31.05.17 Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Issue
191
Sydney / Free / Incorporating
WHY LIVING IN LA MEANS NO POINT HANGING AROUND IN AUSTRALIA
TOUR: BODY COUNT
TV: FEAR THE WALKING DEAD
RELEASE: BERNARD FANNING
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THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 3
MUSIC VENUE | COCKTAIL BAR | DINER WED 31
ORACLE RECORDS PRESENT + JIM MITCHELLS + ROSA MARIA + SUN SAP
SAT 10
THE RADIATORS + EIGHTBALL JUNKIES
THUR 1
SUN 11
FRANK SULTANA
THOMAS OLIVER (MATINEE)
FRI 2
SUN 11
END OF TOUR PARTY
DOORS 12.30PM
MICK THOMAS
SCABZ
( WEDDINGS PARTIES ANYTHING)
+ HUNCH, DUNHILL BLUES, BEAST & FLOOD
SAT 3
TUE 13
JEFF DUFF
FROM LONDON TO THE MOON A DUFF ODYSSEY
TUES 6
JOHN SAFRAN AUTHOR TALK SOLD OUT
TERRY SERIOS HALF TRUTHS + CHARLIE OWEN (TEX, DON CHARLIE) + OH REACH
WED 14
GREEN MOHAIR SUITS + SPECIAL GUESTS
WED 7
FRI 16
WHITE TREE BAND
TAASHA COATES
THUR 8
SAT 17 & SUN 18
FREE ENTRY
I AM WOMAN
FT MURRAY COOK (WIGGLES), MORGANA (NITOCRIS) PIP HOYLE (RADIO BIRDMAN
FRI 9
CROOKED FIDDLE BAND + CANNIBAL SPIDERS
42 KING ST NEWTOWN W W W. TH E L E A D B E L LY. C O M . A U 4 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017
(THE AUDREYS)
CAB SASQUATCH PRESENT SOUND + VISION A DAVID BOWIE CABARET
THE LADIES NETWORK CURATED ART DISPLAY
BASEMENT
THU 1ST 8PM
“DEADLY DEADLY”
SUPPORTED BY “SPACE BOYS”, “BLEEDING GUMS” IN THE ALT GRUNGE/INDIE ROCK NIGHT OF GIANT PROPORTIONS
BLUE ARSED FLY PROMOTIONS PRESENTS: BASEMENT
SAT 3RD 8PM
NO STYLE EVENTS PRESENTS BASEMENT
FRI 2ND 9PM
LEVEL ONE
FRI 2ND 10PM
MIX ‘N’ MATCH AT VALVE BAR
HARDSTYLE/UK HARDCORE/TRANCE/ EDM/BASS HOUSE/FUTURE HOUSE/ HARD HOUSE WITH DJS THE CHEMIST, ZARIO, EXCICIDUM, NIZAMI PLUS, TONIQ, LUX, RE-CODE
LEVEL ONE
SAT 3RD 10PM
KINEMATIC RECORDS AND NOESIS PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS:
CONSTANT ADJUSTMENT RUMPELSTOMPSKIN EP RELEASE FEAT: RUMPELSTOMPSKIN, PAKMAN, FORMATIONZ, POSEIDON, PHSIRIS, QUADRAPUSS, PORSHAC
BASEMENT
SUN 4TH 5PM
“WORLD WAR XXXIV” WITH “RUST”
SUPPORTED BY “TWO FACED” AND MANY MORE IN THE NIGHT OF STREET ROCK’N’ROLL DEEPSPACE SYDNEY AD ESF RECORDSPRESENTS:
OBSESSION
FEAT: SENSINET & GUMNUT WITH SUPPORT FROM RAPTOR, DR DOM, PENUMBRA AND MANY MORE IN THE NIGHT OF PSYCHEDELIC TRANCE “FOUR” PRESENTS
ROCK SHOW
WITH SUPPORT FROM “VULTUROUS”, “WICKED CHILDREN”, “MY VOLCANIC MIND”, “THE SIMON SHAWBAND”
COMING UP
Thu 8 June: 8pm Basement: Punk Vacation with “Big Rat Stu” supported by many special guests; Fri 9 June: 8pm Basement: Rockstone Roots presents Sounds Of The Ghetto, Syd Def Jam meets ROs Rockstone and friends; 10pm Level One: The Essence Entertainment presents: Hip Hop Showcase with Johniepee, Point Blank, Primitive, Saif, Jamarzonmarz, Sam.Rap, NJE and many more; Sat 10 June: 8pm Basement: Sanctuary Nightclubpresents Sanctuary June 10: Sydney’s Best Alternative Club with best alternative DJ’s, presented by S.H.E. and personally recommended by Ian Astbury of “CULT”; 10pm Level One: More Deep Housepresents Zeus, a live sit fitting and a Dance party; Sun 11 June: 5pm Basement: No QuarterEntertainment presents Stone Deaf Sundays feat: “Metak” Rocking out with manyspecial guests
The
50
Power Edition PRE-ORDER NOW
ONLY $14.95
store.themusic.com.au
THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 5
Music / Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Handle The Heat
theMusic.com.au: breaking news, up-to-the-minute reviews and streaming new releases
Hot on the heels of the release of their album Lab Experiments Vol 1: Mixin’, Aussie funk trio Cookin’ On 3 Burners have announced a four-date east coast tour in June and July.
Cookin’ On 3 Burners
Cameron Avery
Get Mended Sydney singersongwriter Vera Blue has announced a national tour, bringing her entrancing folk melodies to audiences across the country from July to September, off the back of new single Mended.
Right Dreams Multi-talented muso Cameron Avery has announced a run of headline shows during June and July in support of new album Ripe Dreams, Pipe Dreams, unveiling new single Watch Me Take It Away for good measure.
Deep Breath The AIR Awards are back for their 11th year and the nominations are in, with AB Original, DD Dumbo, Alex Lahey and Flume getting multiple nods. The big event itself is in Adelaide on 27 Jul.
6 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017
Arts / Li Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Credits
Publisher Street Press Australia Pty Ltd
How To Get Away With Murder
Group Managing Editor Andrew Mast
Sydney outfit Thy Art Is Murder are set to head out on the road this July and August for a huge tour where they’ll be joined by some of Australia’s best heavy metal talent.
National Editor – Magazines Mark Neilsen Arts & Culture Editor Maxim Boon
Gig Guide Justine Lynch gigs@themusic.com.au
Thy Art Is Murder
Contributing Editor Bryget Chrisfield Editorial Assistant Sam Wall
Vera Blue
Elaborate engagement photos are a great way to tell your future spouse, “I’ll never love you as much as my quirky online brand.” @shutupmikeginn
Contributors Anthony Carew, Ben Nicol, Brendan Crabb, Carley Hall, Chris Familton, Daniel Cribb, Chris Maric, Christopher H James, Cyclone, Daniel Cribb, Dave Drayton, Dylan Stewart, Guido Farnell, Guy Davis, James d’Apice, Liz Guiffre, Mac McNaughton, Mark Hebblewhite, Matt MacMaster, Matt O’Neill, Melissa Borg, Mitch Knox, Neil Griffiths, Mick Radojkovic, Rip Nicholson, Rod Whitfield, Ross Clelland, Sam Baran, Samantha Jonscher, Sara Tamim, Sarah Petchell, Shaun Colnan, Steve Bell, Tanya Bonnie Rae, Tim Finney, Uppy Chatterjee Photographers Angela Padovan, Cole Bennetts, Clare Hawley, Jodie Downie, Josh Groom, Hayden Nixon, Kane Hibberd, Munya Chawora, Pete Dovgan, Peter Sharp, Rohan Anderson, Simone Fisher Advertising Dept Georgina Pengelly, Brad Edwards sales@themusic.com.au Art Dept Ben Nicol, Felicity Case-Mejia, Alex Foreman Admin & Accounts Ajaz Durrani, Meg Burnham, Emma Clarke accounts@themusic.com.au Distro distro@themusic.com.au Subscriptions store@themusic.com.au Contact Us PO Box 2440 Strawberry Hills NSW 2012 Suite 42, 89-97 Jones St Ultimo Phone: (02) 9331 7077 info@themusic.com.au www.themusic.com.au
R&R&J In support of their third LP, Relaxer, alt-J have announced they will return to Australia this December for a huge headline tour.
— Sydney
alt-J
THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 7
Music / Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Fearless
Tami Neilson
Canadian-born Auckland-based soul songstress Tami Neilson will finally return to Australia this August, bringing her 2015 album Don’t Be Afraid to Australian audiences.
Josh Pyke
Pykeman Multi-ARIA-winning singer-songwriter Josh Pyke has unveiled plans to release a greatest hits album this June titled Best Of, B-Sides & Rarities, along with a 12-date national tour in July and August.
This Is Sia She hasn’t done an Australian tour in six years, but Sia’s going big for her return, announcing stadium shows in Sydney and Melbourne twoards the end of the year, with a killer support line-up of Charli XCX, Mo and Amy Shark.
18 The number of stadium shows locked in for Ed Sheeran on his upcoming Australian tour, breaking the previous record held by AC/DC. 8 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017
Georgia Fields & Phia
Sky, Sea & Fields Two Melbourne singersongwriters, Georgia Fields and Phia, will be travelling across the country in July and August for their joint Sky And Sea tour.
Arts / Li Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Working Class Writer
Congrats to Jimmy Barnes, who not only has a roomful of gongs for his musical achievements, but has now picked up Biography Of The Year at the Australian Book Industry Awards.
theMusic.com.au: breaking news, up-to-the-minute reviews and streaming new releases
Ed Sheeran
International Exhibition Of Sherlock Holmes
The pulling power of his music is undeniable as he broke AC/DC’s record for the number of stadium gigs booked in Australia.
Lashes
Ariana Grande
Despite the unspeakable horror that happened after her Manchester show, she’s vowing to return to the city for a benefit concert.
You Won’t 221Believe This Ariana Grande
Sia
The International Exhibition Of Sherlock Holmes brings 221b Baker Street to the Powerhouse Museum from Thursday. Prepare to be transported to Victorian London and become embroiled in the mystery adventures of Sherlock and Watson.
Backlash
Game Of Thrones
It’s been officially announced there are only 13 more episodes across two seasons left for Game Of Thrones. We want more!
Courting Disaster Ocean’s Rhapsody
Ocean Grove
From humble beginnings writing, recording and producing their debut album The Rhapsody Tapes in their drummer/ producer’s bedroom, Ocean Grove have now announced a national headline tour in August.
Astounding that Margaret Court fails to see the irony in moaning that The Project disrespected her in their interview, while expecting everyone else to weather her disrespect of an entire community.
It’s Not Miller Time While it’s good news Silicon Valley was renewed, we’re sad to hear TJ Miller won’t be returning, so it’s farewell to Erlich Bachman.
THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 9
A
Music
ALL DAY EVERY DAY It’s been a whirlwind few years for Allday, with countless doors continuing to open up. He tells Cyclone of the positives and perils of going through those doors. Cover and feature pics by Kane Hibberd.
10 0 • THE THE MUS M MUSIC USIIC US C • 31S 31ST 1ST MA M MAY AY 20 2 201 2017 017 17
llday (aka Tom Gaynor) ushered in progressive Australian hip hop with 2014’s hit album Startup Cult. He’s now resurfaced with a deeper and more personal follow-up in Speeding. And the maverick is taking on a fresh challenge - cracking the US. Just days after wrapping Groovin The Moo in Bunbury, Western Australia, Gaynor is back in his new Los Angeles base. It’s not all sunny glamour - the indie rapper/singer/ songwriter delays this interview to top up his mobile credit. Soon, he’ll return Down Under for a national headline tour and Splendour In The Grass. Alas, Gaynor had nowhere in Oz to crash - aside from his Mum’s place in Adelaide. But, really, he’s relishing California, where downtime is spent in the studio. “I sort of have to be here to keep working,” Gaynor maintains. “I feel so happy with my life happening here. So it just seems like there’s no point hanging around in Australia if I’m gonna move somewhere and I’m gonna get busy.” Gaynor’s decision to relocate to LA on completing Speeding was strategic. “I just felt like my music hasn’t been a thing where blogs pick it up and then it naturally gets big everywhere. So I thought, ‘All right, how did it happen in Australia?’ In Australia, it wasn’t blogs. It was radio, to a degree. [But] it wasn’t a marketing thing - it really was just me being in Australia doing shows. So I figure, alright, if I’m gonna get big in America and other places, I had to come here.” Gaynor’s charming, laid-back demeanour masks his ambition - and sincerity. This anti-hero’s origin story is now familiar. As a kid in suburban Adelaide, Gaynor discovered hip hop, rapping for fun. He (unsuccessfully) joined rock bands. Gaynor transplanted to Melbourne to attend art school, but dropped out. Less widely known is that he briefly pursued stand-up comedy - being runnerup in 2011’s RAW Comedy National Final. “I never found comedy used to be easy,” Gaynor divulges. “I felt like I was pushing so, so hard just to be okay at it. Then music seemed to come easier to me.” Gaynor would export his comic skills into hip hop - positioning himself as a sardonic rapper. In fact, he was inspired by both Kanye West’s individualism and Drake’s fluid singing/rapping. Gaynor latched onto a modish electronic hip hop - a style far removed from traditional Aussie boom-bap. Even Gaynor’s “weirdo” image was unique - with his long hair and septum piercing, he looked more emo than homeboy. Disseminating his music online, Gaynor broke out with 2012’s So Good - a triple j anthem. He consolidated his countercultural brand with an alternately witty and selfdeprecating Twitter feed. Eventually signing
to Illy’s fledgling ONETWO, Gaynor’s debut Startup Cult, led by the poppy Right Now, reached #3 on the ARIA Charts. Between albums, he toured solidly. Gaynor circulated the stopgap mixtape Soft Grunge Love Rap. And he cut features - most notably for Troye Sivan’s internationally acclaimed album Blue Neighbourhood. Surprisingly, for Speeding, Gaynor liaised, not with US producers, but with buzz Aussies - like Melbourne chillwaver Japanese Wallpaper (the single In Motion). His guests, too, are local up-and-comers. Gaynor’s Brisbane protege Mallrat the self-appointed “Hannah Montana of the rap game” - blazes on two tracks. “She’s a real cool person.” Overall, the paradoxicallyentitled Speeding is more subliminal than Startup Cult - Gaynor coming across as introspective rather than flippant. “It maybe wasn’t something I was completely aware of ‘til it was finished,” he concurs. “It’s so hard to understand what you’re making until you put it out there - even though I sat there and played it next to my other music.” Gaynor admits that, with Startup Cult, he was emulating major American acts. “It was definitely beginner music.” But Speeding introduces his own aesthetic. He sings more than raps. Still, Gaynor has picked up on the latent anxiety pervading contemporary US urban music. “Drake basically invented this singy/rappy sad guy genre - in this generation, anyway. So that is the window to be able to talk about your experiences honestly.” Gaynor has previously alluded to personal struggles - with partying, drugs, and adjusting to fame. Today he downplays these, however. “I was going through a weird time through a lot of the last couple of years - not entirely bad stuff but, if you listen to Speeding, it’ll make it sound like it was entirely bad.” If Speeding is “so dark”, Gaynor posits, it’s partly because of his producers’ sonic inclinations. Oddly, Startup Cult represented the flashpoint in a generational shift in Australian hip hop - old school heads outraged at Gaynor’s cultural transgressions. “When, before, people had to accept that Allday was ‘a thing’, nobody wanted to accept that Allday was ‘a thing,’” he vents. “I still remember dealing with the negativity from older people. Everyone wanted Allday to disappear because it was a perceived
threat to their way of doing things - or that’s at least how I felt from them. But, as time went on, everyone probably realised they can still do what they do and I can do what I do and everyone can have their own spot.” Ironically, Sydney vets Bliss N Eso recently ventured into trapwave on Off The Grid - teaming with Gaynor’s cohort Cam Bluff. “I’ve met them,” Gaynor enthuses. “I’ve had nothing but very positive exchanges with them.” Meanwhile, he’s opened the way for Mallrat, Gill Bates and Ryland Rose. “I definitely think I’m part of Australian hip hop changing, but I also don’t care. I just wanna make good songs.” Nevertheless, Gaynor’s biggest nemesis is a fellow upstart - Kerser. In 2015 the hardcore Campbelltown rapper controversially dissed Gaynor, and his followers, on his track Takin’ Over The Scene, deploying homophobic epithets. Gaynor offered “a cheeky response” - albeit a cerebral one. On Facebook Gaynor shared a snap of himself absorbed in William S Burroughs’ Beat Gen novel Junky, joking that he was reading about Kerser. Gaynor (perhaps naively) approached the feud as a publicity stunt. “I had an option at the time to respond or not - and I decided I’m gonna respond in a funny way. I’ve got music to promote and, after all, this is entertainment, people. Also my fans deserve to have me say something. If you’re gonna try to drag Allday’s fans through the mud, then I have to say what I stand for.” Yet Gaynor wasn’t prepared for the intense reaction. “I don’t wanna have to deal with Kerser - and Kerser’s fans - face-to-face, realistically,” he laughs nervously. Gaynor genuinely admires his adversary. “I think Kerser’s awesome! The fact that he has essentially popularised gangsta rap from Australia - that’s the coolest thing of all time.” For what should be another run of sell-out shows come July, Gaynor will perform his classics and, savvily, those Speeding bangers most popular on Spotify. But, the eternal nerd, he’s amped, too, about his new stage production - with video screen. “I remember the Kanye Yeezus tour had a gigantic screen, which cost more than I could ever afford, but that was probably one of my favourite shows - it was just simple, but effective.” Like Allday.
I definitely think I’m part of Australian hip hop changing, but I also don’t care. I just wanna make good songs.
What: Speeding (ONETWO) When & Where: 8 Jul, Big Top Sydney; 22 Jul, Splendour In The Grass, North Byron Parklands; 30 Sep, Yours & Owls Festival, Stuart Park
FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES Since Startup Cult, Tom “Allday” Gaynor has cameoed on tracks by everyone from Tasmanian divette Asta (the neo-disco hit Dynamite) to Jackie Onassis (Bad, on their ‘stealthed’ Pristine Alley album) to Gill Bates (She Knows). But the rapper/singer’s most significant guest spot was on electro-popster Troye Sivan’s 2015 debut Blue Neighbourhood - the personal song For Him. Sivan’s album entered the US Top 10, affording Gaynor invaluable international attention. Back home, Blue Neighbourhood received several ARIA nominations, including for ‘Album Of The Year’. “I think we just knew each other from Twitter and we’d spoken a bit,” Gaynor recalls of his collab with Sivan. “When he sent the song through, I liked it straight away. I was going into the studio, anyway, so, when I got in there, I started recording it within, like, two hours. I knew the album would be big because For Him was so dope - I could just tell. It definitely exposed me to a lot more people overseas, so I have a lot to thank Troye for.” This year Gaynor inadvertently reached US listeners through yet another unexpected avenue. His 2013 single Claude Monet was synced for the critically-divisive Netflix series, Marvel’s Iron Fist, starring Finn Jones. The song plays in the final episode. In LA, Gaynor has been busying himself with other guest vocals. Lately, he’s cut a track with the Diplo-endorsed New Zealand future bass combo SACHI. THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 11
Music
Down With The Count As metallers Body Count make their first visit to Australia in more than 20 years, frontman Ice-T talks to Brendan Crabb about Trump, collaborator bucket lists and swimming pools. A regular on NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Ice-T, born Tracy Lauren Marrow, is understandably in positive spirits regarding the program’s recent renewal for a staggering 19th season. “I’m not mad at that at all,” he enthuses. “I’m happy to be able to be firing on all cylinders.” What would the 19-year-old Marrow say of the 59-year-old incarnation appearing on a long-running television show? “He would just be happy. The Ice-T of 19 was trying to get out of the hood, so he’s like, ‘Oh, we found a way out, we good’. The Ice-T of 19 wanted a
It’s a special chemistry that makes good records.
swimming pool; the Ice-T of 50, he got a swimming pool. So that’s all that matters.” Not that the hip hop titan and actor is content to merely engage in rest and relaxation. The vocalist reconvened long-time heavy metal outfit Body Count for 2014’s Manslaughter after several years’ absence. That album sometimes focused on cartoonish violence as much as it did social commentary. The new record Bloodlust, however, features an incensed Marrow condemning racism, poverty, police brutality and gang conflict. It’s also perhaps the most accomplished album of Body Count’s career. “I just think the band is finally... locked back in. We had a lot of hardships in our band, we lost three members. It’s a special chemistry that 12 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017
makes good records, and I think after Manslaughter we realised we could make a good record again, so we just wanted to do it better. We went in with the intent to make the best record we could. I concentrated on my lyrics, everybody concentrated, and good records come from focus. You have to be focused, and you’ve got to want to do it. So we set out with something to prove.” Marrow delved into his contact list from the metal world to enhance Bloodlust’s already considerable vitality, with Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine, Soulfly’s Max Cavalera and Lamb Of God growler Randy Blythe all afforded guest spots. “When we’re getting ready to make a record, we always get those, everyone knows us and they say, ‘Yo, when you get ready to go in the studio, let us know’. Randy Blythe became friends with Ernie [C, Body Count guitarist]. And Max, we’ve been knowing them [Soulfly] since Sepultura days. Dave Mustaine, I’ve been knowing him my whole career. So those numbers were always there, and they always said ‘call us’ but we never did. This time, [we said] ‘Let’s call motherfuckers’. Let’s say, ‘what’s happening?’ Rockers are like, ‘I’ve gotta a riff, I got a vocal’... So we weren’t afraid to collaborate and the record came out that much better.” Marrow also has a few names remaining on his collaborative bucket list for Body Count, too. “Next record, we’ll probably get Tony Iommi. Ernie produced the [Black Sabbath] Forbidden album, I was on The Illusion of Power [from] that album. So we’ve got a connection with him. I would love to get Henry Rollins on a record, but he says he don’t do music anymore. But I think I could call him up. Maybe get Jello Biafra. People that we really respect, and people that are known for being legendary.” Bloodlust was created during the US election campaign, but prior to the Trump administration. “We never mentioned Trump’s name on the record because this was written pre the election,” Marrow explains. “And I just didn’t believe he was gonna be president. So I said I don’t want to be talking about somebody who will be a citizen at the time this record comes out. Well, I was proved wrong. But I think the tension that the world is feeling right now, it’s kinda hard to make party music and pop music, and just act like nothing’s going on. I think that’s irresponsible. You have to address some of the shit that’s going on in the world right now. I’m a transmitter of their [fans’] voices. They don’t have that voice, so people tell me and I translate that through my music. So hopefully I’m angry at the same shit they’re angry at.” Pundits have suggested that much like the divisive Reagan era fuelled some truly vitriolic punk, hardcore and hip-hop, the current administration could also motivate a new generation of disaffected youths to pick up a guitar or microphone and rail against injustice and inequality. “I hope so. I would love to see like a 19-yearold Public Enemy, or a young Ice-T come out. Because you’ve gotta remember, when we started talking shit we were in our 20s... So it’s sad that when you know you have some injustice you’ve gotta refer back to us. We need new voices.”
When & Where: 3 Jun, Big Top Sydney
THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 13
TV
Dead Set Come the zombie apocalypse, you’re going to want Alycia Debnam-Carey on your side. The Fear The Walking Dead star talks surviving the survivalists with Guy Davis.
O
n the pay-TV series Fear the Walking Dead, the end of the world occurs a lot like falling asleep or falling in love: it happens very gradually, then it happens all at once. And while the mothership series, The Walking Dead, shows what takes place after civilisation has succombed to the zombie apocalypse, Fear the Walking Dead takes a more immersive - and one might say more interesting approach by following one family as they come to realise the end is well and truly nigh. The third season of the show, which premieres on Foxtel channel FX, reunites the family - Travis Manawa
The zombies are a side story; it’s the people you’re interested in.
(Cliff Curtis), Madison Clark (Kim Dickens) and their teenage kids Nick (Frank Dillane) and Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) - after events separated them in the second season. But the reunion may be a little fraught, given that they find themselves sheltered by a community of survivalists whose preparations for doomsday never took into account the neccessaries needed to fend off ravenous, roaming corpses. “It’s where this season unfolds, with this community of people who have been preparing for an apocalypse of some kind,” says Australian actress Debnam-Carey. “It’s a different spin on what we’ve gone through so far - we’ve been running from the apocalypse and encountering
14 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017
people who are doing the same but this time we’re the people who have experienced what life is like on the outside and come into a sanctuary where people haven’t experienced what is happening but are nevertheless prepared for the worst. It’s a very interesting mix of the two groups.” If post-apocalyptic pop culture has taught us anything, it’s that survivalist enclaves tend to have their own built-in dangers and psychological tensions. As Debnam-Carey points out, however, this particular scenario is wrought with some entirely unpredictable dangers. “I don’t want to spoil anything but something that I’ve found is that where our family goes, chaos tends to ensue,” she says with a laugh. “And when you’re lumped together with a group of people who are very protective of what they’ve built and who are prepared for the worst but at the same time unprepared for this kind of worst, it’s definitely the case. “It’s also very, very relevant to the political situation in America - racial issues, territorial issues, issues involving those who have and those who don’t.” Debnam-Carey is a believer in the idea that genre fiction can provide a stealthy insight into the way society operates and the way people behave under the darkest, direst circumstances. She says Fear the Walking Dead is a surprisingly incisive illustration of this. “I was really drawn to that aspect of the show - the fall of society and how it might occur,” she says. “The zombies are a side story; it’s the people you’re interested in. What they’re willing to sacrifice, what they’re willing to do to one another.” That’s especially the case for Debnam-Carey’s Alicia, a straight-A student and high achiever who has had “some pretty dark moments” since Fear The Walking Dead’s story began. “Well, she’s killed a man, which is a massive thing for her to have to process,” she says. “And she has to regularly re-evaluate what matters to her, who she can rely on - that includes herself. She’s someone who had a plan, a very solid idea of what her future would be, and that is completely obliterated. She is having to reformulate who she is in this changing world.”
What: Fear The Walking Dead When & Where: 5 Jun, FX
THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 15
Music
Difficult Loves One of our country’s greatest ever songwriters Mick Thomas talks to Steve Bell about the inherent difficulties of shoehorning his solo career into book and compilation form.
W
hen Mick Thomas’ legendary band Weddings Parties Anything pulled up stumps in 1998 after 15 years and six acclaimed studio albums, he was forced by necessity to start again from scratch, albeit with his former band’s sizable legacy behind him to help on the profile front. Having now spent the best part of two decades curating his solo career — out front of various backing ensembles such as The Sure Thing and The Roving Commission — it’s come time to acknowledge that aspect of his career with a new compilation titled These Are The Songs, the companion piece to new book These Are The Days.
I just wanted to really shore up the package so that it was something that people couldn’t just get via streaming.
“I think I’ve pretty much set my course and haven’t diverted much along the way,” Thomas laughs of acknowledging his second career phase. “As a solo body of work I feel pretty good about it, and doing the compilation and the book forced me to look at it in that regard. You constantly are having to do that but this was probably a bit more consciously: every time you write a setlist you have to contemplate what’s on offer to play for people, or every time you do a rehearsal, and I guess just rejigging the band recently you’re forced to think about what we want to be and how we’re regarded. I guess that’s the question that anyone with any sort of musical legacy is forced to confront.” 16 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017
Both the size and strength of Thomas’ solo canon caused headaches when it came to picking songs for the compilation, which eventually ended up filling a doubleCD (including four new tracks). “The whole thing started with the idea that I just wanted a really good compilation to sell at the merch desk,” he tells. “Because a lot of my records have become deleted, and I was really aware of this trend in my supporter base of people returning to me after going away for a few years to have families or for whatever reason. So I was constantly having people saying to me after the set, ‘That was great, I haven’t seen you for years, what were most of those songs from?’, and I guess I wanted something to sell that had ten songs that we’d play on a given night. “The idea for writing the book came out of the idea that I just wanted to really shore up the package so that it was something that people couldn’t just get via streaming. I was still really dedicated to the idea that in a cottage industry you can make money from the merch stand, although that seems to be less and less the reality — you have to diversify. The other night I was sitting down with Billy Bragg and we were laughing about how it’s come down to us selling tea towels, and I know that someone like Henry Wagons has these hip flasks you can buy, you just need items that you can sell. Streaming has had a massive effect on that.” The book delivers fascinating insight into not just all of the tracks on These Are The Songs, but also looks at the WPA songs that have survived the journey and still exist in the current live set. “The initial publisher we spoke to was kinda troubled that there was nothing from the Weddings in there, then later we changed publishers and the guy at Melbourne Books — who’s fantastic and has done a lot of music books — he just said to me, ‘Look, why don’t you just pick the ten songs from the Weddings that you still might do, that still might have some sort of currency, and just write about them?’” Thomas explains. “That seemed like a great idea so I sat down and wrote about those songs, and originally I had them in a separate part of the book, but then the editor came back to me and said, ‘You’re bitching about people who draw this imaginary line in your career and in your canon of what you’ve created and now you’re doing the same thing yourself.’ “Then he suggested that I place them in a rough chronology that’s maybe a bit similar to a live set, just put them where they’d sit so that the book will finish with some gravity because that’s how you finish your live set. He said, ‘You’ve got this real culture about what you do, why reject that?’ That was really great advice.”
What: These Are The Days (Melbourne Books); These Are The Songs (Liberation) When & Where: 1 Jun, Smiths Alternative, Canberra; 2 Jun, Leadbelly; 3 Jun, Lizottes Newcastle; 4 Jun, Hotel Gearin, Katoomba
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THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 17
Music
All Aboard Lil Yachty chats with Cyclone about his recent rise to fame and why he is considered to be a ‘polarising’ figure.
A
tlantan teen Lil Yachty (aka Miles McCollum) is supposedly wrecking hip hop. He’s riled purists with his ‘mumble rap’ - and his irreverence towards hip hop’s hallowed history. However, with a cult following clamouring for his official debut, Teenage Emotions, McCollum isn’t going anywhere but up. Indeed, this subversive millennial has become emblematic of hip hop’s generational divide - like Kanye West and Drake before him. Why does McCollum feel he’s so polarising? “That’s a great question,” he responds succinctly. “I don’t have the answer.” The AutoTune-lovin’ post-rapper/singer, 19, exudes insouciance - all but mumbling through his interview.
The Teenage Emotions artwork has already been praised for its celebration of diversity - McCollum seated in a movie theatre alongside other exuberant adolescent outsiders: a woman with vitiligo, an albino guy, a gay couple kissing... “I’m always trying to do things that are innovative,” he states. Yet, musically, McCollum’s approach was “not too much different” to his previous projects. “I just made it nice.” McCollum has largely avoided commissioning ‘name’ producers, with only Diplo credited. Arguably the album’s biggest guest is Grace Sewell, on Running With A Ghost. “Grace is real nice,” McCollum enthuses. “She’s extremely talented.” In fact, the incongruous collab was engineered. “My manager and her manager are really, really good friends.” Still, McCollum expands his sound. Bring It Back is his flip of yacht rock, complete with sax. “I just kinda went with how I feel. I was really just creating.” His favourite song is the avant slo’ jam Lady In Yellow. “I just like the vibe of that song.”
I’m always trying to do things that are innovative.
McCollum remains contradictory. Though he promotes “positivity”, the Migos-featuring party single Peek A Boo portrays a casual - and immature - sexism. But, McCollum counters, listeners shouldn’t overanalyse the lyrics. “It was never that serious.” McCollum is building his brand. The maverick’s merch line entails a pink cassette edition of Teenage Emotions - his own concept. And McCollum is in demand live. He was even billed for the infamous Fyre Festival. McCollum didn’t travel to the Bahamas - and, despite being a social media kid, the saga (and memes) apparently passed him by. He adds, “I got paid still, so...” This July, McCollum will descend on Australia for Splendour In The Grass. “I’ll come with the energy - and hopefully they give it back.”
Named after jazzman Miles Davis, McCollum grew up around hip hop - his father a music photographer. He formulated his own “bubblegum trap”, distinguished by simple hooks, novelty samples and cheeky fun. Later, McCollum adopted that eccentric nautical handle - and imagery. “My first manager just kinda came up with the idea,” he says. McCollum blew up with 2015’s track One Night. His ‘next big thing’ status was assured with successive EPs and mixtapes, leading to fortuitous collabs. McCollum cameoed on DRAM’s mega-hit Broccoli. More validating again, he guested on Chance The Rapper’s Coloring Book mixtape. Katy Perry recently recruited him for a Chained To The Rhythm remix. Meanwhile, with his colourful, beaded braids, McCollum emerged as a street fashion influencer. 18 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017
What: Teenage Emotions (EMI) When 20 Jul, Big Top Sydney; 21 Jul, Splendour In The Grass, North Byron Parklands
THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 19
Theatre
Somewhere Over The Rainbow Self-made star Todrick Hall boasts an impressive resume, but his journey to the top hasn’t been an easy one. Maxim Boon follows the yellow brick road with the YouTube icon.
I
n the biz they call show, the most talented performers are described as “triple threats”, so named for their mastery of the three principal stage skills: dancing, singing, and acting. By comparison, Todrick Hall seems just plain greedy. The American Idol alum and YouTube icon not only has the standard trio of talents down pat, he also boasts a plethora of other artistic skills, as a rapper, director, choreographer, composer, drag queen, producer and judge.
You can’t take anything for granted in this life.
“It wasn’t really a conscious choice to have so much diversity in my career, there’s just so many things I love doing as a performer. It’s just like somebody who is a lover of all different types of food - I wouldn’t want to just eat pizza when I also love Mexican and sushi and a whole bunch of other things, you know,” Hall laughs. “I always liked singing, because I loved Lauren Hill growing up, and the pop greats like Beyonce, Destiny’s Child, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston. I loved trying to sing like them. I love writing songs because I grew up where Country Music was all the rage, in Plainview, Texas, and I loved how those Country hits could tell a story with these beautiful melodies. I loved dancing because I was obsessed with The Nutcracker when I was a kid, so I think all these things separately fascinated me growing up and all ended 20 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017
up becoming big parts of how I express myself. It all happened very organically.” But despite this impressive number of abilities, not to mention the more than 2.5 million subscribers who follow his YouTube channel, Hall’s career path has often been fraught with ‘close, but no cigar’ moments. After being knocked out at the semi-final stages of season 9 of Idol, Hall went on to miss out on a potential role in the hit show Glee. His MTV docuseries Todrick was cancelled after just eight episodes, and in 2015, a bid to play the Scarecrow in NBC’s epic live broadcast of Motown marvel The Wiz - a role immortalised by Michael Jackson in the 1978 film original - would prove fruitless. But if the 32-year-old performer has proven anything during his years chasing the limelight, it’s that he’s not afraid to put in the hard yards. Turning to YouTube as a key platform for showcasing his extraordinary creativity, Hall’s music videos, boasting production values usually reserved for major labels, have earned him a cult following. He’s also forged impressive stage credentials on Broadway, most notably as the drag queen cabaret star Lola in the hit musical Kinky Boots. On screen, Hall reached a new level of notoriety in 2016, appearing as a guest judge on Season 8 of the international TV phenomenon RuPaul’s Drag Race, before becoming a regular face on the show’s judging panel in subsequent seasons. Hall credits his success to a tenacious work ethic developed early in his training as a fledgling performer. “I grew up in a ballet school and there was a very strict way of doing things. You not only have to turn up on time, you’ve got to be ready to work, in your uniform, warmed up. You couldn’t miss rehearsals or turn up unprepared, so I’ve always approached everything I do with that level of commitment,” he explains. “You can’t take anything for granted in this life. So I just look at every single opportunity I have as another chance to be able to let my story be told. You have to know that any measure of success you achieve could so easily be taken away, so you’ve got to make the most out of every chance you get.” This self-made star has no intentions of resting on his laurels as his Wizard of Oz inspired album, Straight Outta Oz, begins a world tour. Originally conceived as a YouTube spectacle, using L. Frank Baum’s bitter-sweet tale to tell the ups and downs of Hall’s own life story, the glitz and sparkle of the album’s online incarnation has been painstakingly translated into a live stage version. “You can expect a lot of razzle-dazzle,” Hall beams. “We spent a lot of time coming up with concepts that we felt not only looked really impressive, but also told a story. It’s a concert version, so not fully staged, but I’ve been talking with several Broadway producers about developing the show, so I think this will give audiences a glimpse of what it might look like in a fully realised production. And it’s just a lot of fun - you might cry, you might laugh, but you will definitely be up and dancing.”
What: Straight Outta Oz When & Where: 4 Jun, Enmore Theatre
Pic: Nic Warnock (Repressed Records), Angie, Lucy Cliche, Chris Sammut (Repressed Records). Pic by Josh Groom.
In Focus Repressed
Records 15th Anniversar y
The Newtown independent store Repressed Records is celebrating a decade-and-a-half in style by having a massive gig as part of Vivid LIVE. It features rare live performances from Total Control and Severed Heads alongside Miss Destiny, Lucy Cliche, Angie and more. It all takes place Thursday at the Sydney Opera House’s Northern Broadwalk.
THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 21
Music
Seven Stories Amanda Brown and Claire Edwardes chat to Cyclone about how Seven Stories’ cleverly constructed themes and seven cross-genre female composers created a modern feminist fairytale.
T
here is a theory that every story ever told reveals one of seven themes. A bold Australian multimedia production, Seven Stories - premiering at Sydney’s City Recital Hall as part of Vivid - explores that very notion from a female perspective. Seven Stories is based on the work of seven crossgenre women composers - including former The GoBetweens member Amanda Brown, The Clouds’ co-lead vocalist Jodi Phillis, and Bree van Reyk, Holly Throsby’s drummer. It’s performed by Sydney’s experimental chamber music group Ensemble Offspring. However, the “re-imagining” also comprises narrative and visuals.
contemporary pop culture. Seven Stories’ themes are the quest, overcoming darkness, rags-to-riches, the tragic fatal flaw, the comedy of errors, the journey, and ransformation. With van Reyk, a member of Ensemble Offspring, it seemed “logical” to pitch Seven Stories to Claire Edwardes, the fold’s Artistic Director and percussionist. “Fortuitously, it turned out that they were programming all-women composers in 2017,” Brown says. For Edwardes, the challenge was to liaise with such a large creative team while ensuring continuity. “I think the visuals [by Melbourne’s Sarah-Jane Woulahan] are going to be really integral to the unity of the show,” she notes. But, Brown stresses, here Ensemble Offspring’s “unique combination of instruments” is key - with percussion, violin, cello, clarinet piano and soprano vocals. “So the pieces are united in the ensemble as well.”
Us modern women, we’re all about creating our own destinies. Overall, Seven Stories has a cinematic feel, says Edwardes. It has “beautiful simple songs” in addition to “instrumental, kind of epic sounding-pieces”. Van Reyk presents “a hilarious slapstick piece”. Playwright Hilary Bell wrote Seven Stories’s text which, Brown suggests, centres on “feminist fairy tales”. “The story that I was given was the rags-to-riches story,” she says. “One of my actually most hated films is Pretty Woman, which, of course, is a modern retelling of the Cinderella myth - which is probably the most famous rags-to-riches fairytale. I really don’t like that story because it’s all about a princess being rescued by a man - a prince. Us modern women, we’re all about creating our own destinies. So I very much wanted to shy away from that interpretation and instead go more for this idea that it’s a kind of cyclical journey where the woman, in this case, creates her own fortune and success through her own hard work and talent.”
Seven Stories came out of a conversation between Brown - who’s composed for screen since 2000 - and Phillis, at a Gregory Page show. Says Brown, “We had a discussion about [how] we should do something together - sometime, somehow, some way. We got some other women composers on board because we had an idea that we wanted to give women a go; that it was tougher out there for women composers and basically nobody was going to give us this sort of gig unless we created it ourselves.” Another screen composer, Kyls Burtland, proposed the production’s concept - inspired by maverick journalist Christopher Booker’s tome The Seven Basic Plots, which examines everything from mythology to literature to 22 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017
When & Where: 3 Jun, City Recital Hall
Music
Family Matters
Iconic indie-rock mainstay Bill Callahan tells Steve Bell about preserving relationships with both his family and the places he plies his trade.
U
S singer-songwriter Bill Callahan has spent over 25 years at the musical coalface - releasing 11 albums behind the band moniker Smog, then through the last decade issuing five more under his own name - but he’s been fairly quiet of late following the release of his acclaimed 2013 album Dream River (and its 2014 dub reimagining Have Fun With God). The reason? He and his wife recently welcomed Callahan’s first son Bass into the world, and family commitments rightly tend to take precedence over career factors. “I had a kid so a lot of my energy has been going towards being a papa,” Callahan smiles. “It’s amazing and lots of work and very tiring, so I’ve been adjusting because it used to be that music was basically my only responsibility and I could focus 100% of my energy onto that, and now it’s not. “I think it changes your brain having a kid, and it changes the whole shape of your life - it just changes everything. So I’ve just been trying to figure out what I want to say with this new brain, that’s why it’s been quiet for a little bit longer than usual.” But now he’s returning to Australia for three Melbourne shows, and then heading up to play the Sydney Opera House for Vivid LIVE, where he delivered spellbinding sets in 2015, (according to Callahan “definitely
a highlight of my touring existence”). Both cities find him playing two shows a night, a model he’s taken all over the world recently. “The first one I did was in New York about a year and a half ago, and really it was a way to try and continue touring and still have a family,” he explains. “That was one of the main drives, but I also just like the idea of; you do a big travel and go to a big city somewhere, but then you get to stay there instead of moving on the next day and the next day and the next day. It was just a way to sort of feel a little bit more grounded on tour with or without my family. “I also had a phobia where I don’t like to play the same club twice, even two nights in a row - that never felt right to me, but I wanted to overcome that. I think a club space should be your friend, so instead of looking at a club as something to step into for one night and get the hell out of there forever, I try to look at the performance space as something organic that you can develop a relationship with. A few days isn’t much of a relationship, but it’s always a way to push myself and the performances in a way that doesn’t happen just doing oneoff shows.”
When & Where: 2 & 3 Jun, Vivid LIVE, Sydney Opera House
IN RUBBISH’S WAKE
As part of their We Are Waterbourne clean ups just gone, In Hearts Wake and their fans picked up over 4200 pieces of rubbish in 30 minutes at St Kilda and over 5000 pieces in Bondi. The band’s vocalist Jake Taylor said after the St Kilda clean up: “Today was amazing, perfect weather. The fact we made a difference in the area – we got to clean the area and then we got to play in the area, was pretty amazing. I learned there’s a lot more rubbish and marine debris under your feet than you would know. There was over 4000 pieces collected in 30 minutes. In a square metre, I would find at least ten cigarette butts just moving my hands through the sand. I’d love to do this around the world; I’d love to continue this with my band. “How marine debris harms our planet and harms our wildlife is insane. Putting the planet first really does make a difference. Huge thing is it’s not just about picking the marine debris up, it’s about learning its source. We sorted into groups where it came from – whether it’s consumer, cigarette butts, straw and interestingly enough there was pieces that the council had discarded and trashed for instance zip ties and council fencing that Ben’s group found. So if we find the source, we can stop it at the source.” To hear from more band members and view a gallery of pics, head to theMusic. com.au THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 23
Music
Go Live Or Go Home
Best Indie The AIR Awards nominations are in and those up for the biggie of Best Independent Artist are:
DD Dumbo
Julia Shapiro of Chastity Belt fills Anthony Carew in on her envy of San Franciscans, her “punk phase”, and recording albums live.
C Flume
AB Original
Alex Lahey
Ali Barter 24 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017
hastity Belt guitarist/vocalist Julia Shapiro has just covered Liz Phair for GRLMIC Vol 1, a womencovering-women charity compile benefiting Planned Parenthood. Phair isn’t a formative influence on Shapiro, though, but a recent discovery. “Growing up, but I wasn’t even really aware of many female musicians, which is pretty upsetting,” Shapiro offers. “I didn’t have any female role models who played music, personally, in my life. Where I grew up, in [Palo Alto] outside of San Francisco, people weren’t that cool. I have friends who grew up in San Francisco, and, to this day, they remain just cooler than me.” Exhibit A in Shapiro’s lack of coolness: her tween “punk phase”, where she listened to Blink-182 and Good Charlotte. “That phase lasted less than a year. Even at that age, it quickly dawns on you that they’re posers,” laughs Shapiro. She began playing guitar at 11 - and listening to Elliott Smith, The Cure, Radiohead, Fiona Apple - but never played in a teenaged band. “I didn’t have that many friends around me who played instruments,” Shapiro says. “I didn’t know anyone in a band. Up until I met the other ladies in Chastity Belt, I’d never just jammed with anyone else. I always wanted to be in a band, and thought that would be cool, but it just seemed so unattainable. I
didn’t even want to say it out loud, it was like an impossible dream. When I think about it, now, it’s crazy that I’m in a band.” Chastity Belt began at Whitman College - in Walla Walla, Washington - as a uni lark. But, a positive reaction to the quartet’s debut LP, 2013’s No Regerts, led to a breakout follow-up, 2015’s Time To Go Home. Following tours opening for Courtney Barnett and Death Cab For Cutie, the band embarked on their first Australian tour last year, and made themselves at home. “We spent nine days in Melbourne at the end of our tour, met a bunch of people, made so many friends,” recounts Shapiro. “We hung out a lot with Loose Tooth. When we were in Brisbane, we went to the Koala sanctuary there. I went to the beach a few times. We went to Hanging Rock. Partied a little bit. Saw a bunch of shows. At the end of that trip, we were all like ‘we’re moving over!’” When they were in Australia, they’d already finished recording their new LP, I Used To Spend So Much Time Alone, and were waiting on its producer - Matthew Simms, current guitarist for post-punk legends Wire - to send them finished mixes. Though, this time, they explored and experimented more with guitar overdubs and effects, Chastity Belt again, as with their first two LPs, recorded the basic tracks live. “The people who we’ve recorded with have always said: ‘I see your charm, your identity, as being a live band’,” Shapiro explains. “We always want it to be like how we sound live. Not necessarily completely perfect, but it’s the sound of us together.”
What: I Used To Spend So Much Time Alone (Hardly Art/Inertia)
Music
Strong & Defiant
Marika Hackman had a brief moment of uncertainty before unveiling her new music, she tells Anthony Carew.
O
n her defiant, swaggering single Boyfriend, London’s Marika Hackman sings about sleeping with a girl who has a boyfriend, and how said boyfriend dismisses their dalliances as being inconsequential for their absence of a man. “These’re things that’re personal to me, stuff that I’ve had to deal with, or seen my friends dealing with,” says Hackman, 25. “It’s important to be talking about these issues, but it’s nice to explore them on a platform like music, where you can be quite tongue-in-cheek, where you can have fun with it.” She wrote the song in “a frenzy” where “the lyrics just flew out nowhere”. “Then,” Hackman recounts, “I looked back on it, like: ‘wow, that’s pretty fucking bold.’ It’s definitely out on the table, and open. It’s a real stickingyour-middle-finger-up-at-the-world song. I had to ask myself: ‘Are you ready to put this out in the world?’ I thought for a second, and then I was like: ‘yep!’” The response to Boyfriend has been “overwhelmingly positive”, so, Hackman reckons, she’s “probably overdue a bit of vitriol”. As first single and album opener, it’s the introduction to ‘Marika Hackman 2.0’. The wry, playful, rockin’ figure found on Hackman’s second album, I’m Not Your Man, marks quite a change. From her early EPs through her debut LP, 2015’s We Slept At Last, Hackman was a nu-folk prodigy: signed
at 19, mentored by Johnny Flynn, tour pal of Laura Marling (she distinctly remembers supporting Marling at St Michael’s Uniting Church in Melbourne in 2013, as a fly flew up her nose). “People would be talking about me as this eerie, dark girl who sounds like she’s wandering through a forest, brooding,” Hackman offers, “and, as a human being, I’m not that kind of person at all”. Feeling as if her early career had stalled out, in 2016 Hackman parted ways with her label and management, and set about forging a new, not-folkie sound, with help from London indie-rockers The Big Moon. “Once I pushed through those initial fears - feeling scared, feeling self-doubt, feeling lost-at-sea - it became more and more clear that I could do it on my own,” Hackman says. “I wasn’t making it for a label, or a manager, or for anybody else. That made me feel very strong... So, I just let the music flow. I felt bold enough, brave enough, to just let it go, to not try and obscure things, or make them more cryptic.” Which led to Boyfriend, and which led to a record filled with candid, caustic lyrics. It’s an LP more representative of who she is now, but not entirely. “I’ve been able to be very frank and direct with my lyrics, [but] it doesn’t mean that I’m opening up myself to be judged,” she offers. “Marika Hackman, the person, is obviously there in my music, but I’m not necessarily bearing my soul to everyone. It’s funny, it’s a split personality thing. There’s the personal me and the performative me, and there’s a struggle there, a fight between the two of them.”
What: I’m Not Your Man (AMF/Caroline)
AWWWWW &
AHHHHHHH! The animal kingdom has been both cute and cray this week, with two incidents at Aussie zoos prompting two very different reactions. Firstly, the Asian elephant breeding program at Taronga Zoo produced the first new calf in seven years. Popping the little cutie out after a brisk 35-minute labour (good work mum), the new arrival weighed in at a whopping 130kg and was up and about in his paddock within five minutes of arriving, far quicker than it takes most human adults to get out of bed in the morning. In a quite different occurrence on the other side of the country, a pair of orangutans made an attempted escape at Perth Zoo, leading to a lockdown. Apparently, a juvenile male, Sungai, stacked it while playing in his enclosure and fell into a nearby garden. His mum, Sekara, rushed to help, carrying the youth over a railing onto a public walk way. Both made it safely back to their enclosure. Phew! THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 25
Music
No Looking Back Bernard Fanning tells Rod Whitfield of the motive behind dropping two albums so close to one another, and chats about life after four solo albums.
B
ernard Fanning’s fourth solo record Brutal Dawn has come pretty hot on the heels of his third, Civil Dusk, with there being only nine months in between the two releases. This came about because of the wealth of songs he had written over the preceding couple of years. However, instead of doing a double-album release, or indeed the whole Guns N’ Roses thing (releasing two separate albums at the same time) he decided to do it his own way. “It’s a pretty different process putting two records out in a row,” he says, “even doing more promo now, so quickly after having done a lot for the last record, is
was unavailable for one of the sessions and Hirst just happened to be in Byron at the time. “He’s one of the greatest drummers,” he says, “and that energy and power that he brings to stuff, he really brought that song up and gave it a good kick up the arse. He just made it have a lot more zing that I thought it was going to have. When you see someone that’s that good at something in action, whether it’s playing drums or snooker or tennis, it’s just awesome to watch.” Fanning admits that it’s a little difficult to get his head around the fact that he is now four albums and well over a decade into his solo career outside his former iconic rock act Powderfinger. “Yeah, it’s weird,” he states,
It’s more about saying ‘what’s next?’ rather than saying ‘weren’t we great’, and patting ourselves on the back
“it’s weird but it’s also just everyday reality. I obviously look back very fondly on my days in Powderfinger, I had a really awesome time and I’m really proud of what we did. But it’s not part of my everyday reality now. I’ve never been one to look back too much or to worry about what’s happened. “It’s more about saying ‘what’s next?’ rather than saying ‘weren’t we great’, and patting ourselves on the back. I certainly appreciate those days, I just don’t want to talk about it all fuckin’ day!”
What: Brutal Dawn (Dew Process/Universal) When & Where: 28 & 29 Oct, Factory Theatre
really unusual. I’ve never done it before. But it is a new record, and they kinda go together. It’s an unusual kind of situation. About half way through making the first one, we said ‘We’ve got heaps of material here, but we don’t want to make a 20-song album.’ So we did it over two. So we’re presenting them together and apart,” he laughs, “it’s an odd feeling but I’m really happy with it.” Fanning feels that he has upped the ante on the new album. “I feel I’ve bettered Civil Dusk,” he opines, “there’s always that novelty thing, that this is the new thing, but I just feel like this one just hangs together better.” He managed to secure the rather illustrious services of one of Australia’s greatest ever drummers, Midnight Oil’s Rob Hirst, on one of the key tracks on the album, America (Glamour And Prestige). His regular drummer
26 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017
Eat / Drink Eat/Drink
The Spirit Is Winning
Forget Vodka, Gin and Whiskey, there’s a world of weird and wonderful spirits waiting to be discovered. Here are four alternatives to the familiar staples you need to add to your cocktail cabinet.
Moonshine
Absinthe
Vermouth
Mezcal
Once a drink of ill-repute popular during America’s prohibition era, distilled from everything from corn mash to bits of wooden furniture, this high-proof spirit is a far more respectable drop today. So named as it was often distributed under the cover of night, contemporary varieties have a sweet, warm taste with a strong kick.
The drink of choice of Toulouse Lautrec and the Paris bohemians, Absinthe has an almost mythic reputation for its intoxicating powers. Because of its associations with the decadent excesses of artists and writers in the 19th-century, and a belief that it had powerful — although unfounded — hallucinogenic properties, it was banned in many parts of Europe and US.
Best known for its bit-part role in the classic Martini, vermouth is often overlooked as a drink in its own right. But this fortified wine is a delicious, complex, botanical delight that is more than worthy of a place in any self-respecting drinks cabinet. There’s a world of variety to be sampled, with dry, sweet, white, red, amber and rose vermouths, perfect in cocktails, in a spritz, or served neat.
Less famous than its cousin Tequila, this Mexican spirit is not widely available in Australian bars, but it’s well worth searching for. Distilled from the naturally sweet agave plant, it is believed to be an invention of the Spanish conquistadors, who began to experiment with distilling local plant life.
One to try:Distillery Botanica Absinthe Reverie is an award winning, all natural, Australianmade aperitif style absinthe based on a traditional 1871 French recipe. It is the first and only traditional French style absinthe distilled Down Under.
One to try:MAiDENii Classic is the signature bottle of Australia’s premiere vermouth specialists who use 34 different botanicals to give their spirits incredible depth of flavour. The secret of their process is a melding of flowers, fruits, herbs and spices from the gardens of the both the old and new worlds.
One to try:Melbourne Moonshine Sour Mash Shine is high quality and Aussie-made, using corn mash from Victorian farms. Perfect as an alternative to vodka in cocktails, in punch, or for those who enjoy their spirits neat, over ice.
One to try:Agave De Cortes is one of three premium brands imported by the Bondi-based specialists Casa Mezcal. Distilled in the Mexican town of Santiago Matalan — the Mezcal capital of the world — this is a truly Authentic taste of Oaxaca made using techniques dating back two centuries.
THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 27
OPINION Opinion
The Get Down
Get It To g et her Hip Hop With
A
lmost everyone in a position to read this column is white or, to get a bit intellectual: James d’Apice socioeconomically white. This means that our engagement with black culture must always be that of an outsider looking in. The idea that white people can unproblematically engage with black culture is arrogant, and willfully ignorant. All of which is to say that the end of Baz Luhrmann’s The Get Down, a $120 million dollar Netflix love letter to the early days of hip hop, is not necessarily the tragedy some frame it as. If you’ve got a face full of Botox and only got interested in hip hop because you’ve been paid a fortune, it’s difficult to see the cancellation of your new program as especially sad. My response to the demise of Luhrmann’s TV show is reminiscent of the La La Land response I alluded to when I reviewed Bliss N Eso’s new album recently in these pages: white people commenting on black culture (and, in particular, presuming to do black culture “authentically”) sits uneasily. One of the most prominent features of white privilege is the ability to forget how privileged we are. Well, I would like to do my bit to say: no more. No matter how many times a Moulin Rouge director namechecks Rahim (and spells his name wrong) or how sick your mate’s flow is, remember hip hop is an artform we are so desperately fortunate, and so far from entitled, to spend any time with.
Wa ke The Dea d
Punk And Hardcore With Sarah Petchell
T
his week’s column might not be very punk rock related, because it’s about the death of Chris Cornell. But here’s my personal connection Soundgarden were my favourite of the Seattle music scene of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s even though, unlike their fellows, they were more influenced by Black Sabbath than by punk rock. They were my introduction to heavy music and without Soundgarden, I wouldn’t have
28 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017
Dance Moves
Jlin
developed the love and passion for punk and hardcore that I have today. And the vocals of Chris Cornell were the sound of Soundgarden. My love of the band is inextricably linked with my love of his vocals. So finding out that he had passed away was quite distressing for me. I found out when I pulled my car into a car park for an appointment. I sat in my car for 15 minutes trying to figure out whether it was true or a hoax, and then trying to come to an understanding of what had happened. Then the news that he had committed suicide came through the next morning. And what was already quite a shock, became something really sad. So for me, this whole experience of dealing with the grief around the death of a hero has become about being a better friend to friends that experience mental health issues. It’s about checking in occasionally and making sure that they’re ok. It’s about being there for them when they need to talk. I’m not the best at this, but I’m trying, and I think that’s the best that we can all do.
OPINION Opinion
New Currents
O
ne quality about With Tim Finney Chicago’s footwork scene which has always felt very 21st century to me is the sense that many of the producers aren’t necessarily trying to make grooves that “work” in any conventional sense: the archetypal footwork track - with its clipped, syncopated mid-range kicks seeming to come too fast and its halting snare crashes seeming to follow too slow - literally feels like dance music for aliens, the rhythms tapping into some kind of joint and limb arrangement that operates according to an entirely inhuman logic. So one way you know that Indiana’s Jlin (real name Jerrilynn Patton) is not - or perhaps is no longer - a “real” footwork artist is that her grooves by contrast seem to work too well, attaining a formalist beauty and grace quite distant from that of her Chicago compatriots. On her 2015 debut album Dark Energy, Jlin wove footwork’s signature traits stuttering, multilayered percussion at both the high and low-end, impacting riffs and chopped up, miasmic vocal samples - into a detailed, stereo panning, sound world of single-shot samples and clattering, scintillating percussive complexity. Most distinct in Jlin’s approach is the sheer expansiveness of her full-kit rhythmic palette, encompassing an array of possible tones and timbres and enabling her to assemble rhythm tracks of painstaking but dazzling chromatic complexity. Unlike most “proper” footwork, Jlin’s productions rarely if ever feel awkward, their stutters, staggers and lurches recontextualised into a kind of modern ballet. The just-released follow-up Black Origami is perhaps a subtler album than Dark Energy, but the difference is, well, subtle: rather than switch up her style, Jlin has instead chosen to intensify the labyrinthine intricacy of her grooves, marginally deemphasising the riff-driven intensity in favour of a different kind of tension. The arrangements derive their power and force from the closed-circle completeness of the rhythm tracks, which can start to resemble elaborately wrought iron cages: every conceivable space is filled by a gymnastic series of triple kicks, a clattering snare triplet or a ratatat military drum roll, all interlocking with inhuman grace. The best (if reductive) point of comparison may be Shackleton, whose similarly expansive full-kit falter-funk
productions such as Death Is Not Final and Hamas Rule constituted an equivalent rococo twist on dubstep’s staggering lowend dynamics ten years ago. One key difference between the artists is the comparative lack of noirish innovation in Jlin’s work: these tunes are eerie and at times foreboding or even menacing, but they’re so rhythmically irrepressible that the vibe remains somehow uplifting. And in feel - if not always strict sonics - Jlin’s music perhaps most closely resembles that moment in jungle/drum’n’bass where mindboggling complexity and physical economy remained in close communication: Dillinja’s The Angels Fell, FBD Project’s She’s So, Source Direct’s Computer State, Arcon 2’s The Beckoning. By its nature, Black Origami is not a proper entre to footwork as a genre. It’s defiantly its own beast, staking out novel sonic territory perfectly summed up by the album’s title: its intricate twists and folds creating geometric assemblages of uncanny poise.
the
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introducing your new podcast obsession
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THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 29
Album / E Album/EP Reviews
Album OF THE Week
Saint Etienne Home Counties Heavenly/[PIAS]/ Inertia
★★★★½
Miraculously, after 27 years as Saint Etienne, Bob Stanley, Pete Wiggs and Sarah Cracknell have found a way to sound more English than ever by conceptually celebrating, deriding and re-daydreaming the home counties that surround London with typically kitsch and swinging panache. Bob Stanley’s scholarly command of pop-styles provides a luxuriance of lyrical paronomasia and moreish candy choruses, gleefully bouncing around poptastic genres across the decades. Sean Connery’s 007 could knock back a martini to the ‘60s Motown stomp of Underneath The Apple Tree while Daniel Craig’s Bond would dig the more modernist Magpie Eyes. That’s not to say Home Counties gets tethered to ‘noir’ a la Portishead; kaleidoscopic colour comes via Dive’s glitzy disco dressed in denim and button badges. Sweet Arcadia’s epic-scale glumness could be their Ghost Town were Cracknell not enunciating every word like verbal Viagra. On Something New and the harpsichord kissed Take It All In, she could pass for Green ‘Scritti Politti’ Gartside’s doppelganger and Whyteleafe imagines what if David Jones’ star had remained claustrophobic-ised by drab municipality instead of ascending to become the Starman Bowie. What Saint Etienne’s ninth has pulled off is a document that wears their Britishness proudly and with good humour. An unexpected groovy treat. Mac McNaughton
alt-J
Dan Auerbach
Relaxer
Waiting On A Song
Infectious/Liberator
Nonesuch/Warner
★★★½
★★★
The third album from the British trio sees alt-J somewhat branching out from their original traditional nostalgic folk and dipping their collective toe into the world of almostelectronic music. This doesn’t quite work as well to their advantage — particularly on the fifth track Deadcrush, which virtually sounds like Joe Newman singing over what can only be described as trap-ish, electronic beats. Without a doubt the highlight of the album is the slow, creeping, delicate gem House Of The Rising Sun, closely followed by Hit Me Like That Snare (a slight nod to the sound of The Doors’ An American Prayer, perhaps?) — and with an eerie but also kind of gorgeous, wailing high-pitched screech. For the long-term fans and listeners
Regardless of whatever else is going on in the world, Dan Auerbach must be having a pretty good time right now. Having built his own studio in Nashville, Waiting On A Song was conceived by Auerbach and a whole heap of righteous old timers swinging by, including John Prine, Duane “Titan of Twang” Eddy and “some of the greatest musicians who have ever lived,” according to Auerbach. Waiting On A Song is perky, highly polished work that’s a long way from the bang and clatter of his day job with The Black Keys. No doubt lo-fi purists will pine for The Black Keys recorded-anywhere-but-astudio early works. They may have a point. Full of homey, feel-good toe-tappers like Shine On Me, Waiting On A Song is like some quality audio wallpaper. It’s easy on the ear, but there’s
30 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017
of alt-J, the catchy, slow burning In Cold Blood, the anthem-like Adeline and opening track 3WW are likely album favourites. Relaxer ends on the convincingly grand yet playful Pleader, a track that uses the flamenco guitar against Newman’s voice, church organ and presumably violin, to create an orchestral sounding summary of the album. All in all, there lies some interesting use of instruments and sounds in alt-J’s follow-up from their 2014 album This Is All Yours — albeit a little inconsistent. Tanya Bonnie Rae
not a lot of substance. There’s a bit of variety with the syrupy string-fest of King Of A One Horse Town and the hangdog miserablism of Never In My Wildest Dreams, but by and large it’s comfortable dad rock with not a lot of fresh inspiration. Now might be the time to stop partying and get back to work. Christopher H James
EP Reviews Album/EP Reviews
Chastity Belt I Used To Spend So Much Time Alone Hardly Art/Inertia
House vs Hurricane
Husky
All Time Low
Punchbuzz
Last Young Renegade
Filth
Liberation
Fueled By Ramen/Warner
UNFD
★★★
★★★½
★★★★
★★★½
Echoey and with a distinct indie twinge, Chastity Belt start charmingly mellow on I Used To Spend So Much Time Alone. Openers Different Now and Caught In a Lie deliver just enough heartbreak, supported by a jangly thin guitar line. Particularly sweet is the change in It’s Obvious, using slightly brighter tones and colours but with a lilting chorus. A distinct feeling of building frustration burns through as the album progresses, with Something Else showing real longing. There’s also something distinctly Smiths-like about 5am — only with a much better injection of local talent rather than borderline crazy Morrissey.
Although it’s unclear as to whether this band is back as a full-time concern, it’s great to have some new music from them. Especially when that new music sounds like Filth. The aptly titled LP is an incredibly nasty, destructive take on posthardcore. The riffs are jagged as all hell and the vocals are mostly dirty, with only a few clean melodic moments thrown in to provide some welcome dynamics to the mix. That said, the production is still clean, crisp and punchier than Mike Tyson in his prime. Filth is a steel-plated fist to the face that is very easy to listen to.
Husky pack a punch with their magical, hypnotic folk indie-rock melodies and Punchbuzz is filled with catchy but dark lyrics. Sung by Husky Gawenda, the dreamy vocals in opener Ghost get the groove going. Walking In Your Sleep gives off major Fleetwood Mac feels with opening guitars and folk rhythms that blow your mind. Late Night Store is a hidden gem; Gawenda’s vocals charm while the catchy indie beat gets you buzzing before Cut The Air, a mesmerising ballad with soul-searching rhymes and deep lyrics. Spaces Between Heartbeats is breathtaking with its soft synths that drift off into space and moody lyrics that finish off the amazing album.
Sure, music snobs and punk aficionados will turn their nose up at Baltimore pop punk group All Time Low, but Last Young Renegade shows that over the past 14 years the band have so tightly crafted a sound that they’re not pretending to be anything they’re not. This is FM radio-friendly music made for 20-somethings bred on a teenage diet of Simple Plan, Yellowcard and Fall Out Boy. Expert use of dynamics and harmonies, paired with the occasional rhythmic flourish, sees Last Young Renegade as good as anything All Time Low have delivered in the past decade, and a record that’s sure to translate well on stage.
Rod Whitfield
Liz Giuffre
Dylan Stewart
Aneta Grulichova
More Reviews Online Roger Waters Is This The Life We Really Want?
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Pete Murray Camacho
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THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 31
Live Re Live Reviews
The Avalanches @ Sydney Opera House. Pic: Simone Fisher
The Avalanches - Since I Left You Block Party Sydney Opera House 27 May
The Avalanches @ Sydney Opera House. Pic: Simone Fisher
The Avalanches @ Sydney Opera House. Pic: Simone Fisher
Fleet Foxes @ Sydney Opera House. Pic: Josh Groom
Fleet Foxes @ Sydney Opera House. Pic: Josh Groom
Skunkhour @ Metro Theatre. Pic: Josh Groom
32 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017
It turns out The Avalanches throw a pretty decent party. The Northern Broadwalk (still the most criminally underused gig location in the city) was transformed into a dancefloor, blessed with clear skies and mercifully free from rubberneckers, and energised with multiple talented artists. Said artists each had clearly defined ambitions that dovetailed nicely into a multifaceted showcase, with production values as high as the energy they generated. Briggs, a heavyweight rapper from regional Victoria, has a wry sense of humour that’s as central to his success as his verbal dexterity. His campaign for Prime Minister (“2019 - Good Enough For You!”) is off to a good start, thanks to a ripping show full of wit, warmth, and a dynamite turn from Total Eclipse (from turntablist freaks, the X-Ecutioners). DJ Shadow jumped on board, using Vivid as his Sydney slot on his The Mountain Will Fall tour. His spot eclipsed all others in terms of its technical excellence, but that shouldn’t surprise anyone familiar with Shadow’s formidable skill and precision. The visuals, courtesy of longterm collaborator Ben Stokes, were absolutely incredible, incorporating illustration, film and still photography, and computer-generated graphic design elements. Some, like his music, were lifted straight from recent clips, like Nobody Speak, The Sideshow, and title track The Mountain Will Fall. Shadow dug deep, playing both originals and remixes dating back to Endtroducing... His scratch work hasn’t diminished
(it would have been nice to see him juggle again), and his humble, unpretentious and open nature continues to be one of his best assets. His willingness to personally connect with the crowd is always great, and he almost invites you to get closer
Production values as high as the energy they generated. to his projects and methods. The Avalanches were a bit more straightforward. From the outset, they were just there to party. From a swinging reggae beginning, to club tracks, to their own eccentric brand of pop, the group shone. Frankie Sinatra and Frontier Psychiatrist made appearances, but they were not the loadstones supporting the set. It was all about fun, light, and movement, all of which they delivered. Matt MacMaster
Fleet Foxes Sydney Opera House 26 May After a five-year hiatus, Fleet Foxes return. Their third album, Crack-Up, drops in a matter of weeks, and judging from the new material liberally applied to their setlist, it’s dense, almost capricious songwriting that reflects a group wilfully pushing off from safe mooring. The golden harmonies remain, but, perhaps with the loss and replacement of Josh Tillman, they’ve consciously shifted the focus away from vocals, dropped the hooks, freed up the melodies, and added layer upon layer of instrumentation. The results are prismatic and
eviews Live Reviews
exhilarating. Tonally, the band has rebuilt itself. It’s a trip, and when played side by side with their older material, the difference is startling. Crack-Up opener I Am All That I Need/Arroyo Seco/ Thumbprint Scar, a six-minute opus of strings and cascading melodies fighting for attention, was first. Soaring three-part harmonies had to muscle through the wall of noise. Two more new tracks followed,
They’ve consciously shifted the focus away from vocals, dropped the hooks, freed up the melodies, and added layer upon layer of instrumentation.
Cassius and Naiads, Cassius. Great songs - if a little obtuse - but, predictably, it was only when they reached White Winter Hymnal that the crowd really responded. That, then moving through Ragged Wood into Your Protector, was worth the ticket price alone for many. Stylishly executed and handsomely rewarded, it was a gold medal run. Among the new material, Fool’s Errand and Third Of May/ Odaigahara stood out, the latter being a sprawling wonder, full of evocative imagery and bravura. The extended encore saw Robin Pecknold perform Tiger Mountain Peasant Song, a Bee Gees cover (In The Morning), and a full-throated version of
Drops In The River, a throwback to simpler times. Closing with Helplessness Blues rounded off a thrilling experience. The band challenged us. This marks the beginning of a fascinating arc in their career.
album, and their openness to discuss anxiety is admirable considering the tragic family history of the Larkin brothers (their father took his own life and their older brother, Gavin, founded R U OK? Day and died
Matt MacMaster
Skunkhour Metro Theatre 27 May Some albums are the soundtrack of a time in your life, and that can certainly be said for the second album from Sydney’s great ska-funk-rock-rap group of the ‘90s, Skunkhour. Feed was the album that broke them into the Australian and worldwide scene with its mix of slow funk grooves, high energy jams and sun-bleached raps that broke through the grunge wall of the mid ‘90s. Treacherous Head started the show after the five members - plus a percussionist and keyboardist - nonchalantly took to the stage to rapturous applause. The show flowed through the 11 tracks on the album, throwing out the ultra smooth Up To Our Necks In It featuring the perfect mix of the Larkin brothers - Del Larkin with his laid-back but perfectly cadenced raps and Aya Larkin’s sublime voice soaring in the chorus. The band were playing better than ever. Dean Sutherland on bass didn’t miss a note, holding down the low end with his brother Michael on drums. Many of the tracks depended on this solid back end to drive them, while Warwick Scott’s guitar chose the precise moments to dance above it. The dynamic on stage was one of joyous energy. Aya’s impressive flexibility on stage puts the crowd’s dancing to shame. There was an underlying positivity about the evening that ran through the themes on the
Ultimately, the night was one of celebration of lymphoma.) Ultimately, the night was one of celebration; of a band that has stood the test of time, an album that stands as an Australian classic and their fans that have loyally stuck by them. An encore set of tracks from their other three albums showed off the fantastic Breathing Through My Eyes and the rarely heard Chew from follow-up album Chin Chin. The encore of Do You Like It was surely a rhetorical question. The entire crowd were screaming their appreciation for a band that can return any time. Mick Radojkovic
More Reviews Online theMusic.com.au/ music/live-reviews
Methyl Ethel @ Oxford Art Factory The Music Of Cream @ State Theatre Julia Jacklin @ Metro Theatre Northeast Party House @ Factory Theatre Cash Savage & The Last Drinks @ Factory Floor The Smith Street Band @ Enmore Theatre Camp Cope @ Sydney Opera House Ryan Adams @ Hordern Pavilion Sampha @ Sydney Opera House
THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 33
Arts Reviews Arts Reviews
should bear one thing in mind: if you arrive expecting a pitch-perfect love letter to The Simpsons, you may be disappointed. Rather, this is a play about people and how they adore and interact with The Simpsons, how its meaning to them changes in a postapocalyptic world — or at least it begins as one, the ideas explored in this play are greater than the sum of its parts. Those parts being three acts. In the first, we are introduced to a rag-tag group of survivors and the repercussions of a campfire conversation in which they find solace and joy in attempting to piece together a Simpsons episode from memory alone. Through leaked morsels of information, we learn that society as we know it has been brought down by a mass failure of the power grid and subsequent fires, radiation leaks and generalised havoc. Several years after said conversation, in Act 2, we find them as a sort of travelling performance troupe re-enacting Simpsons episodes (complete with bastardised commercials), facing staunch competition against rival Simpsons recreationists (as each troupe barters for crowd-sourced recollections of lines and scenes from iconic episodes). Act 3, 75-years later, is a genuine balls to the wall pop-opera spectacular. The entire production value amps up, the lore gradually built up in the first two acts emerges in a spectacular display. The Simpsons have evolved into something scarcely recognisable. Mitchell Butel transforms into a sequin-encrusted Mr Burns, equal parts camp and savage. He’d just about steal the show if it weren’t for the impressive pipes on Esther Hannaford as a heroic Bart Simpson. This is not a play about The Simpsons. Rather, Mr Burns is a play about how we use popular culture as a common touchstone, how we contort narratives in order to help us understand our circumstances and to connect with our humanity.
Mr Burns: A Post-Electric Play
Mr Burns:
A Post-Electric Play Theatre Until 25 Jun, Belvoir St Theatre
★★★★ Mr Burns: A Post-Electric Play is a strange and marvellous mishmash of high-brow and lowbrow, with plenty of meaning and nuance to be teased from within. The Australian premiere of Anne Washburn’s theatrical metapiece, devised and first staged off-off-Broadway less than a decade ago, arrives on the Sydney stage via Adelaide thanks to a joint effort by Belvoir and the State Theatre Company of South Australia. Mr Burns comes bundled with a lot of hype, yet going in, audiences may well be better off going in knowing less rather than more. However, diehard fans of the four-fingered family
Alannah Maher
34 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017
20th Century Women
20th Century Women Film In cinemas now
★★★★ Writer-Director Mike Mills has impressed with earlier films Thumbsucker and Beginners, which won lead actor Christopher Plummer an Oscar. While Beginners was about Mills’s father, 20th Century Women is a loving dedication to his mother, played prodigiously by Annette Bening. It’s also a wonderful character study for all of its players. The setting is Santa Barbara 1979, where mid-50s single mother, Dorothea (Bening), owns a huge house where she lives with her 15-year-old son, Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann in a memorable performance). Also sharing the fixer-upper property are paying tenants — 26-year-old photographer Abbie (Greta Gerwig) and William (Billy Crudup). Rounding out the extended family is Jamie’s childhood friend, the depressed and sexually experienced Julie (Elle Fanning). It’s a great cast and they seem to relish Mills’ insightful and refreshing script that takes us through the political, cultural and musical signs of the times — from Abbie, with her dyed red hair dancing her cares away at punk concerts, to everyone watching President Carter give a badly received speech on TV, to Jamie enjoying the exhilaration of skateboarding. The plot ambles along, taking you on its journey, with the one major inciting incident causing Dorothea to think that Jamie needs more than her for adolescent guidance. Rather than asking a male to mentor him, she enlists Abbie and Julie to help him become a ‘good man’, resulting in humour as they introduce him to feminist literature. Jamie takes it to heart and gets punched out by a young thug when he tells him his girlfriend probably isn’t having an orgasm if he isn’t giving her clitoral stimulation. 20th Century Women does indeed look at that era’s impact on the women in it, with Dorothea’s life spanning the 1920s to nearly the turn of the millennium. It uses music, voiceover narrations from the characters, photographs and other archival footage to weave its spell of nostalgia, hope, and love. It’s a winner. Vicki Englund
THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 35
Comedy / G The Guide
Orsome Wells
Wed 31
Hemingway
Vivid presents: Molotov Comedy with Rhys Nicholson + Luke Joseph Ryan + Jen Carnovale: B.E.D. Bar, Kings Cross SOSUEME feat. I Know Leopard + Moonbase (FKA Moonbase Commander) + Mimi + The Jensens: Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach Bonnie Tyler + Rick Price: Canberra Theatre Centre, Canberra
The Music Presents Mick Thomas & Roving Commisission: 2 Jun Leadbelly; 3 Jun Lizottes Newcastle Horrorshow: 16 Jun ANU Bar Canberra; 17 Jun Enmore Theatre; 7 Jul University Of Wollongong; 8 Jul Bar On The Hill, Newcastle Orsome Welles: 30 Jun Factory Theatre; 1 Jul The Basement Luca Brasi: 1 Jul Metro Theatre Bello Winter Music Festival: 6 - 9 Jul Bellingen Two Door Cinema Club: 21 Jul Hodern Pavilion The Lemon Twigs: 22 Jul Oxford Art Factory Sigur Ros: 25 Jul Hodern Pavilion Vera Blue: 28 Jul The Academy Canberra; 29 July Metro Theatre; 31 Aug UniBar Wollongong; 1 Sep The Beery Terrigal; 8 Sep Bar On The Hill Newcastle At The Drive In: 29 Sep Hodern Pavilion
Slava Grigoryan + Australian String Quartet: City Recital Hall, Sydney The Black Sorrows + Vika & Linda Bull + Colin Hay + Mental As Anything + Deborah Conway: Civic Theatre, Newcastle Emie R Roussel Trio: Foundry 616, Sydney Craig Calhoun: Frankie’s Pizza By The Slice, Sydney
Out Of This World
Shelley’s Murder Boys + The Villebillies: Gasoline Pony, Marrickville
‘Astronaut reggae’ pioneers Hemingway are currently wrapping up their Kingdom Come tour and on Friday, Hotel Steyne will welcome them for the second last gig of their massive 16-stop tour. Get amongst it!
Vivid Music presents Jade Imagine: Golden Age Cinema & Bar, Surry Hills Sun Sap + The Jim Mitchells + Rosa Maria: Leadbelly (formerly The Vanguard), Newtown Live & Local feat. Sienna Graczyk + Lilli Crane + Boots Porter: Lizottes Newcastle, Lambton Donny McCaslin Group: The Basement, Sydney Ted Nash: The Bourbon, Potts Point
The Subterraneans: B.E.D. Bar, Kings Cross
Ultimate Eagles: State Theatre, Sydney
Joel Leffler + Forgiveness Flowers: Brass Monkey, Cronulla
Hollie Col + Naomi Nash + Lishi: Staves Brewery, Glebe
Emma Pask: Camelot Lounge, Marrickville
Vivid New Music at the Con with SCM Modern Music Ensemble: Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Sydney
Caravan Slam: Camelot Lounge (Django Bar), Marrickville 12 Point Buck + Hotdad + Logan: Captain Cook Hotel, Paddington
I Know Leopard
Vintage & Custom Drum Expo: 8 Oct Factory Theatre
Sydney Comedy Festival Showcase: Comedy Store, Moore Park
VIVID Live presents: Repressed Records 15th Anniversary feat. Total Control + Severed Heads: Sydney Opera House (Northern Broadwalk), Sydney
Bonnie Tyler + Eurogliders + Rick Price: Enmore Theatre, Newtown
Alt-J: 9 Dec ICC Sydney
Out of Nowhere: Gasoline Pony, Marrickville Vivid Music presents Tim Wall (Royal Headache): Golden Age Cinema & Bar, Surry Hills
The Lonely Leopards Before I Know Leopard begin their support duties for Montaigne, they’ll be swinging by Beach Road Hotel’s Sosueme on Wednesday with Moonbase, Mimi and The Jensens. Chances are they’ll be treating the crowd to their latest single, Rather Be Lonely.
The Walking Who + Tyne James Organ: Hotel Steyne (Moonshine), Manly Lisa Caruso and Donna Amini Frank Sultana: Leadbelly (formerly The Vanguard), Newtown Steve Tonge: Observer Hotel, The Rocks Donny Benet + Mossy: Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Ash Hendricks + SUIIX + Froyo: Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Songs On Stage feat. Russell Neal + Jason Mertell + Pauline Sparkle: Paddington RSL, Paddington Mary Coughlan + Helen Shanahan: Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham
Joyce Manor + Oslow + Carb on Carb: Transit Bar, Canberra City
Early Show with Mick Thomas & Roving Commission: Smiths Alternative, Canberra
Thu 01
Mick Thomas & Roving Commission + Raised By Eagles: Smiths Alternative, Canberra
San Cisco + Thelma Plum: ANU Bar, Canberra
36 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017
Busby Marou + The Teskey Brothers: Southern Cross Club, Woden
Double Trouble Lisa Caruso and Donna Amini are joining forces at Midnight Special this Thursday. The duo’s eclectic music styles will be sure to astound and invigorate the audience on what is sure to be a special night.
Vivid LIVE presents Nick Murphy (FKA Chet Faker): Sydney Opera House (Concert Hall), Sydney Vivid LIVE presents The Preatures: Sydney Opera House (Drama Theatre), Sydney
Gigs / Live The Guide
Handle With Care: Central Hotel, Shellharbour City Centre
Mary Coughlan: City Diggers, Wollongong
Thundamentals
All That I Think About Thundamentals are taking a break from dominating the ARIA charts so they can pay a visit to the Enmore Theatre on Saturday. Unless the freakin’ Thundamentals weren’t enough, Big Village Allstars and Coda Conduct are also slated to appear.
Mista Nige: The Basement, Belconnen
Nathan Flint: Heritage Hotel, Bulli
Hemingway + Sundown State: Hotel Steyne (Moonshine), Manly
IGNITE: Symphonic Dance Anthems with Various Artists: City Recital Hall, Sydney
The Wonder of You with Elvis Presley: International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC), Sydney
The Bootleg Beach Boys: Club Forster, Forster
Set Mo: King Street Hotel, Newcastle West
The Australian Blink 182 Show: Colonial Hotel, Werrington
Gostwyck: Lass O’Gowrie, Wickham
Sydney Comedy Festival Encore Showcases: Comedy Store, Moore Park
Mick Thomas & Roving Commission + Raised By Eagles: Leadbelly (formerly The Vanguard), Newtown
The Walking Who + Tyne James Organ: Coogee Bay Hotel (Selina’s), Coogee
The Matchbox Tribute Show: Lizottes Newcastle, Lambton
Vivid LIVE presents Nick Murphy (FKA Chet Faker): Sydney Opera House (Concert Hall), Sydney
Touch Sensitive + Elizabeth Rose + Annie Bass: Sydney Tower Eye, Sydney Johnny G & The E-Types: The Basement, Sydney
Whelan & Gover: The Bourbon, Potts Point Bands On Stage feat. Red Whiskey + Napoleonic + more: The Gaelic Club (1st Floor), Surry Hills Nunchukka Superfly + Shinu Gnu + Japanese Death Machine: The Hideaway Bar, Enmore
Comedy Night with Julia Wilson + Jen Carnovale + more: Coogee Diggers, Coogee Jimmy Bear: Coolibah Hotel, Merrylands West Flamin’ Beauties: Crown Hotel, Sydney 3 Way Split: Crowne Plaza Terrigal (Florida Beach Bar), Terrigal San Cisco + Thelma Plum: Enmore Theatre, Newtown Rock Agenda: Epping Hotel / Tracks, Epping
Kenny Barron Trio: The Basement, Sydney Glen Esmond + Tony Deveaux + Pasko Schravemade: The Louis (formerly Lewisham Hotel), Lewisham
The Hideaways + Tinderry + Mumbofish: Factory Theatre, Marrickville Boo Seeka: Family Hotel, West Tamworth
Blues Jam with Merewether Fats: The Stag & Hunter Hotel, Mayfield
Glenn Esmond: Fortune of War Hotel, The Rocks
Charlie & Jenson: The Temperance Society, Summer Hill
Kavita Shah + Steve Newcomb: Foundry 616, Sydney
Polish Club: Transit Bar, Canberra City
The Bravados: Gasoline Pony, Marrickville
Baby Animals
Co-Host With The Most Fellow Aussie rock outfits Baby Animals and The Screaming Jets have teamed up for a national tour. The two bands will be switching up headlining duties at each gig, so find out who’s headlining next at Metro Theatre Saturday.
Pirra: Union Hotel, Newtown Deadly Deadly + Space Boys + Bleeding Gums: Valve Bar (Basement), Ultimo
Paul Dempsey: Manning Bar, Camperdown Vivid Music x Signal Response with Buzz Kull + Muscle Memory + Autosuggest + more: Metro Theatre (The Lair), Sydney
20th Century Dog: Venue 505, Surry Hills The Nature Strip + The Blue Rinse Set: Vic On The Park, Marrickville
Fri 02 Irie Mann: B.E.D. Bar, Kings Cross
Diesel: Mounties (Starz Function Room), Mt Pritchard Mick Thomas & The Roving Commission
Winters End: Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst One Love: Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle West Dave + E4444E + Nicholas Conners + Mild Manic: Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle West Jamie MacDowell + Tom Thum: Camelot Lounge (Django Bar), Marrickville Wendy Matthews: Camelot Lounge, Marrickville Jesse Bloch: Candys Apartment, Potts Point
Taking The Mick Mick Thomas is grabbing his band The Roving Commission and heading to Leadbelly this Friday. The music veteran will be proving that he’s still got it when he swings by to promote his latest album, These Are The Songs.
Vivid LIVE feat. Goldfrapp: Carriageworks, Eveleigh Baby Animals + The Screaming Jets + Palace Of The King: Castle Hill RSL, Castle Hill
Andy Golledge: Grand Junction Hotel (The Junkyard), Maitland
Jr & the Jewel-Tones: The Merton Hotel, Rozelle Stormcellar: Town Hall Hotel, Newtown
Blake Wiggins + James Brennan: Observer Hotel, The Rocks
Mix n Match with Various DJs: Valve Bar (Basement), Ultimo
Fleshgod Apocalyspe + Earth Rot + Rise Of Avernus + The Seer: Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst
Rumpelstompskin + Pakman + Formationz + more: Valve Bar (Level One), Ultimo
PM Fridays feat. Quix + Sequel: Proud Mary’s, Erina Sam Lyon Duo: Quakers Inn, Quakers Hill Pals + Space Boys + Wavevom + Tottyband: Rad Bar, Wollongong One Hit Wonders: Revesby Workers (Infinity Lounge), Revesby Georgia White: St George Motor Boat Club, Sans Souci Ultimate Eagles: State Theatre, Sydney
Vivid Music presents Body Type: Golden Age Cinema & Bar, Surry Hills
What The HECS?! feat. Balko + The Vinyl Press + Blue/Green + Monica & the Explosion: The Loft, UTS, Ultimo
Project Collective Ska + Cosy Bosom + Blackbird Hum: Venue 505, Surry Hills Smitty B Goode: Vic On The Park, Marrickville
Sat 03 Sydney Comedy Festival Showcase 2017: Anita’s Theatre, Thirroul Vivid presents The Mighty Reapers: B.E.D. Bar, Kings Cross
The Sweet Jelly Rolls: Surly’s, Surry Hills
The Particles: Bald Faced Stag (Front Bar), Leichhardt
Vivid LIVE presents Bill Callahan: Sydney Opera House (Drama Theatre), Sydney
Yours feat. Dibby Dibby Soundsystem: Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach Body Count + A.B. Original + Void Of Vision: Big Top Sydney, Milsons Point THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017 • 37
Comedy / G The Guide
Chunk + The Distractions + Andrew Sundance Moverley: Brass Monkey, Cronulla
DJ Treble n Bass + Animal Ventura + DJ Soup + Ines: The Newport, Newport
San Cisco
Dragon: The Oaks Hotel, Albion Park Rail
Prints Familiar + The Southend Rainbows: Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst
AJ Dyce: The Push, The Rocks
The Upbeats: Bull & Bush, Baulkham Hills
King Tide + Trouble in Paradise: The Rhythm Hut, Gosford
Ministry of Sound - The Reunion Tour 2005 x 2008 feat. Bang Gang DJs + Goodwill + John Course + The Potbelleez + Tonite Only: Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle West
Vibes for Tribes: The Small Ballroom, Islington Halfway Homebuoy + Red City: The Stag & Hunter Hotel, Mayfield
Nadya & the 101 Candles Orkestra: Camelot Lounge, Marrickville
Mark Crotti: Twin Willows Hotel, Bass Hill
Jamie MacDowell & Tom Thum: Camelot Lounge (Django Bar), Marrickville
San Cisco + Thelma Plum + Pacific Avenue: Uni Bar, Wollongong
Arcane Echo: Candys Apartment, Potts Point Vivid presents Cosy Nook with Vanessa Wagner: Captain Cook Hotel, Paddington The Macs: Carousel Inn, Rooty Hill Ben Pearce: Chinese Laundry, Sydney Soundproofed: Club Cronulla, Cronulla Boo Seeka + Gold Member: Coffs Harbour Hotel, Coffs Harbour Troy Kinne: Comedy Store, Moore Park Sydney Comedy Festival Encore Showcases: Comedy Store, Moore Park Thundamentals + Big Village Allstars + Coda Conduct: Enmore Theatre, Newtown One Love: Factory Theatre, Marrickville
World War XXXIV + Rust + Two Faced: Valve Bar (Basement), Ultimo
Time Together
Obession with Various Artists: Valve Bar (Level One), Ultimo
They’ve come a long way since their Awkward days and San Cisco continue their upward trajectory at the renowned Enmore Theatre. Scramble to grab the remaining tickets to their Friday show with Thelma Plum.
Terry + Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys: Vic On The Park, Marrickville
Sun 04 Sydney University Jazz Society Big Band: Foundry 616, Sydney
Abbalanche - The Australian ABBA Tribute Show: Pittwater RSL (Auditorium), Mona Vale
Afternoon Show with Los Romeos Oxidados: Gasoline Pony, Marrickville
Set Mo + Kinder: Proud Mary’s, Erina
Los Monaros + The Beaut Utes: Gasoline Pony, Marrickville
Papa Pilko & The Bin Rats: Rad Bar, Wollongong
Vivid Music presents The Singing Skies: Golden Age Cinema & Bar, Surry Hills
Agent 69: Revesby Workers (Infinity Lounge), Revesby
Dave Wells: Grand Junction Hotel (The Junkyard), Maitland
Lucas Farrell: Rocks Brewing Company, Alexandria
The JP Project: Harts Pub, The Rocks
Cath & Him: Rooty Hill RSL (Corona Terrace), Rooty Hill
Ghosting If you can’t find Gostwyck on Lass O’Gowrie’s list of upcoming gigs, rest assured they’re playing – they’re just hidden under the name “Ghostwyk”. That just adds to their mystery though right? Catch the elusive rockers this Friday!
Burning Season + Year of The Rat + Controlled + Mental Cavity: Factory Theatre (Fuse Box), Marrickville Black Party feat. Nobody’s Home + Edenfall + Consequential Karma + Stinky Lungs: Factory Theatre (Factory Floor), Marrickville Benj Axwell: Fortune of War Hotel, The Rocks
DK & The Rising Sun: Hotel Steyne (Moonshine), Manly From London to The Moon! - A Duff-Odyssey Retrospective with Jeff Duff: Leadbelly (formerly The Vanguard), Newtown Mick Thomas & Roving Commission + Raised By Eagles: Lizottes Newcastle, Lambton All Ages Matinee Show with Vini Vici: Max Watt’s, Moore Park
Craig Calhoun: B.E.D. Bar, Kings Cross Rooftop Sundays Winter Closing Party with Various DJs: Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach The Noughties: Bull & Bush, Baulkham Hills San Cisco + Thelma Plum: Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle West Mic Conway’s National Junk Band + Azo Bell: Camelot Lounge, Marrickville Ben Goldstein: Camelot Lounge (Django Bar), Marrickville
Bill Frisell + Petra Haden: Seymour Centre (York Theatre), Darlington
God’s Broccoli + Grace Brown Music + The Marrakesh: Captain Cook Hotel, Paddington
Sierra Boggess: State Theatre, Sydney Vivid LIVE presents Bill Callahan: Sydney Opera House (Drama Theatre), Sydney Vivid LIVE presents Richie Hawtin + Trinity + Mad Racket DJs: Sydney Opera House (Northern Broadwalk), Sydney Vivid LIVE presents Nick Murphy: Sydney Opera House (Concert Hall), Sydney
Vini Vici: Max Watt’s, Moore Park Baby Animals + The Screaming Jets + Palace Of The King: Metro Theatre, Sydney
Vivid LIVE presents In Conversation with Nick Murphy + Lauren Taylor: Sydney Opera House (Concert Hall), Sydney
Songs On Stage feat. Russell Neal + Warren Munce + more: Orange Grove Hotel, Lilyfield
Vivid LIVE presents In Conversation with Richie Hawtin + Ben Marshall: Sydney Opera House (Concert Hall), Sydney
Cloud Control + Brightness + OKBadlands: Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst
Dr Packer + Casual Connection: Sydney Tower Eye, Sydney
Slim Jeffries: Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst
Buffalo Revisited: The Bridge Hotel, Rozelle Nathan Barato: The Burdekin, Darlinghurst
Big Way Out + Jive Bombers: Penrith RSL (Castle Lounge), Penrith Mary Coughlan: Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham
The Jensens + Top Lip + Pleasure Coma + Wawawow: The Chippendale Hotel, Chippendale Aubrey & Purton: The Merton Hotel, Rozelle
38 • THE MUSIC • 31ST MAY 2017
Satellite V: 4 Pines Public House, Newport
Flamin’ Beauties: Royal Hotel, Springwood
The Radiators: Heritage Hotel, Bulli
Gostwyck
The Bootleg Beach Boys: Wentworthville Leagues Club, Wentworthville
Frank Sultana
Nothing Sinister Frank Sultana is out supporting his latest single, Loving You, with a national tour of the same name. Next in his sights is Leadbelly this Thursday, so grab your tickets for a night of bearded blues.
Gigs / Live The Guide
Sunday Social with Eye On You: The Bridge Hotel, Rozelle
Boo Seeka
The Lazy Crows: The Merton Hotel, Rozelle Ted Nash: The Mill Hotel, Milperra
DJ Phil Toke + Jeremy Gregory + DJ Cool Hand Luke + Duan & Only + Slam Duncan: The Newport, Newport Michael Dimarco: The Push, The Rocks Shawn Lidster: The Stag & Hunter Hotel, Mayfield Tara Favelle: The Village Inn, Paddington The Tall Grass: The White Horse, Surry Hills The Walking Who
Steve Edmonds: Towradgi Beach Hotel (Sports Bar), Towradgi Vulturous + Wicked Children + more: Valve Bar (Basement), Ultimo
Walk This Way
DJ Meem: Vic On The Park, Marrickville
Wollongong’s The Walking Who will be showcasing their current repertoire of psyschedelic tunes at Selina’s this Friday. Singersongwriter Tyne-James Organ will be sure to expand his already impressive fan base when he joins The Walking Who on stage.
Dappled Cities + Red Riders + DJ Tyson Koh: City Recital Hall, Sydney
DJ Graham M + DJ Alex Mac: Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly
Hardcore Love Fest - A Fundraiser for Spice with Def Wish Cast + Bingethinkers + Sleeping Monk + more: Factory Theatre, Marrickville
Dan Mullins + Dean Michael Smith: Observer Hotel, The Rocks
Ted Nash + Michael Kopp: Fortune of War Hotel, The Rocks
Afternoon Show with Cafe of the Gate of Salvation: Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham
Australian Van Halen Show + Poison’us + Born Jovi: Frankie’s Pizza By The Slice, Sydney
Ben Pearce: Rhonda’s, Terrigal
Mon 05 James Muller David Theak Organ Transplant: Foundry 616, Sydney Songs On Stage feat. Russell Neal + Paul Ward + Kenneth D’Aran: Kellys on King, Newtown
Sydney Con International Jazz Festival: Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Sydney
Mick Thomas & Roving Commission + Ayleen O’Hanlon: Hotel Gearin, Katoomba
Vivid LIVE presents The Necks: Sydney Opera House (Drama Theatre/3.30pm), Sydney
Rachel Maria Cox + Lincoln Le Fevre + Pinch Hitter: Lass O’Gowrie, Wickham
Vivid LIVE presents The Necks: Sydney Opera House (Drama Theatre), Sydney
Lazy Sunday Lunch with Andy Firth’s Nova Swing Jazz Band: Lizottes Newcastle, Lambton
Arocknophobia: The Beach Hotel, Merewether Matt Toms: The Bourbon, Potts Point
M AD CDs
If you’ve only just got Boo Seeka’s earworm Fool out of your head, prepare for another few months of consistent humming. The duo will be heading to Family Hotel on Friday for a night of infectious jams.
Ari Hoenig Trio: Venue 505, Surry Hills
Tue 06 The Traffic Jam: B.E.D. Bar, Kings Cross Open Mic Night with Champagne Jam: Dundas Sports Club, Dundas
Boo Seeka: Panthers, Port Macquarie
Sara Tindley + Nic Payne + Peter Black: Gasoline Pony, Marrickville
Seeking A Fool
Songs On Stage feat. Russell Neal + Pauline Sparkle: Gladstone Hotel, Dulwich Hill The Laugh Stand with Bec Charlwood + Ben Darsow + Paige Hally + Mitch Garling + Mark Pitman + more: Harold Park Hotel, Forest Lodge Cloud Control Songs On Stage feat. Stuart Jammin: Kellys on King, Newtown
Proud Control Still reeling from the release of their latest single Rainbow City, Cloud Control will be hitting up Oxford Art Centre on Saturday to celebrate. Joining the festivities are Brightness and OKBadlands.
Author Talk with John Safran: Leadbelly (formerly The Vanguard), Newtown Diamond Dave & The Doodaddies + Dom Zurzolo : Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham
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