26.10.16 Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Issue
162
Melbourne / Free / Incorporating
A D AY O N THE GREEN
SOMETHING FOR KATE & YOU AM I TOUR
KYLIE AULDIST TOUR
JORDIE LANE
“YOU NEED TO REINVENT YOURSELF”
FRANK IERO
2 • THE MUSIC • 26TH OCTOBER 2016
FRANK IERO and the PATIENCE
PARACHUTES New Album
Featuring “I’M A MESS”, “REMEDY” and “OCEANS”
OUT FRIDAY OCTOBER 28 CD / VINYL / DOWNLOAD THE MUSIC 26TH OCTOBER 2016 • 3
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4 • THE MUSIC • 26TH OCTOBER 2016
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THE MUSIC 26TH OCTOBER 2016 • 5
Music / Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
20/20 Vision
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Glitoris
Lloyd Cole
English singer-songwriter Lloyd Cole will be returning to Australian shores in January, with a run of ten shows across the country to celebrate the release of his new anthology, The Retrospective.
Gliterati Assemble Feminist powerhouse group Glitoris have just announced a run of shows in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra this November and December, in support of the release of their debut EP The Disgrace.
Glades
Q: Why was Fetty Wap jealous of Desiigner A: Because he has two “i”’s Give me 30k followers again please @bloodhaiI 6 • THE MUSIC • 26TH OCTOBER 2016
It’s Like This Sydney-based alt-poppers Glades have released This Is What It’s Like. The trio have also detailed an east coast tour for the highly anticipated debut EP, with three dates lined up in early December.
Arts / Li Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Credits
Publisher Street Press Australia Pty Ltd
Eyes On The Prize
Group Managing Editor Andrew Mast
National Editor – Magazines Mark Neilsen
Ascendant melodic punks Trophy Eyes have just dropped their second full-length Chemical Miracle to huge acclaim and to celebrate they have penciled in an east coast album tour in February.
Editor Bryget Chrisfield
Arts & Culture Editor Maxim Boon
Trophy Eyes
Gig Guide Justine Lynch gigs@themusic.com.au Editorial Assistants Brynn Davies, Sam Wall
Smoking Martha
Senior Contributor Jeff Jenkins Contributors Bradley Armstrong, Annelise Ball, Paul Barbieri, Sophie Blackhall-Cain, Emma Breheny, Sean Capel, Luke Carter, Anthony Carew, Uppy Chatterjee, Daniel Cribb, Cyclone, Guy Davis, Dave Drayton, Guido Farnell, Tim Finney, Bob Baker Fish, Cameron Grace, Neil Griffiths, Kate Kingsmill, Tim Kroenert, Pete Laurie, Chris Maric, Fred Negro, Danielle O’Donohue, Obliveus, Paz, Sarah Petchell, Michael Preberg, Paul Ransom, Dylan Stewart Senior Photographer Kane Hibberd Photographers Andrew Briscoe, Cole Bennetts, Jay Hynes, Lucinda Goodwin Advertising Dept Leigh Treweek, Antony Attridge, Braden Draper, Brad Summers sales@themusic.com.au Art Dept Ben Nicol Felicity Case-Mejia vic.art@themusic.com.au Admin & Accounts Loretta Zoppos, Ajaz Durrani, Meg Burnham, Emma Clarke accounts@themusic.com.au
All Yours Brisbane punk and rock outfit Smoking Martha have a sizzling new single in Say You’re Mine. The five-piece have already kicked off an east coast tour for the track which will keep them on the road until December.
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Easy Air Sydney synth rockers Mansionair have just dropped new single, Easier, from their upcoming debut record. The three-piece have also announced that they’ll be touring the country with the track in November.
Mansionair
THE MUSIC 26TH OCTOBER 2016 • 7
Lifestyle Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Jurassic Park
Rattle Your Water
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra have revealed a spectacular 2017 season, from choral masterpieces to the classic soundtracks of blockbusters. You can even see Jurassic Park in HD with John Williams’ iconic score played live in concert.
LSD
0
Genre-hopping US outfit Lake Street Dive have expanded their impending Australian visit, on the back warmly received new album Side Pony, with a handful of additional tour dates in early January.
The number of dollars live music export body Sounds Australia will receive from the government after the end of this year. Chain Chain Chain The do soul, they do punk, they do funk, and for the first time ever Chain & The Gang will be doing it all Down Under. The Washington, DC natives have announced they ar heading our way in March.
The Village Festival
Chain & The Gang
8 • THE MUSIC • 26TH OCTOBER 2016
e / Cultu Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
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Sky High Bangers
Legendary post-rock pioneers Explosions In The Sky will return to Australia in February for a five-date run of shows in service of their most recent full-length The Wilderness, including a dual outing in Melbourne.
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Gallant, Billboardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pick for #1 performer at Coachella, is heading Down Under for the first time to play Bluesfest. Now heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also announced he will be taking advantage of the trip to do sideshows in Melbourne and Sydney.
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It Takes A Village Travelling arts event The Village Festival will take over Edinburgh Gardens with music, food and theatre from Friday to Sunday. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s even an interactive theme park, WonderWold, and So You Think You Can Interpretive Dance.
FTM FTW
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Industry music summit Face The Music have unveiled the yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s massive two-day November program in full. There are heaps of highlights including Empowering Communities Through Leadership, a panel moderated by Briggs.
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THE MUSIC 26TH OCTOBER 2016 â&#x20AC;˘ 9
Music / Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Forever Young
Teenage Fanclub
Lauded Scottish alt five-piece Teenage Fanclub have revealed plans to return to our shores in March for their first Aussie headline shows since 2005. While here they will also be performing at Golden Plains.
Corinne Bailey Rae
Four For 4
248,994 The number of songwriters, composers and publishers that were paid for their works by APRA AMCOS duting the 2015-2016 financial year.
Spark In The
Piknic Electronik
The news just keeps on rolling out of the Bluefest camp with another round of artists doing touring sideshows in April. Joining this wave are Corinne Bailey Rae, Gallant Turin Brakes and Nikki Hill.
Camp Cope
Park Family friendly EDM series Piknic Electronik is returning on New Year’s Day. This year the 12 Weekly events - featuring Audiojack, Spacey Space and more – have found a new home at Sidney Myer Music Bowl.
10 • THE MUSIC • 26TH OCTOBER 2016
We’ll Cope Born from the Meredith masterminds, it’s no surprise that the line-up for the 11th Golden Plains in March is of epic proportions, featuring an exciting mixed-bag of acts like Camp Cope, Ausmuteants and Kurt Vile.
Arts / Li Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
BAR
A Thousand Worlds
Wild Seas, Secret Shores
Thomas Peschak, named one of the world’s 40 most influential nature snappers, is hosting National Geographic Live: Wild Seas, Secret Shores this Thursday. Take a visual trip through ten years documenting the hidden depths of the Earth.
WED 26 OCTOBER
OPEN MIC
Show The Boogie Man What You’ve got! THU 27 OCTOBER
LEGENDS OF GOFPOS DAVE TONKS & THE DREAM MACHINE JOE MATERA FRI 28 OCTOBER
FULL DOSE (SA) VENDETTA BESTOWED SAT 29 OCTOBER
Get Your Bibs Out
RITUALS OF INFINITY (HAWK WIND TRIBUTE) KILAMAINE SEASONS TOMB
Annual sensory feast Meatstock is making its way to Melbourne next April with an irresistible mix of meat and music including The Delta Riggs, Skyscraper Stan alongside fellow drawcards The Tommyhawks, The Fumes.
SUN 30 OCTOBER Meatstock
ONLY ALIENS OWEN & JOHNNY STRONGER THAN DIRT LUCY LOCKETT
Espresso Martini Festival
MON 31 OCTOBER
Another Hot Shot Of Giddyup Mr Black have added a third day to their Espresso Martini Festival in November after the first two sold out in the time it takes to make a flat white.
HALLOWEEN BASH METAL FETISH DIRTY RATS BLACK BATS AFTER WORK HAPPY HOUR FROM 5PM
$5 DRINKS WED, THURS & FRI 160 HODDLE ST ABBOTSFORD
THE MUSIC 26TH OCTOBER 2016 • 11
Uppy Chatterjee chats to the jovial Frank Iero about “mental surgery”, our inevitable deaths and being attached to a parachute, just a few hours before he and the PATIENCE find themselves in a bad car crash in Sydney. Cover and feature pics by Kane Hibberd.
Music
FALLI
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HEIGH 12 • THE MUSIC • 26TH OCTOBER 2016
TS
lright, so... Death is inevitable, right? We’re never gonna escape that. We’re never gonna put off that eventual impact into the ground. But if life is a lot like being pushed out of a plane, like you didn’t ask to be here but we’re all on this trajectory to an eventual end... We’re all falling at an incredible rate and for some of us, it’s all over faster than the others. “But the lucky ones, we meet these people along the way that bring us joy, that show us what love is, they bring us purpose. These parachutes- we’re all gonna hit the ground, but some of us get to hover and enjoy the fall. That’s the idea of Parachutes.” It’s a sobering answer to transcribe, particularly given FRANK IERO and the PATIENCE found themselves in a horrific bus crash a mere two hours after our chat in their Sydney hotel. Though Iero, the band and his crew are not in life-threatening conditions, the band’s management and label remain tight-lipped about the situation, with no official statements until last Friday when Iero released a heartfelt note on his website. The band are in town promoting Iero’s newest incarnation of his solo project - previously called Frnkiero andthe Cellabration., Iero cheerily explains why the outfit have undergone the facelift. “See, [the Cellabration.] wasn’t spelled wrong, it was spelled correct!” he giggles. Iero is a generous giggler, letting it shake his entire body between sips of his tea. “All of it was spelled correctly, for me! It’s all in the eye of the beholder, really, what is anything? What are words? I changed the name because I felt like... every time you go into the studio to make a new record, you need to reinvent yourself and everything and [he slurs this like it’s one big word] to-reinvent-yourself-and-the-band’sgonna-sound-different-then-you-need-tocall-yourself-something-different. That just makes sense.” Describing the Cellabration. as the need for a distraction from his newfound frontman duties - “the idea that you have to get up on stage and talk to people and
engage them and have people look at you and talk to you about shit? NEVER ever crossed my mind as something fun to do” - Iero purports that the PATIENCE is an encapsulation of “the ability to take that step back, take a breath and enjoy the now”. “I have three kids now, so at this point patience is a fuckin’ virtue,” he laughs. “You need to be patient and understand that other people think differently than you... there’s so many pitfalls in life of misunderstandings; if you really just took the time to get to know each other and understand, we’d probably be in a better situation,” he finishes democratically. Iero is a chatterbox. He’s always got a smile on his face, makes gracious references to the last time he and I met and absentmindedly picks at his ripped knees, tattoos poking out through the holes in his jeans. He’s so humble that he finds it difficult to admit that he’s damn good at being a frontman, even though it’s way out of his comfort zone. “Here’s the thing – I come from a long line of people where if you compliment yourself, you’re an asshole, so...” Iero chuckles. “It’s very east coast. You can’t ever say you’re good at something – only jerk-offs say that – but I’ve realised I can do this, I can write songs, I can sing the songs that I write and be in the centre of that stage and get attention and be okay with it.” You can tell Iero idolises legendary metal/punk producer Ross Robinson (Slipknot, At The Drive-In, The Cure), having worked with him on Parachutes. Describing the experience as “heartbreaking yet uplifting, depleting yet inspiring”, Iero explains that “the folklore and the legend of Ross Robinson, what I thought to be this imposing, aggressive figure, was at times too much to bear”. “This time around I wrote these songs and I knew they demanded to be pushed. Going into that - I was like, ‘oh man, I’m gonna get destroyed on this,’ and I did, but in a completely different way than I thought,” he says animatedly. “This goes back to the boasting thing the east coast thing is, in order to get better, you have to hate yourself. You beat yourself down, you tell yourself you don’t deserve the things you have or to get to the next level and even if you try harder you won’t
get there, and you feel that bolster you, like, ‘no, fuck you! I CAN get there!’ That’s been every experience I’ve had in studio... but Ross is the exact opposite of that. He threw shit at me, but not in an aggressive ‘I hate you’ way, it was always in a positive way. Ross never broke any of us down. He said, ‘Listen, you are amazing. You deserve this. You are the best you that you can be and if you don’t believe it, I believe it and I can show you why.’ The idea of not breaking you down to build you up is so simple, but such a huge realisation for me.” As Iero speaks, it’s like he’s hit the realisation all over again. “[Ross] does this thing called mental surgery - that’s what he calls it. You’re in the room with your band and you’re all playing the song and he stops you and he’s like, ‘okay, what is this song about?’” For the next few minutes, Iero begins to describe a hypothetical song about a car given to him by his father, and the ensuing conversation Robinson would have had with Iero about it. “You go deeper and deeper and deeper and then you start to find out, this song isn’t really about a car. It’s about my relationship with my father and why now I feel certain ways about that car... or being given these certain gifts of freedom,” he ponders, allowing himself a chuckle for fabricating a totally believable hypothetical song. “You start to realise and find out things about yourself as an artist and the songs you’re writing that you didn’t know at first, and why you feel ways about things that you didn’t fully understand. Getting to the core of these emotions of these songs that you’re writing, it - it - it’s SO depleting. It’s so exhausting, to the point where you’re bawling and crying about these things that happened or you wish happened as a kid, and you’re doing this in a room with ALL your friends. Now everyone knows what these songs are about and then he goes, ‘alright, so, how do YOU feel about this? Has this ever happened to you?’’ Iero’s storytelling is so vivid, it’s easy to feel as shaken as the musicians in that studio with Robinson. “You’re now playing the song thinking about how this song relates to you and your life... Now you’re all on the same wavelength. Now that I’ve done it with Ross, I don’t know why you’d do [it] any other way.”
Life is a lot like being pushed out of a plane, like you didn’t ask to be here but we’re all on this trajectory to an eventual end.
What: Parachutes (Vagrant/Cooking Vinyl)
THE A CC I D E N T Just hours after The Music left FRANK IERO and the PATIENCE at their hotel after our interview, the band and crew were involved in a serious car accident as they continued on with the day’s press commitments. As they were unloading their gear from the van, Iero’s bandmate and brother-in-law Evan Nestor and manager Paul Clegg were hit by a bus from behind, causing one of them to be airlifted to hospital. The accident saw the band calling off the last show of their Australian tour, set to take place at Metro Theatre that night, as well as the rest of the year’s US dates. Iero took to Twitter later that evening to assure worried fans that “we’re pretty banged up but miraculously alive& [sic] in stable condition. I’m still in a state of shock”. Last Friday, Iero released a statement and new song, Oceans, as a thank you for the “overwhelming flood of love and support” he and the band have received while “stranded so far from home”.
THE MUSIC 26TH OCTOBER 2016 • 13
Music
No More Nanna Music When Kylie Auldist was interviewed by Channel 7 News, Cyclone discovers they focused purely on the soul diva being a mother from Glenroy: “It’s never about the music, is it? They’ve gotta find another angle.”
K
ylie Auldist has long reigned as Melbourne’s premiere soul diva — performing with The Bamboos, Cookin’ On 3 Burners and solo. This year she found herself charting across Europe as the voice of This Girl — a Cookin’ On 3 Burners track remixed by the French house DJ Kungs. But now she’s busting out with her boldest project yet in the electro-funk Family Tree — presaged by 2015’s single Sensational. “I love dance music,” Auldist says. The neo-soulstress is in Marios, the iconic Fitzroy cafe, enjoying a late lunch and beer post-rehearsal. Auldist has experienced a new level of fame since This Girl blew up — to her amusement. She tells of an interview with Channel 7 News: “We talked for an hour and the only
I don’t wanna be Engelbert Humperdinck
thing they concentrated on was that I was a mother from Glenroy! It was like, ‘Well, what about the music?’ But it’s never about the music, is it? They’ve gotta find another angle.” Hailing from Hay, NSW, Auldist escaped to Melbourne to pursue just that — music. She sang backing vocals for Renee Geyer and Jimmy Barnes. Auldist also gigged in bands, eventually joining Lance Ferguson’s The Bamboos. The group’s UK label, Tru Thoughts, secured her as a solo act — and Auldist debuted with 2008’s Just Say. Meanwhile, she moonlighted with Cookin’ On 3 Burners — then a Bamboos spin-off. They issued This Girl as a single in 2009. After teen DJ Kungs remixed the dormant song, it topped the charts in countries like France and reached #2 in the UK. However, the remix doesn’t credit Auldist as vocalist, nor is she in the video. “I don’t complain about anything that happens to me,” she says. “I think life has been good to me, and this career’s been good to me. I’m completely happy for my friends Cookin’ On 3 Burners — they wrote it. I’m rapt for them. We all wish for something like this to happen, you know?”
14 • THE MUSIC • 26TH OCTOBER 2016
Regardless, Auldist rolls her eyes at Kungs’ promotion of This Girl — the DJ hiring nondescript vocalists for live PAs. “They can’t even sing in tune!” But, she sighs, “Kungs doesn’t really speak to us.” Meanwhile, Auldist herself is singing This Girl in European nightclubs. What’s more, she’s capitalising on its success to launch Family Tree, her first dance album. “The serendipitous thing that happened was that I’d already made an album [and] that it was ready to come out just the very minute that this all happened. So I could follow it up with like, ‘Well, here’s something I prepared earlier!’” On Family Tree Auldist recreates classic electro-boogie — channelling Chaka Khan, Teena Marie and Gloria Estefan (circa Miami Sound Machine). “That was the sort of music that I’d loved in the ‘80s.” The genre was due for a revival — Mark Ronson flirting with it on Uptown Special. Auldist initially raised the idea of producing a “disco” album with Ferguson. The Bamboos might “tease” Auldist for “liking Sneaky Sound System”, but Ferguson, a sometime DJ, was up. Still, the input of Graeme Pogson, boogie aficionado, ensured Family Tree’s viability. “He gave it that flavour.” The songs “flowed”. Australia’s soul music scene has flourished in recent times with acts like Hiatus Kaiyote and Ngaiire. Ironically, Auldist feels constrained. “I’m done with soul,” she declares. “I’ve always been a lot more of a funk girl. Soul was a fashionable thing. And, because I was offered a record deal to do it, I was like, ‘Sure, let’s do it’ — and then, ‘cause I’m in The Bamboos, it all sort of fit me.” Nonetheless, she “got a bit sick of doing nanna music.” “I don’t wanna be Engelbert Humperdinck,” Auldist laughs. She sought to record something “current” — “even though it’s kind of like going back for me.” Family Tree is Auldist’s most candid work thematically, too. “It is close to my heart.” The album is “a tribute” to her late father. “My family is important to me.” (She jokes how they “infuriate” and “inspire” her.) Auldist maintains that she’s into “all different types of music”. And, here, Family Tree reveals another twist — Auldist turns Cold Chisel’s Saturday Night into a roller-rink jam. “It was an anthem of my childhood.” She doesn’t know if Barnesy has heard it. The new disruptive Auldist may be too OTT for soul purists. Curiously, Tru Thoughts declined Family Tree — and so the Aussie switched to Freestyle Records, home of Cookin’ On 3 Burners, the deal inked before This Girl hit. “So it was like, ‘Oh, you get rewarded!’” Auldist quips. The singer is “excited” to embark on her Dancefloor Diva Tour, with a new live band centred around computers and synths (plus horn section to placate ol’ skool punters at the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz & Blues). “I don’t have a drummer and a bass player on this tour,” Auldist says. “I miss them, I miss them badly, but you just can’t do all those crazy sounds.”
What: Family Tree (Family Tree Records/ The Planet Company) When & Where: 29 Oct, Wangaratta Jazz Festival, Wangaratta; 31 Oct, Max Watt’s; 4 Nov, Suttons House Of Music, Ballarat; 6 Nov, Bendigo Blues & Roots Festival, Bendigo Ullumbarra Theatre; 16 Nov, Music Victoria Awards, 170 Russell; 17 Nov, Sooki Lounge; 25 Nov, Queenscliff Music Festival
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Music
Stirring The Pot Ahead of their A Day On The Green tour Something For Kate’s Paul Dempsey and You Am I’s Tim Rogers reveal that it can be hard work not stirring the pot when everything’s going a little too smoothly. By Sam Wall. Pic by Giulia McGauran
“I
’m never one to complain about weather but that’s maddening,” puffs You Am I frontman Tim Rogers once he’s safely inside the cafe and has shared a quick hug with Something For Kate’s Paul Dempsey. “Do you know the Mistral wind in the South of France?” We can’t say we’re familiar. “If the Mistral is blowing for more than nine days in a row, ah, I’m not sure how contemporary this law is, but a murder charge can be demoted to manslaughter.” “Similar thing, the Santa Ana wind in southern California, when that’s blowing the murder rate goes up,” shares Dempsey. “Sort of charged emotion. But it’s a
I thought by the time we hit Spain there would be less of a theatre crowd, but no, we’re definitely theatre.
significant statistic because of the fucking wind.” It’s not all ill winds though, far from it. Dempsey has only recently wrapped a national tour for his second solo album, Strange Loop, and You Am I spent last month in Europe with Porridge & Hotsauce. Rogers’also has a plate full of “writing books and theatre things”, as well as being the go-to guy of the “tribute phenomenon”. Things won’t be moving any slower in November, when their two outfits will tour Australia’s wineries for A Day On The Green alongside the classic line-up of Jebediah, Spiderbait and The Meanies (“Were you at Homebake ‘08?” quips Dempsey). 16 • THE MUSIC • 26TH OCTOBER 2016
“We both played with Hunters & Collectors a couple of years ago when they did their sort of re-formation tour as a bunch of Day On The Green shows and You Am I and Something For Kate were both on those,” says Dempsey. “It’s great... it’s just such a cruisy tour. It’s so well run and all the people are great... everything’s taken care of. It’s actually dangerously - that’s the thing about it - it’s so well run, it’s so cruisey that it’s hard to keep it together.” (“There’s a temptation to fuck it up,” grins Rogers.) “And you’re at a fucking winery and you know... you’ve got to keep it together ‘til you go on stage, at least, to some degree,” finishes Dempsey. They’re a dapper pair of gents, Dempsey in a neat blue button-up and Rogers in a dashing cream suit coat. But even with no prior knowledge of the two it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine them causing mischief together. “That temptation is strong as well when you’re not the headliner and it’s not necessarily ‘your crowd’, as was the case when we were playing with Hunners. There’s the temptation to, you know, unsettle things a little bit,” confirms Dempsey. “And there’s always those people down the front who’ve paid more to sit in a white plastic chair,” he adds. “So you can see there’s people sort of a few rows back... with their picnic blankets and they’re, you know, pissing on and having a great time. And then there’s the sort of, zone of privilege between them and the stage and you kind of want to throw yourself over that.” “I remember the first time I actually played in front of a sitting crowd was in Florida,” says Rogers, “and we were playing with Soundgarden, we were playing this big sort of lecture theatre... but people would come in with things of popcorn [there’s a chuckle from Dempsey]. It kinda made sense, I mean you feel like a bit of a zoo.” By Dempsey’s own admission Something For Kate have become pretty used to being gawked at, even if it’s taken 20 years. “We’ve got a running joke in Something For Kate that our audience is a theatre crowd, ‘cause they just stand there... Even when we started as a kind of young three-piece, very noisy, abrasive sort of scre screamo band,” he tells. “They just stand dead still, eyes th stage, mouths kind of...” - “Trying to catch up,” to the help Rogers. helps “We used to worry that they were bored or, I dunno,” shru Dempsey. “But it’s just going to be funny, you shrugs kno ‘cause obviously [with] these shows the audience know, is co coming to see all the bands - like, all the different ban bands; all their fans are sort of coming and stuff like that So we’re kinda like, ‘I wonder how the Something that. For Kate theatre crowd is going to mix in amongst a Spiderbait crowd, a You Am I crowd?’” “The You Am I crowd is quite a theatre crowd,” assures Rogers. “We were just in Europe, last month, and I thought by the time we hit Spain there would be less of a theatre crowd, but no, we’re definitely theatre.” “That’s good, that’ll work well,” Dempsey acknowledges. “It’s a good thing I’ve got a character actor’s face.”
When & Where: 12 Nov, A Day On The Green, Mt Duneed Estate, Waum Ponds; 13 Nov, A Day On The Green, Rochford Wines, Coldstream
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THE MUSIC 26TH OCTOBER 2016 • 17
Music
Frontlash A Stitch In Time There’s a wall clock that knits a scarf all by itself (one stitch every half hour) to create a two-metre long scarf in a year!
Music Stops For No Ocean
Weird Al For President! Did you miss the Trump Vs Clinton presidential debate? Don’t stress, just watch Weird Al’s AutoTuned take on it all: Bad Hombres, Nasty Women.
Cooked People Cooking
Lashes
The Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party trailer reveals special guests including 50 Cent, Wiz Khalifa and Rick Ross. Martha Stewart even says, “Fo’ shizzle”! We like the sound of it. What’s Cookin’?
Backlash Deja Vu View
So watching Catch Up used to mean tolerating way less ad interruptions, but now they seem to play the same ad three times in a row multiple times throughout each show!
Sounds Like A Bad Idea The government will not guarantee funding for Sounds Australia past the end of this year. Have they not noticed what that organisation does around here? Talk about planning to fail…
Don’t Go There So we hear Jack Reacher: Never Go Back’s a real stinker: “... none of the humour, verve, or pleasing idiocy of the first film,” according to our very own Anthony Carew.
18 • THE MUSIC • 26TH OCTOBER 2016
Ozomatli’s Raul Pacheco chats with Rip Nicholson about adding a little Jamaican to their Mexican style and working with Sly and Robbie on their latest album.
“R
eferencing Mexican music that’s 100 years old with the earliest forms of Jamaican reggae was our mission,” explains Ozomatli guitarist Raul Pacheco. “We had a lot of fun blending these unique cultures on record.” The cultural fusion has been an exercise in finding that balance. The Los Angelesbased collective, Ozomatli, collaborated with JamRock’s finest production duo in Lowell ‘Sly’ Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare for a journey culminating in their latest output, Never Stop: Mexico To Jamaica. Ever since Carlos Santana’s son added them to his old man’s Supernatural world tour, Ozomatli have been synonymous with delivering worldwide music, culturally native to the LA scene, for 21 years. Already blending Chicano funk-rock, salsa and jazz to create Ozo’s identity, Pacheco is excited to now be adding reggae fusion to their latest sound. “We’ve always had this Mexican style, and that’s part of who we are and I don’t think that’s going away,” Pacheco addresses, “but, when you’ve been together for as long as we have, it’s now about trying to come at this from a different angle and also have a different experience as musicians.” Twisting up concepts of covers vastly different to the Mexican classics on which
they grew up became a mission for the band for their eighth studio release. “We thought, ‘That’s cool, let’s tool these up and have them mashing, like from Mexico to Jamaica, non-stop.’ Sly and Robbie were some of the originators to some of this stuff we were using and they were totally open to it and still did it this way. “So when the idea came up of doing them in different styles of reggae, we thought, ‘Who do we love?’ and went straight to the source. We were lucky and honoured that Sly and Robbie were totally open to doing it,” he expresses, with true delight in his voice, of these legends who now join their illustrious credit list that stretches the spectrum from Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan and Mick Jagger to Britney Spears and Madonna. “Part of what we were doing was auditioning for Sly and Robbie,” admits Pacheco. “We wanted, not only their approval but their authenticity on this. Every time we delve into this we’re trying to take it very seriously, because we’re not Jamaican and it’s obvious we are copying their styles and doing the best we can. We love this music, we respect this music. So there were elements of ska, elements of reggae, elements of ‘80s electro-reggae.” The six-piece band are a globally traversing live act and, heading back down to Australia, Ozomatli expect to build on their fond memories. “We’ve always had such a wonderful time there,” he enthuses. “We’re looking forward to coming back. There’s an element in our spirit and those who come to our shows really love to let loose; not afraid to express themselves. Of our musical experiences in shows, they’ve been nothing but positive. It’s summer over there, which is our winter, so we’re looking forward to soaking in some sun and water.”
When & Where: 29 Oct, The Lost Lands, Werribee Mansion
WED 26 OCT
LEVIAS
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THE MUSIC 26TH OCTOBER 2016 â&#x20AC;¢ 19
Indie Indie
LACUNA
T
he musical prowess of L A C U N A, aka Tamara Partridge, comes from a career in film scores. “I’ve been a film scorer and sound designer for coming up to three years and, between projects, I need something to get me back on stage,” she explains. “I went with a genre that would be interesting and engaging as a solo [artist] performing so that’s where I’m at now.” What emerged from her home studio tinkering is “electronica got soul” she laughs, far from the intentional pause or passage of silence in music that lacuna demands in music terminology. But it adheres to the purpose of a lacuna — to create relief or, conversely, tension. Her latest single SHAKE + BAKE “[is]
The Hunter Express
B
rad Ellis carved his own notch into the local music scene as a soloist in 2015, but now he’s back on the scene as frontman of The Hunter Express. “I wanted to develop my music, so I began writing and working with a band. That led to the EP project, Bluestone Lane.” Ellis says of his new endeavour, “I wanted something fresh and new to release. It’s alt-country with a lazy tele’ and a lyrical rawness.” Bluestone Lane sprouted from Ellis’ early life experiences, before coming together with the full band sound. “I drew a lot from stories my dad had told me,” he says. “The EP walks you through five different stories drawn
20 • THE MUSIC • 26TH OCTOBER 2016
Noah Earp
a really sexual sort of song, so it was a nice change in pace from my earlier heavy stuff.” “A particular mate of mine was enduring a pretty toxic relationship and I wanted to support her and other people that have had to put up with fuck boys and girls. This is a stand-alone track. My first EP was about overcoming grief after the death of my father and the upcoming album has a new concept all together. This is a one off idea to give people some more music to connect to and enjoy.”
“I
from life mishaps and experiences. Each song also has light and shade to the lyrical content and music.” In the studio, however, the mishaps were all but nonexistent. “We recorded the EP at Newmarket Studios in North Melbourne. I recorded there because I wanted to work with engineer, Callum Barter; he has recorded some great Melbourne artists.” Barter’s experience with the likes of British India and Eagle & The Worm was the perfect pairing for Ellis and co. “It’s more feeling then perfection. We pretty much recorded it live, only a few overdubs were done. However, we still worked really hard to get a great take,” he says. “The studio vibe is fantastic as well as the gear.” However, the EP may not have happened if it weren’t for Ellis’ fans. “I travelled up the east coast in April 2016 playing the tunes. It encouraged me to go back and record them after hearing people had enjoyed them.”
’m the dude who writes and sings the songs,” says Noah Earp. The selfdescribed International Man of Misery started out writing the songs “in a few rock bands”. But, as Earp tells us, “I started my own solo project a few years ago, doing a few festivals and a tour of India. The album has been the biggest part of it, taking about three years to make.” The album is called Disinheritor and, when Earp finally finished it he realised, “The most recent song was two weeks old, and the oldest one was about four years old. That was the duet Alone that I sang with Gretta Ray.” The actual recording was done “at Hothouse Studios in St Kilda”. “It has a big, old ‘70s Neve console,” says Earp, “which was an important ingredient in the sound — we were going for live takes and big, crunchy tones. “As far as I’m concerned, albums are all about vibe. You can play the most technically correct music in the world, but if it’s got no soul, it’s no good.” Does that mean the tracks stay pretty true to form in the live arena? “To be honest it’s kind of impossible to recreate the recording live,” reveals Earp, “but we keep the structures and counter-melodies going on in the arrangements. Other than that, it’s a pretty freewheeling band. Most of us are trained improvisers so we’re always looking for an excuse.” The album’s name makes a strong statement, does it come from an overarching theme? “The songs weren’t written to some specific theme, but my songwriting obsessions tend to have certain patterns to them. I’d say there’s an idea overshadowing the album — an awareness of standing on a cliff and watching it slowly crumble around you.”
What: Bluestone Lane (Independent) When & Where: 29 Oct, Brewers Feast, Abbotsford Convent
What: Disinheritor (Independent) When & Where: 27 Oct, The Toff In Town
When & Where: 28 Oct, Revolver
THE MUSIC 26TH OCTOBER 2016 â&#x20AC;¢ 21
Music
No Credit For Crickets Jordie Lane and Clare Reynolds perform for Brynn Davies and The Music’s neighbouring buildings, and regale her with tales of LA living, improvised percussive devices and the cricket that isn’t credited on GLASSELLLAND.
J
ordie Lane and Clare Reynolds walk to the centre of the open roof of The Music. The sun is warm and the first notes of Black Diamond bounce off the pillars and well up into the city sky. A rich, dripping harmonisation, with twangs of brooding alt-country and a hint of blues melancholy, but yet, sitting there in the sun enjoying such an intimate moment between artist and an audience of two, you can’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of contentment. This is the experience of Lane’s long awaited LP GLASSELLLAND, pieced together by his friend and producer Reynolds while the two were living in LA. “Los Angeles is this big, scary, concrete city but it’s so open in terms of how you wanna express yourself,” he explains,
We’re like ‘it’s nearly in tune with us, let’s just keep it!’ At the end of the song you can hear the cricket. It’s a big credit, we forgot to put him in there!
taking a drag from a rollie cigarette. “What ever you want to be, any kind of music, everyone’s like ‘sweet!’ and there’s a niche for everything. You find your people,” Reynolds smiles as she shields her eyes. Fresh off the plane from the US, the two are a little sleepy, a little dishevelled. Lane is explaining the story behind the album’s first single Frederick Steele McNeil Ferguson (try saying that ten times), which was written about his grandfather. “That was my great grandfather’s real name, but they just called him Fergie. So that’s easier — I should have just called the song ‘Fergie’,” he jokes. “My dad had told me that [my grandfather] lied about his age
22 • THE MUSIC • SUMMER 2016
so that he could go and fight in WWI, he was 16... I just started singing that name over and over again and it just, I dunno. Being so disconnected from my past but knowing that that’s embedded in us, I was just thinking about how — now I am jetlagged,” he sighs, brows raised. “Waddya even call it? “Like the past being in your blood?” Reynolds offers. “Ancestral sin! This theory that those things do get passed through generations,” Lane picks up. “So the trauma that he’s been through or whatever would potentially pass through to future generations... Really it’s just a song to remember the good of the situation you’re in, that I’m not having to go off and fight in a war.” Reynolds and Lane, exhausted from three years of touring, went in search of a quiet space to record an album in north east LA. They found a dilapidated bungalow in Glassell Park and set up shop. “It was part lounge room, part kitchen, didn’t even have a door to the bedroom, so there wasn’t much space. So we build little partitions and little vocal booths in there, literally out of chairs and ladders and blankets and pillows and things like that,” Lane laughs. “The beginning of making this album was really hard. We’d been touring pretty solid for three years and we hadn’t really sat down to be in this really vulnerable state and really listen to yourself... Getting out of bed at 4pm in the afternoon going, ‘I don’t know what to do.’” Inspiration came, and seemed to keep on coming — not from waves of genius, but from the mistakes the two made along the way. Undertaking the production of the LP solo in spaces not set up for recording — “we went and bought a bunch of equipment and it sort of stayed unopened in the box for like a month or two, I was scared!” — they found it was better to use their environment rather than fight against it. “We used a lot of sounds that were laying around; in the kitchen, pots and pans, cheese grater, and one day we came home with coffee cups and pencils,” Reynolds remembers. “The last song we recorded, In Dreams Of War, I was trying to do the backing vocals and this cricket would start at 9pm every night and we’re like ‘ah man, it’s done it again!’ Jordie would knock the wall and it would stop for 30 seconds and I’d try to get my take in, and then it would start again. Then we’re like ‘it’s nearly tune with us, let’s just keep it!’ At the end of the song in tu you can hear the cricket. It’s a big credit, we forgot to put him in there!” she realises with a giggle. Lee Ferris’ artwork for GLASSELLLAND vividly portrays subject matter — most notably, America, the music’s m Won’t You Make My Dreams Come True? in which houses Won by guns. “It’s a bit frustrating. Some of the are replaced r most left wing thinkers, they all don’t have much of an mos idea of hope of how to take guns away from the American landscape,” Lane muses. Reynolds agrees: “There were so many moments where we’d come home feeling like ‘I felt really scared today in this public place’... I feel lucky to be Australian in these times.”
What: Glassellland (Blood Thinner Records/MGM) When & Where: 28 Oct, Corner Hotel; 5 Nov, Suttons House Of Music; 24 Nov, Major Tom’s; 25 — 27 Nov, Queenscliff Music Festival
Music
Free As A Bird Returning to Australia Andrew Bird shows no signs of slowing down, as Samuel J Fell discovers.
A
ndrew Bird, it would seem, rarely sits still. At least musically. Earlier this year he released Are You Serious, his 13th solo record, extending a run which began in 1996 with Music Of Hair. Add to that a string of EPs and singles, six live albums and dozens of appearances on other artist’s albums (including, perhaps most notably, with Squirrel Nut Zippers), and you’ve got a man whose creative spark is hardly dying out. “Yeah, I like to stay active,” muses the violinist/ guitarist over the phone from Los Angeles, his home base these days. “I think I get better at what I’m doing when I keep doing it. So every four years or so, I put out an ‘industry record’ let’s call it — like Are You Serious or Break It Yourself (2012), and in the interim, I kinda teach myself how to make the next record. “And sometimes my best records are those in-between records, honestly, because the pressure is off and I’m experimenting. But if I just did these ‘industry records’, I wouldn’t be exercising all my [muscles], so it’s just important to me.” The experimentation Bird utilises on his inbetween records certainly serves to broaden his musical palette, setting him up nicely when it comes to the ‘industry’ albums. Not that he puts any less weight on an ‘industry’ album, but they’re certainly all the better off for the work that’s happened in the interim. Are You Serious is a fine example — while a fairly eclectic affair, it’s also extremely considered, Bird and producer Tony Berg literally going “through every part of every song, every note, scrutinising the voicing of the chords, finding melodically interesting ways to
Some of the earlier records... sound so subdued and mild compared to our live show, so with this one I wanted to close the gap and make a real visceral record.
move from one chord to the next.” They wouldn’t have taken this path had it not been for the experimentation exhibited on the previous three albums. “I was pretty thirsty for that,” concurs Bird on this method of production. “Not that things weren’t considered before, but the last couple of records have been a little on the scrappy side... by design, I got tired of production for a while. I just wanted to capture a real thing, and with this one I kinda wanted to close the gap between the live performance, and that’s been the quest over all these records. “Some of the earlier records that were popular or successful to me sound so subdued and mild compared to our live show, so with this one I wanted to close the gap and make a real visceral record.” Bird says he feels he and Berg managed to close this gap, although the proof will be in the pudding as Bird and band head back to Australia to play Bluesfest next Easter. And by then, who knows? Perhaps the musically enigmatic Bird will have another record on the go, another live album up his sleeve, another collaboration in the can. He’s a man who doesn’t stop, which for fans of his music, isn’t a bad thing.
When & Where: 13 Apr, Bluesfest, Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm; 18 Apr, Melbourne Recital Centre
THE MUSIC 26TH OCTOBER 2016 • 23
Music
Cosmic Takeover Empire Of The Sun recruited Lindsey Buckingham for their new album and the band’s songs are (finally) being played on American radio. Nick Littlemore tells Bryget Chrisfield he’s “like a lightening rod” for inspiration.
W
e find him in Sydney today, but Empire Of The Sun’s Nick Littlemore explains that these days he’s “based in Los Angeles with all the other celebrities”. When asked how he finds life over there, Littlemore muses, “I find it rather strange, but we have a beautiful garden and I spend most of my time in the garden so that’s great”. The presser for Empire Of The Sun’s new Two Vines album features a quote attributed to Littlemore that details the inspiration behind the title track: “... this image of a modern city overtaken by jungle, almost like mother
At this point it’s really Luke’s baby; he’s very particular about that, so I’m allowing them to just do their thing.
nature taking back the planet.” Littlemore explains how this image landed in his brain box: “I guess things and ideas that I have come through me, I would say — like a kind of channelling, for want of a better term — and I think that it came through in a dreamlike state. You know, I’ve recently had an awakening of sorts and I started meditating, and listening to the planet, and this record is really an extension of that awakening, for me. I wanted to take the opportunity that I have now — and it’s a privileged one... And I wanted to have something to say rather than just act like a crazy person and talk about colours all night. So what I wanted to say was that we need to return to nature, that we need to start listening to it, and I thought, ‘What better way than to make a record about that and 24 • THE MUSIC • 26TH OCTOBER 2016
just how wise and beautiful this planet is?’ And let’s stop ignoring it and trying to build car parks on top of it and start actually loving it!” Does Littlemore meditate in his “beautiful garden” in LA? “I do indeed,” he confirms. On whether these meditation sessions sometimes offer up songs, Littlemore offers, “All my ideas have always come through some kind of open channel, with the collective unconscious or the cosmic consciousness.” So does he feel like a conduit in a way? “Yeah, like a lightening rod,” he suggests, which definitely sounds a lot sexier. They recruited an impressive slew of guest artists for Two Vines, including Wendy Melvoin (best known for being part of Prince’s backing band The Revolution) and the inimitable Lindsey Buckingham. “Lindsey Buckingham — who obviously was a very large part of our sound and our influence, or sphere of influence — came down to the studio and it was incredible!” Littlemore gushes. “I mean, it was like he was a member of the band and played music with us; it was so easy and so natural. The only other artist that I’ve worked with of that calibre — who’s been as generous and easy as that — is obviously Sir Elton John.” Sir Elton John “is still, in part, managing” Littlemore, who confirms, “He’s a part of my life”. John first discovered Littlemore after coming across a copy of his dance-duo outfit Pnau’s self-titled third album. “He became quite vocal about it,” Littlemore fondly remembers. “I found out through Toni Collette, who is represented by my agent. Toni was having dinner with Sir Elton, and Pnau came up, and she passed along my number and then, yeah! The rest has been history. And it’s been quite a marvellous journey, I must say, from then ‘til now.” So is there some new Pnau on the horizon as well? “We have a song called Chameleon,” Littlemore enlightens. Now we’re just gotta know what became of all those fabulous Pnau character suits. “I know! I loved all those,” Littlemore extols. “I don’t know where they are. I think we tried to give them away, we tried to do charity with them — all these things — and I don’t know where they are right now now. The Strawberry’s probably getting up to no good whe wherever that is. They really... have [minds] of their own, you know?” We propose that locating all of these different char characters, scattered all around the globe, would make an a awesome music-video premise and Littlemore laughs and plays along. “I occasionally get postcards from The Lightning Bolt. I mean, I think last time he was in Bolivia or something, but there was some fuck-up with his visa.” Steele co-wrote and supplied vocals on the Pnau song, With You Forever, but Littlemore also took on lead vocals with this outfit. When asked what his role is in Empire Of The Sun’s live shows these days, Littlemore reveals, “At this point it’s really Luke’s baby; he’s very particular about that, so I’m allowing them to just do their thing and, you know, I just stay home and just love my wife and compose with other people and try and, you know, pay it forward in different ways.”
What: Two Vines (EMI)
Theatre
Second Coming
Returning to hit production Godpsell 45 years after it made her a star, Colleen Hewett tells Steve Bell that she was originally a non-believer. ew production Godspell Reimagined may be putting a contemporary spin on one of the most popular musicals ever staged in this country, but it is making one sizeable nod to the show’s first Australian incarnation — the presence of original star Colleen Hewett. Back in 1971, when the Aussie premiere production of Godspell — Stephen Schwartz’ s rock’n’roll musical based on the last days of Christ — became the first international production of the show staged anywhere in the world after it’s smash-hit off-Broadway debut, Hewett’s starring role made her a household name and shored up her career for decades to come. The ‘70s staging was a barnstorming success that still ranks among the most significant box office triumphs in Australian theatre history, more than 40 years later. In total, the production played a little over 1,700 shows during its Sydney, Melbourne and touring seasons. Hewett’s presence in this latest production offers a link to Godspell’s firstrate pedigree Down Under. “I’m not actually in the cast, they’ve got me in a ‘cameo’ role — I’m just coming out and doing Day By Day at the end of the show,” Hewett chuckles. “The audience will already have heard Bonnie [Anderson] doing the proper cast version,
N
and then I’m right down at the end of it. It’s kind of weird to be winding the clock back that far, to 1971 when I did the show, and it’s a lovely honour that these people have given me. It wasn’t a hard one to say ‘yes’ to I can tell you that, and I do say ‘no’ a lot.” Hewett’s 1971 single version of Day By Day became a smash pop hit, topping the Go-Set charts and being certified gold. “Well [producer] Ian Meldrum — or Molly Meldrum as you’d know him — he took it way, way further than the actual cast version of it,” Hewett remembers. “The cast version is a very simple little song, sweet as a lolly, but obviously if you give something to Meldrum to work on and oh my gosh... it’s still my closing song in any shows that I do, and it’s by far my most-requested song. I’m very lucky, I am so lucky.” On her original involvement with Godspell, Hewett reflects, “I’d already been given [Day By Day] to listen to [to] see if I wanted to record it, it was given to me by the man who put the show on [Kenn Brodziak] — he also brought The Beatles out to Australia, he was quite an amazing guy. “Then he rang my manager and asked him if I’d be interested in auditioning for the show, and I said, ‘What sort of show?’ I was only 20 or 21 at the time and very naive, and he said, ‘It’s a show called Godspell, it’s the show that Day By Day comes from and you’d be acting with a script as well as singing’. And I just went, ‘No, thank you!’ because I was just starting out my career as a singer and doing a musical seemed like it would stuff things up. Little did I know that it was going to change my whole life so much for the better.”
Life’s A Beach
Summer is around the corner so it’s time to head to the beach. Before you bust out the thongs and slip, slap and slop on the sand we suggest you invest in some of these must-have beach gadgets.
KAISR Original Air Lounge Lightweight, inflatable and comfy, KAISR air lounge is the perfect seat to take while enjoying a day at the beach. kaisroriginal.com
Mermaid Tail: Mahina MerFin Ever dreamt of being a mermaid? Well now you can! Professional mermaid Mahina has created the perfect mermaid fin to relive your Splash fantasies. mahinamermaid.com
Sombrilla The Sombrilla is a must for any sun seekers who are prone to turning pink. Not only will you avoid harmful UV rays, you’ll look damn stylish too. hollieandharrie.com.au
Coolest Cooler What: Godspell Reimagined When & Where: 25 Oct — 6 Nov, Arts Centre Melbourne
Say goodbye to the sad ol’ Esky and hello to the pimped out Coolest Cooler. This has it all: blender, Bluetooth speakers, USB charger and bottle openers. coolest.com
THE MUSIC 26TH OCTOBER 2016 • 25
Eat / Drink Eat/Drink
Fang Halloween Ball Melbourne is built on a labyrinthine system of tunnels; dark, dangerous and off limits to the public — for the most part. Built into the subterranean Banana Alley Vaults that have stretched unseen from Flinders Street to the Yarra River since the late 1800s, Platform One can’t really be beat for ‘vibe’ this time of year. The Fang Halloween Ball is taking full advantage of that fact, inviting masquerade ballers to party 12 feet under with Laeather Strip and vIKON. 31 Oct, Platform One
According to the internet, clown swarms are abandoning their native heavily wooded areas now that their king is about to conquer the Free World. Since this might be your last Samhain we’ve got a few suggestions so you don’t spend it standing ‘round a punch bowl in a mullet wig like a big Halloweiner.
Butcher’s Burrow
Exitus Escape Rooms
You liked Saw right? Of course you did, it was a genre-changing piece of cinema. Well now escape rooms are all the rage and you can have your own lockedroom experience without doing any surgery. Exitus do a range of themed head scratchers, but on Halloween you can go past Butcher’s Barrow where “you’ve been kidnapped. Everything is black. Only darkness surrounds you... There’s a severed hand on a plate. You might be next. Now is not the time to be afraid. Now is the time to make your escape.” Brutal. Exitus Escape Rooms QV
31
Monster Fest Monster Fest, Melbourne’s premier fright-film event, is launching on the only night it possibly could — All Hallows’ Eve — with an advance screening of musician, director and face paint enthusiast Rob Zombie’s latest opus, 31. Watch five carnival workers forced into a blood-soaked game by maniacal circus clowns, pitted against the likes of homicidal “hillbillies” and “a Nazi midget” called Sick-Head. There will also be exclusive recorded intros and Q&As from cast and crew including the big Z himself. 31 Oct, Lido Cinemas
26 • THE MUSIC • 26TH OCTOBER 2016
Music
It’s A Wild World
Chloe Violette serenades Brynn Davies over the phone and opens up about the thief that stole her joy, and the journey back to happiness with Gypsy Girl.
“I
’m also expecting a call from the carpet cleaners as well. You are so much more exciting than the carpet cleaners!” Chloe Violette gushes over the phone. “I’m just gonna put it out there, I’ve never done a phone interview. I’m excited but I’m also a bit ‘ooh’ because I’m a very expressive person. Disclaimer: I can tend to be a little bit word vomity when I get nervous, lots of words seem to fall out of my mouth...” and she proceeds to paint vivid portraits of this affliction for the next few minutes until we’re both giggling. Violette doesn’t merely bubble cheerily along during the interview — she accents her emotions and anecdotes with her voice; singing often and with gusto. “Crazy couple my parents. That creativity and love for life has definitely come out through [me],” she jokes. Her debut EP Gypsy Girl mirrors her own natural grace and warmth, stripped acoustic folk and clear, sparking vocals with an expressiveness that speaks of youthful joy, adventure and love. “I’ve had this question before from some political theatre makers that are in my circle, like ‘do you actually know the term gypsy girl can not necessarily have the best connotations?’” she answers of the title. “But I wrote Gypsy Girl when I
was 17, about when you’re young and naive. I could sense the journey life was going to bring would have lots of soul searching, wandering if you will... finding new places or relationships, different human beings and stories. I guess Gypsy Girl to me in terms of who the girl is in the song and the narrative that follows her — she’s this whimsical, naive, ethereal beauty that comes with being young, but also the mistakes and the finding and the journey at that age. She’s almost like an idea; this girl you can’t really catch.” She suddenly bursts forth with a few lines from The Sound Of Music “How do you catch a moon beam?” Violette is so bright and vivacious that when the conversation turns it feels like a plot twist. “When I was 19 I fell into a deep, deep clinical depression... I was in a psych ward for six weeks. Partly, it was the scariness of realising that I’d like to pursue something in the creative industry, but it’s quite terrifying, intimidating, scary... At the start of that year, when I sort of declined into crazy states of mind, I was comparing myself to other musicians, in particular male musicians. It’s a man’s world — it always has been, it always will be, especially in the music industry — it’s bloody scary.” She quotes Theodore Roosevelt: “Comparison is the thief of joy.” “When I think back on that time — room E6 of the psych ward — it’s cool to realise I’ve come a long way... Being inspired by people who are following their creative endeavours and thinking ‘if they can do that, I can give it a crack too!”
Fangin’ for a drink? Here are a few haunts where you can get into the spirits this Halloween.
Scare Bear The Brunswick Hotel loves any excuse to dress up. Like, the actual building. This Halloween the doorway is a giant Zombie Teddy, and if you think that’s a solid first impression just wait till you get inside.
Dia De Los Muertos Asian Beer Café aren’t messing about with their Day Of The Dead party on Saturday. They have a zombie invasion, spooky cocktails and the best-dressed punter will snag a $1000 bar tab.
Rock’n’Awe The Tote are getting their scares in early with Spooky Spectacular on Thursday. The event is spearheaded by Her Majesty’s Hangover who are bring Spare No Words and Infected Transistor along.
Bloodsuckers What: Gypsy Girl (Independent) When & Where: 30 Oct, The Workers Club, Fitzroy
From Dusk Till Dawn is turning 20 and The Tarantinos are playing the soundtrack in full at The Luwow on Friday with a live snake performance and Ferri Maya as Vampire Queen Santanico Pandemonium.
THE MUSIC 26TH OCTOBER 2016 • 27
Jarrow
If you’ve got room on your life for a new favourite artist, meet Jarrow (Dan Oke to his mum). His debut album 2003 Dream has been on high rotation in our office and you’ve just gotta listen to lead single $$ Spoilers $$ with its adorably pedestrian (read: swoon-worthy) lyrics, trippy keys, snappy drum stick clicks, meandering guitar solos and an arrangement that will keep you guessing right up until the final note. Be that person who was on board from the get-go by heading along to see Jarrow during his Thursdays in October residency at The Tote. Plus it’s free! You can thank us later.
Pic: Tajette O’Halloran
28 • THE MUSIC • 26TH OCTOBER 2016
THE MUSIC 26TH OCTOBER 2016 â&#x20AC;¢ 29
Music
Greatest Hits
In the lead-up to supporting Regurgitator on their national Human Distribution tour, Jeremy Neale offers up his favourite ‘Gurge tracks.
Home Alone Stoned Everybody knows whenever you take a hit from a blunt you travel to a new and very similar multiverse Earth, so I’ve never touched the stuff. I’d prefer to stay in my birth dimension THANK YOU VERY MUCH. However I can still appreciate the genius of this new stadium cock rock classic. Eddie Money forever.
Black Bugs I’ve got a lot of fond memories from the Unit album cos Polyester Girl and ! (The Song Formerly Known As) used to get played a lot at my local skating rink when I was a kid. There’s something about the Black Bugs chorus that really gets me emotionally though. Classic existential questions wrapped up in a banger about video games.
Romance Of The Damned I’m a sucker for duets in general but this one features Seja so take that, other duets!
30 • THE MUSIC • 26TH OCTOBER 2016
Embrace The Pop
Frontman Tom Lanyon, a selfdescribed “psycho fan” of Los Campesinos!, fans out about working with Tom Bromley on Ceres’ latest album. By Bryget Chrisfield.
“I
’m so stoked how it turned out,” Ceres frontman Tom Lanyon extols on his band’s latest album as we clink glasses to celebrate its release. “I’m actually kinda proud of it ‘cause I think there was a lot on that first record, and even on the EPs and stuff like that, which feels like us sorta stabbing in the dark trying to find who we are, I guess, as a band.” Previously, Ceres have flirted with the “juxtaposition of poppy and dark” in their songs. “A song off the old record, I Feel Fine, I Feel Sick — it’s about my dad dying and it’s so poppy,” Lanyon offers by way of example, before pointing out that performing this song live can be a bit strange. “Everyone’s dancing around and it’s like, ‘You have no idea what this song’s about, really.’” On the band’s latest Drag It Down On You album, Lanyon observes, “There’s a lot more just dark and dark”. Reflecting on the art of songwriting, Lanyon admits, “I’ve never felt completely in control of a song. It’s kind of — at the beginning it’s my idea and then I take it to the band and it’s something else, but then just where it will go feels out of my control for some reason.” When it’s suggested Lanyon is a vessel for Ceres songs to enter through, he chuckles, “It does sound wanky, but it
does feel like that sometimes.” The band called on Tom Bromley (Los Campesinos!) to produce Drag It Down On You and Lanyon gushes, “He’s not just the dream producer, he was the only producer that I would think of to do something with.” Lanyon describes himself as a “psycho fan” of Los Campesinos!, admitting that he used to pore over press photos of the band. “Just by looking at his photo I was like, ‘He looks like a nice guy,’” Lanyon laughs, “I’m that kinda psycho dude going, ‘He looks like he’d be a lovely guy to hang out and have a beer with.”’ Lanyon also praises Bromley’s ability to instinctively know what each song needed. “He knew when to make stuff super-lush and really claustrophobic sometimes, and he knew when to take everything out and then open it up.” At one point when he was playing a song for Bromley, Lanyon shares, “He was just like, ‘You guys fight the pop in your music’... He was like, ‘Just open it up, put some false endings in there, like, let’s just use some classic songwriting mechanics that you guys have shied away from.’” So why does Lanyon reckon Ceres were doing this? “I think we were just trying to not write another [I Don’t Want To Be] Anywhere But Here, which was pretty poppy. I wanted to write a darker record and what was coming out was darker, but [Bromley] injected a lot of hooks in there, which was cool.” When asked whether Ceres work with the producer again, Lanyon reveals, “We’re already talking about the next record and stuff like that, so it’s really cool.”
When & Where: 28 Oct, Northcote Social Club
Music
Oh, The Horror
David ‘Howsie’ Howes of “horror-rock-metal-punk” group Coffin Carousel takes Brynn Davies through their comic-inspired video saga and the surprise they have planned for Halloween.
F
rom the dark shadows of Melbourne, a band are emerging with a whole bunch of horrifying releases just in time for Halloween. Not to be put in any one genre category, the “horror-rock-metalpunk” band Coffin Carousel are gearing up to continue the hype from their dual single release Bat Shit Crazy/Toxic Candy with a new video and a free single download. If you can expect anything from this band’s theatrics. The video clip accompanying Bat Shit Crazy — the lead single from their (yet-to-be-released) debut LP — is the second instalment in a Batman/ Sin City-inspired, good-vs-evil saga. A chase through dilapidated downtown alleys, a mysterious light leaking from a bag held by the ‘the bad girls’ and our heroes, the band. “That’s the mystery,” lead singer and guitarist David Howes laughs when asked about the contents of the bag. “I’m a big Quentin Tarantino fan so I pulled some inspiration from Pulp Fiction: you see this reoccurring suitcase, you just see the light that comes out.” The characters “symbolise the kinda corruption underground, involvements with society... Good triumphing over evil”. “Lyrically, Bat Shit Crazy was inspired by a few things, I guess calling things out in
life as I see them. Relationships, friendships... come out and tell it how it is. It’s not being sugar coated,” he explains. As a follow up, the band are planning on “putting out a new song” and a “Tim Burtoninspired” video clip as a free download “for the fans that have supported the band over the years, just as a thank you”, he reveals. Finding a solid fanbase given their diverse sound “has been a challenge in Australia,” Howes muses. “A lot of our social media coverage does come from Europe and Canada and South America. I know it’s something that won’t catch on here because I know that hardcore music is still very strong, but there’s definitely metalheads that are into more rock and rock fans that are into a heavier sound, and the punk fans.” Coffin Carousel is detailed in their aesthetic, melding elements of metal and horror with a little bit of quirky caricature thrown in for good measure. The horror rock-metal fashion “has always been around” he says. “It regenerates every now and then, then sort of dies off... I’ve been doing it with bands for the last ten years and when I started there wasn’t many bands around doing it... another generation comes through and picks up on it and supports it, and if people want to find it they can find bands around their hometown that have probably always been there, but they’re probably not noticed so much because it’s such a niche.” “I’m not too interested [in trends]. With trends in music they just change so quick and I know some bands follow the trends but I’m thinking long-term with this band and having songs that carry through time, not [clinging] to a trend to get noticed.”
When & Where: 30 Oct, Bendigo Hotel
All good things must come to an end but we’re here to protect you from the FOMO. Catch these must-see shows before they close this week.
Switzerland Joanna Murray-Smith’s darkly comic portrait of American crime writer Patricia Highsmith is a tense and gripping thriller in the same vein as its reclusive heroine’s novels. When & Where: until 29 Oct, Southbank Theatre Switzerland
War And Peace German theatre company Gob Squad came to town for the Melbourne Festival, but lucky theatre lovers can catch their improv-ode to Tolstoy’s epic tome for another week. When & Where: until 30 Oct, Malthouse Theatre
Sunshine This world premiere production of Tom Holloway’s “choral theatre” play is the latest newly penned work to be championed by Melbourne’s leading actors’ theatre company. When & Where: until 5 Nov, Red Stitch Theatre
THE MUSIC 26TH OCTOBER 2016 • 31
Music
Sob Stories
Paint It Black
Borrowed Time
Sasha L Smith tells Bryget Chrisfield that “some stars aligning” helped The Black Heart Death Cult secure some studio time in order to lay down a coupla tracks with dream producer Ricky Maymi.
We’re hooked on Pixar, and unless you have a heart of stone, we’re betting you are too. The studio’s latest short, Borrowed Time, is a dark, beautiful, heartbreaking tear jerker. Here are some of our favourite sob-worthy moments:
Ellie & Carl’s montage from Up We saw Ellie and Carl’s life flash before our eyes, from childhood to old age. It’s a perfect nut-shell love story, but Ellie’s death without ever seeing Paradise Falls had us reaching for the Kleenex.
All of Toy Story We swear the Toy Story writers intentionally try to break our hearts in every film. The touching comradery in the face of a fiery death in the final instalment had us bawling.
Joy’s breakdown from Inside Out All she wanted was for Riley to be happy, but when she ends up in the memory dump with no way out, Joy breaks down and as her tears flowed so did ours. *sniff*
32 • THE MUSIC • 26TH OCTOBER 2016
L
istening to The Black Heart Death Cult’s latest single, She’s A Believer, you could be forgiven for thinking you detect some The Beatles-inspired sitar. “No, no,” the psychrock outfit’s founder Sasha L Smith corrects. “That sound is the organ pedal. So the pedal’s got different settings and the setting that is: the Mellotron flute. It’s got a real ‘60s vibe about it.” This song is the first taste from The Black Heart Death Cult’s debut album, which Smith advises they’re “about halfway through” completing. “It’s taking a while, I think it started in April of 2015,” he adds. “That was when I first started recording. So I’d been writing a coupla songs and then went and had a jam with my mate Bill Patching and then, you know, three weeks later we were in the studio after I’d shown him a couple of tunes. So it happened very, very quickly once it was started.” Smith says The Black Heart Death Cult “came out of the process of [his] old band breaking up” and his compulsion to continue to write songs. “You wanna have that avenue for your writing,” he tells. After showing Patching some songs, Smith reveals, “The opportunity sort of arose to go into the studio with this guy I’ve wanted to work with for a while.” Ricky Maymi, The Brian Jonestown
Massacre’s original drummer, is the guy Smith is referring to and he acknowledges, “So [it was] just some stars aligning, I guess, in the way it happened all so quickly”. After confessing “melody is really important to me”, Smith observes, “I guess in a way, in this band, it’s always pulled back into getting this droney sort of sound, which ties it all together, which is maybe the element that runs through all of it.” Something Smith remembers “quite vividly from [his] childhood” is listening to “really melodic stuff” on the radio during family drives. “Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass: you hear stuff like that and you’re just like, ‘Oh, wow, that’s pretty amazing’,” he recalls. When asked what inspired him to wanna pick up a guitar in the first place, Smith offers, “I think that really came about by being a teenager and being a metalhead.” So did he try to play along with his favourite songs? “Nah, not really; I was hopeless,” he admits. “And you couldn’t sing anybody’s songs, ‘cause you couldn’t sing. So it just naturally leads to writing your own stuff — that’s sorta how the progression happens — and, you know, it just goes from there.” On whether he saved up to buy himself his first guitar, Smith chuckles, “It was probably stolen, I dunno”. For their next gig, The Black Heart Death Cult are playing as part of a very Halloweeninspired line-up. “We’ve got Demon Parade and The Braves and Wars playing with us so it’s gonna be a pretty good old night,” Smith enthuses. So will he don appropriately ghoulish dress-ups for the occasion? “I think I’ll be doing a bit of Dracula for that,” he threatens. Smith also warns those punters “going to the horse races the next day [will have] a hangover”.
When & Where: 31 Oct, The LuWow
Music
Stay Gold Bassist Alex O’Gorman and drummer Luke Brennan talk Anthony Carew through the challenges of creating an album, which was mixed after Big Smoke frontman Adrian Slattery passed, to honour their late bandmate’s legacy. can’t be hanging around, on tomorrow’s wind I’ll blow,” sings Adrian Slattery, on Big Smoke’s Kiss Me Once, a song in which time is slipping away and romantic regrets hang heavy with mortality. Slattery wrote it after being diagnosed with terminal oesophageal cancer in 2015, having set himself the task of making Big Smoke’s debut album in the time he had remaining. He died in May, just 30, less than a year after his diagnosis. But he leaves behind Time Is Golden, a golden-toned LP of Heartland rock swagger, alt-country warmth and heartfelt songwriting.
“I
It’s weird to talk about something when you feel like you’re handling it on someone else’s behalf.
“The story is incredibly tragic, to lose a friend is the worst thing anyone can go through,” says Big Smoke bassist Alex O’Gorman, “but I think the main reason why we are so happy [with the record] is that it so beautifully captures what Adrian had to leave behind. It’s like his voice, and his ideas, have been so beautifully preserved and now we can share it with everyone.” “There’s nothing we left short of achieving, in terms of making the record and gigging as much as we possibly could,” offers drummer Luke Brennan. “The pride we feel in that is primary. But, there is a bittersweet quality to the album’s release, a natural disappointment that we can’t build on that; that we can’t keep creating things... It’s weird to talk about something when you feel like you’re handling it on someone else’s behalf. It’s not a negative
thing, it’s wound up in feelings of pride, and joy, and accomplishment that the record’s out there.” Slattery had been playing as Big Smoke since 2009, following the demise of his former outfit, garagerockers Major Major. Slattery’s songs were steeped in Heartland rock, and took off when O’Gorman and drummer Luke Brennan turned Big Smoke into a tight trio in 2014. They cut 2015’s Lately EP, and afterwards were joined by guitarist Tim Baker and keyboardist Joe Cope. After Slattery’s diagnosis in June of 2015, they threw themselves into gigging, and started planning the recording of their LP. “[Everything] was all gearing towards going into the studio with this band, and making this record. The idea, and the trajectory, was set by Adrian a long time ago,” says O’Gorman. As the record’s “technical director”, it was he who tended to Slattery’s impulses, his intense artistic drive in his dying days. “He would have all these crazy ideas about instrumentation, about what would work and what wouldn’t. I was just trying to keep up with him; he was moving so fast, was so incredibly creative, so incredibly driven to make this a great record.” The bulk of Time Is Golden was recorded in three days in November 2015, the band playing live at Soundpark Studios; finding the joy of creation even though there was a heaviness weighing on the session, and the unavoidable significance of making something that could serve as a legacy. O’Gorman calls the sessions “happy”; Brennan “fun and joyous”. Even when engineer Shawn Everett (who won a Grammy for working with Alabama Shakes), who the band had recruited to mix the LP, had to push back his trip to Melbourne by a couple of months, it was Slattery who reassured the other members. “Adrian said to me,” recounts Brennan, “as far as he was concerned, we’d done everything as best as we could, so we should apply that to the mixing and mastering phase. He wanted it to be the best record that it could be.” The album was eventually mixed after Slattery’s death; the band, Everett, and Slattery’s ex-wife, Paige Clark, working long days to capture “what was in Adrian’s head, and in his heart; everything he wanted to put down” on record. Where the recording of the album was touched with joy, the mixing process — and Time Is Golden’s eventual release — has been inextricably linked with the grieving process. “After he’d passed away, all of this momentum and energy that was pushing us along all came to a halt. Adrian was this energy, this force, and then he wasn’t there,” offers O’Gorman. “We had our heads down, and we were working so hard, and we just had to be in the moment at that time. Then, [after] everything was finished, and Adrian had left us; it’s only now that I’ve come to that realisation that nobody else really understands what we were going through, but they’re all really interested in it, and they want me to talk about it. It was such a private thing when we were making it, but now that the album’s out, it’s such a public thing. I’m really happy to share things that we did, and moments that we shared, because it just means Adrian’s voice can continue to be heard.”
What: Time Is Golden (Barely Dressed/ Remote Control)
THE MUSIC 26TH OCTOBER 2016 • 33
OPINION Opinion
Trai ler Trash
Daly Wilson Bog Band Live In Australia
Fragmented Frequencies Other
T
he price of vinyl is based on scarcity, not quality. There is just one scratchy 78 of the Long ‘Cleve’ Music From Reed & Little Harvey Hull (Down Home Boys) 1927 murder ballad Original Stack O’Lee Blues in existence. If The Other Side you want one, prepare to cough up $60,000 — and that’s if its obsessive owner will sell it to you. It’s pretty obscene, With Bob particularly as the tune is near-indistinguishable from numerous other examples of ‘race music’ recorded at Baker Fish the time. But, I digress. I want to go the other way and talk about how, thanks to a cigarette company, you can get a taut slab of ‘70s jazz funk for a dollar. Founded in 1968, drummer Warren Daly, fresh from touring the US with Glenn Miller Band returned to Australia and hooked up with trombonist/arranger Ed Wilson to form an 18-piece big band fusing jazz, funk and rock. Due to their size, Daly-Wilson Big Band initially struggled financially and disbanded in 1971, but were rescued in 1973 by the benevolence of the Benson & Hedges company, whose logos would adorn four of their next five albums. Sampled by DJ Shadow, their cover of Also Sprach Zarathustra, retitled Space Odyssey — 2001 is a psychedelic, funky freakout, while the urban ‘70s noir of Theme From SWAT was sampled by DJ Q-bert and Dirty Feet by Mobb Deep. While Benson & Hedges pulled their funds in 1983 and they ultimately disbanded, their legacy lives on in a ridiculous amount of op shops around the country.
Wa keThe Dea d Every Time I Die
Punk And Hardcore With Sarah Petchell
G
uys, the good years are gone. We had a whinge a few years ago about the fact that there were too many festivals and too many international acts coming out here. But if the fluctuation of the dollar hasn’t upset things enough, then the recent changes to visa processes announced by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection have potentially put the nail in that coffin.
34 • THE MUSIC • 26TH OCTOBER 2016
The Purge: Election Day
While bringing out one act won’t stretch the budget too much, bringing out multiple acts is going to be harder. And if you’re planning a festival? Well, you can pretty much forget about it. For the most part, I think the punk and hardcore communities are safe — if we bring out one act at a time and we don’t try to hold festivals. You know, like Unify. So better get there in January, because seeing Alexisonfire, Every Time I Die and letlive on the same bill may not happen again… But the thing that gets me the most is the fact that, yet again, the government are completely out of touch with the needs of the music community. New South Wales (and Queensland) have well and truly shat the bed with the lockout laws. Now it’s the Federal Government’s turn: let’s make it more expensive to bring out bands. Oh, and how about David Wilden from the Immigration Department who tried to put the onus of the inevitable increase in ticket prices back on the promoter? It’s up to the promoter to decide where the extra costs gets offset. WELL WHERE ELSE DO YOU THINK THEY’RE GONNA GO, MATE? A Labor Senator has called it a “fun tax”. I call it a massive “fuck you”.
OPINION Opinion
Dives Into Your
T
he Purge: Election Screens Year, the third film in the And Idiot Boxes all-crime-is-legal-for12-hours-yes-evenWith Guy Davis murder-how-couldyou-possibly-thinkthis-is-a-bad-idea Purge franchise, is now available on your home-entertainment format of choice, so you now have the opportunity to watch all three movies back to back and see the evolution and expansion of the saga’s provocative central idea (or watch people in creepy masks harm each other in inventive ways — your call). I must at this point cop to an appreciation for this series of films, which at its best creates an unholy amalgam of B-movie thrills and sledgehammer-subtle but nonetheless sincere social commentary. When they work — and, for mine, they work most consistently and effectively in The Purge: Anarchy, the second film in the series — they tap into a currently simmering fear and fury that’s certainly evident in western societies. A feeling that we’re being played for suckers in a rigged game designed to benefit only a few. A feeling that our grievances are being ignored. A feeling that what was on offer, and even what we already had, is being taken away, with little to replace it. Your mileage may vary when it comes to your own levels of fear and fury (I have plenty of both!), and how the Purge movies may articulate them, so let’s not dwell on that right now. Instead, let take a quick look at how The Purge: Election Year, despite obviously good intentions, is a little full of itself. The first Purge movie was a slick but standard home-invasion thriller that pitted Ethan Hawke and his white-bread family against a posse of preppie ne’er-do-wells out to get their homicidal kicks on the one night of the year when any crime can be committed without fear of prosecution or retribution. Its box-office success allowed writer-director James DeMonaco to broaden his scope a little with the sequel, The Purge: Anarchy, which took the mayhem to the city streets, where a bunch of cannon-fodder chumps fell under the protection of grizzled, gun-toting Frank Grillo, whose bad attitude couldn’t eclipse his inherently good nature. A large part of Anarchy’s appeal was its deft broad-stroke sketching of how the Purge painted a dirty great bullseye on the backs of the marginalised — it was class warfare writ large, which made it even more satisfying when urban revolutionary Michael K Williams (Omar!) stepped to a bunch of
white-privileged fat cats with a machine gun and bellowed “Motherfuck the Purge!” before spraying bullets. But Anarchy revealed just enough about the history, machinations and ramifications of the Purge to enable viewers to fill in a few blanks. Election Year makes the increasingly common gaffe of revealing a bit too much, making it all too clear that, yes, those crusty old politicians you just don’t trust are indeed responsible for not only maintaining a corrupt and corrosive system but exploiting it for their own gain. It feels legit but it also rings a tad hollow, as if all the aggression and malice that rears its ugly head on Purge night will vanish once the existing power structures are abolished. Now I’m not saying the Purge movies should be your first stop on your trip to socio-political enlightenment, but Anarchy did a better job of presenting complex and even complicit reactions to a truly fucked-up situation, I believe. Kudos to Election Year for suggesting there’s light at the end of the tunnel (and for bringing back Grillo, once again capping fools with elan), but I think I prefer this franchise when it wallows in the mire a little more.
THE MUSIC 26TH OCTOBER 2016 • 35
Album / E Album/EP Reviews
Album OF THE Week
Empire Of The Sun Two Vines EMI
★★★★
Tkay Maidza
Empire Of The Sun haven’t strayed far from their comfort zone on their third album, and why would they? By their own admission they make music that stands outside of time, and the shimmering dreampop that is again on display here sounds like it could have been made at any time in the last two decades. It’s been a winning formula for the duo of Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore since debut album Walking On A Dream. Two Vines is the same dream, and they are still walking on it. Inspired by a vision of Littlemore’s - of a city reclaimed by nature – Two Vines is replete with bright, primary colours and visions of transcending the human form: Steele hums along with the universe on the dancefloor-ready title track, and finds himself simply flying on the New Romantic throwback There’s No Need; while “Together we can do it” is the catch cry of Ride – a song whose stolid doof-doof foundation is given gorgeous texture by Prince’s guitarist, Wendy Melvoin. It’s unashamedly feelgood, in a good way. Empire Of The Sun have gone a step further than assimilating their influences on the album, enlisting the support of Tim Lefebvre and Henry Hey – members of Bowie’s Blackstar band – along with Melvoin; while no lesser luminary than Lindsey Buckingham shows up to lend some wondrously sleepy guitar work on closing song To Her Door. The album is a luminous pop gem. Tim Kroenert
TKAY
FRANK IERO and the PATIENCE
Dew Process/Universal
Parachutes
★★★½
Vagrant/Cooking Vinyl
At 20-years-old, Tkay Maidza drops her first full-length album, TKAY. Despite her age it feels like this has been a long time coming. Nonetheless, TKAY positions Maidza as one of the most promising artists going around. While Nicki Minaj, Beyonce and MIA have established themselves as role models for a new generation of female rappers and singers, now Australian females have their own local star to follow. And even if the production and all-round quality of TKAY doesn’t hit any great heights, her vocals are delivered with unadulterated conviction and intent. By throwing down spitfire verses like in the opening Always Been and the dubby State Of Mind and embracing her inner pop diva on lead single 36 • THE MUSIC • 26TH OCTOBER 2016
★★★½
Simulation and the soaring Follow Me, Maidza refuses to be pigeon-holed. In terms of production, there’s a heavy lean towards dancefloor-filling bangers, which - across the album’s 14 tracks - can mean at times it feels repetitive (see You Want, at the very end of the record, which feels like it’s making up the numbers). But overall, and especially across the first half of the album, TKAY hits many more targets than it misses, and heralds the proper arrival of the future first lady of Australian music. Dylan Stewart
Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance, Leathermouth) has gradually been positioning himself as one of the most consistent songwriters currently working within the punk rock spectrum. Even more impressively, he’s done so while exploring a markedly different sound with each release. Parachutes is as sonically removed from his scuzzy solo debut Stomachaches as that album was from Leathermouth’s blistering XO and is probably Iero’s most commercial sounding release since emo heavyweights My Chemical Romance’s Three Cheers breakthrough. Initially, this can lead one to dismiss the record as a lesser version of Iero’s prior accomplishments. But, a little
perseverance reveals an album that is as deep, personal and distinctive as any of Iero’s prior efforts. There’s something both anxiously vulnerable and unrepentantly rambunctious to Iero’s work on this goaround - songs like I’m A Mess and I’ll Let You Down feeling both powerfully anthemic and painfully broken. Despite a greater sense of polish and a more accessible direction, Parachutes is not as immediately accessible as Iero’s earlier records, but it ultimately continues his increasingly remarkable streak of strong punk albums. Matt O’Neill
EP Reviews Album/EP Reviews
Lou Barlow
Foreign Fields
Near Myth
Soft Hair
Apocalypse Fetish
Take Cover
Idiot Mystic
Soft Hair
Domino/EMI
Communion/Caroline
Independent
Domino/EMI
★★★½
★★★★
★★★
★★★★
A lo-fi, beauty-in-ugliness ethos has long defined Barlow’s musical outlook and as a title, Apocalypse Fetish sounds like his ultimate incarnation - and it may be. Barlow has said he’d be proud if it was his “final record”. For the occasion of this EP Barlow re-strings and re-tunes a ukulele to prove that nothing really is as nice as it seems: Barlow’s Franken-instrument is decidedly unlike its original, hopeful whimsy. Barlow’s ukulele is dark, brooding and ominous. The sound it produces gives a medieval quality to his already quasi-mythic, stepped-melodies and unsettling half-rhymes.
Nashville duo Foreign Fields tighten their focus on their second album, yielding a sound that’s more momentous than on their dreamy debut Anywhere But Where I Am in 2012. Such indulgence impresses but leaves the listener bereft of something to hook into. Not so with Take Cover. The 12 tracks carry us through a less expansive landscape and into something more urban and personal. The dark tone of I Killed You In The Morning is offset by its lilting keys, Weeping Red Devil’s high warbles and vinyl clicks are textural and interesting, but the pop-imbibed highlights like single I bind this album into a cohesive whole.
Recorded in a suburban studio won by drummer Joe Hammond in a magazine competition, Melbourne art-pop five-piece Near Myth’s debut LP is oblique but intriguing. Skittering, syncopated percussion and precision bass lines interlock with prickly guitar and unnerving synth trimmings, while singer-songwriter Marcus Teague’s talky vocals lend a dazed quality to his spaced-out lyrics: “Lost the scent in the fur of your neck / picked it up again at drinks on the deck,” he caws on We Can Have A House. Talking Heads and Flaming Lips are obvious influences, though the sparse, murky arrangements more immediately recall Portland, Oregon eccentrics Menomena.
Soft Hair get pretty freaky on their debut album. The eccentric duo slip and slide into soft cruisy psychedelic electro-pop and funk that feels like early Prince in chilled, slow, wonky motion. This project is a collaboration between the charismatic Connan Mockasin and LA Priest/ex Late Of The Pier frontman Sam Dust. Mockasin, whose falsetto brings to mind Prince’s helium phase, has made sure that this album feels like a natural progression from Caramel. Dust provides tasteful bubbles of pastel coloured synths. A playful album cheekily delivered by a couple of charmers from the indiepop underground.
Samantha Jonscher
Carley Hall
Guido Farnell
Tim Kroenert
More Reviews Online Anaal Nathrakh The Whole Of The Law
theMusic.com.au
Miriam Lieberman Trio Full Circle
Serpentine Dominion Serpentine Dominion
THE MUSIC 26TH OCTOBER 2016 • 37
Album / E Album/EP Reviews
Tigertown
Helmet
Ulcerate
Superheist
Papernote
Dead To The World
Shrines Of Paralysis
Inertia
earMusic/Sony
Relapse/Rocket
Ghosts Of The Social Dead Dinner For Wolves
★★★★
★★½
★★★
★★½
What’s that? The sun’s up? It’s warm outside? Papernote is on the speakers? Unabashed bliss is served up all over this three-track EP (plus a remix of the title track by BORNS thrown in for good measure) via an infectious mix of electronic and analogue instruments, singalong choruses and catchy-as-fuck melodies. There’s more than a hint of early (read: world-conquering) MGMT and even mid-’00s NZ wunderkinds Naked & Famous combined with the free-wheeling attitude that a young band with the world at their feet should have. Listen out for these tracks to be plastered all over your summer.
Back in the day Helmet were an influential group for a lot of bands - and a fair amount of angry youths - but it’s hard to see that same creature in their latest effort. While utterly professional, it’s both juvenile and archaic in a way that nullifies the niche value of either. It’s also pretty bland, with the exception of Green Shirt, which is also part nursery-folk. Dead To The World isn’t totally rotten, the guitars are appropriately thick, the percussion carries its weight, and Page Hamilton’s voice hasn’t lost any of its meat, but it feels like having not released an album in six years means they haven’t grown either.
Dylan Stewart
Nic Addenbrooke
This is the fifth album from these profoundly grumpy, technically minded death metal kiwis and the initiated will know what to expect. Packed with disorientating time signature switches, overwhelmingly thick sound design and bovine death bellows, Shrines Of Paralysis is an impressively accomplished work where the speed and precision of drummer Jamie Saint Merat is frequently breathtaking. Aside from some effectively slower, atmospheric passages on the likes of There Are No Saviours, there’s not a great deal of forward progress from 2013’s Vermis, hampering Ulcerate’s chances of breaking through to new audiences.
Arriving after a decade-plus hibernation, Ghosts Of The Social Dead is like metalcore, deathcore, new thrash and djent never happened. The Melburnians’ new efforts are often rooted so firmly in numetal’s heyday it ought to arrive with accompanying wallet chain. Irrespective, the reconfigured incarnation does execute with conviction. New vocalist Ezekiel Ox’s idiosyncratic rap ‘n’ croon infuses Sweat/Swing and Back To Base with noticeably greater energy. At times Superheist tip the scales too far into radio-rock territory at the expense of the bass groove thrills and mosh riff moments diehards will crave, but those hooks may provide scope beyond initial fan sentimentality.
Christopher H James
Brendan Crabb
More Reviews Online Agnes Obel Citizen Of Glass
38 • THE MUSIC • 26TH OCTOBER 2016
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The Pretty Reckless Who You Selling For
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THE MUSIC 26TH OCTOBER 2016 • 39
Live Re Live Reviews
The Delta Riggs @ Corner Hotel. Pic: Joshua Braybrook
The Delta Riggs, Gideon Bensen, The Cherry Dolls Corner Hotel 20 Oct
The Delta Riggs @ Corner Hotel. Pic: Joshua Braybrook
The Delta Riggs @ Corner Hotel. Pic: Joshua Braybrook
Falling In Reverse @ 170 Russell. Pic: Jay Hynes
Falling In Reverse @ 170 Russell. Pic: Jay Hynes
40 • THE MUSIC • 26TH OCTOBER 2016
The Cherry Dolls’ face-melting mouth organ solo draws the leather-jacket-flannel-shirt wearing audience front and centre. “I know you didn’t just come here at 8pm to stand here. Can you shake your hips with me?” Joshua Aubry says, as the band transition into a mellow groove before the booming drums lead into a wonderfully loud guitar solo that leaves our ears ringing with pleasure. Their intensity onstage remains consistent for the entirety of their set and — as Aubry holds the microphone cord and flings it into the air — the band finish in a vocal and reverbdrenched frenzy. Accompanied by his band, consisting of a drummer and bassist, Gideon Bensen quickly tears the crowd away from the bar for round two. Small (in numbers) as they seem, Bensen and his band are definitely not lacking in sound quality. Their size is no reflection of the blaring bass in Cold Cold Heart, which spills into every inch of the room. Cue mouth organ solo number two for tonight and The Delta Riggs kick it off in full force with Surgery Of Love. This band has it all. Not only are they superentertaining, but also their skill as individual musicians is hard to fault. As each band member grooves along, they embellish track after track with perfectly timed guitar fills and effortless backing vocals, all done while looking insanely relaxed. As soon as the first chord of Supersonic Casualties rings out, the crowd erupts. The track sounds even tighter performed live. Hands are in the air, eyes are closed as the crowd absolutely blisses out for a few minutes before jumping straight into
Never Seen This Before’s funk groove. This brings out the best audience participation of the night as we scream the chorus as instructed by frontman/microphone twirler extraordinaire, Elliott Hammond. “We were in Canberra last night and there were about 145 of them and they were louder than you,” yells
The wafting weed scent gets stronger, the noise gets louder and the dance moves get looser. Hammond. Determined to outdo Canberra, the audience’s intensity is amplified, especially after Hammond follows up with the comment, “I think you should be excited to see the greatest fuckin’ rock’n’roll export of the last decade!” The wafting weed scent gets stronger, the noise gets louder and the dance moves get looser. The Delta Riggs tick all the boxes. They’re skilled musicians with 100% commitment to their onstage energy, decadent guitar licks, fierce vocals and (most important of all) mouth organ solos. What more could you want? Natasha Pinto
Horrorshow, B Wise, Omar Musa Howler 21 Oct Omar Musa gets it started as we’re invited to “come a little closer to the stage”. Musa’s powerful bars resonate through
eviews Live Reviews
the now-bobbing audience as familiar tracks from album Dead Centre begin the warm-up. “It would be a crime” not to let DJ B2 showcase some of his incredible mixing skills, which he does so seamlessly that the crowd warms easily. A brief appearance from Melbourne’s own 1/6 stems into Musa explaining his campaign of changing Australia’s signature culinary dish as single Laksa concludes a brilliant opening performance. Elefant Traks’ latest elephant B Wise swaggers on stage with a confidence that suggests he’s been part of the herd for years. Unsurprisingly, hands are waving as No Questions demonstrates why sophomore EP Semi Pro has put this MC on the map. Giving us a reason to Smile as the laidback track implies, Wise flips the mood for a final rendition of Risk It as we bounce to his quickfire lyrics that he so eloquently delivers. This is a rapper on the up. The crowd roars as Horrorshow walk on stage. An opening rendition of Like A Version cover Walk On The Wild Side promises this is a crew ready to rock the spot. With Adit comfortable behind the decks, rapper Solo energetically brings back old-school vibes from hits No Rides Left and In to political track Own Backyard.
This is why Horrorshow are some of the best in the country. The sold-out room knows every word to King Amongst Many and, as the familiar voice of Joyride’s chorus in SDRO lingers in the air, Horrorshow are most certainly in the building. After a quick pause for us to chant, “You’re killing it, Gary!”
(the sound engineer), we get a rendition of a brand new track that is nothing short of straight up dope. Dead Star Shine rolls into the familiar banjo chords of Walk You Home, and we’re immediately unified in the chorus. Single The Rain strips even the most hardcore of hip hop heads cool, while new single Right Here invites Musa and B Wise back to the stage. Followed by tour namesake If You Know What I Mean, we damn well know what they mean as the crew close on yet another brand new single. So confident and proud are they in their music that this is a crescendo at a down-beat tempo. This is why Horrorshow are some of the best in the country, as “...When they step in the house, got the keys to the city and just put their names on the lease”. Antony Attridge
Morrissey Festival Hall 22 Oct Festival Hall is full to the brim with people buying tote bags that read, “Don’t be mean to animals or I’ll kill you,” as the minutes tick by to the moment when Morrissey takes the stage in Melbourne once again.There are no support acts. Instead, we have a specially curated video that can only be described as half an hour of music videos interspersed with suicide poems, British stand-up comedy and war footage. It makes for an interesting opening, as we go from the likes of Ramones, Alice Cooper and Tina Turner through to segments of screaming and laughing.Morrissey and his band walk on stage, bowing to each other before taking their positions. These aloof theatrics carry on throughout the night. It’s nice to see that Morrissey’s voice is still match-fit. Hearing his clipped crooning takes
you to a room where posters of The Cure are stained with cigarette smoke. It’s not just the Morrissey show, however; every single member of his backing
Are you all mildly entertained? By who? That’s not what I’m here for. band is multi-talented, taking on accordion, keyboards, trumpet, didgeridoo and even a gong.There’s no shortage of political commentary from Morrissey, whether speaking directly to the crowd or just conveying the messages through song. He asks the crowd why we care about the silly, silly Clinton-Trump debate in America before launching into World Peace Is None Of Your Business with footage of police brutality. He conjures that Morrissey melancholy that everyone loves with hits like Suedehead and Everyday Is Like Sunday and carries the atmosphere outside of the songs, asking everyone, “Are you all mildly entertained? By who? That’s not what I’m here for.”The set list incorporates a few songs by The Smiths, most notably Meat Is Murder and How Soon Is Now?. Meat Is Murder is spun into a much heavier and more horrifying track, playing out at the end of the show with an accompanying clip featuring slaughterhouses and animal abuse before the words “Meat Is Murder” are prominently displayed. Morrissey still wore his shirt half-unbuttoned throughout and removed it at the end. Some things never change.
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Kaytranada @ 170 Russell All The Weathers @ The Tote
Samuel Connor
THE MUSIC 26TH OCTOBER 2016 • 41
Arts Reviews Arts Reviews
this pragmatic conundrum, we are artfully led through several layers of investigation. From the distant past, exploring the colonial history of Quebec and its influence on the city’s cultural identity, through the political and social complexities of French Canada in the 20th century, Lepage is a nimble guide, hopscotching between objective observation and wistful, subjective nostalgia. The title of the show refers to the address of Lepage’s humble childhood home, in a small apartment block of a working-class neighbourhood. In scale model form, this abstract “memory palace” is physically conjured before our eyes. Lepage is an intensely charming performer who can easily hold an audience in his own right, but the use of digital animation, carefully judged projections and real-time video infuses a wondrous dynamism into this staging that almost seems to be an extension of Lepage’s megawatt-charisma. His sentimental anecdotes or meditative stanzas magically manifest before us and yet this technical chutzpah is elegantly balanced with Lepage’s delivery so as not to steal focus. It’s a synergy between performer and stage that this reviewer has rarely seen done better. While Lepage is the sole performer on stage, to call this a one-man show would be a disservice. The creative collaboration with theatre wizards Ex Machina that underpins this production deserves equal praise for 887’s comprehensive success. However, for my money at least, the most extraordinary moment, in a show of extraordinary moments, is all Lepage’s. His delivery of Speak White, a poem that will no doubt be obscure to most Australians, is nothing short of miraculous. It’s the kind of exquisitely crafted account that leaves you primed by the static-electricity of adrenaline; your emotions balled-up behind your eyes. The kind of performance that collects and swells within you, that reveals something you hadn’t known before, that takes root in the memory like a childhood phone number. Robert Lepage, 887
887 Theatre Arts Centre Melbourne (Finished)
★★★★½ Robert Lepage’s herculean two-hour monologue, 887, is part biopic, part history lecture, part poetry reading; a virtuosic thesis on the function and significance of memory, both collective and personal, and the extraordinary power expert stagecraft can contribute to the power of storytelling. Through the lens of his personal history, 887 offers a series of shrewd observations about the existential oddities of recollection, sparked by Lepage’s difficulty memorising one of the most important literary artefacts of the contemporary French Canadian psyche, Michele Lalonde’s Speak White. From
Maxim Boon
42 • THE MUSIC • 26TH OCTOBER 2016
Kinky Boots
Kinky Boots Theatre Her Majesty’s Theatre to 11 Dec
★★★★½ Inside Her Majesty’s Theatre there’s a fair bit of swannecking going on as Cyndi Lauper (composer/lyricist for Kinky Boots) takes her seat. But we’re soon transported to the British village of Northamptonshire via an authentic-looking brick facade: the exterior of Price & Son shoe factory. There’s guffaws early on as Young Lola (eight-year-old Elijah Slavinskis) sashays and struts confidently across the stage in heels. Then as soon as we meet the two main Kinky Boots characters, Charlie (Toby Francis) and Lola (Callum Francis, from the original West End cast), we care about them immensely; their friendship chemistry is totally believable. Lola gets the crowd whooping enthusiastically during upbeat banger Land Of Lola, Francis’s performance channelling Diana Ross. She recently excelled as Kate Monster/Lucy in Avenue Q on this very stage and Sophie Wright shows she’s right up there with the best here as Lauren. All clap and sing along for the duration of the Everybody Say Yeah conveyor-belt scene. The dexterity of Lola’s Angels while completing acrobatic tricks in those sky-high stiletto boots could only be fully appreciated by those who’ve actually tried to walk in a pair. Ingenious staging sees a boxing ring created using only a few white straps and a long, perfectly-formed, stiletto-heeled leg as makeshift pole. The slow-motion boxing match between Lola and Don (Daniel Williston, from the original Toronto production, excels) is a highlight. Lauper’s songs are so catchy that they sound familiar, especially Lola’s Hold Me In Your Heart, which evokes classic Whitney Houston ballad I Have Nothing. The audience applause/hollers last for so long after this number that we could now be pushing this theatre’s curfew. We’re left feeling genuinely uplifted by this show’s overall “Just Be Who You Want To Be” message, which is so important and relevant right now. Four and a half diva snaps. Bryget Chrisfield
OPINION Opinion
Howzat!
Local Music By Jeff Jenkins Before The Deluge “Because something is happening here,” Bob Dylan sang 51 years ago. Howzat! thought of that line when listening to Noah Earp’s debut album, Disinheritor, although we don’t know exactly what it is. Noah, an occasional John Safran impersonator, is obviously a deep thinker. He says Disinheritor is “a debut album... but the irony is it all comes across as a swansong”. He explains: “For a time, during the making of the album, I literally thought I was going to die soon. Put it down to youthful over-earnestness, put it down to some kind of morbid tendency, but that’s how it was.” A friend recently called Noah, “The International Man Of Misery”. “I kinda liked that,” he says. The album features Bound For Glory, but it’s not an Angry Anderson cover and we can’t imagine Noah on the back of a Batmobile at the Grand Final. Noah’s song quotes Kerouac: “And just like Jack, I’m for the mad ones: mad to live, mad to talk, desirous of everything.” But, “the truth is,” Noah adds, “I think Jack Kerouac sucks. No, really. He’s a terrible writer. On the
other hand, I think that particular line [from On The Road] is one of the greatest sentences ever, which goes to show that if you drunkenly type up a lot of words on one long roll of paper, you might hit a bullseye.” Noah agrees with the sentiment. “I think most people are desirous of everything, and they either learned a way to quieten those voices or went mad trying to chase it. I’m trying very hard to stay hungry without going mad. What I really want from my music career is some huge, messy, beautiful body of work, and an audience packed to the rafters who gets it.” Disinheritor, which Noah is launching at The Toff In Town on 27 Oct, includes Alone, a duet with Unearthed High winner Gretta Ray. Gretta calls Noah “an insanely talented lyricist”. Noah returns the compliment: “She’s one of those
Noah Earp
people you thank your lucky stars for.” Noah was hooked after hearing 60 seconds of Gretta’s Unexpected Feeling. “I knew I was listening to a great songwriter and singer.” Disinheritor shows that Noah Earp might also be great. Yep, there’s definitely something happening here.
Hear Her Roar Happy Birthday to Helen Reddy, who turned 75 this week (25 Oct).
Hot Line “It’s kind of hard to wear a half-broken heart on your sleeve” — Noah Earp, Sweetest Mistake.
THE MUSIC SUMMER 2016 • 43
Comedy / G The Guide
Wed 26
Aaradhna
Kaytranada + STwo + Lou Phelps + Maribelle: 170 Russell, Melbourne Levias + Infinity Beyond + In Return: Bar Open, Fitzroy
Taasha Coates
The Music Presents Kylie Auldist: 31 Oct Max Watt’s; 4 Nov Suttons House of Music Ballarat; 17 Nov Sooki Lounge Belgrave Taasha Coates & The Melancholy Sweethearts: 12 Nov Northcote Social Club
Dave Hughes: Comic’s Lounge, North Melbourne Diamonds Of Neptune + Tully On Tully + Greeves: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy It’s a Totally 80s Night with Various DJs: Loop, Melbourne Open Mic Night: Mr Boogie Man Bar, Abbotsford Open Mic Night: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick The Bombay Royale: The Curtin, Carlton
A Day On The Green: 12 & 13 Nov Mt Duneed Estate Drysdale
Brad Pot + Amyl & The Sniffers + White Blanks + Wavevom: The Old Bar, Fitzroy
Dan Sultan: 13 Nov 170 Russell
Jarrow + Good Morning + Culte: The Tote (Front Bar), Collingwood
Ben Lee: 18 Nov Caravan Music Club Oakleigh
Soul Mates Max Watt’s will be Melbourne’s centre of soul this Monday. Aaradhna is performing on the night with Kylie Auldist as part of Auldist’s tour for her recent electro-dance full-length Family Tree.
Ne Obliviscaris: 25 Nov 170 Russell
The Burning Roaches + Kill Dirty Youth + Proto Bro: The Tote (Band Room), Collingwood
Bell X1: 2 Dec The Prince
Middle Kids: The Workers Club, Fitzroy
Dave Hughes: Comic’s Lounge, North Melbourne
Noah Earp + Busy + Gretta Ray: The Toff In Town, Melbourne
The Avalanches: 3 & 4 Jan Melbourne Town Hall
Conrad Keely + Have/Hold + Howlite: Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford
The Vines: Corner Hotel, Richmond
Jarrow + Arbes + Culte: The Tote (Front Bar), Collingwood
Highasakite: 4 Jan Grouplove: 6 Jan Melbourne Town Hall
Thu 27
Roy Ayers: 9 Apr The Croxton
Wax Eaters + Disco Puppets + Gee Seas + Box Crunch: Bar Open, Fitzroy
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue: 11 April 170 Russell
The Music of Steven Wilson with Chris Cameron Nonet: Bennetts Lane, Melbourne
The Lumineers: 19 Apr Arts Centre Melbourne
In Brunswick Tonight with Various Artists: Edinburgh Castle Hotel, Brunswick Chillers + The Dorks + Don Bosco: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy
Acoustic Session with Darcy Fox + Issy & Michael + Aydin Desem + Rochelle Costin + Jade Casemore + DJ LN-RN: The Workers Club, Fitzroy
Friendships + Null + Habits + Spike Fuck: Howler, Brunswick
David Bramble: Wesley Anne (Front Bar), Northcote
Andy & Aaron: Laika Bar, St Kilda Itsokman + Xylo Aria + Sleep Lab + Pink Lips + Infra Ghosts: Laundry Bar, Fitzroy The Flaming Mongrels: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East Arty Del Rio: Lost Tapas, St Kilda Legends of Gofpos + Dave Tonks & The Dream Machine + Joe Matera: Mr Boogie Man Bar, Abbotsford
Ouch My Face
The Massters Northcote Social Club are putting on Cup Day Mass, a Tuesday extravaganza headlined by Ouch My Face, and featuring TV Haze, Pale Heads and a solo set from Jenny McK of Cable Ties.
Thank Guard #5 with Leng Hock + more: Boney, Melbourne The Seven Up DJs: Catfish, Fitzroy Girl Friday Trio: Charles Weston Hotel (Front Bar), Brunswick Soul In The Basement with Kattimoni: Cherry Bar, Melbourne 44 • THE MUSIC • 26TH OCTOBER 2016
Maggot Fest VII with Eskhaton + Faceless Burial + Asbestosis + Slothferatu: The Bendigo, Collingwood Backyard Mafia + Peachy + Gexy + Kill The Darling: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick CW Stoneking + DJ Mohair Slim: The Croxton, Thornbury Lake Minnetonka + Fulton Street: The Curtin, Carlton Jarred Doueal + Andy Minard: The Drunken Poet, West Melbourne
Middle Kids
Middle In The Week They are playing Falls Festival later in the year but if Lorne and Byron Bay are a bit far for your liking you can see Middle Kids at The Workers Club on Wednesday night. Fountaineer to support.
Reuben Stone + Trick Box + Jack The Fox: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood Felicity Cripps + Cam Butler + Luke Brennan: The Gasometer Hotel (Upstairs), Collingwood
The Heights: Wesley Anne (Band Room), Northcote
Stonefield + White Bleaches + Rackett: The Grand Hotel, Mornington
Fri 28
The Plaidians + Gretchen Lewis + Daniel Wayne Spencer: The Prince (Public Bar), St Kilda
Steven Wilson: 170 Russell, Melbourne Bohjass + Bikeboy + Zenon’s Birthday: 303, Northcote
Gigs / Live The Guide
Glen & The Peanut Butter Men + Goon On The Rocks + Blind Man Death Stare + Dixon Cider + Road Rash: Reverence Hotel, Footscray
Lacuna + RKDA + ALLOLA + Strong & Handsome Boys: Revolver Upstairs, Prahran
Kallidad
Ay Dios Mio
Engine Three Seven + Captives + Figures + Entropy: The Workers Club, Fitzroy Akmal: Village Green Hotel, Mulgrave
Robert Ellis + Sean McMahon & The Moon Men: Spotted Mallard, Brunswick
The Bean Project: Wesley Anne (Front Bar), Northcote
Black Jesus Experience: The B.East, Brunswick East
Hugh McGinlay & The Recessive Genes: Wesley Anne (Band Room), Northcote
Holy Serpent + Watchtower + Crypt + Foot: The Bendigo, Collingwood
Closet Party: Halloween Special with Yo! M.A.F.I.A + Salvador Darling + Luke Agius + Ruby Slippers + more: Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy
Caiti Baker: The Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine
Get your mandatory Halloween face paint fix in early when Sydney’s Dia de Los Muertos oufit Kallidad return to Melbourne. They’ll be joined at Bar Open by Transylvanian Gypsy Kings on Sunday.
Stonefield + White Bleaches + Rackett: The Westernport Hotel, Phillip Island
Four Owls: Corner Hotel, Richmond John McLaughlin: Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne
Symphony for Toy Instruments with Morriszonkle’s Demon Dumplings: Edinburgh Gardens, Fitzroy North
Smoke Stack Rhino + The Lockhearts + Fulton Street: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy Elvis feat. The Knave & his Big Band Tribute Show: Flying Saucer Club, Elsternwick The New Pollution + The Dead Heir: Gin Lane, Belgrave
Littlefoot + Three Quarter Beast + Mannequin Death Squad + Her Majesty’s Hangover + Rathead: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick The Soft Moon + Nun: The Curtin, Carlton JMS Harrison + Gordon Holland: The Drunken Poet, West Melbourne Jaala + Lalic + Koukatsuani: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood
Galata Express + DJ Baba Noir: Bar Open, Fitzroy In Store with Jordie Lane: Basement Discs (12.45pm), Melbourne Dave Hughes: Comic’s Lounge, North Melbourne Steph Brett: Compass Pizza Bar, Brunswick East Jordie Lane & The Sleepers + Jess Ribeiro + Didirri: Corner Hotel, Richmond
Russell Morris: The Grand Hotel, Mornington Marcia Hines: The Grand on Cathies, Wantirna South From Dusk till Dawn - 20th Anniversary with The Tarantinos + more: The Luwow, Fitzroy Barely Standing: The Prince (Public Bar), St Kilda Sleazy Listening with Arks + Richard Kelly + Hysteric + K. Hoop: The Toff In Town (Carriage Room), Melbourne
Big Words + Esese + The Coretet: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy Coastbusters + Customer + Dogood + Big League: Grace Darling Hotel (Basement), Collingwood Ronan Keating: Hamer Hall, Melbourne
The Plaidians
Psycroptic + Orpheus Omega + Hadal Maw + Hollow World + Blackhelm + Naberus: Max Watt’s, Melbourne Full Dose + Vendetta + Bestowed: Mr Boogie Man Bar, Abbotsford Ceres + Apes + Crusch: Northcote Social Club, Northcote Melbourne Ukulele Festival feat. Ozotica + Peter Moss + Ukulollo + Melbourne Ukulele Kollective: Northcote Town Hall (Studio 1), Northcote Far From Folsom feat. Tex Perkins & The Tennessee Four with Rachael Tidd: Old Melbourne Gaol, Melbourne La Danse Macabre with Brunswick Massive: Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy Space Junk + Mod Vigil + DJ Adalita: Retreat Hotel, Brunswick
Piss Factory + Qwerty + Thots + Ostraly: Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford
Long Holiday + Valentine + Sub Rosa + Mannequin Death Squad: Grace Darling Hotel (Band Room), Collingwood
Sat 29
Wavevom + White Blanks + The Gee Seas + The Sadults: Grace Darling Hotel (Basement), Collingwood
Buttered Loaf: 303, Northcote
The Gun Barrel Straights: Labour In Vain, Fitzroy Collingwood Casanovas + Max Teakle & his Honky-Tonky Friends: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East
Move Maggots Maggot Fest takes over The Tote on Friday and Saturday for year number seven. There are nearly 30 bands including Hierophants, Tyrannamen, The UV Race and Whipper.
Shanty Town: Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne
Airling + Xavier Dunn + Romeo Moon: Howler, Brunswick
Hierophants
Plaid & True Indie pop-rockers The Plaidians are headlining at The Prince on Thursday night. The two-piece will be joined on the bill by fellow local acts Gretchen Lewis and Daniel Wayne Spencer.
Zen Mechanics: Bar of Bengal (Kindred Studios), Yarraville
Ronan Keating: Hamer Hall, Melbourne
Skyrocku: Bar Open (Front Bar), Fitzroy
Stonefield + White Bleaches + Rackett: Howler, Brunswick
Slow Grind Fever: Halloween Spook-tacular with Various DJs: Bar Open, Fitzroy
Honeydrippers: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East
Retiree: Boney, Melbourne
Loop Lounge with DJ Eton Mess: Loop, Melbourne
Lost Weekend feat. Kai Alce + Rambl + Myles Mac + more: Boney, Melbourne Ross Wilson & The Peaceniks: Caravan Music Club, Oakleigh
Poprocks At The Toff with Dr Phil Smith: The Toff In Town (Toff Ballroom), Melbourne
James Moloney & The Mad Dog Harrisons + Zombitches: Catfish, Fitzroy
Maggot Fest VII feat. 100% + Blank Statements + Cereal Killer + Death Church + Drug Sweat + The Enforced + Exek + Geld + Heavy Breather + Hierophant + Lakes + Ela Stiles + Leather Lickers + Miss Destiny + Mob + Oily Boys + Rapid Dye + Police Force + Robber + Sex Drive + Shiners + Sistema En Decadencia + The Skids + Spotting + Stations + Tim & The Boys + Tyrannamen + The UV Race + Whipper: The Tote, Collingwood
Jackson Phelan: Charles Weston Hotel (Front Bar), Brunswick The Casanovas + The Devilrock Four + Mucho Sonar: Cherry Bar, Melbourne Tony Hinchcliffe: Comic’s Lounge, North Melbourne
Archie Roach + Corey Theatre + Dhungala Children’s Choir: Melbourne Recital Centre (Elisabeth Murdoch Hall), Southbank Jim Moginie’s Electric Guitar Orchestra: Memo Music Hall, St Kilda Rituals of Infinity + Kilamaine + Seasons Tomb: Mr Boogie Man Bar, Abbotsford The Pretty Littles + The Neighbourhood Youth + Ships Piano: Northcote Social Club, Northcote Melbourne Uke Festival with UX + The Bandits + Ukulele Brothers + more: Northcote Town Hall (Studio 1), Northcote
Mitchell Paxton Ward: Compass Pizza Bar, Brunswick East
THE MUSIC 26TH OCTOBER 2016 • 45
Comedy / G The Guide
Melbourne Ukelele Festival feat. The Thin White Ukes + The Montgomery Brothers: Northcote Uniting Church, Northcote
Far From Folsom feat. Tex Perkins & The Tennessee Four with Rachael Tidd: Old Melbourne Gaol, Melbourne
Girl Friday Trio
Far From Folsom feat. Tex Perkins & The Tennessee Four with Rachael Tidd: Old Melbourne Gaol, Melbourne
Melbourne Ukelele Festival feat. Anarchy In The Ukelele + Mixtape + more: Open Studio, Northcote
Bareback Titty Squad: Penny Black, Brunswick
Don Hillman’s Secret Beach: Panton Hill Hotel, Panton Hill
Oolluu: Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy
Reservoir Stomp: Preston Reservoir Bowls Club, Reservoir
In Malice’s Wake + Cryptic Abyss + Vulture Culture + Moustache Ant: Retreat Hotel, Brunswick
Jules Boult: Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy The Thin White Ukes: Spotted Mallard, Brunswick
The Flying So High-O’s: Reverence Hotel, Footscray
Hallowicked with Demonatrix + Coffin Carousel: The Bendigo, Collingwood
The Songs That Made Memphis feat. Sun Rising: Satellite Lounge, Wheelers Hill
Afternoon Show with Southbound Snake Charmers + Double Shot Blues Band + Mission Brown: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick
Akmal: Skyways Hotel, Airport West Halloween Night feat. Alleged Associates + Zerafina Zara: Smokehouse 101, Maribyrnong Harris Robotis + Luke Vecchio: Sooki Lounge, Belgrave African BBQ: Spotted Mallard, Brunswick Hanksaw: Surabaya Johnny’s, St Kilda
Early Friday Tracy Hogue vehicle Girl Friday Trio are making their way back to Charles Weston Hotel on Thursday. Head down to catch the Girl herself and her electric uke mixing blues, jazz and parlour songs. Tre Terre feat. Nali + DIV + Hazim + Kasun + more: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood
Sun 30
Horace Bones: The Golden Vine, Bendigo
Vengaboys + Tina Cousins + DJ Sammy + Crystal Waters + Whigfield + Sonique + Joanne: 170 Russell, Melbourne
Old Love + No Haven + Pagan + Sundr + Kollaps: The Old Bar, Fitzroy Afternoon Show with Conrad Keely + Psychic 5 + Tough Uncle: The Old Bar, Fitzroy DJ Spice: The Post Office Hotel, Coburg Jess Rebeiro
JJ Jess Ribeiro is supporting Jordie Lane & The Sleepers at Corner Hotel on Friday for Lane’s Glassellland album launch, his first full-length in five years. The two will be joined by Didirri.
Sforzando: The Brunswick Hotel (Beer Garden), Brunswick Afternoon Show with Shane Diiorio Band: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick 180 Proof + Master Beta + Makeshift + Crying Sirens: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick Orb: The Curtin, Carlton Blue Eyes Cry + Kraken Folk Club: The Drunken Poet, West Melbourne Kit Convict & Thee Terrible Two: The Eastern, Ballarat East
46 • THE MUSIC • 26TH OCTOBER 2016
Kallidad + Transylvanian Gypsy Kings: Bar Open, Fitzroy
Emilee South + Skyscraper Stan + more: Bella Union, Carlton South
In The Carriage with Jimmy James + Danny Hotep: The Toff In Town (Carriage Room), Melbourne
Cherry Blues with Steve Boyd’s Rum Reverie + DJ Max Crawdaddy: Cherry Bar (2pm), Melbourne
Amistat + Jed Appleton + Olivers Army: The Toff In Town, Melbourne
Jam on the Groove - The Vinyl Getdown with Gio Garcia + Inkswel + DJ Obliveus + more: Cherry Bar, Melbourne
The House deFrost with Andee Frost: The Toff In Town (Ballroom), Melbourne Matinee Show with Benoit & The Mountain Sounds + William Alexander + Meeko: The Workers Club, Fitzroy
Method Man + Redman: Trak Lounge Bar, Toorak Alison Ferrier Band + Duncan Phillips & The Long Stand: Union Hotel, Brunswick
ASRC Fundraiser with The Shabbab + Masco Sound System + Bob Harrow & The Northland: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy Andy Phillips & The Cadillac Walk: Heritage Tavern, Balnarring Miriam Pultro: Hop Nation Brewing Co, Footscray Tenderloins + Roxy Lavish & The Suicide Cult: Labour In Vain, Fitzroy
Melbourne Uke Festival: Wesley Anne (Band Room), Northcote
Hawaiian Supremes: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East
Selki: Wesley Anne (Front Bar), Northcote
The Southern Belles feat. Jane Clifton + Rebecca Barnard + Nichaud Fitzgibbon: Memo Music Hall, St Kilda
Soft Corporate: Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy Junior Fiction + Tropical Snakes + Hexdebt + Jenny McK: Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford
Debra LaVelle + The Bona Fide Travelers: The Drunken Poet, West Melbourne Stranger in Paradise: A Day Party with Lucy Cliche + Tom Moore + Simona Castricum + Brooke Powers + Tom Baker + River Yarra: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood The Party to Party with Scooby Lou + Shaggy Damage + more: The Gasometer Hotel (Upstairs), Collingwood
The Bean Project
Peny Bohan: Compass Pizza Bar, Brunswick East
Back To The Eighties: Vodka Temple, Carlton
The Sea Birds: Wesley Anne (Band Room), Northcote
Maggot Fest feat. Collector + 2200 + Gaud + Kneeling Knave + Vacuum: The Curtin, Carlton
Richie Ramone: Barwon Club, South Geelong
Phil Para: The Prince, St Kilda
Wire Birds: The Workers Club, Fitzroy
Nicefest 2016 feat. Fourteen Nights At Sea + A Lonely Crowd + Instrumental + ADJ. + Hinterlandt + Jess Locke + Bear The Mammoth + Cascades + Astrid Zeman + Citrus Jam + more: The Bendigo, Collingwood
The Here Heres: 303, Northcote
Chico Flash + Fritzwicky + Peg Bucket + Creek: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick
Magic Beans Vibrant brass-clad acoustic duo The Bean Project reside firmly in the realm the territory of singer-songwriter-driven folk and jazz. They’re bringing their guitar and French horn to Wesley Anne on Friday.
Only Aliens + Owen & Johnny + Stronger Than Dirt + Lucy Lockett: Mr Boogie Man Bar, Abbotsford
Unscene Artists Inc. Fundraiser with Warpigs + Pissbolt + MSV BCP + Mt Zero + Rat Filth + Umbilical Tentacle + Black Jesus + Liquor Snatch + The River of Heaven: The Old Bar, Fitzroy
Bob Log III + The Burnt Sausages + Delaney Davidson: Northcote Social Club, Northcote
Charles Maimarosia: The Post Office Hotel, Coburg
Bowlines + Helen Mountfort + Ernie Gruner + Hope Csutoros: Northcote Uniting Church (Studio 1), Northcote
Elwood Blues Club All Stars: The Prince (Public Bar), St Kilda Sam Reiher: The Standard Hotel, Fitzroy
Gigs / Live The Guide
Sunday Set with DJ Andyblack + Mr Weir: The Toff In Town (Carriage Room), Melbourne
Down The Rabbit Hole with Nigel Last: The Toff In Town (Carriage Room), Melbourne Dream 2 Science + Myles Mac + Jimmy James + Babicka + Tim Heaney: The Toff In Town, Melbourne Primo + Constant Mongrel + The Shifters: The Tote (Front Bar), Collingwood The Laing Bro’s Hurricane Hill Hoo-Har Band: The Westernport Hotel, Phillip Island Chloe Violette + Young Vincent + Yasin Leflef: The Workers Club, Fitzroy Matinee Show with Harrison + Charm of Finches + Moylen + Paticakes: The Workers Club, Fitzroy
Mon 31
Halloween with Metal Fetish + Dirty Rats + Black Bats: Mr Boogie Man Bar, Abbotsford
Vengaboys + Tina Cousins + DJ Sammy + Whigfield + Sonique + Crystal Waters + Joanne: 170 Russell, Melbourne
Lost Ragas + Liz Stringer: Northcote Social Club, Northcote
Mal Webb + Kylie Morrigan: 303, Northcote Cup Eve with Riggidy Rourke & the Love Dogs + Brian El Dorado + The Tuesday People + fm: Baha Tacos, Rye Hospital + Military Position + Kollaps + Pleasure Avalanche: Bar Open, Fitzroy Midnight Tenderness + Rory McPike + Woz + Jimmy Dawg + Umut + Winters + Jeremy Spellacey: Boney, Melbourne Cherryween 2016 feat. The Mercy Kills + Amyl & The Sniffers: Cherry Bar, Melbourne James Reyne: Corner Hotel, Richmond
Far From Folsom feat. Tex Perkins & The Tennessee Four with Rachael Tidd: Old Melbourne Gaol, Melbourne Bernard Fanning + Dustin Tebbutt + Ainslie Wills: Palais Theatre, St Kilda Woodlock: Penny Black, Brunswick Paul Williamson’s Hammond Combo: Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy
The Moves
Back To The Eighties: Rockstar Bar, Frankston
Brisbane’s own Airling is back with the follow-up to last year’s Stalling, her new track Move Me. The tour is set to pull in at Howler on Friday with Xavier Dunn and Romeo Moon.
Slipknot + Lamb Of God + In Hearts Wake: Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Insideinfo + Lickweed + more: Rubix The Venue, Brunswick Cookin’ On 3 Burners + Stella Angelico: Spotted Mallard, Brunswick
Rackett
Day of the Dead Eve with Mariachi Los Romanticos: The B.East, Brunswick East
Green Velvet Cup Eve with Various DJs: The Prince, St Kilda
Halloween Heavy Metal Spectacular feat. King Fate + Hordes Of The Black Cross + Join The Amish: The Bendigo, Collingwood
Alta + Saatsuma + Christopher Port: The Toff In Town, Melbourne
Cup Eve Carnage with Merchant + Swidgen + Broozer + Dogs of Night: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick
Call It In with Instant Peterson + Dylan Michel: The Toff In Town (Carriage Room), Melbourne
Jazz Party: The Curtin, Carlton
Richie Ramone + The Go Set + Wolfpack + K-Mart Warriors + Cosmic Kahuna: The Tote (Band Room), Collingwood
Citrus Jam: The Drunken Poet, West Melbourne Planete + Albrecht La’Brooy + Prequel + Emerse: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood British India: The Grand Hotel, Mornington
What’s That Rackett? After playing alongside big names such as Courtney Barnett and Violent Soho, experimental punk-rockers Rackett have now scored a supporting slot for Stonefield. The two bands will hit the stage at Howler on Saturday.
Airling
Backyard Mafia
Godwolf + Myami + Aeora: The Workers Club, Fitzroy Halloween with Drunk Mums + The Skids + No Class: Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy The Beatles Celebration: Honouring George Martin with Davey Lane + Ashley Naylor + Wendy Stapleton + Linda Bull + Link Meanie + Ross McLennan + Kat Spazzy: Yarraville Club, Yarraville
Tue 01 Shadows At Bay + Once Were Lost + Excuse For an Exit: 303, Northcote
Elvis with Damien Mullin: Tramway Hotel, North Fitzroy
Peezo + Danny Kransky: Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne
The Lairs + Alice Williams: Union Hotel, Brunswick
Freak The Funk with Tetrahedra + Nasty Mars + The Core-tet + Julian Ghoulian + Creepy Kano + more: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy
Melbourne Ukulele Festival: Wesley Anne (Band Room), Northcote Kerryn Fields: Wesley Anne (Front Bar), Northcote The Glorious North + Barebones: Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford Afternoon Show with Freya Josephine Hollick: Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford
Violent Soho + The Bronx + Luca Brasi + Tired Lion: Festival Hall, West Melbourne The Russell Morris Band: Flying Saucer Club, Elsternwick Batz + Electric Exiles + Neon Queen + Coastbusters: Grace Darling Hotel (Band Room), Collingwood Dom Kelly + Culte + Sunset Dreams + Space-Men: Grace Darling Hotel (Basement), Collingwood Cup Eve with DJ Michael Kirkillis: Loop, Melbourne Kylie Auldist + Aaradhna: Max Watt’s, Melbourne Cup Eve with The Badloves + Chris Wilson: Memo Music Hall, St Kilda
Uncomfortable Science with Lachlan Mitchell: Boney, Melbourne Shewolf: Cherry Bar, Melbourne
Offer You Can’t Refuse Head to The Brunswick Hotel on Thursday and when Backyard Mafia take over the world stage you will honestly be able to say you saw them first. They are joined by Peachy, Kill The Darling and Gexy.
The Black Heart Death Cult + The Demon Parade + The Braves + Wars: The Luwow, Fitzroy House of Horror Halloween with Coffin Spinners + Flour + Dead Goon + Shrimpwitch + Gorelesque + Cherry Bites + more: The Old Bar, Fitzroy
Way Dynamic + Qwerty + Tropical Snakes: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy Cherrywood + The Drunken Poachers: Labour In Vain, Fitzroy Irish Session: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East Cup Day Mass feat. Ouch My Face + Pale Heads + TV Haze + Jenny McK: Northcote Social Club, Northcote The Mochasins + Dead Planet 1964 + Mammalade + The Shifties: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick Manos Del Chango + Duet Trio + Stu Thomas: The Old Bar, Fitzroy Carriage 252 feat. Daniel Fabris: The Toff In Town (Carriage Room), Melbourne Afternoon Show with Bitch Prefect + Full Ugly + Dogood: Tramway Hotel, North Fitzroy
THE MUSIC 26TH OCTOBER 2016 • 47
introduces THE LAST WALTZ REVISITED S VI ER NK NA BRIAN EN • EDDI READER (IRE)
THE WAIFS • PAUL KELLY & CHARLIE OW STELLA ANGELICO & COOKIN ON 3 BURNERS with TEX PERKINS LLAGE BAND (POLAND) VI VIKA & LINDA • GAWURRA • THE WARSAW TY and many more YIRRMAL • MELODY POOL • KARMA COUN
S T I C K E T OW N ON SALE www.portfairyfolkfestival.com
26.10.16 Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Brisbane / Free / Incorporating
HAWAII, US RADIO PLAY AND LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM
Issue
130