12.08.15 Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Issue
101
Melbourne / Free / Incorporating
Are Movies Based On TV Shows Ever Worth Seeing?
In Focus
Sport
Northeast Party House
Dennis Cometti
Inside
Music
Eat
Frank Turner
Golden Gaytime
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Music / Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Waifing Around
The Waifs return this year with their seventh LP, Beautiful You, and now they’re playing it across the whole nation – having already announced WA dates they have now added east coast shows.
The Waifs
Marc Maron
Marc My Words Beloved US comedian and podcast host Marc Maron has announced he will be heading to Australia this October for The Maronation Tour. The New Jerseyborn personality will kick off the Aus tour in Sydney on 15 Oct, before hitting Melbourne and Brisbane.
For all gig and event details check out theMusic.com.au
Mew
Yesterday Tomorrow There is a lot of buzz around Tim Wheatley’s upcoming triumphs, as he is set to release his new single Valerie, followed by his new album, Cast Of Yesterday. He’s celebrating with a national tour. 8 • THE MUSIC • 12TH AUGUST 2015
Tim Wheatley
Arts / Li Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Bit O’ Brit
British India DD Dumbo
Prolific Melbourne rockers British India have announced a mammoth tour to round out an already impressive year. The band have confirmed 19 headline dates around the country, kicking off 18 Sep.
The Phoenix Foundation
Rising Again Kiwi indie rockers The Phoenix Foundation hopped over the ditch for a short visit this April, but the six-piece have just announced they’ll be back for an east coast tour this October following the release of their new album, Give Up Your Dreams.
Seeya Green Frog Allen’s Green Frog will no longer be available after the company discontinued its production late last year due to poor sales. Also facing the axe are the similarly controversially and equally green Spearmint Leaves, though we can rest easy knowing that the holy grail of confectionery, the Red Frog, is safe, outselling its green counterpart ten to one.
Yew For Mew Danish progressive rockers Mew have not managed to get themselves Down Under in 20 years, that is, their entire career – but all that’s changing. They’re playing three headline shows in December. Allen’s Red Frogs
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Lifestyle Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
DD For Laura
DD Dumbo
Victorian singer-songwriter DD Dumbo will join celebrated chanteuse Laura Marling as support act for her impending run of shows around the country this October.
Yarn With Barn’
Bilal
Courtney Barnett has already had a stellar 2015, which has included sets at Glastonbury and Coachella. She’s now set to play three theatre shows in Dec/Jan with support from Cloud Control.
Smith Crosses Philly Down Under
The Tasman
Hot off the back of his OutsideIn Festival appearance in Sydney on 26 Sep, Philly singer/ songwriter Bilal has announced he’ll be gracing stages in Sydney and Melbourne at his own headlining shows.
New Zealand singersongwriter Hollie Smith heads to Australia in November for Queenscliff Festival, as well as two headline shows in Sydney and Melbourne. The tour comes in the wake of the release of her new single, the first taste of a forthcoming record due out early 2016.
Update: mundane activity @joelmchale must have been watching his own tedious new show, comments section
Hollie Smith
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e / Cultu Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Oh Brother
Brother Ali
Veteran musician and activist Brother Ali has unveiled a three-date run of headline shows down the east coast to complement his existing commitments at Brisbane’s BIGSOUND showcase and conference this September.
THURSDAY 13 AUGUST
DEPARTMENT GOING SWIMMING SHINY COIN $2.50 POTS OF DRAUGHT $5 VODKA
FRIDAY 14 AUGUST Courtney Barnett
RENEGADE JOE CHRIS WATTS
Tim and Eric
ED HAWKE 5PM - 7PM - $3 POTS/$6 PINTS
SATURDAY 15 AUGUST
TULLY ON TULLY COUSIN TONY’S BRAND NEW FIREBIRD THE KARMENS MARMELADE GHOST
SUNDAY 16 AUGUST
Great Job! Tim & Eric have just announced their ‘StraliaZealand Experience stage show that hits our shores in December this year. Having only performed one other time in Australia the pair are doing a national tour, re-introducing their twisted sense of humour and bizarre sketches live on stage.
THE FOREIGN BROTHERS PRESENT:
“MOMENTUM” RESIDENCY FT THE CORETET MONDAY 17 AUGUST RESIDENCY
DIAMONDS OF NEPTUNE MACHINE GUN SUNRISE SPECIAL GUESTS $10 JUGS OF DRAUGHT!
TUESDAY 18 AUGUST
BANDROOM DJ’S FT. MIMICRY HOABIE JUAN $10 JUGS OF DRAUGHT
On The Weekend
Dawes
With recent news announced of Melbourne’s inaugural Out On The Weekend Festival expanding to Sydney, they’ve now announced their line-up for the October events. Acts like Dawes, Sam Outlaw and Jamestown Revival hit both cities but plenty of bands will only play the one.
WEDNESDAY 19 AUGUST RESIDENCY
UNCLE BOBBY MEALS AKROYD SMART
COMING UP TIX AVAILABLE THRU OZTIX:
HIATUS KAIYOTE *SOLD OUT* (SEPT 12) BURIED IN VERONIA - ALBUM LAUNCH *SELLING FAST* (SEPT 18 AND MATINEE SHOW SEPT 19) AS IT IS - UK *SELLING FAST* (OCT 1ST) RUTS DC – UK *SELLING FAST* (NOV 14) EVEN – ROOFTOP SHOW *SELLING FAST* (DEC 20)
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Credits
Publisher Street Press Australia Pty Ltd Group Managing Editor Andrew Mast National Editor - Magazines Mark Neilsen Editor Bryget Chrisfield Arts Editor Hannah Story Eat/Drink Editor Stephanie Liew Gig Guide Justine Lynch gigs@themusic.com.au
Music Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Shir madness
Stiletto Sisters
For the first time, Melbourne will host a celebration of Jewish music at the inaugural Shir Madness Festival in a few weeks’ time. The festival features 30 acts across five stages, including Zusha, Tinpan Orange, Simon Tedeschi, Rita Satch, Stiletto Sisters and more.
Senior Contributor Jeff Jenkins Contributing Editor Steve Bell Contributors Annelise Ball, Sarah Barratt, Sophie Blackhall-Cain, Emma Breheny, Sean Capel, Luke Carter, Anthony Carew, Oliver Coleman, Daniel Cribb, Cyclone, Guy Davis, Dave Drayton, Simon Eales, Guido Farnell, Tim Finney, Bob Baker Fish, Cameron Grace, Neil Griffiths, Brendan Hitchens, Kate Kingsmill, Baz McAlister, Samson McDougall, Tony McMahon, Ben Meyer, Fred Negro, Danielle O’Donohue, Josh Ramselaar, Paul Ransom, Ali Schnabel, Michael Smith, Dylan Stewart, Kane Sutton, Simone Ubaldi, Genevieve Wood, Evan Young, Matthew Ziccone
For a regular hit of news sign up to our daily newsletter at theMusic.com.au
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Lurch & Chief
It’s Paradise An amphitheatre and a nightclub used together? Yep, the Paradise Music Festival will be held at the Lake Mountain Alpine Resort. Hosting artists like Lurch & Chief, Black Vanilla, My Disco and Darts. Make sure to keep the last week in October free. Brunswick Music Festival
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c / Arts / Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Father John Misty
Getta Guetta
French DJ and producer superstar David Guetta will be headed Melbourne’s way this Melbourne Cup Eve for one night only at Hisense Arena.
Aunty Reveals Father
The annual Meredith Music Festival is kicking off its line-up revelations for 2015 in grand style with the news that the ever-enigmatic Father John Misty has agreed to perform at this year’s soiree in the ‘Sup 11 13 Dec.
David Guetta
Twisted Broadway. Pic: Kayzar Bhathawalla
Twist For Good Twisted Broadway, the annual charity concert featuring renowned international musical theatre talents, returns once again, this year aiming to raise $100,000 to donate to those living with HIV/AIDS. Monday at the State Theatre, Arts Centre.
Les Craythorn
Synth It Up
Brunny Times Artist applications are now open for the 2015 Brunswick Music Festival, which will mark the 27th anniversary of the two-week event. Check out their website for application deets.
SAE Institute Melbourne presents its inaugural Synthposium 13 Aug, at its Melbourne campus. The evening will feature a panel discussion (speakers include Les Craythorn, Andrew Duffield and David Carbone) and opportunities for hands-on tweaking of vintage gear.
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FROM SMALL SCREEN TO SILVER SCREEN I
Film
TV and film are extremely different mediums and the crossover is not always successful. Star Trek, M:I, SATC, Twin Peaks... Guy Davis walks us through some examples that worked out for the better.
n the real world, the spy game may well be dirty, duplicitous and dangerous but onscreen it’s cool clandestine fun, all nifty gadgets, exotic locations and seductive individuals with secret agendas. And in no era was it cooler to indulge in a little espionage than the ‘60s... if we’re taking pop culture’s word for it, that is. Look no further than the TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. for proof - the adventures of the urbane Napoleon Solo and enigmatic Illya Kuryakin epitomised cloak-and-dagger chic during the show’s four-year run between ‘64 and ‘68. While The Man from U.N.C.L.E. may not air regularly on TV anymore, its title still has that all-important ring of familiarity, so much so that a bigscreen version has been in the works for years. Ocean’s Eleven director Steven Soderbergh was attached for a while, but in the end it was Guy Ritchie of Snatch and Sherlock Holmes fame who reunited Solo and Kuryakin - now played by Man Of Steel’s Henry Cavill and The Social Network’s Armie Hammer - for the reboot. Of course, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is far from the first TV series to make the transition from small screen to big. And while it’s safe to say that an established title can have a slight head-start on an unknown property in the box-office stakes, not every project of this kind is simply an attempt to cash in. Some have artistic integrity and merit, some take the material in unexpected and worthwhile new directions, some are just plain fun. Want examples? Why, we happen to have a few right here.
Star Trek: The starship Enterprise have been boldly going when no one has gone before on both the big and small screens for so many years now (and in so many different incarnations) that it could be difficult recalling how Star Trek’s voyage began. But it all started with Gene Roddenberry’s original series, which premiered in 1966 and spawned a string of spinoffs, sequels, relaunches and reboots, the latest of which rocketed into cinemas in 2009 under the command of J.J. Abrams. Mission: Impossible: Before it became a reason for Tom Cruise to dangle from great heights, Mission: Impossible, which chronicled the adventures of the Impossible Mission Force, was a hit series between 1966 and 1973. Was its success due to one of the catchiest theme tunes in history? Well, that can’t be ruled out. The film franchise has become just as popular, with its last two instalments, Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation, resetting the action-movie bar.
“Some have artistic integrity and merit, some take the material in unexpected and worthwhile new directions, some are just plain fun.”
The Fugitive
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
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Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me: Twin Peaks, the weird-arse murder mystery created by David Lynch and Mark Frost back in the early 1990s, was unlike anything that had previously aired on American network TV. But while the series was cancelled after two seasons, Lynch wasn’t done with the denizens of the small town of the title, delving way, way deeper into its dark secrets with a prequel that depicted the harrowing final days of golden girl Laura Palmer. The result is one of the most disturbing films in Lynch’s body of work... and that’s saying something. Sex And The City: Traditionally there’s a pretty big gap between the end of a TV series and its rebirth as a movie. But four years after Sex And The City ended its run on HBO, Carrie Bradshaw and her friends took their Manhattan misadventures to the big screen. While the Sex And The City movie was essentially a few episodes smushed together and stretched out, it was a huge hit. The less said about its gaudy monstrosity of a sequel, however, the better. And HBO’s attempt to re-catch lightning in a bottle this year with an Entourage movie proved that not every series is suited to the multiplex.
Miami Vice: When you think of the ‘80s series Miami Vice, two things that instantly spring to mind are Jan Hammer’s synth-tastic theme tune and the glorious pastel fashions sported by undercover cops Crockett and Tubbs. To his credit, writer-director Michael Mann decided against bringing these back for his 2006 film version, instead focusing on the compromises and costs of breaking the law in order to enforce it. The result is an edgy, moody armour-piercing bullet of a thriller. Charlie’s Angels: Just as the television series about a foxy team of female crimefighters is a nifty timecapsule of the ‘70s, the two Charlie’s Angels movies, starring Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu, contain every stylistic tic of the early 2000s. Speedramped martial-arts action! Blink-182! Luke Wilson as a romantic lead! The Fugitive: Based on the ‘60s TV series, 1993’s The Fugitive is the gold standard. If you’re channelsurfing one night and you happen across the first few minutes of this movie, which has wrongfully accused Harrison Ford displaying incredible ingenuity and tenacity as he tries to track down his wife’s murderer while steering clear of wily manhunter Tommy Lee Jones, you will settle in for the duration. This is a law of nature, one that cannot be disputed.
Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle
21 Jump Street: Let’s face it, even at the height of 21 Jump Street’s popularity, the show about baby-faced undercover cops busting high-school crims was kind of a joke. So it was appropriate that the dream team of Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum mercilessly (and cleverly) took the piss out of the concept with their action-comedy adaptation and its equally accomplished sequel, 22 Jump Street. Jackass: When you’re on a good thing, stick to it. So when Johnny Knoxville and his team of demented daredevils got the opportunity to take their hilarious, hazardous and homoerotic stunts and pranks from MTV to the movies, they didn’t fuck with the formula too much. They just went a little bigger and a lot more disgusting. Serenity: The devotion displayed by the fan base of Joss Whedon’s sci-fi series belied that fanbase size, so the show only had one short-lived season on the air. But Whedon persuaded Hollywood to give the crew of the starship Serenity a shot at bigscreen stardom. Sadly, that didn’t pan out either (the movie under-performed at the box office), although Serenity is terrific fun, a cool companion piece to the sorta-similar Guardians Of The Galaxy. And don’t feel too bad for Whedon - word is he’s doin’ okay.
South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut: The show is funny. The movie is funniest.
The door, of course, swings both ways. And more than a few successful films (not to mention some unsuccessful films) have enjoyed a second life on the small screen.
Movies To TV: South Park
M*A*S*H: It may not have been the first property to make the shift from big screen to small, but M*A*S*H, the TV series adapted from Robert Altman’s irreverent 1970 black comedy about military medicos, definitely demonstrated that the transition could be a successful one - the show ran for 11 seasons, and its finale remains one of the most-watched programs in television history. Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Everybody loves Buffy. But that wasn’t always the case. The 1992 film that introduced the beloved badass vampire slayer written but not directed by Joss Whedon - met with mixed-to-meh reactions when it premiered. And even when Whedon launched a TV version five years later, it still took some time for the Scooby Gang to gain any traction.
Friday Night Lights: Friday Night Lights, Peter Berg’s 2004 movie about the unofficial Texas religion of high-school football, was well-received critically and commercially. But the TV series, which expanded the story’s scope to take in the lives of the people living in the small town of Dillon, has inspired deep devotion from its fanbase, mainly due to perfectly-matched pair Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton. (Yeah, ok, Riggins too.) Hannibal: An ideal mixture of gorgeous and grotesque, Hannibal has taken the ingredients of Thomas Harris’ series of novels (all of which have been adapted into movies, some better than others) about cultured cannibal Hannibal Lecter and refashioned them into a sumptuous dish with a flavour all its own. Controversial Opinion: Mads Mikkelsen is the best Hannibal ever. Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp: The 2001 summer-camp comedy was a spectacular flop when it was first released but has gained a cult following over the years, so much so that Netflix gave its creators the go-ahead for an eight-episode prequel featuring the original cast (including Paul Rudd, Bradley Cooper and Amy Poehler). Smart move, because it’s amazingly absurd and fucking funny. THE MUSIC 12TH AUGUST 2015 • 15
Film
A Touch Of Class Guy Ritchie continues to eschew period tropes with his film reinterpretation of ‘60s spy show The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Ritchie, Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander and Elizabeth Debicki chat with Brendan Telford.
N
ot a stranger to taking on licensed and very much loved material and making it his own, British director Guy Ritchie has followed up his stylised megablockbuster Sherlock Holmes franchise with a revisionist take on the 1960s Cold War espionage show The Man From U.N.C.L.E. With the central focus on spies from either side of the Iron Curtain, American fugitive-cum-CIA wunderkind Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) and Soviet soldier Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) form an unlikely alliance in the hunt for a missing Nazi nuclear scientist. “We felt the world of this film was occupying a place that no other film was [at this time], which is what we saw as the golden era of the spy thriller genre,” Ritchie explains. “It feels like an amalgamation of those but with
“If you become a parody the stakes no longer mean anything.”
our unique view. There are so many things that you are subconsciously motivated by, so when hearing the title The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in about ten seconds you can cross-reference all the things you find inspiring and interesting. You are never sure how you can make it all work, but you have enough kernels of interest to get things firing. ‘Americans, Russians, ooh the ‘60s! I like the cars and the costumes - not those costumes, get rid of them - the architecture is beautiful! How can I make it contemporary? The male relationship between the two spies!’ When the cake goes into the oven, does it come out as something that I’d like to eat? I’d say that except for about 15% of the film, what you see now is what I came up with in the first tensecond idea two, three years ago.” The constant headbutting between Solo and Kuryakin provides the lion’s share of screen time in the film, as the debonair risk-taker Solo incessantly rubs the set-in-hisways Kuryakin the wrong way. Cavill (a Brit playing an American) and Hammer (an American playing a Russian)’s repartee lends the film its comedic gravitas. “It really was a tightrope where sometimes Guy would walk in and say, ‘You know what? Funny, but a little too smug,’” Cavill laughs. “You have to trust your director 16 • THE MUSIC • 12TH AUGUST 2015
in those moments because it’s hard to notice how you’re coming across. You can walk away from something where it’s in tone with how you are feeling, but not with the feeling of the movie, so that an audience could be sitting there and thinking you’re a bit of a dick. It was harder than the stunts.” “I know - we have Superman over here sitting in the backseat of a car while I am running after it for hours,” Hammer counters. “It’s funny watching people put into situations that they simply aren’t equipped to deal with, and that is all of Kuryakin’s life outside of spying. To sell all of those moments, you had to find the truth in the situation, no matter how preposterous, otherwise it would become very slapstick. Even with my accent I just wanted to lend it that air of authenticity. If you go back and watch old spy films or ‘80s action movies, every Russian character is arch. They are Boris from Rocky & Bullwinkle. ‘NATASHA!’ That’s not how Russians speak. Hollywood just wanted their bad guys to sound bad. I wanted to be as universally Russian as possible, and although I have Russian heritage through my uncle, I also listened to a lot of YouTube, which is seriously one of the actor’s greatest research tools.” In many ways though The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is a threehander, as the spies’ link to the Nazi scientist is his niece Gaby Teller. Rising star Alicia Vikander sees her strength. “I didn’t even see Gaby as a strong female character, I just saw it as a strong part, which goes to Guy and Lionel’s writing,” she says. “Gaby is fearless and yet there is this ambiguity there as to what her plans are throughout the film. She goes on a journey from behind the wall to then be a part of revolution and style. I was aware that audiences would come to the film with a certain idea on who I would be playing within the story, and those perceptions are likely to flip quite a few times. For Guy to have these elements in an actioncomedy, and to inject it all with his sense of humour and style, it’s quite special.” Rounding out the international carousel of players is the unlikely villain Victoria Vinciguerra, played by Australian Elizabeth Debicki. Vinciguerra is a woman who knows what she wants and knows how to get it. “I watched a lot of Fellini and [Catherine] Deneuve films, Italian ‘60s cinema, and a lot of that for me really helped shape Victoria,” Debicki says. “I don’t want to label her - she lacks empathy, shall we say - and yet there is a strength and pragmatic nature to her that helps steer it away from a straight-up master villain situation. She works the best when she really enjoys what she is doing.” Ritchie had to be very careful when walking the tightrope between comedy, nostalgia and parody - The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is no Get Smart. “We didn’t set any parameters on what people could do because everyone knew what the line was; it was about getting as close as we could without crossing it. With comedy you’re playing with your stakes and are constantly on thin ice. If you become a parody the stakes no longer mean anything; but I also don’t like to take things too seriously, because in the end it’s entertainment. So you have to somehow keep the reins on essentially a wild animal while also letting things take their own unique course. In the end we more or less did it in three takes: the straight way, the taking the piss way, then somewhere down the middle, because then you have some latitude on where to take things.”
What: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. In cinemas 13 Aug
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Music
The Brightside
Releases
This Week’s Releases
Hugo Race & True Spirit The Spirit Rough Velvet/MGM
With his latest record, English troubadour Frank Turner went from fighting inner turmoil to literally going headto-head with a pro wrestler. Daniel Cribb steps in the ring.
Dead Letter Circus Aesthesis UNFD
Bullet For My Valentine Venom Sony
The Basics The Age Of Entitlement The Three Basics
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The title of Frank Turner’s sixth record, Positive Songs For Negative People, might seem like a scripture for fans down on their luck, but the record’s far from a mission statement to the lost and broken hearted. “I’m always slightly weary of music with a ‘Message’,” Turner begins. “If people take ideas and thoughts from the music I make, that’s great, but I’m not setting out to spread the good word; the songs that I write are directed at myself, and not too much anyone else.” The singer-songwriter’s previous effort, Tape Deck Heart, dropped in 2013 and was “a breakup record, and record about failure and fucking your life up”. It was a vulnerable time in Turner’s life, and a back injury and run-in with the media compounded the themes throughout album number five. It was during that time that the new songs started to form. “All those things were survivable, and in those situations, you can either wallow in your misery, or you can do something about it. I had a bit of a wallow for a while, but decided that doing something about it was a bit of a better direction.” The biggest battle Turner faced that year was when The Guardian ran an opinion piece in which they dug up comments he made in 2009 and labelled him right wing. “They tore my life apart for a period of time, so I
think I’d be mad if I weren’t more weary of [the media] now. It’s also made me just utterly, utterly, thoroughly bored of any discussion of politics in a public forum; I’m not interested. The standard of debate is way too fucking low for me to be bothered to be interested in it. “People got fucked off a bit because I refused to toe the line, essentially, and subscribe to what the correct thing is, which to me doesn’t feel very punk, but that’s just my opinion. A lot of people these days are extremely bad at dealing with the concept of debut and opposing views, in a way that I find very depressing, but it’s not a fight that I’m interested in having anymore.” A fight he was interested in - and one that effectively summarises the themes around Positive Songs For Negative People - was one with pro wrestler CM Punk in the music video for lead single The Next Storm. “It fucking terrified my, because wrestling is really not my scene,” he laughs. “The guy who directs my music videos found out that CM Punk was a fan and we just sort of got in touch. “This was a record about gathering yourself and standing up after a fall. It’s an optimistic record, but not in a ‘don’t worry, be happy’ kind of way, kind of a ‘fight back, don’t let the fuckers drag you down’ way.”
What: Positive Songs For Negative People (Xtra Mile Recordings / Universal Music Australia)
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Music
Frontlash POOL TOOLS
Friendly Sounds
If you cut a pool noodle into four pieces, tie ‘em together to form a square and then place a plastic container filled with ice (and bevies) inside – voila! Instant floating Esky! Roll on summer!
POPS-HIC-LES Thank you Fortnum & Mason for inventing frozen champagne popsicles. Bookmark the website.
Lashes
LUNCH SHOUT
“We’re about to fucking have you, that’s for sure.” Lydia Lunch owning her 2pm “punch rock” slot at Supersense over the weekend.
Most people would be tossing and turning, nerves and anxiety running amok, but catching up with Jan Skubiszewski aka Way Of The Eagle over coffee the morning his first full-length is released, it’s plain to Dylan Stewart that he’s well rested.
Lydia Lunch @ State Theatre. Pic: Tim O’Connor
Backlash HEY MR DJ
When you’re in da club and the DJs change over and then you hear the same song twice in about 15 minutes (we do love JT’s Senorita, but damn!).
CROWD ETIQUETTE #101 Punters who do 360s while filming with smartphones within a crowd. Face the action, dickwad!
TRANK TANK Not a good sign when Fantastic Four director Josh Trank tweeted out an apology for his film. The tweet’s since been deleted – the film hasn’t.
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H
e’s something of a veteran on the scene and obviously has his shit together, yet Jan Skubiszewski, aka Way Of The Eagle, seems surprisingly relaxed the day his debut album is released. It helps, though, when you’re allowed a decent night’s sleep. “We’ve got a nine month old baby girl and she’s just started sleeping through the night, so I slept very well,” he laughs. Skubiszewski spent time as a visual artist before turning his attention to audio production. Since then he’s worked with John Butler Trio and The Cat Empire among others, and worked on TV and film projects like Serangoon Road and Bran Nue Dae, but says there’s naturally something different about releasing his own record. “I’ve obviously worked on records for quite a few artists over the last few years, but I’ve always had this bubbling away and wanted to finish it. It’s different doing things on your own because you have to take care of so many of the details by yourself.” With a swag of collaborations across KODO, the album is quite varied. This is in
part down to the production studios Skubiszewski worked in – Los Angeles, New York, London and his hometown, Melbourne – and the relationships he has with his collaborators – “a lot of the artists on the album are people that I’ve already worked with, but then there are others like Bobby Saint who I never knew before” – but also the way that individual tracks were created. “Dan (Sultan) and I wrote Rattlesnake together in a day and then I took it away to work on the production. Then there were other songs [like What I Want featuring Benji Lewis] that I worked on and were pretty much complete before Benji came in. “I find that after an hour or two, any nerves or intimidation that might come from working with a well-known artist are gone. Artists are often coming from the same spot; they’re very sincere people who are looking for ways to get their story across.” Talking of his newest love, his daughter Sophia, Skubiszewski’s face lights up. “She’s come to a few festivals that I’ve played at and worn those big earmuffs, and I play guitar for her most nights. She really likes the blues. Well, I think she does. That’s what she gets. “I found learning an instrument a fantastic focus, but I get it that kids often kick and scream their way through practice. I’m just going to do what my dad did; he was a musician himself and gave me a lot of opportunities [Skubiszewski learnt classical guitar growing up]. I’d never push her into something that she didn’t want to do. Hopefully she’ll love it.”
What: Kodo (Sony) When & Where: 20 Aug, Howler
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Music
Sonic Youth In ‘70s Australia kids were meant to be seen and not heard, but instead the Sharpies chose their scene over the herd. Julie Mac takes Steve Bell back to a time when sharply-dressed outsiders ruled the roost. To read the full interview head to theMusic.com.au
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ew compilation When Sharpies Ruled looks back at an often glossed-over era in Australian society, that of ‘70s youth subculture the Sharpies. While obviously the blues- and glam-based rock’n’roll of the era was a large part of the movement’s core values - the new release features bands such as Rose Tattoo, Hush, Coloured Balls, Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs and Skyhooks, all loved by Sharpies - there was a lot more to the movement than just a love of heavy rock. They had their own visual aesthetic, fashion and outlook on life, most of which reflected a healthy disdain for authority, rules and regulations. Author Julie Mac was a member of numerous Melbourne Sharpie gangs in her youth, catching the tail-end
“It’s the only time in Australian history where commercial fashion has been completely rejected by a group of children”
of the movement in the mid-to-late-’70s, but her fascination with the era has never abated. She’s penned two tomes on the Sharpie sub-culture - Rage (2010) and Snap (2013) - and explains that the movement’s main tenets in essence can be distilled down to the concepts of ‘mateship and defiance’. “We could just see that hypocrisy of things,” she remembers. “[The main allure was] the connectedness. Number one it was fun; whenever you caught up with everybody they were all happy to see you, you were safe and you were looked after. When you’re growing up you have a lot of forced friends - people from school, neighbours, sporting groups and church - but when you get to 13 or 14 you branch out on your own and start making your own 22 • THE MUSIC • 12TH AUGUST 2015
friends, and I think that because we chose these friendships they were very strong. “Back then rockers drove cars, bikies drove motorbikes, but Sharpies were children and we caught trains. Some people had a [driver’s] licence, but usually once you got your licence you went and did other things - you went to pubs to pick up girls. But we were still catching trains, and people don’t like to think of children as being violent and there was the violent side of it - we were just a product of the society of the time.” The Sharpies sported distinctive haircuts mirroring the UK punk and skinhead movements, but also had their own well-defined fashion instinct. “Clothes were very important, and there was quite a bit of one-upmanship as well,” Mac explains. “The cardigans were tailor-made and could be custom-made, if you could imagine 13-, 14-, 15-year-old apprentice boys going and spending their apprentice wages on a custom-made fine-knit cardigan. Plus there were handmade shoes from places like Venus Shoes - they’d go in and the Greek shoemaker would measure their feet and make chisel-toed shoes with Cuban heels in whatever colour leather or suede they wanted. They could go and get a pair of bell bottom trousers tailor-made by the local tailor, and choose where they wanted the money pocket or the size of the cuffs. That’s why it was so unique, because it’s the only time in Australian history where commercial fashion has been completely rejected by a group of children. “As well as the clothes there were also distinctive Sharpie tattoos, for example if you see someone with three or four stars across the bottom of their wrist you can usually pick them as having been a Sharpie. Plus Sharpie boys were probably the first heterosexual males in Australia to have their ears pierced, and jewellery would be unisex - if I was wearing a pair of bluebird earrings and a boy said, ‘I like your earrings,’ I might take one out and give it to him and he’d wear it. There were jewellery, tattoos and a bit of a distinctive walk - a bit of a swagger - and the dance. Plus we had our own words and speech patterns, like any subculture.” And while Mac recalls that sexism wasn’t rampant among Sharpies (“girls weren’t treated as equals but they were protected, which was nice”) members were looked down upon by the rest of society. “Nobody liked Sharpies,” Mac reflects. “They didn’t like us at school, they didn’t like us at train stations. Once you became a Sharpie even your neighbours would look at you differently. I don’t know if it was fear because when you think about it we were children, but there must have just been something intimidating about it. Generally Sharpies liked other Sharpies, until it became territorial. But for example if I went to the Croydon market on a Sunday and another Sharpie girl from another town came there, we’d acknowledge each other and swap stories. There was a lot of storytelling in the Sharpie movement and that’s one of the things that I loved the most - there wasn’t the communication channels that there are now and some of us didn’t even have [home] phones, so the way that we used to keep each other safe was by telling stories about who you could trust and who you couldn’t.”
What: When Sharpies Ruled (Festival/Warner)
THE MUSIC 12TH AUGUST 2015 • 23
24 • THE MUSIC • 12TH AUGUST 2015
THE MUSIC 12TH AUGUST 2015 • 25
Eat / Eat/Drink
Young Henrys
Sol Invictus Motorcycle Co
Beast Feast A new pop-up eatery experience is about to travel across the east coast. Stephanie Liew and Dylan Van Der Riet chat to The Stables’ Danny Sekulich about Beast Feast.
Y
oung Henrys, Knafeh, Happy As Larry, Sol Invictus Motorcycle Co and The Stables are going on a road trip to bring authentic Napoli pizza, craft beer, a Palestinian bakery and more to regional towns. How did the idea come about? “Knafeh Bakery and I became friends through some mutual friends and they participated in a couple of events I organised,” Danny Sekulich - who along with his The Stables co-owner Todd Williams came up with Beast Feast - begins. “They brought up the idea of opening in Melbourne soon so I said, ‘Why don’t we just make this really interesting and go out for a bit of a road tour, spend five or six days driving and serving up the good Knafeh?’ They loved the idea.” Sekulich then went a step further and suggested they invite some colleagues and collaborators along; everyone he asked was superkeen to jump on board and take their wares to regional areas. “We really wanted to kind of showcase the products, a lot of these places like Happy As Larry and Young Henrys and so forth are about showcasing the best of this country, not just the city. When we
talk about product and produce we talk about regional because that’s where all the good stuff comes from and sometimes those people aren’t receiving all the props for delivering some of the most amazing product, so we wanted to hit them up on the way to Melbourne and say, ‘Hey we know you exist and we love what you do and love leaving the big smoke to come out to your neck of the woods’.” The Beast Feast is kicking off in Newtown and making five stops thereafter (with an afterparty at Whole Lotta Love in Melbourne). The team will set up shop from mid-arvo until evening. “When we explained to the locals what we are bringing and the size of the operations they pretty much gave us sizeable space so we can set up all containers in a little semi-carousel, so essentially we are very close together,” says Sekulich. “We are sharing the same music, we are sharing the same PA and we are sharing the same energy. More than likely we are going to be jumping from truck to truck to assist
each other. So it’s essentially about taking that driving convoy into a little mini-market set-up where we are not too far from each other, so it’s really about being as close as possible to each other to showcase the collaboration as opposed to individuality.”
WHEN & WHERE: 17 Aug, Young Henrys, Newtown (launch); 18 Aug, Farmers Market, Moruya; 19 Aug, Riverbank Park Picnic Area, Yass; 20 Aug, Town Centre (opposite Council Chambers), Gundagai; 21 Aug, Town Square, Albury; 22 Aug, Pentridge Prison, Melbourne; 22 Aug, Whole Lotta Love, Melbourne (afterparty). 26 • THE MUSIC • 12TH AUGUST 2015
/ Drink Eat/Drink
Knafeh
45 Degrees Pizza
Foodie News:
Golden Gaytime Now Comes In Tubs
WHO’S WHO? Knafeh: These ‘bearded bakers’ work out of a shipping containerturned-fully functional bakery, serving up their famous sweet cheese and semolina pudding. Sol Invictus Motorcycle Co: This Aussie motorcycle company are leading the Beast Feast convoy with their 250cc Mercury Cafe Racers. They’ll be offering test rides at stops along the way. Happy As Larry: Bringing traditional Napoletana pizza and good vibes to the people. Young Henrys: Leaders of craft beer in our country and abroad, with award-winning beers, ciders and, most recently, a small-batch gin. The Stables: The Stables complex features a clothing boutique, a bar, talent agency, restaurant and cafe.
If you haven’t heard the news yet, Australia’s iconic ice cream Golden Gaytime is now available in tub form. Yep, you can now share the yellow/brown/white deliciousness with all your mates - after all, “It’s hard to have a Gaytime on your own,” but this solves that problem. Streets released the 1.25L tub version following a grassroots social media campaign by Sydney bloke Jesse James McElroy - who many have pointed out works at an advertising agency - but Streets have denied any link between the Gaytime tub release and McElroy’s campaign, saying the timing was just a coincidence. Look, we DGAF either way as long as the GG tub’s here to stay.
Hot Spot
45 Degrees Pizza It’s pizza, Melbourne-style. The newly opened 45 Degrees Pizza (named after the ideal angle of a pizza slice - you’ll get eight slices every time) is serving up pizza toppings such as slow-cooked beef cheek, Vietnamese five spice pork, kale and beetroot, Cajun tofu, Korean fried chicken and kimchi, as well as your traditional Italian varieties. Plus, there’s gluten free and vegan options available. If you’re a fusion fan, you should put this place at the top of your go-to list. The fun menu also features sides, salads, dessert, craft beer and wine. 45 Degrees Pizza delivers to Richmond, East Melbourne, Abbotsford and Hawthorn, and you can order via phone or their website. 31–33 Bridge Rd, Richmond THE MUSIC 12TH AUGUST 2015 • 27
In Focus Nor theast
Par ty House Pic: Andrew Diprose
Answered By: Malcolm Besley. How did you get your start? We won the triple j Unearthed Pyramid Rock Festival competition. Sum up your musical sound in four words? Dance. Rock. Party. Obnoxious. If you could support any band in the world – past or present – who would it be? LCD Soundsystem/Nirvana. You’re being sent into space, no iPod, you can bring one album – what would it be? Ween – The Pod. Greatest rock’n’roll moment of your career to date? Playing to loads of people at Falls Music & Arts Festival, Lorne and Byron Bay 2014-15. Why should people come and see your band? A rad excuse to get loose, dance and shout while you get your head blown off with lights and a banging PA (we are playing some rad venues), spend too much money on alcohol, then finish the night off with a spontaneous latenight tattoo that will both amuse and shame you forever. When and where for your next gig? Tour starts 14th Aug. Playing Ballarat, Geelong, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne. Website link for more info? Facebook.com/northeastpartyhouse
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Music
RRR Radiothon Focus
T
riple R’s Radiothon is back again for 2015. Paint The Town Triple R: celebrate vibrant, free-form radio made by a diverse team that challenges and broadens your sonic palette by becoming a subscriber to Triple R. If you subscribe between 14 Aug and 23 Sep (by 5pm) you’ll go in the draw to win some amazing prizes - plus there are a bunch of subscriber discounts, giveaways and comps. Nice. Head to rrr.org.au/radiothon to help Triple R stay on air (check out the full prize list while you’re at it!). We chat to three RRR-ers - Maquarie Fletcher, Dave Graney and Tristen Harris about what the station means to them. How will you be painting the town during Radiothon? Macquarie Fletcher (Hit Me Up): Blasting emo songs out of my Telstar to get everyone in the mood and then doing the same thing on air when I hit my Radiothon show. Wheelies around the Triple R building and Brand New might entice more subscribers to paint their dang wallet RRR Subscriber card-coloured. Tristen Harris (The Golden Age Of Piracy): Mostly musically. I’ll be up to my usual business, going to local gigs and soaking up what’s new out there. That could be anytime, not just Radiothon! On my show though, I’ll be playing snippets of all the memorable Formative Fives from the past 12 months... everyone from Steve Albini to BJ Morriszonkle. Dave Graney (Banana Lounge Broadcasting): I will be using several filters through which I will view and therefore transform the immediate and longer-term aspect of the world. I will be seeing people through the eyes of a vintage-career music
artist who is having a strangely retrospective year and also through the eyes of a privileged Triple R broadcaster. I’ll be gilding it.
What’s your favourite/weirdest radio-related memory/moment? MF: I got a call from a dude who recited a poem he had just written, a beautiful poem about the moon and I thanked him on air. He called back later to tell me I made his heart dance, which was a nice change from the usual calls I get from men asking for more YMO or something. TH: Definitely filling in for The Ghost on The Skull Cave back in June. I haven’t been that nervous in years! I literally spent weeks building my playlist. I felt so damned honoured to have the chance to sit in the cave for three hours that I sure as hell did not want to screw it up. DG: I have talked to many writers and comedians and authors and musicians. The English comedian Paul Foot would be the strangest, but only because he is such an individual and so strikingly HIMSELF. That’s always unnerving, and exciting. Also speaking to my favourite poet Robert Gray. What do you love about community radio? MF: Community radio is literally the coolest thing in the entire world to me. The moment I heard Woody McDonald’s show Wig-Wam Bam, my life became a whole lot groovier. Community radio doesn’t discriminate. I am allowed to be the giant dweeb dork I am on air. ILYRRR. TH: I love that it’s still here! I seriously can’t imagine how different my life would be if I didn’t do that broadcasting course at the age of 16 in a tiny Perth community station. And just knowing that this opportunity is still there today makes me immeasurably happy. DG: The people who are on air and also behind the scenes at Triple R are amazing. Like a living culture. Incubating and preserving very delicate situations, personalities and ways of approaching the world. And the people who support it. An actual PRESENCE in Melbourne.
British India’s Declan Melia’s Conflicting Thoughts On Apple Music Have Apple finally been beaten to the punch? I never used Spotify. This wasn’t to do with some protest against loss of royalties associated with music sales, I actually just didn’t like the interface. You have all the music in the world at your fingertips, but it never felt like it was actually yours. Besides, I liked iTunes. Even in my
refusal to embrace Spotify I knew that the way people consume music was going to change enormously. When Apple announced Apple Music, it was clear that the age of streaming wasn’t coming, it was here and, as an avid music consumer and listener, I didn’t want to be left behind. After using Apple Music for only a few moments I concluded bluntly that there is no foreseeable reason that anyone using it should ever purchase, or even own, music again. As a music consumer this was appealing. As a musician it was sobering. The age of musical entitlement is over. Music was a product and now it’s a service. And like all other services it comes with a monthly bill. Apple Music isn’t perfect. The ads you see about it being the “perfect home for both music lovers and musicians” are both false and manipulative. However, sign-up figures are, naturally, astounding. It seems then that music streamers (ie. most people in the Western world) will have to choose a side on the Spotify and Apple Music battle lines.
To read the full story head to theMusic.com.au THE MUSIC 12TH AUGUST 2015 • 29
Indie Indie
Cosmic Psychos
Moses Gunn Collective
The Getaway Plan
Ten Thousand
Single Focus
Album Focus
Album Focus
Album Focus
Name: Ross Knight
Answered by: Lewis Stephenson
Answered by: Matthew Wright
Answered by: Jay Bowen
Single title? Bum For Grubs
Album title? Mercy Mountain
Album title? Dark Horses
Album title? First Light
What’s the song about? Checking your bum for grubs!
Where did the title of your new album come from? We named it after where we recorded the album, after deciding against calling it “The Wobble Goggle Mountain Boys”.
Where did the title of your new album come from? It was taken from the title track of the same name. The meaning of the term sits perfectly with where we’re at musically and as people at this point in time.
Where did the title of your new album come from? We wanted something that encapsulated the dawn of something new, a fresh start, a beginning. We feel like this album signifies our growth out of our artistic adolescence.
How many releases do you have now? We have three full-lengths: Other Voices, Other Rooms (2009), Requiem (2011) and Dark Horses (2015).
How many releases do you have now? Many singles and remixes and our EP release Tales From The Wasteland.
How long did it take to write/ record? About three minutes. Is this track from a forthcoming release/existing release? Yeah, the new album Cum The Raw Prawn. What was inspiring you during the song’s writing and recording? About a carton of Pure Death (or Pure Blonde as they package it on the box). We’ll like this song if we like... Checking your bum for grubs. Do you play it differently live? Yeah, more out of time, and I forget the lyrics. When and where is your launch/ next gig? 18 Sep at 170 Russell with Peep Tempel, High Tension and WOD Website link for more info? cosmicpsychos.com.au
How many releases do you have now? Two EPs; this is our first LP. How long did it take to write/ record? We wrote the songs over about a year, then it took about a week to record. Was anything in particular inspiring you during the making? The space we recorded in definitely contributed a lot. What’s your favourite song on it? It’s probably between Desdamona and Sleepwalking. Will you do anything differently next time? Probably not, the whole process was great. When and where is your launch/ next gig? 21 Aug, Shebeen Bandroom. Website link for more info? facebook.com/ mosesgunncollective
How long did it take to write/ record? We’re always writing. There are a few songs that are six-seven years old. The recording process took us just over three months which is pretty good for us.
How long did it take to write/ record? The writing/preproduction took well over a year. It’s hard to define when it began exactly but once we were exactly sure of what we wanted, the actual recording took nine days, day and night!
Was anything in particular inspiring you during the making? Mainly the drive to come back and make a name for ourselves again. We’ve been away for a while so we were very focussed on making the biggest and best impact we could.
Was anything in particular inspiring you during the making? Many touring bands in the ‘70s had a mobile studio with them on tour so if they spontaneously wanted to record something they could. We were inspired mostly by that kind of raw, immediate simplicity.
What’s your favourite song on it? The title track, Dark Horses. Without sounding egotistical, I think it’s the most perfect song we’ve ever written.
What’s your favourite song on it? Favourite song would definitely be Supergreen. Every gig without fail, this goes through the roof!
When and where is your launch/ next gig? 170 Russell, 16 Oct; The Workers Club Geelong, 31 Oct. More dates on the website. Website link for more info? thegetawayplan.com
Will you do anything differently next time? Yes!!! Never, ever foolishly think that we can survive the whole recording process drinking nothing but Aldi beer! When and where is your launch/ next gig? 23 Aug, The Brunswick Hotel. Website link for more info? tenthousandofficial.com
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THE MUSIC 12TH AUGUST 2015 • 31
Film
One In Diversity His latest documentary features 100 narrators, but as Shaun Monson tells Anthony Carew, it’s not just about the celebrities. To read the full interview head to theMusic.com.au
I
n a film about the plurality of humanity, Shaun Monson’s documentary Unity employs a host of famous humans to speak his dialogue. There are local heroes like Geoffrey Rush, Rose Byrne and Joel Edgerton, and international faces, Zoe Saldana, Selena Gomez, Ben Kingsley, Marion Cotillard, Common, Deepak Chopra and Tony Hawk among them. “It’s exactly what attracts press and exhibitors: the celebrity component,” admits Monson. “If you talk to
understanding of other cultures and the world around us, we can’t get to the point where we can just tolerate each other’s differences. We still feel the need to use force to exert our position. We drop bombs on each other. It’s incredible that we still do that today. Yet, we’re so accustomed to life being that way, that the idea of a civilisation without war is truly alien to us.” Conceived as a companion-piece to Monson’s 2005 documentary, Earthlings, an animal rights documentary featuring footage shot covertly inside slaughterhouses, puppy mills and pet stores, Unity begins with footage of a cow awaiting slaughter, frantically trying to escape, and part of its look at humanity is our belief we have ‘dominion’ over all creatures for our own use. Earthlings was narrated by Joaquin Phoenix, the first person Monson contacted about narrating Unity. Both are vegan, as are a host of the other narrators: Jessica Chastain, Casey Affleck, Moby, Olivia Wilde, Carrie-Anne Moss. After initially thinking Phoenix would serve as the sole narrator, “in the spirit of unity” Monson soon imagined his film as some We Are The World collection of narrators. At first there were going to be 25, then 35 and, after going all out, they arrived at 85. By that point, the concept crystalised: 100 narrators for a 100-minute film. “Some of my investors thought it sounded silly,” Monson admits. “’Is this just a gimmick? Is this egocentric? Is having celebrities read the dialogue contrary to the message and the spirit of the film?’ And I would’ve been happy to have a janitor or a schoolteacher or a policeman read for the film, but the truth of the matter is that actors and performers are just very, very good at delivering dialogue. And, of course, I also knew that having actors in it would increase the chance of the film being seen.”
What: Unity In cinemas
people who haven’t seen the film, all they want to ask about is these celebrity narrators. But, after they’ve seen the film - after we’ve had screenings of it - no one is talking about that anymore, but the content of the film.” The content is, essentially, an overview of humanity as a species, contrasting our capacity for empathy and art with our history of war and oppression. “Even though we know we are on a planet that contains multitudes, we can’t stop creating these binaries, and seeing opposites in one another. What will it take for humans to stop being at odds with one another, to stop this constant fighting amongst ourselves? There’s a statistic we use in the film, that mankind has been at war for 95 per cent of recorded civilisation. Even today, in our modern era, with all our increased knowledge and 32 • THE MUSIC • 12TH AUGUST 2015
Music
YOB frontman and guitarist Mike Scheidt tells Jonty Czuchwicki that it’s all about the riff.
“I
f I need to put on some modulation or tricks to make a riff work then the riff’s not good enough.” The statement is stark yet profound, but for YOB vocalist and guitarist Mike Scheidt, of arguably one of the most profound doom bands in the world, crafting good riffs is the epitome of what makes their music great. “The riff should sound great on a fucking acoustic guitar. It should just work… at that basic level. If different kind of effects and weird things can add a lot to it then great, but for me I just want songs that work.” Scheidt’s songs are obviously working, as YOB’s most recent record, Clearing The Path To Ascend, has been universally lauded, but, if the band has been kicking since 1996, why has it taken so long to reach Australia? At this point Scheidt is introspective. “It took us a long time to get to Europe too. I mean we just released our sixth record by the time we got to Europe. We always moved really slow.” The reality is a mirror image of the band’s trundling sound, but there’s reason embedded within YOB’s history that explains why their international exposure is branching out slowly. “I mean, ten years ago, twelve years ago, fifteen years ago doom shows had very small crowds even for the big heavy legendary bands. There just weren’t big shows. We pretty much had to max out our credit cards to go on tour
and you lose your job. For all of us in YOB with kids and stuff it just wasn’t a scenario.” It may come as a surprise, but YOB have never written a record for the purpose of getting out on the road. “We’ve never really done anything that wasn’t at our pace. The music that we’ve written has been primarily to satisfy ourselves and satisfy that inner need to write and play… Everything that’s good, that’s come to us, has really come to us out of that music. It’s come out of us working on our rehearsals and living our lives.” If you had been on the line the authenticity in his voice would’ve burnt a hole through your heart. Scheidt has collaborated on the design of his own distortion pedal, which he has found “works really well with a number of different kinds of amplifiers,” but on finding the perfect guitar rig, “I don’t think there is any guitarist out there that is going to tell you ‘Oh I have the perfect rig, it’s the perfect one hundred per cent everything I want.’ We’re all way too neurotic and hard to please for that. I think it happens sometimes if you’re lucky; once in a while you’ll have a moment where your tone is perfect. You go ‘Ah oh my God!’… and then it goes away.” While Yob will perform material old and new, the duration of their set is not absolute. “Usually we will play for an hour… sometimes we play for an hour and half or even an hour and forty-five minutes… It’s usually at the request of the people there.”
When & Where: 21 Aug, Max Watt’s
Singles
Aria Chart
Taking Their Time
1. One Direction Drag Me Down
2. Adam Lambert Ghost Town
3. The Weeknd Can’t Feel My Face
4. Lost Frequencies Are You With Me (Original Mix) 5. Galantis Peanut Butter Jelly
Albums
1. Meghan Trainor Title
2. Josh Pyke But For All These Shrinking Hearts 3. Gurrumul The Gospel Album 4. Ed Sheeran X
5. Taylor Swift 1989
THE MUSIC 12TH AUGUST 2015 • 33
Music
Brisbane Cafe Offers Free Food To Touring Musicians The reality for 99% of musicians is more akin to swigging from the bottle than bathing in champagne. One Brisbane café is taking the initiative to “feed the starving artist.” Literally. LostBoys offers free food for visiting tour acts – and not just any ol’ pleb grub either. It’s fresh, vegan, vegetarian, local and organic sustainable nourishment. Inspired by the lack of cash flow to her “successful” muso friends, venue owner Pixie decided to take action. “To the outside world [they’re] this really great, successful band, but I know that they’re struggling, and it sucks,” she said. “It’s been a struggle at the best of times, especially financially, so if we can support a touring band with a free feed… everything makes a difference.” Still in its very early stages, the responses have been uniformly positive. It’s clear this is a cause that runs near and dear to the hearts of not just the community-minded entrepreneur but her support team too. “We don’t expect anything in return; obviously, if they like it and post on Instagram about it, that works for us too … but, I mean, it’s about helping those guys out how we can.” To read the full interview head to theMusic.com.au
LostBoys
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real life,’ you know,” she chuckles. Ramsey and fellow Iowan, singer-songwriter Pieta Brown added their touches in a small Iowa City studio a few weeks later. Each song has its provenance in a different place – Lasseter’s Gold in Alice Springs, and opening cut, Blackwing, in Cataract Gorge, Launceston, “after overhearing someone in a pub the night before say to his mate, ‘I’ve bought the world’s best pencil,’ at which point I had to chime in and say, ‘Excuse me, did you say…?’ ‘Yeah,’ he turned to me and said, ‘It’s a Palomino Blackwing 602.’ It sounded like poetry! But it’s more a love song than it is about a pencil of course. Speaking of poetry, there’s the centrepiece (and title track) of the album, complete with a snippet from TS Eliot’s The Waste Land, in both English and Romanian! “...that’s my dad doing the Romanian spoken word in there. We had a friend translate it into Romanian and dad learned how to recite his part from that, while Pieta’s dad Greg did the English version.”
The Two Of Them
Managing to corral the “funny little creatures” that are her songs into a new album, Lucie Thorne and long-time musical partner, drummer Hamish Stuart, talk to Michael Smith of the latest batch.
“S
ome of the songs we’d been playing in various guises for the last year or so I suppose,” singer, songwriter and pianist Lucie Thorne explains the genesis of her latest album, Everything Sings Tonight, “and a few of them were quite well formed before we went into the studio. One of them popped out a couple of days before we started recording, and then another couple really found their shape on the fly. Actually the single, The Rushing Dark, I’d had that text for ages and played around with a few different versions of it, and in between takes of something else, Hamish started playing this groove…” “And it was actually the most appropriate setting for that song that we’d come up with, really,” drummer Hamish Stuart finishes, “and it made it onto the record. It’s good that things can be so spontaneous.” Spending two days in a Berlin studio while they were touring Europe last year, the pair essentially completed the new album, but, as Thorne adds, “the beauty of recording in the modern day is that can go, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to just add a little sprinkle of (The Necks’) Chris Abrahams? Or a little sprinkle of guitar from Bo Ramsey?’ whilst keeping that focus of ‘this is the sound we make in
What: Everything Sings Tonight (Little Secret/Vitamin) When & Where: 22 Aug, The Bridge Hotel. Castlemaine; 23 Aug, Northcote Social Club
THE MUSIC 12TH AUGUST 2015 • 35
Industry
FEELIN’ KINDA SPORTY The fifth instalment of Presentation Night finds iconic statesmen Dave Graney and Dennis Cometti joining forces to extract meaning from two pursuits that lesser folk may deem frivolous. Steve Bell grabs the liniment and helps them limber up.
F
or a couple of years now the crew behind Presentation Night have been pairing together notable personalities from the fields of music and footy to lock horns and discuss how these disparate worlds interweave, in a quest to reach ultimate communion and unlock a few of life’s secrets along the way (naturally over a beer and a laugh). Having already hosted a horde of luminaries over the series to date - namely Paul Kelly, Robert Murphy, Tim Rogers, Matthew Richardson, Paul Dempsey, Cameron Ling, Urthboy and Jude Bolton, all abetted by regular host Francis Leach - this impending instalment fuses the way-out wisdom of the incomparable Dave Graney with the dulcet tones of commentary kingpin Dennis Cometti, a leftfield combination sure to take the concept to a whole new level altogether. The eversoulful and esoteric Graney - who’s sometimes referred to as ‘The Savage Sportsman’ among his many colourful monikers - was born and raised in Mount Gambier, where he loved music and football equally until an unfortunate incident diverted him away from the sporting realms. He experienced a major intersection of sport and art earlier this year when his track Feelin’ Kinda Sporty was the theme of Melbourne’s 2015 Reclink Community Cup - and the song was covered on the day by the great Paul Kelly himself - but it’s far from the first time that these worlds have collided in his life. “I grew up 300 miles from Melbourne and 300 miles from Adelaide and we used to get all of the football from each competition - the SANFL and the VFL,” he recalls. “I loved the Sturt Football Club who won premierships every year. South Australia when I was growing up had the feeling of an adventurous kind
They were two extremes in that one required a lot of dedication and one required none, just the address of the local nightclub!
36 • THE MUSIC • 12TH AUGUST 2015
of place with its politics and football, and the Sturt style of football was really great - Jack Oatey was the coach and they were the first side to have highly skilled handballing and foot passing and that kind of thing, they won about six premierships in a row. And then I barracked for St Kilda because my older brother Steve barracked for them; the oldest brother Philip barracked for Carlton because my dad barracked for them, but Steve came to Melbourne on a junior footy trip and saw Carl Ditterich play which was a bit of a pop phenomenon football moment. “We all played for the Mt Gambier Football Club which was in the Western Border Football League - there used to be about ten to 12 teams, but I think there’s six now. It was half-Victorian and half-South Australian, and anybody from that league had to come and play for Collingwood in the VFL. I played in an under-16 or under18 representative team that came for a country carnival in Victoria and one of my contemporaries in that team was Mark Yeates who played for Geelong. There’s photos of us in Collingwood Jumpers at Victoria Park, and I think we played a game at Punt Road Oval too. “I was picked up by the police for buying all the booze for the team when we were staying next to the Seaview Hotel on Fitzroy Street in St Kilda and driven home in shame. Then a few years later I was playing in a band at the Seaview Hotel, so there’s [the link between] music and football for me. I only recently realised that that was a pivotal moment for me - I probably would have played football a bit longer otherwise but I gave up after that.” Graney explains further that, back in the halcyon days when live music was still the country’s prime leisure activity, there was less of a distinction between the footy and music worlds. “In the ‘70s everybody loved pop music and rock’n’roll, it was everywhere,” he reflects. “Back then music wasn’t like the American thing where music was for nerdy types and football was for jocks, everybody loved it.” Cometti conversely spent his youth in Perth and, as well as being a handy footballer himself (he played for West Perth and even joined Footscray for a season before succumbing to injuries and media commitments), he actually began his career on the airwaves as a Top 40 disc jockey, so music was in his blood from an early age as well. “That was a long time ago now in the late-’60s, and I did that for about four or five years before I joined the ABC,” he explains in that voice. “But I stayed in touch with music, I still download a lot of stuff and potter around with it and make playlists - it’s an
exciting time if you like your music, although I guess radio’s gone a bit bland. They only play flashbacks nearly all the time these days with the odd new record, in those days they used to go searching for new ones - that was the name of the game, to find something new and exciting.” So he was clearly passionate about both music and footy growing up? “Yeah, it was an interesting combo,” Cometti smiles. “I was playing league footy at the same time I was a disc jockey actually, which was an odd mix, and I really enjoyed that - I really enjoyed both of them, although they were two extremes in that one required a lot of dedication and one required none, just the address of the local nightclub! But it was great stuff, probably just after the reign of radio at it’s very best but still in the era of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones - it was exciting radio then, and I always look at radio now and feel a bit sorry for how it’s evolved but it is what it is.” There’s even anecdotal evidence suggesting that Cometti prefers to watch footy at home with the sound down and music blaring, a trait he readily admits to. “Yeah, I do that,” he chuckles. “That’s not a knock on commentators, I just prefer to do that. The problem is that if you do listen to other commentators then you do pick up things they say and we all become
composites of each other. I watch a lot of footy, because most weeks I’ll do three games and I do like to watch during the week, so I find the best thing to do is put the fire on and put the music on and watch the footy - that’s probably my idea of heaven and relaxation.” And the commentator who’s renowned for dropping band and music references into his footy commentary as if it was the most natural fusion ever is firm in his belief that there’s a juncture out there where sport and art intersect. “I think in general there probably is, but certainly for me there was. I fell in love with music at about the same age that I fell in love with footy and I’ve known both longer than my parents, my wife, my kids - they’ve been with me as constant companions,” he laughs. “The other things that excited me was that not only did I love music but I was [also] intrigued with disc jockeys, particularly American disc jockeys. In those days in the mid-’60s when I was a kid there was no internet obviously so I used to send away for tapes and things of disc jockeys from America, from some of the big radio stations in LA and particularly a station called KHJ. That was basically the happening place in formatted radio at that time, and I fell in love with that side of it too so the disc jockeying was like another plank in that three-tiered structure I was building; footy, music and disc jockeying! I’d be giving detailed commentary to my opponent out on the
ground when he had the footy and I was chasing him, I’d be telling him exactly what was happening!” So even though these two great Australians come from seemingly entirely different worlds in almost every regard, come Presentation Night their worldviews and mannerisms should combine wonderfully. “I just met Dennis today and we’ve been getting on,” Graney tells. “We’re both kind of vintage professionals, and we’ve exchanged personas from a remote aspect deep within ourselves and we’ve been meshing quite well. And I guess Francis Leach will come along and ruin it.” And regarding what this magical meeting of minds will hopefully convey to lucky punters on the night, the erudite Graney has that all under control already. “I think we’ll just show them a way that a man can live in the 21st century,” he deadpans. “How he can negotiate his way through any situation that life throws up at him, and how with poise and balance and good command of words and manners he can baffle the world.”
When & Where: 16 Aug, Corner Hotel
THE MUSIC 12TH AUGUST 2015 • 37
OPINION Opinion
David Thrussell
Fragmented
Frequencies Other Music
R
idiculously prodigious, Daylesford resident David Thrussell keeps releasing incredible work. And if it’s not his own, he’ll even From The Other offer ridiculously obscure trainspotter nuggets via his Omni label, such as the jazz noir score for the 1971 Jean Seberg film Kill!, Side With Bob by Berto Pisano and Jacques Chaumont, or out of print or never been in print Ennio Morricone, such as his improvised experimental music Baker Fish ensemble Gruppo Di Improvisazione Nuova Consonanza’s A Quiet Place In The Country. While you might know him under his Snog moniker, it’s his darker electronic Black Lung where he’s been most active recently. Last year he released The Great Golden Goal on the German label Ant-Zen, the second half of the album demonstrating a certain structural freedom, and he’s pursued this approach more aggressively on this month’s Muzak From The Hive Mind. There’s something vaguely reminiscent of Tangerine Dream’s Phaedra, where they were just tooling around trying to work out how to use their instruments. For Thrussell though it’s a spirit of experimentation and a refusal to hemmed in by genres when it comes to structure something that in this day and age, where music seems to be 70% marketing and 30% actual sounds - is pretty much commercial suicide. That said, with modular synthesisers becoming the latest musical fetish object, maybe he’s not that crazy after all. And if you want further evidence of the death of music in this country, you’ll have to import this album from Germany as there’s no local distribution.
Wa ke The Dea d Punk And Hardcore With Sarah Petchell
I
Salad Days
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n Melbourne it’s MIFF time and in keeping with the grand tradition of screening docos with subject matter relevant to those of the punk or hardcore persuasion, this year features Salad Days, a doco that feels like it has been about ten years in the works. And I finally got to see it. It tells the story of the development of the hardcore scene in Washington DC between 1980 and 1990. It focuses around Dischord Records, Positive Force, the music and the politics. But for me it represented a journey. These bands - Minor Threat, Faith, Void, Fugazi, Jawbox, Rites Of Spring, Bad Brains - were the soundtrack to my entry into hardcore. They’re bands whose lyrics and ideologies have
Trailer Trash Lost River
helped me shape my own moral and ethical codes. It took me back to my first days going to shows and buying records, which introduced me to people who became friends I’ve kept to this very day. It made me remember the positive things about hardcore, the things that I fell in love with: the sense of community, the inclusion, the moral compass. If you read this column regularly, you’ll know there are times when I get disillusioned and disappointed in this scene, with this music, but sometimes it is small things that remind you why there is so much to admire about Ian MacKaye (a highlight is his rant about the crank calls he still gets from drunk people for a song he wrote in his teens), why the music was so great and so important, and also that it’s okay to be idealistic and keep the PMA.
OPINION Opinion
Dives Into Your
T
his edition of Trailer Trash Screens And is a tale of two Ryans, with a Idiot Boxes guest appearance by Straya’s own With Guy Davis Ben Mendelsohn. To begin with, let’s discuss Ryan Reynolds, a handsome, somewhat charismatic and not-untalented fellow who’s hit a bit of a rough patch in his acting career lately. In my recent review of his latest movie Self/Less, a tepid piece of silliness, I remarked that I was in the unusual position of feeling bad for a movie star who’s married to Blake Lively because a run of ill-suited projects or self-indulgent performances meant Reynolds’ potential was seemingly going unfulfilled. In Self/Less, for example, he gets an opportunity to show what a talented physical actor he is, showing both grace and authority in the scenes where he has to trade gunfire or body blows. (That’s about all that the movie has going for it, by the way. You can safely give it a miss.) And while only a few scenes from the upcoming superhero movie Deadpool, in which he plays a wisecracking assassin, have been made public, it looks like his propensity for improv has been given free rein. Not sure if that’s such a good thing, to be honest. With Reynolds, a little riffing goes a long way. Of course, if Deadpool scheduled for release next February - turns out be terrific, I’ll happily eat my words. All that said, I recently caught a screening of the indie drama Mississippi Grind at this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival, and while I was impressed with almost every aspect of this road movie that follows a couple of sad-sack gamblers as they fumble their way along the highways and back roads of America en route to a high-stakes poker game in New Orleans, I came away decidedly happy that someone had finally found a way to effectively use Reynolds. As the “leprechaun” who insinuates his way into the life of Mendelsohn’s born-tolose Gerry, bringing him some much-needed confidence and good luck (but maybe also playing him for a sucker), he’s thoroughly charming and utterly watchable, bringing wry, sly humour that lights up the proceedings but that’s also admirably restrained. He handles the more dramatic moments with aplomb as well. And he’s a good match with Mendelsohn; the two actors’ energies distinctive and different but complementary.
Old mate Mendo is having quite the moment right now (he’s excellent in Slow West, a quirky western out now on home video), and to be honest he’s the best thing in the debut directorial effort from that other Ryan - Gosling, that is. Lost River is a gorgeous, hypnotic but not 100 per cent coherent noir-ish fairy tale set in a slowly dying city plagued by violence, intimidation and inequality, and Mendelsohn is riveting as the sleazy, predatory banker/pimp feeding off the misery. (He gets to sing a Nick Cave song and do a slinky interpretative dance, so it’s easy to see why he took the role.) Gosling has a good eye but his visual and tonal approach seem lifted wholesale from artists - Lynch, Malick, Refn - who can make their style mean something. With Lost River, it’s all surface. But it’s a really beautiful surface, so give it a whirl.
THE MUSIC 12TH AUGUST 2015 • 39
Album / Album/EP Reviews
Dead Letter Circus Aesthesis UNFD
★★★★
eek W e h T f O m u b Al
It’s a very fine line for records that attempt to hold their integral sound and bridge into mass popular appeal, but stepping up for their third studio album, Brisbane’s Dead Letter Circus have built on their previous two records with a fresh approach of soaring soundscapes in monumental stadium-esque rock style that still manages to keep its head within the progressive roots of the band. The expansive sound of Aethesis sees the band’s use of heavy dynamic shifting paired up with tracks bolstered with uplifting pop melodies, brash guitar riffs and a soaring vocal delivery from Kim Benzie that manages to achieve a perfect cohesion. Openers In Plain Sight and While You Wait take on grandeur through a charging harmony and lofty vocal layers that in true Dead Letter Circus style feels unmistakably aggressive without wandering down a path of token metal riffs and blasting drum beats. Conversely, the slowstepping beat introduction of Silence creates a devastating effect as the meteoric rise of Clint Vincent’s dazzling guitar work crashes into a choral bridge of excellence, all with the clean, crisp production that emphasises the frantic energy that the band excel at on stage. Aethesis is a record that is fantastic on the first listen and will grab full attention with most tracks, but the depth of the band’s intricate nature of instrumental flow and absorbing lyrics will leave you even more hooked with each new listen. Mark Beresford
Jess Ribeiro
Bullet For My Valentine
Kill It Yourself Barely Dressed/Remote Control
Venom
★★★★ Soulful, ominous, edgy and ethereal all rolled into one, Jess Ribeiro’s new release unravels personal stories that show how much she’s grown as an artist. Her soothing vocals shine through, evoking an emotional connection to every track. Album namesake Kill It Yourself combines desolate lyrics that contrast with angelic vocals, gentle instrumentation and ambience removing the song’s harsh meaning about our disconnection from how society prepares its food. Changing up the mix, Rivers On Fire adds another dimension by including saxophone and heavy guitar riffs, which unleash the roughness of the track together with repetition of the song’s title and slurred words within. Unfamiliar Ground recalls a dishevelled love story that is accompanied by minimal percussion and guitar, which leaves the lyrics to resonate 40 • THE MUSIC • 12TH AUGUST 2015
Sony
★★★½
wildly within. Hurry Back To Love is a standout, as Ribeiro’s vocal dynamic shifts so dramatically, layered with a grungy guitar and cymbals. If You Were A Kelpie goes back to her country roots and rounds out the album’s natural happy-go-lucky feel. Ribeiro collaborated with Mick Harvey on Kill It Yourself to produce an album that incorporates elements of subtle and psychedelic rock, ambience, folk and alternative country. An enlightening storytelling experience you’ll want to cherish forever Maria Coiro
After six months of writing, Bullet For My Valentine have produced their most aggressive and complex studio album, their fifth, reuniting with producer Colin Richardson and co-producer Carl Bown, who worked on their previous albums 2005’s The Poison and 2008’s Scream Aim Fire. The sound is heavier than their previous work, with rapid drumming from Michael Thomas, while Michael Paget’s guitar riffs are intense and Matt Tucks belts out complex, aggressive lyrics. No Way Out is a look into Tucks mind, áll riffs and intense lyrics, but he can’t leave the past behind him. Army Of Noise has some phenomenal riffing between Tuck and Paget while screams in The Harder The Heart (The Harder It Breaks) are extraordinary. The guys’ skills are incredible, especially in the opening of Hell
Or High Water and Broken. You Want A Battle? (Here’s A War) is a stand-out track; a balance of heavy and mellow sounds with powerful lyrics delivered by Tuck. Venom is a more mellow song that shows their softer side, the lyrics emotional, giving off a gloomy sound. The final track, Pariah has a strong, rapid guitar and drumbeat, giving off an overpowering energy, an impressive end to the album. The album feels like Bullet has taken a step back rather than forward, revisiting the built-up pain from their beginnings instead of thinking about the future. The sound may be heavier and more intense, but the concept behind the lyrics has let them down. Aneta Grulichova
EP Reviews Album/EP Reviews
Sweet Baboo The Boombox Ballads Moshi Moshi/[PIAS] Australia
Hugo Race & The True Spirit The Spirit
The Basics
Quarter Street
The Age Of Entitlement
Quarter Street Hope Street Recordings
Rough Velvet/MGM
The Three Basics
★★★
★★★
★★★★
★★★★
Sweet Baboo’s latest suggests comparison to any number of mellow fellows currently doing the rounds with an acoustic guitar. Unashamedly wearing his heart on his sleeve, the lead single Sometimes offers straightforward love song balladry that surprises with strange woozy, almost orchestral, interludes. As the album rolls itself out, Sweet Baboo allows his eccentricity to shine, matching slightly oddball lyrics with ambitious Beatlesesque arrangements that could have been dreamt up by George Martin. While this comes together beautifully on whimsical cuts like Walking In The Rain and You Got Me Time Keeping, overall Sweet Baboo leans towards the saccharine and impossibly twee.
If there’s a dark, deserted laneway in some cold, rainy city that needs a soundtrack, Hugo Race & The True Spirit have it covered with The Spirit - a bluesy, brooding collection of songs by a talented singersongwriter with three decades of musical prowess behind him. Hugo Race and his band stick to their guns and deliver their sound with gusto. It’s a little onedimensional, Race’s whispering voice never really challenged, but he’s certainly not the first singer with such an approach to make it work. The Spirit is sure to please existing fans, but perhaps not win too many new ones.
The album title’s straight from Joe Hockey but don’t be put off for The Basics have crafted one of 2015’s best Aussie releases. Setting aside Gotye, Wally de Backer again teams up with Kris Schroeder and Tim Heath to deliver an awesome slice of ‘60s pop rock. Against the sunny melodies, though, this album seethes with anger at the state of Australian life and politics, as shown by rocking rev-ups like Ashleigh Wakes and Time Poor. Highlight Tunomba Saidia even adds African flavours while raging against offshore detention. There’s big choruses aplenty, but it’s the message that lingers.
Analog sounds are still on the upswing, and have been for the past decade. The Bamboos, Saskwatch, The Cat Empire and of course the Melbourne Ska Orchestra are all examples of the exciting things happening down in Melbourne’s thriving scene. Add to that frothing pile Quarter Street, Latin American imports who bring real heft and a gritty machismo to an otherwise sunny sort of genre. Right from the first punchy bass/piano riff their debut self-titled effort is a record with a hard edge to it, piston-like rhythms propelling the solemn brass section forward. Latin music bursts at the seams with life, and this is no exception; it’s just a little angrier than most.
Dylan Stewart
Paul Barbieri
Guido Farnell
Matt MacMaster
More Reviews Online Kucka Unconditional
theMusic.com.au/music/album-reviews Voltaire Twins Milky Waves
Deaf Wish Pain
Golden Rules Golden Ticket
THE MUSIC 12TH AUGUST 2015 • 41
Album / Album/EP Reviews
The Waifs
Slime
Soulfly
Katie Wighton
Beautiful You
Company
Archangel
Oh Dark Hours
Jarrah Records/MGM
Domino/EMI
Nuclear Blast/Caroline
Independent
★★
★★★★
★★★★
★★★½
The Waifs’ seventh studio album isn’t so far removed from material they played some years back. However the shift is towards a more sedate, almost predictable model of twangish storytelling. Don’t go hunting for any picturesque metaphors in Dark Highway, a perfunctory rumination from Josh Cunningham, broken down in the middle of nowhere. When Vicki Thorn takes the mic on February, train lines furrow through the earth connecting Albany to Dollywood and the lack of latter-day appreciation from the National Youth Radio Network becomes all the more apparent. Their audience has moved on, but so have The Waifs. However, Beautiful You is perhaps too lacking in urgency for its own good.
Producer and multiinstrumentalist Will Archer launches his career as a recording artist by setting our minds adrift across this feather soft collection of hazy, out of focus musical daydreams. Company is a slow burning album that works deep late night moods, woozy disorientating abstraction and light melodies that float across blue skies like helium-filled balloons to brilliant effect. This album billows gently and often it’s just a gently rocking groove that holds down many of these tunes to the spot. Guest vocalists like Selah Sue conjure exquisitely melancholy future pop vibes on At Sea Again and the current single Hot Dog.
Age isn’t mellowing metallic mainstay Max Cavalera, nor stifling his prolific nature. Soulfly’s tenth album channels thrash and death metal’s primal forebears, but unlike some contemporaries Cavalera has ears to the ground regarding current extreme music too. Tribal elements are downplayed somewhat, but Middle Eastern-esque riffs inject a sense of exoticism. Hefty grooves and flickers of accessibility (opener We Sold Our Souls To Metal) remain. Their extensive previous guest list invites new names to the party; King Parrot’s Youngy screeches on Live Life Hard!; Todd Jones (Nails) enhances Sodomites’ caustic delivery. The frontman’s offspring also help accentuate another bruising installment.
Stepping aside from her band All Our Exes Live In Texas, Katie Wighton has woven together an EP of haunting harmonies and vivid lyrical imagery that showcases a rich talent. With a driving force of chamber strings and piano, and stylised with dream-pop melody, oh-dark-hours delicately sways between a melancholy and buoyant stir that makes tracks like All I Am and Love You More a joy to listen to. While the scattering drums and indie jangles of Little Dove step aside from the rest, its infectiousness proves that Wighton will be with us for a long time to come.
Guido Farnell
Brendan Crabb
Mac McNaughton
More Reviews Online Caulfield Outcast
42 • THE MUSIC • 12TH AUGUST 2015
Mark Beresford
theMusic.com.au/music/album-reviews The Demon Parade Stone Circles
We Lost The Sea Departure Songs
Tommy Emmanuel It’s Never Too Late
THE MUSIC 12TH AUGUST 2015 • 43
Live Reviews
Rubber Soul Revolver: Jordie Lane, Marlon Williams, Rubber Soul, Husky Gawenda, Fergus Linacre Hamer Hall 4 Aug
Husky Gawenda and Fergus Linacre @ Hamer Hall. Pic: Jay Hynes
Marlon Williams @ Hamer Hall. Pic: Jay Hynes
Jordie Lane @ Hamer Hall. Pic: Jay Hynes
44 • THE MUSIC • 12TH AUGUST 2015
Jordie Lane @ Hamer Hall. Pic: Jay Hynes
As expected, it’s an older crowd that mills about Hamer Hall’s multi-storey foyers pre-show and there are many authentic, vintage Beatles tees on bods. Handing out one-sheeter programmes with track listings and cast list is a smashing idea. But there’s an unfortunate typo whereby Michelle erroneously becomes the French boy’s name, Michel. Opening track Drive My Car features all four singers - Marlon Williams, Jordie Lane, Husky Gawenda and Fergus Linacre and the harmonies are flawless. All musicians assembled onstage also prove their worth quicksticks. Introducing each vocalist after they’ve led a song is unusual and probably a tad confusing at first for those who are unfamiliar with tonight’s roll call. Suitably psychedelic imagery graces the large screen behind the band. Six rotating circular screens on tall stands, which are distributed evenly upstage in front of this screen, feature complementary images. Asking whether there’s a Michelle (or Michel, perhaps?) in the audience proves a fairly safe bet and Williams comes so close to an absolutely magical rendition of this song (there’s just the one harsh note). (But then he completely nails Eleanor Rigby in the Revolver half.) All mums (except Mrs Williams) are in the house according to separate claims from Lane, Gawenda and Linacre. In My Life is touchingly dedicated to the recently deceased Cilla Black. Rubber Soul closer Run For Your Life is a standout as fronted by Linacre. For those who didn’t realise the Prahran nightclub was named after a Beatles album, it’s now
time for the Revolver half. We’re encouraged to sing along during Yellow Submarine and Williams hoons up and down one of the stalls aisles to rev us up. Lane’s vocals eerily channel Sir Paul McCartney during Good Day Sunshine, particularly his upper register. Williams uses a favourite new term, “guitarmony”, when introducing And Your Bird Can Sing and the playing here is most awesome. There’s an animated banana among the swirling concoction of meds in Doctor Robert’s visuals, but we’re pretty
It’s impossible not to compare this evening’s vocal talents. sure the song’s subject wasn’t prescribing natural serotonin. The brass stabs during Got To Get You Into My Life make it difficult to remain seated and whatever instrument supplies those crazy seagull sounds during this album’s closer Tomorrow Never Knows deserves a mention. Our encore comprises the double A-side we’re informed was released on the same day as Rubber Soul: We Can Work It Out/ Day Tripper. The crowd is (finally) on their feet for Day Tripper then we score the added bonus of I Saw Her Standing There, during which Lane comes in a bar early with, “Well we danced...”. Paul Gray is an outstanding MD and it’s impossible not to compare this evening’s vocal talents. Tonight’s winner? Williams. Not only because of that voice, but also the enthusiastic dance moves. Plus one dad’s verdict? “Marvellous.” Bryget Chrisfield
John Cale Hamer Hall 9 Aug With the inaugural Supersense festival coming to a close, its crown jewel awaits. In a specially commissioned performance, underground icon John Cale has come together with Lisa Gerrard (Dead Can Dance) and Laurel Halo to reinterpret material from The Velvet Underground and solo works.
[Lisa Gerrard’s] voice simply inspires awe.
From the moment we walk into the monolithic Hamer Hall it is clear that this performance will be special (as advertised) and from the first few notes it’s apparent that this is no casual Sunday evening; things are going to get a little intense. The first thing to note is that the production values attached to this show are world class. The acoustics are wonderful, every note and nuance is audible and you can easily get lost in sound. While Cale is the clear leader, all musicians involved are wildly talented and a marvel to watch. With each track, a different configuration is often presented and Cale himself frequently switches from synth to violin to guitar. The songs on show here are completely different to their original manifestations, to the point where they’re unrecognisable. The Velvet Underground staple I’m Waiting For The Man feels like a warped trip-hop remix of the original, while even recent(ish) Cale material such as Gravel Drive share little with their original source material.
Laurel Halo is one of the few members present onstage throughout the entire performance and it feels like her influence on the music is quite evident, with every track having that modern, high tech, electronica tinge on top. This at no point feels overbearing. Lisa Gerrard only makes two appearances throughout the evening (singing three songs) but, without a doubt, leaves a mark. Her voice simply inspires awe, as highlighted during the final moments of Cale’s set when she ventures into an Easternflavoured improvisation over a backdrop of horns, strings and synths. Other highlights include Venus In Furs, during which with Cale’s delivery is haunting and unsettling. For the same reasons, the reinterpretation of Paris 1919 retains the quirkiness of the original while being presented like a space opera. This two-hour performance ends with a well-deserved standing ovation. Tonight’s performance is something special; somewhat of a gamble that definitely pays off and will no doubt be talked about for some time to come.
across at her dad while he’s performing, which is touching. Eva gets kicked off stage before they board the Football Train. There’s political banter and plus one offers, “Oh, yeah. He’s very left. Very!” Peter Maslen’s economical drumming style conjures booming cymbal crashes from the smallest move of the wrist. Irish Breakfast showcases Seymour’s extraordinary songwriting ability and masterful lyricism - he’s a definite contender for Australia’s answer to Springsteen. When The River Runs Dry transports us back to Monash Uni gigs of yonder year. Master Of Spin captivates, but Throw Your Arms Around Me is everything. Seymour’s lyrics are so ‘Strayan: “Shark attack on Tuesday/They shut the beaches down.” It’s blokey music with a social conscience. Guitarist Cameron McKenzie and bass player John Favaro round out the talent assembled onstage and when they all lock into the groove it’s unbridled exhilaration. Westgate (which features recurring “When the bridge falls down, ” lyrics) could be a companion piece to When The River Runs Dry and closes the first half.
Bradley Armstrong
Mark Seymour & The Undertow National Theatre 14 Aug National Theatre’s foyer music is very era-specific, carefully selected to appeal to tonight’s demographic. The band’s custom bass drumhead reads “The Undertow” in typewriter font. Plus one who’s a mad Mark Seymour fan (admitting she went to Bruce Springsteen in order to see the re-formed Hunters & Collecters support slot) is disappointed he’s chosen a burgundy shirt instead of a black one this evening. Seymour’s daughter Eva sings backing vocals and looks proudly
It’s blokey music with a social conscience.
After a ten-minute intermission that stresses out the bar staff, we head back to our seats. As if he heard my mate’s earlier gripe, Seymour returns to the stage sporting a black shirt. Punters call out, “Carn the Dogs!” then, “Carn the Pies!” in between songs - huh? Seymour has an endearing habit of pulling his head away from the mic rapidly like a muppet falling backwards. A couple decide to dance in the
LIVE REVIEW
Live Reviews
far aisle and refuse to return to their seats upon an usher’s request, which is pleasing to see. Say Goodbye is a clear highlight with its dirty rhythms and irate accusation: “You don’t make me feel like I’m a woman anymore!” An encore is absolutely demanded after which Seymour fares us well for now with a, “Love you, St Kilda”. And if the signing line in the foyer is anything to go by, Seymour’s legendary status is secure. Bryget Chrisfield
Vallis Alps, Fortunes, Downtown DJs Shebeen Bandroom 7 Aug
There’s barely anyone in the room when Downtown DJs’ set begins, but they don’t care and just play anyway. The duo starts with one working the decks and the other just lingering behind chatting to the sound engineer. At first it’s unclear if they’re a duo or if the one playing just has an on-stage posse, but around midway they swap and get into some bassheavy remixes, including one of Two Bodies by Flight Facilities feat. Emma Louise that gets the few of us there dancing - even the bar staff join in, tea towels and all. The bass drops again when electro-soul two-piece Fortunes take to the stage. We’re all blown away by Conor McCabe’s vocals - he essentially sounds like what Guy Sebastian thinks he sounds like and then some. “The next song’s about sharing a joint with a person you like and you touch their finger just a little bit... it’s a good moment, ” McCabe explains before pointing out that it’s a sold-out gig and we should all move forward. Next up, it’s Vallis Alps. The third duo of the night begins with David Ansari on the decks playing a beautiful synth-meets-piano tune before, mid-way through,
THE MUSIC 12TH AUGUST 2015 • 45
E REVIEWS Live Reviews
singer Parissa Tosif comes out and begins her angelic vocal melodies, clashing perfectly against the strong beats as they begin with Reprieve. Crowd members shout out their love
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Tosif comes out and begins her angelic vocal melodies. and support, but although everyone’s cheering and clearly into it, there isn’t much movement. All that goes out the window when they play bassheavy track Oh!. At this point it becomes very clear to those of us in the crowd who saw them support Of Monsters And Men a few weeks before that Vallis Alps haven’t changed their setlist in two weeks - especially when it’s time for their cover of Bon Iver’s Blood Bank. (Quite a lot of people yell out “Skinny Love!” at this point, putting two and two together about who Bon Iver is). “Thanks so much again for coming tonight. You guys are incredible, ” Tosif tells us. “We wrote this EP about two years ago in a cabin in Seattle and we never thought we’d put on our own headline show. So this is amazing for us, thank you, ” and they play Thru, prompting a huge applause before finishing on Young. Taylor Yates
Hope Drone, We Lost The Sea, Fourteen Nights At Sea, Old Love The Old Bar 8 Aug The Old Bar is an odd choice of venue for post-rock and atmospheric metal. The 46 • THE MUSIC • 12TH AUGUST 2015
wandering ambience of three of the evening’s four bands is best heard in wide open spaces, but tonight it’s in a cramped, narrow room. That’s not a problem for Old Love, the technical hardcore fivepiece that kick off the evening’s festivities. Space is at a premium, so Old Love’s vocalist spends the set roaming the front of the room, mouth agape and vocal cords pushed to the limit with every screamed syllable. After only 15 minutes, they’re done, ending as abruptly as they begin. Tonight’s bill is a sandwich of post-rock between two slices of brutality, and We Lost The Sea provide the first filling. The Sydney outfit start late and open with the spoken samples of Challenger Part 1 - Flight, from their justreleased album Departure Songs. Soon enough, the room is awash
detriment of their set, the noise doesn’t die down. Fourteen Nights At Sea don’t set out to break the post-rock mould but instead to perfect it, and they do it better than almost anyone in the country. On record they’re pleasant and moving, but in person they’re a force of nature, with moody melodies that envelope the entire space and evoke the most poignant feeling of loneliness, even in a crowded room. It’s hard to focus on their quieter segments owing to the ambient noise but in their louder moments, Fourteen Nights At Sea simultaneously channel the devastation of loss and the ecstasy of life. On their new record, Cloak Of Ash, Hope Drone sound huge, yet their scope is marred, buried beneath tinny production. In the flesh however, even in that tiny
We Lost the Sea @ The Old Bar. Pic: Joshua Braybrook
in sprawling waves of cascading guitars and crushing drums. Yet after only half an hour it’s over and curious in its absence from their set is A Gallant Gentleman, the lead single from Departure Songs and easily one of the most emotionally rousing post-rock songs of the last few years. When an amazing band travels interstate and opts for their more meandering material to the exclusion of their best work, it’s hard not to feel disappointed. The Old Bar is awash in chatter when Fourteen Nights At Sea take the stage and, to the
room at The Old Bar, Hope Drone are a cataclysm. Everything from the blast beats to the droning atmospheres to the high-end squeals of the tremolo-picked guitars – all strikes with the weight of a meteor. The chasms of drone on The Chords That Thrum Beneath The Earth are ever wider, while the unbridled fury of The World Inherited hits with the fury of a thousand suns. After tonight, it’s safe to say that in Hope Drone, we’ve found one of Australia’s best metal bands. Matthew Tomich
THE MUSIC 12TH AUGUST 2015 • 47
ARTS REVIEWS Arts Reviews
HTRK & Chunky Move @ Supersense
Girlhood
Imagine an arts-music festival, and then transport it to the refined environs of the Arts Centre. Add in a programme of avant-garde luminaries and you have a very ‘adult’ weekend of envelopepushing indulgence. No mosh, no sniffer dogs and nary a radiofriendly unit-shifter in earshot. That said, Supersense, perhaps more than any other ‘festival’ we’ve attended, challenged the validity of its own form, not simply because of the necessarily vignette nature of most of the performances or even the fact that, as punters, we’re not always fully invested in the individual acts (because we have the ‘wander off’ option), but rather because curator Sophia Brous challenged herself and us by introducing elements of ritual, risk and ambiguity. Kuda Lumping, the tranceinducing East Javanese ritual that began proceedings immediately posed the question: is this appropriate? Have we, as an ostensibly white, middle-class audience, co-opted genuine tribal
WED 12TH AUG
7.00PM
ELVIS: THAT’S THE WAY IT IS 48 • THE MUSIC • 12TH AUGUST 2015
Paul Ransom
Girlhood
focusing on 16-year-old Mariame (Karidja Touré), who lives on the outskirts of Paris faced with technical school or a cleaning job after having to repeat Troisieme, disqualifying her from high school. Director Céline Sciamma presents Mariame’s defiance against what she views as the banal, disempowering existence of following rules. Marieme strikes out on her own, changes her name to Victory and joins a ratpack of vivacious, rule-breaking teenage girls who wear denim and black leather exclusively. There are various phases of Mariame that we see: a do-gooder who plays gridiron; a rebel in a sisterhood; then she inevitably starts screwing up and going down more serious roads. In each section, Mariame/Victory changes her look, her identity and way of being until she finds the right fit. This film shows the real Paris, the Paris with grit, the multicultural Paris, the city where not everything looks perfect. Sarah Barratt
Film In cinemas 13 Aug
★★★★½ Girlhood, otherwise known as Bande De Filles, is a raw drama
FRI 14TH AUG 7.30PM
MAGIC MIKE
MIKE XXL
★★★★
similarly expansionary. Japanese artist Makino Takashi’s surreal and fluttering Phantom Nebula was 50 minutes of heavily textured abstraction, a kind of miasma in 3D. Likewise, San Fran’s Paul Clipson piled on the opacity and focus effects in his shapeshifting filmic meditation Hypnosis Display. That Supersense culminated with The Velvet Underground’s violinist John Cale teaming up with Dead Can Dance’s Lisa Gerrard and electro innovator Laurel Halo was most definitely apt. By refusing pretty and resisting the temptation to trawl through the first two VU albums, Cale’s deliberate embrace of slowness, noise and abrasion was both jarring and utterly compelling. At times spiritual, at others anarchic, Supersense defied neat encapsulation, except to say, perhaps rather crudely, that it was a top-shelf weekend of high-quality mind expansion.
MAGIC
Arts Centre (finished)
VEGAS
Festival
ceremony as a peccadillo of exotic amusement? Awkward and confronting though the spectacle sometimes was, was its inclusion in Supersense pivotal in creating the context for a process of examining the very notion of art and entertainment? When HTRK’s Jonnine Standish ended her band’s ‘duet’ with contemporary dance flag bearers Chunky Move by saying, “In case you’re wondering what the fuck you’ve just seen...” the point was further underscored. However, there was also plenty to enjoy. Tao Dance Theater’s gorgeously minimal 4 and 5 were works of simple beauty. Restrained, refined and sinuous, Tao Ye’s choreographic vision is hypnotic, containing a quiet fluidity that transcends the usual Chinese penchant for technical perfection and brushes up against the sexual and the sublime. Juxtapose this with avant-punk provocateur Lydia Lunch, whose 40 minutes on stage was an ebullient, sharp-edged wigout, and German electro pioneer Manuel Göttsching, whose late night ‘greatest hits’ set was a feast of blissful space-trance, and you have something of the weekend’s breadth. The film elements were
VIVA LAS
Supersense
SUN 16TH AUG
7PM
GONE WITH
THE WIND
OPINION Opinion Indie
Howzat!
Local Music By Jeff Jenkins
but he is. People always underestimate him.” And anyone who outsmarts Rupert Murdoch is a formidable businessman.
Gud Only Knows
Back On Board
There’s only one true mogul in Australian music, the man Deborah Conway dubbed “God-inski”. Michael Gudinski could do a cracking autobiography, but he’s not interested, saying simply: “What goes on the road should stay on the road.” The next best thing is Stuart Coupe’s excellent new book, Gudinski, The Godfather Of Australian Rock ‘N’ Roll. Stuart has a unique insight, having toured with Gudinski as a journalist and worked with Mushroom when he was managing Paul Kelly, and he also understands the record business, running his own label, Laughing Outlaw Records. Gudinski didn’t want this book to be written, but it’s no hatchet job. It doesn’t gloss over Michael’s misfires, but it also depicts a streetwise and savvy music man. Frontier’s Michael Harrison once asked Gudinski why he didn’t have an email inbox. “Why would I want an inbox?” his boss replied. “I want to keep my mind free to think.” Harrison adds that Gudinski “doesn’t come across as the smartest guy in the room,
The Badloves get just a passing mention in the Gudinski book, but they were a big part of his empire in the ‘90s. He booked ‘em, published their songs, released their records and managed them. They had a smash hit, The Weight, with another Mushroom act, Jimmy Barnes, and their debut album, Get On Board, went double platinum. When other bands were wearing shorts, they were “the brown corduroy boys”. The Badloves were always beautifully timeless, and it’s great to have them back. They’re playing at Memo Music Hall Friday.
HELLO HALOES Stuart Coupe documents Gudinski’s dream - having a US #1. A dream that remains unfulfilled. It could have been Split Enz’s I Got You, but management and label dramas in the US saw the song stall, inexplicably, at #53. The Ice Haloes have now done an a cappella cover of I Got You on their debut EP, Cover
Stuart Coupe
Stories, produced by Kavisha Mazella. They’re playing at The Boite Saturday.
Nick Of Time Nick Batterham has released four solo albums in less than five years, and he launches his latest, Self Inflicted, No Sympathy, at Wesley Anne Saturday.
Hot Line “I cried and turned up the radio, so no one would hear I was down” - The Badloves, Lost.
THE MUSIC 12TH AUGUST 2015 • 49
The Guide
Wed 12
The BellRays
Shol + Junki + Dry Hopped: 303, Northcote The Burning Roaches + Going Swimming + Pale Trip + The Sleepless: Bar Open, Fitzroy Bad//Dreems: 24 Oct Northcote Social Club
The Music Presents The BellRays: 12 Aug Barwon Club Geelong; 13 Aug Karova Lounge Ballarat; 15 Aug Ding Dong Lounge ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead: 13 Aug Corner Hotel Presentation Night: 16 Aug Corner Hotel
The BellRays + Dallas Frasca + The Dukes of Deliciousness: Barwon Club, South Geelong Curious Tales with Various DJs: Bimbo Deluxe, Fitzroy Trivia with Max Factoid: Boney, Melbourne Muddy’s Blues Roulette with Various Artists: Catfish, Fitzroy Trivia: Charles Weston Hotel, Brunswick Tequila Mockingbyrd + Shewolf + Wild Violet: Cherry Bar, Melbourne
Gig Of The Week
Oh Mercy: 22 Aug Howler
Dave Hughes: Comic’s Lounge, North Melbourne
Timberwolf: 22 Aug Northcote Social Club
Dizzy’s Big Band + Peter Hearne: Dizzy’s Jazz Club, Burnley
Grenadiers: 28 Aug Ding Dong Lounge
Mrs Smith’s Trivia: Edinburgh Castle Hotel (8pm), Brunswick
Even The BellRays themselves admit that no matter how good you reckon their recorded stuff is, it’s in the live arena where they really shine. Catch them this Wednesday, Barwon Club, Geelong; Thursday, Karova Lounge, Ballarat; Saturday, Ding Dong Lounge.
Beginners’ Class with Melbourne Ukulele Kollective: Edinburgh Castle Hotel (6pm), Brunswick
Baby Blue: The Curtin (Front Bar), Carlton
The Cactus Channel: 11 Sep Shebeen Bandroom; 12 Sep Barwon Club Geelong An Evening With Kevin Smith: 21 Sep Palais Theatre
Open Mic Night: Eltham Hotel, Eltham
The Phoenix Foundation: 22 Oct Max Watt’s
Uncle Bobby + Allysha Joy + Barcelos: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy
Bad//Dreems: 24 Oct Northcote Social Club
Disasters + Cordell + Headlopper
Mumford & Sons: 12 Nov Sidney Myer Music Bowl
Zoe K + Phoebe Daicos: The Drunken Poet, West Melbourne Aldous Harding + Palm Springs: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood Rumble in the Jungle with Joey Elbows: The Luwow, Fitzroy
Joshua Seymour
Mullum Music Festival: 19 – 22 Nov Mullumbimby
Soul in the Basement feat. Mayfield: Cherry Bar, Melbourne Next feat. To The Airship + Caution: Thieves + Scourge: Colonial Hotel, Melbourne
Going Swimming
New Melbourne Jangle + Flying Saucer Terror + Billy Exton: The Old Bar, Fitzroy The Creeping Bam + Facades + Dozeys: The Public Bar, Melbourne
Mew: 3 Dec Max Watt’s
Armour Group + Gaud + J + Trapdoor DJs: The Tote (Band Room), Collingwood
Bluesfest: 24 – 28 Mar, Byron Bay
Wild Fellas: The Wilde, Fitzroy
Rope Hope Melbourne-based alt-countryAmericana singer-songwriter Joshua Seymour launches his debut album, Rope Tied Hope, Friday at Spotted Mallard and Sunday at Barwon Club, Geelong.
Canary + Greg Walker & Machine Translations + Nicola Watson: The Workers Club, Fitzroy Open Mic Night: Whole Lotta Love, Brunswick East Open Mic Night with Alfi Rocker: Yacht Club Hotel, Williamstown
Thu 13
Open Mic Night: Mr Boogie Man Bar, Abbotsford Miles O’Neil + John Singer: Retreat Hotel, Brunswick
50 • THE MUSIC • 12TH AUGUST 2015
Kickstart your weekend a little early with The Burning Roaches at Bar Open this Wednesday, warmed up by Going Swimming, Pale Trip and The Sleepless. Looseness is encouraged.
Open Mic Night: Balaclava Hotel, Balaclava The Black Dove Front + The Safety Word + Starr Gunn + Devilmonkey: Bar Open, Fitzroy
+ The Archaic: Grace Darling Hotel (Basement), Collingwood
Mid Week Drinks
King Parrot + Harlott + Nemesium: Barwon Club, South Geelong Winter Sets with Casey Bennetto + Jacqueline Gawler: Bella Union, Carlton South
Jack Earle Big Band: Spotted Mallard, Brunswick
Club Catty feat. Cabbages & Kings + New Savages + The Willie Wagtails + The Button Collective: Catfish, Fitzroy
A Basket Of Mammoths + Space Junk + Hobo Magic: The Bendigo, Collingwood
Citrus Jam: Charles Weston Hotel (Front Bar), Brunswick
Dave Hughes: Comic’s Lounge, North Melbourne ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead + Solkyri + The Red Paintings: Corner Hotel, Richmond The Gumbo Club feat. The Blues Bash AllStar Band: Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne New Impromptu Quartet + Alexander Nettelbeck: Dizzy’s Jazz Club, Burnley The BellRays + Dallas Frasca + Junipers: Karova Lounge, Ballarat
The Guide
The Workers Club, Fitzroy Anna’s Go-Go Academy: Victoria Hotel, Brunswick Peny Bohan: Wesley Anne (Front Bar), Northcote Autumn Mary + Bright Light Empire + Grace King: Whole Lotta Love, Brunswick East Lilith Lane
Tingy Celestino: Yacht Club Hotel, Williamstown
Northside/Southside
Greenthief + Borrachero + Olmeg: Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy
Fresh from a solo tour of Northern Island and the vinyl release of her Pilgrim album through French label Beast, this August Lilith Lane is playing Thursdays in the Lyrebird Lounge and Sundays at Spotted Mallard.
Sean McMahon & The Moon Men: Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford
Lilith Lane: Lyrebird Lounge, Ripponlea Chapter Ray: Mr Boogie Man Bar, Abbotsford DJ Barry Maxwell + Mike Elrington + Shake Shack Boogie Band: Musicland, Fawkner The Vendettas + The Black Aces + Slim Belly Brown: Retreat Hotel, Brunswick Diana Radar + Maricopa Wells + The Punching Ponies + Triumph Over Logic: Reverence Hotel (Front Bar), Footscray Pink Harvest + Spiral Arm + Pentacoastal: Shebeen Bandroom, Melbourne Zac Saber & Friends: Sooki Lounge, Belgrave
DJ Belinda: Commercial Hotel, South Morang Chelsea Grin + Boris The Blade + Graves + Sentinel + Driven To The Verge: Corner Hotel, Richmond
Captain Spaulding: Customs House Hotel, Williamstown
La Danse Macabre with Brunswick Massive: Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy
Gold Class
Fri 14 J Jetrin: 170 Russell, Melbourne 1891 + Nelson & The Gaslighters + Pat McKenna + Lorikeet: 303, Northcote Eddie Boyd & The Phatapillars: Baha Tacos, Rye The Citradels + Breve + Luna Ghost + The Dead Heir: Bar Open, Fitzroy Lounge Room Disco: Bella Union, Carlton South Casey & Adam: Berwick Inn Hotel (Club Lounge), Berwick Johnny Cash Tribute Show: Big Huey’s Diner, South Melbourne Levins + Captain Franco + Fortunes + Mat Cant + Larrie: Boney, Melbourne Techno Invasion feat. Darius Bassiray + Valero Sinatra + Various DJs: Brown Alley, Melbourne
Gold Class Theatrics Melbourne post-punk jangle warriors Gold Class head off on tour in support of their debut LP It’s You this month, hitting the Northcote Social Club on Monday with support Pleasure Symbols.
Daveys Fridays Generation X with Rob & Tarquin + Superfly DJs: Daveys Hotel, Frankston
Seattle Fix: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick
Mashaka: Dizzy’s Jazz Club, Burnley
Fat Cousin Skinny: The Drunken Poet, West Melbourne
Boris B + Oliver Paterson Beat Project: Edinburgh Castle Hotel, Brunswick
Willow Darling: The Fitzroy Pinnacle, Fitzroy North
Stylus: Flying Saucer Club, Elsternwick
Luke Sinclair: The Post Office Hotel, Coburg High Finance + Cosa Nostra + Tusk: The Public Bar, Melbourne
Neil Gibson
Hatful O’tunes Launching his album, Leave A Light On, on Sunday folk-bluesroots artist Neil Gibson heads into The Toff In Town.
A Lotta Bit Topsy Turvy with Trendyfriends Crew: The Toff In Town (Stage Room), Melbourne Mango Retreat + Young Vincent + Al Aska + DJ Morning Maxwell:
Beyond Blue Benefit with Lincoln Le Fevre & The Insiders + Tom Lanyon + Ben Stewart + Georgia Maq + Bec Stevens + Keith Dimech: Grace Darling Hotel (Band Room), Collingwood War Pigs + Goodbye Enemy Airship + The Boy Who Spoke To Clouds + Roundtable: Grace Darling Hotel (Basement), Collingwood Hiatus Kaiyote + Jaala + 0.1: Howler, Brunswick Daryl Roberts: Jillian’s Cafe Bar, Rosanna
David Ryan Harris + Ollie Brown: The Toff In Town, Melbourne Midnight Express with Prequel + Edd Fisher + Simon Taylor: The Toff In Town (Carriage Room), Melbourne
Einsteins Toyboys: Musicland, Fawkner King Parrot + Harlott + Exsul: Pier Live (Pelly Bar), Frankston
Flyying Colours + Mick Turner + Crimsonettes: Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne
Cuntz + Tommy T & The Classical Mishaps + Drug Sweat: The Old Bar, Fitzroy
Steve Lucas: Mr Boogie Man Bar (5pm), Abbotsford
Winter Wonderland Party feat.+DJ Dean + Adam 12: Croxton Park Hotel, Thornbury
Mike McClellan + Kerryn Tolhurst + Steve Hoy: Spotted Mallard, Brunswick
The Dead Heir + White Bleaches + The Tiny Giants + Horace Bones: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood
Snaps: Mr Boogie Man Bar, Abbotsford
Russell Morris: Caravan Music Club, Oakleigh Centre & The South: Catfish, Fitzroy
Northeast Party House: Karova Lounge, Ballarat Waz E James + Max Teacle: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East
Magic Bones: Cherry Bar, Melbourne
Automated feat. Various DJs: Loop, Melbourne
Spencer P Jones: Cherry Bar, Melbourne
The Badloves: Memo Music Hall, St Kilda
Rebetiko: Retreat Hotel, Brunswick Super Best Friends + Skyways Are Highways + Laura Palmer + Horror My Friend + Jay Wars & The Howard Youth: Reverence Hotel (Band Room), Footscray The New Savages: Reverence Hotel (Front Bar), Footscray Thick As Thieves & Revolver Fridays present Weiss: Revolver Upstairs, Prahran Astro Boys: Royal Hotel, Essendon Planet X: Royal Hotel, Sunbury Lloyd Spiegel: Royal Oak Hotel, Fitzroy North Friday Night Blues Club: Seaford Hotel, Seaford Paces + Leon Osborn: Shebeen Bandroom, Melbourne Tequila Mockingbird + Creatures From The Bog: Sooki Lounge, Belgrave Joshua Seymour + Eaten By Dogs + Yoko Bono: Spotted Mallard, Brunswick Dr Crask & His Swingin’ Elixir Band: The B.East, Brunswick East Iron Mind + Extortion + Born Free + Rebirth: The Bendigo, Collingwood Hugo Race & The True Spirit + Hilary Blackshaw + The Afternoon Philosophers: The Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine
Roxy Wifi + Suburban Prophets + The Brain THE MUSIC 12TH AUGUST 2015 • 51
The Guide
Pony Face + Baptism Of Uzi + Saint Jude + The Bowers + The Sugarcanes + DJ Ali E: The Curtin, Carlton
Jack Earle Big Band
Cabbages & Kings
Traditional Irish Music Session: The Drunken Poet (6pm), West Melbourne Timothy John: The Drunken Poet, West Melbourne The Harpoons + Habits: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood Johnnie & The Johnnie Johnnies + The Bluebottles + Coastbusters: The Luwow, Fitzroy
Cabbage Folk
Mutton + The Kremlings + AD Skinner + Tankerville: The Old Bar, Fitzroy James Reyne + Pseudo Echo: The Palms at Crown, Southbank The Flaming Mongrels: The Post Office Hotel, Coburg Del Lago + Foxtrot + Sparrows + The Suicide Tuesdays: The Public Bar, Melbourne Shrimpwitch + Sheik Stain & The Creeps: The Public Bar, Melbourne Sleazy Listening with Arks + Richard Kelly + Hysteric + K. Hoop: The Toff In Town (Carriage Room), Melbourne
Bebop Launching their debut album comes Jack Earle Big Band, bringing their jazz, funk fusion to Spotted Mallard for a Wednesday night brimming with lofty arrangements and varied ensembles.
Kwasi + Eloji + Yve Gold: The Workers Club, Fitzroy
FRIDAY AUGUST 14 Cisco Caesar
Global Music Agency Launch feat. Zulya & The Children of The Underground + Kekoson + Jali Buba Kuyateh: Thornbury Theatre, Thornbury Pear & The Awkward Orchestra: Wesley Anne, Northcote Andy McGarvie: Wesley Anne (Front Bar), Northcote The Beatles Forever: West Gippsland Arts Centre, Warragul
SATURDAY AUGUST 15 The Birds and The Bees + The Sensational Hurricanes
Frank Ferrer of Guns N Roses: Whole Lotta Love, Brunswick East
SUNDAY AUGUST 16 Amarillo + James Kenyon
Chris Wilson: Yah Yah’s (5pm), Fitzroy
TUESDAY AUGUST 18 The Furbelows KITCHEN OPEN
6 NIGHTS 295 JOHNSTON ST
ABBOTSFORD (at the eastern end!)
WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/ YARRAHOTELABBOTSFORD
52 • THE MUSIC • 12TH AUGUST 2015
+ Hills Hoist: Grace Darling Hotel (Band Room), Collingwood Tommy Emmanuel: Hamer Hall, Melbourne
Poprocks At The Toff with Dr Phil Smith: The Toff In Town (9pm), Melbourne Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid Fundraiser feat. Scab Eater + Kollaps + Havittaajat + Tactical Attack + You Got A Radio! + Drain Life + Diploid + Terror Nullius + Gentlemen + Pissbolt + Removalist + Church + Colostomy Baguette + Grace Anderson + Headlopper + Ding Dong Death Hole + Wrng: The Tote, Collingwood
THURSDAY AUGUST 13 Sean McMahon and the Moonmen
Cabbages & Kings are crawling out of the coastal swamps to your new favourite watering hole, The Catfish, this Thursday, alongside a killer line-up of folked out tunes.
The Delvenes + Chimper Kimblay + The Midnight Scavengers + Cold Iron’s Bound: Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy
Cisco Caesar: Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford
+ Halt Ever: Bar Open, Fitzroy Northeast Party House: Barwon Club, South Geelong Fistful of Soul with DJ Vince Peach: Bella Union, Carlton South Hot Step with Various DJs: Bimbo Deluxe, Fitzroy The Songs That Made Memphis feat. Sun Rising: Caravan Music Club, Oakleigh
Collard Greens & Gravy: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East
Central Rain: Charles Weston Hotel (Front Bar), Brunswick Higgo’s Heavy Cherry 4 feat. Dreadnaught + Envenomed + Join The Amish + Conjurer: Cherry Bar, Melbourne
Graves
Dave Hughes: Comic’s Lounge, North Melbourne
Helping Hand
The Grates + Straight Arrows + Pleasure Symbols: Corner Hotel, Richmond
Wollongong heavy hitters Graves have been added to the Chelsea Grin Australian tour. With a foundation built on a solid DIY ethic and heavy music worship, Graves will get you hyped before Chelsea Grin, Corner Hotel, Friday; Wrangler Studios, Saturday (all ages).
Hurley + Craig Moore + Asterix: Daveys Hotel, Frankston
Midnight Run with Various DJs: Ding Dong Lounge (11.30pm), Melbourne
Thorax + Slothferatu + Infinite Void
The Beatles Forever: Lighthouse Theatre, Warrnambool
Blues Cruise with Fiona Boyes + Blues Mountain: Central Pier, Docklands
Guilty Pleasures with Scott-E: Young and Jacksons, Melbourne
Drew Bowden + The Daddios: Baha Tacos, Rye
The Three Kings: Labour In Vain, Fitzroy
Below 34 feat. Rusty James & The Hell Fire Flames + Kim Volkman & The Whisky Priests + The Moth Body + Left At Moral Junction: Cellar Bar, St Kilda
The BellRays + Dallas Frasca + Winter Moon: Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne
Plagiarism Begins At Home + Middle Aged Fanclub: 303, Northcote
King Parrot + Harlott + Wilderones: Karova Lounge, Ballarat
Lonesome: Catfish (Front Bar), Fitzroy
Kristen vs The Spider: Young and Jacksons (Chloe’s Bar), Melbourne
Sat 15
Hiatus Kaiyote + Jaala + Sex On Toast: Howler, Brunswick
Craig Smith Quintet + Mel Searle: Dizzy’s Jazz Club, Burnley Tully On Tully + Cousin Tony’s Brand New Firebird + The Karmens + Marmalade Ghost: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy Renee Geyer + Gallie: Flying Saucer Club, Elsternwick The Dare Ohhs + Jarrow + IV League
Prognosis feat. Various DJs: Loop, Melbourne Blues & Brews with Dylan Boyd Trio: Manhattan Hotel, Ringwood
The Guide
Pat Shortt: Max Watt’s (formerly The Hi-Fi Melbourne), Melbourne Diesel: Memo Music Hall, St Kilda Daryl Roberts & Hey Gringo: Mordialloc Sporting Club, Mordialloc
Skyways Hotel, Airport West Elvis - The Anniversary Tribute feat. The Knave & his Chilli Dog Big Band + DJ Dingo + DJ Matthew Frederick: Spotted Mallard, Brunswick
Panda Power Wizard Master Smasher + Power Wizard Master Smasher: The Public Bar, Melbourne
Horror My Friend. Pic: Alexander Robertson
In The Carriage with Jnett + DJ Neil Stafford: The Toff In Town (Carriage Room), Melbourne Singles + Yeevs + Busy Kingdom: The Toff In Town, Melbourne
Diamonds Of Neptune
The House deFrost with Andee Frost: The Toff In Town (Stage Room/11.30pm), Melbourne Wicked City + Baptism Of Uzi + BJ Morriszonkle + Fruit & Nut: The Tote (Band Room), Collingwood Cured Pink: The Tote (Upstairs), Collingwood Miss Destiny + Power + Repairs: The Tote, Collingwood Sons of Rico + Tom Lee Richards: The Workers Club, Fitzroy Fading Hour + Enlight + Figure + The Soulenikoes: The Workers Club, Fitzroy
Such Gems Diamonds Of Neptune will be churning out the choons every Monday in August at Evelyn Hotel. It’ll be brand new tunes, plus the DON you know and love. They’ll be joined by some choice supports.
The Birds & The Bees + The Sensational Hurricanes: Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford
The Kave Inn + The Vibrajets: Town Hall Hotel, North Melbourne
Unlimited: Young and Jacksons (Chloe’s Bar), Melbourne
Davidson Brothers: Union Hotel, Brunswick
Murder Rats + Vendetta + Sexgrimes + Liquor Snatch + Sexxx + Power Skids: Mr Boogie Man Bar, Abbotsford
Kit Convict & Thee Terrible Two + Lanewaves: The B.East, Brunswick East
Tim Durkin: Wesley Anne (Front Bar), Northcote
Eddie Boyd & The Phatapillars + Chris Cavill: Penny Black, Brunswick
SNFU + Wolfpack + No Idea + Cold Ground + Pitt The Elder + Blind Man Death Stare: The Bendigo, Collingwood
Nick Batterham + Dan Lethbridge: Wesley Anne (Band Room), Northcote
West Thebarton Brothel Party + Digger & The Pussycats + Chugga & The Fuckheads + The Bakersfield Glee Club: Retreat Hotel, Brunswick Gape + Belligerent Intent + Headless + Order Of Chaos + Blunt Shovel + Brutonomy + Behold the Defiant + Dystopian: Reverence Hotel (Band Room), Footscray Joe Guiton + Dane & James + Bec Stevens + Late Nights + Joe Neubauer: Reverence Hotel (Front Bar), Footscray The Late Show feat. Various DJs: Revolver Upstairs, Prahran
Fat Cats: Royal Hotel, Sunbury
Andrea Marr: The Luwow, Fitzroy
Bang feat. Vice Grip + Danger! Earthquake! + Skyon: Royal Melbourne Hotel, Melbourne
Kate Alexander + Loobs + Palm Springs + Claire Birchall: The Old Bar, Fitzroy
OXJam feat. World’s End Press + DJ Ara Koufax + Sunbeam Sound Machine + Fortunes + more: Shadow Electric, Abbotsford
Tim Maxwell + Wolf Whistler: The Old Bar, Fitzroy
Listening Party #9 feat. The Infants + Louise Love + Waterfall Person: Shebeen Bandroom, Melbourne Babba: Skyways Hotel, Airport West Bedrock feat. Lee Harding:
Paces
Holding On Paces has a new single, Hold It Down, he wants to show off on Friday at Shebeen Bandroom. Head along if you’re in the mood to dance.
James Reyne + Pseudo Echo: The Palms at Crown, Southbank
Chelsea Grin + Boris The Blade + Graves + Epimetheus + Zeolite: Wrangler Studios (All Ages), West Footscray
Louis Spoils + Freida le Bjorn + Amy Alex: The Post Office Hotel, Coburg
DJ Geardy: Yacht Club Hotel, Williamstown
Phil Para: The Prince (Public Bar/6pm), St Kilda Mushroom Giant + Seims + Phantom
Waterline: 303 (7pm), Northcote Matt Kelly + Allysha Joy + Jamil Zacharia + Emi Day: Bar Open, Fitzroy
Billy & Eddy Miller: Big Huey’s Diner (4pm), South Melbourne
Truly Holy + Tsugnarly + The Indian Skies: The Eastern, Ballarat East
Radio Star: Royal Hotel, Essendon
Etienne & The Sankayi: 303 (4pm), Northcote
Don’t Forget Nepal: Bella Union, Carlton South
Hugo Race & The True Spirit + Matt Malone: The Eastern, Ballarat East
The Moonee Valley Drifters: The Golden Vine, Bendigo
Sun 16
Joshua Seymour: Barwon Club, South Geelong
The F100s: The Drunken Poet, West Melbourne
Jamaica Jump-Up #5 feat. DJ Jesse I + Mohair Slim + Miss Goldie + Rick Howe + more: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood
Russell Morris: York on Lilydale, Mt Evelyn
Horse + Wes Harrington: Barney Allen’s, St Kilda
Lazer Tits + The You Yangs + Woo Who: The Curtin (Front Bar), Carlton
The Shug Monkeys: The Fitzroy Pinnacle, Fitzroy North
Adelaide trio Horror My Friend have released their new single Stay In off a forthcoming debut album. They’ll show it off live, and more, when they play Reverence Hotel this Thursday, supporting Super Best Friends.
Global Music Agency Launch feat. San Lazaro + Bashka + La Mauvaise Reputation + Floyd Thursby: Thornbury Theatre, Thornbury
The Shabbab + Tip Rats: Victoria Hotel, Brunswick
Fats Wah Wah: Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy
Horror My Friend
Kings of Leon Tribute with Talihina Sky + Tracer + Horace Bones + Darcee Fox: Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy
The New Melbourne Jazz Band: Blackburn Hotel, Blackburn Annexe Arts Sunday Session feat. Co-cheol: Caravan Music Club, Oakleigh Birdshit Brothers: Catfish (Front Bar), Fitzroy Elvis Presley Anniversary Special feat. Ezra Lee & The Havoc Band + DJ Max Crawdaddy: Cherry Bar, Melbourne 2AM Slot with Tragic Earth: Cherry Bar, Melbourne Presentation Night (music, football & life) feat. Dennis Cometti + Dave Graney + Francis Leach: Corner Hotel, Richmond Michelle Gardiner: Customs House Hotel, Williamstown Sunday Soultrain with Dylan Boyd Trio: Daveys Hotel (2pm), Frankston
THE MUSIC 12TH AUGUST 2015 • 53
The Guide
The soundtrack from Easy Rider & songs from outsider films performed by Brian Nankervis + Ding Dong All Stars: Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne
Call It In with Instant Peterson + Dylan Michel: The Toff In Town (Carriage Room), Melbourne
Cuntz. Pic: Yana Amur
The Shelf (Season 12) with Adam Richard + Justin Hamilton: The Toff In Town, Melbourne
Momentum feat. The Coretet: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy Renee Geyer + Gallie: Flying Saucer Club (3pm), Elsternwick
The Scrimshaw Four + Chaos Magnet + The Horns of Leroy: The Workers Club, Fitzroy
Griya + Aimee Volkovsky + Luna DeVille: Grace Darling Hotel (Band Room), Collingwood
Tue 18
Wayne Jury: Labour In Vain, Fitzroy
Boadz: 303, Northcote
The Steve Martins + Merri Creak: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East
See You Next Tuesday!: Bimbo Deluxe, Fitzroy
Every Avenue: Manningham Hotel & Club (2pm), Bulleen
Busy Kingdom + Honeybone + Ulysses Wulf : Cherry Bar, Melbourne
Off The Cuff: Mr Boogie Man Bar, Abbotsford Jam At Musicland Sundays: Musicland, Fawkner The Crowley Crawlers: Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy Deep Street Soul + Melaluka: Retreat Hotel, Brunswick The Moonee Valley Drifters: Retreat Hotel (Front Bar), Brunswick
Hiatus Kaiyote. Pic: Glenn Fuller
Freak & The Freak Cats: Union Hotel (3.30pm), Brunswick
The Nudgels + Elvis Unleashed: The Drunken Poet, West Melbourne
Cold Iron’s Bound: Wesley Anne (Front Bar), Northcote
The Railway Gang String Band: The Fitzroy Pinnacle, Fitzroy North
Ali Hughes + Gabriella Georges + Anthony Rea: Whole Lotta Love, Brunswick East
Dan Warner: The Gasometer Hotel (Front Bar), Collingwood
Nadav + Nuevo Flamenco: Yacht Club Hotel, Williamstown
The Harpoons + Milk Teddy + DJ Frankie Topaz: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood
Open Mic Night: Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy
Eddie Boyd & The Phatapillars: The Loft, Warrnambool
Off the back of their sold out US shows, Hiatus Kaiyote kick off their Australian tour at Howler this Friday, celebrating the release of their new album Choose Your Weapon.
The Handsome Bastards: The Post Office Hotel, Coburg
Geoff Achison: Royal Oak Hotel, Fitzroy North The Band Who Knew Too Much: Spotted Mallard, Brunswick
Minimum Wage with Abigail & Daisy + Cable Ties: The Public Bar, Melbourne
Lachie Davidson + Paddy Montgomery + Luke Tooze: Retreat Hotel, Brunswick Baio: Shebeen Bandroom, Melbourne
303 Funk Jam: 303, Northcote
Cherry Jam: Cherry Bar, Melbourne
Black Stone from the Sun + Department + Pussy Juice: Grace Darling Hotel (Band Room), Collingwood
SNFU + Wolfpack + Drexler + The Maggot Men + Public Liability + Organ Donors: Twelve, Frankston
Chris Russell’s Chicken Walk: The Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine
Moreland City Soul Revue +
The Furbelows: Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford
Maddawg Mondays with T-Rek: Boney, Melbourne
Down The Rabbit Hole with Nigel Last: The Toff In Town (Carriage Room), Melbourne
Nelson Walkom & The Gaslighters + Zac Goldberg + Jack Mitchell: The Workers Club, Fitzroy
The Fabric + Horns Of Leroy + The Jungle Crooks + Jungle Hurt DJs: The Toff In Town, Melbourne
NMIT Showcase: Wesley Anne, Northcote
Diamonds Of Neptune + Machine Gun Sunrise: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy
Murdena + Congratulations Everybody + Tim Hulsman: The Workers Club, Fitzroy
Cinema 6 + Birthday Girl + Sneaky Pats: The Public Bar, Melbourne
Mon 17
Neil Gibson + Deer Prudence + Ali Hughes: The Toff In Town, Melbourne
Smile + Lalic: The Tote, Collingwood
Taste Of Indie Collective: The Prince (Public Bar), St Kilda
The Burnt Sausages + Waterfall Person + DJ Lovely Clear Water: The Workers Club, Fitzroy
Hung Le: Comic’s Lounge, North Melbourne
King Parrot + Harlott + Swidgen + Weedy Gonzalez: The Tote (Band Room), Collingwood
The Shabbab + Camp Cope + Tankerville: The Old Bar, Fitzroy
Amarillo + James Kenyon: Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford
The Sunday Set with DJ Andyblack + Haggis: The Toff In Town (Carriage Room/4pm), Melbourne
Lilith Lane: Spotted Mallard, Brunswick
54 • THE MUSIC • 12TH AUGUST 2015
Alex Matthews: Monash Hotel, Clayton
Trivia: Spotted Mallard, Brunswick Empra + Smoke Stack Rhino + Dellacoma Rio: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick
Ohms + 100 Acre Woods + Half Mongrel: The Old Bar, Fitzroy
Revolver Sundays with Boogs + Spacey Space + T-Rek: Revolver Upstairs, Prahran
Open Mic Night: Elsternwick Hotel, Elwood
Celebrating in true Cuntz style, the boys are playing a farewell set at The Old Bar this Thursday. They’ll play tracks from their forthcoming album Force The Zone before setting off on their American adventure.
Choose Wisely
Making Marmalade - The Jam Session with JR Reyne + Peter Rabbit: Reverence Hotel (Band Room) , Footscray
Hung Le: Comic’s Lounge, North Melbourne
Bon Voyage!
Open Mic Night: Cornish Arms, Brunswick
Jinja Safari
BYO Vinyl Night: Howler, Brunswick Monday Night Mass feat. Pleasure Symbols + Gold Class + Grotto: Northcote Social Club, Northcote El Camino Del Vino: Retreat Hotel, Brunswick Jazz Party: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood Diana Radar + The Tiny Giants + The Sadults: The Old Bar, Fitzroy Jurassic Nark + Kidney Stones: The Public Bar, Melbourne
Jinja’s Back After a brief two-year hiatus, your favourite forest rock fivepiece Jinja Safari are bringing their quirky instruments to the Howler this Friday to celebrate the release of Find My Way.
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56 • THE MUSIC • 12TH AUGUST 2015