The Music (Brisbane) Issue #149 by TheMusic.com.au

26.07.17 Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture

Issue

149

Brisbane / Free / Incorporating

C U LT U RE : C O M M U N I T Y

C U P

RELEASE: D A N

S U L TA N

F E S T I VA L : S A R A

S T O R E R

Find out what you could create at SAE’s Open Day. Our studios will be in action, equipment ready to try, student exhibitions on display and your future mentors ready to inspire.

BRISBANE CAMPUS - WEST END | BYRON BAY CAMPUS - EWINGSDALE RD

THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017 • 3

JONSON STREET BYRON BAY FRIDAY 11TH AUGUST

THE DELTA RIGGS SATURDAY 12TH AUGUST

27TH JULY

THE BADLANDS, BUCK DEAN & THE GREEN LIPS, LOS LAWS

ANDY WARD

FRIDAY 18TH AUGUST

LETTERS TO LIONS, MINI SKIRT

28TH JULY

SATURDAY 19TH AUGUST

THE JUNGLE GIANTS FRIDAY 25TH AUGUST

ISRAELI CHICKS, STORK SATURDAY 26TH AUGUST

THE COURTNEYS, PANDAMIC FIRDAY 1ST SEPTEMBER

HARLEM (USA)

BLEEDING KNEES CLUB SATURDAY 2ND SEPTEMBER

OCEAN ALLEY, THE VANNS THURSDAY 7TH SEPTEMBER

THE PIERCE BROTHERS FRIDAY 8TH SEPTEMBER

SLEEP MAKES WAVES SATURDAY 9TH SEPTEMBER

DROP LEGS

See an everchanging line-up See an everof indie, pop, changing line-up folk, alternative, of indie, country and rock pop, folk, at each Sunday alternative, Livespark. country and rock each Sunday Mix it up on at Livespark. the last Sunday of each month October features with Mixtape, a unique Jo Meares, collaboration LS Philosophy, between Graeme singerMoes, songwriters. Sean Sennett + more.

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THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017 • 5

Music / A Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture

Blood, Sweat & Cheers

Royal Blood

This year’s Splendour In The Grass headliners Royal Blood have confirmed they’ll be returning for their largest Australian tour to date. The duo will be back in April and May for a slew of gigs.

Thar They Go

These New South Whales

After a string of singles, Sydney punk outfit These New South Whales are dropping their album, You Work For Us, on 25 Aug. To celebrate, they’ve also announced an Australian tour beginning in October.

400 The number of tickets only available to The KLF’s return event in England some 23 years after retiring from the music industry.

6 • THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017

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Arts / Lif Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture

The Wright Beat

Easyfever

Australian rock’n’roll royalty are getting together for Easyfever, a tour showcasing the work of The Easybeats and Stevie Wright. Chris Cheney, Phil Jamieson, Kram, Tex Perkins and Tim Rogers will set off in December to perform the tribute.

FRI 4 AUG BONKA

An Australian Affair

FRI 11 AUG

Client Liaison are the latest Splendour act to follow up with an Australian tour, part of what they’ve dubbed as A Foreign Affair World Tour. The indie pop group will be kicking it off at the end of August.

FRI 11 AUG

JAMES REYNE

PON CHO

SAT 12 AUG

NEW FOUND GLORY

TUE 29 AUG STONE SOUR

FRI 1 SEPT

CLIENT LIAISON

SAT 12 SEPT

A FIST FULL OF ROCK FT. HOODO GURUS, YOU AM I, JEBEDIAH & ADALITA

FRI 8 SEPT TORY LANEZ

SAT 9 SEPT

HIGH SCHOOL REUNION

SAT 16 SEPT AFI

THUR 21 SEPT

MAX & IGGOR CAVALERA

FRI 22 SEPT YOU ME AT SIX

Client Liaison

SUN 24 SEPT LEGEND VOICES OF ROCK

Chase The Sun

FRI 29 SEPT THE GAME

MON OCT 2 AT THE DRIVE IN

SAT 14 OCT ANDY GRAMMER

Love Of The Chase

(07) 3325 6777

Australian blues-rockers Chase The Sun are backing up the release of their single Ain’t No Love with a east coast single launch beginning 10 Aug. This single is the second off their upcoming third LP.

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THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017 • 7

Music / Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture

Terrible Twos

The Foundry is officially turning two and, to celebrate the milestone, a birthday bash is naturally in order. Melburnian electro-soul-pop duo GL will be leading the celebrations when it goes off on 10 Aug.

All Our Exes Live In Texas

The Full Mullum Running from 16 - 19 Nov, Mullum Music Festival is celebrating its ten-year anniversary by announcing the entire line-up, with over 90 acts featured. Some of the acts just added include All Our Exes Live In Texas and Mama Kin..

Interviewer: u worked in sales before? Me: yeah Interviewer: what’s your background? Me [gets phone out]: picture of my dog eating spaghetti @david8hughes

8 • THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017

MONO

Rail, Poly, Brow Japanese instrumental group MONO have gained quite an avid following after touching down to Australia for the first time almost a decade ago and 2017 brings them back to our shores. Catch them during their five-stop tour this November.

Arts / Li Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture

Blonde Redhead

Highly Restrung

Restrung Festival is returning 17 - 19 Aug for its third season. US alt-rockers Blonde Redhead have been announced to headline, with the line-up also including the likes of Oliver Coates and The Scrapes.

Raised By Eagles

Soaring High Melbourne’s Raised By Eagles have announced a national headline tour following the release of their latest LP, I Must Be Somewhere. The fourpiece will be venturing along the east coast next month, with a slew of local acts in tow. The Courtneys

No Pain, No Grain The second-announce Against The Grain line-up has dropped and the inaugural festival has well and truly delivered. Acts include Gold Class, The Courtneys and MOSSY. The festival runs from 25 - 27 Aug. THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017 • 9

Music

Vera Blue talks all things identity and folk electro with Jessica Dale ahead of her latest release and impending tour.

10 • THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017

t seems like a cliche to say, but the last few years have been a whirlwind for Vera Blue aka Celia Pavey. Since the inception of her Vera Blue project, Pavey has worked with the likes of Illy on his track Papercuts, spent time working overseas and is now on the cusp of releasing Perennial, the debut album under her new moniker. At just 23, Pavey has come a long way from her hometown of Forbes in the central west of New South Wales, and she’s come even further from being known as the girl who sang Scarborough Fair on the The Voice Australia back in 2013. At the suggestion that Pavey changed her name to buy herself some freedom from her reality show earned fame, she disagrees. “It wasn’t intentional, it just worked that way. I feel so blessed that, especially triple j, took the project and just embraced it and it could have just not worked but we just felt so strongly about it. There’s something about the shift that really helped, I guess,” she explains. “It wasn’t like I wasn’t going to go anywhere as Celia Pavey, but I think it was just the next phase, I was ready to move forward as doing another project and that doesn’t close the door on the Celia Pavey stuff.” Maybe it’s a sign of her age, maybe it’s a sign of the freedom she feels under the protection of Vera Blue, but looking back on old photos and performances, there’s a new breath of maturity and confidence in how Pavey now carries herself. It’s a sentiment that follows to the new album, with Perennial seeing Pavey swapping the guitar folk tunes she’s become synonymous with for vocal driven electro pop. “It is a big change. Before the Vera Blue stuff was born, I was just writing folk songs on my own and folk, it’s who I am. Folk music is everything. I look up to artists like Joni Mitchell and Simon & Garfunkel and artists like that, Angus & Julia Stone, and I was always writing songs like that,” says Pavey. “I was super late to it but I discovered electronic music and I was like ‘oh my Lord, I’ve just fallen in love’. I listen to a lot of alt-J, FKA Twigs, and even songs back in the day by Massive Attack and stuff like that, and I just fell in love with the emotional side of electronic blending with the folk.” It’s been a collaboration with brothers Andy and Thom Mak, producers who have previously worked with Boy & Bear and Bertie Blackman, that has played the biggest role in changing the music Pavey creates. “I met Andy on a writing camp called the Native Tongue, and I was in a session with him and Australian singer-songwriter Gossling, and I said to him ‘I write folk songs, I’ve got this song called Fingertips that I’ve written a chorus for and I don’t know how to finish it. I really love electronic music and I want to blend the two.’ And he was like ‘sweet, let’s just write the song.’ So Gossling and I finished the song and then we recorded it with just a voice and a guitar and Andy was like ‘I’m just gunna get to work on this and really experiment’ and that’s how the song happened. “And that was before the title Vera Blue came about as well. It was really like just an experimental moment that really grabbed us and we were like we probably should continue working. And then we did the EP and Andy introduced his younger brother Thom, who’s a co-writer, and the ball kept rolling and just got us really excited.” The role the Mak brothers have played in the development of the

Music

The album as a whole is very much acknowledging vulnerability and the fact that I wear my heart on my sleeve.

Vera Blue sound is clear, with Pavey explaining how they are as much a part of the Vera Blue identity as she is. “Gossling, she was the one that put the idea into my head because she has a name as well. And before I was just going to keep Celia Pavey Music which was totally who I was at the time. Because the sound was so different, I was like ‘I feel like it deserves its own name’ so Vera Blue just kind of came from a few little things. “Whenever I think of Vera Blue, I think of it as the collective. It’s me, Andy, Thom and also another person, who’s just working with us now, Jackson [Barclay]. He does a lot of engineering and then recently he started working with my manager in the States, Adam Anders, who is very fond of the project, so we finished the album with him.” For the new album, Pavey has shown no hesitation in being absolutely and completely honest. “The album is called Perennial and my dad actually came up with the name because he’s a horticulturist,” she explains. “The term is used to describe plants and flowers that grow back year after year, and I really loved the word. It related to feelings and emotions and memories returning, reoccurring, coming back and that’s definitely what the album’s really about in a nutshell.” “The album as a whole is very much acknowledging vulnerability and the fact that I wear my heart on my sleeve.”

VERA BLUE: ELECTRO FOLK POP RIOT GRRRL?

When asked which song on Perennial she’s most excited to get out into the world, Pavey answers quickly, sharing the story behind new song Lady Powers and why she feels it’s so important for her listeners.”There’s a song called Lady Powers, which was quite a recent one that we wrote, and it was written in a place in my life where I felt like I was maybe

“It’s funny, some people are saying [it’s] ‘very honest, very real’ and it’s definitely part of who I am and who I’ve become as an artist as well. A lot of artists like to hide their thoughts and their feelings behind metaphors but with this record, I would just say stuff. “I think with the production as well, we had no fear. There was a real sense of no fear and just kind of going for it and exploring and just having a lot of fun. It is a very, very honest record and in a way, that’s touching back on the vulnerable thing. It’s really being open and I’m really proud of the fact I’ve been so honest with my listeners as well, I think that’s why they connect with it a lot.” As much as Pavey comes across as the consummate professional with her succinct, clever and considered answers, it’s in the moments where she lets her guard down — sharing experiences from her time at Splendour In The Grass last year, running into Jack Garratt in an elevator in New York, telling of how Kasey Chambers complimented her work at the ARIAs, the opportunity of a future collaboration with her friend Flume — that really show the warmth, humour and honesty that that many know her for. The Perennial album launch arrives a few days before this story went to print. Watching Pavey perform the new album, everything she’s spoken about comes together; there’s no acoustic guitar in front of her and she seems just as comfortable in playing a MIDI board and sauntering around the stage, the emotion of her lyrics always sitting right at the surface. It’s hard not to think that maybe this was what she had in mind the whole time and was just waiting for the right moment to unleash it.

What: Perennial (Island/Universal) When & Where: 25 Aug, The Triffid; 26 Aug, The Mills Precinct, Toowoomba; 27 Aug, Miami Marketta

being a little bit disrespected, so I found that real strength and real kind of empowerment and it’s something I hadn’t quite felt before and I just can’t wait to get that on stage to really just have fun and dance and connect. “I’m super lucky though because I’ve been really well respected by men in general, everyone’s so respectful and so lovely. When I was writing that song, that

was just a particular moment where I was feeling like I wasn’t. It didn’t last long but it’s good to have that song to hopefully last forever to remind me that and remind other women that we’re strong and we shouldn’t have to use our sexuality to be respected. We should just be respected for who we are.”

THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017 • 11

Music

In For The Kill Dan Sultan tells Bryget Chrisfield that his new record “showed itself” after a songwriting session with Julian Hamilton produced Killer track Cul-De-Sac. Feature pic by Kane Hibberd.

an Sultan is already seated at a corner table when this scribe enters a cosy cafe in an inner city Melbourne suburb that has been chosen for our chat. He’s just about to head up to Byron Bay for Splendour In The Grass where he’ll perform some tracks from his Killer new album with a full band and admits, “It’s exciting”. You will already have heard Killer’s first couple of singles — Magnetic and Hold It Together — and now another track, Kingdom, has hit radio. “I’m really proud of it,” Sultan says of Kingdom. “We’d written that [song] and then Pip

The songs sort of present themselves and if you’re lucky you’re listening when they do.

[Norman], about a week later, said, ‘I’ve written another bit for it,’ and he sent it through... I was like, ‘Holy shit!’” Sultan recounts. “And it felt good before, but then after hearing it with the new bit in it that he just sort of demoed up throughout the track that we’d already done as a demo, I mean, it’s just — I can’t remember what it was like before.” Kingdom is a song about “getting better”, Sultan enlightens. “I think generally people are good, and people know the difference between right and wrong, but I think people can show apathy and complacency, and I think people can be lazy. And at the end of the day regardless of your opinion or your political persuasion — sexual persuasion or anything — I mean, people know the difference between right and wrong, you know? And it’s as simple as that. People might be confused, but at the same time they know the difference and it’s not a matter

12 • THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017

of opinion; if two people love each other then let ‘em do whatever they want, you know, who gives a shit? For people to feel like other people’s freedom is taking away from theirs is ridiculous, and it’s self-centred and it’s arrogant, you know? “I don’t consider myself political or preachy. I’m opinionated and I speak up when I feel like it but, yeah! Look, that’s what it means to me. You put out a song, I mean, it means something different to everybody... Kingdom I’ve had people ask me if I’m Christian, you know? ‘Cause that’s what they get out of it, which [is] all good — I’m not gonna say that they’re right or wrong or anything. I mean, you put a song out there — it’s never belonged to me in the first place, I’m only the guy that sang it for the first time, you know? That’s the way I look at it... people’s emotions towards a song belong to them and their understanding about the song belongs to them, but the song itself — it’s its own thing, you know?” Sultan finds collaborating “exciting”. “You can come in with an idea and bounce it off someone, or a couple of people, and all of a sudden it just kinda blows up, you know, to a place you haven’t thought of before.” When asked who he collaborated with on Killer, Sultan acknowledges that Alex Burnett, Pip Norman and Jan Skubizewski — all of whom he’s worked with previously — were the “three big collaborators”. In terms of collaborators he worked with for the first time on Killer, Sultan mentions Jon Hume and Julian Hamilton (The Presets). Of Hamilton, Sultan reveals, “We didn’t know each other beforehand... Julian was great. I mean, I am a fan, you know, and he was a pleasure to work with.” After revealing that their co-write Cul-De-Sac was the first track he wrote that made it onto Killer, Sultan continues, “I’d written a lotta songs previously, and I wrote a lot afterwards as well; there were about 50 songs all up. But that song was the first one that really — I mean, the record sort of showed itself, if you know what I mean? And then from there, after that, I was writing with that sort of vibe and that sort of energy in mind and in heart, you know?” Sultan stresses, “The song’s the boss, there’s no ego,” when it comes to co-writes. “We’re not gonna use my bit just because I came up with it, I mean, we’re just gonna use whatever’s the best... the song lets you know what it wants to do and where it wants to go.” On whether he usually composes on guitar or piano, Sultan shares, “I write in my head. I have an idea pretty solidly in my head before I sit at an instrument.” The album opener, Drover, is a song written about the Wave Hill walk-off in 1966, which was immortalised in From Little Things Big Things Grow, and Sultan describes his own song as a type of prequel to the Paul Kelly classic. On what made him decide to write the song from the drover’s perspective, Sultan offers, “It just happened. I’m a bit of a hippy like that. The songs sort of present themselves and if you’re lucky you’re listening when they do. I mean, I’m sure I’ve missed a lot more than I’ve been able to grab but, yeah!... It’s, like. mathematics existed before people had the capacity to understand it, you know? So I sorta see it in a similar way to that without getting too cosmic,” he chuckles.

What: Killer (Liberation Music) When & Where: 21 Sep, The Northern; 22 Sep, Max Watt’s

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“My PPCA cheque goes straight back into helping me make more music, whether it’s picking up another bit of studio gear, some wacky new instrument or by simply affording me time to put other things aside and experiment.” Paul Dempsey Registering is free and essential, so contact PPCA now.

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THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017 • 13

Culture

Worlds Colliding Ahead of the second Brisbane Reclink Community Cup, the co-captains of the Rocking Horses and the Brisbane Lines tell Steve Bell how the game brings disparate worlds together for a great cause.

n 2016 the Reclink Community Cup came to Brisbane for the first time, having started in Melbourne some 20 years ago. It found a team of local musicians - the Rocking Horses - playing a game of mixed-gender Aussie Rules football against a team comprising Brisbane community radio and music media stalwarts - the Brisbane Lines - to raise money for disadvantaged members of society to pursue sporting and artistic endeavours. Community Cup captains Xavier Poropat, Stephen Stockwell, Amy Lane and Lizzie Gibson. Pic by Bianca Holderness.

Now it’s back for 2017 and promises to be an even bigger and better occasion, with the game itself - taking place at Leyshon Park in Yeronga on 30 Jul - augmented by a stellar array of local bands and artists playing live on the day including Seja, Velociraptor, Good Boy and Adele Pickvance (of The Go-Betweens fame), with the whole bash broadcast live on 4ZZZ. It’s an altruistic venture but also a hell of a lot of fun, as anybody who attended last year’s inaugural festivities can attest. “It’s such a good cause,” explains Brisbane Lines co-captain Stephen Stockwell. “Reclink’s all about helping disadvantaged people get back among sport and into the community, and we help them do that by actually going out and playing sport and learning about community ourselves. We all come together and get some great friendships out of playing Community Cup, and in the process raise money for disadvantaged people to do the same thing.”

14 • THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017

“It’s a great opportunity to watch a fun and exciting game of footy with amateurs on the field and it’s raising money for an excellent cause in Reclink,” Rocking Horses co-captain Amy Lane concurs. “It’s going to be a great day of community spirit, drinking, eating, music and football! I think the spectators will be the winners.” And while musicians are usually nocturnal creatures who are often averse to daylight activities, apparently the two pursuits are not mutually exclusive. “They’re both an art-form, but the drinking is a bit different,” tells Xavier Poropat, Rocking Horse co-captain/coach (as well as member of too many Brisbane bands to mention). “There’s no riders at footy, but musicians still clearly make good footy players. There used to be a bit of a stigma about musicians playing any type of sport - especially in the ‘90s indie scene, which was really anti-sport - but these days it seems more acceptable to play sport across the board. I guess at its core this is just about the community and getting involved, whether it’s music, sport or just buying records.” But mainly the Community Cup is just an inherently fun day, especially for those who get to come along and barrack without raising a sweat. “It’s fun to watch some amateurs kick the footy around and roll around on the ground,” smiles Brisbane Lines co-skipper Lizzie Gibson. “There’s some great bands that will be playing and some great entertainment with the live 4ZZZ broadcasters who will be commentating, so there’s an element of live comedy. Last year all my friends and family who’d never been to a football match before came along and they loved it, they had a brilliant time.” “Plus it’s really exciting to have it in Yeronga this year after being in Pine Rivers last year, and having a local game,” Poropat enthuses. “I think that everybody in the local music and media community are really coming together and getting into the spirit of things. “It’s really great this year how it’s grown organically and there’s more players and more people involved, and more people know about the game from the inaugural event. It’s just naturally growing and it’s very exciting to be a part of in Brisbane after it’s been going for so long interstate.” The Rocking Horses won the inaugural Brisbane Community Cup in somewhat controversial circumstances, but (for now) there’s still more solidarity existing between the two teams than true rivalry. “Beforehand there was a lot of camaraderie,” Stockwell reflects of the first game, “and then in the week leading up there was some really lame sledging. Then there’s some more really lame sledging prior to the game and we really don’t like each other for the two hours of the game, and then everyone’s pretty good mates afterwards.” And as for who will win this time around, both teams are talking up their prospects. “We’ve got a hunger to win,” Poropat enthuses. “We’re having a bit of a premiership hangover and I know that Brisbane Lines have been doing really well in the training scratch matches, but we’re saving our best for the big day.” “We want it more,” Gibson counters. “Last year was a bit of a smashing, so this year we just want to get in there and have a win. It’s a redemption tale.”

When & Where: 30 Jul, Leyshon Park, Yeronga

Film

Going Nuclear Sofia Boutella is once again bringing her unique energy to the silver screen alongside Charlize Theron in Atomic Blonde. She tells Guy Davis about having a soft spot for villains.

Darth Vader, Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter — they’re characters I was always fascinated by.

ofia Boutella ain’t nothin’ to fuck with. That was evident from the moment she started wreaking havoc and racking up casualties as Gazelle, the lethally gymnastic henchwoman to Samuel L Jackson’s bad guy in Kingsman: The Secret Service back in 2014. And in the roles she’s taken on since that breakthrough performance, after a career as a dancer that saw her working with the likes of Madonna and Rihanna, Boutella has made a vivid impression as an intergalactic badass with a penchant for the “beats and shouting” of classic rap in Star Trek Beyond and a resurrected Egyptian princess with supernatural powers in The Mummy. Boutella is just as charismatic in her supporting role in the Charlize Theron action-thriller Atomic Blonde but adds a few new shades to her dramatic palette as Delphine, a relatively inexperienced rookie spy who finds herself a tad out of her depth as she gets entangled in some dangerous espionage involving secret agents and smugglers on both sides of a crumbling Berlin Wall in 1989. The plot has twists and turns, the violence hits hard and fast, the soundtrack is drenched in ‘80s synth-heavy bangers and Boutella and Theron have a pretty racy love scene. You’re probably already in line for a ticket, aren’t you? The Algeria-born actor was in Australia a while back for the Sydney premiere of The Mummy alongside co-stars Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe and Annabelle Wallis, so I watched that movie and Atomic Blonde pretty much backto-back. “That’s a lot of Sofia,” Boutella says with a smile when I meet her for an interview the following day. “Did it make you sick?” Of course not. One can not have too much Sofia, even when she’s playing villains out to conquer the world with the help of dark forces, as she does in The Mummy. “I love the nemesis in film,” she admits. “Darth Vader, Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter — they’re characters I was always fascinated by because no one, not even a creature, is born evil. Something makes them evil. What’s interesting is seeing what makes them or made them do what they do. You may not always agree with their methods or what they choose to do but if you understand them I think that’s interesting.” Conveying the inner workings of a character is just as vital when the character is a sympathetic one like Delphine, whose naivete sets her apart from the cynical, ruthless Atomic Blonde colleagues played by Theron and James McAvoy.

“It was important that I make you understand her mission,” she says. “Delphine is a spy but she also wants to have some fun in Berlin. She doesn’t know the rules. She says to James’ character ‘I’m better at this game than you think’, and I think she was trying to boost her own confidence by saying that because she was terrified. And with Charlize, she knew she to engage in some kind of romance to get what she needed and, like a kid, she fell in love a little.” While there’s nothing naive in the way Boutella carries herself both onscreen and off, she says “I’m very green still in this profession” of acting. “But I love being curious and I embrace not knowing because there’s everything to learn,” she adds. “It tells me that I love it and I care about it. Every single film has taught me a different aspect of the profession. Working on The Mummy, I saw that Tom knows his craft so well and is so passionate about movies, and he communicates that so well. Just seeing someone love it so much is almost enough but then he would teach me so much about everything from working on a character to the lenses and the framing of shots.” But her days as a dancer proved beneficial as Boutella made the shift in career. “I definitely applied the discipline I learned as a dancer to acting,” she says. “When I have to do my fights onscreen, I approach it as choreography. But I also observe a lot about the way people sit and stand and walk — that tells as much of a story about a character, and I think that comes from dance. My observation of body language is something I want to apply to a character every single time. In The Mummy I was more stiff and authoritative, and Delphine’s body language is a little more giddy.” Speaking of The Mummy, Boutella’s character is part of the ‘Dark Universe’ of intertwined monster movies presented by Hollywood studio Universal. But the actor plays it coy when asked if she’ll appear in any future instalments. “I don’t know. I’m not sure. We shall see,” she says with a seemingly practiced ease. “It’s such an honour for me to be part of this. I loved the Universal horror movies when I was a kid, so being able to walk in Boris Karloff’s footsteps 80 years after his Mummy movie is so fascinating to me.”

What: Atomic Blonde

THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017 • 15

Frontlash

Music

Hey. Big Splendour. The Music was on-ground at Splendour In The Grass again this year, and we’re all tanked up on from-the-pit reportage of the highs, lows, and in-betweens. Sate your FOMO or relive it all again in the Live pages.

Keep The Faith

Odyssey Over Special mention for a very special band: how good was it seeing (most of) Powderfinger back together on stage again after all this time? That’s going to be a moment a lot of people carry with them for a while.

Dance With The Reaper

Lashes

Don’t forget: Dead Of Winter Festival hits the Jubilee Hotel this Saturday, with 50 acts across five stages from 1pm through midnight. It’ll be freakishly good - book your tickets via Oztix now!

Splendour In The Grass. Pic by Markus Ravik.

Backlash Slay... errr?

It’s weird that Slayer is making their debut late-night TV appearance on Jimmy Fallon’s show, right? That’s definitely a weird thing for them to be doing now, yeah? Yeah. Cool. Just checking.

Getting Heated

Going a little personal/specific on this one but winter colds are the fucking worst and we would not wish this hell on anyone. (On the other hand, though, how good are steam vaporisers? Rhetorical question; bloody brilliant.)

Head’s Not Right Korn guitarist Brian ‘Head’ Welch called Chester Bennington’s death ‘cowardly’. Brian ‘Head’ Welch can fuck right off, to be quite honest. RIP, Chester. 16 • THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017

As Paradise Falls’ new vocalist Shaun Coar tells Rod Whitfield that the road to Digital Ritual was no walk in the park.

hey say hardship can lead to great creativity, and that’s exactly the case for Queensland heavy act As Paradise Falls. They have just unleashed their new album Digital Ritual, and new frontman Shaun Coar joined us from his home in Brisbane recently to fill us in on the often harsh journey the band has been through to get to this point, and how tragedy affected the whole process. “At the beginning, the boys went over to Thailand to record the album with Shane Edwards at Karma Sound Studios,” he explains, “I wasn’t in the band at the time, I think they were writing for a good six months before they went there. They finished the album there with that line-up, with Ravi [Sherwell, vocals], Glen [Barrie, guitar] and Danny [Kenneally, guitar] and Jon [Messer, bass] and Christian [Rady, drums]. Then Glen passed away, and then a couple of months after they got back to Brisbane, Ravi decided he didn’t want to continue with the band either.” With a vocalist leaving the fold, it was decided that the lyrics and vocal lines from the completed album would need to be re-written and re-recorded in their entirety, which became a long and laborious process. Especially when Coar was already super-busy himself at the time. “I think it would have been very early 2016 they hit me up to re-do everything,” he recalls, “because the vocals were completely

done by Ravi before they asked, but he quit when they were about to put an album out, and there’s no point putting an album out with vocals on it from a singer who’s no longer there. So they enlisted me to re-write and re-record vocals. That was a process, because I was in the middle of doing some touring stuff with Feed Her To The Sharks. So halfway through re-writing the album, I had to stop, go on tour for four months, and then come back and write. So that was just another speed bump we had to overcome.” However, after all this occurred, the band’s fortunes turned around significantly. “After we got it done, we ended up getting signed by Eclipse Records, after we put out the first single.” Coar has quite a philosophical attitude about the up and down journey he and the band have taken to arrive at this point. “These things happen for a reason, every little piece comes together and becomes that experience. And here we are!” Even that signing to the American-based Eclipse came about in a somewhat unusual manner. The label’s director Chris Poland actually heard a track completely by chance on Spotify. “Yeah, it came up on his release radar!” Coar exclaims. “Spotify is a great tool if you know how to utilise it. They do shortchange artists sometimes, when you think about what artists get paid. But for a band at our level, it’s fantastic. “Chris has shown a lot of faith in us, and we’re going to work hard to make sure we repay that faith.”

What: Digital Ritual (Eclipse) When & Where: 29 Jul, Dead Of Winter, Jubilee Hotel; 19 Aug, Crowbar

Music

Giant Achievements

Next year marks the 20th anniversary of the Giants Of Science’s first show together. Drummer Steve Lynagh admits to Rod Whitfield this is “a big deal”.

t may be hard to believe, but Brisbane hard rockers Giants Of Science have been doing their thing for almost 20 years now. They take things pretty easily and casually these days, with several members having young families. Indeed, drummer Steve Lynagh is wrangling multiple children on a grocery shopping trip as he speaks to us. Lynagh tells us that, while they don’t play that many shows these days, when the offer came up to play their hometown’s prestigious Dead Of Winter festival, they jumped at the chance. “It may even be 18 months or so since the last Giants Of Science show,” he remembers, “so it’s always exciting to get together; we don’t do it all that often these days any more. I wouldn’t say it’s a blast from the past, but the spark is still there when we get together. “But, yeah! It should be a really good crowd, great bands, great line-up. I think there’s 40 bands on the bill, it’s big. So whatever takes your fancy I’m pretty sure you’ll find something.” The band are likely to bring a bunch of their best live tunes, culled from their lengthy career, to their festival set although Lynagh hints at the possibility of a couple of surprises: “Over our career we’ve settled on a

few crowd-pleasers. We do have this recording that we’ve done that we’ve been sitting on for a couple of years that hasn’t seen the light of day, so we may pull out a couple of those songs. But on the whole, it’ll essentially be a ‘greatest hits’ type of set that we’ve been doing for the last ten years or so [laughs].” Next year will mark the 20th anniversary of the band’s first show together, a fact that Lynagh admits he struggles to get his head around. “When you say it out loud, it seems like such a long time,” he admits. “We’ve been doing Giants Of Science essentially since we were teenagers, so it’s always been a part of our adult lives. Twenty years, it’s a bit of a big deal, to still call yourself a band. Plus it’s the original line-up still - it’s pretty amazing.” The band are even toying with the idea of marking the occasion. “We should definitely have a 20-year party and reunion. Maybe even a tour. We’re definitely due to get back down to Melbourne, it’s been a few years.” As for the future of Giants Of Science, Lynagh feels confident that they will be around for quite some time yet. “I think the Giants will always be around,” he predicts. “Whenever someone asks us to play, we’ll always consider it. “There’s not really any point, that I can see, in calling it quits. Bands can have a hiatus and that’s all good. But as long as you enjoy the music and each other’s company, and as long as people are willing to listen, we’ll always be willing to play.”

When & Where: 29 Jul, Dead Of Winter, Jubilee Hotel

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— Brisbane

Music

Bush At The Beach Ahead of Aussie country music icon Sara Storer’s debut at Broadbeach Country Music Festival, she tells Steve Bell about the power of perseverance.

ountry music mainstay Sara Storer is looking forward immensely to her debut set at Broadbeach Country Music Festival this weekend, and not just because it allows her to go north and escape the cold. Rather, she’s a massive fan of the Australian country festival circuit, and can’t wait to get back amongst a sea of familiar faces. “I love [the country festival circuit] because it’s my genre of music and I love to sing about country themes and regional themes, I love to sing about people of the land and their stories,” she enthuses. “I love how a song tells a story and moves you in that way. So it’s

album was received. “Just getting an album out is a big achievement for me and a real relief,” she laughs. “Because it’s hard for me with a family and kids and trying to manage all that, but I still love music and I love singing and I love putting out albums - it’s something that I’ll always do. And when you put out an album you just want it to be your best work yet. I really want every album to kinda improve on the last, just with my songwriting or my vocals, the music and the production.”

It’s just something that I want to show my children and my grandchildren, and say, ‘If you follow your dreams you can get there.’

And while Storer is no stranger to awards and accolades - she’s won a staggering 21 Golden Guitars after all - she was still overjoyed when Silos took home the ARIA Award for Best Country Album, given all five of her previous albums had been nominated without success. “I was so relieved because I’ve been wanting one of those, it’s been a little dream of mine to win an ARIA,” she smiles. “It’s a one-percenter - it’s something that only a small amount of country artists can get - and it’s just something that I want to show my children and my grandchildren, and say, ‘If you follow your dreams you can get there.’ That’s kinda why I really wanted one, and I just thought, ‘Well if I don’t get it this year I’ll just have to keep trying and come back next year.’ “But I’ll be able to tell the kids and grandkids that it took me six times, and you can’t get bitter and twisted and all that - everyone’s doing exactly what you’re doing, writing songs and being their own artist in their own right - and I just felt that I was really lucky and was really grateful to finally get one. Yay!”

When & Where: 30 Jul, Broadbeach Country Music Festival

really good fun and the people that I work with - other musicians and other artists - are all really down to earth, easy-going people so it’s always really fun when you’re at a festival catching up with people: it’s like catching up with mates.” Storer’s sixth album Silos came out last year, and the singer-songwriter is delighted with how the

18 • THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017

Music

Blood, Love And Tears Following up on an ARIA Award-winning album is never an easy thing. Shane Nicholson tells Jessica Dale about the process this time round.

eing the producer on just one album is a lot of work and a time-consuming venture. Producing 12 albums in a year would be a considerable undertaking for most, but for Shane Nicholson, why not throw one more thing into the mix? Love And Blood is Nicholson’s sixth studio - his follow-up to 2015’s Hell Breaks Loose - an album which he somehow found the time to create in between playing the producer’s role on the 12 aforementioned works.

“I’ve always been heavily involved in the production level of my own music but to be working as a producer for other people has given me that perspective that I can see from a producer’s viewpoint now and not just from the artist’s viewpoint,” he explains. “I can see from the other side the importance of giving them room to breathe, and that’s kind of where the magic happens in a record. I have become much better at sitting at the back of the room as an artist and letting the process happen, rather than trying to steer the ship all the time.” Creating a follow-up to a critically acclaimed and award-winning album is no easy feat, but for Nicholson, he was happy to allow the process to happen naturally. “I think it’s easy to cerebralise it all a lot, analyse it and talk about your process and all that and it’s kind of fun sometimes. It’s also not rocket science, it’s records,

I don’t think it’ll be all that long between drinks this time.

we’re just making albums, we’re not curing cancer or anything. These days I’m trying not to analyse what I do much and I think that’s maybe making it more enjoyable.” “I think there’s always things you learn on every record specifically about yourself as an artist and I think it’s just part of honing your skill set as a writer or as a record maker. I don’t have leftover songs anymore,” says Nicholson. “I used to write 20 songs for an album and pick the best ones, but I wrote 12 songs for this album and there’s no leftovers. I don’t finish the ones that don’t make the album anymore. I don’t think that’s because it’s easier or you’re better at it, I’m just maybe learning what isn’t worth finishing or isn’t going to stand the test.” “I’ve got some songs I’ve been writing for the next one, I don’t think it’ll be all that long between drinks this time.”

“It got to the point where I felt like I was spending all my time making music for other people and I felt like I needed to make my own. I blanked out about two or three months in my calendar at the end of the year and ventured off to a little cabin on the Hawkesbury River and starting writing songs,” shares Nicholson. “It was just out of the need to be creative again and, I guess, purge a whole heap of stories that have been happening since the last record. That’s the catalyst for writing every album for me. You get built up full of stories and things you want to say or get out, then you make the record and move on, and wait until you get filled up again.” When ask if working as a producer for other people has impacted his own work, he agrees.

What: Love And Blood (Lost Highway Australia/ Universal Music) When & Where: 29 & 30 Jul, Broadbeach Country Music Festival, Gold Coast

THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017 • 19

Music

From Bjork To Brisbane Teaching himself an instrument few had even heard of has lead Manu Delago to some very interesting places. He shares his journey with Rip Nicholson.

hese days Manu Delago keeps the in the finest company of live performers, but when he first started playing the Hang there wasn’t anybody to show him the ropes. The world-renowned instrumentalist says it was “like learning a new language that didn’t exist”. The Hang (pronounced hong or hung) is a recently developed percussive instrument from Switzerland that’s classed as an idiophone. It’s made from two convex half-shells of sheet steel (think two round shields joined around the rims like a clam), and while it might look like Delago is meticulously tapping away at a retro Weber

barbeque, when the London-based Austrian strikes the hammered-in tone fields around its surface the Hang produces rhythmic melodies of mellifluous brilliance. “It’s got a very interesting sound, ranging from harp-like melodies to tabla-esque beats,” notes the Hang soloist. That sound alone was enough to hook Delago. “I had never seen anyone play it before I started. My dad showed me a photo and a sound sample online, no video!” In 2000, Delago joined up with saxophonist/clarinet player Christoph Pepe Auer, who at the time was part of an Austrian rock group HotchPotch, and took up drum duties. Together the pair moved onto a 14-piece hip hop project before tightening down to a four-piece embracing 20 • THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017

I’ve used a lot of electronic manipulation and beats as well as some amazing guest vocalists to create an album in two halves — one for the legs and one for the heart. jazz and drum’n’bass. From there, they flourished as Living Room, Delago incorporating his love for the Hang with the bass clarinet. “Somehow those two instruments, and us two, worked very well together as a duo.” It is this dexterity that placed Delago on stages across six continents and in collaborations with Anoushka Shankar, London Symphony Orchestra, The Cinematic Orchestra and famed Icelandic singer/ songwriter Bjork. “She’s an incredibly inspiring artist and it was amazing to learn from her and the whole crew,” he says. On Bjork 2011 album Biophilia, and the subsequent tour, Delago stretched his talents beyond playing the Hang to both electronic xylosynth and acoustic drums. Basically, he’s come a long way from the kid who used to exasperate his household by banging on cardboard boxes and tables with cutlery. “I’m generally very interested in projects where I see a potential to learn something new and that was definitely the case with Bjork. I had to play a lot of electronic beats live that were originally programmed in the studio. That was a great challenge and is now certainly a part of me.” While his proficiency on the Hang takes prominence on his third and latest LP Metromonk, Delago has incorporated the many talents now at his disposal. “I’ve used a lot of electronic manipulation and beats as well as some amazing guest vocalists to create an album in two halves — one for the legs and one for the heart.” As part of the Queensland Music Festival, QPAC will host the premiere of Delago’s Concertino Grosso, led by Queensland Youth Orchestra (QYO) violinist Dale Barltrop in honour of the father of Australia’s youth orchestra movement, John Curro AM MBE. “I only have three days in Australia, so my time will be packed with rehearsing and the performance with the QYO, which I’m really looking forward to.”

When & Where: 29 Jul, Queensland Music Festival, QPAC

Music

Poking The Bear

Minus The Bear has gone through quite the shake up over the past five years, and guitarist Dave Knudson tells Rod Whitfield all about it.

f you live in a city like Seattle, with its magnificent musical heritage that extends back well before things exploded in the early nineties, you can’t help but assimilate and be deeply affected by its vibe and its history. Dave Knudson, guitarist and co-founding member of Seattle indie rockers Minus The Bear, agrees wholeheartedly with this statement, and is proud of what his city has given the world in a musical and cultural sense. “Seattle has such a great history, even back before grunge even existed,” Knudson states, “what was so good about Seattle when I was growing up was that there was so many DIY clubs and venues and all-ages places. You’re in high school or junior high and you go to these shows and you realise that these are just regular people, that are just playing instruments, starting bands, promoting shows, so it was just a very welcoming community.” Part of that sense of community in the city was a feeling of friendly rivalry, which only led the musicians and bands to improve their individual and collective craft. “[That environment] nurtured young people and new artists,” he remembers, “and it was very empowering when you saw regular dudes step up onto a stage and totally tear it up. You thought ‘if I just practise a little bit

harder, or if I get into a really good band, I can do that.’” He feels that the isolated nature of the city, and its less than hospitable climate, also has a powerful effect on the city’s artistic output. “So there were lots of clubs, lots of all-ages action, lots of cool radio stations that would cover local stuff, a lot of ‘zines back before the internet,” he says, “and we’re kinda in the middle of nowhere, up in the north western corner of the States, and I think people get a little insular and they tend to help each other out. “It rains a lot, so you might go inside and play drums, write a song on your guitar, or write some lyrics, it really just inspires creativity and wanting to do something.” 15 years and six albums’ worth of Minus The Bear’s creativity will be on full display in Australia in August when the band comes to tour our nation, in what will be the band’s third trip Down Under and first in over five years. They have been through much change and upheaval since the last time they were here, for Soundwave in 2011, but they have put all that behind them now and are looking forward to reconnecting with their Aussie devotees. “We parted ways with our original drummer, we’ve changed labels, we’ve changed a lot of stuff,” he says. “For the last five years there’s been a lot of uncertainty, but also a lot of re-energising. We also knew we wanted to continue, it was eye-opening and fantastic at the same time. “But we’ll be with you guys at the beginning of August and that’ll be good fun.”

Grant McLennan Fellowship

2016 Grant McLennan Fellowship winner Hannah Macklin

This year’s Grant McLennan Fellowship is now officially open for nominations! Founded in 2007 in honour of the late Queensland singer-songwriter and cofrontman of The Go-Betweens, Grant McLennan, this prestigious $25,000 fellowship offers the recipient an opportunity to travel to New York, London or Berlin for up to six months to develop their artistic skills. Co-funded by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland and APRA AMCOS, over the last ten years the fellowship has provided artists such as MKO’s Hannah Macklin, and Danny Widdicombe and Andrew Morris (The Wilson Pickers) with the chance to immerse themselves in the world’s most vibrant cultural hubs.

When & Where: 5 Aug, Max Watt’s, West End

THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017 • 21

Music

A Whole New World

Mena Massoud

Disney is hoping lightning strikes twice after the success of its live action Beauty And The Beast, with its hotly anticipated live action Aladdin. Former 1D-er Zayn Malik had been a fan favourite for the potential titular lead, but Disney has now revealed that Canadian-Egyptian actor Mena Massoud will helm the film as the plucky street-urchin turned Arabian prince turned Genie liberator. While a relatively unfamiliar face compared to Malik, Massoud has some hot creds to his name, including a lead role in Amazon’s upcoming Jack Ryan series. Opposite Massoud as Princess Jasmine will be British actor Naomi Scott, who played the Pink Ranger in this year’s flop-tastic Power Rangers movie. However, the biggest shoes to fill will inevitably be those of the late, great Robin Williams. That unenviable task is set to be braved by Will Smith, who will no doubt bring his own exuberant flavour to the role of the Genie. Currently there is no release date for the Guy Ritchie-directed movie, but it’s pretty much guaranteed to be one of the biggest movie hits of next year.

22 • THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017

Progressing Nicely

James Norbert Ivanyi shares with Rod Whitfield how the reputation of Australian progressive instrumental is growing overseas.

ustralia now has a long and illustrious history in progressive rock and metal music, and in slightly more recent times has become a massive player in the instrumental progressive music scene, whether it be sleepmakeswaves, Plini, I Built The Sky, or Sydney guitar whiz James Norbert Ivanyi. Ivanyi is very excited about what is happening in this country with this style of music, and has felt an upswing of interest in the Aussie scene on his regular jaunts abroad. “Yeah, it’s totally cool, even just chatting to people at the festivals in different countries, they’re really aware of the wave of instrumental music coming out of Australia,” he enthuses, “and I’m really honoured to be a part of that.” He displays his own chops and songwriting prowess to great effect on his recently released EP, Denalavis, and tells us that the reaction to the release has been virtually nothing but positive. “The response has been amazing,” he states, “I haven’t seen any negative things said about it, which is always nice. It’s really gone beyond my expectations. Especially since I’m still feeling the water with these shorter three-track releases, but it’s generally been overwhelmingly well-received, so I couldn’t be happier.”

Ivanyi and his band are about to head on a run of live dates down the eastern seaboard and across to Adelaide, and he feels their recent dates overseas have really played them into good form for this run. “I feel great, I feel ready,” he says. “Obviously we were just in the UK, and we played really well, and had a great reception over there. As a band I think we’re playing and performing better than ever, so I really just can’t wait.” The tour promises an exciting but slightly scaled-back show in terms of personnel, which allows all instruments to breathe and be heard to their fullest extent. “We’re planning something a little different this tour,” he reveals, “we’re going out as a trio, which we trialled in the UK and it worked better than we thought it would. That’s because I really want to strip the sound back to my roots, I always grew up loving single guitar bands, and wanted to try that on this tour. “We’ll have a few guest appearances, different people jumping up on stage in different cities, and we’ll be playing music from all of my releases, and stuff we’ve never played in Australia before.” Ivanyi has punched out a number of shorter EP releases in recent times, and while he has really enjoyed the process of bringing out new music on a more regular basis, there could be something lengthier coming in the not too distant future. “I feel like it’s time to come back and do a fulllength,” he says. “The short ones are good because your audience can hear new music every year, and you can take brand new music on the road with you every time, but I think it’s time to get back to a full-length.”

When & Where: 4 Aug, Black Bear Lodge

Music

Turning Japanese

Black Cab have created the soundtrack for a Japanese sci-fi film that doesn’t exist yet, Andrew Coates tells Rod Whitfield.

n Melbourne-based dark/indie electronica outfit Black Cab’s new fifth full-length album Akira (which is also denoted with the symbol ?), cofounding member Andrew Coates enthuses, “It’s going to look beautiful, we’ve spent a lot of time on the artwork. We’re getting a thing called an obi strip, which is what those Japanese imports have; the little strip that comes on the vinyl. We’ve purposely done one of those, with the Japanese writing on it. We want people to think this release is some obscure soundtrack from Kyoto or somewhere.” The sound of the record is also strongly influenced by the land of the rising sun. “It’s a different type of album, it’s like a soundtrack of Japanese sci-fi film,” he says, “and we’ve never done a soundtrack before. This was an opportunity to do one, so now we have a soundtrack. Of course, the movie hasn’t actually been made! But we won’t let that get in the way of putting out a soundtrack,” he laughs. When asked whether his band actually intends to make a film around this ‘soundtrack’, Coates offers, “The budget that we have is probably not going to stretch that far [laughs]. If someone wants to produce a Japanese-speaking anime movie around our music, we’d be thrilled!”

Originally much of this music was written to be performed purely for a special one-off show, but it has now taken on a life of its own. “This came out because we were asked to do a live soundtrack to the classic anime movie Akira,” he explains. “We performed it in January at the Astor Theatre in front of about 1,200 people. It was a pretty big deal. We had a live Japanese Taiko drummer playing along, so we thought we might perform it again. “But then the publishing company for the original film — we learned that they were not particularly thrilled with us messing with their soundtrack, so that was knocked on the head. We thought, ‘We’ve done all this music, it’d be great to get it out there’.” In fact, the sounds and spirit of Japan are all over this record. “There’s the sounds of crows from Tokyo streets, there’s spooky spoken Japanese nursery rhymes across the album, there’s Japanese people practising baseball in a Tokyo park — so there’s all this wacky stuff.” The band have a brief run of live dates up the east coast in August to promote the album and plenty else on their plates besides. And fans can expect more new music from Black Cab over the next six to 12 months or so. “There’s a remix of a track called Empire States that’s just been completed by a guy called Richard Norris, that’ll come out in September,” he says. “There’s also a new Cab album coming. It’s probably half finished. That’ll probably come out early next year.”

A Marvel-lous Gig One of the dates Black Cab are playing on their east coast run is a very special set at Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery Of Modern Art (QAGOMA)’s Marvel: Creating The Cinematic Universe exhibition. It is apparently the largest Marvel exhibition ever presented anywhere in the world and, while the Marvel universe isn’t as much of an influence on the band as Japanese anime is, there is still a strong link and Black Cab are incorporating some Japanese elements for this show. “Marvel own the rights to [Japanese anime classic] Akira in Australia, they own the rights to the printed manga version of it, so we thought that’s a really good fit,” Andrew Coates explains. “So we thought we have to do a version of Akira, perform it live. We’ve got a couple of Taiko drummers that are playing with us at GOMA, which will be really interesting, because we are rehearsing once in the afternoon before the soundcheck.”

What: 明 (Interstate 40) When & Where: 4 Aug, GOMA

THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017 • 23

Music

NETFLIX AND THRILL

Nailing YouTube

Star Trek: Discovery

The streaming TV juggernaut dropped a bunch of trailers this weekend, driving the known universe wild with anticipation for what are likely to be the biggest hits of the year. Here’s what we went down.

Stranger Things Season 2 The teaser released earlier this year was pretty exciting, but it is weak sauce compared to this adrenaline raising sneak peek. Things do not look good for poor ol’ Will, as his involuntary leaps to the Upside-Down, as seen in the series one cliff-hanger, look to play a major role. Also, possibly the best use of Thriller ever? Streaming from 27 Oct.

Star Trek: Discovery Trekkies are already salivating at the prospect of a whole new chapter for the sci-fi franchise, but it looks like this actionpacked series won’t just be for superfans. While we’ll have to wait for the series to begin streaming, from 25 Sep, there’s plenty to suggest it follows the trend for long arc storytelling, rather than Star Trek’s usual episodic approach.

Marvel’s The Defenders The culmination of three years, and four separate shows, Defenders features the superhero supergroup of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist. We’re keeping everything crossed that it turns out better than Iron Fist’s lack lustre first season, but with Sigourney Weaver on board, we’re feeling quietly optimistic. Streams from 18 Aug.

24 • THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017

Bassist/vocalist Jayden Ridley tells Rod Whitfield he’s relieved that although Stepson’s latest clip racked up loads of hits on YouTube they’ve somehow avoided negative comments.

risbane based punk/hardcore outfit Stepson have just released a slamming new single Come With Me to much fanfare. The song’s dramatic accompanying video raced to an astounding number of YouTube plays within a short period of time and the band’s bassist/vocalist Jayden Ridley, speaking from his home town of Casino on the far north coast of New South Wales, is just as happy with something that it didn’t achieve. “It’s been really good so far, we’re loving the response,” he enthuses. “It got 20,000 hits on YouTube on the first day. And I don’t think I’ve seen a negative comment about it. The internet’s usually a pretty tough place. YouTube comments hurt my head sometimes, so we’re doing all right.” The band have been extremely busy in their brief three years of existence, releasing multiple EPs and singles on top of extensive touring, and they have now made the decision to take the next big step as a band. “We’re currently writing and working on our debut full-length, which is pretty exciting,” he reveals. “So this is the first taste of what’s to come. In saying that, this single is not the album single, it’s just a standalone song at the moment. But we’re working towards the full-length, which

we’re hoping to record at the end of the year.” Before that happens, however, the band have a major tour to get through in support of the new single, and this takes them through to midAugust and covers much of the Eastern Seaboard. “They’ll be the biggest headline sets we’ve done,” he says, “so we’re planning a few extra goodies to try to step up the live show and really make it something special, something we haven’t done before.” Any hints on what those new “goodies” might be? “We’re just going to try to step up the production,” he states, “and bring in a few older songs that we haven’t played in a while. And then of course we’ve got the new single. It’s all still a work in progress, but it should be fun.” Ridley is just as excited about the line-up they are taking out on the road with them, especially since he and the band are fans of more varied bills; bills that don’t feature soundalike band after soundalike band. “The thing about us is that we all really enjoy mixed bills,” he says. “There’s nothing worse than going to a show and watching the same band four times in a row with different band members. “We’ve got Stateside who are a female-fronted rock band, and then there’s Aburden, who are a pretty exciting up-andcoming band.” He feels that his band grows another leg live, beyond their studio recordings, while still ensuring that they get up close and personal with their fans. “If you like our songs on the recording, they’re even better live,” he opines. “We’re a big band on being intimate and involving the crowd. So if you like our songs and know the words, come and sing them with us.”

When & Where: 29 Jul, The Foundry; 30 Jul, Phoenix Arts Theatre

Indie Indie

The Foundry

Set Mo

The Honeysliders

Birthday Bash

Single Focus

Have You Heard

Answered by: Patrick Balfe

Answered by: Stu Turner

Answered by: Danny Widdicombe

What’s happened with the venue since your last birthday? New PA. Shows with Cub Sport, Confidence Man, Vice, Valley Crawl, Blurst. Spent six months removing birthday cake from the carpet.

Single title? I Belong Here feat. Woodes

When did you start making music and why? Like most toddlers, my inability to express myself through speaking led to me making noise on whatever instrument I could find. I found a ukulele. I’m still picking things.

What do you put the success of your venue down to? A friendly and hardworking team and a family of local industry upstairs. Has anyone ever worn their birthday suit in your club? Mostly just Leroy from Gooch Palms. I think he jumped into the crowd. What’s the weirdest thing in the last year you’ve found when the lights have come on? Someone defaced our photo of Kate Hudson. What’s the thing you’re most proud of that your club’s contributed to the music scene in the last year? Mountain Goat Valley Crawl. It brings the valley community together and helps people discover new bands. What sort of celebration is in order? Four of our favourite bands in Australia. Debut performances from Hatchie and Holiday Party. Birthday cake and party games. When’s the party? 10 Aug, 8pm sharp. Website link for more info? thefoundry.oztix.com.au/Default.a

What’s the song about? Wondering if you’re heading in the right direction, but realising if you’re following your passion you’re where you belong. How long did it take to write/record? The song came together really quickly, in the span of a few short hours. However, we spent longer tweaking this one that any other song of ours to get it just right! Is this track from a forthcoming release/ existing release? We’ve written more music than ever recently so you’ll just have to wait and see :) What was inspiring you during the song’s writing and recording? We wrote this at Studio 301 where we gravitated straight to their grand piano. The main chord progression was laid down and recorded pretty roughly. This raw recording made the final cut, which we love. We’ll like this song if we like... Uplifting, feelgood house that makes you want to sip a margarita on a beach somewhere hot. Do you play it differently live? We haven’t actually played it out live yet so you’ll have to come along to our show at Splendour In The Grass to find out! When and where is your launch/next gigs? After Splendour we’re heading around the country with the first ever Stamina Sessions tour, where we take over a venue and play all night long for you - 5 Aug, The Foundry; 12 Aug, The Toff In Town; 19 Aug, Metro Theatre. Tix at setmomusic.com

Sum up your musical sound in four words? Soul, blues, rock, goodtimes. If you could only listen to one album forevermore, what would it be and why? Abbey Road. My bandmates and I are learning this album note for note in preparation for our Abbey Road show at The Triffid and we simply never tire of listening to it. It’s a masterpiece. Greatest rock’n’roll moment of your career to date? Playing lead guitar for Bernard Fanning and also for Tim Rogers - or maybe meeting Willie Nelson? Actually, jamming with Richie Sambora from Bon Jovi backstage back in ‘95. Why should people come and see your band? My bandmates are the nicest people on the planet. We care. We’re playing Abbey Road in it’s entirety! When and where are your next gigs? 4 Aug, The Triffid. We’ve got special guests joining us for our Abbey Road extravaganza. Website link for more info? dannywiddicombe.com

Website link for more info? setmomusic.com

THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017 • 25

Education Feature Queensland Conservatorium Griﬃth University

Answered by: Dr Donna Weston Deputy Director What kind of courses do you offer? As one of Australia’s leading music schools, the Queensland Conservatorium offers a wide variety of specialist music and performing arts

degrees, from popular music to classical music, jazz and opera, to musical theatre, acting, music technology and music education. We offer both undergraduate and postgraduate studies, along with research degrees.

active student guild, market days, and more than 120 clubs offering a variety of events and activities throughout the year. Across Griffith’s campuses there are also cafes, bars, fitness centres, an aquatic centre, tennis courts and a multi-sports complex.

Do you offer practical on-site learning or more of a theoretical base? Students enjoy a balance of theory and practice. They learn within a thriving, nurturing and creative environment and have the opportunity to apply their talents at a professional level, thanks to our strong alliances and collaborations with institutions around the globe, including London’s prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Do you offer job opportunities, internships, or other ways to help students get ahead? Griffith students can take part in overseas study tours, paid performances and industry internships. As Griffith is the Creative Arts Partner and Official Partner of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (GC2018), our students have access to unique learning experiences, internships and new scholarships.

What makes you different to other educational institutions? Griffith University is the only Queensland university ranked in the top 50 performing arts universities in the world (2017 Academic Ranking of World Universities). Students learn in state-of-the-art spaces from award-winning teachers dedicated to producing polished music professionals of the highest calibre.

When and where is your next Info Day/Open Day? Sunday 23 Jul, 9am - 2pm at our South Bank, Nathan and Gold Coast campuses. Visit griffith.edu.au/open-day for more information.

What kind of social activities do you offer? Griffith has a vibrant social scene with an

Website link for more info: griffith.edu.au/music

Answered by: Nick Quigley - CEO What kind of courses do you offer? Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance, Certificate III and IV in Music Industry (Performance).

Jazz Music Institute

What kind of people would these courses suit? The Bachelor suits those looking to become professional musicians, wanting to push themselves to the next level. Our Certificate courses are for high school students looking Answered by: Cassy Stephan Educational Events Coordinator

USQ Artsworx McGregor Music Retreat

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What kind of courses do you offer? Contemporary music workshops at a seven-day retreat in Toowoomba. In addition to a student’s chosen area, they choose an elective to broaden their experience. Participants also perform and record in an ensemble. What kind of people would these courses suit? Anyone with an interest in music! Music students from 15 years up - it’s an

We always welcome interested students to contact us on: South Bank: (07) 3735 6287 Gold Coast: (07) 5552 9036

to learn more about how to play music. What makes you different to other educational institutions? We are a very tight-knit community that supports one another. Our faculty is the best in the country and our course is structured so that you actually learn how to play music. Do you offer job opportunities, internships, or other ways to help students get ahead? We opportunity to broaden their skill sets as musicians. Recreational musicians and songwriters join us, as do music teachers for PD. What makes you different to other educational institutions? Working with students’ existing practical skills, our tutors teach them to be creative, collaborative and flexible. Not only are our tutors specialists in their fields, they are actively ‘gigging’ and working in the music industry. Do you offer job opportunities, internships, or other ways to help

offer hundreds of performance opportunities every year for our students, including paid work. We expose students to industry personnel and networking opportunities on a weekly basis through our own live venue. When and where is your next Info Day/Open Day? Our next Open Day is at our campus in Bowen Hills on 16 Sep, 11am - 2pm. Website link for more info: jazz.qld.edu.au students get ahead? McGregor Music participants have the opportunity to meet with USQ Bachelor of Creative Arts music lecturers to discuss potential studies and our tutors are well connected in the music industry. When and where is your next Info Day/Open Day? Our next Open Day is Sunday 13 Aug, USQ Toowoomba, 10am - 2pm. The next McGregor Music Retreat is 7 - 13 Jan, 2018. Website link for more info: artsworx.com.au/learn

Discover your artistic voice Bachelor of Fine Arts → Acting → Costume → Design for Performance → Properties and Objects → Staging → Technical Theatre and Stage Management

Vocational Diplomas → Live Production and Technical Services → Musical Theatre → Specialist Make-up Services → Stage and Screen Performance

Master of Fine Arts → Cultural Leadership → Design for Performance → Directing → Voice → Writing for Performance

Applications now open Info Night, 16 Aug 6–9pm apply.nida.edu.au

Higher Education provider ID: 12052 CRICOS: 00756M | Registered Training Organisation ID: 90349

IT’S NOT CALLED THE MUSIC BUSINESS FOR NOTHING Combine musical passion with business expertise through our Bachelor of Popular Music

With our Bachelor of Popular Music, you won’t only perfect your performance skills, but you’ll also dive into the business side of music – developing the skills to perform, produce, write, record, manage, market, teach, and more. Taught by the Queensland Conservatorium, one of Australia’s leading music schools, in conjunction with Griffith Business School, the Queensland College of Art, and Griffith Film School, the Bachelor of Popular Music will help you transform your musical passion into a lifelong music career. Visit us at Open Day on 23 July or apply to audition at griffith.edu.au/popular-music

THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017 • 27

Education Feature

Hands On In the lead up to SAE Institute’s open day, we spoke to Brisbane graduate Mirene Igwabi about her time there in 2014. What course did you study and why? Seeing my ideas come to life is one of the biggest reasons I decided to study film. I wanted to understand how the director, the actor, the cinematographer and the scriptwriter worked to create something meaningful, stories that change the way people think. Why did you choose to study at this particular institution? The facilities for my subject at SAE are second to none, it has a great reputation for my subject and the presence of certain lecturers.

Mirene Igwabi

Give us the quick resume version of what you have done since finishing studying. I have had the opportunity to meet amazing filmmakers in the industry and work on great projects that are growing and shaping my skills. I am now working on my first feature script and second short film. Any advice for anyone looking to study at this institution? Work with people that are as passionate as you. It all starts with a great script, a lot of young filmmakers would rather jump into the production without having done all the hard work which is necessary. With hard work and passion, I believe you can do anything.

When & Where: 5 Aug, SAE Open Day, SAE Institute SAE Brisbane Campus

What’s the one piece of advice you got during your time there that you still follow today? Stop dreaming and start doing, never stop creating. How did your course prepare you for the real world applications of what you studied? The course was very hands on, from day one we were able to get out of the classroom and start making films. Working with industry professionals gave me the right knowledge in my chosen career field. Also having mentors and supervisors that are active in the industry prepared me for what lies outside.

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Education Feature

The National Institute of Dramatic Art

Staging, and Technical Theatre and Stage Management; Master of Fine Arts: Cultural Leadership, Design for Performance, Directing, Voice, Writing for Performance; Vocational Diploma: Live Production, Musical Theatre, Specialist Make-up, Stage and Screen Performance. Do you offer practical on-site learning or more of a theoretical base? All NIDA courses are practice-based yet provide a balance between academic learning and opportunities to put knowledge into practice as students explore the creative challenges of the industry. Our students also have the opportunity to work with high profile guest artists, as well as gain valuable experience through industry placements.

Answered by: James McGrath Communications Executive What kind of courses do you offer? Higher education courses in the dramatic arts. Bachelor of Fine Arts: Acting, Costume, Design for Performance, Props,

What makes you different to other educational institutions? The National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) has an enviable reputation as Australia’s leading institution for dramatic arts education and training. For almost 60 years, we have been a hub for Australia’s performing arts sector, bringing leading artists and industry professionals together to develop the next

generation of creative leaders. What kind of social activities do you offer? The Student Council of NIDA (SCON) organises and runs social events and engagement opportunities for our students. Do you offer job opportunities, internships, or other ways to help students get ahead? Students have the opportunity to work with industry professionals during their training, as well as gain valuable experience through industry placements. When and where is your next Info Day/Open Day? NIDA will open its doors for a night of insight into its impressive array of higher education courses, staff and facilities, with Info Night on 16 Aug, 215 Anzac Parade, Kensington, 6 - 9pm. Register your attendance in advance as places are limited: nida.edu.au/form/forms/nida-info-night2017-registration-of-interest Website link for more info: nida.edu.au/courses

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THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017 • 29

Album / E Album/EP Reviews

Album OF THE Week

Dan Sultan Killer

Liberation

★★★★½

This new album provides another strong platform to show off Dan Sultan’s skills. Added to his developing character is a great chorus of backing singers - taking the album dangerously (and wonderfully) close to Motown at times. Opener Drover has been described as a ‘prequel’ to From Little Things Big Things Grow, a deceptively catchy protest song finally unearthing some of the most important acts of defiance in the country’s history. Singles Kingdom and Hold It Together provide a great sense of the album’s overall energy and kick, but are by no means the sum of what Sultan can offer. For a change of pace, take in the swoon-iness of Cul-De-Sac and Fire Under Foot. Both are simply arranged, carried by the character of Sultan’s voice and mostly basic acoustics - just gorgeous. Follow this with the impassioned Magnetic and Over In Time (both introspective, though upbeat, rather than big ballad), and to end Easier Man jumps almost directly into gospel - a track that’s almost impossible not to hit ‘repeat’ on immediately after it’s done. In the hands of a lesser talent there would be times where the album’s themes would just march straight into Coma FM, but with Sultan it’s impossible to be complacent. Killer, indeed. Liz Giuffre

Shane Nicholson

Arcade Fire

Love And Blood

Everything Now

Lost Highway/Universal

Sony

★★★½

★★★★

Though Shane Nicholson is now firmly entrenched in Australian country music, he’s shown over his strong run of solo albums that he can still maintain a foot in the indie scene in which he forged his songwriting abilities. That positioning has enabled him to straddle alt-country and commercial country with equal aplomb. Love And Blood is no departure from his previous work, instead it hones in on his strengths of straight song structures, catchy melodies and well executed musicality with a workmanlike approach. It all seems to fit perfectly - almost too perfectly. Seamlessly even. The best country music shows cracks and the musical dirt beneath the fingernails. The opener and single Safe shares similarities with the reverb-laden guitars, lyrics and

Arcade Fire blast out an album of infectious pop songs with such irresistible uplift that it is impossible not to take flight and soar sky-high on these feelgood ibes. The anthemic title track is loaded with hooks that drill deep into your head. Everything from the rolling ABBA-esque piano to the pan pipe riff and the glorious hands-in-the-air “na na na” of the chorus will have listeners reaching for the repeat button. The indie rockers have allowed producers Thomas Bangalter and Pulp’s Steve Mackey to apply irresistible electro bounce while making their retro pop hooks shine. Portishead’s Geoff Barrow plays synths on Creature Comfort, which mixes themes of body issues, suicide and disillusion into a fierce electro workout that aims to stun. Two versions

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cadence of Ryan Adams’ recent work. Elsewhere, Nicholson uses po-faced humour in I Don’t Dance and the Justin Townes Earle-ish Someone’s Gonna Pay and shapes astute relationship tales from common phrases on Bad Apple and One Trick Pony. The aforementioned lack of grit is partially compensated for by the wonderful New Orleans blues stagger and stomp of God’s Own Army — infectious, rousing, and sweet relief from the darker and slower songs on the album. This album again showcases Nicholson’s mature and consistently strong songwriting, placed right at the junction of country, rock and MOR. Chris Familton

of Infinite Content, dressed in raucous punk and easy country vibes, feels more like a ‘because we can’ experiment, while Electric Blue seems to refer to David Bowie’s Sound And Vision and feels like a tribute set to an instantly classic funk groove. There is much to fall in love with on this album. The Arcade is on Fire. Guido Farnell

EP Reviews Album/EP Reviews

Manchester Orchestra A Black Mile To The Surface

Make Them Suffer

Vic Mensa

Alice Cooper

The Autobiography

Paranormal

Worlds Apart

EMI

earMusic/Sony

Roadrunner/Warner

Caroline

★★★★

★★★½

★★★★

Just 13 years into an already enviable career, Andy Hull and Robert McDowell are captaining Manchester Orchestra’s fifth through troublesome waters. Scoring the Danno/ Radcliffe vehicle Swiss Army Man using mostly a cappella and minimal orchestral sounds has reinvigorated the band’s love of its guitar section, which is delicately draped over Hull’s fragile vocals in The Parts and scalds with Foals-ish intensity on The Silence. When The Grocery wanders from a grey apartment block in search for a higher power to believe in it’s hard to imagine this is a band from Atlanta, Georgia not Brexitwounded Blighty. A Black Mile To The Surface is as brittle as it is powerful.

Bands get lots of slack for changing up their sound, and that’s what’s driven Make Them Suffer’s Worlds Apart. Keyboard/vocalist Booka Nile’s clean vocals provide an ethereal atmosphere when crossed with Sean Harmanis’ gnarly growls, yet they maintain their respected metal foundation with distorted guitar and pounding drum beats. With themes of change and self discovery in the soul-stirring Uncharted, (“To lose oneself is to find oneself”) to poignant spoken word apology in Save Yourself (“It’s ok to be wrong/ And I have been wrong/ And I am wrong”), Make Them Suffer have a lot to say, and aren’t holding back with this authentic, haunting and powerful release.

Age will not weary Alice Cooper. The black-eyed rocker returns after a six-year breather from 2011’s Welcome 2 My Nightmare with double album Paranormal. Having a staggering 26 albums (27 including this release) under his belt does make one wonder whether it’s a case of quantity over quality. But there’s a treasure trove of blues rock to be lapped up here. The opening title track is classic Cooper, stadium guitars followed by some stomping riffs, he pokes fun at his age in Fallen In Love, playful horror vibes creep into The Sound Of A, and the live bonus disc is a neat reminder of how many hits the great man gave us.

Mac McNaughton

Emily Blackburn

Initially slated for 2015 (it was scrapped to create a “more authentic” project), the debut LP from Chicago MC Vic Mensa has finally dropped. The Autobiography is a striking collection of woozy trap pop and intimate personal anecdotes, immediately recalling Kanye West’s Graduation. In a way, the record represents Mensa’s own valedictory: after several years refining his craft he’s ready to take on the world, armed with an exciting body of work. Down For Some Ignorance, Wings and Rollin’ Like A Stoner — a lavish earworm juxtaposing party sonics with musings on the pitfalls of excessive partying, ala Kendrick Lamar’s Swimming Pools — exhibit Mensa’s impressive ear for melody and ability to dissect the minutiae of his existence.

Carley Hall

Evan Young

More Reviews Online Oceans Ate Alaska Hikari

theMusic.com.au

Rings Of Saturn Ultu Ulla

Listen to our This Week’s Releases playlist on

THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017 • 31

Live Re Live Reviews

Lil Yachty @ Splendour In The Grass. Pic: Markus Ravik

Splendour In The Grass

North Byron Parklands 21 – 23 Jul Day one

Powderfinger @ Splendour In The Grass. Pic: Clare Hawley

HAIM @ Splendour In The Grass. Pic: Markus Ravik

Royal Blood @ Splendour In The Grass. Pic: Markus Ravik

Tash Sultana @ Splendour In The Grass. Pic: Clare Hawley

Queens Of The Stone Age @ Splendour In The Grass. Pic: Clare Hawley

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Splendour’s back! If there’s one band to kick off something like Splendour In The Grass, especially the biggest stage of them all, the Amphitheatre, we’re glad it was a band that utilised the whole space. WHARVES walked out onto stage like they belonged up there — any first-festival nerves were not present (or at least very hidden very well) — and within their very first few songs, they were throwing themselves across the stage, playing like mad men, with the small but dedicated crowd hanging onto every motion, every word that frontman Matthew Collins shouts out. Perfectly timed to coincide with the release of her new album, Perennial, today’s performance by Vera Blue is a celebratory occasion to say the least. Each element of her show, everything from her costume to the visuals and lighting, is tuned to nearperfection and her astounding voice brings the whole package into wondrous fruition. She has the crowd completely enamoured throughout the entirety of the set and brings it all home on the most powerful of notes with the gorgeous closer Hold. Dressed in white and accompanied by a ball-of-energy guitarist, Alice Ivy greets her modest crowd — which includes four shaggy Pikachus — with some absolutely throbbing beats. After a few minutes building up her mix, Ivy commandeers the guitar and delves deep into her thumping samples and in an expansive rendition of Touch. Promised as a track “to get freaky to”, Get Me A Drink sees shapes thrown in every direction as the melancholic synthesisers sweep through the Tiny Dancer tent. The mix slowly descends into a trippy take on Almost Here, featuring a tasteful amount of

The one-womanmusic-machine Tash Sultana completely delivers with the kind of highly charged performance that demonstrates just why she’s fast becoming such a worldwide sensation

swing and horn samples, much to the delight of the now large crowd of glitter queens and rave lords. At the GW McLennan tent, we’re embraced by the soft, crooning vocals of Julia Jacklin, shining bright and vibrant in a blue dress. The way she sings, it’s almost as if she’s the only one on stage, even though her backing band are nothing short of terrific. We’re so absorbed in the music, but a quick glance around brings us face to face with all manner of friends; the true, beautiful serendipity of Splendour. Jacklin ends her set, and we depart happy in a big huddle of mates. Riding high on the currents of her whirlwind success, Tash Sultana brings an electrifying presence to the Ampitheatre main stage. The one-woman-musicmachine completely delivers with the kind of highly charged performance that demonstrates just why she’s fast becoming such a worldwide sensation. She confidently springs back and forth between synths and loop pedals to lay the foundations, before whaling away on her guitar with an ecstatic fervour that is absolutely infectious. While the set doesn’t quite connect

eviews Live Reviews

with the audience on the same level it does at an event like Woodford, it’s still nothing short of a success. Over at the Mix Up tent, we’re excited to see American rapper Lil Yachty, and throw some high energy dance moves about. We’ve got nothing on Yachty though, as he jumps around the stage like a monster, almost never stopping, and never missing a word. It’s exactly what we needed though, reaching the day’s halfway point, we meld into the crowd. Back at the Amphitheatre, we’re just in time to see Canberra duo Peking Duk, and we’re hard pressed to find a spot on the grass close enough to see their faces, let alone get into the thick of it up the front. Peking Duk are playing an intense show, and the cold isn’t setting them back at all as they whip out banger after banger for a delighted crowd. Bathed in red lights, BANKS has brought contemporary dancers and a finessed stage show to the Mix Up tent. The dancers are cloaked in weird black body socks so their arms are webbed when they wave them around, creating odd silhouettes. Diehards scream back lyrics to Fuck With Myself and Gemini Feed to her, with the tent packed to the hilt. She’s got huge black sleeves, swishing around like a musical witch, always shrouded in smoke and shadows, rarely ever spotlighted or fully visible. Sometimes she and her dancers arch their backs in rapid succession, looking almost possessed. It’s obvious that a huge contingent of Splendourgoers have come specifically to see Banks though, screaming at literally every advent. Greeting the crowd first and foremost with big waves from the front of the stage, the sisters HAIM are straight into blockbuster single Want You Back. It’s way less ‘90s-sounding live — more country, actually — but it’s still so much fun. Este ‘Bassface’ Haim and Alana bounce off each other, grinning back to back, while Danielle leads the crowd with her

soulful croon. The girls are all lined up at the front, each wearing a piece of black patent leather (or is it PVC?) — true family band behaviour. Este jumps into the crowd for a little surf (never mind that she’s wearing a mini skirt), then they all have an onstage dance party which just puts a smile on everyone’s face. They’re all so lovably goofy — no pretense, just a good fucking time. They end with an epic drum face-off between the three of them plus their live drummer for new slow burner Right Now: literally mindblowingly awesome. Four years since they last performed in Australia, British mournful dream-pop purveyors The xx take to the Friday night headlining set with plenty of flair. Wearing black, positioned in front of six gigantic rotating mirrors, and illuminated by a swarm of white lights, the trio burst into their minimalistic back catalogue Intro and Crystalised. The vibe and lighting hues then quickly change with the emotion-packed Say Something Loving, encouraging many couples to hold each other tighter than they already were. Tracks from their new album I See You come thick and fast, raising the melancholic vibes to a more relatable Friday night level with soft dance tracks Dangerous and I Dare You. Brave For You morphs into a morbid dance track, but is immediately countered by their irresistibly cute indie anthem — and rare hopeful narrative — VCR. The set is then turned on its head by Jamie xx, as he hits the decks to turn Shelter, Loud Places, and the beginning of On Hold into bonafide club fillers. After professing their unconditional love for everyone, Romy Madley Croft leads the crowd in the night’s final sing-along with Angels — an uplifting end to a set that shows the trio are completely at home in their new musical direction and live show. Day two What a day it was! The first set of the day at any stage risks being poorly attended, but the crowd gathered under the

Mix Up tent for Brisbane rapper Mallrat is impressive both in size and enthusiasm. The young artist has found a growing niche in the hip-hop world for songs that are relatable to millennial teens, writing about being left out of friend’s trips Westfield shopping malls and going to Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley on a Saturday night because “I’ve got nowhere to be”. She pads out the set with a few covers, including a straight-forward interpretation of Lily Allen’s Who’d Have Known, which is a fitting distillation of Mallrat’s image and appeal. While the themes of suburban ennui have been well-treaded by musical icons in the past, and are being continually revisited by contemporaries like Drake, it’s the extreme locality of her songwriting that sets her apart, and the audience treat her like a local legend because of it, applauding and cheering to fill every silence between songs. The GW McLennan becomes a space of deep intimacy during Julien Baker’s performance. She stands centre stage, a lone figure dressed in plain black jeans and shirt, equipped with only two guitars, one amp, and a few pedals. A contemplative lesson in minimalism, her set pushes all else aside in favour of direct, raw emotion, and this has quite the

It’s a euphoric moment if there ever was one at an Australian music festival, and is only topped by Powderfinger following it up with the elegiac These Days.

potent effect on the audience. When one forlorn member of the audience cries out, “I love you!” Baker lightens the mood with a quick quip, “I was about to say the same, but it’s too soon”, then hits us where it really hurts with a stunning version of Something. Introduced by a clip from their very own DUNIES TV, featuring Shannon Noll and their race to make it to their set on time, Dune Rats arrive at their Amphitheatre set riding dirt bike, navigating past giant inflatable shakas and Young Henry’s Dunies Lager tinnies. Bursting with energy and yelling “FARK!” every 30 seconds, they tear through their garage rock set — heavy with tracks from their latest album The Kids Will Know It’s Bullshit. The inflatable tinnies appropriately become playthings for the heaving mosh in 6 Pack, before the band launch into stoner anthem Scott Green. There are some surprisingly good three-part harmonies in the lyrically brain-dead Buzz-Kill, but the highlight of the set is easily a Blister In The Sun/Smells Like Teen Spirit/Just Ace medley with Violent Soho’s James Tidswell and Grinspoon frontman Phil Jamieson. Danny Beusa’s eyes take on their own identity in closer Bullsh*t, and as confetti rains down we’re left wondering if perhaps Jamieson slapping a “Do Not Push” sign above a large red button on-stage a few songs ago was for fireworks which didn’t quite get launched. Bernard Fanning is the ultimate Brisbane everyman. Of course, he’s not really, but his enduring appeal stems from the fact that he seems like the type of guy who you could image yourself being if your heart was broken just a couple more times. He opens the set with Isn’t It A Pity, Wasting Time, Reckless, and Songbird. He’s joined by a versatile four-piece band on stage, who are nimble on Songbird, and truly monstrous during America (Glamour And Prestige), when the band segue into the riff from Black Sabbath’s Ironman. He sends

THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017 • 33

Live Re Live Reviews

Belly Of The Beast out to all of the politicians around the world, proclaiming, “This is a message to all those morons,” although it seems unlikely there are any in the audience. However, there are plenty of Powderfinger fans, and they’re delighted when, after performing Sail The Widest Stretch on his own, Fanning invites the members of Powderfinger onto the stage to commemorate the tenth year since their last Splendour performance. The crowd screams and fans rush down the hills of the amphitheatre as Darren Middleton, Ian Haug, John Collins, and Jon Coghill pick up their instruments for (Baby I Got You) On My Mind. It’s a euphoric moment if there ever was one at an Australian music festival, and

The interplay between Queens Of The Stone Age’s guitars could very well be the most dynamic on display at the festival all weekend. is only topped by the band following it up with the elegiac These Days — it’s Australiana dad-rock at its finest. Fanning gives us a farewell with a spirited performance of Wish You Well afterwards, making it a Splendour performance no one can forget. “You guys got me so excited, I forgot that water existed in the world,” Future Islands lead singer Sam Herring pants at one point, covered in sweat, after finally taking a quick drink break. The band’s set is a series of fast-paced songs that closely

34 • THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017

resemble each other, although opener Ran stands out as an early highlight, and Herring goes out of his way to engage the audience by prefacing each song with a personalised, grandiose introduction. Nonetheless, for those who aren’t avid fans of the band, his lyrics are often obscured by his garbled screams, and it’s not until the well-known Seasons that the crowd really lights up. The biggest crowd so far packs tight into the Amphitheatre to catch Welsh stadium rock heroes Catfish & The Bottlemen. From the get-go frontman Van McCann seems hell bent on playing every song like it’s the band’s last. The one-two punch opening of their debut album, Homesick and Kathleen, sees Van howling like a wolf amongst the overdriven rock gems, gesturing heavily for the crowd to help him with every chorus, which we oblige to unreservedly. The triumphant set finishes with the nine-minute-long epic Tyrants, featuring ferocious tribal rhythms and a possessed Johnny Bond zigzagging all over his Les Paul in an inspired solo. After three fake endings and a flurry of strobes, crashing cymbals, and both guitarists squeezing every second of feedback from their amps, the quartet exit the stage and leave everyone craving another hour of The Bottlemen. British two-man tour de force Royal Blood managed to warm up a massive crowd of freezing punters with their riff-driven brand of rock. They smashed their way from hit to hit, only breaking for Ben Thatcher to partake in an Aussie tradition and slam down a shoey or Mike Kerr to solo his arse off with his patented fuzzy guitar/bass tones. The pair finished off their set with a drawnout version of Out Of The Black, with Ben jumping down off the massive stage to get right among the crowd before heading back up to literally smash his drum kit. Revellers of all ages buzz excitedly in the smoke-filled GW McLennan Tent, eagerly awaiting legendary Australian

singer-songwriter and wordsmith Paul Kelly. He opens the set with Maralinga, dedicated to the recent passing of his dear friend Yami Lester — the buzzing electric guitar sounding ominous against his calm verses. Harmonising beautifully with Vika and Linda Bull, To Her Door, Leaps And Bounds and Deeper Water have the crowd shimmering and singing along like it’s one great big karaoke bar. Apart from one track from his upcoming “rock ‘n’ roll record”, it’s a set of pure hits — which to Kelly’s credit he performs with the same vigour and passion to when he first wrote them decades ago. Two Door Cinema Club are headlining the Mix Up, and the Irish five-piece have packed-

compare this hollow light show to what’s happening where Paul Kelly is currently playing. Anyway, the crowd seems to be having a good time. Having frequented Australia festivals since they first burst into the limelight on the doorstep of the new millennium, Queens Of The Stone Age have been well-overdue at this festival for quite some time. Their arrival, however, couldn’t have come at more opportune time. Their last long player, ...Like Clockwork, saw them return sounding the most creatively invigorated since 2002’s Songs For The Deaf, and tonight, just a month out from the release of the new album, they sound every bit as inspired. The interplay between the guitars could very

The xx @ Splendour In The Grass. Pic: Markus Ravik

out the venue to capacity. It’s a shame then that the bass isn’t travelling to the back of the crowd, where most of the audience are squashed, leaving the set sounding tinny. Nonetheless, the guitars sound great, as the angular sounds of Cigarettes In The Theatre and Undercover Martyn open the performance. There’s a frenetic quality to the show, and the band seem to be playing faster live, making the whole experience a lot to take in, particularly when there’s not much to hold on to in the songwriting department — “she spoke words of wisdom” is about as vague as pop lyrics can get. Indeed, it’s hard not to

well be the most dynamic on display at the festival all weekend, and their ability to stretch and slow down the timings of their songs is simply mesmerising. Though they completely overlook their phenomenal debut, it’s hard to be disappointed with a setlist that draws so heavily from the two aforementioned albums, and by the time Song For The Deaf’s title track draws the set to a climatic close, they’ve delivered in almost every way imaginable.

Carly Packer, Jack Doonar, Jake Sun, Roshan Clerke, Samuel Mobbs, Uppy Chatterjee To read the full Splendour review, head to theMusic.com.au

Arts Reviews Arts Reviews

The Beguiled

Dunkirk

Film In cinemas now

★★★★½

The Beguiled Film In cinemas now

★★★ The idea that a new version of The Beguiled, the lurid 1971 thriller starring Clint Eastwood as a wounded soldier seeking refuge in a girls’ school during the Civil War, would be taken on by Lost In Translation writer/ director Sofia Coppola seemed such an odd match that it instantly became intriguing. Coppola tends to tackle loneliness, longing and deeply-buried passions in her films, albeit in a very understated way, and those themes are certainly evident in The Beguiled’s story. And it would be interesting to see this story, which has a group of women and girls at its core, as presented by a female director. Having said that, I came away somewhat underwhelmed by Coppola’s take on the tale. It’s beautifully put together from an artistic point of view, and it displays flashes of dark wit and raw emotion. But it comes across as altogether too controlled and civilised, with the meaner, messier and more brutal (in all senses of the word) aspects of the story left untouched. The Civil War has been raging for three years and is coming to a conclusion, but for the seven residents of a girls’ school in rural Virginia — five young students, teacher Edwina (Kirsten Dunst) and headmistress Martha (Nicole Kidman) — the frequent sound of cannons firing is a reminder that danger is always near. So they are naturally cautious when enemy soldier John (Colin Farrell) is discovered in the woods near the school. The Beguiled has a simple, straightforward (but not insubstantial) story to begin with, so if that’s not going to be presented with the theatrical gusto of the 1971 version, then the underlying ideas must be rigorously explored to give an adaptation any weight or merit. Coppola’s film does neither — it’s tasteful and occasionally captivating, but mostly it’s a lovely, inert piece of work. Guy Davis

Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk is breathtaking. It’s a remarkable, immerse cinematic achievement in any number of ways — a white-knuckle war drama with a psychological component that’s straightforward in the moment and startlingly complex in hindsight. It’s also a beautifully constructed and finely calibrated work of storytelling engineering that packs a powerful emotional wallop. In a career that has seen the writer-director of intelligent, provocative large-scale entertainments like Inception and the Dark Knight trilogy, Nolan may have delivered his finest work to date with Dunkirk. The evacuation of hundreds of thousands of British troops from the Dunkirk beach in France has become part of WWII legend. Therefore, one could naturally expect a dramatisation of the event to focus solely on its more heroic aspects, especially given that scores of civilians

Dunkirk

formed a flotilla to help ferry the soldiers — under constant fire from the enemy — out of harm’s way. The film certainly does that, and there are depictions of courage, both great and small, that are among the most moving and affecting an audience may see on the big screen this year. But Nolan is equally interested in the many and varied traits of human nature that emerge under fire — the flaws and virtues that arise in desperate, dangerous times. He rarely overplays these scenes and sequences, so the moments of bravery, struggle and sacrifice are all the more powerful when they do occur. But the cumulative effect of everything he presents lingers long after Dunkirk comes to a conclusion. His skills as a storytelling technician come to the fore as well, with three separate but intertwined strands, all taking place over different time spans, making up the whole. It may seem unnecessarily tricky and show-offish to begin with, but the week endured by young soldiers on the Dunkirk beach, the day spent by a civilian sailor and his young colleagues travelling across the water on a rescue mission and the hour a fighter pilot spends in the air taking on enemy aircraft are all vivid depictions of the call to protect and defend and the desire to stay alive. The cast is a mix of new faces and established names (oh, and One Direction singer Harry Styles, acquitting himself well), and there’s not a single weak link in the chain, with Oscar-winner Mark Rylance (as the sailor) and Tom Hardy (as the pilot) giving outstanding portrayals of understated, stiff-upper-lip courage and certainty. Guy Davis THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017 • 35

Comedy / G The Guide

Wed 26

Rodjar

‘68 + Grenadiers + She Cries Wolf + Rare Words: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley SoLar: El Capitano, Noosa Heads Distant Fingers + Andrew Tuttle: Junk Bar, Ashgrove

Mew

Mark Sheils: Runcorn Tavern, Runcorn Soupy LaRue: The Bearded Lady (Front Bar), West End

The Music Presents Dead Of Winter Festival: 29 Jul Jubilee Hotel

Triffid Acoustics with Christopher Mallory + Dustyesky: The Triffid (Beer Garden), Newstead

The Foundry 2nd Birthday: 10 Aug The Foundry

Thu 27

Sarah McLeod: 22 Aug Crowbar

Mecha Mecha + Trails + Hooch: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley

Vera Blue: 25 Aug The Triffid; 26 Aug The Mills Precinct Toowoomba; 27 Aug Miami Marketta

Jake Bristow Quartet: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point

Against The Grain Festival: 25 - 27 Aug Bakery Lane, Barbara Reverends, Brightside Carpark

Jesse Taylor: Cafe Le Monde, Noosa Heads Sensaii + We Set Signals: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley

Maroochy Music & Vis Arts Festival: 26 Aug, Old Horton Park Golf Course

Charles Jenkins: Junk Bar, Ashgrove

Mew: 10 Sep The Triffid

Aleyce Simmonds: Lefty’s Old Time Music Hall, Brisbane

Dan Sultan: 21 Sep The Northern Byron Bay; 22 Max Watt’s At The Drive In: 2 Oct Eatons Hill Hotel Caligula’s Horse: 7 Oct The Triffid Alt-J: 10 Dec Riverstage

Som De Calcada: Lock ‘n’ Load Bistro, West End Black Rheno: Miami Tavern (Shark Bar), Miami ROO + Laura Louise: New Globe Theatre, Fortitude Valley Jason Lowe: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore

Back Track Rodjar is going back to the classics for Throwback Party at Woolly Mammoth, a celebration of all things ‘90s and early ‘00s, on 28 Jul. Joining him to revive your teens years are DJ Durs, Riley Ella and Nicholas Alexander. Lachlan X Morris + Cedarsmoke + Fugitive: The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, South Brisbane Get Wise to Your New Favourite Band #7: The Triffid, Newstead MitiS: Wharf Tavern (The Helm), Mooloolaba

Fri 28

The Unknowns + The Chats: Solbar, Maroochydore AlfanAnt: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore The Art: The Bearded Lady, West End Twinfolds: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley Alastyn + Passion Cactus + Fox Ache: The Flamin’ Galah, Brisbane

Dragon: Beach House Hotel, Scarness Little Mix + Zoe Badwi: Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Boondall

Kill Dirty Youth

Karen Anderson & The Fortunate Sinners: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point

Top Dollar

One For The Money On 28 Jul at The Foundry, Nash Johnston is dropping his third single as Top Dollar. It’s called The Two Of Us and Dying Adolescence and Chakra Efendi are helping him out on the night..

Kingfisha: The Bearded Lady, West End Real Friends + Columbus + Harbours: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley Andy Ward + Skye Neil + Sleep Club: The Foundry, Fortitude Valley

36 • THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017

Broadbeach Country Music Festival feat. Troy Cassar-Daley + Aleyce Simmonds + Lachlan Bryan & The Wildes + Roo Arcus + Hayley Jensen + Ben Ransom + Brook Chivell + Kerry Kennedy & Double Barrel + Col Finley + Dan Hannaford + Travis Collins + Benn Gunn + Whistle Dixie + The Weeping Willows + Freya Josephine Hollick + Tomato Tomato + Neilly Rich + Drew McAlister: Broadbeach, Broadbeach Reactions + Sleep Talk + Ill Natured: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley DJ Horizon + Kellie Pearce: Eatons Hill Hotel, Eatons Hill Art Vs Science: Gallery Of Modern Art (GOMA) (River Room), South Brisbane The World’s Smallest Festival feat. The Stress Of Leisure + Seja + Greg Brady & the Anchors + Zodiac Love Bone: Junk Bar, Ashgrove The Button Collective: Miami Marketta, Miami All Ages Show with Real Friends: Phoenix Arts Theatre, Woolloongabba Adam Brown: Royal Mail Hotel, Goodna

Get X-cited Supports Kill Dirty Youth and The Bear Hunt are set to light the candles on X’s anniversary cake 29 Jul at The Triffid when the legendary Aussie outfit celebrate four decades spent making a racket together.

Jamie Hogg: The Flying Cock, Fortitude Valley Top Dollar + Dying Adolescence + Chakra Efendi: The Foundry, Fortitude Valley

Gigs / Live The Guide

Kellie Pearce

Men of R&B with +Lloyd + J Holiday + RL (of Next): Max Watt’s, West End

The Mouldy Lovers: Miami Marketta, Miami LS Philosophy + Jacob Lee + Liv Heyer: Night Quarter, Helensvale

Reactions + Sleep Talk + Ill Natured: Phoenix Arts Theatre, Woolloongabba Busby Marou: Racehorse Hotel, Booval

Deck Heads Big beats are taking over Eatons Hill Hotel this 28 Jul for R&B Fridays Club. Heading up the night are Horizon and Kellie Pearce backed up by the best R&B DJs around town.

Byron Short + Blues Arcadia: Royal Mail Hotel, Goodna Jason Daniels + Doolie + Trey Cooper: Solbar, Maroochydore Nicole Brophy: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore Little BIGSOUND 2017 feat. Asha Jefferies + Ruby Gilbert + Tobi + Twelve Past Midnight: State Library of Queensland (The Edge), South Brisbane

SussOne + Gaz Hazard + DJ Dcide: Woolly Mammoth, Fortitude Valley

Americana Sessions with Dana Gerhman: The Triffid, Newstead

Sun 30

Mon 31

Brunch with The Alley: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point

Lip Sync Battle 2017: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley

Joe Marchisella: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point

Train: The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley

Broadbeach Country Music Festival feat. America + Shane Nicholson + Round Mountain Girls + Caitlyn Shadbolt + Drew McAlister + Jetty Road + Fanny Lumsden + Ben Ransom + Tomato Tomato + The Wilson Pickers + Neilly Rich + Sara Storer + Roo Arcus + Aleyce Simmonds + The Weeping Willows + Freya Josephine Hollick + Dan Hannaford + Hayley Jensen + Amy Nelson + Col Finley + Georgia Fall + Benn Gunn + Lachlan Bryan + Tori Forsyth + West Texas Crude + more: Broadbeach, Broadbeach

Tue 01 Davey Romain: Lock ‘n’ Load Bistro, West End WED 02 Open Mic Night: Solbar, Maroochydore Shaun Kirk: The Bison Bar, Nambour Genesis Revisited with Steve Hackett: The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley

Kayso Grande: The Bearded Lady, West End Walk Off The Earth: The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley Rock 4 Kids in support of Camp Quality: The Triffid, Newstead The Screaming Jets: Villa Noosa Hotel, Noosaville Rojdar’s ‘Throwback Party’ feat. DJ Durs + DJ Riley Ella + DJ Nicholas Alexander: Woolly Mammoth, Fortitude Valley

Sat 29 Helen Russell Trio + Josh Hatcher: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point Broadbeach Country Music Festival feat. Kasey Chambers + Shane Nicholson + Tex Dubbo + Fanny Lumsden + Jetty Road + Tomato Tomato + Lachlan Bryan & The Wildes + The Viper Creek Band + The Wolfe Brothers + Travis Collins + Dana Gehrman + Aleyce Simmonds + Whistle Dixie + Brooke Lambert + Roo Arcus + Ben Ransom + The Wilson Pickers + Hayley Jensen + Freya Josephine Hollick + Georgia Fall + Grizzlee Train + Alex & Bec Crook + The Weeping Willows + more: Broadbeach, Broadbeach Julian Wood + DJ Cain: Cafe Le Monde, Noosa Heads Pandamic + Dangerpenny: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley Dead Of Winter Festival feat. +The Bennies + The Meanies + Dallas Frasca + As Paradise Falls + Hollow + Whoretopsy + Night Gaunts + Truth Corroded + Hollow World + Black Rheno + The Flangipanis + Transvaal Diamond Syndicate + Hobo Magic + Sabrina Lawrie + She Cries Wolf + La Bastard + Smoking Martha + Walken + Some Jerks + FAT + The Black Swamp + Being Jane Lane + Tesla Coils + Swamp Gully Howlers + Mammoth + The Cutaways + The Molotov + A.M.P. + The Heart & Dagger Sideshow: Jubilee Hotel, Fortitude Valley The Bowls Club + Hillsborough: Junk Bar, Ashgrove Alphabet Street: Lock ‘n’ Load Bistro, West End

America + Russell Morris: The Events Centre, Caloundra

Dana Gehrman

Stepson + Stateside + Aburden: The Foundry, Fortitude Valley Shellie Morris + Troy Jungaji Brady + GuGu Miliyawutj: The Majestic Theatre, Pomona The Regulars + Dark Lab + Lex: The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, South Brisbane Under 18’s Only Matinee Show with Allday + Japanese Wallpaper + Nicole Millar: The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley 18+ Show with Allday + Japanese Wallpaper + Nicole Millar: The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley

Montaigne

AmeriDana Another week means another artist featured for The Triffid’s Sunday Americana Sessions. This 30 Jul it’ll be Dana Gehrman, bringing her smooth vocal and Spaghetti Western-style guitar twang.

Tim Loydell: Cafe Le Monde, Noosa Heads

Contaigne Yourselves The Triffid is set to be stacked with talent for an all-ages event this 5 Aug. Headlining is ARIA Award winner Montaigne with support from I Know Leopard and Alex The Astronaut.

X (Steve Lucas, Kim Volkman & Doug Falconer) + The Bear Hunt + Kill Dirty Youth: The Triffid, Newstead Songs You Know & Love with Pete Cullen: The Triffid (Beer Garden), Newstead The Sunny Coast Rude Boys + Dub Zoo + DJ Dave Slater: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley

Thu 03

Simmo + Rick Fredrick: Crowbar (Crowbar Black), Fortitude Valley

O’Shea: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley

Boukabou: Hogs Breath, Cleveland

Brisbane Vocal Jazz Festival: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point

Jud Campbell + Laura Mardon + Jai Sparks: Lefty’s Old Time Music Hall, Brisbane

The Settlement: Brooklyn Standard, Brisbane

Brother Fox: Lock ‘n’ Load Bistro, West End

Dan Brodie: Junk Bar, Ashgrove

BASEQ Jam with Dillion James: Royal Mail Hotel, Goodna

Eddie Gazani: Lock ‘n’ Load Bistro, West End

The Meanies + Meat Bikini + The Tuscans: The Basement Bar, Townsville City

Drew Wilson: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore

Laneous: The Bearded Lady (Front Bar), West End

The Maidstones: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley

Green Chimneys Records Presents Various Artists: The Foundry, Fortitude Valley Sugarush: The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, South Brisbane

THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017 • 37

Comedy / G The Guide

Fri 04

The Suburban Series Vol. 1 feat. Peach Fur + Port Royal + Selfish Sons + The Cinema Wristys + Regular Band: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley

The Murlocs

James Norbert Ivanyi + Dyssidia + Zac Benjamin + Archetypes: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley

The Company + Tin Star: West End Uniting Church, West End

Wojciech Myrczek + Pawel Tomaszewski + Dorian Mode: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point

Sun 06

Miss Drag Universe Pageant 201: Chardons Corner Hotel, Annerley

Brisbane Vocal Jazz Festival: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point

Ceres + Slowly Slowly + Lincoln Le Fevre & The Insiders + The Cutaways: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley

Mendo: Capulet, Fortitude Valley Tobias: Emerald Maraboon Hotel, Emerald

The Screaming Jets: Dalrymple Hotel, Garbutt

Dave Graney & Clare Moore: Junk Bar, Ashgrove

Fairchild + Th’Fika + Claw Machine: Elsewhere, Surfers Paradise Black Cab + Toko-Ton Taiko: Gallery Of Modern Art (GOMA) (River Room), South Brisbane Brad Butcher + Hayley Marsten: Junk Bar, Ashgrove Nikolaine Martin: Lock ‘n’ Load Bistro, West End Death Grips: Max Watt’s, West End

Dillion James: Lock ‘n’ Load Bistro, West End

‘Loc It In The Murlocs are dropping their third album Old Locomotive and heading out on their largest headline tour to date. Catch them at The Brightside 5 Aug, with Jouk Mistrow and Sex Drive. Dane Adamo: The Bearded Lady, West End Dave Graney & Clare Moore: The Bison Bar, Nambour

Ocean Grove

OXJam Haus Party feat. Good Boy DJs + Bcharre + The Gatling Gun + Emma Stevenson + more: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley Josh Mcnz: The Flying Cock, Fortitude Valley Sleep D + Rikki Newton + Jawgoh + more: The Foundry, Fortitude Valley Shaun Kirk: The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, South Brisbane

OG Ocean Grove have dropped their debut full-length, The Rhapsody Tapes, and that means it’s time for everyone’s favourite heavy sextet to hit the road. Catch them at Woolly Mammoth 4 Aug.

Keith Sweat + CDB: The Star (formerly Jupiters), Broadbeach Abbey Road performed in its entirety by The Honeysliders + Abbie Cardwell & The Texicans: The Triffid, Newstead Ocean Grove + Justice For The Damned + Broken + The Beverly Chills: Woolly Mammoth, Fortitude Valley

Sat 05 Wallflower Meadows: Miami Marketta, Miami The Settlement + Micka Scene + Liv Heyer: Night Quarter, Helensvale Buzzkillers + Broken Leg + Bazooka Fist + Concrete Palms: Prince of Wales Hotel, Nundah Mzaza + Vardos: Queensland Multicultural Centre (QMC), Kangaroo Point The Massive Fergusons: Royal Mail Hotel, Goodna The Badlands + Los Laws: Solbar, Maroochydore Whiskey & Me: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore

38 • THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017

The Murlocs: Miami Tavern (Shark Bar), Miami

Verge Collection: Bloodhound Corner Bar, Fortitude Valley Brisbane Vocal Jazz Festival: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point Dr Bombay: Chardons Corner Hotel, Annerley Music With A Message #1 feat. Adriatic + Massic + End Us + Riot Punch: Fat Louie’s, Brisbane All Ages Show with The Playbook: Foundry Records, Fortitude Valley Busby Marou: Harvey Road Tavern, Clinton Scarborough Originals feat. Annie J & Fusion + The Unknowns + The Blockades + Peppermint Ollie: Jamison Park, Scarborough

Abbey Road performed by The Honeysliders: Soundlounge, Currumbin Ill Nino + Terror Universal: The Triffid, Newstead

Early Show with Dave Graney & Clare Moore: Junk Bar, Ashgrove

Tue 08

Dave Graney & Clare Moore: Junk Bar, Ashgrove

G-Dragon: Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Boondall

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

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

Minus The Bear: Max Watt’s, West End Shaun Kirk + Scott Dalton: Miami Marketta, Miami

Set Mo

Pacific Pride: New Globe Theatre, Fortitude Valley Mick Buckley & The Stray Hapcats + Felicity Lawless: Night Quarter, Helensvale Acca Dacca: Noosa Heads Surf Club, Noosa Heads The Settlement: Queen Street Mall, Brisbane The Hipshooters + Jason Delphin: Royal Mail Hotel, Goodna

Big Set

Bearfoot + Fat Picnic: Solbar, Maroochydore

Electronic duo Set Mo don’t dig being cut off, and 90-minute sets just don’t cut it. That’s why the pair are taking over The Foundry 5 Aug for the Stamina Sessions: four straight hours of dance tracks.

St Joan: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore Bovver Bash 2017 feat. Shandy + Plan Of Attack + The Arturos + Burning Circuits + The Wayne Keys Show + more: Stones Corner Hotel, Greenslopes Lecherous Gaze + Knifer + Girlsuck + more: The Bearded Lady, West End The Murlocs: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley Set Mo: The Foundry, Fortitude Valley MC Wheels: The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, South Brisbane 1927 + Pseudo Echo: The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley All Ages Show with Montaigne + I Know Leopard + Alex The Astronaut: The Triffid, Newstead

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introducing your new podcast obsession

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THE MUSIC • 26TH JULY 2017 • 39