29.03.17 Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
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Alex Williamson Make the World a Banter Place
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WIL ANDERSON CRITICALLY WIL
“BRAVO. GO SEE IT”
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“Unaffected charm and sheer comic brilliance” Herald Sun
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Music / Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
You Can Say We’re Satisfied
theMusic.com.au: breaking news, up-to-the-minute reviews and streaming new releases
Angie has recently released her third LP Shyness, and announced a short tour in May and June, where she will be launching the album live on a grand piano.
Angie
The Cactus Channel & Sam Cromack
Cromack McCactus In the lead-up to the release of a joint EP, Melbourne alt-soul heroes The Cactus Channel and lauded Brisbane singer-songwriter Sam Cromack (Ball Park Music) have announced a three-date tour this May and June.
Roger That
“that dude just checked out your mom” --two trees outside a library
Tim Rogers has come out firing in 2017, announcing release details for brand new album, An Actor Repairs, as well as an accompanying headline tour of Australia in April and May.
@fro_vo
Tim Rogers
12 • THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017
Arts / Li Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
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THE MUSIC â&#x20AC;˘ 29TH MARCH 2017 â&#x20AC;˘ 13
Lifestyle Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Get Them Bills
Bill Callahan
‘Baritone’ Bill Callahan is returning to Oz this May/June as a stripped-back two-piece with guitarist Matt Kinsey. He’ll play a three-night residency at Howler in Melbourne before heading to Sydney for Vivid.
Mar(ling)vellous Laura Marling is heading Down Under with her sixth LP Semper Femina as part of Vivid. Luckily for non Sydney-based fans, the acclaimed British singersongwriter has now announced a series of June sideshows.
Olivia Chindamo
Stonning For the 12th year running Stonnington Jazz Festival will bring together a huge collection of extraordinary artists this May. Olivia Chindamo, Vince Jones and Paul Grabowsky, The Shaolin Afronauts and more fill the bill.
Laura Marling
Dianne Reeves
Tap Jazz Melbourne International Jazz Festival is back for its 20th year this June, with the likes of legendary jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, Grammywinning singer Dianne Reeves and Singapore’s The Steve McQueens. 14 • THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017
The Comedy Issue
Stop The Micro Mini Presses! DeAnne Smith takes time out from Shazaming Unshazamable songs here in the hippest city on the planet to welcome us all to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, which is happening right now and goes through until 23 Apr.
G
uys! Hi! It’s comedy fest time again and I’m PSYCHED! A month of amazing shows, packed into every nook of the city. Being a part of the excitement is definitely a highlight of my year! Oh, I’m sorry. This everything-is-awesome North American attitude doesn’t always DeAnne Smith translate well in Melbourne, the hippest city on the planet. You really are, and I love that about you. The Fitzroy cafe I was in the other day was so cool the songs were Unshazamable. I tried to find out what I was listening to and Shazam said, ‘Nope!’ Then a guy in a vest and an 1800s-style beard offered me an heirloom tomato on ancient grain bread and I think we ripped a hole in the space-time continuum. You’re so cool it’s almost dangerous. Let me dial down my enthusiasm and start over. Hey, guys. Do you wanna grab an organic, micro minibrew, bike over to the vegan deli and then, like, maybe check out a comedy show? The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is my favourite and I’ve done a bunch: Just For Laughs, Edinburgh and Icelandic Comedy Festival among others. (That last one was just a show my Icelandic friend Rokkvi produced, but in a nation of 300,000 people, one Canadian-American comic showing up counts as a festival.) If you haven’t experienced MICF yet, strap in. You’ll find every style of comedy, from stand-up to storytelling, sketch to clowning and maybe even a young man dressed as a gorilla dressed as an old man sitting in a rocking chair for 56 minutes and then leaving. Really, I saw that show once. That was the title. It was weird and surprisingly fun. There’s so much on offer. Go see your favourites, but do me a favour and take a chance on someone you’ve never heard of before. Maybe you like their poster or you appreciate how their cheerfulness just barely covers up their desperation as they accost - I mean, flyer - people outside the Town Hall. There are a lot of as-yet-unknowns out there doing innovative and gut-busting comedy. The best part of the festival is discovering someone amazing, whose show is hidden away in a 30-seat venue next to a skip behind a wall that doesn’t even look like it has a door. I’m exaggerating (am I? Where is Tuxedo Cat this year?) but this truth is, comedy fest time is alive with possibility. Get out there and take a chance. My producer (that sounds so fancy to say) would be annoyed with me if I didn’t take a moment to talk about my new show, Post-Joke Era. I’m much better at doing comedy than talking about it, so I’ll tell you what other people have said. I’ve been called “a
force of non-stop funny”, “one of the freshest, most vibrant voices around” and an absolutely killer act that effortlessly combines the sagacity of an old mind with the vulnerability of youth, simultaneously making an audience howl with laughter while inviting them to reach deep into their souls, overcome superficial differences and come together as one in shared humanity, achieving an ethereal and potentially life-changing collective consciousness, if only for an hour. Actually, no one has ever said that last thing. But they have now! Thanks for putting that in print, The Music! That’s gonna look really great on my next poster. For real, though, my show’s about staying positive in this crazy world. It touches on depression, social justice movements, gender, relationships, what it is to be locked in the flesh prisons of our human forms and how amazing dogs are. If that sounds fun to you, come along! I promise there are dick jokes. Another thing my comedy has been called is “nerdy but dirty”. If you’re reading this, you’re already one step closer to being a part of MICF, the greatest festival in the world! Capitalise on this momentum! Quick, put down your micro minibrew and book some tickets! I’ll see you out there, either from the stage or in the seat next to you. Please say hi, and let’s recommend shows to each other! It’s comedy fest time! I’M PSYCHED!
What: Post-Joke Era When & Where: 30 Mar - 23 Apr, Taxi Riverside THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017 • 15
Comedy
THE WHO’S WHO
Of Ha Ha The great and the good of the comedy world are gearing up to scale the mountain of mirth that is Melbourne International Comedy Festival, among them, Aunty Donna, Anne Edmonds and Nazeem Hussain. Maxim Boon and Joe Dolan meet some of the fest’s best jests. Cover and feature pics by Kane Hibberd.
16 • THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017
Comedy
W
hat happens when you get a gaggle (or perhaps a “giggle” would be a better collective noun) of comedians together for a photoshoot with a bunch of clown props the morning after the MICF’s comedy gala? The answer: some mildly hungover prop comedy one-upmanship. Despite feeling a little dusty, Anne Edmonds, Nazeem Hussain and the trio of comics, Mark Bonanno, Zach Ruane, and Broden Kelly, of comedy supergroup Aunty Donna, are still buzzing from the previous evening’s shenanigans, both on stage and off. Like a bunch of kids amped-up on a sugar high, it’s clear that the annual month-long carnival of comedy, drawing the best home-grown and imported acts to Melbourne, is a giddy highlight of their year. That said, it’s not all fun and games. Exhausting, gruelling, and potentially damaging to the liver, MICF can be a brutal experience. However, these five seasoned comedians (and we can only assume the hundreds of other stand-ups, improv troupes and cabaret acts descending on the Victorian capital over the next month) are ready to take this fest by the short and curlies and show Australia’s comedy fans who’s boss. Smack-bang in the middle of the year’s comedy festival calendar, MICF is the biggest comic showcase in the country, but many of the featured acts will have had a chance road-test their material at Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane Fringe fests earlier in the season. Many, but not all it seems. These are the facts as they occurred. Or rather, this is verbatim what Aunty Donna’s Bonanno, Ruane, and Kelly divulged when they spoke to The Music. Of course, it was never going to be a normal conversation — nothing ever is with these glorious lunatics. And from the moment the trio discuss the trial run of their new show Big Boys, things go hilariously awry: “We’ve only done it five times,” says Bonanno, “but it’s good! It’s getting there, we’re happy with it.” “I’m certainly happy with the new show,” Ruane responds, “we’ve done it five times, and yeah it’s going well.” “We’ve only done it five times.” “That’s right, Mark,” Kelly steps in. “This has been a shift for us, because usually, in the past, we’ve done bigger runs of places. We might do six shows in Adelaide and six shows in Brisbane before bringing it to Melbourne. But this time I think we’ve only done it...” All three in unison pipe up, “We’ve only done it five times.” Undoubtedly, these three suited and booted funnymen are well and truly clicked onto the same wavelength, and it seems it’s always been that way. “When we first started,” says Kelly, “we were just guys who thought things were funny — which is much different than being people who can make things funny.” “I think the trick for us always was just trial and error,” adds Ruane of their process. “We’d make two hours of material and then boil it down to 55 minutes, so we just Aunty Donna
made a lot and found the stuff that made us laugh.” “The other big thing for us,” Kelly interjects, “was stretching. We’d be sitting in chairs saying ‘what’s funny about this? What’s funny about that?’ And then we just said ‘let’s stretch it out.’ So we started to do these yoga-based bikram techniques, where you would stretch out your body.” Bonanno takes hand of the chat, “Now we can’t start a day of comedy without six hours of stretching before we get to the work — which is hard in an eight-hour day. And we allow no writing during the stretching period, it’s stretches only.” “Apart from when we write sketches.” “Yes, Broden. Apart from the section where we do the stretches where we also write. In that part, writing is allowed.” While Aunty Donna seem to be everywhere and working non-stop, Bonanno still managed to find time to direct another show at MICF: Demi Lardner’s Look What You Made Me Do. “It was an absolute joy and an absolute pleasure to direct Demi’s show — she is an incredible talent,” he says of the troupe’s good friend. Ruane also gives support, saying, “I’m going to go on the record and say: AD heart DL. That’s Aunty Donna, heart as in love — love heart symbol — Demi Lardner.” He continues, “I didn’t direct the show but I recommend you go see it, so there’s an unbiased opinion for you. Broden?” “I haven’t seen the show, I have no experience with the show, I’ve never met Demi Lardner, and I think... you should see the show.” During their madcap interview Kelly also revealed that prior to Aunty Donna, he was not the man he is now. “I used to be a long-haired buffoon called Tim,” he discloses, “and I travelled around with Circus Oz across America and Europe. We did a show called ‘Big Big Hoops’. But then one day I said ‘I want to be Broden.” “You see, Broden is a state of mind,” says Ruane. “That’s actually how we all met, at Broden School. And Broden passed with flying colours.” Bonanno says of the bygone days, “I remember sitting down for my mid-year interview, and Broden said to me, and I’ll never forget this, he said ‘Mark, do you really want to be a Broden? Because I feel more like you’re more interested in being a fuck-wrench.’” Ruane nearly made it as well, saying, “I actually passed all of my Broden practicals, I learned the Melbourne Football Club players’ names all off by heart, and I was wearing trendy caps from America. I was doing really well, but where I fell down was in the theory classes, I didn’t hand in any of my Broden essays.” A disappointed Bonanno confronts him, “You can be a brilliant Broden on stage, but if you can’t do a 2000-word essay in your journals on how a hat does or does not make you pretentious, then what are you doing?” There may still be a happy ending to Ruane’s quest for Brodenhood, as he announces, “I’ve actually enrolled in an online course at University Of Queensland. So I’ve
Now we can’t start a day of comedy without six hours of stretching before we get to the work.
THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017 • 17
find that entertaining.” While Hussain does have high hopes for the future, he is also aware of the discouraging nature of recent times. “The world hasn’t really changed that much, in fact the stuff that I used to talk about has just intensified. You know, I’m a Muslim guy living in the west, so Pauline, Trump, Brexit, all those things are just compounding what’s already established. They’re new but they’re also not new, you know? I don’t want to be a guy talking about Trump, but for me, these things are deeply personal. My family, my community, they suffer first hand from the grunt of these sorts of realities. As much as I would like to not get angry at these sorts of things, they just make me angrier the more the world heads in that direction.” Of course, many of those planning to see Public Frenemy, Hussain admits, may Nazeem Hussain not even be aware of his political side. Since appearing in the most recent series of I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!, the comedian is looking forward to connecting with a new branch of audience. “People who ordinarily wouldn’t have heard of me of have been familiar with my stuff, they’ve gotten to view me through that lens and I think they’re interested in my experiences in the jungle,” he says. “However I don’t want to be bitching about celebrities and stuff, that’s not really my thing. I will be talking about my experience and my expectations going in, though. Maybe talking about some stuff that didn’t air as well. “I think a lot of people will have seen me on this family friendly show so they’ll be expecting some family friendly level banter, so I might have to spend a bit of time guiding them through what to expect: jokes about white people, jokes about my issues with Australia.” Continuing on the subject of I’m A Celebrity, Hussain confesses “There’s a lot of risks associated with doing a show like that, but having come out of it now, I thought it was an amazing experience doing it. I know it’s reality TV but it was actually profoundly revealing — you learn a lot about yourself and other people and you have to see life on a different perspective.” From the jungle to the stage, Hussain has yet to take a break from making the world laugh. He’s even popping up as a correspondent in the upcoming Netflix series, Bill Nye Saves The World. “It’s a show where [Bill Nye] walks through the terrain surrounding an issue and then all the questions people have — whether it be about designer babies or video gaming or diseases or whatever — he can kind of help the world understand what the hell is truth and what’s not. I think we need that a lot; we need that with politics, we need it with everything! We need a show like that for every topic out there,” he laughs.
I’ve got a love/hate relationship with this country. I don’t hate the country so much, I just hate some of the things our country does.
just got to do a year of part-time theory, and I should be Broden by the end of next year.” Kelly responds, “We’ve done the show five times.” By contrast, Nazeem Hussain has never been one to shy away from the serious issues in his stand-up, but that doesn’t mean the comedian is straying too far from home, either. “Public Frenemy is my third stand-up show and, you know, like all of my shows it’s somewhat topical and connecting to me in a personal way,” says Hussain. “I called the show Public Frenemy because I’ve got a love/ hate relationship with this country. I don’t hate the country so much, I just hate some of the things our country does that we claim is for the good but it turns out to be horrible stuff.” Hussain also says of the new show, “For me, comedy is a way to just talk about the world around me and the world at large, so I guess in a way it is political and satirical, but it’s always told from a very personal perspective. So whether it’s things that have happened to me, from being in a Trump rally on the night of the election in LA, to fighting off people at Flinders St station who are trying to drape me in an Australian flag, the way I talk about politics is always through personal anecdotes.” The presenter and creator of Legally Brown, Hussain has always had his finger on the political pulse, though he admits the point of his comedy is not necessarily to change opinions. “It’s just like group therapy, negotiating all of this hypocrisy,” he says of being on stage. “I’m not very good at ranting on social media, I rant with my mates and family and stand-up is just an extension of that.” Hussain continues, “I think naturally when anyone vents or rants... like for me when I hear my audience laugh at that stuff I’m like ‘yes! You see, they’re on my side!’ So it’s sort of more for me than it is for my audience but hopefully they
You’d be crazy to miss it:
Panels & Game Shows
Late Night Letters And Numbers Mon 3, 10, 17 Apr Melbourne Town Hall Watch as some of MICF’s best comics try to make spelling, maths, arithmetic and anagrams fun. Spoiler: they really do.
Nick Caddaye
18 • THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017
“I knew a bit about him before,” he says of Nye, “but in the States he’s a huge name because a whole generation of Americans grew up watching him talking about science. But now that same generation are going to be waiting for this new show because he’s talking about science but he can joke about stuff like an adult now. Oh! And Tyler The Creator has done the theme music — it’s going to be awesome.” While Hussain’s voice faintly carries from an adjoining room, Anne Edmonds comments that he’s giving a great interview. It’s perhaps unsurprising that she’s able to pick out a distant conversation — eavesdropping is her secret superpower. Her ability to soak up the world around her, redirecting it through her observational comedy, is a skill Anne Edmonds she’s had since infancy. “I think I’ve been listening my whole life,” she explains. But while this could be the perfect talent for espionage, Edmonds isn’t interested in terror plots or nuclear codes. “I love anything mundane — those mini-dramas between people is the juiciest stuff for me,” she admits. “I’d probably be a rubbish spy; I’m only really interested in divorce or affairs, that kind of thing.” Other than a natural aptitude for earwigging, Edmonds is also tuned-in to a quintessential Aussiness, using her personal experiences of “middle Australia” to lampoon those suburban stereotypes. These impressions often cut jaw-droppingly close to the bone, but there’s an authenticity behind it, Edmonds insists. “We all make fun of where we grew up, and in comedy you should always stick to what you know. I grew up smack bang in the middle of middle white Australia, so those characters are who I was surrounded by,” she explains. “There’s a lot of those characters in myself, so that’s why I’m so interesting In ripping that apart. This is what I know, through and through.” Edmonds is so familiar with this corner of Australian culture that her writing process has become streamlined in the extreme. She traced out the skelton of her latest show, No Offence, None Taken, in a single sitting: “It’s a real stream of consciousness, this show. I basically wrote it on a holiday I went on. I got rained in with a friend and talked at her for like ten hours. There’s not much filtering going on between my thoughts and what’s coming out of my mouth.” This new hour of stand-up once again channels the dark, unashamedly crude, close to the bone observations of suburban Australia that have become the defining feature of Edmonds’ shtick, and by her own admission, it’s likely to put some noses out of joint: “I do like to push it — I like to offend.”
There’s not much filtering going on between my thoughts and what’s coming out of my mouth.
Blind Dating Show Spectacular Mon 3, 10, 17 Apr Melbourne Town Hall Real comedians go on fake dates with real single people. It’s a lot less awkward than it sounds
Cam Tyeson
Edmonds’ confidence in her comedy is impressive, but welldeserved. In just eight years, she’s gone from novice stand-up to award-winning comedian, with a string of awards and major nominations under her belt, including a nod for the coveted MICF Barry Award last year, and appearances on top TV comedy shows such as Fancy Boy and Have You Been Paying Attention. Most recently, a new, six-part TV series for ABC, The Edge Of The Bush, is about to hit the airwaves. Ironically enough, the scale of this recognition has made Edmonds less hungry for success. “The further I’ve got head in my career, the most important the audience has become. When you’re starting out, there is all this pressure to get noticed. But I began to realise that the number one accolade you can have is a great audience that’s turned up to see you,” she reveals. “My ambitions have moved quite far away from the industry and trying to impress. When there’s an audience in front of you, you can’t take for granted how lucky you are to be a performer who people want to see.”
What, When & Where: Anne Edmonds: No Offense, None Taken 30 Mar — 23 Apr, Victoria Hotel Nazeem Hussain: Public Frenemy 30 Mar — 23 Apr, ACMI Aunty Donna: Big Boys 30 Mar — 23 Apr, Max Watt’s
WrestleBrainia Sun 2, 9, 16, 23 Apr Imperial Hotel Want the chance to see MICF comics get slammed by legitimate wrestlers during a quiz show? Of course you do!
THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017 • 19
The Comedy Issue
One Hot Minute With:
Phillip A Mayer
What was the inspiration behind your show? The show, Table 17, is a wedding disaster comedy, and the events and characters are based on real life - what better place to source comedy? I’ve been to weddings as a guest, MC, best man and as the groom, so I’ve gathered some insight and done some research at ground-zero. What do you love about Comedy Festival season? The atmosphere, the choice of brilliant entertainment choices, it brings the city to life and of course the buzz at performing in such an amazing festival, and being a part of the whole thing. It’s a big deal for smaller, self-funded companies like us! What’s your pre-show ritual? How do you unwind after a show? There’s a lot to prepare; costumes, make-up, ensuring props are pre-set. Actors are a funny lot, generally not at all the confident attention-seekers they’re portrayed as. Back-stage prior to a show is usually very quiet; we don’t do the rock star thing or drink like standup comedians. Catch Table 17, 6 – 8 and 19 – 22 Apr, Southbank Theatre
20 • THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017
Grand Old Dame
Comedian Hannah Gadsby is unleashing her inner grandma for her new show Nanette. She talks giving up comedy, making bogans laugh and finding peace, with Maxim Boon.
C
omedian and writer Hannah Gadsby has never been one to conform. It’s not that she’s an anti-establishment rebel, stickin’ it to Charlie Big Potatoes. Nor does she view herself as a brave, bold trailblazer — although her many fans certainly see the queer comedy icon as one. For Gadsby, being different just came naturally. “I’ve always known I wasn’t normal. It’s only recently that I’ve had the realisation that I’m never going to not be,” she shares. “It was like, ‘Ohhhh, this doesn’t end’.” So, what is it that makes Gadsby one of a kind? “I waste a lot of time on useless tasks. Even when I have a moment and think, ‘People don’t do this, do they?’ I still do them,” she muses. “Like right now, I’m converting the cubby house out the back of my rental into this proto-Renaissance church. And I just keep thinking, ‘Hmmm, I don’t think this has been done before.’ Not in a ‘I’m so fucking original’ kind of way. It’s more of a ‘shiiiiiieeeet! This is fucking unusual’ kind of way. Apparently it’s called individually, and it’s something I’m told people strive for. But it’s not all that fun being unique — it’s quite lonely out here.” It’s hardly surprising that the lonesome life is on Gadsby’s mind. While developing her latest show, Nanette, she’s indulged in a
fair bit of solitary self-reflection. It’s led her to some charmingly twee arts and crafts hobbies — jam making, knitting and painting with egg tempera among them — but in typically cerebral style, she’s also pondered some big philosophical questions. The knotty complexities of the contemporary identity conundrum has been one of the thoughts weighing heaviest on Gadsby. “I’ve come to realise I don’t like the word queer, for myself at least, because it takes that concept of identity beyond sexuality, in my mind. I guess I was born under the star of Nanna. I realise at the moment there’s quite a lot of pressure to declare how you identify, particularly in the LGBT community, so to be totally honest, I probably identify as ‘Grandma’,” she reveals. “The idea of Queerness — with a capital Q — is about making a statement, so I don’t identify as that because I never set out to go, ‘Oh I want to be different.’ When I was a kid, being not normal was incredibly dangerous and unsafe, but I was powerless to change that, so I was just, y’know, not normal, in a sort of generic, none specified way. I desperately didn’t want to stand out. I think that’s why I’ve always been friends with old ladies — even though I’m not that old.” It will no doubt be gutting for her fans to learn this will be Gadsby’s swansong tour. “I’ve never gone, ‘Phwoar, I can’t wait to get out on stage again.’ That’s not a thing I say. Don’t get me wrong, I really do love performing, but I’ve had to hang out with a lot of straight white men over the years. I don’t mind them at all, but it’s not my safe space. It’s not that I’ve ever thought, ‘Fuck men. I hate ‘em.’ I don’t! But I am tired of the scene, and I’m not desperate for the attention anymore,” she candidly offers.
What: Nanette When & Where: 30 Mar — 23 Apr, Melbourne Town Hall
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The Comedy Issue
Let’s Get Physical Alice Fraser is bringing some highbrow humour to this year’s fest, with a bit of Disney for good measure. By Maxim Boon.
A
lice Fraser is a nerd, and she’s not afraid to admit it. This book-smart comic might have ended up a top-notch lawyer had she not
Fessing Up Lawrence Mooney tells Joe Dolan he stole drugs from the government when he worked as a customs office. For his new show, Like Literally, Lawrence Mooney is looking back on his entire life (including over two decades spent working in comedy) as a means of filtering through his stories for a book deal. “The premise of this show is that I was asked to write a memoir for a publishing company, and this is kind of a, ‘What goes in? What goes out? Who am I?’ type of thing. Because the thing is, after 23 years of stand-up, I have told them everything. Absolutely everything... In this show I do talk about stealing drugs from
22 • THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017
chucked in her graduate position at bigtime law firm Allens and followed her love of writing and storytelling to the stand-up stage. Wearing her geeky heart on her sleeve for her latest outing, titled enigmatically Empire, she’s turned to the stranger-thanfiction world of theoretical science (and classic cartoons) for comic inspiration. “My show’s about quantum physics and Disney villains. It is funny but also serious but mainly funny. But seriously, it’s funny,” she insists. “I love the mind-blowing weirdness of particle physics and how it still isn’t more mind-blowingly weird than the way we tell stories about ourselves.” Fraser is a wowing wordsmith, describing her comic stylings as, “unpredictably meaningful, occasionally silly, narratively unorthodox art-comedy.” But despite her big-brained brand of humour, she hasn’t made life easy for herself with her chosen subject matter. Finding the funny in physics is no mean feat, but she’s perfectly willing to put in the hard yards when it comes to her comedy. “It takes me until the last performance of a show to really finish writing it. I test drive my material the same way they test cars: with expressionless dummies being flung through the windscreen of my
the government when I worked as a customs officer. But the evidence has been destroyed; let’s say that.” Of course, Mooney has never been one to hide his feelings, as the now-infamous events of last year’s Adelaide Fringe festival will attest. But, as time has passed since his social media outburst, Mooney is more than happy for bygones to be bygones. “At the time it seemed like a good idea,” he divulges. “But it’s been over a year now, so I’ve pretty much left it alone - it’s sewn in the past. I do just want to leave it alone now, for my sake and for the reviewer’s sake; I just don’t want to trawl over something so cold. “But because I am a megalomaniac, it was sort of thrilling to be at the centre of it, to be honest with you. There was that sense of, ‘Oh my god, all these people are talking about ME,’ regardless of whether it was deep hatred or something positive.” Mooney recognises this not only in himself, but also in all comedians. “You need to be validated every night - to be told by a room full of strangers that you are funny. There are a lot of hilarious, properly funny, intelligent people that never bother with comedy because they just don’t care what people think. Every comedian I know is a fucking basket case,
mind, while being essentially uncertain whether the tiny electrons which make up my being meant I was a particle, a wave or a cat in a box,” she quips. She’s similarly diligent when it comes time to finally take the mic. “Before a show, I tend to have a cup of tea (or three) about an hour before I go on stage. That way the caffeine kicks in right about the same time as the adrenaline,” she shares. “Sometimes I overshoot and get the shakes, but if you keep your elbows tight and try to talk slowly, nobody notices.” If the subject Fraser is experimenting with in Empire can be considered impressively highbrow, there’s one topic at the other end of the spectrum that she’s determined to avoid, despite its seemingly limitless comic potential: President Donald Trump. “I actually talk about not talking about Trump - I’m pretty sure saying his name makes him stronger,” she points out.
What: Empire When & Where: 30 Mar - 23 Apr, The Chinese Museum
and the more they pretend they’re not, the worse they are.” Mooney says that while every performer is different, there’s a rule of thumb that he believes comics should adhere to. “You have the luxury of digressing,” he begins, “but you’ve got to earn your digressions... You can grab them and use them to take you home. But you shouldn’t think of them as a lifeline or a way out.”
What: Like Literally When & Where: 30 Mar - 23 Apr, Athenaeum Theatre
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THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017 • 23
The Comedy Issue
One Hot Minute With:
Brenton Amies and Cam Ralph
What was the inspiration behind your show? Our major inspiration behind Everyday Monsters was the musical Avenue Q and the way it uses puppets to tackle more adult themes and ideas. We also loved the way Avenue Q makes no attempt to hide the puppeteers, they are in full view at all times and the audience becomes so engrossed in the performance that they forget they’re there. What do you love about Comedy Festival season? There are so many great acts and you can take in several shows a night. People are always out to support comedy. There’s always a great buzz around Melbourne at Comedy Festival time. What’s your pre-show ritual? How do you unwind after a show? Ordinarily, our pre-show ritual is to split apart and prepare ourselves separately and then meet again on stage. As for unwinding, well, a beer at the bar will do that nicely. Catch Everyday Monsters, 10 – 22 Apr at Tasma Terrace
24 • THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017
Math Hysteria
Comedian and self-confessed nerd Dara O’Briain says that comedy and maths aren’t as different as you may think. By Joe Dolan.
W
hen Dara O’Briain learns he has a fan on the other end of the line, it’s not quite the usual response you’d expect. “Oh, thank you very much! How the fuck do you know who I am, then?” he laughs. Phoning from London, the Irish stand-up and TV presenter is incredibly thankful for the support, even if he’s not quite used to global notoriety yet. A prolific comedic talent, O’Briain is raring for his upcoming Aus tour, which just so happens to hit our shores during the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. “That’s not a coincidence,” he happily asserts. “It’ll be a huge blast because it means that 200 of my closest friends will also be in town, so that’s quite nice. “And looking back on it, when I was in Australia last, I am such a better comic than I was. God, how I got away with the shit I was doing back then. Just, like, six tours better than I was. If you fell for it back then, fuck me you’re gonna lap this shit up.” Since being in our country last, O’Briain’s comedy career has skyrocketed, leading to but one particular drawback: “When you’re touring, the disadvantage to doing well in comedy is that you end up isolating yourself a bit. Because you’re doing big ol’ tours, you don’t see other comics doing shows... And so the chance now to go to Melbourne and see other people do shows is just a blessing.
You get to go, ‘Ahh, that’s what’s happening now. That’s what people are into now. That’s what people are changing and what the new kids are doing. Great.’ And then you nick their stuff. You steal their stuff and then you do it on television before they do and therefore you own it!” As well as touring his new stand up show, O’Briain will present a special Australian edition of Stargazing Live, the Astronomy-based program he co-presents with astrophysicist Professor Brian Cox. This isn’t just a side hobby for O’Briain, either. Before turning to comedy, he studied maths and physics at university, and has held a passion for the subjects with his edutainment programs Dara O’Briain’s Science Club and School Of Hard Sums. More recently, however, these multiple strings to his bow have been able to cross over. “It’s become the case that people will kind of let me indulge, and I’m allowed to do nerdier routines than I would have done when I was in the clubs,” he says. “And people are okay with it, you know? If it’s written well, performed well and it’s funny, you can do a routine about helium depletion and how we’re running out of the lightest molecules in the universe.” He says there’s science in everything, even comedy. “People do bits where it’s ‘Trump says this so therefore, therefore and therefore’ - You do that in maths all the time. It’s called Reductio Ad Absurdum, where you take an initial assumption and bring it to some sort of contradiction, and that shows that the assumption was incorrect. Comedy does that all the time.” O’Briain continues, “It’s the same logical trick, just bringing something to a ridiculous conclusion.”
What: Dara O’Briain Live When & Where: 4 & 5 Apr, Hamer Hall
“Ward is one of Melbourne’s fastest rising comedians” - Pedestrian.tv
“made the task of good timing seem effortless” - Weekend Notes
WED 29 MAR
HACHIKU LACUNA I HATE MAX SLEEPLAB
As heard on ABC, JoyFm and Triple J
THU 30 MAR
CHINA BEACH
REAL FEELINGS HOT SLUDGE FUNDAE
FRI 31 MAR
PLASTIC
tickets & Info:
30 mar - 23 apr 6.00pm (5.00pm sun) Forum theatre
alex-ward.com.au/gigs comedyfestival.com.au ticketmaster.com.au
cnr. Flinders St & Russel St, Melbourne
SINGLE LAUNCH
SUIIX (SYD) PALO ALTO TALI MAHONEY
SAT 1 APR ARVO 5-7:
PUGSLEY BUZZARD NIGHT:
CUMBIATHON
FEATURING MEMBERS OF AMARU TRIBE, THE NEW MONOS, FUNKALERROS, CHIBCHA & LA DESCARGA
SUN 2 APR
KILL DIRTY YOUTH / SUBMARINES (RESIDENCY)
TUSK DEAD AMIGOS
MON 3 APR
SCREEN SECT FILM CLUB TUE 4 APR
MAKE IT UP CLUB
THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017 • 25
The Comedy Issue
One Hot Minute With:
Josh Glanc
Shaken 30 Mar - 23 Apr Melbourne Town Hall
SARAH KENDALL
What’s your show about? Dicky Rosenthal – the once scrawny, but now hyper-masculine American beefcake – is selling a new life-changing supplement called ‘manfül’. The ‘90sdance-music-themed product launch then descends into a surreal and strange gender quest as Dicky tries to keep it all together. What was the biggest challenge you encountered while writing your show? Definitely finding the character. All I had was this fantastic muscle suit, which was great, but not enough for a show. I knew that if the character wasn’t funny or likeable the show would be shit. Then one day I just came out with this nebbish American accent. That was the beginning… What happened the last time you were heckled, and what’s your strategy for rowdy audience members? Manfül is an interactive show. The character, Dicky Rosenthal, is there in the room having a discussion with the audience - so there is lots of audience participation. Audiences really get involved in the show. It’s actually great – I think it’s really nice for audiences to be able to speak.
JAMES WELSBY Yummy 12 - 22 Apr Melba Spiegeltent
Who would you take on at Comedy Fest fight club?
Zoe Coombs Marr, because her alter ego Dave, and my alter ego Valerie, would probs get it on after we fight it out.
Problematic 30 Mar - 23 Apr Melbourne Town Hall
Catch Manfül, 30 Mar – 23 Apr, ACMI
TOM BALLARD
26 • THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017
Sam Simmons. I think he makes a great noise when he’s hurt. He says ‘OW!’ better than pretty much anyone I know. It would inspire me to hurt him more.
Sammy J. I would take that skinny bitch down to Chinatown and buy him a nice delicious meal of a knuckle sandwich with a side of bruised balls.
THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017 • 27
The Comedy Issue
The Comics’ Comics
Daniel Sloss
Funny doesn’t just happen — it takes a tonne of hard graft and a generous dollop of inspiration. We picked the brains of some of MICF’s top acts about the comics that tickled their aspirations to take on the stand-up stage.
30 Mar — 21 Apr Taxi Riverside; 22 Apr Melbourne Town Hall I remember trying to fall asleep when I was seven years old. I was in my room, upstairs, and I could hear my dad laughing his ass off downstairs and I wanted to know why. So I pretended not to feel well and went downstairs and he was watching Live At The Apollo with Jack Dee. I didn’t understand everything he was saying, but he swore a lot and that made me laugh — and that made my dad laugh. After that, I was hooked.
So?
David O’Doherty Big Time 30 Mar — 23 Apr Forum Theatre The Dublin stand-up scene in the mid-’90s was incredible. Also, they didn’t ask you for ID to prove you were over 18 to get a drink, but mostly I went along to see the shows. Dylan Moran, Tommy Tiernan, Ardal O’Hanlon. Then I saw Mitch Hedberg at the 1998 Kilkenny Comedy Festival and that was something else.
Stuart Goldsmith Compared To What 30 Mar — 23 Apr Greek Centre My biggest inspiration was British comedian Simon Munnery, whose ability to think sideways and come up with aphorisms like, “If you only ever read one book in your life, I strongly recommend you keep your mouth shut”, absolutely blows me away. My other big inspirations were the street performers in Covent Garden. They taught me that humour can be found in anything, anywhere; from stealing a bin lorry to flipping the bird at a toddler.
Tessa Waters Fully Sik 30 Mar — 23 Apr Greek Centre For little Tessa growing up in a hippie school in country Queensland, it was bold and brassy Judith Lucy on The Late Show, combined with the ridiculous and glamorous Lucille Ball (I Love Lucy re-runs) that inspired me to go after a life in comedy. These women were outrageous and hilarious and appeared to give zero shits, which is totally how I aim to live my life and make my comedy now.
You’d be crazy to miss it:
Musical Comedy
Ben Knight The Parent/Teacher Interview 11 – 23 Apr European Bier Café Ben Knight bares it all in this hilarious story of transitioning from teacher to comedian. All with some hilarious songs to boot.
28 • THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017
The Comedy Issue
Stranger Things Odd-ball British comic Paul Foot is a master of the surreal. He tells Maxim Boon why there’s method to his madness.
D
onald’s in the White House. The Brits are facing Brexit. Racists to the left of me, homophobes to the right, here we are, stuck in the middle with Pauline. Make no mistake, these are troubled times we’re living in, but there’s one descriptor being used to sum up the current geopolitical status quo that’s been getting on British comedian Paul Foot’s nerves: surreal. “A lot of people have been saying to me, ‘Oh isn’t everything so surreal now?’ I don’t know what they mean,” he declares incredulously. “I mean, I guess Trump is pretty odd, because no one’s ever had a leader like him before. But let’s face it, it’s not surreal - it’s not surrealism, it’s not surrealist. I’m a surreal comic, and the world right now isn’t surreal in the least. It just isn’t. It’s perhaps a bit peculiar, or a bit unexpected. But that’s not surrealism.” There’s a good reason why Foot is so passionately protective of the surrealist identity. His comedy, and the Foot-sian subculture he’s built around it, has been proudly eschewing the conventions of stand-up for years, via the ridiculous, the strange and the
Gillian Cosgriff 8 Songs In 8 Weeks 29 Mar – 9 Apr The Butterfly Club Gillian Cosgriff wrote a song a week for eight weeks. See how she went and she might even write a song about you.
wonderfully weird. In fact, in preparation for this latest production, ‘Tis A Pity She’s A Piglet, the comic has elevated his unique, surrealist viewpoint to near academic levels. “I’ve invented something called ‘literal surrealism’. I’ve been wanted to do it for a couple of years actually,” he reveals. “At heart, I’m a surrealist. I love surreal ideas, but I wanted to make those stories a little more accessible, and the easiest way to do that is for there to be some meaning to it, some relatable observations. Sometimes surrealist comedy can end up being really quite difficult, because it can be like, ‘Well then this happened and then a big cloud that was shaped like a bloody face came along and then a milkshake with wings flew by.’ It’s just baffling. So, I decided to try and fix that problem.” For all his comedy’s seemingly erratic freewheeling, Foot is a stickler for detail and form. He brings a level of painstaking diligence to his writing that is a rarity amongst
stand-up comedians, spending two years honing a show before unleashing it on the public. While this might seem like an ocean of time for writing a single show, Foot’s timetable is tried and true, he says. “One year just isn’t enough time. By the time you’ve toured the previous show to various different places and perfected that, there just aren’t enough days in a year left for writing,” he insists. “Two years gives me just the right balance between pressuring myself to come up with new material and being bored enough with the old show that I actually want to come up with something new.”
What: ‘Tis A Pity She’s A Piglet When & Where: 30 Mar — 23 Apr, The Famous Spiegeltent
Alice Tovey And Ned Dixon Mansplaining 10 – 16 Apr The Butterfly Club This is a man’s world and Tovey and Dixon are rightly sick of it. Hear them roar with hilarious tunes this MICF.
THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017 • 29
The Comedy Issue
Perfect Storm Veteran comedian Wil Anderson tells Samuel Leighton-Dore why he’s waited so long to debut his new show, Critically Wil.
W
ith last year’s show Fire At Wil praised by critics as his greatest stand-up work to date, veteran comedian and all-round nice guy Wil Anderson could be forgiven for feeling the pressure ahead of the debut
Grin & Bare It British comedian Josie Long tries to stay positive, but it’s tough when the entire world is being an “arsehole”, she tells Guy Davis.
J
osie Long always sounds like she’s on the verge of breaking into a giggle, which one could view as evidence of her exuberant, positive personality or a defence mechanism to keep herself from dissolving into a puddle of tears. “I feel like a lot of things are not going the way I would choose in any way, shape or form, which is part of why I wanted to write a show that is optimistic,” Long says on the eve of bringing her latest show, Something Better, to the MICF. Long rightly points out for
30 • THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017
of his 2017 offering, Critically Wil. But between extensive touring in the United States, hosting his top-charting podcast Wilosophy and fronting ABC advertising gauntlet Gruen - he doesn’t really have time to stress about expectations. “My intention every year is to make my show better than the year before,” Anderson tells. “That’s all I can control, there are people in the audience who have been watching me on the ABC for years and kids who weren’t even born when I started doing stand-up.” Having just returned from his latest stint in the United States, it felt only natural to ask Anderson, who has long provided local political commentary, his views on the dreaded Trump administration. “Trump won the election as I was flying into the US, so good thing they couldn’t build a wall that quickly or I mightn’t of gotten in,” Anderson jokes, before admitting that Trump’s unprecedented election has impacted the way American audiences respond to stand-up material. “We were finding people after the election weren’t laughing as much because they were terrified. There were people storming out, it was pretty crazy. “I would say it was a life-tourism experience, being there right in that moment
that for many people, particularly those whose politics and worldview leans to the left, the world is “quite frankly, being a total arsehole”. Brexit in her home country. “The spectre of fascism haunting Europe.” Trump. Even here in Australia, Pauline Hanson somehow regained some form of relevance. Total arsehole, indeed. “I feel like what is happening at the moment is such a waste,” she says. “In Britain, we have a deeply entrenched conservative government, and the things they’re doing are so counter to my values and what I believe might be useful or helpful for society, right down to the fact that they’re not treating climate change like it’s a serious thing. A lot of things are not going the way progressives would hope, so it’s hard to stay optimistic and positive because your whole life is a fight against it.” And that’s where Something Better comes in. Long may not have all the answers, but she does have one or two. And even the fact that she’s asking the questions - and hoping you might as well - is a good thing. “I’ve been reading a book called Hope In The Dark by Rebecca Solnit, and she’s so cool and chilled and sane. You need to reconfigure your thoughts on
when people were trying to work out what was going on.” While Anderson is hesitant to concede that comedians have political influence (“If comedy had a real impact, Tony Abbott wouldn’t have been elected”), he believes he has a responsibility, when it comes to US politics, not to attack “the man himself” and get distracted from the genuine implications of his administration. The result, he says, is a show that addresses the world that allowed for a man like Donald Trump to become President - without once mentioning his name. “In this day and age, if we want to move forward together we need to attack the arguments instead of attacking the people themselves,” Anderson says. Having grown up in rural Australia, immigrated to the US, worked extensively in journalism and charmed audiences around the world, there’s more than just a ‘Trump card’ up Anderson’s sleeve.
What: Critically Wil When & Where: 29 Mar – 23 Apr, Comedy Theatre
winning and losing - all your actions will have consequences you can’t necessarily envisage or quickly and easily measure... But anything you’re doing that’s useful and compassionate and heading in the right direction adds to the good. I get a lot of joy and enthusiasm and hope from activism... There’s some tricky stuff going on, but I think there’s loads to be hopeful about.”
What: Something Better When & Where: 30 Mar - 3 Apr & 15 - 23 Apr, Melbourne Town Hall
The Comedy Issue
Ageing Disgracefully
Veteran funnywoman Jenny Eclair assures Steve Bell that you can’t catch being a middle-aged woman by proximity alone.
U
K comedian Jenny Eclair has been an institution on the stand-up scene for decades now — famously becoming the first female winner of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival’s esteemed Perrier Award back in 1995. But, in recent times, she’s diversified her career workload to the point where it’s no surprise that she hasn’t visited our shores for some four years. “I like to keep ‘em waiting,” she chuckles. “This is about my fourth time [at MICF], the reason that I haven’t been over for a while is that it takes me a while to write a new stand-up show. I do three writing jobs really: one is the solo stuff, the other is the Grumpy Old Women shows which are big old road shows — big touring kind of theatre sets with props and costumes and all that shizz — and then the other thing I do is that I write a radio series of monologues for experienced actresses, like big names. Plus I also write books, although I’m struggling with my fifth novel at the moment so we shan’t go there.” Eclair explains that her current solo show, How To Be A Middle Aged Woman (Without Going Insane) is really quite selfexplanatory. “It’s an eye-opener — it does what it says on the tin very much,” she offers. “Nobody can come to the show and say afterwards, ‘Well, I wasn’t expecting
that’, because the poster is a woman in her mid-fifties in a mismatched bra and panties, and there’s quite a lot of cellulite on show. Basically, it’s a conversation about what it is to be a middleaged woman — it occasionally gets a bit blue and there’s even a poignant bit! It’s quite sad than in Australia I can’t do the full show because in this country I tour with an interval and it’s about 100 minutes, but I only get 60 minutes in Melbourne so I’ve had to cut out a couple of tricks, which is a shame but something’s got to go and I’ve got to learn to share my space. The only other option is to do the show so fast that nobody would understand a word, which would also be a shame.” Eclair isn’t afraid to wear her middleaged heart on her sleeve in this show, which she offers as a both a cautionary tale and instruction manual. “There’s some diagnosing, there’s a map and I have a pointy stick to point at some pictures. I try not to make anyone panic — I do assure the audience that it’s not contagious and you can’t just catch it by sitting next to another middle-aged woman on a bus,” she quips. “It’s basically the physical, the psychological and runs the gamut of relationships — all that stuff. It’s my favourite ever show and the one that’s given me the most back — I’m nervous about putting it to bed after this because I just want to tour it forever, but that’s not allowed apparently in show business. There really are too many rules in this game.”
One Hot Minute With:
Damien Power
Could you please give us a brief description of your show? It covers some pretty big ideas, from a personal perspective, to do with utopia and idealised notions of life and love and romance and then talks about bigger societal versions of those same themes. But it is also very funny! How was the reaction in Perth? It was good actually, for a first run. Normally those first runs can be pretty tough, but the show has plenty of really good jokes in it so it was just a case of moving them around. Perth’s a pretty tough audience. You’ve been nominated for the Barry Award in Melbourne the last two years. Could this be your year? I try not to think too much about that. I think if I come back with a good show, which I think this one is, and people that have come to previous years come and enjoy it and like it and get a lot out of it, then I think that’s the best you can hope for. Catch Utopia: Now In 3D, 30 Mar – 23 Apr at ACMI
What: How To Be A Middle Aged Woman (Without Going Insane) When & Where: 30 Mar — 16 Apr, Melbourne Arts Centre
THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017 • 31
The Comedy Issue
One Hot Minute With:
Becky Lucas
A Very Good Year 30 Mar - 22 Apr, Melbourne Town Hall
STUART DAULMAN
What’s your show about? It’s just a bunch of insane, awful thoughts that I’ve somehow arranged into a ‘show’. I like to think of it as an hour that will make you laugh and feel less alone. It’s not for everyone, that’s for sure. Have you had a chance to crowd-test Little Bitch? My management organised a few trial shows for me where they gave the audience a sheet to fill out their feedback. One man told me that I looked much better with my hair down. So I’ve been wearing my hair in a ponytail, just to piss him off. You snagged number three on Buzzfeed’s list of comedians to follow. What’s the secret to becoming one of the 27 best comedians on Twitter? I think you just have to be yourself and tweet how you feel. Too many people try and be clever and make pithy, political jokes.
SAMEENA ZEHRA Cult Of Comedy Presents... 29 Mar - 23 Apr Little Sista ”Too many words and actual fun. Also why is everyone not an old, white, male lech? SAD”
Catch Little Bitch, 30 Mar - 23 Apr, Victoria Hotel
“I saw A Very Good Year at #MICF and I didn’t quite get it. Sad! And the meeting with Angela Merkel went GREAT. I have the best meetings. Everyone knows that. The best. Trust me”
What would Donald Trump tweet after seeing your show?
Cult Of Comedy Presents... 29 Mar - 23 Apr Greek Centre
STUART GOLDSMITH
32 • THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017
“He’d be rendered tweet-less by my artful mix of warmth, optimism and baffling hostility towards Mexicans.”
NO FILTER TOUR
LIVE! "HIS SET IS A MASTERCLASS IN INTELLIGENT, NO-FRILLS STAND-UP" - THE GUARDIAN
DUE TO OVERWHELMING DEMAND - 2ND SHOW ADDED!
4 & 5 APRIL
SUNDAY 23 APRIL
HAMER HALL - 8PM DARAOBRIAIN.COM
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BOOK AT ABPRESENTS.COM.AU THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017 • 33
The Comedy Issue
The Good Doctor When he’s not being the whimsical Dr Professor Neal Portenza, Josh Ladgrove is just trying to be a funny guy. He speaks to Joe Dolan about finding himself within another character.
In The Doghouse Demi Lardner is a “tiny queer girl” who’s too weird to joke about Trump. By Alannah Maher.
D
emi Lardner has finally had enough of talking about herself. For her latest show, she instead takes on the persona of Gavin, a 46-year-old step-dad and luxury doghouse builder who traps himself in his basement and eventually goes insane. “He’s a dude that’s based on all the different stepdads I’ve encountered,” explains Lardner. “He’s on the phone most of the time to a life insurance salesman... he gets a lot of phone calls but can’t make any, he kind of just goes crazy and
34 • THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017
J
osh Ladgrove has a bit of trouble switching off from the “tornado of ideas” he has swirling in his head. “In my normal life, I do characters constantly; every day. I have no idea why my girlfriend puts up with me - I’m a phenomenally annoying person.” On stage, however, that character is Dr Professor Neal Portenza - a beret-toting buffoon whose shows are more absurdly unique each night. “I think I only ever really have about 23 minutes of material and the rest is just banter,” Ladgrove says, “But Neal is weird because on the one hand, he’s really stupid and childish, but he can also be really biting and clever, and it just allows me to access a part of my brain that’s a little bit more wired than what I am in normal life.” Speaking on the line between himself and Portenza, Ladgrove continues, “Neal is just an extension of myself: it’s just me doing a silly voice and trying to be happy and have a good time. I could do all the stuff I do without having to do a character, but it’s not that fun for me and I find myself a bit boring. Like, here I am now, rabbiting on.” While some may not realise it, there’s a lot more going on at a Portenza show than just a silly man-child in a hat. “There’s been
goes on a weird underwater adventure once his basement floods.” Hot on the tails of the rising success of podcast We Are Not Doctors, a joint project with fellow comedian Bart Freebairn, Lardner brings Look What You Made Me Do to Melbourne after finding success at the Adelaide Fringe. “People seem to really like it, I’ve only had a couple of walk-outs,” she adds. Gender bending isn’t unusual territory for Lardner, who confesses to often accidentally referring to herself as “a little boy” or “a pathway to homosexuality, for both genders.” But working on a character piece, let alone with a director, is a first for her. “This is the kind of thing that I’ve been wanting to do for years actually and I’m really glad that I gave myself the opportunity to do it because it’s very freeing and different,” she said. The unbridled wackiness of Look What You Made Me Do is directed by Lardner’s trusted friend Mark Bonanno of Aunty Donna fame, which gives you a hint of the kind of absurdist humour to be expected. “He’s a big weirdo as well, so this show is kind of an odd brain mash-up of us. I don’t know, maybe it’s too weird,” she says. With 2017 being the year that anyone
a bit more of just myself in the Neal shows, and I think it’s really nice to do that. Because it’s a character and because it can be a bit off-putting for people, it’s nice to try and blur those lines, saying, ‘Yeah it’s a character, but I’m still here,’ you know?” Ladgrove continues, “I’m quite attracted to that aspect of doing material and jokes not just for the sake of being offensive, but seeing if there’s a way to attack topics that may otherwise be offensive, and to do it in a way that’s clearly so gentle and irreverent and piss-taking and larrikin - which is very Australian. So Neal helps me do that.” When Portenza does eventually grace the stage at MICF, Ladgrove has a simple mission in his sights. “Hopefully I’ve created something that’s fun and interactive, but not in a naff way, and something that’s unique, that might make you laugh from your stomach instead of your head.”
What: P.O.R.T.E.N.Z.A When & Where: 30 Mar - 23 Apr, Melbourne Town Hall
with a soapbox seems to be airing their political hang-ups, Lardner insists that she is neither “smart enough” nor does she have the inclination to shoehorn any politics into her show: “I don’t think anyone’s expecting that of me either. I’m just a silly idiot... I don’t think anyone who loves Trump is coming to my show either, [this] weird gender bending little play that a tiny queer girl is doing, probably not their speed, y’know?”
What: Demi Lardner - Look What You Made Me Do When & Where: 30 Mar - 23 Apr, Melbourne Town Hall
Arts Centre Melbourne presents
UNDERWORLD 12 APRIL STATE THEATRE
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“More intoxicating than ever...” - THE TELEGRAPH UK
BOOK AT ARTSCENTREMELBOURNE.COM.AU OR CALL 1300 182 183 THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017 • 35
The Comedy Issue
One Hot Minute With:
Alex Ward
What was the inspiration behind your show? This is my debut solo, so I’ve made it very much an “introducing myself” type show. The inspiration has mostly been my upbringing and a few memorable moments in my life over the last few years. What do you love about Comedy Festival season? Seeing mates from all over Australia and hanging at Town Hall every day. Last year I walked past Town Hall the day after the festival ended and there was just one middle aged tourist taking photos. Even though I asked pretty nicely, he said he didn’t want to be my friend. What’s your pre-show ritual? How do you unwind after a show? Pre-show: try not have a beer. Post-show: have a beer. What would you be doing if you weren’t a comedian? Being unfriended on Facebook; too many statuses. Catch Alex Ward in Quiet, 30 Mar – 23 Apr, at Forum Theatre
36 • THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017
Jupitus Ascending
Ahead the Australian debut of his new show, Juplicity, Phill Jupitus gives Joe Dolan a crash course in comedy, punk poetry and being intimate with his audience.
B
ritish comedy royalty Phill Jupitus’ illustrious career has spanned over three decades, traversing standup, musical theatre, radio and his humble beginnings as a performance poet in the early ‘80s, under the moniker Porky The Poet. “When we started, there were a few of us poets, and oddly enough, the three of us who originally did Buzzcocks all started as poets. So Sean Hughes, Mark Lamar and myself all started as poets. And I think that was very much down to John Cooper Clarke.” Jupitus says of his initial encounter with the infamous punk poet, “I saw Clarkey in Chelmsford in 1982 supporting Siouxsie & The Banshees, and so that idea that someone like that could gig with a band; that appealed to me.” A couple years later, Jupitus began to seek out the poetry itself while at the same time, the alternative comedy boom was well and truly underway, as Jupitus discovered a new form of entertaining. “I remember I auditioned for a show called New Variety along with Jeremy Hardy, so you’re there seeing other people who are doing stuff quite like what you are doing but with no structure to it. There’s no rhymes, they’re just talking about ideas, and I didn’t realise you could do that. To me a comedian was
a guy who would stand there in a bow tie and tell jokes one after the other. Whereas this was more like storytelling, fantasy building, and it was a different skill set at work. When he did eventually move to the stand-up circuit, it wasn’t the smoothest of starts: “[A friend] said ‘you should do The Comedy Store. You need to get on the comedy gigs because you’re really funny.’ So I phoned The Comedy Store - and I spoke to a guy who became a very good friend of mine, but when I very first spoke to him it wasn’t the case - a man called Kim Kinney who used to book the acts at The Comedy Store. So I went, ‘Uh, hello, um, my mate gave me your number and said I should phone for an open spot.’ And he said, ‘What’s your name?’ and I went ‘Porky The Poet,’ then he went ‘We don’t book poets,’ and he hung up the phone.” On moving into comedy after those first speed bumps, Jupitus says, “I decided to build it up more, and literally just each gig I would take a poem out and chatted more. So you can transition like that and that is literally what I did. But then, of course, fifteen years later you start to miss the poetry and you write poetry again, and that’s where I find myself now - doing both again.” Jupitus’ new show, Juplicity, will see the multi-talented performer delighting Aus crowds in a multitude of ways. “There’ll be a couple of songs, there’s some music, so, you know, if I can throw a poem in it’s not going to hurt. And I like that variety of it because it is me. People are always asking stuff like ‘why should people come and see you?’ and the answer is just: there’s no one else like me!”
What: Juplicity When & Where: 19 - 23 Apr, Arts Centre Melbourne
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THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017 • 37
The Comedy Issue
Organic Gags Urzila Carlson chats to Samuel Leighton-Dore on helping out her fans, being made an honorary Australian, and her new show, Unacceptable
O
ne thing that separates Urzila Carlson from other comedians of her calibre is that she replies to every single fan email. She can’t help it. For Carlson, comedy
Manmade, Made Man If you like a little bit of politics with a lot of silly ramblings, then Matt Okine’s new show might just be for you. Joe Dolan investigates.
M
att Okine isn’t scared to talk about some heavy content in his new live show, We Made You. But while he’s taking on the big issues, that doesn’t mean he’s not still all fun and games. “It’s fun being able to talk about some serious issues, you know? Talking about Australia Day, racism, all that kind of stuff, but also talking about potatoes for 15 minutes,” he laughs. “I think my stance on Australia
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is all about connection. “I know a lot of comedians suffer from depression, but I get so many people who are sick and stuck in hospital or suffering from depression and not leaving the house,” she says. “And when they email me, they’ll tell me they’ve been watching my YouTube videos. It’s weird, the people who watch a lot of YouTube clips are often the ones going through a hard time. So I talk to them. It’s like a support group. I’ve learned a lot, I love it. We talk all day.” Speaking on mental health, Carlson is so sick and tired of people holding each other to impossible standards that she’s written an entire show about it - aptly titled Unacceptable. “If you don’t like something, bloody say something about it,” she tells me with a verbal backhand of authority. “There are so many people who don’t eat gluten now because they feel a pressure not to, but my sister’s celiac and it makes you gravely ill. And then you have people complaining about being farty. You’re just farty - get over it!” A regular panelist on Network Ten’s Have You Been Paying Attention? Carlson is fast becoming the latest in a long line of Kiwis to be claimed as an honorary Aussie. “I’d say Australian audiences are a bit more vocal with their love and/or hate, whereas
Day is pretty unique and I’m looking forward to talking about that on stage in the tour, because at least if people don’t agree with you they might go and talk about it in the car on the way home. That’s kind of all you can really hope for when you’re doing something political in a stand-up show, that it might open up a discussion like that.” Finding the balance between the serious and the silly comes naturally for Okine, who eschews the formalities of a traditional stage persona for a more informal gathering with his fans. “I think, for me, my shows are always trying to mimic the type of conversations you’re going to have at a party. Like, if you’re sitting around a table, no one wants to hear a one hour lecture on the political climate.” He continues, “I think, like in any party, you hear some dumb stories, you hear people’s opinions on which is the best cheese, you hear people arguing about Trump and Australia Day and then you go home happy and a bit drunk. That’s basically my show: talking about rubbish, talking about cheese, eating chips, arguing about one political issue and then going home drunk and happy. Six hours of party conversation condensed into a one-hour monologue.”
audiences in New Zealand are a bit more polite,” she laughs - adding that Australians aren’t as good at laughing at themselves as they might think. “That’s what every country says, except for maybe Russia or Germany. Everyone reckons they’re really good at laughing at themselves.” Born in South Africa but raised in New Zealand, there’s no denying that the unapologetic comedian has a unique perspective on a number of subjects, ranging from marriage equality to suicide prevention. However, none is more fervent than the struggle to afford organic chicken. “Look, it is expensive to do the right thing,” she admits with a cackle. “Don’t do yourself in because you’re trying to please other people. If you live in a caged farm, all you want to do is die. Then the farmer comes along and makes all your dreams come true. If you live in the beautiful green pastures of an organic farm, you have ambitions, man. You might be in love - you don’t want to die.”
What: Unacceptable When & Where: 30 Mar - 23 Apr, Melbourne Town Hall
With We Made You ready to hit MICF, Okine only really has one hesitation. “I’m a bit nervous about my dad being in the crowd, to be honest,” he chuckles. “I talk about how I got really drunk and ended up waking up at a train station, and I had to peel my face off the train station seat because I had somehow acquired this massive facial graze. And I’ve always told him it was a skateboarding accident. So, there’s that!”
What: We Made You When & Where: 30 Mar - 2 Apr, ACMI
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THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017 • 39
The Comedy Issue
Are You Ok? Rhys Nicholson is fine, and he’s showing it via the magic of dick jokes. By Samuel Leighton-Dore.
H
uddled before a whiteboard in his fiance’s office (“I’m only here for the air conditioning”), Sydney-based comedian Rhys Nicholson is putting the final touches on his seventh solo show - and his regular audiences can expect a few changes.
You Win Some, You Lose Some Ivan Aristeguieta is romancing the crowd his new show, Juithy. Guy Davis feels the love.
T
hings weren’t that great in Venezuela, reckons stand-up Ivan Aristeguieta. His native land was succumbing to dangerous levels of crime and corruption, and his city of Caracas was named one of the three most violent destinations in the world outside of war zones. And the fact that he’d started to make a name for himself on the slowly growing Venezuelan comedy scene still wasn’t enough to persuade him to stick around, not when he had friends and family in Australia who were singing its praises. So Aristeguieta made the move to Adelaide early in
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“I think this show’s a lot less political,” say Nicholson, which doesn’t strike us as being particularly difficult, especially when you consider that at the last MICF he took a very public stand for marriage equality by getting hitched to lesbian and fellow comedian Zoe Coombs Marr. “Last year was very marriage equality-centric,” he admits. “I’m making a conscious effort not to speak about marriage equality so much this time around. It’s something I’m still very passionate about, but I’ve got nothing new to say on it.” That’s not to say that his upcoming show, aptly titled I’m Fine, isn’t intensely personal. The show is very much anchored in the first-person experience. “All of my shows are very much about me, I’m narcissistic in that way,” he jokes. “However, this show is very much about my personal life. It’s less political, more sociopolitical - which I know sounds wanky.” For Nicholson and his fiance, triple j presenter Kyran Wheatley, day-to-day life can present conflicting interests when it comes to calling ‘dibs’ on potentially funny content. “We both work in media, so it’s almost at the point now where something will happen and we both look at each other and think
2012. And only a couple of months after he got here, he took part in his first open-mic comedy performance, winning the audience’s favour from the get-go. A crash-course in English prior to the gig ensured he was easily understood, but he did admit to feeling a little nervous about overcoming the cultural barrier. As it turns out, though, that was easily remedied. “In a job interview, you get further if you ask a lot of questions,” smiles Aristeguieta. “Same as on a date! And that’s what happens in a new country - asking questions shows that you’re interested, that you want to know more. So when I get up on stage I see the audience as a woman I’m taking out on a date. I want to show them I’ve been listening, that I’ve heard what you’ve been telling me.” Australia has been swiping right, so to speak, on Aristeguieta ever since, with the comedian headlining gigs and appearing at festivals around the country (his 2016 show, Chorizo Sizzle, was his most well-received to date). On top of that, he also wrote and starred in his own sitcom, Lost In Pronunciation, for ABC’s digital iview platform. So it’s little wonder that Aristeguieta is somewhat smitten with his adopted homeland, and he’s letting audiences know it in his new show, Juithy (say juicy with a lisp - there, you got it).
‘whose content is this?’” Rhys says. “But we make sure to run things by each other. We’ll always check. We have to remember that our parents and families didn’t ask for a life in the public eye.” A self-professed master of selfdeprecation, Nicholson’s “punching-up” brand of humour relies on making himself the lowest possible denominator. That way, he explains, nobody else is off limits. “When I first started, I was maybe a little more shouty and arrogant on stage,” he admits - “but audiences don’t trust someone if they’re really sure of themselves on stage. “The new show is basically 55 minutes of dick jokes,” he laughs. “I’m pretty happy with it, it’ll be nice and shiny by the time it gets to [Melbourne]. I’m not there to change minds, I’m really just there to be funny.”
What: I’m Fine When & Where: 30 Mar – 23 Apr, ACMI; 3, 10 & 17 Apr, Melbourne Town Hall
“Juithy!” he laughs. “The name of the show came from Chorizo Sizzle - a year or so later, people still remember this word ‘juithy’. “The main idea of the show is that when you win something you lose something and when you lose something you win something. Pretty much all the jokes in the show are about that. You leave your old country to come to a new country where everything is great, but you hear people who live in this new country complaining about this great country!”
What: Juithy When & Where: 30 Mar – 23 Apr, ACMI
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THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017 • 41
The Comedy Issue
Life Lessons South African-born comedian Loyiso Gola’s candid and politically charged comedy can often make punters cringe, but as he tells Daniel Cribb, that’s not always the intention.
H
aving moved to London from South Africa only two weeks ago, Loyiso Gola’s body clock is out of whack when he answers the phone in his Melbourne hotel room ahead of his debut Australian tour. ‘I’m just consuming the internet,’ he begins, waiting for a break in the awful weather so he can go out and explore. The frequent traveller’s debut US standup special dropped last year and performing to so many different audiences around the world, he’s often navigating what will and won’t hit the sweet spot. But Gola’s current show, Dude, Where’s My Lion, remains the same wherever he travels (most of the time). ‘In South Africa, the neighbourhoods were separated by race and so right next to where I grew up there was a Muslim community,’ Gola tells. ‘When I do the Muslim jokes in America, they are really tense about them, because in their media and consumption of everyday life, they view Muslims in a specific way, but I talk about this candidly, and so they’re cringing the whole time.’ Such reactions can sometimes lead Gola to over-analyse comedy ‘which is one of my pet hates’ and given him a reputation as someone who ventures down avenues that can make people uncomfortable. ‘At the end
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of the day, I’m still telling jokes, so I want the people to laugh,’ he explains. ‘Sometimes I really feel bad making people feel uncomfortable, because I go, ‘Yeah, this person paid to see stand-up.’ That’s how much brain computes it, but then my other brain goes, ‘What do you want to say to them?’ So I say the thing I want to say and then I feel bad,’ he laughs. ‘I don’t know how Australians are going to take the show,’ he adds. While he hasn’t toured Down Under before, he’s become a regular name in Australia through his role as a correspondent on ABC’s The Weekly With Charlie Pickering. ‘ I just texted [Charlie] now and I’m hoping we can get dinner,’ Gola says. ‘I’m going to meet him on Monday and see what his say, but we’ve been talking about trying to get me on the show while I’m here.’ He’ll also have to brush up on Dude, Where’s My Lion before a run of comedy festival dates around the country.’ I haven’t done it in such a long time,’ he tells. ‘I was in the middle of writing a new show and had to go back and remember [Dude, Where’s My Lion]. ‘The [new] show is called Unlearn. We’ve learnt so much and everything we do is learnt - how we eat, walk and dress. Some of the stuff that we’ve learnt throughout our lives is bad or makes no.’ The show is about unlearning things - we need to unlearn what history is, what religion is and a lot of habits about ourselves ‘it’s an extremely complicated show.’
What: Dude, Where’s My Lion When & Where: 30 Mar - 23 Apr, Melbourne Town Hall
Dil Brain Former accountant Dilruk Jayasinha has been getting paid for jokes since he was a kid, as Stehpen A Russell finds out.
A
s a kid, Melbournebased, Sri Lankanborn comedian Dilruk Jayasinha’s father spent a lot of time overseas. That meant grabbing his attention while he was in town. “He was always the funny guy with his mates and I had this subconscious seed in my brain saying, ‘Ok, so I need Dad’s attention, I need to be funny.’” Continuing on the topic of his upbringing, Jayasinha says, “I have an interesting background where my dad is a Buddhist, my mum is a Muslim and I went to a Catholic school. This should be confusing, but I actually took a lot of good stuff from it, how you can appreciate someone else’s faith without necessarily having to believe it yourself.” Obsessively watching Eddie Murphy, and also Jim Carey’s eyebrows, on TV, it wasn’t just his dad Jayasinha was out to impress. “My brother’s five years older than me, and whenever I’d make him laugh he’d go and ask for Mum’s handbag and pay me five-to-ten rupees. If it was a really good joke, I’d get 20, so that’s when I knew I nailed it.” This early flare for stand-up got sidetracked, setting out for the University of Melbourne at 19 years old in order to study accountancy and finance. It wasn’t until he was let go from his first big accountancy firm that the passion saw him regularly trek to North Melbourne’s Comic’s Lounge to brave his first open mic appearance in 2010. Things have only improved since waving goodbye to his comedy-supportive accountancy gig last year to embrace comedy full-time, with TV spots on Sammy J & Randy In Ricketts Lane and Have You Been Paying Attention?. His latest show to grace the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, The Art Of The Dil, is his most ambitious yet. Hot button topics in the media right now, The Art Of The Dil addresses the homophobia wrapped up in his religious
The Comedy Issue
Cracking Wise Comedian and hot Harry Potter DeAnne Smith talks to Sam Baran about cracking wise in a post-truth era.
D upbringing and also Islamophobia explaining a worrying survey last year suggesting half of all Australians approve banning Muslim immigration. “I still haven’t figured out my pitch for telling people about the show because on paper it sounds very serious and unlike me, because normally I’m the fat guy who talks about being drunk, but don’t worry, there’s still plenty of jokes and me being an absolute dickhead,” he insists cheerfully. It’s hard to imagine otherwise with Jayasinha’s pervasively optimistic outlook. “I kind of want anyone who is Islamophobic to know, ‘Hey, you’re not a bad person, you’ve just been told the wrong things. It’s hard for me to believe that 50% of Australians are bad people because this is a country that welcomed me with such open arms, made me pursue this dream job of mine and feel Australian within two weeks. My default setting is that Australians are great and accepting.” Is his brother still feeding him rupees for gags? “I actually owe him a fair bit of money because there was a time between accounting jobs I had to borrow from him, and it’s not rupees this time, it’s euros.”
eAnne Smith got started with comedy in a world a little less alarming than the one we inhabit today. “I used to write poetry a lot as a published poet,” she recalls. “I started doing open mics and decided if I had people’s attention I would rather make them laugh than feel quietly reflective. So I gave up my life as a poet and got into comedy.” Now she’s coming to Australia with PostJoke Era, a show set against the backdrop of misogyny, white supremacy and hatred that seems to be gripping humanity. “The phrase ‘post-truth era’ is from the idea that facts seem to be counting for less and less,” Smith says. “In my mind a lot of comedians are struggling with what we’re doing in a world where it feels we need to do so much more than get on stage and tell jokes. We need to be out on the streets protecting people more vulnerable than us! The title for me is how to do comedy in a meaningful way in 2017.” Smith’s style is relentlessly positive, lacking much of the self-effacing put-downs or bare-knuckle aggression common in Aussie comedy. “I think it’s cathartic to be in a room full of people all laughing at the same thing. To have a comedian say something on stage that backs up your private thoughts or something you go through can be really affirming.”
Inevitably, Smith has a thing or two to say about gender, putting forward ‘transmasculine house mouse’ and ‘hot Harry Potter’ as potential gender alternatives for herself. “There’s definitely a big chunk of my show where I’m talking about gender. My favourite part starts with me saying, ‘I don’t identify with being a woman, euch, I don’t want to be a man, gross. No offense, everyone!’ and from there I have fun with the gender dichotomy most of us feel we have to be a part of.” Despite hailing from in Montreal, Canada, the bow-tied comedian has always had a weakness for Australia. “For one, I love the weather,” she admits laughingly, then adds: “Australians are comedy literate. You see a lot and you know a lot. I feel like Australian audiences, in general, have a good sense of the history of comedy and various styles. It’s really fun to perform for audiences that value the same sorts of things that you do.” At the very least, you can expect Aussie levels of irreverence from Smith in Post-Joke Era. “I feel like this year’s show has a fair amount of blue language that even surprises me when I hear it. I’m like, what? Did I just say pussy again in that joke? Why?”
What: DeAnne Smith: Post-Joke Era When & Where: 30 Mar - 23 Apr, Taxi Riverside
What: The Art Of The Dil When & Where: 30 Mar - 23 Apr, Greek Centre
THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017 • 43
The Comedy Issue
Funny
BRIGHT YOUNG
Melbourne International Comedy Festival isn’t just a platform for the biggest names in the biz. There’s plenty of talent on the rise to be found, if you know where to look. Here are six of the most exciting acts tipped for greatness at 2017’s MICF.
THINGS
Danielle Walker Hailing from Queensland, Walker has already laid the foundations of a promising future as a major player in Australia’s comedy scene. She was crowned the 2016 RAW Comedy National Champion, before taking out third prize at the UK’s So You Think You’re Funny competition. She’s quickly honed a unique comic voice, that leans a little to the dark side with plenty of twisted observational humour to keep things interesting. If you like your comedy kooky, with a generous side serving of anarchic mischief, then Walker’s brand of “slight deranged” storytelling will definitely be up your alley. What: The Comedy Zone When & Where: 30 Mar — 23 Apr, Trades Hall
Sam Taunton 2016 was a big year for Sam. He became a presenter for MTV Australia and NZ, and toured across the nation and overseas in Asia with the Melbourne International Comedy Roadshow. He’s already trodden the comedy boards as part of The Comedy Zone showcase and has also formerly been a RAW Comedy National Finalist, so it’s safe to say, the boy’s got skillz. For his latest show, he’ll be letting the audience in on his regretful teenage years as well as tackling that oft pondered conundrum: how often should you change your bedsheets? What: Taunts Down For What When 30 Mar — 23 Apr, Victoria Hotel
Richard Gadd He may be new to Antipodean audiences, but this Scottish comic arrives Down Under with some seriously impressive creds in tow. Winner of Best Show at the 2016 Edinburgh Comedy Awards, he’s already considered one to watch in his native Britain. In addition to being pretty damn funny, Gadd’s humour has also been praised for its thought-provoking undertones. Making his Australian debut with a bare-all exploration of mental illness and masculine identity in the modern world (see, we told you it was brainy stuff), Monkey See Monkey Do promises to be one of the shows not to miss at this year’s fest. What: Monkey See Monkey Do When & Where: 30 Mar — 23 Apr, ACMI
You’d be crazy to miss it:
Cabaret
Geraldine Quinn Sunglasses At Night: The ‘80s Apocalypse Sing Along Cabaret Mon 3, 10, 17 Apr Melbourne Town Hall Get your mousse out and load your favourite mixtape into the boombox as Geraldine Quinn brings the best of the ‘80s to MICF.
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The Comedy Issue
Jonathan Schuster Ok, so Jonathan Schuster is hardly a noob on the scene. He’s been around for a few years (since 2007 to be precise), but with the stellar success of ABC 2’s Fancy Boy in the last year, his career is certainly hitting its stride in 2017. The Melbournebased comedian’s latest stand-up show, Earth Choice, features Schuster’s personal brand of geek-chic storytelling. Join him for a 50-minute whistle-stop tour of the highs and lows of living in a “scuzzy” (his word, not ours) flat in St Kilda. And don’t worry if Earth Choice sounds a little on the new agey side — it’s just his brand of washing powder. What: Earth Choice When & Where: 3 — 23 Apr, Trades Hall
Rohan Ganju To say Rohan Ganju is chilled out would be a colossal understatement — the man is a god damn black belt at deadpan, which makes the speed and bullseye aim of his one-line comedy all the more powerful. His zingers are brilliantly sour, brainteasing, unexpectedly edgy and delivered with Prozac-level chill. Basically, he is a living, breathing, Aussie Droopy dog. Despite placing as National Runner-Up at Raw Comedy 2015, and numerous TV and Radio spots, Rohan admits “success has failed to fill the void inside myself that I believe would be sated by the approval of strangers.” We’ll be doing our best to fill your void this MICF, Rohan, don’t you worry... What: The Comedy Zone When & Where: 30 Mar — 23 Apr, Trades Hall
Natalie Harris The flame-haired funnylady returns to MICF with a brand new show, fresh off the success of her last solo stand-up, Good Greif in 2016. This is good news indeed, given that there was a two-year hiatus between her solo stand-up debut in 2014 and last year’s second outing, but that’s not to say Harris was sitting on her hands. With appearances on The Vagina Diaries, Twentysomething, Gender Matters and Fancy Boy, she certainly has been keeping busy. Her latest show draws on themes close to Harris’ heart, namely female empowerment, agency and identity in the modern world. She’s a dragon — hear her (and her audience) roar (with laughter). What: Dragon When & Where: 30 Mar — 23 Apr, Trades Hall
Clara Cupcakes The Worst
Shirley Gnome Taking It Up The Notch
Mon 10 – Sun 23 Apr The Butterfly Club Come see the only cabaret show about a fake video game to ever grace a stage at MICF (probably).
Mon 3 – Sun 16 Apr The Butterfly Club She’s the queen of the obscene cabaret scene with a heart of gold and the voice of Dolly Parton.
THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017 • 45
The Comedy Issue
Respect (Mrs) Yousseff Susie Youssef is too old to be getting told off by her mum, she tells Stephen A Russell.
M
ining her family’s quirks for comic value has gotten Sydney-based comedian Susie Youssef into a bit of strife, particularly with her mum. So these days she tries to clear as much as possible with them first, a practice she equates to PRmanaging character assassination. “My mum said I’m not allowed to speak badly of her again, so I’ve had to twist it to make her sound more reasonable than maybe she is,” Youssef laughs. “I absolutely adore my mother, but mostly for her comedy value.” Youssef’s new show Behave Youssef continues the trend of taking familial pot shots and using the family name in an amusing title, as evidenced by last year’s Check Youssef Before You Wreck Youssef. A thirst for comic writing first presented itself to Youssef while she was attending high school, where she would pen her own plays. “They were all very angsty and everything you’d expect from a teenager, but I always slanted more towards comedy than anything else.” A degree in teaching was derailed when a friend took her to a theatre sports show at Newtown’s Enmore Theatre. “I could not believe what I was seeing,” Youssef says. “I didn’t understand how they were doing it and I was mostly confused, but also delighted. I was so excited to see this organic, crazy thing happening in front of me that seemed to make no sense and everyone was laughing at it.”
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That got Youssef hooked on watching the US incarnation of Whose Line Is It Anyway? and regular cast member Colin Mochrie, her hero — who also appeared in the UK version. Of course, Youssef went on to appear in last year’s debut season of the Australian Whose Line Is It Anyway?, she’s also cropped up as Gez in the ABC’s Rosehaven alongside Celia Pacquola and Luke McGregor, had a small cameo in the Nine Network’s Here Come the Habibs! and appeared as Anousha in Stan original series No Activity. “No Activity was such an incredible experience for me, working with someone like Genevieve Morris who is an actual genius,” Youssef says. “I had to keep reminding myself on the day to stop watching her and actually participate in the filming because she was so brilliant.” Youssef admits that while on set, she tends to act like she’s in her stand-up zone. “The bragging live performer in me tries to make the crew laugh as much as possible, which is horrific for any film crew to have someone who’s so needy on set. But then there’s that final product, seeing something you worked on and the reward of investing so much time in it, as opposed to the fleeting nature of live performance.” Not that Youssef’s giving up gigs like MICF any time soon, with the thrill of live gigs being a hard one to beat. “All the different facets of comedy torture me in some way, but the payoff of being in front of an audience is the adrenaline. There’s no doubt, there’s nothing like it.”
What: Behave Youssef When & Where: 30 Mar — 23 Apr, Melbourne Town Hall
Mum’s The Word Romesh Ranganathan does not recommend travelling with your mother or starting comedy when you have kids, as Joe Dolan finds out.
R
omesh Ranganathan is quickly becoming one of the most well-known voices in British comedy, but his relationship with the stand-up stage hasn’t always been straightforward. “It’s something that I couldn’t really relate to initially,” he says, “because when I started doing gigs I wanted to believe that comics were just going up and doing it off the cuff. You don’t really want to believe that they’ve worked on it and that they’ve written it and stuff like that. But I think people have become more savvy to how comedy works, and I think the whole idea of failure leading to success and stuff like that, there’s something interesting in hearing about somebody struggling before they make something of themselves.” For Ranganathan, that struggle came when he left his life as an educator behind to pursue his dream of performing comedy. “I made the decision to quit teaching and do stand-up full-time, and for a while, it did not go right. I basically put my family into poverty, and we couldn’t pay the bills for a while. So that was a challenge for me in terms of going from a secure job into doing standup, and as a result we were struggling. It’s quite a difficult thing to feel okay about.” He continues, “I made a mistake in making this decision after I had children. What an idiot! But that’s just what happened. And it has worked out in the end and I hope it continues to work out. I think it really test’s your resolve and how much you want to do something.” The gamble has more than paid off for the UK-based comic who has been seen on the likes of Live At The Apollo and celeb game show QI. He also recently made his own TV program, Asian Provocateur, which saw him travelling around the world alongside his mother, Shanti. “With the first series, my mum was sort of having a go at me because
The Comedy Issue
Spinning Yarns For Dane Simpson, One-half of Indigenous comedy duo AborigiLOL, stand-up comes naturally. He shares some dad jokes with Maxim Boon.
I didn’t know anything about my Sri Lankan heritage. So I basically went to Sri Lanka and did a crash course in Sri Lankan culture at the behest of my mum. It was sort of a trip that my mum was just in charge of, which is horrendous [laughs]. “And the second series, my mum came with me, because unfortunately she became really popular after the first series. I wanted her to enjoy it, but what I didn’t want is for her to get equal billing — but of course that’s what happened. Anyway, for that second series we went to the States, and we hooked up with some of my family over there. It’s sort of become this thing where, over here [in the UK], my mum has become a minor celebrity. It’s irritating, it’s gone to her head, mate. I’ll be honest with you, she’s not being humble about it.” On the subject of having his own mother in the spotlight, Ranganathan says, “She’s doing things [on the show] like having a go at me because I’m not moisturising my elbows or whatever, and I’m thinking, ‘I’m a father of three, mate. This is mad.’ It was fun, though. But I was in the States with my mum for six weeks — I don’t care who you are or how well you get on with your mum; that is a test of the relationship.” With his family regularly at the core of his new stand-up show, Irrational, Ranganathan is acutely aware of what’s in store for him. “The problem is... there’s going to come a point where [my kids] are going to start watching it, and then I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’ve definitely got, in my future, a stern conversation with my kids. But at the end of the day I do buy them stuff. Maybe in years to come you’ll see me doing a show about how my kids asked to divorce me.”
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omedy historians will tell you modern day stand-up evolved from the corny vamping shtick of vaudevillian MCs, but you could easily make the case that the first stand-up comics were first Australians. The Indigenous culture of our country is a spoken tradition, with stories, songs and histories passed by word of mouth. Much of this lore is spiritually rich, majestic and awe-inspiring, but humour and tall tales have long been a cherished part of Aboriginal life. It’s a heritage comedian Dane Simpson knows all about. As one-half of indigenous comedy duo, Aborigi-LOL, alongside Matt Ford, Simpson calls on his cultural background to give “a fresh take on walking in two worlds”. As he points out: “Our show has been 60,000 years in the making.” Taking to the stage can be a nervewracking experience even for a seasoned comic, but Simpson has never been daunted by playing to a crowd. For the Wagga Waggabased funnyman, becoming a stand-up comedian just came naturally. “I love to spin a good yarn, whether it’s at home, out at dinner with mates or even just down the local pub. I just carry those stories that I’ve always told over to an audience,” he explains. “Even if I wasn’t a comedian, I’d still be
spinning a yarn.” As well as the significance of storytelling, family and community is a vital part of Indigenous culture. While this may give Ford and Simpson a ready-made hype squad, it can also be a potential pitfall, ironically. “The big challenge when writing jokes is pissing off the family,” Simpson laughs. “I might be disowned by my mob and have to dodge my mum’s thong when they hear some of my stories.” Simpson’s mum isn’t the only family member he’s copped some flack from: “I was heckled by my dad at a gig last year. I was telling the audience a story about him and he was in the crowd and yelled out, ‘Oi! Don’t tell people this story!’” I let everyone know the guy yelling out was actually my dad and the audience cracked up and gave him a round of applause. My dad stood up and waved like he was some kind of celeb.” While his innate storytelling skills are a vital ingredient of Simpson’s stand-up, his loud, proud, “dad joke” humour has a found an unlikely kinship with Ford’s dryer, more cynical tone. 100% Aussie Laughs returns for a second consecutive season at MICF this year and Simpson says there’s an energising atmosphere at festival time that adds an important injection of adrenaline to their performances. “It’s the vibe of the thing, your honour! I love having a laugh and making people laugh, so I’m in my element,” he shares. “It’s the vibe, it’s Mabo, it’s justice, it’s law, it’s the vibe and, erm, no that’s it: it’s the vibe. I rest my case.”
What: 100% Aussie Laughs When & Where: 11 - 23 Mar, Malthouse Theatre
What: Irrational When & Where: 19 — 23 Apr, Arts Centre Melbourne THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017 • 47
The Comedy Issue
One Hot Minute With:
Nicole Ratjen
Hero Complex, 30 Mar - 23 Apr, Victoria Hotel ”How does he do the music and the puppet at the same time?”
SAMMY J
Briefly describe your show: SOAP is a variety show with acrobatic, musical and comedy acts set in and around bathtubs. It’s a high energy romp and it really does have something for everyone, even if that sounds a bit cliché! What’s your pre-show ritual, and how do unwind after a show? I can’t stress enough the importance of a good warm-up and getting a moment of focus in, whatever that needs to be. After SOAP - dry off! But generally, sit and take a second. President Trump is on the minds of a lot of comics’ To Trump or not to Trump – where do you stand? I’ve gotten this a lot in the Improv that I do. At this point, not to Trump, unless you’re dealing with a deck of cards. It’s over saturated. If that’s your bit, do your thing. I think he needs to be roasted. Catch SOAP, 30 Mar - 22 Apr, Malthouse Theatre
KIRSTY WEBECK Good One, 29 Mar - 9 Apr, Imperial Hotel ”I came in a few minutes late when she was talking about being mistaken for a man and it took me the rest of her set to work out if she was a man or a woman. It sounded fun though.”
What’s the best (or strangest) thing you’ve overheard someone saying after one of your gigs? I Terry Pedestrian? 4-5 Apr, Speakeasy HQ
OLI HARRIS
48 • THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017
”He was good cause he laughed at himself, which made us laugh at him... Then he laughed at us, which made us... laugh at... um...”
The Comedy Issue
Left Hook As the world falls right Sami Shah tells Sam Wall he has faith Australians will keep their feet.
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ami Shah is a busy man. He’s a regular contributor to ABC RN and ABC Melbourne. He has two books out this year — the sequel to sci-fi novel Fire Boy and The Islamic Republic Of Australia. He just finished a huge Perth Fringe
Incredibly Fabulous Alannah Maher speaks to award-winning comedian Joel Creasey about being a Poser.
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s Australia’s 2017 comedy fest season hits its peak, Joel Creasey is adamant he doesn’t want to be another comedian vying to tell their best Donald Trump joke. But he’s not afraid to dispel some “fake news” (about himself) and dish the dirt about the mortifying experience of accidentally sleeping with some of old mate Donald’s supporters. “Some comics do great political comedy and some really thought-provoking comedy, and they’re just martyrs to me, I can’t do that,” the 26-year-old
World run before debuting Islamofarcist in Brisbane after it won Queensland’s Tour Ready Award at last year’s MICF. Now he’s back again with Punching Down, covering “politics, race, political correctness [and] dick pics”, topics that Shah is distinctly equipped to deconstruct (though we can’t speak to the dick pics). As a Palestinian immigrant, an Australian citizen, a Muslim-born atheist, Shah possesses a rare combination of qualities: “outsider perspective with insider knowledge”. It’s certainly something we could use right now. In June last year, Shah spoke on Insight about identifying a country’s fault lines, and recognising where Australia’s cracks were beginning to show. Later that same month a hairline majority of the UK voted to leave the EU, and in February Trump moved into the White House before, among other things, trying to pass a definitely-not-a-Muslim-ban executive order. After a bewildering nine months, we’re curious where he thinks those rumblings are sitting on the Richter scale. “I think that they’ve definitely grown in Europe and America,” muses Shah. “I think there’s a concern here that we will follow suit, that we’ll go the Trump way or the Brexit way with our own right wing/hard right
comedian shares. “I’m just going to tell you some embarrassing stories I’ve gotten up to, some celebrities I’ve had run-ins with, and some terrible people I’ve had sex with - and you can laugh at all of my misfortunes and you can feel better about yourself!” The last year hasn’t been totally taken over with misfortunes for Creasey, however. In addition to whoring himself (in the best possible way) across Aussie TV screens, he’s been packing out comedy venues as farflung as New York and Montreal, rounding out the year by taking home the coveted award for GQ’s Comedian of the Year. Creasey says that with newfound recognition comes newfound confidence, something no one would have ever accused him of lacking: “I feel like this exposure has given me the confidence to go, ‘you know what, people think I’m funny’. And I’m not going to try to change the face of comedy, I’m just gonna do what I can do. And that’s telling funny, silly pop culture stories.” A decade on from his first appearances on comedy line-ups as a 16-year-old wearing “terrible, cute cartoony-type like shirts on stage”, his wit only seems to gets riper with age. While his knack for insult humour has earned Creasey a reputation as a card-
kind of people taking over or dominating the conversation. I personally have more faith in Australians. I think they’re more vigilant of that kind of extremism taking over completely,” he continues. “Even with Pauline Hanson, I mean her rise in WA, for example, has less to do with her radical pronouncements about Islam and more the fact the Labour party and the Liberal party are seen as being bought out by corporations and people just want better representatives. “It’s a shame to see some of these countries quite gleefully sliding towards third world country status. But you know, at the same time, fuck ‘em. They’re idiots, you know. If America turns into a shithole then that’s what America did. They did that to too many other countries to not have karma bite them in the ass, and frankly, Europe’s biggest achievements in the last hundred years have been two world wars and Eurovision.”
What: Punching Down When & Where: 11 – 23 Apr, Malthouse
carrying bitch, he also isn’t hesitant to make himself, his identity or his place within the frivolous world of celebrity, the punchline. “Ultimately the jokes do come back on me a lot of the time, because I am ridiculous. But also incredibly fabulous.” He reassures his audiences that they’ll be safe: “If you buy a ticket to come see my show, you are so safe. Anyone outside of the theatre, they’re in trouble.”
What: Poser When & Where: 30 Mar – 23 Apr, Max Watt’s; 22 Apr, Melbourne Town Hall THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017 • 49
The Comedy Issue
One Hot Minute With:
Chris D’Elia
Dead Funny
al
What was the inspiration behind your show? I’m becoming an actual man and realised it! I figured I should talk about where I am in my life currently. How do you handle hecklers? I always get heckled. Immediately go for blood, I say. Fuck it! Why did you get into comedy? I was always cracking jokes when I was a kid – I can’t remember exactly when that started, but I started doing stand-up when I was 25. What’s your pre-show ritual, and how do unwind after a show? I don’t have a pre-show ritual, but afterwards I usually like to grab a bite and chat with my friends. Describe your comedy style in five words or less. “I tried.” Catch Chris D’Elia Live, 18 - 22 Apr, Athenaeum Theatre
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Euthanasia is no laughing matter, but try telling that to comedian, actor and political activist Liz Carr. She tells Maxim Boon how musical theatre is putting assisted suicide centre stage.
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he’s a woman, disabled, gay, potently intelligent, exceptionally creative and fiercely accomplished. In short, comedian and actor Liz Carr is The AntiTrump. However, while the outspoken activist, comedian and star of BBC crime drama Silent Witness is a famously uncowed firebrand, the political has been a significant presence in her comedy since long before dear ol’ Don made it to The Oval Office. “I’ve always felt an urgency and a necessity to speak out. For me, it’s always felt like common sense and an obligation. Or perhaps responsibility is a better word - obligation makes it sound like it’s difficult, and I’ve never felt like addressing issues I feel passionately about is hard work,” she explains. “If anything’s different these days, I guess it’s that I now have confirmation of how important it is to challenge these attitudes. Being truthful and being true to your yourself and having integrity - they’re the things that are even more important now.” Carr’s most ambitious stage production to date is an excellent example of Carr’s BS-free approach. Assisted Suicide: The Musical uses the glitz and glamour of Broadway to take a darkly comic look at the
thoroughly unfunny topic of euthanasia. Carr, who is a vocal opponent of assisted suicide, believes the juxtaposition of the saccharine schmaltz of musical theatre and the stark reality of state-sanction suicide is a powerful method of bringing this complex debate out of the shadows and into the spotlight - quite literally. “If you’re trying to open up a subject that’s difficult and taboo and hard to talk about and painful, how are you going to do that? Really, what happened for me was this coming together of all the things I’ve done in my life. Campaigning and comedy and presenting and broadcasting - all those things have played a part in the creation of this show,” Carr says. “Musical comedy is a deceptively powerful thing. I’d go to some stand-up gig, and someone would come on stage with a bloody ukulele or something like that, and they’d be singing this chirpy little song about, ‘Anal rape. Anal rape! La-la-la-la.’ And people would be clapping along and laughing, so that really made me sit up and think, ‘Okay, music is fascinating’.” Carr’s comedic instincts are of the shock and awe variety but, while her jokes might scandalise, it’s humour built on a foundation of thoroughly thought-through conviction. “A lot of the comedy I’ve done in my time, the audience response has been ‘gasp’ or hand over the mouth. It’s that, ‘I can’t believe I’m laughing at that’-type reaction - that’s a big turn on for me,” she smiles. “Comedy that’s really relatable and easy it’s always going to be the bread and butter of the stand-up scene. But what happens when comedy explores those things we privately think about but that we’re too inhibited to utter aloud? That’s when you’re really breaking ground. Going to those places where people haven’t gone before - man, that’s a thrill.”
What: Assisted Suicide: The Musical When & Where: 30 Mar - 9 Apr, Malthouse Theatre
The Cardinal Sins Again FRANK HAMPSTER More stories from Ballarat to the Child Abuse Royal Commission
•
7.30PM MAR 29 TO APR 9 TIX: TRYBOOKING
photography by Amy Boyse
CAM KNIGHT +++++ +++
“WILL HAVE YOU IN STITCHES” TITCHES” - THE ADVERTISER
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“KNIGHT STANDS ALONE AS THE MASTER OF ALL MASTERS” - LAST LAUGH
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2
“WILL LEAVE AN INDELIBLE IMPRESSION” - HERALD SUN
COO HHOST OST OF UNREAL UNRE ESTATE, CH 9. SEEN ON JUST FOR LAUGHS SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE, ABC’S SOUL MATES, WHAM BAM THANKYOU MA’AM, HOW NOT TO BEHAVE AND BACKSEAT DRIVERS.
30TH MARCH - 23RD APRIL, 9:30PM (8:30PM SUNDAYS) CHINESE MUSEUM, 22 COHEN PL, MELBOURNE TIX: WWW.COMEDYFESTIVAL.COM.AU
THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017 • 51
Music
A Different View There’s a freedom to Guy Sebastian’s upcoming LP Conscious that the singer hasn’t explored yet. The Aussie favourite tells Daniel Cribb all about his new perspective on life and music in the lead up to a series of intimate album preview headline shows.
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uy Sebastian describes his recent single Conscious as a “breaking of some shackles” for him. “For a while, I think I’ve been bound a little bit to a fear of letting people down, and almost not being myself because I’m trying to uphold this certain thing that was drummed into me for a lot of my life,” he begins. “I think sometimes it causes you to not necessarily be as real as you can be and to almost hide your flaws a little bit, but that’s just not a normal world because we’re all flawed and we all do silly things. Sometimes it’s better when you just let everything out in the open.
“I grew up fairly religious and I think that song’s about saying, ‘You know what? If you’ve got an opinion about me, I really don’t care,’ because I know who I am and I know that I don’t need to be weighed down by people’s opinions anymore.” Sebastian believes that the change was triggered by growing up and having kids of his own and caring a lot less about what people think of him. “When you have kids, your whole world changes; you reshuffle your priority list and [your] kids come first,” he explains. “The person who they grow up to know as dad is way more important than someone criticising me for something I might say or do or believe in. As long as they grow up knowing I was 52 • THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017
always honest with them, and real, and loved them as much as I humanly can, then that’s all that really matters.” Following Conscious, Sebastian outlines that the upcoming album has a little bit more of an electronic tinge to it. “Obviously, there’s a lot of focus on electronic music at the moment and that’s the style of music I’ve been listening to the most; I’ve been discovering new artists and producers on Spotify. It’s an exciting time in music, to have so many people be able to have careers whether it be on SoundCloud or just streaming,” he states. “My friend M-Phazes has a track out called Messiah and, you know, you’ve got people like him and Flume — so many producers who are just killing it — and it’s almost like they’ve brought production to the forefront to be
It’s really just about bringing something different – something people haven’t seen me do before and making it something a bit more intriguing. acknowledged as much as the artists are and I think that’s really important. “I’ve worked with some incredible producers – I’m going to Sam Sakr’s studio right now, actually. Sam produced Conscious and he produced Home as well. I think anyone who likes electronic music will definitely be pretty inspired by Sam’s drum programming in particular.” Sebastian describes his upcoming run of preview shows at intimate venues (for an arena filler like him at least) as “definitely different”. “Just last year I did a tour with a full band – horns, three singers, massive lighting show – and I was playing Rod Laver and Entertainment Centres around the country and to be in the headspace of being in a much-smaller music venue is exciting. “I wanted to take the vibe I had in the studio to the stage and so basically I’ve just kept it really simple and really stripped back. I think I just wanted to keep that stripped-back production focus with these shows and just give my supporters and fans something as a point of difference. I’ve got a lot of fans that have been to every tour that I’ve ever put on, so it’s really just about bringing something different – something people haven’t seen me do before and making it something a bit more intriguing. Those sort of venues will lend themselves to doing something like that. It’ll just be about lights and delivery in a very stripped-back way.”
When & Where: 29 & 30 Mar, Corner Hotel
RE, GREEK CENT STREET 168 LONSDALE
MARCH 30TH – APRIL 23RD
TUESDAY – SATURDAY 7.15PM SUNDAY 6.15PM
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THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017 • 53
Heartmachine Music
Mesmerising Songs To read the full interview head to theMusic.com.au
With their surprise drop of the album Mesmer, here are Northlane’s Josh Smith and Marcus Bridge to give us a track-bytrack look at some of the songs on their new opus.
This song spawned from lyrics I had written a few months before we got into the studio and focuses on the inevitable pain that comes with loss. In my case, it was a relationship coming to an abrupt end, but I wanted to write it in a way that could be applied to other difficult situations. I see the Heartmachine as our bodies fighting with the mind. As much as you want to look forward and forget about the past, anxiety and depression tend to spoil that progress. — Marcus Bridge
Intuition This song was written about how our thoughts, feelings and decisions can be engineered by the society we live in. They are conditioned by the way we are educated and all of the media we consume. We are so caught up in what’s going on around us, what frivolous things are distracting us, that we forget about what’s important, we forget about what drives us as people and what our hearts are telling us. We forget to follow our intuition. — Josh Smith
Fade Fade is about the death of my father and was an incredibly difficult song to write. I lost my father to an overdose five years ago. He was a troubled man and, as long as I can remember, had always struggled with addiction. He wasn’t always the best father, but as time goes on, you start to forget about the bad times and celebrate the good. With the loss of a loved one, there are so many emotions you go through. It’s a pain that never goes away but the sadness, anger and confusion slowly fade. I think about him all the time, but the fond memories help treat the sting. — Marcus Bridge
Veridian Citizen The first track on Mesmer is a song that was written about the First World police state and our willingness to live under the watch of those in power, for their means, while those who blow the lid on it suffer. Writing this one was quite a mission, we went through five completely different sets of lyrics and the final incarnation of the song was the eighth revision. It pays homage to Edward Snowden and his fight for our electronic freedom. — Josh Smith
Veridian has the most personal lyrics I’ve ever written. During the writing process for Mesmer we lost quite a few people close to us. This song is about watching my great grandmother decay through old age. It was extremely difficult for me to watch her be kept alive, in pain against her own will. Thankfully I was able to say goodbye to her while she was in a state where she could communicate with me and this song recounts that conversation. When she passed, for the first time ever I felt relief for her. She was at a point where moving on from this world is what she needed and wanted. — Josh Smith
Savage This is one of my favourite sets of lyrics on the record. Savage was inspired by a documentary I watched called Overview, which talked about how astronauts’ perspective on the earth changed after they saw it externally, without the human boundaries we use to divide ourselves. It explores our nature, we tend to focus on our immediate interpersonal problems rather than banding together with our differences aside to achieve something far greater, which we have the potential to do, “humankind’s lines don’t divide, through the eyes of the sun”. — Josh Smith 54 • THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017
What: Mesmer (UNFD) When & Where: 11 May, Karova Lounge, Ballarat; 12 May, Wool Exchange, Geelong; 13 May, Chelsea Heights Hotel
Music
No Fucking Joke Bec Sandridge and Brynn Davies talk about her hate-hate relationship with the trombone, her eyebrows and why she thinks it’s “awesome” if people don’t like her music.
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ec Sandrige has come a long way from the “timid” 18-year-old who, while soul searching on a Euro trip, wandered down Buchanan Street in Glasgow and happened upon a busking duo that would permanently change her trajectory. Australian singer-songwriter Stu Larsen and a scruffy-haired Michael Rosenberg — who the world would soon know as Passenger — invited young Sandridge along on their tour. Torn between toting the four tracks she had up her sleeve around the UK and heading back Down Under to commence uni, she did the only thing a teenager in her position could do — she called home. “Mum was like, ‘You should defer!’ and I was like, ‘You’re
That’s what art is meant to do — it’s meant to polarise people.
the best, worst parent alive!’” she laughs from Sydney airport where Sandridge and co are playing Tetris with their equipment and a car boot. Her first experiences performing were “pretty awful. I’m such a nervous Nelly as it is, let alone speaking or singing into a microphone. I’m very self-trained with the whole singing thing. Weirdly, performing is the only time I ever feel 100% comfortable,” she reveals. Humble beginnings find a fourth grade Sandridge at Stanwell Park Primary School being handed “the daggiest instrument alive” — the trombone, “because I’m lanky,” she jokes. “As a result I kind of hated music! I didn’t touch anything musical until Year Nine — I wanted to learn drums and my parents were like, ‘Let’s pick
something a bit quieter,’ so I bought a really tacky blue guitar off eBay and the guy across the road taught me the whole back catalogue of Blink 182 and I loved it.” Her most recent EP In The Fog is a far cry from the gentle, folk-driven strumming of her previous releases. “When I was starting out I only knew how to play guitar, so I only created from what I knew... I hadn’t discovered the sounds that really excited me, like, the first ones were really gritty and disgusting ‘80s synths or big mechanical drums,” she explains. “When I started out I was definitely very timid and I was scared of taking space, scared of making a statement, where as now I’m very much like ‘This is what I do, this excites me the most’, and if people don’t like it then that’s awesome because that’s what art is meant to do — it’s mean to polarise people. I feel a lot more excited by the idea of causing a reaction.” With a “thick skin” and passion for her art, Sandridge was readily armed for the recent onslaught of online criticism following her now-infamous Like A Version of John Farnham’s You’re The Voice. “A lot of comments were saying ‘someone should stab her in the throat’ or ‘someone should burn her eyebrows’. There was comments about my sexuality, comments saying, ‘She’s not gonna get any guys with this kind of voice.’ I think it’s actually opened up a really interesting and great conversation around misogyny and women in the music industry,” she explains. “It’s kinda scary that artists are creating and putting themselves out there and choosing to make bold decisions and people are cutting it down... When you’re making these comments it makes people wanna give up and it makes people stop creating, which is really sad because it’s stagnating the industry, it’s stagnating people who are creating and giving it a go. It puts a container on art and on people to make boring art. It’s really important... to keep in mind that artists do read these comments and that they’re human. It’s fine to not like something, but the moment it becomes violent and derogatory that’s not okay.” Sandridge makes it clear that she won’t play into anything that homogenises Australian music — “especially indie-pop” — and continues to merge her artistic expression across all areas of her branding. Case-in-point, the ‘80s colour-blocked, Kraftwerkesque You’re A Fucking Joke clip directed and produced by Imogen Grist. “I wanted it mechanical, an element where humans were robotic, and I think, perchance, a lot of the comments have been about how the men are to the back of the video clip. Feminism for me is really important and I think that message flips through, which is awesome. Guys are kinda these mannequins; paired-back figures in the film clip, and so often it’s women who are in the background just dancing like robots. [The extras] were all spunks. When I turned up I was like, ‘Oh my goodness this is bad, they’re all so beautiful!’”
What: In The Fog (Farmer & The Owl/Inertia) When & Where: 1 Apr, Northcote Social Club
THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017 • 55
Frontlash
Music
Eye See You! Have you seen Kylie Minogue’s exclusive designer glasses collection for Specsavers? Might just be time to book in that eye test.
Living In America
Dirty Deeds After waiting for the movie adaptation of Motley Crue’s autobiography The Dirt: Confessions Of The World’s Most Notorious Rock Band for, like, forever, The Hollywood Reporter reports it’s now in negotiations to land on Netflix!
Girls Rock!
Lashes
Did anyone else attend WOW – Women Of The World Festival at Footscray Arts Centre last week? The free closing concert from Sampa The Great, Mojo Juju and Electric Fields took our breath away.
#wowmelbourne2017
Backlash Re-Work It Out
Why is it suddenly being reported that Missy Elliott actually does “flip it and reverse it” during the chorus lyrics of her 2001 belter Work It? Keep up, please!
Show Some Respect Andrew Ridgeley lashed out at Channel 5 for airing The Last Days Of George Michael, which he described as “a sensationalist & mucky piece of voyeurism”, before his late Wham! bandmate’s funeral. We tend to agree.
Mind The Gap When you stand in front of someone at a gig to try and lessen the circle of fear between performer and audience, and get told off by the culprits who remain at a safe distance – just move forward yourself, then! 56 • THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017
Reluctant rockstar/Alter Bridge frontman Myles Kennedy tells Brendan Crabb that America is currently “like nothing I’ve ever seen in my lifetime”.
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how Me A Leader, opening track and single from Alter Bridge’s 2016 record The Last Hero, is a rallying cry for someone who can be a guide through demanding times. Leadership and heroism are loosely over-arching themes throughout the remainder of the album. However, the members couldn’t have foreseen the discontent and global protest that occurred since its release, nor how swiftly it would all escalate. “I didn’t know what would happen; it’s impossible because no one has a crystal ball,” the US heavy rockers’ genial vocalist/ guitarist Myles Kennedy ponders. “But seeing how everything has played out here, the record definitely seems to be proven to be somewhat prophetic in a way. Because of the subject matter there was the thought that once the election came and went that some of the emotions that were conveyed on that record might not be as relevant. But now it seems like, since the election and since this new administration - it seems, if anything, to have turned up the heat even more. Things are definitely pretty different over here in the States right now; like nothing I’ve ever seen in my lifetime.” Despite the 24-hour news cycle and social media readily providing platforms that many artists are willing to utilise, some musicians seem reluctant to openly reveal a
political stance for fear of potentially creating division within their fanbase. The quartet adopted a different tack. “For us it was just really more a matter of expressing the emotions that we were feeling and that people around us were feeling. Some bands are good at taking their political feelings and, basically, they’ve got an agenda and they’re good at conveying that. “That’s just not where Alter Bridge really stands; that’s not something we feel comfortable doing. But at the same time... Definitely from an emotional standpoint and the frustration or passion or whatever it is, that definitely was manifested on this record. So with regards to which side you’re on, it seems like people relate to the songs, which is interesting.” And it’s the music Kennedy seems most at ease discussing. Although blessed with a powerhouse voice that ideally complements Alter Bridge’s arena-sized riffage - Slash enlisted him for his solo outfit and members of Led Zeppelin auditioned the frontman for a project - Kennedy’s unassuming demeanour has resulted in being afforded tags such as “the reluctant rockstar”, or “the nicest guy in rock”. “I guess it’s hard for me when people use the term ‘rockstar’,” he says. “Because I think of it like I’m a musician, I’m very fortunate to get to do what I do. When I think of rockstars I think of larger-than-life characters, but at the same time I realise that I’ve been very lucky that I’ve been doing this for a long time now. So I understand that people will put you in a category and put a term to your name. What’s most important to me is hopefully I’m making people happy and that in itself helps give me purpose and the motivation to keep doing it.”
When & Where: 6 Apr, Festival Hall
Music
You’re The Voice
When 2 Inch Tape’s original vocalist “didn’t wanna sing the songs anymore”, it prompted Simon Rigoni to “learn how to sing” his own songs, he tells Bryget Chrisfield. did the first album and I already knew what the second album was,” Simon Rigoni of 2 Inch Tape reveals. So it was all there, fully arranged, in his head? “I don’t wanna sound like Brian Wilson,” he laughs, “but to a degree, yeah.” The Control songs were written “around about the time I did the first album, which was in 2015”, Rigoni tells. Rigoni started his musical journey as a teenager. “A friend of mine bought an electric guitar for 50 bucks and I went around to his house, and we tried to play Sex Pistols and Bowie on it and we had no idea,” he recalls. After getting into “production and engineering in [his] early 20s”, Rigoni then had a break from music “for a long time”. “Then, finally, probably four years ago, I started writing and started playing again, and contacted some friends that I had spoken to in 15 years... and then just started from there and [was] really having fun and then I was like, ‘Let’s record it!’” Contemplating the differences between 2 Inch Tape’s 2015 debut album New Addiction and its follow-up Control, Rigoni offers, “The main difference is that I did not sing on the first album and, towards the end of that whole process - by that I mean after we’d done the launch gig and that - Mark [Petrilli], who sang on it, said to me that he
“I
didn’t wana sing the songs anymore. And I was like, ‘Well who’s gonna sing them?’ And he said, ‘You!’ And I said, ‘But, as you point out to me regularly, I cannot sing!’ Well, it was at that point I realised that either I learnt to be able to develop a style that could work or give it all away.” He had already intended to contribute vocals on a couple of the tracks “that perhaps were more in the Lou Reed style”, but Petrilli’s bombshell drummed it all home and led to Rigoni’s realisation: “Okay, I better learn how to sing.” Although the band “used emulated Rhodes and Wurlitzers and Hammonds” on the first album, Rigoni stresses, “On [Control] there’s no emulation at all... and that’s something I felt passionate about.” Rigoni made sure he always recorded several “options” from the musicians to assist with Control’s production. In terms of the song’s arrangements, he offers, “Typically they’ll be pretty set in structure. I’ll have a certain feel for what I want... and I try to communicate that to the band, and I s’pose the band’s a bit different in that it’s not like we’re a four-piece and everyone plays on every song.” For 2 Inch Tape’s upcoming album launch show at Thornbury Theatre, Rigoni chuckles, “We’re playing as a nine-piece band, crazily enough,” before remembering, “there’s sax on one song... so, yeah! It’s nine-plus.” And the audience will also be treated to “a bit of theremin”. “We’re playing the album from track one to track 11. When you’re doing a launch and you’re presenting an album, I think [it’s] meant to be played in that order and this is the one time that’ll happen.”
Credits Publisher Street Press Australia Pty Ltd Group Managing Editor Andrew Mast National Editor – Magazines Mark Neilsen Editor Bryget Chrisfield Arts & Culture Editor Maxim Boon Gig Guide Justine Lynch gigs@themusic.com.au Editorial Assistants Brynn Davies, Sam Wall Senior Contributor Jeff Jenkins Contributors Bradley Armstrong, Annelise Ball, 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, Obliveus, Paz, Rod Whitfield, 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, Alex Foreman 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 459-461 Victoria Street Brunswick West Vic 3055 Locked Bag 2001 Clifton Hill VIC 3068
— Melbourne
What: Control (Independent) When & Where: 1 Apr, Thornbury Theatre THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017 • 57
Album / E Album/EP Reviews
Goldfrapp Silver Eye Mute
★★★★
Album OF THE Week
Each new Goldfrapp album comes with the brand name’s ongoing riddles. The creative balance between producer Will Gregory and the eponymous Alison is obviously not just puppeteer versus pretty voice to deliver the songs - but you’re still not sure where the lines intersect. Further, you’re never quite certain where the music itself is going to go, as they veer from their initial glam electro of the shiny and danceable Felt Mountain, to the (maybe not quite convincing) folk-tronica on their previous, Tales Of Us. Silver Eye brings back some of the stomp, but conversely keeps some of the tension between nature and technology in its style and subject matter. Opener Anymore adds an almost Garbage-ish snarl to Alison’s voice, which pulls back for the following Systemagic where programmed beds have a real lushness. Then there’s the angles of Beast That Never Was, where she trills over an ominous buzz. It’s also the first Goldfrapp album where they’ve bought in outsiders to truly collaborate, but even these seem the right ones: Eno sideman Leo Abrahams and St Vincent producer John Congleton among them. It all makes for a quite beautiful machine, but with Goldfrapp, it might be like the song says: Everything Is Never Enough. Ross Clelland
Jamiroquai
Polish Club
Automaton
Alright Already
EMI
Double Double/Island/Universal
★★★½
★★★
Taking a heavily electronic route, acid-jazz/funk veterans Jamiroquai have managed to keep most elements of their signature sound intact. True to form, there’s some tasty ad-libbing and driving bass lines that’ll drag you deep down into the groove. Vitamin is instantly gripping and the title track, featuring lyrics referencing the moon and “metal eyes” set the tone for the futuristic feel of the album. It’s a glitchy treat, with melodically interesting verses that outdo the chorus. Some outros, especially prominent on Dr Buzz, boast a climactic jumble of ascending synths, hi-hat-heavy drum breaks and even some sultry sax solos for good measure. There are a few tracks that do initially come across as confusing, taking abrupt winding chord progressions
Chuck Berry may have passed but faster than you can say ‘ja pierdole’ Aussie rockers Polish Club make their debut dealing good old fashioned rockabilly kicks. This album hits the road burning some serious rubber. The duo from Sydney have energy to burn and frontman David Novak is certainly a belter with his classically loud and raw rock vocals. Interestingly, a fair few of these tunes have a kind of ‘80 pub rock vibe. Where U Been? and Come Party deliver thunderous hard rockers that ought to blow away listeners looking for a good time away. There is very little room for slow dancing on this album. Polish Club are delightfully boisterous and their energy is infectious, uplifting and completely out of control. Beeping has been around for a
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that swerve off into unexpected directions. Jittery synths and vocoders colour the majority of this release, which can feel overwhelming at times, especially when most songs step over the four-minute mark into extended electro jams. A different piece from their first few potently acid jazz-infused releases, some old school fans may find this offering less instantly moving; but, after a few listens, Jamiroquai’s iconic licks and vocals really do suck you in. Automaton is a creative release, which, for the most part, maintains Jamiroquai’s familiar sound. Natasha Pinto
while but its still the life of the party. As the album progresses Polish Club start to deal ‘50s rock’n’roll realness and when they start to jump and jive the duo really shine; their most charming cuts like How To Be Alone and Whatchuknow come with the sweetest hooks and their cover of Johnny & The Hurricanes Red River Rock bops along cheekily. Polish Club have delivered a loud explosive album comprised of infectious tunes. Guido Farnell
EP Reviews Album/EP Reviews
Alex The Astronaut
Mastodon
Body Count
Copia
Emperor Of Sand
Bloodlust
Epoch
To Whom It May Concern
Warner
Century Media
Independent
★★★★
★★★½
★★★★
★★½
There’s a disarming - almost dorky - charm to Alex The Astronaut’s musical postcards home as she educates herself about life while exiled in New York. Her conversations look inward and out, whether admitting her nervous excitement about getting up to perform in that Rockstar City, or Already Home’s puzzling about “...billionaires for president and parking fines at hospitals”. But it all comes to her confession that I Believe In Music - yes, of course she should “play Paul Kelly again and again and again...” - even if her dad wants to listen to Coldplay. That struggle is real, and so, it appears, is she.
Is this what you call a compromise? Criticised for abandoning metal in an apparent quest for rock festival headlining status, Emperor Of Sand finds Mastodon occupying a neutral space between the two. The album’s concept is pure metal mythology, exploring the inner state of a man sent into the desert to die. On the likes of Steambreather and Jaguar God, the band make a welcome return to emotionally complex music, but despite its propulsive sound and singular sense of purpose, there’s an overwhelmingly familiar sense that Mastodon have been here before.
Bloodlust was created during US election season, spurring an incensed Body Count frontman Ice-T to condemn racism, poverty, police brutality and gang conflict. Bottling his intensity like a petrol bomb, rage infiltrates every facet of the rap legend’s metal outfit and affords greater vitality. Crushing production and the frontman’s contact list - Dave Mustaine, Max Cavalera and Randy Blythe - beefs up Ernie C’s already bruising riffage. There’s a respectfully blistering Slayer medley, too. Anger is a gift, and Body Count channel it to the fullest.
The Aussie heavy music scene is extremely healthy, in terms of the quality and talent. However, not everything that comes out of this country is amazing. Melbourne four-piece Copia are trying extremely hard to create something big, bold, bad and original here. The playing and production are strong. Epoch should be an excellent release, but unfortunately it falls a little flat. It feels a little uninspiring, the songwriting lacks in imagination and the songs just don’t stay with you after they have finished. The raw potential is absolutely there for these guys, there is just a little more work to do with regards to their song-crafting.
Minkowski Records
Brendan Crabb
Christopher H James
Ross Clelland
Rod Whitfield
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Julia Holter In The Same Room
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THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017 • 59
Live Re Live Reviews
Kingswood @ 170 Russell. Pic: Joshua Braybrook
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard The Night Cat 21 Mar
Kingswood @ 170 Russell. Pic: Joshua Braybrook
Batz @ 170 Russell. Pic: Joshua Braybrook
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard @ The Night Cat. Pic: Xavier Fennell
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard @ The Night Cat. Pic: Xavier Fennell
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King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard @ The Night Cat. Pic: Xavier Fennell
We’ve lost count of how many shows King Gizzard have sold out at this venue (six? nine?). There’s banana beer available at the bar (in honour of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s latest Flying Microtonal Banana album, perhaps?) for five bucks a pop, but it sells out quicksticks. There’s an abundance of ironic mullets among the crowd, who gather around the periphery of this venue’s in-the-round stage set-up. There’s no support band and before too long these prolific legends file outta the band room and through the crowd to get to the stage (what? No road case entry a la Adele?). King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard open with Open Water, from their latest set, and are ridiculously match-fit. “Thanks everyone for taking time outta their lives to come out and see us on a Tuesday,” says frontman Stu Mackenzie. Alternating vocals further show off the insane talent in this band with Joe Walker and Ambrose Kenny-Smith also taking turns at the mic, while Kenny-Smith brings a vulnerability to Gizz that’s different from the energy he supplies fronting his other ace band, The Murlocs. Billabong Valley sees Walker and KennySmith’s singing simultaneously and it’s a beautiful thing (“Mad Dog Morgan/He never gave a warning”). The trippiness Gizz brings is probably the closest those among us who were not around to view the majesty of Jim Morrison-fronted The Doors will ever get to those feels. Have these boys been spending time in the Californian desert on ayahuasca? The sitar sends us loopy.
Although the stage is in the round, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard still mainly all face one way, but there’s plenty of chairs and tables to stand on. Rattlesnake coaxes a lady up onto the bar for a dance and the song is absolutely mental.
You can see the boys getting jazzed by their own sounds up on stage and loose punters in the crowd look like footage from Woodstock.
The recorded version of this song is off its head, but live we’re absolutely at its mercy! Kenny-Smith sporadically plays a vibraslap (which sounds like an actual rattlesnake - genius). Pheyw! Time for a quick break. And two sets for a band of this nature is a cracking idea. When they return to the stage it’s a monster mash-up of Alter Me and Altered Beast (both 2 and 3) and the band themselves are an altered beast tonight with double drumming: Eric Moore faces Michael Cavanagh, the pair bookending the stage. Those rhythms are truly complex, but they keep metronomic time. Kenny-Smith’s harmonica really is the glue that hold Gizz together. “I see you/I can see right through” - and we’re hypnotised. To kick off Nonagon Infinity (that descending riff attack!), Mackenzie wags his head from side to side,
eviews Live Reviews
tongue lolling - are we tripping? Sometimes Mackenzie’s facial expressions make us feel as if we’re hallucinating. This song is reprised leading into Gamma Knife and then PeopleVultures - wha? Cue serotonin surplus! The band’s songs fold in on themselves with repeated motifs and we actually consider calling a medic - euphoria can’t cause a heart attack, right!? And this occurs even before Cellophane. And those trademark, repeated-single-word Gizz choruses are so bloody fun to shout along with! Sometimes our best view is via the large mirrors on this venue’s walls but the atmosphere created by these cats is next-level. The Night Cat isn’t particularly crowd-surf friendly but, never fear, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard fans will not be put off by the low ceiling. You can see the boys getting jazzed by their own sounds up on stage and loose punters in the crowd look like footage from Woodstock. This band just get better and better with every gig. This scribe, definitely a frequent flyer, is now even more obsessed. Bryget Chrisfield
Kingswood, WAAX, Batz 170 Russell 26 Mar Beloved favourites Batz bring their ‘70s style to the 170 Russell stage, the venue’s speakers unleashing the band’s rocking tracks. WAAX are up next and they keep the tunes coming. With heavier punkrock songs taking over, we’re temporarily silenced and once again engaged by the action up there on the stage. Those who have taken the intermission as an opportunity for a smoke break are alerted
to the fact that Kingswood will take the stage shortly thanks to whispered warnings. So back inside the venue we go. An assortment of musicians bassist, saxophonist, trumpeter, keyboardist and two vocalists who, at certain points of the evening, threaten to steal the show - join the three official Kingswood band members on stage this evening. Kicking into their set, which comprises a mix of old and new tracks, the threepiece present songs off their recently released second record After Hours, Close To Dawn.
Linacre breaks out the tambourine, explaining the instrument was picked up as a memento from their recent Nashville jaunt.
parents’!” Kingswood rip into their next song and then Linacre announces, “My grandma’s here tonight! She’s over there in the corner. Say ‘hi’ to Grandma!” Grandma is awarded loud applause. Linacre breaks out the tambourine, explaining the instrument was picked up as a memento from their recent Nashville jaunt. Soon the tambourine makes its way through the crowd and we fear this special tamba won’t make it back to the stage in one piece. Punters continue to howl along with the band’s tunes, ebbing and flowing until Kingswood’s show is brought to a close (and then temporarily revived with an inevitable encore). When Kingswood and co return to the stage, Linacre praises, “You guys are amazing! It does not feel like a Sunday to me... Let’s dance, everybody!” The light show and tunes are then momentarily back in full swing before the evening is sadly brought to a close.
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Mikaelie Evans
She’s My Baby leads the audience in singalong, punters roaring excitedly while swaying along to the rhythmic melodies. During Golden, guitarist and vocalist Alex Laska takes the mic, leaving all in the audience in awe of his stage persona and sweet vocals as we take our phones out to record the moment. Fergus Linacre thanks the crowd, laughingly adding, “We didn’t think anyone would come!” He then thanks the support bands, warning that these bands are comprised of “very crazy people, all of them. Do not invite them to your
THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017 • 61
Arts Reviews Arts Reviews
Anouk van Dijk and multi-media artist Ho Tzu Nyen is a fearlessly complex and visually arresting study of natural forces and the way artistic expression can defy them. Van Dijk is an experienced hand at knitting together the input of many creative minds, which is fortunate given the bewildering multiplicity on display in this piece. Anti-Gravity, which is a response to Ho Tzu Nyen’s study of clouds, toes the line between conventional dance-theatre and art installation. The stage is cluttered with various exhibits: a tray of water; a patch of grass stacked with stones; a large, hazefilled box containing an enormous sphere; a translucent screen and projector. There is a stark, almost sterile quality to this assemblage - a sense of self-contained detachment to each of these remote constructs. As six dancers begin populating this space, this collection of elements reveals itself as a buffet of creative discovery. The stage becomes constantly dynamic as each dancer engages in their own discreet instigation. Occasionally, the pull of the performance re-focuses the audience on a particular event, but there are still details on the periphery to engage with, if we so choose. Anti-Gravity is described as an “immersive” piece, although it isn’t quite in-line with the promenade-style productions that European or American audiences might recognise. That’s not to say it isn’t as exhaustively thorough in its attention to detail, however. Indeed, there are moments where the level of sophistication borders on overwhelming, but this is an easily forgiven foible, given that this is highly experimental dance-theatre that still manages to succeed in almost every respect. It is telling though, for all its many-layered textures, that this piece is strongest when it enters a more conventional mode. Van Dijk has spun a lexicon of movement that is somehow simultaneously fluid, full of diaphanous, spooling lines and achingly beautiful poise, and yet muscular and taut. Maxim Boon Anti-Gravity
Anti-Gravity Theatre Malthouse (finished)
★★★★ Gravity is undeniable. Its force effects every action of our universe, from the inconsequential jangling of pocket change to the awesome ebb and flow of star stuff in the cosmic ballet of constellations. And yet, we cannot see gravity. We cannot hold it, touch it, or capture it in any tangible sense. It is, and yet at the same time it isn’t; a force that exists simultaneously in the physical and the abstract. The intersections between those influences the body can engage with and other phenomena that escape human intervention are masterfully explored in Chunky Move’s latest large-scale outing. This collaboration between choreographer and artistic director
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Trainspotting live
Trainspotting Live Theatre 45 Downstairs to 13 Apr
★★★ Walking in, glow sticks are handed to the audience in lieu of the customary ticket stub. Worksite partitions covered in spray painted slogans (Iggy/Welcome To Mother Superior’s/No Poll Tax/Ali is a slag) cut off the stage area. Behind them there’s some serious doofing going on and instead of the usual pre-show calm in the auditorium, there’s an old school warehouse rave in full tilt, complete with Adidas trackies, strobes, washed-out mum jeans, Skitzmix, and spiked blonde hair.The players use the audience like props; skulling people’s beers then throwing arms ‘round shoulders hugging them close with chemically fuelled bonhomie to slur bullshit stories - each every inch as enthusiastic and unselfconscious as someone with a head full of speed and a gut full of bevvys. It’s enough for a few people in the crowd even jump up to shuffle with a glow-stick in each hand. Once the dry ice has cleared, the characters fill us in on life in ‘80s Edinburgh through a series of short vignettes that play out like bar stories; trying to pick up a couple girls at a Hibs match, having an argument down the pub, getting you’re down-and-out mate hooked on heroin. Like the film (its director, Danny Boyle, was inspired to make a cinematic adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s book after seeing the stage version more than two decades ago) and the novel they range from laugh out loud to heartbreaking to deeply unsettling and individually they’re each excellent. Taken all together in quick succession, the lines start to bleed together and the play seems to exist lodged somewhere in between Welsh’s non-linear writing and Boyles’ more defined narrative. That’s not to say Trainspotting isn’t powerful viewing, but between the frenetic pace and near-constant narration the characters start to suffer from a lack of quiet moments. The actors themselves seem custom-built to inhabit their roles (Chris Dennis as Begbie is a particularly vicious highlight/lowlife), but without the odd moment to process each hit you slowly become a little numb. Sam Wall
THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017 • 63
OPINION Opinion
Moderately Highbrow
The Heavy Shit
Trevor Dickinson, Bus Shelter
Visual Art Wank
From the backseat of my brother’s car looking out the window in awe and admiration at a city, Canberra, And Theatre somehow fully functioning with what appeared to be no public transport I had reason to recall the “a ha!” moment Foyers With I experienced years earlier when a friend explained that the garish squiggles upholstery on Sydney buses was Dave Drayton designed to both deter would-be graffiti artists and camouflage the graffiti of those who are persistent — the bus seats all look like they’ve already been bombed. While I never did see a bus in Canberra (it was a Sunday...) I did happen across a number of Canberra’s refreshingly advertising-free concrete bus bunkers. Looking somewhat like an elongated horseshoe with a lid, these prototypical tiny houses not only introduced me to the tremendous term Canberriana, it also pointed the way to illustrations of Novocastrian artist Trevor Dickinson. Dickinson’s drawings capture something like nostalgia, a fitting filter for these dwellings erected in an era before hi-def Adshelters. He depicts not only the shelters but also their surrounds, differing degrees of suburbia and scrublands that appear uniquely Canberran. If you want to get a fix in the flesh without leaving the state there’s one in the national park on Wakehurst Parkway.
O G F l ava s Drake
Urban And R&B News With Cyclone
Is the online ‘think piece’ boom indirectly influencing album concepts? Urban acts like Kanye West, Beyonce and Young Thug have latterly presented avant-pop projects, knowing that they’ll be analysed in myriad op-eds — all free promotion. And who doesn’t wanna be hailed a game changer? Drake (Aubrey Graham) has curiously touted More Life as “a playlist” — a kinda post-mixtape. In fact, the
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Kingdom Of Kai
OVO Sound boss is revelling in his role as artist/curator. More Life is bolder than 2016’s album Views — the single Fake Love here actually the most meh track. The trap intro, Free Smoke, is grafted onto Melbourne boho-soul band Hiatus Kaiyote’s Building A Ladder! Drizzy was the first Canadian rapper to conquer an Americentric urban market. He himself has since become ever inclusive, referencing the wider African diaspora. Following Views, More Life celebrates tropical musics — dancehall and Afrobeat — but also deep house. Produced by London’s Nana Rogues, the smooth’n’B Passionfruit incorporates the club chit-chat of iconic Detroit houser Moodymann. Moreover, Nineteen85 reworks South African DJ Black Coffee’s 2010 Superman for Get It Together — Drake featuring alongside English soulstress Jorja Smith. Drizzy has consistently lauded UK grime — and, on More Life, he exposes both Skepta and the ‘gangsta’ Giggs to new listeners. Other guests include Sampha, Thugger and Drake’s on/off ally Yeezy. Auspiciously, More Life finds Drake feeling stoic, not moochy. The 6 God even slyly teases fans about December’s rumoured romance with Jennifer Lopez — Teenage Fever a slo-mo rendition of her ‘90s hit If You Had My Love off... On The 6.
OPINION Opinion
Metal And Hard
One of the finest attributes of the Rock With Chris Australian spirit is mateship. Helping Maric your mates without question and without expectation. The Australian heavy metal scene is no exception, with mateship deeply entrenched within. Look at the support for Leif Gregory’s family recently. Gregory, who was a permanent part of the Sydney rock scene from his teens, tragically passed away at the end of last year and, with the help of his close friend Cameron McKenzie (you’ve seen him at The Stag a million times) and his best mate Metal Matt Sirman, a benefit gig raised some cash for Gregory’s family. And for those old enough to remember, Metal For The Brain was the greatest gathering of music fans in support of a cause that this country may have ever had. Back when metal was metal and the Australian scene was overflowing with hair and battle jackets, an annual festival in Canberra was held between 1991 and 2006 that was basically an all-metal version of Soundwave. Metal bands from all over the country, big and small, would gather to play their arses off and all proceeds would go to the National Brain Injury Foundation. In 1990 metal fan Alec Hurley was left quadriplegic after being attacked and also left with little to no financial assistance from the outside world. His mate Joel Green from the awesome Armoured Angel put on the first few Metal For The Brains to raise money for Alec (handing the reigns over to Rod Holder of Alchemist when Armoured Angel disbanded) and for the next 15 years it grew to become one of the biggest events on the international metal calendar (with zero coverage from the mainstream press of course!) It’s this mateship and support that has lead to many of the country’s leading heavy bands to rally around young Kai Goddard, the son of Sydney rock photographer Mick Goddard. Mick, along with one of the nations greatest ever guitar players, Stu Marshall (ex Dungeon, Death Dealer, Empires Of Eden) have assembled a fundraiser CD to assist in covering the immense medical costs facing Kai and his family. The CD is called Kingdom Of Kai and features top Australian metal acts including Lord, Taberah, Vanishing Point, Silent Knight, Mason and many more. All bands have graciously donated their songs
to the cause. So why does this CD exist you ask? Kai Goddard was born in 2008 with a one in four chance of making it. He had a hole in his heart and his liver was outside of his body. The poor kid had four surgeries in his first four months of life and spent his first 80 days in the hospital. He went home only to suffer a heart attack leading him to spend 11 days on a heart pumping machine. In essence, the universe tried to get rid of Kai a bunch of times, but he fought back. While surviving his first year with more battle scars than most people collect over a lifetime, Kai still requires constant medical care and attention. As he approaches his ninth birthday, Kai continues to undergo operations and suffers from myriad health problems. A devoted metal fan and keen drummer, Kai is an ambassador for Aussie metal and his dad takes a mean gig photo too! Kingdom Of Kai is $15 plus postage and ALL profits will go straight to the Goddard family. It’s available from kingdomofkai. bigcartel.com.
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THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017 • 65
OPINION Opinion
Howzat!
Local Music By Jeff Jenkins Arms Wide Open It’s one of the most recorded Australian songs of all time. Indeed, the band responsible for the song recorded it four times. And now Mark Seymour has released a new version of the classic Throw Your Arms Around Me, showcasing a new verse he’s been singing live. The verse adds a refugee element to the relationship storyline. “Whatever world you come from, whatever tongue you speak, you can ride on my bus anytime,” Mark sings. “I’ll stand by you in defeat. For all we know and all we fear, the naked truth will never die. And we may speak a thousand languages, but you will make me call your name and I’ll shout it to the blue summer sky.” The new version can be found on Mark Seymour ‘s Roll Back The Stone 19852016, a compelling career retrospective recorded live at Bakehouse Studios over three nights in June last year. Inspired by Van Morrison - who remains one of Mark’s favourite artists - Throw Your Arms Around Me, first recorded in 1984, was a turning point in his songwriting. “Until then, songwriting was not central to Hunters &
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Collectors,” Mark explains. “We were post-punk British art-funk noise, and the lyrical imagery just created a mood. That was the extent of it.” When Mark’s then girlfriend played him Van Morrison’s Moondance, he was struck by “something deeply romantic, with the underlying theme of melancholy and desire”. Roll Back The Stone features 14 solo songs and ten Hunnas tracks, with Mark beautifully backed by Cameron McKenzie on guitar, John Favaro on bass and Peter Maslen on drums. They’re launching the album at the Athenaeum on 22 Jul.
Every Day Is A Winding Road Crowded House covered Throw Your Arms Around Me, and we remember drummer Paul Hester, who died 12 years ago this week, aged 46.
Mark Seymour
Ready For Take-Off Again? What next for Jet? They announced their split five years ago this week, but recently re-formed for some shows with Bruce Springsteen. How ‘bout a new record?
Bob’s Your New Guitarist Bob Spencer, one of the great guitarists in Oz rock, did his first gig with Skyhooks 40 years ago this week, replacing Red Symons. Shirl introduced him to the Phillip Island crowd: “He doesn’t drink, he doesn’t smoke, he’s into the ecology and he’s a shit-hot little cunt.”
Hot Line
“We both know which way this wind’s gonna blow” - Raised By Eagles, Shape & Line.
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THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017 • 67
Comedy / G The Guide
Wed 29
Habits
Tash Sultana + Ocean Alley + Reuben Stone: 170 Russell, Melbourne Hachiku + Lacuna + I Hate Max + Sleeplab: Bar Open, Fitzroy
Guy Sebastian: Corner Hotel, Richmond Luca Brasi
The Music Presents Guy Sebastian: 29 & 30 Mar Corner Hotel The Waifs: 29 & 30 Mar Hamer Hall Roy Ayers: 9 Apr The Croxton Rhiannon Giddens: 11 Apr Corner Hotel
Simon Marvin (Hiatus Kaiyote) + DJ Shio: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy Splendidid + Elkkle + Slowcoaching: Grace Darling Hotel (Band Room), Collingwood The Waifs + Mick Thomas & Roving Commission: Hamer Hall, Melbourne Kirsty Webeck: Imperial Hotel, Melbourne The Shires + Aleyce Simmonds: Northcote Social Club, Northcote Windari + Tulalah: Open Studio, Northcote
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue: 11 Apr 170 Russell
Doc Halibut: Retreat Hotel, Brunswick
Gallant: 17 Apr Corner Hotel
Hammercan + Measurement in Minutes + Impavid: The Bendigo, Collingwood
The Lumineers: 19 Apr Arts Centre Melbourne
Open Mic Night: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick
The Record Company: 20 Apr Northcote Social Club
GUM + Mossy: The Curtin, Carlton
At The Dakota: 5 May The Golden Vine; 7 May The Workers Club
Local Coward + The Submarines + Piss Factory: The Gasometer Hotel (Upstairs), Collingwood
The Cactus Channel & Sam Cromack: 25 May Howler Horrorshow: 9 Jun Chelsea Heights Hotel Aspendale Gardens; 10 Jun Barwon Club Hotel South Geelong; 11 Jun 170 Russell Orsome Welles: 11 Jun The Loft Warnambool; 8 Jul Evelyn Hotel Luca Brasi: 23 & 25 Jun 170 Russell
Kooyeh + Buckman Coe + Isaac Chambers: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood Rhysics + Powerlines + Weatherboards: The Old Bar, Fitzroy Morning Morning + Dreamin’ Wild + Foreign Cardo DJs: The Toff In Town, Melbourne
Girl Friday
Round Two Back again for the second year is Transgenre - boasting an insane line-up of some of the most talented trans and/or non-binary artists at Howler. Be there this Sunday for Habits, Crystal Myth and more genre-defying creators. The Harare Friendship Band + Neil Morris + IO + Kallellak + WVRBVBY DJs: The Workers Club, Fitzroy
Spotting + Drug Sweat + Vacuum + Tropical Snakes + Rabid Dogs: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood
The Anecdote + Mandy Connell: Wesley Anne, Northcote
Mia Schoen + Dag + Olsen Twins: The Gasometer Hotel (Upstairs), Collingwood
Gnomes + Congratulations Everybody + Hannah Francis & The Fake News + Oh, Deanna: Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford
Velvet Elevator + Floyd Cox + Electric Mud + Fezz: The Old Bar, Fitzroy
Thu 30
Irish Mythen + Mike Elrington: The Toff In Town, Melbourne
Shovels: The Post Office Hotel, Coburg
China Beach + Real Feelings + Hot Sludge Fundae: Bar Open, Fitzroy Ben Mastwyk + Mitch Power: Charles Weston Hotel, Brunswick Guy Sebastian: Corner Hotel, Richmond The Waifs + Jordie Lane: Hamer Hall, Melbourne Van Walker: Labour In Vain, Fitzroy
Friday’s Child Armed with a mellow voice, electric uke and riot grrrl attitude, Girl Friday mixes gems from legends like Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald with her own finely crafted tunes. Edinburgh Garden Hotel, Saturday.
Michael Meeking & the Ladies In Waiting: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East DJ Richie 1250: Longhorn Saloon, Carlton MICF 2017 feat. Dave Thornton: Max Watt’s, Melbourne MICF 2017 feat. Joel Creasey: Max Watt’s, Melbourne Aunty Donna: Max Watt’s, Melbourne MICF 2017 feat. Stuart Daulman: Melbourne Town Hall, Melbourne Hawksley Workman + Hayley Couper: Northcote Social Club, Northcote
Baby Blue + Shivers: The Tote (Front Bar), Collingwood
Mudhaven + Laedj. + Hong Dang + Anthony Jeannot: The Bendigo, Collingwood
The Fourth + Other Places + Atom: The Tote (Upstairs), Collingwood
The Mochasins + Dead End + Flying Bison + Party On My Darling: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick
The Citradels + Gonzo + Mosaicz: The Tote (Band Room), Collingwood
68 • THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017
GUM + Mossy + Pretty City + Deep Sea Arcade DJs: The Curtin, Carlton
The Football Club
Kicking Goals Along with songstress Bec Sandridge, folk-punk rockers The Football Club are here to hit you with heart-melting lyrics and choruses to scream your sorry lungs out to this Saturday night. Get down to Northcote Social Club for an emotional one.
Midnight Express with DJ Prequel & Edd Fisher: The Toff In Town (Carriage Room), Melbourne
Gigs / Live The Guide
Baby Blue
The Senegambian Jazz Band: Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne
Dave Harley: Edinburgh Castle Hotel (Beer Garden), Brunswick
High Society + Sunnyside + 1ism: Grace Darling Hotel (Band Room), Collingwood Jazz Party + DJ Richie 1250 + DJ Pierre Baroni + DJ Jason Goodman: Howler, Brunswick Pelvis: Hugs & Kisses, Melbourne
Mid-Week Blues
The Living End + The Bennies + The Diecasts: Kay St, Traralgon
Playing the final show of their residency at The Tote on Wednesday is four-piece folk/ rock combo Baby Blue. With the date of their debut EP drawing near, it’s time to sink into their relaxed rhythms right now.
Kelly Auty + Max Teakle & his Honky-Tonky Friends: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East
Sauce with Hancoq + Jarman + more: The Toff In Town (Toff Ballroom), Melbourne The Beths: The Tote, Collingwood Customer + Spit + Big League + Baronaqua: The Tote (Band Room), Collingwood River Blue + The Tom Pretty’s + Baby Poor: The Workers Club, Fitzroy
MICF 2017 feat. Joel Creasey: Max Watt’s, Melbourne
The Living End + The Bennies + The Pretty Littles: Wool Exchange, Geelong
Zerafina Zara + Alleged Associates: Smokehouse 101, Maribyrnong
Eddie Nuard
Tash Sultana + Ocean Alley + Reuben Stone: 170 Russell, Melbourne Subversive Breaks Launch Party with Unsoundbuoy + Mandrax + Binliner + Doc Ross + Zero1 + more: 303, Northcote
I Heart Dancehall feat. Jesse I + So Fire + Al Good + Rebel Bass + Operator Andy + more: Brown Alley, Melbourne
Scotdrakula + Hi Tec Emotions + Loobs + Doona Waves: The Curtin, Carlton
The Same Boat + A Rioting Mind + Ballistix: 303, Northcote The Bean Project + The Scrims + Ben Jansz: Baha Tacos, Rye Cumbia-Thon #2 feat. Various Artists: Bar Open, Fitzroy
GUM
Chewing Gum Returning home after another LP release last year, Australian psychpop solo act GUM (aka Jay Watson of Tame Impala and Pond) will be playing at The Curtin on Wednesday and Thursday.
Iluka + Beautiful Beasts + Fever Land: The Gasometer Hotel (Upstairs), Collingwood
Soul A-Go-Go feat. Various DJs: Bella Union, Carlton South
Batpiss + Harmony + Cable Ties + TV Haze: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood
Tina Harrod: Bird’s Basement, Melbourne
Peeping Tom + Dead + Wicked City + Lizard Queen: The Old Bar, Fitzroy Las Mar + Ysk Lightspeed Chamber: The Post Office Hotel, Coburg
Nuarduo Eddie Nuardo is a singersongwriter with a firm grasp on alt-country and folk traditions, with songs based around storytelling. He’ll be hitting the stage as a two-piece Saturday at Charles Weston.
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 Tempest Rising + Arkive + The Weight Of Silence + Pegbucket: The Tote, Collingwood Kiyasu + Asbestosis + Umbilical Tentacle + UTI + Esp Mayhem + Incinerated: The Tote (Upstairs), Collingwood
Clusterfunk + DJ Lonewulf: Catfish, Fitzroy Eddie Nuardo Duo: Charles Weston Hotel, Brunswick Greenthief + Heads Of Charm + Fluff + Khan: Cherry Bar, Melbourne Dr Crask & His Swingin’ Elixir Band + Jukeboy Emmett + The Hornstars: Compass Pizza Bar, Brunswick East I Prevail + Void Of Vision + The Beautiful Monument: Corner Hotel, Richmond Mashd n Kutcher: Crown Melbourne (Light), Southbank Ships Piano: Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne Kit Warhurst + Kate Alexander: Easey Street Concert Hall, Collingwood
DJ Cassette Walkman: The Workers Club (Front Bar), Fitzroy
Girl Friday: Edinburgh Castle Hotel (Beer Garden), Brunswick
Mannequin Death Squad: Sooki Lounge, Belgrave
Things Of Stone & Wood: The Workers Club Geelong, Geelong
Jordie Lane + Charm of Finches: Spotted Mallard, Brunswick
Davies West: Wesley Anne (Front Bar), Northcote
Ezekiel Ox + King Of The North + Horrorwood Mannequins: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy
Liana & The Perolas: Compass Pizza Bar, Brunswick East Fleetwood Mac ‘Tango In The Night’ 30th Anniversary with Amarina Waters + Dan Parsons + Hayley Couper + Brooke Russell + Russell Clark + JMS Harrison + Piper Packshaw + Howlite + Cat Canteri + Nicholas Gram: Corner Hotel, Richmond
Tusk + Electric Mud + Culcairn + Jarface: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick
Sat 01
ADKOB: Penny Black, Brunswick
Twenty One Pilots: Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne
In Store with Adi Sappir: Basement Discs (12.45pm), Melbourne
Buried Feather + The Baudelaires: The Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine
Emma Russack + Way Dynamic + Spit: Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford
Spacey Space + Luke Vecchio + DJ Rowie + Jared Marston + Various DJs: Onesixone, Prahran
Refraction: Wesley Anne (Front Bar), Northcote
Plastic + SUIIX + Palo Alto + Tali Mahoney: Bar Open, Fitzroy
The Quarters + Tim Smyth + Holy Trash + Damn the Torpedoes + The Sleepless: The Bendigo, Collingwood
Shady Cottage 2017 feat. Sex On Toast + Wax’o Paradiso + Planete + Sunbeam Sound Machine + Wesley Fuller + Otologic + Gonzo Jones + Jennifer Loveless + Apes + DIET. + Flamingo Jones + Big Words + M5K + The Neighbourhood Watch + Cassettes For Kids + Tim Koren + Slowcoaching + Ash Grunwald + Ian Collard: Northcote Social Club, Northcote
La Danse Macabre with Brunswick Massive: Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy
By The Meadow 2017 feat. Banoffee + Baro + Jaala + Moses Gunn Collective + Alta + The Pretty Littles + Confidence Man + Jazz Party + Braille Face + Jack Grace + Christopher Port + Alexander Biggs + The Beths + Shouse + A Swayze & The Ghosts + Nasty Mars + Foam + SUIIX + Tetrahedra + Cousin Tony’s Brand New Firebird + Dreamin’ Wild + more: Bambra, Bambra
Greeves: The B.East, Brunswick East
Trivia: Wesley Anne (Band Room), Northcote
Arj Barker: Melbourne Town Hall, Melbourne
Alex Watts + Noah Earp: Tramway Hotel, North Fitzroy
Fri 31
Chris Pickering: Tago Mago, Thornbury
Illy: Festival Hall, West Melbourne
THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017 • 69
Comedy / G The Guide
Mannequin Death Squad
Mannequin Death Squad may only be a “two-piece grunge punk band singing pop songs,” but their genre range belies their diminutiveness. “Most of the songs were jammed out and arranged,” says vocalist Elly Vex, “but some were written back when we were even 16! It’s like a really eclectic mixing pot for us to move into the next release, which will be more of one sound.” It’s been a funny old journey for MDS, who initially encountered each other on the other side of the music coin. “The band was formed after we both met studying music business together,” Vex says of meeting her bandmate, Dan. “After playing for six months, we recorded our first release Eat Hate Regurgitate, which we released through Integrity Records UK.” Working with studio stalwart Josh Eales, the band found some new nuggets of creation while recording the EP. “I guess it’s always inspiring to hear your own songs playing back to you in the studio,” Vex says, “But temptation doesn’t take long to creep in, next thing you know you have about 20 guitar layers for no reason,” the singer laughs. “Working with Josh definitely helped add some extra goodies to the music.” While it was always enjoyable for MDS to record, Vex is acutely aware of the trials and tribulations that went into creating Eat Hate Regurgitate. “Time was definitely working against us the whole way,” se recalls. “Being so short on money we ended up recording all of the music and half of the vocals in two days. Apologies to our trooper of an engineer! It was a long couple of days!”
What: Eat Hate Regurgitate (Integrity Records) When & Where: 31 Mar, Sooki Lounge; 25 Apr, The Brunswick Hotel
Ramble Tamble - The Australian Creedence Show: Flying Saucer Club, Elsternwick
Jessica Mauboy + Isaiah: Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne
The Hiding: Horse Bazaar, Melbourne
MICF 2017 feat. Joel Creasey: Max Watt’s, Melbourne
CC:Disco! + Barry Sunset + Fitz-E: Karova Lounge, Ballarat Miami Horror Block Party with Miami Horror + Touch Sensitive + Running Touch + Broadway Sounds + Gameboy/Gamegirl + Northeast Party House (DJ Set) + Mezko + London Topaz + Tranter + Queen Magic: La Di Da (Laneway), Melbourne Tenderloins + Roller One: Labour In Vain, Fitzroy Jackie Bornstein Quartet + more: Lido Cinemas, Hawthorn Matt Glass & The Loose Cannons: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East Kyohei + Cara Mia + Brent Paris: Loop, Melbourne
70 • THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017
Arj Barker: Melbourne Town Hall, Melbourne Peninsula Picnic feat. The Cat Empire + Bob Evans + All Our Exes Live In Texas + Nyck + Harrison Storm: Mornington Racecourse, Mornington Funk Rabbit + The Ruby Rogers Experience + The Never Never: Mr Boogie Man Bar, Abbotsford
Phia
Ute Root + Chillers + Pink Harvest: The Old Bar, Fitzroy Afternoon Show with Made Austria: The Old Bar, Fitzroy
Broads + Jim Lawrie + Angie McMahon: The Toff In Town, Melbourne The House De Frost with Andee Frost: The Toff In Town (11.30pm), Melbourne Root Rat + Synthetics + Hexdebt: The Tote (Front Bar), Collingwood
Phia Set Classically trained singersongwriter Phia layers harmonies and vocal percussion with vivid pop sensibility. See her perform songs from 2016’s The Ocean Of Everything as well as some brand new ones at Wesley Anne on Saturday.
Bog + Cascades + DFFDL + Goodbye Enemy Airship: The Tote (Upstairs), Collingwood Legends Of Motorsport + Dynamo + Digger & The Pussycats + Mod Vigil: The Tote (Band Room), Collingwood Laing Brothers: The Westernport Hotel, Phillip Island Matinee Show with Mona Bay + Amiko + Mad Samson + Highschool Rivals: The Workers Club, Fitzroy Slim Jeffries + Murphy + The Deadpans + Go Get Mum: The Workers Club, Fitzroy
The Living End + The Bennies + The Pretty Littles: Pier Bandroom, Frankston
Iluka: The Workers Club Geelong, Geelong
Oolluu: Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy
2 Inch Tape: Thornbury Theatre (Velvet Room), Thornbury
Cold Heart: Retreat Hotel, Brunswick Bitumen + Primitive Language + Falconio: Reverence Hotel, Footscray Dixie Chicks + Avalanche City: Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Are You Experienced with Shannon Bourne: Satellite Lounge, Wheelers Hill Kisstroyer + Appetite For Destruction - Guns N Roses Tribute Show + Sisters Doll: Shoppingtown Hotel, Doncaster Sleepy West + James Frankling + Cat Canteri: Spotted Mallard, Brunswick Hanksaw: Surabaya Johnny’s, St Kilda Dear Plastic + Zen Robotic + Pink Lips + Symmetrix + Sikander + more: Tago Mago, Thornbury
2 Kings - A Tribute to Elvis & Michael Jackson: Trak Lounge Bar, Toorak Phia: Wesley Anne (Front Bar), Northcote Sienna Wild: Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy 2AM Show with Tapz: Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy Cunting Daughters + The Only Boys + Winternationale: Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford
Sun 02 Tash Sultana + Ocean Alley + Reuben Stone: 170 Russell, Melbourne Mal Webb + Kyle Morrigan: 303, Northcote
Seri Vida
Black Arrow + Capital Avenue + Chasing Lana + Eat The Damn Orange + Capella + The National Evening Express: The Bendigo, Collingwood Claude Hay: The Blues Train, Queenscliff Mojo Pin + Guy Perkins + Molasses + Archway: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick Afternoon Show with Tinsley Waterhouse Band: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick Hari Mata Hari: The Croxton, Thornbury Honeyblood + Totally Mild: The Curtin, Carlton The Cannanes + The Ocean Party + Angie + Constant Mongrel + School Damage + Ela Stiles + more: The Eastern, Ballarat East
Tempest Rising + Dreadnaught + Internal Nightmare + Cryptic Abyss: Musicman Megastore, Bendigo
Bottomfeeders + Simona Castricum: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood
Bec Sandridge + Elki + The Football Club: Northcote Social Club, Northcote
Awkward Hugs + The Songs of Tom Smith + Actor/Model + Amy Bodossian: The Inkerman Hotel, Balaclava
High and Heavy For heavy guitars, intense vocals and a blend of everything in between, check out Seri Vida at The Workers Club. She’ll be rocking out with her full band on Sunday, so be there wind up your weekend on a high note.
Gigs / Live The Guide
All Ages Show with I Prevail + Void Of Vision: Arrow On Swanston, Carlton
Irish Mythen: Old Church On The Hill, Bendigo
Kill Dirty Youth + Submarine + The Dead Amigos + Tusk: Bar Open, Fitzroy
The Slipdixies: Open Studio, Northcote
Tina Harrod: Bird’s Basement, Melbourne
Jules Boult + Friends: Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy
Nick Barker & The Monkey Men: Caravan Music Club, Oakleigh
Georgia Maq + Bec Stevens: Reverence Hotel, Footscray
The Scrims: Carlton Baths, Carlton
Dixie Chicks + Avalanche City: Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne
Boadz: Catfish (Front Bar), Fitzroy Selki + The Strains + Joe Oppenheimer + Tim Hulsman + James Hickey: Charles Weston Hotel, Brunswick
Large No 12s: Royal Oak Hotel, Fitzroy North Hanksaw: Surabaya Johnny’s, St Kilda
Cherry Blues with The Three Kings: Cherry Bar, Melbourne
Afternoon Show with Matt Borg Trio: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick
Afternoon Show with Karate Boogaloo + Laneous: Compass Pizza Bar, Brunswick East
Tempus Sun + Little Rituals + Koda: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick
Matinee Show with Spencer Street Soul + Claudia Jones + Fresco: The Workers Club, Fitzroy TV Haze + Ali E: Tramway Hotel, North Fitzroy Danny Ross: Wesley Anne (Front Bar), Northcote Afternoon Show with Broadstone: Wesley Anne, Northcote Tempest Rising + Tragic Earth + Moonshifter + Phoenix Day: Whole Lotta Love, Brunswick East
Way Out West Music Club feat. Claude Hay: Williamstown RSL, Williamstown A Breach Of Silence: Wrangler Studios, West Footscray Hocus Pocus #1 with M5K + Sam Weston + Juicy Romance: Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy Erin Will Be Mad + Plaster of Paris + Face Face: Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford
Hachiku
Mon 03 Comedy with Simon Palomares + more: Bird’s Basement, Melbourne
Karate Boogaloo
Chop ‘Til You Drop Sunday’s going to be a big ‘un at Compass Pizza & Bar. They’ve got Bloody Marys flowing, live painting in the courtyard and sets from four-man dance party Karate Boogaloo and loop wizard Laneous from 3pm. David Palliser + Allanah Stewart + Dale Gorfinkel + Jen Callaway + Robert McDougall + Blutack: Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford
Tommy Castles: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy The Moth Story Slam with Various Artists: Howler, Brunswick Davies West: Open Studio, Northcote Charles Jenkins: Retreat Hotel, Brunswick Passionate Tongues Poetry: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick
Tue 04 Klub MUK: 303, Northcote Joe Chindamo: Bird’s Basement, Melbourne Uncomfortable Science with Lachlan Mitchell: Boney, Melbourne
Mugs + Plebs + Dole Cheque + Boy Parts: The Old Bar, Fitzroy
Horris Green + Easy Browns Truckstop Chicken Jam Band + The Pits: Cherry Bar, Melbourne
Gesundheit
The Shelf feat. Justin Hamilton + Adam Richard: The Toff In Town, Melbourne
I Prevail + Void Of Vision + Harbours: Corner Hotel, Richmond
It’s all going down at Bar Open on Wednesday night. There’ll be Hachiku’s dark glitterpop, electronica with soul from Lacuna, half of Itsokman in I Hate Max and a solo set from Sleeplab.
Fan Palm + RAThammock + The Dare Ohhs + Grand Pine: The Workers Club, Fitzroy
Dara O Briain: Hamer Hall, Melbourne Tom Tom Tuesday feat. Tim Coster + Tarquin Manek + Fia Fiell + more: Howler, Brunswick Irish Session: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East
Checkerboard: Edinburgh Castle Hotel (Front Bar), Brunswick
Afternoon Show with Rory J Dawson + Jessie L Warren: The Old Bar, Fitzroy
Dianas Foresters’ + Wroclaw + Watercolour: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy
Felicity Cripps + Bitch Diesel + Liam Linley: The Old Bar, Fitzroy
Off The Leash: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy
Black Sistaz + Jess Locke + Kozmik County + Go Get Mum: The Post Office Hotel, Coburg
Transgenre 2017 feat. Ah Mer Ah Su + Crystal Myth + Habits + Kandere + Lalic + Miss Blanks + Pikelet + Racerage + DJ Trixie Darko: Howler, Brunswick Trevor Ludlow & the Hellraisers + The Shock Waves + The Songs of Tom Smith + Jo Zealand: Last Chance Rock & Roll Bar, Melbourne
Beaut XIV feat. Simon TK + Chiara Kickdrum + Salvador Darling + Gavin Campbell: The Toff In Town, Melbourne Truly Holy + Emma Russack + Babey: The Tote (Front Bar), Collingwood
Marty Kelly & Co. + Nick Charles & Blue Strings: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East
Pigasus + The Electric Guitars + The Braves + Shit Tatts: The Tote (Band Room), Collingwood
MICF 2017 feat. Joel Creasey: Max Watt’s, Melbourne
Bo Jenkins: The Westernport Hotel, Phillip Island
Annie & Jacinta: Mr Boogie Man Bar, Abbotsford
Seri Vida + Go Get Mum + Jules Sheldon: The Workers Club, Fitzroy
MICF 2017 feat. Joel Creasey: Max Watt’s, Melbourne Arj Barker: Melbourne Town Hall, Melbourne JMS Harrison
Happy Anniversary! It’s been 30 years since Fleetwood Mac’s Tango In The Night was released. To celebrate, Corner Hotel will fill with the combined voices of JMS Harrison, Jim Lawrie, Amarina Waters and more for a tribute like no other on Friday.
Joe Matera + Ruby Gill: Retreat Hotel, Brunswick MC Wasp & DJ Dopebeat + HeadLines + Outsiders: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick Avalanche City: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood Wild Meadows + Capital Gains: The Old Bar, Fitzroy Senivoda + Zoltan + King Harry: The Toff In Town, Melbourne Noriko Tadano: Tramway Hotel, North Fitzroy The Moulin Beige: Wesley Anne (Band Room), Northcote
I Heart Hiroshima + Astral Skulls: Northcote Social Club, Northcote THE MUSIC • 29TH MARCH 2017 • 71