02.11.16 Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Issue
163
Melbourne / Free / Incorporating
SUMMER FESTIVAL FESTIV ISSUE
2 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
THE MUSIC 2ND NOVEMBER 2016 • 3
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4 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
Wesley Anne Bar, Restaurant, Etc.
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Thursday 3 Novemebr -----------------------------------------------------------Mr Alford, 6pm, Front Bar
FREE
Mondays
The Boys, 6pm, Front Bar
FREE
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THU 3
T I AY R N
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FRI 4
Open from 2pm Mon to Thu and 12pm Fri to Sun
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The Northern Folk 8pm, Band Room $10
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Davies West 8pm, Band Room $5 69 Love Songs Tribute 2pm, Band Room $12 conc /$15
Wednesdays
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Sunday 6 November -----------------------------------------------------------
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Friday 4 November ------------------------------------------------------------
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PM
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THE MUSIC 2ND NOVEMBER 2016 • 5
6 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
THE MUSIC 2ND NOVEMBER 2016 • 7
Music / Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Name Droppers
Melbourne duo Slum Sociable have released a swaggering new single, Name Call, ahead of their upcoming debut fulllength. And they’ve also announced a set of tour dates for November and December.
Slum Sociable
High Five Veteran singer-songwriter Mat McHugh has already knocked back a large national tour this year and has just announced an extensive run of shows for January and February dubbed the High Up! summer tour.
Split Lanes If you can’t make it to Laneway, all is not lost. A heap of artists have announced sideshows to coincide with the January/February festival including Nao, Jagwar Ma, Car Seat Headrest and Glass Animals. Mat McHugh
Chemistry Set
[shootout] Good Cop: ahh! I’m hit! Dad Cop: hi hit, I’m dad!
New York-born songwriter Margaret Glaspy is set to embark on her debut tour of Australia next March, when she’s set to perform a string of headline and festival dates in support of her recent album Emotions And Math.
[intro music starts] @egg_dog 8 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
Margaret Glaspy
Arts / Li Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Credits
Publisher Street Press Australia Pty Ltd
40 Damned Years
Group Managing Editor Andrew Mast
National Editor – Magazines Mark Neilsen
Seminal English goth punks The Damned have wrapped up October perfectly with news that they’ll be heading down under for their huge 40th anniversary run in March next year.
Editor Bryget Chrisfield
Arts & Culture Editor Maxim Boon
The Damned
Gig Guide Justine Lynch gigs@themusic.com.au Editorial Assistants Brynn Davies, Sam Wall
Nao
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 Distro distro@themusic.com.au Subscriptions store.themusic.com.au Contact Us Tel 03 9421 4499 Fax 03 9421 1011 info@themusic.com.au www.themusic.com.au Level 1, 221 Kerr Street Fitzroy Vic 3057
Australian Made: 30th Anniversary Edition
Locked Bag 2001 Clifton Hill VIC 3068
What You Need It’s been 30 years since the likes of INXS and Jimmy Barnes hit the road for the Australian Made tour. To celebrate, Australian Made: 30th Anniversary Edition featuring live footage is screening at select Event and Village Cinemas on 25 Nov.
— Melbourne
THE MUSIC 2ND NOVEMBER 2016 • 9
Music / Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Lock It In
Sherlock
Benedict Cumberbatch returns to screens with his trusty Watson, Martin Freeman, for season four of Sherlock, featuring three new episodes the first of which, The Six Thatchers, is premiering on 1 Jan.
Nathaniel Rateliff & CW Stoneking
The Menzingers
Zing! Philly punk boys The Menzingers have announced the follow-up to their 2014 record, Rented World, this morning, pairing the news with word that they’ll be heading to our fine land next February for a handful of shows.
Royally Sweaty Rhythm and blues sensations Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats and blues specialist CW Stoneking are coming together for a co-headline tour and a special pre-Labour Day celebration in Melbourne in March.
The Crown
11,860 The amount that has been raised at the time of writing in a GoFundMe campaign for the sick French Bulldog pup of Telle Smith, vocalist for American metalcore act The Word Alive.
10 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
Pricey Hat Peter Morgan’s The Crown is Netflix’s most expensive show ever. The show focuses on Queen Elizabeth II as a 25-year-old newlywed, faced with the daunting prospect of leading the monarchy and premieres on 4 Nov.
Arts / Li Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
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Nightclubbing
Directed by Craig Ilott and produced by Peter Rix, Velvet features Marcia Hines in a story inspired by Studio 54, the famous nightclub known for wild parties and social acceptance. Velvet will travel around Australia from January to November.
Velvet
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Alcohol lovers rejoice - UK brand POPS have announced the launch of their unique champagne-flavoured icy poles in December. The brand will set up at festivals and outdoor events in Melbourne just in time for summer.
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Girls Having Fun
Cyndi Lauper
Two of musicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest legends, Blondie and Cyndi Lauper, are teaming up for a massive run of Aussie shows next April in what will easily be one of the most anticipated tours of 2017.
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THE MUSIC 2ND NOVEMBER 2016 â&#x20AC;˘ 11
Lifestyle Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Corner Hotel
HB CH
Melbourne’s iconic Corner Hotel has been a fixture of the city for 20 years (come 20 Nov), and the staunch live music venue is set to celebrate with a night of festivities featuring Billy Davis.
Where and when? For more gig detailsgo to theMusic.com.au
Nick Cave
Skeleton Spree Iconic Australian outfit Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds have announced that they will tour Australia and New Zealand in January, in support of their sublime new album Skeleton Tree.
13 The number of nominations Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge received in the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards, the most of any film.
12 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
Melbourne Design Market
By Design Melbourne Design Market returns for its second and final market of the year this Sunday. With 50 stallholders selling a variety of quality products there is something to interest everyone.
e / Cultu Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
BAR
Tram Slam
During public transport week, Melbourne Spoken Word: Lost On A Tram will be on the 19 tram from 7 - 11 Nov. Ela Fornalska and Benjamin Solah are just two of the poets who will perform.
WED 2 NOVEMBER
OPEN MIC
Show The Boogie Man What You’ve got! THU 3 NOVEMBER
Switch It Up MONSTERIA NOIR
Every Friday in November, the Collingwood Underground Carpark will host Play On – a genre-defying mash-up of classical and electronica featuring a killer line-up of Melbourne DJs including Edd Fisher, Big Rig and Jennifer Loveless.
FRI 4 NOVEMBER
SEDULOUS ROUSE (SA) ANIENT MOUSTACHE ANT RICK GRIMM’S ILLA TURBA SAT 5 NOVEMBER
SHE FEST 4 SUPPORTING GIRLS ROCK CAMP MELBOURNE WITH.... LIQUOR SNATCH MANNEQUIN DEATH SQUAD DEATH OF ART KAT O & THE COLLECTABLES HEDRON TORI DUNBAR Jennifer Loveless
SUN 6 NOVEMBER Giant Soup Dumplings
CHASING ALICE ENTER ARCHADIA THE MEAN TIMES
Big Gulp The latest food fad has arrived in Melbourne and it’s a biggin’. During November, Din Tai Fung will supersize their soup dumplings (Xiao Long Bao) to seven times their regular size. So big, they provide a straw.
AFTER WORK HAPPY HOUR FROM 5PM
$5 DRINKS WED, THURS & FRI 160 HODDLE ST ABBOTSFORD
THE MUSIC 2ND NOVEMBER 2016 • 13
Summer Festival Guide
THE WAY OF THE DINOSAUR Boutique festivals are all the rage this summer, but is this model more sustainable than the last? (RIP Big Day Out, Soundwave, Stereosonic, Peats Ridge...) Brynn Davies chats to Beyond The Valley owner/director Nick Greco and co-CEO of Secret Sounds. Paul Piticco about past and future shifts and the new ‘same old’.
I
t was around 2010 that Australia’s festival giants had their final hoorah. The following years saw a landslide of debt, dwindling ticket sales and cancelled headliners: Harvest Festival and Pyramid Rock were both canned in September of 2013. Supafest faced creditors in the Victorian Supreme Court. Playground Weekender and Peats Ridge folded, Stereosonic was sold to SFX over in the States, Parklife was downsized and rebranded as Listen Out. Soundwave collapsed, unable to pay its contractors with a recorded $5 million loss in 2014, Future Music went into liquidation. The days of the mega-festival were officially over. “I think it was a bubble that burst. Everything grew to this massive point, every festival was 50,000 people plus, the biggest acts imaginable... It’s a lot of money involved, there’s so much risk there and that model to kinda out-do line-ups is really not sustainable for a business,” explains Nicholas Greco, whose own boutique festival, Beyond The Valley, debuted in 2014. “It’s a cultural shift. I think it’s taking it down from this big, clinical event that’s all at the same location and having each event boutique so that it doesn’t feel like you’re at the same event with a different lineup.” It was 2010 and my second-ever Big Day Out. The festival was celebrating its 100th performance that year, and an extra Sydney show had been added to meet demand. Muse and Powderfinger were headlining, the festival’s peak attendance was drawn at 337,000. I wandered around Sydney Showground recognising the same chips on a stick stand, the same show bags, the same slingshot ride, paint peeling as the sun beat onto the concrete jungle of the same venue of years gone by. It was sterile, uninviting. My friend was groped in the moshpit of Rise Against. There were brawls and one-on-one punch-ons. At one point we saw a man stagger along the footpath with a heavily bleeding arm, still slugging away at his beer. That year, The Australian published an article in which Iain Shedden described BDO as among the “most successful and longrunning rock festivals in the world”. By the end of 2014, it had closed its doors.
14 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
“[Punters] want to go to an event and they want to feel safe. I think at some of these bigger events, you can go there and you maybe don’t feel as safe as a smaller event, where you’re taken care of a bit better... that ‘no dickheads’ policy, it comes though the culture of the festival and the culture that the line-ups they book create,” Greco muses. “That’s really the way forward; you don’t wanna go to an event and see these big fights or these big macho guys who are really intimidating to the normal person. You just wanna go have fun with your friends, feel like you can express yourself.” The biggest calling card for the old-model festivals was a premium headliner — a ‘white whale’ as it’s known by industry organisers — but Greco stresses that this selling point is unsustainable. “Someone’s always gonna have a bigger act than you, so if you’re basing your event on who’s hot right now, you might just [fail] when you can’t get the hottest DJ or the biggest band,” he explains. “Our luxury camping area was kinda our biggest selling point for year one when we announced the festival and didn’t even have a line up ready to go.” The boutique festival trend revolves around a more immersive audience experience and with an emphasis on artists who will appeal to a broader spectrum. There’s room to play around with the budget. “I think if you compare us to one of the bigger events that aren’t with us anymore, I think their budget would have been 99% line up ‘cuz that’s kinda what they had to do in that market. Whereas we’re able to split it up into, like, 50% of our budget goes towards talent, and then we can split it into big art installations, these glamping areas, the different bar offerings, cocktail bars, all the food. All that’s important. We find on social media that the line-up gets a huge response, but you put up a photo of a Nutella donut and everyone absolutely loses their shit,” Greco laughs. The next generation of festival promoters and directors are the former audiences of the fallen greats — Your Paradise, Yours & Owls and Beyond The Valley are just a few of many boutique festivals that have sprung up in recent times, run by organisers in their 20s. “There’s a demand for these boutique events. We’ve discussed it in the office: we probably wouldn’t be around if all these big festivals were still there... There wouldn’t be any room for us; for the little guy promoter to come in and take a punt on running an event of this magnitude,” Greco suggests. “We feel like we really understand our market because we’re kinda the same age that we’re targeting.” Paul Piticco, co-CEO of Secret Sounds agrees: “Their passing definitely changed the cycle and made room for up-andcomers to thrive. It also made the audiences think about what they want and how that could be different from what they had.” But with seemingly every boutique festival offering similar experiences — glamping, craft beer, international food trucks and a rotation of high-ranking triple j-favourite line-ups — will the former saving grace
Crowd @ Falls Festival. PIc: Markus Ravik
become the next death sentence, the new ‘same old’? “I think so,” nods Greco. “This summer it feels like there are so many boutique events and day parties popping up. You wanna make sure they’re not looking the same, you have to find your point of difference. [But] there is only room for so many events, regardless of where they come from,” Piticco muses. “It’s nailing the audience experience from start to finish. It’s about having event quality over quantity. It’s also the location... It’s part of the reason why that bubble burst because it is the same rehashed experienced and patrons are a lot smarter now, they’re more aware
and you can’t just be giving someone the same offering as everyone else... Now, locations are getting more unique, it’s such a big selling point... It’s all that extra stuff that makes up the bigger picture rather than being at a showground where everything feels the same, you can hear cars revving in the background, you just don’t feel you’re on this journey where you get to drive out to this magical place,” Greco says. “It is about the whole experience; the weather, the food, the people, the style, the locations. The music is a core piece but there is a lot to consider to make a ‘life moment’.”
Crowd @ Falls Festival. PIc: Markus Ravik
The next step is toward a European festival model — house and electronic music-centric line-ups, immersive, interactive art experiences, high-luxury camping, innovative stage design. “There’s a shift in the festival culture as well with this big shift in the globalisation of everything. Patrons can see what’s happening in the world [via social media] and they expect the quality they see at a European festival or a festival they see in America. There’s no reason we shouldn’t expect that of our festivals and our events here.”
THE KEY Inside you will find our quick guide to festivals where you can find all the relevant info in one place. Here’s what all the symbols mean to help you figure out what’s what with each festival.
All Ages Event
Over 18+ Event
Camping Available
Bring Your Own Booze
Licensed Bars On Site
THE MUSIC 2ND NOVEMBER 2016 • 15
Bluesfest
BLUESFEST BRING THE NOISE
When & Where 13 – 17 Apr, Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm
Website bluesfest.com.au
Line-Up Legends, legends, more legends and everything else! Neil Young, Patti Smith, Santana, The Doobie Brothers, Barry Gibb, Mary J Blige, Zac Brown Band, St Paul & The Broken Bones, Gallant and so many more!
Ticket Price $179 – $620
Tickets From bluesfest.com.au
What are you most looking forward to at your next festival? The feeling when you first walk in: nothing else in the world matters over those five days when you drop off the planet and just enjoy the world class music. Andre Oman, Ticketing, Marketing Assistant
16 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
St Paul & The Broken Bones’ bassist Jesse Phillips talks album number two ahead of the band’s second consecutive Bluesfest appearance. Samuel J Fell feels the soul.
S
t Paul & The Broken Bones, fronted by the enigmatic Paul Janeway, took 2016’s Byron Bay Bluesfest by storm. Their deconstruction and subsequent warped reconstruction of soul and R&B music struck chords all over, something which has had them invited back for another bite of the Bluesfest cherry for the second consecutive year - this does not happen often. “That was a lot of the band’s first time to the continent,” remembers bassist Jesse Phillips of their shows here early in 2016. “And the response seemed almost overwhelmingly good. I think even during our first show at the festival, we were a little taken aback by the love that was shown us.” And with good reason - the band’s live show, honed over four years of hard playing, has become the stuff of festival legend. Indeed, people are still talking about these Bluesfest sets, and by all accounts, it won’t be any less firebrand come 2017. One reason for this is because by the time they grace our shores once more, St Paul & The Broken Bones will have long since released their second record, Sea Of Noise, the recent follow-up to their almost accidental debut, 2014’s Half The City. It’s an album which has been gestating for some time. “Yeah, we have been allowing the gestation
of ideas since, basically, the very beginning of 2015,” Phillips confirms. “So it has been about a year and a half, and we were probably conceptually thinking about it before then,” he goes on. “With the first record, we’d barely been a band, we hadn’t had much time to consider what we were doing, so we just literally pulled together all the ideas we had and threw them all at the wall... we made that record in five days. “This one was a substantially more considered affair, we took a lot of time to think about arrangements, to experiment in the studio,” he explains. “And that’s not to say the ideas are overcooked or anything... I think [Sea Of Noise] is a better reflection of the band’s strengths, post playing four or five hundred shows,” he adds with a laugh. “I think we’re a much better band now, just in terms of playing together, and we sort of know where our relative strengths and weaknesses are too, so now we can really play up those strengths and work around the smaller deficiencies we might have.” The results are all strength - Sea Of Noise sees the band in top form. It’s a layered, more nuanced affair than its predecessor, even more depth added via the Tennessee Mass Choir (who were recorded for the album in the STAX Museum of American Soul Music, after hours), as well as a few extra horn players. The results showcase one of the finest modern soul bands you’ll find on the circuit today; it’s little wonder they’ve been invited back to Bluesfest. “I think I can speak for everyone else in the band, we’re all pretty proud of how the album turned out,” Phillips says with a smile.
When & Where: 13, 15 & 17 Apr, Bluesfest, Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm; 20 Apr, 170 Russell
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BANDED BEE FUNDRAISER SOLD OUT
CLOHER, COURTNEY BARNETT + MORE
03/12 - DIESEL SOLO 04/12 - THE
WILSON PICKERS MATINEE BASICS PRESENT ‘THE SONGROOM’ 09/12 - DALLAS FRASCA 1 0 / 1 2 - MAKE THEM SUFFER 1 1 / 1 2 - AKALA UK 1 4/ 1 2 - THE BASICS PRESENT ‘THE SONGROOM’ 1 5 / 1 2 - DARREN HANLON XMAS SHOW 1 6 / 1 2 - POLISH CLUB 1 7/ 1 2 - CAMP COPE SOLD OUT 1 8 / 1 2 - ROBYN HITCHCOCK UK - MATINEE + EMMA SWIFT SYD 2 1 / 1 2 - THE BASICS PRESENT ‘THE SONGROOM’ 28/12 - THE BASICS PRESENT ‘THE SONGROOM’ 04/01 - SHURA UK - SELLING FAST 05/01 - WALLIS BIRD IRE 0 7/ 01 - RY X SELLING FAST 2 1 / 0 1 - RUINS + KING 25/01 - WHITE LUNG CAN 18/02 - TROPHY EYES SELLING FAST 08/03 - MARGARET GLASPY USA 13/04 - TURIN BRAKES UK 16/04 - THE STRUMBELLAS CAN 0 7/ 12 - THE
PLUS HE A PS MORE AT W W W.NORTHCOTESOCIA LCLUB.COM THE MUSIC 2ND NOVEMBER 2016 • 17
Falls Festival
THE FALLS FESTIVAL BECOMING JAMIE T
When & Where 28 — 31 Dec, Lorne; 29 — 31 Dec, Marion Bay; 31 Dec — 2 Jan, Byron Bay.
Website
Jamie Treays and Anthony Carew talk about the making of Jamie T and trying to pick up the proverbial ball.
fallsfestival.com
Line-Up Childish Gambino (No Sideshows), London Grammar (No Sideshows), The Avalanches, Violent Soho, Matt Corby, Alison Wonderland, Catfish & The Bottlemen, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Ta-Ku, The Rubens, Grouplove.
Ticket Price $139 — $389
Tickets From fallsfestival.com
What are you most looking forward to at your next festival? London Grammar, Childish Gambino and the rest of our incredible line-up and the stunning view and vibe at our Marion Bay site. Paul Piticco, Producer
18 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
“I
’ve done Falls Festival on New Year’s Eve before, and it was one of the best New Year’s Eves I’ve ever had,” says Jamie Treays. Forever known as Jamie T, the Englishman will finish up an eventful year in Australia; one which has found both a new LP, Trick, and his 30th birthday. “I don’t feel very old, but in music, I am,” says Treays. “My first record came out when I was 19. I was signed when I was 18. I’ve been touring since I was 17. And I’ve been playing live shows since I was 14. So, I’ve been around for a while. It’s rare that you get to hang around this long, to get to a fourth record.” That fourth record, Trick, has, Treays thinks, a “real English feel” to it. Its “dark and oppressive” songs summon “a claustrophobic summer”, whilst drawing inspiration from the Englishmen who inspired him as he was coming up. On Drone Strike, that means he’s back rapping; the song inspired by Dizzee Rascal’s debut Boy In Da Corner. “Dizzee’s a big inspiration for me: if it wasn’t for Dizzee Rascal, I think many solo artists like myself wouldn’t’ve broken through,” says Treays. “I was listening to people like him who I loved when I was younger, and people I think of as my contemporaries. Obviously The Clash I’ve been a big fan of since I was really young. Oasis I was listening to. And I was really
inspired by bands of my age group, like Foals, Slaves, Arctic Monkeys; bands I’d grown up alongside of.” After taking a half-decade between his second and third albums - 2009’s Kings & Queens and 2014’s Carry On The Grudge - this time there was no break; with an EP, 2015’s Magnolia Melancholia, in the interim. “In the five years before the last record, I stopped making music for about a year,” says Treays. “I found it difficult afterwards, trying to pick the proverbial ball up again. It’s hard to get yourself up to a songwriting level if you stop writing. So, this time, I just kept pushing.” At this point of his career, Treays says he’s afforded the freedom to make records how and when he wants. He’s a staple of the UK charts (his first three albums all debuted in the top five), and, at 30, he’s no longer being feted as some potential pop-star. “No one really messes with us anymore,” says Treays. “We had a lot of battles with people at record labels wanting us to do things that we didn’t want to do. When you first get into music, people don’t know who you are, so they want to push the limits of what you’re willing to do. It’s a hard battle, at that age, to be taken seriously, to convince other people that you know what you’re talking about, what’s best for you. Now, we don’t have that. People respect what we do.”
What: Trick (Virgin/EMI) When & Where: 30 Dec, Falls Festival, Marion Bay; 31 Dec, Falls Festival, Lorne; 5 Jan, The Croxton
fri 2/12
BELL X1
(IRELAND )
SUNDAYS - FROM 5PM - FREE ENTRY B4 9PM
fri 9/12
BARONESS
fri 4/11
REGURGITATOR
TUES 24/1
YACHT CLUB
TECH N9NE
REFUSED
fri 16/12
ŭ UIF SFUVSO PG ŭ
WED 9/11 & Thur 10/11
SOL
UT D O
!
w/special guest SICK OF IT ALL + HIGH TENSION
DJ’S
WED 25/1
REFUSED
BOXING DAY! Mon 26/12
MINISTRY OF SOUND REUNION TOUR
fri 11/11
NATHAN CARTER (IRELAND)
w/special guest SICK OF IT ALL + HIGH TENSION
THE ANNUAL 2001-2004, FEAT. JOHN COURSE & MARK DYNAMIX FRI 17/2
TIGER ARMY
fri 18/11
MINISTRY OF SOUND OLD
OUT
!
S REUNION TOUR
THE ANNUAL 2001-2004, FEAT. JOHN COURSE & MARK DYNAMIX
(DOORS 12PM)
SAT 19/11
YOUNG GUNS OF WINE PRINCE PUBLIC BAR NOW AN OZTIX RETAILER
@PRINCEBANDROOM
Thick as Theives presents
SAT 31/12
Thick as Theives presents
NYE W/ CARL CRAIG & BOOG$ fridays
FREE POOL $3 POTS BOAGS $5 BASIC SPIRITS $5BBQ WINGS
P.P.B FRIDAY’S
just announced
SELL
0 4 / 11
ING
FAST
TKAY MAIDZA 11 / 11
SELL
ING
29 FITZROY STREET, ST KILDA INFO - PHONE 9536 1168
1 3 / 11
ING
* ALL FROM 6PM ONWARDS
FAST
FAST
DAN SULTAN Early Show
saturdays late
KING LOUIE COLLECTIVE
P.P.B DJ’S PLAYING YOUR FAVE TUNES UNTIL LATE!
ELWOOD BLUES CLUB
SATURDAYS IN NOV
'3&& &/53: ŭ 1"35: 6/5*- -"5&
every sunday!
2 5 / 11
sundays
WATT’S ON PRESENTS
14 / 11
JAMES D OU T
UK
PPB CUP EVE FEAT. DIET. LIVE BANDS, ROCK’N’ROLL DJ’S, FREE ENTRY
1 2 / 03
07/ 0 2 D OU T SWEDEN
OPETH
THE DAMNED UK
08/02
14 / 03
BASSHUNTER
OPETH
MESHUGGAH
SWE
SWEDEN
SWEDEN
ON SALE NOW VIA
10 / 0 2
15 / 03
WWW.170RUSSELL.COM
B*WITCHED SOL D
27/ 11
SELL
ING
SOL
FAST
05/ 12
THE SOL D OU T USED USA
SOL
MON OCT 31st
saturdays IN OCTOBER
NE OBLIVISCARIS
BRITISH INDIA SELL
LIVE BAND’S, ROCK’N’ROLL DJ’S UNTIL LATE, FREE ENTRY
just announced
KID INK
WATT’S ON PRESENTS
free live entertainment every week!
THUR 23/2
#THEPRINCEBANDROOM
/THEPRINCEBANDROOM
tight ass Tuesdays
w/special guest Fireballs and Pat Copocci
+ ATOMIC KITTEN
SELL
ING
ING
FAST
FAST
MESHUGGAH SWEDEN
UK SELL
ING
06/ 12
03 / 01
21 / 01
SOL THE D OU T USED USA
SOL AND THE CATFISH D OU T BOTTLEMEN UK
ZIGGY ALBERTS
SELL
IRE OUT
SELL
ING
FAST
16 / 11
07/ 1 2
SOL THE D OU T AFTER PARTY
SHEILA E. USA
SOL AND THE CATFISH D OU T BOTTLEMEN UK
18 / 11
0 9/ 1 2
0 5 / 01
SOL DOPE D OU T LEMON
‘KANDY CARNIVAL’
0 4 / 01
ING
FAST
M
DENMA RK
12 /02
19/ 03
SOL
UNDEROATH D OU T
USA
Mixed Age - alcohol free - matinee
2 5 / 01
SELL
FAST
SELL
ING
TYCHO
13/02
ING
FAST
UNDEROATH
USA
27/ 01
USA SELL
FAST
USA
SELL
ING
SELL FAST
TAKING BACK SOL D OU T SUNDAY + ACCEPTANCE
20 / 0 2
ING
FAST
20 / 03
MEGA 90s ft. 2 UNLIMITED, TECHNOTRONIC, REAL McCOY & DR. ALBAN 21 / 03
SELL
ING
FAST
TAKING BACK SUNDAY + ACCEPTANCE
ZIGGY ALBERTS
DESCENDENTS
2 9/ 01
28 / 0 2
11 / 0 4
JAGWAR MA
ANIMALS AS LEADERS USA
TROMBONE SHORTY USA
USA
USA
21 / 11
11 / 1 2
SOL THE D OU T USED USA
PEACHES D OU T
CAN
13/ 12
SOL THE D OU T USED USA
2 3 / 11
SELL
ING
FAST
PEACHES CAN
ING
FAST
WILLIAM SINGE
18 / 1 2
FUTURISTIC USA
ING
FAST
MODERN BASEBALL USA
SOL
2 2 / 11
SELL
0 6 / 01
SELL
0 8 / 01
SELL
ING
SELL FAST
THE NAKED AND FAMOUS 11 / 01
SELL
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FAST
EVERY TIME I DIE + LETLIVE USA
03 / 0 2
ING
FAST
0 5 / 03
SELL
ING
FAST
SELL
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FAST
19/ 0 4
OKEAN ELZY UKR
KILLSWITCH ENGAGE + FALLUJAH
05/02
07/ 03
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PERIPHERY
KILLSWITCH SOL D OU ENGAGE T + FALLUJAH
ST PAUL AND THE BROKEN BONES
USA
USA
USA
USA
CORINNE BAILEY RAE UK SELL
ING
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170 RUSSELL ST, MELBOURNE, 3000
THE MUSIC 2ND NOVEMBER 2016 • 19
Laneway Festival
ST T JEROME’S JEROME S
LANEWAY ANEWAY FESTIVAL DRIVING AMBITION
When & Where 5 Feb, Harts Mill; 6 Feb, Brisbane Showgrounds; 7 Feb Sydney College Of The Arts; 13 Feb , Footscray Community Arts Centre; 14 Feb, Esplanade Reserve and West End.
Website
Young singer-songwriter Will Toledo tells Steve Bell that despite years in the margins his Car Seat Headrest project was always destined for public consumption.
lanewayfestival.com
Line-Up Tame Impala, Floating Points, Nao, Nick Murphy (aka Chet Faker), Car Seat Headrest, Mick Jenkins, Aurora, Camp Cope, Sampa The Great, Tourist, Clams Casino and much more!
Ticket Price $139.50 - $169.50
Tickets From lanewayfestival.com
What are you most looking forward to at your next festival? Tame Impala opened Laneway many years ago... When they close the show, it’s as a headlining act and one of Australia’s most exciting breakout acts in many years; I think it will be an amazing moment for Australian music and for Laneway. Danny Rogers, Co-Founder 20 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
F
or five years, young Virginian native Will Toledo had been making music and releasing it onto the internet under the moniker Car Seat Headrest in virtual anonymity, before he was discovered by US indie mainstay Matador Records and catapulted into the spotlight. After releasing one record which cherry-picked from his dozen Bandcamp albums (2014’s Teens Of Style) his first full album for the label — this year’s Teens Of Denial — touched a nerve with its image-laden quest for identity set to anthemic rock’n’roll, changing his life irrevocably in the process. “I hadn’t necessarily pictured it being so extreme — I’d hoped that it would happen,” Toledo muses of his shift in fortune. “It just seemed that I’d spent so long being on the outside that I’d just gotten used to it, and then everything has really happened exactly as I would have wanted it in the past year to the point where it does seem like the product of six years work.” Toledo explains that the album’s existential bent reflects a particular time rather than an ongoing conundrum. “It’s a snapshot,” he tells. “I was hoping that it was something that I’d move past, and it was. Things are definitely different now, mainly in that I have a direction in which I’m going
and things are going fairly well. Back then I was doing Car Seat Headrest but I didn’t really know where it was going or how long it would take before I could make a living off if it: they were all things that concerned me, but now there’s a lot less worry from me about that — I think that things are going well at this point — but I’m still the same person and I still go back to those states from time to time.” Some pretty heavy themes permeate Teens Of Denial with Toledo using humour to alleviate the intensity. “I value sincerity and I don’t like artists who are just entirely ironic about things, but I think that it’s a useful tool to use in moderation,” he reflects. “And it provides a more realistic picture — it’s not like I’m always suffering, there’s some self-deprecating humour involved just because that’s how it works in life. You’re laughing even when you’re suffering sometimes, and I try and be conscious of that in my art. “The process of writing these lyrics is a process of trying to learn about myself. Finishing it up it’s more about making the endeavour successful — fighting through it so that I’ve made something good. That’s what was important to me about this record, because it came during a hard time and I didn’t want it to just be a low point in my discography as well — I wanted it to shine through.”
When & Where: 27 Jan, The Curtin; 28 Jan, Laneway Festival, Footscray Community Arts Centre
WED 2 NOV
DOM KELLY RATHAMMOCK HUGH FUCHSEN 8.30PM
THU 3 NOV
GOLDEN SOUND KARATE BOOGALOO LANEOUS 8.30PM
FRI 4 NOV
THE LOVELY DAYS WESLEY FULLER THE DEAD HEIR 9.00PM
SAT 5 NOV
PHANTOM PANDA POWER WIZARD MASTER SMASHER THE BURNT SAUSAGES CITRUS JAM 8.30PM
THE BACKBURNERS 5.00-7.00PM
SUN 6 NOV
HUMAN RITES
WARS, DEAR THIEVES DEEP WATER ORCHESTRA 8.30PM
TZ REVISITED BRIAN NANKERVIS introduces THE LAST WAL CHARLIE OWEN & Y KELL PAUL (SCOT) ER READ EDDI • THE WAIFS
CO-GROUND RESIDENCY 3.00PM
& STELLA ANGELICO COOKIN’ ON 3 BURNERS with TEX PERKINS (POLAND) GAWURRA BAND AGE VILL AW WARS THE • A LIND & VIKA and many more TY COUN A KARM • POOL DY YIRRMAL • MELO
MON 7 NOV
SCREEN SECT 7.00PM
TUE 8 NOV
S T IC K E T OW N E L A S ON
MAKE IT UP CLUB 8.30PM
www.portfairyfolkfestival.com
WWW.THETOTEHOTEL.COM
THE MUSIC 2ND NOVEMBER 2016 • 21
Meredith Music Festival
MEREDITH REDITH MUSIC FESTIVAL TOO HIP TO Pic: David Harris
When & Where 9 — 11 Dec, Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre
Website 2016.mmf.com.au
Line-Up Peaches, King Gizzard & The Lizard, Wizard, Sheila E, BADBADNOTGOOD, Angel Olsen, The Triffids, Kelela, Ben UFO, Japandroids, The Congos, Baroness, Archie Roach.
Ticket Price $349.20 +BF
Tickets From 2016.mmf.com.au
22 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
BE SQUARE
Swedish trendsetters Dungen are effortlessly cool, but they’re under no illusion about the fickle nature of pop. The Nordic four-piece level with Anthony Carew about being obscure yet influential.
“I
n 2008, Kevin Parker sent me this CD, saying: ‘we’re a band from Australia, can you mix this?’” recounts Gustav Ejstes, leader of Swedish psych-rockers Dungen. “And it was so good, I just said to him: ‘I don’t know what to do with this. You should just put it out as it is’. People talk about Tame Impala biting our style, but I don’t really see it. He’s younger than me, but I think he was doing something parallel to us.” Dungen’s 2006 Australian tour has been cited as hugely influential on the Tame Impala/Pond family, and the Swedes are finally returning to Australia ten years on. “It’s going to be exciting to see if anyone shows up to see this Swedish band singing in Swedish, if anyone remembers us from last time,” Ejstes laughs. Ejstes, 36, grew up in Lanna, a tiny village outside Jonkoping, where his parents — music teacher father, church organist mother — had him playing violin, piano, and guitar from an early age. He had no dreams of making music a career (“teaching sixyear-olds to play violin or playing organ at another funeral must be a drag, so, there was no glamour associated with music for me”), but Ejstes was drawn to “trying to break the
codes of the music that [he] loved, and make something” for himself. Initially, he just wanted to impress his elder brothers, but after moving to Stockholm and putting out a couple of small-run LPs, he cut 2002’s Stadsvandringar for a major label. “It got about a 50/50 response. There were a lot of people who hated it, because at that time it was not particularly hip to be related to ‘60s/’70s Swedish psych music. That was the beginning of my career: getting bad records and being a commercial failure,” Ejstes recounts. But, then, buoyed by Pitchfork praise, the third Dungen LP, 2004’s Ta Det Lugnt, “became this ‘indie hit’”. “Going through that experience — first being dissed, then having hip New Yorkers tell you how great you are — meant that I could never take anything too seriously after that,” Ejstes offers. “Now I’ve been doing this for 15 years and I’ve been hip two separate times, and not hip for many years. Popular music culture is filled with this longing for something else, it’s always moving on. So, whilst it’s great when your music is being acclaimed, you know there’s going to be a time when no one will want to listen to it.” Dungen will be touring locally behind two LPs, 2015’s Allas Sak and their newly announced instrumental soundtrack Haxan; the pop-cultural climate once more welcoming of their exploratory psych. Ejstes hopes that Dungen, eight albums in, still have something to offer. “We joke about how [guitarist] Reine [Fiske], who’s this crazy record nerd, has this classic saying: ‘yeah, their first two records are good’. Is that the situation with Dungen? Our first two records are good? It’s hard for me to say, but I’m trying my best to make sure it’s not.”
When & Where: 8 Dec, Corner Hotel; 9 Dec, Meredith Music Festival
THE MUSIC 2ND NOVEMBER 2016 â&#x20AC;¢ 23
Sugar Mountain
SUGAR MOUNTAIN THE KORNEL’S SECRET
When & Where 21 Jan, Victorian College of the Arts (VCA)
Website sugarmountainfestival.com
Line-Up Blood Orange, Moses Sumney, Kelsey Lu, Mood II Swing, Beppe Loda, Baba Stiltz, KUCKA, Palms Trax, Pantha Du Prince, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Weyes Blood, Big Scary, ALTA, Black Cab, Dro Carey, MY DISCO and more!.
Ticket Price Second release now on sale - $109
Tickets From sgrmtn.co/sm17_tickets/
What are you most looking forward to at your next festival? SM17 brings you an abundance of all you’ve come to love from the festival: Australian firsts and Melbourne exclusives. Our experimental Sensory restaurant, which debuted at SM 2016, will return in an even more ambitious format next year too! Samantha Clode, Publicist
24 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
Coming to Aus for the first time in 2017, Kornel Kovacs tells Cyclone how he’s going to get the Sugar Mountain hipsters on board.
S
weden’s Kornel Kovacs may be known as a playful house DJ, being the guy behind last year’s funky hit Pantalon, but he’s versatile. And so he won’t be sweating at the prospect of entertaining indie-types at 2017’s Sugar Mountain on his inaugural Australian visit. “I try to approach every gig differently,” Kovacs says sanguinely. “But I come prepared for anything, really. I bring a lot of music to all my gigs.” Indeed, when Kovacs started DJing professionally on Stockholm’s circuit, he played clubs, bars and restaurants. “I took every gig I could get.” As such, he learnt to “adapt”. Born to Hungarian parents, Kovacs had formal music training in childhood — involving choir plus piano and drum lessons. Yet he was also exposed to electronic music, his parents Kraftwerk boffins. Kovacs developed an obsession with UK drum ‘n’ bass in the mid ‘90s. “It was just so happening and so amazing and exciting!” At a mere ten years old, he became a local novelty kiddy DJ. Around that time, Stockholm was emerging as techno hotspot with DJs like Adam Beyer, Cari Lekebusch and Joel Mull. The scene centred on the Planet Rhythm record store — a regular haunt for Kovacs. “As soon as I found out about this place, I just went there. Whatever money I had — from
my paper route or whatever — I spent on records there. I was a superannoying kid... I mean, I would listen to every new record and buy one — that’s all I could afford.” Ultimately, Kovacs was influenced more by the ‘90s Swedish house label Svek — through which many techno DJs, including Jesper Dahlback, aired “softer” or “deeper” music. The DJ — and sometime blogger — amped up his production career after attending the 2008 Red Bull Music Academy in Barcelona. Kovacs formed Studio Barnhus as a crew, then label, with pals Axel Boman and Petter Nordkvist. They’d herald a new Swedish house with the sampler Good Children Make Bad Grown Ups. Kovacs savoured his first club hit with 2014’s hip hop-flavoured Szikra. Bigger again was Pantalon, issued on Glasgow’s Numbers. His stature growing, Kovacs recently — and deviously — uploaded a “rejected remix” for an unidentified “Norwegian pop star” (it’s of Aurora’s I Went Too Far) on SoundCloud. Meanwhile, Kovacs has been promoting his debut album, The Bells, which surfaced on Studio Barnhus in August. “It just was the next step,” he says. Ironically, the LP shares its name with the famous record by Detroit techno pioneer Jeff Mills — The Bells, likewise, a Melbourne anthem. Kovacs’ title choice mainly came from a looped vocal in his track The Bells, but he’s hyper-aware of the rave connotations. “The Jeff Mills reference, I just thought it was kind of funny and cheeky,” Kovacs laughs. “And then I’ve been getting loads of questions about it! So, in that sense, it works. It’s a title that doesn’t just pass people by — like people get annoyed by it or surprised or confused... If I can create some extra confusion around my record, then it’s good, I think!”
When & Where: 21 Jan, Sugar Mountain, Victorian College Of The Arts
THE MUSIC AND BARBECUE FESTIVAL
The DElta RigGs THE FUMES SKYsCRAPEr STAN
THE tOMMYhAWKS DAVId ORR DUSTY BOOts +MORE
THE MUSIC 2ND NOVEMBER 2016 â&#x20AC;¢ 25
Beyond The Valley
BEYOND OND THE VALLEY FROM THE FLAMES
When & Where 28 Dec - 1 Jan, Lardner Park, Warragul
Website beyondthevalley.com.au
Line-Up Chance the Rapper, Zhu, Sticky Fingers, Carl Craig, Dune Rats, Claptone, Hermitude, What So Not, MSTRKRFT, Alex Lahey, Bag Raiders, Ryan Hemsworth, TOKiMONSTA, Goldlink, Ecca Vandal and heaps, heaps more!
Ticket Price $150 - $420 depending on the number of days.
Tickets From beyondthevalley.com.au
What are you most looking forward to at your next festival? BTV growing in our second year at our new home, Lardner Park! The site is developing to meet our long-term vision. More shade, lakeside bar, an extra day of music and a focus on artistic experiences. It will be the best BTV yet. Nick Greco, Director
26 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
Phantogram’s Sarah Barthel tells Paul Ransom about the dark reality behind the making of the New York duo’s third full-length album.
“I
think the best way to describe it is like a beautiful car crash,” says Sarah Barthel. “Like, you can’t look away and you have to find the beauty in the flames.” For both Barthel and co-conspirator Josh Carter, the making of the third Phantogram record was inextricably linked to the suicide of Barthel’s sister, Becky. Her death came part way through the recording of Three and as such coloured both the process and the output. As Barthel explains, “Our records are driven more by sadness than writing happy songs. We’re not really that kinda band. So this kinda circumstance and tragedy we turned into something beautiful. There’s a lot of desperation and anger, but not in an Emo anger way, more in a beautiful, crying out for any kinda help way.” Since forming in 2007, the two high school friends from New York have mined a moody seam of dark, dreamy electronica. With Barthel’s often breathy vocals and Carter’s love of spaced out guitar sounds, Phantogram have slowly but surely expanded their niche from the East Coast underground to global festival hopping. Clearly though, personal events have put their career progress into perspective. “It kinda makes you step back and try to understand your art and your creativity,”
Barthel confirms. “There was this moment of, ‘Holy shit, I can’t believe I have to go back into the studio and continue writing because we’re on this deadline and I feel fucking crazy.’ but in that way it did help because it was almost like a kinda therapy. It wasn’t like we were, y’know, trying to ‘do it for Becky’ or anything, but we held hands through it and we got through it together through music.” However, as the band wait for the album’s release and rehearse their updated live set list in LA, Sarah Barthel contemplates the looming reality of going public with a very private matter. “It’s private for sure,” she concurs, “but also this record came from something very heavy and tragic and I feel like it wouldn’t do it justice if I didn’t feel comfortable explaining where the heavy lyrics and the screaming choruses came from. It’s helpful and, I think, interesting as an outside perspective to hear from an artist what they’re thinking of.” While Phantogram fans will find recognisable motifs on Three there is also a notably darker fizz in the lyrics. Its highly textured and introspective sonic palette makes it an almost voyeuristic experience. Whether it meets the expectations set up by 2014’s much-loved Voices record will soon be revealed. For Barthel and Carter though, the weeks in the lead up to the release are nowhere near as nail biting as we might imagine. “Personally these moments are the best because it’s almost out and nobody can review it yet and give an awesome or terrible write-up. So it’s like you’re making music for yourself, as all artists do,” Barthel elaborates. “There’s no stress. It’s the calm before the storm.”
What: Three (Caroline) When & Where: 31 Dec, Beyond the Valley
THE MUSIC 2ND NOVEMBER 2016 â&#x20AC;¢ 27
Port Fairy Folk Festival
PORT FAIRY FOLK FESTIVAL GETTING OUT ALIVE
When & Where 10 - 13 March, Port Fairy, Victoria
Website portfairyfolkfestival.com
Line-Up The Waifs, Eddi Reader (SCOT), Cookin’ On 3 Burners with Tex Perkins and Stella Angelico, Brian Nankervis introduces The Last Waltz revisited, Folk Uke (USA), Dori Freeman (USA), Paul Kelly & Charlie Owen, Kutcha Edwards.
Ticket Price Four-day passes third release - Adult $270; Youth $100 until sold out. Fourth release -$290/$110.
Tickets From trybooking.com/Booking/ BookingEventSummary.aspx?eid=220994
What are you most looking forward to at your next festival? Port Fairy Folk Festival is one of a kind, and we are so excited about how, on an annual basis, the village becomes a stage for artists from around Australia and the world. Every element is just wonderful. Caroline Moore, Program Director 28 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
A terrifying experience has yielded one of the most emotionally powerful songs of her career. As she unveils her latest album, New Zealander songstress Mel Parsons tells The Music about finding the balance between the pragmatic and poetic.
F
ans of multi-award winning New Zealander Mel Parsons may have noticed a different quality to her folky strains on her latest album, Drylands. The vocals are duskier, the lyrics more candid and the general vibe seems to tap a rawer emotional palette than her first two records. Life and death situations will do that to an artist. As a self-described “indie-folk storyteller”, one of Drylands most powerful tracks, Get Out Alive, tells the story of a terrifying car accident with brutal frankness. Despite totalling her car, Parsons was mercifully not seriously injured, but the emotional reflection this event prompted produced some of her most affecting music to date. In actual fact, much of this album is not directly influenced by this harrowing experience, but nonetheless, there seems to be a vale of beautiful, ineffable melancholy draped across every track. That’s perhaps unsurprising, given the emotionally alert approach Parsons takes to songwriting. “The vibe is always the most important thing in the studio. I think if perfection is driving a recording you can end up in danger of sucking all the life and magic out of it,” she shares. That’s not to say Parsons is all heart and
no head. She has been a full-time touring artist since her debut album in 2009, with a gruelling on-the-road schedule, trying out new material in the sinkor-swim arena of live performance. “Right before we headed into the studio to record Drylands, I had a big tour — 20 shows around NZ, which worked out super well for road testing the album,” Parsons says. “It was a great opportunity to work out which songs audiences were responded to most and also really helped to tighten the arrangements.” There’s a telling equilibrium between pragmatism and poetry in Parsons’ creative process. It’s perhaps unsurprising that, given her own combination of emotional frankness and elbow grease work ethic, she would choose to collaborate with a similarly inclined musician for Drylands, which was recorded at Lee Prebble’s Surgery Studios in Wellington. “He dances the line between hard work and good vibe,” Parsons reveals. “He’s like ‘the boss’.” It’s a partnership that has released a new richness in her music. From the relatively paired back, folk focused sound world of her debut album, Over My Shoulder or even her second, Red Grey Blue (both of which won Folk Album of the Year at the NZ Music Awards), Drylands has a harder, thicker edge which is reflected in the breadth and variety of the instrumentation, which includes exotic colours like mandolins and steel-string guitars as well as orchestral colours courtesy of trumpet and cello solos. While production values on this latest album offer a greater depth to her sound, Parsons still reserves the right to take her songs to their most exposed iteration. “Touring with my full band, I like to stay close to the recordings. Audiences enjoy hearing what they know,” she explains. “But when I’m performing solo, my songs become strippedback and intimate.”
What: Drylands (MGM) When & Where: 10 March, Port Fairy Folk Music Festival
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NYE On The Hill
NYE ON THE HILL THE OUTDOOR TYPE
When & Where 30th Dec — 1st Jan, South Gippsland
Website nyeonthehill.com.au
Line-Up The Preatures, Pierce Brothers, Tash Sultana, The Bennies, Dylan Joel, L-Fresh the Lion, The Belligerents, Sex On Toast, Mosquito Coast, Columbus, Camp Cope, CERES, Caravana Sun, Kyle Lionhart, Oh Pep!, Mesa Cosa and more.
Ticket Price $219 +BF
Tickets From nyeonthehill.com.au
What are you most looking forward to at your next festival? The last sunset of the year. That’s always one of the most special moments on the Hill. The music stops and everyone gathers to share drinks, watch the sun go down, and celebrate the year that’s been and the year to come. Aidan McLaren, Co-Director
30 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
Zack Buchanan, the man behind The Outdoor Type, talks to The Music about working on his latest track, Rumination.
I
n 2014, Melbourne-based singersongwriter Zack Buchanan changed musical tack after browsing a blog about Aussie bands from the ‘90s. He ended up taking up the name The Outdoor Type. In 2016, he and his band are set to cap the year with an appearance at NYE On The Hill, a bill Buchanan will share with The Preatures, The Bennies and L-FRESH The LION — 32 of Australia’s best acts spread over three days altogether. First though, the indie Aussie folkrocker needs to wrap the national tour for his latest single, Rumination, a run that has taken Buchanan and co through Sydney and Brisbane and which will culminate at the Grace Darling Hotel this week. It’s an ear-hooking tune, full of jangly acoustics, and nostalgic lyrics about “working hard”, “eating right” and “saving money”, sung in echoey, layered vocals. “I’ve always felt attracted to rough, vibey records,” says Zack Buchanan of the track. “I find it’s difficult to get anything meaningful across if the music is too plastic — in my music anyway.” He does concede, “I’m a bit of an obsessive perfectionist, so it takes a stern producer to keep my fingers off the AutoTune button.” The sentiment goes some way to explaining how The Outdoor Type got its name: “I conceived the project in 2014
after hearing The Outdoor Type by ‘90s Sydney band, Smudge.” It was a step that Buchanan has described in the past as a move away from a (then) increasingly electronic sound and towards something less radio-play hungry and more honest. It didn’t take long for Buchanan to get things rolling from there. “I then recorded the debut EP [2015’s self-titled release] with Colin Leadbetter [Whitley], put a band together and have since recorded two new singles, signed with North American label Nettwerk and signed a management deal with Wonderlick [Entertainment],” he confirms. That leads us back to The Outdoor Type’s latest single, Rumination, which was “recorded with John Castle at his home studio in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne”, explains Buchanan. “It was tracked fairly quickly over the span of two days. It was then mixed by Steven Schram (San Cisco, Paul Kelly) about eight months later.” Although Buchanan says it’s “sort of a stand-alone track”, he is working towards an album. “But that may not be out for a little while yet.” There wasn’t anything in particular ‘inspiring’ him, but Buchanan clarifies, “There were plenty of things weighing on my mind at the time. Nothing too drastic, just your classic mid-20s drama.
When & Where: 4 Nov, Grace Darling Hotel; 30 Dec, NYE On The Hill, The Farm
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Meatstock
MEATSTOCK DUSTY BOOTS
it and some massive buns. We all like big buns, hey. Super fresh and colourful for the funk too. Will you ask for meat instead of booze on your rider? Love these questions! We will ask for a combination of meat and drinks as the meat gets you hot and the beverages chill you down. We can’t wait!
Answered by: Jonny Dustow
When & Where 22 — 23 Apr, Melbourne Showgrounds; 6 — 7 May, Sydney Showgrounds
Website www.meatstock.com.au
Line-Up The Delta Riggs, The Tommyhawks, Skyscraper Stan, The Fumes, Dusty Boots.
Ticket Price $35
Tell us your best BBQ-related memory: On Bondi Beach dressed in fluoro playing some funky music for One Wave. Everyone was dancing and eating some epic food. Good vibes all round. What’s your favourite thing to throw on the BBQ and why? I love a good grilled fish fresh from the ocean. A bit of lemon, garlic, herbs and spices goes down a treat. If you had to use one BBQ/meat-based dish as an analogy for your music, what would it be and why? Sizzling sausages with chilli sauce! A really colourful salad to go with
THE TOMMYHAWKS
Tickets From
There is a huge amount to see and do at Meatstock including the A&E Barbecue Wars, Butcher Wars, Barber Wars, food trucks, demonstrations and a great lineup of bands. Simon Luke, Organiser
Answered by: Addison Axe Tell us your best BBQ-related memory: We crowd-funded our last EP and one reward was us cooking a BBQ. It was awesome until Thea’s hair caught fire. Now her fringe is SUPER short. Fringe-singe. What’s your favourite thing to throw on the BBQ and why? Definitely tempeh. It’s mindblowingly awesome and 100% corpse-free. If you had to use one BBQ/meat-based dish as an analogy for your music, what would it be and why? BBQ pineapple because it’s hot, juicy, tastes like summer and is an unusually tangy addition to your meal.
32 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
Will you ask for meat instead of booze on your rider? I’m vegan so probably not! There are two vegans and a vegetarian in our band so we’ll be surviving the day on a diet of beer (lots) and fried onions (hopefully). What are you hoping to take away from Meatstock? Fun memories! We love playing and we love touring and we love festivals and seeing other bands so we’re gonna have a rad time.
www.meatstock.com.au
What are you most looking forward to at your next festival?
What are you hoping to take away from Meatstock? We will eat everything that comes our way. Hopefully we get some sweet products to take home. We will no doubt have some rad experiences as we all do at festivals and full band shows!
theMusic.com.au: breaking news, up-to-the-minute reviews and streaming new releases
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MOFO
MOFO MOFOCUS
When & Where 18 — 22 Jan, Hobart
Website mofo.net.au
Line-Up Peaches, Tetema, Mike Paton, Puscifer, Regurgitator, Rainbow Chan.
Ticket Price $69 — $179
Tickets From mofo.net.au
34 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
I
f you’re planning out your festival season and you don’t include the Museum Of Old And New Art’s Mofo, you’re making a big mistake. What better excuse for a trip to Hobart than five days (18 - 22 Jan) of over 200 artists - from Azerbaijan, Canada, Korea and France, a dozen countries altogether - coming together in a mind-bending explosion of music and art, collaboration and world premieres. In Mofo curator Brian Ritchie’s own words, the festival “challenges artists to collaborate and extend their practice, by using experimental instruments and techniques, or extending their skills in multi-disciplinary
ways. Artists and punters alike can interact and create within the context of several of our art, science and music installations.” Proceedings will begin with Peaches Christ Superstar, a one-woman performance of Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice’s iconic rock opera by irreverent Canadian superstar Peaches, and conclude with a Gatsby-esque Weekend At Walshy’s at the museum.
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Music
THE PLEASURE LEASURE GARDEN THE CATS COME BACK
When & Where 10 Dec, Catani Gardens
Website thepleasuregarden.com.au
Line-Up The Cat Empire, Blue King Brown, Opiuo, Tash Sultana, The Correspondents, Dub Pistols Sound System, Dub FX, Spoonbill, Oka, Jakubi, Mista Savona, The Chicken Brothers, JPS, Steve Ward, Boogs, Beatrice, Kodiak Kid and more!
Ticket Price $99 - $140
Tickets From eventbrite.com/e/the-pleasuregarden-tickets
What are you most looking forward to at your next festival? The Pleasure Garden is an immersive, creative arts and music feast. Aside from the amazing line-up, it will feature a stunning array of art installations, roving theatrical performances, discovery spaces, cultural experiences and magical decor. Glenn McGrath, Director
36 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
Jamshid Khadiwala of The Cat Empire chats with Liz Giuffre about the changing live music scene, from festivals to tour circuits.
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he Cat Empire continue to reward new and existing fans. From humble beginnings to regular world tours, the genre-bending jazz/pop/plus group continue to be committed to putting on a great live show. “We’ve been doing this for a while but once we get out on stage and start playing everything seems to fall into place, you know? I’d be lying if I said we don’t get frustrated with certain processes with traveling and all that, but in the end we’ve got such an incredible fanbase and we’re really conscious of keeping them happy with setlists and keeping them dancing, and you know, still playing well and putting on a show, what people expect from us,” explains Jamshid “Jumps” Khadiwala, the band’s DJ. Talking before a quick trip to Europe to “finish our world tour” (as you do), Khadiwala is also excited about coming back for a long overdue run of Australian summer shows. “In the early days it used to be every Australian summer we’d hit the road and go north, you know what I mean?” he says. However, with the shift away from the big summer festival circuit towards new live models, the Cat’s schedule has changed too. “Yeah, I think all those big festivals still have their place, but at the moment there seems to be a focus on these smaller festivals and
shows that create like an environment as well, you know? We played at this festival in England called BoomTown that had these humongous sets, and I think that’s what Pleasure Garden and other things are looking to do now too.” The Cat Empire will also take the tour van in the New Year with Xavier Rudd. Covering Hobart, Ballarat, Byron Bay, Queensland and Adelaide, it’ll be something of an unusual, but really fun circuit. “Yeah, we’ve just announced that run with Xavier Rudd, Harts, Ocean Alley and Sahara Beck, it’ll be fun,” Khadiwala confirms. As well as rewarding long-term fans of both the Australian outfits, the tour will serve to keep the musicians hungry, too. “Audiences have got a lot of options these days too to see music too, so I guess in terms of what we deliver, the music is still there but you’ve got to think about how you keep the fans within touching distance I guess.” Harping back to memories of playing in unusual venues back in the day (and comparing them to the newer trend of playing off the beaten track), Khadiwala explains how the band has continued to grow and feed of the live circuit. “Yeah, we’ve always had a connection to theatrics, and I guess in the early days we spent a lot of time in the Speigeltent and that environment really rubbed off on us. But in the end it’s about really having a good time with the music and if you’re in a beautiful environment it makes the music just that bit better.”
When & Where: 10 Dec, The Pleasure Garden, Catani Gardens; 29 Jan, North Gardens, Ballarat
NOVEMBER 17 – WIRED FOR WONDER MELBOURNE* NOVEMBER 18 – CARAVAN MUSIC CLUB MELBOURNE# NOVEMBER 25-27 – *# WHOLE LIFE EXPO ADELAIDE *SPEAKING #MUSIC
WWW.BEN-LEE.COM
“FREEDOM, LOVE & THE RECUPERATION OF THE HUMAN MIND” NEW ALBUM out on ABC MUSIC Oct 21
THE MUSIC 2ND NOVEMBER 2016 • 37
Culture/Hacks Culture
FESTIVAL FESTIVA HACKS
Festivals are fun, right? Well, yes obviously. But also in another sense, good god no! Roasting hot tents; being eaten alive by ravenous mozzies; dicing with dysentery in overflowing portapotties; trying to remember where you pitched your camp while in a sleep deprived, boozed-up twilight state. All in all, Festivals are just about the most heinous thing you can do to your poor old bod. But worry not friends, we’ve sussed out the pitfalls so you don’t have to. Check out our essential survival tips to make sure you make it out alive.
Sort Your Kit When you rock up at a festival, all normal dress codes are suspended: looking like a cross between the Mad Hatter, Willy Wonka and all of the Village People simultaneously is totally acceptable. By all means, dress like a batshit loon, but remember to slip, slop and slap as you’re going to be catching more than your fair share of UV, and nobody wants to look like a lobster (unless you’re dressed like a lobster, which isn’t beyond the realms of possibility). We also recommend packing a portable charger to keep your phone juiced and extra batteries for your torch. Also, Dioralyte or similar anti-dehydration tablets, bug repellent and wet wipes (for a quick freshen-up) are a must. If you’re not fashion forward enough to rock a bumbag, make sure you have a way to carry your cash and phone where it won’t get nicked or fucked up.
Game Plan Before you head to the Fest, it’s worth doing a bit of forward planning. Work out what sets you want to catch, where everything is on the site and decide a group meeting point so you don’t waste precious fun times schlepping around hunting down your mates. Most festivals have an app you can download, so if that’s the case, make it your bible. We need to talk about queues: at festivals, there are a fuck-ton of them and there’s basically nothing you can do about that. Soz. Getting a singalong going with others in the line, breaking the ice with some new festie-besties or getting in your pre-mosh stretches (or as one of The Music staff suggested, kegel exercises) are also great ways to kill time in line.
Fuel Up Festival tucker has gone gourmet in recent years, thanks to the growing popularity of food trucks, but prices can be eye-watering. While many festivals have ATMs, they can be temperamental, so bringing along enough cash is important, especially if you’re the type of person who needs three square meals a day. To save a few extra bucks bring plenty of snacks of your own — meal replacement shakes and granola or protein bars are the best options — then those extra dollars saved can be spent on a few cold ones at the bar. That said, staying hydrated is absolutely bloody crucial, so make sure you’re getting plenty of H2O into your system if you’re on the grog.
38 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
THE MUSIC 2ND NOVEMBER 2016 â&#x20AC;¢ 39
QUEENSCLIFF NSCLIFF
Queenscliff Music Festival
MUSIC FESTIVAL POON-TWANG
When & Where 25 - 27 Nov, Princess Park, Queenscliff
Website
The Harpoonist ‘s Shawn Hall promises a primal, skanky, greasy Australian tour, writes Samuel J Fell.
qmf.net.au
Line-Up Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, Paul Kelly & Charlie Owen, Peter Garrett & The Alter Egos, George, Killing Heidi, Alpine, Urthboy, Doug Anthony All Stars, Julien Baker, Ash Grunwald, Julia Jacklin, Nattali Rize, Pierce Brothers.
Ticket Price $80 - $260
Tickets From qmf.net.au
What are you most looking forward to at your next festival? A two-hour set from the incredible Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals to close our 20th QMF on the main stage, by the beach in Queenscliff, Sunday, 27 Nov. Also the kebab stall is AMAZING. Andrew Orvis, Festival Director
40 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
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band with a name like The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer is always going to command attention. Whether or not they can keep it, however, is a different story. This Vancouver duo has no trouble with that though, their deconstruction of the blues form, the subsequent warped reconstruction, the power and passion they exhibit — well, that’s what’s going to hold that attention and keep it firmly in place. Guitarist and foot percussionist Matthew Rogers and vocalist/harmonica player Shawn Hall met in the mid-2000s while recording an ad jingle, bonded over common musical tastes and the rest is history. Four records later and this duo are in demand the world over, next month heading to Australia for their first extended tour. “Yeah, we’re finally comin’ down man,” enthuses Hall over a scratchy Skype connection. “We were there three years ago [showcasing at Brisbane’s BIGSOUND conference] and, nothing against Brisbane, but it’s like coming to Canada and just seeing Ottawa. We want to be able to see much more of the landscape, not just [be] stuck in the centres. “Everyone has told us about the Mullum Music Festival [too],” he goes on, referencing one of the festival slots they’re playing while here, along with Queenscliff and a few sideshows. “They’ve said it’s a pretty eclectic
festival... it sounds great. [So] we’re coming down with a well-seasoned, welloiled, really primal, skanky, greasy, love machine of a blues vessel. “We’re also coming with a third singer — from a vocal powerhouse from Winnipeg called Chic Gamine — her name is Andrina Turenne, she’s fantastic. She’s kinda got more of a — not country music but country/soul, she adds that to the band. She’s been on our last two records, and has been out on the road with us for only the past nine months.” Speaking of records, the duo’s last was 2014’s A Real Fine Mess, which they’re currently in the process of following up on. “Yeah, we do have a new one, coming out in February next year,” Hall confirms. “We’re trying to do a different thing, and we’re involving a much larger community of musicians that we’d been influenced by and have invited into the project.” He goes on to explain, “The record and the live set are always two different bodies... so when we do a record, we’ll have full drums, we won’t do a foot-drum record for example. We usually have a bass player [on the albums], we’ve hired three singers... it’s a wonderful relationship, they’ve made me become a better singer because we sing together on the records. I try to keep up with them — whatever I’m trying to capture, needs to be captured with them in person, rather than me laying down my stuff and then bringing them over the top. “It was a conscious decision to bring in extra people whose heart and soul we dug,” Hall adds, an ethos which has thus far worked and looks set to continue.
When & Where: 24 Nov, Caravan Music Club; 25 — 27 Nov, Queenscliff Music Festivalv
Summer Festival Issue
PARKES ARKES ELV ELVIS FESTIVAL
HARBOUR PARTY NYE
COUNTRY UNTRY MU M MUSIC FESTIVAL
When & Where
When & Where
When & Where
11 — 15 Jan, Parkes
31 Dec, Luna Park, Sydney
20 — 29 Jan, Tamworth
Website
Website
Website
parkeselvisfestival.com.au
harbourparty.com
tcmf.com.au
Line-Up
Line-Up
Line-Up
Sticky Fingers, Hermitude, The Smith Street There are 120 events across five days including the 2017 Feature Concert Series starring UK Elvis tribute artist Pete Storm and US Elvis tribute artist Jake Rowley.
Havana Brown, Mashd N Kutcher, Sneaky Sound System, KLP (DJ Set), Matt Watkins plus more to be announced.
There’s too many to mention, but Lee Kernaghan, John Williamson, The McClymonts, Troy Cassar-Daley, Adam Brand, Amber Lawrence. With over 700 artists in more than 120 venues, you have got to get to Tamworth in January.
Ticket Price Mixture of free and ticketed ($0 — $100)
Tickets From parkeselvisfestival.com.au
What are you most looking forward to at your next festival? Celebrating the life and music of Elvis Presley, along with the Festival’s 25th Anniversary. We’ll be celebrating with a Viva Las Vegas theme. Beth Link, Sponsorships & Marketing Coordinator
Ticket Price General Admission from $139
Tickets From
Ticket Price Free and ticketed gigs
harbourparty.com/tickets
What are you most looking forward to at your next festival? Watching Sydney’s world famous NYE Fireworks from the Luna Park Harbour boardwalk. Amazing talent, multiple venues and all-night use of the rides. Katelynne Ebsworth, Event Coordinator
Tickets From tcmf.com.au
What are you most looking forward to at your next festival? Everything! Tamworth has such a great vibe during TCMF. The whole city transforms, there’s so much great music to be heard no matter what your taste, and the best part is most of it is free! Erin Carroll, Marketing Officer
THE MUSIC 2ND NOVEMBER 2016 • 41
WOODFORD
Woodford Folk Festival
FOLK FESTIVAL NEW YEAR, NEW YOU
When & Where 27 Dec — 1 Jan, Woodfordia
A’Diva Bellydance Collectivs
Website woodfordfolkfestival.com
Line-Up Buffy Sainte-Marie, Paul Kelly & Charlie Owen, Amanda Palmer, Meow Meow, Thelma Plum, Tash Sultana, Hot Potato Band, Yirrmal, Gang Of Youths and more.
Ticket Price Season with Camping — Adult $571 early or $713 at the gate, youth $405/$506, Child $26/$32. Season no camping — Adult $467/$584, youth $329/$412, Child $18/$23
Tickets From woodfordfolkfestival.com/tickets/ prices
What are you most looking forward to at your next festival? More than 2000 performers and 438 events are programmed featuring local, national and international guests. This year will be the 31st Woodford Folk Festival and the 23rd held. With more than 400 acts on offer, festivalgoers venturing to Woodfordia will be treated to genrecrossing performances in blues, folk and rock, world and indigenous music; dance, circus, comedy, a series of speakers, Children’s Festival and spectacular closing fire event Rellish Walsh, Media Assistant 42 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
T
here’s a lot more to Woodford’s famous Folk Festival than just an earful of world-class music. Delicious food, stimulating talks, fascinating workshops and cleansing meditation classes offer a health-focused retreat from the stresses and pressures of everyday life, if only for a few blissful days at the close of the year. The Festival streets are lined with restaurants, cafes, stalls and bars that share the same commitment to highquality nutrition and responsibly sourced, ethical produce. This year, Woodfordia hosts an array of organic, vegetarian and health-conscious options to help you see in the New Year as you mean to go on. Festivalgoers can find a Kombucha (a probiotic fermented tea) Cafe, Thai, Mediterranean, Brazilian, Mother African Abyssinian cuisine and Hierba Santa organic infusions made from flowers, fruits and herbs, providing delicious snacks and meals to fuel our punters with food as good for the soul as it is for the body.
There is also a full program of talks and interactive workshops designed to invigorate the mind. With experts in industries such as sustainability, politics, agriculture, nutrition, traditional healing therapies and environmental restoration, anyone is welcome to come and be involved. This year’s program includes discussions with everyone’s favourite Dr Karl, Australia’s longest serving PM Bob Hawke and comedian Judith Lucy. Woodfordia is a place where you can escape from ‘reality’ and immerse yourself in cultures from near and far. This year the Festival hosts several classes to explore, with many styles of yoga, Bamboo Nidra relaxing music infusion, Tai Chi, Qigong meditative art, and the healing didgeridoo vibes of Sonic Alchemy. If you’d rather be an observer, you can expect to see anything from Those Tap Guys, A’Diva Bellydance Collective and Tibetan Khaita Dancers in one of the Festival’s multidisciplinary performances.
THE MUSIC 2ND NOVEMBER 2016 â&#x20AC;¢ 43
Summer Festival Issue
PARTY IN
BRUTHEN AND GRIND BLUES & ARTS
GROW YOUR THRASH, BLAST
THE PADDOCK OWN MUSIC FEST
When & Where
When & Where
When & Where
When & Where
10 - 12 Feb, Burns Creek, North East Tasmania
23 Dec, Club Forster
10 Feb, The Triffid; 11 Feb, Manning Bar; 14 Feb, Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle; 15 Feb, The Basement, Canberra; 17 Feb, Max Watts, Melbourne; 18 Feb Amplifier Bar; 19 Feb, Fowlers Live.
17 — 19 Feb, Bruthen
Website Website partyinthepaddockfestival.com. au
Line-Up Sticky Fingers, Hermitude, The Smith Street Band, Tash Sultana, Opiuo, Remi, Kim Churchill, Vera Blue, Montaigne, Luca Brasi, The Bennies, Sampa The Great
growyourown.tv
Line-Up Dope Lemon, Jack River, The Ruins, Jake Meadows, James Bennett, Galleri, Los Scallywaggs and Vanilla Gorilla.
Ticket Price $60
Tickets From Ticket Price 160 +BF (first release - until sold out), $175 +BF (second release)
Tickets From partyinthepaddockfestival.oztix. com.au
What are you most looking forward to at your next festival? From Friday to Sunday, North East Tasmania will echo with the sound of killer tunes, campers and all the good things, when Party In The Paddock returns with a huge all-Australian line-up! Gabe Cramb, Publicist 44 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
eventbrite.com.au/e/grow-yourown-tickets-27862700086
What are you most looking forward to at your next festival? The combination of music from so many radically talented acts from the Great Lakes! We hope in bringing this sort of event to a small town it will inspire musical magic from the area for years to come. Laura Polson, Media Manager
Website directtouring.com
Line-Up King Parrot, Psycroptic, Revocation, Whoretopsy, Black Rheno.
Ticket Price $34
Tickets From directtouring.oztix.com.au
Website bruthenblues.org
Line-Up James Southwell Band — featuring Charlie Wooton (USA) & Chris Wilson, Chase The Sun, Rhiannon Simpson, Sammy Owen Blues Band, Jarrod Shaw, Greg Dodd & The Taildraggers, Lachy Doley Band, Aaron Burton... and much more!.
Ticket Price Weekend pass $85; early bird online ticket $75; individual event tickets available on the weekend.
Tickets From bruthenblues.org
What are you most looking forward to at your next festival? Actually playing at it, as well as watching every show. David Halley, Co-Director
What are you most looking forward to at your next festival? Another intimate, high-quality festival! A new one-off event where Bruthen’s own original Priscilla Queen Of The Desert bus is parked in the main street so people can go in and... ‘come out’! All frocked up and celebrating diversity. Eva Grunfrn, Committee Chairperson
All gig and music news at your fingertips.
Search for ‘The Music App’ on THE MUSIC 2ND NOVEMBER 2016 • 45
PAUSE 2017
Music
SOUTHBOUND SNAKE CHARMERS
If you could share a festival line-up with any act who would you pick and why? Blues Pills (Sweden) - one of my biggest influences. What’s the most important item(s) to pack for a festival? Guitar obviously! And should probably pack the missus as well given she’s the drummer! What’s your festival drink of choice? Can’t go past a pale ale, but it can definitely go past the tonsils!
Answered by: Chris Denman
When & Where 8 - 10 Feb, Federation Square
Website pause.melbourne
What’s your favourite festival moment? We were playing the 2016 St Kilda Festival as a part of the Live And Local street performances. A police officer tried to stop us mid-song. I didn’t stop! What are the big differences between playing a festival set and a gig at a regular venue? A regular gig tends to be more intimate, whereas a festival crowd is much more boisterous and rowdy, which definitely suits our style of gritty hard-edged blues.
What are the upcoming festival(s) you’re playing over the next few months? Bruthen Blues Which of the other acts are you most excited to see on the bill? As much of the action is possible - that’s the great thing about blues, every artist interprets it in their own way Website link for more info: southboundsnakecharmers.wordpress.com
Line-Up Frog, Hax Accelerator, SXSW, Lucasfilm, Google, Fast Company, Girls In Tech, Awardschool, IBM, Thumbtack, Hexo+, Tesla, Ex Magic Leap, Covo, Buro North, Scale Investors, Adshel, Social Traders, Code Like A Girl and 100 more.
GEORGE HEDON’S PAUSE FEST PICKS
Ticket Price $369 - $1080 +gst
Tickets From picatic.com/pause2017
What are you most looking forward to at your next festival? Pause 2017 will see the biggest lineup of world’s madly obsessed pros in one room. It’s that time again to advance yourself with a different perspective across creative, tech and business days. George Hedon, Founder
46 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
Six years ago, Pause Festival founder George Hedon saw an opportunity to launch an event that would bring together the most exciting, innovative and fearless thinkers and doers from Australia’s business, tech and design sectors. Today, the Melbourne-based Festival is one of the nation’s most important focal points for cutting-edge digital creativity. Here are Hedon’s top recommendations from next year’s program. Pause Startup Expo 2017 A proven platform for success, the Pause Startup Expo is a real acceleration point — whatever the stage of your startup journey. Past exhibitors have gone on to achieve incredible things: products have been
validated and promoted; investor relationships have been cemented; the seed of an idea has grown into something tangible that has made its way into the public sphere. We’re currently welcoming applications for the next Startup Expo. Pause Experiences: Opening and Closing Party We make your Pause experience one to remember with a series of opportunities to explore the unknown and the unimaginable. On the opening night of Pause 2017, and in conjunction with Google and HTC Vive, top Melbourne graffiti artists curated by Backwood gallery go wild in the world’s first virtual reality Tilt-Off. We sign off what’s set to be another awesome Pause with one hell of a closing party at BeerDeLuxe on Friday 10 Feb with SXSW, Radio National and Time Out. Pause 2017 conference A new age of “smart” events has begun. Put yourself into fast forward at Pause 2017, with three full-throttle Creative, Tech and Business days. Advance yourself with different perspectives. Now in its sixth year, Pause, will once again be taking over Federation Square, Melbourne, from 8-10 February 2017, bringing with it a program of presentations, panel debates, workshops and experiences from the creative, tech and business industries’ most prolific thought leaders.
Fairgrounds Festival
BLUE TEARS
Rip Nicholson talks with Son Little aka Aaron Livingston about his cross-pollination of genres and the “good cry” brought on by blues.
“I
think it’s safe to say most of the world is, at this point, addicted to 808s. It’s better if you just admit it,” submits Aaron Livingston who, as Son Little, plays rhythm and blues his way. Despite this, he’s oft been referred to as a troubadour of blues, a saviour reviving a bygone art, and his music labelled New Americana. The irony is not lost on Livingston. “As far as I’m concerned I’m trying to do as much of something new as I can,” he says, “anything differently to set myself apart and doing the best version of me as I can do.” Starting out in Philadelphia, he would become known for his dour vocals riding out the hook for The Roots’ Guns Are Drawn off their 2004 album Tipping Point and collaborating with RJD2 with whom he would create an album as a duo on The Abandoned Lullaby (2011). With the release of debut EP Things I Forgot in late 2014, Livingston began his solo quest with a new name. As Son Little, he set himself apart by adding drum machines and 808s to his blues. “That’s just me doing what I love to do. I’ve always loved drum machines and the sound it makes when you hit it with what most people would consider organic or traditional instruments and combining them to make a more synthetic sound.
And each time as I move forward I look for new ways to exploit that. Last October Livingston released his extremely well-received debut full-length Son Little — an offering devoid of any single, easily defined category. Instead, Livingston has found the overarching ties in his music are its American roots, which goes some way to explaining the heightened tension in his work. “I’m probably not alone in feeling like we’ve been living under pressure for a long time. At least I’ve felt that way and I know a lot of people around me have felt that way and do feel this way.” The blues have always provided an avenue to express social disaffection, and while not intentionally mirroring that sentiment, Livingston’s nu-rhythm & blues still maintains that tradition. “You know it’s a funny thing when people talk about blues it’s like, ‘I’m down’ I’m fat, I’m broke, I’m hungry’ and they might think, ‘Well, I don’t want to hear this sad music.’ But, I think it’s always been there to soothe you and I think that’s what’s always been unique about the music is that it can be sad and it can make you cry but at the same time it’s healing. So, you know, it’s a good cry.”
FAIRGROUNDS G OU
FESTIVAL
When & Where 2 & 3 Dec, Berry
Website fairgrounds.com.au
Line-Up Rodriguez, The Tallest Man On Earth, Angel Olsen, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Big Scary, The Drones, Japandroids, Sarah Blasko, Julia Jacklin, Jagwar Ma, Julien Baker, Sheer Mag, Gabriella Cohen, Middle Kids and more!
Ticket Price $160 +BF
Tickets From fairgrounds.com.au/tickets
When & Where: 26 Nov, Queenscliff Music Festival; 29 Nov, The Toff In Town; 3 Dec, Fairgrounds Festival, Berry
What are you most looking forward to at your next festival? Rodriquez and The Tallest Man On Earth in the country twilight. Big closing sets from Jagwar Ma and the almighty King Gizzard. The gourmet pop-up restaurant from Paper Bark Camp. Oysters, champagne, field games, markets and swimming in the on-site pool! Mark Dodds, Promoter
THE MUSIC 2ND NOVEMBER 2016 • 47
Music
Frontlash Gretta Ray
Cone Of Silence
She’s on a role having won the Vanda & Young Songwriting Competition, following a win in triple j’s Unearthed High comp earlier this year.
Just Because How cute is the new video for The Avalanches’ Because I’m Me?
Bullet For My Valentine
Lashes
When an Australian test cricketer asks, the band delivers. Wicket-keeper Peter Nevill had a song request granted of him by the band at their Brisbane gig.
Gretta Ray
Backlash Skint-fish
The Skinnyfish Music offices were broken into recently and over $60,000 worth of gear was stolen, including national treasure Gurrumul’s favourite guitar.
A-list = Z-List
There are reports Richard Wilkins will host an in-depth interview series called The A-List. We can barely take his interviews of a few minutes, let alone a longer form of them.
Musical lawsuits Uptown Funk is the latest song to have a lawsuit against it after ‘80s electro funk band Collage filed suit against Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars for similarities. Personally we can’t hear any, and why do these people wait years to file?
48 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
Guitarist Dan Donegan’s own father wasn’t even aware that Disturbed were secretly recording their latest album, Bryget Chrisfield learns.
O
n “a night off”, Disturbed guitarist Dan Donegan tries to make sense of The Sound Of Silence effect. Since the band performed their version of the classic Simon & Garfunkel song on Conan, the endorsements have flooded in. “It’s reached all the way to the point of Paul Simon himself sending a message back, emailing David [Draiman, vocals] actually, the other day, saying that he loves the version and [it] got his blessing,” Donegan marvels. “And he actually reposted it on his social media page telling people to check it out! And then to the point of even Russell Crowe commenting on his Twitter page.” Donegan reckons Crowe’s post — “His comment was something like, ‘Every now and then somebody comes along and does something genius like this,’ and then he posted our video for The Sound Of Silence” — also extended the song’s natural reach. Another legend, Heart’s Ann Wilson, also gave Disturbed’s The Sound Of Silence the double thumbs up, Donegan points out. “Somebody had asked her a question in an interview, if she’s heard anything that has inspired her lately, and she said our version of The Sound Of Silence. So this whole past week has our heads spinning just ‘cause it’s exciting to see that it’s kind of reached three huge-name people that are probably typically not Disturbed fans before this.”
The Sound Of Silence is the third single to be lifted from Disturbed’s sixth studio album, which landed almost exactly five years after its predecessor, post-hiatus. When Disturbed were writing and recording Immortalized, Donegan reveals, “We didn’t even tell a lot of our family.” So were confidentiality agreements involved? “Only the [people] that needed to know knew,” Donegan confirms, “and we made them sign confidentiality agreements... I didn’t even tell my own father, um, there was my brother, sister — none of them knew. So we were trying to do our best to trick them. “For a very long time we kind of had to — I don’t wanna say lie to our friends, but we withheld the truth,” he laughs. At times, Donegan noticed his nearest and dearest “were getting suspicious”. “And I felt guilty of not telling them,” the guitarist admits. Withholding this information on a night out after “a couple drinks” required even more willpower, but Donegan stresses, “We didn’t wanna ruin it. We thought it would have a way bigger impact if we just kept it a secret.” Disturbed flew in and out of Vegas to record Immortalized and Donegan says the band used social media “as a tool” to help guard their secret. The guitarist would try to make sure he was home weekends: “I would check in and I would post stuff, ‘I’m with my kids here at the park in Illinois,’ you know, and, ‘Mike’s with his kids in Wisconsin,’ and so when people were getting suspicious they would go on our Facebook page and... someone would say, ‘I think they’re recording,’ and then somebody else would respond and say, ‘Well I just [saw] Dan was at the park with his kids at home, how could he be recording?’ So we would kind of use it as a tool to trick them and luckily it worked [laughs].”
When & Where: 12 Nov, Margaret Court Arena
In Focus Camp Cope Pic: Matt Warrell
Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been nominated for Best Album, Best Band, Best Song and Best Emerging Act and Camp Cope are also performing at The Age Music Victoria Awards After Party at 170 Russell on 16 Nov alongside Melbourne Ska Orchestra and Tash Sultana. The EG Allstars Band are also locked in to perform with a rotating roster of legends taking the mic: Paul Dempsey, Gareth Liddiard, Kylie Auldist, Pierce Brothers, Remi, Alex Lahey, Gawurra and Freya Josephine Hollick. The After Party is now sold out, but you can still have your say on who wins (until 4 Nov). Head to musicvictoria.com.au/ agemusicvictoriaawards, click on the Vote Now icon and remember, every vote counts!
THE MUSIC 2ND NOVEMBER 2016 â&#x20AC;˘ 49
OPINION Opinion
Coldpast
Business Music
I
When Your Club Needs A Boss With Paz
sat down with Melbourne producer Coldpast to discuss his new release Delite Beat (VIP) out on Loophole Recordings. What influenced the VIP release? “I was kind of inspired from actually just going to The Late Show a lot and listening to the music that’s played there... the VIP I just got the idea of that from listening, I listen to a lot of, like, Dance Mania-type techno or kind of techno tunes. So basically [I] just took the snare out of it and changed it up a bit and kept it like a pumper... it’s just my kind of tool.” What was the missing element? “The simplicity, really, ‘cause when I play out in clubs I just want straight tools that I can work with. The more bare it is the better for me, so I really just stripped the original back for the VIP. The original song was based around the Think break, which is kinda the old Baltimore/Jersey vibe and I just used that over a pumping techno beat.”
TKay Maidza
O G F l ava s Urban And R&B
T
he most buzz emerging News Australian hip hop acts in With Cyclone 2016 would have to be Tkay Maidza, Adelaide MC/singer/live fave, and Sampa The Great, Sydney-based poet/ singer/songwriter. Maidza already has a huge global presence, being praised by Killer Mike of Run The Jewels (and Atlanta’s Dungeon Family). This year she received a BET Award nom for Viewer’s Choice Best New International Act culturally significant Stateside. (Cop that, Iggy Azalea.) Meanwhile, the versatile Maidza has featured on tracks by Troye Sivan and house 50 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
DJs Motez and Martin Solveig. Now Maidza has dropped her neon debut, TKAY. The self-described “brat rapper” has grown up, but not grown boring. She has retained that animated sense of fun and subversive sarcasm. Yet there are reflective moments. Like Maidza’s earlier singles, TKAY pursues an upfront, post-MIA hybrid of hip hop and EDM - arching grime, trap, trop-house and the so-called “Australian sound” (here, Alison Wonderland’s mode). The opener Always Been is a hyper-trap banger helmed by some old Maidza allies the Diplo-approved Melbourne duo of Swick & Lewis CanCut. The rapper has also worked with select international names - notably dancehall don Dre Skull (credited on Snoop Lion’s Reincarnated and, recently, How To Dress Well’s Care) for the mellow Follow Me. The lead single, Carry On finds Maidza hitting back at naysayers, with Mike himself acting as ‘big brother’ (Evermore’s Dann Hume produces). She goes pop with Simulation, tweaked by her DJ LK McKay (soulstress George Maple co-writes). Drumsticks No Guns is a protest jam - but, even when political, Maidza keeps it individualistic.
Production techniques? “I use, straight up, my laptop and Ableton and a soundcard, which is my basic set-up. I have a studio that I go to, my mate’s studio.. I usually go to his studio once a month now and I take heap of samples down there and just run them through like distressers and stuff that he has.” The Remixes? “Two people 100% was Arctic... probably one of the best producers in Melbourne I would say, and Burrows... he’s making absolutely amazing music... Loophole’s all about pushing Melbourne music that’s good that people aren’t hearing.”
Jesse Boykins III
Dance Moves
I
’m reflexively wary of credible dance music With Tim Finney producers trying to ‘do pop music’. It’s not the pop element that is the problem, per se; rather, it’s that such producers can’t readily let go of the constraints of credibility, so the results fall into a stiff and ungainly no man’s land between actual pop music and a residual predilection for artiness.
New Currents
NION OPINION Opinion
Machinedrum’s Human Energy doesn’t suffer from this problem, although perhaps it helps that producer Travis Stewart has travelled further and more slowly than most, gradually shifting from the IDM of his 2001 debut Now You Know to the sparkling dance-pop of his latest effort. Along the way there was 2011’s Room(s), a spangly take on post-dubstep distinguished by its fractured juke-inspired rhythms and iridescent synth tones. But Human Energy takes this one step further, almost entirely embracing the urban dance styles that previous albums only gestured towards. This is most apparent on full-blown songs like Do It 4 U, which features guest vocals from avant-R&B diva Dawn Richard (returning the favour after Machinedrum produced her early-2016 single Not Above That) splayed across massive jet stream synth chords, stomping kick drums and hyperactive handclaps. Stewart’s uptempo percussive and melodic sensibility is key — on tunes like White Crown, the arrangements positively sparkle with hyper-compressed jitter riffs that resemble elaborate ruffles in the fabric of the grooves. Stewart sensibly recognises how his own impulses find an echo in the popular music’s basest corners: Angel Speak is day-glow flecked reggaeton; Etheric Body Temple rides majestic trance chords; Dos Puertas steals any manner of obvious trap cliches (given trap itself is basically a cesspool of cliches, that’s saying something); Colour Communicator sounds like a juke track scored for Sesame Street. “So far, so Jamie xx”, you might say, but for my money Machinedrum’s efforts in this space are more persuasive, more clearly in love with dancepop’s capacity to express so many things in an entirely unabashed form — maximalism and emotionalism in particular. It helps, too, that Machinedrum has spent so much time producing for other artists: although I found Love Apparatus, the 2014 album of sumptuous slow jams he produced for underground R&B singer Jesse Boykins III, a bit snoozy in practice, their one collaboration here, Celestial Levels, is just gorgeous, its aqueous drift recalling Maxwell’s 1998 classic Embrya, only powered by midtempo rave arpeggios unfurling like a Mandelbrot set.
Speaking of Jesse, his own recent mixtape Bartholomew also makes for compelling, albeit less immediate listening. With his ear for electronic textures and tunes of only tenuous hookiness, in 2016 Boykins would probably be pegged as a post-Frank Ocean artist, which is unfair, since he’s been ploughing a similar furrow for almost ten years (check 2011’s winsome tearjerker I Can’t Stay for a particularly lovely example of his prior work), and given this mixtape handily beats Blond at its own game. Bartholomew is a long listen, and more deliberately abstract than Love Apparatus, but there are a surprising number of gems here. Tomorrow is the gentlest EDMpop tune of the year, its cut-up vocal chorus hinting at what might happen if Jesse followed Machinedrum in embracing populist instincts to the hilt.
It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.
And we know everyone.
On sale now. Go to store. themusic.com.au to get your copy today.
THE MUSIC 2ND NOVEMBER 2016 • 51
Album / E Album/EP Reviews
Birds Of Tokyo Brace EMI
★★★★
Album OF THE Week
After exploring radio staples like Plans and Lanterns, Birds Of Tokyo seem to have had the kind of mid-career epiphany that either makes or breaks any artist’s trajectory into iconism. The heavier sound is welcome as the band indulge. Bookends Harlequins and Mercy Arms solidify the grunge-goodness in between, sandwiched with Ian Kenny’s distinctive vocals and encompassing guitar shreds. The album’s crash-landing is worthy of a post-apocalyptic soundtrack. The doomsday motifs continue through climactic Pilot, before the anthemic Crown takes over. The album is one to be played live, the songs lending themselves to the imagination of a listener capable of dreaming up the most remarkable light shows. Hayley Mary of The Jezabels makes an appearance on Discoloured, injecting darkly dystopic vibes into the so-real-it’s-kinda-scary themes of being drawn right over the edge of the metaphorical cliff. It’s a brutal listen. Among the obvious themes of helplessness and resilience, it’s the subtle points that really shine as highlights in this album. Above/Below features group a cappella that’s jarring in the storm. Mercy Arms closes off by tracking the final moments of life support, a hauntingly harrowing end to the album. Brace is the kind of album that stays with you long after that last echo rings through your headphones. Tash Loh
Client Liaison
Pez
Diplomatic Immunity
Don’t Look Down
Dot Dash/Remote Control
EMI
★★★
★★★½
When you’re hurtling towards the ground at a million miles an hour for entertainment, it’s important to know when to pull up. Not only do you avoid spectacular tragedy, but you also establish your daredevil bona fides with those on the ground, and engender admiration and respect. So too, with homage. Client Liaison’s debut longplayer, Diplomatic Immunity, continues full tilt their relentless lampooning of the (in)glorious excess of the 1980s. They attack the gaudy (white) escapades of Australia’s elite, using the language and aesthetics of an Americanised archetype. They hurtle at the ground at a million miles an hour dressed in power suits, and they pull up just in time. Just. One thing you need when exploring the ‘80s is good production value, and Diplomatic
“Adult rap” is still a thing because hip hop as a genre continues to celebrate being young, with the freedom afforded by money and fame. Rapping about the nine-to-five grind and whether or not it’s fulfilling on any level may not go down so well at parties, but it speaks to the experience of many over the age of 25. While 32-year-old Pez isn’t old per se, events such as the birth of his first child definitely make him an adult, and so it is with his music. This might not be everyone’s idea of fun, but Don’t Look Down, his second full-length album, manages to be inspiring nonetheless. What Pez’s voice lacks in power it makes up for in other ways: you get the sense that he’s talking directly to you, in a voice that’s part Aussie and part American but that still feels
52 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
Immunity has that in spades. Clean, reverbed vocals rise up over pillowy clouds of vaporwave synth and a rich, tropical rhythm section propels everything. Strong songwriting is on display here as well, although few tracks get close to eclipsing the artists they clearly admire. Thematically, it’s thin but fun. Songs like A Foreign Affair (with Tina Arena!) and Hotel Stay are solely concerned with satirising lifestyle. In the end, the fidelity to that lifestyle in terms of their sound and presentation is so complete that you start to wonder, ‘Have they drunk their own Kool-Aid?’ Matt MacMaster
natural and unforced. Pez and/or his producers favour of simple, pop-influenced production, with some admittedly bland hooks. His lyrics hit deep, though: “We all got our eyes glued to our social media/Seeking admiration and other people’s validation.” Still, the album could’ve done with a few more songs like They Try To Tell Me featuring 360. “They keep saying to us, ‘Stay underground’/Why the fuck would we do that?/We wanna make money now,” raps 360. Right on. To which Pez answers: “I think I want a figure around eight hundred thou’”. In this economy, we should all be so lucky. John Papadopoulos
EP Reviews Album/EP Reviews
Bon Jovi
Lambchop
Shapeshifter
Timothy Nelson
This House Is Not For Sale
Flotus
Stars
Words Like Young
City Slang/Inertia
Caroline
Independent
★★★
★★★½
★★★½
★★★★
The first and title track gets you in - complete with its big guitar solo and “woah-oh-oh” chorus. Bon Jovi IS in the house. Hang on for some classic lyrics like “I’ll be giving you the finger but sticking out my chin” (Knockout) and, of course, the album’s big ballad I Will Drive You Home. The last track moves The Jovi almost out of rock far enough to be adult contemporary (rocking chair rather than rock’n’roll?). But somewhere, among the soft tones and distinct lack of roaring guitar and driving drums, the Greek god (with still impossibly good hair) remains.
Similar to Bon Iver’s recent electronic turn, Kurt Wagner takes his Lambchop brand name and lurches away from his/their familiar lush country-ish tones. Opener In Care Of 8675309 has some hints of the ‘old’ style, but then stretches and meanders on for just on 12 minutes, beds of synths cradling Wagner’s croon. Then it goes different places. Namechecking Kendrick Lamar and Frank Ocean as influences, Writer is near-spokenword over beeps and squawks, voices dropping in and out - hip hop? Yeah, no. Or maybe it might be in the more eclectic suburbs of Nashville. So, is this Wagner’s future, or just a detour to puzzle? You might have to wait on what comes next.
Shapeshifter’s last studio album was a mess. While they’ve always displayed a diverse array of influences, 2013’s Delta’s leap into electro eclecticism simply lacked the songwriting for the record to be anything other than frustrating. Stars feels a lot more consistent even as the band’s electro sheen and hypereclecticism remains intact throughout. Productions like house-heavy Oculus and swinging Eternal are as solid as anything from the group’s celebrated past and cuts like Blazer prove they’ve lost none of their liquid drum’n’bass soul. There are missteps (Fake Charmer) but, mostly, Stars represents a compelling return to form.
Fans of Timothy Nelson & The Infidels are in for a nice surprise now that Nelson’s heading down the solo path with Words Like Young. Nelson’s sound is unique. There’s a humbleness to it that suffuses the album, with its indie-rock vibes and occasional dash of folk, acoustic guitar and understated songs that will have you dreaming away the day - Good As It Gets being a prime example. Chill-rock tracks like Explain and Living Saloon bring the energy up, making sure everything isn’t too relaxing. It’s a brilliant solo debut for Nelson, definitely worth a listen.
Universal
Liz Giuffre
Ross Clelland
Aneta Grulichova
Matt O’Neill
More Reviews Online Junk Son Beginning Ending Pretending
theMusic.com.au
Jim James Eternally Even
Listen to our This Week’s Releases playlist on
THE MUSIC 2ND NOVEMBER 2016 • 53
Live Re Live Reviews
Alex Lahey @ The Lost Lands. Pic: Lucinda Goodwin
The Lost Lands Werribee Park 29 Oct Saturday
High Volage Rock School @ The Lost Lands. Pic: Lucinda Goodwin
Tash Sultana @ The Lost Lands. Pic: Lucinda Goodwin
Harts @ The Lost Lands. Pic: Lucinda Goodwin
Tim Rogers & The Bamboos @ The Lost Lands. Pic: Lucinda Goodwin
The Grates @ The Lost Lands. Pic: Lucinda Goodwin
54 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
After getting lost en route to The Lost Lands (thanks, iPhone Google GPS thingy), we pitch our tent and come out just in time to see a toddler running passed hollering, “Tell me whatcha want/whatcha weally, weally want,” to his two toddler buddies. Yep, this is a festival designed for kids. Said toddler is later spotted ‘fronting’ a band, singing this same song on the High Voltage Rock School stage — he’s bossing everyone around and drops the mic; definite rockstar in the making. Then he freestyles about Herman The Worm. There’s a circus recruitment campaign next to this stage as well — should be labelled Heckers Section in the origin on the festival site map. There’s a Tinta handmade natural wax crayons stall in the market and various other activities such as ‘make your own crazy festival headgear’ in the Main Stage area to keep children occupied all day long. Architecture In Helsinki have employed a brass trio for the occasion. As they launch into their first song That Beep (aka the “B-B-B-B-Beep-Beep!” song), a neighbour announces, “It sounds like ABBA!” And it DOES borrow heavily from Take A Chance On Me. Onstage synchronised dancing allows the kiddies to copy and Architecture In Helsinki cement a career in performing in front of kids. Lead singer Kellie Sutherland has even dressed accordingly in neon pink and orange dress, with yellow tights. A couple of annoying ladies play the tambourine incessantly to the point where we feel the need to relocate. A cover of The Cure’s Close To Me features a fun clapping pattern, that’s tricky for young hands but also
allows the trumpeter to truly shine. Cameron Bird sounds like someone’s druncle doing karaoke and we can’t help but wonder whether his lyrical inventiveness when singing, “In The Mansion/The Werribee Mansion/The lion sleeps tonight,” may freak a few kids out as they try to sleep in their tents tonight. The band on Little Big Stage, No Waves, pulls a crowd due to their captivating rawness. These kids feel the music. BOOKMARK FOR FURTHER INVESTIGATION! Then we enter Kids Big Top to check out Children Are Stinky (who took out the Children’s Choice Award at Edinburgh Fringe Festival) just in time to hear the duo telling their audience that if neither of them farted it must’ve been us! They demonstrate unimaginable feats, including controlled handstands on hastily stacked chairs, and it’s the adults who scream loudest: “Higher! Higher!” Audience involvement always leaves participants feeling empowered and this pair clearly suffer for their art (the dude licks chalk from the blackboard, for chrissake!) They ingeniously incorporate some Daft Punk for the adults to groove along to and we’re so pleased we popped into this Big Top, which is beautifully decorated with a dream-catcherinspired centrepiece hanging down from the apex. The portaloo area is called Stinky Land (LOL). Hearing a dude shout through a portaloo door, “Open up and I’ll show you how to do it,” would sound dodgy at any other festival. The probability of being struck in the head by a flying object is tripled at The Lost Lands. And they must be selling those tennis balls on elastic somewhere; bruises on legs and ankles tomorrow are guaranteed. And you can’t tell me these balls accidentally find human targets every time. A Star Wars theme intro tape
eviews Live Reviews
introduces Ozomatli and then it turns into a trumpet party. That percussionist/rapper Justin “El Nino” Poree is all rockstar swagger and we wish we could stay, but wanna see what Laughter Yoga’s all about on Little Big Stage. Hmmm, not sure about it. It’s all a bit hippie mung bean and ‘fake it ‘til you make it’ for us. We’re surprised when a storyteller hits Little Big Stage next when we’re expecting Melbourne’s Lazertits (or Lazertatas as they’ve been named for their G-rated The Lost Lands shows). His Jack And The Bean Stalk-inspired tale includes the following observation: “and we all know people who have had too much to drink can’t run very fast.” When ‘Lazertatas’ finally commence they promise it’s a G-rated set before kicking off with a song about periods. “We may have realised that was a wildly inappropriate first song,” Amy Pettifer giggles afterwards. They are often caught off guard as they sing inappropriate lyrics such as, “I don’t wanna get high unless it’s with you,” but the crowd doesn’t mind. “You’re fabulous! You’re fresh!” A grandpa yells out encouragingly from the back stalls. And fabulous they sure are. FYI, kiddie-mosh pits are mental! And performing to dancing toddlers has gotta be super-fun. Their song Very Berry Milkshake is a particular hit with the dancing throng and all girls onstage smile broadly. We keep walking past a banana peel in the campsite. No one slips on it, unfortunately. That Default song by Django Django is like red cordial for kids’ ears. An announcement over the PA warns, “The mozzies are coming!” and we all rush to first aid for the Aerogard while imagining what a great ad this would make. Now it’s back to Main Stage for The Grates. Appropriately
enough, Patience Hodgson looks as if her hair’s been dyed in the same tub as her frock and she flings a bright pink fur fabric coat, which has been decorated with ivy and glitter plus the kitchen sink, around. Many young girls in the crowd undoubtedly wanna grow up to be her. Kids have red lights attached to their wrists and ankles to help them stand out in the dark. We also spy wee’uns in prams clutching balloons that somehow glow from within. “My nanna and pop, they love you,” is a comment The Waifs say made them realise they are a “family band”. Everyone’s favourite backpacker anthem London Still attracts such a loud crowd sing-along that Donna Simpson remarks afterwards it’s a dream to hear thousands of people sing along to a song she wrote in a little room in London while feeling lonely and homesick. One bloke impatiently calls for “The Love Song”, but must wait a couple more songs before he’s sated (it’s actually called Love Serenade, though). There’s a noteworthy electric guitar solo by Josh Cunningham during this one and Simpson is so into it that she busts moves like she’s dancing to George Michael’s Faith in her lounge room. Born To Love raises the “Woo!”s. Vikki Thorne slays on mouth organ especially during Crazy Train, which perfectly shows off their rocking side. “Next year, watch out for The Waifs gang,” Simpson threatens, explaining they’d love to be in attendance next year together with their brood (the sisters boast six sons between them). We’re then told their sons love making new friends at festivals with the promise of backstage access. Over at Sleeping Bag Cinema, a small crowd lies in sleeping bags on the floor watching Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory
complete with hot buttered popcorn for $5 a pop. Hot chocolate en route to the tent post-film? Sure thing. And a young lad pulls at his mum’s sleeve, pleading, “Mum, they’ve got chai!” Kids these days. Sunday
A couple of cool l’il dudes are bottle flipping around the entrance to Le Petite Grande
The Lost Lands is a great find for music-loving families before Kiki + Pascal’s second show of the day inside the mini Spiegeltent. Amazingly, Le Petite Grande has a 120person capacity and we decide we’d better check this out for ourselves. These 20-or-so minute circus shows are ideal for short attention spans and we watch Kiki work her entire body through a tennis racket (there was hip dislocation involved). She then sits on a table wearing a so-called wedding dress before Pascal puts a box over her and pierces 13 sharpened sticks right through the box. Some kiddies are actually terrified for Kiki’s safety at this point. Quality. Out on Main Stage, newcomer Alex Lahey plays some new stuff including Everyday’s A Weekend. She endearingly studies her guitar neck to ensure correct finger placement during newer songs. “This song is about getting dumped in Perth,” is how Lahey intros Perth Traumatic Stress Disorder, which features rambunctious cymbal-heavy drumming. Call to the wild Let’s Go Out is a set highlight. Lahey gives the toddlers some advice on which university majors they
should avoid before B-Grade University. “She’s good value,” a nearby mum praises of Lahey’s banter before this unstoppable emerging artist closes with her barnstorming breakout hit You Don’t Think You Like People Like Me. We look around during her final song and see many punters singing along come the chorus. The Bamboos come crashing out of the gates fronted by the inimitable Tim Rogers to Blow Your Whistle while dressed like an urban cowboy with gold reflector aviators. Then in comes “the high priestess of soul” (as introduced by debonair band leader Lance Ferguson) Kylie Auldist to add to their recipe for SUCCESS. Damn, Ferguson! Your outfit is as slick as this outfit sounds! Rogers calls to mind a horny Yosemite Sam up there. The brass in Rules Of Attraction channels KC & The Sunshine Band’s Boogie Shoes and we’re certainly not complaining. Rogers is loose! Swigging from a stubbie, which he refers to as “Werribee tap water”, up onstage he’s also this band’s unofficial hypeman, repeatedly extolling, “With The Bamboos, you can’t LOSE!” Lime Rickey goes off with its list of ingredients for a chorus. Rogers gives Lahey a massive plug, praising her props as a singer-songwriter. He also takes this opportunity to reassure any kids in the crowd who may be getting bullied at school. “Small minds make big statements,” he posits before pointing out he was bullied, but look at him now! It’s definitely hold-onto-your-hat weather at this point, but there’s also pretty bubbles floating by on the gusty breeze. While the vocalists take a break, we score a solo from each of The Bamboos as they’re introduced by the immaculate Ferguson sporting RayBans and dapper grey suit jacket. Yuri Pavlinov particularly destroys when given his opportunity to shine. Auldist is welcomed back
THE MUSIC 2ND NOVEMBER 2016 • 55
Live Re Live Reviews
More Reviews Online theMusic.com.au/ music/live-reviews
Archie Roach @ Melbourne Recital Centre Glen Hansard @ Palais Theatre The Vines @ Corner Hotel friendships @ Howler Cash Savage & The Last Drinks @ The Old Bar Airling @ Howler Steven Wilson @ 170 Russell
56 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
to the stage along with Rogers, who has changed into a baffling outfit of black, ruffle-fronted long-sleeved shirt, unbuttoned (almost) to the waist with long pendant, black slacks, tan shoes and (wait for it) aqua turban!? You Am I’s Heavy Heart is an unexpected treat (complete with a freestyled section commending Ben Mendelssohn for winning an Emmy!). Ferguson’s guitar solo during I Got Burned burns blindingly bright. You would not wanna follow this class act of Tim Rogers & The Bamboos. But someone has to and Bec Reid Dance bounds on stage to quickly and effectively teach us some simple choreography. It’s awesome to see the moonwalk kept alive during this routine and the children who excelled during previous classes are invited to the stage to show us what they’ve got. Before too long, Tash Sultana’s gentle riffs drift across on the ferocious winds we’re currently experiencing. As Sultana builds and loops her songs, she’s a musical conduit. And just when you think a song is fully formed, in comes an extra layer to completely blow our minds. Sultana’s presence is so powerful and she always looks stoked to be given an opportunity to perform. Then she picks up her guitar and is an absolute beast. So fucking impressive! Hopefully Sultana will remain a solo act; no extra musicians are needed here. Sultana tells us she brought all her grandparents along today, which makes it extra special for her because they’ve never actually seen what she does before. You can see Sultana’s genuine enthusiasm upon hearing the sounds she produces. And that’s before she’s even picked up the melodica. She truly embodies her music and makes the live experience incredibly exciting. Someone yells out “HOLY
SHIT!” (yes, in ALLCAPS) and that just about sums it up. I bet every young girl here wants to grow up to be as gangsta as Sultana. She is a shining light of empowerment for all. Sultana somehow manages to make beatboxing through a pan flute sound good and even the bouncers are dancing. The individual letters from The Lost Lands backdrop spin uncontrollably, jostled by extreme gusts of wind as Sultana performs Jungle. Pure sonic genius. Harts in three-piece mode is a-okay. Darren Hart’s guitar speaks; it’s full of sass and often echoes the vocal melodies. His keys may be covered in
actually almost too much bliss to handle all at once. Then he goes and plays guitar behind his back to totally redefine insanity. Prince wouldn’t select just anyone to carry on his legacy now would he? Harts equals superstar-ready. Just what or who is holding him back from world domination is one of life’s great mysteries. Our sole gripe with The Lost Lands would be the extra charges for rides. Maybe add a little more to the ticket price so that every child can experience the Ferris Wheel and Little Red Train? But if the amount of overheard convos about returning next year are anything to go by, The Lost
The Lost Lands. Pic: Luncinda Goodwin
plastic wrap to protect from rainfall, Werribee approaches Arctic temps but something’s definitely hot in here. Hart does so much more than just play guitar. He feels it out, delivering whatever sound the guitar wants to deliver. And Peculiar delivers. While introducing his band, Hart tells us his drummer is from Werribee. That bassist, though! Red And Blue is extraordinary and the wind whips up to blow Hart’s hair back just so; nature supplies the best possible wind machine. Hart gurns unselfconsciously to create riff majesty, often open-mouthed, and we worry that one day a moth will fly in there. When Hart sings AND plays guitar: that’s
Lands is a great find for musicloving families. We keep walking past a banana peel in the campsite. No one slips on it, unfortunately. Bryget Chrisfield
Nothing to do this weekend? Don’t worry, The Music has you sorted.
Head to events.themusic.com.au to see what’s coming up.
THE MUSIC 2ND NOVEMBER 2016 • 57
Arts Reviews Arts Reviews
uncomfortable viewing. Removing the headgear to discover That VR Joint’s open, sunny space when it finishes is easily the most disorientating moment of the day. Really, though, you don’t visit a VRcade to spectate. It’s game time. There are plenty of choices and first up is Space Pirate Trainer to get used to the nunchukstyle controllers. It’s extremely intuitive and almost immediately I’m weaving between lasers, blowing drones from the sky with a blaster and a grin. This dance of death is probably pretty amusing the Smith Street traffic, but, whatever; have fun in the real world, losers. After seeing how well horror and VR can pair in cinema fending off monster hordes in The Brookhaven Experiment is a given. There are a handful of unpleasant-looking locations and I end up at the hub of an abandoned sewer system. Any ideas about clumsy polygons or cartoonish mechanics run gibbering for the hills as the first hell-beast lurches forth with undeniable menace. A couple of rounds to the chest and Handsome hits the deck in a spray of limbs. There’s a scuffling somewhere behind and I spin wildly trying find the source with shaking torch. After emptying a few more clips something grabs my arse and I set a high-jump PB (I don’t actually feel it but my ‘vision’ flashes red). As a monster I shot the legs off of earlier crawls up mine, I learn a hard truth; ammunition is a finite resource. Luckily a thumb tap on the track-pad switches the torch for a knife and I flail my way round in the dark. The whole experience is astonishingly immersive. On some level you expect to get House Of The Dead in a helmet, but taking off the HTC Vive there’s a tremor in my hands and I realise I’m sweating. The use of teleporting to open wider maps without sending you headlong into a wall (point where you’re going and click) will frustrate some, but a bit of practise and even that feels natural enough. Especially with sharp teeth nipping at your heels for incentive. Playing through several of the titles, from dinomurder vehicle Island 359 to joyous toy box Job Simulator, reveals the same all-enveloping experience. The transition between real world action and VR reaction is imperceptible, the games are beautiful and, most of all, fun as hell. X
That VR Joint Gaming Open 7 Days 450 Smith St, Collingwood
★★★★ We may be edging up to summer, but it’s time to say goodbye to the sun. Melbourne has gone and got it’s own holodeck. The day at That VR Joint starts off in the cinema using Samsung Gear VR and a swivel chair to watch brief 360degree VR films. The GoPro-style films are a blast. You don’t need to know who Schumacher is to get a rush whipping around corners at Le Mans and the firstperson, 400-metre leap into a desert canyon in Moab, Utah is a guaranteed kegel exercise. The fiction selection runs the gamut from fairly naff zombie monologue Last Man Standing to the exceptional Sonar — a sci-fi/horror short that makes deeply
Sam Wall.
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Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange Film In cinemas now
★★★½ Having enjoyed huge success with the adventures of Iron Man, Thor, The Hulk and their super-powered pals, Marvel has been stretching itself a little with its recent movies, trying out different tones and introducing heroes who are a bit unconventional. Doctor Strange introduces the latest hero in the Marvel line-up - Dr Stephen Strange, a master of the mystic arts - and adds magic to the familiar comic book tropes already thoroughly explored by this prolific studio. But while this movie does travel to some far-flung locations, both on Earth and in some more unusual destinations, it’s also taking a pretty familiar path. In fact, the similarities between Doctor Strange and Iron Man, whose first adventure got the Marvel Cinematic Universe ball rolling back in 2008, are striking. After all, both feature brilliant chaps with snarky senses of humour and slick facial hair who go through harrowing, humbling and life-changing events before embracing their new destiny as a hero. Hey, it’s a formula that works. And when it’s acted out by people who bring presence, talent and conviction to the table, it’s certainly worth revisiting. When we first meet Strange, played by Benedict Cumberbatch of Sherlock fame, he’s a gifted surgeon all too aware of his amazing prowess. A terrible traffic accident - don’t text and drive! - leaves him with nerve damage so severe he can barely hold a toothbrush, let alone a scalpel. As is usually the case in superhero movies, newly aquired powers and a lot of running, jumping, flying and thumping ensues. But Doctor Strange’s magical bent means that the laws of physics also take a beating, with our heroes and villains manipulating time and space in interesting, entertaining ways. It’s fun stuff that adds an enjoyable facet to Marvel’s ever-expanding saga. Guy Davis
OPINION Opinion
Howzat!
Local Music By Jeff Jenkins Love Walked Back In The ‘90s are back. Brisbane’s Screamfeeder are in town this week and The Earthmen are playing at Bella Union on 12 Nov, to launch their new anthology College Heart on Popboomerang Records. The Earthmen were prominent players in the Melbourne scene, often referred to as “Fitzroyalty”. “I loved the gang/tribal nature,” singer Scott Stevens says. “It had a real sense of people and bands identifying themselves, whether by T-shirt or music.” “Things are different now,” adds guitarist Nick Batterham. “I’m glad our pre-internet shenanigans are not on the public record. It’s nice; this compilation has brought the band online, so now it’s like we really existed.” The Earthmen had a knack for crafting timeless pop, which led to deals with Jason Reynolds’ Summershine Records and Atlantic Records in the US. “Each new thing felt slightly more exciting or ridiculous than the last,” Nick recalls. Sadly, the band released just one full-length album, 1997’s Love Walked In, before exiting in 1999. What would they do differently if they had their time again? “Possibly base ourselves overseas for a period,” Scott says. “And
be more organised — because surely that couldn’t have hurt.” The band’s publisher, Roger Grierson, remembers the band’s demise: “Nick had written a song he wanted to sing, but Scott said he was the singer and he should sing it.” A fair summary? “Not quite,” Scott says. There were many factors, Nick adds. “In the end it just stopped being fun.” Part of The Earthmen folklore involves a fistfight in Boston. “It was more of a slap than a punch,” Nick claims. “It was weeks into a bunch of early twentysomethings being overseas for the first time,” Scott explains, “staying in one room trying to drive each other crazy. It did lead to Nick playing lead breaks with a plastic cup full of red wine whilst grinning like a cat ... for some reason none of it seemed odd.” College Heart features four new songs, including a breezy gem called Find Your Own Way. The
The Earthmen
Earthmen are older and wiser, but still pop craftsmen. And they’re having fun. “It’s been a real treat recording again with old friends,” Scott says. “I’m gonna say never say never on more songs.”
Try And Understand It John Farnham’s classic You’re The Voice topped the Australian charts 30 years ago this week, the start of a seven-week reign.
Hot Line “I can’t explain when you’re not near/I can’t sit back without you here” — The Earthmen, This Much I Know.
THE MUSIC 2ND NOVEMBER 2016 • 59
Comedy / G The Guide
Dan Sultan
Wed 02
Julien Wilson ‘B For Chicken’ Quartet: 303, Northcote
Dom Kelly + RAThammock + Hugh Fushen: Bar Open, Fitzroy
The Round Up with Alison Ferrier + The Yearlings + Charm of Finches: Bella Union, Carlton South Rebecca & Billy’s Singalong Society: Caravan Music Club, Oakleigh
The Music Presents Kylie Auldist: 4 Nov Suttons House of Music Ballarat; 17 Nov Sooki Lounge Belgrave Taasha Coates & The Melancholy Sweethearts: 12 Nov Northcote Social Club A Day On The Green: 12 & 13 Nov Mt Duneed Estate Drysdale Dan Sultan: 13 Nov 170 Russell Ben Lee: 18 Nov Caravan Music Club Oakleigh Ne Obliviscaris: 25 Nov 170 Russell
Animal Hands + Fortress of Narzod + Junkyard: Cherry Bar, Melbourne Troy Kinne: Comic’s Lounge, North Melbourne Delsinki Records & Brooke Taylor
The Dragoons + Bath Ritual + Phareesh + Massacre of Smiles: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy Tanzer + Jaala + Eilish Gilligan + James Andrews: Grace Darling Hotel (Basement), Collingwood Lomond Acoustica feat. Suzette Herft + Mitch Power + Suzanne Peterson: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East Open Mic Night: Mr Boogie Man Bar, Abbotsford
Love To Two of Southside’s favourite performers Delsinki Records & Brooke Taylor joined forces recently to release their debut joint EP Love One. You can see the pair’s considerable combined talents at Wesley Anne on Saturday
Bell X1: 2 Dec The Prince
The Songroom with Harry Howard + Kate Lucas: Northcote Social Club, Northcote
The Avalanches: 3 & 4 Jan Melbourne Town Hall
Charles Jenkins: Retreat Hotel, Brunswick
EEO + Colour Fires + Sam Van + Ben Trillado + MC Rolisha Dee: The Workers Club, Fitzroy
Highasakite: 4 Jan
Andy Phillips + The Catalyst Rock: Seaford Hotel, Seaford
Chris Smith + Lovers of the Black Bird + Samyntha: Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford
Grouplove: 6 Jan Melbourne Town Hall
Richie Ramone: Sooki Lounge, Belgrave
NAO: 25 Jan Howler
Open Mic Night: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick
CW Stoneking & Nathaniel Rateliff: 9 Mar Seaworks Williamstown
Thu 03 Lazy Eye: 303, Northcote
Stephen Pigrim: Spotted Mallard, Brunswick Moonshifter + Onne + The Missing Piece: The Bendigo, Collingwood
Matt Walker & The Lost Ragas: Basement Discs (InStore/12.45pm), Melbourne
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue: 11 April 170 Russell
Music Matters Extravanga Celebrating 40 years of Radical Radio: Bella Union, Carlton South
Gallant: 17 Apr, Corner Hotel The Lumineers: 19 Apr Arts Centre Melbourne
All Our Exes Live In Texas + Mojo Juju: Caravan Music Club, Oakleigh Regurgitator
Soul In The Basement with The Sugarcanes + DJ Vince Peach + Pierre Baroni: Cherry Bar, Melbourne Cable Ties
Regurg-donators
Troy Kinne: Comic’s Lounge, North Melbourne
Howler will play host to Regurgitator‘s Human Distribution tour on Thursday before they hit The Prince, Friday. Part of the proceeds from each tour stop is donated to the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre (ASRC).
Bad Manners + Area 7 + The Resignators: Corner Hotel, Richmond
Tietanic
Blue Moon #6 with Great Places + The Dragoons + The Dorks: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy
Line-up of the week goes to The Tote for Friday night. Cable Ties are supporting Hi-Tec Emotions for the launch of their album Hard To Handle, alongside Spike Fuck and Suss Cunts.
Have/Hold + Beloved Elk + Crusch: Grace Darling Hotel, Collingwood Archie Roach + Nancy Bates: Grandview Hotel, Fairfield Regurgitator + Jeremy Neale + The Burnt Sausages: Howler, Brunswick Andy & Aaron: Laika Bar, St Kilda
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Monsteria + Noir: Mr Boogie Man Bar, Abbotsford Passerine: Retreat Hotel, Brunswick
The Dominiques: Bar Open, Fitzroy
Roy Ayers: 9 Apr The Croxton
Delta Goodrem: Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne
Tram Cops + Daisy Chain + Georgia Smith + Eddy Dillion + Sophisticated Dingo: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood
Silver Lining + Walla C + Messy Mammals + Entro + more: Laundry Bar, Fitzroy
Kaz Garaz + Toothbrush + Bosco Sash: The Old Bar, Fitzroy
The Gin Club Two: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East
Hailey Calvert + Coby Grant + Al Parkinson: The Toff In Town, Melbourne
Jerry Can Ride feat. Barefoot Alley + Velociraptor + Australia: Lulie St Tavern, Abbotsford
The Crookeds + The Bond Street Vandals + Maverick + Gee Seas: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick Screamfeeder: The Curtin, Carlton Swampland Issue #1 feat. Simona Castricum + Cool Sounds + RVG + Kimchi Princi: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood
Gigs / Live The Guide
Pugsley Buzzard
Buzzin’ Pugsley Buzzard, Melbourne’s gravel voiced king of chunky piano, has played everywhere from New Orleans to Berlin. Now he’s heading to Charles Weston on Thursday, where he’ll play as a duo with Adam Duffy.
Knock Off Drinks with Chris Wilson: Cherry Bar (5.15pm), Melbourne
E^ST + Alice Ivy + Bel: Northcote Social Club, Northcote
The Laurels + Lowtide + Lalic: The Curtin, Carlton
Odd Souls + Water Bear + Amber Isles: Cherry Bar, Melbourne
Miss Colombia: Northcote Town Hall (Studio 1), Northcote
Play On - Classical/Electro Music Nights with The Clara Piano Quartet + Edd Fisher: Collingwood Underground Carpark, Collingwood
Twisted Willows: Penny Black, Brunswick
Oliver James Mock Album Tribute Launch with Smile + The Teskey Brothers + House of Laurence + Harmony Byrne: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood
Troy Kinne: Comic’s Lounge, North Melbourne
Music On The Hill feat. All Our Exes Live In Texas: Red Hill Pavillion, Red Hill
Sampa The Great: Corner Hotel, Richmond
The Black Swamp + Never + Desert Kingdom: Retreat Hotel, Brunswick
Joy & Sparks + Joe Miller + LXDN + Fleiss: Dane Certificate’s Magic Tricks, Gags & Theatre, Brunswick
La Dance Macabre with Brunswick Massive: Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy
Mojo Oil: The Grand Hotel, Mornington Kit Convict & Thee Terrible Two + Juliette Seizure & the Tremor-Dolls + Damn the Torpedoes + Tropical Deadbeats + Tankerville: The Old Bar, Fitzroy Alfie Arcuri: The Palms at Crown, Southbank
Rack Jones: Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne Empress Selections: Edinburgh Castle Hotel (Beer Garden), Brunswick Chasing Ghosts + Strickland + Brittle Bones: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy Third Raw Toast: Ferdydurke, Melbourne Party Girls: Flying Saucer Club, Elsternwick
Hentai Magi + Face Face + Reel Love + Crooked Space: The Old Bar, Fitzroy
The Outdoor Type + Jess Locke + Baby Blue: Grace Darling Hotel, Collingwood
Great Rack + Empty Club Reverb + Wumpy: The Post Office Hotel, Coburg
Stu Thomas Paradox + Elephant Hide : Grandview Hotel, Fairfield
Liahona + Allysha Joy + Seavera: The Toff In Town, Melbourne
Cub Sport + Bec Sandridge + Edward R: Howler, Brunswick
Midnight Express with DJ Prequel & Edd Fisher: The Toff In Town (Carriage Room), Melbourne
Fall & Resist + Annihilist + Feast of Crows + ANKL + Lethal Sound Division: Karova Lounge, Ballarat
Dead End + Plebs + Dead Planet 1964 + Yukumbabe: The Tote (Upstairs), Collingwood
Hideous Towns + Hills Hoist + Baked Bean + Togar: Kubu Studio, Geelong
Society of Beggars: The Tote (Band Room), Collingwood Batts + The Peeks + Angie McMahon: The Workers Club, Fitzroy Denim Owl + Victory lap: Tramway Hotel, North Fitzroy Mr Alford: Wesley Anne (Front Bar), Northcote The Bluegrass Stringfreaks: Wesley Anne (Band Room), Northcote
Red Spencer + Bobby Brave: Labour In Vain, Fitzroy Bennie & Fly-By-Nighters + Max Teakle & his Honky-Tonky Friends: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East Amy Winehouse 10th Anniversary of Back to Black with Atlanta Coogan: Memo Music Hall, St Kilda Sedulous Rouse + Anient + Moustache Ant + Rick Grimm’s Illa Turba: Mr Boogie Man Bar, Abbotsford
ThursGay with Karen From Finance + more: Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy
The Stress Of Leisure + Gin Club Two: The Post Office Hotel, Coburg
Free Dope Warehouse Party with D-Gen + Kymaera + Slunt + more: Rubix The Venue, Brunswick
Regurgitator + Jeremy Neale: The Prince, St Kilda
Spotlight feat. Sister’s Doll + Johnny Danger + One More Weekend + Enter Archadia + Crying Sirens: Saint Martins Place, St Kilda
Raised By Eagles: Spotted Mallard, Brunswick Wesley Fuller
Eugene ‘Hideaway’ Bridges: Baha Tacos, Rye
Fuller Days
The Lovely Days + Wesley Fuller + The Dead Heir: Bar Open, Fitzroy
Local legends Wesley Fuller and The Dead Heirs are set to support The Lovely Days at Bar Open this Friday. The four-piece will be there celebrating the American release of their debut self-titled LP.
Merchand + Field + The High Drifters + Vimanablaster: Catfish (Upstairs), Fitzroy
Eagles & Butterflies: Revolver Upstairs, Prahran
Drunk Mums: Sooki Lounge, Belgrave
Tkay Maidza + Sable + Midas. GOLD: 170 Russell, Melbourne
Eleanor McEvoy: Caravan Music Club, Oakleigh
Tkay Maidza’s national tour for her monster of a full-length debut will stop at 170 Russell on Friday. Joining the rising rapper on the night are special guests Sable and Midas.Gold.
Zerafina Zara + Alleged Associates: Smokehouse 101, Maribyrnong
Fri 04
Leah Flanagan: Bella Union, Carlton South
TKAY
Linda: Satellite Lounge, Wheelers Hill
The Tropes + Crop Top + Customer + Weatherboards: Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford
The Dominiques + Lady Slug + The Bellows + The Hot Pockets: 303, Northcote
Tkay Maidza
Kylie Auldist + Aaradhna: Suttons House of Music, Ballarat
Chillers + Benifer Rhodes: The Prince (Public Bar), St Kilda Sleazy Listening with Arks + Richard Kelly + Hysteric + K. Hoop: The Toff In Town (Carriage Room), Melbourne Poprocks At The Toff with Dr Phil Smith: The Toff In Town (Toff Ballroom), Melbourne Hi-Tec Emotions + Cable Ties + Spike Fuck + Suss Cunts: The Tote (Band Room), Collingwood Singing Lessons + Bad Guys + Desertions: The Tote (Upstairs), Collingwood
Mayfield: The B.East, Brunswick East
The Stiffys + Sex Pills + Rad Island: The Workers Club, Fitzroy
Devil Electric + Don Fernando + A Basket Of Mammoths + The Cigarellos: The Bendigo, Collingwood
Society of Beggars + City at Midnight + Bound By Hounds + Luke Biscan: The Workers Club Geelong, Geelong
Coda Chroma + Felicity Cripps + Eliza Hull: The Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine
Celibate Rifles + She’s The Driver: Thornbury Theatre, Thornbury
Atomic Death Squad + Maniaxe + Counterattack + Drain Life + Primitive: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick
The Boys: Wesley Anne (Front Bar), Northcote
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Big League
Daniel & Naomi’s Diabolical Unification Show with No Idea + Wolfpack + Dixon Cider + Ferocious Chode: The Bendigo, Collingwood Afternoon Show with Southbound Tram + Los Pauncheros + Mat Black: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick
Uncle Rudey + Deadly Are The Naked + Moon Units + Lukey Pote + Luke Sassafras Band: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick
Indie
Cutting Shapes feat. Pocock + Jesse Young + Tim Koren: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood Edward R Agabah: The Gasometer Hotel (Upstairs), Collingwood
EP Focus
Answered by: Travis Velthoven
Foxtrot + The Brothers Goon + The Shadow League + The Suicide Tuesdays + Tim Hampshire: The Old Bar, Fitzroy
Dandecat
Gordon Holland + JMS Harrison: The Old Bar, Fitzroy
EP Title? Dandy Hub
Just Dande
How many releases do you have now? Two! We did a 7” in Feb, making it was great fun, so we went straight back in the studio.
Local neo jazz four-piece Dandecat will be at The Brunswick Hotel on Tuesday to play their first ever headline show. Taking over the support duties are The Bastard Sons and My Old Ways.
Was anything in particular inspiring you during the making? Wanting every release to be our best I think. We were able to get what we wanted from the gear and Clarkey (producer) once we knew the insiders lingo, y’know. Click, punch in, cans... What’s your favourite song on it? Pacific Blows, the launch is our first shot at it live. A great idea that won’t go badly at all... We’ll like this EP if we like... Pavement, Guided By Voices, Teenage Fanclub, Custard.
When and where is your launch/ next gig? 4 Nov, Yah Yah’s. Furlong and Cut The Kite String will be joining us. Ten clams entry.
Website link for more info? bigleague-band.bandcamp.com
Big League + Furlong + Cut The Kite String: Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy
Matt Glass & The Loose Cannons: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East
Hentai Magi + Negative Gear + General Men + H-Zed: Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford
Buried In Verona + Capture The Crown + Foxblood + Arkive + The Motion Below: Max Watt’s, Melbourne
Sat 05
She Fest 4 feat. Liquor Snatch + Mannequin Death Squad + Death of Art + Kat O & The Collectables + Hedron + Tori Dunbar: Mr Boogie Man Bar, Abbotsford
Alariiya + Jarabi: 303, Northcote The Mystic Tip Rats: Baha Tacos, Rye Phantom Panda Power Wizard Master Smasher + The Burnt Sausages: Bar Open, Fitzroy Soul A-Go-Go feat. DJ Emma Peel + Mohair Slim + Miss Goldie + Richie 1250 + DJ Manchild: Bella Union, Carlton South Tracy McNeil & The Good Life + The Stetson Family: Caravan Music Club, Oakleigh Kyuss Celebration with Chappy + The My Left High Times Band: Cherry Bar, Melbourne Troy Kinne: Comic’s Lounge, North Melbourne Jerrico + Qlayeface + Rival Fire + Acolyte: Corner Hotel, Richmond Breve: Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne New$hoes: Edinburgh Castle Hotel (Beer Garden), Brunswick
All Our Exes Live In Texas + Mojo Juju + Womanz: Northcote Social Club, Northcote Matinee Show with The Ancients: Northcote Social Club, Northcote Afternoon Show with Melody Moon + Tim’s Myth: Open Studio, Northcote The Dandy Warhols + Morning Harvey: Palais Theatre, St Kilda
Rally The Troops/Party For Corey: Rubix The Venue, Brunswick
Tobias: Labour In Vain, Fitzroy
The House deFrost with Andee Frost: The Toff In Town (Toff Ballroom), Melbourne Loobs + Junior Fiction + Overtime: The Tote (Front Bar), Collingwood The Ruiner + Horsehunter + Watchtower + Bunyip: The Tote (Band Room), Collingwood Spotting + Meter Men + Saint Sauna: The Tote (Upstairs), Collingwood Columbus + Horror My Friend + PLTS: The Workers Club, Fitzroy Matinee Show with Kodiak Galaxy + The New Pollution + Bob Harrow & The Northland + Peter Lubulwa: The Workers Club, Fitzroy Fanny Lumsden: Thowgla Hall, Corryong Woodes + Elkkle: Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), Southbank
EAST
The F100s + The Guitar Cases + Waz E James Band: Retreat Hotel, Brunswick
Mesa Cosa + Amyl & The Sniffers + Cosmic Kahuna + Horace Bones: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy
Chasing Ghosts + Winfield + Trucks + The Rowletts: Karova Lounge, Ballarat
In The Carriage with Jnett: The Toff In Town (Carriage Room), Melbourne
Harry Coulson’s Raindogs: Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy
Chores + Claws & Organs + Cakefight + Hannah Fairlamb: Reverence Hotel, Footscray
Sex On Toast: Howler, Brunswick
Fortunes + Moon Holiday: The Toff In Town, Melbourne
Phebe Starr: Penny Black, Brunswick
Cub Sport + Bec Sandridge: Evelyn Hotel (Under 18s), Fitzroy
Giants of 60s US Folk, Rock & Pop feat. The Substitutes: Flying Saucer Club, Elsternwick
62 • THE MUSIC • 2ND NOVEMBER 2016
Naranafest 2016 feat. A.B. Original + Gawurra + Leah Flanagan + Yirrmal + Karl S Williams + Benny Walker + Emily Wurramara + The New Savages + Deadly Duo + True Culture + One Connexion: Narana Aboriginal Cultural Centre, Grovedale
The King Louie Collective: The Prince (Public Bar), St Kilda
Boogs: Sooki Lounge, Belgrave Matt Joe Gow: Spotted Mallard, Brunswick Hanksaw: Surabaya Johnny’s, St Kilda Jordie Lane (Duo) + Didirri: Suttons House of Music, Ballarat Ron S Peno & The Superstitions + Julitha Ryan: Tago Mago, Thornbury
Cash Flows Budding electro-pop superstar EAST is getting out and about on the Get Money! EP tour. Stop one is at Northcote Social Club this Friday where she’ll be supported by tour mates Alice Ivy and Bel.
Gigs / Live The Guide
Delsinki Records + Brooke Taylor: Wesley Anne (Front Bar), Northcote
The Teskey Brothers: Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy
Davies West: Wesley Anne (Band Room), Northcote
The Stress Of Leisure: Retreat Hotel, Brunswick
Lovision + Spike Fuck + Dave O’Connor + Avoid: Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford
Field, See & Mason: Royal Oak Hotel, Fitzroy North
Sun 06
The Band Who Knew Too Much: Spotted Mallard, Brunswick
Celebrating the Songs of Grant McLennan with Rory Cooke + Mia Schoen + Michael Beach + Ali E + Romy Vager: 303, Northcote Roman Tucker (Rocket Science): 303, Northcote
The New Orleans Funk Factory feat. Horns Of Leroy: The B.East, Brunswick East The Smirks + The Sticking Place + Ativandal: The Bendigo, Collingwood Afternoon Show with Tinsley Waterhouse
Miss Miss + Shrimpwitch + Nun Of The Tongue + Ghost Dick + DJ Smoochy Boys: The Tote (Band Room), Collingwood Bitch Diesel + Time For Dreams + Spreads + Palm Springs: The Tote (Front Bar), Collingwood
Luka Lesson + Birdz + Soreti Kadir: The Workers Club, Fitzroy Matinee Show with Spencer Street Soul + The Hot Pockets: The Workers Club, Fitzroy Railroad Wrex & The Hapless Brakemen: Tramway Hotel, North Fitzroy The Northern Folk: Wesley Anne (Band Room), Northcote
Mon 07 The Stiffys
Yarra Banks Jam Night: 303, Northcote Magic Is Happening + Biddlewood + Gravis Mentas: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy The Moth Story Slam with Various Artists: Howler, Brunswick Monday Night Mass feat. Pillow Pro + more: Northcote Social Club, Northcote
Irish Session: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East Richard Clapton: Melbourne Recital Centre (Elisabeth Murdoch Hall), Southbank
Funny at The Brunny Comedy Show: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick
My Old Ways + Dandecat + Ward Hancock: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick
Tech N9ne + Krizz Kaliko + Stevie Stone: The Prince, St Kilda
Swooping Duck + Jamil Zacharia + Ruckmann + Mansfield: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood Tech N9ne + Krizz Kaliko + Stevie Stone: The Prince, St Kilda
The Black Sorrows: Bird’s Basement, Melbourne Shewolf + Follow No Rules + Calling Utopia: Cherry Bar, Melbourne A Conversation on Making A Murderer with Attorneys Dean Strang + Jerry Buting: Hamer Hall, Melbourne
Human Rites + Wars + Dear Thieves + Deep Water Orchestra: Bar Open, Fitzroy
Wander down to Compass Pizza Bar on Sunday and you’ll see TK Reeve, a rare grade of blues guitarist and singer. His powerful baritone and raw delivery will make a lasting impression..
Tue 08
Art rock duo The Stiffys are releasing Art Rock Two, their longawaited follow-up to last year’s Art Rock One, with a ‘3D’ launch show at The Workers Club on Friday. Sex Pills and Rad Island are supporting.
Afternoon Show: Sunday Sessions with Horace Bones + Oliver Sol: Bar Open, Fitzroy
TKO
Travis Bowlin: Retreat Hotel, Brunswick
Call It In with Instant Peterson + Dylan Michel: The Toff In Town (Carriage Room), Melbourne
Stiffys In 3D
TK Reeve
Band: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick Afternoon Show with Rick & The Dippers + Keggin + Rathead + Poison Fish + Enemies Alike: The Brunswick Hotel (Beer Garden), Brunswick
MC Keith Ape: Howler, Brunswick
Jericco
Lost City Arkive
Local heavy rockers Jericco are hanging up their boots and calling it a day. They’ll be playing one last show at Corner Hotel this Saturday with Qlaye Face, Rival Fire and Acolyte.
A Night of Storytelling & Music feat. Ocdantar + Emma Russack + Harmony Byrne + Matt Winstanley + more: Bella Union, Carlton South
Supa Suplex + Cyanide Teeth + Spare No Words: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick
The Guitar Cases: Catfish (Front Bar), Fitzroy
Jade Imagine + Pregnancy + Jamesy: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood
Emilia & The Scarletts + Tanya George + Papa G & The Starcats: Cherry Bar, Melbourne
Ciggie Sundays with Power Drag + Tomsk + Kasun + Max Matthews: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood
Bayside + Young Lions + Far Away Stables + The Playbook + The Valley Ends: Corner Hotel, Richmond
The Pinheads + Chillers + Rhysics: The Old Bar, Fitzroy
Grave Bards
Now.Here.This with Big Words + High Tea + Rex: The Toff In Town, Melbourne
Afternoon Show with Hannah Fairlamb + Dogood: The Old Bar, Fitzroy
Arkive, Foxblood and Capture The Crown are stopping off at Max Watt’s on Saturday to say goodbye with Buried In Verona, who are hanging up their boots after heading around Australia one last time.
Carriage 252 feat. Shouse DJs: The Toff In Town (Carriage Room), Melbourne
Momentum feat. Core-Tet: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy James Stewart + The Gusset Rustlers: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East Chasing Alice + Enter Archadia + The Mean Times: Mr Boogie Man Bar, Abbotsford Bohemian Nights with Rosa Voto Tarantella + Ron Hansen Klezmeritis: Open Studio, Northcote
Jodi Martin: The Cally, Warrnambool
Better Days with Various DJs: The Prince (Band Room), St Kilda Down The Rabbit Hole with Nigel Last: The Toff In Town, Melbourne Beaut #10 with Gavin Campbell + Kiti + Salvador Darling: The Toff In Town, Melbourne
Jules Boult: Tramway Hotel, North Fitzroy MC Keith Ape: Whole Lotta Love, Brunswick East
THE MUSIC 2ND NOVEMBER 2016 • 63
Secret Sounds Presents
The 24th Annual Music & Arts Festival
lorne vic 28 DEC t u 29 lDEC do o 30s DEC 31 DEC
marion bay tas
29 DEC 30 DEC 31 DEC
CHILDISH GAMBINO (NO SIDESHOWS) • LONDON GRAMMAR (NO SIDESHOWS) • THE AVALANCHES VIOLENT SOHO • MATT CORBY • ALISON WONDERLAND • CATFISH AND THE BOTTLEMEN FAT FREDDY’S DROP • TA-KU • THE RUBENS • THE JEZABELS • BALL PARK MUSIC • GROUPLOVE BERNARD FANNING • JAMIE T • BROODS • TKAY MAIDZA • GRANDMASTER FLASH • ILLY • MØ HOT DUB TIME MACHINE • DMA’S • ALUNAGEORGE • BOOKA SHADE • CLIENT LIAISON • VALLIS ALPS PARQUET COURTS • CITY CALM DOWN • MODERN BASEBALL • L D R U • TIRED LION • REMI • RY X MARLON WILLIAMS • LEMAITRE • SHURA • PLUS MORE ACTS TO BE ANNOUNCED MARION BAY • ALL AGES
LICENSED
FESTIVAL CAMPING • FOOD TRUCKSS & GLORIOUS GOURMET GO FARE • POP UP BARS & BEER GARDENS RKETS • YOGA & WELLB WELLBEING PLUS LOADS DS OF OOTHER AWESOMENESS INTERACTIVE ARTS • MAKERS MARKETS
tickets on Sale now fallsfestival.com estival.