The Music (Melbourne) Issue 3 by TheMusic.com.au

# 0 3 • 2 8 . 0 8 . 1 3 • M E L B O U R N E • F R E E • I N C O R P O R AT I N G

XAVIER RUDD L I F E A F T E R G L A S T O N B U RY

event

BIGSOUND SOUND

fashion

FASHION ASHION WEEK

games

REVIEWS VIEWS

drink

WINTER INTER WARMERS

THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 3

6 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 7

themusic 28TH AUGUST 2013

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BLOG

INSIDE FEATURED Xavier Rudd

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Festival

feature

The Paper Kites All Time Low Kim Mordaunt Drenge Big Scary Anberlin The Great Debate Pretty Things Peepshow Tyler Touche The Real McKenzies Tao Lin

DAN CONDON BRINGS YOU SICK TUNES FROM BANDS ON THE SOUNDWAVE 2014 LINE-UP

“THE ALBUM FORCED US TO TRY NEW THINGS AND GO OUT OF OUR COMFORT ZONE.” - TOM IANSEK OF BIG SCARY (P27)

“THE 48-YEAR-OLD HAS THIS INCREDIBLE ABILITY TO LET INTENSITY SWELL TO A CRITICAL POINT OF COMBUSTION, THEN RIP IT AWAY BEFORE IT BURSTS COMPLETELY.” - BENNY DOYLE REVIEWS NINE INCH NAILS’ HESITATION MARKS (P44)

Rufus HaiHa Le Washed Out Rosie Lockhart BIGSOUND

REVIEWS Album: Babyshambles

Arts: Tavi Gevinson Live: Batpiss Film: Stoker Theatre: Savages Games: Ducktales Remastered Muso Gear: New Pearl Export Series

THE GUIDE Cover: Bayside Film Festival

“WHEN ABBOTT CLAIMS THERE’S A ‘TRUST DEFICIT’, RUDD GIVES A BORED SNIFF AND LOOKS AWAY.” - BENNY DOYLE ATTENDED THE SECOND LEADERS’ DEBATE (P30)

review “KUTCHER PROVES THAT HE MAY BE THE DULLEST ACTOR CURRENTLY WORKING IN AMERICAN CINEMA.” - SAMUEL HILTON REVIEWS JOBS (P52)

Local News Gig Guide Eat: What Elvis Ate Drink: Winter Cocktails Culture: Zines Travel: Darwin Festival Fashion: Richard Nylon The End: Batmen

feature 8 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

“THE TWO GUYS AGREE ON A DARE TO... UM... HOW DO I SAY THIS WITHOUT GIVING IT AWAY?” - ROSIE LOCKHART IN STRAIGHT (P39)

THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 9

CREDITS PUBLISHER

Street Press Australia Pty Ltd

GROUP MANAGING EDITOR Andrew Mast

EDITOR Bryget Chrisﬁeld

ARTS AND CULTURE EDITOR Cassandra Fumi

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Stephanie Liew

MUSO EDITOR Michael Smith

GIG GUIDE Justine Lynch vic.giguide@themusic.com.au

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR Jeﬀ Jenkins

CONTRIBUTORS Aleksia Barron, Atticus Bastow, Steve Bell, Luke Carter, Anthony Carew, Oliver Coleman, Rebecca Cook, Adam Curley, Cyclone, Guy Davis, Dan Condon, Simon Eales, Guido Farnell, Sam Fell, Tim Finney, Bob Baker Fish, Cameron Grace, Tom Hawking, Andrew Hazel, Brendan Hitchens, Jeﬀ Jenkins, Kate Kingsmill, Baz McAlister, Samson McDougall, Tony McMahon, Fred Negro, Matt O’Neill, Josh Ramselaar, Paul Ransom, Dylan Stewart, Stephanie Tell, Izzy Tolhurst, Nic Toupee, Dominique Wall, Glenn Waller, Matthew Ziccone

THIS WEEK THINGS TO DO THIS WEEK • 28 AUGUST - 3 SEPTEMBER 2013

why?

gasp

SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER Kane Hibberd

PHOTOGRAPHERS Andrew Briscoe, Holly Engelhardt, Jay Hynes, Lou Lou Nutt

NATIONAL SALES MANAGER Brett Dayman

ADVERTISING DEPT Leigh Treweek, Tim Wessling sales@themusic.com.au

ART DIRECTOR

It has been announced that Ben Affleck has been cast as Bruce Wayne/Batman in the Man Of Steel sequel, to be directed by Zack Snyder (Watchmen, Dawn Of The Dead). It’s a surprising choice considering Affleck’s Matt Murdock/Daredevil was one of the biggest superhero flops ever. I guess he did hook up with Elektra. Affleck will star opposite Man Of Steel’s Henry Cavill, who’s back as Clark Kent/Superman.

Happy to stumble upon seriouslyforreal.com and their 23 Most Unfortunate Advertising Placements. There’s a Starbucks van that, once the side sliding door is opened, crops out the lettering to make it read “Starbucks Sucks”. And how could the South Lake Union Trolley (streetcar) in Seattle seriously think “Ride The S.L.U.T.” was a suitable slogan for their campaign? You can even buy the t-shirt.

Matt Davis

ART DEPT Nicholas Hopkins, Eamon Stewart vic.art@themusic.com.au

ADMIN & ACCOUNTS Loretta Zoppolone Shelley Neergaard Jarrod Kendall Leanne Simpson accounts@themusic.com.au

DISTRO Anita D’Angelo distro@themusic.com.au

Is anyone else addicted to looking at the Hot-Dog Legs Tumblr? What’s with those sorts of selfies anyway? If it’s so that the subject can prove they were on their own vacay, unless the individual has a tatt or visual distinguishable mark on their thigh, how can you really know for certain whose legs they are anyway? And if we wanna be even more pedantic, it’s more like Frankfurter Legs (or, as pictured, Hairy Chicken Sausage Legs), since there’s no bun or sauces involved in such snaps. (At least we hope there’s not.)

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lol MELBOURNE

It’s all well and good to be in your bedroom listening to a Yellowcard album, or in the crowd singing your favourite tune with the band. But... how about doing all that, meeting your pop punk heroes, and probably greeting them too if you’re not in too much shock. The Floridian five-piece are touring their Ocean Avenue Acoustic with a special run of stripped back shows, reimagining the songs that first put them on the map ten years ago. Yellowcard play the following headline dates: 25 Oct, The Tivoli, Brisbane; 26 Oct, Enmore Theatre, Sydney; 29 Oct, Palace Theatre, Melbourne; and 31 Oct, Capitol, Perth, and we have a meet and greet double pass for one lucky reader in each state. To enter, simply head to the giveaways tabs on our respective Facebook pages (still under Time Off, Drum Media, Inpress and Drum Perth), fill in your deets and you could be hanging out with the lads!

win

Oh Miley. Did anyone else feel violated by her VMA performance?

fail

drink

Hangovers. They’re really the only crap thing about getting Hasselhoff drunk. But now that’s potentially set to change, with the mad partiers at Griffith University’s Health Institute in Queensland developing a more hydrating beer through increased electrolytes. A Gatorade ale, if you will. The beer’s strength takes a hit, dropping to 2.3 per cent, but as we get longer in the tooth this creation sounds more and more inviting.

sad

Stand By Me star Corey Feldman is trying to become the next Charlie Sheen Hugh Hefner by surrounding himself with a bevy of faded looking ‘babes’, teaming then as ‘Corey’s Angels’ and holding parties at his home which he’s dubbed the ‘Feldmansion’. Feldman, who’s looking more like the aging spawn of Tommy Wiseau and a wet rat, requests dudes pay 250 bones entry into the shindig, while chicks can get in free on approval from him. Hollywood, you have a lot to answer for. THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 11

national news news@themusic.com.au GREEN DAY

SO BLUE FOR YOU

IT’S BAAAAACK!

The always massive monster that is Soundwave will stomp through with another series of dates in 2014, and once again there’s plenty of big names, old favourites and young lions ready to send out the best in metal, punk, hardcore, rock and more. First announcement presents those American-baiting punk idiots Green Day (pictured), Californian goth metal powerhouse Avenged Sevenfold, a Chester Bennington fronted Stone Temple Pilots, Alice In Chains, Rob Zombie, Megadeth, Placebo, AFI, Korn, Alter Bridge, Trivium, Down, DevilDriver, Newsted, Biffy Clyro, Rocket From The Crypt, Asking Alexandria, Clutch, Alkaline Trio, Baroness, Five Finger Death Punch, August Burns Red, Testament, Living Colour, letlive, Motionless In White, Gwar, Black Dahlia Murder, Mushroomhead, Finch, Pulled Apart By Horses, Ill Nino, Nancy Vandal, Bowling For Soup, Trash Talk, Skindred, Volbeat, Amon Amarth, Terror, Whitechapel, Tesseract, The Story So Far, 10 Years, Hardcore Superstar, Walking Papers, Coliseum, Your Demise, Heaven’s Basement and Real Friends. Earlier this year Metallica played one of the biggest festival sets ever seen in this country. How the fuck will that be topped? There’s only one way to find out. The tour hits RNA Showgrounds, Brisbane, 22 Feb; Olympic Park, Sydney, 23 Feb; Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, 28 Feb and Claremont Showgrounds, Perth, 3 Mar. Make sure you’re in the pit when the next chapter of Soundwave gets written. Tickets go on sale 5 Sep.

12 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

And in a massive week of announcements, Bluesfest has also surprised us by jumping the gun with the first names for their forthcoming line-up, four weeks ahead of schedule no less. But with a group of artists as varied and talented as this lot, you’d be itching to share your news with the world, too. Celebrating 25 years of the festival, the organisers assure us that this is just the tip of the iceberg – and what a way to set the tone for 2014! We’ve got John Mayer (pictured) returning to Australia for the first time in seven years, Dave Matthews Band, who continue to remain one of the most in-demand live acts in America, John Butler Trio, who’ll be performing for an incredible tenth time, as well as Erykah Badu, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Iron & Wine, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Devendra Banhart, Morcheeba, Gary Clark Jr., KT Tunstall, Allen Stone and Valerie June. The festival will be returning to Byron Bay once more, with all the music set to engulf Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm across five days, from 17 to 21 Apr (Easter long weekend). Festival and camping tickets can be purchased through the event website or via Ticketmaster, with the whole massive shebang proudly presented by The Music. JOHN MAYER

national news news@themusic.com.au

A HARD DAY DESERVES A HARD PARTY

JORDIE LANE

ANDREW WK [@ANDREWWK] MUST HAVE A LOT OF HARD DAYS.

Not Built To Last is the new EP from our ol’ bearded buddy Jordie Lane and he’s bringing songs written in Los Angeles back to Australia for our listening pleasure. The troubadour gets on the mic 27 Oct, Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle (afternoon) and Ellington Jazz Club, Perth (evening); 31 Oct, The Spotted Cow, Toowoomba; 1 Nov, Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane; 7 Nov, Beav’s Bar, Geelong; 8 Nov, Theatre Royal, Castlemaine; 9 Nov, Thornbury Theatre, Melbourne; 10 Nov, Caravan Club, Oakleigh; 13 Nov, Street Theatre, Canberra; 14 Nov, Yours & Owls, Wollongong; 15 Nov, Clarendon Guesthouse, Katoomba; 16 Nov, The Basement, Sydney; 17 Nov, Grand Junction, Maitland; 18 Nov, Music Lounge, Manly; 20 Nov, Lizotte’s Central Coast; 21 Nov, Lizotte’s, Newcastle; and 22 Nov, Mullumbimby Music Festival. The full tour is proudly presented by The Music.

THE NATIONAL

ANYONE’S GHOST

After generating incredible amounts of underground with a stretch of cracking albums, The National broke out in a big way with 2010’s High Violet, a record of immense courage and presence. Since then they’ve ascended from indie favourite to chart topping headliner, with this year’s stunning Trouble Will Find Me solidifying their status as one of the most important and influential rock bands of today. But for all their recorded glory, you can’t appreciate the power of the American five-piece until you witness their life-affirming shows live on stage and now after captivating a Saturday night Big Top crowd at Splendour In The Grass last month, the band have announced their return in 2014. The National will play Sydney Opera House Forecourt, 8 Feb; Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne, 9 Feb; Riverstage, Brisbane, 11 Feb; and Belvoir Amphitheatre, Perth, 14 Feb, as part of Perth Festival.

VIOLENT SOHO

THE BARONS OF TANG

DOWN UNDER WONDER

SET IT OFF! SAVOUR THE TASTE

The result of six years on the road, with all the accomplishments and misadventures that have gone with their continual gigging schedule, Into The Mouths Of Hungry Giants is The Barons Of Tang’s debut record and showcases their epicly experimental approach to songwriting. With a gypsy mindset, the Tang team are delivering world music in our own backyard, so step outside the norm and dance with the seven-piece at one of these dates: Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle, 26 Sep; The Standard, Sydney, 27 Sep; Katoomba RSL, 28 Sep; The Rails, Byron Bay, 4 Oct; The Joynt, Brisbane, 5 Oct; and Peregian Originals!, Peregian Beach Park, 6 Oct; Moonshine Bar, Manly, 24 Oct; Yours & Owls, Wollongong, 25 Oct; Black Cherry, Sydney, 26 Oct; Corner Hotel, Melbourne, 8 Nov; and Inca Roads Festival, Mt Egerton, 30 Nov (all ages). Proudly presented by The Music.

They’ve barely sobered up after destroying some smaller venues along the east coast, but Violent Soho are alive and kicking once more, the Brissie quartet looking to launch their brand new record with some hectic headline shows in the coming months. Along with Straight Arrows, Mansfield’s finest bring their tour for newie Hungry Ghost to The Northern, Byron Bay, 24 Oct; Oxford Art Factory, Sydney, 25 Oct; The Zoo, Brisbane, 26 Oct; Mojo’s, Fremantle, 31 Oct; Amplifier, Perth, 1 Nov; and Corner Hotel, Melbourne, 4 Nov for a special Melbourne Cup eve show. This new record has been a long time coming so help the lads celebrate and be part of the tear up, with the tour proudly presented by The Music.

A RIOT GOING ON

Open yourself up to the psychedelic panache of The Brian Jonestown Massacre when they return this summer with The KVB. The tour starts 10 Dec, Astor Theatre, Perth, stops in 13 Dec at Meredith Music Festival, before carrying on 15 Dec, The Hi-Fi, Brisbane; 18 Dec, The Northern, Byron Bay; 19 Dec, The Hi-Fi, Sydney; and 20 Dec, Palace Theatre, Melbourne.

DUNE RATS ARE VOMITING THE JUNGLE GIANTS [@THEJUNGLEGIANTS] REPORTING. NO ONE IS SURPRISED.

PRIZE BUCK

Critical darlings Deerhunter will be making Australian east coast stages their own, with the Atlanta quintet presenting tracks from their latest album Monomania for the very first time Down Under. Hear why the record has been celebrated by pretty much every music website and publication the world over when Bradford Cox and his chums get ultra-freaky in their weird and wild indie way. Catch them 9 Dec, The Zoo, Brisbane; 10 Dec, The Hi-Fi, Sydney; and 11 Dec, The Hi-Fi, Melbourne. The band will also be appearing at Meredith, too. Tickets for all headline dates on sale this Thursday. THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 13

local news vic.news@themusic.com.au VIOLENT SOHO

FLYING KITES

Melbourne folk quintet The Paper Kites have announced fellow homegrown heroes Georgia Fair and Robbie Miller will join them for their national States Tour, which includes an under-18s matinee show on 15 Sep at The Hi-Fi and an 18+ one at Forum Theatre on 28 Sep. After performing at SXSW in Austin, Texas earlier this year, Georgia Fair have just released their new single, Love Free Me. Robbie Miller is set to drop his debut EP later this year after having won the prestigious triple j Unearthed National Indigenous Music Award for 2013.

RED BEACHES AIR ANNOUNCE CHOSEN ONES

The Australian Independent Record Labels Association (AIR) has announced this year’s performers for the Carlton Dry Independent Music Awards and it’s gonna be a cracking night’s entertainment – a mixed bag in the best possible way, as if you chose your own favourite lollies. Drum roll please… Violent Soho, Archie Roach, Big Scary, Rüfüs, Saskwatch and Seth Sentry – the variety of which perfectly demonstrates the depth of our country’s talent. Once again the awards will be held at Revolt in Kensington so save the date: 9 Oct. More info to follow at air.org.au.

STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER

Celebrate new artists, spring, and the Strawberry Fields festival 2013 with a launch party at Brown Alley on 20 Sep. Special guests of this deluxe party will be Germany’s Stimming and USA’s Kenny Larkin plus our own Oisima, Collarbones, Child and Kris Baha. The festival, which also celebrates its fifth birthday this year, returns to The Wildlands in Tocumwal, right near the NSW-VIC border, from 22 to 24 Nov.

CAMO AND COLOUR

With previous works including awardwinning street art that vocalises everyday fears and levitation of colourful objects in household environments, Cherine Fahd is now displaying her new set of works at the Sutton Gallery, Fitzroy. This new collection, aptly titled Camouflage, explores minimalist bold colour featuring glimpses of body parts. The exhibition run between 27 Sep – Oct 19, Fridays and Saturdays, 1-5pm.

THIS IS THE MOMENT

In an incredible meeting of the musical minds, Mia Dyson, Liz Stringer and Jen Cloher will join forces for a fan-born, friendshipbuilt tour that will see the three Aussie ladies picking from their respective back catalogues, as well as playing new material, accompanied by a touring band. Catch the masive tour at one of the following dates: 13 Nov, Ararat Hotel Red Room; 14 Nov, Caravan Music Club; 15 Nov, Theatre Royal, Castlemaine; 16 Nov, Thornbury Theatre; 17 Nov, Beav’s Bar, Geelong; 22 Nov, Balnarring Community Hall; and 23 Nov, Butter Factory, Mornington Peninsula.

LACHY AND KEY

Lachy Doley’s keyboard has powered acts as diverse as Bernard Fanning, Jimmy Barnes, Powderfinger, The Beautiful Girls, Jimmy Little and The Widowbirds. Now he has a second album with his own band, The Lachy Doley Group, titled Singer Organ Soul. In support of the release, the group hit the road on a national tour, which includes shows at Bar 303 on 17 Oct and Baha Tacos, Rye on 18 Oct, as well as an appearance at the Queenscliff Music Festival.

SALOME

FUNKY AND CHIC

Chic’s distinctive approach not only resulted in some of the finest dance singles of their time, but also helped create a template for urban funk, dance-pop, and even hip hop in the post-disco era. They come back to Australia to play Meredith Music Festival on 14 Dec, and also play a sideshow at Billboard on 13 Dec.

GONNA MAKE ONE OF THOSE HIPSTER TSHIRTS & IT’LL SAY WHISKEY & TATTOOS & NO BEARDS NEAR MY VAGINA EVER EVER EVER - LULU (@LULUATTACK) LAYS DOWN THE LAW. 14 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

Joining The Cult on the Australian leg of their Electric 13 World Tour will be special guests Redcoats, plus Beaches for the Sydney and Melbourne shows. With The Cult performing their legendary album Electric in its entirety, Redcoats delivering their sound of bombastic drums and guitars with powerful vocals and pulsating bass, and Beaches creating a sonic kaleidoscope of dream rock, it’s set to be quite the special show. It comes to Festival Hall on 5 Oct.

WILD AND UNTAMEABLE Oscar Wilde himself couldn’t even see his play Salome when it came out France due to imprisonment for homosexuality. The Little Ones Theatre’s production extracts the controversy which once was punishable to turn it into something enjoyable. It’s a crazy tale of abstinence and sexual desire entwined with the turmoils of religion. Performances are from 30 Aug to 14 Sep, at the Malthouse Tower Theatre as part of the Helium season.

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MADRE MONTE

LAMINE SONKO & THE AFRICAN INTELLIGENCE AGUA CON SOL

COMING UP TIX AVAILABLE THRU MOSHTIX: AU REVIEWâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S 5TH BDAY (SEPT 5) THE ALLIANCE TOUR FT. MAUNDZ, 4 AACES & MORE (SEPT 6) HELM â&#x20AC;&#x201C; ALBUM LAUNCH (SEPT 7) CLAIM THE THRONE (SEPT 13) PLUDO (SEPT 14) VOLUMES (USA) (SEPT 8) THE ETERNAL â&#x20AC;&#x201C; ALBUM LAUNCH (SEPT 20) SPIT SYNDICATE â&#x20AC;&#x201C; SINGLE LAUNCH (SEPT 21) TIJUANA CARTEL (OCT 5) MANTRA â&#x20AC;&#x201C; ALBUM LAUNCH (OCT 11) ELLIOT SMITH TRIBUTE (OCT 20)

PORTER ROBINSON AND THE M MACHINE LIVE SUN 20 OCT

STRATOVARIUS WED 23 OCT

THE MUSIC â&#x20AC;¢ 28TH AUGUST 2013 â&#x20AC;¢ 15

local news vic.news@themusic.com.au

STEEL YOURSELF

SEABELLIES

It’s been a long time between drinks for Brisbane’s The John Steel Singers. But now, the jubilant ‘Singers confirm a second album release in 2013. The band are taking their latest wares on the road, stopping by Northcote Social Club on 26 Sep to play with Baptism Of Uzi and Dirt Farmer.

FEARLESS FREQUENCIES Getting their culture fix with a year stint in Europe, Deep Sea Arcade are coming home with a new track, Black Cat, and talk of a forthcoming record. Along with Hey Geronimo, the Sydney five-piece will play at the Corner Hotel on 12 Oct.

MR NONCHALANT

Fall for the casual charms of Mac DeMarco when the American wins us over with some garage rock and a fun disposition that’s fairly impossible to pin down. This is the first time the guitar slinging slacker has arrived on our shores, so give him a holiday to remember. He heads to the Corner Hotel on 11 Dec for a co-headline shows with Twerps, before he does the Meredith thing 14 Dec.

MATES MARCHING ON

After playing events like the Gympie Muster, BIGSOUND, Boomerang Festival and Caloundra Music Festival, Busby Marou bring their special sounds to a bunch of venues for their Farewell Fitzroy headline dates in support of their forthcoming second record. Catch the Queenslanders at the Corner Hotel on 23 Nov.

VULGARGRAD

RISING SEA

We’re guessing Seabellies are stoked right now, what with their recent signing to Shock for the release of their upcoming album, a new single in It’s Alright and a headlining tour. It’s Alright is a brooding and melodic track about uncluttering fears and anxieties, ending with that signature Seabellies anthemic left turn. They perform at The Workers Club on 26 Sep with support from I, A Man.

THE EARLIEST KNOWN SCISSORS APPEARED IN MESOPOTAMIA 3,000 TO 4,000 YEARS AGO. WHAT’S YOUR EXCUSE, GUYS WITH PONYTAILS. - STEFAN (@BORING_AS_HECK) WANTS TO KNOW WHAT’S UP WITH THAT?

TAKE NO PRISONERS RUSSIAN TO THIS

Melbourne’s own illicit Russo-swing lords Vulgargrad return to the Flying Saucer Club on 6 Sep to alight your feet with Russian criminal songs or blatnyak and Perestroika punk classics sung by gravelly voiced frontman, Jacek Koman (Children Of Men, Moulin Rouge, Romulus My Father, Australia). Causing a sensation on Australia’s live music scene and abroad in Europe, they are returning for a wild night of debauchery and vodka swirled foot stomping, supported by soviet retro pop princess, Katia Pshenichner. 16 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

After rinsing it out at Stereosonic last year, Sander van Doorn is keen to keep the journey continuing. With new tracks and exciting recent collabs, the Dutchman can’t wait to turn the screws for Australian mentalists. Catch him on 4 Oct at the Palace Theatre.

HEIRING OUT THE VIBES

The quirky, uncontained brilliance of Prince Rama is coming back Down Under! Rama have drawn attention through their left-field approach to art and life through music, written manifestos or by presenting lectures from pools of fake blood... Yeah, we don’t understand either, but we want to! They’ll also be presenting a screening of their new short film Never Forever. They come to the Festival Hub for Melbourne Festival on 29 Oct.

NO MORE MONET

The National Gallery of Victoria is celebrating Monet’s last night in Melbourne with a great line-up. Monet’s Garden: The Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris, is exclusive the NGV and must close 8 Sep. On 6 Sep, see Jae Laffer (The Panics) and DJ Zan Rowe performing. Then on 7 Sep, it’ll be David Bridie & The Pills plus Melbourne synth-pop four piece Pikelet and a DJ set by Tristan Harris.

WARPED YOUTH

School shootings are a difficult subject matter to tackle but Columbine, about the warped youth and gun laws in the USA, presents it in an intriguing way. There is something harrowing and culturally significant about the story being performed before your eyes. Columbine runs 28 Aug to 6 Sep at Monash University.

THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 17

DAY

MON

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THE SP RTING CLUB Wednesday

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N OU CA ALL Y CURRY EAT NESS MAD

Saturday

Greens Dairy Angel Ensemble 7.30pm

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27 WESTON ST, BRUNSWICK Tues - Fri 4pm till Late Sat & Sun 12pm till Late

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ITâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S A SPIRIT THING

Words Tyler McLoughlan. Photos Kane Hibberd.

Surf, spirituality and stunning unsuspecting festival punters with his didgeridoo skills: Xavier Rudd chats to Tyler McLoughlan about a few of his favourite things.

ith the release of his seventh studio album, Spirit Bird, last year, Xavier Rudd has continued his soul journey as one of Australia’s most important and authentic voices on environmental and Indigenous issues throughout Europe and North America over the past three months. With a heavy tour load taking in festivals including Glastonbury and his own largely sold-out shows, Rudd has managed to sneak in some time for his love of surfing and the great outdoors. “It’s all been really cool…” he says with a relaxed voice. “I rented a bike and took in some scenics up through Sedona to the Grand Canyon; that was pretty friggin’ cool. That was on the three days off. Other than that we’ve just had a lot of shows, and the shows are goin’ off – they’re awesome. They’re really, really awesome right now; I’m just sort of stoked, with everything.”

three songs in, it was just pumping – the whole place – and the hands in the air just bouncing with me the whole time… It was a huge crowd – probably 20,000 people or something. It’s a great feeling – it’s cool. It’s kind of why I do what I do; I like to move people.” Announced as the first performer for Brisbane’s annual BIGSOUND conference and showcase in September ahead of a national headline tour, it’s a rare chance for industry folk to catch a roots artist of Rudd’s standing,

right spirit is coming out of it and hitting people in the right way… “In terms of [my use of ] the yidaki, I was adopted up in north east Arnhem Land into the Dhuwa mob, which is descendents of Yidaki, who was the man who found it 60,000 years ago. So I went through all that about ten years ago, and then, you know, it’s interesting, my music, because I’ve come to understand that I am just a vehicle for it; I can’t take responsibility for it a lot of the time. It’s obvious when a song comes from a personal thing that’s goin’ on with me or an emotion or something, but quite often it just flows out of me and it’s comin’ from somewhere else. It’s always been that way and in Western culture it’s trippy to put that into words, but I’ve understood it since I was a little kid and I hold space for that… It just flows out of me and a lot of time it’s spirit business.” Supremely spiritual, the ocean is also a great influence on Rudd’s musical approach. Part of a loose network of acoustic and roots musos that includes Brit Ben Howard and Australia’s Mat McHugh of The Beautiful Girls, they’ve each

“IT’S INTERESTING, MY MUSIC, BECAUSE I’VE COME TO UNDERSTAND THAT I AM JUST A VEHICLE FOR IT.”

Though his headline shows allow Rudd an opportunity to reconnect with crowds that already know and love his thought-provoking and physical music style, festivals give him the chance to watch the faces of new fans move from bewilderment to joy once the rhythm takes hold. “I’ve always had a great response from festivals and they’ve probably been pretty key to my following because I’ve always been an independent artist and not commercial and built quite a big, rootsy support base around the world – I think a lot of that probably comes from playing festivals. On this trip I did some amazing festival shows where it’s pretty clear when people sort of haven’t seen you and they’re into it, and that’s always a good feeling. “I did this big festival in Belgium, and there’s always my sort of core people at the front, and you know you can tell who knows it and who doesn’t. Some of the faces were pretty stunned...” he chuckles. “That one just springs to mind ‘cause I remember in the first song I was playing yidaki [didgeridoo] – I came out and I was playing didges and percussion pretty hard – and you could just see people that were sort of stunned in places, and lookin’ at the screen just staring, trying to figure out what was goin’ on. And then by the end of that show, even two or 20 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

and understand the significance of the Indigenous instrumentation he incorporates. “The ones I use and the story that I bring is to respect the traditional story of it,” Rudd says of his didgeridoos. “I like to make a point of that and make sure people understand what the spirit of the instrument is. And that spirit travels with it and the sticks that I use are a spirit lord from up in Arnhem Land and that’s all part of the exchange when I’m using those instruments with the right permission and the

grown large and fiercely loyal fan bases through the assistance of the most welltravelled street teams ever – surfers. It therefore comes as no surprise to see who the Byron-based artist has chosen to team up with on his forthcoming Australian tour. “I’ve known Donavon [Frankenreiter] for years, since years ago [when] I played with him and Jack Johnson on tour. He’s a classic; Donavon’s a funny guy… And I’ve got Nahko & Medicine For The People, they’re opening, and they’re opening here in the States as well and they’re a brilliant band… It will be groovy; it will be nice to collaborate musically together too and jump up with each other on stage and go surfin’ if there’s waves. “I’ve had heaps of shows in Europe and America and it will be just nice to get back and do the little, humble vibe of Aussies – it’s classic after being on these big tours overseas, to get home and feel like [I’m having] a home-cooked meal.” WHEN & WHERE: 2 & 3 Oct, Forum Theatre

INDIGENOUS INSIGHTS Rudd is passionate about offering insights into Indigenous culture through his use of yidakis, particularly considering the education system has left some gaping holes in the history lessons of our country. “The ones I travel with are the ones I have a blessing to play. They’re the only sticks I indentify with because of kind of where it came from…” he says, explaining that though the yidaki is thought to be a common Indigenous instrument, it is very specific to the people of north east Arnhem Land. “[It] eventually got traded around the rest of Australia ‘cause it only came from a small part of Aus, so a lot of the mobs didn’t use it in most of the country but it got traded over time down to the south and eventually it’s become a message stick for our Aboriginal people – a very important message stick in terms of awareness of our Aboriginal culture and oppression of our Aboriginal culture… “It’s sad – every Australian kid should know these things but it’s not offered [in school]… I grew up in southern Victoria and when I went through school we learnt about Captain Cook and all that, but nothing about Indigenous culture and it’s still not very much better now. It’s bullshit; it’s fuckin’ ludicrous that it’s not celebrated.”

fashion

FASHION WEAK In case you didn’t realise, the cocaine circus has rolled into town again. Words By Natasha Lee. Pics By Peter Sharp.

“HI, WE’RE HERE FOR ONE DIRECTION”

hat’s right, the Mercedez-Benz Fashion Week landed in Sydney this week to once again educate women that beauty only comes in a size six. Unless you’re a C-Grade Australian celebrity, odds are you probably haven’t been to this soul sucking bullshit fest that sees models parade in overpriced clothes down a runway while ‘fashionistas’ (eg: footy players and their soapie star girlfriends) clap and nod as they stroll past. Think of a dog show – only more depressing. Don’t believe me? Well, because we here at The Music love you, we saved you the brain cells and went instead. And now for a word from our photographer: “Most people looked like they hadn’t eaten in a week.” Well, duh.

I’M GOING TO START A WEBSITE CALLED “HYPSTER OR HOBO” AND IT’S GONNA BE FILLED WITH THIS ‘DESIGNER RIPPED’ SHIT.

DO YOU COME WITH THE CAR? HURR HURR.

SPOTTED: THE ONLY PIECE OF FOOD IN THE ENTIRE PLACE.

HEY GIRL, THOSE COLLAR BONES COULD CUT CHEESE.

22 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

“I CAN’T BELIEVE I HAVE TO PAY FOR THIS SHIT”

THE ONLY GOOD THING ABOUT THE WHOLE EVENT IS THE BOOZE, WHICH WAS APPARENTLY OVERPRICED AND AVERAGE AS FUCK.

THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 23

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FLIGHT OF THE KITES After the long process of recording their debut album, Sam Bentley of The Paper Kites is nervous and excited about touring overseas, he tells Justine Keating.

oining the ranks of the Jamaican bobsled team in Cool Runnings, our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man and Gryffindor’s resident goof Neville Longbottom, Melbourne band The Paper Kites are proving themselves something of underdogs on the rise. With just two EPs under their belts and a debut album set for release in the very near future, this little Australian band is gearing up for a huge couple of months, with something like 40 dates on the cards – a good portion of these alongside Canadian dreamboat Dallas Green (aka City & Colour), all the way over in the USA. The sheer size of the tour is obviously quite daunting and frontman Sam Bentley’s comments only confirm the band’s somewhat mixed feelings. “We’ve never done a tour this big before. It all sounds fine now, because it’s something that’s coming up and not something we’re in the middle of, but I think we’re all pretty nervous about having to pull it up.” Nerves and fear aside, Bentley keeps a positive outlook and a hearty sense of humour about the situation, laughing as he explains some of the more hard-hitting tour issues. “Hopefully we’ll manage it all okay and not get too sick on the road or eat too much bad food. To be doing the venues that we’re doing here – which is already big for us – and then going overseas and doing these 2,500 people-sized theatres with Dallas is amazing. It’s quite a privilege for a relatively small Australian band to be having their first trip to the States and doing a tour like that, it’s really exciting.” The Paper Kites are a band that aren’t strangers to the concept of hard work. Forty dates sure sounds like a hell of a lot of shows, but the creative process of their recently completed and soon-to-be released debut album, States, was on a potentially more rigorous wavelength. This was an album that required the cooperation of five band members, an album that took a great deal of time from the Melburnians. “We had a lot of songs before we even started. I had gone away, and we’d been collecting demos over the last year or so, and we had around 40 songs or so just sitting there. We were sort of lucky that we had that many songs to pick from, but I suppose when it actually came down to translating them in the studio and working out the best way to put them down, that was where we all started having discussions about what we thought worked. It was really a matter of everyone wanting to put their best foot forward. There were a lot of conflicting styles in songs, and we ended up

with a really eclectic album in the end because we all listen to different sorts of music and we all have different tastes, so the whole album is a bit of a rollercoaster I think.” Much like the content itself, Bentley explains just how scattered a procedure it was. “It was a pretty long process. I mean, we’re all pretty diplomatic when we get together. We like to discuss things and make sure everyone’s opinion is heard, so we had a few meetings and we then tried to cut down the songs that were there. In the end I think we had 13 songs that we were going to record in the studio, so we put them down and we were going to cut down from that, but by the time we recorded them, everyone was so attached to those 13 songs in different ways that we decided to keep them all – that was the best way to go. “I guess it’s a bit longer than the standard debut album, but we thought, we’re putting our music out there for the people who enjoy it, so I’m sure they’re not going to mind a few extra tracks. It was a long process, but it was ultimately worth discussing everything. Then, by the time

we got into the studio, it was just a mountain of sound that we had to sift through and work out what would work and what didn’t. We just kept really expanding on the soundscapes on the songs and we ended up with a pretty sonically interesting album. It’s something we definitely put a lot into. We were all pretty exhausted by the end of it; there were songs that perhaps Christina would be singing on, and she’d be half asleep because we’d been doing so many takes. We put a lot of effort into it, and I think that’s what you have to do on your debut album. We’re all really happy with that.” Without much time to rest, the quintet have begun sinking their teeth into preparing their songs for the stage. As Bentley explains, this is something that is at the foreground of the band’s concerns. “I think it’s really important to get it right live, so what we’re going to try is bring in a few new little toys to try and

“IT’S QUITE A PRIVILEGE FOR A RELATIVELY SMALL AUSTRALIAN BAND TO BE HAVING THEIR FIRST TRIP TO THE STATES AND DOING A TOUR LIKE THAT, IT’S REALLY EXCITING.” replicate that as best we can. It is a part of our sound, and I think we wouldn’t be doing the album any justice if we didn’t try and get it exactly right. We’re just experimenting with that at the moment – how to translate everything live – but we’re hoping to get it as close as we can for everyone that’s coming along. “We have a really great team we’re working with on this tour. We’re working with a guy called Tayor Hislop who is Gotye’s lighting man, and he’s brilliant, he’s just got some really great ideas for the show. I can’t say exactly what that is, but I think he’s bringing in a few big things for the stage,” Bentley pauses, and to keep things shrouded in mystery, he cheekily chuckles, “I think.” WHEN & WHERE: 15 Sep, The Hi-Fi; 28 Sep, Forum Theatre

In the blink of an eye, from playing Green Day covers at their parents’ houses to supporting the band on a European tour, ten years passed. “At this point in our career, we realise we’re a career band; we’ve made it this far, we can make it another ten years, easily. I mean, it feels like it’s gone by so quickly. We’ve proven to ourselves and the people that we’re going to be around for a while and we’re not going anywhere.”

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The release of their fifth studio record, Don’t Panic, saw them leave major label Interscope, a choice that ensured the mentality between one another remained relaxed and productive. “It’s just a good feeling to be able to do whatever we want, when we want to do it, how we want to do it. We can kind of be a little bit more relaxed about everything and just be on our own schedule. I guess it’s a little bit more like being your own boss. It’s cool – it’s definitely the right move for our band, and I think it’s cool to be on a label where you get a lot more attention rather than being on a major.

BAND OF BROTHERS Forming in the ninth grade, All Time Low could barely play their instruments. Approaching their tenyear anniversary with the same line-up, guitarist Jack Barakat looks back on the dream that became a reality while Daniel Cribb tries to decipher the magic formula.

fter seven weeks in Europe, All Time Low’s Jack Barakat finds himself slumped on the couch, watching baseball and eagerly anticipating their next journey. “We’ve played Europe so many times now that we’ve got a good following there. We were over there opening up for Green Day for seven weeks, so it was awesome, but it was definitely a new crowd; we were playing to a bunch of new people,” Barakat begins. It’s only been five months since their appearance at Soundwave, and a return next month is proof of their tireless efforts. “If you see us at a festival and you see us at a headlining show, it’s a completely different show. With festivals, we’re working a bunch of new fans over and putting on a less relaxed show; we’re a little bit uptight and focused when we’re on festivals because we’re trying to gain some new fans, but if you come see us at a headlining show at a club, it’s going to be a lot more relaxed, we’re going to be messing around with people and bringing people up on stage. It’s a different kind of vibe.” It’s not that the four-piece make a conscious effort to spend almost all of the year on tour, it’s just all they’ve ever known. In ninth grade, Barakat was playing in a band with a few friends when he met vocalist/guitarist Alex Gaskarth. They got Gaskarth onboard and then slowly tweaked the line-up to somewhat of a local “dream team”, finding the best drummer in the school, Rian Dawson, and finally tracking down Zack Merrick, a bassist that everyone in town was raving about. At 17, while other students where sending off college applications, All Time Low were sealing envelopes addressed to record labels and trying to scope out a manager. “We could barely play our instruments, we definitely didn’t know how to write songs – we were just playing covers at that point. I definitely didn’t think we’d be doing it for a long time,” he admits. “We were so young when we started playing, and we got pretty serious about it by 17, so at that

point, I mean, most people still don’t know what they want to do. We knew that we wanted to play music. There was never anything that we were passionate about that wasn’t music, so no one ever even talked about or thought about college. Going to college wasn’t even a real thing. “We’ve been touring for so long now that we have it down to a science – we get along so well. We all kind of grew up together and it’s really like a touring family. We don’t really have a problem at all.” On top of that, they’ve had the same line-up since forming. “A lot of drugs,” Barakat swiftly responds when queried on the secret. “No, I’m just kidding,” he laughs. “We have a really good time touring and if you enjoy doing what you’re doing then it kind of makes for a stress-free environment where everyone’s in good spirits, everyone’s in a good mood. If you’re enjoying it, it makes it a lot easier to keep doing it.”

“It wasn’t as terrible as I’m sure other artists have had. We still had a lot of creative control, we still wrote all the songs – no one was writing songs for us or any of that kind of stuff – we just had more people giving their opinions; more cooks in the kitchen, and I mean, there was so many people giving their opinion that it was swaying everyone differently and no one could agree on the same thing, so everything took longer.” The main aspect of being on a major label that was appealing was the financial support provided. Now everything has to be paid for by the band and they no longer have a budget to tour with a large crew. Once finalising a budget for it, they’ll be employing a fulltime cameraman on tour to piece together their second DVD. “Since the last time we’ve done a DVD, we’ve

“WE’VE BEEN TOURING FOR SO LONG NOW THAT WE HAVE IT DOWN TO A SCIENCE – WE GET ALONG SO WELL.” toured the world a bunch of times. I think this time, it’s going to be a lot more involved with world stuff, and not just the US tours we based the first one on” Although they’re about to embark on their second world tour of the year, they’ve still taken some time to record a couple of songs and write some more. A new record won’t be out anytime soon, but with any luck they’ll find a substantial break next year to get stuck into album number six. “I think Don’t Panic was quite possibly the strongest comeback we’ve ever had, and I’m not really saying it’s a comeback because we didn’t really go anywhere, but I just feel like it really kind of re-energised our fanbase, and re-energised us as a touring band. I think it was definitely the perfect record to make at the perfect time. “At this point we’ve kind of found our sound, and there’s always going to be an aspect of us that’s going to be a little more rock than pop, and there’s always going to be a couple of songs that are going to be a little bit more poppy. So [the new songs] are definitely similar, and I think it’s going to be a Don’t Panic 2.0. At this point we’ve honed in on our sound and I think we’ve got it.” WHEN & WHERE: 31 Aug, 1 (under-18s) and 2 Sep, Billboard The Venue THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 25

film

READY TO LAUNCH Not being able to speak the language of the locals didn’t bother Kim Mordaunt when he was in Laos filming The Rocket, as he was looking for “the truth in their eyes”, he tells Anthony Carew.

hen filmmaker Kim Mordaunt and producer Sylvia Wilczynski were in Laos making Bomb Harvest – a profile of an Australian bombdisposal specialist working in the most bombed country on the planet – they found themselves drawn not just to their subject, Laith Stevens, nor the sordid history of the American “secret war” waged just across the border from Vietnam. Instead, they were most fascinated with the local children they found working as magpies, picking out pieces of scrap metal from the wreckage of ancient ordinance.

“We thought, God, we’ve gotta work again with these kids,” recalls Mordaunt. “And, next time, instead of doing it from an Anglo perspective for ABC TV, do it from the Lao perspective.” So, the pair wrote The Rocket, the story of a displaced family forced to carry the burden of a long-ago, half-forgotten war. Both Morduant and Wilczynski lost a parent at a young age; and so they made their character a young boy, so as to explore “the guilt you feel, the mentors that you search for, the chaos that you end up in” as a child dealing with loss. Even though the filmmakers already had

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connections with locals – and, in associate producer Pauline Phoumindr, an Laotian-Australian to help bridge the cultural gap – their first steps were still tentative; understandable given Laos doesn’t have a film industry. “We learnt very early on that people were going to be very suspicious of us,” says Mordaunt. “This is a country bombed more than any other place on the planet, so you can imagine that people who lived through that, who thought they were literally seeing hell, that they’re not about to be trusting of any Westerners who come into town with a camera.” At first working with rural communities, they had to meet a succession of village chiefs, chiefs of neighbouring villages, district chiefs, country government officials – wanting everything to be official. “We never did the guerrilla approach, I don’t think it works in Laos,” says Mordaunt. “You need that government minder. At first I thought a government minder would just limit what we could do, but it proved the opposite: they can get you access to places, and they can help you earn the trust of the locals, because they see this is an official thing, and they’re not going to get in trouble for being a part of it.” Working with a cast of non-professional, rural-dwelling, non-English-speaking locals was, of course, a challenge. But Mordaunt, raised by a Mauritian-Indian mother, has spent his whole life – from childhood through his professional work – in migrant community. “So, in a funny sort of way, not being able to speak the language didn’t actually bother me at all,” Mordaunt offers. “You’re looking for truth in their eyes, in their body language, more than in their actual words.”

WHAT: The Rocket In cinemas 29 Aug

LOVE BROS After being namedropped by the most uncool of uncool dudes, a British politician, Drenge are rocking steady to prove their musical viciousness. Eion Loveless explains all to Natasha Lee.

he last Australian politician to reference a band was trade minister Craig Emerson. He stood on the greens of Parliament with a boom box at his feet. On cue, a member of his team pressed play, and Emerson began bopping along to the intro bass line in Skyhooks’ Horror Movie, in what is arguably the most god-awfully awkward 30 seconds in Australian political history. Now, while nothing quite so cringeworthy happened to British band Drenge, they were inadvertently thrown into the political sphere thanks to retiring UK MP Tom Watson who, in his resignation letter said: “if you want to see an awesome band, I recommend Drenge.” “It’s amazing that anyone likes our band in the first place,” says singer and songwriter Eoin Loveless, who fronts the band while brother Rory smashes out the drums, and is on the phone from the UK. “It’s just weird when music meets politics in the UK. Writers here spend most of the day writing about politics and then when someone suddenly mentions a band – they go a bit weird.” Loveless is talking ahead of the release of their selftitled debut album, which has already spawned two successful singles, Backwaters and Bloodsports. Describing

26 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

themselves as “2 brothers. guitar & drums” on their Facebook page, Loveless is touchy when obvious comparisons to The Black Keys and The White Stripes are made: “Well, we get compared to a lot of two-piece bands because we are a twopiece. But when it comes to songwriting, we like to listen to bands outside of the two-piece, like Nirvana or Queens Of The Stone Age.” That said, the same gritty, raw lo-fi sound made so popular by The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney hurtles towards you on Drenge, a bone-shaking 12 tracks that showcase the brothers’ total, violent

synchronicity. “It’s really easy playing with my brother,” Loveless admits. “Considering, you know, you talk to some people and they’re like, ‘I hate my brother,’ or ‘I hate my sister.’ Sure, I mean Rory and I don’t get on all the time, but at the same time I love my brother.” The creative process for the pair is rather ad hoc but curiously methodical. “The songs just come from me figuring stuff out on the guitar, and then trying to come up with some kind of song structure with Rory. Then I’ll play the song loads of times to get it just right before writing lyrics.” Lyrics that include darkly witty song titles like, People In Love Make Me Feel Yuck and I Want To Break You In Half. “I try and make the words compliment the music, and I want the words to be about something that isn’t in the music.” For the brothers Loveless, however, the real magic is wrought during their live performances. “When your full-time job is a muso, and a touring muso, and you travel from city to city and spend nine hours in a van or longer – you day ends up revolving around a 45-minute set.” WHAT: Drenge (Liberator)

to keep trying and not stopping ‘til it felt the way it should and having things develop in their own time.”

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Where Vacation was a very fast process, done in a bit over two weeks (“We were a bit naïve,” laments Iansek), this time Big Scary removed the clock, working at their own pace rather than draining themselves with end-to-end all-night sessions. The record took them from east Gippsland to Brisbane, with time in a Fitzroy and New York studio also throw in, the latter locale being where the band worked with Grammy Award winner Tom Elmhirst, an engineer that Iansek credits with helping the vocals across Not Art soar. “There was one or two songs that were just doing my head in, and I tried at least ten different vocal microphone combinations and just wasn’t quite happy with it, so that was the way we approached those things. I wanted the vocals to be a feature – as they should I guess – so we did labour [them]. And then having the mix engineer that we did – Tom really brought them to the fore even more, beyond what we had done, and he did a lot to make those the heroes of the songs.”

THE HOLIDAY IS OVER Two years on from their debut Vacation and Big Scary now find themselves sharing cheese platters with Bernard Fanning. Tom Iansek wraps his head around it for Benny Doyle.

usician, engineer, producer, label head. Since Tom Iansek first began treating music as more than a hobby he’s always liked to do a mix of things. As he admits, “I prefer to be busy rather than looking for something to do.” At least he won’t have to worry about that in the immediate future, with his main project Big Scary enjoying all sorts of success off the back of their stunning second record, Not Art. In the middle of a schedule playing support for Bernard Fanning on his encompassing national tour, the Melburnian has been enjoying performing in big venues to bigger audiences. “It’s been awesome just hanging out with Bernard and his crew. They’re pretty seasoned professionals – Bernard especially – and we just think it’s funny that this guy we grew up listening to kind of knows who we are and refers to us on stage,” Iansek chuckles. With his percussive partner Jo Syme, the guitarist, pianist and vocalist has been adapting the group’s set with each passing date, working meticulously to create a fluid song list that somehow joins the dots of their wildly varied back catalogue. This constant juggling act means that raindrop piano (Twin Rivers) coexists with wailing guitar solos (Gladiator), and electronic flourishes (Luck Now) can link up with garage freewheeling (Purple), the music seamlessly delivered across a 45-minute stretch. “Being able to get past the cognitive level of playing where you‘re not thinking about where you’re putting your hands and what notes you’re going to sing, and being able to move into the part where you can relax and have a bit of fun and let the song go where it wants to go here and there, all that stuff is a lot of fun,” informs Iansek, speaking of the Big Scary live experience going forward. Not that these newfound opportunities are unsurprising. The duo’s Four Seasons EP series of 2010 showed the grand ambition Big Scary held, while 2011 debut Vacation came as a shock to many, the

full-length taking a sharp turn from their garage rock beginnings with an accomplished, contemporary sound. Not Art extends that path further. With their sophomore release, Big Scary have put themselves on the map – permanently. In fact, you’ll be hardpressed to find a more accomplished and dynamic Aussie album released this year. “The album pushed us and demanded a lot of us and forced us to try new things and go out of our comfort zone,” he tells. “One song called Invest is quite hip hop and required Jo to change the way she played her kick drum, and little things like that, that she’s been playing for a decade or something one way, then to change all that for a song or album is what we were pushing for – it was really cool and scary at times. And the other thing was that we wanted an open-ended recording process, so that we could have the time

The duo also worked with two different bassists, Graham Ritchie (Emma Louise), and Ted O’Neil (The Vasco Era), whose differing styles matched the ideals of Not Art perfectly. “Getting other people in was an idea I was toying with early on, and then through all this self-production and engineering and endless days of plugging away I almost got sick of my own company – I was crying out for some outside assistance and input,” Iansek admits. “I think opening your songs up to others when you’re not used to it can be quite a daunting thing, but after this whole process – being locked up in a room for the winter months slowly chipping away at it – I was really desperate for other people to do stuff to [the songs].”

“OPENING YOUR SONGS UP TO OTHERS WHEN YOU’RE NOT USED TO IT CAN BE QUITE A DAUNTING THING.” And they’ll maintain this current openness for expansion and interpretation on this forthcoming national tour, expanding their studio duo and current live trio to a headline quartet. “We’re starting to learn the songs and play the songs in a different way and a different light with all the touring we’re doing now, so having the addition of Chris Port on the drum pads and the samples for September will give it another lift altogether and take it to a new place,” concludes Iansek. “It’ll also mean we can play a lot of songs that we couldn’t with just three of us, which is really cool.”

WHAT: Not Art (Pieater/Inertia) WHEN & WHERE: 5 Sep, Karova Lounge, Ballarat; 6 Sep, The Hi-Fi; 30 Dec, Falls Festival, Lorne THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 27

and it’s just kinda like, ‘Well, that’s how I found you. If it wasn’t for your radio success I wouldn’t be at this concert tonight; you wouldn’t have my money, I wouldn’t be buying this T-shirt, I wouldn’t have your sticker on my car, so why don’t you just indulge us as fans, as followers, as believers of your music?’ So in that aspect, we want to play it all. We want to play the music that the fans found us with.”

music

NEVER LET YOU GO Stephen Christian is ready to rekindle Anberlin’s romance with Australia, and as he tells Benny Doyle, we’re the girl that they love.

ften, it takes doing something new to make you remember what you love about the old stuff you do. For Winter Haven, Florida melodic rockers Anberlin, this came by way of their recent Lite tour that they worked across their American homeland from the east to west coast. Though they’ve offered this side to fans briefly, even as part of their An Evening With tour Down Under in 2011, they used these dates as an opportunity to give longstanding fans 90 minutes of the band’s music in a different light: an evening driven by acoustic guitars, auxiliary drums, keys and a refined vibe. One would have a strong position to argue the point, though, that Anberlin’s music more than lends itself to such sessions, what with the huge choruses, considered bridges and a quiet/loud stadium dynamic that has earmarked itself as the quintet’s signature. Frontman Stephen Christian agrees, though he’s at pains to admit it. “I would like to believe so but I don’t think that’s something that you can selfanalyse, y’know, pat yourself on the back and say, ‘Look how good I am’. I know personally that I look at the other guys in the band, the musicianship, and a lot of what they do live other bands can’t pull off. They have to have drum machines or tracks or it has to be really loud. But these guys are just incredible musicians; I can definitely brag on that.” Keeping it fresh is vital, however, and it’s endeavours like Anberlin Lite that have helped the group carry on with relentless momentum for more than a decade. “I think it’s more important for us in the band than it is the fans. I don’t know if [our fans] would care either way, but for us as a band, this isn’t our job, this is still our passion. And there’s a big difference – if this was our job we could do it run of the mill and half-arse it every night. But people can tell, people can look up on stage and see if you really believe what you’re singing about; they can look at the stage and go, ‘What, is this band put together; do they even care if they’re here tonight?’ So we don’t want to phone it in, we don’t want to be fake. We try our best to be as genuine as 28 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

possible and I think part of that is just enjoying what we do – love what you do and do what you love. I think that’s why people like Anberlin, because we’re not rock stars and we try to sing about stuff that we go through and that people can relate with, so if all that becomes a facade then I think that’s the day this whole thing starts to crumble.” Although maintaining enthusiasm is paramount for Anberlin, don’t expect a Vitalheavy set during their forthcoming shows. The musclier and at times darker 2012 record will still get decent play, but the band’s setlists are always structured with the fans in mind, regardless of what album they’re supposed to be ‘promoting’. “I think it is [important to do that]. I think if not you alienate, you think you’re better than them. It’s obnoxious. Radiohead is probably [in the] top three of my favourite bands – I love their music. But they don’t play any of their radio songs

And you can be assured that those favourites – pulled from the group’s six-record catalogue – are going to be delivered with vigour and conviction, traits that Anberlin’s live shows have always held. Christian himself couldn’t imagine anything less. “If you’re not going to give it all then don’t give anything. If you’re not going to put it all [on the line] on stage and be exhausted when you walk off and ready to collapse on the bed then just don’t even get on stage. These are the moments we live for, we dream for, and people would give their right arm to even go to Australia once, let alone many times, so if we’re not going to pour it all [out] then [we should] just stay at home, just quit, just go find another job.” This is where Anberlin circa 2013 are at. The dynamic and chemistry among members remains as strong as ever. New music isn’t even on the radar. All that’s in the planner are dates, cities, venues; the chance to live their dreams over and over, week after week. Returning to what they call their “second home”, the Floridians are excited to continue a love affair that stretches back almost their entire career. And like everything during our interview, Christian is unhesitant to let his emotions be known, showering praise down on Aussie audiences while recalling the moment this relationship first started blossoming.

“WE WOULD CONSIDER ENDING OUR WHOLE CAREER IN AUSTRALIA – THAT’S HOW MUCH WE LOVE IT.” “If there was ever a day, if we were going to break up, we would consider ending our whole career in Australia – that’s how much we love it,” he gushes. “It’s just a different feel. Australia and Anberlin, I think we fell in love at the same time. We had never ventured outside the United States as a band, and [then] here we [were] in the middle of Adelaide, and we go upstairs and we sell out this little club and we were, like, floored; we had no idea that anyone had even heard of Anberlin. We go thousands of miles away [from home] and people are screaming along every word; and it was this feeling, like we are from a much smaller town than Adelaide, we are 27,000 people in our little city, and yet we’re halfway around the world and people loved us. That’s why I think there’s such a mutual respect and adoration, and that’s why we’re always like, ‘When are we going back, when are we going back, let’s go back’. It was just like one of those moments when you find the girl you love, you just hold on with both hands, and that’s what Anberlin and Australia are like.” WHEN & WHERE: 8 Sep, Palace Theatre

politics

POWER TO THE PEOPLE After a yawnsome first debate between Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott, the general public are set to fan the flames of discontent. Benny Doyle brings matches but has trouble finding fuel. here’s nothing flash about the foyer of the Broncos Leagues Club. It’s welcoming, it’s got a smattering of neon flair, but it’s hardly extravagant. The setting is working-class and it’s meant to be; this is the ‘real’ Australia that’s supposed to represent us 110 undecided voters. It’s 5.30pm in Red Hill, an inner city suburb of Brisbane that’s roughly ten clicks across the river from Kevin Rudd’s electorate of Griffith, and our small snapshot of the Australian voting public is filing into the venue before the people’s forum, the second televised debate that marks the halfway point of the campaign trail.

that are making metres, moving through the doors swiftly to take the plum seats on the floor. However, most, like me, choose to sip post-mix and juice from tiny plastic cups before trays of quiches and muffins cause an intense scrimmage in front of the empty bar area.

Pulling up outside the club 30 minutes ago, it was the expected scene, with photos and slogans supporting the Prime Minister outnumbering those for Opposition Leader Tony Abbott ten-to-one. Probably a polite estimate and one that doesn’t even count the amount of Labor-affirmative horn honking heard from passing motorists. But apart from a banner regarding sand mining on Fraser Island and some work rights threats for the future, there weren’t many agendas being addressed in the streets. It was generally positive but all fairly subdued.

Media and members of the general public mill about listlessly for the next 20 minutes, with everyone seeming a bit lost. There’s a bloke in a high-vis shirt, a lady dressed like a mystic psychic and a few pairs of knee-length socks and sensible shoes shuffling about. I take a seat next to a bearded man in shorts who promptly falls asleep. Smartphones shoot snappy tweets

As we move forward to get our wristbands my spirits are immediately lifted when I gaze up at a huge photo of my childhood hero ‘King’ Wally Lewis. He’s in attack mode and seems hungry to put points on the board; I imagine the two leaders will be looking to do the same shortly. For now, though, it’s just the faithful 30 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

into the ether, while the last of those muffins are snaffled by a couple of cameramen before show time. To the right I spot Bill Glasson, the LNP candidate for Griffith, sitting in front of various national journalists. He seems somewhat smug, but is forced to feign a smile through gritted teeth once the Rudd family get comfortable in the same row. Then it kicks off. You hear it. It’s not a roar; it’s more of a shriek. It’s a sound you’d associate with a pop star, not a politician. And although his popularity is far removed from the heights that were seen when he first took control of the country in 2007, there’s no denying the love that Brisbane still feels for the Prime Minister. He goes by K-Rudd and this be his ‘hood. Through all the commotion no one really notices that Abbott’s sauntered in also, sweeping in behind the cameras to shake hands with Sky News political editor and moderator David Speers, his gaze immediately focusing over Speers’ shoulder at his opposition. While all this takes place, cameras whir non-stop. It’s announced that Rudd has won the toss, Abbott shoots a wink to a clearly smitten Glasson and so it begins. If you followed the Twitter worm for the first televised debate from the National Press Club in Canberra you would’ve been led to believe that the PM walked away the victor. But the social website is known to pull left. All other media outlets called the result in the favour of Abbott, and

considering K-Rudd was scrambling at notes like a nervous high schooler, it was a fair assessment. This time, Rudd’s on the offensive immediately. He’s dropped a “Brissie” in by the first minute and is up in Abbott’s grill throughout his opening speech, striding towards him with every challenging statement. He’s left the cheat sheets at home and wheels out all sorts of new hand gestures as he sweeps, waves and points his policies home.

“THERE’S NO DENYING THE LOVE THAT BRISBANE STILL FEELS FOR THE PRIME MINISTER. HE GOES BY K-RUDD AND THIS BE HIS ‘HOOD.”

As members of the public question the two party leaders on everything from paid parental leave to same-sex marriage, the pair verbally joust, trading subtle (Rudd: “Mr Abbott seems to be suffering from just a little bit of amnesia”) and not so subtle (Abbott: “Does this guy ever shut up?”) barbs, the latter eliciting the biggest response of night. When Abbott claims there’s a “trust deficit”, Rudd gives a bored sniff and looks away. The Labor leader looks far happier when Abbott delivers a cringe-worthy “cut cut cut, build build build, jobs jobs jobs” monologue. They both have their moments of glory and obvious stumblings. Abbott – cutting a lean figure in a sharp navy suit – is considered with his answers, but also cagey when pressed for additional information on potential job and funding cuts. Rudd, meanwhile, has unbridled passion, but he’s behind in the opinion polls and it’s clear he doesn’t like it. By the end of the

debate, he’s the only man to have cracked his water bottle. Later this evening all corners of the media will proclaim this as a “feisty” debate, which it is, if compared to the first stale head-to-head that took place in the nation’s capital a few weeks ago. Overall, though, it was still tame – a trademark of contemporary Australian politics. There have probably been more lively bingo nights held in this room. And while we still try and dot the numbers from all the figures thrown out over the last hour, the two men assume their expected positions: K-Rudd posing in selfies, Abbott face-to-face with an attractive blonde. THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 31

event

NAILING IT Wanting to be amazed, to indulge in nostalgia, boobs? Go-Go Amy provides Matthew Ziccone with a few reasons why people come to see the Pretty Things Peepshow perform live.

“T

here is no rules, I want to look like my old timey grandma but I want to be tattooed like a sailor. I want to be a little lady-like but I’m also going to put fire in my mouth. Who doesn’t want to live like that?” Go-Go Amy lives the burlesque dream. She travels the world with her company, Pretty Things Peepshow – performing at Ozzfest 2010 with Ozzy Osbourne and Motley Crue, The Reeperbahn Festival in Germany and featuring on The Colbert Report. In fact, since the creation

music

of the company in 2009 they have performed in over 400 shows. This September Australia is going to be graced with style and beauty of these cabaret performers with their own sideshows and featuring at the SPApresented Gangsters’ Ball in Melbourne. “I’ve been looking for a way to come back and I’ve never done an act at The Gangsters’ Ball. It’s a challenge for our show to travel as to what can you fit on a plane and what can you legally get into a country sometimes. The second I get off the plane I have to build a new bed of nails, but we just keep building props; I got a bed of nails in Germany, one in New York, one in Scotland.”

It’s a show filled with excitement and danger, while showing tribute to a different time. Everybody these days has some love for forgotten era, whether it be a steam punk fan or some ‘90s purist. Go-Go Amy’s style is so eye catching but she sees something pure too in the present. “Everyone has something in their life they regret. And there is absolutely no way you can change your past so you just act like you can change somebody else’s past. These throwback movements have this nostalgia for the past that doesn’t see really see the bad part of it. People see me at shows and see my pin-up hair and see me in my fancy evening gowns and they ask me, ‘don’t you think you were born in the wrong time period?’ and I’m like, ‘absolutely not’ because I love the liberties that women have now. I like the hair, the acts, the outfits, but I definitely like the way the world is now.” The passion over the ‘90s right now really has a lot to do with the lack of control of authenticity in this age of internet and extreme marketing we are all surrounded by. Acts like the Pretty Things Peepshow are intrinsically linked to the other periods for the same reason, wanting to shock and amaze in an era of too much content. Go-Go Amy sees it like this: “It is part of human nature that people want to be amazed by something. Literally anyone who has a computer can make a movie, make an album and everything is so accessible and easy to fake that when our show comes to town and someone is actually swallowing a sword and someone is actually walking on broken glass, there is something about seeing a live show that is really missing in people’s lives. People will never not want to be amazed, and people also love boobs. Boobs are never going to go out of style.” WHAT: The Gangsters’ Ball WHEN &WHERE: 14 Sep, Forum Theatre

TECHNICOLOUR DREAMS Looking to put a bit of ‘80s disco-funk back into a future R&B world, Jordan Hankins AKA Tyler Touché just needs to get high school out of the way, as Troy Mutton discovers.

ne of the finalists of last year’s triple j Unearthed competition, Jordan Hankins, aka Tyler Touché, has rapidly gone from classrooms to nightclubs and music festivals since exploding onto the j-waves with debut single, Baguette. It’s a balance he’s understandably still coming to terms with. “Yeah it’s been interesting, a bit of a juggle I guess,” Jenkins reckons, still coming to grips with the idea people want to call up and talk to him about his work as a young dance music producer. “It’s interesting just seeing people at school’s reactions to all this stuff. I don’t usually gloat about it or tell everyone who I am in this second life kind of thing. [I’ve] just finished a musical rehearsal at my school actually – I play saxophone, so I’m in the band for it.” When looking at his pedigree it’s not hard to see how Hankins found himself mixed up in this crazy world we journalist-types dissect for days on end trying to make a buck. His parents met while a part of a touring cover band, and his father (a sound engineer for over 20 years) nurtured his growing interest in production. “[Having dad there] has been super helpful, learning the production side of things and having it at home, a built-in studio almost, which he lets me use, which is awesome.

32 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

“On the road with him he’s been super helpful. He’s been in the industry and done his bit touring with bands and that kind of thing.” Hankins even sampled his mum’s vocals in the abovementioned breakout disco-banger. The track features on his just-released second EP, Technicolour Symphony, a groovy five-tracker featuring four originals plus a remix of Baguette by new friend Sterling Silver, whose vocals also feature on the title track. “Sterling I’ve gotten to know over the past few months, and he’s totally cool. He’s into

all the same music I’m into, which is great; all the ‘80s funk stuff and things like that.” Given Hankins has already been rocking nightclubs for months, he has a confidence some can take years to gain. “I think the first time was a little triple j Unearthed show. There wasn’t heaps of people there but I was super nervous and now, just playing Splendour was the last show I played and the biggest crowd I’ve played to, probably a few thousand people, that was just so much fun. I was pretty relaxed up there…” It all puts him in good stead for the upcoming triple j House Party tour, the 2013 edition featuring fellow disco enthusiasts Flight Facilities and Cassian. And once that tour is over, school will almost be done and Hankins gets the chance to get back to doing what he does well. “After I finish school I’ll get stuck into writing a bunch more music, which I’m keen to do ‘cause I haven’t had a lot of time this year to write new tunes.”

WHEN & WHERE: 7 Sep, The Hi-Fi

THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 33

music

THE REAL DEAL What began as a joke, changing punk songs to make them all about Scotland, turned into part of a whole sub-genre. Guitarist for kilt-wearing Canadian Celticpunks The Real McKenzies, Mark “Bone” Boland, tells Daniel Johnson they’re no copycat band.

he Real McKenzies last toured Australia at the invitation of The Go Set’s frontman Justin Keenan. At the time, The Go Set were in their infancy, touring their debut album Sing A Song Of Revolution. “Justin was a fan of our band back in 2004 and he really wanted to see us play down there,” Boland explains. “So he flew us down there and we played a lot of good shows. I guess to mark the (Go Set’s) tenth anniversary they wanted to redo it.”

Since The Real McKenzies first started playing their brand of bagpipe-infused punk rock in 1992, the Celticpunk sub-genre has grown exponentially, and as Boland explains, the band’s members didn’t take themselves too seriously to begin with. “It almost began as sort of a joke: ‘Hey, wouldn’t it be funny if we grabbed kilts and took all these songs and gave them a Scottish flavour?’ Iggy Pop’s I Wanna Be Your Dog became I Wanna Be Your Scot, and Low Rider became Highlander and then we added the bagpipes and it was pretty unique.

poetry

“Some bands were influenced by it and some of those bands have become really big and it’s frustrating because when we came to light a little bit after those bands had achieved their popularity, a lot of people accused us of being a copycat band and that’s just not true.” Boland is quick to clarify that he doesn’t begrudge any of these bands for the success they have achieved. “good luck to those guys – I’m happy for their success. I know some of the people in those bands and they’re really good people. There’s no bitterness here.” The line-up The Real McKenzies will be bringing to Australia for this tour differs fairly significantly from the last time the band was here, but Boland assures us they’re as tight as ever. “We have a new drummer, Jesse (Pinner), who played in DOA for a while – great kid, fantastic drummer, one of the best we’ve had. And we have a new bass player, Troy (Zac) – he was in a punk band called The Vibrators – and Dirty Kurt, our guitar player, recently had heart surgery, so he’s on the bench right now and we have a guy, Brent, filling in for him, and of course me and Paul. Our bagpiper actually isn’t coming with us either, so we’re going to use one of the Go Set guys.” For those who haven’t seen The Real McKenzies live, Boland promises an energetic live show. “Chances are you’re going to have a beer and leave with a smile on your face… and we’re going to show you our nuts.” WHEN & WHERE: 28 Aug, The Loft, Warrnambool; 31 Aug, The Espy; 1 Sep, Barwon Club, Geelong

LIFE WRITING Surprisingly laconic, poet and novelist Tao Lin dismisses his “generational status” in conversation with Sarah Braybrooke.

he author of seven works of poetry and fiction, most recently the novel Taipei, Tao Lin is known for being divisive. Reviewers have likened him to Ernest Hemingway and Knut Hamsun, and even called him ‘The Kafka of the iPhone generation’, but others have called his writing ‘awful’, one likening the experience of reading his latest work to being “stuck in the dungeon of a literary sociopath.” Given his reputation, it comes as a surprise when Lin’s voice down the phone from New York is quiet, his tone reserved. Lin is surprisingly laconic. Taipei follows the adventures of Taiwanese-American writer Paul in the New York literary scene, in his parents’ hometown - the titular city - and on a mind-bending array of drugs. Anyone familiar with Lin’s background might spot the overlap between his protagonist’s life and his own, and he’s described the book as autobiographical, right down to his character’s reliance on substances. For his part, Lin says the quantities of Adderall and other drugs he took whilst writing actually helped him: “I don’t think they affected the content or the style. They just affected my motivation levels.” Quizzed on where the boundary between Paul’s story and his own life, Lin is ambivalent. “I used my memory as a first draft for the book. But then I wasn’t just trying to put down my memories, I was willing to change 34 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

things.” Using one’s life as unadulterated source material can have its risks. “Now it’s hard for me to remember if something really happened, or if I changed it to be that in the book ...” he admits. While some people might find the idea of losing the distinction between the past and their imagination disturbing, Lin is insouciant. “It doesn’t worry me.” He stops to think. “I don’t think it matters.” Known for creating characters whose lives are permeated by the Internet, there’s also an awful lot of Lin himself on the web; google provides a sea of tweets, articles, stories, videos, poems and blogs by or

about him. Though his public persona has proliferated online in a way impossible solely in print, Lin is sceptical about the idea his writing is itself fundamentally the product of a digital age, instead citing writers like Lorrie Moore and Fernando Pessoa as key to his development. “All of my influences, or most of them, are people who were born in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s. I don’t have any influences that are just all on the Internet. So [without the ‘net] my books would be almost the same.” Lin frequently gets slapped with the “voice of a generation” label, but does he see himself as representative of his peers? “No. I’m very against that. I [only] view myself as part of a generation in, like, concrete terms. In that I’m born within certain dates.” So why do commentators so often depict him as more than that: a poster boy for urban, ironic and technologyobsessed twenty-somethings today? “Why do I think they do that? Umm ...” he takes another one of his long, long pauses. “What else would they say about me?” WHAT: Melbourne Writers’ Festival WHEN & WHERE: 31 Aug and 1 Sep, ACMI

THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 35

bigsound

BIGSOUND TOURIST TIPS

PIC BY STEPHEN BOOTH

So you’re thinking about heading north to BIGSOUND 2013 and experiencing Brisbane’s vibrant Fortitude Valley Entertainment Precinct in all its squalid glory? Here are just a few tips to help you survive and some experiences to look out for:

TAKE THE TOUR OF PREFITZGERALD INQUIRY BRISBANE Fancy a bit of Underbelly-esque action? Basically walk anywhere in the Valley and you’re amidst the epicentre of the former ‘Crime Precinct’ – just assume that any shop you go into used to be a brothel or an illegal casino and you can’t go wrong!

READ THE MUSIC PLAQUES IN THE MALL The Brunswick Street Mall has its very own music Walk Of Fame, where bands such as The Go-Betweens, The Saints, Powderfinger, Custard and many more fine Queensland acts are honoured. It’s not quite Hollywood, but what is, right?

MEET THE LOCALS Sure the folk of Fortitude Valley might like to “borrow” the occasional coin or ciggie, but be open to their myriad conversational charms and you might just make a new friend for life!

PERUSE THE LANEWAYS These days there are bars and shops aplenty in the least likely of places – keep your eyes and ears open; some of the coolest Valley hangouts are really hidden away. Perhaps quiz one of your new “local friends” for their fave hangout.

ORDER SAKE AT HARAJUKU GYOZA The food at this central Valley location – mainly dumplings and the like – is lovely, but order yourself a sake and wait for the staff to sing your praises for the true Harajuku Gyoza experience! 36 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

PIC BY STEPHEN BOOTH

DROP A CIGGIE Feeling lonely? Put out a cigarette on the ground anywhere near the Mall and prepare to meet both a member of the council and one of his friends from the constabulary! They charge like a wounded bull for the experience, but YOLO (whatever that means)...

TAKE A PHOTO OF CLOUDLAND No one who likes bands knows what it’s like

inside, but the exterior of this Valley nightclub sure is cool! Take a photo of the hanging things and waterfall sorta action on the exterior - everyone else does!

EAT AT SUPERBOWL Everyone who’s anyone has eaten at Valley Chinese restaurant Superbowl – it’s a veritable rock’n’roll institution. Take your camera and autograph book; you never know who might be there eating salt and pepper calamari!

HAVE FUN The Valley might seem daunting at first for newbs, but its bark is far worse than its bite. Relax and stay out of mischief and we guarantee* that you’ll have the time of your life! (*not an actionable guarantee)

FIVE BIGSOUND PANELS YOU MUST SEE OPENING KEYNOTE: Q&A WITH BILLY BRAGG (11 AUG: 10.15AM – 11.15AM JWCOCA PERFORMANCE SPACE) He’s always been a man who does things his own way, and he’s been very successful while being relatively uncompromising. Billy Bragg’s view of the music industry will be fascinating for young and old.

FESTIVALS (HYPOTHETICALS) (11 AUG: 2.00PM – 3.00PM JWCOCA PERFORMANCE SPACE) Hypothetical situations are posed to a team of festival experts and they will tell us how these issues must be solved. You won’t get a better insight into the running of a music festival than this.

ARTISTS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STAGE (12 AUG: 11.15AM – 12.15PM JWCOCA PERFORMANCE SPACE) Members of Jet, You Am I, The Middle East and more discuss how they came to be on the business side of the music industry. Where does art meet commerce?

POP IS NOT A DIRTY WORD (12 AUG: 3.30PM – 4.30PM, JWCOCA EXPRESSIONS DANCE SPACE) It can be hard to know where the ever-changing pop music landscape is going to go next, so this discussion between the likes of Michael Chugg and representatives from Nova and Mercury Records could be very illuminating indeed.

KEYNOTE AND ARTIST Q&A/ PERFORMANCE: GURRUMUL (13 AUG: 2.30PM – 3.30PM, JWCOCA PERFORMANCE SPACE) Here is a rare chance to hear the story of one of our most unique and celebrated musical talents and the men who have supported his career for so long. Gurrumul’s story is one that will no doubt inspire many.

PIC BY STEPHEN BOOTH

FIVE MUST-SEE ACTS AT BIGSOUND

bigsound

BAD//DREEMS Already critics love and hate them in equal measure. We are on the side of love. This Adelaide foursome have re-fired-up a long lost pub and garage rock amalgam that glasses your soul – in a good way.

BAD//DREEMS

DAMN TERRAN These Melbourne postangular punks are able to switch from shambolic time signatures to synchronised stopstart playing with brattish expertise. We are watching closely.

BLOODS Golden Fang has the golden touch – Sydney garage punk that’s noisy and fun.

CITIZEN KAY

BLOODS. PIC BY JOSH GROOM

Potential to become a leading light in Oz hip hop, done White Stripes style. When did Canberra get this uplifting?

BORN LION D For Danger and R for riotous punk rock from S for Sydney.

ALSO RECOMMENDED: The Orbweavers – their gentle melodies make for atmospheric shows; King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – a live Gizzard show is different kind of atmosphere; The Delta Riggs – bringing dirty denim rock back; The Love Junkies – next in line for Violent Soho-type adulation?; Tigertown – big harmonies underpinned by family connections – these bonds work; Patrick James – things are about to change for the young troubadour – in an upward direction; Adalita – of course.

EMI PARTY. PIC BY JOHN STUBBS

BIG ART This year the annual BIGSOUND conference expands its art element with their Music+Design program. On board are Nick Cave (via satellite), Tomato’s John Warwicker and V Squared Labs’ Vello Virkhaus (they’re the US company who took Amon Tobin’s live show next level). Latest speakers added are music video directors Stephen Lance and Mairi Cameron (Washington’s Holy Moses); 3D sound engineer Joe Hayes and Audiofly’s Dave Thompson. There’s also news of two showcase spaces for this side of BIGSOUND: The CMD Live Design Lab (where speakers and delegates work on developing actual solutions to issues that arise during the conference) and The Artisan Beer+Design pop-up “lounge experience” (that’s alcohol and art, together at last). WHEN & WHERE: 10-13 Sep, Fortitude Valley Entertainment Precinct THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 37

music

THE JET SET The loss of Ajax, “a huge believer” in Rüfüs, in the middle of the band’s writing process earlier this year, made them dig deeper to produce an end result worthy of dedicating to the Bang Gang co-founder, Jon George tells Cyclone.

ydney cult crossover band Rüfüs could yet have the soundtrack for the summer with their debut album Atlas. The lookalike trio will be performing their slinky deep house at key events this season, starting with Listen Out, Parklife’s successor. Fans should catch them while they can: Rüfüs have global ambitions. Rüfüs were signed by electro DJ and Bang Gang co-founder Ajax (aka Adrian Thomas) to his five-year-old label Sweat It Out!, which enjoyed an international hit with Yolanda Be Cool and DCup’s We No Speak Americano. Tragically, Thomas died in a traffic incident in February. Rüfüs have dedicated Atlas to him. “He definitely made it all happen,” Jon George (synths, keys and pads) says. Though Rüfüs have a loyal following, and many know their tunes, the outfit’s background is shadowy. As George tells it, Rüfüs had its genesis up north in 2010. It was here he bonded with Tyrone Lindqvist (vocals, guitar and keys). “I was finishing my sound engineering degree up in Byron Bay a few years ago now. Tyrone is best mates with my little brother and he came up to visit us right towards the end of my degree. I was helping him record some of his acoustic stuff, and he was helping me with some of my dancier productions. We spent one night in together – everyone else in the house had money to go out and we didn’t – so we ended up writing the first track together as Rüfüs.” On George’s return to Sydney, the pair took the project “a little bit more seriously”. And they recruited James Hunt. “We poached him from another band as our drummer,” George reveals. “Tyrone and James went to the same school together.” Rüfüs – so DIY as to construct their own studios – premiered with a self-titled EP, home to the popular Paris Collides, on their Monekeleon imprint. Rüfüs generated interest overseas, with Talk To Me finding its way onto 2012’s Gildas & Jerry Kitsuné Soleil Mix. Having aired EPs, Rüfüs set about hustling for an album deal and this brought them into the orbit of Sweat It Out!. “We were looking for some people who were on the same page as us, that were after the same things, and that could help us go in a direction that we wanted to.” George had long admired Thomas. “He was such a

big influence on me in particular. Like, when I first started going out, I was going to Bang Gang and that’s what got me into dance music.” They’d meet with the DJ, who became “a huge believer”. “Unfortunately, just after we’d signed the deal, and we’d spoken so much about what we were all gonna achieve together, Ajax passed away – which was pretty massive emotion-wise for us right in the middle of writing this album, [but] inspired us to actually make it better and really push what we were doing, because of how much he believed in us and because of a lot of feedback that he’d given us on tracks already.” Together with Modular Recordings’ Steve Pavlovic, Thomas pioneered indie dance in Australia. But, if Rüfüs are indie dance, they’re on the margins of it. “We’ve always sort of been under an indiedance umbrella,” George ponders. “Particularly with our live show, we’ve got drums on stage and guitars, but we’ve also got a real electronic element to our sound

and that’s what puts us in that umbrella. But I think that in Australia we’re certainly trying to bring a deeper element, rather than just indie disco. I feel like we’re just nutting out that sound for ourselves and it’s a sound that really turned us on. We really like those deeper sounds and we’ve really been trying to push that on the album.” Clubfeet may replicate ‘80s synth pop, but Rüfüs reference retro Balearica, house and techno, being Antipodean cousins of Hot Chip or Junior Boys – in fact, their Atlas song Take Me mines the same Chicago house nostalgia as Azari & III. The Rüfüs bandmates have similar tastes, digging Booka Shade and Trentemøller and “some darker European influences” in tech-house. Yet they also rate the indie groups Foals and Kasabian (“That mish-mash of genres comes through in what we do”). It’s this duality that will allow Rüfüs to join Big Day Out over summer as well as slot into Listen Out. Rüfüs are currently in rehearsal mode. “We’re rehearsing all the new tracks off the album. We obviously can’t play all of them at Listen Out with what will be a 45-minute set, but we’re trying to just fit in as many tracks as we can off the new album and also some

“IT’S A SOUND THAT REALLY TURNED US ON.” oldies of ours that we’re reworking a little bit to fit with the sound of everything as well. We’re just trying to make it as exciting as possible for ourselves onstage.” Rüfüs are building a profile overseas, their music reaching new ears via the internet and, specifically, blogs. And touring their music internationally is the second of Rüfüs’ ambitions. “I guess what our ambition has been the whole time is to make the music that we wanna listen to, first and foremost – music that we can really be proud of.” In addition to playing shows in New York late last year (witnessed by members of the indie-dance cognoscenti from Vampire Weekend, LCD Soundsystem and Holy Ghost!), they just appeared at a festival in Moscow, of all places. “We plan to head back over to America for some dates I think early next year and Europe at some point next year as well.” WHAT: Atlas (Sweat It Out) WHEN & WHERE: 22, 23, 24 and 25 Sep, Corner Hotel; 5 Oct, Listen Out, Observatory Precinct, Royal Botanical Gardens

BETWEEN FRIENDS The safe path and the straight path are two things that are explored in Red Stitch’s new play Straight. Kate Kingsmill catches up with actor Rosie Lockhart to get the goss about this comedy that blurs the lines.

ndie acting, hilarious one-liners, friendship, sex and the places in between: Red Stitch’s play Straight has it all. Billed as ‘a hilarious romp’ that will cause you to ‘never look at your best friend in the same way again’, the play is the story of Morgan (Rosie Lockhart) and Lewis (Ryan Gibson), a normal, happy couple in their late 20s. Their life is on track, they have a nice, little flat, and they are planning a baby. Their future path is set. Then along comes Lewis’s old mate Waldorf (Ben Prendergast) and Morgan and Lewis’s whole little world is turned upside down. Something happens between the two old friends on a drunken night out that sows the seeds of doubt in Lewis’s mind about the conservative life path he

has taken. “The two guys agree on a dare to... um... how do I say this without giving it away?” laughs Lockhart. “They do something that involves blurring the lines of their sexual orientation. And it’s something that Lewis agrees to do because he’s really straight, he maybe thinks he’s a bit boring and he does things because that’s what you’re supposed to do rather than actually questioning what he wants to do with his life.” And so this one, drunken dare between Lewis and Waldorf, leads to Lewis questioning of what is normal, “Providing Lewis with an alternative situation that could perhaps blow his world apart, no pun intended,

and forces him to look at everything from a different perspective,” says Lockhart, whose unintended pun may or may not give some clue as to what happens between the two men. In any case, the big theme of the play, “is about stability and breaking out of our comfort zones in order to be able to find something or experience something”.

theatre

Based on Lynn Shelton’s 2009 feature film Humpday, at its heart, the play is a comedy. “We needed to put a few laughs in the season and this definitely satisfied that brief,” says Lockhart. “Even when we’re rehearsing in the space, we’re like, ‘This is hilarious! The writing is very snappy, very punchy, and it moves very quickly. And it’s also quite conversational. It’s very contemporary in that sense in terms of the language.” There is bromance and there is romping, and, “There is a little bit of undie acting,” says Lockhart. “These two men obviously have an interesting history. During university years there’s a lot of partying, there’s a lot of exploration and they were great mates but Lewis took the steady path and got the job and got the wife and now they’re considering kids. Waldorf went the other way and left the country and went travelling, and experienced all these other sorts of things that for Lewis are completely outside of his world. He’s envious of that and starts to question the decisions he’s made. And so that’s kind of where it starts, and then it escalates as the play progresses in terms of that friendship. And the great thing about it is that Ben and Ryan – the two actors playing the roles – are actually really good, old friends. So they’ve known each other for years and years so a lot of that tendency is already there, so that’s really cool. “ WHAT: Straight WHEN & WHERE: 30 Aug to 28 Sep, Red Stitch Actors Theatre

INSIDE RUPERT

theatre

Australia’s most eminent playwright, David Williamson, has taken on the recent life of Rupert Murdoch, and actor HaiHa Le couldn’t be more pleased to be playing Murdoch’s now ex-wife, as Matt Ziccone discovers.

t couldn’t be a more perfect time for MTC to present a new work about Rupert Murdoch. Scandals running so deep, divorce announced and the recent front page of Murdoch’s paper, The Daily Telegraph’s attempt at influencing the election, it would be a dream for any actor, director or writer to creatively work on anything closely related to this man. What makes the piece even better is it is written by one of Australia’s most celebrated writers, David Williamson. In her first MTC performance, HaiHa Le will be playing numerous roles in the new work, Rupert, most notably Wendi Deng, until very recently Murdoch’s wife. Le couldn’t be more excited about working with playwright legend Williamson. “I studied him in high school and now I’m in the room with him; it’s kind of surreal. He is the most generous and gentle writer and person; he is very open to ideas and suggestions. He will take it in, write it and give us the amendments the next day. [Murdoch] actually just announced their divorce so there was an amendment after that was announced. David Williamson has this really difficult task of staying on top of Rupert’s crazy life. And it is constantly changing; he is always in the media about news hacking scandals and it’s a challenge to stay on top of the current issues.” When dealing with a man like Murdoch, Le informs

me both Williamson and the MTC have lawyers ensuring what they’re doing will not be brought down by some technicality. While it feels close to impossible to put everything about this Citizen Kane of a guy down on paper, Le suggests that while the process is constantly organic, it isn’t the facts that drive the show. “It’s not about his empire; it’s about what drives him, what are his ideologies, his personal power. It’s more a portrait of a person than a history lesson. We are not making a documentary. The director Lee Lewis knows what an MTC

audience would expect to see at the Playhouse, what they expect from a play by David Williamson about Rupert Murdoch, and I think she is really clever to not give the audience what they are expecting. It’s a very different take of what you see normally at the MTC.” Two actors will be playing Murdoch, with Guy Edmonds as the younger man and Sean O’Shea playing something close to the man we know today. Le, with the rest of the talented ensemble, are between them playing as many as 20 characters each, with different wigs, costumes and accents to get their heads around. Being a Williamson play, a good amount of Aussie humour and wit can be expected and next year it flies to the US for World Stages: International Theater Festival in Washington DC. Check out a new work about an old and, depending on your perspective, infamous Australian paper giant. WHAT: Rupert WHEN & WHERE: 29 Aug to 28 Sep, MTC, Arts Centre Playhouse THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 39

out in the country, and it was very much a change of pace moving from travelling and being on the road all the time to just working on music and being creative and being by myself, so in some ways I was kind of in this paracosm: a place away from everything and free to do whatever [I] [wanted].” Greene went big on the album, incorporating over 50 instruments, clapping, chatting, chirping and laughter, indecipherable blurps and snaps, all rolled together under his paracosmic dome. “I’m probably pretty terrible at [project managing] so I definitely needed someone to do that,” Greene continues. “The mixes were definitely a lot more complicated than anything I’ve done before. I had kind of a rough draft already before actually taking it into a real studio and finishing off the rest of recording and mixing – we were sort of mixing all along, which made it a lot easier... There was a lot of conceptual stuff that made it so much easier as well, like, I knew that I wanted to use a lot more analogue effects and get away from digital.”

music

COUNTRY HOUSE Washed Out’s Earnest Greene moved into a house in the country post-touring and stumbled upon the new word that would become his latest album title via the internet. “In some ways I was kind of in this paracosm,” he tells Samson McDougall.

n album title can be a contract of sorts between artist and listener/consumer; expectations can be raised or lowered depending on the promise of the cover. You know exactly what’s inside just looking at Slayer records with names like Reign In Blood and featuring the demonic artwork of Larry Carroll; Battles’ Mirrored album also springs to mind, all reflective angles and hard lines. Some artists set out to subvert this. Deadmau5’s >Album Title Goes Here< is a classic example, as is Faith No More’s Album Of The Year. Some of the best titles employ subtle plays on words: The Beatles’ Revolver (so good it was subsequently aped by Fugazi with their debut Repeater, and taken one step further with Public Enemy’s Revolverlution) and Rubber Soul, Dylan’s Blood On The Tracks and so on. There are, of course, inherent pitfalls: too earnest and you’ll be labelled a dag, too cryptic and you’re a wanker, too funny and you’re not taken seriously, not funny enough and you’re a twit. Earnest Greene’s musical outlet Washed Up’s latest album is called Paracosm – a kind of detailed imaginary world, an invented alternate reality. It’s a bold statement but Greene has by and large managed to live up to the premise and the promise. “As soon as I started work and figured out a sonic palette that worked it became almost this full-blown kind of concept album, which I never really anticipated,” he says. “I toured for quite a while with the last record and it didn’t leave a lot of time for writing new music, so I had a lot of ideas that I’d just had in the back of my mind for the last couple of years and one of them was I wanted to write a pastoral-influenced record. For me that meant a lot of acoustic instruments and a lot of warm sounds and I think that was pretty much the first jumping off point.”

40 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

Dense birdsong opens the record as watery keys and percussion creep out of the surrounding emptiness followed by a flourish of strings and choral voices that lead you into the bubble. It’s a lightweight listen; you could even say nothing really stands out. “I was very much thinkin’ of it as a daytime record,” continues Greene. “I was trying to write an optimisticsounding album and because of that I was writing mainly in major keys, so there’s a little bit more light and it’s a little bit more colourful [than past releases].” The title itself was an accident – Greene stumbled across the word on the internet about halfway through the writing/ recording process. “[It’s] certainly influenced some of the lyrical content on the record,” he says. “I’d moved into a new house after touring,

On this album Greene reckons he wrote each part with live performance in the back of his mind, though he’s still had to strip away excess to take Paracosm on the road: “We don’t have the means to travel with a string section. I feel like the songs are strong enough on their own to shear a lot of parts away and they’ll still sound like the record. That’s been an important part as well, to just kind of work on a skeletal version of a song and see what works and what doesn’t.”

“IT BECAME ALMOST THIS FULL-BLOWN KIND OF CONCEPT ALBUM, WHICH I NEVER REALLY ANTICIPATED.” From the bones of such an abstract and unplanned concept, ultimately Greene’s happy with the results. Listening to the thing, it does become its own feathery little cosmos. He says that working within the limitations of this world actually made the process easier. “There’s definitely some lyrics on the record that don’t have anything to do with the Paracosm idea, but sonically I think there is [a narrative thrust]. I had these limitations kind of set up from the beginning where I knew to use a certain type of sound, which really kind of helped with the songwriting because I was able to just jump straight into the actual writing of songs, whereas before, on the past few records I’ve done, there was a lot more experimenting and trial and error, kind of stumbling across sonic ideas to work with... There’s a few songs that ended up taking on a life of their own but there’s also quite a few that – the original idea I had in my head, the finished product is pretty close to it. I think it had a lot to do with this project in particular: I had a lot of ideas in the beginning of what I wanted it to be, but I see in the future it being not that easy.” WHAT: Paracosm (Sub Pop/Inertia)

THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 41

# 2 • 2 1 . 0 8 . 1 3 • M E L B O U R N E • F R E E • I N C O R P O R AT I N G

JAPANDROIDS “ W E ’ R E A P R E T T Y B L A C K A N D W H I T E BA N D ”

music

KINGG KRULE

film

CHLOËË GRACE MORETZ

travel

HOLI LI FEST

fashion

ONESIES NESIES

MORE MUSIC THAN EVER AND A SHITLOAD OF OTHER STUFF! 42 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

reviews

ALBUM OF THE WEEK

This week: Nicole Kidman is emotionally unstable in Stoker, the return of Nine Inch Nails and we conquer the world in Europa Universalis IV.

VOLCANO CHOIR Repave

Jagjaguwar/Inertia Justin Vernon doesn’t know when to quit. Not content with conquering the world under his Bon Iver nom de plume, Vernon has flirted with soft-rock grooves (Gayngs) and R&B schmooze (Kanye West cameos), as well as pitching in with other artists both in front of and behind the scenes. Yet the itch to take the reins has kicked in, and the result is another band, Volcano Choir. Repave is actually a follow-up to 2009’s debut Unmap, yet will serve as the first taste of the band for many – and what a smorgasbord it is; Vernon’s lyricism has reached a personal high watermark, and the amount of time the band have spent honing their own aesthetic provides the perfect foundations for Vernon to soar.

★★★★½

TRACK LISTING 1. Tiderays 2. Acetate 3. Comrade 4. Byegone

5. Alaskins 6. Dancepack 7. Keel 8. Almanac

Opener Tiderays uses a swirling organ to bleed on the sonic canvas, a broken hymnal, before fingerpicked guitar joins Vernon’s falsetto to provide a bedrock of beatific platitudes. Yet the track builds incrementally, a sonic swelling of the breast, and the power that lays within effectively sets Volcano Choir on high seas. Acetate sails even more, Vernon trading highs for baritone lows on a spacious track that starts small before the echoed vocals of band members coalesces like the crashing wave on the cover. Vernon plays with form, utilising Auto-Tune with shimmering eclecticism on Cmrade; rocking a cavernous outro on Byegone, his voice ragged and torn. Electronic pulses feed throughout, and as the staccato beat of closer Almanac smashes the glass ceiling of expectations, it’s bluntly apparent that Repave stands tall. Brendan Telford

THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 43

album reviews

JACKSON & HIS COMPUTERBAND

NINE INCH NAILS

Warp/Inertia

With minimal techno and industrial slamming together in an uncomfortable, unforgiving manner, it’s interesting to conclude that Hesitation Marks is perhaps Nine Inch Nails’ most accessible body of work to date. There’s still plenty of depravity, but it’s easy to slip into and get tied up with.

Hesitation Marks Polydor/Universal

Glow

For all its romance, for its sights, Paris has a dark underbelly. While the City of Lights has more than once spewed forth musicians famous and infamous – from Debussy to Daft Punk – the dark rues de Paris hide a seething beast. Abrasive and aggressive, it slithers through the sewers ready to attack. Today, Jackson rides that beast. There’s nothing particularly ‘French’ in Jackson Fourgeaud’s music, although Glow’s sound draws parallels with the industrial tones attributed to the stereotypical ‘Berlin sound’. Throw in the schizophrenic nature of Aphex Twin (Blood Bust), the occasional electroballad (Memory) and a seriously fucked-up carousel sound (More), and the general vibe of Glow becomes apparent. Jackson creates his work for those who appreciate music as art. In this, it is unsurprising he calls

★★★★ Paris home. His debut Smash dropped around the time the Ed Banger dance scene – Justice, DJ Mehdi, Sebastian – was broadcasting French dance music to the world. Jackson, however, carried on doing his own thing, and with Glow he’s ready to remind global audiences that French dance music in 2013 is not confined to a couple of guys dressed in robot suits. There’s something very disturbed about Glow, but for all its viciousness and passion, it’s clear that Jackson, with the help of his Computerband, is a visionary artist who derives pleasure from the aural assault he delivers. Dylan Stewart

After some textured fuzz to warm the ears, the first two cuts doing the rounds online (Copy Of A and Came Back Haunted) are delivered backto-back, with Trent Reznor sounding as menacing as ever. It’s like he’s drugged you and is smugly sitting across the bar, waiting for you to collapse on the floor. The 48-year-old has this incredible ability to let intensity swell to a critical point of combustion, then rip it away before it bursts completely. He knows that an album is more than a collection of songs, and Hesitation Marks

THE JUNGLE GIANTS

THE PAPER KITES

Amplifire

Wonderlick/Sony

There’s been an influx, and arguably a surplus, of wavyhaired, tight-jeaned youths pumping upbeat indie-pop tunes out of Brisbane lately (think Ball Park Music, Millions, Last Dinosaurs). So what makes The Jungle Giants and their debut LP Learn To Exist any different from the rest of the chino-wearing crowd?

States is beautiful. There’s probably a better word to describe it – some polysyllabic adjective that encapsulates the extraordinary soundscape and detailed texture of the multilayered tracks. But ‘beautiful’ does the job just as well.

Learn To Exist

Opening tracks Come And Be Alone With Me and I Am What You Want Me To Be are filled with catchy hooks and irresistible choruses – but they could easily be mistaken for the work of any of the aforementioned bands. Lines like, “Come and be alone with me/We could get stoned/We could hang” don’t exactly demonstrate any kind of lyrical mastery. And yet there’s significant talent there. Lead singer-songwriter Sam Hales won the 2011 Billy Thorpe music scholarship for his promising musical abilities. She’s A Riot, 44 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

★★★★ demands you take the ride until the last stop. Everything is one of the more foreign tracks here, and ironically it’s through its normality. The pop verses will polarise fans, but it works well as a halfway marker between the musical and lyrical disdain that surrounds it. Various Methods Of Escape is another accessible bullet, though it comes with a guitar line that’s practically loathing. Sure, the fingerprints of Atticus Ross are all over this record, but it’s yet another dark Reznor opus. And by the end of the ordeal you’ll be begging him for more. Benny Doyle

States

★★★ from their 2012 EP, has been included to keep their fans sated, while the twangy acoustic Devil’s In The Detail and the hip hop beat of Home are definite earperkers. But it’s the barrage of woos, ahhhs and pop rhythms that really dominate this album. The alternative songs here serve as more of a distraction than an emphasis of the band’s expanded musical direction. Anyone who listened to The Jungle Giants’ first two EPs or has seen them perform live knows that they are a fun band and, for the most part, that’s what Learn To Exist is. But ‘fun’ alone isn’t going to help them stand out in the crowd. Ash Goldberg

The Paper Kites have created something truly remarkable with their debut LP. Produced with Wayne Connolly (You Am I, Josh Pyke), States is laden with a diverse array of instruments. The band even collaborated with up-and-coming composer Tim Coghill on several tracks. You have to wonder how this album is going to translate live, but nonetheless, it’s a unique, eclectic and frankly brilliant result from the Melbourne quintet. The mournful cry of the guitar in middle track Tin Lover will leave its mark and the sweet and light Tennenbaum has traces of Sufjan Stevens’ Seven Swans, while the harmonic Never Heard A Sound

★★★★ ½ belongs on a Sunday afternoon playlist along with some Bon Iver. Coghill’s input is prominent on the final two tracks, filled with delicate, understated sounds – particularly the final three-and-ahalf minutes of closer I Done You Wrong. As the vocals slowly fade and only the symphonic strings remain, it’s evident that States is a record with a professional polish, atypical of your everyday indie-folk production. Apparently, there was in-fighting over the inclusion of some of the tracks on this record, but in the end The Paper Kites will be glad it turned out as it did, as will you, because States is stunning. Ash Goldberg

album reviews

★★★★

CALIFONE

★★★

★★★★

★★★½

BLACK JOE LEWIS

EARL SWEATSHIRT

HOOKWORMS

Doris

Domino/EMI

This first album in four years for Chicagoan roots experimentalists Califone – recorded out of their hometown comfort zone for the first time in various locales in the American southwest – is a typically assured and defiantly offbeat collection. Tim Rutili’s expressive voice is again one of their chief assets, alongside their patchwork arrangements, instrumental dexterity and willingness to utilise sounds from the past and present. There’s always something slightly unnerving underpinning Califone’s rustic ruminations, but the inherent beauty that’s also omnipresent completely mitigates any such petty concerns.

Shock

Columbia/Sony

There’s more than a garage rock swagger on Black Joe Lewis’ Electric Slave, a change in band line-up and new label having given the formerly soul/blues/ R&B artist inspiration to make things a little dirtier. Openers Skullduggin and Young Girls feel like JSBX cuts, before Dar Es Salaam sees him in more familiar territory, tight horns and Lewis’ impressive high-pitched, raspy hollering making it an album highlight. Come To My Party proves they make a better soul than garage band, but Electric Slave shows that Lewis and co. have more grit and versatility than many might have expected.

Tyler, the first of the Wolf Gang to break big, came out chanting, “Free Earl!” It was difficult to imagine that OFWGKTA had a more interesting rapper up its collective sleeve. Earl, once freed from his Samoan brat camp, has proved Tyler right again with this gem. Chum stands tallest; Earl honest, unrelenting and engaging on the mic over his own bouncy beat. Frank Ocean’s star turn rapping on Sunday is a revelation. The confronting teenage brutality of 2010 debut Earl has been left behind. Only our hero’s skill and charisma remain. Doris is a triumph. Earl’s free.

Modern Life Is Rubbish, Blur once asserted. Or to put it another way, everything that presents itself as new has already been round the block before. Hookworms might’ve been identified as one of the UK’s most promising new bands but they don’t hide their influences, as shoegaze guitars, Spiritualized organ drone and hypnotic Krautrock grooves combine on the nine-minute, momentumbuilding Away/Towards. Progress is evident, though, on the codeine-induced crawl of Since We Had Changed, which aches with a melancholy grace. A band for the future maybe, whatever shape that takes.

Steve Bell

Dan Condon

James d’Apice

Christopher H James

Stitches

Dead Oceans/Inertia

Electric Slave

★★★½

★★★★

There’s something rotten in Denmark when someone like Pete Doherty starts pumping out music that seems like it was recorded with Blur at the mixing console. Sequel To The Prequel has a quality that harks back to the heyday of Britpop, bizarre as that may sound. Be that as it may, this is a blaster of a pop album, Doherty’s vocals slurring over jangly guitars with kicking drumbeats. Less shambolic than Down In Albion or Shotter’s Nation, this album may alienate die-hards, but with work this measured, why would Babyshambles care? Glenn Waller

Spunk/Caroline Once you overcome the shock of hearing this new-sounding Okkervil River and the at-timecheesy ‘80s production that litters the Texans’ seventh album and realise that it’s a concept piece set in frontman Will Sheff ’s rural hometown in 1986 – a fictional rendering of his childhood just as MTV and the information age hit – it all begins to make sense. Sheff ’s natural aptitude as a wordsmith still shines, not nostalgic but with childhood innocence; a time before the inner struggles which informed Okkervil’s early work. A somewhat strange but mostly satisfying detour. Steve Bell

★★★★½

BABYSHAMBLES OKKERVIL RIVER TEDESCHI The Silver Sequel To The Prequel TRUCKS BAND Gymnasium Parlophone/Warner

Pearl Mystic

VISTA CHINO Peace

Made Up Mind

3Wise/Sony

Sony

The Immortal Bard apparently once said: “What’s in a name?/ That which we call a bud/By any other name/Would still smell as pungent”. Such is the case with the first record from Vista Chino, aka Blues From The Red Sun-era Kyuss minus Josh Homme. Peace comes across like a sun-drenched, acid-fried, slow-burning classic and sounds like everything we all hoped John Garcia, Brant Bjork and Nick Oliveri could still do. Blending the rocky accessibility of Kyuss’ …And The Circus Leaves Town and the jam-o-rama of Blues…, Peace is a groovy stoner rock behemoth. Welcome back to Sky Valley.

The 11-piece’s second studio album, Made Up Mind is, put very simply, a wonderful treat and rings true to the global excitement around them. Tedeschi’s smoky vocals draw the listener in, establishing undivided attention, and Trucks’ intuitive and expert slide solos then blow expectations away. Subtle horn arrangements and rhythm section grooves complete the sheer auditory richness of it. Highlights are the opening title track – which kicks the momentum of the album right into motion – Whiskey Legs and Sweet And Low, for the contrasting tenderness it brings to the album.

Tom Hersey

Lukas Murphy THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 45

singles/ep reviews

★★★½

JANELLE MONAE FT MIGUEL Primetime

Bad Boy/Universal Spacey R&B duet. Monae starts off strong, Miguel gets it smokin’, there’s a seductive guitar solo, then the two vocalists meet and it’s sexy magic.

ESKIMO JOE

Got What You Need Independent The musical equivalent of an annoyingly enthusiastic ‘morning person’ up in your grill. Feel sorry for the pledgers who crowdfunded this.

THE JOHN STEEL SINGERS State Of Unrest

ANABELLE KAY Waste I Won’t Strangelove Recorded in LA, Waste I Won’t is a solid folk EP with an angelic twist. Songstress Anabelle Kay’s strikingly unusual voice demands your attention immediately on the lightly treading opener Chained. It’s a voice that’s masterfully controlled, high and very sweet, if just a touch of nasally. The follow-up song Stolen Time conveys that country church vibe, possibly inspired by the singer’s time spent in rural Oklahoma. Breathe Me In is a track that’s airy both in name and nature while Kay’s mandolin playing deserves the foreground in her bare track Down; a delicate song that conveys an understated joy. Stephanie Tell

★★★½

BELLE & THE BONE PEOPLE Belle & The Bone People

★★★★½

BLOODS

Golden Fangs Shock

The debut EP from this indiefolk outfit wavers between high-energy funk and blues with that foot-stomping beat to moodier, acoustic-driven folk ballads. Opener The Boy is reminiscent of the frantic multiinstrumentation and ascending melody of Mumford & Sons, but is pierced through by Isabella Kearney-Nurse’s clear, soulful voice. Conversely, Johnny shifts to a far slower pace with its smooth jazz tone and gentle ambience, while brooding track The Light reinforces KearneyNurse’s warm, varied vocals.

There’s a bit of buzz surrounding this Sydney-based outfit, and it’s well earned. Bloods’ debut EP evokes that kind of bratty teenage exuberance that’s the bloodline (pun intended) of ‘90s-steeped garage punk. While single Into My Arms employs a fast-paced, fuzzy melody line that’s sure to get you on side, their contagious angst is really conveyed in later tracks. The wailing chorus of Back To You, and the expressive girly vocals on scuzzy track Hailing Down make for two highly addictive power-pop tunes. This gritty, high-energy offering will satisfy anyone with a penchant for girl groups with attitude.

Stephanie Tell

Independent

Dew Process Slow-burning, guitar-driven, psych-rock song with a surprising amount of ‘pew-pew’ laser synth sounds that work.

★★★★

RUBYICE

Can’t Nobody Manga Republic/Green Media Though it’s cool that RubyIce are influenced by J-pop, it sucks that these white girls are marketed as championing the genre here.

YUCK

Middle Sea Mercury/Universal More energetic fare than previous efforts that still retains Yuck’s trademark fuzziness. Miss you though, Daniel Blumberg.

OSH10

The Ripcord Independent Full of interesting elements that react badly with each other, like a science experiment gone wrong. Stephanie Liew

46 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

★★★

CHARLES MURDOCH

RILEY PEARCE

Future Classic Rather than containing distinct individual tracks, Weathered Straight is a cohesive sonic experience. In the vein of Flume and Seekae, Charles Murdoch presents a smooth EP of ambient textures. Single Dekire features Oscar Key Sung’s melancholic high vocals within an echoing, fluid track, while the incorporation of chime sounds in closer No Lungs gives the song an ethereal feel. Though Murdoch’s calming style of minimalist electronica does feel a little familiar, the EP will still win you over with its engrossing fluidity and undeniable chill factor.

This folk-roots musician and relative newcomer’s debut release evokes wandering lyricism through passionately sung vocals. Riley Pearce is a primarily emotive songwriter and this is conveyed in the title track We Are Fools (“We are just fools in love”). Pearce’s sentimental writing is notable in stripped-back track Patterns, a somewhat bittersweet inclusion on the EP. The song seems like it would be the perfect score to a Hollywood love scene, the right mix between romantic loss and longing. This EP should be listened to by those who have recently found love or recently been dumped.

Stephanie Tell

Weathered Straight

We Are Fools Independent

★★★

SNAKES GET BAD PRESS Residues

Art As Catharsis Cower, the opening song from this Sydney four-piece, is a hardcore track that sets the benchmark high for a relentless noise-driven EP. This unyielding level of sludgy rock is followed up in Dead Horses, both tracks displaying incredibly harsh, screamo-style vocals that are steadily maintained for Residues’ duration. No Secret is somewhat distinct for its stoner edge, as is First World Leech. In contrast to the rest of the EP, this ominous latter track employs a more varied dynamic and slower pace to highlight a different approach within this energetic offering. Stephanie Tell

W! NE

CLASSIES

BUY JOBS SELL WANTED MUSICIANS

THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 47

48 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

live reviews

GEORGIA FIELDS

The Standard Hotel: 21 Aug The Standard Hotel is full as Georgia Fields takes her place on the very small stage and starts the first of her two sets tonight without any fuss. She doesn’t try to fight the significant chatter that is emanating from the diners, instead, she appears to ignore it and wins listeners over with her beautiful voice and keyboard accompaniment. Fields is assisted on a number of tracks by John Palmer, who adds some lovely, discreet guitar work when Fields herself is not playing guitar. There’s even a glockenspiel during a couple

(mis)understanding of the lyrics. She finally gets underway with a highly enjoyable cover and a couple of her friends in the audience help out with the “sleazy men” backing vocals, much to everyone’s amusement. Despite the highlight being a cover version, Fields’ own material is a delight and also downright pretty. Her paredback version of the single Snakes And Ladders is just as enjoyable as the fuller version. Fields and her compositions are perfectly suited to the intimate setting of The Standard Hotel. With meaningful, personable lyrics and some beautiful melodies, you can’t help but savour her work. Fields proves that indie pop tunes do not need to be sung in an affected or little girl fashion in order to be sweet.

GEORGIA FIELDS @ THE STANDARD HOTEL. PIC: CHRISSIE FRANCIS

of songs and although Fields’ ability to move between these instruments isn’t seamless, it is refreshing to see a musician not actually adept at such switching. This merely adds to her slightly awkward charm and makes Fields a far more engaging performer than those who are smooth operators, as it is clear that this performance is real. She seems to enjoy herself and not take it too seriously, which also helps, especially during the few times throughout her first set where she falters, for one reason or another. The highlight has to be Fields’ cover of Ginuwine’s Pony. She introduces it by stating that she’s not sure she should be singing it in such a genteel environment. Things are made even more amusing when Fields divulges the story of how, when she first heard this song as a teenager, she had a far more innocent

to Australian brothers Thor and Miley Cyrus’ lover Katniss Everdeen’s lover, but rather is a producer hailing from Canada who puts out killer chill-wave beats, along with some bangin’ remixes. His take on Frank Ocean’s Thinkin Bout You is ridiculously good and arguably better than the original (sorry Frank). Oh, and he also has one of the greatest Instagram accounts out there (heemsworth – check it out for fun time). Most show up early to catch Brisbane act Paces perform a solid set, packed with tunes that get this crowd nice and sweaty. Speaking of the audience, it’s basically comprised of young, elite hipsters and trendsetters all wanting to be seen at this gig that has been labelled ‘cool’. And as Ryan Hemsworth walks on stage

GEORGIA FIELDS @ THE STANDARD HOTEL. PIC: CHRISSIE FRANCIS

Furthermore, her down-to-earth performance style could win over even the most cynical of audiences. Fields’ performance may not be as polished as many others, but it’s warm, endearing and entertaining, and you can’t ask for much more than that. Dominique Wall

RYAN HEMSWORTH, KAYTRANADA, PACES Brown Alley: 24 Aug If the name Ryan Hemsworth doesn’t mean anything to you, look him up right now. And before you ask, he is not related

GEORGIA FIELDS @ THE STANDARD HOTEL. PIC: CHRISSIE FRANCIS

near the end of Paces’ set, it’s hard to argue with that definition: he emits rad vibes before even touching the decks. Hemsworth starts by playing other artists’ songs, and it’s a good 30 minutes before we hear his own work coming through. That’s not a bad thing though, as this producer’s DJ skills are pretty badass. Only last week, Hemsworth’s live set at the Ray Ban x Pitchfork Festival Afterparty was posted to Boiler Room, which gave a taste of said DJ’s talent. Admittedly, it is great to hear Hemsworth’s own tracks and Charlie Wingate, Overthinking and Grimes’ Genesis remix generate the biggest responses. But mostly this crowd enjoy the set as a whole, with the dancing getting out of control in the best possible way. As it nears the end of Hemsworth’s hour-long set, fellow Canadian Kaytranada

(Kevin Celestin) appears and for a few tracks is side-by-side Hemsworth (side note: this much swag shouldn’t be allowed on the same stage). The crowd obviously laps it up and the changeover between the two of them is seamless. It’s refreshing not to have to wait between acts as you do with bands and it certainly helps to maintain the raucous and guttural atmosphere that Hemsworth and Paces work hard to create. Kaytranada is one smooth operator: part-beat producer, part-DJ, part-MC with a bit of part time modelling just to heighten our envy. Oh, and he turned 21 today actually, which he mentions much to the crowd’s delight. His set is full of fantastic R&B and hip hop, Kaytranada’s own tunes and even some Australian stuff thrown in

(courtesy of Ta-ku and Flume). Kaytranada makes bangin’ beats and knows how to get people twerkin’ (read: this crowd). Nathanael Rice

PARKING LOT EXPERIMENTS, THE HARPOONS The Toff In Town: 21 Aug There are two notable things about tonight’s audience: it’s quite a large one considering this is a wintery Wednesday night and the vast majority of those in attendance look like they’ve stepped off the set of Beverly Hills, 90210 thanks to their preference THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 49

live reviews for ‘90s fashion. The Harpoons get the night started and it’s not long before singer Bec Rigby’s voice weaves its way through the room, inciting people to dance in a manner that compliments their funky, soul tunes. Walk Away and Keep You Around delight the devoted crowd, even though at times the set feels a little like a band at a 1960s-themed Year 12 formal. The band reveal some exciting news: their new album was mastered the night prior. But it’s yet to be named due to the band’s inability to agree on a title. Parking Lot Experiments provide what is surely a contender for set opening of the year. The four-piece look ready to immerse themselves in an intense instrumental moment, until bursts of Corona’s Rhythm Of The Night break through and

that talented musicians don’t actually have to take themselves seriously to earn respect.

22 Aug

(and audience brain cells more so) Ash hit the stage and immediately drop the clutch with 1977 album opener Lose Control. All in attendance know what they are in store for tonight: a mid-‘90s chart burner of an LP delivered live in its entirety. Incredibly, it’s been 17 years since 1977 came out and while drummer Rick McMurray has lost his hair and bassist Mark Hamilton looks slightly more John Belushi circa Animal House than svelte, indie rocker of yesteryear, frontman Tim Wheeler is somehow smashing the seven signs of ageing.

Local four-piece Dancing Heals have some rent-a-fans leaning on the stage barrier and gazing on as Corner Hotel sound engineers tune the room in readiness for our Irish headliners tonight. Hard-hitting drums, vocal

Toting a Gibson flying V, Wheeler pouts about the stage, with Hamilton and his low-slung bass teetering over him. The wahpedal gets a good stomping on to bring Lose Control to a close, before first ballad and second

Jacqueline Flynn

ASH, SKIPPING GIRL VINEGAR, DANCING HEALS Corner Hotel:

ASH @ THE CORNER HOTEL. PIC: ANDREW BRISCOE

eventually take over to provide the soundtrack for a dance routine that the band performs. The crowd reaction is sheer ecstasy and suddenly the reason why so many people made an effort to come out on a school night is revealed. Their songs sound part-video game, part-electro, part-pop – all with a hint of chaos. One tune causes the drum kit to break and some parts are thrown into the crowd. Somewhere within the mind-bending set, one band member asks, “So have you all been keeping up with the Sister Act movies?”(Perhaps a nod to the unspoken dress code for the evening.) To the disappointment of everyone in the room, Parking Lot Experiments announce that this second show of their mini-residency at The Toff In Town is their last of the year. This band makes it impossible not to smile, dance and discover 50 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

ASH @ THE CORNER HOTEL. PIC: ANDREW BRISCOE

harmonies and the odd wailing guitar solo make up Dancing Heals’ sound, with some punchy stop-start dynamics and rousing choruses adding zing. Recent single Always On My Mind gets an airing and the lads exit the stage to a raucous guitar loop. Not content with the typical feng shui for a band live, Skipping Girl Vinegar’s members align themselves with the stage edge. As the crowd begins to pile in, the beer taps get a good pumping (which has nothing at all to do with the Irish ex-pats in attendance). SGV’s onstage banter is light-hearted and the tunes upbeat. Spirited drummer Chris Helm steals the show with his gurning, animated performance. Chase The Sun, from latest LP Keep Calm Carry The Monkey, caps off a tight set. The peasantry is getting restless now and with lights dimming

song Goldfinger has the audience thrusting glasses skywards and singing along. Girl From Mars is pure indie-pop nostalgia and reduces the pit to a seething mass of hunched-over dancing. After an extended rock ending and a quick “thank you”, the band launch into ‘roided-up versions of I’d Give You Anything and Gone The Dream, before bringing the hammer down with Kung Fu – complete with call and response “whoa”s and “oh”s. Oh Yeah gives the audience a breather, before Let It Flow slaps everyone silly. Wheeler takes the odd moment out during the set to reminisce on the craziness of being just 19 years old and touring half way across the globe in support of 1977. A slightly more up-tempo Darkside Lightside completes the album tracks before Wheeler mumbles that they have a few extras to go: Jack Names The Planets followed by one of the band’s own favourites,

A Life Less Ordinary, which is greeted with cheers. An encore features Orpheus, Shining Light and Return Of White Rabbit, with a cranking rendition of Burn Baby Burn concluding what has been a punchy, rollicking, 90-minute stroll down memory lane. Glenn Waller

KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD, NICK ALLBROOK Bar Open: 21 Aug Tonight’s gig was only announced yesterday via Facebook yet, only

ASH @ THE CORNER HOTEL. PIC: ANDREW BRISCOE

a few songs into opener Nick Allbrook’s set, punters barely fit into Bar Open’s modestly sized upstairs area. Those of us lucky enough to squeeze into the rainbow-speckled band room experience a unique, intimate solo performance from this wellloved musician. He conveys an incredible depth and hypnotic sound through his catchy melodies – notably in his expressive version of The Man’s Not Me. Allbrook’s set is unfortunately punctuated by the interruptions of some over-excited fans, whose misguided appreciation for the musician is expressed through bizarre exclamations of “fuck Jesus!” However, Allbrook takes it in his stride, even demonstrating the beat from Thriller for us on his drum machine. He rounds off his set with an increased intensity throughout some very loud, wall-of-psychedelic-

live reviews goodness. Following an ecstatic response from the crowd, one of the hecklers shouts, “That was fucking epic!” He’s certainly right on that count. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s surprise free show comes ahead of the official launch of Float Along - Fill Your Lungs and the band play their new record in its entirety. Opener Head On/Pill is a marathon for this sweaty seven-piece – an arduous but worthy exercise in experimental rock that results in a mosh that literally shakes the floor beneath us. It’s an exciting start which sees harmonica player/guitarist Ambrose Kenny-Smith cranking out his one-of-a-kind, highpitched vocals. His pipes on God Is Calling Me Back Home convey a warm feeling of

BATPISS, OUCH MY FACE The Gasometer Hotel: 23 Aug Ouch My Face played a cracking spot between Mariachi El Bronx and The Bronx at Billboard on the Californian tourists’ 2009 tour. During the local three-piece’s set, Matt Caughthran and his Bronx buddies could be seen behind the glass upstairs, sinking a few beers and excitedly taking in the madness. Four years on and Ouch My Face still sport what has to be one of the most precise rhythm sections around Melbourne. The feel of their music is the same – all start-stoppy guitars and yelly vocals – but on this occasion they lack spark. It’s difficult to fault

BATPISS @ GASOMETER. PIC: KANE HIBBERD

nostalgia towards American soul and blues from the past. The duration of the album combines an adventurous, multilayered approach to their craft and, after it’s done, the band are kind enough to take requests. Obviously they know what the people want, as the older fan favourites that follow, including Footy Footy and Black Tooth, draw on much harder influences. This allows for those antsy hecklers from earlier to expend some energy. Once again King Gizzard prove their capability for trans-genre versatility. While psych rock is often used to describe a kind of drifting, often aimless style of guitar pop, it’s clear that this unstoppable gang bring the grunt and a well-needed injection of liveliness back into the descriptor. Stephanie Tell

slowly spreading their glowering joylessness around town. To see Batpiss outside of their Tote surrounds (they must’ve been living in the ceiling cavity for a while) is a bit weird, and the crowd has thinned significantly since the supports, but they own their headline spot. There’s three songs without a breath before the band even say ‘g’day’, but from here the fast/slow dynamic is used to maximum effect – one minute they’re all bogged down in morosity and the next they’re up and slapping the cunt world in its ugly face. It’s the songs during which bassist Thomy Sloane (listed as Thomy Cones on their Facebook page) chimes in to fill out Paul Pirie’s ample growl that really blow up in the relatively tiny Gasometer bandroom. Burn Below fits this mould, enticing a

BATPISS @ GASOMETER. PIC: KANE HIBBERD

any of the constituent parts, but razorblade vocals carving into walls of rhythmic noise has been their shtick for five years now; it’d be super to see them take it somewhere a little more experimental. Looking forward from 2012, this year always felt like it’d been earmarked as the year of Batpiss, and so far it has been. The Tote’s own seemingly permanent resident three-piece finally got their collective shit together and squeezed out an album Nuclear Winter, which was recorded at the Tote by Tom Lyngcoln and mastered by Mikey Young, which more than stacks up to their growing reputation as a live act. Triple R’s Breakfasters team have been belting the band’s tunes out every other day and they’ve been playing about 19 shows a week for months now –

next few songs, Ghost included, it’s clear that singer Phoebe Cockburn has to compete with the audience chatter in order to command the room. While Cockburn’s airy voice always sounds beautiful, it floats above the room unable to cut through the din of this excited Saturday night crowd. There’s also little physicality within the band, aside from drummer Barna Nemeth who grooves in and out of songs while his bandmates are absorbed by their instruments. Onstage banter is few and far between, which is not a good thing. Singerguitarist Sean Heathcliff makes a point of thanking each person who is working on the show this evening by name and declares, “Boy, do we love Melbourne! That’s ‘cause we’re from here, but we love you anyway” – they’re simply lovely people.

OUCH MY FACE @ GASOMETER. PIC: KANE HIBBERD

few munters to shove each other about, and the extended winddown fake-out makes the ballistic ending all the more sweet. Samson McDougall

SNAKADAKTAL Forum Theatre: 24 Aug A show at this venue is a great achievement for Snakadaktal, who are former winners of triple j’s Unearthed High competition. Tonight the theatre looks particularly ethereal, providing the perfect backdrop for the young band’s ambient, indie-pop flavour. First up is Hung On Tight, the first official single from Sleep In The Water, a great follow-up to previous singles Chimera, Dance Bear and Air, the latter of which they perform next. Over the

As the set goes on the five band members loosen up a little, which is all the restless crowd needs to do the same. Heathcliff ’s voice acts as a great anchor for Cockburn’s when they sing together, especially evident when performing Dance Bear. This is further emphasised when they cover Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs’ Garden, but then Heathcliff makes a mistake, says “sorry” to Cockburn (into the mic) and gives up on the rest of the lyrics. If they were performing on any of TV’s reality ‘talent’ shows they would have received a severe verbal throttling from a C-list celebrity judge for that. Luckily, however, the audience tonight is far more forgiving. Snakadaktal aren’t bad performers – they just haven’t developed a way of translating the seductiveness of their recordings into a live format. Jacqueline Flynn THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 51

arts reviews

SAVAGES Theatre

Fortyfivedownstairs to 8 Sep As a 20-something male, Patricia Cornelius’ new play Savages hits me right in the moralities. Not that it speaks directly to my demographic; the four-handed, one-act play is populated by middle-aged blokes with kids and mortgages and wives. But there is horror here, steeped in the fact that they’re acting like men my age. The play imagines the mental states of four friends in the lead-up to a Dianne Brimbleesque scenario aboard a cruise the men have taken. They’re there on the cheap, pumped with booze, bad cologne and desperation. Like Saturday night on Swan Street on shore leave. Cornelius’ rhyming blank verse dialogue furnishes the actors and Susie Dee’s direction with the capacity for minute control over pace, and the actors open

pockets of understanding with their relish of it. There are moments of disconnect that I don’t think are intentional, where the audience is noticeably swimming and some seats have awkward views from which the blocking doesn’t quite make sense. But a ramp of tension builds throughout, marked by a deft soundtrack, as these boys get more cock-driven and less human, less humane. The set is like a nightmare, too. A massive, sloping wooden ship-deck dwarfs and knocks off kilter the already enigmatic space in the basement of 45 Flinders Lane. A cerebral and

Film

Simon Eales

In cinemas 29 Aug Directed by Park Chan-wook and written by Wentworth Miller (yes, the Prison Break star!), Stoker is a psychological thriller with just a hint of the supernatural. After India Stoker’s (Mia Wasikowska) father dies in an accident, her Uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode), whose existence was previously unknown to her, comes to stay with her and her mother (Nicole Kidman). Both mother and daughter develop a strange fascination with this suspiciously charming man who has appeared out of nowhere and seems to be hiding his real motives.

JOBS Film

In cinemas 29 Aug Jobs is less the story of Steve Jobs the man and more the story of the origins of one of the most profitable companies in the world, Apple. Jobs is merely a player, a figure who puts certain events into action, rather than a character. The film is a pioneer in one sense then, that it is one of the first biopics that takes a company as its subject. Admittedly Steve Jobs (Ashton Kutcher) does have a lot of screen time. But he remains frustratingly elusive and the audience leaves being none the wiser on Jobs as when they went in. Motivations matter little, only the actions.

Artfully shot, with striking compositions aplenty (even the violence is made to look disturbingly beautiful), the story of Stoker is masterfully told with suspenseful reveals and charismatic, beguiling characters who – while a little too fantastical to be realistic and

Kutcher proves that he may be the dullest actor currently

SAVAGES

52 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

STOKER

urgent dialogue play about base behaviour, with clear, incisive imagery and tight dramaturgy.

JOBS

working in American cinema. It isn’t just the fact that he is bad – there are plenty of bad actors but most have charm and energy in spades. Kutcher proves to be in a deficit of both (and they are pretty important traits for the role of Steve Jobs). Jobs will be quickly forgotten, but it is worth waiting for this story, as Aaron Sorkin, writer of The Social Network and The West Wing, is currently working on his own Jobs biopic. Until then, audiences that do go along to this Kutcher vehicle will at least have their iPhones to ease the boredom. Samuel Hilton

film constantly keeps you guessing. Once what’s really happening begins to dawn on you, it’s almost exhilarating. Park manages to keep the atmosphere at just the right balance of creepy, gripping, uncomfortable and sensual; watching Stoker is a brilliantly conflicting experience. Stephanie Liew

TAVI’S WORLD Talk

Athenaeum Theatre Tavi Gevinson has the audience enraptured as she presents her slideshow on the phenomenon of ‘fangirling’. Through personal anecdotes, photos, quotes and amusing MS Paint-style illustrations, she tells us about her world: “Most of my world is a composite of the works of others.” Speaking candidly and casually, punctuating her speech with plenty of deadpan humour, the 17-year-old creator and editor in chief of adored teen website Rookie Mag explains how she stopped worrying about

STOKER

relatable – are richly portrayed by the strong leading cast. Goode’s piercing blue-green eyes should have their own credits, his stare evoking a mixture of fear and attraction. Wasikowska is stunning as the guarded yet quietly confident India, a young lady simultaneously in mourning, self-discovery and sexual awakening. Kidman nails the mother with no maternal instincts, a woman who never learnt how to look after anyone but herself. There are twists within ambiguous scenes – these snippets that flip your perceptions perhaps even more satisfying than the overarching mystery as a whole – and the

‘authenticity’ and trying to turn pain into art and instead learnt to see being part of a fandom as a way to connect with and relate to others – a lens through which you can make sense of the world and your place in it. She thinks being a fan of something is often more a reflection of yourself, rather than of the subject, and is happiest when she feels like “purely a set of eyes” looking outwards at the world she’s put together for herself. Gevinson’s already achieved so much, but she’ll no doubt keep moving onto bigger and brighter things. Stephanie Liew

games

★★★

DUCKTALES REMASTERED Capcom

PC/Mac/Xbox 360/PS3/ WiiU Originally released in 1989, DuckTales was a critical success. Its colourful palette and smooth animations differentiated it from its 8-bit counterparts, securing the games legacy amongst the best on the NES. Skip forward 24 years and Capcom have gifted us with DuckTales Remastered, a HD remake with new additions.

Players reprise the role of Scrooge McDuck in the classic 2D adventure. After the entertaining new tutorial, DuckTales opens up into a MegaMan-type format. Players can choose from five levels to be played in any order, taking Scrooge on a trip around the world (and beyond) in search of treasure. Visually, DuckTales ranges from fluid to unsightly. Character models are hand drawn and animated with care and precision. Conversely, the 3D backgrounds are often dull and uninspired. The soundtrack is raucous, and lends itself well to the frantic action. The gameplay retains the old school difficulty of the original, requiring precision platforming which is rewarding but occasionally frustrating. Some levels are split into two distinct areas, but a ‘game over’ knocks the player back to the very start. This design choice is confusing and lowers the accessibility for new players. DuckTales Remastered is a charming title with inventive level design and boss battles, but unless you hold a strong degree of nostalgia to the original, look elsewhere. Andrew Sutton

PAPERS, PLEASE

★★★

Lucas Pope PC/Mac

Lukas Pope’s latest title seems leftfield even for the indie scene: the player takes the role of an immigration official on the border of the fictional oppressive totalitarian East-European state of Arstotzka. Basically, it’s stop the boats: the video game. Your job is inspecting and verifying immigration documents. Basic signs of forgery can be found

week to master. It’s drop ‘n’ drag with machine guns followed by a blue screen of death and burning plastic smell. You’re gonna want some friends on board as the AI attempts to be helpful and at times really pack a punch, however, busting out of a shop front and through the onslaught of cop bullets takes balls that just aren’t programmable.

PAYDAY 2

★★★

Overkill PC

Payday 2 is the follow up to one damn good idea for a video game. A team of four career criminals busting up banks and shop fronts amid the endless flow of minimum waged SWAT teams trying to interfere with the five-year tropical island plan. Kill them, kill them all! Payday 2 makes being the bad guy damn fun. Instantly accessible to all gamers, Payday 2 takes about five minutes to learn and a goddamn

So what is missing? Payday 2 is a mid-priced game and cuts corners on a definable campaign. There is no real direction – as in, say, a GTA – so it lacks sustainability; however, if you are the type that will plug in cheats and start lighting up hookers then the Payday model is all you need. It’s overwhelmingly good fun; get a team, charge a mission and level up. The amount of money you make in the game is staggering, and this could be potentially classed as a career change tutorial. Four missions in and two million in the offshore account from 30 minutes’ work and you’re suddenly casing Bankwest like a hawk. Hello Caymans. Simon Holland

★★★★ ½

EUROPA UNIVERSALIS IV Paradox Interactive PC/Mac

In 2012, Paradox Interactive annihilated the social lives of grand strategy fans with Crusader Kings 2, a stunningly immersive medieval romp that married historical conquest with the gratifying subtleties of preserving a noble bloodline via feudal bureaucracy. Europa Universalis

in mismatches between the passport’s supposed place of issue and the guide maps given to you. The person’s stated sex might conflict with their suspiciously bearded visage, but the final test – a surprisingly graphic body scan – may unexpectedly swing the balance of truth in their favour. A mother registering an unexplained weight surplus presents a curious puzzle – that is, before your eyes scan the daily bulletin to spy her face on the list of wanted Kolechian terrorists. Weighing in at just 8MB, the 16-bit puzzler positively drips atmosphere. The bleak fauxSoviet setting gratifies with blue-grey ferro concrete, shuffling lines of black-pixel migrants, and garbled voice prompts that seem to have been fed through a cryptographic scrambler. But the scenarios above were conspicuous highlights of a concept stretched too thin. There’s too much padding in the form of migrants with uninteresting scenarios, whose puzzles rest in the pedantic comparison of expiry dates. The gameplay treads too close to recreating the soul-eating bureaucracy it aims to satirise. Michael Pendlebury IV trades away murder and medieval love triangles for greater scope and a more comprehensive toolkit for world domination. EUIV starts where CK2 left off in the mid-15th century and finishes in 1821. The game steers players through the European Renaissance and colonisation of the Americas; unlike CK2 (set in the socially anaemic Dark Ages), EUIV features a deep system of culture and technology progression that reflects the rapid evolution of ideas over the period. EUIV continues Paradox’s tradition of challenging gameplay. Rebellions flare up unless crushed or converted, while neighbouring nations brew resentment. A coalition of aggressors will manifest out of nowhere and declare war, your sworn ally suspiciously cops out, and bam – you’ve been consigned to the trashcan of history. You’ll pretty much lose each game, but finally defying the odds and history itself is a uniquely satisfying experience. EUIV supports multiplayer, but presents such a sprawling arena that you’ll rarely encounter your human counterparts. Michael Pendlebury THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 53

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PRODUCT NEWS MALMSTEEN WORKSHOPS Thump Music has announced an extremely rare and exclusive Australian masterclass tour by master of the vibrato, Yngwie Malmsteen, talking about his experiences as well as performing at one of four venues across the country. He’ll be at Queensland Conservatorium Theatre from 7.30pm on 9 Dec; Wesley Conference Centre 7.30pm on 10 Dec; George Wood Performing Arts Centre, Ringwood at 7.30pm 11 Dec; and Hale School’s John Inverely Theatre, Perth at 7.30pm 13 Dec. Witness two hours of “jaw-dropping wizardry and six-string dexterity”. To purchase tickets, go to the Thump Music website.

MATT REDLICH WINS AT QMA AWARDS Congratulations to Brisbane-based producer Matt Redlich, whose work was recently recognised at the Queensland Music Awards. Opening his new studio, Grandma’s Place, in south Brisbane earlier this year, Redlich has worked on, among other things, Emma Louise’s album, Vs Head Vs Heart, Ball Park Music’s Museum, The Trouble With Templeton’s Rookie and Holy Holy’s forthcoming album. Part of his unique sound revolves around his use of a vintage 2” tape machine for tracking. Emma Louise won Album of the Year, Ball Park Music Song of the Year and Pop Song Of The Year for Surrender, and The Trouble With Templeton Rock Song of the Year for Six Months In A Cast, all of which were produced, engineered and mixed by Redlich, while Emma Louise won Most Popular Female and the Export Achievement Award.

54 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

WHO’S ON SOUND?

If you’ve ever aspired to be the person behind the desk at your fave venue, controlling the sounds coming off the stage, SAE and The Hi-Fi have the course for you. Michael Smith talks to one of the architects of the Diploma of Sound Production (Live Sound), Lance Krivé.

AE (School of Audio Engineering) is the world’s leading educator in creative media industries. Established in 1976, SAE has 53 campuses in 27 countries offering certificates through to degrees, students getting practical, hands-on training with dedicated teachers in world-class facilities. SAE and The Hi-Fi have gotten together to provide the opportunity to study a Diploma of Sound Production (Live Sound) in a real venue, The Hi-Fi, in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, under the guidance of SAE’s worldclass audio production team.

“With live sound, if something doesn’t work or it doesn’t happen right, there’s no saying, ‘Go get a coffee, we’ll fix it in a minute’,” he continues. “You’re in front of people who want to see a show go non-stop with no problems, so everything’s very ‘in the moment’. Every room is different and what you’re doing is taking your sound monitoring system, which you know well, and you’re putting it into rooms that are unknowns, and in addition to that, you have your soundchecks, which are empty rooms that are going to be completely different that night when people are in them.”

Lance Krivé, Head VET coordinator/lecturer for SAE Institute, Melbourne, is one of the people behind the development and implementation of the course, and his CV is, to say the least, positively mindboggling. Between 1984 and 2001, he worked as monitor engineer/studio engineer for Stevie Nicks, was the playback engineer on Madonna’s 1990 Blonde Ambition World Tour, crew chief backline and guitar technician on Michael Jackson’s Dangerous and History tours, house engineer at The Palace in Hollywood (when not on tour) between 1993 and 1998… You get the picture. Since arriving in Australia in 2001, Krivé has been house engineer for The Mercury Lounge, East Brunswick Club and Ferntree Gully Hotel, and still does live sound every weekend.

“WHEREVER THERE ARE BANDS THERE ARE NEEDS FOR ENGINEERS.”

“I’m really excited about this course,” Krivé admits. “I’ve been trying to get something like this going for seven years with SAE. When I first got there I said, ‘You need more live sound!’

Then of course there are rooms that have inhouse systems, “and sometimes there can be a great system and sometimes it can be a really lousy system, and you just have to make it sound good”. All these aspects and much, much more are covered in the course, and students get to learn it on the latest stuff – Avid digital consoles and so on – which fits in perfectly with the gear students will encounter when they go into any of The Hi-Fi venues for the practical part of their course.

“Hands-on is critical,” Krivé reminds us. “The only way to learn is to be thrown into it – you learn to swim and swim well. The Hi-Fi set-up is great – it’s got a Line Array in there [ten Outline Butterfly Line Array speakers in Melbourne, 20 in Sydney and 12 in Brisbane, and six Outline Subtech 218 Sub Speakers in all three], they’ve got a Avid venue console for front-of-house and an Avid SE48 for monitors, Way Loud wedges, which are fantastic for the musicians up on stage, and great microphone choices. You can do any international or national act there easily. “The point is, you can’t find big recording studios any more so really this is the only way to make a good living from sound engineering. [And] even if we go into a recession, people will always be performing to liven people up and make them happy, so wherever there are bands there are needs for engineers.” The course will provide practical, professional training using a combination of live and classroom sessions. Course work will include bump-in, soundchecks, watching live mixes and bump-out, which all means eight or nine hours per gig. On completion, the industryfocused diploma is a career pathway to higher education with the option to transfer into the SAE’s Bachelor of Audio Production. You’ll find SAE Melbourne at 235 Normanby Rd, South Melbourne, SAE Sydney at 55-57 Wentworth Ave, Surry Hills and SAE Brisbane, Riverside Drive, West End, so for details on this and any course on offer call 1800 723 238, and VET fee-help is of course available.

Incorporated Inccoorp In orrppoorrat ated ted ed A0 A001019v The AGMED offers a flexible learning system, as the course is essentially a distance education course. DVD’s of these sessions are available for students too far away to attend the 3 days per wk. At the Guild, you’ll also have access to some of the latest equipment and facilities. A Guild qualification will open up career pathways in all facets of the music industry. RTO 3589 VET Courses offered Certificates I – IV, Diploma of Music & Advanced Diploma of Music Higher Education Program: Bachelor of Music Degree

Eligible students can apply for government assistance towards fees: FEE HELP (Bachelor course) &/or VET FEE HELP (Dip. & AdvDip. courses) Melbourne Ofﬁce – Phone/Fax: 03 9822 3111 Dean (Dr E. Knoop) – Ph: 0412 327 665 Email: guild@hotkey.net.au or admin@guildmusic.edu.au

PUBLIC EXAMINATIONS THEORY of MUSIC

PRACTICAL MUSIC

DIPLOMA

Preliminary Grade 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Associate Licentiate

(Instrumental) Steps 1, 2, 3 Grades 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Proﬁciency (Grade 8)

Associate (Performer) Associate (Teacher) Licentiate (Performer) Licentiate (Teacher) Fellowship

Check out the Web Site for more information: www.guildmusic.edu.au

THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 55

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STUDIO CREDITS

TRASH AND TREASURE

Described as an “audio-archeological project”, Thriftstore Masterpiece have re-imagined the late Lee Hazlewood’s debut album. The man behind it, Charles Norman, explains it all to Michael Smith.

PRODUCER/ ENGINEER Charles Normal

STUDIO

Magnetic Real Studio, Salem, Oregon

DRUMS

Recorded by Jason Carter at Wavelength Recording Studio, Salem, Oregon

MASTERING

Jason Carter at Atomic Disc

ARTWORK Kristin Blix

56 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

iving in Oslo, Norway in the early noughties and missing home though he was gigging around Europe and the US with his own band, The Guards Of Metropolis, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, engineer and producer Charles Norman – who travels as Charles Normal – came across a copy of Trouble Is A Lonesome Town, the 1963 debut by late singer-songwriter Lee Hazlewood, in an op shop. It became a lifeline back to America, where he returned in 2003, eventually joining Frank Black’s band as guitarist. That album got Norman thinking about all the great “lost” albums collecting dust in op shops everywhere and he decided to re-imagine Trouble Is A Lonesome Town, which had begun life as a set of solo acoustic demos for Hazlewood’s publisher, stitched together by a narrative that described life in a fictional small town called Trouble, much in the vein of Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon and the Prairie Home Companion radio show, only more sinister. Work on the album began piecemeal in 2007, but was shelved when Norman’s brother, pioneer Christian rocker Larry Norman, died of heart failure the following year, Norman naturally finding it difficult to sing along with his brother’s voice on the last tracks he’d recorded before passing. Eventually returning to the project, Norman called on some of his musical friends, including his Norwegian pop singer wife Kristin Blix, the Pixies’ Frank Black, The Dandy Warhols’ Courtney Taylor-Taylor and Pete Yorn, a “revolving music collective devoted to paying homage to the underdog records of

years past”, to complete the album, fully orchestrated and recorded in his own Magnetic Real Studio in Salem, Oregon. “I’ve got a 2” 24-track Atari [tape] machine,” Norman explains, “which I use sparingly because it’s hard to get serviced, so I mainly use Pro Tools and Cubase of all things. I don’t really rent it out to people – it’s just my own studio that I use for albums and have used for albums in the past. Occasionally if there’s a band here in Salem, Oregon, where I’m living – if one of my friends has a band, I’ll say, ‘Come on in and record a couple of songs’. It’s sometimes fun to twiddle knobs and not have any viewpoint or opinion on it. “Trouble Is A Lonesome Town is a curious album and I discovered it when I was living in Norway years ago. I knew this was the guy who did These Boots Are Made For Walking and Summer Wine, but I’d never heard of this album, so when I eventually listened to it I loved it. I thought I know people like this – I’ve been in these kinds of desert towns. When I got back to America, played it to some friends, I thought it’d be fun to get together in a local coffee shop and do a couple of these songs,

“IT’S SOMETIMES FUN TO TWIDDLE KNOBS AND NOT HAVE ANY VIEWPOINT OR OPINION.“ and then I thought wow, it would be really cool ‘cause of the narration to do the whole album, like get another friend to get up and narrate between songs like a stage play. We did do a couple of songs and then I just started thinking it would be really cool to re-record this whole album but actually arrange it. So I started doin’ it and I’d just finished touring Europe with Frank Black so I asked him, and after he listened to it he said, ‘Can I sing three?’ So that’s kind of how it started. “Each song is a particular little piece of Americana, whether it’s New Orleans jazz or an arrangement style for George Gershwin, and then using full-on country and western stuff or Tex-Mex stuff. Where I grew up, in San Jose, California, there are lots of Mariachi bands – I know Mariachi is not strictly an American thing, but there are certainly thousands of Mariachi bands playing. I didn’t want to make a rock’n’roll record – I’ve been doing that for years.” Jason Carter, who’d been the drummer in Norman’s Norwegian band, Guards Of Metropolis, recorded the drum parts at his own facility in another part of Salem, Wavelength Recording Studio, where he also mixed the album. Wavelength boasts a Nuendo v5 recorder with Lucid AD/DA converters capable of recording and mixing 100-plus tracks, as well as a Mac Pro G5 Quad with Nehalem processors. Carter then mastered the album at Atomic Disc. Trouble Is A Lonesome Town by Thriftstore Masterpiece is out now through Shock.

THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 57

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GRAPHTEC RATIO MACHINE HEADS

B&W NAUTILUS 803D Graphtec is a company that constantly impresses me with its simple revolutionary innovation, and a constant focus on improving the experience of playing for every guitarist. Many years ago I purchased a set of black Graphtec string saddles that instantly improved the tone of my Strat, while at the same time increasing the longevity of my strings. Now the company takes on something completely different by moving into the field of machine heads (or tuning pegs as most people refer to them). And while the idea of wrapping a string around a post multiple times to get it into tune hasn’t changed much over many hundreds of years, Graphtec’s new Ratio machine heads have to be one of the best improvements in the history of tuning, the idea making each individual tuning peg respond equally by changing its turn ratio to match string diameter.

The B&W 803D has a diamond tweeter, which is the main difference between these and the previous S model, and the D also has an extra bass cone. The quality of sound from these is inexplicable. The diamond tweeter has a smooth, sweet high end that never fatigues, compared to the S model which has a little more high end, which I actually prefer when used with my valve amp. The tweeters are isolated on top of the cabinet in a separate housing and the midrange driver is surrounded by gel. Adjusting the tension against the driver and gel is accomplished via an adjustable axel that runs to the back of the cabinet, which adjusts the sound staging. Ridiculous! In a good way! Abbey Road and Skywalker studios among others use B&W. Need I say more? These are simply amazing. Perfectly balanced, exciting and legendary sound, expect to pay around $12,500.

Reza Nasseri

Barry Gilmour

PRESONUS SCEPTRE S8

THE NEW PEARL EXPORT SERIES The number one-selling drum kit of all time, the Export is back as a new, redesigned kit with enhanced tone, new hardware and improved features. The new Export series features blended shells combining premium poplar and Asian mahogany together for a warm, rich tone. The shells have been put together through Pearl’s own “Superior Shell Technology” by choosing the perfect woods, milled to a precise thickness with overlapping seams resulting in amazing tone, projection and resonance. Other improvements include new low-mass lugs that further enhance resonance, and Opti-Loc mounting system that doesn’t penetrate the shell, allowing the drum to vibrate freely with greater adjustability and only three points of contact for an incredibly secure mount that doesn’t alter tone. All new 830 hardware is now included as well, with three-stage stands of Zildjian Z series cymbals. Reza Nasseri 58 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

This is a difficult product to review briefly so let’s cut to the chase. The PreSonus Sceptre S8 active monitor looks completely unconventional and it is. They call it CoActual technology. For the price they offer pretty good detail and sound staging, a 32-bit processor running Fulcrum Acoustic’s TQ Technology in a pretty tech-heavy coaxial setup running TQ DSP. All that really means is that the user has a pretty hi-tech piece of hardware for around the $1000 mark and everyone’s going to poke and prod them wondering what that crazy square horn is! The onboard amps are pretty good, with convincing imaging. If you’re looking for a pair of quality project studio monitors without spending a fortune, give these a try. Barry Gilmour

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Street Press Australia requires a full-time and part-time Mac Operator to assist with the production of our four weekly state based editions of The Music and other publications. The position is based at our Fitzroy North office. The role will include updating advertising templates and layout of editorial pages within existing style guides. This position will create a fantastic base for a junior mac operator looking to acquire skills and sound industry experience. The role will have a major focus on processing artwork and co-ordinating the sending of pages to press. This position is for someone with a strong skill base, but still eager to learn new skills and experience an extremely busy and creative work environment.You must love indesign and photoshop with a keen eye on design and colour correction and be super organised. The workflow is high paced and demanding and suits someone that can multi task with an extremely strong attention to detail. Ideally the candidate has a minimum of two years experience in print-based design. The part-time position is for Thursday, Friday and Monday. Please email résumés with three samples of work in PDF form to employment@themusic.com.au

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60 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

the guide

Answered by: Richard Moore What excites you about being the artistic director of the Bayside Film Festival for the f irst time? The challenge of creating a program that will work for the specific, bayside-based community centered in one Bay Street cinema. How important is it to get the bayside area youth involved in the Jump Cut program? Vital – without them it would not exist. We need them as participants and as audience members. Do you prefer dramas or docos? I’m a passionate lover of the documentary – they are more varied in form and style and less predictable than most dramas. Do you think it’s a saddening fact that 85% of Australian f ilm makers don’t make a second feature f ilm? No. It’s reality. Wonder what the figures are for visual artists who don’t do a second exhibition? Are most f ilms in the program focused on bayside issues or are they more global? We open with a local film (hooray!) and close with an international title. Between those tent poles there is a big variety on offer from all over the globe.

BAYSIDE FILM FESTIVAL

What’s your festival pick? Don’t miss Regilaul: Songs Of The Ancient Sea. If you’re interested in culture, politics and music – this is the one for you. WHAT: Bayside Film Festival WHEN & WHERE: 28 to 31 Aug, Palace Brighton Bay

fashion

eat

drink

travel

culture

the guide vic.live@themusic.com.au

FRONTLASH

LIVE THIS WEEK

MINOGUE-OFF

Watching Kylie and Dannii Minogue ‘reuniting’ on Australian small screens for the first time in 26 years via The X Factor was surprisingly addictive. And Dannii doesn’t hold back on her “pedestrian”, “cheesy” contenders.

BANANAS Patrick & Eugene’s Arctic Monkeys cover: I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor. Just Google it. You’re welcome.

MONKEY MAGIC When creating cinemaphiles, The Wizard Of Oz is essential viewing and audiences will be treated to the visual feast in 3D for the first time ever in participating cinemas on 7 and 8 Sep. We’ve just got one thing to say: monkeys with wings comin’ atcha!

NO MANS LAND

LITTLE LEAGUE

Sydney five-piece Bears With Guns (pictured) are launching their new EP Only The Quick And The Hungry at the Grace Darling Hotel on 29 Aug with Olivers Army and Joe Oppeheimer. The Bears have quite a reputation for their unique folk rock sound.

Congrats to Major Leagues (pictured) on winning the triple j Unearthed’s BIGSOUND 2013 competition. They’re launching their new single Endless Drain on 30 Aug, first supporting The Pretty Littles at The Espy, then Bloods at The Workers Club.

RICE RICE BABY

WRATH OF RA

Broni is a folk-pop singersongwriter and fun-haver that sounds like Damien Rice and Conor Oberst had a baby and it grew up to write spontaneous, hopeful songs. He’s playing at the Wesley Anne front bar on 30 Aug.

Sun God Replica are gearing up for their second full length album release, Devil And The Deep with a launch of their single Werewolves In Love. You can catch them on 30 Aug at The Bridge Hotel (Castlemaine).

BOYS ON AIR

AUGUST DAUGHTERS

Bringing together the sounds of fiddle, mandolin, pedal steel, double bass, flat top guitar and drums, The Alan Ladds (pictured) play at the Retreat Hotel on 29 Aug following a set from We The Radio.

An antipodean blend of musical backgrounds, Sons Of May display undertones of funkdriven rock and inner city grit. Catch them at the Retreat Hotel on 28 Aug for one of their captivating live performances of infectious folk swagger.

BAD ETHICS

FOUR HORSEMEN

Local punk favourites Hug Therapist head up a killer mixed bill at the Reverence Hotel on 30 Aug with support from prog masters On Sierra, power pop trio Elcaset and the classic rock vibes of The Pirates.

Dire Fate and Rote Mare (SA) bring their combined might to the Tote Hotel on 1 Sep to celebrate their skull crushing split EP. Joining them are infernal thrashers Diabolical Demon Director and Melbourne’s new doom trio Eldritch Rites.

BACKLASH BACK OFF!

So the new technology in cars is Active City Stop. The ‘slo’-mo’’-demonstrating dude in the ad is painful, but also: how about just don’t tailgate and pay attention, FFS?

ALL PAIN

THIS WEEK’S RELEASES…

Pain & Gain. SO shit it’s not even saved by the hilarity that ensues upon hearing The Rock (Dwayne Johnson in the film’s credits) say “rock” an inordinate amount of times toward the end of the film.

NINE INCH NAILS Hesitation Marks Universal

GET INTO THE GROOVE

BOB DYLAN The Bootleg Series Vol 10 Sony

After totally owning her diastema for 55 years, Madge has been trying on a full set of gold grillz of late. Not hot.

62 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

BABYSHAMBLES Sequel To The Prequel Warner

OKKERVIL RIVER The Silver Gymnasium Spunk

FOR MORE HEAD TO THEMUSIC.COM.AU

the guide vic.live@themusic.com.au

LIVE THIS WEEK

WARM WHISKY

DROWNING WITCHES

The Wild Comforts are a dirty country band ready to make you wish your wife left you, your ute was broken and your dog was dead. Be sure not to miss their intimate double set at the Curtin Bandroom on 31 Aug.

Scuzz-noise-rockers River Of Snakes (pictured) are launching their limited edition EP and single Aurora at The Public Bar on 30 Aug. Supports come from The Sinking Teeth, White Devil and Ohms.

EP FOCUS

ALTERNATIVE CAREER THELMA PLUM If you weren’t doing music, what else would you be doing? I would be hanging out with dogs all the time. Thelma Plum will perform at the Boomerang Indigenous Festival in Byron Bay. Check The Guide for dates.

Like a topical cyclone, Harmony’s sound is a mongrel concoction of gallows blues and balladry, offset by a glorious three-part gospel vocal ensemble. They’re playing at the NGV on 30 Aug as part of Friday Nights at Monet’s Garden.

How many releases do you have now? Four: two fulllength albums and two EPs. Was anything in particular inspiring you during the making? Anxiety. I worked closely with a Sydney based producer called Casual Psychotic and we got really interested in found sounds, and blending organic and electronic instruments to create cinematic textures.

We’ll like this EP if we like... Lyrics, tension, rock music, pop music, folk music, synthesizers, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, guitar solos, harmonies, girls, boys, creepy films, reverb, low frequencies, drums, melody, Bright Eyes, The Postal Service.

ULTIMATE GUEST SAM RASMUSSEN FROM THE PAPER KITES

Sonic guitars, lush harmonies and fuzzy psychedelic grooves, Flyying Colours are playing at Rochester Castle’s Black Night Crash on 30 Aug with House Of Light. This will be one of the shoegaze outfit’s last shows before their EP is released.

EP title: The Predictable Crisis Of Modern Life

What’s your favourite song on it? Reasons To Be Afraid. Lyrically its the least filtered song I have ever written, and it’s fun to sing.

MELODIC FLOWERS

PASTEL PAINT

JACK CARTY

If you could have any artist join you on the album, who would it be and what would they be doing? I’d get a real buzz out of collaborating with Ryan Adams. And by collaborating, I mean let him perform while I watch.

When and where is your launch/next gig? My band and I are touring nationally from 28 Aug till 6 Oct. We play The Toff In Town on 12 Sep. Website link for more info? jackcarty.com

The Paper Kites’ new album St Clarity out soon.

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ON TOUR

STONEFIELD Answered by: Amy Findlay What do you usually eat before a gig? I like eating soup when I can because it warms me up, but we generally have fruit, sandwiches and lollies on the rider. Any particular app on your phone or tablet that you can’t live without when touring? Facebook keeps me in the loop with what’s going on at home. If you weren’t doing music, what else would you be doing? Just as we won triple j Unearthed I was finishing my music degree and about to go on to do a Diploma of Education. I wouldn’t mind teaching primary school kids music and arts. What album is on high rotation when you are on tour? It changes from tour to tour, but on the last couple we went wild with Spotify. We were listening to anything from Zappa to Hawthorn Heights. What’s your favourite city to tour and why? There’s no place like home, but we love going out to rural cities because there is an extra buzz of excitement and appreciation in the air. Caloundra in Queensland is also a lot of fun. Beautiful, fun people! When and where is your next gig? 6 Sep at Karova Lounge, Ballarat and 7 Sep at Ding Dong Lounge. Website link for more info? stonefield.com.au

LIVE THIS WEEK

SINGLE FOCUS

MT WARNING Answered by: Mikey Bee Single title? Youth Bird What’s the song about? A celebration and a lament of the coveted prize of youth. How long did it take to write/record? It was written and recorded in one night between 10pm and 6am in a shack by the beach. Is this track from a forthcoming release/existing release? From an album due out early next year. What was inspiring you during the song’s writing and recording? I was thinking what the picture of a middle-aged man in a blue Corvette stopped at traffic lights, staring at a red coupe full of teenage girls, would wish he was listening to.

NO FORCED RETIREMENT

NO KILLERS

The Fauves (pictured) mark their 25th anniversary at the Corner Hotel on 31 Aug with a multimedia exploration and set including material from their entire catalogue. Support comes from Doctor’s Orders.

The Naysayers’ (pictured) live performance is self-described as “non threatening garage-rock” with ‘60s influences. They’re playing at The Bendigo on 30 Aug with The Alamo, plus Murdena and Louise Adams.

HEARTS APART

SMOKING PARENTS

Headlining at The Bendigo on 29 Aug, Apart From This will showcase tracks from their debut album In Gloom. Supports come from Damn Hearts with their new track Do You Like Slayer as well as Tigers, Flowermouth and Life Of My Own.

Mark Jolley’s eruptive performances are filled with uncomfortable theatrics, seedy vocals, beer, honey and phlegm. He’ll be joined by Lucas George, Tom Denton and Nikita at the Evelyn Hotel on 1 Sep.

FIFTY-SIX UP

FELINE ATTACK

Blending influences from 1970s Nigerian Afrobeat with the deepest of street funk, The Seven Ups are the original eight-piece party band. They’ll be playing at The Public Bar on 31 Aug. Expect unrestrained horn solos over a funky rhythm section.

The launch of single Here She Comes on 31 Aug at the Spotted Mallard will see Lone Tyger in top form before they head to LA to meet with producers to record their debut album. They’ll be supported on the night by Pete Ewing.

JAZZY NIGHTS

BBQ SQUID

Two of Australia’s finest saxophonists, Dave Ades and Zac Hurren, are touring the East Coast to launch their album A Day In The Life. They’re playing at Bennetts Lane Jazz Club on 3 Sep with a backing quartet.

With warm reviews from their single launch and no signs of slowing down, Warmth Crashes In (pictured) are heading to Ding Dong Lounge on 30 Aug with a fun filled line-up of supports from The Octopus Ride, Maladaptor and Walker.

We’ll like this song if we like... TV On The Radio, Portugal. The Man, The National. Do you play it differently live? It gets very energetic live. When and where is your launch/next gig? 10 Sep, The Workers Club. Website link for more info? mtwarningmusic.com

FOR MORE HEAD TO THEMUSIC.COM.AU 64 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

the guide vic.live@themusic.com.au

LIVE THIS WEEK

SPOILED SPOTTY

SCIENCE FICTION

The Spoils play a rare show as they bring their dark fairytale romance to the Spotted Mallard in stripped back trio mode on 28 Aug before heading off on a national tour. They’re supported by Rich Davies.

Tales In Space (pictured) return with their follow-up single, In A Million Places At Once; a well crafted blend of downbeat electro with lush layered vocals coupled with a catchy guitar hook. They’re playing on 28 Aug at Cherry Bar with Maeflower.

SINGLE FOCUS

ALTERNATIVE CAREER ILLY If you weren’t doing music, what else would you be doing? Probably practicing law, or just sitting around. Illy is touring nationally. Check The Guide for dates.

PIGEON Answered by: Luke Cuerel Single title: Curtain Call What’s the song about? We were going for a bit of a medieval kind of fairytale vibe, set in space... How long did it take to write/record? We were spending a couple of weeks writing up in Airlie Beach, exploring different vibes to songs and this one popped out. In the end probably about three or four weeks of writing/recording. Is this track from a forthcoming release/existing release? It’s the first taste of our EP, possibly on the way towards the end of the year...

TAIT UN-MODERN Jimmy Tait (pictured) headline at The Gasometer Hotel on 31 Aug, playing their distinct twist of dynamic and chaotic Australian Gothic from their forthcoming album Golden. Supports come from the chaotic sounds of Strangers From Now On and Midnight Bosom.

COIL UNRAVELING

ETERNAL VACATION

Recoil VOR’s (pictured) second album Sleep For The Masses is a modern attack on metal with no shortage of riffs and groove to satisfy your base primal drive. The band bring their new material to The Espy on 30 Aug.

Heavily influenced by the ‘90s grunge sound, three-piece postgrunge Melbourne outfit Long Holiday will be performing tracks from their debut album, Greetings From, at the Northcote Social Club on 1 Sep with The Divine Fluxus on support duties.

FOR MORE HEAD TO THEMUSIC.COM.AU

STUDIO BAR STEWART HILL FROM DEAD LETTER CIRCUS What would we f ind in the studio fridge when you’re recording? Fat Yak beer was very popular with myself and Tom (Skerlj). It’s a proven muse and pain killer. Luke (Williams) our drummer had this weird vinegar/tea concoction that smelt like feet and mushy peas and tasted worse. Dead Letter Circus’ new album The Catalyst Fire out now.

What was inspiring you during the songs writing and recording? We were in Airlie Beach at the time, so we were really lucky to have time and space to really explore(party) some(too) stuff(hard). I think the tropical/party vibe really rubbed off on us. We’ll like this song if we like... Justice, Jacques Lu Cont, Daft Punk, the Seinfeld theme... Or even just heaps of bass. When and where is your launch/next gig? 13 Sep at Can’t Say. Website link for more info? pigeonofficial.com

THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 65

opinion

OG FLAVAS

ADAMANTIUM WOLF

WAKE THE DEAD

URBAN AND R&B NEWS WITH CYCLONE

METAL, HARDCORE AND PUNK WITH LOCHLAN WATT

HARDCORE AND PUNK WITH SARAH PETCHELL

The urban/EDM crossover is met with antipathy from the cool kids when Americans, but not Brits, attempt it. The UK scenes have long been interconnected and so any exchange appears more grassroots. Those recent acclaimed albums from Rudimental and Disclosure are both stashed with (alt.) urban guests. Rudimental’s drum’n’bassy Home has Angel Haze, Emeli Sandé and Alex Clare, while Disclosure’s future garage Settle has AlunaGeorge, Jamie Woon and Jessie Ware. In fact, as Disclosure introduced Sam Smith on Latch (he’s since sung Naughty Boy’s La La La), Rudimental launched John Newman – a soulster from Settle in northern England. Newman performed (and co-wrote) their smash Feel The Love and Not Giving In (a duet with Clare). He’s lately premiered with his solo Love Me Again, a UK charttopper. It was co-produced by Steve Booker, the mastermind of Duffy’s Mercy, and Mike Spencer, the guy who helmed Sandé’s Heaven. An eponymous album is due next month, and this rising star has included Australia in his promo trail! Newman gave up on becoming a mechanic to pursue music, moving to Leeds, then London, where he joined a band with future Rudimental member Piers Aggett. The Yorkshire lad is a polymath: a singer/ songwriter, guitarist, producer and DJ. Newman has a husky, twangy voice that has already been compared to Plan B, circa The Defamation Of Strickland Banks. Admirably, he’s determined to revive Northern soul for the masses. Just don’t lazily tag him ‘the guy Adele’. ogflavas@themusic.com.au

JOHN NEWMAN 66 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

Ten years on from when they started, The Chariot are breaking up. So this week’s column is an obituary of sorts – my memories of one of my favourite bands and what they’ve meant to me. PHIL ANSELMO

Even if you’re not that into heavy music, chances are you’ve seen the Soundwave 2014 line-up by now. With the highest billed acts including Green Day, Avenged Sevenfold, Stone Temple Pilots, Alice In Chains, Rob Zombie, Megadeth, Placebo, AFI, and Korn, there’s already been 50 bands included in the announcement, with another 13 or so expected in the next round. Nancy Vandal are the only Australian act on the poster so far, though various industry sources have been whispering about a handful of homegrown sounds that we can supposedly expect – we’ll just have to wait and see. Personally, I’m pretty excited to finally see Phil Anselmo perform with Down. Another legendary Swedish metal act has also been tipped for an appearance alongside the current deathly acts Amon Amarth, The Black Dahlia Murder and Whitechapel – the latter were a killer final band for me to enjoy at Soundwave 2010. In fact, there’s quite a few bands returning from prior installments. It’s amazing to see social media reactions every time a Soundwave announcement comes around. It’s become a festival owned not by one man’s business, but by the people that keep it alive. Even before any official announcement is made, the internet lights up with a fury of equal parts excitement, cynicism and even rage, from people of all sorts of ages and musical backgrounds. “Just don’t forget if you start trying to go away from all the bands we love like punk, heavy metal, rock you are going to end up like the Big Day Out,” commented one expert, further elaborating with, “a piece of shit overrated bunch of sell out wankers who had everything going for them and [stopped] giving a fuck about the

real music for the sake of making more money due to greed.” “We’ll see but I heard about Fall Out Boy – not a good start,” said another. Fall Out Boy were not included on the initial announcement, so we’ll have to wait and see how this guy’s sources stack up. Half an hour away from the announce, Facebook and Twitter were going mental, and there was still plenty of people who knew they were going to be happy with the outcome regardless, like this individual that received 42 likes: “I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve, hurry!”, with another likely punter adding, “This is more exciting than my birthday.” Some people don’t seem to understand what the big deal is, one feeling the need to contribute the question, “What kind of fucking desperate loser needs to know who’s playing as soon as its announced? Get over yourselves, the show isn’t even for another six months.” Once the news dropped, the reactions ranged from simple euphoria like “I just came” to bitter, in-depth disappointment like “Shit headliners, good top order and more shit at the bottom, when will the powers that be get this thing right?” While it was even admitted by promoter AJ Maddah that they couldn’t possibly top last year’s line-up – which featured Metallica, Linkin Park and Blink-182 – there’s still people who feel the need to be let down by a festival that no one is forcing them to go to. Love it or hate it, the excitement already shows that it’s certain to be another successful year for Soundwave, with many haters begrudgingly haggling for scalped tickets in the weeks leading up.

I was working at JB Hi-Fi when I first heard about The Chariot. I was a huge fan of Norma Jean’s first album and the news that vocalist Josh Scogin had left the band to start his own project made me simultaneously sad and excited. Next thing I know, Everything Is Alive… their debut album drops and my love for The Chariot quickly eclipsed my love for Scogin’s former band. Then in 2010 came Long Live – album number four and the best record the band ever released. It ranked in my top ten albums of 2010 with its multi-instrumentation pushing their brand of metalcore to the furthest reaches of the genre. In 2011, The Chariot finally visited Australia and I saw them at the Gaelic Club in Sydney. Despite the deeply suspect support bands, this was a live show that will go down as one I will never forget. The gig was every bit as frenetic as the music. Band members ended up in different parts of the venue, including the bass player in the moshpit with dreadlocks flailing. Following the release of One Wing in 2012, 2013 saw them not only on Soundwave but also as a band to watch on the US leg of the Vans Warped Tour. Shortly after Warped, they announced that they’re done, but they leave in their wake some incredible music and indelible memories. wakethedead@themusic.com.au

THE CHARIOT

opinion

GOOD TIMING A COMICS GUIDE TO COMEDY WITH KIRSTEN LAW

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK

It’s been a slow week for me on the live comedy front – what with Lime Champions’ bumper annual Triple R Radiothon edition and all – but what I like to call a productive “indoor week”, nonetheless. In David Sedaris’ newest collection of essays, I took in dead sea turtles, a kookaburra and a taxidermy human head. Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls is true to classic Sedaris form, but with the addition of six short character monologues, which the author’s note states are designed for high school students to deliver to “a panel of judges” (public speaking competition style, I suppose). These range from the bizarre murderous rant of a right-wing Republican homophobe to the acerbic “thank you” letter from a woman to her sister on the occasion of her marriage to said sister’s ex-husband. The book is dedicated to David’s own sister, Amy Sedaris. If you know Amy, made famous by her role as Jerri Blank in Comedy Central’s Strangers With Candy, you’ll recognise a tonal resemblance to her (em) pathetic misfit characters. Orange Is The New Black, from US subscription network Netflix, is a considerably more sophisticated comedy series than we’ve seen in a while. It’s been said that the best television dramas always have moments of levity and OITNB proves the converse – comedies benefit from moments of gravity. (Maybe even 20 minutes an episode of gravity.) Towards the end, shit gets downright intense, but it’s hard to find a dull moment in the series. Particularly with a character known only as ‘Crazy Eyes’…

BEYOND THE SPEAKERS FILLING THE DEAD AIR WITH RACHEL CORBETT I am writing to you from a scene of musical carnage. To my right lies a Yamaha soprano recorder, a drop of saliva still glistening on the mouthpiece. To its side is a Baroque Fingering Chart, the paper slightly yellowed from overuse, and in the distance I can hear the faint echo of semi quavers drifting off into the evening breeze because I, a 32-year-old university educated woman, am learning to play the recorder. Before you go assuming this is the result of a traumatic break up where I’ve decided I need to ‘try new things’ and am crossing this off the list before I get to ‘Zumba’ and ‘joining a book club’, this scene of private musical shame is actually in the name of entertainment. Granted, the soothing sounds of one of the world’s most irritating instruments isn’t immediately what you assume listeners are crying out for on their drive home but sometimes ideas in radio gain momentum faster than you could ever imagine. So fast in fact that before you know it you’ve got a green Yamaha recorder case laying empty on your bedroom floor and you’re counting out 4/4 time while forming sounds that are supposed to be music but in reality are just a collection of notes that make you want to poke your eyes out with a wooden kebab skewer. This whole crazy idea began in the way most of the best ideas in radio usually do – with a throwaway comment. Merrick casually mentioned to me and Jules that he had found a video of two American twins who play classic rock songs on the harp and thought, in honour of these girls and their stirring rendition of Stairway To Heaven, we should form an orchestra of the shittiest instruments we could find and have a crack at the song ourselves. We put the call out to our

listeners and before you knew it we had a list of 19 underwhelming instruments (including the gum leaf – a personal favourite), as well as musicians who were willing to play them, and this amusing idea was swiftly becoming a serious concept that had to be committed to. Naturally the next decision was a venue, and as we went back to the listeners for suggestions we received a call from Rob who was leaving on a cruise ship to Vanuatu and wanted us to play him, his wife and a few thousand total strangers out of Sydney Harbour. We couldn’t say no. We set our producers the task of finding somewhere to perform and before you could say “Mr Holland’s Opus” this humorous idea, casually mentioned in a planning meeting, had become a 19-piece orchestra, playing one of the most iconic rock songs of all time from the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. All while a boatload of strangers, only one of whom had actually asked for this musical atrocity to occur, float out of the harbour underneath us. And after casually mentioning I used to play the saxophone a million years ago, I find myself trying to work out exactly how to jump from high C to high E without causing my neighbours to put in an eviction request and giving half the neighbourhood dogs a seizure. So if you happen to be on Sydney Harbour sometime soon and think you may have heard the sounds of a cat being strangled in the distance, fear not, it will just be me, strangling the art of music. Rachel Corbett hosts Triple M’s national drive show Merrick & The Highway Patrol and is a writer/performer on ABC2’s The Roast (@RachelCorbett)

THE (UN)HARMONIC ORCHESTRA

FRAGMENTED FREQUENCIES OTHER MUSIC FROM THE OTHER SIDE WITH BOB BAKER FISH

TRAM VIBRATIONS

Prepare yourselves, because you’re about to enter an experimental music wonderland. It’s just like Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, except instead of chocolate waterfalls you have trams being used as musical instruments and instead of Oompa Loompas you have pimplefaced kids torturing guitars, and coaxing feedback drones out of beaten-up FX pedals. The centrepiece is the Liquid Architecture festival of sound art. The theme for its 13th year is Sonic City, and there’s a few high-profile internationals who’ll be exploring and manipulating the sonic characteristic of our urban environment. Japan’s Toshiya Tsunoda and Haco will be capturing and amplifying the previously inaudible sonic vibrations of a tram on a round trip between the city and East Brunswick. Later, on election night no less, Spanish field recorder and composer Francisco Lopez will turn off the lights, blindfold his audience and play Sonopolis, a piece gathered from city skyscrapers. The festival runs from the 29 Aug to 14 Sep. Check liquidarchitecture. org.au for a full program. More Talk, Less Action is a series of discussions and performances designed to promote critical discourse on experimental music. It features an intriguing mix of academics and practitioners including instrument builder Rod Cooper, kooky art ensemble Hi-God People, theatre composer Darrin Verhagen, as well as cutting-edge performance artist Stelarc. This Thursday at West Space it ties in with Liquid Architecture and they discuss the sonic city (moretalk.org). THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 67

opinion

HOWZAT! LOCAL MUSIC BY JEFF JENKINS

48 YEARS OF FAUVISM Believe it or not, there have been two great Australian bands called The Fauves. We’re familiar with the local legends, who celebrate their 25th anniversary on 31 Aug at Corner Hotel. But 23 years before the start of our most successful unsuccessful band, The Fauves was the name of Ross Wilson’s first band, formed when he was still at Haileybury College with Ross Hannaford on guitar. “As you probably know, Fauves was a French art movement and it translates as ‘wild animals’ or something similar,” Ross tells Howzat! “In the end, we decided it was too obscure.” So Ross Wilson’s Fauves soon became known as The Pink Finks (having a hit with their 1965 cover of Louie Louie). Andrew Cox resurrected The Fauves name after the band was referred to as “Coxy’s Band” for their first gig, at

68 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

the Mt Eliza Football Club in 1988. Saturday’s Silver Jubilee show will feature an audio-visual presentation as well as a special support act – Doctor’s Orders, a Fauves’ covers band that only does songs written by guitarist Philip Daniel “Doctor” Leonard, the McCartney to Coxy’s Lennon.

RICHO ROCKS

Looking for a guru in these difficult times? Local artist Marc Welsh says, “Richo should be the leader of the country.” Inspired by Ramones, Hey Ho, Richo! as Welshie – a mad Tigers fan – has created a song called Richo Rocks, an instant footy classic.

HIP HIP

Happy birthday to Mick Harvey, who’s 55 tomorrow (Thursday).

VOICING CONCERNS

Don’t expect to see Dan Flynn pop up on the next series of The

THE FAUVES

Voice. The new Major Chord album Transition (launching 31 Aug at Bella Union), features “a cautionary tale” called The Next Big Thing. “This song is about my aversion to TV talent shows,” Dan explains. “I don’t have anything against the actual contestants – I like to dream, too – but I think the whole machine is fucked.” Dan says TV networks and big record companies turn music into Big Macs. “They feel kinda good going down but you feel shit later, which then leaves you feeling depressed enough to want to buy another one.”

STEVIE DOES IT

The Little Stevies are back. You can get a free download of the title track off their upcoming album Diamonds For Your Tea at thelittlestevies. com. And they’re running a cool Pozible campaign until 6 Sep to help release the album.

HOT LINE

“The rock came back today/ Been away for far too long/ It seems a thousand years with all the shit the radio plays” – Clifford Hoad’s Kings Of The Sun, (Rockpile).

Wed 28 & Thurs 29 6 pm Pozzible Crowd funding forum for the music industry

Thurs 29. 9pm - Electric Universe Collective Feat: Alex Albrecht & Virtual Proximity

Fri 30. 10pm - No Fixed Shape Deep liquid drum and bass JPS, SPINFX, FLIP3K, JAMES BROOKE, J-SLYDE

Sat 31. 10 pm - Unstable sounds Chunky, techno, progressive, electro & deep-house

Mon 2. 6.30pm - Process Monthly architecture forum

“Live At The Lomond” THU 29TH 8.30PM

BABA YAGA ORKESTRAR (Contemporary roots)

VANGUARDS

FRI 30TH 9:30PM

(Chunky R&B)

SAT 31ST 9:30PM

HORNETS (Deep blues grooves)

SUN 1

5:30PM

CARINO SON (Cuban grooves)

SUN 1ST 9:00PM

KEN MAHER & TONY HARGREAVES (Acoustic roots)

TUE 3RD 8:00PM

IRISH SESSION (Celtic ﬁddlin’)

ALL GIGS FREE ~ EXCELLENT RESTAURANT AND BAR MEALS

THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 69

the guide vic.gigguide@themusic.com.au Slow Club feat. Darts + I’ll Be an Indian: The Tote, Collingwood

THE MUSIC PRESENTS The Real McKenzies, The Go Set: Aug 28 The Loft (Warrnambool); 31 The Espy; September 1 Barwon Club (Geelong) Japandroids: Aug 28, 30 Corner Hotel The Stiffys: Aug 29 Beav’s Bar (Geelong); 30 Musicman Megastore (Bendigo); 31 Grace Darling Hotel Dead Letter Circus: Aug 30 Wool Exchange (Geelong); 31 The Hi-Fi Twelve Foot Ninja: Aug 30 Ferntree Gully Hotel; October 4 Corner Hotel Cloud Control: Sep 4 Karova Lounge (Ballarat); 5 Star Bar (Bendigo); 6 Forum Theatre

27 Forum Theatre; 28 Karova Lounge (Ballarat)

Kill TV: The Vineyard, St Kilda

Foals: Sep 26, 27 Palace Theatre

The Adelaide Crows + Big Smoke + The Strange: The Workers Club, Fitzroy

Horrorshow: Sep 29 Ding Dong Lounge; October 17 Karova Lounge (Ballarat); 18 Wool Exchange (Geelong) Xavier Rudd: Oct 2, 3 Forum Theatre The Jungle Giants: Oct 4, 6 The Hi-Fi; 5 Karova Lounge (Ballarat)

Wine, Whiskey, Women feat. Selina Jenkins + Sarah Grimstone: The Drunken Poet, Melbourne

Asta: Oct 4 Northcote Social Club; 5 Phoenix Youth Centre

Collage + Various: The Espy (Lounge Bar) , St Kilda

Yo La Tengo: Oct 18 Hamer Hall

Xenos + Scab Eater + Putkah + The Underhanded: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood

Archie Roach: Oct 18, 19 Arts Centre Playhouse

Big Scary: Sep 5 Karova Lounge (Ballarat); 6 The Hi-Fi

Active Child: Oct 26 Melbourne Recital Centre

Hungry Kids Of Hungary: Sep 5 Barwon Club (Geelong); 6 Corner Hotel; 7 Karova Lounge (Ballarat)

The Cribs: Oct 26 Ding Dong Lounge

Peace: Sep 13 Eagle Bar La Trobe University; 14, 15 Northcote Social Club The Drones: Sep 13, 14 The Hi-Fi The Gangsters’ Ball: Sep 14 Forum Theatre The Paper Kites: Sep 15 The Hi-Fi; 28 Forum Theatre Illy: Sep 20 Corner Hotel Ngaiire: Sep 20 Baha Tacos; 21 Northcote Social Club Rudimental: Sep 21 Festival Hall Jinja Safari: Sep 25 The Loft (Warrnambool); 26 Barwon Club (Geelong);

WED 28

Ben Carr Trio + Guests: 303, Northcote Songrider’s Club + Various: Baha Tacos, Rye Cabbages & Kings + The Scrimshaw Four + The Baudelaires: Bar Open, Fitzroy Open Mic + Various: Bonnie & Clydes Cafe & Cocktail Bar, Thornbury Tales In Space + Maeflower: Cherry Bar, Melbourne

Boy & Bear: Nov 1 Wool Exchange (Geelong); 2, 3 Forum Theatre Nancy Vandal: Nov 2 Reverence Hotel Dan Sultan: Nov 2 Thornbury Theatre; 9 Theatre Royal Castlemaine Violent Soho: Nov 4 Corner Hotel Jordie Lane: Nov 7 Beav’s Bar Geelong; 8 Theatre Royal Castlemaine; 9 Thornbury Theatre; 10 Caravan Music Club Oakleigh The Barons Of Tang: Nov 8 Corner Hotel Face The Music Conference: Nov 15, 16 Arts Centre

Vincs & Wakeling: Famous Blue Raincoat, South Kingsville Keep The Dream Alive: Benefit for Syrian Refugees with Running Away With The Circus + Lauren Bruce + Azure Brass + Nick Wilson (Underlander) + Tom McGowan: Gertrudes Brown Couch, Fitzroy King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard + Nick Allbrook: Northcote Social Club, Northcote

Japandroids + The Frowning Clouds + Black Night Crash DJs: Corner Hotel, Richmond

Roots of Music feat. Woodlock + Amistat + Jordan Walker: Revolver Upstairs, Prahran

Dizzy’s Big Band + Peter Hearne: Dizzy’s Jazz Club, Richmond

The Spoils Trio + Rich Davies: Spotted Mallard, Brunswick

Mama Pajama + Kingston Crown + Papa G & The Starcats: Empress Hotel, Fitzroy North

Shadows At Bay + Dojo Collection: The Bendigo, Collingwood

Justice & Kaos feat. GMC + Natureboy: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy

GIG OF THE WEEK JAPANDROIDS: AUG 28, 30 CORNER HOTEL

The Real McKenzies + The Go Set: The Loft, Warrnambool

House of Light + The Octopus Ride + Fraudband: Reverence Hotel (Front Bar ) , Footscray

FRI 30

The Shadow League + Max Goes To Hollywood + Jess Shulman: 303, Northcote

Melbourne Fresh Industry Showcase + Various: Revolver Upstairs, Prahran

Ashleigh Mannix: Baha Tacos, Rye

Chris Frangou + Kewti: Spotted Mallard, Brunswick Beasts Of Bourbon + The Chrome Nips: St Kilda Memo (Original Line-Up) , St Kilda

Pure Pop’s Summer of Classic Albums with Ashley Naylor + Hamish Cowan + Pony Face: The Toff In Town, Melbourne

British India + Dirt Farmer: Swindlers Valley Ski Lodge, Mt Hotham

Slow Club feat. Ondas Alpha + Sleep Decade + Pepperjack: The Tote, Collingwood

Apart From This + Damn Hearts + Tigers + Flower Mouth + Life Of My Own: The Bendigo, Collingwood

Cookin On 3 Burners + Kylie Auldist: Bar Open, Fitzroy Martin Cilla: Basement Discs (In-Store (12.45pm)), Melbourne A Lo Hecho Pecho + Toot Whistle Crew + more: Bella Union, Carlton South Seth Sentry: Black Swan Hotel, Bendigo Rebecca Barnard & The Romantics: Caravan Music Club, Oakleigh

THU 29

Kickin The B at 303 feat. Tim Neal Trio: 303, Northcote Tax + Eastlink + Crude: Bar Open, Fitzroy Reverend Funk & The Horns Of Salvation + DJ Vince Peach + Pierre Baroni: Cherry Bar, Melbourne Next + Various: Colonial Hotel, Melbourne Ash + The Staffords + Suzie Stapleton: Corner Hotel, Richmond The Sand Dollars + De Fremerly + Sandgiant + The Knave: Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne Farquarharson + Mischievous Thom + Sam Hanson: Empress Hotel, Fitzroy North Salad Days + Henry Brooks: Great Britain Hotel, Richmond The Getaway Plan: Karova Lounge, Ballarat Kain Borlase Trio: La Niche Cafe, Fitzroy

CYNDI LAUPER: AUG 29 PALAIS THEATRE A Cheeky Grin + The Dead Heir + Capcha + The Scrimshaw Four: The Curtin, Carlton

Rock Dungeon feat. +Pterodactyl + Citrus Jam + Circadian Pulse: CBD Club, Melbourne

Marlon Williams + George Hyde: The Drunken Poet, Melbourne

Spencer P Jones: Cherry Bar (Afternoon), Melbourne

Leure + Raus + Eaves + dot.AY: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood Andre + Grand Prismatic + Ciggie Witch + The Great Outdoors: The Gasometer Hotel (Upstairs), Collingwood Chicks Who Love Guns + Mesa Cosa: The Liberty Social, Melbourne

Baba Yaga Orkestar: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East

The Impossible No Goods: The Public Bar, North Melbourne

Sooky La La + Guests: Lounge Bar, Melbourne

Melanie Smith: The Thornbury Local, Thornbury

Open Mic + Various: The Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard + Nick Allbrook: Northcote Social Club, Northcote

Lower Spectrum + How Love + Daixie: The Toff In Town, Melbourne

Fakepath + Ben: The Curtin, Carlton

Cyndi Lauper: Palais Theatre, St Kilda

Midnight Express with DJ Prequel & Ed Fisher: The Toff In Town (Carriage Room/Late), Melbourne

1000S OF GIGS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS. FOR MORE HEAD TO THEMUSIC.COM.AU 70 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

Smile + Outerwaves + Cactus Touch DJs: Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy

Cold Red Mute + Two-Headed Dog + Avirus: Reverence Hotel (Band Room) , Footscray

Justin Bernasconi + Pete Fidler: The Standard Hotel, Fitzroy

Alta + Silent Jay + Rat & Co: The Workers Club, Fitzroy

Anna’s Go-Go Academy: Victoria Hotel, Brunswick

Kill Shot + Sudden State + Rocket Queen + DJ Max Crawdaddy: Cherry Bar, Melbourne Japandroids + Drunk Mums: Corner Hotel, Richmond Warmth Crashes In + The Octopus Ride + Maladaptors + Walker : Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne Gil Askey + Roger Clark Quartet: Dizzy’s Jazz Club, Richmond Rearview Mirror + FooVana + The White Cards: Empress Hotel, Fitzroy North “One Day” Bowel Cancer Australia Fundraiser feat. Matt Sonic & The High Times + Bugdust + Don Fernando + The Deep End + more: Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy The Hornets Duo: Famous Blue Raincoat, South Kingsville

T H E

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THE VOCAL LOTION

WITH GUESTS SLOWJAXX AND THE KOSMIC LOVE, ORKESTRA, THE BLACK ALLEYS, CHAPTER RAY FRIDAY THE 30TH OF AUGUST - 8PM

BLACK TEA HOUSE

WITH GUESTS LANE CHASER, NO ESCAPE FOR THE, KING, THE DAN DANS SATURDAY THE 31ST OF AUGUST - 9PM

CHINESE HANDCUFFS (ALBUM LAUNCH) WITH GUESTS BEAR THE MAMMOTH, BEN, ADRIAN WHYTE

5PM

STANDING TALL X 3 SETS

SUNDAY THE 1ST OF SEPTEMBER - 8PM

THE STORMY MONDAYS WITH GUESTS DRIFTWOOD LOUNGE

MONDAY THE 2ND OF SEPTEMBER - 8PM - FREE ENTRY!

“LET’S GET FUNNY AT THE BRUNNY”

FREE COMEDY WITH FEATURE PERFORMERS EVERY WEEK! $10 JUGS OF CARLTON DRAUGHT ALL NIGHT TUESDAY THE 3RD OF SEPTEMBER - 8PM

THE BRUNSWICK HOTEL DISCOVERY NIGHT

GIVING CHANCES TO UP AND COMING LOCAL TALENT! THIS WEEK: THE NARROWS, MALADAPTOR, THE UNDERHANDED

THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 71

the guide vic.gigguide@themusic.com.au Twelve Foot Ninja + Engine: Ferntree Gully Hotel, Ferntree Gully Into The Mystic: The Songs Of Van Morrison+Joe Creighton: Flying Saucer Club, Elsternwick The Vanguards: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East The Getaway Plan: Mooroolbark Community Centre, Mooroolbark The Stiffys: Musicman Megastore, Bendigo Friday Nights at Monet’s Garden feat. Harmony: National Gallery of Victoria, Southbank The Woohoo Revue + Lamarama + Lily & King: Northcote Social Club, Northcote Cyndi Lauper: Palais Theatre, St Kilda The Jacqui Walker Band + Old School Band + Michelle Chandler + more: Pembroke Public School, Mooroolbark Hug Therapist + On Sierra + Elcaset + The Pirates: Reverence Hotel (Band Room) , Footscray Mr Woo + Dice + Eleanor Ng + Cail Baroni: Revolver Upstairs, Prahran Black Night Crash feat. Flyying Colours: Rochester Castle Hotel, Fitzroy Wes Carr’s Buffalo Tales: Sandbar, Mildura Sea Shepherd Fundraiser feat. Clinkerfield + Chris Russell: Spotted Mallard, Brunswick Beasts Of Bourbon + River of Snakes: St Kilda Memo (Low Road Line-Up), St Kilda The Naysayers + The Alamo + Murdena + Louise Adams: The Bendigo, Collingwood Sun God Replica: The Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine Elite Republican Guard: The Cornish Arms, Brunswick The Tipplers: The Drunken Poet, Melbourne

Traditional Irish Music Session with Dan Bourke & Friends: The Drunken Poet (6pm), Melbourne

Crowned Kings + Declaration + Mark My Words + Proclaim + Bloodwolves: Reverence Hotel (Band Room) , Footscray

Moustache Ant + Recoil VOR + Overproof Groove + Dread + Socially Handicapped: The Espy (Gershwin Room), St Kilda

Bang feat. King Parrot + Electrik Dynamite + Death By Six + Decimatus: Royal Melbourne Hotel, Melbourne

The Pretty Littles + The Harlots + The Neighbourhood Youth + Knitting For Gran + Major Leagues: The Espy (Front Bar), St Kilda Dear Plastic + Guests: The Espy (Basement), St Kilda Little Desert + The Dark Fair + Adults + Dan Trolley: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood River of Snakes + The Sinking Teeth + White Devil + Ohms: The Public Bar, North Melbourne Empire Remedy: The Purple Emerald Lounge Bar, Northcote Cam Mineo: The Thornbury Local, Thornbury Bloods + Major Leagues + Richie 1250 & The Brides of Christ + Peep Tempel (DJ Set): The Workers Club, Fitzroy Fanny Lumsden & The Thrillseekers: Wesley Anne, Northcote

Lone Tyger + Pete Ewing: Spotted Mallard, Brunswick

THE STIFFYS: AUG 29 BEAV’S BAR (GEELONG); 30 MUSICMAN MEGASTORE (BENDIGO); 31 GRACE DARLING HOTEL All Time Low + Built On Secrets + Skyway + Swing From A Streetlight + All Year Round: Billboard The Venue, Melbourne From The Suburbs + Dave Warner & Friends: Caravan Music Club, Oakleigh The 40th Anniversary of Goats Head Soup feat. Nick Barker + Ash Davies + Shane O’Mara + Bruce Haymes + Justin Garner + Grant Cummerford + The Dear Doctors: Cherry Bar, Melbourne 25th Anniversary Silver Jubilee Show + The Fauves + Doctor’s Orders: Corner Hotel, Richmond

Into The Mystic: The Songs Of Van Morrison + Joe Creighton: Flying Saucer Club, Elsternwick Fat Freddy’s Drop + Guests: Forum Theatre, Melbourne

The Stetson Family: The Drunken Poet, Melbourne

The Escargo-gos + Eye For Colour: Great Britain Hotel, Richmond Texas Flood: Green Table Social Club, Dandenong The Bombay Royale + The Bluebottles + DJ Chris Gill: Howler, Brunswick

Dead Letter Circus + Closure In Moscow + Sleep Parade: Wool Exchange, Geelong

Redcoats + The Sinking Teeth + Child: Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne

Seth Sentry: Karova Lounge, Ballarat

SAT 31

The Tiger & Me: Baha Tacos, Rye Major Chord + Amaya Laucirica: Bella Union, Carlton South Vince Jones Quartet: Bennetts Lane, Melbourne

The Hornets: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick East

Dan Krochmal: Empress Hotel (3pm) , Fitzroy North

Underground Lovers + Guests: Northcote Social Club, Northcote

Guests + Nice Boy Tom + The Knave + Qobar: Empress Hotel, Fitzroy North

Marlon Williams + Alicia Adkins + Shores: Old Bar, Fitzroy

The Angels + Three Quarter Beast: Ferntree Gully Hotel, Ferntree Gully

The Twoks: Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy

Saturday Live Sessions feat. Massive + Simon Levick: Ferntree Gully Hotel, Ferntree Gully

Marching Orders + Plan Of Attack + The Hard Targets + Stranglehold + Razorcut: Reverence Hotel (Front Bar), Footscray

1000S OF GIGS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS. FOR MORE HEAD TO THEMUSIC.COM.AU

72 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

Liam Gerner + Friends: The Cornish Arms, Brunswick

Deer Head Apparitions + Various: Great Britain Hotel (Afternoon), Richmond

Ed Colman & The Twins: Inferno Nightclub, Traralgon, Traralgon

Spiral Dance: 303, Northcote

Sheriff + Seedy Jezus: The Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine

The Wild Comforts: The Curtin (Front Bar/ Afternoon), Carlton

Kisstroyer + High Voltage (AC/DC Show) + Los Amigos: Croxton Park Hotel, Thornbury

Joe Chindamo Trio: Dizzy’s Jazz Club, Richmond

Swidgen + Grim Rhythm + Chaingun + Watchtower + City Of Cool: The Bendigo, Collingwood

The Stiffys: Grace Darling Hotel, Collingwood

Broni: Wesley Anne (Front Bar/Early), Northcote

Wally Corker’s Drunk Ass Band + Junk Horses + Dave Ong: Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy

Beasts Of Bourbon + River Of Snakes: St Kilda Memo (Current Line-Up), St Kilda

The Real McKenzies + The Go Set + Between The Wars + The Ramshackle Army: The Espy (Gershwin Room), St Kilda Diva Demolition + Bellusira + Ten Thousand + Shadow Queen: The Espy (Front Bar), St Kilda Jimmy Tait + Strangers From Now On + Midnight Bosom: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood Cannon + Chook Race + Prong Dongs: The Gasometer Hotel (Upstairs), Collingwood Dead Letter Circus + Closure In Moscow + Sleep Parade: The Hi-Fi, Melbourne Shaun Kirk: The Loft, Warrnambool Marlon Williams: The Thornbury Local, Thornbury Queer Literacy Salon (Melbourne Writers Festival) + Various: The Toff In Town, Melbourne Being As An Ocean + Sierra + Surrender + Outlines: The Workers Club, Fitzroy

presents

12 STAGES 2 NIGHTS 11-12 SEPT FORTITUDE VALLEY BRISBANE

Megan Washington The John Steel Singers Melbourne Ska Orchestra Darren Middleton Natalie Pa’apa’a Chance Waters Bleeding Knees Club Clubfeet Jonti Thelma Plum KINGSWOOD Dune Rats Eagle And The Worm The Trouble With Templeton Hey Geronimo Tigertown Gossling Busby Marou Twin Beasts The Griswolds King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard Grey Ghost Halfway Spit Syndicate Elizabeth Rose Adalita Dubmarine Davey Lane FEELINGS Sheppard The Delta Riggs The Audreys Cub Scouts Surecut Kids Tales in Space Rainbow Chan Songs Buchanan

Yukon Blonde (CAN) The Jungle Giants Mitzi Calling All Cars Mama Kin Stoneﬁeld Citizen Kay Cosmo’s Midnight Them Swoops Jess Ribeiro and The Bone Collectors Way Of The Eagle Jeremy Neale Little Bastard Band of Frequencies Lime Cordiale Breaking Orbit Eden Mulholland Arts Martial The Walking Who Damn Terran MT WARNING Glass Towers The Lazys Bored Nothing The Guppies The Love Junkies Jackie Onassis Spender The Middle Names Rainy Day Women Lakyn Ginger & The Ghost BLOODS JONES Jnr Clap Clap Riot (NZ) Gay Paris SHE REX Money For Rope Lanterns Harry Hookey The Starry Field Patrick James Simone and Girlfunkle Grizzly Jim Lawrie Bec and Ben Aerials

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OZTIX.COM.AU

* * presale price – plus booking fee ** Valid for presales through www.oztix.com.au only. Subject to Terms and Conditions.

www.bigsound.org.au

THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 73

eat/drink

THE KING HAS ENTERED THE KITCHEN Forget g those culinaryy p pleasantries – Southern home-style cookin’ is back in a big big, delicious way. Natasha Lee finds out why and learns that everything tastes better fried. Pics By Peter Sharp.

GROSS THINGS HOMER EATS Donut burger w/ cheese Rotten oversized sandwich 64 slices of cheese Five pound bar of spaghetti Poisoned éclair (until he found it was low-fat) Microwave burritos (left partly-frozen in the middle)

The entire buffet at The Frying Dutchman An apple made from ham cubes Tiny clown bicycle

lvis Presley might be gone, but (apart from his music, of course) the King still lives on in a culinary kingdom made from his finest, butteriest, sweetest and greasiest creations. Elvis Cuisine is now a ‘thing’ built around the King’s diet, which consisted of a classic mix of home-style, Southern-fried goodness, and butter. Lots and lots of butter. Legend has it that in his dying months Presley had developed an affinity for ‘Fool’s Gold’ sandwiches, which consist of a hollowed out loaf that’s been filled with both a jar of peanut butter and jam, before being topped with bacon and fried in butter. Apparently, he’d polish off two before bed.

Our fascination with the King’s cuisine has seen the recipes for some of his favourite creations, including the now infamous peanut butter and banana fried sandwich, recreated in books like Are You Hungry Tonight? and Graceland’s Table: Recipes And Meal Memories Fit For The King Of Rock And Roll. Restaurants are now taking note of the King craze, with many offering a more modern tilt on Southern-style comfort food. Miss Peaches Soul Food Kitchen in Sydney’s trendy innerwest suburb of Newtown is one such eatery that’s jumped on the soul (food) train. Apart from sharing the same initials as the King, Miss Peaches head chef Ernie Priestly says he believes the burgeoning interest in soul food is more or less about us getting back to basics. “Think about Elvis,” begins the heavily tattooed Priestly. “I think he just liked his food, and although he became this massive superstar, I think he was a pretty grounded guy. That’s why he wanted comfort food that reminded him of being back at home.” 74 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

Priestly, who rocks ‘HEAD CHEF’ knuckle ink, says he’s noticed that home-style cooking is becoming more and more appealing for punters on a night out. “It just works in a bar,” he explains. “When people go out they just want tasty, rich fodder that can soak up all the beer.” Since opening just under four months ago, Miss Peaches has enjoyed a steady stream of diners looking for their Americana fix. The menu showcases what Priestly calls a “greatest hits” of Southern-style cooking. There’s a heady, delicious selection of fried chicken, hushpuppies, fried catfish, gumbo and cornbread sliders – a dish Priestly says we’re going nuts for: “The things that are most popular here are the things the Australian clientele find the most approachable. Like, for example, the fried chicken. People want to give that a try because they’ve had KFC. Our cornbread sliders are also really popular. We go through about 900 a week now and tomorrow I’m going out to inspect a new oven that will only be used for making cornbread.” As for the taste? It’s jaw achingly good. The kitchen’s crawfish pies are bursting with soft, sweet yabby flesh (Priestly’s Australian equivalent to the Southern staple), while their biscuits – soft, doughy morsels equivalent to a fluffy, savoury scone – float in thick, moorish gravy so delicious you’ll be licking the bowl clean. It’s that kind of licking-the-plate-’til-it’s-clean sensibility that Priestly is trying to encourage Australians to embrace: “Soul food is just the American version of bangers and mash,” he laughs.

Huge gummy log Free goo Nuts & Gum

Merciless peppers of Quetzlzcatengo (best episode ever) Pizza from under the couch (with Hot Wheels)

Gummy Venus De Milo (not really disgusting except that it had been on the babysitter’s butt)

eat/drink

DID YOU KNOW? FACT

Contrary to popular belief, alcohol does not make you warmer. In fact, it does the opposite, by decreasing your core body temperature – regardless of the temperature outside.

HOT STUFF

FACT

Vodka needs to be cooled to around 8-10 degrees before drinking. If the vodka is colder, then its true taste will be hidden, that’s why cheap vodka is always served too cold

FACT

A 2010 Italian study found that most winter sporting injuries occurred in men who had been drinking.

These cold times call for warming drinks. Natasha Lee discovers the best boozy hot drinks to get us through the final (freezing) dying days of winter.

ot drinks bursting with oodles of booze are one of the few saving graces of winter. Imagine snuggling up to a warming cup of rum, mixed with sugar and spices on an icy cold night. Sure as hell beats a cup of hot cocoa and marshmallows. To help stave off the cold, bars are serving warming mixtures of wine and whiskey to the scarf- and coat-wearing masses. Here at The Music, we’ve put our bodies on the line to test out a vast array of popular alcoholic winter drinks in order to find the best to share with. So, after a few long nights and queasy day afters, check out The Music’s top five winter warmers.

REKORDERLIG – WINTER CIDER

Oh, those crazy Swedes and their jaw-achingly sweet take on cider. Hipster favourite Rekorderlig has now released a ‘Winter Cider’ – a blend of the traditional apple, vanilla and cinnamon. Plus, if you’re feeling really crafty, you can drink this variety warm, and (as the company suggests) in front of the fire… if you have one.

HOT TODDY

Apart from sounding like the kind of silky negligee worn by a heavily set mature-age woman, a hot toddy is one of those classic cocktails that pretty much anyone can drink. It’s made with your choice of rum, whiskey or brandy, which is then warmed together with honey, lemon and tea.

FACT

Bonus points: with all that tea and honey floating around it’s (almost) practically medicinal.

HOT BUTTERED RUM

This drink marries two of the greatest things on earth in perfect harmony: butter and booze.

The most popular boozy winter warmer is mulled wine, with more than 20 countries around the world creating their own special recipe for the drink.

A deliciously spicy and comforting concoction, a hot buttered rum mixes soft unsalted butter with sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and dark rum to create a drink akin to the nectar of the Gods. The puritan commands drinkers put all ingredients in a mug before ramming a red-hot poker into it until it steams. Or you can just, you know, mix it atop the stove.

IRISH COFFEE

An Irish coffee is one of those special kinds of cocktails that lets you get sloshed in stealth. For example, the alcohol (which in this particular case is Irish whiskey) is mixed with coffee and sugar, and served in a special Irish coffee mug that looks remarkably similar to a regular coffee mug. Follow my drift? It can also double as a dessert when served with whipped cream.

FLAMING SAMBUCA

If you’re in the mood to get very, very shitfaced, very, very quickly, then give this baby a whirl. Toss a few coffee beans with a shot of Sambuca into the blender, whiz it up and then gulp it down. Best taken before a big night out. THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 75

eat/drink

FOOD IS ART

WAITING BY SAMUEL HUI URL: VISUALDOCUMENTARY.TUMBLR.COM

FOOD TRIPPIN’ EATING AROUND THE USA WITH SOFIE MUCENIEKAS AND LLOYD HONEYBROOK

BAR PROFILE

THE RUM DIARY BAR Answered by: Hamish Goonetilleke Address: 334 Brunswick St, Fitzroy Briefly describe the design/atmosphere of the bar? A warm, cosy dive bar with loads of vintage timber finishes and enough rum to sink a pirate ship! With a pirate/nautical feel. Does the bar have a music component? We love our rustic blues and old rock’n’roll to create a chilled atmosphere in the day and move into funk and ska in the evening. Fridays and Saturdays, DJs play funk and anything left of centre.

MISSOULA

We started our four day straight drive to Chicago. Our first night was in Missoula Montana, where we visited Famous Dave’s BBQ. What an amazing experience! Great wings, ridiculous burnt ends and baby-back ribs. We got so excited they took @lloydhoneybrook & I to see the meat smoker. Oh what a night!!! #bbqgold #smalltownbigmeals — with Lloyd James Honeybrook.

What drinks are you serving? Do you have a specialty? Rum, rum and rum! 135 different rums, many not available in Australia! Does the bar offer food? If so what style and what’s your specialty?

House aged charcuterie boards: waygu bresaola, smoked lamb leg, wallaby salami. Cheese and rum matching: we have three cheeses which match to rum and are sold as a tasting flight.

“THE ONLY TIME TO EAT DIET FOOD IS WHILE YOU’RE WAITING FOR THE STEAK TO COOK” JULIA CHILD

Briefly describe the crowd that frequents your bar? People who love a good banter and a good drink! Loads of bartenders call us their home and so it’s a very welcoming crowd. Who’s cooking and pouring and what makes them special? Having the same crew from the start till now makes us tight! We’re family to each other. Anything out of the ordinary on the horizon? Mondays: movie nights – we have a wicked screen and projector so we play cult classics. Thursdays: live acoustic music. We’re starting a rum appreciation night. Website: rumdiarybar.com.au

HOT SPOT PO’ BOY QUARTER The much loved Gumbo Kitchen food truck has parked on Smith St, with its first restaurant, opening 28 Aug (tonight) at 925 Smith Street, Fitzroy.

76 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

travel

DARWIN DREAMS

Jess Ribeiro and the Bone Collectors performing at The Lighthouse

Festival Park at night

National Indigenous Music Awards

When Jess J Ribeiro went to Darwin recently to perform at the Darwin Festival, the wonderful memories she made when she “accidentally” moved there seven years ago came rushing back. Pics by Mark Dickson.

wo great events take place in Darwin during August. The Darwin Festival and the National Indigenous Music Awards. It’s a bustling time for locals and tourists as they try to devour as much music and art as they can. Each year these events are drawing more and more people up north for the tropical celebrations. I was there as a performer with my band recently and my love for the NT returned as strong as ever. You see, I have a past with Darwin. Seven years ago I accidently moved there. I got on a plane I thought was taking me to the desert. On arrival however, I stepped out into a landscape filled with coconut trees, lush, green, prehistoric vegetation and a glittering blue sea. I wondered where the red sand and tin shed I had envisioned was and how I could have possibly gotten Alice Springs and Darwin mixed up. But I did. And there I was, taking a 50 cent bus trip into town that stopped outside the casino to pick up some local blackfellas. They got on. In one hand they held gold coins from the pokies and in the other they held freshly killed magpie geese. “Fresh goose, boss!” The bus driver grumbled. The men sat next to me with the dead birds. I tried to look relaxed. The hotch potch culture and people of Darwin got under my skin and that’s how my love begun. This time though, when I got off the plane there was a driver waiting to pick me and the (handsome) Midnight Juggernauts up. We got in the van and took off. I was instantly reminded of one of the reasons why I love Darwin. On the side of the road was crazy Trevor the local garbage collecting poet who tried to run for mayor. His motto was: “Vote one. Homeless bum.” But I’m here to talk about the festival – the two-week, action-packed extravaganza, full of performances from local, national and international artists of every type. I was there for seven days and in that time I saw You Am I perform to about two thousand 40-year-olds moshing like it was the ‘90s again. I stood at the back eating ice cream, counting the bald spots. I watched a

group of long grassers emerge from the bushes, drunk and leery. They danced with the tourists. The tourists took photos with them. The security guards didn’t flinch. You Am I played strong. Tim Rogers shouted out, “Jess Ribeiro is the original punk rock chick!”, and bass player Andy Kent looked good, like a Ken Barbie doll. The night (and my life) was complete. On day two I did a songwriting workshop with Mama Kin. It was in a church. Mama Kin preached the good word to the people: “Write everyday.” And so we wrote. Next was the National Indigenous Music Awards, an outdoor concert and award ceremony that draws a heavily mixed audience of people. This year, three and a half thousand came. The awards celebrated its tenth year in existence and commemorated Yothu Yindi and Doctor Yunipingu with a special concert. It was an emotional celebration. Winners on the night included Archie Roach and young 83-year-old Seaman Dan. Both inducted into the Hall of Fame. Thelma Plum, Shellie Morris and Jessica Mauboy all brought in the gold too. Then it was Geoffrey Gurrumul time. He won an award too. Who cares what for. His presence is phenomenal. Like some kind of spiritual initiate or King. He walked onto the stage escorted by his faithful musical comrade Michael Honan, who spoke on behalf on him. The audience applauded. Then silence. Gurumul let rip a, “Yo, family!” The crowd went wild. They screamed and cheered. Some people even cried and a flash flood of mobile phone photography took place. It was a tremendous evening. Besides those two days, though, I didn’t see any other shows. There are so many great acts it’s hard to keep up. The real beauty of the festival is the outdoor nightlife. Sitting on the grass. Under the trees dressed in lanterns. People gathering together. Eating and drinking before, during and after shows is the most magical part of the Darwin Festival. THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 77

culture

THE ZINE SCENE Communication,, community Communication community, y, connection: makingg zines is not jjust a form of self-expression, but a way to find likeminded individuals. Helen Stringer chats to Vanessa Berry about the longevity of the humble zine.

WHERE TO GET ZINES MELBOURNE

Sticky! Institute, 10 Campbell Arcade, Degraves Subway, Melbourne Bryce Galloway will discuss the rise of Zines in NZ at Sticky on 4 Sep

SYDNEY

Take Care Zines, 91 Railway Pde, Marrickville Rizzeria Printer, 5 Metcalfe Arcade, The Rocks

NEWCASTLE

Bird in the Hand Zine Shop, 100 King St, Newcastle

BRISBANE

Smells Like Zines, 4/203 Margaret St, Toowoomba

hen Madonna sang, “We’re living in a material world/And I am a material girl” she probably wasn’t intending her chorus to become an ironic call-cry for a digitally fatigued generation. But it very well could be. We do indeed live in a material world, one where value is rarely recognised unless it comes in the form of a dollar sign. We’re all material girls, consumed with amassing stuff. But we’re now also irreversibly enmeshed with an intangible beast – the internet. The world in which material objects reigned supreme is quickly becoming a past viewed in the sepia tones of nostalgia. It’s in this contradictory mess that the humble zine – a material but ephemeral product with little dollar value – finds itself. Some trace the history of zines to the moment Martin Luther staple-gunned his religious manifesto to 16th century posts, although the proposition that a pissedoff German monk with reformation on the brain was the world’s first zinester seems unlikely. More credibly, today’s zines are the mutated descendants of science fiction fanzines – the nerd communication networks of yore – but a closer relative of the punk zines in which the alienated youth of the ‘70s and ‘80s expressed their otherwise impotent fury. Reductively a zine is something with original content, occasionally appropriated imagery, the making of which involved – and this is important – the use of a photocopier. But that’s too dry a description for a creation that’s so treasured and lovingly made. Writer and veteran zine-maker Vanessa Berry has been putting out her own zines since 1996. Those were the days when a Walkman was high technology and the most valuable skill the social misfit could hone was the ability to simultaneously depress the ‘play’ and ‘record’ buttons on your tape player with lightning speed. With her 15 years’ involvement in the zine scene – not just a witness to the evolution from tape player to iTunes but a participant in the transition from print to ether – Berry is well-placed to comment on the strange longevity of the zine. At its heart, she explains, a zine is about communication and community. Not the moderated communication cultivated between conventional publisher and purchaser

78 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

but between readers and between readers and writers; one only has to look back at the sci-fi and punk traditions to see that zines have always been based on building community. As Berry says, she too started in order to find a connection with other people. “Before I made my zine,” she says, “I didn’t really feel like I had found my people... Making zines I found that I connected with people who understood me... It was the community that really got me hooked. Today still.” Importantly, the medium increasingly stands as a loud, albeit small, ‘fuck you’ to a world built on the instantaneous and on commodification. Zines defy the information age’s demand that bigger is better; the capacity to reach absolutely everyone is now so lauded that in self-publication it’s practically sacrosanct. Zines are the opposite: “It’s like you’re sending out a letter to a few people in the world,” says Berry, “[to] people who appreciate not having to reach everybody, people who are happy to keep things small and contained.” To make a zine you need only an idea and the patience to work through the unavoidable rookie fuck-ups of photocopier operation. But it also takes time; in the information age time has been so sped up that we lose our minds if a Vimeo video takes more than four seconds to buffer. The idea that someone would bother spending a night standing by an Officeworks photocopier only to reach a limited audience and make no money is anathema to modern idea of selfpublishing. So much so that the question arises: will the blog kill the zine just as video killed the radio star? “When blogs started appearing there was a dip in zinemaking,” concedes Berry. “It didn’t die out, but there was a time when people questioned why you would make a zine. It picked up again and I think it was response to so much being digital… It’s nice to either make things by hand or even hold something that’s been made by hand. The internet has failed to kill them so far,” she continues. They’re a small thing, Berry says, but perhaps these days we need small, good things to rip us from the ether.

ZICS, a three day event starting 30 Aug to 1 Sep, The Edge

ADELAIDE

Zine Shop, 15 Peel Street, Adelaide

PERTH

The Perth Zine Collective, Paper Mountain, upstairs 267 William St, Northbridge Planet Video, 640 Beaufort St, Mount Lawley

ONLINE

We Make Zines, URL: wemakezines. ning.com Parcell Press, URL: parcellpress.com Tiny Paper Hearts, URL: tinypaperhearts. wordpress.com

VANESSA BERRY

BOOMERANG FESTIVAL

A NEW WORLD INDIGENOUS FESTIVAL FOR ALL AUSTRALIANS

ARCHIE ROACH

Photo Mick Richards

ERNIE DINGO

WITH LOU BENNETT, EMMA DONOVAN & DELINE BRISCOE AND A 10 PIECE ENSEMBLE

WANTOK: SING SING

GURRUMUL

THE CHOOKY DANCERS

THE MEDICS

AIRILEKE

QUIQUE NEIRA (CHILE)

1 3 3 P E R FO R M A N C E S A N D E X P E R I E N C E S FROM MUSIC TO WORKSHOPS FIRE GATHERINGS DANCE PARTICIPATIONS COMEDY SPEAKERS AND MORE!

LAUNCHING THE BOOMERANG INTERNATIONAL INDIGENOUS FILM FESTIVAL (BIIFF)

FRIDAY 4TH - SUNDAY 6TH OCTOBER T YA G A R A H T E A T R E E FA R M B Y R O N B A Y FOR FULL FESTIVAL PROGRAM VISIT WWW.BOOMERANGFESTIVAL.COM.AU FESTIVAL & CAMPING TICKETS ON SALE NOW 02 6685 8310 / WWW.BOOMERANGFESTIVAL. PRINCIPAL MEDIA PARTNER:

THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013 • 79

fashion

GLAMOUR IN GREENERY MSFW s onlyy catwalk-exhibitingg MSFW’s milliner Richard Nylon talks to Kirsten Law about being inspired by plants, drinking champers and eating cake during a short film shoot, and what he really thinks of beanies.

WHAT TO CHECK OUT THIS MELBOURNE SPRING FASHION WEEK British Style Genius Check out this doco about Vivienne Westwood by Anna Gravelle. Go inside her studio where she revisits the transgressive techniques behind her early collections that electrified the fashion world. WHAT: British Style Genius (Part of Twiggy to Westwood: Great British Fashion on Film) WHEN &WHERE: 1 to 7 Sep, ACMI MSFW Emerging

illiner Richard Nylon is famous for his imaginative designs and has been creating hats, fascinators and bridal headwear in Melbourne since the 1980s. Now, as part of Melbourne Spring Fashion Week 2013, Nylon will present a catwalk show to sate the sartorial urges of fashion plates and botanists alike. “The whole range is based on plant life,” tells Nylon. It all began when his sister gave him a book called Green Universe, by Professor Stephen Blackmore, which details plant life through microscopic images of flora at the cellular level. “Most organic life, when it is pulled right down to the cellular level, is all little spikey bits and circles-within-circles, and is incredibly detailed,” Nylon explains. “What I’m doing is exploding it to the macro-scale, like the photographs [in Green Universe] do. The pieces for the catwalk are very big, and not necessarily hats that sit on the head either. They’re more ‘millinery pieces’ that you put around the body.”

Nylon is certainly no stranger to working with close detail. Intricate beading, innovative uses of plastic wire and an ability to intuit the best application of millinery fabrics have earned him the prestigious place as MFSW’s only catwalk-exhibiting milliner. It is his high-concept creative vision that made him an ideal cameo performer in Folie à Deux’s new short, Reflections, which will premiere this Friday at MSFW. The film features model and MTV VJ Kate Peck traipsing through the streets of Melbourne, interrupting all manner of fashion goings-on, and continues Fashion Week’s love affair with the cinema. “It’s a very clever, self-referential film,” says Lord Mayor Richard Doyle. “What it shows you, of course, is that fashion and creativity are an integral part of the canvas of Melbourne.” In Reflections, Richard Nylon appears alongside such local celebrities as Jenny Bannister, Philip Boon and, Nylon’s long-time friend and collaborator, Gwendolynne Burkin. “It was actually a lot of fun,” Nylon says of the shoot. “We got to drink champagne and eat a lot of cake.” The scene depicts a glamorous dinner party with a sumptuous colour palette of crimson and black. A fitting setting for Nylon’s character, known by the moniker 80 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013

‘The Bored Lord’. “We were asked to bring our own outfits and, of course, I like dressing up, so it was a good opportunity to wear my ruff and my bowler hat,” he says. Nylon hopes to continue his relationship with the moving image; he wouldn’t shy away from expanding his practice into creative directing, or costuming, for film clips. Movement in general is a source of inspiration for him, whether that be in the expanding and contracting cells of a plant or the wings of tiny flying insects. “Movement is life, and a lot of the pieces I’m putting on the catwalk have an element of movement in them,” he explains. Very soft feathers and springy components that move when the models move are just some of the elements of Nylon’s creations for MFSW 2013. In addition to his catwalk show, Nylon will appear at Reflections’ Southgate premiere event, in ‘Bored Lord’ regalia. He will also be exhibiting a brand new, fully win-able creation, entitled Amour Pétillant (Sparkling Love). Attendees can also see a storyboard from Reflections, which offers a unique insight into the natural partnership of fashion and film. Over his decades-long career, Nylon has often been amazed by the level of support Melburnians show for fashion. “It’s quite extraordinary, the energy that surrounds fashion in Melbourne,” he observes. But it’s not just sellout fashion week shows that makes the city Australia’s catwalk capital, it’s the intrepid forays into couture that even the impish youths of the inner-north make on a regular basis. “I was at an event the other night,” tells Nylon. “And there was this young boy there, wearing an ’80s batwing-sleeve acid-wash denim jacket. I thought, ‘Oh my God, I would have thought that was poison, back when I was his age’, but now it has that retro appeal. And I thought, well, good on him, you know, that’s kind of fun!” What does Nylon think of young people’s penchant for beanies, then? “I don’t care what they wear as long as they’re wearing a hat,” he insists. “Someone who gets used to wearing a hat in their young life might wear one into the rest of their life. All milliners can do is put ideas out there and hope that people take them up. You can lead a horse to culture, but you can’t make him wear a hat!”

A look into the future of Aussie fashion. Two runway shows featuring students from RMIT and a new designer market. WHAT: MSFW: Designer New Market WHEN &WHERE: 8 Sep, City Square

Carly Hunter Carly Hunter’s previews her SS14 collection; Inspired by the ‘90s, Hunter’s women’s wear has an emphasis on layering. WHAT: MSFW: Designer Program WHEN &WHERE: 6 Sep, Town Hall

1000s OF GIGS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

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BATMEN

ADAM WEST KNOWN FOR?

Being TV’s swinging ‘60s Batman. Getting a reputation for going ‘batty’.

CAPE-A-BILITY Pop art chic, West played it straight amidst the camp villainy.

ARCH-NEMESIS Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, Black Widow, the lesser-known but most memorable Frank Gorshin (and his green Riddler onesie) and more.

PROS? “Na na, na na, na na, na na, Batman!”

CONS? He only made one Batman movie (1966), and it was eventually out-camped by 1995’s Batman Forever.

CHRISTIAN BALE KNOWN FOR?

Putting the ‘dark’ into The Dark Knight.

CAPE-A-BILITY He was one with the Batsuit.

ARCH-NEMESIS Bale dealt with Scarecrow, Joker and Bane much the same way he dealt with Terminator: Salvation’s Director Of Photography.

PROS? He method-acted the fuck out of Gotham.

CONS? He then got the fuck out of Gotham.

LEWIS G WILSON KNOWN FOR?

Being the first big screen Batman in the 1943 B&W serial, The Batman. It became a college cult hit in the early ‘60s and was revived by ABC TV in the ‘70s – screening, ironically, on magazine show, Flashez.

CAPE-A-BILITY His tights often sagged and nowadays his usually crumpled costume wouldn’t even be acceptable for dressing pets in at Halloween.

ARCH-NEMESIS Japanese spy Dr Daka, who turns people into zombies.

PROS? He gave us the batcave (called The Bat’s Cave). The comics followed suit.

CONS? This Batman was a tad un-PC. 82 • THE MUSIC • 28TH AUGUST 2013