08.03.17 Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Issue
179
Melbourne / Free / Incorporating
“THERE ARE SO MANY P OTENTIALS AND P OSSIBILITIES T H AT I SEE IN THINGS”
P O R T FA I R Y F O L K F E S T I VA L : T H E J E R R Y C A N S B A BY L O N : L U K E S L AT E R B R U N S W I C K M U S I C F E S T I VA L : H O T 8 B R A S S B A N D
2 • THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017
THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017 • 3
4 • THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017
9482 13
Wesley Anne
Bar, Restaurant, Etc.
Thursday 9 March
Friday 10 March
Saturday 11 March Sunday 12 March
Refraction
The Boys
Bear Rescues Crow
6pm, Front Bar, Free
6pm, Front Bar, Free
6pm, Front Bar, Free
6pm, Front Bar, Free
DJ Chris Xynos
Soul’d
9pm, Front Bar, Free
WEDNESDAYS
FLMXD
8pm, Band Room, $10
TRIVIA with SPARKS 7.30pm
Thursday 16 March Refraction 6pm, Front Bar, Free
Friday 17 March Davies West 6pm, Front Bar, Free
Saturday 18 March Trio AgogP 6pm, Front Bar, Free
Sunday 19 March Shelley Segal 2pm, #BOE 3PPN
Mat Black Band 8pm $10 Band Room
Mustered Courage – SOLD OUT 8pm Band Room
The Morrisons 8pm, Band Room $15 pre / $20 door
Belinda Woods’ Lo-Res Trio 6pm, Front Bar, FreF
$15 Jugs of Coburg Lager Mon - Fri before 6pm Open from 2pm Mon – Thu, 12pm Fri-Sun 250 High st, Northcote Hill / wesleyanne.com.au /9482 1333 THE
MARCH THURSDAY 9
FREE
TOM LEE-RICHARDS 6.30PM
FREE
RCH FRIDAY 10 MA
PUB BINGO WITH TREV & SPARKS6.30PM
BEER O’CLOCK PAY THE TIME FOR PINTS BETWEEN
6PM-9.59PM
MARCH SATURDAY 11
FREE
UNPAINTED PROSPECTS 6.30PM
MONDAYS
ROO & WINE 14 $
.99
TUESDAYS
$12 BURGERS
WEDNESDAYS
$12 PIE NIGHT THURSDAYS
$12 PARMA
$15 JUGS OF COBURG LAGER EVERY DAY BEFORE 6PM
27 WESTON ST, BRUNSWICK MON-THU 3PM TO LATE
LIVE
FRI-SUN NOON TO LATE
CHARLES WESTON HOTEL@GMAIL.COM OR GIVE US A BELL ON 9380 8777
EDINBURGH C AHS TLE OT E L WEDNESDAYS
M R S S M I T H T R I V I A , 8PM THURSDAY 9 MARCH
B E N SA LT E R W/TOM REDWOOD 9PM FREE FRONT BAR FRIDAY 10 MARCH
M I L E S D E CA R T E R E T 6PM FREE BEER GARDEN
DJ E R N I E D E E 9PM FREE BEER GARDEN SATURDAY 11 MARCH
DAV E H A R L E Y 5PM FREE BEER GARDEN
DJ JAY ST R I D E 9PM FREE BEER GARDEN
SUNDAY 12 MARCH
PAT R I C K WI L S O N 5PM FREE %((5 *$5'(1
MONDAYS ROO & WINE $14.99
WEDNESDAYS $12 PIE NIGHT
TUESDAYS $12 BURGERS
THURSDAYSS P OT & PA R M A - $ 1 5
$ 1 5 J U G S O F CO B U R G L AG E R M O N - F R I B E F O R E 6 P M
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THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017 • 5
Lifestyle Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Nightmare On Smith Street
Where and when? For more gig details go to theMusic.com.au
2009 The year Bag Raiders’ Shooting Stars was released, yet it has only recently found its way onto the US dance/electronic charts thanks to the “Lady Gaga Superbowl Dive” meme.
The Smith Street Band
Celebrated Melburnian rockers The Smith Street Band have announced a six-date national run of shows this May and June to support their impending fourth album, More Scared Of You Than You Are Of Me.
Texas In The Fall Sydney alt-folk band All Our Exes Live In Texas have announced a national tour in support of their debut album When We Fall. The four-piece, who will be playing this year’s SXSW, cross the country in June/July.
At The Dakota
Heading South, Dakota Darwin-based indie-pop groovers At The Dakota have much to celebrate at the moment, with their second EP, Melt, set to land early next month and a national tour set to kick off in tandem. 6 • THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017
e / Cultu Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Credits
Publisher Street Press Australia Pty Ltd
RocKwiz
Wiz Bang
Group Managing Editor Andrew Mast
Having recently gone on a Christmas(ish) tour together, the lovable RocKwiz Live! gang have already got itchy feet and have announced a solid 29-date tour that’ll start early June and run all the way to late July.
National Editor – Magazines Mark Neilsen Editor Bryget Chrisfield
Arts & Culture Editor Maxim Boon
Gig Guide Justine Lynch gigs@themusic.com.au Editorial Assistants Brynn Davies, Sam Wall
All Our Exes Live In Texas
Mallrat
Senior Contributor Jeff Jenkins Contributors Bradley Armstrong, Annelise Ball, Emma Breheny, Sean Capel, Luke Carter, Anthony Carew, Uppy Chatterjee, Daniel Cribb, Cyclone, Guy Davis, Dave Drayton, Guido Farnell, Tim Finney, Bob Baker Fish, Cameron Grace, Neil Griffiths, Kate Kingsmill, Tim Kroenert, Pete Laurie, Chris Maric, Fred Negro, Obliveus, Paz, Rod Whitfield, Sarah Petchell, Michael Preberg, Paul Ransom, Dylan Stewart Senior Photographer Kane Hibberd Photographers Andrew Briscoe, Cole Bennetts, Jay Hynes, Lucinda Goodwin
Coming Of Age MC Mallrat has been making waves since she dropped her debut EP Uninvited last year. Now she’s heading out on a trifecta of headline shows this April with her mates Sidechains and Oh Boy.
Advertising Dept Leigh Treweek, Antony Attridge, Braden Draper, Brad Summers sales@themusic.com.au Art Dept Ben Nicol, Felicity Case-Mejia, Alex Foreman vic.art@themusic.com.au
Def FX
Admin & Accounts Loretta Zoppos, Ajaz Durrani, Meg Burnham, Emma Clarke accounts@themusic.com.au Distro distro@themusic.com.au Subscriptions store@themusic.com.au Contact Us Tel 03 9421 4499 Fax 03 9421 1011 info@themusic.com.au www.themusic.com.au Level 1, 221 Kerr Street Fitzroy Vic 3057 Locked Bag 2001 Clifton Hill VIC 3068
Northlane
— Melbourne
Heavy Intuition Hardcore heavyweights Northlane have unveiled news that they’ll be setting off on a huge national tour this year with their newest single, Intuition. Hands Like Houses will be joining the band on their May run.
Def Kult Twenty years after they called it quits, Def FX have announced the Heaven & Hell Australian tour. Joined by My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult the electronic surf rockers will hit stages in July. THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017 • 7
Music Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
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For eleven nights starting this Sunday get your dins at Caulfield Racecourse with Gourmet Cinema. The event pairs a different Melbourne eatery with a classic film (eg Kong/Pulp Fiction) each night for “menus inspired by movies�.
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Dance Of Darkness Evocation Of Butoh opens at Arts Centre Thursday to Sunday as part of ASIA Topa. Celebrating artistic and cultural exchange though the art of Butoh, the event will feature a range of short works.
c / Arts / Music / Arts / Lifestyle / Culture
Eyes On The Road
Having literally just finished a huge run of sold-out shows around Australia, Newcastle favourites Trophy Eyes have announced that they’ll be packing their bags again to do it all over later this year in August.
Trophy Eyes
Luka Lesson
Blues’ Company Bluesfest sideshow supports are out, with acts like Luka Lesson supporting Nahko & Medicine For The People, Marcus Whale supporting Laura Mvula and Eric Avery supporting Rhiannon Giddens (check theMusic.com.au for full list).
What Choice Do You Have? Opening at Fortyfivedownstairs this week and carrying through to April is Twisted Tales, an exhibition by 2014 Archibald prize finalist Eliza Cameron that explores the delicate balance between free will and biological predetermination.
me: you might say I’m a cunning linguist date: haha I get it. like “cunnilingus” me: what is that @DanMentos THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017 • 9
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Laura Mvula doesn’t want to be an “artist that writes music to make people cry”. She tells Cyclone about the sonic and personal expansion that accompanied The Dreaming Room.
10 • THE MUS MUSIC IC • 8TH MAR MARCH CH 2017 2017
ult English avant-soul artist Laura Mvula has long dreamt of visiting Australia. Now she’s headlining Bluesfest 2017 behind an album symbolically entitled The Dreaming Room. “I remember when I was maybe 16 or 17, my dad took a business trip to Australia,” Mvula reminisces. “Nobody in my family had been before. We just waited with baited breath to hear about his adventures. He could not stop going on about how amazing it was when he came back. So since then I’ve always been like, ‘I can’t wait to experience it.’” Alas, that tale will have a poignant twist. Mvula is surely one of the boldest contemporary act on this year’s Bluesfest roster. But, having magicked her own genre from gospel, symphonies and pastorals, Mvula is as likely to beguile fans of Jethro Tull as Mary J Blige. The singer, who idolises Nina Simone, has been adopted by the jazz fraternity. Transcending classification, Mvula is the most innovative and imaginative British female star since Kate Bush - with Dame Shirley Bassey’s vocal prowess. Mvula’s career has been serendipitous. She grew up Laura Douglas in Birmingham her Caribbean family devoutly Christian and musical (Mvula’s siblings are in her band). She sang in church and learnt piano and violin. Mvula eventually studied composition at the Birmingham Conservatoire. She joined choirs - notably her aunt Carol Pemberton’s renowned Black Voices. And she fronted a neo-soul outfit, Judyshouse. Mvula encountered her future husband Themba Mvula in college. He encouraged her to create music on a laptop as she gigged miserably as a relief teacher and receptionist. Mvula circulated demos, piquing the interest of Rumer’s producer Steve Brown. In 2013, amid much buzz, she debuted on RCA with Sing To The Moon - which, bearing the serene psychedelia of Green Garden, cracked the UK Top Ten. Nominated for her first Mercury Prize, Mvula lost to James Blake. Mvula re-recorded Sing To The Moon with The Netherlands’ Metropole Orkest at Abbey Road Studios. Between solo projects she consistently collaborated - even liaising with two other Bluesfest draws, Gregory Porter (whom Mvula calls “Uncle Gregory”) and Snarky Puppy. She appeared on soundtracks, laying down a spare, piano-led rendition of Little Girl Blue for the John Legend-curated 12 Years A Slave. In 2016 Mvula aired The Dreaming Room, a lavishly ambitious sequel to Sing To The Moon - assisted by new co-producer Troy Miller. “I realised that I still have that childlike adventurous spirit when it comes to making new music,” Mvula says. “There are so many potentials and possibilities that I see in things.” She utilised the London Symphony
Orchestra and her emerging studio capability for a fuller sound. “Sing To The Moon felt like a really virgin studio experience for me,” Mvula explains. “I didn’t grow up in studios. I didn’t work hard enough to sort myself out with studio equipment like a lot of my friends were doing and recording their own songs. When I did Sing To The Moon, that was new to me... So, when it got to the point where I actually had a full-size orchestra, it was a no-brainer. I just wanted to do all of the things I could possibly think of. And then with The Dreaming Room I wanted to do that, but harder.” Mvula introduced other sonic elements - funk, disco and breakbeat. Indeed, she sought to challenge those who would curtail her. “I got frustrated in the end with being put in a box with Sing To The Moon,” Mvula divulges. “I remember a fan once said, ‘Keep getting your heart broken so that you write these incredible songs.’ At the time, I remember thinking, ‘Oh gosh, am I just this artist that writes music to make people cry?’ While I see value in that, I hope that’s not who I am. So with The Dreaming Room I wanted to widen the spectrum.” Though Mvula considers Sing To The Moon “a song cycle”, which she might play on piano,, The Dreaming Room reveals more complex arrangements. There are even electric guitars. Coincidentally, Nile Rodgers tweeted Mvula, pleading for a collab - and he added his funky licks to the single Overcome. “It felt like [the guitar] took it into a new
place that wasn’t so singer/songwriter-y - which I don’t have anything against but, as soon as someone goes, ‘That’s who Laura Mvula is, we’ve got it,’ I get nervous. I wanna go somewhere else.” Surprisingly, the grime MC Wretch 32 brings his urgent street poetry to People - about the African Diaspora, racism and, ultimately, affirmation. Mvula decided that the song needed a male voice. “At the beginning, I was like, ‘Well, this is my chance to approach Idris Elba,’” she says playfully, “’cause I’m obsessed with him - and he unsuccessfully hides from me because I’m obsessed with him!” But Mvula’s manager suggested Wretch, a close industry friend. The rapper furnished his part in 36 hours. “He understood the song, he knows me, he understands where I’m at,” Mvula observes. Mvula is continually diversifying. She remade The Delfonics’ Ready Or Not Here I Come (Can’t Hide From Love) via the Fugees for a House Of Fraser Christmas campaign. Mvula’s label subsequently repackaged The Dreaming Room - complete with her sublime BBC Live cover of Tame Impala’s Same Ol’ Mistakes, post-Rihanna. Lately, Mvula has composed music for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Antony & Cleopatra. Still, Mvula has had her trials. She’s disclosed a history of depression, anxiety and panic attacks. This was triggered by her parents’ shock separation - Mvula penning the sorrowful Father, Father about the man who related his Antipodean adventures, only to become estranged. Mvula’s struggle intensified with growing celebrity. Her own marriage ended amicably in 2015. Today, musicians are opening up about mental illness - from Lady GaGa to KiD CuDi to Melody Pool. Mvula has received peer support - especially from the US side. “I think British artists are generally more reserved, because we have unfortunately that part of our culture that doesn’t permit us to [talk about depression] - it’s the age-old ‘keep calm and carry on’ thing,” she says. “Everybody kinda shuts up and gets on with it... [Destiny’s Child singer] Michelle Williams has probably called me two or three times in a year, just to say, ‘I understand’ - ‘cause she’s been very outspoken about her depression. We’ve never actually met, but she felt so moved by what she’d read and listened of my music... For artists overseas I’ve definitely noticed a different kind of attitude when it comes to solidarity and coming together and being supportive of one another and just being a listening ear. Eric Benet more recently has been that for me. I think we’re getting there. Emeli Sande and I have talked quite a bit. Lianne La Havas. I think as women, as young black women, in music, in our country, that it’s important for us and for others that we’re seen to be supporting one another and for it to be authentic - which it is.”
As women, as young black women, in music, in our country, that it’s important for us and for others that we’re seen to be supporting one another.
When & Where: 13 Apr, Melbourne Recital Centre; 16 & 17 Apr, Bluesfest, Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm
T H E M O U S E T H A T R O A R E D Laura Mvula’s trailblazing take on soul music defies any routine ‘urban’ classification. But, while collaborating with jazz artists like Gregory Porter, Snarky Puppy and Robert Glasper, Mvula has also made forays into grime. She cameoed on Tinie Tempah’s celestial breakbeat soul Heroes. More recently, she featured on Wretch 32’s sentimental Something after he blessed her single People. “I’ve always been in love with Wretch,” Mvula says. “The first time I met Wretch was at a party - one of the first label parties that I’d been to. I was like a mouse in a corner. I couldn’t talk to anybody, I was so shy. I felt out of place because I didn’t feel fashionable enough. I think it was for the BRIT Awards. So everybody who was anybody in British music was there. He came up to me, said ‘hello’, introduced himself, and then sang one of my songs from Sing To The Moon to me. It was a really loud room, so he had to sing it in my ear. I remember thinking, ‘Oh my God, this brother listens to my music? How is that possible! He’s a rapper.’ Then I realised [that], behind my own sort of small-mindedness, music, when it truly connects, transcends above all the boxes we want to put things into. And Wretch and I became friends from then.” THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017 • 11
Music
Reaching Into The Past It’s not often you hear an album sung in Inuktitut. Andrew Morrison from Canadian group The Jerry Cans tells Brynn Davies about evolving native traditions to encourage their children to embrace their ancestry.
A
shiver of Arctic wind carries the bark and howl of huskies through the speakers, a crisp crunch of snow underfoot melts away the summer heat from whatever stifling room you’re sitting in and replaces it with vast expanses of rolling tundra. “We wanted to really make an album that transports people from wherever they are to the Arctic and we did that in Intro - we wanted to find the coldest-sounding wind you can find, which is very challenging!” laughs Andrew Morrison. “Everyone in the band grew up in Iqaluit, Nunavutin, in the Arctic of Canada... It’s an Indigenous community,
He had a lot of rifles and it was like, ‘If you’re gonna date my daughter you’re gonna speak Inuktitut’.
the people where we live [were] formerly known as Eskimos, but we don’t use that term any more because it’s now considered a derogatory term... It’s a beautiful spot, there’s no trees, it’s all rolling hills and tundra and mountains. Usually they get three hours of light in the winter, 20 hours of darkness and in the summertime there’s 24 hours of light - so it’s quite a different world,” he enlightens. Canadian outfit The Jerry Cans are committed to preserving the language and culture of their northern roots, dispelling misrepresentations of native communities and modernising the Inuktitut tongue, traditional instruments and folk songs as a way to encourage the younger generation to embrace their 12 • THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017
ancestry. “We wanted our daughters to communicate in their own language and be proud of speaking in their own language,” Morrison explains of the decision to embrace the Inuktitut dialect on their third record Inuusiq/Life. “For young people there’s a lot of pressure growing up in this global world, and we wanted to tell young people they should be proud of who they are, proud of knowing their ancestral language.” “I started to learn the language because Nancy [Mike, throat singer/accordionist]’s father couldn’t speak English. He had a lot of rifles and it was like, ‘If you’re gonna date my daughter you’re gonna speak Inuktitut.’ It was an extra level of motivation,” he laughs heartily. The Jerry Cans pass on his story in Tusaavit (Can You Hear?): “Nancy’s father was born out on the land before there was even a community. He was born in a snow house an igloo, a very iconic symbol of the north. So he lived his life out on the land and had to provide for his family. And similar to Australia, there was a system of government schools - they took children away and made them go to school and learn English and learn a trade - and it was very traumatic for a lot of families and communities. He was very much punished, he refused to go to school and he lived a very basic life. Sometimes it’s hard for young people to have any kind of understanding of what life was like back then. Sometimes I think that young people think the old ways have no value, but we wanted to switch that around and really honour the strength and endurance and ability to survive under really grave circumstances.” The group not only want to reinvigorate passion for their culture within young Indigenous fans, but also “demystify” the western idea of the north for a broader audience. “It’s hard, we like to talk about these issues but we also like to tell it in a way that shows the world that we’re doing something about it,” he impassions. “To me, mental health and suicide is one of the big ones for young people. Everyone in our band has lost family members or old friends to suicide and I think that’s just one example of an issue that’s really challenging for people. And violence; within relationships, families, within communities. And that’s what I wanted to remind my daughters; all these things that we need to focus on, to build on; I’m getting a bit emotional from it,” he confides, “Especially with the world now, the people in power - it’s dangerous. It’s an especially important time to rally and find each other and remind each other that we’re beautiful and strong no matter what.” Mike - the only Inuk member - is the featured throat singer on tracks such as Ukiuq - a tradition that, while “not formally outlawed, was very strongly discouraged”, Morrison explains. “It was seen as backwards, and Christianity really trumped tradition. But it’s gone through a very cool revitalisation over the last 20 to 25 years.”
What: Inuusiq (Aakuluk Music) When & Where: 10, 11 & 12 Mar, Port Fairy Folk Festival; 15 Mar, Northcote Social Club; 16 Mar, Sooki Lounge
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19/05 - METHYL ETHEL SELLING FAST 20/05 - HELLIONS SELLING FAST 24/05 - JULIA JACKLIN SOLD OUT 27/05 - THE CHERRY DOLLS 28/05 - JULIA JACKLIN SELLING FAST 03/06 - POLISH CLUB 09/07 - TOUCHE AMORE USA
19/05
14 & 15/04
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14/07 - THE UNDERTONES UK 14/08 - NEW FOUND GLORY SOLD OUT 15/08 - NEW FOUND GLORY SELLING FAST 16/08 - NEW FOUND GLORY SELLING FAST 02/09 - TROPHY EYES SELLING FAST
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PLUS HE A PS MORE AT W W W.NORTHCOTESOCI A LCLUB.COM THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017 • 13
Theatre
Play By The Rules Director Kim Farrant is swapping the big screen for the small stage for Red Stitch Actors Theatre’s latest production, Rules For Living. She tells Maxim Boon about her theatre directorial debut.
D
irector Kim Farrant is no stranger to storytelling on a grand scale. As a film and television maker, she has spent her career using the epic scope of those mediums in the service of her narratives, perhaps most strikingly in her recent feature length movie, Strangerland, a tense domestic thriller set against the red desert of the Australian outback, starring Nicole Kidman, Joseph Fiennes and Hugo Weaving. For her most recent project, Farrant has swapped the big screen for the small stage, making her theatre directorial debut later this month at Red Stitch Actors
The challenge for me is wrestling what I call the ‘slimy pig’ of this two and half hour show.
Theatre with the Australian premiere of British playwright Sam Holcroft’s Rules For Living. Ironically, it’s the film world that has led her to this live action career shift. “I’ve always been intrigued by the theatre, but I’ve been so focused on my film and TV life that I’ve never really had the time or headspace to explore it,” she explains. “But I started work on a film which was set in the world of theatre, and the opportunity came up to work with Red Stitch, so it felt like a good way to immerse myself in that world. I was sent a few different plays to read and Rules For Living totally wowed me. I was simultaneously moved, a bit gutted, at times laughing my head off, so directing this show has become not only a wonderful 14 • THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017
chance to explore the theatre, but also something that’s very dear to my heart.” Cinema may deal in the sprawling visual grandeur of the big wide world, but there are some aspects of scale where theatre dominates. “As a filmmaker, one of my biggest influences is detail. I can get slightly obsessed with the detail of a certain physicality or a certain movement. But when you’re staging a play you have to be aware of these large durations of time,” Farrant notes. “The challenge for me is wrestling what I call the ‘slimy pig’ of this two and half hour show, finding the blocking, considering the flow of the piece. Not being able to call ‘cut’ to get to the next shot has been a big change in my mindset.” While the move from film to theatre has required some adjustments to her methods, Farrant has largely preserved the core principles of her directorial approach. “The way that I work is very intense, in terms of the processes I use with the actors. It’s very personal. It evokes a lot of stuff for them, which can be very uncomfortable in moments and hugely liberating in others, with the end result being the actors are very open and porous. It allows them to have great freedom in their choices but also great depth and power,” she shares. “I knew the way I direct would work at Red Stitch because it’s such an open and adventurous company and they respect the amount of freedom directors need to do their best work. Everyone involved has been very receptive and willing, especially the actors. It’s been extraordinary for me to see what they’ve discovered about themselves and how that’s so exquisitely translating into their characters.” It may be Farrant’s first time tackling theatre, but she hasn’t shied away from a challenge. Rather than taking on a play with a conventional structure, Farrant’s first foray into the world of theatre is an idiosyncratic black comedy anchored to a surreal conceit. Using the familiar scenario of a family Christmas, complete with all the fraught, drama-packed dynamics and quintessential Yuletide stress everyone will recognise, Rules For Living is framed as a kind of subliminal game show. The various characters on stage must abide by certain rules, completing arbitrary actions - for example, sitting down every time a lie is told. It’s a bravura text that has a winning combination of head and heart, Farrant believes. “It’s a very touching work, because it finds a new way to examine a very relatable idea. As children, we learn certain behaviours that are key to our survival, the most important one being how to keep the love of our parents. We need food and shelter, of course, but love is the most vital ingredient for keeping us alive,” Farrant smiles. “We all have rules we live by, codes of conduct if you like, in order to try and keep that love. As an adult, we project those behaviours onto everyone we meet. We become master manipulators whether we’re conscious of it or not.”
When & Where: 14 Mar - 16 Apr, Red Stitch Actors Theatre
tues 7/3
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THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017 • 15
Music
Frontlash Block Party! Did anyone else go to that random backyard laneway party behind Bunnings Brunswick after Sydney Road Street Party? How good was it!?
Balancing Tact
SLAMming Success Major congratulations to renowned music community activist/co-owner of Bakehouse Studios Helen Marcou who is one of 20 exceptional women joining the Victorian Honour Roll For Women in the lead-up to International Women’s Day (8 Mar).
Unleash The Beast
Lashes
We’re hooked on FERLA’s new track In The Night. Wrap your ears around it pronto (or, even better, head to The Tote on a Wednesday in April where the former Twin Beasts frontman has locked in a residency). New Musical Crush: FERLA
Backlash
Beastly Behaviour Wait, so Beauty & The Beast features talking housewares, witchcraft, kidnapping and a woman-on-manimal relationship... and the fact that LeFou is openly into Gaston is getting pilloried for being ‘unnatural’? Call this an unfair generalisation if you must, but people are just the worst.
Crying Shame Can someone please bring the Hall & Oates/Tears For Fears tour Down Under? FOMOs are off the charts!
Gone Fishin’ So apparently there are fitness classes where you wear a mermaid tail. We actually can’t even. 16 • THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017
Drummer Tomas Haake of tech-metallers Meshuggah tells Brendan Crabb about creating music that’s heavier than a busload of Sumo wrestlers without crushing the audience.
A
s various pundits have suggested, eventually there must be a limit of heaviness that extreme metal acts are going to reach, even if such a marker remains undefined at this point. That said, as their latest LP The Violent Sleep Of Reason indicates, after three decades Swedish heavyweights Meshuggah remain almost inexplicably able to up the brutality ante. This time around, their sonic gut-punch was aided by utilising entirely live takes aired via real amps and speakers. Tub-thumper Tomas Haake believes there are groups capable of further pushing the boundaries in this regard. “I’m sure there are. We always debate... Like, for a while we were thinking, ‘Let’s go to nine-string guitars. This isn’t enough, we need to go lower.’ But at the same time, it doesn’t really have so much to do with that. “It has more to do with songwriting and, I don’t know, we’re just trying to write something that... Even with this music that we write, it tends to be complex; you still try to write music that’s directed at people and not for yourself only. You hear bands that try that and you’re like, ‘Yeah, this is awesome, but I can’t listen to it for more than five minutes before my fucking toenails start pointing right
up and I have a panic attack.’ So you try to find the perfect kind of in between where you’re being true to yourself but at the same time you want to perform and write something for other people.” Given Meshuggah’s penchant for uncompromising records and pulverising live shows, almost tabloid-like coverage of Haake’s relationship with Orange Is The New Black star Jessica Pimentel (also of metal crew Alekhine’s Gun) seems at odds with their heads-down ethos. Although Haake appears nonplussed about his personal life becoming fodder for blogs and podcasts, he offers, “If there’s a lot of focus on those kind of things more than just your music it tends to be a little weird. “But it’s not something that I would say I suffer from really to any extent, but it’s... A little weird sometimes. Like, ‘Holy fuck? When did it come to this? Why do people care so fucking much about these things?’ You’re just kind of doing your thing and people tend to focus on other aspects of what you’re doing with your life. I guess in a sense that’s also validation and it’s a little humbling in a sense because I guess people are interested and involved, so in a sense it’s good.” Pursuing clickbait-style celebrity headlines isn’t on Meshuggah’s agenda, though. “In a lot of ways we’re kind of the recluses of metal. We’re not really in a sense part of what’s going on. We don’t keep a check on what’s new, what’s going on, what’s happening with metal nowadays. We get questions like that a lot of times, ‘What new bands are you into?’ Honestly, we don’t really know anything,” he laughs. “We just do this and keep our fingers crossed that people will still appreciate what we’re doing and the effort we put into doing it.”
When & Where: 14 & 15 Mar, 170 Russell
WED 8 MAR
BLACK BATS PISS FACTORY THE PITS
THU 9 MAR
CHILDREN OF THE SUN
THE TINY GIANTS JORDAN CLAY AND THE SKELETON BAND
FRI 10 MAR
LABJACD SAT 11 MAR ARVO:
DAVIES WEST EVE:
TWISTED WILLOWS MAVERICK LONGBOYS
SUN 12 MAR
CO-EXIST COLLECTIVE:
TRICK DOG SYNDICATE FLAT CONTROLLER SMOKY SEAS PRIMM SECTORAL
MON 13 MAR
BAZOOKAS (AMSTERDAM)
ADMIRAL ACKBAR’S DISHONOURABLE DISCHARGE TUE 14 MAR
MAKE IT UP CLUB
THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017 • 17
Music
Shining A Light
Tuff Guy By Nite
Previous Lighthouse Award Winner Jen Cloher
The annual APRA AMCOS Lighthouse Award has opened submissions for 2017, once again granting $5000 to a standout female Victorian music manager or self-managed artist. Created in honour of late, great manager Linda Gebar, who passed away unexpectedly in October 2008 after an acclaimed career nurturing the careers of acts such as The Killjoys, Frente and The Blackeyed Susans — alongside her work with both APRA AMCOS and Melbourne station PBS FM, and her time as a booker at the Punters Club and as a record label owner — The Lighthouse Award aims to recognise individuals who exhibit “passion, creativity and integrity” at the kind of levels displayed by the trailblazing Gebar and give them a helping hand in developing their career. Previous winners include Bonnie Dalton, Bernadette Ryan and 2013 recipient Jen Cloher. Applications are open now, and will close at 5pm AEST on Monday 24 April ahead of the winner being announced in May.
18 • THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017
When techno legend Cam Bianchetti, aka DJ HMC, switched handles people got pretty curious about new talent on the scene, Late Nite Tuff Guy. He tells Cyclone “they’re putting two and two together” now.
A
delaide’s DJ HMC (aka Carmelo “Cam” Bianchetti) is celebrated as the godfather of Australian techno. But he is mysterious and reclusive. Rumours perpetually circulate that this regular Berghain guest has moved to Berlin. Not so. “I’ve always gone back and forth,” Bianchetti says. “Especially the last five years, I’ve travelled a lot and spent a lot of time in London and Berlin and Amsterdam — because I love Amsterdam, it’s a great place for music.” Bianchetti’s bio isn’t based on Spotify stats. He has a narrative and a myth. A disco kid, Bianchetti latched onto Chicago house, then Detroit techno, in the ‘80s. He started DJing professionally as HMC: House Master Cam. Bianchetti would put Adelaide on the dance music chart. In 1995, his track Phreakin’ — on Dirty House Records, a subsidiary of the local Juice Records — became an international hit. Bianchetti was championed by the Detroit fraternity, plus DJ super-influencer Carl Cox. Around the early 2000s Bianchetti pulled back amid talk of aviophobia and retirement. However, he’s recently experienced a stunning rebirth. Bianchetti has focused on a modish nu-disco alter ego, Late Nite Tuff Guy, not only
editing classics and producing originals, but also launching the Tuff Cut label. He impressed Greg Wilson, UK edits legend. In 2016 Bianchetti remixed New Order’s People On The High Line for Mute — huge. Ironically, Bianchetti today has a larger online presence as Late Nite Tuff Guy than HMC. Discohouse has an ardent young audience in Europe. “In the UK, for example, people sing along to the music that I’m playing — even my edits that I play,” Bianchetti enthuses. Many assume Late Nite Tuff Guy is recent, but it originated in 1993 with a nowforgotten 12”. “At the very beginning, for the first few years, a lot of people [said], ‘Hey, who’s this new guy on the scene, making these great edits and things like this?’ It’s pretty weird. But, once they did their research and got online and saw that I have a background, a DJing career that is 35 years long, and used to make techno and house music, they’re putting two and two together.” Yet, with a techno resurgence, Bianchetti is resuming HMC activity — something he welcomes. “Not that I don’t love DJing as Late Nite Tuff Guy, it’s a lot of fun, but I think I get to be more creative when I’m DJing as DJ HMC.” Bianchetti will play both HMC and Late Nite Tuff Guy sets at Victoria’s new boutique Babylon Festival. Bianchetti remains a DJ’s DJ, although he’s dispensed with vinyl, favouring CDs. “I still haven’t made my way to laptop and I’m not sure whether I will.” Bianchetti’s mystique continues to serves him well, even in the social media age. But, then again, he follows his instincts over trends. “I’ve never been one that really is bothered by what happens around me, with what’s in vogue or whatever. I’ve always just wanted to do what I wanna do and I think that is a big part of the success.”
When & Where: 11 Mar, Babylon Festival, Carapooee West
ALL BLUESFEST TOURING ARTISTS
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THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017 • 19
Music
Flux Capacity Techno frontrunner Luke Slater warned years ago that you can’t be scared of the future. After decades as part of an industry in constant flux, he tell Cyclone he stands the need for change.
I
n 2002, British techno innovator Luke Slater unleashed a countercultural electro-pop album on Mute Records. Alright On Top, featuring The Aloof’s vocalist Ricky Barrow, proved to be polarising - purists irked. Ironically, today it’s deemed a classic. “I’m quite a rebellious kind of person,” Slater laughs. “I think that’s probably half of the problem, but half of the blessing, because I don’t like being tied down. That’s something I’ve always fought against in everything, for whatever reason.”
The DJ/producer is familiar with electronic music cycles. Slater became a rave romantic, and renegade, during the acid house era - pursuing music as his vocation. Beginning in 1989, he circulated his inimitable IDM under innumerable handles. His early albums as Planetary Assault Systems - space-funk - on Peacefrog Records were feted. Yet Slater’s most high-profile work materialised under his own name. In 1997 he aired Freek Funk, encompassing the house opus Love, via NovaMute. Slater joined the Big Day Out. He followed with the breaks-oriented Wireless. Slater then boldly assembled a band to tour Alright On Top. He also subversively remixed Madonna’s The Power Of Good-Bye into techno. “It was an interesting time because a lot of pop artists - and especially females, actually - were looking to the techno 20 • THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017
scenes to bring a different sort of mix to what they were doing.” In 2006, amid a quasi-hiatus, Slater launched a label, Mote-Evolver. Last September, Slater - now down with the Berghainaffiliated Ostgut Ton - delivered a Planetary Assault Systems album, Arc Angel, of abstractly melodic techno. Slater speaks reverently of Planetary Assault Systems as music emanating from “a mindset” - even compulsion. “It’s almost like a force that I really don’t understand, but I’ve lived with it for a long time.” Rebel or not, he won’t ever “mess with” Planetary Assault Systems. Slater will both perform live as Planetary Assault Systems (on laptop, augmented with a 909) and DJ at Babylon Festival - his first Australian fest since 2013’s BDO. Coincidentally, he’s spruiking The Light Years Reworks, comprising remixes of seminal Planetary Assault Systems tracks from the likes of Octave One. Ever unpredictable, Slater has resurrected another
I think that’s about going forward. Musicians have had to change and performers have had to change and the whole industry’s had to change. ‘90s vehicle in the ambient The 7th Plain - Chronicles I revealing unreleased and “archival” tracks. “Some of them are really old,” he divulges. “I was a different person when I made them, so it’s like hearing them quite fresh... [But] I don’t like looking back too much.” Slater has seen the dance music industry change dramatically, with new technologies, economics and modes of consumption. Even those pioneers who laud progress - and futurism - might admit to feeling anxious about such flux. Not Slater. “I think there’s been testing points,” he ponders. “I think I said years ago, like, ‘Don’t be scared of the future, because it’s gonna change.’ The test of anything you say is when something does change and how you handle it. You can’t hold onto stuff - you can’t hold onto anything that was. And I think that’s about going forward. Musicians have had to change and performers have had to change and the whole industry’s had to change. But, then, who said there was any right for anything to be as it was before?”
When & Where: 12 Mar, Babylon Festival, Carapooee West
Music
Rest In Peace
compassion for musicians to know what we were goin’ through personally, because Treme did a good job of, you know, kinda showin’ that.” His band often play at jazz funerals and, on those who don’t understand this type of funeral “culturally”, Pete shares, “They’re just like, ‘Wow, they have entertainment, To read the they have music, at full interview the funeral?’” head to Pete points out Born and raised in New theMusic.com.au that jazz funerals Orleans, Hot 8 Brass Band are “broken into sousaphone player/band two parts”. After the band play “slow samba music to pay their respect... the second part leader Bennie Pete informs is [what] they call cuttin’ the body loose. So Bryget Chrisfield that jazz that would be when the band would, you funerals help his community know, gather ‘round the hearse and play one more dirge and play more of an up-tempo face “the reality of death”. toon when the hearse would, like, leave from the procession and go on to the actual burial ith sousaphones weighing in grounds, and leave the band there, you know, at up to 22 kilograms, we’re entertaining the onlookers and the friends tipping The Hot 8 Brass Band get of the family... and the family members and stung by hefty excess baggage charges friends could, like, you know, think about for international tours. Band leader/ more of the good times.” sousaphonist Bennie Pete confirms, Attending these funerals also helps open “Especially with my instrument ‘cause it up dialogue about death and Pete informs, gets charged for the overweight and the “You could even critique it; you could get wit oversize.” Perhaps he’d be better off buying your siblings or your parents or your wife or a separate seat for it, then? “They already whatever - your husband - and say, ‘Look, charge me sometimes for an extra seat,” he if something was to happen to me this is laments. “So I need three seats. what I would prefer - or this is what I want... The Hot 8 Brass Band were given a and you could leave that in the hands of boost of exposure when they were featured your loved ones and your family members in two Spike Lee documentaries: When The and if they around when that happens they Levees Broke: A Requiem In Four Acts (2006) could do whatever they could within their and If God Is Willing And Da Creek Don’t Rise power to make that happen for you. And (2010). The band was also featured in the that would help them deal with, you know, third season of popular HBO series, Treme, leaving you and missing you until they leave. which Pete credits for encouraging tourists So it’s just an ongoing thing and it’s kind of to explore “the neighbourhood bars” and a therapy, you know; it’s therapeutic and it “the mom and pop restaurants right in the helps everybody kinda cope with the reality neighbourhood” rather than “just comin’ to of death.” New Orleans for, you know, like, Bourbon Street and The French Quarter”. “And also, at the same time, they were helping rebuild those places by just supportin’ it, you know, and giving the owners and New Orleanians When & Where: support and inspiration... And they had a 14 & 15 Mar, Coburg Town Hall
W
Planet McPlanetface
NASA thought it would be a good wheeze to get the public to name the seven Earth-like planets it recently discovered orbiting a nearby star. The internet did not disappoint. Here are our favourites. 1. Pluto 2. Long Live Pluto 3. Pluto Forever 4. We Love Pluto 5. Screw You For Killing Pluto 6. Planet of the Keks 7. Pluto 1. The Fast And The Furious 2. 2 Fast 2 Furious 3. Tokyo Drift 4. Fast & Furious 5. Fast 5 6. Fast & Furious 6 7. Furious 7 1. Planet McPlanetface 2. Moonie McMoonface 3. Rocky McRockface 4. Icy McIceface 5. Dusty Mc Dustface 6. Gasy McGasface 7. Wanda
THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017 • 21
In Focus NGV Triennial
Melbourne’s art lovers have a lot to get excited about with the announcement last week of an unprecedented global showcase kicking off in December. The work of more than 60 artists from over 30 countries will occupy all four levels of NGV International, but even more excitingly, this Melbourne-exclusive exhibition will be absolutely free to enter.
22 • THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017
The NGV Triennial is an exciting new addition to Melbourne’s busy festival calendar; a major international exhibition championing the most important creative minds in the world, staged every three years. The inaugural NGV Triennial begins 15 Dec 2017.
Music
Formula Done Rod Whitfield discovers frontman (and so much more) Ian Svenonius doesn’t much care for the “era of enforced vacuity and anti-content”. That’s why Chain & The Gang is “a party band that communicates”.
I
an Svenonius is a man of many and varied talents; a musician, a writer, a film maker, a political activist and commentator, a songwriter and frontman with a long and illustrious music career behind him. He is about to bring his most recent musical project, Chain & The Gang, out to Australia for the very first time, and he has quite a left of centre way of describing them. “We really are a party band, and by that I mean a party band that communicates,” he emphasises from his home in Washington DC. “We’ve been kind of a fish out of water in the IKEA, Pitchfork, indie era of enforced vacuity and anti-content. We’re a dance/ party band that actually tries to be present.” He feels that that feeling of presence and ability to communicate is what’s missing in much of today’s mainstream pop and rock music, and has some interesting commentary to make regarding today’s music scene. “I feel like rock’n’roll has become more and more businesslike and more and more careerist,” he opines. “It’s just gotten safer and safer. When I was growing up, people doing this music, there was no chance of being famous. And now because there is, and everybody is trying to do it, it’s all become like ‘Oh, you have to hire a publicist, you do this and that, and you’re going to be famous!’ “It’s become a formula, and part of that formula is being very safe. I don’t want to complain about music, about the state of the music business, but you just can’t help yourself sometimes.” Svenonius has been involved in a myriad of different bands and musical projects over the years
It’s become a formula, and part of that formula is being very safe. I don’t want to complain about music, about the state of the music business, but you just can’t help yourself sometimes.
since his beginnings in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s, however this tour is all about the current project. “This tour is just about Chain & The Gang,” he states definitively. “We have four albums behind us now, and we have a couple of new records that are coming out. I don’t think they’re going to be out for the Australia trip, we’re trying to do it, but these days the record plants are all jammed up, I don’t think we’ll have the vinyl. But in any case, we psyched to be coming down there for the first time with this band.” Almost 30 years, over 20 albums and countless tours down the road, Svenonius is quick to understate his career and legacy as he reflects on it all, and prefers to cite the journey that the industry has been on over that time rather than his own. “Oh, you know, it’s been fun,” he says laconically. “I’ve been putting out records since the early ‘90s, and I’ve played a lot of shows. It’s been really interesting to see the changes, not only with the approach to the economy, but with the way that bands approach things with their career, it’s kind of a night and day difference to when I started out.”
When & Where: 10 Mar, The Curtin; 11 Mar, The Tote, 12 Mar, Golden Plains, Supernatural Amphitheatre
THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017 • 23
Port Fairy Folk Festival
Girl Power Americana artist Dori Freeman talks to Brynn Davies about the impact her three-year-old daughter has had on her life and the type of messages she wishes to communicate through her music.
“I
’m so sorry, can you give me a minute, she’s woken up!” Dori Freeman breaks off mid-sentence and runs to check on her three-year-old daughter then rushing back to the phone after a few minutes, full of apologies. “I’m really glad to be talkin’ to a woman rather than a man because I don’t think they woulda been quite so understanding. It’s ridiculous sometimes... People’ll say things like, ‘So, you’re just gonna go on tour for a week or two and just leave your daughter?’ Just things I feel wouldn’t be asked of a father if he were gonna go and do the same thing,” she drawls in her thick, southwest Virginian accent. Growing up surrounded by musicians — “My earliest memories are of watching my dad and my grandfather play music together... We did a fair bit of travel when I was real small to festivals and competitions,” — she hopes to give her daughter similar experiences: “As she gets older I really would love to bring her on tour.” Sitting somewhere between bluegrass, old-time country and contemporary folk, Dori Freeman’s self-titled LP brings a new appreciation of her Appalachian roots. “Appalachian culture in particular seems to be still acceptable to make fun of in America,” she muses. “Typically what
24 • THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017
outsiders think is sorta that real hillbilly image: sittin’ out on the front porch with a shotgun in their hand, no front teeth, not educated and stuff like that. I just think it’s really unfortunate that it’s 2016 and people still think that and are afraid of that.” She hopes her music can provide “a more positive perspective and show that [Appalachians are] people of art, people of music and real authentic people”: “What I’d really like to do is to continue the evolution of this kinda music and put my own voice behind it, make it a bit more approachable.” Freeman takes a balanced approach to love throughout the tracks, oscillating between yearning for companionship and embracing individuality: “I like girls to feel like they don’t need to wait for anyone to come to their rescue, that they can be their own rescue and that’s probably why the song [You Say] is so important to me, especially having a daughter, and a young one at that.” In order to bring this message into the home, when it comes to movie time Freeman suggests, “It’s hard to navigate standard princess movies where it’s all about girls being domesticated or rescued by a man,” before adding that Mulan and Brave are among their favourites. “Honestly, for me, her birth was the thing that taught me how to stand up for myself and taught me how to go after what I really wanted, because there was a little person that really depended on me. So now I feel like I’m able to instil values in her... that she can do absolutely anything she wants to and her mother will be there to support her no matter what it is.”
When & Where: 9 - 11 Mar, Port Fairy Folk Festival; 15 Mar, Caravan Music Club; 16 Mar, Northcote Social Club
Woman Of The World Eddi Reader sings to the beat of her own drum, even when the words are from a writer “200 years dead”. Anthony Carew discovers Gang Of Four took the piss out of her “something awful”.
T
he first time Eddi Reader came to Australia she was 26, yet to embark on a solo career and singing back-ups for Alison Moyet, and her trip became instantly memorable. “We were out on Sydney Harbour on a boat with Tony Bennett,” recounts Reader, now 57. “My family loved The [Great] American Songbook, and Tony Bennett was one of their big heroes. I couldn’t believe it.” Reader “never made it” back to Australia fronting Fairground Attraction, who had a number one single here with 1988’s Perfect and then famously broke up while making their second LP. But beginning in the early naughties she became a regular visitor; her first-ever Australian solo show was at Melbourne’s Cornish Arms, where she was asked by the venue to take a mid-set break “because no one was buying any drinks. They were all just sitting still, listening to me sing songs and talk about Scotland”. Reader was born in Glasgow, but her family were relocated from their tenement - “they called them slums, but to me they weren’t slums, they were castles” - in the mid-’70s, moving to the tiny seaside town of Irvine. It was a culture-shock (“Irvine had two streets in it: Bank Street and High Street”), but it was there Reader discovered “Scottish cultural music” and started playing in folk clubs. After school she set off to see the world, first hitching to London then busking her way through France, Belgium, Switzerland and Germany. “I learnt to sing in the street, all these different songs to play:
Port Fairy Folk Festival
Down The Line Americana exponent Willie Watson chats to Steve Bell about the inherent joy he gets from being an old time music enthusiast, whether on stage or on the couch. Loudon Wainwright, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Paul Brady, The Chieftains.” Returning home she ended up working a factory job. “I was driven demented,” Reader recounts. “I felt like I was a woman of the world by then. I was 20, and here I was stuck knitting jumpers for golfers in a factory. I didn’t want to kowtow to the norm, which was, in Irvine, getting married at 21 and having a shitload of kids.” Plotting her escape, she started answering singer-wanted adverts from London music mags. Her first gig was singing back-up vocals for Gang Of Four on a US tour. “They took the piss out of me something awful. I was so naive, I thought you could buy cocaine in bags from the supermarket freezer.” After singing for Moyet and Eurythmics, Reader found fame with Fairground Attraction and her eponymous 1994 LP marked the beginning of solo success. But 2003’s Sings The Songs Of Robert Burns is her most notable record, reconnecting Reader with the Scottish tunes she cut her teeth on. “I’m leaning on ancient texts and I’m leaning on ancient ideas, but... I don’t want it to be like going to a museum; I want it to be like putting on a Harry Nilsson record. Every musician leans on these song-forms that’ve been around forever; you can’t just play a minor chord and call it your own. Olivia Newton-John did Banks Of The Ohio [in 1973]. With me, it’s just more obvious, because in the case of Robert Burns’ songs, the writer has been 200 years dead.”
U
S musician Willie Watson first brought his old-time sensibilities to global attention as a founding member of mountain revivalists Old Crow Medicine Show, but since parting ways with them in 2011 he’s been splitting his time between esteemed Americana ensemble Dave Rawlings Machine and his burgeoning solo career. Despite having numerous songwriting credits to his name Watson has so far favoured interpreting old and traditional folk songs in his current incarnation, best evidenced so far in his Rawlings-produced 2014 debut album Folk Singer, Vol 1. “I didn’t know if I could ever be a solo artist: I was a ‘band guy’ and thought that I’d be in that band forever, and I didn’t even know what playing solo was all about,” he tells. “People were always telling me that I should do solo shows and I’d say, ‘Oh no, I wouldn’t know how to do that,’ but over time I’ve sorta figured it out. It’s a lot of fun, and it allows me to do whatever I want and not have to deal with a band situation.” “It feels good being up there by myself and at the end of the night having had that experience with everybody. We all share in this musical experience which benefits all of us, and it’s a really positive thing for
everybody. Sometimes I’m concerned that I’m not necessarily doing enough for others in my life — that I’m not being of service to people or the general population of the world — but then I get out on the road and I realise that I guess I’m helping people out when they get to come to these shows and maybe forget about their day at work, and I maybe touch their hearts and souls in a way that they hadn’t expected with the words of a song or something like that.” Watson loves being part of the folk tradition and wringing new life from these songs, many of which have been passed down for generations. “I’m just doing it because they’re songs that I love and I just like to sing them,” he smiles. “I get a lot out of it personally, and I just think they’re good songs. And I want to sing good songs to people and I want to sing good songs for myself. The music that I play is such a big part of my life and I feel it so deeply.” “I have personal experiences when I sing these songs, especially when I’m on stage. I do at home too if I’m learning songs. I can still have these dramatic personal experiences just sitting on my couch and they’re very emotional, but you get out on stage in front of a crowd of people and share that with people and it magnifies those feelings times a hundred.”
When & Where: 11 & 12 Mar, Port Fairy Folk Festival; 15 Mar, Melbourne Recital Centre
When & Where: 10 Mar, Port Fairy Folk Festival; 15 Mar, Thornbury Theatre
THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017 • 25
Album / E Album/EP Reviews
Cameron Avery
Album OF THE Week
Ripe Dreams, Pipe Dreams Spinning Top
★★★★½
Having been an ever-present force in Perth’s abundant music scene for nearly the past decade, sharing stage space as one part of Tame Impala, Pond and alt-rock group The Growl, it’s a surprise — a pleasant one — to hear the dulcet croons of Cameron Avery lilt over the gospel and soul-infused rock of his debut solo LP Ripe Dreams, Pipe Dreams. Avery’s former exposure to the silky sounds of the golden age has clearly left its mark, but he’s steered this ship away from sounding derivative fairly well with a gentle fusion of genres, and ultimately he could have gotten away with anything with that honeydipped voice of his. Those pipes work their magic from the get go. Do You Know Me By Heart lets Avery’s breathy yearning unfold over a waltzing, dark dance hall atmosphere and trilling motifs. Dance With Me and Wasted On Fidelity are a bit more playful, fleshing out and softening philosophical subject matters with pretty strings and gentle, sparse percussion. Big Town Girl and Disposable dip back into Avery’s big bag of vintage nuances and echo Father John Misty’s tongue in cheek drawls. C’est Toi’s haunting melodic line, piano strikes, big sentiment and stacked vocals seal the deal as the album closer. It’s an impressive debut from an as yet unplucked talent. Carley Hall
Laura Marling
The Shins
Semper Femina
Heartworms
More Alarming/Kobalt
Sony
★★★½
★★★★
At the time of release, many critics viewed Laura Marling’s Short Movie as an attempt by the singer-songwriter to expand beyond her acoustic sound into something noisier and rockier. Semper Femina, following up that record, doesn’t really fit comfortably into that narrative. While it’s hardly a return to those acoustic traditions, it’s not exactly a clear-cut move in a specific direction. Really, it’s just a little bit weirder. Overall, Semper Femina maintains Marling’s typical sound as a songwriter — but, scattered throughout, there are consistent flickers of leftfield production and unusual instrumentation that lend a surprisingly odd miasma to the album. The mournful vocals of Don’t Pass Me By float atop a bed of mumbling electric guitar, fuzzed-out drum machines
Heartworms is somewhat contradictory. At times, The Shins sound as youthful and as energetic as ever. At others, James Mercer and co create an almost quintessential ‘adult contemporary’ sound; lyrically rich yet musically safe pop. Luckily for fans of the band, the record leans more towards the former. “I took the drugs but the drugs didn’t take” (album highlight Half A Million) is just one of the many lines Mercer shares that speak to an exuberance he and his band have retained. If Heartworms was the first Shins record you’d heard, you’d be surprised to know that the band has been around for more than 20 years. For long-time fans though, a close listen reveals a different sound to their first two records, 2001’s Oh, Inverted World and 2003’s Chutes Too
26 • THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017
and swooping strings that feels almost Lynchian. Opener Soothing wraps a rich, romantic folk song around a collection of tiny electronic rhythms. It’s not a startling transformation, but it gives the album a unique personality and speaks to an increasingly intriguing future for Marling. Whereas many saw her moving towards a more rock-oriented identity after her last album, Semper Femina feels like a prelude to a more idiosyncratic direction. More Waits circa ‘83 than Dylan circa ‘65. Matt O’Neill
Narrow. In fact, scrolling through the band’s back catalogue Heartworms follows the general trend and a natural progression from 2012’s Port Of Morrow. As they’ve matured they’ve added layers of density to their sound, like the doubled vocal lines on the title track, consistent ride cymbals in The Fear and an overall slightly slower tempo. While these elements make Heartworms a less innocent than The Shins we’re used to, they make it no less enjoyable. Dylan Stewart
EP Reviews Album/EP Reviews
Circa Waves
Hurray For The Riff Raff
Rolling Blackouts Roland Tings Coastal Fever Each Moment A
The Navigator
The French Press
ATO/[PIAS] Australia
Ivy League
Sony
★★★★
★★★★
★★★½
★★★★
Talk about aiming high. All facets of Different Creatures, the second album by UK outfit Circa Waves, have been dialled in one direction: up. From volume to political commentary, the band have built a record that should — nay, will — force promoters and DJs to not just notice them, but put them on a pedestal for the masses. In the same way Bloc Party, Foals and The Wombats have done over the past decade; Circa Waves have graduated to stadiumworthy, headline act material. What’s more, Different Creatures is brimming with diversity. It’ll be a treat to see live.
Hurray For The Riff Raff’s latest album is an ambitious but focussed concept piece in which the titular character The Navigator acts as frontwoman Alynda Segarra’s (somewhat autobiographical) alter ego. As the character’s genesis story unveils the early nomadic wanderlust subsides and there’s a pivotal reconnection with her roots. This is echoed in the album’s sonics, which extend the band’s usual Americana tropes by delving into a variety of retro influences as well as subtle exotica. A cinematic masterwork in both scope and execution that’s equally fun and philosophical.
There’s a sunniness that washes through your ears as you press play on The French Press EP, the latest drop from Melbourne five-piece Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever. Combined with an unashamed eagerness across the handful of songs, a driving rhythm that pushes tracks like Julie’s Place and Colours Run ahead, it makes for a rollicking good time. It’s crisp and unadulterated by excessive distortion or production. With two solid EPs now under their belt and a US tour kicking off soon, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever are ready to take on the world.
Steve Bell
Dylan Stewart
Following his acclaimed selftitled debut in 2015 Melbourne’s Roland Tings quickly followed up with his single Hedonist. An enticing taste of things to come, Tings then went quiet for over a year. Now he delivers the main course with his new EP Each Moment A Diamond, which includes the epic and incredibly mature Hedonist beside a suite of equally impressive tracks. They are lengthy — two sitting around the eightminute mark — but they are kaleidoscopic, whimsical and never seem to tire. Refined and densely layered, the EP’s six tracks feature an attention to detail and exquisite, Four Tet-like pacing that reveals just what Tings is capable of.
Different Creatures Dew Process/Universal
Dylan Stewart
Diamond
Samantha Jonscher
More Reviews Online Bush Black And White Rainbows
theMusic.com.au
Greg Graffin Millport
Listen to our This Week’s Releases playlist on
THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017 • 27
Live Re Live Reviews
Spiderbait @ Corner Hotel. Pic: Emily Jensen
Spiderbait, Bitch Diesel Corner Hotel 2 Mar
Bitch Diesel @ Corner Hotel. Pic: Emily Jensen
Spiderbait @ Corner Hotel. Pic: Emily Jensen
Dorsal Fins @ Northcote Social Club. Pic: Joshua Braybrook
Dorsal Fins @ Northcote Social Club. Pic: Joshua Braybrook
28 • THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017
Dorsal Fins @ Northcote Social Club. Pic: Joshua Braybrook
The four girls of Bitch Diesel drown the stage and crowd in a textbook kind of hardcore, but somewhat glam and shy, rock’n’roll and it’s the kind of raw rock that even a few technical difficulties can’t interrupt. Then Spiderbait take the stage. “We’re going to take it back to 1996,” says vocalist and drummer, Mark Maher (affectionately known as Kram). This tour has been dubbed the Ivy And The Big Apples tour as the shows see the band playing this album in its entirety and theirs is a classic pop-rock sound that hasn’t gone out of style. Chest Hair begins on the album back in the day, as it does now, with its guttural guitar riff, the work of Damian ‘Whitt’ Whitty. Still one of the band’s strong suits is their ability to say so much with so little. Despite the changes to rock styles as the years have gone by, Spiderbait’s iconic melody and track-heavy work still resonates with audiences of all ages. Jasper sneaks up on the audience, but highlights the trio’s immaculate timing. The song subtly slows to a pause before crashing back in - a classic headbanger. For the band’s hit Goin’ Off, which has never been heard live before, Maher sneaks out from behind the drums and picks up an acoustic guitar, again perfectly transitioning from hardcore ‘90s punk to their classic, smooth indie-pop. Then that all-too-familiar riff starts to build (and it’s a song everyone knows, passed through the generations since its conception in 1977). The lyrics to Black Betty bounce back to the band from an eager crowd taken back to their youth for a night. Although there is this same nostalgic feeling behind every
song, we hear some songs off the Ivy And The Big Apples album that have never been played live before today; Janet English, Whitt and Kram make the old feel new again. The trio close the night with Old Man Sam and it’s the
What could be more rock’n’roll than a 45-minute encore in a sweaty moshpit in a pub in Richmond? final nod to what the night is really about. “This is Melbourne rock’n’roll to us,” Kram says. And what could be more rock’n’roll than a 45-minute encore in a sweaty moshpit in a pub in Richmond? Bree Chapman
Dorsal Fins Northcote Social Club 4 Mar “TGIF!” shouts Ella Thompson as she approaches the stage with her nine-piece ensemble, Dorsal Fins. It’s the first show of their album launch for new record, Digital Zodiac, and they’re proud to be kicking off the tour in their hometown, drinking the local brew with a few mates to celebrate. They’re ready to throw a mega-party and we join in to get loose and share a dance for groovy track Heart On The Floor. It’s quite impressive watching nine musicians cram onto a small stage, all in their own little zones with different instruments, and yet they tie it all together so well! There are a lot of different,
eviews Live Reviews
exciting moments throughout their set and there’s a noticeably more consistent and defining sound in songs from their new record. They move through an eclectic spectrum of pop, electro and psych rock. Thompson and her co-singer, Jarrad Brown, share some delicate ballads that have us swooning over their heavenly paired vocals. We simply must be in the moment as we soak up the band’s joyous musical presence. Their supercharged energy bounces off the walls and keeps us dancing continuously. The horn section drives the crescendo on Nothing Left To Hide, while the keys run the show at a staccato pace on infectious tunes Romeo and High Low. They bring in some great tropical-funk sounds for mid-tempo tune Roll Back The Years before Thompson calls for a bit more darkness on the stage as they change the flavour for the slower-paced Motion. Their depth of sound seems endless and keeps us interested throughout. From seductive saxophone solos to quirky synths and obscure noises, the band create a vibrant whirlwind of sounds loaded with good vibes. The set culminates in their explosive, syncopated dancerock number, Monday Tuesday, followed by a mammoth instrumental super-jam. They mix up all of their sounds in a blender and serve up an ultra-juicy musical concoction to finish. We can’t help but notice the cool dolphin tees for sale over at the merch desk and, just like that, we’re reppin’ our favourite local band all the way home. Michael Prebeg
Hikashu Bar Open 28 Feb After a passionate spiel about Hikashu’s history (which ends with “they make you feeling fucking alive!”), the set begins slowly with some staggered sax
Their supercharged energy bounces off the walls and keeps us dancing continuously.
and bass-heavy drums that swell into a tangle of delicious jazz chords, forming a supertight base for the band to solo freely on top of. Hikashu wind in and out of an array of tones and textures, major keys resolved with a minor and flawless tempo shifts that change in the blink of an eye, all before swerving erratically into a straight fourfour groove, embellished with screaming and drumming that’s so heavy you’d be forgiven for thinking the kit could spontaneously combust. These guys have been active since 1977, and it shows. They are essentially able to completely pre-empt every single musical move each musician will make even before it takes place. This is, without a doubt, a skill that only comes with years and years of playing together, and these guys are a true testament to the benefits of longevity. “I come from outside Tokyo,” Koichi Makigami says quietly. His banter is soft and humble throughout the entire gig - a stark contrast to his wailing vocals and theremin playing. A startling drum beat alternates with rounds of silence and soon after the melody is flung among growling vocals accompanied by the other raucous instruments. Everything Hikashu do is so wonderfully weird and shocking that a little laughter erupts in the crowd. The intensity is off the charts. It’s hard
to even know when a song is at its true end. Dramatic silences are broken with “shhh” repeated over and over. Bass guitar-heavy tracks melt into more structured pieces only to feature a shrieking guitar that howls over the entirety of the track, which then breaks into silence once more just to do it all over again. For a while, they just make noises with their voices as punters lose it and then it’s right into the most wildly warped take on a four-chord jam you could ever imagine. Hikashu bring their set to a close with some ground-shaking
Everything Hikashu do is so wonderfully weird and shocking that a little laughter erupts in the crowd.
More Reviews Online theMusic.com.au/ music/live-reviews
Animals As Leaders @ 170 Russell Kurt Vile @ Melbourne Zoo Pixies @ Margaret Court Arena
guitar solos, grainy vocals, rubber chicken (squeaky toy) sounds and some deliciously dissonant melodies that lead into a supercharged drum solo with cymbal bashing so loud our ears start to ring. Finally, both Sex On Toast and Hikashu share the stage as ‘Hikashex No Tust’, for a quick set that’s full to the brim with screaming, roaring guitars, both electronic and acoustic drums, keys, theremin, bass, trumpet and rubber chicken for good measure. Natasha Pinto
THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017 • 29
Arts Reviews Arts Reviews
dressed all in white, slowly enters with a deliberately solemn pace. In a pool of light, she crosses an invisible barrier onto the curving arc of the stage, passing from one world to the next. She is joined by five more figures, who in super slow-motion traverse this circuit, their gait distorted at near impossible angles against the force of gravity. Klunchun’s practice is disciplined in the extreme. His concepts are given enormous space, to the point of being almost impenetrably glacial. And yet, there is an important clarity in this stasis. Ideas flow seamlessly, almost unnoticed, as the dance slowly evolves, becoming more distinct and explicit. At first, the gestures gradually emerging from the calm appear emotionless, like the ritualistic totems of some unfamiliar rite. But as these moves accrue more energy, they are revealed as a lexicon of human need; the vocabulary of desire, of piety, of lust, of anxiety. Limbs are slapped and guts punched, like a selfflagellating monk cleansing their spirit. With arms outstretched, eyes wide and pleading, a silent cry for help suddenly concertinas into a collapsed, squatting hunch. The performers sprint around their circular world, as if trying to outrun an inexorable fate, oblivious to its unbroken loop. Elements of folk dance percolate through Klunchun’s choreography — sweeping, meditative swaying; elegantly folding hands; flat-footed, rhythmic shuffles — rooting this piece in a specific cultural mindset. Yet, the themes explored through this work’s subtle virtuosity are universal. The figures on stage, save one, begin to bop and gyrate with all the unselfconscious drunken finesse of a wedding reception. They step off their mortal coil and are welcomed to this new plain of existence by the vivid spirits and a throng of revelling souls. It’s a brilliant and irresistibly uplifting moment, as death is embraced with a sense of joyful anticipation. There is something deeply touching yet easily accessible in this cadence: death is a rave, so let the music play and join the dance. Dancing With Death
Dancing With Death Theatre Arts Centre Melbourne (finished)
★★★★ At the centre of the Buddhist belief is “citta”, an allencompassing and indestructible life force, intangible yet shared by all living things. This spiritual nexus is given form in Thai choreographer Pichet Klunchun’s Dancing With Death, as an undulating circular stage, like a ribbon of existence pulsing with light. As the audience files into the pop-up venue created on the stage of the State Theatre, inquisitive and playful entities, in eye-popping fluorescent garb, welcome theatregoers with friendly mimes and cheeky prances. In stark contrast, as this procession of psychedelic shamans spin and head-bang, a stone-faced figure,
Maxim Boon
30 • THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017
Ladies In Black
Ladies In Black Theatre Regent Theatre to 18 Mar
★★★★ “What more do you women want? We gave you the vote!” Mr Miles (Greg Stone) throws up his hands in exasperation when his academically brilliant daughter, school-leaver Lisa urges him to allow her to pursue tertiary education. Set in 1950s Sydney, with most of the action taking place in Goodes department store where Lisa is hired as a temp after completing her leaving certificate, Ladies In Black serves as a reminder of how far we’ve come while its themes are still topical in 2017. Madeleine St John’s novel The Women In Black is adapted for the stage thanks to Carolyn Burns (book) and Tim Finn (music and lyrics). Finn’s impressive vocabulary allows him to explore unexpected (and often incredibly funny) rhyming possibilities and his compositions, some of which are reprised throughout the musical to great effect, feature melodies that are immediately appealing and memorable (we’re still singing, “He’s a bastard”). Gabriela Tylesova’s revolving set — although quite minimal for a stage this size — allows us to peer into the lives of our protagonists, often simultaneously, after they’ve clocked off from their day jobs selling frocks at Goodes. We’re moved by their individual struggles — a widow whose first name remains a mystery even to her colleagues (until the end), a single lady who worries she’ll be left on the shelf and a childless married lady whose dropkick husband can’t seem to get his shit together. All storylines are satisfyingly resolved and a warm atmosphere descends over the crowd at this show’s conclusion. Although we wish we’d caught Ladies In Black in a more intimate theatre setting, this charming musical time-capsule doesn’t take itself too seriously and allows us to reflect on the generations of women whose talents and ambitions were sadly quashed by propriety. Bryget Chrisfield
Indie Indie
Oki Ainu Dub Band
The Jack Earle Big Band
Gem Bones
Have You Heard
Have You Heard
EP Focus
Answered by: Oki Ainu
Answered by: Jack Earle
Answered by: Barrie Wilson
When did you start making music and why? I received a tonkori, a traditional stringed instrument made by the Indigenous Ainu people. The tonkori gave me a strong connection to our ancestors and the meaning of life.
When did you start making music and why? I started playing piano when I was four because I grew tired of having to sit through my sister’s piano lessons without getting a go. Tantrums ensued, resulting in piano lessons!
EP Title? Is This OK?
Sum up your musical sound in four words? Wicked Ainu rhythm!
Sum up your musical sound in four words? Brassy, exciting, vibrant, groovy.
If you could only listen to one album forevermore, what would it be and why? The Beatles’ White Album. I would never be lonely, and as it is a double album it will play twice as long!
If you could only listen to one album forevermore, what would it be and why? If not The Jack Earle Big Band (available on Bandcamp and iTunes) - obviously - it would be Songs In The Key Of Life by Stevie Wonder. It is a masterpiece.
Greatest rock’n’roll moment of your career to date? Every gig we play. Why should people come and see your band? Inspired by Japanese music, our sound fuses reggae, African and electronica with Ainu music. Music makes the world go ‘round. When and where are your next gigs? 10 - 13 March WOMADelaide, Botanic Park; 17 Mar, Rubix The Venue, Brunswick Music Festival. Website link for more info? brunswickmusicfestival.com.au/oki-ainudub-band/
Greatest rock’n’roll moment of your career to date? The big band’s album launch was pretty raucous! I will never forget the *hundreds* of people who turned up to support; who danced and cheered and hollered for more all night long! Career highlight for sure.
How many releases do you have now? Just the one. The title is quite literal, I’m really not sure if it’s OK, is it? Was anything in particular inspiring you during the making? We wanted to make short, sharp points quickly. It took two years. What’s your favourite song on it? This Is OK has my favourite vocal, two years and it was precisely, perfectly, slightly out of tune. We’ll like this EP if we like... If you like answering questions - which you may with what you’re reading - the title of our debut EP is a question. Equally so if you like tortuous answers. When and where is your launch/next gig? 11 Mar, The Toff In Town. Website link for more info? facebook.com/ gembonesband
Why should people come and see your band? We are celebrating our ten year anniversary, premiering new works, featuring Rhonda Burchmore, and having an exciting and awesome time. When and where are your next gigs? 12 Mar, Spotted Mallard. Website link for more info? jackearle.com
THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017 • 31
OPINION Opinion
Fragmented Frequencies Other
I
t’s time we talked about an Incan princess with a five-octave vocal range, whose remarkable voice could effectively mimic earthquakes, birds and everything The Other Side in-between. Humans simply cannot make the sounds that emanated out of the mouth of Yma Sumac. Nor can most With Bob animals. As her popularity grew in the 1950s, so did her mystery. Did she teach herself to sing as a child in the Baker Fish Peruvian Andes with only jaguars and birds for company? Or was she just a Brooklyn housewife? Her first US album, Voice Of The Xtabay, which features one side conducted by her husband Moises Vivanco, and the other more swinging side by exotica legend Les Baxter, moved 500,000 copies in 1950, outselling Bing Crosby. With her exotic look and habit of appearing in a headdress and all manner of jewellery, she represented an alluring escape to pent up conservative Cold War America. What differentiated her from the smooth Hawaiian stylings of Arthur Lyman or even the space pop freneticism of Esquivel, however, was the total freak factor meshed with her remarkable talent. While her vocals ranged from plaintive wails, to shrill cries and guttural growls, her vocal techniques and experimentation were totally unprecedented. She released eight albums, including 1971’s bizarre lysergic rock experiment Miracles, appeared in a Charlton Heston film, on the soundtrack to The Big Lebowski and at one point even advertised Kahlua.
Music From
Bikini Kill
Wa ke The Dea d Punk And Hardcore With Sarah Petchell
I
’m sitting in my office watching the female Democrats of Congress wearing suffragette white in protest of President Trump. Then a friend reminded me that 8 March is International Women’s Day. So this week’s column is about celebrating some of the women from punk and hardcore that I have found endlessly inspiring. My story starts with pre-teen me discovering Gwen Stefani and No Doubt. The first time I heard the sarcastic
32 • THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017
Trai ler Tra s h
Yma Sumac
Bill Paxton (R) In Twister
refrain of Just A Girl changed my life and became my anthem from ages 12 to 15. She was a woman who wasn’t afraid of who she was, who commanded a stage, and best of all she commanded that stage with a band of dudes behind her. It then moves, maybe predictably, with Kathleen Hanna. Bikini Kill were important to teenage and early 20s me. The lyrics of their songs affirmed my belief that women can do anything, which was really important to me studying law at university at the time. Feminism was not even a word on my radar then, but as a loud, opinionated woman, Hanna taught me that it was ok to be precisely that. This affirmation has stuck with me into my 30s. Along the way there were women like Debbie Harry (Blondie), Brody Dalle (The Distillers), Kim Deal (Pixies and — more importantly for me — The Breeders), Tina Weymouth (Talking Heads) and Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker (Sleater-Kinney). Laura Jane Grace (Against Me!) came into the mix with her fearlessness in bringing transgender rights into the discussion. These are just a few. There are more.
OPINION Opinion
Dives Into Your
O
ne of the most Screens eloquent things I ever read And Idiot Boxes on Twitter was an entreaty from With Guy Davis someone eager for some undemanding viewing. “I’m talking no ideas, expositional dialogue, shapes and colours only.” Reading those words, it was like I’d found a cultural soulmate. Don’t be mistaken, there are many times when I’m down for something that will challenge my beliefs or broaden my horizons. But there are just as many times when I just want to give the pleasure centres of my brain a big ol’ bowl of Raspberry Rumble. And one thing that does that very well indeed is trailer compilations. Three-minute clusters of sound and fury that literally cut to the chase? Yep, that’ll do nicely. To my mind, the best trailer-compilation sets of recent years have been the homegrown Drive-In Delirium packages distributed by your friends at Umbrella Entertainment. Altogether, the first three DVD collections add up to 24 hours of coming attractions across a wide variety of decades, genres and lands of origin. And now Umbrella has brought out two new Drive-In Delirium packages on Blu-ray, one adding some new titles from the ‘60s and ‘70s, one brimming with lurid ‘80s goodness. I couldn’t in good conscience call them fun for the whole family because a great many of these trailers have what you might call a, um, European attitude towards nudity and sex — that is, there’s a fair bit of both. But if you’re in the mood for a sweet nostalgia high or just many, many hours of the afore-mentioned shapes and colours, track ‘em down and check ‘em out. Now a little sadness, because as you’re probably aware we lost one of the good ones a couple of weeks back. Bill Paxton died from post-surgery complications at the age of 61, bringing to an end a life that was reportedly rich, full and happy and a career that was certainly diverse, complex and exciting. Viewers of my vintage first became aware of Paxton in the ‘80s when he started appearing in supporting roles that saw him making a major impression with minimal screen time, usually as mouthy guys whose insulting or insensitive remarks earned them a punch in the mouth at best and a quick, nasty death at the hands of a Terminator at worst.
The roles started getting bigger, and Paxton’s performances got bigger as well — he’s perhaps best-known for playing Private Hudson in Aliens, who memorably goes from cocky to shit-scared to badass, but his redneck bloodsucker Severen in Kathryn Bigelow’s vampire classic Near Dark is an even more remarkable creation. As his profile got a little higher, Paxton found himself landing more conventional leading-man roles in the likes of Apollo 13 and Twister but he could imbue these everyman characters with substance and soul. And when the material was up to scratch, as in something like Sam Raimi’s shattering small-town crime drama A Simple Plan, his portrayals kept pace. Paxton could have matured quite nicely into roles as old cowboys or ex-cops or rascals who refused to act their age throughout his 60s and 70s — there were traces of Robert Mitchum and Lee Marvin and even Jimmy Stewart in his acting DNA. It’s sad we’ve been denied those performances, but it’s terrific we got as much of ‘Wild Bill’ as we did. Thanks for everything, man.
THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017 • 33
OPINION Opinion
Howzat!
Local Music By Jeff Jenkins Big Mac “I’m the classic example of the failed musician who became the music journalist,” laughs Ian McFarlane, who was the drummer in a high school band, Sabre, with Sean Kelly and James Freud. “They wanted to be pop stars, whereas I was just tagging along for the ride.” Ian has documented James and Sean’s story - and more than 1000 other Aussie acts - in Howzat!’s favourite book, The Encyclopedia Of Australian Rock And Pop. Ian has just published the long-awaited second edition, 18 years after the original, with more than 160 new entries. It’s more behemoth than book, weighing 2.3kg and containing more than 600,000 words. It’s also wonderfully inclusive, with Holocene, Horsehead and Hoss sitting alongside Hoodoo Gurus. The entries are concise and factual, though Ian is not afraid to add his opinion. He loves the minutiae of music. And he’s a massive fan. Ian’s writing career started in 1984 when his first piece, a live review of a mate’s band, Idle Spirit, ran in Juke. At Models gigs, James Freud would greet him, “Ah, big time writer now, are you?” Asked for his five favourite Aussie albums, Ian lists Died Pretty’s Lost,
34 • THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017
The Church’s Heyday, The Saints’ Eternally Yours, The Masters Apprentices’ Choice Cuts and Coloured Balls’ Ball Power. And his favourite local single? “Can I have two? The New Christs’ Born Out Of Time and Healing Force’s Golden Miles.” Ian has selfpublished this edition (available through thirdstonepress.com. au) after publishers told him: “We love the idea, but we don’t do reference books anymore, and it’s all on the internet anyway.” Ian then heard David Williamson on ABC radio. “I still have faith in the printed word,” the playwright told Jon Faine. And that became Ian’s mantra. Johnny O’Keefe was on the cover of the first edition; Neil Finn has the honour this time around. A controversial choice for some: “You’ve got a Kiwi on the cover!” But as Ian points out, Crowded House formed in Melbourne. “And that’s my favourite rock photo. I was
Ian McFarlane
ecstatic when [photographer] Tony Mott allowed me to use it.” Sadly, Sabre don’t crack a mention. They never really made it out of the garage. “We played at Freudy’s sister’s 15th birthday,” Ian recalls. “And we were terrible. It was a disaster.” He might not have made it in music, but Ian’s contribution to the local industry has been monumental. Calling The Encyclopedia Of Australian Rock And Pop essential is an understatement. There’s a great quote from Bruce Milne on the back cover: “I use your book to remind me of things I did that I can’t remember!”
Hot Line “Mum, I sang in rockstar city, I think you’d be proud” - Alex The Astronaut, Rockstar City.
THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017 • 35
Comedy / G The Guide
Wed 08
Blyolk
Sublime With Rome + Jakubi + I Know The Chief: 170 Russell, Melbourne Black Bats + Piss Factory + The Pits: Bar Open, Fitzroy
Thunder: Corner Hotel, Richmond Guy Sebastian
Thhomas + DJ Merve: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy Splendidid + Hugh Fuchsen + Hills Hoist: Grace Darling Hotel, Collingwood
The Music Presents CW Stoneking & Nathaniel Rateliff: 9 Mar Seaworks Williamstown The Waifs: 14 Mar Eastbank Centre Shepparton; 28 Mar Ulumbarra Theatre Bendigo; 29 & 30 Mar Hamer Hall The Jerry Cans: 15 Mar Northcote Social Club; 16 Mar Sooki Lounge Jeff Lang: 17 Mar The Workers Club Geelong; 24 Mar The Golden Vine Bendigo; 25 Mar Suttons House of Music Ballarat Holly Throsby: 26 Mar Northcote Social Club Guy Sebastian: 29 & 30 Mar Corner Hotel Roy Ayers: 9 Apr The Croxton Rhiannon Giddens: 11 Apr Corner Hotel Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue: 11 April 170 Russell Gallant: 17 Apr Corner Hotel The Lumineers: 19 Apr Arts Centre Melbourne The Record Company: 20 Apr Northcote Social Club
Kiasmos + Chiara Kickdrum: Howler, Brunswick Lomond Acoustica feat. Mandy Connell + Thomas Hugh + Zoe Fox: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East Margaret Glaspy + Slow Dancer: Northcote Social Club, Northcote Don Henley + Jewel: Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Shogun Rising + Sovereign Stone + Feed My Frankenstein: The Bendigo, Collingwood Open Mic Night: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick Shining Bird + Mike Noga + Emma Russack + Milk Teddy: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood Closet Straights + Shrimpwitch + Pearl Bay + Synthetics + Sweet Whirl: The Old Bar, Fitzroy Pete Rock & CL Smooth + N’Fa Jones: The Prince, St Kilda The East Pointers + Liz Stringer: The Toff In Town, Melbourne
Blyolking Good Bringing his single tour to The Workers Club is Melbourne psych-pop performer, Blyolk. Get down on Thursday night to watch him debut his new glitchy, dense track Artshole with support from Null and Francesca Gonzales.
Commissioner Bourbon + Bronze + The Commonly Insane + Ding Dong Death Hole: The Tote (Upstairs), Collingwood Trivia: Wesley Anne, Northcote Boy Parts + Human Rites + Disco Tear: Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford
Thu 09 Georgia Rose + Jimmy Davis + Didirri: 303, Northcote
Twisted Willows
At The Dakota: 5 May The Golden Vine; 7 May The Workers Club Luca Brasi: 23 Jun 170 Russell
Shindig By The Sea with CW Stoneking + Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats + Fraser A Gorman + Sugar Fed Leopards + Cadillac Drifters: Seaworks, Williamstown Strangers In Town + Le Pine + Doonie Way + Colour Fires: The Bendigo, Collingwood The MAMAs + King River Rising + Dandecat + Serein: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick Amanda Palmer: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood
Six Ribbons - Remembering Jon English with Peter Cupples + Dave Gleeson + Wilbur Wilde + The Chantoozies + Brian Mannix + Scott Carne + Wendy Stapleton + Lisa Edwards + Lindsay Field + James Morley + Bloom + more: Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne Children Of The Sun + The Tiny Giants + Jordan Clay & the Skeleton Band: Bar Open, Fitzroy Alice Ivy
Floating Through Twisted Willows are bringing their EP tour to Bar Open this Saturday night! Come through and support this funky fourpiece, psych-rock/reggae combo as they celebrate the release of their debut EP, Float Away.
Baby Blue + Poppongene: The Tote (Front Bar), Collingwood The Magic Marshmallows + Bones & Jones + Rockapilla: The Tote (Band Room), Collingwood
36 • THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017
In Store with Dori Freeman: Basement Discs (12.45pm), Melbourne Casey Bennetto + Tim Rogers: Bella Union, Carlton South Tony Momrelle: Bird’s Basement, Melbourne Urthboy + Joyride + Alice Ivy: Corner Hotel, Richmond Public High + Master Beta + Chillers: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy Katy Steele + Hazlett: Karova Lounge, Ballarat Brunswick Music Festival feat. Les Poules a Colin: Mechanics Institute Performing Arts Centre, Brunswick
Crushing It Melbourne’s electro-soul golden girl Alice Ivy is on the road again supporting Urthboy on his Crushing Hard tour, which hits Corner Hotel on Thursday and Friday nights. Prepare yourself for some of her totally unique funk jams.
Crafty Anne: Mr Boogie Man Bar, Abbotsford
Hot Action + Crystal Myth: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood
Manu Delago + Telos Teacup + D-Analogues: Northcote Social Club, Northcote
Laneous + DJ Instant Peterson: The Night Cat, Fitzroy
Gigs / Live The Guide
Ceres + Jess Locke + Neighbourhood Youth + The Football Club: Howler, Brunswick Marty Kelly + Max Teakle & his Honky-Tonky Friends: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East
Davey Lane: Longhorn Saloon, Carlton
Tom Lee-Richards
Captivating &
With a captivating voice and intricate melodies to match, Tom Lee-Richards is sure to grab your attention. Don’t miss him take to the stage at Charles Weston Hotel this Thursday for a dreamy evening.
Heads Of Charm + Howl At The Moon + Thug Mills + Boys: The Old Bar, Fitzroy Australian Music Prize feat. Rat & Co + Ali Barter: The Toff In Town, Melbourne Fleshworld + Dead Boomers + The Shinkies + Sistema En Decadencia: The Tote (Band Room), Collingwood Nothinge + Morning Morning + Shit Tatts: The Tote (Upstairs), Collingwood
Dead Letter Circus + Strangers: Max Watt’s, Melbourne James Vincent McMorrow + Moreton: Melbourne Recital Centre, Southbank Adventure Time LIVE: Melbourne Town Hall, Melbourne Melbourne Zoo Twilights feat. Martha Wainwright + Margaret Glaspy: Melbourne Zoo, Parkville Mental As Anything: Memo Music Hall, St Kilda Cross Eyed Cats + Erin + Jake Hoskins: Mr Boogie Man Bar, Abbotsford Friday Nights at NGV feat. Amanda Palmer: National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Southbank Kurt Vile + Lost Animal + Tammy Haider: Northcote Social Club, Northcote
Blyolk + Null + Francesca Gonzales + Paradise DJs: The Workers Club, Fitzroy DD Dumbo: Theatre Royal, Castlemaine
San Cisco
Refraction: Wesley Anne (Front Bar), Northcote
Garden Party
Labjacd: Bar Open, Fitzroy
Greg Dodd & The Hoodoo Men: Catfish (Front Bar), Fitzroy Thirsty Merc: Commercial Hotel, South Morang Urthboy + Joyride + Alice Ivy: Corner Hotel, Richmond Justin Bieber + Martin Garrix + Sheppard: Etihad Stadium, Docklands Dada Ono + The Dead Heir + Masco Sound System: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy Vanessa Vee + Myvanwy + MisSstA + Levitating Churches: Forester’s Hall (Woody’s Bar), Collingwood
Harper + Midwest: Spotted Mallard, Brunswick
Chain & The Gang + Primo + Parsnip: The Curtin, Carlton
Middlemarch: Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford
Hollie Smith: Caravan Music Club, Oakleigh
Katy Steele + Hazlett: Sooki Lounge, Belgrave
Family Dog + Planet of the 8’s + Sonic Moon + Lese Majesty + Swayze: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick
Soda Eaves: Tramway Hotel, North Fitzroy
Brunswick Music Festival feat. Dereb The Ambassador + Black Jesus Experience: Brunswick Town Hall, Brunswick
Zerafina Zara + Alleged Associates: Smokehouse 101, Maribyrnong
Sean McMahon & The Moon Men + Elwood Myre: The B.East, Brunswick East
The Young Folk: Thirteenth Beach Golf Links, Barwon Heads
Fri 10
A Weekend In The Gardens with John Farnham + Daryl Braithwaite + Ross Wilson: Royal Botanic Gardens, South Yarra
Hope you’re ready to spend three days straight in Royal Botanic Gardens. A Weekend In The Gardens is on, Friday to Sunday, with everyone from Icehouse and John Farnam to Amy Shark and San Cisco playing. Port Fairy Folk Music Festival 2017 feat. Don Walker + Buckman Coe + Deborah Conway + Willy Zygier + Dori Freeman + The Chipolatas + Eddi Reader + Folk Uke + The Last Waltz Revisited + Gawurra + Jemma & The Clifton Hillbillies + Manu Delago + Melody Pool + Mundy + Paul Kelly + Charlie Owen + The PINKS Plays the Blues + Tash Sultana + Vika & Linda Bull + The Waifs + Warsaw Village Band + Afenginn + Graeme James + Hollie Smith + The Jerry Cans + Mel Parsons + 8 Foot
Mighty Duke & The Lords + Zoe Fox + The Rocket Clocks + Cumbia Massive: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood Richie 1250 & The Brides of Christ + The Exotics + Bitch Diesel + more: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood Gabriella Cohen + Leah Senior: The Toff In Town, Melbourne A Basket Of Mammoths + Devil Electric + TTTDC + Filthy Lucre: The Tote (Band Room), Collingwood Facegrinder + Disparo + Shame Worn + Hand of Fear + Blarghstrad: The Tote (Upstairs), Collingwood Brain Wave feat. Shortfall + Schikain + Arakeye + Headtorch: The Workers Club, Fitzroy The Boys: Wesley Anne (Front Bar), Northcote Nighthawk: Yah Yah’s, Fitzro
Hollie Smith
Indie
Comfortable
Pitch Music & Arts Festival feat. ABRA + Adana Twins + Albrecht La’Brooy + AME + Andres + Answer Code Request + Axel Boman + Ben Klock + Big Words + CC:Disco! + Chrome Sparks + Client Liaison + Cyril Hahn + Detroit Swindle + Dixon + DJ Tennis + Donato Dozzy + Enzo Siragusa + Juan Du Sol + Julio Bashmore + Kiasmos + Kollektiv Turmstrasse + Midland + NO ZU + Otologic + Sleep D + Soul Clap + more: Mafeking, Mafeking
Felix + Backsliders + Bush Gothic + Charm of Finches + The Crooked Fiddle Band + The Dead Maggies + Kutcha Edwards + Low Down Riders + The Scrims + The Skeleton Club + Steve Boyd’s Rum Reverie + Thomas Hugh + Lior + Marlon Williams & The Yarra Benders + Mercan Dede + Mexrrissey + The Wilson Pickers + Danny Spooner + Tim Wheatley + Gary Adams + Jimmy Williams + The Bean Project + Gretta Ray + Hey Mammoth + The JVG Guitar Method + The New Savages + Roife Scott + Barry Versus Kelly + Boo Hewerdine + Christine Collister + Michael Fix + Cookin’ On 3 Burners + Tex Perkins + Stella Angelico + Ewen Baker + Featherhead + Cookin’ On 3 Burners with Tex Perkins & Stella Angelico + Karma County + Lisnacrieve + Martha Tilston + Miss Amber & Stukulele + Nancie Schipper + Nhatty Man + Gara + Roo Panes + Sarah Carroll & The Left Wing + Les Poules a Colin + Suzannah Espie + Kerri Simpson + Barb Waters + Alison Ferrier + The Changing Room + The Drowsy Maggies + The Low Down Riders + Seamus Begley Trio + The Mission Songs Project + The Southern Ocean Sea Band + Vince Jones + The Astral Orchestra + Mick Thomas & Roving Commission + The Bazzookas + Bennett, Bowtell & Urquhart + Charles Jenkins + Christine Collister & Michael Fix + Digging Roots + Dog Trumpet + Dubmarine + Fem Belling + more + Port Fairy Folk Music Festival: Port Fairy, Port Fairy
Album Focus
Album title? Water Or Gold
Where did the title of your new album come from? It’s the title track from the album, the song being about the choices we make and the perspective of what’s valuable to you.
How many releases do you have now? I have had three Hollie Smith solo releases and two collaborative albums.
How long did it take to write/ record? Writing happened over a year or two, recording was done with the band over two weeks and then I recorded the vocals at home over a few weeks. Was anything in particular inspiring you during the making? There’s no current theme to the album, but a number of things inspired different songs: one’s for my son, one’s for my late best friend — things that were relevant at the time. What’s your favourite song on it? Always a hard one. Helena is a special song to me, but I like Older Younger and Poor On Poor.
Will you do anything differently next time? It will keep changing, I think. There are some things that worked really well. Considering what we were working with at the time, I think we did really well. When and where is your launch/ next gig? 10 Mar, Port Fairy Folk Festival; 16 Mar, Caravan Music Club Website link for more info? holliesmith.co.nz THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017 • 37
Comedy / G The Guide
Sat 11
Jules Boult + Mirko Guerrini: Catfish (Front Bar), Fitzroy
Jakubi
Nick Cunningham + Frazer Telfer: 303, Northcote
Thirsty Merc: Chelsea Heights Hotel, Aspendale Gardens
Twisted Willows + Maverick + Longboys: Bar Open, Fitzroy
Frightened Rabbit + Alexander Biggs: Corner Hotel, Richmond
Some Folks Say with Lucy Roleff + Kate Skinner + Anna Cordell: Bella Union, Carlton South
Tesla Coil + Asylum Sisters + Bodies: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy
Tony Momrelle: Bird’s Basement, Melbourne
The Black Sorrows: Flying Saucer Club, Elsternwick
Blood, Sweat & Tears: Chelsea Heights Hotel, Aspendale Gardens
This Way North: Great Ocean Hotel, Apollo Bay
Teenage Fanclub: Corner Hotel, Richmond
Istoria feat. Andrew Bayer + Ben Nicky + Khomha + MaRLo + Pure NRG Live + Sander van Doorn + more: Hisense Arena, Melbourne
Autopilot + Berg + Durs + Effective + more: Esoteric Festival, Donald Kitty Flanagan: Esso BHP Billiton Wellington Entertainment Centre, Sale All Ages Show with Storm The Sky + Stepson + The Comfort: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy Forest Edge Festival 2017 feat. Germein Sisters + Mayfair Lane + The Quick & The Dead + Sam Leslie + more: Forest Edge, Neerim
The D.O.T. feat. Dark Riddims + The Operatives + Twisted Audio: Howler, Brunswick
Mid-Week Pick Me Up Get set to watch Jakubi bring their fresh funk to 170 Russell for a mid-week rager. They hit the stage on Wednesday with Sublime With Rome, so get down there to ensure you’re partying your way through the rest of the week.
Katy Steele + Hazlett + JP Klipspringer: Northcote Social Club, Northcote
Chain & The Gang + New War + Terry: The Tote (Band Room), Collingwood
The Prairie Oysters + Danny Stain: Retreat Hotel (Main Room), Brunswick
No Sister + BC + Is There A Hotline?: The Tote (Front Bar), Collingwood
Luke Yeoward & the Half Way: Reverence Hotel, Footscray
Absolutely 80s feat. Brian Mannix + Scott Carne + Dale Ryder + Paul Gray: The Westernport Hotel, Phillip Island
A Weekend In The Gardens with Boy & Bear + San Cisco + Amy Shark: Royal Botanic Gardens, South Yarra Thirsty Merc: Shoppingtown Hotel, Doncaster
Hip Hop Hooray Tearing the stage up at The Prince this Wednesday night is N’fa Jones. He’ll be getting the crowd going before the legendary Pete Rock & CL Smooth. This is a sure to be killer night, celebrating the best hip hop has to offer, new and old.
Mona + Le Pine: Forester’s Hall (Woody’s Bar), Collingwood
Golden Plains X1 feat. Neil Finn + Nicolas Jaar + The Specials + Kurt Vile + Total Giovanni + Margaret Glaspy + Teenage Fanclub + Chain & The Gang + Camp Cope + The Damned + Orb + Habits + Olympia + Wax’o Paradiso + Cash Savage & The Last Drinks + Jazz Party + Ausmuteants + Benny & The Fly By Niters + The Dusty Millers + Brooke Powers + Remi + Eleanor Dixon & Sandhill Women + Harold + The Pilotwings + Confidence Man + Billy Davis & The Good Lords + Oren Ambarchi + The Peep Tempel + more + Golden Plains Festival: Supernatural Amphitheatre, Mt Mercer The Ugly Kings + The Lockhearts + Uptown Ace + Fluff: The Bendigo, Collingwood Grudgefest ‘17 feat. Black Jesus + Drive Time Commute + Disparo + Grudge + Uncle Geezer + Dead Root + Good Time Aussie Bogolars + more: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick
TK Reeve: Gin Lane, Belgrave Chrome Sparks: Howler, Brunswick James Vincent McMorrow: Melbourne Recital Centre (Elisabeth Murdoch Hall), Southbank Melbourne Zoo Twilights feat. The Specials: Melbourne Zoo, Parkville Flagpole Villains + Charm + The Lost Jackets: Mr Boogie Man Bar, Abbotsford
38 • THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017
Marty Kelly & Co. + Mike Rudd + First Base: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East Monsteria: Mr Boogie Man Bar, Abbotsford
Jungle Breed + Pals Cracker +
N’fa Jones
Heave at the Hood with Horizon + Jesse James + AK + more: Kay St, Traralgon
Agamous Betty: The Gasometer Hotel (Upstairs), Collingwood Grasshole: The Loft, Warrnambool
I Built The Sky + Teramaze + The Omnific + Tim McMillan Band + Rachel Snow: The Workers Club, Fitzroy Matinee Show with Strong Dose + Emilia & The Scarletts + Chicago Dime: The Workers Club, Fitzroy
Break + Stealth + Koven + Logan Sama + Jammz: Railway Hotel, Brunswick Chris Wilson: Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy Brooklyn’s Finest: Retreat Hotel (Main Room), Brunswick Elwood Myre: Retreat Hotel (Front Bar), Brunswick A Weekend In The Gardens with ICEHOUSE + James Reyne + Clare Bowditch: Royal Botanic Gardens, South Yarra The T-Bones: Royal Oak Hotel, Fitzroy North
Luke Peacock + Yirgjhilya Lawrie Band: Thornbury Theatre, Thornbury
Jack Earle Big Band: Spotted Mallard, Brunswick
The Moonee Valley Drifters: Torquay Bowls Club, Torquay
Golden Plains X1: Supernatural Amphitheatre, Mt Mercer
Wild Turkey + Paulie Bignell & The Thornbury Two: Union Hotel, Brunswick Bear Rescues Crow: Wesley Anne (Front Bar), Northcote Soul’d: Wesley Anne (Band Room), Northcote Mooners + Grey Mantis + Life Strike: Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford
Sun 12
Neighbourhood Youth
The Damned + Captives: 170 Russell, Melbourne
Lush & Local
Douzey + Friends + Mario Demiraj + Mareesa Ballao: 303, Northcote
Taking to the stage of Howler this Friday night is none other than Melbourne’s very own Neighbourhood Youth. Supporting Ceres on their ’91 Your House tour, these guys are sure to crawl their way into your hearts, with their nostalgic lyrics and lush guitars.
Kill Dirty Youth + The Braves + Dumb Dog + Fuzzsucker: The Old Bar, Fitzroy
Co-Exist Collective #3 feat. Trick Dog Syndicate + Flat Controller + Smoky Seas + Primm + Sectoral: Bar Open, Fitzroy
Afternoon Show with Tough Uncle + Cracker La Touf: The Old Bar, Fitzroy
Mijo Biscan: Bar Oussou, Brunswick
Gem Bones + Heat Wave + Plaster of Paris + Pearl Bay: The Toff In Town, Melbourne
Rough Sauce: Open Studio, Northcote
Tony Momrelle: Bird’s Basement, Melbourne Pitch Sideshow 02 with Detroit Swindle + Stimming: Brown Alley, Melbourne
Gigs / Live The Guide
Broken + Plead4Mercy + Locked + Crush the Demoniac: The Bendigo, Collingwood
Alleged Associates: Thornbury Bowls Club, Thornbury
Funny at The Brunny Comedy Show: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick
Afternoon Show with Monique Angele + Elle Murphy: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick
Kim Salmon: Tramway Hotel, North Fitzroy
Honey Badgers + Golden Helmet + Lizard Queen + China Beach: The Old Bar, Fitzroy
I Am Duckeye + Skinpin + Murderballs + Beautiful Savages: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick
Kim Volkman & The Whisky Priests + Toni Swain: Union Hotel, Brunswick
Birdfest
Gods + RAThammock + The Tom Pretty’s: The Workers Club, Fitzroy
FLMXD: Wesley Anne (Front Bar), Northcote
Kitty Flanagan: The Forge Theatre, Bairnsdale
Field + Overtime + Pigs of the Roman Empire: Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford
La Bastard + Mandek Penha + Thee Cha Cha Chas: The Old Bar, Fitzroy
Mon 13
Lucida + Consultant + Popolice + $igrett$: Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford
Tue 14 Meshuggah + Thy Art Is Murder: 170 Russell, Melbourne
Marshmello: The Prince, St Kilda
Moomba Festival feat. The New Savages: Alexandra Gardens, Melbourne
Alfredo Rodriguez: Bird’s Basement, Melbourne
Have You Been To
Benny James & The Blue Flames: The Standard Hotel, Fitzroy
The Bazzookas + Admiral Ackbar’s Dishonourable Discharge: Bar Open, Fitzroy
Brunswick Music Festival feat. The Hot 8 Brass Band: Coburg Town Hall, Preston
Answered by: Jamie O’Sullivan — Manager & Drummer
The Waifs + Jordie Lane: Eastbank Centre, Shepparton
Why should punters visit you? Birdhouse front with authenticity and huge cult-following feels, punching through with seamless transitions and tight breakdowns. They’re just as likely to shotgun a tinny as tell their mums they love them while chucking up a shakka.
Flower Drums
Irish Session: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East Formidable Vegetable Sound System: Open Studio, Northcote Petrichora + New Verses + Dole Cheque: The Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick Marlon Williams & The Yarra Benders: The Curtin, Carlton Liam Linley + Monnone Alone + Rhia Simone + Jimmy Carroll: The Gasometer Hotel (Upstairs), Collingwood
Katy Steele
Stellar Return
Ethel Chop + Danny McGinlay + Des Dowling: Bird’s Basement, Melbourne Teenage Fanclub: Corner Hotel, Richmond
Intimate Beginnings with Noctilucent + Angus Dawson: The Toff In Town, Melbourne Down The Rabbit Hole with Nigel Last: The Toff In Town (Carriage Room), Melbourne Elbow Grease with DJ Cool Anna + DJ Bridggie Smalls + DJ Tony 5 + more: The Toff In Town, Melbourne Maureen + Hi-Tec Emotions + Egypt Lies: The Tote (Front Bar), Collingwood Abaddon Incarnate + Clogged + Spew Balloon + Derailment + Black Jesus: The Tote (Upstairs), Collingwood Laing Brothers: The Westernport Hotel, Phillip Island Birdfest feat. Birdhouse + Arbes + Lunatics On Pogosticks + Reika + The Crookeds + The Rollercanes + Mild Manic + The Sadults + The Jives + Barefoot Spaceman + Hurlin’ Up Limbs: The Workers Club, Fitzroy
Slippy Mane + Pikelet + Lovision: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy The Three Kings: Labour In Vain, Fitzroy Monday Night Mass feat. Unsanitary Napkin + Freak Wave + Tactical Attack + Synthetics: Northcote Social Club, Northcote
Steele Your Heart Songstress Katy Steele is set to bring her unique style of jittery electro-pop to Northcote Social Club this Saturday night. Her powerful vocals paired with the upbeat, glitchy beats are sure to grab your attention.
BitterFruitt: Open Studio, Northcote Charles Jenkins: Retreat Hotel (Front Bar), Brunswick
Trouble Peach + James Moloney & The Mad Dog Harrisons: The Old Bar, Fitzroy
Piknic Electronik #11 feat. Michael Mayer + Marc Houle + Uone + more: Sidney Myer Music Bowl (Southside), Melbourne
Now.Here.This with Thando + Pocket Clock + Jimmy James + Logo: The Toff In Town, Melbourne
March: Spotted Mallard, Brunswick
The Football Club + Darts + Dianas + Wilder Genes: The Workers Club, Fitzroy
Golden Plains X1: Supernatural Amphitheatre, Mt Mercer
What’s the history of the event? Birdhouse have put together a wicked line-up, which they are headlining. It’s all about showing Melbourne an array of great rock bands, getting your name out there, showing support and getting around each other.
Any advice for first timers who want to visit the event? Come say g’day, we don’t bite. Bring your parents, your grandparents and your pets.
After recently relocating to Melbourne, Flower Drums have a new single in their pocket and they’re ready to share it around, launching Back To Earth (feat Ash Hendriks) at Horse Bazaar on Saturday.
The Sunday Set with DJ Andyblack + Mr Weir: The Toff In Town (Carriage Room), Melbourne
Indie
Thongbirds: 303, Northcote
Afternoon Show with David Grimson + Luke Seymoup: The Old Bar, Fitzroy
Maia Von Lekow: Tramway Hotel, North Fitzroy
Who’s performing this time around? Birdhouse, Lunatics On Pogosticks, Neon Queen, Reika, The Crookeds, The Rollercanes, Mild Manic, Barefoot Spacemen, Plotz, Room 12, Hurlin’ Up Limbs, Environments. Do you have any plans for the event in the future? Birdhouse will be making this an annual festival so expect to see more from us! It’ll be their last Melbourne headline before their tour commencement.
When and where for your next event? 12 Mar, The Workers Club. Website link for more info? facebook.com/ events/215237595611136/
THE MUSIC • 8TH MARCH 2017 • 39
BY ARRANGEMENT WITH UTA PRESENTS
AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND TOUR 2017
THURSDAY 6TH APRIL FESTIVAL HALL, MELBOURNE Tickets and information available at alterbridge.com | mjrpresents.com
New album The Last Hero out now!