31.08.16 Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Issue
125
Brisbane / Free / Incorporating
LEADING THE BRISBANE CHARGE AT BIGSOUND LIVE BRISBANE FESTIVAL: MEOW MEOW
TOUR: LIZ STRINGER
MAROOCHY FESTIVAL: PEKING DUK
2 • THE MUSIC • 31ST AUGUST 2016
Principal Partner
Brisbane Festival is an initiative of the Queensland Government and Brisbane City Council
THE MUSIC 31ST AUGUST 2016 • 3
DS THE INDUSTRY THE THE DJS THE GIGS THE XES THE ARTISTS THE F S THEMUSIC.COM.AU INDUSTRY THE LOCAL E GIGS THE PRODUCER THE FESTIVALS THE G FANS THE BANDS THE S THE INDUSTRY THE L HE DJS THE GIGS THE ES THE ARTISTS THE FE NDUSTRY THE LOCALS GIGS THE PRODUCER THE FESTIVALS THE G ANS THE BANDS THE I OCALS THE BLOGS TH PRODUCERS THE CLUB STIVALS THE GROUPIE HE TOURS THE FANS T THE BLOGS THE ENCO THE CLUBS THE REMI OUPIES THE ALBUMS NDUSTRY THE LOCALS CALS THE BLOGS THE RODUCERS THE CLUBS TIVALS THE GROUPIES THE BLOGS THE ENCOR THE CLUBS THE REMIX OUPIES THE ALBUMS T DUSTRY THE LOCALS T STRY THE LOCALS THE S THE PRODUCERS THE FESTIVALS THE GROUP THE BANDS THE INDUS INDUSTRY THE LOCALS 4 • THE MUSIC • 31ST AUGUST 2016
LA BOITE, OPERA QUEENSLAND & BRISBANE FESTIVAL PRESENT
SNOW WHITE
3 – 24 SEP 2016
CREATED & DEVISED BY LINDY HUME, SUZIE MILLER & ZULYA KAMALOVA
JONSON STREET BYRONBAY FRIDAY 2 SEPTEMBER
BLEACH GIRLS, VIOLENT MONKS, LOTUS SHIP SATURDAY 3 SEPTEMBER
KING OF THE NORTH, THE BADLANDS, HAMMERS FRIDAY 9 SEPTEMBER
AUSTRALIA SATURDAY 10 SEPTEMBER
FLOWER TRUCK, SHINNING BIRD FRIDAY 16 SEPTEMBER
L FRESH THE LION SATURDAY 17 SEPTEMBER
SKEGSS THURSDAY 22 SEPTEMBER
TASH SULTANA FRIDAY 23 SEPTEMBER
THE RUIINS SATURDAY 24 SEPTEMBER
BOOK NOW LABOITE.COM.AU LA BOITE T H E AT R E C O M PA N Y
GUANTANAMO BAYWATCH THURSDAY 29 SEPTEMBER
THE BEAUTIFUL GIRLS FRIDAY 30 SEPTEMBER
TIJUANA CARTEL SATURDAY 1 OCTOBER
Principal Partner
THE BLACK SEEDS Brisbane Festival is an initiative of the Queensland Government and Brisbane City Council
La Boite Theatre Company is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland
La Boite Theatre Company is assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its funding and advisory body
TICKETS AVAILABLE ONLINE
WWW.THENORTHERN.COM.AU
TICKETS AVAILABLE AT BEERINCIDER.COM THE MUSIC 31ST AUGUST 2016 • 5
Lifestyle Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
D&D
With second LP Divas & Demons due out next month, Melbourne’s Remi will hit the road for a national tour to celebrate. The tour kicks off in November and finishes mid-December.
Remi
Sacre Blues
38
Bluesfest has announced massive headline sets from Zac Brown Band, Patti Smith (with her band, performing the seminal Horses album), an exclusive performance from blues icon Buddy Guy and a whole lot more.
The number of votes required to block the samesex plebiscite legislation in the Senate, a scenario looking more likely now the Greens have stated they’ll vote against it.
Abbe May
Clock In Abbe May has unveiled not only a new single in the form of soulful, gospel-infused new cut Doomsday Clock but also an accompanying run of national tour dates. The acclaimed Aussie will hit the road in November and December. 6 • THE MUSIC • 31ST AUGUST 2016
e / Cultu Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
The Other Olsen
As well as appearances at Meredith Music Festival and Fairgrounds this year, US indie-folk artist Angel Olsen has announced a handful of headline dates around the country during her trip to Australia in November/December.
Angel Olsen
Patti Smith
Emotional
SAT 3 SEPT
Leah Flanagan
90ÊS MANIA
FRI 9 SEPT TYRON HAPI
Journey
WED 14 SEPT
METHODMAN REDMAN
Singer-songwriter Leah Flanagan is gearing up to release her latest album Saudades on Wednesday, and she’s announced a huge album tour to go with it. Flanagan will perform 11 dates in October/ November.
SAT 17 SEPT JIMEOIN
FRI 30 SEPT
RICHIE SAMBORA & ORIANTHI
SUN 2 OCT KIAN ÂNÊ JC
THUR 6 OCT
MAYDAY PARADE
FRI 14 OCT L7
FRI 28 OCT
BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE
SAT 29 OCT
THE DANDY WARHOLS
SUN 30 OCT STEVEN WILSON
FRI 4 NOV
All Our Exes Live In Texas
VENGABOYS
TUE 8 NOV SCHOOLBOY Q
FRI 11 NOV TECH N9NE
SAT 12 NOV
Chef’s Table
PARK SOUNDS
17 & 18 NOV ARJ BARKER
Hungry Eyes Chef’s Table, the Emmy Awardnominated Netflix doco that reveals the secrets of the world’s greatest gastronomes, returns for third helpings when the latest season drops on Sep 2. Sit back and fill up on TV that looks good enough to eat.
SAT 26 NOV
All Our Exes Leaving Texas
JOHN WILLIAMSON
Back from their North American sojourn, Sydney folk quartet All Our Exes Live In Texas have slated in a mammoth Australian tour to give hometown fans a chance to hear some new material such as The Devil’s Part single.
(07) 3325 6777 TICKETS & INFO GO TO: EATONSHILLHOTEL.COM.AU EATONSHILLHOTELPAGE 646 SOUTHPINE RD EATONS HILL
THE MUSIC 31ST AUGUST 2016 • 7
Music / Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Sprain Train
Recoded
Julien Baker
Having recently released her debut record Sprained Ankle, Memphis folk musician Julien Baker has announced her first Australian tour this November and December. Homegrown labelmate Emma Russack is along for the ride.
Brothers Jesse (Ashley Zukerman) and Ned Banks (Dan Spielman) are back trying to dodge the storm they kicked up at the end of The Code’s first season. New exploits aboujnd when season two hits ABC, 1 Sep.
The Code
Peaches
Shipping Peaches Off the back of her headlining slot at Meredith Music Festival this year, avantgarde electro musician Peaches has slated in a headline tour so the rest of the east coast can catch her on stage in December. Pixies
This is a one horse town. His name is Murderin’ Pete. He murdered all the other horses please help I think we’re next. @pleatedjeans
8 • THE MUSIC • 31ST AUGUST 2016
Pixie Cut Iconic Boston alt-rockers Pixies, who release their sixth record Head Carrier next month, have announced their imminent return to our shores in March 2017, six years after their last Australian visit on the Doolittle tour.
Arts / Li Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Drag It ‘Round
With their second album, Drag It Down On You, set to drop next month, Melbourne quartet Ceres are celebrating the release by hitting the road for a national tour this November and December.
Ceres
Airling
Air Time Queensland’s Airling has announced that she’ll be setting off - accompanied by a threepiece band - for a quick run of shows around the country this October in support of her new single, Stallin’.
Shredders Renowned Bon Jovi lead guitarist Richie Sambora and inimitable Adelaideborn shredder Orianthi have joined forces to form RSO: Richie Sambora + Orianthi, to head out on a classic rock tour next month.
Richie Sambora & Orianthi
THE MUSIC 31ST AUGUST 2016 • 9
Music / Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Plan To Party
Maroochy Music & Visual Arts Festival
It’s time to start planning your Maroochy Music & Visual Arts Festival with the newly released event timetable and map. There are three stages packed with the likes of Peking Duk, Vera Blue and Client Liaison, so get prepped.
Year Of the Horse
Caligula’s Horse
Caligula’s Horse have announced the Hands Shape Stones tour, seven dates in November to follow up their hugely successful Turntail tour and round out 2016. The five-piece are also using the tour to unleash some new material.
Lisa Mitchell
$16.25 The weekly cost to you between now and Bluesfest based on the price of a five-day ticket to the festival.
10 • THE MUSIC • 31ST AUGUST 2016
Streetwise After the awesome response to Lisa Mitchell’s latest single The Boys (and first taste from her upcoming album Warriors), she’s announced five dates for the Something About These Streets tour in October.
Arts / Li Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
RELEASE WATCH
For a regular hit of news sign up to our daily newsletter at theMusic.com.au
Katie Noonan
Here’s a wrap of who’s just announced a new release: Heart Beach
No One Insults A Turtle Mark Seymour & The Undertow, Katie Noonan, Abby Dobson, The Snowdroppers and heaps more have been announced for Bellingen Turtle Festival, which raises awareness for dwindling Bellingen River snapping turtles, 30 Sep - 2 Oct.
The Growlers will release their new album City Club on Cult Records 30 Sep, produced by label founder and The Strokes member Julian Casablancas. Eight-time Grammy winner Usher’s new album Hard II Love comes out 16 Sep on RCA/Sony. Melodic metal stalwarts In Flames have announced album #12, Battles, is out 11 Nov via Nuclear Blast. Heart Beach’s second album Kiss Your Face will land 11 Nov, with the Tasmanian band releasing through Spunk. Empire Of The Sun return 28 Oct with third studio album Two Vines (EMI)
London Grammar
Blow Me Down Falls have announced their December/January line-up. Joining headliner and first act Childish Gambino are more than 30 acts (with more to come) including London Grammar, The Avalanches, Tkay Maidza and Violent Soho.
Night People is the upcoming new album for You Me At Six, which will see the light of day next year on Liberator/Infectious (13 Jan to be exact). The skuzzy garage of Unity Floors will next be heard in longplayer form on 23 Sep courtesy of Life Admin (Popfrenzy).
THE MUSIC 31ST AUGUST 2016 • 11
Music
Charles Sale of Brisbane’s Babaganouj chats with Brynn Davies about the hurdles and transformations facing Australia’s music industry ahead of BIGSOUND. Cover and feature pics by Cole Bennetts.
C
harles Sale doesn’t get to stretch his brain a lot. “I work in like a — I hesitate to call it a call centre but it’s a customer support centre, shall we say... you gotta flex that brain.” The big, brain flexor of a question involves the hypothetical future of the music industry, a topic that will undoubtedly be floating around the conference tents and venues at BIGSOUND this year. “The next big thing... It depends on the scene, I suppose. In the indie scene there’s kinda facets of all things at all times,” he muses. “I can’t pick it, I feel like there’s a lot of emphasis on ‘story’. I mean, there’s definitely going to be more visual albums; Frank Ocean just released his probablyreally-pretentious visual album, at least this is what I’ve heard,” Sale laughs. “I don’t have a problem with it, I just know it’s going to be incredibly pretentious... See, this is the Queenslander in me: I can’t ever accept someone’s wankiness. “I feel like that’s going to become more of a thing. I mean, everything is cheaper to produce these days. Shooting a video: it’s simple to edit, faster to do, less of a budget — maybe that’ll be a thing. Maybe your cool, local indie band will be releasing visual albums.” We come up with a fantastic, futuristic(ish) idea to create a Dogme 95-style challenge for all the indie bands out there. “Every indie band owns a camcorder VHS anyway, so you could just do it like the original [Vow Of Chastity],” he realises. (If you’re not a film buff, we apologise for the tangent.) Music industry personnel, artists and punters alike with be traversing the country at the start of September for the three day BIGSOUND music conference and festival in Fortitude Valley, an event centric to the discussion around the challenges and changes facing the Australian scene. Sale will be among those attending the conference, as well as performing with his local Brisbane band Babaganouj. But he has a slight problem. “You get one conference pass per band. I think I get the — I took work off, so I think I’m gonna get the lanyard. So I’m gonna see some things, see some talks,” he chuckles, not at all guilty. “There’s lots of people I want to talk to. It’s kinda weird when you’re geographically isolated from Sydney, Melbourne — you know, where it all happens. So it’s kinda nice to see these people in real life.” Geographical isolation or not, the Brisbane scene has boomed over the last few years. Sale attributes this trend to “the internet; it’s easier to spread your gospel”. Also the fact that “[Brisbane] bands have always had this mentality of having to tour. You kinda have to get out of where you are and I think Brisbane bands are definitely willing to do that... Most bands I know from our town go for big drives, go down South; the hard working thing. It’s kinda a Queensland trait to punish yourself a little bit... I’m just thinking about all the times I’ve gone on tours and it’s been incredibly, like, let’s say ‘under attended’ interstate,” he says diplomatically. “I feel like we’re in a — I wouldn’t say difficult point in our career — but you get a lot of support when you’re starting out because you’re exciting and fresh. But keeping that going, keeping the momentum, is one of the hardest things to do,” he explains; a common hurdle facing artists attempting to break into the elusive music industry. “Finding the money to release things, put out press and get in a magazine or get on a blog or record a song... You gotta increase the amount of 12 • THE MUSIC • 31ST AUGUST 2016
people coming to your shows, especially if you don’t have a massive support behind you. So we’re feeling a little bit of strain at the moment.” Although financial backing and pulling crowds might be something independent bands are still getting their heads around, it’s hard not to notice the sense of nationalism embraced by a bunch of up-and-comers: the resurgence of Aussie pub rock. “I know what you mean, I’ve totally been following that throughout my teenagehood and adulthood,” Sale agrees. “[In the past] there was kinda this cultural cringe in Australia to avoid any ‘Australianness’. Especially when I started playing, it was all about pretty, metropolitan, urban vibes. But I suppose everyone’s started to realise, ‘Hey, Paul Kelly is an asset to the Australian culture, let’s take some influence from him,’ or The Go-Betweens, for instance; I wouldn’t say they’re Australiana but there’s definitely some thematic references to Australia, and people aren’t turned off by that anymore. I think it’s cool; we kinda should accept who we are, where we’re from. There’s a lot of great music here.”
When & Where: 7-9 Sep, BIGSOUND, Fortitude Valley
Here are some interstate and international visitors to look out for:
CIRCLES GOOD BOY These three buddies grew up in Bundaberg, bashing away on instruments and moving to Brisbane after things got serious. They’re on triple j high rotation after one year as a band.
Hailing from Melbourne, Circles bring a distinct powerhouse prog-rock fusion with their hardhitting rhythms, soaring lead vocals and memorable riffage.
FLOWERTRUCK Melancholy and meditative tunes from this Sydney four piece, drawing influences from the likes of Talking Heads, The Smiths and The Go-Betweens.
MIDDLE KIDS They new kids on the block from Sydney, Middle Kids have been shooting good vibes all over the airwaves with their new single Edge Of Town enjoying a steady triple j high rotation.
LASTLINGS Having made it to the triple j Unearthed High top five, everyone has Gold Coast’s Lastlings ringing in their ears. The siblings will bring their goosebump inducing airy electronica.
ALEX LAHEY Managed by The Music’s own Leigh Treweek, Alex Lahey has smashed onto the scene in the last few months, opening Splendour In The Grass and releasing a stellar debut EP B-Grade University.
YOUNG TAPZ Babaganouj aren’t the only Queensland act with buzz about them in the lead up to BIGSOUND. Check out some of these others:
The 19-year-old from Zimbabwe-via-New Zealand, Young Tapz has featured on Hermitude’s The Buzz and self released his first solo single Killa with over one million Spotify plays.
MORETON Brisbane/Byron three-piece Moreton weave raw and earnest lyrics with reverb drenched guitars. Debut track The Water dropped via Soundcloud in July.
Also keep your eye on: Rebel Yell, Australia, Alan Smithy, Oh Pep, Unity Floors, Sampa, Gabriella Cohen, Ceres, AB Original
MALLRAT High school sweetheart Mallrat, is making waves on the scene with her wry, bubbly brand of hip hop. She’s played Come Together Festival in Sydney, supported Allday and Tkay Maidza, and featured on E^st’s new track Get Money. Expect big things from this little one.
THIGH MASTER Thigh Master bring together the sundrenched vibes of Brisbane with grungy garage-pop. They’ve played locally with Ty Segall and even Courtney Barnett. THE MUSIC 31ST AUGUST 2016 • 13
Music
Wingin’ It Peking Duk’s Reuben Styles talks plans (none), collabs (heaps), and moving away from “straight-up dance music” with Cyclone.
P
eking Duk are prepping the most anticipated Australian dance music album since The Avalanches’ Wildflower - and, before that, Flume’s Skin. But, come September, the Canberran DJ/producers will hit the Sunshine Coast’s 2016 Maroochy Music and Visual Arts Festival (MMVAF), joining other homegrown draws like Matt Corby, Allday and George Maple. Reuben Styles and Adam Hyde have been quiet since they unleashed the brilliant prog disco stomper Say My Name (with the mysterious Benjamin Joseph) in mid-2015. Still, earlier this year they toured the country with The Meeting Tree (TMT), those self-proclaimed “Godfathers
We wanted to break the mould of what we sound like.
of ADM”. A jetlagged Styles has just returned from the US - which explains why, unusually for a professional partier, he’s doing a 9am interview. “I’m on LA time,” Styles drawls. “We’ve been waking up in LA at about 2pm every day which is around now.” Meeting as teen skaters, Styles and Hyde initially generated buzz online with a bootleg remix of Passion Pit’s Take A Walk. After a spate of club singles, Peking Duk crossed over in 2014 with the future garage High (featuring Nicole Millar) - it went multi-platinum and won the ARIA for Best Dance Release. They followed with another anthem in Take Me Over (sung by SAFIA’s Ben Woolner). Today the Duks, now Sydney-based, are in demand on the international circuit. Last year they premiered at Coachella. Lately Peking Duk have focussed on recording their debut album for Sony Music. They’ve enjoyed an epic writing trip - spending three weeks each in Europe and 14 • THE MUSIC • 31ST AUGUST ST T 2016
North America. It’s a surprisingly pop manoeuvre given that the pair have previously been so autonomous, working in their own studios. “We’d never, ever gone on a writing trip,” Styles enthuses. In March Peking Duk told triple j’s Zan Rowe that they’ve collaborated with Aussies such as Daniel Johns, Julia Stone and Jarryd James - plus Swedish femcee/ singer Elliphant. “She’s a legend - probably one of the biggest legends in the music world,” Styles says. “When we were in Stockholm, we had a couple of sessions with her. We’ve now done a few songs with her, which is cool. She’s just awesome to work with.” “Elli” impressed Peking Duk with the story of how Mick Jagger (“some old geezer”) watched her perform from stage-side in London. Styles is typically vague about when an album (or new singles) might appear. “There’s no timelines. It’d be cool to put it out tomorrow... But we wanna make more songs so we have more to choose from. There’s a lot in the repertoire, a lot that we can choose from, but we wanna be able to choose from even more. It’s fun. We love writing music. It’s finishing songs which we don’t like. Being the writers and the producers - it’s a heavy workload, doing an album.” Say My Name represented a huge, if risky, sonic deviation for the Duks. “It was just another song that we’d been working on,” Styles maintains. “We never plan anything with our music. Obviously, when it comes to which song we put out next, it’s good to keep everything sort of similar. But I think we wanted to break the mould of what we sound like a little. We wanted to put out a song which shows we can do a little bit more than just straight-up dance music. It’s fun working on different songs. We’ve been working on some soul, some funk... Over the last year we’ve just been on an adventure doing anything but dance music. But in the last six weeks we’ve upped our repertoire with a bunch of bangers which we know Peking Duk fans will wanna hear. They were very confused by Say My Name - but in a good way, I think.” Say... attracted unlikely supporters. Ariana Grande tweeted its viral video, starring Matt McGorry of Orange Is The New Black fame. And the song has been licensed for a Bose headphones campaign. p p g Peking g Duk may have started a dance trend with psychedelic “feels”, The Avalanches going hippie on Wildflower. (“I have heard it - and I love it!,” Styles raves.) In the interim, Peking Duk have been involved in The in Meeting Tree enterprise, mastering tracks. Hyde lent his vocals to 2015’s alt-trap banger R U A Cop. Yet even Styles gonna be the one was astonished by their split. “I’m not gonn that says I doubt they broke up butt - I mean, mean if you take anything they say seriously, you’re a bit of a goose. But, in saying that, that’s the thing. You never know. know It could be dead serious.” Peking Duk set the standard for festival festiva antics pre-TMT. As for the party mavericks’ MMVAF plans? “I guess we’ve just gotta make it the opposite of whatever Matt Corby will do,” Styles teases. “He’ll do something beautiful, so we should do something disgusting (laughs). (laugh Something ratchet. Something over the top. Something to really accentuate his beauty and our ratchetness.” ratchetness
When & Where: 10 Sep, Maroochy Music & Visual Arts Festival, Old Horton Park Golf Course
Secret Sounds Presents
The 24th Annual Music & Arts Festival
lorne vic 28 DEC 29 DEC 30 DEC 31 DEC
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31 DEC 01 JAN 02 JAN
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THE MUSIC 31ST AUGUST 2016 • 15
Music
Frontlash Pictures Of The Streets Ex Go-Betweens bassist John Willsteed is putting together a comprehensive collection of local gig posters from 197595 – donate yours at posterproject@ icloud.com or via the State Library.
Chasing A Feeling
Party Town, AUS Feuds crushed it at their EP launch, The Amity Affliction shook the Riverstage, Boss Fight rocked The Brightside and more in the Live section and at theMusic. com.au.
Swift Justice Props to the Brisbane music community for helping Gold Coast muso Connor Grant retrieve $2000 in stolen gear within an hour of him asking for help. Let that be a lesson to anyone else even thinking about it.
The Pink Monkey Birds’ founding frontman Kid Congo Powers tells Steve Bell about his eternal quest for “other-ness”.
L Velociraptor @ Foundry First Birthday. Pic: Bobby Rein
Backlash Bring Back Spicks & Specks So, we’re all in agreement that The Big Music Quiz was a crime against television, yes? Good. Now, let’s never speak of it again.
Stop Thinking With Your Dicks Men, all together now: “Other people’s bodies are not ours to meddle with, and everyone is entitled to a safe and enjoyable night out”. Now repeat until you get it.
Goddammit, Gene Wilder Too? The long downward slide that has been 2016-to-date continues. RIP.
16 • THE MUSIC • 31ST AUGUST 2016
A-bred musician Kid Congo Powers has the most impeccable of rock’n’roll pedigrees — having played guitar over the years for The Cramps, The Gun Club and Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds — but for the last decade he’s been applying his vision to his own project, The Pink Monkey Birds. This band’s inaugural tour of Australia last year earned rave reviews, and now they’re returning on the back of fourth album La Arana Es La Vida, a collection of down and dirty rock’n’roll that drags the music of Powers’ past into brave new places. “The good thing this time was that we weren’t afraid to try old things, because a lot of the time you don’t want to repeat yourself,” Powers laughs. “That’s how I am at least — I know I often cut things off before their time because I’m so restless to go onto the next thing. “It was good to go back and say, ‘let’s just make a rock album and try different types of rock that we love’, like put in an Elvis TCB sorta thing, and put in anything from Krautrock to noisy stuff to Chicano rock. I think visiting [Chicano rock] in a bigger way was the most exciting aspect.” This continues a love Powers developed as a youngster in the ‘60s when he became enamoured with East LA Chicano rockers Thee Midniters. “I had older sisters who were
teenagers when I was eight or nine years old, and they’d listen to it,” he tells. “I’d get excited at how excited they were to go out to dances to see them: I didn’t even know what Thee Midniters was and I didn’t know what went on at these dances, but I wanted whatever was making them so excited about going! “It’s more about chasing a feeling — to me it was magical, because you can’t imagine what thrills people that much when you’re eight, but you already know that you want whatever’s the most thrilling thing. I’m still like an eight-year-old — I still want that exciting thing in music. It became a bit of a holy grail to seek that out. “It’s always the idea, and that’s how I learned to do it, from everyone in all of the bands I’ve been in — the people I’ve collaborated with have always done what they’re doing to the extreme, to their ultimate vision. They’re all people who are very sure of what their vision is — I’m not saying they plan everything out, but the general muse is there and it’s seeking a sort of purity or rawness or realness or way-out-ness. An other-ness. “I think with The Pink Monkey Birds we’re a dance band, we’re a rock’n’roll band, we’re about life being funny, sexy, dangerous, smart and stupid all at the same time. They’re all of my favourite things, so all of my favourite music is like that and that’s what rock’n’roll should be like. And there’s definitely a sense of humour, because it’s fun to look at the world in a skewed way — you have to laugh at it, because if you didn’t laugh at it you’d be crying.”
When & Where: 2 Sep, The Triffid
r fooolddefros f f o % h 0 2 ticket til e utpheun l b a m e Rede 7pmigonnight g
SEPTEMBER FRI 2
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& SPECIAL GUESTS SUN 4
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ACOUSTIC BBQ - FREE IN THE BEERGARDEN W/TRACY MCNEIL & THE GOOD LIFE, WILLIAM CRIGHTON & TIA GOSTELOW FRI 9
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TRIFFID STRIPPED - FREE IN THE BEERGARDEN W/CAPRE
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TRIFFID ACOUSTICS - FREE IN THE BEERGARDEN WITH KAHL WALLIS (THE MEDICS) THU 15
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THE MUSIC 31ST AUGUST 2016 • 17
18 • THE MUSIC • 31ST AUGUST 2016
Pic: Yang Wang Costumes: Jean Paul Gaultier
BRISBANE FESTIVAL FAIRY TALE FETISH
Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who’s the kinkiest of them all? If French choreographer Angelin Preljocaj is anything to go by, Snow White’s wicked stepmother might just earn that dubious honour, but then again, when you’re dressed by legendary fashion icon Jean Paul Gaultier, things are inevitably going to get a little bit sexy. Catch this subversive fantasy inspired by the Brothers Grimm at the Brisbane Festival, 3 – 24 Sep. Full details at brisbanefestival.com.au
THE MUSIC 31ST AUGUST 2016 • 19
WOMEN OF THE SEA Canberra-born cabaret queen Meow Meow gets set to make a splash with the Little Mermaid, speaking to Dave Drayton about the contradictions and emotional castration of modern love woven through her retelling of the classic fable. Somewhat fortuitously, I find a collection of Hans Christian Andersen fables in Elizabeth’s Books the day of my interview with Meow Meow (born Melissa Madden Gray) and, flicking through the contents wonder how her Little trilogy - which began with the smash hit Little Match Girl, premiering in 2011, and the second installment of which, Little Mermaid, will premiere in January at the Sydney Festival - may end. Little Tuck? Little Ida? Little Christina? A Little Green Ones with an overabundance of collaborations? But we’re getting too far ahead of ourselves, Meow Meow is still developing the show, and will make yet another trip to the US before the year is out. “I’m just back from Boston where I was doing a show called An Audience With Meow Meow - terribly thrilling because it’s got Broadway money in it and bits and pieces - then I did Brecht/Weill Die Sieben Todsunden with the orchestra here in Melbourne, and the minute I finish rehearsals I’m back to San Francisco, so you’re lucky to catch me!” In San Francisco, partnered with the city’s symphony, she will perform In Descent, thematically concerned with the concept of sinking, drowning, and deteriorating.
What: Meow Meow’s Little Mermaid When & Where: 15 - 24 Sep, Aurora Spiegeltent
“There’s a sort of water theme that’s running through everything. There’s an aquatic through line of sorts. But fairytales, they keep coming back to me, they slap me in the face like a cold fish, really.” Andersen’s tale - or at least the Disney rendering of it - is well known, but Meow Meow has been constructing her own reading of the fable, where the splitting of the mermaid’s tale and the cutting of her tongue reflect a female castration that permeates the myth of perfect love.
Meow Meow has been constructing her own reading of the fable, where the splitting of the mermaid’s tale and the cutting of her tongue reflect a female castration that permeates the myth of perfect love. “I like to use the Little Mermaid as a springboard, to continue the diving metaphor, into the whole history of sirens and sea maidens being either good or bad forces, whose beautiful song was either to protect ships from wild winds and rocks, or [lure] men to their death. “I think it’s a very real dilemma as a traveling showgirl - can you have love and can you have a career? Not that it’s that simple, but there’s resonances of course. Do you have to lose yourself entirely to make yourself presentable for modern love, or is that all a myth? And if you do that and you lose your agency do you lose the thing that actually made you interesting? What is abandoned and what is set free? What is liberating and what is constricting? What’s bondage by choice? And of course, modern love, and how we are saturated by it, but what’s real, and does it matter?” Joining Meow Meow on the diving board are people like Kate Miller-Heidke, Amanda Palmer and Megan Washington, all of whom have contributed songs to the production. “They’re all women who know me well and are very different songwriters, but that makes it interesting as well because you’ve got your friends writing songs for you with their various takes on where we’re going with the mermaid, the siren, the dilemmas of being a female performer and all the power and the fret that’s within the voice. We’re all women of the sea; we’re all travellers.”
20 • THE MUSIC • 31ST AUGUST 2016
CARESS ME TRULY When & Where: 20 - 24 Sep, Playhouse Theatre, QPAC
Twelve acrobats, one dead surrealist and a doomed medieval love affair combine to create La Verita. Composer/choreographer Maria Bonzanigo tells Paul Ransom that it’s all part of Compagnia Finzi Pasca’s dream of a new kind of theatre.
When everything has been done before, you may as well invent a new form. To some extent this is what Switzerland’s Compagnia Finzi Pasca have tried to do, fusing drama, dance and circus with art, adultery and a style they like to call ‘theatre of the caress’. It’s an acrobatic feat of creative re-imagining, and its flower, La Verita, will doubtless be one of the highlights of January’s Sydney Festival programme. Back in 2011, the internationally revered writer/director Daniele Finzi Pasca and his longtime collaborators, including composer/choreographer Maria Bonzanigo, gelled two companies together to form Compagnia Finzi Pasca and, inspired by the legendary surrealist Salvador Dali, created La Verita. Speaking from Napoli where she is working on a new staging of Bizet’s Carmen, Bonzanigo begins by explaining the company’s trademark ‘theatre of the caress’. “It’s a way to try to become a dreamer for the public,” she says, “to take them by the hand and go together into a story in a way that is like conducting them into a forest.”
Pic: Viviana Cang
The result, much like a caress, is light. Subtle. Beautiful. However, as Bonzanigo insists, “It’s not that it’s light all the time; it can be strong and acrobatic but also it has the capacity to adapt to the sensibility of each person in the audience.”
ingests a love potion with said girl, after which they embark on a classically doomed affair. Ever since its popularisation in the 20th century, the tale has been told over and over and is now considered one of the foundation stones of the Romantic tradition.
If it’s all starting to sound like heady European conceptual art, recall too that La Verita was inspired by a rediscovered Dali. “He painted this big drop in 1944 in New York for a ballet, Mad Tristan. We don’t know a lot about this ballet, but we know that Coco Chanel had drawn designs for the costumes and that Dali was planning to use the music of Cole Porter and Wagner, but we’ve tried not to tell the biography of Dali or to recreate the ballet.”
According to La Verita’s composer/choreographer Maria Bonzanigo, “We are trying to understand what was this pain that Dali had, but we tell this in a way that is not so full of dolour. We are more like an observer in this. But also, we are interested in why he wanted to tell the story of Tristan and Isolde.”
The backdrop was unearthed at the Metropolitan Opera in 2010. The drop was inspired by the medieval Celtic legend of Tristan and Isolde, in which a knight charged with bringing back a prized Irish beauty for his king to wed
We are trying to understand what was this pain that Dali had, but we tell this in a way that is not so full of dolour. We are more like an observer in this.
Yet, as the title suggests, La Verita is also concerned with truth. “We speak about the truth of the theatre, not the absolute truth,” Bonzanigo points out. “When we are on stage we want to make something that appears like truth but we know it’s not truth most of the time. We play with that in a humorous way; that something is true on stage but actually it’s not true.” La Verita is a genuinely postmodern stage amalgam, a crash of spectacle, art and tragic love that laughs gently at itself and acknowledges its own invention. Now that’s a caress.
THE MUSIC 31ST AUGUST 2016 • 21
DEPRESSION & LANYARDS
Corey White chats to Dylan Stewart about ice addiction, great art, and everything in between. What: Corey White: The Cane Toad Effect When & Where: 10 Sep, Aurora Spiegeltent “I worship at the feet of Brett Whiteley.” Corey White may be known as many things, ‘art lover’ is a mask most would not recognise him in. Wandering through the National Gallery of Art in Canberra, though, he’s inspired by the works that surround him. “Whiteley, John Brack; they’ve got paintings here by my favourite painters so it’s a great escape on a day off.” Contrast this scene to last night, performing to “a room of unimpressed bureaucrats. There were people in the crowd still wearing their lanyards from work.” Aside from the plain idiocy of wearing lanyard out in public - “at least tuck it beneath your shirt” - the show [unsurprisingly] wasn’t White’s best. “People say that comedy’s subjective, and it is, but people not liking comedy is very objective. You can see in their faces if they’re not happy. I think every comic’s had that moment of staring out at that sea of blank, unhappy heads, and knowing there’s nothing you can really do.” Given White’s show, The Cane Toad Effect, deals with traditionally un-funny topics like depression, foster care and ice addiction - experiences he has suffered through personally - he knows that sea of blank, unhappy heads well. Despite this, his show has won awards around the country. This is something of a lap of honour, with White squirrelling away on a new, more politically-motivated
MORE MUST-SEE SHOWS AT BRISBANE FESTIVAL 22 • THE MUSIC • 31ST AUGUST 2016
set inspired by four months squatting with a bunch of anarchists in Sydney. He’s also writing a memoir. “I’m halfway through and I’m really enjoying it, exploring themes and moments that I don’t get to cover in my standup show. It’s definitely going to be funny; there are already too many sad memoirs. “It’s like that Kurt Vonnegut idea that if someone’s gonna be with your work you have to offer them something, you have to give the reader a reason to read it. And if you read [my book] you’re sure to get a laugh out of it, so it won’t be a complete waste of your time.” The Cane Toad Effect, having been performed since 2014, is finely tuned. It’s not markedly changed from when White was touring it at festivals in 2015, but its success somewhat validates his far from instant catapult into the spotlight. The show’s success has transformed White’s life, with conference invitations, the aforementioned book deal and being the subject of a high profile Australian Story episode. “At the moment I’m able to make a living off comedy. After seven years of living off mie goreng noodles and goon, it’s a relief. When I was working on the show I was living in some ramshackle share house in Brunswick West and I was so poor that I would steal individual cashews from my housemates. Everything’s ephemeral though, so I’ll probably be homeless in six months, who knows? “Maybe I’ve only got one show in me, maybe this is it.”
A MIDSUMMER
EN AVANT, MARCHE!
NIGHT’S DREAM
Belgian choreographer Alain Platel doesn’t do things by halves. This mammoth creation for his acclaimed dance troupe, Les Ballets C de la B, features more than 40 performers in a fusion of dance, theatre, opera and live music, including a brass band.
The Bard’s comedy gets an irreverent makeover in this ROFL-worthy reboot. Part rock gig, part spoof, part physical theatre, this British production is a must for aficionados and newcomers alike.
This year, Brisbane Festival’s director David Berthold is putting the audience in the spotlight. He introduces Maxim Boon to ‘Youtopia’. ‘Yo
What: Brisbane FestivalWhen & Where: 3 – 24 September
Pic: Lauren Bath
PEOPLE POWER “Peow! Peow!” David Berthold, the director of the Brisbane Festival, is in fits of giggles as he describes one of the biggest perks of his job choreographing the annual pyrotechnic finale of Bris Fest, the Supersun Riverfire. “It’s so much fun, figuring out where a rocket is going to go ‘peow’ in time to the music. I love it,” he tells me, in between sniggers. Berthold is one of the most insightful, intelligent and influential curators in the country, but right now he’s as giddy as a kid in a candy store. This transformation is not dissimilar to the change that comes over audiences when an arts festival comes to town. People relax, become more receptive to the unfamiliar or the unexpected and generally open up, welcoming the bold, bizarre and beautiful cultures represented by shows imported from all over the world. The secret of this festival effect is all in the name, Berthold tells me. “It happens during the ‘festival’ of Christmas, or the ‘festival’ of a dinner party or a holiday. It’s during those festive occasions that we let our guard down, and allow ourselves to absorb new ideas and experiences.” It’s telling that Berthold is so astute about the dynamics of human behaviour. With his inaugural program for the Brisbane Festival last year, he put some big topics in the spotlight. Examining, challenging and defying aspects of racial discrimination, sexuality and political oppression, 2015’s programme tackled issues of global significance. This year, Berthold has swapped the macro for the micro, tightening his focus to bring the intimate and personal to the fore.Under the banner of “Youtopia”, 2016’s program is giving power to the people, celebrating the individual in an age where technology has made everyone a voyeur,
activist, and pioneer; agile participants, crafting the shape of our modern society. “Digital progress has created a world in which authority is more contested and the people more empowered than ever before,” Berthold explains. “You need only look at the convulsions in the media and music, or the great wave of human migration powered by smartphones in the hands of almost every refugee, or the power of a tweet to swing a conversation, to see this in action.” Berthold has found several canny entry points to explore the personal perspective. Shows like visionary Belgian dance company Les Ballets C de la B’s En Avant, Marche! bulldoze the fourth wall, exploiting audience participation to bring Brisbane’s culture seekers toe-to-toe with the action. Radical reimaginings of universally treasured stories mess with our memories and expectations, such as French choreographer Angelin Preljocaj’s Snow White, which gives this sugar-coated fable a kinky makeover with fetish inspired costumes by fashion icon Jean Paul Gaultier.2016’s selection also seeks to fill the gaps in Brisbane’s year-round arts offering. “The city is already very well served by traditional formats: story ballets, proscenium arch theatre, musical theatre,” Berthold observes. “It’s pointless to duplicate that.” The highlight amongst the Festival’s more idiosyncratic shows comes from American dance prodigy, Jonah Bokear. Rules Of The Game, is the choreographer’s minimalist collaboration with multi-award-winning singer/songwriter Pharrell Williams. This Australian exclusive fuses movement and video with Williams’ first orchestra score for theatre or dance.
TROPPO
THE GAME
What happens when the circus goes to the beach? Wonder no more, as Brisbane-based Circa reveal what acrobatic shenanigans would ensue should a ragtag collection of carnies be shipwrecked on a desert island.
Irish theatre firebrands, Theatreclub, present an unapologetic study of the sex trade from the perspective of the women who make their living in the oldest profession in the world. This innovative play evolves into a game show, bringing the audience into the action.
THE MUSIC 31ST AUGUST 2016 • 23
Eat / Drink Eat/Drink
I
t ain’t easy being a culture vulture, especially when the back-to-back entertainment cavalcade of Festival season rolls around. Legging it between shows is thirsty work and all that applauding is a sure-fire way to get your stomach rumbling. If the thought of having to survive on chips and choc tops from the theatre bar is somewhat unappetising, worry not. The Brisbane Festival’s legendary hub is the perfect pit stop for any famished festival-goer, and what’s more, it’s a thoughtfully crafted experience that’s also a feast for the senses.
FILL UP IN A FOODIES PARADISE What: Brisbane Festival Arcadia When & Where: 3 – 24 Sep, Southbank
24 • THE MUSIC • 31ST AUGUST 2016
The “hub” is a tried and true tradition found at pretty much every major arts festival in Australia, but in Brisbane, this meeting place-cum-night spotcum-food court has been elevated to an art form in itself. This year named ‘Arcadia’ after the mythical paradise of Greek antiquity — a savvy nod to the 2016 Festival’s ‘You-topia’ theme — this is more than just a convenient place to grab a bite on the run. Designed by one of Brisbane’s top architecture firms, Arkhefield, Arcadia is underpinned by a whimsical Game Of Thrones meets The Lord Of The Rings brand of storytelling, aimed at inspiring an immersive sense of wonder. After crossing a moat, guarded by a dragon of course, you’ll trek through forests, dodge giant spiders and find yourself in the Snake Charmer’s Lounge, where you can take in one e of th the finest views of the Brisbane ne River on offer anywhere in the city while le enjoying a range of tasty morsels from Tapas by Zen.
You can then take a trip to the Treehouse, Little Creatures where the Aussie Ale brewers can pull you a pint while you check out their dedicated programme of live music. They’ll also be hosting a series of workshops on everything from wood carving to playing the ukulele and, as you might expect, the delicate art of making craft beer. Six pop-ups at Arcadia will dish out a range of world cuisines, including Vietnamese-fusion by celebrity chef Luke Nguyen’s Treasury Casino outfit, Fat Noodle, instant ice cream by the mad scientists of Nitrogenie and Mexican with a twist by the new kid on Brisbane’s culinary block, Mucho Mexicano. Anyone in need of a pick-me-up can sip on a micro-lot speciality brew from the artisan baristas at Pourboy Espresso, and for those in search of a heartier bite, the filling Italian menu at Mister Paganini has got your back. Also found at Acadia are the Festival’s dual homes of comedy and cabaret, the Magic Mirrors and Aurora spiegeltents. World class acts, both home-grown and imported, will grace their stages throughout the Fest, including subversive chanteuse Meow Meow, champagne circus Blanc de Blanc and the whipsmart sartorial art of raconteur Rhys Nicholson.
AMIBITION = HATERS Montaigne has a Snapchat bully. She talks to Brynn Davies about walking the fine line between co confidence and humility, and not letting the haters get you d down. Feature pic by Cole Bennetts.
no, it’s not as Dance Moms as it sounds; Cerro was just as enthusiastic. “My parents fostered in me a healthy sense of ambitiousness and of adventurousness I suppose, so my mum sometimes got a little too pushy but I think that was good for me in retrospect. My dad’s always been quite level-headed about it.” Ambition is a wonderful thing. Heck, everyone’s always complaining that Gen ‘Y-Bother’ need to get off our asses and do something with our lives other than watch Netflix and shop for sexual partners on Tinder. But in a high school setting, especially a private girls school, tall poppy syndrome runs rife. Interestingly, it wasn’t Cerro’s peers who didn’t support her musical success it was her teachers. “I feel like
Like, what kind of sad person are you?... If you don’t like someone’s music... you DO NOT comment negative things on YouTube and Facebook saying that you don’t like their music.
What: Glorious Heights (Wonderlick/Sony) When & Where: 13 Sep, Spiegletent, Brisbane Festival; 16 Sep, Carnival Of Flowers, Toowoomba; 3 Oct, Caloundra Music Festival; 9 Dec, Festival Of The Sun, Port Macquarie Jessica Cerro rushes into the teeming Surry Hills cafe and plonks herself down on a chair, waving away coffee and introductory platitudes and getting straight down to business with an affable grin. At 20, Cerro employs a jaw-dropping vocabulary that would put most university lecturers to shame. But she and her parents based her Ivy League scholarship application around sport, not smarts. “I’m like, ‘I’m not going to get an academic scholarship because I’m not that smart’. I’m smart, but not that smart. There are definitely smarter 20-year-olds I’m sure. I know them! Like, those scholarships are designated for geniuses. I merely have, like, above average intelligence accompanied with the ability to play football quite well. I can do that, let’s do that,” she jokes. So football it was, until her mother came up with the idea to add ‘musical prowess’ to her expansive repertoire: “My mum was like, ‘Why don’t you record a song that you cover properly so we can put it over your highlights reel to show that you have multiple talents?’” she laughs at herself. “I’d been writing since I was young, I’d just never shown my parents, ever, because it was embarrassing and personal... They didn’t realise that I actually had chops and when they did my mum started saying, ‘Let’s take you to studios and use producers’. Not for any other reason other than [she] wanted more music. She put it all over the internet, like, she shoved it on YouTube and Unearthed High. She did all of it,” Cerro smiles. And
you shouldn’t be discouraging your students to do what they love, you know? Like, they never discouraged it, but they never encouraged ambition with it,” she says carefully. “Even with the Unearthed thing, my school was never into it. They never made a big deal out of it at all, they didn’t care and I just went through that all by myself... Like, the music department I feel almost resented me a little bit too, because I didn’t choose music as an HSC elective.” It turns out that her school “required private tuition for something... we couldn’t afford to pay for that!” she frowns. “And also, I can sing, I don’t need to be taught... I could sing perfectly well, and I know they would have ‘classicalafied’ me... I tried to perform at assembly and stuff, but they privileged the girls who were doing music and stuff. It’s like, ‘Ah ha ha, look what I’m doing now!’ They still don’t understand, they still don’t get it.” But there’s one hater in particular who has taken it upon himself to spread negative vibes all over her social media. “I have this one guy who has me on Snapchat, follows me on Instagram and on Facebook and all the socials, and every time I come out with a song he Snapchats me being like, ‘Give up Montaigne, you’re shit’. Just a random fan. A punter,” she rephrases with a laugh. “But he will Snapchat me things from his life - like, he’ll say jokes and then Snapchat them directly to me.” Cerro has been calm until now, but she becomes increasingly frustrated at the situation as she considers it. “Like, what kind of sad person are you?... If you don’t like someone’s music and you are a healthy balanced person, you DO NOT comment negative things on YouTube om and Facebook saying like their music. You g that you don’t d don’t go out of you’re inconvenience them. You just re way to inconvenie say nothing and go o on with your life.”
THE MUSIC 31ST AUGUST 2016 • 25
Visual Arts
Role Play Bertie Blackman will be appearing at Maroochy Music & Visual Arts Festival, but not as a performer. She tells Cyclone about her conceptual design — a seven-year-old girl named Mica — who will be attending the festival from outer space.
T
here is a tradition of pop music acts moonlighting in the visual arts — from David Bowie to Patti Smith to Donna Summer. Now Sydney singer-songwriter Beatrice “Bertie” Blackman is participating in the Sunshine Coast’s boutique Maroochy Music and Visual Arts Festival (MMVAF) for the second year as a conceptual designer, not performer. “James Birrell, who’s the director of the festival, and the Birrell family are very old friends of mine,” Blackman
It is a character that I have been developing for a while that I feel will turn into something musical.
begins cheerfully, from her current Melbourne base. “So, when everyone was first talking about starting [the festival], I was around. They were talking about art. I said to James that I’d really love to be involved a few years consecutively, getting to help transform the stage into something with a bit of ‘Bertie touch’, rather than being on stage and singing — for something kinda different.” In 2016 Blackman’s space-themed project, entitled MICANAUT, will comprise “big, giant banners” with her artwork on the sides of “the Ampi” main stage — to be headlined by Matt Corby, Peking Duk and Ngaiire. “Mica is a character that I’ve invented who is a little girl who traverses the earth in a giant spaceship,” Blackman says. “Part of her journey is she’s gonna be stopping in at this festival and hanging out side of stage and egging the 26 • THE MUSIC • 31ST AUGUST 2016
Mica Comes Home
crowd on, pretty much.” In fact, the quirky astronaut is an abstraction of Blackman herself. “She’s actually based on a seven-year-old Bertie.” The imagery, she adds, is “slightly surreal”. As one of MMVAF 2016’s visual artists, Blackman will be in good company since Amanda Parer — today famed internationally for her giant, glowing bunnies — is returning to unveil her latest installation, Fantastic Planet. Ironically, Blackman is yet to perform at the fest. The ARIA-winner suggests that this is because she’s had no fresh material, last airing 2014’s electro-pop album The Dash. (Mind, Blackman did recently collaborate with Urthboy, resulting in the single Long Loud Hours.) “There’s a chance I might hop up on stage at some point, but we shall see.” Blackman is throwing herself into divergent creative enterprises. She has teamed with director Nick Waterman to make a short film, the rodeo-inspired After The Smoke, co-writing the screenplay and scoring it. Cred actor Sam Reid (Belle) stars. And she’s authored and illustrated a children’s book. As Blackman talks, she’s organising her first solo art show at Melbourne’s commercial Lindberg Galleries. The daughter of renowned painter Charles Blackman, Bertie has long explored her own art practice, but admits she’s “not been public about it” — music the focus. “For me being an artist, it’s all about what you’re compelled to do. I guess lately I’ve been feeling much more compelled to be painting and drawing than I have been feeling like being in the studio all the time. So I just follow my heart and my instincts with it.” Blackman views her artistic endeavours as a continuum. But, to an extent, she pragmatically believes that musicians need to be “more multi-faceted” now that they earn less in the age of streaming. Regardless, Blackman is planning a sixth album. “I’m working on new music at the moment — in amongst everything else.” And we could see — or hear — more of Mica, she teases. “It is a character that I have been developing for a while that I feel will turn into something musical.”
What: X MICANAUT When & Where: 10 Sep, Maroochy Music and Visual Arts Festival, Horton Park Golf Course
THE MUSIC 31ST AUGUST 2016 • 27
Music
Bigger Than Jesus
SEX, MUD AND ROCK ‘N’ ROLL We’ve all been there – you’re at a festival, you’ve barely slept, you’ve smashed more than a few tinnies, you’ve been wearing the same underwear for three days, the only thing that smells worse than you are the backed-up portaloos. So obviously, you’re in the mood for some sweet, sweet lovin’. Now, thanks to the curious cats at sex toy retailer Lovehoney, new research has revealed that Glastonbury is the horniest place in the UK, at least as far as music festivals are concerned. 1,000 randy festivalgoers revealed their most intimate secrets for the survey, which showed that 34% of music fans believed Glasto to be the best fest to get jiggy at. Most promiscuous UK music festivals • • • • • • • • • •
Glastonbury 34% Creamfields 13% Download 10% T in the Park 9% V Festival 8% The Secret Garden Party 7% Leeds 6% Isle of Wight 5% Reading 4% Bestival 2%
28 • THE MUSIC • 31ST AUGUST 2016
For cult performance artist, Beardyman, playing to a sitdown audience or helping drug-addled ravers reach for the lasers can come down to the day of the week. By Rip Nicholson.
“I
find that the main difference is between crowds. More about the time of day and day of week I’m playing and whether or not they’re sitting down or standing up,” explains Beardyman, also known as the clean-cut Darren Foreman, the human voice-box machine who wields the swing of his audiences’ vibe to fuel his improv. “If they’re sitting down on a Sunday afternoon at a comedy festival then everyone is either hungover or they’re the only kind of people who go to things on a Sunday afternoon. But, if it’s a Saturday night then they’re fucking havin’ it,” he stresses. “And, you’ve gotta be on your toes with a Friday night or Saturday night crowd and you can get a bit fucking mental.” The former beatbox champion, and oft-described “ruler of beats and destroyer of dance floors”, earns his crust by making music with his mouth, looping over himself in cycles of dope-as-fuck tuneage relieved only by his comic genius - all improvised by design. “I really enjoy fucking with people. It’s extremely funny to watch a crowd be forced to stand up and dance,” Foreman quips in a sinister tone. “If I’ve managed to get them up
and dancing I’ll stop and say ‘what the fuck you doing, sit down!’ I like that. I mean, if they can get away with that shit in church, why can’t I? I’m better than the church. What’s God got? Nothing.” Being the king of impromptu invention, Foreman has abandoned planned studio albums. In 2014 he started to record on the run with his show One Album Per Hour, where audiences suggest song titles and Foreman whips them up into live, interactive LPs. “Well, I see it as like a unique way of releasing albums,” opines Foreman, comparing his initiative to the likes of WuTang’s latest effort, which ended up in the hands of hedge-fund supervillain Martin Shkreli, and PJ Harvey’s recent ‘glass booth’ recordings. “It’s like the weirdest way ever of releasing an album, where you have to be in the room to record it in order to consume it and then you can never hear it again. I haven’t released them because I don’t want to flood iTunes and Spotify with this stuff I’d rather keep it special.” It seemed like a plan perfectly suited to his unique skill set, until some meddling Cardiff kids nearly stumped him. “Well I’m not easily stumped, but Cardiff certainly gave it a go,” he laughed, prompting the obvious follow-up question. “I went to Cardiff in Wales and all the questions were scatalogical in nature and profane and just wrong. They were coming up with the very worst subjects you could imagine, and this was for all of them - across the board. It was like, just awful shit.”
What: One Album Per Hour When & Where: 11 Sep, The Tivoli
Music
Blue Unleashed
“When I was on stage with Flume at Splendour In The Grass, it was surreal, it was almost completing me,” says folktronic rising star Celia Pavey - the one and only Vera Blue - sharing her dreamy moment with a totally impressed Annelise Ball.
W
ith a bunch of shows already sold out on her upcoming national tour, Celia Pavey is clearly still riding high on all the Fingertips EP buzz, despite her understandable Splendour comedown. “There’s lot’s going on, I’m feeling lots of things,” shares Pavey. “I’m excited, because I’m heading into the studio soon to work on an album, but I’ve still got the post-Splendour blues.” Feeling all the feels, however, puts Pavey in the right frame of mind for songwriting. Expressing sincerity and truth is the way she rolls when it comes to making music. “That’s exactly what I’m about,” she says. “I have to be very honest with my music, it’s always real, because that way people can connect to it.” Good game plan girl, it’s definitely working. Veteran producers Andy and Thom Mak, as well as songwriting buddy Gossling, helped Pavey experiment her way out of the pure folk groove and find the sound she’s always wanted. “I really wanted to create a blend of folk and cool, with heavy, thick sounds,” she says. “Going through high school, I listened to a lot of music with
heavier beats and bass, like Beyonce, and I really loved it,” she says, showing evident good taste. “Yet, I also loved folk, so I let all that go to concentrate on a more acoustic sound.” Fortunately, Andy, Thom and Gossling helped her bring the beat back. “They helped me experiment, and I was also listening to artists like alt-J and FKA Twigs at the time,” she says. “That’s where the sound evolved and I fell in love with it. This is the music I’ve been wanting to make and I feel like I’m unleashing.” Pavey’s about to be further unleashed on the gig-goers of Australia, who are clearly lapping up her new vibe. Sold out Melbourne Howler gigs, plus a bunch of other sellouts across the country, demonstrate the growing appetite for Pavey. “It’s really wild,” she says, sounding totally stoked. “I think performing with Illy, Slumberjack and Flume at Splendour made people interested in getting some tickets.” That, plus the intimate and ethereal EP tracks like Hold, Settle and Fingertips may also have a little something to do with it. The big-time love for Pavey is helping her approach this tour with measured selfbelief. “I think I’ll definitely be feeling more confident on stage,” she says. “But I’ll always be pushing for a better performance, and more connection, and to make it the very best it can possibly be.” The performance will most certainly be bringing the magic Vera Blue combination she’s finally nailed. “lt’ll be a very full electronic sound, but it’ll have acoustic vibes as well,” she shares. “I want it to be perfect for the people coming to watch.”
Credits Publisher Street Press Australia Pty Ltd Group Managing Editor Andrew Mast National Editor – Magazines Mark Neilsen Editor Mitch Knox Culture Editor Maxim Boon Gig Guide Editor Justine Lynch gigs@themusic.com.au Contributing Editor Bryget Chrisfield Editorial Assistants Brynn Davies, Sam Wall Senior Contributor Steve Bell Contributors Anthony Carew, Ben Preece, Benny Doyle, Brendan Crabb, Caitlin Low, Carley Hall, Chris Familton, Clare Armstrong, Cyclone, Daniel Cribb, Danielle O’Donohue, Dave Drayton, Dylan Stewart, Georgia Corpe, Guy Davis, Jake Sun, Joel Lohman, Liz Giuffre, Madeleine Laing, Mark Hebblewhite, Neil Griffiths, Paul Mulkearns, Rip Nicholson, Roshan Clerke, Sam Hobson, Samuel J Fell, Sean Capel, Sean Hourigan, Tom Hersey, Tom Peasley, Tyler McLoughlan, Uppy Chatterjee Photographers Barry Schipplock, Bec Taylor, Bobby Rein, Cole Bennetts, Dave Kan, Freya Lamont, John Stubbs, Kane Hibberd, Markus Ravik, Stephen Booth, Terry Soo Sales Nicole Ferguson sales@themusic.com.au Art Dept Ben Nicol, Felicity Case-Mejia Admin & Accounts Meg Burnham, Ajaz Durrani, Emma Clarke accounts@themusic.com.au Distro distro@themusic.com.au Subscriptions store.themusic.com.au Contact Us Phone: (07) 3252 9666 info@themusic.com.au www.themusic.com.au Street: The Foundry, 228 Wickham St, Fortitude Valley, QLD 4006 Postal: Locked Bag 4300 Fortitude Valley QLD 4006
— Brisbane
When & Where: 9 Sep, Elsewhere, Gold Coast; 10 Sep, Maroochy Music And Visual Arts Festival, Horton Park Golf Course; 10 Sep, Woolly Mammoth
THE MUSIC 31ST AUGUST 2016 • 29
Indie Indie
Voiid
Tia Gostelow
The Glorious North
Have You Heard
Have You Heard
Have You Heard
Answered by: Kate McGuire.
When did you start making music and why? I’ve been writing music for about four years now because it’s always been something that I’ve wanted to do, and I find it’s a good way to express emotions and feelings without obviously saying it.
Answered by: Tele Dee (guitar/vocals)
When did you start making music and why? We all started young, we felt we had no other real purpose than to grab our instruments and start screaming. Sum up your musical sound in four words? Thrashed, dirty, sexy, loud. If you could only listen to one album forevermore, what would it be and why? Raw Power by Iggy & The Stooges, because Iggy Pop... amen. This album is life, it’s unbeatable. Greatest rock’n’roll moment of your career to date? Letting loose on stage, breaking drumsticks and popping blood blisters are some of Voiid’s best moments so far. Also when someone told Anji [Greenwood, lead singer] and I that we were Cherie Currie and Joan Jett reincarnated, that ruled. Why should people come and see your band? Because supporting female musicians is the tits, and also if you want your face melted by some filthy garage punk. When and where for your next gig? 1 Sep, Woolly Mammoth; 4 Sep, Botany View Hotel, King Street Crawl. Website link for more info? facebook.com/ voiidtheband/
Sum up your musical sound in four words? Indie folk-rock. If you could only listen to one album forevermore, what would it be and why? Either Moonfire by Boy & Bear or Honey Bones by Dope Lemon because they are bloody sick. Greatest rock’n’roll moment of your career to date? Probably being named an Unearthed High finalist, that was insane. Why should people come and see your band? I guess we’re pretty different in a sense, compared to other people and bands, and we play some pretty cool tunes. When and where for your next gig? 8 Sep, Black Bear Lodge, BIGSOUND. Website link for more info? tiagostelow.com
When did you start making music and why? Late 2013. A bunch of mates from various other projects getting together to drink beer, tell tales and play some licks. Three years and hundreds of gigs later, here we are. Sum up your musical sound in four words? Slacker country. If you could only listen to one album forevermore, what would it be and why? Tomorrow The Green Grass by The Jayhawks. A perfect album from start to finish. Epic songwriting, amazing production and effortlessly faultless. I could bang on about that LP for ages. Greatest rock’n’roll moment of your career to date? Recently releasing our debut album, Welcome To The Glorious North, to a packed house ranks right up there. Hearing your songs on the radio or punters singing your tunes back to you at shows ain’t too bad either. Why should people come and see your band? Unique sounds, great tunes with a story to tell. Toe tappers, dancefloor fillers and all killers. When and where for your next gig? We’re in Brisbane for Beer InCider Experience. Playing both nights as well as the Sunday afterparty. Can’t wait. Website link for more info? facebook.com/ TheGloriousNorth/
30 • THE MUSIC • 31ST AUGUST 2016
All gig and music news at your fingertips.
Search for ‘The Music App’ on
THE MUSIC 31ST AUGUST 2016 • 31
Comedy
Call Bullshit Ahead of her Just For Laughs appearance and PsyCHO tour, Margaret Cho reveals you always need to call out discrimination, even if it’s coming from your heroes. Cyclone gets the story.
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argaret Cho — comedian, actor, singer, rapper, reality star, author and activist — doesn’t stipulate no-go zones in interviews. But, then again, she’s long been frank about her shocking personal experiences — of childhood bullying, sexual molestation, and rape. Cho has also proudly proclaimed her bisexuality. The Korean-American’s stand-up comedy is fearless, too, exploring race, sexuality and gender. And Cho’s current show could be her most provocative yet. She’ll tackle one of comedy’s taboos — sexual abuse. “I feel like we’ll be talking a lot about Rolf Harris!” Cho laughs darkly. Her
There’s no context in which racism is acceptable.
g for empowerment”. “When approach is “about looking you shine a light on predators, that really makes them powerless, so then they go away — which is a great thing.” Growing up in San Francisco, Cho’s decision to pursue comedy wasn’t so outlandish — her father wrote Korean joke books. Leaving home early, Cho worked in the sex industry. By the mid-’90s, the now buzz comedian had landed her own ABC sitcom, All-American Girl — loosely autobiographical. While expectations were high for this first major network television series centering on an Asian-American family, it all went awry. Cho was denied creative control, meddling executives compromising her vision (random fact: Quentin Tarantino cameoed as her date). More seriously, they berated Cho’s appearance to the extent that she succumbed to 32 • THE MUSIC • 31ST AUGUST 2016
an eating disorder — and battled substance abuse. Cho ruminated on her ordeal in her show-cum-memoir I’m The One That I Want. Still, All-American Girl paved the way for Fresh Off The Boat. “It influenced a lot of people, so I’m really grateful for that.” Cho secured movie roles, even playing an FBI agent alongside (future comic target) John Travolta in John Woo’s speculative action thriller Face/Off. Cho is developing a new “dramedy”, Highland — (possibly) for Amazon. “Some of the show is about a family experiencing the big medical marijuana boom in California, or in the United States, but also it’s much deeper than that. It has a lot to do with Asian-American history and how a lot of Asian people, when they came to this country, in the ‘70s, ‘80s, realised they didn’t have to behave — so that the culture has all shifted. And so in my generation we’re all a little bit unsure of our parentage — that’s the truth, which is a very strange thing, because [people] were allowed to kind of do whatever they wanted. It’s weird — in America a lot of Korean people buy liquor stores, so it’s very natural to think the next thing would be to get a pot store.” Cho has recorded subversively comic music. She lately dropped a second album, American Myth — presaged by I Wanna Kill My Rapist, its viral video a manifestation of “cathartic rage”. Meanwhile, Cho popped up in Peaches’ hilarious film clip for Dick In The Air, both sporting crocheted male genitalia. “She’s wonderful — I would love to do a song with her.” This year Cho joined E!’s Fashion Police. She was close to the program’s pro original host, the late Joan Rivers and praises, “[S “[She was] very giving and unbelievably supportive of m my work and my life — I mean, my personal life also! There was w just so much that she gave from her heart and really [she] was a totally different person on stage and off. There’s T an assumption that she was very mean and, actua actually, that wasn’t true in any way.” Cho will call cal out BS. When in late 2015 she learnt that Absolutely Fabulous: Fabu The Movie had cast the Caucasian Janette Tough to t portray a (male) Japanese fashion designer, Huki Muki, M Cho hit Twitter, accusing its makers of perpetuating “yellowface”. Opinion pieces ensued. As screenwriter, Jennifer Je Saunders has since refuted Cho’s charge to The Guardian, G dismissing Tough’s depiction lit joke”, her character obviously not as “just a silly little Japanese. Cho hasn’t followed it. “I don’t even know because I don’t really care.” Cho remains unconvinced. cont “There’s no context in which racism is acceptable.” “rea good friends with [Ab Fab co-creator] Oddly, she’s “really “ really do love Dawn — I love the work Dawn French.” “I an Joanna [Lumley] have done. It’s not a that Jennifer and comment on that. Those women have done great work over the years — and certainly French And Saunders are a legendary comedy team, but this really tarnishes their legend for me. Unfortunately it does. I’m very sorry about it, too, ‘cause I really like them.”
What: Margaret Cho: The PsyCHO Tour When & Where: 8 Sep, The Tivoli
QUEENSLAND PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE IN ASSOCIATION WITH GAYNOR CRAWFORD PRESENTS
GLEN
HANSARD DIDN’T HE RAMBLE AUSTRALIAN TOUR
TUESDAY 18 OCTOBER 2016, 7.30PM CONCERT HALL, QPAC BOOK NOW QPAC.COM.AU | 136 246
PHOTOGRAPHER: DANNY CLINCH
THE MUSIC 31ST AUGUST 2016 • 33
Music
Building Bridges THE BIGSOUND BUZZ STARTS HERE Rebel Yell
Here’s our next round up of mustsee acts playing at this year’s annual BIGSOUND showcase in Brisbane (7 - 9 Sep).
Good Boy Poverty Line is the year’s catchiest song. And if you saw this Bris band’s roadside performance of it when they broke down on tour recently, you know theirs is not a BIGSOUND gig to be missed.
Rebel Yell Moody post-rave from Queensland. She is threatening to leave BIGSOUND as the one you want at your next festival.
Gabriella Cohen There has been no escaping this Melbourne performer’s name in the past few weeks. If you aren’t on board yet, get on board at BIGSOUND and then pretend you’ve been across her for months.
34 • THE MUSIC • 31ST AUGUST 2016
Singer-songwriter Liz Stringer tells Steve Bell how she overcame a lack of match fitness on her new album by heading abroad and diving headlong into the fray.
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elbourne singer-songwriter Liz Stringer has an intimate relationship with the Australian continent, having traversed its highways and byways endless times over the years taking her music to the country’s far-flung regional outposts, as well as having penned many of her heartfelt country-folk songs about this vast brown land and its intriguing inhabitants. Yet for her new fifth album All The Bridges she case her gaze abroad, decamping to Type Foundry Studio in Portland, Oregon to work with producer Adam Selzer [Fleet Foxes, The Decemberists, M Ward], an experience she describes as utterly reaffirming. “I went into it not having massive expectations to be honest: I’d thought, ‘If I come out of there with good demos I’ll be stoked,’” Stringer admits. “Just because I didn’t feel match fit. I wasn’t writing much and I didn’t feel really ready to make a record, but I wanted to do it just to kind of kick myself in the ass and get it started again and that’s totally what it did.” And she’d chosen the locale on the back of some fairly knowledgeable recommendations. “Mick Thomas is a good friend of mine and we were talking about recording and I just said, ‘I don’t know what I want to do next, I’m kind of a bit stuck’, and he said that I should go to Portland and do it with Adam,” Stringer
recalls. “Because he’d recorded there, Darren Hanlon had recorded there and his partner Shelley [Short] lives in Portland and she’s a great musician who’s worked with Adam, so there’s lots of connections. But it was really Mick’s suggestion that got me thinking about it initially, and I did it — thank God!” As well as having not met the producer prior to the session Stringer hadn’t met the album’s rhythm section either.”I was shitting myself driving to that first rehearsal!” she laughs. “I was driving in to meet Adam and these two guys that were going to be the rhythm section — the spine of the album — and as soon as I got in there and felt great with Adam, we started jamming and it was really easy. They’d listened to the demos and had great ideas and were really into it, it was amazing. But fuck, I was so nervous! It’s like a blind date where you guys are all going to have this relationship, so hopefully you get on!” But ultimately it’s All The Bridges’ songs which sealed the deal, a musically diverse batch with a thought-provoking lyrical bent. “I think that it’s a very philosophical album,” Stringer reflects. “There’s a lot of musing on it, like I’m thinking about a lot of stuff. There’s definitely something there lyrically reflecting a new phase in my life and the way that I was looking at the world. I was surprised that they felt more cohesive together than I’d thought, because the songs all jump around stylistically as well — they’re not even all in the same genre — but somehow it manages to feel not disjointed and weird.”
What: All The Bridges (Vitamin) When & Where: 31 Aug, Club Mullum, Mullumbimby; 1 Sep, Junk Bar; 18 — 20 Nov, Mullum Music Festival
Music
Overnight Sensation
Scott Bradlee give Brynn Davies a buzz from LA to chat about the fun times he’s had making viral videos with Postmodern Jukebox.
S
cott Bradlee’s affinity for jazz piano understandably meant that he wasn’t the most popular kid in school. But the idea he came up with to win brownie points with his peers began a surprisingly short journey to becoming one of the most popular music channels on YouTube. “I loved all these older styles of music and my friends were not into that kind of music at all,” laughs Bradlee. “They were in to gangsta rap or pop or whatever, the stuff people listen to in high school. So to kind of relate to them and their world I used to take the songs that they loved and I would play them as jazz or ragtime and stuff, and it became kind of like a fun party trick in a way.” A few years down the track while struggling to make ends meet as a jazz pianist in New York City - “it was really hard to get people excited about jazz!” - Bradlee decided to pop one of these tracks on this newfangled platform called YouTube. “YouTube was kinda a new thing, and I decided to put my music out there and I recorded versions of me taking all these big songs from the ‘80s - Bon Jovi, Michael Jackson - and play them as ragtime piano. And the very next day Neil Gaiman, the writer, Tweeted it to all his followers and I started getting tonnes of hits. I didn’t know what a viral video was, but I had a viral video!”
These days, Postmodern Jukebox is practically an institution, playing shows on four continents, hosting over two million YouTube subscribers and clocking “about 150 or something” songs on iTunes - “most artists do like an album a year or every two years and last year I think I did like, seven or something”. It’s music that makes you nostalgic for a time that you didn’t live through, and Bradlee explains a few of his favourites. “We took We Can’t Stop, the Miley Cyrus song, and it was a song that she had performed at the VMA’s in America and it was a scandalous performance. So I thought it would be really interesting to take that song and... make it really work as a 1950s doo-wop song... Doo-wop is the complete antithesis of that kind of style. Squeaky clean, wholesome... The next day it was the most watched video in all of YouTube.” Then there was the time he outdid Justin Bieber: “I released a version of [Love Yourself] where I made it kind of visually aged in black and white, made it sound kinda older and I posted it on Facebook. And so many people were sharing it and thinking that this was the original version of that Justin Bieber song; that Justin Bieber had covered this song that was actually from the 1920s. So that gave me a bit of a thrill. I just left it, I thought it was so funny.” And lastly, when he injured his clarinettist while filming a videoclip: “We [had] our clarinettist jump out the window and pick up the sousaphone which was on a rosebush... I think we had to rehearse that about five different times and [he] was getting all scratched up from diving into the rose bush over and over again!”
25 Reasons to go to Bluesfest Bonnie Raitt
Zac Brown Band Patti Smith The Lumineers Buddy Guy Bonnie Raitt Mavis Staples Billy Bragg Jethro Tull Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue Gregory Porter Snarky Puppy St. Paul & The Broken Bones Beth Hart Laura Mvula Roy Ayers Booker T Andrew Bird Rickie Lee Jones Joan Osborne Turin Brakes The Strumbellas Jake Shimabukuro Dumpstaphunk Nikki Hill Irish Mythen
When & Where: 16 Sep, Plaza Ballroom
THE MUSIC 31ST AUGUST 2016 • 35
Album / E Album/EP Reviews
Big Scary Animal
Pieater/Intertia
★★★★½
Album OF THE Week
Melbourne duo Big Scary must have left nothing in the tank after creating their third record Animal — it’s a triumph from start to finish. Frontman Tom Iansek’s vocals are emotive and raw, while his partner in crime, Joanna Syme, cuts through the fuzzy bass and melodic hooks with her impressive drumming. The scuzzy, rough introduction from opener Oxygen soon blends into the offbeat delight that is Organism. This album is filled with surprises and all of them are good. On Double Darkness Iansek appears to have borrowed a few moves from Jack White’s playbook, punching out the verses with extra staccato. Savior Add Vice opens with a fuzzy guitar and bass loop, dropping away just in time for Iansek’s haunting croon. The Endless Story offers momentary reprieve, slowing the tempo down to a steady groove with sporadic broken piano chords, clapping, whistling and a hint of saxophone before a big final chorus brings all the elements together. On Flutism Iansek practically spits out the words, then moments later on Breathe Underwater he’s all but whispering the soft melody. Early single The Opposite Of Us still shines brightly. With its shuffling beat, catchy piano hook and vocal harmonies, every second is a delight to hear. Rounding out with the finale Lamina, the record softly shuffles off to become one of best contemporary indie records produced this side of the equator. Clare Armstrong
Angel Olsen
Felix Riebl
MY WOMAN
Paper Doors
Jagjaguwar/Inertia
My Shore Productions/Kobalt
★★★★½
★★★
MY WOMAN is an album that, despite it being a tale of two halves, is delivered with a singleminded focus. Angel Olsen’s third fulllength record consists of a collection of tracks, which, if were listened to in isolation would be nice enough, but when combined across an album are simply gorgeous. It’s a release that would fit perfectly on vinyl given the none-too-subtle direction change that occurs at the album’s mid-point. Heart Shaped Face steers the album into introspective waters and away from its more accessible first half. While opener Intern is a melodramatic highlight, ballads like the seven-plus-minute Sister that reside on the B-side show the value of reigning back an arrangement to expose Olsen’s fragile voice. MY WOMAN sees
Felix Riebl’s second solo record Paper Doors reveals a decidedly more ethereal and expansive side to the highly accomplished singer-songwriter. It’s all but impossible to listen to this solo work and not draw some parallels to The Cat Empire, but with Paper Doors, the wisecracking lyrics and frenetic energy are dialled right back. The album opens with its title track, a softly spoken number presented with minimal fuss, but the perfect introduction for what’s to come. Wasting Time is the first of three duets featured on Paper Doors - for a solo record Riebl is certainly spoiled for company. Here Katy Steele, of Little Birdy fame, adds an extra layer to the wistful piano melody but, as always, it’s Riebl’s voice that remains the hero. Just like with The Cat Empire, Riebl defies any kind of reductive genre label - he
36 • THE MUSIC • 31ST AUGUST 2016
Olsen isolated, as if caught in a spotlight. It’s revealing, giving you the impression you’re sneaking a peek behind the curtain at an artist in turmoil. Of course, the opening half of the record shows that she can draw on the swagger of PJ Harvey or Jenny Lewis when required. Give It Up for instance features some quality Pavementesque guitar work, and segues smoothly into Not Gonna Kill You, a rebellious sounding tune that could soundtrack an indiegirl-power moment on a Wes Anderson film. From there, MY WOMAN takes a turn for the reflective, and it’s a turn that pays out big. Dylan Stewart
draws from a very broad crosssection of musical influences. Emily Lubitz of Tinpan Orange guests on Snowflakes, while Martha Wainwright appears on In Your Arms. Riebl understands the value of silence, bringing almost as much feeling and tension to the soft pauses as the he does during a vocal crescendo. The album unveils unique and interesting melodies and arrangements along the way. It offers momentary glimpses into the seemingly endless pit of musical talent and expertise that has all but made Riebl, and his fellow The Cat Empire members, national treasures. Clare Armstrong
EP Reviews Album/EP Reviews
Deborah Conway Ceres & Willy Zygier Drag It Down On You Everybody’s Begging
Cooking Vinyl
King Creosote Astronaut Meets Appleman Domino
Interciros/MGM
A Day To Remember Bad Vibrations ADTR Records/Epitaph
★★★½
★★★★
★★★½
★★★★
Unlike many of her contemporaries, Deborah Conway — in collaboration with her co-billed significant other — is still making new and crafted music. It’s rich and mostly acoustic based: Zygier’s guitar playing delicate and adept, while her voice still has that bell-like clarity and occasional growl or questioning sneer, now coloured by life experience. Some of Everybody’s Begging references their Jewish heritage, but not oppressively so — it’s more about giving a cultural and historic context to something like Through Your Blood Shall You Live’s quiet desperation. And when she pleas for someone to Throw Me A Lifeline, it comes with that mix of strength and vulnerability so identifiably hers.
Unashamed localness can sometimes be lost when indierock bands put tracks to tape, but Ceres’ rawness is infectious. Ceres hark back to great ‘90s Oz guitar darlings like Jebediah, but still find their own place. Happy In Your Head is a perfect example, cheeky lyrics delivered with an ocker drawl and driving guitar — old school. Great lines like, “I can hear you spitting in the shower/I can hear you pissing in the gutter,” from ‘91 Your House could be from lost tracks in the You Am I vaults, while the space in Choke lends itself a little to Paul Dempsey. Far from derivative — just part of a proud tradition.
Scotsman Kenny Anderson has long dwelled on the fringes of indie and experimental pop music, releasing over 40 albums that traverse a large expanse of creative terrain. His latest finds him exploring graceful and emotive music, drawing on electronic and organic instrumentation and positioned between the terrestrial and ethereal. The results are often moving and transportive, the unifying element being Anderson’s rich Scottish burr. This is an album that necessitates repeat listens with a myriad of details and nuances — lyrically and musically — revealing themselves each time. Astronaut Meets Appleman is sophisticated and literate music, devoid of pretension.
A Day To Remember really hone back in on their roots with their latest collection of thrashy, noisy, short/fast/loud tracks on Bad Vibrations. The album opens with a bang, with Jeremy McKinnon’s low-vibrating growl ripping into your skull and announcing: ADTR are here. Pay attention. Moving away from their occasionally slightly poppy sound, the band’s musical talents really shine through in the catchy hooks of Paranoia and that driving doublekick drumming in Naivety. The album pounds along up until choral anthem Reassemble, before winding down for slower numbers Justified and We Got This. Another top effort from the Ocala boys.
Liz Giuffre
Ross Clelland
Tash Loh
Chris Familton
More Reviews Online Warhaus We Fucked A Flame Into Being
theMusic.com.au
The Frightnrs Nothing More To Say
Jamie T Trick
THE MUSIC 31ST AUGUST 2016 • 37
Album / E Album/EP Reviews
Soundwalk Collective & Jesse Paris Smith
Teeth & Tongue Give Up On Your Health Dot Dash/Remote Control
James Vincent McMorrow
Pleasure Symbols
We Move
Pleasure Symbols
Dew Process
Death Valley
Killer Road Bella Union/[PIAS] Australia
★★★½
★★★★
★★★★
★★★½
Killer Road billows ghostly in the darkest depths of the night. Its haunting, ambient tones invite listeners to descend the familiar downward spiral accompanied by sombre poetic mediations that centre on despairing self-examining introspection, fear, uncertainty and ultimately death. Paying tribute to Nico, the original Venus In Furs, Patti Smith delivers a masterful recitation of Nico’s poetry that is vicious and loaded with attitude. Ambient trio Soundwalk Collective and Smith’s daughter Jesse Paris Smith assemble a subdued collection of tones and drones to provide an evocative soundtrack to Smith’s spellbinding performance. Immersive listening that sometimes requires suspension of disbelief.
Melbourne via New Zealand chanteuse Jess Cornelius, aka Teeth & Tongue, has once again mined that wondrous sound bank of hers that created 2014’s Grids and previous offerings bulging with beauty and beats. Now comes Give Up On Your Health, and while it still shares Grids’ ability to entrance using simple arrangements, it’s totally upped the ante as far as bombastic, memorable 1980s nuances go. Cornelius and her players weave their production savvy through the big and bold (Dianne, When We Met) and the crisp and sparse (Give Up On Your Health, Small Towns), but they mesmerise whichever track pops up on shuffle.
Like a scent you can’t quite put your finger on, James Vincent McMorrow’s latest project explores new territory with the air of being familiar. The synthy ‘80s-style intro to Rising Water sets listeners on a journey into the unexpected, tracing through tales of heartbreak and declarations of love to the ambitious One Thousand Times. Each track is curated in its own way, spanning quirky acoustic pop-beats to R&B reminiscent tracks like Get Low. McMorrow’s voice continues to weave through upper octaves and ringing falsetto before rounding off with the more McMorrow-esque track Lost Angles.
This Brisbane doom-gaze duo has been brewing in the shadows for a while now, cultivating a Californian neon sound perfect for standing around while Nicolas Winding Refn throws stones at a moonlit lake. Their debut EP is a sparsely constructed-yet-dank and almost cloying thing, mixing precisely programmed beats, wistful synth and vocals that feel like they haunt the halls an ‘80s high school. For fans of the group, it’s a pity that two of the four tracks on offer have been lingering online for year or so, but overall it’s still a great, gloomy 17 minutes.
Carley Hall
Tash Loh
Nic Addenbrooke
Guido Farnell
More Reviews Online Dub FX Thinking Clear
38 • THE MUSIC • 31ST AUGUST 2016
theMusic.com.au
Frank Ocean Blond
Listen to our This Week’s Releases playlist on
THE MUSIC 31ST AUGUST 2016 • 39
Live Re Live Reviews
The Amity Affliction @ Riverstage. Pic: Bobby Rein
The Amity Affliction, Trophy Eyes, Driven Fear, Sensaii The Tivoli 19 Aug
The Amity Affliction @ Riverstage. Pic: Bobby Rein
The Amity Affliction @ Riverstage. Pic: Bobby Rein
Straight Arrows @ Riverstage. Pic: Bobby Rein
Velociraptor @ Foundry First Bithday. Pic: Bobby Rein
Velociraptor @ Foundry First Bithday. Pic: Bobby Rein
X @ X. Pic: X
X @ X. Pic: X
40 • THE MUSIC • 31ST AUGUST 2016
The headliners tonight have offered a leg-up to three young Aussie supports in the form of Sensaii, Driven Fear and Trophy Eyes. The first provide blasting metalcore and the second blend a mix of unpredictable punk and post-hardcore sounds, however, it’s Driven Fear who are most impressive, offering punishing hardcore with tempos that snap on a dime. The Tivoli curtains draw and a skeletal backdrop appears as The Amity Affliction set their sights on the crowd. I Bring The Weather With Me is urgent and angry, and everything you want from an opener. The band sound massive - especially drummer Ryan Burt, who is battering his kit like a man possessed - and every movement is natural and assured. Joel Birch shoots a smile at Ahren Stringer as the bassist high fives the front row. The four-piece then go about exploring their back catalogue. Never Alone is brutal in its conclusion, with vocalist Birch making Amity’s attitude clear - “we are ready for war”. Clearly out to enjoy their night as much as the illuminated throngs, the boys even throw in a cover of Engine 45 from The Ghost Inside, giving guitarist Dan Brown an opportunity to show off his singing chops, oft forgotten beneath Stringer’s huge choruses. It’s time to introduce some fresh cuts to Brisbane fans. An acoustic guitar is brought into the mix for All Fucked Up, and it’s refreshing to hear. On the flip side, Some Friends is injected with steroids and removed of its syrupy recorded charm. Birch ignites during Shine On - his manic jumping setting the crowd off in near unison.
The ‘funnest, longest and sweatiest show in this venue’.
Two tracks that really shot Amity into the stratosphere - Pittsburgh and Don’t Lean On Me - are delivered with gusto and received rapturously, with the pit featuring the weird dichotomy of aggressive slam dancers jostling for space. This Could Be Heartbreak rounds out what Stringer calls the “funnest, longest and sweatiest show in this venue”. No one here would be game to argue with the man. Benny Doyle
Kyser Soze, Daemon Pyre, Vyrion Crowbar 26 Aug Vyrion take the already gloomy vibe of Crowbar and submerge it into all-out darkness. The initial mix does the band no favours, but once it’s fixed and a stream of black shirts begins to trickle into the room a refined show is produced. Their quality of songwriting is something straight out of Scandinavia. The band’s fury and depth comes from well-balanced vocals that feature both screams and growls, all driven by the backbone of any really heavy outfit - a tonne of rapidfire double kick and blast beats. Daemon Pyre waste no time kicking into gear. A brutal growl emanates from vocalist Sam Rilatt as he takes total command of the stage and crowd alike, beer gut and all. There’s thrashiness and pace from some metalcoreish sections, harmonised guitar melodies, guttural growls with some seriously impressive depth and, of course, the odd ambient
eviews Live Reviews
interlude. It’s an impressive display of carnage. Kyser Soze don’t mess about. It’s straight into the onslaught with these guys. There’s some seriously skillful musicianship on display throughout the whole set. This level of aggression and auditory battering takes a hell of a lot of musical proficiency and to be able to execute it as tightly as these guys do is a real feat. The songs find an excellent blend of million-miles-an-hour assaults and ominous, doomy parts. It’s
The perfect soundtrack to do your neck exercises to. the perfect soundtrack to do your neck exercises to. All in all, it’s a brutal showcase of some underrated Aussie metal acts. Tom Peasley
Velociraptor, Astro Travellers, Straight Arrows, Golden Vessel, Whalehouse, Yuuca The Foundry 18 Aug Down a hallway past the main stage, ascendant dreampop crew Yuuca are getting proceedings under way in the back room with their synthsplashed, atmospheric jams. There’s a lot to be impressed with here - the honeyed vocals of dual singers Mikayla and Emily, and thoughtful instrumental arrangements. This is a band that is still growing, and improving, with each performance, but they’re well and truly almost there. The band put on an
admirable showing stuffed with danceable, sparkly, sweet tunes for sad kids, and there’s tonnes of potential behind it. It’s a scene of a whole different flavour out in the front room, where WHALEHOUSE - “all capital letters, all one word!” - are unleashing a hyper-colourful performance; the women on stage rock party hats with pride as they kick off with the riot-grrrl-meets-B52s strains of Punk Rock Fish. Instrument swapping, energetic banter and showmanship reign supreme throughout, the whole performance an unrelenting, stream of unpredictable wonderment. It’s again to the back room for the ultra-smooth electronic jams of Golden Vessel. The up-and-comer proves the perfect chaser to WHALEHOUSE, lulling us back down with a beautifully executed mix of glitchy loops, vocal and instrumental samples, live guitar and vocals courtesy of offsider Connor Grant. Young Mr Vessel has clearly been watching his forebears - your Mt Kimbie, your Seekae and the like - and he’s picked up a wealth of tricks along the way. He’s already showing himself to be a performer of considerable class and savvy. Out front, Sydney psychpunks Straight Arrows are in the throes of delivering buckets of fuzzy, furious garage-rawk fun. Those rocking out are utterly lost to the ruckus and the figures on stage are having an absolute ball of a time up there - but, amid a stage line-up bookended by the technicolour wholesale madness of WHALEHOUSE and the inimitable presence of Velociraptor, it’s hard to say that the performance stands out from the crowd. The funk levels get cranked through the roof for jazzdrenched hip hop wizards Astro Travellers. Here, the crowd is greeted by glorious, welcoming, walking bass, rock-solid drums,
sax blats, organ and hype vocals before everything opens up; sultry, hip-shaking grooves take hold alongside rapid-fire, precisely delivered raps and soaring soul vocals to create a unique and impossibly infectious aural dish. The ensemble work prodigiously well together, balancing their many parts without ever becoming messy or overbearing. It’s nearly half-an-hour past the planned start time when Velociraptor take the stage. Part of that seems to be an issue locating band members and it almost becomes frustrating to watch but, once frontman Jeremy Neale and guitarist Simon Ridley have been located, it’s hard to focus on such trivialities as the band launch into the swagger and jangle of popular track Ramona and any sense of inconvenience melts into the heaving mass of the crowd. Velociraptor have always been about having an unpretentious good time - no band with five rhythm guitars and a keytar could possibly
More Reviews Online theMusic.com.au/ music/live-reviews
Feuds @ The Bearded Lady Boss Fight @ The Brightside
Sultry, hipshaking grooves take hold. claim to be about anything else - and they deliver with the usual aplomb here. The mad, sweaty scene harks back to Velociraptor’s inaugural opening show here, which actually took place about a year-and-a-half ago and led to a temporary closure of the venue not long after it originally opened. With floorboards well and truly fixed - road-tested over the past 365 nights of gigs - the reckless abandon flows freely, and it proves a perfect way to cap off a most festive evening. Mitch Knox
THE MUSIC 31ST AUGUST 2016 • 41
Arts Reviews Arts Reviews
Blood Father
Comedy
Bang Bang Comedy Brisbane City Hall (finished)
★★★★½
Blood Father Film In Cinemas
★★★★ Mel Gibson, more famous for his awful public meltdowns/outbursts recently, is still one most talented actors/filmmakers working. Anything featuring him is worth looking out for. This year sees him front and centre in the action-thriller Blood Father. Gibson plays John Link, an ex-con and ex-alcoholic who lives a quiet life in a desert trailer park as a tattoo artist. However when his estranged, troubled daughter Lydia (Erin Moriarty) reappears life becomes chaos as he must protect her from drug dealers out for her blood. The film, directed by Jean-Francois Richet (Mesrine), is layered old school entertainment. It has thrilling action and characters with great tonal range; with effective comedic elements and gripping emotional resonance in a tight runtime to Richet’s credit. Overall, it feels tailored for Gibson, with a character directly responding to his flawed image, highlighting him trying to be his best. Gibson is magnetic, with his trademark wit, livewire intensity and silent emotional turmoil. It is a reminder that Gibson is uniquely mesmerising, bringing the depth of his filmic iconography and private demons. He is effectively aided by Moriarty who gives an emotive, uncliched performance, while supports of William H Macy, Michael Parks and Diego Luna add quality. Blood Father is entertaining and engaging cinema and a reminder of the talent of Mel Gibson. Sean Capel
42 • THE MUSIC • 31ST AUGUST 2016
Depending on your tastes and predilections, Comedy Bang! Bang! has until now existed as either an addictive podcast or a must-see TV show. Now they’ve expanded this comedic purview substantially by dragging the absurdist premise into the live realm. As a predominantly cerebral exercise, it’s an easy adaption, requiring just four stools and four microphones. But as soon as host and
Scott Aukerman
creator Scott Aukerman enters the fray and starts a brief warm-up, riffing on his Aussie experiences to date (which, with this being the first show in the country, isn’t exactly extensive), it’s clear that the live experience introduces even more nuance and silliness into the format (if that’s even possible). Taking a seat, he introduces his first guest, the well-known character of Aukerman’s long-suffering nephew Tom, played by awesome comedienne Lauren Lapkus. Their rapport is obvious as they trade barbs and pull everything from their respective comedy kitbags in an attempt to make each other break character and corpse. More such characters are introduced at regular intervals: Paul F Tompkins, reprises old chestnut, Cake Boss, while Mike Hanford (who warmed up the crowd earlier with a killer stand-up set of his own) brings out new character, “Little Bump” The One-Pump Chump. As an evening’s entertainment, it’s impudent, irreverent, eccentric and most importantly, piss funny. Steve Bell
Nothing to do this weekend? Don’t worry, The Music has you sorted.
Head to events.themusic.com.au to see what’s coming up.
THE MUSIC 31ST AUGUST 2016 • 43
Comedy / G The Guide
Wed 31
Tkay Maidza
Night By Night: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley
Harry Potter Trivia Night: Eatons Hill Hotel, Eatons Hill
L-FRESH The LION
Culture Train: Queensland Multicultural Centre (QMC), Kangaroo Point Acoustics With Attitude with Joshua Swan: The Triffid, Newstead
The Music Presents Liz Stringer: 1 Sep Junk Bar L-FRESH The LION: 17 Sep The Foundry Lisa Mitchell: 15 Oct Woolly Mammoth Emma Louise: 20 Oct Miami Marketta; 21 Oct Solbar Maroochydore; 22 Oct The Triffid
Thu 01 Born Joy Dead + Muddy Chanter: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley Jazz Singers Jam Night: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point Cryptopsy + Whoretopsy + I, Valiance + Eternal Rest: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley Liz Stringer: Junk Bar, Ashgrove
Okay, Tkay? Adelaide MC Tkay Maidza is celebrating her return from overseas by playing Secret Sound’s opening night party with Harts, Ecca Vandal and Oh Pep! on 6 Sep at The Triffid.
A Day On The Green: 6 Nov Sirromet Wines
Jon Flynn’s Knights of Sin: Lefty’s Old Time Music Hall, Brisbane
Mullum Music Festival: 17 - 20 Nov Mullumbimby
The Brodie Graham Band: Solbar (Lounge Bar Maroochydore
Drapht: 6 Oct Wharf Tavern Mooloolaba; 7 Oct The Triffid
The Dollar Bill Murrays + Toisoc + Sunrose: The Bearded Lady, West End
Didier Cohen + Brooke Evers: Eatons Hill Hotel, Eatons Hill
Plini + Interval + Polaris: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley
Paces + Nocturnal Tapes + Health Club: Elsewhere, Surfers Paradise
Lakyn: The Foundry, Fortitude Valley
P.C. & The Biffs: Lefty’s Old Time Music Hall, Brisbane
Galway + The Purpose + Monsters of the Midnight Sun: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley
4114: Logan Diggers Club, Logan Central
Tina Says: Wharf Tavern (The Helm), Mooloolaba
Australia
Felicity Lawless: Miami Marketta, Miami In2nation + The Perries + Two Little Birds: Solbar, Maroochydore
Leanne Tennant: Junk Bar, Ashgrove Tuxedo Kitten + Little Billy: Lefty’s Old Time Music Hall, Brisbane Earth Frequency Festival feat. Icicle + Spoonbill + Cheshire + Duos + Mottled: Max Watt’s, West End Nicole Parker Brown: Miami Marketta, Miami We Set Signals + Lycanthrope + Chasing Closure + Chromatide + Serene + I, The Divide: New Globe Theatre, Fortitude Valley
Luke Bennett Duo: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore Tina Says: TBC Club (The Bowler Club), Fortitude Valley
Tracy McNeil & The Good Life
Magenta Voyeur + Accomplice Collective + Zong + more: The Bearded Lady, West End Skegss + Dumb Punts + Verge Collection: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley Morning Harvey: The Foundry, Fortitude Valley
Not The Country
Jack Carty: The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, South Brisbane
New-wave Sydney rockers Australia (the band, not the country, not a country band) will be playing The Northern as a stop on their Breathe In tour, in support of their latest single, on 9 Sep.
Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds + Hits + Shifting Sands: The Triffid, Newstead
Fri 02
44 • THE MUSIC • 31ST AUGUST 2016
Electric Suede + Eliza & The Delusionals + Electric Zebra + Trails: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley
Sat 03 Merryn Jeann + Christian Patey: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley DJ Set with Thy Art Is Murder: Crowbar (Crowbar Black), Fortitude Valley
Banff + Caitlin Park + Zefereli: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley
‘90s Mania feat. Haddaway + La Bouche + Jenny Berggren + Katrin from Black Box + Amber: Eatons Hill Hotel, Eatons Hill
King Of The North + The Iron Eye + Hobo Magic + Smoking Martha: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley
Trainspotters feat. Yellowcatredcat + Raave Tapes + Feelsclub + Vacations: Grand Central Hotel, Brisbane
Tracy McNeil & The Good BBQ BIGSOUND players and Melbourne-based Tracy McNeil & The Good Life are stopping by the Triffid on 8 Sep for a l’il barbeque alongside William Crighton and Tia Gostelow in their BIGSOUND downtime.
Dezzie D & The Stingrayz + Byron Short: Royal Mail Hotel, Goodna The Hot Potato Band: Solbar, Maroochydore
Gigs / Live The Guide
Habits
Mushroom Free For All feat. Alta + Kyle Lionheart + The Belligerents + Tiny Little Houses + I Oh You DJs + Soothsayer DJs: The Flying Cock, Fortitude Valley
BIGSOUND 2016 feat. Alex Lahey + Tash Sultana + Lanks + Mosquito Coast + Emily Wurramara: Oh Hello! (triple j Unearthed Stage Fortitude Valley
The Night Before BIGSOUND feat. ADKOB + Alice Ivy + Austen + Ayla + Born Joy Dead + Coda Conduct + The Confidence Man + Deena + Gideon Bensen + Ivan Ooze + Mid Ayr + NAATIONS + Robbie Miller + Verge Collection + WAAX + Woodes + more: The Foundry, Fortitude Valley
BIGSOUND 2016 feat. Tigertown + Fortunes + Jack Grace + Woodes + Saatsuma: Ric’s Bar (Big Backyard Fortitude Valley
Pam Ann: The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley
Mammoth Launch
Secret Sounds Opening Night Party with Tkay Maidza + Harts + Oh Pep! + Ecca Vandal + more: The Triffid, Newstead
The Mellum Launch Party is in on 9 Sep. Head over to Woolly Mammoth to see Kucka, Habits, Friendships, Sezzo Snot, Death Club 7 and GNIGHTZ take the stage in one huge night of tunes.
Pandora BIGSOUND feat.Ecca Vandal + Alex Lahey + Fazerdaze + The Golden Age of Ballooning: Woolly Mammoth, Fortitude Valley
Tay Oskee: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore
BIGSOUND 2016 feat. Totally Unicorn + Tapestry + In Each Hand A Cutlass + Hideous Sun Demon + Save The Clock Tower: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley
Brisbane Festival feat. Dave Graney & The Coral Snakes: Spiegeltent, South Bank
Panic At The Disco Vs Fall Out Boy with Granola Boy + Being Jane Lane + All Hours: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley
BIGSOUND 2016 feat. Australia: Fortitude Valley Entertainment Precinct, Fortitude Valley
Skegss + Dumb Punts: The Foundry (Foundry Records), Fortitude Valley
BIGSOUND 2016 feat. Rainbow Chan + Habits + Ribongia + Diger Rokwell + SUIIX: Heya Bar, Fortitude Valley
Shining Bird
Sun 04 The Cookbook - A Tribute To George Benson & Lonnie Smith: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point
Hayden Hack Trio + Olly Friend: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore Triffid Stripped feat. Shukura Chapman: The Triffid, Newstead
Tue 06 Pre-BIGSOUND Party wtih Ceres + Columbus + Totally Unicorn + Loose Tooth + Walken: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley Danny Widdicombe: Lefty’s Old Time Music Hall, Brisbane
Morning Harvey
Monday Morning Susanne Monday is Brisbane band Morning Harvey’s newest single and with it comes a single release tour. The Foundry will be taken over and flooded with dreamy rock by the four-oiece on 2 Sep.
BIGSOUND 2016 feat. Lucianblomkamp + Fractures + Owen Rabbit + Manor + Wishes: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley
Suicide Silence + Boris The Blade + Graves + Disentomb: Woolly Mammoth, Fortitude Valley
Tim Wheatley: Lefty’s Old Time Music Hall, Brisbane
BIGSOUND 2016 feat. Sydonia + Circles + Chronolyth + Sanzu + Hollow World: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley
Emma Russack + Wayne Connolly: Junk Bar, Ashgrove
The Whitlams: The Triffid, Newstead
Pentatonix: City Hall, Brisbane
Brad McCarthy Trio: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point
BIGSOUND 2016 feat. Mid Ayr + Hot Spoke! + Oh Pep! + Daniel Champagne + Allan Smithy: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley
BIGSOUND 2016 feat. Prateek Kuhad + Mike Noga + William Crighton + Leanne Tennant + Mel Parsons: Empire Hotel, Fortitude Valley
Verge Collection + Mary Handsome + Star Club + The Dumb Things: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley
BIGSOUND 2016 feat. Alice Night + Tinpan Orange + Tia Gostelow + Gawurra + Tracy McNeil & The Good Life: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley
Wed 07
Reud Mood + Belligerent Goat + Quazi-Smith + Powerful Owl: The Bearded Lady, West End
For All Eternity + Of Divinity + Ocean Sleeper: The Foundry, Fortitude Valley
BIGSOUND 2016 feat. Ecca Vandal + Foreign/National + Harts + Shining Bird + The Outdoor Type: The Brightside (Coopers Outdoor Stage Fortitude Valley
Thu 08
I Can Fly Sparkly synth-pop group Shining Bird recently premiered their new single, I Can Run, so what better excuse to play some shows? They’ll be playing The Northern on 10 Sep with Flowertruck.
Betty Smokes & the Forgetaboudits: Lefty’s Old Time Music Hall, Brisbane BIGSOUND 2016 feat. The Laurels + Australia + Flowertruck + Thigh Master + Unity Floors: New Globe Theatre, Fortitude Valley
BIGSOUND 2016 feat. Ivan Ooze + Sarah Connor + King Social + Mallrat + Coda Conduct: The Elephant Hotel, Fortitude Valley
Alex Lloyd: Dalrymple Hotel, Garbutt BIGSOUND 2016 feat. The Gooch Palms + These New South Whales + West Thebarton Brothel Party + Wet Lips + Den: Empire Hotel, Fortitude Valley Danny Ross: Greaser Bar, Brisbane
BIGSOUND 2016 feat. Tkay Maidza + Kucka + Vera Blue + Lastlings + Buoy: The Flying Cock, Fortitude Valley
BIGSOUND 2016 feat. Babaganouj + Clea + Kira Puru + Robbie Miller + The Confidence Man: Heya Bar, Fortitude Valley
BIGSOUND 2016 feat. Bec Sandridge + Leah Senior + Ainslie Wills + Ryan Downey + Moreton: The Foundry, Fortitude Valley
The Casuarinas: Junk Bar, Ashgrove
BIGSOUND 2016 feat. Simona Castricum + Groeni + Corin + Andrew Tuttle: The Press Club, Fortitude Valley
BIGSOUND 2016 feat. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever + Verge Collection + Terrible Truths + Falt + Empat Lima: New Globe Theatre, Fortitude Valley
Touch Trolley Run to Galley feat. Pam Ann: The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley Acoustics With Attitude with Apakatjah: The Triffid, Newstead BIGSOUND 2016 feat. Jakubi + Wallace + Clairy Browne + Thando + 30/70: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley BIGSOUND 2016 feat. Columbus + Polish Club + Forevr + Sparkspitter + Fazerdaze: Woolly Mammoth (Alehouse Stage), Fortitude Valley BIGSOUND 2016 feat. Command Q + Luke Million + PON CHO + Alice Ivy + Anatole Woolly Mammoth (Mane Stage), Fortitude Valley
Ham: Lefty’s Old Time Music Hall, Brisbane
BIGSOUND 2016 feat. Sampa The Great + Tiny Little Houses + Middle Kids + Good Boy + Golden Vessel: Oh Hello! (triple j Unearthed Stage), Fortitude Valley BIGSOUND 2016 feat. Teeth & Tongue + Olympia + Dorsal Fins + Pynes + Fountaineer: Ric’s Bar (Big Backyard), Fortitude Valley Pandora BIGSOUND Lunch feat. Ecca Vandal + Young Tapz + Apes: Ric’s Bar, Fortitude Valley Wandervan: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore Christopher Port: TBC Club (The Bowler Club), Fortitude Valley
THE MUSIC 31ST AUGUST 2016 • 45
Comedy / G The Guide
8FootFelix: The Bearded Lady, West End BIGSOUND 2016 feat. Yumi Zouma + Japanese Wallpaper + Gordi + Mossy + Banff: The Brightside (Outdoor Stage), Fortitude Valley
Jurassic Jam: The Triffid, Newstead
Plini
End of Fashion: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley KLP + NYXEN: Wharf Tavern (The Helm), Mooloolaba
BIGSOUND 2016 feat. GL + NAATIONS + Huntly + Cleopold + Bel: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley
Vera Blue + Lanks + Lastlings: Woolly Mammoth, Fortitude Valley
BIGSOUND 2016 feat. A.D.K.O.B. + Young Tapz + A.B. Original + B Wise + Birdz: The Elephant Hotel, Fortitude Valley
Sun 11 Rodney Rude: Albany Creek Tavern, Albany Creek
BIGSOUND 2016 feat. The Belligerents + Rolls Bayce + The Ruminaters + Gideon Bensen + Selaphonic: The Flying Cock, Fortitude Valley
Katy Steele: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley Brisbane Big Band: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point
BIGSOUND 2016 feat. Totally Mild + Loose Tooth + Jarrow + Gabriella Cohen + Naked: The Foundry, Fortitude Valley BIGSOUND 2016 feat. Kyle Lionheart + Luke Daniel Peacock + Raised By Eagles + Harmony James + Missy Lancaster: The Press Club, Fortitude Valley Margaret Cho: The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley Acoustic BBQ with Tracy McNeil & The Good Life + William Crighton + Tia Gostelow: The Triffid, Newstead
Flowertruck
Kill Frenzy: Elsewhere, Surfers Paradise
Sunrise On The Horizon Sydney prog-rock prodigy Plini has his debut album, Handmade Cities, on the way and is embarking on the Electric Sunrise tour to celebrate. Catch him with Intervals and Polaris at The Brightside on 1 Sep. The View From Madeleine’s Couch: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point
Out Of Abingdon: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point
Tyron Hapi + Jade Le Fly: Eatons Hill Hotel, Eatons Hill
Dress Up Attack! feat. Patience & John (The Grates) + Bunny Racket: Club Greenslopes, Greenslopes
Rodney Rude: Hamilton Hotel, Hamilton Shining Bird: Imperial Hotel, Eumundi Byron Short & The Sunset Junkies: Langford’s Hotel, Mackay
A host of BIGSOUND’s best acts are bringing the conference to a close at their official closing party on 9 Sep. Celebrate with Alex Lahey, Flowertruck, Good Boy, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever and Gideon Benson.
Dezzie D & The Stingrayz: Lefty’s Old Time Music Hall, Brisbane Little Georgia: Miami Marketta, Miami KIng Social feat. Drewboy + The Sax Addicts + Zed Charles: New Globe Theatre, Fortitude Valley
Crypt + The Dead + Daemon Foetal Harvest + Coffin Birth: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley Alex Lloyd: Harvey Road Tavern, Clinton Maroochy Music & Vis Arts Festival feat. Matt Corby + Peking Duk + Allday + George Maple + Client Liaison + City Calm Down + Ngaiire + Boo Seeka + Bad// Dreems + Vera Blue + Pop Cult + Batz + Japanese Wallpaper + Alex Lahey + Tom Tilley + The Francis Wolves + Chris Flaskas + IV League + Inigo + Mark Lowndes + Forevr + Alice Ivy + Juju Bom + more: Horton Park Golf Club, Maroochydore
The Tommyhawks + The Sugar Shakers: Lefty’s Old Time Music Hall, Brisbane
The Stiffys: Ric’s Bar, Fortitude Valley
Motion City Soundtrack + With Confidence: Max Watt’s, West End
Blonde on Blonde + El Bravo: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley
Ghost Audio + Lunar Seasons + Deadbeat Society: New Globe Theatre, Fortitude Valley
Plutonic Lab: The Motor Room, West End
Deborah Conway + Willy Zygier: Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) (Cremorne Theatre), South Brisbane
Cheap Fakes: The Spotted Cow, Toowoomba
Angela Fabian + Fiona Boyes: Royal Mail Hotel, Goodna
BIGSOUND 2016 feat. Fascinator + Rebel Yell + Ferla + 100% + Gregor: Woolly Mammoth (Alehouse Stage), Fortitude Valley
Official Big Sound Closing Party feat. Flowertruck + Good Boy + Alex Lahey + Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever + Gideon Bensen: The Triffid, Newstead
Sandstone Rocks feat. Hoodoo Gurus + Baby Animals + Jon Stevens + The Black Sorrows + more: Sandstone Point Hotel, Sandstone Point
BIGSOUND 2016 feat. Rat & Co + Broadway Sounds + Telling + Braille Face + iNCH: Woolly Mammoth (Mane Stage), Fortitude Valley
Kucka + Habits + Friendships + Simona Castricum + Sezzo + Death Club 7 + Gnightz: Woolly Mammoth, Fortitude Valley
Pete Allan + Doolie + Jason Daniels: Solbar, Maroochydore
DJ Craze + Four Color Zack: Wharf Tavern (The Helm), Mooloolaba
Fri 09 Hound: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley
46 • THE MUSIC • 31ST AUGUST 2016
From The Jam (feat. Bruce Foxton) + The Strums + The Maslows: Miami Marketta (Studio 56), Miami
Sat 10 Felix Riebl: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valleyy
The Stiffys: The Spotted Cow, Toowoomba Beardyman: The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley Simple Plan + Forever Ends Here: The Triffid, Newstead
Tue 13 Campfire Sessions: Lefty’s Old Time Music Hall, Brisbane Brisbane Festival feat. Montaigne: Spiegeltent, South Bank
El Bravo
Kinsmen & Co + Denise Drysdale + Marty Rhone: Jupiters, Broadbeach
Deborah Conway + Willy Zygier: Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) (Cremorne Theatre), South Brisbane
The Massive Fergusons: Royal Mail Hotel, Goodna BIGSOUND 2016 feat. DZ Deathrays + I Heart Hiroshima + Mere Women + Ceres + Heads Of Charm: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley
Silk n Oak: Lefty’s Old Time Music Hall, Brisbane
Michael Fuhrman + Treading True: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore
Vera Blue + Lanks + Lastlings: Elsewhere, Surfers Paradise
That’s It For This Year
Sissybones: Junk Bar, Ashgrove
Jesse Taylor: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore GANGgajang + Tyrone Noonan: The Arts Centre Gold Coast (The Basement), Surfers Paradise
Bravo To Blondes Blonde On Blonde have partnered with El Bravo on a co-headline Australian tour. They’ll be playing The Brightside on 9 Sep joined by fellow Brissy rockers The Badlands for a free night of indie-rocking.
THE MUSIC 31ST AUGUST 2016 • 47
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