The Music (Brisbane) Issue #145 by TheMusic.com.au

31.05.17 Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture

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145

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WHY LIVING IN LA MEANS NO POINT HANGING AROUND IN AUSTRALIA

TOUR: THE CACTUS CHANNEL & SAM CROMACK

TV: FEAR THE WALKING DEAD

RELEASE: BERNARD FANNING

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THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 5

Music / Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture

Handle The Heat

theMusic.com.au: breaking news, up-to-the-minute reviews and streaming new releases

Hot on the heels of the release of their album Lab Experiments Vol 1: Mixin’, Aussie funk trio Cookin’ On 3 Burners have announced a four-date east coast tour in June and July.

Cookin’ On 3 Burners

Cameron Avery

Get Mended Sydney singersongwriter Vera Blue has announced a national tour, bringing her entrancing folk melodies to audiences across the country from July to September, off the back of new single Mended.

Right Dreams Multi-talented muso Cameron Avery has announced a run of headline shows during June and July in support of new album Ripe Dreams, Pipe Dreams, unveiling new single Watch Me Take It Away for good measure.

Deep Breath The AIR Awards are back for their 11th year and the nominations are in, with AB Original, DD Dumbo, Alex Lahey and Flume getting multiple nods. The big event itself is in Adelaide on 27 Jul.

AIR Awards

6 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017

Arts / Li Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture

How To Get Away With Murder

Sydney outfit Thy Art Is Murder are set to head out on the road this July and August for a huge tour where they’ll be joined by some of Australia’s best heavy metal talent.

Thy Art Is Murder

THUR 15 JUN ADAM HARVEY & BECCY COLE

Vera Blue

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THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 7

Music / Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture

Coldsnap

Dallas Frasca

This year’s Dead Of Winter Festival has reached epic proportions, with more than 50 acts set to take the Jubilee Hotel this July following the second-wave announcement topped by the likes of Dallas Frasca, The Porkers and Giants Of Science.

Amanda Brown (the Go-Betweens)

Raise Your Voice The program for this year’s state-wide Queensland Music Festival in July has been released. It includes six world premieres and features Manu Delgado, Montaigne, Lior and a tribute The Go-Betweens’ seminal 16 Lovers Lane featuring its band members and guests like Steve Kilbey, Ron Peno and more.

Fearless Canadian-born, Auckland-based soul singer Tami Neilson will finally return to Australia this August, bringing her most recent album Don’t Be Afraid.

18 The number of stadium shows locked in for Ed Sheeran on his upcoming Australian tour, breaking the previous record held by AC/DC. 8 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017

Georgia Fields & Phia

Sky, Sea & Fields Two Melbourne singersongwriters, Georgia Fields and Phia, will be travelling across the country in July and August for their joint Sky And Sea tour.

Arts / Li Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture

Little BIGSOUND

Huge Little Big News

In keeping with their theme for 2017, even when BIGSOUND goes smaller, it goes bigger. They’ve announced the return of the youth-centric Little BIGSOUND this week with a completely revamped program and all-ages showcase event.

The Preatures

Red Deer And Early Birds

Tami Neilson

Beloved boutique BYO bush bash Red Deer Music & Arts Festival will return for its seventh year in October, with organisers today revealing its theme and date as well as opening up the free-for-all on early-bird tickets.

Ocean’s Rhapsody

Ocean Grove

From humble beginnings writing, recording and producing their debut album The Rhapsody Tapes in their drummer/ producer’s bedroom, Ocean Grove have now announced a national headline tour in August.

THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 9

Music

ALL DAY EVERY DAY It’s been a whirlwind few years for Allday, with countless doors continuing to open up. He tells Cyclone of the positives and perils of going through those doors. Cover and feature pics by Kane Hibberd.

10 0 • THE THE MUS M MUSIC USIIC US C • 31S 31ST 1ST MA M MAY AY 20 2 201 2017 017 17

llday (aka Tom Gaynor) ushered in progressive Australian hip hop with 2014’s hit album Startup Cult. He’s now resurfaced with a deeper and more personal follow-up in Speeding. And the maverick is taking on a fresh challenge - cracking the US. Just days after wrapping Groovin The Moo in Bunbury, Western Australia, Gaynor is back in his new Los Angeles base. It’s not all sunny glamour - the indie rapper/singer/ songwriter delays this interview to top up his mobile credit. Soon, he’ll return Down Under for a national headline tour and Splendour In The Grass. Alas, Gaynor had nowhere in Oz to crash - aside from his Mum’s place in Adelaide. But, really, he’s relishing California, where downtime is spent in the studio. “I sort of have to be here to keep working,” Gaynor maintains. “I feel so happy with my life happening here. So it just seems like there’s no point hanging around in Australia if I’m gonna move somewhere and I’m gonna get busy.” Gaynor’s decision to relocate to LA on completing Speeding was strategic. “I just felt like my music hasn’t been a thing where blogs pick it up and then it naturally gets big everywhere. So I thought, ‘All right, how did it happen in Australia?’ In Australia, it wasn’t blogs. It was radio, to a degree. [But] it wasn’t a marketing thing - it really was just me being in Australia doing shows. So I figure, alright, if I’m gonna get big in America and other places, I had to come here.” Gaynor’s charming, laid-back demeanour masks his ambition - and sincerity. This anti-hero’s origin story is now familiar. As a kid in suburban Adelaide, Gaynor discovered hip hop, rapping for fun. He (unsuccessfully) joined rock bands. Gaynor transplanted to Melbourne to attend art school, but dropped out. Less widely known is that he briefly pursued stand-up comedy - being runnerup in 2011’s RAW Comedy National Final. “I never found comedy used to be easy,” Gaynor divulges. “I felt like I was pushing so, so hard just to be okay at it. Then music seemed to come easier to me.” Gaynor would export his comic skills into hip hop - positioning himself as a sardonic rapper. In fact, he was inspired by both Kanye West’s individualism and Drake’s fluid singing/rapping. Gaynor latched onto a modish electronic hip hop - a style far removed from traditional Aussie boom-bap. Even Gaynor’s “weirdo” image was unique - with his long hair and septum piercing, he looked more emo than homeboy. Disseminating his music online, Gaynor broke out with 2012’s So Good - a triple j anthem. He consolidated his countercultural brand with an alternately witty and selfdeprecating Twitter feed. Eventually signing

to Illy’s fledgling ONETWO, Gaynor’s debut Startup Cult, led by the poppy Right Now, reached #3 on the ARIA Charts. Between albums, he toured solidly. Gaynor circulated the stopgap mixtape Soft Grunge Love Rap. And he cut features - most notably for Troye Sivan’s internationally acclaimed album Blue Neighbourhood. Surprisingly, for Speeding, Gaynor liaised, not with US producers, but with buzz Aussies - like Melbourne chillwaver Japanese Wallpaper (the single In Motion). His guests, too, are local up-and-comers. Gaynor’s Brisbane protege Mallrat the self-appointed “Hannah Montana of the rap game” - blazes on two tracks. “She’s a real cool person.” Overall, the paradoxicallyentitled Speeding is more subliminal than Startup Cult - Gaynor coming across as introspective rather than flippant. “It maybe wasn’t something I was completely aware of ‘til it was finished,” he concurs. “It’s so hard to understand what you’re making until you put it out there - even though I sat there and played it next to my other music.” Gaynor admits that, with Startup Cult, he was emulating major American acts. “It was definitely beginner music.” But Speeding introduces his own aesthetic. He sings more than raps. Still, Gaynor has picked up on the latent anxiety pervading contemporary US urban music. “Drake basically invented this singy/rappy sad guy genre - in this generation, anyway. So that is the window to be able to talk about your experiences honestly.” Gaynor has previously alluded to personal struggles - with partying, drugs, and adjusting to fame. Today he downplays these, however. “I was going through a weird time through a lot of the last couple of years - not entirely bad stuff but, if you listen to Speeding, it’ll make it sound like it was entirely bad.” If Speeding is “so dark”, Gaynor posits, it’s partly because of his producers’ sonic inclinations. Oddly, Startup Cult represented the flashpoint in a generational shift in Australian hip hop - old school heads outraged at Gaynor’s cultural transgressions. “When, before, people had to accept that Allday was ‘a thing’, nobody wanted to accept that Allday was ‘a thing,’” he vents. “I still remember dealing with the negativity from older people. Everyone wanted Allday to disappear because it was a perceived

threat to their way of doing things - or that’s at least how I felt from them. But, as time went on, everyone probably realised they can still do what they do and I can do what I do and everyone can have their own spot.” Ironically, Sydney vets Bliss N Eso recently ventured into trapwave on Off The Grid - teaming with Gaynor’s cohort Cam Bluff. “I’ve met them,” Gaynor enthuses. “I’ve had nothing but very positive exchanges with them.” Meanwhile, he’s opened the way for Mallrat, Gill Bates and Ryland Rose. “I definitely think I’m part of Australian hip hop changing, but I also don’t care. I just wanna make good songs.” Nevertheless, Gaynor’s biggest nemesis is a fellow upstart - Kerser. In 2015 the hardcore Campbelltown rapper controversially dissed Gaynor, and his followers, on his track Takin’ Over The Scene, deploying homophobic epithets. Gaynor offered “a cheeky response” - albeit a cerebral one. On Facebook Gaynor shared a snap of himself absorbed in William S Burroughs’ Beat Gen novel Junky, joking that he was reading about Kerser. Gaynor (perhaps naively) approached the feud as a publicity stunt. “I had an option at the time to respond or not - and I decided I’m gonna respond in a funny way. I’ve got music to promote and, after all, this is entertainment, people. Also my fans deserve to have me say something. If you’re gonna try to drag Allday’s fans through the mud, then I have to say what I stand for.” Yet Gaynor wasn’t prepared for the intense reaction. “I don’t wanna have to deal with Kerser - and Kerser’s fans - face-to-face, realistically,” he laughs nervously. Gaynor genuinely admires his adversary. “I think Kerser’s awesome! The fact that he has essentially popularised gangsta rap from Australia - that’s the coolest thing of all time.” For what should be another run of sell-out shows come July, Gaynor will perform his classics and, savvily, those Speeding bangers most popular on Spotify. But, the eternal nerd, he’s amped, too, about his new stage production - with video screen. “I remember the Kanye Yeezus tour had a gigantic screen, which cost more than I could ever afford, but that was probably one of my favourite shows - it was just simple, but effective.” Like Allday.

I definitely think I’m part of Australian hip hop changing, but I also don’t care. I just wanna make good songs.

What: Speeding (ONETWO) When & Where: 22 Jul, Splendour In The Grass, North Byron Parklands; 29 Jul, The Tivoli

FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES Since Startup Cult, Tom “Allday” Gaynor has cameoed on tracks by everyone from Tasmanian divette Asta (the neo-disco hit Dynamite) to Jackie Onassis (Bad, on their ‘stealthed’ Pristine Alley album) to Gill Bates (She Knows). But the rapper/singer’s most significant guest spot was on electro-popster Troye Sivan’s 2015 debut Blue Neighbourhood - the personal song For Him. Sivan’s album entered the US Top 10, affording Gaynor invaluable international attention. Back home, Blue Neighbourhood received several ARIA nominations, including for ‘Album Of The Year’. “I think we just knew each other from Twitter and we’d spoken a bit,” Gaynor recalls of his collab with Sivan. “When he sent the song through, I liked it straight away. I was going into the studio, anyway, so, when I got in there, I started recording it within, like, two hours. I knew the album would be big because For Him was so dope - I could just tell. It definitely exposed me to a lot more people overseas, so I have a lot to thank Troye for.” This year Gaynor inadvertently reached US listeners through yet another unexpected avenue. His 2013 single Claude Monet was synced for the critically-divisive Netflix series, Marvel’s Iron Fist, starring Finn Jones. The song plays in the final episode. In LA, Gaynor has been busying himself with other guest vocals. Lately, he’s cut a track with the Diplo-endorsed New Zealand future bass combo SACHI. THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 11

Music

Cromack & The Cactus Lewis Coleman from The Cactus Channel and Sam Cromack were accosted by Roshan Clerke for a three-way Skype chat to discuss the process of working together, and how it’s changed their songwriting.

he two are speaking from their respective homes in Melbourne and Brisbane, and Cromack even runs out of the room to turn his kettle off at one point, bringing to mind the time he carried a kettle full of boiling water onto the stage at Falls Festival, inside a backpack, and poured himself a cup of tea. It was after a similar show, during the tour for Ball Park Music’s third album, Puddinghead, that Coleman reached out to the lead singer with the suggestion of a collaboration. As fate would have it, Cromack was already a fan of The Cactus Channel, and they were soon making music together.

You always underestimate how much you’re going to learn from collaborating, and you do come off changed, in a way.

“It was refreshing how much we didn’t have to discuss it,” Coleman says. “We never even really sat down with some kind of mission statement.” “When I met the guys they already had songs developing,” Cromack explains. “They had lots of music, and they just played while I started noodling over the top with melodic ideas. For the longest time I sang gibberish on so many of these songs. I was just busy with Ball Park stuff, or whatever other stuff, and I guess as I’ve gotten older I’ve had more and more difficulty writing lyrics for things.” The resulting ambiguity in the songwriting on their release, Do It For Nothing, has not only made for a compelling listening experience, but it’s also created 12 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017

a unique situation for Coleman when performing the music. “It’s been really interesting, because The Cactus Channel have done a few shows recently, and I’ve been singing some of these tunes with the lyrical content, so I have had this connection with them. But as a band, we haven’t gone through it with Sam,” he says. “It’s another thing to learn about this music, even after it’s recorded, which is kind of a nice thing; it’s not like it’s done and then that’s it.” “You feel compelled to understand a song when you start to grow fond of it,” Cromack adds. “We spent so much time working on the music together that unfortunately the lyrics were not really part of that. I ended up writing them right at the last minute, as I recorded the vocals, and I haven’t really had the chance to hang with the guys since then. I remember seeing the press release for Sorry Hills, and there was a bit of an interpretation of the lyrics, which was not wrong, but I thought it was funny that they were having a stab in the dark,” he laughs. The process of collaboration has changed both of their songwriting, and they’ve since found themselves moving in new directions. “There’s definitely a difference in feeling and approach,” Coleman says. “I feel like we often take enthusiasm and inspiration from film music and soundtracks but are a little too excited about it, and play everything with the feeling that it gives us rather than what the actual thing is, so it comes off as quite excitable and potentially busy at times. “I know with our earlier records it was quite frantic like that, but I’ve been trying to get around to making more subtle music with that cinematic feel. We’re trying to be a lot lighter on things in some ways, and I think this is for the better.” Cromack experienced something similar. “I’m way less scared of having something that’s really slow tempo, really spacious, and has the voice a bit more exposed. There was a couple of moments in the last Ball Park record when we were finally learning to have a little bit of chill, and I think going into The Cactus Channel thing gave me a chance to explore full amounts of chill. I really got to see my voice not necessarily as being better than I thought it was, but more versatile.” He adds that while having insane amounts of energy has always been a staple part of his music with Ball Park Music, the opportunity has allowed him and the band to see things in a new light. “You always underestimate how much you’re going to learn from collaborating, and you do come off changed, in a way. I really am thankful for that, and it makes me feel like the whole thing was super worthwhile.” “That’s about it,” Coleman says, wrapping up our conversation. “It’s a good thing, and I will be glad to perform it live.”

What: Do It For Nothing (Hope Street Recordings) When & Where: 2 Jun, The Brightside

MAY

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Music

Down With The Count As metallers Body Count make their first visit to Australia in more than 20 years, frontman Ice-T talks to Brendan Crabb about Trump, collaborator bucket lists and swimming pools.

regular on NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Ice-T, born Tracy Lauren Marrow, is understandably in positive spirits regarding the program’s recent renewal for a staggering 19th season. “I’m not mad at that at all,” he enthuses. “I’m happy to be able to be firing on all cylinders.” What would the 19-year-old Marrow say of the 59-year-old incarnation appearing on a long-running television show? “He would just be happy. The Ice-T of 19 was trying to get out of the hood, so he’s like, ‘Oh, we found a way out, we good’. The Ice-T of 19 wanted a swimming pool; the Ice-T of 50, he got a swimming pool. So that’s all that matters.”

It’s a special chemistry that makes good records.

Not that the hip hop titan and actor is content to merely engage in rest and relaxation. The vocalist reconvened long-time heavy metal outfit Body Count for 2014’s Manslaughter after several years’ absence. That album sometimes focused on cartoonish violence as much as it did social commentary. The new record Bloodlust, however, features an incensed Marrow condemning racism, poverty, police brutality and gang conflict. It’s also perhaps the most accomplished album of Body Count’s career. “I just think the band is finally... locked back in. We had a lot of hardships in our band, we lost three members. It’s a special chemistry that 14 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017

makes good records, and I think after Manslaughter we realised we could make a good record again, so we just wanted to do it better. We went in with the intent to make the best record we could. I concentrated on my lyrics, everybody concentrated, and good records come from focus. You have to be focused, and you’ve got to want to do it. So we set out with something to prove.” Marrow delved into his contact list from the metal world to enhance Bloodlust’s already considerable vitality, with Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine, Soulfly’s Max Cavalera and Lamb Of God growler Randy Blythe all afforded guest spots. “When we’re getting ready to make a record, we always get those, everyone knows us and they say, ‘Yo, when you get ready to go in the studio, let us know’. Randy Blythe became friends with Ernie [C, Body Count guitarist]. And Max, we’ve been knowing them [Soulfly] since Sepultura days. Dave Mustaine, I’ve been knowing him my whole career. So those numbers were always there, and they always said ‘call us’ but we never did. This time, [we said] ‘Let’s call motherfuckers’. Let’s say, ‘what’s happening?’ Rockers are like, ‘I’ve gotta a riff, I got a vocal’... So we weren’t afraid to collaborate and the record came out that much better.” Marrow also has a few names remaining on his collaborative bucket list for Body Count, too. “Next record, we’ll probably get Tony Iommi. Ernie produced the [Black Sabbath] Forbidden album, I was on The Illusion of Power [from] that album. So we’ve got a connection with him. I would love to get Henry Rollins on a record, but he says he don’t do music anymore. But I think I could call him up. Maybe get Jello Biafra. People that we really respect, and people that are known for being legendary.” Bloodlust was created during the US election campaign, but prior to the Trump administration. “We never mentioned Trump’s name on the record because this was written pre the election,” Marrow explains. “And I just didn’t believe he was gonna be president. So I said I don’t want to be talking about somebody who will be a citizen at the time this record comes out. Well, I was proved wrong. But I think the tension that the world is feeling right now, it’s kinda hard to make party music and pop music, and just act like nothing’s going on. I think that’s irresponsible. You have to address some of the shit that’s going on in the world right now. I’m a transmitter of their [fans’] voices. They don’t have that voice, so people tell me and I translate that through my music. So hopefully I’m angry at the same shit they’re angry at.” Pundits have suggested that much like the divisive Reagan era fuelled some truly vitriolic punk, hardcore and hip-hop, the current administration could also motivate a new generation of disaffected youths to pick up a guitar or microphone and rail against injustice and inequality. “I hope so. I would love to see like a 19-yearold Public Enemy, or a young Ice-T come out. Because you’ve gotta remember, when we started talking shit we were in our 20s... So it’s sad that when you know you have some injustice you’ve gotta refer back to us. We need new voices.”

When & Where: 1 Jun, Tivoli Theatre

Music

No Looking Back Bernard Fanning tells Rod Whitfield of the motive behind dropping two albums so close to one another, and chats about life after four solo albums.

ernard Fanning’s fourth solo record Brutal Dawn has come pretty hot on the heels of his third, Civil Dusk, with there being only nine months in between the two releases. This came about because of the wealth of songs he had written over the preceding couple of years. However, instead of doing a double-album release, or indeed the whole Guns N’ Roses thing (releasing two separate albums at the same time) he decided to do it his own way. “It’s a pretty different process putting two records out in a row,” he says, “even doing more promo now, so quickly after having done a lot for the last record, is really unusual. I’ve never done it before. But it is a new record, and they kinda go together. It’s an unusual kind of situation. About half way through making the first one, we said ‘We’ve got heaps of material here, but we don’t want to make a 20-song album.’ So we did it over two. So we’re presenting them together and apart,” he laughs, “it’s an odd feeling but I’m really happy with it.” Fanning feels that he has upped the ante on the new album. “I feel I’ve bettered Civil Dusk,” he opines, “there’s always that novelty thing, that this is the new thing, but I just feel like this one just hangs together better.” He managed to secure the rather illustrious services of one of Australia’s greatest ever drummers, Midnight Oil’s Rob Hirst, on one of the key tracks on the album, America (Glamour And Prestige). His regular drummer was unavailable for one of the sessions and Hirst just happened to be in Byron at the time. “He’s one of the greatest drummers,” he says, “and that energy and power that he brings to stuff, he really brought that song up and gave it a good kick up the arse. He just made it have a lot more zing that I thought it was going to have. When you see someone that’s that good

It’s more about saying ‘what’s next?’ rather than saying ‘weren’t we great’, and patting ourselves on the back

at something in action, whether it’s playing drums or snooker or tennis, it’s just awesome to watch.” Fanning admits that it’s a little difficult to get his head around the fact that he is now four albums and well over a decade into his solo career outside his former iconic rock act Powderfinger. “Yeah, it’s weird,” he states, “it’s weird but it’s also just everyday reality. I obviously look back very fondly on my days in Powderfinger, I had a really awesome time and I’m really proud of what we did. But it’s not part of my everyday reality now. I’ve never been one to look back too much or to worry about what’s happened. “It’s more about saying ‘what’s next?’ rather than saying ‘weren’t we great’, and patting ourselves on the back. I certainly appreciate those days, I just don’t want to talk about it all fuckin’ day!”

What: Brutal Dawn (Dew Process/Universal) When & Where: 22 Jul, Splendour In The Grass, North Byron Parklands; 26 Aug, Maroochy Music & Visual Arts Festival, Horton Park Golf Club; 18, 20 & 21 Oct, The Triffid

THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 15

Music

Difficult Loves One of our country’s greatest ever songwriters Mick Thomas talks to Steve Bell about the inherent difficulties of shoehorning his solo career into book and compilation form.

hen Mick Thomas’ legendary band Weddings Parties Anything pulled up stumps in 1998 after 15 years and six acclaimed studio albums, he was forced by necessity to start again from scratch, albeit with his former band’s sizable legacy behind him to help on the profile front. Having now spent the best part of two decades curating his solo career — out front of various backing ensembles such as The Sure Thing and The Roving Commission — it’s come time to acknowledge that aspect of his career with a new compilation titled These Are The Songs, the companion piece to new book These Are The Days.

I just wanted to really shore up the package so that it was something that people couldn’t just get via streaming.

“I think I’ve pretty much set my course and haven’t diverted much along the way,” Thomas laughs of acknowledging his second career phase. “As a solo body of work I feel pretty good about it, and doing the compilation and the book forced me to look at it in that regard. You constantly are having to do that but this was probably a bit more consciously: every time you write a setlist you have to contemplate what’s on offer to play for people, or every time you do a rehearsal, and I guess just rejigging the band recently you’re forced to think about what we want to be and how we’re regarded. I guess that’s the question that anyone with any sort of musical legacy is forced to confront.” 16 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017

Both the size and strength of Thomas’ solo canon caused headaches when it came to picking songs for the compilation, which eventually ended up filling a doubleCD (including four new tracks). “The whole thing started with the idea that I just wanted a really good compilation to sell at the merch desk,” he tells. “Because a lot of my records have become deleted, and I was really aware of this trend in my supporter base of people returning to me after going away for a few years to have families or for whatever reason. So I was constantly having people saying to me after the set, ‘That was great, I haven’t seen you for years, what were most of those songs from?’, and I guess I wanted something to sell that had ten songs that we’d play on a given night. “The idea for writing the book came out of the idea that I just wanted to really shore up the package so that it was something that people couldn’t just get via streaming. I was still really dedicated to the idea that in a cottage industry you can make money from the merch stand, although that seems to be less and less the reality — you have to diversify. The other night I was sitting down with Billy Bragg and we were laughing about how it’s come down to us selling tea towels, and I know that someone like Henry Wagons has these hip flasks you can buy, you just need items that you can sell. Streaming has had a massive effect on that.” The book delivers fascinating insight into not just all of the tracks on These Are The Songs, but also looks at the WPA songs that have survived the journey and still exist in the current live set. “The initial publisher we spoke to was kinda troubled that there was nothing from the Weddings in there, then later we changed publishers and the guy at Melbourne Books — who’s fantastic and has done a lot of music books — he just said to me, ‘Look, why don’t you just pick the ten songs from the Weddings that you still might do, that still might have some sort of currency, and just write about them?’” Thomas explains. “That seemed like a great idea so I sat down and wrote about those songs, and originally I had them in a separate part of the book, but then the editor came back to me and said, ‘You’re bitching about people who draw this imaginary line in your career and in your canon of what you’ve created and now you’re doing the same thing yourself.’ “Then he suggested that I place them in a rough chronology that’s maybe a bit similar to a live set, just put them where they’d sit so that the book will finish with some gravity because that’s how you finish your live set. He said, ‘You’ve got this real culture about what you do, why reject that?’ That was really great advice.”

What: These Are The Days (Melbourne Books); These Are The Songs (Liberation) When & Where: 10 Jun, The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar; 11 Jun, The Bison Bar, Nambour

Metal Is The New Black Hilarious, humanising and harrowing Netflix original series, Orange Is The New Black, is returning for its fifth season on 9 June and Uppy Chatterjee spoke to Jessica Pimentel (the tough Maria Ruiz) on that season four cliffhanger.

Jessica Pimental with co-star Selenis Leyva

nown for its racially diverse, emotionally rich ensemble cast, one of the inmates of Litchfield Penitentiary is the thickskinned, semi-villainous (at least in the series’ most recent season) Ruiz, the leader of the Spanish Harlem group of women who, as it turns out, is just as impatient to watch season five as you are. “We left at this very high tension place... We all wanna see how it unfolds, even though we know what’s gonna happen, we wanna see the performances, we wanna see the shots, we wanna see how the make-up looks on, you wanna see it all go down in one piece,” she says in her Sydney hotel, comfortably curled up in a huge armchair. Ruiz was one of season four’s antagonists — in addition to psychopathic prison guard Thomas Humphrey — and instigated a number of brutal attacks on fellow inmates, including branding a swastika on privileged goodgirl-gone-bad Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling). Pimentel herself seems nothing like the caustic Ruiz, but she explains that’s not all true. “Every character you play is a piece of you — you have to bring your experience to your character. There’s a piece of Maria in me — that tough chick that will hold her ground, but then you also see in the first four seasons that Maria’s very funny, she’s very intelligent, she’s very caring, she loves her family so much, she’s extremely loyal. “Maria took a turn for the dark side in season four, but I think it was with good reason. She lost her one beacon of hope and when someone has nothing, nothing to live for, they become the most dangerous person in the room.” Away from Orange Is The New Black, Pimentel is a lover of heavy metal and the guttural lead singer of her band Alekhine’s Gun, namechecking bands like King Diamond, Metallica, Warzone and Slayer as heavy bands

Every character you play is a piece of you — you have to bring your experience to your character.

that got her love for metal burning. Her partner is Swedish metal band Meshuggah’s drummer, Tomas Haake, who she tagged along with on their recent Australian tour. We gush about how they met at an afterparty like we’re two teenage girls at a sleepover. “We just started talking, and it was not a flirtation-vibe, it was just like — wow, we really connected! Two people just sharing ideas and spilling guts and telling stories that no one knows, and we just talked the whole night and it was awesome. And we thought we’d be really good friends and we maintained very loose communication — and it turns out I was going through a break-up and he was going through a break-up and we were both very respectful of that. I didn’t know that it was an option even [to date]”, she says, getting coy all of a sudden. “And he never gave off that vibe either. It was really a spiritual connection and mental connection first.” She ponders for a moment, sounding less like Maria Ruiz than ever. “When your new love’s mum says she’s never seen him so happy in his whole life, that really is a beautiful thing to hear.”

What: Orange Is The New Black When & Where: 9 Jun, Netflix

THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 17

Credits Publisher Street Press Australia Pty Ltd Group Managing Editor Andrew Mast National Editor – Magazines Mark Neilsen

Music

Fantastic Voyage

Editor Mitch Knox Arts & Culture Editor Maxim Boon Gig Guide Editor Justine Lynch gigs@themusic.com.au Contributing Editor Bryget Chrisfield Editorial Assistant Sam Wall, Jessica Dale Senior Contributor Steve Bell Contributors Anthony Carew, Benny Doyle, Brendan Crabb, Caitlin Low, Carley Hall, Carly Packer, Chris Familton, Cyclone, Daniel Cribb, Dylan Stewart, Georgia Corpe, Guy Davis, Jack Doonar, Jake Sun, Liz Giuffre, Neil Griffiths, Nic Addenbrooke, Rip Nicholson, Roshan Clerke, Samuel J Fell, Sean Capel, Sean Hourigan, Tom Hersey, Tom Peasley, Uppy Chatterjee Photographers Barry Schipplock, Bec Taylor, Bianca Holderness, Bobby Rein, Cole Bennetts, Freya Lamont, John Stubbs, Kane Hibberd, Markus Ravik, Molly Burley, Stephen Booth, Terry Soo Sales Zara Klemick sales@themusic.com.au Art Dept Ben Nicol, Felicity Case-Mejia, Alex Foreman 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

18 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017

‘90s rap giant Coolio’s coming to town with Salt N Pepa, Vanilla Ice and Color Me Badd. He talks to Cyclone about why he doesn’t do trends.

he Compton, California rapper Coolio (aka Artis Ivey, Jr) was one of hip hop’s first major crossover stars. His Gangsta’s Paradise - featuring R&B singer LV - was 1995’s top-selling single and won a Grammy. “Weird Al” Yankovic even parodied it. Over 20 years later, and Ivey is an in-demand nostalgia act. He’ll return to Australia as part of June’s I Love The 90’s Tour with Salt N Pepa, Vanilla Ice and Color Me Badd. The international franchise has been so successful as to expand into cruises Stateside, with the inaugural Ship-Hop happening in 2018. But Ivey maintains that he “transcends” old school rap. “I’ve always felt like I’ve made timeless music,” Ivey says from his Las Vegas base. “I never write trendy songs and use a lot of trendy words - I don’t do that so that, when the song gets a little older, people will be like, ‘Oh, that was a long time ago, nobody don’t talk about that no more.’ The kind of things that I talk about, people will be talking about for the rest of their lives.” Rapping in the late ‘80s, Ivey joined the notable WC And The Maad Circle. He then inked a solo contract with Tommy Boy Records. The West Coaster broke through with the G-funk Fantastic Voyage from 1994’s It Takes A Thief. But today Ivey is synonymous with Gangsta’s Paradise recorded for the Dangerous Minds movie,

but also the title track of his second album. Borrowing from Stevie Wonder’s Pastime Paradise, the song universalised gangsta rap. Ivey subsequently hit the studio with Aussie popster Peter Andre - guesting on his ‘urban’ single All Night, All Right alongside Warren G. “It came out pretty good,” Ivey says, pausing. “To tell you the truth, I can not remember not one second of that! It’s gone from my memory, for some reason.” Yet Ivey’s urban-pop manoeuvres prompted a backlash. Despite charting highly with the classical-sampling C U When U Get There from 1997’s My Soul, he lost his deal. Still, Ivey landed acting roles - cameoing in Batman & Robin. He participated in reality TV shows. And he’s branded himself as a credible celebrity chef, his speciality “ghetto gourmet”. Ivey hasn’t necessarily put music on the back-burner. This showman tours consistently. He performed at 2012’s Falls Festival. (“It was real cool.”) In January Ivey aired Kill Again, a #BlackLivesMatter anthem exposing the reverberations of gang culture and police brutality. “It was just something that I wanted to bring some attention to, that’s all,” he says. Though Ivey has touted an EP, he’s non-committal about future album projects. “I’ma kind of play it by ear for right now. The market is overcrowded with bombs. There’s a lot of wack music out there - and there’s some good music out there... A lotta people don’t make albums. I think that the time of the concept album is probably over. But I may or may not do another album. I can’t really say at this point. I’m just doing what I feel.”

When & Where: 10 Jun, Eatons Hill Hotel

Film

We Will #Resist HRAFF Program Director Lauren Valmadre discusses the heart-wrenching themes of some of this year’s standout documentaries with Stephan A Russell, emphasising that the voices of those affected need to be heard.

here’s an impossible choice at the heart of Human Rights Arts & Film Festival (HRAFF) highlight Raving Iran. Tehran-based DJs Blade & Beard (Anoosh and Arash) are passionate about their love of Persian house music, but it’s a forbidden love persecuted by the moral police that could see them imprisoned or worse. Directed by Sue Meures, it contains iPhone footage of their wild underground parties. Pretty soon Anoosh and Arash’s growing reputation lands the duo a gig at Zurich’s Lethargy Techno festival. That’s where the heartbreaking decision comes in.

It’s only a positive thing to be a more inclusive and dynamic society.

“They’re faced with the option of either returning home, living their lives and playing in secret, or they can live in Europe and pursue their creative freedoms but at the expense of their country, family, friends, relationships, everything that they’ve ever known,” says HRAFF Program Director Lauren Valmadre. “The decision they make is going to change their future forever and it’s a really exciting, thrilling film.” Now in its tenth year, resistance and resilience are at the heart of HRAFF’s fascinating program, as are the very human responses of compassion and kindness. “We’re seeing extraordinary individuals that represent all of these fantastic qualities in our films and hopefully there’s

something we can learn from and engage with in that,” Valmadre adds. The Sydney stretch of HRAFF opens with director Belinda Mason’s Wagga Wagga-set doco Constance On The Edge. An Acholi woman from South Sudan, Constance Okot fled civil war with her children, losing almost everything in the process. Settling in regional Australia wasn’t an easy transition, though her indomitable spirit in the face of frightening flashbacks and overwhelming linguistic and cultural differences is something to behold. “Constance is an incredibly remarkable, resilient woman who has experienced unimaginable horror in her time and now faces new challenges in Wagga,” Valmadre says. “She becomes a leader, not only to her family but also to her community.” Police brutality has been a recurring theme over the years at HRAFF, so Valmadre says it’s refreshing to see that, though Okot’s family do get into a bit of bother with the local constabulary, both parties sit down together to figure it out. “It’s a really lovely example where police and the community could work together to try and better understand each other’s situation,” Valmadre notes. “Not just fearing the other, but trying to understand in a much more human way I suppose.” Last year’s opening night film Chasing Asylum, directed by Eva Orner, exposed the terrible conditions of refugees held in detention centres on Manus and Nauru. Valmadre argues Constance On The Edge offers a better solution. “Constance shows there is absolute strength in diversity and that refugees can invigorate these communities. These people didn’t want to leave their home. They were forced to. Then when they try and resettle in Australia they are faced with more inhumane treatment and it’s absolutely devastating. It’s really important these voices are heard in our festival. It’s only a positive thing to be a more inclusive and dynamic society.” Love and understanding play a big role in Australian shorts package highlight Love Is Love, directed by Logan Mucha and Daniel Von Czarnecki. It tackles the notion of ‘normality’, celebrating LGBTIQ families. “Family are the people who love and support you,” Valmadre says, her voice wavering. “It’s just such a loving, gentle film and I get so emotional thinking about it. In a time in Australia where we still don’t have marriage equality, it’s really important people see it.” Valmadre also recommends American doco Check It, by Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer. A rousing call-to-arms, it follows a group of gay and trans AfricanAmerican young adults who, form their own gang. “It’s very vivacious and energetic,” she says. “When no one else is there to help or support them, they stand strong now, together, as a means of protection and survival.”

What: Human Rights Arts & Film Festival (HRAFF) When & Where: 1 - 3 Jun, Palace Barracks

THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 19

Music

Frontlash State Of Euphoria

Go Live Or Go Home

Katie Noonan’s sublime direction for Qld Music Festival featured some awesome announcements, including a tribute to the Go-Between’s 16 Lovers Lane.

Big Opportunity, Little BIGSOUND Artists aged 25 or under have until Sunday 11 Jun to apply to showcase at Little BIGSOUND 2017 on 29 Jul.

Lashes

Back In The Game Ball Park Music aren’t wasting time with their fifth album; they’re currently “kneedeep” in it, less than a year from their last.

16 Lovers Lane

Backlash

Sia In A Bit, Maybe Super-songstress Sia has announced two Aussie shows... in Sydney and Melbourne. Let’s hope there’s more to come.

Courting Disaster

Margaret Court fails to see the irony in moaning that The Project disrespected her, while expecting everyone to weather her disrespect of an entire community.

Action, Reaction... Eventually Promoters are startng to respond to scalpers around Ed Sheeran’s impending tour -- yet it would be better if tickets were’t flogged for $3500 to begin with. 20 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017

Julia Shapiro of Chastity Belt fills Anthony Carew in on her envy of San Franciscans, her “punk phase”, and recording albums live.

hastity Belt guitarist/vocalist Julia Shapiro has just covered Liz Phair for GRLMIC Vol 1, a womencovering-women charity compile benefiting Planned Parenthood. Phair isn’t a formative influence on Shapiro, though, but a recent discovery. “Growing up, but I wasn’t even really aware of many female musicians, which is pretty upsetting,” Shapiro offers. “I didn’t have any female role models who played music, personally, in my life. Where I grew up, in [Palo Alto] outside of San Francisco, people weren’t that cool. I have friends who grew up in San Francisco, and, to this day, they remain just cooler than me.” Exhibit A in Shapiro’s lack of coolness: her tween “punk phase”, where she listened to Blink-182 and Good Charlotte. “That phase lasted less than a year. Even at that age, it quickly dawns on you that they’re posers,” laughs Shapiro. She began playing guitar at 11 - and listening to Elliott Smith, The Cure, Radiohead, Fiona Apple - but never played in a teenaged band. “I didn’t have that many friends around me who played instruments,” Shapiro says. “I didn’t know anyone in a band. Up until I met the other ladies in Chastity Belt, I’d never just jammed with anyone else. I always wanted to be in a band, and thought that would be cool, but it just seemed so unattainable. I

didn’t even want to say it out loud, it was like an impossible dream. When I think about it, now, it’s crazy that I’m in a band.” Chastity Belt began at Whitman College - in Walla Walla, Washington - as a uni lark. But, a positive reaction to the quartet’s debut LP, 2013’s No Regerts, led to a breakout follow-up, 2015’s Time To Go Home. Following tours opening for Courtney Barnett and Death Cab For Cutie, the band embarked on their first Australian tour last year, and made themselves at home. “We spent nine days in Melbourne at the end of our tour, met a bunch of people, made so many friends,” recounts Shapiro. “We hung out a lot with Loose Tooth. When we were in Brisbane, we went to the Koala sanctuary there. I went to the beach a few times. We went to Hanging Rock. Partied a little bit. Saw a bunch of shows. At the end of that trip, we were all like ‘we’re moving over!’” When they were in Australia, they’d already finished recording their new LP, I Used To Spend So Much Time Alone, and were waiting on its producer - Matthew Simms, current guitarist for post-punk legends Wire - to send them finished mixes. Though, this time, they explored and experimented more with guitar overdubs and effects, Chastity Belt again, as with their first two LPs, recorded the basic tracks live. “The people who we’ve recorded with have always said: ‘I see your charm, your identity, as being a live band’,” Shapiro explains. “We always want it to be like how we sound live. Not necessarily completely perfect, but it’s the sound of us together.”

What: I Used To Spend So Much Time Alone (Hardly Art/Inertia)

Mister Niche Guy Ronny Chieng is back on the Australian scene with his new show, Ronny Chieng: International Student. He shares with Guy Davis why it’s important to share stories from all walks of life, no matter how niche they may be.

ulturally speaking, we’re increasingly living in a world full of niches, a place where very specific stories can find their audience. Nevertheless, for some storytellers the feeling persists that the tale they’re compelled to tell may be too niche. The multi-talented Ronny Chieng felt that way for a while when creating his new seven-episode ABC sitcom Ronny Chieng: International Student. Then he snapped out of it. “Interesting stories are niche stories,” says Chieng. “I think the nicheness of the story and the characters only increases the interest. Like Breaking Bad — who can relate to being a chemistry teacher who makes meth? And, no, I’m not comparing International Student to Breaking Bad.” You totally are, Ronny. “Yes, I am.” No meth is manufactured in Ronny Chieng: International Student but, hey, it’s pretty good anyway — a smart and silly comedy drenched in collegiate hijinks and pop culture references that follows the adventures of Ronny Chieng (played by Ronny Chieng), who travels from Malaysia to study law at an Australian university and finds himself acting as “a bridge between the international students and the local culture” while sorting out his own identity and future. “I was looking for a story I felt only I could tell, or that only I was in a position to tell,” says Chieng, who was born in Malaysia and studied law at the University Of Melbourne before shifting into showbiz (including standup comedy, screenwriting and a role on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah). “Something unique and original, and going through my experiences and memories, I just felt like being an international student in Australia — as specific as that

Interesting stories ‘are’ niche stories... I think the nicheness of the story and the characters only increases the interest.

is — was kind of a story that hasn’t really been spoken about but is one that has been experienced by a lot of people. “I would talk to my friends about it, and people would study in a foreign country for three years or so and then go home. And they would say those years were like a dream, it was so ethereal. I wanted to capture that a bit.” A dream or a nightmare? “A balance, really,” says Chieng. “That’s what life is — ups and downs. And that’s why it’s not just about Asian people in Australia, it’s a story about growing up. Part of the story I wanted to tell was coming here as 18-year-old kids and entering adulthood, making decisions for yourself for the first time and thinking you’re old enough to do stuff when actually you don’t have the experience to do so. You feel so sure of yourself because you’ve entered this next phase of your life. But no one really knows what they’re doing at that age.” Chieng developed International Student through the ABC’s Comedy Showroom initiative, a program designed to incubate and nurture screen projects by local comedic talent, and he praises it for giving him the opportunity to find his voice in a new medium after years of success as a stand-up. “The pilot of this series was the first TV writing I’d ever done, and it was a pretty major undertaking,” he says. “So it was invaluable. Figuring out a universe for your show is one of the toughest things there is, and making the pilot [for Comedy Showroom] and seeing it allowed us all to see what we wanted, and then we could write the next six episodes. If they’d ask me to write all seven at once I would have screwed it up.”

What: Ronny Chieng: International Student When & Where: 9pm Wednesdays, from 7 Jun, ABC

THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 21

Music

IN RUBBISH’S WAKE

As part of their We Are Waterbourne clean ups just gone, In Hearts Wake and their fans picked up over 4200 pieces of rubbish in 30 minutes at St Kilda and over 5000 pieces in Bondi. The band’s vocalist Jake Taylor said after the St Kilda clean up: “Today was amazing, perfect weather. The fact we made a difference in the area – we got to clean the area and then we got to play in the area, was pretty amazing. I learned there’s a lot more rubbish and marine debris under your feet than you would know. There was over 4000 pieces collected in 30 minutes. In a square metre, I would find at least ten cigarette butts just moving my hands through the sand. I’d love to do this around the world; I’d love to continue this with my band. “How marine debris harms our planet and harms our wildlife is insane. Putting the planet first really does make a difference. Huge thing is it’s not just about picking the marine debris up, it’s about learning its source. We sorted into groups where it came from – whether it’s consumer, cigarette butts, straw and interestingly enough there was pieces that the council had discarded and trashed for instance zip ties and council fencing that Ben’s group found. So if we find the source, we can stop it at the source.” To hear from more band members and view a gallery of pics, head to theMusic. com.au 22 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017

Set Phases To Stun

Bill Frisell has gone from jazz journeyman to avantgarde architect to old school excavator - but, ahead of his first proper tour of Australia, he tells Matt O’Neill it’s not that linear.

o one is ever fully satisfied by Bill Frisell, it seems. A prolific and eclectic artist, Frisell has been active as a player, composer and performer since the ‘80s. But, each new development in his career seems to frustrate as many as it excites. Originally cutting his teeth as an in-house guitarist for respected jazz label ECM, Frisell later became a key player in the New York avant-garde scene as part of John Zorn’s legendary jump-cut outfit Naked City. From there, he’s branched out into country, film music and Americana. Most recently, he’s been accused of burying himself in nostalgia - with tribute albums to mid-20th century guitar music and the songs of John Lennon. His Australian tour is in support of his recent album of classic film and television covers, When You Wish Upon A Star. “I’ve learned so much from doing this film stuff. It’s so seductive, but, I’m actually not trying to look back. I’m trying to go into the future. I’m trying to move myself forward,” Frisell says with a laugh. “The next album I’m going to do is actually going to be all my own material.” But, while it’s easy to reduce the guitarist to such concrete phases, that analysis

doesn’t actually withstand scrutiny. Often, he’s released albums of separate sounds in the same era. For example, releasing Americana classic Have A Little Faith in the middle of Naked City’s sevenalbum run. “It’s frustrating. It doesn’t really matter - but it’s always much more complicated,” Frisell says. “The way the music is working in my imagination, it’s never just one thing at a time. So much of it is happening simultaneously. I guess people need to break it down to these specific parts.” Even an album as pure in conceptual outlook as When You Wish Upon A Star betrays the image of Frisell’s career as a carefully plotted arc of discreet phases. Amid The Godfather and Morricone themes, you’ll find the theme for Gary Larson’s Tales From The Far Side - which Frisell wrote and included on his 1996 album, Quartet. “That came later. You know, I thought, ‘Oh, wow, I actually wrote something, I can stick one of them in there too!’ It was almost like an afterthought,” he laughs. “It just seemed silly not to include it, when it came down to it.” But, through it all, there’s a running theme of enthusiasm and passion. Whatever Frisell is doing - whether pouring noise over string arrangements or plucking out a bluegrass melody - he seems to be both perpetually delighted and astonished by it. “When you’re naive about something and you find it for the first time, it’s the most amazing feeling,” the guitarist says. “But, it’s a doubleedged sword, because the minute you figure out what it is, you lose that spark. I’m constantly trying to rediscover that spark.”

When & Where: 9 Jun, Queensland Performing Arts Centre

Music

Breakneck Speed

The Necks’ Lloyd Swanton chats with Rod Whitfield about the band’s thoughts on slowing down.

hen you play in a long-running band, a strange thing starts to occur: the band members start realising that there are punters at their live shows who hadn’t actually even been born yet when the band started. And when your history goes back as far as that of legendary Sydney experimental jazz trio The Necks, other, even more head-spinning facts start to become apparent. “We’ve come to the realisation that we’ve been a band longer than we weren’t a band,” laughs bassist Lloyd Swanton, “it’s been more than half our lives. It’s quite daunting. And even more than that, I wonder if other [long-running] bands have people coming up to them and saying ‘my parents told me that I was made to your album!’ That makes us feel useful. And we’re like, ‘Ok, that’ll do, we don’t need any more information.’” With such longevity in their career and so much water under their musical bridge, it comes as a great surprise that the band has never played at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre. However, that is about to change, with the band making their debut performance at that grand old venue in early June. “We’ve done the Old Museum many times, we’ve done The Judith Wright Centre many times and The Powerhouse many times, so I’m not quite sure why it took us so long to do this one,” he says, “so we’re more than happy to do it now.”

It seems that, even with 30 years behind them, things are just as busy as ever in The Necks’ camp - possibly even more so. The band supported Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds up and down the east coast in January, they then went to the United States and Europe, and they have a whole bunch of dates of their own coming up across Australia. Swanton feels there is plenty of juice left in their creative and motivational tank. “We haven’t conquered the world,” he admits, “not that we really want to, it’s not a bigger picture kind of band. We’re very much focused on the smaller picture, always, but we’ve got three very active territories with really good agents in each. We do Australia, we do Europe and we do North America. We’ve got this Australian tour, there’s two more tours of Europe coming up before the end of the year and already plenty of talk about next year.” On top of all that, the band are also working on a brand new album which, when released, will be something like their 16th full-length release. “We’ve laid down a whole bunch of tracks,” he reveals, “the way we work, we normally set aside a week or so to lay down tracks and start to see a direction take shape. Then often we give ourselves a few months off, then come back and start mixing. We’re at that point, maybe this year we’ll do some more work on it.”

When & Where: 1 Jun, Queensland Performing Arts Centre

Best Indie The AIR Awards nominations are in and those up for the biggie of Best Independent Artist are:

DD Dumbo

Flume

AB Original

Alex Lahey

Ali Barter THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 23

Dead Set Come the zombie apocalypse, you’re going to want Alycia Debnam-Carey on your side. The Fear The Walking Dead star talks surviving the survivalists with Guy Davis.

n the pay-TV series Fear the Walking Dead, the end of the world occurs a lot like falling asleep or falling in love: it happens very gradually, then it happens all at once. And while the mothership series, The Walking Dead, shows what takes place after civilisation has succombed to the zombie apocalypse, Fear the Walking Dead takes a more immersive — and one might say more interesting — approach by following one family as they come to realise the end is well and truly nigh.

The zombies are a side story; it’s the people you’re interested in.

The third season of the show, which premieres on Foxtel channel FX, reunites the family — Travis Manawa (Cliff Curtis), Madison Clark (Kim Dickens) and their teenage kids Nick (Frank Dillane) and Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) — after events separated them in the second season. But the reunion may be a little fraught, given that they find themselves sheltered by a community of survivalists whose preparations for doomsday never took into account the neccessaries needed to fend off ravenous, roaming corpses. “It’s where this season unfolds, with this community of people who have been preparing for an apocalypse of some kind,” says Australian actress Debnam-Carey. “It’s a different spin on what we’ve gone through so far — we’ve been running from the apocalypse and encountering

24 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017

people who are doing the same but this time we’re the people who have experienced what life is like on the outside and come into a sanctuary where people haven’t experienced what is happening but are nevertheless prepared for the worst. It’s a very interesting mix of the two groups.” If post-apocalyptic pop culture has taught us anything, it’s that survivalist enclaves tend to have their own built-in dangers and psychological tensions. As Debnam-Carey points out, however, this particular scenario is wrought with some entirely unpredictable dangers. “I don’t want to spoil anything but something that I’ve found is that where our family goes, chaos tends to ensue,” she says with a laugh. “And when you’re lumped together with a group of people who are very protective of what they’ve built and who are prepared for the worst but at the same time unprepared for this kind of worst, it’s definitely the case. “It’s also very, very relevant to the political situation in America — racial issues, territorial issues, issues involving those who have and those who don’t.” Debnam-Carey is a believer in the idea that genre fiction can provide a stealthy insight into the way society operates and the way people behave under the darkest, direst circumstances. She says Fear the Walking Dead is a surprisingly incisive illustration of this. “I was really drawn to that aspect of the show — the fall of society and how it might occur,” she says. “The zombies are a side story; it’s the people you’re interested in. What they’re willing to sacrifice, what they’re willing to do to one another.” That’s especially the case for Debnam-Carey’s Alicia, a straight-A student and high achiever who has had “some pretty dark moments” since Fear The Walking Dead’s story began. “Well, she’s killed a man, which is a massive thing for her to have to process,” she says. “And she has to regularly re-evaluate what matters to her, who she can rely on — that includes herself. She’s someone who had a plan, a very solid idea of what her future would be, and that is completely obliterated. She is having to reformulate who she is in this changing world.”

What: Fear The Walking Dead When & Where: 5 Jun, FX

Music

All Aboard Lil Yachty chats with Cyclone about his recent rise to fame and why he is considered to be a ‘polarising’ figure.

tlantan teen Lil Yachty (aka Miles McCollum) is supposedly wrecking hip hop. He’s riled purists with his ‘mumble rap’ - and his irreverence towards hip hop’s hallowed history. However, with a cult following clamouring for his official debut, Teenage Emotions, McCollum isn’t going anywhere but up. Indeed, this subversive millennial has become emblematic of hip hop’s generational divide - like Kanye West and Drake before him. Why does McCollum feel he’s so polarising? “That’s a great question,” he responds succinctly. “I don’t have the answer.” The AutoTune-lovin’ post-rapper/singer, 19, exudes insouciance - all but mumbling through his interview. Named after jazzman Miles Davis, McCollum grew up around hip hop - his father a music photographer. He formulated his own “bubblegum trap”, distinguished by simple hooks, novelty samples and cheeky fun. Later, McCollum adopted that eccentric nautical handle - and imagery. “My first manager just kinda came up with the idea,” he says. McCollum blew up with 2015’s track One Night. His ‘next big thing’ status was assured with successive EPs and mixtapes, leading to fortuitous collabs. McCollum cameoed on DRAM’s mega-hit Broccoli. More validating again, he guested on Chance The Rapper’s Coloring Book mixtape. Katy Perry recently recruited him for a Chained To The Rhythm remix. Meanwhile, with his colourful, beaded braids, McCollum emerged as a street fashion influencer. The Teenage Emotions artwork has already been praised for its celebration of diversity - McCollum seated in a movie theatre alongside other exuberant adolescent outsiders: a woman with vitiligo, an albino guy, a gay couple kissing... “I’m always trying to do things that are innovative,” he states. Yet, musically, McCollum’s approach was “not too much different” to his previous projects. “I just made it nice.” McCollum has largely avoided commissioning ‘name’ producers, with only Diplo credited. Arguably the album’s biggest guest is Grace Sewell, on Running With A Ghost.

I’m always trying to do things that are innovative.

“Grace is real nice,” McCollum enthuses. “She’s extremely talented.” In fact, the incongruous collab was engineered. “My manager and her manager are really, really good friends.” Still, McCollum expands his sound. Bring It Back is his flip of yacht rock, complete with sax. “I just kinda went with how I feel. I was really just creating.” His favourite song is the avant slo’ jam Lady In Yellow. “I just like the vibe of that song.” McCollum remains contradictory. Though he promotes “positivity”, the Migos-featuring party single Peek A Boo portrays a casual - and immature - sexism. But, McCollum counters, listeners shouldn’t overanalyse the lyrics. “It was never that serious.” McCollum is building his brand. The maverick’s merch line entails a pink cassette edition of Teenage Emotions - his own concept. And McCollum is in demand live. He was even billed for the infamous Fyre Festival. McCollum didn’t travel to the Bahamas - and, despite being a social media kid, the saga (and memes) apparently passed him by. He adds, “I got paid still, so...” This July, McCollum will descend on Australia for Splendour In The Grass. “I’ll come with the energy - and hopefully they give it back.”

What: Teenage Emotions (EMI) When & Where: 21 Jul, Splendour In The Grass, North Byron Parklands

THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 25

Comedy

Duet In The Dark Cabaret life partners Bridget Everett and Murray Hill tell Joe Dolan about what audiences can expect from their joint Australian tour.

merican comedy stars Bridget Everett and Murray Hill are no strangers to Australian shores at this stage, but the pair are more than thankful for the love they receive Down Under. “I was in Sydney just a few months ago, sitting on Bondi Beach, having just had a great night before, and thinking, ‘Man, this is the dream. This is definitely what I signed up for,’” says Everett, “I waited tables for 25 years so I’m very grateful for everything that I do. This is like my third trip down to Australia in about a year and Murray goes down quite a lot, and we do it because we just love it.”

I’m never going to do ‘Trump Jokes,’ because he doesn’t even deserve my time and energy.

Hill himself can attest to the affection, adding, “There’s a big difference to playing to, say, a room of young queers in San Francisco, to the Opera House where everyone just got off the cruise boat and don’t know what the hell is going on!” He laughs, “You can’t beat walking to that place for work every day.” Performing together for the umpteenth time this June, Hill and Everett have amassed a hodge-podge of fans around the country, including some less-thanobvious demographics. “One of the great things about Australia is that there are a lot of older people coming to the audience,” Everett affirms. “There are middle-aged women with their mothers, you know? And you never really know who brought who, but either way it’s fucking awesome.” Hill also says that while he has total affection for his diverse crowd, it can be difficult to find the right 26 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017

feeling on the night. “My first three minutes of stage, where I might look super casual and having fun and all that... I’m doing these jokes that are sort of tests to see what the audience are going to be up for.” He continues, “I just react to what’s in the room and what’s going on in the crowd that day, so it’s a very fresh and in-the-moment type of vibe.” While the pair are constantly finding their way back to one another, on the surface, the two couldn’t be more different. “When I stand next to her I look so short, it’s terrible!” jokes Hill. “I’ve got to stand on a crate when I sing with her.” However, he digresses before sharing exactly what attracted him to performing with Everett. “In New York, you’re always competing,” says Hill. “You’re competing with drag queens, lounge acts, bad venues, bad sound, everything. But Bridget, she is all guts. She is in that room. I have seen her show so many damn times but I am still thrilled by it.” Everett counters with just as much love for her occasional stage partner, saying, “[The audience] are watching people that are maybe not what you would necessarily describe as ‘picture perfect people,’ but if you ask me, Murray is perfect. He’s so fun and he always makes people feel good and he’s so positive and his shows are a total reflection of who he is. That’s perfection to me.” While the world of comedy seems to be heading in one clear direction, Everett and Hill have resisted the urge to go full-blown political with their performances, with Hill saying, “I’m never going to do Trump Jokes, because he doesn’t even deserve my time and energy.” He continues, “Bridget and I are everything that a certain sect of our population does not accept. So, rather than going out onto the street, we go on to the stage and we connect with folks on an emotional, human level.” Everett adds, “The point of our shows is to unlock and let go, and you’re with these two larger-than-life misfits that want you to be a part of their family, so hopefully everyone’s along for the ride by the end.” With everything going on in the US, a change of scenery is a welcome treat to the pair, and they’re ready to bring a whole lot of love with them. “I would love for a lot of queer people to come,” says Hill of the upcoming Aus dates. “It’s a show where these two entertainers can really relate to a lot of different types of people, and for me especially, with my background, I like when there’s family in the house. We’re not like ‘gay acts’, but queer people outside the mainstream have a place to come home to with us.” Everett concurs, adding finally; “Whether you’re older, or you’re a weirdo, or you’re a misfit, your people will always find you, and your life will change in the room. More people accept it and love it now. We haven’t really changed anything; we’ve just waited for everyone else to catch up, you know? So bring an open heart and an open mind and get ready to fucking party.”

What: Bridget Everett & Murray Hill When & Where: 8 Jun, Brisbane Powerhouse

Eat / Drink Eat/Drink

The Spirit Is Winning

Forget Vodka, Gin and Whiskey, there’s a world of weird and wonderful spirits waiting to be discovered. Here are four alternatives to the familiar staples you need to add to your cocktail cabinet.

Moonshine

Absinthe

Vermouth

Mezcal

Once a drink of ill-repute popular during America’s prohibition era, distilled from everything from corn mash to bits of wooden furniture, this high-proof spirit is a far more respectable drop today. So named as it was often distributed under the cover of night, contemporary varieties have a sweet, warm taste with a strong kick.

The drink of choice of Toulouse Lautrec and the Paris bohemians, Absinthe has an almost mythic reputation for its intoxicating powers. Because of its associations with the decadent excesses of artists and writers in the 19th-century, and a belief that it had powerful — although unfounded — hallucinogenic properties, it was banned in many parts of Europe and US.

Best known for its bit-part role in the classic Martini, vermouth is often overlooked as a drink in its own right. But this fortified wine is a delicious, complex, botanical delight that is more than worthy of a place in any self-respecting drinks cabinet. There’s a world of variety to be sampled, with dry, sweet, white, red, amber and rose vermouths, perfect in cocktails, in a spritz, or served neat.

Less famous than its cousin Tequila, this Mexican spirit is not widely available in Australian bars, but it’s well worth searching for. Distilled from the naturally sweet agave plant, it is believed to be an invention of the Spanish conquistadors, who began to experiment with distilling local plant life.

One to try:Distillery Botanica Absinthe Reverie is an award winning, all natural, Australianmade aperitif style absinthe based on a traditional 1871 French recipe. It is the first and only traditional French style absinthe distilled Down Under.

One to try:MAiDENii Classic is the signature bottle of Australia’s premiere vermouth specialists who use 34 different botanicals to give their spirits incredible depth of flavour. The secret of their process is a melding of flowers, fruits, herbs and spices from the gardens of the both the old and new worlds.

One to try:Melbourne Moonshine Sour Mash Shine is high quality and Aussie-made, using corn mash from Victorian farms. Perfect as an alternative to vodka in cocktails, in punch, or for those who enjoy their spirits neat, over ice.

One to try:Agave De Cortes is one of three premium brands imported by the Bondi-based specialists Casa Mezcal. Distilled in the Mexican town of Santiago Matalan — the Mezcal capital of the world — this is a truly Authentic taste of Oaxaca made using techniques dating back two centuries.

THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 27

Music

Strong & Defiant

AWWWWW &

Marika Hackman had a brief moment of uncertainty before unveiling her new music, she tells Anthony Carew.

AHHHHHHH! The animal kingdom has been both cute and cray this week, with two incidents at Aussie zoos prompting two very different reactions. Firstly, the Asian elephant breeding program at Taronga Zoo produced the first new calf in seven years. Popping the little cutie out after a brisk 35-minute labour (good work mum), the new arrival weighed in at a whopping 130kg and was up and about in his paddock within five minutes of arriving, far quicker than it takes most human adults to get out of bed in the morning. In a quite different occurrence on the other side of the country, a pair of orangutans made an attempted escape at Perth Zoo, leading to a lockdown. Apparently, a juvenile male, Sungai, stacked it while playing in his enclosure and fell into a nearby garden. His mum, Sekara, rushed to help, carrying the youth over a railing onto a public walk way. Both made it safely back to their enclosure. Phew! 28 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017

n her defiant, swaggering single Boyfriend, London’s Marika Hackman sings about sleeping with a girl who has a boyfriend, and how said boyfriend dismisses their dalliances as being inconsequential for their absence of a man. “These’re things that’re personal to me, stuff that I’ve had to deal with, or seen my friends dealing with,” says Hackman, 25. “It’s important to be talking about these issues, but it’s nice to explore them on a platform like music, where you can be quite tongue-in-cheek, where you can have fun with it.” She wrote the song in “a frenzy” where “the lyrics just flew out nowhere”. “Then,” Hackman recounts, “I looked back on it, like: ‘wow, that’s pretty fucking bold.’ It’s definitely out on the table, and open. It’s a real stickingyour-middle-finger-up-at-the-world song. I had to ask myself: ‘Are you ready to put this out in the world?’ I thought for a second, and then I was like: ‘yep!’” The response to Boyfriend has been “overwhelmingly positive”, so, Hackman reckons, she’s “probably overdue a bit of vitriol”. As first single and album opener, it’s the introduction to ‘Marika Hackman 2.0’. The wry, playful, rockin’ figure found on Hackman’s second album, I’m Not Your Man, marks quite a change. From her early EPs through her debut LP, 2015’s We Slept At Last, Hackman was a nu-folk prodigy: signed

at 19, mentored by Johnny Flynn, tour pal of Laura Marling (she distinctly remembers supporting Marling at St Michael’s Uniting Church in Melbourne in 2013, as a fly flew up her nose). “People would be talking about me as this eerie, dark girl who sounds like she’s wandering through a forest, brooding,” Hackman offers, “and, as a human being, I’m not that kind of person at all”. Feeling as if her early career had stalled out, in 2016 Hackman parted ways with her label and management, and set about forging a new, not-folkie sound, with help from London indie-rockers The Big Moon. “Once I pushed through those initial fears - feeling scared, feeling self-doubt, feeling lost-at-sea - it became more and more clear that I could do it on my own,” Hackman says. “I wasn’t making it for a label, or a manager, or for anybody else. That made me feel very strong... So, I just let the music flow. I felt bold enough, brave enough, to just let it go, to not try and obscure things, or make them more cryptic.” Which led to Boyfriend, and which led to a record filled with candid, caustic lyrics. It’s an LP more representative of who she is now, but not entirely. “I’ve been able to be very frank and direct with my lyrics, [but] it doesn’t mean that I’m opening up myself to be judged,” she offers. “Marika Hackman, the person, is obviously there in my music, but I’m not necessarily bearing my soul to everyone. It’s funny, it’s a split personality thing. There’s the personal me and the performative me, and there’s a struggle there, a fight between the two of them.”

What: I’m Not Your Man (AMF/Caroline)

Music

Strike A Poser

Death cult hip hop act Ho99o9 are rattling out their brand of mutated punk-rap with their new album, Jean and Eaddy refer to as being about “more than two people howling into the night”. They break it down to Rip Nicholson.

“I

t’s more than a band. It’s more than music. It’s an understanding. It’s a message. It’s art. It’s the world. It’s you, it’s me, it’s us,” furthers Eaddy. “It’s more than what you see. You have to take it in brighter horizons and you know, open your mind and look at it with your third eye.” The LA-based pairing - who were heavily influenced by hip hop’s boom bap era going back to the early inceptions within rap collective Jersey Klan - have released a slew of mixtapes coloured across all palettes outside of traditional rap lines. But as to whether they ever felt removed from the state of hip hop, they remain adamant as to their position staying true to the fundamentals. “Essentially, some of of the sounds are different to what people in hip hop are used to but we’re still hip hop,” claims Jean. “To me, hip hop is always something that pushed boundaries and that’s what we’re about pushing boundaries and not sticking to the same sound as boom bap. You can add whatever you like, rap is rap and I can relate to this shit.” A mind’s eye view to their debut album United States Of Horror sees them mutating their soundscape into the deeper elements of punk and death metal distortion. “We’re both

WE NEED TO of them shits, man,” declares Eaddy. “We like that heavy-ass rap and the attitude of real rock’n’roll, like the attitude of that is what’s so fresh. When asked if Ho99o9 is connecting punk and hip hop back together 30 years later, Eaddy stamped their ambition all over it. “Absolutely! We are. There’s a lot of posers out there. A lot of people fakin’ the funk. That’s what we are born to get into. It’s all real for us. It’s not a pose, it’s not a trend, it’s what we make so we’re bringin’ it back for you motherfuckers.” Through sentiment found on the antipolice Hated in Amerika and off the new LP War Is Hell, the weight of the message delivered will leave you “Slippin’ in your Jesus slippers” as their lyrics suggest. Despite saying they’re not a political act, they still sharpen their weapon on what’s happening now in society and, according to Eaddy, this is important. “When we first came out we were rappin’ about gory-type shit, and now there’s real horrors in the world and in our community. Now it’s important for us to stand up for our community,” stresses Eaddy. “There’s so much violence and racism out there and sometimes we get caught up in the party life and we wanna steer clear of flash cars and big gold chains. And I could be rapping about that shit but I don’t really got none of that stuff so we’re out to talk about what we know.” The energy felt on the new album is undeniable. Live, their reputation precedes them. Just how they summon up such fervour into their album, Eaddy was not short on explaining. “The main energy comes from my balls. You’ve gotta have big elephant, titanium, big fuckin’ balls.”

What: United States Of Horror (Toys Have Powers/Caroline)

TA L K A B O U T CORBY

Pic via Instagram

Schapelle Corby – which until a few days ago we would have assumed was a rare breed of dog – has become lunatic-in-chief of the Land Down Under since touching down on Australian soil in the wee small hours of Sunday morning. The convicted cannabis smugger who spent nine years in a Bali prison, has been part of a string of bizarre incidents since her return to Aus that have proven to be tabloid catnip. For reasons that are still incomprehendible, Corby’s handbag, which she held high while walking through the media circus waiting for her at Sydney airport, was emblazoned with an image of missing toddler William Tyrell who was abducted from his home in 2014, although no one, including the Tyrell family, have any idea why. Since then, Corby’s Instagram feed has offered a strange glimpse at her first days of freedom, including a post of a bizarre painting depicting Corby riding on a mythical creature, captioned with the word “hashtagoiloncanvas”. In another weird twist, Corby’s friends and family have taunted the press by wearing Halloween masks, which – obviously – has only encouraged more press attention. It seems Corby and her mob are milking their five-minutes of fame for all its worth, and to be honest, we can’t get enough of this plentiful stream of batshittery. THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 29

Album / E Album/EP Reviews

Album OF THE Week

Saint Etienne Home Counties Heavenly/[PIAS]/ Inertia

★★★★½

Miraculously, after 27 years as Saint Etienne, Bob Stanley, Pete Wiggs and Sarah Cracknell have found a way to sound more English than ever by conceptually celebrating, deriding and re-daydreaming the home counties that surround London with typically kitsch and swinging panache. Bob Stanley’s scholarly command of pop-styles provides a luxuriance of lyrical paronomasia and moreish candy choruses, gleefully bouncing around poptastic genres across the decades. Sean Connery’s 007 could knock back a martini to the ‘60s Motown stomp of Underneath The Apple Tree while Daniel Craig’s Bond would dig the more modernist Magpie Eyes. That’s not to say Home Counties gets tethered to ‘noir’ a la Portishead; kaleidoscopic colour comes via Dive’s glitzy disco dressed in denim and button badges. Sweet Arcadia’s epic-scale glumness could be their Ghost Town were Cracknell not enunciating every word like verbal Viagra. On Something New and the harpsichord kissed Take It All In, she could pass for Green ‘Scritti Politti’ Gartside’s doppelganger and Whyteleafe imagines what if David Jones’ star had remained claustrophobic-ised by drab municipality instead of ascending to become the Starman Bowie. What Saint Etienne’s ninth has pulled off is a document that wears their Britishness proudly and with good humour. An unexpected groovy treat. Mac McNaughton

alt-J

Dan Auerbach

Relaxer

Waiting On A Song

Infectious/Liberator

Nonesuch/Warner

★★★½

★★★

The third album from the British trio sees alt-J somewhat branching out from their original traditional nostalgic folk and dipping their collective toe into the world of almostelectronic music. This doesn’t quite work as well to their advantage — particularly on the fifth track Deadcrush, which virtually sounds like Joe Newman singing over what can only be described as trap-ish, electronic beats. Without a doubt the highlight of the album is the slow, creeping, delicate gem House Of The Rising Sun, closely followed by Hit Me Like That Snare (a slight nod to the sound of The Doors’ An American Prayer, perhaps?) — and with an eerie but also kind of gorgeous, wailing high-pitched screech. For the long-term fans and listeners

Regardless of whatever else is going on in the world, Dan Auerbach must be having a pretty good time right now. Having built his own studio in Nashville, Waiting On A Song was conceived by Auerbach and a whole heap of righteous old timers swinging by, including John Prine, Duane “Titan of Twang” Eddy and “some of the greatest musicians who have ever lived,” according to Auerbach. Waiting On A Song is perky, highly polished work that’s a long way from the bang and clatter of his day job with The Black Keys. No doubt lo-fi purists will pine for The Black Keys recorded-anywhere-but-astudio early works. They may have a point. Full of homey, feel-good toe-tappers like Shine On Me, Waiting On A Song is like some quality audio wallpaper. It’s easy on the ear, but there’s

30 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017

of alt-J, the catchy, slow burning In Cold Blood, the anthem-like Adeline and opening track 3WW are likely album favourites. Relaxer ends on the convincingly grand yet playful Pleader, a track that uses the flamenco guitar against Newman’s voice, church organ and presumably violin, to create an orchestral sounding summary of the album. All in all, there lies some interesting use of instruments and sounds in alt-J’s follow-up from their 2014 album This Is All Yours — albeit a little inconsistent. Tanya Bonnie Rae

not a lot of substance. There’s a bit of variety with the syrupy string-fest of King Of A One Horse Town and the hangdog miserablism of Never In My Wildest Dreams, but by and large it’s comfortable dad rock with not a lot of fresh inspiration. Now might be the time to stop partying and get back to work. Christopher H James

EP Reviews Album/EP Reviews

Chastity Belt I Used To Spend So Much Time Alone Hardly Art/Inertia

House vs Hurricane

Husky

All Time Low

Punchbuzz

Last Young Renegade

Filth

Liberation

Fueled By Ramen/Warner

UNFD

★★★

★★★½

★★★★

★★★½

Echoey and with a distinct indie twinge, Chastity Belt start charmingly mellow on I Used To Spend So Much Time Alone. Openers Different Now and Caught In a Lie deliver just enough heartbreak, supported by a jangly thin guitar line. Particularly sweet is the change in It’s Obvious, using slightly brighter tones and colours but with a lilting chorus. A distinct feeling of building frustration burns through as the album progresses, with Something Else showing real longing. There’s also something distinctly Smiths-like about 5am — only with a much better injection of local talent rather than borderline crazy Morrissey.

Although it’s unclear as to whether this band is back as a full-time concern, it’s great to have some new music from them. Especially when that new music sounds like Filth. The aptly titled LP is an incredibly nasty, destructive take on posthardcore. The riffs are jagged as all hell and the vocals are mostly dirty, with only a few clean melodic moments thrown in to provide some welcome dynamics to the mix. That said, the production is still clean, crisp and punchier than Mike Tyson in his prime. Filth is a steel-plated fist to the face that is very easy to listen to.

Husky pack a punch with their magical, hypnotic folk indie-rock melodies and Punchbuzz is filled with catchy but dark lyrics. Sung by Husky Gawenda, the dreamy vocals in opener Ghost get the groove going. Walking In Your Sleep gives off major Fleetwood Mac feels with opening guitars and folk rhythms that blow your mind. Late Night Store is a hidden gem; Gawenda’s vocals charm while the catchy indie beat gets you buzzing before Cut The Air, a mesmerising ballad with soul-searching rhymes and deep lyrics. Spaces Between Heartbeats is breathtaking with its soft synths that drift off into space and moody lyrics that finish off the amazing album.

Sure, music snobs and punk aficionados will turn their nose up at Baltimore pop punk group All Time Low, but Last Young Renegade shows that over the past 14 years the band have so tightly crafted a sound that they’re not pretending to be anything they’re not. This is FM radio-friendly music made for 20-somethings bred on a teenage diet of Simple Plan, Yellowcard and Fall Out Boy. Expert use of dynamics and harmonies, paired with the occasional rhythmic flourish, sees Last Young Renegade as good as anything All Time Low have delivered in the past decade, and a record that’s sure to translate well on stage.

Rod Whitfield

Liz Giuffre

Dylan Stewart

Aneta Grulichova

More Reviews Online Roger Waters Is This The Life We Really Want?

theMusic.com.au

Pete Murray Camacho

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THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 31

Live Re Live Reviews

Ryan Adams @ The Tivoli. Pic: John Stubbs

Ryan Adams, Middle Kids The Tivoli 23 May

Middle Kids @ The Tivoli. Pic: John Stubbs

Ryan Adams @ The Tivoli. Pic: John Stubbs

DJ Shadow @ The Triffid. Pic: Terry Soo

32 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017

DJ Shadow @ The Triffid. Pic: Terry Soo

Emerging Sydney four-piece Middle Kids seem completely at ease on The Tivoli’s big stage before a healthy early turnout; perhaps playing live on Conan earlier this year to a massive American audience makes a Tuesday night Brisbane crowd seem slightly less daunting. Opening with the heartfelt pop of Your Love they display a dexterous, vaguely ‘80s sound, whether via the melodic Old River or the upbeat Fire In Your Eyes, which finds frontwoman Hannah Joy’s vocals soaring throughout the rousing climax. The restrained Doing It Right is both personal and passionate, while they rock hard on the catchy Edge Of Town — the tune they chose to showcase over US airwaves — and finish strongly with the Americana lilt of Never Start. Tonight’s gig sold out a while back and, accordingly, The Tivoli is bulging at the seams as Ryan Adams and his band wander nonchalantly into the fray; the stage adorned with massive stacks of amps and speakers boxes, flickering TV sets — which will later play snippets of old westerns during proceedings — and random other paraphernalia that gives the setting and stately, informal vibe. They waste no time before breaking into a pristine version of Do You Still Love Me? from new album Prisoner, then bouncing back to the polar end of Adams’ storied career with a boogie-tinged rendition of To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High) from his acclaimed 2000 debut Heartbreaker. The typically tousled Adams is as inscrutable as ever but seems in better spirits than during previous forays to this venue — especially his 2007

debut where he left the stage abruptly after a few songs and didn’t return for 20 minutes, citing lighting matters as the impetus behind the seemingly unprovoked interruption — yet he still offers little in the way of between-song dialogue in the

There’s a nonchalant gravity to everything Adams touches, with no need for affectations or pretentions. early part of the set (later explaining that he fears he’s losing his voice, presumably in part due to last night’s “secret” three-hour show at Woolly Mammoth). His accomplished band help ensure that audience interaction is virtually redundant anyway as they move seamlessly through a slew of strong songs including Gimme Something Good, Two, Dirty Rain, Outbound Train and Prisoner itself, the newer songs slotting in perfectly alongside the classics being cherry-picked from Adams’ previous 15 albums. After Stay With Me and the beautifully down-tempo Invisible Riverside, the singer takes a fan to task for continually yelling out for early classic Come Pick Me Up (another Heartbreaker staple), using a random analogy about the original Exorcist film to highlight the benefit of patience in such matters. He moves on with a run of The Cardinals-era tunes in Sweet Illusions, Dear John and Magnolia Mountain, interspersed with even earlier track (from

eviews Live Reviews

2001’s Gold) When The Stars Go Blue, the staging very literal at this juncture as the backdrop is flooded with approximations of blue stars. As they move through the upbeat New York, New York and the accomplished Everybody Knows, you can’t help but marvel at the grab-bag of classic-sounding songs Adams has at his disposal these days, before he ups the ante even further with a spellbinding solo acoustic rendition of Oasis’ staple Wonderwall, the venue immediately so quiet you could hear a pick drop (apart from respectfully hushed crowd vocals at crucial junctures). There’s a nonchalant gravity to everything Adams touches, with no need for affectations or pretentions as he lets his music tell its own story, although he does indulge in some epic jams during Cold Roses and massive wafts of dry ice flood the room during the start of Fix It, a flashback to a long-gone smokier time. A jovial Adams improvises a song about a local girl who “looks like Wednesday Addams” and by now the anecdotes are coming thick and fast, a touching story about a couple of random meetings with Bob Dylan segueing into a beautiful rendition of My Winding Wheel, the crowd finally finding full voice as well. Peaceful Valley descends into a massive wall of riffs and noodling — delivered in a manner that’s fun rather than bombastic — and they just keep pumping out song after song, Kim leading into Anything I Say To You Now into To Be Without You with barely a pause for breath. By now, well over two hours have expired. The venue’s midnight curfew is getting closer and closer, but nothing will derail this runaway train and they push the restrictions to the minute by finishing with powerful takes on Mockingbird, Do I Wait and the jubilant Shakedown On 9th Street to close things down with no

time remaining for the so often unnecessary encore ritual. All in all it’s been a long and extensive run through a canon that continues growing from strength to strength, a near three-hour musical celebration of all things Ryan Adams, after which probably only the Come Pick Me Up guy will be feeling even slightly short-changed. Steve Bell

DJ Shadow, DJ Katch, The Triffid 25 May The venue change seemed like it could be an unfortunate sign of poor ticket sales in support of this night, and when DJ Katch takes the stage a near-empty room reflects these initial fears. The local veteran takes it in his stride, scratching and mixing his way through a funky feast of sounds. He has well and truly served his fair share of time in helping to push the local hip hop community through the years, and though it’s a shame that there weren’t more in the room to celebrate, it’s great to see him cutting up alongside such a legend of the game. Thankfully, the room fills in some by the time DJ Shadow takes the stage and after a quick greeting, he sets the controls to embark on what is to be an ethereal journey through sound and vision. The centre panel of a three-part LED screen lights up with visuals the moment the music gets spinning, and the intense depth and vibrancy of these particular screens is absolutely stunning. Shadow checks over his shoulder a couple of times to make sure the visuals are in sync, then it’s all systems go and the room is transported through a portal, which opens up over three panels, to the cosmic realms of The Mountain Will Fall. The live experience of this song, and its dazzling video by Territory

The thing that shines through the most is the sheer luminosity of his artistry.

Studio, begins to impart a greater understanding of the sheer wonder of this mastermind’s latest longplayer. It doesn’t take long for Shadow to show off his ‘badass motherfuckin’ DJ’ skills, enlivening I Gotta Rokk by mixing in the notorious Walkie Talkie. The swinging, angular futurism of Bergschrund keeps the room levitating for a while, before we are dragged down to face the confronting realities on the ground by the vocal detonations of Zack De La Rocha on March Of Death, and then become sonically soothed by Nas’ soulful inflections on Systematic. From here Shadow starts to dig in deep. The tortured lament of Rabbit in Your Headlights is compounded with greater weight as Suicide Pact is mixed in and the results are utterly exquisite. He follows along this contemplative trajectory with a few more stellar mixes; Fixed Income, Midnight In A Perfect World and Six Days. Shadow’s mixing and scratching is never without grace throughout the set, but the thing that shines through the most is the sheer luminosity of his artistry. A sonic philosopher in the broadest sense, he acts as such a potent conduit for culture because he negates the illusion of autonomy, embracing a creative process that explicitly honours the phenomena of mutual arising and revolution. Ouroboros can be seen to turn through each and every revolution of his debut Endtroducing... The album dissolves the facades

of authorship to expose creative works as products that come into being through the recreational processes of shared cultural activity. And this set shows just how much he still mines such concepts to their very core. Fundamentally the art of sampling and turntable culture has always dissolved such boundaries and challenged ownership and The Mountain Will Fall is as apt a commentary as ever on the inevitability of revolution within a society that embraces the idea of ownership to such ill ridden excess. When the bleak futurism of Depth Charge rolls out of the speakers it hits these latter points home with the most daunting of spectral abstractions. The variety keeps on coming as Scale It Back and Nobody Speak splash a little colour into the proceedings, before the main body of the set is brought to a close on two most divine notes, Blood On The Motorway and Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt. Upon returning to the stage, Shadow states it’s his 21st anniversary of visiting this country and expresses his gratitude to the audience in attendance. Thoughtfully, he has saved the most uplifting gems for the encore. The Sideshow, The Number Song, and Organ Donor are joyous celebrations that get the crowd dancing with a sense of optimism that carries out into the night. After this cosmic voyage through a myriad of internal-external spaces comes to a close, Shadow steps away from his controls to shake hands and sign some things for those on the front rows, and one more revolution of The Mountains Will Fall comes spinning out of the speakers to hit home the point — it’s happening again! Jake Sun

THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 33

Arts Reviews Arts Reviews

Twin Peaks: The Return

Twin Peaks: The Return TV Now screening

★★★½ The return to Twin Peaks was always going to be a fraught one; no wonder creators David Lynch and Mark Frost left it for a quarter of a century. Not only does this new series fulfil the promise made by Laura Palmer to Agent Dale Cooper in the original finale (“I’ll see you again in twentyfive years”), it also allowed its writers and director plenty of time to find a way back in. This is not a nostalgic return or a franchise extension, this is as difficult a piece of filmmaking as Lynch has ever attempted. If the key figures of the original series were Laura Palmer (dead) and Special Agent Dale Cooper (sent to investigate Laura’s murder), they both got resolutions to their story — Cooper in the series’ cliffhanger finale and Palmer in the prequel feature, Fire Walk With Me. That film was criticised for not feeling enough like the TV series that preceded it and yet it feels like a piece with the original in a way The Return does not. At least, not yet. In that long-ago TV finale, Dale Cooper went to another dimension — the Black Lodge — to save his love, Annie; he got stuck there but his evil doppelganger returned to the bucolic small town, ready to wreak death and destruction. But by then the axe had fallen and the TV series was over. The ending to the series, a classic tragedy; a hero defeated by his imperfect courage in the face of evil. Twenty-five years later, Dale Cooper is still stuck in the Black Lodge and it’s almost time for him to leave. DoppelCooper is alive and well (MacLachlan in bad mullet wig) and driving around to a Trent Reznor score causing all sorts of havoc and violence. To friends and colleagues, Dale Cooper disappeared. But the destruction his evil twin is causing is becoming harder and harder to ignore. Meanwhile, Laura Palmer, after suffering terribly in life and finding some measure of peace at the end of Fire Walk With Me, has somehow had her eternal rest disrupted. Where has she gone? The original show was a small-town detective mystery soap opera with supernatural elements. This new show is 34 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017

defiantly not that. The soap opera elements are all but gone. The detective angle is deliberately obtuse. The supernatural elements have come to the fore, though. This, as we had been warned, was “pure heroin” Lynch, uncut by network or narrative demands. This is the wild ride of Lost Highway and Mulholland Dr with a heavy dose of Eraserhead for good and bad measure. The new series is scattered across the United States. We spend much of the first episode in New York with Tracey and Sam, ensconced on a couch, watching a large glass box, waiting for something to appear. We get a detective mystery in South Dakota, where Bill Hastings (Matthew Lillard) is accused of a murder that he dreamed of but insists he didn’t commit. And then there are peeks into Twin Peaks itself, which only resembles the town we remember in the most surface of ways. We recognise the characters but they don’t quite feel like themselves; is this the result of twenty-five years of ageing or is this Lynch/Frost resisting the expected? Gone is the passionate melodrama, replaced with long scenes of awkward silences and barely any score to be heard. Margaret, the Log Lady, is briefly glimpsed in two phone calls to Deputy Hawk, putting him on the path to find something that’s missing. The Horne Brothers are still scheming — and selling legal marijuana. Lucy and Andy still work at the Sheriff’s station — and Lucy can’t get her head around modern technology. Lynch seems to resist technology, too. It’s been a recurring theme of his work, since Eraserhead questioned industry and man-made chickens, through Lost Highway’s distaste for video cameras. Behind-the-scenes, Lynch has embraced digital photography, though, meaning the new series looks crisp and clean, but is devoid of the warmth

of the old series. And while The Return has laptops and cellphones, Lynch isn’t interested in having them work like you would expect. Frustratingly, as in much of Lynch’s work, women get a very raw deal. Even in the original 1950s aesthetic of Twin Peaks, the female characters — though wives and waitresses — had minds and urges of their own. The Return isn’t giving us any of that at all. The women are on the periphery, on the margins and the victims of torment and violence. This is something I had hoped wouldn’t be a central aspect of this new series, but alas, Lynch seems to have not changed much in this regard. There’s a great balance of humour and horror and the melding of different genres is as striking as you might expect from a Lynch/ Frost collaboration. Once something appears in that glass box, it is decidedly freaky. Once Andy and Lucy’s son Wally appears, you’ll be rolling on the floor laughing. And Bobby Briggs (Dana Ashbrook), of all people, brings back a potent reminder of the awkward melodrama the original excelled at. Lynch and Frost don’t seem too concerned about pandering to an audience of fans or casual viewers: story threads are unclear, and we don’t have a lead character at all. Mark Frost’s book, The Secret History Of Twin Peaks, implied that Special Agent Tamara Preston might take the lead, but so far Chrysta Bell’s breathy, swishy supermodel performance isn’t really fitting that bill. But we are only four parts in, barely at the act one turning point of a traditional narrative, and we do get a sense from Agent Albert Rosenfield (Miguel Ferrer) and Bureau Chief Gordon Cole (David Lynch, getting more screen time than most of his supporting cast) that the story and characters might converge on that town in the Pacific Northwest soon. I’m not sure exactly what story we’re watching, though. What is the narrative hook? What do these characters want? Where are we headed? As with much of Lynch’s work, this new series is fascinating, maddening, compelling and distasteful.bViewers may have thought the 25-year wait to get here was a long and difficult one, but these coming months may prove longer and more difficult. Keith Gow

HopeStreet Recordings, Select Music, RRR, FBi, 4ZZZ & The Music present

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Comedy / G The Guide

Wed 31

Vaudeville Smash

Tay Oskee: El Capitano, Noosa Heads

Orsome Wells

Brisbane International Jazz Festival feat. Kenny Barron Trio: Queensland Conservatorium, South Brisbane

Mark Sheils: Runcorn Tavern, Runcorn Sun Kil Moon: The Triffid, Newstead

The Music Presents The Cactus Channel & Sam Cromack: 2 Jun The Brightside Mick Thomas: 10 Jun Milk Factory Orsome Welles: 16 Jun Black Bear Lodge Horrorshow: 29 Jun Miami Marketta; 30 Jun The Northern Byron Bay; 1 Jul Max Watt’s Luca Brasi: 30 Jun The Triffid Bello Winter Music Festival: 6 - 9 Jul Bellingen Dead Of Winter Festival: 29 Jul Jubilee Hotel Vera Blue: 25 Aug The Triffid; 26 Aug The Mills Precinct Toowoomba; 27 Aug Miami Marketta Maroochy Music & Vis Arts Festival: 26 Aug, Old Horton Park Golf Course At The Drive In: 2 Oct Eatons Hill Hotel Alt-J: 10 Dec Riverstage

Triffid Acoustics with Sally & George: The Triffid (Beer Garden), Newstead

Thu 01 The Wonder of You with Elvis Presley: Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Boondall Jazz Singers Jam Night: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point Anna + Jordan + Dear WIllow: Cafe Le Monde, Noosa Heads Fleshgod Apocalyspe + Earth Rot + Amicable Treason: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley Truancy feat. Wysha + Datbreddadom + Stevie-E + Troublesome + Various DJs: Elsewhere, Surfers Paradise The Black Sorrows + Vika & Linda Bull + Colin Hay + Mental As Anything + Deborah Conway: Empire Theatre, Toowoomba Brisbane International Jazz Festival feat. Emie R Roussel Trio: JMI Live, Bowen Hills Som De Calcada: Lock ‘n’ Load Bistro, West End

Smash Money If you’re wanting a bit of everything, look no further than Vaudeville Smash. This group of brothers and mates have band together for an explosion of funk, flute, sax and dance tunes. Experience it at The Foundry 2 Jun. Wild Marmalade with Paul George: Soundlounge, Currumbin Birds Of Tokyo + Columbus: The Beer Garden, Surfers Paradise Femmetal feat. Periapsis + Pyre & Ice + Locus + Nowhere Else + Ravens Lair: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley The Creases DJs: The Foundry, Fortitude Valley

In Hearts Wake

Arking Up Hardcore heavyweights In Hearts Wake have just smashed out their latest album Ark and are bringing the noise to The Northern 1 Jun. Don your steel capped boots, and we’ll see you in the pit.

Body Count + A.B. Original + Void Of Vision: The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley

The Necks: Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) (Concert Hall), South Brisbane Tay Oskee: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore

36 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017

The Black Sorrows + Vika & Linda Bull + Colin Hay + Mental As Anything + Deborah Conway: Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) (Concert Hall), South Brisbane Brian Fraser: Royal Mail Hotel, Goodna The Steele Syndicate + Jason Daniels: Solbar, Maroochydore

Paul Dempsey: The Triffid, Newstead

Anna & Jordan: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore

The Con & The Liar + Belrose + Trails: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley

Ben Pearce: TBC Club (The Bowler Club), Fortitude Valley

Fri 02

Pepper Jane: The Brat Cave, Woolloongabba

Food Court: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley Caxton Street Jazz Band: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point Crowbar Cover Series #2 feat. Seas of Valoria + Byron Short: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley Bonka + Benibee + DJ Jakey J + Hynzey + Migs: Eatons Hill Hotel, Eatons Hill Idiio: Heya Bar, Fortitude Valley

OKA

Hurricane Fall: Johnny Ringo’s, Brisbane Di Nero: Lock ‘n’ Load Bistro, West End

Brisbane International Jazz Festival feat. Peedu Kass Momentum + Toby Wren Trio: Queensland Multicultural Centre (QMC), Kangaroo Point

Brisbane International Jazz Festival feat. Tigran Hamasyan: Queensland Multicultural Centre (QMC), Kangaroo Point

Hussy Hicks: Miami Marketta, Miami Lee Kernaghan + The Wolfe Brothers + Tania Kernaghan: Moncrieff Entertainment Centre, Bundaberg The Jake Fox Band + Zoe + Livvia: Night Quarter, Helensvale Shannon Noll: Parkwood Tavern, Parkwood

OKA Round The World The electro Dreamtime rockers from the sunny coast are heading down to Solar on 9 Jun to spread the reggae love. Immerse your senses in the groovy beats of OKA from 8pm.

Gigs / Live The Guide

Baro

Luke Kidgel: New Globe Theatre, Fortitude Valley

Seraphic + Weightless In Orbit + Terror Parade + Tai Sui: New Globe Theatre, Fortitude Valley Jonny Taylor + Innocent Eve: Night Quarter, Helensvale

Brisbane International Jazz Festival feat. Kavita Shah: Queensland Multicultural Centre (QMC), Kangaroo Point

That’s My Fuckin’ Problem In celebration of his latest release Just Problems You Need To Know, Aussie hip hop act Baro has kicked off a national tour. Pull apart The Foundry with Good Morning and Nasty Mars when the tour hits 3 Jun. The Cactus Channel & Sam Cromack + New Venusians + Frida: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley The Doug Anthony Allstars: The Events Centre, Caloundra Vaudeville Smash + Fat Picnic: The Foundry, Fortitude Valley Chris Pickering + Dana Gehrman: The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, South Brisbane Thundamentals + Midas.GOLD + I Am D: The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley 5 Bands for 5 Bucks with Pleasure Seeker + Guava Lava + Dead Hand Blues + The WLVS + Huntington: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley

Shannon Noll: Racehorse Hotel, Booval Pop Standen + Brian Fraser: Royal Mail Hotel, Goodna Not To Regret + All Strings Attached + The Quakers: Solbar, Maroochydore The Natural Culture: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore

The Doug Anthony Allstars: Empire Theatre, Toowoomba The David Bentley Trio: Imperial Hotel (The Bunker), Eumundi

Alvin & Jahbutu: Miami Marketta, Miami GD FRNDS Showcase with Idiio: Miami Tavern (Shark Bar), Miami

Pepperazzi Big Band: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point

Mark Sheils: Samford Valley Hotel, Samford Village

Dosed: Cafe Le Monde, Noosa Heads Beth Lucas + Erin Reus: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley

Wed 07 Che Burns: Cafe Le Monde, Noosa Heads

Pauly P: Lock ‘n’ Load Bistro, West End

Pirra: Queen Street Mall, Brisbane

Logan Community Flood Aid with Flood Aid Rock Legends + John Williamson + James Blundell + Route 33 + Ruby Jo: Logan Village Hotel, Logan Village

Mark Sheils: Runcorn Tavern, Runcorn Brendan Schaub: The Triffid, Newstead

Paul Dempsey

Karrie Hayward: The Brat Cave, Woolloongabba Disney Kingdom Party with +Tim Sparks Fire + In Eyes: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley Baro + Good Morning + Nasty Mars: The Foundry, Fortitude Valley Fettler + Jo Davie: The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, South Brisbane Teen Spirit - A Tribute to Nirvana feat. Byron Short & The Sunset Junkies + Walken + The Bear Hunt + Port Royal + more: The Triffid, Newstead

Great And Paul Aussie songwriting legend Paul Dempsey is heading off on his Blindspot single tour run. If you love Australian music you’d be mad to miss the iconic folk performer kicking off his shows at The Triffid 1 Jun.

Laura Marling

Laura And Fauna Semper Femina is the sixth album release from folk singersongwriter Laura Marling. Join The Triffid in witnessing her blissful sounds full of raw emotion and honesty 8 Jun.

John Kennedys’ 68 Special + River Heads: Junk Bar, Ashgrove Alphabet Street: Lock ‘n’ Load Bistro, West End

Tyler Cooney Trio: Lock ‘n’ Load Bistro, West End

The Francis Wolves + Soul Mechanics + Master Wolf: The Boundary Hotel, West End

Columbus + Lumens + Dear Seattle: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley

Blackmass III feat. Eternal Rest + Truth Corroded + Kyzer Soze + Voros + Kaerulean: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley

Shannon Noll: Beach House Hotel, Scarness

DC Breaks: The Biscuit Factory, Fortitude Valley

Sat 03

Mass Room: Cafe Le Monde, Noosa Heads

Tue 06

Miss Destiny + Knifer + Sex Drive: The Bearded Lady, West End

Donny Benet + Future Haunts + Orlando Furious: Woolly Mammoth, Fortitude Valley

Robyn Brown: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point

Sun 04

All As One + Drop Legs: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley Hedex + Mholly + Kron + Garrood + Ritza: Woolly Mammoth, Fortitude Valley

Neighbour: Magnums Hotel, Airlie Beach

Thu 08

Elegant Shiva + The Badlands: Miami Tavern (Shark Bar), Miami

Pirra: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley

Rick Price: Orion Hotel, Springfield Central

Good Bait Trio: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point

Brisbane International Jazz Festival feat. BFK + Pascal Schumacher: Queensland Multicultural Centre (QMC), Kangaroo Point

Bridget Everett + Murray Hill: Brisbane Powerhouse, New Farm

Julia Morris: Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) (Concert Hall), South Brisbane Adam Brand + Matt Cornell + Gemma Kirby: Redland Bay Hotel, Redland Bay Little Georgia + Taylor Payne: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore Zumpa + Lizzie Flynn & The Reckoning: The Bearded Lady, West End Seretones Music Festival feat. Port Royal + Gnightz + The Seefelds + Pink Matter + Devel: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley The Double Happiness + Billie & Grace + The Neon Signs: The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, South Brisbane

Tobias: Cafe Le Monde, Noosa Heads The Hard Aches + Muncie Girls + The Football Club: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley Ben Ely + Tim Steward: Junk Bar, Ashgrove Eddie Gazani: Lock ‘n’ Load Bistro, West End Busby Marou + The Teskey Brothers: Miami Marketta, Miami Clowns + Night Birds + The Wrath + The Lost Cause: Miami Tavern (Shark Bar), Miami Sierra Boggess: Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) (Concert Hall), South Brisbane Town: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore

THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 37

Comedy / G The Guide

Erin: The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, South Brisbane

Killing Heidi + Iluka + Eliza & The Delusionals: The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley

Future Haunts

Laura Marling: The Triffid, Newstead

D.D Dumbo + Jonti: The Triffid, Newstead

Bad//Dreems + The Creases: Woolly Mammoth, Fortitude Valley

Sea n Sound Festival feat. Boy & Bear + Busby Marou + Tijuana Cartel + Timberwolf + Selaphonic + Chris Flaskas + Tay Oskee + Doolie + more: Wharf Tavern, Mooloolaba

Fri 09 Belle Haven: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley

Subliminal & Dienamix + Getorix + Nexus + Kron + Jamesy C + Okta: Woolly Mammoth, Fortitude Valley

Ingrid James Quintet: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point

Sun 11

The Wet Fish: Coolangatta Sands Hotel, Coolangatta

Brisbane Big Band: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point

Toe To Toe: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley

Tim Loydell: Cafe Le Monde, Noosa Heads

Set Mo + Audun + Lockhart: Elsewhere, Surfers Paradise

Smoking Martha: Eddies Grub House, Coolangatta

Treehouse + Clever: Empire Hotel, Fortitude Valley Izania: Lock ‘n’ Load Bistro, West End Lee Kernaghan + The Wolfe Brothers + Tania Kernaghan: Mackay Entertainment Centre, Mackay Mescalito Blues: Miami Marketta, Miami

Bad//Dreems

Back To The Future

The Blackeyed Susans: The Bearded Lady, West End

Fat Picnic + Shukura Chapman: Miami Marketta, Miami

Taasha Coates (The Audreys) : The Bison Bar, Nambour

Toe To Toe: Miami Tavern (Shark Bar), Miami

Kelsey Berrington: The Brat Cave, Woolloongabba

No Agendas + Junkyard Diamonds + Dead Wolves + The Royal Artillery + Minus Nine + Whiskey & Speed + Ghost Audio + Seismic Toss + Cmash Cmunt + Kham: New Globe Theatre, Fortitude Valley

Velociraptor + Born Joy Dead + Pink Matter + Age Champion: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley Kirin J Callinan: The Foundry, Fortitude Valley Thomas Oliver: The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, South Brisbane

Gutful Trouble Gutful is the latest release from the rock maestros in Bad// Dreems and they’re bringing the booze and the boogy down to Woolly Mammoth. Get loose 8 Jun when the four-piece kick off their national tour.

The Best of the Eagles: Moncrieff Entertainment Centre, Bundaberg Strawberry Fist Cake + The Flangipanis: New Globe Theatre, Fortitude Valley Angus Oastler + Athena Joy + Hazel Mei + Josh King: Night Quarter, Helensvale Bill Frisell: Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), South Brisbane The Wildbloods: Ric’s Bar, Fortitude Valley The Haymakers: Royal Mail Hotel, Goodna OKA: Solbar, Maroochydore Pete Allan: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore

38 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017

Dusty Limits: Junk Bar, Ashgrove

The four-piece garage-rock outfit Future Haunts are bringing their fast-paced and highly energetic punk vibes to Woolly Mammoth. Get down early on 2 Jun as the support of synth pro Donny Benet.

The Wildbloods: Night Quarter, Helensvale Devil’s Kiosk + Swamp Gully Howlers + The Flame Fields: Palmwoods Hotel, Palmwoods

ICEHOUSE: The Star (formerly Jupiters), Broadbeach

Ultimate Eagles: Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) (Lyric Theatre), South Brisbane

Busby Marou + The Teskey Brothers: The Triffid, Newstead

The Honey Drippers + Raku O’Gaia: Royal Mail Hotel, Goodna

Clowns + Night Birds + Shutup Shutup Shutup + The Cutaways: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley

Buck Dean & the Green Lips + The Badlands + Big Whoops: Solbar, Maroochydore

Gaika + Madboots + Tralala Blip: Woolly Mammoth, Fortitude Valley

Bub-Kiss: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore

Sat 10

KLP: TBC Club (The Bowler Club), Fortitude Valley

Three Down + Elly Hoyt + Shannon Marshall: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point The Best of the Eagles: Brolga Theatre, Maryborough DJ Jasti: Cafe Le Monde, Noosa Heads Aversions Crown + Boris The Blade + Alpha Wolf: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley I Love The ‘90s feat. Vanilla Ice + Salt N Pepa + Color Me Badd + Tone Loc + Coolio + Young MC: Eatons Hill Hotel, Eatons Hill

Aeka: Lock ‘n’ Load Bistro, West End Hayden Hack + Jackson Villani: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore Afternoon Show with Thigh Master + Treehouse: Sonic Sherpa, Greenslopes Milk Buttons + Papperbok + Requin: The Bearded Lady, West End Mick Thomas & Roving Commission: The Bison Bar, Nambour D.D Dumbo + Jonti: The Triffid, Newstead

Tue 13 Davey Romain: Lock ‘n’ Load Bistro, West End Ancient Rain feat. Paul Kelly + Camille O’Sullivan: Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) (Concert Hall), South Brisbane Mark Sheils: Samford Valley Hotel, Samford Village

Food Court

The Blackeyed Susans: The Bearded Lady, West End Kyle Morris: The Brat Cave, Woolloongabba Young Lions + Stateside + Wildheart + Joy In Motion: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley Why Thank You #3 feat. Finehouse + I Am D + Nico Ghost + Jesswar + Rari: The Foundry, Fortitude Valley Prok & Fitch: The Met (Coco Room), Fortitude Valley

Taasha Coates (The Audreys): Junk Bar, Ashgrove

Mick Thomas & Roving Commission + Mexico City: The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, South Brisbane

Gypsy Adventures: Lock ‘n’ Load Bistro, West End

ICEHOUSE: The Star (formerly Jupiters), Broadbeach

I Did It My Way If you’ve got an appetite for killer garage punk, satisfy your cravings on 3 Jun down at The Northern with the edgy, sharp and unapologetically punk Food Court, as they begin their sixstop Not My Way tour.

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