’s quite similar to his Exodus Into Unheard Rhythms concept, where he and cast of tens got down over samples from Hair’s Galt Mcdermott. Concept albums and ones with tonnes of guests can often seem messy and pointless but this one is almost a hip hop event! Finally, for the deep house heads Marlow has a new EP on Room With A View. This Is It plays more like an EP because there are interludes and other bits on there that round off the two bangers I Need You and Keep On (which both have very big soul vocal samples) quite nicely. For fans of Motor City Drum Ensemble, don’t miss this one. bebop@drummedia.com.au
THE DRUM MEDIA • 39
GET IT TOGETHER Rap people, generally speaking, are inclined to romanticise the past. No matter what we have now, no matter how good, it was always better before. If you want clumsy examples, you need only look to the kilograms and kilograms of vinyl that your favourite DJ takes with him to play a set, or to the multi-coloured sneakers on your feet that wouldn’t look out of place in the 1991 classic (classic?) Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey. Yep, for many of us, to like rap music is to drink deep from the fount of nostalgia. (Not that rap people are alone in this; most scenes have a tendency to look backwards.) So, bearing our nostalgic leanings in mind, you may want to take it with a grain of salt when we say: there used to be several excellent regular nights for seeing rap music and it’s tragic that times have changed. Sure, we may be wearing inventing the past (and the present) a bit, and overlooking any number of inconvenient truths, but – we say – there was a time when excellent, regular rap nights walked the Earth, and it was amazing. Some folk remember: Show And Prove is a new regular night kicking off on Friday at Ruby Rabbit. Ology, Platterpush, Bom and A.S.K. will be DJing, Herb and Promisques will be MCing. Fellow nostalgia-fiends, this may be the night we’ve been dreaming of. Come August a tour featuring Thundamentals, Mantra (pictured), Dialectrix and Sietta will be making a couple of stops. It’s called Hip Hop Big Block. We don’t know why. Anyway on 11 August Hip Hop Big Block will be stopping off at The Station in Jindabyne and Beats Working will be rounding out the bill. The night before – 10 August – it’s Canberra’s turn with D’Opus and Roshambo in support. The Canberra show is at a venue that just begs for a Google search: Zierholz at UC. Because we work super hard and are rigorous with our research, we have taken the liberty of conducting the Google search for you. It turns out Zierholz at UC is one of two bars in Canberra designed to showcase the produce of the Zierholz Brewery. It has over 20 locally produced beers on tap (!). If you know us you know that we’re fans of road trips and we don’t hate beer either. If you feel the same, it may be time to get organised and think seriously about heading there. To generalise (we like generalising. It saves time and effort) people think Cam Bluff is amazing and people think 4th is OK. The former is a beatmaker of rare talent.
BREAKDOWN
HIP HOP WITH VIKTOR KRUM
YOUNG & RESTLESS The Australian Children’s Music Foundation have, for the last ten years, been providing free, long term and sustainable weekly music programs to disadvantaged schools, juvenile justice centres, isolated regions, Indigenous communities and communities effected by natural disaster. On top of all that great stuff, they also run competitions for you, the young’ns. Yesterday marked the commencement of their 2012 National Songwriting Competition, designed to inspire creative expression through songwriting. Entry into the competition is free and open to all students in every public, and private, primary, secondary and specific purpose school across Australia. Students, along with their schools, stand to win a share of $30,000 worth of prizes, including musical equipment and tuition, and the winners will get live performance and media opportunities. Entries close Friday 28 September, enter and find out more at www.acmf.com.au.
MANTRA He manages to walk the line between immediacy and depth that few others can. Compelling work. 4th is a solid rapper. Combine the two and you get Vegas Aces. And just to prove that they’re cool guys VA have got a new EP up for free download called The Departure. Go check it. Nothing can be lost and – if you haven’t heard Cam Bluff behind the boards before – much can be gained. More generalising: everybody loves Clams Casino. Sure, everybody loved Clams Casino more this time last year when he was still new and exciting but – even with the passage of time – our collective fire still burns for him. Happy days, then, to learn that he has chucked up a mixtape of instrumentals he’s made for other artists for free download. Some of the beats are for A$AP Rocky, Lil B and The Weeknd. Exciting times, generally speaking. Aha. Ahaha. We only heard about the forthcoming ODB biopic Dirty White Boy recently. It’s going to star Michael K Williams (Omar from The Wire). Williams was recently interviewed by the New York Post about the movie. He explained that, hopefully, all the Wu-Tang members would play themselves: “We have no desire to cast any actors as the Wu-Tang. We need all hands on deck.” The Wu playing the Wu, in a movie starring Omar? We’re there. getittogether@drummedia.com.au
POP CULTURE THERAPY WITH ADAM CURLEY
YOYO’s Youth Centre in Frenchs Forest are hosting another all ages band night this Friday from 7-11pm. Just $10 will get you in and you can catch Pledge This, Endworld, Hold Your Own, Elegist, Tenpenny Towers and As Am I all playing. Then on Saturday I’d recommend you head to Islington Pharmacy, an awesome all ages venue on Maitland Rd, Islington. From 4pm there’s a huge mix of bands and acoustic acts that include Yes I’m Leaving, Everything I Own Is Broken, Jesus Christ Posse, Amateur Drunks, Alex Party Cat, Ray, Bastion For Phelan and Billy J Burke. And the best news is yet to come – entry is only $2. That’s 25c a band! That’s less than a cheeseburger! Bargain. Lastly, things are heating up over at Hornsby Council’s all ages Rock The Block band comp. This Saturday from 6.30pm another batch of bands will be vying for the top spot at Cherrybrook Community Centre. Young & Restless caught up with the bands – Serenade Of Silence singer Tarna Rosentreter; 10 Mile Stereo drummer Joseph Brophy; Something Frank guitarist and vocalist Nathan Grebert; and Another Minute Past Midnight frontman and guitarist Dave Moran – to find out a little more. How would you describe your band? Tarna Rosentreter: We are an alternative rock band, inspired by bands like Paramore, Evanescence and VersaEmerge. Our band has a positive mindset and we are committed to hard work, we have a flare for creativity with a strong recognition for our inspirations.
OG FLAVAS
ALL AGES WITH DAVE DRAYTON YES I’M LEAVING
Joseph Brophy: Five best friends that love jamming and creating alternative rock music for everyone to enjoy. Nathan Grebert: Pop/punk with a bit of this and that thrown in. Dave Moran: We prefer not to define our band in any particular way. We enjoy hearing from our friends, family and fans that have their own take on our music and style. What made you want to compete in Rock The Block? TR: Our band music director Michael Bradley, from Up Beat Music Centre, told us about it and thought it would be a good idea to enter as to showcase our new style and songs. JB: It was showing up as a great opportunity to play some of our new original tunes that are soon going to be recorded for our debut EP. NG: An opportunity to play in a new area of Sydney we haven’t played yet. DM: We have usually turned down the opportunity to play at band competitions but felt that this one had a unique and supportive base behind it. What’s the best gig you’ve played so far? TR: I think that our best gig was the first gig we played after we changed our style, which was an open mic night at our local RSL. JB: We played a little impromptu informal acoustic gig in St. Leonards Park after we had been to the recording studio and we made five cents. NG: A youth show in Chatswood last year. Everyone got into it and we all had loads of fun. DM: We opened for Hands Like Houses at one of their pre EP launch gigs at SFX in Sydney. We have some awesome gigs down in Canberra in a few months as well. allages@drummedia.com.au
URBAN AND R&B NEWS BY CYCLONE PLAN B
The rush of standout Australian releases the past month begs another Breakdown rap. Don’t worry, I won’t rhyme. I would, however, like to go all Kitty Pryde (ie. legit bullshit) on the monarchy in this week of recognising the Queen’s birthday and jubilee. That said, these will be the halcyon days when we’re all laying our livers at the edge of a quarry in honour of Gina Rinehart’s 120th. With members currently split between Brisbane and Melbourne, Nikko have some airport time on their hands through June thanks to a Friday residency at Brisbane’s Powerhouse. They’ve also released the opening track from their forthcoming second record, Gold & Red (out through Tenzenmen Records on 3 July) – the stunning eightminute track The Child can be heard at nikko.bandcamp. com. The lengthy song simply lets us spend time with the group: vocalist Ryan Potter makes his down-mouthed observations while guitars and piano lines threaten to leave him behind then allow him to wander ahead. Drums come and go, the bass intuitively flows and eddies. Strings follow it all like a child dragging a stick. Its delicate melancholy is affecting; few bands tell Australian stories like this one. As one of the founders of the excellent and tenacious Sydney label and management company Speak N Spell, Jonathan Wilson has brought us the likes of Fionn Regan, The Duke Spirit and, more recently, Sydney’s Step-Panther. But Wilson sits on both sides of the booking table and has been busy building a home studio, recording with Jack Ladder and working on his own dark synth-gaze project Castratii with former Starky bandmate Beauvais Cassidy. The duo will release their first album, Eora LP, through LA label Time No Place in July. The first single, Kingdom, features The Duke Spirit’s Leila Moss on vocals and is all kinds of slow-mo anxiety attack goodness. Hear it at castratii.bandcamp.com. Another Aus band getting a small US release is Brisbane post-Little Band group Slug Guts. Their new 7-inch, Stranglin You Too, is out via a limited-member singles subscription run by Chicago label HoZac called Hookup Klub. That means buying it requires also buying a heap of other releases and getting them shipped over from the States (and if you’re into that you can go to hozacrecords.com). The beautifully pained title track, however, can also be heard on FBi’s new music stream at fbiradio.com/pages/new-musicsoundcloud. (Scroll down to the week of May 18.) Brisbane’s Jeremy Neale is usually seen playing guitar and singing in Velociraptor and bashy garage duo 40 • THE DRUM MEDIA
This year has been bleak for urban music fans. So far 2012’s best album is actually Lana Del Rey’s Born To Die – hip hop soul, Black Dahlia-style. But there will be much to enthral over winter – and we’re not thinking of Snoop Dogg sidekick Wiz Khalifa’s ONIFC (Only Nigga In First Class), with its routine StarGate-stamped lead single Work Hard Play Hard, but real event albums.
NIKKO Tiger Beams. Allowed to put his voice up front and dig into some first-person drama, however, and Neale’s presence explodes. It also helps that his new solo single, Darlin’, contains one of the greatest recorded sax parts in recent memory. It’s a swinging rhythm’n’blues thing, balancing its fidelity on a wire to carry both coarse urgency and melody. Throw him a dollar (or more) for the track at jeremyneale.bandcamp.com. Sydney band Sures, recently signed to Ivy League, are often described as ‘surf-pop’, but they also draw a heaping of seaside sadness from the north-east England Merseyside scene of the ‘80s and early-‘90s, which threw up The La’s and Cast. Sures’ debut EP, Stars, has been re-released through Ivy League and the four-piece are out touring to launch it this month. It can also be streamed in all its bashful, layered, harmony-filled glory at sures.bandcamp.com. A couple of excellent Australian clips have been getting an airing in the post-pub hours of Rage. Melbourne’s Little John have belatedly released an incredible clip for the track Wolves from their 2010 album Put Your Hands On Me. The clip, made by Aaron Hoffman, beautifully matches the tension of the desert-lightning-storm song, the images of Melbourne’s train stations and a screaming frontman John Dickson heightening the strings and, well, John Dickson’s screaming. Sydney’s Kirin J Callinan has hardly been conventional in his solo work away from his Jack Ladder post, but the clip for his W II W had even many jaded Twitter heads asking W T F on its release mid-May. Directed by Kris Moyles, it is, like the incessantly looped and growled song, disturbing. breakdown@drummedia.com.au
Chris Brown, who drops Fortune this month, should watch that ass: Usher is reclaiming his title as the Prince of R’n’B with Looking 4 Myself, out by time y’all read this. The follow-up to 2010’s Raymond V Raymond has an electronic direction, with the Swedish House Mafia on board. Looking... has already spawned three singles, the killer Climax, Diplo’s most convincing crossover production. The Neptunes provide a respite of retro R’n’B in Twisted (featuring Pharrell Williams). Turn up the music! Illwave soulster (and Odd Future member) Frank Ocean quietly withdrew from the Future Music Festival. The good news? His official debut on Def Jam is expected... soon. Besides airing the quiet storm Thinkin Bout You, snatched back from Roc Nation’s Bridget Kelly, the New Orleans native has leaked songs like the sly Euro club banger PDA (originally intended for the Backstreet Boys!). Otherwise, details are frustratingly scant. Into traditional neo-soul? The troubled D’Angelo has lately toured Europe, leading up to the release of his long-awaited third album, James River. Indeed, the muso has performed new material. Will any Mark Ronson contributions make the cut? The pair’s Glass Mountain Trust on Record Collection was so dope. Hip hoppers have waited ages for new Nas. This game changer hasn’t had a record since 2008’s Nigger – apart from the collaborative Distant Relatives with Damian Marley. Life Is Good is due in July. It’ll be Nas’ final Def Jam album. Every top beatmaker ever (even Dr Dre) has been attached to the project, reputed to be a ‘90s throwback, but we just wanna hear Nas’ joint with Odd Future. The late Heavy D has a production credit for The Don. Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded was a spectacular disappointment, so we have high hopes for Azealia Banks’ debut, Broke With Expensive Taste. The Harlem femcee, singer and street suffragette has teamed with Paul Epworth (Plan B). She’s just issued a digital EP, 1991, on her new label, Universal, as a stopgap. It contains 2011’s breakout 212, definitely Banks’ Video Games, and Liquorice, but not the fresh (and very postMIA) Jumanji – that’s plucked from her forthcoming
themusic.com.au
Fantastic mixtape. The fashionista fave, hitting Splendour In The Grass, also pops up on Scissor Sisters’ Boys Noize-produced Shady Love, albeit uncredited. Ironically, Banks has generated a greater buzz than that other breakthrough Harlem MC, A$AP Rocky. His Long Live A$AP (home to Goldie) is anticipated mid-year. The gossip mags are in a frenzy over Kanye West’s romance with Kim Kardashian, the duo nicknamed “Kimye”. Yet the mogul has found time to assemble tracks for the first GOOD Music showcase, Cruel Summer. ‘Ye has previewed two songs: the dancehall Mercy (featuring Big Sean, Pusha T and 2 Chainz) and electro Cold AKA Theraflu (with DJ Khaled), the latter referencing his relationship with Ms Kardashian. GOOD has impressive acts – cue John Legend – but it’s poorly marketed. Cruel Summer is a good idea. That self-proclaimed polymath Plan B (AKA Ben Drew) is on a roll. The Brit’s iLL Manors (now slated for July) ties in loosely with his gritty full-length directorial debut. The album signals Drew’s return to the hardcore rap of 2006’s Who Needs Actions When You Got Words following his hit ‘soul’ outing, The Defamation Of Strickland Banks. The lead single, likewise entitled iLL Manors, is Al Shux-produced bass-hop that samples German MC Peter Fox’s classically-themed Alles Neu. It deals with the London riots, Drew, influenced by punk, challenging the establishment’s demonisation of the underclass. Not since Public Enemy’s heyday have we heard such powerful – and scathing – protest rap. Aside from Shux (of Empire State Of Mind fame), Drew has collaborated on the LP with Labrinth and Chase & Status (architects of End Credits). Bring it on! ogflavas@drummedia.com.au
ROOTS DOWN
WILCO RELEASES IPAD BOOK BLUES AND ROOTS WITH DAN CONDON
It’s been a pretty slow week in the world of blues and roots so I figured I’d use this time to fill you in on a few folky/bluesy/rootsy tours coming up that I haven’t mentioned because I haven’t had space or, frankly, haven’t been bothered. “If this record is uplifting compared to my old ones it’s because I feel stronger from all the beat-downs and shit I’ve taken in the past,” so says Richmond, Virginia singer/songwriter Tim Barry about his new record 40 Miler. The record, which has just been released, is a little more positive than his previous work but it hasn’t lost the grit and attitude that has made everything he’s been involved with so awesome in the past. After a couple of very successful recent jaunts to Australia, both by himself and as a part of the Revival Tour shows, Barry is wasting no time in getting back down under in support of the record, once again playing intimate venues that promise to ensure some pretty magical experiences when he gives us tunes from the aforementioned latest record as well as songs from throughout his solo career and from when he was out the front of punk rock masters Avail. Catch him at the Sandringham, on Saturday 4 August and Newcastle’s Cambridge Hotel Side Bar on Sunday 5. I saw Barry when he was here as part of the Revival tour a couple of years back and he was truly excellent. In the past 12 months, Emma Louise has sold out shows across Australia, signed international record deals, and generally let the world know that she
RUFUS WAINWRIGHT has arrived and is ready to give you a taste of her considerable songwriting and performing talents. We haven’t heard much in the past couple of months though, so we’re excited to hear about the release of Boy, the first single from her debut album which will drop early next year, and the accompanying single launch tour to boot. The swaying, mid-paced song shows that there’s a real solid foundation to her songwriting, plenty of depth and broader talent than some may expect. It’s an alluring first taste that will make you very excited for the album’s ensuing release. In the meantime, catch her at the Oxford Arts Factory on Friday 20 July. Perhaps the most successful of the enormously talented Wainwright stable of artists, Rufus Wainwright is returning for an Australian tour with his full band in September. This time around he is making the journey down to our part of the world to showcase his acclaimed new Mark Ronson-produced album Out Of The Game, which has been getting a lot of very positive
publicity in the weeks since its release. The full band that he brings out on the road with him features a few up and coming artists who may seem a little familiar to you for one reason or another, one of them being recent visitor, folk-jazz-soul singer/songwriter Krystle Warren and another is Teddy Thompson, son of the great British musical pairing of Richard and Linda Thompson. As well as appearing in the band, both Warren and Thompson will also be alternating as the opening act for the national run of dates. They will play a special show at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall on Sunday 9 September. Time to get those feet tapping because the legendary Count Basie Orchestra have announced a special Australian tour in October. Founded in the late 1930s by swing and jazz pioneer William “Count” Basie, they have maintained a huge following in the wake of the decline in swing music popularity in the ‘40s and ‘50s as well as Basie’s death in 1984. Over the years, they have collaborated with Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald. Their current ensemble includes saxophonist John Williams, trombonist Clarence Banks, bassist James Leary and vocalist Carmen Bradford, who has performed with Tony Bennett and the late James Brown. It will be an enriching night of fine music when they play the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall Saturday 13 October.
TUESDAY
The Drip Hards + Impermanent Quartet – 505 James Valentine Quartet – Golden Sheaf Gadjo Guitars – Camelot Lounge John & Yuki – Madison’s Darlinghurst
Singer, saxophonist and blues harpist Bruce Bongers is a pioneer of the Sydney roots music scene best known for combos such as The Goldtops and the Downhome Quartet. His latest musical innovation is Junior & The Jewel-Tones, and like his previous combos is a heart-felt mix of funky and soulful grooves with a firm foundation in the raw Chicago blues of the ‘50s and ‘60s. Featured are guitarist Dave “Cross-Cut” Shaw, keyboardist John Tweed, and Bruce’s long-term rhythm section of double bassist Peter O’Neill and drummer Darryl Jacobs. Catch the Jewel-Tones this Sunday from 5pm at the family-friendly Petersham RSL along with Ian Hollister from the Lemon Squeezin’ Daddies throwing down a duelling harp challenge to Junior Bongers.
Bluesfest 2013 has now introduced a reserved camping option for punters, to enhance people’s Bluesfest experience by reserving and guaranteeing a campsite. The campsites can be reserved for the total of five days of the festival schedule which runs from Thursday 28 March to Monday 1 April 2013. Reserved campsite privileges include: sites located in prime camping area, very close to both festival entries, general store and amenities; multiple campsites means groups of friends can be together (allowing groups to arrive at separate times); a six by six metre deep and wide site, areas will be marked out. If you’re a regular and want your spot secured, jump online at www.bluesfest.com.au to secure your spot!
RETURN TO THE MOTHERSHIP JAZZ/WORLD WITH MICHAEL SMITH
Sarah McKenzie – 505 Clayton Doley with The Hi-Fi Doley-T Horns – Blue Beat Waiting For Guinness + Belle Jar – Camelot Lounge John & Yuki – Well Connected Café Leichhardt Armandito & Trovason – Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre Penrith MOTIF
Hi-Tops Brass Band – The Mac
THURSDAY The Idea Of North – The Basement Peter Locke Trio – Colbourne Ave Glebe Eastside Live presents Miriam Lieberman – 505
FRIDAY
Amphibious – Sound Lounge Michael Griffin Quintet – Norton’s On Norton James Morrison & His Funk Band – Blue Beat Emma Hamilton + Kearna Murray with Jordan C Thomas – Clarendon Guesthouse Katoomba
BREAKING THE JAZZ CEILING
MONDAY
FAR FROM THE END
Bernie McGann with the John Harkins Trio – 505 Sonic Mayhem Orchestra – Blue Beat
TUESDAY
Mike Nock Trio Plus + Trichotomy with DVA – 505 James Valentine Quartet – Golden Sheaf
SATURDAY
Steve Hunter Quintet – Sound Lounge
blow@drummedia.com.au
ROCKABILLY/PSYCOBILLY/ALT.COUNTRY WITH PEDRO MANOY
THURSDAY
The National Press Club in Canberra hosts goodtime trio Chris Harland Blues whilst Harry Manx plays Lizotte’s at Dee Why.
FRIDAY HARRY MANX Host of the alt. country show on the pay TV Country Music Channel, Catherine Britt has released an advance single, Always Never Enough – the title track from her upcoming album, due for release in August. The album features songs from both country icon Guy Clark and our own Tim Rogers. Catherine heads back to the US in July to play at the prestigious Wood Guthrie Festival and then back on Australia to tour and launch the album.
TUESDAY
The guitar wizardry of Canada’s Harry Manx is on show along with the remarkable Yeshe at Notes.
WEDNESDAY
Memphis Blues Challenge runner-up Don Hopkins invades the normally gentrified setting of the Cosmopolitan Café in Double Bay whilst Harry Manx moves to the Brass Monkey.
Since forming in the 1970s, there have been some pretty dramatic ups and downs for jazz/rock fusion band Return To Forever, culminating in a pretty big “up” – the release of their three-disc digipack from a new, reformed band with an updated line-up. After two break-ups and three reunions, the band have created some remarkable music, drawing influence from some of the most notable rock’n’roll bands of their time, but with a jazz twist. This release includes brand new material, as well as old material covered by the band’s new line-up; tracks include Senor Mouse, After The Cosmic Rain and Renaissance. It’s out June 22 in Aus’.
SUNDAY
The Swinging Blades – Marrickville Golf Club Luke Gallen & Dorian Mode – (midday) Lizotte’s Kincumber Sydney Fusion Jazz Jam – 3pm Beauchamp Hotel Darlinghurst RX3 Kawai piano auction featuring Mike Nock/ Cameron Undy/Matt MacMahon/Greg Coffin – 505 Bobby Singh & Adrian McNeil (arvo) + Lolo Lovina (eve) – Camelot Lounge
WEDNESDAY
THE SWAMP SHACK When Shane MacGowan departed The Pogues in 1994 to record his own album The Snake, he formed the somewhat cynically named The Popes, eventually releasing three albums with the group. Whilst McGowan went on to reform The Pogues in 2001, following a substantial dental makeover, The Popes have continued in their own right, as both a recording and touring band. Paddybeat fans will be pleased to hear that Celtic rockers will be heading our way in late June for a series of festival and club shows. The line-up will feature Will Morrison, Dave Allen Mark Cryle and original Poguester Paul ‘Mad Dog’ McGuinness. Catch The Popes on Saturday 23 June at the Polish Club in Canberra, Wednesday 27 at the Great Northern Hotel in Newcastle, Thursday 28 at the Vanguard, Friday 29 at Mars Hill Café in Parramatta (acoustic gig only) and Saturday 30 at City Diggers Club in Wollongong.
RESERVE A CAMP SITE
roots@drummedia.com.au
BLOW This Wednesday is a big one for jazz fans. The Norwegian quintet, Motif, featuring Atle Nymo (saxes and bass clarinet), Eivind Lønning (trumpet), Haavard Wiik (piano), Ole Morten Vaagan (bass) and Hakon Mjaset Johansen (drums), will be transforming the Sound Lounge stage, while over at 505 in Surry Hills, Melbourne-based quartet Motion, led by saxophonist Andrew Brooks and pianist Berish Bilander, with Nick Abbey on bass and Hugh Harvey on drums, launch their new album. Then Wednesday, Thursday and Friday night, the expanded Monsieur Camembert Big Band, along with some very special guests, will be celebrating the birth and music of American singer songwriter the late Harry Nilsson. Celtic Divas are four feisty young Irish folk singer/ songwriters – Nicola Joyce, Noriana Kennedy and the duo, Lumiere – who have combined forces to present the contemporary sound of their mystical homeland and they play Lizotte’s Newcastle Wednesday, the Concourse Concert Hall in Chatswood Thursday, the Factory Theatre Friday and the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre Penrith Sunday. Friday night, singer, songwriter and poet Edwina Blush launches her new album, Sea For Cats, with her Latin jazz septet, which includes Leonie Cohen on piano and Nigel Date on guitar, at 505.
Chicago rock band, Wilco, have released a new book titled, The Incredible Shrinking Tour Of Chicago. The book is free and is now available exclusively on Apple’s iBookstore for iPad. It documents the band’s five hometown concerts from December 2011 with gorgeous live photography, images of posters created for each concert, set lists and more. The book also contains videos of two intimate live performances captured backstage at those December shows. The first being a powerful and moving performance of Wilco with the legendary soul and gospel singer Mavis Staples and indie-pop icon Nick Lower. The trio rehearse The Band’s classic song, The Weight. The second video includes never-before-seen video footage of Wilco and Staples rehearsing You Are Not Alone –Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy wrote the song for Staples’ 2010 Grammy Award winning album of the same name. A must have for hardcore Wilco fans!
Word has it that Jump Jive And Wail is raisin’ a ruckus at its new venue on Level 1 of the Lansdowne Hotel with the popular monthly residency presented by Limpin’ Jimmy & The Swingin’ Kitten spinning a great range of swing and jump blues from 10pm.
Since 2005, the Jann Rutherford Memorial Award has been helping to minimise the gender imbalance in jazz music by rewarding outstanding young female jazz musicians. In the past, private sponsors have supported the award; this year, the fund will support itself with a massive benefit concert, held on Thursday 12 July at Blue Beat in Double Bay. The night will include performances by The Jann Rutherford Quintet, with guest pianist Matt McMahon, The Hannah James Quartet and The Sirens Big Band.
Melbourne guitarist Tim Willis’ band The End have announced the release of their jazz rocking album Keep Your Chin Up as Thursday 14 June. This is the first offering since a little over a year, but their run is far from the end. In between, the group have been going from strength to strength carving a unique jazz-rock sound, unmistakably their own. The eight-piece’s album has been described as a high energy blend of jazz and rock ideas.
CARLL CLEANS UP
Musician and songwriter Hayes Carll has recently been announced as a nominee for Artist Of The Year at this year’s Americana Honors & Awards. Carll is set to make his first ever appearance in Australia in August this year, playing Wednesday 22 at Lizotte’s Newcastle and Sunday 26 at The Factory Theatre. Carll is nominated alongside Gillian Welch, Jason Isbell and Justin Townes Earle, and is also featured on This One’s For Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark – one of four nominees for Album Of The Year. Back in 2008 his song, She Left Me For Jesus, won the Americana Music Award for Song Of The Year, and in 2010 he was the recipient of New/Emerging Artist of the Year.
TIME HAS COME
If you have yet to check out the hip nightclub ambience of one of Sydney’s newest venues, the stylish Blue Beat at Double Bay, tonight’s bill with Clayton Doley and his band along with The Hi-Fi Doley-T Horns is the perfect opportunity.
Thursday June 14 sets the date for the release of the self-made EP, Take on the World, by Brisbane solo blues/roots/folk/country artist Pat Tierney, which includes the single, Time To Leave This Town. His music explores themes of family and home, which are both very much a part of her creative process – his brother Jack created the artwork for the new EP, his father is a large influence to his songwriting, and there is a tribute to the passage of his grandfather in the artwork as well.
SUNDAY
A CHURCH IN NEW ORLEANS
SATURDAY
The hard rocking El Caminos tear it up at the Balgownie Hotel from 1pm. There will no doubt be stories when the Rock Lily at the Star casino hosts a session of Afternoon Blues with Tina Harrod and Rob Wolf from 2pm. Junior & The Jewel-Tones play the Petersham Bowlo from 5pm and Alison Penney & George Rigatos combine at the Dee Why RSL Club from 6.30pm. swampshack@drummedia.com.au
themusic.com.au
Now based in New Orleans, Joey Burns and John Convertino, otherwise known as Calexico, have announced that they will be releasing their first album in four years, which is to be titled Algiers. The record – which is a first via Anti-Records – will drop on Friday 14 September. It was co-produced with Craig Schumacher while living and working in a converted church in the outskirts of the New Orleans neighbourhood for which the record is name. THE DRUM MEDIA • 41
FRONTROW@DRUMMEDIA.COM.AU
ARTS
ARTIST: GHOST PATROL
TUESDAY 12 The King of Pigs – a film for those who like their animation dark, with a hint of the Japanese anime series Paranoia Agent as well as the British Monkey Dust. Therefore, it will more than likely rule. Directed by Yuen Sang-Ho, a disturbing and violent animated film about bullying, social status and class difference. Part of the Sydney Film Festival, Tonight, State Theatre, 6.15pm repeated Wed 13 June, Event Cinemas 4, 4.30pm.
THURSDAY 14 (Unlocking) The Tender Age – a creative development and interactive piece of theatre with a live twitter feed throughout, it’s broken into three parts with the aim of developing a deeper understanding of verbatim, issuebased theatre. Sydney Opera House, Studio. Dead Europe – Australian film directed Tony Krawitz, who was responsible for The Tall Man, the cast includes award-winning thespian Ewan Leslie (Hamlet, The Wild Duck), Marton Csokas (The Lord of The Rings/The Bourne Supremacy) and Kodi Smit-McPhee (Let Me In, The Road). Oh yeah, and it’s an adaptation of a novel by Christos ‘The Slap’ Tsiolkas too. Part of the Sydney Film Festival, State Theatre, 6.30pm.
FRIDAY 15 The Histrionic (Der Theatermacher) – a Fawlty-Towers-meets-Beckett rampage of satire on art, celebrity and the cult of personality. Written by Thomas Bernhard and directed by Daniel Schlusser, a black comedy about Bruscon, national treasure, intellect nonpareil and finest living actor to grace the stage. Opening night, STC: Wharf 1, 8pm.
FILM
Honey In The Rock – a joint exhibition from Ghostpatrol and Miso about binary oppositions: Whole and self, macro and micro, ethereal and corporeal. In the galaxies of Honey In The Rock there are no absolutes, but an endless search for something greater than us. Closing day, Chalk House. Amour (Love) – winner of the Cannes Palme d’Or, if you’re a fan of Austrian auteur Michael Haneke (Funny Games/The White Ribbon/ Hidden), his name should be enough to gain your attention. Otherwise, the fact that Amour stars Isabelle Huppert should (also: Certified Copy’s William Shimell). Part of the Sydney Film Festival, Event Cinemas 8, 6.45pm.
SUNDAY 17 Safety Not Guaranteed – three cynical Seattle magazine employees set out on a comical adventure. Darius (Aubrey Plaza- Parks and Recreation) is a disillusioned college graduate who interns at the magazine. She’s joined by a fellow intern, the very serious Arnau (Karan Soni), and their boozy boss, Jeff (Jake Johnson), on a clumsy adventure of investigative journalism. Sydney Film Festival’s closing night, State Theatre, 8pm.
Ambition is among the most noble and forgiveable of faults, so I’m inclined to cut Ridley Scott’s science-fiction/horror/philosophy hybrid, Prometheus, a little slack. But ambition isn’t Prometheus’ only fault, which is why I can’t cut it too much slack. This is a big, bold endeavour, vast in its scope and (at first glance, at least) expansive in its thinking. But it’s also unwieldy and kind of incoherent at times, either unwilling or unable to meld together the deep ideas it raises and the sharp shocks of its ancestor, Scott’s 1979 sci-fi thriller, Alien. There’s
Expecting an encounter with Russall Beattie of The Batman Follies, Paul Andrew instead is heckled by a man who bears a striking resemblance to The Joker.
MONDAY 18 Dave Ross Explosion – an exhibition about not literal descriptions of particular places or events but rather, experiences. Stream of consciousnesses that have manifested themselves into dreams and fantasies explored on paper and canvas. Opening today Tap Gallery until 1 July.
ONGOING The Highway Crossing, or The Tale of the Golden Fish – written by Jaan Tätte about a young couple who meet an eccentric stranger who gives them refuge in his log cabin. He offers the young girl three billion for her love and her boyfriend one billion to forget her. Shock morphs into curiosity as the play shifts between fairy tale and reality. A psychologically perceptive story about love, morality and the deal of a lifetime from director Iain Sinclair and the HOBO Collective. The Bondi Pavilion, 8pm until 26 June.
REVIEW
PROMETHEUS
42 • THE DRUM MEDIA
SATURDAY 16
INSIDE THE JOKER.
no denying the connection - to my mind, this is Scott’s attempt to both answer some questions posed by the original Alien and spin the story off in a new direction. And it’s far from a total bust - its imagery is often stunning, as you might expect from a Scott movie. It has some terrific performances, with the gifted Fassbender bringing a beguiling sense of menace and inquisitiveness to his portrayal of David. And it does frequently offer hints of a deep, fascinating mythology that, sadly, goes unexplored here. Guy Davis In cinemas nationally.
RUSSALL BEATTIE
THIS WEEK IN
Imagine it’s 1929 and you’re sitting in a plush and very crowded Art Deco club. You notice the glow of the incandescent footlights, the red velvet curtains on stage. The air is charged with anticipation, there is chinking of glasses: whiskey sours, martinis and manhattans. “Who will it be up next?” asks the tall blonde sporting a satin flapper dress and a five o’clock shadow, “Cat Woman, Bat Girl and Two-Face. No, look at the fine bow-tie, and my, what a very big grin he has; yes, yes,” he/ she sighs, “it’s The Joker.” The Joker and his signature wide circus grin are sitting in a booth at The Vanguard chatting about The Batman Follies Of 1929 and that adrenalin-charged moment just before the red velvet curtain goes up. It’s a variety show with all the Batman regulars he tells me. The Joker snickers, there is a long devilish pause. “Imagine,” he continues while flourishing both hands, “that in 1929 Batman is not fighting crime but producing Folliesstyle extravaganzas, stage shows of extraordinary music, song and dance, a la Star Wars Burlesque. We adore popular culture.” While relaying exact details about the musical styles of the follies from the theatrical direction to details about costumery, including the detailed leather masks made in Russia, the great bat wings that are hand-sewn, the Dandy suits and the heavy silent movie-style make-up, he intersperses the details with random asides. He calls loudly, emphatically, “NO spoilers.” So I veer clear of recounting the details he’s mentioned just now for the Drum column and continue with a different line of questioning, maybe, an exclusive inside story of The Joker. It must be stressful being an archenemy? I enquire. He doesn’t budge. Drat. His painted smile turns upwards at the corners.
“Next question?” he cackles.. What’s your star sign? “Fatty Arbuckle,” he winks. Are you single? “Isn’t ever-yyy-one under the right cir-cum-stances?” The Joker snarls in an awful, nightmarish manner. What do you look for in a love interest? “Mmm, let me see,” he considers the question and runs his fingers through greasy black oiled hair. “Yes, someone with a unique flair for abuse and who owns at least one or more rubber chickens.” How would you describe yourself on a dating site? “Easy,” he replies earnestly. “Fun, outgoing, likes to laa-aaa-aaauuugh. That is, laugh.” Do you have a good sense of humour? “Well humour is like sex; as long as you’re having fun, no one else matters.” What do you have to offer that special someone? “The security that lies in the unpredictable and the excitement that lies in fear.” The interview is going so terribly well that I decide to ask the most difficult Joker question of all. I compose myself. Okay. What do you admire in Batman? He doesn’t even bat a painted eyelid. “His height, I have always looked up to him.” What do you loathe about Batman? “His height,” he growls low in his belly. “Batman has always looked down on me.” WHAT: Batman Follies Of 1929 WHEN & WHERE: Wednesday 13-Sunday 17 June, The Vanguard, Newtown.
C U LT U R A L
CRINGE
WITH JAMELLE WELLS The Performance Space has appointed Bec Dean and Jeff Khan as its new Co-Directors. They’ve been acting in the role since January, following the departure of former Artistic Director Daniel Brine. Having both been Associate Directors at Performance Space for some time they already have strong relationships with staff, artists and other stakeholders. Model Lara Bingle’s brother has provided more entertainment lately than her new reality television show. Joshua Bingle last week faced a Sydney court to plead guilty to assaulting a man on Melbourne Cup Day at Randwick Racecourse. He was put on an 18-month good behaviour bond. The court heard Bingle and co-offender Jarrod Broder had been drinking through the day and a fight broke out after Bingle asked the victim’s girlfriend for a cigarette. Aussie Anthony Warlow has been cast in the role of Daddy Warbucks in the new revival of Annie on Broadway. This marks his Broadway debut. He is currently playing the role in John Frost’s Australian production of the show, which had seasons in Sydney and Brisbane and is now in Melbourne. Warlow will continue starring in the Melbourne production until August. His replacement hasn’t yet been announced. The space inside Sydney Town Hall is now home to the first Sydney Film Festival Hub, with a pop-up bookshop, live performances, screenings and expert talks. Mayor Clover Moore tells us the 2010 refurbishment of Lower Town Hall has created a world-class exhibition space. Almost 60,000 people
entered its doors for the Art of the Brick exhibition, by New York-based Lego artist Nathan Sawaya, from December last to February this year. More recently it has been the venue for Sydney Fashion Festival events and an ARIA Awards after-party. The Sydney Theatre Company is extending its schools season of Fools Island, performed by Darren Gilshenan and Rose Ertler, to the general public. Written by Gilshenan and Chris Harris (RSC), there’ll be productions at the Wharf from the end of July. The production, from Tamarama Rock Surfers Theatre Company, comes to the STC after a successful run last year at Bondi Pavilion Theatre. A tale of love, lust and revenge, it’s a physical comedy of Shakespearean proportions. Erskineville landmarks have come to life over the past week for this year’s Tiny Stadiums Festival. Organised by the PACT centre for emerging artists, quiet neighbourhood courtyards, main roads and even the local pub have been transformed into venues for performances and interactive sculptures. Highlights include the Sydney debut of awardwinning play, Sweet Child of Mine, and a cardboard café serving edible toasted sandwiches over the opening weekend. The program has been curated by Groundwork, a group artists interested in taking art into the streets and developing works that reflect the local community. Producers Howard Panter and John Frost have announced the final cast members for the musical, Legally Blonde, which will premiere at Sydney’s Lyric Theatre in October. Helen Dallimore will star alongside a cast that includes Steve Danielsen, Euan Doidge and Adele Parkinson.
FRONTROW@DRUMMEDIA.COM.AU
A BIRD IN CineBarr CANNES
STILL FROM DESPITE THE GODS
JENNIFER LYNCH ON SET OF HISSS
Every year, in sync with the Sydney Film Festival, the weather gets really shitty, leaving the only option for everyone in the city to pack into the several cinema locations and take refuge in the light, reinvorating the myth about cinema as a restorative, communal force (or something like that). Granted, the reassuring, relaxing purr of projected celluloid and those voluptuous blizzards of film grain are rapidly being replaced by clean, digital efficiency, so best to catch as much from the Nikkatsu and Bertolucci restrospectives as possible to hold onto those film-as-weknew-it sensations while they last. And be sure to check out Side By Side, the documentary on the transition (presented by Keanu Reeves!), as well as the Apple Store talk with Australian virtuoso cinematographer Dion Beebe for more insights on the subject. In last week’s column, I recommended five or six feature films, but no documentaries. This week, I can heartily get behind Despite the Gods, a tremendously entertaining and revealing film about filmmaking from Australian filmmaker Penny Vozniak. Most documentaries about artists of any stripe are boring, hagiographic exercises in choir-preaching, single-mindedly intent on leaving audiences with nary a trace of doubt about the genius of their chosen subject(s). That’s part of the reason why this particular one is so bracing. This fly-on-thewall portrait of Jennifer ‘David’s Daughter’ Lynch during her troubled production of Hisss in India avoids all those pitfalls, mainly because Lynch is primarily known – if at all – for her infamous 1993 amputee-sex ‘erotic’ drama, Boxing Helena.
That fascinatingly awful film – written when she was merely 19, as she claims in the doco – was shredded on its release, with Lynch crucified by the press as a prime example of nepotism at its absolute worst. It took 15 years for her to make another film, 2008’s only slightly more warmly-received Surveillance. Needless to say, Despite the Gods’ saga of Hisss – the story of a ‘woman who turns into a snake and then into a snake-woman’, per Lynch’s own admission – isn’t exactly on the scale of Heart Of Darkness. Indeed, when we’re finally treated to a montage of scenes from the finished product near the end, one can only gawp in astonishment at how someone so obviously intelligent and passionate could be so thoroughly committed to such bad ideas. But that’s what makes the film so rich; as an examination of the creative process, it gets at the universal drive behind art, whether good or bad, and almost makes that drive a thing of beauty and awe. It helps, too, that Lynch is a brash, funny and all-round compelling subject, keeping her cool even when weather interrupts shoots, financing falls through, and her vixen-y lead actress has diva-like tantrums (most hilariously when in full snakewoman garb). Lynch’s ‘tude throughout the whole mess evokes the myths of both John Ford and Ed Wood, and the film is something of a companion piece to Tim Burton’s film about the latter in that sense – you come away with admiration for its creator, with their creation almost irrelevant. WANT MORE? Follow our blogger Ian Barr who will be reporting on everything SFF as it happens at themusic.com.au.
STILL FROM YARDBIRD
One of only two Australian films to enter Cannes this year – the other’s the buzz-heavy The Sapphires – and one of only ten short films selected from an international pool of 4500 to compete for best short, Michael Spiccia’s film, Yardbird, is a rare Ave indeed.
start making music videos. Going from a secure job as a designer I threw it all aside to put my attention into being a filmmaker. Music videos were a great format to start experimenting with.”
Spiccia’s filmmaking career started a-proper after he serendipitously fell into some design work for Baz Luhrman’s production company Bazmark. In that environment, his love for film and music was nurtured and cultivated in a way he hadn’t experienced before, which compelled the man to change gears and become a film director.
From there, he explains, making his first film was just a matter of timing, and getting himself together. “I [wanted] to make a film for some time but kept procrastinating. I met up with a good friend of mine, Julius Avery, who made a film called Jerrycan. Julius and I both came from Perth with similar upbringings and shared a desire to explore similar themes in the films we wanted to make. After a few in-depth discussions he went away and wrote a script [that] I got really excited about. [Then] our producer Jessica Mitchell and I got together and set out to make the film.”
“It was a great insight and opportunity to work with creative people I really respected,” Spiccia recalls. “I learnt a lot from my experiences, [and] not long after I had a change in direction and I started to put my focus solely on developing as a filmmaker. As an avid music lover I decided to
WRIGHT TO WRITE
TOM WRIGHT
JENNIFER LYNCH
MICHAEL SPICCIA
Sam Hobson chats with Perth director Michael Spiccia, whose short film, Yardbird, was in competition at Cannes and is now screening at SFF.
Avery, whose short film, Jerrycan, won the Cannes Jury Prize in 2008, had written a script called Yardbird, which is the fictional tale of a young girl living in a scrapyard who decides to take on a pack of bullies tormenting her father. That script then became the short film that the trio finished shooting just a day before they were due to fly out to Cannes. “We always had a goal of a getting the film into a major festival,” Spiccia explains of the whirlwind that followed, “but [we] couldn’t believe it when we heard about Cannes. I think if the story resonates and a bit of luck is on your side anything can happen. “Being accepted to this festival provides a great deal of opportunity for me as a filmmaker and has exposed me to people I wouldn’t normally get to meet. It’s definitely opened a lot of doors.”
SCENE FROM THE HISTRIONIC
Sydney Theatre Company’s Tom Wright talks to Dave Drayton about why exactly he felt a new translation of Thomas Bernhard’s The Histrionic was necessary. Our conversation begins with Sydney Theatre Company’s associate artistic director Tom Wright reflecting on his role on the last leg of the European tour for Gross Und Klein, a production initially based on the vision of director Luc Bondy, Benedict Andrews taking the reins when complications that prevented Bondy from being in Australia, and one Wright describes as phenomenal, before adding, “In the end, remounting someone else’s remount of someone else’s work; it’s just a job.” There’s nothing sour in Wright’s reflection. It’s more that, as will become increasingly clear during the rest of our discussion, Wright is well aware of his differing creative roles within the world of theatre. Some call for heavy-handedness, or a boldly stated intention, others not so much, though all serve a purpose and in no way are archaic ideas of ‘authorship’ or ‘ownership’ in theatre easily applicable. One of Wright’s most recent undertakings is a translation of Thomas Bernhard’s darkly comedic play within a play, Der Theatermacher, or The Histrionic,
which joins an impressive list of prior adaptations and translations that Wright has penned for Sydney Theatre Company. It’s a list that includes Ovid’s Metamorphoses, The Lost Echo, Shakespeare’s The War Of The Roses, Euripides’ The Women Of Troy and Aeschylus’ Oresteia. “Usually what I do is adaptation,” says Wright, alluding to the likes of Brecht’s Baal, which he drastically reworked, alongside Simon Stone, for an STC production last year. “But in the case of The Histrionic, under the terms of our license, it has to be a literal translation, so I’ve pretty much followed it word for word, what Bernhard wrote. That’s the terms of the estate and that’s fine, it’s completely reasonable. “So in the case of this one it was more your traditional literary model where I sat down with my German grammar – it’s written in Austrian, so every now and then you find an odd verbal construct or an odd noun – so fundamentally this one was more an act of trying to, as accurately as possible, refract and reflect Bernhard’s world view and the text.”
With the Bernhard Estate putting some rather strict limitations on the text and how it is to be translated, one could ask why a new translation of Der Theatermacher was required, given there is an extant American academic translation of the play. Wright alludes to a philosophy that governs STC, and Malthouse Theatre, where this production of The Histrionic – under the direction of Daniel Schlusser and with Billie Brown in the lead role of Bruscon – premiered in Australia, as the impetus for translating the work anew. “Both Malthouse in Melbourne and Sydney Theatre Company have a philosophy which we try to adhere to as much as possible, that when we do works from outside the English language we give opportunities to contemporary Australian writerly voices to find a way to reimagine it. The only other translation of Der Theatermacher that’s published is an American academic translation, which uses terms like ‘cookies’ and things like that in it, and so by definition it feels like it’s written from an American viewpoint. Were we to take that on we’d be engaging in a double act of cultural hegemony,
So, through those doors, where does Spiccia go next? “[I want] to continue to grow as a filmmaker and bring the stories I love and want to tell to the big screen,” he beams. “Julius and I have started a collective for our film projects called Bridle Path Films. We wanted to create an environment where we can collaborate and foster various projects we’re both passionate about.” Andrew Dominik’s Killing Them Softly and John Hillcoat’s Lawless don’t count. They’re both American productions. Still, how cool is it those guys exist?” WHAT: Yardbird - Part of the Sydney Film Festival WHEN & WHERE: Saturday 16 June, Event Cinemas 4, 2.30pm/ Sunday 17, Event Cinemas 8, 12.30pm whereas there is something to be said about, even within the constraints of a literal translation, the place and viewpoint from which a translator works. There’s no such thing as pure translation, obviously; it doesn’t matter whether you’re translating Mandelshtam’s poetry or whether you’re trying to translate high-level prose like Robert Musil or you’re trying to translate the free verse of Bernard’s plays, the one thing you can never afford to pretend is that you are in some way invisible in the process. A translator is still a writer – and their ideological preconceptions and their cultural assumptions and the simple way they choose to insert adjectival clauses is in itself a political act.” As a writer, then, and not just a translator, Wright set himself the task of creating a version of the script that was as robust as the character of the has-been star at the centre of the play. “I appreciate the delicacy. If you have to translate contemporary Japanese poetry it would be like being a brain surgeon, the degree of finesse required is extraordinary and merely syllabic rendering could keep you awake at night, but you have to create robust texts for theatre. You can’t create fine texts. “What rehearsal rooms tend to do is blunt the edges off texts and actors and directors tend to generalise where writers tend to be more specific. What you have to do when you’re preparing a text that is designed to go into the rehearsal room is create a text that’s simultaneously open to multiple interpretations but is also robust enough to withstand misinterpretation, and those two things are sometimes frustrating and sometimes very rewarding.” WHAT: The Histrionic WHEN & WHERE: Opening Friday 15 June until Saturday 28 July, Wharf 1, Sydney Theatre Company THE DRUM MEDIA • 43
FRONTROW@DRUMMEDIA.COM.AU
FILM
REVIEW
CABIN IN THE WOODS Cabin In The Woods not only spoofs horror-movie tropes, it retroactively rewrites them. Masquerading as a fairly snug-fit hillbilly horror film, Cabin In The Woods begins as they all do, with a group of friends leaving for a, well, you know where this is going. But the film quickly stretches that familiar abstraction into a dizzying array of possibilities, a veritable star-map of the genre’s every iteration, including every iteration (again) upon those. To add further madness to that incomprehensible feat, the film concludes with this array of possibilities being capitalised on simultaneously. For
the horror buff, the way Cabin In The Woods layers meta-narratives towards achieving this end is positively dizzying. Though a lot of why the film works can be credited to its gleefully deconstructive plot, it’s a story that could’ve potentially fallen flat as a mere technical/ geek experiment, were it not also characterised incredibly well. Writers Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard create characters and their dynamics in such a way that just a single line of dialogue immediately sparks something real and something very human and electric behind its speaker’s eyes. Whedon is a guy, who – like Dan Harmon – has honed these economised yet fulfilling character algorithms that are capable of imbuing even the most deliberate of archetypes with some emotional purchase, with an eminent watchability, exposing him as a sturdy go-to guy for making films with big casts and big ideas really work. Masterfully executing a thrilling, high-concept narrative with lightness and ease, Cabin In The Woods is a dizzyingly original film whose far-reaching cleverness is a maddening joy to behold. Samuel Hobson Opens Nationally 14 June.
GROWING OLD
really passionate about the play. I really loved the play; it’s one of the best new works I’ve ever read and I read a lot of new plays.” So what was it that made Old Man stand out – what is a literary manager’s perspective on Whittet’s writing? “Sometimes I think he writes hysterically, actually; he puts us in the minds of his characters. He’s very good at fitting the form to the subject of the piece, you know; form equals content, context equals form, in a really beautiful way.
Belvoir literary manager and director of Old Man, Anthea Williams turns a literary eye to Matt Whittet’s play. Words by Dave Drayton. In 2010 Matt Whittet took out the Philip Parsons Young Playwright Award, an award of a commission for a playwright from New South Wales who is 35 or under, on the strength his play, Silver, which had run as part of the B Sharp program. Anthea Williams was half a world away working as the Associate Director of Bushfutures at London’s Bush Theatre, though on arrival in Australia – and as a result of her installing as Belvoir’s Literary Manager – she came across the result of Whittet’s commission, Old Man, a play Williams describes as, “You get to watch one family
SCENE FROM OLD MAN as they discover more about themselves – you are watching an adult grow up in some ways. And come to a realisation about his own life and his own family.” In her role at Belvoir, it’s Williams’ job to keep abreast of who’s writing what, who’s exciting, and who’s on the. Scripts are part of the daily scenery, but Old Man grabbed her. “Originally we were thinking that Ralph was going to direct it, but I got really passionate about how it should be done and I was in the middle of telling Ralph all about how he should stage it when
he said, ‘I think you should direct it Anthea,’” Williams explains, slipping into a mock whisper, part patronising part resignation, though all in good humour, when imitating Ralph Meyers, Belvoir’s Artistic Director. “Which was great, because literary managers often don’t direct, but I was actually a director in my role in the UK, so it’s great to be directing again. “It was pure excitement about the work actually, I was all, ‘It’s brilliant! You have to do it like this and like this and like this!’ It was actually just because I was
TRAILER TALK SUFF NUMBER SIX. CALLING FILMMAKERS! Filmmakers who are interested in submitting their shorts or features to Syndey Underground Film Festival must do so by Monday 25 June. The festival will take place from Thursday 9 September to Saturday 11 September at The Factory Theatre, Marrickville. Dedicated to nurturing an alternative film culture through the promotion of independent and experimental films, this festival seeks to support filmmakers who operate outside established film industry infrastructures by providing a platform for exhibition, exposure and critical discussion. To enter a film and find out more go to www.suff.com.au.
44 • THE DRUM MEDIA
“Movie trailers are the only form of advertising that people actively consume on a mass level”, Fennell says of their unique pull. And, along with his two co-hosts Nick Hayden and Nicholas MacDougall, Fennell
WHAT: Old Man WHERE & WHEN: Belvoir Downstairs Theatre, Thursday 7 June until Sunday 1 July We discuss favourite recent trailers, and we agree that the recent trailer to Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master – created by its own filmmaker – is a great short film in its own right. Which brings up, as Fennell says “[The] question as to whether filmmakers are the best people to advertise their own films… The goal of a trailer is to get you in the door.” That the art vs. commerce issue is even applicable to the movie trailer should be enough to convince one that reviewing trailers is as valid a form of criticism as any.
Marc Fennell, along with Nick Hayden and Nicholas MacDougall, will be speaking at the Sydney Film Festival Hub’s event Coming Sooner: The Arts of the Movie Trailer. Ian Barr chats to Fennell about the art of movie trailers. The progression from reviewing films to reviewing the trailers for films does not immediately seem like a triumphant one. But the ubiquitous Marc Fennell, best known as triple j’s ‘That Movie Guy’, knows that trailers have the potential to be something close to works of art in their own right.
“Matt does it in a way that is so incredibly simple and so incredibly clear that it’s seamless and it’s elegant and it really suits the piece. And his writing is so simple that it’s easy to forget how clever it is because it’s very, very clear. I think a lot of people will know that things have changed, but they won’t actually put their finger on how things have changed; they’ll just know that they suddenly have a totally different relationship to the main character. It’s quite deceptive in that, it’s very simple but it’s kind of deceptive in how the machinations work.”
has made the art of reviewing trailers a very respectable one indeed, with the establishment of their insightful and frequently hilarious YouTube series, Coming Sooner. The show, Fennell says, grew out of an on-the-job source of kicks. “We did a TV show together called Hungry Beast, [Hayden and MacDougall] were also the two editors. We ended up watching a lot of movie trailers, and we’d have huge arguments about them. We just kinda started making it, and we’ve been doing it as a hobby ever since.”
For the Sydney Film Festival, they take the stage at the newly established Festival Hub at Town Hall to present what promises to be an entertaining journey through the genesis of the movie trailer, and how it arrived in its current form. Which is to say, less of a focus on its perfunctory origins as little more than a few minutes of film excerpts stitched haphazardly together, and more of a critical eye on the ultra-slick style of today’s trailer, where loud music cues score a two-minute, breakneck-edited
condensation of an entire two hours of narrative. Speaking to Fennell, his savvy about the clichés of trailers is lightning sharp; we discuss the loud ‘WOM’ noise that signifies some serious shit about to go down, and he vents about his least favourite trailer convention. “A thing they put in every romantic comedy trailer – you will see a shot of the insanely attractively lead actress falling over. It’s their way of saying ‘this is because this insanely hot girl can’t get a date, it’s because she’s a klutz.’”
I ask Fennell if he thinks trailers are losing their appeal as standalone pieces of entertainment – something to get excited about sitting through before a film, or watching online – in their increasing tendency to spoil every single plot detail. “I’ve always loved trailers, for me it’s never gonna stop. As they start giving away more and more of the film, they do tend to lose some of their potency, and there’s a real art to knowing how much to give away and how much to keep unrevealed”. WHAT: Coming Sooner: The Arts of the Movie Trailer Part of the Sydney Film Festival. WHEN & WHERE: Thursday 14 June, Sydney Film Festival Hub 7.30pm.
TOUR GUIDE FEATURE TOUR
MATT CORBY
Following the success of his single, Brother, in the Hottest 100, along with a string of very successful and sold-out shows, including dates in the US and UK where he was also spending some time working on his debut album, Matt Corby rejoins the Australian touring bandwagon with The Winter Tour, which will see him play in theatre venues around the country. This means that he may just be performing some new material. Joining Matt Corby will be six-piece band Alpine. Corby plays The Metro on Tuesday 12, Wednesday 13 and Thursday 14 June.
DRUM PRESENTS
MISSY HIGGINS: Jun 13 Newcastle City Hall, Jun 14 Canberra Theatre TRIAL KENNEDY: Jun 15 Oxford Art Factory, Jun 16 Cambridge Hotel
BOY & BEAR: Jun 17 Entrance Leagues Club SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS: Jun 22 The Hi-Fi
MAJOR TOM & THE ATOMS: Jun 16 The Mac
ZULU WINTER, HOWLER: Jul 25 Oxford Art Factory ELECTRIC GUEST: Jul 31 Oxford Art Factory THE SMASHING PUMPKINS: Jul 31 Sydney Entertainment Centre DJANGO DJANGO: Aug 1 & 2 Oxford Art Factory
Lisa Mitchell live has never quite been up to the same calibre as her recorded output. This is not necessarily a negative thing, but they are different beasts. Gone is the sheen and polish of the studio (there’s a fumbled run on the piano here and a wrong chord struck on the guitar there) and in its place is a mesmerising, fallible, almost apologetically real talent. With all the fidgeting, the tucking of hair and the confusion of where to put her hands when she sings unadorned by guitar, there’s a quaintness and awkwardness that makes you wonder how she ever made it out of the circlejerk
By the same token, aided only by Melbourne a cappella trio Aluka when the band is not on stage, Mitchell takes us out of the room with tender performances of Diamond In The Rough and Love Letter, with a rollicking run of Oh! Hark!, full band in tow, to end the encore. Dave Drayton
BURIED IN VERONA: Jun 17 The Hi-Fi, Jun 19 Oasis Youth Centre, Jun 20 Lanyon Youth Centre, Jul 6 Manly Youth Centre, Jul 7 Unanderra Community Centre BOY & BEAR: Jun 17 Entrance Leagues Club THE GRUNGE SAFARI feat. PLANET LOVE SOUND and TEHACHAPI: Jun 20 The Lass O’Gowrie, Jun 22 Kings Cross Hotel ASH GRUNWALD: Jun 21 The Patch, Jun 22 Newcastle Leagues Club, Jun 23 The Metro SAMPOLOGY: Jun 21 Wollongong University, Jun 22 King Street Hotel Newcastle, Jun 23 Trinity Bar Canberra
XAVIER RUDD: Sep 6 Newcastle Civic Theatre, Sep 7 Waves Hotel, Sep 8 Enmore Theatre
ART OF SLEEPING: Jun 22 Upstairs Beresford
BASTARDFEST: Nov 9 & 10 The Basement Canberra, Nov 17 Sandringham Hotel
MATT CORBY: Jun 12, 13, 14 The Metro
She opened with a poem, John Burrough’s Leaf And Tendril, and later performed a cover of a Sanskrit chant she learned in yoga class, feeling the need between all that to tell us she hadn’t become a newage hippy. But as she flits about the stage, falls off piano stools or stands sans-mic, eyes closed and wailing centre stage – all the while singing a mix of sweet and sultry – she seems a little like these ‘newage hippies’ she’s distanced herself from. Just like the line in one of tonight’s crowd favourites, a fast-paced and full-band Neopolitan Dreams, she’s never ‘100 per cent in the room’; the music takes her elsewhere.
NE OBLIVISCARIS: Jun 16 Bald Faced Stag
TIGERTOWN: Jun 21 Hibernian House
NATIONAL
of televised talent contests unscathed, and an aura and voice that makes you stop wondering and continue just being grateful that you are, in such heavenly surrounds, able to witness it.
EVEN, THE FAUVES: Jun 16 Annandale Hotel
PENNYWISE: Aug 25 UNSW Roundhouse
JULIA STONE: Sep 12 The Abbey, Sep 13 Lizotte’s Newcastle, Sep 15 The Metro
Local duo Georgia Fair kicked things off with Where You Been? and proceeded to draw liberally from their All Through Winter album, punctuating the set with newer tracks, Gloria, and the clarinet-infused The River. When not attending to singing duties – and there are plenty of them, each song draped in harmonies as main vocalist Jordan Wilson does a clenched-jaw Northern Beaches take on Dylan – the duo seem more content to play to and at one another than the crowd. A tight performance that lacked bite, it was as polite as the duo told the audience they had been.
HUGO RACE: Jun 15 Notes, Jun 16 Yours & Owls, Jun 17 Mars Hills Café, Jun 20 Great Northern Hotel Newcastle
LAWRENCE ARABIA: Jul 3 The Green Room
THE SHINS: Jul 25 Hordern Pavilion
ST STEPHEN’S UNITING CHURCH: 07/06/12
TRIAL KENNEDY: Jun 15 Oxford Art Factory, Jun 16 Cambridge Hotel
CHRIS FRASER: Jun 16 Woodport Inn
OF MONSTERS & MEN: Jul 22 Oxford Art Factory
LISA MITCHELL GEORGIA FAIR
NED COLLETTE & WIREWALKER: Jun 15 Kings Cross Hotel, Jun 21 Front Gallery
THE AUDREYS: Jun 24 Heritage Hotel, Jun 26 Brass Monkey, Jun 27 Clarendon Guesthouse, Jun 28 Lizotte’s Newcastle, Jun 29 The Vanguard, Jun 30 Lizotte’s Kincumber, Jul 1 The Vanguard FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS: Jul 5 Sydney Opera House, Jul 6 Sydney Entertainment Centre, Jul 10 Newcastle Entertainment Centre, Jul 11 WIN Entertainment Centre
LISA MITCHELL @ ST STEPHEN’S UNITING CHURCH. PIC: JOSH GROOM
Rattler, Jun 16 Lass O’Gowrie
EDWARD GUGLIELMINO: Jun 22 Oxford Art Factory GREY GHOST*: Jun 22 Great Northern Newcastle, Jun 23 Upstairs Beresford, Jul 28 Gallery Bar Oxford Art Factory KIRIN J CALLINAN: Jun 22 GoodGod LACHLAN BRYAN: Jun 22 Factory Floor, Jul 6 Lizotte’s Kincumber, Jul 7 Lizotte’s Newcastle, Jul 8 Lizotte’s Dee Why
MISSY HIGGINS: Jun 13 Newcastle City Hall, Jun 14 Canberra Theatre
THE BAMBOOS: Jun 22 The Metro
INXS: Jun 13 Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre, Jul 13 Campbelltown RSL, Jul 15 Penrith Panthers JULIA STONE: Jun 13 Cell Block Theatre
COLLARBONES*: Jun 23 The Gate (Pablos), Jun 24 Brass Monkey, Jun 28 Terrace Bar, Jul 5 Kings Cross Hotel
SUI ZHEN: Jun 13 Yours & Owls, Jun 14 Front Gallery
MOSMAN ALDER: Jun 23 Kings Cross Hotel
GRAVEYARD TRAIN: Jun 14 Great Northern Hotel Newcastle, Jun 15 The Metro, Jun 17 Clarendon Guesthouse
MUSCLES: Jun 23 Cargo Bar
DANIEL CHAMPAGNE: Jun 14 & 15 The Front Canberra BUSBY MAROU: Jun 14 Lizotte’s Kincumber, Jun 15 Cambridge Hotel, Jun 20 Heritage Hotel, Jun 22 Oxford Art Factory, Jun 23 Zierholz KELLIE LLOYD: Jun 14 The Green Room OVER-REACTOR: Jun 14 Bald Faced Stag, Jun 15 Great Northern Hotel Newcastle, Jul 13 Spotted Cow ALITHIA: Jun 15 Sandringham Hotel, Jun 16 The Maram
AUDEGO: Jun 23 GoodGod
OLIVER TANK: Jun 24 Oxford Art Factory THE AUDREYS: Jun 24 Heritage Hotel, Jun 26 Brass Monkey, Jun 27 Clarendon Guesthouse, Jun 28 Lizotte’s Newcastle, Jun 29 The Vanguard, Jun 30 Lizotte’s Kincumber, Jul 1 The Vanguard SURES: Jun 28 GoodGod THE JED ROWE BAND: Jun 28 The Front, Jun 30 Empire Hotel, Jul 1 The Junkyard EMPRA: Jun 28 Gee Wizz Nightclub, Jul 1 Lucky Aussie Tavern, Jul 13 Dicey Riley’s, Jul 14 The Basement Canberra
GATHERER: Jun 15 Club Blink
NEW EMPIRE: Jun 28 Yours & Owls, Jun 29 & 30 Glee Coffee Roasters, Jul 1 Brass Monkey
CHARGE GROUP: Jun 15 Red
KING CANNONS: Jun 28 Oxford Art Factory
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THE DRUM MEDIA • 45
TOUR GUIDE THE BRIDE: Jun 28 Spectrum, Jun 29 Golf Club, Jun 30 Open Studios, Jul 1 Oasis Youth Centre, Jul 4 Hotel Gearin, Jul 6 Liverpool PCYC, Jul 7 Unanderra Community Hall, Jul 8 Woden Youth Centre 360: Jun 29 The Metro HEAVEN*: Jun 29 & 30 Annandale Hotel, Jul 1 Waves Nightclub FUN MACHINE: Jun 29 Burdekin Bar, Jul 6 Polish White Eagle Club, Jul 7 De Ja Vu, Jul 13 Lass O’Gowrie, Jul 14 Good Jelly JORDIE LANE: Jun 29 Royal Exchange, Jun 30 Camelot Lounge KID MAC: Jun 29 The Standard, Jun 30 Great Northern Newcastle TIM FREEDMAN: Jun 29 Lizotte’s Newcastle, Jun 30 Lizotte’s Dee Why, Jul 1 Lizotte’s Kincumber, Jul 6 & 7 The Basement Circular Quay, Jul 27 Street Theatre, Aug 2 & 3 Clarendon Guesthouse, Aug 4 The Vault SOUND OF SEASONS: Jun 29 Expressive Grounds, Jul 1 Hotel Gearin, Jul 3 Mars Hill Café, Jul 4 Hamilton St Station, Jul 6 Liverpool PCYC, Jul 7 SFX, Jul 11 Woden Youth Centre Canberra SUGAR ARMY: Jun 29 Kings Cross Hotel JONATHAN BOULET: Jun 30 The Metro NANTES: Jun 30 GoodGod DEF WISH CAST: Jun 30 Cambridge Hotel, Jul 7 Transit Bar SET SAIL: Jun 30 Oxford Art Factory, Jul 21 Great Northern Newcastle, Jul 22 Brass Monkey, Aug 2 Transit Bar, Aug 3 The Patch, Aug 4 Clarendon Guesthouse
THE RESCUE SHIPS: Jul 13 Red Rattler, Jul 18 The Lass O’Gowrie, Aug 3 The Front Bar, Aug 11 Clarendon Guesthouse JUDITH DURHAM: Jul 13 & 14 Concert Hall Sydney Opera House, Jul 16 Royal Theatre Canberra CAMERAS: Jul 18 UNSW Roundhouse, Jul 21 King’s Cross Hotel THE RUBENS*: Jul 18 & 19 Oxford Art Factory THE PAPER KITES: Jul 19 The Lair XAVIER RUDD: Sep 6 Newcastle Civic Theatre, Sep 7 Waves Hotel, Sep 8 Enmore Theatre JULIA STONE: Sep 12 The Abbey, Sep 13 Lizotte’s Newcastle, Sep 15 The Metro
INTERNATIONAL
KIDSOF88: Jun 13 Beach Road Hotel
EXPENSIVE LOOKS: Jun 13 Goodgod SILVERSTEIN: Jun 13 Bar 32, Jun 14 Spectrum, Jun 15 Entrance Leagues Club DAN POTTHAST: Jun 14 Cambridge Hotel BEE MASK: Jun 15 Serial Space THE BLACK SEEDS: Jun 16 The Metro, Jun 17 Great Northern Newcastle THICK AS BLOOD: Jun 20 The Loft Newcastle, Jun 21 Spectrum, Jun 22 Alpha Park LADY GAGA: Jun 20, 21, 23, 24 Allphones Arena CAMILLE O’SULLIVAN: Jun 22 The Basement
DAIMON BRUNTON QUINTET: Jul 3 The God’s Café Acton Canberra, Jul 6 Yours & Owls, Jul 8 The Builder’s Club, Jul 10 Grand Hotel Newcastle, Jul 11 The Basement Sydney
SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS: Jun 22 The Hi-Fi
THE CAIROS*: Jul 4 The Patch, Jul 6 Great Northern Newcastle, Jul 7 GoodGod
DOORLY: Jun 27 The Clubhouse, Jun 28 Soho
HEROES FOR HIRE: Jul 4 The Loft Newcastle, Jul 5 The Patch, Jul 6 & 7 Oxford Art Factory, Jul 8 Wesley Hall MAKE THEM SUFFER: Jul 4 Tuggeranong Youth Centre Canberra, Jul 5 Spectrum, Jul 6 Manly Youth Centre, Jul 7 Unanderra Community Centre
LIL’ BAND O’ GOLD: Jun 23 Factory Theatre, Jun 24 The Basement Circular Quay THE POPES: Jun 27 Great Northern Newcastle, Jun 28 The Vanguard, Jun 29 Mars Hill Café, Jun 30 City Diggers Club EDDIE SPAGHETTI: Jun 29 Sandringham Hotel MACABRE: Jun 29 Bald Faced Stag HUXLEY: Jun 30 One22
THE ARACHNIDS: Jul 5 Transit Bar, Jul 6 Oxford Art Factory, Jul 7 Great Northern Hotel Newcastle
JAY BRANNAN: Jun 30 The Standard
KINGSWOOD, MONEY FOR ROPE, DAMN TERRAN: Jul 5 Great Northern Newcastle, Jul 6 Lansdowne Hotel, Jul 7 Yours & Owls
I AM GIANT: Jul 5 Spectrum
THE LUKE ESCOMBE CORPORATION: Jul 5 The Newsagency, Jul 6 Old Manly Boatshed, Jul 7 The Mac VENUS FIRE: Jul 5 The Vanguard DANCING HEALS: Jul 6 Upstairs Beresford HUDSON ARC: Jul 6 The Newsagency, Jul 7 Northern Star, Jul 12 Clarendon Guesthouse
LAWRENCE ARABIA: Jul 3 The Green Room GOATWHORE: Jul 6 Sandringham Hotel SIMONE FELICE: Jul 6 Notes, Jul 8 The Basement Circular Quay MELISSA ETHERIDGE: Jul 11 & 12 Sydney Opera House Concert Hall C&C MUSIC FACTORY: Jul 14 The Factory RUSS CHIMES*: Jul 14 Soho Bar SAY ANYTHING: Jul 14 The Hi-Fi
WORLD’S END PRESS: Jul 6 GoodGod
CANCER BATS: Jul 15 The Metro
THE NIGHT TERRORS*: Jul 6 Kings Cross Hotel
OF MONSTERS & MEN*: Jul 22 Oxford Art Factory
HOLLAND: Jul 6 Upstairs Beresford, Jul 7 Old Manly Boatshed, Aug 3 Kings Cross Hotel
THE SHINS: Jul 25 Hordern Pavilion
SHANNON NOLL: Jul 6 Revesby Heights Ex-Serviceman’s Club, Jul 7 Rooty Hill RSL, Jul 20 Mounties, Jul 21 Southern Cross Club, Jul 27 Castle Hill RSL, Jul 28 Wentworth Leagues, Aug 3 Dapto Leagues, Aug 4 The Cube, Aug 10 Mingara Recreation Club, Aug 11 Penrith Panthers, Aug 18 Belmont 16ft Sailing Club, Aug 21 Taren Point Hotel VAN SHE*: Jul 7 Zierholz, Jul 8 Cambridge Hotel, Jul 14 The Metro 50 YEARS OF DYLAN feat. JOSH PYKE, HOLLY THROSBY and more: Jul 8 Sydney Opera House
46 • THE DRUM MEDIA
Jul 14 Youth Arts Warehouse, Jul 15 The Metro
ZULU WINTER, HOWLER: Jul 25 Oxford Art Factory FRIENDS: Jul 26 The Standard ELECTRIC GUEST: Jul 31 Oxford Art Factory THE SMASHING PUMPKINS: Jul 31 Sydney Entertainment Centre DJANGO DJANGO: Aug 1 & 2 Oxford Art Factory PENNYWISE: Aug 25 UNSW Roundhouse
FESTIVALS
CLUBFEET: Jul 11 Goodgod
HARDCORE 2012: Jul 7 & 8 The Hi-Fi
KARNIVOOL: Jul 11 Entrance Leagues, Jul 12 & 13 The Hi-Fi, Jul 14 Panthers Newcastle
SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS: Jul 27 – 29 Belongil Fields, Byron Bay
THE FUMES*: Jul 12 Brass Monkey, Jul 13 Notes, Jul 14 Heritage Hotel
PARKLIFE: Sep 30 Centennial Park
MILLIONS*: Jul 12 Yours & Owls, Jul 13 Goodgod, Jul 14 Transit Bar
STEEL ASSASSINS: Nov 2 – 3 Sandringham Hotel
SYDNEY BLUES & ROOTS: Oct 25 – 28 Windsor
YUNG WARRIORS: Jul 12 Front, Jul 27 The Patch
BASTARDFEST: Nov 9 & 10 The Basement Canberra, Nov 17 Sandringham Hotel
WHITEHOUSE: Jul 12 The Front, Jul 13 Beach House, Jul 27 The Patch, Jul 28 The Roxbury
NEWTOWN FESTIVAL: Nov 11 Camperdown Memorial Rest Park
NINE SONS OF DAN: Jul 13 Cambridge Hotel,
* indicates new or amended listing this week
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Cub Scouts might have to do a little work on their politely awkward persona to win over certain crowds. As the night drew to a close, it seemed to have gone off better than the audience’s collective high school dance experiences. No overly authoritarian teachers and no drunken vomiting, but plenty of puffy blue dresses and sailor hats, to the sounds of FBi’s expertly-selected bands; this is the kind of high school dance that never was.
EP FOCUS
Jessie Hunt
TRAIN, MATT NATHANSON SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE CONCERT HALL: 07/06/12
Matt Nathanson. Maybe there’s something more to this also-ran John Mayer, and maybe not. If he doesn’t get past the too-clever-by-half lyrics and amble along without offending anyone’s melodies, no one will ever know. Having said that, he seems like a jolly enough chap and everyone wishes him well – some young ladies in the audience more than most – but that’s to be expected. JACK COLWELL & THE OWLS @ GOODGOD. PIC: MACLAY HERIOT
JACK COLWELL & THE OWLS, BRENDAN MACLEAN, PACKWOOD GOODGOD: 06/06/12
GoodGod may not have previously been host to such fragile music as was on display from Packwood. Featuring Bayden Packwood Hine on banjo/vocals and some wonderful violin and cello accompaniment, the trio silenced the small crowd with a handful of songs. Space was the key to their appeal, and generous helpings of it were used to accentuate what was played between the silence. The crowd hung on individual banjo plucks and zoomed in on Hine’s confident and colourful folk vocal. Bats was a playful lyrical dance with Hine’s instrument while Charlotte highlighted his darker material. Brendan Maclean (also a member of The Owls) gleefully showed off a new orange tracksuit that was decidedly at odds with his music, but definitely not his personality. He had a way of delivering a devastating and emotional song and then flicking the switch to a lighthearted story of seeing Dolly Parton in concert. Maclean’s music sits in the same vicinity as the baroque pop of Rufus Wainwright and Patrick Watson. His keyboard and ukulele (which he named Murphy Brown) playing was a key part of his set, casting the songs in quite a different light to his denser band sound on record and shifting the focus to his swooning voice and its wonderful melodic turns. Jack Colwell & The Owls were celebrating the release of their debut album, Picture Window, and though the venue was far from full, the enthusiasm of those present easily filled the room. Colwell is a classically trained musician who now operates in the world of indie chamber pop with his dramatic, ornate and textured songs. Flutes and recorders appear through the set to colour the songs and The Owls handled their dynamics and composition near-perfectly. Colwell pushed his vocals hard, and though an occasional easing of intensity would have been welcomed, it worked well in amplifying the emotive content of the songs. His quieter moments were reminiscent of Antony & The Johnsons though his voice is a deeper, more masculine instrument. There was certainly a fascinating range to Colwell’s set with the fun upbeat singalong of Captains Melody and the brilliantly dark and sordid Banquet, complete with Nick Cave-esque pelvic thrusts and floor-writhing. Colwell is still something of a hidden gem on the local scene, though that may well be about to change. Chris Familton
ANTI-FLAG, STRIKE ANYWHERE WOLLONGONG UNIBAR: 02/06/12
Strike Anywhere quickly brought their brand of social political activism to the stage. Frontman Thomas Barnett took a few songs to rile up a modest crowd, a number of whom made a repeat visit after the shows at the Manning Bar the previous night. To The World and Sunset On 32nd scored an enthusiastic response and there was plenty of energy from the band and audience alike, along with messages of non-conformance and anti-Government sentiment that are as relevant today as they were in the mid‘70s – and hopefully it didn’t fall on deaf ears for the predominantly male 18-32 age group gathered. Pittsburgh’s Anti-Flag last performed in Australia at Soundwave in 2010 and showed they are still kicking arse after a very commanding performance that has seen them maintain their position at the forefront of the leftist punk scene for the better part of two decades. Frontmen Justin Sane (guitar) and Chris Barker (bass)
were relentless in maintaining the vitriol, spitting out a bunch of classics along with the new tracks This Is The New Sound and Broken Bones off new album The General Strike, drawing a positive response from the mostly black t-shirt, tattoo-toting crowd. Wearing their hearts on their sleeves, their political messages still ring loud and clea,r and they even showed their social brand of justice at a local level by negotiating the release of a fan mid-set from the grizzly arms of a security guard, who had nabbed the hapless gent for crowd surfing. Certainly, punk music is the genre that’s grounded in songs of protest, and it’s bands like the ones that played this night who show that you can stay angry at everything unjust in the world, but it’s still okay to have a good time. Adam Wilding
CUB SCOUTS, OLYMPIC AYRES, SHADY LANE KING’S CROSS HOTEL: 01/06/12
FBi Social’s Winter Prom turns the shadowy, indierave cave into… well, a shadowy, indie rave cave draped with crepe paper jellyfish and awash with green and blue lights. The evening promised to be the cool version of your high school prom, a version where you embarrass yourself slightly less, forgo the pseudosentimental speeches, and the DJ isn’t somebody’s paunchy, middle-aged father. On all counts, it was a raging success – down to the vintage. It turns out that nobody loves a good, tacky theme like hipsters. The evening kicked off thanks to Shady Lane, with Jordy Lane running his band through a series of sunny electro-pop tracks which seemed to fit perfectly within the evening’s theme. The band create music that sits in a rather strange and wonderful place between The Flaming Lips and Aphex Twin, combining elaborate, complex melody sections and otherworldly, synthesised sounds with sweet, hook-heavy lyricism. There is something strangely ‘90s-reminiscent about their songs. Peering through the coloured lights and crepe-paper decorations, listening to them really was like stepping back in time for a moment.
Train fans are not the cool kids. They don’t have the cool haircuts or the skinny jeans. They don’t know where the hip new bars are and they probably wouldn’t know how to begin downloading the latest season of Breaking Bad, let alone have heard of Game Of Thrones. Having said that, they can lift the roof off the Opera House better than any collection of indie hipsters watching The xx while pretending they don’t care now that everyone’s into them. Guilty pleasure or not, this was a rollicking good-time show enjoyed by those on the stage and in the audience. A setlist that’s heavy with newer songs can be risky, but seemingly not so with these fans. Every word was sung loud and proud. Imagine, if you can, some 2600-ish people all dancing like no one was watching. A little terrifying, sure, but there was something so truly joyful about it that all you could do was smile.
THE HELLO MORNING Without You How many releases do you have now? We have an album and now this EP, Without You, so 2. How long did it take to write/record? A few months to record, each song varies in how long they’ve been floating around. Was anything in particular inspiring you during the making? We had Paul Williamson play sax on Gets The Better. He’s a legendary player who silences about eight people in the studio. He did this solo in one take. We were all pretty amazed that he came in and played on one of our songs, to be honest. What’s your favourite song on the EP? Gets The Better. It’s probably the biggest and boldest track we’ve attempted. Will you do anything differently next time? More horns? Definitely keep working horn sections into recordings. It’s a great feeling hearing it back with that kind of orchestration.
Some could’ve done without the Delta Goodrem duet on Bruises, but those people (all bar one) were not inside the room at the time. Get To Me was almost lost as frontman Pat Monahan grabbed phones and cameras being held aloft at the edge of the stage and attempted to take photos of himself with the owners (“No really, he actually took this, that’s why you can’t see him. Or me. But he did!” they’ll have posted already). Calling All Angels was a nice inclusion, Marry Me was charming, and all in all it was a well-oiled machine playing to people who would’ve been happy if they’d farted in tune.
Will you be launching it? Touring with Busby Marou and Leader Cheetah throughout June/July. We’ll be launching it at Lizotte’s in Kincumber on Thursday 14 June, Cambridge Hotel in Newcastle on Friday 15, Diggers Grand Ballroom in Tamworth on Saturday 16, Heritage Hotel in Wollongong on Wednesday 20, Oxford Art Factory in Sydney on Friday 22, Zierholz UC in Canberra on Saturday 23, New Albury Hotel in Albury on Sunday 24 and Great Northern in Byron bay on Sunday 15.
The big hits were scattered throughout the set at nicely timed intervals, which kept the vibe chugging along for most of the night. With Save Me, San Francisco, Drops Of Jupiter and Hey, Soul Sister garnering the most foot stomping, hand waving and full-throated singing, it was also nice to see the very, very early Meet Virginia get a nod and more than a little recognition.
For more info see: www.thehellomorning.com.au.
A nicely unexpected good time in a blue light disco kinda way, but much fun nonetheless. Well played gents, well played. Beck
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The Dotcoms will be launching their debut self-titled EP this Saturday at Spectrum. They’re known for their hectic live show, which will most probably see them leaving the stage covered in blood, sweat and beer. Head along to hear their first offering, Janie Got Super Cute, taken from the aforementioned EP. Claire will be supporting the evening.
BRAT PACK Sydney gangster-punk, Bloods – who’re part of General Pants Co.’s Major label – will play at the Eight Miles High Festival, which hits GoodGod Small Club this Saturday. They will be playing in support of their new single, Goodnight. Also performing at the fest is Witch Hats, Atom Bomb, Sister Jane and more!
Olympic Ayres took to the stage next, taking us back in time another decade, with synthesised beats and funk-infused melodies hearkening back to the ‘80s. This band touches on so many different genres, creating a sound with different layers and tones. Their track The View, for example, had a funk-infused melody, is driven by a world-music handclap, and consisted of what sounded like R&B lyrics. Their performance was ridiculously good – the band were tight and energetic, but they seemed remarkably wellmatched with the event’s sort of dance night vibe. Cub Scouts, visiting the city as part of their Do You Hear single tour, gave a mixed performance. After touring extensively with Ball Park Music earlier this year, the band seemed to be playing with significantly more emotional maturity. Their new track, the aforementioned single, has all of the gorgeous, light fuzz-pop of their previous triple j hit Evie, but with a little more plaintive, emotional intensity – this track came off nicely on stage. Their music is cute and fun, and with high rotations on major radio stations, the band has cultivated a wide fan base in a short amount of time. But, with this event attended by more FBi theme-night enthusiasts than Cub Scouts fans, the band’s awkward and almost cold stage presence simply didn’t fit. With one audience member actually shouting out, “Why are you so awkward?” it seemed clear that
WEB SAVVY
BLUES LEGEND Catch the legendary Canadian blues guitarist and singer/songwriter Harry Manx in the flesh tonight at Notes in Newtown. Manx has spent years fusing Eastern musical traditions with the blues, switching effortlessly between guitars, harmonica and banjo. Yeshe will be supporting, so get in early.
IMPERFECT PERFECTION Hugo Race is a prolific performer, musician, writer and producer. He founded the ‘Aus cult band The Wreckery in 1985, who recently reunited for the release of their retrospective, Past Imperfect. Race will be playing with his new band The True Spirit at Notes this Friday. Also gracing the stage that evening will be Leek & The War Wick Tragedy.
STEP BACK IN TIME TRAIN @ SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE. PIC: MACLAY HERIOT
Head along to Notes this Saturday to experience the ‘70s guitar-driven madness of Jimi Hendrix. Steve Edmonds presents a tribute to ‘70s guitar heroes, and will no doubt cover a bit of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Status Quo, The Doors and many more. Step back in time with Steve Edmonds and get yourself to Notes. THE DRUM MEDIA • 47
OPENING DOORS There was always a frontman lurking inside Little Red keyboard player Tom Hartney, and as he tells Michael Smith, Major Tom & The Atoms has let him out.
HUNTING AND COLLECTING
Hunting Grounds have been pretty busy these past few months writing and recording their album with producer Woody Annison. And now, they are ready to preview their album, In Hindsight, at a special show this Thursday at Rock Lily Sydney. It’s a free show, so get on it!
PARTY WITH YOURS & OWLS
Yours & Owls are proud to present an evening at Wollongong Town Hall that features myriad local bands and a whole evening of rock’n’roll. You can catch Graveyard Train, Mother & Son, The Jackals, Rocking Horse and The Baby Dolls this Saturday at the Gong’s Town Hall. It all kicks off at 8pm.
AFTER THE STORM
This Sunday at The World Bar you can dig through the deep side of house, as James Taylor, Morgan and Friends provide the perfect soundtrack to sooth the soul after the crazy weekend that has just gone by. It all kicks off at 9pm and will be rockin’ ‘til the sun comes up.
THE DARK NIGHT
Love Batman? Well he was much cooler in the 1920s. He could tap-dance. The Joker sung ballads. Robin did acrobatics. Two-Face did magic tricks. Lucky we have the Batman Follies of 1929 to throw us an awesome theatrical revue, and show us Batman and our favourite villains in their prime showbiz glory! The Vanguard in Newtown is stepping back in time and hosting a vintage Vaudeville show, set in the art-deco imaginary world of the Dark Knight. The show spans over four nights, from Wednesday to Sunday.
FUNK SOUL WEEKEND
The Loungephonics have got a huge weekend of funk and soul for you. It all kicks off on Friday at Berowra Village Tavern, then on Saturday they head over to the Hornsby inn and wrap up their musical treats on Sunday at North Manly Bowling and Recreational Club. It’s all for free to head along and get funked!
SHOW AND PROVE This Friday at Ruby Rabbit, a brand new regular hip hop party dubbed Show And Prove will be taking over the venue. Some of Sydney’s leading DJs will be playing the latest and greatest local hip hop tunes, with local MCs added to the live mix. $10 entry.
WORM EXPLOSION Wormwood is back at the Red Rattler this Saturday with a bunch of noise, rock and psych artists, a special performance by Zed Female and some fabulous twisted visuals courtesy of Clare Ferrer and house projectionist Optic Soup. The musical line-up includes Making, Broadcasting Transmitter, Where Were You At Lunch and Nyquist. Get in early, and you can grab yourself a free portrait by Creon & Edgar. $10 will get you in.
IN THAT HEADSPACE Get yourself to the Sydney show of the Headspace album launch, a CD tribute to the electronic music group Severed Heads. These guys had a massive hit in the 1990s with Dead Eyes Opened and were the pioneers of current electro trends. Head along to the Sly Fox Hotel in Enmore this Saturday to let loose to nostalgic synths. The live line-up includes Actual Russian Brides, Telefonica, Lunar Module, Grime + Jones, Aeriae, Data Transmit and DJs Foxbat, Baby Swindle and Michael MD. Free entry!
SEEDS OF GOLD New Zealand reggae-soul outfit The Black Seeds are in the country and ready to put on a show for you. They’ll be playing at The Metro in Sydney this Saturday and Newcastle’s Great Northern Hotel on Sunday.
You might wonder why Tom Hartney opted to step out of Little Red, a band of which he was a founding member, just as it was beginning to make significant inroads into the American market. Well, it’s certainly musical differences rather than personal. “Little Red, with the twin guitars,” he explains cautiously, “it’s very much that indie guitar band sound… Yeah, it’s just not something that I feel I have much to offer to, basically. My interests lie more in late ‘60s psychedelic blues-rock, like Dr John and The Doors, then a bit more kooky stuff like Tom Waits. I just wanted to do some wacky shit! “The reason I got the band [Major Tom & The Atoms] together at the time I did, late last year, was ‘cause I’d been wanting to make what I thought at the time was going to be a record. And so I organised a support gig with The Black Sorrows and got the band together for that. With the actual musical instrumentation, it’s a lot better suited to my voice.” Drummer Adam Swoboda had been with Little Red for their first couple of gigs, while guitarist
IN YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD
Thursday at The Standard means Neighbourhood Watch! This week, $5 will get you a sweet lineup of acts including Sydney electro/pop artist Phebe Starr, who will be launching her brand new single, Alone With You. Supporting the evening will be Goldsmith, Iluka and Thieves.
TWINSIES
It’s double the fun at The Standard this Friday night as Brisbane pop sextet Founds and Adelaide’s Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire! co-headline as part of The Gemini Tour. It’s $12 plus booking fee, but you also get a couple more special guests.
RESTLESS EVENING
This Thursday at the Town & Country Hotel, machinemachine will be putting on a raucous show with support from Restless Leg and Jon Hunter from The Holy Soul in solo mode. There may be breakdancing. So be there.
WE BUILT THIS CITY
STONES IN YOUR POCKETS
Sydney band Pocket Of Stones will be playing their final gig at the Lansdowne Hotel this Thursday before heading back into the recording studio to finish up their second EP for 2012. The EP is due for release in August this year and follows from their debut, Bondi Dreaming. Doors open at 8pm and it’s free entry. 48 • THE DRUM MEDIA
They built Atlantis, or so they band name states. We Built Atlantis are wasting no time with their fierce DIY work ethic, which sees them on tour at the moment. In fact, it’s a huge one. Dubbed the Tidal Waves Tour, they’ll be touring in support of their debut EP, Empty Cities, which is a unique blend of fist-pumping choruses, crushing breakdowns and techno dance-offs. The Newcastle band will be in town this week, playing Platform 3 in Wollongong on Thursday and Entrance Leagues
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Simon Tait had mixed Little Red live in the early days. Along with a couple of old friends – Simon Lawrie on bass, Sean Vagg on sax and Benny Huisman on keys – the band came together very easily and much to Hartney’s delight, from the moment they hit the stage, he knew these were the guys he wanted to continue playing with. The potential side project became the main game and a debut EP, Shake It Til You Break It, was recorded. One of the tracks, Last Dance Of The Lizard King, is something of a band statement of intent. “We tried to include a couple of the old uptempo ones that people enjoy at gigs, like Mockingbird and Rolling Stone, but the kind of music that we really enjoy making is Last Dance Of The Lizard King, because it’s kind of that amalgamation of my influences. What I think people can expect from us in the future is more songs in that vein.” WHO: Major Tom & The Atoms WHAT: Shake It Til You Break It (Independent) WHEN & WHERE: Saturday 16 June, The Mac
Club on Saturday (they’ll be supporting US band Silverstein). Supporting duties go to By Design.
TUESDAY BLUES Local banjo whiz Jenny Shimmin has teamed up with the Dans from The Maladies to form one of Sydney’s best bluegrass bands. A genre that is beautiful, albeit sometimes misunderstood, head to The Green Room at Enmore tonight to immerse yourself in the bluegrass fun.
HOLY FRIDAY One of Sydney’s most popular bands will be playing a free show at The Green Room Lounge this Friday night. The Holy Soul will be taking over the venue with support from Melodie Nelson and Luke O’Farrell (from The Laurels), so you’ll want to get there early.
DUBSTEP RUMBLE This Wednesday at The Wall sees a dubstep rumble in the urban jungle! The World Bar’s mid-week festivities will be spread across three rooms, two floors and a giant beer garden. This week’s line-up includes a few new names along with The Wall regulars. The Club Room will be home to dubstep from 10pm with the Main Bar hosting hip hop whilst the Tea Room harbours electro delights. Head along to hear beats by DJs Ravine, Kovacs, Subaske, E-Cats, Pat War, Deckhead and Sherlock Bones. Arrive in pairs between 9pm and 10pm for a free teapot! And it’s free entry before 11pm if you get your name on The Wall’s Facebook event.
MAGNETIC FORCE
EP FOCUS
Following her successful album launch in Brisbane and a couple of shows in London, Kellie Lloyd is ready to hit the road again to launch her solo album Magnetic Fields. She’ll be in Sydney this Thursday at The Green Room in Enmore. Kate Wilson from The Laurels and The Holy Soul will be joining Lloyd on stage playing drums, and Pony Face from Melbourne will also be coming over to support.
PROP’N’ROCK
Propaganda on Thursdays at The World Bar, your weekly dose of all things rock’n’roll, will kick things off with DJs Shag and Ali followed by Urby taking you into the wee hours of the morning. Upstairs, Dan Bombings goes back to the ‘90s with all the big hits you thought – or hoped – were long forgotten. It’s free entry with a student ID, or $5 from 9pm.
HUGE NIGHT AT MUM
This week Mum at The World Bar hosts the album launch party for awesome Swedish band The Hives. There’ll be giveaways a-plenty and it’ll be your first chance to listen to the new record. As always, Mum will also be showcasing the best in Sydney and some interstate bands too. This Friday will see Royston Vasie, Monsieur Moon, Janita & The Jaguars, The Canyoneersmen, Cuervo and Teal take the stage, with DJs Cries Wolf DJs, Glenn Be Trippin’, Sammy K, 10th Avenue, Wet Lungs, Swim Team DJs and Reg Harris taking you into the early hours of the morning. Free entry with student ID before 10pm, otherwise its $10 from 9pm or $15 after 10pm.
DOUBLE LAYERED TREAT
Cake at World Bar has a huge line-up this Saturday night with five rooms open across all three levels. Get pumped and head along to World Bar where it all kicks off at 8pm with DJs Act Yo Age, Hump Day Project, Mike Hyper, Bentley, Temnein, Astrix, Go Freak, Oakes & Lennox, Northie & Man He Can, Cntrl-AltDelicious, Wongo, Nicc Johnson and Illya. It’ll cost you $15 from 8pm and $20 after 10pm.
DOTCOMS Dotcoms What’s the title of your new EP? It’s self-titled. We know, we’re sorry. The next one’s going to have a really great name. It’s probably going to be really badass. God it’s going to be an awesome name.
GET YOUR FUNK ON
Clayton Doley and his eight-piece band, The Hi-Fi Doley-T Horns, will be making an appearance at Blue Beat on Saturday for a night of funkfuelled jazz and blues. Doley is known as one of Australia’s finest Hammond organists and is quickly gaining international recognition as a rising star in jazz and blues. This will be Doley’s last show before he heads back to North America for a string of performances at some of the world’s biggest jazz and blues festivals, including Toronto Jazz Festival and Montreal Jazz Festival.
How many releases do you have now? This is our first. We used to spend all our money on rehearsal rooms and stickers/ beers, but now we realise that bands are supposed to record their songs and get played on the radio, so we’re all about that now. How long did it take to write/record? Writing tracks is a fairly quick and organic process; we keep it simple. Recording/releasing took a lot longer but it meant we got to work with Matt Voigt (Living End, Cat Power) and do things properly, like talk to you guys. Was anything in particular inspiring you during the making? It was our first time around expensive equipment,
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so we were trying to recreate what we do on stage but also make it sound massive. We were watching the Toot Toot Toots and Ouch My Face a lot around that time. Aaron (drummer) was listening to D’Angelo. I gave up sexual relations during the recording so I could get a bit crazier. Probably won’t do that again. What’s your favourite song on it? Smack Ballad. It’s hard to listen to it now after hearing it so many times and writing newer songs since, but when the horns/mouth horns kick in at the end I still goosebump it up. Will you do anything differently next time? Definitely. We have Jim in the band now and it’s made everything click. We’re writing better songs than we ever have, playing a lot harder and just being better at life in general since recording the EP. Will you be launching it? Saturday 16 June at Spectrum in Sydney with Claire. For more info see: www.wearethedotcoms.com.
THE DRUM MEDIA • 49
TUE 12 2FIVE, SOUL SOLUTION: Valve Bar & Venue - Tempe ADAM PRINGLE: Sandringham Hotel, street level DANIELLE DE NIESE: City Recital Hall Angel Place HARRY MANX: Notes Live - Enmore IAN BLAKENEY: Dee Why Hotel JAZZGROOVE feat. THE DRIP HARDS, IMPERMANENT QUARTET: 505 - Surry Hills MATT CORBY, ALPINE: Metro Theatre - Sydney OH WILLIE BEAR: Green Room Lounge - Enmore OMG: Scruffy Murphy’s - City PETER HEAD: The Harbour View Hotel - The Rocks ROB HENRY: The Obsever Hotel - The Rocks
WED 13 ANDY MAMMERS DUO: Maloneys Hotel - City CELTIC DIVAS: Lizottes Newcastle - New Lambton DAVE SEASIDE: Artichoke Gallery Café - Manly DON HOPKINS: Cosmopolitan Café, Double Bay E-CATZ, PAT WARD, KOVACS, SUBASKE, RAVINE, DECKHEAD, SHERLOCK BONES: World Bar - Kings Cross HARRY MANX: Brass Monkey - Cronulla JON STEVENS, NICK BARKER: Canberra Southern Cross Club - Top Of The Cross JULIA STONE: Cell Block Theatre, National Art School Sydney KIDS OF 88: Beach Road Hotel - Bondi MATT CORBY, ALPINE: Metro Theatre MATT JONES TRIO: Novotel - Brewery Bar, Olympic Park MAUX FAUX, LINES OF CHARLIE, BLINK 182 TRIBUTE, TEN THOUSAND FREE MEN & THEIR FAMILIES: Sandringham Hotel, upstairs MIKE BENNETT: Observer Hotel - The Rocks
50 • THE DRUM MEDIA
LAUGH YOUR TITS OFF feat. MIKEY ROBINS: FBI Social, Kings Cross Hotel MILTON WARD, JOHN CARLO: Belmont 16’s MISSY HIGGINS, BUTTERFLY BOUCHER: Newcastle City Hall MONSIEUR CAMEMBERT: Camelot Lounge - Marrickville MOTIF ENSEMBLE: Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre - Chippendale MOTION BAND: 505 - Surry Hills OLD MAN CROW: Sandringham Hotel, street level PETER HEAD: The Harbour View Hotel - The Rocks SOLE TATTOO: Orient Hotel - The Rocks STEVE TONGE DUO: O’Malley’s - Darlinghurst SUI ZHEN, FANNY LUMSDEN, OBSCURA HAIL: Yours and Owls - Wollongong THE BEATVILLES: Orient Hotel - The Rocks THE HI-TOPS BRASS BAND: Macquarie Hotel - City THE NUTS: Lakemba Services Club TINA ARENA & THE SYDNEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House WE BUILT ATLANTIS: Platform 3 - Wollongong ZOLTAN: Coogee Bay Hotel - Beach Bar
THU 14 031 ROCK SHOW: Scruffy Murphy’s - City ANDY MAMMERS: Harbord Beach Hotel - Harbord ANTHEMS OF OZ: Orient Hotel - The Rocks BRIAN KING: Campbelltown Catholic Club - Caf‚ Samba BUSBY MAROU, LEEDER CHEETAH (DUO), THE HELLO MORNING: Lizottes Central Coast Kincumber DAN SPILLANE: Northies Cronulla Hotel DARYL BRAITHWAITE, JON STEVENS, NICK BARKER: Mingara Recreation Club - Auditorium EASTSIDE LIVE feat. MIRIAM LIEBERMAN: 505 - Surry Hills GRAVEYARD TRAIN, JAZZ FACTORY: Great Northern Hotel - Newcastle
HARRY MANX, YESHE: Lizottes Sydney - Dee Why
SHAG, ALI MC, URBY, DAN BOMBINGS: World Bar - Kings Cross
PHILLEC, SERIALSADIST, THE INSANE JESTA + MORE: Valve Bar & Venue - Tempe
SILVERSTEIN, SKYWAY: Spectrum - Darlinghurst
HUNTING GROUNDS: Rock Lily - The Star Casino - Pyrmont HYPE WILLIAMS: Goodgod Small Club - City IRON BAR HOTEL, POCKETS OF STONE, DAVID KNIGHT, DJ SKARLET: Lansdowne Hotel - Chippendale JACK CARTY, ACHOO! BLESS YOU!, ANNIE MCKINNON, ROSS HENRY: Annandale Hotel - Annandale JAMES BLUNDELL, KIRSTY AKERS: The Wharf Restaurant, Walsh Bay JAMIE LINDSAY TRIO: Maloney’s Hotel JASMINE BETH: Artichoke Gallery Café - Manly JO FABRO, VAMPIRES: Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre - Chippendale JOHN VELLA: Sackville Hotel - Rozelle JULIA WHY?, GHASTLY SPATS, THE PURGATORIES: FBI Social, Kings Cross Hotel KELLIE LLOYD, KATE WILSON, PONY FACE: Green Room Lounge - Enmore LET ME DOWN JUNGLEMAN, CHORUS GIRLS: Yours and Owls - Wollongong MACHINE MACHINE, RESTLESS LEG, JON HUNTER: Town & Country Hotel - St Peters MANDI JARRY: Dee Why Hotel MARK CASHIN & THE LIL’ HUSSY’S: Hard Rock Café Darling Harbour MATT CORBY, ALPINE: Metro Theatre - Sydney MICHAEL MCGLYNN: Greengate Hotel - Greegate MONSIEUR CAMEMBERT: Camelot Lounge - Marrickville
STEVE TONGE, BERNIE: Observer Hotel - The Rocks THE IDEA OF NORTH: The Basement Circular Quay TINA ARENA, SYDNEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House WILD KATZ: Paragon Hotel - Circular Quay WITCH FIGHT, SNAKETIDE: Sandringham Hotel - Newtown
FRI 15 3 WAY SPLIT: East Leagues Club Bondi Junction AARON CULLIGAN: Figtree Hotel Wollongong AM 2 PM: Revesby Workers, Skyline Lounge ANDY MAMMERS DUO: Cronulla RSL
DARYL BRAITHWAITE, JON STEVENS, NICK BARKER: Rooty Hill RSL, Tivoli Showroom - Rooty Hill DAVE PHILLIPS: O’Malleys Hotel - Kings Cross DEVIATION: Belmont 16’s DOCTOR WEREWOLF, THE ABYSS, KEMIKOLL, VICTIMS, EMPRESS YOY, ZWELLI: Chinese Laundry
BAMBINO KORESH, CHARLIE HORSE, BRYAN ESTEPA, WILDING, SAM SHINAZZI, SUZY CONNOLLY: Annandale Hotel - Annandale BECCY COLE, CATHERINE BRITT, LYN BOWTELL: Cessnock Supporters Club BLACK DIAMOND HEARTS: Rock Lily, Star City - Pyrmont BLONDE 182: Custom House Bar - City BLUEBIRDZ OF HAPPINESS: Town & Country Hotel - St Peters
CAMBO: Novotel - Brewery Bar, Olympic Park
CHARGE GROUP, JOE MCKEE: The Red Rattler - Marrickville
OLIVER TANK, FISHING: Oxford Art Factory - Darlinghurst
CHRISTINE ANU: Canberra Southern Cross-Top Of The Cross
OVER-REACTOR: Bald Faced Stag - Leichhardt
CLAIRE, DOTCOMS: Spectrum - Darlinghurst
PETER HEAD: Harbour View Hotel - The Rocks
DAN LAWRENCE, GOODNIGHT DYNAMITE: Observer Hotel - The Rocks
JOSH MCIVOR: Red Cow Hotel - Penrith KURT WILLIAMS: Vineyard Hotel - Vineyard
PHONIC: Warners at the Bay POP FICTION: Moorebank Sports Club RECKLESS: Orient Hotel - The Rocks RICA TETAS, TRIANGLE REVOLUTION, TOYDEATH, MR BAMBOO, ALLEY CATS: Lansdowne Hotel - Chippendale
LYALL MOLONEY: Yours and Owls - Wollongong
EDWINA BLUSH: 505 - Surry Hills
MACSON: Heathcote Hotel
RYAN ENRIGHT, MARK TRAVERS: Castle Hill RSL
FALLON BROTHERS: Stacks Taverna Darling Harbour
MANDI JARRY: Tipple Bar, Surry Hills
SAM AND JAMIE TRIO: Kirribilli Hotel
MARK DA COSTA AND THE BLACK LIST, GREG BYRNE: Dee Why Hotel
SCRATCH: Duke of Wellington Hotel
FIRE! SANTA ROSA, FIRE!, FOUNDS: The Standard - Surry Hills GARY JOHNS: Northies Cronulla Hotel
GOOD COMPANY: Hotel Jesmond GRAVEYARD TRAIN, JACKALS, OXBLVD: Metro Theatre - Sydney GREAT BIG HITS: Cessnock Supporters Club HARRY MANX, YESHE: Lizottes Sydney - Dee Why HEATH BURDELL: Clovelly Hotel - Clovelly HIT MACHINE: Rooty Hill RSL, Fred Chubb Lounge - Rooty Hill
HUGO RACE, THE TRUE SPIRIT, LEEK & THE WAR WICK TRAGEDY: Notes, Newtown IGUANA: Charlestown Bowling Club
CARINA: Oasis on Beamish Hotel - Campsie
JOSH & WESZ, MARK BREEZE, CRYPSIS, OPHIDIAN LIVE: Sydney Showgrounds - Homebush
PANORAMA: Scruffy Murphy’s - City
DYNAMIC DUO: Crown Hotel - Sydney
HOME GROWN: Engadine Family Tavern
BRAD JOHNS: Harbord Beach Hotel - Harbord
JOHN VELLA: Chatswood RSL
PANAMA, DEMONS TO DIAMONDS, OLLIE BROWN, KRISTY LEE: Upstairs Beresford - Surry Hills
DOUG WILLIAMS: Macquarie Hotel - City
HOLY SOUL, MELODIE NELSON, LUKE O’FARRELL: Green Room Lounge - Enmore
BNO ROCK SHOW, DAVID AGIUS: Crows Nest Hotel
JEFF DUFF, TANIA MURRAY, DAMIEN LOVELOCK, SAM JOOLE, CLARE O’MEARA: The Basement Circular Quay
KYRO & BOMBER, THE MANE THING, CUNNING PANTS, MATTY P: Candys Apartment
GATHERER, ON SIERRA: Club Blink - St James Hotel
BAD BARRY DJS: Abercombie Hotel - Broadway
NADIA ACKERMAN, SONS OF SUMMER: Blue Beat - Double Bay
PHOEBE STARR, THIEVES, GOLDSMITH: The Standard Darlinghurst
DARK C3LL, CELEBRITY MORGUE, MODERN MURDER, DJ ZOTTY SHUDDER-X: Valve Bar & Venue - Tempe
INTIMATE LOUNGE MUSIC: Supper Club Fairfield RSL Club JAMES BLUNDELL, KIRSTY AKERS: Lizottes Newcastle - New Lambton
MARKIE MARK: Campbelltown Catholic Club-Club Lounge MATT PRICE: Panthers- Penrith MENTAL AS ANYTHING: Lizottes Central Coast Kincumber MICK RAVEN, THE ROCK BROTHERS, JASON ANDRISKE: Excelsior Hotel - Glebe MONSIEUR CAMEMBERT: Camelot Lounge - Marrickville MOONLIGHT DRIVE DUO: Nelson Bay Diggers Club MOTOSOUL: Petersham Bowling Club MR BREEZE: Richmond Inn - Richmond NED COLLETTE, WIRE WALKER, MARY OCHER, SWIMWEAR: FBI Social, Kings Cross Hotel NEXT BEST THING: Sutherland United Services Club Sutherland NICKLEBACK SHOW: Penrith RSL NICKY KURTA: Croydon Park Hotel NO BEEF PATTY: Artichoke Gallery Café - Manly OLIVER TANK: Beach Road Hotel - Bondi OMG!: Exchange Hotel
JAMES MORRISON: Blue Beat - Double Bay
OVERLOAD: The Stag & Hunter Hotel
JAMES PARRINO: Orient Hotel - The Rocks
OVERREACTOR, SHINOBI, SIDETRACK FIASCO: Great Northern Hotel - Newcastle
JASON NORRIS: Parramatta RSL
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ROYSTON VASIE, MONSIEUR MOON, TEAL, JANITA & THE JAGUARS, CUERVO + MORE: World Bar - Kings Cross
SHADOW BOXER- THE ANGELS TRIBUTE: O’Donoghues Emu Plains SILVERSTEIN, WE BUILT ATLANTIS: Entrance Leagues - Bateau Bay SOUL SHAKEDOWN DJ’s: Great Northern Hotel, Tiki Bar - Newcastle STEVE EDMONDS BAND: The Beach Club Collaroy STREANS OF WHISKEY: Paragon Hotel - Circular Quay THE BLOODPOETS: Factory Theatre - Enmore THE CHRONICS, SOUTH DEVINE, EQUAL ARMY, JUDAH CALL: The Square - Haymarket THE DOTCOMES, CLAIRE: Spectrum - Darlinghurst THE FENDERBENDERS: Empire Bay Tavern THE FOO FIGHTERS SHOW: Bull & Bush THE JUNGLE KINGS: Windsor Castle Hotel - Newcastle THE LOUNGEPHONICS: Berowra Village Tavern THE STRIDES: Brass Monkey - Cronulla TINA ARENA, SYDNEY SYMPHONY: Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House TRIAL KENNEDY, AFTER THE FALL, MY ECHO: Oxford Art Factory - Darlinghurst TWIN SET: Kingswood Sports Club
WITCH HATS, SISTER JANE, GRAND ATLANTIC, THE BLOODS, BURIED FEATHER, ATOM BOMBS: Goodgod Small Club - City ZANE PENN DUO: The Mark Hotel
SAT 16 24 HOURS: Belmore Hotel - Newcastle ABBASBACK: Lizottes Newcastle - New Lambton ACHTUNG BABY THE U2 EXPERIENCE: Caringbah Inn ACT YO AGE, HUMP DAY PROJECT, BENTLEY, MIKE HYPER, TEMNEIN, OAKES & LENNOX, NORTHIE, WONGO, ILLYA: World Bar - Kings Cross ALAN SOLOMON JAZZ: Penrith RSL, Castle Lounge AMELIA RICHARDS: Campbelltown Catholic Club Caf‚ Samba ANDY MAMMERS: Panthers- Penrith AVARIN, SABRETUNG, ATOMSQUAD, FENRIR: Valve Bar & Venue - Tempe BAND DOWN UNDER: Mounties - Mt Pritchard BECCY COLE, CATHERINE BRITT, LYN BOWTELL, RUBICON: Belmont 16’s BEN GUNN DUO: Huskission Hotel - Huskission BIG WAY OUT: East Leagues Club - Bondi Junction BLACK DIAMOND HEARTS: Golden Sheaf Hotel Double Bay BLONDE 182: Stacks Bar - City BNO ROCK SHOW: RG McGees - Richmond CAMBO: Castle Hill RSL CHARTBUSTERS: Scruffy Murphy’s - City CHASING KARMA: Campbelltown Catholic ClubClub Lounge CHICKENSTONES, BROWN ESKY, IT CAME FROM CURL CURL LAGOON: Harbord Bowling Club - Harbord CHRIS READ: The Mark Hotel
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THE DRUM MEDIA • 51
CLAYTON DOLEY: Blue Beat - Double Bay COUGAR: Engadine Tavern COURTNEY BARNETT, ROYSTON VASIE: Goodgod Small Club - City CREEDENCE & FRIENDS: Wangi Workers Club - Wangi CROWSFEAT, THE SAHARA SOUND, ADAPTORS: Coogee Diggers DAN BEAZLEY: Windsor Castle Hotel - Newcastle DARYL BRAITHWAITE, JON STEVENS, NICK BARKER: Revesby Workers, Whitlam Theatre
HEATH BURDELL, CHRIS PATON: Northies, Sports Bar - Cronulla HENDRIX & HEROES, STEVE EDMONDS: Notes, Newtown HUGO RACE, LEEK & THE WAR WICK TRAGEDY, THE NUMBERED: Yours and Owls - Wollongong INCOGNITO BAND: Exchange Hotel
KIRK BURGESS: Newport Arms Hotel
DJ ALLEY CAT, THUNDABOX, SPECIAL PATROL GROUP, YA MUM, TOMBSTONE RAMBLERS: Landsdowne Hotel - Chippendale DOORS ALIVE: Bull & Bush - Baulkham Hills EVEN, THE FAUVES, DUNE BUGGY ATTACK SQUADRON: Annandale Hotel - Annandale EYE OF THE TIGER: Carousel Inn - Rooty Hill FALLON BROTHERS: Club Engadine - Engadine FIONA LEIGH-JONES DUO: Harbord Beach Hotel - Harbord FIRE! SANTA ROSA, FIRE!, FOUNDS: Great Northern Hotel - Newcastle FLUX: Moorebank Sports Club GEOFF RANA: Sir Joseph Banks Hotel - Botany GJ DONOVAN: Orient Hotel - The Rocks (afternoon) GRAVEYARD TRAIN, MOTHER AND SON, JACKALS, ROCKING HORSE: Wollongong Town Hall GREEN DAY SHOW: South Hurstville RSL GROUP: Oxford Art Factory, Gallery Bar - Darlinghurst GUY J, THE IMMIGRANT, SAMRAI, VENGEANCE, BLAZE TRIPP, WALDEN: Chinese Laundry HARBOUR MASTER: Hoyts, Entertainment Quarter
ENGLISH AVENUE: Lansdowne Hotel - Chippendale FASTRACK ZODIAC: 3 Wise Monkeys - Sydney FRANKY VALENTYN: Club Five Dock - Five Dock GLENN WHITEHALL: Waverley Bowling Club
LJ: Panthers North Richmond
HUNTER & SUZY OWENS BAND: Marrickville Bowling Club
LOVE THAT HAT: Warners at the Bay MAJOR TOM & THE ATOMS: Macquarie Hotel - City
MATT PRICE: Hillside Hotel - Castle Hill MENTAL AS ANYTHING: Lizottes Sydney - Dee Why MIKE MATHIESON, CHRIS ALEXANDER: Waterview Dooleys MOONLIGHT DRIVE DUO: Royal Federal Hotel
JAMES TAYLOR, MORGAN, JOHN DEVECCHIS: World Bar - Kings Cross
JULIA STONE
Julia Stone, one half of Angus & Julia Stone, is performing an intimate Sydney show to launch her new solo album By The Horns. This will be Stone’s first show back following four European tour dates and one show in the States and will provide a good warm up for her shows in September. She performs at the Cell Block Theatre on Wednesday 13 June.
ROB HENRY, CARL FIDLER: Observer Hotel - The Rocks
STRANGE FRUIT DJS: Abercombie Hotel - Broadway
THUNDERSTRUCK-AC/ DC SHOW: Macarthur Tavern - Campbelltown
ROYAL KNIGHTS: Revesby Heights ExServices
TAKE TWO: Brighton RSL - BrightonLe-Sands
RUBICON: Belmont 16’s
THE BIG BANG: Nelson Bay Diggers Club
TINA ARENA, SYDNEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House
MOTOSOUL: Marrickville Bowling Club
SAM GILL QUARTET: Artichoke Gallery Café - Manly
NAOMI WENITONG, ALPHA MAMA, SHE REX, POETIC TRANSITION: Sandringham Hotel - Newtown
SARAH MCKENZIE: 505 - Surry Hills
NICKY KURTA: Brewhouse - Marayong ORIGINAL SIN - INXS SHOW, SWINGSHIFT - COLD CHISEL SHOW: Blacktown RSL PETER HEAD: Harbour View Hotel - The Rocks RAINBOW UNICORN: FBI Social, Kings Cross Hotel RAPIDS, I KNOW LEOPARD, FEEDING EDGAR: Upstairs Beresford Beresford Hotel REELS ON FIRE: Paragon Hotel Circular Quay
52 • THE DRUM MEDIA
ELEVATION: Orient Hotel - The Rocks
LEICHHARDT INTERNATIONAL UKESTRA, ZED BLUNT, BORIS DRIVER: Excelsior Hotel - Glebe
MATT JONES: Novotel - Brewery Bar, Olympic Park
PETE HIBBERT: Nelson Bay Diggers Club
DAVID AGIUS: Mill Hill Hotel - Bondi Junction
KYM CAMPBELL: Lane Cove Plaza
MANDI JARRY: Menu 33, Novotel - Rooty Hill
COURAGE FOR CASPER, BIG SMACK, REALIGNING ALICE, ANOTHER AVENUE, KAATO: Lucky Australian Tavern - St Marys
DAVE WHITE DUO: Northies, Northies Bar - Cronulla
JOHN WATSON: Kirribilli Hotel
DAVID AGIUS: PJ Gallaghers Drummoyne
NEILL BOURKE, ROB HENRY, MIKE BENNETT: Observer Hotel - The Rocks
DARYL BRAITHWAITE, JON STEVENS, NICK BARKER: Auditorium, Dapto Leagues - Dapto
JAZZ NOUVEAU: Supper Club Fairfield RSL Club
JOYRIDE, MORGS, ZARKOV: Brighton Up Bar - Darlinghurst
BURIED IN VERONA, THE PLOT IN YOU, IN HEARTS WAKE, SILENT SCREAMS: The Hi-Fi - Moore Park (All Ages - Afternoon)
DANIEL ARVIDSON: Royal Federal Hotel
JAMES BLUNDELL, KIRSTY AKERS: Lizottes Central Coast - Kincumber
DAVE WHITE EXPERIENCE: Crows Nest Hotel
DES GIBSON: Lansvale Hotel - Lansvale
GIG OF THE WEEK
SASHA WALTZ: Riverside Theatre - Parramatta SESK & MERC MASON, SHAKE DIGGA, PROZACC & MC LUVIN: Lucky Australian Tavern - St Marys SHADE OF RED: Coogee Bay Hotel - Beach Bar SLEEP D, DEATH STROBE DJS: The Spice Cellar SLEEPWALKERS, B-DON & MIZI, RG: SFX, St James Hotel STALKERS, WORMI, DJ SODA, ZOMG KITTENS, ROBUST: Candys Apartment STEVE EDMONDS: Notes Live - Enmore STEVE TONGE DUO: Mean Fiddler Hotel
THE BLACK SEEDS, CHEAP FAKES: Metro Theatre - Sydney THE FENDERBENDERS: Kareela Golf Club
TOMIE & THE BOYS: Matraville Hotel - Matraville TOUCH WOOD: Blue Cattledog Hotel - St Clair TRAV & ROSCO SHOW: Coogee Diggers
THE FURIOUS FIVE: Jannali Inn THE GOOD STUFF: Orient Hotel - The Rocks THE GROOVEMASTERS: Belfield RSL - Belfield THE HAPPY HIPPIES, ZOLTAN: Ettamogah Hotel - Rouse Hill THE LOUNGEPHONICS: Hornsby Inn THE WALKING WHO, ROCKETS, BEC AND BEN, CHIT TICKS: The Standard - Surry Hills THUNDABOX, TOMBSTONE RAMBLER, SPECIAL PATROL GROUP, YAMUM, ALLET CATS: Lansdowne Hotel - Chippendale
TRIBE: Courthouse Hotel - Darlinghurst TWO NIL: Kingswood Sports Club TY: Duke of Wellington Hotel WAITING FOR GUINNESS, BELL JAR: Camelot Lounge, Arvo - Marrickville WAKE THE GIANTS, HIVEMIND, EMERGENCY SYNDROME + MORE: Valve Bar & Venue Tempe (Afternoon) WARDS XPRESS: Bald Rock Hotel - Rozelle
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WASTED YEARS DJS: Q Bar - Darlinghurst WILDCATZ: Penrith RSL, Castle Lounge YUKI KUMAGAI & JOHN MACKIE: Wellco Café & Wine Bar - Leichhardt ZED FEMALE: The Red Rattler - Marrickville ZOLTAN: Revesby Workers, Skylight Lounge
SUN 17 ACE: Brighton RSL Brighton-Le-Sands
JAMIE LINDSAY: Northies, Sports Bar - Cronulla JOHN LEIGH CALDER, HAMISH STUART: The Whitehorse - Surry Hills JOHN VELLA: Oatley Hotel JR AND THE JEWEL TONES: Petersham Bowling Club KLASSIC BLAK: Belmont 16’s LJ: Bayview Tavern - Gladesville LUCY DE SOTO & THE HANDSOME DEVILS: Sandringham Hotel - Newtown MARK HOPPER: Artichoke Gallery Café - Manly MATTY ISKACSON: Harbord Beach Hotel - Harbord
ANTIONE: O’Malleys Hotel - Kings Cross
MCADDIE: Riverstone Sports Hotel - Riverstone
AT THE GALLOWS, MY CITY SCREAMS, UNDERDOG: Yours and Owls - Wollongong
MCCAULEYS RAIDERS: Penrith RSL, Castle Lounge
BIG MISCHIEF, DAMAGE INC, MIRRORS IN ICELAND + MORE: Valve Bar * Venue - Tempe (Afternoon) BOBBY SINGH, ADRIAN MCNEIL, LOLO LOVINA: Camelot Lounge - Marrickville
MOJO: Orient Hotel - The Rocks NADIA ACKERMAN, SONS OF SUMMER: Lizottes Sydney - Dee Why
PADDY MELON TRIO: Mean Fiddler Hotel
PETER HEAD TRIO: The Harbour View Hotel - The Rocks RACHEL ELDON: Collingwood Hotel - Liverpool ROBBIE LOWE, JAMES TAYLOR, NIC SCALI, MATT WEIR, SAM ROBERTS, DEAN RELF: The Spice Cellar - Sydney STEVE EDMONDS BAND: Heathcote Hotel TERRY BATU: Wallacia Hotel - Wallacia THE BLACK SEEDS: Great Northern Hotel - Newcastle THE GREAT CRAIC: Paragon Hotel Circular Quay THE JUNGLE KINGS: The Mark Hotel THE LOUNGEPHONICS: North Manly Bowling Club THE NEW CASUALS: Botany View Hotel - Newtown THE WHITE BROTHERS: Ettamogah Hotel - Rouse Hill TONY MARTIN: Campbelltown Catholic ClubClub Lounge VIRGINIA LILLYE, PETER NORTHCOTE, DARIO BORTOLIN, LLOYD G: Bridge Hotel - Rozelle ZOLTAN: Malabar RSL
MON 18 BERNIE MCGANN, JOHN HARKINS TRIO: 505 Surry Hills DAN LAWRENCE: Observer Hotel - The Rocks SONIC MAYHEM ORCHESTRA: Blue Beat - Double Bay
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BEHIND THE LINES SPIRIT TRACKS
BROUGHT TO YOU BY
WITH MICHAEL SMITH
MATT DAHLBERG UKULELE CLINIC
It’s amazing just how popular the humble ukulele has become in the past decade. Among the instrument’s current crop of rising stars is 22 year old American Matt Dahlberg, AKA The Jumping Flea, who has shared stages with some of the greats of ukulele, including six-times Grammy winner, Daniel Ho. Thursday 21 June, Dahlberg is presenting a free ukulele clinic at Big Music in Crows Nest, kicking off 7pm and free.
REMASTERING BLUR
Following his remastering of The Smiths’ back catalogue, Frank Arkwright spent three months remastering the complete oeuvre of Blur at Abbey Road Studios in London, remastering from the original analogue tapes at high resolution, played back on the same model Ampex ½” tape machine used for the original mixes, enabling him to replicate playback conditions, while using a valve EQ to ensure a warm tone. The resulting 21-disc deluxe box set will be released at the end of July.
THE FENDER JAGUAR TURNS 50
Back in 1962, having already established something of a timeless template for the electric guitar in the Stratocaster and the Telecaster, Fender decided to shake things up a bit by introducing a guitar that paired the Jazzmaster body style and its elaborate control layout with a shorter scale and smaller, brighter pickups with more output. The result was the Fender Jaguar, and 50 years on, having been rediscovered by the punk/post-punk/grunge generation, Fender has produced an anniversary model that features the classic 24” scale length, a new onedegree neck-angle-pocket cut that improves pitch, a repositioned tremolo plate that increases bridge break angle and sustain, and specially designed hot Jaguar single-coil neck and bridge pickups that deliver fatter tone and more output. Test drive one today.
SOUND BYTES
Something For Kate are in Dallas, Texas recording their next album in Elmwood Studios with US producer John Congleton (Explosions In The Sky, The Walkmen, St Vincent, Okkervil River). The band will blogging on their website from the studio on the progress of the recording. The latest and ninth album, Dead End Kings, from Swedish dark metal five-piece Katatonia was recorded at Ghost Ward Studios and The City Of Glass with the band’s Anders Nyström and Jonas Renkse producing and David Castillo (Opeth, Bloodbath) mixing. Scottish four-piece The View recorded Cheeky For A Reason at Liverpool, UK’s world class Motor Museum Studios with producer Mike Crossey (Arctic Monkeys, Razorlight, Foals). The official Diamond Jubilee song, Sing, cowritten by Spandau Ballet’s Gary Barlow and some bloke called Andrew Lloyd Webber, was recorded in Abbey Road Studios’ Studio One. Progressive metalcore six-piece A Hero A Fake recorded their new album, The Future Again, at The Basement Recording Studio in their home state North Carolina with Jamie King (Between The Buried And Me, Wretched), who recorded their previous two albums, with Cameron Mizell mixing and Joey Sturgis mastering the results. Due out July 20, the new album, Carry Me Back, from Old Crow Medicine Show was recorded at the Sound Emporium in Nashville with producer Ted Hutt (Gaslight Anthem, Dropkick Murphys, Flogging Molly). Expat Australian singer/songwriter Nadia Ackerman, a New Yorker for 14 years, used an AKG Tube mic to record her vocals on her home studio bedroom recorded and produced album, The Ocean Master. Proudly “made by seven men in seven days”, the new album, Hollow, from Graveyard Train was recorded at Atlantis Studio in Melbourne, bar one track recorded at Sing Sing, by Loki Lockwood (Hugo Race & True Spirit, The Drones, SixFtHick), who also mastered it at Creepy Hollow. Craig Morrison, who last November picked up the gong for best country song at the Australian Songwriters Association Awards, recorded his recently released eponymous album at the Fun House Studios and Big Dog Studios, owned by expat Australian producer Mark Moffatt (The Saints, Yothu Yindi, Keith Urban, The Monitors, The Venetians), in Nashville, with John Saylor (Hank Williams Jr, Neil Young) engineering, but brought the album back to Sydney to get it mastered at Studios 301 by Leon Zarvos (Eskimo Joe, John Butler Trio). btl@streetpress.com.au 54 • THE DRUM MEDIA
Xavier Rudd takes Michael Smith through his new album, Spirit Bird, track by track, providing a little insight into the recording process.
R
ecorded bar one track in what he describes as “a big wooden house in Thornbury Ontario, Canada,” in fact Lora Bay Studios, Xavier Rudd produced his latest album, Spirit Bird, himself, with Mike Gilles engineering and his instrument technician and production assistant Luke Davis on hand to keep his battery of instruments up to scratch. It was mixed by Scott Horscroft, assisted by Jeremy Nothman, at Forgotten Valley Studios in the NSW Hinterlands and mastered at Sydney’s Studios 301 by Steve Smart. Dispersed here and there across the album are the sounds of a variety of Australian birds, grafted into the tracks from an album of Australian birdcalls and bush sounds recorded by wildlife sound recordist David Stewart. Lioness Eye – Built up around a drum pattern Rudd explains he’s “had a lot of [Indigenous] elders tell me I have a woman’s spirit with me, on my journey. So that pounding rhythm is that ancient woman spirit that’s moving with me and as I’m learning these lessons in life I guess I’m seeing things through the Lioness Eye a bit clearer, you know.” The main bird song featured is the kookaburra. “I’ve found that kookaburras have been talking to me all my life, and they continue to. They always command me to stop and listen – they have this unique ability to make you stop and listen to them no matter what’s going on – so they’re a pretty powerful old bird I reckon.”
back half of the song just came pouring out, again very emotional. The next day I realised that was happening at the time the police had moved in on James Price Point and started dragging elders off country and came in to claim the land. So I feel that there are scatterings of Kimberley spirit that has come through me on this record, and Spirit Bird is the most obvious reflection of that.”
While the pounding drums and didge sound close mic’d, Rudd puts his vocal way back in a sea of reverb, “almost standing on a mountain kind of vibe. I guess I did sing it like a long way away from the mic, but it’s more that feeling of… proclaiming, you know? Arms in the air, shouting it to the universe a little bit.”
Prosper – More a sound collage than a song, Rudd “was in New Orleans and there was an old man with a megaphone on the street and I recorded him on my phone, so that’s the old man you can hear. And then I put the Mohawk Ohnia:kara mob [Native American tribal singers] that we recorded for Bow Down – they did a chant – and I wanted to put that native chant underneath the preaching in our modern world. And then I also put cane toads and galahs to represent politicians.”
Comfortable In My Skin – A far more intimate track, just voice, close mic’d, harmonica and guitar. “That track was a take that I did when I first went into the studio, and I actually did it in a different key than I wanted the track to be in. All the takes we did of the song after were in A and that was in D, but it just had a charm to it and a rawness that I really liked about that take.” Spirit Bird – In contrast a big production, complete with the sounds of the red-tailed black cockatoo, “and yellow-tailed cockatoos too,” Rudd adds, the sound of currawong outside his kitchen window. “The song came from an experience I had with a red-tailed black in the Kimberley. That was such a profound story and time that it’s hard to put into words, but I had this moment where I came across this red-tailed black cockatoo and she just looked through me and I had all these visions and memories that weren’t mine, and I guess she was talking to me and later that day I wrote the start of Spirit Bird in the sand on a beach, and it was all very emotional, and when I finished it a few years later in Canada, about ten o’clock at night and I was sitting by a fire and the
All which explains why Rudd brought in the voices of the students of Cape Byron Rudolph Steiner School in Byron Bay, recorded by Jordan Power. “Yeah, bringing in that sense of one mob. What’s going on in the Kimberleys is a world issue that requires everyone to stand up and recognise it. That’s one of our missions on the planet.”
Bow Down – Features the Mohawk choir as it builds but begins stripped back with just bass drum, handclaps and slide guitar. “I didn’t want to layer it too much but I’m able to get a lot of layers just with what I’m running [live] now, solo too, so it’s definitely pretty thick [sounding]. I’ve sort of stripped back my effects and I’m just using two Carbon Copy delay pedals and Tube Screamer on the dirty amp and I’ve got triggers now so I’m sampling stuff both at my guitar station and my percussion station, but it’s all real time, no loops.” Follow The Sun – The first single off the album, it was recorded last, in an hour and a half back here at Studios 301 Byron Bay, engineered by Jordan Power, stripped back again to just bass drum, acoustic guitar, voice, harmonica… and magpies. Butterfly – Features a Canadian warbler! “I just played this little slit drum, just with two mics, and I was stomping
on the wooden dock with my foot – the tone of the dock was amazing, like a real heartbeat – and as I was singing and playing, this little bird started singing back to me, and you can hear him in the take that we kept.” Culture Bleeding – “Freddie Leone, who was the guest vocalist on it – Impossible Odds he calls himself and he’s a Badtjala fella and sang in Badtjala – and I think it’s pretty self-explanatory. It’s recorded pretty live; it’s just me playing didge and my percussion kit, and the siren kind of effect you can hear is a tawny frogmouth, and then a sooty owl in the other groove.” Paper Thin – Back to the basic close mic’d voice, acoustic, slide – “It’s a folk song. I guess it’s a reflection on life and love and all that jazz. We’re pretty fragile vessels and we forget that a lot of the time and end up damaged [laughs].” Full Circle – “I had two Aboriginal aunties that came and sort of cleared a space for us in Canada on the day that I recorded that, and they’ve been pretty profound in my journey. I didn’t have any lyrics prepared for it; it wasn’t even called Full Circle and I just recorded it in one take and sang what I sang straight off the cuff.” Mystery Angel – The slit drum reappears, as does the slide – and the pied butcherbird. “That drum was given to me by Ben Harper’s brother Joel. He’s written a children’s book, All The Way To The Ocean, and he asked me to be the crane in the animation they’re going to do. ” 3 Roads – Bass player Tio Moloantoa and percussionist Andile Nqubezelo, with whom Rudd recorded previous album, Koonyum Sun, used to sing the chant Rudd sings here. “It’s just a song to pay respect to our three roads, and that we will come together again.” Spirit Bird is out now on Universal. Xavier Rudd plays Civic Theatre Newcastle Thursday 6 September, Waves Wollongong Friday 7, Enmore Theatre Saturday 8 and Playhouse Theatre Canberra Sunday 9.
GEAR REVIEW
LTD MH-350 NT & LTD MH 350 FR GUITARS
LTD guitars have followed the global trend of outsourcing their stock to other countries to cut down on manufacturing costs so they can compete in terms of cost and quality. And while the top of the range Japanese ESPs will no doubt cost you a fair bit of coin, they’re simply stunning instruments, “Metal Machines” akin to a Samurai sword for the hard rocker. So what happens when you outsource your baby ESPs to an Indonesian plant? Let’s have a look at two variations of the LTD MH-350, a Neck-Thru model with a String-Thru bridge, and the ever-popular Floyd Rose version. Both guitars featured the fantastic coupling of EMG ’81 and ’85 pickups and the models reviewed were finished in a demonic transparent black. First up I was keen to see how the Floyd Rose model stood up; being a not-so-proud owner of a “Licensed” Floyd Rose bridge in the past, the difference in quality between bridge types is massive these days. This particular guitar featured the Floyd Rose “Special” bridge, so one would assume it’s close to the real deal. After pulling the guitar out of the box I did what every guitarist dealing with a Floyd Rose has to do, stretch the strings out and get the tuning right before locking
down the nut. It took quick a bit of time to get the tuning stable, but then it was time to take this axe to the races. I screwed in the whammy bar and threw down every known guitar trick at the bridge and it came back into tune almost perfectly every time. I’d definitely say the Floyd Rose Special lacks a bit of lustre against the Floyd Rose Original, which in my experience always returns to perfect pitch after the strings have been played in. Then after I’d run out of shred, I took on the other version of this guitar, the String-Thru model. I immediately noticed the action on this guitar was set up a touch higher and with heavier strings. No tuning issues here, but rather a simple design dedicated to massive sustain and great rhythm
themusic.com.au
and lead playing with a wonderful neck that was simply flawless, just as good as the top shelf ESP’s in terms of finish. This guitar was definitely more my cup of tea, as it was easier to tune down to Drop D and slam out some fat riffs or go even lower, which is the trend of today’s metal society. In summing up, both these guitars are great value for money. The pickups and hardware are both top notch EMGs, but the tone woods are nowhere near as dense as the Japanese ESP/LTDs. Reza Nasseri For more info, see www.cmi.com.au. Originally published in Australian Musician.
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POSTERS GOLD COAST BYRON BAY NORTHERN NSW Poster distribution for touring artists & bands. Fast, efficient & reliable service at a competitive price www.thatposterguy.com.au iFlogID: 17120
RECORDING STUDIOS Have you got a song in your head? Music Producer available to turn your imagination into reality. Professional results and affordable rates. iFlogID: 18131
INNER WEST RECORDING STUDIO Medium sized studio located in the inner west, large acoustically treated space ideal for recording whole bands and solo artists. Proficient in Pro Tools and Logic software. Live and studio experience with many bands including; The Church, The Devoted Few, The Hoodoo Gurus, Regular John and more. Six years experience recording rock and pop music as well as two years experience recording string quartets and other classical instruments. Recording and mixing session rates are; Whole Band $150 / Day Solo Artist $100 / Day Mixing Session: Flat Rate $100 / Day Call or email Shaun Gaida for enquiries: 0410 755 228 / shaun.gaida@gmail.com iFlogID: 18069 RECORDING STUDIO $30ph iFlogID: 17084 Recording Studio, Parramatta, $30hr casual rate. No kits! Singers, songwriters, instrumentalists for acoustic, world, classical genres specialist. 25+yrs exp, multi instrumentalist, arranger, composer, producer. Ph: 02 98905578, 7 days. iFlogID: 15152 Recording Studio, Parramatta, $30hr casual rate. No kits! Singers, songwriters, instrumentalists for acoustic, world, classical genres specialist. 25+yrs exp, multi instrumentalist, arranger, composer, producer. Ph: 02 98905578, 7 days. iFlogID: 15160
SINGING TEACHER WITH STUDIO Are you keen to record your demo but don’t want to waste money on a demo you’re not 100% happy with vocally? As a professional Singer of 18 years and Singing Teacher of 7, I can not only record your Demo in my Studio with the same quality as a commercial Studio, but also guide you vocally through each song where needed. Covering techniques such as breathing, pronunciation, phrasing, dynamics, tasteful use of vibrato, support and of course emotion -or whatever else is required to optimise on your recording.. Whether you are looking for agency representation, auditioning for bands or musicals, an actor wanting to complete your portfolio, a gift idea or just for sheer enjoyment, please call me to discuss your needs. I will ensure you have a more polished and vocally professional Demo than you would have otherwise achieved in a commercial studio. If you are pursuing a professional career, you only get one chance per listener. It’s imperative you put your best foot forward to avoid too much heartbreak and rejection. So to get started on your best recordings or for any questions, please call Louise; 0452 006 693 iFlogID: 18549
STUDIO HIRE Gold Coast ParallelHarmonyStudioRobina. 30 square metre live room, large vocal booth. Handsome range of range of topoftheline Neumann, Rode and Shure microphones. Call 0755808883 for details. www.parallelharmony.com.au iFlogID: 18640
TUITION ACCOMPLISHER SINGING TEACHER Northern beaches area. Ex cabaret, session, studio singer, music producer. Toured with Shirley Bassey and Perry Como. Totally experienced. Free assessment. Beginners and all ages. Peter Flanagan 9905 8742, 0414860118 iFlogID: 18184
ADVANCED SLIDE GUITAR Advanced slide guitar, lead & rhythm & lap steel. All styles. Beginners welcome. Ph Jeff. 0412518070 iFlogID: 18200 BASS TUITION Qualified and experienced bass teacher, offering private tuition according to your needs and goals.Beginners to advanced students. Wide range of styles including Jazz, Rock, Funk, Latin. http://www.marcosgil.info/tuition.htm iFlogID: 17668
BASS TUITION Playing professionally for 34yrs, teaching for 10, if you want to read or just get your chops up, in any style, ring Jeff on 0448559947. Gosford location, 6 days iFlogID: 18172
BENNETTS GUITAR TUITION
Experienced and professional teacher based in Croydon, Sydney. -Tuition of Electric, Acoustic, Bass and Theory -Individual or Group Lessons -All ages and skill levels very welcome -Step by step method covering most styles -Accurate and clear scores and transcriptions provided aimed to suit the students musical goals *One Free Introductory Lesson for Anyone Interested!!* Please contact Michael @ 0420 371 624 mbennetts_@hotmail.com iFlogID: 18646
CREATIVE GUITAR TUITION
Want to be a recording artist? We’re looking for singers/songwriters for recording & development. Contact studio@musicentourage.com or 02 4013 1977 iFlogID: 14616 Want to know what it takes to record a song? Book in an obligation free Q&A session in our recording studio at Five Dock. Visit www. musicentourage.com or email hookmeup@ musicentourage.com iFlogID: 14478 You’ll never regret recording your songs... but we garuntee you’ll ALWAYS regret not doing it! ***Every song Produced, Mixed & Mastered to Radio Release Quality*** studio@musicentourage.com www.musicentourage.com iFlogID: 17747
REHEARSAL ROOMS SWEETLEAF REHEARSAL STUDIO MTDRUITT open 7 days, 3 rooms, aircon, food & beverages, Flat lug, Parking, PA & Lighting Hire Call - 9832-8890 iFlogID: 17546
REPAIRS GUITAR REPAIRS AND SETUPS Professional Guitar Tech and Luthier. Clients have played with Jimmy Barnes, Guy Sebastian, Human Nature, Short Stack, Moving Pictures etc. All repair work and setups. Call Timo 9484 4374 iFlogID: 17628
WWW. MUSOSREPAIRSHOP. COM.AU
Petersham/ Sydney. Real guitar for committed students in a fully equipped music studio. Learn Jazz, Rock, Blues, Contemporary , Funk, Latin , Gypsy, Folk, Country and other popular styles. Learn at a pace and in a direction you want to go. Beginners to advanced, all aspects of guitar are supported. Comprehensive digital recording available. Ask about special introductory offer and gift vouchers. Contact Craig Corcoran: 0430344334 creative-guitar@hotmail. com www.creativeguitar.com.au iFlogID: 18234
DRUM TUITION. Drum Tuition in Stanmore with a Billy Hyde trained Teacher. Dip Ed, Dip Drums. All levels and all styles taught. Beginners Welcome!. Call Lee 0403307796. www. lee-carey.com iFlogID: 17906 Eastern Suburbs guitar/ukulele/bass/slide lessons with APRA award winning composer. Highly experienced, great references, unique individually designed lessons from Vaucluse studio. Learn to play exactly what YOU want to play! www.matttoms.com iFlogID: 16690
GUITAR LESSONS NEWTOWN Beginners-to-Advanced. Learn the JimiHendrix Led-Zeppelin Level of guitar playing, or just strum chords to sing songs. 1xFREE lessonappraisal Beginners you are most welcome. Acoustic-Electric-Classical Guitar all styles. 0405-044-513. iFlogID: 18787
From acoustics to zithers we can fix it! Repairer/luthier with decades of experience will get your axe back into shape. Quality, guaranteed work without the rip-off. Jeff 0448559947 iFlogID: 18168
For a limited time. Free online and print classifieds Book now, visit iflog.com.au
GUITAR LESSONS
With experienced, friendly and fully qualified tutor. Who has 20 years of studio and live performance. Most styles including Rock, Pop and Jazz. Learn to play your favourite songs, practical theory, improvisation, proper technique, etc. etc. Beginners to advanced are welcome. In the convenience of your own home. Good results guaranteed. Reasonable rates. Phone Oles on 0407413143 or email olesguitarlessons@ yahoo.com iFlogID: 18767
GUITAR TUITION BY MAL EASTICK Enrolling new students now for 2012. Tuition customised - beginners to professionals. Blues, rock, tone & theory my specialties. 39 years professional experience, national concert touring level, 4 Gold & 2 Platinum albums. Central suburban Sydney location. M: 0407 461 093 - E: mal@maleastick.com iFlogID: 15035
SINGING LESSONS
Highly qualified Professional Singer of 18 years and Singing Teacher of 7 is now available for private singing tuition. From beginners to advanced; whether you are wanting to learn for the fun or more serious about your craft, I will guide you accordingly. I cover all techniques from breathing, support, tone, pitch, phrasing, pronunciation, support, dynamics and emotion to microphone techniques, stage presence, movement and expression, building a repertoire and of course marketing. If you suffer stage fright or need help with your self-confidence, my lessons will assist in this area also. So if you are serious about moving ahead in your career, wanting to gain self-confidence or would like to learn for fun then please call me to talk further or make a booking. Louise. MOB; 0452 006 693. iFlogID: 18553
SINGING LESSONS
Music tuition, classical / flamenco guitar, celtic harp, theory & harmony, arranging. 9am - 9pm, 7 days. Parramatta area. $40 hr, $30 half hr. Mature & patient. Harps for hire. Ph: 02 98905578 iFlogID: 15158 Paramount Guitar Tuition. Learn to play the guitar. Or learn to compose &/or improvise on guitar. Most importantly, learn at your own pace, no pressure! Classical & other styles. 0402 630 243 www.pgtonline.net pgtonline@hotmail.com Parramatta area iFlogID: 15320 PICKS AND STICKS STUDIO. Private Guitar lessons from an experienced teacher. All levels, All ages, All styles. Improvising, Theory, Song Writing, Technique Seven Hills, Sydney. Call Dave 0410 963 972 or email davemormul@hotmail.com iFlogID: 16948 Professional Bass/Music lessons available for hire, great with beginners or those wanting to start playing the bass but unsure how to go about it. Learn classic songs and songs of your choice. Throughout a variety of seasoned gigs, playing a variety of styles, I know the stage can sometimes be daunting, but with me, I can work you through the process of how to get the best out of your performance and to own the stage. First lesson lesson is $25 for the hour and then $45 thereafter. iFlogID: 18563
SINGING LESSONS THAT >>ROCK<<
Bass player available, Mature, plenty of experience in Rock, Swing, Country, Blues and Pop. High standard and best equipment. I play Double Bass aswell, easy going. Ph 0434475785 iFlogID: 18508 Electric & upright bass. Good gear. Comfortable in most styles. Experience performing live and in the studio. Check out my website if you wanna hear more. h t t p : / / w w w. w i x . c o m / s t e e l e c h a b a u / steelechabau iFlogID: 16159
DJ Dj available Dubstep to Drum&bass. Willing & able to adapt to your event. Low hourly rates. Everything negotiable. Easygoing, flexible entertainment. Call for a quote today. KN!VZ Entertainment Group Ph:0415680575 iFlogID: 16661
DJ/Buttonpusher. Plays most genres from Dubstep to Gabber. Punctual. Reliable. Up to $100 p/h ono. m:0438848155, e:rintouldj@hotmail.com for bookings. iFlogID: 18117
DRUMMER A1 TOP PRO DRUMMER AVAILABLE FOR SESSION FREELANCE WORK, TOURS ETC. EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE, TOP GEAR, GREAT GROOVE AND TIME.SYDNEY BASED, WILL TRAVEL. PH 0419760940. WEBSITE www.mikehague.com iFlogID: 18334
LEARN FROM A SIGNED VOCALIST!
Learn The Drums - Have fun and discover your rhythm. I’ve created a step by step program for you on learning how to play the drums, go to www. chrismccaig.com/learn-the-drums iFlogID: 14503
BASS PLAYER
RINTOUL
GUITAR.BASS & UKULELE. Current professional performer and teacher for 30 years. Learn Chords, Scales/Modes, Arpeggios, Music Theory & Ear training. Learn your favourite guitarists songs and tunes. 0422 838 924 iFlogID: 17619
Modern-Vocal-Lessons- 25yr Old Signed Vocalist/Artist. Recorded Vocals for #1 Aria Album. Lessons at Gordon. Beginners to experienced singers welcome. 1hr lessons $50, Half-Hour lessons $30. Call AJ on 0448-080-619. iFlogID: 18105
MUSICIANS AVAILABLE
Singing lessons in a positive environment with a highly experienced and professional singer/songwriter. Lessons tailored to suit individual needs. Also beginners guitar. www.realvoice.net.au for more details. Inner West, Rosanna 0431 157 622. iFlogID: 18667
TEACHER TO THE STARS!
Steve Ostrow, New York voice teacher and vocal coach who discovered and nurtured the careers of Bette Midler, Barry Manilow, Peter Allen, Stevie Wonder and countless others now Sydney City based and welcoming students on all levels; beginners, advanced and performers; Rock, Pop, Classical etc. For availability call on 0408461868. For a free e-copy of my book ‘On Becoming a Singer..A Guide To How’ email me on sostrow@bigpond.net.au. Lessons include the entire scope of singing...voice production, musicianship, interpretation, performance skills etc. I look forward to hearing from you. iFlogID: 18602
Wanted left handed electric guitar teacher Parramatta area, Contact John at... rodt1114@yahoo.com iFlogID: 16308
VIDEO / PRODUCTION D7 STUDIO MUSIC VID FROM $250 music vid $250. Live gig edits, multi angles, fr $125 a set, 1 live track $100. All shot in full HD. d7studio@ iinet.net.au 0404716770 iFlogID: 13368 Kontrol Productions is a highly professional production company that specializes in the production of music video’s. We ensure that our products are of the highest industry standards. For enquiries www.kontrolproductions.com iFlogID: 13827
DRUMMER AVAILABLE 34 YO Campbelltown based drummer looking for a guitarist to help start a heavy rock/epic prog rock band influenced by Savatage, Trans Siberian Orchestra and Pink Floyd. Have access to performance/recording studio. Contact on 0402719932 after 4pm. iFlogID: 18631 Experienced Soul / Reggae / R’N’B / Blues / Funk drummer (36) available for work preferably in Northern Beaches. YouTube: sydneypollak . Mobile: 0402 549 423 Michael iFlogID: 17324 Professional drummer/percussionist/vibraphonist available for performances/recording. Toured with international acts such as Dianna Krall, David Campbell and Patrizio Buanne. Have huge range of instruments including vibraphone. More info at www.davekemp.info iFlogID: 17317 Professional mature-age Drummer/Vocals/ reads/back acts/shows - all styles including jazz - available for casual work. phone:(02) 9807-3137 eMail: nadipa1@yahoo. com.au iFlogID: 16562 Professional mature-age Drummer/Vocals/ reads/back acts/shows - all styles including jazz - available for casual work. phone:(02) 9807-3137 Mob:0413-931-897 eMail: nadipa1@yahoo.com.au iFlogID: 17160 TOP INTERNATIONAL DRUMMER available. Great backing vocals, harmonica player and percussionist. Gigs, tours, recording. Private lessons/mentoring also available. www.reubenalexander.net iFlogID: 14261
GUITARIST 18 year old guitar player looking to form Rock N’ Roll band. Influences: Guns N’ Roses, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, New York Dolls. Preferably in South. Call Tom on 0401722767. iFlogID: 13358 Musician/Guitarist seeking fame. I play blues and have a good ear for melody and improvisation. Im looking for likeminded people who want to start touring. Go to peterbuckley.me iFlogID: 18014
OTHER We are a friendly jazz band playing music to any style for romantic situations, weddings, anniversaries, small cozy clubs - very affordable. contact Chris 0419 272 196 ventura@ yayabings.com.au iFlogID: 15177
MUSICIANS WANTED BANDS Your voice has the ability to sing at the Audioslave/Muse/Aretha/ Yeah-Yeah-Yeahs level because of Design. Increase your range sing with effortless power learn to sing the right technique. Microphone technique, recording techniques, songwriting Newtown 0405-044513 iFlogID: 18785
Music video production, live event filming, EPK’s, pro photography and more. Great rates for indi artists. Call Paul on 0412 222 111 or email paul@popfilms.com.au or visit www. popfilms.com.au iFlogID: 18398
VocalHub - Sing like no one is listening! Singing lessons for vocal technique and care, audition tips and repertoire in a encouraging and supportive environment. Visit: http://www.vocalhub. com.au iFlogID: 17102
MUSIC VIDEOS offer a great way to gain exposure. Immersion Imagery has worked with over 30 artists and strives to offer creative quality Music Videos. www.immersionimagery.com info@immersionimagery.com iFlogID: 18477
ACCORDION PLAYER WANTED for Mexican influenced alt country/folk band flamenco guitar, bass, marching snare, french/ tenor horn, male/female vocals. call andy: 0434920906 facebook.com/DustyRavens iFlogID: 18695 Anyone wants to form a REGGAE band in Northern Beaches NSW? I play drums, percussions and keyboard. YouTube: sydneypollak. Mobile: 0402 549 423 Michael iFlogID: 18610 Anyone wants to form a REGGAE band in Northern Beaches NSW? I play drums, percussions and keyboard. YouTube: sydneypollak. Mobile: 0402 549 423 Michael iFlogID: 18612
AS ANGELS BLEED NEEDS BASSIST Bass Player required by Gothic Metal band. Influences Type O Negative, HIM, Nightwish and Evanescence. Must have good equipment and transport. We have just finished recording an album in the USA and are now focusing our attention on live shows. Only professionally minded people need apply. Email: contact@asangelsbleed.com. Website: www. asangelsbleed.com iFlogID: 18783
BASS PLAYER WANTED URGENTLY Psychedelic Alternative Rock Band from Inner West seek Bass Player for Upcoming EP release and tour dates. Influences include: MUTEMATH, Tame Impala, Spiritualism, Kaiser Cheifs and MUSE. Pro Gear and Positive Attitude essential. Contact 0409 991 854 iFlogID: 18707
BASS PLAYER WANTED! up and coming band. metal/thrash/punk/ grunge/funk/hiphop etc. some skill required (obviously), but a can do attitude is a must. must be prepared for challenging and different music. iFlogID: 18779
CINDERLAND PROJECT DRUMMER Indie/Pop/Rock band looking for a drummer who is flexible in styles, wants to have fun as well as record and gig. Must be available at least once a week for rehearsals in the inner west. Call Dan 0434672054 or Lily 0412551400 iFlogID: 18675 Drummer wanted for new originals band. Rock/punk/alternative. Female or male to join 2 females. email meeghankairus@hotmail.com iFlogID: 18585 Experienced bass player with pro attitude is looking for musicians for prog/alt rock outfit. Commintment, love to music, realiability is required. Great opportunity to bring in their own ideas. 0411743248 iFlogID: 18298 FREE RECORDING Audio students seeking bands to record & mix in a professional studio. Located in Sydney CBD. Must be able to play to a click track. Text 0433442255 iFlogID: 16983 KEYBOARD PLAYER WANTED: Working Central Coast based 50’s Rock & Roll band looking for a keyboard player. Must have knowledge of 50’s music and own reliable transport Email: raveon56@hotmail.com iFlogID: 18591
NEW ALT ROCK BAND SEEKS MEMBER New Sydney band forming looking for members - Bass Player and a Singer. We are a new band just forming (Guitarist and Drummer). Both have years of professional gigging, recording, so only experienced players with a history of playing in originals bands please contact us. Influences Soundgarden, Karnivool, Alice in Chains, Tool, Pearl Jam, Grinspoon, Deftones and more. Email me for demos. We are based on Sydney’s Northern Beaches for rehearsals – Brookvale area. rockband@y7mail.com iFlogID: 18663
PLAY BASS IN ROSE OF YORK
ROSE OF YORK looking for an Experienced Bass Player (21-30). About to Launch 3rd E.P (PRODUCED by Aria Award Winner Paul McKercher) If you: · Are committed to regular rehearsal and gigs · Have your own transport · Own Pro-Gear · Are an experienced performer · Can sing in tune/do harmonies · Love ROCK of all styles Then listen to our tunes at: www.triplejunearthed.com/roseofyork Email Chris and Daz at roseofyork@hotmail.com if interested! iFlogID: 18754
PLAY SWING CALLING ALL INTERMEDIATE WIND PLAYERS There is a place for you in our swing band. Come and join our group, working with an experienced band director.’ Contact Dave 98078866 or email oddsocksmusic62@yahoo.com.au iFlogID: 18777
BASS PLAYER Band needs versatile bass player!! Originals and covers. Mix of Tool, Evanescense, Winehouse.....whatever! We have female singer, guitarist, drummer....all 19yrs. Based in Northern Beaches. Please call Ziggy 0432872290! iFlogID: 18258 Do you get a gut growl when listening to Nirvana? Do you have a good stage presence? Then play in our f#*cking band NOW! Call 0488 488 546 NOW! iFlogID: 18565
HARDROCK/ METAL BASS
Bass player with metal ability wanted for originals hard rock band. Own equip + exp a must. Check site bandcamp.com under No Warning, contact us reidrokka@yahoo.com.au iFlogID: 18697
ONE HIT WONDERS BASS PLAYER Bass played wanted for top sydney covers band The One Hit Wonders. Professional attitude a must. Transport and gear essential. Call 0416333904 iFlogID: 18671 Wollongong-based hard-rock-with-lady-vocals outfit looking for no-bullshit bass player for local gigs, possible recording. Ages 17-25. Influences: Zelda, Pokemon, Pirate Metal NO DICKHEADS PLEASE Contact: emrisband@gmail.com iFlogID: 18760
DRUMMER 3pce rock band needs decent drummer w/ kit/transport/ability/experience, dynamic songs solid rock, age/gender irrelevant, scope for self-expression whilst being tight, seriousfun band, loud, irreverent, rock. mp3 available phil 0402069500 iFlogID: 18735 aggressive solid drummer needed for band. have material written and demos recorded. rehearse in the wollonong area, keen to gig asap. age/sex/skill level not important. contact 0403508102 for demos iFlogID: 14021 CAN YOU HIT STUFF GOOD?! Indie rock duo from Campbelltown looking for a dedicated drummer. Between 18 - 25, own gear and transport is required. Contact Anton: 0426822750 iFlogID: 18719 drummer & singer needed for rock/reggae/ blues/soul/funk band in the campbelltown area, 100% committed prefer members to be solely dedicated to this project. have guitar bass & congas. have a awesome feel. iFlogID: 18751 Drummer hard rock/blues style with chops like John Bohnam, Ian Paice, Mitch Mitchell. Physical Graffiti band need you, rehearsals in Homebush/Kogarah area. For an audition call John 0404018730. iFlogID: 18732 Drummer needed for Sydney hard rock band. Aged 17-21, must have a dedication to music, good work ethic, and playing experience. Contact: 0400 886 673 for more details. iFlogID: 18559
DRUMMER WANTED!!! Drummer aged 19-25 M/F wanted for Indie/ Pop/Folk band based on the Northern Beaches influences include Bon Iver, Mumford & Sons, Coldplay. We have an EP ready to release and are ready to start gigging. Creative input welcome! Contact Cameron on 0431 953 133. iFlogID: 18715
SIGNED BAND TRIALING DRUMMERS Signed Sydney Indie/Rock/DrumNBass Trio are looking for a young(18-26), gig ready, dedicated and ambitious drummer. Must have great gear/ kit/sampling+electronics. Think Pendulum meets Muse. Call 0448-080-619 to arrange audition! iFlogID: 18749
GUITARIST ACOUSTIC GUITARIST OR KEYBOARD PLAYER WANTED. To join Mature Vocalist and Rhythm Guitarist/ Drummer MOR repertoire. Regular rehearsals working towards gigs. Based in Penrith. 043 279 0076 iFlogID: 18280 18 year old guitar player looking for another guitar player. Influences: GN’R, Aerosmith, Zeppelin, New York Dolls. Preferrably someone in the south (Shire). Call Tom on 0401722767 iFlogID: 13407 CAN YOU SING AND PICK GOOD?! Indie rock duo from Campbelltown looking for a dedicated vocalist / guitarist. Between 18 - 25, own gear and transport is required. Contact Anton: 0426822750 iFlogID: 18721 Guitarist wanted for new original band. Rock/alternative/punk with 2 females 1 male. Rehearse in the inner west. No time wasters or beginners. email meeghankairus@hotmail.com iFlogID: 18737
GUITARIST WANTED 34 YO Campbelltown based drummer looking for a guitarist to help start a heavy rock/epic prog rock band influenced by Savatage, Trans Siberian Orchestra and Pink Floyd. Have access to performance/recording studio. Contact on 0402719932 after 4pm. iFlogID: 18633 Heavy, light Garage/punk/rock Stix and/or Axe/ vox needed for 3/peace Original band in Sydney. Big Beats, raw Riffs & Poppyseed melodies of d minor Fuzz. Ages 0-100. Influenze: NIRVANA. Apply within 0403859234. iFlogID: 18377
LEAD GUITARIST WANTED Framed Music (based on Sydney’s North Shore/Northern Beaches) is looking for an experienced lead guitarist. The band specialises in classic and contemporary rock covers from the 70’s to now. You will need to be 100% committed to an established working band with good gear and own transport (gigs lined up). Check out our website to see current song list www. framedmusic.com.au Forward your details to framedmusic@hotmail.com iFlogID: 18665 Looking for Hard Rock / Metal guitarist with prog influences for Western Sydney band, must have own gear and transport and be reliable. Call Anton on 0426822750. Cheers! iFlogID: 18468 Nationally touring band seek guitarist. Influences RHCP, RATM, hedPE, Suicidal Tendencies. Pro gear/attitude. You can listen to songs @ www.thesidetrackedfiasco.com. Rehearsals Sydney Inner-west Contact Johnny 0434970-561. iFlogID: 18764
OTHER musicans wanted for rock call vee 93193513 iFlogID: 18551
SINGER CAN YOU SING?!!
INDIE ROCK DRUMMER!
Committed drummer wanted to complete 3 piece lineup to gig, rehearse and record. Own gear and/or transport is required. Bands we like are: Girls, Smith Westerns, Veronica Falls, Ariel Pink, Deerhunter, Neil Young, The Band, Mac Demarco. Text or call Spencer: 0431 722 647. iFlogID: 18571
TURBOWITCH
PUNK ROCK DRUMMER WANTED
seeking drummer, bassist, second guitarist & vocalist PSYCHEDELIC OLD SCHOOL DOOM METAL inf by Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Wolfmother, Quest For Fire, Witch + many more. age 21-26. Sydney central based. contact: turbowitchaus@gmail.com iFlogID: 17985
PUNK, THRASH, HARDCoRE band is looking for a drummer. Influences from Left Over Crack and Piss Christ to NOFX, The Descendents, and The Distillers. Original music written and ready to play! Newtown area. Msg 0406605180 iFlogID: 18677
young guitar player looking to start metal, punk band. influences include metallica, ozzy, black sabbath megadeth, trivium, bullet, anthrax, slayer slipknot and many many more. email space1996@hotmail.com if interested iFlogID: 17027
Rock trio needs a drummer. We play classic-rock originals. We rehearse in Ultimo. Email walrusblues@hotmail.com if interested to know more. iFlogID: 18532
For Originals Hard Rock Band. Strong Voice, Style, Presence, Ability and Experience , must be able to write own Lyrics and Vocal melody. Simple recording available check site bandcamp.com under No Warning, Yellow Interceptor. If Keen contact Stuart at s.t.u.t@hotmail.com iFlogID: 18699
The Cleftomaniacs (pun intended!), the enthusiastic 25-member a cappella choir who brought you the most recent Sydney A Cappella Festival, invite new members (especially those lovely tenor & bass blokes). Eclectic repertoire from Sting to gospel to classical polyphony and we love to gig! Rehearsals school term Thursday evenings in Waterloo. Contact Catherine 02 9388 7010 / 0414 517 010 / flittie@iinet.net.au iFlogID: 18547
Energetic and charismatic singer wanted to front a newly founded hard rock band with a groove. Must have easy access to Bondi 2-3 times a week. Preferred age:18-26. Call Jonno0412362425. iFlogID: 18526
FEMALE VOCALIST WANTED Top Sydney band the One Hit Wonders require a new female vocalist. Professional attitude and application essential. Must be able to sing harmonies. Must be able to commit to regular work. Please call 0416333904 or email missmox@ hotmail.com for further information iFlogID: 18701 GOSPEL SINGERS WANTED for non-denominational music ministry to record triple-CD in Perth. World-class, passionate and devotional vocalists sought. View www.THE001Music.com for details. Jesus is KIng! Reverend Eslam. God Bless You! iFlogID: 13088
Need to promote your restaurant, club and make it the place to go? Contact us now, because providing good entertainment is a personal skill. Chris 0419 272 196 ventura@ yayabings.com.au iFlogID: 15175
TRUCK FOR HIRE
SINGER WANTED - ASAP Experienced Progressive Heavy Groove Band seeks, Strong Heavy/Melodic Vocalist. Think Sevendust(ish) for vocals style wanted etc. READY TO PLAY!!! Call Sven - 0421540972 iFlogID: 18370
SINGER WANTED
Framed Music (based on Sydney’s North Shore/Northern Beaches) is looking for an energetic male lead vocalist. The band specialises in classic and contemporary rock covers from the 70’s to now. You will need to be 100% committed to an established working band (gigs lined up). Check out our website to see what we do www.framedmusic.com.au Forward your details to framedmusic@hotmail.com iFlogID: 18589
TRUMPET MUSICIANS WANTED. Big band music ( Dorsey - Ellington etc) arranged for smaller group. More WIND PLAYERS needed. Play with a band and have some fun. Contact Dave on 9807 8866 or email oddsocksmusic62@yahoo.com.au iFlogID: 18353
SERVICES BEAUTY SERVICES CUSTOM MADE MUSICIAN PLUGS Musician Plugs come in four different filter choices to reduce the volume of loud music to a safer level. They will not distort the tonality of the music, rather simply reduce the volume ‘equally’ across all tones. Fitted by a qualified hearing professional we have a number of locations throughout Sydney as well as in the CBD. To make an appointment call 9223 0225. iFlogID: 17016
Fully Qualified & 8yrs Experience, Thai Massage $49/hr or Sensual Balinese Aroma $69/hr. In/Out calls, Male/Female Welcome. www.takecaremassage.com.au - By Anson 0433646338 iFlogID: 17428
GRAPHIC DESIGN FULL COLOUR BAND GIG POSTERS @ AMAZING PRICES 100 A4 full colour on Gloss = $40 100 A3 full colour on Plain = $50 100 A3 full colour on Gloss = $80 100 SRA3(32 x 45cm) full colour on Gloss = $80 WWW.BLACKSTAR.COM.AU iFlogID: 16754 Get your Band or Business Online Cost effectively and PROFESSIONALLY from $299 including Hosting and email addresses! Contact info@bizwebsites.com.au or see www.bizwebsites.com.au iFlogID: 15450
Experienced drummer with a commitment to practice and regular rehearsals required for Melbourne-based alternative rock band. Influences QOTSA, Foo Fighters, Nirvana… www.myspace.com/mollydredd 0411 372 469 iFlogID: 16936 Heavy, light Garage/punk/rock Stix and/or Axe/ vox needed for 3/peace Original band in Sydney. Big Beats, raw Riffs & Poppyseed melodies of d minor Fuzz. Ages 0-100. Influenze: NIRVANA. Apply within 0403859234. iFlogID: 18375
ROCK SINGER WANTED
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TUITION DRUMMER AND DRUM LESSONS Avaliable in Gladesville Teach all Levels, ages and experience.16 years experience. I studied at The Billy Hydes Drumcraft Academy and Obtained a Diploma in Drummig. $60/HR Mob: 0402663469 Michael iFlogID: 18762
MUSIC PRODUCTION COURSE 6 WKS.
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SCHOOL OF ROCK - ZEN STUDIOS
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