The Music (Sydney) Issue #207

20.09.17 Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture

Issue

207

Sydney / Free / Incorporating

ON GST M A G N I T T E D OF G NOT AFRAI

IT

Release

CUB SPORT Tour

SHONEN KNIFE Release

BRITISH INDIA

2 • THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017

THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017 • 3

4 • THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017

SEPT 1ST

HEY GERONIMO + HAIKU HAND SEPT 8TH

DROP ZONE PRESENTS

GOODTIMES RECORDS PRESENTS:

BASEMENT

WED 20TH 8PM

BASEMENT

THU 21ST 8PM

“SICK TIMES” (GERMANY) AND “STARVING MILLIONS” (NZ)

WITH SUPPORT FROM “DISPARO!”, “DARK HORSE”, “TWO FACED”, “SPEEDBALL”

LEVEL ONE

FRI 22ND 10PM

BASEMENT

“E3 PROJECT” PRESENTS

SAT 23RD 9PM

EXPERIMENTAL JAZZ SHOW

WITH SUPPORT FROM “SPIRAL” AND “GOD’S BROCCOLI”

PHAZE ONE: RISE

HARDSTYLE, POWERSTOMP, FREEFORM, REVERSE BASS, RAWSTYLE, HAPPY HARDCORE WITH DJ’S: TEAM GALACTIC, DISSEMINATE, EVERSA, VIAL8, DARK MATTER, LINSKIEZ, KANDI FLARE NOISY CHICKEN AND PSYPHARI PRESENTS

PSY VS PSY III

FEAT: KETECH VS YANTRA, OTANG VS ECLIPSICAL, PROFESSOR SMOKES VS DR DOOM, SILLYPSYBIN VS JOE BACO NOISY CHICKEN AND PSUPHARI PRESENTS

THE ELEMENTS OF TECH AND BASS PRESENTS BASEMENT

FRI 22ND 9PM

5TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

WITH THIERRY D, NCRYPT B2B MARK BIONIC, MR PINK B2B STRUZ, ROWDY ONE B2B ATTAKA, POLAR B2B HIGHLY DUBIOUS, NEURODELIC B2B TRIPPPLE, HOSTED BY TUKKA D, JVIGGY, SLICE

LEVEL ONE

SAT 23RD 10PM

LEVEL ONE

SUN 24TH 5PM

COMING UP

PSY VS PSY III

FEAT: JEANNI VS KRYPTIK, VERTICAL TRANSPORT VS SUPERBEAST, SUCCUMB VS MECHANIZM, TEATROPPA VS MINDCRAFT

FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS

FEAT: “BOBBY”, “GHOST TALK”, “MOSHI”, “OXFORD POET”

Thu 28 Sept: 8pm Basement: “The Quick 7 The Dead” presents the night of Blues and Alt Rock with support from “The Fossicks”, “Sixteend Days”, “The Grand Union”; Fri 29 Sept: 8pm Basement: “Hammer Time” in Hardcore Punk Show with support from “Kid Presentable”, “Skylerwhite”, “Snakepit”; 10pm Level One: Kandi Flare presents: Kandi Planet, Happy Hardcore/UK Hardcore night wirth DJ’s Vendetta 7, Sc@r, Kandi Flare and many more; Sat 30 Sept: 9pm Basement: Underground Saturdays presents: Blaq’d Out Session 2 with Ms.Tee, And.E, Cassoniac; 10pm Level One: Atomic New Wave Club, 80’s new wave brought by Sydney’s best alternative DJ’s, club night not to be missed; Sun 1 Oct: 12pm Basement: ScOrChErFeSt, 20 acts in huge live music discovery; 10pm Level One: Wiradjuri Platinum Mixers presents Chocolate Sundae, Sydney KO afterparty with DJ’s I-Sight, A-Dub, DJ Coco, hosted by MC Smazing

ABBE MAY

+ LITTLE COYOTE SEPT 15TH

THE SEA GYPSIES + THE KAVA KINGS SEPT 22ND

WINTERBOURNE + LITTLE COYOTE SEPT 29TH

MAJOR LEAGUES + NELIPOT THE BAND

LOCAL ROCK ‘N ROLL, FOLK & INDIE POP ROCK ACTS LIVE & LOUD EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT AT SELINA’S FROM 8PM COOGEEBAYHOTEL.COM.AU

A Celebration Celebration of of Tiki Tiki Culture Culture A

ING s Coconut e h T & o Rufin artin Ciliacs) M he Atlanti (from T t III Hellca .N.C.L.E mU Men fro & Andy Treamvpelres FEATUR

ightyan & Doc T d Alm roup DJS RoWolfman D ance G MCS sian Drade e n y l o Pa zP Dream Fashion Pacific TIKI Beach od, , Fo

Sunday 1 October

s ectable i i Coll g & Merch Tik in Cloth ver Tiki Bob r Tiki Ca

doors open open 1pm 1pm doors Factory Theatre Theatre Factory Book Now! Now! Book factorytheatre.com.au factorytheatre.com.au

THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017 • 5

Music / Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture

First Trek

Star Trek: Discovery

The Killers

Star Trek: Discovery is finally coming to Netflix this Monday, 25 Sep. The series is set around ten years before Kirk and co’s adventures and stars Sonequa MartinGreen as Michael Burnham, first officer of the USS Discovery.

So Nice They Named It Twice

Fountaineer

Following the announcement they’ll be performing at the footy, alt-rock icons The Killers have announced their largest Antipodean tour to date in support of their fifth studio album, Wonderful Wonderful.

Catch the Las Vegans in Apr/May.

Greater & Greater In support of their newly released debut album Greater City, Greater Love, Victorian outfit Fountaineer have announced they will head out on a huge Aussie east coast tour this Nov/Dec.

The Emoji Movie and Pixels take place in the same universe.

It’s this one, and it’s terrible. @smithsara79

6 • THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017

Veruca Salt

Green Out A Day On The Green has announced its doozy of a Feb/Mar 2018 line-up. The list includes The Living End, Spiderbait, The Fauves and The Lemonheads, plus US faves Veruca Salt - who’ve also announced sideshows.

Arts / Li Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture

Credits

Publisher Street Press Australia Pty Ltd Group Managing Editor Andrew Mast

Chippy Nonstop

Gotta Summit

National Editor – Magazines Mark Neilsen

Or Plummet

Arts & Culture Editor Maxim Boon

Face The Music’s first line-up announce is out and predictably massive.

Among the many industry legends will be Ariel Pink and Canadian quadruple threat Chippy Nonstop, as well as Nick Findlay, Mallrat and dancer/choreographer Amrita Hepi.

The Clouds

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

Editorial Assistant Sam Wall, Jessica Dale 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

Nothing Doing The Clouds have announced dates for a national headline tour in Nov. They will be hitting the road with their new song Beautiful Nothingness, which is due out 16 Oct.

Advertising Dept Brad Edwards sales@themusic.com.au Art Dept Ben Nicol, Felicity Case-Mejia 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

Cub Sport

info@themusic.com.au www.themusic.com.au

— Sydney

Ace Of Cubs With the release of their second studio album BATS just a week away now, Cub Sport have confirmed they will embark on a 2018 headline tour of Australia starting in Feb.

Music / Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture

Nai Palm

Oh Hai

Two-time Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Nai Palm has announced the release of her highly anticipated solo album Needle Paw on 20 Oct. Even better, the Hiatus Kaiyote frontwoman is taking it on the road in Nov/Dec.

theMusic.com.au: breaking news, up-to-the-minute reviews and streaming new releases

The Go-Betweens: Right Here

Hip Hopuppetry In a world first, Thundamentals have announced a collaboration with puppetry and performance art collective A Blanck Canvas on 22 Sep. Together the two will give life to the characters from the hiphop artists’ latest LP, Everyone We Know.

Go Gold Iconic Aussie director Kriv Stenders new doco The Go-Betweens: Right Here is screening 21, 23 & 29 Sep at Golden Age Cinema & Bar. Formed just for the event, Golden Covers Band will also play both nights.

Thundamentals

Surry Hills Festival

$2,000 The amount in US dollars you’d have to pay if you want Gene Simmons to hand deliver his upcoming new box set to you at upcoming events around the world (which, in Australia, is only possible in Sydney at this stage)

8 • THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017

Surry Down Spring has sprung! Which means it’s time for Surry Hills Festival. Spread across the suburb will be food, art and free events including projections, installations and performances from more than 60 artists for Double Take, 25 Sep - 15 Oct.

Arts / Li Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture

Mary Z

Roll some blunts and change the bong water ‘cause stoner/doom trio Sleep are bringing their monolithic sound to Australian shores. The genre-changing trio are set to play three shows in Jan.

Sleep

Frontlash

Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Collected Emmy number six for her role in Veep. Can she make it seven by the time the show wraps up next year?

Streaming Dominance Pamela Rabe in Ghosts

Streaming titles again charged home to pick up a fair wack of major gongs at the Emmys (mostly thanks to The Handmaid’s Tale), once again showing up network TV.

Lashes

Blown Up

God bless social media for ripping into the Vote No skywriting over the weekend.

Boo! Adapted and directed

by Eamon Flack and starring Pamela Rabe, Henrik Ibsen’s century-old masterpiece confronting the problem of male sexual aggression opens this week at Belvoir.

Ghosts runs from 16 Sep — 22 Oct.

The Handmaid’s Tale

Backlash

A Strange Thing

Stranger Things was surprisingly shut out of the Emmys, as was the similarly favoured Westworld. I guess sometimes it pays to not believe the hype.

I Saw It In The Hologram Looking Back

Custard

When Simon Holmes passed in mid-July we lost one of the greats. To celebrate The Hummingbirds founder’s achievements, Ratcat, Custard, Ups & Downs and more are playing a mini-fest Hindsight — A Night For Simon at Factory Theatre 3 Dec.

Seeing as ABBA have vowed never to perform live again, we’re stuck with holograms of them. Surely everyone would want to see the real thing, and not representations of their 1970s selves.

Blown Away What kind of cockwomble decides that polluting the sky with Vote No skywriting is a good thing? Even mother nature must be voting yes as the wind quickly scattered the message.

THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017 • 9

Music

Now settled into his role as Northlane’s new singer, to the point where he feels comfortable contributing musical ideas, Marcus Bridge admits to Bryget Chrisfield that he still tends to freeze and act weird in the presence of his musical heroes.

W

hen not on tour and back home in Australia, Northlane’s lead singer Marcus Bridge lives between Sydney (“I live with my grandparents, actually”) and Melbourne (“where my girlfriend lives”). We’re tipping Bridge’s grandparents are extremely proud of him. “They’re very, very cool,” he enthuses. “At first they weren’t sure about all this, like, heavy music kinda stuff, but since they’ve seen what we’ve been doing they’ve been very supportive.” So have his grandparents ever attended a Northlane show? “My grandma has come once before,” Bridge tells. Did Bridge supply grandma some earplugs? “Yeah, yeah, definitely,” he laughs.

“It’s definitely very loud when we play so, yeah!

You’ve gotta be careful.”

Northlane released Mesmer — their second album since Bridge joined the band in 2014, but fourth overall — in March of this year. It dropped out of nowhere, with no forewarning. A hint was provided by the band when a mysterious video popped up on YouTube and Northlane fans were sent into a tailspin. On what we now know as Mesmer’s trailer, Bridge enlightens,

10 • THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017

“Well, that was an idea that Jon [Deiley, guitar] and Josh [Smith, guitar] had for a long time, I guess. Even before going into the studio to record Mesmer, they had this idea of creating something that if you were just a regular person listening to it you wouldn’t immediately think, ‘Oh, this is a metal band,’ or whatever.

Obviously you’d kind of be able to figure it out if you knew who the band was, but if it was just something you heard then it would just be, ‘Oh, this is interesting,’ so, yeah! I dunno, we wanted to do something kind of weird like that and not necessarily let on what we are teasing; just put something up there for people to talk about with no real idea of what it might be.”

Bowie and Beyonce led the way when they released surprise material and we discuss the confidentiality agreements that must have been flying around their respective camps.

“Absolutely!” Bridge laughs. “I was talking to a friend the other day, actually, and I was saying how any day now one of your favourite artists might drop a new album out of nowhere. You never know these days, it’s quite a wild time.”

The band and their team’s careful planning even utilised this year’s UNIFY Gathering where Northlane debuted a new song Intuition as a treat for fans. “We were kind of teasing it all weekend and there was posters around the festival just with a few lines from the song on it,” Bridge recalls, before clarifying, “It was the chorus lyrics. There was just, ‘Wander/ Question/Find your obsession’... And no one had heard [the song] yet, or knew what it was going to be, so it went pretty crazy when we played it.

It was pretty wild. For a new song you expect people to enjoy it, but not get into it so much

just because they’re not used to it.” Bridge also praises “the vibe of UNIFY” for making Intuition “a highlight of the set” from his perspective. A live video of Northlane performing the song live at UNIFY Gathering then became the music video for Intuition, which was released the day after they performed.

Intuition’s opening lyrics could not be more relevant in these fucked-up times: “Why do we subscribe to a universal thread that weaves the fabric of our lives/Ask why without batting an eye we’re so accepting/Question everything.”

I didn’t wanna intrude too much when I came in, at first, and, you know, press my ideas onto what they’ve already created.

Encouraging individuals to stand up in protest is a timely message and Bridge puts forward that since there’s “a lot of awful stuff going on in the world, it’s very easy to just be scared and not to do anything about it — kind of be too afraid to get amongst it”. “In the end that’s exactly what is gonna cause no change to happen,” he laments of this cycle of fear. “So you definitely need to put yourself out there and, you know, try to talk to people and just understand it all.”

The recent R U OK? Day comes up in our conversation and Bridge reflects on why some of us struggle to speak up and seek help:

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

“Some people just feel way too scared to do it just because they think people will look down on them or whatever it may be... People just need that help and sometimes you just need to pay close attention, and see them and see how they’re doing; you can kinda tell a lot of the time. So, I dunno, it’s just worth putting your hand out.”

When asked whether fans contact Northlane to share stories and let the band know how much their music has helped them through hard times, Bridge ponders, “there’s definitely a few out there that have told us some very deep stories and all this awful stuff that’s happened in their lives and I guess even just chatting to them — hearing their story — helps them a lot, which is a wild thing. And for our music to help them through whatever situation they might be going through is really, you know, a crazy responsibility. We’ve always tried to write music about positivity and self-improvement, and all the good that is in the world, so it’s always good to see people getting in touch with that and trying to better themselves and just feel good.”

On which bands played this role in his own formative years, Bridge singles out Underoath, Fall Out Boy, From First To Last, Panic! At The Disco and My Chemical Romance (“I liked a lot of emo stuff”). “There’s definitely a lot of those bands from that era that I still really love and listen to a lot, but that kind of music very much helped me escape when I was young and long before I was playing music.”

A video of Bridge auditioning for Northlane 2.0 after their original singer Adrian Fitipaldes left the band has racked up the views on YouTube. “Even leading up to the audition period or whatever, when I was doing that, I didn’t think I had a chance of becoming a part of this,” he confesses, “and when it all went down I was just so shocked [laughs]. I guess I was the kind of guy they wanted and it, yeah,

all worked out for me. So much crazy stuff has happened... It’s all just an endless whirlwind of exciting times.

“We’ve just played so many crazy shows, you know, playing, like, dream festivals and stuff that you never thought you’d play in a million years! Like Download Festival — we’ve played that twice now, which is unbelievable.”

So has Bridge had a chance to meet any of his heroes, say, backstage at Download Festival? “Every now and then there’s a few bands that you run into and you just kind of wig out,” he allows. “I’m the worst at that, like, there have been so many times when, you know, we’ve been around people that I really, really looked up to and listened to in the past so I just can’t talk to them, or just freeze... I dunno, there’s just been so many that I’ve just been weird around... I feel like half the time they just want to be treated normally as well [laughs] whereas you being weird is just making them feel weird, which isn’t helping anyone. I’ve gotten better at it slowly, I think; just slowly getting more confident talking to ‘em... Don’t sorta put them on a pedestal or anything, that’s the way I think.”

Bridge reckons Northlane 2.0 have “definitely grown a lot” since recording previous album, Node. “I just feel we’ve all grown a lot as people, and as friends and as a group, and it made me more comfortable to, I guess, express myself a bit more personally,” Bridge ponders of creating Mesmer. “I didn’t wanna intrude too much when I came in, at first, and, you know, press my ideas onto what they’ve already created. But this time around we’ve definitely learned to write more as a group.”

Double Trouble Back in April 2016, Northlane and their labelmates In Hearts Wake dropped a surprise joint EP, Equinox, following this up with a dual-headlining tour. “That was wild,” Northlane singer Marcus Bridge recalls. “That was one of the craziest things. It just came together so smoothly in the end we — both us and In Hearts Wake — were on tour doing our separate things leading up to it. We only had a week or so to kind of prepare the actual tour [laughs] so we weren’t sure how it would all work out.

“I guess we had the idea pretty clear in our heads already so, when it came to setting it up and getting it all ready, it just worked out.

The split-set performance thing and then coming together in the end to play the two songs — it all just worked so smoothly and, yeah; definitely something that we’re very proud of.”

So how many musicians were up on stage to present the Equinox material that closed the night? “It was ten on stage at some point, so it was quite a spectacle... It was a wild time, though, so much fun.” This reviewer attended the Festival Hall Equinox show and tends to agree: “Both bands blend into something even greater: a merciless sonic beast.”

When & Where: 30 Sep, Yours & Owls Festival; 27 Oct, Enmore Theatre THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017 • 11

Music

Dare To Dream When Bryget Chrisfield sits down for beers with Declan Melia and Will Drummond, she discovers British India have upgraded from stealing beers from their guitarist’s dad’s fridge to sharing spliffs with The Rolling Stones’ sound guy.

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

S

ettling into a booth inside Union Hotel, Brunswick with one half of British India — frontman Declan Melia and bass player Will Drummond — it immediately becomes apparent that the band is enamoured of Oscar Dawson, who produced their latest and sixth album Forgetting The Future. “We were kind of like a junkie couple,” Melia posits, “we were just enabling each other, kinda like, you say, ‘Should we have another line?’ You know the other person wants one... So we doubled the guitar part. ‘Should we triple it?’/’I think you know you wanna!’...” Drummond continues: “He amplified our ideas that we had for songs, which was helpful.”

We were kind of like a junkie couple, we were just enabling each other.

“With all the records with Liberation, they tried to set us up with a different producer and every time it just fuckin’ failed... Great producers, all, but it just didn’t work out; it wasn’t the meeting of the minds that they wanted it to be,” Melia laments. “So, before Oscar, I mean, like, we didn’t wanna know. We were like, ‘Fuck, this again!’

We were like, ‘Some plonker’s gonna come in and tell us...’ So the first song we did was My Love and I was just like looking at Nic [Wilson, guitarist], like, ‘Am I crazy or is this fuckin’ kickin’ arse?’ I couldn’t believe that it was fuckin’ working.”

“We came into the studio with Oscar with a month left in that studio... and we had a lot of the album written, but some of it was sketchy and some of it was full songs.

And then having that kind of influence of, ‘Hey, no, that

12 • THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017

song’s really good, guys’... Just a different voice that you hadn’t heard before was such a great spark, which we definitely needed.”

British India formed when they were teenagers and we’re curious to hear how far they thought music would take them. “If you pick up a guitar, you have a dream of being on a stage and playing in front of people,” Drummond shares, “and I think your imagination runs wild with that. But the whole reason we wanted to play in a band together was ‘cause we were friends and it was fun and it got us out of doing homework, and it was a reason to steal VBs from Nic’s dad’s fridge.” Melia spots something and gestures excitedly. “It’s there!” Drummond looks around. “What is?” Melia beams, “That’s him! That’s the poster from next to Nic’s dad’s fridge!” Drummond spots the antique Carlton Draught poster Melia is referring to. “It is too! That’s hilarious!” Melia reads out the text: “’I allus has wan at 11’... That was above the fridge at Nic’s house when we used to steal the beers. So that’s a weird bit of serendipity.”

“It is, yeah,” Drummond agrees. “But, so, when you’re jamming in a room you’re just, like, all you wanna do is like, ‘Let’s get this version of an Oasis song down,’ and then you’re like, ‘Well, let’s get this song down that we wrote,’ and then it’s like, ‘Oh, it’d be awesome to play a gig. It’d be so good’. And then when you play a gig it’s like, ‘That’s great!’ And then with each step you just want it to be bigger and bigger; your plans and your dreams just keep getting bigger and bigger.”

Melia ponders,“Sometimes journalists ask, like, ‘Why have you guys been together for so long?’ And I think a contributing factor is, like, obviously we’re incredible, but...”

Drummond bursts out laughing. Melia continues, “We’ve never headlined festivals and we’ve never played massive venues and we’ve never had a number one record, and so I think we still wanna do those things.”

One thing British India can certainly brag about is having supported The Rolling Stones at Hope Estate Winery in The Hunter Valley (2014). “It was amazing, but I don’t put it down as a career highlight, it was just, like, a personal highlight,” Melia stresses.

“It’s like when you go to Duty Free and you go, ‘Oh, I’ll buy this new perfume,’ and they’re like, ‘Hey, would you like some really expensive hand moisturiser,’ and you’re like, ‘YES! Of course I would!’” Drummond explains. Melia laughs, “I completely agree! Supporting The Rolling Stones was like expensive hand wash.”

“It was insane,” Drummond remembers of the experience. “And everyone on the tour was so nice... I was walking backstage afterwards and the sound guy was like [adopts American accent], ‘Hey, bass player! You don’t walk past me without smokin’ a joint with me,’ and then so, like, I smoked a joint with him and talked to him for ages.

And then the other day Keith Richards put a photo up he’s like, ‘Happy Birthday to my good man blah-blah-blah,’ and I was like, ‘Oh my god, that’s him!’ [laughs].”

What: Forgetting The Future (Liberation Music) When & Where: 1 Oct, Wildwood Music Festival, Port Macquarie; 20 Oct, Hotel Brunswick; 17 Nov, Cambridge Hotel; 18 Nov, Entrance Leagues; 7 Dec, The Basement; 8 Dec, Uni Bar Wollongong; 9 Dec, Metro Theatre

105 VICTORIA RD, MARRICKVILLE

FACTORYTHEATRE .COM.AU

THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017 • 13

Music

Big Fish Pond frontman Nick Allbrook chats to Evan Young about how the plights of the world and his home of WA influenced the band’s lastest offering, The Weather.

“M

usic’s the only therapy,” says Nick Allbrook of his contempt for contemporary Australia.

Political disorder overseas and continual disregard for local indigenous and queer communities have deeply stifled the Pond frontman’s pride for the country in which he lives. Feeling guilty occupying stolen land, unable to offer any clear solutions to the oppression of others also living on it, making music is an outlet of sorts. It’s always been that, a way to fill his home of Western Australia’s conservative desert expanses with something more encouraging. “While writing music doesn’t resolve anything so much, it certainly makes it

You get some truly sublime and original stuff happening here, but also some dark, fucked up shit.

easier for me to process what’s going on,” he says. “I think it’s fundamentally easier for human beings to talk about stuff. This is how I do it.”

Pond’s latest LP, The Weather, was released back in May to plenty of praise. It’s a much more mature release for the group and by far the Perth psych-rockers’ broadest in scope and ambition. The album has clear international concerns, while simultaneously rooting itself in issues back home. Allbrook describes The Weather as “West Australian self-reflective”, offering a take on the world from an underrepresented outpost lost on much of 14 • THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017

Australia’s metropolitan population. The 29-year-old says he used to dream about living in a Berlin or New York but came to realise the isolation of Perth was much more conducive to creativity.

“WA is this weird collision of light and dark, full of weird and poetic contradictions,” he says. “It’s such a paradise for so many people, and such a hell hole for others. It feels like the edge of the world. It’s one of the farthest outposts of the British Empire, and no one’s around to look. You get some truly sublime and original stuff happening here, but also some dark, fucked up shit.”

That last sentence fits The Weather to a tee- it’s both at times sublime and a little fucked up. Opener 30,000 Megatons is Allbrook’s frank assessment of humanity, contemplating whether the threat of nuclear warfare might be befitting of our failings to better accommodate the rights of marginalised people. Colder Than Ice’s disco groove and stammered chorus is so poppy, it takes a few listens to realise it’s actually about the methamphetamine crisis devastating swathes of West Australian communities. The sonics are lush, and arrangements lavish; reminiscent of rock operas past, falling not too far from what Foxygen attempted earlier this year with Hang.

There’s little trace of the band’s former 70’s pastiche or the self-described “strobelight-strapped-to-your-forehead-andchained-to-a-bed psychedelia”.

Pond would today prefer to distance themselves from the Australian psych “scene”, the box in which many casual listeners also place the likes of Tame Impala, King Gizzard and The Murlocs. Allbrook feels psychedelic music has become culturally indifferent. He also takes issue with the word “scene”. As he wrote in a fantastic Griffith Review essay: “The experience of a city or community varies so much that it can never be defined while it is still occurring. When it’s actually happening, a ‘scene’ is not really a ‘scene’ - it’s completely intangible and only coagulates into a definitive and convenient ball when history puts it in a cage, when someone from the outside looks in and decides there’s something shared between a bunch of vaguely artistic fools”. “[Pond is] considered a big part of that Australian psych scene, which is strange to us because we don’t really listen to any of that music,” Allbrook says. “Psych rock today is a typically white, male and careless type of area. It’s now got a really big vibe of apathy and negligence, I think. We don’t want to be part of any scenewhatever it sounds like, we want to make something honest and original that lasts through time.”

Now seemingly hitting their creative stride as a group, there are more ears on Pond than ever before. The Weather’s recent acclaim considered, people are going to start expecting more from the band. Allbrook and co. are determined to remain grounded. “We don’t want to place a greater worth on ourselves than we deserve,” he says.

“As an Australian, any admission of self-worth is seen as showboating. But if we’re writing songs that make a point about equality or care and kindness, and it gets through to even one person, I’m gonna be really, really fucking happy.”

When & Where: 23 Sep, Enmore Theatre

INSIDE OUT MUSIC, THE MUSIC, DAVID ROY WILLIAMS & WILD THING PRESENTS

25TH SEPTEMBER - 1ST OCTOBER WED SEPT 27TH

SoSueMe DJs + Ruby Fields + Sex On Toast + Godlands + Ribongia + Mount Zamia

WITH SPECIAL P PECIAL GUEST STS S

+ Ebony Boadu + Strange Associates + Slim Set + Mowgli May + Jaman

THU SEPT 28TH

FRIDAY OCTOBER 6 THE FACTORY THEATRE, SYDNEY TICKETS FR F OM M W ILDTHING G PRESENTS.COM

Adi Toohey + Ariane + Caitlin Medcalf + Clypso (Live) + MEZKO (Live) + Purple

CALIGULA’S HORSE | IN CONTACT

NEW W AL BUM ‘IN CO O NTACT’ OUT ON SEPTEMBER 15 VIA INSIDE OUT MUSIC

Sneakers DJs + Sandro Dallarmi + Shantan Wantan Ichiban + TEES (Live) + Venus

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PERFORMANCE STAGE ARTISTS

MASTER DRUMMER

Halfway Crooks & One Day DJs

DAVID JONES C L I N I C

SAT SEPT 30TH SECOND BIRTHDAY PARTY

SUN OCT 1ST

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TV

Puff Power Aussie YouTube superstar Wengie tells Emily Blackburn about the mind-blowing honour of being Australia’s fourth Powerpuff Girl.

B

eing the voice of the fourth Powerpuff girl is the dream YouTube megastar Wengie never knew she ever had, and is ‘the icing on the cake’ for a girl who grew up in Australia with Aussie TV. “I’m just really proud to be the Australian Powerpuff girl, who can say that? I’m so excited!”

However, she almost passed on this once in a lifetime gig, as she initially thought the role was one major prank. “Cartoon Network actually reached out and sent me an email,” she recalls, “and at first I thought it was a prank almost. There’s only three Powerpuff Girls like, what is this email? I feel like this is a scam!”

Pic via Instagram

I’m like ‘Oh my gosh! How did you know I loved tea?!’ and then I realised I told the whole world that I like tea

Thankfully for Wengie, she got her team to investigate further. “After we realised it was real I was like, ‘Oh my god I need this! No matter what you do, I need this role!’ Then after that they were like ‘Oh wait, but you’ve gotta audition.’” The internet sensation describes that despite being on camera 24/7 with her successful YouTube channel, which boasts a whopping 8.5 million subscribers, her nerves were running high. “I’d never auditioned for anything. I don’t need to give my own permission to be on my own channel you know, so it was very nerve-wracking.

“There’d be a scene where my character would get punched, and she would go ‘ow’ so I actually literally 16 • THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017

punched myself for that,” she admits, offering a window on the methods used to get the perfect sound for her first ever voice acting role. “I couldn’t just make the sound. We were just standing there so I got really physical with myself, I was like punching myself, throwing [invisible] things...it was actually a lot of fun.”

Wengie’s character Bliss shows striking similarities to her, especially with the newest Power Puff Girl’s blue hairstyle, despite not being directly based on her. “I think they created the character then thought ‘who would suit this?’ So when I actually read the role I thought ‘this is so me, this is literally me’... and she was also made from Chemical W!” she laughs at the coincidence, “there’s so many similarities there, it’s great!”

Alongside landing the soon to be iconic role, Wengie is best known for her YouTube show, and as one of the planet’s most vibrant “influencers,” via her more than one million Instagram followers. While she is now a YouTube A-lister, she admits to not watching much on YouTube when she began her own vlog, taking her inspiration instead from online make-up guru Michelle Phan. “I read about her and then watched some of the videos because of that, so for me, it wasn’t really ‘Hey I’m onto a thing’ for me it’s just that I really enjoy making videos.

“Every time we [her fiance Max works alongside her] choose a video concept we’ll have some rough ideas so we’ll write the scripts, we’ll have ideas on what shots we want then we’ll go out and buy the supplies and costumes and props and then that will come together and then we’ll pick a day to shoot that and then it gets edited, so it’s like a pretty big process.”

Wengie is herself now a major influence on up and coming YouTubers, and was recently a featured speaker at Australia’s first Vid Con event. “It was amazing, there was so much support, so much community”, Wengie beams, showing how passionate she is for her followers.

“I loved meeting my fans as well and hugging them. My favourite part of it is the meet and greet.” But is it really daunting having your public life on display all the time?

“I think it’s a really strange feeling to have a lot of people know a lot about you, but you not knowing a lot about the other people. Then I always just forget people know stuff about me.

What: Powerpuff Girls When & Where: On Cartoon Network 23 Sep

triple j, focus, sand events, the music, musicfeeds, au review, pretty rad store "presents"

THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017 • 17

Music

That Certain Feeling Faris Badwan teaches Bryget Chrisfield a Portuguese expression, saudade — “nostalgia for something that you haven’t experienced” — before admitting that this is a feeling he tries to transmit through The Horrors songs.

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

H

e’s just returned to London from Tokyo at the time of our chat and Faris Badwan, lead singer of The Horrors, shares, “I’m glad to be back — or sort of, actually; I really like Tokyo... It’s a very intense city to be in.” When told this scribe imagines Tokyo looks a lot like Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, Badwan enlightens, “Well I think Blade Runner was actually shot in Tokyo, or parts of it were definitely modelled on the centre of Tokyo.”

Firstly, we wanna check whether album number five

by The Horrors, V, is pronounced ‘five’ or ‘V’. “Ah, well, both,” Badwan advises. “It’s the Roman numeral.” Just wait ‘til you hear V: the album feels nostalgic and familiar, but

The Horrors, for sure, feels like it’s always on the brink of collapse.

also like nothing this scribe has ever heard before. “Great!”

Badwan sounds thrilled by this interpretation. “Because, I mean, definitely my favourite kind of songs give me that feeling, for sure... there’s an expression in Portuguese, which is saudade, which is nostalgia for something that you haven’t experienced and I guess that’s a feeling that I really enjoy in music and it’s definitely something that I try and transmit.”

As soon as this scribe pressed play on V, the thick, industrial, electronic sounds of opener Hologram called to mind Bjork’s Army Of Me — the record is striking from the get-go. And the droney synth patterns in another album track, Weighed Down, evoke the atmosphere of Iggy Pop’s The Endless Sea. “Yeah, I guess,” Badwan ruminates. “I mean, the songs are quite different but I

18 • THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017

get what you mean about the feeling and I think there’s definitely quite a few sort of Iggy Pop moments — you know, Iggy Pop songs — that have provided inspiration for different atmospheres, for sure. There’s another one [by Pop], Mass Production, which I always listen to and I think has a really great feeling behind it, which, yeah! I’ve always found inspiring.”

One of the album’s standout tracks, Press Enter To Exit, is particularly sprawling in terms of arrangement and Badwan allows, “For certain the mid-section in that was quite spontaneous and, I mean, it went through quite a lot of changes, that song, but we definitely kept a lot of elements from the very original writing session [in the final version].”

The Horrors worked with Paul Epworth on V and Badwan enlightens, “The number one thing I’d say that Paul brought was he’s really good at knowing how to suspend judgement, because I think a big issue for The Horrors — ‘cause we’re a diplomatic band, you know, and it’s not just one person making all the decisions; I think we can often kind of say no to ideas before they’re fully formed, because we kind of second-guess where they’re gonna go, and when there’s five people doing that it can mean that things take a little longer. But then I think what Paul was really good at was getting us to sort of wait, you know, and to work on things a bit longer before we decided whether we liked them or not and, as a result, we wrote a lot more songs. It actually made the session a lot more productive and a lot quicker because, you know, we didn’t say no to things; we just kept working and then we assessed it later on. I think it was a better way of doing it.”

When it came to working out live versions of the songs on V, Badwan admits that “for some reason it wasn’t an issue at all”. “Normally it takes a little while for songs to work, I think, when we’re rehearsing — or it has in the past — but for some reason on this record all the songs came together very quickly in the rehearsal room and they slot into the set quite naturally... but we’ve only performed four of them so far, so we’ll see.”

After discussing how disappointing it can be to see a band performing live and presenting the songs in exactly the same way as their recorded counterparts, especially when there’s not even a visual element to keep things whe interesting, Badwan states, “I’ve toured with bands in inte the past who basically just play to a backing track, you know, they sound exactly like the record every night. kno And it just gets boring after a while, because there’s no danger and there’s no uncertainty, and I just think if you’re dan doing something creative there has to be an element of doin uncertainty.”

We put forward the opinion that live performances are particularly exciting when everything seems to be derailing, but then it all pulls together at the last moment and Badwan chuckles, “Yeah, that’s definitely something familiar to me anyway.” Does he often feel out of control up on stage? “Well, yeah, I mean The Horrors, for sure, feels like it’s always on the brink of collapse so, yeah!

We’re used to that.” When told loads of bands probably envy The Horrors, because they try really hard to achieve an element of danger but fail miserably, Badwan hesitates, “Maybe. I mean, it’s a lot more stressful way of doing it, but maybe it’s more rewarding.”

What: V (Wolftone/Caroline Australia)

Music

Team Sports

Cub Sport frontman Tim Nelson tells Rod Whitfield that BATS is the product of some massive personal development, from new relationships to collaborating with some of Australia’s most lauded musicians.

B

risbane-based pop/soul four-piece Cub Sport are about to release their ultragroovy second album BATS. Frontman and key songwriter Tim Nelson shares that he had some high-profile help with one of the tracks on the album, and that this seriously put him out of his writing and recording comfort zone.

“There were a couple of co-writes on the album,” he explains. “I wrote Give It To Me (Like You Mean It) with Sarah Blasko. That was a really different writing experience for me. I’d never really been a part of a song that was based around a ukulele. When she started playing the ukulele part, when we were in the studio together, at first I said, ‘Hmm, I don’t know how I’m going to go writing around this.’ But then it kinda just flowed.”

So much so that that the most spontaneous, off the cuff performances of that track were the ones that made it through to the final cut. “She went into the recording room to record the ukulele part,” he recalls, “I stayed in the control room with the producer we were working with. I had a mic in there just to record a guide vocal. I recorded it, and the one that ended up on the album is the first time that I sang through it.

“When I went into the vocal booth to record my proper vocals, I couldn’t remember anything that I’d sung. We listened to the guide vocal and decided to just go with that.”

Something that strikes the listener upon initial listens to the record is the sheer variety of sounds and styles that the band has utilised across the course of the record’s running length. Nelson attributes this, at least in part, to the gamut of feelings he happened to be going through during the writing and recording process.

“It was just about getting them to a place where they felt right for what the song was,” he says. “There was a variety of emotions that I was feeling that I was trying to put into music. I think that’s where the stylistic broadness of the album comes from.”

Indeed, Nelson has been through a great deal of change and upheaval in his personal life over the past few years, and this cannot help but have an effect on his creative output.

“Across the last couple of years, there’s been a lot of personal development,” he states, “in that time, Sam [keyboardist Sam Netterfield] and I have come out, and entered a relationship together. And navigating the last album campaign was a really new experience as well, and it’s been a highly emotional time. So the album was written from a very vulnerable place.”

The band are waiting for fans to truly get their heads around the record before they head out on tour in support of it, the tour kicking off in February next year. “They’re our biggest shows that we’ve ever played,” Nelson enthuses, “I don’t think we ever dreamed that we’d be headlining the Metro in Sydney!”

What: BATS (Independent) When & Where: 17 Mar, Metro Theatre

Hate Doesn’t Pay

Sydney skies were hijacked on Sunday when a sky-writing service plastered the clear blue yonder with an ugly “VOTE NO” slogan, not once, not twice, but four bloody times. Needless to say, most people who have half an ounce of empathy thought the stunt was 100% fucked, and as it turns out, that includes the good people at GoFundMe. Here’s the sitch: the organisers of the skywriting attempted to fund the stunt via the crowdfunding service, raising $3050 of their $4000 target. However, GoFundMe froze access to the funds, telling the anonymous organisers that they would only release the money if they revealed their identities, as per the site’s terms and conditions.

Our hearts bleed for the conservative straight people behind the funding campaign, who were outraged at being asked to reveal themselves to face the ensuing discrimination from the Yes campaign.

That’s right, the new victims of bigotry in Australia are not the LGBTQ people being asked to tick a box that decides if they can have fundamental human rights, it’s in fact the homophobes who can’t afford to pay for their hate propaganda.

And while we’re on the topic, The Music proudly supports the LGBTQ community and its right to equal dignity. We’ll be voting yes, and we reckon you should too.

THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017 • 19

W AY T O G O

Music

EMMYS!

Hell’s Belles Lena Waithe

The Emmy Award winners have been announced, hailing the best and the brightest of the year’s small screen successes, and this year’s crop have made history with an incredible show of diversity. Here’s some of our fav stats.

The awards for Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Comedy Series were both won by shows with female leads – The Handmaid’s Tale starring Elisabeth Moss and Veep starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Both those lead stars also won the Outstanding Lead Actress Awards in their respective categories.

Lena Waithe, co-writer of Aziz Ansari’s comedy masterpiece Master Of None became the first black woman ever to win an Emmy for writing in a comedy series.

In her acceptance speech Lena gave a moving shout out to the LGBTQ community saying, “I see each and every one of you. The things that make us different – those are our superpowers.”

Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino, aka the epitome of utter awesomeness, became the first black director to win a Primetime Emmy for helming a comedy series, picking up a gong for his game-changing series Atlanta.

Also…

The kids from Stranger Things are our new style spirit animal gurus, who must now be in charge of all our fashion decisions forthwith.

20 • THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017

Regurgitator bassist Ben Ely share’s a few Strange Tales Of Drugs And Lost Love from his new solo record with Rod Whitfield.

W

hile there may be somewhat of a stigma attached to the term outside prog circles, the new solo record from Regurgitator’s Ben Ely could possibly be deemed to be an ‘autobiographical concept album’. There is a singular, very strong thread running through Strange Tales Of Drugs And Lost Love (yep, it’s all in the title) - that of his rather eventful and angsty upbringing in the suburbs of Brisbane. Stigma be damned, Ely does not shy away from the term, in fact, he embraces it.

“That’s actually quite flattering, I love prog-rock,” he reveals, “it was my teenage years, I’m a big Rush fan, even though it doesn’t sound like it!”

The city of Brisbane, as it was in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, plays a massive part in the memories that he drew upon when writing the album and constructing its world and imagery. “It was pretty crazy, looking back on Brisbane in that era,” he recalls. “If you were different in this town at that time, you were not very respected by the law, and out in general at concerts there were a lot of skinhead gangs and punk gangs around, there was a lot of violence, and if you were kind of an effeminate man with long blue hair or something, you’re going to attract a bit of attention.”

Ultimately, at that stage of his life, he felt he had to get out of Dodge to get away from that life and some of those experiences. But as we sit here now, those times and those memories have become a huge inspiration for him in writing the record. “I lived away from Brisbane for so long and then I just moved back at the start of last year,” he remembers. “Just moving around the city and going to different locations brought all these weird stories back. It’s weird, if you have that time away from a place where you grew up and then go back to it, your molecular structure has probably re-generated three or four times since you were there, and it’s almost like you were an entirely different person, but it was you, but it was not, if you know what I mean.”

One particular memory of those times is very vivid for him, and was the inspiration for the album’s second track, the appropriately titled Amanda’s Lost It. “The second song is about my first girlfriend, who got possessed by the devil,” he deadpans. “She tried to stab me and then ran off into the forest and I chased her, and she thought these giant hellhounds were chasing her, and I had to calm her down. She said she thought she saw the devil and she thought the devil was in her.

“For your first romance, it’s a weird setup for your life.”

He is taking the record on tour nationally from late September through to early October, where he’ll strongly feature the new record, some of his older solo works and maybe even the odd re-imagined ‘Gurge track as well.

What: Strange Tales Of Drugs And Lost Love (Valve/MGM) When & Where: 21 Sep, The Record Crate; 1 Oct, Dashville Skyline, Lower Belford

Eat / Drink Eat/Drink

What’s e Tea?

The Brits might claim the humble cuppa as their national beverage, but we’ve got some damn fine brews right here Down Under. These are the Aussie-made boutique teas you need to switch up your next coffee break.

Yarra Valley Tea Co Hailing from Melbourne, Yarra Valley Tea Co offer a range of teas and tisanes including black teas, chai teas, functional teas, green teas and herbal infusions. Founded back in 2006, it’s built up an impressive stature over the past decade with a commitment to using only Australian grown produce.

It’s fast becoming one of the most exported speciality teas from Australia, available now in Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, Japan, Taiwan and China.One to try:The Uncle Vic Organic Green Tea is one of the best on the market, with a rich, robust taste without the bitter followup common to mass-produced varieties.yarravalleytea.com.au

Mayde Tea Founded by naturopath Kate Dalton, this Byron Bay-based company is committed to 100% organic produce, free from artificial colours, flavours or preservatives, that taste great and do you a power of good. The ingredients of Mayde Teas are farm grown, and wherever possible, locally sourced, so you’ll get a genuinely Aussie brew that supports local business.One to try:The Energise Blend is a bespoke mix of herbs and fruit that promises to deliver a jolt of energy without the use of caffeine. maydetea.com

Love Tea This Melbourne-based outfit, founded by Naturopathy students Emma Watson and Damien Amos in 2006, began with a commitment to making sure their tea didn’t leave a bitter taste, especially when it came to ethical production. With a wide range of loose leaf and pyramid bagged teas, including special blends aimed at promoting wellness, Love Tea’s products are 100% organic, fairly traded, and 1% of their annual net revenue is donated to a range of environmental organisations world wide.One to try:Sleep Pyramids are a great way to cool your jets and unwind for a restful night’s sleep, something most of us could use a lot more of.lovetea.com.au

THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017 • 21

Music

Take Control Album three brought a whole lot of trials and tribulations for Cloud Control. Alister Wright, Heidi and Ulrich Lenffer share the process of getting in the Zone with Jessica Dale.

C

loud Control’s latest offering, Zone, is somewhat of an in-joke. Maybe it doesn’t seem that way on first listen, but that’s the conclusion from the band when asked about their third album.”I think the album is like our other albums, it doesn’t have anything that we sat down and were like, ‘We’re going to write an album about this specific thing,’ but then when we wrote Zone, the song, it felt like a good way to sum up everything and be a good entry point,” explains frontman Alister Wright.

“You know, it’s pretty vague but I feel like it’s funny and it has hard times in it, but it also has a big relief feeling to it and a big coming together kind of feeling and that’s sort of through some songs on the album and

I think that was a thing we needed to adjust to that took the longest time, just finding a new dynamic as the three of us.

the sense of humour, just jokes. It’s got that vocal over in the middle by our German mate Colin [Lovrinovic], so like I don’t really know... How do you say what it’s about?

I feel like it’s self-evident, like it’s almost an in-joke that is about being in the zone but it’s actually about being in the zone,” says Wright, bandmates Heidi and Ulrich Lenffer laughing along.

The making of Zone offered a number of changes and challenges for the group. There were multiple moves and makeshift studios, their former bassist Jeremy Kelshaw left the group, and Wright took on the role of producer.

“Well, we lost a bass player so that was... I think that was a thing we needed to adjust to that took the longest

22 • THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017

time, just finding a new dynamic as the three of us,” shares Heidi. “And Al really stepped it up on bass, so he’s playing bass on the whole record except for one song I think.

“The process lacked a lot of the jamming from previous records because there’s just the three of us and you’re lacking the key infrastructural instrument.”

When asked if that meant the group had to be more structured in their approach to songwriting, Heidi disagrees. “The opposite. I think it was more like we layered up things to write a song, which made it harder to find what the song was going to be.”

Wright’s role as lead producer also had a huge influence on the record. “Obviously it shaped everything about it, down to the process, the sounds, the recording techniques, unconventional recording techniques,” continues Heidi. “Al would be like, ‘Hey guys, I watched this YouTube clip about snare placement and I’m going to do it this way,’ but then a month later he watched another thing and then he had a whole new process for doing the drums. So sometimes that, that was great and he learnt on the fly, but it also meant you needed to revisit some things to make them match up.”

“It just would have been different,” says Ulrich of the experience, and of working with an internal producer.

“When you look at this whole process, you can say this and that and the other, but it’s just a different thing. We did this together over a really long period of time and changed our lives. Like, over that period of time so much stuff happened to all of us and the band and readjusting to losing Jeremy and stuff.”

At the time of chatting Zone was yet to be released, but their two lead singles had been positively received by fans, particularly live.

“Rainbow City, I think that was our first one,” says Ulrich. “I think it was a similar — or something people could understand — like a Cloud Control song that [people] are like, ‘Yeah, cool, alright, we’re used to this.’

I think they really like it. And we’ve put out [single] Zone since, which has, you know, it’s a bit more of a complex song in terms of like, it’s slower and it kind of deals with some heavy stuff, I guess.”

Adds Wright,”Some radio stations have been a bit like, ‘Wow, what is this?’ But when we played it at our show, and because it’s just been on the internet, it really felt mad, like you could see people totally getting it, like people were singing along.

“Everyone was singing it and there were people crowd surfing and it felt like a real moment in the set, and sometimes when you play a new song, you can just see it fall flat because you don’t really know what’s going to happen, but I think let’s just see what happens.”

What: Zone (Ivy League) When & Where: 22 Sep, Metro Theatre

Music

Roots Manoeuvre

Regardless of former cohorts’ views, metal mainstay Max Cavalera is revelling in going back to his roots, Brendan Crabb learns.

“I

t seems like a waste of time, actually.

It doesn’t bring anything new to your career,” Septula guitarist Andreas Kisser said of heritage tours such as Return To Roots. Other members of Sepultura, including Max Cavalera, have been around the world performing the bands landmark 1996 LP Roots in its entirety.

Cavalera eventually left the Brazilian metallers during Roots’ touring cycle amid much acrimony, but now he is simply enthused to be performing with his formerly estranged sibling (bandmate Iggor). “I really enjoy playing with Iggor, I don’t care what they say. I have a great relationship with Iggor right now, I love playing with him and we’re celebrating something that we created together, so there’s no bad feelings at all about that. A lot of the ideas on Roots were my ideas, and I shouldn’t feel bad to go and play [them] live, because those are my ideas anyway. The stuff sounds killer, it sounds just like the record or even better. Some of the songs we play a little different from the record so they fit more like right now.”

Conceived partially in the jungles of Brazil (“mixing metal with your culture,” as Cavalera says), Roots introduced tribal rhythms and native instrumentation to Sepultura’s approach. It also provided a template for Cavalera’s next band, the guest-

heavy Soulfly, whose eclectic, world music-influenced approach meant the elder Cavalera was afforded the “Bob Marley of metal” tag.

“They’re great songs; they stick in people’s minds and they’re catchy and very powerful songs,” he reflects of Roots. “I think that’s why this record has survived. It was a controversial album.

Not everybody liked it at first, and I think it took a while for some people to get the idea of what we were trying to do. But that was one of our biggest records we ever did, in terms of sales and what the album inspired. It inspired a whole generation of bands like Slipknot, System Of A Down, even black metal from Sweden and Norway somehow was influenced by Roots. Going back to their own roots, Scandinavian Viking roots.”

Max and Iggor’s Cavalera Conspiracy project will issue new record Psychosis in November. “This one’s going to be more thrash,” the former reveals. “The record is just a beast.” Cavalera embraces the dichotomy of staying creative via new music, while simultaneously celebrating the past through Return To Roots. Given the tour’s international success, does he perceive nostalgia in metal to be more potent than ever? “I think so. Some good records are worth it to play.

“There’s other bands doing that with other records and we just thought it’d be cool to do it with Roots. We might do other records later, I don’t know, it’s too early to tell now. We’ve got a lot of things on our plate, busy with Cavalera and Soulfly next year. But the nostalgic feeling is great. Sometimes I think in your career, in order to go forward you have to step [back] and check out what you did and check out your past. Never forget your roots, never forget your past.”

Nintend-H! WHOAH!

If you were a kid of the ‘80s, and fuck it, even if you weren’t, this announcement from Nintendo is reason to celebrate.

During their Nintendo Direct unveiling last week, the gaming juggernaut promised to release a hit list of ‘80s arcade classics on its latest console, the Switch. What’s more, these will be slightly jacked-up versions of the originals, including some games that were never released outside of Japan.

The first of these retro homages will be the one and only Mario Bros due out later this month, on the 27 Sep. Release dates for the rest of these goodies from yesteryear are yet to be announced, so keep an eye out for them in the next few months.

When & Where: 22 Sep, Big Top

THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017 • 23

Music

Break On Through It’s been five long years between albums for The Killers.

Wonderful Wonderful is set to challenge fans just as much as it does the band themselves. Jessica Dale caught up with frontman Brandon Flowers to find out what can be expected.

“I

really wanted to inhabit my age, you know,” says frontman Brandon Flowers of The Killers’ latest offering, Wonderful Wonderful.

“You get to this point where there’s a certain type of song that’s expected of you or that people associate with you and I’m proud of that, that we have a thing, but I also love the idea of evolution, and I love bands that evolve and grew and didn’t just pander to a certain audience that’s going to keep buying tickets or keep buying records. And so it was sort of now or never, I feel like,

I think part of it was also that we knew that we needed to do better than the last record.

and I’m really happy with the outcome and I’m proud of us for the territory we went into. But having said that, we also have songs that are very ‘Killers’, you know. A song like Run For Cover is kind of exactly what you want from us, I guess, and so we covered a lot of ground.”

The Man was the first track to be released from the forthcoming album and was one that was certainly divisive among casual and long-time fans alike, with its ‘70s dance vibe and sultry lyrics. When asked if the new album, and particularly that track, were as much about challenging the listener as well as themselves sonically, Flowers is candid about his feelings on the song.

“We knew that it was new territory for us and it grew on us as well, and it’s still growing. I think I like it more 24 • THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017

every day,” he laughs. “I knew that it was exciting and that there were some influences finally coming out that were just waiting somehow... but I wasn’t sure what people were going to think and I wasn’t sure how it was going to come across live, and now I just, I love it.”

It’s been five years since the group’s last album, Battle Born. For fans, it’s a long wait. For the band though, it was a totally necessary time away.

“Part of it was, you know, giving everybody a long enough break, and so, we also we toured it for almost two years, off and on, and then we also released Direct Hits, which was like a Best Of, and we toured that a little bit and then I made a solo record and we finished a Christmas album, so there was a lot going on. I think part of it was also that we knew that we needed to do better than the last record. You know, I personally felt like that, and we were just kind of waiting for a vision, waiting for a target and then I started to see it and that’s when it really started to come to fruition.”

So, what was that target then?

“It was just like giving myself permission to, you know, to write about what I was going to write about and really say, ‘Ok, we’re going to make, you know, whatever you want to call it, a more grown-up record,’ or whatever it was. It took a while to really settle into it.”

Flowers has come a long way from his songwriting on their debut album, Hot Fuss, having shifted away from the fantastical — most specifically seen in the ‘Murder Trilogy’, comprised of Leave The Bourbon On The Shelf, Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine and Midnight Show, which is a long-running fan theory that Flowers is speaking from the perspective of an actual killer — to now writing son songs that are totally cemented in reality. For this record, Flow Flowers has reached his most personal songwriting end endeavour yet, focusing on his own life and that around him him, a theme that has become more and more apparent ove over their last few records. It’s unsurprising that people all o over connect to the band in such a big way due to the pers personal nature of Flowers’ lyrics.

“For that, I get glimpses of it, but I know what it...

I kn know what music did for my life and so... it’s a big responsibility for us to make a record and we are aware of the impact that it can have and so that’s why we do take it seriously. We believe in it. Sometimes we’re, not lambasted for that, you know, say that we take ourselves too seriously, but it’s kind of hard not to [do] that sometimes when it’s had such a profound effect on you. So, I totally understand how it happens and it’s amazing to be on the other side of it, and you think, This is incredible,’ and I’m thankful that I’m doing some kind of good or some kind of service for people,” he laughs.

“And I love it, and I love working and I love it.”

What: Wonderful Wonderful (Island/Universal) When & Where: 28 Apr, Qudos Bank Arena

Music

Cut To The Chase Lead vocalist/guitarist Naoko Yamano tells Rod Whitfield that Shonen Knife are delighted to finally be asked back to tour our shores again by “a very good person.”

S

honen Knife are nothing short of a phenomenon — in every sense of the word. The legendary all-girl Japanese pop-punk band formed all the way back in the early 1980s, have released more than 20 albums in that time and have toured the world endlessly. There has been but one constant in the band for that entire time, at least as far as the line-up is concerned: lead vocalist/ guitarist Naoko Yamano. Speaking from her home in Osaka, it appears that Yamano takes all that history in her stride. “It’s hard to believe so many years have passed, but I don’t look back,” she states. “I just look a little forward and I tend not to notice the years passing.

I’m always fresh.”

She has a secret for keeping herself “fresh” and in the best possible shape to front a long-running rock’n’roll band. “I play tennis for my health, so I’ll be keeping myself healthy.”

It is difficult to believe, but in more than threeand-a-half decades her band has only toured Australia twice before. They came for Big Day Out way back in 1997 and then did not return until two years ago when they were here for their own headline tour. According to Yamano, there is a very simple explanation for such a long time between drinks with their Aussie fans. “No one invited us!” she laughs.

“That’s the reason.” However, Aussie and Kiwi Shonen Knife lovers have a much shorter wait for a return tour this time around with the band’s antipodean tour kicking off in late September. Things have apparently changed significantly since that 18-year drought and Yamano tells, “Fortunately this time I have a very good person who has invited us again... I’m so excited to come back to Australia, the people there are so friendly and cheerful... I want to come more.”

The band released their latest album Adventure a little over a year ago and tracks from that album will feature heavily in their upcoming sets on this Aussie

People’s favourite songs are different by country.

soil. That just leaves another 21 albums for them to attempt to include in their live show, and Yamano admits that writing a Shonen Knife setlist while trying to please everyone is almost impossible. “It’s very very hard,” she states. “I always need two or three days to decide a setlist. Sometimes we play songs that people have requested and we have done shows in the past where all the songs were requested by fans.

We did that in London once and of course in Japan, too. But it’s always difficult to choose and someone is always unhappy. People’s favourite songs are different by country, so I will have to think about what are the Australian people’s favourites.”

So does she feel she has another ten years or more left in the band? “If I’m alive!” she laughs.

When & Where: 27 Sep, Oxford Art Factory; 28 Sep, The Basement

THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017 • 25

Music

You Gotta Keep ‘Em Orchestrated In case you needed reminding of Megan Washington’s awesomeness, she’s a multi-award winning songwriter and singer, who’s now taking things to the next level when she hits the road with an orchestra to preview her newest works. Liz Giuffre finds out what to expect from the tour.

T

here’s been a wave of ‘popular music meets the orchestra’ concerts for a while now. Everyone from Split Enz to Metallica has had a crack — generally with the orchestra serving as an ornate backing band while the contemporary artists play their greatest hits like you’ve never heard them before. When approached by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra to collaborate, however, Megan Washington wasn’t quite having it go down like that.

I’m much more excited by the idea of, you know, going forward. I can’t imagine, you know, Beethoven doing a ‘best of’ at 30.

“Yeah, I thought a lot about it, and for one thing I thought that a retrospective was a bit premature,” she laughs. “And I also just, I’m much more excited by the idea of, you know, going forward. I can’t imagine, you know, Beethoven doing a ‘best of’ at 30. Not that I’m comparing myself to Beethoven, but intention-wise, with my intention I want to look forward, and I want to show everyone what I’ve been doing lately, not what I did five years ago. For me, there will be a time and a place to do a ‘greatest hits’ or a ‘best of’ or that kind of thing, but it’s not now. And I was really much more energised by the idea of playing all this new music because I’m really proud of it and I think it’s really good.”

26 • THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017

If you’re already a fan of the singer-songwriter then you’ll know Washington loves to jump a boundary.

However, it’s pretty damn gutsy to preview a brand new album with, as it were, a brand new band. “Quite deliberately, I’m not using my band at all in this process,” she explains. “I’ll just have my guitarist, because we’ll do some songs without the orchestra, but I really didn’t want it to be me playing a show with my band and the orchestra just playing along in the background, just plucked along.

I really wanted all the articulations of the songs written throughout the sections of the orchestra. I wanted it really to be them, me singing with them — I didn’t want them to be superfluous, I wanted them to play a really important role, I really stressed that. So the orchestrations are quite sparkling and rippling and really features the orchestra.

The orchestra’s really playing, not just long notes and chords.”

Writing for an orchestra, or imagining music to be played by a huge group like this, takes clear ambition.

However, it’s something Washington takes as part of the broader way music can be constructed. “I feel like, for me, the DNA of a song, the true essence of a song is in its melody and its lyric. And it’s harmonic composition, to a point. And my whole life, I’ve always felt like genre is a choice. So in the same way that I can take you and dress you up either in your Sunday best or your Saturday afternoon flannies — you’re still you, but you’re just presented for different occasions. And in the same way I think you can take a Taylor Swift song and adapt it for your bluegrass band, or whatever,” she says. “But it’s also been a really interesting choice to do this because I all this music is unreleased. So it isn’t going to be like the Split Enz thing where you know and love Six Months In A Leaky Boat and then you hear it like you’ve never heard it before — you’ll have never heard any of this fucking music. So the first introduction that it will have to world will be in this very ornate, elaborate, dark way.”

With the preparation for the tour including intensive work with the SSO, then movement to other statebased orchestras (including Melbourne’s wonderfully named Impossible Orchestra), there is no doubt a bit of nervousness hanging around for Washington. However, it’s an energy she’s drawing on, even if it means splitting her time a bit more than she might like. “It’s this funny dichotomous thing, because the more successful you are at something — the more successful you are at being a singer — the less time you spend singing. Like, you spend more time talking to producers and thinking about the art and whatever. And for me, as a human being, I became a musician and a songwriter because I love to sing. And more specifically, I love to show off how good I am as a singer.”

Here she pauses to laugh a little — but damn, you called it lady — indeed you are freaking great at it! “I do, I love it. I love it so much, so for me to be on stage, it’s literally my happy place. I feel really safe, I feel really strong, and I feel like I’ve got a lot to give. So the idea of performing this whole new album of work that I’m really proud of is really appealing.”

When & Where: 21 — 23 Sep, Sydney Opera House

Music

Get GoT James Vincent McMorrow tells Cyclone who might snag the Iron Throne before bringing his “simple and pure and honest” new album Down Under.

WARNING: Story contains a spoiler for anyone moving so slow that they have yet to watch the GoT season finale.

E

veryone has a theory about the Game Of Thrones endgame - even James Vincent McMorrow, the Irish avant-pop singer-songwriter. “I fucking love that show,” McMorrow enthuses. In fact, the Dubliner has a stake in HBO’s fantasy franchise: his unearthly cover of Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game soundtracked the season six trailer.

Being “more of a nocturnal person,” McMorrow is conducting interviews near-midnight from his studio for 2017’s second Australian tour - this time behind May’s “surprise” album, True Care. That morning, he watched the latest Game Of Thrones finale - and was “pretty psyched” to see Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish (portrayed by fellow Dubliner Aidan Gillen) “get popped”. “I did not care for him as a character,” McMorrow chuckles. Who does he predict will secure the Iron Throne, then? “It’s actually completely impossible to know,” McMorrow, on a roll, responds. “I feel like it’s someone that we just don’t expect at all... You’d think the obvious ones - like Jon [Snow]. But I think it’s gonna be someone really strange. I could see Arya [Stark] in that position, ‘cause she’s one of the more interesting characters in the show.” That McMorrow has an opportunity to catch any telly is remarkable. After all, he’s presented four distinct albums in seven years.

McMorrow is a music super-fan - today name-dropping such acts as Neil Young, Metallica and Gucci Mane. (“I don’t give a shit about genres.”) He debuted as a guitarstrumming folkie with 2010’s Early In The Morning. Last year McMorrow, having “expanded” into synth ‘n’ B on 2014’s Post Tropical, issued We Move. For the first time, he liaised with outside producers - notably Drake cohort Nineteen85. Now McMorrow has followed with the low-key

... Your job is to impress people; to win people over.

The way I’ve been thinking about True Care is the same way.

True Care; “Something that was really simple and pure and honest.” Again working solitarily, he applied lessons learnt from We Move - experimenting with sampling.

Typically, a label will hold onto an album for months - frustrating the restive performer. “The meaning behind it changes and, not diminishes, but it certainly becomes more subdued - and the context changes.” But, taking his cue from that urban disrupter Drake, McMorrow decided to stealth-release True Care. He didn’t develop a promotional strategy for the album - or “construct a narrative.” Crucially, McMorrow wanted to tour True Care while it “felt fresh”.

Ironically, True Care thematises temporality. Sonically textured, it’s McMorrow’s most obviously ‘post-genre’ LP albeit more Prince than Bon Iver. (He touts all his music as “indefinable”.)

Aside from supporting London Grammar in Brisbane, McMorrow will perform two-part club shows in Sydney and Melbourne. “We’re going to play True Care from front-toback - and then we’re gonna come back out and do a full second set. It’s kind of an unusual format. The way I’ve been describing it to people is like I’m opening for myself, but not in a narcissistic way [laughs]... It’s a cool position to be in because you get to walk out there and expectations are ill-defined - your job is to impress people; to win people over. The way I’ve been thinking about True Care is the same way.”

When & Where: 27 & 28 Sep, Factory Theatre

THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017 • 27

OPINION Opinion

Dance Moves

Wa ke The Dead

Brand New

Punk With Sarah

I

’m calling it — 2017 is the year of dropping an album unannounced.

Petchell First it was Mindsnare with their little “let’s throw our new full-length record everyone’s been waiting a million years for in with 7” pre-orders” trick. And now it is Brand New. We’ve been waiting eight years for a new album from the Long Island band, and they finally dropped it with the unexpected release of Science Fiction back in August. Though the level of surprise at the drop wasn’t as intense or as sneaky as the Mindsnare release, it still felt like it came way out of left field.

We’ve been hearing about new music from the band since 2009 — right after they released their last album, Daisy. We’ve been teased with new music and reworked demos sporadically between then and now, but nothing concrete really dropped. Fans have even been tormented by hints (some subtle, some not so much) that 2018 would be the year the band would break up.

But instead, we got a fantastic new album that went from a pre-order to hearing the entire new album in just a couple of days.

The surprise nature of the release and the way it all played out has increased the mystery and mythology surrounding the band. So the question now remains, will the mysterious prophecy come true? Is this really the last new music we will hear from Brand New? Are they really done?

It could make a great plot for a fantasy novel really...

Andre 3000

Get It To gether Hip Hop With James D’apice

T

here was a moment a few years ago when it felt like Andre 3000 was on the precipice of a return. Sadly, no. His guest spot on Future’s Benz Friendz was (and remains) ridiculous. On TI’s Sorry, Andre addressed all the years of confusion, speculation and upset about leaving Outkast partner Big Boi on his lonesome, with: “This the type of shit that’ll make you call

28 • THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017

Andy Spokes

your rap partner and say, ‘I’m sorry I’m awkward. My fault for fucking up the tours.’”

And now, the end. Andre Benjamin told Complex how little interest he has in being a part of rap. He’s focused on whatever’s coming for him in future, “and I hope to God it won’t be rapping.” Luckily, Andre’s trading his microphone in for a bit part in a Robert Pattinson sci-fi film. So...silver linings? For those of us accustomed to false retirements, there’s always a glimmer of hope. But there’s always been something a bit too good to be true about Andre; as if he was touched by something higher, too good for this world; like we didn’t deserve him. Even though we’ve effectively been living in post-Andre world for a decade, this latest confirmation still stings.

As a technician, few rappers — perhaps none — have mastered the interaction between pacing, flow, breath control, melody, and cadence as Andre has. But he was more than an incredible craftsman. He was a true artist, able to instantly touch those who heard him. In practical terms, he’s been gone for ages. But now that it’s semiofficial, it’s somehow a little sadder. Vale.

OPINION Opinion

New Currents

A

fter half a decade of With Tim Finney thrilling, hyperspeed mutation (1993 - 1997), jungle/drum’n’bass quickly settled into a pattern that will be broadly familiar to anyone who has checked in on the scene at any point these past two decades, caught in an endless tug-of-war between the riff-driven headbanger “2-step” (not garage) sound that emerged and took over in the late ‘90s, and rhythmically complex outliers who mostly throw back to the style’s early golden age. The only real question is how marginalised the latter group are at any given point in time.

It seems we’re in an upswing period for experimental drum’n’bass at the moment, given a swag of recent on-point signings to (and single releases on) Goldie’s Metalheadz label. While this sound never really goes away, the strong support of a prestigious mainstream label for intricate leftfield productions is rare. In most cases, the producers involved - such as Om Unit, Detboi, Mako and Andy Skopes - have been kicking ‘round for about a decade, forever finding slightly different ways to chop their beats like it’s 1995 or 1996, but this renewed focus means there’s rarely been a better time for sceptics to reacquaint themselves.

The new Metalheadz EP Speechless from Andy Skopes is a case in point: heavy on both percussive density and classy atmospherics, the tracks offer a variety of angles on mid’90s revivalism. Let Go features a stuttery, stop-start groove, clouds of atmospherics and a diva’s desolate wail to evoke the early work of Photek or Peshay; Seance homes in on rippling triplet beats that sound like they’re being tapped out on the inside of your skull; the title track and Heroin Wash both circle around stalking, mid-tempo grooves somewhat (but not fully) reminiscent of the drum’n’bass/dubstep fusion being pursued by the Autonomic label at the beginning of the decade. Some of Skopes’ previous work has suffered from a certain compositional flatness Dance Moves associates with occasional lesser efforts from old jungle heroes like J Majik and Paradox, the intricate percussion sort of rattling away to no real purpose; so it’s pleasing to hear a new sharpness and sense of space in these new productions, none of which could remotely be called flat.

Even better in this scribe’s opinion are recent Metalheadz releases from OneMind, a duo comprising producers Mako and DLR (Mako responsible for 2015’s brain-destroying Do You Feel The Same?). Last year’s EP1

and this year’s EP2 are both viciously physical outings that call to mind the best late-’90s/early-’00s work of Norwegian producer Teebee. On EP2, Late Addition (featuring long-term scene stalwarts Total Science) and Quiet Fire both contrast a loping, angular-butspare central rhythm pattern, which drives the groove with unexpected clusters of percussive extravagance, perfectly dramatising the central rhythmic logic of the best drum’n’bass: namely, that tension between the expected and the unexpected, between beats that land where your feet expect them to and those that smack you from out of leftfield.

Best of all is Early Daze, which takes the same idea but dresses it in hazy, amorphous synthesiser patterns that sound like they’ve emerged from a hallucination of old rave tracks.

Throughout, OneMind’s drum sounds have a crispness so immaculate and succulent that they almost sound moist. Entrancing but also energising, OneMind’s rhythms recall that this music’s magic is not derived from either hard-driving riffy fervour or from complexity for its own sake, but from the tense, alchemical interplay of the two.

UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTS OCT - NOV

LAUNCH DAY!

SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL

Three big exhibitions launching on one big day.

Wind River An intense thriller set on a Native American reservation.

SAT 7 OCT 1- 4PM

SAT 7 OCT 7.30PM

ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL

DAYLIGHT SAVING

The Chair of Happiness A hilarious treasure hunt for happiness.

by Nick Enright A fast-paced comedy about love, loneliness, food and friendship.

THU 19 OCT 7.30PM

25 - 28 OCT

ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL We Believed The story of three idealistic men at a pivotal time in Italian history.

BLAKE POETRY PRIZE Exploring the spiritual and religious in 100 lines or less.

THU 2 NOV 7.30PM

FRI 3 NOV

WENDY HARMER EXHIBITION LAUNCH

TRACEY MOFFATT & GARY HILLBERG

An exhibition curated

by Wendy Harmer from our 5,000+ collection.

Montages: The Full Cut, 1999 - 2015 All eight montage films.

SAT 4 NOV 1-4PM

THU 16 NOV 5.30PM

WWW.CASULAPOWERHOUSE.COM OPEN 10AM – 5PM DAILY 1 Powerhouse Rd, Casula • Tel 02 9824 1121 • Gallery entry is free

THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017 • 29

Album / E Album/EP Reviews

Album OF THE Week

The Killers Wonderful Wonderful

Island Universal

★★★★

Being a band as iconic in recent rock history as The Killers comes with great expectation when releasing new music, but drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr, bassist Mark Stoermer, guitarist Dave Keuning and charismatic frontman Brandon Flowers seem to exceed expectations every time — as is the case with their fifth studio album Wonderful Wonderful.

Sonically, the album features a lot of rich, warm synth textures enhancing songs like the heavy, emotional Some Kind Of Love, the fast-paced drive of Run For Cover, and catchily repetitive Out Of My Mind. Funk infused The Man is the feel-good album highlight — it’s retro and upbeat, though Flower’s confidence does (no doubt purposefully) border on arrogance. In contrast, sombre closer Have All The Songs Been Written? is a bit of a deep, poetic, ballad.

Lyrically, Flowers explores dealing with growing up and looking back on childhood through that new adult lens, referencing watching Buster Douglas knock out an undefeated Mike Tyson in on Tyson Vs Douglas, which opens by sampling audio from the legendary 1990 fight.

Wonderful Wonderful is supposed to be The Killers ‘grown up’ album — and it is. It’s personal, authentic, and reveals a maturity they haven’t shown before.

Madelyn Tait

Cub Sport

British India

BATS

Forgetting The Future

Independent

Liberation

★★★

★★★

Cub Sport’s lead singer Tim Nelson wastes no time baring his soul on the band’s latest release, BATS. “I don’t even know what I want out of life, what I’m chasin’,” he declares on the opener, Chasin’.

It’s a statement at odds with the band’s recent trajectory. Only 18 months after the release of This Is Our Vice, the Brisbane quartet seem to have a firm grip on their own destiny, a notion cemented after Nelson took on the production and recording reins on BATS from his own home.

It all makes for a stirring start with R&B and soul influences shining through on Good Guys Go and lead single O Lord. The latter is a near gospel song, Nelson reflecting on the monumental impact his relationship with bandmate Sam Netterfield has had since

Is it possible that the rock world has run out of great choruses?

Not that every group should be pumping out sing-along anthems, but when it comes to the art of the three-minute alt-rock song, a sticky chorus can perform miracles for this slightly tired genre. Enter the latest album from Melbourne indie rockers British India titled Forgetting The Future. Although fully functional as a listenable piece of production-enhanced indie rock, Forgetting The Future should be a warning to all emerging alt rockers who aspire to become great, not just satisfying.

This may all sound a bit harsh, but it’s only because alternative rock is a genre worth speaking up for. As an instrumental force, British India can certainly do more than just hold down the rhythm.

30 • THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017

becoming public knowledge, and is a clear standout in the outfit’s catalogue.

But while soft-spoken lyrics and catchy grooves are prominent, the album’s focus begins to wane. At times BATS plays to Cub Sport’s strengths; Nelson’s vocals, emotional honesty and a band capable of building an impressive wall of sound. But too often it strays into pastiche, with that ideal balance something they are still chasing in the end.

Lewis Isaacs

Guitarist Nic Wilson displays a great level of technical prowess here, but with too much mid-tempo material and a tendency to try and spice things up with a blistering solo, his commendable skills feel sadly wasted. Likewise, lead singer Declan Melia has the perfect set of pipes for the job, only to be let down by some unfortunately flat choruses.

Forgetting The Future feels like a sparkler bomb in a genre that once held nukes.

Donald Finlayson

EP Reviews Album/EP Reviews

The Horrors

Jordan Rakei

King Parrot

Cut Copy

V

Wallflower

Ugly Produce

Haiku From Zero

Wolftone/Caroline

Ninja Tune/Inertia

EVP

Astralwerks/EMI

★★★★

★★★½

★★★½

★★★½

The big-hair goths who started out punk and then dabbled in psychedelics turn out a darkly swirling album that features clangorous industrial synths backed up with ferocious rock attitude.

The Tubeway Army is out in force on Hologram, the synths dealing obvious Numan-esque vibes. The crushing throb of Machine offers intense industrial nightmares suggesting Suede in a punch-up with The Sisters Of Mercy. Despite the lovelorn melancholia that vocalist Faris Badwan deals, The Horrors, gunning for the favour of a different demographic, give us their most pop moments while wearing Bowie and assortment of post punk influences on their sleeves.

If you’ve woken in a sweat worrying about Jack Johnson putting down his acoustic and picking up a Korg, don’t worry, Jordan Rakei already has you covered.

After shedding his debut, Cloak, Rakei has picked up a collection of sensitivities to add to his soul style, steering away from the rougher auteur elements that originally endeared or intrigued — ambient deviations and break-beat constructions — sliding instead into an introspective funk.

Rakei’s rhythms are skinrakingly soothing and his voice is anachronistically attenuated to an evaporated era, singing Wallflower as a shy piece of work, a current-smoothed river stone sparkling in a bed of thousands.

Extreme metallers King Parrot take their mastery of mixing chaotic, brutal sounds and depraved themes to the next level on Ugly Produce.

Produced by Jason Fuller of Blood Duster fame at his renowned Goatsound Studio, King Parrot’s sound has grown nastier and turned up the viciousness while the lyrics detail stories for the common man about smashing beers on Piss Wreck and aiming low on lead single Ten Pounds Of Shit In A Five Pound Bag. Ugly Produce has the band blurring the lines between the many genres of metal with the same fury that has endeared them to fans around the globe and given them plenty to squawk about.?

Melbourne’s electro popsters return with their first album in four years.

Consolidating on what they do best, this album centres more on ‘80s electro pop and disco but with their roots deep in ‘90s dance music, Cut Copy always tend toward spinning blissed-out summer of love euphoric vibes. It’s here where electric dreams and more painful realities collide. The light and breezy vibe walks the line between unfettered joy and sadness in equal proportions.

Dan Whitford’s rather flat and plaintive vocals maintain a dreamy but melancholy presence dealing lyrics of bittersweet heartbreak and the optimistic possibilities of new beginnings.

Lewis Isaacs

Guido Farnell

Guido Farnell

Nic Addenbrooke

More Reviews Online Cradle Of Filth Cryptoriana — The Seductiveness Of Decay

theMusic.com.au

Satyricon Deep Calleth Upon Deep

Food Court Good Luck

THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017 • 31

Live Re Live Reviews

Unity: The Equality Campaign Concert Enmore Theatre 12 Sep

Holly Throsby @ Unity.

Pic: Peter Dovgan

Jack Colwell and Ella Hooper @ Unity.

Pic: Peter Dovgan

The Jezabels @ Unity.

Pic: Peter Dovgan

Odesza @ Enmore Theatre. Pic: Josh Groom

Sarah Blasko @ Unity.

Pic: Peter Dovgan

Odesza @ Enmore Theatre.

Pic: Josh Groom

32 • THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017

With the marriage equality postal vote being received this week, the scheduling of the Unity concert was timely, albeit nervewracking. To show support for the ‘Yes’ cause, and with donations of ticket sales going directly to Australian Marriage Equality (AME) — the registered charity that co-ordinates the national Equality Campaign — a huge line-up of acts came together to donate their time and music.

To commence proceedings, Aunty Donna welcomed us to the land and Jenny Leong, local Newtown MP, opened the dialogue, calling on everyone to Google where their local post box is and to make a commitment to mailing back the poll, encouraging us to visualise the action.

Mojo Juju was the first musical act of the night and her performance of two heartfelt songs was split by a touching story of her mother’s relationship. It would not be the last time that tears would well up in the Enmore. Jack Colwell, co-organiser of the event, performed next in his theatrical style, No Mercy sung with crackling emotion.

Holly Throsby performance was beautiful, particularly older track Now I Love Someone, written about her partner almost ten years ago. What followed was a welcome highlight of the night, as Lindsay McDougall and Jay Whalley of seminal punk band Frenzal Rhomb appeared in acoustic mode to dedicate one their latest tracks, Cunt Act, to the article in the day’s paper from Tony Abbott.

Ella and Jesse Hooper of Killing Heidi fame performed a couple of old favourites along

There was a definite sense of readiness, but also nervousness, with a huge celebration feeling inevitable in the coming months.

with a smashing cover of Stevie Nicks’ Leather And Lace. Lonelyspeck brought a quieter mood with airy, sensitive versions of their tracks, before Andy Bull’s magical voice soared through with a cutback version of Baby I Am Nobody Now. The only full band act of the night came from The Jezabels, who ripped through Endless Summer, Easy To Love and Peace Of Mind, stopping only to say, “It’s time.” This was the mantra of the evening. There was a definite sense of readiness, but also nervousness, with a huge celebration feeling inevitable in the coming months. Most of the tracks and mood were noticeably downbeat, but an appearance from Olympian Matthew Mitchum lightened things up.

Performing with a ukulele, singing in French and telling bad jokes, the crowd enjoyed his all too brief appearance.

Sarah Blasko finished the night with faultless renditions of I Awake, We Won’t Run and her own “little” song about equality, I Wanna Be Your Man with video clip cohort, Aaron Manhattan, dancing along on stage. The whole evening wrapped up with a joint finale from most of the performers of Kate Bush’s Cloudbusting; a great choice for the final song with its refrain, “I

eviews Live Reviews

just know that something good is going to happen”. It was a hopeful and positive evening that felt like a precursor to the celebratory parties to come.

Mick Radojkovic

Odesza, Running Touch, The Kite String Tangle Enmore Theatre 17 Sep Sold out for the second night in a row, Seattle duo Odesza took to Enmore Theatre supported

by Running Touch and The Kite String Tangle to celebrate the release of their first album in three years, A Moment Apart.

Melbourne producer Running Touch showed no intention easing into the night.

Within the first three minutes, the one-man band showed off his ability to mix and sing, play guitar, keyboard and drums, as well as some thrashing dance moves that grasped the attention of the crowd trickling into Enmore Theatre.

Next up, Danny Harley of The Kite String Tangle gifted the audience with his sonic

Are you fucking ready, Sydney? versatility, beginning his set with a drum solo and synths before slowly introducing intermittent beats, keys and, of course, his highly distinguished soulful vocals. He took everyone back to 2014 with classic tracks Arcadia and Given The Chance, as well as showcasing his debut self-titled album before ending on a crowd favourite, Selfish.

The set-up for Odesza was in complete symmetry; two sets of drums, mixing tables and

microphones, with a trombone being played on the left, trumpet on the right and an electric guitarist perched further back at centre stage. Clayton Knight and Harrison Mills bounded on stage and double-handedly smashed their drums before raising their hands in the air and asking the beaming audience, “Are you fucking ready, Sydney?”

With visuals resembling a marble sponge cake, the duo wasted no time in playing their 2014 favourite Say My Name.

Their energy was contagious as melodic undertones allowed a smooth transition between heavy bass lines, electric guitar and soft orchestral tones, moving the crowd from bounce to sway in complete ease. The audience was ordered to find some shoulders to get on for their remix of Hayden James’ Something About You, which seamlessly moved into a deep bass remix of their own track Sun Models before the pair exited the stage.

An encore was ordered by hundreds of passionate (or drunk) fans stomping their feet and shaking the whole venue, provoking Mills to bolt on stage and scream, “Sydney, holy fuck.

You are insane.” Visuals of a woman’s teary eyes filled the screen and the opening of It’s Only echoed through the theatre as trumpets and guitars were traded for drums. All five stage members ended the show by slamming on individual drum sets and creating a sharp, infectious, yet harmonic beat.

Drumsticks in the air, they took a bow; “Thank you Sydney,” called Mills. “Still one of my favourite cities in the world.”

Cassie Warriner

Mew, Closure In Moscow Manning Bar 11 Sep

It took almost 20 years for Denmark’s Mew to make their first visit to Australia in 2015.

Perhaps realising the error of their earlier ways, two years later the indie outfit returned to bring their stadium sounds to Sydney’s Manning Bar. Melbourne’s Closure In Moscow continued their run of shows in support of the Danes, fitting the bill with their technical ability and big sound. The fivepiece waltzed through a set littered with songs from First Temple and Pink Lemonade with the tightness they have become renowned for. The band’s sound is rooted in prog-rock elements, with quick changes between keys and time signatures, and vocalist Christopher de Cinque proves

Their sound is big enough to fill major arenas, but on the night the relative intimacy of Manning Bar was a luxury for those attending.

appearing on a screen behind them, Mew opened their show with In A Better Place from the aforementioned record.

The crowd was then treated to Special and The Zookeeper’s Boy from fan favourite album And The Glass Handed Kites as a taster to the careerspanning performance.

Illuminated against the backdrop of galaxies, nebulae, multicoloured fractal patterns and animations of animal heads playing instruments, the live five-piece line-up worked through layered songs like off-beat Introducing Palace Players and Snow Brigade; Jonas Bjerre’s falsetto vocals counterbalancing the low-end guitar noodling.

Their sound is big enough to fill major arenas, but on the night the relative intimacy of Manning Bar was a luxury for those attending.

After continuing to draw from their catalogue of mid2000s favourites, including a tense rendition of Apocalypso, Mew closed their initial set with Visuals’ finale Carry Me To Safety.

Returning for a four-song encore that included Am I Wry? No and 156 from 2000’s Half The World Is Watching Me, Mew reward the crowd with closer Comforting Sounds. It’s anthemic, and the perfect way to draw the curtains on the night as Bjerre heads to the front row of the crowd to shake hands with fans in a move that comes off as strikingly honest and grateful.

Lewis Isaacs

to be the ultimate foil for his fellow musicians - keeping pace with their movement and lifting the sound when needed.

The live show also represented an opportunity to showcase new material in a performance that wasn’t broken up by the usual stage banter, save for some talk when one of their guitarists broke a string.

With projections of images from their appropriately named recent album Visuals THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017 • 33

Arts Reviews Arts Reviews

No doubt hoping for similar plaudits, Philip K Dick’s Electric Dreams (only a slightly less annoying title than Lemony Snicket’s Series Of...; yaddy yaddy yadda) offers a similar episodic model. With an impressive cast set to appear over its ten stand-alone episodes, including the likes of Timothy Spall, Steve Buscemi, Anna Paquin and Bryan Cranston, star appeal is clearly the bait producers are hoping to tempt viewers with. But if its first episode, The Hood Maker, is anything to go by, those early adopters will stick around for the stylish, emotionally vibrant, thoroughly realised drama, skilfully lifted from the pages of the late, great Philip K Dick.

In this debut salvo, we enter a world where advanced technology is yet to be developed, but in this tech-starved world, telepaths are the primary form of long-distance communication. Taking an Orwellian twist, these gifted individuals are tasked with surveilling the populous against their will, in the name of crime prevention something the general public are fervently against. This should be an alien place to us, but a society of constant government scrutiny, where our intimate details are easily invaded, feels eerily familiar. If the Emmy award-winning The Handmaid’s Tale has proven anything, it’s that the world’s dystopian anxieties make for good TV. This bodes well for Electric Dreams, a series which looks to the future with suspicious eyes and slick cinematography.

Philip K Dick’s Electric Dreams

mother!

Philip K Dick’s

Electric Dreams TV Streaming via Stan

★★★★ It’s the golden age of streaming TV, and in this halcyon era, the anthology series may be making a challenge to the status quo of long form, multiseason storytelling.

Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror has successfully pioneered the form, and as the Emmy Award win for the latest series’ afterlife romance San Junipero proves, you don’t need hundreds of episodes worth of character development for an audience to connect.

Maxim Boon

mother!

Film In cinemas now

★★★½ Any good artist, especially one with a few critical and commercial successes to their credit, has perhaps earned the right to go off the rails a little. With his new film mother! (yes, the lower-case m and the exclamation mark are intentional), Aronofsky goes off the rails a lot.

With mixed results.

There’s some breathtaking filmmaking here when it comes to the establishment and escalation of unease — unease that mutates into confusion, dread, mayhem and chaos — as I said, not exactly a fun night at the flicks.

And the cast is clearly up for any challenge the material presents, with Jennifer Lawrence setting the pace in an incredibly demanding role. She plays the mother of the title (she’s never given another name), the young wife of a famous writer (credited as Him and played by No Country for Old Men’s Javier Bardem) who is struggling to create his latest work.

Selflessly providing love and support by restoring their damaged country house into a warm, welcoming home, she is put out when a man (Ed Harris) shows up unannounced and is offered a room for the night by her husband.

The next morning, a woman (Michelle Pfeiffer, hard and brilliant as a diamond) — the man’s wife — shows up and makes herself just as home. Then the couple’s squabbling sons show up. And that is only the beginning of an invasion of privacy that starts as an inconvenience and gradually spirals into outright insanity.

Mother! has made much of keeping its plot points a mystery, so I won’t reveal just what the carnage that envelopes Lawrence’s character represents or just how far it goes. But it does go pretty far, far enough to disturb and even distress.

However, once you twig to what this anarchy symbolises, it’s hard not to feel a slight sense of disappointment, as if a great deal of effort has gone into making a fairly obvious point.

Guy Davis

34 • THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017

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Fender® is a trademark of Fender Music Australia.

All rights reserved. fender.com.au

THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017 • 35

Comedy / G The Guide

Wed 20

Bobby

Nick Sun + Andrew Barnett: Bank Hotel (Waywards), Newtown SOSUEME feat. Muto: Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach

Diana Anaid

Leonard Cohen Birthday Bash with Monsieur Camembert: Camelot Lounge, Marrickville Cameron James: Comedy Store, Moore Park

The Music Presents Ali Barter: 28 Sep Oxford Art Factory; 29 Sep The Small Bandroom Dan Sultan: 28 Sep The Academy Canerra; 29 Sep Bar On The Hill Newcastle; 30 Sep Metro Theatre

Meg Mac + The Money War: Entrance Leagues, Bateau Bay Salmon for Breakfast feat. Kim Salmon: Factory Theatre, Marrickville Kat Wadey Trio: Gasoline Pony, Marrickville

At The Drive In: 29 Sep Hodern Pavilion

Alex Martin: Hamilton Station Hotel, Islington

Caligula’s Horse: 5 Oct Cambridge Hotel Newcastle West; 6 Oct Factory Theatre

Rolling Stone Live Lodge feat. 360: Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale

Vintage & Custom Drum Expo: 8 Oct Factory Theatre

A Strange Day + Montes Jura + Los Pintar + Luke Spook + Liquid Time: Leadbelly, Newtown

Diana Anaid: 22 Oct, Cruelty Free Festival; 1 - 3 Nov, Australian Music Week

Cath & Him: Liverpool Catholic Club, Prestons

Mono: 9 Nov Manning Bar

Live & Local feat. Lili Crane + Lachlan X Morris + Anyerin: Lizottes Newcastle, Lambton

Just Friends Local trio Bobby are one of four headliners for the Friends With Benefits event at Valve Bar on Sunday. Grab your closest or close (hint hint) friends and don’t miss this one.

Make Them Suffer + Wage War + Alpha Wolf: The Basement, Belconnen Bad!Slam!No!Biscuit!: The Phoenix, Canberra

The Go-Betweens: Right Here Screening with Golden Covers Band: Golden Age Cinema & Bar, Surry Hills

The Sleepyheads: The Record Crate, Glebe

Zack Martin + Vegas Nerve + Our Friend Barbra + Kenneth D’Aran: Harbour View Hotel, Dawes Point

Wollongong Fringe Festival 2017 feat. Camp Cope + Worriers + Babymachine: Uni Bar, Wollongong

Wollongong Fringe Festival 2017 feat. Jake Walker + jeromv + nadiA + Ivy & Oscar: Heyday, Wollongong

Festival Of The Sun: 7 - 9 Dec Port Macquarie

Sick Times + Starving Millions + Disparo + Dark Horse + Two Faced + Speedball: Valve Bar (Basement), Ultimo

London Grammar: Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park

Alt-J: 9 Dec ICC Sydney

Lah-Lah: Wests City, Newcastle West

Mullum Music Festival: 16 - 19 Nov Mullumbimby Vanfest: 1 Dec Forbes Showground sleepmakeswaves: 9 Dec Oxford Art Factory

Songs On Stage feat. Russell Neal + Jennifer Lees + Perikles + more: Paddington RSL, Paddington Madison Violet: Smiths Alternative, Canberra

sleepmakeswaves: 9 Dec Oxford Art Factory

Thu 21

Cloud Control

Anthony Charlton: Australian Arms Hotel, Penrith Mystic Brew + Triple One + more: Bank Hotel (Waywards), Newtown Body Type

Sydney Scuz Sydney locals Body Type are hitting the road with the psych-rockers Pond. They have described their music as being of the “scuzzzzzzz” genre. If you don’t know what that is we recommend you head to Enmore Theatre, Saturday.

Songs On Stage feat. Russell Neal + Jeffrey Webb + more: BMW (formerly Beats.Eats.Drinks), Glebe Doko: Brass Monkey, Cronulla Marksman Lloyd + Dex + Johniepee: Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst Make Them Suffer + Wage War + Alpha Wolf: Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle West Lyn Bowtell: Camelot Lounge (Django Bar), Marrickville A Celebration of Walter Becker & Steely Dan with The Kites: Camelot Lounge, Marrickville

The Weather Men They’ve been together for more than a decade and now Cloud Control are back with new album Zone (This Is How It Feels).

Head down to Metro Theatre on Friday to catch the enigmatic Sydney locals.

Spring Comedy Carnival feat. Various Artists: Comedy Store, Moore Park Elvis To The Max: Southern Cross Club, Woden Classic Deep Purple with Glenn Hughes: State Theatre, Sydney

36 • THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017

Sam Taunton: Enmore Theatre, Newtown Tal Cohen + Jamie Oehlers: Foundry 616, Sydney The Cartwheels: Gasoline Pony, Marrickville

Papa Pilko & The Bin Rats + Hemingway: Hotel Steyne (Moonshine), Manly Rolling Stone Live Lodge feat. I Know Leopard + Banff: Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale

Gigs / Live The Guide

Winterbourne

Slowpoke Rodriguez + Alice Terry: Venue 505, Surry Hills

Sarah Kills + Toni Bird + The Stonehearts: Vic On The Park, Marrickville

Ill Prepared: Dundas Sports Club, Dundas

Jed Zarb: Oriental Hotel, Springwood

Meg Mac + The Money War: Enmore Theatre, Newtown

UV Boi: Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst

Startling The Fearful: A Night of Tool with Third Eye: Factory Theatre, Marrickville

Fri 22 Yahtzel: Academy, Canberra

Winter’s Coming The cooler-than-cool duo Winterbourne will be at Selina’s at Coogee Bay Hotel on Friday.

They released their debut EP, Pendulum, just last year. Did we mention it’s free?

Kelly Brouhaha: Flow Bar, Old Bar

The Likes of You + Danny Yau + The Gloomchasers: Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham

Virna Sanzone: Foundry 616, Sydney Clowns + Pagan: Proud Mary’s, Erina

Joe Mungovan + Greta Stanley: Anita’s Theatre, Thirroul

The Gadflys: Gasoline Pony, Marrickville

Horace Bones + Viral Eyes + Wartt Gunn: Bank Hotel (Waywards), Newtown

Tracy McNeil & The Good Life: Grand Junction Hotel (The Junkyard), Maitland

‘Roots’ performed in its entirety with Max & Iggor Cavalera + Skindred: Big Top Sydney, Milsons Point

Core feat. Bodega DJs: Oxford Art Factory (Gallery Bar), Darlinghurst

The White Bros: Quakers Inn, Quakers Hill KCON 2017 Australia feat. EXO: Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney Olympic Park

Clowns

Akmal: Blue Mountains Theatre, Springwood Mercury Sky: Born2Rock Studios, West Gosford Blondebears: Brass Monkey, Cronulla

Dr TAOS: LazyBones Lounge (Level One), Marrickville Timothy Bowen: Leadbelly, Newtown Larger Than Lions: Marble Bar, Sydney Halcyon Drive: Marlborough Hotel, Newtown Katchafire: Narrabeen RSL, North Narrabeen Louis Baker: Oxford Art Factory (Gallery Bar), Darlinghurst Pierce Brothers + Asha Jefferies: Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Lizzie Flynn + Terry Serio + Zumpa + Lisa Lazuli + The Redfern Shanty Club: Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham The Big Vacation feat. Mathas + Omar Musa + P.Smurf + Rapaport: Rad Bar, Wollongong

Georgia June: Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst Pierce Brothers + Asha Jefferies: Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle West Sneaky Sound System: Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle West Victor Valdes & The Real Mexico Mariachi Band: Camelot Lounge, Marrickville Nativo Soul: Camelot Lounge (Django Bar), Marrickville Holly: Chinese Laundry, Sydney The Frocks: Colonial Hotel, Werrington Nikki Britton: Comedy Store, Moore Park Spring Comedy Carnival feat. Various Artists: Comedy Store, Moore Park

The E3 Project

Kim Salmon + Pat Powell: Smiths Alternative, Canberra

Party Clowns Clowns are hard-core punk experts from Melbourne and they are bringing a (free) show to Frankie’s Pizza By The Slice this Saturday!

Fresh from their European tour, they are sure to throw a good party.

The Combo: Janes Wollongong, North Wollongong Rolling Stone Live Lodge feat. Birdz: Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale

Washington + Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO): Sydney Opera House (Concert Hall), Sydney

Rumours - A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac: Leadbelly, Newtown

The Basement Big Band: The Basement, Sydney

Never Ending 80s: Lizottes Newcastle, Lambton

The Rhythm Hunters + Sid Berry: The Commons, Hamilton

Blake Tailor: Lynwood Country Club, Pitt Town

Le Pie + Egoism: Rad Bar, Wollongong Camp Cope + Worriers: Red Rattler, Marrickville Audio Vixen: Revesby Workers (Infinity Lounge), Revesby Soul Nights + DJ Kitsch 78: Rock Lily, Pyrmont Vardos: Smiths Alternative, Canberra

E Cubed

DJ Soul X: The Newport, Newport Piss Weak+Karaoke: The Phoenix, Canberra Ben Ely + Blackie (Hard-Ons): The Record Crate, Glebe The Orwells: The Small Ballroom, Islington Americana Music Association with Eagle & The Wolf + Magpie Diaries + Lou Bradley + Nicholas Conners + Dearly Departed + Dan Southward: The Stag & Hunter Hotel, Mayfield Strawberry Boogie x Wollongong Fringe Festival feat. Meg Mac + Muto + Georgia Fair + The Money War: Uni Bar, Wollongong The E3 Project + Spiral + God’s Broccoli: Valve Bar (Basement), Ultimo

K.P.: Macquarie Arms Hotel, Windsor

The E3 Project are presenting an experimental jazz show this Thursday at Valve Bar. The three-piece from Sydney have just released their Symphony Of Love album. Don’t forget good dancing shoes for this one.

Stephanie Jansen: Manly Leagues Club (Menzies Lounge), Brookvale DJ Ollie Jennings: Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly

Ebony & Ivory: Coolibah Hotel, Merrylands West

Washington + Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO): Sydney Opera House (Concert Hall), Sydney Finn: Sydney Portugal Community Club (Fraser Park FC), Marrickville British India: The Astor Hotel, Goulburn

Brown Sugar + DJ Trey: Marble Bar, Sydney The Spin Drifters: The Basement, Sydney Thundamentals + A Blanck Canvas: Max Watt’s, Moore Park Cloud Control + Tiny Little Houses: Metro Theatre, Sydney

Winterbourne + Little Coyote: Coogee Bay Hotel (Selina’s), Coogee

Hemingway: Station Bar, Katoomba

Fripps & Fripps + Tall Hearts + Souci Maq: Miranda Hotel, Miranda

Motez + Mickey Kojak + Tigerilla: The Beery, Terrigal The Arc Riders: The Bunker (FKA Coogee Diggers), Coogee The Cherry Dolls: The Chippendale Hotel, Chippendale

Eko + Zeek + Shots Fired: Oatley Hotel, Oatley

THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017 • 37

Comedy / G The Guide

Josh Shipton & The Blue Eyed Ravens: The Hideaway Bar, Enmore

Janet Seidel Tribute with Ben Jones: Penrith RSL, Penrith

I Know Leopard

The Shane Pacey Trio: The Merton Hotel, Rozelle

Madison Violet: Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham

DJ Frenzie + DJ Husky + DJ Sam Wall + Milan: The Newport, Newport

Zoltan: Pittwater RSL (Distillery), Mona Vale K.P.: PJ Gallagher’s, Enfield

Anthony Charlton: The Oaks Hotel, The Oaks

Kris McIntyre: Plough & Harrow, Camden Festival for Marriage Equality with Deeper Than House + Swerve + more: Prince Alfred Park, Surry Hills

The Last Exposure: The Phoenix, Canberra Afro Moses: The Rhythm Hut, Gosford The Hot Potato Band: The Small Ballroom, Islington

Holly + Akouo + Benji: Proud Mary’s, Erina Pride Tide 2nd Birthday with Baby Machine + Rachel Maria Cox + Queer Anne’s Revenge + Mermaidens: Rad Bar, Wollongong

Urban Chiefs + Byron Short & The Sunset Junkies: The Stag & Hunter Hotel, Mayfield The U2 Show - Achtung Baby: Towradgi Beach Hotel (Sports Bar), Towradgi Kilter + Just A Gent + Kuren: Uni Bar, Wollongong The Elements of Tech & Bass with Thierry D + Mark Bionic + Rowdy One + more: Valve Bar (Basement), Ultimo

Divas of Soul: Revesby Workers (Infinity Lounge), Revesby

Cool Four Cats I Know Leopard are bringing their Let Go single tour to Lansdowne Hotel on Thursday. This tour is a short one, so make sure you catch the quartet before they’re gone.

Phaze One: Rise with Various Artists: Valve Bar (Level One), Ultimo The Strides: Venue 505, Surry Hills

Uptown Funk + Jessie James: Rock Lily, Pyrmont Vanishing Shapes: Smiths Alternative, Canberra Danny Tsun’s Rhythm Revue: Street Market Asian Tapas, Crows Nest

Heart of Mind + Callum Chynoweth Band + Boleyn + Fence Sitter: Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst

The Go-Betweens: Right Here Screening with Golden Covers Band: Golden Age Cinema & Bar, Surry Hills

Pink & Lady Gaga Tribute: Bull & Bush, Baulkham Hills

Cath & Him: Harbord Beach Hotel, Freshwater

Abbalanche - The Australian ABBA Tribute Show: Burwood RSL (Auditorium), Burwood

Jed Zarb: Heritage Hotel, Bulli

Thandi Phoenix + Coda Conduct + Joe Mungovan + Ungus Ungus Ungus + The Fever Pitch + Borneo + Dweeb City + more: Surry Hills Festival, Surry Hills Goldheist: Sydney Opera House, Sydney

Meg Mac + The Money War: Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle West Bowie Unzipped feat. Jeff Duff: Camelot Lounge, Marrickville Kim Salmon

Salmon Bagel, Please Punk rocker and self-confessed breakfast aficionado Kim Salmon will be hitting up Factory Theatre on Wednesday. BYO brekkie-themed treats, but Salmon will be serving up his finest tunes plus more.

The Ravens + Rectoplasm: Vic On The Park, Marrickville Tina Arena: WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong

Sat 23 Melinda Schneider Does Doris: Anita’s Theatre, Thirroul Nancy Vandal + Hostile Objects + C.O.F.F.I.N: Bald Faced Stag, Leichhardt You Me At Six + Hellions + Columbus: Big Top Sydney, Milsons Point Mermaidens: Botany View Hotel, Newtown Feral Swing Katz: Brass Monkey, Cronulla

38 • THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017

Short Round + DJ YROR + Duane Bartolo + Sammy Boyle: Candys Apartment, Potts Point Steve Hart & The All Stars: Caringbah Hotel (Saloon Bar), Caringbah

Frenchy: Illawarra Performing Arts Centre (IPAC), Wollongong

Washington + Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO): Sydney Opera House (Concert Hall), Sydney

Tina Arena: International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC), Sydney

Frances Madden: The Basement, Sydney Sound About: The Beach Hotel, Merewether

Rolling Stone Live Lodge feat.

Lo! + The Nation Blue + Thorax: Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale

Foxman: The Bunker (FKA Coogee Diggers), Coogee

The Soul Movers: Leadbelly, Newtown

Outline In Color: The Burdekin, Darlinghurst

Never Ending 80s: Lizottes Newcastle, Lambton

RACKETT: The Chippendale Hotel, Chippendale

Simona: Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Casula

Shawn Lidster: Long Jetty Hotel, Long Jetty

The Porkers + Casino Rumblers + Sailors Grave + The Bottlers: Club York, Sydney

DJ Raye Antonelli + DJ Husky: Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly

Spring Comedy Carnival feat. Various Artists: Comedy Store, Moore Park

Mike Champion + DJ Trey: Marble Bar, Sydney

South Coast Big Band: Corrimal Hotel, Corrimal

Katya: Max Watt’s, Moore Park

Clive Hay: Cronulla RSL, Cronulla Stormcellar + Dinesh Moylan: Eden Fishermen’s Recreation Club, Eden Pond + Body Type + Reef Prince: Enmore Theatre, Newtown Divergence Jazz Orchestra: Foundry 616, Sydney Clowns + Pagan: Frankie’s Pizza By The Slice, Sydney Tukuleles: Gasoline Pony (Afternoon), Marrickville The Brutal Poodles: Gasoline Pony, Marrickville

Meg Mac

Leadfinger + Chickenstones: Narrabeen Sands, Narrabeen Grinspoon + Hockey Dad: Newcastle Exhibition & Convention Centre (NEX), Newcastle West Speak Satellite feat. Lyre Byrdland + The Baldwins: North Wollongong Hotel, North Wollongong Red Hot Chilli Peppers Show: Oatley Hotel, Oatley Make Them Suffer + Wage War + Alpha Wolf: Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Manalion + Rufflefeather + Tall Hearts: Oxford Art Factory (Gallery Bar), Darlinghurst Garrett Kato: Pelican Playhouse, South Grafton

Mac No Cheese Melbourne darling Meg Mac is taking her debut album Low Blows on the road. Her national tour is making two stops at Enmore Theatre, the first on Friday! Don’t miss this one.

Gigs / Live The Guide

Rosie Waterland: The Concourse, Chatswood

Ministry of Sound feat. Sneaky Sound System: The Ivy, Sydney

MC Matt Xander: The Louis (formerly Lewisham Hotel), Lewisham The Cartwheels: The Merton Hotel, Rozelle DJ Treble n Bass + The New Ojeez House Band + DJ Mike Dotch + L Hamilton Quartet: The Newport, Newport Azim Zain & his Lovely Bones + Sketch Method + Floral Sheets + Slagatha Christie: The Phoenix, Canberra

Hits + Bombed Alaskans + The Ill Nation + Magnetic Drill Gang + The Dirty F Holes: Condong Bowling Club, Condong

Bart Stenhouse + Daniel Weltlinger: Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham

All Ages Matinee Show with Kid Kenobi + Lauren Neko: Factory Theatre, Marrickville

Clowns + Pagan: Rad Bar, Wollongong

Melody Moko: Flow Bar, Old Bar

Suite Az + DJ Troy T: Rock Lily, Pyrmont

Afternoon Show with Stone Cold Fox + Peter Black + Citizen Dog + Universe Universe + Carl Redfern: Gasoline Pony, Marrickville

Tracy McNeil & The Good Life: Shady Pines Saloon, Darlinghurst

Mark Olson + Ingunn Ringvold: Grand Junction Hotel (The Junkyard), Maitland

D Love: The Beach Hotel, Merewether

Jen Buxton: Hamilton Station Hotel, Islington

Mercury Sky: The Small Ballroom, Islington Finn: Hawkesbury Hotel, Windsor PSY vs PSY III with Various DJs: Valve Bar (Basement / Level One), Ultimo

Rockin Mustangs: Penrith RSL, Penrith

King River Rising: Hotel Steyne (Moonshine), Manly

20th Century Dog: Venue 505, Surry Hills

UV Boi

Elvis To The Max: State Theatre, Sydney

Phantom MkV: The Bridge Hotel, Rozelle Spike Flynn & The Open Hearted Strangers: The Merton Hotel, Rozelle DJ Phil Toke + Rob Edwards + DJ Cool Hand Luke + Rick & Tay: The Newport, Newport Partly Cloudy + Skyvory + Violet Faye + Sara Turner: The Phoenix, Canberra

Yeah Boi UV Boi has hit the road for his national Returned Alone tour. It’s been 12 months since his last release so we’re hanging for this new EP! Expect big new things from the electronic powerhouse.

Midnight Movers: The Rhythm Hut, Gosford Outline In Color: The Small Ballroom, Islington Full Throttle: Towradgi Beach Hotel (Sports Bar), Towradgi Vanishing Shapes + Stringline Folk Band: Upstairs @ Fred’s, Camden Friends with Benefits feat. Ghost Talk + Bobby + Moshi + Oxford Poet: Valve Bar (Basement), Ultimo DJ DZ Deathrays: Vic On The Park, Marrickville

Elton John + Busby Marou: WIN Stadium, Wollongong

Mon 25 Songs On Stage feat. Russell Neal + Michelle Benson + Paul Ward + Chris Brookes + Kenneth D’Aran: Kellys on King, Newtown Capital Club: Smiths Alternative, Canberra London Grammar: Sydney Opera House, Sydney

Thandi Phoenix Kid Kenobi

Tue 26

Falling For Phoenix

Scott Bradlee’s Post Modern Jukebox: Anita’s Theatre, Thirroul

It’s Surry Hills Festival time again. Head out on Saturday and you’ll catch Sydney songstress Thandi Phoenix armed with her fresh single Standing Too Close as well as as Coda Conduct and Joe Mungovan plus more.

Angus & Julia Stone + Ruel: Enmore Theatre, Newtown

Tinsmith + Taylor King: Vic On The Park, Marrickville

Sun 24

Madison Violet: Humph Hall, Allambie Heights Open Mic Comedy Night with Marty Bright + Bec Charlwood: Janes Wollongong, North Wollongong

Stormcellar: Angels Bayside, Huskisson Bombay Flight Night: Leadbelly, Newtown Grinspoon + Hockey Dad: Batemans Bay Soldiers Club, Batemans Bay Global Rhythms Music Festival 2017 feat.

The Strides + Afro Moses + Alice Terry + Alphamama + The Crooked Fiddle Band + King Tide + San Lazaro + Afrobrasiliana Soundsystem DJs: Bicentennial Park, Glebe

Carpenter Caswell + Aleyce Simmonds + The Weeping Willows: Lizottes Newcastle, Lambton Duan & Only + DJ Stuart B + DJ Cam Adams: Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly Dante & Dwight: Marble Bar, Sydney

Open Mic Night with Andrew Denniston: BMW (formerly Beats.Eats.Drinks), Glebe Blake Tailor: Bull & Bush, Baulkham Hills Tina Arena: Canberra Theatre Centre, Canberra

Women in Music Empowerment Day feat.

Ayebatonye + Clueless + Dawn Laird + Ines + DJ Lou Lou + Jannah Beth + Lushness + Sass + Katherine Vavahea + Matka + Sarah Connor + Scabz + Zeadala + more: Miss Peaches, Newtown

Sydney Conservatorium Jazz Orchestra: Foundry 616, Sydney

Obi Young-Kenobi Big Fish Little Fish have been throwing kid-friendly raves for almost five years now. This time they present dance music heavyweight Kid Kenobi. Borrow your neighbour’s kids and head out to Factory Theatre on Sunday!

Songs On Stage feat. Russell Neal + Jeff Arnold + Jeffrey Webb + more: Gladstone Hotel, Dulwich Hill Songs On Stage feat. Stuart Jammin + Jenny Hume: Kellys on King, Newtown Rolling Stone Live Lodge: In Conversation with Josh Pyke: Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale Speak Satellite feat. Prophets + Rebel Scum + Microfiche: Moving Mountains Gallery, Wollongong Swollen Members + Mastacraft: Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Farmer & the Owl Fringe Fest Party feat. Step Panther + Kaleidoscope: Rad Bar, Wollongong London Grammar: Sydney Opera House, Sydney

Anthony Hughes: Oatley Hotel, Oatley

THE MUSIC • 20TH SEPTEMBER 2017 • 39

SECRET SOUNDS PRESENTS

THE 25TH ANNUAL MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL FFLUME LU (NO SIDESHOWS) • FLEET FOXES • RUN THE JEWELS • THE KOOKS • GLASS ANIMALS (NO SIDESHOWS)) PPEKING DUK • ANGUS & JULIA STONE • FOSTER THE PEOPLE • LIAM GALLAGHER • VINCE STAPLES JUNGLE JUNG • DUNE RATS • THE SMITH STREET BAND • DRAM • DARYL BRAITHWAITE • EVERYTHING EVERYTHING ALLDAY • THE JUNGLE GIANTS • THUNDAMENTALS • METHYL ETHEL • SLUMBERJACK • D.D DUMBO • ANNA LUNOE DZ DEATHRAYS • CONFIDENCE MAN • JULIA JACKLIN • BAD//DREEMS • COSMO’S MIDNIGHT • WINSTON SURFSHIRT LUCA BRASI • ALEX LAHEY • CAMP COPE • FLINT EASTWOOD • ECCA VANDAL • DAVE • TOTAL GIOVANNI + PLUS LOADS MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED

LORNE MARION BYRON FREMANTLE BAY 28 DEC BAY 06 JAN 29 DEC 30 DEC 31 DEC

29 DEC 30 DEC 31 DEC

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