The Music (Brisbane) Issue #98 by TheMusic.com.au

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# 9 8 • 2 9 . 0 7. 1 5 • B R I S BA N E • F R E E • I N C O R P O R AT I N G

film

AMY SCHUMER

review

SPLENDOUR LENDOUR

tour

RUBBER ER SOUL REVOLVER

tour

THE BELLRAYS

2 • THE MUSIC • 29TH JULY 2015

THE MUSIC 29TH JULY 2015 • 3

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THE MUSIC 29TH JULY 2015 • 5

CREDITS

TO DO

PUBLISHER

Street Press Australia Pty Ltd

GROUP MANAGING EDITOR Andrew Mast

NATIONAL EDITOR  MAGAZINES Mark Neilsen

EDITOR Steve Bell

ARTS EDITOR Hannah Story

THINGS TO DO 29 JUL - 11 AUG 2015

EAT/DRINK EDITOR Stephanie Liew

GIG GUIDE EDITOR Justine Lynch gigs@themusic.com.au

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Bryget Chrisﬁeld

CONTRIBUTORS Alice Bopf, Anthony Carew, Baz McAlister, Ben Marnane, Ben Preece, Benny Doyle, Bradley Armstrong, Brendan Telford, Brie Jorgensen, Carley Hall, Chris Yates, Cyclone, Daniel Cribb, Daniel Johnson, Danielle O’Donohue, Dave Drayton, Guy Davis, Jake Sun, Jazmine O’Sullivan, Kane Sutton, Lochlan Watt, Madeleine Laing, Mandy McAlister, Michael Smith, Mitch Knox, Neil Griﬃths, Nicholas Atkins, Paul Mulkearns, Roshan Clerke, Sam Hobson, Samuel J Fell, Sean Capel, Sky Kirkham, Sophie Blackhall-Cain, Tessa Fox, Tom Hersey, Tyler McLoughlan, Vicki Englund

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INTERNS Elijah Gall

PHOTOGRAPHERS Freya Lamont, John Stubbs, John Taylor, Kane Hibberd, Markus Ravik, Rick Cliﬀord, Sky Kirkham, Stephen Booth, Terry Soo, Tessa Fox

SALES Trent Kingi sales@themusic.com.au

The Night Noodle Markets at South Bank draws to a close on 2 Aug. It’s your last chance to taste the offerings of 30 different stalls from some of Brisbane’s favourite Asian eateries. This noodle eater’s delight is a part of Good Food Month.

ART DIRECTOR Brendon Wellwood

ART DEPT Ben Nicol

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BRISBANE

From 5 to 8 Aug Brisbane Powerhouse is hosting Let’s Get It On: The Life And Music of Marvin Gaye, featuring Aussie talents Vika Bull and Andrew De Silva. We heard through the grapevine that it’s awesome, don’t ask what’s going on after the fact!

Awesome local label Room40 is celebrating 15 years of sound exploration, so head honcho Lawrence English is pushing on versions 18 and 19 of the ongoing MONO series on 1 and 2 Aug at IMA featuring Jim O’Rourke, pictured, and more. Let’s get visceral!

rhyme

The first Brisbane heat of the Australian Poetry Slam ’15 is happening at the Brisbane Powerhouse on 1 Aug. Contestants will have two minutes to win over the crowd with their original spoken word poetry. A masterclass with former Australian Poetry Slam winner Luka Lesson happens 30 Jul at QWC.

binge

Netflix saves one 2001 comedy from the pop culture abyss as prequel Wet Hot American Summer: First Day Of Camp premieres Friday, starring Amy Poehler, Bradley Cooper, Elizabeth Banks and Paul Rudd.

DAVIDA ALLEN GRANDMOTHER PAINTING

art

GOMA Q is the first in a series that will showcase more than 30 emerging, mid-career and senior Queensland artists working across the spectrum of themes and media. You can see it now for free at the Gallery of Modern Art until 11 Oct.

shop

The Boudoir Bazaar Fashion Market hits the Broncos Leagues Club in Red Hill on Sunday 9 Aug. The indoor market will have pre-loved designer and vintage bargains galore for all you fashionistas out there. While you’re in the area, check out The Red Hill Farmers Market which will be running nearby.

show

It’s Ekka time again! From 7 – 16 Aug, The Royal Queensland Show will celebrate agriculture, food, music, fashion and much more. As always, there will be showbags, fireworks and awesome rides for the whole family. Plus for the first time the Ekka will host Dinosaur Adventures. Yes, that’s right: dinosaurs at the Ekka! THE MUSIC 29TH JULY 2015 • 7

national news news@themusic.com.au

FRONTLASH SPLENDOUR BANDS

Despite the conditions ‘twas a ﬁne year of music this Splendour, with a top-notch line-up and highlights aplenty across every genre imaginable. We’ll give the nod to Ryan Adam’s ﬁne set on Friday night but it could have gone anywhere...

HAIL AMY Caught Amy Schumer’s oneoﬀ stand-up set in Melbourne last week – freaking bloody hilarious. She seemed to be having a blast in Oz so let’s hope she returns for a more comprehensive tour soon!

KILLER BILL Amazing news that William Shatner is touring his acclaimed Broadway production Shatner’s World... We Just Live In It. Will be both strange and wonderful to see the great man in the ﬂesh.

AMY SCHUMER IN OZ!

BACKLASH SPLENDOUR MUD

After three days of trudging through horrific stinky mud down at Byron it’s so great to be back on terra firma. Saw so many people go down into the filth, it’s hard to fathom the choice of locale...

RIP BOBBY KRISTINA Bobby Kristina, the daughter of Bobby Brown and the late Whitney Houston, has sadly passed away at the tender age of 22. Some families just seem to be followed by tragedy.

RUN JOHN RUN So Jihadi John is ﬂeeing ISIS fearing that his life mightn’t be safe? Pity he didn’t show similar compassion for the innocent shackled men he murdered on camera, hope they catch him...

8 • THE MUSIC • 29TH JULY 2015

NOW WE ARE 25

It’s hard to believe one of the biggest breakout pioneers of hip hop, Naughty By Nature, have been around for 25 years, but they’re celebrating that very anniversary with an Australian tour. Treach, Vin Rock and DJ Kay Gee bring the sound of the streets of Ill-Town to Melbourne 6 Nov playing Trak Lounge. Then 7 Nov, it’s Towradgi Beach Hotel Wollongong, 12 Nov Rooty Hill RSL in Sydney, 13 Nov Sydney’s Metro Theatre and 14 Nov Max Watt’s Brisbane.

BELLA CINEMA

Director Edoardo Falcone’s hit comedy, God Willing (Se Dio Vuole), has been chosen to open the 16th annual Lavazza Italian Film Festival, celebrating the most exciting and beautiful cinema coming out of Italy at the moment. Presenting a program of 32 films in all, the travelling festival will play in Palace Cinemas nationally, with the Sydney season 15 Sep – 11 Oct, Melbourne’s season 16 Sep – 11 Oct, Canberra’s season 22 Sep – 11 Oct and Brisbane’s season 1 – 18 Oct. Check theMusic.com.au for details on participating cinemas.

BROADCAST CASH If you’re a muso, you probably want funds from as many sources as you can. That’s why if you’re an Aus recording artist whose music is being broadcast or publicly performed, then you may be able to share in licence fees collected by PPCA, who distrubte the income from sound recordings and music videos. You have to register though, so do so before 31 Aug to be eligible for this year’s distribution, plus if you already are registered, you must notify them of all qualified releases.

THE MEANIES

GET MEANIES

Releasing their new album, It’s Not Me, It’s You, 25 Sep, The Meanies, 21 years young, are hitting the capital cities along the east coast to introduce it and shake up a few old faves. Catch them 2 Oct at The Tote in Melbourne, 3 Oct at Newtown Social Club in Sydney and 4 Oct at Crowbar in Brisbane.

MERC GEAR UP

Now an independent entity a dozen years down the road, Thirsty Merc are releasing their fourth album, Shifting Gears, 4 Sep, and this week release the first single from it, The Good Life. As soon as the album hits the streets, so does the ‘Merc, playing a run of shows that includes 14 Sep at Caravan Music Club in Oakleigh, 16 Sep at Memo Music Hall in St Kilda, 20 Sep at Karova Lounge in Ballarat, 22 Sep at The Loft in Warrnambool, 23 Sep at Barwon Club in Geelong, 26 Sep at Revesby Workers in Sydney, 7 Oct at ANU Bar in Canberra, 8 Oct at Mona Vale Hotel, 14 Oct at The Basement in Sydney, 21 Oct at The Spotted Cow in Toowoomba, 22 Oct at Coolangatta Hotel, 23 Oct at The Zoo in Brisbane, 28 Oct at Northcote Social Club in Melbourne and more. For the full run of dates head to theMusic.com.au.

IN ON THE ACT

UK prog rockers TesseracT are returning to Australia to perform songs from their new album, Polaris, due 18 Sep, and their back catalogue, and they’ve invited Caligula’s Horse to join them. Catch them 14 Oct at The Zoo Brisbane, 15 Oct Factory Theatre Sydney and 16 Oct Max Watt’s Melbourne.

OPRAH WINFREY

OPRAH RETURNS

Blitzing all before her last time she visited, back in 2010, Oprah Winfrey has announced that she’s up for getting reacquainted and is returning for a multi-city arena tour titled simply An Evening With Oprah. Catch her if you can 2 Dec at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, 10 Dec at Brisbane Entertainment Centre and 12 Dec at Allphones Arena in Sydney.

THE MUSIC 29TH JULY 2015 • 9

national news news@themusic.com.au JESS RIBEIRO

ALDOUS HARDING

THE BEGUILING ALDOUS

Her self-titled debut album has been copping all manner of high praise over in the UK where New Zealand gothic-folk artist Aldous Harding has been touring recently. Now she’s coming to Australia for her first headlining national tour. Showcasing her latest single and album opening track, Stop Your Tears, Harding plays 12 Aug at The Gasometer Hotel Melbourne, 13 Aug at The Vanguard Sydney, 14 Aug upstairs at Finbox Thirroul and 11 Sep at Junk Bar Brisbane.

HURRYING BACK

With her new album, Kill It Yourself, from which a second single, Hurry Back To Love, has just been lifted, set for release 14 Aug, Melbourne singer-songwriter Jess Ribeiro is taking her band out for a national tour. You can catch all the action 4 Sep at Red Rattler in Sydney, 5 Sep at The Phoenix, Canberra, 17 Sep at Junk Bar in Brisbane, and 26 Sep at Northcote Social Club in Melbourne.

CLASSIC CUTS

Born April 1977, as punk overwhelmed all before it in the US, The Misfits decided to add a little horror to the mix and spat out classic albums like there was no tomorrow. Now The Misfits are coming down under to perform two of them – 1983’s Earth A.D. and 1997’s Static Age – in person. They play 9 Dec at The Triffid in Brisbane, 11 Dec at Max Watt’s in Melbourne and 12 Dec at Manning Bar, Sydney.

(THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF AWARD SHOWS & APPROPRIATION OF CULTURE) RT @MJW51177: WHO WAS NICKI TALKING ABOUT THOUGH? HONEST QUESTION. BOOM, @TALIBKWELI NAILS IT IN HALF A TWEET. NICKI MINAJ’S TWEETS ABOUT THE VMAS WERE NEVER ABOUT STARTING A FEUD.

THE DAUGHTER

CINÉFESTOZ FINALISTS

Vying for a prize worth $100,000, the five finalists in the second annual CinéfestOZ film competition have been announced. They are Backtrack, directed by Michael Petroni, Now Add Honey, directed by Wayne Hope, Pawno, directed by Paul Ireland, Putuparri And The Rainmakers, directed by Nicola Ma, and The Daughter, directed by Simon Stone. The winner will be announced at the Melbourne International Film Festival, 29 Aug. 10 • THE MUSIC • 29TH JULY 2015

SHE’LL BE BACK

They’ve just been in the country to play Splendour and, for a couple of lucky cities, some sideshows, but Florence + The Machine obviously love Australia as much as Australia loves them – another tour has been announced for November. Showcasing their third album, How Big How Blue How Beautiful, Florence + The Machine will play 10 Nov at Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne, 13 & 14 Nov on Sydney Opera House Forecourt, and 18 Nov on Brisbane’s Riverstage.

BERT NIGHT OUT

Despite a career spanning some 60 years, America’s “Greatest Living Composer” as he was dubbed at the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008, Burt Bacharach only got around to cutting his first live album that same year and right here in Australia. Bacharach is returning to play 28 Oct at Palais Theatre in Melbourne, 30 Oct at Royal Theatre in Canberra, 1 Nov at State Theatre in Sydney and 4 Nov at Jupiters on the Gold Coast.

local news qld.news@themusic.com.au THE NATIONAL

DENISE FOLEY

SXSW: THE MOVIE

BRIGHT BLUES

Bluesfest 2016, happening 24 – 28 Mar at Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm, will feature The National, City & Colour, UB40 featuring Ali Campbell, Astro & Mickey Virtue, Joe Bonamassa, Tedeschi Trucks, The Cat Empire, Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real, The Word, Rhiannon Giddens, Janiva Magness, St Paul & The Broken Bones, Allen Stone, UK 2Tone ska legends The Selector, Shakey Graves and, from Mali, Songhoy Blues.

TUMBLIN’ INTO BRISSY

It was 20 years ago Tumbleweed released their career-defining Galactaphonic album, and now that album’s being reissued as SuperGalactaphonic, the original 13 tracks expanded to 34. Tumbleweed celebrate with a show 4 Sep at The Zoo.

DA-DOO RON-RON

Multi award-winning comedian Ronny Chieng will bring his hit 2015 live show, You Don’t Know What You’re Talking About, back to Brisbane Powerhouse, 7 Nov.

GRANT’S GRANT

Last year, Thomas Calder from The Trouble With Templeton was awarded the $25,000 Grant McLennan Fellowship, named in honour of the late, great singer-songwriter from The Go-Betweens and awarded annually by Arts Queensland, jointly funded by APRA AMCOS. Individual or pairs of songwriters residing in Queensland and over 21 are eligible to apply, application for this year’s Fellowship closing 31 Aug.

SWOLE FOR STEREO

Stereosonic returns 6 Dec to Brisbane Showgrounds, featuring acts Major Lazer, Armin Van Buuren, Axwell^Ingrosso, DJ Snake, Duke Dumont (live), Galantis, Clean Bandit and a whole lot more, including a stack of local artists and acts from state to state, including Peking Duk, Will Sparks, Hot Dub Time Machine and Timmy Trumpet.

FIRST SPLINTERS

Darren Middleton’s forthcoming second album, Splinters, is due 6 Nov. Sahara Beck will open for Middleton when he hits the road for some Splinters preview shows, including 18 Sep at Brisbane Powerhouse.

WAAXING LYRICAL

Brisbane four-piece WAAX are revving up for the release of their debut EP. They’re playing 1 Aug at Greaser, 22 Aug at the Maroochy Music & Visual Arts Festival, 9 – 11 Sep at BIGSOUND Live and 3 Oct at the Red Deer Festival.

Filmed for the last SXSW but never screened, 4 Aug Outside Industry will be screening at New Globe Theatre as the finale of a panel discussion for creative industry members, potential delegates, musicians, managers, filmmakers, geeks and gamers planning on heading off to Austin for SXSW 2016. The evening ties in with the call for submissions by showcasing bands, filmmakers applying for screenings and IA Award nominees for next year’s SXSW Music, Film & Interactive Festivals & Conferences, with speakers likely to include Sanatana Mishra from Brisbane-based indie games team Witch Beam, Denise Foley from QMusic, Danny Beusa (Dune Rats guitarist/ vocalist) with Manager Matty Woo of Pistol Artist Services and four more film and interactive panelists to be confirmed.

ZAC FOR GLORY

Releasing his debut album, Glory Bound, 1 Aug, Brisbane singer-songwriter Zac Gunthorpe is taking it out for a run that sees him 23 Aug play Junk Bar, 26 Sep at Bunker Records in Toowoomba, 24 Oct at The Bison Bar in Nambour, 7 Nov at Cardigan Bar, 21 Nov at Sunhouse in Coolangatta and 13 Dec at Brisbane Powerhouse.

LITTLE AND BIG

Organisers of the fifth annual Little BIGSOUND youth music forum, presented by The Music 27 Jul at the Judith Wright Centre have announced the second lot of speakers. They are Smack Face Music’s Trina Massey, Graetzmedia founder Dan Graetz, Young Strangers’ Jane Sligo, Brisbane booker Julia Bridger, accountant Matthew Tucker, graphic designer Megan StarrThomas and publicist Sarah Chipman.

ONE KILLER TOUR

Touting new album, One Of Us Is The Killer, The Dillinger Escape Plan are returning to Australia to introduce it in person: 30 Aug at Max Watt’s.

DINOS ON PARADE

With a new album, Wellness, out on 28 Aug, to show off, Last Dinosaurs play two shows at The Triffid, 25 Aug: under-18s arvo and 18+ evening.

KARL S WILLIAMS

WINNERS & GRINNERS

The Gold Coast Music Awards were announced 22 Jul that saw seven awards presented in a glittering event in Burleigh Brewing Co’s unfinished second brewery. Polly Snowden won Local Music Champion of the Year, the Hanlon Brothers Emerging Artist of the Year, The Soundlounge Live Music Venue of the Year, Karl S Williams Band/Artist of the Year, Buskers by the Creek Live Music Event of the Year and Lane Harry & Ike Campbell’s Anarchy, Song of the Year. THE MUSIC 29TH JULY 2015 • 11

music

PERFECTLY IMPERFECT When Bryget Chrisﬁeld grabs a coﬀee with half of The Rubens, frontman Sam and keys player Elliott Margin, she discovers the band has learned how to embrace good imperfections and when to speak up during recording sessions. Cover and feature pics by Cole Bennetts.

wo of The Rubens’ three brothers, Sam and Elliott Margin, are settled at a table inside a South American café in Melbourne. Frontman Sam models a hotter-than-Hades brown paisley bomber jacket that we’d love to own while keys player Elliot dresses more casually in a dark-hued hoodie and Goodyear cap. The band boasts the same triple-threat brother combo as INXS, with their other bro Zaac

on triple j. So that was overnight, really, at that point - or as overnight as it could be for a band - because we didn’t even know how to play the song live yet. We weren’t a band even; I mean, we’d played a couple of gigs, but we weren’t prepared.” Elliott interjects, “You guys didn’t have pedals or anything!” “We didn’t have tuners at this stage,” Sam conﬁrms. “Like, we were so bad.” Eliott recalls, “They’d be like, ‘You got an E, Elliot?’ Yeah, just tuning in front of the crowd if you could call it a crowd - eight people.” So basically just their family, then? Sam responds, “Yeah, so that [radio play] happened then suddenly it wasn’t just family - there was

Stevie Nicks and New Order, and that’s just for starters. Did The Rubens know that their friend was gonna present their demo to the producer in this way? “I think he said, ‘I’m going to, maybe’?” Sam ponders before correcting himself, “No, no, I was in London on holiday and Dean, our friend, came over from France to meet me in London to tell me about this David Kahne guy. And then I was like, ‘Wow!’ David Kahne happened before triple j started playing Lay It Down.” The pair are acutely aware of their fortuitous beginnings and Elliott marvels, “It was such an opportunity.” “All this happened over six months,” Sam adds. “So it was just like [snaps fingers] that, you know? Then we had to go and make the record [The Rubens], which took ages. We toured the record for a coupla years and then this time we’ve spent a year and a half writing and recording it [Hoops]. Um, it’s a heap more work and stress than people realise. It’s a really, really fun job, but it’s sooooo stressful. The uncertainty of fans, of income, longevity - it’s just crazy.” His brother agrees. On whether they felt more confident working with the same producer for record number two, the brothers concur (Elliott: “definitely”; Sam: “totally”). Referring to The Rubens recording sessions, Elliott opines, “We probably kept our mouths shut more than maybe we should have.” Sam takes it up there: “Well we have

“WE HAVE REGRETS ABOUT THE FIRST RECORD, THERE ARE THINGS THAT IF WE DID IT AGAIN WE WOULD CHANGE, OR IF WE HAD BALLS AT THE TIME WE WOULD’VE SAID SOMETHING.”

on guitar, the line-up rounded out by their longtime friend Scott Baldwin on drums.

“Was it in Lay It Down last night Zaac had his distortion on or something?” Elliott asks and the frontman laughs then conﬁrms, “Yeah, yeah, yeah!”

a packed room, even if it was a 250-people room. We were like, ‘Wow!’ Then we found out David Kahne, our producer, was interested in working with us.” So a producer of international renown wanted to work with The Rubens before they’d even got their shit together? “Yeah!” they both enthuse in unison before Sam clariﬁes. “A friend of ours was going and doing a seminar thing over in France, which is like a mixing engineer seminar. A few people are selected to go and work with these producers and he just - in the studio - put on our demo for My Gun and David was excited by it.”

Lay It Down was really the starting point of The Rubens success story. “We did become overnight successes in a way, if you wanna use those words,” Sam allows, “because we had a demo [Lay It Down] on triple j Unearthed and suddenly they started playing it on high rotation

If you’re not familiar with Kahne’s CV, he’s produced records for the likes of Sir Paul McCartney, The Strokes,

The night before our interview, the band had played the first of their showcase gigs in Sydney - before a mixed crowd of media and fans - and the boys are feeling pretty chuffed with how it all went down. Sam admits he felt “pretty good” performing the new songs and puts it down to the fact that The Rubens rehearsed “way more than [they’ve] ever rehearsed before”. Elliott adds, on performing “the old ones”, “the song starts and it’s already over ‘cause it’s like muscle memory; it’s just, like, done. And then [with] the new ones it feels like a fresh experience.” His brother goes so far as to suggest, “It’s more enjoyable.” “You get to enjoy it and watch each other and watch how the crowd responds to it,” Elliott continues. Both of them agree it’s impossible to prepare for those unexpected quirks that make a gig exciting and Sam offers, “Oh, there’s always something. You know, you’ll leave a pedal on or you’ll - it’s gonna take a while to sort of not screw up at all.”

12 • THE MUSIC • 29TH JULY 2015

regrets about the first record, there are things that if we did it again we would change, or if we had balls at the time we would’ve said something. And we realised listening back to the first record that, although we like the songs and we think it’s a good record - I never wanted to make another record that I don’t wanna listen to because there’s something in there that I wanted to change. So, going in, that was the main thing, was, like, we have to live with it for the rest of our lives. And we did! We got there, so we’re really happy. “You’re selling something that you actually really like, so then it’s much easier to perform and the audience believes it much more if you’re really enjoying it. And I still really enjoy playing some of the old songs. I liked Lay It Down last night; I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. I was loving it!” Still, Sam reckons The Rubens’ new songs are “just better songs”. “They’ve got better parts, they’re more interesting and they’re, you know, just better to perform because there’s more happening.” “It feels like the set’s elevated as soon as - well we’ve only really played one show,” Elliott considers before Sam stresses, “Well, last night everyone said the best songs were the new songs. Everyone. Like, my parents, the label...” Elliott acknowledges, “It would be depressing if it was otherwise.” “On the first record all the sounds are pretty samesame,” Sam admits, “whereas [on] this one there’s a lot of really cool guitar tones, there’s more keys,

BUDGET BITES The Rubens were forced to stick to a frugal budget while recording their eponymous first album and frontman Sam Margin confesses their daily food allowance “was ten US dollars a day”. So what were the band’s go-to meals? “Hot dogs. Street hot dogs,” he contributes, his brother/The Rubens guitarist Elliott adding “slices of pizza” to the menu. Sam clarifies, “Two dollars seventy-five you get a slice of pizza and a drink; two big, New York slices.” “When we got off the plane afterwards we were all skinny and white and frail,” Elliott remembers. “Our mum was really worried.”

there’s different sounds - a lot more electric piano, like, Wurlitzer and stuff. We didn’t have that on the first record and, yeah! We really wanted to make this sound more interesting.” Were there any happy accidents in the studio that ended up making it through to the final mix? “I think there was a lot of little things,” Sam suggests. “I just remember Dave, the producer, constantly saying, ‘That was good, what happened there?’ It’s kind of a producer’s job to and that’s a really big thing that producers do all the time: good mistake or bad mistake, you know? I think imperfections are what they’re looking for good imperfections, like, especially with your vocal. I think on the first record, I thought a good vocal was a perfect vocal whereas on this record I wanted it to be really imperfect. I wanted it to be more gravelly. So the songs where I needed to do a nice falsetto I chose to do over these days and then when I knew we were going out with one of our mates and having a big party, I’d party, go nuts, smoke cigarettes and the next day I’d come in and do the lower parts that needed all that and, yeah! Tonally the vocals on this record are better I reckon, too, because of that; it’s not trying to sing perfectly all the time.” “I think touring helped as well,” Elliott posits. “Like, singing that many shows you really get to actually practice and get to know your voice and actually embrace your voice instead of trying to get away from the graveliness and trying to make it prim and proper.”

The last song The Rubens wrote for this album wound up being the title track and it’s an interesting new direction that sees them exploring R&B territory. “We love that,” Sam admits. “I think on the next record it wouldn’t surprise me if we went down the Hoops road a little bit more.” “Deﬁnitely,” Elliott seconds. “It came at the end of writing, when we weren’t even meant to be really writing; we were mixing the record and stuﬀ, and then it came. And we went sick.” Alleviated of the pressure to write, Hoops

came together easily. “It’s, like, the record’s there, we can see if we can make this song work,” Sam explains, “and then it did and it was just like a nice full stop... People try and get you to do that, like, management are secretly hoping that they can put you in that mood. Yeah, ‘It’s great, it’s great, it’s great! Just keep writing,’ you know? And they’re right! You just need to keep going. That’s the only way. You know, we wrote 35 for this one and ended up with 11. So we’re gonna have to get going again [for the next album].”

The next time The Rubens headed over to record with Kahne, “We got fat before we went to New York and then we were alright. [During] the writing period we just drank, like, cases of beer a day,” Sam admits. On how The Rubens make decisions about divvying up their per diems, Elliott teases, “How many skittles can I get today?” (A cheeky reference to The Music’s cover shot, perhaps?)

WHAT: Hoops (Ivy League Records) WHEN & WHERE: 23 Oct, Max Watt’s; 24 Oct, Coolangatta Hotel THE MUSIC 29TH JULY 2015 • 13

‘Remember that bit we did? Well, we wrote it as a sketch would you want to come and play in it?’” That third season of Inside Amy Schumer has found the rising star showered with Emmy nominations. Her show received seven nominations, putting her ahead of Emmy favourites The Big Bang Theory, Late Show With David Letterman, Modern Family and Louie. “Plural,” smiles Schumer as if still not quite believing her Emmy luck. “My sister and I were in bed, watching it on the web as they were announcing them and they went ‘Amy... Amy Poehler’ and we both went [sighs heavily] and they said [whispers], ‘Amy Schumer’ and we dove on each other. We were jumping on the bed and clapping and crying.” But she’s most proud of the directing nod she’s scored for the 12 Angry Men episode -a star-studded, black and white take-down of sexism in TV. “I was not expecting that. But I really wanted it.”

music

NO COCK-SUCKING ON SET PLEASE Amy Schumer and Bill Hader explain to Andrew Mast how their work together on Trainwreck led to them creating some hardcore porn laughs for TV.

my Schumer doesn’t have time for dickish journalists. And she copped a few last week in Australia. There was the incident with Matty Tilley ‘skank’ stand-off and then there was the Mama Mia journo who showed her a picture of Tony Abbott in a speedo. Sigh. It’s no wonder that she took swipes at us during her sold-out stand-up show in Melbourne last week. The US comedian/writer/actor was out here to promote her film Trainwreck with co-star Bill Hader. The two stars are set up at Crown Towers’ Club 23 in boudoirlike surrounds as they are pitted against an assortment of local media. No doubt those who cross the duo will become fodder for the next season of Inside Amy Schumer. Last season, these two skewered the movie star interview in a skit where Hader played the leery, sexist interviewer and Schumer the shiny-legged, dumb starlet. “The talk shows,” muses Schumer. “You know, ‘I’m an actress on a talk show’, so you come out saying ‘It’s cold’ and ‘I have a crush on you’. This false... this strange dynamic between actresses and these hosts. Like they pretend they’re flirting and it’s like weeeurgh... Bill was perfect.” The pair’s shared love of piss-taking was born on the set of Trainwreck before spilling into Schumer’s own show. While Hader had previously found fame in sketch comedy via Saturday Night Live, he hadn’t worked with Schumer until Trainwreck director Judd Apatow suggested him as the romantic lead. “We very consciously tried to get a good rapport together,” explains Hader, “’cause we wanted to have the chemistry. I don’t like a lot of romantic comedies ‘cause I never buy the chemistry in them. So it was good for us to sit down with each other and hang out and talk. Mostly talk about this stuff but just also to hang out with each other. I’d go watch her do stand-up, we’d have 14 • THE MUSIC • 29TH JULY 2015

While Schumer has been stretching herself beyond the stand-up world with her TV show and screenwriting, Hader has used Trainwreck to stretch himself beyond the rubber-faced comedy he became known for on SNL. “Lorne Michaels [SNL overlord] used to say, ‘At SNL you perform and in movies you act.’ Y’know, performing is you hit your mark and you’re playing out to the audience and that’s what we did at SNL forever. But there’s very few chances that you get to act, have nuance... So I did this ﬁlm The Skeleton Twins with Kristen Wiig and we had to do some dramatic acting and that was fun. So for this it was a similar thing.” Hader has been very careful to prove there is more to him than his cult SNL club-hipster character Stefon. So when the chance arose for a Stefon movie... “Look, we

dinners with her and her sister and Judd.” And there is chemistry. The ﬁlm has been a success at the US box oﬃce (“We wanna work together again... maybe a sequel,” says Schumer) and, of course, spawned skits for Inside Amy Schumer. In fact, the wildly funny pizza ad sketch came directly from the set of Trainwreck. “The ex-porn actor in a pizza commercial,” recalls Hader, “That came from a bit I was doing on set where I was a guy who used to be in porn who was an extra in Trainwreck and I just kept trying to suck everyone’s dicks. And Amy would say, ‘No no no no no, this isn’t one of those movies.’ And I’m like, ‘This isn’t? No? Alright.’ Then I would be in a scene and pull my pants down thinking it was supposed to get fucked and, ‘No no no no no, this is just a normal movie.’ And then she called and said,

“I DON’T LIKE A LOT OF ROMANTIC COMEDIES ‘CAUSE I NEVER BUY THE CHEMISTRY IN THEM.” thought about it and said we don’t want to do a movie. It didn’t even work as a sketch that’s why we ended up on ‘Update’ [the news satire segment of SNL]. I appreciate it and I love it but at the same time I like that doing Skeleton Twins and doing this movie, people can say ‘oh...’ Y’know, Trainwreck came along at the perfect time, y’know, ‘Please let me do this’, a romantic lead, something that’s so diﬀerent than Stefon and Skeleton Twins or the cop in Superbad or any of those things.” However, neither were expecting the fever-pitched welcome they got arriving in Australia -from paparazzi to online ‘Amy watching’. “It’s really funny,” notes Schumer, “because everywhere I go it’s like, ‘So you saw a koala, you ate a meat pie...’ It’s really funny. It’s also exciting. We got to the airport and there were photographers and my show sold out really fast – and those were two things that were totally surprising to me. It’s another country, my show airs here but I don’t think on a network that’s that popular so it just blew me away.” WHAT: Trainwreck In cinemas 6 Aug

THE MUSIC 29TH JULY 2015 • 15

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CHANNELLING BEATLES In the lead-up to Rubber Soul Revolver, in which Marlon Williams, Husky Gawenda of Husky, Jordie Lane and Fergus Linacre of Kingswood perform The Beatles’ classic albums Rubber Soul and Revolver back to back, in track order, The Music asked the four protagonists to single out their favourite track and what it means to them.

HUSKY GAWENDA – GIRL When I was a kid, we had a Beatles songbook that we kept in the piano stool. My mum and I would sit at the piano after school every day, side by side on the piano stool, and open the book to a random page and sing whatever song we landed on. The first time I heard the song Girl was sitting at the piano, I was 13 or 14 maybe. I played the chords while my mum sang it. She has a beautiful voice and I thought it was the most beautiful song. I still feel the same feeling now when I sing it, the beauty and magic of the melody that I felt that day after school with me mum singing and the piano and that big old book of Beatles songs.

MARLON WILLIAMS – IN MY LIFE In My Life is a standalone track in the Beatles catalogue. Although subject to the usual Lennon/ McCartney authorship disputes, it at least comes off as an uncharacteristically unified symbiosis of the two writers’ trademark styles. The story goes that Lennon began the lyrics as a rather trite ‘this is what I did in my holidays’ kind of song after being prompted by journalist Kenneth Allsop to write more about his childhood, was horrified at the initial results and broadened it out to be a broader rumination on his life so far. One assumes this is when McCartney joined the party, fleshing out the harmonic shape and building in a B-part. With a song now complete except for an instrumental, Lennon called in George Martin to write “something Baroque-sounding”. Having composed something resembling a Bach toccata for piano, Martin found he was unable to play it at the necessary tempo, so slowed the tape and recorded it at half speed. Sped back up to the original tempo, it sounds almost exactly like a harpsichord, Martin once again showing his worthiness of the title of ‘fifth Beatle’. My own first attempts at songwriting can pretty obviously be traced to this song, in its earnest, sentimental lyric and its obvious major/ minor changes. It’s a song that walks the tightrope of tweeness, laughing all the while at its own strengths

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FERGUS LINACRE – TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS This song is special to me because I’m a big fan of psychedelic music - well, the good stuff.

unknown, where they would create Sgt Pepper’s and the White Album and take things to the extreme. Years ago Kingswood played it at a rehearsal, but instead of two and a half minutes, it must have gone on for about half an hour. We never did it live but it was a great moment. When you put this song up against a song like For No One, you wouldn’t think they’d fit on the same record. I think a lot of artists these days limit themselves to a certain style and often they end up just sounding like they’re churning out the same stuff over and over again. The Beatles have inspired us to keep diversifying our sound; even within a record, there are no rules.

JORDIE LANE – I’M ONLY SLEEPING The Beatles were the first band I really listened to when I was ten years old. Revolver was one such album that really excited me. I was delighted to be chosen to sing I’m Only Sleeping for the show. It’s probably my favourite song off the album and I personally identify with the theme so much. I’ve

“THE BEATLES HAVE INSPIRED US TO KEEP DIVERSIFYING OUR SOUND.” Even today in Australia the genre is thriving with bands like Tame Impala and The Belligerents; I could go on, there are so many. I think this song is perhaps where is all started. It’s pretty much one chord and they started to experiment with recording techniques, recording the drums at a faster tempo then slowing the tape down, putting John’s voice through a Leslie revolving speaker. The song is a continuous drone that I think opened the door for the band into the

always had trouble getting up in the morning. When I’m in that pre-waking intensity of vivid dreams, I want nothing else more than to be left in peace to remain in that alternate world. It’s a strange place, sometimes scary, but I feel so disappointed when I’m woken and pulled out of it! So I completely sympathise with John Lennon’s lyrics in this song, pushing against being caught in the rat race. I love the recording. It’s spooky because they tracked the music faster and then slowed the tape down for the vocal takes, then sped it up again for what we hear on the record, creating a push and pull between time and space. This won’t be possible to literally perform live, so I’m just gonna have to channel those perceptions of time and reality changing between the two worlds. WHAT: Rubber Soul Revolver WHEN & WHERE: 30 Jul, QPAC Concert Hall

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WWW.RICSBAR.COM.AU THE MUSIC 29TH JULY 2015 • 17

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NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion are conducting a no-holds-barred dance party to let you know where they’re coming from in more ways than one. Jon Spencer tells Steve Bell to get limber.

rom their inception at the very outset of the ‘90s Jon Spencer Blues Explosion seemed like one of those bands who’d just stepped out of the ether unburdened by geography, a group whose fierce and primal rock’n’roll reminded of a certain time, ethos and passion but not necessarily a city. Now, however, on their tenth album, Freedom Tower – No Wave Dance Party 2015, the trio – Spencer’s offsiders being guitarist Judah Bauer and drummer Russell Simins – have fully embraced the legendary city they call home, inhabiting the record with not only their trademark groove-laden amalgam of punk, garage,

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blues and hip hop, but also tales reflecting their attachment to the seedy side of NYC. “At a certain point during the mixing of the record it became very apparent to me that most of the songs were about New York City,” Spencer recalls. “New York City has been home to the Blues Explosion for 24 years now so it’s not only our home and the place where we live and the place where we work, but it’s also a great inspiration for us. And it’s a great inspiration not just because of the artists and musicians who have lived and worked there before us – people like The Velvet Underground

and the New York Dolls to visual artists like Andy Warhol – but also because of the city itself, and things like restaurants and the subway and the noise of the streets and the anonymity: all of the stuff that comes with a very big city like New York. “I think with this record as the Blues Explosion we stake a claim on New York City as our home – we stand up and say, ‘Hey, we are a New York rock’n’roll band!’ Not that we haven’t always been such. This record is about the city today, it’s about the city that’s gone forever now – especially looking back 20 years ago, or even ten years ago or five years ago, it’s about a place that doesn’t exist anymore. And it’s also about a city that perhaps never existed except perhaps in my imagination or in my own heart. And I think it’s also important for me to say that it’s not meant to be a nostalgia trip – I have no desire to turn back the hands of time. New York City is something that is always moving forward and always changing.” Freedom Towers is a high energy affair, reflecting the band’s desire to get the dancefloor jumping again. “This is the kind of music that we like and I definitely think in the back of my mind was the idea to do a dance kind of record – a dance party,” Spencer smiles. “I think that Freedom Tower, compared to our previous record Meat + Bone [2012] from a couple of years ago, is much more sparse and clean in a way and maybe a little more funky: Meat + Bone was supposed to be a more blown-out, smeared, rock’n’roll garage-y thing.” WHAT: Freedom Tower (Rocket) WHEN & WHERE: 6 Aug, The Zoo To read the full interview head to theMusic.com.au.

TEAM SPIRIT

Brisbane rockers The Grates changed the template for fourth album, Dream Team, and Patience Hodgson tells Steve Bell that these days it’s all about friends and family.

t’s been a crazy and hectic couple of years for Patience Hodgson and John Patterson, the core partnership behind much-loved Brisbane indie-rockers The Grates. The pair have started a family (welcoming daughter Soda into the world earlier this year) and established a thriving café/ bar business. It’s meant that The Grates have had to take a backseat, but fortunately for their fans the band hasn’t gone on the backburner altogether. The couple hired a new drummer (Ritchie Daniell from The Trouble With Templeton has replaced founding member Alana Skyring, who quit in 2011), started their own indie label Death Valley, and adopted a new approach to The Grates’ fourth album, Dream Team, in “record” time. “There’s a real good spirit to that record, and just the way that we did it which was just really fast without overthinking it,” Hodgson explains. “I guess we spent less time on the band than we’d ever spent – before that the band was all we’d spend time on day-in day-out, but this time around we just didn’t have that same luxury. So it was really cool that the band became the fun thing to do – we’d set time aside and do it two days a week, instead of treating it like a job and doing it five days a week and then doing other stuff two days a week.” They went down to Sydney to record Dream Team with Straight Arrows’ Owen Penglis at the production

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helm – the ensuing sound is rougher and more abrasive, without compromising the band’s melodic appeal – and Penglis is even going to be helping them on stage during the tour that the two bands are undertaking together. “I’m really pumped to hear what the band sounds like – I know what it sounds like on record, but having Owen playing bass live is going to be super great. And doing it on old Grates songs too; for the past few years since the first album we’ve been taking people on tour to do keyboards and stuff, but now we’re reimagining the old songs with bass – it’s going to be cool. We did

a show in Adelaide years ago with a band called Bit By Bats, and their bass player jumped on stage and played bass on Trampoline, and I remember afterwards we all looked at each other and were, like, ‘That sounded fucking cool!’ “We’d made our decision by then that there was going to be no bass and just the three of us – and that was awesome for touring, having less instruments and being heaps cheaper – but I’m really looking forward to having Owen’s vibe in the mix. He and the Straight Arrows guys, they’re like the original lifers! They’re music lifers, it’s rad. They’re way more hardcore than what I am!” WHEN & WHERE: 8 Aug, The Triffid To read the full interview head to theMusic.com.au.

WAY OFF TAP!

One-time “Bombshell” girl Caroline O’Connor has always had a thing for Cole Porter and the “age of luxury”. Our cruising correspondent Paul Ransom finds out why.

hen the SS America first sailed from New York to London in 1934, Caroline O’Connor was not on the passenger list. Indeed, the Irish-Australian performer had to wait another 28 years just to be born. Only now, 81 years after the show’s Broadway debut, does she get to climb aboard Cole Porter’s tap-crazy cruise liner as Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes. However, there’s no doubt O’Connor wishes she was around in the 1930s and ‘40s, rather than the Sydney of the 1960s and ‘70s. “When I was growing up in Rockdale as a little girl of Irish parents singing show tunes I didn’t

really fit in,” she recalls. “Everyone was in their denim shorts and thongs and wanting to go down to Cronulla and I wanted to stay home and listen to Doris Day.” Her passions were no doubt stoked by her parents’ decision to send her to Irish dancing classes. Tap, jazz and ballet lessons soon followed. “Secretly, all of my childhood, I’d listened to musicals on my parents’ record player and I’d sing along to them. I didn’t tell anyone though. It was a big, secret passion that I had.” With West End and Broadway success, Green Room and Mo Award wins, O’Connor is ready, at last, to enjoy the era

of Anything Goes. “I think there’s something to be said for nostalgia, but also you can’t get away from the fact that Cole Porter was a brilliant songwriter. He was also one of those people who was a bit cheeky. He was naughty and some of his lyrics are very naughty.”

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Adapted from a work by P G Wodehouse and Guy Bolton, Anything Goes includes Porter classics like You’re The Top and Let’s Misbehave. As O’Connor notes, “It’s clever and fun – almost mathematical. But it’s also a farce.” For her, the lure is the sheer style of the era. “We get to see some glamour. People don’t behave in that way anymore and it’s wonderful to observe the various characters. Then again, we haven’t had a tap musical in Australia for about a hundred years. It’s been a long time since an audience sat there and watched a whole company sorta tap. It’s full-on. All that training I did and there’s been, like, two tap shows in 30 years. This one will be the third,” she laughs. “But the rhythms are absolutely fascinating to me. That you can make that sorta noise with your feet excites people. There’s something about banging your feet on the floor that just gets everybody going.” In the context of an eight-show-a-week schedule, the sheer physical rigour of high-energy dance numbers makes clear the challenge that awaits O’Connor and her shipboard companions, including Todd McKenney, Wayne Scott Kermond and Claire Lyon. Vigorous tap dancing may typically be a young person’s pursuit but, O’Connor jests, “All I can say is that make-up and wigs are marvellous inventions.” WHAT: Anything Goes WHEN & WHERE: To 9 Aug, Lyric Theatre, QPAC

THE MUSIC 29TH JULY 2015 • 19

music

REFRESH REFINE It’s every band’s worst nightmare. You put out an acclaimed album, tour the world, build a legion of fans, and then your singer leaves. That’s exactly how it went for Northlane, but guitarist Josh Smith tells Tom Hersey how they managed to ﬁnd opportunities in a shitstorm.

“M

ost bands that change vocalists don’t really come out the other side too well,” Josh Smith reckons when we sit down to talk about the new Northlane album, Node. He says this reflectively, without any note of bitterness. To Smith, even though Node is yet to see the light of day, Northlane have done what they needed to. But our man didn’t always have the clarity he does now. When mouthpiece for the band Adrian Fitipaldes announced he was stepping out of the band after touring their breakthrough 2013 album, Singularity, Smith and the rest of Northlane were freaking out as much as the band’s fans. “I wouldn’t be able to lie to you and say that we didn’t doubt ourselves, but that’s just part of being an artist. You’re always doubting yourself and you’re always terrified every time you release new music because you don’t know how it’s going to go... And yeah, usually a change in vocalist spells a death sentence for a band, we knew all that. But we worked through it, we knew what we had to do, and we put our heads down and worked as hard as we possibly could. So there was nothing else that we really could have possibly done, which means we can’t regret anything we have done.” The guys launched an extensive an online search, eventually stumbling across Marcus Bridge, who’d previously fronted Sound Of Seasons. Smith says as soon as they heard the guy, they knew he ticked all the boxes. He had a good idea about some of the proggy sensibilities the band were flirting with on the last record and could do a hell of a scream but still hold a tune. “We already had an idea of where we wanted to take the band musically before Adrian left, so we already knew the person we brought in would have to be really versatile. We didn’t know exactly what kind of voice we wanted, but the person we heard who had the biggest skill set was Marcus, and he kind of ticked all of the boxes straight away.” The single that introduced Marcus to the world as Northlane’s new guy - Rot - got a massively supportive response from fans, so the dudes turned their attentions to what would become Node. It was a huge undertaking, but Smith says they saw it as a terrific 20 • THE MUSIC • 29TH JULY 2015

opportunity to create something fresh. “We wanted to write something that was a bit more dynamic... Maybe mature is the right word. We realised that we didn’t want to be playing straight-up metalcore for the rest of our lives. And the process of musical evolution is very important to us, and we’ve done it with every

music on Node. In fact, it was one of the tours the band did in support of Singularity that really set the pace for what was to come. “Touring with Karnivool was a real eye-opener for us. We realised that it’s possible to play to diﬀerent audiences and tour with diﬀerent bands and be inspired by bands who were outside of the vein of music we were in at the time. I think that was the catalyst for us trying to branch out like this. We’ve always listened to all types of music, but the more we toured with metal bands, the more we listened to what our peers were doing and the more we started trying to look outside of that.” With hindsight, Smith recognises that it may not have been the smartest career move to push

“IF YOU PLAY IT SAFE, YOU’RE NEVER GOING TO DO ANYTHING INTERESTING.” record we’ve ever put out. But the challenge isn’t in being more technical and faster and all of that shit every record, the challenge for us is writing music that expands our boundaries.” According to Smith, this desire to expand their musical horizons was solidiﬁed back when Adrian was still in the band, so it would have been disingenuous for Northlane to play it safe with where they wanted to take the

away, even if slightly, from the metalcore world in which they were birthed, but he’s confident it was absolutely the right step to take. “It’s got a real loyal fanbase, as a genre, so that makes it difficult for bands to consider stepping out because it makes it difficult for bands to deal with the uncertainty of what will happen if they do that, and you see bands boxing themselves into the genre. They will always go for security over being inventive and the record labels kind of encourage that because it’s safer for them too. But if you play it safe, you’re never going to do anything interesting. So for us, we just went ‘Fuck it, we’re going to play the music we want to play’. And that’s why Node is the way it is.” WHAT: Node (UNFD)

IT’S MANIA

Dylan Moran tells Hannah Story that doing stand-up comedy might be bad for his health.

“I

t’s mania. It’s an adrenaline charge. It’s probably really good for your health and really bad for you at the same time,” Irish comedian Dylan Moran says. He’s talking about stand-up comedy. “It’s certainly a way of hotwiring your own brain. It’s a way of checking that you’re still alive. It’s a lot of things. And obviously it’s a way of connecting with people. “I feel that I have this connection because I’m always looking to see how my feelings or thoughts overlap with what I suspect, and it’s only a suspicion, but I suspect what is generally felt but probably little expressed.”

He might just be right: it seems like almost everyone can identify with what Moran speaks about in his stand-up shows, or with his character Bernard Black in Black Books – even if it’s just a shared penchant for red wine. Moran says he has no checklist of feelings or thoughts that he must talk about each night of his new stand-up show Off The Hook, but rather that the themes “wax and wane” according to what he’s thinking about that day. “It’s not like the text of a play; it doesn’t sit still every night. “You have to talk about people’s lives. I talk about my own life and I talk about what I suspect is important in most people’s lives: the main

tier of my life is my family, my children, my wife, all the ordinary facts of my life, that’s what interests me more than anything. Our wants, our fears, and how we function, and how we keep a chair and stand on it to get at what we want, and then pushing it away from us because we don’t really understand ourselves, what we’re up to – creating our own frustrations. Want and fear are two big characters.”

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Moran says he feels lucky and excited to go to new places, from Darwin to Athens. He says that while performing in other cities, “you have to try and figure out what’s happening in every single place, how people are living their lives, and what they want to do”. Touring Off The Hook, Moran also heads to South Africa, Hong Kong, Singapore and Europe. There’s talk of dates next year, including Canada and America. When he embarks on such long tours, does he ever feel like he wants to call the whole thing off and just go home? How does he manage those feelings? “If you eat the same lunches every day, day in day out, you don’t feel anything anymore, and it’s important to feel what you’re doing when you’re doing this, to be responsive to where you are. You just take a couple of days off when it all gets too much. You have to watch it to make sure you haven’t done 25 gigs in a row or something, because then you wont know who you are anymore.” WHAT: Dylan Moran: Off The Hook WHEN & WHERE: 4 Aug, QPAC Concert Hall; 5 Aug, The Arts Centre Gold Coast To read the full interview head to theMusic.com.au

THE MUSIC 29TH JULY 2015 • 21

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ROCK LIFERS

been working on the next BellRays record. It’s great and we’ve got it all ready, we just need time to get back and work on it.”

The BellRays just keep on keepin’ on with their energetic rock’n’roll regardless of what’s happening around them, and singer Lisa Kekaula tells Steve Bell that it’s all just about playing the music they love.

or nigh on 25 years now garage-soul dynamos The BellRays have been taking their highoctane rock’n’roll to the people as if they were on some kind of evangelical mission, led by the ﬁrebrand fury of frontwoman Lisa Kekaula. The BellRays have long fused disparate strains of music such as rock, punk, soul, R&B and even jazz into their own inimitable brew. The band’s sound has evolved slightly but their trademark passion and conviction remains

undiminished and, while they haven’t released a new album since 2010’s Black Lightning (which had belated local release corresponding with their 2013 Australian visit), their live show is renowned as being dynamite. Hence the excitement at their impending Rockpocalypse tour, which will ﬁnd them return in all of their pomp and (super loud) glory. “Since we were there last time, as The Bellrays we’ve mainly just been on the road  most of 2014 was spent on the road,” Kekaula explains. “Apart from all of the touring we’ve been doing we’ve

The BellRays’ music touches upon so many templates, inadvertently reflecting Kekaula’s own diverse musical upbringing. “At first I wasn’t into rock at all, I had to learn about most of that stuff at age 19 or 20,” she tells. “I grew up really entrenched in soul and R&B, but radio was different when I was growing up too  it was more AM radio, so you were exposed to all music and it was just looked at as music. They weren’t really calling it names like ‘rock’  it was before they were trying section everything off  it was just popular music. It was just what people were playing, and there was so much crossover that I never really caught onto that whole thing, where everybody says, ‘Well this is rock because this is a white guy playing the same licks as back guys are playing, and we call that R&B.’ Because that’s what that bullshit is to me.” And while Kekaula was passionate about the music she loved it wasn’t always obvious that it would end up being her livelihood. “You just kind of realise that you like it and you might be good at it, but as far as being a kid and realising, ‘Oh, this is what I’m going to do for the rest of my life’  not so much,” she reflects. “You don’t even really realise that some people don’t do it well, you just realise that it’s like play, it’s what you do. You don’t see yourself not doing it, but you don’t say, ‘I’m committing my life to my art!’ It’s not like that. It’s not ‘at age eight I made this breathtaking decision to become a musician’.” WHEN & WHERE: 7 Aug, The Zoo To read the full interview head to theMusic.com.au

IN THE BEGINNING The makers of the most unexpected prequel to hit TV screens, Michael Showalter and David Wain, talk to Guy Davis.

et Hot American Summer may be the greatest comedy you’ve never heard of.

That’s surprising, really, because when you look at the cast of the 2001 movie it’s jam-packed with A-list actors and top-shelf comedic talent - everyone from Parks And Recreation’s Amy Poehler and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’s Christopher Meloni to AntMan star Paul Rudd and Pitch Perfect’s Elizabeth Banks. Yet when it was released over a decade ago, Wet Hot American Summer sank like a stone.

actors nearly 15 years later to play the same characters, only even younger.

There are reasons for this, of course: Very few of the people involved were household names at the time; the summer-camp setting is a bit foreign to viewers outside the US; its sense of humour is unabashedly weird at times. But there’s no keeping a good comedy down and over the years the movie gained a cult reputation that grew and grew, and it didn’t hurt that many of its stars went on to bigger things. Of course, there was talk of a sequel, but nothing really came of it until streaming service Netﬂix gave the green light to an eight-episode prequel that would tell the story of the ﬁrst day at Camp Firewood circa 1981.

It’s a delightfully absurd move on the part of Michael Showalter and David Wain, the creators of the movie and the TV series (the two also have acting roles). But it also speaks volumes about the enduring appeal of it that they were able to secure the services of now big names like Poehler, Rudd and American Sniper’s Bradley Cooper, as well as landing the likes of Star Trek’s Chris Pine, Bridesmaids’ Kristen Wiig and Mad Men stars John Slattery and Jon Hamm.

One of the main jokes of the original was that the actors playing the teenage counselors all looked at least ten years too old for the roles they were playing. And Wet Hot American Summer: First Day Of Camp pushes that button even harder by bringing back all the original

“We had remained collaborative with so many people involved in the movie over the years, and we felt our cast

22 • THE MUSIC • 29TH JULY 2015

would want to do it again, so bringing everyone back was never far from our minds,” Wain explains. “It was just a matter of when would be the right time. A few years back, the ten-year anniversary of the film generated some renewed interest and that’s when we got interested in what would come next.” However, rather than try to fit their wealth of ideas into a feature film, Showalter and Wain were keen to explore other avenues. “We had so much more material than would fit into a feature film, so many more characters and storylines we were excited about,” Showalter admits. “It felt organic to us to tell the story of the first day of camp, certainly this time. We thought about those stories when we created the first movie but we didn’t use them. We found that working backwards and telling the story of how we got to everything that happens on the last day of camp in the movie was so much fun.” WHAT: Wet Hot American Summer: First Day Of Camp On Netflix from 31 Jul

FULL STRENGTH

Brisbane bovver boys Shandy are heading back to Europe, but JJ Speedball tells Steve Bell that they’re mainly just out to please themselves.

hey might be playing rock’n’roll from a bygone era, but Brisbane quartet Shandy have quickly accrued admirers from all over the globe. They only started the band a couple of years ago (ﬁrst as a trio before adding a second six-string to their armoury), and their debut album Tough Pucker only drops next month, but they’re already embarking on their second extensive European tour. To celebrate they’re throwing themselves a party, which will let local fans say bon voyage as well as help them rack up some much-needed beer kitty in the process. “It’s just moved really quickly. We started in late-2013 totally as a ‘men’s group’ - a men’s health group - and

it just took oﬀ,” laughs Shandy founding member and Brisbane scene stalwart JJ Speedball. “All we’ve been doing is following bones people have thrown to us - sometimes you get an opportunity and if you can take it you grab it, and that’s basically what we’re doing. People overseas are giving us a bit of love, so we’re just going to get back over there and take the love.” Shandy’s music is melodic, fun and accessible from the get-go, but even so Speedball struggles to put a ﬁnger on why it’s resonated so rapidly. “I think it’s one of those things where it’s ‘right place, right time’,”

he shrugs. “People play all kinds of great music but sometimes it’s just not the right period for them or something, but this style of music that we’re playing is something that me and Vik [Guard - bass] have been fans of for a while and we decided to do it just for total kicks for ourselves, but we put it out there and it’s almost like we’ve uncovered this boutique market. We’re tipping our hat to a lot of styles that are quite underground even though it’s essentially rock’n’roll it’s almost like terrace glam and bovver boogie, styles that didn’t quite make it commercially but had great songs.

music

“And we’re also tipping our hat at one of the original Australian sub-cultures that we can claim for ourselves and that’s the Sharpies! That was a great time for Australian rock in the ‘70s, and we’ve been definitely influenced by parts of that which we love. We’re just doing it for ourselves, but at the same time there seems to be a market over there.” And Shandy’s no-holds-barred live show is also part of the reason that the Europeans have become so quickly enamoured. “When we play there’s this weird style - we play tough and hard because we’re an Australian band but there’s obviously also a lot of fun to our show,” Speedball offers. “I think with the scene over there that we’re playing to some bands can be quite serious, and I think they really enjoy that fun aspect of our live show. Our label Contra Records deals with a lot of hard punk and Oi!, and I think we’re like a breath of fresh air for those guys. We just play and dance until we fall down and we have a whole lot of fun, there’s not really a lot to complain about.” WHEN & WHERE: 1 Aug, Crowbar

THE MUSIC 29TH JULY 2015 • 23

BEHAVE YOURSELF

Matt Okine and Gretel Killeen give Neil Griﬃths a lesson in modern manners.

ost Australian TV enthusiasts will be familiar with Gretel Killeen and Matt Okine - she’s a stand-up comedian, former host of Big Brother, and writer, and he is an popular local stand-up comic, as well as one half of the triple j breakfast radio team, Matt & Alex. But the idea of the two coming together for brand new ABC comedy-entertainment program How Not To Behave is quite a peculiar pairing and Killeen and Okine know it. “It seemed strange when the idea of us two was pitched to me,” Okine admits, before Killeen interjects: “And then we just met and didn’t shut up.” So strange was the pairing that both presenters, who are 22 years apart in age, had never met prior to the

show, let alone worked together before. “I was blown away by how funny [Killeen] was,” Okine says. “I’d always seen you in a funny light, I didn’t realise how funny you were,” he smiles, before asking his co-host, “Are you oﬀended by that?” who burst into laughter in response. “I was really intrigued by the pairing with Matt, I don’t know how they even thought of it,” Killeen chuckles. Within minutes of sitting down with Killeen and Okine, it’s obvious the two have real chemistry and somehow the two teaming up makes complete sense. “I’m pretty sure Matt was my son in another life,” Killeen jokes.

music

The 15-part series, based on the Swedish version, covers all things social: general manners, behaviors and the hard-hitting topics like how to queue in a cinema, how much personal space you should have on a bus and how much you should really spend on wedding gifts. “We didn’t know each other and are getting to know each other in front of the whole country on this television show because what one’s opinions of behaviour and manners is quite an insight into character,” Killen says. She explains that her and Okine click because they are both curious - about people and behaviours. Killeen recalls an incident in which she had texted a friend and told them that she had had a hard day: “And this friend wrote back, ‘I can imagine,’ and I wrote ‘How the hell can you imagine?’ Wouldn’t you ask someone, ‘Why was it?’ and I wrote back ‘You’re so uncurious.’” Okine believes that while the topics discussed can be quite comedic and trivial there is a lesson for all of us to learn from them. “When you actually break it down, it’s like, what is the problem with being nude in a changing room and why is it that however many percent of the population are scared to go to the gym because of the way their body looks in tights?” Killeen agrees. “It’s interesting to realise how situations are portrayed in the media and what Australia really is now. Because the tendency would be, for example, to discuss manners in a family. Well, what is a typical Australian family now? So that’s something to really dissect.”

WHAT: How Not To Behave 8pm Wednesdays on ABC

SOUND CELEBRATION

Australian experimental label Room40 is throwing a birthday party, and head honcho Lawrence English tells Steve Bell that he’s invited some incredibly special guests.

or 15 years Brisbane musician and curator Lawrence English has been helming his acclaimed experimental label Room40, finding global renown for not only his own sonic explorations but also the extensive roster of like-minded artists he’s assembled from both around Australia and abroad. The Room40 flagship, as far as curated events go, is his Open Frame festival series, which, having previously been held in Brisbane and London, is this year being held in Sydney over two nights at Carriageworks (with the bulk of artists also playing at Brisbane’s Institute of Modern Art over the following two evenings). As well as familiar Room40 names such as Grouper, Chris Abrahams, Makino Takashi and English himself - all offering pieces never before presented locally - some talented interlopers have also been invited to the party. “Because it’s an anniversary I’ve invited some people who aren’t necessarily part of the label, strictly speaking, but for me are really influential,” English explains. “People like William Basinski, who’s a composer; he’s created a number of projects over time, including this thing in New York called Arcadia, which for me in some respects [summed up] a lot of how I feel about the recording community - the people who come together to put together these events and who are interested in the same kinds of questions and aesthetic concerns. He did this amazing series in this loft in Brooklyn which 24 • THE MUSIC • 29TH JULY 2015

has now been restaged in London - it was basically a performance series where he brought together people with totally diﬀerent interests into this collective space and everyone sort of had this shared experience, and I really like that as an approach to make things happen. “Then also people like Jim O’Rourke, who for me probably summarises everything about what music should be about. He’s someone who’s obsessed with writing incredibly sweet, thoughtful, intelligent pop music, but who’s also making incredible electroacoustic experimental synthesiser work. Jim now lives in Japan and he hasn’t left Japan in about

a decade basically - and he has no interest in leaving Japan - so I was trying to figure out a way for him to be part of it. For me a lot of the records he’s been part of everything from the Sonic Youth records through to the Wilco record that he produced [2004’s A Ghost Is Born] - they’re incredible records, but at the same time he’s made these amazing solo records, collaboratorial projects, free jazz things - he’s just one of those guys who’s to me so inspirational just through his sheer diversity and hunger for making affective music. I tried to figure out a way to get him to be part of the program, so we came up with this idea where I commissioned him to make a composition that can be played back and it will only be played back at these shows. He’s written this incredible 35-minute piece which is going to be spacialised in 5.1 so it will be this surround sound kind of concert. It’s so very him, the piece of music - it just felt like exactly what I’d hoped for.”

WHAT: Open Frame: Room40 WHEN & WHERE: 1 & 2 Aug, Institute of Modern Art To read the full interview head to theMusic.com.au

PLAYING FAVOURITES What began as a bit of fun to clear the head for the next album has become the next album for The Black Sorrows, as Joe Camilleri tells Michael Smith.

“N

ick [Smith] and I have been writing songs for the next record,” begins the everaﬀable Joe Camilleri, The Black Sorrows’ frontman. He is explaining the genesis of their latest release, two vinyl LPs, Endless Sleep (Chapter 46) and Endless Sleep (Chapter 47), collections of covers by artists as diverse as Hank Williams and John Coltrane, Mink DeVille and Ray Charles, Warren Zevon and Mississippi Fred McDowell. The common thread is that they’ve all passed on - hence the albums’ titles. “We had more than enough songs to make another original album,” he continues, “but it didn’t feel right. Not that the songs were bad - they’re not - [last year’s

album] Certified Blue was quite a successful record from an independent point of view and served me well, but the new songs didn’t yet feel like a body of work. So making Endless Sleep made me think about other things, which then gave me the opportunity to go, ‘Ah, this is how we’re going to go about making this record.’ But then I felt quite strongly about the Endless Sleep project. It was just a small idea - the people that I chose have gone to God’s orchard.” So rather than make a big deal of the Endless Sleep recordings, Camilleri opted to release them as limited edition vinyl albums, in the spirit of the original records he fell in love

with, growing up in the 1960s, as well as some from his contemporaries.

music

“Really, all I wanted to do was just record a few songs that had some value, not even the songs themselves so much but the inspiration that some of these people that are no longer with us have given not only me but thousands and thousands of listeners, millions of listeners, the joy of having music in their lives. I didn’t necessarily pick all my favourite artists. I love the singing of Otis Redding and Sam Cooke and Marvin Gaye; Curtis Mayfield’s my favourite. I just went, this sounds kind of attractive to me; this meant something to me when I was in the studio. If I’d gone in there on a different day I would have chosen different songs. “There are so many songs that become part of your DNA. So when I first went in I did a JJ Cale song, Devil In Disguise, a Captain Beefheart song, Too Much Time, and a Skip James. They’re poles apart but I’ve always loved them. With Lou Reed’s Dirty Blvd, I just always heard it on the radio. And there are better songs than those in their catalogues but they were the ones in my head, and I like that. I like the fact that this is real. I’m not trying to mine their stuff to ‘make a hit record’. I want to write my own songs to have a hit record, thank you very much. So I thought just do the things that are valuable to me - don’t overthink it - and it was heartfelt.” WHAT: Endless Sleep (Chapter 46) & Endless Sleep (Chapter 47) (Head Records) WHEN & WHERE: 30 Jul, Caloundra Power Boat Club; 31 Jul, Lions Richlands; 1 Aug, Hamilton Hotel

THE MUSIC 29TH JULY 2015 • 25

★★★★

album/ep reviews

GURRUMUL

JOSH PYKE

The Gospel Album

But For All These Shrinking Hearts

ALBUM OF THE WEEK

Skinnyfish/MGM On his third studio recording, national treasure Gurrumul reimagines the traditional music of his childhood and the spiritual songs brought to northeast Arnhemland by Christian missionaries. Lead single, Jesu, is a gentle song of praise that feels meditative within its repetitive framework, serving as an anchor for the record which soon unveils a sweeping violin that competes graciously with Gurrumul’s eversoothing voice on the ethereal Baptism and a playful, mandolindecorated marching rhythm on Sweetest Name. Somehow, Gurrumul manages to make Amazing Grace, the ﬂagship Christian hymn, magical again - it would be enough for him to simply hum the entire way through, such is the beauty of his high tenor, though the loveliness of his native Yolngu language is fully appreciated in the context of a familiar melody. Don’t be mistaken however - this isn’t a record purely for the hymn enthusiasts among us. This is a

Wonderlick/Sony

record for anyone who cherishes the possibility brought about by a waiting turntable on a wide-open Sunday. It’s easy, like Sunday morning - there’s a soulreaching warmth in the languid cadence, largely supported by the double-bass of long-time Gurrumul collaborator Michael Hohnen and, along with underlying country rhythms, it makes The Gospel Album a pretty great companion piece to Macca’s Australia All Over. Whichever way an individual interprets their own spirituality, The Gospel Album is likely to ﬁt within those parameters - on that level, any Gurrumul record will do a ﬁne job. Tyler McLoughlan

★★★★

LIANNE LA HAVAS

Firestarter Distribution

Warner

Melbourne thrash metallers Witchgrinder have followed their impressive 2013 debut with something even better, tightening up the four-piece’s savage vocals, powerhouse kitwork and brutal guitar chugs into a sleek, structured foray into the dark that still assaults in all the right places. Rigor Mortis waxes lyrical on the horrors of its namesake while breaking things down with neat riﬀs and ‘80s guitar lines. Bloodlust’s urgent pulse and clipped motifs echo a bit Ministry, while links to Rob Zombie are unavoidable in Travis Everett’s brute vocal onslaught on When Devils Speak. There’s little “second album syndrome” to speak of here.

The opening track to La Havas’ second record is called Unstoppable, a sentiment that aptly captures the English singer’s rise to stardom.

Carley Hall 26 • THE MUSIC • 29TH JULY 2015

A song like There’s A Line can stand alone on just Pyke’s voice and guitar, but at the same time has more than enough substance to support the heavy production and full string section. Even the radio-ready Be Your Boy, which could’ve easily become nothing more than digestible puﬀ, has too much heart at its core to be dismissed. Light melody and heavy themes come together perfectly across the album.

★★★★

WITCHGRINDER Haunted

According to the press notes for this release, “Creativity isn’t bound by physical laws of nature and science.” That’s a pretty lofty thought to attach to a record. And it opens Pyke up to any critics who enjoy taking shots at such grand ideas. The good news is, as good an ear as Pyke has for melody, his knack for lyrics and turning a phrase might be even more honed. But For All These Shrinking Hearts is a series of dense, rich tales, expertly told.

Blood

★★★

ALBERT HAMMOND JR.

Momentary Masters Infectious/Liberator

Blood is ambitious, with grandiose arrangements acting as a base for her soulful voice. At times reminiscent of Janelle Monae, at others Jenny Lewis, her voice is ﬂexible and across Blood her range is displayed in full. From the brooding yet beautiful ode to her Jamaican heritage, Green & Gold, to the pop-tastic single, What You Don’t Do, there’s no doubt that La Havas is the real deal and a reassuring antidote to pop’s mainstream.

Albert Hammond Jr’s third solo album is a more studied affair for the songwriter, but as a result finds The Strokes’ guitarist lacking in the relaxed and lackadaisical charm he often brings to said band’s recordings. Save for a serviceable cover of Bob Dylan’s Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright, his chirpy rhythm guitar lines are largely missing. The record is instead founded on his recent sobriety. While Hammond Jr sees the egoism of this statement, and holds strong to the truism that every triumph is fleeting, it’s unfortunate that this album’s impression on the listener is similarly ephemeral.

Dylan Stewart

Roshan Clerke

★★★★ You can hear a simple folk inﬂuence at the core of a lot of these songs. You can also hear a strong, late Beatles inﬂuence in the lush production of a lot of these songs. But most importantly, you can hear Pyke’s singular voice in every single one of them. Setting out to prove “the ultimate perpetual motion is creativity”, Pyke might be taking on the laws of physics, but more impressively, he’s simply written an album full of really great songs. Pete Laurie

★★★½

THE MACCABEES Marks To Prove it Fiction/Caroline Until their 2012 Mercury Prizenominated record, Given To The Wild, The Maccabees seemed to ﬂy under the radar, neither lauded nor disliked. Marks To Prove It has a boldness, perhaps bolstered by their critical acclaim, that captivates. There’s a patient rise and fall, whether in the frenetically urgent title track or lilting dirge River Song with its rousing harmonised chorus, “You’re not getting any younger”. These mass sing-alongs are where the band really shine, horns and Orlando Weeks’ voice billowing bittersweet on Something Like Happiness. Bright and beautiful indie rock, the simplicity shouldn’t be dismissed. Sevana Ohandjanian

THE MUSIC 29TH JULY 2015 • 27

album/ep reviews

★★★★

★★★½

★★★★

BUDDY GUY

MIKE COOPER

NORTHLANE

Sony

Room40

UNFD

Buddy Guy now up to his 28th studio album, has recruited a new roster of collaborative musicians for Born To Play Guitar, a stellar return and Guy at his thick, riﬃng, Mississippi best. Far from the decisive sound split of his previous record, it returns to the tested Guy formula. Combining his smoky, backhouse-troubled lyrics with collaborators such as Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, Guy takes a wonderful, dirty, six-string, foot-stomping trip that takes you through Back Up Mama, Beer & Wine and Turn Me Wild, making this not just a must for blues fans.

Veteran soundscapist Mike Cooper here continues his aural exploration of the Paciﬁc.

Node is proof that an expansion in sound and songwriting is turning Northlane into an experimental juggernaut. They’re pushing their own musical boundaries with a stark approach to melodic experimentation with waves of prog-metal, posthardcore and touches of djent shifting the focus from their straight metalcore roots. The addition of new vocalist Marcus Bridge results in a stronger clean vocal that ﬂips perfectly to spine-chilling screams. Northlane have managed to weave together myriad musical elements through an intensely heavy delivery, placing Node high on the list of musical highlights of 2015.

Born To Play Guitar

Mark Beresford

Fratello Mare

Marking his 50th anniversary as a recording artist, Cooper combines his inimitable lap steel playing with ﬁeld recordings and adapted regional music to create a disorienting sonic bathysphere. From the discombobulated echoes of On Passing Bamboo and the warped island sway of A House In Bali and the documentary-esque muﬄed production of terse sawing oscillations on closer, Complicated Sky, Fratello Mare remains a resolutely mystifying yet perpetually playful excursion in experimental discourse. Brendan Telford

★★★

Mark Beresford

★★★½

KID RADIO

DUCKTAILS

Independent

Domino/EMI

Kid Radio

Node

St. Catherine

A debut album produced by Count Bounce can’t help but suggest good things. Luckily for electronic quartet Kid Radio that’s largely the case. Even though vocals in tracks like Yell Fire unfortunately sound like someone’s made a drunken grab for the karaoke mic at a party, the album sits more comfortably where it taps into more vibrant, house party vibes. Lcds’ synth lines shimmer under crisp beats, Weary Traveller’s female vocals add a softer buzz between the catchy cries and layers of lush fuzz, and Young Heart’s percussive clicks add texture to the warm, arching croons.

Ducktails is the solo project of Real Estate guitarist Matt Mondanile, but actually predates that band (and now leads the album tally five long-players to three). For nearly a decade Mondanile has been producing a distinctive brand of shimmering, melodic indie pop that was originally resolutely lo-fi but on St Catherine is beginning to embrace studio sheen to great effect (helped in mixing by noted producer Rob Schnapf ). Lyrical themes of displacement mirror Mondanile’s recent shift from NYC to LA, and the music’s summery tinge also feels more west coast than east

Carley Hall

Steve Bell

HOLY HOLY

When The Storms Would Come Wonderlick/Sony The members of Holy Holy have bonded over mutual fondness of groups like Band Of Horses, Grizzly Bear and Pink Floyd, and those influences shine through on the duo’s debut album. It’s a very puresounding record; vocals tinged with reverb and gallant guitar work dominate, each track sounding as through it’s drifting through the breeze across a field stretching towards the horizon. Holy Holy sound more confident in their approach and style than groups facing their third and forth efforts, and as such, their future looks very bright. Kane Sutton

★★★

LAMB OF GOD

VII: Sturm Und Drang Nuclear Blast Although there’s no dearth of material to draw on, vocalist Randy Blythe is adamant this is no “prison album”. His incarceration is referenced, but only fleetingly. Still Echoes and thrash-inflected Footprints bristle with the visceral, grooving metal and propulsive polyrhythms that have elevated them to star status, while retaining the potential to deliver a bloodier beat-down than a cranky Brock Lesnar. Perhaps not an outfit renowned for curveballs, Blythe’s pseudo-clean tones on Overlord prove refreshing. It’s their most consistent platter since Sacrament nearly a decade ago. Brendan Crabb

28 • THE MUSIC • 29TH JULY 2015

★★★★

GENA ROSE BRUCE Mad Love Independent The Melbourne singer leaves you craving more with this brief, tantalising four-track EP. Her smouldering vocal has all the right kinds of edginess and the live, ambient studio production gives a warm vintage feel. Good Thing leads the way with its sauntering, swaggering beat. The sweltering and debaucherous Call Girl is pure sleaze, like a visit to a nasty strip joint on the outskirts of Vegas. There is more light and space in the third track, Smooth, whose weighty shimmering guitars create a vast cinematic soundscape. Mad Love speaks of infatuation and obsession. Intoxicating, seductive and full of longing. Nick Atkins

album/ep reviews

MORE REVIEWS

themusic.com.au/music/album-reviews

★★½

★★★½

JOSS STONE

KATAKLYSM

MAR HAZE

Stone’d Records/Kobalt

Nuclear Blast/Caroline

Independent

An eclectic release to say the least, Water For Your Soul draws its inﬂuence from a multitude of areas. Stone has taken components from her usual haunts as well as a decidedly Caribbean inﬂuence, and a helping of world-music vibrations. With such a healthy melting pot of motivations, Stone does a great job tying it together without the album coming across as scattered. That being said, the album lacks anything new and exciting. It is a solid release, however there is no real ingenuity or innovation to it.

Having now reached the dozen albums mark, there’s zilch indication these death metallers are losing their hunger. The Canucks’ hyper-blast is accentuated by carefullyinserted melodic ﬂourishes and judicious tempo variations, ultimately establishing an almost grandiose scope. Thy Serpents Tongue’s pounding grooves and hook-laden riﬀs are contrasted by idiosyncratic Soul Destroyer or mini-epic The World Is A Dying Insect’s atmospherics. The bludgeoning becomes somewhat numb through the second half, but aided by a crisp mix, the album is executed with the precision and experience of a skilled surgeon.

This EP begins with a ragatime drawl, a similar crossover genre to Sticky Fingers, but with the addition of coolsounding trumpet. Warped soundscapes complement the highly produced effort. She’s Not Lovin’ is a more traditional rock song with cute rhythms and an upbeat feel, sounding like Kaiser Chiefs, while Running Man has a mariachi band sound complemented by psychedelic organs. Mar Haze are definitely an intriguing four-piece. Sevenminute track Down Upon features some great cohesive jamming and Lost And Found is a bit more of an enduring ballad; luckily Tinder is a smashing finale!

Brendan Crabb

Jonty Czuchwicki

Water For Your Soul

Lukas Murphy

Of Ghosts And Gods

Mar Haze

Wilco – Star Wars Frankie & The Heartstrings – Decency Hope Drone – Cloak Of Ash Jill Scott – Woman Meek Mill – Dreams Worth More Than Money Sans – Adolescence Tired Lion – Figurine

THE MUSIC 29TH JULY 2015 • 29

live reviews

SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS North Byron Parklands 24 – 26 Jul DAY ONE Over at The Amphitheatre, triple j Unearthed competition winners and Perth-based buzz act Tired Lion do a commendable job of teasing out the energy from their earlyafternoon slot, carrying an air of casually cool yet still excitable conﬁdence usually reserved for more established acts – and later in the day, at that. It works a treat to kick-start the audience’s energy, though, as they respond with gusto to the band’s infectious vigour, especially when well-known cuts such as Suck and I Don’t Think You Like Me are oﬀered up to be

backed only by a drummer, his effortless instrumental switches, throwaway banter, manic gyrations and affable disposition only serve to lift up an already aurally impressive showing, never more obvious than when he hits the stratospheric heights of cuts such as Love Is In Bloom and recent single Breakthrough. Atop the large stage at the GW McLennan tent US songstress Jenny Lewis cuts a figure of sartorial elegance in her custom white suit – in direct contrast to the muddy throng before her – and she leads her band through a cross-section of her entire career to date, songs by her much-missed old outfit Rilo Kiley such as With Arms Outstretched and Portions For Foxes nestling comfortably alongside newer tunes from her solo oeuvre such as Just One Of The Guys and She’s Not Me. She climaxes a strong set with a

AZEALIA BANKS @ SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS. PIC: PETER SHARP

ravenously devoured. Somewhat fittingly, they even take a detour to recreate their brilliant Like A Version cover of Violent Soho’s Saramona Said, replete with Smashing Pumpkins interlude. Expect this band to be eveningslot superstars in no time. Melbourne-based multiinstrumentalist Harts kicks off this year’s proceedings at the GW McLennan tent, boasting probably the largest crowd for a 12.30pm timeslot that we have ever seen. A matter of minutes into his resoundingly successful set, it becomes crystal-clear why that is the case: Harts is a consummate performer, radiating larrikin-like charm as he makes his bone-shaking guitar and keyboard lines sing both angelically and filthily across the tent, but never substituting technical proficiency for showmanship. Rather, 30 • THE MUSIC • 29TH JULY 2015

‘80s vibes, mullets and powder pink suits. They’ve got dancers, yes, but they’ve also got smooth moves themselves, almost making you forget the last time you saw someone dance like that: at your aunt’s wedding. They give us the Feeling, and we walk away all warm and fuzzy like, the way you feel after rewatching Pretty In Pink. Hearing Johnny Marr and his band tear into Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before sends fans of The Smiths into frenzies of delight from the get-go. His voice sure ain’t Morrissey but that’s probably the point, his own lungs strong enough to make you wonder why he spent so much time on the vocal sidelines anyway. And despite the strength of his solo tunes like Easy Money and Generate! Generate! – plus even a cool version of Electronic’s Getting Away With It – it’s his

CLIENT LIAISON @ SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS. PIC: PETER SHARP

rousing rendition of Rilo Kiley’s A Better Son/Daughter which triumphs despite (or perhaps because of ) its weighty subject matter. Unflappably classy. Literal seconds into DZ Deathrays’ blistering performance at The Amphitheatre, it is obvious that the Queensland lads are not only a more than capable replacement for exeunt Welsh outfit Catfish & The Bottlemen but, arguably, are actually a superior choice for this setting. With pounding percussion and chunky, chunky riffs to spare, Shane Parsons and Simon Ridley – ably backed by touring guitarist Lachlan Ewbank – deliver a near-flawless stream of their fist-pumping, heart-pounding, raw-as-balls rawk tunes, never remotely hinting that they were a lastminute addition to the bill. Client Liaison bring the dirty

to old favourites. It’s a rapidﬁre display of cocksure revelry right to the dying moments of triumphant closer Distant Past. Veteran indie kings Death Cab For Cutie are greeted in true style back at The Amphitheatre, the immediate pit and packed surrounding hills erupting with glee at the opening strains of classic cut The New Year. It’s a bit of a fake-out, set-wise, as they only return to the well of their acclaimed 2003 full-length Transatlanticism once more during their performance, to round out proceedings with the beloved, epic title track from that album; otherwise, we’re mostly treated to pitch-perfect recitals from Plans (2005) and onwards – early highlights include that record’s Crooked Teeth, as well as Black Sun, from this year’s Kintsugi. The absence of guitarist Chris Walla hasn’t seemed to slow Death Cab

FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE @ SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS. PIC: MARKUS RAVIK

generous helping of Smiths songs that make people the happiest, the warm familiarity of There Is A Light That Never Goes Out, Bigmouth Strikes Again and slinky closer How Soon Is Now? helping us to forget our surroundings for the sweetest of brief interludes. If, in the early hours of this evening, you are wondering where all the energy has gone, it’s because Everything Everything are presently soaking it all up from every soul in the full-to-bursting Mix Up tent and eﬀortlessly throwing it right back out at us tenfold. The aﬀable Mancunian art-rockers have only had a little while to hone their most recent material, from their acclaimed new full-length Get To Heaven, but you wouldn’t know it to hear them tonight; fresh cuts sit comfortably next

down any, either, the rejigged touring line-up making older songs such as Soul Meets Body as full-bodied and infectious as ever. Easily one of the day’s standout performances. Jason Pierce don’t play by no rulebook, hence it’s no real surprise when he leads his cosmic band Spiritualized into new track Here It Comes (The Road, Let’s Go) to open proceedings, before barrelling into the entirely appropriate Lord Let It Rain On Me. They concoct their trademark dense sonic soundscapes – with bright lights aplenty as is their wont – though cracking tunes like Electricity and the sexually-charged She Kissed Me (It Felt Like A Hit), but there’s also a druggy gospel tinge to proceedings throughout tracks like Shine A Light, Soul On Fire and Walking With Jesus. As they

live reviews ﬁnish with the anthemic Come Together it just feels a shame that no one told all these kiddies running around munted that they should check out this band. Ryan Adams gets the job of closing out the GW McLennan tent amid a tropical deluge, the already drenched faithful gathered inside the tent deciding that we might as well meet the end of days with a bang! The tousled singer has a full band in tow and they prove to be a tight unit from the get-go but it’s always clear who’s calling the shots, Gimme Something Good and Let It Ride giving way to an awesome rocking arrangement of To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High). The backdrop behind them is all huge oversize Fender amps and vintage arcade games – like Crazy Horse for the mallrat generation – and he throws in the once more entirely apt Dirty Rain, before moving

along and dancing in the mud. The culmination of a magical evening? Uptown Funk featuring Keyone Starr and Theophilus London on vocals, with the rest of Ronson’s merry band of guests coming out to croon about the funk they’re giving to us. DAY TWO Elliphant brings the bangers. Everyone throws their hands up and the set is a great success. We all enjoy ourselves irrespective of prior knowledge of this artist. One of the better songs peters out, which is a shame despite the fact that it had already soared to great heights. Fierce in every way that needs celebrating. Dune Rats are irreverent beyond the point of excess. The Brisbane band shred guitars like they were parking tickets, giving little apparent care as to whether anyone’s listening. As it is, the crowd are moshing wildly

MØ @ SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS. PIC: MARKUS RAVIK

on to Stay With Me and going all Tom Petty on New York, New York. He’s as enigmatic as ever and it’s hard to get a handle on his mindset, but it matters naught as he pumps out tunes like Kim, This House Is Not For Sale, Peaceful Valley and the rollicking Shakedown On 9th Street which closes the show and brings us all quickly back to most horriﬁc reality. We head to Mark Ronson as the rain continues to pelt down. His set is a revolving door of guest vocalists, from openers Theophilus London, to Keyone Starr for I Can’t Lose, to Daniel Merriweather, to Miike Snow, to Andrew Wyatt, to our very own Kevin Parker. For Parker’s tuned they’re joined by the dapper Kirin J Callinan on guitar, who ﬂicks his guitar up into the air – and always catches it. We’re out of breath from singing

the ominous Counting Sheep and excellent newest cut Embracing Me. Not content to leave it there, the band bring out Tkay Maidza to lend vocals to Take Me Over, to rapturous response. Perhaps a year ago it would have been easy to write the act oﬀ as endearing enough, if unremarkable – but, today, you’d be hard-pressed to say there’s anything unremarkable about SAFIA at all. “I’m gonna remember this for the rest of my life,” The Smith Street Band’s Wil Wagner says partway through the southern punks’ breathless, relentless Amphitheatre set. It’s easy to understand why – it feels like half the festival has packed in front of the main stage to witness the band in action. The performance is, in some ways, a perfect symbiosis of energy – The Smith Street Band are in absolutely blistering form,

PURITY RING @ SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS. PIC: MARKUS RAVIK

as nudity, giant inflatables, and more curse words than your mother knows fly across the stage in lightning fashion. There’s a shoey salute from a member of the crowd as the band launch into closer Funny Guy, before heading off to make more mischief elsewhere. There’s obviously something in the water down old Canberra way – following Peking Duk’s glorious display in the dying hours of last night, city-mates and ascendant electro-whizzes SAFIA do much for the ACT’s cred as a hotbed of creative activity. Word is evidently spreading, too – by the time we arrive at the Mix Up stage to take in their set, the crowd is already too big for the confines of the shaded space, but even those outside remain in thrall to the three-piece, who hit real heights with recent faves such as

as Like You Could Have It All and Aw Yeah or cuts from their most recent album Dream Team like It Won’t Hurt Anymore the net return is smiles aplenty and plenty of dancing towards the back end of the set as folks start to loosen up and ease back properly into Saturday’s festivities. Over in the GW McLennan Tent Montreal’s two-man garage rock party machine The King Kahn & BBQ Show ease into their set with an extended instrumental barrage – the pairing of Arish Ahmed Kahn and Mark Sultan making all the racket with two guitars and the seated Sultan’s insistent kickdrums – but soon enough they move into songs proper and churn out a seemingly endless stream of short and sharp garage/punk/soul/doo wop nuggets which drip with hooks and melody. Have we mentioned

THE VACCINES @ SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS. PIC: PETER SHARP

and the crowd responds with deafening roars and sing-alongs that would be enough to inspire ravenous jealousy in most of their peers. Brisbane indie scions The Grates are no strangers to the Splendour stage, and they return to the fray like it’s their birthright. They’ve mutated into a ﬁve-piece in the live realm in their recent family-induced absence but the early focus is all on Patience Hodgson’s incredible technicolour dreamcoat which she ﬂaunts around the stage like a whirling dervish, cajoling more from her band and the crowd in equal measure. She soon enough drops the cape/coat and suddenly the band is all clad in black like rock’n’roll ninjas, but whether old tracks like Trampoline, Science Is Golden and Feels Like Pain, middle-era numbers such

that the pair are dressed like outlandish freaks with strange masks, matching blond moptops and various other strange aﬀectations, which only adds to the charm of songs like I’ll Be Loving You, Treat Me Like A Dog, Alone Again, Zombies, Invisible Girl, Waddlin Around and Too Much In Love. It’s the most authentic rock’n’roll on the bill this year and the small but devoted crowd lap it up with relish, the brilliantly-stupid Tastebuds proving a highlight before they close with twisted torch song Why Don’t You Lie?. Jee-zus Christ. Purity Ring. If you are looking for a set that transcends the usual festival fare to truly experiential heights, you needn’t look any further than the one delivered here tonight by Canadian two-piece electronic duo of Megan James and Corin Roddick. The pair treat their THE MUSIC 29TH JULY 2015 • 31

live reviews maiden Splendour appearance – and their seemingly boundless audience – with considerable reverence, draping the stage in a jungle of vine-like fairy lights and delivering a breathtaking set of ethereal, lofty tunes to melt even the hardest of hearts. James is a revelatory performer, alternately demure and devastatingly powerful as she and Roddick unveil their undeniable grooves for their captivated crowd. It’s a set heavy with picks from recent album Another Eternity but the songs are delivered with such natural ease and tenderness that they come oﬀ as the aural equivalent of a warm hug from an old friend. God, this was uplifting. We ﬂee to catch the rest of The Church over at the GW McLennan Stage. Frontman Steve Kilbey still has it going on and possesses the most stage-swagger of the day. The

The Wombats are the ultimate festival band and crowd pleaser. They’re a band of infectious melodies and catchy lyrics, of sweet sweet pop, crafted for a good crowd singalong. It helps that Matthew Murphy is your regular charming Brit: his accent could melt even the most frozen heart, and he means to may Splendour a gig to remember on his deathbed. Tord Øverland Knudsen is easily the most energetic bassist of the day, dashing across the stage throughout each song, and bringing a real sense of fun to proceedings. The set hits its peak with tracks from 2011’s This Modern Glitch, but new singles like Greek Tragedy and This Is Not A Party, and old favourites like closer Let’s Dance To Joy Division have people kicking up the mud. Set highlight: 1996. No one is a performer like Florence Welch of Florence +

MARK RONSON @ SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS. PIC: MARKUS RAVIK

Church know how to play guitar-rock and they still let rip, the squealing solos getting a noticeably older crowd into a frisky mood: spotted a woman in a sexy kitten constume trying to do the twist in some particularly deep mud. Set highlight is inarguably 1988’s Under The Milky Way, which gets the crowd crooning along, practically swaying in the mud. Azealia Banks loves it up there in her black bodycon outﬁt. And Mix-Up tent contains the loosest of punters. Banks leaves her hit ‘til last and there’s a One Direction concert-style squeal as all recognise its intro. Arms raise into the air to utilises camera phones since this is a festival ‘moment’ many have been waiting for. Ms Banks has come a long way since the temper tantrum-shortened festival sets of old. 32 • THE MUSIC • 29TH JULY 2015

an item of clothing and hold it in the air, and in doing so let the negativity go. She revels in it, and during the last bar takes off her shirt too, flinging it into the audience. DAY THREE Holy Holy are going fullbiblical this afternoon, imbuing the songs off their debut album, When The Storms Would Come, with monumental gravitas. Lead singer Timothy Carroll’s voice cuts perfectly through the fivepiece band as they open with If I Were You and Sentimental And Monday. There’s a sense of purpose to his singing and an urgency in his voice that carries through History and House Of Cards. Their cover of Love Will Tear Us Apart is an equally dramatic and ambitious choice of song for the band, but the match feels right as they launch into two formidable closing songs of their own, Impossible

THE WOMBATS @ SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS. PIC: PETER SHARP

The Machine is. No one. She’s an ephemeral nymph queen, here for a moment and then gone the next, and you’re lucky just to have even basked in her radiance. Tonight she’s dressed in a flowing white shirt and white flared slacks, barefoot of course. The set draws heavily on first record Lungs and new record How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, although Ceremonials’ Shake It Out gets a look in. The set is peppered with moments of spiritual catharsis, Welch joining her doting fans in the crowd, or inviting a man in a wedding dress onto the stage. She’s got a powerful voice, a sort of siren call, and that’s no more obvious than on the first singles from her new record, Ship To Wreck and What Kind Of Man. The closer is of course Dog Days Are Over. Welch requests that we all embrace, kiss, touch each other, and then that we take off

Like You and You Cannot Call For Love Like A Dog. Later on the Amphitheatre stage, Wolf Alice are edgy and urgent. Drummer Joel Amey, whose style is transfixing with its constantly changing patterns, has some early issues that require a tech’s assistance, but the sounds Wolf Alice create with shifting tempos galore are impressive! They’re also beautifully brutal when necessary. An outfit bound to explode if they keep this up. Walking anachronism CW Stoneking enters the fray at the GW McLennan stage to a warm reception – clad all in pressed white offset by a black bowtie – and early on his set focuses on his most recent album, Gon’ Boogaloo, tracks like How Long, Get On The Floor and The Thing I Done all translating really well to the live realm. It doesn’t hurt

that he has the immense talents of the Bull Sisters – Vika and Linda – flanking him on one side, and an adroit drummer and double bass player fleshing things out as well, although much of his power comes from his croaky, emotive voice and strong storytelling narratives. He tries a lot of styles on for size – albeit all resolutely old school– and he completes his allotted stint with a swag of strong tunes including I Heard The Marching Of The Drum, Jungle Blues and The Jungle Swing. Despite handsome frontman Justin Hayward-Young’s best efforts, The Vaccines are a bit of a lull. The very young fans close to the stage are lapping it up though, singing along to pretty unoriginal indie-rock songs. We’re on soft-rock territory here, with a little bit of squealing guitar from Freddie Cowan. It was always going to be tough

BLUR @ SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS. PIC: MARKUS RAVIK

to be a Brit playing indie-rock when Blur is on the bill too. Set highlight: All In White. Danish singer MÖ; slinks on stage with a drummer, guitarist and electronic instrumentalist. The singer is responsible for some of the best pop songs from the last few years, among them Don’t Wanna Dance and Walk This Way, and while she performs them well, it’s the elegant New Year’s Eve that transcends the rest. She soon switches from sounding mournful like Lana Del Rey right back to her role as Denmark’s latest pop princess for the year’s biggest dance song, the mammoth hit, Lean On. Megan Washington is a festival favourite. The stage is set up with silver balloons, many of which end up in the Amphitheatre later, including a pair for her initials. She comes out to cheers in a sequined

live reviews jacket to the opening lines of How To Tame Lions, which her keys player later has to help yank oﬀ her. Our Washo is a born performer: you can just feel the joy there as she dances on stage and grins at her band. They play an upbeat mix of songs from across her two records, weighted towards debut I Believe You Liar. Limitless and Get Happy deserve a louder singalong. It’s closer Sunday Best however that seals the deal. We pop in on Alison Wonderland starting up her set in the Mix Up tent on our way to catch national treasure Tame Impala. It’s fun to peek between Sam Songailo’s Program 1 as it glows in the dark, watching Wonderland on her AW decks (it helps that Songailo’s work is on a platform, or we’d be knee-deep in mud that’s thick like butter). The crowd, spilling out at the sides, are crying out with joy to Wonderland, who drops Take It To Reality, featuring SAFIA, early. The light show and video projection are impressive too, perfectly matching the beats. Cue:

GLITTER BOMBS. Thank you Alison Wonderland for bringing up the vibe. Tonight Thundamentals are performing with a trumpet player, who gets a chance to shine early on during the euphoric Got Love. Things stay bright, if not tinged with a little bitterness, for Quit Your Job, before emotions run wild and a few tears are shed during Missing You and the group’s evocative reinterpretation of Matt Corby’s stunning Brother. Smiles Don’t Lie is one of the loveliest songs in the genre and lifts the mood perfectly for closer Something I Said, ending a memorable and landmark set from the Blue Mountains crew. You always know exactly how you’re gonna feel watching Tame Impala at a festival and there’s something extremely comforting in that; you just expect they’re gonna kill it before you even circle them on your timetable. Such is the strength of the band’s multialbum catalogue these days that you can’t be sure of hearing all your faves, but we’re thankful

Elephant marauds right on through the set with its ﬁlthy bass line swinging out among the crowd. Kevin Parker’s bleating lost lamb vocal twists our heartstrings and these national treasures make us swell with pride. The hill sadly empties a fair bit just before Blur. Those who remain are intrigued by the prospect of checking out whether, in fact, the band members hate each other a little less these days after the release of their latest, The Magic Whip set, the process for which was said to help mend fences. After a medley of Mr Whippy truck favourites by way of intro tape, frontman Damon Albarn gets right up in people’s faces a la Nick Cave during Lonesome Street. Guitarist Graham Coxon’s tones are nostalgic, wistful and unparalleled; his geek-chic the perfect vehicle for Coﬀee & TV. Albarn and Coxon write melodies that kill us softly from within, no doubt about it. Song 2 is spectacularly executed despite Blur having brought a scaled-back production – simple

backdrop rather than visuals and Mr Whippy van – to our shores. After a sequence of pogos, Albarn falls but covers it with a backward somersault to standing. The man is perpetually agile. The songs sound spectacular, but there’s still a coldness between the band members on stage; they’re not exactly having a blast up there this evening. Unfortunately Albarn feels the need to rouse the crowd and make sure we’re still awake before Parklife. Then “aaall the people” deﬁnitely get into this stomping song as Albarn sprints from stage left to right ably taking on spoken word verses in Phil Daniels’ absence. The fact that there’s a percussionist as well as drummer Dave Rowntree seems a tad weird, but a brass section and four stellar backing vocalists add major impact. Girls & Boys is just the track we need to hear before bidding Splendour In The Grass farewell for another year. Steve Bell, Bryget Chrisﬁeld, Roshan Clerke, Hannah Story, Mitch Knox

arts reviews Oscar The Grouch from the show’s very beginning.

I AM BIG BIRD: THE CAROLL SPINNEY STORY

I AM BIG BIRD Film

In cinemas 30 Jul

★★★★ Sesame Street’s Big Bird is a character that has captured the hearts of generations of children (and adults) all over the world. You’d be hardpressed to meet someone who had never at least heard of the lovable yellow bird, but who’s inside the suit? I Am Big Bird tells the story of Caroll Spinney, the puppeteer responsible for Big Bird and

Any biography can only be as good as its subject matter and Spinney’s life is fascinating enough to comfortably fill the film’s hour-and-a-half running time. The movie flits between the professional and private by turns to produce a compelling narrative woven together by an extensive collection of interviews and videos from everyone who’s been a part of it: his wife, children, Muppet wranglers, apprentice, directors, animators and countless others. It tracks his life over 80 years, from his early work with Jim Henson all the way to the present. At the centre of everything, though, is Spinney’s relationship with his feathered creation. His role as Big Bird is the driving force of his life, influencing every major decision made along the way, taking him to China and bringing him into contact with famous figures like Bob Hope. I Am Big Bird is an honest and emotional story told of a man who just can’t walk away. Sam Baran

MR HOLMES Film

In cinemas 23 Jul

★★★★½ Sherlock Holmes, the famed detective with extreme powers of deduction, is one of the most iconic, enduring characters in literature. Over a century old, he is constantly reinvented and loved. This year sees him reinvented again with Mr Holmes, which finds 93-year-old Holmes (Ian McKellan) long retired and living in seclusion with his housekeeper, Mrs Munro (Laura Linney) and son Roger (Milo Parker). On reading the book of his last case, written by his friend Watson, he becomes intent on writing his own true version, only to struggle with his deteriorating memory. The film is a marvellous character study directed by Bill Condon. Unlike other Holmes stories, the focus is not the case, but Holmes himself, with the mystery unfolding through his fractured memory. Condon

treats Holmes affectionately, in a similar way to his masterful James Whale biopic Gods And Monsters (also starring McKellan), making his story universal, with themes about age, memory and relationships. McKellan completely inhabits Holmes, effortlessly showing him in his prime via flashbacks and more impressively as the fragile 93-year-old: utterly powerhouse acting aided dependably by Linney and Parker. Mr Holmes showcases the talents of a legendary actor and delves deeper into a legendary character with wit and raw emotion. Sean Capel

MR. HOLMES THE MUSIC 29TH JULY 2015 • 33

34 • THE MUSIC • 29TH JULY 2015

the guide

Member(s) answering/position(s) in band: Hey dude it’s Randy Rossello here! I shred shit hot guitar, Brother Brendan (we call him BB) gives the blast beats and Porkys Rawlins rips it up on the mic! How long have you been together? Since 1983: the summer of thrash!!! How did you all meet? Gold Coast underground! We were all in our early teens (no pubes) running wild every school holidays. We would rock up to holiday parks, plug into their ower and do impromptu sets. We got a reputation along the coast. We were high on hormones!!! You’re on tour in the van - which band or artist is going to keep the most people happy if we throw them on the stereo? Duuuuuuuuuuude! 4BC Grandstand! We play pretty intense tunes, so in the tour van we like to get into the zone by listening to old blokes commentating on the footy. Would you rather be a busted broke-but-revered Hank Williams f igure or some kind of Metallica monster? I’d rather be on a permanent casual rate including medical, dental and mental health care cover. Which Brisbane bands before you have been an inspiration (musically or otherwise)? To be honest: none. We are a Gold Coast band. Brisbane bands don’t even play the Gold Coast!! What part do you think Brisbane plays in the music you make? I think BB buys his drumsticks in the Valley. Is your band responsible for more make-outs or breakups? Why? Both! Our good-time grind stage energy is so inclusive that one can have an intimate mosh with the opposite sex at a DANZA show or they can mosh out their crappy relationship blues. As they say: “You’ve been Danza-ed!” What reality TV show would you enter as a band and why? Candid Camera, because we are very Allen Funt! Is that show still on telly? If your band had to play a team sport instead of being musicians which sport would it be and why would you be triumphant? Tunnel Ball - it’s very frat party friendly.

DANZA

What’s in the pipeline for the band in the short term? We are playing Saturday 1 Aug at Crowbar. It’s our last gig for a long time. This year we released our debut album Good Grind Is Hard To Find. It contains 28 tracks of good-time grind and is available for download at danzatheband.bandcamp.com. Also we have a bunch of DANZA merchandise available from facebook.com/DanzatheBand. THE MUSIC 29TH JULY 2015 • 35

eat/drink steph@themusic.com.au

LABEL MATES

HOT SPOT GUN SHOP CAFE

Come for the awesome label design, stay for the taste.

BREAD, WINE AND THOU

Hitacho Nest

Yeastie Boys

This Japanese beer is immediately recognisable for its little owl character. Kiuchi Brewery started making their Hitacho Nest series in 1996, and brew their beers with a hint of the traditional sake brewing method. There are 11 varieties in this series including the popular white ale, Japanese classic ale, ginger ale and pale ale.

Stars of the New Zealand craft beer scene Stu McKinlay and Sam Possenniskie have won numerous awards at home and abroad with their Yeastie Boys brews, which include the flagship and best seller, Pot Kettle Black (with eight awards to its name), the Gunnamatta IPA, Rex Attitude (according to Yeastie Boys it’s “the world’s first heavily-peated single malt ale”), White Noise (“a perfumy coconut and vanilla note on the nose, with a little citrus and spice”) and more.

Last week, an exciting new Australian magazine exploring food and drink culture, traditions and experiences hit the shelves! From Founder and Editor Yossi Zoltan Klein and Creative Director Mel McNamara comes Bread, Wine And Thou, an independent publication with a focus on writing, photography, illustration and art – all within the vast realm of food and drink, and how we connect to food and drink socially, ethnically, historically and culturally. Each issue will follow a theme and feature a guest chef. The magazine will be published quarterly and also featured online. Go get your mitts on it!

No wonder this cafe has been awarded ‘best cafe’ and ‘best breakfast’ in Queensland multiple times. The relaxed atmosphere, appetising menu and service to match might be exactly what you’re looking for with your next breakfast adventure. All ingredients are locally sourced and completely fresh (they even make their own honey on their rooftop!), only adding to the long list of reasons that this cafe should be on the top of your to-do list. Although best known for their tasty breakfast choices, the Gun Shop Cafe also has lunch and dinner menus featuring delicious modern Australian options. 53 Mollison St, West End Words & pic: Kim Everson

THE EYES HAVE IT

For more info, visit breadwinethou.com. Quiet Deeds From Aussie trailblazers Patrick Alè and David Milstein’s new Red Island Brewing Co comes Quiet Deeds; it’s all about the simple, good things in life, and that’s reflected on its colourful but not too complicated label. The Quiet Deeds brews cover a session ale, pale ale, white ale, IPA, Kölsch, a vanilla porter and a lamington ale (!). 36 • THE MUSIC • 29TH JULY 2015

Sample Brew Ah, elegance in simplicity. Sample Brew focuses on taste, quality and design, with their pale ale and gold ale being slowly brewed with all natural ingredients, resulting in a diverse flavour from batch to batch.

To elaborate on our main listicle to the left, more and more, we see small breweries taking particular care in their packaging and design. The label or can is a designer’s playground. Obviously the way something is packaged affects consumers; how many times have you bought something in the supermarket over another thing purely because of the colours on the box or the slick fonts they used? Sometimes the punt will pay off, and other times you’ll regret the purchase and wish you’d stuck with your regular modest-looking but reliable product. Try it next time you’re wanting to test out a new craft beer and see how you go?

THE MUSIC 29TH JULY 2015 • 37

the guide qld.live@themusic.com.au

CHART WRAP

He may have only turned 18 earlier this year, but young south-east Melburnian rapper Baro is already making music with the maturity and weight of folks ten years his senior, with his capable new EP 17/18 picking up not only a top-ten debut on this week’s Carlton Dry Independent Music Charts, stepping out at #6, but walking away the highest new entry across the board. It’s a strong performance from a relatively unknown quantity, well outpacing established acts and fellow debutantes such as The Waifs, whose Up All Night brings up the rear of new entries at #11, as well as For All Eternity (Metanoia, #8) and Simon Gleeson (Elements, #9). The new entries force some old faces downward — Flight Facilities’ Down To Earth drops a spot to #7 to make way for Baro, while San Cisco’s Gracetown loses ground from #7 to #10 and #1 Dads’ About Face suffers a similar fate, slipping from #8 to #12 — but the top five albums remain the top five, albeit reordered somewhat: the bracket all step up a place except for The Getaway Plan, who now sit at #5 from pole position last week. However, Sia’s back on top with 1000 Forms Of Fear, followed closely by Hermitude (#2), Seth Sentry (#3) and Courtney Barnett (#4). In the singles stakes, Sia performs strongly again — both Elastic Heart and Big Girls Cry are up to fall backto-back at #2 and #3, while Chandelier is back inside the top five — but there’s no stopping Hermitude, whose The Buzz, featuring Mataya and Young Tapz, remains atop the pile for another week at #1. 38 • THE MUSIC • 29TH JULY 2015

INDIE NEWS

SIBLING LOVE

BE A PART

REAL GOOD

Sibling alt-folk duo The Acfields have a new single titled The Years, a story which they’re aching to tell in a live setting. Catch them when they stop by Pizza Paradiso, Friday.

Elsewhere Bound release their debut EP, A Part Of Something, Friday and launch it on the day at New Globe Theatre, with Sibling, Guard Your Hearts, In Eyes and Not Sinking Just Crashing.

Teenager Baro has been dubbed as one of the saviours of Aussie hip hop, with his international sound piquing the interest of tastemakers from around the globe. He plays Black Bear Lodge, Friday.

TWO FOR THE SHOW

WENDY AND ME

BRISBANE ROOTS

Fronting his new band Diplodoci, on Sunday Demetry Malahoff takes to The Milk Factory stage with supporting guests Amberjade.

Solo-artist Wendy Matthews returns to The Triffid, Thursday for her Billie And Me tour to showcase some classic Billie Holiday songs, with some of her original works resparked.

Triffid Roots presents Queensland sensations, singersongwriter Brad Butcher and Queensland Music Award winner Leanne Tennant as they take the stage at The Triffid, Sunday, 2pm.

SEYMOUR HOPE

SWEET BECCY

FIND THE NINJA

Following his launch of the album Rope Tied Hope, Josh Seymour plays a show at Junk Bar this Thursday, featuring soulful piano melodies and stylish settings with Gothic Cowboy, ME Baird.

Join country singersongwriter Beccy Cole for an intimate session at Black Bear Lodge on Wednesday in celebration of her tenth album, Sweet Rebecca, supported by Libby O’Donovan.

Quartet The Ninjas return, following their blazin’ first EP with single Cara Delevingne at Solbar this Friday, supported by Pop Cult and the Dream Thieves.

SURFS DOWN

CAN’T GO WRONG

PARTNERS IN CRIME

Looking for a chilled night? This Friday, The Bearded Lady will be hosting a whole night of rock ‘n’ roll, featuring Los Huevos, King Kongas, and The Plastic Fangs.

Emerging Aussie blues talent Brodie Graham hits Solbar on Thursday for some inspiring jazz and heartwrenching soul sounds. Prepare to be moved.

Ring in the new month by watching Harry Howard perform live with partner in crime Edwina Preston for the first time at The Junk Bar’s Skukum Lounge, Saturday.

FOR MORE HEAD TO THEMUSIC.COM.AU

the guide qld.live@themusic.com.au

INDIE NEWS

ITS ADVENTURE TIME!

PEACHY QUEEN

JAZZY NIGHTS

So if you’re up for some rock/ pop catchy goodness Adventure Land have you covered. They’re playing The Brightside on Thursday with Mass Sky Raid, pictured, Wayward Smith and The Reversals.

She’s 19 and is absolutely killin’ the hip hop scene! Jesswar is launching her debut EP Peachy at The Zoo on Friday plus supports duo Lane-Harry x Ike Campbell, pictured, Being Jane Lane and Erin Jane.

Brisbane Powerhouse has created a night to remember for avid jazz fans. With a career spanning over three decades Grace Knight will be performing on Friday, accompanied by many talented musicians.

GETTING’ LOW-NDES

MAGICAL TUNES

ARE YOU OKAY?

Soul, reggae and pop all rolled into one: Mark Lowndes knows and plays to his strengths. Sure to leave you breathless on Saturday, he is playing Solbar accompanied by five-piece CKNU.

Local four-piece Wizard Beards are up for a bit of a midweek party, shacking up at Ric’s Bar on Wednesday. Cruise on down to hear them play their fresh alt-rock tunes with Baltimore Gun Club.

We’re Okay is Empire Park’s debut single and the boys are getting on their new shiny touring boots to play nationally. At Ric’s Bar on Thursday, they’ll be supported by Hemingway.

LOST AND DEPARTED

SEEING DOUBLE

POW! SNAP! CRACK!

We Lost The Sea’s have released a new album Departure Songs. They’re playing a small stint of shows to accompany this, including Crowbar on Friday with Hope Drone, Lizzard Wizzard, and Fvck Mountain.

Talk about epic. Lloyd Spiegel is celebrating 25 years of blues lovin’ with the release of a double live album and a national tour. Playing Soundlounge on Friday, this prodigy is sure to leave you swaying.

Laidback Melbourne punks Pow Pow Kids are heading on the first interstate tour. Cruising around Brissy with their mates Dumb Punt they’re heading to Grand Central Hotel on Thursday and Beetle Bar on Saturday.

SUGAR AND MILK PLEASE

NEED SOME SNEAKERS?

WHAT CAN’T YOU DO?

Playing The Milk Factory (how fitting) on Thursday, The Tea Society are launching their new single Oi, Swami. Joining these boys for some tea, scones and sweet sweet reggae rock are In Caves and Miel.

Progressive psychedelic rock boys The Barefoot Experience with the help of BrisRock are holding an album launch party for their new record Distorted Town. Come down to The Zoo on Saturday to see them play with In Void and The Vultures.

Nomadic producer Outside The Academy is showing off his multi-instrumental skills on Saturday at The Milk Factory. He’s collaborating with Steve Tyssen, Taylor Payne and Beth Lucas.

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THIS WEEK’S RELEASES… ALBERT HAMMOND JR Momentary Masters Infectious/Liberator GURRUMUL The Gospel Album Skinnyfish/MGM LIANNE LA HAVAS Blood Warner THE MACCABEES Marks To Prove It Fiction/Caroline THE MUSIC 29TH JULY 2015 • 39

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EP FOCUS

TA-KU

EP FOCUS

THE ANCHORS

EP title? Songs To Make Up To

When and where is your launch/next gig? The thing is with me is that it’s very rare. Watch this space though!

How many releases do you have now? Six.

Website link for more info? takumusic.com

How many releases do you have now? This is the real first release as The Anchors but have done a few under various names.

Answered by: Regan Mathews

Was anything in particular inspiring you during the making? Definitely. Moving on from heartbreak is different for everyone. This EP is my personal story and take on things. Learning to be ok with oneself.

of four different types of songs so hard to have a favourite.

Answered by: Greg Brady EP title? Surface Mail

What’s your favourite song on it? Love Again.

Was anything in particular inspiring you during the making? The title of the EP is Surface Mail which is named with the aim of embracing the slower side of life in a continuous fast pace environment. Recorded in one weekend, which was refreshing.

We’ll like this EP if we like... Listening to honest music.

What’s your favourite song on it? We picked them with the aim

NERVOUS PLAYTHING

Single title? Zodiac K

We’ll like this song if we like... Listening to music by yourself, fat drums, exploring the cosmos.

What’s the song about? Josef K (The Trial/Kafka), astrology, serial killers, psychics.

Do you play it differently live? Yep. Normally out of time, despite our best efforts.

EP title? Hard

How long did it take to write/ record? Recording was about a week all up... but that was spread out over two years.. It was written over one or two nights.

When and where is your launch/next gig? 6 Aug, The Brightside; 7 Aug, The Northern, Byron Bay.

Is this track from a forthcoming release/existing release? You can download it for free from the Rice Is Nice SoundCloud page. It will be on a mix coming out later this year.

Website link for more info? facebook.com/theelaurels

What was inspiring you during the song’s writing and recording? Ayrton Senna. 40 • THE MUSIC • 29TH JULY 2015

Website link for more info? anchorspopband.bandcamp.com

of fun with the looping and I really let go emotionally on it.

Answered by: Matthew Davis How many releases do you have now? Two 7” releases (A- and B-sides) and the new Hard EP, along with a few singles. Was anything in particular inspiring you during the making? Lo-fi semi-live recording techniques. It’s texture and sonic quality focused. That’s just the way I write. Reminiscing of times in beachside accommodation in NSW. Love I guess too. What’s your favourite song on it? Forests Of Saturn. I had lots

S U P P O R T I N G

When and where is your launch/ next gig? 31 Jul, Junk Bar with Trent McNamara, doors 7pm.

EP FOCUS

SINGLE FOCUS

THE LAURELS

We’ll like this EP if we like... Hmmm as general point of reference The Bats, Pavement, UK Squeeze.

I N D E P E N D E N T

We’ll like this EP if we like... Instrumental interpretations of raw feelings. Velvet Underground, Ghost Notes and Dirty Beaches heavily inspired me during its recording. Experimental stuff y’know? A hint of old rock too, I’m sure. When and where is your launch/next gig? Sunday 2 Aug, The Bearded Lady. $5 entry with a free digital download of the EP. I’m being supported by Oliver Mengel and Allthingslost. Website link for more info? nervousplaything.blogspot.com

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M U S I C

the guide qld.live@themusic.com.au

HAVE YOU BEEN TO

HAVE YOU HEARD If you could only listen to one album forevermore, what would it be and why? Relationship Of Command – At The DriveIn. This album still blows my mind. Sonically, lyrically, and dynamically it ticks all the boxes, and still has the ability to make my hairs stand on end.

ROCK YOUR SOCKS OFF Answered by: Craig Buckman Why should punters visit you? We are establishing a familyfriendly venue for rock’n’roll, rockabilly, swing and country bop. Great bands monthly with our resident DJ, Jimmy D. What’s the history of the event? Just starting off.

RED BEARD

better quality bands in that the rockers will appreciate.

Answered by: Michael Mckiernan

When and where for your next event? Saturday 29 August, 7pm at Dolphins Harbourside Hotel, 17-21 Wharf Street, Tweed Heads.

When did you start making music and why? We are really just a friendly group of gypsies that love playing music together for the simple reason that it’s fun! We all picked up instruments at a young age, who really knows why though.

Website link for more info? briscoehotelgroup.com.au/ dolphins-harbourside-hotel/

Sum up your musical sound in four words? Electro/ Rock/Ecstasy/Beaugs.

Any advice for f irst timers who want to visit the event? If you love rock’n’roll or rockabilly you will enjoy our bands with our DJ.

If you could support any band in the world – past or present – who would it be? Snoop Dogg. Although we sound nothing alike, it would be an honour to blaze with the king.

Do you have any plans for the event in the future? This will be a monthly event to get

Greatest rock’n’roll moment of your career to date? Probably when we toured NZ. The kind folk of Mount Maunganui barricaded our ‘Tour Van’ (shitty hatchback) so that we couldn’t leave. Good news is, we made our flight and did not have to run down anyone. Why should people come and see your band? People generally get naked at our shows, so hopefully that is reason enough. Other than that we could lit together? When and where for your next gig? 1 Aug, The Brightside, in support of Young Lions. Website link for more info? facebook.com/redbeardmusic

TIPPING THE HAT

HAVE YOU HEARD deﬁnitely be an out of body experience!

DUBMARINE Answered by: Paul Watson When did you start making music and why? Dubmarine started making music having picked up on interstellar transmissions beamed in from outer space calling for some deep dub voodoo. Where the signal came from we don’t know, and why, we know even less. Sum up your musical sound in four words? Tantric Superdelay Dance Attack! If you could support any band in the world - past or present who would it be? Dubmarine. Having never seen the band live in concert ourselves it would

If you could only listen to one album forevermore, what would it be and why? Greatest Hits Of The 4101. Some of our favourite bands ever are from West End so a compilation LP of tunes that have steamed their way up the 4101 charts is where it’s at! Greatest rock’n’roll moment of your career to date? Capetown Jazz Festival. We were the ﬁrst Australia band to play there ever. Got to rub shoulders with cats like Jill Scott, Robert Glasper, Doom. Free breakfast every day, shit was real! Why should people come and see your band? For those who haven’t seen Dubmarine expect heavy groove psychedelic delay and so much Kazman! When and where for your next gig? Paciﬁc Tides Festival, 8 Aug, Redland Performing Arts Centre Concert Hall. Website link for more info? facebook.com/MellowDubmarine

S U P P O R T I N G

WENDY MATTHEWS Which act are you paying tribute to and why? I am exactly paying tribute to Billie Holiday as much as being a great admirer of the songs she wrote and way they crafted then. What was their best period musically? I don’t know her best or worst time musically, I’ve never followed her chronologically, but I grew up hearing some songs and their delivery which really moved me, so this is a re-exploration.

swing that is dark as hell and is beautifully crafted. Which album of theirs would you give to a newbie who had no idea about them to best represent them? Again, I’m not enough of a Billie buﬀ to know all her records, but a ‘best of ’ would have a good collection of her songs and way. When and where is your gig giving them the nod? The Triﬃd, 30 Jul.

Your favourite song of theirs and why? I love to sing Willow Weep For Me. It’s got a slow

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the guide qld.gigguide@themusic.com.au

THE MUSIC PRESENTS Rubber Soul Revolver: QPAC Concert Hall 30 Jul

Red Deer Festival: Mt Samson 3 Oct

The Bellrays: The Zoo 7 Aug

Bad//Dreems: Woolly Mammoth 16 Oct, Miami Shark Bar 17 Oct

Oh Mercy: Woolly Mammoth 4 Sep The Cactus Channel: Motor Room 4 Sep Brisbane Festival 2015: Brisbane 5-26 Sep An Evening With Kevin Smith: The Tivoli 19 Sep

Laura Marling: The Tivoli 21 Oct Mumford & Sons: Brisbane Riverstage 7 Nov Bluesfest: Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm 24-28 Mar

MUST SEE GIG JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION: 6 AUG, THE ZOO

Dumb Punts + Pow Pow Kids + Ganaschz + Don & The Mobsters: Grand Central Hotel, Brisbane Aaron James Draplin: JMC Academy, South Brisbane David Aurora + Josh Herrera: Johnny Brown’s, Fortitude Valley

OH MERCY: 4 SEP, WOOLLY MAMMOTH

Joshua Seymour: Junk Bar, Ashgrove

WED 29

Beccy Cole + Libby O’Donovan: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley Betty Smokes & the Forgetaboudits: Lefty’s Old Time Music Hall, Brisbane Dana Gehrman: Post Office Square, Brisbane Wizard Beards + Baltimore Gun Club: Ric’s Bar, Fortitude Valley Loosen Up Wednesdays: Royal Exchange Hotel, Toowong Open Mic Night: Solbar, Maroochydore Jaywah: Sonny’s House of Blues, Brisbane Matt Stillert: The Bearded Lady, West End Urban Sounds: The Beer Garden, Surfers Paradise

Homegrown - Battle of the Bands Heat 3 with Steele + Saint Aviate + Jamie Hogg + Hayley Marsten + The Flame Fields: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley

THU 30

Open Mic Night: Bay Central Tavern, Urraween

Sun Heights + Sheltered + Ammends + Cellar Door: Beetle Bar, Brisbane Travis Jenkins Quartet: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point The Black Sorrows: Caloundra Power Boat Club, Golden Beach Acoustic Thursdays with Zed Charles + Lachy Lane + Tim Edward: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley Stand Up Comedy Open Mic Night: Dog and Parrot Tavern, Robina

The Good Ol’ Boys: Lefty’s Old Time Music Hall, Brisbane Des Reid: Loving Hut, Mount Gravatt Mooncoin + Alan Kelly Trio: Noosa Reef Hotel (Flanagan’s), Noosa Heads Jackie Marshall: Oxford 152, Bulimba

By Eleanor + The Reversals + Mass Sky Raid + Adventure Land: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley

Fridays Classics RNB Gold feat. DJ Chrispi + Marty James + BennyK: Captain Cook Tavern, Kippa-Ring

Open Mic Night: The Four Mile Creek Hotel, Strathpine

Jimmy Watts: Cardigan Bar, Sandgate

Tea Society + In Caves + MIEL: The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, South Brisbane Billie & Me feat. Wendy Matthews: The Triffid, Newstead Trails + Aquila Young + Denville: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley Danny T: Victory Hotel, Brisbane

FRI 31

Rubber Soul Revolver feat. Husky Gawenda + Jordie Lane + Marlon Williams + Fergus Linacre: QPAC Concert Hall, South Brisbane

Last Show As We Know It with Dead Sun + Cheezal Dust + The Disgruntled Taxpayers + The Flame Fields + Darl: Beetle Bar, Brisbane

Empire Park + Hemingway: Ric’s Bar, Fortitude Valley

Baro + Gill Bates + Marcus: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley

The Brodie Graham Band: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore

Kevin Clough: Breakfast Creek Hotel, Albion

Rockaoke: Sonny’s House of Blues, Brisbane Secret Birds: The Bearded Lady, West End Fresh Thursday with DJ Brett Allen + James Toddman: The Beer Garden, Surfers Paradise

S U P P O R T I N G

Herd Trio: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point Grace Knight : Brisbane Powerhouse (Powerhouse Theatre), New Farm

King Hit The Queen + APATE + Misguided + Avarice’s Fall + Eternalist: Chardons Corner Hotel, Annerley DJ Robbie Rob: Club Tavern, Caboolture Various Artists: Commercial Hotel (Arvo) , Nerang Hope Drone + We Lost The Sea + Lizzard Wizzard + Fvck Mountain: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley Udder Ubductees + Steve Reed + Hanny J + Toby Market: Crowbar (5pm), Fortitude Valley BNS + Styli$$h: Deception Bay Tavern (Public Bar), Deception Bay Jesse Morris + Kerbside Collection: Eat Street Markets, Hamilton Winter White Party feat. J-Trick: Eatons Hill Hotel, Eatons Hill DJ Panda + Dru K: Forest Lake Tavern (Sports Bar), Forest Lake

In Essence: Burleigh Brewing, Burleigh Heads

Mark Lowndes: Habitat Restaurant & Bar, South Brisbane

Simon Meola: Burleigh Heads Hotel, Burleigh Heads

The Copy Cats: Hamilton Hotel, Hamilton

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the guide qld.gigguide@themusic.com.au Bootleg Flyers + Locky: Irish Murphy’s, Brisbane The Anchors + Trent McNamara: Junk Bar, Ashgrove Tooth & Nail: Lock ‘n’ Load Bistro, West End Seductive Soul: Logan Diggers Club, Logan Central Elsewhere Bound + Sibling + Guard Your Hearts + In Eyes + Not Sinking, Just Crashing: New Globe Theatre, Fortitude Valley Booster Trio: Newmarket Hotel, Newmarket Russ Walker: Redland Bay Hotel, Redland Bay Peace by Piece + The Meerdogs: Ric’s Bar, Fortitude Valley Greazefest 2015 feat. Will & The Hi-Rollers + The Detonators + Stripped Black + The Go Getters + Little Billy + more: Rocklea Showgrounds, Rocklea Greg Dodd & The Hoodoo Men: Royal Mail Hotel, Goodna The Ninjas + Pop Cult + Dream Thieves: Solbar (Main Stage), Maroochydore Back Alley Cats: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore The Walters: Sonny’s House of Blues, Brisbane Lloyd Spiegel: Soundlounge, Currumbin CC The Cat: Southport RSL, Southport

Darren Lawrence: Story Bridge Hotel (The Corner Bar), Kangaroo Point

The Floyd Family Breakdown: The Bearded Lady, West End

Phil Barlow & The Wolf: Taps Australia, Mooloolaba

Young Lions + Red Beard + Twin Haus: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley

Los Huevos + King Kongo + Plastic Fangs: The Bearded Lady, West End

Ingrid James & Julian Jones Duo: The Lido Cafe & Restaurant, Ascot

The Sulphur Lights + Unpeople + Eyes Ninety + Forever + Heavy Breather: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley Outside the Academy + Steve Tyssen + Taylor Payne + Beth Lucas: The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, South Brisbane Joshua Seymour: The UpFront Club, Maleny Jesswar + Lane-Harry x Ike Campbell + Being Jane Lane + Erin Jane: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley The Lazy Valentines: Victory Hotel, Brisbane Juice with DJ J-Tok + DJ Blitz: Wynnum Tavern, Wynnum West

SAT 01

WAAX + The Paper Tigers + Guava Lava: 38 Berwick Street, Fortitude Valley Jukai Forest + Pow Pow Kids + Dumb Punts + Some Jerks + Cannon + Thee Hugs: Beetle Bar, Brisbane Rockaoke: Benowa Tavern, Benowa Missy B Duo: Breakfast Creek Hotel, Albion

TEMPURA NIGHTS: 1 AUG, GRAND CENTRAL HOTEL Sarah Collyer: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point System Trashed + Diamond Back + Eat City + Killers Creed: Chardons Corner Hotel (The Back Room), Annerley Shandy-Aid feat. Shandy + Plan Of Attack + F1 Eleven + Crooked Face + Those Rat Bastards + Danza + Paddy McHugh + Jud Campbell + Hanny J + Jodie Flange: Crowbar (Upstairs & Downstairs) , Fortitude Valley The Good Ol’ Boys: Eat Street Markets, Hamilton Trainspotters feat. Tempura Nights + Ali E + Caroline + Jack Spider: Grand Central Hotel, Brisbane The Black Sorrows: Hamilton Hotel, Hamilton Mono 18 feat. William Basinski + Makino Takashi + Jim O’Rourke: Institute of Modern Art, Fortitude Valley

Lloyd Spiegel: Joe’s Waterhole, Eumundi Chris Russell’s Chicken Walk: Lefty’s Old Time Music Hall, Brisbane Som De Calcada: Lock ‘n’ Load Bistro, West End Irish Sessions with Ger Fennelly: Mick O’Malley’s, Brisbane A-Tonez + Kyro: Noosa Reef Hotel, Noosa Heads Cool Coda: Prince of Wales Hotel, Nundah Mondo Rock: QPAC, South Brisbane Global Battle Of The Bands: Ric’s Bar, Fortitude Valley Greazefest 2015 feat. The Go Getters + Rusty Pinto + Shotdown From Sugartown + Doubleblack + Benny & The Fly By Niters + The Flattrakkers + Paulie Bignell & The Thornbury Two + more: Rocklea Showgrounds, Rocklea The Free Loves + Southern Booze Camp: Royal Mail Hotel, Goodna

Mark Lowndes + CKNU: Solbar (Main Stage), Maroochydore Jimmy D Duo: Springwood Hotel, Springwood Ed & Eddy: Story Bridge Hotel (The Corner Bar), Kangaroo Point DJ Panda: Story Bridge Hotel (Shelter Bar), Kangaroo Point

S U P P O R T I N G

Burn Antares + The Delicates + Baskervillain: The Bearded Lady, West End

I N D E P E N D E N T

Adam Campbell + June Low: The Statler & Waldorf, Brisbane Back To The Moon feat. DJ Wootini: The Triffid, Newstead The Barefoot Experience + The Vultures + In Void: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley Caillin Malley + Acoustic Moose + DJ Mikey: Victory Hotel (Beer Garden), Brisbane Jinja Safari + Sea Legs + Good Boy: Woolly Mammoth, Fortitude Valley

SUN 02

Geeves & Wooster: Breakfast Creek Hotel, Albion Wes Taylor: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point Sounds of Sunday: Broadbeach Tavern, Broadbeach Sunday Sessions with Relish: Dublin Docks Tavern, Biggera Waters Izania: Eat Street Markets, Hamilton

Jakobi Kai: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore

THE LAURELS: 6 AUG, THE BRIGHTSIDE

Hurst + Superkaleida + Muddy Chanter + Cordeaux: The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, South Brisbane

Mono 19 feat. Grouper + Paul Clipson + Ross Manning: Institute of Modern Art, Fortitude Valley Eddie Gazani Band: Lock ‘n’ Load Bistro, West End Irish Sessions with Ger Fennelly: Mick O’Malley’s, Brisbane Blues Jam with Mark D’s Big 3: Morrison Hotel, Woolloongabba Lloyd Spiegel: Old Museum, Fortitude Valley Gurrumul: QPAC (Concert Hall), South Brisbane

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the guide qld.gigguide@themusic.com.au The Hazy Chains: Ric’s Bar, Fortitude Valley

MON 03

Greazefest 2015 feat. Labretta Suede + The Motel Six + Pat Capocci + Hank’s Jalopy Demons + Firebird + The Detonators + The Flattrakkers + The Hi-Boys + more: Rocklea Showgrounds, Rocklea

The Round: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley

Decked Out Sundays: Royal Exchange Hotel, Toowong

William Briskey: Ric’s Bar, Fortitude Valley

Yamini + Toby Straton: Solbar (Lounge Bar) Maroochydore Open Mic Jam Session: Springwood Hotel, Springwood Sunday Comedy Night: Stones Corner Hotel, Greenslopes Big Kitty: Story Bridge Hotel (Outback Bar), Kangaroo Point DJ James Brown: Story Bridge Hotel (Shelter Bar), Kangaroo Point Dumb Punts + Pow Pow Kids: The Bearded Lady, West End

Donnelle Brooks: Ric’s Bar, Fortitude Valley

TUE 04

Dylan Moran: QPAC (Concert Hall), South Brisbane

Listen Out 2015 feat. Childish Gambino + SBTRKT + Joey Bada$$ + Alison Wonderland + Odesza + Rae Sremmurd + Golden Features + Ryan Hemsworth + more: RNA Showgrounds, Bowen Hills Mark Sheils: Samford Valley Hotel, Samford Village Trivia: Stones Corner Hotel, Greenslopes Brazilian-BackpackerUni Night: The Beer Garden, Surfers Paradise

THIGH MASTER: 6 AUG, GRAND CENTRAL HOTEL

Loosen Up Wednesdays: Royal Exchange Hotel, Toowong Open Mic Night: Solbar, Maroochydore

Olly Murs: Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, South Bank Jazz Singers Jam Night with Ingrid James: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point Let’s Get it On: The Life and Music of Marvin Gaye with Vika Bull + Andrew De Silva + Funk City Band: Brisbane Powerhouse (Powerhouse Theatre), New Farm Thigh Master + Woodboot + Police Force: Grand Central Hotel, Brisbane Mooncoin + Alan Kelly Trio: Noosa Reef Hotel (Flanagan’s), Noosa Heads Lulu & The Cutthroats: Ric’s Bar, Fortitude Valley Dig Deep: Solbar, Maroochydore

GURRUMUL: 2 AUG, QPAC

Nervous Plaything + Allthingslost + Oliver Mengel: The Bearded Lady, West End UBERfest 2015 feat. The IV + Tea Society + The Astronaut Headdress + The Stone Fox + Sisters Doll + Ellen Rose + more: The Elephant Hotel, Fortitude Valley Demetry Malahoff + Amber Jane: The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, South Brisbane

WED 05

Let’s Get it On: The Life and Music of Marvin Gaye with Vika Bull + Andrew De Silva + Funk City Band: Brisbane Powerhouse (Powerhouse Theatre), New Farm Seja + Anthonie Tonnon: Junk Bar, Ashgrove

Dylan Moran: The Arts Centre Gold Coast, Surfers Paradise Matt Stillert: The Bearded Lady, West End Urban Sounds: The Beer Garden, Surfers Paradise

THU 06

Open Mic Night: Bay Central Tavern, Urraween

James Brine: Ric’s Bar, Fortitude Valley

S U P P O R T I N G

Steady As She Goes + The Loveless Union: The Bearded Lady, West End DJ Brett Allen + James Toddman: The Beer Garden, Surfers Paradise The Laurels + Nick Allbrook: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley Heroine + Andy Murray Tennis Ace + Oliver Mengel: The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, South Brisbane Drapht + The Funkoars: The Triffid, Newstead

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Jon Spencer Blues Explosion + Hits: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley Thirsty Thursdays: Victory Hotel, Brisbane Knxwledge: Woolly Mammoth, Fortitude Valley

FRI 07

Big Strong Brute + Stevie: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley Biggy P: Breakfast Creek Hotel, Albion Aaron West Quartet: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point Let’s Get it On: The Life and Music of Marvin Gaye with Vika Bull + Andrew De Silva + Funk City Band: Brisbane Powerhouse (Powerhouse Theatre), New Farm Fridays Classics RNB Gold feat. DJ Chrispi + Marty James + BennyK: Captain Cook Tavern, Kippa-Ring Skyscraper Stan: Cardigan Bar, Sandgate Metal of Honor feat. Kaerulean + Universe + Before The Harvest + Expulsed + Darklore + Cry Havoc: Chardons Corner Hotel (The Back Room), Annerley DJ Robbie Rob: Club Tavern, Caboolture Phil Emmanuel + Jeff Salter: Dalrymple Hotel, Garbutt

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the guide qld.gigguide@themusic.com.au DJ Panda + Dru K: Forest Lake Tavern (Sports Bar), Forest Lake

Greg Cathcart: The Statler & Waldorf, Brisbane

Stuart Daniel Hoy: The Nook & Cranny, Nambour

The Sugar Shakers: Greaser Bar, Brisbane

Triffid World feat. Mzaza + The Unusual Suspects + Coisa Linda: The Triffid, Newstead

Elvis To The Max: The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley

Danny Widdicombe: Habitat Restaurant & Bar, South Brisbane MKO + Ella Fence: Miami Marketta, Miami Booster Trio: Newmarket Hotel, Newmarket Betty & Oswald: Ric’s Bar, Fortitude Valley Annie J & Fusion: Royal Mail Hotel, Goodna Pro Vita: Solbar, Maroochydore Brothers: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore Katie Who + Hailey Calvert + Bree Bullock + Ruby Montey: Soundlounge, Currumbin Tex Perkins & The Dark Horses: Tanks Arts Centre, Edge Hill

MON 10

CC The Cat: The Wickham Hotel, Fortitude Valley

Midnight Daisy: Ric’s Bar, Fortitude Valley

The BellRays + Tyrone Noonan + Street Pieces: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley The Lazy Valentines: Victory Hotel, Brisbane Juice with DJ J-Tok + DJ Blitz: Wynnum Tavern, Wynnum West

SAT 08

The Hymies + Concrete Lips + Big Bongin Baby: Beetle Bar, Brisbane

Trainspotters feat. Rule of Thirds + Occults + Unpeople + 100%: Grand Central Hotel, Brisbane Smokin’ Pistol & Slim: Greaser Bar, Brisbane Irish Sessions with Ger Fennelly: Mick O’Malley’s, Brisbane

Soul Train: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley

Pacific Tides Festival: Redlands Performing Arts Centre, Cleveland

Brief Divide: Breakfast Creek Hotel, Albion

Latham’s Grip: Ric’s Bar, Fortitude Valley Buzz & The Blues Band + Asa Broomhall: Royal Mail Hotel, Goodna

The Lyrical: Taps Australia, Mooloolaba

Love Cannons + Cassette Cathedral + Pirates of the Tempest: The Bearded Lady, West End Soviet X-Ray Record Club + Service Bells + The Con & The Liar + Acid On Andy: The Brightside, Fortitude Valley Aversions Crown: The Lab, Brisbane Folk Off! feat. The Demon Drink + The Songs of Tom Smith + Suicide Swans: The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, South Brisbane

Let’s Get it On: The Life and Music of Marvin Gaye with Vika Bull + Andrew De Silva + Funk City Band: Brisbane Powerhouse (Powerhouse Theatre/3pm), New Farm Let’s Get it On: The Life and Music of Marvin Gaye with Vika Bull + Andrew De Silva + Funk City Band: Brisbane Powerhouse (Powerhouse Theatre), New Farm Body & Soul - Sandy Beyon & Sean Mullen: Bulimba Golf Club, Bulimba

SUN 09

Sunday Session: Anglers Arms Hotel, Southport Say Ruby: Breakfast Creek Hotel, Albion Brisbane Big Band: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point Sounds of Sunday: Broadbeach Tavern, Broadbeach Good Riddance + Versus The World + Obserd: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley

Crowbar Blue with Shackles + The Gifthorse + Release The Hounds + We Set Sail: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley Pretty Ricky: Max Watt’s (formerly The Hi-Fi), West End Briggs + Quorum Consensus + Doobs & Atalanie + 41 Ninjas + DJ Elbow: Prince of Wales Hotel, Nundah Tommy Emmanuel: QPAC (Concert Hall), South Brisbane Conspiracy Of One: Ric’s Bar, Fortitude Valley

Recharge: Russell Tavern, Dalby

Sunday Sessions with The Green Sinatras: Dublin Docks Tavern, Biggera Waters

Karl S Williams + The Dawn Chorus: Solbar, Maroochydore

Irish Sessions with Ger Fennelly: Mick O’Malley’s, Brisbane

Transvaal Diamond Syndicate: Sonny’s House of Blues, Brisbane

Abbie Cardwell: Solbar (Lounge Bar), Maroochydore

Blues Jam with Mark D’s Big 3: Morrison Hotel, Woolloongabba

Brazilian-BackpackerUni Night: The Beer Garden, Surfers Paradise

Casey Fogg: Springwood Hotel, Springwood

Sunday Sets: Noosa Reef Hotel (Irish Garden), Noosa Heads

Asta + MKO + Ayla: The Elephant Hotel, Fortitude Valley

Lazy Sun Dayz: North Lakes Tavern, Mango Hill

Hoedown Showdown 4 feat. Silver Dukes + Midnight Son & The Crime Scene + The Dead Ringers + Ben Bunting Duo + The Loveless Union: The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, South Brisbane

Greg + Bottlecock + Barge With An Antenna On It: The Bearded Lady, West End

JINJA SAFARI: 1 AUG, WOOLLY MAMMOTH

TUE 11

GOOD RIDDANCE: 9 AUG, CROWBAR

You Beauty: The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, South Brisbane Jesse Morris: The Statler & Waldorf, Brisbane The Grates + Straight Arrows + Pleasure Symbols: The Triffid, Newstead Miss Ink 2015: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley Caillin Malley + Acoustic Moose + DJ Mikey: Victory Hotel (Beer Garden), Brisbane Knobs + Tristan Boyle + Evil Oil Man + Dirty Hippy + Purple Hayes: Woolly Mammoth, Fortitude Valley

S U P P O R T I N G

Sunday Sessions: Oxford 152, Bulimba Round Mountain Girls + Victoria Avenue: Redland Bay Hotel, Redland Bay Broken Leg: Ric’s Bar, Fortitude Valley Decked Out Sundays: Royal Exchange Hotel, Toowong

Mark Sheils: Samford Valley Hotel, Samford Village

The Common Deers + Scotch & Cider + Jesse Lidster: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley

Bearfoot + SoLar: Solbar (4pm), Maroochydore 30/70 + Vulture St Tape Gang: The Bearded Lady, West End Robyn Brown Quartet: The Bison Bar, Nambour Skyscraper Stan: The Milk Factory Kitchen & Bar, South Brisbane

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