The Music (Sydney) Issue #201

09.08.17 Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture

Issue

201

Sydney / Free / Incorporating

J E N CLO H E R

... A N D T H E I SSU E S T H AT A R E I M P O RTA N T TO H E R

TO U R : R A I SE D BY E A G L E S R E L E A SE : P LG R M S R E L E A SE : S A SKWATCH

2 • THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017

THE MUSIC, MINNOW & CO, COLLECTIVE ARTISTS AND INERTIA MUSIC PRESENT

ONE FOOT IN TOUR SEPTEMBER 2017 WITH SPECIAL GUESTS

25 AUG 01 SEP 02 SEP 08 SEP 09 SEP 15 SEP

WORKERS CLUB, GEELONG THEATRE ROYAL, CASTLEMAINE REPUBLIC BAR, HOBART CORNER HOTEL, MELBOURNE FAT CONTROLLER, ADELAIDE PLAYERS BAR, MANDURAH

16 SEP 22 SEP 28 SEP 29 SEP 30 SEP 01 OCT

ROSEMOUNT HOTEL, PERTH THE NORTHERN, BYRON BAY OXFORD ART FACTORY, SYDNEY THE SMALL BALLROOM, NEWCASTLE YOURS & OWLS, WOLLONGONG TRANSIT BAR, CANBERRA

TICKETS & INFO ALIBARTERMUSIC.COM

A SUITABLE GIRL OUT NOW THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017 • 3

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BASEMENT

THU 10TH 8PM

BASEMENT

FRI 11TH 9PM

“DURRY” ARE BRINGING THE HOUSE DOWN WITH SUPPORT FROM “LOOSE UNIT”, “CRUST FUND KIDS” AND GUESTS

“SKIZOPHRENIA” (-JAPAN) INVADES SYDNEY!

FRI 11TH 10PM

BASEMENT

SAT 12TH 8PM

SAT 12TH 10PM

BASEMENT

WITH SUPPORT FROM “ENZYME”, “RAPID DYE”, “GREY PLACES”, “ERASER” LEVEL ONE

LEVEL ONE

SUN 13TG 2PM

BEATSMITHS PRESENTS:

MAILER DAEMON

WITH SUPPORT FROM PRAYER HAND,

EMOJI I, NONNE X LOOPSANCTUARY NIGHTCLUB PRESENTS:

BANGARANG: NEVER GROW UP

HARD DANCE, HAD TRANCE, HARDSTYLE, REVERSE BASS, UK HARDCORE, HAPPY HARDCORE, POWERSTOMP, HARDCORE WITH DJ’S CAYZA, ZARIO, THE KHEMIST, ENERGISER BUNNY, FOLK, HAVOC, SCATTERLIE, HOSTED BY MC RIDDLE

SLAPDASH RECORDS PRESENTS:

INSTITUTIONALIZED FEST V

FEAT: “RISE OF AVERNUS”, “DISPARO”, “SPEEDBALL”, “TWOFACED”, “VULTUROUS”, “LAST”, “CRASH & THE CRAPENTERS”, “THE HANNIGANS”, “REAPER”, “PANIK”, “DURRY”, “CHILLAUM”, “CUNDALINI’S REVENGE”

SANCTUARY AUGUST 12 SYDNEY’S PREMIER ALTERNATIVE CLUB NIGHT FEATURING BEST ALTERNATIVE DJ’S AND PERSONALLY RECOMMENDED

BY IAN ASTBURY OF “CULT”

COMING UP

Thu 17 Aug: 8pm Basement: “Pezcobar” Are bringing Hot August Funk supported by “Funk Engine” and “Moolk” in the night of hot grooves; Fri 18 Aug: 8pm Basement: “Black Jesus” vs “Darkhorse” supported by local legends “The Plague”, “Horizonous” and “Disparo!”; 10pm Level One: Where.M.I. presents night of Future Beats/Future R’n’B night with Flexmami, Ebony Boadu, Watermelon, Jaim, hosted by Uforiel, music from the likes of Kaytranada, Masego, Goldlink to sounds from Swindail, Esta and Mr. Carmack; Sat 19 Aug: 8pm Basement: Dirthouse Agency presents: “Beast Machine” support by “Red Gazelle”, “By The Horns”, “Chillaum”, “The Defiant Few”, :”Facing Zero”; 10pm Level One: DeepSapce Sydney, ESF and Indali Records presents: Dark Obsessions, A Psychedelic Adventure through Dark Psy-Trance and Deep Space feat: Windowpain (Greece), Eclipsical, Twisted Jester, Kisentric, Mud, Dj Batz; Sun 20 Aug: 2pm Basement: Damage Control Fest with “The Violet Stones”, “The Bright Sides”, “As We Fall”, “Starting Monday”, “Stone Free”, “No Offence - Band”, “Five Ash”, “Vacant Shade”, “Aaron Symonds” and more

THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017 • 5

Music / Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture

Clubville

The Growlers

Californian outfit The Growlers will be making their way to Australia for a run of shows along the east coast this November in support of their 2016 full-length, City Club.

Saskwatch

The Kite String Tangle

Kite In Flight Following last month’s release of his self-titled debut album, The Kite String Tangle has announced he will head out on an Aussie headline tour in October with fellow Brisbane acts, Golden Vessel and Austen.

Saskwatch Out! Celebrated Melbourne ensemble Saskwatch are celebrating the fresh release of their fourth studio full-length, Manual Override, with the announcement of a massive 14-date national tour lasting from early October through mid-November.

26

Tired Lion

We Ain’t Lion It remains to be seen whether triple j’s Hottest 100 will remain on this date in January after the radio station starting seeking its listeners’ opinion about when the countdown should be held.

6 • THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017

Perth rockers Tired Lion have dropped Fresh, the new single from their upcoming debut album Dumb Days. They’ve also announced they will take the album around the country for a headline tour after its September release.

Arts / Li Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture

Credits

Publisher Street Press Australia Pty Ltd

On The Dash

Group Managing Editor Andrew Mast

Celebrated emo outfit Dashboard Confessional will return to Australia for their first shows in five years next month on a whirlwind three-date east coast tour that will stop in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Dashboard Confessional

National Editor – Magazines Mark Neilsen Arts & Culture Editor Maxim Boon

Gig Guide Justine Lynch gigs@themusic.com.au Contributing Editor Bryget Chrisfield

Editorial Assistant Sam Wall, Jessica Dale KELIS

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 Brad Edwards sales@themusic.com.au

RNB There

Art Dept Ben Nicol, Felicity Case-Mejia

RNB Fridays Live have announced a massive lineup led by Craig David. The UK artist will be joined by a slew of fellow headline acts including KELIS, Sean Paul, Kelly Rowland and more in October.

Admin & Accounts Ajaz Durrani, Meg Burnham, Bella Bi accounts@themusic.com.au Distro distro@themusic.com.au Subscriptions store@themusic.com.au Contact Us Suite 42, 89-97 Jones St Ultimo Phone: (02) 9331 7077 info@themusic.com.au www.themusic.com.au

Riding PT

Future Of The Left

— Sydney

Welsh alt-rock faves Future Of The Left will return to Australian shores in January next year.

Revisiting our neck of the woods in support of their fifth studio full-length, The Peace And Truce Of Future Of The Left.

THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017 • 7

Music / Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture

Professor Shari Forbes

Cracking The World Of Forensics This Friday head to the Powerhouse Museum to catch Professor Shari Forbes keynote speech on forensics, death and decomposition as both the ambassador for this year’s Sydney Science Festival and the mind behind the Blue Mountains’ ‘Body Farm’.

UV Boi

*I see a guy with a shark tooth necklace* ME: Holy shit, that’s sharpest part of a shark. Who is this mysterious and brave hunk?

Lit There has been plenty of activity from UV Boi’s camp this week. Not only has the Brisbane producer dropped latest single All I Want, but he’s also announced a new EP and a national tour in September/ October.

@thenatewolf

Choc On The

City2Surf

Rocks Sydney’s celebration of all things cocoa returns with Smooth Festival Of Chocolate In The Rocks this Saturday and Sunday. There’s delicious options from countless chocolatiers, from Chocolate 5018 to Achocolypse.

City2Surf2Pub City2Surf returns to Sydney this Sunday and the folks at Bondi’s Beach Road Hotel are throwing the after party. There will be DJs spread across four rooms and two levels, including Captain Franco and Luen Jacobs, and food from BL Burgers.

8 • THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017

Arts / Li Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture

Fly Folds

Ben Folds

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Ben Folds has confirmed that he will be return to Australia in February for two-part solo piano shows; the first half a curated set, the second handed to the audience for a Paper Aeroplane Request show.

Frontlash No Spoilers

If you haven’t tried it already, grab Game Of Spoils for your Chrome browser – it blocks potential Game Of Thrones spoiler posts.

Overdose Of Reality We’re having internal mad villain laughs over how many new reality shows are struggling in the ratings. Hopefully it forces the networks to be better.

Alanis Morissette

Lashes

Oils In Pictures

A new doco about Midnight Oil has got funding from Screen Australia, so we’re keen to see where this takes us,

PIC: Botany View Hotel. Pic by Cole Bennetts.

Isn’t She Iconic For the first time in almost two decades, Alanis Morissette heading our way. The revered Canadian songwriter will head Down Under in January for intimate acoustic concerts in Melbourne and Sydney.

Backlash Bad Jeans

Levi’s ‘Live In Music’ menswear campaign seems pretty ill-advised – certainly badly timed – given the current gender disparity in music. Here’s hoping we see an equal amount of attention paid to women in the industry.

Muse

Dig Down Under

Botany View Hotel

Returning for their first shows since 2013, UK heavyweights Muse have confirmed they will be back in Australia this December for two epic arena concerts in Sydney and Melbourne.

A new DA is proposing four storeys of apartments right next door to the Botany View Hotel in Newtown – which makes us worried as you know these things never end well for a venue, even when it’s been there for yonks.

Producer Loss It’s been a bad week for those behind the desk with the passing of noted producers and engineers Anthony Lycenko and Tony Cohen.

THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017 • 9

Music

DAY D R E A M N AT I O N Bryget Chrisfield sits down with Jen Cloher to discuss where she’s at in life, the particular struggles Australian artists face and how hard she’s tried “to understand how things like Brexit and Trump and Abbott happened”. Cover and feature pics by Tajette O’Halloran.

A

s soon as we pressed play on Forgot Myself, the lead single from Jen Cloher’s upcoming record, excitement set in. The distant guitar picking, jaunty drums, sneaky bass and Cloher’s deliberately over-it vocal tone (“You’ve been gone so long you could’ve been dead”) swirl around, gradually building to become a dervish of frustration — expressed both instrumentally and vocally — until the arrangement implodes and resolves.

Sitting inside Thornbury’s Short Round cafe wearing a black jumper, Cloher jokes that she feels like The Fonz as she bids one journalist farewell while inviting us join her at a corner table. There’s a sense that Cloher’s self-titled fourth album will usher in the success she so richly deserves — it’s definitely her time/turn — and Cloher admits she’s “really loved talking about the record”. “It feels like because it’s had an international release as well, and there’s a team in the UK and a team in the States... Just having that scope to be able to really go for it, you know? Has been really fun.”

As well as writing “from [her] own rich life experience”, Cloher considers, “I feel that in this album I also step to the side and start to talk about my view of the world, or my view on certain issues, or trying to make sense and understand the world that I’m currently living in. And I think that’s why I decided in the end that there was no title that suited it better than Jen Cloher, because it does really sum up where I am right now in my life — what’s going on, what I’m thinking about, the issues that are important to me, what I’ve been through recently. I mean, anyone who comes to my music — whether they know much about me at all — would’ve been curious, like, ‘I wonder what it’s like being with a partner who is also in the same profession who all of a sudden became one of the hottest acts in independent music around the world?’... So, you know, I’m telling them,” she laughs.

“I think it’s an interesting record, you know, to have discussions around because it’s not just talking about a broken heart or missing someone from afar; I mean, there’s deeper issues in there. And it’s a very Australian album and I think also — I’m not sure, but it feels like maybe one of the few Australian albums that really talks about the 10 • THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017

To read the full interview head to theMusic.com.au

music industry, and not in a romanticised way. You know, songs like Shoegazers and Great Australian Bite — I’m really having a conversation directly there to people who work in the music industry: to artists, to those who have gone before us... I just think acknowledging that there has been struggle; that it’s been a really hard country to grow up, as an artist, in.”

Cloher’s band is rounded out by musicians she shares with other bands: partner Courtney Barnett on guitar, Bones Sloane (also in Barnett’s band) on bass and Jen “Sholaki” Sholakis (also in East Brunswick All Girls Choir and Jade Imagine) on drums. As such, Cloher admits that “just finding the time for [her] music has been a bit of a struggle”. Those lucky enough to catch Cloher and co performing as part of the Milk! Records residency that took over Coburg RSL recently would find it hard to believe that the band didn’t rehearse much beforehand. “We’ve played together for a long time and we record a lot of our albums live,” Cloher points out, “and so it doesn’t take too long to kind of get us in shape. But I’m excited about touring, because we’ll actually get to play a good sort of 16 or 17 shows in a row — so in Australia, then to Europe, then to England — which’ll be great for our band, ‘cause we’ve never really been able to do that.”

The bulk of Cloher’s latest set was recorded at Jumbunna in South Gippsland, Victoria in “about eight or nine days”. Greg Walker “helped produce and record” and Cloher enthuses, “He’s a genius”.

‘I wonder what it’s like being with a partner who is also in the same profession who all of a sudden became one of the hottest acts in independent music around the world?’

“It was so great, because it took us all out of our lives,” Cloher recalls of this isolated recording experience. “We were able to go home at the end of the day and cook meals with our partners there and pets — Sholaki had her dogs... I wanted to include partners, because I’d gone through the experience of music kind of separating me and Courtney, and I know what it feels like to spend a lotta time away from your partner because of music.” And Bones’ and Sholaki’s partners were even called upon to supply BVs. “They came in and sang on Strong Woman in the choir,” Cloher confirms.

Bones stars in the music video for Regional Echo, the next single to be lifted from Cloher’s self-titled set. Cloher came up with concept, which follows Bones back to his hometown of Goulburn, and Annelise Hickey, who directed the Forgot Myself clip, was also recruited to direct.

“It’s really funny, actually. I saw that [the Regional Echo clip] was on the Goulburn city council page or something like that, and all of these people from Goulburn have come to the Jen Cloher Facebook page and just left comments under the clip, going, ‘Oh, my god! That’s next to your dad’s shop!’ or, ‘Oh, that’s near your street!’ Just Goulburn spotting, which is really sweet.

“It wouldn’t be hard, I think, for people from other countries to see themselves in that clip as well,” Cloher continues. “Maybe the landscape’s different... but I think it’s a really common experience all around the world, you know. I think the reason why we saw someone like Trump being voted into office is that there’s all of these people that feel very kind of cut-off and ignored, and they’re not living in the big cities, and they feel like they haven’t had a voice for a long time... I really had to try to understand how things like Brexit and Trump and Abbott happened. How did we get to a point where this happened? And a lot of the album was about me trying to make sense of a world that I’m not a part of, and I don’t live in.

“You get out of the cities and you start to see the real Australia, the real America, the real UK — it’s not what we know, you know? In our sort of left-leaning arts culture, inner-city living... I guess I was trying to step outside of that understanding... It’s worthwhile, it keeps me from becoming too narrow-minded myself and I think it also helps me to really stand by what I believe in. You know, if I understand the other side and really go in depth into understanding how someone might think

of immigration, for example, or how they might think about marriage equality from the other side; it gives me, I dunno, a more intelligent place to present my own argument or my own viewpoints.”

For the music geeks among us, Cloher’s self-titled album contains many nods and references to iconic artists and songs. Kinda Biblical includes a lyrical nod to Sonic Youth’s Kool Thing: “[In Kool Thing] Kim Gordon says, basically, ‘Are you gonna liberate us girls from white male capitalist culture?’ — something along those lines. I probably haven’t quoted that correctly, but that’s the idea. And I felt like it really ties in with what was happening in America with this white male capitalist culture, which has taken over lots of the world.”

A couple more lyrical nods to listen out for? “Dirty deeds done dirt cheap”; “Wide open road” and “watching the Dirty Three” — fun game, huh?

When we ask Cloher if we’ve missed any other sneaky references, she offers, “I do reference The Rolling Stones in Forgot Myself, where I say, “You’re ridin’ ‘round the world, you’re doin’ this and you’re signin’ that,” which is from [(I Can’t Get No)] Satisfaction... I snuck in a John Lennon quote in Waiting In The Wings where I say, you know, ‘I’m lost/Planning or remembering/I don’t remember,’ and, um, ‘Plans are disappointments waiting in the wings/Life is what happens when you’re making them’ — you know, that great Lennon quote [“Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans”].

“Oh, I also reference — it’s not a reference from a song, but I reference Slim Dusty where I say, in Sensory Memory, ‘I guess I’m never gonna be the Joy to your Slim Dusty’. So Joy Dusty was incredible... [she] basically went out on the road in a caravan with Slim and their kids, home schooled them in the caravan, wrote most of his songs — like, wrote at least half of the songs — managed him, was totally in there, you know, she really was the business of Slim Dusty... [In Sensory Memory] I’m just saying, ‘I’m probably not gonna be that person that’s out on the road with you living the touring life, because it’s not for me, like, it’s too hard,” she laughs.

We discuss the importance of maintaining your own identity and Cloher opines, “I mean, I’m 43, you know? I’m not a kid anymore. I’m sure had I been the same age as Courtney — and she’s 30, or nearly 30 — when all of this stuff happened, maybe I would’ve been like, ‘Let’s do it!’ you know? Like, ‘I’ll go out on the road and party on and just take each day as it comes,’ but I’m just at a different place in my life.”

After our interview concludes, we wander towards the counter to settle up. But Cloher makes a detour to what she laughingly refers to as “my office” — another cheeky reference to The Fonz.

What: Jen Cloher (Milk!/Remote Control Records) When & Where: 25 Aug, Oxford Art Factory

P O ST- C A R E E R E N V Y Jen Cloher has always been upfront about the “personal nightmare” of trying to address the envy she experienced while watching her partner Courtney Barnett’s career trajectory skyrocket (see the transcript of her excellent keynote speech at One Of One’s inaugural Women In Music Breakfast in the blog

section of her website). But these days, Cloher says she’s learned to understand and “somehow put that experience into some kind of perspective”.

“Courtney’s been back in Australia for a year, we’ve been working really hard with Milk!

Records — she’s been home every day, you know,” Cloher

tells of more recent times before adding, “I’ve been the one that’s been going away for conferences and things, so of course it feels very different.

But I’m aware that, you know, probably in another year’s time [Barnett’s] gonna be back in a pretty heavy touring cycle, which is how she has to make

her living. And I guess it’ll be interesting to see how it feels the second time around, but I do think that I have a lot more understanding and tools and, you know, wisdom around how I might structure my life for those long periods.”

THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017 • 11

Music

Golden Eagles Things were a bit leery at the eyrie to start, but guitarist and vocalist Luke Sinclair tells Martin Jones that Raised

By Eagles are in fine feather on their third LP, I Must Be Somewhere.

I

n the space of about five years and exactly three albums, Melbourne country/rock outfit Raised By Eagles have gone from playing for kicks and a few admiring friends, to a touring band with awards, a record label and an audience. That has meant facing a few changes.

“You develop this idea of your audience, which we never had before,” says singer/guitarist Luke Sinclair discussing the experience of making third album, I Must Be Somewhere. “So you’re thinking about them, thinking about, ‘are they gonna like it? Is there enough lap steel on

this song? Should I write a song that’s more true to the reason that our fans liked us in the first place?’ All those kind of things start playing on your mind.”

Of course, things that sound radical and risky to the artist might be barely noticeable to the objective listener.

I Must Be Somewhere sounds like no one but Raised

By Eagles, rich with heart, songcraft, and Nick O’Mara’s trademark slide guitar. “I think I realised that as we were working on it,” agrees Sinclair. “And especially after we’d finished working on it: we can’t really help sounding like who we are. The four of us are still the guys writing the songs and arranging the songs and playing the songs and there’s a certain energy that comes from that in itself.”

12 • THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017

It felt like there were other things at play, which were new for us. Which was a reason why I was apprehensive about the record. But I’ve fallen for it.

That said, the four-piece had probably more outside input than ever before, with a label (ABC) and producer (Shane O’Mara) both invested in the process.

“Well I mean the ABC, the only influence they really had was making an eight-track album a ten-track album,” Sinclair reveals. “Because traditionally the first two were eight-track records... So we had to make sure we had ten good songs, because we didn’t want to put any filler on there.

“And Shane as a producer, it was great to work with someone who had ideas for songs that I never would have thought of... So the influence was positive. But yeah it was a bit more than just the four of us. It felt like there were other things at play, which were new for us. Which was a reason why I was apprehensive about the record.

But I’ve fallen for it.”

It’s true. Where last record, Diamonds In The Bloodstream, stepped up and dazzled in the first couple of listens, I Must Be Somewhere sneaks up on you.

Sinclair and I spend a good half-hour trading admiration for The War On Drugs album Lost In The Dream, an important influence on the slow-burning tone of I Must Be Somewhere.

“The more songs you have, the harder it is to come up with a setlist,” Sinclair considers of how the new album has affected the live show. “Some of those old ones are starting to collect a bit of dust. But now we’re doing this headline tour it’s going to be good. When you do a headline tour you can play longer sets, so we’ll be dusting those ones off. I’m looking forward to playing them again.”

What: I Must Be Somewhere (ABC/Universal) When & Where: 11 Aug, Leadbelly; 12 Aug, Grand Junction Hotel, Maitland

105 VICTORIA RD, MARRICKVILLE

FACTORYTHEATRE .COM.AU

THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017 • 13

Culture

That’s What He Said Jaime Morton recounts the harrowing moment he discovered his dad’s creative side, and how it all turned into a successful podcast series, to Guy Davis.

P

ornography and your father - that’s two things you may care about deeply, but wish to keep completely separate. Spare a thought, then, for UK author/ comedian Jamie Morton, who a few years ago received news of the creative pursuit his dad had engaged in during the early part of his retirement.

“He told me he wrote a book, which I thought was amazing,” recalls Morton. “And he said he was going to send me the first few chapters, but not to tell the girls; meaning my mum and my sister. I should have smelt a rat immediately when he said that, but I didn’t.”

It’s been shared around like a dirty little secret.

When the first pages of his father’s opus arrived via email, Morton was a little taken aback. After all, he was expecting a spy novel “or something swashbuckling with pirates”. What he received, however, would change his life forever. Because under the pen name Rocky Flintstone, Morton’s dad had written the erotic adventures of kitchenware saleswoman Belinda Blumenthal. Yep, that’s right: Morton’s dad wrote a porno.

And while Morton initially found himself thinking he should close his laptop and forget all about the very existence of Flintstone’s smutty saga Belinda Blinked 1, which saw Ms Blumenthal enthusiastically dallying with everyone from a lusty duchess to a micro-cocked Texan, curiosity prevailed. Good news too, because that was the origin of My Dad Wrote A Porno, a podcast that has generated a cult following worldwide.

14 • THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017

Alongside friends and comedy colleagues Alice Levine and James Cooper, Morton regales listeners with a chapter of Belinda Blinked a week, the trio affectionately ripping Flintstone’s god-awful prose to shreds when they’re not falling about in peals of laughter. Oh, and occasionally reminding Morton that his 60-something father is the man responsible for some explicit-butdecidedly unsexy descriptions of the act of lovemaking.

“Yeah, Alice needs to stop doing that,” smiles Morton.

“Every time I think I’m close to getting a handle on it, she’ll go, ‘You know it’s your dad, right, Jamie?’ How could I ever not be aware that my dad wrote this? It’s forever present in my mind. Disturbing on so many levels but, fuck me, it’s funny.”

The notion of the podcast came about when Morton started reading selections from the first Belinda Blinked novel (yes, the first - the podcast is current in the middle of the third book and there are more to come) to a handful of mates, including Levine and Cooper, down the pub one night. “They’ve all known my dad for a decade or more and they thought it was brilliant,” he says. “And we started doing what we do on the podcast, dissecting it as I read it.

James, Alice and I have done little projects together ever since we met - we did a web series before My Dad Wrote A Porno - and it felt like this was a natural next project for us.”

Morton admits that he was worried the whole thing would fall flat, that no one would find My Dad Wrote A Porno particularly funny - a distinct possibility when it describes its half-naked heroine with the words, “Her tits hung freely like pomegranates,” or deploys the odd gynaecological term “vaginal lids”. But it has found its audience, and Morton is especially pleased that it has done so organically. “It genuinely feels like a show that has become a hit through word of mouth,” he says. “It’s been shared around like a dirty little secret.”

And now My Dad Wrote A Porno is going from the airwaves to the stage, with Morton, Levine and Cooper bringing their show Down Under for a series of live shows after successful performances in the UK. “When my dad started writing, he would send me all this crap sometimes just bullet points, sometimes actual sentences - and one of the chapters he wrote never ended up in a book, but I thought it was just amazing,” says Morton.

“Last year we were invited to take part in the London Podcast Festival - they said we should do a live show, and we were working out the form it should take - and I remembered the chapter no one had heard, and it became the special chapter we read at the live shows. And then there’s audience participation, video components, reenactments of certain things. We never get to experience people’s enjoyment of the podcast because, well, it’s a podcast. People get in touch via Twitter and such, which is lovely, but to see and hear the live reactions to dad’s writing has been so much fun. We’d love to do that all over the world.”

That’s what she said. Oo-er!

What: My Dad Wrote A Porno When & Where: 19 & 20 Aug, Sydney Opera House

TRIVIA IS SO 1985.

(ANTI -TRIVIA IS THE FUTURE ...AND IT INVOLVES EWE.)

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with Maxim & Sam

introducing your new podcast obsession

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THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017 • 15

Music

Going Global Saskwatch’s Nkechi Anele and Liam McGorry still despair over Australian musicians’ struggles for recognition without global validation, Cyclone discovers when she sits down with the pair.

M

elbourne’s Saskwatch may be identified as a cult neo-soul collective. But, following the heavier grooves of 2015’s stunning sleeper Sorry I Let It Come Between Us, they’re now going fully psychedelic with Manual Override. “If you haven’t listened to our last album, this will kind of come as a shock sound-wise,” advises frontwoman Nkechi Anele.

Anele is seated in a cafe beside Liam McGorry - Saskwatch’s primary songwriter (and multiinstrumentalist) - and the two typically rep Saskwatch in interviews. The music media has mythologised

I was at WOMAD[elaide] at the start of the year and [Hiatus Kaiyote singer] Nai Palm was in the crowd... no one knew who she was.

Saskwatch as uni students who regularly busked outside Flinders Street Station. But, McGorry counters, that phase has been “blown a little bit out of proportion”. In fact, Saskwatch crystallised after local DJ Vince Peach offered them a residency at Cherry Bar’s soul night.

McGorry started presenting the then-covers band with original material. And Anele replaced an earlier vocalist.

In 2012, a nine-piece Saskwatch debuted with the festive Leave It All Behind via Northside Records - the indie label promoting Melbourne’s soul boom. In the meantime, the acclaimed live performers headed overseas. Saskwatch hit 2012’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival, their schedule so gruelling that Anele damaged her voice. “I had to go and have vocal therapy to get back to being able to talk - let 16 • THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017

alone sing,” she recalls.

For that ambitious third album, Sorry I Let It Come Between Us, Saskwatch journeyed to Philadelphia to record with producer Scott McMicken - the guitarist from the indie-rock combo Dr Dog. However, the exchange wasn’t what the Aussies expected. “Philly was great and not so great, in a lot of respects,” McGorry begins. “The experience of it was awesome. We were basically in a warehouse for two weeks - staying in there and recording in there and just hanging out in there. So that was great fun. But it wasn’t really that conducive to making the best record, as we thought it was gonna be.” Regardless, Anele suggests that Sorry I Let It Come Between Us was “a good turning point”. “We’d reached a stage where the band knew what it wanted to sound like. We didn’t really need somebody from outside of the band to come in and try and make an album different to how we’d already thought about it.” Returning home, Saskwatch underwent significant line-up changes - losing their horn section and drummer. McGorry eventually determined to produce Manual Override with guitarist Rob Muinos.

McGorry acknowledges that Manual Override - led by the fuzz-rock December Nights - is far removed from neo-soul. Yet Saskwatch never perceived themselves as strictly belonging to any genre - or scene. “The first album was a pretty soul-influenced kind of thing,” McGorry concedes. “For a while, we did love soul music - and love making soul music. [But] I guess it’s always been just one of a number of influences.” His references for Manual Override were those hybrid - and mutable musicians Beck and The Avalanches.

Being a smaller unit has freed Saskwatch up to experiment, explains Anele. “Because of this dramatic change that we’ve had, with the loss of an entire horn section, one of the first things that we realised is that there was so much space for us individually within the band to create sound. I think that’s probably why the more psychedelic sound is now coming to the forefront, because there is the room to move it there, whereas before we would still try to maintain an even balance between all the people that were in the band - and, when you have nine people, that’s a bit hard.” Indeed, Manual Override actually has string arrangements. “I think that brought a really new dimension and dynamic to the album.” Mind, Saskwatch’s “constant” is Anele’s soulful delivery.

Aiming for international dates in 2018, Anele has despaired that Australian musicians struggle for recognition - until they receive global validation. Even then, our mainstream lags. “I was at WOMAD[elaide] at the start of the year and [Hiatus Kaiyote singer] Nai Palm was in the crowd,” Anele tells. “When she’s in the crowd of people from her home country - no one knew who she was. When she stepped backstage, with people literally from all over the world, they were like, ‘Oh my god - how are you here and walking around?’”

What: Manual Override (Grow Yourself Up) When & Where: 26 Oct, Uni Bar, Wollongong; 27 Oct, Oxford Art Factory; 28 Oct, The Small Ballroom, Newcastle; 29 Oct, Long Jetty Hotel

THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017 • 17

Music

Heat Seeka Ben Gumbleton tells Rip Nicholson that Boo Seeka’s new album is “like a photo album” that takes the pair back to where various samples were recorded.

I

ndie-electronica duo Boo Seeka, comprised of Newcastle’s Ben Gumbleton and Sydney DJ Sam Croft, came into 2017 running. On the back of three massive singles since 2015 - Kingdom Leader, Deception Bay and Fool - they’ve been touring non-stop since February, around the world in 40 shows. All from the jump of an encounter between two blokes at a pub - hardly grounds for their apparent success.

“I’d never known Sam until four days prior to going into the studio to write Kingdom Leader,” tells Gumbleton.

“We wrote that and Deception Bay on the same day after just throwing around ideas in the studio. Then a

If you told me that I’d do all that in two-and-a-half years I’d have said, ‘What drugs are you on? ‘Cause I’d be fucking keen to try those!

Due to a heaving tour schedule, their new album Never Too Soon was devised in any downtime they could find. “We don’t find any boundaries to [writing] music,” Gumbleton explains. “I mean, there’s no right or wrong to record a loop on a mobile phone in a carpark then fuck with it on the computer.

“There’s parts of samples in there that we can hear a car horn in the background. It was just by sheer miracle that it just happened to be in the same damn key! It’s had a major influence on how this record has unfolded and definitely the environment has played a huge part in the textures of this whole album. It’s got a really unique sound and I’m really proud of that”.

Given the rich atmospherics and sonic exploration on the album, each track finds its own emotive surface for a story. It’s no wonder The Maitland Mercury once referred to this duo’s art as a “dream-tronica, soul and folk hybrid”. However, for Gumbleton and Croft, the album is chock-full of Kodak moments. “In a way, this whole album for me and Sam is like a photo album because we listen to it from front to back and we’re like, ‘Remember when we did that sample on a plane heading to Nashville?’ and, ‘Remember when we did that in a car park in Portland?’ It’s been a massive travel diary for us.”

What: Never Too Soon (Sureshaker/ADA) When & Where: 6 Oct, Manning Bar; 7 Oct, Uni Bar, Wollongong; 21 Oct, Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle; 18 Nov, Academy, Canberra

week later Kim Churchill heard Kingdom Leader and offered us a spot on his tour.” But with only two songs for a proposed half-hour set, five days later Croft and Gumbleton found themselves “in a car writing music to perform that night.”

Deception Bay landed smack in the middle of triple j’s Hottest 100 (2016), Boo Seeka headed out on a national tour, and played packed tents at both Splendour In The Grass and Groovin’ The Moo. When asked whether he had any clue that Boo Seeka would experience such a rapid rise, Gumbleton admits, “Hell, fucking no! I know it’s probably the most cliched thing to say, but there’s no way in a million years I’d have thought we’d be where we are by any means.”

18 • THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017

Music

Hammer & Tongs Phil Slabber outlines the future plans for Crooked Colours and explains to Rod Whitfield why they’re now running on all cylinders.

T

his coming October sees Perth-based indie electronic outfit Crooked Colours embark upon their first true overseas tour. They play a whole gamut of dates across the month throughout Central Europe, with just one of those dates falling in an English-speaking nation. Phil Slabber is a little nervous about their first full-blown jaunt abroad, with the latter point causing him the most consternation.

“Yeah, I definitely am [nervous],” he admits, “I’m a bit worried about the language barrier. We’ll see how we go, it should be okay.”

Do you have anyone in the band or touring party who speaks any of those middle-European languages?

“No, but I speak Afrikaans, so that’s a little bit Dutch, right?” Slabber laughs, “hopefully that’ll help a bit.”

Prior to that however, the band head off on a tendate tour of their homeland — which takes in every mainland state — in celebration of the release of their new album Vera, which came out in lateJune. While their sound on record is a little low-key, Slabber promises punters that they pep things up a little bit in a live setting.

“We’re going to bring it pretty high energy,” he describes, “the record, when you sit down and listen to it, it’s pretty chilled, but we’re going to ramp it up for the live show. I’m going to try to get a bit of interaction happening with the crowd, and we like to keep it nice and sweaty in the live shows. We want to see people up and dancing.”

The band return from Europe in late October, but they are far from done for the year at that point — early 2018 is looking pretty busy for the band too. “We’re

...We’re going to knuckle down and get the next record written and finished so that it’s not another two-year process between releases.

going to try to do a few festivals come summer,” he reveals, “we’ve got a couple of yet-to-be-announced festies over the break. Then we’re in the process of organising a North American run for March.

“So we’re all engines firing at the moment, we’re looking at a pretty big six-to-eight months.”

This is in marked contrast to the 18-month period leading up to the release of Vera, when the band struggled a little with the writing process and with some personal and collective demons that existed within their ranks. “We kinda [got] bogged down with the writing,” he recalls, “and there was a bit of self-doubt, and questioning what we wanted to do. Then we all moved states, and a whole bunch of other stuff, we got really sidetracked for a while. But we got back on track and we’re completely focused now.”

So much so that they now feel super confident in setting medium to longer term goals for themselves and the band’s career. “Yeah, definitely,” he confirms, “we’re going to try and knock out this album’s touring schedule, and then we’re going to knuckle down and get the next record written and finished so that it’s not another two-year process between releases.

“We want to follow it up pretty quickly.”

What: Vera (Sweat It Out) When & Where: 10 & 11 Aug, Oxford Art Factory; 30 Sep, Yours & Owls Festival, North Wollongong; 25 Nov, Spilt Milk, Canberra

THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017 • 19

Music

Raw Power Self-described “vinyl hoarder guy” Lance Ferguson talks to Cyclone about all the projects he’s juggling including latest album and remix project in one, Raw Material.

L

ance Ferguson is a contender for Melbourne’s most prolific music-maker. Aside from being The Bamboos’ bandleader, he is involved in Cookin’ On 3 Burners and records solo records as Lanu. Now the rare groovester is presenting his first project under his own name. And Raw Material is especially ambitious, if not upfront. Ferguson himself struggles to precisely describe it.

In fact, Raw Material is an album and remix compilation in one - with impeccably curated coproducers and vocalists. “I guess the idea initially was, I want to make an album - like a single 12-track album - but I want to create that album out of samples

Stay? (starring Kylie Auldist). However, of the 35-plus participants, the one who most surprised Ferguson was an old DJ/producer pal. “Ennio Styles took [the brief] one step further. He sampled the track I gave him, but he also used only things out of my back catalogue to create the song he did - which I thought was kind of cool. He called it Lanthology, ‘cause he’s a mastermind of wordplay.”

Raw Material is being released as a double-album - the earlier songs forming “a companion piece”. “It’s become this sort of ‘concept’ album - I hate to use that word - but now you see where the music came from,” Ferguson suggests. “But, again, I feel like it shouldn’t be mired down in that concept. It’s really important for me that both the originals and the reconstituted songs stand up as pieces of music on their own two feet and aren’t reliant on that concept to get them across the line.”

A New Zealand expat, Ferguson put Melbourne on the soul map when his group The Bamboos debuted with 2006’s Step It Up on the UK’s Tru Thoughts label.

Still, in a sly nod to Australia’s pub-rock tradition, the collective’s last outing, The Rules Of Attraction, featured

It’s really important for me that both the originals and the reconstituted songs stand up as pieces of music on their own two feet.

You Am I’s Tim Rogers as vocalist. Today Ferguson is an esteemed producer, even supervising Bobby Fox’s cover of You’re The Boss with supermodel Miranda Kerr.

Ferguson is working towards a live incarnation of Raw Material, centred around turntablism. But he already has fresh studio gigs. He’s mixing a set from his cult, spiritual-jazz vehicle Menagerie. Meanwhile, The Bamboos have wrapped their eighth album, due in early 2018. Enthuses Ferguson, “I’m sitting on a few unreleased things that I’m really looking forward to seeing the light of day.”

that I’m also going to create myself,” Ferguson relates.

Those samples would be sourced from “fully finished songs” the guitarist cut with musicians from Melbourne bands such as Hiatus Kaiyote. Indeed, “in the spirit of this whole beat-digging culture”, Ferguson pressed two vinyl singles for every track - giving one to each guest producer to flip, while keeping the other (“I’m that vinyl hoarder guy”). He solicited singers and MCs - several, pertinently, local (Cazeaux OSLO, Jace XL): “It seems like there’s a golden period of soul-influenced music in all its permutations in Australia right now.”

Raw Material’s highlights include the discofied All I Got (led by Californian avant-soulstress Brit Manor) and Late Nite Tuff Guy’s warehousey Do U Want Me 2

20 • THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017

What: Raw Material (Warner)

Music

Still Hamjamming Hamjam’s Hamish Rahm shares with Rod Whitfield how an ongoing medical issue, offers from Pond and Methel Ethyl, and releasing independently all held up their new album.

T

he new album from Perthbased electro-pop duo, the enigmatically titled a/s/l?, has been a long, long time coming. Firstly, one-half of the duo, Hamish ‘Ham’ Rahm went through an extremely painful and rare illness during the writing process. Fully recovered now, Rahm is more than happy to speak candidly and good-naturedly about a very tough time in his life.

“We started recording and I got this thing called Pilonidal Sinus,” he recalls, “which really fucked me up for a good six months. Basically, I had an open wound in my back for about three months. It was just a really crook situation and it just took up a whole lot of time.

“Basically, it was fucked, to put it mildly.”

Secondly, musical opportunities came a-knocking for both Rahm and his partner in Hamjam, James ‘Jam’ Ireland at the same time. “By the time I was ready to start working on stuff again and chomping at the bit to get at it, James had accepted the gig to start playing drums for Pond, and I had accepted an offer to play guitar and synth in (Methel) Ethyl,” he says.

Lastly, but by no means least, the duo had actually done their own independent release of the album quite some time ago, but they received an offer from a prestigious indie record label to give a/s/l? a more formal and higher profile release. “It’s already been out in the world, and then it got taken down from the world, and now it’s coming back out again!

“We just put it up on the internet, probably a year ago,” he explains, “we sent it to Joe from Bedroom Suck (Records), and he said ‘can you take that down, I want to put it out’. So then we were like ‘hell yeah, that’s one of our favourite labels’.”

August 11th is the date the album finally sees the light of day in an official capacity, and this is bringing

much relief to Rahm and Ireland. He feels that it had stood the test of the time that it has taken. “I’m excited now, we’ve had a long time to look back at it,” he says, “I listened to it the other day, it came on my iTunes after a mix that I’d been listening to, and I was like ‘wow, this sounds good!’ I was stoked.”

Despite the fact that both members of Hamjam are in other high profile bands, and the fact that this duo is unlikely to take their sounds on the road with them for the foreseeable future, Rahm confirms that Hamjam is very much an ongoing concern and that they have big plans for it as they move beyond the delays and into the future.

“We never stop,” he states definitively, “we did an EP before this, now we’re working on kinda splitting the sound of the band in two. We’ve got Hamjam, which is the poppier stuff, and there’s Xamjam, which is the more Krauty, long form jam element of it. More like electronica I suppose.”

Basically, it was fucked, to put it mildly.

What: a/s/l? (Bedroom Suck/Remote Control)

THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017 • 21

CultureC Culture

FUNCTIONAL FITNESS F

rom the Bowflex to 8-Minute Abs, juice cleanses to the ThighMaster, not all fitness fads are made equal. The Jane Fonda-style aerobic sesh went the way of the perm some time ago and the king of the workout heap has clearly been CrossFit for some time — they’ve even basically got their own Olympics now.

But there’s new muscle maker on the playground, and if the CrossFit crowd aren’t your speed, but you still want to ‘whip’ yourself into shape, maybe F45 will be your ticket to a hot summer bod.

What Is It? First thing you need to know is the F stands for Functional, which is a word you can’t spell without fun. A quick look at their site leads us to believe both words are highlighted in the F45 dictionary.

It says right there on the tin that they specialise “in innovative, high-intensity group workouts which are fast, fun and proven to get rapid results” and plenty of people seem to agree. They’ve even managed to convince Hugh Jackman, the world’s most ripped 48-year-old and a man known colloquially as Huge Jacked Man. The main thrust of their program is that they’ve picked their favourite parts from three different training styles, taking aspects of High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), Circuit Training, and Functional Training, and melding them into a whole range of quick workout regimes. In their own words, they’ve crafted “27 different, 45-minute workout experiences” that focus on teamwork, innovation, motivation, and results — the idea being that the less tedious, isolating and ineffective someone finds their workout the more likely they’ll show up for session three or four.

Where Can I Get Involved?

Good news! If you are looking for a new way to get trim before spring has sprung there are F45 spaces popping up all over the place, at last count Australia had about 500 of them. Here in Sydney, the best place to get your sweat on is likely F45 Sydney CBD, 247 Pitt Street.

22 • THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017

Music

PLGRMage

PLGRMS’ Jacob Pearson and Jonathan Bowden chat with Jessica Dale about touring, having a million Spotify streams and how their latest single was two years in the making.

2

017 has been a big one for PLGRMS. They’ve spent time supporting Vera Blue on her previous tour and are currently travelling around Australia with Dean Lewis for his string of sold-out shows, and, somehow, they’ve also managed to get time in the studio to put together their latest single, Crawling Back.

“I was told to come up with something to say about it and I wrote it down and I don’t know if I should just try and read that because it kind of nailed it,” laughs singer-songwriter Jacob Pearson, when asked about the new track.

“Musically, it started, I think, in 2015 maybe. It was when the idea first came up and we started working on it back then and we had some lyrics for it originally that have been thrown out and replaced in the meantime, but musically I think it’s pretty well stayed consistent since back then,” adds multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Jonathan Bowden.

“Stuff that we’re writing now sounds a little bit different but I think it’s good in that way, in that it lets people see a bit more of who we are rather than releasing things that sound similar,” he continues. “It’s giving people a bigger view of who we are as a band, which I think is really cool.”

They maintain that while the song is different to their other works, it still retains the sound they’ve become known for.

“I think it still has our flavour. There’s always, I guess, ‘PLGRMS-isms’ in the music that we write,” says Bowden, as they both laugh at the newly coined term. “Whether that’s certain melodic phrases that we gravitate back to or structurally, but I think it’s evolving gradually and I think it’ll always be evolving. I don’t think you’d want to stay the same as a musician or a writer. It keeps it interesting for you if you’re always trying to do something a bit different.”

Crawling Back follows up a pretty successful stint of songs for the duo, with their track Fools And Their Gold having hit well over a million listens on Spotify.

“That was crazy. I’ve never been a part of anything that’s been as successful,” says Pearson. “I’m not one to feel proud and confident of things, but that was probably one of those moments for sure.”

They plan on following up their recent successes and new single with an EP to come out later this year, as well as their own headlining tour.

“We’ll put the EP out and then do our own run of dates and then hopefully we’ll jump on some festivals at the end of the year. I think the plan is in the summer is just to go back into the studio again. It’s always handy to have songs up your sleeve, then you have a choice when it comes to what’s next,” explains Bowden.

“We’ll do our own [tour] as well, which’ll be really fun. Kind of a bit more freedom in terms of time and set length and whatever else we want to do.”

“And sound check,” interjects Pearson, laughing.

It’s Fer-Real!

Will Ferrell, Sam Simmons, No Activity

Yep, that’s right, Aussie TV series No Activity is scoring a US adaptation thanks to Will Ferrell’s production company, Gary Sanchez. The eight-part series will begin shooting in late 2017, with No Activity creator Trent O’Donnell and lead star Patrick Brammall confirmed as showrunners and executive producers.

Jungle’s Jason Burrows and Joe Farrell will also serve as executive producers.

No Activity has already enjoyed two successful seasons in Australia on Stan featuring an impressive cast that includes Tim Minchin, Sam Simmons, Harriet Dyer and Darren Gilshenan. There’s no word yet on how much Ferrell himself will take part in the US adaptation, but there is no doubt that No Activity, which is yet to announce a third season, is about to attract a lot of new fans.

What: Crawling Back (Sony) When & Where: Vanfest, 1 & 2 Dec, Forbes Showgrounds THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017 • 23

Music

Hottest 100 date change?

Call It Out

At A Glance: Jep & Dep Hometown: Sydney

For you if you like: Mazzy Star, Nick Cave, Smog, The Blackeyed Susans, Cat Power, Portishead

Jessica Cassar chats with Louis Costello about what to expect from Jep & Dep’s upcoming album. hottest 100 2016 winner, Flume

Triple j has again sparked debate around the date of their annual Hottest 100 countdown by launching a survey asking their listeners to weigh in on whether they think the 26 Jan (Australia Day) date should be moved to one that’s more inclusive. The youth broadcaster has started a survey to encourage listeners to share their opinions on the station, countdown and its current date. “Over the past ten months we’ve been consulting with a range of people, musicians, community leaders and representative groups on their opinions of Australia Day and the implications of holding the Hottest 100 on that day,” a statement on triple j’s website reads. “And now we need to hear from you – triple j’s audience. You are the people who vote, listen to and celebrate the Hottest 100. We want your thoughts on how you feel about triple j, the Hottest 100, and holding the Hottest 100 on Australia Day, January 26.”

Feedback from the survey will be used to help shape triple j’s decisions around the countdown. The survey will be open until 9 Aug and can be found via the triple j website.

24 • THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017

Number of releases: Two: Word Got Out, THEY’VEBEENCALLED

Ultimate rider item?

A house in the Southern Highlands or Tasmania.

A

fter the release of their highly praised 2014 album Word Got Out, folk-noir duo Jep & Dep (Jessica Cassar and Darren Cross) are following up with their latest full-length THEY’VEBEENCALLED. Recorded at Cross’ Bernstein Studios, the album tackles a hearty number of obscure though oft relevant social issues.

“There are a few themes running throughout the album,” Cassar asserts, “the utter disapproval of gentrification, missing rich kids in reservoirs, tumultuous relationships ending with euphoric sadness, the passing of loved ones.” She adds that the album is also “dark, romantic, real and seeps into the room like a familiar haunting ghost.”

Gentrification appears to be a pressing topic for Jep & Dep, so much so that most of the recording of their most recent LP “took place between 12am to 5am to avoid the aircraft noise and gentrification of Newtown.”

Of their latest single Helpless City, Cassar goes so far as to label it an “anti-gentrification song”. “We just completed the film clip and it looks spectacular,” tells Cassar. “We used drones to film ourselves amongst these environments. It looks amazing, like a noir version of Breaking Bad without the drugs.”

With their album launch just around the corner, expect to see a slight twist added to their live shows. “When we perform live we also use a traditional folk set-up, two vocals and one guitar,” Cassar enthuses, “if the crowd are attentive this can be a very powerful experience... the words and nuances can be very moving.”

The live music scene needs more...

Passionate, independently spirited musicians, dedicated to developing their craft, and punters who don’t talk over the top of folk singers!

Current inspiration?

Dirty Three are always inspirational, movies, old vinyl records...

Catch you at?

The Gaelic Club, Leadbelly.

Dream support gig?

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds or Dirty Three.

Tell us something we don’t know...

Darren used to be in Gerling and Jess is really good at breaking into cars.

Five years from now, you’ll be...

Fighting the power with music — hopefully from a remote location not on the radar or part of the rat race.

What: THEY’VEBEENCALLED (Independent) When & Where: 11 Aug, The Gaelic Club

Theatre

True Colours Samuel Leighton-Dore catches up with actor Kurt Pimblett ahead of Hir’s opening night at Belvoir St Theatre.

I

t’s only one week out from the opening night of their biggest show to date and 23-year-old Kurt Pimblett can’t quite decide if they’re nervous or excited. Landing the highly sought-after role of Max — a transgender teenager formerly known as Maxine — in the Belvoir production of Taylor Mac’s Hir, Pimblett is trying their best to brush off mounting expectation and simply immerse themself in the creative process.

“The rehearsal period is so intense and insular, the way a scene is and feels at the top of the day can be totally different to the end of the day,” the Wollongong native shares over the phone. “I guess because of that, I’m not too nervous — but also not feeling particularly ready.”

Despite having relocated to Sydney for the role, the journey from script to stage hasn’t been entirely unfamiliar for the young actor.

“One of the things that has really struck me so far is how similar the process is compared to other smaller productions I’ve been involved in. One of the cool things about theatre is that it’s such a practical form — everything needs to be physically and mentally nutted out. That doesn’t change.”

Labelled an “audacious and uproarious black comedy” by the New York Times, the play by Taylor Mac tackles themes of adultery, drug addiction, sexual abuse, incest and alcoholism; all while maintaining the guise of a traditional piece of kitchen-sink theatre — one which depicts a truly dysfunctional modern family. Fittingly, the show’s title “hir” refers to a third-person singular, gender-neutral pronoun — the pronoun of choice for Pimblett’s character Max — while Pimblett prefers to be referred to as “they”, “their” and “them”.

The play follows the uncouth story of a Marine named Isaac who returns home from war to find that not only has his father had a stroke, but his mother has become somewhat unhinged and taken out revenge for years of marital abuse by dressing him up as a clown and force-feeding him oestrogen (a plot detail which has been flagged as problematic by some members of the local trans community). Oh, and his little sister, Maxine, has

I thought I would have to choose between transitioning and being an actor.

grown into a gangly teenager called Max. Asking Kurt whether the exceptionally long audition process felt more competitive than usual, considering the close-knit transgender community which exists within an already small community of actors in Sydney. It was, after all, the very first time Belvoir has cast a trans actor to play a trans role.

“It was the exact opposite, actually,” Pimblett replies.

“Within the Sydney group, there were a lot of people I knew. But when they are your friends, you’ve worked with them before, when you care about them, it takes away some of that competitive edge.”

“When I first read the whole play I was so struck by it that I didn’t really care who got the role — I was just glad the play was being brought to life and wanted it to be realised as well as possible.”

For Pimblett, the chance to embody the complicated and unapologetically flawed role of 17-year-old Max has already been a humbling one — adding some muchneeded nuance to the mainstream media’s often myopic ‘tortured trans’ composite character.

“There are a lot of points in the play which I found intensely relatable, but then there’s also a sense of shame that comes with relating to things that are so intimately human,” Pimblett says. “But you come to understand that you’re not better than that — nobody is better than that.

We’re all human.”

Reflecting on their own coming-out at the age of 19, Pimblett admits to feeling like their dream of becoming an actor had fallen beyond the realm of possibility.

“I had this very black and white way of thinking back then,” Pimblett tells me. “I thought it was a choice. I thought I would have to choose between transitioning and being an actor. I really did think that there would be no roles, that nobody would want to cast me, or that I’d be cast as a woman forever.”

“In that sense, I guess I did prioritise myself and my transition.”

What: Hir When & Where: 12 Aug-10 Sept, Belvoir St Theatre THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017 • 25

Indie Indie

Lostkeyz

SMLXL

Tami Neilson

EP Focus

Single Focus

Just Visiting

Answered by: Doron Losky

Answered by: Jarrod Murphy

EP Title? Lostkeyz

Single title? Blue Sky

How many releases do you have now? This is my debut EP, with two previous songs released and three singles as part of this EP.

What’s the song about? Everything will be ok if you just look ahead (or up) to the blue sky.

Why are you coming to visit our fair country?

To sing my lungs out for you beautiful Aussies for the first time with my Hot Rockin’ Band Of Rhythm in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Darwin!

Was anything in particular inspiring you during the making? I guess I’ve opted to make four love songs, however, these were all over a long period of time. Some were made while I was in a relationship and some weren’t.

What’s your favourite song on it? Moon. It’s a classic love song about reaching the moon and making long lasting experiences with a loved one.

We’ll like this EP if we like... Waking up early to a soy latte served to you in your bed.

When and where is your launch/next gig?

6 Aug, The Workers Club; 9 Aug, Rad Bar, Wollongong; 26 Aug, Lobrow Gallery & Bar, Canberra; 7 Sep, Brighton Up Bar. Website link for more info? facebook.com/lostkeyzmusic

How long did it take to write/record: We first demoed in it 2014 so it’s been three years in the making. It was written and demoed in a day, then passed back forth with for two years between [guitarist, Jason de Wilde] and I. Shazam, Blue Sky. Is this track from a forthcoming release/ existing release? We’re tracking and mixing our full album now, and hope to have it out before year’s end. Blue Sky might be on it, or perhaps it will stand alone. There’s a heap of songs in the works.

What was inspiring you during the song’s writing and recording? I’m a huge fan of layered power pop with harmonies and bells and whistles. This song is a conscious effort to pen a hooky good times tune. Jason’s sonic treatment of the guitars is stellar.

We’ll like this song if we like... Crafty power pop, a nice bit of studio production, layered harmonies and bands like XTC, Blur, ELO. Do you play it differently live? Not really differently, but a bit more raucous and loose.

It’s definitely a really fun song to get stuck into live.

When and where is your launch/next gigs? 11 Aug, Town Hall Hotel, with guests Anatomy Class and Shinu Gnu. Can’t wait.

Website link for more info? smlxlmusic.com.au

26 • THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017

Is this your first visit? I’ve performed at a handful of festivals in Australia, but this will be my first time visiting Melbourne and Darwin.

How long are you here for? I’m doing a whirlwind four shows in four days before heading off to tour Europe, but still hoping against hope that I can squeeze in a visit to Melbourne’s renowned vintage shops!

What do you know about Australia, in ten words or less? The sole of my shoe once melted off in summer.

Any extra-curricular activities you hope to participate in while here? Exploring Melbourne shops and eateries and also hoping to catch some other acts at the Darwin Festival!

What will you be taking home as a souvenir?

Sleep deprivation! And hopefully some vintage dresses... and some stuffed kangaroos and koalas for my little boys.

Where can we come say hi, and buy you an Aussie beer? 17 Aug, Darwin Festival, The Lighthouse; 18 Aug, The Flamin’ Galah; 19 Aug, Ding Dong Lounge; 20 Aug, The Basement Website link for more info? tamineilson.com

Industry

Vale Tony Cohen 1957 – 2017

S

tudying the resume of venerated Australian producer and sound engineer Tony Cohen — who sadly passed away earlier this week in Melbourne’s Dandenong Hospital at the age of 60 — is like tracing the fertile history of Australian underground rock’n’roll, such is the breadth of his involvement in the lineage.

Tony Cohen

Born and bred in Melbourne, Cohen became infatuated with sound engineering after undertaking work experience at Armstrong Studios while still at high school, and before long he’d left school altogether to follow his musical dreams full-time. In 1976 he began his career in earnest working on the debut self-titled album by Perth glam-rockers Supernaut, which topped the Australian Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Let Love In album charts on the back of radio smash I Like It Both Ways, while that same year found him working alongside Oz rock legend Molly Meldrum on The Ferrets’ debut album Dreams Of A Love.

By 1979 he was house engineer at Melbourne studio Richmond Recorders and a session with the Boys Next Door kickstarted a long and fertile relationship with Nick Cave and his various bands, which continued over the ensuing decades. According to Clinton Walker in his book Stranded (1996) by the The Cruel Sea – time Boys Next Door had morphed into The Honeymoon Is Over The Birthday Party, “Cohen relished their iconoclastic approach”, with Cohen himself admitting the role Cave had on his recording craft to the ABC’s Richard Fidler in 2006: “It was all very experimental then, because we were all learning — I fell in love with this new way of recording... because there were no rules. We were looking for sounds that made your fillings drop out rather than pleasant pop tunes, so we got to do crazy things like find concrete stairwells and abuse equipment, so it was all very attractive for me.”

His sessions with Cave opened many doors, with Cohen soon working on releases such as the Models’ Cut Lunch (1981) and The Go-Betweens’ 1982 debut Send Me A Lullaby. His work appealed to both established acts and fringe-dwellers alike, 1983 finding him ensconced in Sydney working concurrently on Cold Chisel’s final album (of their initial incarnation) Twentieth Century and the Beasts Of Bourbon debut The Axeman’s Jazz (the beginning of another enduring relationship).

But it was his work with Cave’s outfit The Bad Seeds which defined most of Cohen’s ‘80s, the soundman going as far as moving with them to Berlin as he produced their first four albums, and touring the world with them as their front-of-house mixer. As he told Walker for Stranded; “I nearly got killed a couple of times, trying to score with Nick. You know, and I saw Nick getting dragged off by the cops in New York, and then we couldn’t find him because they kept moving him to different precincts. That was wild. And then in Amsterdam having knives at our throats as they guys took money out of our pockets. It’s funny to look back on, but at the time...”

Indeed Cohen had by this stage earned a reputation for partying as hard (if not harder) than nearly all of the musicians he worked with, no mean feat in the decadent ‘80s with its penchant for rampant hedonism. As his younger brother Martin reflected of his life this week on Facebook, “Tony lived a hard life with drugs and alcohol playing a big part in his professional career. He did give them up many years ago but always knew that he would eventually pay for his sins”.

By the end of the ‘80s, things had gotten so bad that Cohen moved into semi-retirement in rural Victoria to shield himself from further damage, but his reputation as an engineer par excellence refused to abate. It was upon his return to production work in the early ‘90s that he finally (and deservedly) began receiving industry accolades: after working on recordings by artists such as TISM, Straitjacket Fits, Dave Graney and Kim Salmon, Cohen took home the 1994 ARIA for Producer Of The Year for his work on The Cruel Sea’s The Honeymoon Is Over, then scoring that same award again in 1995 (as well as Engineer Of The Year) predominantly for his work on Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ Let Love In. And his penchant for working with artists at both ends of the spectrum continued unabated, 1994 finding him equally happy working with established icon Paul Kelly on Wanted Man as he was helping burgeoning Brisbane outfit Powderfinger piece together their debut Parables For Wooden Ears, while the next couple of years found him working with acts including The Blackeyed Susans, Mick Harvey, Hugo Race and Frenzal Rhomb.

After this mid-’90s heyday, Cohen largely removed himself from the temptations of the music scene, moving back to regional Victoria to help care for his mother, but his contributions to Australian music will continue to resonate through the ages. As tributes poured in on social media this week it was legendary guitarist Kim Salmon who covered the huge loss most succinctly, calling Cohen “a true great” before adding that it was “an absolute privilege working with him but an even greater honour to count him as a friend”. RIP Tony Cohen.

THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017 • 27

OPINION Opinion

Trai ler Trash

Aesop Rock

Get It To g et her Hip Hop

W

e all get older if we’re lucky. It is, after all, so much better than the alternative! Sometimes, With James though, you get a sign from the universe warning you of death’s approach that is so loud and clear D’apice that it gives you pause.

Aesop Rock’s 2001 Labor Days was (or at least was for me) a classic. Buzzy, paranoid, ugly, impenetrable; it was everything a teenager could want. (Yes. I was a teenager in 2001. That’s how old I am.)

It is perhaps no surprise then that Aes’ 2016 The Impossible Kid feels, for me, like progress with stabs of nostalgia. On it, Aesop sheds the Joycean insecurity of his earlier years, when he hid his stories inside brain-busting riddles. Now, he embraces narratives about brothers, lovers, friends, death, counsellors, cats, rappers! You can even understand what he’s talking about! It’s refreshing.

In September, Aes will play Manning Bar. The audience will be almost totally middle aged and almost totally male, most of us reminiscing about shoes with spray paint stains and three dollar beers. Together, we’ll share the experience of hearing Aesop Rock in 2017, just as we did near on two decades ago. As we wait on tenterhooks to hear whether he’ll play 16-year-old zeitgeist definer Daylight, we’ll also be listening out for whether the new stuff sounds as good as the old, or whether decay has set in. It will be a nice reminder that death lies in wait for us all! Sometimes, though, that reminder can also make us feel a little more alive.

Wa ke The Dead Converge

Punk And Hardcore With Sarah Petchell

I

T’S HERE! IT’S FINALLY HERE! Sort of...

Last week Converge (aka my favourite band ever) announced that they would be releasing their as-yetuntitled new album later this year. They also treated all their fans to a teaser and taster of the new album with the release of a single and B-side.

It’s been almost five years since the band released All We Love We Leave Behind, their last full-length,

28 • THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017

Two Lane Blacktop

which saw the light of day back in October 2012. In the meantime we’ve been treated to a live recording of Jane Doe in its entirety, an epic DVD box set of Thousands Of Miles Between Us and a newly mixed version of You Fail Me. But the two tracks that make up the 7” I Can Tell You About Pain are everything you want from Converge and more. They represent the best of what the band is — metalcore at its most frenetic, which is then flipped around to metalcore at its sludgiest. It’s also hardcore at its heaviest. In other words, it’s pretty damn close to perfect!

The title track is 2.24 minutes of face ripping goodness. The way the main guitar riff and the drumming work together (drummer Ben Koller is doing some very cool drumming in the first ten seconds) is enough to send mosh pits flying. Then the B-side, Eve, has all the sludgy, doomy greatness that the band have shown on records like Axe To Fall and All We Love We Leave Behind.

So what more can I say? Bring on later this year — I’m dying for the full-length!

OPINION Opinion

Dives Into Your

D

o you trust me? I know Screens And I have given few reasons to do Idiot Boxes With so over the years, but I think this Guy Davis time I might be able to do right by you. The reason I say this is because it’s recommendation time at Trailer Trash and I intend to toss your way the titles of a book, a TV series and an upcoming movie that has blown what’s left of my hair back and may do likewise for your locks. Of course, there are no guarantees in this life, so you may end up feeling ripped off if you invest your time and/or money in these selections.

But even if that’s the case, and I seriously doubt it will be, please know that this scribe recommended the following with the best of intentions. (Not to mention my traditionally impeccable taste.)

First up, a little reading. Charles Taylor is an American film writer whose work knowledgeable, forthright and a tad acerbic at times - I have enjoyed since my first exposure to it back in the very early days of Salon.com (and when I say early, I mean the fucking ‘90s). He’s recently written his first book, a collection of essays titled Opening Wednesday At A Theater Or Drive-In Near You: The Shadow Cinema Of The American ‘70s, which offers vivid takes on a handful of underrated or misunderstood movies from a decade regarded as one of the most important in cinema history. There are a couple of usual suspects here, such as Two-Lane Blacktop and Bring Me the Head Of Alfredo Garcia, but Taylor’s writing on them is extremely insightful and the book also gives due respect to black gems like the Lee Marvin crime drama Prime Cut, the bonkers conspiracy thriller Winter Kills (one of my favourite ‘70s movies) and the gritty, grimy Hickey & Boggs, a private-eye drama made simultaneously electrifying and problematic by the fact that Bill Cosby gives a tough, charismatic lead performance unlike anything else in his body of work. I don’t know if Opening Wednesday... has a local publisher. but it is available from any of your fine online bookstores. A highly recommended read and, if you like Taylor’s work, get online and track down some recent essays by his friend and colleague Kim Morgan - she’s been submitting stuff to the New Beverly Cinema’s website that’s as good as film writing gets these days.

Don’t feel like leaving the house? Who

could blame you?

It’s cold outside and you may also have to deal with people, who are generally unpleasant. (No, not you, of course.

You’re ace.) So if you’re willing to keep couchbound for around six hours or so (why that’s a blink of the eye!), may I suggest you settle in for a binge-watch of Red Oaks, a coming-ofage comedy-drama set in the mid-’80s.

The first season of this one, which had the likes of Steven Soderbergh and David Gordon Green attached behind the scenes, was a very pleasant surprise, so much so that this scribe feared the second season would be unable to match it. Believe me, it does and then some, thanks in large part to some terrific acting, piercing writing and the attachment of directors like Amy Heckerling and (yes!) Hal Hartley.

It’s on Amazon Prime now, if you’re into that whole streaming thing.

Finally, I can’t speak with too much authority about this but the teaser trailer for the new Darren Aronofsky freak out mother! looks sick. Tell you what, we’ll discuss that in greater depth next time, once the full trailer has been released.

All gig and music news at your fingertips.

Search for ‘The Music App’ on

THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017 • 29

Album / E Album/EP Reviews

Album OF THE Week

Paul Kelly Life Is Fine EMI

★★★★

The bold chords of the opening piano passage in Rising Moon immediately jump out, forming a strong foundation to what eventually turns into a formidable sonic landscape. Guitars, organ and backing vocals all mesh together in a huge sound and the album goes tearing out the gates. Paul Kelly’s latest release is eclectic, as is evident even in the first two tracks. Finally Something Good lends itself to Kelly’s songwriting — specifically to his lyricism — as do Firewood And Candles, Leah: The Sequel and Letter In The Rain.

In counterpoint, Rising Moon, Rock Out On The Sea and My Man’s Got A Cold highlight a rock-solid band. My Man’s Got A Cold throws something new entirely into the mix with the guest vocals of Vika Bull, as well as a gritty, Tom Waits-esque instrumentation behind her.

Overall the album explores new and interesting sonic and instrumental territory for Kelly, with his recent releases being in collaborations, soul music and Shakespearean sonnets. That being said, one can still find familiarity laced through these bold new works. Kelly’s writing still resonates with powerful imagery and vivid settings, as well as the occasional and familiar injection of faith and religion for good measure. Fans of his formative work and ‘classics’ may not be completely sold on some of the material, however anyone who has followed his musical journey will surely see this as yet another powerful stride forward.

Lukas Murphy

The Preatures

Jen Cloher

Girlhood

Jen Cloher

Universal

Milk Records/Remote Control

★★★★

★★★★

Girlhood, the latest album from The Preatures, is full of songs about growing up in Sydney as a young woman.

The contradictions of being a woman in this day and age are not only expressed lyrically, but are reflected sonically through the contrast of strong, powerful tracks like The First Night and Lip Balm, and slower, softer ballads Magick, Your Fan and Cherry Ripe. On these tracks, frontwoman Isabella “Izzi” Manfredi is more vulnerable and exposed than ever before, her voice floating over emotive instrumentals, and delivering some of her best songwriting to date.

The rest of the band — producer and guitarist Jack Moffitt, drummer Luke Davison and bassist Thomas Champion — inject the new album with a palpable energy.

This is album number four for Jen Cloher and in keeping with the title and stark artwork featuring Cloher naked and with guitar - it is her most honest and autobiographical release.

So many songwriters cloud their ideas and experiences in metaphors and diversionary tactics, but Cloher goes straight for the literal and personal, detailing the trials and tribulations of extended periods apart from her partner (and guitarist) Courtney Barnett, suburban malaise, gay marriage, Dirty Three and the shallowness and strain of the music industry. It amounts to an internal and external state of the nation address, delivered with poetic poise and intellectual observation.

Musically, Cloher and her band frame her songs with a loose, indie-rock sound that

30 • THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017

Opener Girlhood is undoubtedly the album highlight — catchy and driving with a killer guitar solo. “Whatever makes me a modern girl. Nothing makes me a modern girl” Manfredi sings on the track — possibly influenced

by Sleater-Kinney’s Modern Girl?

She also sings in the Indigenous Darug language of Sydney on pop rock track Yanada and as the daughter of an Italian immigrant, connects to her roots, singing in Italian on album closer Something New. Girlhood is a well-executed album with a strong concept.

Madelyn Tait

can be locked and direct with a gentle toughness (Shoegazers), drifting and dreamy (Regional Echo) or noisy and surging like Sleater-Kinney (Strong Woman). That stylistic range creates a flow and dynamism that complements the songs perfectly, ensuring the focus remains on Cloher and her lyrics.

It’s hard to distil one’s thoughts and emotions into song with such self-awareness, artistic confidence and lack of pretence, but Cloher has, quite wonderfully, done just that.

Chris Familton

EP Reviews Album/EP Reviews

Sand Pebbles

Hamjam

The Steoples

Pleasure Maps

a/s/l?

Six Rocks

Kasumuen Records

Bedroom Suck/Remote Control

Stones Throw/Inertia

The Bombay Royale Run Kitty Run HopeStreet Recordings

★★★★

★★★

★★★½

★★★½

Pleasure Maps delivers a sweet selection of psychedelic lo-fi pop that rocks.

In the middle of winter, the warm fuzzy glow of this album is irresistible. Their anachronistic sound takes us back some 40 or 50 years with a mix that feels like a dreamy blur of purple paisley. Surprisingly though, the album kicks off with the post-punk edginess of Desire Lines before giving way to the sun-kissed psychedelic folk of Green Good that feels kind of groovy. The real treat this album delivers is the extended instrumental breaks that feature winding guitar solos and spaced out synths that are so deliciously nostalgic.

Not something that goes into your sandwich, Hamjam is a collaboration between Methyl Ethel’s keys player Hamish Rahn (Ham) and Pond’s keyboard whizz James Ireland (Jam).

Opening with the slippery, low-slung funk of the title track, the album blossoms into some occasionally sunny chords that go up against despondent lyrics and a woozy nonchalance that will be familiar to Methyl Ethel fans; less so to Pond freaks. There are a few inspired moments where disaffected apathy meets plastic soul breeziness, but it slumps away towards the end.

There’s some sweet magic woven throughout the gentle ebb and flow of this collaborative effort by The Steoples.

In solo guise, LA’s Gifted & Blessed and UK artist Yeofi Andoh have created a swag of interesting, rootsy productions throughout the past decade, but their unification sees the duo peel off into a whole new realm of smooth, soulful, beat-driven electro pop. Opener From The Otherside gives the first taste of this album’s timeless quality; the gentle croons throughout, underscored by dramatic keys in Fated, layered synth textures in We Like The Dark and loads more goodies, ultimately raise it above definition by genres or labels.

For a band who sound like no one else, three distinctly different albums on the trot is exceptional.

On Run Kitty Run The Bombay Royale dive further into their exotic influences, such as revisiting the nervous, rubbery funk of classic ‘70s kung fu classics like Enter The Dragon.

Bhediya could be an alternate James Bond theme — one where his vodka Martinis are heavily spiked — while the title track is pure joy and one of their niftiest earworms to date. Time to get lost on another daring adventure through an imaginary Bollywood.

Christopher H James

Guido Farnell

Christopher H James

Carley Hall

More Reviews Online Oneohtrix Point Never Good Time Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

theMusic.com.au

Zola Jesus Okovi

Listen to our This Week’s Releases playlist on

THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017 • 31

Live Re Live Reviews

Frenzal Rhomb @ Metro Theatre. Pic: Brendan Delavere

Frenzal Rhomb, Totally Unicorn, Scabz Metro Theatre 5 Aug

Knowing that Frenzal Rhomb have made it to another album, their ninth, with all band members relatively unscathed is a massive relief.

First up, the self-proclaimed “shittest band in Newtown” Scabz kicked it off with some kick-ass, inner west punk rock. Short, fast and loud with colourful track names like Shit Cunt and Marrickville Metro, they had plenty of punters enjoying the shit out of the opening set.

Straight Arrows @ Factory Theatre.

Pic: Josh Groom

Frenzal Rhomb @ Metro Theatre.

Pic: Brendan Delavere

The Murlocs @ Factory Theatre.

Pic: Josh Groom

Thy Art Is Murder @ Wollongong Uni Bar. Pic: Brendan Delavere

32 • THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017

Thy Art Is Murder @ Wollongong Uni Bar. Pic: Brendan Delavere

Despite the years of torture, the band are energetic as ever, with Jay Whalley hanging out on the barrier as punters stroked his long dreadlocks A slight delay due to technical demons had the crowd getting restless, but all that was unleashed once party thrashers Totally Unicorn blasted onto the stage in a burst of cheap confetti. If you’ve never witnessed a Totally Unicorn show, then prepare yourself because it’s one hell of a ride.

Sweaty and near-naked, burly frontman Drew Gardner spent more time in the crowd than on stage, with those tiny tie dye undies barely keeping it in. The band powered through a grinding set of straight to your

face cuts from their debut Dream Life getting the pit nice and sweaty for their adopted fathers, Frenzal Rhomb.

Australia’s oldest institution, Frenzal Rhomb have miraculously made it to album number nine, no easy feat considering their penchant for injury and neardeath experiences.

Dressed in hi-vis, the fourpiece took the stage opening with new tracks Classic Pervert and the awesomely titled Ray Ahn Is My Spirit Animal.

Despite the years of torture, the band are energetic as ever, with Jay Whalley hanging out on the barrier as punters stroked his long dreadlocks. Russell Crowe’s Band, Bucket Bong and Mr Charisma all kept the circle pit punching on.

An appearance on the most Aussie track ever Bird Attack saw the two near-naked guitarists of Totally Unicorn lend a riff, but the most important guest of the night came as Lindsay ‘The Doctor’ McDougall was ‘fired’ and replaced by original guitarist Ben Costello. Twenty years have gone since Costello last played with the band, and to celebrate he was made to play the amazing Ben, a special moment for any long term fan of the band.

Unfortunately, the show wasn’t all roses, with the band calling out a harassment issue they saw within the crowd, asking the gentleman to kindly “fuck off elsewhere”. There is no place in music for that kind of bullshit.

Ending the set with the “encore” of Never Had So Much Fun and the punchy as hell Punch In The Face the crowd erupted, and for those who missed the show, would be doing as the name suggests.

Brendan Delavere

eviews Live Reviews

The Murlocs, Straight Arrows

Soldier. These guys clearly have a dedicated following, and live, they simply rock.

Factory Theatre 4 Aug

Luke Saunders

Looks can certainly be deceiving as Straight Arrows proved with face-melting, fuzzed-out solos and ear-piercing feedback, dishing up a sound somewhere between The Clash and The Eels during crowd favourite Make Up Your Mind.

Dressed to impress in matching overalls that read “Uncle Merle”, The Murlocs hit the stage and the moshpit was alive and pumping after only one song. Frontman Ambrose Kenny-Smith and bassist Cook ‘Cookie’ Craig are also members of one of Australia’s biggest exports of late, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, and had no trouble delighting the crowd with their quirky dance moves. KennySmith is a talented vocalist and mouth organ player with his telltale wail cutting through the muddy, sometimes indiscernible, rhythm instruments like a knife.

They simply rock.

Tracks like Rolling On had the crowd particularly legless at the mercy of the mosh, while Space Cadet messed with their minds a little. They really hit the nail on the head with these two tracks, achieving some impressive heady rock moments.

The energy of the crowd was on a steady increase throughout the show as Kenny-Smith moved about, reaching an audience personal best of four people crowd surfing at one time. As Kenny-Smith continued to coil the mic lead around his neck, The Murlocs’ barnyard bluesy stomp shook the house before they closed the set with Noble

Thy Art Is Murder, Alpha Wolf, Cursed Earth, Deadlights Uni Bar 3 Aug Brisbane post-hardcore mob Deadlights acquitted themselves to the task well in front of an already rather full room.

Their well-executed bipolar vocal attack and enthusiastic demeanour ensured punters nodded heads in the affirmative.

Perth’s Cursed Earth’s nasty, darker hardcore edge proved both confronting and difficult to look away from. Led by Nails shirt-sporting front-woman Jazmine Luders’ ferocious vocals and commanding presence, and remaining members’ considerable energy, they surely left having garnered fresh converts. The vocalist giving a heckler a mighty send-off also resonated with the gathering.

Alpha Wolf seemed representative of a generation of youths reared on ‘core who were eventually introduced (this scribe is presuming by an older sibling) to nu-metal groove. The Melbourne heavy-hitters’ leaning heavily towards the latter was to the delight of many present. In some respects they seemed a work in progress, and after a few songs you’d already encountered most tricks in their arsenal, but a rabid fan-base lapped it up.

Thy Art Is Murder also had a new release to spruik — the impending Dear Desolation.

Although plugging the record, they kept airing material from it to a minimum. Bruising Slaves Beyond Death was a standout, though. This approach was understandable as they sidestepped shoddy quality YouTube

An efficient, well-honed reintroduction of the new (old) line-up to the diehards.

clips being devotees’ first encounter with new cuts.

Instead, the Aussie death metal heavy-hitters focused on a fan-sating set-list, from opener Holy War through to the mosh mayhem greeting closer Reign Of Darkness. Recently returned growler CJ McMahon was in positive spirits, jokingly taunting the crowd with “You’re the world’s smallest circle pit”, but also relaying how the only occasion he’d witnessed the band live sans him was at the same venue (almost exactly a year prior). Meanwhile, drummer Lee Stanton, whose hard-hitting style belied his tiny frame, remained the band’s secret weapon. An efficient, well-honed reintroduction of the new (old) line-up to the diehards, one could nonetheless rightfully expect an even more enthusiastic display when they’re able to inject some heavyweight new tunes into the mix.

More Reviews Online theMusic.com.au/ music/live-reviews

Death Grips @ Enmore Theatre Train @ State Theatre High-Tails @ Golden Age Cinema Deafcult @ Red Rattler Royal Artillery @ Frankie’s

Brendan Crabb

THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017 • 33

Arts Reviews Arts Reviews

from the fact that screenwriters Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V Gordon drew upon the complications of their own courtship in shaping The Big Sick. But the comedy power-couple — who have collaborated on some well-regarded projects and individually racked up some very cool credits — has done more than adhere to the old ‘write who you know’ adage. They’ve layered in so much wit and warmth and spirit here, coming up with one of the most pleasurable romantic comedies of the year.

Nanjiani plays a fictionalised (but not too fictionalised) version of himself in the film — the character of Kumail is a stand-up comedian moonlighting as an Uber driver.

He’s heckled by Emily, played by Zoe Kazan, during a set one night, and their flirtation becomes a one-night stand that soon develops into something more.

But there are a few obstacles in their way. First of all, Kumail’s traditional Pakistani parents continue to set him up on dates with Pakistani women in the hopes of organising an arranged marriage. That’s enough to drive a wedge between the couple. But then, not long after they split, Emily becomes so ill it forces doctors to put her into a medically induced coma. While she’s unconscious, Kumail finds himself in close quarters with Emily’s parents, played by Holly Hunter and Ray Romano in performances so good you may regret that no one ever teamed the two actors up before now.

The tentative bonding between these people who know nothing about each other, but share a great love for someone who’s unable to play diplomat between them, is one of The Big Sick’s best attributes, thanks in great part to the acting but also largely due to the sharp writing. But there’s so much to admire and appreciate here, from the winning, vivacious work of Kazan to the way the film quickly but vividly explores the lives, hopes and dreams of a supporting character in the space of a scene.

Clever and compassionate, The Big Sick is the cure for the common rom-com.

The Big Sick

The Big Sick Film In cinemas now

★★★★ Love — it’s good for what ails you. The things that bring together and unite the couple at the big heart of the new romantic comedy The Big Sick are a key element of this movie’s sensitivity and charm. But what gives this movie real substance — and what elevates The Big Sick — is what threatens to separate them, and how all the people involved acknowledge and address it.

There’s a real maturity and honesty walking hand-in-hand with the sharp humour and sweet nature, and it gives the events of the story a personal, lived-in quality. It legitimately earns every laugh and every tear it inspires.

Of course, that lived-in quality may well stem

Guy Davis

34 • THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017

Atomic Blonde

Atomic Blonde Film In cinemas

★★★ The Berlin Wall is falling down, and so is every bad guy in Lorraine’s path.

Charlize Theron gives as good as she gets in Atomic Blonde and as British secret agent Lorraine Broughton, investigating a labyrinthine conspiracy in 1989 West Berlin as the wall dividing the German city begins to crumble, she gets a lot.

It’s hard to recall an action heroine receiving as much punishment as Theron’s Lorraine, who eases her pain by lowering herself into a bathtub full of ice and then grabbing a handful of cubes to cool her vodka.

But Lorraine isn’t averse to dishing it out either, whether she’s smashing a red stiletto heel into a bad guy’s throat or engaging in a knock-down drag-out fight over several storeys of an apartment building that Atomic Blonde audaciously stages in one long, unbroken take.

It’s that kind of movie, one that mixes the violent and the vogue. And the stylishness of the execution and the steely commitment Theron brings to her performance is almost enough to carry it through. Almost.

Atomic Blonde is directed by David Leitch, one of the directorial duo behind the excellently ridiculous Keanu Reeves action movie John Wick. And while the two movies share a similar armour-piercing appeal in their depiction of bullets and body blows, John Wick benefited from a straightforward storyline - punks killed Wick’s dog, Wick killed everyone as payback.

Atomic Blonde, however, aspires to be a little deeper and more complex, but the material is fairly pedestrian spy stuff involving defectors and double agents. It’s not as smart as it’s trying to appear and it sometimes becomes a bit dull as a result. In all honesty, the scenes of supposed cloak-and-dagger intrigue are really just time-fillers until it gets to the next sequence of Lorraine taking on teams of adversaries in imaginative ways.

Atomic Blonde has a gorgeous surface but there’s precious little substance to be found beneath the veneer.

Guy Davis

THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017 • 35

Comedy / G The Guide

Sarah McLeod

Wed 09

Comedy Night with Daniel Townes + Seamus Mcalary: Bank Hotel (Waywards), Newtown Miss Blanks + Chanel + Svssy: Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach A Gazillion Angry Mexicans + Aver + Ivy + Elko Fields: Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst

The Music Presents Raised By Eagles: 11 Aug Leadbelly; 12 Aug Grand Junction Hotel Sarah McLeod: 24 Aug Factory Floor Sydney Guitar Festival: 23 27 Aug, Various Venues Vera Blue: 1 Sep; The Beery Terrigal; 2 Sep, Metro Theatre; 8 Sep Bar On The Hill Newcastle Mew: 11 Sep Manning Bar

Michael Griffin Quintet: Foundry 616, Sydney Lonely Sheep + Countrypolitan + Anni & The Electric Fins: Gasoline Pony, Marrickville Anatomy of an Album (Hermitude - Dark Night Sweet Light) with Tim Levinson + Luke Dubs + Angus Stuart: Giant Dwarf, Redfern Hammerhead: LazyBones Lounge, Marrickville

Ali Barter: 28 Sep Oxford Art Factory; 29 Sep The Small Bandroom

In The Round feat. Maples + Timothy James Bowen + more: Leadbelly (formerly The Vanguard), Newtown

Dan Sultan: 28 Sep The Academy Canerra; 29 Sep Bar On The Hill Newcastle; 30 Sep Metro Theatre

Live & Local feat. Todd Haywood + Teasha Jackson + Hinnom: Lizottes Newcastle, Lambton

At The Drive In: 29 Sep Hodern Pavilion

John Chesher + Paul B Mynor + Gavin Fitzgerald + Paul McGowan + Kenneth D’Aran + Pete Scully: Old Fitzroy Hotel, Woolloomooloo

Caligula’s Horse: 5 Oct Cambridge Hotel Newcastle West; 6 Oct Factory Theatre Vintage & Custom Drum Expo: 8 Oct Factory Theatre Mono: 9 Nov Manning Bar

The Babe Rainbow

Ride The Rainbow Surfing on the success of their debut album, Byron Bay locals The Babe Rainbow will be at Lansdowne Hotel Saturday and Sunday. The cosmic ‘60s-inspired group are bringing Banana Gun and Parsnip along for the ride.

Slaves + Awaken I Am: The Small Ballroom, Islington

Larger Than Lions: Marble Bar, Sydney

Thu 10

Chris Cooke Duo: Orient Hotel, The Rocks

Slaves + Awaken I Am: Bald Faced Stag, Leichhardt

Songs On Stage feat. Russell Neal + Victoria Jayne Young: Paddington RSL, Paddington

Mystic Brew + Dying Adolescence + SCK-CHX + more: Bank Hotel (Waywards), Newtown

Vanfest: 1 Dec Forbes Showground

Songs On Stage feat. Stuart Jammin + Justin Webber: BMW (formerly Beats.Eats.Drinks), Glebe

Alt-J: 9 Dec ICC Sydney

Tall Hearts: Leadbelly (formerly The Vanguard), Newtown

Performing ‘Sticks & Stones / ‘SelfTitled’ with New Found Glory + Stand Atlantic: Metro Theatre, Sydney Matty T Wall: National Press Club, Barton Strike Two: Orient Hotel, The Rocks

Maddy Jane

Suburban Haze + Jen Buxton + Belle Badi: Cambridge Hotel (Side Bar), Newcastle West Kaloune + Rosie Henshaw: Camelot Lounge (Django Bar), Marrickville Flynn Effect

Flynn On My Mind Flynn Effect will be celebrating the launch of their second album, Obsidian, at Factory Theatre on Friday. It’s Flynn Effect’s first show of the national album tour and their dark brand of rock is sure to light up the Sydney nightlife.

Kiyanosh & The Syndicate + The Knots + Beatlab: Play Bar, Surry Hills Lostkeyz + Rennan + Gatsby + Sam Hughes: Rad Bar, Wollongong

36 • THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017

Harley Breen: Comedy Store, Moore Park The Biggest Comedy Show on Earth Comedy Store, Moore Park All Ages Show with Starset + Far Away Stables + Red Bee: Factory Theatre, Marrickville Victor Valdes: Foundry 616, Sydney Owen Campbell + Psychic Sun: Frankie’s Pizza By The Slice, Sydney Dave Favours & The Roadside Ashes + The Ramalamas: Gasoline Pony, Marrickville Zack Martin + Kenneth D’Aran: Harbour View Hotel, Dawes Point

It’s A Maddy World This Saturday at Brighton Up Bar, singer-songwriter Maddy Jane is launching No Other Way. The singer-songwriter just wrapped a sold-out tour supporting Kingswood and, without skipping a beat, has hit the road with Polish Club.

Sons Of The East + Love Drunk Hearts: Hotel Steyne (Moonshine), Manly Georgia June + Kiyanosh & The Syndicate + Citizen Of The World + Apache: LazyBones Lounge, Marrickville

John & Yuki: Osaka, Potts Point Crooked Colours + Muto: Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst

Gigs / Live The Guide

Daggy Man

Titans of Metal feat. Temtris + Panik + Snow Leopard + Reaver + Acrolysis: Bald Faced Stag, Leichhardt Easy Street + more: Bank Hotel (Waywards), Newtown Ross McGregor Band: Bateau Bay Hotel, Bateau Bay Role Modelz: Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach

Up Close With Daggy Daggy Man is heading out for a series of intimate solo shows in support of his debut album, A Lazy Kind Of Pain. This Saturday it will be Leadbelly’s turn for the up-close and personal.

Billy Green: Oxford Art Factory (Gallery Bar), Darlinghurst Porch Light Sessions with Caitlin Harnett + Giffen + Willowy: Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham Darren Heinrich Trio: Play Bar, Surry Hills Jerry Seinfeld: Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney Olympic Park

Timothy James Bowen + Taryn LaFauci: Brass Monkey, Cronulla

Fri 11

Picture Perfect + Mac Tango + Indie Kid Callum + St Joan: Rad Bar, Wollongong

Stand Atlantic

The Soul Kinda Feeling Revue: Camelot Lounge, Marrickville The Sicarios: Camelot Lounge (Django Bar), Marrickville John Sammers: Cauliflower Hotel, Waterloo Never Ending 80s: Central Hotel, Shellharbour City Centre Harley Breen: Comedy Store, Moore Park

Gods of Eden + Flynn Effect + Mercury Sky + Reign On Mars: Factory Theatre (Factory Floor), Marrickville

Sub-Zero Punk Stand Atlantic are supporting New Found Glory, taking over Metro Theatre on Thursday and Friday! The Sydney locals have hit the ground running with their latest single, Mess I Made, and aren’t showing any signs of slowing down.

Tall Hearts

Hearts For Funk Tall Hearts’ show at Leadbelly this Thursday is not to be missed. The group are showcasing the funk skills they’ve praised for,with their new single Shaolin Funk. Wear comfortable dancing shoes – you’ll need them.

The Teskey Brothers + Jesse Redwing Band: Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale

Soul Nights + DJ Kitsch 78: Rock Lily, Pyrmont

Five Coffees + The Mighty Bullfrog: LazyBones Lounge, Marrickville

Bill Jackson + Pete Fidler: Smiths Alternative, Canberra

Raised By Eagles + Charles Jenkins: Leadbelly (formerly The Vanguard), Newtown

Blood, Sweat & Beers: SS&A Club, Albury

Neel Kolhatkar: Lizottes Newcastle, Lambton

James Morrison: The Basement, Sydney

Brown Sugar + DJ Trey: Marble Bar, Sydney

Petulant Frenzy Play Frank Zappa: Factory Theatre, Marrickville

Starset: The Basement, Belconnen

Beatside: The Chippendale Hotel, Chippendale

Sons of Zion: Max Watt’s, Moore Park

Jep & Dep + The Singing Skies + Obscura Hail + Ainsley Farrell: The Gaelic Club, Surry Hills

Performing ‘Catalyst’ / ‘Not Without A Fight’ with New Found Glory + Stand Atlantic: Metro Theatre, Sydney

The Squeezers: The Merton Hotel, Rozelle

Original Sin - INXS Show: Moorebank Sports Club, Hammondville

DJ JR Dynamite + DJ Gian Arpino + DJ Meem + Duan & Only: The Newport, Newport

The Headliners: North Ryde RSL, North Ryde

Husky + Tia Gostelow + Hot Spoke!: 48 Watt St, Newcastle Shane Nicholson: Anita’s Theatre, Thirroul

Circus Chaplains: Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham

Los Scallywaggs: Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst

The Double Up Lounge with DJ Dan Phelan: The Stag & Hunter Hotel, Mayfield

Dr Albanathy Is Dead + Outskert: Vic On The Park, Marrickville

Borneo + Ruth Carp & The Fish Heads: Hotel Steyne (Moonshine), Manly

Tuppaware Party + Sloom + SCKCHX: Botany View Hotel, Newtown

DJ Soul Nx: The Newport, Newport

The Thursday Shuffle: Venue 505, Surry Hills

Nuclear Sunset feat. Orion + Spike Vincent + Hair Die + DJ Bura Bura: Oxford Art Factory (Gallery Bar), Darlinghurst

Kool Vibration: Play Bar, Surry Hills

Jacinta Shaye + Jowe E Blues + Pam Hata: The Louis (formerly Lewisham Hotel), Lewisham

Durry + Loose Unit + The Crust Fund Kids: Valve Bar (Basement), Ultimo

Dannii Minogue + Starley: Home Nightclub, Sydney

Luen Jacobs + Patch Free + Genie: Knightsbridge Penthouse, Braddon

Wild Honey + Clews + Marvell: Coogee Bay Hotel, Coogee

Death Do Us Part: The Temperance Society, Summer Hill

Crooked Colours + Muto: Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst

My Friend The Chocolate Cake: Blue Mountains Theatre, Springwood

The Kamis: Rock Lily, Pyrmont

Fuzzface with Whispering Jackie: The Hideaway Bar, Enmore

The Lee Three + Clear + Myah Thomas: Gasoline Pony, Marrickville

Jerry Seinfeld: International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC), Sydney

The Biggest Comedy Show on Earth: Comedy Store, Moore Park

Ben Lattimore + Trent Williams + Kelee & Me Duo + Dominique + Lola Sola: Staves Brewery, Glebe

Reckless + Tom Trelawny: Orient Hotel, The Rocks

Owen Campbell: Beaches Hotel, Thirroul

Pacific Avenue + Fripps & Fripps + The Traks: Rad Bar, Wollongong

Polymorphic Orkestra: Smiths Alternative, Canberra

Armandito & Trovason: Foundry 616, Sydney

The Henry Fjords + The Cloud Surfers + Groove Delirium: Old Dave’s Soul, Coogee

Destrends + Moaning Lisa + House of Strangers: The Phoenix, Canberra Suburban Haze + Egoism + Ultracrush: The Record Crate, Glebe

Matty T Wall: Old Manly Boatshed, Manly

THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017 • 37

Comedy / G The Guide

New Black Shades + Red City: The Stag & Hunter Hotel, Mayfield

Los Scallywaggs + Archy Punker + Mild West + Lushesh Sideburns: Rad Bar, Wollongong

Mailer Daemon

The Zombies: Towradgi Beach Hotel (Sports Bar), Towradgi

Soul Sonic + DJ D-Flat: Rock Lily, Pyrmont

Hollow Everdaze: Union Hotel, Newtown

SIMA feat.Way Out West + Paul Mason: Seymour Centre, Darlington

Winterfest 2017 feat. Kilter + Various Artists: UTS Underground, Ultimo

The Wumpaz + Queen Porter Stomp: Smiths Alternative, Canberra

Skizophrenia + Enzyme + Rapid Dye + Grey Places + Erasers: Valve Bar (Basement), Ultimo

My Friend The Chocolate Cake: Street Theatre, Canberra

Mailer Daemon + Prayer Hand + Emoji I + more: Valve Bar (Level One), Ultimo

Sally Chicane + Signs & Symbols + Blissphorus: The Basement, Belconnen

Shaun Kirk: Venue 505, Surry Hills Hollie Matthew + Nick Perry: The Bearded Tit, Redfern

Garry David + The Nice Folk + Shrapnel: Vic On The Park, Marrickville

Melanoma Institute Fundraiser feat.

Nathan McKenna + Aleksander + Anca + Boris Driver: The Gaelic Club, Surry Hills

Inbox Demon

Sat 12 1977 - The Hits! with Simon Meli + Sheena Wilbow + more: Anita’s Theatre, Thirroul Beers, Banter & Bands feat.

Sleepmakeswaves + Dumbsaint + Dawn + Genetics + Idylls + Snape + Crude Heat: Bald Faced Stag, Leichhardt

Aussie R&B heavyweights Mailer Daemon will be exploding at Valve Bar on Friday and have made it very clear they’ll have you bouncing ‘round harder than unwanted chain mail.

Ministry of Sound Club feat. SikDope + Jordan + Burns + more: The Ivy, Sydney Project Red: The Merton Hotel, Rozelle

Dragon: Castle Hill RSL, Castle Hill Australian Chamber Orchestra: City Recital Hall, Sydney

Ivan Ooze

Darcee Fox: The Hideaway Bar, Enmore

The Biggest Comedy Show on Earth: Comedy Store, Moore Park

Whiskey Empire: LazyBones Lounge, Marrickville Daggy Man: Leadbelly (formerly The Vanguard), Newtown

DJ Somatik + New Venusians + DJ Sam Wall + Rob Edwards: The Newport, Newport Teem + Selki + DYP + Happy Axe: The Phoenix, Canberra

Leo Sayer: Lizottes Newcastle, Lambton The Strides: The Rhythm Hut, Gosford

Aaron Chen: Comedy Store, Moore Park Jordan Kelly + Dande & The Lion + Linc Phelps + Field of Wolves: Cronulla RSL, Cronulla The Radiators + Urban Guerillas: Dundas Sports Club, Dundas

Oozing Colour Crooked Colours are taking their highly acclaimed LP, Vera, on a world tour. Hitting Oxford Art Factory on Thursday and Friday. With Ivan Ooze in tow on support duty, the trio are making their post-hiatus return to the stage a big one.

Anno Domini + Cruciform + Golgothan Remains + Heathen Spawn: Factory Theatre (Factory Floor), Marrickville

Monsieur Camembert: Brass Monkey, Cronulla Maddy Jane + Joe Mungovan + Top Lip: Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst Introvert + Pals + Paperthin & Dave: Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle West

DJ Ray Antonelli + DJ Murray Lake: Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly C Major + DJ Trey: Marble Bar, Sydney All Ages Show with Montaigne + I Know Leopard + Alex The Astronaut: Metro Theatre, Sydney

Nocet: Foundry 616, Sydney

6 Strings: Oatley Hotel, Oatley

Warflags + RedHook + The Shadez: Frankie’s Pizza By The Slice, Sydney

Songs On Stage feat. Russell Neal + Astrid Munday + Steve Clark + Jeffrey Webb + Andrew Denniston: Orange Grove Hotel, Lilyfield

Paul Hayward & his Sidekicks: Gasoline Pony, Marrickville Raised By Eagles: Grand Junction Hotel (The Junkyard), Maitland

Shane Nicholson: Harmonie German Club, Narrabundah Owen Campbell: Hawkesbury Hotel, Windsor Still Got The Blues - The Gary Moore Experience: Heritage Hotel, Bulli Shaun Kirk + Loki: Janes Wollongong, North Wollongong

Unlocking The Doors - Doors Tribute Band: Camelot Lounge (Django Bar), Marrickville

The Babe Rainbow + Bananagun + Parsnip: Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale

Bonka: Candys Apartment, Potts Point

Wendy Matthews: Laurieton United Services Club, Laurieton

38 • THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017

Maryanne Rex: Long Jetty Hotel, Long Jetty

Bill Jackson + Pete Fidler: Fairlight Folk Acoustic Lounge, Fairlight

Mixtape For The Drive: Hamilton Station Hotel, Islington Wesley Fuller: Botany View Hotel, Newtown

Suburban Haze + Slagatha Christie + Rumblr + PJ Johnson: Lobrow Gallery & Bar, Canberra

Ready.Aim.Fire feat. Toe To Toe + Bare Bones + Ebolagoldfish + Dal Failure + The Australian Beef Week Show + TLK SHT! + Tear You Apart + Sentimental Abuse + Landon Elliot River: The Small Ballroom, Islington Matty T Wall: The Stag & Hunter Hotel, Mayfield SMLXL + Anatomy Class + Shinu Gnu: Town Hall Hotel, Newtown

Panorama + Alex Roussos: Orient Hotel, The Rocks Husky + Tia Gostelow + Hot Spoke!: Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Shows on Stage feat. Rogue Company: Paddington RSL, Paddington Battle of the Band: A Festival of Music for School Age Bands: Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham Back To The 90s feat. DJ CMan + DJ Saywhut!? + DJ Benny Hinn: Play Bar, Surry Hills Shellie Morris + Troy Jungaji Brady + GuGu Miliyawutj: Powerhouse Museum, Ultimo Just A Gent: Proud Mary’s, Erina

Far Away Stables

Stable Supports Far Away Stables and Red Bee are set to support Starset when they bring their Australian tour to Factory Theatre this Thursday.

The US rock legends are here with their second album, Vessels.

Gigs / Live The Guide

Sanctuary Club with Various DJs: Valve Bar (Basement), Ultimo

Banarang: Never Grow Up with Various DJs: Valve Bar (Level One), Ultimo Adrian Deutsch: Vic On The Park, Marrickville

Celebrity Theatresports feat. Adam Spencer + Kitty Flanagan + more: Enmore Theatre, Newtown

Paul Mbenna & The Okapi Guitar Band: LazyBones Lounge, Marrickville

Wild Honey

Leo Sayer: Lizottes Newcastle, Lambton

All Ages Show with Binary Finary + Andrew Wowk: Factory Theatre, Marrickville

Paper Parade + DJ Graham M + DJ Tim Boffa: Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly Dante & Dwight: Marble Bar, Sydney Greg Poppleton: Mosman Bowling Club, Mosman

Montaigne

Shauna Purcell Duo: Oatley Hotel, Oatley Gary Johns Trio + The White Bros: Orient Hotel, The Rocks Suburban Haze + Nothing Rhymes with David + Lost Coast + Soft Karate: Rad Bar, Wollongong Suite Az + DJ Troy T: Rock Lily, Pyrmont Hot Fox: The Beach Hotel, Merewether Mark Lucas & The Lazy L: The Merton Hotel, Rozelle DJ MK-1 + Rob Edwards + DJ Cool Hand Luke + NJ Duo: The Newport, Newport

Sydney’s Sweetheart Montaigne hits up Metro Theatre on Saturday. Coming off the back of whirlwind festival appearances, the 2016 ARIA Breakthrough Artist is warming up this Aussie winter with a national headline tour. Catch her while you can.

Sun 13

Owen Campbell: FogHorn Brewhouse, Newcastle

Run BRH - City2Surf After Party with La Fiesta Sound System: Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach

Jazz Organism: LazyBones Lounge, Marrickville

Fallon Cush + Bryan Estepa & the Tempe Two + The Forresters: Union Hotel, Newtown

Bootleg Sessions feat. Pleased To Jive You + The Kingstons + Ghost Noises + The Scarecrows: The Phoenix, Canberra

Institutionalized Fest V feat. Chillaum + Durry + Rise Of Avernus + Disparo + Speedball + Twofaced + Reaper + Panik + more: Valve Bar (Basement), Ultimo

Sons Of The East

Edith Piaf & Friends with Dahlia Dior: Camelot Lounge, Marrickville

The Strides: Hotel Steyne, Manly

Tue 15 Australian Chamber Orchestra: City Recital Hall, Sydney Greasy Chicken Orchestra: Foundry 616, Sydney Songs On Stage feat. Tim Walker + Russell Neal + Chris Brookes: Gladstone Hotel, Dulwich Hill

Matty T Wall: Beaches Hotel, Thirroul Hurtsville + Marcus: Hotel Hollywood, Surry Hills

They’ve just released Break Away, the first single from their debut album, and now Wild Honey are bringing their smoothindie sound to Selina’s at Coogee Bay Hotel on Friday. Make sure you don’t miss Sydney’s sweetest band.

James Southwell: Towradgi Beach Hotel (Sports Bar), Towradgi

Release The Hounds + Devine Electric + Ablaze: Frankie’s Pizza By The Slice, Sydney

The Rucksaks: Brass Monkey, Cronulla

Sweeter Than Honey

Songs On Stage feat. Stuart Jammin: Kellys on King, Newtown Steve Hunter Band: LazyBones Lounge, Marrickville

Ill Prepared: Kauri Foreshore Hotel, Glebe Jess Ciampa + Jose Zarb: Camelot Lounge (Django Bar), Marrickville

The Babe Rainbow + Bananagun + Parsnip: Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale

Australian Chamber Orchestra: City Recital Hall, Sydney

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Eastern Standout Time Sons Of The East are back at Hotel Steyne’s Moonshine Bar on Thursday. You’ll recognise the twang of banjo and you know you love their cheeky style. Don’t miss this toe-tapping good time.

Mon 14 Soul Messengers: B.E.D. Bar, Kings Cross Rick Robertson: Foundry 616, Sydney Songs On Stage feat. Russell Neal + Michelle Benson + Paul Ward + Kenneth D’Aran + Andrew Denniston: Kellys on King, Newtown

THE MUSIC • 9TH AUGUST 2017 • 39

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