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Credits Publisher Street Press Australia Pty Ltd Group Managing Editor Andrew Mast National Editor – Magazines Mark Neilsen Group Senior Editor/National Arts Editor Maxim Boon Editors Bryget Chrisfield, Daniel Cribb, Neil Griffiths, Velvet Winter
Did someone mention Barnaby Joyce?
Assistant Editor/Social Media Co-Ordinator Jessica Dale
D
oes anyone else feel like they lost most of February to Barnaby Joyce? For a solid two weeks there seemed to be nothing more important than refreshing the Twitter search field for Barnaby Joyce updates. For a full fortnight Australia almost forgot about Donald Trump. I guess it’s good for the Australian scandal industry to support the occasional local political controversy. Like many Australians who were following the Joyce trail, and let’s assume anyone who has read this far is across the gruesome details, it wasn’t the morality of his affair with a staffer that kept me glued to the unfolding saga but rather the hypocrisy of it all and the alleged cronyism. And, the stories just kept coming. There was an overwhelming amount of words being churned out about Joyce. I was reading it all. A seemingly non-stop torrent of thoughtpieces and exclusive reveals. I even watched Parliament Question Time for the FIRST. TIME. EVER. It also marked the deepest dive I had ever taken into Twitter (and I already got accused of spending waaaaay too much time snooping around Twitter threads). I was obsessing over certain Twitter users’ own obsessions with Joyce. On Twitter, gob-smacking allegations were being made that are only now making their way into the MSM (ah yeah, I soon worked out that’s the tweeting shortcut for mainstream media). Most may well have no merit, but it was too late. I just couldn’t look away. I also learnt to admire Australian Twitter. We thumbed global social media tropes and avoided any kind of ‘something-gate’ hashtags. Instead of #Barnabygate or #Joycegate we got #Barnababy, #beetrooter and, the post-Barnaby-affair trender, #bonkban. That’s the kind of Aussie innovation we like to celebrate here. But, y’know, in an artistic form. Th is month we’ve chatted with Vance Joy, Bleeding Knees Club and Heaps Good Friends. And we’re very excited to have also caught up with Superorganism - one of the most talked about new bands of recent times. Their multi-national line-up represents Australia (alongside the UK, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand) and they have created one of the year’s most exciting albums so far. Make it one of your first March listens. We also feature the stunning work of Aus photographer Byron Spencer and welcome back expat former editor Kris Swales who has penned an essay about his experience at India’s Magnetic Fields festival. So, hopefully we have enough to keep you occupied now that Barnaby Joyce has slipped to the backbenches.
Editorial Assistant Sam Wall Gig Guide Henry Gibson gigs@themusic.com.au Senior Contributors Steve Bell, Ross Clelland, Cyclone, Jeff Jenkins Contributors Nic Addenbrooke, Annelise Ball, Emily Blackburn, Melissa Borg, Anthony Carew, Uppy Chatterjee, Roshan Clerke, Shaun Colnan, Brendan Crabb, Guy Davis, Joe Dolan, Jack Doonar, Benny Doyle, Chris Familton, Guido Farnell, Liz Giuffre, Carley Hall, Tobias Handke, Mark Hebblewhite, Samantha Jonscher, Kate Kingsmill, Tim Kroenert, Matt MacMaster, Taylor Marshall, MJ O’Neill, Ben Nicol, Carly Packer, Natasha Pinto, Michael Prebeg, Mick Radojkovic, Jake Sun, Rod Whitfield Senior Photographers Cole Bennetts, Kane Hibberd Photographers Rohan Anderson, Andrew Briscoe, Stephen Booth, Pete Dovgan, Simone Fisher, Lucinda Goodwin, Josh Groom, Clare Hawley, Bianca Holderness, Jay Hynes, Dave Kan, Yaseera Moosa, Hayden Nixon, Angela Padovan, Markus Ravik, Bobby Rein, Peter Sharp, Barry Shipplock, Terry Soo, John Stubbs, Bec Taylor
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Andrew Mast Group Managing Editor
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Our contributors
This month Editor’s Letter
The month’s best binge watching
Shit we did: psychic life coaching
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Magnetic Fields Festival
Millie Millgate As Executive Producer of SOUNDS AUSTRA-
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Former The Music Editor Kris Swales brings us his report from the Indian event
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LIA, Millie is responsible for the representation of the Australian music industry at key international music events. She has been instrumental in the growth of Australian music worldwide, having overseen the marketing, networking and showcasing activity undertaken at 55 different events in 56 cities,
Guest Editorial: Millie Millgate
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Hocky Dad We grab a nice cuppa and a catch up with the surf rock duo from Windang
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Famous Feuds
26
iZombie
28
Arch Enemy, Rag N Bone, Benjamin Booker
100
Live
102
Album Reviews
104
The Arts
30
Vance Joy
Abbe May, Lowtide, Superorganism
across 20 countries since 2009.
32
Sydney Biennale
Sam Wall
Everything you need to know about Sydney’s citywide contemporary art bonanza
Sam Wall was writing stories about brain-
110
eating flies when he fell ass-backwards into an Assistant Editor position at The Music. He’s looked low-key stressed out ever since. He is also a co-host on smash hit podcast The Lashes.
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Nakkiah Lui
The Power 50 Your Town
The 2018 edition The Music presents its annual count down of the biggest influencers in Aussie music.
The big picture: Byron Spencer
Prophets Of Rage
35
92 94
Studio 301, Roundhouse, Blair Dunlop
116
Your gigs
118
The month’s local highlights
120 122
The End
Stephanie Eslake Stephanie is an arts journalist who loves Muse as much as Mozart. You can find her published in SBS Life, ArtsHub, and The Mercury among others. She was named 2017 Hobart Young Citizen of the Year for running CutCommon — a national mag for emerging musos.
Bleeding Knees Club, Havana Meets Kingston
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AUSTRALIA’S FIRST OFFICIAL DR. MARTENS RETAILS STORE AND WEB STORE DRMARTENS.COM.AU
Jess Locke
LeJend Jen Cloher is taking her hit self-titled album on the road from 10 Mar. The Melbourne singer-songwriter will start at Perth’s Rosemount Hotel and wrap at Sydney’s Lansdowne Hotel at the end of the month.
Jen Cloher
Grace Jones: Bloodlight & Bami
King Krule
Kamassive As well as appearing at Golden Plains and WOMADelaide, US musician and composer Kamasi Washington will perform intimate headline gigs in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane this month.
Krule intentions King Krule’s pre-Golden Plains tour starts on 5 Mar at Enmore Theatre. It’s his first Australian trip since 2014 and due to overwhelming demand he’s already had to add dates and upgrade venues in Melbourne and Sydney. Kamasi Washington
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Locke it in
Hart on
Jess Locke embarks on the single tour for Dangerous, the latest single from last year’s Universe LP, from 1 Mar. Locke will stop in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, finishing in Perth on 10 Mar.
Comedy giant Kevin Hart has announced he’s coming Down Under with The Kevin Hart Irresponsible tour in December. On his last tour Hart became the the first comedian to sell out an NFL stadium, and this time he’s performing 360º in- the-round.
Stream dreams This month’s best binge watching Jessica Jones, Season 2
Marvel’s shabby anti-heroine is returning to our screens, ready to kick some butt while serving you stank-face. Netflix’s fortunes as far as its Marvel franchises are concerned have been somewhat chequered, with its adaptations of The Defenders and Iron Fist both failing to impress. We’re keeping everything crossed that the return of Ms Jones breaks this losing streak. Streams from 8 Mar on Netflix
Kevin Hart
Film: Grace Jones: Bloodlight & Bami Grace Jones: Bloodlight & Bami opens around Australia 8 Mar. Taking an intimate peek behind the curtain to reveal the personal world of a music, pop culture and fashion icon, director Sophie Fiennes’ latest is a must-see.
A Series Of Unfortunate Events, Season 2
An unrecognisable Neil Patrick Harris easily held his own against Jim Carrey’s iconic cinematic incarnation of Lemony Snicket’s super villain, Count Olaf. In the muchPhase
anticipated second season, Olaf continues his scheming campaign against the beleaguered-yet-brilliant Baudelaire orphans.
Tech: Phase
While this sounds a lot like Season 1, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
French company MWM have developed a new product called Phase that lets you play and scratch records without a needle or tonearm. Phase wirelessly translates a record’s movements into timecode, which you can then play digitally.
Streams from 30 Mar on Netflix
Rise
This musical coming-of-age story from the producers of Broadway mega-hit Hamilton is
Film: Red Sparrow
inspired by the true story of a devoted drama teacher who takes over a school’s failing
Red Sparrow opens nationally on 1 Mar. The thrilling drama sees a prima ballerinaturned-Russian spy and assassin Dominika Egorova (Jennifer Lawrence) and CIA agent Nathaniel Nash (Joel Edgerton) go head to head.
theatre department. And, yes, we realise this sounds suspiciously like Glee, but expect far grittier and more relatable storytelling in addition to the show tunes and jazz hands. Streams from 14 Mar on Stan
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Well cello, Bill
Podcast of the month: Reply All
Bill “Groundhog Day, Ghostbustin’-ass” Murray is coming in November. Along with renowned cellist Jan Vogler, the living legend will do a show that “communicates the bridges artists have built between America and Europe”. Sounds weird. We can’t wait.
Plumbing the depth and breadth of the internet, hosts PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman present wonderfully weird stories about how technology shapes us . You’ll laugh, cry and develop paranoid delusions.
Whole new ball game Bill Murray & Friends
George Ezra
On voyage We’re finally getting a visit from George Ezra after he had to postpone last year’s Antipodean odean tour. The UK singer-songwriter will play three east coast shows starting ting 6 Mar with support from Melbourne’s own Ainslie Wills.
App of the month: Quartz Looking a for an easier way ay to get your world news? Quartz is a “digitally gitally native news outlet”, which means they’ve hey’ve developed a way to deliver current nt affairs - via messages, photos, GIFs and links, ks, etc - without making your eyes es glaze over.
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Cub Sport are currently on a massive world tour. They’ll make seven stops around Oz through March before leaving us for North America with their highly acclaimed 2017 album, BATS, featuring certified hits such as O Lord and Chasin’.
Triple threat
Sh*t we did With Maxim Boon
Chicago rapper Mick Jenkins and New York hip-hop duo The Underachievers will hit Australian shores on 24 Mar for their a co-headline tour. The massive double bill will be supported by emerging Aussie favourite Brado.
Cub Sport
Mick Jenkins
Psychic Life Coaching Are you a bit of a mess? Are your finances cooked? Is your love life non-existent? The answers to your many woes may be written in the stars – or on the other end of a premiumrate phone line. Throughout time, there have been those individuals who have possessed the gift to divine the future. In times of yore, they may
Woodes
Into the Woodes
have been burnt as witches. Of course, we now know that witches don’t exist. Psychic mediums, however, that’s a different story. These gifted few can now use their mystic powers to help regular folk like you or I to
Woodes kicks off her east coast tour on 2 Mar. The producer, singer and songwriter will hit Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to share her second EP Golden Hour for the first time with Seavera plus local supports.
figure out our shit and for a measly few bucks we can contact these communers with the cosmos day or night, through the miracle of telecommunications. So, whether you’re having a major existential crisis or just a bit of an off afternoon, a psychic might just be the sidekick to help you shake the funk that’s been keeping you down – provided you have enough credit on your phone.
The Verdict I will admit, that when it comes to new-agey hocus pocus such as this, I’m a bit of a sceptic. But in the interest of fairness, I entered into this enterprise with my mind, and all my chakras, as open as possible. As I dial the number for PTV Australia – the nation’s most widely viewed psychic TV network – my teeth are gritted. I’m connected to Ms Tique, who I’m told is one of the channel’s most popular psychics. Clearly the universe is working in my favour tonight. But far from the hokey, husky-voiced amdram I had anticipated from a tele-medium, Ms Tique is a larrikin delight! “Don’t you worry darl,” she croons down the phone and her
Lek it like that
patter is certainly working as I chit chat about the problems I’m facing (mostly invented, to ensure value for money) in my tempestuous life. I’m prepared to take notes, so I can put into
Swedish singer-songwriter Jens Lekman is back in town on 9 Mar. He’s playing dates with Grizzly Bear, headline shows in solo mode and with his band, and he’ll also stop in at Tasmania’s A Festival Called Panama. Jens Lekman
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action whatever the spirit realm deems beneficial, but it turns out psychic life coaching is a doddle. A tarot reading reveals that money is headed my way and my unluckiness in love will soon be over. “You just keep doing what you’re doing, my sweetheart,” Ms Tique reassures me. I haven’t the heart to tell her I’m happily married. Maybe a ghost can Whoopi Goldberg her on my behalf?
Robust backing for Australian artists has seen the local music economy boom. Now it’s time to double down Millie Millgate, the Executive Producer of SOUNDS AUSTRALIA, believes the Australian music industry is in rude health. But this is no reason to be complacent. To ensure the continued success of Aussie musicians, thriving both at home and abroad, the sector needs further investment to build on a rock-solid foundation.
S
ometimes I wonder if it’s just a by-product of the perpetual cheerleader role that we play at SOUNDS AUSTRALIA. Presenting and promoting Australian music to the world and our need to consistently be positive and upbeat (pardon the pun) means we believe everything is just great. Turns out that’s not the reason. It’s because things genuinely are. The profile and growth of Australian music over the last decade has been amazing to watch and an even greater joy to have experienced. Need a snapshot? Here’s just the icing. Alex Lahey, Alison Wonderland, Confidence Man, Middle Kids and Tash Sultana have been amongst first announcements and will be hitting iconic festival stages across the world including Coachella, Bonnaroo and Governors Ball in coming months. Alice Ivy, Childsaint, Divide And Dissolve, Hatchie, Jade Imagine, Jess Ribeiro, G Flip, Gordi, Mallrat, Ruby Boots, RVG, Th andi Phoenix and Tori Forsyth are all making their SXSW debut this March. The 2018 APRA Song of the Year shortlist features Ainslie Wills, All Our Exes Live In Texas, Jen Cloher, Jessica Mauboy, Stella Donnelly and Vera Blue while Brooke Ligertwood, Hiatus Kaiyote, Jess Chalker, Sarah Aarons and Sia Furler all received songwriting Grammy Nominations in January. Courtney Barnett’s Avant Gardner has reached 5.7 million views on YouTube while Amy Shark’s Adore just ticked over 30 million plays on Spotify. All of these feats in isolation are significant; cumulatively they are beyond impressive. The results and achievements are considerable and are an absolute testament to the talents of each and every one of the aforementioned artists. It’s not just the award nominations and profiles that have increased though. These artistic achievements are reflected in the economic growth of Australian music. An article in the Australian Financial Review hailed songwriting as “one of Australia’s fastest growing export industries”, citing the $43.5 million royalties earned overseas by APRA AMCOS members in 2016-17, a 13.6% year on year growth and more than double the $21.8 million collected only four years ago. Important to note when acknowledging these successes, however, is the strategic and targeted investment that has been made available to those that have played a role behind the scenes building our artists’ careers and it’s something we can’t take for granted, nor can we rest on our laurels. Although small, Australia enjoys one of the strongest and most sophisticated music industry ecosystems in the world, with multiple initiatives being rolled out in recent years, across State and Federal arts agencies, through dedicated Trade Bodies and Associations and more recently at the hand of commercial corporate and music businesses. By default or design, together they have produced a generation of industry operators and professionals that are taking Australian music to the world! Opportunities for Artist Managers have included Control (a project of AMIN and the AAM), The JB Seed, The AAM’s Co-Pilot Mentorship and Warners / UJTU Programs, Creative Victoria’s Music Passport Fast Track Fellowship Program, which also supports Labels, as does the Release program (coordinated by AMIN and AIR) and The Robert Stigwood Fellowship Program developed by South Australia’s Music Development Office.
The AMIN network, APRA AMCOS, the Association of Artist Managers, the Australian Independent Record Labels Association, Music Australia and the PPCA are constantly presenting and delivering year-round artist, industry and audience development programs, such as the Australia Council’s Nashville Songwriter Residency and their partnership with the PPCA to support the creation of new sound recordings. We have AIR’s Indie-Con, APRA’s SongHubs and SongMakers Programs, and the Live Music Office’s Live & Local, while the seven AMIN member associations roll out over 100 professional development workshops annually across the country. Levi’s have partnered with BIGSOUND to create the Levi’s Music Prize, while Virgin Australia have teamed with ARIA for their Emerging Artist Scholarship, both offering invaluable international tour support. The Vanda & Young Songwriting Competition is now one of the world’s most prestigious, and The UNIFIED Grant is empowering the next generation of creatives. APRA’s The Lighthouse Award is granted to a female music manager in Victoria and the Josh Pyke Partnership supports an emerging songwriter/artist. The Hilltop Hoods Initiative invests in an emerging Australian hip hop or soul artist while Shane Nicholson has just announced the inaugural Americana Music Prize to support an aspiring Americana/alt-country artist from Australia. Australia is also home to some of the most progressive and exciting music conference events in the world, including BIGSOUND, Face The Music, EMC Australia and the WAM Festival & Conference, all providing a platform for local artist to reach their next level, while showcasing a wealth of talent to international delegates, made up of key industry buyers, tastemakers and media. The combination of these programs and opportunities has unified our little corner of the global music market in a unique and enviable way, especially when many of these programs were established during a period of critical funding cuts to the Arts in Australia. What is vital, if we are to maintain and, more so, increase growth and successes, is continued support flowing into the sector. These programs have been essential to the evolution of Australian music and the opening of opportunities around the world. Now is the time to double down and capitalise even further on these incredible advances. Some of these key programs have now come to the end of their funding cycle and others are always in a constant state of change and uncertainty, informed by the government of the day. Investment in music needs a permanent seat at the budget table, alongside film and museums. The success shouldn’t mean we’re ok now to divert the support or let it lapse. Rather, the measurable outcomes and visible growth of the sector should, in fact, be recognised and acknowledged with an even deeper engagement and investment from a diverse range of partners. The last decade has shown what can be achieved with a little. Just imagine what we could do with even more.
“The combination of these programs and opportunities has unified our little corner of the global music market in a unique and enviable way.”
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Read The Music’s Power 50, starting page 41
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Home and away The two best mates from Hockey Dad may be living the dream as they tour the world playing their catchy, surf-drenched garage rock, but, as frontman Zach Stephenson tells Steve Bell, it’s sure given them a different life trajectory than their friends back home. Cover and feature pics by Kane Hibberd.
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he lives of the two young men behind Wollongong rock sensation Hockey Dad were turned on their heads when their 2016 album Boronia — named for the street the two childhood friends grew up in and still live in between growing band obligations — went slow-burn gangbusters, sending them on an ever-busier spiral of tours (both at home and abroad) and festivals, which found them spending less and less time at home. The duo — Zach Stephenson (vocals/guitar) and Billy Fleming (drums/vocals) — were having a blast from a musical perspective but finding it harder and harder to reconcile band life with the experiences of their other mates, which is the inspiration behind the title of their brand new second long-player, Blend Inn. “It just relates to — like most of the things on the record — how our lives have been different to most of our friends’ 22-year-old lives,” Stephenson reflects, “and how we have to try and have the same life experience, and I guess try to grow up the same way, but you’re always stuck in a hotel in Bumfuck, Texas or something. “And how it’s hard to relate to everyone a little bit when they’re at home doing the same stuff, and you’ve got to try to look the same as everybody else and try to blend in with everybody — it’s a bit tough.” But while reconciling their band and home lives may have proved difficult, musically the guys took the dreaded difficult second album syndrome in their stride, concocting an album that expands upon the indubitable promise offered by the surf-drenched sounds of their debut. “We didn’t really feel any pressure,” Stephenson tells. “We maybe even felt that the pressure was a little bit off this time because we’d already done a record and built up a bit of a fanbase so we could actually just dive into the record and not worry too much about it, I guess. “And I think it felt a little bit more legit recording this one, because we were in a big studio with a producer and we went the whole nine yards so it felt like we had to step it up a little bit. Although we still fucked around a bit in the studio and did everything else exactly the same, so it was mostly pretty natural.” The “big studio” in question was Robert Lang Studios, 12 miles north of Seattle, where the pair worked with the
acclaimed producer John Goodmanson (Bikini Kill, Cloud Nothings, Sleater-Kinney). “It was a really good experience,” Stephenson offers. “We definitely felt really privileged to be able to go overseas and hang out in Seattle for a few weeks, and just be able to record and bum around. Not many people get the chance to do that so we were pretty stoked. It was good, we felt we really had to make a good record otherwise we won’t ever live it down.” Although Stephenson does concede it was unnerving recording in a room where bands like Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains and The Sonics had cut seminal records. “Yeah, it was weird,” he laughs. “It was
“We have to try and have the same life experience, and I guess try to grow up the same way, but you’re always stuck in a hotel in Bumfuck, Texas or something.”
kinda scary and really humbling, and daunting as well. With some of the stuff that was done there you’d go, ‘Fuck, we’re never going to touch any of that, in terms of songs or the sounds.’ But it was really good inspiration as well, because we’d listen to a record that was done there in the night and hear something cool, and then try to do our own version of that the next day in the same room it was recorded in, which was fun. “And John definitely let us go for it. We’d just jump into it and then he’d come in at a certain time, and tell us where to put something. Definitely with the guitar playing and some of the drums, we were pretty much full throttle — just going at ‘em all the time — and John helped us scale things back and leave some room. “He was good like that and he definitely helped a bit with guitar parts later on — just like where to play things
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and where not to play things — because we’d just sort of go at it and put too much shit everywhere.” Apart from geography, a slightly altered creative process also affected the finished product. “This record was a little bit different,” Stephenson offers. “Most of the songs I did just at home sort of straight into my laptop, just sort of bumming around with ideas and then making a song. Then I’d send it to Billy and he’d get an idea for it, and think of some drum parts, and then when we’d get the chance we’d get together and jam it out and see if it worked. “But that’s the thing, sometimes a song never got jammed and we just went into the studio and sort of went to it, which was definitely different to the last record where most of the songs were written by us at rehearsal with each other and jammed out like that. “[The change] was partly because we were busy, then also because I started writing it in summer and it’s fucking hot in my shed where we used to jam — there’s no way we’re playing in there in summer,” he chuckles. “Then I just got comfortable sitting on my computer chair, and it sort of helped because I had so many sounds and ideas that I could just make up second guitar parts and things like that. There’s a lot more of that this time, just sitting at home and overdubbing shit. Then more ideas could be thrown around instead of just having a chord progression and a melody, you could actually put different things in there.” The lyrics, however, hark back to that problem the guys were having juggling their divergent lives in the band and at home. “I guess they reflect just the time that they were all written in and what we were both sorta going through,” Stephenson tells. “We would be on the road for a while and then have a month off at home, and that’s pretty much when I’d write all the songs, so a lot of them have to do with just dealing with shit while you’re on the road and stuff going on at home [when] you can’t really be there, and just that weird feeling of growing up and not actually living in one particular set place for a certain period of time: just being away from it, but just trying to grow up and do your job a bit.” And why does Stephenson feel that Hockey Dad are connecting with people on such a gut level, especially at live shows? “I dunno, we’re just pretty honest and don’t try and bullshit anyone,” he smiles. “And I think the fact that we’re having so much fun playing and touring around all the time might inspire people to just relax a bit and enjoy it.”
Blend Inn (Farmer & The Owl/Inertia) is out now. Hockey Dad tour from 1 Mar.
Fight club Everyone knows, the juiciest kind of feud is a celebrity feud. There are literally hundreds of examples of the rich and famous losing their shit and spitting the dummy over what seems, to mere mortals like you and I, to be the most mundane slights. We’d love to share them all, but instead, we humbly submit for your enjoyment a cherry-picked handful of the beefiest celeb beefs from the world of showbiz.
2Pac vs The Notorious BIG Unquestionably one of the
Kim Cattrall vs Sarah Jessica Parker
most well-known and tragic
Better
feuds in hip hop history, the
Sex In The City BBF alter
unsolved murders of rap-
egos, sexually voracious PR
pers 2Pac Shakur and The
guru Samantha Jones and
Notorious BIG in ’96 and
inexplicably well-paid sex-
’97 respectively, revealed a
ploitation columnist Car-
dangerous culture of gang
rie Bradshaw, off camera
known
for
their
violence even at the highest
these two TV icons are infa-
levels of the rap scene. Driven by the East Coast-West Coast rivalry between
mously at each other’s throats. Rumours of a rift on set between the two
LA-based Death Row Records and New York’s Bad Boy Records, both rap-
was finally confirmed when the third instalment of the Sex And The City
pers used their music to goad the other, with increasingly antagonistic
movie franchise imploded, due to Cattrall’s refusal to be part of the project.
insults woven into their lyrics. On 7 Sep 1996, Tupac was mortally wounded
As it seems social media is the cause of all the world’s problems, it comes as
by a drive-by shooter in Las Vegas, making it as far as the University Medical
no surprise that the two got into a particularly bitter spat recently on Insta-
Centre of South Navada, but perishing six days later. Six months later still, in
gram, following the death of Cattrall’s brother. Parker’s attempts at a public
what has been largely accepted as a revenge killing, Notorious BIG was also
consolation were interpreted by a grieving Cattrall as “exploitation”, adding,
gunned down by a drive-by shooter, while in Los Angeles. Neither assailant
“Your continuous reaching out is a painful reminder of how cruel you really
was ever caught.
were then and now.” Ouch!
Sinead O’Connor vs Frank Sinatra
Donald Trump vs The World
One of the more obscure celebrity feuds existed between Irish songstress
Vast dossiers (and not the ones about Russian piss parties) could be commit-
Sinead O’Connor and the ultimate crooner, “old blue eyes” Sinatra. On the
ted to writing about the great sprawl of enemies old mate Don has acquired
American leg of her I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got tour, in 1991, O’Connor
over the years. Some are innocent enough: years before he became the leader
threatened to pull out of a New Jersey performance after the venue insisted
of the free world, in 2006, Trump locked horns with Rosie O’Donnell, after she
on playing the American national anthem. According to an LA Times report,
branded him a “snake-oil salesman”, for allowing disgraced Miss USA winner
O’Connor claimed she had “a policy of not having national anthems played
Tara Conner to keep her crown, despite drug and alcohol scandals. Ture to
before my concerts in any country, including my own, because they have
form, Trump branded “nice fat little Rosie” O’Donnell “a real loser”. Ghastly as
nothing to do with music in general”. The next evening, as Sinatra played
that is, it pales into comparison to some of Trump’s potentially world-ending
the very same venue, the
tantrums, most notably with
Vegas icon claimed, “I’d
North Korean dictator Kim
like to kick her in the ass!”
Jong-Un. Trumped deemed
Later that year, in an inter-
it ideal timing, upon the iso-
view with Esquire Maga-
lationist regime’s successful
zine, O’Connor insisted it
test firing of a ballistic missile
wouldn’t be a fair fight: “I
capable of firing a nuclear
can’t hit this man back –
warhead to the US mainland
he’s like 78 years of age. I’d
(and Australia) to taunt the
probably kill him!”
Korean autocrat, calling him “little rocket man”. So, if you have any feuds on the boil, best go bury the hatchet and kiss and make-up, before the Trumpocolypse starts.
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MARCH
Scratching the surface “In episode one, you’re nude.” The fourth season of iZombie gets weird, as actor Rahul Kohli tells Daniel Cribb.
Rahul Kohli with iZombie co-star Ros McIver
W
hen and if a zombie apocalypse begins, there’s one man you might not want to partner up with on your quest for survival. “I like a warm shower and I like to take a poo in a nice toilet — I’m not doing it in the forest; I’m not about that life, man,” begins iZombie star Rahul Kohli. The affable British actor is all about creature comforts and after setting up a sweet home theatre system earlier that day, he’s just returned from dinner with co-star Malcolm Goodwin (Clive Babineaux), who would be “the best” under Walking Dead conditions. “It looks like a PR stunt when we go, ‘Oh, we’re on this show and we’re best friends off screen,’ but with iZombie it’s true. I think everyone is close.” iZombie and The Walking Dead are miles apart, but Kohli’s quick to draw some comparisons as the Rob Thomas hit series enters its fourth season. “One of the reasons you connect with The Walking Dead is you don’t follow the story of the zombies, you follow the story of the humans because that’s what you immediately align yourself with,” he tells. While the show follows zombie Liv Moore, a lot of fans have connected to Kohli’s adorable and “unfiltered” character, Dr Ravi Chakrabarti, because he’s a human. “He represents the audience — he always has,” Kohli says. “Liv’s a zombie and to a certain degree, despite the fact that you follow her journey and see the world through her eyes, the fact that she starts the show as a zombie, there’s already a disconnect with the audience. “Ravi’s the first human who discovers her secret and you kind of realise the extent of her zombiism through his eyes. I think the audience immediately connects with that.” Season three ended with Liv scratching Ravi as part of his ongoing efforts to find a cure. “With the cliffhanger, I’m
still protecting that for viewers for when they finally get to see the premiere. There’s a scenario that a lot of people hadn’t thought could happen and it’s the road we take and I was very happy with the decision that Rob and everyone made. “I was protective of [Ravi’s] human status because of that relationship with the audience,” he says. “Clive and Ravi, in my opinion, should always remain human, because you need that.” The other big developed in season three was the zombie virus being made public, which Kohli says will make for a refreshing change of pace moving forward. “A lot of shows, when they reach that middle ground or middle period, in an effort to keep things moving need to change things to point where it’s no longer recognisable as the show you fell in love with in the first place,” he tells. “iZombie still keeps its DNA. If you look at the [season four] trailer, it looks like nothing’s really changed, but it really has; the world has changed, the rules have changed.” The rules have definitely changed for Ravi, with the aforementioned trailer teasing a nude scene for Kohli. “That put a damper on things,” he laughs. “When we got picked up for season four, I was partying in LA and having a good time and spending my season money. “I got a phone call from my producer going, ‘Yo, in episode one, you’re nude. And not just topless, the full Monty.’ And they told me that in June, which ruined my summer. I think I was eating a burger when I got the phone call and I remember sliding it away half eaten.”
“The rules have changed.”
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TV
iZombie airs from 27 Feb on Stan.
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INFO@DRAWCARDSYDNEY.COM.AU DRAWCARD 13-15 BUCKLEY STREET MARRICKVILLE NSW 2204 PH: 02 9519 2002 THE MUSIC
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MARCH
“There are no rules” Catching up with Bryget Chrisfield at The Workers Club, where Vance Joy played his first-ever gig with a band, James Keogh says he’s now come to the realisation that he can reference his own life through song, just like Taylor Swift does.
To read the full story head to theMusic.com.au
I
nside The Workers Club front bar there’s some spontaneous renovations going on, but Vance Joy (actual name: James Keogh) is his usual relaxed, easygoing self as he pulls up a stool on the other side of a bench table. He’s dressed simply in a charcoal T-shirt and is actually so good looking that it’s easy to lose your train of thought while staring at his face. While discussing the writing and recording of his second album, Nation Of Two, we reflect back on old-school artists who would hire recording studios for the songwriting portion of the process as well. “I’ve been in one situation where it was similar to that, in a sense,” Keogh recalls. “So maybe it does bring out the best in you because of that pressure. But I remember putting down the song Mess Is Mine from [debut album] Dream My Life Away, I went in there and I had, like, a one-minute voice memo that I’d given to the producer... and he’s gone, ‘Cool, it feels really good, and surely there’s some awesome chorus that’s gonna be attached to it and it’s gonna be huge.’ And then I was like, ‘Yeah, I think so, but I don’t have that chorus.’ And then I went to the studio in Seattle with that idea, and a couple of other ideas, but I was like, ‘Ok, well, these are the things that we have to work with, first day in the studio, we need to put something down,’ and so I had a coupla things that connected it, and we made the song out of it! And maybe it gave me a taste of what it might’ve been like for those older bands back in the day when they were [writing] in the studio... I remember leaving with that song... and then I remember being like, ‘Oh, I dunno.’ I wasn’t sure at all!” Released in July, 2014, Mess Is Mine peaked at number 37 on the ARIA Singles
Chart, features in the FIFA 15 soundtrack, the American TV show Hart Of Dixie, Netflix original series 13 Reasons Why and the trailer for the 2017 film The Big Sick. So it’s fair to say this song really connected with people. “Yeah, but, like, more than I would ever have expected,” Keogh marvels. But going back to how Keogh approached Nation Of Two, he ponders, “I guess in this album it was very much, like, just chipping away and [the songs would] just come in one by one. And then the last coupla songs I think I wrote over the last year on tour.” So Keogh can quite successfully write songs while on tour? “I do alright,” he hesitates. He spent most of 2015 touring as support act for Taylor Swift’s 1989 tour throughout the US, some parts of Europe and also here in Australia. Keogh didn’t watch Swift’s show every night, did he? “No, no, I mean I watched it quite a few times,” he laughs. “But, um, yeah! You had a lot of down time and you sit in the back of the bus and you kinda think you’ve got some ideas, and you get a lot of, like, riffs and little pieces of songs that you think might be something, like, ‘Th is is definitely something, that feels really good,’ or, ‘That feels like some awesome chorus or something,’ and it’s funny how those songs — they get transformed; either you just start it, or you sing it to someone, and they’re like, ‘Oh, that’s ok,’ and you’re like, ‘Oh, wow! I was really expecting that to blow someone’s head off!’ And it doesn’t.” But if there was a winning formula for writing songs, then everyone would always write hits, right? “Yeah, totally,” Keogh agrees. “It’s mysterious and like, yeah! Sometimes the lyrics you think are the cheesiest or
the songs you’re, like, the most shy about are the ones that people like.” In our review of Vance Joy’s show at Margaret Court Arena in April, 2016, we dubbed Keogh “a younger, hotter Paul Kelly”. How does he like that? “Oh, that’s awesome! Yeah, I do like that,” he smiles. On Kelly’s songs, Keogh extols, “They’re like, ‘Oh, wow, direct line to the heart!’” We point out there are actually similarities in Keogh’s songwriting since his songs are often vignettes or snapshots of a period of time spent with a special someone that turned into memories he holds dear. Keogh looks chuffed. When told this scribe’s favourite song on his new album, at the moment, is Little Boy, Keogh graciously accepts the compliment (“Oh, thank you”) before sharing, “It’s probably the most autobiographical story I’ve ever had, like, the first verse is just about me falling off my bike. I probably would’ve been maybe eight or nine, but I fell off my bike and I chipped my front tooth and I kinda knocked myself out momentarily, and a lady came and picked me up... but, yeah! Then I went to the hospital, just to make sure I wasn’t concussed or whatever. But I got a week off school! “It’s funny that I had never written a song [before] that had so many details, or personal details, so it was nice to be able to... If you listen to a big pop artist like Taylor Swift or something, you’re like, ‘Oh, I feel like they’re referencing their life!’ And I’d never done that before and, yeah! I can see how it can work.”
Nation Of Two (Liberation Records) is out now. Vance Joy tours from 14 Sep.
“Sometimes the lyrics you think are the cheesiest or the songs you’re, like, the most shy about are the ones that people like.”
Check The Guide on theMusic.com.au for more details.
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Australia’s #1 music news site *Nielson audit October 2017
THE MUSIC
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“I
Calmly go fuck yourself Abbe May reveals the driving necessity behind her increased visibility as a gay woman and shares with Christopher H James how her music has become deceptively battle-ready on her “most dangerous album” to date.
All for one and one is all
think this is the most dangerous record I’ve ever made,” Abbe May states without a moment’s hesitation. It might seem like a counterintuitive opinion to some, since May has abandoned rock in favour of a pop and R&B on her new album Fruit. But in this slinky, sometimes seductive format, May has found deadly new ways to convey her message. “It’s easy to hide behind distortion and swear words,” she says evenly. “But when you’re actually sitting there calmly, openly saying, ‘Go fuck yourself,’ I think it’s a lot more powerful. I’m calmer than I’ve ever been, but I’m certainly not less dangerous, I’d say. I’m pretty prepared to bloody go into battle. I’m just a lot more calm when I do it.” Providing a safe space in which people find acceptance is vital to May, as she recollects how the support of her family gave her the strength to be the woman she is. “What I was fortunate with was that I was loved,” she shares. “I had two parents and siblings, and grandparents and aunties and uncles who loved me, and I was fortunate enough to have a family that accepted me. And I was a very unusual child. I was not particularly girly, easily mistaken for a boy. And I was always loved within the family unit. So I have that whenever I needed to draw on any strength, I had that understanding, that feeling that I was being loved. That combated that external force, that external pressure that I’m talking about, which is the hetero-norm that is presented in media, in films, in television, in literature. I couldn’t see myself represented anywhere. Even as a young child, I knew that I wasn’t fitting into this mould of, you know; you grow up, you get a husband, buy a house and have children. I knew that I wasn’t quite fitting into the mould. You would see the conditioning through all of those mediums, and at the time that was quite strong. But luckily for me, I was loved — that’s all I can put it down to. I had incredible parents and incredible family. We loved each other and accepted each other. I think that really set me up to go through life with a strength.” During recent political events, the postal survey and the homophobic sludge it dredged up, May was very aware others weren’t so fortunate, and this experience has inspired her to become more public as a gay woman. “I never denied my sexuality, but I wasn’t particularly explicit,” she says. “And then seeing the effects of the postal survey last
“W
e didn’t know how it would turn out until we put that first song online,” says ‘Harry’, one
of the members of the eight-person collective Superorganism. The song he’s talking about is Something For Your MIND, which debuted online in January 2017, released minus any bio
Superorganism came together across nations and chat rooms to become one interconnected structure. Guitarist
or background. It quickly picked up steam — blogged about everywhere, Frank Ocean and Ezra Koenig spinning it on their radio shows — and, in the absence of any information (“we needed time to be able to come to terms
‘Harry’, aka Chris Young, tells Anthony
with what the project was in our own minds
Carew that that interconnectivity
viduals”), theories abounded as to who was
is the thread running through their debut album.
before we publicised who we were as indibehind its wonky, sample-strewn pop. “We saw loads of people speculating on who it could be, which we found really entertaining and really flattering,” Harry says. “There were all sorts of theories on what prominent musicians it could be. It was like, ‘Well, if you think it’s possible we’re Damon Albarn in disguise, we’ll take that as a massive compliment.’” As Superorganism released more singles — It’s All Good, Nobody Cares, Everybody Wants To Be Famous — they were billed only as “a 17-year-old Japanese girl named Orono
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year on the rights of gay people to marry, that affected my friends who have less family support than I do and feeling the effects myself, as a supporter, actually — I’d say surprisingly, but actually unsurprisingly — it was an unrelenting attack on our value as humans. And it did hurt me, it hurt my mental health, it hurt me emotionally and I’m a really supported member of the community. And it made me worry about people who aren’t so supported. We already have a really high level of self-harm and suicide in LGBTQIA community, and I started to feel like, ‘Well, what’s the point of having a platform unless I use it for a purpose?’. So I recorded three spoken-word parts for the end of the record during the postal survey while watching my friends tear themselves apart over this. It really was a brutal situation and so I thought the best I can do is identify myself, be visible and really turn this collection of songs into a personal exploration of my identity and trip through life as a gay woman.” But did she feel the result of the vote vindicated the process? “No, I don’t think it justified what they unleashed on my community. I think that it was absolutely horrific. I think it actually justified our objections to the whole thing. I don’t know why they decided it was a great idea to allow the public to vote on our rights as humans. Th is is not generally what happens in a democracy, in a democracy that is supposedly interested in the basic rights of humans. They, the Turnbull government, allowed an untethered attack on the gay community through the ‘No’ campaign that was spreading really horrific untruths. They were splitting families apart. I know people who aren’t speaking to their family anymore, because they were explicitly promoting the ‘No’ campaign when their daughter is a gay woman. It was just horrific to watch. It was pure, divisional politics. When the ‘Yes’ came through, it was bittersweet. Of course it was a fucking yes, y’know? But that’s how most of us felt, I think. Of course it was a yes. I was a bit like, ‘Why did you spend millions on that?’ It just seemed like a load of bullshit to me. It was like, ‘What am I missing here?’ I really think Turnbull was a bit of a cunt about that, frankly. “People forget that outside of the mainstream, an audience wants you to stand for something,” she continues, expressing something like a raison d’etre. “They want to know who you are and what you’re about. You will lose people, but I think that there’s not a lot of point having a platform unless you actually fucking do something positive with it.”
Fruit (Ind) is out now. Abbe May is currently on tour.
Calm versus the storm Lowtide like to leave things open to interpretation. Bassist and vocalist Lucy Buckeridge tells Sam Wall about exploring a quiet versus loud dynamic as well as vastness on their second album.
L
owtide’s music is often described in terms of movement and action, as much as sound. It drives and shifts, glistens or broods, swirls and drifts. Their dense walls of sound conjure powerful-but-often indefinable emotions (although “melancholy” pops up a lot) and the transla-
tions they attract reflect of their blend of almost-physical texture and engrossing ambiguity. It’s a feeling they manage to communicate before you even play their second album, Southern Mind, with its striking diagonal clash of clear green water and filthy brown sea foam on the cover. “I had someone ask me today if it’s wool, or an oil spill — all these different types of things,” says vocalist and bassist Lucy Buckeridge, “which we kind of like. And I think it works with the music that we make, which can be ambiguous and the lyrics aren’t always out the front. “I really like the calm next to the sort of explosive foam and the way they sit next to each other, and I think that’s really indicative of the music that we make. We’ve always been really interested in a quiet versus loud dynamic, and exploring that, and I think that’s pretty evident in a lot of the songs that we make.” On Southern Mind, they also explore ideas of change, and space and direction, although Buckeridge says that it was only once the album was well underway that any loose motifs began to emerge. “I mean for me Southern Mind, the lead track, when I was writing the lyrics for that it was about a lot of different things. It was thinking a lot about where we live geographically; the landscape, the vastness. Also, some of the things that are happening here, what was happening overseas. Distances, but also how close things are. “It’s nothing that we were doing intentionally, it sort of was more in retrospect looking back at all the things that we’d written and what was interesting to us when writing it all seemed to have a particular connection, if that makes sense. It’s hard to talk about sometimes when things are just not specific, because it’s just a feeling and it’s just something that you’re not so conscious of either when you’re writing.” Despite the oblique concepts that arose from Southern Mind, Buckeridge found the writing and recording process was more direct than ever, sharing that “writing music
together has become a really natural thing” over Lowtide’s ten years together as a band. “I felt like it was a lot quicker to identify the ideas that we all liked and wanted to work on, and [we] just sort of followed those paths wherever they would take us.” Sonically, Buckeridge says, the biggest difference on Southern Mind was co-vocalist Giles Simon’s shift to a custom Fender 6, the band employing dual basslines from Buckeridge and Simon on previous releases. With the switch to guitar, Simon’s compositions moved into a space between Gabe Lewis’ guitar and Buckeridge’s bass, rather than opposing it, opening “a whole new sphere” to explore melody in. “It was really exciting, ‘cause we all of a sudden felt like we had a lot more scope to explore than we did previously. But, it wasn’t really a conscious decision that we made either, [Simon] just decided to get the guitar made and then it sort of fit in perfectly with the way that Lowtide works, especially with Gabe’s guitar... So, especially in the live setting, being able to have another melody line ringing out really strongly as well just — it was really great.” Shortly after completing the album, Lowtide quietly announced Simon’s departure, with The Zebras’ Jeremy Cole filling in on vocals, bass and Fender 6 on their Euro/UK single tour. “Jez is kind of like Wonder Man,” laughs Buckeridge, “you can ask him to do anything and he can deliver.” In the past, the pair’s shared lyricism and harmonies have been a sort of trademark, along with their overlapping bass. However, the band have always maintained the conjoined role was a natural development and, as they’ve already moved away from that last aspect, we wonder if Simon’s departure will create another creative shift or whether someone like Cole will continue to stand-in. “We are performing all the songs the way that we would,” says Buckeridge, “so [Cole] sings all the same parts. And when it comes to writing again, that’s something that we’ll look at. “I’m sure we would work with the same kind of idea. On this record, Giles and I wrote a lot more separately,” says Buckeridge. “We would sort of allocate songs where someone would take the lead, and then the other one would come in and flesh out the bits together at the end, but it was a lot more sort of singular a lot of the time. But there are definitely some songs on the album too where it was a full vocal collaboration from start to finish... I think we just haven’t hit that point yet. But it feels like it would be a natural way to approach it moving forward.”
Lowtide tour from 16 Mar.
who lives in Maine and 7 other people who
mer. She’d discovered the band online — a
thing that wouldn’t be about any individual
live in London”; which was, unbelievably,
YouTube algorithm had taken her from Prin-
but about the pooling of creative minds.”
true. Their teenage singer, Orono Noguchi,
cess Chelsea’s much-clicked The Cigarette
At first, Superorganism recorded and
was indeed attending boarding school in
Duet to a video by The Eversons — and, after
released songs one-by-one, but when early
America. And, with the release of their self-
the show, she befriended them.
attention begot a frenzy of label interest,
That Superorganism’s formative-origin
eventually signing with indie-powerhouse
story involves the internet is telling, because
Domino, they gathered their tunes for a
Although a press release (and much
it became both the way the collective came
proper debut. Young calls the resulting LP an
press) forwards the myth, it only takes some
together and the subject of many of their
“accidental concept record”, the songs that
cursory internet sleuthing to discover the
songs. The Eversons had moved to London
sprouted in their “creatively fertile” formative
particulars. ‘Harry’, it turns out, is Chris Young,
in that familiar attempt to make it, but found
days all suggesting a singular theme.
an English-born, New Zealand-raised 27 year
their career stalling, the quartet retreating
“Now, with hindsight, I can hear they’re
old. He played in a run of Kiwi combos in his
into online circles. Tired of the prism of the
all about interconnectivity,” Young offers,
salad days — Neil Robinson, The Insurgents
rock band, all four members of The Eversons
“whether that’s between us as a group explor-
— before, finally, joining The Eversons. That
threw themselves into a new idea. “You end
ing our own identity, or the fact that the
quartet spent years turning out oft-ridiculous
up creating these little communities with
internet brought us together, or all our own
jams for Lil’ Chief Records (the label run by
your friends, even if they largely exist online,”
ideas about the internet that run through the
Jonathan Bree of The Brunettes), impishly
Young explains. “We wanted to turn that into
songs, or even the way humans interact with
hopping through genres.
a recording project.”
nature. Interconnectivity is the thread that
titled album now nigh, the other members of Superorganism are coming to light.
In 2015, before the release of their second
With Noguchi in America and the still-
and final LP, 2016’s Stuck In New Zealand,
mysterious Korean member ‘Seoul’ living in
The Eversons ended up on a “totally random
Sydney, they “never considered that [they’d]
tour of Japan” after a local indie promoter dis-
ever play live”, a liberating prospect for the
covered their music online. “We were like, ‘If
former members of The Eversons. “We could
you set up the shows, we’ll come!’, not really
make things as weird and experimental as
believing it was going to happen,” Young
we wanted,” says Young. “Because we were
recounts. In the crowd at a Tokyo show was
including all these different people living in
Superorganism (Domino) is out
Noguchi, who was back in Japan for the sum-
different cities, we wanted to make some-
this month
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runs through all the songs.”
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Check The Guide on theMusic.com.au for more details.
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THE BIG PICTURE
Byron Spencer The Sydney-based fashion and travel photographer and multi-media artist is one of the country’s most versatile snappers. Whether he’s shooting for A-list fashion editorials or in grungy laneways, he’s chasing a story wherever he finds it.
There’s a huge amount of variety in your photography, from beautifully evocative landscapes to high fashion editorials. What connects these different styles? I get really inspired by the idea of fantasy and creating implied worlds in my pictures. I guess that comes from my background studying theatre. I love shots that can tell a story, but it definitely depends on the shoot. Fashion is where I try to be more narrative and elaborate to create that kind of element of fantasy and play. In the documentary stuff, which is some of my favourite work, I like to try and keep it true to what it is, but stylise it slightly more through the actual craft of the photography. I’ve always been influenced a lot by colour and changing light, but occasionally, if I choose to shoot black and white, it’s usually a bit more of a graphic style, with sharp contrast and a lot of dynamic movement. Some of the concepts you shoot are incredibly inventive and intricate. Do you plan out the concepts in advance or find inspiration as you shoot? Depends on what I’m doing. I change my mind all the time about how I like to work – I feel like I go through waves of what inspires me and how I want to challenge myself. When I’m planning fashion things, again, depending on what the overall kind of concept is, I often try to understand what the narrative behind it could be: is the model a girl or boy? Who are they? What makes them tick? Even if that doesn’t necessarily come out in the shot in an explicit way, I like to kind of have an idea at least in the back of my brain of who the subject is, so we can try and create something that is authentic and true to both of us.
Kyle by Byron Spencer
You’re also a multi-media artist, which is a practice you’ve been developing over the past few years, fusing video and music with your photography. How has that part of your creative identity developed? I think I always knew that I was going to push into more multimedia stuff, and digitals and music as well. The music is the final component that I’ve recently introduced. But I felt I needed to win over everyone’s faith in my photography before I could start doing that, because I feel like it really takes a lot of development to build your body of work and refine it. But I think working in a richer range of media really resonates with the kind of vibe I want to project. I hope it’s happy, playful, uplifting, because the fashion photography industry can be fickle and kind of cold. I want people who see my work to feel warm.
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Discover more of Byron Spencer’s work at spencernotspencer.com
A chip standing on the shoulders of giants “The world is teetering on the abyss,” guitar maestro Tom Morello of allstar hard rock/hip hop collective Prophets Of Rage says. He talks to Brendan Crabb about not being relegated to nostalgia-act status, the #MeToo campaign and Chris Cornell.
“Dangerous times demand dangerous songs; that’s why we formed this band, and that’s why we made this record.”
Check The Guide on theMusic.com.au for more details.
“A
nother successful musician instantly becomes a political expert.” That was the criticism recently levelled at Rage Against The Machine, Audioslave and currently Prophets Of Rage member Tom Morello by one clearly uninformed punter via Instagram. Among Morello’s alleged infractions was a guitar emblazoned with ‘Fuck Trump’. The guitar player, who also performs solo as The Nightwatchman, had a zinger of a response. “One does not have to be an honors grad in political science from Harvard University to recognise the unethical and inhuman nature of this administration but well, I happen to be an honors grad in political science from Harvard University, so I can confirm that for you [sic],” he wrote. Given Morello’s fiercely leftist values and high-profile activism amid these socially and politically volatile times, how does he feel about social media leaving him more accessible to vitriol from detractors? “I mean, that’s nothing new,” he says from his home in Los Angeles. “People have been vehemently disagreeing with my politics and my band’s politics for a quarter of a century. And to that, I have to say, if you’re making music and you have positions that everybody can agree on, you’re probably making pretty shitty music and you probably have pretty shitty positions.” There’s certainly no fence-sitting from Prophets Of Rage, either. The group of like-minded personnel is comprised of the rhythm section from Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave (Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk), Public Enemy’s Chuck D and DJ Lord as well as Cypress Hill’s B-Real. If the response to initial shows was any indicator, the sextet could have focused on earning a lucrative living knocking out predominantly coversoriented sets. However, this amalgam of heavy rock and hip hop royalty had a Trump administration, racism, homelessness, surveillance and more to dissect on their recent self-titled debut LP. The guitarist politely interjects when it’s suggested that some star-studded projects could be content with “nostalgia act” status. “Th is band formed because of the politics of now. And some of the songs of Rage... and Public Enemy speak to 2017, 2018 much more explicitly than when they were written, like during the Bill Clinton era. “We put this band together because of the political emergency of these times. Then when we got in the studio, we were like, ‘Well, now it’s time for this band to address — musically and politically — what’s going on.’ There’s a duality to the band. On the one hand, we have the gravitas of our histories and, on the other hand, we’re a brand new band with a chip on our shoulders. And we go out there every night to destroy the crowd. We don’t think anybody should take it for granted that this is a great band. You come to the show and we will kick your fucking ass. “We’ve been the standard-bearers of radical, of revolutionary rock for a long time,” Morello says of some American musicians’ claim that, when they tour overseas, people they encounter are embarrassed for them. “So when we come to town, people know where our convictions lie,” he laughs.
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“And I think that they’re pleased and relieved, especially outside the United States, to have artists that are going to view the world in a more internationalist way. I mean, dangerous times demand dangerous songs; that’s why we formed this band, and that’s why we made this record.” Pundits have suggested that — much like the divisive Reagan era fuelled plenty of truly scathing punk, hardcore and hip hop — the current administration could also motivate a new generation of disaffected youth to pick up a guitar or microphone and rail against injustice and inequality. “It’s not specifically important to me that musicians speak out about the times. It’s important to me that people speak out about the times regardless of their vocation whether they’re a rock-music journalist, carpenters or students. If you have convictions and feelings about injustices perpetrated around the globe, then it’s time for you to stand up. If you happen to be in a band or happen to be an MC, great! Do it in your music. But we’re not waiting around for anybody else.” In that vein, Morello praises the #MeToo social media campaign and the many women who have shared their personal stories of sexual assault and harassment. “I think it’s long overdue. And I think that one of the givens in any work relationship where there’s relationships of power, that sort of culture of sexual harassment, certainly in the United States, is very prevalent. And it’s not just with movie studio heads and congressmen, it’s at every McDonald’s. And the fact that women have been brave enough to step forward... I think it’s all frankly a result of the Trump era, and the way that it has kind of poked the hornet’s nest and made people go... The world is teetering on the abyss — environmentally, culturally, politically — and that world is not going to change itself. It’s up to us to do that and I think that the #MeToo movement, if you want to call it that, is a reflection of that.” On a more personal note, recent Prophets Of Rage shows have featured the band paying instrumental tribute to singer Chris Cornell — Morello, Wilk and Commerford’s late Audioslave bandmate. The guitarist shares some cherished memories of the frontman. “One was when we played Madison Square Garden together, a sold-out Madison Square Garden — that was pretty exciting. But I’d say my favourite memory was when we reunited in January 2017 for the Anti-Inaugural Ball. Audioslave hadn’t played together in 12 years, and Chris came out and we did a little three-song Audioslave set in the middle of a Prophets Of Rage set. It was just awesome. He was shining and the awesome rock god that Chris Cornell is. He sang beautifully and ferociously, had a great hang backstage, and that’s the last time I saw him. So I’m glad to have that memory.”
Prophets Of Rage tour from 22 Mar.
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Just a boat ride away
Alive and kicking
Cross-cultural supergroup Havana Meets Kingston are returning to Australia. Band members Randy Valentine and Brenda Navarrete discuss singing across borders with Cyclone.
After a killer debut, punk band Bleeding Knees Club nearly ended as quickly as they began. Frontman and founder Alex Wall tells Carley Hall it’s nice to be back “doing it properly” again.
I
n 2017, the Australian reggae producer Jake “Mista” Savona facilitated a bold project, Havana Meets Kingston: the first full-scale collaboration between musicians from the Caribbean islands of Cuba and Jamaica. Now, following October’s Havana Meets Kingston Sound System tour with charismatic vocalists Randy Valentine (aka Ronald Junior Fritz) and Solis, Savona is touring an all-star Havana Meets Kingston band around Australia. The British-Jamaican Fritz, who leads on the single Carnival, will join Solis, Brenda Navarrete, the influential Sly & Robbie, players from the fabled Buena Vista Social Club and others. Cuba’s buzz Navarrete, who studied percussion (and piano) at the Amadeo Roldan Conservatory, will sing and play her beloved Yoruba bata drum. “It’ll be a little bit of my world,” she says, via translator from bustling Havana. “I’ll be bringing some of my songs and my percussion. It’s gonna be like a seductive performance and it’s gonna be a great collaboration.” Fritz met Savona, circa 2014, at the One Love Festival “somewhere in an open field in the UK”, he says from his English base. Savona asked the rising star to accompany his eponymous band on an Australian run. They stayed in contact. Savona predominantly recorded Havana Meets Kingston over ten days in 2015 at Havana’s EGREM studios with musicians legendary and emerging alike. He flew in the Jamaican contingent, including Sly & Robbie (alas, Fritz cut his vocals back at London’s JOAT Music Studio). Their mission? To hybridise Jamaica’s sound system culture with Cuban folk and jazz styles, while tracking original and traditional songs. It was in Havana where Savona canvassed Navarrete. She admits that “it was a great surprise” to discover that he was Australian. “They asked me if I could do some recording, some parts. I agreed and said, ‘Yeah, I can do it.’ Then they asked me, ‘Can you rap?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I can rap.’” Navarrete features on the dancehall Heart Of A Lion. The music scenes of Jamaica and Cuba are remarkably distinct despite their proximity and a common origin in the African diaspora. Fritz — who spent his formative years in Jamaica before migrating to the UK — had scant exposure to Cuba’s music because of the Communist country’s political isolation. “Growing up as a child in Jamaica, my only insight into Cuban culture came from the limited view I would get from movies and the small percentage shared
W
hen Alex Wall answers our call there’s no hint of the tonsillitis
Randy Valentine
Brenda Navarrete
that has apparently plagued the
singer’s two weeks spent recording the new
about Fidel Castro in the news. It was also a part of the language spoken in the unwritten survivors’ guide on the island. Knowing that Cuba was just a boat ride away was always good information to have.” In later years, reggaeton has become popular among Cuba’s youth — even as its decadence irks authorities — and Navarrete is familiar with the related dancehall. “For Cuba, sometimes it’s a little bit complicated because of information coming to us a little bit belatedly, but... I do enjoy this type of music,” she explains. “I’m a follower of music in general, of different styles. We actually know dancehall — we mix it with our own traditions and our own rhythms. But the older generation — the ones who are in their 40s and 50s — may not know it.” Both Fritz and Navarrete have expanding profiles as solo acts. Fritz launched a career as a DJ in 2005, only to segue into becoming a vocalist. He has worked with Major Lazer and, incredibly, cameoed on Wu-Tang Clan’s mythic single-copy album Once Upon A Time In Shaolin after being approached to be “a Jamaican representative for this Top Secret Million Dollar Project”. He teases, “It was so covert that I couldn’t tell you myself what my own track sounded like.” Last year he dropped New Narrative, his second album. Meanwhile, Navarrete has performed with the Latin American ensemble Interactivo. Th is January, she presented her solo debut, Mi Mundo, via Alma Records, about which she notes. “It’s been a dream of mine for a long time.” The two artists emphasise the significance of Havana Meets Kingston as crossexchange. Muses Fritz, “I think, before land masses were to be labelled like pets, we were all here and able to make a habitat from our surroundings. Whatever practices brought man forward to will himself dominion or governance over another rippled off into countries and nations being formed. As beautiful as this is, I still notice the division that came from the lines that were drawn. Music being the spiritual experience that it is, sometimes, if not always, manages to bridge that gap between a people.”
Bleeding Knees Club album. He’s quietly spoken, which is a mild surprise considering the ‘brat punk’ tag the then-two-piece were once branded with. Wall also doesn’t embellish, nor does he shy away from acknowledging past naivete, but it’s obvious he’s more than excited to be back in the studio after a hiatus from the band he started eight years ago.
Havana Meets Kingston tour from 8 Mar.
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“I think we’ve just got, like, a few guitar bits to go and then it’s off to get mixed,” Wall says. “I’ve had tonsillitis pretty much the whole time — which sucks — but it didn’t affect my voice. It’s definitely been the longest [time] I’ve spent on any music stuff. Like, it took me a year to write the songs. Usually I write them all in a month or two. “I think because it is our first album back I just wanted to put everything I could into it; picking only the good ones that I write and not even thinking about the ones that I have questions about. It’s been a really slow writing process, but I’m really happy with the songs we’ve got. And this recording we spent two weeks on; our last album we only spent five days on it.” Bleeding Knees Club burst onto a hungry Gold Coast music scene in 2010 with hooky surf and pop-punk tunes Bad Guys and Teenage Girls before taking their chaotic house-party shows around the country and picking up a record deal. Work on their first album Nothing To Do saw them ushered them off to New York and into the hands of
Positive on purpose
Dev Hynes, aka Lightspeed Champion, aka Blood Orange. But as soon as their flame burned bright it seemed to be snuffed out again. Wall isn’t one to play the blame game, but the cynical part of him admits it was an inevitable implosion caused by clashes with the label. “Especially when it came around to wanting to do another album,” he says. “It was just becoming such a hassle to try and do anything new. From the label point of view to people helping — everything just kept getting stuck at the point where we couldn’t do our own thing. I like writing songs and I write songs all the time, and it was so hard to sit on it for two years and not be able to record, so I just had to get away and go and do my own
Emma Fradd of Adelaide’s joyously buoyant dance/pop trio Heaps Good Friends couldn’t be more excited about her band’s upcoming national tour. She tells Joel Lohman about hugs from strangers and the need for positivity in everyday life.
thing and release everything I wanted. “We had never been in a band before so someone would say, ‘Go and do an album,’ and we’d be like, ‘Well, we have to do it the way they want it.’ We just didn’t know. But now it’s nice to be back and doing it properly again.” Time away in the US certainly did yield some fruitful releases for young Wall; his solo project Wax Witches blending genres and scratching the creative itch to strike out on his own and see what came of it. After a few years away and with original Bleeding Knees Club member Jordan Malane handing in his resignation, Wall’s soft spot for his first band saw him return to our shores to pick up three new band members and write a new album, this time in Sydney’s Parliament Studios with Lachlan Mitchell (The Whitlams, The Jezabels, The Vines) with hopes of a release later this year. Rather than wipe the slate clean with a new band name, he insists the spirit of Bleeding Knees Club remains the same even though the members may have changed. “It’s the most fun I’ve ever had being in the band,” Wall says. “I feel like we’re in a really nice position, because a lot of people that were into us when we were a buzzy band have grown up and probably aren’t into us anymore. We had fans back then and people were waiting for an album so there was a bit more pressure, but now I don’t think anyone is waiting for a Bleeding Knees album.”
Bleeding Knees Club tour from 28 Mar.
Check The Guide on theMusic.com.au for more details.
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“W
e’ve only technically been on one tour prior to this,” says Emma Fradd, “and we had a blast. We were a bit spoiled, we were playing much bigger venues. But we’re really excited to have this tour that’s our own. We really love the opening bands that we get to play with. It’ll be a nice little test, because we’ve never headlined; we’ve always been supporting or in the middle of the afternoon on a festival bill or something. I think it’ll be a proud moment for us, it will feel quite special. I kind of like that they’re smaller, more intimate shows. You can get to know people more.” Fradd says that last point is particularly important to Heaps Good Friends. “We kind of make it a thing that we don’t just go to a town to play a show, we want to get in with the crowd and meet the people and get to know them. We don’t just want money or support for our band; we want to build relationships with everyone that we meet and spread the love, I guess. I don’t know if that sounds cheesy or vague. We didn’t even talk about it, really. But, particularly for Nick [O’Connor, bass/vocals] and Dan [Steinert, drums], it’s just who they are; they’re just big bundles of fun.” Fradd knows that not everyone is that way, because it’s not exactly her natural tendency, either. One of her favourite things about being in Heaps Good Friends is their emphasis on spreading fun and joy. “I’m a really deep thinker and I overanalyse things,” she says, “and if I don’t take the time and be intentional about positivity, and things like that, I can just go days without thinking about it. So it’s really great being around the boys, because it comes so natural to them. But I know that there’s a lot of people out there that it doesn’t come so naturally to. And we love love, and want to share that.” It has felt especially important lately to celebrate things like friendship and positivity, Fradd says. Although, as she points out, there’s never a bad time for such things. “I would say at all stages it’s good to share love,” she says, “even if you’re not really feeling it. Just to choose it — choosing to love — and be intentional about those good vibes.” This mission informs every decision the band makes, including naming both their first headlining tour and upcoming EP, Hug Me. Fradd says the title wasn’t necessarily intended as an instruction, but she’s quite happy for fans to take it literally. “Whenever we’re meeting people or anything we always like to have a little hug. Hugs are nice! Who doesn’t love a good hug? Everyone has different love languages, I guess. Not everyone likes physical touch, but something gets released in your brain, you know? For us, we’ve found that it’s really cool and a real positive statement.” Hugging has been made more difficult for the band itself lately, since Fradd relocated to Brisbane while O’Connor and Steinert still live in Adelaide. But she reckons, aside from the obvious logistical difficulties, living in different cities also has its perks for a band. “It’s really cool,” she says. “Obviously we don’t get to be together as much as we’d like, but it means that if we’re in the same place for a weekend, all of our time is really intentionally put towards rehearsing. We say, ‘Okay, we have two days, let’s work on these two songs and add them to the setlist and be really focused about this.’ So it’s fun, it’s like a power weekend. Same with songwriting: ‘We’ve got a day, let’s try and finish this song. Let’s get our heads in the game.’ And it’s really fun to push yourself in that way. If I lived in Adelaide, perhaps we’d dick around a bit more [laughs].”
Heaps Good Friends tour from 23 Mar.
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We went to a festival in a 17thcentury Indian palace
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India’s Magnetic Fields Festival is about the journey AND the destination, writes Kris Swales. Seeing legends drop jungle bangers in a desert on a crisp Monday morning is an unexpected bonus.
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ometimes, assessing the relative merits of a festival is as easy as deducing how difficult it is to get there. There’s the peak-hour crawl out of Brisbane or Sydney that’ll eventually land you in the rolling green hills outside of Byron Bay for Splendour In The Grass; the wind farm-lined highway several hours out of LA that signals your imminent arrival at Indio’s Empire Polo Club for Coachella, or the even more epic journey to Nevada’s Black Rock Desert for Burning Man. And then there’s the 250-kilometre odyssey from Delhi to remote Alsisar, a seemingly insignificant speck on the Rajasthan map for 51 weeks of the year, which gets its chance in the spotlight for Magnetic Fields Festival’s annual three-day takeover. After seven hours of highways, flyways and byways, dodging goats and high beam-flashing trucks on haze-heavy roads that at times resemble an abandoned construction site on the moon, the faint glimmer of a spotlight reaching into the sky from the Alsisar Mahal is like discovering a desert oasis. A short navigation through some humble cement domiciles and you’ve suddenly arrived, what feels like a ghost town giving way to the home of Magnetic Fields once you round one final corner. Pop-up food stalls haphazardly blend into each other on the stretch leading up to Alsisar Mahal, although you have to dodge unauthorised spruikers attempting to relieve your wallet of an exorbitant parking fee first. Th is somewhat chaotic ‘real India’ main street separates the walled festival grounds from the impressive desert camp that has sprung up beside it. Magnetic Fields passes the pivotal ‘vibe’ test before you’ve gotten close to darkening the door of the dancefloor, which you’ll share with Bollywood directors and A-list WAGs, South Indian film stars, clean-cut foreign backpackers and grizzled acid casualties, all mingling with India’s burgeoning young middle class. Delhi ensemble The Ska Vengers are closing the Bira 91 South stage on the lawn adjacent to the palace, the Friday night dancefloor still easing into proceedings. The vibe is laidback and friendly, and space is plentiful; if Magnetic Fields does continue to grow, you’d hope it’s in the breadth of entertainment on offer rather than the number of punters, which feels comfortably perfect somewhere in the low thousands. The musical program moves sequentially across the stages, so you’re never in a mid-set rush from one arena to the next. At Magnetic Fields, clashes essentially don’t exist. So as the Bira stage wraps up, the bass bins of the Red Bull Music Academy stage warm up with Bangalore, um, stalwart Stalvart John unleashing a selection of house and disco so funky that wrapping up with Lola’s Theme is the only logical conclusion. And the entire palace (save perhaps the ornately furnished formal dining room) is your playground, so you can enjoy his sounds from the middle of the courtyard, or any vantage point you fancy staking out on the top terrace if you’ve self-insulated from Alsisar’s brisk night air.
“... Millions of rupees worth of audio technology are no match for a passionate dude wielding four sticks.”
ay two breaks across the Bedouin tent site slowly. A thin layer of mist still lingers in the laneways at 10am; by the time you trudge past Desert Oasis stage for your second coffee an hour later, the sun has burnt the last layers away and blue skies signal the brief arrival of shorts weather. Five hours from midday, local selector Emote is on the decks beneath the camo net-draped dancefloor, moving haphazardly through esoteric electronica pumped through a sound system so finely tuned it could trigger tinnitus in a 20-kilometre radius. A handful of hardy souls bounce wistfully through the afternoon as Emote gives way to Berlin-based wonky tech slinger She’s Drunk, although most are gathered around the nearby picnic tables loading up on pizza, curry and mojitos. Clued-in punters have already staked out the best vantage points on the Alsisar Mahal terrace as the sun begins its slow descent over the campgrounds and behind a cluster of hillocks in the west. Mumbai producer Sandunes delivers one of the sets of the festival on Sundowner stage once darkness has fallen, her live performance more playful and propulsive than her impressive recorded output prepares you for. The highlights keep unfolding across Saturday and Sunday — Four Tet coaxing the sounds of New Energy and Beautiful Rewind out of his live battle station to an adoring crowd; the male-female combo who fronted The Ska Vengers sounding much more at home dishing out vintage dubplates to the Sunday Desert Oasis crowd in their BFR Sound System guise; the earnest, poignant hilarity of Thai funk meets Tarantino soundtrack via a Houston casino lounge bar of adorable Texan trio Khruangbin; Machinedrum getting hyperkinetic as fuck. But the real rockstars of Magnetic Fields perform to a crowd of just 30 atop Alsisar Mahal’s highest vantage point as the Saturday night chill begins to set in. Introduced by Abhimanyu Alsisar — the Raja of Khetri and patron saint of Magnetic Fields — from beneath a wide-brimmed hat that would make Pharrell Williams envious, the group of virtuosos has been drawn from across Rajasthan and neighbouring Gujarat into a supergroup of traditional Indian classical music. The frontman-elect wails ethereally from behind his harmonium, eliciting nervous singalongs from the assembled Gens X and Y for a Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan classic and roars of delight for the climactic song about India’s royal state, its title loosely translating to “this land she weeps”. One track earlier, the drummers’ demands to jam are finally met. The Raja’s ‘Man Friday’ is a constant presence on the dholak, content to play second fiddle to the consummate showman wielding the khartal — a Rajasthani percussive instrument that consists of two sets of two wood sheets roughly the size of a 15-centimetre school ruler, clattered rapidly together in each hand. Their call-and-response rings out across the rooftop as the throbbing RBMA speaker stacks soundcheck below, the khartal walla rising from his crouching position to gyrate more vigorously with each ensuing solo to an enraptured crowd, proving once and for all that millions of rupees worth of audio technology are no match for a passionate dude wielding four sticks.
Magnetic Fields Festival is held at Alsisar Mahal, Rajasthan (India) every December. Go to http://magneticfields.in/ for more details.
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Human after all Rag’n’Bone Man (Rory Graham to his nearest and dearest) hates “having lots and lots of pictures taken in a big media setting”, but loves “genius” Damon Albarn to bits, he tells Cyclone.
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he life of the British hip hop blues singer Rag’n’Bone Man (aka Rory Graham) changed forever when in mid-2016 he aired his gospel ballad Human. After years of grinding in the underground, and working by day as a carer for children with special needs, he became a pop star. Th is new level of success has necessitated significant adjustment, yet Graham is amiably chill. “Yeah, it’s another level,” he acknowledges. “It’s kinda the same, just much, much faster and everything is just a bit more crazy. I’m kind of used to it. I take everything in my stride. I’m pretty grounded. Nothing much fazes me, really. The only thing that really gets to me is things that I feel uncomfortable with. I think the more time you spend in the music industry, you realise you don’t have to do everything. I’ve become very good at saying ‘No’ and not in a diva-ish sense, but in a sense of I’m not 18 and I don’t have to adhere to peer pressure. If I feel totally uncomfortable doing something, I don’t have to do it. Th ings like having lots and lots of pictures taken in a big media setting makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable, so I just say, ‘No, I don’t wanna do any more’. Everything else is pretty cool. I love to perform, I live for it, so I feel very lucky. Actually, I don’t take anything for granted.” Indeed, Graham was even happy to don a Christmas jumper as a celebrity guest on The Last Leg alongside Mad Men actor Jon Hamm. Hailing from Uckfield, East Sussex, Graham came up in the Brighton scene. Initially a teen MC embracing hip hop and drum’n’bass, he started singing blues at the encouragement of his dad. Later, Graham linked with old schoolmate Mark Crew, then producing Bastille’s Bad Blood. Crew recruited him for his fledgling Best Laid Plans Records. Graham issued EPs like 2014’s Wolves, developing his urban-blues. He asked the emerging Long Beach, California MC Vince Staples to cut a verse over the internet for Hell Yeah. “It’s one of my favourite songs I’ve ever done,” Graham says. The Wolves title-track was synced as the theme to the cult TV show New Blood.
Following Human’s breakthrough, the new Sony signing won both 2017’s BRITs Critics’ Choice Award and British Breakthrough Act. In early 2017, Graham presented his debut album, also entitled Human. In the UK it struck #1 and is now multi-platinum, Graham proclaimed the male Adele. Astonishingly, amid the madness, he and his longtime girlfriend welcomed their first child, a son, Reuben, in September. And Graham has just celebrated his 33rd birthday. “We had a good time,” he chuckles. “We had a party, so it was a lot of fun.” Graham is progressing on a second album, which is reportedly more band-oriented. “I’m right in the middle of a big period of writing in my studio in South London,” he affirms. “I’m actually having the best time writing music at the moment. I’ve become really creative in my time off. I had a nice month off over December.” Between projects, Graham tracked vocals for Gorillaz’ Humanz - appearing on the deluxe edition’s The Apprentice with Ray BLK and Zebra Katz. As a Blur and Gorillaz super-fan, he was chuffed to hang with Damon Albarn. In Albarn’s studio, Graham found himself sitting at the same piano as the late Bobby Womack. “He’s a wonderful man, is Damon. He really is. He’s everything that I wanted him to be. He’s a bit nutty. He’s a proper rock’n’roll star, is Damon Albarn, but he’s a genius. It was really, really inspiring coming into his world and seeing the way he worked and the way he writes music and writes lyrics. He’s totally bonkers, but I love him to bits. He’s amazing.” Graham, who played 2017’s Splendour In The Grass, is returning for Bluesfest. “I’m bringing my full band set-up, ‘cause I wanted to. Th is probably means we’re not gonna make any money out of the Australian tour, but it’s more important that it sounds good! So I’ve got a full soul band set-up and I brought my brass players with me. It’s gonna be a huge sound, hopefully. I’m gonna play probably a fair amount of songs off the [Human] record, but I’m gonna play some new songs, too, and hopefully they’ll go down well.”
Patience is a virtue
Rag’n’Bone Man plays Bluesfest and sideshows from 27 Mar.
Time to come clean Alissa White-Gluz, frontwoman for melodic death metal titans Arch Enemy, talks to Brendan Crabb about clean vocals, the late Warrel Dane and her solo record.
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The powerful rock’n’roll favoured by emerging songsmith Benjamin Booker may be primitive and incendiary, but he tells Steve Bell how the best way to find inspiration is to chill out and let life do the heavy lifting.
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oung US singersongwriter Benjamin Booker turned a lot of heads when his eponymous debut album arrived back in 2014. It’s primal mixture of blues, punk and soul that sounds raw and vital, announcing the arrival of a fierce new talent. Fast-forward a few years and Booker - emboldened by experience on the road and honing his skill sets - played his second gambit Witness in mid-2017, the new collection far more polished and adding new elements such as soul and gospel into the mix. But while it’s a slightly more refined batch of songs, it’s still defiantly and recognisably emanating from the same artist, Booker explaining that his unique sound was origi-
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nally the result of a happy musical accident while studying journalism at college. “When I was first making stuff I was living in a small college town in Gainesville, Florida and there were a bunch of folk-punk bands coming out of there at the time, just bands mixing roots music and punk. And then I was also into Otis Redding and stuff, and I think it was just a clear line of, ‘What if you did those soul melodies and things placed over this music that you’re listening to now?’” he laughs. “I think one day I literally thought about that and the songs came not long after that, and it worked! It was really crazy.” The self-titled album garnered Booker critical acclaim and found him sharing stages with names such as Jack White and Courtney Barnett, and rocking out on late-night talk shows, but those experiences didn’t make the task any easier when it came to knuckling down for album number two. “I think it’s just always hard to write albums, dude,” he chuckles. “I don’t want to be one of those guys who’s complaining, because it’s the easiest job in the world, but I would say that for, like, 18 months it’s the easiest job in the world and then you have to spend the next few months writing an album, and it’s just, like, the hardest thing. “Making stuff is hard, and I think what I’ve learned from listening to other people and just from doing it more is that you really can’t force it. You really have to sit back and wait for things to come to you because when you really try to sit down and just crank out a song it always sucks - at least for me, it always sucks. “So, yeah, I was having a rough time but I think that that’s what happened - I ended up just waiting and not thinking about it and taking a vacation, and then I ended up doing the whole album on that vacation. I think that’s
“I think that if you want to make an album that’s worth anything, that’s truthful or just like has any sort of artistic merit, it’s important for me to go deeper. “
he Music converses with Arch Enemy’s
The track represents incremen-
powerhouse Canadian vocalist Alissa
tal progress for a band often derid-
White-Gluz the day after the death
ed for adhering to the formula,
of former Nevermore singer Warrel Dane.
and has seemingly puzzled some.
Aside from being label-mates, Arch Enemy
However, those who had heard the
shredder Jeff Loomis also formerly played
former The Agonist vocalist and
alongside Dane in Nevermore and Sanctu-
Kamelot guest — handpicked by her
ary. Unsurprisingly, the wound is still raw for
predecessor, and now Arch Enemy
all concerned.
manager Angela Gossow — sing
“Oh my God, that was shocking,” she says
cleanly on other projects wouldn’t
from Montreal. “All of us, but especially of
have been astonished by her prow-
course Jeff, are going through a tough time
ess in that regard. “It’s surprising to
right now. Just sending huge condolences
me how many people didn’t think
and deepest sympathies to his family and
that was me singing,” the vocalist
friends. And fans of course, myself included.
laughs. “Like a lot of people actually
Because that was way too young, and not
were like, ‘Wait, who’s that?’ And
something we expected. I just think it’s very
I’m like, ‘It’s me,’” she laughs again.
unfortunate, and if anything, I hope that this
“They’re like, ‘Who’s the guest? It
happening can maybe help maybe some
doesn’t say in the album who it is.’
other people that are struggling, and maybe
I’m like, ‘There’s no guest, it’s me.’
show them that they need to maybe take control of their lives..”
the way I’m going to approach it from now, definitely just relax and wait for it to come.” The vacation in question found Booker decamping to Mexico City to escape the tumultuous times unveiling in his homeland. “I went down without plans for making a record, I’d just brought my guitar just in case, and I was reading a book and I think that was what opened things,” he reflects. “I was reading a book called White Noise [by Don DeLillo] and there was a quote that said, ‘What we are reluctant to touch often seems the very fabric of our salvation,’ and I was, like, ‘Oh, damn, that’s what I should be making this record about: the facts that I don’t want to talk about’. “Just the things in your life that are really difficult to deal with - I think that if you want to make an album that’s worth anything, that’s truthful or just like has any sort of artistic merit, it’s important for me to go deeper. So I took out some paper and wrote down a bullet-pointed list of things I wanted to address in my own life and that kind of became the outline for the album, just the basis of it, and it all came together after that.”
Benjamin Booker plays Bluesfest and sideshows from 29 Mar.
Check The Guide on theMusic.com.au for more details.
“That was surprising to me, because it’s funny how small our “The nature of the solo album is that
It was a tragic conclusion to an otherwise
worlds are until they expand. I’m sure that my
kind of how we are too. We aren’t of the opin-
banner year for the Swedish metallers. After
world right now is still really small because
ion that we have to stay stuck in a box.”
unleashing a live set captured at Germany’s
I’m in the metal world. I don’t know anything
The group’s strenuous touring schedule
labels, no precedents. I know people are
none-more-metal Wacken Open Air festival,
about the R&B world, for example. So it’s still
in support of Will To Power aside — 2018 will
getting impatient, and I am too, but I only
they also released studio effort Will To Power,
my little bubble is what I know about. But I
feature their return to Australia as part of the
want to release good stuff, and I don’t want
White-Gluz’s second album fronting Arch
was under the impression that everybody
inaugural Download Festival — White-Gluz
to rush it. So I’m going to release it when
Enemy. High-octane metal remains the quin-
knew that I did clean singing, but that actu-
hopes to scrape together sufficient time for
it’s ready.”
tet’s stock-in-trade, but having almost entire-
ally wasn’t the case. Surprisingly, Reason To
her solo project. “That is something that I am
ly eschewed clean vocals prior, the record’s
Believe has been amongst the favourites so
doing whenever I have a little bit of time off
curiosity piece is their first “ballad”, Reason To
far... a lot of people really love the song. A lot
from Arch Enemy. The issue is that I usually
Believe. It features White-Gluz’s grunts and
of people are like, ‘Yeah, it’s clean singing and
only have like maybe a week off every few
pristine singing.
that’s weird for Arch Enemy, but I like it.’ That’s
months,” she laughs.
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of just artistic creation, very free-form, no
Arch Enemy tour from 23 Mar.
Burying hatchets and rediscovering chemistry
D
uring the past couple of months, US rock veterans Live have been ramping up their enthusiasm regarding work on new material. The eagerness is palpable in frontman Ed Kowalczyk’s voice; even if they remain undecided as to how exactly said songs will be distributed. “We’ve got about seven or eight that we’re really happy with, so I would expect new music very soon,” the singer says of the tracks they’ve completed so far. “Not sure exactly how we’re going to release it, we’re talking about that. Maybe we’ll put a song out at a time or something. But we’re so excited about it we want to get it to the people as soon as we can.” The conventional industry infrastructure in place at the time of Live’s commercial breakthrough isn’t so much dead as rotting in its casket nowadays. The Pennsylvanians’ 1994 smash hit Throwing Copper shifted millions of copies in the US and was a multiplatinum success in Australia. The several radio staples it spawned were inescapable. “It is night-and-day different compared to when we started out, of course,” Kowalczyk agrees. And there’s challenges there, but there’s also an excitement about for us, too, because it’s kind of ‘wild west’. We spent so many years in a record cycle kind of attitude about things; you go and make a record and tour for a few years, then you go home and
Live’s reunion may have taken a year and a half, but frontman Ed Kowalczyk tells Brendan Crabb that his band have now put “the not-sogood years” behind them to focus on the exciting road ahead.
don’t need any pressure from outside.’ The music business changed so profoundly that there’s all kinds of other ways to get music out, and we’re exploring those things, and keeping it wide open. Again, we’re blessed because we have this incredible fanbase. We’ve got fans in places like Australia that allow us this freedom to really be the best artists we can be.” The band seems rejuvenated on all fronts these days. Kowalczyk left the Live ranks for several years, spawning a period of acrimony and legal action. The remaining personnel soldiered on with replacement frontman Chris Shinn before Kowalczyk’s return was announced in late 2016. The Music inquires as to whether the members are still repairing relationships with each other and the overall nature of the band dynamic nowadays. “We’ve absolutely made peace,” the frontman insists. “Th is has been a process, the reunion, [that] technically started last year. But it was a few years in the making, or a year and a half in the
making, before we actually got out on stage again and played. I always say that we had so many good years that, when we stood on stage together again after the not-so-good years [laughs], the good years just swallowed that up, almost immediately. There was just an incredible joy and gratitude for our relationship, our chemistry on stage... It just really came full circle. I don’t think anybody really expected it to be this amazing and now, with the new music coming to this whole other new level, it’s incredible!” Real-life responsibilities rearing their head has also resulted in a more measured approach to all band activity. “We’ve all got families now, so that’s a consideration that wasn’t there as much in the ‘90s,” he points out. “We try to find a pace that allows us to be the total person that we are. Yeah, we want to rock and we want to work on the music and tour, but at the same time we’re family guys so we’re committed to that. “So I think what’s wonderful about where we are as a band now, since the
“We’ve absolutely made peace.”
you do it all again. But now, it’s like, ‘Wait a minute, we don’t have to do it like that. We can release a song at a time, or we can do this, or that.’ So it’s exciting. Challenging, but I’d like to think we’re going to take advantage of these changes, and serve our fans music in new and exciting ways. “We’re free as birds, man,” he adds of their record-label status. “Getting back together — that was by design. We said, ‘Hey, let’s just let this happen naturally. We
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reunion, is that there’s so many incredible opportunities for the band. We’re able to look at the year and say, ‘Hey, we want to do this, we want to do this and we’re going to take some time [because] we really want to work on music. So we don’t want to play out at all for these two months.’ It’s a luxury that I’m so grateful for, because I think it allows us to be really the best version of ourselves that we can be.”
Live tour from 1 Mar.
Check The Guide on theMusic.com.au for more details.
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Album Reviews
S
ome bands hit the pop-culture sweet spot just at the right time, igniting and reflecting the spirit of a generation before burning out and fading away. Others hang around, soldiering on with diminishing returns — a loyal fanbase in tow — cushioning their middle-aged bank accounts. There are also those acts who have that moment in the spotlight, vacate the pedestal but then re-emerge years down the track with the essence of their creativity still intact; bands like The Afghan Whigs, SleaterKinney and Dinosaur Jr. Kim Deal, of course, tasted the rewards of that with the resurrected Pixies, but the scale and dynamics of that band clearly didn’t suit her. There were new and fairly wellreceived The Breeders albums in the interim years — Title TK (2002) and Mountain Battles (2008) — but after reconvening the line-up from their seminal 1993 album Last Splash (Kim and Kelley Deal, Josephine Wiggs and Jim Macpherson) for its 20th anniversary celebrations, it became clear that there was still a spark and desire to write and record new material. All Nerve could just as easily have been titled ‘All Verve’, for it’s an album that captures some of the joie de vivre of Last Splash, tempers it with the perspective of age and is filled with sardonic swagger, obtuse wordplay and a musical dynamism that rarely becomes anything other than pure Breeders. The first single Wait In The Car throws a sly nod to the drum rimshots at the start of their most famous song Cannonball before being overrun with cascading guitar distortion and downstrokes. Deal sings of embracing inspiration and intuition, and screw the consequences. That theme continues in the title track as she sings, “I won’t stop/I will run
The Breeders All Nerve 4AD/Remote Control
★★★★
Oh Mercy
Young Fathers
Camp Cope
Cafe Oblivion
Cocoa Sugar
EMI
Ninja Tune/Inertia
★★★½
★★★★
How To Socialise & Make Friends
While he flew to America and isolated himself to write his previous record, this time Alex Gow wrote and recorded in Australia, working once again with producer Scott Horscroft. As a result, this new album shares its lush and orchestral qualities with its predecessor. The quality of the arrangements is undeniable. However, rather than serving as effective juxtaposition for Gow’s surrealist songwriting experiments, the music is occasionally a reminder of just how seriously he’s trying not to take himself. Thankfully, there are enough transcendent moments throughout the album to offer redemption.
The Mercury Prize-winning Scottish trio wrote and recorded Cocoa Sugar over the course of a year in the band’s basement studio. It certainly has that subterranean, lo-fi sound they’ve tinkered with over the course of three albums. Cocoa Sugar has hidden depths though, as successive listens peel back surprising new layers. Cocoa Sugar is a good example of what can organically flourish when the pressure’s off. Journeying inward, Young Fathers have patiently developed a sound and songcraft that is entirely and unmistakably their own. Christopher H James
Roshan Clerke
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you down/I’m all nerve,” alluding to both determination and obsessive personality traits. MetaGoth shifts musical gears into a world of Joy Division and Bauhaus with its brooding and foreboding rhythm section. It’s the least ‘Breeders’ song on the album but suits them, especially given there’s always been an element of post-punk deconstruction running through their music. The Breeders consistently show an ability to balance the punkish rush with prettier, more meditative moments. The verses of Spacewoman do just that with a delicacy and spaciousness that makes the crunch and stomp of the chorus even more rewarding. There are shades of Courtney Barnett’s sound on Walking With A Killer as the song meanders along, decorated with a quasi-psychedelia similar to early The Smashing Pumpkins. Archangel’s Thunderbird is a rare misfire, lacking direction and seemingly laid out on a drum pattern but then never building on it. Relief comes in the form of Dawn: Making An Effort with its billowing, gauzy, shoegaze guitars. It’s like a lost ‘50s pop song, filtered and reimagined via a ghostly transmission. Their trademark blend of heavy, raw guitars and spectral, almost naive, melodies return on the monstrous-sounding Skinhead #2 before Blues At The Acropolis finds Deal referencing false-hero worship and perhaps bemoaning the watering down and dissipation of artistic worth. Thankfully, a quarter of a century after crafting Last Splash, The Breeders have the nerve and the creative impulse to again inject some life and imagination into rock music.
Chris Familton
Cousin Tony’s Brand New Firebird Electric Brown
Poison City Records
Double Drummer/Sony
★★★★
★★★½
It’s the combination of melodic bass lines, raw vocals that evoke a deep emotional response, honest, powerful lyrics and authentic storytelling that makes the second album from band Camp Cope so strong. The trio are vocal and effective advocates of ending gender disparity and sexual assault within music and the nine songs on the album are rich with messages and meaning. The trio are undoubtedly great musicians and songwriters, and How To Socialise & Make Friends is a definite reflection of that.
Th is Melbourne-based five-piece have done something rather special their debut LP. In utilising old school instrumentation, production techniques and songwriting style, they have created an album that is highly distinctive. It sounds like an album for 2018 audiences that was written and recorded in 1973. It’s obvious much care, hard work and attention has been put into every facet of this album’s creation. And the end result is quite stunning. If you dig on beautifully crafted, indie-sounding pop, this record is absolutely for you.
Madelyn Tait
Rod Whitfield
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ALBUM REVIEWS
For more album reviews, go to www.theMusic.com.au
Mia Dyson
Flowertruck
The Sword
Verge Collection
If I Said Only So Far I Take It Back
Mostly Sunny
Used Future
Flaneur
Spunk
Spinefarm/Caroline
Rhubarb Records
★★★★
★★★
★★★★
It’s been almost a decade since singer-songwriter Mia Dyson decamped to America. Now she’s doubled down on her longheld fascination with the States’ rich musical heritage by recording her sixth album at Portside Sound in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The resulting collection is both sonically stripped-back and wilfully diverse, southern rock tones pulsing through tunes like sultry rocker Nothing, while an ‘80s classic rock vibe permeates catchy single Fool, and up-tempo toe-tapper Diamonds betrays Dyson’s guitar-slinger background.
Flowertruck haul around a pretty particular kind of sensibility. It’s a brand of impassioned nonchalance that has less to do with apathy and more to do with a sort of lackadaisical confidence drenched in a summer pop malaise. The group’s debut LP seems to have grown directly from their first EP Dirt, deploying the same mixture of buoyant melodies and melancholic deliveries, but the overall sound is fuller and more mature without losing the seed of what made it worth cultivating. Confident and considerately paced, Mostly Sunny is the start of a bright future.
The world didn’t react very kindly to The Sword’s last album. And to be fair, it wasn’t surprising given it consisted of a hodgepodge of southern fried rock instead of the fuzzed out stoner/ doom that the band’s considerable fan base expected. The Sword’s sixth album starts off promisingly, but overall Used Future won’t do much to recover lost fans — the peaks of the record don’t match the band’s earlier work, and the rest see the band continue on a very uncertain path. It will be very interesting to see whether The Sword can weather yet more disappointed long-term fans.
The Perth four-piece’s debut album is as refreshingly breezy as the Freo Doctor on a stinking hot day, infectious tracks like the cheerfully world-weary Feelin’ Old and the relentless jangle of Long Comedown setting the tone. There are sporadic horns throughout and strings embellish relatively maudlin closer Last Ciggie, but their default setting is upbeat indie rock, and the regular contrast with frontman Ben Arnold’s gritty observations only adds genuine substance.
Steve Bell
Nic Addenbrooke
Mark Hebblewhite
Big White
What So Not
Ocean Alley
Press Club
Street Talk
Not All The Beautiful Things
Chiaroscuro
Late Teens
Spunk
Sweat It Out/Warner
Independent/UNIFIED
Independent
★★★½
★★★★
★★★½
★★★½
Sydney buzz band Big White return with their second LP, Street Talk. It’s frothy and crisp, and has a vibrant inner warmth. Post-punk can sound brittle, but Street Talk nails the fine line between rebellious angst and guileless optimism. There’s more than a nod to the early work of The Cure, excellent vocalist Cody Munro Moore offering a sunny interpretation of Robert Smith’s melodramatic caterwaul. Production is light and polished, letting the best version of the band speak for itself. Street Talk has all the hallmarks of the third or fourth album from a far more seasoned outfit.
Notorious for his epic live sets, What So Not (aka Emoh Instead aka Chris Emerson) solidifies his electronic mark with debut full-length, Not All The Beautiful Things. Not All The Beautiful Things allows each track to inhabit its own unique flavour — the perfect blend between the electronic familiar and refreshing innovation. Th rough a myriad of influences and emotion, What So Not’s maturity as an artist and ear for collaboration has allowed his established sound to flourish, creating something for everyone. A well-curated, well-rounded work on a bed of exquisite production.
Psych-rockers Ocean Alley deliver a colourful, full-length second album, Chiaroscuro. Single Confidence presents a whomping bass line that intertwines the track’s tight marriage of hoarse electric guitar and straight drums. Dream sequence Knees engulfs a relaxed nature through its streams of gliding electric guitar that ebb and flow across a beautiful, fluctuating vocal. As the album’s title suggests, this work explores both light and shade. In a confident step forward, Ocean Alley have crafted a seamless blend of the two within their constantly evolving melting pot of psychedelic and surf rock.
Melbourne’s Press Club has fast gained traction as a solid live act, and their debut album certainly maintains that hype. Late Teens proves there’s a whole lot more to Press Club. Let It Fall pulls the live energy the band are known for into the studio, while Stay Low is the perfect album closer. Late Teens offers an exciting new perspective on the group, while still allowing room to grow. It’s a gallant start from a band with a lot of promise.
Single Lock/Cooking Vinyl Australia
★★★½
Emma Salisbury
Matt MacMaster
Emma Salisbury
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Jessica Dale
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The 21st Biennale Of Sydney Art loving Sydneysiders should prepare to be spoilt for choice as the city’s flagship visual arts festival once again transforms galleries and exhibition spaces across Sydney into shrines to the finest contemporary art in the world. The Biennale has a new curator this year – Mami Kataoka of the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo – who has handpicked 69 artists to be showcased across the festivals seven venues. Among them is megastar Chinese artist-activist Ai Weiwei, who will be presenting his largest ever installation. Law Of The Journey is a 60-meter inflatable boat (pictured) filled with faceless forms; a commentary on the plight of dispossessed refugees.
From 16 March at venues across Sydney
The best of The Arts in March
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1.
2.
Wildlife Photographer Of The Year Witness wonders from the natural world at this world-renowned exhibition on loan from the Natural History Museum in London. Th is free show features 100 stunning photographs. From 30 Mar at the Australian National Maritime Museum
2.
Sydney Theatre Company The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui Hugo Weaving stars in Brecht’s razoredged political satire. Originally inspired by the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazis, this play follows the ascent of a power-hungry small-time gangster (who sounds a lot like US Prez Donald Trump).
4. From 21 Mar at Roslyn Packer Theatre
3. 3.
The Miss Behave Gameshow It’s not every day that a world record-holding sword swallower comes to town! Miss Behave’s batshit extravaganza has been packing out theatres from Vegas to London. Now it’s Sydney’s turn to try its luck at t his cabaret anarchist’s white-knuckle gameshow. From 7 March at the Sydney Opera House
5.
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Meg Stuart An Evening Of Solo Works US choreographer Meg Stuart presents a collection of her most intimate solo works, exploring the nuance and grace within everyday movements, in a program that asks, “Is it possible to track the spaces we travel to when we’re daydreaming.” From 19 Mar at Carriageworks
5.
Sydney Opera House presents All About Women International Women’s Day is on 8 Mar, but if you can’t wait that long, this one day celebration of all things female has you covered, exploring a range of topics from smashing the patriarchy to the trans experience. 4 Mar at Sydney Opera House
6. 6.
Bell Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra It’s a romance that has echoed through the ages. The Bard’s retelling of this ancient affair between the formidable queen of Egypt and Rome’s greatest champion receives a modern spin in Peter Evan’s new production. From 3 March at the Sydney Opera House
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KEMIRA: DIARY OF A STRIKE
SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL PRESENTS
Tom Zubrycki’s political documentary documents the trials of the 300 Wollongong steel workers who lost their jobs in the closing of the Port Kembla Steelworks in 1982.
The film that launched the Golden Age of Hollywood musicals starring Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell; featuring Ginger Rogers with choreography by Busby Berkley.
Casula Powerhouse celebrates International Women’s Day 2018 with a series of talks, panel discussions and live music from female artists.
THU 8 MAR @ 11AM
THU 8 MAR
SAT 3 MAR @ 1PM
FREE!
42ND STREET
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
FREE!
OEDIPUS SCHMOEDIPUS
AFRO LATINO FESTIVAL
SHAKESPEARE'S HAMLET
Oedipus Schmoedipus is about death: real death, fake death, and the Western theatrical canon. It’s joyful and dark, stupid and smart, hilarious and confronting.
Join us for a day of music, food, workshops and performance to celebrate the cultural diversity and common cultural heritage of Australia’s African and Latin American communities.
In this contemporary take on Shakespeare’s classic, the mourning of Hamlet takes centre stage, as we face a young man ordered to kill, but struggling to justify the inevitable.
SAT 17 MAR @ 7.30PM
SAT 17 MAR @ 11AM - 5.30PM
WED 21 - SAT 24 MAR
FREE! FREE!
ARCHIBALD PRIZE
FREE!
SOUTHLINE AND OTHER METAPHORS - TONY PRIDDLE
ALLIANCE FRANCAISE
FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL
Awarded to the best painting of a notable Australian, the Archibald Prize is a who’s who of Australian culture, from politicians to celebrities and from sporting heroes to artists.
A personal account of the late artist’s daily interaction with the social and geographic references of the Liverpool area.
There is something for everyone at this year’s Festival, with a selection of films to make you feel, dream, reflect, laugh or even shed a few tears.
24 MAR - 6 MAY Launch: Sat 24 Mar 2-4pm
24 MAR - 29 APR Launch: Sun 25 Mar 2-4pm
THU 5 - SUN 8 APR
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Sydney Biennale: decoded
With seven venues citywide, navigating this huge art festival can be daunting. Fortunately, Stephanie Eslake has unriddled this year’s offering, so you can make the most of the 2018 Biennale.
The artists There are more than 70 artists, from home-grown talents to international stars, showcased at the 21st Biennale of Sydney, but, if we had to play favourite, we reckon you should add this selection to your must-see hit list.
The curator When we ask Mami Kataoka how her background shapes her artistic direction of the 21st Biennale of Sydney, she simply responds: “Every experience of my life become a part of my thought process”.
Ai weiwei One of the world’s most famous artists, Ai Weiwei, is one of about 20 artists to take over the UNESCO-listed Cockatoo Island. Law of the Journey (2017), his largest ever installation, will feature more than 250 massive rub-
refugees over the Aegean Sea. You can also
I
t’s an idea that forms the undercurrent of this year’s cross-genre and multicultural program. Indigenous Australian artists share tradition. A Japanese theatre director invites Sydney locals to the stage. A Lebanese artist presents a performance work all about the Sydney Opera House. A Melbourne artist draws from colonial history. And Mami, also chief curator of Tokyo’s prestigious Mori Art Museum, unites this intensely global and intimately local experiences with just one word: “Equilibrium”. Mami is the first Asian artistic director in the history of the Biennale. Here, we chat about her immersive presentation of culture and life spanning Sydney’s boldest contemporary art venues.
witness the Sydney premiere of Human Flow (2017) at the Sydney Opera House – a film that was shot across 23 countries.
Crystal Ball, 2017
ber figures inside an inflatable boat, made from the same material as vessels carrying
Semiconductor Art versus science? Enter Semiconductor. The United Kingdom duo, composed of Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt, will exhibit their five-channel video installation at Carriageworks. It’s set to explore the way we understand our material world in the conmation, documentary and film, the two artists are no strangers to art that engages the strange marriage between our virtual and physical environments.
Yvonne Koolmatrie Yvonne Koolmatrie is a South Australian Ngarrindjeri artist whose work preserves a rare weaving style from the Coorong region. In 1982, she studied with Ngarrindjeri elder
So how do the artists represent equilibrium, and are any of the exhibited works considered centrepieces? There is no hierarchy in the selection of the artists. Their different visions and perspectives are composing the holistic experience of the festival, and each and every work is important in making that happen.
Dorothy Kartinyeri, who was one of the last people to pass on skills in harvesting, preparation, and weaving of sedge grass. For preserving this all but lost tradition this she was recognised with a National Indigenous Art ment Award. Her work will be exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Burial Basket
Awards’ 2016 Red Orchre Lifetime Achieve-
There are about 70 artists in the Biennale, with a quarter of these are based in Australia. What do international artists bring to Sydney’s local arts culture? Akira Takayama, theatre director from Japan, will show a film after the performance titled Our Songs – Sydney Kabuki Project. He invited around 70 local citizens to the Sydney Town Hall to sing a song or recite a poem from their family or ancestor with their own language, and it will be depicted as a kind of epic of people who had immigrated to Sydney or carrying an indigenous history of Sydney. By using Cockatoo Island as one of the major venues, visitors are exposed to a site where they have a history of convict settlement and once the largest shipyard of the nation with artists responding to the history.
Tanya Goel Tanya Goel captures urban culture and landscape. She experiments with natural and man-made materials – think glass, cement, charcoal, and limestone – before crushing and examining their chemical properties for pigment. You’ll see some of
What do you hope people will come away from the Biennale thinking and feeling? From individual encounters with works or findings of reciprocal connections between works, I hope something will speak to the visitors.
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text of science. Having worked across ani-
Earthworks, 2016
Mami, you’ve explored the unifying theme of equilibrium. Why you feel this is important as a anchor for the Biennale, when we live in an era that sees the world so divided? I see the world not divided but overlapping in many ways in terms of land ownership, ideology, interpretation of the history. Yet, instead of seeing it as conflict or antagonism, I would like to propose a perspective of ‘equilibrium’ by referring to Chinese ancient philosophy called Wu Xing, which talks about the reciprocal relationship of different five elements which compose the universe. Th is vision has been applied to the selection of the artists, works, venues and actual experience of the visitors.
her paintings at Artspace, accompanied by Index, 2015
a site-specific wall. Tanya studied painting
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and printmaking at the prestigious Yale University School of Art, but now lives in her home city of New Delhi.
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The venues Sydney Opera House
What:
Where:
Don’t Miss:
The building, unquestionably the
Head to Sydney Harbour. it’s that
The featured artists include Brit-
most iconic in Australia, opened in
big white thing next to the water.
ain’s Oliver Beer, whose practice is
’73, coinciding with the inaugu-
informed by his musical educa-
ral Biennale.
tion; and Beirut’s Rayyane Tabet, whose practice is influencced by architecture and structural forms.
Sydneyoperahouse.com
The Museum Of Contemporary Art
Artspace
What:
What:
That enormous building at Circular Quay. Two floors will be dedicated to the Biennale this year. Take that.
A collaborative venue presenting contemporary art with the Biennale since ’92.
Where: Where:
Head to Woolloomooloo – it’s in the historic Gunnery, 43-51 Cowper Wharf Roadway. Take a train to Kings Cross or St James Station; or you’ll find it on bus route 311. Other options include Water Taxi hire or even walking 10 minutes from the CBD through the Domain
At 140 George Street, Circular Quay. Right on the harbour.
Don’t Miss: Aboriginal and pacific art from the Yarrenyty Arltere Artists of Alice Springs, works by Bidjigal artist and elder Esme Timbery, and Yvonne Koolmatrie who hails from the Ngarrindjeri country, the Coorong. mca.com.au
4A Centre For Contemporary Asian Art
Carriageworks What:
Where:
Don’t Miss:
A converted train depot
At the Eveleigh Rail
Works by Western
with several exhibtion
Yards, and you can find
Australian artist George
spaces. It’s been part
historic and industrial
Tjungurrayi, Brighton
of the event since 2014
building at 245 Wilson
duo Semiconductor,
and has a reputation
Street in the Redfern
Vietnam’s Nguyen Trinh
as being one of the
Waterloo precinct.
Thi, and Paris and New
nation’s centres of
York based Laurent
contemporary arts – for
Grasso among others.
Don’t Miss: Headliner Ai Weiwei will have his work presented alongside Tiffany Chung, Geng Xue, Tanya Goel, and Michaël Borremans. artspace.org.au
good reason.
Carriageworks.com.au
What: A not-for-profit and I celebrate Asian and Australian culture through professional
The Art Gallery of New South Wales
and industry development, exhibitions, and advocacy.
Where:
Cockatoo Island
I’m at 181-187 in Hay Street, Haymarket. Take a train and land at Central
What:
Station. I’m behind the Capi-
A UNESCO World-Heritage listed site, it was built in the colo-
tol Theatre.
Don’t Miss: Our two artists Akira Takayama – a Japanese theatre director who has invited Sydneysiders to take part in his show; and Jun Yang, who also works across performance and public engagement in his works. He hops from Vienna to
What:
Where:
Don’t Miss:
Sydney’s flagship art institution. It’s partnered with the Biennale since ’76, and boasts pretty impressive collections of Australian, European and Asian art.
On Art Gallery Road at The Domain. it’s a short walk from Hyde Park, or you could take Bus 441. Trains will take you to St James and Martin Place stations, which are 10 minutes’ walk away.
Loads – AGNSW offers one of the biggest artist line-ups in the Biennale including the Biennale of Sydney Archive. You’ll see plenty of work by artists from Oliver Beer to Miriam Cahn, Kate Newby and Riet Wijnen to Marlene Gilson, Luciano Fabro, Francisco Camacho Herrera and more.
Taipei and Yokohama, but hails from China.
4a.com.au
nial era and as Sydney’s biggest island, it has a pretty solid convict and defence history under its belt. As for the Biennale, it’s been and exhibition partner since 2008.
Where: Catch a ferry. You’ll find booking details at transportnsw.info – find a time that suits you.
Don’t Miss: Art across the whole island. Expect leading Hiroshima artist Yukinori Yanagi, Su-Mei Tse from Luxembourg, Thai painter Mit Jai Inn, and a long line of other big names from around the world.
cockatooisland.gov.au artgallerynsw.gov.au
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akkiah Lui is a dab hand at making Australians laugh. Both co-writer and star of hit ABC TV show Black Comedy and hilarious vagina dialogues web series Kiki And Kitty, her race (and class) relations rom-com Black Is The New White returns to the Sydney Theatre Company this month by popular demand following its barnstorming debut season in 2017. In these febrile days of social media outrage, the high profile afforded to Lui as a result of her success, and her willingness to pop her head above the parapet on issues including Indigenous affairs, means she also cops a lot of online abuse. As she told BuzzFeed News recently, “It makes you so tired and I hate even admitting to that because my career and my work is so important to me. I hate the idea of anyone having power to make me tired,” adding, “We think of it as anonymous trolls, but what they say is always being validated by our executive politicians and by people in leadership positions who say outlandish things with no consequences.” As confronting as this blowback can be, Lui’s not about to be silenced. “It’s just an automatic thing, if you are an Aboriginal person who has a platform, you can’t not use it,” she tells me while on a break from filming the third series of Black Comedy. “I do feel I have a privilege and I don’t want to take that for granted. Social commentary can be a bit tough, because the news cycle these days is so incredibly divisive. But at the end of the day, I am making TV shows and plays and a whole lot of people go into those because they want to engage in someone else’s stories. They want to get to know characters, and that does make me feel like it’s the salve for prickly news.” Feeling blessed by her dual role as actor and writer, Lui points out she wouldn’t be in this business if people weren’t interested in listening. “There’s that saying that your haters are more loyal than your fans, but I kind of disagree with that, because I think sometimes your haters are just a bit more vocal than your fans. And sometimes they’re not even your haters. They just aren’t used to hearing your type of opinion.” Forget Christmas in July, barely two months clear of the tinsel fest and the snappy Black Is The New White revisits that day’s often-fraught family politics. Directed by Paige Rattray, Black Comedy regular Shari Sebbens plays Charlotte Gibson, a frazzled lawyer who brings her fiance Francis (Tom Stokes) home to meet her upper middle class, lefty parents Ray and Joan (Tony Briggs and Melodie Reynolds-Diarra), both Aboriginal community leaders. Where things get a little tricky is that Francis is a broke musician, and also white, a fact that takes her parents by surprise. He also brings with him his conservative parents Marie and Dennison (Geoff Morrell and Vanessa Downing). Th row in Lui’s best mate and Love Child star Miranda Tapsell as Charlotte’s fashion designer sister Rose (with Lui sharing the role on tour) and Anthony Taufa as Rose’s former-rugby player and born-again Christian husband, plus a few too many Christmas tipples, and the stage is set for a sharply drawn farce that gets at the heart of this nation’s identity crisis with disarming ease. “I write so much about race, but I try and write it from a very human perspective,” Lui says. “I think so often we think things like race and gender and class and sex, that these topics are political things. But I don’t think that they are. They are humanity things. They are what people live every day. We can’t opt out. It’s who we are as people and we kind of just have to deal with it, and we do every single day.” Lui is adamant that Black Is The New White’s humour is as much for white folks as it is blackfellas. “What I’m trying to do is erase those lines a bit. It does take that joke to a place where you’re like, ‘You can’t say that, but it’s funny,’ and I think also in a way we’re all thinking it, and that sort of gets politicised by both the left and the right.” Lui chuckles as she recalls that the original read through alerted her to the fact she had some homework to do on getting the moneyed Gibsons right. “I realised I grew up so poor, I’d always thought I’d written the characters as upper middle class, but I guess because I’m from the western suburbs of Sydney and I’m a bit of a bogan Aboriginal, a lot of people didn’t really consider them as such, so I had to do a lot of research on being rich, which was a lot of fun.” The play is as much about class expectations as it is about race. “We have a really interesting relationship with class in Australia,” Lui notes. “We just pretend we don’t have class. We totally do, and I think it’s this really weird way for the richest of us to try and pretend that they are the hardest done by, if you look at anything the Rhineharts and the Murdochs, so I was reading a lot about millennials and baby boomers and the idea of inherited wealth and entitlement.”
“We think things like race and gender and class and sex, that these topics are political things. But I don’t think that they are. They are humanity things.”
Dreaming of a white (and black) Christmas Indigenous comedy superstar Nakkiah Lui is turning social stereotypes on their head in her festive rom-com Black Is The New White. She talks troll culture, class divides and finding the humanity in the political with Stephen A Russell.
Black Is The New White plays from 2 Mar at Roslyn Packer Theatre
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BY W IL L I A M SH S A KE S P E A RE
DIRE E C T OR P E T E R E VA V NS S
S Y DN DNE EY O OP P ER ERA H HOU OU SE 3 M A R C H – 7 A P R IL IL
B OOK N O W S Y DNE E Y OP ER A HOU SE .C OM M.AU
Eija-Liisa Ahtila Potentiality For Love, 2018 4K/HD with directional audio, moving image sculpture, 22 LED modules, 614 x 384 cm, 7 mins, looped, small LED monitor with table and chair, sound environment Cast: Matleena Kuusniemi Written and directed by: Eija-Liisa Ahtila Cinematography: Jussi Eerola Wire FX: Reijo Kontio Semiconductor 3D VFX: Jari Hakala Earthworks, 2016 Editing: Heikki Kotsalo five-channel computer-generated animation with Produced by: Ilppo Pohjola four-channel surround sound 11:20 mins © 2018 / CRYSTAL EYE Installation view (2016) at SónarPLANTA, Barcelona Commissioned by Serlachius Museums, Mänttä with support from the Commissioned by SónarPLANTA Biennale of Sydney; Frame Contemporary Art Finland; Alfred Kordelin Produced by Advanced Music Foundation; and Marian Goodman Gallery, Courtesy New York, Paris and London the artist Photograph: Courtesy the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, NewSemiconductor York, Paris and London Photograph: Liisa Takala
biennaleofsydney.art Major Government Partners
Principal Patron
Major Partners
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Major Foundations
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Principal Partner
AUSTRALIA 2018
Tue 3 April Enmore Theatre Laneway Presents and Penny Drop presentation in association with Coda Agency
WITH SPECIAL GUEST New album
Ruins out now
PENNY DROP + CHUGG ENTERTAINMENT + PRESENT
PENNY DROP + CHUGG ENTERTAINMENT PRESENT
TUE 13 MAR OXFORD ART FACTORY WITH GUESTS EMMA RUSSACK + E444E
Penny Drop and Chugg Entertainment present‌ “At her best, (Bedouine) sounds like a future legend - the sort of musician one will later wish to have seenâ€? THE NEW YORK TIMES
“... a night that has been ďŹ lled with nothing but the highest standard of musicianship, and is as entertaining as it is impressive.â€? – The Line Of Best Fit
WEDNESDAY 7 MARCH CAKE WINES CELLAR DOOR
THURSDAY 15 MARCH
with special guests LEAH SENIOR
ENMORE THEATRE
ON SALE NOW!
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The ninth instalment of Marrickville block party Bad Friday is back this Easter. The Inner West indie institution returns on Good Friday featuring the likes of Boo Seeka, Straight Arrows, Big White, Party Dozen and Sunscreen along with a lot more, plus a special super-secret headliner. Local food and beverage providers will also represent on the day as Railway Parade rocks along to the sound of more than just trains.
Back row – Kirsty Tickle (Party Dozen), Sarah Sykes (Sunscreen), Cody Munro Moore (Big White). Front row – Al Grigg (Straight Arrows), Jonathan Boulet (Party Dozen), Jett Amity (Sunscreen), Sam Croft (Boo Seeka). Pic: Josh Groom.
Bad Friday
Studios 301 Relaunch Australia’s oldest and largest commercial recording studio, Studios 301, relaunched recently and here are a few stats behind the new facility:
UNSW Roundhouse re-opens
Emotional rescue Ahead of Blair Dunlop’s second visit to Australia, he took the time to chat with Chris Familton about his new album’s blend of English folk and American country music and the role that anxiety played in its genesis. ith his brand new fourth album, Notes From An Island, in his back pocket, Blair Dunlop is soon heading to Australia to play Port Fairy Folk Festival, open for Rodrigo y Gabriela and also play his own headline shows. Born to English folk musician parents (Judy Dunlop and Ashley Hutchings of Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span), the singer-songwriter has progressively widened his audience with each new album, drawing critical acclaim, picking up the Horizon Award at the 2013 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, and receiving peer recognition from personal heroes such as Richard Thompson. “I don’t feel like I seek approval in general, but when it comes from people you listen to and respect it means something. It feels very validating, even if you think your music doesn’t need validating,” says Dunlop humbly, coming across as someone who’s intent on honing his craft and staying true to his muse. Around the time his previous album, Gilded, was released, Dunlop experienced anxiety issues that subsequently spurred on new songwriting — one positive outcome of those difficult times.
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The ground-up reconstruction and relocation project took over 16 months and 134,000 hours of labour There are 39,000 concrete blocks (core filled) They used 68 truck loads of concrete It has 3,500 thick sheets of marine ply There is 42km of electrical cable And another 15km of data cable They have built five recording/mixing studios, three mastering rooms and four production suites There is a museum room (coffee shop) with many old machines – most of them still working
To listen to our podcast with Studios 301 owner Dr Tom Misner, producer and engineer, Simon Cohen and Chief Mastering Engineer, Steve Smart, head to theMusic.com.au.
“Even if I feel like I’ve found music myself, I can’t define how much of my upbringing informed my taste.” “I just wanted to write a few tunes and see what would come out of it,” says Dunlop. “I went into a period of being quite prolific, probably because I’d been quite emotional... and then all of a sudden you have a record. I always write about various things but the album did turn out more personal than the last two. It wasn’t a conscious decision, I just wrote and looked at what came out. I always keep my audience in mind, but I’m not going to temper what I write. I just write what I’m feeling and get that out, and if people go with it then that’s cool and, if not, then that’s a shame.” The album’s first single, Sweet On You, contains the line, “If you don’t like Ry Cooder, how could I ever be sweet on you?,” a clue to where some of Dunlop’s American music influences lie. Conceding that this album is “more suited to an American roots music audience than any of [his] previous albums”, Dunlop also points out his music is also steeped in influences from the UK. “In this country, you have the folk scene and the Americana scene and the nu-folk scene. I come from the traditional British folk background where the US influences aren’t as prevalent, but I listen to a lot of Americana in my spare time and I now live within the nufolk world of London. They exist in spite of one another and don’t overlap all that much, but there are loads of artists who fit into any or all of the above.”
After an almost two-year closure and $30 million renovation, live music venue UNSW Roundhouse is officially back in action this month, with the likes of San Cisco, Northlane, Arj Barker and Amon Amarth set to grace its stage in the near future. We managed to grab an exclusive behind the scenes peek before opening.
For the full article, head to theMusic.com.au
Blair Dunlop tours from 9 Mar.
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All pics by Uppy Chatterjee.
The rebuild cost $12 million, of which over $9 million was spend on the acoustic fit out
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Valve 871 George street, Sydney City BASEMENT
THU 1ST 8PM
BASEMENT
FRI 2ND 9PM
ROCK AND BLUES ROCK FEAT: “WIDOWER”, “KEYSTONE”, “THE DIRTY FEW”
FRI 2ND 10PM
NATSU MATSURI HIGH ENERGY DANCE LEVEL
SAT 3RD 8PM
LEVEL ONE
SAT 3RD 10PM
BASEMENT
SUN 4TH 5PM
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LEVEL ONE
SAT 10TH 10PM
NEO TOKYO PRESENTS:
NATSU MATSURI LOW TEMPO/GAMING/ACTIVITY WITH SUB AURAL, VENDETTA 7, VELD, DAVID PSY
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NEO TOKYO PRESENTS:
WITH DANEJER, LITTLE RAVEN, DOT MICRO, KENAZ, JEDABELLA LEVEL ONE
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BIG SMOKIN’ JOE (UK) WITH SCEPAZ & BHOKY101 FT HOKTWO, IZZY, DOUBLE, DJ MANIAK, JOEY MAKER & BRUCE HATHCOCK, CHRISTINA DEAN
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FEAT TERRAFRACTYL, PENUMBRA, BREK, FINGERZZZ, RAPTOR, VERTICAL TRANSPORT,
WORLD’S BEST GIG WITH “RICHERD KING”, “BRIGHT”, “STEW GANG”, “STITCH UPS”, “11TH DIMENSION” WANDERING MAN PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS:
FRI 9TH 8PM
LEVEL ONE
FRI 9TH 10PM
LEGACY X NIGHTCLUB PRESENTS:
OLD SKOOL VS NEW SKOOL, DACNEHALL, R&B, HOUSE, TECHNO PARTY
WITH VIRTUAL LIGHT (CANADA), RENEGADE DJ (SOUTH AFRICA), LOOSE CANNON, MUD, PENUMBRA, BEAR
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FRI 16TH 8PM
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WITH SUPPORT FROM MANY SPECIAL GUESTS THE MUSICAL, BRAND NEW ROCK MUSICAL REVOLUTIONISING THE GENRE FEAT “CLOUDED WEB” LIVE UNDERGROUND WITH SUPPORT FROM CHLOE DMND, RIK, SMILE 47, DJ TEEZY
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SAT 17TH 10PM
FRI 23RD 8PM
LEVEL ONE
WITH “SHACKLES”, “UNCLE GEEZER”, “DARKHORSE”, “GRUDGE!”, “POVAROTTI”, “BRIGHT WORMS”, “SUMERU”, “MASOCHRIST”, “DISPARO!”, “SUPPRESSANT”, “GRIM”, “FATALIST”, “LOOSE UNIT”, “MAGGTO CAVE” TALIBERRY ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS:
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DRIUNE #1 WITH “TEMPORARY HOUSES” SUPPORTED BY “LUNAR MODULE”, “WATCHMOORE”, “JUNK CIRCUIT”
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THU 22ND 8PM
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ROCK SHOW WITH MANY SPECIAL GUESTS
WITH “SUPAHONEY”, “THE LAZY EYES”, “LAST THURSDAY”, “A BIG MISTAKE” FLOW FI PRESENTS:
AYWY AND MANY MORE IN NIGHT OF NU FUNK
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BARS (02) PRESENTS:
SAT 24TH 3PM
EMCEE BATTLE FEAT
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“ROBBER”
SAT 24TH 8PM
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22 SYDNEY’S BEST MC’S BATTLING FOR SUPREMACY WITH “ARSE”, “THE NUCLEAR FAMILY”, “QUICK FIX”, “BERZERKER BOYS:”, “SSRI” SPAGHETTI WESTERN PRESENTS:
SAT 24TH 10PM
TECHNO PARTY
BASEMENT
JOSH SHIPTON AND TRAVELING CIRCUS
SUN 25TH 9PM BASEMENT
WED 28TH 8PM
BASEMENT
WITH TERRY DACTYL, LUCAS ANDERSON, MAX WILLS, CANOROUS, SUNSHINE, MIA SORLIE
WITH FINE CAST OF SUPPORT ARTISTS
“DURRY” CD RELEASE PARTY WITH SUPPORT FROM “LOOSE UNIT” AND MANY SPECIAL GUESTS
“THE RUCKSAKS”
THU 29TH 8PM
WITH “BRONSON MISSOURI” AND “WATCHING WOLVES”
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GOOD FRIDAY AT VALVE BAR
FRI 30TH 5PM
WITH ALLSTAR DJ MADENGO, MALEEK, YAN SUN 18TH 5PM
MIND BLOWING MUSIC AT THE VALVE
FRI 23RD 10PM
“RUSH” MUSIC EP LAUNCH
FRI 16TH 10PM
SAT 17TH 8PM
BASEMENT
“SWEET VELVET” PRESENTS:
HARMONY NOIR,
HIP HOP KNECT PRESENTS:
WITH BIGREDCAP, LOSTY, RIVAL EMPIRE, FURZ, DOPES, DYLZ, JOHNNYPEE, JYGANTIX & JAKE MACK, NUTKAZE, DOLLAKRIM, SLEAZY GREAZY, DOLZY, CHAMELEON, BOBO, DJ MYME
SECRET OBSESSIONS
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THU 15TH 8PM
CHARLES ELLSWORTH (USA)
FOR THE GOOD CAUSE
DEEP SPACE PRESENTS:
SUNDAY ROCK’N’ROLL
WITH DARBY, PETER CONATY AND GUESTS BASEMENT
SYDNEY’S PREMIER ALTERNATIVE CLUB NIGHT FEATURING BEST ALTERNATIVE DJ’S AND PERSONALLY RECOMMENDED BY IAN ASTBURY OF “CULT”
SUN 11TH 5PM
DEEPSPACE PRESENTS:
WIIZARDRY OF OZ
SANCTUARY JANUARY,
www.valvebar.com.au
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WITH “FATALIST”, “BURNING SEASON”, “HOMESICK”, “RAGE”, “BREAK THROUGH”, “NAPALM”, “QUICK FIX” S DEATH PRESENTS: DEATH NIGHT
SAT 31ST 8PM
WITH “FATALITAS” AND MANY MORE
BASEMENT
ATOMIC, 80S NEW WAVE CLUB
SAT 31ST 10PM
WITH SYDNEY’S BEST SELECTION OF ALTERNATIVE DJ’S
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For the latest live reviews go to themusic.com.au
The Internet @ Enmore Theatre. Pic: Simone Fisher
In town already for Laneway, the Odd Future spin-off made sure you could get a double dose of thanks to their own sideshow.
Odesza
“Syd was the ultimate crowd-wrangler and had us eating out of the palm of her hand from start to finish” - Melissa Borg
Laneway Festival @ Sydney College Of The Arts. Pics: Simone Fisher.
Back for another year, Laneway once again brought the party with another strong line-up of international and local acts.
- Dave Burrowes
Wolf Alice
“Well Laneway, you bloody did it. Killer line-up, with a bunch of rad bands killing it, sounding good and giving everyone a good time.”
Macklemore @ Hordern Pavilion. Pic: Josh Groom.
After causing a stir visiting Sydney for the NRL grand final last year performing his equality anthem Same Love, Macklemore returned for his own shows – so popular, in fact, in Sydney that he performed three nights.
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“Despite the backlash from certain politicians, he stated that [performing at the NRL] was one of his favourite things he’s ever done, before a powerful performance of [Same Love] in front of visuals of rainbow flags and pride and equality marches” - Madelyn Tait
144 glenayr av, Bondi Beach
Open 7days Midday till 10pm
bonditonysburgerjoint.com
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Something For Kate
Hurray For The Riff Raff
Mitch Cairns’ Agatha Gothe-Snape
This month’s highlights
Go hang Good eggs
Finalist notification for Casula Powerhouse’s 65th Blake Prize for contemporary art works that address the religious or spiritual is 23 Mar. The Archibald Prize exhibition is also starting at Powerhouse, finalists for the prize will be hanging from 24 Mar.
Blues parade
Joe Geia
March has arrived and as usual that means Bluesfest sideshows. Hurray For The Riff Raff, Robert Plant & The Sensational Space Shifters, Gomez, Benjamin Booker, Morcheeba and heaps more are coming our way this month.
Good Saturday festival kicks off on Railway Parade, 31 Mar. Head to the all-ages day session with CW Stoneking and All Our Exes Live In Texas then catch Something For Kate and singer-songwriter Jen Cloher at the night sesh.
Eskimo Joe
Missy Higgins
Get folked Running at Exhibition Park from 29 Mar to 2 Apr, National Folk Festival is back for its 52nd year. Legendary singersongwriter Joe Geia is headlining with WA’s John Bennett, Alice Skye, Dhapanbal Yunupiŋu and heaps more set to perform.
Classic Joe
Mountaineering
Prophets Of Rage
There is a crazy line-up for Katoomba’s Blue Mountains Music Festival, 16-18 Mar. There are more than 40 acts from here and around the world including Missy Higgins, Harry Manx, Briggs and The Brothers Comatose.
Maddy Jane
It’s a little unbelievable, but the Eskimo Joe boys have been together a full 21 years. To celebrate the milestone they’re playing with orchestras around the country, starting with SSO at Sydney Opera House this 7 Mar.
Down low
Park it
The inaugural Australian leg of Download festival might not be coming to town, but there are still sideshows galore this month. Catch Mastadon, Prophets Of Rage, Limp Bizkit, Suicidal Tendencies and more through March.
Party In The Park is moving indoors for its fourth year. The one-day festival is headed to Big Top at Luna Park with Art Vs Science, Maddy Jane, The Creases, Kingswood and heaps more on 24 Mar.
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MARCH
the best and the worst of the month’s zeitgeist
The lashes Front
Back
Killing It
The ace of space
Watch and learn
Bye Bye Birdy
Heads, you lose
Beyond words
Early reviews are in and
Netflix have just announced
Cherry Bar in Melbourne
Lady Bird made headlines
According to Gucci’s Fall-
The evidence to support
it’s looking like the Natalie
a reboot for the hokey AF
may lead the charge for new
around the world before
Winter collection, unveiled
expert claims that Donald
Portman helmed Annihila-
‘60s sci-fi TV wonder, Lost In
rules about using phones
it had even been released
in Milan, the must-have
Trump is a certifiable socio-
tion is something of a sci-fi
Space. The teaser trailer has
to film gigs. It’s a fine line to
for getting the highest
accessory this season is…
path got a serious bump
thriller masterpiece. Frankly,
already dropped and at first
toe, so Cherry Bar manage-
Rotten Tomatoes rating
your own severed head!
when a note reminding
we’re not surprised, given
glance it looks promising.
ment have said they’re ok
in history. And yet, despite
Models were sent down the
the President of obvious
Ex Machina creator Alex
But you never know with
with the odd quick snap.
those sweet creds, Universal
runway holding eerily realis-
consoling remarks was
Garland was in the director’s
the hit or miss Netflix track
If successful, it may set a
have censored the film for
tic copies of their lopped-off
photographed as the Prez
chair. I smell an Oscar…
record. DANGER WILL ROB-
precedent that will improve
its Aussie release to drop its
bonces. Why you ask? It’s
met survivors of the Florida
INSON! DANGER!
the live gig experience.
rating. Not happy, Jan.
fashion, daaaarhling!
School shooting.
The final thought
Words by Maxim Boon
It’s finally happened. I’m all out of schadenfreude.
I
’ve written a few times in the past year or so about the sweet, juicy joys of schadenfreude - or in a less fancy vernacular, taking pleasure from another’s misfortune. I’ve whiled away many an hour salivating over headlines about Donald Trump’s latest gaffe, or rubbing my hands together over editorials on the comeuppances of disgraced right-wing
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commentators - I damn near flooded my basement reading the savage editing notes on Milo Yiannopoulos’s rejected autobiography, although why publishers Simon & Schuster paid the troll-pro a $255,000 advance is beyond me. But I have to admit, my satisfaction levels in this golden age of schadenfreude are not what they once were. In fact, I’d go so far as to say my days of blissful schadenfreudering are behind me. More and more, that Nelson Muntz ‘ha-ha!’ moment has come at a terrible price. Barnaby Joyce’s recent remarks about the impact public outrage over his love child scandal may have on his new son’s life feel bitterly similar to the pleas made by rainbow families who were appallingly smeared by the Deputy PM during the toxic SSM-debate. The fact Donald Trump needed written notes with consoling remarks, including, “I hear you,” and, “What can I do to make you feel safe?” at a listening session with the survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre, may be another display of his absence of empathy, but 17 lost lives is a heartbreaking toll to expose this. Obviously, we need these blunders to be reported - it is vital that the public be as informed as possible about the hypocrisy and self-interest of our political elite. But the difference between a laughable lapse
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in statesmanship and a warped interpretation of leadership has become disturbingly blurred. Th is seemingly endless barrage of inequality and political corruption could easily leave nothing in its wake but despair. But it’s often in the eye of such terrible storms that a hero emerges to rally and galvanise us. Emma Gonzalez, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, became the voice of her generation last month, delivering an extraordinary 12-minute speech at an anti-gun rally just days after she witnessed 14 of her classmates and three of her teachers murdered. “Every single person up here today, all these people should be home grieving. But instead, we are up here, standing together because if all our government and President can do is send ‘thoughts and prayers’, then it’s time for victims to be the change that we need to see,” she said, wiping furious tears from her face. It’s a message school-aged Americans have lent their voices to and, finally, their calls for change have reached the highest office in their country. And even as I write this, I feel that same defiant passion stirring inside myself. Her sentiments, while specifically aimed at American gun laws, are just as applicable to any political injustice unfolding before us. The time for smirking from the sidelines is over.
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IN CONCERT WITH YOUR SSO SSO PRESENTS
Iconic indie legends Eskimo Joe prepare to rock out with their biggest band yet: your SSO, performing their massive hits including From the Sea, Black Fingernails Red Wine, Foreign Land and more.
7 MARCH 2018 SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE
ONE NIGHT ONLY!
Brit Award winning and multi platinum artist Paloma Faith makes her debut with your SSO in this exclusive Australian performance. Featuring songs from her new album The Architect such as Guilty, Cry Baby, ‘Til I’m Done, as well as her greatest hits.
APRIL 2018 SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE
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